Flowerdew_English for Specific Purposes -A Selective Review

English for Specific Purposes—a selective review of the literature John Flowerdew

The purpose of this review is to provide a set of references that will enable the reader to gain a broad overview of key areas of interest within the field of ESP. At the same time, it is hoped that a basis will be provided for more detailed further study. The review begins with a brief presentation of some of the key areas of interest in ESP. This is then followed by an annotated bibliography of key references. The ESP literature is extensive and a comprehensive bibliography would be out of the question here. References have been selected on the basis of their being representative of important trends and issues in the field, both past and present. The knowledgeable reader may feel that certain important references have been left out and that others should not have been included. In a selection such as this, however, an element of personal perspective cannot be avoided. The references in the annotated bibliography are divided into the following sections: book-length studies, survey papers, collections of papers, individual papers concerned with language description, books and papers relating to ESP curriculum development, and key ESP course books.

Some key areas of interest in ESP

In spite of occasional claims for its demise, ESP continues to be an important and dynamic area of specialization within the overall field of English language teaching. Its dynamism can be attributed to two factors: market forces and theoretical renewal. Concerning thefirstof these, it is clear that there is a continuing demand for courses described as 'ESP'. A significant proportion of work in the field of ESP has always been carried out in developing countries and with overseas students (usually from developing countries) studying in the UK and the United States. This trend continues. There are signs now also that ESP, and Business English in particular, is spreading to hitherto relatively untapped areas. Notable among these are European countries where one important motivation is the development of the single European market. Even the countries of the Eastern bloc, seeking to move closer to the West, are showing an interest in ESP. At the recent European LSP

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Introduction

ELT Journal Volume 4414 October 1990 ©Oxford University Press 1990

Symposium held in Budapest, members of the organizing committee spoke of the importance Hungary attached to Special Purpose Language Learning (including English) as a means of enabling the country to participate more fully in the European community. From the theoretical point of view, ESP has shown and continues to show itself capable of self-renewal. Important stages in this theoretical development include an interest in register, in discourse analysis, in the specification of learners' needs (and wants), in study skills, in various methodological approaches to the development of communicative competence, and in genre analysis.

One of the problems for ESP in establishing itself as a clearly defined area within ELT in general is that many of the ideas closely associated with ESP have been subsequently appropriated by the 'parent' discipline. Functional/notional syllabuses were very much associated with ESP initially, but are now well established in the mainstream of language teaching. Needs analysis, the feature many see as the distinguishing feature of ESP courses, is now also well accepted as a tool for general English course design. Task-based approaches to language learning, also, are now very much a part of general English, as well as of ESP. Notwithstanding this close relationship between ESP and general English, because of the dynamism of ESP within the theoretical sphere, new areas of interest do seem to occur periodically which make ESP stand out from general English. One such area of theoretical interest which is being applied to ESP courses at present, and which as yet has had little impact on general English course design (although at some point it may well do so), is that of genre analysis (Dudley-Evans, 1987). Another area of current interest and activity in ESP is the development of contentbased programmes, where the language course is developed in conjunction with the target academic subject (see Swales, 1989, for references, in addition to those in the annotated bibliography). As with any dynamic discipline, there are areas of controversy within ESP. One important unresolved theoretical question is that of the nature and role of the so-called 'common core' (a supposed basic set of language items that can be used in all situations), some arguing that ESP should be 'wide angle' and focus on this limited range of purportedly generalizable items, others favouring a more 'narrow angle' approach, seeking to deal Survey: ESP—a selective review

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ESP is often classified according to thefieldof the target activity, the two major sub-classes being English for Academic Purposes (EAP) and English for Occupational Purposes (EOP). In terms of subject matter, an important branch of ESP is English for Science and Technology (EST), which is often contrasted with other subject areas, such as Economics, Business, Law, etc. The driving force of theoretical innovation within ESP has traditionally been within the area of EST in EAP, a bias which will inevitably be reflected in this survey (although see Bhatia (1987) and Dudley-Evans (1989), for example, for recent interest in non-EST areas—Law and Economics respectively).

with those items which are specific to the target language situation (see Bloor and Bloor, 1986, for a discussion of this question).

Further areas of debate are the question of the use of authentic as opposed to simplified texts in ESP, and the relationship between the ESP teacher and specialized subject-matter. The areas of interest it has been possible to mention here are no more than an indication of the broad range of issues which concern the ESP practitioner. The purpose of the annotated bibliography which follows is to allow the reader to delve further.

