What’s Triggering the Change in ELT?

Education and Learning, ESP, Reflective Teaching, Teacher Development, Universidad Mariano Gálvez 0 comments

What’s Triggering the Change in ELT?

Challenges for the future with ESP

During the Universidad Mariano Galvez teacher conference on ESP and technology in Guatemala City in August 2012, I had the chance of listening to Dr. Neville Stiles discussing his insightful view on English for Specific Purposes (ESP) and ELT as well. During his plenary session Dr. Stiles (2012) posed the following question, -whose answer(s) can change our point of view of language teaching in Central America and beyond-, “What’s triggering the change in English Language Teaching (ELT)?”

Part of the answer to Stiles’ question is directly linked to the economy globalization we all are experiencing, to IT and the Internet use for educational purposes, and current employer’s needs for better English speakers at their offices. It is a fact that the world of business is carried out in English; thus, English learning is a requisite to find a job in it. Information technologies (IT) and the Internet’s language is mainly English. So, to be highly successful in this virtual environment, English is a real necessity beyond discussion. And what about employers who are looking for personnel who can use English confidently and accurately? English is indeed a language need.

The one problem countries with emerging economies are facing today, as pointed out by Dr. Stiles (2012), is that ELT is frequently provided by “untrained teachers.” This sort of teachers cannot supply but limited learning for our students at our universities or language institutes. And in some cases, to make matters worse, universities and language schools are just providing limited training to their teachers affecting the quality of education given to EFL students. Even though there is great development in terms of private schools’ teaching and ELT, ESP is still left behind since it is not the focus of instructions for high schoolers. Their curricula focus more on ELT if book series used by them are analyzed. The achievement of communication is first in high schools; then students can get out-of-school training in ESP depending on what they wish to study at the university level.

ELT is the common ground for ESP learning. As Haldar (2010) stated in his article “English for Specific Purposes: A Challenge, ”… time is coming when it (ESP) will acquire the centre, rather than existing at the periphery.” And to get to that point, universities, and why not language institutes, should shift their curricula to include more ESP training as soon as students perform in the language at an intermediate level, -B1 based on the CEFR. As proposed by Haldar (2010), more flexible curricula can allow incorporating ESP “common training” for students. That is, it is necessary to find ways to help students develop their language competence to appropriately address subject matter pertaining to their fields of study.

Why should we shift our EFL classes towards an ESPish twist? The purpose behind this “shift” is to train students to achieve English as a higher communicative level for their workplaces such as call centers, commercial schools, face-to-face customer service in the tourist industry or private enterprises as well. This “ESPish twist” can also guarantee that B1 students can move into a B2 with a higher level of mastery and competence in the language, which will allow them to work confidently and successfully. But let us not forget that teachers also need to be trained to guide students in their learning accurately.

What’s the reason behind the ESPish twist? As we have been experiencing in Latin America (and it must be pretty much the same in Asian countries), there is a greater need for ESP as countries develop and become active participants in the globalized economy of the 21^st Century. Due to this non-stop economy, international companies (employers) demand language requirements that go beyond the EFL domain; ESP in business, health, service industries, and the like are an immediate need now with a different set of language competencies beyond the EFL training.

Why should B2 EFL students be given ESP training as part of their university majors? Sumangal Haldar (2010) points out that ESP “concentrates more on language in context than on teaching grammar and language structure.” For Haldar (2010), “ESP is more amicably popular amongst such students who find this subject near to the real world of their wishes.” That is, they can go into their working environments confidently because what they practiced and learned in class, with some differences, will be experienced in their jobs. ESP can be a great complement to EFL in our university curricula to make students’ language learning experience enticing and meaningful for their future careers.

And what about teachers? Both Stiles (2012) and Haldar (2010) agree that extra training must be given to instructors to give them the chance to get fully acquainted with what ESP in ELT is all about, how to teach a class with an ESPish twist, when to introduce a topic and shifter towards an ESP approach, etc. In addition, teachers can benefit from ESPish content to make their classes more appealing to and motivating for their students.

