University Ziane Achour, Djelfa Master Two.

Faculty of Letters and Languages ESP

Course Instructor: Dr. Ouafa Ouarniki E-mail: [email protected]

1. Course design

Once we have conducted needs analysis and have become familiar with what our
learners need to be able to do, we can move forward to designing a syllabus for our course.
By running a proper needs analysis, we answer WHY learners need to learn, WHO is going to
be involved in the process, WHERE the course will take place, and WHEN it will be taught
(Hutchinson and Waters, 1987, p.21-22).

The next step would to address WHAT and HOW of the course. By WHAT we mean
the aspects of language and what topics and areas learners need to learn and what level of
proficiency is to be achieved (Hutchinson and Waters, 1987: 21-22). By HOW we mean “how
to transform subject matter knowledge into something that can be taught” (Graves 2000:4).
The diagram below (2.2) encompasses all the elements that the above mentioned questions
made reference to.

Factors affecting ESP course design.

 At first, the data should be interpreted in order to produce a design, select materials,
and develop a methodology for teaching them. While doing so, Hutchinson and Waters
(1987:65) want us to remember that there might be a clash between what the learners need
and what they actually want. They point out that “there is no one-to-one transfer from needs
analysis to course design”. While there are many different approaches to course design,
Hutchinson and Waters (1987:65) identify three main branches: language-centered,
skillscentered, and learning-centered approach.

In language-centered approachthe practitioner designs a syllabus as closely to target

situation findings as possible. Therefore only a very small part of English is taught to the
learners. The learner is used only to identify the restricted area of English that will be taught,
thus making this approach the opposite of learner-oriented (Hutchinson and Waters, 1987:67).
While simple and straight-forward, language-centered approach might be viewed as inflexible
and rigid.

On the other hand, skills-centered approachlooks at “the competence that underlines

the performance” (Hutchinson and Waters, 1987: 69). This approach is thus not goal-oriented
but rather focuses on developing learners´ skills and strategies, which can be used after the
ESP course is finished. Skills-centered approach does not look at the surface performance, or
the general objectives of the course, but rather focuses on more specific competence, or
specific objectives of the course. Holmes (1982) claims that skills-centered approach is
realistic in taking students´ abilities into consideration, enabling them to achieve what they
can, given their language skills, and motivating them to continue, after the course is over.

Finally, learning-centered approachputs emphasis on the fact that “learning is totally

determined by the learner” (Hutchinson and Waters, 1987:72). This approach is not only
concerned with learners´ competence, but also with how the learners acquire it. Unlike the
other two, learning-centered approach “takes account of the learner at every stage of the
design process” (p.74). It means that a syllabus based on this approach must be flexible and
dynamic, incorporating feedback tools as well in order to respond to the developments in the
learners´ needs throughout the whole course.

The choice of course design is crucial as it will influence the production of the
syllabus, selection and adaptation of the content of the course, developing the methodology
for teaching the materials, and defining the evaluation process in order to see if the
established needs were met. Looking back at the course designs described above, a conclusion
can be made that learning-centered approach would be the most suitable in the case ESP
courses. This particular course design would be efficient as the students of this course are well
aware of what kind of skills they need to possess in order to be more effective. Since the
course will be designed according to the students´ needs, a feedback along the way will
represent a crucial element in responding to the students´ demands. Moreover, the pace of the
course and amount of materials might be adapted as well so that they correspond with the
students´ needs.

2. Steps and Procedures in Designing the ESP Course

Within the same context, Graves suggested a framework of ESP course-development

which has been followed by the researcher in the process of ESP course design. Graves (1996
and 2000) proposed a systematic syllabus design consisting of six steps. Those steps are:

1. Conducting students’ needs assessment, followed by needs analysis

2. Determining the goals and objectives of the course.

3. Conceptualizing the content.

4. Selecting and developing materials and activities.

5. Organizing the content and activities.

6. Evaluating.
 Graves’ (2000) model of curriculum design.

It is noteworthy that Graves (2000 :15) in this regard has observed that ESP course designers
do not necessarily give any of the steps any precedence over others, saying that … “there is
no hierarchy in the processes and no sequences in their accomplishment. As a course
designer, you can begin anywhere in the framework, so long as it makes sense to you to begin
where you do”.

