Preparing future professionals through English in the discipline: pedagogical innovation in Hong Kong Higher Education

Abstract

English plays a significant role in higher education in preparing learners for their disciplinary studies and future professional practices. It serves as a foremost instrument in enabling students to acquire the competencies, skills and knowledge necessary in their discipline within the local as well as global classrooms and beyond. Under the current trend of curriculum reform in higher education, institutions in Hong Kong have taken the initiatives to develop English for Specific Purposes (ESP) courses to cater for students’ diverse needs for sustainable disciplinary learning and engagement in their industry in the future. Drawing on the voices from course developers, teachers and students through questionnaires and interviews, this paper aims to evaluate the extent to which an English-in-the-Discipline course can strengthen the bonds between English learning in higher education and students’ disciplinary studies and professional practices. The findings suggest that the students’ diverse learning needs could better be catered for through a progressive learning approach in the English curriculum, formative dialogic feedback from teachers and peers in a technologically supported environment, and close collaboration between ESP teachers and professionals in the industry. The paper discusses the opportunities and challenges in theory-based ESP pedagogical innovation, including material design, lesson planning and curriculum development. It will be of interest to interdisciplinary scholars, ESP teachers and professionals in the industry who intend to promote best practices for disciplinary studies through English teaching and learning in higher education.