To sum up, how can we help students tune up with the changes in English needs by companies? Some areas need to be addressed to fully accomplish a great product on the students and teachers’ sides. Please consider this to maximize teaching and learning:

· Proper EFL and ESP training for teachers

· ESP linked to CEFR language competencies

· ESPish EFL training for students

· ESPish content in English class to satisfy companies’ demands

· More working language in context to meet demands

ETo fully develop and comprehend this teaching issue, it’s advisable to research and expand these areas:

1	ESP and soft skills
2	ESP seen through CEF
3	ESP training for teachers
4	ESP training for students
5	ESP curricula in EFL courses

Philip Haines, Julie Harris, Neville Stiles, Jonathan Acuña

Professor Jonathan Acuña-Solano

ELT Instructor & Trainer based in Costa Rica

Curricular Developer at CCCN

Senior ELT Professor at Universidad Latina

Freelance ELT Consultant for OUP in Central America

For further comments or suggestions, reach me at:

@jonacuso – Twitter

jonacuso@gmail.com – Gmail

Other blogs I often write for my students at the university are:

1. http://bin-02.blogspot.com/

2. http://bin-04.blogspot.com/

3. http://bin-06.blogspot.com/

Haldar, Sumangal (2010) English for Specific Purposes: A Challenge. Published on TeachingEnglish by BBC http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/blogs/sumangal-haldar/english-specific-purposes-a-challenge

Stiles, Neville (2012) General English Versus ESP – Language as an Integral Part of the Potential and Project for a Guatemala of the Future. Plenary Session at the Academic Encounter of Technology, Pedagogy, and Language on English for Specific Purpose, Guatemala City, Guatemala

Get a copy of this article by clicking here.

What’s Triggering the Change in ELT

Friday, December 14, 2012

ELT Professional Competencies for Student Teachers

Education and Learning, ELT, Professional Competencies, Teacher Development 2 comments

ELT Professional Competencies for Student Teachers

5 tips to be better in your teaching practicum and practice

As a student teacher lacking the experience of being in front of a class and working with students, the need to develop one’s professional competence is a must. The teaching practicum is a way to start building one’s professional competencies and confront one’s teaching beliefs with one’s own teaching particulars and environment. To help oneself create some sort of competence awareness, student teachers are here provided with five tips to help themselves grow professionally.

u Self-/Peer Assessment » Ask yourself –at the end of the class-, what went right and/or what went wrong? This sort of question can help you reflect and self-criticize yourself as an educator. All teachers need to review their teaching beliefs to be able to make changes or adjustments in their teaching. By “evaluating your tactics” [BBC’s TeachingEnglish 2003], this practice may lead you to “teaching perfection” and to a “highly constructive” teaching reflective stage. And if possible, ask a student teaching partner (or another teacher in school) to lend you his/her ears and eyes to help you spot areas that need extra polishing. Their help can be of great use in one’s teaching competence development.

v Classroom Atmosphere » In an in-service training session at CCCN with Dr. Neil J. Anderson (2004), author of Active Reading Skills for Reading, over here in San José (Costa Rica), he insisted on the importance of “creating a classroom culture.” This culture or atmosphere allows us to ensure discipline in class and respect among class members. As the head member, the teacher can control pair and group work efficiently and time class activities to maximize student learning. This comfortable atmosphere will make teachers and students avoid confrontations that will disrupt the balance of the class culture.

w Students’ Attitudes towards English Learning » If a “class culture” is successfully created, shifting students’ attitudes towards the target language seems to be a feasible task. Keep in mind that not all the students in class are really interested in learning English; English could just be another subject to pass. Nevertheless, making pupils aware of the importance of English in the working world can be a great way to motivate them to go the extra mile needed to succeed in their “future, potential” professional lives.

x Professionalism » Projecting oneself as an education professional is also a must as part of one’s teaching career. Several things need to be taken care of so one does no lose face in front of students (and their parents), school officials, an one’s teaching colleagues. Among those things, always be punctual for class. As the TeachingEnglish editor (2003) states it, “Be prompt and punctual because promptness and punctuality lead to systematic work.” Students need to learn the value of “promptness” and “punctuality,” so please set the example for them by being on time for class and giving back graded assignments, quizzes, tests, and the like.

Show your professionalism by always using rubrics to grade students and their performance or work. This will save you “extra” headaches when students complain or school officials ask you to justify a given grade. And show your professional style by following the school dress code all of the time. Do get to explore how else you can improve your professional image.

y Language Practice » “Involve your students in authentic communication actions, which encourage a continuous flow of speech” (TE Editor 2003). Creating and having students take part of meaningful and memorable exercises guarantees learning. Be creative and replicate the real world in class so students understand why English learning is necessary. Scaffolding student performance can yield even better results in terms of class production and the accomplishment of language learning outcomes. All these elements also contribute to a greater language practice in class within a comfortable atmosphere and class culture.

