Academic Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies
E-ISSN 2281-4612
ISSN 2281-3993
Published by MCSER-CEMAS-Sapienza University of Rome
Vol 2 No 4
May 2013
A New Understanding of Teacher’s Role in Determining Tasks
during the Teaching of English for Specific Purposes (ESP)
Ariana Nepravishta
University of Tirana
E-mail: arinepravishta@gmail.com
Artur Beu
University of Tirana
E-mail: art.beu@gmail.com
Doi:10.5901/ajis.2012.v2n4p195
Abstract:
The development of communicative language teaching has had a great effect on the roles that teachers and
learners are required to adopt. According to Breen and Candlin (1980) the teacher has three main roles in the
communicative classroom. The first is to act as facilitator of the communicative process, the second is to act as a
participant and the third is to act as an observer and learner.As in all other fields even in that of teaching English
for Specific Purposes the development has been so rapid that updates concerning the teacher’s role in ESP
classes are needed. In task-based language teaching the teacher can be regarded in many ways as the learner’s
most privileged interlocutor. He is responsible not only for terminology teaching, but also for skills giving to use this
terminology in specific contexts in different fields. Our experience in ESP teaching through a project realized with
the students of the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine shows that teachers can create powerful language learning
environments by taking continuous care of catering for students’ motivation to invest mental energy in task
performance and supporting them while doing so. In this way teaching becomes “more fun”, “ more varied” and
more rewarding.
Key words: ESP teaching, task-based teaching, teacher’s role, skills, performance.
Introduction
The development of communicative language teaching has had a great effect on the roles that teachers and
learners are required to adopt. The success in the acquisition of a foreign language for specific purposes is
based on the cooperation between the teacher and the student. According to Breen and Candlin (1980) the
teacher has three main roles in the communicative classroom. The first is to act as a facilitator of the
communicative process, the second is to act as a participant and the third is to act as an observer and learner.
The teacher should cover the role of an interlocutor who assists, leads, counsels and gives ideas. He chooses
the strategies which will be used and encourages the students to work independently in order to be more
responsible and useful. The teacher’s aim for the development of the communicative skills is to enable
students to use the language at their disposal to attain a communicative goal. The concentration of the
teacher’s word in the process of teaching is realized at a high level when it is based on the appropriate kind of
vocabulary he is going to use during the class hours as well as how he is going to use the art of speaking with
the students. A skilled professional teacher does not allow pauses and imposes attractive situations to the
students. This creates a cooperative social situation, concentration of the attention and a right and reliable
attitude. Effective leadership, goals clarity, a good planning, suitable and effective organization of the time and
activities of the students as well as the flexibility in searching the ways to realize it and intellectual commitment
are key issues in this context.
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Academic Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies
Published by MCSER-CEMAS-Sapienza University of Rome
Vol 2 No 4
May 2013
Adults
Teacher roles and learner roles are two sides of a coin. Giving the learners a more active role in the
classroom requires the teacher to adopt a different role. In ESP classes the teacher has to do with adults, who
aim to become professionals in their specific fields. The adults have some features that distinguish them from
the other groups when learning a foreign language:
- They think in an abstract way. The students of this age learn mostly in a direct way, they often need
the explanation of the things.
- The students of this age have a rich linguistic experience in their native language as well as
knowledge in other fields of life. They have human experience, relationships one etc., that help
them have clear goals in learning a foreign language and make them fully aware of the reason why
they are learning it.
- The students of this age are more disciplined then children and teenagers. They have a strong
motivation for learning they have personal satisfaction when they achieve good results as well as
professional ambitions that lead them forward to learning a foreign language for specific purposes.
They have knowledge of other foreign languages that helps them in acquiring the foreign language
they are learning as well as the related culture.
- In addition to the advantages the adults have in learning a foreign language for specific purposes,
they also have some difficulties when dealing with it.
- Adults have limited tendencies in learning a foreign language and this is closely related to their age.
They often present a psychoaffective closure, i.e., they have fear to become ridiculous, especially in
a specific professional environment.
- A part of the students of this age have a little or no habit of school learning, which obstructs them in
reaching their goals.
