Reprint of Grosse, C. U., & Voght, G. M. (1991). The evolution of languages for specific purposes in the United States. Modern Language Journal, 75, 181–195.

Abstract

AFTER MORE THAN A DECADE OF GROWTH and development, the field of languages for specific purposes (LSP) in the United States has come of age. Its position in the foreign language curriculum seems secure and it has established a presence at the majority of US colleges and universities. The even distribution of LSP at small, medium, large, public, and private institutions indicates a widespread willingness in the profession to innovate and expand the base of foreign language offerings. LSP courses provide an alternative to traditional language courses at the first-and second-year levels and an option other than literature, civilization, or linguistics for advanced undergraduate and graduate students. 1 In this article we trace the development of LSP in the United States, present a rationale for its place within the foreign language curriculum, and offer an assessment of its research base. 2 NATURE OF LSP IN THE USCurrent developments in LSP in the US derive from experiments in creating undergraduate business foreign language courses in the early to

Domain analysis: Research‐based reverse design for languages for specific purposes

“…One legal scholar made an interdisciplinary argument that bilingualism enhanced various aspects of the practice of law (Rathod, 2013). Aside from those three, most publications either mentioned law in an overview article on the state of the fields of LSP (Grosse & Voght, 2012) and Spanish for the professions (Klee, 2015) or dated to the 1980s and were descriptive articles on courses (Cannon, 1983; Lacey & Reyes, 1982) or programs (Feustle, 1986) developed for specific campuses. Mason's (1992) thorough overview of the state of legal Spanish in U.S. higher education described a legal Spanish independent study he developed and taught.…”