Some students at a private pharmacy vocational school viewed several ELT materials provided by the national government as irrelevant to their specific needs. One of the students from the program said that she did not get relevant ELT materials for her future work. This study was aimed at (1) identifying the ELT curriculum implemented in the Indonesian vocational senior high school, (2) exploring what students think about the ELT curriculum implemented, particularly on the ELT materials being taught, (3) examining the relevant ELT materials based on the students’ perspectives in a private vocational senior high school, and (4) identifying the specific challenges that the students of a private vocational senior high school encounter in learning the ELT materials. This research was conducted in one of the vocational senior high schools of pharmacy in central Java, Indonesia involving 30 participants from the twelfth grade. The students narrated their perspectives on the genres (vocabulary of specialist registers and Language instruction that addresses students’ specific purposes), learning activities, and assessments collected through narrative frames, observations, and interviews, then analyzed using thematic analysis. The results showed that the ELT learning materials for vocational senior high school were at the same level as general senior high. 25 out of 30 students had positive perspectives on the ELT learning materials being taught, but the materials were irrelevant to their need for future jobs. In learning the ELT materials, the students found it difficult to understand signa and read medical prescriptions. This research implies that the curriculum designers at school adapt and modify the curriculum that is relevant to the needs of specific students based on the school’s context and their perspectives. The findings also informed the teachers about the students’ perspectives of ELT materials and the challenges they faced in learning. So, the teachers may adapt or adopt their ELT materials based on those perspectives.

Keywords: English for Specific Purpose, ELT Materials, Private Vocational Students, Private Vocational High School