ESP Teaching Research Articles

Advertisements as Authentic Materials in Business English Class

Authentic materials frequently complement coursebooks since they increase learner motivation and provide a realistic context for tasks relating to learners’ needs. However, using language from natural texts instead of ready-made examples can be counterproductive if not appropriately adapted. For that reason, the ESP teacher must consider the learner’s knowledge of language when preparing tasks, as authentic materials often contain difficult language, unnecessary vocabulary items, and complex language structures. This paper, first, summarizes the main advantages of using such materials in teaching and then focuses on the use of bank advertisements in Business English classes. In order to be properly implemented, these advertisements need to be analyzed in terms of their most frequent features at different linguistic levels. This analysis can help both ESP teachers to relate language instruction to particular universal characteristics of the register and ESP students to acquire language more naturally. Finally, the paper includes several ideas for exercises focusing on different language skills aimed at intermediate and upper-intermediate students.

Digital Educational Resources as a Component of Linguistic Environment Basis for ESP Blended Learning

The augmentation of ESP state of the art and benchmarking, as an instrument of improving the quality of college students training, has become the basis for the report. The attempt to find out and analyze the hindering obstacles on the way of this process and search for efficient boosters of its improvement has resulted in singling out such component of ESP teaching and learning linguistic environment as students’ individual work in the college resource centre (CRS). The aim of the report deals with the principal factors of the arrangement, and, in particular, its ‘saturation’ with self-study materials. The first results of the search resulted in a substantial change of teaching/learning paradigm at the college with its shift towards virtual educational reality which caused purposeful reconsideration of class-room teaching techniques, profound alterations in selection and use of individual self-paced learning materials in CRC. The conclusions of a semester-long experience are inspiring though it is obvious that more objective criteria of control and assessment of students’ progress in mastering ESP competences are required urgently.

Discursive Identity of ESP Teachers in Chinese Universities: A Multiple Case Study

Discursive Identity of ESP Teachers in Chinese Universities: A Multiple Case Study

Appraisal and Hints on “Career Paths” Series, Esp Engineering Books Developed at Put of Tirana

The moment you settle down to write and travel into the ESP world, ESP book-series, you are apt to encounter and get startled from the most commonly used “ESP words”, such as ESP course, students’ needs, study skills, language skills and many more. But the scope of academic debate and appraisal on ESP domain and textbooks exceeds and runs beyond the range of technical terms and technicalities. Like the ESP evolving world, ESP University Teachers are frequently puzzled and empowered by the genuine question and fact whether they are sufficiently qualified and technically competent to teach in ESP courses. This paper reviews points of appraisal and hints arising from the adoption and teaching situations in a “technical university media”, like Polytechnic University of Tirana. In view of the above, we strive to highlight and pinpoint at certain moments of teaching and learning experiences together with the outcomes. Similarly, through this paper we try to introduce several additional steps and specific hints with the focus on a more detailed picture and manner, by regarding these textbooks in an evaluative approach, and practically integrated skills; because ESP teachers need to develop and display a pioneering spirit of teaching activities and practice, into the ESP Realm.

ESP for College English in Agricultural Universities ─ with Yunnan Agricultural University as an Example

With the introduction and supplementation of ESP, especially with the publication and application of an ESP coursebook named Comprehensive English for Agriculture in the New Century, we have gradually revitalized College English in YAU, for ESP has effectively bridged students’ daily English learning and their desirable acquisition of special terms and knowledge pertinent to their respective majors. Through deepening reforms and renewing practices of College English teaching and learning, ESP has been becoming more and more popular with teachers and students in YAU. This paper discusses and analyzes how to make progressive teaching and learning with the book, how to stimulate and maintain students’ interest in learning and using English with hyperlinks attached to each unit, and how to integrate ESP teaching and learning with CET-4 and CET-6. Besides, this paper also depicts the difficulties like the shortage of qualified ESP teachers, the adaptation of teachers and students to the innovative and challenging practices, and comes up with some initiatory countermeasures to overcome the obstacles.

