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Current Developments in English for Academic and Specific Purposes: Local Innovations and Global Perspectives
English for Specific Purposes xxx (2016) 1–3
Contents lists available at ScienceDirect
English for Specific Purposes journal homepage: http://ees.elsevier.com/esp/default.asp
Review Current Developments in English for Academic and Specific Purposes: Local Innovations and Global Perspectives, Prithvi N. Shrestha. Garnet Education, Reading (2015). 260 pp., £10.00, eBook, ISBN: 9781782602576 The English language teaching (ELT) field has witnessed the emergence of English for Specific Purposes (ESP) in the 1960s and the establishment of English for Academic Purposes (EAP) as its main branch since the 1980s. During the past decades, Both ESP and EAP have developed steadily from its infancy or being peripheral to the establishment as central to ELT. Books that introduce classic theories of ESP (e.g. Robinson, 1980; Hutchinson & Waters, 1987; Dudley-Evans & St John, 1998) or key issues in EAP (e.g. Hyland, 2006; Jordan, 1997) are popular among the intellectual community and the general stakeholders. Being widely recognized as a dominant and international language, English is learned and used for specific purposes such as scientific, technological, business, legal, medical, just to name a few. Researchers and practitioners contribute to the study of needs analysis, curriculum design, pedagogy and assessment via versatile methods or from different perspectives, as summarized by Paltridge and Starfield (2013) in The Handbook of English for Specific Purposes. While the studies conducted by leading scholars or from more familiar contexts have already been widely recognized, new practices by rather novice researchers or in less attended locations are largely underestimated and to some extent, overlooked. The newlyreleased book edited by Prithvi Shrestha is a timely collection which responds to the current developments in English for Academic and Specific Purposes. It showcases a wide variety of studies by a team of scholars who are commissioned to bring local innovations to global contributions. The book consists of a preface written by Caroline Coffin, an editorial introduction and twelve chapters. Each chapter gives an integral report which documents the background, literature review, methodology, results and discussion of a certain project. Each project is a unique study designed for a given context. Jennifer Cope in Chapter 1 reports on a critical discourse analysis of English newspaper texts from three different countries, namely the United Kingdom, the United States and Australia. The results of her investigation indicate that cultural, political and economic contexts have a considerable impact on the coding and decoding of public opinions. The researcher therefore asserts the importance of cultural awareness in producing and understanding opinion texts by proposing a critical and pedagogical approach for ESP instruction. Chapter 2 focuses on leadership development of Japanese international business students. In addition to a goal-oriented needs analysis, Kevin Knight and Christopher Candlin adopt a “nexus of practice approach” which is rather process-oriented and productive to train students’ communicational skills and more importantly, their business leadership skills. Based on this approach, refined learning tasks such as seminars and online forums are designed. The outcome demonstrates that business students should be encouraged and trained not only to understand leadership but also to create and achieve visions. In Chapter 3, Alice Lawrence indicates the flaws of an in-sessional EAP program in a British university and then proposes an alternative model for developing technical communication skills. While the existing program has been mainly aimed at supporting non-native students, the proposed new model proves to be more inclusive and effective where higher educational institutions provide specific academic English support for both non-native and native students. Chapter 4 introduces Jane Lockwood’s case study in a call centre in Manila, Philippines. Working as the consultant and researcher in this industry, the author talks about how she manages to collaborate successfully in the workplace and how she designs English for Specific Business Purposes courses. The study helps to ascertain the problems of existing practices, to analyze the occupational needs, and to make recommendations for further development in similar ESP curriculum and assessment. Chapter 5 is a survey study on the needs and standpoints of the administrators, teachers and MBA students in a Pakistani university. Saba Bahareen Mansur and Prithvi N. Shrestha explore in general the interrelationship among these three stakeholders. In particular, they highlight MBA students’ English language needs and pinpoint the importance of administrative support for ESP/EAP course design. Teachers are part of the key stakeholders who play a very important role in ESP programs. Their role is then discussed in Chapter 6. Based on her observations of English Medium Instruction (EMI) courses in Spain, María Ángeles Martín del Pozo argues that EMI lecturers should be considered as new EAP learners. It is vital to provide these EAP learners with essential
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.esp.2016.04.005
2
Review / English for Specific Purposes xxx (2016) 1–3
