Letter from the Chair
Gerlinde Koppitsch, Carinthia University of Applied Sciences, Villach, Austria
Greetings to our global ESP community! I am honored to serve as this year’s chair of ESP-IS.
We are living in a time of educational change. The ESP-IS academic session at TESOL 2025, titled Addressing the Demands of Industry 4.0 in ESP practice, focused on rethinking teaching and learning. Related topics such as 21st Century Skills and AI continue to inspire but also challenge educators. In this context, I would like to share a great talk on Teaching 21st Century Skills in ESP Classroom through Debates- Tamari Dolidze for IATEFL Poland presented in 2023 but still relevant, particularly given students’ increasing use of AI.
AI tools such as ChatGPT are now ubiquitous and here to stay. While some educators attempt to block AI in their classrooms, these efforts often meet with limited success. Instead, I encourage all colleagues to embrace AI as a powerful tool. Our job now also includes teaching students how to use it responsibly and effectively. Even though it might take some time to discover how to best integrate AI tools in your classroom, I can assure you from experience that it is worth the effort! The recent articles by Harvard Business Publishing Education, AI Should Push, Not Replace, Students’ Thinking and John Spencer, Rethinking How We Use AI for Writing are highly recommended for further insight.
ESP-IS remains committed to connecting with ESP practitioners worldwide. Last year, we initiated a collaboration with IATEFL, working closely with our ESP-SIG colleagues. Together with past chairs Jennifer Roberts and Mike Ennis, I participated in joint events to strengthen this partnership. This year, we will continue this collaboration with an ESP webinar on 29 January 2026 (9 a.m. ET). I am excited to announce that Ioana Cretu, a freelance ESP specialist and winner of the IATEFL ESP-SIG Mark Krzanowski Scholarship 2025, will be our featured speaker. When I met her through IATEFL, I was immediately taken by her expertise and curiosity in AI. In her talk From Frustration to Facilitation: Turning AI’s Shortcomings into Learning, she will discuss how ESP educators can leverage AI flaws and limitations to advance their students’ learning. The official invite will be posted shortly on the TESOL website.
As we plan further webinars to serve the wider ESP community, we’d love to know what topics are most relevant to you. Feel free to send me an email or send me a message on mytesol.
Stay tuned for more announcements about ESP-related events on mytesol.
Gerlinde Koppitsch
[email protected]
Gerlinde Koppitsch is a Lecturer in English for Engineering & IT and Senior Researcher at the Carinthia University of Applied Sciences, Austria. Her areas of research include student engagement, virtual exchanges and the inverted classroom in ESP.