In the United States today there is lively discussion, both among educators and employers, about the best way to prepare students with high-level language and cross-cultural communication proficiency that will serve them both professionally and personally in the global environment of the twenty-first century. At the same time, courses in business language and medical language have become more popular among students. Language for Specific Purposes (LSP), which encompasses these kinds of courses, responds to this discussion and provides curricular models for language programs that build practical language skills specific to a profession or field. Contributions in the book reinforce those models with national survey results, demonstrating the demand for and benefits of LSP instruction.
With ten original research-based chapters, this volume will be of interest to high school and university language educators, program directors, linguists, and anyone looking to design LSP courses or programs in any world language.
Table of Contents
Introduction: LSP and the Creation of Translingual and Transcultural Competence
Mary K. Long
1. New Directions in LSP Research in US Higher Education
Lourdes Sánches-López, Mary K. Long, and Barbara A. Lafford
Part I. New Direction in LSP Curriculum Development
2. Developing and Implementing LSP Curricula at the K-12 Level
Mary Risner, Melissa Swarr, Cristin Bleess, and Janet Graham
3. Preparing Students for the Workplace: Heritage Learners' Experiences in Professional Community Internships
Carmen King de Ramírez
4. Developing Intercultural Competence and Leadership through LSP Curricula
LeAnn derby, Jean W. LeLoup, James Rasmussen, and Ismênia Sales de Souza
5. Developing a More Efficient Conversation Paradigm for Learning Foreign Languages: Lessons on Asking and Answering Questions in an LSP Context
Robert A. Quinn
6. Integrating Project-Based Learning into English for Specific-Purposes Classrooms: A Case Study of Engineering
Tatiana Nekrasova-Beker and Anthony Becker
Part II. Rethinking Instructor Roles
7. The Instructor's and Learner's Roles in Learning Arabic for Specific Purposes
El-Hussein Aly
8. LSP Educators as Informal Career Counselors
Annie Abbott
Part III. Exploring Workplace Realities
9. Court Interpretation of an Indigenous Language: The Experiences of an Unexpected LSP Participant
Mary Jill Brody
10. Señor Google and Spanish Workplace Information Practices: Information Literacy in a Multilingual World
Alison Hicks
Conclusion: LSP Studies and the Future of Higher Education
Mary K. Long
List of Contributors
Index
Reviews
"With this volume Mary K. Long highlights the complexities that exist within LSP studies, and she does this with a broad audience in mind. For those contemplating the inclusion of LSP courses into the curriculum, this essay collection will serve as a great starting point for conversation."—Hispania
"Well illustrated and bolstered with useful appendices that explain methodologies and analyze data . . . [it] is a well-chosen and organized collection of essays that illustrates how interdisciplinary academic knowledge can be coupled with real world contexts."—The Rocky Mountain Review
"In society there are real demands for foreign language proficiency (e.g., emergency responders, business professionals, social workers, translators, educators, etc.) Up to this point these demands have only been marginally satisfied. This LSP Studies volume provides readers with an excellent template to research, collaborate, motivate, integrate, and create successful LSP language learners."—Orlando R. Kelm, University of Texas at Austin
"Long’s volume has assembled prominent scholars to provide a comprehensive understanding of trends in the growing field of LSP. Covering a wide range of topics that address both classroom and workplace practices, Languages for Specific Purposes provides essential, practical information for novice teachers and seasoned faculty alike."—Deborah S. Reisinger, Duke University
About the Author
Mary K. Long is Senior Instructor and Director of the Spanish for the Professions program at the University of Colorado--Boulder. Her research areas include twentieth and twenty-first-century Mexican literature and culture and cross-cultural communication between Latin America and the US. She has also presented and written about Spanish for the Professions and LSP.
