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UNIVERSITI PUTRA MALAYSIA
AN EVALUATION OF COURSE MATERIALS IN THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH FOR ACADEMIC PURPOSES - A CASE STUDY
AT UNIVERSITI PERTANIAN MALAYSIA
BRENDA KAM-LEE KIM MOY
FPP 1984 1
AN EVALUATION OF COURSE MATER IALS IN THE TEACHING
OF ENGLISH FOR ACADEMIC PURPOSES - A CASE STUDY
AT UNIV ERS ITI PERTANIAN MALAYS IA
by
Brenda Kam-Lee Kim Moy
A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of
Mas ter of Science Facul ty of Educational S tudies Universi t i Pertanian Malaysia
Serdang , Selangor .
October 1 984
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I have been ve ry f or tuna te to have rece ived help f r om
var i o u s people throughou t the course o f thi s s tudy . I would
l ike to thank Dr . Abd u l Rahman M d . Aro f f , my chief supervi sor
and Enc ik Yahya Hj. Bab a , my co- superv i s o r for the i r gu i dance
and sup p or t .
l o w e a p p r e cia t i on to D r . J.J. Au g u s t i n f o r h i s
cons tructive criticisms and guidance during the formative , and
a l s o the m o s t c r i t i c a l , period o f thi s s tudy. I a l so l ike to
thank Encik Mohd. Zain Ali and all my colleagues in the English
Uni t of the Language Depar tment in Unive rs i ti Pertanian Malaysia
for their help and encouragement.
My deep gra t i tude to M i s s Gan S i owck Lee for her help in
formulating and process ing the s tatis tical analysis involved in
th i s s tudy.
Finally , my thanks to Universit i Pertanian Malaysia for
granting the opportun i ty and the research funds that made this
s tudy possible.
11
TABLE OF CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
TABLE OF CONTENTS
LIST OF TABLES
ABSTRACt
ABSTRAC� IN BAHASA MALAYS IA
CHAPTER 1 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
1 . 1 . In troduc tion
1 . 2 . The Problem
1 . 3 . Aim o f the Study
CHAPTER 2 REV IEW OF LITERATURE
CHAPTER 3 RESEARCH DES IGN AND PROCEDURE
3 . 1 . Research Design
3 . 2 . The Use of the Materials Teachers and S tudents of
3 . 2 . 1 . Time Schedule
3 . 2 . 2 . BB 2 51 S tudents
3 . 2 . 3 . Level of BB 251
3 . 2 . 4 . The BB 251 Materials
by the BB 251
3 . 3 . The Development of the Ques tionnaire s
3 . 3 . 1 . The S tudents ' Ques tionnaire
3 . 3 . 2 . The Teachers ' Ques tionnaire
3 . 4 . Data Collection
3 . 5 . Data Analysis
iii
i i
i i i
v i
v i i
ix
1
2
4
6
1 5
1 5
1 5
1 6
1 7
1 7
20
20
2 2
2 3
2 3
CHAPTER 4 FINDINGS
4 . 1 . S tudents ' Opinions of the BB 251 C09Ese 24
4 . 1 . 1 . S tudents ' Opninions on the Usefulness of the BB 251 Course 24
4 . 1 . 2 . S tudents ' Opinions on Quanti ty of of Materials Covered 2 5
4 . 1 . 3 . S tudents ' Op inions on the Objectives of BB 251 Course 2 5
4 . 1 . 4 . S tuden ts ' Op inions on the (a ) Intere s t Level and ( b ) Difficulty Level o f the Passages
4 . 1 . 5 . S tuden ts ' Preferences for Topics of
27
Passages 30
4 . 1 . 6 . S tuden ts ' Opinions on the Use of Bahasa Malaysia 3 1
4 . 2 . S tudents ' Evaluation of the Types of
4 . 2 . 1 .
4 . 2 . 2 .
4 . 2 . 3 .
4 . 2 . 4 .
4 . 3 .
4 . 3 . 1 .
4 . 3 . 2 .
