English for

Specific
Purposes
What is ESP?
English for Specific Purposes (ESP)
▪ Like any form of language teaching, it is
primarily concerned with learning.

▪ But it is our view that in its development

up to now, ESP has paid scant attention to
the question of how people learn, focusing
instead on the question of what people learn.
▪ In other words, it has been language-centered
in its approach.
Why is ESP?
▪ After all, the English Language world got along
well enough without it for many years, so
why has ESP become such an important, some
might say the most important part of English
language teaching?
▪ As with most developments in human
activity, ESP was not a planned and
coherent movement, but rather a
phenomenon that grew out of a
number of converging trends. There
are three main reasons common to
the emergence of all ESP.
1. The demands of a Brave New World
▪ The end of the Second World War in 1945
heralded an age of enormous and unprecedented
expansion in scientific, technical, and economic
activity on an international scale.

▪ This expansion created a world unified and

dominated by two forces:
✓ Technology and commerce
▪ … which in their relentless progress soon
generated a demand for an international
language.
▪ For various reasons, most notably the economic
power of the United States in the post-war
world, this role fell to English.

▪ Previously the reasons for learning English (or

any other language) had not been well defined.

▪ A knowledge of a foreign language had been

generally regarded as a sign of a well-rounded
education, but few had really questioned why it
was necessary.
▪ Learning a language was, so to speak, its own
justification.
▪ But as English became the accepted international
language of technology and commerce, it created
a new generation of learners who knew
specifically why they were learning a language.

▪ … businessmen and women who wanted to sell

their products, mechanics who had to read
instruction manuals, doctors who needed to keep
up with developments in their field and a whole
range of students whose course of study included
textbooks and journals only available in English.
▪ This development was accelerated by the Oil
Crises of the early 1970s, which resulted in
a massive flow of funds and Western
expertise into the oil-rich countries.

▪ The general effect of all this development

was to exert pressures on the language
teaching profession to deliver the required
goods.

▪ English had previously decided its own destiny, it

now became subject to the wishes, needs and
demands of people other than language teachers.
2. A REVOLUTION IN LINGUISTICS
▪ At the same time as the demand was growing
for English courses tailored to specific needs,
influential new ideas began to emerge in the
study of language.
▪ Traditionally, the aim of linguistics had been to
describe the rules of English usage, that is,
the grammar.
▪ However the new studies shifted attention away
from defining the formal features of language
usage to discovering the ways in which language
is actually used in real communication
(Widdowson, 1978).
▪ One finding of this research was that the
language we speak and write varies considerably,
and in a number of different ways, from one
context to another.
▪ These ideas married up naturally with
the development of English courses for
specific groups of learners.

▪ The idea was simple: if language varies

from one situation of use to another,
it should be possible to determine the features of
specific situations and then make these features
the basis of the learners’ course.
▪ During early 1960s and early 1970s, most of
the work at this time was in the area of
English for Science and Technology (EST)

▪ Finally, the view gained ground that the English

needed by a particular group of learners could
be identified by analyzing the linguistic
characteristics of their specialist area of work
or study.
“Tell me what you need English for
and I will tell you the English that
you need.”
 3. FOCUS ON THE LEARNER
▪ New developments in educational psychology also
contributed to the rise of ESP, by emphasizing
the central importance of the learners and
their attitudes to learning.
▪ Learners were seen to have different needs
and interests, which would have an important
influence on their motivation to learn and
therefore on the effectiveness of their learning.
▪ This lent support to the development of courses in which
‘relevance’ to the learners’ needs and interests was
paramount.

▪ The assumption underlying this approach was

that the clear evidence of the English course to their needs
would improve the learners’ motivation and thereby
make learning better and faster.
“Tell me what you need English for and I
will tell you the English that you need.”
▪ How justifiable do you think this claim is for
ESP?
 ‘The clear relevance of the English course
to their needs would improve the learners’
motivation and thereby make learning
better and faster.’
▪ A. Give three ways in which ‘relevance’ can be achieved.

▪ B. In what ways can motivation affect language

learning?
What is ESP,
then?
English for Specific Purposes (ESP)
▪ It is a goal-oriented. Students study English
for specific purpose, to survive in an academic
setting or in a workplace.
▪ It is based on student’s needs analysis and is not
limited by time.
▪ Hutchinson and Waters (1987) use ESP as an
approach rather than a product, by which mean that ESP
does not involve a particular kind of language, teaching
material or – methodology.
Basic Features
of ESP
 1. ESP IS GOAL-ORIENTED.

▪ The program should not be geared towards a

general approach to teaching the English
language.
 2. ESP IS BASED ON NEEDS ANALYSIS.

▪ Students needs i.e., initial needs, learning needs,

and target or end-of-course requirement.
 3. ESP IS TIME-BOUND.

▪ ESP do not intend to spend too much time

engaging to indirect learning activities. Goals
should be met at a specified time or duration.
 4. ESP IS FOR ADULTS.

▪ Because they are the ones who are opting to

learn English as a preparation for higher
learning or for the workplace.
 5. ESP IS DISCIPLINE SPECIFIC.

▪ ESP courses are written to fit a particular

group of students who belong to the same
field of study.
Bye for now, thank
you for listening!