(Luận văn thạc sĩ) challenges for teachers and students in the ESP course for police studies

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF POST- GRADUATE STUDIES

-----------------------------

TRAN THI HUONG GIANG

CHALLENGES FOR TEACHERS AND STUDENTS
IN THE ESP COURSE FOR POLICE STUDIES
(Những thách thức đối với giảng viên và sinh viên
trong việc dạy và học tiếng Anh chuyên ngành cảnh sát)

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: English Teaching Methodology
Code: 8140231.01

HANOI, 2019


VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF POST- GRADUATE STUDIES

-----------------------------

TRAN THI HUONG GIANG

CHALLENGES FOR TEACHERS AND STUDENTS
IN THE ESP COURSE FOR POLICE STUDIES

(Những thách thức đối với giảng viên và sinh viên
trong việc dạy và học tiếng Anh chuyên ngành cảnh sát)

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field:

English Teaching Methodology

Code:

8140231.01

Supervisor: Dr. Tran Thi Thu Hien

HANOI, 2019


DECLARATION

I hereby certify that the minor thesis entitled: “Challenges for Teachers and
Students in the ESP Course for Police Studies”, which is submitted in partial
fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in English
Language Teaching Methodology at Faculty of Post-Graduate Studies, University
of Languages and International Studies, Vietnam National University, Hanoi is the
result of my own work. I have provided fully documented references to the work
of others. The material in this thesis has not been submitted for any other university
or institution wholly and partially.

Hanoi, 2019

Tran Thi Huong Giang

i


ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This research paper would not have been completed without the help of people
to whom I would like to express my deep gratitude.
First and foremost, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to Dr. Tran Thi
Thu Hien, my supervisor, for her wholehearted support, continuous motivation and
precious guidance which were decisive factors to the completion of the thesis.
Also, I would like to give my warmest thanks to all of the lectures and officers
working at the Postgraduate Faculty, University of Languages and International
Studies, for their supporting me while I was studying and conducting this thesis.
I would like to extend my special thanks to all the research participants, my
dear colleagues and students. Without their valuable opinions and ideas in the
questionnaires, the study would not have been accomplished.
Last but not least, I owe my family their continuous support. Their patience and
love have helped me go beyond what sometimes looks like an insurmountable task.

ii


ABSTRACT

This study was intended to investigate the challenges for teachers and students
in the ESP course for police studies. More specifically, the researcher strived to (i)
investigate challenges that the teachers and students encounter in teaching and

studying the ESP course for police studies, and (ii) propose some suggestions to
overcome these challenges.
To achieve the above mentioned objectives, a survey research was conducted with
the participation of 24 teachers and 100 students at an academy in Ministry of Public
Security. The data came from a questionnaire for the teachers, a questionnaire for the
students, and interviews with some of the participants.
The results from data analysis have shown that the teachers had such difficulties
as knowledge of the subject, class organization, teaching methods, the learners’
English proficiency, time-constraint, as well as the course book and teaching
materials. From the other perspectives, the students had to face up with challenges
like time-constraint, the students’ English proficiency, knowledge of the subject,
motivation and studying habits. On the basis of the findings, some
recommendations were given to help solve the challenges met by the teachers and
the students.

iii


TABLE OF CONTENTS
DECLARATION ................................................................................................... i
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ................................................................................... ii
ABSTRACT ......................................................................................................... iii
TABLE OF CONTENTS .................................................................................... iv
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS............................................................................ vii
LIST OF TABLE AND FIGURES .................................................................. viii
PART A. INTRODUCTION ............................................................................... 1
1. Rationale for the study ....................................................................................... 1
2. Aims and objectives of the study ....................................................................... 2
3. Research questions ............................................................................................. 2
4. Research method ................................................................................................ 2

