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ESP/EAP as a Specific Register of Scientific English

Minoo Khamesian
Iran Azad University

The society we are now living in is not the same as the society our antecedentslived in years ago. There is obviously increasing complexity and diversity. Due
to this, people are doing their best to improve all the fields possible to help them survive.
This includes improving their communication skills.

It is common knowledge that there are different languages in the world. However, just
some of them fall into the category of international languages, in other words, languages
of wider communication groups, e.g., English, French, Spanish, Russian. However, it is
English that is very important nowadays as it is used to publish experimental results, to
discuss theories, and to disseminate information in science and technology. And of course
people need English to attend universities and colleges of higher education abroad. There
are more opportunities for people to get involved in purpose-related communications
(scientific, technical and economic) on an international scale.

Therefore, it is not surprising that the learning and teaching of English as a foreign
language specifically for the purposes of science and technology has become a prominent
area of English language teaching and applied linguistics. As a result, English is gaining
popularity as a working tool that satisfies the particular needs in countries where the
majority of people have grown up speaking a different language. English has thus
become the lingua franca1 of the modern world and is systematically used in practical-
ly every aspect of life. 

Unlike with any other language in the world, non-native speakers of English outnum-
ber the native speakers, which proves how important it is for human interaction on the
global scale. Thus, it seems clear why whenever two speakers of different languages
meet   and try to communicate, English will most probably be the language of choice no
matter where the meeting takes place, and as long as they are in need for a third language,
there is no doubt which language they will primarily reach for in order to understand and
communicate with each other. This has created a demand for good communication skills
in English around the world. Millions of people today want to improve their command
of English or to ensure that their children achieve a good command of it. To fulfill this
requirement it has been recognized that we have to reach beyond the surface manifesta-
tions of technical language and to understand the social contexts where the language is
used and the purposes to which it is put.

The issue to be concerned is that English courses usually offer focus on general
aspects of communication and only a few specialize in certain subject areas such as sci-
ence or technology. All people speak “normal” English, even chemists or therapists. But
they have additional needs; they must also be able to manage “jargon” i.e. the language
of specialists. This means that several new words have to be studied, a few new phrases
must be introduced which are commonly used and some grammatical features must be
studied harder than in “everyday” courses, e.g. the passive voice.

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The notion of a language with singular characteristics began to take root in the six-
ties early seventies of the 20 th century, being associated above all, with the pioneering
research of Halliday, Macintosh and Strevens (1964), Jack Ewer and Latorre (1969),
John Swales (1971), Henry Widdowson (1978), Louis and Mary Todd Trimble (1978),
and the so called Washington School with Larry Selinker (1979).The main aim of these
researchers was to design a syllabus that would give a priority to the language that stu-
dents need in their scientific studies. In order to teach them specific kinds of language
and communicative skills needed for particular roles, the focus on needs analysis has
become central to determine the specific characteristics of the language which is used for
specific rather than general purposes. 

What has been mentioned as English for Specific Purposes (ESP) emerged to meet
the demands of different “Discourse Communities” as Swales (1990) puts it. 

The Origin of ESP

The history of ESP is not so new as some people may consider. The first examples
can be found in the 14th century in a collection of everyday dialogues written  for English
travellers to France (Howatt 1984). In the 16th century, on the other hand, commercial
interests created other phrasebooks and polyglot dictionaries to deal with merchants’
needs of learning languages for acquiring some “survival knowledge” for trading.
Learning languages, however, has been considered mostly as a matter of prestige and
pleasure for the sake of enlightenment and reading literature in their original versions
rather than as a requirement to get a new job or an activity that could contribute to the
accomplishment of shared objectives. But the nature of English for Specific Purposes, as
it is now known, developed in the second half of the 20 th century.

It is difficult to establish a particular date for the commencement of ESP in its mod-
ern sense. However, as it is widely accepted, several events have contributed to its emer-
gence. Some political, social and economic facts as well as the application of modern lin-
guistic theoretical trends and techniques greatly influenced the growth of ESP.

