Exploring Cognitive Skills in ESP Learning
Exploring Cognitive Skills in ESP Learning

Summary/Abstract: The present paper aims to offer a window on the role that the conscious acquisition of knowledge plays in developing communicative strategies which the language learners operate with in their everyday activities or professional settings. The mental representations of reality and the logical processes such as analogies or inferences which people use in relation with others are treated in the first part of the paper so as to create the background to the study of how language awareness benefits the way people learn and use the language. Pre-existing knowledge structures on whose basis we can automatically interpret what has not been said or written pave the way for our understanding of new experiences. This is the basic reason for which we consider that all these logical processes and representations are worth exploring in the context of language learning, teaching and use. With a wide spectrum of activities at our disposal we have experienced the use of a number of activities that stimulate learners` curiosity about language and the effectiveness of using it. Our conclusion is that through social interaction, learners can gradually build knowledge and understanding of their current communication strengths to discover the usefulness of what they learn and to consciously apply their knowledge in order to connect to the present changing world.

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