ESP Course Research Articles

Research on Teaching Mode Construction of ESP Course for Textile Engineering Based on Production-oriented Approach

In order to overcome the disadvantages of "separation of learning and using" in foreign language teaching in China, Professor Wen Qiufang and her team have put forward their theoretical and practical achievements of POA (Production-oriented Approach) after more than ten years of research and exploration. The Production-oriented Approach conforms to the reality of foreign language teaching in China in the aspects of teaching concepts, teaching hypothesis, and teaching process jumps out of the dilemma of needs analysis and passes through the theory of second language acquisition and the practice of foreign language teaching. It has profound theoretical and practical guiding significance for language teaching at colleges and universities in China. This paper, based on the introduction of POA theory and the current ESP teaching research achievements in China, combining with the practice of English ESP teaching for majors of textile engineering at Tianjin Polytechnic University, attempts to construct a set of feasible ESP teaching mode for the major of textile engineering based on POA (Production-oriented Approach).

Using Drama in ESP: The Interdepartmental Language Centre as a Learning Community

This article seeks to illustrate how the Interdepartmental Language Centre of a university can come to represent a fertile and dynamic learning community. Its specific focus is the use of drama in two ESP courses run by the interdepartmental language centre at the University of Turin (CLA-UniTo). The first was a third-year workshop for trainee primary school teachers, the second a first-year module on a degree course in social work. Both of these courses might be said to bridge the rather ill-defined boundaries between CLIL and ESP, as in both cases language is taught through content and content through language. This cross-curricular focus disrupts the traditional verticalist hierarchy of the teacher-pupil relationship, since the course participants frequently have content-based knowledge and experience in which the “teacher” is lacking. The use of dramatization proved particularly useful in engaging and empowering each individual student in these classes, transforming the learning process into a dynamic, collaborative enterprise.

Using Video Presentations in ESP Classes (A Study Conducted at the Language Centre-Skopje, SEEU)

Abstract In order to motivate students and create a tension free environment English language teachers implement different technological tools in the classroom. This paper aims to emphasize the importance of using video material in the classroom that facilitates ESL teaching. The study was conducted at SEEU Language Centre with 87 students’. Major ethnical groups include Macedonian, Albanian, Turkish, and Roma. The respondents’ age varies from 18-20 studying ESP classes, such as Computer Sciences 1, ESP (Public administration 1) as well as Academic and Advanced Academic English, and the research questions are: to what extent students are motivated to study English using videos, do Video presentations stimulate students’ critical thinking skills. Moreover, 8 teachers responded to the questionnaire and strongly agreed that Videos motivate students’ discussions in class. Teaching ESP courses using audio-visual tools is especially beneficial for both students and teachers because the appropriate video material can make students more interested in the subject, more engaged as well as become more confident in communicative language learning competencies.

Developing Teaching Materials for ESP Courses: The Last Option Many ESP Teachers Resort To

Abstract Contrary to the claim made by Hutchinson and Waters (1987) that designing teaching materials should be the last option considered, Basturkmen and Bocanegra-Valle (2018) remind that many ESP teachers are very frequently directly involved in designing teaching materials as commercially published coursebooks and other materials tend not to be relevant to the needs of their specialized groups of learners. This paper offers an insight into the key aspects as well as the sequence of ESP materials design. It outlines the main beliefs and principles which constitute the general framework for teaching materials development and summarizes the major explicit and implicit teachers’ beliefs which inevitably reflect on the process of materials design. This paper also tackles the issues of assumed abilities and training for developing and/or adapting teaching materials offered to ESP teachers in the attempt to answer the everlasting question whether being a good ESP teacher automatically implies being a good materials designer.

Designing and ESP course according to what students want and need. An analysis of Students’ Needs and expectations

Designing and ESP course according to what students want and need. An analysis of Students’ Needs and expectations

ОПЫТ РЕАЛИЗАЦИИ И ОСОБЕННОСТИ ПРОЕКТИРОВАНИЯ КУРСА ESP НА ПРИМЕРЕ ВУЗА

The article presents an attempt of implementing ESP courses (English for Special Purposes) in foreign and Russian higher education establishments, describes an attempt of teaching ESP at Ogarev Mordovia State University, and also discusses the most typical problems that arise in the real conditions of the educational process. The author focuses on such aspects as rational selection of educational materials for the training course, the problem of multilevel groups, ESP course designing, and also suggests possible solutions to the difficulties that arise.

