ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives االقتصادية والسياسية،للدراسات االستراتيجية Democratic Arab Center for Strategic, Political and Economic Studies In collaboration with The Laboratory of Dialects & Speech Processing (Oran 1) – Algeria The National Research Project P.R.F.U: Toward Critical Thinking Based EFL Class : A Must –to- Have Skill for Impacting Social Change (ENS Oran) Scientific Research & Studies Center- Tobruk University-Libya ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges And Perspectives Conference Chair : Editor : Dr. Ouafa Ouarniki Dr. Hamza Andaloussi First Edition June 2022 ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives Collective Book : ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives Conference Chair : Dr. Ouafa OuarniKi Edited by : Dr. Hamza Andaloussi Honored Committee : Dr . Besnaci Souad Dr . Berrahal Kaid Fatiha Mr. Ammar Sharaan Dr . Rafik Sulaiman Dr. Ahmad E.M. Mohamed VR. 3383- 6640 B Pages : 224 Edition : First Edition June 2022 Publisher : Democratic Arab Center for Strategic, Political and Economic Studies, Berlin, Germany All Rights Are Reserved to The Democratic Arab Center, Berlin, Germany 2022 Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political and Economic Studies Berlin 10315 Tel : 0049-Code Germany 030-54884375 030-91499898 030-86450098 Mobiltelefon : 00491742783717 E-mail :
[email protected]ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives © Democratic Arab Center: Strategic, Political & Economic Studies, Berlin 10315, Germany. The papers were carefully selected to suit the book’s conferrence theme entitled ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives that was held on March 6th & 7th, 2022 and chaired by Dr. Ouafa OuarniKi, University of Djelfa, Algeria. For further information, contact the conference chair through the following e-mail : dr.ouafa-
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[email protected]ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives Conference Chair : Dr. Ouafa OuarniKi - University of Djelfa, Algeria -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Editor of the book : Dr. Hamza Andaloussi, Hassan II University, Morocco -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- President of the Scientific Committee : Dr. Turqui Barkat - University of Biskra, Algeria -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Conference management : General Coordinator of the Conference: Dr. Najia suliman Conference Director : Dr. Karim AICHE Director of Publication : Dr. Ahmed Bohko ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives Honored Committee - Prof Dr . Besnaci Souad – Head of The Laboratory of Dialects & Speech Processing - Prof Dr . Berrahal Kaid Fatiha – Deputy Director in charge of Scientific Research and Technology Development (ENS, Oran, Algeria) - Prof Dr . Rafik Sulaiman – Director of Democratic Arab Center – Berlin - Mr. Ammar Sharaan - Head of Democratic Arab Center - Ahmad E.M. Mohamed – Director of Scientific Research & Studies Center- Tobruk University Scientific Committee - Pr. Zitouni Mimouna – University of Oran2, Algeria - Dr. Agnieszka Dudzik – Medical University of Bialystok,Poland - Dr . Rafik Sulaiman – Director of Democratic Arabic Center – Berlin - Pr. Berrahal Kaid Fatiha – ENS, Oran, Algeria - Pr. (FH) Désirée Verdonk -University of Applied Sciences,Wiener Neustadt, Austria - Dr. Caroline Hyde-Simon – Uniiversity of Zurich, Switzerland - Dr. Ouafa Ouarniki, University of Djelfa, Algeria - Dr. Katalin Egri Ku-Mesu University of Leicester, United Kingdom - Pr. Djaileb Farida – University of Oran2, Algeria - Pr. Besnaci Mohamed University of Lyon 2, France - Dr. Saihi Hanane – University of Biskra, Algeria - Pr. Benhattab Lotfi – University of Oran2, Algeria - Dr.Mimoun Melliti – University of Kairaouan, Tunisia - Pr. Seban Zoubida – University of Oran2, Algeria - Dr. Maha Hassan – University of Cairo, Egypt - Pr. Limame BARBOUCHI, Ibn Zohr University, Agadir, Morocco - Dr. Benmokhtari Hichem – University of Oran2, Algeria - Dr. Amrouch Fouiza – University of Msila, Algeria ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives - Dr. Sahli Fatiha – University of Constantine, Algeria - Dr. Alexsandra Luczak – University of Kozminski, Poland - Dr. Zaghar Fatima Zahra – University Oran 2, Algeria - Dr. Rezig Nadia- University of Biskra, Algeria - Dr. Souhila Soltani – ENS Oran, Algeria - Dr. Salhi Ahlem – University of Biskra, Algeria - Dr. Benaissa Ibtissem – University of Tlemcen, Algeria - Ms. MilenaTanasijevic- University of Metropolitan, Belgrade - Dr. Sarnou Hanane, University of Mostaganem, Algeria - Dr. Grine Zehour, University of Tlemcen, Algeria - Dr. Hanaà Berrezoug,University of Saida, Algeria - Dr. Manel Mizab – Tébessa University, Algeria - Dr. Abir Ghaskil – Batna University, Algeria Organising Committee - Dr. Louiza Meghari – Relizane University, Algeria - Dr. Messaoudi Fatima Constantine University, Algeria - Mrs.Tiaiba Imane – Sétif University, Algeria - Mrs. Kadi Zahra – Ecole Normale supérieur d’informatique, Algeria - Mrs. Arab Wided Constantine University, Algeria - Ms. Rahil Faiza, Boumerdas University, Algeria ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives TABLE OF CONTENTS Author(s) Title Page Range What is Needed in A Globalized World: GE or ESP? An Investigation from EFL Students Perceptions. 1 Nacira GHODBANE 11-34 The Case of Master One LAL Students at the Department of English–Batna 2 University – Algeria Exploring Teachers’ Perspectives on the Challenges Nachoua KELKOULA & of Teaching English for Medical Purposes: 2 35-42 Hanane OUIS the Case of 7 th Year Medicine Students at Bedji Mokhtar ANNABA University (Algeria) The Role of ESP Practitioner 3 Fatiha SAHLI 43-51 and the Use of Technology I am a Global Learner 4 Abir Soundous GHASKIL The Urge to Establish an ESP Master Program 52-61 in the Algerian University 5 Agnieszka DUDZIK Beyond words: teaching English for Medical Purposes 62-68 Challenges of Integrating Culture in ESP Course 6 Somia BOUDINAR at the Algerian Tertiary Level: 69-77 The Case of Business English Teachers The Impact of Critical Thinking on Achievement in Athina BOUKHELOUF the Subject of Culture and Civilisation of Language 7 78-89 & Oualid NEMOUCHI among 1st-Year Students of English, Batna 2 University ESP between the Logic and the Scientificin the LMD 8 Souhila BOUKHLIFA Curriculum: the case of First year CPST students at 90-99 Oran’s ENP -Maurice Audin Learning Needs in the Workplace : Some Techniques Khadidja 9 Based on Communicative English Teaching Input for 100-113 HADJ DJELLOUL Banking and Hotel Employees ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives Applying Critical Pedagogy in the Teaching of English 10 Hanaà BERREZOUG 114-119 for Economics in Algerian Universities Digital Literacy Importance in ESP Teacher 11 Radia BOUGUEBS 120-132 Education: Perceptions, Engagements and Reality ESP Teachers’ Perspectives towards Teaching ESP 12 Houda FADEL 133-142 through the Flipped Classroom Approach Needs Assessment : The Cornerstone of an Effective ESP Teaching. The case of Computer Science Master 13 Mokhtaria KHERRAZ 143-156 Students at Dr. Moulay Tahar University-Saida, Algeria Identifying and Analyzing Students’ Needs in a 14 Qwider LARBI Business English Context: the Case of Master2 Public 157-168 Management Students at Tlemcen University Mohamed Charif Teaching Specialized Vocabulary to Property-law 15 169-183 MANSOURI Students: A Focus on Confusing Terminology Using English - Arabic Translation Method as an 16 Noura Bashir SHAGI 184-195 Explanatory Tool for Teaching ESP Pedagogical Qualifications for Teaching English for 17 Amal ZINE 196-208 Specific Purposes New Horizon in Algerian Higher Education ; 18 Manel MOULEME Challengying ESP by Training University Teachers on 209-218 Content-based Instruction ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives As any other kind of language teaching, English for Specific Purposes is first and foremost based on the process of learning, a process which nevertheless addresses the needs of certain communities of learners, namely individuals interested in acquiring some professional skills and performing job related practices. Due to its oriented focus, ESP exhibits some characteristics that differentiate it from ESL (English as a Second Language) or EGP (English for General Purposes). First, it is language in context, this fact requiring real life learning situations, scenarios that tent to replicate the specific working or professional settings the ESP students might be related to or interested in. Instead of focusing on general grammar, vocabulary and language structures, this teaching – learning intercourse stresses the importance of practicing the necessary skills one would mostly employ in their future fields of activity. Since its emergence in the late 1960s, ESP has undergone a constant process of development, defining its scope, improving methodology, shaping its objectives and orientations, and enlarging the number of course books designed to serve its purposes. Yet, ESP teaching practices remain extremely varied depending on practitioners, institutions and countries. Therefore, this conference focuses on today’s diversity of ESP teaching/learning. It also raises the question of the theoratical foundations of ESP practices and, as such, welcomes papers on all aspects and issues of ESP didactics. The main objective of the conference is to bring together researchers and practitioners in the field of ESP over discussions of various themes building upon their classroom experiences and field research tracking day- to- day challenges and obstacles In sum, the encompassing ambition of the conference is to attain solutions that would, hopefully, improve the teaching of ESP by discussing the importance of developing and intorducing training programs for ESP practitioners. ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives What is Needed in A Globalized World: GE or ESP? An Investigation from EFL Students' Perceptions. The Case of Master One LAL Students at the Department of English–Batna 2 University–Algeria Nacira GHODBANE1 Abstract English language is widely disseminated across the world and considered 1Associate Professor (MCA). (Department of English, Faculty of Letters and Foreign the language of international development and globalization. Hence, Languages, Mostafa Benboulaïd Batna-2 learning English in the globalized world is among the main linguistic University, Algeria) goals to be achieved, but the perceptions of the corresponding way with
[email protected]which English learning coincides with global change proved of great importance. This study is conducted to find out "what is needed in a globalized world: GE or ESP? Through the GE students' perceptions of English learning and to see whether or not it is in accordance with globalization and its demands. The work aims at determining the perceived norms underlying the process of learning English within globalization; and identifying its impact on altering students' understanding of learning English. The hypothesis undertaken in this study assumes that the globalized world might bring new changes in Citation: GHODBANE, N. (2022). What is perceiving the learning of English as GE or ESP. The research method Needed in A Globalized World: GE or ESP? An Investigation from EFL adopted in this investigation is the descriptive method. This latter is used Students' Perceptions. The Case of Master to describe the current perception of students towards the process of One LAL Students at the Department of English learning in an interconnected world via the questionnaire, which English–Batna 2 University–Algeria. In H. Andaloussi (Ed.), ESP Teaching Today : is the basic tool in the data collection process. It is administered to forty- Current Practices, Challenges and three (43) students chosen randomly (1/5th) from Master one LAL at the Perspectives (pp. 11-34). Berlin, Germany: Democratic Arabic Center. Department of English - Batna 2 University. The outcomes attained reveal that most of the students have negative perceptions towards the implemented policy of English language learning, they ascertained that the way of learning English has to change in order to meet their communication needs and allow them a flexible use in an international context. Based on the obtained results, teaching and learning English have to be revolutionized, so that students’ expectations can be realized throughout this linguistic process. Keywords: Globalization, Communicative Strategies, Perception, English Language, General English (GE), English for Specific Purposes (ESP) Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political & Economic Studies What is Needed in A Globalized World: GE or ESP? An Investigation from EFL Students' Perceptions. The Case of Master One LAL Students at the Department of English–Batna 2 University–Algeria Nacira GHODBANE 11 ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives Introduction Globalization is nothing more than a fashionable term that had and will always have its effect on many aspects of life including language. This remarkable term was described by Steger1 (2013) as “the interconnections of global economic, political, cultural and environmental processes that continually transform present conditions” (pp. 7-8). Indeed, globalization transformed the world into an interconnected one where people all over the globe interact locally and beyond the local networks using a shared linguistic code namely “English”. This universal language is seen as the linking point between all the aspects of globalization and its learning/acquisition is a must in order to take an effective part in the globalization era. Thus, English learning should also be consistent and accurate with the newdemands, and satisfactory to its students’ needs. This investigation aims at shedding light on English learning in the globalized world and what is the students’ perceptionsof it. In this section, we tend to set forth delineative explications of the procedures that we act upon in order to obtain suitable answers to the raised questions. Sellitiz et al.2 (1965) defined research design as “the arrangement of conditions for collection and analysis of data in a manner that aims to combine relevance to the research purpose with economy in procedure” (p. 50). In the Globalized world, geographical, cultural, and social constraints became a fashion statement (Waters3, 1995); in which, from a linguistic standpoint, English embraces and positions itself evidently at the forefront of international linguistic leadership. This fact is remarkably embodied in the new contextual grounds wherein English is employed as a communicative tool between countries whose cultural and linguistic backgrounds are completely divergent, with worthwhile statistical findings which reveal that the number of non- native speakers using the English language outweighs the number of native speakers. Accordingly, learning English turns out to be one of the most sought-after achievable ends. In this sense, to be compatible with the transformational mechanisms that English has undergone, students perceive learning English as to be based on a flexible method. The latter must comprise of contents underscoring the inculcating of communicative strategies and how manipulatively being a mutually intelligible speaker. However, students consider the actual undertaken pedagogic paradigm to learn English still revolving mostly around traditional, restrictive outlooks that serve fulfilling a linguistic 1 Steger M, Globalization: A very short introduction, Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 2013, pp. 7–8. 2 Sellitiz, C., Jahoda, M., Deutsch, M., & Cook, S. W. (1965). Research methods in social relations. New York: Holt, Rinehart &Winston. 1965, p.50 3 Waters, M. (1995). Globalization. London: Routledge. Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political & Economic Studies What is Needed in A Globalized World: GE or ESP? An Investigation from EFL Students' Perceptions. The Case of Master One LAL Students at the Department of English–Batna 2 University–Algeria Nacira GHODBANE 12 ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives competence whose norms basically pertain to, as Kachru 4(1985) depicted them inner circles standards. To a large extent, the latter contravenes the factual point to which English international status and landmark new roles have attended to. Accordingly, this study is conducted to investigate the following: “Does the Globalized world bring change on students’ perceptions towards learning English as GE or as ESP?” Learning English under Globalization became among the most desired linguistic goals, but the perceptions with which learning English coincides with the global shift proved to be of great importance. Thus, the work aims at: (1) finding out the globalization implications on altering students’ understanding of learning English as GE or ESP, and (2) determining the pedagogical perceived norms underlying the process of learning English under Globalization. Hence, it is an endeavor seeking to answer the following questions: (1) What are the bearings of a globalized world on students’ perceptions towards learning English? And (2) What is the globalizing pedagogical thought of norms to learning English as an international language? From the problematic situation that has been raised, we hypothesize that: The globalized world might bring new changes in perceiving thelearning of English as GE or ESP. 1. Literature Review 1.1Historical Background of Globalization In 2013, Efendievaz5 maintained that globalization is not a new phenomenon; it occurred centuries ago when people and corporations were integrating commercially in different countries and lands at great distances. The evolutionary process of globalization was 4 Kachru, B. B. (1985). Standards, codification, and sociolinguistic realism: The English language in the outer circle. In R. Quirk and H.G. Widdowson (Eds.), English in the world: Teaching and learning the language and literature (pp. 11-30). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 5Efendievaz (2013). The history of globalization. Globalization: pros and cons. Retrieved from: https://fr.slideshare.net/efendievaz/globalization-hisroty-pros-and-cons Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political & Economic Studies What is Needed in A Globalized World: GE or ESP? An Investigation from EFL Students' Perceptions. The Case of Master One LAL Students at the Department of English–Batna 2 University–Algeria Nacira GHODBANE 13 ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives described in three stages by Kumaravadivelu6 (2008); Ranamathan and Morgan7(2007); and Robertson8(2003). 1.2 Defining Globalization Globalization is one of the most contentious and complicated topics which occupies the interest of many aspects around the globe. It is defined by many researchers, namely:Black, Hashimzade, and Myles9 (2009); Fierdman10 (1999); Giddens11(1990); Jameson12 (1998); Ritzer13 (2007); Steger14 (2013); Waters15 (1995), etc. these are some of their definitions with respect to the above order: Black, Hashimzade, and Myles (2009) asserted globalization in its general sense, which refers to the worldwide incorporation of cultural, political, religious, and economic systems. It is the way in which the whole world became a single market in a way that different goods, services, information, and research results are flowing between nations. This fashionable term was also defined by Fierdman16 (1999) as: The inexorable integration of markets, nation-states and technologies to a degree never witnessed before – in a way that is enabling individuals, corporations and nation-states to reach around the world farther, faster, deeper, and cheaper than ever before, and in a way that is also 6 Kumaravadivelu, B. (2008). Cultural globalization and language education. London: Yale University Press. 7 Ranamathan, V., & Morgan, B. (2007). TESOL and Policy Enactments: Perspectives from practice. TESOL Quarterly, 41(3), 447-463. 8 Robertson, R. (2003). Three waves of globalization: A history of developing a global consciousness. London: Zed Books. 9 Black, J., Hashimzade, N., & Myles, G. (2009). A dictionary of economics (3rd ed.). Oxford University Press. 10 Fierdman, T. (1999). The Lexus and the olive, understanding globalization. New York, NY: Anchor Books. 11 Giddens, A. (1990). The consequences of modernity. Cambridge: Polity Press. 12 Ritzer, G. (Ed). (2007). The Blackwell companion to globalization. Malden, MA, Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell Publisher. 13 Steger M, Globalization: A very short introduction, Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 2013, pp. 7-8. 14 Waters, M. (1995). Globalization. London: Routledge. Fierdman, T. (1999). The Lexus and the olive, understanding globalization. New York, NY: 16 Anchor Books. Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political & Economic Studies What is Needed in A Globalized World: GE or ESP? An Investigation from EFL Students' Perceptions. The Case of Master One LAL Students at the Department of English–Batna 2 University–Algeria Nacira GHODBANE 14 ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives producing a powerful backlash from those brutalized or left behind by this new system…Globalization means the spread of free-market capitalism to virtually every country in the world. (n.p) According to Giddens17 (1990), globalization is explained as the augmentation and intensification of social relations worldwide, which linked distant localities in a way that local happenings are shaped by events occurring many miles away and vice versa Jameson18 (1998) explained globalization as “the modern or the postmodern version of the proverbial elephant, described by its blink observers in so many diverse ways” (p. xi). Due to the fact that this phenomenal term has no single interpretation, it is difficult to absolutely and precisely maintain a specific definition. Ritzer19 (2007) determinedthat “globalization is a process in which social life within societies is becoming increasingly affected by international influences based on anything from political and commercial ties, work, style, clothing and media” (n.p). Steger20 (2013) emphasized that globalization can be defined as “The interconnections of global economic, political, cultural and environmental processes that continually transform present conditions” (pp.7–8). In the same context, Waters21 (1995) declared that globalization is “a social process in which the constraints of geography on social and cultural arrangements recede and in which people become increasingly aware that they are receding” (p. 3). 1.3 The Influence of Globalization in the World It is known that globalization emphasized the integration of many countries in different materials including economy, society, culture, politics, and education. These countries shaped a unit despite the geographical barriers. The globalization phenomenon is a two-edged sword that has positive and negative influences on the world. Hamdi22 (2015) clarified that due to its 17 Giddens, A. (1990). The consequences of modernity. Cambridge: Polity Press. 18 Jameson, F. (1998).Notes on globalization as a philosophical issue. In F. Jameson & M. Miyoshi (Eds.), The cultures of globalization. Durhan: Duke University Press. 19 Ritzer, G. (Ed.). (2007). The Blackwell companion to globalization. Malden, MA, Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell Publisher. 20 Steger M, Globalization: A very short introduction, Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 2013, pp. 7-8. 21 Waters, M. (1995). Globalization. London: Routledge. 22 Hamdi, F. (2015).The impact of globalization in developing countries. Retrieved from: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/impact-globalization-developing-countries-fairooz-hamdi Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political & Economic Studies What is Needed in A Globalized World: GE or ESP? An Investigation from EFL Students' Perceptions. The Case of Master One LAL Students at the Department of English–Batna 2 University–Algeria Nacira GHODBANE 15 ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives existence the whole globe became one small village, and helped in developing and increasing many nations owing to the creation and elevation of productivity, the improvement of living standards, the promotion of free trade, and the exchange of goods and resources between countries to participate in business and markets of evolved nations. People from different nations are connected with an ability of easy and fast communication, as it helps to remove cultural barriers. Additionally, Egnatz23 (2011) asserted that “globalization produced an interdependent world with a global mass culture which was referred to as a global village” (n.p). Concerning its negative effect, Hamdi24 (2015) stated that, within the era of globalization, variant barriers appeared namely; instability in social aspects, commercial and financial markets, and environmental deteriorations. Moreover, an economic crisis, as well as an explosion of geographical mobility (immigrations), appeared. 1.4 Aspects of Globalization Since globalization has far-reaching interconnectedness. It is seemingly can be found in different aspects that are assumed to have developed recently (in the last few decades), including political, cultural, economic, social, and linguistic globalization. This latter is our interest since we speak about English language learning. It is associated with the spread of the English language as a tool for global communication among people as their first, second, or foreign language (Philipson25, 1992; Dua26, 1994). As it isstated by Witalisz27 (2011), this aspect was facilitated by cross-lingual borrowing, with English being the most prominent contributor and donor of vocabulary and set expressions (p.2). 1.5 English Status before Globalization English in this sense is regarded as extremely norm dependent in that, whether it is categorized as a second or a foreign language which completely has a submissive fellowship to those ideologies that markedly represent homogenous features in several aspects such as pronunciation, culture, etc. 23 Egnatz.(2011). Globalization quotes. Retrieved from: https://www.brainyquote.com/topics/globalization.com 24 Hamdi, F. (2015).The impact of globalization in developing countries. Retrieved from: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/impact-globalization-developing-countries-fairooz-hamdi 25 Phillipson, R. (1992). Linguistic imperialism. Oxford: Oxford University Press 26 Dua, H. R. (1994). Hegemony of English. Mysore: Yashoda Publications. 27 Witalisz, A. (2011). Linguistic globalization as a reflection of cultural changes. Proceedings of the 19th annual conference of the global awareness society international May 2011. (pp. 1-12). Poland: Pedagogical University of Cracow. Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political & Economic Studies What is Needed in A Globalized World: GE or ESP? An Investigation from EFL Students' Perceptions. The Case of Master One LAL Students at the Department of English–Batna 2 University–Algeria Nacira GHODBANE 16 ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives One of the significant models that have been introduced to set out the diffusion of English was that of Kachru (1985). He and other researchers Andreasson (1994); and Seidlhofer28 (2011) depicted the spread of English over the worldin terms of three concentric circles”. These circles introduced “the type of spread, the patterns of acquisition, and the functional domains in which English is used across cultures and languages” (Kachru29, 1985, p.12). 1.6 English Status within Globalization With the advent of globalization, the English language took also its share of change in terms of reputation and the contexts in which it is used. The following are most of the inflicted alterations English has yielded. 1.6.1 English as an International Language The world in the era of globalization turned into an unimaginably intertwined one. This fact is convincingly inclusive, that is, it covered and conjoined globally all its aspects throughout the world in a manner all that can be said of it “harmonious”. One of the focal points of this consistency was due to the international status that English has embraced, where it was relied on, to interplay and communicate oninternational grounds in which mother tongues of interlocutors could not find suitable contexts to weigh in. According to Hasman30, (2004): When Mexican pilots land their airplanes in France, they and the ground controllers use English. When German physicists want to alert the international scientific community to new discoveries, they publish their first findings in English. When Japanese executives conduct businesses with Scandinavian entrepreneurs, they negotiate in English. When pop singers write their songs, they often use lyrics or phrases in English. When demonstrators want to alert the world to their problems, they display signs in English. (p.19) 28 Seidlhofer, B. (2011). Understanding English as a lingua franca. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 29 Kachru, B. B. (1985). Standards, codification and sociolinguistic realism: The English language in the outer circle. In Quirk, R., & Widdowson, H.G. (Eds.). English in the world: Teaching and learning the language and the literature. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 30 Hasman, M.A. (2004). The role of English in the 21st century. TESOL Chile, In a Word,1(1), 18-21. Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political & Economic Studies What is Needed in A Globalized World: GE or ESP? An Investigation from EFL Students' Perceptions. The Case of Master One LAL Students at the Department of English–Batna 2 University–Algeria Nacira GHODBANE 17 ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives The aforementioned fact has been represented by many linguists among them, Crystal31 (2003), who contended that the numbers of people claiming the use of the English language were of affiliations; whether linguistic or cultural, extremely different. Also, the linguistic frequency of their utilization of English transcended evidently the one that took place in homogeneous countries. Crystal32 (2003) supportively revealed that only one out of every four users of English in the world is a native speaker. Additionally, Hasman33 (2004) discussed that “by 2010 the number of people who speak English as a second or foreign language will exceed the number of native speakers” (p.19). Another linguist who set forth the transformative linguistic reality that the English language notably devolved to was Graddol34 (1999). The latter stated that “in the future English will be a language used mainly in multilingual contexts as a second language and for communication between non-native speakers” (p.57). 1.7 Definition of Perception The term perception; which is retrieved from the Latin word “perception” (Schacter35, 2011), was explained in many dictionaries and by many scholars. According to Campbell36 (1967), perception is what is being observed, presented, or said about a thing, concept, or material. He also mentioned that perception is the process of forming an impression about someone or something. Based on this definition, perception is built as a result of individual observation towards certain things or events existing around them which will create definite perceptions. 31 Crystal, D. (2003). English as a global language. New York: Cambridge University Press. 32 Crystal, D. (2003). English as a global language. New York: Cambridge University Press. 33 Hasman, M.A. (2004). The role of English in the 21st century. TESOL Chile, In a Word,1(1), 18-21. 34 Graddol, D. (1999). The decline of the native speaker. In A. Gunilla& M. Rogers (Eds.), Translation today: Trends and perspectives. Clevedon, Buffalo, Toronto Sydney: Multilingual Matters. 35 Schacter, & Daniel. (2011). Psychology. Worth Publishers. Retrieved from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perception 36 Campbell, D. T. (1967). Stereotypes and the perception of group differences. American Psychologist, 22, 817-829. Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political & Economic Studies What is Needed in A Globalized World: GE or ESP? An Investigation from EFL Students' Perceptions. The Case of Master One LAL Students at the Department of English–Batna 2 University–Algeria Nacira GHODBANE 18 ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives Another remarkable definition was introduced by the German philosopher Leibniz (as cited in Kulstad, Mark & Carlin, Laurence37, 1997) in his letter to Des Bosses (1706), conveying perception as the representation or “expression” of “the many in the one”. He clarified that the world is presented in our perceptions, and these representations are related to an interior concept of activity and change (1714). This definition illustrates that perception is different from sensation in a way that it applies the awareness of particular material things present to sense. His arguments extended to illustrate that consciousness and perception as two inseparable terms with mechanical (i.e., physical) explanations. According to his explanations, perception on the other hand is a more complex mental process. It depends not only upon the attention paid to the material but also upon previous experience. Perception according to him can also be seen as our recognition and interpretation of sensory knowledge. It includes how we respond to sensory information by taking it from oursurroundings and using it in order to interact with the environment. Human minds are regarded bythe author as simple substances, and, as he said in a letter to De Volder (1704) “it may be said that there is nothing in the world except simple substances, and, in them, perception and appetite”. All these definitions of perception revealed its importance as a tool to make the world meaningful. With the help of perception, the needs of various people can be determined, because people’s perceptions are influenced by their needs (Leibniz, 1997, as cited in Kulstad, Mark & Carlin, Laurence38, 1997). 