ESP Program Research Articles

Assessing the Gaps in Macro Skills: A Needs Analysis among Third-Year Psychology Students

This quantitative study employed a needs analysis approach which aimed to identify, aid, and present the problem with the proficiency in reading, writing, speaking, and listening skills of third-year Psychology students. 50 respondents from the psychology department in a private non-sectarian academic institution were randomly surveyed to gather the requisite data. Results showed that the respondents need guidance across various language competencies. Their reading skills are at the frustration level, listening skills are at the proficient level, and writing and speaking skills are at the moderate level. This study suggests customized instructional approaches which can significantly improve the receptive and productive English language skills of third-year psychology students, thereby empowering them to achieve greater academic and professional success. These findings underscore the effectiveness of ESP programs in enhancing the language skills required for psychology students and of similar academic contexts.

Current English Language Teaching Using Production-Oriented Approach: A Systematic Review

In recent years, the production-oriented approach (POA) has grown to be a popular research topic in China. Despite that, it is noticeable that a systematic literature review of the international journals written in English (2019-2023) on POA is not available, which has raised a need to promote POA to other parts of the world, especially to benefit more English learners. This review is focused on three questions: What is the present state of implementation of POA? What are its influences on students’ acquisition of the English language? What are the obstacles encountered in promoting broader adoption of POA? Based on a search via three databases (Scopus, WoS, and ERIC), 35 journal articles between 2019 and 2023 were analysed finally. The findings indicate that: (1) POA research is now mainly empirical research, related to theory development, teacher development, and textbook development. (2) The effects of POA on English learners are as long as they are manifested in terms of their effects on students' writing ability, speaking ability, translation ability, positive affective experiences and learning awareness. (3) At present, the main problems encountered by POA lie in the limited classroom teaching time, the relatively small sample size, and the remaining gap between the selection of teaching materials and the teaching design to keep students’ continuous motivation. In addition, this article also discusses the future direction of research, which needs to work on linguistics, literature, western culture, ESP programs and other languages, as well as the integration and development of teaching materials and teacher development.

An Analysis of Civic Education Students’ Perception Toward Their Needs in Learning English for Specific Purpose in University of Mataram

This study, aim to examine civic students’ necessities, lacks, and wants in learning English & Analyze civic students’ perception toward the ESP program in fulfilling their lacks and wants in learning English. This research descriptive qualitative researcher. The population of this study was 160 of civic education students ‘who were studying in University Of Mataram academic year 2021-2022. The number of samples used was 30 students who were taken using purposive sampling techniques. In gathering the data, this study used a questionnaire and an interview. The questionnaire consists of questions related to demographic information, necessities, wants, lacks, and perceptions toward the English program in fulfilling the students' wants. Meanwhile, a semi-structured interview was used to strengthen the data from the questionnaire. The research data show that civic education students needed English to pass the TOEFL exam, which 43.3% did, followed by learning it for future careers, which accounted for 40% of their responses. Furthermore, most of the students wanted to be able to master vocabulary in English related to citizenship studies, listen to speeches and other spoken resources in English, write civic documents in English, and be able to read English civic documents at the end of the English course. Furthermore, it was discovered that the majority of them lacked speaking and listening skills. In terms of student perception, it was discovered that civic education students perceived the English program as fulfilling their wants because they were provided with learning techniques to satisfy their wants and lacks

Türk ÖAİ Öğrencilerinde ODİ Farkındalığı

The study, which was based on quantitative data, sought to shed light on how much ELF influences language learning goals for ESP learners, how they relate to the new ELF phenomena, and how far they are aware of the changing role of English, which was one of the least researched area in the literature. The findings indicated that the Turkish ESP students showed great awareness about the issue that today English is considered as a primary lingua franca that enables them to communicate and interact with others around the world. It was also revealed that besides that they did not place only native varieties of English or only native speakers in their English learning process, communicating with non-native speakers of English had more importance than native speakers of English in their purpose of ESP learning. They did not see the role of accuracy in English as an ultimate goal as long as intelligibility was achieved in communication. This article calls for more future research and effort devoted to enhancing ELF awareness in Turkish ESP programmes.

