ESP in the Moroccan Higher Education Schools of the Private Sector: The Factor of Motivation

Abstract

The techniques and approaches of English language teaching have recently undergone remarkable changes with the increasing value offered to the language and the fast development of technology.  English has become the lingua franca thanks to its growing international influence and its important demand in the global market. This has led to both an increasing demand for English teachers worldwide and a serious need to develop the English language teaching methods. English for Specific Purposes or ESP which is the teaching of particular registers in English typically for professionals has also become highly demanded for all the reasons mentioned earlier. In this paper, I focus on ESP taught in the Moroccan higher education schools of the private sector and I examine the approaches and techniques used in the Moroccan classroom where English is taught not only as a second language but also for specific purposes. This paper does not merely look at the development of English language teaching methods in Moroccan schools but focuses more on the growing interest in ESP in the private superior schools that oftentimes do not match with the level of English proficiency of students. In this regard, I argue that the factor of motivation in English learning from the part of students plays a key role in determining the success of the teaching of ESP in private higher schools in Morocco despite the different challenges.