THE ESP TEACHER:

ISSUES, TASKS, AND

CHALLENGES
 Marie Buena S. Bunsoy, MALED 
 Creation of ESP
(Kennedy and Bolitho, 1984:1)
◦The introduction of governmental mass education
programs with English as the first, and sometimes
only, foreign language;
◦English as a common medium of communication
(business and occupational mobility)
◦Scientific and technical literature
English for Specific Purposes
◦Teaching and learning of English as a
second or foreign language where the
goal of the learners is to use English in
a particular domain
What ESP is NOT:
(Hutchinson and Waters, 1987)
◦Not a matter of teaching specialized varieties of
English
◦Not just a matter of Science words and grammar for
Scientists, Hotel words, and grammar for Hotel staff
and so on
◦Not different in kind from any other form of
language teaching
 The Birth of ESP
(Hutchinson and Waters)
1. Technology and commerce – progression generated a
demand for an international language (economic power of
US)
2. New mass of people wanting to learn English
3. Oil Crises of the early 1970s involved a massive flow of
funds and western expertise into the rich-oil countries.
4. Need to update their knowledge

Note: ESP came into being based on LEARNERS’ SPECIFIC

NEEDS required by their professions and occupations.
A Learning- Centered Approach

◦Emphasis of ESP is laid not on

language use but on language
learning
 Demands of Teaching ESP
◦ Teachers may find themselves dealing with content in an occupation
or subject of study that they themselves have no little or no prior
knowledge of. (Basturkmen, 2010)
◦ MA TESOL programs
◦ The state of ESP teacher education in the US had no ESP track MA
TESOL programs (Master, 1997a)
◦ Three UK universities offered MA programs specializing ESP
(Howard, 1997)
◦ The City University of Hongkong offers an ESP track MA and a
number of other universities around the world offer MA courses as
part of their MA TESOL programs
Demands of Teaching ESP
◦ TESOL training has been very largely concerned with general ELT.
◦ ELT and ESP – developing students’ communicative competence
◦ Language pedagogy – concerned with the ability to use language
in communicative situations (Ellis, 1996)
◦ Many ELT courses are based on the principle that language course
content should be related to the purposes for which students are
expected to use language after all.
 External and Internal Goals
(Cook, 2002)
◦External goals – uses of language
outside the classroom
◦Internal goals – relate to the
educational aims of the classroom
◦ELT – goals are generally linguistic
◦ESP – real world objectives

Note:
Find out what the language-based objectives of the
students are in the target occupation or academic
discipline and ensure that the content of ESP course
works towards them (Basturkmen, 2010)
ESP
◦ When, where, and why learners need the language
◦ “situated language use (Basturkmen, 2010)
◦ Deals with domains of knowledge which the average educated native
speaker could not reasonably be expected to be familiar with (Tudor, 1997)

“We need ESP teachers who know how to design courses

in a conceptual area that one has not mastered and
develop the ability to analyze and describe specific texts
.”(Basturkmen, 2010)
Issues in ESP Teaching
Who are ESP teachers?
*They are teachers at vocational schools, colleges, and
universities, as well as any other teachers who deal with their
students’ professional development.

What do they teach?

*ESP teachers teach academic skills to future (or real)
professionals.
Effectiveness of ESP
Questions about the accountability of
ESP: (Master, 2005)
◦ Do ESP/ EST programs work?
◦ Are they more effective than previous programs aimed at
general language proficiency?
◦ If so, in what ways are they more effective?
◦ Can the expense be justified?
◦ Are there any unintended or unforeseen outcomes resulting
from the use of any given ESP program?
◦ Kasper (1997) conducted an experimental study to
investigate the effects of academic courses linking the
content of intermediate level English as a Second
Language (ESL) courses to mainstream courses such as
psychology in a US college setting.

