Table of contents introduction Chapter I: Vocabulary as a base of acquiring language skills

Chapter II: Characteristic features of ESP course
2.1. Materials selection in teaching vocabulary to ESP courses


English for specific purposes
For a relatively long time, students studying for different professions were taught more or less General English, which was not always very helpful when applied in real-life situations of different areas of specialism, such as engineering, tourism, science and technology, medicine, and so on. With time, developments in language theory indicated the need to pay more attention to individual learners. This realization together with a growing demand for English courses tailored to students’ specific needs led to the emergence of English for Specific Purposes in the late 1960s. This area proved to be fertile ground, and so ESP has undergone rapid development in recent decades.
For some time now, English has been the main language of international communication, which has become an integral part of most modern professions. To be able to communicate successfully in English, students of different professions are thus taught ESP, whose overriding characteristics are “the sense of purpose and the sense of vocation”.²⁵ These characteristics predominantly focus on what students will need in their working environments, or, as Harding put it: “in ESP – English for Specific Purposes – the purpose for learning the language is paramount and relates directly to what the learner needs to do in their vocation or job”.
The large number of different professions has brought about the need for ESP specialisms, all of which share some common characteristics, such as specific needs, technical specialized vocabulary and documentation, specialized texts and interaction, an identifiable working environment, and so on. To cater for these subject-specific needs in English teaching/learning, ESP predominantly focuses on language skills, structures, functions and vocabulary that will be needed by the members of a chosen target group in their professional and vocational environment. Nevertheless, it should be stressed that, as Hutchinson and Waters emphasize, ESP “is not a particular kind of language or methodology” but “an approach to language learning, which is based on learner need”.
In line with these overriding characteristics of ESP, the roles of ESP teachers and learners at least to some extent differ from the roles of GE teachers and learners. The next important aspect in which ESP differs from GE is materials used for teaching and/or learning.
The following sections first briefly outline some crucial issues regarding both ESP teachers and learners. This is followed by a more in-depth discussion of important issues regarding ESP materials.
Organizing the ESP course is very important step to achieve a satisfying goal in the course. There exist many factors playing a crucial role in organizing ESP course without them the learning process would not lead to effectiveness. The term ´specific´ in ESP refers to a specific purpose for which English is learnt and teacher should be familiar with. He or she should be able to find an answer to what Hutchinson and Waters describe as ‘language description’. The ‘language description’ involves questions, e.g. ‘What topic areas will need to be covered?’, ‘What does the student need to learn?’ ‘What aspects of language will be needed and how will they be described?’ Finding the right answers to these questions results from the setting exact goals and objectives of the course. Designing a syllabus analyses ‘what’ the course is going to be about. Setting goals and objectives of the course in advance is inevitable. Another feature of organizing course underlines the way the learning is achieved. Hutchinson and Waters speak about ‘learning theory’ which provides the theoretical basis for the methodology, by helping us to understand how people learn.” It is natural that learning strategies vary and corresponds with learners’ groups, their age, level or reason they study. The way adults acquire language is differ from children, the group of advanced expects different attitude from beginners and teachers determine which aspects of ESP learning will be focused on to meet learners’ needs and expectations successfully. Hutchinson and Waters point out another aspect affecting the ESP course as well. It relates to learner´s surrounding and discusses the questions of ‘who’, ‘why’, ‘where’ and ‘when’ connected with the nature of particular target and learning situation. They describe them as ‘needs analysis’. To organize the ESP course effectively and consequently achieve a satisfactory goal, having respect for all three factors is evident designed by a team of local experts together with a UK consultant to tailor the materials for Uzbekistan context. The course focuses on listening, speaking and writing skills and also includes material on team working, communication and e-mail skills. The piloting of the new course starts in February 2014.
The project also provides teacher training opportunities for English language teachers in tourism colleges.