THE USE OF TECHNOLOGY IN ENGLISH FOR SPECIFIC PURPOSES (ESP) INSTRUCTION: A LITERATURE REVIEW

Abstract

The application and integration of technology in English for Specific Purposes (ESP) contexts may pose challenges and create opportunities which might be different from the ones in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) contexts. This review was conducted to examine the effectiveness and quantity of previous research studies on the use of technology in ESP instruction. A total of 55 research studies were analyzed using the technology typology developed by Golonka, Bowles, Frank, Richardson, and Freynik (2014). The findings indicated that research findings on the use of technology in ESP instruction are different from the ones identified in the literature of using technology in EFL instruction. The results only confirmed the evidence for learning outcomes and efficacy of the use of course/learning management systems, corpora, and wikis in ESP instruction. Course/learning management systems can promote the quality of ESP instruction and promote students’ listening comprehension. The use of corpora can foster students’ academic vocabulary, word combination learning and communicative ability. The use of wikis can help ESP students to learn academic writing more efficiently. Moreover, many reports of the benefits of the use of chatting and blogs are available in ESP instruction even though their efficacy and learning outcomes for ESP instruction are not obvious and supported by experimental studies. Finally, there is a dearth of research and empirical evidence on the use of a wide range of technologies in ESP instruction. The findings can have implications for ESP decision-makers, researchers, materials developers, teachers, and students.