Step 1 : Conducting Needs Analysis

Regarding needs analysis in ESP, Basturkman (2010:19) observes:

Needs analysis in ESP refers to a course development

process. In this process the language and skills that the
learners will use in their target professional or vocational
workplace or in their study areas are identified and
considered in relation to the present state of knowledge of
the learners, their perceptions of their needs and the
practical possibilities and constraints of the teaching
context. The information obtained from this process is
 used in determining and refining the content and method
of the ESP course.

According to Hyland (2006 : 73), “needs analysis refers to the techniques for
collecting and assessing information that is relevant to course design. It is the means of
establishing the how and what of a course. It is a continuous process, since we modify our
teaching as we come to learn more about our students, and in this way it actually shades into
evaluation – the means of establishing the effectiveness of a course. ”

Needs analysis is neither unique to language teaching nor within language training but
it is often seen as being the cornerstone of ESP and leads to a very focused course.(Dudley –
Evans and St. John, 1998). According to Munby (1978), the work done in the field of ESP has
generally followed the assumption that if a group of learners’ English language needs can be
accurately identified and specified, this can be used to determine the content of a language
programme that will meet these needs. Basturkman (2010 :138) has also observed in this
regard that “needs analysis has long been argued to be the cornerstone of ESP”. Therefore, it
is obvious that a thorough organizational and instructional needs assessment lies at the heart
of a well-designed, effective ESP course.

By conducting an organizational and instructional needs assessment, the ESP

practitioner tries to discover information about the needs of his/her learners and other
stakeholders. The term ‘stake holder’ refers to all the people who have an interest in the
specific ESP course that is being developed. According to Friedenberg et al. (2003), stake
holders are the people, who for different reasons want the training program to succeed and
stake holders include the client or sponsor who requests that the course should be offered (a
university department, company/organizational or individual) learners, the teachers, and
potentially others.

Gathering Information for the TSA and PSA

How ESP practitioners gather information for the Target Situation Analysis(TSA) and
Present Situation Analysis (PSA) will depend on their specific situation. The effective ESP
practitioners will gather information from a variety of sources to build a complete view of the
learners' current skills and training needs and gain crucial support for the training program
from key stake holders. This can help the training provider negotiate more realistic outcomes
within a given time frame or gain additional resources to achieve the desired goals.

Step2 : Determination of Goals and Objectives of the Course

A goal is something that one wants to achieve and in the case of language learning,
goals are, general statements of the overall, long term purpose of the course but they are not
vague. In Graves’ words, ‘goals are a way of putting into words the main purposes and
intended outcomes of your course and if we use an analogy of a journey, the destination is the
goal; the journey is the course’ (2000 :75). Goals are related to the acquisition of a job in the
future or communication of the target language community (Harmer, 1991). They should not
aim only at the acquisition of certain knowledge and skills but also at the development of a
positive attitude towards language and culture. Goals should be realistic; otherwise the
students would be de-motivated (Richards, 1990).

Objectives, on the other hand, are the specific ways in which the goals will be
achieved and objectives serve as a bridge between goals and needs and generally several
objectives make up a goal (Graves, 2000). They may refer to ‘activities, skills, language type
or a combination of them all’ (Harmer, 1991:269). Objectives should be congruent to the
goals and relevant to how the teacher conceptualize the content of the course (Nunan, 1988).
Formulating goals and objectives for a particular course is very important in ESP course
design as it allows the ESP practitioners to create a clear picture of what the course is going to
be about. Clear understanding of goals and objectives will help teachers to be sure about what
material to teach, and when and how it should be taught.

