The impact of ESP subject specificity on the necessity of collaboration among ESP practitioners and subject specialists

Abstract EN

The aim of ESP courses is to aid learners develop a new type of literacy highly associated with their academic discipline but in a foreign language.

However, as most English teachers are trained for teaching English for General Purposes (EGP), ESP practitioners are teaching with limited knowledge in the students' field of study.

Thus, teaching English for Specific Purposes (ESP) requires special collaboration among ESP practitioners and subject specialists or content teachers in order to overcome the hinders of subject specificity.

The present study aims at investigating the trends of teaching ESP in the Faculty of Technology at the University of El-Oued, Algeria.

It also attempts to identify the impact of ESP specific content on the necessity of collaboration between ESP practitioners and content teachers.

In order to achieve these objectives, a structured interview was done with the heads of the different departments of the faculty, in addition to structured questionnaire administered to ten (10) ESP practitioners and ten (10) subject specialists.

The findings of the study revealed that the respondents stressed the necessity and importance of collaboration among ESP practitioners and subject specialists to support ESP instructors to design effective ESP content to ESP learners.