First of all, the end of the World War II started an era of broad scientific, technical
and economic activities on an international scale. This expansion created a unified world,
dominated by two powerful forces – technology and commerce – which soon demanded
an international language for the exchange of ideas and goods. The university communi-
ty, scientists, technicians, economists were in need of a common language in order to
export and import knowledge and technology. For well-known reasons especially due to
economic and cultural influence of the UK and the USA, as well as their status as glob-
al superpower countries, this very responsible role has been taken on by the English lan-
guage which has now become one of the main means of international communication.

In a global economy where reliance on technological growth and progress is greater
than ever, the power of scientific discourse is conceivably greater as well. This expan-
sion of scientific and technical English gave rise to what is known as English for Science
and Technology (EST), also called English for Academic Purposes (EAP), which can be
considered as the building block in the continuum of ESP and as broadly accepted, its
most fruitful branch. 

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In an interesting retrospective view of this phenomenon since its outset, Swales
(1988) claims that the article “Some measurable characteristics of Modern Scientific
Prose” by Barber (1962) followed by Herbert and others can be considered as a starting
point. Moreover, scholars such as Robinson (1980), and Howatt (1984), indicate that ESP
began in 1969 with the first conference on “Languages for Special Purposes,” although
both recognize that the preliminary work had been done during the decade before.

As a result, linguistics started moving away (to a certain extent) from focus on gram-
mar as the pivotal component of language abilities to a consideration of how language is
used in different contexts of communication. It was realized that if language varies from
situation to situation, it should be possible to determine characteristic features of specif-
ic situations and make those features the core of learners’ courses (Hutchinson & Waters
1987; Gasparian 1998; Richards 2001).

The view advanced the point that the English needed by specific group of learners
could be identified by analysing the linguistic characteristics of a specialist area of work
or study. “Tell me what you need English for and I will tell you the English that you
need” (Hutchinson & Waters 1987:8).

In this connection Widdowson’s works are presumably the first to be mentioned.
They undoubtedly paved a way for the paramount idea that language, in spite of its sys-
tematic character, is provided with the ability to display different specific features in dif-
ferent spheres of its use. His major finding was that “the language we speak and write
varies considerably, and in a number of ways from one context to another”. Since lan-
guage varies depending on the situation of use, features of specific situations will be
detected and they will make the basis of the learner’s course/textbook. Therefore the
direction of study went from the learner to the language and not vice versa (Widdowson
1978; 1979).

Last but not least, new developments in educational psychology regarding teaching
and learning emphasized the learners’ goals and their attitudes towards the language they
chose to learn. Therefore, focus on the learners’ needs became equally paramount as the
methods employed to disseminate linguistic knowledge. 

Learners were seen to have different needs and goals, which would have an impor-
tant influence on their motivation to learn and, consequently, on the efficacy of their
learning. The main idea expressed in related publications was that: when we are con-
cerned with communicative language teaching we have to proceed from the assumption
that people merely pursue the practice of these or those syntactic patterns but they always
aim at fulfilling certain communicative functions. Therefore, before starting to teach a
foreign language the teacher is obliged to have a distinct idea about the language the
learners need to be taught. In other words, to be able to learn and use a foreign language
as a medium of effective international communication the learner must be acquainted
with the basic language of his profession. As far as the methods of teaching ESP is con-
cerned, it should be added that methodologists have seen teacher-oriented language
teaching insufficient and outdated, as it is now beyond suspicion that involving the learn-
ers in active work in class makes language teaching more effective and provides for the
teacher an opportunity to avoid the danger of indulging in excessive talking in class. As

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a result of learner-centeredness, the learners actually take an active part in the teaching
themselves (Hutchinson & Waters 1987; Gasparian 1998; Fahady 2001).

