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‘Issues in ESP (English for Specific Purposes)’

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Mohammad Kaosar Ahmed

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ELT VOICES – INDIA INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL FOR TEACHERS OF ENGLISH

FEBRUARY 2014 | VOLUME 4, ISSUE 1 | ISSN 2230-9136 (PRINT) 2321-7170 (ONLINE)

Issues in ESP (English for

Specific Purposes) MOHAMMAD KAOSAR AHMED1

ABSTRACT

The acronym ESP has had an evolution of its own. It offers a theoretically sound and

practical approach to deal with the urgent need for professional communication on a

global scale today. The demand for the teaching of English for clearly stated aims gives birth to the ESP movement which instigates the teachers to come up with specific

demands imposed by the learner’s personal need. Thus, the teacher becomes an ESP

practitioner who facilitates learner autonomy to lay the basis of a life-long engagement

with language experiences. Reviewing existing literature, this paper attempts to

summarize the key issues in ESP including ESP definition, origin, characteristics,

types, teacher/practitioner, benefits; and the place of register analysis, special language

as a concept, discourse analysis, target situation analysis, skills and strategies, and

needs analysis in the ESP discourse.

Key Words: Special Language, Register & Discourse Analysis, Target Situation

Analysis, Needs Analysis

1. Associate Professor, Department of English Language and Literature, International Islamic University Chittagong (IIUC)


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ELT VOICES – INDIA February 2014 | Volume 4, Issue 1

37|ELT Voices – India International Journal|ISSN 2230-9136 (Print) 2321-7170 (Online)

General (language for no purpose) courses at any proficiency level almost always teach too much, e.g.,

vocabulary, skills, registers or styles some learners do not need, and too little, e.g., omitting lexis and

genres that they do. Instead of a one-size-fits-all approach, it is more defensible to view every course as

involving specific purposes. . . . (Long, 2005, p. 19)

Introduction

English has acquired a unique status among the other languages of the world in that it has been acknowledged as a

‘global language’ (Graddol, The Future of English?, 1997). “English is now spoken in over forty countries as a

first language and in over fifty-five countries as a second language, and the language seems to be on an ever

increasing and unstoppable trajectory of use.” (Graddol, 1997, p. 47) Consequently, af ter the year 1950, more and

more people in the world have embarked upon studying it for various reasons. This continuously-growing interest

in the study of English has led to the expansion of the domain of English Language Teaching (ELT), mainly

concerned with the teaching of general English. Nevertheless, new world factors brought about a particular

(professional, occupational or vocational) interest in the study of a particular domain of the English language. This

background of interests resulted in the need of a new methodological field, the study of English for a particular or

specific purpose. English for Specific Purposes is specialized English language teaching to develop specific skills

according to the needs of the learner. During the first few decades, the science of ESP has developed

considerably.

Stage 1970s-1980s 1980s-2000s 21st Century

Teaching Modes Structural Communicative Integrative

View of Language Structural (a formal structural

system)

Cognitive (a mentally-

constructed system)

Socio-cognitive

(developed in social

interaction)

English-Teaching Paradigms Grammar Translation & Audio-

Lingual

Communicative Language

Teaching

Content-Based, ESP/EAP

Figure 1: Kern & Warschaeur (2000, p 11)

English as a Lingua Franca

The researcher states that over 85 per cent international organizations in the field of international relations make

some official use of English. In Asia and the Pacific 90 percent of the organizations use only English for their

official proceedings (cited in McKay, 2002). English is playing a vital role in political, social, educational, and

economic concerns of the nations. English is the language of popular culture in the form of being the language of

English films and music which entertain people all over the globe (cited in McKay, 2002). The travel and tourism


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industries also rely on English as a common language of communication. The knowledge of English is also

essential to access printed and electronic information. Higher education is dependent on English in many

countries. Thus “knowledge of English is necessary for accessing many discourses at a global level from

international relations to popular culture to academia (MacKay, 2002). A huge industry of language teaching

exists in many countries of the world. This includes private language teaching institutions as well as private and

state schools (Mackay, 2002, p.14).The number of the people who have some familiarity with English is growing

and macro-acquisition of the language is also increasing (MacKay, 2002).Macro-acquisition means acquisition of

the language by various levels of society both at individual level and in groups. Individually more and more

people are learning it, and it is also finding a place in the academic curricula in various countries (Boroujeni and

Fard, 2013). English is now taught over 100 countries and is emerging as the chief foreign language being learnt

and displacing other language in the process. Graddol (1997) specifies the following domains of English in the

international area: 1) English is the working language of international organizations and conference. 2) English is

the international language of science and technology. 3) English is used in international banking, economic affairs

and commerce. 4) Advertising for global brands is done in English. 5) English is the language of audio-visual and

cultural products. 6) English is the language of international tourism. 7) English is the language of tertiary

education. 8) English is the language of international safety in the fields of aeronautics and sea. 9) English is the

language of international law. 10) It is a relay language in interpretation and translation. 11) It is the language of

technology transfer. 12) It is the language of internet communication.

