ESP in South Korea

This chapter presents a comprehensive view of Korean ESP research. Relevant ESP articles were first identified through Research Information Sharing Service (RISS) in Korea, a widely-used academic search engine. ESP articles from the 1970s to today were then read and coded by the authors to obtain categories to classify Korean ESP articles. The contents were sorted out into EAP and EOP types by the goals for English teaching and learning. EAP and EOP studies were then further categorized into learner levels, target contents, and the immediacy and specificity of the goals. Studies were also examined by the type of discourse (oral or written), research topics, and research methods. The current status of ESP studies in Korea is discussed based on the perspectives obtained from these data-driven categories of ESP articles.