Academic English
This relatively new academic discipline, launched in the 1970s by primarily English-speaking researchers under the name English for Specific Purposes (ESP), focuses on the phenomena of specialization of the English language in major professional fields (such as law, science, and medicine), and as such includes a component of specialized discourse analysis. As an applied science, specialized English also focuses on a second major aspect: the teaching of English tailored to specific needs.
How, for example, can one design instructional sequences tailored to learners acquiring English for professional use in medical, military, or corporate contexts? Researchers in specialized English aim to answer these types of questions with rigor and a scientific approach.
A field with promising career prospects
Many alumni, after completing their studies at the School, went on to specialize in specialized English during their doctoral studies and are now recognized faculty members and researchers.
Numerous PRAG (associate professors in higher education) positions in LANSAD (Languages for Specialists in Other Disciplines) are also posted each year.
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A discipline at the heart of the curriculum at ENS Paris-Saclay
Specialized English is the primary area of scientific research for the Department of Languages, which has a young research team specializing in this discipline, the LEADS team (Languages, Teaching, and Specialized English). Specialized English developed in France in the early 1980s, largely thanks to the efforts of GERAS (Study and Research Group on Specialized English, a scholarly society founded in 1977). The Department of Languages at ENS Paris-Saclay, founded in the mid-1990s, has contributed to the development of this discipline by placing specialized English at the heart of the high-caliber training program followed by English majors at the École Normale for over 25 years.
A rich and diverse field of research
Although, at first glance, specialized English may seem somewhat “technical,” it is in fact a fascinating interdisciplinary field that draws on numerous theoretical and methodological frameworks and gives rise to highly diverse and innovative research:
- discourse analysis, lexical and terminological characterization,
- grammatical approaches to specialized English, rhetoric in English-speaking professional contexts,
- exploration of vast computerized corpora providing insight into the reality of contemporary English as it is actually used in a wide range of professional contexts,
- course design for LANSAD (Languages for Specialists in Other Disciplines),
- use of fiction with specialized content in English courses, design of specialized English certification programs,
- questions of epistemology...