Thank you very much for sharing your experience and views in this respect. I would like to know if someone can share any experience or results achieved in teaching methodology of English as a Second Language for the students (freshmen) of technical sciences that come with different level of English knowledge. This course foresees to teach students on how to describe many scientific phenomena, definitions and lots of technical terminology. So, if the students do not have a good background knowledge of English (general) language, three months would not be sufficient to achieve the desirable results ...

General English is what you can (generally) expect native speakers who have successfully completed primary and secondary schooling and are prepared for tertiary (university) level education. But you should prepare for disappointment.

English for specific purposes is the words in bold font in their textbooks. Alternatively, it is what you, as a new employee, are ordered to do by a superior, that results in you asking someone else what you're supposed to be doing.

Dear Mr. Noor,

Thank you very much for your valuable feedback.

Dear Mr. Polichak,

Thank you for your respond to the matter. However I raised the question for the students whose English is not their native language, who are expected to be able to use in an appropriate manner English literature in various fields of engineering.

The basic tools for Gen.English and English for Specific Purpose may remain the same.That is, the time-specifying components(Tense and Time), the vocadifbulary for communicating meaning - asking for permission, expressing grief or joy, the prepositions,but here the similarity ceases. The ESP is more focused ,more oriented towards what we want to have or convey. Business English has typical words and the ways to use them,which we do not use in the ordinary ,daily manner.An Engineer's need for communicating his ideas and views

makes him find special words- jargon-, likewise a doctor needs a different range of words to speak about the patient;s health. This is ESP,which we do not use in our daily dealings. The words that we use in our ordinary transactions take on a different meaning in Technical English or in Medical English. Dr.Y.P.Hathi

Dear Mr. Caka,

I teach both General English courses and English for Technical and Scientific purposes and take very different approaches in my classes. In the general classes I attempt to increase the students overall ability to read, write, understand and converse on a wide range of topics.  In these classes I provide the material for the class and the material is always specific to the proficiency level of the students.

When it comes to teaching English for Scientific and Technical purposes I avoid textbooks that provide material specially created for a specific level and instead always focus on using material that comes from the material that students will need to master, such as scientific publications, lectures, etc.  My students are then assigned to bring in papers from their specific field and choose TedTalks specific to their areas of interest.  I then teach these students using their current level of English how to best deal with these sources.  For lower level students, it means learning the specific vocabulary in the papers that are field specific and necessary and also using more basic grammar structures in their writing.  I then have all of the students practice making poster presentations of those papers so that they can practice not only their presentation skills, but also their speaking skills using the vocabulary they have learned in the papers or lectures. 

Many of my technical students came to the technical class after finishing a general course because they felt that despite the overall general improvement in their fluency and grammar that they gained in the general course, they still did not feel confident communicating about technical topics.  My experience has shown that my students in the technical class are capable of learning these specific skills that allow them to better deal with the major English challenges that they will face in their scientific career within one to two semesters. Yet I must point out that these students are truly capable of only discussing their very specific field and not a wide range of subjects.  

My best success has been offering one semester that focuses on listening and speaking followed by one semester that focuses on writing and reading. 

Best of luck to you!

I think this is a very good question.

Almagro(2001) points out that the teaching of ESP is characterized by some distinctive features that are the ones that make this type of teaching differ from the teaching of General English, for instance:

_ ESP provides the possibility to teach taking into consideration the students´needs.

_ Teaching is directed to use English for communicative purposes in a real context.

_ The students´performance is more important than their competence.

_ Esp is taught in the university or in post graduate courses where previous knowledge is crucial for further specialized language used.

_ Learning the language is a priority for students, due to the immediate character of its use.

_ Teaching is based on the needs analysis.

_ ESP classes are heterogeneous in terms of linguistic competence and specialized in the students´subject area.

English for General Purposes (EGP) refers to contexts such as the school where needs cannot be readily specified. It is more useful to consider EGP providing a broad foundation rather than a detailed and selective specification of goals like ESP. (Hutchinson, T., & Waters, A. 1987, p 53-54).

Aside from the rough separation at the definition level there is an overlapping connection and proportion between them. In order to clarify their relation Widdowson (1983) establishes distinctive features of ESP and EGP.

The most important EGP features are:

1. the focus is often on education;

2. as the learners’ future needs are impossible to predict, the course content is more difficult to select;

3. due to the above point it is important for the content in the syllabus to have a high surrender value.

The most relevant ESP features are:

1. the focus is on training;

2. as English is intended to be used in specific vocational contexts, the selection of the appropriate content is easier;

3. it is important for the content in the syllabus to have a high surrender value, most relevant to the vocational context;

4. the aim may be to create a restricted English competence

HI. English for general purpose refers to the linguistic competence students should acquire regardless of their field and majar; a kind of core or basic linguistic knowledge. ESP is providing linguistic content knowledge regarding their field. therefore, language is a means of conveying key terms, passages which help them to improve their subject matter knowledge. best