Adults’ teachers should know quite well the needs and interests of the learners reducing the effect of
negative experiences during the learning of a foreign language. This is achieved by giving them exercises that
show and in a certain way measure their achievements in learning a foreign language. The teacher should
listen to the students carefully and put their recommendations or observations in function of their further
improvement.
The teacher is also interested in students’ personality, which is not the same not only in different agegroups but also within the same age. He should balance the individuals’ interests within a group. The teacher
should know quite well who of the students needs more personal attention and who needs different ways of
explanation of a language unit. These will help him to properly define the goals and aims of teaching the
foreign language for specific purposes.
Adults’ teaching has more variety and it requires a lot of skills and habits because it is not determined
by the context or school goals. It is characterized by students’ indipendence, who should be respected and
psychologically engaged in the processes and activities of logical and specific learning.
The role of teacher in the task as process
As in all other fields even in that of teaching English for Specific Purposes (ESP) the development has been
so rapid that updates concerning the teacher’s role in ESP classes are needed. In task-based language
teaching the teacher can be regarded in many ways as the learner’s most privileged interlocutor. In order to
have successful language learning, teachers should be able to design tasks that engage learners in the
language – learning process. However, although task design is essential, this does not guarantee a
successful language-learning process. Breen (1987) distinguishes between designing a task for the classroom
(task as work-plan) and the process of working with tasks in the classroom (task as process) paying specific
attention to both of them when tasks are supposed to lead to language learning. Here, we will take into
consideration the role of the teacher during the task as process.
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Academic Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies
Published by MCSER-CEMAS-Sapienza University of Rome
Vol 2 No 4
May 2013
Van den Branden (2006, p.175) divides this teacher’s role during the task as process into two central
aspects:
1. motivating the learner to invest intensive mental energy in task completion; and
2. interactionally supporting task performance in such a way as to trigger processes such as the
negotiation of meaning and content, the comprehension of rich input, the production of output and
focus on form, which are believed to be central to (second) language learning.
Let us consider in greater detail both aspects, the one dealing with the teacher playing the role of
motivator and the other with supporting a task so as to trigger necessary components for language learning.
Motivating the language learner
During the task as process, one way the teacher can motivate the language learner is to function as a
facilitator who helps the learners to interpret task instructions and to work on the task (Willis 1996,p.40). This
role includes encouraging learners towards task completion. Real negotiation of meaning takes place only if
the task engagement of learners leads to task completion.
Avermaet et al. (2006) describe two general attitudes of learners: the survival orientation, for learners
who try to avoid being engaged in the task process, and the achievement orientation, for learners who are
actively involved and set goals for themselves. The attitudes of the students towards the task as process are
crucial for the success of language learning in the classroom. As Long puts it, “success or failure to learn can
rarely if ever be attributed to the environment alone. Part of the explanation lies inside the learner, most
important in the areas of attention, awareness and cognitive processing” (Long, 1996, p.425). So, the teacher
in the role of a facilitator needs to motivate learners to actively take part in the task process and to develop an
approach orientated at the achievement of the task because this will probably lead to the development of the
language itself.
The duty of the teacher is to arise an interest in the task and to propose enough choices to the learner
in order to negotiate ways of accomplishing the task and to put goals which are relevant for them. During the
pre-task phase, the teacher introduces the context of a task and motivates the learners to actively participate
in the task process. Only if learners see the relevance of being engaged in the task from the start, will they be
motivated to negotiate meaning and to produce language output which will lead to language acquisition
(Dornyei, 2002, p.62; Willis, 1996, p.40). It is the ability of the teacher to interact with the learners and to
negotiate different ways of solving the task that will increase student motivation in this phase.
However, learner motivation to actively take part in working on tasks is not sufficient. Another important
role of teacher as a facilitator is to maintain motivation and help the students overcome obstacles in the task
process. Sustaining learner motivation until task completion is one of the most important roles a teacher plays
during the task as process.
Giving interactive task support
A good task as work plan and the right motivation for the task completion are two essential ingredients, yet not
sufficient for the success of language-learning tasks. Several research studies have shown that the learner’s
interpretation of a task influence it as a process significantly. Learners create their own version of a task and
set their own goals, which might not be the same with the goals set by the teacher. Eckerth (2008)
emphasizes that it is not the task as work plan which determines the achievement of language-learning goals,
but how the learners interpret and put a task into action. During this process learners have to face a lot of
problems which cannot be foreseen. An important function of the teacher’s role is to give support to the
learners to overcome such linguistic and cognitive obstacles.
