Abstract:

In ESP meaningful and challenging tasks are an essential element of the teaching process. One of the main assumptions of English for Specific Purposes is that teaching materials should enable learners to acquire the variety of language and skills they will need in typical situations they meet in their professional life. There is specific vocabulary and language situations which are likely to appear in their professional life. ESP teachers integrate content with language teaching. They find themselves teaching not only the language skills but also professional skills such as e.g. in case of EFB it may cover assigning roles, planning strategies, communicating objectives, managing conflicts. That is why teaching ESP may be considered as teaching CLIL. As I. McGrath [2002:98] notices “teaching for knowledge is very different from teaching for skill”. There is a need for more content-led materials. Only some of the ready made materials available on the market can be used for teaching adult learners interested in language for a particular career.
The purpose of the presentation is to show practically how to design own tasks or adapt tasks in textbooks to make them more meaningful for learners and a valuable tool in active learning/teaching process which is the core principle of ESP.

Keywords:

Content-led tasks, ESP, CLIL, Adult learner.