◦ Result: Content – based instruction impacted positively

on students’ academic progress and success.
(Basturkmen, 2010) p.7
Why ESP should be more effective than
general English:

◦Caters the needs and interests of

students
◦Engenders high level of motivation
 ESP Teaching Methodology
◦ Does ESP have a distinctive methodology? (Helen Basturkmen, 2006)
◦ Borrowing ideas between ELT and ESP (Robinson, 1991)

Two characteristics of ESP methodology (Robinson)

1. Base on students’ specialism

2. Has an authentic purpose derived from students’ needs

Note: What characterizes ESP methodology is the use of tasks

and activities reflecting the student’s specialist areas. (Dudley –
Evans and St. John)
Deepened strategy
◦Student’s performance of task
is the point of departure for
instruction
6 approaches (EAP Literature) (Watson
Todd, 2003)
1. Inductive learning
2.Process syllabuses
3.Learner autonomy
4.Use of authentic materials and tasks
5.Integration of teaching and technology
6.Team teaching**
Input – based Strategies
◦Rest on the idea that learning occurs
primarily through exposure to language
input in the form of written or spoken
texts and language descriptions
◦Sine qua non of learning
Input – based Strategies
2 distinct sub – categories:

1. Sufficient for learning

2. Needs to be followed by student
output for the learning to occur

*learning evidence
Basturkmen, 2006
Authentic
texts

Positive Language Comprehension

evidence Learning Activities

Awareness-
raising
activities
Acquisition (Tomlinson, 1998)
◦Results from the gradual and dynamic
process of internal generalization rather
than from instant adjustments to the
learner’s internal grammar
◦Re – exposing the learners to language
items in multiple samples over time
Input to Output
◦Students are provided with input as the basis for
production (output)

“A common failing in teaching is to expect high

level production without giving sufficient input.”
(Scott & Scott, 1984).
Input to Output
Select Practice
Highlight
specific activity for
items
item production

Discuss
Provide
features in Produce the
accurate targeted item
a text examples
Input to Output
◦ “Proponents of genre approaches are not often explicit about
their theory of learning. However, the use of model texts and
the idea of analysis suggest that learning is partly a question
of imitation and partly a matter of understanding and
consciously applying of the rules.” (Badger and White, 2000)

◦ “Good apprentice models offer realistic, attainable models of

academic writing.” (L. Flowerdew, 2000)
Output – based Strategies
◦Starts when students make effort to communicate in
the target language (Basturkmen, 2006)

Two sub – strategies

1.Use of language is sufficient for learning
2.Production or output is followed by some form of
input that learning occurs
Output – based Strategies
◦In being pushed to produce, language
learners notice “holes” in their
linguistic repertoire and this stimulates
learning to fill the holes. (Swain, 1985,
1998)
Roles of Output in Advancing Levels of Grammatical
Language Accuracy (Ellis, 1990)

To develop the necessary grammatical

resources
To try out their hypotheses about language
To pay attention to the means of expression
(Basturkmen, 2006)
◦“A task is understood to be AN ACTIVITY THAT INVOLVES
THE USE OF LANGUAGE AND THE FOCUS IS ON THE
OUTCOME OF THE ACTIVITY rather than on the language
used to achieve the outcome.” (Willis, 1990)

◦Tasks create condition for acquisition.

◦TASK – BASED TEACHING has featured strongly in ESP in

recent years and is often used in combination with DEEP –
END STRATEGY (study activities, projects, presentations, role
plays, and simulations.
E- Commerce Web Page Project
◦The class examined the internet sites.
◦Students discussed web page design techniques in class.
◦Task: To advertise a local business with a 3 – page linked
Web site.
◦Out – of – class pairs of students met with a local
business owner to find out the goods/ services the
business owner would like advertised on the web.
◦The pairs prepared the Website advertisement.
Output to Input

Feedbac • Optional
• Performing
• Notice how • Discover the
a task own output holes in one’s
differs from interlanguage
native one
Output Task re -
performance
 ESP TEACHING
OBJECTIVES (STERN,
1989, 1992)
ESP Teaching Objectives (Stern, 1989, 1992)

1.Proficiency objectives
•Mastery of skills
•Reading
•Writing
•Listening
•Speaking
ESP Teaching Objectives (Stern, 1989, 1992)

2. Knowledge objectives
•Acquisition of linguistic and cultural
information
ESP Teaching Objectives (Stern, 1989, 1992)

3. Linguistic knowledge objectives

•Language analysis
•Awareness of the systematic aspects of
language
ESP Teaching Objectives (Stern, 1989, 1992)

