English for specific purposes

This study investigated the implementation of a gamified English for Specific Purposes (ESP) speaking instructional framework using spinning wheel media among nursing students. A qualitative case study approach was conducted involving 25 nursing students at STIKES Bina Usada Bali. Data were gathered over five instructional sessions through classroom observations, semi-structured interviews, and document analysis, followed by thematic analysis. The analysis revealed five themes: students’ engagement, speaking anxiety, speaking confidence, the relevance of nursing-based communication tasks, and classroom participation. The findings suggested that students perceived the randomized speaking prompts as engaging and considered nursing-related scenarios relevant to their prospective professional communication needs. Some participants further described feeling more comfortable and confident through repeated opportunities to practice speaking. Drawing on the classroom implementation, the study identified six related instructional components: context-based nursing tasks, randomized prompts, individual speaking performance, peer interaction, constructive feedback, and repeated practice. This study offers practical insights into the integration of gamification in ESP speaking instruction for nursing students. Nevertheless, the findings represent students’ experiences and perceptions; they do not demonstrate a causal improvement in speaking proficiency or establish the formal validity of the framework. Future research should investigate the framework in diverse educational contexts and explore its association with objectively assessed speaking outcomes.

The article analyses the cognitive and pragmatic functions of anthropomorphic metaphor in contemporary English-language discourse relating to project management and innovative information technologies. Particular attention is devoted to the conceptual mechanisms through which human characteristics, physiological states, cognitive processes and social relationships are projected onto abstract technological phenomena and corporate management practices. The study investigates the role of anthropomorphic metaphor in the formation of specialised terminology, the conceptualisation of complex digital processes and the facilitation of professional communication within multicultural corporate environments. Drawing upon the cognitive theory of metaphor, the research employs corpus-based analysis using Corpus Query Language (CQL) to identify, extract and classify metaphorical expressions occurring in technical documentation and professional project management communications. The analysis examines representative terminological units, including parent/child process, orphan file, zombie process, dead code, AI hallucinations, handshake, project health check and post-mortem, with particular emphasis on their underlying source domains and communicative implications. The findings reveal systematic patterns of metaphorical conceptualisation across two principal areas: innovative IT technologies and corporate project management. Technological processes are frequently represented through metaphors associated with human mortality, vitality and cognitive activity, whereas managerial practices draw extensively upon models of physical health, social interaction and interpersonal relationships. Three principal pragmatic functions of anthropomorphic metaphors are identified: cognitive-heuristic, communicativemanagerial and emotional-psychological. These functions contribute to the interpretation of complex technical phenomena, the establishment of shared professional terminology and the conceptual framing of organisational processes. The research further identifies the relevance of anthropomorphic terminology to intercultural professional communication, particularly in environments where English functions as a lingua franca. It is established that understanding the conceptual foundations of such expressions represents an important component of specialised linguistic competence among future engineers and IT professionals. The findings provide a theoretical and methodological basis for incorporating anthropomorphic terminology into English for Specific Purposes (ESP) instruction at technical universities, thereby supporting the development of professional communicative competence and intercultural adaptability in international technological and corporate contexts. Keywords: anthropomorphic metaphor, cognitive linguistics, IT discourse, project management, English for Specific Purposes.