It is an ample indication that English is being used as a lingua franca in all spheres of international activity and it

can be claimed that, internationally English has developed a ‘special role that is recognized in every country’

(Crystal 1997). Regarding all this fact, it can be seen mandatory for students of numerous fields of study to learn

English. It can help them to easily communicate with other peoples around the world, having access to the new-

developed scientific knowledge of other countries and, as a result, having a better practical life (Boroujeni and

Fard, 2013).

ESP Definition

The definition of English for Specific Purposes (ESP) as conceptual term appeared in the literature only in the

1960s. Hutchinson and Waters (1987, p.19) define ESP as an “approach” rather than a product, meaning that ESP

does not involve a particular type of language, teaching materials or methodology.

By the term English for Specific (or Special, Specified, Specifiable) Purposes is meant that type of language

learning which has its focus on all aspects of language pertaining to a particular field of human activity (Wright,

1992, p, 3). In other words, it is a way of teaching/learning English for specialized subjects with some specific

vocational and educational purposes in mind. In ESP syllabus, the teaching content is geared to the special

language 'repertoire' pertaining to the specialized aims that are required of the learners (Gatehouse, 2001). ESP is

a relatively new discipline within Applied Linguistics that bids a new learner-centered approach to English

language teaching whose methodology is based on the specific needs of the learner. Kennedy and Bolitho (1984,


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p. 3) point out that ESP is based on “an investigation of the purposes of the learner and the set of communicative

needs arising from these purposes”.

ESP is contrasted with EGP, or English for General Purposes. If English is taught as a second language along with

other subjects for educational purposes as some useful subject to the learners in the future, then this is EGP. In this

type of learning, there is generally no immediate requirement for the learners to use English for any real

communicative purposes. In contrast, if English is taught for specialized learners with some specific vocational

and educational purpose in mind, then this is ESP. ESP is learning and learner oriented, with a conception and

preference for communicative competence. Defined to meet the specific needs of the learners, ESP makes use of

methodology and the activities of the discipline it serves by focusing on the language appropriate to these

activities (Gatehouse, 2001). As a specific approach to language teaching, ESP requires that all decisions as to

content and method be based on the learner’s reason for learning (Hutchinson and Waters, 1987 , p. 19).

Figure 2: GE vs ESP (Hutchinson & Waters, 1987, P. 67)

The basic question of ESP is: Why does this learner need to learn a foreign language? The purpose of learningEnglish became the core.

ESP Origin

Hutchinson and Waters (1987, p. 5) is of the view that there are three common reasons to the emergence of all

ESP: the demands of New World, a revolution in linguistics, and focus on the learner. Besides two key historical

periods breathed life into ESP. First, the end of the Second World War brought with it an "age of enormous and

unprecedented expansion in scientific, technical and economic activity on an international scale for various

reasons, most notably the economic power of the United States in the post-war world, the role [of international


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language] fell to English" (Hutchinson and Waters, 1987, p. 6). Second, the Oil Crisis of the early 1970s resulted

in Western money and knowledge flowing into the oil-rich countries. The language of this knowledge became

English. The general effect of all this development was to exert pressure on the language teaching profession to

deliver the required goods. Whereas English had previously decided its own destiny, it now became subject to the

wishes, needs and demands of people other than language teachers (Hutchinson and Waters, 1987, p. 7).

Another key reason that Hutchinson and Waters consider to have a tremendous impact on the emergence of ESP

was a revolution in linguistics. Whereas traditional linguists set out to describe the features of language,

revolutionary pioneers in linguistics began to focus on the ways in which language is used in real communication.

One significant discovery was in the ways that spoken and written English vary. In other words, given the

particular context in which English is used, the variant of English will change. This idea was taken one step

farther. If language in different situations varies, then tailoring language instruction to meet the needs of learners

in specific contexts is also possible. Hence, in the late 1960s and the early 1970s there were many attempts todescribe English for Science and Technology (EST). Hutchinson and Waters (1987), Swales (1980), and Selinker

and Tarone (1981) are identified among the few of the prominent descriptive EST pioneers (Gatehouse, 2001).