4. Cultural knowledge objectives

•Recognize culturally significant facts
•Norms of society
•Values
•Orientations
ESP Teaching Objectives (Stern, 1989, 1992)

5. Affective objectives
•Development of positive feelings toward
the subject of study
•Attitudes
•Socio – cultural competence
•Language learning
ESP Teaching Objectives (Stern, 1989, 1992)

6. Transfer objectives
• Development of positive feelings toward the subject
of study
•Attitudes
•Socio – cultural competence
•Language learning
 ESP TEACHING
“BROAD” OBJECTIVES
(HELEN BASTURKMEN,
2006)
 ESP Teaching “broad” Objectives
(Helen Basturkmen, 2006)
I. Revealing subject – specific language use
How English is used in the target environment

Imparting knowledge to students revealed by linguistic

research in the field

Teachers need to simplify example texts so that the structures

used in specific writing can be more transparent to learners
(Bhatia, 2006)
 ESP Teaching “broad” Objectives
(Helen Basturkmen, 2006)
II. Developing target performance competencies
Competency – based occupational education (Funnel &
Owen, 1992)

Language as operational (Basturkmen, 2006)

Needs analysis ESP teaching (Basturkmen, 2006)

Communicative Needs Processor (Munby, 1978)

 ESP Teaching “broad” Objectives
(Helen Basturkmen, 2006)
III. Teaching Underlying Knowledge

Specific Specific -
purpose Language purpose
background
knowledge
ability language
ability

Douglas (2000)
 ESP Teaching “broad” Objectives
(Helen Basturkmen, 2006)
III. Teaching Underlying Knowledge
ESP Teaching
(Hutchinson and Waters, 1985)

Developing students’ Having the classroom as Providing background

knowledge of the learners’ appropriate knowledge , termed
disciplinary concepts place to learn underlying competency
and language skills (Hutchinson and Waters, (Hutchinson and
1985) Waters, 1985)
(Basturkmen, 2006)
 ESP Teaching “broad” Objectives
(Helen Basturkmen, 2006)
IV. Developing Strategic Competence
Strategic competence – a mediator between the external
situational context and the internal language and background
knowledge that is needed to respond to the communicative
situation (Douglas)
Application of language in context
ESP learners bring to language learning knowledge of their
own specialist field and communication in it. (Evans and St.
John, 1998)
 ESP Teaching “broad” Objectives
(Helen Basturkmen, 2006)
IV. Developing Strategic Competence
Team teaching (Johns & Dudley – Evans, 1985)
The students have immediate assistance with any difficulties
as they arise.
Subject specialists find out how effectively they communicate
to the students
The EAP teacher gains familiarity with the conceptual matter
of the subject and how language is used to represent it.
The EAP teacher understands where linguistic difficulties arise
in relation to conceptual matter.
 ESP Teaching “broad” Objectives
(Helen Basturkmen, 2006)
V. Fostering Critical Awareness

Teaching should promote the communicative norms of the

target environment and lead the students to accept these
norms uncritically.

ESP as pragmatic venture that helps students become more

familiar with established communicative practices
ESP TEACHERS’
ROLE
1. As a Teacher
◦ Is not the primary knower of the carrier content of the
material
◦ Has the opportunity to draw students’ knowledge of the
content in order to generate communication in the
classroom
◦ Need to have considerable flexibility, be willing to listen to
learners, take interest in the disciplines or professional
activities the students are involved in, and to take some risks
in their teaching
2. As Course Designer and Material Provider

◦Selects published material, adapting

material if it is not suitable, or writing it.
◦Assesses the effectiveness of the teaching
material used whether it is published or
self – produced.
 Levels of Attainment Language Descriptions
1. Survival Level For basic purposes in extremely negative way

2. Way stage level Limited range of topics

3. Threshold level Most every day situations and topics at simple

level
4. Adequacy level For range of situations and topics and can show
awareness of appropriate style and variety

