English For Specific Purposes Practitioners Research Articles

Investigating the Writing Skills Alternative Assessment Strategies used in Moroccan ESP Classrooms: Teachers’ Perceptions and Prevailing Practices

Assessment is the backbone of the learning-teaching process. Several studies have proven that assessment goes hand in hand with learning. Classroom assessment can be either traditionally of learning or formatively an ongoing process for learning. The current study explores the writing skills alternative assessment strategies used by Moroccan English for Specific Purposes (ESP) teachers in their classrooms. To reach this, the study seeks to explore Moroccan ESP practitioners’ perceptions and prevailing practices of writing skills alternative assessment strategies. Similarly, the study tries to identify possible challenges that impede the proper implementation of alternative assessment pedagogy in the Moroccan ESP context. Following a qualitative research design, the current paper deploys semi-structured interviews to collect data from 10 ESP instructors working in different higher institutes and universities in Morocco. The findings reveal that the participants possess favorable opinions regarding alternative assessment methods of writing skills. Nevertheless, these optimistic viewpoints are not clearly reflected in their assessment practices. The research paper can benefit both practitioners and policymakers in the field of education.

Learning English for specific purposes (ESPs) through social media platforms (SMPs): a systematic review

PurposeThe search for new techniques to teach English nowadays has been more than ever. These techniques have to be interesting and enjoyable in order to lower the anxiety levels of students when learning English (Bakhsh, 2016). That is why many scholars and teachers look forward to integrating technology into language teaching. Social media platforms (SMPs) are among these techniques since millions of people around the world utilize them for daily interaction. Yet, teaching English for specific purposes (ESPs) relies on learners’ needs and employs an eclectic approach in delivering its course content. For this reason, the current study reviewed articles that tackled the topic of teaching or learning ESP from SMPs so as to uncover their effect and the attitude or motivation of learners.Design/methodology/approachThe researchers used the PRISMA flowchart model in order to identify, screen and include articles in the study.FindingsThe results revealed that SMPs are effective in teaching and learning ESP writing, speaking and vocabulary. Yet, the included studies showed that learners’ attitude toward SMPs is positive as they believe that they are motivating and interesting.Research limitations/implicationsSome aspects of social media have turned out to be beneficial in the learning process and they need further investigation from ESP practitioners and scholars.Originality/valueAccording to the study, it is crystal clear that the various social networks and platforms are beneficial and helpful for improving ESP productive skills.

Moroccan ESP Instructors’ Perceptions of an Effective ESP Teacher

The changes in the linguistic and socio-economic spheres in Morocco have brought about new perspectives to teaching English for specific purposes (ESP). The challenge has long been to ascertain the implementation of well-informed teaching practices to meet the volatile needs of learners and those of the local and global job market. Within this context, guided by the aim to promote quality in ESP teaching in Morocco, this paper investigated Moroccan ESP teachers’ perceptions of effective ESP teaching and teachers’ roles, hoping to offer a hands-on profile of an effective ESP practitioner. This study sought to answer two main research questions: 1). What roles do Moroccan ESP teachers play in their ESP teaching settings? 2). What are Moroccan ESP teachers’ perceptions of an effective ESP instructor? To answer these questions, a mixed-method research design was adopted where 32 teachers from different ESP settings were surveyed. The study offered illuminating data about effective ESP roles and practices and suggested a modal for effective ESP teaching.

THE MULTIDIMENSIONAL ROLE OF THE ENGLISH FOR SPECIFIC PURPOSES PRACTITIONER IN TODAY’S CHANGING SOCIETIES: VOICES FROM AROUND THE GLOBE

English is one of the most widely taught languages not only in Europe but across the globe, being the language of international communication, science and technology. It is nowadays an integral part of Higher Education curricula in many countries, as English for Specific Purposes (ESP) is considered essential for the acquisition and development of students’ employability skills. Simultaneously, the economic, political, social and technological developments occurring during the last decades have made the role of the ESP practitioner more complex and important at the same time. Nevertheless, issues related to the role, needs and duties of the ESP practitioners have not been adequately explored by researchers in the field. This paper focuses on the multifaceted role of the ESP practitioner stemming from the specialised needs of learners and the multiple duties they are expected to perform. More specifically, the paper reports on the results of a Technical Action Research study conducted with 24 English language educators across the globe, who wished to receive education on issues pertaining to ESP teaching methodology or update their knowledge on the latest development in ESP teaching practices. Data were collected through an online questionnaire, field notes, reflective journals, comments on an online platform and focus groups/interviews. The results shed light on the profiles of ESP practitioners, their duties and teaching contexts, the challenges they face, and their need to receive education on ESP issues.

