On Differences between ESP and EGP

章小瑾 吳繼琴

【摘要】本文認為,特殊英語教學不同于一般的公共英語教學,應輔以特殊的教學手段。

【關鍵詞】特殊英語教學;一般英語教學;教學方法

Introduction

As an independent subject, English for specific purpose begins to separate from English for general purpose after the Second War due to the economic development, linguistic development, and learners needs. Strevens (1977, P. 92) gives its definition as following:

ESP courses are those in which the aims and the content are determined, principally or wholly not by criteria of general education (as when English is a school subject), but by functional or practical English requirements of the learners.

And Halliday (1964) thinks “ESP means English for civil servants; for policemen; for officials of the law; for dispensers and nurses; for specialists in agriculture; for engineers and fitters.”The developments of ESP theory have gone through five stages, which are register analysis, discourse analysis, target situation analysis, skills and strategies, and a learning-centered approach. In contrast to EGP students, who learn English to develop comprehensive abilities in reading、writing、listening and speaking, the ESP students study English in order to carry out a particular role. Though ESP derives from EGP, it is different from EGP. It has its own distinctive features. Gatehouse (2001, p. 10) summarizes the absolute characteristics of ESP as follows:

1 ESP is defined to meet specific needs of the learner;

2 ESP makes use of the underlying methodology and activities of the discipline it serves;

3 ESP is centered on the language (grammar, lexis, and register), skills, discourse and genres appropriate to these activities.

As an English teacher both for hotel English and general English, Id like to compare these two areas of English teaching, find their differences, contrast teachers roles in two kinds of classes, and offer my own suggestions on how to make the teacher easier to understand subject matter.

Part Ⅰ Differences between ESP and EGP

The biggest difference between ESP and ESP is due to different needs from students. Different types of students have different language needs and what they are taught should be restricted to what they need. Rather than developing a course around an analysis of the language, an ESP approach starts instead with an analysis of the learners needs. According to Richards (2001, p. 33),

In ESP learners needs are often described in terms of performance, what is, in terms of what the learner will be able to do with the language at the end of a course study. Whereas in a general English course the goal is usually an overall mastery of the language that can be tested on a global language test, the goal of an ESP course is to prepare the learners to carry out a specific task or set of tasks.

Also, Widdowson (1984, p. 6) believes that“ESP seeks to provide learners with a restricted competence to enable them to cope with certain clearly defined tasks, while EGP seeks to provide learners with a general capacity to enable them to cope with undefined eventualities in the future.”It is the different learners needs that lead to differences in ESP and EGP. The differences may include curriculum design, syllabus, vocabulary choices, sentence structures, contents, functions, teaching approaches, and etc.

Since ESP aims to meet the needs of particular learners, it is often the teachers responsibility to design appropriate courses for various groups of learners. While for EGP teacher, their workload in this aspect is minor. On the other hand, ESP course design mainly includes (下轉第182頁)three types: language-centered, skills-centered and learning-centered. However, there are many kinds of course design in EGP owing to adapting different approaches.

ESP differs from EGP in words and expressions. For example, there are lots of specialist vocabularies in Hotel English. These words may look alike general words in form but differ in meanings. Generally speaking, they have exactly specific meanings in authentic context. Lets take the phrase‘front officeas an example, in Hotel English it means a place where the guests are welcomed and they can deal with check-in and check-out procedures. However, in EGP, it may mean the office in front of the building. So, if the learner doesnt know about this meaning in Hotel English, he or she can easily feel confused. This is also the reason why there are many English learners who have mastered a large amount of general English glossary still have problems in understanding the specific materials. Besides that, one word in ESP always stands for one exact meaning, while a general word may have many meanings in different contexts. Words in ESP are more precise than that in EGP. Therefore, mastering a large quantity of specific English words and expressions are very helpful for the learners to use the English freely. For example, a waitress who can explain the menu in details in English to the guests is because she has gained a great deal of specialist vocabulary, which is beneficial to her career development. Wilkins (1976, p. 19) believes that“Students who are trained by ESP approach are more competent in effectively completing the communicative tasks in their future career than those who are not trained.”

