ESP

ESP, short for English for Specific/Special Purposes. The English language taught for professional, vocational, and other specified purposes. Originating in courses of business English for foreign learners, ESP developed in the 1960s in response to demands for courses geared to practical and functional rather than educational and cultural ends. Whereas general EFL/ESL teaching offers courses to schoolchildren and to adults of mixed ages and backgrounds, ESP addresses learners with a common reason for learning, such as the English of air traffic control or of dyestuff chemistry. Planning an ESP course starts with a needs analysis, to establish the limits of the language learners' needs. Courses and materials are then designed to teach all and only that subset of English. Success appears to depend on the quality of the needs analysis, the authenticity of the materials used, and the sensitivity of the teacher to the maturity and status of the students. Although the development of such language teaching has been mainly in English, it is of growing importance for other languages as part of languages for specific purposes (LSP). Within ESP, there are further divisions: see EAP, TEFL.