English for Specific Purposes: Validity of Reading Strategies

Larissa de Pinho Cavalcanti

Universidade Federal de Pernambuco

In Brazil, English for Specific Purposes was developed based on the need immediate linguistic knowledge for reading and understanding technical and academic texts – a purpose that remains until today. Indeed, several publications focus on the instrumental approach across different fields of knowledge, taking as its basis not only reading and its strategic competences but the learning of language structures that might contribute to an efficient reading process. On digital distance learning, the instrumental approach to ESP is yet predominant which can be explained by the novelty of the modality in the country in the sense that time to adjust to the possibilities virtual learning environments provide us with is still required. That is the context of our teaching for the Instituto Federal de Educação Ciência e Tecnologia Educação in their distance learning program. Our paper aims at discussing the relevance of reading and reading strategies according to students’ own opinions and the theoretical considerations of KLEIMAN (2013), SOLÉ (1998) on reading as a process; JUNIOR (1999), LEFFA (1996), CHAVES (2006), on ESP and reading.

Keywords: distance learning; English language; reading strategies.

ESP: history, features and Brazil Learning English as a second or foreign language has become a world-wide necessity. Whether living in a country that speaks English as their official language such as The Unites States or India, or that uses it for international communication such as Brazil or Japan, if academic or professional development is under consideration, so will be speaking and communicating in English. This need however can be made more specific in the sense that learners might not be interested in learning English