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ENGLISH FOR SPECIFIC PURPOSES (ESP)
§ “ESP is generally used to refer to the teaching of English for a clearly
utilitarian purpose.” (Mackay and Mountford, 1978)
§ “Generally the students study English ―not because they are interested in
the English language or English culture as such, but because they need
English for study or work purposes.” (Robinson, 1991)
§ The role of ESP is to help language learners to build up the needed abilities
in order to use them in a specific field of inquiry, occupation, or workplace.
§ In ESP, language is learnt not for its own sake or for the sake of gaining a
general education, but to smooth the path to entry or greater linguistic
efficiency in academic, professional or workplace environment.”
(Basturkmen, 2006)
§ ESP is teaching specific content and skills of English to specific group of
learners aiming at communicating effectively in academic or vocational
situations.
§ "ESP should properly be seen not as any particular language product but
as 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)
Basic Features of ESP
1. ESP is goal-oriented.
- Because students study English for a specific purpose, i.e. to survive
in an academic setting or in a workplace, topics and activities are
specified on the goal of the student. Hence, the program should not
be geared towards a general approach to teaching the English
language.
2. ESP is based on needs analysis.
- Relevant to the first criteria, the topics and activities embedded
within an ESP course is based on the analysis of students’ needs, i.e.
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initial needs, learning needs, and target or end-of-course
requirements.
3. ESP is time-bound.
- Because students study English for a specific purpose, they do not
intend to spend too much time engaging to indirect learning
activities and exercises. Each session aims to contribute to the end
goal, which should be met at a specified time or duration.
4. ESP is for adults.
- Although there may be some people taking up ESP courses, most
often the students are adults, simply because they are the ones who
are opting to learn English as a preparation for higher learning or for
the workplace.
5. ESP is discipline-specific.
- Most often than not, ESP courses are written to fit a particular group
of students who belong to the same field of study. If you’re a nurse,
you would not enroll in an English for Engineers course, would you?
English for Specific Purposes (ESP) VS English for General Purposes (EGP)
ESP teaching approach is known to be learner-centered where learners‘ needs
and goals are of supreme value, whereas General English approach is language-
centered, and focuses on learning language from a broad perception covering
all the language skills and the cultural aspects of the English speaking community.
Further distinction between General English courses and ESP is that, learners of the
latter are mainly adult with a certain degree of awareness concerning their
language needs (Hutchinson & Waters 1987). Whereas, General English courses
are provided to pupils as compulsory module at schools, their unique purpose is
to succeed in the examinations.
TYPES OF ESP
ESP is basically divided into two types:
1. English for Occupational Purposes (EOP) – to develop English in preparation
for work or job
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2. English for Academic Purposes (EAP) – to improve language proficiency to
survive and function better in a higher academic setting
TEACHING ENGLISH FOR SPECIFIC PURPOSES (ESP)
THE ESP TEACHER
- is a knowledge provider and a facilitator of students‘ learning and no
more as a resourceful authority. (Kashani et al 2007: 85).
- is more concerned with designing suitable syllabi and courses for
different learners with various needs and fields. (Hutchinson & Waters,
1987: 21).
STAGES IN THE ESP TEACHING PROCESS
Dudley-Evans and Johns (1998:121) maintain that ― the key stages in ESP are:
1. needs analysis
2. course (and syllabus) design
3. materials selection (and production)
4. teaching and learning
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5. evaluation
In the same vein Graves (1996, qtd. in Xenodohidis, 2006, ¶ 1) suggests a
systematic syllabus design consisting of six steps. Those steps are:
1. Conducting needs assessment,
followed with needs analysis (both
of the process sometimes just
called needs analysis).
2. Determining the goals and
objectives of the course.
3. Conceptualizing the content.
4. Selecting and developing
materials and activities
5. Organizing the content and
activities.
6. Evaluating
From the quoted descriptions of ESP teaching process it is viewed that in the first
instance, learners‘ needs have to be identified and analyzed. Therefore, the
development of an ESP course should be in line with learners‘ requests and wants.
