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Introduction to the special issue on ESP

Educational institutions are today constantly under pressure to react to changes which are being brought about by various aspects of globalisation and technological advances. English has achieved a global language status in many social, educational and economic areas and this phenomenon has made it imperative that many non-English speaking countries develop English language proficiency in their own citizens. More and more students are travelling abroad to study, either through organised programmes such as Erasmus, or individually motivated. Canada and the US have seen large influxes and so too here in Europe, largely due to the Bologna Declaration of June 1999. The Bologna Process launched the European Higher Education Area and set in motion a series of reforms to make European higher education more competitive and attractive for European students and students from other continents. Well over 3 million individual participants have benefited from this scheme since its inception. Institutions publish their course descriptions which contain learning outcomes (i.e. what students are expected to know, understand and be able to do in the target language) and the workload (i.e. the time students typically need to achieve these outcomes). Each learning outcome is expressed in terms of university credits. The Bologna Process does not aim to harmonise national higher education systems but to provide tools to connect them: therefore higher education providers remain autonomous institutions. Universities based outside English-speaking countries began to offer courses taught in English in order to attract this flux of newly mobile students. This has led many universities all over the world to teach courses in English in order to attract as many of these fee-paying foreign students as possible. These student migrations are changing the nature of the student body in many ways and affecting institutions, impinging upon methodologies, course design and classroom activities.

While ESP and translation studies have developed and diversified, there is little convergence between the two disciplines. This paper addresses the relevance of translation studies for ESP as seen from a French context. It is argued that recent developments in corpus linguistics contribute to bridging the gap between ESP and specialized translation by providing the methodology and conceptual framework needed to describe and contrast the specific use that LSP makes of language. As an illustration of this cross-fertilization, two scientific papers and two masters students’ reports are examined. In the former case, the issue considered is the extent to which research on corpus-based specialized translation teaching contributes to a better understanding of specialized language and its interaction with general language. Attention is then focused on practical applications in the form of two case studies of trainee translators’ analysis of translation problems. Findings show that corpus-informed research on the translation of specialized texts sheds light on major issues for ESP such as the mutual pervasiveness of the specific features of general and specialized languages, the explanatory adequacy of research on collocational patterns, and the decisive influence of context of situation and culture on linguistic choices.

This study explores students’ reflections on a digital project in an advanced ESL composition class in the US using a framework of multimodality. The goal of this study is to examine the role that including a multimodal digital literacy project in a composition class had in complementing and facilitating an argumentative research assignment. Findings demonstrate that including a multimodal digital project before assigning an argumentative research paper both facilitates an understanding of the writing process as well as develops a sense of multimodality in student writing by prompting them to see new ways to add modes of communication into their text-based projects. The paper argues that, as writing becomes increasingly multimodal and digitally mediated, the field of second language composition needs to incorporate digital literacies into its repertoire for higher levels of writing to foster advanced academic writing skills with authentic tasks that prepare students to become competent writers in a digitally mediated society.

This paper posits the ESP researcher as a surveyor whose role is to map specialized domains in Anglophone settings. In the wake of recent ESP research trends in which wide-angled approaches are followed or defended, it is argued that a contextualized and systematic study of the organizational, social and discursive dimensions of a specialized domain contributes to building a fuller picture of the specialized varieties of English used within this domain. In line with this epistemological stance, an original interdisciplinary framework for mapping specialized domains is introduced: it integrates operative concepts and methodological tools borrowed from other disciplines so as to illuminate the field under study. The suggested framework is then applied to the specialized field of higher education and research in the United Kingdom through a map of academic institutions, actors, and discourse. The aim is to show that a scientifically-grounded, interdisciplinary and contextualized approach of British higher education and research can help the members of the English for Academic Purposes (EAP), English for Specific and Academic Purposes (ESAP), English for Research Publication Purposes (ERPP), English as an Academic Lingua Franca (EALF), English for Academic and Occupational Purposes (EAOP) or English Medium Instruction (EMI) communities build a broader and more nuanced understanding of the disciplinary and professional varieties of academic discourse used within the field, an approach which can prove fertile for the study of other specialized fields.

This paper underscores the importance of fieldwork and contextualization in the sphere of English for specific purposes (ESP). It focuses on the milieu, discourse and culture of American multinational companies specialized in oil and gas (ExxonMobil, Chevron and Conoco Phillips) and agrochemistry (Monsanto, Dow AgroSciences and DuPont Pioneer). Because their activities are sometimes considered as a threat to health and the environment, the six firms were chosen as representative of the technological risk industry. The author’s initial assumption was that they shared specific communication needs, making them a distinct discourse community within the corporate world. In order to check this hypothesis, an interdisciplinary methodology was used: genre analysis was combined with an ethnographic-driven approach to provide insight into the specific context that shapes the companies’ culture and communication. The aim was to show that discourse analysis can be used as an entry point into a specialized community and should be complemented by other approaches. Combining data from different sources, this paper shows that the main objective of technological risk companies is not only to promote their products, but also to legitimize controversial activities and bolster their image.

Numerous studies have been published on aspects of courtroom discourse over the years. These investigations have concentrated mostly on courtroom language either in terms of interaction, dynamics, and discourse or in terms of the linguistic traits marking it. There are, however, no studies which compare naturally-occurring instances of courtroom language with those occurring in movies either within an ESP perspective or using a multi-dimensional analysis; this is precisely what the present paper sets out to examine. In the paper, real trials are compared to movie trials by using data retrieved from the American Real-Trial Corpus, a purposely-built corpus, and from an updated version of the American Movie Corpus, containing the American Movie-Trial Corpus. The findings show very little linguistic and textual variability between the two corpora and thus not only confute the claim that the cinematic portrayal of the American legal system is far removed from reality, but also confirm that linguistic similarities between movie and naturally-occurring conversation are also present at a more specialized level. Hence, it can be argued that movies can be a rich source also for learning/teaching more specialized language features, such as those characterizing courtroom discourse.

Nowadays, in an increasingly demanding work market, the need for university students to equip themselves with the right qualifications in the professional arena is stronger than ever. Reflecting the specialist nature of the Cyprus University of Technology, the Language Centre offers English for Specific Purposes (ESP) courses which are designed to extend the linguistic knowledge of students in such a way so as to cover any needs they may encounter in their studies, research, future career as well as their social and personal life. By integrating technology into these courses, the LC aspires to provide an advantage to its students by giving them a competitive edge in graduate employment, expanding their options of studying abroad, helping learners to gain the confidence to work and travel internationally and finally increasing learners’ global and cultural awareness. Furthermore, since Information and Communication technologies promote communication and can assist language learning when used appropriately (Almekhlafi & Almeqdadi, 2010; Ming-Mu Kuo, 2008), digital literacy constitutes an integral component of all the courses. Depending on the nature of the course syllabus and the instructor, various technologies are used to promote collaboration, to integrate the four skills in activities, to provide feedback or to facilitate interaction with the instructor and other learners. Experimental use of a variety of ICT tools to serve various purposes has shown E-portfolios to be extremely valuable for learners in ESP courses at tertiary level. This paper investigates how E-portfolios might be used by language learners in the Department of Communication and Media Studies, to construct and promote their digital identities.