Presentation slides available on SlideShare: http://de.slideshare.net/BESIG/ivana-vidakovic-iatefl-besig-teasig-pce-2015
In an academic or work environment, the ability to communicate on study- or work-related matters is vital. This requires specific-purpose language ability which combines content knowledge and language ability. Teasing out language ability from content knowledge is a delicate and sometimes impossible task in English for Specific Purposes (ESP) assessment and teaching. The key questions which arise are:
• What effect does content knowledge have on linguistic performance?
• What roles do content knowledge and language ability play in an ESP test?
• How much does an ESP teacher need to know about the subject content?
Many studies reveal that content knowledge has a facilitating effect on reading, listening, speaking and writing performance in a foreign language (L2). However, this effect may not always be consistent - test takers with a certain academic background may not always do better on a text/task from their field than test takers from a different discipline. The effect of content knowledge on linguistic performance varies with language proficiency which makes it important to see how content knowledge and language ability interact. How specific an ESP test is will determine the roles of content knowledge and language ability, and how much content knowledge is necessary to pass. All this will be discussed through a critical examination of Cambridge English ESP tests. The presentation will also address some of the key challenges in ESP teaching – overcoming the teacher’s lack of content knowledge and bridging the gap between English language ability and specific-purpose language ability – when the ESP teacher is ‘just’ an ELT professional.