Annotated bibliography Book-length studies

With the exception of Robinson (1980), the book-length studies listed here were all published in the years 1983-87, something of a watershed in ESP, when the discipline can be seen to have reached a level at which it became possible to synthesize ESP thinking into a coherent model. Unfortunately, there is no post-1987 book-length study, although Robinson is working on a rewrite of her 1980 book, provisionally entitled A Practitioner's Guide to ESP (Prentice-Hall). Robinson, P. (1980) ESP: the current position. Oxford: Pergamon. This is a thorough review of theoretical positions and publications (including course books), up until 1980. The book contains a 500-item bibliography. Essential reading, but the intended revision is eagerly awaited. Widdowson, H. G. (1983) Learning Purpose and Language Use. Oxford: Oxford University Press. A theoretical study, seeking, in the words of the author, 'to investigate the issues that are raised by the idea of ESP'. Key issues addressed are the relations, as regards ESP, between 'training' and 'education', between knowledge of language ('competence') and language performance ('capacity'), and between specification of target language and methodology designed to develop the capacity for creative use of language. A book for the ESP practitioner who wants to probe more deeply into the theory underlying his field.

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Another area of debate concerns the role of methodology in ESP. Widdowson (1983: 87) has argued that 'methodology has generally been neglected in ESP', suggesting that the emphasis has been on needs analysis and syllabus design. This may be true in terms of easily accessible published writings, but much work in practical ESP curriculum development has nevertheless focused on the development of innovative methodology—task-based and problem-solving approaches being significant here (see Bloor and Bloor, 1986, again, and Swales, 1988, on this). Since Widdowson's statement, Hutchinson and Water's book, English for Specific Purposes: a learning-centred approach (listed below in the annotated bibliography) has been particularly influential in directing attention to the role of methodology in ESP.

Kennedy, C. and R. Bolitho. (1984) English for Specific Purposes. London: Macmillan. This book is described as being for three categories of readers: teachertrainees faced with an ESP component on their courses; teachers who want to find out about ESP with a view to teaching an ESP group later; and teachers who have been thrown in at the deep end and are engaged in ESP teaching, but have had little preparation. Part 1 provides theoretical background, but in an extremely accessible and practically oriented way, whilst Part 2 is devoted to materials writing. This is an extremely useful little book for the intended audience: Collins. Although described as a practical guide, the tone of this book is somewhat more theoretical than that of Kennedy and Bolitho. At the same time, it provides plenty of practical advice and examples. Taken together, McDonough and Kennedy and Bolitho complement each other very well as an introduction for the classroom ESP teacher. Both books, incidentally, provide extensive bibliographies. Trimble, L. (1985) EST: a discourse approach. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. This book synthesizes a long period of research into Scientific and Technical English by Trimble and his colleagues. It contains descriptions of the major rhetorical types of EST texts and shows how they can form the basis for organizing a course. Hutchinson, T. and A. Waters. (1987) English for Specific Purposes: a learning-centred approach. London: Longman. Whilst this book is presented as both an introduction to those new to the field of ESP and to those with more extensive experience, it is probably more suitable to the latter group. This is not because it is inaccessible; on the contrary, it is written in a very attractive and easily assimilable style. The problem with this book for the beginner is rather that Hutchinson and Waters seek to offer a 'new perspective' which goes against much traditional thinking in ESP. The book is therefore of more interest to those who already have some knowledge of ESP and are looking for a critical evaluation of current practice. For these readers, however, the book is of great interest. Basically, Hutchinson and Waters argue that too much emphasis has been put on the specification of the language to be taught in ESP courses and not enough on how this language is to be learned (hence the subtitle, 'a learning-centred approach'). The position is a controversial one, but is very clearly presented. Survey papers

This section includes five survey papers which provide state-of-the-art descriptions of the ESP field. Strevens, P. (1977) 'Special purpose language learning: a perspective'. Language Teaching and Linguistics: Abstracts, 10: 145-63. Survey: ESP—a selective review

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McDonough, J. (1984) ESP in Perspective: a practical guide. London:

This is an invaluable early paper. It traces the historical background to ESP, describes its theoretical bases, and provides a classification of ESP into various branches, as well as discussing appropriate ESP methodology.