1.7.1 Students’ Perceptions of English Language Learning before Globalization Students approach the English language in the way they perceive it. For them, it is a general impression and a matter of confusion that the English language is directly related to English people and culture. The undertaken way in learning English has a great influence on students’ perceptions; Students with positive perceptions who face no problem with understanding and using English show great interest. In contrast, the students of lower levels in English who tend to perceive it in negative terms have some critical problems during the learning process. Before the epoch of globalization, the teaching of English tends to focus more on grammatical correctness in a 37 Kulstad, Mark & Carlin, Laurence. (1997). Leibniz's Philosophy of Mind.The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Winter 2013 Edition), E. N. Zalta (Ed.). Retrieved from: https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/win2013/entries/leibniz-mind/ 38 Kulstad, Mark & Carlin, Laurence. (1997). Leibniz's Philosophy of Mind.The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Winter 2013 Edition), E. N. Zalta (Ed.). Retrieved from: https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/win2013/entries/leibniz-mind/ Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political & Economic Studies What is Needed in A Globalized World: GE or ESP? An Investigation from EFL Students' Perceptions. The Case of Master One LAL Students at the Department of English–Batna 2 University–Algeria Nacira GHODBANE 19 ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives single variety of English rather than on language awareness; mastery of product-oriented rules rather than strategies of negotiation; and linguistic competence rather than pragmatics (Zacharias &Manara39, 2013, p.8). Linguistic competence is defined by Chomsky40 (1976) as a system of linguistic mastery possessed by any speaker of a language. It is a universal human property, shared by all the speakers of a language no matter their race, economic class, or physical characteristics, and independently of their intellectual and personality distinction. This system allowed the speakers to go from a finite number of rules to the production of an infinite number of new sentences. In addition, it allows people to distinguish grammatical sentences from ungrammatical ones. Thus, the goal of learning English was to master the rules of language only such as grammar and syntax, and the curriculum centered on such aspects of language. 1.7.2 Students’ Perceptions of English Language Learning within Globalization English as the current framework of globalization occupies many domains and societies worldwide, and many people are using it as the new language of international development and global communication (kumaravadivelu41, 2006,p.4). People’s international communications led to the adoption of English in different varieties called “World Englishes”, which is defined as the use of English on an international scale that is now no longer considered a single language (Oberheu42, n.d.). According to Crystal43 (2003), there are 1.5 billion English users around the world. While 337 million of them are native speakers of English, 1.2 billion of them are nonnative speakers with adequate proficiency. The increasing number of non-native English speakers is shedding the dominance of the native ones, and possessing a multitude of reasons; perhaps the most 39 Zacharias, N. T., &Manara, C. (Eds.).(2013).Contextualizing the pedagogy of English as an international language: Issues and tensions. 12 Back Chapman Street, Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing. 40 Chomsky, N. (1976). Book reviews: Reflections on language. London: Temple Smith, in association with Fontana Books. 41 Kumaravadivelu, B. (2006). Dangerous liaisons:Globalization, empire, and TESOL. In J. Edge (Ed.), (Re-)locating TESOL in an age of empire. Houndmills, UK; Palgrave Macmillan. 42 Oberheu, N. M. (n. d.). Globalization and English language pedagogy. Colorado State University. 43 Crystal, D. (2003). English as a global language. New York: Cambridge University Press. Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political & Economic Studies What is Needed in A Globalized World: GE or ESP? An Investigation from EFL Students' Perceptions. The Case of Master One LAL Students at the Department of English–Batna 2 University–Algeria Nacira GHODBANE 20 ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives dominant one is the economic and educational opportunities this global language provides. Indeed, the English language is not only deemed as beneficial to individuals, but also to societies in which they reside (Appleby, Copley, Sithirajvongsa, & Pennycook44, 2002). The new qualities brought to English; such as the code of globalization and the new perceptions towards this language should have profound implications on its way of teaching; however, English language education and policies continue to favor and apply the native speaking populations that maintain the dominance of native speaker conventions. The communicative strategies that can be taught to students to utilize global English and shuttle between communities in contextually relevant ways arefavored (Oberheu45, n.d.). From different perspectives, linguists defined communicative strategies in variant ways. From an interactional perspective, Tarone46 (1980) asserted communicative strategies as mutual attempts of two participants to achieve meaning in situations where appropriate meaning strategies do not exist. Successful communication is a shared responsibility that falls on both; speaker and hearer. When the participants are aware of the fact that they cannot understand each other, they will apply a number of strategies: paraphrase, transfer, avoidance, and others. Accordingly, the English way of learning has to move from a focus on form and grammar to communicative practices. At the time when communication across the world increases in scale, scope, and speed, the ability to interact with ‘others’, to accept other perspectives, and to be conscious of their evaluations of differences are required to avoid misunderstanding among people from different cultures, beliefs, and attitude. This ability is known as cross-cultural communicative competence (Byram, Nichols, & Stevens47, 2001, p.5). If inter-cultural communicative competence is mastered, one would become more conscious of cultural differences, and led to mutual intelligibility; that is defined by Trudgill 48 (1974) as 44 Appleby, R., Copley, K., Sithirajvongsa, S., &Pennycook, A. (2002). Language development constrained: three contexts.TESOL Quarterly, 36(3), 323–346. 45 Oberheu, N. M. (n. d.). Globalization and English language pedagogy. Colorado State University. 46 Tarone, E. (1980). Communication strategies, foreigner talk, and repair in interlanguage.Language learning,30, 417– 413. 47 Byram, M. A., Nichols, A., & Stevens, D. (Eds.). Languages for intercultural communication and education: Developing intercultural competence in practice. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters. 48 Trudgill, P. (1974). Sociolinguistics: An introduction. Baltimore: Penguin Books Ltd. Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political & Economic Studies What is Needed in A Globalized World: GE or ESP? An Investigation from EFL Students' Perceptions. The Case of Master One LAL Students at the Department of English–Batna 2 University–Algeria Nacira GHODBANE 21 ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives a situation in which two or more speakers from different speech communities can understand each other. Therefore, mutual understanding is what English speakers are aiming for in the era of globalization. This is from the theoretical side but is it the same perception from the practical side. We will see this in the next section. 2. Choice of the Method The study under investigation looks forward to uncoveringstudents’ perception of the way that seems to take place in order to learn English that permits them a flexible and global use of it as well as their envisagement of the one that they are exposed to. To investigate the aforementioned’ we opt for a descriptive method. The latter is made up of two key terms. Initially, the descriptive method to direct the research. The aim of this method as Travers49 (1978) stated is “to depict the nature of a stance as it occurs at a current time of the study and to figure out the reason of a peculiar phenomenon”. For this concept, a clear definition has been introduced. According to Creswell50 (1998), it is: "An inquiry process of understanding based on distinct and methodological traditions of inquiry that explore a social or a human problem. The researcher builds a complex, holistic picture, analyses words, reports detailed views of informants, and conducts the study in a natural setting" (p. 15). Moreover, it induced participants as Markham51 et al., (2009) claimed to “Use the richness of their own words to explore and describe their experiences in relation to the research question” (p. 749). 3. Population /Sample/Sampling Technique The population is defined by Polit52 (2001, p. 233) as “The entire aggregation of cases that meet a specified set of criteria». Itmeans all members that meet a set of specifications or a specified criterion. Thus, the population upon which the researcherconducted the study is 49 Travers, M. W. R. (1978). Introduction to educational research. New York: Mcmillan Publishing Company. 50 Creswell, J. W. (1998). Qualitative inquiry and research design: Choosing among five traditions. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications. 51 Markham, C., Van Laar, D., Gibbard, D., & Dean, T. (2009). Children with speech, language and communication needs: Their perceptions of their quality of life. International Journal of Language & Communication Disorders,44, 748–756. 52 Polit, D. F.(2001). Essentials of nursing research: Principles and methods. Philadelphia: Lippincott Williams &Williams. Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political & Economic Studies What is Needed in A Globalized World: GE or ESP? An Investigation from EFL Students' Perceptions. The Case of Master One LAL Students at the Department of English–Batna 2 University–Algeria Nacira GHODBANE 22 ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives Master One LAL (Language and Applied Linguistics) students at the English Department of Batna 2 University. The number of students is estimated at two hundred and twelve (212). Since the study cannot be carried out on the whole population of master one students (212), the researchersingled out a subset, representative, a randomly selected sample which would ensure the generalization of results as far as possible. The sample by definition is “the process of selecting a portion of the population to represent the entire population” (Polit53,2001, p.233). It can beseen as a group of a relatively smaller number of people selected from a population for investigation purposes. The members of the sample are called participants students from the English Department at Batna 2 University. It is selected following the technique of the one-fifth (1/5). In this sense, the overall population of two hundred and twelve (212) students is divided by five (5) which ultimately resulted in forty-three (43). The motive behind which we base our choice is the fact that it comprises participants whose learning experiences were under different educationalsystems. On one hand, those who had been under the labeling of the classical system. Onthe other hand, those who are exposed to the reformed system namely LMD. Another reason is that students of master one were exposed in the previous three years of license to courses, which had a relation with linguistic competence. Whereas in Master One, they deal with lessons based on the configuration in terms of social interactions and communication without depending on linguistic competence. This had created inequalities and issues between past and present courses. On the whole, these reasons provided a significant quality of the data that will be gathered. 4. Data Collection Tools The data collection method is a process that refers to obtaining standardized information from the whole participants in the sample of the study by administering the same instrument to all of them (Tichaponda54, 2013. p. 126). This process is described by Best and Khan55 (1993) as “the process of disciplined inquiry through gathering and analysis of empirical data” (p. 25). The ultimate tools for gathering data used in a research process, namely; questionnaires, interview guides, and observation schedules are the most used implements to achieve reliable results. It is defined by Tichaponda56 (2013) as a document of different questions, frequently 53 Polit, D. F.(2001). Essentials of nursing research: Principles and methods. Philadelphia: Lippincott Williams &Williams. 54 Tichaponda, M. (2013). Preparation your dissertation at a distance: A research guide. Virtual University for small states on the Commonwealth. 55 Best, J. W., & Khan, J. V. (1993).Research in education (2nd ed.). Boston: Allyn and Bacon. 56 Tichaponda, M. (2013). Preparation of your dissertation at a distance: A research guide. Virtual University for small states on the Commonwealth. Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political & Economic Studies What is Needed in A Globalized World: GE or ESP? An Investigation from EFL Students' Perceptions. The Case of Master One LAL Students at the Department of English–Batna 2 University–Algeria Nacira GHODBANE 23 ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives asked for acts, opinions or perceptions, attitudes or preferences of the respondents, designed to obtain information from the participants in the sample. The questionnaire is usually composed of structured or close-ended and unstructured or open-ended questions (p.26). According to Brown57 (2001) “are any written instrument that present respondents with a series of questions or statements to which they are to react either by writing their answers or selecting among existing answers” (p.6). The questionnaire is widely used as a method of data collection because it requires little time to administer. According to Cohen et al.58 (2007) “The questionnaire is a widely used and useful instrument for collecting survey information, providing structured, often numerical data, being able to be administered without the presence of the researcher and often being comparatively straightforward to analyze” (p. 317) Hence, we opted for the questionnaire as the instrument undertaken to collect the research data. It consists of a range of questions devised and administered to the sample units (43) for the sake of obtaining data to ensure an accurate relevance and management of the research. The data is analyzed qualitatively using the content analysis of the open-ended questions, and quantitatively of theclose-ended ones in the same questionnaire. First, it is piloted, this process is defined by the same authors as “a pilot has several functions, principally to increase the reliability, validity, and practicability of the questionnaire”. Then, it is administered to (43) Master One students who are chosen randomly, via the "1/5 random sampling technique". 5. Results and Discussion This section delves into presenting an elaborative analysis of the gathered data viathe research instrument (questionnaire), which included close and open-ended questions that will be analyzed qualitatively (content analysis) and quantitatively (statistical analysis) to decide, through the results that will be obtained, whether the hypothesis, aims, research questions will proceed in the direction that has been initially set. 57 Brown, J. D. (2001). Using surveys in language programs. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. 58 Cohen, L., Manion, L., & Morrison, K. (2005). Research methods in education (5th ed.). New-York, NY: Routledge. Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political & Economic Studies What is Needed in A Globalized World: GE or ESP? An Investigation from EFL Students' Perceptions. The Case of Master One LAL Students at the Department of English–Batna 2 University–Algeria Nacira GHODBANE 24 ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives 5.1 Analysis and Interpretation of the Students' Questionnaire 1. English language is a must to take part effectively in a communicative international world. Table N° 1. English Language as an International Communicative Tool Options Participants % Agree 22 51.2% Strongly agree 20 46.5% Disagree 00 00 % Strongly disagree 00 00 % Neutral 01 2.3% Total 43 100% This inquiry seeks for determining whether English is a necessary means for international communication. From Table 1 the large margin of students agreed (51%) and strongly agreed (46.5%) about English as an effective part of international communication. Whereas only one respondent expressed his/her neutrality (02.3%) concerning the question. - Whateveryourchoice, justify. The previous analysis was justified by the majority of students as English being the global code and the language of science and innovation. The following are some of the students’ standpoints: “English is a lingua franca”, “English is the language of globalization”. 2. Although Globalization has different aspects. All of them meet in one linguistic communicative tool, namely “English” Table N° 2. Globalization Aspects and English Language Options Participants % Agree 31 72.1% Strongly agree 04 09.3% Disagree 04 09.3 % Strongly disagree 01 02.3 % Neutral 03 07% Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political & Economic Studies What is Needed in A Globalized World: GE or ESP? An Investigation from EFL Students' Perceptions. The Case of Master One LAL Students at the Department of English–Batna 2 University–Algeria Nacira GHODBANE 25 ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives Total 43 100% The purpose of this question is to reveal that the linguistic code used in all the aspects of globalization is the English language. Table 2 showed that most of the participants (72.1%) agreed that English is the linking point of Globalization aspects. In the same vein (09.3%) of them affirmed the aforementioned opinion. While (11.6%) rebutted the statement. The rest of the students’ percentage (07%) declared their neutrality. Based on the previous analysis, respondents largely adopted the premise that English is the point where globalization aspects converge. 3. Do you notice the presence of any globalization aspects in the Algerian context? Table N° 3. Globalization Aspects in the Algerian Context Options Subjects % Yes 33 76.7 % No 10 23.3% Total 43 100 This question is set to check whether the research participants agree with the idea if they notice the presence of any globalization aspects in the Algerian context or not. When this question was asked, a large part of their answers (76.7%) gave notice of globalization existentialist signs. Whereas, the remaining students (23.3%) appeared to see any clear indication of this phenomenon. What can be inferred on this level is that a large proportion of students had obvious as well as the tangible perception of the features marking the presence of globalization in the Algerian context. 4. Do you think the number of non-native speakers of English is more than the native ones? Table N°4. Number of Native and Non-Native Speakers of English Options Subjects % Yes 37 86 % No 06 14% Total 43 100 This question is statistical in nature, aiming at conveying the adaptation of the English language by non-native speakers more than the native ones, where (86%) of students exhibited that the use of English is largely noticed among the NNS. On the opposing side, (14%) Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political & Economic Studies What is Needed in A Globalized World: GE or ESP? An Investigation from EFL Students' Perceptions. The Case of Master One LAL Students at the Department of English–Batna 2 University–Algeria Nacira GHODBANE 26 ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives considered its functionality in the NS ground. Accordingly, students are aware of the fact that English is used in contexts beyond its original affiliation. 5. How often do you communicate with non-native speakers of English compared to the native ones? Table N° 5. Linguistic Frequency of English with NS and NNS NS % NNS % Always 05 11.6% 22 51.1% Usually 01 2.3% 05 11.6% Sometimes 09 21% 11 25.6% Occasionally 13 30.2% 03 07% Never 15 34.9% 02 04.7% Total 43 100 43 100 The results shown in the above Table 5, set out the linguistic frequency of students when they use English. In this sense, (51.1%) of them tended to utilize it with people whose cultural and linguistic backgrounds are different from their own. However, the highest percentage (34.9%) of their use in relation to native ones fell into the “Never” category. The remaining percentage of their use with non-native speakers oscillated between (04.7%) to (25.6%). On the other hand, it fluctuated from (02.3%) to (30.2%) representing their use with native speakers. Thus, as a matter of fact, students’ linguistic tendencies proved to be present when communicating with non-native speakers. 6. Do you think linguistic competence is no longer the main goal of learning English in an inter-connected world? Table N° 6. English Linguistic Competence Status within Globalization Options Subjects % Yes 32 74.4 % No 11 25.6% Total 43 100 The aim of this question is to figure out the status of linguistic competence (LC) from the students’ point of view in the era of globalization. In this sense, we found that approximately all students (74.4%) stood against the idea of linguistic competence being the fundamental objective of learning English. Conversely, (25.6%) still had conservative tenets concerning LC. - If “Yes”, according to you, what are the other aims of learning the English language in an inter-connected world? Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political & Economic Studies What is Needed in A Globalized World: GE or ESP? An Investigation from EFL Students' Perceptions. The Case of Master One LAL Students at the Department of English–Batna 2 University–Algeria Nacira GHODBANE 27 ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives Going through the students’ justification, one of the students provided a significant view where he claimed:“to know how to use the language; we must focus on the use rather than the usage”. Whereas, other students argued their opinions mentioning the importance of communication and reaching mutual understanding without focusing on LC. - If “No”, how far linguistic competence is important to English learning in an interconnected world? Students conceived learning language as a foreign language should basically depend on the mastery of grammar and syntax. 7. The current way in your English learning is consistent with Globalization. Table N° 7. The Current Way of English Learning within Globalization Options Subjects % Agree 10 23.1% Strongly agree 01 02.3% Disagree 24 09.3 % Strongly disagree 03 07% Neutral 05 11.6% Total 43 100% In this statement, student displayed their perceptionsof learning English as an international language. Seen in this light, (62.8%) of responses set forth the undertakenway during their educational trajectory is to a large extent futile. On the flip side, (25.6%) of students reacted differently, where they admitted the appropriateness of the way to which they are exposed. However, (11.6%) of them preferred to not take a side at all. From the previous analysis, most of the participants approximately declared the void of the implemented method for not being aligned with the sociolinguistic reality that English has embraced. 8. The content that you are exposed to in the classroom as English language learners (ELL) is: Table N° 8. ELLs’ Opinions about the Classroom Content Options Subjects % Supportive 19 44.2% Non- 24 55.8% Supportive Total 43 100 Throughout this question, we intended to uncover students’ take on the content underlying learning English. Is it helpful and assistive to use it on international platforms? With this in Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political & Economic Studies What is Needed in A Globalized World: GE or ESP? An Investigation from EFL Students' Perceptions. The Case of Master One LAL Students at the Department of English–Batna 2 University–Algeria Nacira GHODBANE 28 ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives mind, (55.8%) of their answers explained their dissatisfaction with the instructional components to which their learning experience is put. Yet (44.2%) of students seemed to keep their views stable and considered the content suitably supportive. - If your answer is non-supportive, which of the following do you think is the reason for this mismatch? Table N°9. The Reasons for Being Non-Supportive Options Subjects % A 02 08.3% B 08 33.3% C 14 58.4% Total 24 100 As a vindication, they argued, on one hand, that the defining features of the content revolve completely aroundstructural constituents, and cultural aspects related only to countries for which English claims historical and genuine ownership on the other hand. 9. Since Globalization brought change to the linguistic status of English. Do you think the way of learning English should change? Table N°10. English learning Change Options Subjects % Yes 37 86% No 06 14% Total 43 100 Drawing on the above query that essentially propounds how students’ awareness of globalization and its profound impact on the status changing English had witnessed should gain concrete reflections on the way they learn English. Accordingly, (86%) of the participants dominantly endorse the orientations calling for English learningchange in the instructional manner of English. While (14%) appeared to uphold the continuous standard for the current way. 10. If the learning of English would change. Which of the following do you think it must emphasize the most; in terms of importance and relevance, to Globalization demands? Table N° 11. English Learning and Globalization Options Subjects % A 02 05.4% Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political & Economic Studies What is Needed in A Globalized World: GE or ESP? An Investigation from EFL Students' Perceptions. The Case of Master One LAL Students at the Department of English–Batna 2 University–Algeria Nacira GHODBANE 29 ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives B 15 40.6% C 06 16.2% D 14 37.8% Total 37 100 Similarly, this Q10 is basically a follow-up to Q 09; students whose answersadvocated the transformative trend. A range of policies set out to determine what should reasonably be learned to meet their globalization communicative expectations. The latter idea encompassed different aspects of the viable contents ranging from the mastery of communicative strategies and linguistic competence to possession of intercultural competence and being a mutually intelligible speaker. For the mastery of communicative strategies, students were assigned (40.6%) as a representative of their opinions regarding this option. To linguistic competence, students’ reflections were estimated (05.4%). Keeping with these students' accounts for mutual intelligibility valued (37.8%). And intercultural competence received (16.2%) of their way of perception in relation to this inquiry. In this respect, students see no reason for positioning linguistic competence as the main purpose of learning English instead; they put a true value on being strategic, mutually intelligible communicators as well as to a considerable importance an intercultural competent speaker. 11. In a few words (a word, phrase, or sentence), describe your current English learning. This question aims at depicting the students' current situation regarding learning English. When they were asked about describing their learning, varied answers are received. Most of them confirmed that it “is limited”, “not effective”, “needs other methods to be consistent with the globalized world”. Keeping with this, one student through her experience at Ewha University put it as follows “the current English learning needs a lot of change, simply if a master student goes abroad, he will find difficulties to use it in a real context even if s/he has a linguistic competence”. The rest of the students persist in seeing the way of learning English as: “it is good” and “it is improving towards internationality”. Regarding the students’ opinions and standpoints. The results indicated that what the students are exposed to in their learning is no more suitable for them and does not show any consistency with English as an international language. 3.2 Pedagogical Implications The following are some prospective recommendations that are suggested based on the previous findings, 1. Evolutionary reforms in the way of teaching English are beyond the scope to keep pace with globalization. Accordingly, a revolution is seemingly the optimal outlet to learn and teach English to simulate and become acclimatized to the realties the intertwined world calls for. Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political & Economic Studies What is Needed in A Globalized World: GE or ESP? An Investigation from EFL Students' Perceptions. The Case of Master One LAL Students at the Department of English–Batna 2 University–Algeria Nacira GHODBANE 30 ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives 2. From a sociolinguistic field of research, future research might be undertaken to investigate the imperialistic effect of English on linguistic and cultural diversity, especially of minorities. 3. From a motivational standpoint, students' aspirations to be like a native speaker typically ends up unfulfilled thus their motivation decrease and results in abandoning learning the language. Accordingly, their needs should be reconsidered to mount up their motivation. Conclusion This investigation put forward to see students’ perceptions concerning the instructional policies they think are adequate to learn English in the sense that is applicable and adaptive to globalizationrequirements. As a corollary, this research comes up with worthwhile findings, which reiterate and represent the awareness of students of the international status of English in a globalized world. In addition, almost their communicational, interactive inclination by English is exceedingly captured among non-native speakers (NNS) in comparison with native speakers (NS), and English is a linguistic crossroad where all the aspects of globalization converge. Another significant finding of this study is the idea thatstudents’ perceptions of learning English are no longer restricted to structural content, instead they evidently unravel new inklings underscoring a considerable remake on the way through which English is learnedin order to fit the globalization demands. We concluded by exhibiting that, the large margin of students’ opinions regarding learning English manifested a U-turn. The latter embodied in new policies encompassing communicative strategies alongside cross-cultural competence to be the pillars of the new learning way so that mutual understanding is mastered in appropriate contexts. In the light of this work, the questions that have been raised to investigate both; the influence and the inflictions of globalization on students’ understanding of English learning, as well as the decided upon aims to find out the globalization implications on altering students’ understanding and determine the perceived norms underlying the process of learning English throughout this study, come to fruition. The earlier stated hypothesis that the globalized world might bring newchanges in perceiving thelearning of English as GE or ESP was successfully confirmed for the simple reason that not all of them will use it in the teaching context; however, they will find other jobs that require the mastery of English in the other fields of inquiry, which will be used as ESP, not as GE. Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political & Economic Studies What is Needed in A Globalized World: GE or ESP? An Investigation from EFL Students' Perceptions. The Case of Master One LAL Students at the Department of English–Batna 2 University–Algeria Nacira GHODBANE 31 ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives References Books Andreasons. (1994). The phonology of English as an international language. New York: Oxford University Press. Best, J. W., & Khan, J. V. (1993). Research in education (2nd ed.). Boston: Allyn and Bacon. Black, J., Hashimzade, N., & Myles, G. (2009). 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The Case of Master One LAL Students at the Department of English–Batna 2 University–Algeria Nacira GHODBANE 33 ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives Zacharias, N. T., &Manara, C. (Eds.). (2013).Contextualizing the pedagogy of English as an international language: Issues and tensions. 12 Back Chapman Street, Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing. Journals Appleby, R., Copley, K., Sithirajvongsa, S., &Pennycook, A. (2002). Language development constrained: three contexts. TESOL Quarterly, 36(3), 323–346. Campbell, D. T. (1967). Stereotypes and the perception of group differences. American Psychologist, 22, 817– 829. Hasman, M.A. (2004). The role of English in the 21st century. TESOL Chile, In a Word,1(1), 18-21. Markham, C., Van Laar, D., Gibbard, D., & Dean, T. (2009). Children with speech, language and communication needs: Their perceptions of their quality of life. International Journal of Language & Communication Disorders,44, 748–756. Ranamathan, V., & Morgan, B. (2007). TESOL and Policy Enactments: Perspectives from practice. TESOL Quarterly, 41(3), 447– 463. Tarone, E. (1980). Communication strategies, foreigner talk, and repair in interlanguage. Language Learning,30, 417– 413. Websites Efendieva. (2013). The history of globalization. Globalization: pros and cons. Retrieved from https://fr.slideshare.net/efendievaz/globalization-hisroty-pros-and-cons Egnatz.(2011). Globalization quotes. Retrieved from https://www.brainyquote.com/topics/globalization.com Hamdi, F. (2015).The impact of globalization in the developing countries. Retrieved from https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/impact-globalization-developing-countries-fairooz-hamdi Kulstad, M. & Carlin, L. (1997). Leibniz's Philosophy of Mind. The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Winter 2013 Edition), E. N. Zalta (Ed.). Retrieved from https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/win2013/entries/leibniz-mind/ Schacter, & Daniel. (2011). Psychology. Worth Publishers. Retrieved from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perception Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political & Economic Studies What is Needed in A Globalized World: GE or ESP? An Investigation from EFL Students' Perceptions. The Case of Master One LAL Students at the Department of English–Batna 2 University–Algeria Nacira GHODBANE 34 ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives Exploring Teachers’ Perspectives on the Challenges of Teaching English for Medical Purposes: the Case of 7 th Year Medicine Students at Bedji Mokhtar ANNABA University (Algeria) Nachoua KELKOULA1 Hanane OUIS2 Abstract 1Mohamed Lamine Debaghine, Setif2 The importance of language in most professions is undisputed, and an University effective communication can greatly improve a person’s clinical 0659299981
