An introduction to ESP

An introduction to ESP

WHAT IS ESP?

ESP is a goal - directed , it's an approach to language teaching based on learners' goal and reasons for
learning a language as summarized by Hutchinson and Waters who state " ESP is an approach to
language teaching in which all decisions as to content and method are based on the learner's reason for
learning"- that is to say, it refers to teaching or studying english for a particular career, there is a specific
resaon for which english is learned.

Based on that definition , much emphasis should be placed on vocabulary and english skills students
learn when they need to use english for only a specific purpose, for example someone who needs to
know enough english for business or medocal dealings, they would learn the english needed to
communicate in these dealings, so ESP teachers are supposed to help students become better technical
writers so that they will be prepared for the writing they will have to do as successful adults in the
workplace.

HISTORICAL GROWTH OF ESP :

ESP grew out of a number of converging trends of which we will mention three most important:

1/ The expansion of demand for english to suit specific needs of a profession : English for specific
purposes arose as a term in the 1960s as it became increasingly aware that general english courses
frquently didn't meet the leaners' or employees' needs. As english continues to dominate different fields
like business, medicine, technology ,education and research, the demand for ESP is growing very rapidly
particularly in countries where english is a foreign language, people in these countries learn english to
obtain a good job, promotion or a professional development at work, so isn't it better and in their favor
to learn english regarding their professional fields so that they can easily find a job in their future and
can also be more professional?

For that resaon, there must exist special courses with specific curriculum offered by our universities,
teaching special technical terms according to diffeent subjects.
ESP VS EGP :

How is english for specific purposes different from english for general purposes ?

the most important difference lies in the learners and their purposes for learning english.

ESP students are usually adults who already have some acquaintance with english and are learning the
language inorder to communicate a set of professional skills and to perform a particular job, it
concentrates more on language in context than on teaching grammar and language structures, it covers
subjects from accounting , computer science, tourism to business and management.

EGP and ESP diverge not only in the nature of learners but also in the aim of instruction.

In EGP all four language skills: listening, speaking, reading, writing are stressed equally, in ESP " needs
analysis" (which aims at assessing the communicative needs of the learners and the techniques of
achieving specific teaching objectives / collecting information about the learners and defining the target
situation and environment of studying ESP ) which helps teachers the language skill that is supposed to
be taught. ie; the syllabus is designed according to the learners' needs; an ESP program might emphasize
the developmnt of reading skills in students who are preparing for graduate work in business
administration, or it might promote the development of spoken skills in students who are studying
english inorder to become tour guides, flight attendants ....

2/Development in the field of linguistics: Attention shifted from defining and describing formal language
features to discovering the ways in which language is used in real communication causing the need for
the develpment of english courses for a specific group of learners.

3/Development in the field of educational psychology : new influential ideas began to emerge
suggesting that learners' needs and interests have an influence on their motivation and effectiveness of
their learning
BRANCHES OF ESP:

Due to its development ESP has been broken down into differnt types to suit different teaching
situations:

ENGLISH FOR SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY (EST )

ENGLISH FOR BUSINESS AND ECONOMICS (EBE )

ENGLISH FOR SOCIAL STUDIES (ESS)

each of these areas is further divided into two types:

EOP ( english for occupational purposes) and EAP ( english for academic purposes).

EAP COURSES aim to help the students specialize in a particular field of study in an educational
institution so as to enable them to read in the specialzed field, listening to lectures, making oral
presentations, writing reports, and keep in touch with the latest developments in their specialties,
english in this context is used as a medium of study and not as a subject matter.

EOP COURSES : english is required in employment situations, the teaching of english for occupational
purposes should meet the leaners'needs inorder to help them practice their jobs, these leaners need to
use english as part of their work or profession.

The aim of EOP courses is to meet the everyday needs of working people, this type of courses would be
useful for waiters, hotel employees, tour guides.... who need english to perform their professional
duties.

EOP VS EAP :
The only difference that exists between EAP and EOP lies in the nature of the learner, that is to say, the
learner in an EAP context is a student while in EOP context is an employee.

Hutchinson and Waters (1987) however do note that there is not a clear cut distinction between EAP
and EOP. " People can work and study simultaneously; it's also likely that in many cases the language
learnt for immediate use in a study environment will be used later when the student takes up or returns
to a job.

Whether it's taught in an educational institution or a professional environment, one of the major types
of ESP which is widely taught and in which the researcher is interested is that branch of ESP called
ENGLISH FOR SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY( EST ).