The case for a new acronym ESAP
Increasingly English is being used as the teaching
medium for Business Studies, Medicine, Engineering
etc at Higher Education and University levels. This
presents interesting challenges for the English
teacher faced with students who are not interested in
learning English for its own sake, but who are
concerned to have sufficient command of English to
help them progress in their chosen careers. General
English is being replaced by English for Specific
Purposes but within an atmosphere of English for
Academic Purposes. How can this best be done?
A general view
• Language teachers lack the expertise and
confidence to teach subject specific
conventions and content
• Skills and language across a range of
disciplines remain the same
General English
Level driven: the
main focus is on
what a student can
and cannot do
now.
Student motives are
varied and general.
They may be interested
in the language or want
to enjoy the global
community.
the specific view
When English is taught, it should include:
• current specific needs
• wider needs (transferable skills and
competencies)
• acknowledgement of future needs
•
•
What do students say?
“We’ve been learning English for 6 years and
we’re still doing the verb to be.”
(Lack of interest / progression)
“I’d like more time to speak and practise the
language. I forget it straight after the lesson.”
(Frustration)
“Different teachers tell us different things.
(Lack of faith in the teacher – or is it the book?)
Which means ...
• Students are generally goal-orientated.
• Students might not know what they need, but
they do know what they don’t need.
• Our materials and methods should reflect this.
The acronyms
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•
•
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•
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EFL?
ENOP?
ESP?
EAP?
ESAP?
EOP?
English study at university
•
•
•
•
ENOP?
EAP?
ESP?
ESAP?
EAP provides …
• Discourse structures and vocabulary
spanning all academic fields
• General skills to help decode and
construct text in appropriate
registers
i.e., Bottom Up skills
•
EAP
Themes based on areas of human knowledge
– not quirky
– not imaginary
– not ‘one-off’ human interest stories
– not ‘teen’ topics
EAP
Listening:
Speaking:
Reading:
Writing:
to lectures
seminars, tutorials
for research
essays, assignments
EAP LISTENING
Listening and taking notes
– not interactive listening
– not ‘eavesdropping’
– not multiple listening
– not ‘after doing’ comprehension questions
How do we learn?
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
This seems like a simple ...
•
but there is no simple …
•
In the next two lectures, we’re... •
to look at theories of …
•
This week, I’m going to talk...
•
theories from Ancient…
•
Next, theories from …
•
theory from a Russian scientist, …•
...agree about learning.
•
However...
question
answer
going
learning
about
Greece
Islamic scholars
Ivan Pavlov
(contrary view)
Top down bottom up listening
How do we learn?
This seems like a simple …
but there is no simple …
In the next two lectures, we’re …
… to look at theories of …
I’m going to talk about …
… from Ancient …
Next, theories from …
A Russian scientist, …
… agree about learning. However
EAP SPEAKING
Speaking from research
– not phatic communion
– not every function that can be thought of
– not convergent, ‘what I know / think’
EAP READING
Reading for research
– not reading for pleasure
– not every and any text type
– not ‘after doing’ comprehension questions
Researched
Reading to Writing
Researched
Meaning
into
Rehearsed
Words
EAP WRITING
Writing in academic genres
– not first person
– not informal postcards, letters
– not convergent, ‘what I know / think’
EAP WRITING
is:
• analytical not impressionistic
• objective not subjective
• intellectual not emotional
• serious not conversational
• impersonal not personal
• formal not colloquial
Teaching writing: top down
•
•
•
•
•
Researching
Structuring research notes
Understanding models
Organising information into paragraphs
Writing topic sentences
The TOWER of Production
Thinking
Organizing
audience, purpose, content
information from research, knowledge, opinion
Writing
appropriate writing plan
Editing
writing for the writer – cohesion
Rewriting
writing for the reader – coherence
EAP Grammar
We can start with a few facts ...
75% - 85% of EAP is in …
… the present (including passives)
10% - 15% of EAP is in …
… the past (including passives)
5% - 10% of EAP uses …
… modals
(Source: Various inc. Longman Grammar of Written and Spoken English)
And ...