Exercises Used in the Course 33
Vocabulary 33
S tructure 36
Comprehension 37
Writing 41
General Information on S tudents ' Atti tude 42
S tudents ' Atti tude to the Usefulness of English 42
S tudents ' Atti tude to the Types of Course s in English 43
4 . 3 . 3 . S tudents ' Atti tude towards the Kinds of Materials They Used in English 45
4 . 3 . 4 . S tudent s ' Opinions on the Fac tors Affecting Success in S tudying English 46
4 . 4 . The Teachers ' Comments on the BB 25 1 Course
iv
48
4 . 4 . 1 . Teacher s ' Responses to the Course Ma terials in General 48
4 . 4 . 2 . Teachers ' Responses to Course Objec tives tha t could be Achieved in BB 2 5 1 49
4 . 4 . 3 . Teachers' Preference for the Topics of the Passages
4 . 4 . /� . Teacher s ' Opinions on the Interest Level and Diff icul ty Level of the Passages
4 . 5 . Teachers' Opinions on the Types of Exercises
4 . 5 . 1 . Vocabulary
4 . 5 . 2 . S truc ture
4 . 5 . 3 . Comprehension
4 . 5 . 4 . Wri ting
4 . 6 . Some Sugges tions by the Teachers
CHAPTER 5 CONCLUSIONS
5 . 1 . Summary of the Main Findings
5 . 2 . Limita tions of the S tudy
5 . 3 . Recommendations for Course Improyements
5 . 4 . Concluding Remarks
BIBLIOGRAPHY
APPENDIX A BB 25 1 Course Materials
B Outline of Syllabus BB 051 , BB 1 51 , BB 251
5 1
52
53
53
54
55
55
56
58
60
61
63
64
67
BB 2 5 1 103
C S tudents' Ques tionnaire Par t I 1 05
D S tudents ' /Teachers Que s ti onnaire Part I I 1 14
E Teachers ' Ques tionnaire Part I 1 30
v
LIST OF TABLES
Table
1 L i s t of Language Skills which S tudents Fel t They have Achieved after At tending the Course BB 25 1 . 26
2 Frequency Di s tribution of S tudents ' Ra ting of the Passages on Intere s t Level . 28
3 Frequency Di s tr ibu tion of S tudents ' Rating of the Passages on Difficul ty Level . 29
4 Frequency Di s tribution of S tudents ' Op inions of the Fac tors Affec ting the Difficulty of the Passages . 30
5 Frequency Di s tribution of S tudents ' Preferences for Topics of Passages . 3 1
6 S tudents ' Evaluation of Vocabulary Exercise s . 34
7 S tudents ' Evaluation of Dictionary Exercises . 35
8 S tudents ' Evalua tion of S truc ture Exercise s . 3 7
9 S tudents ' Evalua tion o f Comprehens ion Exerci ses . 38
10 Students ' Evaluation of Wri ting Exerci se s . 4 1
1 1 Frequency Di s tribu tion ( firs t ranking ) of S tuden ts ' Re sponses on the Type s of Courses They Want . 43
1 2 S tudents ' Responses to the Kinds of Materials They Read in English. 45
1 3 Frequency Dis tribution ( f irs t ranking) of S tudents ' Op inions on the Fac tors Affecting Success in Studying English . 46
14 Frequency Di s tribution ( first ranking ) of Degree and Diploma S tudents on the Fac tors Affecting Success in S tudying English . 47
15 Teachers ' Responses to the Objective s tha t could be Achieved in BB 25 1 . 50
1 6 Summary Analysis o f the Responses of Teachers Concerning the Di fficulty Level and Interes t Level of the Passages . 53
vi
ABSTRACT
An ab s trac t of the the s i s pre sented to the Sena te of Un ive r s i t i Per tanian Malay s ia in par ti a l f u l f i lmen t of the requirements for the Degree of Mas ter of Sc ience.
AN EVALUATION OF COURSE MATERIALS IN THE TEACHING
OF ENGLISH FOR ACADEMIC PURPOSES - A CASE STUDY
AT UNIVERS ITI PERTANIAN MALAYSIA
by
Brenda Kam - Lee Kim Moy
Oc tober , 1 984
Surpervisor Dr . Abdul Rahman Md . Aroff
Co-Supervi sor Encik Yahya Hj . Baba
Faculty Educational S tudie s .