관광산업의 특수목적영어(ESP) 교육프로그램이 직원의 영어역량, 직무만족 및 고객지향성에 미치는 영향

English language skills are required for tourism service employees to satisfy customers' needs and increase revenue from their customer service encounters. Particularly, employees in hotels and various tourism businesses should provide smooth and professional services to foreign tourists, and their English language skills are deeply related to job competency. However, tourism businesses often fail to provide sufficient task-related English education programs to employees, particularly ESP programs that can increase work efficiency. This study aims to understand the current status of employees’ English language skills and English education environments to emphasize the necessity of ESP programs and to provide a framework for developing and operating a curriculum accordingly. Also, the relationship among ESP programs, tourism employees' English language skills, job satisfaction, and customer orientation was examined. A total of 300 respondents completed a professional online survey. Results of the SEM analysis suggested that ESP programs positively influenced the English language skills of tourism employees, resulting in higher job satisfaction and strengthened customer orientation. This study systematically analyzed the structural impacts of in-house English language programs on customer orientation mediated by job satisfaction, a topic that has not been tapped much by tourism researchers. This study will make a meaningful contribution to the literature and also provide practical guidance for various sectors of the tourism industry in Korea.

English Language Needs for Hotel Service and ESP Program: The Case of Hospitality Vocational Secondary School

English Language Needs for Hotel Service and ESP Program: The Case of Hospitality Vocational Secondary School

A Microlearning ESP Program to Develop University Students’ Vocabulary and Reduce their Cognitive Load

A Microlearning ESP Program to Develop University Students’ Vocabulary and Reduce their Cognitive Load

Aspects of gamification in the ESP program for maritime students

This paper explores the possibilities offered by the integration of various gamified learning tasks in the teaching of maritime English at “Mircea cel Bătrân” Naval Academy, with a focus on the enhancement of the acquisition of specialized vocabulary. The study will discuss the impact of online interactive activities in a game-like format on student motivation, as well as on the speed and quality of the subsequent linguistic intake. Classroom observations have shown that gamified learning activities and strategies have enriched the learning process by prompting a higher level of engagement with the learning content, by fostering participation, developing transferable digital skills, encouraging student autonomy and ultimately leading to learner empowerment. The paper will also provide some practical demonstrations of such gamified language learning activities with the aim of sharing best practices and encouraging the use of ICT means in the teaching and learning process.

An Analysis of Civic Education Students’ Perception toward Their Needs in Learning English for Specific Purpose in University Of Mataram

In Indonesia, English is now a compulsory subject in undergraduate programs, regardless of whether students are enrolled in Non-English or English Departments. Non-English departments, including those in tourism, law, economics, pharmacy, and other fields, require English as well. The way English is taught in the civic department, for example, varies from how it is taught in the economics department. The language items and sub-skills necessary for the civic department differ from those required in the economics department. This study, aim to examine civic students’ necessities, lacks, and wants in learning English & Analyze civic students’ perception toward the ESP program in fulfilling their lacks and wants in learning English. This research descriptive qualitative researcher. The population of this study was 160 of civic education students ‘who were studying in University Of Mataram academic year 2021-2022. The number of samples used was 30 students who were taken using purposive sampling techniques. In gathering the data, this study used a questionnaire and an interview. The questionnaire consists of questions related to demographic information, necessities, wants, lacks, and perceptions toward the English program in fulfilling the students' wants. Meanwhile, a semi-structured interview was used to strengthen the data from the questionnaire. The research data show that civic education students needed English to pass the TOFL exam, which 43.3% did, followed by learning it for future careers, which accounted for 40% of their responses. Furthermore, most of the students wanted to be able to master vocabulary in English related to citizenship studies, listen to speeches and other spoken resources in English, write civic documents in English, and be able to read English civic documents at the end of the English course. Furthermore, it was discovered that the majority of them lacked speaking and listening skills. In terms of student perception, it was discovered that civic education students perceived the English program as fulfilling their wants because they were provided with learning techniques to satisfy their wants and lacks.

