English For Specific Purposes: Teaching English For Science and Technology
English For Specific Purposes: Teaching English For Science and Technology
English For Specific Purposes: Teaching English For Science and Technology
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Igor Musikhin
Siberian State University of Geosystems and Tecnologies, Novosibirsk
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I. A. Musikhin
Siberian State University of Geosystems and Technologies, 10, Plakhotogo Str., Novosibirsk, 630108, Russian Federation –
[email protected]
KEY WORDS: English for specific purposes, Needs Analysis, Teaching Methods, Selection of Materials, Development of Manuals,
Didactic Approaches
ABSTRACT:
In the era of globalization, English communication for scientists and engineers whose native language is not English has become as
important as their major related abilities. The paper describes the results of a four-year experience in the development of English for
specific purpose manuals in the field of photogrammetry, interferometry, and GNSS technologies, as well as key teaching methods
and didactic approaches used in class and out-of-class activities. The focus of the present study is to provide a detailed description of
the development and systematic updating of a relevant manual, aimed at professional language training of learners. The findings of
the study reflect the importance of an ESP course for scientists and engineers: conducting a needs analysis for carrying out a specific
search of relevant and reliable authentic materials, defining proper teaching methods, software and didactic approaches used in the
educational process to develop the language skills necessary to be active and contributive players in the competitive world.
This contribution has been peer-reviewed. The double-blind peer-review was conducted on the basis of the full paper.
doi:10.5194/isprsannals-III-6-29-2016 29
ISPRS Annals of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences, Volume III-6, 2016
XXIII ISPRS Congress, 12–19 July 2016, Prague, Czech Republic
training of all third parties in the field of their professional from English into a native language, and what is much more
activity. important from a native language into English, oral
The whole course syllabus of the developed manuals is designed communication and academic writing) it is essential to supply
for 72 hours of classroom activities and approximately 68 hours the manual with a sufficient number of professional authentic
of independent out-of-class work and is intended for those texts and academic papers both in English and native languages.
learners (mostly academic and research staff, graduates, and When developing a manual it is also necessary to keep in mind
PhD students) who have basic knowledge of English and are that most of the learners do not like English classes: some have
able to solve their communicative tasks using GE (CEFR: levels already become recognized and certified specialists who are
A2 – B1). usually not able to find a lot of extra time for visiting regular
Since 2012 the latter settings have been implemented in the lessons and may leave the training course if the progress cannot
educational process of our University and proved to be both be achieved immediately; others had a bad experience with
time and cost efficient. For this study, three research tools as learning a foreign language earlier or have not learned it at all.
questionnaires and target group interviews, classroom That is why at the initial phase of the ESP course teachers
observation, and analysis of scientific literature have been used. should value 'successful communication' more than
'grammatically accurate communication'(Ono & Morimura,
2. DEVELOPMENT OF AN ESP MANUAL 2007) and remember that academic journal articles are too
difficult for learners, especially in terms of content, which ought
With the constant and rapid evolution in science and to be simplified and customized.
technologies no manual for professional language training is To motivate learners to master ESP the selected texts should be
perfect. However, it is considered the most powerful and divided into three groups: general information about the
efficient resource in achieving goals in terms of learner needs subject, theoretical background, and applications. Then the first
(Ono & Morimura, 2007). The goals and objectives of main group of the texts needs to be adapted and simplified to make
course syllabus are supposed to be reflected in the manual for the introductory part of the manual not too difficult in the very
professional language training. In this sense the manual does not beginning of learners' study.
determine its own aims in the professional area of a learner, but Before undertaking the development of a manual, it is strongly
should provide the most appropriate lexis, set of language recommended to carry out a needs analysis (NA) to identify
exercises, and technologies of learning a foreign language what learners will be required to do with the foreign language in
enabling specialists to perform a full-fledged communication real-life situations and how they might best master the target
within international cooperation. language while their training (West, 1994). In our NA we used
That is why the key target of an ESP course should be twofold: focus group interviews, questionnaire surveys, and analysis of
to develop the learners' overall communicative competence in scientific literature on ESP to specify the importance of the
the field of their professional activity, and to lay the foundation context in ESP training, see Table 1.
