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Teaching Foreign Language for Specific Purposes: teacher
development
Dilafruz KARIYEVA
1
Banking and Finance Academy of the Republic of Uzbekistan
ARTICLE INFO
ABSTRACT
Article history:
Received December 2024
Received in revised form
15 December 2024
Accepted 20 January 2025
Available online
25 February 2025
Foreign Language Teachers for Specific Purposes have a lot
in common with teachers of general foreign language. It is
necessary to consider linguistic development and teaching
theories for both, to have insights into contemporary ideas
regarding their position and role as well as the position and role
of foreign language learners in education, and to face new
technologies offered to improve their methodology. The need to
understand the requirements of other professions and the
willingness to adapt to these requirements differentiate foreign
language teachers for specific purposes from their colleagues
teaching a general foreign language. ESP teaching presumes
teaching English as a foreign language regarding a particular
profession, subject, or purpose.
2181-
1415/©
2025 in Science LLC.
https://doi.org/10.47689/2181-1415-vol6-iss1-pp
This is an open access article under the Attribution 4.0 International
(CC BY 4.0) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/deed.ru)
Keywords:
ESP,
teacher,
teacher development,
methodology.
Xorijiy tilni maxsus maqsadlar uchun o‘qitish:
o‘qituvchining rivojlanishi
ANNOTATSIYA
Kalit so‘zlar
:
ESP,
o‘qituvchi,
o‘qituvchi rivojlanishi,
metodika.
Xorijiy tilni maxsus maqsadlar uchun o
‘
qituvchi umumiy
xorijiy til o
‘
qituvchilari bilan ko
‘
p o
‘
xshashliklarga ega. Ikkalasi
ham lingvistik rivojlanish va o
‘
qitish nazariyalarini hisobga
olishlari, o
‘
zining va xorijiy til o
‘
rganayotganlarning ta
’
lim
jarayonidagi o
‘
rni hamda roliga oid zamonaviy qarashlarni
tushunishlari va o
‘
qitish metodikasini yaxshilash uchun taklif
etilgan yangi texnologiyalarni o
‘
zlashtirishlari muhimdir. Ammo
boshqa kasblarning talablarini tushunish va ularga
moslashishga tayyorlik xorijiy tilni maxsus maqsadlar uchun
1
Associate professor, Social Sciences and Foreign Languages Department, Banking and Finance Academy of the
Republic of Uzbekistan.
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o
‘
qituvchini umumiy kurs o
‘
qituvchilaridan ajratib turadi.
Maxsus maqsadlar uchun ingliz tilini o
‘
qitish (ESP) aniq kasb,
fan yoki maqsad doirasida ingliz tilini chet tili sifatida
o
‘
rgatishni nazarda tutadi.
Преподавание иностранного языка для специальных
целей: развитие преподавателя
АННОТАЦИЯ
Ключевые слова:
ESP,
преподаватель,
развитие преподавателя,
методика
.
Преподаватели иностранного языка для специальных
целей имеют много общего с преподавателями общего
курса иностранного языка. Для обоих важно учитывать
лингвистическое развитие и теории преподавания,
понимать современные идеи относительно своей позиции
и роли, а также позиции и роли изучающих иностранный
язык в образовательном процессе, а также осваивать новые
технологии, предлагаемые для улучшения методики
преподавания.
Однако
необходимость
понимать
требования
других
профессий
и
готовность
адаптироваться
к
этим
требованиям
отличает
преподавателей иностранного языка для специальных
целей от их коллег, преподающих общий курс
иностранного языка. Преподавание английского языка для
специальных
целей
(ESP)
предполагает
обучение
английскому как иностранному в контексте конкретной
профессии, предмета или цели.
INTRODUCTION
The teaching of English for Specific Purposes (ESP) has been seen as a separate
activity within English language teaching (ELT). It is believed that for some of its teaching
ESP has developed its methodology and its research draws on research from various
disciplines in addition to applied linguistics
–
this is the key distinguishing characteristic
of ESP. ESP, if sometimes moved away from the established trends in general ELT, has
always been with needs analysis and preparing learners to communicate effectively in
the tasks prescribed by their field of study or work situation. The emphasis of ELT is
always on practical outcomes. The theory of ESP could be outlined based on the specific
nature of the texts that learners need knowledge of or the need-related nature of
teaching.
WHAT IS ESP?
