African Educational Research Journal - Vol. 10 - Issue 2 - Meeting Students’ Needs: ESP Teaching at the Department of Political Sciences

Oct 15, 2026

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This paper examines the current situation of learning ESP in a non-English Department at the University of Saida, Algeria. Data were collected from an ESP teacher and 46 first-year License-Master-Doctorate political sciences students. Three data collection methods assessed the curriculum’s suitability for meeting students’ needs, analyzing teaching methods and their effectiveness in active ESP learning. The study identifies learning deficiencies and highlights the need to clarify components and rethink practices, ending with recommendations for effective ESP teaching.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages11

Reading Time28 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

English for Specific Purposes (ESP)

ESP courses and identified needs

Literature Review

ESP scope and frameworks

Study Focus

Curriculum suitability and teaching methods

African Educational Research Journal Vol. 10(2), pp. 150-160, May 2022 DOI: 10. 30918/AERJ.102.22.001 ISSN: 2354-2160 Full Length Research Paper Meeting students’ needs: ESP teaching at the department of political sciences Khadidja Hadj Djelloul1* and Mohamed Melouk2 1 Faculty of Law and Political Sciences, University of Saida, Algeria. 2 Faculty of Letters, Languages and Arts, University of Djillali Liabes, Sidi Bel Abbes, Algeria. Accepted 13 April, 2022 | ABSTRACT
This paper examines the current situation of learning ESP in a non-English Department at the University of Saida, Algeria. Data were collected from the targeted population which was an ESP teacher and a group of 46 first-year License-Master-Doctorate political sciences students. Three methods of data collection were used to investigate the suitability of the designed curriculum in meeting students’ needs, to analyze the teacher’s methods and to see whether they are effective in boosting active ESP learning. The study uncovers the students’ learning deficiencies. Results suggested that curriculum designers need to clarify some components and point out the importance of reconsidering some teaching practices in relation to needs analysis. Eventually, some recommendations are suggested to conduct ESP teaching and make it a beneficial learning opportunity.
Keywords: ESP, teaching ESP, political sciences, political science program . | | --- | | *Corresponding author. E-mail: [khadidjahadj10@gmail.com](khadidjahadj10@gmail.com). | INTRODUCTION In the speed of its development, the area of English for Specific Purposes (ESP) teaching has witnessed differences in different educational contexts. Each educational context seems to reflect specific needs, problems, challenges, teaching practices and other specifications. These differences make the area of ESP seem to be a non-universal phenomenon (Hutchinson and Waters, 1987) . In each particular teaching context, it is considered as separate but similarities can always be found though. In the Algerian educational context, English has been granted priority over French, which used to be widely taught in many university departments across the country. Besides, it represents a decisive factor for students’ success, particularly if they aspire to pursue a brilliant academic career in higher education. In light of this, the Algerian higher education institutions have started to provide courses (subjects, in fact) to teach special English to students in different fields of study (sociology, hospitality, politics, business, tourism, economy, engineering, and so on) . With the continuous and constant call to provide special English courses to university students from different fields and to equip them with the necessary language skills and field knowledge needed for their studies and work, the Algerian educational institutions started to introduce the teaching of English at the BA, MA and even PhD levels. Teaching the new special language course requires recruiting or, at least, seeking to find English teachers to be in charge of this. Thus, teachers of English, who are usually those of GE (general English), ELT (English language teaching) or TEFL (English as a foreign language) start to teach GE atthe level of BA, mainly, to introduce specific-field students to the system of the English language as a whole (grammar, syntax, phonology, morphology) . At advanced levels, they shift from teaching GE to teaching fieldspecific English (the case at the MA and Ph. D. levels) . Teaching in the area of ESP aims to provide courses in English on the basis of students’ needs. However, this may not be exactly what happens in the different ESP teaching contexts. In the ESP course, the type of English that Algerian students need to learn is the one that trains and prepares them for success in academic and/or professional contexts as clearly pointed out by Basturkmen (2010) . Put differently, ESP courses aim to Hadj Djell

FAQs

What context does the study investigate for ESP learning?

The study investigates ESP learning in a non-English Department at the University of Saida, Algeria, focusing on political sciences students.

How were data collected and from whom?

Data were collected from an ESP teacher and 46 first-year License-Master-Doctorate political sciences students using three data collection methods.

What do the results suggest curriculum designers should do?

Results suggest that curriculum designers should clarify some components and reconsider certain teaching practices in relation to needs analysis, followed by recommendations for beneficial ESP teaching.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by McQueen