ENGLISH FOR SPECIFIC PURPOSE: A STUDY

Transcription

1 ISSN No X An Indexed Refereed Journal of Higher Education Towards Excellence UGC-ACADEMIC STAFF COLLEGE, GUJARAT UNIVERSITY, AHMEDABAD, INDIA ENGLISH FOR SPECIFIC PURPOSE: A STUDY Nirupama Patel Abstract The field of English for Academic Purposes has developed rapidly in the past 25 years to become a major force in English language teaching and research. Drawing its strength from broad theoretical foundations and a commitment to research-based language education, EAP has begun to reveal some of the constraints of social contexts on language use and to develop ways for learners to gain control over these. This paper focuses and point to some of the issues which currently influence and confront our discipline. Key words: Academic; foundation; discipline. Introduction EAP - English for Academic Purposes - refers to the language and associated practices that students need in order to undertake study or work in English medium higher education. The learners are not learning the English language for the sake of it, but because they need, or will need, to use English in their professional or academic lives. Proficiency in English is needed to the students for their current higher education and to succeed in their academic careers. English is necessary for the particular task such as writing an essay, dissertation or conference presentation - or an academic course. In some cases, a very high level of proficiency is not necessarily required, as long as the learners can succeed in their aims. Students, for example, need to be able to understand their lectures, fellow students and textbooks and obtain good marks for assignments and examinations. The role of the EAP lecturer is to find ways to enable them to do this - getting their present tenses correct may not be as important as understanding the overall structure of the report they have to write. March, VOL.9. ISSUE NO. 1 Page 204

2 In this paper, researcher try to find out what the learners need, what they have to do in their academic work or courses, and help them to do this better in the time available. The following figure provides a useful model to do this. (Bell, 1981, p. 50). Figure : Course design model Target Needs Analysis and Target Language The starting point is to analyse the learners' target needs. This includes the language and related practices that they will need in their work or their academic courses. These needs must be clearly researched as different subjects at different levels in different institutions or countries may have different needs (Hyland, 2000). There are four key elements that characterise language programme outcomes: use of the target language; explicit knowledge of the language; knowledge of aspects of the target cultures and intercultural awareness. This is a useful framework in which to examine typical target needs. March, VOL.9. ISSUE NO. 1 Page 205

3 If a student needs to use language in the following situations: lectures, seminars, tutorials, group projects, practical sessions, private study and examinations, the language skills needed would include reading, writing, speaking and listening. Examples of the kinds of tasks that students would carry out are as follows. In lectures, they would, among other things, need to listen for general understanding, listen for specific points to remember, ask for clarification, read hand-outs and PowerPoint presentations, and take notes. In seminars, they would listen and take notes, ask for more information, agree and disagree, and discuss, for instance. In practical sessions, it is necessary to listen to instructions, ask for information and clarification, read hand-outs and follow instructions, and write notes and reports. Teaching Approach for ESP Because of the important focus on needs and analysis of needs, it might seem that EAP is very teacher centred, but this is certainly not the case. It is important to remember that as well as teaching language, we are also teaching human beings. Therefore an EAP lecturer or course designer needs to be aware of different learning preferences and approaches. Selecting the teaching approach requires knowledge of educational policies and practices and how people learn. There is a large amount of research available in this area, the largest amount being in the area of writing, especially the distinction between the product and process approaches to teaching writing. For that reason EAP teaching is task based, using the types of academic task commonly found in higher education and writing classes are usually based on some kind of authentic extended writing task that the students do in their own time, with the help of in-class teaching, guided practice and individual tutorial support. Any explicit teaching is strongly focussed on what is needed for these tasks. Listening to lectures, and other students in seminar situations, is difficult for students. It is especially difficult for students to listen and take relevant notes. A typical approach to teaching listening for academic purposes would involve doing large amounts of in-class listening, probably pre-recorded, helping the students to be more aware of typical language used in lectures, giving them guided practice as well as strategies for dealing with difficulties (Flowerdew, 1994). Reading is similar with students doing large amounts of in-class and out of class reading - usually of authentic texts, as well as the lecturer helping the students to be more aware of typical language used in academic texts, text structure and strategies for reading critically and dealing with difficulties. Teaching speaking has received the least amount of published research, but a typical approach to teaching spoken English for March, VOL.9. ISSUE NO. 1 Page 206