As with most disciplines in human activity, ESP was a phenomenon grown out of
several converging trends of which we will mention three most important: 1) the
expansion of demand for English to suit the specific needs of a profession,
2) developments in the field of linguistics (attention shifted from defining formal
language features to discovering how language is used in real communication, causing
the need for the development of English courses for specific group of learners), and
3
) educational psychology (learner’s needs and interests have an influence on their
motivation and effectiveness of their learning).
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Definitions of ESP in the literature are relatively late in time if we assume that ESP
began in the 1960s. Hutchinson and Waters (1987) define ESP as an
approach
rather
than a
product
–
meaning that ESP does not involve a particular kind of language, teaching
material or methodology. The basic question of ESP is: Why does this learner need to
learn a foreign language? The purpose of learning English became the core.
Strevens’ (1988) definition of ESP makes a distinction between 1)
absolute
characteristics
(language teaching is designed to meet specified needs of the learner;
related in content to particular disciplines, occupations, and activities; centered on the
language appropriate to those activities in syntax, text, discourse, semantics, etc., and
analysis of the discourse; designed in contrast with General English) and 2)
two variable
characteristics
(ESP may be restricted to the language skills to be learned, e.g. reading;
and not taught according to any pre-ordained methodology).
Robinson’s (1991): 3) definition of ESP is based on two
criteria
:1) ESP is normally
‘goal
-
directed’, and 2) ESP courses develop from a needs an
alysis which aims to specify
what exactly it is that students have to do through the medium of English, and many
characteristics
which explain that ESP courses are generally constrained by a
limited
period
in which their objectives have to be achieved and are taught to
adults
in
homogenous classes
in terms of the work or specialist studies that the students are
involved in.
Each of these definitions has validity but also weaknesses. Considering Hutchinson
and Water’s definition, Anthony (1997) noted that i
t is not clear where ESP courses end
and General English courses begin because numerous non-specialist ESP instructors use
the ESP approach in that their syllabi are based on analysis of learner needs and their
specialist personal knowledge of English for
real communication. Strevens’ definition, by
referring to content in the second absolute characteristic, may confirm the impression
held by many teachers that ESP is always and necessarily related to subject content.
Robinson’s mention of homogenous classe
s as a characteristic of ESP may lead to the
same conclusion. However, much of ESP work is based on the idea of a common core of
language and skills belonging to all academic disciplines or cutting across the whole
activity of business. ESP teaching should always reflect the underlying concepts and
activities of the discipline. Having all these in mind, Dudley-Evans and St John (1998)
modified Strevens’ definition of ESP
1. Absolute characteristics:
a) ESP is designed to meet specific needs of the
learner; b) ESP makes use of the underlying methodology and activities of the disciplines
it serves; and c) ESP is centered on the language (grammar, lexis, register), skills,
discourse, and genres appropriate to these activities.
2. Variable characteristics
: a) ESP may be related or designed for specific
disciplines; b) ESP may use, in specific teaching situations, a different methodology from
that of general English; c) ESP is likely to be designed for adult learners, either at a
tertiary level institution or in a professional work situation; it could be used for learners
at secondary school level; d) ESP is generally designed for intermediate or advanced
learners; and e) Most ESP courses assume basic knowledge of the language system, but it
can be used with beginners.
3. TYPES OF ESP
ESP is traditionally been divided into two main areas according to when they
take place: 1) English for Academic Purposes (EAP) involving pre-experience,
simultaneous/in-service and post-experience courses, and 2) English for Occupational
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Purposes (EOP) for study in a specific discipline (pre-study, in-study, and post-study) or
as a school subject (independent or integrated). Pre-experience or pre-study courses will
omit any specific work related to the actual discipline or work as students will not yet
have the needed familiarity with the content; the opportunity for specific or integrated
work will be provided during in-service or in-study courses.
Another division of ESP divides EAP and EOP according to discipline or
professional area in the following way: 1) EAP involves English for (Academic) Science
and Technology (EST), English for (Academic) Medical Purposes (EMP), English for
(Academic) Legal Purposes (ELP), and English for Management, Finance and Economics;
2) EOP includes English for Professional Purposes (English for Medical Purposes, English
for Business Purposes
–
EBP) and English for Vocational Purposes (Pre-vocational
English and Vocational English); in EAP, EST has been the main area, but EMP and
ELP have always had their place. Recently the academic study of business, finance,
banking, and economics has become increasingly important, especially in Masters in
Business Administration (MBA) courses; and 2) EOP refers to English for professional
purposes in administration, medicine, law and business, and vocational purposes for
non-professionals in work (language of training for specific trades or occupations) or
pre-work situations (concerned with finding a job and interview skills).
