- Teacher education programs need to prepare teachers for language for specific purposes (LSP) by providing specialized knowledge about disciplinary culture, epistemologies of different fields, and genres. - There is debate around how much specialized knowledge LSP teachers need, as too much focus on a single field may not be realistic or appropriate in all contexts. Key variables that determine needed knowledge include student level, class size, teaching methodology, materials used, and student language proficiency. - Developing LSP teacher training further requires addressing issues like inadequate training time, integrating content into general teacher education, organizing practicums in LSP contexts, and ensuring access to professional domain knowledge and teaching resources.

1. By: Hamidreza GhobadiradBy: Hamidreza Ghobadirad
Professor: Dr. Mazda YasnaProfessor: Dr. Mazda Yasna
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Teacher Education and LSP:Teacher Education and LSP:
The Role of SpecializedThe Role of Specialized
KnowledgeKnowledge

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3. Difference in ESP and ESL:
• ESP concentrates more on language in
context than on teaching grammar and
language structures while ESL focuses on
the development of English skills in
listening, reading, speaking and writing
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4. Key Features of LSP
1. Need Analysis
2. Description of Language Use In Target
Situations
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5. Responsibility of the Teacher:
• Setting goals and objectives
• : He must arrange the conditions for
learning in the classroom and set long
term and short term objectives. Your
knowledge of
• students’
• potential is central in designing a syllabus
and realistic goals. 5

6. • Creating a learning environment
• : His skills forcommunications and
mediation create the
classroomatmosphere.
• Students’
• language skill is more practiced whenthey
have opportunities to use this language in
speaking withother speakers.
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7. • Evaluating students
• : Teachers are the source that
helpstudents identify their language
problems. In this; teacher needsto find the
solution and the skills needed in order to
solve theproblem.
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8. LSP teaching, like
all teaching, varies in its setting, goals,
methodology, learners and so on. What is
appropriate in one setting may not be in
another. A common response, therefore, to
the question of quantity of desirable
specialist knowledge is to say it 'all'all
depends'.depends'.
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9. • The variables (what it depends on) cited by
applied linguists (e.g. Robinson, 1991) include
the following:
• whether the student is an 'expert' or an
‘apprentice’ in the discipline
• the needsneeds of the student (e.g. is the student
seeking to activate an existing but dormant
language proficiency, is he/she
seeking genre-specific skills, is the student more
interested in writing, speaking, reading etc., and
so on?) 9

10. • the sizesize of the class (large classes imply greater heterogeneity of
sub disciplines)
• the teacher's role in the classroom and his/her preferred
methodology (e.g. is the classroom mainly teacher-centered with the
teacher seen as provider of input; or is a more learner-centered
methodology preferred where the teacher is more the orchestrator
of student-on-student learning activities?)
• the degree of specialization of the texts and materials used on the
course
• the degree of language proficiency of the students individually, and
as a class.
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12. COMMON IDEAS ABOUT LSP
• The job of the LSP teacher is to teach languagelanguage, we are
not qualified to teach job-related skills.
• There is no such thing as “business English”, English
used by business people is normal English.
• There are as many specialized languages as there are
professions.
• There is no separate LSP methodology, it is just subject
matter that is different.
• There is no point teaching LSP to beginners.
• Business is serious, and business English teachers
should not waste time on fun and games in the
classroom.
• Any course should be based on a needneed of some sort but
the needs of a GE learner are much harder to specify.

13. DEVELOPMENTS IN LSP
1. Register analysis – 1960-1970s – focus on language at
the sentence level
2. Discourse analysis – shift of attention from sentence
grammar to understanding how sentences were
combined in discourse to produce meaning
3. Target situation analysis - identifying the target situation
and carrying out a rigorous analysis of its linguistic
features to form the syllabus of the ESP course
4. Skills-centred approach - emphasis on reading or
listening strategies, to make learners reflect on and
analyse how meaning is produced in and retrieved from
written or spoken discourse
5. Learning-centred approach – not based on descriptions
of language use, but aiming at understanding the
processes of language learning

14. ISSUES IN LSP TEACHER TRAINING
1. Inadequate amount of training time – a single isolated
class at best
2. Need to "smuggle in” training contents - teaching
adults, materials development, testing and assessment
3. Lack of organisational provisions for a practicum in
LSP contexts
4. Dispersed "specific purposes” of trainees
5. Uneven provision of LSP coursebooks in professional
domains, problems with access to quality resources
6. Missing practicum
7. Inadequate knowledge of professional domains
8. Lack of critical awareness
9. And many others…

15. MODEL OF LSP TEACHER TRAINING
1. LSP training as an add-on on top of teacher
development for lower levels
2. In-class focus on needs analysis, materials evaluation,
materials development, testing and assessment
3. Use of e-learning course authoring as a universal
solution to reach LSP learners
4. Adopting a mixed-syllabus approach:
• LSP teacher skills: choosing syllabi, creating tasks,
planning lesson sequences
• Digital skills:Digital skills: managing Moodle courses, uploading or
linking to resources, creating basic activities
• Evaluation skills:Evaluation skills: assessing present situation and target
situation needs, developing evaluation criteria, verifying
materials for possible learner fit

16. 1. ESP-related topics:
• conducting a needs analysis
• syllabus design
• materials evaluation and development
• ESP methodology
2. Technology-related topics:
• managing a Moodle course
• creating, retrieving, uploading resources
• authoring assessment instruments (quizzes, assignments)
• authoring communicative activities (forums, journals, polls,
surveys)
3. Presentation and discussion
E-LEARNING IN ESP DEVELOPMENT –
COURSE SYLLABUS

17. The purpose of this paper has been to argue for a
particular interpretation of the specialised knowledge it
is desirable, and
realistic, for the well-qualified LSP teacher to possess.
This downplays the importance of specialist knowledge
and draws
attention to some components of what has been termed
'specialised knowledge'. These are (a) knowledge of
disciplinary culture,
(b) knowledge of the epistemologies of different
disciplines and (c) knowledge of genre.
CONCLUSION

18. • This discussion has been programmatic: it
outlines what is desirable, not what has
actually been implemented. It also focuses
on
ends rather than means. This is justifiable
since the first step in curriculum planning
is to map out objectives,the skills and
knowledge we wish prospective LSP
teachers to acquire.
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19. Without thought about objectives it is difficult to
proceed on a
principled basis to the second stage of selecting
an appropriate programme of activities.
Deliberation about appropriate
objectives for LSP teacher education may also
contribute to our understanding of what is
distinctive about LSP teaching, and
hence LSP itself.
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