Teach English in Xinyan Zhen - Jining Shi

What is English for Specific Purposes? English for Specific Purposes is an approach to teach English for reasons that may differ from general purposes. Usually is taught to working adults who seek to enhance their English abilities for their specific careers; for professionals in various fields, focusing on types of expressions, vocabulary, standard and formal structures that will be used most of all in a specific field, etc. The most common ESP is Business English; there are also e.g. English for law, English for medical purposes, English for tourism, English for science purposes, etc. ESP courses are designed because students are studying them for a ‘specific’ reason that means, the course is designed to meet the requirements of the English learners. Students are not learning English just to be good at it; instead, they study the ESP course because of some need. During the 1960’s, changes in the world’s markets resulted in the rising of ESP as a discipline. According to Hutchinson and Waters (1987), ESP emerged due to the development of the world’s economy, which entailed the progress of technology, the economic power of oil-rich countries, and the increasing amount of overseas students in English-speaking countries; Also, according to Johns and Dudley Evans (1991), the international community recognized the importance of learning English not only as a means to achieve the transmission of knowledge and communication but also as a neutral language to be used in international communication. 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-established international journal dedicated to ESP discussion, "English for Specific Purposes: An international journal", and the ESP SIG groups of the IATEFL and TESOL are always active at their national conferences. How I see the difference between English for Specific Purposes (ESP) and English as a Second Language (ESL)? The most important difference lies in the learners and their purposes for learning English. ESP students are usually adults who already have some acquaintance with English and are learning the language in order to communicate a set of professional skills and to perform particular job-related functions. An ESP program is therefore built on an assessment of purposes and needs and the functions for which English is required .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. The ESP focal point is that English is not taught as a subject separated from the students' real world (or wishes); instead, it is integrated into a subject matter area important to the learners. However, ESL and ESP diverge not only in the nature of the learner, but also in the aim of instruction. In fact, as a general rule, while in ESL all four language skills; listening, reading, speaking, and writing, are stressed equally, in ESP it is a needs analysis that determines which language skills are most needed by the students, and the syllabus is designed accordingly. An ESP program, might, for example, emphasize the development of reading skills in students who are preparing for graduate work in business administration; or it might promote the development of spoken skills in students who are studying English in order to become tourist guides. I believe a teacher that already has experience in teaching English as a Second Language (ESL); can exploit their background in language teaching. They should recognize the ways in which their teaching skills can be adapted for the teaching of English for Specific Purposes. Moreover, they will need to look for content specialists for help in designing appropriate lessons in the subject matter field they are teaching. They have to set learning goals and then transform them into an instructional program with the timing of activities. One of their main tasks will be selecting, designing and organizing course materials, supporting the students in their efforts, and providing them with feedback on their progress. The teacher is a resource that helps students identify their language learning problems and find solutions to them, find out the skills they need to focus on, and take responsibility for making choices which determine what and how to learn. They will serve as a source of information to the students about how they are progressing in their language learning. Adapt activities to be relevant to whichever field students are learning English for. For example, if they are learning English for the hospitality industry, do role-plays of checking into a hotel; if they’re learning business English do things like negotiation role-plays, email writing, and spreadsheet info-gaps. References: Dudley-Evans, Tony (1998). Developments in English for Specific Purposes: A multi-disciplinary approach. Cambridge University Press. (Forthcoming)