ESP Class Is Like a Box of Chocolates... : A Closer Look into Subject-Related Critical Incidents

A review of the literature on the studies on English for Specific Purposes (ESP)reveals the existence of a multitude of studies with an overdue focus oncurricular issues such as syllabus design, and a lack of proper attention paid tothe essence of classroom ambience (Watson Todd, 2003). ESP instructors’ lackof proper dominance over subject matter being taught may pave the way forthe emergence of subject-related Critical Incident (CI), thus lay bare theimportance of conducting more studies to scrutinize their nature, effectiveways to prevent them, and strategies to translate them into opportunities toenrich ESP courses. The present study aims to investigate (1) whether years ofteaching ESP courses influence the choice of strategies by Iranian ESPinstructors in the face of subject-related CIs, and (2) how they have equippedthemselves with those strategies. A total of 25 university ESP instructors witha range of experience from 2 to 19 years participated in this study. The datawas collected using a questionnaire and a semi-structured interview that washeld on the phone. The results indicated (1) an interaction between years ofexperience in teaching and face-maintaining that influenced the choice ofstrategies, and (2) the factors such as consulting with other colleagues andlearning experience as a student as primary ways of learning in-class strategies.The study provides insights into the complexity of subject-related CIs, thussuggests strategies to equip ESP instructors with the required skills to deal withCIs in the ESP courses.

Keywords:

Critical Incidents , EAP , ESP , Face-maintaining , Strategies