An Exploration of an Innovative Curriculum and an Effectiveness of Pedagogy of ESP Courses with Special Reference to Engineering World

The present study is an effort to explore a cutting-edge engineering-English curriculum and a time-tested pedagogy based on longitudinal needs-analysis to best suit the students and professionals of engineering world. The needs analysis in this study drew on both English for Academic Purposes (EAP) and English for Occupational Purposes (EOP) that the students and professionals of engineering disciplines need to master in order to perform well in their respective domains. The quantitative and qualitative surveys were conducted on one thousand respondents including the engineering students, professionals, professors and ELT/ESP practitioners of Saudi universities to collect valid and reliable data with the purpose of confirming what kinds of innovative English curricula and effective pedagogies will be the best panaceas for Saudi engineering students’ academic and occupational needs. With regard to the English curriculum, the findings reveal that it needs to be contents-based embedded in integrated language activities, vocabulary and communicative grammar teaching. For pedagogy to be effective and productive, as the findings reveal, the ESP educators have to be highly learner-centered, multidimensional, communicative, collaborative and interdisciplinary.

Needs Analysis of ‘English for Accounting’ in Tertiary Education

This study focused on needs analysis and course design of English for accounting in tertiary education in Kuningan, West Java. It aimed to investigate the required learning materials and the suitable learning activities for accounting students of tertiary education. This study employed qualitative method. It was conducted in qualitative design with some data collected quantitatively through questionnaire and some collected qualitatively through interviews and document analysis from students and lecturers. The questionnaire was used for descriptive statistics, whereas interviews and document analysis were used for the collection of more in-depth and emergent data. This study revealed that listening and speaking skills are the priority in teaching English which is closely followed by writing and reading. The highest students’ preferences for classroom learning activities are vocabulary exercising, followed by simulation and grammar exercising. It is also found that most students consider English is important in their future career and they might need English to communicate with colleague and customer. This information target situation should be taken into consideration as the basis of syllabus and material development. The information from target situation analysis is important in ESP course since it is all about eliciting what the learners have to know related to their future career.

МОТИВАЦІЯ ЯК КЛЮЧОВИЙ ФАКТОР УСПІХУ СТУДЕНТІВ У ВИВЧЕННІ АНГЛІЙСЬКОЇ МОВИ ПРОФЕСІЙНОГО СПРЯМУВАННЯ

The English language has been a language of global communication and there is no doubt that any graduate is expected to master this language in their professional environment. Hence, the English language is an important need for students, especially Vocational English that is why students seem to be highly-motivated. Motivation of students in English for Specific Purposes is an important task for a teacher as it can lead to their success or failure. The article is aimed at considering the importance of motivation for students and studying how teachers can enhance it to improve second language teaching, in particular ESP. In the article, there have been considered two key motivations, namely instrumental and integrative ones and there have been supposed some techniques which build instrumental and integrative motivation. In order to build these two kinds of motivation a teacher is to enhance the students’ enthusiasm in learning second language during the whole ESP course. Teachers should implement some techniques which build instrumental and integrative motivation. The task of a teacher is to combine both kinds of motivation to get benefits from them. The main focus is paid to the students’ micro-motivation and its types, namely intrinsic and extrinsic motivations and biological drive. There have been studied advantages and disadvantages of intrinsic and extrinsic motivations. The article reveals the importance to develop the students’ autonomy, mastery and purpose which together build intrinsic motivation.

STUDENTS PERCEPTIONS OF ESP COURSE FOR CYNOLOGICAL TRANSLATORS

The modern requirements to the educating professionals in every sphere arise in every specialism, even in the new and developing. The actual demand in training the cynological translators assistants of show judges is becoming increasingly actual. Thus, this study is centered on student perceptions of ESP course for cynological translators to increase course efficiency and student learning, which is thought to be the first research in this area. Using students survey data from the two first batches of the ESP course on preparing these professionals, this article explores the linkage between the structural components of the course and the improved students' achievement, using the confirmatory factor analysis. We also examined possible suggestions for improving the design of the course. The results provided support for our theory of action about using a system structural design with practical traineeship, which results in improved student achievements. The results proved the total value of the course with the increasing absolute achievement of students and qualitative achievement and the rank correlation method.