Measuring the Vocabulary Load of English-medium Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) Textbooks

The purpose of this research was twofold: to examine the vocabulary load of English-medium traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) textbooks and to create a TCM English word list (TCM EWL) to bridge the vocabulary gap for matriculating TCM undergraduates. The researcher compiled a corpus containing 4.48 million running words of 100 textbooks across 20 TCM subject areas and examined the lexical range and frequency along the wordfrequency scale of the British National Corpus and the Corpus of Contemporary American English. The results demonstrate that knowing the most frequent 9K-10K word families plus proper nouns, transliterated words, apparent compounds and abbreviations would command 95% lexical coverage of a TCM textbook. To reach the vocabulary threshold for adequate comprehension, nearly one thousand of the most frequently-occurring word families in the corpus were chosen and they covered 19.39% of the total words in the TCM textbooks. The TCM EWL encompasses various technical, lay-technical and academic vocabularies beyond the first 2K most frequent words. For TCM novices, the present TCM EWL provides a window to the TCM register and may be helpful for ESP teachers when preparing TCM English teaching materials for reading and vocabulary development.

Research on the Teaching Model Development of ESP and the Intercultural Communication Theory Fusion Trend under the Internationalization of Higher Education Background

In this paper, we conduct research on the teaching model development of the ESP and the intercultural communication theory fusion trend under the internationalization of higher education background. Of English for specific purposes, because the restriction of the register degree is high and the ESP teaching focuses on analysis of language context and the register. Context refers to the discourse of the whole social cultural background while it gives the author's writing purpose. With the development of international business, the study start civil, since then, the meaning of intercultural communication generalization for the different culture background of the effective communication between individuals and groups. This paper integrates the intercultural communication theory fusion to propose the suggestions for English education that is meaningful.

Reading Comprehension Needs of Iranian Medical Students

The present study aimed to assess the target and present reading comprehension needs and abilities of Iranian medical students with different levels of English language proficiency. A total of 283 medical students and 23 ESP instructors were chosen through cluster sampling. The data collection instruments included the Persian version of Atai and Nazari’s (2011) needs analysis questionnaire and a 40-item language proficiency test. The obtained results indicated that ‘general vocabulary’ and ‘medical terminology’ were considered ‘important’ in facilitating the comprehension of medical texts. In addition, the findings revealed that medical students need to improve all reading sub-skills. Furthermore, the respondents’ perceptions were significantly different with regard to students’ target needs and present abilities in reading comprehension. Finally, there was no statistically significant difference in students’ target and present needs and abilities across different levels of language proficiency. The findings have potential implications for the improvement of medical EAP courses.

Multimedia as an ESP teaching aid at technical universities

The article deals with the use of multimedia in English for Specific Purposes teaching at technical universities. The constituents of multimedia are presented at the beginning, along with the explanation of why the aforementioned means is considered as one of the best educational techniques. The advantages of the use of authentic multimedia in the ESP lesson are listed further in the paper. The reasons of possible negative outcomes of multimedia use in the foreign language lessons are briefly mentioned as well. The work contains the description of the process of educational material learning with the help of multimedia, and the explanation of the cognitive theory of multimedia learning (CTML), more specifically, its principles. When teaching students of technical specialties, it is vital to know that transfer learning is possible and even necessary; thus, this type of study can also be found in the proposed paper. The elements that influence the transfer learning success–mental model construction, working memory capacity, and comprehension–are provided. The experimental verification of the importance of multimedia in ESP lessons can be found at the end of the article

"All for One and One for All"- Creating a Mobile Learning Net for ESP Students' Needs

This paper looks into the ways ESP teachers have employed mobile learning scenarios in the teaching of English to Vocational Secondary school learners. Six teachers and 157 students participated in the research. Questionnaires and focus group discussions addressed to the students and semi-structured interviews with the teachers were the research tools. The thematic analysis of the interviews revealed that teachers use mobile learning as a mode of instruction to minimize distances, fill learning gaps due to student absences, enhance the learners’ ESP level and activate the weak or shy ones. The focus group discussions, thematically analyzed, and questionnaire answers, analyzed with the SPSS statistical package, have shown that students consider this mode of learning easy, interesting and useful especially for those working in parallel to the school studies.

