Iatefl ESP SIG

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Iatefl ESP SIG

A global forum for ESP professionals

The ESP Special Interest Group is one of the 16 SIGs at IATEFL, and its main focus is on English for Specific Purposes, English for Academic Purposes and English for Occupational / professional Purposes. The main objective of IATEFL's SIG in EAP is to disseminate good practice in ESP (as well as EAP and EO/PP ) through its membership and to promote models of excellence in ESP to ELT professionals

in UK and abroad through workshops, seminars and conferences and through publishing the output in our newsletter / journal and leading ELT journals and periodicals.

30/07/2026

🔎 How do we research English for Specific Purposes?

IATEFL ESPSIG and ReSIG invite proposals for Researching ESP: Approaches and Methods, an online conference taking place on Saturday, 14 November 2026.

We welcome contributions examining how research is designed, conducted, and understood across ESP, EAP, EOP, EPP, CLIL, EMI, and related fields.

Possible areas include:

📊 Empirical and classroom-based research
🧭 Research approaches and methodologies
⚖️ Ethics in ESP research
🤖 AI and digital research tools
👤 Researcher identity and reflexivity
🌍 Social justice, inclusion, and equity
💡 Theoretical and methodological innovation

Teachers, practitioners, researchers, doctoral students, and early-career scholars are warmly encouraged to contribute.

📝 Abstract: Up to 200 words
📅 Submission deadline: 31 August 2026
✅ Notification of acceptance: 20 September 2026

👉 Find out more and submit your proposal:
https://espsig.iatefl.org/?p=5458

Join an international conversation about the questions we investigate—and the methods we use to answer them.

28/07/2026

📣 Calling all ESP and EAP professionals

What have you learned from your teaching, research, materials development, assessment work, or professional projects?

IATEFL ESPSIG invites you to share your knowledge in the December double issue of Professional and Academic English.

We welcome contributions from teachers, researchers, postgraduate students, teacher educators, assessors, materials writers, and other professionals working with English in academic and workplace contexts.

Possible submissions include:

📝 Articles
💡 Classroom activities
🔍 Reflective accounts
📚 Reviews
🎤 Interviews
🌍 Reports and project updates

New and experienced writers are equally welcome.

📅 Deadline: 31 August 2026
📧 Submit your Word document to: [email protected]
🔗 Guidelines: https://espsig.iatefl.org/?page_id=763

Your experience could inform, inspire, or encourage another member of the international ESP and EAP community.

23/07/2026

📣Join us on 24 November 2026 at 12:30 UK time for our next Let’s ESP session.

To facilitate casual, informal interactions between professionals working in ESP and allied fields, ESPSIG is organizing virtual sessions where members of the community can get to know each other, exchange ideas, and talk about their work.

Contexts vary — and so do needs and challenges. Solutions applied in one context may or may not be applicable to another, but it’s always interesting to hear what’s happening in different parts of the world. Even more enriching is getting to know the people behind that work.

More details coming soon — for now, mark your calendar!

21/07/2026

🎙️ 📣New Episode Alert: IATEFL ESPSIG Unplugged – Episode 4!
Are we at a true turning point in English Language Teaching? How do we navigate the beautifully "messy" reality of human connection in the age of generative AI?
In this compelling new episode, Ioana Cretu sits down with the brilliant Rachael Roberts—award-winning ELT business strategist, mentor, and the force behind the "Designed to Flourish" program.
Rachael recently delivered the thought-provoking closing plenary, 'Teaching at a turning point', at the 2026 IATEFL conference in Brighton. In this episode, she dives deeper into the crucial conversations sparked by her talk.
🎧 What’s inside this episode?
• The Post-Plenary Buzz: Rachael shares her reflections on the audience's reaction to her Brighton talk.
• The True Value of Teachers: A reminder of the irreplaceable impact educators have in a rapidly changing world.
• The Marketing Hurdle: Why language professionals often feel uncomfortable with self-promotion and visibility, and how to overcome it.
• Economic Reality: An honest look at the financial fragility and anxiety currently impacting the ELT sector.
• The Post-COVID Paradigm Shift: How digitalization and generative AI are reshaping our teaching landscape, and why embracing human unpredictability is our greatest asset moving forward.

👉Listen to Episode 4 now: https://espsig.iatefl.org/?p=5565
you can also
👉watch Rachael's 2026 Brighton Plenary here: https://www.iateflconference.org/about-the-conference/plenary-recordings or
👉 discover Rachael's Business Mentoring & Resources: https://earnlearnthriveinelt.com/

17/07/2026

📣 Join the ESPSIG Joint Symposium 2026 with the St Andrews LSP Hub!

Applying ESP Research to Practice brings together leading voices from across English for Specific Purposes to explore how research can be translated into effective teaching across academic, medical, business and workplace contexts.

