Science conference poster presentations in an ESP program

In recent years at professional conferences poster presentations have become a popular technique for communicating ideas, especially research work. Sanderson (1982) has described in great detail how posters are professionally made and used in biomedical meetings. In this paper is a description of how such posters have been adapted to an intensive ESP program in Beijing, People's Republic of China, to simulate conference conditions; to provide coordination between the writing and oral communication courses at the advanced level; to provide informal, unplanned discussion concerning the students' own research interests; and to provide students (who might be attending professional conferences where English is one of the conference languages) with a technique for communicating ideas that is less threatening than a formal conference presentation in front of many people.