The final reason Hutchinson and Waters (1987, pp. 18-9) cite as having influenced the emergence of ESP is

related to the psychology of learning. Rather than simply focusing upon the method of language delivery, more

attention was given to the ways in which learners acquire language and the differences in the ways language is

acquired. Learners were seen to employ different learning strategies, use different skills, enter with different

learning schemata, and be motivated by different needs and interests. Therefore, focus on the learners' needs

became equally paramount as the methods employed to disseminate linguistic knowledge. Designing specific

courses to better meet these individual needs was a natural extension of this thinking (Gatehouse, 2001). To this

day, the catchword in ESL circles is both learner-centered and learning-centered. In this way, teachers should

follow student’s target situation needs and learning needs by focusing on the systems, procedures, and products

that are at the heart of what the students do in English and to be able to deduce from this knowledge the language

needs of each type of learners (Ellis and Johnson, 1994, p. 26). The discussion above is meant to clarify the fact

that ESP should not be considered as a product of language analysis; rather, it should be seen as an approximation

to meet the needs of the learners (Gatehouse, 2001). In this respect, Widdowson affirms that “ESP is simply of

matter of describing a particular area of language and then using this description as a course specification to

impart to learners the necessary restricted competence with this particular area” (qtd in Gatehouse, 2001).

ESP Characteristics

Strevens (1988) defined ESP by identifying its absolute and variable characteristics. His definition makes a

distinction between four absolute and two variable characteristics:

I. Absolute characteristics: ESP consists of English language teaching which is

designed to meet specified needs of the learner;

related in content (i.e. in its themes and topics) to particular disciplines, occupations and activities;


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centred on the language appropriate to those activities in syntax, lexis, discourse, semantics, etc., and

analysis of this discourse;

in contrast with General English.

II. Variable characteristics: ESP may be, but is not necessarily

restricted as to the language skills to be learned (e.g. reading only);

not taught according to any pre-ordained methodology (pp.1-2).

Anthony (1997) notes that there has been considerable recent debate about what ESP means despite the fact that it

is an approach which has been widely used over the last three decades. At a 1997 Japan Conference on ESP,

Dudley-Evans offered a modified definition. The revised definition he and St. John postulate is as follows:

I. Absolute Characteristics

ESP is defined to meet specific needs of the learner;

ESP makes use of the underlying methodology and activities of the discipline it serves;

ESP is centred on the language (grammar, lexis, register), skills, discourse and genres appropriate to

these activities.

II. Variable Characteristics

ESP may be related to or designed for specific disciplines;

ESP may use, in specific teaching situations, a different methodology from that of general English;

ESP is likely to be designed for adult learners, either at a tertiary level institution or in a professional

work situation. It could, however, be for learners at secondary school level;

ESP is generally designed for intermediate or advanced students;

Most ESP courses assume some basic knowledge of the language system, but it can be used with

beginners (1998, pp. 4-5).

Dudley-Evans and St. John have removed the absolute characteristic that 'ESP is in contrast with General English'

and added more variable characteristics. They assert that ESP is not necessarily related to a specific discipline.

Furthermore, ESP is likely to be used with adult learners although it could be used with young adults in a

secondary school setting. As for a broader definition of ESP, Hutchinson and Waters (1987) theorize, "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" (p. 19).

Robinson (1991, p. 2) characterized ESP in the following manner:

a. goal directed

b. based on a needs analysis


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c. clearly specified time period for the course

d. adult students

e. students are not beginners in English

f. homogeneous groups. Care: to what extent homogeneous. Eg all employees in

a company may be required to study English, they will have the shared knowledge and values of the company, but

have different jobs to do.

g. may include specialist language,

h. more important, may include specialist activities

Anthony (1997) notes that, it is not clear where ESP courses end and general English courses begin; numerous

non-specialist ESL instructors use an ESP approach in that their syllabi are based on analysis of learner needs and

their own personal specialist knowledge of using English for real communication.

Faces of ESP

Different taxonomies of ESP are offered by different educationalists. For example, David Carver (1983, p. 20)

identifies three types of ESP:

1. English as a restricted language;

2. English for academic and occupational purposes;

3. English with specific topics .

The language used by air traffic controllers or by waiters are examples of English as a restricted language.

Mackay and Mountford (1978, p. 4-5) clearly illustrate the difference between restricted language and language

with this statement:

... The language of international air-traffic control could be regarded as 'special', in the sense

that the repertoire required by the controller is strictly limited and can be accurately determined

situationally, as might be the linguistic needs of a dining-room waiter or air-hostess. However,

such restricted repertoires are not languages, just as a tourist phrase book is not grammar.

