TOPIC: - ISSUES IN TEACHING CONTENT COURSES BY ESP TEACHERSBy Aysha Mohd Sharif

INTRODUCTIONGrowing importance of global English in professional contexts has been the rise of ESP teaching at all levels. ESP is oriented towards mastering skills for professional communication. According to Osama Khalifa (2012), ESP teaching produces many problems such as problems for learners, problems for teachers, problems of methodology and materials, and problems of assessment and testing can be solved which require better teachers and better training. They need to understand the nature of the ESP teaching, they have to be able to observe and organize the learners progress and to diagnose his problems. They have to be familiar with the widest possible range of alternative teaching techniques, learning requirements and the learners needs. ESP teacher need to exercise professionalism based on training and experience. The structure and content of language curricula, when modern languages were first introduced into universities, were much influenced by the need to achieve academic respectability (Radford, 1985). Language curricula is therefore dominated by the systematic study of grammar, the regular carrying out of translation exercises into and out of language, the close study of set literary and science texts, the broad study of philological studies of the language (Maddock, 1994). The core of content based instruction is the lofty ideal that language instruction cannot be devoid of the context in which it is presented, and moreover, that content rather than language structures should be the driving force in curriculum development (Erickson & Schulz, 1981). According to freiermuth(2001), Content based teaching generally adhere to the idea that content is superior to grammaticality of language structures, but that form and content need to be integrated into language instruction. And, grammar exercises devoid of context and content are rendered less effective. Hence, content becomes the naturally selected element driving the development of curriculum (Grabe & Stoller, 1997). Language activities are connected with very diverse fields, but, considering language learning at university, may be classified into four main spheres: the public sphere, the personal sphere, the educational sphere, and the occupational sphere. (I.Gode- Sokolova, 2000). Each act of language use should be set in the context of a particular situation within one of the spheres in which a persons social life is organized.SUB-ISSUESHutchinson and Waters (1987) that the most important aspects of communication in academic contexts are common to all disciplines and that ESP teaching should not be concerned with teaching specialized varieties of English but with the common feature.1. The article, Some Reflections on Terminology stresses on the need to tackle with the terminological difficulties, which is the by-product of rapid advancement in varied academic disciplines.2. Traditional viewpoint in language learning that language learning usually comes under Humanities.3. Subject specialist is more competent than ELT teacher to teach an ESP course.4. The basis of ESP teaching should be the authentic texts that students have to handle.5. The materials are designed into syllabuses that would help the learners develop the communicative competence in the shortest time possible.6. Most of the teachers are not aware of the basic principles of language teaching like language testing phonology, teaching methodology etc.7. ESP teachers concentrate more on the language use than the linguistic competence( sounds, semantic ,syntax)

ESP TEACHERSTeachers have to develop the l earners academic English; that is, the English needed for reading, writing, speaking, and listening in the content areas (Collier, 1999; Cummins, 2001). They have to ensure that learners develop the specific academic language they need to participate in the content classroom (Chamot & OMalley, 1994; Echevarria, Vogt, & Short, 2004). Dudley-Evans and St. John (1998) proposed that an ESP teacher plays five different roles: teacher, collaborator, course designer and materials provider, researcher, and evaluator. In order to meet the specific needs of the learners, teachers must in the first place closely work together with field specialists. Teachers complain that when they teach ESP courses as the success of a failure of a lesson, a class, a learner is not only related to the methodologically perfect teacher , to reach the high standards of a professional educator , it seems just as important as to develop personally as well as professionally.(Constantinides, 2001:6). It has been argued that many Business English instructors were General English instructors (Kao, 1992; Lai, 2005; Huang, 2007). Huang (2007) indicated that instructors needed to continually absorb the latest information and news on business and enhance their professional knowledge. Regarding teachers and students perceptions of ESP courses, Tsao (2011) carried out a study which surveyed 351 students and 23 university instructors attitudes toward ESP. The results showed that teachers and students had different views about the effectiveness of an ESP course. Students considered their needs, their learning capacity, and their learning motivation as the top-ranking factors. In contrast, the teachers emphasized the importance of the course itself, placing teaching materials and methods as the top concerns, and course objectives and student needs the second.

CURRICULUM DESIGNThe basic and effective way teachers can overcome this problem is by designing the curriculums from an angle of an ESP perspective. The curriculum should be built upon the subject the students will be majoring in. According to freiermuth, With a specific subject-based concept in mind, the language teacher can begin the process of content-based instructional development. It is also important to mention that students are not necessarily cognizant of everything that they need, especially when it comes to language learning. It is for this very reason that professional language instruction is a vital element of the coursework (Chenoweth, et al., 1983; Chaudron, 1988). To design and develop materials for content based ESP approach, According to Freiermuth, there should be influence of both internal and external factors. He says that internal factors are those factors that are generated from the environment in which the students and teachers find themselves while external factors are those factors that are generated outside of that environment. He mentioned the following factors as important in developing effective materials.

