Abstract
Abstract The field of language teaching, both TESOL and ESP, is undergo- ing rapid changes. It is responding to new educational trends and paradigms and institutions face new challenges connected with changes in the curriculum, national tests and student needs. As a result, language teachers need to update their professional knowledge by taking on new roles, such as those of teacher- researcher. The purpose of this paper is to present new developments in the area of general language teaching research, with a particular focus on meth- ods of qualitative research that might be found useful while examining certain aspects of teaching in the field of ESP, such as case studies, action research, interviews or observations. The presentation of research methods is followed by a review of research practice focused on pedagogical issues published in re- cent years in ESP journals, such as English for Specific Purposes, The Asian ESP Journal or Journal of English for Academic Purposes. Of major interest are articles on Legal English. The article concludes with suggestions for further study.
Highlights
There are rapid changes taking place in the field of both English Language Teaching (ELT) and English for Specific Purposes (ESP)
Dorota Potocka and Halina Sierocka based on the evidence they have gathered in the process of the research this would be expected to bring beneficial results to their teaching and their students’ learning, irrespective of whether they are general English or ESP teachers
Every teacher can become a researcher with respect to his/her own students provided that s/he achieves a certain threshold of research expertise, that is key components of research methodology that are necessary “to become a ‘good enough researcher’” (Dornyei, 2007:10)
Summary
There are rapid changes taking place in the field of both English Language Teaching (ELT) and English for Specific Purposes (ESP) These changes have occurred as a result of changing curricula, evaluation procedures, teaching materials and a re-evaluation of students’ needs. If a teacher has always been interested in the topic of motivation, s/he might make an attempt to investigate the relationship between interesting teaching materials and the rise of motivation in his/her law students Another characteristic of a good researcher mentioned by Dornyei is common sense, which helps researchers “to keep their feet firmly on the ground” (Dornyei, 2007:17). One of the very first challenges faced by a researcher, is the selection of a research method, which is closely connected with the research questions
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