Introduction
The mastering of a foreign language opens the roads for the transit of citizens whether for work, business, or tourism purposes, as well as for cultural and informational exchanges of all kinds. In this light, the status of English as a global language in politics, economics, education and the media, especially the Internet, is widely acknowledged.
Typically, ESP has functioned to help language learners cope with the features of language or to develop the competences needed to function in a discipline, profession, or workplace.(Helen. Basturkman. 2006:6)
Learning, as a language based activity, is fundamentally and profoundly dependent on vocabulary knowledge. Learners must have access to the meanings of words which is technical, related to their subject matter.
…knowing the technical terms…is not a sufficient condition for successful reading of specialized material. It was, in fact, the non-technical terms which created more of a problem. (Cohen et al. 1988:162)
For many people vocabulary, particularly specialist vocabulary (or terminology), is a key element of ESP. Despite this, vocabulary studies and, in particular, the teaching of vocabulary appear to have been somewhat neglected in ESP( Laufer p-167, Swales p224).
Reading, for students of English for specific purposes (ESP), is probably the most important skill in terms of acquiring new knowledge. It does, however, often pose learning problems, especially with respect to vocabulary. The psycholinguistic model of reading widely favoured in linguistics and cognitive psychology in the 1960s and 1970s considered that the main constructs underlying reading are making predictions and deducing meaning from context (cf.Goodman 1976:127). However, during the 1980s, the interactive approach to reading became dominant, in which it was proposed that successful comprehension is achieved by the interactive use of two reading
References: Barber, C.L(1962) ‘Some Measurable Characteristics of Modern Scientific Prose’ In contribution to English Syntax and Philology (21-43)Goteburg: Acta Universities Gothoburgensis. Carter, R& McCarthy, M. (1988) Vocabulary and Language Teaching London and New York: Longman. Cowan, J.R.(1974) Lexical and Syntactic Research for the design of EFL reading materials. TESOLQuarterlt, 8:389—400. Dudley-Evans, T. & St John, M, J. (1988) Developments in English for Specific Purposes. Cambridge: CUP. Ferguson, G.(2002) Handouts on Vocabulary in ESP for MA Applied Linguistic Course. Gairns, R & Redman, S.(1993) Working with Words. Cambridge: CUP Hutchinson, T and A, Waters (1987) English for Specific Purposes Jorden, R, R.(1997) English for Academic Purposes. Cambridge: CUP McCarthy, M.(1990) Vocabulary Nation, I, S,P. (2001) Learning Vocabulary in Another Language. Cambridge:CUP Nattinger, J.(1988) Some current trends in vocabulary teaching Strevens, P.(1973) ‘Technical, technological, and scientific English’, ELT Journal 27, 223-234. Virginia French Allen.(1983) Tom Hutchinson and Alan Waters (1998). English for Specific Purposes Pauline Robinson (1991) Allen, V, F. 1983. Techniques in Teaching Vocabulary. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Benson, M., E Benson, M. and E. Benson. 1988. ‘Trying Out a New Dictionary’. TESOL quarterly 22/2:340-5. Carter, R.A.andM.N.Long. 1987. The Web of Words. Cambridge: Cambridge University press. Carter, R Norbert Schmitt and McCarthy. Vocabulary Description, Acquisition and Pedagogy. Cambridge University Press. 1997. Coxhead, A., &Nation, P Bloor, M. (1998). English for Specific c Purposes: The preservation of the species. English for Specific Purposes Journal, 17(1), 47–66. Bloor, M., & Bloor, T. (1986). Languages for Specific Purposes: Practice and theory (occasional paper no. 19). Dublin: Trinity College. Fan, May Y. 1999. “An investigation into the beliefs and strategies of Hong Kong students in the learning of English” Nation, I. S. Paul. 1990. Teaching and Learning Vocabulary. Rowley, MA: Newbury House. Helen Basturkmen. Ideas and options in English for Specific Purposes. University of Auckland. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Publishers, 2006, Mahwah, New jersey, London.