Exploring Interdisciplinary Team Teaching as a Pedagogical Strategy for Developing ESP Teachers’ Subject Matter Knowledge

English for Specific Purposes (ESP) has rapidly gained considerable importance due to the position of English as a lingua franca in various scientific and economic domains. This paper aims to highlight ESP practitioners' attitudes towards implementing interdisciplinary team teaching and the potential barriers that hinder its implementation in the business school at Ibn Tofail University. To achieve these objectives, a qualitative research design was adopted, and semi-structured interviews were conducted with five ESP practitioners in the business school. The study reveals that the five interviewed teachers have positive attitudes towards interdisciplinary team teaching in the business school. However, the five interviewed ESP practitioners have been reluctant to implement co-teaching, which is the highest level of collaboration and interaction between ESP practitioners and content teachers, due to personal, pedagogical, and administrative constraints.

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.

TEACHING ENGLISH FOR SPECIFIC PURPOSES THROUGH CASE STUDIES: DESIGN, TEACHING, AND EVALUATION

This paper examines the use of the case study approach to teach English for specific purposes (ESP). Cases are used to teach disciplines, such as law, medicine, economics, etc. Nevertheless, they are less common in the areas related to teaching languages. A few articles describe the case study approach to teaching English for specific purposes, and mostly all of them deal with business English. Hence, we explore the advantages of teaching other types of ESP. The paper describes the practical elements that will guide an ESP practitioner through the process of designing their own case study and will offer insights into the teaching particularities of the case study approach.

A Duolingo-based English Language Skills Assessment: Through the Eyes of Vocational Students

The utilization of mobile-assisted language learning (MALL) enhances learning activities. As online learning modalities proliferate, Duolingo is becoming increasingly well-known but understudied as an English-learning assessment tool. This study explores the utilization of Duolingo as an English-learning assessment tool, specifically in the context of English for Specific Purposes (ESP) in Indonesia. Three Electromedical Engineering students were selected as participants, and semi-structured interviews were conducted to gather data. Thematic Analysis was employed to analyze the collected data. The findings revealed several positive impressions students had when using Duolingo as an English language skills assessment (ELSA) tool, including its engaging nature, facilitation of autonomous language skills assessment, provision of positive motivation, and improvement in vocabulary mastery. However, participants also mentioned drawbacks, such as Duolingo's inability to provide specialized Electromedical Engineering vocabulary, the use of fake images that hindered comprehension of meaning in real-life contexts, and the lack of interactivity in language skills assessment. The study recommends ESP practitioners to consider student-centered learning tools for assessing English proficiency, focusing on the test's purpose, objectives, practicality, reliability, validity, authenticity, and washback effects.

Developing a Corpus of Entrepreneurship Emails (COREnE) for Business Courses in Malaysian University Using Integrated Moves Approach

This paper describes the processes that went into the design and development of the Learner Entrepreneurship Corpus (LEC), a specialised corpus that contains pedagogical sales e-mails written by undergraduates at a Malaysian public university. It describes in detail the processes involved in data collection and selection, as well as raw data processing, which includes data coding and tagging. The tagging and coding utilised online softwares; CLAWS Tagger and AntConc. The study adopted Integrated Moves Approach (IMA) which combines both structural and syntactical analysis. This paper also discusses the evolution of corpora in Malaysia and their relevance to the field of English for Specific Purposes (ESP). LEC was created with the goal of providing corpus linguistic researchers with a place to explore the field, as well as ESP practitioners in Malaysia with resources for developing local-based ESP curriculum and teaching and learning materials. LEC has approximately 18 thousand words from 89 electronic documents retrieved from eCampus website. At present, users can make queries to access LEC from the researcher for free.

Challenges of Teaching ESP: A Review

English for Specific Purposes (ESP) has Noor Mala Ibrahim gained prominence and abundant research has been conducted on issues associated with it. However, research addressing the challenges of ESP teaching and learning continues to receive extensive attention focusing on issues ranging from the most appropriate methodology to use in ESP classrooms and contents to cover for effective learning outcomes for the learners. The aim of this review paper is to give a brief overview of what ESP is all about, it also covers some issues faced by ESP practitioners while in the process of teaching. During the course of this review, the key words “ESP Challenges”, “ESP teaching methodology”, “ESP teacher” were used on Google scholar to search for relevant materials to the topic covering the range of years from 2012 - 2021. Twenty relevant materials were finally selected which are used for this review. This review finally concludes by offering solutions as to how these challenges can be overcome by practitioners to make ESP teaching more effective.