Knowing a restricted 'language' would not allow the speaker to communicate effectively in

novel situation, or in contexts outside the vocational environment. (Mackay and Mountford,

1978, p. 4-5)


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The second type of ESP identified by Carver (1983) is English for Academic and Occupational Purposes. In the

'Tree of ELT' (Hutchinson & Waters, 1987), ESP is broken down into three branches: a) English for Science and

Technology (EST), b) English for Business and Economics (EBE), and c) English for Social Studies (ESS). Each

of these subject areas is further divided into two branches: English for Academic Purposes (EAP) and English for

Occupational Purposes (EOP). An example of EOP for the EST branch is 'English for Technicians' whereas an

example of EAP for the EST branch is 'English for Medical Studies' (Gatehouse, 2001).

Hutchinson and Waters (1987) note that there is not a clear-cut distinction between EAP and EOP since ‘ people

can work and study simultaneously; it is 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’ (Hutchinson and Waters,

1987, p.16). Perhaps this explains Carver's rationale for categorizing EAP and EOP under the same type of ESP. It

appears that Carver is implying that the end purpose of both EAP and EOP are one in the same: employment.

However, despite the end purpose being identical, the means taken to achieve the end is very different indeed(Gatehouse, 2001).

The third and final type of ESP identified by Carver (1983) is English with specific topics. Carver notes that it is

only here where emphasis shifts from purpose to topic. This type of ESP is uniquely concerned with anticipated

future English needs of, for example, scientists requiring English for postgraduate reading studies, attending

conferences or working in foreign institutions. However, one can argue that this is not a separate type of ESP.

Rather it is an integral component of ESP courses or programs which focus on situational language. This

situational language has been determined based on the interpretation of results from needs analysis of authentic

language used in target workplace settings (Gatehouse, 2001).


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Figure 3: ELT Tree (Hutchinson & Waters, 1987, P. 17)


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The classification of ESP courses creates numerous problems by failing to capture fluid nature of the various

types of ESP teaching and the degree of overlap between “common -core” EAP and EBP and General English -

e.g. Business English can be seen as mediating language between the technicalities of particular business and the

language of the general public (Picket, 1989), which puts it in a position between English for General Purposes

(EGP) and specialist English. Therefore, some authors suggest (Dudley-Evans and St John, 1998) the presentation

of the whole of ELT should be on a continuum that runs from General English courses to very specific ESP

courses as illustrated in the following Table.

Regarding positions 2 and 3, it is only the overall context of the program that decides whether a particular course

is classified as ESP or not. At position 4, the work is specified in terms of the skills (it is important to choose

appropriate skills to focus on - e.g., some doctors will need to read some medical journal, others will need oral

skills to talk with their patients) taught, but the groups are not homogenous from one discipline or profession

(scientists, engineers, lawyers, doctors), so the individual members can need texts dealing with their specific profession. Teaching materials prepared need contexts acceptable and understandable to all branches. At position

5 the course becomes really specific – the key feature of such courses is that teaching is flexible and tailored to

individual or group needs.

General Specific

Position 1

English for

Beginners

Position 2

Intermediate to

advance EGP

curses with a

focus on a

particular skills

Position 3

EGAP/EGBP

courses based

on commoncore

language

and skills not

related to

specific

discipline or

profession

Position 4

Courses for

broad

disciplinary or

professional

areas (e.g.

Report writing

for Scientists

and Engineers,

Medical

Position5

1)An academic

support course

related to a

particular

academic

course.

2) One-to-one

work with

business people


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English, Legal

English,

Negotiating

skills for

Business

English)

Register Analysis in ESP

It emerged between 1960s and early 1970s. It was mainly connected with the work of linguists like Peter Strevens

(1964) and Jack Ewer (1969). It is assumed that ESP constitutes a specific register different from that of general

English. The aim of this approach is to identify these grammatical and lexical features of these registers. The aim

behind this approach is to make the ESP course more relevant to learners’ needs, and to produce a syllabus which

gave high priority to the language forms that the students would meet in their science studies and vice-versa

would give low priority to forms they would not meet. This approach shows that there is a little linguistic

justification for having highly specialized texts and in addition there is no clear relationship between sentence

grammar and specialization of knowledge (Mohammed, 2012).

Special Language as a Concept in ESP

The concept of special language (which considers a wide range of topics from register analysis to sentence

grammar) was developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The basic principle was that the English of a particular

field constituted a specific register different from another. The language teachers’ aim at the time was to identify

lexical and grammatical features of these registers. The teaching materials focused on these linguistic features

which represented the syllabus. Now that a first stage in the exploration of English has reached its terminal point,

namely the study of the word structure down to its smallest lexical component, the E.S.P. teachers decide it is time

to move on to a new linguistic level, the sentence. Therefore, the syllabus should not only give priority to

language forms which had a high frequency of occurrence in science studies/texts, namely compound nouns, but

they should also deal with passives, conditionals and anomalous finites (modals).

