A Workshop on “Material Development in ESP” Organized at TSUOS ESP HUB Center
On September 4, a scientific-practical workshop titled “Material Development in ESP“ was held at the ESP HUB Center of the Tashkent State University of Oriental Studies (TSUOS), featuring Kamila Tangirova, Assistant Professor at the University of Warwick and Professor at TSUOS.
The workshop aimed to enhance the methodical and research competencies of the university faculty in English for Specific Purposes (ESP), design modern learning materials for ESP, and study international best practices.
In the initial part of the workshop, the conceptual and methodological differences between ESP and General English were thoroughly highlighted. Kamila Tangirova emphasized that in ESP education, besides general language skills, it is crucial to identify the professional, academic, and field-specific needs of learners. In this regard, it was noted that the content, methodology, and learning materials of ESP courses must be tailored to the needs of the target audience.
During the workshop, special attention was paid to the selection and development of materials for ESP. Faculty members were advised not to limit themselves to using ready-made materials, but rather to adapt them based on students’ needs, language proficiency levels, fields of study, and specific lesson objectives. Furthermore, the use of authentic materials was discussed. It was emphasized that texts used in real life and professional environments, materials related to various fields, and other authentic resources enrich ESP classes with real-world and practical content.
Kamila Tangirova also shared her experience regarding scientific research and projects conducted in the field of ESP, their integration into the teaching process, and the utilization of research findings in developing new educational materials.
Sketch Engine — A Modern Tool for Teaching and Scientific Research
One of the most important practical sessions of the workshop was dedicated to introducing the capabilities of the Sketch Engine platform. Kamila Tangirova explained the platform’s interface step-by-step and demonstrated the mechanisms of working with its corpora.
It was practically demonstrated that by utilizing this platform, professors and teachers gain the following opportunities:
- Studying the usage of words and phrases in real texts;
- Finding authentic contexts;
- Tracking word usage frequency;
- Analyzing word combinations and collocations;
- Identifying language units specific to a particular professional or academic field;
- Creating new exercises and learning materials for ESP based on corpus data;
- Shaping empirical language data for scientific research.
The fact that Sketch Engine can be used not only in scientific research but also directly in classroom activities aroused great interest among the faculty. Workshop participants highly praised the opportunities to create modern, authentic, and field-specific tasks for students based on corpus materials.
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