Which Teaching Strategies for Job Trainings

Dr. Zoubida SEBANE
University Mohamed BENAHMED Oran 2

Abstract

.English for Specific Purposes (ESP) is one of the predominant approaches to language teaching in post education. It is indeed meant for the specific needs of learners with a work project. The paper deals with the role of needs analysis and materials evaluation making the courses targets a specific objective that will serve the learner’s career. Learners need a teaching material which fits their work environment and demand for English language. Not all the skills are needed systematically . The demand for English may focus on speaking only, on listening, on writing or sometimes two skills are required to answer a specific domain.

.Key words : language – specific – objectives – learners – career – needs – develop – skills.

Introduction

Mastering only the four skills (reading, writing, listening and speaking) and the acquisition of general grammar and vocabulary may not be enough in some circumstances.

ESP focuses on the specific needs of the learners, concentrating more on language in context and on the students‟ need to acquire a set of professional skills and particular job-related functions.

This paper, founded on my own experience, consequently, focuses on identifying the current challenges that teachers and students may encounter in the process of teaching and learning English for Specific purposes.

Part 1: Reasons for rethinking teaching strategies

I had been teaching for more than 20 years general English (GE) before I was asked to teach English for Specific Purposes (ESP ) .Before that, I had felt quite competent teaching general English, because I was familiar with  most topics covered in (GA) textbooks. However, business and management were alien territories for me, and I had a hard time preparing for the lessons.

When I now hear learners of ESP complaining about their teachers saying they are not doing much during the courses I understand it and I share their frustration. But the teachers are by no means to be incriminated. At first I behaved as those teachers, teaching GE for the reason that I was not given any support. ( no syllabus, no manual)

I tried to develop a strategy to get the learners involved in the English course. I focused on good pronunciation; I simplified the grammar lessons, they were very often practicing vocabulary but I did feel it was not satisfactory.

Until the CPE, a unit of a famous petroleum company in charge of the pre recruitment training offered me to teach English to a class of chartered accountants in their plant.

I accepted because the whole organization of the class was under the supervision of INTEC ,a French institute specialized in the formation of chartered accountancy. The syllabus, the exam question, everything…I only had to put into practice their instructions.

It’s only then that I understood what teaching ESP meant.

It took me more than one week to familiarize with the content. It was focus and specific teaching , very targeted, there was no place for rambling. It was context teaching, the least example was connected to the specialization, and there I could realize how easier it was to be guided, to share the same aspirations, the same interest as the learners. In this case only we can speak of motivation and involvement.

Indeed, when both learners and the teacher are on the same line, everything becomes noticeably clear. I understood that their interest to English was possible because it responded to their objectives.

The learners are not anymore at school. They are preparing for their future career, so they need a different context, a different content and above all, they need a different teaching attitude.

It is true that most learners have language deficiencies, but it doesn’t matter as long as it is not anymore a school subject. The learners are treated differently; they are learning English for the first time in their life because they need it for their career.

Some students are learning ESP and have their own set of needs that might not be addressed by a traditional language class.

Understanding this helped me become a better teacher by giving me insight into every student’s goals and aspirations. These are things that you need to take into account when teaching to ESP students so that you can set them up for future success.

Part 2 : What is ESP

More and more students like these are learning English for specific professional, academic or other purposes. That means English educators need to be equipped to teach these students effectively—simply relying on general GE textbooks, vocabulary lists and speaking exercises does not anymore serve the learners.

If you are visiting a country, Spain or Japan for instance, for your holidays, therefore you need to learn some target vocabulary items or some stereotyped locutions because you are having a touristic trip. You don’t need to have a comprehensive knowledge of the host language Your objective is specific, it is to achieve some communication with local people during your stay.

The most important difference lies in the learners and their purposes for learning English. ESP students are usually adults who already have some acquaintance with English and are learning the language in order to communicate a set of professional skills and to perform particular job-related functions. An ESP program is therefore built on an assessment of purposes and needs and the functions for which English is required .