A STUDY ON ENGLISH SPECIFIC PURPOSE FOR ENGLISH DEPARTMENT

English can be due to demand of Indonesian in the field of business, technology, education, and research. The implementation of ESP has revealed some factors, such as students, teachers, and ESP materials that have significant influences on the quality of teaching and learning ESP. These factors require serious attention from stakeholders and ESP practitioners to improve the quality of ESP instruction. The government language policy might emphasize the curricula of formal schools and teachers training for ESP instruction. The quality of teacher of ESP is high contributing to accommodate the teaching and learning ESP course. Besides that, the materials of ESP should be formulated by practitioners of ESP who had knowledge of ESP instruction and the aim of ESP might concern on the improvements in students' proficiency in English. Thus, the students are being better in academic and professional in the work domain. English for Specific Purposes (ESP) is one of the predominant approaches to language teaching in tertiary education, as it is directed towards the specific needs of the particular specialty students. The paper deals with the role of needs analysis and materials evaluation adjusting ESP courses to the needs of students in tertiary education. Students’ needs analysis is a reference base for both the development of a new ESP course and alterations of an existing ESP course in the changing environment and demands for English language skills. Teaching materials determine the content of the course and affect teaching methods, students’ motivation, vocabulary and language functions taught. The evaluation of teaching materials allows the teacher to constantly improve the ESP course, to better adjust it to the changing needs of students. The theoretical considerations are supported by a survey of students’ needs and their evaluation of teaching materials. The results of the survey reveal whether the students’ needs are met in the ESP course they have attended. The implication of the survey results is that the most topical students’ needs, such as the development of productive skills, and especially speaking skills, do not change over time. Students’ evaluation of the tailor-made ESP course books is also presented, as well as some suggestions to make the ESP courses more attuned to students ‘needs.

An Empirical Study of ESP Learners’ Experiences Using Edmodo in a Virtual Community of Practice

This study was conducted to investigate English for Specific Purposes (ESP) learners’ experiences in using social learning network sites, namely Edmodo in a virtual community of practice environment. This study was also aimed to identify the challenges that the learners encountered in using Edmodo. Mixed-method research was employed to collect the data for this study; a questionnaire survey and a focus group discussion. The collected data was analysed through statistical and thematic analysis. The results showed that most of the ESP learners were of the opinion that Edmodo was effective as a platform for a virtual community of practice, particularly in terms of interaction and knowledge sharing. The findings also revealed that some learners have had difficulties in creating a social identity in the community because of the lack of collaboration among the team members. Therefore, it is suggested that genuine, consistent, and synergistic motivation from educators followed by the active involvement of learners will surely boost the engagement of peripheral participants in the community. This study is significant as it offers some insights into how ESP practitioners and learners use social learning networks in building an effective ESP virtual learning community to achieve the learning outcome of the ESP course.

A Language Teacher in the ESP Classroom: Can We be a Successful Dweller in This Strange and Uncharted Land?

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.

Pedagogical Implications of Teaching English for Science and Technology

Teaching English for Specific Purposes (ESP) has traditionally been context-driven, focusing on the special field in which the language is expected to be used; needs-responsive, trying to define language learners’ needs and adapt teaching practices to these needs; and finally learner-centred, in a sense that teachingprocesses and learners activities have been highly influenced by the desired learning outcomes. However, due to recent global changes the conventional ways of teaching have been challenged. The paper lists some of the most intriguing pedagogical challenges for ESP practitioners and also recommendspossible solutions to meet them, partly from overviewing related academic literature, partly from successful practical implementations. Pedagogical issues raised by the internationalisation of higher education are also investigated by the author and some preliminary results of empirical research about learning styles are presented.

English for specific purposes: Traditions, trends, directions

English for Specific Purposes (ESP) began around fifty years ago as a result of pressing worldwide demands for fast-paced language training in occupational and professional settings, rapid revolutions in theoretical linguistics, and burgeoning pressures on schools and educators to focus on, and to be responsive to, learners’ needs. It started within the field of English Language Teaching (ELT) but has gradually established itself as an autonomous subfield of Applied Linguistics (AL). This paper will review the origins, evolution, and status quo of ESP, and then predict the future directions of this important field. The theoretical, analytical, and methodological evolutions of ESP are reviewed, the positions of genre analysis, target language use situation analysis, and context in ESP are described, the ‘just-in-case’ EAP and ‘just-in-time’ EOP approaches are compared, and the text-first and context-first approaches to discourse structure analysis are compared. The paper predicts that ESP will adopt a wide-angled epistemological stance to survey the (a) discursive, (b) generic, (c) social, and (d) organizational structures of specialized texts and discourses, as well as those of texts and discourses simplified for the popularization of science, in a systematic and contextualized manner. ESP practitioners are also warned about the potential threats of teaching genres of power within ESP.

