ESP course design starts with a needs analysis of what learners must do in English in their field, then builds a task-based syllabus, repeated role-plays and a same-task assessment.
In short ESP course design works backwards from the job or study tasks learners must handle in English.
- Run a needs analysis with learners, a manager or faculty member and a subject specialist: target needs (what the field demands) and learning needs (how these learners can get there).
- Turn the most frequent and highest-stakes situations into six to eight target tasks, each with a can-do objective.
- Build the syllabus around those tasks and practise each one as a role-play that learners repeat, with complications added over time.
- Assess with the same target task at the start, middle and end, scored with a rubric that includes a field criterion.
- AI can draft surveys and role-play cards and give learners practice between classes; a teacher or specialist checks the field facts.
What is ESP course design?
English for Specific Purposes (ESP) is English taught for the tasks learners must carry out in a particular job or field of study, such as a nursing handover, a fault report or a seminar discussion. Hutchinson and Waters (1987) described ESP as an approach to language teaching in which decisions about content and method follow from the learner's reason for learning (as quoted in Gatehouse, 2001).
ESP course design is the process of finding out what those tasks are, choosing the language and materials they need, sequencing them into a syllabus and checking whether learners can now do them. General English follows a broad level progression; an ESP course starts from a field's situations and selects only what serves them.
The Council of Europe points the same way. The CEFR Companion Volume (2020) names the occupational domain as one of four domains of language use, and its action-oriented approach organises learning around realistic scenarios that span several lessons and lead to a final task. This guide is for university ESP coordinators and instructors, language centres and corporate trainers.
How do you run a needs analysis for an ESP course?
A needs analysis for an ESP course is a structured enquiry into what learners must do in English, what they can do now and how they can realistically learn. Hutchinson and Waters' English for Specific Purposes (1987) separates two kinds of need:
- Target needs: what the target situation demands, broken down into necessities (what learners must be able to do), lacks (the gap between those necessities and their current English) and wants (what learners feel they need).
- Learning needs: what learners need in order to learn, such as time, motivation, preferred ways of practising and the conditions of the course.
Ask more than one source. Michael Long's edited volume Second Language Needs Analysis (2005) collects case studies, from hotel housekeeping staff in Waikiki to journalists in Catalonia, that compare sources and methods. Its thread is triangulation: checking one source against others, because learners, employers, specialists and real documents each see a different part of the picture.
Helen Basturkmen's Developing Courses in English for Specific Purposes (2010) adds a step many courses skip: investigating the specialist discourse itself. Collect real emails, reports, recordings or case notes from the field before you write materials.
A copyable needs-analysis question set
Use these questions with learners, a line manager or faculty member, and a subject specialist (for the last two, change "you" to "your staff" or "your students"). The label shows what each answer tells you.
- In which situations do you use, or will you use, English at work or in your studies? List them by frequency. (necessities)
- Who do you speak or write to (customers, patients, colleagues, examiners), and in what format: phone, face to face, email, report or presentation? (necessities)
- Which three situations matter most? What happens when communication goes wrong in them? (priorities)
- Can you share two or three real documents you deal with, with personal details removed? (specialist discourse)
- Which words and phrases from your field do you need every week? (necessities)
- Where do you struggle most now: understanding, speaking, writing or specialist vocabulary? (lacks)
- What do you personally want from this course? (wants)
- How much time can you study each week, and when: between shifts, on a commute, at weekends? (learning needs)
- How do you prefer to practise: alone, in pairs, with a teacher or with an app? (learning needs)
- Name one task you want to do better by the end of the course. How would we know you can? (assessment)
How do you turn needs into tasks and objectives?
Needs analysis results become a syllabus once you convert them into target tasks: concrete events learners must handle in English, such as "check in a guest whose booking is missing". Rank each situation by how often it happens and how costly a breakdown would be, then keep the six to eight that score highest on both.
Write one can-do objective per target task, with a context, a quality condition and an indicative CEFR band. A useful pattern is "Learners can [task] with [whom] in [format], [quality condition]."
| Needs analysis finding | Target task | Can-do objective |
|---|---|---|
| Night staff handle booking errors alone | Resolve a missing booking at check-in | Can apologise, offer two options and confirm the guest's choice (B1) |
| Managers report complaints escalating | Calm an unhappy guest | Can acknowledge the problem, soften a refusal and agree a fix (B1–B2) |
| Guests email after their stay | Write a follow-up email | Can write a clear, polite reply with an apology and a next step (B1) |
Check the objectives with a subject specialist before writing materials. The CEFR Companion Volume treats its descriptors as a menu for negotiating priorities with adult learners as part of ongoing needs analysis, so revisit the list after the mid-course check.
