English for Specific Purposes (ESP) and LEA (Applied Languages) have been linked for many decades. Indeed, many ESP colleagues teach in Applied Languages and Applied Languages departments look to recruit ESP profiles as much as LANSOD (Languages for Students of Other Disciplines) departments do. However, this tangible professional convergence has not yet resulted in a scientific dialogue between the two types of foreign language training programmes, despite the many attempts made by colleagues involved in both areas.

The 41st GERAS International conference will take place in 2020 at the University of Nantes, which has a strong and vibrant LEA department. The scientific committee sees this as an excellent opportunity to reopen up the debate on the issue of specialised varieties of language in LEA in order to highlight not only the professional convergence between ESP and LEA, but also the convergence between linguistic content and pedagogical approaches.