4 academic purposes would again be tasked based with students doing short guided exercises leading to taking part in realistic seminar discussions and giving oral presentations, both supported by class teaching and individual tutorials. Difference between English for Specific Purposes and English for General Purpose The difference between the ESP and General English approach is in theory nothing, in practice a great deal. General English aims to achieve a high standard of everyday English communication skills. It covers the four main skills of: Reading Writing Listening and Speaking English for Academic Purposes is designed for students planning to begin tertiary studies. It introduces students to academic study skills. The most important difference lies in the learners and their purposes for learning English. ESP students are usually adults who already have some acquaintance with English and are learning the language in order to communicate a set of professional skills and to perform particular job-related functions. An ESP program is therefore built on an assessment of purposes and needs and the functions for which English is required. ESP concentrates more on language in context than on teaching grammar and language structures. It covers subjects varying from accounting or computer science to tourism and business management. The ESP focal point is that English is not taught as a subject separated from the students' real world (or wishes); instead, it is integrated into a subject matter area important to the learners. However, ESL and ESP diverge not only in the nature of the learner, but also in the aim of instruction. In fact, as a general rule, while in ESL all four language skills; listening, reading, speaking, and writing, are stressed equally, in ESP it is a needs analysis that determines which language skills are most needed by the students, and the syllabus is designed accordingly. An ESP program, might, for example, emphasize the development of reading skills in students who are preparing for graduate work in business administration; or it might March, VOL.9. ISSUE NO. 1 Page 207

5 promote the development of spoken skills in students who are studying English in order to become tourist guides. As a matter of fact, ESP combines subject matter and English language teaching. Such a combination is highly motivating because students are able to apply what they learn in their English classes to their main field of study, whether it be accounting, business management, economics, computer science or tourism. Being able to use the vocabulary and structures that they learn in a meaningful context reinforces what is taught and increases their motivation. The students' abilities in their subject-matter fields, in turn, improve their ability to acquire English. Subject-matter knowledge gives them the context they need to understand the English of the classroom. In the ESP class, students are shown how the subject-matter content is expressed in English. The teacher can make the most of the students' knowledge of the subject matter, thus helping them learn English faster. The Teacher as Researcher ESP is, fundamentally, research-based language education: a pedagogy for learners with identifiable professional, academic, and occupational communicative needs. This means that teachers cannot simply be the consumers of materials and research findings but must follow the imperative of specificity. They must consider the relevance of studies to their own learners and conduct their own target situation analyses and their own research into local contexts. While ESP textbooks and so called English for General Academic Purposes or English for General Business Purposes courses are still widespread, there is a growing awareness in the field of the limited transferability of skills, forms, and discourses across situations. In addition, teachers have not only become researchers of the genres and communicative practices of target situations, but also of their classrooms. As mentioned above, teachers have used qualitative techniques such as observations and interviews to discover students reactions to assignments, the ways they learn, and content instructors reactions to learners participation and performance. This information then feeds back into the design of ESP courses in the materials, tasks, and problems that are employed in the classroom. A teachers that already has experience in teaching English as a Second Language (ESL), can exploit their background in language teaching. They should recognize the ways in which their March, VOL.9. ISSUE NO. 1 Page 208