Thus, needs outcomes will operate as a guide for the teacher in designing a
suitable syllabus, producing course materials as well as teaching and testing
methods.
NEEDS ANALYSIS AND ITS COMPONENTS
In all ESP teaching situations, we must start by considering the needs of the
learners and what they have to do in the target situation (Flook, 1993).
The process of needs analysis often entails collecting information for the sake of
having the necessary bases to develop a course which will meet the needs of a
particular group of students. In this regard, Richards and Platt (1992:242) state that
NA is: “the process of determining the needs for which a learner or a group of
learners acquires a language and arranges the needs according to priorities."
Consequently, a teacher engaged in the process of NA is required to gather
information about “what‟ the learner need and “how” he can learn. The above
definitions imply the existence of different types of needs that the ESP course
teacher should take into consideration while designing a course.
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Nowadays Needs Analysis (NA) is an umbrella term covering several
components.
a. Target Situation Analysis (TSA)
- a needs analysis which focuses on students‘ needs at the end of a
language course/program
b. Present Situation Analysis (PSA)
- what the students are like at the start of their language course,
investigating their strengths and weaknesses
c. Deficiency Analysis
- is the route to cover from point A (present situation) to point B (target
situation), always keeping the learning needs in mind
TYPES OF NEEDS
Hutchinson and Waters identify two types of needs as illustrated in the figure below
Types of Needs (Hutchinson and Waters 1987)
TARGET NEEDS
- are mainly related to “what the learner need to do in the target
situation”. In order to answer this statement, ESP practitioner should also
gather information about learners‟ necessities, lacks and wants.
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§ Necessities. Are the academic or occupational requirements of the target
situation, that is, what the learner has to know in order to function effectively
in the target situation. Accordingly, needs “are perhaps more appropriately
described as objectives” (Robinson, 1991: 7) to be achieved.
§ Lacks. Are what the learners already know and what they are deficient in,
i.e what they ignore or cannot perform in English. Subsequently, lacks are
the gaps between the initial or actual situation of the learners in terms of
language proficiency or aptitudes, and the one which is required after the
accomplishment of the language training.
§ Wants. Are learners’ personal expectations and hopes towards acquiring
English, i.e. what they would like to gain from the language course. Usually
these needs are very personal; therefore they are sometimes called
'subjective'. In fact, these wants are very real, and may conflict with the
necessities as perceived by the employer. Therefore ways must be found to
accommodate them.
In this respect, individuals’ wants cannot all be accounted for; however, the
wants of the majority can be discussed and partially met.
LEARNING NEEDS
- involve an answer to the question: How are we going to the destination?
- They can be defined as: “factors that affect the learning like attitude,
motivation, awareness, personality, learning styles and strategies,
together with the social background" (Xiao, 2007:2).
- concerns about the route between the starting point (lacks) and the
destination (necessities).
- It is not concerned with knowing, but with the learning.
NEEDS ANALYSIS PROCEDURES
Needs analysis has been introduced into language teaching in the 196’s through
ESP movement. It is a set of procedures for collecting information about learners
needs.
Understanding learners’ needs can contribute to successful course planning.
Hence, the Purpose of Needs Analysis is:
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§ To find out what language skills a learner needs
§ To help determine if an existing course adequately addresses the
needs of potential students
§ To determine which students are most in need for training in
particular language skills
§ To identify students lacks
§ To identify students wants and expectations
§ To collect information about a particular problem learners are
experiencing.
HOW TO CONDUCT NEEDS ANALYSIS?
In ESP, identifying what a course should contain and how it should be run is
determined by the use of different sources and methods to gather data about
the situation. The table below illustrates the main sources and methods for needs
analysis.
Sources for NAs Methods of NA
Published & unpublished literature Interviews
Participating or administrative stuffs Participant observation
(materials) Non-participant observation
Former students Questionnaires
Learners Triangulated methods
Teachers
Domain experts (ESP researchers, linguists,
subject specialists)
Triangulated sources
APPROACHES TO ESP COURSE DESIGN
Three main approaches to course design can be identified: language-centered,
skills-centered, and learning centered.
