ESP theory & practices Dr. Fengmin Wang Fall 2008

What is ESP?  The EFL treeEFL

The Emergence of ESP  The demands of a Brave New World -- English is the key to the international currencies of technology and commerce.  A theoretical shift of linguistics --from defining the formal features of language usage to discovering the ways in which language is actually used in real world  A theoretical shift of education --focusing on learner (language-centred vs. learning- centred)

Why ESP?  The expansion of demand for English to suit particular needs and developments in the field of linguistics and educational psychology

A Learning-Centred Approach to ESP  “ what people learn ” v.s. “ how people learn  a shift from language-centred to learning-centred approach (Introduction: p.2)

What is ESP curriculum design?  processes processes  a rationale for the course, including the overall educational goals; a framework for course design  A curriculum plan describing intended learning outcomes for the course prioritized according to importance, to be expressed in formats (lists of statements & paragraphs, maps of major ideas, flowcharts of skills)  An instructional plan  An evaluation plan

Terms  Curriculum: a broad description of general goals by indicating an overall educational-cultural philosophy which applies across subjects together with a theoretical orientation to language and language learning with respect to the subject matter at hand.  Syllabus: a more detailed and operational statement of teaching and learning elements which translates the philosophy of the curriculum into a series of planned steps leading towards more narrowly defined objectives at each level.

The Components of a Curriculum  Language view  Language learning  Educational view

Syllabus  Structural/grammatical syllabus  Notional syllabus (D. A. Wilkins, 1972) --semantic-grammatical categories --categories of communicative functions  Threshold Level (1975)

Conceptualizations of Learning: Historical Roots and Epistemological Camps by Marshall (1992) ; Mayer (1996)  work-oriented classrooms  learning-oriented classrooms  classrooms as sociocultural setting: postmodern social constructivisms (sociocultural, symbolic interactionism, social psychological constructionism, and Deweyan)

Work-Oriented Classrooms  Behaviorist-derived: (1900s-1950s) -- a fixed/static body of knowledge to acquire; --learning as changing the strength of stimulus-response associations --acquisition of facts, skills, and concepts through drill and guided practice

Learning-Oriented Classrooms  information processing (1960s-1970s)  schema-driven theory --viewing memory representations as knowledge rather than as information --learning involves constructing 3 types of schemas (memory objects, mental models, and cognitive fields) that interact during the learning process

Learning as Knowledge Constructing (1980s-1990s)  Cognitive constructivist Piaget: changing body of knowledge, individually constructed in social world; active construction, restructuring prior knowledge through multiple opportunities and diverse processes to connect to what is already know

Classrooms as Sociocultural Setting (1980s-1990s)  lesson, knowledge, role, communication are all socially constructed by members of a classroom in their interactions over time; what counts as lesson, knowledge, role, communication is situationally defined in the classroom context

 Social constructionist Vygotsky:  changing body of knowledge, mutually constructed with others; collaborative construction of socially/culturally defined knowledge and values through socially and culturally constructed opportunities, tying to students ’ experience