English for Specific Purpose abbreviated as ESP is a course module for The English Language whereby learners are equipped with necessary English speaking skills that are needed in work environments. As such is has become more common among adults who need to learn the language for use in their specific fields of work and students who are not grounded in The English language yet taking courses whose instruction is done in The English language. Accordingly, there are two branches of ESP according to Tomlinson namely; English for Occupational Purposes (EOP) and English for Academic Purposes (EAP) (Tomlinson, 2003).
Following the class exercise, I prepared a questionnaire and administered it to five ESP instructors in the college. In a nutshell, the questionnaire sought to elicit responses revolving around the effectiveness and challenges faced by the said instructors. Specifically, it sought to find out the extent to which the teachers and the developers of the course conducted the needs analysis and whether or not the said analyses are individualistic or class-oriented. Open-ended questions were incorporated to enable the teachers to state the challenges faced by them. Moreover, attitudinal questions were administered to determine the reception of the course by the teachers and the adaptability of the course to emerging trends in the field. The teachers were also asked to rate the flexibility of the course in relation to modification by the teachers to suit their personal preferences and the sensitivity of the course the backgrounds of the teachers. This report, therefore, discusses the findings and proposes appropriate recommendations.
Moreover, the study was aimed at looking into whether the teachers adopted different approaches depending on whether the learners were work-oriented or study-oriented. Forty per cent of the responses were in the negative. The findings to this end demonstrate blatant disregard by the course developers to the fact that the needs of learners of ESP for studying purposes are not necessarily the same as those who are pursuing the course for work purposes. Therefore, this report strongly recommends against adoption of “one size fits all” approach to ESP course development regardless of the target purpose.
More so, the study elicited responses to the effect that most ESP course developers do not tailor-design the courses with respect to diverse needs of different disciplines when the pursuit of ESP for the work-related purpose is the concern thereof. On the contrary, they tend to recycle the previous course modules the current target work environment being totally unrelated to the former notwithstanding. This practice defeats the primary logic for ESP. It reduces ESP to General English teaching. It is against the backdrop of such practice that this report recommends discipline-specific designing of ESP course programme so as to cater for the unique needs of learners pursuing different careers (Liton, 2013).
Furthermore, the study revealed the challenges faced by teachers of ESP especially where EOP is concerned. It was observed that in such cases, students often appear to be more knowledgeable in the terminology of the discipline than the instructor. As a result, the teachers more often feel intimidated and helpless. To counter such trend, this report recommends thorough needs analysis. Accordingly, the course instructor would be in a position to weigh the learner’s proficiency vis a viz his or her command of the jargon involved. In appropriate cases, they can refer the learner to suitable instructors. However, the instructors ought to familiarize themselves with the jargon of the respective disciplines within their job description and keep abreast with the emerging trends thereof (Liton, 2013). With respect to EAP, this report adopts the recommendation by Tomlinson to the effect that the instructors who find themselves in positions where international students are better versed in the jargon ought to consult the instructors of such fields to find out what exactly is expected of the students.
Besides, one thing that features predominantly across all the responses was the expression of discomfort with most ESP instruction guides. Therefore, this report takes issue with developers of ESP guides. Accordingly, it recommends that the developers be sensitive to the backgrounds of the teachers of whom the implementation of the programme is expected. Moreover, the programme ought not to be too rigid. Instead, it should allow for modifications based on personal preferences of individual teachers in appropriate instances. More so, guides and templates ought to be included in the design to aid teachers endowed with less experience in the field (Basturkmen, 2012).
Most importantly, the programme ought to be designed in such a manner that is adaptable to emerging trends in the ESP field. This is informed by the dynamics that characterizes the field in question. Besides, it is necessitated by the need to avoid a wholesale overhaul of the programme in light of new trends (Tomlinson, 2003).
References
Basturkmen, H. (2012, June). Developing Courses in English for Specific Purposes. The Electronic Journal for English as a Second Language, 16(1), 1-157.
Liton, H. A. (2013). An Assessment of the Efficacy of Engineering ESP Teachers’ Training Program in promoting better performance at ESP classroom. English for Specific Purposes World, 37(13), 1-17.
Tomlinson, B. (2003). Developing Materials for Language Teaching. New York: Continuum.