The classification of ESP courses creates numerous problems by failing to capture
the fluid nature of the various types of ESP teaching and the degree of overlap between
“common
-
core” EAP and EBP and General English
–
e.g. Business English can be seen as a
mediating language between the technicalities of a particular business and the language
of the general public (Picket, 1989), which puts it in a position between English for
General Purposes (EGP) and specialist English. Therefore, some authors suggest (Dudley-
Evans and St John, 1998) that the presentation of the whole of ELT should be on a
continuum that runs from General English courses to very specific ESP courses as
illustrated in Table 1.
Regarding positions 2 and 3, it is only the overall context of the program that
decides whether a particular course is classified as ESP or not. At position 4, the work is
specified in terms of the skills (it is important to choose appropriate skills to focus on
–
e.g., some doctors will need to read some medical journal, others will need oral skills to
talk with their patients) taught, but the groups are not homogenous from one discipline
or profession (scientists, engineers, lawyers, doctors), so the individual members can
need texts dealing with their specific profession. Teaching materials prepared need
contexts acceptable and understandable to all branches. At position 5 the course becomes
really specific
–
the key feature of such courses is that teaching is flexible and tailored to
individual or group needs.
Table 1
Continuum of ELT course types
General Specific
Position 1
English for
Beginners
Position 2
Intermediate to
advance EGP
curses with a
focus on a
Position 3
EGAP/EGBP
courses based on
common-core
language and
Position 4
Courses for broad
disciplinary or
professional
areas (e.g. Report
Position 5
1) An academic
support course
related to a
particular
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particular skills
skills not related
to specific
discipline or
profession
writing for
Scientists and
Engineers,
Medical English,
Legal English,
Negotiating skills
for Business
English)
academic course.
2) One-to-one
work with
business people
FEATURES OF ESP COURSES
Considering the characteristics of ESP courses, Carver (1983) states that there are
three characteristics common to ESP courses:
1) authentic materials
–
the use of authentic learning materials is possible if we
accept the claim that ESP courses should be offered at an intermediate or advanced level.
The use of such materials, modified by teachers or unmodified, is common in ESP,
especially in self-directed studies or research tasks. The students are usually encouraged
to conduct research using a variety of different resources including the Internet;
2) purpose-related orientation
–
refers to the simulation of communicative tasks
required by the target situation. The teacher can give students different tasks
–
to
simulate the conference preparation, involving the preparation of papers, reading, note-
taking, and writing. At the Faculty of Agronomy in Cacak, the English course for
Agribusiness Management involves students in the tasks of presenting a particular
agricultural product, logo creation, negotiating with the clients (suppliers and buyers),
and telephone conversation. They also practice listening skills, though the application is
restricted because they employ newly acquired skills during their ESP classes with their
colleagues and teachers.
3) self-direction
–
this means that ESP is concerned with turning learners into
users. For self
–
direction, teachers must encourage students to have a certain degree of
autonomy
–
freedom to decide when, what, and how they will study. For high-ability
learners, it is essential to learn how to access information in a new culture.
Since ESP courses are of various types, depending on specific scientific fields or
professions, and have specific features, teachers teaching such courses need to play
different roles and acquire certain knowledge.
ROLES OF ESP TEACHERS
As ESP teaching is extremely varied some authors (Dudley-Evans and St John,
1998) use the term “practitioner” rather than “teacher” to emphasize that ESP work
involves much more than teaching. ESP practitioners can have several roles.
5.1. The ESP practitioner
as a teacher.
ESP is a practical discipline with the most
important objective of helping students to learn. However, the teacher is not the primary
knower of the carrier content of the material. The students, especially where the course
is specifically oriented towards the subject content or work the students are engaged in,
may know more about the content than the teacher. The teacher has the opportunity to
draw on students’ knowledge of the c
ontent to generate communication in the classroom.
When the teaching is a specific course on, for example, how to write a business report, it
is vital that the teacher adopts the position of the consultant who has the knowledge of
communication practices b
ut needs to “negotiate” with the students on how best to
explore these practices to meet the objective they have. The relationship is much more of
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a partnership. In some situations, the role of ESP teachers extends to giving one-to-one
advice to students (e.g., in non-English speaking countries students will have to publish
in international journals and need advice on both language and discourse issues). ESP
teachers need to have considerable flexibility, be willing to listen to learners, take an
interest in the disciplines or professional activities the students are involved in, and take
some risks in their teaching.