[email protected]practice. For non-English speakers, English for Medical purposes can be an indispensable road to improve their language skills. This work reveals the academic component of EMP: EAP and explores the needs analysis 2Chahid Ben djedid, El Taref University 0795099244 of medical students. It aims to answer two research questions: what are
[email protected]the challenges that teachers face when teaching English for medical purposes? How do teachers overcome the obstacles of teaching Medical English?A questionnaire used to collect quantitative data gathered fromThree part time English teachers at the department of MedecineBadjiMokhtar University in the 2021_2022 academic year. Participants answered a questionnaire composed of three parts: general information, functional and tasks, challenges and problems encountered and language skills. Results demonstrated that students have a high level of awareness about EMP importance but also a lack in connectivity with the language. Data collected exposed the needs for a variety of tasks and activities related to healthcare in order to improve the four major skills. Keywords: Medicine students, English for medical purposes, Teachers’ perceptions, Challenges and Problems Encountered Citation: KELKOULA, N., OUIS, H. (2022). Exploring Teachers’ Perspectives on the Challenges of Teaching English for Medical Purposes: the Case of 7 th Year Medicine Students at Bedji Mokhtar ANNABA University (Algeria). In H. Andaloussi (Ed.), ESP Teaching Today: Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives (pp. 35-42). Berlin, Germany: Democratic Arabic Center. Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political & Economic Studies Exploring Teachers’ Perspectives on the Challenges of Teaching English for Medical Purposes: the Case of 7 th Year Medicine Students at Bedji MokhtarANNABA University (Algeria) Nachoua KELKOULA, Hanane OUIS 35 ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives Introduction In Algeria, the expansion of English as a professional and communication language in different domains led to the need to use specific English. This study sheds light on the importance of ESP, especially in the field of medical studies, where students and teachers need English to improve and share their research and articles in that domain to cope with globalization. 1. A General Overview of ESP: English for Specific English has steadily grown since 1960 and it has eventually become a significant aspect of English language instruction. It is regarded as an approach to language teaching which has widely spread after World War II. At the same time, the English language has emerged as the major means of many domains such as: technology, business, trading, education and medical field. 1. 1. ESP defined Many definitions are given to ESP. Hutchinson and Waters (1987, p. 19) define ESP as “an approach to language learning which is based on learner need. The foundation of all ESP is the simple question: Why does the learner need to learn a foreign language? ... ESP, then, is an approach to language teaching in which all decisions as to content and method are based on the learner’s reason for learning.” This means that ESP is a goal-directed approach which is based on learners’ goals and reasons to learn a language and meets their needs. Dudley Evans and St John (1998, p. 5) illustrate ESP in terms of “absolute” and “variable” characteristics. These absolute are: 1. ESP is defined to meet specific needs of the learners; 2. ESP makes use of the underlying methodology and activities of the discipline it serves; 3. ESP is centered on the language appropriate to these activities in terms of grammar, lexis, register, study skills, discourse and genre. While the variable features of ESP include the following: 1. ESP may be related to, or designed for, specific disciplines; 2. ESP may use, in specific teaching situations, a different methodology from that of General English; 3. ESP is likely to be designed for adult learners, either at a tertiary level institution or in a professional work situation. It could, however, be for learners at secondary school level; 4. ESP is generally designed for intermediate or advanced students; 5. Most ESP courses assume some basic knowledge of the language system The above definition is a modified version of Strevens' (1988) definition, which deleted the absolute characteristic that ESP "is in contrast to General English" and included some new variable characteristics.ESP is likely to be designed for adultlearners, it could, however, be taught to beginners if great attention is paid to the needs analysis and the development of Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political & Economic Studies Exploring Teachers’ Perspectives on the Challenges of Teaching English for Medical Purposes: the Case of 7 th Year Medicine Students at Bedji MokhtarANNABA University (Algeria) Nachoua KELKOULA, Hanane OUIS 36 ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives relevant materials that address the level of the targeted learners' aims and future usage of English in their field of specialism. According to the definitions provided, ESP is about educating students to utilize English in academic, professional, or workplace settings where the language would be employed. English is learned in ESP not for its own purpose or to achieve a comprehensive education, but to facilitate admittance or increase linguistic efficiency in specific situations (Basturkmen, 2006, p.18). 1.2. GE defined : English for General Purpose applies to situations where needs are not easily identified, such as at school. It is more appropriate to think of it as giving as overseas foundation rather than a precise and selected selective specification of goals like ESP. General English teaching, on the other hand, covers the principles of Grammar, of expression and phonetics and serves as a stronger or weaker foundation for future language study. In any case, the language teacher, both in secondary and higher education, is responsible for ensuring that students use the language correctly. 1.3. What is the difference between English for Specific Purposes (ESP) and General English? Hutchinson and Waters (1987) believe that there is no difference between ESP and General English in theory but there is a significant difference in practice. “in theory nothing, in practice a great deal” (p.53). Widdowson (1981, p.89), however, assumed that General English does not refer to the “existence” of a need, rather, it refers to the “awareness” of a need. In this respect, Hutchinson and Waters (1992) state that if teachers and learners’ are aware of why they² need English, it will influence what is considered as effective content in the language course and what is accomplished. According to Basturkmen( 2006), general English language teaching tends to move from a definite point to an intermediate one, whereas ESP seeks to accelerate learners and guide them to a specific destination in order to achieve specific goals. “The emphasis in ESP on going from A to B in the most time- and energy efficient manner can lead to the view that ESP is an essentially practical endeavour”. (p.9). Moreover, Robinson (1980) claims that the approach to teaching ESP is known to be learner-centered , where the focus is on the learners’ needs and goals, where as the approach to teaching GE is known to be language-centered with the focus on language skills and the cultural aspects of English community. 1.4. Needs analysis in ESP : Researchers define needs analysis in a variety of ways, but most of them agree on the fact that NA represents the necessities, wants and needs of learners’ in their subject area. According to Dudley- Evans and St John (1998, p.125), NS refers to “professional information about the learners: the tasks and activities, learners will be using English for target situation analysis and Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political & Economic Studies Exploring Teachers’ Perspectives on the Challenges of Teaching English for Medical Purposes: the Case of 7 th Year Medicine Students at Bedji MokhtarANNABA University (Algeria) Nachoua KELKOULA, Hanane OUIS 37 ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives objective needs”. They carry on stating that NA is the process of determining a learner’s English language proficiency, gathering information on linguistics, genre and discourse, determining what is expected of the course and how would it be administered. 1.5. ESP TeacherRole : According to Widdowson (1990), the term” role” is used in a variety of ways since people have diverse social roles in their daily life’s; nonetheless, the general definition of the word “ role” is a component of performance in a certain social action such as being a teacher. In ELT, the role determines the status of both teachers and learners and their relationship. Furthermore, it is vulnerable to change because the teacher may alter the roles by assigning and evaluating activities to his students. As a result, the instructor may be both a teacher and an evaluator (Nunan and Lamb, 1996). Aside from teaching, the ESP teacher has a variety of responsibilities both within and outside the classroom. According to Dudley-Evans and St John (1998), an ESP teacher can take on five different roles namely a teacher, a course designer, material provider as well as collaborator and evaluator. 1.6. English for Medical Purposes : Over the last few years, there has been a lot of research on teaching English for medical purposes. English, like Greek and Latin before it, is today the lingua franca of medical international communication and publication across the world because of the increased scientific clout and prestige associated with a wide international audience. Piquet et al (1997), state that the usage of English in science is rapidly expanding, and the majority of specialized medical literature is produced in the English language. Therefore, teaching medical English should be adapted in order to meet the specific academic and professional needs of students. 2. Research Methodology: Introduction: French language is used as the main language of teaching and training in the department of medicine at BadjiMokhtar University ANNABA(ALGERIA) , while English it is taught as a support course . Teachers of the faculty declared that the Medical English course for medicine students would be essential because those students should be able to write their final Doctorate articles and participating in international conferences in English, but there are no specialized ESP course designers who can provide an implemented course content and methodology. English taught by part-time EFL teachers, who are neither syllabus designers nor materials developers, they are teaching general English lectures they believe would be beneficial to their students. Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political & Economic Studies Exploring Teachers’ Perspectives on the Challenges of Teaching English for Medical Purposes: the Case of 7 th Year Medicine Students at Bedji MokhtarANNABA University (Algeria) Nachoua KELKOULA, Hanane OUIS 38 ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives 2.1. Instruments: The questions were designed to reduce negative factors that hinder learning and teaching and facilitate the process of building knowledge, investigate students’ linguistic situation in medical learning at medical department, identify the most important elements as well as their needs. The questionnaire was divided into three parts: the first one is composed of eleven questions that gather important information, including personal data, their goals and their personal opinion concerning the relationship between their studies and eventually their future practice, and the language especially English language. The second part focuses on general topics of teaching/learning the English language and the questions were orientated toward which of these topics students find more relevant, more difficult and more suitable to emphasis on. Four classifying questions that would instigate teachers and help them comprehend different components of the medical field, help them as a future practitioner grasp the essence of their domain and of course guide the stream of EMP courses by sorting out subjects, materials, and various functions and tasks. The last eight questions treated the pillar of any language “skills”. A perfect knowledge of listening, reading, speaking and writing are considered the most important factors needed to master the language. 2.2. Data Collection: This study employed a qualitative method to explore the challenges faced by ESP teachers. The following subsections describe the participants of the study, research instruments, data collection and Results. In order to answer the research questions, the present study implemented a quantitative approach. Data have been collected through a questionnaire (in both English and French language) administered to the participants of this study were three English part time teachers in BadjiMokhtar department of Medicine.The survey question main aim is to obtain maximum and accurate responses and avoid irrelevance. This questionnaire also, was designed to help teachers make precise and concise EMP courses by identifying and setting clear objectives. 2.3. Data analysis: The questionnaire was a combination of multiple-choice, close-ended, open-ended, questions. The three main sections constitute this questionnaire. Section one is concerned with background and profile analysis. The second and the third section focus on the different difficulties learners faced and how teachers helped them to solve their language problems and overcome their lacks in ESP situation. The main purpose of the first section in the questionnaire was to collect general data about ESP teacher’s .Therefore, a clear profile of those teachers was drawn to get information about their qualifications, teaching experience as General English and ESP teachers, and specific training for teaching ESP. Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political & Economic Studies Exploring Teachers’ Perspectives on the Challenges of Teaching English for Medical Purposes: the Case of 7 th Year Medicine Students at Bedji MokhtarANNABA University (Algeria) Nachoua KELKOULA, Hanane OUIS 39 ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives Question 03: How many years have you been teaching ESP? Answer Responses DegreeResponses One year 2 Licence 2 Threeyears 0 Magester/Master 1 Five years 1 PhD 0 Teachers' responses differ from one (01) to five (05) years. Two (02) teachers stated that they have only one (01) year teaching experience. One (01) teacher said that she has five (05) years of teaching experience. These teachers have different academic achievements, in which (2) they have a Licence degree except one participant have Magister degree, which should be good providing us with diverse answers. Question 04: Have you had any specialized training before teaching ESP? Answer Responses Ratio Yes 1 10% No 2 90% Two (02) teachers answered that they have not received specialized training before being recruited for this job. One (01) teacher declared that she has received a theoretical training about teaching methods and the use of laboratory equipment. However, it remains a theoretical training since nothing in practice has been done. Question 05: What are the difficulties General English teachers of ESP may face according to your experiences? Teachers' difficulties as stated by themselves were summed up as follows: Absence of tools and documentation related to the field of Medicine as well as suitable published materials. The absence of a syllabus which may guide the teachers and facilitate their tasks, the absence of prior training in ESP teaching and the time allotted to the English courses is two hours per week which is not enough for the course. Question 06: Do you think that EFL teachers of ESP should have a specialized knowledge depending on their learners' field of study? Answer Responses Ratio Agree 3 100% Neitheragreenordisagree 0 0% Disagree 0 0% Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political & Economic Studies Exploring Teachers’ Perspectives on the Challenges of Teaching English for Medical Purposes: the Case of 7 th Year Medicine Students at Bedji MokhtarANNABA University (Algeria) Nachoua KELKOULA, Hanane OUIS 40 ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives The three informants agreed 100 %on the necessity to develop and enrich a specific knowledge related to the field they are teaching. This does not mean that teachers of ESP should be experts in the subject they are teaching, but at least having an overview of the field, they are involved in; for the sake of a better communication with their learners. 3.Discussion of the results: This study is set to investigate the challenges that ESP teachers encounter when teaching English for medical students. The collected data tends to answer to the two research questions: what are the challenges that teachers face when teaching English for medical purposes? How do teachers overcome the obstacles of teaching medical English? The results obtained in this research are very important, in which the study showed on the bases of the data collectedfrom teachers' questionnaire, we have come to the conclusion that those teachers have not undergone a special training in the field of Medical English and ESP in general. The data outcomes highlight very important results about teachers’ challenges in ESP teaching and learning. Teachers complain about the absence of authentic reference written in English. In addition to the lack of adequate teaching materials and a total absence of a suitable syllabus prescribed from the Ministry .These factors have led to put teachers on the fact that they have a serious challenge to overcome in ESP teaching and learning. Moreover the results taken from the presented survey declare that the poor course used by the teacher hinders the students' motivation and their production. The teacher must play an important role creating and maintaining the right learning curriculum and better environment for the students learning. In addition to that the survey showed that teachers are aware that students usually adopt a very negative attitude if the teacher doesn’t provide motivating learning techniques that serves their needs in learning EMP in specific and ESP in general. Teachers depend on ESP teaching techniques because it provides a chance for students to be a part of learning process overcoming their fears, and allow the students to develop their academic and social skills. In doing so, the teachers depend on the different ways in which they make sure their students are fully aware of the term ESP /EMP and how it works, let them develop their needs and provide them with guided activities and instructions to work with specific English. Learning is most useful when students face activities that need a lot of brain storming or complex activities that is too difficult for single students to have alone. Accordingly the results confirm our hypothesis that when teachers use the suitable course content based on students needs inside the class, learners will adopt new positive attitudes, because they are more comfortable and encouraged, and that will ensure a wide improvement on all levels. 4. Suggestions and Recommendations: Focusing on the gathered findings from the study, we suggested some recommendations concerning the challenges faced on teaching English for Medical Purposes. These are summarized as follows: Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political & Economic Studies Exploring Teachers’ Perspectives on the Challenges of Teaching English for Medical Purposes: the Case of 7 th Year Medicine Students at Bedji MokhtarANNABA University (Algeria) Nachoua KELKOULA, Hanane OUIS 41 ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives Mastering Medical English can greatly enhance not only academic level, but also the global level of Medical Sciences in Algeria. According to this study, medical students need both courses in general and medical English, especially in the early years of their studies where generalities and basics should be included in EMP sessions. Teachers should utilize NA to make the optimum courses adapted to each situation and different group of student by analyzing different patterns (of course it will be based on year by year syllabuses which is the most efficient way according to (Walter Davies, 2012). Conclusion: Teaching English, especially English for specific purposes has received a lot of attention from students, teachers, and relevant and it has appeared due to the awareness that general English course was not suitable for the learners’ need, especially in higher education. Medical students need English for various reasons since today scientific research is based on English. The research questions were discussed and the rules obtained teachers confirm that students’ learning demands for medical topics and extra material, the relationship between medical topics and vocabulary, and the highlight on the four major skills are all accordant with previous literature and other studies. Suggestions and recommendations for future research were provided. References : -Basturkmen, H. (2006). English for Specific Purposes: teaching to perceived needs and imagined features in worlds of work, study, and everyday life. TESOL Quartely. 40(1) pp.133-156. -Dudley-Evans, T.&Stjohn, M.J. (1998) Development in English for Specific Purposes. CUPress. -Hutchinson, T.& Waters, A.(1987) English for Specific Purposes : A learning—centered Approach .(p.6). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. -Piquet et al. (1997) Applied Languages: Theory and Practise in ESP, pp.37-44. Valencia; University of Valencia. -Robinson, P. (1988). ESP Today: A Practitioner’s Guide, Prentice Hall International Ltd. -Strevens, P (1977) New Orientations in the Teaching of English . Oxford: Oxford University Press. -Widdowson, H.G.(1981). English for Specific Purposes.In L. Selinker, E Tarone and V. Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political & Economic Studies Exploring Teachers’ Perspectives on the Challenges of Teaching English for Medical Purposes: the Case of 7 th Year Medicine Students at Bedji MokhtarANNABA University (Algeria) Nachoua KELKOULA, Hanane OUIS 42 ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives The Role of ESP Practitioner and the Use of Technology Fatiha SAHLI1 Abstract 1 Doctor., University Frères Mentouri The present paper aims at exploring the multiple tasks and challenges Constantine 1, Algeria that the ESP practitioner performs as well as the urgent need for the use of technology for better teaching quality. Digital technology for teaching a foreign language has become a necessity and no longer a choice. Technology enables teachers to connect with their students and teach virtually. With the use of technology, learners can even collaborate with their classmates in an immediate and dynamic way during their online courses. Because teaching is an ongoing professional activity, the ESP practitioner needs not only training but also working in collaboration with the content teacher. Based on the teachers’ altitudes gathered from the questionnaires, considerable obstacles in teaching ESP are succinctly discussed such as lack of teacher training, lack of a syllabus model, and lack of documentation. Keywords: The multiple tasks, the ESP practitioner, Digital technology, the teachers’ altitudes Citation: SAHLI, F. (2022). The Role of ESP Practitioner and the Use of Technology. In H. Andaloussi (Ed.), ESP Teaching Today: Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives (pp. 43-51). Berlin, Germany: Democratic Arabic Center. Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political & Economic Studies The Role of ESP Practitioner and the Use of Technology Fatiha SAHLI 43 ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives I. Introduction English has become an essential competence for any intellectual person to learn in order to communicate in the globalized world and to achieve success in various domains. For this purpose, English is present in any curriculum taught at university, and some departments require its use more than others such as the case of science and technology, medical science, economics, computer science and many others. Englishis taught not only as a ‘subject’ but also as a ‘service’McDonough (1984).The learner needs to learn English not because it is a part of the curriculum but also to serve particular utilitarian purposes defined by learners’ needs in certain circumstances.In this process of teaching English as a foreign language, the Englishteacher is requisite to consider why the learners need English (Kennedy and Bolitho, 1984: 2). Teacher can find out from the early beginning of the course his/herstudents’ necessities, their weaknesses, and their wants and preferences(Richterich and Chancerel, 1987). This can result in a strategy of predetermined goals (Hutchinson and Waters, 1987).The utilitarian purpose is in fact what the learner wants exactly from learning English. Recognizing learners’ utilitarianpurpose becomes the guiding principle in teaching English for specific purposes (ESP). II. Definition of ESP English for specific purposes (ESP) refers to the teaching and learning of English as a second or foreign language where the goal of the learners is to use English in a particular domain.Learners study English “not because they are interested in the English Language or English culture as such, but because they need English for study or work purposes” (Robinson, 1991: 2).In ESP, “language is learnt not for its own sake or for the sake of gaining a general education, but to smooth the path to entry or greater linguistic efficiency in academic, professional or workplace environments” Basturkmen (2006: 18). The word ‘specific’ in ESPemphasizes straightforwardly the learner’s purpose from learning English.ESP refersthen to the teaching of Englishfor a clearly utilitarian purpose. This purpose is usually defined with reference to someacademic and occupational requirements.First, the teaching of ESP was motivated by the need to communicate across languages in areas such as technology and commerce. Then it has given growth to many independent branches of English in different professional domains, which have become well- established areas of teaching and researchsuch as English for academic purposes (EAP), English for occupational purposes (EOP), English for vocational purposes (EVP), English for medical purposes (EMP), English for business purposes (EBP), English for legal purposes (ELP), and English for sociocultural purposes (ESCP) (Belcher 2009). Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political & Economic Studies The Role of ESP Practitioner and the Use of Technology Fatiha SAHLI 44 ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives III. Teaching ESP Teaching ESP is assumed to be a very challenging task, since it requires the knowledge of general English, which needs to be improved and adjusted to meet the requirements of a specific professional area. Anthony, 1998 summarized the ESP area as designed for specific discipline, used in specific teaching situations, has a different methodology from that of General English, designed for adult intermediate or advanced students. The ESP course is not a matter of Science words and grammar but rather it is “purposeful and is aimed at the successful performance of the occupationaleducational roles...for a clearly utilitarian purpose for which there is no doubt”(Robinson, 1980, p.13). To guarantee both performance and competence, ESP teachers have to take multidimensional and unpredicted responsibilities because of the changing patterns of learners’ needs. IV. The Role of the ESP Teacher Hutchinson and Waters (1987) summarized the teacher’ role by saying: “tell me what you need English for and I will tell you the Englishthat you need” (p.8). An ESP teacher should know from the beginning the learners’ objectives then he/she bring the necessary tools, frameworks and principles of course design to apply them to new material. Since students’ needs change from specialty to another, the ESP teacher must be able to switch from one field to another without spending much time on getting started. For this reason, Dudley-Evans and St. John (1998) preferred the term ESP Practitioner rather than teacher because the ESP teacher has to take heavier responsibilities than EGP (English for General Purposes).The ESP teacher not only teaches but also provides materials, designs a syllabus, collaborates with subject specialists, conducts research, evaluates the course and the students, and provides feedbacks. Moreover, he has the most essential role to enhance thelearners’ motivation and foster their autonomy. The ESP approach requires from the language teacher a willingness to enter as a stranger into strange domainsand to engage in a degree of reflection that attempts to sort out the extent to which learners’ purposes are actually served when the language practices of any target discourse community are taught (Belcher, 2006).ESP teachersshould have not only the linguistic competence to teach necessary language components and skills to thelearners but also should have enough content competence to communicate English content more effectively. V. The Use of Technology in the ESP Classroom In the presence of thisblossomtechnology, innovation in language teaching becomesa must.Most researchers underlined the necessity and the effectiveness of the integration of technology in a language classroom. Kiddle (2013) stated that“technologywill not replace teachers, but teachers who use technology willreplace those who don’t” (p190). The ability of using technology in the classroom signifies the high quality a teacher has.The use of technology has a meaningful impact in the effectiveness of the teaching and learning process.ESP teachers Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political & Economic Studies The Role of ESP Practitioner and the Use of Technology Fatiha SAHLI 45 ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives should integrate the technology i.e. the use of the internet, computer, and other supporting devices in their ESP classroom. To know more about the role performed by ESP teachers , the methods used and the difficulties encountered, aquestionnaire was addressed to tenESP teachers in different departments namely Economy and Business Sciences, .Human sciences (Philosophy, Archeology, Psychology and History)Medical science, Science and Technology, Computer Science, Nutrition Science, Exact Sciences (Physics and Mathematics). VI. . Methodology 6.1. Research Questions and Hypothesis In this research, we propose to answer the following questions: - Do ESP teachers follow any priori syllabus? - Have ESP teachers received any specific training? - Do ESP teachersuse technology and innovative teaching methods? - Is there any cooperative work between the ESP teacher and the content teacher? - Are ESP learners motivated to learn this course? - What are the difficulties encountered before and during the Covid 19 outbreak? In the light of the aforementioned research questions, the following hypotheses are formulated: - If English teachers are provided with enough academic content information, they can develop and enhance the academic language skills of the ESP participants. - If ESP teacher used technology and innovative tools in his/her teaching, this would have a meaningful impact in the effectiveness of the teaching and learning process - If the teacher usedtask based teaching, the ESP learners would achieve a better outcome. 