for further learning and refinement of language skills. In this
respect the learning targets, choice of study material, didactic Respondents and Conversational Goal Business
approaches and syllabus should be relevant for the learners' field sources English context English
of study. At the same time teaching English to specialists is a Published 47% 38% 15%
delicate and demanding matter in terms of content, methods and literature
techniques (Riemer, 2002), which requires the development of a Domain experts 34% 51% 15%
special course where English is used as a kind of mediator. Research 22% 69% 9%
Basically, it is impossible to use a particular textbook without associates
the need for updates and some supplementary materials, Learners 34% 65% 1%
especially when its content becomes outdated every two or three Average 34% 56% 10%
years. In this context, when developing a manual for specific
purpose language training, one of the basic objectives is the Table 1. The importance of the context in ESP training
choice of proper study materials representing the current state of
art that are taken from a variety of reliable and valid sources, According to the results of the NA, a relatively large proportion
primarily consisting of authentic texts, and preferably written by of the responders agreed that the primary focus, the developers
native English speakers (Talberg, 2006). of the manual should take into account, was the context (56%)
The course should be tailored to meet specific needs of learners and conversational English (34%).
on the basis of needs analysis which will identify what learners The second most crucial decision is the one concerning the
will be required to do with the foreign language in the target exact proportion of many constituents needed for the
situation and how learners might best master the target language development of a successful ESP manual and just how much
during their period of training (Kim, 2013). general English (GE) and ESP bring into the manual largely
Long (2005) and Kim (2013) name 5 sources for need analysis depends on many conditions, e.g. level of learners’ language
in ESP: published and unpublished literature, teachers and training, NA results, period of training, etc. Therefore, the first
applied linguists, domain experts, learners, and triangulated group of texts needs to cover all of the basic grammar units and
sources. Among these Long (2005) strongly suggests using language skills before proceeding to the other parts of the ESP
triangulated sources when the data is received from more than manual (Tasić, 2009).
two sources. While working on our ESP manuals we consulted Thus, in line with our NA and several self-approbations the
with professors and experts representing target domains for optimal final version of the manual consisted of 3 units, the
advice on English language needs of the potential learners, lists content structure of the units can be presented as following:
of relevant literature and web-sites (Porcaro, 2001; Tasić, 2009; 1. Key phrases of the unit
Kim, 2013) in order to select up-to-date materials and cutting- 2. Main text of the unit (adapted, app. 2000 words) for
edge research to be included into the ESP manual. reading, translation into a native language, reproduction,
Since the manual is developed for specific purposes (to present pronunciation and grammar drills
learners actual lexis, improve their skills in translation, both 3. Vocabulary of the unit (app. 250 words)
This contribution has been peer-reviewed. The double-blind peer-review was conducted on the basis of the full paper.
doi:10.5194/isprsannals-III-6-29-2016 30
ISPRS Annals of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences, Volume III-6, 2016
XXIII ISPRS Congress, 12–19 July 2016, Prague, Czech Republic
4. A supplementary authentic text for translation from English formulas, and equations in English; spelling of Greek alphabet
into a native language (adapted, app. 1000 words) in English, see Fig. 3.
5. Role-play of the unit (oral skills development based on the
target and GE situations)
6. Supplementary authentic texts for translation from the native
language into English (adapted, app. 350 words each)
7. Grammar exercises (word order in affirmative and
interrogative clauses; general and special questions;
preposition use; etc.)
8. Exercises on comprehensive and rhetoric oral skills
development
9. Polylogue, based on the material of the unit (ESP)
10. Oral presentations and discussions of written and video
materials.
In our manuals each of the units is powered with two context-
specific enactments, also known as context-specific scenarios or
role-plays (RP), in the form of a polylogue presented in English
and simultaneously translated into the native language, see Fig.
1.
This contribution has been peer-reviewed. The double-blind peer-review was conducted on the basis of the full paper.
doi:10.5194/isprsannals-III-6-29-2016 31
ISPRS Annals of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences, Volume III-6, 2016
XXIII ISPRS Congress, 12–19 July 2016, Prague, Czech Republic
rule, this phase helps to reorganize the ESP learning materials, Features of ESP Performance
optimize types of grammar, comprehensive, and communicative teachers
exercises, making the final version of the manual much more Curiosity ESP teachers should be interested in the
customized to the learners’ needs. Apart from the considerable learners’ field of study, trying to get as
improvement of the manual this phase makes the ESP teacher much knowledge as possible from their
much more confident in the field of learners’ study. learners
Developed, approved, and adopted manuals play a focal role in Cooperation ESP teachers should constantly consult
ESP language classroom practices but yet may easily fail to with subject matter scientists
incorporate significant features of the desired outcomes they are Confidence ESP teachers’ confidence will grow as
supposed to address (Lamie, 1999). Reliance on the manual may they understand their role, learn more
distract attention from learners’ needs and teaching methods that about the learners’ field of study and
should be favored in the classroom. For this reason it is essential work with specialists
to understand the principles of ESP manual updating and be Table 2. Three Cs model of ESP teacher performance
aware of teaching methods used for ESP classrooms.
