Common ground: Shared interests in ESP and communication studies

The editors of this 1984 volume in the ELT Documents series describe English for Specific Purposes (ESP) and communication studies (viewed as the teaching of writing and speaking skills to those with English as a first language) as 'two halves of a single profession'.

The papers in this volume were selected from contributions to the UWIST/SELMOUS joint conference ‘Communication in English’ held at the University of Aston in Birmingham in September 1982. Referring to the conference, the editors note a ‘growing convergence of interests and concerns’ between the fields of ESP and communication studies, and they emphasise the need for better contact between the two ‘[halves] of the profession’ along with ‘the need for a sociolinguistic basis for course and syllabus design, and the need to emphasise learning as much as teaching’.

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