professional experience and application of english...
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Professional Experience and Application of English Language in
the Specific Area of Shipping
Nives Vidak and
Sandra Didović Baranac
University of Dubrovnik, Croatia
Introduction
globalisation
internationalisation
English – international language
Maritime English
Research at the University of Dubrovnik, Maritime Department:
Test – 10 tasks
differences in application of English (vocabulary and grammar) relevant for the occupation
students professionals
EXPERIENCE
Teaching English for Specific Purposes (ESP) – DEFINITIONS:
1. Hutchinson and Waters (1987) content and method of teaching ESP is
based on the learner’s reason for learning
1. ESP teaching designed to meet specified needs of the learner
2. related in content to particular disciplines or occupations
3. centred on language appropriate to those activities (syntax, lexis, discourse, semantics)
4. in contrast with general English
1. ESP may be restricted as to the learning skills to be learned
2. it is not taught according to any pre-ordained method
2. Strevens (1988)
absolute and variable characteristics
3. Dudley-Evans and St John (1998) ESP is designed to meet the specific
needs of the learners – it makes use of the underlying methodology and activities of the specialisation
Croatia – Gačić (1988) a) linguistic factors b) extra-linguistic factors (sources of
information, situations, strategies of application and utilisation of information, profile and needs of students, status of profession)
Teaching English for Specific Purposes (ESP) – CLASSIFICATION:
Dudley-Evans and St John (1998)
ESP
English for Occupational
Purposes (EOP)
English for Academic Purposes (EAP)
English for Professional
Purposes
English for Vocational Purposes
English for Medical Purposes
English for Business Purposes
Pre-Vocational English
Vocational English
English for (Academic) Science and Technology
English for (Academic)
Medical Purposes
English for (Academic)
Legal Purposes
English for Management, Finance and Economics
ESP Teacher – Student
TEACHER STUDENT
SUBJECT
SPECIALISTS
constant upgrading
employment oriented
pre-experience
post-experience
collaboration
Areas of language issues in ESP
GRAMMAR syntax, long nominal
groups, passive
VOCABULARY specific
DISCOURSE
taught in relation with the real job situation situational principle
Maritime English
a variety of terms and abbreviations (instruments, procedures, regulations)
long nominal groups, subordinate clauses and passive constructions (reports, instructions, procedures, correspondence)
RESEARCH - Aim
to determine whether there are differences between the two groups of participants: students and seamen in application of professional English
Sample
62 full-time students
41 seamen (special training programme for seafarers at the University)
WORK EXPERIENCE Table 2 – Work experience
Frequency Percent Valid Percent
Cumulative
Percent
Valid Yes 41 39,8 39,8 39,8
No 62 60,2 60,2 100,0
Total 103 100,0 100,0
Instrument
a test containing 10 tasks
specific terminology
grammatical forms in the specific
context
Data collection and analysis
students: during regular classes
seamen: at the start of the training programme
Two types of analysis employed:
1. descriptive statistics
2. Mann-Whitney U-test (to compare
two independent groups of sampled data)
RESULTS
Table 5 – Test Statisticsa
Task 1 Task 2 Task 3 Task 4 Task 5 Task 6 Task 7 Task 8 Task 9 Task 10
Mann-Whitney U 1234,500 722,000 1197,000 1144,000 1108,500 1097,000 701,000 895,000 1077,000 872,500
Wilcoxon W 2095,500 1583,000 3150,000 2005,000 1969,500 1958,000 2654,000 2848,000 3030,000 2825,500
Z -,285 -4,656 -,742 -1,050 -1,518 -2,191 -4,681 -2,925 -2,033 -3,349
Asymp. Sig. (2-tailed) ,776 ,000 ,458 ,294 ,129 ,028 ,000 ,003 ,042 ,001
a. Grouping Variable: Status-composite
Statistically significant difference in tasks 2, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10
DISCUSSION
STUDENTS tasks 2, 6
Task 2 (blank): basic vocabulary from text books - definition
Task 6 (multiple choice): passive
SEAMEN tasks 7, 8, 9, 10 (assessing grammar) Task 7 (blank): correct verb form
Task 8: form a question to offered reply
Task 9 (blank): modal verb
Task 10 (translation): time clause
CONCLUSION
The STUDENTS scored better in two tasks
similar to their textbook definition of a vocabulary item
accustomed to multiple choice tasks
The SEAMEN scored better in four tasks
situational use of grammar – mimicking language application in authentic job oriented environment
verb and sentence structures occuring repeatedly in the working environment
acquiring language unconsciously
Work experience and authentic language exposure help in the complex process
of language learning
Future research larger samples involving other research paradigms
THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION