Exploring Pedagogical Challenges of ESP Teachers at a Saudi Arabian University

Abstract

English language is increasingly becoming an important communication tool worldwide, being studied for different reasons and needs, which explains the emergency of English for special purpose programs (ESP). This study investigated the perceptions of teachers towards issues related to the pedagogy in teaching ESP courses at the Saudi Arabian University. As such, a mixed quantitative and qualitative research approach was used to collect data from 50 ESP teachers. The results revealed that all the respondents were qualified enough to teach ESP. However, in terms of teaching challenges, the ESP teachers appeared to be inadequately prepared for the job, since they lacked ESP teaching skills and knowledge, which lead to limited ESP teaching capabilities. Therefore, professional training should complement academic training for quality ESP teaching and learning outcomes. Moreover, most teachers lacked skill development courses since they joined the current institution, which suggested the need for teacher development programs to prepare ESP teachers in areas of knowledge development and right instructional language command. In this light, future studies should focus on ascertaining factors that determine the teachers‟ choices of pedagogic strategies in teaching ESP courses and those that influence learners to pursue ESP in universities universities and educational institutions.