To get rid of learners’ bad habits of unjustified usage of their
3. ESP DIDACTICS AND TEACHING METHODS native language during ESP training, the classroom activities
initiated by the teacher should be always carried out in English,
Didactics is very much a question of what we want to do in apart from those situations when it is legitimately necessary
class, then when, why and how we want it to be done. It is a (e.g. explanation of grammar).
question of planning, structuring, integrating and management Typical classroom routines can be described as follows:
of various activities for the purpose of enhancing the learners’ ‐ Warming up exercises when the teacher initiates a short
attainments. dialogue (polylogue) with learners discussing different GE
Bell (2002) and Porcaro (2013) astutely address the question of and ESP topics (lasting no more that 10-12 minutes)
how much knowledge of the learners’ field of study the ESP ‐ Check of the learned material (e.g. lexis, active set phrases,
teacher needs to have to be able to select, adapt, simplify comprehensive understanding of grammar and sentence
authentic texts and develop the manual that would meet the structures and so on) can be done orally or in writing (1-2
requirements of the NA, and then teach learners. From our point minutes)
of view the best solution is to employ an ESP teacher having a ‐ Introduction to the lesson goals and objectives (1 minute)
technical background relatively close to the field of study, which ‐ Work on the main text of the unit (reading, answering
in many cases is not possible. Majority of ESP practitioners are questions, translation, practicing language and pronunciation
not experts in the target field of the learners and have to struggle skills: repetition drills, transformation drills, substitution
to comprehend materials they require learners to master. Such drills, question and answer drills (15 – 20 minutes)
situations should induce ESP teachers to develop a special ‐ Introduction to grammar of the lesson or its revision, carrying
relationship with the learners, which should be more equal than out grammar and comprehensive exercises (10 – 15 minutes)
in ordinary English language learning settings. In this teacher- ‐ Organizing learners’ work in pairs or small groups: relation /
learner interaction the first and the second are necessary to each reproduction of the main or supplementary text of the unit
other to make the training process successful: while teachers are enhanced with additional information provided by learners’
considered language experts, learners have related expertise in experience, see table 3; reproduction of RP, reproduction of
their own fields. enlarged / modified RP of the unit, see table 4; work with
The idea of practicing language learning in authentic video situations, see table 5; etc. (30 – 90 minutes)
environment is not new (Gregersen & Madsen, 2009; Offord- ‐ Work with new material (e.g. grammar exercises, text
Gray & Aldred, 1998) and is in line with communicative translation, quizzes) (10 – 15 minutes)
language approach (CLA) that has been largely used for ESP ‐ Check of learners’ home assignments (10 minutes).
teaching in recent years. According to practitioners of CLA its
most major features are: Time
1. An emphasis on learning to communicate through Pairs / groups of learners 1 2 .. n frames
interaction in the target language min.
2. Introduction of authentic texts into the learning situation
3. Provision of opportunities for learners to focus, not only on distribution of roles and
1 + + + + 3
language but on the learning management process responsibilities
4. An enhancement of the learner’s own personal experiences organisation and
Stages of a performance process
This contribution has been peer-reviewed. The double-blind peer-review was conducted on the basis of the full paper.
doi:10.5194/isprsannals-III-6-29-2016 32
ISPRS Annals of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences, Volume III-6, 2016
XXIII ISPRS Congress, 12–19 July 2016, Prague, Czech Republic
Speaking about ESP teachers’ role in pair or group activities of For instance, see Table 3, when learners work in groups on
the learners we have to emphasize the need of their alive and relation / reproduction of a text, at stage 1 ESP teachers should
thoughtful involvement in all of the processes taking place pay a special attention to the learners’ group formation. Each
during the class. group may be either homogeneous, concerning learners’
educational achievements and knowledge of English, or
Time heterogeneous allowing learners to compensate each other’s
Learners 1 2 .. n frames learning deficiencies. The first option enables to organize the
min. workflow of stages 3-6 in such an order that the groups with the
Class 1 90 least ratio of learning deficiencies are the first in line with the
Learning small pieces text reproduction / relation allowing the other groups to take
1 + + + + 10-15 into consideration success and failures of the previous groups
(20 - 30 words) of a RP
Reiteration of stage 1 and make their own reproduction much more immaculate.
