Language and Content: An EOP Radio Communications Course for
learner; and when there is sufficient opportunity to engage in meaningful use of that language in a relatively anxiety-free environment.
One of the pilots - an instructor himself - gave us an intensive two- month- course on basic aviation to let us know their needs as well as to organize and write the materials, which continued with a meeting per week during the course. A three-month course with one three-hour session per week was agreed.
We wrote around a hundred pages of materials with information, activities and assignments on Radio Communications. These constituted their file and were projected as PowerPoint presentations with the aid of a laptop and a data projector. Real exchanges were recorded in mp3 format, for class use and sent by e- mail for further practice. This is central question Johns & Dudley-Evans (1991) address. One of the core dilemmas they presents is that "ESP teachers find themselves in a situation where they are expected to produce a course that exactly matches the needs of a group of learners, but are expected to do so with no, or very limited, preparation time".
In the real world, many ESL instructors/ESP developers are not provided with ample time for needs analysis, materials research and materials development.
There are many texts which claim to meet the needs of ESP courses. However, Johns (1990) also comments that no one ESP text can live up to its name.
Familiarizing oneself with useful instructional materials is part of growing as a teacher, regardless of the nature of purpose for learning. Given that ESP is an approach and not a subject to be taught, curricular materials will unavoidably be pieced together, some borrowed and others designed specially. Resources will include authentic materials, ESL materials, ESP materials, and teacher-generated materials.
In that sense, it was thanks to technology that class material could be designed for each lesson. We were able to isolate specific and meaningful information from the different units of software using the computer and displaying it with a data projector. Real exchanges were downloaded from official sites on the internet.
Audio-visual demonstration was facilitated by manipulation of flight simulators.
Phraseology and weather forecast dictation was delivered through handies as done in real life situations. Students watched scenes of real Aviation English displayed on TV. And, students' exchanges (during role-playing) were recorded on mp3 format – these recordings were sent to them via email for further practice and
self-evaluation.
A Alfa N November B Bravo O Oscar C Charlie P Papa D Delta Q Quebec E Echo R Romeo F Foxtrot S Sierra G Golf T Tango H Hotel U Uniform I India V Victor J Juliet W Whisky K Kilo X Ex Ray L Lima Y Yankee M Mike Z Zulu
1 one 6 six 2 two 7 seven 3 three tri 8 eight 4 four fauer 9 nine niner 5 five faif 0 zero Activity 2: Aeronautical Alphabet Activity 4: The Numbers (digits)
It was interesting to see how language began to interact with content, as most of the students were experienced pilots and so, familiar with the specific terminology. Still, their pronunciation needed polish-up. The group of students constituted a mixed-ability class, bound together by their personal relationship.
They were actively involved in their learning process with our guidance and support of their classmates. The course was structured to give students as much practice as possible so they could reach their full potential as English language learners.
Cooperative learning was needed since the students were of different linguistic and educational backgrounds and different skill levels, but worked together on common tasks for a common goal in either the language or the content. This cooperative group encouraged students to communicate, to share insights, test hypotheses, and jointly construct knowledge. As another grouping strategy the course involved peer tutoring and pairing a weak learner with a more English- proficient peer.
Whole language approach was also present due to the fact that the students needed to experience language as an integrated whole. The lessons focused on the need for an integrated approach to language instruction within a context that was meaningful to students. The approach was consistent with integrated language and content instruction as both emphasized meaningful engagement and
autonomous stage (performance becomes automatic, requiring little attentional effort; in this stage cognitive resources are feed up for the next cycle of problem solving, concept learning). (Anderson (1990; 1993).
Selected Standard Phrases No
Si
Recibí su mensaje, lo entendí y procederé en consecuencia Recibí toda su última transmisión (No usar para responder una pregunta que requiere respuesta SI o NO).
Cometí un error Lo entendió
Continúe con su mensaje Lo que entendió es correcto
¿Puede repetirlo?
Colacióneme mi mensaje Me quedo en stand by Verifique lo siguiente
Lo llamé más de una vez – por favor confirme si me está recibiendo Dígame si ha recibido y entendido mi mensaje
Dígame sus planes
He recibido sólo información de la pista, viento y altímetro (no ATIS)
¿Cómo me colaciona?
SIGNIFICADO USO
Negative Affirmative Wilco Roger
Correction Confirm Go ahead That is correct Say again Read back Stand by Verify Do you read?
Acknowledge Advise intentions Have numbers How do you hear me?
