3.3. Implications
One of the main concerns for those of us working in an ESP context is how to help
our students deal with authentic academic texts which by its nature requires a fairly
advanced level of language proficiency. By “advanced level of proficiency”, it is
meant, in fact, a good vocabulary size.
There are several approaches one can adopt in order to develop students’
vocabulary. It seems clear that students in ESP contexts need some explicit teaching
of specific vocabulary items together with some kind of strategy training for
improving and managing their learning plus extensive reading of their original
references in order to gain the required exposure to vocabulary items and build up
word knowledge. It needs the collaboration of both language teachers and content
teachers as content teachers can make students read their references, present the
derived information in the classroom and assign some grade to it in their final exam.
In order to allow ESP students to achieve their second aim, i.e., using the
specialized and non-specialized vocabulary items productively in written and/or
spoken forms in simulated occupational settings (training courses) and ultimately in
their future occupational settings (clinical in this study), their content teachers should
frequently use the specialized and non-specialized vocabulary items while presenting
issues in students’ field of study and ask students to use them in their theoretical and
training courses and assign some grade or penalty for their use or not using them
respectively in their final course grade. In this way, students feel responsible to learn
these words as well as use them.
Language teachers, however, need to increase their awareness of their students’
strategy usage and needs in order to be able to facilitate their language learning
process. Students should be taught how to develop both breadth and depth of their
vocabulary knowledge so that they, as autonomous learners, would be able to use
their vocabulary knowledge both receptively and productively as the need arises. In
other words, teachers and learners should aim for integration of knowledge-oriented
and skill-oriented strategies.