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

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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 .