English for specific purposes: an international seminar

This report, which includes papers by John Munby, Henry Widdowson and Tom Jupp, was compiled following an international ESP seminar organised in Bogotá, Colombia, in April 1977. The Editorial notes that, while ESP was seen as relatively new, it was also known to be an 'extension and development of insights', rather than a radically different methodology, and also involved a variety of approaches, not a 'harmonised body of doctrine'.

These approaches included focusing on: students’ needs; communicative methods; discourse analysis; pragmatics; and the teacher’s role. The event was seen as enabling participants both to survey current expertise in the region, and to share practice. Papers ranged from relatively technical and theoretical overviews to case studies with more of a practical focus, including consideration of everyday constraints and teachers’ attitudes.

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