Pre-service English Teachers’ Adaptation Skills in Two ESP Courses

Background: The ability to adapt, imitate and modify knowledge in a learning context into another learning context is an important ability for students. However, the ability of pre-service English teachers to adapt their knowledge and skills from one course to other courses has not been studied. This research seeks to find out how pre-service English teachers in one state university in Indonesia adapt knowledge and skills acquired in the Syllabus Design (SD) and Developing EFL Materials (DEM) courses into ESP Program Design (ESP PD) and ESP Materials Development (ESP MD) courses. Methodology: This research is a mixed quantitative and qualitative study involving 54 students who have taken SD, DEM, ESP PD and ESP MD courses in 2022 in a state university in Indonesia. Fifteen of them also took part in a focus group discussion. Their answers to the semi-open questionnaire asking whether the 16 knowledge and skills learned in SD and DEM courses had been adapted were analyzed in a simple quantitative manner with percentages and modes. While the results of focus group discussion about how they adapted them were analyzed qualitatively for themes.Findings: The results of this study show that 15 knowledge and skills in SD and DEM courses were adapted by students into ESP PD and ESP MD courses. The participants adapted them by changing the context of the syllabus and materials the developed in SD and DEM from English at school to English for specific purposes in ESP PD and ESP MD especially when formulating learning objectives. They also developed general English materials into ESP English materials for certain occupations. These findings indicate that students master the contexts of ESP PD and ESP MD.Conclusion: It can be concluded that pre-service English teachers have excellent adaptation skills, which are done not by force, but by choice, to the peripheral component and for the benefit of students. Originality: This is the contribution of this research to students’ learning theory in ESP in English teacher education to add to Leko’s (2015) Evidence by Practice (EBP) theory.

Examining the relationship between students’ requirements and English for Islamic studies programs in Dar El Hadith El Hassania Institute, Rabat

This study investigates ESP programs in the context of Islamic studies in Morocco. It examines the relevance of the English for Islamic Studies program implemented at Dar El Hadith El Hassania on students’ needs. To fulfill this purpose, a mixed-methods approach is adopted. A survey questionnaire and interviews are used to obtain reliable and scientific data. The survey findings indicated that the majority of participants have a great interest to learn English. Speaking and Grammar were rated as extremely important. The results obtained from students’ perceptions of the usefulness of the English course in meeting their needs reported that tasks related to Grammar and vocabulary were achieved to a satisfactory level.

The Needs Analysis Of English For Accounting In SMK Negeri 2 Sidrap

This research analyzes the accounting students’ need in learning English at SMK N 2 Sidrap due to the accounting students learn English using English textbook which has same content with other majors. In fact, the school has four distinctive majors. The subject of this research is the eleventh grade of accounting students in XI AKL 1. This research used descriptive qualitative research with observation checklist, teacher interview and questionnaire as the tools in collecting data. To analyze the data, the researcher involved five activities; observing English teaching and learning process, teacher interview, giving questionnaire to the accounting students, analyzing and describing the obtained data, and calculating percentage of students’ answer in questionnaire. The result of this research shows that the eleventh grade of accounting students in XI AKL 1 needs more specific English material and English skill in accounting field. In addition, based on classroom observation, in teaching process the teacher requires to find appropriate way that can make the students more interesting and active. Therefore, to maximize their competence in accounting activities, the accounting students hope that the school can design ESP program.