90% of EAP is in the simple aspect
7% of EAP is in the perfect aspect
3% of EAP is in the progressive aspect
0.5% of EAP is in the perfect progressive aspect
(Source: Longman Grammar of Written and Spoken English)
EAP Grammar
the complex noun phrase
clause joining
clause embedding
prepositional phrases
stance adverbials
EAP
How does ESAP differ from EAP
material?
• Content-centred approach to promote more
meaningful learning
- teaches students to cope with input texts
in their discipline (lectures, research
articles, etc.)
• Addresses variations within disciplines
- different skills, conventions, lexis and
register
ESAP students need …
TOP DOWN SKILLS
to use specific information from the field to
check and develop arguments and theories
Building background knowledge
enables
ESAP
English for Specific Academic Purposes
•
ESAP
What background knowledge?
• What is the discipline?
• What are its branches?
• What does a practitioner do?
• What is the history of the discipline?
• Who are the great people in the discipline – biography?
• What are the great works in the discipline – references?
• What are the basic principles / knowledge in the discipline?
• What are the current issues?
• What are the contentious issues?
• Are there any Health and Safety issues (if relevant)?
• How do you distinguish fact from opinion in the discipline?
• What might the future hold?
ESAP
• Disciplinary variations:
• Disciplines see reality in different ways
ESAP Learning tasks
• Humanities & social sciences
Analysing & synthesizing from
multiple sources
• Science and technology
Describing procedures, defining
procedures, planning solutions
ESAP Lexis and collocation
• Common core ignores multiple meanings
Consist means ‘stay the same’ in the social
sciences and ‘composed of’ in the sciences
Volume means “book’ in applied linguistics and
‘quantity’ in biology
Abstract means ‘remove’ in engineering and
‘theoretical’ in social sciences
ESAP Reporting conventions
• Social sciences;
• Verbs which refer to writing activities:
discuss, hypothesize, suggest, argue
• Engineers and scientists:
• Verbs which refer to research activities:
observe, discover, show, analyse, etc
Self-mention (per 1,000 words)
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Philosophy
Marketing
Applied Linguistics
Sociology
Physics
Biology
Electrical engineering
Mechanical engineering
5.5
5.5
4.5
4.3
4.1
3.4
3.3
1.0
Stance features (per 1000 words)
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•
•
•
•
•
•
Philosophy
Sociology
App Ling
Marketing
Physics
Mech Eng
Elec Eng
42.8
31.1
37.2
39.5
25.0
19.8
21.6
Discipline
Citations per 1000 words
Biology
Sociology
Philosophy
Applied Linguistics
Marketing
Electronic Engineering
Physics
Mechanical Engineering
15.5
12.5
10.8
10.8
10.1
8.4
7.4
7.3
Some implications for teaching..
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Use target-language authentic texts
Encourage analysis
Encourage critical thinking
Encourage reflection
Use authentic models
Use expert informants
and ....................
S What we teach in any kind of content based
course is not the content itself but some form
of the discourse of that content.
ESAP should equip students with the
vocabulary and skills they need to enable
them to study their chosen discipline in the
most effective way.
Thank you
ollytwist@garneteducation.com
Basic content syllabus for ESAP courses
What is the discipline?
What are its branches?
What does a practitioner in the discipline do?
The history of the discipline
The great people in the discipline – biography
The great works in the discipline – references
Basic principles / knowledge in the discipline
Current issues in the discipline
Contentious issues in the discipline
Health and safety issues – if relevant
Fact vs opinion in the discipline
The future of the discipline
Adapting the texts:
Some features
nouns
prepositions
or
cataphoria
its, their
our
-tion nouns
passives
noun C
more common in academic English
Some features
pronouns
not / no
questions
imperatives
phrasal verbs
progressive
perfective
less common in academic English
= hypernyms, hyponyms
= embedding in the noun phrase
= alternative; definition / explanation
= e.g. the problem + exposition
= non-human reference
= to avoid my
= production, definition etc.
= although still only 25% of total
= e.g. the person that…; a way of doing etc.
= EAP uses alternative nouns
= EAP states positive propositions
= except as rhetorical devices
= although technical has many
= Latinate words used instead
= is doing, was doing etc.
= has done, had done etc.