5. Proficiency level Can respond flexibly to complex ideas and

expressions
6. Mastery level No problem in language use

7. Ambi – lingual level Use of language is indistinguishable

3. As Researcher

◦Carries out the needs analysis,

designing a course, or writing
teaching materials need
4. As Collaborator
◦Integrates academic context and work
situation
◦Connects specialist studies and language
◦Coordinates with the subject expert
5. As Evaluator
◦Assesses whether students have the
necessary language and skills to
undertake a particular academic course
or career
◦Assesses the level of their achievement
 USE OF
TECHNOLOGY IN
ESP CLASS
Technology in ESP Class
◦Helping with traditional types of language learning
◦Creating new forms of communicating
◦Creating contexts for communicating with oral,
literate, and visual modes of discourse
◦ Synchronous and asynchronous
◦Having sites for varied and authentic materials and for
publishing and sharing work
TRAINING FOR
ESP TEACHERS
“ESP teachers are not specialists in
the field, but in teaching English.
Their subject is English for the
profession but not the profession
in English.”
(Bojovic, 2006)
4 Basic Elements of Teaching Training Courses

1.Selection
2.Continuing personal education
3.General professional training as an educator
and teacher
4.Special training as a teacher of a foreign or
second language
Components needed by the ESP Teacher
1. Skills component – skills needed by the
teacher
 Command of the language the teacher is
teaching
 Teaching techniques and classroom activities
 The management of learning
Activities in Practical Training
1. observation of specially – devised demonstrations of specific
techniques and of complete lessons
2. Observation of actual class
3. Practice in the preparation of lesson plans
4. micro – teaching
5. Peer group teaching
6. Being a teacher’s assistant in real class
7. Teaching real classes under supervision
8. Discussion of the trainee’s teaching
9. Post – training
Components needed by the ESP Teacher

2. Information component
Education
Syllabus and materials
Language
Components needed by the ESP Teacher

3. Theory Component
Linguistics
Psychology
Psycholinguistics
Sociolinguistics
Social theory
 ESP TEACHER’S
COLLABORATION WITH
CONTENT TEACHER
 ESP Teacher ’s Collaboration
with Content teacher
◦The positions on this score are both very general and
difficult to put into practice (Ana Almagro & Manuel C.
Vallejo Martos, 2002)
◦Team – working reduces the gap between science and
language (Hamsen & Hammen, 1980)
◦Team – working resolves doubt about the content (Huerta,
Ibanez & Kaulen, 1986; Schleppegrell, 1991)
TASKS OF ESP
TEACHERS
Tasks of ESP Teachers
1.Developing Curriculum
◦ Wide angled courses and narrow
angled courses
Tasks of ESP Teachers
2. ESP Course Design
(Hutchinson and Waters, 1987)
Designing appropriate courses
Playing a minor part in the life of General English teacher
A substantial and important part of the workload
A matter of asking questioning order to provide a reasoned
basis for the subsequent processes of syllabus design,
material writing, classroom teaching, and evaluation
APPROACHES TO
COURSE DESIGN
1.Language Centered Course Design
Forming direct correlations between the language
taught in the classroom and the language of the
subject area as it is used in the real world

It doesn’t really focus on how the students will

actually have to learn the language or how they
might actually go about using it.
2. Skill – centered Course Design
◦ Setting certain goals that the learners need by the end of
the course
◦ Chains of activities that will be designed for the entire class
without thinking at all about the individuals
◦ Focusing on goals and the road that the students will take
to get there, but only as a group and not his individuals
◦ Skills and necessities for reaching major goals
3. Learning – Centered Approach
◦The ability of teachers to take what they have
been doing in their course planning with a
certain grain of salt
◦Be very sensitive in the classroom and really
try to keep tabs on how individuals are
reacting to the plans you have put together
Needs Analysis

◦Identify what specific language and skills the

group of learners will need

◦“What” and “how” of the course, curriculum

design, materials selection, methodology,
assessment, evaluation
 Current Concept of Needs Analysis
(Dudley – Evans and St. John, 1998)
A. Professional information about the learners
B. Personal information about the learners
C. English language information about the learners for assessing (D)
D. The learners’ lacks(A) and (C)
E. Language learning information – effectivity (D)
F. Professional communication information about professional information
Linguistic analysis
Discourse analysis
Genre analysis
G. What is wanted from the course
H. Information about how the course will be run
Deficiency analysis
◦Lacks or the gap between what the learner
needs to know to operate in the target
situation and the learner’s present language
proficiency
Strategy analysis

