Teaching English for Specific Purposes (ESP)

Teaching English for Specific Purposes (ESP)

How is English for Specific Purposes (ESP) different from English as a Second Language (ESL), also known as general English?

The most important difference lies in the learners and their purposes for learning English. ESP students are usually adults who already have some acquaintance with English and are learning the language in order to communicate a set of professional skills and to perform particular job-related functions. An ESP program is therefore built on an assessment of purposes and needs and the functions for which English is required .
ESP concentrates more on language in context than on teaching grammar and language structures. It covers subjects varying from accounting or computer science to tourism and business management. The ESP focal point is that English is not taught as a subject separated from the students' real world (or wishes); instead, it is integrated into a subject matter area important to the learners.
However, ESL and ESP diverge not only in the nature of the learner, but also in the aim of instruction. In fact, as a general rule, while in ESL all four language skills; listening, reading, speaking, and writing, are stressed equally, in ESP it is a needs analysis that determines which language skills are most needed by the students, and the syllabus is designed accordingly. An ESP program, might, for example, emphasize the development of reading skills in students who are preparing for graduate work in business administration; or it might promote the development of spoken skills in students who are studying English in order to become tourist guides.
As a matter of fact, ESP combines subject matter and English language teaching. Such a combination is highly motivating because students are able to apply what they learn in their English classes to their main field of study, whether it be accounting, business management, economics, computer science or tourism. Being able to use the vocabulary and structures that they learn in a meaningful context reinforces what is taught and increases their motivation.
The students' abilities in their subject-matter fields, in turn, improve their ability to acquire English. Subject-matter knowledge gives them the context they need to understand the English of the classroom. In the ESP class, students are shown how the subject-matter content is expressed in English. The teacher can make the most of the students' knowledge of the subject matter, thus helping them learn English faster.
The term "specific" in ESP refers to the specific purpose for learning English. Students approach the study of English through a field that is already known and relevant to them. This means that they are able to use what they learn in the ESP classroom right away in their work and studies. The ESP approach enhances the relevance of what the students are learning and enables them to use the English they know to learn even more English, since their interest in their field will motivate them to interact with speakers and texts.
ESP assesses needs and integrates motivation, subject matter and content for the teaching of relevant skills.

The responsibility of the teacher

A teacher that already has experience in teaching English as a Second Language (ESL), can exploit her background in language teaching. She should recognize the ways in which her teaching skills can be adapted for the teaching of English for Specific Purposes. Moreover, she will need to look for content specialists for help in designing appropriate lessons in the subject matter field she is teaching.
As an ESP teacher, you must play many roles. You may be asked to organize courses, to set learning objectives, to establish a positive learning environment in the classroom, and to evaluate student s progress.

Organizing Courses

You have to set learning goals and then transform them into an instructional program with the timing of activities. One of your main tasks will be selecting, designing and organizing course materials, supporting the students in their efforts, and providing them with feedback on their progress.

Setting Goals and Objectives

You arrange the conditions for learning in the classroom and set long-term goals and short-term objectives for students achievement. Your knowledge of students' potential is central in designing a syllabus with realistic goals that takes into account the students' concern in the learning situation.

Creating a Learning Environment

Your skills for communication and mediation create the classroom atmosphere. Students acquire language when they have opportunities to use the language in interaction with other speakers. Being their teacher, you may be the only English speaking person available to students, and although your time with any of them is limited, you can structure effective communication skills in the classroom. In order to do so, in your interactions with students try to listen carefully to what they are saying and give your understanding or misunderstanding back at them through your replies. Good language learners are also great risk-takers , since they must make many errors in order to succeed: however, in ESP classes, they are handicapped because they are unable to use their native language competence to present themselves as well-informed adults. That s why the teacher should create an atmosphere in the language classroom which supports the students. Learners must be self-confident in order to communicate, and you have the responsibility to help build the learner's confidence.

Evaluating Students

The teacher is a resource that helps students identify their language learning problems and find solutions to them, find out the skills they need to focus on, and take responsibility for making choices which determine what and how to learn. You will serve as a source of information to the students about how they are progressing in their language learning.
The responsibility of the student
What is the role of the learner and what is the task he/she faces? The learners come to the ESP class with a specific interest for learning, subject matter knowledge, and well-built adult learning strategies. They are in charge of developing English language skills to reflect their native-language knowledge and skills.