5. Scope of the study .............................................................................................. 2
6. Significance of the study .................................................................................... 3
7. Structure of the thesis ......................................................................................... 3
PART B. DEVELOPMENT ................................................................................ 4
CHAPTER 1: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND ........................................... 4
1.1. English for Specific Purposes ......................................................................... 4
1.1.1. Definitions and characteristics of ESP ......................................................... 4
1.1.2. English for Specific Purposes vs. General English ...................................... 7
1.1.3. Types of ESP ................................................................................................ 7
1.1.4. Features of ESP courses ............................................................................. 10
1.1.5. ESP teaching material ................................................................................ 13
1.1.6. The roles of ESP teachers .......................................................................... 13
1.1.7. The roles of ESP learners ........................................................................... 14
1.1.8. ESP learners’ motivation............................................................................ 16
1.2. Previous studies ............................................................................................. 18
1.3. Chapter summary .......................................................................................... 19
CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY .................................................................... 21
2.1. Research setting ............................................................................................ 21
2.2. Participants .................................................................................................... 21
iv


2.3. Research types ............................................................................................... 22
2.4. Data collection instruments ........................................................................... 22
2.4.1. Questionnaires ............................................................................................ 22
2.4.2. Interviews ................................................................................................... 23
2.5. Data collection procedure and analysis ......................................................... 23
2.6. Chapter summary .......................................................................................... 24
CHAPTER 3: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION .............................................. 25
3.1. Results of the survey questionnaires ............................................................. 25

3.1.1. The questionnaires for ESP teachers .......................................................... 25
3.1.2. Results of the questionnaire for the students ............................................. 29
3.2. Results of the Semi-Structured Interviews.................................................... 31
3.2.1. Teachers and students’ suggestions to improve their knowledge .............. 31
3.2.2. Teachers’ suggestions for class organization ............................................. 33
3.2.3. Teachers’ suggestions for teaching methods ............................................. 33
3.2.4. Teachers and students’ suggestions to enhance students’ English proficiency
.............................................................................................................................. 34
3.2.5. Teachers and students’ suggestions for time-constraint ............................ 35
3.2.6. Teachers’ suggestions for using the course book and teaching materials . 37
3.2.7. Teachers and students’ suggestions to motivate students .......................... 37
3.2.8. Students’ suggestions to change their studying habits ............................... 39
3.3. Discussion ..................................................................................................... 39
3.3.1. Challenges the teachers encounter in teaching ESP................................... 39
3.3.2. Challenges the students encounter in studying ESP .................................. 42
3.4. Implications ................................................................................................... 44
3.4.1. Suggestions to overcome the challenges for the teachers .......................... 44
3.4.2. Suggestions to overcome the challenges for the students .......................... 47
3.5. Chapter summary .......................................................................................... 49
PART C. CONCLUSION .................................................................................. 51
1. Recapitulation .................................................................................................. 51
2. Limitations of the Study ................................................................................... 52
3. Suggestions for further studies ......................................................................... 52
v


REFERENCES ................................................................................................... 53
APPENDICES ....................................................................................................... I
APPENDIX 1 ......................................................................................................... I
APPENDIX 2 ...................................................................................................... IV

APPENDIX 3 ...................................................................................................... VI
APPENDIX 4 .................................................................................................... VII

vi


LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

EAOP: English for Academic and Occupational Purposes
EAP: English for Academic Purposes
EFL: English as Foreign Language
EGAP: English for General Academic Purposes
EOP: Occupational Purposes
ESAP: English for Specific Academic Purposes
ESP: English for Special Purposes
EST: English for Science and Technology
GE: General English
PPA: the People’s Police Academy

vii


LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES
Table 3.1: Training areas the teachers want to receive ........................................ 27
Table 3.2: Challenging aspects in teaching ESP .................................................. 28
Table 3.3: Challenging aspects in studying ESP.................................................. 31
Figure 1.1: Tree of ELT (Hutchinson and Waters, 1987) ...................................... 9
Figure 1.2: The Division of ESP (Carter, 1983) .................................................. 10
Figure1.3: Factors Affecting ESP Course Design (Hutchinson and Waters, 1987) ... 11
Figure 3.1: Teachers’ ESP & GE teaching experience ........................................ 25