One simple clarification requires to be made here about the two entirely different notions of special language and

specialized aim. Mackay and Mountford (1978) explain the idea of a special language in the following manner:

The only practical way in which we can understand the notion of special language is as a restricted repertoire of

words and expressions selected from the whole language because that restricted repertoire covers every


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requirement within a well-defined context, task, or vocation (Mackay and Mountford, 1978, p. 4). In order to rule

out the unintended interpretation of the term “special” to mean “unique”, many researchers prefer to replace it

with the term “specific” or “specifiable”. The implication is that the terms “special”, “specific”, or “specifiable”

are not intended to qualify the language, but to highlight the purpose of studying it (Gatehouse, 2001). It specifies

the focus on certain features of the language that are immediately associated with the restricted use of the target

language which is required by the learner in order to achieve a particular purpose (Munby, 1978, p. 2). As

mentioned above, a specialized aim refers to the purpose for which learners learn a language, not the nature of the

language they learn. Consequently, the focus of the word special in ESP ought to be on the purpose for which

learners learn and not on the specific jargon or registers they learn (Tahir, 2009). The notion of a language with

singular characteristics began to take root in the sixties and the early seventies, being associated with the

pioneering research of Halliday, MacIntosh and Strevens (1964). Then, many distinguished linguists subscribed to

the approach above, among them Widdowson (1983) who states that “ESP is simply a matter of describing a

particular area of language and then using this description as a course specification to impart to learners the

necessary restricted competence with this particular area” (cited in Tahir, 2009). Hutchinson and Waters (1987:

19) second this by insisting that ESP must be seen as an approach, not a product.

Discourse Analysis in ESP

The 1980s recorded a step ahead in the approach to E.S.P, with Louis Trimble’s (1985) EST: A Discourse

Approach. The priorities, for this decade, mean:

understanding how sentences were combined in discourse to produce meaning

to identify the organizational patterns in texts

to specify the linguistic means by which these patterns are signaled. All these patterns

represented the syllabus.

This approach is clearly accounted for by the E.ST. Rhetorical Process Chart suggested by Trimble (1985, P. 11),

which is reproduced in what follows:

Level Description of Level

A. The objectives of the total discourse

EXAMPLES: 1. Detailing an experiment

2. Making a recommendation

3. Presenting new hypotheses or theory

4. Presenting other types of E.S.T. information


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B. The general rhetorical functions that develop the objectives of Level A

EXAMPLES: 1. Stating purpose

2. Reporting past research

3. Stating the problem

4. Presenting information on apparatus used in an experiment

a) Description

b) Operation

5. Presenting information on experimental procedures

C. The specific that develop the general rhetorical functions of Level B

EXAMPLES: 1. Description: physical, function and process

2. Definition

3. Classification

4. Instructions

5. Visual-verbal relationship

D. The rhetorical techniques that provide relationships within and between the rhetorical units of Level

C

EXAMPLES: I. Orders

1. Time order, 2. Space order, 3. Causality and result

II. Patterns

1. Causality and result, 2. Order of importance, 3. Comparison and contrast, 4.

Analogy, 5. Exemplification, 6. Illustration


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Target Situation Analysis in ESP

The aim of the ESP movement was to take the student’s existing knowledge and set it on a scientific basis, by

establishing procedures for relating language analysis more closely to learners’ actual needs (Mohammed, 2012).

This theory assumed that the purpose of an ESP course is to enable learners to function adequately in a target

situation, that is, the situation in which the learners will use the language they are learning, then the process of the

ESP course design should follow by first identifying the target situation and then carrying out a thorough analysis

of the linguistic features of that situation (Mohammed, 2012).

The aim of ESP is to take the existing knowledge and set it on a more scientific basis by establishing procedures

for relating language analysis to learner’s reasons for learning. The purpose of an ESP course focused on Target

Situation Analysis is:

to enable learners to function adequately in a target situation, that is the situation in which the

learners will use the language they are learning

to identify the target situation

to carry out a rigorous analysis of its linguistic features

The representative work to have applied the Target Situation Analysis is John Munby’s (1978) Communicative

Syllabus Design. The Munby model produces a detailed profile of the learner’s needs in terms of

- communication purposes

- communicative setting

- means of communication

- language skills

- functions

- structures

The target situation analysis marked the ‘coming of age’ of E.S.P. nevertheless, as any other model, Munby’s had

its shortcomings which include the fact that the concept of ‘needs’ is far too simple.

