English For Specific Purposes In Higher Education Through Content And Language Integrated Learning

English language teaching (ELT) in higher education serves mainly to enhance the professional language competences of students. It can take several forms, including English for Specific Purposes (ESP) and Academic English (AE). The objectives of ESP courses in higher education are to prepare students for their professional lives by developing communicative language skills. Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) methodology offers the potential to combine the learning of a foreign language with the content of professional subjects. Moreover, it also offers a new dimension in thinking and deepening foreign language competences within non-linguistic subjects. These aspects contribute towards ELT modernization with the aim of developing a learner’s autonomy and building bridges between educational institutions and the professional world. This book focuses on applying CLIL methodology within the context of ESP classes, highlighting the possible benefits that might be applicable in any higher educational institution.

This volume offers research-based studies on English for Specific Purposes in higher education from across the world. By drawing on international studies, the book brings together diverse ESP practices and aspects of relevant issues in the development of ESP programs, teachers and learners in a coherent fashion. There is a growing need for undergraduate students to develop their proficiency of ESP skills and knowledge in the increasingly globalized world. Knowledge of ESP is an important factor in subject matter learning by students, and also closely related to the performance of university graduates in the relevant sectors. Careful planning and efficient implementation are essential to ensure the quality of the language learning process. For a variety of reasons, it proves difficult to maintain ESP instruction in higher education. These reasons include the incompetence of teachers, lack of materials for that specific context, as well as lack of opportunities for ESP teachers to develop their skills. The chapters in this book, taken from a wide variety of countries, shed light on the diversity of current practices and issues surrounding ESP.

The Bologna Reform has been implemented in a large part of the European Union and it is time to take a short pause to reflect over some of the lessons learned up to now. The aim of this book is to share experiences and reflections on English for Specific Purposes pedagogy in Western European higher education. Taking as a starting point the development of the EU policies during the past couple of decades and their national implementations, the chapters in this book provide various perspectives, both theoretical and practical, on the ways in which the reform has been implemented and its effects on the teaching of ESP. Experiences of developing programmes and courses incorporating Content and Language Integrated Learning and Autonomous and Lifelong Learning are described, as well as Problem-Based Learning and Process-Genre Pedagogies. The book also includes chapters on the crucial, but often neglected issue of teacher support in meeting the challenges of teaching content through the medium of English.

This book proposes a new paradigm for English language teaching based on concepts from English for Specific Purposes (ESP) research and applications as well as from growing evidence relating pattern recognition to language learning ability. The contributors to the volume argue that learners should not try to become proficient all-around users of ‘idealistic native-like’ English, but instead should be realistic about what they need to acquire and how to go about achieving their specific goals. The book discusses the present situation by describing the status quo of English language education in Japan, taking into consideration recent trends of CLIL (content and language integrated learning), EMI (English medium instruction), and TBLT (task-based language teaching) as well as the work done on the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR). It introduces new movements in ESP in Japan and in other Asian regions, covering topics ranging from genre analysis to corpus linguistics, and presents application examples of ESP practice in a range of educational situations in Japan from the graduate school level to elementary and middle school contexts. It also offers readers application examples of ESP practice in a range of business settings and expands the discussion to the global sphere where EAP and ESP are gaining importance as the number of ELF (English as a Lingua Franca) speakers continue to increase. The book will be of great interest to academics, researchers, and post-graduate students working in the fields of EFL and ESL.

This book offers a unique view of multilingualism in higher education from a global perspective. It presents a contextualised case of a multilingual language policy which takes the Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) approach. The volume discusses various approaches to multilingual education including CLIL and then proposes guidelines for a multilingual language policy for Universitat Jaume I in Castelló, Spain. It examines the advantages of a multilingual education programme and reviews the success of existing language policies. This book will be an essential resource for researchers and students as well as policy makers.

This book delves into the realm of effective language education programs, examining them from both macro and micro-policy-making perspectives. It unravels the distinguishing features of exemplary language programs and explores how these programs are implemented in diverse international contexts. The book comprehensively explores various facets of language education programs, encompassing well-crafted language education policies, robust curriculum and syllabus design, impactful teaching materials, effective approaches to English for specific purposes (ESP), English as a medium of instruction (EMI), content and language integrated learning (CLIL), and English as a Lingua Franca (ELF)-informed instruction. The book also delves into fruitful school/institute-university partnerships, the judicious use of technology, strategies for teacher recruitment and professional development, as well as efficient policies for learner assessment, among other topics of significance. The contributions within this book are firmly grounded in data, incorporating findings from empirical studies. The insights provided draw upon valuable data obtained from a range of diverse contexts in which effective language education programs have been implemented.

English for Specific Purposes (ESP) has accumulated substantial tradition in practice, research and theory. It is a common approach in English Language Teaching (ELT) among adults today, starting with high schools, then in academia, pre and in-service training, and life-long learning programs. The role of ESP in each of these is to facilitate work in today’s inevitably international business and scientific environment. It provides language training based on the precise simulation of communicative situations found in the surroundings for which learners are preparing, including, for example, domain specific vocabulary, syntactic and morphological structures, text and speech content structuring, stylistics, intercultural competence. At present, when English is present either as a foreign or second language, learning General English (GE) is to a large degree accomplished before learners start needing English for their jobs. In this way, ESP does not complete GE, but builds upon the foundations laid by it in learners’ prior education. ESP is a channel of communication for the contemporary academia and economics. However, even so, these are still early days for ESP, as it does not yet have a recognised place within academia. Only very recently have we begun to witness the occasional but encouraging emergence of ESP academic courses and departments. This book thus explores practice and research conducted and under way in this field of ELT in order to assist its recognition as an autonomous academic discipline.

Content and language integrated learning (CLIL) is an increasingly popular educational approach given its dual focus on enabling learners to acquire subject-matter through an additional language, while learning this second language in tandem with content. This Handbook provides a comprehensive overview of recent CLIL developments, illustrating how CLIL has been uniquely conceptualised and practised across educational and geographical contexts. Divided into six sections, covering language and language teaching, core topics and issues, contexts and learners, CLIL in practice, CLIL around the world, and a final section looking forward to future research directions, every chapter provides a balanced discussion of the benefits, challenges and implications of this approach. Representing the same diversity and intercultural understanding that CLIL features, the chapters are authored by established as well as early-career academics based around the world. The Routledge Handbook of Content and Language Integrated Learning is the essential guide to CLIL for advanced students and researchers of applied linguistics, education and TESOL.