Figure 3.2: Teachers’ subject knowledge ............................................................ 25
Figure 3.3: Formal training forms received by teachers ...................................... 26
Figure 3.4: The use of a different teaching methods............................................ 26
Figure 3.5: Factors made the methods different .................................................. 27
Figure 3.7: Students’ ESP studying experience ................................................... 29
Figure 3.7: Students’ English proficiency............................................................ 29
Figure 3.8: Students’ means of studying ESP ...................................................... 30
Figure 3.9: Teachers’ suggestions to improve their knowledge .......................... 31
Figure 3.10: Students’ suggestions to improve their knowledge of the subject .. 32
Figure 3.11: Teachers’ suggestions for class organization .................................. 33
Figure 3.12: Teachers’ suggestions for teaching methods ................................... 33
Figure 3.13: Teachers’ suggestions for students’ English proficiency ................ 34
Figure 3.14: Students’ suggestions to enhance their English proficiency ........... 35
Figure 3.15: Teachers’ suggestions for time-constraint ....................................... 35
Figure 3.16: Students’ suggestions for time-constraint ....................................... 36
Figure 3.17: Teachers’ suggestions for using the course book and teaching materials . 37
Figure 3.18: Teachers’ suggestions to motivate students .................................... 37
Figure 3.19: Students’ suggestions to motivate their motivation ........................ 38
Figure 3.20: Students’ suggestions to change their studying habits .................... 39

viii


PART A. INTRODUCTION
1. Rationale for the study
As a result of globalization and integration processes, English has become an
essential part of international communication and exchange. Especially, English
for specific purposes (ESP) has been steadily growing to meet to the demands of
people working in different fields. Thus, with the national policy of renovation and
international integration, there is an increasing need for teaching and learning

English in Vietnam. More importantly, the idea of adopting ESP in the classrooms
at schools, colleges, and universities cannot be avoided.
Having recognized the strategic necessity of ESP for its students after
graduation, the academy’s teachers have applied the ESP course to its Police
Studies for three years. All freshmen enrolled at this academy have to take ESP
courses despite their majors. The textbook used for the courses is “English for
Police” including specialized vocabulary, topics, and knowledge related to law
and police field. It helps students enrich their vocabulary and get familiar with
daily situations they may encounter while working as police officers in the real
life.
However, several complaints that they were not considered capable of taking
ESP teaching and studying responsibilities were expressed by both teachers and
students at the academy. To the teachers, it is vital that they must develop the
competencies needed for the task of teaching ESP in Police Studies. This is
particularly important as there are frequent complaints when they confront the
realities of the classroom. To the students, it is said that they have had enormous
difficulties in taking the courses of which vocabulary, topics, and knowledge
are totally different from what they studied at high schools. Consequently, the
students are at loss, which may create high levels of anxiety and stress among
the students.
For the reasons above, it is clearly imperative to explore the challenges of ESP
teaching and studying at the academy, which helps find out solutions for the
teachers and students to overcome the obstacles. Thus, before sorting out suitable
methods in teaching and studying the ESP course at the academy, the researcher
1


would like to conduct a research paper entitled “Challenges for teachers and
students in the ESP course for Police Studies”.
2. Aims and objectives of the study

The general purpose of the study is to investigate what challenges the teachers
and students in the researched academy may encounter while teaching and
studying the ESP courses.
The specific objectives of the research are as follows:
-

Investigate challenges that the teachers and students have to cope with
while teaching and studying the ESP courses of Police Studies.

-

Propose some recommendations to help both the teachers and students
achieve better results in approaching the ESP course of Police Studies.

3. Research questions
This research aims at addressing the two following questions:
-

What challenges do the teachers and students encounter in teaching and
studying the ESP courses of Police Studies?

-

What are possible suggestions to overcome the challenges?

4. Research method
Survey research was chosen as the primary method since it met the aims and
objectives of the study. This method is also justified to offer significant benefits
for the researcher, who is also an EFL teacher.
5. Scope of the study

Within the frame of this study, the researcher would like to focus on finding
out challenges encountered by the teachers and students working with the ESP
courses of Police Studies, and from the findings, propose some suggestions to help
the teachers and students overcome and take advantages of the challenges found.
All of the attempts to deal with ESP from other perspectives and other types of
students in other contexts are out of the scope of this study.

