Target Audience
Teachers who are beginning to use English for Specific Purposes, and also teachers who use an ESP approach  currently and want to discuss which practices are most effective.

Content Description
This will be a six-week discussion of the transition from a more general skills-based ESL approach to a more specific English for Specific Purposes approach. The intention is to help teachers who are moving in this direction make the transition, and also to discuss best practices for each stage of setting up an ESP program with teachers who have used the ESP approach for a number of years. There will be “guest speakers” for some of the weeks’ topics, including Thomas Orr, Mary Ellen Kerans, Margaret van Naerssen and others. The weekly discussion will be synthesized and disseminated at the end of each week.


Week by Week Outline

Week I
Self-introductions: participants explain what their background is, who their students are and what field(s) they are in, and how they use ESP, or how they would like to use it. Why use English for Specific Purposes? Discussion of the ESP approach, different types of ESP ( academic and workplace,) and general logistics and advantages/disadvantages of using ESP.

Week II
Becoming familiar with the field: how to develop enough expertise in a specific area to become an honorary “member of the discourse community.” Discussion of the extent to which this is possible or desirable, how to make contacts, and how to do research. How much do you need to know to teach ESP in a given area?

Week III
Setting up an ESP program: doing a needs analysis. Looking at the student population, target situations, assessing needs and outcomes. What do the students need to be able to do? How well do they need to do it? Who knows this? How can you find out? What logistics and politics are involved?

Week IV
Creating an ESP curriculum. How can you develop materials that will meet your students’ specific needs? How can you adapt existing ESL materials to meet ESP needs? How can you work with colleagues in the specific field to develop a curriculum? How time and cost effective is it to develop specialized materials?

Week V
Problems and solutions: Differences between academic ESP/ English for Academic Purposes/ specific fields and ESP/ workplace ESP. What obstacles arise in each area? What practical considerations are there for academics and consultants? How have people solved practical problems?

Week VI
Wrap-up discussion. Final conclusions about best practices, steps in the process of making the ESL/ESP transition.


Communication Media
Discussion postings; a synthesis of discussion will be disseminated to participants.





To join this group go to http://groups.yahoo.com/group/EVOesl2esp/
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