Results and Discussion
At the end of the three months, out of the twelve participants, ten finished the course. Two quit soon: they had little knowledge of English and were also junior pilots. The Summative Oral Evaluation comprised real situations prepared in pairs during ten minutes, then recorded in mp3; correction was made in relation to Pronunciation, Structure, Fluency and Comprehension (descriptors taken from Level 4 – Operational - ICAO).
Students were asked to compose a dialogue between a pilot and the air traffic authentic language use, and both linked oral and written language development.
The whole language strategies that were implemented in this content-centred language course included dialogues about flight plans, reading responses, using aviation phraseology and departing and arriving at airports.
Content based instruction promoted negotiation of meaning, which was known to enhance language acquisition (students should negotiate both form and content) (Lightbrown & Spada, 1993).
The integration of language and content in instruction respected the specificity of functional language use (it recognizes that meaning changes depending upon context) (Genesee, 1994).
From the beginning, the course proposed a cognitive learning theory for instruction that integrated attention to content and language. Skills and knowledge followed a general sequence of states of learning from the cognitive stage (students notice and attend to information in working memory; they engage in solving basic problems with the language and concepts they are acquiring) to the associative stage (errors are corrected and connections to related knowledge are strengthened; knowledge and skills become proceduralized) to the
References
Met, Myriam. (1991). Learning language through content: Learning content through language. Foreign Language Annals, 24(4), 281-2955a - Anderson, J. R. (1990). Cognitive psychology and its implications (3rd ed.). NY: W. H. Freeman.
Krashen, S. (1982). Principles and practices in second language acquisition. NY: Pergamon Press.
Krashen, S. (1985). The input hypothesis: Issues and implications. NY: Longman-
Johns, A., & Dudley-Evans, T. (1991). English for Specific Purposes: International in scope, specific in purpose. TESOL Quarterly, 25.
Lightbrown, P.M. & Spada, N. (1993). How languages are learned. NY: Oxford University Press.
Genesee, F. (1994). Integrating language and content: Lessons from immersion. Educational Practice Report 11.
Anderson, J. R. (1993). Problem solving and learning. American Psychologist.
Grabe, W., & Stoller, F. L. (1997). Content-based instruction: Research foundations. In M. A. Snow, & D.
M. Brinton (Eds.), The content-based classroom: Perspectives on integrating language and content (pp. 5-21). NY: Longman.
Stoller, F. (2002, March). Content-Based Instruction: A Shell for Language Teaching or a Framework for Strategic Language and Content Learning? Keynote presented at the annual meeting of Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages, Salt Lake City.
Dudley Evans T. & M. St. John (1998) Developments in English for Specific Purposes, A multi-disciplinary approach, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
Robinson, P (1991) ESP Today: A Practitioner's Guide, Prentice Hall International English Language Teaching, Hemel Hempstead.
controller, selecting a different stage from the moment of departure or arrival at an airport. They had to use the correct phraseology with real information about planes, runways, weather and flight plan. The students were given ten minutes to prepare the writing and then their conversations were recorded. They handed in the sheets which, together with the audio, were analized afterwards. The evaluation resulted in a mark and pointed out mistakes to be corrected.
Pronunciation was the only item to improve, it did not represent communication interference though.
This paper discusses key notions about ESP, examines issues in ESP curriculum design, material design and approach selection as well as the importance of technology as meaningful motivator. The content of the paper was determined by a need identified based on professional experience as ESL instructors designing and delivering the content-based language program – English Aviation. These issues, where possible, have been supported by current and pertinent literature.
Conclusion
The experience has shown that content-based instruction results in language learning, content learning, increased motivation and interest, increase in listening and speaking levels, and greater opportunities for interactions (where language abilities are necessary): the research has emerged into a successful Aviation EOP course. (see Grabe and Stoller (1997) and Stoller (2002) for details).
Content based instruction allowed for greater flexibility to be built into the curriculum and activities; there were more opportunities to adjust to the needs and interests of students.
The integration of language and content throughout a sequence of language levels had the potential to address the challenge of gaps between basic English vs.
Operational Aviation English existing among the group of Pilots. Technology as a tool helped make more motivating lessons, show real Aviation English situations, authentic students' participation and usage of the language.
It is expected that these observations will lend insight into the challenges facing the ESL instructor acting as ESP researcher, curriculum developer, materials writer, tester, evaluator, classroom teacher (Dudley Evans & St John, 1998) or simply put, ESP practitioner (Robinson, 1991).