Grammar and sentence patterns in ESP are different. General English learning covers all English grammar, which offers a systematic grammar explanation for learners. Oppositely, Specific English focuses on oneor several aspects of grammar, and its sentence patterns are steady. In Hotel English, the most common sentence structure is imperative sentence. It is easy for students to use because they have been familiar with it in their general English learning stage. There has no much grammar that students feel challenged in ESP. However, grammar is often a tough job for learners, especially those learners with lower English level.

ESP and EGP use different teaching materials. ESP teaching just chooses material which is appropriately selected. In Hotel English teaching, no matter what kind of class, reading or listening, the teaching material is interrelated with the specific context —— hotel. However, EGP has no such restriction. It utilizes extensive material in exist, which contains and covers everything.

Part Ⅱ Contrast teachers roles in ESP and EGP teaching

Within the classroom teachers role may change from one activity to another. Harmer (2007, p. 57) reckons teacher can act as controller、organizer、assessor、prompter、participant、resource、tutor、and observer in the general English classroom. In addition to the normal functions of a classroom teacher, the ESP teacher will have to work on needs analysis, syllabus design, material writing or adaptation and evaluation. In this situation, they become analyst, syllabus designer, or material writer. Besides these, ESP teacher sometimes has to be the negotiator. In many cases, ESP teacher has to work in close cooperation with sponsors or subject specialists who are in charge ofthe learners work or study experience outside the ESP classroom because “the status of English changes from being a subject in its own right to a service industry for other specialists.”(Hutchinson & Waters, 2002, p. 164).

Part Ⅲ Suggestions and conclusion

It is obvious that ESP teachers are required to be more qualified and versatile than EGP teachers. It is a necessity for them to know something about the subject matter of the ESP material. Bell (1999, p. 15) believes that “without this background knowledge the teacher may be unable to interact effectively with the learners because of unfamiliarity with the discourse that is unfolding in class.”ESP teaching requires interdisciplinary talents. However, the great majority of ESP teachers have not been trained for the specific subject. In my college, there is no one specialized ESP teacher. All ESP teachers are from subject specialists or English majors. Most are English teachers, few are subject specialists. In fact, it is challenging for English teachers to learn something totally different from their majors, especially the subject in the Sciences because English teachers are graduates in Arts. Their background knowledge may have nothing with the subject of the Sciences, which makes their specific subject learning more difficult. As a Hotel English teacher, I suggest the following ways to gain the knowledge in specific profession: First, the best way is to get opportunity to participate in on-job training. No matter it is long or short, which can be beneficial to have some idea about the specific subject. Then, the most practical way is to gain the specific knowledge by self-learning. Making full use of the school library and with the help of subject specialists, English teachers can become good autonomous learners. Next, English teacher can take the relevant course and take part in seminar, involve in research work with subject specialists; even they can discuss the specific subject with students in mother language. In many situations, teacher can be greatly enlightened by students.

Despite distinctive differences, ESP and EGP teaching are complementary. The general English proficiency students acquire in EGP is the basis for them to go through specific English learning. Lacking such ability, students will find it is tough for them to be successful in ESP leaning. Similarly, capabilities students acquire in ESP can promote their general English proficiency.

【REFERENCES】

[1]Bell, T. (1999). Do EAP Teachers Require Knowledge of Their Students Specialist Academic Subjects? The Internet TESL Journal, 5, 10. Retrieved January 30, 2007.

[2]Gatehouse, K. (2001). Key Issues in English for Specific Proposes Curriculum Development. The Internet TESL Journal, 7, 10. Retrieved January 30, 2007.

[3]Halliday, M.A.K., McIntosh, A., & Strevens, P. (1964). The Linguistic Sciences and Language Teaching. London: Longman.

[4]Harmer, J. (2007). The practice of English Language Teaching. (4th Ed.). Harlow: Longman