English for Specific Purposes Teaching and Research Page 1
ESP and Corpus-Informed Teaching and Research
Dr. Ken Lau
Assistant Professor
Centre for Applied English Studies
The University of Hong Kong
Email: [email protected]
Course Schedule
9:00-9:10 Opening remarks
9:10-10:30 ESP Teaching and Research I: Arts and Humanities
10:30-10:40 Tea Break
10:40-12:10 ESP Teaching and Research II: Science and Engineering
12:10-1:20 Lunch
1:20-3:00 Corpus-Informed Teaching and Research I
3:00-3:10 Tea Break
3:10-4:40 Corpus-Informed Teaching and Research II
Acknowledgements
Thanks to colleagues of the Centre for Applied English Studies who have generously shared
their course materials for illustration purposes.
English for Specific Purposes Teaching and Research Page 2
1. Definition of ESP
English for Specific Purposes (ESP) has been defined by a number of researchers. One of the
most oft-cited definitions is from Hutchison and Waters (1987)1 who see ESP as an
approach rather than a product, meaning that ESP does not imply a particular kind of
language, teaching material or methodology. The central idea in their definition lies in the
construct of need. “Need is defined by the reasons for which the student is learning English,
which will vary from study purposes such as following a postgraduate course in an English-
speaking country to work purposes such as participating in business meetings or taking
hotel bookings” (Dudley-Evans & St John, 1998, p.3)2.
2. Classification of ESP (adapted from Dudley-Evans & St John, 1998, p. 6).
English for
Specific Purposes
(ESP)
The case of Centre for Applied English Studies (selected courses)
Faculty Course Nature of the course: EAP/EOP
Architecture Communication Course for Architecture Students EAP Arts Academic English for Arts Students EAP Business & Economics
English for Academic Communication for Economics and Finance Students
EAP
Dentistry English for Dental Students ? Education Academic English for Education Students EAP Engineering Professional and Technical Written/Oral
Communication for Engineers EAP
Law Writing Solutions to Legal Problems EAP Medicine English for Clinical Clerkship EOP/EAP Science Academic English for Science Students EAP Social Sciences Professional Writing Skills for Social Work EOP
1 Hutchison, T. and Waters, A. (1987). English for specific purposes. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
2 Dudley-Evans, T. and St John, M.J. (1998). Developments in English for specific purposes: A multi-disciplinary
approach. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
English for Occupational
Purposes (EOP)
English for Science and Technology
English for Medical Purposes
English for Legal Purposes
English for Management, Finance and
Economics
English for Professional
Purposes
English for Vocational
Purposes
English for Medical
Purposes
English for
Business Purposes
Pre-Vocational English
Vocational English
English for Academic
Purposes (EAP)
English for Specific Purposes Teaching and Research Page 3
3. Needs Analysis
Following from the definition above, needs analysis appears a crucial part and often the first
stage of ESP. Needs cover a wide range of issues such as learner’s goals, backgrounds,
proficiency, reasons for taking the course, the situations where they need the
communication knowledge and skills, etc.
There are three main types of needs analysis: present situation analysis (PSA), learning
situation analysis (LSA) and target situation analysis (TSA). PSA refers to information about
learners’ current abilities, familiarity with the written and spoken genres, their skills and
perceptions; what they are able to do and what they want at the beginning of the course.
Data can therefore be both objective (age, proficiency, prior learning experiences) and
subjective (self-perceived needs, strengths and weaknesses). A statement such as “I have
difficulty selecting appropriate word choices when writing a feasibility report” is an
example of PSA. LSA is concerned with the learners, teachers and teaching and learning
contexts. It includes subjective, self-perceived, process-oriented needs. An example of LSA
statement is “I am more comfortable working on my own than in groups”. TSA concerns
the learner’s future roles and the linguistic skills and knowledge required to perform
competently in a target context. This involves mainly objective and product-oriented data:
identifying the contexts of language use, observing the language events in these contexts,
listing the genres employed, collecting and analyzing target genres. “I have to draft an
assessment report after seeing a client” is an example.
To collect needs data, teachers can draw on a range of different sources and techniques such
as interviews, questionnaire surveys, observations.
Imagine you are asked by your department head to create an ESP course for social
workers entitled “Professional Writing Skills for Social Work”. What kind of (1) writing
and (2) language needs do you plan to cover in the course?
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4. Course Design
Look at a sample course schedule. How are the topics structured?