Skills and Strategies in ESP

This stage in the evolution of ESP was the object of The National ESP. Project in Brazil and The University of

Malaya ESP. Project, which had been designed as an attempt to:


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look below the surface forms of the language

consider not the language but the thinking processes that underlie language use.

The principal idea behind the skills-centered approach is that underlying all language use there are common

reasoning and interpreting processes which enable learners to extract meaning from discourse. The focus should

be on the underlying interpretive strategies which enable learners to cope with the surface forms:

guessing the meaning of words form context;

using visual layout to determine the type of text;

exploiting cognates (i.e., words which are similar in the mother tongue and the target language)

This approach generally concentrates on reading and listening strategies, the characteristic exercises get thelearners to reflect on and analyze how meaning is produced in and retrieved from written or spoken discourse.

ESP as a Learner-Centered Approach

ESP is a learner-centered approach to learning and teaching which sees learning as the active construction of

meaning, and teaching as the act of guiding, scaffolding and facilitating learning (Tahir, 2009). This approach

considers knowledge as being an ever-changing process, which is built upon the learners’ prior ex perience

(Hutchinson and Waters, 1987, p. 59). A learner-centered approach provides opportunities for students to practice

critical and creative thinking, problem solving, and decision making. This involves recall, application, analysis,

synthesis, prediction and evaluation; all of which contribute to the development and enhancement of conceptual

understandings. A learner-centered approach also encourages students to demonstrate ownership of their ideas and

to reflect on and monitor their thinking as they make decisions and take action. In the key learning area of EFL,

learning experiences should be adjusted as required to meet the abilities, needs, and interests of individuals and

groups of students. This may mean providing different amounts of time, space or materials, and offering a range

of levels and types of support to students. Students may engage in experiences in different ways, or make choices

from a range of options so that learning is relevant and meaningful. This approach can involve both students and

teachers in the design of learning and assessment opportunities, and requires negotiation and flexibility (cited in

Tahir, 2009).

It is said that ESP is an approach to language teaching in which all decisions as to syllabus content and method are

based on the learners’ reasons for learning. Though the needs for using English are varied, all learners need to use

a specific area of the English language in the shortest term possible. After identifying a target situation - the need

for a specific segment at school - the learners' needs have to be identified; and their current situation and the target

situation must also be analyzed. Additionally, learners’ potentials require to be identified, as well as the skills and

knowledge needed to attain the target situation without losing sight of such constraints as aptitude, time, and

technical resources. With these data in mind, a course is designed and the materials are then chosen and


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organized. Finally, evaluation is a very important tool so that learning strategies can be redefined and results

improved (Tahir, 2009).

Needs Analysis in ESP

As a learner needs –based approach, ESP practitioners are particularly interested in the gap between learners’

current and target competencies. This may at first sight not seem so different from the interests of many other

language educators, even those teaching language for general purposes. It is probably safe to say that most

language instruction attempts to address learners’ present needs, having gauged current proficienc y levels (e.g.,

elementary, intermediate, advanced) with the help of test scores or educational background information (Belcher,

2009). Less common outside of ESP, however, is a determination to identify and explicitly address specific target

needs — that is, not the needs of generalized language learners but those of specific learners eager to join the

“literacy clubs” (Smith, 1988). Far from assuming that they already know what their students at a certain

proficiency level need, ESP specialists accept responsibility for finding out what their learners will likely need

(and want) to be able to read, write, speak, and comprehend as listeners to achieve their goals (Belcher, 2009).

Acceptance of this needs-identifying responsibility means that well before actual instruction begins, ESP course

designers will have collected and examined data, usually in the form of sample texts and audio or video

recordings, from the target community, often with guidance, via interviews, from community insiders (Long,

2005). Informed by recent developments in genre theory, ESP specialists proceed with discourse-sample analysis,

by considering, ideally, both macro- (rhetorical, whole-text) and micro- (lexicogrammatical) level characteristics

of the written and spoken genres (i.e., routine communicative events) represented, such as memos, conference

presentations, progress reports, job interviews, or whatever else seems salient (Belcher, 2009). Of interest will be

not just these genres in isolation, but the contexts in which they function and interact with other genres: how one

genre responds to others (intertextuality or interdiscursivity), such as application letters in response to job ads,

and how they, in turn, form large community-specific genre colonies or networks (Cheng & Mok, 2008).

