Procedure: The Key to Developing an ESP Curriculum

Abstract

There is a need for specially designed ESP curricula to support the transfer of technology and for an efficient procedure for designing such curricula. The focus in this article is on industrial training that includes language training as an essential component. Technical trainers (and language-training organizations devoted to supporting them) believe that a specific purposes curriculum is necessary to the training process for two reasons: 1) Trainees will eventually use a narrowly focused stratum of English and certain, specifiable language skills on the job; 2) Trainees are often recruited from among the less educated population, are hired with limited proficiency, and can be given only limited time in which to master the language they need. The six steps delineated in this article describe the procedure for developing skill-based ESP curricula for intensive, technology-oriented training programs. The steps include 1) analyzing client needs, 2) sourcing classroom material, 3) writing/editing the material, 4) exercising the material, 5) editing the product, and 6) piloting/revising the product. The details for each step include descriptions of lesson formats and editing techniques. This procedural guideline is based on nearly four years of language training and curriculum development experience in the U.S. and abroad.