Communicative Competence in the Context of ESP Methodology

Abstract

The present paper is intended to highlight the role of communication skills in the context of teaching English for Specific Purposes, given their importance of these skills both in the economy of the course syllabus and as an overall objective of any specialized language training. The study also identifies some of the most common obstacles faced by language instructors when designing and implementing communicative activities and suggests ways of overcoming them by resorting to specific methodological aids. Additionally, the author attempts to formulate a series of principles describing ESP teaching with a focus on communicative skills and starting from the theoretical background of the Communicative Language Teaching method.