5.2 The ESP practitioner
as course designer
and material provider.
Since it is rarely
possible to use a particular textbook without the need for supplementary material
–
sometimes no suitable published material exists for identified needs
–
ESP practitioners
often have to provide the material for the course. This involves the selection of published
material, adapting material if it is not suitable, or writing it. ESP teachers also need to
assess the effectiveness of the teaching material used whether it is published or self-
produced. However, since the teachers are encouraged by their employees to write new
material there is a danger of constant re-invention of the wheel; the advantages of
published materials are ignored even when they are suitable for a given situation.
5.3 The ESP practitioner
as a researcher
. Research has been particularly strong in
the area of EAP (genre analysis). Regarding the research into English for Business
Purposes, there is a growing interest in investigating the genres, the language, and the
skills involved in business communication. ESP teachers need to be in touch with the
research. Teachers carrying out a needs analysis, designing a course, or writing teaching
materials need to be capable of incorporating the findings of the research, and those
working in specific ESP situations need to be confident that they know what is involved
in skills such as written communication.
5.4 The ESP practitioner
as a collaborator.
It is believed that subject-specific work
is often best approached through collaboration with subject specialists. This may involve
cooperation in which the ESP teacher finds out about the subject syllabus in an academic
context or the tasks that students have to carry out in a work or business situation. Or it
may involve specific collaboration so that there is some integration between specialist
studies or activities and the language. It might involve the language teacher specifically
preparing learners for the language of subject lectures or business presentations.
Another possibility is that a specialist checks and comments on the content of teaching
materials that the ESP teacher has prepared.
The fullest collaboration is where a subject expert and a language teacher team-
teach classes; in EAP such lessons might help with the understanding of subject lectures
or the writing of examination answers, essays, or theses, while in EOP they might involve
the language teacher and a business trainer working together to teach both the skills and
the language related to business communication.
5.5 The ESP practitioner
as an evaluator.
The ESP practitioner is often involved in
various types of evaluation
–
testing of students, evaluation of courses, and teaching
materials. Tests are conducted 1) to assess whether students have the necessary
language and skills to undertake a particular academic course or career which is
important in countries such as the UK, USA, and Australia where large numbers of
international students do postgraduate courses or research and need internationally
required tests, e.g. International English Language Test Service (IELTS), Test of English as
a Foreign Language (TOEFL), and 2) to assess the level of their achievement
–
how much
learners have gained from a course. Evaluation of course design and teaching materials
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should be done while the course is being taught, at the end of the course, and after the
course has finished, to assess whether the learners have been able to make use of what
they learned and to find out what they were not prepared for. Evaluation through
discussion and ongoing needs analysis can be used to adapt the syllabus.
TRAINING OF ESP TEACHERS
Most teacher training courses contain four basic elements:
1. Selection
, initial and terminal, is necessary because not every human being
would become an adequate language teacher. Each teacher has continuing responsibility
throughout a career which can last for thirty years or longer. This responsibility makes it
essential that potentially ineffective individuals should be discouraged from entering the
profession by adequate pre-training or post-training selection procedures.
2. Continuing personal education.
Teachers should be well-educated people.
Minimum standards accepted for teachers vary from country to country. There are
variations in how the trainee’s education is improved –
either simultaneously with
his/her professional training; or consecutively where the first two or three years of study
with no elements of training as a teacher are followed by the fourth year containing
methodology of foreign language teaching or one-year post-graduate course of teacher
training; or, as in many countries, by in-service courses. Either way, the assumption is
that graduates’ level of education is to be regarded as insufficient.
3. General professional training
as an educator and teacher
. This element involves
what all teachers need to know regardless of which subject they teach
–
the components
are as follows: a) educational psychology, the study of child development, social
psychology, and the principles of educational thought
–
the component intended to lead
the trainee to understanding of the nature of education; b) an outline of the organization
of education in a particular country
–
the teacher should be aware of the different kinds
of schools, of normal and unusual pathways through educational network, of
responsibility, control and finance, of sources of reform and change, of the main features
of history of education in the country where he will teach; c) an awareness of the moral
and rhetorical function of the teacher: the building of standards, character, enthusiasm;
d) knowledge of, and skill in, class management, discipline and handling of various
groups of students; e) knowledge of, and skill in, basic instructional techniques, and
understanding teacher-learner interaction; f)Acceptance of the fundamental need for the
preparation of lessons; g) understanding the role of curriculum, syllabus and teaching
materials; h) a teacher should be committed to keeping in touch with the teaching
profession.
