An ethnographic approach to syllabus design: A case study of the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore

Abstract

This article argues for an ethnographic reorientation to needs analysis and syllabus design in ESP in advanced postgraduate centres of science and technology. Following a brief description of the institutional background that provoked rethinking on the issue of needs analysis, the article draws on the central theoretical concept of the insider-member's knowledge and tries to show its relevance to advanced ESP course design in general and to needs analysis in particular. The article also demonstrates the divergence and convergence in perceptions between the authors as ESP practitioners, seen here as outsider-analysts and the target clientele made up of insider-members of particular “subcultures,” and argues that the greater the convergence, the more relevant will be the teaching programmes offered by advanced ESP centres. Such convergence can be achieved by ESP teachers becoming partial members of target communities through “participatory research” in which they collaborate with insiders to investigate the nature of the communication that occurs in such communities. Such research would undoubtedly contribute to more relevant and enriched pedagogic proposals for advanced ESP.