An e-Portfolio-based Model for the Application and Sharing of College English ESP MOOCs

The informationalized knowledge sharing of MOOCs not only promotes the change of teaching concept and the reform of teaching methodology, but also provides a new opportunity for the teaching resource integration and sharing between different universities. The present study has constructed an e-Portfolio-based model for the application and sharing of college English ESP MOOCs. In this model, college English ESP MOOCs developed by different universities have been put into the e-Portfolio-based platform for application and sharing, and those MOOCs will be applied in the specific ESP teaching and learning processes. It is hoped that the application of the model will accelerate the development, application and sharing of teaching resources, and the coordination and innovation of knowledge between universities, and advance the professional interaction and the cultivation of interdisciplinary talents based on formative assessment.

Formulacity in ESP Teaching: A Case of Doing a Balancing Act Between Form and Meaning

Abstract Grammar teaching has never belonged to mainstream ESP teaching/ learning practices. However, this apparent lack of concern with grammar in ESP materials runs counter to both subjective and objective needs of ESP learners. The first part of the paper presents students′ views on deficiencies of coursebooks for teaching English for Medical Purposes (EMP) as well as author’s reflective thinking on the needs of medical undergraduates of vocational schools in Poland. It is suggested that some of the deficiencies of the materials might be remedied and the students′ needs better taken care of if explicit teaching of formulaic language is introduced into ESP classroom environment. It is hypothesized that explicit teaching of formulaic language may stimulate grammar development in the long term and foster communicative competence of ESP learners in the short term. Therefore, the second part of the paper proposes pedagogically relavant classification of medical formulaic sequences motivated by the lexicogrammatical features of Medical English. The third part of the paper shows in what way the proposed classification of formulaic sequences might help teachers of medical English design tasks that are conducive to the development of formulaic competence of students of English for Medical Purposes.

Study on Chinese College ESP Teaching in the Background of Mooc

Study on Chinese College ESP Teaching in the Background of Mooc

English for special or specific purposes (ESP): A study on teaching ESP courses

English is taught for academic purposes as well as special or specific purposes in schools, colleges and universities as a part in ELT. English for academic purposes (EAP) is a course in ELT and teachers focus on language skills, vocabulary, grammar etc in ELT classrooms to train students or learners. English for special or specific purposes (ESP) is also another course where teachers focus on business English, technical English, scientific English, English for medical profession, aviation English, English for tourism etc. ESP is taught to meet the specific needs of the students or learners. Business English is the main concept of ESP. In ESP, grammar, lexis, register, discourse, genre etc are focused rather than language skills. Most of ESP courses are taught to the students who have basic knowledge in English and sometimes to the beginners also. Since 1960, ESP has become one of the prominent areas of EFL teaching. This paper focuses on the importance of ESP in ELT and the advantages of this course in special or specific situations. Moreover, this paper analyzes the use of ESP in business, tourism, aviation, science and technology and other technologies etc in a comprehensive way and teaching ESP courses in which teachers adopt different techniques is also discussed.

The Challenges and Opportunities for English Teachers in Teaching ESP in China

In recent years, English for Specific Purposes has been widely adopted in College English courses, which presents a great challenge for all English teachers. With particular characteristics, ESP calls for the interdisciplinary knowledge to meet the needs of learners. Accordingly, teachers’ role changes dramatically from the traditional language lecturer to multiple roles especially as a cooperator with content teachers. Cooperation with content teachers is a complex process which involves what and how to cooperate. By analyzing the previous researches and different specialisms of English teachers and content teachers, English teachers will not strive to learn as much content knowledge as possible but find their own and unique status in teaching with their linguistic knowledge. In this way a successful teaching of ESP can be achieved. Along with the challenges, ESP also provides a platform to conduct the communicative approach in class. With the equal status and the common ground built in ESP class, communicative teaching will be more effective.