A Comparison of the Learning Efficiency of Business English between the Blended Teaching and Conventional Teaching for College Students

Over the last thirty to forty years, as technology and supplementary broadcast networks have advanced, an increasing number of teachers have entered the classroom with new perspectives, such as providing students with resources and an environment that adheres to the blended teaching style. Learning can take place whenever and wherever it is desired with a blended teaching approach. The primary goal of this study was to investigate whether the blended teaching strategies and materials or the traditional teaching method in the Business English class increase students' learning satisfaction and academic achievement. Participants in this study included 56 undergraduate students majoring in Applied Foreign Languages in central Taiwan. Business English ESP courses were offered during the 108 and 109 academic years. The four-point Likert scale questionnaire was distributed after students took the course. Moreover, in-person interviews and class observations were also focused to reveal overall students’ learning efficiency and perceptions on the preferences of teaching techniques in Business English and their learning satisfaction. As a result, students considered blended teaching an effective teaching strategy that increased their learning motivation with additional instructional activities. In addition, findings demonstrated that both handwritten exams (associated with traditional teaching methods) and interactive answering Apps (associated with blended teaching methods) work effectively based on different teaching methods. The outcomes of this study suggest that the majority of students have a positive attitude toward blended learning in the ESP program of business English and that their academic performance has obviously improved.

Collaborative Research-Based ESP Program to Enhance University Students’ Critical Writing and Reflective Thinking Skills

The present research aimed at enhancing university students' critical writing and reflective thinking skills. This was achieved through applying a Collaborative Research-Based ESP Program. The research adopted two groups design with pre/post-test treatment. The sample consisted of 50 students. The following instruments were designed and used: A Critical Writing Skills Checklist (CWSC); A Critical Writing Skills Pre/Post Test (CWST); A Reflective Thinking Questionnaire (RTQ) and a Reflective Thinking Skills Pre/Post Test (RTST). Results of the research indicated that there were statistically significant differences at 0.05 level between the mean scores of the experimental group on the pre/post administrations of the pre/post-tests, the CWST and the RTST, in favour of the post ones. In addition, the experimental group students outperformed their counterparts in the control group students in the target skills. Consequently, the proposed Collaborative Research-Based ESP Program proved to be effective in developing critical writing and reflective thinking skills for university students.

Analysis of the relationship between students’ proficiency level and their ability to identify figurative language

Abstract concepts are frequently expressed in natural language by means of metaphors, metonymies and other types of figurative language. Knowledge and appropriate use of these conceptual instances of actual language use by university graduates are related to L2 mastery, and therefore conceptual instruction is expected to facilitate L2 acquisition. The aim of this paper is to study ESP higher-education students’ conceptual competence and its relationship to their overall L2 competence. An empirical study measures the students’ ability to recognize metaphors and metonymies, including demographic, sociological and individual factors (including the effect of the informal learning of English language by means of extra-curricular activities) as interpretive data on such reflective figurative language recognition. Results indicate a significant difference in learners’ figurative language interpretation across academic disciplines. In addition, English language proficiency and age, together with two sociological factors (regular English-related leisure activities and speaking English on the phone) are significant factors in figurative language recognition in a specialised University context. Age and leisure choices also turned out to be significant factors in figurative language identification and literal meaning choice. The findings of the present study have important implications for the ESP practitioners regarding the teaching of metaphors and metonymies to their students, as well as learners when practising extracurricular English-related activities. It seems of relevance to insert figurative language recognition and use into ESP programs for L2/FL learners at all levels of English proficiency.

Review of the statement of purpose (SP) genre: A shared-understanding of rhetorical appeals in technical communication SPs

This study examines twenty-four statements of purpose (SPs) submitted to a master's program in technical communication at a US university. Primarily, this paper analyzes how the SPs performed rhetorical social action by using the rhetorical appeals (pisteis). To understand the SP writers' arguments, a textual analysis of their SPs was conducted by using the Aristotelian framework of pisteis: logos, pathos, and ethos. Subcodes—or special topics of invention— were further developed under each pistis. The results show that ethos was predominant in the SP corpus, and that each SP included arguments from at least four special topics. The heavy reliance on ethos suggests the writers' tacit assumption about the SP genre: if credibility is not established prominently, then rational and emotional appeals will not be effective. The qualitative nature of this study prevented generalization to the overall SP genre, but the twenty-six special topics that the writers used to construct their arguments can serve as an invention heuristic. The findings will help prospective master's students to use the rhetorical appeals effectively in their SPs, and educators in composition, technical communication, EAP, and ESP programs to discuss this academic genre with their undergraduate students.