2


6. Significance of the study
The study is expected to contribute to the development of teaching and learning
ESP courses. The study is meaningful in such aspect that it will provide teaching
and studying implications for English as foreign language (EFL) teachers and
students. In other words, this is substantial for educators in providing suggestions
for overcoming the challenges and developing their teaching and studying
syllabus, methods, and assessment. Lastly, this research can be used as a reference
source for those who have interest in this issue and a supplement to related studies
on teaching and studying ESP.
7. Structure of the thesis
The study is composed of three main parts: Introduction, Development, and
Conclusion.
Part A:

Introduction states the rationale, aims, objectives, research
questions, research method, scope and significance of the study as
well as the structure of the study

Part B: Development consists of three chapters.
Chapter 1: Theoretical background provides theories of ESP and

teaching ESP, and previous studies related to the topic.
Chapter 2: Methodology demonstrates the research methods applied in
the study with details on how and why these methods were
implemented. Besides, the data collection procedure and
data analysis are also described in this chapter.
Chapter 3: Findings and discussion reports data analysis, the results and
discussions
Part 3:

Conclusion summarizes the main issues covered in the paper,
presents the limitations of the study and some suggestions for
further studies in the research area.

References and Appendixes are presented at the end of the research.

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PART B. DEVELOPMENT
CHAPTER 1: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND
1.1. English for Specific Purposes
1.1.1. Definitions and characteristics of ESP
Smoak (2003) regarded English for specific purposes (ESP) as an enormous
and ever-changing area; that is why giving it an exact definition is a difficult task.
ESP was defined as being simply the teaching of English for any purpose
(Anthony, 1997). Meanwhile, Khan (2011) described ESP as what learners needed
in the target situation or what learners wanted about their function of language
usage in the sense of linguistic terminology. Hutchinson and Waters (1987)
defined ESP as a language learning approach and not a product, which indicated
that no particular kind of language, teaching materials, or methodology got

involved in ESP, but it was based on the learners’ needs. In other words, it focused
on how learners used English in the context, but not restricted to that specific one.
Sharing a similar view, Robinson (1991) stated that ESP was “normal goaldirected” which meant that its courses are based on needs analysis. Needs analysis
was not only knowing what the learners did with language but also dealing with
how to use that language in different contexts (Hutchinson & Waters, 1987). John
and Price-Machado (2001) pointed out that ESP needs analysis focused on both
the specific language use and learning needs of a specific group of learners. Also,
ESP learners’ needs made the set of skills, texts, linguistic forms, and
communicative practices limited (Dudley-Evans & St. John, 1998 and Hyland,
2009). Đỗ and Cái (2010) suggested that with the purpose of determining the
special activities and final goals that students have to do and achieve, ESP was
English courses based on survey results and needs analysis. Thus, ESP was
regarded as an English course of which the textbooks and materials were adapted
to meet specific desires and purposes.
According to Dudley-Evans and St. John (1998), ESP characteristics were
divided into three categories: the first one was that ESP met specific purposes of
the learners; the second one was that ESP made use of underlying methodology
4


and activities of the discipline it served; and the last one was that ESP was centered
on the language appropriate to these activities in terms of grammar, lexis, register,
study skills, discourse, and genre.
In addition, there were some variable characteristics of ESP. Firstly, ESP might
be related to or designed for specific disciplines. Secondly, ESP might use, in
specific teaching situations, a different methodology from that of general English.
Thirdly, ESP was likely to be designed for adult learners, either at a tertiary level
institution or in a professional work situation. It could, however, be for learners at
secondary school level. However, in some cases, ESP was also designed for high
school students. Fourthly, ESP was generally designed for intermediate or

