scholarly journals Tailoring Potent Courses for ESP Learners: A Way to Better Fulfil their Demands

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 414-423
Author(s):  
Fatma ZAGHAR ◽  
El-Alia Wafaâ ZAGHAR

In this day and age, it is absolutely indispensable for acquiring competence in English to grapple with the real impediments and huge challenges of the modern epoch. The emergence of English as a global language is among the factors that could explicate its vitality and its expansion. The basic burden of making language courses more relevant to learners’ needs resulted in the advent of languages for specific purposes movement, known in English Language Teaching circles as English for Specific Purposes. ESP then, has since its inception in the early 1960s become one of the most dynamic branches of applied linguistics in general, and of Teaching English as a Foreign Language in particular. To amass relevant data, a case study was conducted through a combination of a questionnaire, classroom observation, and informal interviews with language teachers and subject specialists. The main aim of this present paper is to precisely delineate the teaching/learning process of ESP in the department of Computer Sciences at the University of ORAN1 in Algeria, and the learners’ attitudes towards this teaching. For this purpose, it is necessary to explore the utility of ESP as perceived by learners, and to address problems faced by instructors. The results indicate that the students have a positive attitude towards ESP and that their poor achievement was due to multiple reasons. This digest concludes by offering some suggestions and implications as remedial actions to the major confronted concerns.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fatma ZAGHAR ◽  
El-Alia Wafaâ ZAGHAR

In this day and age, it is absolutely indispensable for acquiring competence in English to grapple with the real impediments and huge challenges of the modern epoch. The emergence of English as a global language is among the factors that could explicate its vitality and its expansion. The basic burden of making language courses more relevant to learners’ needs resulted in the advent of languages for specific purposes movement, known in English Language Teaching circles as English for Specific Purposes. ESP then, has since its inception in the early 1960s become one of the most dynamic branches of applied linguistics in general, and of Teaching English as a Foreign Language in particular. To amass relevant data, a case study was conducted through a combination of a questionnaire, classroom observation, and informal interviews with language teachers and subject specialists. The main aim of this present paper is to precisely delineate the teaching/learning process of ESP in the department of Computer Sciences at the University of ORAN1 in Algeria, and the learners’ attitudes towards this teaching. For this purpose, it is necessary to explore the utility of ESP as perceived by learners, and to address problems faced by instructors. The results indicate that the students have a positive attitude towards ESP and that their poor achievement was due to multiple reasons. This digest concludes by offering some suggestions and implications as remedial actions to the major confronted concerns.


2017 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 50
Author(s):  
Nehal Ahmad

<p><em>It has been due on my part to share my own teaching philosophy with my colleagues in the University in general and other language instructors engaged in this noble profession. Needless to say, creating our own teaching philosophy is an innovative practice and it should be a meaningful part of us as second/foreign language teachers since it states our teaching/learning vision and wisdom, observations, experiences, goals, beliefs, level of professionalism and self-development among many other things. However, in real life situation, we do not often implement all our innovative ideas that we possess in our teaching philosophy. The main objective of the present study is to share my decades of experiences as a language instructor as a student of linguistics as well as an English language instructor. </em></p>


2017 ◽  
Vol 33 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Vu Hai Ha

The National Foreign Language Project 2020 (Project 2020) has been laying its emphasis on the development of general English language proficiency and English language teaching methods of English language teachers in Vietnamese schools. This article argues that these focuses might overlook an area which is essential for these teachers to use English efficiently in the classrooms: the development of classroom English proficiency. This argument is corroborated by a case study with qualitative data collected from videotaping 113 teachers in their microteaching sessions. It reveals certain limitations in their classroom English competence, especially linguistic and strategic competence. The article concludes by putting forward certain suggestions for Project 2020 as well as future studies to explore other facets of this competence.


sjesr ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 223-232
Author(s):  
Dr. Sarwat Jabeen ◽  
Abdul Rashid ◽  
Dr. Samia Naz

