What is Esp

Extensive Reading
Reading as often as possible in English can really improve your reading skills. You can become a faster and more proficient reader and may find reading academic texts becomes easier. Choose books in English written by a familiar author or on topics which interest you and remember; whatever you choose to read, it should be fun!
The purpose of materials in ESP
Materials play a crucial role in ESP and have received considerable attention in the literature of the subject. They depend on the methodologies adopted, forming with them “the interface between teaching and learning, or the points at which the course needs, objectives and syllabuses are made tangible to both learners and teachers”
Materials are used to stimulate and support language instruction and their design and/or adaptation is an important element of ESP teaching practice. Though predominantly paper- 5 based, they may also include audio and visual aids, computer- and/or Internet-mediated resources, real objects, or performance. Since the objective of ESP materials
is to expose learners to real language as it is used in a range of professional and/or academic settings, they are to be closely related to students’ target needs. Discussing the role of EAP materials, specifies four principal functions.
Materials are used to scaffold learners’ understandings of language use. This function implies that the materials provided to learners are meant to support their evolving control of different texts and engage them in thinking about and using the language. Well-selected and designed materials give learners a chance to get acquainted with a variety of language samples that do not follow a rigid format, but provide the opportunity to discuss, write, analyze and manipulate language salient structures and/or vocabulary. When graded according to the learners’ proficiency level and well-matched to their current learning needs, materials offer constructive feedback on individual linguistic development.
Materials also serve as models since they provide representative samples of correct language use in various work and/or study situations. They thus illustrate particular language features, structures or functions. Using them, learners are provided with an opportunity to examine various possible examples of a genre with a view to indentifying their structure and understanding how meanings are expressed in them. Since ESP materials that provide exemplars of rhetorical forms and structures of target genres are to raise learners’ awareness of how texts are organized and how their communicative intentions are attained, it is important that they be relevant to learners’ target contexts and authentic. Only then can they serve as stimuli that can be used as sources of ideas and content to stimulate and promote writing, speaking or discussion as well as to support project work. The best illustration of the
Key Aspects of ESP Materials Selection and Design

English for Specific Purposes ,

combined model-stimulus exploitation of materials in ESP is the task in which learners – after practicing a given interaction model – are requested to play different roles basing their role- plays on various scenarios of professional interactions. They are thus immersed in a typical field-specific problem situation that provides stimuli for professional communication and requires them to respond to the emerging issues adequately.
Material evaluation
Materials evaluation may be defined as a procedure or a systematic appraisal measuring the potential value(s) of materials on learners in relation to their objectives. In other words, materials evaluation means a principled process of providing useful information about the targeted materials in order to select and/or develop them in a reliable and valid approach. Material evaluations can be impressionistic or empirical and the impressionistic way of materials evaluation has come under criticism for being unempirical or unscientific.Moreover, the evaluation practices have not been examined critically to determine the effectiveness and value in teaching-learning environments and this is likely the main potential reason why the literature suggests that selected coursebooks have been more of a hindrance than a benefit to teaching. Language involves consideration of both theory and practice to be used successfully by learners. They maintain that language teaching is a useful resource to understand the relation of knowledge about the language to the activities which are involving the language. This framework, therefore, can well provide researchers with some evidence of the effectiveness of language theories which are embedded in the language materials. The effectiveness and usefulness of theories depend on their effectiveness in practice in the classroom.He maintains that some theories have logical basis but limited to specific situations, whereas other theories may be too abstract that they do not supply the teachers with enough procedures for application in the classroom. Consequently, the strengths and weaknesses of language theories can effectively be assessed on the basis of their theoretical strengths and pedagogical strengths.


Test evaluation
Course Evaluation Levels of Evaluation. Evaluating ESP course helps to establish whether it is meeting its aims or not. Course evaluation also plays a useful social role, by showing the various parties involved (teachers, learners, sponsors etc.) that their views are important. There are four aspects of ESP course evaluation to be considered: What should be evaluated? How can ESP courses be evaluated? Who should be involved in the evaluation? When (and how often) should evaluation take place?
These two forms of evaluation are not always distinct. Evaluation f learner reflects not just learners’ performance but to some extent the effectiveness r otherwise of the course too. Evaluation of the learners is unlikely to indicate exactly where a fault lies, but it will at least indicate the existence of a fault somewhere. More price diagnostic evaluation can then be used to trace the fault.
In this sense, then, both course and learner evaluations have a similar function in providing feedback on the ESP course. However, each type of evaluations also has other purposes and procedures. Thus, while bearing in mind the similarity of role a feedback, we shall consider those two kinds of evaluation separately. Placement Tests
The aim of placement tests is to determine the learners’ state of knowledge before the ESP begins. Placement tests are used to place the learners in the ESP course most suited to student needs. If a learner is already proficient in the skills required, no further tuition is required. The placement tests is diagnostic indicating how far and in what ways the learner falls short of the proficiency level. A good placement test should reveal positive factors. It should show not just what the learner lacks but also what potential for learning can be exploited in ESP course.