ESP Teachers’ collaboration with Experts:
Better Student outcomes & Contextualized
Curriculum Content
By: Malek Mhedhbi
Background
1) ESP & Professional practices
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The challenge of the interdisciplinary demands and
practices of the academy and the world of
professions.
Recent research in genre analysis favours effective
forms of Professional expertise, which integrates
specific disciplinary knowledge and professional
practice.
Teachers’ internship or collaboration with experts:
Important role in education especially in career and
technical education (Panella, 2007)
Needs analysis at the ESP program
level
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A needs analysis should be the fundamental
principle on which the ESP approach itself is
based. Hutchinson and Waters (1987: 19)
ESP teaching must evolve toward more
professionalism:
Development of specific course-design
Competent and reflective teachers
Formative evaluation
(Daoud,1996)
Work-based learning:
Teachers’ collaboration with experts
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“integration of workplace experiences and
career and technical education curriculum”
Brown (2003: 1).
gain an appreciation for the discipline and
practice work skills (Brown, 2000).
In-depth understanding of the discipline
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Provides concrete connections between the content, the
skills taught in the program and the expectations of the
workplace (Reese, 2005)
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Offers detailed information about the worksite, such as
the working operations and expectations of what
business English students will do in their careers.
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Prepares teachers to feel grounded, more confident, and
able to foresee challenges and students' questions.
Authentic teaching materials
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Develop a variety of authentic materials for
their lessons: workplace videos, employment
application, business reports, business
newsletters, credit letters, bill of lading…
Stimulating learning environment
Students’ ability to conceptualize how
academic knowledge and skills will be applied
in the world of work.
(Bennett, et al., 1998)
Contextualized curriculum
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Engaging and relevant activities that meet students’
interests.
Planning a variety of innovative activities that engage and
motivate students such as:
→ Integrated reading and writing: comprehend import/export
documents & write about document trade procedures.
→Demonstration of new vocabulary in swifts or L/C clauses,
B/L…
→Skimming or scanning contracts, business newsletters…
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The work-based learning activity
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Objectives
→Mastering business knowledge
(Understanding document trade procedure)
→Adopting authentic teaching materials (real
documents, videos…)
Description
-Setting: STB (Central Bank) in Mohammed V
-Period: December to January, 2012
-Department: Payment & documentation departments
-Cooperative business specialists: Rathouane Kliaa (Documentation)
Saber Zayani (Payment & Swifts)
-Survey tools: Observation & Interview
-Teacher responsibilities:
 get clear explanations with examples about the procedure of trade:
from the application of the L/C to the receipt of goods documents.
 Understand the clauses of the credit letters, advantages of L/C, and
different modes of payments & the importance of Bill of Lading
 Verify the buyer (or company)’ invoice & the L/C to documents receipts
from the seller.
Benefits
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Get the direction & guidance from business
experts and enhance our knowledge about trade
procedure within our context.
Give students the basic professional language
skills & vocabulary that will serve them later on, in
their careers.
Improve the course design.
An engaging classroom activity
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Combining teacher-made materials with authentic job-specific
ones (the use of commercial documents, figures and videos)
to create authentic business contexts.
Gap filling exercises: Demonstration of new vocabulary in
swifts or L/C clauses, B/L…
Writing a paragraph about the role of banks in trade
processing based on a problem-solving framework
(Introduction, diagnose & brainstorm problem areas, problem
statement, supporting details (with realistic illustrations), a
concluding sentence & reflect on the advantages/
disadvantages/limitations…
Students’ motivation
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Work-based learning: supports students-centered
learning.
→ It enriches the classroom experience for students
of business English.
→It motivates them to accomplish their writings and
improve that in pair work through the rewriting
activity.
Colleagues’ feedback
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Strengthening collaborative work.
Refining the teacher-intern’s plans prior to teaching.
Working toward improving the course design making it
more specific & making meaningful connections
between the skills taught in the program and the
expectations of the workplace.
Teaching discipline-specific knowledge becomes more
thoughtfully and interesting for novice ESP teachers.
Integrating authentic teaching resources.
Obstacles
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Difficulty to get the permission to carry out
the survey in the central bank.
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Limited time for the work-based learning.
Being overloaded with financial information.
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Inability to get access to other business
departments within the central bank.
Recommendations
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Administrators should carefully examine how and what
professional development opportunities must be
provided for their teaching professionals.
ESP teachers must collaborate & ensure that their
specific-discipline knowledge and skills remain current
and relevant in order to adequately prepare students for
their careers.
It is hoped that such work-based learning activity will be
applied for other business units (Logistics, accounting)
& in other disciplines (medicine, engineering,airline
sectors).
Conclusion
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Work-based leaning is a viable means of providing
PD opportunities for specific-discipline teachers.
It brings a new perspective to the classroom – the
challenges of everyday business life –
ESP teachers will be able to create a real-life
situation, a variety and meaningful communication to
the study of business English.
It is a means to grow professionally and expand
teaching skills.
THANK YOU FOR YOUR
ATTENTION