Recently, the concept of Critical thinking got much significance in the teaching and learning process. Thinking creatively and critically in the English language beckons our representation in different domains of development as well. The present study is aimed to investigate the on-going teaching-learning process of English Language Teaching at University Level in South Punjab from the perspective of critical thinking. The theoretical insights have been taken from Freire’s Banking concept of education in his seminal work, Pedagogy of the Oppressed (2018). The findings of the study reveal that our ELT classrooms are lacking the creativity and critical thinking at large. Further in our classrooms, the Banking Model of teaching is being practiced where a student remains passive and the teacher is considered as the ultimate source of knowledge. It points out that our teaching and learning process is moving on some faulty lines which need revisions and amendments. It is suggested that the Problem Posing Model of teaching and learning may be adopted in our ELT Classrooms so that our graduates at the university level may think critically and independently.


Author(s):  
Davida Aba Mensima Asante-Nimako

The purpose of the study was to find out the problems related to the teaching of English pronunciation in the pre-service training institutions. Wesley College of Education, Kumasi, Ghana, was used as a case study. Out of the problems, deductions were made to make recommendations. Three tutors of English and twenty students were purposively sampled for the study. Through the use of interviews, three key findings, realized from the research include the following: First, the mode of correcting students’ mispronunciation. The manner in which some tutors correct students’ mispronunciation was found to be very discouraging to the students; second, the less attention given to English ‘pronunciation’ as one of the aspects of English language teaching/learning was a concern; In any case, though pronunciation was not conspicuously part of the English course outline, it did not imply that there was no form of pronunciation teaching. Thus, during the teaching learning process pronunciation teaching go on directly or indirectly. In terms, of other subject areas other than English language, pronunciation teaching hardly happens. More importantly, another vital problem found was the poor foundation at the basic level of education. The student teachers should in-turn have a better grounding in English pronunciation to teach the pupils in the basic schools in Ghana. Unfortunately, the ill tradition of unintelligible pronunciation goes on, which the researcher terms it the ‘dark cycle’. The views of students and tutors were gathered through recording and transcription of interviews. The research generally reveals the need for language teachers and curriculum planners to factor in pronunciation as a vital aspect of building up students; especially, student- teachers who will complete soon and go and teach younger ones, ensuring the avoidance of ‘dark cycle’ as the researcher’s term, explained in the ‘key words’.


e-TEALS ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 107-125
Author(s):  
Ana Ponce de Leão

Abstract UNESCO and many other organisations worldwide have been working on approaches in education to develop tolerance, respect for cultural diversity, and intercultural dialogue. Particularly, the Council of Europe has laid out guiding principles in several documents to promote intercultural competence, following Byram’s and Zarate’s efforts in integrating this important component in language education. The commitment to developing the notion of intercultural competence has been so influential that many countries, e.g., Portugal, have established the intercultural domain as a goal in the foreign language curricula. However, this commitment has been questioned by researchers worldwide who consider that action is needed to effectively promote intercultural competence. The research coordinated by Sercu, for example, suggests that, although foreign language teachers are willing to comply with an intercultural dimension, their profile is more compatible with that of a traditional foreign language teacher, rather than with a foreign language teacher, who promotes intercultural communicative competence. In this study, I propose to examine teachers’ perceptions and beliefs about intercultural communicative competence in a cluster of schools in Portugal and compare these findings with Sercu’s study. Despite a twelve-year gap, the present study draws similar conclusions.