Robinson, P. C. (1988) 'The management of language training'. Language Teaching, 21/3: 146-157. Following the conclusions of Coffey's paper', Robinson is interested in the managerial dimension (defined as 'everything other than the pedagogic component') in the running of ESP projects. Her paper surveys this managerial dimension with regard to three types of project: large-scale projects in tertiary-level education; in-company language training; and industrial and vocational language training for immigrants. Robinson; like Coffey, concludes that greater emphasis is likely to be placed in future on the role of the ESP practitioner as manager. Strevens, P. (1988) 'ESP after twenty years: a reappraisal', in Tickoo, M. L. (ed.) (See below under Collections of Papers.) This is a recent outline of key current issues in ESP. It is more down-toearth than Strevens's earlier paper above. It is likely to be of use to someone new to the field. Jordan, R. R. (1989) 'English for Academic Purposes (EAP)'. Language Teaching, 22/3: 150-164. In common with the introduction to this review, Jordan sees EAP as one of the two main branches of ESP, the other being EOP. For Jordan, the objective of EAP is essentially study skills, along with the development of proficiency in the use of the academic register. Sections of Jordan's article review the literature on syllabus design, study skills courses, needs analysis, lectures, seminars and discussions, reading, writing, genre analysis, exam questions, tests, reference skills, team teaching, and links with LI. A very comprehensive and up-to-date bibliography is thus built up of an important branch of ESP.

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Coffey, B. (1985) 'ESP—English for Specific Purposes', in Kinsella, V. (ed.) Cambridge Language Surveys 3. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. This paper is an updating of Strevens's earlier survey. The writer sees ESP as entering into a phase of maturity and becoming a part of, and major expression of, communicative language teaching in general. This mature phase is marked by diversity of approach and variety of execution. Where until this time emphasis was almost exclusively on materials writing, this is now linked in with teacher-training, evaluation, and research. In addition , emphasis is now placed on managerial skills as well as purely professional expertise in the setting-up and running of ESP operations.

Collections of papers

This section is devoted to various collections of theoretical and descriptive papers. Some of them are quite old, but have been included as they illustrate important stages in the development of ESP thinking. Some of the important individual papers contained in the collections are referred to in other sections.

Mackay, R. and A. Mountford (eds.). (1978) English for Specific Purposes. London: Longman. A collection of papers divided into three parts. Part 1 outlines criteria to be taken into account in ESP course design; Part 2 provides case studies describing the background to the writing of some of the major ESP course books; while Part 3 consists of case studies of syllabuses and materials. As the preface points out, the case studies provide both practical illustration of underlying principles and useful models for application. However, the collection is now rather dated. Trimble, L., M. Todd Trimble, and K. Drobnic. (1978) English for

Specific Purposes: Science and Technology. Oregon: Oregon State University Press. This collection is representative of research done at the University of Washington into English for Science and Technology. The papers are mostly concerned with the structure and function of EST discourse, although teaching and curriculum development are also represented. ELT Documents 106. (1980) Team Teaching in ESP. London: The British Council. This collection reports on various programmes based upon a collaboration between subject-matter teacher and language teacher—an approach to ESP currently much in favour. Mackay, R. and J. D. Palmer (eds.). (1981) Languages for Specific Purposes: program design and evaluation. Rowley, Mass.: Newbury House. Papers from North America addressing various aspects of curriculum development. Selinker, L., E. Tarone, and B. Hanzeli (eds.). (1981) English for

Academic and Technical Purposes. Rowley, Mass: Newbury House. A representative selection of mostly linguistically oriented papers from North American writers. Survey: ESP—a selective review

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Holden, S. (ed.). (1977) English for Specific Purposes. London: Modern English Publications. A collection of some thirty short articles by people working in ESP. Rather dated now, but nevertheless containing a wealth of ideas on many still-relevant issues. Topics covered include the limits of functional/ notional syllabuses, the use of authentic texts, the teaching of writing, various aspects of study skills, testing, and needs analysis, amongst others.

ELT Documents 112. (1981) The ESP Teacher: role, development and

prospects. London: The British Council. A wide-ranging collection considering the particular demands placed upon ESP teachers, both in terms of the subject matter they deal with and the practical constraints within which they often have to operate.

