on differences between esp and egp

1、<p>　　On Differences between ESP and EGP</p><p>　　【摘要】本文認(rèn)為,特殊英語(yǔ)教學(xué)不同于一般的公共英語(yǔ)教學(xué),應(yīng)輔以特殊的教學(xué)手段。 </p><p>　　【關(guān)鍵詞】特殊英語(yǔ)教學(xué);一般英語(yǔ)教學(xué);教學(xué)方法 </p><p>　　Introduction </p><p>　　As an

2、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.

3、92) gives its definition as following: </p><p>　　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 schoo

4、l subject), but by functional or practical English requirements of the learners. </p><p>　　And Halliday (1964) thinks “ESP means English for civil servants; for policemen; for officials of the law; for dispe

5、nsers 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, skill

6、s and strategies, and a learning-centered approach. In contrast to EGP students, who learn English to develop comprehensive abilities in reading、writing、listening a</p><p>　　1 ESP is defined to meet specific

7、 needs of the learner; </p><p>　　2 ESP makes use of the underlying methodology and activities of the discipline it serves; </p><p>　　3 ESP is centered on the language (grammar, lexis, and regist

8、er), skills, discourse and genres appropriate to these activities. </p><p>　　As an English teacher both for hotel English and general English, I’d like to compare these two areas of English teaching, find th

9、eir differences, contrast teacher’s roles in two kinds of classes, and offer my own suggestions on how to make the teacher easier to understand subject matter. </p><p>　　Part Ⅰ Differences between ESP and EG

10、P </p><p>　　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

11、 they need. Rather than developing a course around an analysis of the language, an ESP approach starts instead with an analysis of the learner’s needs. According to Richards (2001, p. 33), </p><p>　　In ESP l

12、earner’s 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

13、 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. </p><p>　　Also, Widdowson

14、(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

15、to cope with undefined eventualities in the future.”It is the different learner’s needs that lead to differences in ESP and EGP. The differences may include curriculum design, syllabus, vocabulary choices, sentence struc

16、tures, contents, functions, teaching approac</p><p>　　Since ESP aims to meet the needs of particular learners, it is often the teacher’s responsibility to design appropriate courses for various groups of lea

17、rners. While for EGP teacher, their workload in this aspect is minor. On the other hand, ESP course design mainly includes (下轉(zhuǎn)第182頁(yè))three types: language-centered, skills-centered and learning-centered. However, there ar

18、e many kinds of course design in EGP owing to adapting different approaches. </p><p>　　ESP differs from EGP in words and expressions. For example, there are lots of specialist vocabularies in Hotel English.

19、These words may look alike general words in form but differ in meanings. Generally speaking, they have exactly specific meanings in authentic context. Let’s take the phrase‘front office’as an example, in Hotel English it

20、 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 b</p><p>　　Grammar and sentence patterns in ESP

21、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 p

22、atterns 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 n

23、o much grammar that stu</p><p>　　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, rea

24、ding 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. </p>

25、<p>　　Part Ⅱ Contrast teacher’s roles in ESP and EGP teaching </p><p>　　Within the classroom teacher’s role may change from one activity to another. Harmer (2007, p. 57) reckons teacher can act as con

26、troller、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 analysi

27、s, syllabus design, material writing or adaptation and evaluation. In this situation, they become analyst, syllabus designer, or material writer. Beside</p><p>　　Part Ⅲ Suggestions and conclusion </p>

28、<p>　　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)

29、 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 interdis

30、ciplinary talents. However, the great majority of ESP teachers have not </p><p>　　Despite distinctive differences, ESP and EGP teaching are complementary. The general English proficiency students acquire in

31、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 promot

32、e their general English proficiency. </p><p>　　【REFERENCES】 </p><p>　　[1]Bell, T. (1999). Do EAP Teachers Require Knowledge of Their Students’ Specialist Academic Subjects? The Internet TESL Jou

33、rnal, 5, 10. Retrieved January 30, 2007. </p><p>　　[2]Gatehouse, K. (2001). Key Issues in English for Specific Proposes Curriculum Development. The Internet TESL Journal, 7, 10. Retrieved January 30, 2007. &

34、lt;/p><p>　　[3]Halliday, M.A.K., McIntosh, A., & Strevens, P. (1964). The Linguistic Sciences and Language Teaching. London: Longman. </p><p>　　[4]Harmer, J. (2007). The practice of English Lan