Esp

English
for
specific purposes
Contents
 Introduction
 Meaning of ESP
 Types of ESP
 Characteristics of ESP Courses
 The word “SPECIAL” in ESP
 Conclusion
Introduction
 English has become the internationally accepted language of almost all the
fields of knowledge.
 Depending non their specific needs and requirements, new learners who knew
specifically why they need English are created
 In some cases people with inadequate proficiency in English need to be taught
to handle specific jobs.
 To fulfill the needs of these new learners new specific courses were designed
and introduced
 ESP is one of these specific courses.
Cont’d…
 From early 1960’s, ESP has emerged as one of the major areas of
EFL (English as a Foreign Language) teaching today.
 Various universities across the globe are offering a number of ESP
courses nowadays
 Examples: English for Chemists, English for Educationists, English
for Advertisements, English for Media, etc.
Meaning of ESP
 ESP means English for specific purposes
 ESP is defined in the terms of its absolute and variable characteristics by Tony
Dudley Evens.
 Absolute Characteristics:
 Meets specific needs of learners
 Makes use of underlying methodology and activities of the discipline it serves
 Is centered on the language appropriate to these activities in terms of grammar,
texts, syntax, study skills, discourse, and genre.
Meaning cont’d…
 Variable Characteristics:
 May be related to or designed for specific disciplines.
 May use in particular situations, different methodologies from general
English
 Is likely to be designed for adult learners, either at an institute or at a
work place.
 Is generally designed for intermediate and advanced students
 Most of the ESP courses assume some basic knowledge of the
language systems
Meaning cont’d…
 ESP is an approach to teaching.
 ESP is an attitude of mind
 ESP is concerned with turning learners into users.
 Hutchinson et al. (1987:19) state,
 ESP is an approach to language teaching in which all decisions as to content
and method are based on the learner’s reason of learning.
Characteristics of ESP Courses
 Carter (1983) discusses three characteristics of ESP courses.

 Authentic material
 Study material must be authentic
 Purpose-related orientation
 Orientation lessons must be according to the needs of the learners
 Self-direction
 Learners must have a degree of freedom to decide what, when, and how they will study
The Word “SPECIAL” in ESP

 The word SPECIAL refers to:

 Purpose for which learners learn language; not the nature of language
 Restricted repertoire of words and expressions selected from the whole
language
Conclusion
 ESP- English for specific purposes has emerged as a
significant field in Applied Linguistics. It is mostly
concerned with the learners’ needs for a specific field of
academics or occupation. Restricted skills of words and
expressions, purpose of learning the language are the areas
to be considered in ESP.