Abstract
This study examines English for General Purposes’ (EGP) words that take on specialized meanings in particular contexts. For English native speakers, it may be easy to differentiate between these according to context, but it is challenging for non-native speakers to build cognitive awareness of the divergence between English for Specific Purposes’ (ESP) and EGP vocabulary usage. There are also conceptual metaphors within the ESP vocabulary that require cultural understanding or unequivocal definition guidance. Strengthening students’ proficiency in navigating the demands of professional fields is the ultimate goal of practitioners. As has been observed during language practice, building ESP vocabulary is the imperative groundwork for non-native speakers to establish their language skills in their specialized occupational fields to enhance employability. This study undertakes a comparison of ESP vocabulary proficiency between an experimental and a control group. The experimental group is comprised of learners who undertook cognitive processing training through learning strategies in business English courses, in which vocabulary was presented to students in ways that aimed to facilitate cognitive processing of ESP vocabulary acquisition. The control group is comprised of learners who took English vocabulary courses adopting conventional approaches toward intensifying their vocabulary volume. The outcome indicates that the experimental group significantly outperforms the control group in ESP vocabulary proficiency level. Examining these two groups allows us to explore the extent of the enhancement rate of vocabulary learning provided by ESP cognitive strategies’ training. Implications for future ESP reinforcement plans are also discussed in accordance with the findings.
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