ma esp syllabus. bandar-abbas azad university

English for Specific Purposes (TEFL MA) Science & Research University, Bandar-Abbas Branch Facilitator: Arman Abednia [email protected] Faculty of Humanities Fall 1391 (2012); Tuesday 8-12 English Department

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Education is not an affair of “telling” or being told,

but an active and constructive process

(Dewey, 1916; Democracy and Education).

The context of the course

The premise that directs many courses but hopefully NOT this course is that education is meant to merely

transmit "right" knowledge. In this dominant type of education, i.e. Banking Education (Freire, 1972), the

main concern is the size of information transferred to learners at the cost of developing learners’ ability to

construct knowledge of themselves and the world individually-collectively. A very common product of this

type of education system is Bill. How much are we similar to or different from him?

“Bill is one of life’s plodders, conscientiously looking for and sticking to the one ‘right’ method of

working. It is a strategy which, unfortunately, pays off in many school situations, and he will

probably end up with a reasonably good set of grades and a school report which describes him as

a ‘good student’. His inability to adapt to changing requirements and his lack of self-knowledge

may start to be a problem when he is expected to study on his own. But for the present, his

teachers do not see him as a problem and are quite glad to have a few like Bill in their classes”

(Nisbet & Shucksmith, 1991, p.3).

The ideology which informs this course-let’s hope- is miles away from a “spoon-feeding” one. It is based on

love, hope, a utopian and realistic awareness of one’s existing abilities, a critical consciousness about the

status quo, and genuine attempt to transform it. In a word, the course is based on critical and

transformative views of education. Three major principles of transformative education are briefly explained

below.

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Reading the word/reading the world

Freire (2005) defines reading the world as our daily experience of different personally and socially

significant events which influence our lives somehow or another and reading the word as reading the

generalizations made based on those day-to-day experiences in books and elsewhere. We should never

separate our understanding of real life and real life tasks from what goes on in classes, hence the

inextricable link between reading the word (e.g. course materials) and reading the world (e.g. local

experiences). I love this quote from Freire. I thought you would do so too:

“If I am really studying, seriously reading, I cannot go past a page if I cannot grasp its

significance relatively clearly. My solution does not lie in memorizing portions of

paragraphs by mechanically reading-two, three, four times-portions of the text, closing my

eyes and trying to repeat them as if the simple machinelike memorization could give me

the knowledge I need. …Reading is an intellectual, difficult, demanding operation, but a

gratifying one. Nobody studies authentically who does not take the critical position of being

the subject of curiosity, of the reading, of the process of discovery. Reading is searching

for, seeking to create an understanding of what is read” (2005, p. 34).

Problem-posing education

Education is not only about problem-solving, i.e. developing our ability to think of and practice effective

solutions to the problems presented to us by others. Rather, going beyond this, it aims at improving our

abilities to actively problematize situations, i.e. present the apparently "OK" situations as problem-situations

and limit-situations, critically and fairly scrutinize them, and offer and implement socially relevant solutions.

Dialogical education

All said above won’t come true unless our attempts are dialogical. That is, this course takes the position

that reading is a dialogical process and the way we read the world somehow determines the way we live.

Since learning happens through social interactions, dialog is an important educational tool. We will use this

tool in our class discussions and the ways reflective journals are written and commented on. According to

Freire (1972), for an interaction to qualify as dialog, it should be based on a profound love for the world and

for people, humility, intense faith in humankind, mutual trust, hope, and critical reflection. We should make

sense of these features in our own ways and try to live up to them.

Course objectives

We will try to:

1. Critically review the major literature in ESP

2. Understand the nature, features, and development of ESP

3. Improve our ability to evaluate and teach ESP materials as well as assess ESP learners



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Course procedures

In this course you will:

1. read the assigned readings before attending the class so that in-depth and critical reflection and

discussion about each significant issue in light of our local experience happens effectively.

2. write a reflective journal on each of the chapters covered every week. Since we are going to go

through three chapters every other week, you are required to send your journals to me via email 4,

8, and 12 days after every session. One-day delay in sending me the first two journals is tolerated.

For me a day is over at midnight!

The entries included in each journal should be 100-200 words each and should be written based

on some of the reflections or tasks in each chapter of DESP which are suggested by the facilitator.

Regarding CEAP, some guidelines will be given as to how to write the journals. Journals must be

typed in Microsoft Word (font size: 12/14; font: a readable one, e.g. Arial or Times New Roman).

The format that you must follow is:

Course:

Name (both 1st and last name):

Reflection Number:

Date: (the date you send it to me)

Focus:

3. develop 2 questions based on the topics addressed in each chapter for critical reflection in the

class.

