The present paper sets out to determine the relevance of the linguistic choices of the ESP instructors during their teaching sessions and to detect to which extent can language improve students’ engagement in studying. Most of the time, instructors tend to focus on the content of the lesson in terms of information and technology, and little thought, or consideration, is being given to the semantic selection from the point of view of creating the best studying environment through discourse. Since discourses create realities, the present study tries to correlate the results of a survey applied to an ESP group of students with the observations of the linguistic choices used within their ESP classes. The results may be taken as a template for linguistic selection in teaching, and, at the same time they raise awareness of the importance of language in communication.
Keywords: ESP teaching, student engagement, linguistic selection in teaching, communication.