LSP: Language for Specific Purposes - PDF

Helen Basturkmen and Catherine Elder The Practice of LSP 2004, pp. 672-3 What Is LSP? LSP is generally used to refer to the teaching and research of language in relation to the communicative needs of speakers of a second language in facing a...

Helen Basturkmen and Catherine Elder The Practice of LSP 2004, pp. 672-3 What Is LSP? LSP is generally used to refer to the teaching and research of language in relation to the communicative needs of speakers of a second language in facing a particular workplace, academic, or professional context. In such contexts language is used for a limited range of communicative events. For example, in a university context, spoken language is typically used by students in events such as participating in seminars and tutorials, presenting papers, and asking and answering questions in class. Analysis of language in such events generally reveals that language is used in constrained and fairly predictable ways. LSP courses usually focus on the specific language needs of fairly homogeneous groups of learners in regard to one particular context referred to as the target situation. For example, LSP courses may involve a group of language learners who all intend to study at university, work as engineers, or aim to work as nurses in the future. The aim of such courses is to help the learners deal with the linguistic demands of their academic, workplace, or professional target situations. LSP courses can be “pre-experience” or “post-experience” (Robinson, 1991). The former refers to courses designed for learners aspiring to enter particular workplace, academic, or profession situations. In these cases the courses aim to teach the learners the language skills and knowledge they will need in order to gain entrance. The latter refers to courses designed for learners already involved in the target situation. In these cases the courses aim to help the learners become better equipped linguistically to cope with the communicative demands they face in their work or study situations Major divisions in LSP are Language for Academic Purposes, and Language for Occupational Purposes, the latter comprising Language for Professional Purposes and for Vocational Purposes (Dudley-Evans & St John, 1998). LSP courses can be highly specific or more general, referred to as narrow and wide angled respectively. For example, teaching Language for Academic Purposes may involve one of two options: Language for General Academic Purposes or Language for Specific Academic Purposes (Blue, 1993; Jordan, 1 1997; Dudley-Evans & St John, 1998). In the former, students from a range of disciplines are grouped together and instruction focuses on their common academic needs and skills, such as note taking skills, lecture comprehension, seminar skills, the structure of an argumentative essay, and so forth. In the latter, students are grouped according to their disciplines and instruction focuses on features of language use and the language skills critical for successful communication in them. So, for example, instruction for law students might focus on specific genres significant in legal studies, such as the legal problem answer (Bruce, 2002). Key Features of LSP Two central aspects of LSP are needs analysis and description of language use in target situations. Generally needs analysis is recognized to be a key feature of LSP (Hutchinson & Waters, 1987; Robinson, 1991; Dudley-Evans & St John, 1998; Flowerdew & Peacock, 2001b). Needs analysis have been defined "as the attempt to systematically collect information about the communicative demands faced by those in the target situation. This includes information about language use in specific academic, professional, or vocational groups, the linguistic skills used most frequently in the target situation, and the difficulties second language learners experience there. This information is then used in designing second language courses tailored to help second language learners meet those demands. A further key feature of LSP is the focus on description of language use in target situations (Flowerdew & Peacock, 2001a). Numerous pedagogically oriented research studies have been carried out with the aim of describing how language is used in specific academic, professional, or workplace contexts. Association between analysis of needs in the target situation and LSP course The reason for this close association between analysis of needs in the target situation and LSP course design is two-fold. Firstly, instruction geared to target situation needs is believed to be more efficient in getting learners from point A to point B, and this is particularly important given that LSP courses, unlike many general second language courses, are often short term. Secondly, it is argued (Bloor & Bloor, 1986) that learners perceive LSP courses to be highly motivating because they can see the point of the instruction relating closely to their actual needs. Because the learners find the content of the courses motivating, they learn more effectively. 1