The case for a new acronym ESAPIncreasingly English is being used as the teaching medium for Business Studies, Medicine, Engineering etc at Higher Education and University levels. This presents interesting challenges for the English teacher faced with students who are not interested in learning English for its own sake, but who are concerned to have sufficient command of English to help them progress in their chosen careers. General English is being replaced by English for Specific Purposes but within an atmosphere of English for Academic Purposes. How can this best be done?

A general view

• Language teachers lack the expertise and confidence to teach subject specific conventions and content

• Skills and language across a range of disciplines remain the same

General English

Level driven: the main focus is on what a student can and cannot do now.

Student motives are varied and general. They may be interested in the language or want to enjoy the global community.

the specific view

When English is taught, it should include:• current specific needs

• wider needs (transferable skills and competencies)

• acknowledgement of future needs

• •

What do students say?

“We’ve been learning English for 6 years and we’re still doing the verb to be.” (Lack of interest / progression)

“I’d like more time to speak and practise the language. I forget it straight after the lesson.” (Frustration)

“Different teachers tell us different things. (Lack of faith in the teacher – or is it the book?)

Which means ...

• Students are generally goal-orientated.

• Students might not know what they need, but they do know what they don’t need.

• Our materials and methods should reflect this.

The acronyms

• EFL?• ENOP?• ESP?• EAP?• ESAP?• EOP?

English study at university

• ENOP?• EAP?• ESP?• ESAP?

EAP provides …

• Discourse structures and vocabulary spanning all academic fields

• General skills to help decode and construct text in appropriate registers

i.e., Bottom Up skills

•

EAP

Themes based on areas of human knowledge– not quirky– not imaginary– not ‘one-off’ human interest stories– not ‘teen’ topics

EAP

Listening: to lecturesSpeaking: seminars, tutorialsReading: for researchWriting: essays, assignments

EAP LISTENING

Listening and taking notes– not interactive listening – not ‘eavesdropping’– not multiple listening– not ‘after doing’ comprehension questions

How do we learn?• This seems like a simple ... • but there is no simple …• In the next two lectures, we’re...• to look at theories of …• This week, I’m going to talk...• theories from Ancient…• Next, theories from …• theory from a Russian scientist, …• ...agree about learning. However...

• question• answer• going• learning• about• Greece• Islamic scholars• Ivan Pavlov• (contrary view)

Top down bottom up listening

How do we learn?This seems like a simple …but there is no simple …In the next two lectures, we’re …… to look at theories of …I’m going to talk about …… from Ancient …Next, theories from …A Russian scientist, …… agree about learning. However

EAP SPEAKING

Speaking from research– not phatic communion– not every function that can be thought of– not convergent, ‘what I know / think’

EAP READING

Reading for research– not reading for pleasure– not every and any text type – not ‘after doing’ comprehension questions

Reading to Writing

ResearchedMeaning

into

RehearsedWords

EAP WRITING

Writing in academic genres– not first person– not informal postcards, letters– not convergent, ‘what I know / think’

EAP WRITING

is:• analytical not impressionistic • objective not subjective• intellectual not emotional• serious not conversational• impersonal not personal• formal not colloquial

Teaching writing: top down

• Researching• Structuring research notes• Understanding models• Organising information into paragraphs• Writing topic sentences

The TOWER of Production

Thinking

Organizing

Writing

Editing

Rewriting

audience, purpose, content

information from research, knowledge, opinion

appropriate writing plan

writing for the writer – cohesion

writing for the reader – coherence

EAP Grammar

We can start with a few facts ...

75% - 85% of EAP is in … … the present (including passives)

10% - 15% of EAP is in …… the past (including passives)

5% - 10% of EAP uses …… modals

(Source: Various inc. Longman Grammar of Written and Spoken English)

And ...

90% of EAP is in the simple aspect

7% of EAP is in the perfect aspect

3% of EAP is in the progressive aspect

0.5% of EAP is in the perfect progressive aspect(Source: Longman Grammar of Written and Spoken English)

EAP Grammar

the complex noun phraseclause joiningclause embeddingprepositional phrasesstance adverbials

EAP

How does ESAP differ from EAP material?

