Teacher Talk in ESP Classroom

Teacher Talk About ESP

The ESP teacher will need to take an approach
that meets the particular needs of the ESP
learner.
It will certainly mean interacting closely with the
students and their needs. But the General English
or newly-trained teacher should be reassured
that key concepts such as being communicative,
using authentic materials, analyzing language in a
practical way, and generally relating to the
students on as many levels as possible, are just as
true in ESP as in General English
 Dudley-Evans and St. John maintain that what
characterizes ESP methodology is the use of tasks
and activities reflecting the students specialist
areas.
Post experience ESP learners have specialist
knowledge from working or studying in their
specialist areas and a deep-end strategy can be
used. In a deepend strategy, students
performance of a task is the point of departure
for instruction.
 ESP teachers tend to produce their own instructional
materials rather than relying on commercially
produced ones.
This can be attributed largely to the fact that ESP
classes are convened to deal with the specific needs of
the students.
Such needs can usually be addressed only partially by
commercially available materials that were developed
with a general audience in mind. Examination of the
instructional materials and plans can offer insights into
the practical consciousness of ESP teachers.
 The Goals
1. For successful ESP learning, the incorporation
of learners future needs what is known as
real world needs and the development of
learner ability to transfer language knowledge
to the real situations, together with the usage
of acquired skills in real life communication
are considered to be vital parts of ESP
2. By the term English for Specific (or Special,
Specified, Specifiable) Purposes is meant that
type of language learning which has its focus
on all aspects of language pertaining to a
particular field of human activity. In other
words, it is a way of teaching/learning English
for specialized subjects with some specific
vocational and educational purposes in mind.
 CONCLUSION
Practising teachers should be encouraged to take part in classroom observation
studies either as an observer or a participant. Having the opportunity to look
inside classrooms through recorded material and/or as an observer is a unique
experience which can inevitably yield constructive and valuable comments and
advice on ones methodology and classroom management.
Regarding the amount of teacher talk in the ESP classroom, the investigation did
not bring forward any surprising results. Additional and more extended
observations should be conducted with the participation of many more teachers
to see if there is a significant difference between the results obtained in the ESP
classroom and those of the EFL setting.
The salient role of the mother-tongue has proved to be a surprising finding of
the analysis. The mother tongue was used at several points of the lessons, and
at times when the students could have understood the teacher in English as
well. A retrospective interview following the observation process might have
yielded revealing results and would have given the opportunity for Andrea to
defend her practice. Nevertheless, it is thought that there is room for
improvement for Andrea in her usage of L1 and L2. The study may therefore be
helpful in raising her awareness to the issue.
 REFERENCES
Dudley-Evans, Tony. Developments in English for Specific Purposes:
A multi-disciplinary approach.Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press, 1998.
Basturkmen, Helen. Ideas and Options in English for Specific
Purposes. New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Publisher,
2006.
Harding, Keith. English for Specific Purposes . Oxford University
Press: Oxford.2007.
Hutchinson,Tom. Waters, Alan. English for Specific Purposes A
Book For Teacher. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1987.
Kristen Gatehouse. Key Issues in English for Specific Purposes (ESP)
Curriculum Development.New York :The Internet TESL Journal,
2003