Sample course schedule
Session Topic to be covered
1 Principle of social work writing Function and structure of an intake summary Extracting relevant information from an interview
2 Format of an intake summary
Tenses, and reported speech in social work reports Describing facts and opinions objectively
3 Reading an intake summary sample (proofreading exercise) Feedback on draft intake summary
4 Citations and referencing in report writing
Analyzing two intake summary samples
5 Function and structure of a proposal Selecting a focus for proposal and drafting objectives
6 Discussing proposal format
Literature search Discussing proposal objectives
7 Analyzing sample proposals
8 Function and structure of assessment report Language of assessment Analyzing two assessment report samples
9 Organizing information for an assessment report
10 Function and style of social work referral letter
Language and stylistic errors in a letter of referral
11 Feedback on first draft of assessment report (tutorial)
12 Wrap up
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5. Tasks and Materials Development
Look at the tasks of one sample unit. How are tasks sequenced to help build up students’ knowledge? What other kinds of tasks do you think would be useful?
Writing an Intake Summary
By the end of this session, you should be able to:
understand the principles and functions of an intake summary learn and practice vocabulary describing relationships
Task 1: Elements of an Intake Summary
In order to write a complete intake summary it is important to understand the uses or functions
it may have as well as the underlying principles.
What is an intake summary?
What are the functions of an intake summary?
What are some of the principles of good summary recording?
What kind of information should an intake summary include?
Task 2: Analyzing a case
In the first three classes the focus will be on writing a summary of the first contact with a client.
This kind of recording is often referred to as an intake summary.
Watch the 1st scene of the video recording of a Hong Kong social work case. Take notes as you
watch. Imagine that you are the social worker assigned to the family – later you will write an
intake summary of the meeting to provide a record for colleagues and the client. You may
discuss some of the following issues with your classmates.
Family Members
Social worker’s questions & client’s key responses
Problems you think they have (provide evidence)
Possible forms of intervention
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Task 3: Describing relationships
When writing summaries of interviews with clients, descriptions of relationships are important for accurate documentation. As well as detailing who the members of the family are, words to do with birth, death, marriage, separation and divorce will be used. A family tree or genogram is often used to display these relationships – look at one for the Ho family on the next page. What do the different symbols mean? Can you describe the relationships depicted here?
Mr Ho: Genogram
Mr Ho
Daughter aged 12
Daughter aged 11
Son aged 6
Describe the relationships that the genogram illustrates.
Task 4 Language Practice
Use the web concordancer introduced by your teacher to check concordances and derive the
differences in usage and meanings of the following trios.
1. Marry/married/marriage 2. Engage/engaged/engagement 3. Separate/separated/separation
Engagement
Mary and Simon ________________________ next week.
Mary ___________________ to Alan but it didn't work out.
Marriage Jenny ____________to a wealthy man. She enjoys __________ life very much. She feels that her _____________ is very successful. Pansy does not want to __________ at present, as she wants to pursue her studies overseas. My parents are now in their early seventies. They ______________________________ for over fifty years.
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6. Language Materials
After all, ESP courses are offered under an English centre or department. A substantial
amount of input should therefore be given to language. The course Professional Writing
Skills for Social Work serves a good example because social work language is not as easily
taught because its terms are basically those we use in daily English. This is an area which
you really need to discuss with your counterpart/contact person in the social work
department.
The following are some of the salient language features in social work:
Description of behaviours and emotions
Using non-judgmental language
Using reported speech
Now, let us look at the tasks on these language features.
Task X: Describing non-verbal behaviour
The content of the assessment will depend on its purpose. Assessment reports may include
descriptions of living conditions, verbal and non-verbal behaviour and interpersonal
relationships, as well as other relevant information that helps you to assess a client’s health,
emotional and intellectual functioning. Remember that you only need to focus on aspects of
the client’s situation which are relevant to the case and the problems identified by the
worker and client.
What emotions might the following words and expressions describing behaviour indicate?
She raised her eyebrow.
She frowned.
He clenched his fist.
She shrugged her shoulders.
She raised her voice.
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Additional task: Describing verbal and non-verbal behaviour
Look at one scene of the American sitcom “Friends”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=06PJ-V0QAJE – describe Ross’ reaction when he popped
into the apartment seeing his best friends kissing.
Answer key:
Ross entered the house and saw Rachel and Joey kissing. He looked puzzled and confused. He
was speechless at first and looked surprisingly calm. When he started talking, he raised his tone
and had a squeaky voice. He then pressed his hands to his ears and screamed. He was uptight
and acted hyperactively. Finally he ran out of the house in haste.
