The Roles of an
ESP Practitioner
The ESP Practitioner
The responsibility of the teacher
A teacher that already has experience in
teaching English as a Second Language
(ESL), can exploit her background in
language teaching. She should recognize
the ways in which her teaching skills can
be adapted for the teaching of English for
Specific Purposes. Moreover, she will
need to look for content specialists for
help in designing appropriate lessons in
the subject matter field she is teaching.
As an ESP teacher, you must play many
roles. You may be asked to organize
courses, to set learning objectives, to
establish a positive learning environment in
the classroom, and to evaluate student s
progress.
ORGANIZING COURSES
You have to set learning goals and then transform
them into an instructional program with the timing
of activities. One of your main tasks will be
selecting, designing and organizing course
materials, supporting the students in their efforts,
and providing them with feedback on their
progress.
SETTING GOALS AND OBJECTIVES
You arrange the conditions for
learning in the classroom and set
long-term goals and short-term
objectives for students achievement.
Your
knowledge
of
students'
potential is central in designing a
syllabus with realistic goals that
takes into account the students'
concern in the learning situation.
CREATING A LEARNING ENVIRONMENT
Your skills for communication and mediation
create the classroom atmosphere. Students
acquire
language
when
they
have
opportunities to use the language in
interaction with other speakers. Being their
teacher, you may be the only English
speaking person available to students, and
although your time with any of them is
limited,
you
can
structure
effective
communication skills in the classroom. In
order to do so, in your interactions with
students try to listen carefully to what they
are saying and give your understanding or
misunderstanding back at them through your
Good language learners are also great
risk-takers , since they must make many
errors in order to succeed: however, in
ESP classes, they are handicapped
because they are unable to use their
native language competence to present
themselves as well-informed adults. That
s why the teacher should create an
atmosphere in the language classroom
which supports the students. Learners
must be self- confident in order to
communicate,
and
you
have
the
responsibility to help build the learner's
confidence.
EVALUATING STUDENTS
The teacher is a resource that helps
students identify their language learning
problems and find solutions to them,
find out the skills they need to focus on,
and take responsibility for making
choices which determine what and how
to learn. You will serve as a source of
information to the students about how
they are progressing in their language
learning.
The Responsibility of the
Student
What is the role of the
learner and what is the task
he/she faces? The learners
come to the ESP class with a
specific interest for learning,
subject matter knowledge, and
well-built
adult
learning
strategies. They are in charge
of developing English language
skills to reflect their nativelanguage knowledge and skills.
INTEREST FOR LEARNING
People learn languages when they have
opportunities to understand and work with
language in a context that they comprehend
and find interesting. In this view, ESP is a
powerful
means
for
such
opportunities.
Students will acquire English as they work with
materials which they find interesting and
relevant and which they can use in their
professional work or further studies. The more
learners pay attention to the meaning of the
language they hear or read, the more they are
successful; the more they have to focus on the
linguistic input or isolated language structures,
the less they are motivated to attend their
classes.
The ESP student is particularly
well disposed to focus on meaning
in the subject-matter field. In ESP,
English should be presented not as
a subject to be learned in isolation
from real use, nor as a mechanical
skill or habit to be developed. On
the contrary, English should be
presented inauthentic contexts to
make the learners acquainted with
the particular ways in which the
language is used in functions that
they will need to perform in their
SUBJECT-CONTENT KNOWLEDGE
LEARNERS
in the ESP classes are generally aware
of the purposes for which they will need
to use English. Having already oriented
their education toward a specific field,
they see their English training as
complementing
this
orientation.
Knowledge of the subject area enables
the students to identify a real context for
the vocabulary and structures of the ESP
classroom. In such way, the learners can
take advantage of what they already
know about the subject matter to learn
English.
LEARNING STRATEGIES
Adults must work harder than
children in order to learn a new
language, but the learning skills they
bring to the task permit them to learn
faster and more efficiently. The skills
they have already developed in using
their native languages will make
learning English easier. Although you
will be working with students whose
English will probably be quite limited,
the language learning abilities of the
adult in the ESP classroom are
Educated adults are continually
learning new language behaviour in
their
native
languages,
since
language
learning
continues
naturally throughout our lives. They
are
constantly
expanding
vocabulary, becoming more fluent
in their fields, and adjusting their
linguistic
behaviour
to
new
situations or new roles. ESP
students can exploit these innate
competencies in learning English.
THANK
YOU!
Prepared by:
PEREJA, RUSTOM S.
BSED ENGLISH
