What is English for Specific Purposes, and how is it different to General English?

03/23/23 • 30 min

Building on what we discussed in episode 4 about ‘Academic English’, we take a step back and look at the wider context within which it sits – English for Specific Purposes (ESP). At first, who better than Viviana Cortes – the editor-in-chief of the Journal of English for Specific Purposes – to share with us an overview of ESP, discussing its history, present and its future. In our field report, we investigate some of the particular areas in more detail, with practitioners of Medical English, Aviation English, and English for Islamic Studies telling us about their specialities. We learn about some of the specific lexical, grammatical and stylistic features of each of these specialisms.

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Download the show notes, transcript and activity booklet

Previous Episode

How can peer-led training and mentoring support teachers' development?

Teacher professional development is a crucial part of being a good teacher. However, we often think that ‘good training’ can only be obtained from ‘expert trainers’ at large conferences or through online workshops. And whilst these can definitely be hugely beneficial, many teachers forget that there is so much that they can learn from their own colleagues in their own contexts. In our interview, we hear from the EVE programme, a ground-breaking initiative which promotes gender equity in ELT conferences. After this, we journey to Romania, to hear from a very active group based in the town of Sibiu who promote peer-led teacher development workshops.

Next Episode

How can the ELT sector become fairer for all teachers?

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Download the show notes, transcript and activity booklet from the website

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