Task Y: Using non-judgmental language
You are working at the Social Welfare Department as a senior officer. You made a visit to Mr.
Chan’s home last Wednesday with Jenny, who is now working as a summer intern in your
department. Jenny is a second year student of the Department of Social Work at the
University of Hong Kong. She wrote a brief report of the visit and has passed it on to you for
comments. Here is part of the report:
We were supposed to arrive at 1:30pm but there was a traffic jam in Mongkok. We arrived at
Mr. Chan’s apartment at 2pm finally. His flat was terrible. There were lots of dishes which
had not been washed in the kitchen. The rubbish bin was so full that you could see rubbish
everywhere.
We tried to talk to Mr. Chan but he wasn’t friendly towards us. He was not friendly at all. The
only thing he said was that two years ago he fell from scaffolding at the construction site at
which he worked. He hadn’t been able to walk since then and had to stay at home all the time.
His wife left him five months ago and no one knew where she had gone.
We walked around the messy, dirty apartment and saw some empty bottles in the kitchen.
Apparently he drank a lot of alcohol and was an alcoholic. We tried to talk to Mr. Chan’s 10-
year-old daughter Rose. She tried to keep a distance from us at first but was willing to talk to
us later. She hated it when we asked about her mother. Rose did not seem to suffer from child
abuse….
Share your views on the following questions with a friend.
How would you comment on the style of Jenny’s writing?
How could you make the report more concise?
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Additional task based on Ken Lau’s PhD data: Using non-judgmental language
The following is a comparison of excerpt from social work assessment reports before and
after the fieldwork instructor’s comments. Notice the differences in the language and
expressions used.
Problem Analysis
I have discovered that the street children always play the table tennis, play Chinese chess and
watching Television in the centre. At the beginning, the streets children will feel funny from
playing and watching, however, the attractions of these game will be lower, it is because that
the centre have just provided these games. As the results, the street children feel the centre
boring, therefore, they will leave the centre and go to the street for playing, stealing, and
other misbehavior etc. one of the street children told me that, sometimes, they will go to the
computer centre (web bar) to gamble or smoke etc. Furthermore the children go to the
street, they also will learn some misbehavior by peer influences, or social learning. Therefore,
it must make some interesting game or game for them to play in order to let them still in the
centre.
Aim of the Program
1. It hope that street children will join the group and don’t waste time in the street
2. it hope that learn about some science knowledge form the group
3. The stress children can positively express their comment, and learn to co-operation with
other.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Problem Analysis
I have discovered that the street children like playing the table tennis, Chinese chess and
watching Television in the centre. At the beginning, the street children will have fun from
joining these activities, however, they will lose their interest and patience gradually. The
centre does not provide any further training or organization on these activities. It is not
surprising to find that children soon become bored. They will leave the centre and prefer
wandering and playing in the street. They will adopt undesirable pattern of behavior such as
stealing. One member told me that, sometimes they will go to the computer centre (web bar)
to gamble or smoke etc.
The tangible aim of the group:
1. To engage the street kids in some meaningful and productive learning activities.
2. To teach some basic science knowledge through interesting experiment and activities
3. To encourage self-expression and cooperation in the group.
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Task Z: Using Reported Speech
Now that you have established a structure for the interview the next step is to write the
summary reporting the interview. When you do this you may use your own words rather
than reporting exactly what was said word for word. When you report a statement the
reported clause is a "that" clause. It can also be a "to +infinitive" clause, an "if" clause, or "wh"
word clause.
For example,
She said that she had never taken drugs.
The worker told her that she was not going to be charged.
My husband told me to do this.
They asked me what my plans were.
Convert the following statement/question into reported speech:
1. Florence: ‘My husband visited my home yesterday despite the court order’.
2. Have the children been back to school since the accident happened? (The question was
raised by Jenny to the teacher.)
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English for Law (Writing Solutions to Legal Problem)
This 3-credit English enhancement course offered in the 2nd semester aims to enable first-year
LLB students and 2nd year joint-degree law students to adapt and develop their existing
language, reasoning, and study skills, and to apply and articulate their knowledge of tort law3,
as they frame a written response to the kinds of legal problem solution assignment.
Teaching Approach – Dovetailing Content and Language
Assignment Genre
Legal Problem
Legal Content,
Legal Practice
Reasoning
‘Moves’
Rhetorical
structure
Other
Language
Features
Progression Weeks 1 and 2 Weeks 2 and 3 Weeks 3 and 4
Disciplinary Language
This cycle of teaching repeats for another 2 rounds.
