English For Specific Purposes Course Research Articles

Enhancing English Proficiency for Thai Music Professionals: A CLT Instructional Package

The study aims to achieve three primary objectives: 1) To identify essential components for developing an instructional package aimed at enhancing English proficiency among individuals working in the Thai music industry; 2) To design an instructional package specifically tailored to improve the English proficiency of personnel in the Thai music industry; and 3) To implement the developed instructional package and assess its effectiveness in advancing English proficiency among music industry personnel. Employing the principles in developing an ESP course, the study comprises three phases: need analysis, instructional package development, and implementation. The need analysis phase involved surveying 150 individuals employed in the Thai music industry using a structured questionnaire. The instructional package development phase enlisted the expertise of five experts to evaluate the instructional model. Finally, phase three involved administering a pre-posttest study with 30 music professionals. The results highlight the successful creation of an English instructional package based on communicative language teaching (CLT) principles, leading to significant enhancements in participants' English proficiency. The study's significance lies in its identification of English language development needs within the music profession and its provision of a practical methodology for designing specialized English for Specific Purposes (ESP) courses tailored to the unique requirements of music professionals.

Using social media platform X to enhance student medical English learning: an attempt based on design-based research (DBR) in a medical English for specific purposes (ESP) course

This study aimed to (1) elaborate on microblogging-based instruction, which was built on social media platform X and designed based on the four phases of the design-based research (DBR) framework (Amiel and Reeves in J Educ Technol Soc 11(4):29–40, https://www.jstor.org/stable/jeductechsoci.11.4.29, 2008); (2) put microblogging-based instruction into practice in a medical English for Specific Purposes (ESP) course; (3) examine students’ perceptions of the pedagogical value of X platform usage on their learning experiences; and (4) investigate how well microblogging-based instruction enhances the students’ specialised-language performance. On the basis of the four phases of the DBR framework, a study was conducted with students studying a medical ESP course to identify the problems in the teaching practices used in ESP courses. To improve the identified problems, following the second phase, social media platform X was used to supplement ESP face-to-face instruction. Three tasks were designed for the students to do on X. These tasks were implemented and assessed on 19 EFL first-year premedical undergraduate students over 16 weeks at a university in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Data collected from the students included a copy version of the ESP final test, a questionnaire, and semi- structured interviews. The results revealed that X-based instruction improved students’ ability to use medicine-specialised language, offered opportunities for students to become more familiar with medicine-specific terms, perceived ability in using writing and reading skills, collaborative learning, and generated thoughtful discussions outside the confines of the classroom. However, the students’ inadequate knowledge of the specialised subject, the stress of making X mandatory, and log- in overload remain key challenges against the effective appropriation of X use in an ESP context.

THE IMPORTANCE OF ENGLISH FOR SPECIFIC PURPOSES BASED ON THE ENGINEERING STUDENTS’ PERCEPTIONS

English for Specific Purposes (ESP) is garnering significant attention and anticipation for its contribution to the teaching and learning process at the Polytechnic of Road Transportation Safety in Indonesia. Consequently, this study offers valuable insights into the perceptions of cadets at a vocational college regarding the significance of the ESP course within the transportation engineering program. Specifically, this paper aims to explore the cadets' perspective on the role of ESP in their future careers. By conducting a qualitative descriptive study, four types of questionnaires were administered to a total of ninety second-year cadets who are pursuing a major in transport engineering. The findings reveal that the cadets/students recognize the importance of ESP as a crucial subject that supports their future employment prospects. Moreover, they acknowledge the appropriate allocation of time to ESP within their curriculum, recognizing its necessity for their academic success and eventual career advancement. Understanding the importance of ESP is crucial for cadets aspiring to work in the industry. Cadets must have a strong motivation to learn and familiarize themselves with core engineering concepts in order to establish themselves as competitive engineers on a global scale.

