1. ESP Midterm Report Instructor: Dr. Hsiu-Hui Su Presenter: Yi-Chen Alison Tsai Date: April 24 th, 2012

2. Journals’ Bibliography Edwards, N. (2000). Language for business: effective needs assessment, syllabus design and materials preparation in a practical ESP case study. English for Specific Purposes, 19, 291-296. Zagan-Zelter, D., & Zagan-Zelter, S. (2010). Teaching business English - a challenge both for students and academics. Procedia Social and Behavioral Science, 3, 245-250. Zhang, Z. (2007). Towards an integrated approach to teaching Business English: A Chinese experience. English for Specific Purposes, 26, 399-410.

4. Course aims and objectives based on needs analysis Interview with the employer course aims objectives List of general questions for the students about their past learning experience and future objectives Needs analysis

5. Aims of the course (based on advice of the school director and need analysis) The improvement of the student’s spoken English in business meetings and negotiation To include work on giving presentations using different kinds of graphs and charts Improving the skills of writing reports, reading short articles related to banking, and listening to language used by native speakers in meetings and “small talk” To continue to build both general and specialist vocabulary To improve the speaking-confidence of the students when functioning in a native-speaker environment

6. High degree of face validity For both the students and employer High surrender value The students would be able to immediately use what they have learned to perform their jobs more efficiently (seemed) highly appropriate

7. Description of the course syllabus, materials and teaching methodology A flexible course syllabus Multi-layered syllabus consisted of the three complementary, closely interwoven strands of functions, topics, and vocabulary Supplemented by authentic materials (ie, Times) Deductive presentations (begins with a general idea to something more specific) to review grammatical structures, but top-down for the overall approach (breaking down a system to gain insight)

8. Description of the course syllabus, materials and teaching methodology Exercises (cloze tests, guessing meaning of new vocabulary…etc.) Strict error correction Large amount of HW (those who complete impress their colleagues or superiors)

9. Course evaluation Criteria: test results, discussions, interviews and informal means Frequent informal testing (role plays, presentations, and discussions in class) The course was extended to more than a year after an initial 3-month period An effective and flexible ESP course design can be driven from the teachers own practical experiential knowledge and from the students themselves

10. Journals’ Bibliography Edwards, N. (2000). Language for business: effective needs assessment, syllabus design and materials preparation in a practical ESP case study. English for Specific Purposes, 19, 291-296. Zagan-Zelter, D., & Zagan-Zelter, S. (2010). Teaching business English - a challenge both for students and academics. Procedia Social and Behavioral Science, 3, 245-250. Zhang, Z. (2007). Towards an integrated approach to teaching Business English: A Chinese experience. English for Specific Purposes, 26, 399-410.

11. Business English involves a specific language corpus and emphasis on specific types of communication in a specific context More challenging to teach… Main focus? Specialized vocabulary? Improving communication skills in a Business- related context? How should a Business English course be designed to fulfill the expectations and necessities of the future businessmen? Teaching and learning techniques?

12. A little bit about the authors… Practical experience as university assistants at the Department of Modern Languages and Business Communication, the Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, Babes-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca (one of the oldest and most important state universities in Romania)

13. The importance of studying English in Romania After the fall of the communist regime in 1989, the study of foreign languages revived in the Romanian educational system A need for employees with good English skills on the Romanian job market A language certificate is required in order to get a Bachelor’s degree or apply for a Master’s of PhD program

14. Business English Department: Faculty of Economics and Business Administration Major focus: business English and communication 28 hrs of practice course per semester in the 1 st two years, 14 hrs of lecture and 14 hrs of seminar per semester in the 3 rd year

15. The syllabus and the design of a business English course for students in economics Questions aroused when designing: What should such a course contain? What language skills should it focus on? How much specialized vocabulary should it comprise? Should there be a different course design for each program of the faculty (marketing, management)? How much knowledge of economics does an English teacher need in order to be able to teach such a course?

16. The syllabus and the design of a business English course for students in economics Questions aroused when designing: What should we actually teach, specialized vocabulary or the use of language? Should we expect our students to be able to use a large range of business-related vocabulary or to be able to use English correctly in business-related contexts, to acquire good communication skills in addition to the linguistic ones?

