Key Issues in English for Specific Purposescurriculum develoment.docx

Key Issues in English for Specific Purposescurriculum develoment.docx

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KeyIssuesinEnglishforSpecificPurposescurriculumdeveloment

KeyIssuesinEnglishforSpecificPurposes（ESP）CurriculumDevelopment

KristenGatehouse

khoey[at]khae-

www.khae-

BasedoninsightsgainedfromdevelopingthecurriculumforLanguagePreparationforEmploymentintheHealthSciencesandareviewoftheliteratureonESP,thispaperisintendedtooffertheoreticalsupportforESLinstructorsdevelopingESPcurriculaforESLcontexts.

BackgroundInformationandStatementofPurpose

Inlate1999,Iwasaskedtodevelopacontent-basedcurriculumforaten-weekcourseforaselectgroupofimmigrantslivinginOttawa,Canada.ThecoursewasheldatAlgonquinCollegeofAppliedArtsandTechnologyandwasfundedbytheLanguageforEmploymentRelatedNeedsProject（LERN）.Thecurriculumconsistedoftwodistinctphases:

languagedeliveryandemploymentawareness.Althoughtheemploymentawarenessphase（independentlydevelopedanddeliveredbyLocalAgenciesServingImmigrants）wasanintegralcomponentoftheprogram,thefocusofthispaperisoninsightsgainedfromthelanguage-deliveryphase.

DudleyEvansandSt.John（1998）identifyfivekeyrolesfortheESPpractitioner:

∙teacher

∙coursedesignerandmaterialsprovider

∙collaborator

∙researcher

∙evaluator.

ItistheroleofESPpractitionerascoursedesignerandmaterialsproviderthatthispaperaddresses.ThepremiseofthispaperisbasedonDavidNunan'sobservationsabouttheteacherasacurriculumdeveloper.

Itseemsfairlyobviousthatifteachersaretobetheonesresponsiblefordevelopingthecurriculum,theyneedthetime,theskillsandthesupporttodoso.Supportmayincludecurriculummodelsandguidelines·andmayincludesupportfromindividualsactinginacurriculumadvisoryposition.Theprovisionofsuchsupportcannotberemovedandmustnotbeseeninisolation,fromthecurriculum（Nunan,1987,p.75）.

Nunanrecognizedthatissuesoftime,skillsandsupportarekeyforteachersfacedwiththeveryrealtaskofdevelopingcurricula.TheintentofthispaperistoprovidetheESLinstructorasESPcoursedesignerandmaterialsproviderwiththeoreticalsupport.ThispaperbeginswithadiscussionoftheoriginsofESP.SomekeynotionsaboutESParethenaddressed:

∙absoluteandvariablecharacteristics

∙typesofESP

∙characteristicsofESPcourses

∙themeaningoftheword'special'inESP

KeyissuesinESPcurriculumdesignaresuggested:

a）abilitiesrequiredforsuccessfulcommunicationinoccupationalsettings;b）contentlanguageaquisitionversusgenerallanguageaquisition;c）heterogeneousversushomogenouslearnergroup;andd）materialsdevelopment.

TheOriginsofESP

Certainly,agreatdealabouttheoriginsofESPcouldbewritten.Notably,therearethreereasonscommontotheemergenceofallESP:

thedemandsofaBraveNewWorld,arevolutioninlinguistics,andfocusonthelearner（Hutchinson&Waters,1987）.

HutchinsonandWaters（1987）notethattwokeyhistoricalperiodsbreathedlifeintoESP.First,theendoftheSecondWorldWarbroughtwithitan"...ageofenormousandunprecedentedexpansioninscientific,technicalandeconomicactivityonaninternationalscale·forvariousreasons,mostnotablytheeconomicpoweroftheUnitedStatesinthepost-warworld,therole[ofinternationallanguage]felltoEnglish"（p.6）.Second,theOilCrisisoftheearly1970sresultedinWesternmoneyandknowledgeflowingintotheoil-richcountries.ThelanguageofthisknowledgebecameEnglish.

Thegeneraleffectofallthisdevelopmentwastoexertpressureonthelanguageteachingprofessiontodelivertherequiredgoods.WhereasEnglishhadpreviouslydecideditsowndestiny,itnowbecamesubjecttothewishes,needsanddemandsofpeopleotherthanlanguageteachers（Hutchinson&Waters,1987,p.7）.

ThesecondkeyreasoncitedashavingatremendousimpactontheemergenceofESPwasarevolutioninlinguistics.Whereastraditionallinguistssetouttodescribethefeaturesoflanguage,revolutionarypioneersinlinguisticsbegantofocusonthewaysinwhichlanguageisusedinrealcommunication.HutchinsonandWaters（1987）pointoutthatonesignificantdiscoverywasinthewaysthatspokenandwrittenEnglishvary.Inotherwords,giventheparticularcontextinwhichEnglishisused,thevariantofEnglishwillchange.Thisideawastakenonestepfarther.Iflanguageindifferentsituationsvaries,thentailoringlanguageinstructiontomeettheneedsoflearnersinspecificcontextsisalsopossible.Hence,inthelate1960sandtheearly1970sthereweremanyattemptstodescribeEnglishforScienceandTechnology（EST）.HutchinsonandWaters（1987）identifyEwerandLatorre,Swales,SelinkerandTrimbleasafewoftheprominentdescriptiveESTpioneers.

