MARTEL PLUS TEACHER’S GUIDELINES
A THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
0. Introduction
This document is intended to present the overall theoretical frameworks and
models for the development of teacher’s guidelines for the MarTEL Plus project.
MarTEL Plus is a European Union Leonardo project, which assesses the Maritime
English competency of seafarers.. It draws on information and experiences from
previous phases of the MarTEL project too, where test standards are divided into
cadet, officer and senior officer standards (Ziarati, M. 2009). A new standard for
ratings is being developed in the MarTEL Plus Project. The reference material upon
which the pillars of the teacher’s guidelines have been grounded are:
-Martel Phase 1,2,3 materials.
-The learning outcomes as stated by the International Maritime Organization’s Model
Course on Maritime English 3.17 (2009 version).
-The Standards for Training and Certification for Watchkeepers (STCW’95).
-The MarEng learning tool.
-CEF’s set of competences.
As the teacher’s guidelines aimed at providing orientations on how the test
may be used by teachers, trainers or instructor, they need to be accompanied by a
lesson plan sheet that simulates how a specific topic can be distributed in terms of
skills achievement.
1. Methodological framework
In Maritime Education and Training field of study there is a vast amount of
research on Maritime English teaching and learning methodology that has served as
the leading lights of the last thirty years. Since the work of Pauline Robinson (1981)
that provided the theoretical framework for all ESP practitioners and teachers, there
has been a constant flow of methodologies around ESP which have been used either as
separate approaches or in combination. In the work presented here, a functional and
topic oriented syllabus has been devised after pairing into one structured syllabus
IMO’s model course learning outcomes, SMCP chapters, tasks, and skills’ typology.
Concerning task-based approach, as stated by Willis (2007), it consists of the
following stages: (a) Pre-task: introduction to the topic and task; (b) Task cycle:
planning and report; and (c) Language focus: analysis and practice. This general
framework has been transferred and adapted to the materials, to the testing
procedure agreed for MarTEL Plus and to the teachers’ guidelines.
2. The Communicative language teaching principles
The communicative language teaching (Widdowson, 1981; Littlewood, 1981;
Nunan, 1989) focuses on the language learner and it is task-based oriented (Nunan,
1989). Four guiding principles have been taken into account:
-A communicative language teaching methodology: It consists of pre-communicative
activities, in which the teacher isolates specific elements of knowledge and provides
the learners with opportunities to practice them separately, ‘they serve to prepare the
learner for later communication’ (Littlewood, 1981: 87) and in communicative
activities, where the learner is expected to ‘increase his skill in starting from an
intended meaning, selecting suitable language forms from his total repertoire, and
producing them fluently’ (Littlewood: 89).
-A learner-directed activity: the teacher creates a situation and sets an activity in
progress but it is learners themselves who are responsible for conducting the
interaction.
-An integrated syllabus: It encompasses content and functional view of language.
Accordingly, it was essential to identify the task concerned in order to level it to IMO’s
learning outcomes, and then to SMCP and develop how the assessment criteria would
evolve; in other words, how the correspondence between language test performance
and language use would be. As Bachman and Palmer (1996) point out, it is necessary
‘to consider task characteristics in order to insure and demonstrate the ways in which
our test tasks correspond to language use tasks’ (11).
-Skill related activities: listening, writing, reading, and speaking skills were introduced
as well as SMCP proficiency, grammar focus and pronunciation activities. One of the
innovative features is the introduction of learning ‘scenarios’.
3. Structural layout
A general outline of the main features taken into account for the syllabus structure
are:
-As regards content topics, a unified topic selection has been decided and different
tasks’ levels will be developed.
-Introduction of the option of reviewing and recycling test before submission.
-Tailor made test: On selecting topics/skill/grammar point, the test-taker can make up
an individual test according to his lacks/needs.
-Use of scenarios to attempt learner engagement with the physical environment and
with other learners.
-Selection of SMCP chapters: The proposal made includes either chapters to be
reviewed and chapters that have not been previously tested.
-Matching of SMCP chapters to IMO’s learning outcomes.
-Assessment criteria are linked to communication skills’ description.
-Teachers’ guidelines offer teaching hints and a lesson plan sheet as a reference.
REFERENCES
At this stage, the theoretical methodological background references which have been
consulted are:
-Alderson, J. C.; Clapham, c. and Wall, D. 1995: Language Test Construction and
Evaluation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
-Bachman, L.; Palmer, 1996: Language Testing in Practice. Oxford: Oxford University
Press.
-Douglas, D. 2000: Assessing Languages for Specific Purposes. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press.
-Fulcher, G. 2007: Language Testing and Assessment. London: Routledge.
-Holme, R. 1996: ESP Ideas. London: Longman.
-O’Malley, J.; Chamot, A. 1990: Learning Strategies in Second Language Acquisition.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
-Robinson, P. 1980: ESP. The Present Position. Oxford: Pergamon Press.
-Weeks, F. 1981: Wavelength: How to use the IMCO Standard Marine Navigational
Vocabulary. Madrid: Alhambra.
-Weeks, F.; Strevens, P. 1984: Seaspeak: Reference Manual. Oxford: Pergamon Press.
-Willis, J. and Willis, D. 2007: Doing Task-based Teaching. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press.
-Ziarati, M. 2009: ‘A solution to bridge the language gap?’. The Nautilus Telegraph.