Attention is also ideally given to how target genres vary within and across communities, how they allow room for

personal agency or “voice,” as well as to how they change over time. Rapidly evolving cyber genres like

videoconferences, blogs, and email as used in specific communities are conspicuous examples of the dynamism

and variability of genres, as new media and rhetorical situations develop, that ESP needs analysts need to be

mindful of (Belcher, 2009).

Belcher is of the view that needs assessment is best when ongoing. Learners themselves, especially when already

in the target setting, can provide crucial data on the effectiveness of concurrent ESP instruction and identify new

target needs that emerge as their community immersion deepens. Even after an ESP course ends, there is good

reason for needs analysis to continue (Belcher, 2009).

ESP Syllabus Design


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Generally considered an indispensable unit of second language programs, institutional curricula and syllabi can

take various forms, represent various theories of learning, and be realized in various ways. ESP syllabus design

should cover the three factors of: i) language description, ii) learning theories, and iii) needs analysis:

Carver (1983) states that there are three characteristics common to ESP courses:

1) authentic materials – the use of authentic learning materials is possible if we accept the claim that ESP coursesshould be offered at an intermediate or advanced level. The use of such materials, modified by teachers or

unmodified, is common in ESP, especially in self-directed studies or research tasks. The students are usually

encouraged to conduct research using a variety of different resources including the Internet; (Milevica)

2) purpose-related orientation – refers to the simulation of communicative tasks required by the target situation.

The teacher can give students different tasks - to simulate the conference preparation, involving the preparation of

papers, reading, note-taking and writing.


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3) self-direction – means that ESP is concerned with turning learners into users. For self – direction, it is necessary

that teacher encourage students to have a certain degree of autonomy – freedom to decide when, what, and how

they will study. For high-ability learners it is essential to learn how to access information in a new culture. Since

ESP courses are of various types, depending on specific scientific field or profession, and have specific features,

teachers teaching such courses need to play different roles and acquire certain knowledge (Milevica).

ESP Teachers/Practitioners

As ESP teaching is extremely varied some authors (Dudley-Evans and St John, 1998) use the term “practitioner”

rather than “teacher” to emphasize that ESP work involves much more than teaching. ESP is a practical discipline

with the most important objective of helping students to learn. However, the teacher is not the primary knower of

the carrier content of the material. The students, especially where the course is specifically oriented towards the

subject content or work the students are engaged in, may know more about the content than the teacher. The

teacher has the opportunity to draw on students’ knowledge of the content in order to generate communication in

the classroom. When the teaching is a specific course on, for example, how to write a business report, it is vital

that the teacher adopts the position of the consultant who has the knowledge of communication practices but

needs to “negotiate” with the students on how best to explore these practices to meet the objective they have. The

relationship is much more of a partnership. In some situations the role of ESP teacher extends to giving one-to-

one advice to students (e.g., in non-English speaking countries students will have to publish in international

journals and need advice in both language and discourse issues). ESP teachers need to have considerable

flexibility, be willing to listen to learners, take interest in the disciplines or professional activities the students are

involved in, and to take some risks in their teaching.

Since it is rarely possible to use a particular textbook without the need for supplementary material – sometimes no

really suitable published material exists for identified needs - ESP practitioners often have to provide the material

for the course. This involves selection of published material, adapting material if it is not suitable, or writing it.

ESP teachers also need to assess the effectiveness of the teaching material used whether it is published or self-

produced. However, since the teachers are encouraged by their employees to write new material there is a danger

of constant re-invention of the wheel; advantages of published materials are ignored even when they are suitable

for a given situation.

ESP teachers need to be in touch with the research. Teachers carrying out a needs analysis, designing a course, or

writing teaching materials need to be capable of incorporating the findings of the research, and those working in

specific ESP situations need to be confident that they know what is involved in skills such as written

communication.

It is believed that subject-specific work is often best approached through collaboration with subject specialist.

This may involve cooperation in which ESP teacher finds out about the subject syllabus in an academic context or

the tasks that students have to carry out in a work or business situation. Or it may involve specific collaboration so

that there is some integration between specialist studies or activities and the language. It might involve the


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language teacher specifically preparing learners for the language of subject lectures or business presentations.

Another possibility is that a specialist checks and comments on the content of teaching materials that the ESP

teacher has prepared. The fullest collaboration is where a subject expert and a language teacher team-teach

classes; in EAP such lessons might help with the understanding of subject lectures or the writing of examination

answers, essays or theses, while in EOP they might involve the language teacher and a business trainer working

together to teach both the skills and the language related to business communication.