To sum up, developing ELT Professional Competencies is a real need for amateur and for consolidated teaching professionals. Discovering one’s beliefs and how to adapt them to new teaching environments and particulars is part of the development of those competencies to become a better-shaped professional. But bear in mind that teaching goes beyond the class, so try to create your PLN [Professional Learning Network] to always be updated and to become a desirable teacher to be hired anywhere you apply for a teaching position.

ETo fully develop and comprehend this teaching issue, it’s advisable to research and expand these areas:

1	Professional competences
2	Self-Assessment in teaching
3	Peer assessment for teaching improvement
4	The class culture
5	My professional image as an ELT teacher

Professor Jonathan Acuña-Solano

ELT Instructor & Trainer based in Costa Rica

Curricular Developer at CCCN

Senior ELT Professor at Universidad Latina

Freelance ELT Consultant for OUP in Central America

For further comments or suggestions, reach me at:

@jonacuso – Twitter

jonacuso@gmail.com – Gmail

Other blogs I often write for my students at the university are:

1. http://bin-02.blogspot.com/

2. http://bin-04.blogspot.com/

3. http://bin-06.blogspot.com/

a. Anderson, Neil J. (2004) In-Service Training at CCCN. San Pedro: CCCN, Costa Rica

b. Professional Competence 1 (2003) by TE Editor, [http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/] 28 March 2003 Published on http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/articles/professional-competence-1

Get a copy of this article by clicking here!

ELT Professional Competencies for Student Teachers

Saturday, December 08, 2012

ESP and Proficiency Levels at Work

CEF, ELT, ESP, Language Competences 0 comments

ESP and Proficiency Levels at Work

5 reasons to improve our workers’ English Performance

After reading the article ‘Los dudosos “English language Proficiency Benchmarks”’ by Gerardo Barboza (2012) on Semanario Universidad, a local weekly publication in Costa Rica, and mulling over his concern about the levels of English achieved nationwide, part of the answer to why Costa Ricans have not accomplished a higher level of English based on the CEF is related to the lack of serious ESP [English for Specific Purposes] training –for students and teachers- and the lack of student commitment to learn the target language to succeed in their work fields.

ESP is goal directed (Robinson 1991), but it looks like teachers and students alike do not envision the ultimate goal. If our students need to use English at work, this extrinsic motivation may drive them to achieve a given CEF level. However, if students are just studying their major, -at a university level here in Costa Rica-, students see English as a subject to pass rather than a subject to learn the language to succeed in their future jobs. Have we overtly stated what our ESP/CEF expectations are for students and prospective professional workers? I’d say “nope!”

ESP is based on needs analysis (Robinson 1991; Guillet 2000). ESP, if compared to regular English classes, must specify exactly what it is that workers have to do through the medium of English at work. Our students are now mostly trained in “regular” English away from a previous needs analysis containing the language and skills we want them to have in a given work position. To help students get a given ESO/CEF level, courses must be designed to really fulfill the set of language competences required in accordance with university major exit profiles and company jobs, something is not exactly happening today.

ESP learners are (young) adults (Robinson 1991; Guillet 2000), but the target group many transnational enterprises have in mind to recruit down here in Costa Rica is the students graduating from high school. If university students ignore the crucial decision to work in an English medium company, they are making the wrong one. If university majors do not include ESP courses in their curricula, they are overlooking the fact that professional workers do not need regular conversational English but specific language skills and competences. The same applies for language learners with governmental scholarships who study in language schools.

ESP (prospective) workers may need specialist language. Have student/workers been trained to acquire specific specialist language skills and/or competences? I do have deep doubts concerning this issue; then learners apply for jobs they can’t perform since they lack what is needed –languagewise-. Commercial school or university curricula should engage students/workers in learning (or being trained in) what they will face at their “future” workplaces.

And what about the ESP metrics at work? Although ESP language courses exist, companies requiring EFL/ESL-speaking workers should have a more open communication with universities and schools who “train” them. It is no secret that to succeed in one of these companies a high level of proficiency is needed, but if workers are not previously trained, how can they aim at getting good reviews in their metrics? The equation is rather simple, ESP language competences = good metrics!!!

To sum up, and as stated by Metsheng (2009), “I have observed that university students do not invest as much time in learning English as they do in learning their specialist subjects.” English is just a subject to pass and not to profit from envisioning the future. On the other hand, peer pressure to not use English outside the classroom has always been an issue out of ignorance and lack of language empowerment to achieve real language competences for one’s workplace scenarios.