Integration of AI into the Distance Learning Environment: Enhancing Soft Skills

Soft skills have become increasingly essential for success in the modern world, especially in the labor market, where employers value employees’ social and communication skills. Online education, which is an integral part of the educational process in Ukraine, is adjusting to the development of students’ soft skills. Integrating artificial intelligence tools into English language learning is becoming a new direction in soft skills development. This approach opens up new teaching strategies that make learning more effective, engaging, and innovative. While learning English, students develop communication, creativity, and critical thinking skills, which contribute to their educational process and prepare the foundation for employment. The study aims to 1) evaluate the impact of artificial intelligence on the development of students’ soft skills in online learning; 2) identify the most essential soft skills for their effective learning and future employment based on a student survey; 3) develop criteria for an online course using artificial intelligence and outline strategies for integrating the ChatGPT tool into distance learning English classes. To achieve the objectives of our study, we developed and processed a questionnaire, collected quantitative data, and analyzed and interpreted qualitative data; the study sample included 304 students. The questionnaire results showed a generally positive attitude of students towards using artificial intelligence in English for Specific Purposes courses. They opened up prospects for introducing an online course in the English for Specific Purposes program and further research, including an experiment with the introduction of this online course.

INTERCULTURAL AWARENESS, INCLUSION AND LEARNING EXPERIENCES IN ESP (ENGLISH FOR SPECIFIC PURPOSES) COURSES - STUDENTS’ PERCEPTIONS AND VIEWS

INTERCULTURAL AWARENESS, INCLUSION AND LEARNING EXPERIENCES IN ESP (ENGLISH FOR SPECIFIC PURPOSES) COURSES - STUDENTS’ PERCEPTIONS AND VIEWS

From EAP to ESP

English for Academic Purposes (EAP) and English for Specific Purposes (ESP) are language training pathways for students to meet target language proficiency requirements towards further tertiary studies (Keefe & Shi, 2017; Walková & Bradford, 2022). Yet, these can be highly debatable terms, controversial over their appropriate usage (Flowerdew, 2016; Li, 2020; Maleki, 2008; Mpofu & Maphalala, 2021; Wette, 2018). A main reason for this discord is a lack of firm definitions between these two constructs, which leads to vague and blurred boundaries. This article will describe the process where a small western Canadian university modified an existing EAP course consisting of broad reading and writing topics into an ESP one with a narrow culturally and medically themed focus towards internationally educated nurses (IENs). These modifications assisted in the identification of the similarities and differences of both EAP and ESP for the institution. The new ESP course, piloted over two terms was found to have strengthened student outcomes in their non-native target language, commonly known as L2 (Saville-Toike, 2012) while their disciplinary knowledge contributions also enriched the curriculum. Rooted within the debate between determining appropriate language pathways, recommendations to determine the suitability of an EAP versus an ESP course within a “negotiated syllabus” utilizing learner input are offered (Breen & Littlejohn, 2000; Prior, 2020).
  

Readiness and Challenges of Prishtina University Students for ESP Classes

Learning and teaching a language for specific purposes, in our case English language, is quite a new approach at the Public University of Prishtina, which was established only in 1970. Considering this fact, English language teaching in Kosovo has been around ever since. It was initially taught as General English (GE) in the schools of the capital city and later, namely from the 1980s to date throughout the country. Nevertheless, English for Specific Purposes (ESP) is one of the most recent courses that have started to attract the attention of the domestic teaching authorities, mainly at the university level, while it continues to be absent in secondary schools.  Despite this, the reason for the absence of ESP in secondary education relates to the lack of planning, extracurricular teaching materials or specific textbooks. In this paper, we will review the current state of GE at the University of Prishtina by assessing the English language first-term exam results for two groups of students in the first year in the Departments of History and Political Sciences, with the aim of finding out whether they are ready to attend ESP courses in the second semester. Research has taken place amongst male and female students, aged 18-19, who attended the A1 and B2+GE level as per the CEFR requirements. The students who pass the exam may be qualified to attend the ESP classes in the second semester, whereas students who did not should continue with GE classes.

Evaluation and Critical Reflection on The Listening and Speaking Activities Taught in an English for Specific Purpose Course

The following paper is a combination of two assignments for the Master’s program “The Teaching of English as a Foreign/ International Language”. It concerns the evaluation and critical reflection on the listening and speaking activities offered to an adult learners’ course during their “English Terminology for Paramedics” class, along with a redesigned lesson plan. The paper analyses the students’ profiles, describes the listening activities used in a particular unit, evaluates them, and suggests improvements to their teaching. An evaluation of the speaking activities based on Johnson’s principles and Nation’s features, a redesigned lesson plan based on the Communicative Language Approach, and a critical evaluation on it follow.