advanced students. Lastly, most ESP courses assumed some basic knowledge of
the language system, but it could be used with beginners.
ESP seemed to have quite flexible discipline so it had been defined differently
by different scholars. We could count as many definitions as the number of
linguists who had defined it. All these definitions appeared to cover various
characteristics of this approach (Master’s, 2005: 99) mentioned a very broad
definition “ESP is a division of English Language Teaching (ELT), the only other
member of which is English for General Purposes.” McDonough’s (1998: 105)
defined that “ESP describes language programmes designed for groups or
individuals who are learning with an identifiable purpose and clearly specifiable
needs.”
Moreover, Johns and Price-Machado (2001: 43) said that English for Specific
Purposes (ESP) is a movement based on the proposition that particular groups of
students with specific learning and language use needs could be met by adjusting
all language teaching. Also, the sociocultural contexts in which these students
would be using English played a sensitive factor.
Hutchinson and Waters (1987) defined ESP as an “approach” rather than a
“product”. That means any particular kind of language, teaching material or
methodology was not necessarily involved in ESP. The fundamental function of
ESP was to answer why that learner needed to learn a foreign language. Milevica

5


(2006) as well as Hutchinson and Waters (1987) stated that the core of ESP was to
the hypothesis of learning English.
Dudley-Evans and St. John (1998: 4-5) presented a modified definition of ESP
containing absolute and variable characteristics of ESP that are as follows:
Absolute Characteristics
ESP has three main absolute characteristics. First, it was defined to meet

specific needs of the learner. Second, ESP made use of the underlying
methodology and activities of the discipline it serves. Lastly, it was centered on
the language (grammar, lexis), skills, discourse and genres appropriate to these
activities.
Variable Characteristics
The variable characteristics of ESP included: (1) ESP might be related to or
designed for specific disciplines; (2) ESP might use, in specific teaching situations,
a different methodology from that of general English; (3) ESP likely to be designed
for adult learners, either at a tertiary level institution or in a professional work
situation. It could, however, be for learners at secondary school level; (4) ESP was
generally designed for intermediate or advanced students; (5) Most ESP courses
assumed some basic knowledge of the language system, but it could be used with
beginners.
Although Dudley-Evans had improved it substantially by removing the
absolute characteristic that ESP was "in contrast with 'General English'" (Johns et
al., 1991: 298), and had added more variable characteristics, his definition was
clearly influenced by that of Strevens (1988). In justifying arguments about what
was and was not ESP, the division of ESP into absolute and variable
characteristics, in particular, was very useful. From the definition, it could be seen
that ESP could be unnecessarily involved with a specific discipline, or be aimed at
a certain age group or ability range. ESP itself should be simply seen as an
'approach' to teaching, or what Dudley-Evans described as an 'attitude of mind'.
Hutchinson et al. (1987:19) made a similar conclusion and he saw ESP as an
approach to language teaching in which all content and method decision-making
was based on the learner's reason for learning.
6


1.1.2. English for Specific Purposes vs. General English
If the above definition was agreeable, it was time to to see how broad ESP

really was. In fact, one important question, “What is the difference between the
ESP and General English approach?” was raised. The question was answered quite
simply by Hutchinson et al. (1987:53), "in theory nothing, in practice a great deal".
When the book was written, of course, the last statement was quite true. At the
time, General English teachers were also aware of students’ having specific
purpose for studying English. However, they would rarely conduct a needs
analysis to find out what was necessary to actually achieve it. In contrast, modern
teachers nowadays absolutely acknowledged the importance of needs analysis, and
certainly the goals of learners at all stages of materials production were carefully
considered by materials writers. Perhaps this demonstrated the influence that the
ESP approach had had on English teaching in general. Apparently, the line
between where General English courses stopped and ESP courses gradually started
to become vague.
There was an ironic fact that while a learner needs analysis and teachers’
specialist knowledge of using English for real-life communication were applied in
the syllabi of the so-called GE teachers, while many General English teachers can
be described as using an ESP approach, a large number of the so-called ESP
teachers were using an approach furthest from that described above. Many ESP
teachers did not carry out interview with specialist in the field, or did not analyze
the language required in the profession, or even did not conduct students’ needs
analysis. That was the reason why these ESP teachers became so dependent on the
available textbooks that they were incapable of assessing the adaptability based in
personal experience, and not willing to do the necessary analysis of difficult
specialist texts to verify their contents.
1.1.3. Types of ESP
According to Dudley-Evans and St. John (1998), English for Academic
Purposes (EAP) fell into two divisions: English for General Academic Purposes
(EGAP) and English for Specific Academic Purposes (ESAP). While EGAP

