特殊用途英语(ESP)虽在其定义以及属性特征上几经波折,但发展的脚步从未停歇。为满足专业英语教学需求,ESP跨越了语篇结构分析本身的羁绊,将修辞的社会功能和语境功能特征纳入研究范围,由语言自身的描述转向作为修辞现象的使然性和目标工作机制的研究。多样性、语境化、繁复性和ESP批评会是将来的发展趋势。 Although ESP has experienced many twists and turns in its definition and attribute characteristics, its development has never stopped. To meet the needs of English teaching, ESP crosses the fetters of discourse structure analysis itself and brings the rhetorical social functions and contextual features into the scope of research. From the description of language itself to the study of the moderation and goal working mechanism as a rhetorical phenomenon . Diversity, contextualization, sophistication and ESP criticism are the future trends.