Professionally-Oriented Approach to English Language Teaching of Students of Journalism

Today's tertiary education is in urgent need of curricula aimed at teaching professional skills and competencies to university students. As a compulsory subject in many universities across Russia, English has been adjusted to meet this need, giving rise to ESP and EPP programs designed for narrow specialists. Nevertheless, journalism students have been paid little attention due to a common belief that to cover a wide variety of topics, they need EGP (

In Search for Awareness of the Needs: A study of an ESP Intensive Program for Government Official

The study aims at constructing the awareness-building process of Taiwanese government officials from historical and sociocultural perspectives. This paper analyzes the program designed by Asia University which offered a 12-week intensive English training course for 19 government officials in Nantou in 2013. The study used: 1) Needs Analysis questionnaires (pre- and post- survey), and 2) structural interviews to discuss the following questions: 1) To what extent do officials enrolling the program actually need English in their works? 2) How do they realize their needs? 3) Based on the Needs Analysis (NA), what elements should a successful government ESP program incorporate? The study found that although participants agreed on the benefits of joining the program, not many of them know their specific needs. They just want to improve their English generally. However, they gradually notify that their needs as the program brought then district idea of learning. Finally, their replies suggested that more ESP for government officials are needed.

Language difficulties in teaching esp

This article explains the reasons for arising the quality of teaching foreign language as a language of specialty in nonlinguistic universities. For realizing modern aim of teaching foreign languages - developing learner's communicative competence - it is required to revise the existed ESP programs and textbooks for the efficiency of their content to the set goal. Textbooks must be effective not only for developing linguistic competence but also it must include didactic resources for developing sociolinguistic, sociocultural, discourse and strategic competences crucial components of the communicative competence. The article also underlines the importance of methodical instructions for overcoming linguistic and cultural difficulties in teaching ESP. The difficulties in teaching foreign language as the of the language of specialty both linguistic and extra linguistic may be overcome only by enlightening them in the appropriate didactic materials and by using modern methods and techniques in the ESP classroom. Some samples of the linguistic such lexical difficulties, syntax difficulties, stylistic difficulties, semantic difficulties in English for law are given in the article for using them in real life academic procedure. This article may help practitioners to improve their content of teaching ESP and to create effective textbooks and manuals in accordance with the modern requirements to realizing the aim of teaching foreign languages.

Intensive Experiential ESP Programmes for Continuing Education: Analysis and Effectiveness

Acquiring and improving advanced foreign language communication skills are considerable challenges for graduates, especially when they require a specialised approach. Additionally, their specific needs and time limitations condition their possibilities of getting suitable programmes once they finish their higher education. This research tries to fill this gap by describing an intensive experiential programme design based on foreign language learning principles and checking the possible effectiveness of this structure in three areas: opportunities to practice, motivating atmosphere, and language improvement. A survey was administered to all the participants present in the last session of each intensive programme (28 in total; 381 participants). Participants had to indicate to what extent they agreed or disagreed with a series of statements regarding the programme’s effectiveness. It was made clear that participation was anonymous, voluntary, and confidential. Results suggest that the experiential programme’s intensive and focussed character is especially suitable for this target group within the context of continuing education due to the extensive access to meaningful input and interaction and the emotionally favourable learning environment. Regarding learning outcomes, students found that the intensive experience was successful from a language acquisition perspective, and they reported improvement in their perceived comprehension, lexical development, and general communication skills.