Essentials of English for Specific Purposes, Lower Intermediate Level

ESSENTIALS OF ENGLISH FOR SPECIFIC PURPOSES,

INTEGRATED SKILLS, is a theme-based, two-level, ESP series designed to

prepare students for college and university-level specialized content. In order to

facilitate academic success, the series combines communicative activities with skill based exercises in listening, speaking, reading, writing, and grammar. It encompasses

a wide range of college and university specialties: business and office management,

banking, accounting, marketing, tourism, health sciences, and the hotel service

industry. Essentials of English focuses on the real needs of ESP students who

require vocational English in order to help them deal with various majors at college

and university.

To achieve this goal, topics are carefully selected from authentic relevant

materials covering a variety of college and university courses. This exposes students

to the realities of specialized language requirements so they may gauge their own

needs according to their individual stage of language acquisition. The materials are

interwoven and interrelated to create cohesion and homogeneity in terms of themes,

vocabulary, grammar, listening, and speaking activities. Spiral recycling is also

maintained throughout the book.

ESSENTIALS OF ENGLISH FOR SPECIFIC PURPOSES,

INTEGRATED SKILLS is made up of eight thematically-based units. Each unit

consists of listening, speaking, reading, writing, and grammar.

The Before Listening, Listening, and After Listening sections activate

students’ prior knowledge, guide them to listen for main ideas and specific

information, and increase their understanding through comprehension questions and

vocabulary recycling. Various task-based practice exercises reinforce listening

comprehension.

The Vocabulary Preview introduces students to new vocabulary in the

listening and reading sections. The listening sections increase students’ listening

comprehension through task-based practice. Pictures provide valuable context for

each topic.

The Before Reading, Reading, and After Reading sections provide

scaffolding to help students build an understanding of authentic language. It does so

by assisting them in the identification of main ideas while reinforcing understanding

through the use of comprehension questions. In addition, language-learning strategies

such as making good guesses about vocabulary and understanding pronoun reference

provide students with the reading-comprehension tools they require. Students also

have the opportunity to generate language in a semi-controlled format through

discussions and writing exercises. Students are encouraged to contribute their own

opinions on subjects related to the various units.

The Grammar section contains explanations and charts that provide clear,

easy-to-understand, and visually-appealing grammar presentations. The exercises

in this section give students controlled practice of specific grammatical points, as

well as some freer, communicative-based practice.

Writing exercises, in the form of controlled writing practice, develop naturally

from the reading and grammar sections.