Step 3 : Conceptualizing the ESP Course Content

ESP practitioners mostly use exactly the same textbooks and syllabuses while teaching
different students with the same or similar major. But students with different majors and their
needs are different and with the rapid development of the ESP world, changes in students’
needs and interests are inevitable. Therefore, in establishing a learner-centered approach there
should be a shift in ESP pedagogy in the selection of the content of the course and this shift
should be aimed at serving the learners' interests and needs. Conceptualizing the ESP course
content in a proper way could serve those interests and needs. According to Graves (1996 and
2000), conceptualizing the content means figuring out what aspects of language and language
learning are included, emphasized and integrated in a course. Therefore, when taking into
account information about the students, goals, and objectives, ESP teachers need to determine
which aspects of ESP learning will be included, emphasized, integrated, and used as a core of
the course to address students' needs and expectations.

There are different ways of conceptualizing the content. The traditional way of
conceptualizing content in an ESP course involves teaching grammatical structures, sentence
patterns and vocabulary.It is known as the syntactic approach to syllabus design, but it has
lost much of its appeal after the advent of what is known as communicative approach in ESP.
Conceptualizing the content is not a context-free process ; therefore, the communicative
approach should be followed in conceptualizing ESP content. According to Van Ek as cited in
Graves (1996), the communicative approach is based on ideas about language, and about
purposes of language learning, and it has added several dimensions to conceptualizing
content. It introduced the dimension of language functions such as greeting, apologizing and
persuading and conveying information and the dimension of notions such as time, space and
relationship to specific topic related such as home, weather and personal identification.

Moreover, communicative language teaching is seen as being used for communicative

purposes in situations with other people, which calls on the learner to pay attention to both the
content of the language and its appropriateness with respect to formality, non-verbal behavior,
tone and so on. For example, a communicative situation includes such an action as ordering
food in restaurant and requesting information at a bank and so on. And as the proficiency
movement in language teaching gained popularity, and the development of proficiency
guidelines have emphasized the four skills based approach to syllabus design (Omaggio
Hadley 1993). Yalden (1983 : 124) has also suggested that different elements (linguistic
forms; functional, discourse, and rhetorical components; specialized content and surface
features of language) should be emphasized in different proportions at various phases of
language learning and incorporated into the syllabus. Consequently, syllabus grid made on the
basis of the above approach would look as follows:
 Content
Culture Tasks and activities Competencies
Listening skills Speaking skills Reading skills Writing Skills
Functions Notions and topics Communicative situations
Grammar Pronunciation Vocabulary
Syllabus Gridtaken from (Graves, 1996, p.34).

Thus, while conceptualizing the ESP course content, ESP teachers can aim at focusing
on developing not only grammatical competence of ESP learners but also communicative
competence, which encompasses grammatical competence, sociolinguistic competence,
strategic competence and discourse competence, (Canale, 1983). It should also become clear
that all these skills and aspects of the language are interwoven in the real- life communication.
Therefore, they should be treated, taught, and tested as one inseparable unit as suggested
above.

Step 4 : Selecting and Developing ESP Materials and Activities

The choice of materials may involve the development of new material when teaching a
course if there are no suitable materials for it. It may also involve collection of various
materials or adaptation of existing ones in order to tailor them to the student needs and
interests. That is, if an ESP teacher is pressed for time and dependent on a textbook, he/she
may adopt and adapt it to the needs and interests of his/her students and use it time and again.
Nation and Macalister (2010) have also suggested adopting and adapting language textbooks
as per the context and needs of the learners, as required. Furthermore, ESP materials should
be authentic, meaning that these materials were designed for purposes other than teaching
(Nunan, 1985). Regarding the use of materials in the ESP classroom, Harding notes:

- Use contexts, texts and situations from the students’ subject area. Whether they are real or
simulated, they will naturally involve the language the students need.