2 + + + + - As for stages 2-6, ESP teachers should be active but not too
till the end of the RP
persuasive short time players / advisors, keeping in mind that
Reproduction of the
process oriented interaction, where learners work in groups,
3 whole RP with open + + + + 4-5
allows them to learn from each other.
text
According to our observations and recent research (Talberg,
Reiteration of stage 3
2006; Tasić, 2009; Porcaro, 2013) learners like being involved
Stages of a performance process
text 2 + + + + 4-5
version of the video
Exchange and learning
13 + + + + 5-10 Discussions of the
new of roles of the RP 3 + + + + 5-6
scripts
Reproduction of the
14 whole RP without open + + + + 10-15 Performance of stages
4 + + + + 5-6
text 1-3 of Version 1
Reiteration of stages 13, Table 5. Stages and time frames of work with video materials
15 + + + + 20-30
14
ESP teachers should pay an appropriate attention to make their
Reproduction of the
learners be constantly involved in educational activities all the
16 whole RP without open + + + + 4-5
time they are in the classroom. Each of the learners must be
text (stages 1, 2)
firmly convinced those 90 minutes of the class the teacher is
Improvisation within
working with him, and only him, personally. All of the
17 the general plot of the + + + + 4-5
classroom activities also need to be limited in time. The time for
RP (optional)
each activity may be calculated as 1.3 or 1.5 of the ESP
Reproduction of the RP
teacher’s time required to perform the same operations; the ratio
18 in random order chosen + + + + 7-10
depends on an ESP teacher experience (Musikhin, 2013). Being
by a teacher
under time constraint the learners will be motivated to improve
Table 4. Stages and time frames of an RP reproduction process
This contribution has been peer-reviewed. The double-blind peer-review was conducted on the basis of the full paper.
doi:10.5194/isprsannals-III-6-29-2016 33
ISPRS Annals of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences, Volume III-6, 2016
XXIII ISPRS Congress, 12–19 July 2016, Prague, Czech Republic
their organizational and language skills in order not to be a communication activities in English on an international scale.
hindrance to work of others. Offering learners the opportunity to develop adequate and
To develop creativity and skills of independent work an ESP comprehensive English skills is becoming a necessity. The
teacher should prepare home assignments for the learners incorporation of language and communication improvement
thoroughly (e.g. making presentations, developing a group RP courses and ESP manuals is an important element of continuous
on a particular topic; reasoned presentation of one’s vision of learning, and will eventually contribute to the process of life-
the studied material, etc.). long learning.
It is necessary to point out that after each class learners should This paper concerned the following:
be given an assignment, and then, if given, checked and assessed 1. Describes a successful four-year experience in the
without fail. development of ESP manuals in SAR Interferometry,
Remote Sensing and Digital Photogrammetry and GNSS
4. UPDATING THE MANUAL Technologies, supported with specially developed software
and thematic videos
To make the ESP manual correspond to the dynamically 2. Addresses the practical points of ESP course design and
changing learners’ needs and evolutions taking place in their implementation
field of study its learning materials (e.g. authentic texts, RP, 3. Offers a set of key teaching methods and didactic
lexis and exercises) must be updated constantly. In our work we approaches that proved to be most efficient in ESP language
describe a research technique that enables to combine the training
learning process with updates of the manual. 4. Describes a research technique enabling the organization of
The technique allows an ESP teacher and the learners to be simultaneous active learning and updating of the ESP
active players in the preliminary search, selection and manuals.
customization of advanced materials presented in current We hope that the paper will serve to stimulate and guide other
research and scientific literature. Such approach is highly teachers into this important and exciting area.
efficient and a contributing factor that makes the ESP teacher
much more confident with the adopted materials when teaching ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
them to the next group of learners.
The main idea of the technique is to involve current learners in This research was supported by 2011 IYIF ‘Interra’ funded by
the search and analysis of the cutting-edge research taking place Administration of Novosibirsk Region (grant number 07-06-
in their field of study and then include this information into 2011-12N).
classroom assignments and activities. Typical tasks that learners I also wish to thank my three anonymous referees for critique,
are usually involved in are: search for new information, its helpful comments and suggestions on an earlier version of this
analysis, completing specialized technical vocabulary and new paper.
sets of key phrases, designing their own comprehensive and
grammar exercises. As a result by the end of the ESP course the REFERENCES
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this case the only thing that needs to be done is to provide the Communicative. The Internet TESL Journal, Vol. V, No. 1,
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This contribution has been peer-reviewed. The double-blind peer-review was conducted on the basis of the full paper.
doi:10.5194/isprsannals-III-6-29-2016 34
ISPRS Annals of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences, Volume III-6, 2016
XXIII ISPRS Congress, 12–19 July 2016, Prague, Czech Republic
This contribution has been peer-reviewed. The double-blind peer-review was conducted on the basis of the full paper.
doi:10.5194/isprsannals-III-6-29-2016 35