THE ROLE OF THE ESP TEACHER : ORIENTATION

14222053 Solihatin

14222071 M. Naufal Fauzaan

ORIENTATION

In this chapter we shall consider this situation in greater detail, focusing in three problems which we have found consistently arise in discussing with teachers of ESP:

1. The lack of an ESP orthodoxy to provide a ready-made guide

2. The new realms of knowledge the ESP teacher has to cope with

3. The change in the status of English Language Teaching

THE LACK OF AN ORTHODOXY

Lacking a long tradition which might give some stability, ESP has frequency been a hotbed of conflict-the Wild West of ELT.

The importance of a text is not intrinsic to the text, but devices from the rule the text has to play in the teaching/ learning process.

As the example of the use or non-use of authentic texts illustrates, ESP teacher will often have to orientate themselves to difficult problems with little or no guidance.

There are no easy solutions to this situation, but some methods that might be useful are:Surveys of the history and present state of ESP in your own or neighbor countriesFormations of groups of ESP teacher, perhaps allied to any existing national organization for the promotion of ELT, to further the support and development of ESPEstablishment of newsletters and other form of publication, for exchanging information and views about ESP in your countryProvision of pre-and in-service teacher training focusing on ESP issues. Such provision can take a variety of form: workshops, seminars, short courses etc.

NEW REALMS OF KNOWLEDGE

As well as having to cope with the uncertain values of the strange land of ESP teachers may also have to struggle to master language and subject matter beyond the bounds of their previous experiences.

Does the ESP teacher need to understand the subject matter of ESP materials?

Taken in isolation, the answer to this question must be ‘yes’. Teachers of social or literary English would not enter the classroom understanding little about the content of the texts to be taught.

We need to a sk ourse lves three ques t i ons :

Does the content of ESP materials need to be highly specialized?

In specialized texts the discourse structure may be denset and more formalized, but not different in kind from that of less specialized material.

The linguistic knowledge needed to comprehend the specialist text is little different from that required to comprehend the general text.

Why do so many ESP teachers find it difficult to comprehend ESP subject matter?This problem arises from four causes:

1. There is the tradition in education of separating the Humanities and the Sciences. Languages have usually been allocated to the Humanities camp.

2. Many ESP teacher are reluctance settlers in the new territory. They would prefer to be teaching literature and Social English in the comfortable environs of ELT, but have been obliged by economic pressure to emigrate.

3. Considering the scale of the ESP revolution it must be admitted that little effort has been made to retrain teachers or to at least allay their fears.

4. The general attitude in ESP seems to be to expect teachers to conform to the requirements of the target situations.

What kind of knowledge is required of the ESP teachers?

ESP teachers do not need to learn specialist subject knowledge. They require three things only:

1. A positive attitude towards the ESP content;

2. A knowledge of the fundamental principles of the subject area;

3. An awareness of how much they probably already know.

CHANGE IN THE STATUS OF ENGLISH TEACHING

One of the most important features of ESP in relation to General English is that the status of English changes from being a subject in its own right to a service industry for other specialism. In many cases this leads to a lowering of status for the teacher, or at least this seems to be the ESP teacher’s view.

There are only two ways in which the subject has any kind of influence on the language content:

a. Vocabulary. But even here the differences are far less significant than might be expected.

b. Certain subject areas show a higher proportion of particular grammatical or structural forms. For example, a register analysis of Scientific and Technological subjects will show a high percentage of passives and nominal/adjectival compounds.

The reason for having the subject-specific approach rest almost entirely on two  affective factors generated by the learners themselves:

1. Face validity. Subject-specific materials look relevant

2. Familiarity.

A strategy for dealing with the problem

1. The first step is to try and establish grouping along broad subject lines

2. Avoid highly specific materials and try to give everyone’s specialism some chance.

3. Look for topics which give access to a number of different specialist areas.

4. Make learners aware of the lack of specificity of their needs.

5. If people are havong fun, they are far less likely to complain.