PRE-CONFERENCE EVENTS
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Pre-Conference Events (PCEs) will be held on Friday 15 April 2011 in Brighton specifically for delegates
who wish to concentrate on a particular topic. PCEs are planned as professional development days and
participants will receive a certificate of attendance.
This year, all 14 IATEFL Special Interest Groups are organising Pre-Conference Events. Preliminary
details of the ESP SIG are given on the page below.
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English for Specific Purposes Special Interest Group PCE
New challenges in English for Specific, Academic and Professional Purposes
The purpose of the 2011 Pre-Conference Event of the ESP SIG is to provide a comprehensive international
overview of new challenges in EAP, ESP and EPP/English for Work (E4W) across the continents.
English for Specific Purposes as an umbrella abbreviation covering at least three major sub-areas mentioned
above remains a vibrant and constantly-evolving part of ELT. This year we are trying to give equal emphasis to
these three sub-components to see where they overlap and where they differ.
We shall be focusing on new or current challenges that ESP professionals need to embrace, e.g. the
emergence of the need for more specialized EAP materials (reflected in the creation of a new acronym: ESAP =
English for Specific Academic Purposes), the necessity for creation of new local ESP teaching associations (e.g.
in China or Africa), and the demand for new specialist EAP, ESP and E4W books, courses and qualifications
locally and internationally. Due attention will be paid to learning and teaching, research and scholarly activity,
and teacher education and teacher training.
The focus of the event will be brought to prominence by a very diverse range of expert keynote speakers
representing all the continents. Traditionally we have been supported by publishers, examination boards and
fellow teaching organizations, and this again will be the case in Brighton.
Every effort will be made to further disseminate the findings from the key papers via a post-conference
publication.
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