Publication details
Motivation via appreciation: good practice from ESP classes
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| Year of publication | 2018 |
| Type | Appeared in Conference without Proceedings |
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| Description | Teaching an ESP course does not always mean a homogenous group of learners who share the same needs and knowledge. While a "Legal English" course for prospective lawyers studying at Masaryk University is attended by students who are usually of the same age and have similar academic experience, a specialized course of "English for International Trade Law" is attended by learners of varied background and expectations. Another example can be "English for Mathematicians". Although it seems a homogeneous class of mathematics students, the professional inclinations and the fields of study of individual learners vary, including future researchers, teachers or economists. We can apply numerous approaches to deal with a heterogeneous group such as focusing on study and professional skills, selecting topics common to all learners, or balancing the content-specific and common-core materials. Specific content often increases the motivation of students, however, it is a challenging task to motivate a heterogeneous group with the content which is specific only for particular students. The popularization of these specific topics, either by teachers or peers, can facilitate the motivation. This paper is aimed at sharing good practice from ESP courses, in particular, presenting activities which involve specific content, but attempt to motivate the heterogeneous group as a whole. By implementing popularization strategies, the class can not only appreciate the content, but also the enthusiasm communicated by their peers. |