An ESP Project: analysis of an

authentic workplace conversation

T. Pascal Brown and Marilyn LewisUNITEC Institute of Technology, Auckland-New Zealand

AustraliaBurns et al (1996) examined language from social. Academic, and workplace contexts using conversational analysis, pragmatics, and critical discourse theory. New Zealand

Stubbe’s (1998) Language in the workplace Project, an analysis of spoken data from workplaces in a variety of ways.

Leech’s (1998) analysis of a large 8-million word corpus of British & American conversations.

Burton (2000) examined the possibilities for teachers and learners to work together in analyzing discourse.

Two contexts of studyA New Zealand adult ESP pre-employment courseA Pay clerk’s office

Researcher A: Class lecturer Researcher b: Teacher educator (previously taught English for the workplace)

Stages:- Determining the exact focus and location of the investigation- Doing some reading on the subject- Liaising with the workplace and collecting the data- Preparing teaching-learning materials (not reported)

The Study

Research Questions1.What work-related topics are discussed?

2.What similarities are there between the spoken and written vocabulary on the same topics?

ResultsThe conversation covers 6 topics:

(money, job termination, accidents & illness, government departments, doctors, and form-filling)

Implications for TeachersThe research process

Teachers who have no special expertise in computers can make productive use of a software for analyzing authentic language.

The combination of work & social talk

Half of the time is spent talking about other things (husbands and wives, haircuts, and leisure time).

It is important to prepare learners for the “non-essential” conversational topics that make for good

relation in the workplace.The oral-witten contrastBurton (2000) suggests the samples of oral language collected & the available printed material can be the basis for classroom language analysis.

Assumed background infromation

Having background information will be a major step in understanding the information embedded in conversations..

ConclusionSince 50% of the pay clerk’s talk is social and 50% work focused,

it’s important to understand and participate in this social talk as a part of belonging the workplace.

Thanks!

Ardiansyah – English Applied Linguistics UNIKA Atma Jaya Jakarta