The Development of ESP

Since its early beginning in the 1960s, ESP has undergone five main phases of
development: (a) Register Analysis, (b) Rhetorical or Discourse Analysis, (c) Target
Language Use (TLU) Situation Analysis, (d) Skills-Centered Approach and (e) Learning-
Centered Approach.

Register analysis took place mainly in the 1960s and early 1970s, and was associat-
ed in particular with the works of Strevens (Halliday, Mclntosh and Strevens 1964), Ewer
(Ewer and Latorre 1969) and Swales (1971). It was based on the principle that the
English needed in one scientific field comprised a specific register different from those
of other fields of science or General English. Register analysis attempted to identify the
grammatical and lexical features of different scientific registers. In this phase, ESP
focused on language at the sentence level. Nevertheless, with the development of dis-
course analysis, ESP entered a second phase of development typically known as the
phase of Rhetorical or Discourse Analysis. The basic hypothesis of this stage was con-
cisely described by Allen and Widdowson (1974) who took the view that the difficulties
encountered by the students arose from an unfamiliarity with English use rather than
from a defective knowledge of the system of English. Allen and Widdowson (1974)
argued that ESP students’ needs could best be met by an ESP course which developed the
knowledge of how sentences were used in the performance of different communicative
acts. The implicit assumption of Rhetorical Discourse Analysis is that the rhetorical pat-
terns of text organization differs significantly between specialist areas of use. However,
this point was never very clearly examined (Swales 1985), and indeed paradoxically, the
results of the research into the discourse of subject-specific academic texts were also
used to make observations about discourse in general (Widdowson 1978).

The increasing interest in communicative language teaching as well as the develop-
ment of communicative syllabi led to the emergence of the third phase of ESP: Target
Language Use (TLU) Situation Analysis. TLU Situation Analysis aimed at establishing
procedures for relating language analysis more closely to learners’ reasons for learning.
ESP courses designed in this phase proceeded first by an identification of the target situ-
ation and then by a rigorous analysis of that situation. The identified features then formed
the syllabus of the ESP course. Such a process was usually known as Needs Analysis.
However, Chambers (1980) preferred to use the term Target Situation Analysis, as it was
a more accurate description of the process concerned. The most complete explanation of
TLU Analysis was perhaps the system set out in “Communicative Syllabus Design” by
Munby (1978).

The fourth stage of ESP development known as Skills-Centered Approach, was an
attempt to look below the surface and to consider not the language itself but the thinking
processes that underlie language use. The principal idea behind the Skills-Centered
Approach was that common reasoning and interpretation processes underlay all language
use which made it possible for the students to extract meaning from discourse regardless

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of the surface linguistic forms. The implied assumption in this approach was that students
did not need to focus closely on the surface forms of the language; they rather needed to
focus on the underlying interpretive strategies, which enabled them to deal with the sur-
face forms. As such, a focus on specific subject registers was unnecessary in this
approach because the underlying processes were not specific to any subject register
(Chitravelu1980; Grellet 1981;  Nuttall 1982; Alderson and Urquhart 1984).

The fifth phase of ESP which attempted to overcome the shortcomings of its preced-
ing phases was Learning-Centered Approach. Proponents of this approach argued that
the four preceding phases of ESP were all flawed in that they were all based on descrip-
tions of language use whereas a truly valid approach to ESP must be based on an under-
standing of the processes of language learning. In fact, the fifth phase of ESP is con-
cerned with the question of what it really means to know a language and it also takes into
account the fact that different students learn in different ways.

We have to hasten to add that research in applied linguistics has soon shown the
affinity between the intra and extralinguistic levels with research on Genre Analysis
(Swales 1980; 1981; 1984 and 1986). Thus, the language used in the professions has
moved from being characterized in terms of syntactic or lexical choices to characters of
the textual presentation and formulaic requirements of the different contexts. Later on
and as a further development of this trend, Swales (1990) called for more attention to the
communicative purpose of the communicative event. And even Bhatia (1997) went fur-
ther by insisting on taking the purpose as the key characteristic feature of genre. 

