ESP News, Nov 2025
Letter from the Editor
Kevin Knight, Kanda University of International Studies, Chiba, Japan
Letter from the Chair
Gerlinde Koppitsch, Carinthia University of Applied Sciences, Villach, Austria
Letter from the Chair-Elect
Anne Lomperis, Language Training Designs, Montgomery Village, Maryland, USA
Teaching Medical Students to Speak Humanese
Charles Hall, Al-Faisal University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Charles Hall discusses the “ESP for Medicine” course for 2nd year, undergraduate medical students at Al-Faisal University in Saudi Arabia, noting that in most of the world, medical school is an undergraduate program that begins immediately after graduation from secondary school. The aim is to teach learners to “deprofessionalize” their communication and speak “Humanese.” The participants learn to explain a public health issue in three minutes, using no more than seven slides, and no jargon to a specific, non-professional audience.
The Conference Model: Task-Based Learning for Academic Communication Skills
Anila R. Scott-Monkhouse, University of Parma, Parma, Italy
Anila R. Scott-Monkhouse at the University of Parma in Parma, Italy describes the use of a simulated academic conference as the central pedagogical framework in an English for Academic Purposes (EAP) course for PhD STEM students, based on principles of Task-Based Learning (TBL). The advantages of this model include integrated language skills (i.e. reading, writing, speaking, listening and mediation), increased confidence in public speaking, critical thinking and time management, as the students progress through a sequence of tasks: abstract writing, peer review, research, presentation and question-and-answer practice.
ESP Project Leader Profile: Elena Ellingburg
Kevin Knight, Kanda University of International Studies, Chiba, Japan
The 65th ESP Project Leader Profile features Elena Ellingburg, Curriculum Coordinator, College of Aviation, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Florida. She is a Steering Committee Member for the TESOL CALL-IS Board and is the CLIL Strand Proposal Co-Coordinator (with Jennifer Roberts) for TESOL 2026. In her narrative, she explains how she meets the challenge of communicating to “find the right balance of compromise between best practices, feasible solutions, and learners’ needs.”
Exploring 65 ESP Project Leader Profiles
Kevin Knight, Kanda University of International Studies, Chiba, Japan
Kevin Knight, a former Chair of the ESPIS, a professor at Kanda University of International Studies (KUIS) in Japan, and the series editor of Leadership in Language Education at Candlin & Mynard introduces the 65 ESP Project Leader Profiles published to date. In his article, he considers the profiles from the perspective of Bhatia’s Critical Genre Analysis (CGA) (as a means to an end) and discusses how the profiles came into being. Readers will learn how to access the profiles for professional development and research. In the TESOL Virtual Convention 2025, he will share how ChatGPT was used to explore the profiles.