instruments such as the awareness of academic functions and the exploitation of linguistic tools. The realization of these training instruments can largely enhance ESP/EAP teachers’ linguistic knowledge as well as communication which are much needed for their professional development. From the students’ perspective, Neil Matheson and Helen Basturkmen talk about how to improve discipline-specific EAP writing skills in Chapter 7. Their study is carried out in a New Zealand university, which adopts an integrated approach by interviewing undergraduate students from three disciplines and by analyzing academic writing texts. Therefore, this chapter sheds light on the development of a research-informed academic writing curriculum. Chapter 8 reports on a trial project conducted by Prithvi N. Shrestha, Jo Fayram and Valérie Demouy in The Open University, UK. The study illustrates how to use Talkback, an interactive voice response system to train and test EAP students’ listening and speaking skills. The result demonstrates the advantages and benefits offered to students through authentic, meaningful tasks. These researchers conclude that mobile technologies integrated with other distance learning tools and materials can be of great value to EAP oral assessment. In Chapter 9, Akiko Tsuda and Clare Furneaux report on a research project aiming to develop ESP courses for nutritionists and dieticians in Japan. Through classroom observation and questionnaire survey, the study identifies an urgent need for dietician training institutions to design appropriate curriculum and teaching materials. In Chapter 10, Barbara Tully presents an English training programme for trade unionists in Sierra Leone. This case study is designed to bring the European ESP framework into the African context so that language practitioners and trade union experts make joint efforts in fulfilling both the linguistic and sociopolitical needs of workers. Chapter 11 talks about pathway programme in Australian pre-university institutions where EAP and ESP courses are designed to prepare international students for higher education. Based on their collaborative action research, Donna Velliaris, Craig Willis and Paul Breen make some recommendations for enhancing first-year students’ language skills, especially academic skills. Finally in Chapter 12 Yalun Zhou, Donna Bain Butler and Michael Wei explore the influence of cultural roots to Asian graduate students’ academic English writing. Using a questionnaire survey, the study discovers how Chinese and Thai graduate students look at and think about EAP writing. The authors argue that non-native English speaking students’ cultural backgrounds do have some effect on their academic writing practice. Recommendations and global implications have been proposed accordingly. The twelve cases vary in the geographic location where the studies take place, from native English-speaking countries such as the United States, Australia, Britain and New Zealand to non-native English-speaking countries in Africa, Asia and Europe. Being rooted in the inner circle (Kachru, 1982), ESP/EAP has developed steadily from its early phase up to the recent generation during the past fifty years or more so that scholarly research there pioneers and dominates the academic community. However, novel practices and rapid development in lesser familiar sites deserve to be acknowledged, not only because of their ever-increasing needs which are once neglected but also because of the fact that these local innovations have invaluable contribution from global perspectives. Exemplary responses to such an urgent call can be heard from Chapter 2 (Japan), Chapter 4 (Philippines), Chapter 5 (Pakistan), Chapter 9 (Japan), Chapter 10 (Sierra Leone) and Chapter 12 (China and Thailand). In spite of this diversity in locations, Asian innovations have been highlighted. In terms of the participants or data sources, five out of the twelve investigations are carried out in Asian countries: China, Japan, Philippines, Thailand and Pakistan. As in many other fields like economy, politics and culture, ESP and EAP in Asia have aroused considerably global attention. As Cheng and Anthony (2014) point out, the on-going changes have already raised interesting questions on how professional and academic communication will be impacted; hence Asian activities and energies in the process have become an increasingly vibrant line of research. This trend can be mirrored by the establishment of such research societies as The Chinese Association for ESP, the Japan Association for College English Teachers, and the Taiwan ESP Association; and by recently-published journals like the Asian ESP Journal, China ESP Research and the Taiwan International ESP Journal. It should be noticed that there are two data sources from Japan (Chapter 2 and Chapter 9). If the editor had replaced one of the two cases with another Asian country (e.g., India) or region (i.e., Hong Kong or Taiwan), the coverage would have been widened in this sense. Above all, the volume deserves special attention with its novelty in vision and diversity of data source, which are characteristically different from previous contributions. For example, the authoritative handbook by Paltridge and Starfield (2013), which was previously mentioned, is a comprehensive overview of ESP history and development. Still another, New Directions in English for Specific Purposes Research (Belcher, Johns, & Paltridge, 2011) focuses on key issues and methodology in the field. The current book, however, makes an excellent addition to the “glocalization” of teaching and researching English for specific and academic purposes. As defined by The Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, “glocal” relates to the connections or relationships between global and local businesses, problems, etc. While the global ESP/EAP theories established by leading experts or from developed regions have indeed provided authoritative guidelines for the newcomers or for developing countries, the local innovations are bound to reinforce international teamwork and enrich the global ESP/EAP practice.