4. do a mini-project during the course, based on the guidelines negotiated between you and me. To

avoid confusion, some general guidelines are provided below though.

5. write one class assessment (due Week 3) and one self-assessment (due Week 4). We will decide

on their content together.

Mini-project (general guidelines):

You should

observe an ESP/EAP class at this or another university twice (tactfully ask them to let

you voice-record the class)

arrange an appointment with the instructor for a 30-minute or so interview

write a detailed reflective report based on the observations

evaluate the textbook the instructor teaches

discuss your findings in groups in the class

equipped with the insights you have gained through writing observation reports,

evaluating textbooks, and discussing your findings with your peers in the class, conduct



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an interview with the instructor about their beliefs about teaching ESP and their

materials

transcribe and thematically analyze the interview

Since I hope, if you agree, that your mini-projects will turn into a paper, I think this

research can be done in a participatory manner, (i.e. all of the participants acting as co-

researchers). Therefore, the details of how to go through each stage of the project must

be discussed and decided upon in the class.

Evaluation

Participation in class discussions1 25 Critical reflective journals and assessments

25

Mini-project 50

Total score 100

Course rules

Academic discipline requires that:

1. we respect each other and ideas different from our own. Any scornful behavior in any form (e.g.

inappropriate comments and laughter) is absolutely unjustifiable and will be appropriately reacted

to by the facilitator.

2. we be in the class on time. Latecomers will lose marks for long and frequent delays.

3. we meet the deadlines for all assignments. Marks will be deducted for delays.

4. we avoid dishonesty and plagiarism. Plagiarism is the conscious and deliberate copying from a

source without giving credit to that source. An act of plagiarism carries disciplinary reaction in this

course.

Course Weekly Schedule

Week Reading Mini-project Stages (each to be fulfilled until the following session)

1 Introduction to the course

DESP: Chapter 1: Introduction (pp. 1-18) Hyland & Hamp-Lyons: EAP: issues and directions (2002, pp. 1-

Choose a class & prepare the criteria against which you’d like to

1 Continued verbal participation is not necessarily a measure of active participation. Rather, in-depth mental involvement which may not result in more than some brief but relevant, critical, and thought-provoking comments and/or questions is what counts in this course. Let’s hope I can tell the difference between shallow, borrowed, perfunctory and/or glib explanations and meaningful and genuine contributions!



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12) observe it (e.g. an observation checklist)

2 DESP Chapter 2: A Historical Perspective on ESP (pp. 19-32) Chapter 3: English for Academic Purposes (pp. 34-52) Chapter 4: English for Business Purposes (pp. 53-73)

Conduct both observations and hand in a detailed report.

3 DESP Chapter 5: Language Issues in ESP (pp. 74-94) Chapter 6: The Skills in EAP and EOP (pp. 95-120) Chapter 7: Needs Analysis and Evaluation (pp. 121-139)

Evaluate the materials and hand in a detailed report.

4 DESP Chapter 8: Course Design (pp. 145-169) Chapter 9: The Role of Materials (pp. 170-185) Chapter 10: Classroom Practice and beyond (pp. 187-209)

Conduct, transcribe, and analyze the interview. Read footnote 3 which asks you to do another task for the next session.

5 DESP Chapter 11: Assessment: Continuous Assessment and Testing (pp. 210-229) Atai: ESAP curriculum planning in Iran (2002, pp. 17-34) CEAP

Foreword (pp. ix-xii) Preface (pp. xiv-xviii) Chapter 2: Political and Economic Roots of EAP (pp. 23-33) Chapter 3: Debating EAP Issues: Pedagogy and Ideology (pp. 34-45)

Hand in the interview script and the analysis

6 CEAP

Chapter 4: Critical EAP: Theoretical Influences (pp. 46-60) Two chapters selected from 5-82 Chapter 9: What is and What Might Be: Instructional Implications for EAP, Content, and Critical Teachers (pp. 130-135)

We will discuss the following stages of writing and submitting the paper.

7 Final report on the mini-project

2 Since chapters 5 to 8 focus on how critical EAP is practiced and we do not have enough time to cover all of them, I thought the best thing to do would be to select two chapters from this section based on the discussions and reflections we have on critical EAP in Week 5. This leads me to assign you a task for Week 5 in addition to the readings; after reading the assigned chapters from CEAP for Week 5, read the first two/three paragraphs of each of these chapters or the summary at the end of each and select two based on how interesting, locally relevant, and useful you think they might be.



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Required materials

Atai, M.R. (2002). ESAP curriculum planning in Iran: An incoherent educational experience. Special Issue of the

Journal of Persian Literature and Human Sciences of Tehran Teacher Education University, 1, 17-34.

