The Situation of ESP in EFL Economics Classes

ESP is defined as an approach to teaching English for any purpose that could be specified. It is concerned with what to teach in a context where learners are classified as homogeneous sharing a set of specific needs. Accordingly, the purpose of the present study is to explore the situation of ESP teaching and learning in a class of third year graduate students at the department of Economics, university of M’sila, Algeria. The investigator attempts to know whether the ESP approach to EFL teaching is applied in such a specific class. To this end, 49 students have been randomly chosen as a representative sample joined by their ESP teacher who is a specialist in the same department. Data has been collected through using two research instruments: a questionnaire for students, and a structured interview for the teacher. It has been, then, analyzed both quantitatively and qualitatively. The results revealed that students are exposed to a general English kind of teaching with much focus on learning economic terms and translating short texts into the mother tongue language (Arabic), and with little awareness of their academic as well as professional needs (once in a workplace). Additionally, the ESP teacher expressed his felt need for a specific "teacher training." The results could make the ESP teachers aware of what is really needed in this very context. Hence, ESP approaches should be applied to teaching English for different specialized subjects, each according to its needs