It is crucial that the teacher provides interactional task support during the task as a process in order to
have a successful language-learning process. By doing so, the teacher can lead the process of task
interpretation and give support to the learners. In her task-based framework, Cameron (2001, p.27) stresses
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Vol 2 No 4
May 2013
the importance of task support on the one hand and task demand on the other hand according to Vygotsky’s
zone of proximal development:
A task that is going to help the learner learn more language is one that is demanding but not too demanding,
that provides support but not too much support. The difference between demands and support creates the
space for growth and produces opportunities for learning.
Below it is presented the standard model of task-based teaching competencies which is meant to give a
framework of what task-based teaching comprises. Particularly, the task in process is the focus of interest,
since the goal is to reflect tasks in real classroom contexts.
Table 1. Standards-based model of task-based teaching competencies
A Introducing tasks:
Motivating the
language learner
A1
A2
A3
B Interactionally
supporting task
performance
B1
B2
B3
B4
B5
B6
C Evaluating task
as process
C1
C2
C3
C4
C5
C6
. . . Can pose tasks in such a way that students can
set goals for themselves and actively participate during
the task.
. . . Can introduce the task in such a way that task
demand and task support are balanced and that students actively participate
during the task.
. . . Can explain tasks so that the purpose, expected
result and the steps towards task completion are clear
and understandable for the students.
. . . Can support the task process so that processes of
negotiation of meaning and content can be supported.
. . . Can support the task process in such a way that
processes leading to comprehension of meaningful content are supported.
. . . Can support task processes to encourage relevant
processes of language production.
. . . Can support task processes so that formal aspects are noticed.
. . . Can motivate learners through positive feedback
during the task in process.
. . . Can motivate learners to work intensively towards
task completion and provide necessary task support.
. . . Can judge learners’ participation in meaningful
language interactions.
. . . Can judge using subjective or objective data if the
task leads to accomplishment of planned or unplanned
language learning goals.
. . . Can judge to what extent goals of intercultural
learning were reached.
. . . Can judge to what extent the selection of content
(including texts and materials) supported interaction (processes).
. . . Can judge to what extent a methodology of social
interaction was appropriate.
. . . Can judge if the time allotment was appropriate.
Some principles for task-based language teaching
English language learners are doing two jobs at the same time; they are learning a new language while
learning new academic concepts. They are literally moving between two different worlds.
Academic language is the language used by teachers and students for the purpose of acquiring new
knowledge and skills which includes learning new information, describing ideas and developing student’s
conceptual understanding. Cummins (2001) defines academic English as the English needed for reading,
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May 2013
writing, speaking and listening in the content areas. Hence, if students in the English for Academic Purposes
classroom need a language proficiency that will enable them to comprehend academic content and participate
in activities and assignments, then it is even more important for the teacher to employ effective and dynamic
teaching strategies that will empower the students to master the required tasks.
The language demands of academic learning are enormous. The more diverse, creative and effective
teaching strategies the teacher in the classroom employs, the richer the student‘s academic language
becomes and the more likely will they experience success with the content and will be able to communicate
with various registers.
Without some knowledge of vocabulary, neither language production nor language comprehension
would be possible. Thus the growth of vocabulary knowledge is one of the essential pre-requisites for
language acquisition and this growth of vocabulary knowledge can only be possible when teachers employ
effective vocabulary teaching and learning strategies.
Academic vocabulary helps students to convey arguments and facilitate the presentation of
ideas in a sophisticated manner. It prepares students for academic success. A crucial distinction is often made
between knowing a word and using it. Knowing a word does not necessarily mean using the word
automatically in a wide range of contexts. For every vocabulary dimension there is a knowledge dimension
and a skill dimension. Evidence suggests that the knowledge aspect requires conscious and explicit learning
mechanisms whereas the skill aspect involves mostly implicit learning and memory (Ellis, 1994). Vocabulary
learning strategies therefore, should include strategies for using as well as for knowing a word.
In this context the teacher’s role acquires a new dimension. He is responsible not only for terminology
teaching, but also for skills giving to use this terminology in specific contexts in different fields.
