1Since the late 1980s, the topic of course design in English for specific purposes (ESP) has been extensively focused on in the ESP literature (Hutchinson & Waters 1987; Dudley-Evans & St John 1998; Gollin-Kies, Hall & Moore 2015; Anthony 2018). Part of the Routledge Introductions to English for Specific Purposes series edited by Brian Paltridge and Sue Starfield, Lindy Woodrow’s Introducing Course Design in English for Specific Purposes sets out to describe the different stages involved in the process of ESP course design. By providing “a mixture of theory, research, reflection, tasks and resources” (p. 1), the author aims to help present and future ESP practitioners to design their own ESP courses.

2The 267-page book is divided into three parts. Part 1, entitled “Essential aspects of English for specific purposes”, consists of eight chapters and covers such elements in ESP and course design as needs analysis, language and skills, vocabulary, teaching and learning ESP, technology and assessment. Part 2, entitled “Approaches to ESP course design”, comprises seven chapters that focus on linguistic and discipline-based approaches as well as approaches to course design specific to English for academic purposes (EAP), in which the role of materials is examined and useful resources for course design are provided. Finally, Part 3, entitled “Examples of authentic ESP courses”, offers eight ESP course descriptions, each outlining needs analysis, objectives of the course, course characteristics, approaches to course design, course materials, etc. In line with Tony Dudley-Evans and Maggie Jo St John (1998), each chapter contains “Reflection” and “Task” boxes, as well as a “Further reading” section. In addition to the references provided at the end of each chapter, the book is supplemented with an appendix of key articles and book chapters in ESP, a short glossary, and a practical index of notions.

3Following in the footsteps of several other ESP researchers (Hutchinson & Waters 1987; Dudley-Evans & St John 1998; Paltridge & Starfield 2013; Gollin-Kies, Hall & Moore 2015; Anthony 2018), Lindy Woodrow opens the book with a general overview of ESP: she presents a definition of ESP, its classification, history, and the role the English language plays in a modern society. Definition-wise, the author proposes to view ESP as “an approach to course design and instruction that targets groups of learners with a common goal or purpose in their learning of English” (p. 5) and insists on considering needs analysis “the most defining feature of ESP courses” (op. cit.). For a better grasp of what ESP is, Woodrow compares the typical characteristics of ESP and EGP (English for general purposes) courses. Next, the author presents the traditional classification of ESP, in which EAP and English for occupational purposes (EOP) are generally seen as the two main branches, and highlights the importance of specificity to both of them. Chapter 1 also details the role of English in the world today and the history of ESP. Almost thirty years after the publication of Tom Hutchinson and Alan Waters’ English for Specific Purposes (1987) and twenty years after the publication of the first edition of Dudley-Evans and St John’s Developments in English for Specific Purposes (1998), ESP has seen an additional phase: it covers the period from the 1990s and it deals with genre and corpus studies. Woodrow concludes the chapter by mentioning “a few of the types of course commonly referred to in the field of ESP” (p. 13), namely English for science and technology (EST), EAP, business English or English for business purposes (EBP), EOP, English for medical purposes (EMP), English for legal purposes (ELP), and English for sociocultural purposes (ESCP).

5Chapter 3 examines the role of language and skills in ESP. First, Woodrow considers the meaning of language competence. According to the author, language competence is probably best understood as “communicative competence”, a term first coined by Dell Hymes (1966, cited in Woodrow 2018: 33). Two conceptualisations of communicative competence are offered in the chapter. Whereas Michael Canale and Merrill Swain (1980, cited in Woodrow 2018: 33) see communicative competence as being comprised of grammatical competence, sociolinguistic knowledge, discoursal competence, and strategic competence, Dan Douglas (2000) considers ESP language knowledge as consisting of “linguistic, textual, functional, communicative and sociolinguistic knowledge” (Douglas 2000 cited in Woodrow 2018: 33). Second, Woodrow turns to the issue of content and language specificity. Third, the place of grammar in ESP courses is taken into account. Even though Woodrow acknowledges that “[a]n explicit focus on grammar tends to play a lesser role in ESP” (p. 32), course designers determine to what extent various aspects of grammar are present in their course. Finally, the chapter explores the way ESP relates to skills. Woodrow states that “[a] focus on skills is central to ESP course design and often takes precedence over a focus on linguistic form(s)” (p. 36). The author briefly describes the particularities of the four language skills (writing, reading, speaking, and listening) in the context of ESP teaching.

