Trends in esp and egp

Abstract

―The sheer fact is that English for General Purposes (EGP) is a foundation course in any curriculum, which is intended to pave the way for English for Specific Purposes (ESP). As a language teacher, it is observed that after so many years of studying English language, numerous number of the undergraduate and graduate students have problems in reading and understanding their specialist texts. It is evident that there are some deficiencies in the General English Course and English for Specific Purposes. Obviously, if the students try to develop effective strategies to tackle the reading skill deeply, they might be better able to deal with their ESP courses. Ironically, the students memorize a lot of grammatical rules as a requirement to pass the university entrance exam before they enter the university. Nonetheless, it is seen that they can hardly use their structural knowledge communicatively and practically in the university. It goes without saying that learning English language is a must for each and every student at university level. All the students take and study General English at university and after that they take and study English for Specific Purposes to fulfill the graduation requirements. The English for General Purposes is very important because it is supposed to equip the students for their later courses. This paper attempts to clarify the diverse dimensions of the EGP and ESP and then provide some suggestions for the betterment of them.