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Addressing the growing need to re-examine current approaches and teaching methods within the scope of ESP, this paper starts by describing the preliminary states of V-interESP – an international joint research project involving students and faculty from Lithuania, Portugal and Serbia. This project has two primary goals: to understand the role digital technology, and particularly videos, can play in enhancing students’ learning experiences within ESP settings; and to promote the study participants’ creativity as well as intercultural awareness and communication. Thus, in this study, the authors present preliminary research findings, based on the students’ answers to an entry questionnaire. Data focusses on students’ profiles and their perceived potential of using video to learn ESP, in particular regarding student motivation and the development of communication skills, as well as creative abilities.

English for Specific Purposes (ESP) has developed in the last five decades in response to learners’ communicative needs in specific scientific fields and professional settings. Since its emergence in the 1960s the number of publications on ESP has spread both on a theoretical and practical basis, although the bulk of the research has focused on ESP pedagogy, syllabus, course design and classroom-based practice. The present paper aims to trace the evolution of ESP from the beginning of the movement in the mid-1960s to the present day. We will see that the major ESP developments are in consonance with developments in the fields of theoretical and applied linguistics. In this light, four phases can be distinguished: (1) mid-1960 – early 1970s; (2) mid-1970s – mid-1980s; (3) mid-1980s – 1990s; (4) 2000–present. Another outstanding development in ESP is related to the predominance of the different ESP strands. While English for Science and Technology was dominant in early ESP, today English for Academic Purposes and Business English are the largest areas of activity.

Vocabulary learning and teaching is very important in learning English; nevertheless, vocabulary was a neglected area in foreign language teaching for a number of years. In order to develop students’ communicative competence, language teachers should encourage them to learn as many words as possible. English for specific purposes course (ESP) are new trend in English Language Teaching and they include technical English, scientific English, English for medical professionals, English for waiters, and English for tourism. There are different opinions about teaching ESP courses but vocabulary is crucial in this sphere of teaching. Therefore, this paper attempts to add to existing studies on the use of vocabulary learning strategies in learning vocabulary in ESP. The students should become aware of the importance of language learning strategies and get trained to use them appropriately.

This paper analyzes those communication skills expected of engineers, as well as their current deficiencies. Subsequently, resources required to develop technical and professional communication maturity used in English for Specific Purposes (ESP) courses are specified. In particular, oral presentations and report writing, by means of role-play and simulations, are analyzed. Also considered are other aspects directly related to the improvement of communication skills, such as metacognition and interdisciplinary collaboration (communication). Finally, a practical case is presented: an ESP course for engineers at the Industrial Technical Engineering College from Bilbao (Spain). Several examples of tasks and activities to develop such skills are presented. Moreover, studies and data regarding their opinions about the importance of all these topics in their current learning process and in the long term are presented and analyzed. The main conclusions of the study could be summarized as follows: 1. Oral presentations and report writing are highly useful to improve engineering students’ communication skills; 2. The information provided to them can be successfully applied outside academia.