7Chapters 5 and 6 detail the particularities of teaching and learning ESP. In what concerns ESP teaching, Woodrow specifies three categories of such particularities. The first characteristic is intrinsic to ESP learners, who are goal-driven and, thus, “arguably more highly motivated” (p. 52), and who vary markedly in terms of their linguistic proficiency. Next, Woodrow details pedagogical particularities, such as the priority of skills over grammar, the lesser importance of the traditional staging of lessons, the dynamics of learner-teacher relationships, and teaching methodologies that very often draw on disciplinary ones. The last element, mentioned in Chapter 5, refers to ESP practitioners and the various roles they are supposed to take on simultaneously: needs analysts, course designers, materials providers, collaborators, discourse analysts, evaluators, and classroom teachers. In Chapter 6, Woodrow explores the multiple facets of ESP learning. Here, the general features of ESP learning are articulated, namely learners’ typical profile and their learning strategies. The chapter closes with a discussion on how different varieties of ESP impact the teaching-learning process.

8Chapter 7 discusses technology and its influence on ESP instruction. The first consideration for ESP course designers, which Woodrow mentions, is the need to prepare students for new modes of communication, i.e. digital modes of communication, which can be further subdivided into synchronous and asynchronous communication. In addition, technology can be used as a pedagogical tool. It provides authentic materials; it diversifies the ways of course delivery; and it allows for online assessment methods. However appealing the use of technology might seem to be, it is not devoid of pitfalls. The first issue that Woodrow raises involves the selection of appropriate and reliable sources. She proposes a three-component assessment grid to evaluate materials, which consists of the evaluation of the intended audience, the authority of the person who produced the material, and the up-to-date nature of the source. Another concern voiced by Woodrow is that of the socio-economic setting in which teaching-learning occurs: the author reminds us that “[i]n some countries technology is not widely available and internet connections may be unreliable” (p. 81). Finally, despite the numerous advantages that technology brings, some ESP practitioners are still reluctant to use it on a regular basis. The author concludes the chapter with an interesting insight that every ESP practitioner should probably keep in mind:

Course designers need to consider whether the use of a particular technology or program improves upon traditional printed material and in what way. In other words, course designers need to guard against using technology purely for its novelty effect. (p. 82)

9In the final chapter of Part 1, Woodrow discusses assessment. In ESP, assessment can fulfil different objectives: it can be used to identify learners’ needs, to help form groups according to students’ strengths and weaknesses, to check if course objectives are accomplished, to monitor learners’ progress, to meet the external need for standardisation, to facilitate the learning process, or to evaluate the course itself. The aforementioned objectives translate into the following types of ESP assessment: diagnostic, placement, entry, exit, achievement and progress, and high-stakes tests. Nevertheless, Woodrow warns the reader about certain assessment-related complications that may arise. First, assessment methods should reflect the skills being assessed. For example, whereas multiple-choice and short-answer tests are appropriate to assess receptive skills, they are less adequate to assess productive skills, which can be better achieved by eliciting samples of language from students. Second, course designers cannot rely on “scales and descriptors of general proficiency”, but have to conceive the ones that would “take into account the needs of the target situation or the disciplinary field” (p. 91).

10The first chapter in Part 2 of the book on the approaches to ESP course design examines how research on genre and genre analysis has shaped ESP course design, EAP and academic writing in particular. A significant portion of Chapter 9 is allotted to the general overview of genre studies (genre conceptualisations, discourse communities, genre networks, as well as moves and stages within a genre). The last section of the chapter describes albeit very briefly, the role of genres in course design. The author emphasises the importance of including genres typical of the target communicative situation and reminds us that “genre analysis … may run the risk of being restrictive and prescriptive” (p. 106). The author advances a six-step process that genre-informed ESP course design may imply: (1) “identify genres in target situation” within the needs analysis framework, (2) collect “samples of target genres”, (3) describe “genre chains”, (4) analyse “regular features of genres”, (5) organise texts according to their level of complexity, and (6) devise “secondary syllabus strands focusing on the skills, organisation and lexico-grammatical features” (p. 107).

