ESP TEACHING IN UNIVERSITY SETTINGS. THE CASE OF CAGLIARI’S FACULTY OF ECONOMICS

The present paper discusses a case of ESP teaching in an Italian University. Specifically, we will describe how the teaching of English for Business and Economics students at the Faculty of Economics, University of Cagliari has evolved in the last 15 years, following two legislative reforms which have deeply changed, or at best influenced, the teaching of foreign languages in university settings, especially in those faculties where such topics do not represent the core subject matter of their curriculum – Economics, Political Sciences, Medicine, Physics, Biology, and, to a certain extent, even Pedagogy. After presenting some of the most prominent results of research analysis on ESP, the present paper will concentrate on some peculiar issues connected with ESP teaching, and will finally illustrate how the teaching of English to B1-B2 students of the University of Cagliari has been carried out at the Faculty of Economics.