Outline:: Adeel Raza
Outline:: Adeel Raza
Outline:: Adeel Raza
Abstract
Growth of ESP
What is ESP
The origin of ESP
Key notions about ESP
Characteristics of ESP
Types of ESP
How general English is different from ESP
Need analysis
Principles of need analysis
Vocabulary word
Growth of ESP:
From the early 1960's, English for Specific Purposes (ESP) has
grown to become one of the most prominent areas of EFL teaching today.
Its development is reflected in the increasing number of universities
offering an MA in ESP (e.g. The University of Birmingham, and Aston
University in the UK) and in the number of ESP courses offered to
overseas students in English speaking countries. There is now a well-
What is ESP?
As described above, ESP has had a relatively long time to mature and so
we would expect the ESP community to have a clear idea about what ESP
means. Strangely, however, this does not seem to be the case. At the
Japan Conference on ESP also, clear differences in how people
interpreted the meaning of ESP could be seen. Some people described
ESP as simply being the teaching of English for any purpose that could be
specified. Others, however, were more precise, describing it as the
teaching of English used in academic studies or the teaching of English for
vocational or professional purposes.
At the conference, guests were honored to have as the main
speaker, Tony Dudley-Evans, co-editor of the ESP Journal mentioned
above. Very aware of the current confusion amongst the ESP community
in Japan, Dudley-Evans set out in his one hour speech to clarify the
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.
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
Certainly, a great deal about the origins of ESP could be written. Notably,
there are three reasons common to the emergence of all ESP: the
demands of a Brave New World, a revolution in linguistics, and focus on
the learner (Hutchinson & Waters, 1987).
Hutchinson and Waters (1987) note those 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 language] fell to English" (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 & Waters, 1987, p.7).
The final reason Hutchinson and Waters (1987) cite as having influenced
the emergence of ESP has less to do with linguistics and everything to do
In this discussion, four key notions will be discussed. They are as follows:
a) the distinctions between the absolute and variable characteristics of
ESP, b) types of ESP, c) characteristics of ESP courses, and d) the
meaning of the word 'special' in ESP.
I. Absolute characteristics:
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
Types of ESP
The third and final type of ESP identified by Carter (1983) is English with
specific topics. Carter 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, I 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.
In many contexts it has been felt that students require adequate English
language skills in order for them to cope with the academic demands of
their study programmed. Hence a course of English for Academic
Purposes (EAP) is designed and taught to them. Such a course includes
the teaching of such skills as critical thinking, critical reading, listening for
global and specific comprehension (e.g. lectures, talks, announcements,
etc), writing essays, terms papers, critical analysis, reports, participation in
group discussions, making oral presentations, etc.
The most important difference lies in the learners and their purposes
for learning English. One can add to it by saying that ESP concentrates
more on language in context than on teaching grammar and language
structures. It covers subjects varying from accounting or computer science
to tourism and business management. In some cases, people with
inadequate proficiency in English need to be taught to handle specific jobs.
Learners in the ESP classes are usually adults who are generally
aware of the purposes for which they will need to use English.
Needs Analysis:
This is the requirements definition part of the problem. We use
whatever it takes to ferret out the needs of you and your users. Interviews,
questionnaires, and prototyping are some of the most successful methods.
These methods will include object methodology as it applies. During this
phase we'll also determine the best platform and operating system for
satisfying your needs.
Ensure that all users need based requirements are derived as low
level user requirements before being transposed into system
requirements.
Word your requirements precisely and ensure that you cover all
categories of human-related requirements.
Keep asking your users until you have a true understanding of their
requirements
1. abyssal
2. aerial
3. alliance
4. alternative energy
5. anthropogenic
6. arboreal
7. association
8. bioclimatic
10. biodiversity
11. biome
12. bionomics
13. climax
14. colonize
15. community
16. competition
17. desertification
19. dispersion
20. doe
21. dominance
22. ecology
23. ecosystem
24. ecoterrorism
25. ecotourism
26. intertidal
27. intolerant
29. lentic
30. limnology
The scientific study of bodies of fresh water for their biological and
physical and geological properties
31. litter
32. littoral
33. lotic
35. Opportunistic
36. Ordination
37. Overturn
38. Ozone
41. Ozonosphere
42. Preservationist
43. Productivity
44. Provincialism
A lack of sophistication
45. Pyrogenic
46. Timberline
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Line marking the upper limit of tree growth in mountains or northern
latitudes
47. Tolerance
48. Tolerant
49. Trophic
Of or relating to nutrition
50. Sublittoral
Lesson Plans:
To teach these vocabulary words, I have made two lesson plans.
These are,
Lesson plan 1:
Class:
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Bsc (zoology/ botony/ chemistry)
Presentation:
25 vocabulary words related to ecology, their meanings and details
Time Frame:
Total time = 45 minutes
Lesson plan 2:
Class:
Bsc (zoology/ botony/ chemistry)
Presentation:
Next 25 vocabulary words related to ecology, their meanings and
details
Time Frame:
Total time = 60 minutes
Conclusion:
According to my conclusion if one is going to teach courses of
English (or any other language for that matter) for specific purposes, one
Should be clear just how the notions English (or language) and purpose
Are to be defined, and what exactly it means to be specific. I do not think,
on the whole, that these matters have been given the consideration they
deserve. There has been a good deal of attention given to the description
of areas of language use and the needs of learners, but much less
attention given to the crucial prior question of what exactly it is that is
being described. There are those who talk of the lack of research in ESP
as if this were simply a matter of amassing quantities of data about the
superficial features of varieties of language use without enquiring into what
the nature of language use might be. There are others who insist on the
importance
Of needs analysis without investigating the educational implications