References Belcher, D., Johns, A. M., & Paltridge, B. (Eds.). (2011). New directions in English for specific purposes research. Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press. Cheng, A., & Anthony, L. (2014). ESP research in Asia. English for Specific Purposes, 33, 1-3. Dudley-Evans, T., & St John, M. J. (1998). Developments in English for specific purposes: A multi-disciplinary approach. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Review / English for Specific Purposes xxx (2016) 1–3
3
Hutchinson, T., & Waters, A. (1987). English for specific purposes: A learning-centered approach. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Hyland, K. (2006). English for academic purposes: An advanced resource book. London: Routledge. Jordan, R. R. (1997). English for academic purposes: A guide and resource book for teachers. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Kachru, B. (1982). The other tongue: English across cultures. Urbana: University of Illinois Press. Paltridge, B., & Starfield, S. (2013). The handbook of English for specific purposes. Boston: Wiley-Blackwell. Robinson, P. (1980). ESP: English for specific purposes. Oxford: Pergamon Press. Kaisheng Huang is currently associate professor from School of Foreign Languages, Zhongnan University of Economics and Law. He has got his Ph.D. from Centre for Applied English Studies, The University of Hong Kong. His research interests include corpus linguistics, phraseology and ESP.
Kaisheng Huang * School of Foreign Languages, Zhongnan University of Economics and Law, Wuhan 430073, China Tel.: þ86 18502721305. E-mail address: [email protected] Available online xxx
Contents lists available at ScienceDirect
English for Specific Purposes journal homepage: http://ees.elsevier.com/esp/default.asp
Review Current Developments in English for Academic and Specific Purposes: Local Innovations and Global Perspectives, Prithvi N. Shrestha. Garnet Education, Reading (2015). 260 pp., £10.00, eBook, ISBN: 9781782602576 The English language teaching (ELT) field has witnessed the emergence of English for Specific Purposes (ESP) in the 1960s and the establishment of English for Academic Purposes (EAP) as its main branch since the 1980s. During the past decades, Both ESP and EAP have developed steadily from its infancy or being peripheral to the establishment as central to ELT. Books that introduce classic theories of ESP (e.g. Robinson, 1980; Hutchinson & Waters, 1987; Dudley-Evans & St John, 1998) or key issues in EAP (e.g. Hyland, 2006; Jordan, 1997) are popular among the intellectual community and the general stakeholders. Being widely recognized as a dominant and international language, English is learned and used for specific purposes such as scientific, technological, business, legal, medical, just to name a few. Researchers and practitioners contribute to the study of needs analysis, curriculum design, pedagogy and assessment via versatile methods or from different perspectives, as summarized by Paltridge and Starfield (2013) in The Handbook of English for Specific Purposes. While the studies conducted by leading scholars or from more familiar contexts have already been widely recognized, new practices by rather novice researchers or in less attended locations are largely underestimated and to some extent, overlooked. The newlyreleased book edited by Prithvi Shrestha is a timely collection which responds to the current developments in English for Academic and Specific Purposes. It showcases a wide variety of studies by a team of scholars who are commissioned to bring local innovations to global contributions. The book consists of a preface written by Caroline Coffin, an editorial introduction and twelve chapters. Each chapter gives an integral report which documents the background, literature review, methodology, results and discussion of a certain project. Each project is a unique study designed for a given context. Jennifer Cope in Chapter 1 reports on a critical discourse analysis of English newspaper texts from three different countries, namely the United Kingdom, the United States and Australia. The results of her investigation indicate that cultural, political and economic contexts have a considerable impact on the coding and decoding of public opinions. The researcher therefore asserts the importance of cultural awareness in producing and understanding opinion texts by proposing a critical and pedagogical approach for ESP instruction. Chapter 2 focuses on leadership development of Japanese international business students. In addition to a goal-oriented needs analysis, Kevin Knight and Christopher Candlin adopt a “nexus of practice approach” which is rather process-oriented and productive to train students’ communicational skills and more importantly, their business leadership skills. Based on this approach, refined learning tasks such as seminars and online forums