Innovation in Language Learning

The target goal of the current paper is to thoroughly analyze and introduce the characteristics of enhancing students’ learning motivation in the acquisition of “English for Specific Purposes”. Learners in the ESP classes are generally aware of the purposes for which they will need to use English. Having already oriented their education toward a specific field, they see their English training as complementing this orientation. Knowledge of the subject area enables the students to identify a real context for the vocabulary and structures of the ESP classroom. In such way, the learners can take advantage of what they already know about the subject matter to learn. An ESP program is therefore built on an assessment of purposes and needs and the functions for which English is required. As a matter of fact, ESP combines subject matter and English language teaching. Such a combination is highly motivating because students are able to apply what they learn in their English classes to their main field of study. Being able to use the vocabulary and structures that they learn in a meaningful context reinforces what is taught and increases their motivation. The students' abilities in their subject-matter fields, in turn, improve their ability to acquire English. Students approach the study of English through a field that is already known and relevant to them. This means that they are able to use what they learn in the ESP classroom right away in their work and studies. Thus, in ESP, English should be presented not as a subject to be learned in isolation from real use, nor as a mechanical skill or habit to be developed. On the contrary, English should be presented in authentic contexts to make the learners acquainted with the particular ways in which the language is used in functions that they will need to perform in their fields of specialty or jobs.

References

1. Hutchinson T. and Waters A., English for Specific Purposes. Cambridge University Press, 1993. -183p.
2. Keith H., English for Specific Purposes, Oxford University Press, 2007, 170p.
3. Ushioda E., International Perspectives on Motivation, Language learning and Professional Challenges, The Palgrave Macmillan, 2013
4. Dario l. B., The integration of content and Languages as a driving Force in EFL Lesson - https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1135526.pdf