An example of a Problem Question (PQ):
One day, when walking home, William trips and falls, damaging his knee. Several days later,
while driving to work, he sees Victor crossing the road and brakes to avoid running into him.
Unfortunately, due to the pain in William’s knee, he cannot fully press his brake pedal and as a
result he runs into Victor. The collision occurs at a fairly slow speed and a normal person would
only have suffered bruising as a result, but Victor has brittle bones and suffers two broken legs
and a number of broken ribs. He is taken to the local hospital where, due to an administrative
mistake, his right arm is amputated.
Advise Victor.
3 Only Negligence and Psychiatric Injury are dealt with in the course.
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First Step: Case Analysis
To identify the legal issues involved and to be addressed in the PQ
For example
The collision occurs at a fairly slow speed and a normal person would only have suffered bruising
as a result, but Victor has brittle bones and suffers two broken legs and a number of broken ribs.
Remoteness:
If the defendant is negligent, the plaintiff's right to recover damages is not limited by the fact
that his injury resulted from aggravation of a preexisting condition. Where an injury arising
from a cause which entails liability on the defendant combines with a pre-existing condition to
bring about a greater harm to the plaintiff then would have resulted from the injury alone, the
defendant may be found liable for all of the consequences. [Thin-skull rule]
Issues and Order of Analysis in Negligence Cases
Duty of Care
Standard of Care
Breach of Duty
Causation
Remoteness
Defense
Negligence
Liable
Partial
Contributory Negligence
(Apportionment)
Complete
Volenti Non Fit Injuria
Ex Turpi Causa
Past
Present
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Second Step: Legal Reasoning Moves
Common Law Legal Reasoning Flow - IPCAC:
Issue – Articulating the issue in terms of the parties and the facts
Principle – invoking a legal principle and/or rule
Case – relying on precedent cases and/or legislation
Application – applying precedent case and/or legislation to the facts of the present case
Conclusion – articulating the (recommended) decision, and grounds for reaching it
For example,
Legal Reasoning Moves
Assuming that William is held to have caused the accident,
Victor would next have to show that the injuries she
suffered were not too remote a consequence of William’s
actions. The usual rule that a D is only responsible for harm
of a foreseeable type is modified to some extent by the `thin
skull’ rule. The operative principle here was set out in
Smith v Leech Brain. The court held that in cases where
the harm inflicted was of a foreseeable type, the defendant
will be liable for the full extent of the injury, even if the full
extent was unforeseeable. Thus, the tortfeasor is said to
`take his victim as he finds him.’ Applying this principle to
the present case, the fact that Victor had brittle bones and
suffered more seriously than normal people might
otherwise have been, is irrelevant. William will thus be
liable to compensate Victor for his broken legs and ribs.
Issue
Principle
Case
Application
Conclusion
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Third Step: Rhetorical Structure
Inductive vs Deductive Structure
Issue NOT Arguable - Deductive Structure
Analysis Mary was clearly prima facie in breach of her
duty. The standard of care for Mary should be a
reasonable customer’s behaviour in a
supermarket (Glasgow Corp v Muir). Being in a
hurry to get home does not suggest an
emergency or any other grounds for holding
Mary to a lower standard of care towards the
supermarket.
Deductive structure is recommended – it is NOT arguable You don’t succeed point by point or issue by issue – you do that for the overall action
Issue Arguable - Inductive Structure
Analysis / Points to Note We need to determine whether or not Norah’s action of
putting her basket down in Mary’s way breached her duty
to Mary. The objective standard of care of a
supermarket’s customer may indicate it was reasonable
for Norah to put down her shopping basket in order to
reach up for something like the jar of coffee (Glasgow
Corp v Muir). However, Norah’s action of “suddenly”
putting down the basket “in the way of” someone walking
close to her suggests she fell below that standard (i.e.
breached her duty).
Issue: Breach of Duty Principle Case Application Conclusion
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Fourth Step: Other Language Features
A language feature characteristic of legal writing is the use of conditional sentences. So in the
English for Law course, it is taught explicitly to students. The following is some sample
materials on conditional sentences in the legal contexts:
Conditional Forms
1st Conditional
Where/When/If X happens, Y may happen/also happens o Legal function: General rule/principle o Rarely used in PQ answer, except that you cite statute.
If a passenger does not wear a seatbelt, he/she commits an offence.