• Content-centred approach to promote more meaningful learning

- teaches students to cope with input texts in their discipline (lectures, research articles, etc.)

• Addresses variations within disciplines- different skills, conventions, lexis and register

ESAP students need …

TOP DOWN SKILLS

to use specific information from the field to

check and develop arguments and theories

Building background knowledge enables

ESAP English for Specific Academic Purposes

•

ESAPWhat background knowledge?

• What is the discipline?• What are its branches?• What does a practitioner do?• What is the history of the discipline?• Who are the great people in the discipline – biography?• What are the great works in the discipline – references?• What are the basic principles / knowledge in the discipline?• What are the current issues?• What are the contentious issues?• Are there any Health and Safety issues (if relevant)?• How do you distinguish fact from opinion in the discipline?• What might the future hold?

ESAP

• Disciplinary variations:

• Disciplines see reality in different ways

ESAP Learning tasks

• Humanities & social sciencesAnalysing & synthesizing from

multiple sources• Science and technology

Describing procedures, defining procedures, planning solutions

ESAP Lexis and collocation

• Common core ignores multiple meaningsConsist means ‘stay the same’ in the social

sciences and ‘composed of’ in the sciencesVolume means “book’ in applied linguistics and

‘quantity’ in biologyAbstract means ‘remove’ in engineering and

‘theoretical’ in social sciences

ESAP Reporting conventions

• Social sciences;• Verbs which refer to writing activities: discuss,

hypothesize, suggest, argue• Engineers and scientists:• Verbs which refer to research activities:

observe, discover, show, analyse, etc

Self-mention (per 1,000 words)

• Philosophy 5.5• Marketing 5.5• Applied Linguistics 4.5• Sociology 4.3• Physics 4.1• Biology 3.4• Electrical engineering 3.3• Mechanical engineering 1.0

Stance features (per 1000 words)

• Philosophy 42.8• Sociology 31.1• App Ling 37.2• Marketing 39.5• Physics 25.0• Mech Eng 19.8• Elec Eng 21.6

Biology 15.5Sociology 12.5 Philosophy 10.8Applied Linguistics 10.8Marketing 10.1Electronic Engineering 8.4Physics 7.4 Mechanical Engineering 7.3

Discipline

Citations per 1000 words

Some implications for teaching..

• Use target-language authentic texts• Encourage analysis• Encourage critical thinking• Encourage reflection• Use authentic models• Use expert informants

and ....................

S What we teach in any kind of content based course is not the content itself but some form of the discourse of that content.

ESAP should equip students with the vocabulary and skills they need to enable them to study their chosen discipline in the most effective way.

Thank youollytwist@garneteducation.com

Basic content syllabus for ESAP courses

What is the discipline?What are its branches?What does a practitioner in the discipline do?The history of the disciplineThe great people in the discipline – biographyThe great works in the discipline – referencesBasic principles / knowledge in the disciplineCurrent issues in the disciplineContentious issues in the disciplineHealth and safety issues – if relevantFact vs opinion in the disciplineThe future of the discipline

Adapting the texts: Some features more common in academic Englishnouns = hypernyms, hyponymsprepositions = embedding in the noun phraseor = alternative; definition / explanationcataphoria = e.g. the problem + expositionits, their = non-human referenceour = to avoid my-tion nouns = production, definition etc.passives = although still only 25% of totalnoun C = e.g. the person that…; a way of doing etc.

Some features less common in academic Englishpronouns = EAP uses alternative nounsnot / no = EAP states positive propositionsquestions = except as rhetorical devicesimperatives = although technical has manyphrasal verbs = Latinate words used insteadprogressive = is doing, was doing etc.perfective = has done, had done etc.

Top downActivating schemataBuilding background knowledgeMaking hypothesesChecking hypotheses against incoming data

EXTRACTING PRAGMATIC MEANINGComparing grammatical meaning with hypothesisExtracting grammatical meaningDecoding text into meaningful units

Bottom up