The Changing Classroom

I was talking to a friend about identity and the way it may change through life. Do you speak other languages? Do you think you changed because of that? Is your identity different in both languages? While discussing these questions, I realized that identity plays a huge role a learner’s process. Yet, I have never thought about it from the teacher’s perspective or even considered the effect of taking it into account in the class. ESP focuses on the learners needs and how the whole learning process should evolve around them in order to accomplish a more meaningful and personalized experience taking into account at the same time various factors that contribute to the enhancement of it. Identity, then, becomes a newfangled factor in the equation because it may point to a side of learners that is not usually cared for. Identity could transform a simple class into a convergent space for distinct people to evolve while allowing them to feel and create a sense of belonging. Belcher, Johns,

How is specificity related to ESP? What is its role in the teaching-learning process? According to Oxford dictionary, specificity can be taken as t he quality of belonging or relating uniquely to a particular subject . Having this definition, it can be said that specificity is related to ESP (English for Specific Purposes) because it involves having or focusing on specific topics according to the field of expertise. Now, what is its role in the teaching and learning process? Cheng (2011) presents the following figure to highlight the interaction that exists among the basic considerations in ESP teaching and learning. These factors were established, in order to organize the different aspects that happen and correlate during the process. These specific considerations remind us of what goes on in the classroom. For some people may be obvious to some extend because those thoughts are all the elements that are faced every day in the teaching lives. Yet, for some reason they have bec

Today's world asks for better and innovative ways of teaching in order to fulfill everyone’s needs and accommodate to such hectic schedules. As, it has been discussed before ESP (English for Specific Purposes) has become one of those new paths in order to answer to a globalized world. Since ESP has allowed people to concentrate on a specific field is it only natural to establish or even come up with newer strategies to tackle previous problems that where faced by learners and teachers, or maybe just improve what already exists. This is the reason why ESP takes research as one of the most important issues to consider because through investigation and hard work learning becomes a more individual and personalized process. One of those solutions discovered is BLENDED LEARNING, which helps stakeholders have a broader idea of combined strategies and methods to construct learning or improve the existing learning process. This new term, for me, sets the bar really high for the future

Have you ever pondered upon the future? Have you ever thought about what you are actually doing for the future? During this week, I was wondering where language teaching is going and what the future may bring in that specific area; and I must say that I was shocked to think that I didn’t have many ideas in terms of what I could do to improve what already exists. Yet, during one of those shocking moments I had an eye-opening instant, I realized that ESP has a long way to go, at least here in Costa Rica, so maybe there is hope because by going down this road we can become pioneers in the field to enlighten the ones that come after us and prepare many others to accomplish their goals in a different way. ESP allows the language teaching environment to take a new path in increasing the learning process because, as it has been said before, it focuses on the learners’ needs and takes them into account in the course preparation. Gollin-Kies, Hall, and Moore (2015) established three mayor tre

As discussed before, ESP (English for Specific Purposes) is not a new approach in the teaching area; yet it is becoming more and more influential in English teaching because it takes into account the real needs of students instead of the teachers' assumptions. But, what role do these needs have in teaching? What difference do they make in the process?  According to Anthony “ESP is an approach to language teaching that targets the current and/or future academic or occupational needs of learners, focuses on the necessary language, genres, and skills to address these needs, and assists learners in meeting these needs through the use of general and/or discipline specific teaching materials and methods.” (Anthony & Routledge, 2018) Consequently, the students’ needs are the key point in deciding where a course is going. Now, there has to be an analysis of those needs in order to fulfill them appropriately because even though ESP does not normally focus on language, that may b

According to different studies there is a lot of information related to the history of the English instruction and the methodologies used in order to have a more meaningful teaching and learning process. It is important to mention that education is a field that is always changing to adapt to what people need in a specific moment in time to fulfill society’s needs and the shifting environment. The bottom line is that everyone is looking for better ways or tools for a successful class. It is the instructor's job to create a good teaching- learning environment and promote motivation within the group. This cannot be done if they keep doing what they did 50 years ago. As a result, teachers continuously try to find the best way to teach and then share the experiences and the material used in order to receive feedback and provide others with everything that has been learned. For this, academics must be flexible, not only to adapt to the needs, environments, objectives, and basically lead