are designed. The outcome demonstrates that business students should be encouraged and trained not only to understand leadership but also to create and achieve visions. In Chapter 3, Alice Lawrence indicates the flaws of an in-sessional EAP program in a British university and then proposes an alternative model for developing technical communication skills. While the existing program has been mainly aimed at supporting non-native students, the proposed new model proves to be more inclusive and effective where higher educational institutions provide specific academic English support for both non-native and native students. Chapter 4 introduces Jane Lockwood’s case study in a call centre in Manila, Philippines. Working as the consultant and researcher in this industry, the author talks about how she manages to collaborate successfully in the workplace and how she designs English for Specific Business Purposes courses. The study helps to ascertain the problems of existing practices, to analyze the occupational needs, and to make recommendations for further development in similar ESP curriculum and assessment. Chapter 5 is a survey study on the needs and standpoints of the administrators, teachers and MBA students in a Pakistani university. Saba Bahareen Mansur and Prithvi N. Shrestha explore in general the interrelationship among these three stakeholders. In particular, they highlight MBA students’ English language needs and pinpoint the importance of administrative support for ESP/EAP course design. Teachers are part of the key stakeholders who play a very important role in ESP programs. Their role is then discussed in Chapter 6. Based on her observations of English Medium Instruction (EMI) courses in Spain, María Ángeles Martín del Pozo argues that EMI lecturers should be considered as new EAP learners. It is vital to provide these EAP learners with essential
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.esp.2016.04.005
2
Review / English for Specific Purposes xxx (2016) 1–3
instruments such as the awareness of academic functions and the exploitation of linguistic tools. The realization of these training instruments can largely enhance ESP/EAP teachers’ linguistic knowledge as well as communication which are much needed for their professional development. From the students’ perspective, Neil Matheson and Helen Basturkmen talk about how to improve discipline-specific EAP writing skills in Chapter 7. Their study is carried out in a New Zealand university, which adopts an integrated approach by interviewing undergraduate students from three disciplines and by analyzing academic writing texts. Therefore, this chapter sheds light on the development of a research-informed academic writing curriculum. Chapter 8 reports on a trial project conducted by Prithvi N. Shrestha, Jo Fayram and Valérie Demouy in The Open University, UK. The study illustrates how to use Talkback, an interactive voice response system to train and test EAP students’ listening and speaking skills. The result demonstrates the advantages and benefits offered to students through authentic, meaningful tasks. These researchers conclude that mobile technologies integrated with other distance learning tools and materials can be of great value to EAP oral assessment. In Chapter 9, Akiko Tsuda and Clare Furneaux report on a research project aiming to develop ESP courses for nutritionists and dieticians in Japan. Through classroom observation and questionnaire survey, the study identifies an urgent need for dietician training institutions to design appropriate curriculum and teaching materials. In Chapter 10, Barbara Tully presents an English training programme for trade unionists in Sierra Leone. This case study is designed to bring the European ESP framework into the African context so that language practitioners and trade union experts make joint efforts in fulfilling both the linguistic and sociopolitical needs of workers. Chapter 11 talks about pathway programme in Australian pre-university institutions where EAP and ESP courses are designed to prepare international students for higher education. Based on their collaborative action research, Donna Velliaris, Craig Willis and Paul Breen make some recommendations for enhancing first-year students’ language skills, especially academic skills. Finally in Chapter 12 Yalun Zhou, Donna Bain Butler and Michael Wei explore the influence of cultural roots to Asian graduate students’ academic English writing. Using a questionnaire survey, the study discovers how Chinese and Thai graduate students look at and think about EAP writing. The authors argue that non-native English speaking students’ cultural backgrounds do have some effect on their academic writing practice. Recommendations and global implications have been proposed accordingly. The twelve cases vary in the geographic location where the studies take place, from native