What does a 10-week ESP syllabus look like?
An ESP syllabus is organised by target tasks rather than by grammar: each week centres on one situation learners will face, and the language focus serves that situation. The sample below is a template for a hotel front-office course for learners at around B1, not a real course. Replace the tasks with those from your own needs analysis.
| Week | Target task | Language focus | In class | Between classes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Baseline: check in a guest and handle one problem | — | Record the baseline task; run the needs analysis | — |
| 2 | Welcome and check-in | Polite requests, confirming details | Model dialogue, pair role-play | Repeat the role-play with feedback; key vocabulary |
| 3 | Explaining facilities and policies | Giving information, conditionals | Information-gap task | Role-play; pronunciation of key phrases |
| 4 | Handling a booking error | Apologising, offering alternatives | Problem-solving role-play | Role-play with an added complication |
| 5 | Phone requests | Clarifying, spelling, numbers | Telephone simulation | Repeat under time pressure |
| 6 | Mid-course check | — | Week 1 task again, scored with the rubric | Practice on the weakest criterion |
| 7 | Recommending local options | Suggesting, describing | Mini-presentations | Timed, repeated monologue |
| 8 | Complaints and de-escalation | Empathy language, softening | Escalating role-play | Role-play with an upset guest |
| 9 | Follow-up emails | Formal email structure | Model, draft, peer review | Writing task with sentence-level feedback |
| 10 | Final assessment | — | Week 1 task again, plus one unseen task | Reflection on progress |
The grid relies on three choices: the baseline and final task are identical, so progress is visible; every situation is practised again between classes; and complications arrive gradually. For setting that between-class practice, see the guide to AI speaking homework.
How do you write ESP role-plays for a field?
ESP role-plays are easier to write, run and assess when every scenario uses the same role-play card: a short brief that tells the learner where they are, who they are talking to, what they must achieve and how success will be judged.
A copyable role-play card template
- Setting: where and when. Example: hotel front desk, 23:00.
- Your role and goal: who the learner is and what they must achieve. Example: night receptionist; find the guest a room tonight.
- The other person: role, mood and one hidden detail. Example: a tired guest who booked through a third-party website.
- Must include: three to five key phrases or terms from the unit.
- Complication: one problem to handle. Example: the hotel is full.
- Success criteria: two or three observable outcomes. Example: confirms the name and dates, offers two options, closes politely.
- Level and time: a CEFR target, such as B1, and 3–5 minutes.
To raise difficulty without changing the situation, add a complication, set a time limit or give the other person an unexpected question. Plan for repetition. Martin Bygate's edited volume Learning Language through Task Repetition (2018) brings together research on repeating tasks with the same content and purpose, and links repetition to growing mastery of both the task and its language.
Role-play bank by field
A role-play bank is a ready list of field scenarios to turn into cards with the template above. CEFR targets are indicative; adjust them after the baseline task.
| Field | Scenario 1 | Scenario 2 | Scenario 3 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Healthcare and nursing | Admission interview (B1) | Shift handover using SBAR (B1–B2) | Reassuring a worried relative (B2) |
| Hospitality and tourism | Check-in with a booking problem (A2–B1) | Room complaint (B1) | Explaining a cancellation policy (B1) |
| Aviation and airport ground staff | Rebooking after a cancelled flight (B1) | Explaining an excess baggage charge (B1) | Gate questions after a delay (B1) |
| Engineering and manufacturing | Reporting a fault to an overseas supplier (B1–B2) | Giving a safety briefing (B1) | Clarifying technical requirements (B2) |
| IT and software | Daily stand-up update (B1) | Clarifying a bug report (B1–B2) | Explaining a technical decision to a non-technical client (B2) |
| Sales and consulting | Discovery call with a new client (B2) | Handling a price objection (B2) | Presenting recommendations (B2–C1) |
| Customer support | Troubleshooting call (B1) | Calming an angry customer (B2) | Writing a follow-up summary (B1) |
| Academic study (EAP) | Office-hours meeting with a lecturer (B1–B2) | Seminar discussion (B2) | Questions after a research presentation (B2–C1) |
SBAR (Situation, Background, Assessment, Recommendation) is a structured handover format described by the Institute for Healthcare Improvement; use your hospital's own protocol if it differs. Before writing each card, ask a specialist what a competent professional would actually say. For courses run with an employer, see the guide to corporate language training.
How do you assess an ESP course?
An ESP course should be assessed by learners' performance on the target tasks themselves, not by a general grammar test. The simplest design uses the same job task at the start, in the middle and at the end, plus one unseen task at the end to check that learners can transfer the language to a new situation.
