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.
The biggest advantage of any ESP/EST course is that it manly emphasises on the learner-centred and the designed course is based on the needs of the learners.
Difference between English for Specific Purpose and General English
English for Specific Purpose and General English strongly believe in the same principal of language teaching where the prime objective of language teaching is having effective and efficient learning. The actual difference between ESP and GE lies in the awareness of need.
According to Hutchinson and Waters (1987) cited in Nitu (2002) that learners of ESP are actually aware about their need that is the use of English for the specific arena; they are even aware about their specific requirement from English language and what the ESP course must offer them. …show more content…
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 learners needs must be taken care to get the desired