Specialized Training Workshops for Algerian EFL Teachers: A Transformative Pathway for ESP Instruction

The purpose of this study is to investigate the transformative impact of online workshops on Algerian EFL teachers’ proficiency in teaching English for Specific Purposes (ESP) instruction. These workshops were organized in response to Algeria’s pressing need for specialized training. Therefore, the core objective of the workshops is to improve teachers’ abilities and skills in needs analysis conduct and ESP course design. Within this context, this investigation employed a quasi-experimental method, combining both quantitative and qualitative data, to evaluate the workshops influence on participants’ attitudes, confidence, and instructional strategies. Notwithstanding certain limitations, the results emphasize the revolutionary potential of specialized teacher training in ESP education. The research concludes with suggestions and recommendations for upcoming workshops highlighting the significance of striking a balance between theory and practice.

STEAM and English For Specific Purposes: Online Courses For Brazilian Students In Technology

Nowadays, we have an increase in informal online courses in Brazil with a variety of subjects, according to the student’s needs and interests. These informal courses could complement the knowledge learned in schools and universities, associating formal and informal learning, as defended by the Education 4.0 model. Additional languages, especially the English language, represent a great part of these courses as our society now understands the importance of English in a digital and technological world. English for Specific Purposes (ESP) is an area of English teaching-learning that takes into consideration the student’s needs in the curriculum design, focusing on a context where learners will use the language in real life. This area is also interdisciplinary because it connects linguistic structures with professional fields. For this reason, STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics) education could be an interesting approach in ESP courses by providing an integrative method. Thus, this paper aims to analyze three informal online English courses designed for Brazilian students/professionals in Technology, considering the ESP and STEAM approaches, and compare them with university learners’ needs. After the analysis, we understand in this paper that informal English courses, particularly ESP ones, should be designed by an interdisciplinary group of professionals, such as language teachers and specialists in the area, in order to show a meaningful learning experience. Besides, it is important to go beyond a list of vocabulary, integrating the four language skills and working with genres connected to the student’s own area of study. 

The ESP teaching and learning at the military academies in Ukraine: Psychological and sociocultural aspects

The article deals with the psychological and sociocultural aspects of English for Specific Purposes (ESP) teaching and learning at the military academies in Ukraine. Considering the high-risk environment, the cadets will serve in after commission, it offers ways of using emotional means to facilitate the ESP learning as well as to keep up their motivation and will in order to develop appropriate abilities to perform professional functions in such hard conditions. The article proposes a range of exercises and activities at each ESP lesson stage (Introduction, Presentation, Practice, Application, Verification, and Conclusion) and develops the strategies contributing to cadets’ learning motivation. The article also provides activities and actions for the teachers, which will help them to properly organize and conduct ESP courses for the military developing cadets as ‘secondary communicative personalities’ based on the military culture of the English-speaking countries. Both the psychological and sociocultural aspects of ESP teaching and learning are analyzed with the aim of improving cadets’ professional training.

INCLUSION OF VIRTUAL EXCHANGE IN ESP UNIVERSITY CLASSES – STUDENTS’ PERCEPTIONS

The practice of virtual exchange in which students from different countries participate in an online collaboration as part of their coursework and jointly complete tasks and activities is becoming more dominant in higher education. Virtual exchange seems particularly convenient for English for Specific Purposes (ESP) as it incorporates two major aspects of this area of English language learning: collaboration on a course-specific and field-specific task or project and communication in English. The paper presents the results of a survey into students’ views and attitudes towards the inclusion of virtual exchange into ESP university courses. The overall findings point to a rather positive attitude of students towards this innovative pedagogy but at the same time reveal a number of factors that may jeopardize its successful implementation into ESP courses. The paper concludes with a number of pedagogical implications on how to prepare students for successful participation in virtual exchange activities.

Graphical abstracts’ pedagogical implications: Skills & challenges in visual remediation

As scholarly communication becomes more multimodal in nature, research articles embrace semiotic resources in appended genres such as the graphical abstract (GA). As an established genre in Chemistry research articles, GAs visually remediate chemical processes or research niche. However, this genre still remains in a peripheral area of English for Specific Purposes (ESP) courses as ESP practitioners mainly focus on textual modes. With limited opportunities to compose GAs, students foster genre remediation skills that are limited to textual genres only, ignoring the potential of reading-to-design skills. Upon student composition and critical reflections on GAs, as well as qualitative and quantitative data collection from a survey and interview involving professors, young researchers (YRs) and students, this paper examines rhetorical functions as well as image and text relations, while throwing some light on skills and challenges involved when GA composition is intentionally embedded in an ESP course, and discusses ensuing pedagogical implications.