ThefinalreasonHutchinsonandWaters（1987）citeashavinginfluencedtheemergenceofESPhaslesstodowithlinguisticsandeverythingtodopsychology.Ratherthansimplyfocusonthemethodoflanguagedelivery,moreattentionwasgiventothewaysinwhichlearnersacquirelanguageandthedifferencesinthewayslanguageisacquired.Learnerswereseentoemploydifferentlearningstrategies,usedifferentskills,enterwithdifferentlearningschemata,andbemotivatedbydifferentneedsandinterests.Therefore,focusonthelearners'needsbecameequallyparamountasthemethodsemployedtodisseminatelinguisticknowledge.Designingspecificcoursestobettermeettheseindividualneedswasanaturalextensionofthisthinking.Tothisday,thecatchwordinESLcirclesislearner-centeredorlearning-centered.

KeyNotionsAboutESP

Inthisdiscussion,fourkeynotionswillbediscussed.Theyareasfollows:

a）thedistinctionsbetweentheabsoluteandvariablecharacteristicsofESP,b）typesofESP,c）characteristicsofESPcourses,andd）themeaningoftheword'special'inESP.

AbsoluteandVariableCharacteristicsofESP

Tenyearslater,theoristsDudley-EvansandStJohn（1998）modifiedStrevens'originaldefinitionofESPtoformtheirown.LetusbeginwithStrevens.HedefinedESPbyidentifyingitsabsoluteandvariablecharacteristics.Strevens'（1988）definitionmakesadistinctionbetweenfourabsoluteandtwovariablecharacteristics:

I.Absolutecharacteristics:

ESPconsistsofEnglishlanguageteachingwhichis:

▪designedtomeetspecifiedneedsofthelearner;

▪relatedincontent（i.e.initsthemesandtopics）toparticulardisciplines,occupationsandactivities;

▪centredonthelanguageappropriatetothoseactivitiesinsyntax,lexis,discourse,semantics,etc.,andanalysisofthisdiscourse;

▪incontrastwithGeneralEnglish.

II.Variablecharacteristics:

ESPmaybe,butisnotnecessarily:

▪restrictedastothelanguageskillstobelearned（e.g.readingonly）;

▪nottaughtaccordingtoanypre-ordainedmethodology（pp.1-2）.

Anthony（1997）notesthattherehasbeenconsiderablerecentdebateaboutwhatESPmeansdespitethefactthatitisanapproachwhichhasbeenwidelyusedoverthelastthreedecades.Ata1997JapanConferenceonESP,Dudley-Evansofferedamodifieddefinition.ThereviseddefinitionheandSt.Johnpostulateisasfollows:

I.AbsoluteCharacteristics

▪ESPisdefinedtomeetspecificneedsofthelearner;

▪ESPmakesuseoftheunderlyingmethodologyandactivitiesofthedisciplineitserves;

▪ESPiscentredonthelanguage（grammar,lexis,register）,skills,discourseandgenresappropriatetotheseactivities.

II.VariableCharacteristics

▪ESPmayberelatedtoordesignedforspecificdisciplines;

▪ESPmayuse,inspecificteachingsituations,adifferentmethodologyfromthatofgeneralEnglish;

▪ESPislikelytobedesignedforadultlearners,eitheratatertiarylevelinstitutionorinaprofessionalworksituation.Itcould,however,beforlearnersatsecondaryschoollevel;

▪ESPisgenerallydesignedforintermediateoradvancedstudents;

▪MostESPcoursesassumesomebasicknowledgeofthelanguagesystem,butitcanbeusedwithbeginners（1998,pp.4-5）.

Dudley-EvansandSt.Johnhaveremovedtheabsolutecharacteristicthat'ESPisincontrastwithGeneralEnglish'andaddedmorevariablecharacteristics.TheyassertthatESPisnotnecessarilyrelatedtoaspecificdiscipline.Furthermore,ESPislikelytobeusedwithadultlearnersalthoughitcouldbeusedwithyoungadultsinasecondaryschoolsetting.

AsforabroaderdefinitionofESP,HutchinsonandWaters（1987）theorize,"ESPisanapproachtolanguageteachinginwhichalldecisionsastocontentandmethodarebasedonthelearner'sreasonforlearning"（p.19）.Anthony（1997）notesthat,itisnotclearwhereESPcoursesendandgeneralEnglishcoursesbegin;numerousnon-specialistESLinstructorsuseanESPapproachinthattheirsyllabiarebasedonanalysisoflearnerneedsandtheirownpersonalspecialistknowledgeofusingEnglishforrealcommunication.

TypesofESP

DavidCarter（1983）identifiesthreetypesofESP:

∙Englishasarestrictedlanguage

∙EnglishforAcademicandOccupationalPurposes

∙Englishwithspecifictopics.

ThelanguageusedbyairtrafficcontrollersorbywaitersareexamplesofEnglishasarestrictedlanguage.MackayandMountford（1978）clearlyillustratethedifferencebetweenrestrictedlanguageandlanguagewiththisstatement:

...thelanguageofinternationalair-trafficcontrolcouldberegardedas'special',inthesensethattherepertoirerequiredbythecontrollerisstrictlylimitedandcanbeaccuratelydeterminedsituationally,asmightbethelinguisticneedsofadining-roomwaiterorair-hostess.However,suchrestrictedrepertoiresarenotlanguages,justasatouristphrasebookisnotgrammar.