Following are listed some basic principles prepared during the development of the instructional
sequences (Nunan, 2004) to show the importance of the new role of the teacher in ESP classrooms by
providing assistance in each step for the students and leading them towards independence required for
language use.
The basic principles drafted during the development of the instructional sequences are:
Principle 1: Scaffolding
•
Lessons and materials should provide supporting frameworks within which the learning takes place.
At the beginning of the learning process, learners should not be expected to produce language that
has not been introduced either explicitly or implicitly.
A basic role for an educator is to provide a supporting framework within which the learning can take
place. This is particularly important in the case of analytical approaches such as TBLT in which the
learners will encounter holistic ‘chunks’ of language that will often be beyond their current
processing capacity. The ‘art’ of TBLT is knowing when to remove the scaffolding. If the
scaffolding is removed prematurely, the learning process will ‘collapse’. If it is maintained too long,
the learners will not develop the independence required for autonomous language use.
Principle 2: Task dependency
•
Within a lesson, one task should grow out of, and build upon, the ones that have gone before. In a
sense, the sequence tells a ‘pedagogical’ story, as learners are led step by step to the point where
they are able to carry out the final pedagogical task in the sequence.
Within the task-dependency framework, a number of other principles are in operation. One of these
is the receptive-to-productive principle. Here, at the beginning of the instructional cycle, learners
spend a greater proportion of time engaged in receptive (listening and reading) tasks than in
productive (speaking and writing) tasks. Later in the cycle, the proportion changes, and learners
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spend more time in productive work. The reproductive-to-creative-language principle is also used in
developing chains of tasks. This principle is summarized separately below.
Principle 3: Recycling
•
Recycling language maximizes opportunities for learning and activates the ‘organic’ learning
principle.
An analytical approach to pedagogy is based on the assumption that learning is not an all-ornothing process that mastery learning is a misconception, and that learning is piecemeal and
inherently unstable. If it is accepted that learners will not achieve one hundred per cent mastery the
first time they encounter a particular linguistic item, then it follows that they need to be reintroduced
to that item over a period of time. This recycling allows learners to encounter target language items
in a range of different environments, both linguistic and experiential. In this way they will see how a
particular item functions in conjunction with other closely related items in the linguistic ‘jigsaw
puzzle’. They will also see how it functions in relation to different content areas. For example, they
will come to see how ‘expressing likes and dislikes’ and ‘yes/no questions with do/does’ function in
a range of content areas, from the world of entertainment to the world of food.
Principle 4: Active learning
•
Learners learn best by actively using the language they are learning. A key principle behind this
concept is that learners learn best through doing – through actively constructing their own
knowledge rather than having it transmitted to them by the teacher. When applied to language
teaching, this suggests that most class time should be devoted to opportunities for learners to use
the language. These opportunities could be many and varied, from practicing memorized dialogues
to completing a table or chart based on some listening input. The key point however, is that it is the
learner, not the teacher, who is doing the work. This is not to suggest that there is no place at all for
teacher input, explanation and so on, but that such teacher-focused work should not dominate class
time.
Principle 5: Integration
•
Learners should be taught in ways that make clear the relationships between linguistic form,
communicative function and semantic meaning.
Until fairly recently, most approaches to language teaching were based on a synthetic approach in
which the linguistic elements – the grammatical, lexical and phonological components – were
taught separately. This approach was challenged in the 1980s by proponents of early versions of
communicative language teaching who argued that a focus on form was unnecessary, and that all
learners needed in order to acquire a language were opportunities to communicate in the language.
This led to a split between proponents of form-based instruction and proponents of meaning-based
instruction, with proponents of meaning-based instruction arguing that, while a mastery of grammar
is fundamental to effective communication, an explicit focus on form is unnecessary. More recently,
applied linguists working within the framework of systemic-functional linguistics have argued that
the challenge for pedagogy is to ‘reintegrate’ formal and functional aspects of language, and that
what is needed is a pedagogy that makes explicit to learners the systematic relationships between
form, function and meaning
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Principle 6: Reproduction to creation
•
Learners should be encouraged to move from reproductive to creative language use.