2nd Conditional
If X happened, Y would happen o Legal function: asserting foreseeability (as part of the analysis of the specific
problem) o It was foreseeable that, if Norah placed her basket in the aisle, someone
would trip over it. You repeat the fact and reiterate the GENERAL foreseeable consequence
(Note that no reference to Mary’s injury) 3rd Conditional
If X had not happened / But for X’s breach, the plaintiff would not have been injured
o Legal function: Causation – But-for test o If Mary had not been rushing into the supermarket / But for Mary rushing
into the supermarket, the 50 bottles of wines on display would not have been knocked over.
A sign of regret of what had happened – a hypothetical alternative past outcome
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Professional and Technical Written Communication for Engineers (ME, BSE)
This course aims to provide an intensive English environment within the Engineering syllabus
which will engage students in problem solving activities that are representative of the
engineering disciplines, give you the opportunity to communicate in English and build up their
confidence in using the language.
The course involves a Design and Make Project for which students in groups have to create an
Elastic-Powered Paper Vehicle (i.e. using recycled paper to make a car which is powered by one
elastic band) with the given specifications. The production of the vehicle itself is not assessed
but students are assessed on two things in relation to the project
1. Conduct a series of meeting and come up with minutes
2. Write a technical report with appropriate diagrams
The followings are the sections required in the technical report:
Summary
Introduction
Materials and Specifications
Engineering Principle
Construction Procedures 1 and 2
Test Procedure
Discussion of results
Conclusion
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Sample Materials on Engineering Principles
The reason why we need such a section is because other engineers need to know WHY you have
done WHAT you have done in your design so that they can duplicate it or improve it or change it
in some way.
Several points to bear in mind:
Include formulae if necessary but you must explain why you have included them. Use theoretical principles to explain why you have made the choices you have in your
first design and why you made the changes you did in your second design. PRESENT TENSE should be used unless you refer specifically to your project, for which
PAST TENSE is used You should include graphic information.
Engineering Principles
According to the law of equilibrium, there are two conditions for an object to maintain balance
1. the resultant of the external forces acting on a static member must be zero. 2. the moment sum of all external forces and moments about any axis acting on a static
member must be zero.
When an object is placed on the topmost point of three straw segments that are joined together,
the object exerts a force W on the straws and the ground exerts three reaction forces (R, S, T) on
the other ends of the straws. See Figure 1.
Figure 1 Diagram of external forces
In order to satisfy the first condition of the law of equilibrium, the sum of the external forces
must be zero. This means W+R+S+T=0. This equation also implies that the reaction forces
exerted on each rod will be smaller as the number of supporting straws increases.
The moment of external forces about one point can be calculated by External force x
perpendicular distance from the force to the point taking moment.
For instance, the moment about point 0 is F x D in Figure 2.
R
T W
S
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Excerpts from Student Report (Construction Procedures)
Students are not hand-draw diagrams. Some students may use the MATLAB drawing tool which
they learn in their disciplinary subjects.
5.2 Design І - Construction Procedures
Construction the axles
1. Two pieces of waste paper were rolled together to form a piece of
15cm long front axle with its diameter equals to 1cm, just like figure
5.2-1.
2. Three pieces of waste paper were rolled together to form a piece of
20cm back axle with its diameter equals to 1cm, as shown in figure
5.2-2.
Construction the rear wheels
3. Five pieces of waste paper were rolled together to make 4 pieces of
paper sticks with 4.5cm long. Figure 5.2-3 has shown the paper sticks
4. 20 circles with diameter 10 cm were cut and with a small circle hole
of 2 cm diameter were pinned at the centre of the circle. The result
paper was illustrated by figure 5.2-4.
Fig. 5.2-1
Fig. 5.2-2
Fig. 5.2-3
Fig. 5.2-4
Fig. 5.2-1
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Sample unit on Introduction
Introduction
Engineers encounter many technical problems in designing and building structures such as a
tower. The engineering principles which apply to the physical dynamics of a structure make an
impact on its efficiency. Efficiency is related to cost, since the most efficient something is, the
fewer materials and energy that are required for it to be completed.
The purpose of this project was to design and construct the tallest tower possible with the least
amount of materials (drinking straws and paper clips) which could support a marble at the top
most point for more than 3 minutes. The greater the efficiency, the better the design. The initial
design was built and tested and then based on the results, redesigned and tested. The efficiency
of the two designs was calculated and compared.
The purpose of the report is to detail the design and construction process comparing the two
designs and explain the findings. The report first introduces the engineering principles involved
in designing and construction the tower. The initial design is explained and then compared with
the modified design. The test procedures are described and the efficiency of the two towers is
compared. There is a discussion of the results followed by a conclusion.
