- Email: [email protected]
EFL: A Practical Approach
Book reviews / English for Specific Purposes 22 (2003) 419–431
425
Sustained Content Teaching in Academic ESL/EFL: A Practical Approach Marcia Pally (Ed.), Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, 2000, xvi + 247 pp. (soft cover). ISBN 0-395-46076-2 Sustained Content Teaching in Academic ESL/EFL: A Practical Approach is an edited collection of 12 chapters on the implementation of sustained content-based instruction (CBI) in the ESL/EFL classroom. Sustained CBI is defined as the study of one content area over time and is thus contrasted to regular CBI, which, while also concerned with the supremacy of content over language, does not specify that the content should be limited to a single content area. Before I discuss the contents of the book, it is necessary to clarify the term CBI. In the introduction, the editor states, ‘‘Among the earliest CBI programs in the postwar period were those in English for Science and Technology (EST). . .’’ (p. 4). Here the editor erroneously conflates ESP and CBI, for, as is universally acknowledged in the field of ESP, ‘‘EST is the senior branch of ESP’’ (Swales, 1985, p. X). In Master (1997), I distinguished CBI from ESP, describing CBI as a type of syllabus on a par with structural, notional, functional, situational, and task-based syllabi, and ESP as a division of English Language Teaching (ELT), the only other member of which is English for General Purposes (EGP). I suggested that ESP, in contrast to EGP, made substantial use of the content-based syllabus, though it used other syllabi as well, also known as mixed or layered syllabi (Brown, 1995). ESP was originally divided into English for Academic Purposes (EAP) and English for Occupational Purposes (EOP). EAP included the English required for the study of Science and Technology (EST), Medicine (EMP), business and economics (EBE), law (ELP), etc. while EOP included the English required to function as a pilot, secretary, auto mechanic, etc. (for the distinction between instructional and operational English, see, e.g. Strevens, 1988). EAP has since come to be associated with study skills and preparatory academic writing and critical thinking skills, which Jordan (1997) labels English for General Academic Purposes (EGAP), describing the original domain of EAP as English for Specific Academic Purposes (ESAP). Sustained CBI is quite similar to ESAP, in which the constraint of the content to a single area is implicitly assumed (e.g. English for Medicine concerns the content area of medicine). The only difference seems to be that in sustained CBI, at least as promulgated in this text, the content area (described as ‘‘universal donor’’ content, p. 13), is selected by the instructor, is not announced prior to the course, and is thus not selected on the basis of a specific needs analysis. In this sense, sustained CBI is simply theme-based CBI that stays within a single content area. With that terminological quibble out of the way, I turn now to the content of the book. Six of the chapters concern sustained CBI in specific fields (psychology, English literature, engineering, American history, film and society, and health), four concern sustained CBI in the development of specific skills (academic reading and writing, speaking (via comic books), grammar, and use of the Internet), one concerns assessment in sustained CBI, and the introduction provides a theoretical background and rationale for sustained CBI. Some of the more interesting chapters are summarized later.
