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LangLit 
An International Peer-Reviewed Open Access Journal
 
 
Vol. 1 Issue - 1
 
 
85
 
 
 
Aug, 2014 
specialist terminology in authentic occupational situations. Teaching specialist vocabulary in 
ESP classes in the way shown in the previous section of this paper seem to contradict what 
Hutchinson and Waters (1987) say. According to them, teaching of technical vocabulary is 
not the responsibility of the ESP or EAP teacher, but of the subject teacher. A slightly 
different view is held by Dudley-Evans and St John (1998) who claim that it is the duty of 
the ESP teacher to check that learners have understood technical vocabulary used as carrier 
content for an exercise. In other words, language teachers have to prepare learners to deal 
with technical vocabulary. In our opinion there are no contraindications which would not 
allow the ESP or EAP teacher to teach specialist vocabulary, especially to a homogeneous 
group of students. Obviously the majority of ESP and EAP teachers are not experts in their 
students’ subject field, but with the help of specialist dictionaries or the teachers of the 
mainstream subjects, they can invent plentiful tasks and exercises for their students. In some 
cases ESP and EAP teachers can consult their students when teaching the specialist register 
which the students should know. Generally, ESP/EAP teachers should be flexible in 
undertaking decisions concerning the syllabus of their courses and open to the suggestions 
and opinions of the students. 
As for teaching activities, it should be stated that the core ones are usually provided in 
the textbooks. When selecting or preparing extra materials for medical students the teacher 
must keep in mind that they should contain useful exercises which will help the students with 
both their immediate and delayed needs, that is, the needs that students have at the time of 
the course and those in their future professional setting. Teaching English for Specific 
Purposes is different from teaching English for General Purposes because the majority of 
ESP learners have profound knowledge of their subject field whereas the ESP teachers’ 
knowledge of this type is usually general. This situation may be effectively utilized by the 
teachers by asking the students to provide explanations or definitions of some difficult 
technical terms. No wonder that teaching English to medical students is a challenge for 
teachers who are not experts in the students’ subject field. Medical students do not expect 
their ESP teachers to be experts in medicine who will provide them with the medical 
knowledge, but they expect to be taught the vocabulary and expressions necessary for 
conducting doctor-patient and doctor-nurse interactions, comprehension of scientific 
literature, participation in scientific conferences, etc.
To conclude, the teaching of specialist vocabulary is an essential part of ESP and 
EAP courses. The basic methodological principles with regard to teaching new words are: 
1)
The words should be presented in context which shows how they are used. 
2)
The words should be practiced and consolidated through a variety of exercises, such 
as: blank-filling, multiple choice, categorization, providing synonyms, antonyms, 
crossword puzzles, collocations, word-formation, studying concordance lines. 
3)
Receptive tasks should be combined with creative ones. 
4)
The strategy of deducing the meaning of words from context is one of the 
indispensable strategies used in vocabulary learning.
5)
Vocabulary exercises should offer new information being grounded in the students’ 
knowledge of the mainstream subjects. These exercises should be interesting, useful 
and enjoyable.