Designing ESP Courses: Principles & Specificities

Abstract

The article is aimed at specialists in teaching English for professional communication and is dedicated to development of courses of English for Specific Purposes (ESP). The author describes characteristic features of such courses, that need to be considered by methodologists, and describes an algorithm that has been successfully used in course development at Skyes University and Skyeng online school. Besides the step-by-step algorithm, the article describes tools that are needed to successfully develop an ESP course: tools to check the text CEFR level, tools to select learning outcomes, vocabulary and grammar functions for a specific level of language acquisition, goals and professional area. The article also lists tools to ensure the pragmatic value of the course being developed and reasons for using particular approaches and techniques in teaching, such as Task-based learning, Project-based learning, case studies. All the methods and techniques, described by the author, are illustrated with examples from online courses that have been designed and used by Skyeng and Skyes University platform. The algorithm and set of tools will be useful for development not only of online courses but also of textbooks of English for Specific purposes and professional communication.