Sar i Hidayat i, M. A.
Yogyakar t a St at e Univer sit y
sar i_hid@yahoo. com/ sar i_hidayat i@uny. ac. id
I.
English f or Specif ic Pur poses (ESP)
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init ial ly devel oped at t he end of Second Worl d War in 1945•
as t he response of expansions in science, t echnology and commerce•
brought a consequence of Engl ish becoming t he accept ed int ernat ional l anguage•
In it s devel opment , ESP is def ined byHut chinson and Wat ers (1987) as an approach t o l anguage l earning
Being si mpl y an approach (Hut chinson and Wat ers, 1987) :
•
ESP does not ref er t o a special f orm of l anguage, grammar nor dif f erent f orm of l anguage t eaching.•
Rat her, it is an aproach t o course designs t hat accomodat e part icul ar needs of l earnersThis paper describes t he chal l enges f aced by st udent s t aking ESP as universit y subj ect
II.
ESP in t he Cur r iculum
In English Educat ion St udy Program, Yogyakart a St at e Universit y:
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ESP course has t wo credit s•
t aken by st udent s in t heir sixt h semest er•
at t ended by bet weeen 40 and 50 st udent s•
bef ore t aking ESP subj ect t he st udent s t ook subj ect s such as Sociol inguist ics, TEFL Met hodol ogy, Engl ish Inst ruct ional Technol ogy, and School Curricul um Devel opment•
some ot her simil arl y support ing subj ect s, such asThis course is aimed at
•
providing skil l s in designing programs on English f or Specif ic Purposes whet her f or t he needs of occupat ional or general school s•
creat ing an at t it ude t o give an emphasis on t he l earner and t he pract ical needs of l earningEngl ish
Transf erring t he course descript ion t o t he realit y. .
•
dividing t he syl l abus int o t wo maj or t hemes, i. e. discussions of t heories and workshops•
f ocusing more on t he workshops t han t he discussions of t heoriesThe ul t imat e goal is t hat I can bring int o t he
Topics covered in discussion sessions incl ude basic
Needs Anal ysis & Assessing Needs,
Organizing t he Course (syll abus design), and
Mat erial s Development and Eval uat ion
During t he workshops:
work in groups of 4-5 members
As some t opics need a f oll ow-up out side
cl asssroom, t hey need more t han one meet ing t o compl et e, e. g. t he t opic of Needs Anal ysis and Assessing Needs t ook 3 meet ings f or
E. g. Needs Anal ysis and Assessing Needs conduct Needs Anal ysis by int erviewing and or
observing t he t arget l earners.
Week 2 : st udent s present ed t he result of t he int erview and observat ion and received f eedback f rom t he cl ass and l ect urer
III. Challenges in Designing ESP cour se
A. Det er mining Goals and Obj ect ives
Concept ual izing t he inf ormat ion of ‘ What do l earners need t o l earn?’ int o part icul ar goal s and obj ect ives
Some st udent s f ound t hat t he obj ect ives t hey suggest ed seemed t oo general
B. Designing Syllabus
select ing, adapt ing and put t ing t he l anguage f ocus in appropriat e sequence
det ermining course durat ion, t he number of
meet ings, and mat ching what l earners need t o l earn wit h t heir l anguage prof iciency seemed t o be
C. Developing Mat er ials
col l ect ing t ext s cont aining rel evant t opics in l earners’ f ield
adj ust ing t he t ext s wit h l earners’ l evel of prof iciency once t hey came across t opic-rel evant t ext s
IV. Conclusion
Second, st udent s needed more t rainings t o put t he concept s int o pract ice, especial l y in f ormulat ing t he goal s and obj ect ives, organizing t he cont ent s t o
produce a syl l abus and searching f or suit abl e mat erial s t hat f it l earners’ needs. Devel opment , and Sociol inguist ics in Educat ional
REFERENCES
Hut chinson, T & Wat ers, A. (1991). Engl i sh f or Speci f i c
Pur poses: A Lear ni ng-Cent er ed Appr oach. Cambridge:
Cambridge Universi t y Press
Graves, K. (1996a). A f ramework of course development processes. In Graves, K. (Ed. ). Teacher s as Cour se
Devel oper s. Cambridge: Cambridge Universi t y Press.
Graves, K. (1996b). Teacher s as Cour se Devel oper s. Cambridge: Cambridge Universi t y Press.
Graves, K. (2000). Desi gni ng Language Cour ses: A Gui de