This s tudy i s an a t temp t to obtain feedback in the form of
opinions from the teachers and s tudents of the BB251 course on
t h e e f f e c t i vene s s of the c o u r s e ma ter ial s . A t t i tudinal
information from s tudents' was also obtained as it i s fel t tha t
thi s would help towards unders tand ing the teaching / learn ing
s i tuation.
vii
A Teachers ' Que s t ionna ire and a S tude n t s ' Que s t iona ire
were adminis tered af ter the course materials had been used. The
s tudy revealed tha t of the 88 responden ts , 9 2 percen t of the
s tuden t s found the course u seful . The maj or i ty of them fe l t
that the course had helped them read references and textbooks in
Engl i sh while abou t 5 0 percen t ind ica ted tha t the course had
helped them wri te in English.
The s tuden t s a s s e s s e d exerc i ses on vocabulary , s truc ture ,
comprehen s ion , and wr i t ing a c c or d i ng to three cr i ter i a :
in tere s t , u s e f ulne s s and d i f f i cul ty . Exercise s tha t demanded
man i p u l a ti ve skills were a s se s sed as in tere s ting and no t
d i f f icul t . Exerc i s e s tha t demande d produc t ive skil l s were
a s s e s s e d as d i f f i cu l t and corre s p onding ly in tere s t level in
these exercises fell. Exercises which use non-linear aids were
a s se s sed a s d i f f icul t b u t in tere s t level tended to b e h i gher
than in similar exercise s where graphic cues were not used.
The teachers s ta te d tha t the obje c t ives of developing
reading skills could be achieved though some of the objectives
o f deve loping wr i t ing s k i l l s were d i f f i c u l t to achieve. The
teachers a s s e s s e d manipula t ive exercise s as not difficul t and
no t in tere s ting while exerc i se s tha t demanded produc t i ve
skills were assessed as intere s ting and no t difficult.
The f indings o f thi s s tudy show the need f or a Teachers '
Gui d e l ine on the use of the course ma terials and a l s o for
supplementary ma terials . It recommends tha t the BB 251 course
materials concentrate on developing reading skills only and that
the use of Bahasa Malaysia should be further s tudied.
viii
ABSTRACK
Abs track tesis yang dikemukakan untuk memenuhi sebahagian dari syara t-syara t un tuk keperluan I j a zah M a s ter Sains d i Fakulti Pengaj ian Pendidikan, Univers i ti Pertanian Malaysia.
AN EVALUATION OF COURSE MATERIALS IN THE TEACHING
OF ENGLISH FOR ACADEMIC PURPOSES - A CASE STUDY
AT UNIVERS ITI PERTANIAN MALAYSIA
by
Brenda Kam - Lee Kim Moy
Oc tober , 1 984
Penyelia Dr . Abdul Rahman Md. Aroff
Penolong Bersama Encik Yahya Hj . Baba
Fakulti Pengaj ian Pendidikan
Kaj i a n i n i adalah s a t u pe r c u b a a n un tuk mendapa tkan
maklumbal ik dalam ben tuk pendapa t-pendapa t gu ru-guru dan
pelajar-pelajar dari kursus BB 251 mengenai keberkesanan bahan-
bahan kursus BB 251. Maklu m a t mengena i s ikap pelaj ar-pelaj ar
j uga di ambilkira sebab ianya akan menolong permahaman s i t iwasi
pengajaran dan pembelaj aran.
S oal se l idik bagi guru dan j uga pelaj a r , telah diberikan
selepas bahan-bahan kursus itu digunakan.
ix
Ka j ian ini menunj uI�an dari pada �8 responden dari pada
kalangan pelajar, 92 pera tus daripadanya mendapati bahawa kursus
BB 2 5 1 berguna. Kebanyakan mereka merasa kurs u s tersebu t
menolong mereka dalam membaca buku-buku rujukan dan buku-buku
teks dalam baha sa Ingge r i s semen tara Ieb i h kurang 50 pera tus
mengatakan bahawa kursus tersebut menolong mereka mertuli s dalam
bahasa Ingge r i s .
P e Ia j a r- p e I a j a r m en i lsi la t i han- l a t i han kosa ka ta ,
s truktu r , p e mahaman dan penu l i san berda sa rkan t i ga kr i teri a:
m inat , kegunaan dan ke sukaran. Lat ihan-Iatihan yang memerlukan
kemahiran manipulatif dinilai sebagai m enarik m ina t dan t i dak
sukar .