7

referred to the teaching of language skills that were common in different
disciplines, ESAP was related to the teaching of language features that were
specific for various disciplines. Insights into the mutual relationship of EGAP and
ESAP had been offered by research.
Skills and language functions learnt in EGAP programs might be transferred to
specific disciplines in ESAP programs (ibid.). The types of ESP had been
discussed by many researchers and ESP had been categorized into two main
groups: English for Occupational Purposes (EOP) and English for Academic
Purposes (EAP) (Hutchinson and Waters, 1987; Robinson, 1991) whereas Carter
(1983) had identified the following three types of ESP:
1. English as a restricted language;
2. English for Academic and Occupational Purposes (EAOP);
3. English with specific topics.
According to Mackey and Mountford (1978), the concept of “restricted
language” was clearly defined in the following statement: “...the language of
international air-traffic control could be regarded as 'special', in the sense that the
repertoire required by the controller was strictly limited and could be accurately
determined situationally, as might be the linguistic needs of a dining-room waiter
or air-hostess. The scope of this first type of ESP which allowed the learners learn
English language for very restricted purposes was extremely limited and the
learners were trained to deal with specific situations in extremely limited linguistic
settings. This kind of ESP teaching let learners acquire limited number of phrases
and expressions, which made these learners incapable of using English in any
settings other than the ones they had been trained for.
Carter (1983) regarded EAOP as the second kind whereas majority of other
researchers had confined their classification of ESP to EAP and EOP. These two
types in the classification of ESP were also included by Robinson (1991). English
for Science and Technology (EST) had been enumerated in the list of types of

ESP by Kennedy and Bolitho (1984). It seemed to transpire that ESP had been
separated from EOP and EAP because of the fact that it was basically scientific
and technological knowledge that this new approach of ELT was supposed to
8


transfer to non-native speakers of English (Hutchinson and Waters, 1987;
Gatehouse, 2001; Dudley-Evans and St John, 1998; Strevens, 1977). Hutchinson
and Waters (1987: 6) described the classification of ESP in detail by using “Tree
of ELT” which offered important insights into the broad scope of ESP.
English for Specific Purposes

English for Academic Purposes

English (Academic)
for Science and
Technology

English for Occupational Purposes

English for
Professional Purposes

English for
Medical
Purposes

English for
Business
Purposes

English (Academic)
for Legal Purposes

English (Academic)
for Medical
Purposes

English for
Occupational Purposes

Pre-vocational
Purposes

Vocational
Purposes

English (Academic) for
Management, Finance and
Economics

Figure 1.1: Tree of ELT (Hutchinson and Waters, 1987)
Hutchinson and Waters (1987) and Carter (1983) seemed to have similarities
in their belief that EOP and EAP are not entirely separate phenomena. They argued
that people could work and study at the same time; it was also likely that in many
cases that the student could take up, or return the language learnt for immediate
use in a study environment to a job (ibid., p. 16). What might be revealed from the
above discussion was that EOP and EAP had approximately common goals but
their dynamics were indeed different from their means to achieve the ultimate
9

goals. Only EAP and EOP had been also included in their division of ESP by
Dudley-Evans and St. John (1998: 5).
Carter (1983) categorized “English with specific topics” into the third type of
ESP. Activities like post-graduate reading studies, working in foreign institutions
and attending conferences were mentioned as future needs for scientists. Before
any ESP material was designed, the third category of ESP required that the
linguistic needs of the learners should be properly determined. It was the target
future (linguistic) needs of the learners that was focused on to prepare the learners
for their future needs. It seemed that this category of ESP was not very
distinguishable because all ESP courses had a proper need analysis procedure as
an integral component of developing ESP teaching material which targeted
situational language, including topics mentioned by Carter (1983) and others, in
present and target workplace settings (Gatehouse, 2001).
1.1.4. Features of ESP courses
Carter (1983) discussed the identification of the characteristics of ESP courses.
He affirmed that there were three features common to ESP courses: the first was
authentic material, the second was purpose-related orientation, and the last was
self-direction.
ESP
EOP