Therefore, Genre Analysis has become more a matter of extensive text-in-context
inquiry than straightforward textual or transcriptal scrutiny (Askehave and Swales 2001).
However, all phases have played important roles in performing different approaches to
ESP and also EAP as a movement within it.

Characteristics and Claims of ESP/EAP

EAP as a branch of ESP is basically defined as the teaching of English with the spe-
cific purpose of helping learners to study, conduct research or teach in English. It can also
be considered to be ESP as the features allocated to it by Robinson (1991) are usually
thought of as being key features to ESP courses. (Although some characteristic features
are controversial, which are further elaborated on in this article.)

Firstly, ESP is goal directed – the students are not learning the English language for
the sake of it, but because they need to use English. EAP students are usually current
higher education students or they are hoping to go on to higher education after their EAP
course. They need to learn English in order to succeed in their academic careers. 

Secondly, ESP courses are based on a needs analysis, which aims to specify as close-
ly as possible exactly what it is that students have to do through the medium of English.
One important feature of EAP courses is the close attention that is paid to students’ aims
and what they plan to study. The first stage in any EAP and ESP course is to find out
exactly why the students are learning English and therefore what language and skills they
will need. Often there is a very clearly specified period for the course. Most EAP students
are doing fixed term courses in preparation for an academic course. 

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ESP learners tend to be adults rather than children. Most EAP students are over 18
and they will have made a difficult decision to study in an English medium university.
Students may need specialist language, but this is not necessarily so. It is the activities
that the students will want to engage in that defines the course. As with all ESP, an EAP
lecturer would not take a text and say, “What can I do with this?” The starting point is
always, “What will my students need to do with this text and how can I help them to do
it?” 

In some cases, a very high level of proficiency is not required, as long as the students
can succeed in their aims. Students need to be able to get good marks for assignments.
Our job as EAP lecturers is to find ways to enable them to do this – getting their present
tenses correct may not be as important as the overall structure of the essay. 

Also a distinction has been made between English for General Academic Purposes
(EGAP) and English for Specific Academic Purposes (ESAP). The former refers to the
teaching of the skills and language that are common to all disciplines; whereas the latter
deals with the teaching of the features that differentiate one discipline from others (Blue
1988a).

There are nearly as many definitions of ESP/EAP as the number of scholars who have
attempted to define it. To pave the way, it is better to have a brief look at some defini-
tions and explanations by some specialists in this field.

ESP in its early age was first known as EST (English for Science and Technology).
The pioneers of this teaching approach like Ewer and Latorre, Swales, Slinker and
Trimble were to be considered as revolutionary figures in linguistics. They opposed tra-
ditional linguists who were focusing on describing the features of language; whereas the
problem with language was to make it flexible to be used in all settings communicative-
ly. This new perspective of the language could be seen as the only way to help facing the
demands of “a Brave New World” (Hutchinson & Waters 1987:6), the world that sudden-
ly emerged bringing about new challenges especially on the level of study.

ESP had already been used as far back as 1964 by Halliday, McIntosh and Strevens
referring to the language varieties typical of a professional activity. The recognition of
those varieties brought about many attempts in language teaching to make a deliberate
choice of which variety of language is most relevant to particular groups of learners, e.g.
English for Science and Technology.

Mackay and Mountford (1978:2) defined ESP as the teaching of English for a “clear-
ly utilitarian purpose”. The purpose they refer to is defined by the needs of the learners,
which could be academic, occupational, or scientific. These needs in turn determine the
content of the ESP curriculum to be taught and learned. They also defined ESP and the
“special language” that takes place in specific settings by certain participants and claimed
that those participants are usually mature as adults, “highly conscious” of the reasons to
achieve English proficiency in the very field of their specialization. Undoubtedly, adults
make use of the specialized language in authentic situations because the activities of their
specialization have obliged to use the appropriate ESP.

