ENGLISH FOR SPECIFIC

PURPOSES

ESP consists of ELT which is:

designed to meet specified needs of the learner;
Related in content (that is in its themes and topics)
to particular discipline, occupations and activities;
Centred on language apropriate to those activities in
syntax, lexis, discourse, semantics and so on, and
analysis of the discourse;
In contrast with General English.
The varibale characteristics are that ESP
May be restricted as to the learning skills to be
learned (for example reading only);
May not be taught according to any pre-ordained
methodology (Strevens, 1988)

ESP is goal-oriented.
ESP courses develop from a needs
analysis, which aims to specify as closely
as possible what exactly it is that students
have to do through the medium of English
(Robinson, 1991).
ESP courses are constrained by a limited
time period, in which their objectives have to
be achieved, and are taught to adults in
homogeneous classes in terms of the work or
specialist studies that students are involved
in.

EOP

Preexperience
Simultaneous/Inservice
Postexperience
For study in a
specific
situation

ESP

Pre-study
In-study
Post-study

EEP/E
AP

As a school
subject

Independe
nt
Integrated

Figure 1: ESP classification by experience

Evnas,1998: 6)

(Duddley-

English for Specific Purposes

English for Acedemic

Purposes

English forEnglish for

English
(Academic (Academicfor
) Science ) Medical (Academi
and
Purposes c) Legal
Technolog
Purposes
y

English for Occupational

Purposes

English for
English for
Professional
Manageme
Purposes
nt,
Fincance,
and
Economics
English for
English for
Medical
Business
Purposes
Purposes

English for
Vocational
Purposes

Prevocationa
l English

Figure 2: ESP Classification by professional area (DuddleyEvans, 1998: 6)

Vocationa
l English

ESP = English for Specific Purposes

EAP = English for Academic Purposes
EST
= English for Science and Technology
EAMP = English for (Academic) Medical Purposes for
medical students
EOMP
= english for Occupational Medical Puroses
for practising doctors
ELP
= English for Legal Purposes
EOP = English for Occupational Purposes
EBP = English for Business Purposes
EVP = English for Vocational Purposes
EGAP = English for General Academic Purposes
ESAP = English for Specific Academic Purposes
EGBP = English for General Business Purposes
ESBP = English for Specific Business Purposes
Vocational English the language of training for specific
trades or occupations
Pre-vocational Englishthe language used in finding a job
and interview skills, also to understand an employers
expectations and policies

GENERAL
1

Position 1 Position 2
English for Intermedi
Beginners ate to
advanced
EGP
courses
with a
focus on
particular
skills

Position
Position 4
3
Courses for
EGAP/EG
broad
BP
disciplinary
courses
or
based on
professional
commonareas, for
core
example
language
Report
and skills
Writing for
not
Scientists
related
and
to
Engineers,
specific
Medical
discipline
English,
s or
Legal
professio
English,
Figure 2: Continuum of ns
ELT course types
Negotiation/
Meeting

SPECIFI
C
5
Position 5
1)An
academic
support
course
related to a
particular
academic
course.
2)One-to-one
work with
buisness
people

Advantages of ESP (Strevens, 1988):

being focused on the learners need, it wastes no
time;
It is relevant to the learner;
It is successful in imparting learning;
It is more cost-effective than General English.

More motivating for

learners

Five roles of ESP practitioners:

as teacher: the teacher is not the primary
knower; Ss may know more about the content of
the material
as course designer and material provider:
choosing suitable material, adapting material, or
even writing material
as researcher: needs analysis, target
situations analysis, identifying the genres +
generic & grammatical structures , registers
as collaborator: cooperation and collaboration
with subject specialists
as evaluator: devising specific achievement
tests

ESP as a multidicsiplinary activity:

the need and willingness to engage with other
disciplines through teaching;
The need and willingness to draw on the
insights of researchers inotehr disciplines
Understanding how spoken and written texts
work is important understanding how these
texts work understanding of how they are
used in a particular discipline or profession, and
how they attempt tp persuade their audiences
of the validity of their claims and arguments.
EBPunderstanding of how business is
conductedhow business people think and work

ENGLSIH FOR ACADEMIC PURPOSES

Aims: to teach English used for study purposes

Four types of EAP situation:
1.EAP in English-speaking countries
2.EAP in an ESL situation where English is the official
language or widely spoken such as in former British
colonies in Africa and SEA
3.EAP in a situation in which certain subjects, such as
medicine, engineering or science, are officially taught
in English, while for other subjects and at other levels
of education the national language is used.
4.EAP in a situation where all sujbect courses are
taught in the national language, but English may be
important for ancillary reasons. (Duddley-Evans, 1998:
35)

Table 1: Situations in ehich ESP is taught

Situation 1
E.g. UK,
USA,
Australia

Ss come from another country to study in a

foreign system; for them both general and
academic culture may be different; everything
around them operates in English

Situation 2
e.g.
Zimbabwe

Education at all levels has been mainly in

English; the Civil Service uses English, but
people mostly use their first language (L1) in
everyday life.

Situation 3
e.g. Jordan

In tertiary education some subjects are taught

in L1, but others, such as medicine,
engineering and science, are taught in English.

Situation 4
e.g. Brazil

All tertiary education is taught in the L1;

English is an auxilary language.

What do you think about the Indonesian

situation?

English for General Acadeic Purposes

EGAP isolates the skills associated with
study activities such as:
listening to lecturers;
Participating in supervisions, seminars
and tutorials;
Carrying out practicals (largelyin science
and engineering courses);
Reading textbooks, articles and other
reading material;
Writing essays, examination answers;
dissertations and reports
(Blue, 1993)

Particular skiils are associated with each of the

activities.
Reading any textbook involves understanding the
main ideas, distinguishing the main ideas from the
supporting details, making notes on the main ideas,
evaluating the writers point of view, and where
necessary, skimming to understand the gist of the
argument or scanning to find specific information.
Writing essays, reports and dissertations all involve
the forming of accurate sentences, the coherent
structuring of the ideas and adopting the appropriate
stnace for citing previous work on the topic.

ESP practitioners engage themselves with the discipline t:

1. cooperationtaking the initiative and finding out what happens in
the subject department
2. Collaboration themore direct working together of two sides
(language & subject) through 3 options:
a. The planning of a series of classes where thelangauge class
prepares the Ss for a subsequent subject class taught in English .
b. The running od a class on a specific skill or related to a specific
task where the subject dept has a specific input to the materials or the
language teacher uses material produced by the dept.
c. The North American adjunct model, in which the adjunct acts as a
back-up class to the subject, helping Ss with difficulties with that class
3. Team-teaching, e.g. in listening comprehensionthrough the following
procedures:
Stage 1: The language lecturer records the subject lecture
Stage 2: The language lecturer listnes to the recording and prepares
a handout with comprehension questions on key points of the lecture
and a check on understanding of the language used in it
Stage 3: The language lecturer checks the questions with the subject
lecturer.
Stage 4: The session itself.