La tihan yaag memerlukan kemahiran produktif dinilai sebagai
sukar disamping mina t terhadap Ia t ihan ini menurun . Latihan
latihan yang menggunakan lambang-lambang grafik dinilai sebagai
sukar te tapi peringka t mina t terhadapnya bertambah tinggi jika
d ibandingkan dengan Ia tihan-la tihan yang serupa yang t idak
menggunakan Iambang-Iambang grafik.
Gu ru-g uru menga takan bahawa objektif menben tuk kemahirsn
membaca boleh diperolehi walaupun se tengah obj ek t i f memben tuk
kemahi ran menu l i s adalah sukar un tuk d iperolehi . Guru-g u ru
menilai Ia t i han-Ia t i han mani pula t i f sebaga i t i dak sukar dan
t i dak menarik m ina t manakala Ia tihan-Ia tihan yang memerlukan
kemahi ran produk ti f telah din ilai sebaga i menarik dan t i dak
sukar .
x
Dapatan-dapatan dari kaj ikan ini menunjukkan perlunya suatu
Garispanduan Guru mengenai kegunaan bahan-bahan kursus dan j uga
untuk bahan-bahan tambahan. la mengusulkan bahan-bahan kursus
BB 2 5 1 hendaklah menekankan pemben tukan kemahi ran-ke mahiran
m embaca sahaja sedangkan kegunaan Bahasa Malaysia dalam bahan
bahan tersebut hendaklah dibuat kaj ian yang lebih lanju t.
xi
1 . O. STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
1 . 1 . Introduction
CllAPTER 1
English Language teaching at Univers i ti Pertanian Malaysia
(UPM) has always been a subject of concern to the teaching s taff
and policy makers. This is reflected in the report based on a
survey c onduc ted in Nove m ber-Decem be r , 1 9 77 a t the reque s t of
the Sena te of the Un ivers i ty and the Dean of the Facul ty of
Educ a t i onal Service s. The rep o r t , "The S ta tu s o f Eng l ish a t
Universi ti Pertanian Mal1lys ia" (J.J. Augus tin e t a1. , 1 9 77)
highlighted im20rtan t findings regarding the role of English as
viewed hy thE! academic staff and s tudellLs.
The repor t revealed tha t s tuden ts a t UPM needed Eng l i sh
for a variety of purposes. Mos t s tudents said that they needed
Eng l i s h for academ ic purp o s e s . The s tu d en t s c on s i de re d
the m selve s weak in the i r spoken Eng l i s h , wr i t ing and reading
comprehension skills , and wanted courses tha t would help them in
these area s .
The academ i c s ta f f f e l t tha t s tuden ts were very weak in
w r i ting skil l s b u t sugge s ted tha t cour s e s be conducted a t
improving reading comprehension firs t ; then wri ting , and o ther
rel a te d ski l l s . Lec ture rs fel t tha t s tuden ts needed a high
1
2
level of reading compe tence in English because they regarded i t
a s a tool for ga ining acce s s to informa t i on , e specially in
science and technology. The academic s taff fel t that al though
s tudents may be 'good' at reading comprehension in English they
s till needed to sharpen their reading skills as i t was pointed
o u t tha t the profic i ency in Eng l i sh among the s tuden ts had
de teriorated over the preceding three years ( see Augus tin e t ale
1 977 : 1 6 ) .
The need to review the exi s ting English language programme
is due to the fac t tha t by 1 977-78 , English had become a second
o r fore ign language. M o s t s tuden ts who came from the Malay
m e d i u m (or na t i onal m e d i u m ) schools had a poor gra sp of the
Engl i sh language and ye t needed to u se i t for reading tex t s in
the l ibra ry . M o reove r a t UPM , Engl i sh i s c on s i de red an
acade m i c subj e c t and the grade s ob ta ined in Eng l i s h Language
c o u r s e s a re taken in to a c c o unt in the ove r a l l a c a de m i c
performance of the s tl1den': s .
1 . 2 The Problem
In 1 9 7 8 , a s e t o f m a te r i a l s ' En g l i s h f o r Ac a d e m i c
Purp o se s : A s ix-Un i t ( 3 6 hour) Cour se in Eng l i sh S tu dy Skills
(reading and wri ting) intended to assi s t Firs t Year S tudents a t
Universi t i Pertanian Malaysia in their private s tudy of English
Language Re ference Ma ter i a l s ' was developed by B . Lee ( 1 9 78 ) .