In 1980 Strevens offered the following working definition for ESP and outlined five
analytical stages for determining a particular ESP requirement and designing an appro-

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priate course to meet the requirement. He defined ESP as: “ESP entails the provision of
English language instruction (i) devised to meet the learner’s particular needs; (ii) relat-
ed in themes and topics to designated occupations or areas of study; (iii) selective (i.e.
‘not general’) as to language content; (iv) where indicated, restricted as to the language
‘skills’ included” (1980:108-109).

Stage One involves a needs analysis, based on information provided by the ESP
training stakeholders such as learners, sponsors or clients, and other interested parties.
Stage Two involves a content analysis, based on the field or discipline in question. In
Stage Three, the practitioner determines whether the training needs fall under the EAP
or the EOP (English for Occupational Purposes – the other main division of ESP) side of
the ESP umbrella. In Stage Four it is further determined whether the training will pre-
cede, follow, or be concurrent with content specific training. Regarding Stage Four,
Strevens notes that ESP learners who are already established in their professions are like-
ly to be more motivated, mature, and demanding. Finally, in Stage Five, the practitioner
prepares a targeted syllabus and appropriate training materials.

For Strevens, the fundamental principle of ESP is that it “is based on a close analysis
of the learner’s needs”. He offers several assumptions regarding ESP which are: time and
effort are focused exclusively on learners’ needs; mastery of the target material takes less
time; ESP learners are more motivated than learners of general English; both learners and
teachers are more satisfied with the results; ESP is more cost-effective.

Regarding methods and materials, Strevens mentions notional/ functional, and com-
municative approaches as being most relevant to ESP. However, he states that ESP is not
applied to any particular method, technique, or material. In fact, he views the “freedom
to innovate” as being one of the “major attractions” of ESP (1980:120).

Hutchinson and Waters defined ESP as “an approach to language teaching in which
all decisions as to content and method are based on the learner’s reason for learning”
(1987:19). They believe that lacks are what come to determine curriculum not needs
since what we are really interested in is the gap between the target proficiency and the
present proficiency of the learners. In other words, ESP aims to empower a group of peo-
ple with specific needs, disregarding if for academic, professional or personal issues. The
whole course is tailor-made, so that the focus of the teaching content and method varies
according to each field of interest.

On the other hand, Strevens (1988) defined ESP by making a distinction between its
absolute and its variable characteristics (although he later changed his belief). He consid-
ered the following as absolute characteristics of ESP: 

• designed to meet specified needs of the learner; 
• related in content (i.e. themes and topics) to particular disciplines, occupations

and activities; 
• centered on the language appropriate for those activities in syntax, lexis, discourse

and semantics; 
According to Strevens (1988) the variable characteristics of ESP may be: 
• restriction to the language skills to be learned (reading only); 
• use of no teaching methodology. 

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Robinson (1991) defines ESP on the basis of two criteria: 
1. ESP is normally “goal-directed”; 
2. ESP courses develop from a needs analysis which aims to specify what exactly it is that

students have to do through the medium of English, and from a number of characteris-
tics which explain that ESP courses are generally constrained by a limited period of
time in which their objectives have to be achieved and taught to adults in homoge-
neous classes in terms of the work or specialist studies.
Strevens’ definition is in line with the definition provided by the linguistic school of

Professor Akhmanova (1996) that ESP as a variety (register) of English can be featurized
by: 1) a particular conceptual orientation and 2) a set of linguistic features in accordance
with the concept different from, and less diversified comparing those of typical every day
communication. In other words ESP is not treated as a mere methodology but is dis-
cussed from a virtually philological theoretical point of view, that is to say, it belongs to
the sphere of functional stylistics.2

