1.1 What is English for Specific Purposes?
English for Specific Purposes (ESP) provides English language instruction that aims to serve learners’ communication needs in English in a certain domain. In fact, addressing learners’ specific goals to use English in a specific area is what distinguishes ESP from English for General Purposes teaching (Hyland, 2002). While in the 1960s, it emerged as a response to communication needs in English mainly in commerce, science, and technology (Swales, 1988), today, ESP encompasses a wide range of areas including English Academic Purposes (EAP), English for Medical Purposes (EMP), English for Business Purposes (EBP), English for Legal Purposes (ELP), and English for Sociocultural Purposes (ESCP) (Belcher, 2009).
With increasing mobility for study (Camiciottoli, 2010) and occupational purposes (Wozniak, 2010), diversity in learner populations and their special needs is increasing (Rocha-Antonin, this volume; also see Feak & Salehzadeh, 2001) and ESP instruction is facing unique research issues and challenges (de Souza Gomes, this volume). Recognizing this trend, this book aims to present a representative selection of examples from teaching practices and research in linguistically and culturally diverse educational settings, in a wide range of domains.
As Johns (2013) states, “ESP has been, at its core, a practitioners’ movement, devoted to establishing, through careful research, the needs and relevant discourse features for a targeted group of students” (p. 6). Therefore, addressing the specific needs of learners is a central feature of ESP and needs analysis is fundamental in the development of ESP programs (Shao, Chen, & Shuya, this volume; also see Baştürkmen, 2013; Hyland, 2009). Then, the key issues in ESP are concerned with the identification of the needs of a specific learner group in a specific field, the language skills and knowledge that learners need to acquire, and how they can be supported in this process (Balyaeva & Rubtsova, de Souza Gomes, Pociask & Stefanowicz-Kocoł, Rocha-Antonin, Shao et al., Hall Buck, this volume). Also, evaluation of these processes is critical in understanding if set program goals were achieved and if not, what action needs to be taken to improve them (Balyaeva & Rubstova, Rubrecht, Pociask & Stefanowicz-Kocoł, this volume).
1.2 Current Research Trends in ESP
Studies by Belcher et al. (2011) and Paltridge and Starfield (2011, 2013), which focus on the review of research topics in mainstream ESP publications such as English for Specific Purposes Journal present us with valuable insights into research trends in ESP. Identified types of research in these reviews include studies that take a genre perspective on ESP language use (Işık-Taş, this volume), corpus-based studies (Işık-Taş, Yiğitoğlu Aptoula & Bayyurt, this volume) of specific purposes uses of English (see Işık-Taş, Yiğitoğlu Aptoula & Bayyurt and Al-Bekai for advanced writing skills; Pociask & Stefanowicz-Kocoł for social skills, this volume). Moreover, classroom-based research, as well as studies that explore identity (Işık-Taş, this volume), motivation, and learner autonomy (Buck, Shao et al., this volume) in ESP teaching and learning, and ethnographic approaches to examining ESP texts and contexts (de Souza Gomes, this volume) are also widely researched. Another important line of research in ESP explores the features of disciplinary language in EAP settings (e.g., Hyland, 2002, 2004, 2011).
Our review of research topics between 2014 and 2018 in English for Specific purposes Journal confirmed that these topics are still widely researched in ESP. In addition, professional development of ESP teachers is receiving considerable attention in relation to increasing the effectiveness of ESP programs worldwide (Gaye, Kavanoz, Selama, this volume).
The volume reflects fundamental research perspectives in ESP in a wide range of ESP settings around the world. In addition, it provides examples of how ESP theories can converge with other language learning settings and research areas such as CLIL (Escobar, Rozanova, this volume).
The 16 chapters in this book are based on research studies in ESP contexts in 11 different countries (Buck, Gaye, UAE; Balyaeva & Rubstova, Sidorenko, Rozanova & Shamina, Russia; Rocha-Antonin, US and Germany; Yiğitoğlu Aptoula & Bayyurt, Kavanoz, Işık-Taş, Turkey; Shao et al., China; De Souza-Gomes, Brazil; Rubrecht, Japan; Pociask & Stefanowicz-Kocoł, Poland; Selama, Algeria; Escobar, Spain, Al-Bekai, Lebanon, this volume). The domains explored in these settings include Arts (Shao, this volume), Engineering (de Souza Gomes, this volume), Business (Rubrecht, Balyaeva & Rubstova, this volume), Nursing (Pociask & Stefanowicz-Kocoł, this volume), English Language Teaching (Yiğitoğlu Aptoula & Bayyurt, this volume), and also EAP (Işık-Taş, Rocha-Antonin, Bekai, this volume).
1.3 Summaries for Chapters
The chapters in this book, which help us gain insights into the current practices, challenges, and innovations in ESP instruction and research, are organized into four parts: (1) Explorations and challenges in ESP, (2) ESP instruction for specific skills and competencies, (3) Professional development for ESP Instructors, and (4) ESP in CLIL and EAP.
1.3.1 Part I: Explorations and Challenges in ESP
After the introduction chapter of the book, Rocha-Antonin combines her professional observations with empirical data collected over an eight-year period from university students in the USA and Germany. She outlines the concept of “The Classroom Brain” as a means to achieve positive outcomes in language learning settings and provides useful guidelines for task preparation and material development that facilitate interaction in culturally and linguistically diverse ESP classrooms.
In Chapter 3, Buck focuses on learners’ challenges in learning to argue in higher education. Her study investigates whether the EAP students in a freshman writing course are aware of the differences between persuasion and argument in a freshman writing course and the disciplinary variations in argumentation. This chapter also presents insights into how generalized writing courses might address the disciplinary variations in argumentation.
Chapter 4 is concerned with the issue of student motivation in ESP. Shao et al. explore motivation types of 400 Arts majors studying in four colleges in China, by questionnaires and interviews. The study suggests a framework for categorizing motivation types based on the results of the survey and discusses the implications of these motivation types for ESP course design.
In designing EAP materials, working collaboratively with students and/or professors in the specialist fields is essential. In Chapter 5, de Souza Gomes not only reflects on the material and classes developed through such a collaboration, but also stresses the importance of teaching ESP under the critical literacy perspective in Industrial and Mechanical Engineering in a higher education institution in Brazil. De Souza Gomes argues that using the critical literacy framework, ESP education improves students’ English language skills and develops their awareness of citizenship.
As well as best practices, there are also examples of ESP programs around the world which have ultimately been considered unsuccessful and were therefore discontinued. Information about such programs is invaluable to those practicing ESP instruction today, who seek to refine their methods and curriculum to achieve success. In Chapter 6, Rubrecht provides a review and assessment of a discontinued ESP Program, in a university in Japan. This chapter provides a detailed assessment of potential reasons for its ultimate failure and possible solutions for those who may operate courses of a similar focus today.
1.3.2 Part II: ESP Instruction for Specific Skills and Competencies
Chapter 7 reports the findings of an ESP program evaluation study in Poland. Pociask and Stefanwicz-Kocoł’s assessment of the English language activities aimed at student nurses, specifically with reference to their social orientation. Using the PERMA model (Positive Emotion, Engagement, Relationships, Meaning, Achievement) developed by Martin Seligman, nursing students’ satisfaction with the activities designed to develop their social competencies in ESP is evaluated.
Using a corpus-based framework, in Chapter 8, Yigitoglu Aptoula and Bayyurt investigate the linguistic features of electronic written feedback provided to graduate students in ELT at a Turkish university during their thesis writing stages. Their findings show that although question form is mostly preferred, imperatives are the dominant features in feedback provided in results section consisted of imperatives. The study has implications f...