Swales, J. (1985; 1988) Episodes in ESP. Oxford: Pergamon. To quote from the publisher's blurb on the back of this book, 'The aim of this volume is to explain and illustrate the major lines of development of ESP over the last twenty years by showing the relationships between fifteen key publications—eleven articles and four extracts from textbooks.' The book achieves its stated aim admirably. Each of the selected 'Episodes' in the collection (many of which are included in this bibliography) is authoritatively introduced and put into perspective by the author. This is an excellent introduction to the key literature and major theoretical and practical issues in ESP by a leading authority in the field. A further collection of 'Episodes' is planned. ELT Documents 123. Harper, D. (ed.). (1986) ESP for the University. London: Pergamon with The British Council. A collection of papers describing how practitioners came to grips with the practical problems of an ESP programme at King AbdulAziz University, Saudi Arabia. Particularly interesting for the task-based approach to curriculum development adopted. Tickoo, M. (ed.). (1988) ESP: The State of the Art. SEAMEO Regional Language Centre, Singapore. Papers from a recent conference held in Singapore. The collection contains overviews from well-known authorities such as Strevens, Swales, Dudley-Evans, and Johns, as well as case-studies from practitioners within the South-East Asian region. Benesch, S. (ed.). (1989) Ending Remediation: Linking ESL and Content in Higher Education. Alexandria, Virginia: TESOL Publications. A recent collection from the United States, highlighting current attempts to bridge the gap between ESL and content courses through collaboration across the curriculum. A useful companion to ELT Documents 106, listed above. (See also Crandall, 1987.) 332

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Swales, J. and H. Mustafa. (1984) English for Specific Purposes in the Arab World. Birmingham, UK: Language Studies Unit, University of Aston. A collection of papers presented at a conference organized by Aston University. The relevance of the papers is not limited to the Arab World. Of particular general interest are Crocker, and Scott and Scott (the latter annotated separately in the section on curriculum development below) on process-oriented ESP methodology; Holliday on 'classroom culture research'; and Tadros on predictive structuring in Economics discourse.

Language description papers

This section presents a selection of key papers concerned with language description—the area of ESP research which provides the basic linguistic data which feeds into syllabus design. The papers have been selected as representative of important developments in approaches to language description within ESP over the years.

Lackstrom, J. E., L. Selinker, and L. P. Trimble.°(1972) 'Grammar and Technical English'. English Teaching Forum 10/5. Reprinted in Swales (ed.)(1985) Representative of a number of papers by these three writers, 'Grammar and Technical English' stresses the dependence of grammatical choice on rhetorical force. At the same time, as Swales (1985; 1988) points out, the paper is important in showing how the statistical techniques of frequency counts, such as those of Barber, 'could have descriptive validity, but little explanatory force'. Ewer, J. R. (undated) 'The core language of Science'. University of Chile, Santiago. A frequency list derived from a corpus of more than three million words of EST; areas covered include vocabulary, prefixes and suffixes, and grammatical structures. Ewer, J. R. (1981) 'Formal written and oral scientific English: main microacts (functions/notions) and their indicators (principal exponents)'. University of Chile, Santiago. A companion document to the previous one, focusing on functions and notions, as opposed to grammatical forms. The approach is similar to that of The Council of Europe Threshold Level, but is based on empirical research into scientific text, rather than introspection. Tarone, E., S. Dwyer, S. Gillette, and V. Icke. (1981) 'The use of the passive in two Astrophysics Journal papers'. The ESP Journal, 1/2. An important paper, showing the shift away from a concern with frequency of occurrence in text analysis to a concern with rhetorical function and meaning in context. Swales, J. (1981) 'Aspects of article introductions'. Aston ESP Research Reports no. 1. Birmingham, UK: University of Aston. An analysis of the information structure of the introductions to journal Survey: ESP—a selective review

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Barber, C. (1962) 'Some measurable characteristics of modern scientific prose', in Swales (1983). This paper is of interest as its thinking underlies a lot of the early work in ESP based on register analysis. Barber produces statistics to illustrate the relative frequency of various syntactic forms in scientific text. Barber's results led to the idea that rather than teaching, for example, all of the tenses of English equally, because they were part of the system, some tenses (e.g. the present simple) should be given greater priority because they occurred more frequently, and others (e.g. the progressive forms) might even be omitted because they occurred less frequently.

articles. Although an analysis of a very specialized genre, the approach is indicative of the shift of interest in ESP away from sentence-level considerations in favour of larger discourse units. A more readily accessible source for the ideas in this report, with implications for teaching, is Swales (1984). Zak, H. and A. Dudley-Evans. (1986) 'Features of word omission and abbreviation in telexes. English for Specific Purposes, 5/1.