Gasparian (1998) in her explanation of ESP further elaborates: “When what we are
concerned with is communicative language teaching, we have to proceed from the
assumption that whenever language is used people do not merely pursue the purpose of
practicing these or those syntactic patterns but always aim at fulfilling certain commu-
nicative functions. It follows that before setting out to teach a foreign language a teacher
must always have a clear-cut idea about what variety of the language her learners need
to be taught“ (2002). She adds that language, being an integral compact system, can have
great differences and peculiarities in different fields of its application, though.
Respectively, the real and sensible results of learning could be achieved if the peculiari-
ties of different professional languages are taken into consideration. And on this basis,
appropriate curricula are created. A student who learns a foreign language obviously,
sooner or later, faces the tasks of; consulting professional literature, dialogueing and dis-
cussing over various professional issues, writing scientific abstracts and articles, lectur-
ing in the foreign language, participating in international conferences, etc. The para-
mount objective for the learner could be mastering the variant of the language that would
serve his professional purposes and enable him to communicate with the worldwide
scientific thinking.

The word specific in the term ESP focuses on the purpose of the learner (Learner-
Oriented Teaching). It does not imply the creation of a “Specific Language”, but the prin-
ciples of the choice of certain linguistic means. ESP is laid over human natural language
which undergoes changes based on (more or less) restrictions of the applied linguistic
means. Thus, proficiency in the varieties of English and the general extra-linguistic
knowledge enables the learner to avoid frequent misunderstandings while communicat-
ing, and accelerates mutual understanding. In other words, the specific varieties of lan-
guage play the role of a so-called “Shared Code” between the interlocutors.

Dudley-Evans & St. John (1998) who prefer to call ESP “an attitude of mind” offer
a modified definition and express their revised view on the essence of ESP based on
absolute and variable characteristics. According to them the absolute characteristics
are: 

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• ESP meets the learner’ s specific needs; 
• ESP makes use of the underlying methodology and activities of the disciplines it

serves; 
• ESP is centered on the language (grammar, lexis, and register) skills, discourse,

and   genres appropriate for these activities 
They consider the following as variable characteristics: 
• ESP may be related or designed for specific disciplines; 
• ESP may use, in specific teaching situations, a different methodology; 
• ESP is likely to be designed for adult learners; 
• ESP is generally designed for intermediate and advanced learners. 
It is obvious that Dudley-Evans and St. John (1998) are not considering Strevens’

absolute characteristic of ESP being in contrast with General English. They have also
added more variable characteristics asserting that it is not necessary for  ESP to be relat-
ed to a specific discipline. Furthermore, ESP is likely to be used with adult learners
although it could be used with young adults in a secondary school setting. The range of
ESP has been extended and become more flexible in the latter modified description.

Anthony (1997) notes that, it is not clear where ESP courses end and general English
courses begin; numerous non-specialist EGP (English for General Purposes) instructors
use an ESP approach in that their syllabi are based on the analysis of learner needs and
their own personal specialist knowledge of using English for real communication. Aside
from the rough separation at the definition level between ESP and EGP there is an over-
lapping connection and proportion between them. In order to clarify their relation
Widdowson (1983) establishes distinctive features of ESP and EGP. The most important
EGP features are: 
1. the focus is often on education; 
2. as the learners’ future needs are impossible to predict, the course content is more dif-

ficult to select; 
3. due to the above point it is important for the content in the syllabus to have a high

surrender value. 
The most relevant ESP features are: 
1. the focus is on training; 
2. as English is intended to be used in specific vocational contexts, the selection of the

appropriate content is easier; 
3. it is important for the content in the syllabus to have a high surrender value, most rel-

evant to the vocational context; 
4. the aim may be to create a restricted English competence. 

The surrender value stands for the overall utility (value) of the English taught by a
specific course, the higher the surrender value, the greater the utility of the English
taught. These distinctive features reveal the true nature of EGP and ESP.