In reproductive tasks, learners reproduce language models provided by the teacher, the textbook or
computer. These tasks are designed to give learners mastery of form, meaning and function, and
are intended to provide a basis for creative tasks. In creative tasks, learners are recombining
familiar elements in novel ways. This principle can be deployed not only with students who are at
intermediate levels and above but also with beginners if the instructional process is carefully
sequenced.
Principle 7: Reflection
•
Learners should be given opportunities to reflect on what they have learned and how well they are
doing.
Becoming a reflective learner is part of learner training where the focus shifts from language
content to learning processes. Strictly speaking, learning-how-to-learn does not have a more
privileged place in one particular approach to pedagogy than in any other. However, this reflective
element has a particular affinity with task-based language teaching. TBLT introduces learners to a
broad array of pedagogical undertakings, each of which is underpinned by at least one strategy.
Research suggests that learners who are aware of the strategies driving their learning will be better
learners. Additionally, for learners who have done most of their learning in ‘traditional’ classrooms,
TBLT can be mystifying and even alienating, leading them to ask, ‘Why are we doing this?’ Adding
a reflective element to teaching can help learners see the rationale for the new approach.
Integrating task-based learning into a project developed with the students of the first year, Faculty of
Veterinary Medicine.
When we developed a syllabus for the students of the veterinary medicine, we wanted to integrate task-based
learning into the program. We illustrate here how we did such a thing describing separate task sequences and
explaining the reason behind each. This approach illustrates the way in which a focus on form can be
successfully achieved when realized within a certain context.
Method
Tasks are integrated into the syllabus in some ways. Initially, a series of individual lessons or groups of
lessons connected with blood and heart involve tasks and later a task-based project that has to do with a
dog’s heart operation is followed over a number of weeks.
Task sequence 1 Terminology learning
At the beginning of the first semester, students studied general information about heart and blood using the
relevant English language textbook for the students of veterinary medicine and then followed a series of
lessons focusing specifically on this subject. We chose the heart and blood subject because it is well-known
and crucial in veterinary medicine and leads to animated debate among students. This phase acts as pre-task
because it helps to provide a wide repertoire of language on which the learners can draw during the task; it is
also generally felt that planning influences complexity and fluency positively. In this task, at the beginning of
the course, the focus is on fluency, although the emphasis throughout the course is on effective
communication that is conveying information appropriately whilst ensuring understanding.
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Students work in pairs studying the given information on heart and blood circulation and discuss the
understanding of the terms connected with them. Then they make notes on key points. Each student explains
the understanding of concepts and checks his/her partner’s understanding by asking or encouraging
questions. Finally, the students drafted a report on what they had learned. Working in groups creates
opportunities for collaborative learning. They expanded their active vocabulary developing the formal written
style, too.
Task sequence 2 The usage of acquired terminology in oral communication
Another task undertaken during the first semester involved the oral summary of the way how heart functions
and blood composition as a vital fluid in humans and animals. The task was focused on a video about heart
functioning and blood circulation. The specific aim was to draw the students’ attention to form and the
relationship between form and function, encouraging them to try new ways of expressing their meanings and
to notice the gap between their language and the target language. Students talk with their partners focusing
on meaning and effective communication. Since they have skills to weave in their own knowledge, their talks
will be different, so they listen carefully to compare their versions and to feed back to each other in different
aspects of their talks.
In classes of mixed ability, weaker students can benefit from more advanced students in extending their
skills. Ellis (2000; 209) refers to the role of “scaffolding” through the mediation of social interaction in learning:
“learners first succeed in performing a new function with the assistance of another person and then internalize
this function so that they can perform it unassisted”. Examples of students’ collaboration during the task
demonstrate such effects. For example, hearing the more advanced students using cohesive devices they
have studied, but do not use, such as “therefore”, the weaker students often begin to experiment with them or
simply ask their partners how the expressions “work”.
Task sequence 3 Participation in a dog’s heart operation
In the second semester, students formed teams and worked together on a project. This involved the
preparation and participation side by side with Albanian and German professors in an operation in the Faculty
of Veterinary Medicine. Before the beginning of the project, students were instructed on the work in groups.