They are:-

Internal Factors:1. The first and the most important factors in the developmental process of content-based materials is the relationship between the materials and the activities of students.2. It is imperative that language teachers be cognizant of what kinds of activities students are in engaged in on a day-to-day basis.3. The development of content-based curriculum should concern the activities of professors and other experts who students may work with or take courses from. These area-special experts have a major influence in the enhancement and shaping of a students knowledge base.4. The knowledge of textbooks software and equipments that students use in their courses and experiments can be especially useful to the language teacher as a means to incorporate activities that allow students to use the materials and equipment from their special field of study.He also focused that the internal factors that should affect curriculum design are the same factors that affect ESP students by providing them with the necessary learning to develop the cognitive compounds that comprise their vital background knowledge. The background information that the language learner possesses (and which is added to on a daily basis) is the same cognitive information that the language teacher is trying to access, expose, and embellish (Douglas & Selinker, 1985, Douglas, 2000).

External factors:- External factors are more concerned with building upon the present state of background knowledge the learner already possesses. He says that the task of enhancing background knowledge is addressed by specialists, but often language teachers are also looked to as providing links to the real world. The area-specific experts generally focus on the content of real world tasks, language teachers often focus on the conventions of real world tasks. There are some other resources which have a positive influence on the content based teaching in an ESP class like the work place which is the principle external factor. ESP language learners can have contact with highly trained professionals in their own field and communicate with those professionals in English, or they can investigate new ideas and concepts at various websites, in newsgroup discussions or through other resources, all with the effect of enhancing and extending their knowledge background. (Orr & Shinozaki, 1999).

STEPS NEEDED TO OVERCOME THIS PROBLEMContent Based Instruction (CBI) & Content and Language integrated learning (CLIL)Content based instruction (CBI) is a teaching method that emphasizes learning about something rather than learning about language. The theme based CBI model is found in the EFL context whereas Shelter based and adjunct based CBI models is found in ESL context. The theme based content instruction have both language and content goals. Theme based content instruction are specially designed for ESP classes only, and not for some kinds of immersion teaching. The - Content based course of ESP, when it is designed as theme-based instruction, is structured around a set of professional topics (themes) that follow each other in a logical consecutive order which corresponds to the order of studying those themes in an academic course on some majoring discipline or in courses on several such disciplines. In view of what is going to be said in the next paragraph , of special significance is also the fact that, according to Brinton et al (1989) ,in theme-based instruction special attention is paid to the integration of reading, speaking, listening, and writing for professional purposes in the teaching/learning process. Brinton et al (1989) define content-based instruction as the one that is based on parallel acquisition by students of knowledge related to a certain non-linguistic discipline(s) and target language communication skills. In this way, the learning of content helps in learning the language while the language mastery facilitates students access to content in their vocational or occupational areas (Stoller, 2007: 59).To achieve such parallelism in content and language acquisition, EFL content-based instruction classes may be designed as modeling classes on non-linguistic disciplines. The idea of including content of a subject under study into a language classroom was introduced in the 1970s by Hutchinson and Waters, the founders of the ESP approach. They stated that the content of a subject, for example economics or management, should be used for teaching a foreign language. The focus however remained on the language. The idea of natural language acquisition promoted by S.Krashen supported the approach as it was claimed that the best way to learn a language was by using it for meaningful purposes. The CLIL (content and language integrated learning) approach builds on and brings the two ideas even further. The term CLIL was launched in 1996 by UNICOM, University