‘What is ESP teaching?

’ What do you understand by the term ‘ESP teaching:

English for Specific Purposes or ESP is an approach to the education of English, orientated
for specific purposes (scientific, technological, economic and academic areas). The ESP is
based on the design of specific courses to give response to the needs of students who, beyond
the learning of the common language, require a practice regarding certain professional areas. 
Task1. Let’s first consider how different writers have described English for Specific
Purposes (ESP) and identify common themes.

1.“The basic insight that language can be thought of as a tool for communication rather than
as sets of phonological, grammatical and lexical items to be memorized led to the notion of
developing learning programs to reflect the different communicative needs of disparate
groups of learners. No longer was it necessary to teach an item simply because it is ‘there’ in
the language. A potential tourist to England should not have to take the same course as an air
traffic controller in Singapore or a Columbian engineer preparing for graduate study in the
United States. This insight led to the emergence of English for Specific Purposes (ESP) as an
important subcomponent of language teaching, with its own approaches to curriculum
development, materials design, pedagogy, testing and research. “ Nunan (2004, p. 7)

2. “If ESP has sometimes moved away from trends in general ELT, it has always retained its
emphasis on practical outcomes. We will see that the main concerns of ESP have always
been, and remain, with needs analysis, text analysis, and preparing learners to communicate
effectively in the tasks prescribed by their study or work situation.” Dudley-Evans and St
John (1998, p. 1)

3. ESP and General English “It is in the nature of a language syllabus to be selective. The
General English syllabus is based on a conception of the kind of reality that the student has to
deal with in English. For example, a General English course for teenagers will probably be
written around the language-based activities of a stereotypical teenager. Finding out or even
speculating on what these activities are is like taking the first step towards a needs analysis.
Consciously or unconsciously, therefore, all sensible course designers must begin by trying to
assess students’ specific needs. ESP is simply a narrowing of this needs spectrum. The ESP
process of specialisation should not result in the complete separation of one part of the
language from another. One cannot simply hack off pieces of a language or of skills and then
expect them to exist independently of anything else. Every discipline refers to others and each
draws on the same reservoir of language. A science student who comes to grips with the past
simple passive through the description of laboratory procedures is unlikely to lock that tense
into that context for the rest of their Englishspeaking life.” Holme (1996, pp. 3–4)

4. “In fact, the dividing line between ESP and EGP is not always clear; where do we place, for
example, a course designed for a Korean businessperson who is to assume a post abroad in the
near future? If the learner’s proficiency level is very low, a great deal of course content will
probably be of a general English type with emphasis on survival situations. Most would
probably agree that the course should be classified as ESP, simply because the aims are
clearly defined, and analysis of the learner’s needs play an important role in deciding what to
include in the course. However, we believe our example demonstrates that ESP should not be
regarded as a discrete division of ELT, but simply an area (with blurred boundaries) whose
courses are usually more focused in their aims and make use of a narrower range of topics.”
Barnard and Zemach (2003, pp. 306–7)
Find three common themes in the above statements

1. NEEDS ANALYSIS. ESP is designed for people who have specific needs in the language
area. For example, we study and learn literature but an engineer in a course learns the terms
belongs to the engineering area. It is based on what a person needs in learning a language.

2. ADULTS. The ESP is mainly concerned with adults because the ones who need specific
subjects in language are mainly adult. The cause of this can be their occupation, lifestyle, and
obligatory situations.

3. AIM, TIME. The people who are taking ESP classes are generally have an aim like in a
short time, an engineer needs to learn the related terms because she/he will go abroad two
months later. On the other hand, a student’s aim is more extensive.

Task 2. List the characteristics of ESP in your own words.

- Analysis in every step.

- Mostly adult-centered.
- Time is important.
- Goals are crucial for improvement.

Task 2

Discuss whether, according to our definition, the following courses constitute ESP courses.
Give reasons for your decision:

1. A course in remedial grammar for business people, with each unit based on a particular
grammatical weakness identified by tests. YES

2. A course that teaches undergraduate engineering students from various branches (civil,
electrical, mechanical etc.) to write reports on design projects. YES

3. A course that teaches reading skills to a group of postgraduate students from a range of
disciplines, studying in a British university. The texts used are of a general academic nature,
but are exploited to teach specific reading skills. NO
 4. A course designed to prepare students for the Cambridge FC E examination. The course is
based on a careful analysis of the contents of the test. NOT SURE

5. A course designed to teach social English to a group of business people. The level of the
students’ English is intermediate. YES

6. A course team-taught with a subject lecturer, that helps postgraduates of a particular

discipline understand departmental lectures. NO

Task 3

Define “English for General Purposes” and compare it to “English for specific purposes.

EGP is a part of general English education. It is basic. It aims to learn English just for
learning English. It can be applied to every appropriate people who want to learn
English. However, ESP is very different from EGP. In ESP, there is a specific education
that is constituted for a specific group of people. It is complicated when contrasted with
EGP. Also, it may aim to learn English for various subjects. It can only be applied to the
people who wants to learn in a specific area and the subject is created by their needs.