Pre-experience

EAP

Post-experience

Simultaneous/

In-service

As a School
Subject

Independent

English for
Occupational Purposes

Integrated
Pre-study

Figure 1.2: The Division of ESP (Carter, 1983)

10

In-study Post-study


Dudley-Evans (1997) asserted that ESP should be offered at an intermediate or
advanced level, use of authentic learning materials is entirely attainable. Closer
examination of ESP materials would follow; suffice it to say at this juncture that
use of authentic content materials, modified or unmodified in form, were indeed a
feature of ESP, particularly in self-directed study and research tasks. For Language
Preparation for Employment in the Health Sciences, a large component of the
student evaluation was based on an independent study assignment in which the
learners were asked to scrutinize and present an area of interest. The learners were
also encouraged to carry out research using an array of different resources,
including the Internet. Hutchinson and Waters (1987, p.22) provided the issue of

how to reasonably structure such survey in the figure regarding factors affecting
ESP course design.

WHAT?
Language
Description
s

Syllabus

ESP
COURSE

HOW?
Methodolog
y

Learning
Theories

Nature of
particular
target and
learning
situation

Factors affecting ESP
Course Design

WHO? WHY?

WHERE?
WHEN?
Needs Analysis

Figure1.3: Factors Affecting ESP Course Design (Hutchinson and Waters, 1987)

11


Purpose-related orientation indicated the simulation of communicative tasks
required of the target setting. It was Carter (1983) that cited student simulation of
a conference, involving the preparation of papers, reading, note taking, and
writing. In his study, Students at Algonquin College were involved in English for
business courses in the design and presentation of a unique business venture, which
was composed of market research, pamphlets and logo creation. The students were
asked to present all final products to invited ESL classes during a poster
presentation session. For a health science program, a seminar on improving the
students’ listening skills was held. They practiced listening skills, such as listening
with empathy, and then utilized their newly acquired skills during a field-trip to a
local community center where they would work in groups with English-speaking
dwellers.
Finally, ESP courses had characteristic of self-direction, which meant the
learners would be turned into users in ESP courses (Carter, 1983: 134). In order
for self-direction to occur, it was a certain degree of freedom to decide when,
what, and how the learners would study that they must have. Carter (1983) also
added that tear hers had to make a systematic attempt by introducing the learners
about learning strategies to teach them how to learn. It was necessary, though, to
teach high-ability learners such as those enrolled in the health science program
about learning strategies. It was argued that it was not essential. In contrast, what
was vital for these learners was to learn how to access information in a new

culture.
The main focus of ESP was how to teach English with proper and easy method
to attain the specific goals. It did not emphasis on the language, but tried to meet
the need of a learner such as, English for the Engineers, Lawyers, Doctors and
Tourists, etc. For example, to teach a tourist guide English for communication, the
class of ESP would be all about developing communication capabilities instead of
other skills. Obviously, in tourism, communicative skills were really essential.
Without communication skills, one could not interact with others. Therefore,
English would be taught in a distinguish way as per the field demands. ESP put

12


more emphasis on the training and selection of suitable content. The objective
could be to develop a restricted English Proficiency.
1.1.5. ESP teaching material
Dudley-Evans and St. John (1998) presented four reasons for using materials
which seemed significant in the ESP context: (1) as a source of language; (2) as a
learning support; (3) for motivation and stimulation; and (4) for reference.
According to these researchers, in certain circumstances, where English was a
foreign not a second language, the ESP classroom might be almost the only source
of English. Materials then played a crucial role in exposing learners to the
language, which implied that the materials needed to present real language, as it
was used, and the full range that learners required.
As a learning support, materials needed to be reliable, that was, to work, to be
consistent and to have some recognizable pattern. This need did not mean a rigid
unit structure; there wouldn’t be a fixed format.
To enhance learning, materials must involve learners in thinking about and
using the language. The activities needed to stimulate cognitive not mechanical
processes. The learners also needed a sense of progression.