◦The preferred approaches and

methods in teaching and
learning
Means analysis
◦Identification of the constraints and
opportunities in the teaching situation
◦Gathering of information on the classroom
culture, learner factors, teacher profiles, and
the status of language teaching in the
organization
Needs analysis process
Assessment (ESP Tests)
1. Language use varies with context
2. Specific purpose of language is precise
3. There is an interaction between specific
purpose language and specific purpose
background knowledge
PROBLEMS AND
CHALLENGES
Problems
◦ “Course designers and teachers encounter problems
related to the design of the ESP course, the tasks,
assignments, and the teaching methods.” (Belinda Ho, 2011)
◦The university required the course to be taught in the
outcome – based teaching and learning (OBTL) setting.
 Solving Problems
◦ With the view to solving arising from the ESP courses, a
procedural framework was developed by the teacher –
researcher based on concepts in Action Research.

◦ Procedure:
-act, plan, observe, revise (Kemmis and McTarggart, 1988)
- systematic, interactive cycles of planning, acting,
observing, and reflection (Bailey, 2001)
Solving Problems (Cohen and Manion, 1994)
Solving Problems (Cohen and Manion, 1994)
Challenges (Abdulaziz, et.al, 2012)
1. Pronunciation of certain vocabulary words borrowed from other
languages had always been an issue, according to an ESP
practitioner.
2. The course title did not match the qualification of an ESP
practitioner. He/ She was supposed to take a class of Business
Communication while her qualification at that time was Masters in
English Literature.
3. According to an ESP practitioner, the students needed a course in
EAP but the outlines given catered more to their EOP needs. A finer
distinction had to be explained to the administrators in order to
redevelop a relevant course outline.
Challenges (Abdulaziz, et.al, 2012)
4. In the future, students will come up with different objectives and
specialized vocabulary and expressions. More field-specific vocabulary will
emerge. There will be more fields like, English for Development Purposes
(Karn, 1994), English for Teachers (since English is required right from the
nursery level nowadays), English for Internet, English for Mobile Phone
Texting, etc. Due to globalization, there will be an enormous explosion of
vocabulary and a mixture of Englishes will be required by the students
according to their needs. For example, Japanish, Indianish, Chinglish, etc. In
order to overcome situations as these, the ESP practitioners need to be
more dynamic in their approach; keep themselves sentient and updated
about the demands of the world, learn to make use of the internet, listen to
news channels, watch dramas/ movies, etc.
Challenges (Abdulaziz, et.al, 2012)
5. More trained teachers are needed and teacher training
institutions are required because the teacher training
programs run by the Government offer a very minute
number of seats and cannot supply sufficient amount of
trained English teaching faculty.
6. Students sometimes do not know how to attempt the
exam questions since they are unfamiliar with the format.
Details can be provided before the exam, in the class, about
the type of questions and evaluation the students are going
to face.
Challenges (Abdulaziz, et.al, 2012)
7. Team teaching of subject/ content teacher and language teacher is
a new concept. Therefore, issues might emerge regarding this new
notion of their working in collaboration for course designing/
implementation, etc. Gatehouse (2001) says that “... we could not
teach the restricted repertoire in isolation. What is more, it was highly
unreasonable to assume that the content instructor would take on the
role of ESL instructor.” (Gatehouse, 2001)
8. Some ESP practitioners are not aware of the fact that they are
teaching ESP. such teachers either are not willing to understand their
responsibilities or ignore the idea. New teachers can be hired for
better future results.
Challenges (Abdulaziz, et.al, 2012)
9. ESP practitioners should be good researchers
as well. Nowadays, however, the researches
done are focused more towards achieving fame
and not for learning. They are not in-depth
studies. Their quality should be assured.
(Abdulaziz et al. 2012, p. 456)
THANK YOU 
THANK YOU 
 THANK YOU 
Reference:
The ESP Teacher : Issues, Tasks and Challenges
By“: Mohammad Kaosar Ahmed