The Role of the ESP Practitioner as Business English Teacher

Teaching English for specific purposes (ESP) has always been an issue of concern in the field of English as a foreign language (EFL). Due to the increasing demands on ESP classes, especially in higher education, teachers of English for general purposes (EGP) have taken more of an interest in teaching ESP these days; nevertheless, many of them find it an uphill to teach such classes owing to the specificities of the discipline and the special teaching qualities it requires. This paper aims at highlighting some of the issues related to teaching ESP, basically the role of ESP practitioners as business English (BE) teachers. To achieve such a goals, the paper starts with some basic concepts of ESP, discusses BE as a branch of the ESP tree, and sheds light on the fundamental role of needs analysis (NA) in ESP and BE classes. Finally, the article concludes with highlighting the roles the ESP practitioners, particularly BE teachers, are to carry out to ensure a conducive environment for successful ESP classes, especially in a business context.