An ESP student is usually adults who already has some acquaintance with English and is learning the language in order to communicate a set of professional skills and to perform particular job-related functions.

ESP concentrates more on language in context than on teaching grammar and language structures. It covers subjects varying from accounting or computer science to tourism and business management.

In ESP courses all four language skills – listening, reading, speaking, and writing – are stressed equally, and it is not a needs analysis that determines which language skills are most needed by the students.