ESP in India: A Brief Historical and Current Overview

Ravindra B. Tasildar

Assistant Professor, Department of English,
S.N. Arts, D.J. M. Commerce and B.N.S. Science College,
Sangamner, Dist. Ahmednagar (Maharashtra State), India
e-mail: ravishmi1@gmail.com

Abstract

English Language Teaching (ELT) is now nearly a 400 year old enterprise in India. English for Specific Purposes (ESP) as a separate branch of ELT emerged mainly in the second half of twentieth century in the western world whereas the genesis of ESP in India seems to be two century old. However, ESP in India has never been a topic of serious deliberations, with the exception of reviews by Shrivastava (2009) and Raviya (2009). The present paper is a modest attempt to review the current scenario of ESP in India. The paper is divided into three parts. The first part evaluates the contribution of various committees and study group and the British Council to the development of ESP in Indian universities. In the second part, the paper throws light on the research in ESP in Indian universities. The third part considers ESP vis-à-vis the General English courses offered in the conventional and professional degree programmes at the undergraduate and postgraduate levels in Indian universities. Since the focus of research and teaching in ESP in India is confined mostly to Engineering and Management colleges, the paper stresses the need to extend ESP in India to Humanities.  

Key words:  ESP, GE courses, EAP, EST, Indian universities

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