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"THE APPROACH TO TEACHING ENGLISH TO STUDENTS OF
ECONOMICS”
Usmonov Sunatillo Buriboyevich
Department of foreign languages
Samarkand State University
Samarkand, Uzbekistan
The last several years have seen a growing interest in teaching English for Specific
Purposes (ESP) in Uzbekistan. There is a vast array of textbooks and reading materials for
ESP courses, yet most of them deal with business and medicine, law, economy etc., while
there is still a shortage of ready to use materials concerning such fields as, for example,
economy. The present paper presents the design process of an English for Specific
Purposes (ESP) course addressed to students of economy at the Faculty of Management
and economics in Samarkand State University. This process required a needs analysis to
assess the students’ academic and professional needs, wants, what they lack in order to
create a course that includes the four language skills: listening, speaking, reading, and
writing. This paper presents the findings of the conducted needs analysis. In addition, a set
of learning strategies are also considered in the design process, such as paraphrasing,
negotiation of meaning, predicting, scanning, etc., in order to fit the needs of the students.
Based on the findings of the ‘needs analysis’, the Course of economics at Samarkand State
University is being designed to respond to students’ needs, wants, and whatever they feel
that they lack, in the task-based language teaching (TBLT) approach.
The educational material created for the students of the Faculty of Management and
economics is aimed at enhancing their language skills in terms of listening, speaking,
reading, and writing. Comprehension underlies all these abilities.
In recent years, there has been a growing focus on English for Specific Purposes
(ESP) in Uzbekistan. Although numerous textbooks and resources exist for ESP
instruction—particularly in fields like business, medicine, law, and economics—there
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remains a notable lack of practical, ready-to-use materials specifically tailored to
economics. This paper outlines the development of an ESP course designed for economics
students at the Faculty of Management and Economics, Samarkand State University.
The course design process was grounded in a comprehensive needs analysis aimed
at identifying students’ academic and professional goals, deficiencies, and preferences.
The resulting course integrates all four core language skills—listening, speaking, reading,
and writing—and incorporates targeted learning strategies such as paraphrasing,
negotiation of meaning, prediction, and scanning to support learner engagement and
development.
Drawing on the needs analysis findings, the course adopts a task-based language
teaching (TBLT) approach to address the specific linguistic and communicative demands
faced by economics students. The instructional materials are crafted to strengthen
comprehension and promote functional language use across all skills.
Proficiency in a foreign language—particularly English—has become an essential
asset for scientists today. For non-native English speakers, staying current in their
academic disciplines requires at least a basic command of the language. Whether for
reading, writing, or speaking, a comprehensive scientific education is incomplete without
a working knowledge of subject-specific vocabulary and core communication skills.
To meet the demands of a globalized academic and professional landscape, the
Bachelor’s Degree Program in Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) at
Samarkand State University has long incorporated the development of English courses as
part of its Final Graduation Projects. These projects are designed as English for Specific
Purposes (ESP) courses, tailored to the practical needs of university students.
As previously noted, designing an advanced ESP course presents unique challenges,
particularly when the instructional context straddles academic and professional settings.
To address this dual focus, the proposed course integrates both general English and field-
specific elements. It emphasizes transferable skills, tasks, and communicative activities
relevant to both university studies and future career demands. Consequently, the course
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content was aligned with overlapping academic and professional requirements in terms of
skills, strategies, language functions, structures, and vocabulary.
Exploring how scholars approach the development of ESP courses for students
specializing in economy offers valuable insights. As Hutchinson and Waters (1987)
observe, "objective and subjective views of needs (and wants) can, and do, conflict with a
consequent destabilizing effect on motivation" (p. 58).
ESP is fundamentally designed to address the specific requirements of learners. It
draws upon the methodologies and practices inherent to the target discipline, and
emphasizes the relevant linguistic components—such as grammar, vocabulary, register—
as well as the necessary skills, discourse structures, and genre conventions. ESP may align
with particular fields of study and, in certain contexts, employ methodologies distinct from
those used in general English instruction.
While ESP is typically developed for adult learners in higher education or
professional environments, it can also be adapted for secondary school students. Most ESP
programs are intended for learners with at least an intermediate command of English,
though they can also be tailored to beginners, particularly in cases like economy-focused
instruction, as seen in the present context.
In conclusion, I want to present quotes from great scientists who expressed their
opinions about ESP. I think, their opinions are very important for creating and increase of
new projects in this area. Likewise, Robinson (1980) defines ESP as the teaching of
English to the pupils who have specific goals and purposes. For Hadley (2006, in Javid
2015), “ESP can be differentiated from general ELT by its concern with specialized
language and practice” (p.18). This specialization clearly refers to pedagogical materials
as well. As Javid (2015) has pointed out, original and adapted materials need to be used in
ESP courses since “commercially available teaching material cannot cater for the specific
needs of specific learners” (p.19). Furthermore, needs analysis and evaluation are central
to ESP. Dudley-Evans and St. John (1998) state that “Needs analysis is the process of
establishing the what and how of a course; evaluation is the process of establishing the
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effectiveness. Neither of these are one off activity they both need to be ongoing” (p.121).
The essential stages in ESP can be summarized as follows, needs analysis, course
and syllabus design, materials selection and production, teaching and learning, and
evaluation (Dudley-Evans & St. John, 1998). It is clear that the needs analysis is absolutely
significant to ESP. Dudley-Evans and St. John (1998) stress that “...needs analysis is the
cornerstone of ESP and leads to a very focused course” (p. 122). Furthermore, motivation
is essential when designing and teaching an ESP course like Course of Economy.
References:
1.Practical English language teaching: listening. New York: McGraw Hill.
Hutchinson, T., & Waters, A. (1987).
2.English for specific purposes. NY: Cambridge University Press. Krashen, S.D.
& Terrell, T. (1983).
3.Domański P., 1996. English in Science and Technology. Warszawa:
Wydawnictwa Naukowo-Techniczne
