Students' experience of learning ESP: Findings from a case study in Lithuania

Abstract

This study explores undergraduate students’ experience of learning English for Specific Purposes (ESP) and aims to reveal their views regarding university teachers’ and peers’ feedback provided to them during the course of ESP as well as to establish the students’ views regarding their own learning ESP. The present article reports on the results of a case study from a Lithuanian university. The data were collected from feedback questionnaires of 111 students in 11 study programmes. To analyse the data, quantitative methodology was used. The main conclusion of the present study is that most study participants viewed their own learning ESP at the university as a positive experience, i.e. the students were satisfied with their engagement in learning this study subject and considered that learning was aligned with teaching and assessment. The results of the study also demonstrated that the study participants considered that collaboration and team work fostered meaningful learning, as well as that peer feedback helped them to understand how to improve in learning ESP. It was established that students valued their teachers’ patience and personal engagement and that the teachers’ feedback improved the ways of learning ESP, encouraged them to think and analyse the content of the study material, and helped them to clarify things they did not understand learning on their own.