ABSTRACT
In recent years, many Asian countries, such as Thailand, Japan, and South Korea have actively advocated English for Specific Purposes (ESP) education to prepare students’ language skills and knowledge to meet the competitive needs of the international workplace. Taiwan is no exception. The present study investigated both students’ and teachers’ perceptions of ESP courses at a private university in Taiwan. The ESP courses integrated a task-based language teaching (TBLT) approach to create a meaning-making environment for students to use target languages in communicative situations that resemble real life (Ellis, 2003, 2009; Long, 2016; Nunan, 2006). Participants included one hundred and forty-three non-English major students and two EFL teachers. Both questionnaires and semi-structured interviews were used to obtain quantitative and qualitative perspectives. The findings of the quantitative data indicate that students reported benefitting from the ESP courses and gaining awareness of the importance of improving their English competence for the workplace. Moreover, the findings suggest that tasks that inspire student collaboration and opportunities for teacher facilitation and social interactions all contribute to the effectiveness of the ESP curriculum. Despite the benefits, challenges of implementing the ESP courses are also discussed in the chapter.
