Teaching English for Specific Purposes (ELT Development Series)

How does English for specific purposes (ESP) differ from English for general purposes? Explore the key features of ESP and the important role of students in this type of language learning. Learn the different types of ESP, various materials that can be incorporated into a course, and the roles of teachers and students. Read about four key topics within ESP: needs analysis, genre, specialized vocabulary, and corpus linguistics. The authors provide questions to guide reflection on the applicability of the concepts reviewed to see how it fits into your classroom.

Dr. Vander Viana is a Lecturer in TESOL and Applied Linguistics and the Program Director of the PhD in TESOL Research at the University of Stirling (UK). He has extensive experience in TESOL from both theoretical and practical perspectives. His main research interests lie in corpus linguistics, academic discourse, and foreign language teaching/learning. Dr. Ana Bocorny is an Associate Professor at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS) • Brazil. She is the coordinator of the programme Languages without Borders (LwB) at UFRGS. Ana Bocorny’s research interests lie in applied linguistics, English for specific purposes, and corpus linguistics. Dr. Simone Sarmento is a Professor at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS) • Brazil. She holds a Master’s in Applied Linguistics from Lancaster University/UK and a PhD in Linguistics from UFRGS/Brazil. Her main research interests lie in the areas of language lolicies, corpus linguistics and teacher education.