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Advantages And Disadvantages Of English For Specific Purposes

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English for Specific Purposes According to Teodorescu (2010), English for Specific Purposes (ESP) came into existence soon after the Second World War as there was a huge expansion of science, technology, and business all over the world and it became essential to have an international language for specialists. Later on, ESP became so popular that it is an important branch of English Language Teaching (ELT). Therefore, ESP which has the subcomponent like English for Science and Technology (EST) and it is further minimized to English for Engineering. Adriana Teodorescu (2010). The biggest advantage of any ESP/EST course is that it mainly emphasizes on the learner-centred and the designed course is based on the needs of the learners. Adriana …show more content…

defined the term needs analysis which is also known as needs assessment in 1999 (as cited in Rayan 2008) as those activities that basically involved in collecting information which will serve as the basis for developing a curriculum where the needs of the particular group of learners are met. When a course on English for Engineering is designed after consulting with professional engineers, EST practitioners and students it is likely to be more effective than the course which designed without consulting the stakeholders. There are many courses which were identified to ineffective if they do not reflect the learner’s present and target needs. And it is mainly because the most of the courses are designed based on their experience. However, it becomes very important to understand the needs of the learners in the beginning and design the course on Engineering English which is based on the finding of the needs assessment. Many researchers and the authors who have acknowledged the importance of the needs analysis are Munby, 1978; Richterich and Chancrel, 1987; Hutchinson and Waters, 1987; Berwick, 1989; Tarone and Yule, 1989; Robinson, 1991; Johns, 1991; West, 1994; Allison et al, 1994; Seedhouse, 1995; Jordan, 1997; Dudley-Evans and St. John, 1998; Iwei et al. 1999; Hamp-Lyons, 2001; and Finney, 2002 as cited in Rayan …show more content…

The Communicative Competence Specification: The translated profile of needs is when the communicative competence specification highlights the target communicative competence of the participant. As stated by Hutchinson and Waters (1987) that the impact of the processing data by means of Munby’s model is what the learner needs to be aware in order to function effectively in the target language. (as cited by Rayan 2008) According to Hutchinson and Waters (1987) when it comes to writing a target profile of each student on the basis of Munby’s model, it is always time-consuming where it only considers one viewpoint, it does not take into account of learning needs nor does it make a differentiation between necessities, wants and lacks (as cited Rayan 2008). Present Situation Analysis Present Situation Analysis which is also known as PSA, it may be stated as a complement to target situation analysis (as stated by Robinson, 1991; Jordan, 1997). Present situation analysis tries to identify what the learners are like at the beginning only when if target situation analysis attempts to establish what learners are expected to be like at the end of the language course. Dudley-Evans and St. John (1998: 125) quotes that “a PSA estimates strengths and weaknesses in language, skills, learning experiences” (cited in Rayan 2008: 30). In other words, when the first starting point is defined through PSA than the learner's

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