This paper aims to reflect onthe role of an ideal ESP practitioner. There are a lot of challenges and problems which affect an ESP practitioner to teach ESP courses such as lack of modern use of technology and lack of learners' motivation. The paper starts with key concepts about ESP. Then; it discusses the role of an ESP practitioner. Next, problems and challenges affect teaching ESP. Finally, the status of an ESP today is presented. The researcher followed a descriptive method to shed some lights on the variety of the topics to make clear distinction especially between a general English (GE) teacher and the English for Specific Purposes (ESP) teacher and to what extent they are different. The findings of this paper showed that lack of training and lack of specialist knowledge were considered as the main obstacles. It is recommended for any educational institutions to train ESP practitioners in advance before starting to teach ESP courses/programs. It also recommended for educational institutions to establish ESP Units in order to overcome the challenges and problem.

This study aims to assess the medical students' needs analysis at the Faculty of Medicine at Al-Neelain University in the field of English for Specific Purposes (ESP). It also aims to examine the perceptions of the students and their instructors about the present syllabus and the challenges, which the students and the instructors face. It is an exploratory study, that is, to discover the aspects of reviewing a program by involving both instructors and students to express their views. The researcher followed the descriptive and analytical approach. The subjects of this study were of two types: the instructors who are either having experience in teaching ESP syllabus or teaching the current program (i.e. English for Medical Purposes) and medical students of first and second year. The number of the respondents who participated in the study was five instructors, twenty-five students of the first year and twenty-five students of the second year. The data, which were collected by the two forms of the questionnaires, were analyzed through statistics (numbers) then converted into the forms of percentage. The findings of this study confirmed that there were several problems that the students faced at the faculty such as the lack of some of the basic skills, especially speaking and listening skills. As recommendation plays an important basis to undergo some changes within the current syllabus, it is recommended to review the current syllabus to undergo some changes in the content of the syllabus so as to meet if not all, most of students' needs towards their medical study. It is also recommended to use different methods for collecting data such interviews and classroom observation to get more productive data as well as to use more technical aids such as computer, videos and TV.