Abstract:

When setting a goal to create an ESP textbook for the advanced learners of English the authors should clearly understand the numerous challenges lying before them, the most important being to devise a book that would develop linguistic competencies and at the same time hone the professional skills that the future graduates will need in their particular sphere of work.

Creating an English textbook for aspiring professionals in particular fields is a demanding task as it requires the authors to generate learning material that can help in the development of linguistic competencies along with the skills required to fulfil the responsibilities of particular jobs.

This means that the main purpose of such a textbook should be to get the university students ready for their future occupations as well as to cope with the whole range of problems associated with their profession relatively soon after their graduation. The given academic paper aims to analyze the experience of the author when he (and his team of coauthors) was creating an ESP textbook for students of a major international university (MGIMO-University, Russia) who were advanced learners of English and were the third-year students of the abovementioned University.

The study considered all the stages involved in the creation of an ESP textbook, i.e., the creation of the concept of the book, general project management, format choice, and its standardization throughout the book.

Moreover, we touched upon the issues of the methodological approaches that could be used to help the students develop the competencies of future public relations specialists as well as enable them to be successful in their careers at an international level.

Additionally, the paper also sheds some light on the issues of language exercises that could be used to develop basic linguistic skills as well as specific competencies related to their future profession of public relations practitioners.

Keywords:

ESP, ELT, linguistic competencies, public relations, competence-based approach, vocabulary development.