English-speaking countries such as the United States, Australia, Britain and New Zealand to non-native English-speaking countries in Africa, Asia and Europe. Being rooted in the inner circle (Kachru, 1982), ESP/EAP has developed steadily from its early phase up to the recent generation during the past fifty years or more so that scholarly research there pioneers and dominates the academic community. However, novel practices and rapid development in lesser familiar sites deserve to be acknowledged, not only because of their ever-increasing needs which are once neglected but also because of the fact that these local innovations have invaluable contribution from global perspectives. Exemplary responses to such an urgent call can be heard from Chapter 2 (Japan), Chapter 4 (Philippines), Chapter 5 (Pakistan), Chapter 9 (Japan), Chapter 10 (Sierra Leone) and Chapter 12 (China and Thailand). In spite of this diversity in locations, Asian innovations have been highlighted. In terms of the participants or data sources, five out of the twelve investigations are carried out in Asian countries: China, Japan, Philippines, Thailand and Pakistan. As in many other fields like economy, politics and culture, ESP and EAP in Asia have aroused considerably global attention. As Cheng and Anthony (2014) point out, the on-going changes have already raised interesting questions on how professional and academic communication will be impacted; hence Asian activities and energies in the process have become an increasingly vibrant line of research. This trend can be mirrored by the establishment of such research societies as The Chinese Association for ESP, the Japan Association for College English Teachers, and the Taiwan ESP Association; and by recently-published journals like the Asian ESP Journal, China ESP Research and the Taiwan International ESP Journal. It should be noticed that there are two data sources from Japan (Chapter 2 and Chapter 9). If the editor had replaced one of the two cases with another Asian country (e.g., India) or region (i.e., Hong Kong or Taiwan), the coverage would have been widened in this sense. Above all, the volume deserves special attention with its novelty in vision and diversity of data source, which are characteristically different from previous contributions. For example, the authoritative handbook by Paltridge and Starfield (2013), which was previously mentioned, is a comprehensive overview of ESP history and development. Still another, New Directions in English for Specific Purposes Research (Belcher, Johns, & Paltridge, 2011) focuses on key issues and methodology in the field. The current book, however, makes an excellent addition to the “glocalization” of teaching and researching English for specific and academic purposes. As defined by The Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, “glocal” relates to the connections or relationships between global and local businesses, problems, etc. While the global ESP/EAP theories established by leading experts or from developed regions have indeed provided authoritative guidelines for the newcomers or for developing countries, the local innovations are bound to reinforce international teamwork and enrich the global ESP/EAP practice.
References Belcher, D., Johns, A. M., & Paltridge, B. (Eds.). (2011). New directions in English for specific purposes research. Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press. Cheng, A., & Anthony, L. (2014). ESP research in Asia. English for Specific Purposes, 33, 1-3. Dudley-Evans, T., & St John, M. J. (1998). Developments in English for specific purposes: A multi-disciplinary approach. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Review / English for Specific Purposes xxx (2016) 1–3
3
Hutchinson, T., & Waters, A. (1987). English for specific purposes: A learning-centered approach. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Hyland, K. (2006). English for academic purposes: An advanced resource book. London: Routledge. Jordan, R. R. (1997). English for academic purposes: A guide and resource book for teachers. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Kachru, B. (1982). The other tongue: English across cultures. Urbana: University of Illinois Press. Paltridge, B., & Starfield, S. (2013). The handbook of English for specific purposes. Boston: Wiley-Blackwell. Robinson, P. (1980). ESP: English for specific purposes. Oxford: Pergamon Press. Kaisheng Huang is currently associate professor from School of Foreign Languages, Zhongnan University of Economics and Law. He has got his Ph.D. from Centre for Applied English Studies, The University of Hong Kong. His research interests include corpus linguistics, phraseology and ESP.
Kaisheng Huang * School of Foreign Languages, Zhongnan University of Economics and Law, Wuhan 430073, China Tel.: þ86 18502721305. E-mail address: [email protected] Available online xxx