16. english for specific purposes 9 print2

8/12/2019 16. English for Specific Purposes 9 Print2

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English for Specific Purpose



ENGLISH FOR SPECIFIC PURPOSES

I. What does ESP mean?

In the advent of content-based language instruction and skills-based syllabus, more and more teachers have realized theeffectiveness and practicality of teaching what the students NEED and not what the syllabus or the curriculum dictatesence, the birth of English for !pecific "urposes. utchinson and #aters $%&'() use E!" as an approach rather than aproduct, by which they mean that E!" does not involve a particular kind of language, teaching material or methodology*hey suggest that +the foundation of E!" is the simple uestion “Why does this learner need to learn a foreign

language?” *he answer to this uestion relates to the learners, the language reuired and the learning contet, and thusestablishes the primacy of NEED in E!".

II. What are the Basc Features o! ESP?

%. E!" is goal oriented - /ecause students study English for a specific purpose, i.e. to survive in an academic settingor in a workplace, topics and activities are specified on the goal of the student. ence, the program should not begeared towards a general approach to teaching the English language.

0. E!" is based on needs analysis - 1elevant to the first criteria, the topics and activities embedded within an E!"course is based on the analysis of students2 needs, i.e. initial needs, learning needs, and target or end-of-coursereuirements.

3. E!" is time-bound - /ecause students study English for a specific purpose, they do not intend to spend too muchtime engaging to indirect learning activities and eercises. Each session aims to contribute to the end goal, whichshould be met at a specified time or duration.

4. E!" is for adults - 5lthough there may be some people taking up E!" courses, most often the students are adultssimply because they are the ones who are opting to learn English as a preparation for higher learning or for theworkplace.

6. E!" is discipline specific - 7ost often than not, E!" courses are written to fit a particular group of students whobelong to the same field of study. If you2re a nurse, you would not enroll in an English for Engineers course, wouldyou8

III. What are the t"pes o! ESP?

E!" is basically divided into two types E9" $English for 9ccupational "urposes) and E5" $English for 5cademic"urposes). :rom the names themselves, learners who are enrolled in E9" and E5" have specific ob;ectives, that is todevelop English in preparation for work or ;ob $E9") and improve language proficiency to survive and function better in ahigher academic setting $E5"). *he table below shows the different types of E!".

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English

for

Professional

Purposes

English

for

Vocational

Purposes

English

forMedical

Purposes

English

forBusiness

Purposes

English

for Pre-Vocation

al

English

English

forVocation

al

English

ESP

EOPEAP

English

for

Science&

Technolo

gy

English

for

MedicalPurposes

English

for Legal

Purposes

English for

Manageen

t! "inance!

&

Econoics



I#. Hstor" and $e%e&opment*he development of E!" may be summarized into five stages as suggested by utchinson and #aters $%&'(), namely

%. *he concept of special language $register analysis)- /efore E!", language teaching uses language samplesand inputs that are most often than not, alien to the students. During the first phases of E!"2s development,language teachers began to see that there is a +special language< in certain fields. *hus, from the usual +*his isa book< sample sentence, teachers began to introduce more discipline-specific terms such as +*his is anErlenmeyer flask.<

0. /eyond the sentence- :rom words or terms, E!" teachers began to eplore more about the +special language<by engaging in rhetorical or discourse analysis

3. *arget situation analysis- =ater on, E!" teachers began to analyze the +end goal< of a particular languageclass, i.e. +#hat should the learners be able to do after taking up the E!" course8<

4. !kills and strategies- *he focus of teaching has turned to the skills that learners shoulddevelop and the strategies on how these would be achieved.

6. =earning-centered approach- 7ost recently, E!" gave emphasis on how learning will beattained and how learners will learn.

I#. Lan'ua'e Issues n ESP

5 common area of criticism in E!" is on how language is treated in classes because E!" is geared towards developingcertain specific language skills necessary for carrying out learner goals as opposed to English for general purposes, whichforward learning all the language skills. *he following are some of the language areas that were uestioned.