I t w a s des igned f o r the third level cour s e ( code named BB 2 5 1 )
o f the Engl i sh language prof ic i ency p rogramm e o f the 1 9 79 /8 0
academic session. Be tween 1 9 7 9 / 1 9 8 2 , the ma te r i a l s were used
wi th only slight modifica tions in exercise types .
3
The re i s a need to eva lua te course ma ter i a l s of BB 2 5 1
because the course ma terials for BB 25 1 have been used for some
t i m e . Informal a t te mp ts a t gaug ing the intere s t of s tuden ts
regarding the BB 251 course were conduc ted through question and
ans w e r s e s s i ons dur ing c la s s . Thi s k ind of informal feedback
d i d n o t g ive a comp le te p i c ture of the s i tua t i on . I t w a s fe l t
tha t feedback from a well planned s tudy would provide sufficient
data for an unbiased assessment of the course ma terials .
A search through l i tera ture revealed tha t Engl i sh f o r
S pe c i f i c Purp o s e s ( ESP) course d e s igne r s have concen tra ted on
m a te r i a l s p roduc t ion. Ve ry l i t tle ha s been done on m a te r i a l s
e va l ua t i on . A s Al d e r s on and W i l l i a m s on ( unp u b l ishe d
manuscrip t : 3 ) point ou t :
I t i s our belief tha t ma terials wri ters , teacher trainers and language teache rs should g i ve m ore c ons i dera t i on to the p roblem of evalua t i on . Ad hoc de c i s i on s , based on p e r s onal p re j u d ice and the vaga r i e s of language teaching and l ingu i s t i c fa shion need urgen tly to be replaced by decis ions based upon research, upon e mpirical evidence , upon the re sul ts of an adequa tely val i da ted evaluation procedure .
Evalua t ion of teaching ma terta l s c an be app roached from
two fundamental aspects . One i s the evaluation of ma terials for
the sake of their subsequent revi sion and improvement, and the
o ther i s the eva lua t i on of s tuden t performance a s a re s u l t o f
using the ma terials. For the BB 2 5 1 course the need for course
ma terials revi s i on mo t i va ted thi s s tudy of the s tuden t s ' and
teacher s ' r e s pon ses to the course rna teria l s . Thi s evalua t i on
w i l l p r o v ide va l u a b l e g u i d e l i ne s for the re vi s i on and
improve�ent of BB 251 materials.
Thu s , in th i s study , evalua t i on will foc u s on the a s ses s ing of
4
students ' and teachers' attitudes and op ini ons towards a set of
course ma te r i a l s. The evalua t i on w i l l not involve a s s e s s ing
student performance as a result of us ing the course materials as
such assessment is a maj or study in itself .
1 .3. Aim of the Study
In t h i s s t u d y eva l uat i on i s s e e n a s a m e an s to
systematically collect and analyse informa tion about the BB 25 1
course materials. The information comes from the teachers and
students of the course. Es sentially , evaluation i s an attempt
to obtain feedback from the teachers and students. The feedback
in the form o f op in i ons and reacti on s w i l l he lp i denti fy and
exp la in the effec ti vene s s (or lack of i t) of the course
material s .
The main a i m o f thi s study i s to sys tema t ically collec t
da ta on the course ma terials of BB 2 5 1 f o r revi s i on and
improvement. The instrument used is the questionnaire directed
to the teachers and students of the course . Another important
component of the study is to determine the attitudes of the BB
2 5 1 s t uden ts par t icularly pertaining to the Engl i sh language .
Attitudinal information i s quite central to the study as it i s
felt that the additi ona l d a t a o n t h e s t u d ent s ' p r o f i l e ,
e sp e c i a l ly o n ne e d s and att i t u d e , w i l l he l p t o w a r d s
understanding what i s happening in the teaching/learning system .
Specifically the study i s an attempt
1 . to deter m ine student/teacher op inion s of the course
rna terial s of BB 25 1 gene ral and of the type s of
exercises found in the course in particular .
5
2. to determine student/teacher opinions of the extent to
which course objectives have been achieved through the
use of the course material s .
3. to find out students' attitude towards Engli sh courses
in general and BB 251 in particular. The pos itive or
nega ti ve at ti tude of s tuden ts to� ... ards Engli sh l anguage
courses will have some effect on their motivation and
this in turn will have to be taken into consideration
in the s ub s equent m o d i f icat i on and revi s i on of the
materials .
