Research on Humanities and Social Sciences www.iiste.org ISSN (Paper)2224-5766 ISSN (Online)2225-0484 (Online) Vol.6, No.13, 2016 44 Designing an ESP Course for Medical Representatives in Pakistan Agha Masood Ahmad Khan Assistant Professor English, Department of English,Institute of Southern Punjab, Multan Prof.Dr.Abdul Ghafoor Awan Dean, Faculty of Management and Social Sciences,Institute of Southern Punjab,Multan-Pakistan Muhammad Imran Afzal M.Phil English Scholar, Department of English, Institute of Southern Punjab,Multan Abstract The aim of this research paper is to investigate professional needs of English language for Medical Representatives in Pakistan. For the purpose of finding out English language needs for Medical Representatives, mixed method approach has been applied. Three groups of research population are selected for gathering data considering them main stakeholders of this professional discourse community. These population groups: medical representatives, professional trainers and Ex-medical representative. A questionnaire was developed to collect data from medical representatives and interviews were conducted to gather relevant information from professional trainers and Ex-medical representatives. Quantitative data were analyzed using SPSS (Version 17) and qualitative data were analyzed through thematic analysis identifying common themes from respondents’ responses. The findings of this research paper indicate that proficiency in English language is a key factor for success in medical representatives’ profession. The study presents recommendations and directions to design ESP course for medical representatives in Pakistan. Keywords: English for specific purposes (ESP), English for academic purposes (EAP), English for occupational purpose (EOP), needs analysis, course design. 1. INTRODUCTION Yang (2006) describes that English has gained status of lingua franca for interaction in the global markets. It is an essential and recognized medium of communication in various professions such as business, engineering, law, medicine, science and technology. Csillia (2009) states that English is God-given, noble, rich and interesting language but other languages have not attained these characteristics. English is being used in most esteemed research journals to publish the renowned research studies related to technology, science, education, medicine and business. English is the only main language of international meetings, briefings, conferences and discussions. Owing to all aforesaid factors, it is inevitable for professionals to be expert in English language. Consequently, English has gained indubitable status in Pakistani occupational and professional settings for every field. The medical representatives in Pakistan have strong needs and motivation to learn English language for numerous occupational activities. Presently, there are no such English courses which enhance the English language competence of the medical representatives in Pakistan and aimed at catering their specific language needs. Rahman states that Pakistan is a multi-lingual country. But the languages of power domains, government, media, education, corporate sector etc. are Urdu and English. The official language of Pakistan is English and it has status of second language in Pakistan. Despite the fact that Urdu is the national language of Pakistan, the English language status is undoubtedly very high. According to Mansoor (2005:25-28), English has got higher status due to its following functions: • English is the language of civil administration and bureaucracy. • It is used for contact in legal system of the country at provincial and federal levels. • It is the official language of country’s armed forces and language of correspondence for official work. • English is also language of media, along with the Urdu language and the other regional languages. • Together with Urdu, English is the language of educational field. In almost all the educational institutions of government, Urdu is adopted as medium of instruction and English is taught as a compulsory subject. • In multilingual society of Pakistan, the learning of the most powerful language would not only mean better possibilities of survival but also a matter of attaining social status and prestige. • The Pakistani government has recognized the significance of English as language of science and technology. That is why English is a compulsory subject up to Bachelor level and is used as medium of instruction at higher studies level but Urdu is taught as mandatory subject up to intermediate. As the need of English has been increased, ESP courses are being introduced in a number of fields. These courses play significant role for strengthening the dominance of English language in the social fabric of Pakistan.