How ESP came about

• Developments in • Language viewed as

science, technology, communication
business, and
commerce led to the
emergence of ESP
Stages of development
• The concept of special
language: register
analysis
• Learning how to use English in
particular disciplines or
specializations
• Lexical, grammatical, syntactic
features
• Beyond the sentence:
rhetorical or
discourse analysis
• Rhetorical arts such as:
definition and classification,
cause and effect, physical
process and function
description
• Target situation
analysis
• Needs assessment
• Gathering of information
about the personal, academic
or professional, cultural, and
language background of
learners
• Skills and strategies
• Concerned with the thinking
processes involved in language
use
• Examples: guessing word
meanings from context, using
visual lay-outs, note-taking
skills
• A Learning-centered
approach
• Processes involved in learning
• Existing knowledge or
schemata
• Items of knowledge are
significant
• Learners should be taught
different strategies for
language learning
• Register analysis
• Rhetorical or discourse analysis
• Target situation analysis
• Skills and strategies
• Learning-centered approach
The Absolute Characteristics of
ESP
• Designed to meet specific needs of the learner
• Related in content (i.e., in its themes and topics)
to particular disciplines, occupations, and
activities
• Centered on the language appropriate to those
activities, in syntax, lexis, discourse, semantics,
etc.
• In contrast with ‘general English’
Variable characteristics of ESP
• Restricted as to the language skills to be learned
(e.g., reading only; speech recognition only, etc.)

• Taught according to any pre-ordained

methodology, although communicative
methodology is very often felt to be the most
appropriate
Considerations are vital to the ESP
approach
• the nature of the learners
• the needs of the learners
• the demands of the target situation (job,
tasks/activities, study situations, etc.)
• the nature of the language/register
• the nature of communication
• the nature of learning