4 . to obta in c r it i cal and p rofe s s i onal com ments from
teachers of the course. Information from the teachers
c o ve r s ma i n ly l i n g u i s t i c and o th e r va l ua b l e
s ugge sti on s wh ich studen ts m ay not b e competent in
offering .
2 . 0 REVIEW OF LITERATURE
CHAPTER 2
ESP (English for Specific Purposes) �s now regarded as an
important pedagogical concep t amoung English language teachers.
Ba s i cally, i t means tha t Eng l i sh i s learned for a u t i l i tar ian
purpose . M ackay and Mount ford ( 19 78 : 2 ) c on s i de r ESP to be
defined to a purpose related to 'some occupational requirement
••• or voc a t i onal tra ining programme ••. or some acade m i c or
p rofe s s i onal s tudy ' . The focus on the nee d s of the language
learner implies that Engli sh language teaching evolve s a round
adu l t learners who need Engl i sh as a means to acq u i re more
knowledge in p resc r ib e d di s c i p l ine s . The se l ea rne rs a re
p robably in termed iate learners who nee d Engl i sh for s tudy
p u rp o s e , eg o Eng l i sh for Acade m i c Purpo s e ( EAP) or Engl ish f o r
Occupa tional Purpose (EOP) ego English for airline pilo ts.
The definition of ESP and i ts implications has been well
documen ted. (Ro b inson 1 980 , Mackay and M oun tford 1 9 78 , M unby
1 9 78 , Coffey 1980 , Selinker , Tarone and Hanzeli 1 98 1 ). ESP was
ini t ially w idely interpre ted as the teac hing of a special
language w i th a statistically quantifiable 'reg i s ter' which took
in to account formal ligu i st i c p r ope r t i e s , lex i c al i t em s ,
colloca t i on s , and sen tence s truc ture s . Lee Kok Cheong ( 1 9 7 6)
and Macmillan ( 1976) trace the influence of linguis tics on
6
7
materials selection in ESP.
Lee Kok Cheng (19 76 : 4) discusses the trends in linguis tics
s tudy o f Eng l i sh for S c i ence and Technology ( ES T) in four
s tage s : ( 1 ) p re-l ingu i s t i c , t ra d i t i onal a t t i tude to the
language of science , (2) lingu i s t i c analy s i s of the l ex i c on ,
( 3 ) l ingu i s t i c analys i s of the syn tax , and ( 4 ) d i scourse
analysis •
Two main app roache s to the p rodu c t ion of ESP ma ter i a l s
have e m e rged . The f i r s t approa ch is b ia s e d towards reg i s te r
analysis. This approach essentially emphasise s the s tudy o f the
ve rb a n d / o r n o un p hr a s e , s en t e n c e p a t t e rn s o r s e n t e n c e
conne c t ions com monly found i n the language of a par t ic u l a r
academ ic dis c i p l ine. S wa l e s ( see Rob ins on 1 9 8 0 : 1 9 ) b e l ie ve s
tha t :
" s tatis tical surveys of tense-frequencies , sentence-types , vocabulary , e tc. provide a framework ( in new EAP subject a re a s ) w i thin which pedagog ical s e l e c t ion can be made , even i f the p r incipl e s of such sel e c t i on are only p a r t ly based on the frequency information" .
Thu s , r e s e a r c he r s s u c h a s S a l a g e r ( 1 9 7 7 :90 ) f in d the
quantitative analysis approach to the s tudy of Engli sh technical
l i tera ture ( Eng ineering) a u seful frame work for the "op t imum
comprehension training of non-English speaking scientists".
The se cound approach i s advoca ted by H.G. W i dd o ws on who
ques tions the value of charac teris ing scientific �nd technical
English as a regis ter or group of regis ters defin�d in termS of
formal properties for teaching. He sugges ts that the approach
in language teaching should focus on the communicative functions
of language. Trimble (see Rob inson 1 9 80 : 2 1 ) sugge s ts tha t a
8
s tre tch of language should be v iewed as a uni que p iece of
communica tion (di scourse) . He , for example, di s tinguishes the
phys ical paragraph fron the concep tual paragraph (which may be
made up of several phy s i cal paragraphs ) , and he deem s the
conceptual paragraph to be the 'bas ic uni t'.
The influenc e s of the se two approaches have sti m ulated
vas t development in the field of ESP teaching e specially in the
production of new and intere s ting materials.