ESP concentrates more on language in context than on teaching grammar and language structures. It covers subjects varying from accounting or computer science to tourism and business management. The ESP focal point is that English is not taught as a subject separated from the students‘ real world (or wishes); instead, it is integrated into a subject matter area important to the learners.

However, GE and ESP diverge not only in the nature of the learner, but also in the aim of instruction. In fact, as a general rule, while in GE all four language skills; listening, reading, speaking, and writing, are stressed equally, in ESP it is a needs analysis that determines which language skills are most needed by the students, and the syllabus is designed accordingly. An ESP program, might, for example, emphasize the development of reading skills in students who are preparing for graduate work in business administration; or it might promote the development of spoken skills in students who are studying English in order to become tourist guides.

As a matter of fact, ESP combines subject matter and English language teaching. Such a combination is highly motivating because students are able to apply what they learn in their English classes to their main field of study, whether it be accounting, business management, economics, computer science or tourism. Being able to use the vocabulary and structures that they learn in a meaningful context reinforces what is taught and increases their motivation.

The students‘ abilities in their subject-matter fields, in turn, improve their ability to acquire English. Subject-matter knowledge gives them the context they need to understand the English of the classroom. In the ESP class, students are shown how the subject-matter content is expressed in English. The teacher can make the most of the students‘ knowledge of the subject matter, thus helping them learn English faster.

The term „specific“ in ESP refers to the specific purpose for learning English. Students approach the study of English through a field that is already known and relevant to them. This means that they are able to use what they learn in the ESP classroom right away in their work and studies. The ESP approach enhances the relevance of what the students are learning and enables them to use the English they know to learn even more English, since their interest in their field will motivate them to interact with speakers and texts.

Part 3:the responsibility of the teacher

A teacher who has already experienced iteaching English as a Second Language (ESL) that is GE , can exploit her/his background in language teaching. She/he should recognize the ways in which the teaching skills can be adapted for the teaching of English for Specific Purposes. Moreover, she/he will need to look for content specialists for helping in designing appropriate lessons in the subject matter field she/he is teaching.

As an ESP teacher, you must play many roles. You may be asked to organize courses, to set learning objectives, to establish a positive learning environment in the classroom, and to evaluate student s progress.

a-Organizing Courses

You have to set learning goals and then transform them into an instructional program with the timing of activities. One of your main tasks will be selecting, designing and organizing course materials, supporting the students in their efforts, and providing them with feedback on their progress.

b-Setting Goals and Objectives

You arrange the conditions for learning in the classroom and set long-term goals and short-term objectives for students achievement. Your knowledge of students‘ potential is central in designing a syllabus with realistic goals that takes into account the students‘ concern in the learning situation.

c-Creating a Learning Environment

Your skills for communication and mediation create the classroom atmosphere. Students acquire language when they have opportunities to use the language in interaction with other speakers. Being their teacher, you may be the only English speaking person available to students, and although your time with any of them is limited, you can structure effective communication skills in the classroom. In order to do so, in your interactions with students try to listen carefully to what they are saying and give your understanding or misunderstanding back at them through your replies. Good language learners are also great risk-takers, since they must make many errors in order to succeed: however, in ESP classes, they are handicapped because they are unable to use their native language competence to present themselves as well-informed adults. That is why the teacher should create an atmosphere in the language classroom which supports the students. Learners must be self-confident in order to communicate. The learner’s confidence is built upon the teacher’s responsibility.

d-Evaluating Students

The teacher is a resource that helps students identify their language learning problems and find solutions to them, find out the skills they need to focus on, and take responsibility for making choices which determine what and how to learn. You will serve as a source of information to the students about how they are progressing in their language learning.

Part 4:The responsibility of the student

What is the role of the learner and what is the task he/she faces?

The learners come to the ESP class with a specific interest for learning subject matter, knowledge, and well-built adult learning strategies. They are in charge of developing English language skills to reflect their native-language knowledge and skills.