- Exploit authentic materials that students use in their specialism or vocation –and don’t be
put off by the fact that it may not look like ‘normal English’.

- Make the tasks authentic as well as the texts. Get the students doing things with the material
that they actually need to do in their work. (Harding et al., 2007 :10-11).
 Treating authentic materials as very important in an ESP course, Basturkmen
(2010:63) also observes that “Authentic texts play an important role in demonstrating ‘real’
language use. If we aim to demonstrate to our class of nursing students the forms and features
of nursing care plans, we would generally wish to show the class samples of authentic care
plans.” However, finding suitable authentic texts is not always easy. According to
McDonough (1984), the source of teaching materials can be published materials (textbooks,
journals, and magazines), real speech (lecturers, hotel communication, and seminars),
specialized texts and materials that are simplified and adapted from public materials or
instances of real speech. Besides, students’ tasks and activities should enable them to deal
with situations related to their future employment or study.

Similarly, these activities should be interesting in order to motivate ESP students

(Xenodohidis, 2006). Simulation games and problem solving techniques should be
appropriate and of interest to the students Moreover, communication situations need to
involve students since they give a different dimension to language learning. In this regard,
Graves (1996:37) notes, “such an approach may facilitate the search for materials in that
emphasis is not the materials themselves but on what the students do with them.”

Step 5 : Organization of Course Content and Activities

Organization of course content is known as sequencing or grading.It is important since it

provides the teacher and the students with a clear idea of what will be taught (Xenodohidis,
2006). Grading or sequencing has been defined as the arrangement of the content of a
language course or textbook so that it is presented in a helpful way. Gradation would affect
the order in which words, word meanings, tenses, structures, topics, functions, and skillsare
presented. Gradation may be based on the complexity of an item, its frequency in written or
spoken English, or its importance for the learner (Richards, 2006). Regarding the organization
of the course content and activities, Widdowson, (1990 :127) cited in Robinson (2009) has
remarked in this regard that the syllabus formalizes the content to be learned in a domain of
knowledge or behavior, and “arranges this content in a succession of interim objectives.”
According to Richards (2001) and Richards and Schmidt (2010), principles on which
sequencing of content in language teaching courses should be based include a number of
important parameters simple to complex (easier items occur before more difficult ones),
chronology (items occur according to the order in which events naturally occur, e.g. listening
before speaking) , need (items occur according to when learners are most likely to need them
outside of the classroom). In addition, we can cite prerequisite learning (an item is taught
because it provides a foundation for the next step in the learning process), whole to part or
part to whole (the overall structure of an item, such as a paragraph, may be taught before its
components part, or vice versa), spiral sequencing (items are recycled but with new aspects of
the item appearing with subsequent appearances).

According to Graves (1996 and 2000) there are two principles that underlie the
concept of sequencing material; building and recycling. Building can follow the process of the
simple to the more complex, from concrete to more open ended, while recycling means that
the students deal with previously taught materials in a new way “in a new skill area, in a
different type of activity or with a new focus” (Graves :38). There are two other ways to
consider course organization as a cycle or as a matrix. In a cyclical approach, the teacher
introduces a cycle of activities following a consistent sequence. In a matrix approach, the
teacher works with some activities and as time passes, decides with which ones to continue
depending on the interests of the students and availability of the materials (Graves, 1996).

All or some of the above activities may be done following a content based instruction
(CBI) approach, also known as Content and Language Integrated Learning(CLIL), “a method
that integrates language instruction with subject matter instruction in the target language, for
example, studying science, social studies or mathematics through the medium of English in a
content-based ESL program.” (Richards et al. :125). In this regard, Hyland (2006 : 86) has
commented:

Content-based syllabuses are thematic, sheltered or adjunct types,

differing in their orientations towards language and
content. Theme-based models emphasize language
competence while sheltered models attempt to help
students master content material and so are more
discipline-specific (Brinton et al., 1989:18). In the adjunct
model the language course is linked with a content course
which shares the same content base, the rationale being
 that students will develop strategies and skills which will
transfer from one course to the other. In this type of
syllabus, language is also seen as functional and is
integrated with the teaching of content.