One of the mos t useful components of the claimed virtue s
of the ESP app roach i s the focu s i t p la c e s on needs analy s i s .
Stlldie s on needs analy s i s o f learne r s and the transla t i on o f
these nee d s in to a course has become the f o cu s o f re search in
recent years. One of the most comprehensive theoretical s tudy
of needs analysis is Richterich and Chanceral' s ( 1978) Study on
' Iden t i fy ing the needs of adul ts learning a foreign language ' .
An important and useful aspect o f thi s work i s the comprehensive
list of different sources of information for a needs analy s i s.
These range from s u rvey s , que s ti onnai re s and in tervie w s , e tc .
Richterich and Chanceral , howeve r , d i d n ot c onfine the m s elve s
specifically to ESP.
M unby ( 1 9 7 8 ) de f i n it e ly fo c u s s e s on d e v e l o p i n g a
soc i o l ingu i s t i c m o del f o r def ining the c on ten t o f purpo s e -
specific language programmes. Munby' s theoretical model builds
up a profile of s tudents ' needs through two se ts of parameters.
Layer one of the parame ter seeks information on the type of ESP
required and the particular educational or occupational purpose
in question; the phys ical and psycho-social se tting in which the
language w i l l b e u sed; the soc ial rela t ionship in which the
9
par ticipant will be involved; and the medium , mode and channel
o f com mun ica t ion re q u i red . All the se can be seen a s p r im a ry ,
non-lingus tic cons traints on the language user. The second se t
o f pa rame ters concerns l ingui s t ic da ta rela ted to dial e c t;
targe t level required, e tc. Thus , having assembled a profile of
s tuden t s ' nee d s , Munby g ive s an exha u s t ive l i s t of ac tual
language f o r m s neede d , i .e . in term s of language s k i l l s and
language functions.
On the o ther hand , Mackay R. ( Mackay & M o un tford 1 9 78 )
gives a useful firs t hand experience in identifying the na ture
o f the learner's needs . He sugge s t s two formal way s of
gathering the necessary informatio:1 on learners ' needs :
i ) by a questionnaire to b e comple ted by the learner or teache r ,
i i ) by means o f a s tructured interview .
The Un ive rs i ty of Malaya Eng l i sh for Special Purp o s e s
Project (UMESPP) team used the following ins truments :
i ) Que s t ionna i re s and in te rv i e w s w i th s tu d en t s , language teachers and subjec t teachers .
i i ) A reading a t tainment tes t .
i i i ) Some diagnos tic tes ts .
iv) Di scuss ions wi th ESP speciali s ts in Uni ted Kingdom .
v) A pre-pilot tes ting of sample materials .
10
M ead , 1 R ( 1 9 8 3) and Candl in , K i rkwood and M oore ( 1 9 78 )
bel i eve that cour s e de s ign shoul d b e viewed as stage s or
activities that are interactive and that the planners or writers
should accommodate changes at any one stage.
Cand1 in et a1 . p ropose a m odel of course de s i gn that
examine s the theoret ical i s su e s and practical considerations
that a r i s e in the p l anning and i mp l ementati on of the cour se
( F i g. 1 ) .
The model shows that
"although each section has its own intrinsic i ssues , the outcome o f the whole p rocess ( i .e . the course act ua l ly taught) der ive s from a con s i de rat i on of each sect i on in relation to others" . Cand1in et a1 . ( 19 78 : 192 ) .
The model p rov i d e s a use ful frame w o rk a s the stag e s in
coursede s ign a re not revie w e d as d i sc rete areas for dec i s ion ,
able to b e approached independently of each other. Rather, the
stages are viewed as part of an interactive process where , for
example, course writers , after evaluating the course may have to
go back to modify course objectives and thus syllabus content,
course performance , etc.
1 In the M .A. S e m inar : ' Problem s that a r i se in making an analy s i s of the Language learner ' s nee d s and in applying thi s analysis in a language syllabus ' presented at Universiti Malaya , Ap r il 1983.
1 1
Figure 1 . A Model of Course Design .
ISSUES AND PROBLEMS COURSE DES IGN
Theoretical Issues
Theory of language
,
Theory of language learning
----� shows where issues and problems mos t abviously impinge on the process of course design
I-
f-
Practical Cosiderations
".,needs Audience
'level
- ...... - ....... -....----�---
Time and resources Available --
--� --------.......