Interest for Learning

People learn languages when they have opportunities to understand and work with language in a context that they comprehend and find interesting. In this view, ESP is a powerful means for such opportunities. Students will acquire English as they work with materials which they find interesting and relevant and which they can use in their professional work or further studies. The more learners pay attention to the meaning of the language they hear or read, the more they are successful; the more they have to focus on the linguistic input or isolated language structures, the less they are motivated to attend their classes.

The ESP student is particularly well disposed to focus on meaning in the subject-matter field. In ESP, English should be presented not as a subject to be learned in isolation from real use, nor as a mechanical skill or habit to be developed. On the contrary, English should be presented in authentic contexts to make the learners acquainted with the particular ways in which the language is used in functions that they will need to perform in their fields of specialty or jobs.

Subject-Content Knowledge

Learners in the ESP classes are generally aware of the purposes for which they will need to use English. Having already oriented their education toward a specific field, they see their English training as complementing this orientation. Knowledge of the subject area enables the students to identify a real context for the vocabulary and structures of the ESP classroom. In such way, the learners can take advantage of what they already know about the subject matter to learn English.

Learning Strategies

Adults must work harder than children in order to learn a new language, but the learning skills they bring to the task permit them to learn faster and more efficiently. The skills they have already developed in using their native languages will make learning English easier. Although you will be working with students whose English will probably be quite limited, the language learning abilities of the adult in the ESP classroom are potentially immense. Educated adults are continually learning new language behaviour in their native languages, since language learning continues naturally throughout our lives. They are constantly expanding vocabulary, becoming more fluent in their fields, and adjusting their linguistic behaviour to new situations or new roles. ESP students can exploit these innate competencies in learning English.

The issue of teaching technical vocabulary

It is often claimed that it is not the job of the ESP teachers to teach technical vocabulary (Barber,1964; Higgins,1966; Cowan, 1974). In general, we agree it is not but it may be the duty of ESP teachers to teach technical vocabulary in certain circumstances.

1. beyond the duty of ESP teachers
2. In constraining contexts

A technical word is one that is recognizably specific to a particular topic, field or discipline. It’s likely that they can only be learned and understood by studying the field. Such words are considered to be the responsibility of the subject teachers. Strevens (1973:223) claims ‘that learners who know the scientific field may have little difficulty with technical words; but a teacher who doesn’t may have a great deal’

In this post, we’ll explore five common types of English for specific purposes classes you can encounter as an educator, besides tips and resources for teaching them successfully.

The issue of teaching grammar

There are difficulties in learning ESP because of the characteristics of ESP and learners’ low grammatical competence. Grammar knowledge plays important roles in cultivating grammar competence, especially for ESP learning. There is the connection between grammar and learning strategies. Cognitive approach (deductive and inductive learning), communicative approach, and drills are beneficial to grammar learning. ESP grammar learning strategies can be classified into cognitive strategies, metacognitive strategies, affective strategies for learning grammar, and social strategies for learning grammar. Teachers can apply some strategies to ESP teaching.

Part 5 : Types of ESP learners

Here are some of the most common ESP students you’re likely to encounter as a teacher, as well as tips on how you can help them get the most out of their studies.

1. Teaching Business English

Business English students are some of the most common ESP learners. While you can cater to this niche as a tutor or consultant, you’re also likely to encounter them in general English classes if you teach adult students. As the business world continues to become a close-knit global community, there’ll continue to be men and women from around the world learning English in a professional capacity.

Teaching business English for the first time can be quite challenging. There are a number of factors to consider before you step into this exciting field. You’ll not only need to be an English teacher, but also have a basic competency in business and finance as well. If you need a quick refresher on business vocabulary and themes, start reading the Wall Street Journal or the Harvard Business Review regularly before your first class.

Because business English students are learning English for professional purposes, they tend to have higher expectations than the average ESL student. It’s important that you come to class prepared and able to properly answer their questions. To get started, check out these business English lesson plans for teaching meeting management, negotiations in English and more.

