Scribd
Upload
13 views

Intro First Part

Uploaded by

Louis Jane Gallegos
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
13 views

Intro First Part

Uploaded by

Louis Jane Gallegos
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 2

SECTION 4: The role of the ESP Teacher

ESP consists of tailoring language instruction to meet the needs of learners who
belong to particular disciplines or professions and studies the language appropriate to such
activities. Nevertheless, there are important practical ways in which the work of the General
English teacher. The first role of an ESP teacher is following an adulthood-oriented
approach toward ESP programs concerned with acting as a simultaneous teacher and
counselor. The second prominent role of an ESP teacher is cooperating and collaborating
with content teachers to design and teach the materials effectively.

1 The lack of an orthodoxy


Lack of Orthodoxy: Orthodoxy stands for conventions, customs, and cannon. This lack of a
long tradition in ESP has been a hot- bed of conflict. Earlier in developing stages of ESP
there was no difference between ESP and EGP courses materials and texts. In spite of its
relatively brief existence, ESP has undergone a number of major shifts in orientation. These
have come about largely because ESP has developed at a time when a fundamental
revision of our view of language and learning has been taking place. Lacking a long tradition
which might give some stability, ESP has frequently been a hotbed of conflict- the Wild
West of ELT. New settlers in this land must often have found it difficult to find their bearings
with no agreed maps to guide them. The question of authentic texts will illustrate the kind of
problem that arises.

There is, therefore, no intrinsic merit in an' authentic' text. What we must do is once more to
see the text as part of the teaching/learning · process. The question should not be: 'Is this
text "authentic"?' but 'What role do I want the text to play in the learning process?' We
should be looking not for some abstract concept of 'authenticity', but rather the practical
concept of' fimess to the learning purpose'. In this sense, it can easily be seen that different
types of text will be required at different stages of a course, depending on what we want the
text for, for example:
a) You want the learners to realize how much information they can get from a text by the
application of certain strategies. In this case you might well want to use a target situation
text to make the exercise more realistic.
b) You want to do a jigsaw reading task, such as in lesson 2 in chapter n. If you insisted on
using target situation texts here, you could be searching forever to find the appropriate
ones. In this case, it is the activity that is of greatest importance and so the texts can be
constructed to generate the best activity.
c) You want to illustrate a particular sentence pattern or discourse pattern. If you can find a
target situation text that fits, use it. If not, it is no great problem. Your purpose is to make
apparent an underlying structure. A target situation text might be rather confusing, because
there are all sorts of other things in the text too (Allen and Widdowson, 1974). Here a
simplified target text or a specially constructed one might be more useful.
d) You want to illustrate the importance of layout as a clue to reading comprehension.'
Authenticity', particularly of the visual appearance, is a sine qua non in this case.
e) You want to increase your learners' motivation by emphasizing the real world application
of the language. In this case, an 'authentic' text is preferable, or at least an 'authentic'
appearance.

You might also like