426
Book reviews / English for Specific Purposes 22 (2003) 419–431
The introduction provides the rationale for sustained CBI, especially in developing critical thinking skills, which practically all the chapters in the book make reference to. The primary argument is that confining the content to a single area allows the ESL/EFL learner to deepen the content schemata, with its recycling of vocabulary and form, and thus allows students to practice the kinds of skills they will be called upon to use in the academy. The challenges for the ESL/EFL instructor that sustained CBI brings (p. 12) are exactly those that have been discussed for years in the ESP literature: What content should be used? How much content expertise does the instructor need to have? How much technical information, vocabulary, and genre specification should be introduced? Incidentally, the term genre appears only in the introduction in this volume, even though it is a matter of primary interest in the field of ESP, the other contributors regularly using terms such as rhetorical conventions, models, even ‘‘abstracted structures’’ (p. 162) instead. This seems almost a deliberate attempt to separate sustained CBI from ESP. Carson provides a practical and thorough description of a task-based curriculum in the content area of psychology, emphasizing the reading/writing connection, building academic and discipline-specific vocabulary, developing reading and notetaking skills, and providing strategies to respond to exam questions. It would have been interesting to know how the issue of plagiarism is handled in this course. Haynes describes a course based on the grammatical analysis of The Old Man and the Sea, in which students analyze texts, do dictations, read aloud, and write autobiographical sketches throughout the term. This is a very creative way to teach grammar (despite a rather unique conception of what constitutes a noun phrase), though there is no proof of the effectiveness of the approach. I wondered if this method would work with a denser, more academic text and whether analyzing text and reading for meaning are in any way antithetical. Williams provides a novel approach to the pragmatics of speech using the Calvin and Hobbs comic strip Yukon Ho! as content. Through a series of challenging but necessary ‘‘frameworks’’ (emotional, lexical, referential, discourse, and attitudinal), he trains his students to understand, analyze, and extrapolate from the spoken language they will encounter in the academic environment. While his technique of using L1/L2 comparison led me to wonder if this could lead to over-reliance on translation, the chapter is an excellent justification for teaching elements of speech that occur widely but are rarely taught. Nelson and Burns focus on preparing students to take good notes and pass university exams. This chapter not only provides a framework for attaining these goals (student-generated questions and answers, graphic organizers, and charts for academic language structures) but also clearly demonstrates the rationale for and efficacy of sustained CBI while establishing the CBI instructor’s need for content expertise in unequivocal terms. Bernard describes a class in which the content is ecology, the source Schumacher’s Small is Beautiful. In the most impressive chapter in the book, the author teaches students to analyze commentary and then to generate their own through a series of carefully constructed exercises in which students summarize, question, and then comment on the reading material. It is a sophisticated yet completely student-
Book reviews / English for Specific Purposes 22 (2003) 419–431
427
centered program that provides ESL/EFL students with an in-depth experience that allows them to read and write university-level prose and is the most compelling argument for sustained CBI in this volume. May-Landy discusses assessment in sustained CBI. This chapter provides an excellent summary of testing practices in ESL/EFL, and clearly explains why openended responses should be the preferred type of evaluation in sustained CBI classes (as opposed to discrete-point items). The author links sustained CBI assessment to the constructivist model of language learning, effectively justifying the precedence of formative over summative assessment. Bernard’s chapter appears even brighter in light of this chapter as it obeys every recommendation made. In general, the 12 chapters in this book are very well written. Each fulfills the promise of the title in being practically oriented, with much that an ESL/EFL teacher will find useful. The text also provides labels at the bottom of each page to indicate the general content of that page, which is an excellent way to find discussions of specific issues and materials. On the weaker side, many of the chapters in this book present assertions of the efficacy of sustained CBI with (barring one or two exceptions) little other than anecdotal proof. I was a little disappointed that none of the chapters deals with what I call the ‘‘fairness issue’’, i.e. the basing of a course on what students will eventually be studying in a regular class and thus potentially generating resentment on the part of the other students for what they might see as the advanced preparation, and thus unfair advantage, of a subgroup. This is an issue that confronts other contentbased courses as well but would have been appropriate for a book on this topic. Finally, there is a contradiction in several of the chapters in that the introduction argues forcefully that personal topics are inappropriate because they are insufficiently academic, yet several chapters incorporate personal material in the final classroom products described. Nevertheless, teachers will find a wealth of ideas for the implementation of sustained CBI in this volume, and a cogent rationale for the use of sustained CBI in academic ESL/EFL as opposed to focus on a variety of potentially interesting subjects. In Master (1985), I asked whether all ESL instruction should be ESP, as ‘‘in every ESL situation was it not preferable to analyze what specific skills the learners needed to attain in any given learning situation?’’ (p. 18). By the end of this book, I found myself thinking that sustained CBI seemed to be the only logical syllabus for academic ESL/EFL.
References Brown, J. D. (1995). The elements of language curriculum: a systematic approach to program development. Boston, MA: Heinle and Heinle. Jordan, R. R. (1997). English for academic purposes: a guide and resource book for teachers. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. Master, P. (1985). The development of ESP. In P. Master (Ed.), Responses to english for specific purposes (pp. 17–19). Washington, DC: U.S. State Department.