Brinton (2003) has also noted in this account that principles for CBI include basing
instructional decisions on content rather than on language criteria, integrating the four skills
of writing, reading, listening and speaking into the course. Besides, they involve students in
all phases of the learning process, choosing content for its relevance to students’ lives,
interests and/or academic goals, selecting authentic texts and tasks and drawing students’
obvert attention to language features of [specialized discourse], which is in fact discourse
analysis meaning descriptions of the language use in a particular domain.

Specialized discourse analysis is considered to be an important step in ESP course

design since an ESP course would aim at offering realistic descriptions of discourse derived
from empirical investigations of communication and language use in the community or
specialist field. Admitting that specialized discourse analysis in ESP course design is
invaluable, Basturkmen (2010 : 36) too, has also observed:

ESP endeavours to teach the language the learners need to

communicate effectively in their work or study areas.
Given this central premise, it goes without saying that the
language content of the course needs to be based on
detailed, accurate and realistic descriptions of how
language is actually used in these areas.

Dudley-Evans (2001 :134) equally suggested giving importance to text analysis, he

stated that the key stage after needs assessment in ESP course development and materials
design is ‘when the ESP teacher considers the (written or spoken) texts that the learner has to
produce and/or understand, tries to identify the texts’ key features and devises teaching
materials that will enable learners to use the texts effectively’. As to sequencing, the content
and activities of the syllabus may also be sequenced based on the standard operational
procedure (SOP) of the related job. The tasks to be performed in each stage need to be
identified. Those identified tasks are then sequenced based on the operational procedure. The
sequenced tasks are again analyzed to reveal the language functions and language expressions
needed for those tasks. Certain information related to the cultural understanding and standard
performance required for those tasks can also be assessed and analyzed. This approach is
known as Task-Based language Teaching (TBALT). The Task-based approach to language
teaching is a comparatively new approach which is based on the findings of linguists and
psychologists.

This approach runs counter to the principle of traditional approaches such as PPP
(presentation, practice, production) model of teaching (Foster, 1999). The Task based
syllabus, which is the cornerstone of TBA is defined by Richards et.al. as “a syllabus which is
organised around TASKs, rather than in terms of grammar or vocabulary. For example,
syllabus may suggest a variety of different kinds of task which the learner are expected to
carry out in the language, such as using the telephone to obtain information; drawing maps
based on oral instruction; giving orders and instruction to others, etc.” (2010 :585). TBLT
takes into account the need for authentic materials. It is a more effective way of learning a
language since it provides a purpose for the use and learning of a language other than simply
learning language items for their own sake. It emphasizes the need for designing relevant
activities for the real world language needs of the students. It suggests that the activities in
which the language is used to complete meaningful tasks enhance learning. TBLT proposes
the teaching of the real tasks that are necessitated in the future job or study (Nunan, 1988).
Breen (2001 :153) noted:

Two main tasks types are identified in task-based syllabus design: a syllabus may be
constituted of (1) communicative or target-like tasks or (2) metacommunicative or learning
tasks. The former are those involving learners in sharing meaning in the target language about
everyday tasks….The second task type is facilitative of the learner’s involvement in
communicative or target like tasks. It involves learners in sharing meaning about how the
language works or used in target situations and/or sharing meaning about students’ learning
processes. Furthermore, ESP teachers sometimes find it difficult to motivate their
professionally oriented students for language learning when they find themselves troubled by
lack of sufficient content knowledge and when they find the textbooks to be boring. In this
case TBLT with real-life tasks may raise motivation among the students.
Step 6 : Evaluation

Evaluation is the last, but not the least important stage in ESP course design.
Hutchinson et al. (1987) have noted that evaluation consists of two forms: learner assessment
and course evaluation.They added that learner assessment should be done in order to decide
whether the desired proficiency level of students to perform the communicative tasks have
been achieved and that results of this kind of evaluation helps all stake holders to ‘decide
whether and how much language instruction is required’ (p.114). Hughes (2003) has
discussed four purposes for language testing: to measure proficiency, to diagnose specific
strengths and weaknesses, to place students in a course or program and to assess their
achievement in a course or program.

