USE OF INTERACTIVE ESP: LETTING STUDENTS SPEAK

Abstract

This article examines the pedagogical potential of employing diverse utterance types - questions, imperatives, hypotheticals, and discourse markers - to transform English for Specific Purposes (ESP) instruction from teacher-centered monologue into dynamic, interactive learning. Drawing on fifteen years of teaching experience in a petroleum university, the author argues that the strategic deployment of varied utterances serves not merely as a teaching technique but as a fundamental mechanism for creating the conditions in which authentic language acquisition occurs. The article analyzes how different utterance types activate distinct cognitive and communicative processes, how they can be systematically integrated into ESP lesson design, and how they address the particular challenges of teaching English to technical specialists who may lack confidence in communicative situations.