An Introduction to ESP - Part Two

An Introduction to ESPPart Two : 

An Introduction to ESPPart Two ESP – Teaching something you know nothing about??

Some ESP learners I’ve developed courses for in past years… : 

Some ESP learners I’ve developed courses for in past years… Doctors preparing to attend medical conferences Politicians working at EU level A geologist involved in an EU project concerning the recuperation of brownfield sites A biologist working on an EU project concerning the maintenance of biodiversity in her region An engineer working on an EU project for energy efficiency in buildings A lawyer planning to attend a legal conference in the States Ticket controllers for a national rail system Retail staff in the flagship store of a leading designer of fashion accessories Call centre operatives

ESP = Teaching something you know nothing about? : 

ESP = Teaching something you know nothing about? You don’t – but the learner does. You can draw on this. Your job : to analyse the language and discourse structure of the types of communication that the learner needs to engage in, and to present this to the learner.

Task Analysis : 

Task Analysis Tasks must be analyzed to determine what skills and language abilities they require : - genre type, discourse organisation and register - key functions /notions and their linguistic realisation (structures / lexis) - skills and microskills

An example… : 

An example… The client a newly qualified paediatrician, working in the children’s ward of a hospital in the north of Italy. main objectives in learning English : to improve her ability to understand presentations at international medical conferences, and to be able to write up the research that she and her colleagues carry out. They are currently working on the effects of nutrition during pregnancy on infant development, and she has been given the task of writing the introductory section to the paper which will be submitted to an international medical journal. This forms the objective for this sequence of lessons.

An example… : 

An example… Lesson One In the first lesson, the client describes the research project to the trainer and all necessary language is fed in. She is then asked to prepare a first draft of her introduction and bring it to the following lesson.

An example… : 

An example… Lesson Two a) The trainer and the client look together at her introduction and any language problems are dealt with. She is told they will be returning to it later.

An example… : 

An example… b) The client works on an authentic research article on Irritable Bowel Syndrome. Lead in : The client is asked what she knows about IBS – causes, symptoms and treatment. Gist reading : The trainer briefly describes the objective of the research reported in the article and asks the client to predict the findings. She then reads the article to see if she was correct. Comprehension check : A couple of detailed comprehension questions are asked to check understanding of points the trainer has predicted might cause problems, and she also has the opportunity to ask for any vocabulary she is aware of not understanding, and the pronunciation of various items. Language focus : Various activities are provided which focus on the vocabularycontained in the text. These include consolidation activities such as those described above, which are set to be completed before the next lesson. They can, however, all be self checked by comparison with the original text. (Article from the British Medical Journal, seen 28.10.10 at http://www.bmj.com/content/337/bmj.a2313.full?maxtoshow=&HITS=10&hits=10&RESULTFORMAT=&fulltext=peppermint+oil&searchid=1&FIRSTINDEX=0&resourcetype=HWCIT).

An example… : 

An example… c) Focus on Genre : The client is given an article (written by the trainer) describing Swales’ work on the discourse organisation of introduction sections in medical articles*, and giving examples of each step from various articles. She is asked to read it before the next lesson. See: Swales, J (2004) Research Genres : Explorations and Applications, CUP

An example… : 

An example… Lesson Three a) The trainer discusses the article on Swales’ work with the client to check that she has understood it. b) The client is given slips of paper each with one of the various moves/steps written on it. She is asked to read through the BMJ article again and decide which step is reflected in the different parts of the text. She places the slip on the text as she goes. c) A second research article is then examined and treated in the same way, following the lead in, gist comprehension, detailed comprehension, language focus, genre analysis steps detailed above.

An example… : 

An example… d) The trainer and client discuss which steps were included in the two articles and why. e) For each of the steps the client is asked a) to identify whether the step was included in her own article b) to decide what she could say, if she wanted to, to include other steps. This is noted down on a handout. f) Before the next lesson the client is asked to look again at her own article and rewrite it, incorporating or emphasising any steps which she has decided would be useful.

A Genre Based Approach… : 

A Genre Based Approach… “ESP is concerned with preparing students to enter target discourse communities (academic, professional and workplace) with distinct and evolving communicative practices…Genres and discourse generally are taken-for-granted forms of conduct by which the target academic, professional and workplace communities are constituted. ESP learners, in order to participate … need to know the rules of the game regarding these genres… thus the task of ESP can be seen as teaching these rules.” Basturkmen, H. (2006: 11-12) Ideas and Options in English for Specific Purposes, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates

A critical approach ….? : 

A critical approach ….? Proponents of a critical approach challenge the assumption that we should be teaching people to conform. Should we be teaching learners to replicate “…existing forms of discourse (and therefore power relations) or to develop an understanding of them so they can be challenged.” Hyland, K & Hamp-Lyons, L. (2002) ‘EAP: issues and directions’, English for Academic Purposes, 1, See also Benesch, S. (2001) Critical English for Academic Purposes: Theory, Politics, and Practice, Mahwah NJ: Erlbaum

Authentic texts – central to ESP ? : 

Authentic texts – central to ESP ? Motivation : learners see clear relationship between the course and their needs Language input : texts contain specialist vocabulary, language appropriate to genre. Can be used for language improvement work Models : Are actual examples of the texts they need to be able to understand or produce

Problems with Authentic Texts : 

Problems with Authentic Texts Not always easy to obtain – solutions? Sometimes highly technical and very difficult for teacher to understand Need work to make them didactically useful, ie exercises need to be devised

The ESP Textbook : a contradiction in terms? : 

The ESP Textbook : a contradiction in terms? If it’s general enough to sell, it’s not ESP. English for Specific Groups? "ESP teachers find themselves in a situation where they are expected to produce a course that exactly matches the needs of a group of learners, but are expected to do so with no, or very limited, preparation time" (Jones, G.M. ESP textbooks: Do they really exist? English for Specific Purposes, 9, 1990,).

The ESP continuum … : 

The ESP continuum … Learners “known” to need English for business so a BE textbook is chosen NA conducted and “General” ESP materials chosen and adapted depending on the results “Real” ESP – course 100% tailor made using authentic material

Issues in ESP … : 

Issues in ESP … The ESP umbrella The centrality of learner needs When can ESP start? The role of the Common Core? Does ESP mean teaching “restricted languages”? Does the T. need to be a subject expert? Conformity or Empowerment? “General” ESP or “real” ESP?

Slide 19: 

This presentation is part of an on-line course run by Business Talk Milan for the Cambridge ESOL Delta Modules If you would like to find out more about our on-line and face-to-face training courses, please contact us via our website : www.business-talk.it