4 Special training as a teacher of a foreign or second language.
The complexity of
this training which constitutes the core of most teacher training courses can be made
simpler if the distinction is to be made between three aspects of it. They are:
1) The
skills
component which includes three different skills required by the
teacher: a) command of the language the teacher is teaching
–
this component must
ensure that the teacher’s command of foreign language is at least adequate for class
purposes; b) teaching techniques and classroom activities
–
the major part of teacher
training is to assimilate a great div of effective techniques; c) the management of
learning
–
it is a crucial part of a teacher’s classroom skills to learn how to assess from
moment to moment the progress of each individual in the class and how to manage the
classroom activities so that most able learners are not frustrated by being held back,
while the slowest are not depressed by being left behind.
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The
skills
component requires practical training in performing the skills
themselves. There is a great range of activities which can be summarized as follows:
a) the observation of specially devised demonstrations of specific techniques and
complete lessons; b) the observation of actual class; c) practice in the preparation of
lesson plans; d) micro-teaching
–
the teaching (by the trainee) of several items or
techniques with the possible use of camera recordings; e) peer group teaching (i.e.
teaching fellow-
trainees) as a form of exercise; f) being a teacher’s assistant in
real class;
g) teaching real classes under supervision; h) discussion of the trainee’s teaching; i) post
-
training, in-service courses of various kind (ESP courses for teaching EMP or EBP).
2) The
information
component
–
the needed div of information can be divided
into three parts: a) information about education
–
about different approaches to the task
of teaching language; b) information about the syllabus and material she will be using
–
the syllabus, the prescribed textbooks, other teaching materials (readers, workbooks,
etc.) and aids (flashcards, wall charts as well as tape recorders and language labs) make
up the tools of the teacher’s profession; c) information about language–
when the teacher
enters his course of training, his understanding of the nature of language is likely to be
scanty; this information refers to knowledge of normal stages in the infant’s acquisition
of his mother tongue, the existence of common speech defects and whose job is to treat
them, relation between speech and writing, literacy and education, notions of the
‘correctness’ and social judgments on language, language variety including dialects and
accents, language in contact, artificial language, language and thought, and many more.
The
information
content can be learned from reading or lectures.
3) The
theory
component
–
the language teaching profession makes connections
with theoretical studies in several disciplines such as linguistics, psychology,
psycholinguistics, sociolinguistics, social theory, and education. The theoretical studies
are likely to find a place when the trainee has attained a sufficient level of personal
education and when he is preparing to teach high-level learners.
Alternatively, they can be included in postgraduate teacher training as the
interdisciplinary approach of applied linguistics which integrates appropriate parts of
the disciplines most relevant to language teaching. The theory component can be
assimilated from discussion, practice in solving problems, tutorial explanations, and time
to absorb new ways of thinking.
CONCLUSION
Using skills as a framework of ESP, ESP teachers are provided with the necessary
knowledge and tools to deal with their own students’ specializations. It should be
remembered
–
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. They help students,
who know their subject better than the teachers do, develop the essential skills in
understanding, using, and/or presenting authentic information in their profession.
A professional ESP teacher must be able to switch from one professional field to another
without being obliged to spend months on getting started. He/she simply brings the
necessary tools, frameworks, and principles of course design to apply them to new
material. The material (the content) should be provided by the professors or experts in
the subject. It should always be
authentic
(the main purpose of teaching skills is to
enable students to deal with authentic information despite their level of English),
up-to-
date
(the informational exchange is growing more intense), and
relevant
for the
students’ specializations (they ought to be given the information representative for their
target language use situation
).
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Unfortunately, ESP teachers often feel isolated both from professionals in them
students’ specializations and their colleagues in other institutions. They also have
difficulty in getting or exchanging information in the field. We can conclude, therefore,
that the necessary ESP network should be provided.
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1.
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Carver, D. (1983). Some propositions about ESP. The ESP Journal, 2, 131-137.
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Dudley-Evans, T., and St John, M. (1998). Developments in ESP: A multi-
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Gatehouse, K. (2001) Key issues in English for Specific Purposes: (ESP)
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