On the Linguostylistic Method of Analysis

ESP as a variety of English can be investigated and analysed through the method of
linguostylistic analysis (Akhmanova 1972). In the case of this practice, that is, employ-

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ing stylistic norms for the study of a text, it is a convention that all the intricacies, tools,
rules and terms of the discipline of Stylistics are applied to the text to be examined. The
method deals mainly with two interdependent tasks: a) investigation of special language
media which by their ontological features secure the desirable effect of the utterance and
b) investigation of certain types of texts (discourses) which due to the choice and
arrangement of language means are distinguished by the pragmatic aspect of communi-
cation. This method of analysis enables to study any text in great detail, observing what
the parts are, and saying what function they perform in the context of the passage. It is,
in other words, like taking a car-engine to pieces, looking at each component in detail,
then observing its function as the whole engine starts working. 

In other words, the linguostylistic method of analysis deals not only with tropes and
figures of speech, i.e. stylistic devices proper, but also concerns itself with the study of
ultimate units of language from the point of view of denotations and connotations (those
additional properties of linguistic units which are superimposed on the semantic content
proper). 

Otherwise stated, this approach is aimed at investigating a text on two levels: the
semantic level and the metasemiotic level. On the semantic level the analysis presuppos-
es the unity of form and content and includes the study of the linguistic units in their
direct, nominative meanings. On the other hand, on the metasemiotic level the same lin-
guistic units are studied from the point of view of their functioning in the given context. 

The two levels, though different, cannot actually be separated from each other, as
there is a constant interchange and interplay between them (Galperin 1971; Akhmanova
1978; Gasparian 2002).

Conclusion

As the demand for developing a curriculum to meet the students’ career needs grows,
ESP has been playing an increasingly important role in facilitating students’ preparation
for professional requirements, training and study. As has been mentioned above, there are
different attitudes towards ESP/EAP, but what is notable here is that they all see needs
analysis as the common core of ESP, since in ESP courses learner-centered approach is
the cornerstone. Its importance lies in the fact that through conducting a needs analysis
exercise, curricula-designers can learn two fundamental things: 1) what general and spe-
cific language proficiency learners have, and 2) what general and specific language pro-
ficiency learners need to acquire (Hutchinson & Waters 1987; West 1994; Gasparyan
1998; Dudley-Evans & St Johns 1998; Cook 2003; Busturkmen 2006).

Most ESP/EAP definitions distinguish three themes: the nature of language to be
taught and used, the learners, and the settings in which the other two would occur. These
three aspects of ESP are very much connected together. ESP is the teaching of specific
English (specialized discourse) to learners (adults), who will use it, in a particular set-
ting (business, engineering, medical field, science, etc.) in order to realize a practical
purpose.

ESP is considered as a goal directed to a certain kind of language; therefore, the stu-
dents are not learning the English language for its own sake, but because they are

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enforced by a certain motivation to utilize it in the workplace. Consequently, ESP focus-
es on developing communicative competence in a specific field (aviation, business, tech-
nology, etc).

What ESP specialists seem not to agree upon is what type of language should be
taught (vocabulary, register, jargon, etc.) and how to teach it (in context with content
knowledge, communicatively, collaboratively, etc.). However, even though there is dis-
agreement and discrepancy among ESP scholars, it is important to note that their many
definitions are unequivocally linked to how ESP has developed since it was first spoken
of in the 1960s.

While agreeing in varying degrees, these scholars have either explicitly or implicitly
acknowledged that any ESP courses should, at the very first place, cater to the target learn-
ers’ specific needs (either academic or professional). They should be content-relevant to
the learners’ particular disciplines, occupations and activities (i.e. to the target situation).
Also, the language and skills should mirror authentic use by the target community (e.g. the
community of doctors or of mechanical engineering students). Ultimately, these considera-
tions of content, language and skills are (and should be) aimed at equipping learners with the
necessary knowledge to perform effectively in the target community.

Notes:

1. Lingua franca literally means Frankish language, that is the language of the Franks,
the name that Arabic people used for all Europeans. It originated in the Mediterranean
ports in the Middle Ages amongst traders and crusaders of different language back-
grounds and it was composed mostly of the Italian language with numerous French,
Greek, Persian, Spanish and Arabic words. It was used for communication as a diplo-
matic language in the Middle East, and the term has since become common for any
language used by speakers of various different languages in order to communicate
with each other (Richards et al. 1996).