428
Book reviews / English for Specific Purposes 22 (2003) 419–431
Master, P. (1997). Content-based instruction vs ESP. TESOL Matters, 7(6), 10 December, 1997. Strevens, P. (1988). The learner and teacher of ESP. In D. Chamberlain, & R. J. Baumgartner (Eds.), ESP in the classroom: practice and evaluation (pp. 39–44). ELT Document 128, Modern English Publications in association with the British Council. Swales, J. (1985). Episodes in ESP. Oxford: Pergamon.
Peter Master San Jose State University San Jose, CA, USA E-mail address: [email protected]
doi:10.1016/S0889-4906(02)00022-4
Resisting Linguistic Imperialism in English Teaching A. Suresh Canagarajah; Oxford University Press, Oxford; 1999, 216 pages. While we are seated under the mango trees outside our house on a warm breezy afternoon in Jaffna chatting in Tamil, my Dad suddenly whispers something in English to my mother and they both sneak into the room inside, letting me play with the maid . . .. There are other occasions when we’ll be talking about some wayward relatives, when my parents would switch to English to discuss some unpleasant episodes that shouldn’t be understood by a four-year old like me. These early experiences would leave a lasting impression on me of English as a language of secrecy, power, and mystery; a language owned by others, not belonging to me: a language that could put into disadvantage those who aren’t proficient in it (Canagarajah, 2001). The above introspective account is taken from Suresh Canagarajah’s contribution to a collection of language educators’ stories of their L2 literacy experiences (Belcher & Connor, 2001). In many of Canagarajah’s studies of ELT theory and pedagogy, his personal and academic investment in his subject area blend together in compelling ways making him an influential spokesperson for periphery scholars and teachers who, like their L2 students, are continually engaged with the uneasy tension between center-based and local ELT ideologies and practices. Resisting Linguistic Imperialism in English Teaching is an in-depth report of how the micro-level, everyday linguistic interactions, in and outside of the classroom, of a post-colonial Tamil community are situated within larger historical and social contexts. The author skilfully shifts between these two perspectives in order to highlight how global sociocultural ideologies concerned with the teaching and learning of English are realized in the lives of people struggling to ‘‘negotiate, alter, and oppose
425
Sustained Content Teaching in Academic ESL/EFL: A Practical Approach Marcia Pally (Ed.), Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, 2000, xvi + 247 pp. (soft cover). ISBN 0-395-46076-2 Sustained Content Teaching in Academic ESL/EFL: A Practical Approach is an edited collection of 12 chapters on the implementation of sustained content-based instruction (CBI) in the ESL/EFL classroom. Sustained CBI is defined as the study of one content area over time and is thus contrasted to regular CBI, which, while also concerned with the supremacy of content over language, does not specify that the content should be limited to a single content area. Before I discuss the contents of the book, it is necessary to clarify the term CBI. In the introduction, the editor states, ‘‘Among the earliest CBI programs in the postwar period were those in English for Science and Technology (EST). . .’’ (p. 4). Here the editor erroneously conflates ESP and CBI, for, as is universally acknowledged in the field of ESP, ‘‘EST is the senior branch of ESP’’ (Swales, 1985, p. X). In Master (1997), I distinguished CBI from ESP, describing CBI as a type of syllabus on a par with structural, notional, functional, situational, and task-based syllabi, and ESP as a division of English Language Teaching (ELT), the only other member of which is English for General Purposes (EGP). I suggested that ESP, in contrast to EGP, made substantial use of the content-based syllabus, though it used other syllabi as well, also known as mixed or layered syllabi (Brown, 1995). ESP was originally divided into English for Academic Purposes (EAP) and English for Occupational Purposes (EOP). EAP included the English required for the study of Science and Technology (EST), Medicine (EMP), business and economics (EBE), law (ELP), etc. while EOP included the English required to function as a pilot, secretary, auto mechanic, etc. (for the distinction between instructional and operational English, see, e.g. Strevens, 1988). EAP has since come to be associated with study skills and preparatory academic writing and critical thinking skills, which Jordan (1997) labels English for General Academic Purposes (EGAP), describing the original domain of EAP as English for Specific Academic Purposes (ESAP). Sustained CBI is quite similar to ESAP, in which the constraint of the content to a single area is implicitly assumed (e.g. English for Medicine concerns the content area of medicine). The only difference seems to be that in sustained CBI, at least as promulgated in this text, the content area (described as ‘‘universal donor’’ content, p. 13), is selected by the instructor, is not announced prior to the course, and is thus not selected on the basis of a specific needs analysis. In this sense, sustained CBI is simply theme-based CBI that stays within a single content area. With that terminological quibble out of the way, I turn now to the content of the book. Six of the chapters concern sustained CBI in specific fields (psychology, English literature, engineering, American history, film and society, and health), four concern sustained CBI in the development of specific skills (academic reading and writing, speaking (via comic books), grammar, and use of the Internet), one concerns assessment in sustained CBI, and the introduction provides a theoretical background and rationale for sustained CBI. Some of the more interesting chapters are summarized later.