17. Steps to consider when designing a course in Business English Needs Analysis Assessment of level Syllabus Course objectives Time Learner expectations Evaluation of progress

18. Need analysis Content stays the same for different major Assessment level 1st year at least level B1 Reach B2 in the 3 rd year Syllabus Fixed on topics, structures… Time 28 hrs of practice course per semester in the 1 st two years, 14 hrs of lecture and 14 hrs of seminar per semester in the 3 rd year The language certificate TOEFL Cambridge language certificates either in general English (CAE, CPE) or in business English (BEC Vantage or Higher) To understand the structure of the exam Brochure “The Candidate’s Guide to Lingua Certificate” Provides examples

19. Objectives of the course To understand different types of oral messages in English To identify attitudes and opinions from a material they listened to To initiate and participate in conversations on professional themes To extract the relevant information from a text using different reading techniques To compose written messages adapted to the professional environment such as letters, reports, proposals etc. To communicate effectively in a business environment where the use of foreign language is necessary

20. Journals’ Bibliography Edwards, N. (2000). Language for business: effective needs assessment, syllabus design and materials preparation in a practical ESP case study. English for Specific Purposes, 19, 291-296. Zagan-Zelter, D., & Zagan-Zelter, S. (2010). Teaching business English - a challenge both for students and academics. Procedia Social and Behavioral Science, 3, 245-250. Zhang, Z. (2007). Towards an integrated approach to teaching Business English: A Chinese experience. English for Specific Purposes, 26, 399-410.

21. A historical overview Early 1950’s “English Translation” program with the goal of producing translators and interpreters in the field of foreign trade 3 courses for English majors: Correspondence for Foreign Trade, Oral English for Foreign Trade, and Selected Readings on International Business and Economics from Western Newspapers and Journals Taught using textbooks complied by experienced teachers

22. 1980s, China opened up to the outside Students of Business English learnt not only the language but also the ways of doing business  course offerings multiplied 1990s: a boom in Business English teaching in China, offerings increased significantly Over the last decade: persistent efforts to upgrade the curriculum for students of Business English in China

23. Understanding Business English (Questions asked by Chinese teachers) What constitutes Business English? What distinguishes Business English majors from other majors who study business subjects as well as English? How can we define “Business”? Do teachers have to be both language experts and subject specialists? (How much do we need to know about business?) In what terms do we describe the content we teach students of Business English? How do we go about teaching Business English? How can we fit Business English in with the national curriculum requirements for English majors? What does English-mediated instruction actually help learners to acquire? What are the communicative conventions or norms to be taught to Business English learners?

24. 2 perspectives: ESP and Business English Is Business English a branch or variety of ESP? ESP contrasts with General English in terms of syllabus design and material production Munby (1978) defines ESP as “those where the syllabus and materials are determined in all essentials by the prior analysis of communication needs of learners…” Hutchinson and Waters (2002): “ESP must be seen as an approach… to language learning, which is based on learner need.”

25. Dudley-Evans and St. Johns define ESP by positing 2 criteria: absolute and variable characteristics

26. ESP: prioritizing learner needs Framework for Business English Does not have much to offer concerning English in use in business General observation: Business English is characterized by “sense of purpose”, “social aspects”, and “clear communications”

27. Language-as-discourse view and Business English The teaching of Business English, McCarthy and Carter (2004) point out that, “knowing how language works and how people use it is a first and indispensible step towards deciding what shall be taught.” The language-as-discourse view takes into account both language and the context in which it operates

28. Language-as-discourse view and Business English Action-oriented processes (sell, manage, manufacture, deliver, confirm) Complicated networks of interpersonal relations (business-business, business-customer, departments-departments) Intercultural communication (different cultural backgrounds, norms, business goals, negotiation techniques) Media (technology, fax, email, telephone conversations) Resources (advertising, promotion)

29. A working definition of Business English Business English involves the teaching of the system of strategic communication in the social and economic domain of international business in which participants, adopting/adapting business conventions and procedures, make selective use of lexico- grammatical resources of English as well as visual and audio semiotic resources to achieve their communicative goals via the writing modality, speaking modality, and/or multi- modality. (modality=form)

30. An integrated approach to the teaching of Business English Teaching communication rather than just language forms or skills would have a major impact on the design of Business English curriculum in China Teaching Business English in China is not a service industry like ESP, but a service program for students of business administration Three fields should be researched into: subject knowledge, business practice and language skills Students learn both subject knowledge and the way of handling the knowledge in their target language Students would develop language awareness in the sense that they know not only the lexical, syntactic, and discoursal features of business language but also the way these features relate to interpersonal relations and the way they are textualized for communicative goals.