Names and Student numbers: Emma Israel 218211685

Ndilimeke Nahwela 202098583

The challenges of ESP

Lack of learners’ needs analysis (NA)

 NA is the cornerstone of ESP

Learners’ low general English level

 Revert to teaching general English instead of ESP

The unavailability of teaching materials

 ESP textbooks do not meet the specific needs of learners

 ESP textbooks are expensive

Subject knowledge of ESP

 Practitioners teach content they know little/nothing about

 To relate better with learners

Lack of collaboration with the subject lecturer

 Time constraints
 Differences in teaching methods
The need for English in various fields of study led to the emergence of ESP, which
has been around for a while. After World War II, the requirement for language
learners to learn for job purposes—led to the development of ESP, according to
Hutchinson and Waters (1987,as cited in, Jande & Ibrahim,2021). This led to
significant changes in the way English was taught, moving away from the
linguistics perspective of seeing language as an object to be explained in terms of
phonemes, morphemes, and words and toward seeing language as a medium of
communication (Chalikandy, 2013 as cited in Jande & Ibrahim,2021). As a result,
language started to be used in various ways depending on the context, the
participants, and the aims, and inevitably, greater attention was paid to the
requirements of the learners and the requirement to create materials that were
tailored specifically to those needs. Therefore, the essay strives to look into the
challenges in ESP.

One of the challenges faced in ESP is the lack of learners needs Analysis. A needs
analysis (NA) is a method used for learning about the needs, wants and
expectations of the students so that the course may be designed according to their
specific needs, wants and expectations. Hence, NA is a cornerstone of ESP because
it is the primary key to designing the course. “An ESP course should be based on a
Needs Analysis (NA) to specify what exactly it is that the student do through the
medium of English” Robinson (1991, as cited in Koran, 2014). Furthermore,
Scholars such as Hutchinson and Waters (1996, as cited in in Koran, 2014) states
that if you tell someone what you need English for, they will tell you the English
you need. Thus, ESP courses are created from a NA that concentrates on what a
learner specifically needs to learn in English.

Low general English level of learners is another challenge that ESP teachers must
deal with. Learners' ability to understand and use English on a general level us
expected when teaching ESP. When a learner's general English is far lower than
what is expected, it presents a challenge for the ESP teacher because now he/she
has to go back to teaching general English instead of ESP. In addition, "when
learners lack the required vocabulary for ESP-related activities, the ESP teachers
are faced with the decisions on which ESP vocabulary students need and thus, the
integration into the lessons, which could be very challenging as the teachers are not
specialists in the learner's professional domains"(Costeleanu,2019,as cited in,
Jande & Ibrahim,2021).

ESP is introduced because it is easier to teach a group of learners with similar

needs or jargons because, "when the learners are from different disciplines,
professions or level of management, might also create difficulties to teachers to
find materials, textbooks and activities which are common to everyone in the group
and to produce specific work.”(Koran,2014), However this has not made it easier
for teachers because the introduction of ESP meant more resources needed that
meets students’ needs, one of the challenges is that learning materials are
expensive and not easy to attain unlike that of general English.

ESP content is expected to be taught or presented in context, which is not possible

at times because some practitioners lack the ability to do so. Koran (2014, as cited
in, Jade & Ibrahim, 2021) asserts that content knowledge is important as it
certainly gives ESP practitioners the opportunity to use it for real communication
and classroom activities. ESP requires one to be trained and equipped to teach,
hence practitioners who lack training end up teaching content they know nothing
about and also find it challenging to relate to learners in classroom scenarios.

Moreover, a lack of collaboration with the subject lecturer is another challenge.

Koran (2014) states that "this in itself poses a challenge because the collaboration
can be hindered due to time constraints, differences in personalities, and rank
related issues between ESP practitioners and the subject teachers. Furthermore
differences in methods of teaching can also be seen as a challenge as ESP teachers
have various teaching experiences.

In conclusion, the introduction of ESP has been beneficial in some aspects of

learning such as meeting learners needs, wants and expectation. However, we
cannot forget the challenges that are faced by both students and practitioners such
as lack of need analysis, learners’ low general English level, and unavailability of
resources, subject knowledge and lack of collaboration with the subject lecturer.
Although ESP has its benefits, these challenges hinder the learning process and
efficiency in carrying out ESP goals.
 Reference

Jande, L.V. & Ibrahim, N.M. (2021). Challenges of teaching ESP: A review. LSP
International Journal 8(2). https://doi.org/10.11113/1spi.v8.16334

Koran, S. (2014). Some challenges for teachers of ESP. Ishik University.

https://www.academia.edu/35531373/ some challenges for teachers of
English for specific purposes ESP pdf