Diversity within teams is encouraged, i.e. different gender and linguistic level to create an opportunity for
authentic communication similar to that of the workplace. This diversity seems to influence the students’
awareness of their own inter-language, for example difficulties in understanding arise in such groups as a
result of differences in pronunciation. During the work in teams, students had considerable opportunities for
negotiation of meaning and fluency practice and these were useful for us for diagnostic purposes because
they allowed us to listen to the students while their focus was on meaning more than form. Subsequently, our
findings were used to define further tasks for specific needs of the students. For example, students had the
tendency to avoid more complex structures such as modal verbs and conditionals. In such cases, we needed
to increase range and complexity of language and to give examples of a simple and more complex language
used to express the same concepts. Later on we worked with the structures in the class, considering form and
use and eliciting examples that were relevant. Finally, when students became aware of the fact and worked
with “grammar”, we set up a simulation which aimed at naturally evoking the target structures, for example a
discussion about clogged arteries, considering what could have been done to avoid the problem and the ways
to avoid similar incidents in the future.
The final practice session of the operation was filmed. It was during these practice sessions that many
students became more aware of their individual strong and weak points and saw the personal relevance of
many specific points explained during the course. In particular, this phase was effective in promoting noticing,
monitoring and restructuring with students who had improved their accuracy and range overall.
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The most valuable aspect of this task has to do with the opportunities for individualized feedback. This
can be integrated into the project through separate training sessions.
Vocabulary and register are two other areas where progress in many cases is evidenced. First, at the
beginning of the task students read a great number of materials, from the units of the textbook for the students
of veterinary to materials published in scientific journals. Subsequently, in team discussions and presentation
sessions, they use a wider range of vocabulary than they previously did, notably extending their range of
formal lexis and actively using specialist lexis studied during the course. Secondly, students develop a greater
awareness of the differences between spoken and written English. This knowledge develops in terms of
“knowing how” as opposed to “knowing what” as information from written sources has to be adapted
appropriately for presentations.
However, there can be problems. Students need to understand how the task process is connected with
learning. They have to know that the time devoted on preparing has a positive influence on the gained
experience in terms of communication skills, active use of specialist vocabolary and the importance of
adapting language to context. The presentation skills demonstrated in the final phase will be of great
importance throughout their careers, but in terms of language learning, it is the weeks before the operation
and the focus on language during that period that are of key importance.
Students came to the conclusion that tasks were relevant and motivating and probably the most
important, they felt they had improved their language skills tangibly.
They also stated they enjoyed the nice collaboration with the professors of other subjects.
As language teachers, it is important that we do not lose sight of the key aims of our courses, increasing
the accuracy, range and complexity of our students’ language. We also need to be sure that our students are
continually aware of these aims focusing their attention on language learning through content.
Conclusions
The development of communicative language teaching has had a great effect on the roles that teachers and
learners are required to adopt. The success in (second) language learning is based on the cooperation
between the teacher and student.
- Firstly, teacher roles and learner roles are two sides of a coin. Giving the learners a more active role
in the classroom requires the teacher to adopt a different role. In ESP classes the teacher deals
with adults, who aim to become professionals in their specific fields. The students of this age have
a rich linguistic experience in their native language as well as knowledge in other fields of life that
help them have clear goals in learning a foreign language and make them fully aware of the reason
why they are learning it.
- Secondly, the duty of the teacher is to arise an interest in the task and to propose enough choices
to the learner in order to negotiate ways of accomplishing the task and to put goals which are
relevant for them. The ability of the teacher to interact with the learners and to negotiate ways of
solving the task will increase student motivation. We should take into consideration the defined
standards concerning task-based language teaching in order that our students reach the required
levels. In particular, the task in process is the focus of interest, since the goal is to reflect tasks in
classroom contexts.
- Thirdly, in ESP classes the teacher’s role acquires a new dimension. He is responsible not only for
terminology teaching, but also for skills giving to use this terminology in certain contexts in specific
fields. The teacher plays an important role in knowledge mastery and accuracy, makes students
more aware of their role in their specific fields as well as promotes the collaboration among
colleagues to attain a common goal – language learning through content.
- Finally, our experience in ESP teaching through a project realized with the students of the Faculty of
Veterinary Medicine shows that teachers can create powerful language learning environments by
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taking continuous care of catering for students’ motivation to invest mental energy in task
performance and supporting them while doing so. In this way teaching becomes “more fun”, “more
varied” and more rewarding.
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