This case-study describes the development and delivery of a pre-sessional course for international students which goes beyond the more usual English for Academic Purposes (EAP) concerns of register, genres, and study skills, by adding overt exploration of the underpinning beliefs of UK academics (in this case in a Business School) concerning what constitutes learning and how knowledge should be constructed. It is based on an assumption that teaching how to do things (e.g. seminar presentations or literature reviews) without addressing why these language behaviours take the forms they do, is to teach obedience rather than understanding