- English for Academic Purposes
- English for Specific Academic Purposes
- English for Specific Purposes (ESP)
- Testing and Examinations
- Teacher Resources and Photocopiables
- Journals and Academic Papers
- Current Developments in English for Academic, Specific and Occupational Purposes
- Current Developments in English for Academic and Specific Purposes in Developing, Emerging and Least-Developed Countries
- Young Learner English Language Policy and Implementation: International Perspectives
- EAP in a Globalizing World: English as an Academic Lingua Franca
Journals and Academic Papers
Current Developments in English for Academic and Specific Purposes in Developing, Emerging and Least-Developed Countries
Edited by Mark Krzanowski
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Category: Reference |
Current Developments in English for Academic and Specific Purposes in Developing, Emerging and Least-Developed Countries
Current Developments in English for Academic and Specific Purposes in Developing, Emerging and Least-Developed Countries is a collection of papers which reflect the unique diversity of ESP and EAP in the developing world. While some of the papers present a historical overview of ESP and EAP in particular countries, the other papers are a representative sample of ongoing good practice in a specific context. The papers in the book are contributions of the members of the ESP SIG at IATEFL, and most of them were presented at the Pre-Conference Event in Harrogate (2006).
The IATEFL ESP SIG hopes that this book proves a unique and timely publication for ELT and Applied Linguistics practitioners who wish to gain a better understanding of the specifics of EAP and ESP in developing, emerging and least-developed countries. The ESP Special Interest Group (SIG) is one of the fourteen SIGs at IATEFL, and its main focus is English for Specific Purposes, English for Academic Purposes and English for Occupational/Professional Purposes. The main objective of the SIG is to disseminate good practice in ESP (as well as in EAP and EO/PP) through its membership and to promote models of excellence in ESP to ELT professionals internationally through workshops, seminars and conferences and through publishing the output in our Journal and in leading international ELT journals and periodicals. More information on the ESP SIG can be found on http://espsigiatefl.org
Contents
Chapter 1: Angola: The ups and downs of an experiment in teaching technical English in Angola
Chapter 2: Bangladesh: ELT, ESP and EAP in Bangladesh: An overview of the status and the need for English
Chapter 3: Brazil (1): ESP: From theory to practice in a Brazilian setting
Chapter 4: Brazil (2): ESP in Brazil: History, new trends and challenges
Chapter 5: Burma: Authenticating Business English materials: Project work as supplementing, contextualizing and appropriating Business English materials
Chapter 6: Cambodia: A short overview of EAP in Cambodia in 2006-2007
Chapter 7: China: Is English a temporary fashion or long-term trend? ELT, EAP and ESP in China
Chapter 8: Ghana: Domains of English in Ghana and its use for specific purposes
Chapter 9: India: Positioning ESP in an ESL situation
Chapter 10: Iran: The effects of social and textual modelling writing: Effects of instruction on Iranian learners' writing ability
Chapter 11: Kenya: English for specific purposes: Its place in Kenya's education context
Chapter 12: Nepal: An overview of ELT, EAP and ESP in Nepal: Whose interest is served?
Chapter 13: Nigeria: Teaching 'the other English' for communication in Nigeria
Chapter 14: Palestine: Teaching English for general and specific purposes in Palestine
Chapter 15: Philippines: English for students caring for the elderly in Japan
Chapter 16: Thailand: The impact of the National Education Act 1999 on English-language teaching in higher education, Thailand
Chapter 17: South Africa (1): Challenging hegemony, enabling access: Course design and assessment in English-language studies for teacher education at the University of South Africa
Chapter 18: South Africa (2): From the general to the specific: Pre-sessional English at the Nelson Mandela University
Chapter 19: Yemen (1): The status of English for Specific Purposes in the Republic of Yemen
Chapter 20: Yemen (2): Evaluating the ESP and EAP situation in a Yemeni context
Chapter 21: Zambia: Burying the ghost of English in Zambia
"We picked up this volume in the hope that at last here was a collection of papers that would address the needs of EAP and ESP teachers in developing and emerging countries - after all, that's what it says on the tin. But closer examination reveals an edited collection of papers from a conference, some of which address the theme only tangentially. That said there are some gems hidden within its pages.
The book has chapters by authors working in a range of countries: seven chapters from Africa, but only one from a country where English has no official status; three from south Asia; five from south east Asia; two from Brazil; three from the Middle East. The choice of papers seems arbitrary, the unifying factor being that most were presented at the IATEFL 2006 ESP SIG pre-conference event.
Nine chapters - almost half - present a historical view of English language teaching and learning (in the case of Ghana, beginning in the 1550s). In some cases this will be helpful to the reader interested in language education policy but in other cases, for example chapter four on ESP in Brazil, the detail may be excessive. Other chapters present descriptive overviews or case studies of recent projects; for example chapter one describes a project to teach technical English in Angola; chapter five recounts a business English in Burma; chapter 15 describes a project to teach English to Filipina care-workers in Japan; and chapter 18 describes a pre-sessional course at Nelson Mandela University, RSA. These chapters would have benefited from stronger editorial guidance to make the discussion section more useful to readers who work in other contexts.
India (population 1.2 billion) merits only seven content pages whereas Kenya (population 38 million) is the longest article in the book at 21 content pages. The content of the two chapters on Brazil overlaps. Mack's somewhat emotional Angolan case study is actually about ESP (training car mechanics) while Rahman's fascinating account of language policy in Bangladesh barely mentions EAP/ESP until the final sentence of it concluding paragraph.
Chapter 13 - 'Teaching "the other English" for communication in Nigeria' describes arguments for and practice in teaching Nigerian English at school level; neither EAP nor ESP is mentioned.
Where then are the gems? Some contributors offer genuinely interesting insights which deserve our attention. In her chapter on ESP in Brazil, Rsinda Ramos clarifies the reasons why so much academic ESP gets bogged down in reading. Ehya Amalsaleh and Hojatollah Yamini (Iran) report on an interesting study of methodology for teaching EAP writing, although the results are somewhat inconclusive. In chapter 21, 'Burying the ghost of English in Zambia', Bernard Nchindila reviews the process of language policy change in Zambia, a process he feels was not grounded in solid research. He goes on to challenge 'applied linguists to protect the sanctity of research validity and reliability if language research has to serve the purpose of transforming society'. Donors such as the UK's Department for International Development as well as applied linguists should take note.
This volume could be of use for people planning to work in one of the countries represented in its pages as the historical reviews provide useful background information. If you search, there is interesting comment on language policy developments in some countries."
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