English for Specific Purposes

MPhil Linguistics and TESOL

Introduction to ESP
Shabana Ahmed
School of Education
shabana.ahmed@bnu.edu.pk
 Make a list of activities that you have carried
out in the course of a week. In front of each
activity write down its purpose (why you did
it).
Example:
Activity Purpose
1. Visited cousin to ask after her health
2. Bought a cake to wish my sister a happy
birthday
 Purpose and Specific Need
• Is there anything in life that we do without a
purpose ?
• Does the event dictate our dress, our foodor
does it remain the same all the time ?
• What happens when we fall ill ? Go to any
doctor or see a consultant?
• What does the doctor do ? Give us any
treatment or diagnose our medical problem
and prescribe medicine accordingly
 Employment in Pakistan
The population in Pakistan in the 2014 was
estimated at 188.02 million, and the
employed labor force was estimated at
56.01% million. Presently the overall literacy
rate in Pakistan is 60% and the divide is males
69% and females 40%. (p.135)
Department of Finance, Government of Pakistan
 Employment and the Job-Market in
Pakistan
• Without good English it is nearly impossible to get a
good job
• Competence in written/spoken English a basic
requirement in job advertisements
• Language of interviews
• English language test in some companies
• Even if one gets a job, one has a constant fear of
losing it
• Delay in promotions
• English is used in the army, higher courts,
higher education, and the constitution of
Pakistan is in English
• It is the language of nearly all the
multi-nationals operating in Pakistan
• English has become the first language for
some of Pakistanis living in Pakistan.
 Status of ELT in Pakistan
• Big gap between what is needed and what
is taught.
• Literature based courses
• Practice of TENOR (Teaching English for No
Obvious Reason) rather than teaching
English to meet the needs of the students
• Rote leaning is the norm
• Faulty examination system
• Needed: Academic/Scientific/Professional
What is English for Specific Purposes
(ESP)?
“The special discourse used in specific
settings by people sharing common
purposes.”
Ruiz-Garrido, Palmer-Silveira &
Fortanete-Gómez, p.
 What is ESP?
“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”.
Hutchinson and Waters (1987: 19)
 What is ESP?
ESP requires the careful research and design
of pedagogical materials and activities for an
identifiable group of adult learners within a
specific learning context.
(Johns and Dudley-Evans, 1991)
 What is ESP?
The basic insight that language can be thought of as a tool for
communication rather than as sets of phonological,
grammatical and lexical items to be memorized led to the
notion of developing learning programs to reflect the different
communicative needs of disparate groups of learners. No
longer was it necessary to teach an item simply because it is
‘there’ in the language. A potential tourist to England should
not have to take the same course as an air traffic controller in
Singapore or a Columbian engineer preparing for graduate
study in the United States. This insight led to the emergence of
English for Specific Purposes (ESP) as an important
subcomponent of language teaching, with its own approaches
to curriculum development, materials design, pedagogy,
testing and research. Nunan (2004, p. 7)
• ESP teaches 'the language for getting things
done'.

• Hardings, 2007
 Emergence of ESP
• Became popular in 1960s as a vital activity
within EFL or ESL
• The demands of a brave new world
• A revolution in linguistics
• A new focus on the learner
(Hutchinson and Waters 1987)
 Emergence of ESP
Demands of the New World
The language problem in development stems
from at least three communication needs
which are increasingly being recognized both
in developing countries themselves and in
other countries aiding in their development:
i)internal communication
ii) transmission of science and technology and
iii) international communication
(Mackay& Mountford, 1978, p. vi)
 Contd…
Internal Communication
• The formation of economic communities makes
the need for English central to their internal
interaction e.g. European Union, SAARC, NATO