POSSIBLE REASONS WHY ESP IS UNDER RECOGNIZED IN ACADEMIA

Hereby the claim is presented that among adult population of learners of English language in academia and life-long learning formats, the predominant approach in English Language Teaching (ELT) needs to be English for Specific Purposes (ESP), since General English has mostly been mastered by then, and because those learners then need linguistic training that would enable them to upgrade their professional efficacy and so remain competitive as demanded by contemporary professional/scientific global community. Nonetheless, such relevance of ESP for adult learners has not yet been recognized by main stakeholders in the field of ELT, namely academia and most famous ELT textbooks and reference books publishing houses, leaving ESP practitioners still on their own regarding professional development. This general overview is an attempt to rationalize the reasons for this paradoxical situation.

Contextual Meanings of the English Terms Used in Hotel

This paper presents the contextual meanings of the English terms used by the staff in Claro Hotel Makassar. The researcher observed three departments in a hotel; they are Housekeeping, Front Office and Food & Beverage department. The result of the research shows that there are many types of the English terms used in hospitality; some of the terms are categorized as the English special terms due to its contextual meaning. Furthermore, the researcher found that almost all staffs understand the terms even though they do not speak English fluently. However, for the new employer and trainee, most of them are somewhat distressed and said they did not know the terms because their educational background is not hospitality and the trainee said that some of the terms are not in their school textbook. Thus, it is essential for the English for Specific Purposes practitioners and particularly for the teachers of English for Hotel to understand and teach the contextual meanings of the particular English terms used in the hotel industry.

Engineering Students’ Motivation to Learn Technical English in ESP Courses: Investigating Iranian Teachers’ and Students’ Perceptions

Needs analysis is the key step to designing relevant and useful courses in English for Specific Purposes (ESP), but finding ways to deliver needs in a motivating and interesting way is also paramount. Therefore, investigating students’ motivation to learn ESP is central in needs analysis. Few studies have investigated needs from the perspective of ESP learners’ motivation. Focussing on engineering fields at three Iranian state universities, this study aimed to identify factors that affect engineering students’ motivation for learning technical English in ESP courses. Using a mixed method design, this study was conducted in two phases. In the first phase, semi-structured interviews with 40 undergraduate students helped to identify motivational variables, select a theoretical framework and develop instruments for the second phase. In the second phase, a survey using a 28-item questionnaire with 152 students, semi-structured interviews with 60 students, in-depth interviews with eight ESP practitioners and non-participant observation in seven ESP classes were done in parallel. Principal Component Analysis on survey data resulted in five motivational components of main sources of engineering students’ motivation to learn technical English: 1) ideal-self, 2) ought-to self, 3) instrumentality promotion motivation, 4) learning conditions, and 5) learning experience. These components were in agreement with Dӧrnyei’s L2 Motivational Self-system. Further quantitative and qualitative data analyses revealed that long-term goals and the practicalities of using technical English in every day life promote motivation more than a sense of obligation to learn technical English. Moreover, the results showed that Engineering students had negative attitudes towards elements of ESP learning experience, which best explained the reasons for students’ low motivation. The findings also supported the significant effect of academic levels on motivation. The factors that motivated students call for modifications in ESP courses which are discussed as pedagogical implications.

De los editores

From the Editors
 CLIL AT UNIVERSITY: RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENTS
 In recent times, the relevance of CLIL (Content and Language Integrated Learning) at most educational levels, especially in the university world, has experienced an exponential increase, as recent publications show (Doiz et al. 2013, Fortanet-Gómez 2013, Llinares et al. 2012, or Smit and Dafouz 2012a, among others). Teaching in English seems to be a popular topic nowadays, but it is also a need. The articles included in this issue show three main common features of CLIL and its role in today’s higher education: the process of internationalization of the educational system, the need for a language policy, and the fact that English for Specific Purposes (ESP) as a field of research and teaching as well as ESP practitioners are all very much concerned with CLIL.