11Chapter 10 investigates how ESP course designers can successfully employ discourse analysis. The chapter follows the structure of the previous one: first, it provides general background information on the topic, and it then shows how course designers can effectively exploit discourse analysis. Similar to genre analysis, discourse analysis “occurs in needs analysis” (p. 118) and allows an ESP practitioner to collect “information about the target communicative situation” (op. cit.) in order to design teachable materials. The chapter offers a ten-step scheme to design a discourse-informed ESP course: (1) “identify most important texts in target communicative situation”, (2) “use informants” (students, experts, etc.), (3) “collect a representative sample”, (4) choose a suitable format for analysis, (5) search for “distinguishing aspects of texts”, (6) “compare texts for similarities”, (7) select an approach to discourse analysis, (8) carry out analysis, (9) document significant results, and (10) “use focus of analysis as organising strand in syllabus” (p. 118).

12In Chapter 11, Woodrow explores the advantages of using corpora in ESP course design. After a brief summary of corpus-based research, the author stresses the main advantage of this approach: it helps course designers to integrate “the language of the target situation … supported empirically rather than being based on the writer’s intuition” (p. 126). However, three major considerations should be taken into account. Even though building a corpus is a relatively simple task, it is not always possible to access certain texts due to ethical or legal restrictions. Then, learners’ involvement in working with corpora should be determined: they can compile their own corpora or “engage directly with [existing] corpora to complete language tasks” (p. 127). Finally, the pedagogical usefulness of corpora depends on their relevance to learners’ needs. Thus, ESP course designers should be particularly meticulous while selecting texts to build a corpus. Woodrow puts forward the following criteria for corpus text selection: size, mode, date, length, topics, relevance, text genres, ease of access, source, need for permission/payment, etc. The author concludes by identifying two core types of corpus-informed ESP courses: courses having “a strong focus on corpora” and courses with “[a] weaker focus” (p. 128).

13Chapter 12 covers discipline-based methodologies and opens with the following statement: “ESP often adopts teaching methodologies that are commonly used to teach subject areas” (p. 131). The first approach Woodrow considers in this chapter is problem-based learning (PBL), commonly used in medical training. After presenting a brief description of the approach, Woodrow examines its advantages and disadvantages. Whilst the approach is “student-centred”, “relevant to target-situation needs”, motivating, “demands [a] high level of communication”, “aligns well with current methodological approaches”, etc., it also implies that the teacher will have less control over the situation, require excellent time management skills, face difficulties assessing students, etc. (p. 134). In addition, the author specifies the typical phases of PBL: (1) presentation of a problem, (2) definition and analysis of the problem, (3) learning objectives specification, (4) search for the solution to the problem, (5) synthesis of knowledge, (6) solution of the problem, and (7) evaluation.

15In Chapter 13, Woodrow shifts to two EAP approaches: specifically, content-based instruction (CBI) and an academic-literacy approach. CBI is based on the idea that “by teaching content learners will be more motivated than by teaching which focuses solely on language” (p. 141). Two types of CBI are identified in the chapter: sheltered, where content prevails, and adjunct, where both language and content are equally present. Further, two forms of CBI can be distinguished: a strong form, in which the subject is taught through another language, and a weak form, which can be “more language-driven” (p. 142). The second approach detailed in the chapter concerns academic literacies and is “based on a theoretical model of communication in academic settings” (p. 144). Several ideas are presented in this section, including students as researchers, academic discourse communities, and the role of ethnography.