426
Book reviews / English for Specific Purposes 22 (2003) 419–431
The introduction provides the rationale for sustained CBI, especially in developing critical thinking skills, which practically all the chapters in the book make reference to. The primary argument is that confining the content to a single area allows the ESL/EFL learner to deepen the content schemata, with its recycling of vocabulary and form, and thus allows students to practice the kinds of skills they will be called upon to use in the academy. The challenges for the ESL/EFL instructor that sustained CBI brings (p. 12) are exactly those that have been discussed for years in the ESP literature: What content should be used? How much content expertise does the instructor need to have? How much technical information, vocabulary, and genre specification should be introduced? Incidentally, the term genre appears only in the introduction in this volume, even though it is a matter of primary interest in the field of ESP, the other contributors regularly using terms such as rhetorical conventions, models, even ‘‘abstracted structures’’ (p. 162) instead. This seems almost a deliberate attempt to separate sustained CBI from ESP. Carson provides a practical and thorough description of a task-based curriculum in the content area of psychology, emphasizing the reading/writing connection, building academic and discipline-specific vocabulary, developing reading and notetaking skills, and providing strategies to respond to exam questions. It would have been interesting to know how the issue of plagiarism is handled in this course. Haynes describes a course based on the grammatical analysis of The Old Man and the Sea, in which students analyze texts, do dictations, read aloud, and write autobiographical sketches throughout the term. This is a very creative way to teach grammar (despite a rather unique conception of what constitutes a noun phrase), though there is no proof of the effectiveness of the approach. I wondered if this method would work with a denser, more academic text and whether analyzing text and reading for meaning are in any way antithetical. Williams provides a novel approach to the pragmatics of speech using the Calvin and Hobbs comic strip Yukon Ho! as content. Through a series of challenging but necessary ‘‘frameworks’’ (emotional, lexical, referential, discourse, and attitudinal), he trains his students to understand, analyze, and extrapolate from the spoken language they will encounter in the academic environment. While his technique of using L1/L2 comparison led me to wonder if this could lead to over-reliance on translation, the chapter is an excellent justification for teaching elements of speech that occur widely but are rarely taught. Nelson and Burns focus on preparing students to take good notes and pass university exams. This chapter not only provides a framework for attaining these goals (student-generated questions and answers, graphic organizers, and charts for academic language structures) but also clearly demonstrates the rationale for and efficacy of sustained CBI while establishing the CBI instructor’s need for content expertise in unequivocal terms. Bernard describes a class in which the content is ecology, the source Schumacher’s Small is Beautiful. In the most impressive chapter in the book, the author teaches students to analyze commentary and then to generate their own through a series of carefully constructed exercises in which students summarize, question, and then comment on the reading material. It is a sophisticated yet completely student-
Book reviews / English for Specific Purposes 22 (2003) 419–431
427
centered program that provides ESL/EFL students with an in-depth experience that allows them to read and write university-level prose and is the most compelling argument for sustained CBI in this volume. May-Landy discusses assessment in sustained CBI. This chapter provides an excellent summary of testing practices in ESL/EFL, and clearly explains why openended responses should be the preferred type of evaluation in sustained CBI classes (as opposed to discrete-point items). The author links sustained CBI assessment to the constructivist model of language learning, effectively justifying the precedence of formative over summative assessment. Bernard’s chapter appears even brighter in light of this chapter as it obeys every recommendation made. In general, the 12 chapters in this book are very well written. Each fulfills the promise of the title in being practically oriented, with much that an ESL/EFL teacher will find useful. The text also provides labels at the