Thailand’s higher education ESP practitioners: Problems, solutions and a potential practices model

A comprehensive needs analysis is crucial to guide the design and teaching of English for Specific Purposes (ESP) courses. However, a number of studies neglect certain elements of needs analysis, which can result in problems in subsequent stages of ESP teaching. This mixed-method study aimed to identify the problems that higher education ESP practitioners in Thailand encountered and the solutions they employed and to develop a potential practices model for ESP practitioners. Semi-structured interviews and Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) pairwise comparisons were employed to reveal 54 problems in six categories. Three highest-ranked problems were 1) the ESP practitioners’ lack of specialization in relevant fields (34.62%), 2) unsuitable classrooms and facilities (29.15%), and 3) the lack of specific course objective-oriented and cost-effective commercial textbooks (19.09%). The average consistency ratio (C.R.) was 0.32. The study suggested the need for training provisions and inclusion of ESP courses in English curricula. The ESP practices model suggested practices for institutions, such as conducting comprehensive needs analysis and providing suitable facilities and budgets. ESP practitioners were advised to utilize needs analysis for course design and employ active learning approaches. These recommendations aimed to enhance ESP education and improve an English curriculum, teaching practices, and evaluation processes.

STUDENTS’ ANXIETY IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS: ONLINE VERSUS ON-SITE CLASSROOMS

During the pandemic of COVID-19, the Algerian higher education institutions compelled teachers and students to shift to a blended teaching mode. Accordingly, third-year Licence chemistry students received online and on-site lectures among which English for Specific Purposes lectures. This sudden transition from face-to-face to online teaching affected university students namely at the emotional level which led this research to explore the impact of both modes of course delivery on students’ affective filter more precisely on anxiety. A correlational research design was used to understand the relationship between anxiety and the learning environment. Two anxiety tests on online and on-site learning were administered to 16 chemistry students receiving English for Specific Purposes courses. The current research findings revealed that there is no significant difference in the students’ level of anxiety whether learning online or in the traditional classroom. These findings call for future implications of applying practical techniques and strategies to reduce anxiety in both learning environments to create a suitable and supportive atmosphere that works for better comprehensible input for university students.

[Retrospective on ESP Courses in the Global English Era].

With the rise of the medical tourism industry in Taiwan and changes in the country's population structure, nurses are facing greater challenges than ever before. Both professional knowledge and English proficiency are indispensable. Various types of English for Specific Purposes (ESP) courses have emerged to assist healthcare professionals to build their English abilities and cope with the changing demands of their profession. However, related research indicates that the deficient state of English communication skills among nurses in Taiwan may hinder the country's ability to effectively promote medical internationalization and handle ongoing changes in its population structure. To effectively face this predicament, educators must re-examine the current design of ESP courses. Therefore, this article was developed to explore ESP courses from the three perspectives of language descriptions, needs analysis, and learning theories. Furthermore, the concepts and research related to these three perspectives, including the nurse-patient relationship, community of practice, situated learning, and English as a medium of instruction, were reviewed. Some insights into how these concepts may be applied to ESP courses are also proposed with the goals of better incorporating the needs of learners into course designs and placing learners at the center of language learning.

Enhancing Motivation and Developing Positive Attitudes in an ESP Context

ESP has been enriched by many theoretical inputs, but ESP itself does not have any universally accepted theory. From primary to tertiary, second/ foreign language English teaching/ learning depends on the motivation and attitude toward the target language. The present article outlines the theoretical foundation of an English for Specific Purpose (ESP) writing course, which was designed, implemented and assessed to enhance the proficiency of English writing skills of engineering students in six colleges under MAKAUT in West Bengal. India tops the world in terms of the number of engineering students and colleges. To meet engineering students' academic and workplace writing needs, the most important requirement is a writing course. Implementing the ESP course required multi-dimensional theoretical considerations drawn from areas like ESP, needs analysis, theories of language and language learning, syllabus design, motivation and attitude, and writing as a language skill. In this study, the theoretical underpinnings applied in classroom teaching related to enhancing motivation and improving attitude are discussed. The difference in the mean, median and mode scores with regards to pre and post writing tests and highly positive student feedback on materials, methodology, techniques, and sub components of writing skill indicated a significant improvement and established the efficacy of such an eclectic approach, which can be used in subsequent ESP course designs.