A Corpus Tools-assisted Evaluation of Three ESP Textbooks in China

ESP textbook plays an important role in facilitating students to develop their profession-related language skills. However, ESP textbooks published in China are less developed and often criticized as ignoring the training of language skills. This research aims to reveal the specific problems of China’s ESP textbooks by conducting a multiple-case study. Three ESP textbooks used by ESP courses participants from G University in China were selected: “Computer Professional English Course” “Advertising English” and “Logistics English”. The research investigated their performance focusing on six aspects: coverage of language skills, text features, coverage of discourse functions, recycling, organization and difficulty. The content was analyzed by three different corpus tools. It is found that the three textbooks place too much emphasis on reading and vocabulary, lacking the training of listening skill, speaking skill, as well as the delivery of certain learning strategies. All three textbooks involve a wide range of discourse functions. The texts are informative academic texts, but organized by subject matter only, rather than a synthesis of subject matter, language points and language skills. There is scarce recycling of language points in two of the books and texts through all of them do not indicate a rising difficulty. It is concluded that the drawbacks of the three ESP textbooks far outweigh their merits. By uncovering problems of three ESP textbooks in China the research provides useful reference for future ESP textbook compilation.

A Proposed Infographics-Based ESP Course for Enhancing Graduate Nursing Major Students’ critical Reading Skills and Motivation

This research aimed at examining the effect of a proposed infographics-based ESP course on enhancing graduate nursing students’ critical reading skills and their motivation towards reading. The sessions of the ESP course were designed following the pre-while-post reading phases. The course made use of genuine/authentic reading texts and infographics in addition to some tools such as Facebook, Piktochart and Padlet for helping students to interact, design and publish their infographics. Besides, multiple tasks for encouraging students’ discussion, collaboration and critical thinking were provided. Participants included one hundred students enrolled in the second year of the specialized nursing diploma, Faculty of Nursing, Mansoura University. The quasi-experimental design was adopted in which the participants were assigned into two groups: a control group (studied through the regular English course) and an experimental group (studied through the ESP course based on infographics). Instruments used in the research were a critical reading skills questionnaire, a criteria checklist for infographics use and design, a critical reading skills test and a reading motivation scale. Results revealed that the experimental group students outperformed their counterparts of the control group in the target critical reading skills. Besides, the students’ post motivation level of the experimental group was enhanced compared to their pre-level and to the control group’s post motivation level as well. As a result, the ESP course based on using infographics proved its significant effect on enhancing the graduate nursing students’ critical reading skills and motivation towards reading.

Teaching the University ESP Course with the MOOC Component : Putting Ideas into Practice

Teaching the University ESP Course with the MOOC Component : Putting Ideas into Practice

Language and Cultural Awareness of a Non-Native ESP Teacher

Introduction. The relation between culture and language is a central issue in foreign language teaching and research where the need to give cultural content the same value as language content and language skills has been stressed. However, conceptualization of teacher language awareness, by focusing largely on formal aspects of language, largely neglects culture as a component of teacher cognition. This paper expands the category of ESP-teacher language awareness suggesting the inclusion of cultural awareness as a separate component of teacher cognition. This concept extension actualizes ESP teaching in the situation shaped by unprecedented mobility and intercultural contacts. Materials and Methods. The historic-logical method was used to determine shortcomings of pedagogical experience and the need to teach culture in ESP. Grounded theory, as an inductive methodology, was utilized to generate conceptual expansion theoretically tied with research in medical and business communication as well as with data on population movement and international s cientific cooperation. Results. We defined ESP-cultural knowledge as a system comprising the permanent (know-that) and temporary (know-of) cultural manifestations in a society as well as how they are manifested through language (know-how). That system practical representation is exemplified in medicine and business English discourse. The study expands the structure of ESP-TLA, claiming the focus on cultural awareness as part of ESP discourse which fosters cultural-response education. Discussion and Conclusion. Such claim is pertinent to practitioners involved in the tourism industry, health care, economics, and academic activities such as research and development. This paper is relevant for teachers of English for Specific purposes in the fields mention ed above as well as for researchers engaged in analyzing the problems and methods of teaching a foreign language. However, because of the multiple manifestations and complexity of student motivation to get ESP course, the paper acknowledges the difficulties in addressing cultural content salient to all student s in class, an aspect meriting further research.