Interest for Learning

People learn languages when they have opportunities to understand and work with language in a context that they comprehend and find interesting. In this view, ESP is a powerful means for such opportunities. Students will acquire English as they work with materials which they find interesting and relevant and which they can use in their professional work or further studies. The more learners pay attention to the meaning of the language they hear or read, the more they are successful; the more they have to focus on the linguistic input or isolated language structures, the less they are motivated to attend their classes.
The ESP student is particularly well disposed to focus on meaning in the subject-matter field. In ESP, English should be presented not as a subject to be learned in isolation from real use, nor as a mechanical skill or habit to be developed. On the contrary, English should be presented in authentic contexts to make the learners acquainted with the particular ways in which the language is used in functions that they will need to perform in their fields of specialty or jobs.

Subject-Content Knowledge

Learners in the ESP classes are generally aware of the purposes for which they will need to use English. Having already oriented their education toward a specific field, they see their English training as complementing this orientation. Knowledge of the subject area enables the students to identify a real context for the vocabulary and structures of the ESP classroom. In such way, the learners can take advantage of what they already know about the subject matter to learn English.

Learning Strategies

Adults must work harder than children in order to learn a new language, but the learning skills they bring to the task permit them to learn faster and more efficiently. The skills they have already developed in using their native languages will make learning English easier. Although you will be working with students whose English will probably be quite limited, the language learning abilities of the adult in the ESP classroom are potentially immense. Educated adults are continually learning new language behaviour in their native languages, since language learning continues naturally throughout our lives. They are constantly expanding vocabulary, becoming more fluent in their fields, and adjusting their linguistic behaviour to new situations or new roles. ESP students can exploit these innate competencies in learning English.

Text 1 and 2

TEXTO 1

Every day more and more of us find that computers have become part of our daily background: magazines we read have been typeset by computers, architects have designed our houses with the help of computers, our paylips are printed by computers, we pay bills prepared by computers, using checks marked with computer symbols, and the payments result in bank statements prepared by computers. Even more directly associated with the machines are those who use them in their day-to-day work – scientists and storekeepers, clerks and directors, soldiers and sailors, accountants and engineers – besides the growing numbers of computer personal who are responsible for making the machines do the work. Each of us, whether layman, computer use or computer technician, will have problems with computer terminology.

TEXTO 2

In the beginning, there was the analog cell phone. And then the cell phone went digital. And that provides a clearer connection and more reability. Now the future of technology appears to be in the hands of the mobile phone industry. Cell phones and handhelds are everywhere. The future is now, and it is wireless. Except the future is still the future. Wireless technology is relatively young. The first generation has been around only since the early 1980s, when analog voice transmission networks were introduced. The second generation took over in the mid-‘90s with the advent of digital wireless voice and data networks, giving us the capabilities that spawned the cell phone revolution we know today. Now comes the so-called third generation – or 3G – which generally refers to networks capable of connecting to the Internet at speeds 40 tines the rate of today’s cell phones, promising Interneting connections will be fast enough to download streaming audio and files, swap digital photos, and hold teleconferences. It will also use the existing spectrum space more efficiently and increase the speeds with which basic data can be transmitted over wireless devices.

Aula 1 - Técnicas de Leitura

Técnicas de Leitura

As técnicas de leitura, como o próprio nome diz, vão nos ajudar a ler um texto. Existem técnicas variadas, mas veremos as mais utilizadas. Ao ler um texto em Inglês, lembre-se de usar as técnicas aprendidas, elas vão ajudá-lo. O uso da gramática vai ajudar também.
As principais técnicas são: a identificação de cognatos, de palavras repetidas e de pistas tipográficas. Ao lermos um texto vamos,ainda, apurar a idéia geral do texto (general comprehension) e utilizar duas outras técnicas bastante úteis: skimming e scanning.

a) Cognatos
Os cognatos são palavras muito parecidas com as palavras do Português. São as chamadas palavras transparentes. Existem também os falsos cognatos, que são palavras que achamos que é tal coisa, mas não é; os falsos cognatos são em menor número, estes nós veremos adiante.
Como cognatos podemos citar: school (escola), telephone (telefone), car (carro), question (questão, pergunta), activity (atividade), training (treinamento)... Você mesmo poderá criar sua própria lista de cognatos!

b) Palavras repetidas
As palavras repetidas em um texto possuem um valor muito importante. Um autor não repete as palavras em vão. Se elas são repetidas, é porque são importantes dentro de texto. Muitas vezes para não repetir o mesmo termo, o autor utiliza sinônimos das mesmas palavras para não tornar o texto cansativo.