A. >rammar in E!"- *here are many misconceptions about the role of grammar in E!" teaching. It is often

said that E!" teaching is not concerned with grammar. E!" practitioners claim that it is incorrect to

consider grammar teaching as outside the remit of E!". ow much priority is paid to grammatical

weakness depends on the learners2 level in English and whether priority needs to be given to grammatica

accuracy or to fluency in using the language.

(e" Grammatca& Forms

• ?erbs and tense

• ?oice

• 7odals

• 5rticles

• Nominalisation

• =ogical connectors

B. ?ocabulary in E!"- !ince E!" is founded on the belief that there is a +specialized language< it follows

that there are also +specialized vocabulary< that, most often than not, are eclusive to a particular

discipline or area. *hus, !wales $%&'3) emphasizes the importance of the teaching of vocabulary in E!"1esearchers in E!" identify three $3) levels of vocabulary

%. *echnical@!pecialist vocabulary- technical vocabulary consists of words or terminologies tha

are eclusive to a particular discipline or field. *hese should be highly considered in E!"

classes because students would eperience difficulties in understanding tets if they don2t

understand certain terms

0. !emi-*echnical and Aore /usiness ?ocabulary- !ome terms that are present in a particular

discipline would tend to have a different definition in a different field. *hese are categorized as

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!emi-technical.

3. >eneral and non-academic- Despite being discipline-specific, E!" should still give ample time

in discussing general or +layman2s terms< because these play an important role in thei

understanding and learning

C. Discourse and >enre 5nalysis- Dudley-Evans et.al. $%&&' as cited in 1obinson, %&&%) suggest that E!"

needs a system of linguistic analysis that demonstrates differences between tets and tet types. *hey

emphasize that genre analysis may be used as a classificatory systemB revealing the essential differencesbetween both the genre studied and other genres and also between the various sub-genres. *hey further

point out that genre analysis within E!" is prescriptive, whereas register analysis is descriptive.

*he aim of discourse analysis, particularly the system of analysis of clause relations in written tet is todescribe relations that are found in all tets. It is concerned with similarities between tets.

#. Practca& concerns n ESP

5. Needs 5nalysis- 5s mentioned above, one basic key feature of E!" is that it is +based on needs analysis< which

means that E!" lessons are not ;ust dictated by the school but a result of careful study on what the students

need. /ut what is +needs<8 Needs may refer to

• !tudy or ;ob reuirements

• Necessary

• #hat the learner needs to do

• "ersonal aims

• +=acks< $or what they don2t have)

*here are three basic types of analysis that E!" course developer usually do

• *arget situation analysis- focuses on the needs of the learners at the end of the language program

• "resent situation analysis- focuses on the level of the students2 language skills at the start of the

language program

• "edagogic needs analysis- focuses on the educational needs of the students such as +#hat they

lack<B +ow they learn<B +#hat cultural differences do they have<

/. !yllabus- !yllabus design plays a very important role in E!". Aourse designers should carefully in plan the

content to ensure that it includes what the learner needs and ecludes what learners don2t need. !imilar to

English for general purposes, there are also a number of different syllabus designs, such as the following.

%. Aontent-based syllabuses- +Aontent< has different meaning in syllabus design. It may mean languageform, language notion, language function, situation, or even topic. 9ne of the most famous innovations inthe %&(Cs was the development of the notional-functional syllabus, in which the basic units are notions oconcepts $time, space) or functions $greeting, asking, clarifying, etc.)

0. !kill-based syllabuses- +=anguage skills< in these types of syllabuses would usually focus on a particulamacro and micro-skill. Eamples would be a course in writing business letters or a course in presentingbusiness reports.

3. 7ethod-based syllabuses- *here are two sub-categories of +method< namely$a) learning process, which focuses on the students2 preferences on language learning $i.e. what

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happens in the classroom is a negotiation between the teacher and the student) and$b) task or procedure, which focuses on the class activities that students should doB in this type,students understand the task and they do not act mechanically. *his means that each task is relevantand sub;ect-specific. 7oreover, tasks are appropriate and meaningful $e.g. If students have to write aletter of application in class, they know that writing is reuired in the process of application, and not

;ust a language practice activity.)

