MATESOL Students’ Reflections and Perceptions of an ESP Course in the United Arab Emirates

Abstract

This paper relates the experiences of the writer designing and teaching a graduate English for Specific Purposes (ESP) teacher-based course to a group of MATESOL students at a private university in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). It details the participants' backgrounds and aspirations, course objectives, course contents, the students' perceptions of the whole course, the textbook used, the assigned tasks and activities and the staging and administration of the course. The participants' reflections show positive attitudes towards the course and the way it was administered and managed. The paper concludes with some pedagogical implications for prospective ESP teacher educators, ESP course designers and ESP course implementation.