📅 12 September 2026
🕐 1:00–5:30 p.m.
💻 Online
🎟️ Free to attend

The symposium will feature evidence-based approaches to:

• Course design and materials development
• Assessment and learner-centred pedagogy
• Technology and AI integration
• Clinical and professional communication
• Disciplinary and scientific writing
• Communication in high-risk, multicultural workplaces

Speakers include Ros Wright, Alan Simpson, Melissa Corlett, Kallia Kampoztaki Hodgetts, Laetitia Monbec, Melanie van den Hoven and Lisa Leopold.

Each presentation will be followed by a Q&A, offering valuable opportunities for discussion, reflection and exchange among ESP practitioners.

Please note that certificates will be issued to IATEFL members only.

Learn more and register: https://www.iatefl.org/event-details/ #/?id=850

14/07/2026

📢 Call for Papers: December Double Issue of Professional and Academic English

IATEFL ESPSIG is pleased to announce the call for papers for the upcoming December double issue of Professional and Academic English – the journal of IATEFL ESPSIG.

If you’re involved in teaching, research, teacher education, assessment, or materials development in English for Specific Purposes or English for Academic Purposes, we’d love to hear from you. 🌍

This special December double issue offers expanded space to share your ideas, insights, research, classroom practice, and professional experience with an international community of ESP and EAP professionals.

We welcome contributions from experienced professionals, early-career researchers, teachers, materials writers, and postgraduate students.

📝 Format: Word document
📧 Submit to: [email protected]
🔗 Guidelines: https://espsig.iatefl.org/?page_id=763
📅 Deadline: 31 August 2026

Whether you would like to submit an article, practical teaching idea, reflective piece, report, review, interview, or project update, this is your chance to contribute to a special December double issue and make your voice heard.

Submit your contribution by 31 August and be part of this expanded December issue of Professional and Academic English.

10/07/2026

🎧 Looking for some inspiring ESP listening for the summer break?

The holidays are a great time to slow down, catch up, and discover new perspectives — and the first three episodes of ESP Unplugged, the IATEFL ESPSIG podcast series, are the perfect place to start.
Across these conversations, ESPSIG brings together voices from across English for Specific Purposes, highlighting the people, practices and real-world contexts that shape our field.

In Episode 1, Ros Wright, a specialist in healthcare communication, talks about her journey into clinical communication, the frameworks that shaped her practice, and her pioneering book Good Practice.

In Episode 2, Rudi Camerer explores English as a global working language and explains why intercultural competence is essential in today’s international professional contexts.

In Episode 3, Alla Fridrikh shares powerful insights into ESP in war-torn Ukraine, including language learning in emergency contexts, the need to adapt materials for exhausted and traumatised learners, and the role of mindfulness in the classroom.

Together, these three episodes show the breadth, relevance and human impact of ESP — from healthcare and intercultural communication to education in crisis contexts.

Make the most of the summer break: listen to all three episodes of ESP Unplugged on the IATEFL ESPSIG website and join the conversation.

👉 Listen here: https://lnkd.in/ezT_DhNy

07/07/2026

📣 Call for Papers: ESPSIG–ReSIG Online Conference 2026

IATEFL ESPSIG and ReSIG invite proposals for Researching ESP: Approaches and Methods, an online conference taking place on Saturday, 14 November 2026.

We welcome teachers, practitioners, and researchers working in ESP, EAP, EOP, EPP, CLIL, EMI, and related fields. Contributions may explore empirical research, theoretical insights, or methodological innovations, including classroom-based research, ethics in ESP, AI and digital tools, researcher identity, social justice, inclusion, and equity.

Early career researchers, doctoral students, and under-represented scholars are especially encouraged to submit.

📝 Abstracts: up to 200 words
📅 Submission deadline: 31 August 2026
✅ Notification of acceptance: 20 September 2026

👉Find out more and submit your proposal: https://espsig.iatefl.org/?p=5458

29/06/2026

📣 Episode 3 of ESP Unplugged is out!

In Language in Emergency Contexts, Alla Fridrikh, a specialist in language acquisition in emergency contexts, talks to Dolon Gupta about what ESP means when learners’ lives have been upended by war.

She explores how learning materials need to be continuously adapted for exhausted and traumatized students; how mindfulness techniques can be re-imagined in language classes to help create moments of peace and calm; and how language learning can offer hope, motivation, a sense of normality — and a future.

👉 Listen here: https://espsig.iatefl.org/?p=5527

18/06/2026

Join us on 24 November 2026 at 12:30 UK time for our next Let’s ESP session.
To facilitate casual, informal interactions between professionals working in ESP and allied fields, ESPSIG is organizing virtual sessions where members of the community can get to know each other, exchange ideas, and talk about their work.
Contexts vary — and so do needs and challenges. Solutions applied in one context may or may not be applicable to another, but it’s always interesting to hear what’s happening in different parts of the world. Even more enriching is getting to know the people behind that work.
More details coming soon — for now, mark your calendar!

Address

Canterbury
CT27NY

Website

http://espsig.iatefl.org/

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