Score each performance with an analytic rubric, which gives a separate score for each criterion. The ESL speaking assessment rubric works as a base. Add one field criterion, such as "accurate technical terms and clear explanations", and weight the criteria to match the needs analysis; a front-office course might weight task completion above pronunciation.
Ask a subject specialist to judge field appropriacy, at least for the baseline and final tasks, because a grammatically correct sentence can still sound wrong to a nurse or an engineer. Record performances so week 1 and week 10 can be compared, and treat homework completion as participation, not evidence of ability.
Where does AI practice fit in an ESP course?
AI fits into an ESP course as an assistant to the teacher and a practice partner between classes, not as the course designer. Laurence Anthony's 2025 article in the journal ASp, AI-Assisted ESP Course Design and Implementation, proposes AI tools as "support assistants for the ESP expert": creating and analysing stakeholder surveys, turning needs analysis results into learning objectives, answering learners' questions about specialist language and helping to evaluate learner output.
Between classes, AI practice is most useful for repetition: learners repeat the week's role-play with an AI partner playing the guest, patient or client, get feedback straight away and try again. Class time stays free for interaction with people and specialist input.
The limits matter. Anthony warns that AI tools can give answers that sound plausible but are subtly or entirely wrong, and that teachers with domain knowledge are well placed to catch them. In practice:
- Have a specialist check terminology, procedures and figures in every AI-drafted card.
- Never paste patient records, client data or confidential documents into an AI tool; anonymise first and follow your institution's data policy.
- Keep real workplace texts and a subject informant in the process.
- Leave workplace norms, such as how direct to be with a senior colleague, to human judgement.
AvoLingo, an AI language-learning service by AvoLabs, follows this division of work. Instructors turn their own materials (an uploaded PDF or image, a typed topic or a YouTube link) into role-play scenarios and speaking or writing homework, edit and preview them, and set their own assessment criteria and weights. Nothing reaches students until the instructor assigns it. Students get instant feedback after each attempt; instructors review the results afterwards and follow each student's progress. See AvoLingo for universities and ESP.
How do you roll out a new ESP course?
Roll out a new ESP course in stages, with a pilot before the full launch, so problems surface while they are cheap to fix.
- Agree the scope. Name the field, the learners, the course length and who signs off.
- Run the needs analysis. Use the question set with at least three sources and collect real documents.
- Choose the target tasks. Keep six to eight, write can-do objectives and check them with a specialist.
- Build the assessment first. Write the baseline task, the unseen final task and the rubric before the materials.
- Draft materials and role-play cards. Work from field documents; have a specialist review terminology.
- Pilot with a small group. Run two or three role-plays with a handful of learners and rewrite confusing cards.
- Run the course. Practise in class, repeat between classes and hold the mid-course check.
- Review and revise. Compare baseline and final performances, ask learners and the sponsor what changed, and update the needs analysis for the next group.
FAQ
What is the difference between ESP and general English?
ESP starts from the tasks a learner must perform in a specific job or field of study and selects the language, materials and assessment for those tasks. General English follows a broad progression through levels and everyday topics.
What are target needs and learning needs?
Target needs are what the target situation demands: necessities, lacks and wants (Hutchinson and Waters, 1987). Learning needs are what learners need in order to learn, such as time, motivation, resources and course conditions. An ESP course plan needs both.
How long should an ESP course be?
ESP course length depends on the gap between current and target performance and the time available. As a planning reference, Cambridge English estimates about 200 guided learning hours to move up one CEFR level, as a guideline only, so most ESP courses aim at specific tasks rather than a full level jump.
Can AI create ESP role-plays?
AI can draft scenarios and role-play cards from your materials and give learners extra practice between classes. A teacher or subject specialist should check terminology and procedures before learners see them.
Sources
- Hutchinson, T. and Waters, A. (1987). English for Specific Purposes. Cambridge University Press.
- Long, M. H. (ed.) (2005). Second Language Needs Analysis. Cambridge University Press.
- Basturkmen, H. (2010). Developing Courses in English for Specific Purposes. Palgrave Macmillan.
- Anthony, L. (2025). AI-Assisted ESP Course Design and Implementation. ASp, 88, 217–232.
- Bygate, M. (ed.) (2018). Learning Language through Task Repetition. John Benjamins.
- Council of Europe (2020). CEFR Companion Volume and The action-oriented approach.
- Gatehouse, K. (2001). Key Issues in English for Specific Purposes (ESP) Curriculum Development. The Internet TESL Journal, VII(10).
- Cambridge English. Guided learning hours.
- Institute for Healthcare Improvement. SBAR tool: Situation-Background-Assessment-Recommendation.
Written by the AvoLingo team. We used AI to help research and draft this article; sources are linked in the text.
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