DEVELOPING PROFESSIONAL COMMUNICATION SKILLS THROUGHAUTHENTIC TASKS IN ESP CLASSES

Abstract

English for Specific Purposes (ESP) has become an essential component of higher
education because university graduates are increasingly expected to use English in
professional and academic contexts. Unlike General English, ESP focuses on the
language, genres, skills and communicative situations relevant to learners’ future
occupations. This paper discusses the importance of integrating authentic tasks into ESP
lessons in order to develop students’ professional communication skills. It argues that
ESP instruction should be based on learners’ target needs and should provide
opportunities to use English for realistic purposes such as presenting information,
writing professional e-mails, discussing workplace problems, interpreting field-related
texts and participating in simulated professional interactions. The paper also outlines
practical classroom procedures for implementing authentic tasks with non-linguistic
university students. It concludes that task-based ESP lessons can make language
learning more meaningful, improve students’ motivation and prepare them for
communication in their future professional environments