Benesch, S. (2001). Critical English for Academic Purposes. Theory, Politics, and Practice. Mahwah, New Jersey,

Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Publishers.

Dudley-Evans, T., & St John, M. (1998). Developments in ESP: A multi-disciplinary approach. Cambridge: Cambridge

University Press.

Hyland, K., & Hamp-Lyons, L. (2002). EAP: Issues and directions. Journal of English for academic purposes, 1, 1-11.

Supplementary materials

Allison, D. (1996). Pragmatist Discourse and English for Academic Purposes. English for Specific Purposes, 15, 2, 85-

103.

Allison, D. (1998). Response to Pennycook: Whether. Why and How. English for Specific Purposes, 17, 3, 313-316.

Belcher, D.D. (2004). Trends in teaching English for Specific Purposes. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, 24,1,

165-186.

Belcher, D.D. (2006). English for Specific Purposes. Teaching to Perceived Needs and Imagined Futures in Worlds of

Work, Study, and Everyday Life. TESOL Quarterly, 40, 1, 133-156.

Benesch, S. (1996). Needs analysis and curriculum development in EAP: An example of a critical approach. TESOL

QUARTERLY, 3, 4, 723-738.

Benesch, S. (1999). Rights Analysis: Studying Power Relations in an Academic Setting. English for Specific Purposes,

18, 4, 313-327.

Flowerdew, J & Peacock, M. (2001). Research Perspective for EAP. Cambridge: CUP.

Hutchinson, T., & Waters, A. (1987). English for Specific Purposes: A learning-centered approach. Cambridge: CUP.

Hyland, K. (2006). English for academic purposes. London: Routledge.

Johns, A.M. & Dudley-Evans, T. (1991). English for Academic Purposes : International in scope , specific in purpose.

TESOL Quarterly, 25, 2, 297-313.

Jordan, R. R. (1997). English for academic purposes: A guide and resource book for teachers. Cambridge: CUP.

Long, M. (Ed. 2005). Second language needs analysis. Cambridge: CUP.

Pennycook, A. (1997). Vulgar Pragmatism, Critical Pragmatism, and EAP. English for Specific Purposes, 16, 4, 253-

269.

Robinson, P. (1991). ESP today: a practitioner’s guide. New York: Prentice Hall.



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West, R. (1994). State of the art article—Needs analysis in language teaching. Language Teaching, 27, 1.

Some readings on ESP in Iran

Abdollahzadeh, E. & Jalilifar, A. (2011). Academic research genres in an Asian context. Ahvaz: Shahid Chamran

University of Ahvaz Press.

Atai, M.R. (2002). ESP methodology revisited: A genre-based reading comprehension course for the students of

dentistry. Indian Journal of Applied Linguistics, 28, 77-90.

Atai, M.R. & Chahkandi F., (In press). Democracy in computer-mediated communication: communication styles,

amount of participation, and gender in professional listservs. Computers in Human Behavior.

Atai, M. R. & Dashtestani, R. (forthcoming). Iranian EAP stakeholders’ attitudes towards using the Internet in EAP

courses for civil engineering students: Promises and challenges. Computer Assisted Language Learning.

Atai, M. R. & Shoja, L. (2012). Academic language needs of Iranian undergraduate students of computer

engineering: A triangulated perspective. RELC Journal, 42, 3, 305-323.

Atai, M. R. & Nazari, O. (2011). Exploring reading comprehension needs of Iranian EAP students of health

information management (HIM): A triangulated approach. System, 39, 1, 30-43.

Atai, M. R. & Sahraneshin Samani, A. (forthcoming). Exploring genre variations in research article introductions

within a single subdiscipline: EOP Versus EAP. Asian ESP Journal.

Atai, M.R. & Tahririan, M.H. (2003). Assessment of the Status of ESP in the Current Iranian Higher Educational

System. Proceedings of the 14th European Symposium on Language for Special Purposes: Communication, culture,

and knowledge. University of Surrey, Guildford, UK.

Eslami, Z. R. (2010). Teachers’ voice vs. students’ voice: a needs analysis approach to English for academic

purposes (EAP) in Iran. English Language Teaching, 3, 3-11.

Farhady, H. (1995). On the Specificity of Purpose in ESP. In A. Miremadi, (ed.) (1995). The Proceedings of the

second international conference in Linguistics and Applied Linguistics (479-489). Tehran: Allameh Tabatabaee

University Press.

Mazdayasna, G. & Tahririan, M.H. (2008), Developing a profile of the ESP needs of Iranian students: The case of

students of nursing and midwifery. Journal of English for Academic Purposes, 7, 277-289.


ma esp syllabus. bandar-abbas azad university

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