A. 7aterials- In E!", as it is in any language program, materials play a very vital role. *hey should be carefully

selected and designed to suit the needs of the learners. 9ne important characteristic of E!" materials is its

+authenticity<. In E>", +authentic< is defined as materials originally produced for a purpose other than languageteaching. In E!" +authentic< materials are those that are normally used in the students2 workplace or academic

environment.

In terms of +types< E!" materials may be divided into two, namely content-based materials and competency-based materials. In relation to previous discussions on syllabus design, content-based E!" materials are thosethat focus on language form, language notion, language function, situation, or even topic. *hus, content-based ismore appropriate in E5". 9n the other hand, competency-based materials focus on the language skills $cf. skills-based syllabus)B thus, this is more appropriately applied in E9".

D. Evaluation- !imilar with materials, evaluation processes are important to E!" too. Evaluation provides necessary

information regarding the etent to which the learner learnt. In E!", testing is mostly performance-based, as

opposed to the usual paper-and-pencil test. !ince testing in E!" focuses on the uestion +has the studenreached the level that he2s@she2s supposed to reach8< there will be no better way to know this but through

+simulated< tests that compel students to perform. In relation to this, E!" tests are criterion-referenced because a

student should reach a particular level in order to pass the course. $*his is contrary to E>" tests, which are often

norm-referenced.)

E. Alassroom "ractice- In terms of classroom practices or methodologies, a popular uestion raised against E!" is

+Is there a particular techniue adopted by English language teachers in the E!" classroom8< *his uestion was

raised by !inha !adorra $%&&%), and their answer is +no<. Indeed, this uestion has haunted language teachers

in particular, E!" teachers. 5lthough communicative language teaching $A=*) is the most prevalen

methodology, E!" courses are not limited to this.

"hilipps as cited in 1obinson $%&&%) suggests four key methodological principles, namely

$a) reality control, which relates to the manner in which tasks are rendered accessible to studentsB$b) non-triviality, i.e. the tasks must be meaningfully generated by the students2 special purposeB$c) authenticity, i.e. the language must e naturally generated by the students2 special purposeB and$d) tolerance of error, i.e. errors which do not impede successful communication must be tolerated.

/elow is a list of some commonly used activities in an E!" program

%. 1ole play and !imulation- !tudents assume a different role or a role that is present in their future work area:or eample, a student pilot may assume the role of the captain and give orders to his crew or reportcoordinates to the air traffic control tower.

0. Aase studies- *his activity is common in business, medicine, and law. It involves studying the facts of a real-life case, discussing the issues involved, and coming up with a decision or plan.3. "ro;ect work- ere students work on a particular +pro;ect< which may include out of the class activities. *hen

students are epected to construct manuals, which eplain how it works and@or discuss how their pro;ect wasmade. *his may be applicable to engineering students specifically to those who are in the field of robotics andother innovative gadgets.

4. 9ral presentations- 1elevant to the activities above, students may present or even defend a particular productor issue. ere, students are eposed to possible academic or work environment that they may face in thefuture.

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9ther pertinent principles and issues in E!" methodology involve

%. nowledge for content- 9ne problem in E!" is the language teacher2s mastery over content. !ince theteacher is a language ma;or, it would be difficult for him or her to have mastery of the content. 5 usualapproach to address this issue is to team teach with a sub;ect-matter epert

0. *eacher talk- !ince E!" courses are communicative in nature, teachers are epected to be facilitators ratherthan classroom authorities. !tudents should have more talk time instead of the teacher.

3. =earners2 cognitive and emotional involvement- *asks and activities should make the students fee+successful< at the end of the program. It should be noted that these students took the course to achieve acertain degree of language proficiency. *hus, they should develop a positive outlook on the program, becausethis will in turn affect their cognitive development.

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16. english for specific purposes 9 print2

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