6 teaching skills can be adapted for the teaching of English for Specific Purposes. Moreover, they will need to look for content specialists for help in designing appropriate lessons in the subject matter field they are teaching. As an ESP teacher, one must play many roles. One may be asked to organize courses, to set learning objectives, to establish a positive learning environment in the classroom, and to evaluate student s progress. The teachers have to set learning goals and then transform them into an instructional program with the timing of activities. One of the main tasks will be selecting, designing and organizing course materials, supporting the students in their efforts, and providing them with feedback on their progress The teachers arrange the conditions for learning in the classroom and set long-term goals and short-term objectives for students achievement. Their knowledge of students' potential is central in designing a syllabus with realistic goals that takes into account the students' concern in the learning situation. Teachers skills for communication and mediation create the classroom atmosphere. Students acquire language when they have opportunities to use the language in interaction with other speakers. Being their teacher, one may be the only English speaking person available to students, and although one s time with any of them is limited, one can structure effective communication skills in the classroom. In order to do so, in one s interactions with students try to listen carefully to what they are saying and give one s understanding or misunderstanding back at them through one s replies. Good language learners are also great risk-takers, since they must make many errors in order to succeed: however, in ESP classes, they are handicapped because they are unable to use their native language competence to present themselves as well-informed adults. That s why the teacher should create an atmosphere in the language classroom which supports the students. Learners must be selfconfident in order to communicate, and the teacher has the responsibility to help build the learner's confidence. The teacher is a resource that helps students identify their language learning problems and find solutions to them, find out the skills they need to focus on, and take responsibility for March, VOL.9. ISSUE NO. 1 Page 209

7 making choices which determine what and how to learn. The teacher will serve as a source of information to the students about how they are progressing in their language learning. The Responsibility of the Student What is the role of the learner and what is the task he/she faces? The learners come to the ESP class with a specific interest for learning, subject matter knowledge, and well-built adult learning strategies. They are in charge of developing English language skills to reflect their native-language knowledge and skills. People learn languages when they have opportunities to understand and work with language in a context that they comprehend and find interesting. In this view, ESP is a powerful means for such opportunities. Students will acquire English as they work with materials which they find interesting and relevant and which they can use in their professional work or further studies. The more learners pay attention to the meaning of the language they hear or read, the more they are successful; the more they have to focus on the linguistic input or isolated language structures, the less they are motivated to attend their classes. The ESP student is particularly well disposed to focus on meaning in the subject-matter field. In ESP, English should be presented not as a subject to be learned in isolation from real use, nor as a mechanical skill or habit to be developed. On the contrary, English should be presented in authentic contexts to make the learners acquainted with the particular ways in which the language is used in functions that they will need to perform in their fields of specialty or jobs. Learners in the ESP classes are generally aware of the purposes for which they will need to use English. Having already oriented their education toward a specific field, they see their English training as complementing this orientation. Knowledge of the subject area enables the students to identify a real context for the vocabulary and structures of the ESP classroom. In such way, the learners can take advantage of what they already know about the subject matter to learn English. In nutshell, ESP refers to the specific purpose for learning English. Students approach the study of English through a field that is already known and relevant to them. This means that they are able to use what they learn in the ESP classroom right away in their work and March, VOL.9. ISSUE NO. 1 Page 210

8 studies. The ESP approach enhances the relevance of what the students are learning and enables them to use the English they know to learn even more English, since their interest in their field will motivate them to interact with speakers and texts. ESP assesses needs and integrates motivation, subject matter and content for the teaching of relevant skills. References Bell, R. (1981). An introduction to applied linguistics: Approaches and methods in language teaching. London: Batsford. Flowerdew, J. (1994). Academic listening: Research perspectives. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Gillett, A. J. (1989). Designing an EAP course: English language support for further and higher education. Journal of Further and Higher Education. Hyland, K. (2000). Disciplinary discourses. Harlow: Longman. Jordan, R. R. (1997). English for academic purposes. Cambridge: Cambridge University. Nirupama Patel Research Scholar Faculty of Social Science and Humanities Pacific Academy of Higher Education and Research University, Udaipur Contact No: March, VOL.9. ISSUE NO. 1 Page 211