Tuesday, June 30, 2009

English for Specific Purposes

DISCOURSE/ GENRE ANALYSIS


Reading :
Dudley-Evans, T., and St. John, M.J. (1998). Developments in English for Specific Purposes: A multy-disciplinary approach. Cambridge, England: ambridge University Press
Discourse Analysis of Business Letters Written by Iranians & Native Speaker. (ESP Journal)

Topic Discussion:
Defining what genre is and operationally identifying different types of Genre.

Assignment: Find written text/ abstract & research article/ acknowledgments for analysis and conduct genre analysis by partner.

Some notes of Discourse/Genre Analysis

A discourse community is a group of people who have texts and practices in common, whether it is a group of academics, or the readers of teenage magazines. In fact, discourse community can refer to the people the text is aimed at; it can be the people who read a text; or it can refer to the people who participate in a set of discourse practices both by reading and writing.

Essentially, genre is a term for grouping text together, representing how writers typically use language to respond to recurring situations.
Halliday’s (1994) Systemic Functional Linguist (SFL) model define genres grouping text which have similar formal features.Genres also seen as guiding frameworks.
Allison (1999) mention that a genre is understood to be a class of language use and communication that occurs in particular communities.

Genre theory seeks to explain the texts used by groups or communities by reference to the functions of those groups or communities and their outlook on the world. For example, typical functions of academic communities include dissemination of research findings, provision of description and explanation of phenomena. These functions lead to certain forms of communication including the conference presentation and the research report.

Whereas genre analysis had been concerned with categorizing text types in relation how they are formatted or according to surface level textual features.


At the core of genre-based ESP teaching has been a concern to identify the genres that students will use in the target situation and then help students to deconstruct them in order to understand how they are structured, how the structure relates to the objectives ( or communicative purposes) of the target group, what content the genres contain, and the linguistic devices and language use typical in them. Thus in ESP, if our students are a group of medical researchers, we try to establish which genres are important for them in their work ( such as articles reporting research, research proposals and grant applications) and then highlight the structures and features that typify those genres.

Genres are specific to the communities in which they arise. Each academic discipline, each workplace group and professional community serves a different function in society and thus their purposes vary, with resulting impact on the genres that arise in them. A research proposal in mathematics is different from a research proposal in history. A case study report in business is different from one in social work.


Melvina, M.Ed
Teachers’ Training and education Faculty
University of Lancang Kuning
melvina_amir@yahoo.co.id

English for Specific Purposes

NEED ANALYSIS

ESP is understood to be about preparing learners to use English within Academic, professional, or workplace environments, and a key feature of ESP course design is that syllabus is based on an analysis of the needs of the students. Thus, in ESP, language is learnt not for its own sake or for the sake of gaining a general education but to smooth the path to entry or greater linguistic efficiency in these environments. As the syllabus is based on needs, it is likely to be motivating for learners, who see the obvious relevance of what they are studying. Moreover, most ESP courses are to time constraints and time must be effectively utilized (West, 1994). As students in ESP classes often have restricted time to learn English, it makes sense to teach them only the bits of English they need. Thus the task of the ESP course developer is to identify the needs of the learner and design a course around them.

A number of need analysis studies are reported in the ESP literature. Chia, Johnson, Chia, and Olive (1999) report their investigation of the English language needs of medical students in Taiwan. Sakr (2001) reports a study into the English language needs of textile and clothing industry workers in Cairo. Evangelou (1994) reports a project to explore the English language needs of nurses.

Need analysis studies have investigated the perception of language needs of different parties and have often revealed differing perception. Ferris (1998) investigated the differing perceptions of students and faculty of students’ academic aural/oral needs for university study in number of colleges in the United States. Basturkmen (1998a) investigated students and faculty perception of the English language needs of students in the faculty of Engineering and Petroleum at Kuwait University. Jasso-Aguilar (1990) investigated the perspective of maids and the institutional representatives of the hotel in Waikiki in which the maids worked.

Li So-mui and Mead (2000) report the needs analysis they conducted to help them prepare an ESP course for students of textile and clothing merchandising in Hongkong. Their project set out to obtain information on the types of communication required in the Industry. They used a range of research methods to collect data including questionnaire surveys, telephone interviews, analysis of authentic correspondence, and visits to the workplaces of the merchandisers. The study revealed that the merchandisers used written English far more than spoken English in their work; that fax and telephone calls were more common channels of communication than e-mails and letters, and that there was a high use of abbreviations in written communications

Some needs analyses follow ethnographic principles and aim for a ‘thick description’ of the target environments (John & Dudley-Evans, 1991). This approach to needs analysis involves in-depth ethnographic data collection methods such as observations and exploratory interviews. Example of this type of needs analysis are Jasso-Aguilar’s study (1999) of the language needs of maids in a hotel in Waikiki, Ibrahim’s study (1993) of language needs in the manufacturing industry in Japan, and Kurtoglu’s study (1992) of seminar speaking needs in a Turkish University.


DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
Your supervisor has decided that you will initiate a VESL class (an ESP program) at your school. What are some of the questions you need to ask and things you need to do to prepare for that class?

If you were conducting a need analysis in preparation for developing an ESP course, what practical steps would you take to ensure that you gather the perspective of all the different parties ( such as the learners, institutions, and teachers)? What would you do if there were significant differences in the perspective of the parties?



FURTHER READING:
Dudley-Evans, T., and M.J. St.John. 1998. Developments in English for Specific Purposes: A Multi-Disciplinary Approach. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Johns, A. M., & Price-Machada, D. (2001). English for specific purposes (ESP): Tailoring courses to students' needs-and to the outside world. In M. Celce-Murcia (Ed.), Teaching English as a second or foreign language (3rd ed., pp. 43-54). Boston: Heinle & Heinle.

Rewritten by:
Melvina, M.Ed
Teachers’ Training and education Faculty
University of Lancang Kuning
melvina_amir@yahoo.co.id

Extensive Reading Final Exam

UNIVERSITAS LANCANG KUNING
FAKULTAS KEGURUAN DAN ILMU PENDIDIKAN

Final Exam
Extensive Reading
Semester 4
English Department

Questions:
1. When did you start extensive reading?
2. What kind or what level of book did you choose?
3. How many passages or pages did you read once time? After the reading, did you get clear picture (understand) about the book/story?
4. What do you think now about learning English?
5. How is your reading speed now?
6. What do you think about your reading comprehension after extensive reading? Does it improve? If yes, how?

*GOOD LUCK*

ESP Final Exam

UNIVERSITAS LANCANG KUNING
FAKULTAS KEGURUAN DAN ILMU PENDIDIKAN

Final Exam
English for Specific Purposes
English Department

Questions:
1. What is English for specific Purposes (according to literature)? What is your
definition of ESP?
2. How is English for Specific Purposes (ESP) different from English as a
Second Language (ESL), also known as general English?
3. Please, figure ESP classification!
4. Why “need analysis” is needed in ESP? If you were conducting a need analysis
in preparation for developing an ESP course, what practical steps would you
take? Why?
5. Defining what discourse/ genre analysis is
6. Please, mention a number of parameters of course design!
7. Please, give briefly explanation 4 reasons for using materials in the ESP
context!
8. What is assessment? Is it important to assess your learners? Why?
9. (*Bonus Track) Acronyms:
EAP: ……… EST: …… EOP: …… TESOL: ……
ESP: ……... EVP: ……. EMP: …… TOEFL: …..
EBP: ……… EMP: ….. TESL: …… TOEIC: …..

*GOOD LUCK*