Approaching English for Science and Technology with Richards’ Framework

As English has become the lingua franca of international business, economy, science and technology purposeful and utilitarian aspects have attracted more attention. Designing EST (English for Science and Technology) course is a multi-dimensional process and should be based on sound theoretical and practical considerations. Students’ communicative, academic needs and distinctive features of scientific English play a central role. The present study approaches EST on the basis of Richards’ (2005) account of effective language instruction that takes context, learner, materials and the teacher into consideration. With regard to context, setting, discourse, grammar, course design and skill and strategies of an EST course are discussed; as for learners, their problems regarding materials, teaching methods, evaluation and assessment procedures are dealt with and some solutions to these problems are explored and proposed. Finally, teachers’ roles are discussed keeping an eye on the ESP dilemma

Keywords:

English for science and technology , Richards’ framework , EST context , ESP Dilemma , materials and evaluation in EST