The ESP practitioner is often involved in various types of evaluation - testing of students, evaluation of courses

and teaching materials. Tests are conducted 1) to assess whether students have the necessary language and skills

to undertake a particular academic course or career which is important in countries such as the UK, USA,

Australia where large numbers of international students do postgraduate course or research and need

internationally required tests, e.g. International English Language Test Service (IELTS), Test of English as a

Foreign Language (TOEFL), and 2) to assess the level of their achievement – how much learners have gainedfrom a course. Evaluation of course design and teaching materials should be done while the course is being taught,

at the end of the course and after the course has finished, in order to assess whether the learners have been able to

make use of what they learned and to find out what they were not prepared for. Evaluation through discussion and

on-going needs analysis can be used to adapt the syllabus (Milevica).

ESP and EGP

Anthony (1997) notes that, it is not clear where ESP courses end and general English courses begin; numerous

non-specialist EGP instructors use an ESP approach in that their syllabi are based on the analysis of learner needs

and their own personal specialist knowledge of using English for real communication.

ESP is a course within the wider professional framework of the English language teaching (ELT), with

implications for the design of syllabus and materials as well as its presentation and then evaluation. English for

General Purposes (EGP) refers to contexts such as the school where needs cannot be readily specified. It is more

useful to consider EGP providing a broad foundation rather than a detailed and selective specification of goals like

ESP. (Hutchinson & Waters, 1987, p 53-54).

Aside from the rough separation at the definition level there is an overlapping connection and proportion between

them. In order to clarify their relation Widdowson (1983) establishes distinctive features of ESP and EGP.

The most important EGP features are:

the focus is often on education;

as the learners’ future needs are impossible to predict, the course content is more difficult to select;

due to the above point it is important for the content in the syllabus to have a high surrender value.

The most relevant ESP features are:

the focus is on training;


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as English is intended to be used in specific vocational contexts, the selection of the appropriate content

is easier;

it is important for the content in the syllabus to have a high surrender value, most relevant to the

vocational context;

the aim may be to create a restricted English competence.

Surrender value stands for the overall utility (value) of the English taught by a specific course, the higher the

surrender value, the greater the utility of the English taught. These distinctive features reveal the true nature of

EGP and ESP (POPESCU, 2010, p. 50).

ESP Benefits

Tahir (2009) cites that the benefits of ESP are threefold in that they help achieve speed, efficiency, and

effectiveness in learning. As far as learning speed is concerned, ESP results in faster acquisition of required

linguistic items. This is because it follows the pattern of the native speakers’ acquisition of language for specific

purposes, in which speakers learn what they need, when they need it, in authentic, content-based contexts. ESP

does not only follow this pattern, but also improves upon it by providing an opportunity to learn in an accelerated,

intensive context (Wright, 1992, p. 5).

As for learning efficiency, on an ESP course, the trainees make the maximal use of their learning resources, all of

which are brought to bear on acquiring specific, pre-identified linguistic items and skills. Obviously, the needs

analysis is of vital importance here since it enables trainers to determine the specific requirements of trainees

(Wright, 1992, p. 5).

Thirdly, there is learning effectiveness. On completion of an ESP course, the trainees are ready to use language

appropriately and correctly in job related tasks, which have been identified prior to the course by means of a needs

analysis. Accordingly, English becomes usable immediately in the employment context. In addition, the trainees

are prepared for further job-related training in English. Such preparation will result in greater academic

performance since no time is wasted in acquiring the necessary language (Wright, 1992, p. 5). The benefits of ESP

can be brought out further by contrasting ESP courses with General English courses. Such courses deal with many

different topics, necessarily at a superficial level. In addition, they deal with many different skills, usually

attempting to give equal treatment to each. Due to the general nature of these courses, they can be extremely

useful, which is why they comprise the vast majority of English courses. However, for students with specific

learning needs, they are seriously lacking because their scope is too wide. The trainees learn many irrelevant

things. Relevant material, if it is included at all, is treated in insufficient depth. These deficiencies cause the

acquisition of the required linguistic items to be slow and minimal, and upon the completion of the course, the

trainees are not prepared to function effectively in the required employment contexts (Tahir, 2009).

Conclusion


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With a view to understanding the position of ESP within the wider space of the English language, a few hints to

the importance of this language among the other languages of the world were mentioned at the outset. The

acronym ESP has had an evolution of its own and it is this etymology presentation which speaks about the stages

in the making and the development of an academic subject with tremendously important practical consequences.

The demand for the teaching of English for clearly stated aims faced language teachers with specific demands

imposed by the learner’s personal needs, by the learning environment, the time learning and individual study

constraints resulted in changes and the introduction of new and efficient teaching methods as well as new

principles for the designing of supportive materials. This demand also resulted in the making of a new academic

subject.


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