English Lecturers' Difficulties in Teaching English for Specific Purposes (ESP) in Various Higher Education in Indonesia

<p>This research investigates the English lecturers’ difficulties in teaching English for Specific Purposes (ESP) in higher education. This research is descriptive qualitative. There are 58 English lecturers from various higher education involved in this research. The analysis shows that the most dominant English lecturers teach ESP in the 2nd semester. Besides, in the 1st, and 3rd semesters. English skills taught by English lecturers in ESP courses are speaking, writing, reading, speaking, vocabulary, and translation. Speaking skills is the difficult English skill taught by them in the ESP course. The most dominant English lecturers have been teaching ESP for more than 5 years. They state that teaching ESP requires more challenges than teaching EGP (English for General Purposes). In the implementation of teaching ESP, they face several difficulties including) 1) making syllabi and lesson plans. 2) making ESP course materials according to student needs. 3) selecting and using learning methods. 4) getting ESP textbooks related to student needs. 5) making/creating ESP textbooks related to student needs. 6) difference in students' English proficiency levels. 7) difference in the level of student's motivation to learn English. 8) different levels of students' awareness of the importance of ESP. 9) the institution’s policy related to the ESP course curriculum has not been clearly stated. 10) institutional policies related to facility policies are not adequate. 11) the number of lectures/credits, and the number of semesters in the ESP course are not as expected. 12) compensation (income) in teaching ESP courses is not expected.</p>

How Much English Grammar is Needed in the Ship’s Engine Room

At the Faculty of Maritime Studies in Split, marine engineers have the opportunity to attend an ESP (English for Specific Purposes) course as part of the Special Education Program for Seafarers, which is a prerequisite for their career advancement. A series of surveys were carried out to detect their needs, expectations and the ways they perceive ESP teachers, courses and themselves as English language users. The responses referring to teachers were always clear and consistent – they are expected to understand essential ship engine systems and processes, concepts and contexts, etc. to produce a good learning platform. On the other hand, the responses that were supposed to help teachers to strike a balance in the ESP concept (that includes both general and vocational English) were somewhat ambiguous. Most of the respondents think that their overall command of the English language is “good” or “very good”, while their command of grammar is “good” or at least “sufficient”. Nevertheless, 94% admit that, in their case, learning grammar is “very important” or “necessary”. In the most recent survey, featuring another type of questionnaire, where the respondents were asked to break down the 50-hour ESP course into units, they allocated only 12.44 class hours for grammar (less than 25% of the course time). Further research will, hopefully, help ESP teachers to strike a reasonable balance between grammar, general English and vocational content.

ESP Need Analysis For Public Health Course Material: A Learner Centered Approach

The purpose of this research is basically oriented towards the output of teaching materials based on English for Specific Purposes (ESP) modified learner-centered approach for Public Health sophomores, Faculty of Health and Sport, State University of Gorontalo. This research was conducted at the Faculty of Health and Sport (FOK) State University of Gorontalo, particularly in the Department of Public Health. The research was carried out for 2 years (2022-2023). This research is classified into the type of research development ( Research and Development or R & D) , which is a research that is used to produce certain products, and test the effectiveness of these products. The result showed that target need analysis covered the respondents considered the learner centered approach to be practical and easy to understand in their learning (47.6%). However, complaints can occur because the learning process takes a long time with a percentage (64.3%). Therefore, researchers assume that these obstacles occur because learning strategies are still conventional, and the learning media used are not up to date. The possibility that occurs in learning is if the learning strategy is only centered on the teacher explaining the material without considering student knowledge. In Learning need analysis, Subindicators of public health topic covered some materials such as medication and treatment, ecosystem, pain, health environment, and monitoring the patients. For the learning activities, it refers to the demonstration as the indicator that is needed to be conducted. Then, the trouble undrstanding lecturing in ESP course is relevant with lecturing. Therefore, it seems clearly that the learning needs of Public Health students deals with the concept of speaking skill in learning process.