To stimulate and motivate, materials needed to be challenging yet achievable;
to offer new ideas and information whilst being grounded in the learners’
experience and knowledge; to encourage fun and creativity. The input must contain
concepts and/or knowledge that were familiar but it must also offer something
new, a reason to communicate, to get involved. The exploitation needed to match
how the input would be used outside the learning situation and take account of
language learning needs. The purpose and the connection to the learners’ reality
need to be clear.
1.1.6. The roles of ESP teachers
An argumentative question frequently raised regarding ESP teachers was
whether they needed to be experts in the subject area. The general hypothesis was
that language teachers should be primarily those engaged in Teaching English as
a Foreign Language (TEFL) and should, above all, be experts in the language and
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language teaching, and they were not required to have specialist knowledge.
However, it was extremely essential for them to have some understanding of the
subject area, which was ideally accompanied by a positive attitude towards it.
Another significant factor was that ESP teachers did have the ability to actively
integrate student knowledge about the subject matter or, as Ellis and Johnson
(1994: 26) claimed that it was the learners who had the specific content knowledge
and who were capable of bringing that knowledge to the classroom”. Therefore,
Ellis and Johnson (1994: 26) pointed out that good ESP teachers would be “experts
in presenting and explaining the language,” who also had the ability “to ask the
right questions and make good use of the answers”. Other valuable sources of
information for ESP teachers are subject teachers and subject-matter textbooks.
To sum up, to make best use of the resources mentioned above when designing
a syllabus, selecting, and/or writing materials, as well as teaching the course, ESP
teachers could be ideally supported by a genuine interest in the subject to have at

least some basic knowledge about the subject matter in question. It is even more
important that they act as facilitators and encourage pupils to share their own
knowledge about the subject matter with the class and to actively participate in the
learning process. This characteristic of was cited by Harmer (2007: 107) that the
wisdom of a teacher was shown by his not bidding the learners enter the house of
his wisdom, but leading them to the threshold of their own mind.
1.1.7. The roles of ESP learners
The learners came to the ESP class with a specific interest for learning, subject
matter knowledge, and well-built adult learning strategies. They had the tasks to
develop English language skills to reflect their native-language knowledge and
skills. In short, Mary and Brenda (1986) categorized the students’ roles to play in
learning process into three groups.
 Focus for Learning: Each ESP student had a particular purpose and
focus for learning. People learnt languages when they had opportunities to
understand and work with language in a context that they understood and
found interesting. ESP was a means for such opportunities. Students would
require English when they worked with materials which they found
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interesting and relevant and which they could use in their professional
working environment or further studies. Successful learners paid attention
to the meaning of the language they heard or read and did not focus
primarily on the linguistic input or isolated language structures. The ESP
student was particularly well disposed to focus on meaning in the subjectmatter field. In ESP, English should not be presented as a subject or body
of facts to be learned in isolation from real use, nor as a mechanical skill or
habit to be developed. In contrast, English should be presented in authentic
contexts to make the learners acquainted with the particular ways the
language was used in functions that they would need to perform in their
specialty fields.

 Subject-Matter Knowledge: A real contribution to the language
learning process was able to be made by learners in the ESP classroom who
were generally aware of the purposes for which they would need to use
English. Having already oriented their training toward a specific field, they
saw their English instruction as complementing this orientation. The
students were enabled to identify a real context for the vocabulary and
structures of the ESP classroom knowledge of the special area. In this way,
the learners could make use of what they already knew about the subject
matter field to learn English.
 Adult Learning Strategies: An adult gained a lot of advantages
when learning - adults must work harder than children to learn a new
language, but the learning strategies they brought to the task enabled them
to learn faster and more efficiently. The skills they had already developed
in reading and writing their native languages would make learning English
easier. Although the English of the students you would be working with
would most likely be quite limited, the language learning abilities of the
adult in the ESP classroom were potentially great. Language learning
continued naturally throughout our lives. Educated adults were constantly
learning new language behavior in their native languages; expanding
vocabulary, becoming more articulate in their fields, and modifying their
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