Material design for ESP
According to Johns and Price-Machado (2001) English for Specific Purposes (ESP) (ESP) is a moveme movement nt ased ased on the conce concepti ption on that that all langua language ge teachi teaching ng shou should ld e tail tailor ored ed and and sens sensiti itive ve to the the need needs s of the the spec specifi ific c grou groups ps and and sociocultural conte!ts in "hich students "ill use the language# Students needs re related to academic$ occupational and professional settings and English for Academic Purposes (EAP) and English for %ccupational Purposes (E%P) represent the t"o main ranches of ESP#
ESP courses must e designed to meet the specific needs of the learners that are related to content$ particular disciplines$ occupations and activities centred on the &ind of language that is appropriate to the tas&s#
'rom http"""#esp-"orld#infoArticles*+1Authenticit,*Effectiveness#pdf # Acess 20-0-201.#
/efore considering ESP material design$ it is important to discuss students needs$ availale teachers$ the role of authenticit,$ and EAP course and s,llaus design ecause the materials are highl, associated to these issues#
he first and most important aspect to the considered in the development of an ESP course is the students needs# he uestion 3"ho are the learners45 must e ans"ered# Another important issue is related to the availale teachers and "hat "hat cont conten ents ts and and s&ill s&ills s the, the, are are supp suppos osed ed to teac teach# h# ESP ESP teac teache hers rs face face
challenges related to the specific contents$ particular vocaular, and practical tas&s related to the different fields of &no"ledge# Authenticit, is another aspect that must e ta&en into consideration and if the courses are not offered on-site$ the, need to provide rich opportunities to use the language in real conte!ts and situations# Prolem-solving or tas&-ased activities in the classroom can engage students in authentic tas&s that reuire reflection to e solved and interactional situations# Materials are tools that can e rearranged to suite students needs$ ailities and interests during the course# 6sing authentic materials in the language classroom means that the focus "ill e on comprehension$ opportunities to introduce cultural issues and real language$ "hat "ill increase motivation and language a"areness# he t"o main principles to design materials for ESP courses must e summari7es li&e this 1- he content must e related to learners professional needs8 2- Authenticit, is reuired and the tas&s must e close to learners professional practices# 9,land (200:) provides a list of criteria that must e considered "hen choosing or designing materials to ESP courses and the, have implications inside and outside the classroom a- ;ontent it must e appropriate to learners age$ interests$ needs and goals8 - as&s must communicative and integrated to the real practices8 c- eacher-learner interaction reciprocal8 d-
eneral materials focus on general ailit, to communicate and su=ect-specific materials focus on specific areas li&e academic or professional English# /oth &inds of materials can help students to develop s&ills and &no"ledge ut su=ect-specific materials can etter fit the learners specific needs#
he choice of materials can impact the classroom in three main "a,s the &ind of language students "ill e e!posed$ the methods and techniues used8 and in the increase of motivation and relevance of the course# According to the general or su=ect-specific natures of the materials$ the, can also e sudivided in three main t,pes availale te!too&s$ tailor-made materials and electronic materials# ?f students are interest in general communication$ availale or commercial te!too&s can e a good choice ut even availale te!too&s need to e adapted to fit students needs# here are some "a,s to adapt pre-e!isting materials to students needs 12+.-
Adding supplementing "ith e!tra materials8 @eleting omitting irrelevant items8 Modif,ing re"riting to improve or change the level of the activities8 Simplif,ing reducing the level of difficult, or clarif,ing8 eordering changing the seuence of the items#
he commercial or availale materials can also e divided in t"o categories model materials and reference materials# he first categor, is composed , samples used to illustrate particular features of a te!t and the, can increase students &no"ledge aout te!t organi7ation and st,le# he second categor, focuses on &no"ledge not on practice and the, can e more general than the model materials# he reference materials include dictionaries$ grammar oo&s$ enc,clopaedias$ etc# According to the specific nature of ESP$ teachers should create their o"n materials ut this decision depends on institutional vie"s and even on teachers availailit, and &no"ledge# ?n tailor-made materials$ teachers should design tas&s that simulate real-life professional situations as closel, as possile# Bhen designing materials$ teachers must ta&e into consideration the length of the course$ the target audience$ the correct structure and seuence$ the vocaular, and the linguistic level of the learners# Electronic materials can offer a "ide range of media resources li&e listening materials and video files that "ill favour the different learning st,les# E-materials can also present fle!iilit, and e dail, updated$ eing ad=ustale to different groups and specific needs# he, represent more "or& from home and ring e!ercises that suit different t,pes of learners# %n the other hand$ the, reuire active participation of the learners and comine theor, and practice and it means that students need to have more discipline and autonom, to use them# Effectiveness of the course and materials used must e measured and it can e done implicitl, or e!plicitl,# ?mplicit evaluation happens during the course through oservation$ grades$ participation$ motivation$ etc# E!plicit evaluation can e done through uestionnaires$ surve,s$ intervie"s$ etc# he evaluation
and adaptation of availale materials can represent the first step to the development of tailor-made materials# %n the other hand$ tailor made materials must also e evaluated in order to e ad=usted to students needs and situations that occur during the process# ;ourse development and material design and adaptation are seen as an on-going process#
eferences /E<;9E$ @#@# rends in teaching English for specific purposes# Annual revie" of applied linguistics# Pg# 1:.-1C:# 200# /%BD$ 9#@# eaching , principles an interactive approach to language pedagog,# Ed#
