UNIVERSITI PUTRA MALAYSIA AN EVALUATION OF COURSE...
Transcript of UNIVERSITI PUTRA MALAYSIA AN EVALUATION OF COURSE...
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.
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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 .
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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.
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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
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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
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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 .
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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
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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
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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 .