Research on Integration of College English Teaching and ESP Teaching

There is no unified arrangement and management in College English teaching and ESP teaching. The serious gap between them has resulted in the fact that students' English proficiency development in workplace lags behind. Thus in order to meet the needs of hotel industry development and improve students' English competence in workplace environment and their career competition, our project team has performed a series of reform, integrating College English teaching and ESP teaching in Voda Hotel Class 2015, and has obtained initial results

Methodological Model for Teaching Written Professional Communication

Abstract Despite the significance of the ability to write in the ET classes writing as a means of exploring and communicating ideas to achieve professional goals is the most ignored of the language skills. The article discusses how the application of genre-based pedagogy can transform the way ESP and EAP teachers teach written communication skills in Russia. It also suggests to structure writing curriculum around the genres of professional and academic communication. It describes a teaching strategy that systematically takes learners through the stages involved in training writing skills and enables them improve critical thinking through writing activities.

Best Practices in the English for Specific Purpose Classes at the Language Center

Abstract South East European University is an Institution, established in 2001 by few International Stakeholders with the aim of introducing new teaching techniques and approaches in education. Special curriculums and courses were designed as an innovation in higher education. Within these news curriculums, English for Specific Purpose course emerged, which was dedicated to advanced students in English Language. This course was introduced around 2005 for the first time and since then has been constantly part of every study program. Thus, with this research, we will describe in general the English for Specific Course (ESP) with its features and bring to light the best practices occurring in these courses. Learners in ESP course are interviewed and asked to rate some of the best and common practices in the course. The findings from the research are analyzed and introduced in the paper for our own benefit and also for sharing them with other teachers of ESP who take part in the conference. As regards the research methodology surveys and interviews were conducted. The questions were agreed in advance with students of ESP and through them we collected information about their attitudes and their general view of the best practices in ESP classes. Our hypothesis from the research was that students view ESP as a very useful course, which helps them reach higher communicative competence in their field of study and as a result higher job opportunities in the labor market of Macedonia, as a country aspiring for integration in international organizations such as NATO and EU. The outcome of the research strongly affirmed that, and students indicated that the course was effective.

Implementing Self Access Material for Promoting Learner Autonomy In Teaching ESP

This research used qualitative research design. Fraenkel and Wallen (2006) define qualitative research as documenting or portraying the everyday experience of individuals by observing and interviewing them. In this case, the researcher interviewed, observed teaching and learning ESP process and documentation by collecting document needed. Finally, Teacher as facilitator is easy to develop learners autonomy in teaching ESP by utilizing Self Access Material in form of providing relevant videos, providing software and online sources, producing in-house material development, making authentic podcasts accessible, promoting CALL, turning workshop recordings into self-access activities and using authentic music resources. By fostering self access material and implement it by using nine strategies namely setting objectives, selection of materials, methods, teacher’s role, teacher-learner relationship, learning environment, homework, presentation and talks and evaluation, teacher is able to trigger the learners to develop the ESP materials given.Keywords: Learner autonomy, self access material, ESP.

ESP PRACTITIONERS’ ROLE AND THEIR ETHNOGRAPHY: A CASE STUDY OF ESP PRACTITIONERS AT THE INDONESIAN TERTIARY LEVEL

<p>This current research aims at revealing factual ESP practitioners’ roles at the tertiary level of education in Malang City, Indonesia. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews and a survey using questionnaires involving 22 ESP practitioners selected randomly from several universities and colleges in Malang. To collect data on the roles of ESP practitioners, the present study adopted two sources in the questionnaires: First, the roles of ESP instructors as teachers, course designers, materials providers, researchers, and evaluators as proposed by Dudley-Evans and St. John (1998), and secondly as a practitioner who has intercultural competence and professional activity competence as defined by Luka (2004) and ethnography (Wall, 2014). The findings showed that the majority (70%) of ESP practitioners realized their roles and some (30%) claimed to learn more on mastering contents, providing materials, conducting research on needs analysis, learning intercultural competence, and realizing the needs to have experiences in industries or related work places of the students. Concerning their ethnography, the majority of ESP practitioners did not have the opportunity to teach, to have internship, and to work in industries. Only 2 (9.1%) ESP practitioners studied the field of what students learn. Future research on the collaboration between academics and practitioners is needed to make ESP classrooms a ‘real world’.</p>