2016 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 54 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kyria Finardi ◽  
Roberta Leao ◽  
Livia Melina Pinheiro

<p class="Normal1">The paper proposes a reflection on the role of English in the globalized world and its teaching/learning in Brazil. With that aim, the study reviews language policies and internationalization programs in Brazil regarding the role of foreign languages in general and of English in particular. The theoretical framework includes a review of an English language teaching (ELT) approach used mainly in Europe, as a result of globalization and internationalization, the Content and Language Integrated Approach (CLIL). In order to support this reflection, a case study was carried out to examine pre-service English teachers’ beliefs on the use of CLIL in Brazil. The results of study show that pre-service English teachers understand the importance of the CLIL approach though they are aware of the various obstacles to its implementation in that context. The study suggests a review of language policies in Brazil so as to ensure a convergence between them and internationalization policies and approaches, at all levels of education. Regarding the ELT approach analyzed, the study concludes that despite the difficulties associated with the implementation of CLIL in Brazil, it represents a relevant alternative in that context.</p>


Author(s):  
Khadija Anasse ◽  
Rajaa Rhandy

The COVID-19 pandemic has imposed an abrupt change in our teaching practices. Particularly the online assessment of students’ writing has been an unprecedented, novel situation for many English foreign language teachers. What is novel about this issue is the constraint of adopting it in a critical situation in which it has been an alternative way to assess students in the absence of the physical presence of students. The shift from face to face assessment to online assessment has been a novel experience for many Moroccan English foreign language teachers who have never implemented it before nor have any background knowledge about its mechanisms and methods albeit there are some teachers who are familiar with online teaching and online assessment. The issue has generated important points for English language teaching practitioners and stakeholders about the strategies and challenges of this compulsory mode of assessment during COVID-19 lockdown. From this perspective, the purpose of this paper was to reflect on writing assessment in the era of COVID-19 pandemic through the lens of teachers. The paper aimed to explore the perceptions of Moroccan English foreign language teachers about online writing assessment and the challenges that encountered them.  For this purpose, data were collected from 100 English language teachers in the region of Casablanca through the use of questionnaires. The findings of this study substantiated that most participants considered online assessment of students’ writing a real challenge and hence hold a negative attitude towards it. Based on the results of this study, it was recommended to teach digital writing skills to English foreign language learners and design teaching training programs about online writing assessment. 


Author(s):  
Ana Lúcia Farias da Silva ◽  
Teresa Cristina Giarolla Ramos ◽  
Rachel Fontes Sodré

This article aims to describe the development of the teaching–learning process of Foreign Language, with the use of the CLIL (Integrated Content and Language Teaching) approach in the teaching of English, within the framework of a Bilingual Program, within an emergency context of Remote Teaching. We also seek to reflect on the adequacy of technological tools in the process of teaching Foreign Language – specifically the English Language – for a certain age group, as well as to evaluate the elaboration and adaptation of materials, activities and pedagogical approaches to the reality of Remote Teaching during the period of isolation. For this reflection, our analysis aims to point out possibilities and limitations, both of the CLIL (Integrated Teaching of Content and Language) approach, as well as of the modality of distance learning for the age group observed. Thus, in addition to presenting what was accomplished during the research, we intend to reflect on possible paths and contribute with good practices that make the English Language Teaching process more meaningful and proficient, within the Modality Of Distance Education (EaD).We defend in this research the search for strategies in a digital format, for a Foreign Language Teaching, which develops in a more natural and motivating way, as well as the need for public policies aimed at a post-pandemic education of COVID-19, in the sense of ludicity and inclusion, aiming at the development of skills and skills of the student, from elementary school, transforming information into knowledge.


2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
Mazen Ismaeel Ghareb ◽  
Saman Ali Mohammed

Although the benefits of blended learning have been well documented in educational research, relatively few studies have examined blended mobilities in education in Kurdistan region government and in Iraq. This study discusses a blended mobility approach for a teacher training program designed for in-service English language teachers (ELT) and investigates its effectiveness by comparing the latest participation of the University of Human Development for computer science and proposing the same program for training English for lecturers and students. The research involved proposes new mobility program for teaching and learning English language and using their language skills in an ongoing business project using several software for communication and management of their projects. Results will show the framework for new blended learning and blended mobilities of many different English language teaching (ELT) aspects.


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