2. Functional Stylistics  is a branch of Linguistic Stylistics that investigates functional
styles, i.e. special sublanguages or varieties of the national language such as scientif-
ic, colloquial, business, public and so on.

References:

1. Akhmanova, O.S. (1972) Linguostylistics. Thoery and Method. Moscow: MGU,
2. Akhmanova, O. &  Idzelis, R. (1978) What is the English We Use. Moscow: MGU.
3. Allen, J. & Widdowson, H.G. (1979) Teaching the Communicative Use of English. //

The Communicative Approach to Language Teaching. / Ed. by C. Brumfit &
K.Johnson. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

4. Askehave, I. & Swales J.M. (2001) Genre Identification and Communicative
Purpose: a Problem and a Possible Solution. // Applied Linguistics, Vol. 23 (2).

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5. Basturkmen, H. (2006) Ideas and Options in English for Specific Purposes. New
Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.

6. Bhatia, V.K. (1997) Genre-Mixing in Academic Introductions. // English for Specific
Purposes, Vol.16 (3).

7. Blue, G. (1988a) Individualising Academic Writing Tuition. // Developments in ESP:
A multi-disciplinary approach. / Ed. by Dudly-Evans, T. & St John, M.J. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press.

8. Chambers, F. (1980) A Re-evaluation of Needs Analysis in ESP. // ESP Journal. Vol. 1 (1).
9. Dudley-Evans, T., & St John, M.J. (1998) Developments in English for Specific

Purposes: A Multi-disciplinary Approach. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
10. Cook, G. (2003) Applied Linguistics. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
11. Ewer, J.R. & Latorre, G. (1969) A Course in Basic Scientific English. London:

Longman.
12. Grellet, F. (1981) Developing Reading Skills. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
13. Farhady, H. (2001). On the specificity of ESP.

<www.aua.am/..../6%200n%20the%20specificity%20ESP.pdf.>
14. Galperin, I.R. (1971). Stylistics. Moscow: Progress.
15. Gasparian, S. (July 1998) ESP as an Object of Learner-oriented Teaching. // Didaktic

und Methodic des Fremdsprachenunterrichts. Heft I, Bonn.
16. Gasparian, S. & Knyazian, A. (2002) Academic English for Linguists. Yerevan:

Lusakn.
17. Hutchinson, T. & Waters, A. (1987) English for Specific Purposes: A Learning

Centered Approach. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
18. Mackay, R. & Mountford, A. (Eds.) (1978) English for Specific Purposes. London:

Longman.
19. Munby, J. (1978) Communicative Syllabus Design. Cambridge: Cambridge

University Press.
20. Nuttal, C. (1982) Teaching Reading skills in a foreign language. Oxford: Heinemann.
21. Robinson, P. (1980) ESP (English for Specific Purposes). New York: Pergamon.
22. Robinson, P. (1991) ESP Today: A Practitioner’s Guide. New York: Prentice Hall.
23. Selinker, L.; Tarone, E. & Hanzeli, V. (Eds.) (1981). English for Academic and

Technical Purposes: Studies in Honor of Louis Trimble. London: Newbury House.
24. Strevens, P. (1988). ESP after Twenty Years: A Re-appraisal. // ESP: State of the Art.

/ Ed. by M. Tickoo. SEAMEO Regional Language Centre. 
25. Swales, J. (1971) Writing Scientific English, a Textbook of English as a Foreign

Language for Students of Physical and Engineering Sciences. London: Nelson.
26. Swales, J. (1985) Episodes in ESP. Hemel Hempstead: Prentice Hall International.
27. Swales, J. (1990) Genre Analysis: English in Academic and Research Settings.

Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
28. Widdowson, H.G. & Allen, J.P.B. (1974) English in Physical Science. Oxford:

Oxford University Press.

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