16In Chapter 14, Woodrow invites the reader to examine the issue of course materials in ESP. In Woodrow’s opinion, “[t]he most important aspect of ESP materials is that they reflect the target communicative situation” (p. 152), which means that authentic materials are opted for in ESP courses. The author delves into the topic of authenticity in ESP, which is not as straightforward as one might think. Woodrow states that materials will not be considered authentic if, despite their apparent relevance to the ESP field, they are intended for laypeople rather than subject specialists. In such a case, these materials are irrelevant to “the communicative needs of the ESP student” (p. 153). The author provides an example of subject textbooks: even though their content is relevant to students and they contain specialised vocabulary, they belong to “a specific type of genre” as their main purpose is to explain discipline-related phenomena in a certain pedagogical way; therefore, their “generic and rhetorical structure … is not the same as that required by the target communicative settings” (p. 155). The author goes on to mention that authentic materials can be adapted according to Fredricka Stoller’s model (2016). Such adaptations include adjusting materials by “simplifying” vocabulary, content, and/or grammar, “converting texts from one skill to another”, providing “definitions and extra information”, modifying their length, “reordering texts”, and adding supplementary texts (op. cit.). In French research, such modifications are part of the didactic transposition of knowledge (Chevallard 1991; Paun 2006). Furthermore, apart from the importance of authentic materials in ESP, tasks should be authentic too; in other words, they should be realistic and should reflect “tasks found in the target communicative situation” (p. 156). In the remaining part, the author discusses the advantages and disadvantages of in-house materials and ready-to-use ESP coursebooks.

17The last chapter in Part 2 offers a list of various resources that ESP practitioners and course designers may find helpful. Specifically, it provides examples of needs analysis, resources for vocabulary in ESP course design, ESP corpora, concordancers, sources of authentic materials, resources for technology in ESP, a list of language tests, academic journals for ESP, websites for course design, the names of several ESP organisations, and sources for PBL and case studies.

18Part 3 is an edited collection of examples of ESP courses, representing “different settings, approaches and fields” (p. 185). Each example specifies needs analysis, details an approach to course design, states the aims of the course, offers details on assessment, and provides samples of course materials, including sample classroom tasks. Eight courses, presented in this section, cover different specialised varieties of English, including “Language in the workplace” by Catherine Nickerson, “English for cross-cultural nursing” by Susan Bosher, “English for lawyers” by Jill Northcott, “Airport English” by Joan Cutting, “English in academic settings” by Lindy Woodrow, “Writing for publication” by Brian Paltridge, “Writing in your field with corpora” by Maggie Charles, and “Programme for business-English majors” by Zuocheng Zhang.

19Introducing Course Design in English for Specific Purposes is advertised as “an accessible and practical introduction to the theory and practice of developing ESP courses across a range of disciplines”. Indeed, this easy-to-read book covers the key aspects in ESP research, provides ready-to-use guidelines on ESP course design, and offers valuable authentic examples of ESP courses.

20However, the reader may become frustrated with the insufficiency or sometimes even the inaccuracy of certain descriptions or explanations. For instance, Woodrow seems to be of the opinion that CBI is synonymous with content and language integrated learning (CLIL) (p. 140). She admits that CLIL, “the term commonly used in Europe”, “focuses both on content and language” and refers to a common “approach to teaching language in secondary-school settings”. The latter characteristic makes the author choose the term CBI over CLIL as the book deals with ESP teaching in tertiary institutions (p. 141). This reasoning is particularly shaky given the research on the use of CLIL in European higher education (Marsh 2002; Napoli & Sourisseau 2013). Moreover, Anthony (2018) highlights a crucial detail about CBI: even though ESP teachers choose topics “that target the specialist subject areas of the learners”, “CBI courses do not … have to be discipline-centered” (p. 19).

21Another example refers to the core element of the book – the course design component. To our regret, the chapters in Part 2 contain relatively little information on course design itself: approximately only half a page is devoted to course design. Nevertheless, this type of shortcoming, unavoidable owing to the scope of the book, is largely compensated for with the Further reading sections, thorough references at the end of each chapter, suggested key articles in ESP provided in the appendix, as well as supplementary resources indicated in Chapter 15. To conclude, this book will definitely be a useful addition to your professional library, whether you are a novice or an experienced ESP practitioner, a young researcher in ESP, or a student considering an ESP teaching career.