Source : Candlin et al . p . 191
Syllabu s con ten t in an ESP course , espec ially in an EAP
course , i s u sually b u i l t a round a skill . In Malay s i a for
examp le, mos t unde rgradua te s would need Egl i sh to extra c t
infor m a t i on from tex tbooks , period icals and journals . S o the
course targe t would be low , in tha t i t coul d a i m a t a t taining
ski l l in read ing and unde rs tanding Eng l i sh only , for which a
sho r t and in tens ive course would s u f f ice. When more t ime i s
alloca ted in learning English, the syllabus should incorpora te
12
the l e a rn ing of o the r ski l l s ( a p a r t f r o m r e a d ing and
comprehension) as combining skills in language learning is more
rea l i s t i c and would p reven t boredom too. The se fac tors -
in tegra t i on of ski l l s and mo tiva t i on - are con s i dered in the
syllabus design of the UMESPP projec t (Chitravelu, N. 1980).
Materials for ESP are usually organised around topics and
s i tua t i on s rela ted to the s tuden t s ' s ubj e c t special i s a t i on.
Materials production in ESP range from the use of authentic da ta
to the use of cons truc ted texts. Some cri tics objec t to the us
of reading pas sage s which exe m p l i fy sel e c ted s truc tural and
lexical i te m s because the pas sage s a re no t derived from the
' real ' worl d. On the o the r hand , the bl ind use of au then t i c
texts while being au thentic may no t b e relevant - on thegrounds
o f func t ion and audience . The p roblem of b r i dg ing the gap
bee ween construc ted texts even i f graded in terms of difficul ty
- and the frequently untypical texts of the real world i s s till
unresolved .
Allen and Widdowson ( 1 9 74) advoca te the use of materials
tha t develop : ( i ) the ab i l i ty to recogn i se how sen tences a re
u s e d in the performance o f a c t s of commun ica t i on , i . e . the
abil i ty to unders tand the rhe torical functioning of language in
use , and ( i i) the abili ty to recognise and manipulate the formal
device s which are used to combine sentences to create con tinuous
passages of prose. The teaching ma terials found in "English
in Physical Science" were wri t ten wi th this approach.
M u ch o f the ea rly ESP ma t e r i a l s concen t r a t e d on
grammatical exercises . Allen and Widdowson wri te w i th the
shi f t in focus from the grammatical to the communicative
1 3
p ropert i e s of the language . Thi s i s based on the view
that :
"the difficulties which the students encounter arise not s o much from a defect ive kno wl edge of the system of English, but from an unfamiliarity with English use , and tha t consequen t ly the i r needs canno t be me t by a course which simply provides further practice in the composition of sentences , but only by one which develops a knowledge of how sentences are used in the performance of different communicative acts". (Mackay and Mountford 1 9 78:58) .
Whi l s t a grea t deal of a t ten t ion has been g iven to
production of language teaching materials in ESP, the questions
of evaluation of the materials have not received the same degree
of attention. Perhaps it is because ESP i s s till a 'new ' field.
Alde r s on and Wi l l i am s on ( unp ub l i shed manus c r i pt) lament the
s ituation:
"Yet how is the language teacher or the Head of Department o r the programme des igner to dec i d e which teaching me thodology to use; . • • wh ich supp le m en tary ma t e r ia l s m ight b e mere e f fe c t ive that anothe r , which spe c i f ic reading course might best achieve its objectives? How i s the materials wri ter to know whether the materials he has p roduced are supe r i o r to what i s a l ready ava i labl e , in order to j u st i fy the i r f uture u se ? And how i s he t o gather informat ion which w i l l enable h i m to mod i fy the ma ter ia l s to make them m o re s u i table for the i r in tended audience and purpose? "
The a b o ve re s e a r che r s have sugge sted that teaching
materials be evaluated by two distinct techniques : (a) revis ion
e va l ua t i on and ( b ) p e r f o r m an c e e va l uation. In revi s i on
evaluation, they aim at getting informati on about the materials
being used at four different levels of interest: ( i ) the course
a s a whole ; ( 1 1 ) each un it in the course; ( i 1 1 ) each exerc i se
in each uni t ; ( iv) each item i n each exerc i se ; becau se they
feel that each level would have different interests to different
people .