c) Pistas tipográficas
As pistas tipográficas são elementos visuais que nos auxiliam na compreensão do texto. Atenção com datas, números, tabelas, gráficas, figuras... São informações também contidas no texto. Os recursos de escrita também são pistas tipográficas. Por exemplo:
· ... (três pontos) indicam a continuação de uma idéia que não está ali exposta;
· negrito dá destaque a algum termo ou palavra;
· itálico também destaca um termo, menos importante que o negrito;
· ‘’ ‘’ (aspas) salientam a importância de alguma palavra;
· ( ) (parênteses) introduzem uma idéia complementar ao texto.

d) General Comprehension
A idéia geral de um texto é obtida com o emprego das técnicas anteriores. Selecionando-se criteriosamente algumas palavras, termos e expressões no texto, poderemos chegar à idéia geral do texto.
Por exemplo, vamos ler o trecho abaixo e tentar obter a “general comprehension” deste parágrafo:

“Distance education takes place when a teacher and students are separated by physical distance, and technology (i.e., voice, video and data), often in concert with face-to-face communication, is used to bridge the instructional gap.”


From: Engineering Outreach
College of Engineering – University of Idaho

A partir das palavras cognatas do texto (em negrito) podemos ter um a idéia geral do que se trata; vamos enumerar as palavras conhecidas (pelo menos as que são semelhantes ao Português):
· distance education = educação a distancia
· students = estudantes, alunos
· separeted = separado
· physical distance = distância física
· technology = tecnologia
· voice, video, data = voz, vídeo e dados (atenção: “data” não é data)
· face-to-face communication = comunicação face-a-face
· used = usado (a)
· instructional = instrucional

Então você poderia dizer que o texto trata sobre educação a distância; que esta ocorre quando os alunos estão separados fisicamente do professor; a tecnologia (voz, vídeo, dados) podem ser usados de forma instrucional.
Você poderia ter esta conclusão sobre o texto mesmo sem ter muito conhecimento de Inglês. É claro que à medida que você for aprendendo, a sua percepção sobre o texto também aumentará. Há muitas informações que não são tão óbvias assim.


e) Skimming
“skim” em inglês é deslizar à superfície, desnatar (daí skimmed milk = leite desnatado), passar os olhos por. A técnica de “skimming” nos leva a ler um texto superficialmente. Utilizar esta técnica significa que precisamos ler cada sentença, mas sim passarmos os olhos por sobre o texto, lendo algumas frases aqui e ali, procurando reconhecer certas palavras e expressões que sirvam como ‘dicas’ na obtenção de informações sobre o texto. Às vezes não é necessário ler o texto em detalhes. Para usar esta técnica, precisamos nos valer dos nossos conhecimentos de Inglês também.



Observe este trecho:
“Using this integrated approach, the educator’s task is to carefully select among the technological options. The goal is to build a mix of instructional media, meeting the needs of the learner in a manner that is instructionally effective and economically prudent.”
From: Engineering Outreach
College of Engineering – University of Idaho

Selecionando algumas expressões teremos:

· integrated approach = abordagem (approach = abordagem, enfoque) integrada
· educator’s task = tarefa (task = tarefa) do educador – ‘s significa posse = do
· tecnological options = opções tecnológicas (tecnological é adjetivo)
· goal = objetivo
· a mix instrucional media = uma mistura de mídia instrucional.
Com a técnica do “skimming” podemos dizer que este trecho afirma que a tarefa do educador é selecionar as opções tecnológicas; o objetivo é ter uma mistura de mídias instrucionais de uma maneira instrucionalmente efetiva e economicamente prudente.

f) Scanning
“Scan” em Inglês quer dizer examinar, sondar, explorar. O que faz um scanner? Uma varredura, não é?! Logo, com a técnica de “scanning” você irá fazer uma varredura do texto, procurando detalhes e idéias objetivas. Aqui é importante que você utilize os conhecimentos de Inglês; por isso, nós vamos ver detalhadamente alguns itens gramaticais no ser “ Estudo da Língua Inglesa”.
Olhe este trecho:

“ Teaching and learning at a distance is demanding. However, learning will be more meaningful and “deeper” for distant students, if students and their instructor share responsibility for developing learning goals: actively interacting with class members; promoting reflection on experience; relating new information to examples that make sense to learners. This is the challenge and the opportunity provided by distance education.”

Poderíamos perguntar qual o referente do pronome “ their” em negrito no trecho?
Utilizando a técnica de skimming, seria necessário retornar ao texto e entender a sentença na qual o pronome está sendo empregado. “Their “ é um pronome possessivo ( e como tal, sempre vem acompanhado de um substantivo) da terceira pessoa do plural ( o seu referente é um substantivo no plural). A tradução de “their instructor” seria seu instrutor . Seu de quem? Lendo um pouco para trás, vemos que há “students”; logo concluímos que “their” refere-se a “students, ou seja, instrutor dos alunos”.