On the other hand, Hyland (2006 :99) thinks that :

Assessment refers to the ways used to evaluate information about a learner’s

language ability or achievement. It is an integral aspect of
the teaching–learning process and central to students’
progress towards increasing control of their skills and
understandings. It is also an everyday classroom practice,
as teachers continually make judgments about the
progress, strengths and weaknesses of their learners and
communicate these to students. Assessment therefore has
both a teaching and testing function, and a distinction is
often made between formative and summative assessment.
As a formative process, assessment is closely linked with
teaching and with issues of teacher response, or feedbacks,
allowing the teacher to advise students, monitor learning
and fine-tune instruction. Summative assessment, in turn,
is concerned with ‘summing up’ how much a student has
learned at the end of a course.

However, both formative and summative assessment should be followed by ESP

practitioners while assessing students and as such they should structure their classroom
activities so that they can assess their students while the students are participating in a course.
And the summative assessment form should be used to assess students’ achievement at the
end of the course.
ESP practitioners should evaluate their courses to improve and promote their
effectiveness by filling the needs of the stake holders and as such, course evaluation should be
conducted to find out whether the course objectives and goals are being achieved or have been
achieved. Hutchinson et al. (1987 :152) have observed in this respect:

Since the ESP course exists to satisfy a particular educational need,

evaluation helps to show how well the course is actually
fulfilling the need. A sponsor may also wish to be supplied
with clear information about the suitability of the course
and may well base decisions as to further investment and
support on the results.

Therefore, all the stake holders should be involved in the evaluation process and by
using questionnaires, surveys, talks, etc., ESP practitioners may ask the students to express
their opinion on the subject matter, instructional methods, activities, and teacher’s role and
performance and so on. Evaluation of the course is a brave step on the part of the ESP
practitioner. In this regard, he/she should be open-minded in listening to and acting on the
learners' comments, suggestions and criticism in planning and teaching future ESP courses.

3. Development of an ESP Course

ESP practitioners are not restricted to developing a new course just by planning a course,
since course development is an on-going process. This development process is displayed in
the figure below:

Development Process of an ESP course :(Graves,1996)

According to Graves (1996), course development includes planning a course, teaching

it and modifying the teaching plan, while the course is in progress and after the course is over.
Graves (2000) has remarked in this respect that “teaching is an organic, unpredictable,
challenging, satisfying and frustrating process and it is not an imperfect craft but a dynamic
one.” Quite often in the classroom events occur in an unexpected or unplanned way. So the
next course objectives of the teacher will change as per what happened in an unpredictable
way in the classroom. Moreover, with the new needs of new students, the goals and objectives
set by the teacher in the previous course will change. That is to say, that as time passes, we
may have students with different needs and backgrounds, which will inevitably make it
necessary for course designers to modify every course and adjust it to the needs and interests
of a particular group of students. In sum,to cope with this situation, ESP teachers should be
innovative and flexible.

Conclusion

To conclude, Needs Assessment or Needs Analysis in ESP plays a very important role
in both the learning and teaching processes. In the former, it is crucial for the learners to
present their views regarding their needs in order to enable the finding out of materials which
would match their accurate needs as they are in the awareness stage where they can easily
perceive their accurate needs. In the latter, pedagogically, it is very worthwhile for ESP
practitioners to juxtapose their perception to the students’ perception in order to extract
suitable materials.