The ESP Teacher: Issues, Tasks and Challenges 
ESP
Refers to the teaching and learning of English as a second or foreign language where the goal of the learners is to use English in a particular domain.
ESP is not
ESP is not a matter of teaching' specialized varieties' of English.
ESP is not just a matter of Science words and grammar for Scientists, Hotel words and grammar for Hotel staff and so on.
ESP is not different in kind from any other form of language teaching, in that it should be based in the first instance on principles of effective and efficient learning.
The Birth of ESP
English turned into a big business
E.S.P. came into being and gradually developed into a multilayered language approach primarily based on learners’ specific needs required by their professions or occupations.
The emerging of a mass of people wanting to learn English
A Learning–centered Approach
English Language Teaching (ELT)
Mother Tongue (EMT)
English as a
Foreign Language (EFL)
English for Specific Purposes (ESP)
English for Social
Sciences (ESS0)
English for Business and Economics (EBE)
English for Science
and Technology (EST)
General English (GE)
English as a Second Language (ESL)
The emphasis in E.S.P. is laid on language learning.
Demands of teaching ESP
Issues in ESP Teaching
● Formal training for ESP teachers
● ESP teaching is generally understood to be very largely concerned with external goals.
● In ESP the learner is seen as a language learner engaged either in academic, professional or occupational pursuits and who uses English as a means to carry out those pursuits.
● In an ESP situation the learner wants to achieve ‘real world’ objectives, objectives requiring specific linguistic competencies.
● ESP focuses on when, where and why learners need the language either in study or workplace contexts.
● ESP is that it deals with ‘domains of knowledge which the average educated native speaker could not reasonably be expected to be familiar with’
● Professional ESP teachers are experts in teaching English for any profession, able to design teaching materials based on the content material presented by the professors, or experts in the subject.
● ESP teachers teach academic skills to future (or real) professionals.
● ESP teachers design courses according to their students’ professional needs, having in mind their target language use situation.