HOME / PUBLICATIONS /

Applying the adult education framework to ESP curriculum development: An integrative model

Citation:

Sifakis N. Applying the adult education framework to ESP curriculum development: An integrative model. English for Specific Purposes [Internet]. 2003;22(2):195-211.

Abstract:

The paper brings together recent work in English for specific purposes/languages for specific purposes (ESP/LSP) and adult education and puts forward an integrative model for ESP curriculum design. It outlines a set of characteristics that identify the ESP learner within the general adult learning framework. Taking current theories on the adult learner profile as a starting point, it then focuses on a model that associates adult education principles with effective ESP learning. This model has two sides. One side requires the adult learner's ESP teacher to come to terms with adulthood-oriented considerations (i.e. issues unique to adult learning), such as ‘mess-management’, motivation and adult learning cycles. The other side involves both a number of ELT-methodology-specific communicative strategies that are indispensable in the ESP class, such as self-directed learning techniques, as well as enhancing the role of the ESP teacher as counsellor. Some implications for the construction of CALL programmes are discussed and the paper ends with the suggestion that all approaches to teaching learners in the ESP framework can benefit from the successful handling of both aspects of the earlier model.

Publisher's Version

Full Text

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/223858377_Applying_the_adult_ed...