bottom of each page to indicate the general content of that page, which is an excellent way to find discussions of specific issues and materials. On the weaker side, many of the chapters in this book present assertions of the efficacy of sustained CBI with (barring one or two exceptions) little other than anecdotal proof. I was a little disappointed that none of the chapters deals with what I call the ‘‘fairness issue’’, i.e. the basing of a course on what students will eventually be studying in a regular class and thus potentially generating resentment on the part of the other students for what they might see as the advanced preparation, and thus unfair advantage, of a subgroup. This is an issue that confronts other contentbased courses as well but would have been appropriate for a book on this topic. Finally, there is a contradiction in several of the chapters in that the introduction argues forcefully that personal topics are inappropriate because they are insufficiently academic, yet several chapters incorporate personal material in the final classroom products described. Nevertheless, teachers will find a wealth of ideas for the implementation of sustained CBI in this volume, and a cogent rationale for the use of sustained CBI in academic ESL/EFL as opposed to focus on a variety of potentially interesting subjects. In Master (1985), I asked whether all ESL instruction should be ESP, as ‘‘in every ESL situation was it not preferable to analyze what specific skills the learners needed to attain in any given learning situation?’’ (p. 18). By the end of this book, I found myself thinking that sustained CBI seemed to be the only logical syllabus for academic ESL/EFL.
References Brown, J. D. (1995). The elements of language curriculum: a systematic approach to program development. Boston, MA: Heinle and Heinle. Jordan, R. R. (1997). English for academic purposes: a guide and resource book for teachers. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. Master, P. (1985). The development of ESP. In P. Master (Ed.), Responses to english for specific purposes (pp. 17–19). Washington, DC: U.S. State Department.
428
Book reviews / English for Specific Purposes 22 (2003) 419–431
Master, P. (1997). Content-based instruction vs ESP. TESOL Matters, 7(6), 10 December, 1997. Strevens, P. (1988). The learner and teacher of ESP. In D. Chamberlain, & R. J. Baumgartner (Eds.), ESP in the classroom: practice and evaluation (pp. 39–44). ELT Document 128, Modern English Publications in association with the British Council. Swales, J. (1985). Episodes in ESP. Oxford: Pergamon.
Peter Master San Jose State University San Jose, CA, USA E-mail address: [email protected]
doi:10.1016/S0889-4906(02)00022-4
Resisting Linguistic Imperialism in English Teaching A. Suresh Canagarajah; Oxford University Press, Oxford; 1999, 216 pages. While we are seated under the mango trees outside our house on a warm breezy afternoon in Jaffna chatting in Tamil, my Dad suddenly whispers something in English to my mother and they both sneak into the room inside, letting me play with the maid . . .. There are other occasions when we’ll be talking about some wayward relatives, when my parents would switch to English to discuss some unpleasant episodes that shouldn’t be understood by a four-year old like me. These early experiences would leave a lasting impression on me of English as a language of secrecy, power, and mystery; a language owned by others, not belonging to me: a language that could put into disadvantage those who aren’t proficient in it (Canagarajah, 2001). The above introspective account is taken from Suresh Canagarajah’s contribution to a collection of language educators’ stories of their L2 literacy experiences (Belcher & Connor, 2001). In many of Canagarajah’s studies of ELT theory and pedagogy, his personal and academic investment in his subject area blend together in compelling ways making him an influential spokesperson for periphery scholars and teachers who, like their L2 students, are continually engaged with the uneasy tension between center-based and local ELT ideologies and practices. Resisting Linguistic Imperialism in English Teaching is an in-depth report of how the micro-level, everyday linguistic interactions, in and outside of the classroom, of a post-colonial Tamil community are situated within larger historical and social contexts. The author skilfully shifts between these two perspectives in order to highlight how global sociocultural ideologies concerned with the teaching and learning of English are realized in the lives of people struggling to ‘‘negotiate, alter, and oppose