Transmission of Science and Technology

• The explosion of scientific and technical English
(EST) especially in professional publications and
graduate schools.
- conferences and seminars devoted to EST
- majority of international journals on science
and technology are in English
 Contd…
International Communication
• In international business English is the language of
communication among non-native speaking
interlocutors
• The language of the airways is English: ESP
courses are designed for pilots and other air
personnel who must communicate without error
with air traffic personnel
• The language of the sea is also English: SEASPEAK,
the International Maritime English
 Emergence of ESP Contd…
Revolution in Linguistics
• A shift from defining formal features of
language to exploring ways in which language
is actually used in real situations
• The language we use differs from one context
to the other
• Identification of features of specific situations
and designing courses based on those features
 Emergence of ESP Contd…
Focus on the Learner
• Developments in educational psychology
emphasizing the importance of learners and
their attitude to learning
• Needs and interests of the learners affecting
their motivation to learn
• The idea of designing courses that matched
the interests and needs of the learners
 Importance of ESP
• Education has become more practical and
application-oriented.
• Students want their studies to lead to
something useful.
• Economies and markets want to employ
people with vocational skills.
• Increasing globalization
• English as its language of communication.
• In a shrinking world, faster spread of English
as the language of international
communication
• Downwards and outwards spread of English
 History of ESP
• C. L. Barber published an article as early as 1962 on
the nature of scientific English
• Descriptions of written scientific and technical English
(Ewer, Latore, 1969)
• EST regarded as synonymous with ESP
• Analysis of doctor-patient communication (Candlin,
Bruton, Learther, 1976)
• The English needed by a particular group of learners
could be identified by analysing the linguistic
characteristics of their specialist area of work or study
“Tell me what you need English for, and I’ll tell you the
English you need.”
 English for Specific Purposes (ESP)

Branch Sub Branch Example

English for Academic English for General English for Academic

Purposes Academic Purposes Writing
English for Specific English for Law Studies
Academic Purposes English for Nursing
Studies
English for Professional English for General English for Health Care
Purposes Professional Purposes Sector

English for Specific English for Doctors

Professional Purposes English for
Radiographers
English for Occupational English for General English for the
Purposes Occupational Purposes Hospitality Industry
 ESP Courses

Pre-Experience During-Experience Post-Experience

 General English VS. ESP
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)
 General English vs. ESP
• ESP simply means that you teach your students /
employees according to their specific English
language needs. The basic question to ask is:
Why does the learner need to learn a foreign /
second language?
The educators need to choose the slice from the
English language that meets the needs of the
learners.
General English vs. English for Specific
Purposes
General English is taught throughout the world at
earlier ages with increasing success. As the trend
continues, students will leave their primary
education having already covered the traditional
“General English” syllabus and regardless of how
competent they have become, they will not wish to
repeat the same merry-go round at secondary and
tertiary level - their English needs an application, a
purpose. (Hardings, 2007, p.7)
GENERAL ENGLISH
Speaking