A. LANGUAGE-CENTRED APPROACH: (PERFORMANCE)
It is the simplest and more familiar kind to English teachers. It is an approach that
focuses on the linguistic performance of the learner in the target situation
(Hutchinson and Waters, 1987: 65).
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This approach aims to draw direct connection between target situation and the
content of ESP course. It proceeds as follows:
Figure 2. Language- Centered Approach to ESP Course Design
However, it has a number of weaknesses:
1. It starts from the learner and their needs. It might be considered a learner-
centered approach. The learner is simply used as a means of identifying the target
situation.
2. It is a static and inflexible procedure, which can take little account of the
conflicts and contradictions that are inherent in any human endeavor.
3. It appears to be systematic. The fact that knowledge has been systematically
analyzed and systematically presented does not in any way imply that it will be
systematically learnt. Learners have to make the system meaningful to
themselves. And unfortunately we have to admit that we do not know enough
about how the mind actually goes about creating its internal system of
knowledge.
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4. It gives no acknowledgement to factors which must inevitably play a part in
the creation of any course. Data is not important in itself.
5. The lg-centered analysis of target situation data is only at the surface level. It
reveals very little about the competence that underlies the performance.
This course design fails to recognize the fact that, learners being people, learning
is not a straightforward, logical process. A lg-centered approach says: “This is the
nature of the target situation performance and that will determine the ESP
course.”
B. SKILLS-CENTRED APPROACH (COMPETENCE)
This approach aims at helping learners to develop skills and strategies which will
continue after the ESP course.
Its aim is not only to provide language knowledge but to make the learners into
better processors of information. The figure below presents this model.
Figure 3. Skills - Centered Approach to an ESP Course Design
Hutchinson and Waters (1987) state that the role needs analysis in this approach
is to help the ESP practitioner discover the potential knowledge and
competences of the learner, and their perspectives of the target situation.
Skills centered model view language in terms of how the mind of the learner
processes it rather than as an entity in itself. In addition, it tries to build on the
positive factors that the learners bring to the course, rather than just on the
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negative idea of „lacks‟. Finally, it frames its objectives in open-ended terms, so
enabling learners to achieve at least something. Yet, in spite of its concern for the
learner, the skills-centered approach still approaches the learner as a user of
language rather as a learner of language.
C. A LEARNING-CENTRED APPROACH (COMPETENCE)
A learning-centered course differs from a traditional teaching-centered
(language /skills centered) course in several ways (Weimer, 2002).
First, the balance of control in a learning-centered class will change. What does
this mean? A common belief is that in a teaching-centered environment, where
teachers are seen to be the only source of information and are likely authoritative,
the feeling of responsibility for learning is higher. This is why, in case some students‟
fail to learn, teachers blame themselves because they believe that good learning
depends entirely on good teaching. Consequently, teaching-centered courses
designers ensure control over many aspects of the course.
In contrast, in a learning-centered situation, students are ultimately responsible for
their own learning using different strategies. For example they have to engage in
assigned learning activities and exert the effort required to learn. So if students are
supposed to take responsibility for their own learning, it is time to give them more
control over the way learning experiences are structured. In addition to this,
teachers delivering a learning-centered need to control aspects of the course to
ensure that they meet their professional responsibility to create a course that
addresses certain learning outcomes. In the same line, students need to control
aspects of the learning environment to meet individual learning goals and
maintain motivation.
The idea behind this approach is that the learner is the main actor in the learning
process for this to happen it takes the following principles:
§ Learning is totally determined by the learner who uses his knowledge
and skills to make sense of new information.
§ Learning is not just a mental process; it is a process of negotiation
between individuals and society.
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§ Course design is negotiation process in which both the target situation
influences the features of the syllabus and also it's a dynamic process in
which means and recourses vary from time to time.
Despite the fact of being: a language, learning, or skills- centered approach;
making the ESP course as dynamic and flexible as much as possible is the most
important thing. Hence, a clear understanding of students‟ needs and the
demands of the target situation will serve in developing the appropriate materials
and methodologies needed to function effectively in a given domain.
