The role(s) of the business English teacher: a practical approach

Starting from Jeremy Harmer’s (1994) general list and Evan Frendo’s (2012) Business English-focused perspective on teacher roles, this paper aims to discuss in more detail the different dimensions of the teaching process I have identified during my seminars at the Faculty of Economics and Business Administration and provide practical examples of the teacher’s role(s) in the classroom based on the fundamental process of needs analysis. It will show that teaching ESP is indeed more of a collaborative process between the students and the teacher and, consequently, the latter’s role must shift according to the former’s learning needs.