The Application of Organizers as an Efficient Technique in ESP Textbooks Development

Abstract

The crucial role of English for Specific Purposes (ESP) textbooks, especially in situations where English is taught as a foreign language (EFL), and also their role as almost the only source of English language seem undeniable. In Dudley-Evans and St. John's (1998) words, considering such situations where learners need to extract their information from English-medium subject textbooks, a reading-only course could be suitable, but such textbooks should be developed in a way to maximize learners' exposure to language, to meet their needs, to increase their motivations and to facilitate their learning and recall of information. Therefore, in ESP materials development, graphic organizers, defined as visual displays in which the information is converted into a diagrammatic representation of important key words and concepts associated with the main study topic, could be used as an innovative technique to provide better learning opportunities and facilitate students' learning processes. Thus, this paper is an attempt to present the advantages of using graphic organizers as an advantageous technique in developing ESP textbooks as well as to report the personal observations and experiences of the researchers in teaching ESP through graphic organizers and also to give some useful recommendations to ESP teachers, textbooks designers and materials developers to resort to this efficient technique.