English for Specific Purposes & Roles of an ESP Teacher (Muhammad Younis Farid)

M.A. (English Language Teaching) 2nd Semester

Assignment ELT-522 ESP - Business English

Submitted to:

Ms Andleeb Ehsan Submitted by:

Muhammad Younus

National University of Modern Languages Department of English (GS) (Karachi Campus)

Q. What is ESP? Discuss the similarities and differences between ESP & General English. Describe the role of an ESP teacher. English for specific purposes has been defined by Hutchinson & Waters (1987) as “an approach to language teaching in which all decisions as to content and method are based on the learner‟s reason of learning”. They consider learners‟ needs to be the foundation of ESP which determine what kind of language they need to learn and in what context they will use it. Dudley-Evans and St. Johan (1998) have also termed ESP „an attitude of mind‟ and described its following absolute and variable characteristics. Absolute Characteristics: 1. ESP is designed 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 rofessional 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 ESP Course: Robinson (1991:2, quoted by Lowe 2009) has defined an ESP course to be goal-directed and based on a needs analysis. It runs for a specified period of time and the learners are most adult with postelementary level of English proficiency. An ESP course may include specialist language as well as specialist activities. It is again worth noting here that all ESP courses might not have all of these qualities.

The above definitions make it sufficiently clear that ESP is an approach which aims to teach language based on the needs of the learners. It is used to cater to learners in a specific learning context and provides language instruction tailor-made to their needs. The skills focused, the content taught and the methodology used are all based on the context in which learners, in most cases immediately, will be using the newly acquired language.

Comparison of ESP & General English: Widdowson (1983) and Wright (1992) (quoted by Popescu, 2010) establish the following distinctive features of GE and ESP:

General English (GE)

English for Specific Purposes (ESP)

The focus is often on education.

The focus is on training;

The age of General English learners varies from children to adults. They can be at various levels of proficiency in English. However, they are always at elementary level of proficiency, when they begin a GE course. Because of general nature of the course, no needs analysis is conducted. As the learners‟ future needs are impossible to predict, the course content is more difficult to select.

ESP learners are mostly adults.

The syllabus content should have a high surrender value in order to be used in different language contexts.

The syllabus content should have a high surrender value relevant to the vocational context.

They generally have post-elementary proficiency level in English, when they join an ESP course.

Needs analysis is always performed to identify learners‟ specific needs. As English is intended to be used in specific vocational contexts, the selection of the appropriate content is easier.

(Surrender value stands for the overall utility (value) of the English taught by a specific course.)

The aim is to develop all four skills of language with focus on grammar and vocabulary development.

The aim may be to create a restricted English competence. (Only reading or speaking, based on the professional needs.)

It is also worth mentioning here that that GE and ESP approaches to language teaching are not in contrast to each other (Dudley-Evans 1998). Anthony (1997, quoted by Popescu 2010) also point out that it is very difficult to draw a line between GE and ESP courses, while Waters and Hutchinson (1987) also believe that there is no difference between GE and ESP as far as theory is concerned; however, there are differences in practical application of these approaches. This means we can say that a General English teacher is using an ESP approach, if he uses needs analysis and adapts his materials and teaching methodology to better suit his learners. While an ESP teacher is not at all adhering to ESP principles if he blindly follows a particular course book, without having any regard for the interests, learning preferences and aptitude of a particular group of learners.

The Role of an ESP Teacher: The role of ESP teacher is more complex and more responsible than the General English Teacher and this is why the term „ESP Practitioner‟ is more apt to use (Sierocka). He has to perform several other duties apart from teaching students. Dudley-Evans (quoted by Sierocka, 2008) has listed the following five roles for an ESP teacher. Teacher:

This is the role where an ESP teacher‟s job is very similar to a General English teacher. However, the methodology of teaching has to be a little differentiated as in the ESP class students at times know more about the content than the teacher himself. The teacher‟s main aim should be to create real and authentic communication in the classroom on the grounds of students‟ knowledge. Collaborator: ESP Teacher does not only need the knowledge of English language and its teaching methodology, but he also requires some understanding of the profession and the specific discipline of his learners in which they will be using the acquired language skills. This emphasises the need for collaboration with the subject specialists which could be done through simple cooperation in which ESP teacher gains information about the subject syllabus, or tasks the students have to carry out in their professional setting. On a more thorough level of collaboration, there could be integration between specialist studies/activities and language. Team-teaching could be another effective way of collaboration with subject specialist, if arrangements for this could be made. Material Developer: Unlike General English, there is a lack of suitable materials for teaching English to specific disciplines and professions. An added responsibility of an ESP teacher is to plan his course and provide suitable materials for it as well. Material development could range from selecting suitable materials for an ESP Course to adapting them to particular learners‟ needs, and even writing own materials when no published materials are available. Researcher: ESP teacher‟s job also entails research for making an ESP course tailor-made for a particular discipline or profession. He needs to research students‟ aims for learning English, their interests and learning preferences. The data produced by his research will be the foundation of the ESP course which he will design, and will also influence the material development and methodology selection for the ESP course. Evaluator: Although a General English teacher also has to evaluate his students‟ progress and achievement through tests and examinations, an ESP teacher is needed to evaluate some other aspects as well besides monitoring students‟ progress through testing. As ESP courses are tailor-made, the evaluation of the course itself and teaching materials used is also crucial. Dudley-Evans suggests that the evaluation in ESP should be on-going: while the course is being taught, at the end of the

course, and after the course has finished. Furthermore, as it is not possible to design one ESP course for all ESP learners, unlike a General English Course, the constant evaluation of an ESP course becomes a must.

To conclude, English for Specific Purposes approach has made a valuable contribution to the field of English language teaching. Its emphasis on identifying leaners‟ needs and selecting and adapting course materials and methodology to fulfil their needs effectively are the insights that could also be used in General English Courses. It is also evident that the job of an ESP practitioner requires a much larger skill-set, effort and hard work compared to an English teacher.

Bibliography: Anthony, L. (1997). Defining English for specific purposes and the role of the ESP practitioner. (Retrieved March 28, 2014 from http://www.antlab.sci.waseda.ac.jp/abstracts/Aizukiyo97.pdf) Anthony, L. (1997). ESP: What does it mean? Why is it different? On Cue. (Retrieved March 28, 2014 from http://www.antlab.sci.waseda.ac.jp/abstracts/ESParticle.html) Hutchinson, T. and A. Waters. (1987) English for Specific Purposes. Cambridge University Press Lowe, I. (2009). What is ESP? (Retrieved March 2008, 2014 from http://www.scientificlanguage.com/esp/whatisesp.pdf) Popescu, A.V. (2010). Professiaonl Communication & Translation Studies Journal, Vol. 3 (1-2) (Retrieved March 28, 2014 from http://www.cls.upt.ro/files/conferinte/proceedings/2010/08_Popescu_2010.pdf) Sierocka, H. (2008) The Role of the ESP Teacher. Vol. 2 (56). (Retrieved March 28, 2014 from http://www.jezykangielski.org/theroleoftheespteacher.pdf)