Baker, M. (1988) 'Sub-technical vocabulary and the ESP teacher: an analysis of some rhetorical items in medical journal articles'. Reading in a Foreign Language, 4/2.

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This paper has been included as a representative of the growing number of language description papers focusing on types of text outside the traditionally predominant area of EST. The authors present an analysis which shows just how specific the language of one particular language event (telexes) within one discipline (Business) can be.

o This is a recent contribution within an important area of ESP research, that of lexis. Using computer-based data, the author argues that an important branch of sub-technical vocabulary is 'rhetorical/organizational items', lexical items which 'provide clues by which the reader can interpret the writer's intentions and evaluations'.

Myers, G. (1989) 'The Pragmatics of Politeness in Scientific Articles'. Applied Linguistics, 10/1. An important recent paper showing how politeness and its linguistic expression apply not only to conversation, but also to written scientific text. Stylistic features which are usually explained in terms of conventions—such as the use of pronouns and passives—are seen as dependent on the relation between the writer and his intended audience. Curriculum development

This section consists of references relating to various facets of the ESP curriculum. Not all the books and articles are specifically concerned with ESP, but they are considered to be of relevance to the ESP practitioner. Most of the references are of a practical nature, providing useful guidance to the teacher/course designer who might want to apply their ideas.

Munby, J. (1978) Communicative Syllabus Design. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. A controversial approach to syllabus design, putting great weight on the initial needs analysis, but one every ESP practitioner should be aware of. The taxonomy of language skills contained in chapter 7 and the inventory of micro-functions of chapter 8 are very useful tools for converting the initial needs analysis into items for the syllabus. Candlin, C , C. Bruton, J. Leather, and E. Woods. (1981) Designing modular materials for communication in language planning; an example: doctor-patient communication skills', in Selinker et al. (1981).

This early paper shows how needs analysis can provide a functional specification for a particular type of communication situation. It is also 334

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interesting for the emphasis it puts on establishing the sequencing patterns of language functions in interaction. Edge, J. and V. Samuda. (1981) 'Methodials: the role and design of materials and method', in Richards, D. (ed.) (1981) Communicative Course Design. Singapore: SEAMEO Regional Language Centre Occasional Papers 17. An early description of a task-based approach to methodology. Not strictly limited to ESP, but typical of the sort of approach to methodology adopted in many ESP programmes.

Dubin, F. and E. Olshtain. (1986) Course Design: developing programs and materials for language learning. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Not directed specifically at ESP course design, this book nevertheless adopts an ESP approach to curriculum development, with its emphasis on needs analysis and a communicative approach to materials and methodology. Mohan, B. A. (1986) Language and Content. Addison-Wesley. This book shows how an analysis of target language events can be developed into language teaching materials. Yalden, J. (1987) Principles of Course Design for Language Teaching.

Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Like Dubin and Olshtain (see above), Yalden applies ESP principles in this practical guide to curriculum development. Nunan, D. (1989) Designing Tasks for the Communicative Classroom. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. A practical guide to the development of task-based language learning activities. Not strictly-speaking an ESP book, but of relevance to ESP practitioners.

Key course books

This section lists a selection of innovative ESP course books which have been influential in the field. They are not necessarily the best, but have been selected for the trends they represent. Herbert, A. J. (1965) The Structure of Technical English. London: Longman. Survey: ESP—a selective review

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Scott, H. and J. Scott. (1984) 'ESP and Rubik's Cube: three dimensions in course design and materials writing', in Swales, J. and H. Mustafa (eds.) English for Specific Purposes in the Arab World. Birmingham, UK: Language Studies Unit, University of Aston. This paper focuses on the question of how course-content is translated into classroom material and methodology. The authors propose that greater emphasis should be based on process-oriented material, where, traditionally, ESP has been based more on product.