of Jyvaskyla and the European Platform for Dutch Education. There are several definitions of the term offered by its promoters: CLIL refers to situations where subjects, or parts of subjects, are taught through a foreign language with dual focused aims, namely the learning of content and the simultaneous learning of a foreign language, (Marsh, 1994). CLIL is an educational approach in which non-language subjects are taught through a foreign, second or other additional language, (Marsh, 2001). According to the authors, this is the generic umbrella term, which includes a range of educational approaches where non-linguistic content is used to teach a language. They claim that it is a very effective way of learning a language as provides the learners with comprehensible (Krashen, 1981) input and authentic situations. According to Krashen (1982), the mistake of language teaching was that we first teach the skills and only later use them, while the most effective way should be learning and using at the same time.According to Oleg (2013), the possible forms of ESP teaching for the conditions in which students are learning the language for professional communication while having little or no access to the professional environment where English is used as the medium of communication, there are only two basic forms and the first and most widely used of them is the traditional ESP teaching with its focus on learning the language for professional communication (Robinson, 1991). This kind of focus means that the language is being learned in connection with the content matter of students future profession but that content matter is nothing more than the source from which language forms for learning are obtained (e.g., terminology) and the background for acquiring those forms. The professional content matter has no learning value as such so that, while learning ESP, students do not acquire any professional knowledge or professional skills new for them. The form that may be considered as opposing language-focused ESP is the integrated language (ESP) learning. In integrated ESP learning the focus is shifted from learning the language to learning in unison both the language for professional communication and the professional content matter of that communication. Learning the language and learning future profession are united, even integrated so that each one contributes to the other (Snow, Met,& Genesee , 1989;Spanos, 1990). It is the integration of learning the target language and professional content matter that unites into one single approach all the different forms of integrated learning like content based instruction, CLIL, and target language immersion. 1) The integration of language and content which is their most important common feature2) The proven success of integrated learning in what concerns the learning outcomes (Johnson & Swain, 1997; Rehorick & Edwards, 1994). That success is such that there are even voices claiming the necessity of totally discarding traditional language -focused ESP teaching as obsolete in favor of integrated learning. For instance, Bicknell (2009) posed the question why we should teach Business English traditionally if CLIL can do it much more efficiently. Content and language integrated learning (CLIL) may be considered as a specifically European version of content-based instruction. According to Marsch (2002: 15), every kind of language learning in which a target language is also used for teaching students non-linguistic content can be called CLIL, so that CLIL is an umbrella term for all such dual-focused educational contexts (Coyle, 2007: 97). It is this broad interpretation that determines the peculiarities of CLIL as compared with content- based instruction. CLIL includes a much broader complex of various approaches than content-based instruction does because it is not specifically oriented at ESP and adult education, as the latter one mostly is; it is no less, if not more, oriented at secondary school and the language education of adolescents (Euridice Report, 2006). Oreg (2013) also points out that the principal difference between a content based ESP classroom and an ordinary classroom for studying some non-linguistic/professional subject is in the medium of classroom communicationthe target language in the former case and students L1 in the latter one. According to Awicha Benabdallah (2012), academic discourses contain certain language features that occur more frequently such as technical and sub-technical terminology, so providing ESP /EAP learners with appropriate content is believed to be of major significance. Jordan (1997) deems that the focus has to be on two important aspects while reading, namely the subject matter of what they read and the language which is expressed. In other terms, these include paying attention to both the content and the form of the text.

