Teaching ESP as the Process of Socialisation into Disciplinary and Professional Cultures
Résumé
In this chapter, we propose to consider the teaching of English for Specific Purposes (ESP) as a process of socialization into the cultures of disciplinary and professional communities, regarded as types of societies that occupy particular disciplinary and professional fields. Drawing on the sociological understanding of culture, we put forward the idea that disciplinary and professional cultures refer to sets of beliefs, values, norms, the specialized variety of language, and research and professional practices. To illustrate the practical application of such an approach, we offer an example of how Belgian psychology students can be socialized into American psychologists’ culture. After providing a brief description of the latter, we demonstrate, through the design of three teaching activities, how various cultural elements can be successfully integrated into an ESP course.