Described by Swales as the first 'real' ESP textbook and still in print after twenty-five years, this text is interesting for its systematic presentation of the basic structures associated with Technical English. The structures are not presented solely from a formal point of view, however, but are associated also with functional and conceptual (notional) categories. The book is also interesting for the emphasis it puts on 'semi-technical' vocabulary, probably the first book to focus on this important area in ESP. Ewer, J. R. and G. Latorre. (1969) A Course in Basic Scientific English. London: Longman. Downloaded from http://eltj.oxfordjournals.org/ at Sheffield Hallam University on March 10, 2013

Like Herbert (see above), the authors of this book emphasize the importance of grammatical structure and semi-technical vocabulary, both selected on the basis of frequency. Swales, J. (1971) Writing Scientific English. London: Nelson. In the same tradition as Herbert, and Ewer and Latorre, in its emphasis on grammatical structure selected on the basis of frequency, this book is also partly organized on functional lines. The book is still very useful, especially for supplementary/remedial work on the basic grammatical structures of scientific English. Allen, J. P. B. and H. G. Widdowson. (eds.). (1974) English in Focus series. Oxford: Oxford University Press. The first course books to adopt a 'rhetorical-communicative' approach, the Focus series rejects the emphasis of earlier course books on grammatical structure, in favour of an approach to scientific discourse as a set of rhetorical acts (functions) such as defining, giving instructions, exemplifying, etc. The series thus stresses the importance of the acquisition of language as a set of rules of use, as well as rules of grammatical usage. Bates, M. and A. Dudley-Evans. (1976) Nucleus—English for Science and Technology. London: Longman. The series consists of a core book, General Science and related books for different subjects. 'Communicative' in orientation, like the Focus series, Nucleus prefers a syllabus based on concepts (notions), such as properties, shapes, location, structure, process, where Focus had preferred functions. The approach has obviously been successful, as Nucleus is by far the best-selling ESP course ever published.

Widdowson, H. G. (Assoc. ed.). Writing directed by J. Moore. (1979) Reading and Thinking in English. Oxford: Oxford University Press. The four books in this graded series each approach the language of the written text from a different perspective: Book 1 focuses on grammar and vocabulary; Book 2 on concepts; Book 3 on communicative functions; and Book 4 on discourse. The series is also particularly interesting for its methodology, as embodied in the innovative exercise types. Johnson, K. (1981) Communicate in Writing. London: Longman. Another 'communicative' course book, this one organized around the major rhetorical acts (functions) of academic discourse. 336

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Williams, R. (1982) Panorama. London: Longman. Aimed at a higher level of proficiency (post-intermediate) than most of the books listed so far, Panorama is described as a 'complete study skills course'. Skills focused upon include the reading of textbooks, the writing of examination answers, the writing of commentaries to accompany graphs, understanding and writing lecture notes, essay writing, etc. The approach is 'wide-angle', each unit being developed around a particular environmental theme. Hutchinson, T. and A. Waters. (1984) Interface: English for Technical Communication. London: Longman.

Received December 1989

References Bhatia, V. K. 1987. 'Language of the Law. State of the Art article' Language Teaching, 20/4: 227-234. Bloor, M. and T. Bloor. 1986. 'Languages for specific purposes: practice and theory' CLCS Occasional Paper No. 19. Dublin: Trinity College. Crandall, J. (ed.). 1987. ESL through Content-Area Instruction: Mathematics, Science, Social Studies Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall Regents. Dudley-Evans, A. (ed.). 1987. 'Genre analysis and ESP' English Language Research Journal 1. University of Birmingham, English Language Research. Dudley-Evans, A. (ed.). 1989. The Language of Economics ELT Documents 134. Modern English Publications in association with The British Council. Swales, J. 1984. 'Research into the Structure of Introductions to Journal Articles and its Application to

the Teaching of Academic Writing' in Williams, R., W. Swales, and J. Kirkman. Common Ground: shared interests in ESP and communication studies. ELT Documents 117. Oxford: Pergamon and The British Council. Swales, J. 1988. 'Communicative Language Teaching in ESP Contexts', in Brumfit, C. J. (ed.) Annual Review of Applied Linguistics 8: 48-57. Widdowson, H. G. 1983. Learning Purpose and Language Use Oxford: Oxford University Press.

The author John Flowerdew is lecturer/co-ordinator at Sultan Qaboos University, Sultanate of Oman. He holds a Ph.D from Southampton University. He has published in various areas, including pragmatics, ESP, and course design. He has been a regular tutor on British Council Summer Schools for teachers of ESP.

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Interface is at pre-intermediate level. It embodies the approach to ESP as set out in the authors' English for Specific Purposes: a learning-centred approach. Where earlier course books such as Nucleus and English in Focus lay great emphasis on the language to be taught, Interface places much more weight on methodology and the role of the learner. (See ELT Journal 36/3, for a (critical) review of this book by Leslie Sheldon.)