The paper focuses on the provocation teaching method used in an ESP classroom, with the key goal of scrutinizing its particular constituents that may cater for the learners’ unique demands and help them improve language fluency. The case study was conducted within the scope of an ESP course taken by chemistry students at Lomonosov Moscow State University and employed learners’ needs analysis, classroom experiments, empirical observation and feedback from students as data collection and assessment techniques. Based on current and target needs identified through questionnaires and interviews, a variety of provocative assignments were developed and tested in terms of their efficacy and contribution to learners’ performance in the classroom. Our findings suggest that the essential components of the provocation method in ESP context include the authentic content materials focusing on issues within the learners’ professional domain, collaborative discussion as a way to solve the language tasks they are confronted with, independent search for information, and the teacher’s role as a classroom moderator rather than an expert. The study is novel in that it goes beyond the theoretical investigation of the provocation approach in teaching and bridges the gap between theory and practice by offering insights for ESP practitioners seeking to shape and improve their courses in a variety of contexts.