Broadening Horizons in English for Professional and Academic Purposes
This event brings together different perspectives on English for Professional and Academic Purposes, highlighting the diversity of contexts, practices, and approaches within the field. Through a series of talks, participants will have the opportunity to explore relevant topics, exchange ideas, and reflect on current challenges and opportunities in professional and academic English.
Guest Speakers and their Sessions:
Ricardo Bruns - From General to ESP: Building Your Niche, Thriving Together.
Abstract:
How can General English teachers thrive in the growing field of English for Specific Purposes (ESP) without being subject-matter experts? This workshop addresses a common barrier—the perception of inadequate expertise—and reframes it as a collective opportunity. We will explore how personal passions and innate curiosity are not just individual traits but untapped resources that can benefit our entire professional community. Through collaborative activities, participants will identify their unique "latent niches," analyze case studies of teacher-led ESP success, and co-create strategies to bridge knowledge gaps. Moving beyond imposter syndrome, we will focus on how sharing our diverse interests can create a supportive ecosystem where every teacher’s specialization contributes to a richer, more responsive ELT field. Leave with a practical first step and the confidence to start your ESP journey, contributing to our collective growth.
Bio:
Ricardo Bruns is a CertIBET-certified Business English Trainer, ESP practitioner, and teacher educator with 25+ years of experience in Business English and corporate communication. Founder of Result Language Solutions, he serves on the board of the EPAP SIG and has been actively involved with BRAZ-TESOL’s BESIG and ESP SIGs. His work focuses on ESP, Business English, and helping teachers develop their own areas of specialization.
Ron Martinez - What Universities Get Wrong about Academic English
Abstract:
10 years working with professors and postgraduate students on their English Medium Instruction (EMI) teaching and writing for research publication has taught me that there are some entrenched misunderstandings about what constitutes successful writing/teaching through English in academic contexts. Too often, stakeholders believe that investing in English proficiency development alone is the main key to success. This talk (like a lot of academic discourse) takes a “problem-solution” approach to explore 1) what the current scenario is and 2) what can be done to make it better.
Bio:
Ron Martinez received his PhD in English at the University of Nottingham and his MSc in Applied Linguistics and Second Language Acquisition at the University of Oxford. He is currently the co-Editor-in-Chief at the journal Applied Linguistics (Oxford University Press), and Professor of English at the Universidade Federal do Paraná in Curitiba, Brazil, where he also founded the Centro de Assessoria de Publicação Acadêmica (CAPA) writing center in 2016, and the English Medium Instruction (EMI) faculty development program the same year. He is an English Language Specialist under the U.S. Department of State’s English Language Programs, through which he has developed courses on EAP for universities around the world. He is currently involved in an international research that project that explores the effect of English language proficiency in EMI teaching contexts.
Virginia López Grisolía - Changing Learners, Changing Roles: Rethinking ESP and Business English
Abstract:
The professional worlds for which we prepare our learners are changing at unprecedented speed—and so are the roles of ESP and Business English practitioners. From the predominantly language-focused classrooms of the 1980s to today’s multilingual, digital and increasingly AI-mediated workplace, both our learners and our professional identities have undergone a remarkable transformation.
Taking Business English as its main lens, this talk traces that evolution and explores how our roles have expanded from language experts to facilitators, materials developers, intercultural mediators, coaches, sociolinguists and AI-literate learning professionals. It also considers how different perspectives on adult learning—from behaviourism and cognitivism to humanism, transformative learning and connectivism—can help us understand the changing profiles, expectations and needs of today’s professional learners.
Against the backdrop of an increasingly complex and unpredictable workplace, the session examines the implications of BELF, multilingual communication, digital learning and artificial intelligence for ESP and BE practice. Rather than suggesting that we abandon what came before, it argues for critical renewal: identifying what remains valuable, what needs rethinking, and what new competencies we need to develop.
Ultimately, the talk asks: what does it take to remain relevant as an ESP/BE professional today?
Bio:
degree from ISP J.V. González and a BA in English Language and Linguistics from Belgrano University, and trained as a simultaneous and consecutive interpreter, working in both government and corporate settings.
She currently teaches Linguistics and Applied Linguistics at three universities in Buenos Aires. In 1988, she founded Interaction Language Studio, where she is Director of Studies, focusing on ESP and Business English. Her main interests are English as a Business Lingua Franca (BELF), translanguaging, and feedback in professional English teaching.
Virginia was President of APIBA (Association of Graduate English Teachers of Buenos Aires) for four years, is an active member of FAAPI, and has been part of IATEFL BESIG for over 14 years.