Abstract
The English for specific purposes (ESP) classroom has been described by a number of scholars as a strange and uncharted land for many language teachers. This is because ESP is designed to meet the specific needs of the learner, making it related to subject specialist content. Accordingly, some people feel that language teachers without a specialist subject background are “unqualified” to teach ESP courses. Rather, subject specialists should be the ones who teach these courses even though, in many cases, they are not trained to teach language. This paper therefore aims to find out whether it is possible that language teachers, who have limited subject specialist knowledge, can “settle down” happily in this strange and uncharted land. Reviews of the literature and previous studies of related topics, namely the definition of ESP, subject specificity, subject specialist knowledge, strategies for dealing with a lack of subject specialist knowledge, and the roles of the ESP practitioner, are discussed first. Then, the answer to the question is presented at the end.
Highlights
Hutchinson and Waters (1987) describe the English for specific purposes (ESP) classroom as a strange and uncharted land
The only reason that they want to teach their students themselves is because they feel that they, with specialist knowledge, will be able to teach ESP better than us, even though they have no idea about how to teach English. This situation leads us to two questions: “Do we need to be a subject specialist in order to teach ESP effectively?” and “Is it possible that we, who have limited subject specialist knowledge, can settle down happily in this strange and uncharted land?”
As Belcher (2009: 11) describes, this is one of the most daunting aspects of the ESP approach for a teacher. This leads to another interesting question: How much subject specialist knowledge is “enough” for us, language teachers, in order to be able to teach ESP course effectively? In order to find the answer to this question, the literature related to subject specialist knowledge is reviewed and discussed
Summary
Hutchinson and Waters (1987) describe the English for specific purposes (ESP) classroom as a strange and uncharted land. The department of English offers many ESP courses for students from diverse faculties and departments, such as Business English, English for Scientists, English for Tour Guides, English for Medical Technologists, or English for Public Health All of these courses were taught by English teachers until a few years ago when the subject teachers wanted to teach language to their students themselves. The only reason that they want to teach their students themselves is because they feel that they, with specialist knowledge, will be able to teach ESP better than us, even though they have no idea about how to teach English This situation leads us to two questions: “Do we need to be a subject specialist in order to teach ESP effectively?” and “Is it possible that we, who have limited subject specialist knowledge, can settle down happily in this strange and uncharted land?”. In order to answer these questions, the review and discussion of related literature and previous studies are presented according to the topics as follows: a definition of ESP, subject specificity, subject specialist knowledge, strategies for dealing with the lack of subject specialist knowledge, and the roles of an ESP practitioner
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