ESP ISSUE IN INDONESIAN TERTIARY CONTEXT: WHAT STUDENTS NEED IN LEARNING ENGLISH

This study aims to analyze students’ English needs in an ESP course. English for specific purposes has become a significant aspect in the learning process in Indonesian tertiary context. The significant of occupation requirement globally and the emergence of mastering certain skills for certain jobs drives the need of English for specific area. Referring to this concern, General English is considered no longer suitable and it should be specified into several subjects based on certain purposes. In this case, ESP gives chances for students and teacher to define the target or the outcomes based on their purposes by considering their needs. Thus, conducting need analysis is the first, most significant part to be conducted in ESP course. Conducted in a private university in Indonesia, this study employed descriptive qualitative approach that used questionnaire and focus group discussion to collect the data. This study is a representation of teaching reflection after conducting 6-month ESP class. The results showed that since the students are enrolled in Communication Science Department, they need material that encourages them to communicate and participate actively in the classroom, refers to their major and reflects occupation-oriented material. The materials that distinguish this subject from others emphasize the specification of ESP class and show that the material used cannot be generalized. Therefore, the teacher should consider these results to prepare for the next ESP course. Article DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.20319/pijtel.2019.31.98117 This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Non-commercial 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ or send a letter to Creative Commons, PO Box 1866, Mountain View, CA 94042, USA.

ЛЕКСИЧЕСКИЕ ХЕДЖИ В БРИТАНСКОМ И АМЕРИКАНСКОМ ВАРИАНТАХ НАУЧНОГО ЭКОНОМИЧЕСКОГО ДИСКУРСА: КОРПУСНОЕ ИССЛЕДОВАНИЕ

In the article, the results of a corpus-based study of lexical hedging devices in 100 British and 100 American research article abstracts published in recent years in five leading scholarly journals in economics are presented. The study shows no statistically significant differences in the frequency of lexical hedges used by the British and American authors, suggesting that the Anglo-American academic discourse in economics is quite homogeneous as far as the abstract genre is concerned. A frequency list of lexical hedges presented in the paper can be used in EAP and ESP courses as well as in further research.

Implementation of Lesson Study in Supporting the Values of Tudang Sipulung as a Local Culture in ESP Classroom

Lesson Study was firstly applied in Palopo City (Indonesia), and Universitas Cokroaminoto Palopo was the only institution, which is entrusted to develop it outside Makassar, as the learning process in 2013 until the present time. The models of cooperative and collaborative learning have indicated the positive thing in improving the material of English for Specific Purposes and reduce the impractical theory-based course, the activities of lesson study are generally run properly and it needs the well-managed scheduled to arrange all the necessary things in it from early to the last cycle of the lesson study. In short, the lesson study is improving the students’ cooperation, collaboration motivation, and initiative in learning ESP course. The sharing and discussion among the lecturers before and after the class is also revitalizing the spirit of traditional local wisdom and values, which is called tudang sipulung, it is clearly seen that the cooperation, collaborative, mutual respects spirit in lesson study is relevant to the local wisdom and supports the local values of tudang sipulung.

A suggested program to enhance the ESP course design skills of Egyptian English trainers

A suggested program to enhance the ESP course design skills of Egyptian English trainers

Study on ESP Course Design of ‘Wide-angled’ and ‘Narrow-angled’ Based on Demand Analysis

This paper is concerned with the ESP course design, its theoretical analysis and comparison between the narrow and wide angles, based on demand analysis. By practical examples overseas, we can understand their differences and characteristics.

Key Stakeholders' Attitudes in ESP Courses on the Right Teachers

Key Stakeholders' Attitudes in ESP Courses on the Right Teachers