However, to really meet your students’ expectations, you’ll need to understand the context in which they’re learning business English. This will help you create study programs specifically for them. For example, students who need basic business English for the office setting will need a good vocabulary and basic conversational skills, while managers who’re expected to give presentations will need to work much more heavily on pronunciation and speaking skills.

Try conducting a survey before or during your first class to find out what experience (and strengths/weaknesses, if applicable) your students already have in English and how they expect learning English will better their careers.

2. Teaching Aviation English

With English being the official language of air travel, it’s important that all airline personnel can speak and understand English. Your primary focus with these lessons will be speaking and listening.

Since pilots and air traffic controllers will be expected to communicate in English over the radio, it’s crucial for them to understand one another. In the real world, your students will be expected to listen to English over a possibly distorted radio, so listening is an important part of the course.

Be sure to test their comprehension using resources that demonstrate a range of native and non-native English accents. You’ll also want to do lots of recorded speaking activities so they can hear their own speech and make quick corrections based on your guidance.

Macmillan English has useful pronunciation teaching tools designed specifically for aviation English students. These teaching guidelines from the International Civil Aviation Organization provide essential context on teaching approaches in this field, plus specific activities you can incorporate into your classroom.

3. Teaching Tourism English

As with aviation English, students learning English for tourism purposes don’t need to spend a lot of time improving their writing proficiency levels.

According to the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR), a good English proficiency level for tourists could be somewhere around A2 and B1 (upper beginner/lower intermediate). Your students should know how to do the following:

• Use a wide range of basic vocabulary words related to health, medicine, travel, money, food and time.

• Be able to express themselves in basic sentences.

• Understand simple spoken sentences.

• Know how to communicate in most situations they’ll encounter while traveling.

The goal of teaching tourism English is to give students a basic working knowledge of the language so they can read directions and maps, understand basic words and phrases and speak intelligible sentences. Tourism English is the type of English that’s found in most beginner level ESL textbooks. However, for some resources geared specifically to tourism English students, check out these downloadable worksheets relevant to a range of situations students will encounter while traveling.

4. Teaching Medical English

Medical English continues to be a growing field as more pharmacists, doctors and nurses leave their home countries and work in English-speaking countries or countries with large international communities such as the UAE.

Teaching medical English can be tough if you don’t have a background in life sciences like biology, anatomy and physiology. Fortunately, resources like Hospital English and Multimedical English have a wealth of supplementary material that can help you teach medical English in the classroom.

In addition, medical English lessons should involve vocabulary-building exercises to help students remember difficult medical terms. They should also focus on building speaking and listening skills, as well as improving reading skills so that students can understand those challenging medical journals.

The good news is that most medical English students are already studying at the advanced level, so creating lessons to improve their proficiency levels shouldn’t be too difficult. Unlike in beginner classes, you can typically rely heavily on authentic English content like medical videos, talks and publications to create meaningful and challenging lessons.

Table explaining the skills needed for some specific jobs

	Aviation English	Medical English	Tourism English	Office English	Interview English	Business English
SKILLS	Listening Speaking	Focus voc Speaking Reading	Speaking Reading	Reading Vocab Speaking	Speaking	Speaking Reading Writing
Language Function	Instructing Describing	Informing Explaining convincing	Explaining Describing informing	Note taking informing	Asking	Convincing informing
Grammar points	Use of the simple present imperative	Simple present Passive voice	Direct forms Simple present Present continuous	All tenses	All tenses	Simple present Present continuous

conclusion

The purpose of this paper is to explain that ESP should serve the objective a teacher wants to attain and to introduce a framework for developing a new ESP course. As this article explains, teaching ESP is NOT teaching general English . The course-developing process starts with (1) students analysis, which is followed by (2) formulation of goals and objectives, (3) content, (4) selection of teaching materials, (5) planning the course, and (6) course evaluation. Course development should be viewed as an on-going process, one in which the teacher makes necessary changes to suite students interests and needs, even as the course is in progress.

References

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