BUISNESS ENGLISHThe goals, objectives, and content of ESP courses are related to meeting the requirements of learners communicative needs in real settings (Carter & Nunan, 2001; Lai, 2005). Huang (2007) defined that Business English integrates English and professional knowledge. Business English teachers find that they are wearing many different hats: ESP specialists, communication skills trainers intercultural competence coaches, business experts and academic advisors on study skills. For Business English instructors, design an appropriate curriculum is always a challenge because they have to understand students real needs (Johns & Price-Machado, 2001), as is the choice of appropriate materials. Business English courses include professional business terms, communication skills, and even international trade common sense and it is very different from general English course (Chen, 2001). However, according to Lin (2003), most English learners in the vocational education had a low English proficiency which became a great barrier to these learners while studying professional courses and students. Bowen (2013) points out that, the misconception of teaching Business English is that it means teaching Business Studies to learners of English. While in some cases this may be true (pre-service Business Studies courses, for example, where teachers will need to present business concepts and business terminology), a large number of students of Business English are people who are already working in business within their own linguistic environment and who wish, for a number of reasons, to be able to function in their business role in English too. The teachers role in this second case is not to present business concepts to the learners or to instruct them how to conduct their business. On the contrary, it is to enable such learners to develop their language skills within a business context. Teachers of Business English are first and foremost teachers of English. Where teaching Business English differs from teaching General English will normally be in the choice of contexts for listening and reading texts. The development of Business English, a subdivision of ESP, began in the 1960s (Dudley-Evans & St. John, 1998). The main reason for the development of Business English was the massive expansion of international business. Pickett (1989, p.1) explained that Business English is a mediating language between the technicality of particular business and the general language of public. Dudley-Evans and St. John (1998) indicated that Business English can be divided into specialist English and General English. According to these authors, we understand that the component of Business English might include specific English and general English. Specific English refers to communicating among business projects with many business terminologies and General English refers to communicating with the general public. In the 1960s, the education of Business English mainly focused on teaching specialist vocabulary and terminology in specific business sectors (Cordeanu et al., 22 I-Chen Chen & Hung-Chang Wu 1998). Cordeanu et al. indicated that Business English courses should (1) provide enough specialist content, (2) develop good communication skills in business fields and general situations, (3) notice culture differences, and (4) develop the ability of cross-cultural communication. The ability of communication becomes more and more important after the 1990s (Cordeanu et al., 1998; Dudley- Evans & St. John, 1998; Pickett, 1989). Business English courses are one type of content-based course. Content-based instruction integrates the learning of language with the learning of specific content. Content should be a vehicle to drive language learning (Hadley, 2001). In a content-based course, the language is the skeleton, while the content is the flesh and blood; the language could be seen as a means to complete a content task (Chen, 2010). Business English includes both training for English proficiency and the development of business knowledge. Learners learn the language used in business contexts, such as office communication and contract negotiation. The needs of learners help the instructor to make decisions on designing or selecting materials (Belcher, 2006). Tang (2006) proposed that good teaching materials for Business English should address the needs of the students, reflect the latest information or news on business, create simulated, life-like business circumstances, and encourage independent thinking and problem-solving abilities. Tsai (1998) said that the qualified authentic materials should (1) be compatible with the syllabus, (2) provide alternative choices for instructors and students to reflect their needs, (3) meet the level of students language skills, and (4) enjoy good feedback from people who have used them. ConclusionAs Osama (2012) points out that the job of ESP teaching should be carried out collaboratively by the ELT teachers and the Subject specialists, Dudley Evan and St John (1998) assert in this regard that this kind of teamwork can be categorized into three levels: co-operation, collaboration and team teaching. Co-operation here refers to gathering of information from the subject department about the content of the course, the tasks required of students, the expectations of that respective department and its related discourse community about the nature of communication in the subject. Collaboration involves the mutual working of the ELT teacher and the subject specialist. That is to say, they work jointly outside the classroom to devise specific activities and tasks in ESP class that run concurrently with the subject specialist to help the students to cope with the course and the team-teaching is concerned where the ELT teacher and the subject specialist act simultaneously in the same classroom.According to freiermuth (2001), Content based task construction in the ESP classroom, must be a balance between learning language and content with a demonstrable discourse purpose. Thus superior materials must incorporate (a) task understanding (are they sensible) (b) the use of appropriate language skills and (c) a means to access some aspect of the real world. These three provide an appropriate framework for acquisition of appropriate genre specific language skills. The ESP language teacher has a role to fill in the class and it is important to know that role appropriately and professionally. As Swales (1990) so adroitly points out, it is vital to become more informed and more alert concerning the founding principles of any curricula. By focusing on internal and external factors at their universities, language teachers can help elevate ESP language teaching to a place where it can rightly enjoy a settled and respected place in academic affairs (Swales, 1990, p. 232)Therefore, Osama khalifa (2012) sumps up that the role of the subject specialist is a very significant one though and it should not be neglected in ESP classrooms. Thus a sort of co-operation between the ELT teacher who implements the course and the subject specialists who acts as a monitor and advisor of the ESP session should be considered more appropriate. To sum up the discussion, the ELT teacher can be an effective ESP practitioner as he/ she gains in experience and receives specific training with the assistance of the subject specialists. He also added that an ESP course is relevant to the students subject of specialization and therefore it should meet the actual needs of the students. The writer of this paper assumes that the ELT teacher is qualified enough and he or she possesses the necessary skills and knowledge to deal with ESP course if he or she receives some training and orientation. In other words, he should be aware of his students needs, should have a good knowledge of syllabus design and materials writing.BibliographyAdnan. Salwa. (2001). The Important Skills Esp Teachers Need To Be Qualified To Teach ESP Courses, Learning Processes Cambridge: CUP, pg. 45-65. Retrieved from: http://www.iasj.net/iasj?func=fulltext&aId=57281 Benabdallah Awicha,.(2012). Adapting a Content-Based Approach in ESP Teaching: an Action Research on the Master Students of Developmental Psychology, English for Specific Purposes World ISSN 1682-3257 Issue 35, Volume 12, 1-8.Bowen, Tim. (2013). 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International conference center, 856-860.Khalifa Mohammed, Osama,.(2012). , ESP Teaching: Reversal of Roles between ELT Teachers and Subject Specialists, International Journal Of Social Science And Humanity, Vol.2, pg. 505-508.Swales, M. (1990). Genre analysis: English in academic and research setting. Cambridge UK: Cambridge University Press.Tarnopolsky, Oleg , . (2013). Content-Based Instruction, CLIL, and Immersion in Teaching ESP at Tertiary Schools in Non-English-Speaking Countries, Journal of ELT and Applied Linguistics, Vol. 1, Issue-1, pg. 1-11.

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