Based on the introduction above, discuss the following questions:
What kind of information do you get from the Introduction?
What tenses are used?
How does the writer signal sequences in the last paragraph of the introduction?
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Teachers Notes on Introduction
Rhetorical Structure and Function
Background which will give the reader a context for the project (Present Tense) Objectives of the project – what the project was trying to achieve (Past Tense)
o The purpose / objectives of the project was… Purpose of the report (Present Tense)
o The purpose of this report is….
Lead-in to the rest of the report (Present Tense)
Language
Introduction Analysis Engineers encounter many technical problems in designing and building structures such as a tower. The engineering principles which apply to the physical dynamics of a structure make an impact on its efficiency. Efficiency is related to cost, since the most efficient something is, the fewer materials and energy that are required for it to be completed.
Background information about the project Present Tense
The purpose of this project was to design and construct the tallest tower possible with the least amount of materials (drinking straws and paper clips) which could support a marble at the top most point for more than 3 minutes. The greater the efficiency, the better the design. The initial design was built and tested and then based on the results, redesigned and tested. The efficiency of the two designs was calculated and compared.
Purpose of the PROJECT Materials + Goals to be achieved + Procedures involved in the project Past Tense
The purpose of the report is to detail the design and construction process comparing the two designs and explain the findings. The report first introduces the engineering principles involved in designing and constructing the tower. The initial design is explained and then compared the modified design. The test procedures are described and the efficiency of the two towers is
compared. There is a discussion of the results followed by a conclusion.
Purpose of the REPORT (ie. why do you write this technical report?) Lead-In to the Report (i.e. the organisation / contents of the report) Present Tense
English for Specific Purposes Teaching and Research Page 21
Advanced English for Science Students
Students will write a popular science journal article for a web-journal targeting a non-specialist
audience. Students will be challenged to engage in spontaneous speaking task in a small group
setting while in class. Students will be provided with guidance in developing a self-access
language learning (SALL) plan, carrying this out, and reflecting on their learning experience and
learning strategies used.
Pre-requisite: Students taking this course have to pass the first-year course on academic writing
so students will have already learnt how to write an essay with the use of reliable sources and
proper acknowledgements.
An important feature of the course is the emphasis on learner autonomy and choices. A
significant proportion of the time of the course requires students to undertake self-access
language learning. Such a decision is based on the results of the needs analysis (see Gardner
20074):
With more than 400 students taking the same course, there is a very wide range of language
abilities
The logistical/scheduling arrangements give rise to the learning situation that students of
different majors under the same Faculty are mixed together in a class
According to the statistics gathered by the University in 2001, only around 40% of the
science graduates took up science-related employments.
In most of the sessions they are divided into two 1-hour slots. Half of the students will come for
one hour for spontaneous speaking practice and the other half will be working on SALL. The
arrangements will be swapped in the second hour. In total, students are required to take part in
at least 8 hours of SALL by the end of the course.
Students have to identify several learning goals, formulate a study plan, look for independent
learning resources and reflect on their learning experiences.
4 Gardner, D. (2007). Integrating self-access learning into an ESP course. In D. Gardner (ed.), Learner autonomy
10: Integration and support (pp.8-32). Dublin: Authentik.
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Professional and Technical Oral Communication for Engineers
The course introduces engineering students to professional and technical communication in the
context of oral presentations. The course will provide an intensive English environment within
the Engineering syllabus which will engage students in verbal communicative activities that are
representative of the engineering disciplines. Students work in groups and individually, make
decisions on gathering and reformulating data, and select the appropriate language and register
to deliver professional presentations to a range of audience.
Like Advanced English for Science Students, this course has a component of self-access. A strong
emphasis is placed on students’ abilities to reflect on their presentation performance.
The reason for incorporating self-access is again because of the diversity in terms of students’
language abilities. The emphasis on reflection ties in with the course content that students are
required to deliver three presentations over 12 weeks. Students are therefore expected to refine
their oral presentation skills and demonstrate improvement along the way. The fact that
reflection leads to improvement in practice places it in a major role in the course.
Screenshots of the Self-Access and Reflection Record (Lau, 2013)5
5 Lau, K. (2013). Evaluating the effectiveness of an out-of-class reflection component in a technical English
course by tracing participants’ perceptual changes. Reflective Practice, 14(6), 691-704.
English for Specific Purposes Teaching and Research Page 23