The paper highlights the fact that more attention should be given to a number of teaching strategies that academics need to focus on in order to provide certain competences which are necessary to students in the field of Agricultural and Mechanical Engineering. The following generic academic competences were identified as being the most important ones: the capacity for analysis and synthesis, the capacity for applying knowledge in practice, problem solving, and last but not least communication in a foreign language (especially English). Graduates and stakeholders in the field are in agreement regarding the need for other competences to be acquired for better employability chances: the capacity to adapt to new situations, team work, interpersonal skills, and the concern for quality. For this reason, the academic course of ESP (English for Special Purposes) has been designed to focus on developing all these competences. The textbook support for the course provided for students of English at the Faculties of Agricultural Engineering and Mechanical Engineering contains applied material intended to help learners acquire the skills mentioned above. The paper will illustrate in detail the way in which the acquisition and development of subject-specific competences has been given due consideration in order to assist the professional needs of students in their major field of study.

English for Special Purposes; Learning/Teaching Strategies; Applied linguistics; Agricultural/Mechanical Engineering

social sciences

Presentation: oral