English for Specific Purposes (ESP) involves teaching English for a specific goal rather than general purposes. It has undergone changes since the 1970s and continues to evolve. Initially called English for Special Purposes, it later shifted to English for Specific Purposes in the 1980s to emphasize the specific purpose rather than a special language. ESP courses are tailored to meet learners' predetermined needs and goals, such as using English as a tool for their profession or studies. While there is no agreed upon definition, ESP is generally understood to involve teaching English in a way that is needs-based, field-specific, and focused on language relevant to the target situation.

1. English for Specific Purposes

2.  ESP Vs TENOR
 Teaching and learning of English for a very specific
goal rather than a very general or broad purpose
 Undergone changes over the past 20 years and is
continuing to undergo further modifications

3. 1970’s English for Special Purposes
 Special implied some purposes are special while
others are ordinary
 Special purpose calls for special language
 Language different from the language used for general
purposes.

4. 1980’s ( No purpose is special but
only specific)
 Special in ESP became Specific to suggest shift in the
emphasis from language to purpose.
 ... Nothing special about the language itself , only that
each learner has specific purpose in learning the
English language.

5.  Why do people study English ?
 Communication tool, for meeting their specific goals
 Variation of ESP course
 Purposes and needs of ESP students are
predetermined and predefined

6. John Swales
 Proponent of Specifiable
 This suggestions of Swales signifies a new perspective
on ESP
 Disadvantages of ‘specific’:
 ‘purpose’ must be identified and itemized in advance
rather than remain open to negotiation and
modification as events and courses unfold.
 Specific inevitably sets up a contrast with non-specific
or general

7. What is ESP
 No explicit definition
 Lack of clear –cut definition that will clearly
characterize all the various contexts in which ESP has
come to be practiced.
 John Swales- ‘ESP is a relatively recent development in
the major worldwide industry of Teaching English as a
Second or Foreign Language’

8. Problem in defining ESP
 Partly because of short history and partly
because of what Swales calls the “here and
now” state of affairs within which most ESP
practitioners operate, ESP scholars have, in
general,, shied away from offering any
concrete definition of ESP. Any attempt at
defining ESP, it seems, must remain at this
time incomplete or inadequate because of
its widening scope and changing
signification.

9. Writing in 1980, Pauline Robinson
observed that despite the wealth of
material in ESP available at the time ,
it would be virtually impossible to
answer the question “What is ESP”
because ESP is still the subject of
much discussion and many key issues
in ESP remain unresolved.

10.  Eight year later, in 1988, Peter Strevens
in his article “ ESP after Twenty Years: A
Re- Appraisal” asked “What is ESP?
Can it be defined? – the very questions
that are quite often asked by many of
those who have just arrived on the
scene of ESP either as a scholar or a
practitioner. In attempting to answer
these questions, Strevens writes:

11. Implicit definition of ESP
 English for specific purposes is a particular case of
the general category of special- purpose language
teaching. The same principle apply no matter
which language is being learned and taught.
French for specific purposes, Russian for specific
purposes, Chinese for specific purposes – all of
these exist, and are constructed on the same basis
as English for specific purposes. The vastly greater
demand for English makes ESP more common
than FSP, RSP, or CSP, but the principle is the
same.

12. Strevens further observes
that a “ definition of ESP
needs to distinguish between
four absolute and two
variable characteristics:

13. Characteristics of ESP
 (a) Absolute Characteristics of ESP
 ESP consists of English language teaching which
is:
 -- designed to meet specific needs of the learner;
 -- related in content (i.e. In its theme and topics )
to particular disciplines, occupations, and
activities;-- centered on the language appropriate
to those activities, in syntax, lexis, discourse,
semantics, etc.; in contrast with ‘general
education’.

14. Variable Characteristics of ESP
 ESP may be, but is not necessarily :
restricted as to the language skills to be
learned (e.g.) , reading only ; speech
recognition only, etc. )
 Taught, according to any pre- ordained
methodology (i.e. , ESP is not restricted
to any particular methodology- although
communicative methodology is very
often felt to be the most appropriate).”

15. Mackay’s Definition
 Despite a lack of any definite, explicit and unanimous
definition of ESP, however, ... Used Ronald Mackay’s
definition as quoted in Pauline Robinson (1980).
According to Mackay, ESP is “ generally used
to refer to the teaching/learning of a
foreign language for a clearly
utilitarian purpose of which there is no
doubt.

16. Two important parts of this definition
 ESP is generally used to refer to the
“teaching/learning of a foreign
language” and
 ESP is used for a “clearly
utilitarian purpose of which there
is no doubt.”

17. Assumptions in ESP
 In virtually all literature available on ESP,
the underlying assumptions is that ESP,
which is meant and designed predominantly
for English as a foreign/second language
speakers whose goals in learning the
language are practical, immediate,
specifiable, defined, definite, limited and “
of which there is no doubt,” is more relevant
than the general English

18. ESP as viewed in the Philippines
According to Edwina Carreon, in the
Philippines some of the more widely
known definitions and views about ESP
“ can be classified roughly into ESP as
register analysis, ESP as a rhetorical
and discourse approach, ESP as a
communicative approach, ESP as a
target analysis.”

19. A tentative /working definition of ESP
 ... ESP is a generic term used to indicate
an approach practiced in teaching and
learning of content oriented English for
any very specific purpose .
Actual courses using ESP approach are
called EAP, EOP , etc,

20. The following considerations are vital to this
(ESP) approach:
 A. The nature of the learners
 B. The needs of the learners
 C. The demands of the target situations (
jobs/activities, study situations, etc.)
 D. The nature of language/register
 E. The nature of communication
 F. The nature of learning

21. Types of ESP: What are the varieties of
ESP
 There are virtually as many possible types of
ESP courses as there possible purposes for
which English is required ( and therefore
learned and taught). In other words, the
type the type/variety of an ESP course
depends on the purpose for which the
learners need an English course. The two
broad categories of ESP courses are EOP and
EAP

22. EOP vs. EAP
If an English course is offered to meet
specific professional/occupational
needs of learners, then the ESP course
is commonly known EOP ( English for
Occupational Purposes); if , on the
other hand, learners take an English
course to meet their specific academic
objectives or requirements, the ESP
course is called EAP.

23. EOP ( English for Occupational
Purposes)
Learn English needed to carry out
their intended profession or
occupation or perform job related tasks
EOP course is designed on the basis of
the specific needs of the profession or
future professionals

24. EAP ( English for Academic Purposes)
Meet requirements in other
academic courses
Need to succeed in studies
Need to perform a specific tasks
THUS, for participating in
classroom discussions and for
advancing their knowledge of
course content

25. From EST to English for literature,
law, and philosophy