English for Specific Purposes in the EFL Context: A Survey of Student and Faculty Perceptions  

Oleh:

Tsao, Chia-hsiu

Jenis: Article from Journal - ilmiah internasional
Dalam koleksi: The Asian ESP Journal vol. 7 no. 2 (2011), page 125-148.
Topik: ESP (English for specific purposes); EGP (English for general purposes); specialized English; needs assessment
Fulltext: Untitled7.pdf (352.74KB)

Isi artikel

This study reports on a questionnaire survey carried out with 351 students and 23 instructors in a technological university in Taiwan about their attitudes toward English for Specific Purposes (ESP) and related issues. Major findings of this study include: (1) Students favored ESP more than English for general purposes (EGP) while teachers were more reserved about the idea of replacing EGP with ESP; (2) Although both faculty and students recognized the importance of ESP, neither considered students’ English proficiency up to the level needed to cope with the ESP course requirements; (3) Both sides agreed that although ESP courses should differ from EGP in their objectives, materials and approaches, they should still focus on the training of language skills while integrating specialized terms and discipline content into the course; (4) The two sides disagreed on whether English should be the only medium of instruction, to which the students give stronger support than the teachers; and (5) Regarding the factors that may affect the effectiveness of an ESP course, there is a notable difference of viewpoints between the two sides. The top-ranked factors, which were all student-centered, are as follows: student needs analysis, students’learning capacity, and students’ learning motivation. In contrast, the teachers emphasize more the course itself, placing teaching materials and methods as the top concerns, course objectives and design the second, and student needs the third. Based on these findings, this paper concludes with pedagogical implications and suggestions for future research.

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