Investigating the Integration of Employability Skills in ESP (English for Specific Purposes) Classrooms

DOI

10.2991/978-94-6463-882-0_15How to use a DOI?

Keywords

Employability Skills; English for Specific Purposes; ESP Instruction; Vocational Education; Workforce Readiness

Abstract

This study explores the integration of employability skills into English for Specific Purposes (ESP) courses for vocational higher education. It examines how teaching methods and ESP curricula can be adapted to promote linguistic proficiency and critical workplace skills. The study employed a qualitative methodology that included classroom observations, interviews with educators, students, and hospitality workers, as well as a five-point Likert scale administered to students and professionals in the field. The results show notable variations in the integration of employable skills. While some skills were effectively implemented using industry-standard frameworks, others had a significant gap in meeting expectations. According to student replies, the most implemented skills were Digital Literacy (3.880), Innovation and Problem Solving (3.791), and Collaboration and Teamwork (3.762). Critical Thinking and Decision Making had the lowest rating (3.509). On the other hand, industry professionals gave professional development and management (4.833) the highest priority, followed by communication (4.722), collaboration and teamwork (4.778), innovation and problem-solving (4.778), and critical thinking and decision-making (4.815). These findings highlight the partial discrepancy between industry expectations and student perceptions. Real-world needs are best met by ESP courses that incorporate collaborative projects, real-world challenges, and systematic skill reflection. With implications for curriculum creation, teacher preparation, and institutional policy, this study advances employability-focused language education by implementing a framework for methodically incorporating such skills into ESP instruction.

Copyright

© 2025 The Author(s)

Open Access

Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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TY  - CONF
AU  - Putu Tika Virginiya
AU  - Ni Wayan Merry Nirmala Yani
AU  - Ni Nyoman Sri Astuti
PY  - 2025
DA  - 2025/11/14
TI  - Investigating the Integration of Employability Skills in ESP (English for Specific Purposes) Classrooms
BT  - Proceedings of the International Conference on Sustainable Green Tourism Applied Science - Social Applied Science 2025 (ICOSTAS-SAS 2025)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 120
EP  - 130
SN  - 2352-5398
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-94-6463-882-0_15
DO  - 10.2991/978-94-6463-882-0_15
ID  - Virginiya2025
ER  -