Writing English Reading

Listening
ESP VS General English

Advertisements

Research
Memos
Assignments

Writing

Legal
Reports
Documents
Difference Between Teaching ESP and
General English
• Both ELT and ESP share a similar aim – to develop
students’ communicative competence.
• Ellis (1996 cited in Basturkmen, 2010) describes
language pedagogy as ‘concerned with the ability to
use language in communicative situations’ (p. 7).
• Workplace or academic situations can be considered
some of those situations.
• Many ELT courses are based on the principle that
language course content should be related to the
purposes for which students are expected to use
language after all.
 Contd…
• In a general ELT situation, the goals for language
teaching are linguistic, such as, development of oral
competence or a wide vocabulary, or ability to use a
wide range of grammatical structures.
• In an ESP situation, the learner would want to
achieve ‘real world’ objectives, requiring specific
linguistic competencies.
• Students on an English-for-nursing course may want
to ‘complete patient records’ appropriately or
‘interact with patients’ in ways that reduce patients’
stress.
 Contd…
• In ESP, there is a strong focus on language as ‘situated
language use’.
• The ESP teacher needs to find out what the
language-based objectives of the students are in the
target occupation or academic discipline and ensure that
the content of the ESP course works towards them.
• ESP focuses on when, where and why learners need the
language either in study or workplace contexts.
• Decisions about what to teach and how to teach are
informed by descriptions of how language is used in the
particular contexts the learners will work or study in.
 Contd…
• Unlike general ELT, ESP deals with ‘domains of
knowledge which the average educated native
speaker could not reasonably be expected to be
familiar with.’
• In an English for nurses course, the content might
involve items such as medical terminology,
patterns of nurse–patient interaction, written
genres such as patient records, nursing notes,
items that are not part of the communication
repertoire of those outside nursing fields.
 Differences between Teaching ESP &
General English
“In theory nothing, in practice a great deal“
Hutchinson & Waters (1987:53)
• ESP shows a commitment to the goal of providing
language instruction that addresses students’ own
specific language learning purposes
• ESP uses expert from the specific discipline
• ESP uses insights from various disciplines
• ESP could focus on one skill only rather than the
teaching of all fours skills in GE
• ESP courses are offered in limited time rather than GE
courses which may spread over several months or years
 Characteristics of ESP
Absolute Characteristics
1. ESP is defined to meet specific needs of the
learners
2. ESP makes use of underlying methodology and
activities of the discipline it serves
3. ESP is centered on the language appropriate to
these activities in terms of grammar, lexis, register,
study skills, discourse and genre.
(Dudley-Evans, 1997)
 Characteristics of ESP
Variable Characteristics
1. ESP may be related to or designed for specific
disciplines
2. ESP may use, in specific teaching situations, a different
methodology from that of General English
3. 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
4. ESP is generally designed for intermediate or advanced
students.
5. Most ESP courses assume some basic knowledge of
the language systems
(Dudley-Evans, 1997)
 The Role of an ESP Teacher
The ESP practitioner has 'five key roles':
• Teacher or language consultant
• Course designer and materials provider
• Researcher-not just gathering material, but also
understanding the nature of the material of the ESP
specialism
• Collaborator-working with subject teachers and
subject teaching
• Evaluator-constantly evaluating the materials and the
course design, as well as setting assessment tests and
achievement tests
 Contd…
Bell (2002) advocates the three Cs for helping
teachers to improve their knowledge and skills in a
particular area of ESP.
1.Curiosity: The teacher should be interested in the
subject area and want to learn more.
2.Collaboration:Teachers should seek out subject
specialists, show them their work and ask for their
feedback
Confidence : Confidence will grow as teachers
explore the new subject matter, engage with subject
specialists and learn from their learners.
 Characteristics of an ESP Learner
• The ESP learner has a further purpose: Aims to
achieve something specific beyond the
language itself.
• The further purpose of the ESP learner usually
involves learning of skills which are often
practical and manual
• He or she may come to the ESP class tired and
distracted.
• The ESP learner may be there reluctantly, perhaps
because their line manager has told them to be
there.
• ESP learners in the same class are unlikely to have
the same, or even a similar, level of English.
• The students will usually be studying in the same
ESP area.
• It is possible to have varied classes within a
specialism-for example, doctors, nurses,
radiologists, and hospital administrators.
 Demands of Teaching ESP
• Teachers may find themselves dealing with content in
an occupation or subject of study that they themselves
have little or no prior knowledge of
• They may find they have far less knowledge and
experience in the subject than their learners
• ESP teachers find themselves working alone without
colleagues to ‘sound off’ ideas for course and
materials design.
• The ESP teacher needs to learn how to design courses
in a conceptual area that one has not mastered and
develop the ability to analyse and describe specific
texts.
 References
Dudley-Evans, T., & St. John, J. M. (1998). Developments
in English for specific purposes . Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press.
Hutchinson, T., & Waters, A. (1987). English for specific
purposes. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Harding, K. (2007). English for Specific Purposes. Oxford:
Oxford University Press.
Mackay, R., & Mountford, A. (1978). English for specific
purposes. London: Longman.