6.2. The questionnaire A questionnaire is administered to10 teachers of English at different departments, both Human sciences, Medical science, the exact sciences (Mathematics and physics) at Universities: Constantine 1, Constantine 2 and Constantine 3. It was sent to them via internet (e mail and Google). It consists of 15 questions in order to gather information about teachers’ attitudes towards some problematic issues related to the current research. Section one deals with teachers background, section two is about teaching ESP course: methods and technology and section three deals withdifficulties encountered while teaching ESP course. Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political & Economic Studies The Role of ESP Practitioner and the Use of Technology Fatiha SAHLI 46 ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives 6.3.Discussion of the Results The analysis of the teachers’ responses yielded significant data in that they provide a general understanding of their attitudes, perspectives, and difficulties of teaching ESP. - When dealing with the ESP teacher, we have noticed that he or she belongs to one ofboth categories: either he or she is a teacher freshly graduated in general English (either Master two or even BA) or he / she is a teacher who hasprobably taught general English but is not fully aware of the ESP concepts. One choking finding which is worth to be mentioned is the fact that in some departments the ESP teacher is a content teacher belonging to the same department and assures the ESP course to all students in one amphitheater by giving some terminology related to the specific discipline. However,“... we could not teach the restricted repertoire in isolation. What is more, it was highly unreasonable to assume that the content instructor would take on the role of ESL instructor.” (Gatehouse, 2001) - The way that the language teachers are chosen to be sent to different Departments to teach ESP does not obey any specified criteria. Most teachers are inexperienced. -Rare are institutions that offer training for this specific academic subject, and hence we find it important to give a contribution to this aspect of ESP by outlining an ESP teacher’s profile with the most important characteristics that should be developed by the ESP professionals in order to promote the teaching/ learning effect in this important field. -ESP teachers still adopt the traditional approach where the teacher is the holder of the knowledge who transmits it to the learners to return it back in the exam paper. -Learners never search on dictionaries but they ask teachers for the meaning of unfamiliar vocabulary. -Most ESP learners are not active in the classroom, continuous innovation and evaluation of courses and content should be regulated by the teacher to assure their learners’ integration and motivation “The best lesson in the world won’t work if students are not motivated.” Slavin (2003, p. 292). So, the task is hard but a must to the ESP teacher to arouse interest in his/her students. -The ESP teacher cannot follow any dictated pre-determinedmethodology as well as any priori syllabuses. The methodologies of ESP teaching conform to the same model of thelanguage teaching process as does any other form of language teaching. That is to say, the basic teaching activities are these; shaping the input; encouraging the learners‟ intention to learn; managing the learning strategies and Promoting practice and use. (Strevens, 1988: 44) -The situation of the language teacher and more specifically the profile required for achieving such a function are not adequate. Between a new teacher of general English and an English language teacher with a limited experience of ESP, we may deduce that it is difficult to reach a valuable level of attainment. Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political & Economic Studies The Role of ESP Practitioner and the Use of Technology Fatiha SAHLI 47 ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives -Teachers are conscious that the use of technology becomes imperative but not all teachers can master it. -ESP teachers focus more on grammar because they haven’t the materials available for the specific field. For that, bothlanguage teacher and content teacher should work and collaborate to devise appropriate negotiated syllabuses as well as teaching/learning activities -ESP learners are aware about the importance of the English language but they focus on their content courses. Some ESP practitioners are not aware of the fact that they are teaching ESP they rather focus on grammar such teachers are not willing to understand their responsibilities or ignore it. - ESP practitioners should be a teacher, a constant researcher a ‘collaborator’, a ‘course designer and materials provider’ and finally an ‘evaluator ‘altogether (Dudley-Evans, 1997).And the basic teaching activities are:shaping the input;encouraging the learners‟ intention to learn, managing the learning strategiesand promoting practice and use.(Strevens, 1988: 44). -The teacher agrees with the fact of involving their students in decision making (Learner- centered- method) makes learning more determined and more enjoyable. - Teachers should be flexible and act as facilitators and counselors and learners must be highly motivated and should show a sense of autonomy. -ESP practitioners strongly agree that autonomy helps students succeed in today's integrated digital and global environment. They should foster their students’ interest by involving them in the whole progress of learning but teachers find it a very hard task because they have not the sufficient materials and no support and insisted on the support of the subject teachers. - Most ESP learners are not intermediate learner (B2), they are weak and slow learners and do not make efforts to improve their learning (except in some fields of study notably medicine and chemistry). ESP practitioners try hardly to stimulate their students desire to learn. -ESP students are not responsible for their tasks and they never finish their assignments on time. This is also because of their busy schedule with the other content courses. -.As far as assessment is concerned; students sometimes do not know how to attempt the exam questions since they are unfamiliar with the format. Details can be provided before the exam, in the class, about the type of questions and evaluation the students are going to face. -Despite the hard terminology, Learners never use dictionaries but they ask their teacher for the meaning of the unfamiliar vocabulary. The teacher should encourage students to familiarize themselves with the different types of dictionaries such as learner’s dictionaries, dictionaries of collocations, thesauri, and specialized dictionaries. -Some ESP practitioners are not aware of the fact that they are teaching ESP they rather focus on grammar such teachers are not willing to understand their responsibilities since they are Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political & Economic Studies The Role of ESP Practitioner and the Use of Technology Fatiha SAHLI 48 ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives inexperienced teachers . The ESP course is not a matter of Science words and grammar but rather it is “purposeful and is aimed at the successful performance of the occupational educational roles...for a clearly utilitarian purpose for which there is no doubt”(Robinson, 1980, p.13). The ESP practitioner should design the carrying course focusing on both competence and performance. VII. Conclusion and Recommendations The role of the ESP practitioner is indeed challenging but we don’t grow when things are easy and we are in comfortable state, we grow when we face challenges. ESP practitioner should find solutions to all problems encountered. These are some recommendations. The rapid expansion of technology calls for contemporary skills and knowledge. Thus, students need to be empowered with the necessary skills and attitudes with which they take their learning outside the classroom. Teachers should also foster their students’ critical thinking. Both language teachers and content teachers should work and collaborate to deviseappropriate negotiated syllabuses as well as teaching/learning activities..Team teaching (of content teacher and language teacher) is a new concept and working in collaboration for course designing/ implementation is highly needed. In today’s ESP classes, the teacher’s role should shiftfrom “sage on the stage” to “a guide on the side” .Teacher is not the only source of knowledge. The latter could be gained from a variety of sources, but teacher needs to be flexible and adapts to learners needs (Le Baron Earle, 2013) .ESP students should actively search andexplore answers instead of receiving standard interpretations. Technology integration helpsthis shifting process for teachers and students. The importance of teacher-training for ESP courses, particular workshops should be organized to enable ESP teachers to share their knowledge and experiences with each other. Such programscan be administered in online way to enable many ESP teachers to take part in them even at home. “People learn best when they are relaxed, comfortable, unstressed, interested and involved in what is going on, motivated to continue». Rivers (1983; in Oxford, 1999, p. 60) .According to Rivers and many other researchers, the importance of learning environment is very important. The teacher needs to create a structure and develop a process where learners feel safe undertaking their own contributions in interaction. The ESP teacher should know that any scientific text is composed of three aspects; the linguistic, the conceptual and the rhetoricalcomponent (Walsh, 1982).He should use interesting texts; enjoyable activities which stimulate the learners’ thinking abilities; give opportunities for learners to use their existing knowledge and skills; use a content which both learner and teacher can cope with. Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political & Economic Studies The Role of ESP Practitioner and the Use of Technology Fatiha SAHLI 49 ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives Johns and Dudley-Evans (1993: 123) stated: "We believe that ESP requiresmethodologies that are specialized or unique. An English for academicpurposes (EAP) class taught collaboratively by a language teacher and asubject-area lecturer…, sheltered and adjunct EAP classes …, andspecial English classes for students in the work place … require considerably different approaches than those found in general Englishclasses’. The teaching and learning activities were expected to be learner-centered (with students engaged in group tasks most of the time playing simulated roles of Computer Consultants and Clients with the teacher being a facilitator) and each intended learning outcome having to be assessed through an assessment task. ESP methodology can be based on the use of tasks and activities reflecting the students’ specific areas. (Task based approach).ESP activities can also be from input to output. (Genre based instruction) The development of the computing technologies has brought us new tools and methodologies, such as corpus linguistics methods and computer assisted language learning CALL, which enable easier access to large quantities of real-life material and its multiple-level analysis. This type of analysis is primarily based on vocabulary (terminology), i.e. words as the meaning- carrying elements of a language and, at the same time, distinguishing components of its areas and subareas. Many researchers (such as Cook2010 and Widdowson 2014) advocated the reconsideration of the value and benefits of the use of translation in EFL teaching., Widdowson has argued for a shift in perception of the role of translation in second language learning/teaching, whereby language “learning and translating become essentially the same thing” (2014, 237), translation being understood in both meanings of the word as a process and as a result “ the process of translation is the means and the product in the form of a second text is the end” .Most ESP learners prefer translation more than other tasks. The teacher shouldalso encourage students to familiarize themselves with the different types of dictionaries such as learner’s dictionaries, dictionaries of collocations, thesauri, and specialised dictionaries. ESP learners should be conscious of the importance of English: It is the language of” driving force” (Flowerdew, 1990, p. 328), “Much of the demand for ESP has come from scientists and technologists who need to learn English for a number of purposes connected with their specialism. It is natural, therefore, that English for science and technology should be an important aspect proposed by Strevens (1977)”. Finally, teaching ESP is a challenging task that needs training even self –training to innovate and develop the ESP course and meetlearners’ needs. Teaching is a profession that requires a continuous research. Noam Chomsky said: “if you were teaching today what you were teaching five years ago, either the field is dead or you are”. Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political & Economic Studies The Role of ESP Practitioner and the Use of Technology Fatiha SAHLI 50 ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives References Anthony, L. (1998)."Defining English for Specific Purposes andthe Role of the ESP Practitioner". Proceedings of the JapanConference on English for Specific Purposes, Diane Belcher. (ed.) English for Speciic Purposes in Theory and Practice. Ann Arbor, M.I.; University of Michigan Press, 2009, 308 pp. (ISBN 13-978-0-472-03384-3) Basturkmen, Helen. (2006). Ideas and Options in English for Specific Purposes.London: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Belcher , D. ( 2009 ) What ESP is and can be: An introduction . In D. Belcher (ed.), English for Specific Purposes in Theory and Practice. 1 – 20. Ann Arbor, MI : University of Michigan Press. Cook, G. (2010)Translation in Language Teaching. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Dudley Evans, T. and St John, M.T. (1998).Development in English for Specific Purposes: A multi-disciplinary approach; Cambridge University Press. English for Specific Purposes in Theory and Practice by Diane Belcher, Editor http://www.press.umich.edu/titleDetailDesc.do?id=770237 Michigan ELT, 2009 Gatehouse, K. (2001) Key Issues in English for Specific Purposes (ESP): Curriculum Development .khoey [at] khae-service.com < http://www.khae-service.com>. Hutchinson, T., and Waters, A. (1987)English for Specific Purposes: a Learning – centeredApproach, Cambridge: CUP. Johns A.M and Dudley, E. (1991) “English for Specific Purposes: International in Scope Specific in Purpose”.TESOL Quarterly Vol. 25.n° 2: pp 297-314. Kennedy, C.H. and Bolitho, R. (1984) English for Specific Purposes. London: Mc Millan press Ltd. Mc.Donough, S. (1984).ESP in Perspectives. London and Glasgow: Collins ELT. Richterich, R. and Chancerel, J.L. (1987).Identifying the Needs of Adults Learning a Foreign Language.Prentice-Hall International. Strevens, P.1988) “The Learner and the Teacher of ESP”.in ESP in the classroom: Practice and evaluation. Chamberlain and Baumgardener. vol. 6; pp 39-44. Widdowson, H. G. (2014) The Role of Translation in Language Learning and Teaching. Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political & Economic Studies The Role of ESP Practitioner and the Use of Technology Fatiha SAHLI 51 ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives I am a Global Learner The Urge to Establish an ESP Master Program in the Algerian University Abir Soundous GHASKIL1 1 Doctor and researcher Abstract Nowadays, learning foreign languages, mainly English, has become more than necessary for its importance in the workplace and other critical domains. Technology is hurrying, and exchanging information and expertise through different media platforms requires certain knowledge of the English language. English for specific purposes serves the needs of different types of learners, whether those of economics, politics, sociology, medicine, aviation and many other fields. For this reason, the need to establish and create a master's in ESP has become more than an obligation nowadays in our Algerian universities. A new laboratory in the English department, Batna 2 University, is being created. One of its teams, namely ESPEFL, is working on creating a master's in ESP in the same university to meet the different needs of learners from learners various fields. In this research paper, we tried to highlight the multiple challenges and obstacles facing the laboratory in its mission. The research has found that the lack of teachers' training, large classes, the lack of a proper needs analysis and the shortage of the necessary materials are among the main challenges and obstacles in creating an ESP master program. It has been suggested that policymakers should pay more attention to ESP practice to help teachers deliver effective teaching and to help learners from different fields develop their English and communication skills. Keywords: Algerian university, challenges, ESP, Master, needs, obstacles Citation: GHASKIL, A, S. (2022). I am a Global Learner; The Urge to Establish an ESP Master Program in the Algerian University. In H. Andaloussi (Ed.), ESP Teaching Today: Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives (pp. 52-61). Berlin, Germany: Democratic Arabic Center. Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political & Economic Studies I am a Global Learner; The Urge to Establish an ESP Master Program in the Algerian University Abir Soundous GHASKIL 52 ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives Introduction English for specific purposes is one of the essential educational branches nowadays. It focuses mainly on language research and instruction and tries to develop issues like students' communicative needs and practices that are needed in specific target situations. Ascending from the groundbreaking research of Halliday, MacIntosh, and Strevens (1964), ESP is raised as a branch of English language teaching that tries to develop pedagogical materials that can help students and teachers enhance their different academic skills. ESP as a separate field thrived throughout the years between theory and practice. As a branch of linguistics, it helped shape our current understanding of how language should be used in different situations. With the technological advance and the power of social media, ESP gained more attention, and there has been much research on its central core and the fields related to it. Students nowadays are global learners, which means they are open to the world and try to learn as many specialities as possible. To reach this aim, students need English to interact with the rest of the world and understand as much information available on the web as possible. However, these students are not all English language students; on the contrary, they belong to different fields and subjects that use other languages to learn rather than English. Based on these facts, the department of English language at Batna 2 University, Algeria, is working on creating a Master's degree that specializes in ESP and that is destined and available to students from different fields. Notwithstanding, this task proved challenging for the teachers of the same department due to the lack of trained educators and necessary materials to launch the ESP master.Debates addressing the challenging issues in establishing an ESP master's revolve around the most appropriate methodology to apply in an ESP classroom to the type of content to choose that leads to effective learning. Adding to that, an ESP teacher has to overcome specific fears and face some challenges in his profession. He may lack the necessary knowledge to teach particular subjects of particular fields like business, medicine, economy, commerce, etc. ESP teachers have to take multidimensional responsibilities and should be acquainted with the necessary skills to keep up with ESP learners' ongoing and changing needs. Moreover, ESP practitioners and teachers should frame specific goals and objectives, choose and enhance effective materials, plan appropriate lectures, and evaluate the students' development patterns. Research suggests that the ingredients of an ideal ESP teacher are the willingness to teach, handle the students' problems, and the ability to get learners involved in the learning. Besides these required skills, ESP teachers have to develop a syllabus. It provides opportunities for the students to employ and evaluate the skills and strategies considered necessary in the target situation. It is acknowledged that, unlike teaching English for general purposes, teaching ESP is challenging as it requires and includes a range of tasks like "identifying learner needs, developing courses and materials, as well as classroom teaching (Basturkmen, 2014; Hutchinson & Waters, 1987). So in the case of ESP classes, the lecturer is no longer a "primary knower" as the students become the primary knowers of the content and material. In this case, the teacher's prominent role is to create original and authentic classroom communication based on the students` knowledge. Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political & Economic Studies I am a Global Learner; The Urge to Establish an ESP Master Program in the Algerian University Abir Soundous GHASKIL 53 ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives Literature overview Technology has evolved tremendously, affecting and shaping the different life domains. English continues to be the number one language used globally, and students are trying to master it effectively. Since English is the current international communication tool, the Algerian ministry of education has implemented it in all studying levels, from primary school to college. To develop the use and practice of the English language in different fields of work and education, ESP has been introduced as a branch of EFL to fulfil the learners' specific needs. Researcher Michael Long (2005) believes that « English, or any language, is taught with specific purposes explicitly in mind" (cited in D. Belcher, 2009, p. 1), so the reality is that the goals served in language instruction do not meet the learners' needs and language may seem with no purpose for them. So reaching the true learners' needs may require an ESP approach and specific teaching materials; therefore, "Commitment to the goal of providing language instruction that addresses students' own specific language learning purposes is what those who take an English for Specific Purposes (ESP) approach see as distinguishing it from other approaches to English Language Teaching (ELT) (Hyland, 2002, cited in D. Belcher, 2009, p. 1). Since the 1960s, ESP emerged as an important branch of applied linguistics, and researchers since then tried to develop it by introducing new teaching techniques and materials. On the other side, students try to develop their communication skills through integration in ESP classes to enhance their different capacities in the English language. EFL students do not study English for the sake of the language; Robinson (1991) stated that they learn English "not because they are interested in the English Language or English culture as such, but because they need English for study or work purposes" (p. 2). For this exact reason, the department of English at Batna 2 University is working on launching an ESP Master for the students of different fields to help them reach their specific needs. Students are aware of the fact that English is a tool to enter the labour market, so in this case, "language is learnt not for its own sake or for the sake of gaining a general education, but to smooth the path to entry or greater linguistic efficiency in academic, professional or workplace environments" Basturkmen (2006, p. 18). This fact denotes that ESP is developed to help learners of different fields foster the needed skills and abilities they may need in their specific educational needs or the workplace when they graduate. The main issue to address in this research paper is establishing an ESP Master's program and the needed skills and materials to help both teachers and learners indulge in an ESP approach. So in the following sections, the researcher tries to highlight the main challenges facing the process of introducing an ESP course, the needed materials and skills, and what should be included while designing a specific ESP curriculum. Challenges and Obstacles Since ESP as a separate branch continues to grow and evolve, the need to adopt an ESP approach in non-English departments has equally grown, urging teachers and policymakers to investigate the main challenges faced while adopting such an approach. Exploring and identifying the main obstacles and challenges in teaching ESP gives the stakeholders a better Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political & Economic Studies I am a Global Learner; The Urge to Establish an ESP Master Program in the Algerian University Abir Soundous GHASKIL 54 ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives understanding and subsequently develops strategies and brings materials that can lead to an effective ESP teaching and learning. At first glance, it has been found that teachers responsible for teaching ESP in non-English departments are teachers of general English and with no expertise in specific matters. Furthermore, we have found that the timing allocated to ESP classes in these departments is strictly limited; therefore, students are offered little chance to practice English and develop their different skills. Teaching ESP is quite challenging, and it requires not only English proficiency but rather the knowledge of some specific subjects; that is why the endorsement of an interdisciplinary approach in these classes proved to be an affirmation (Prudnikova, 2013). An investigation into the challenges faced by ESP teachers and the discovery of some issues can serve as the basis for an introduction to new teaching policies that can build a compelling approach to follow. Researchers in the ESP field have mainly focused on investigating the needs analysis along with the materials development; however, little has been done to encounter the real challenges that are facing ESP teachers (Aldohon, 2014; Bialik&Fadel, 2015; Boroujeni&Fard, 2013; Gass, 2012; Gestantiet al., 2019; Hou, 2013; Kazar& Mede, 2015; Kellerman et al., 2010; Özyel et al.,2012; Poedjiastutie& Oliver, 2017; Saragih, 2014; Serafini et al., 2015; Setiawati,2016; Tristan, 2009). Concerning the case of the English department at Batna 2 University, the main challenges and obstacles that have been faced are as follows: 1. Teachers’ lack of trainings and competence One of the main obstacles facing the teachers of the English department at Batna 2 University is the lack of teachers training. Teachers at this department are eager to launch an ESP master's that can help students from the different fields enhance their English level, but they expressed their concern that teaching ESP may cause a barrier. In other words, teachers are afraid that they may lack the necessary competence and knowledge to teach English for specific matters and situations ((Alsharif&Shukri, 2018; Inozemtseva&Troufanova, 2018; Richards & Farrell, 2005; Stojkovic, 2019). One crucial issue that teachers consider as a primary challenge is the lack of knowledge of specific disciplines like medicine, economy, law, business, etc. Teachers are afraid, stressed, and overwhelmed that they may face difficulty learning the necessary vocabulary related to these specific fields. Some researchers have emphasized the importance of detailed knowledge to be a professional ESP teacher because the teaching competencies and general English proficiency are not enough (Bracaj, 2014; Maleki, 2008; Pradhan, 2013). The lack of knowledge in specific subjects can drive teachers to look stressed, uncomfortable, and insecure while teaching and subsequently affect the general class atmosphere. This fact can make teachers look unconfident in front of their students, creating negative energy in the classroom that can and will affect both the teaching and learning processes. One of the researchers in the field of ESP highlighted one crucial issue that faces novice ESP teachers, which is the lack of preparation on the subject matter before the beginning of the academic year, he said: Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political & Economic Studies I am a Global Learner; The Urge to Establish an ESP Master Program in the Algerian University Abir Soundous GHASKIL 55 ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives “In order to deal with this problem, cooperation should be held between English teachers and specialty teachers (Ahmed, 2014; Bojović, 2006; Luo & Garner, 2017; Zhang, 2017) to complement each other and to minimize the gap in the lack of teachers’ content knowledge of the subject matter. In addition, being aware of having limited knowledge on the subject matter can turn to be positive as it will stimulate and motivate ESP teachers to learn new things outside their field”. (L. Iswati, A. Triastuti, 2021, p. 9). 2. The absence of a proper needs analysis Another critical challenge facing teachers at the English department at Batna 2 University is the lack of a proper needs analysis to be conducted in ESP classes that will be launched. Teachers are trying to develop an appropriate needs analysis approach because neither the ministry of higher education nor the University of Batna 2 informed the ESP teachers about what to teach, prepare, and teach. The ministry of higher education provided the different institutions with a curriculum and the name of the subjects alone. For that reason, teachers found themselves confused about what to teach since they do not know the students' needs and capacities in the English language. Moreover, since one of the fundamental characteristics of ESP is to fulfil the students' different needs (Dudley-Evans & St. John, 1998), the absence of a proper needs analysis may hinder the process of identifying the actual learners' needs. 3. Lack of proper materials Another challenge facing the teachers in the English department at Batna 2 University is the lack of necessary materials to conduct an effective and successful ESP Master. Teachers at this department expressed their anguish towards this issue. They openly said they wouldn’t start an ESP class unless the University of Batna 2 would provide them with the necessary materials like data shows, microphones, digital boards, ESP books, etc. 4. Large classes Another challenge that may face novice ESP teachers or may be considered an obstacle is that classes are large, and the number of students willing to have a master's in ESP is growing every day. Teachers are afraid that many students can burden the communication process and the delivery of information; also, teachers are claiming that the limited time provided for these classes is not enough. Therefore, they should be divided into smaller ones. Researchers believe that large classes produce more obstacles and challenges than smaller ones (Harmer, 2001). For teachers to provide effective teaching and lead a good classroom, the universities, along with the ministry, have to work on hiring more teachers to close the gap between multiple classes need multiple teachers (Brown, 2007). This same researcher (Brown, 2007) claims that:" an ideal language class should not consist of more than a dozen students; ESP classes usually Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political & Economic Studies I am a Global Learner; The Urge to Establish an ESP Master Program in the Algerian University Abir Soundous GHASKIL 56 ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives consist of many students (40 students or more), making it not ideal for the teaching of ESP" (cited in (L. Iswati, A. Triastuti, 2021, p. 13). Large classes are challenging to handle, and teachers may find themselves bound to choose the appropriate activities as these large classes do not support individual work. Dividing large classes into smaller ones may require more budgets, more teachers and more space but will eventually lead to an effective ESP teaching and learning process. 5. Learners’ varied competencies Another obstacle related to the classroom condition is that learners’ abilities and general level in English vary from one to another. Classes with different skills may cause a challenge to many teachers as they require mixed and varied teaching techniques and approaches. For example, teachers at the English department at Batna 2 University are worried and puzzled about dealing with a class containing students whose abilities differ from learning English for the first time to advanced English levels. Students with varied skills can lead to a gap in the learning process, and ESP classes are known to contain students in a very distinct group (Gatehouse, 2001; Hoa& Mai, 2016; Tsou & Chen, 2014), therefore adopting different teaching approaches and using various materials is a necessity in these classes. Furthermore, teachers complain about the absence of diagnostic and placement tests that can place these multiple students in their suitable courses. So one way of dividing these students is by conducting a pre- test before the academic year so that the students’ capacities will be revealed and subsequently classified accordingly. Running such a test is indeed time-consuming due to the estimated large number of students, but if institutions are determined to do so, the whole process will be as adequate as possible. However, if a pre-test is hard to conduct and cannot be managed, researchers suggest that a pre-course about the necessary language skills is essential and vital (L. Iswati, A. Triastuti, 2021, p. 14). Suggestions To launch an ESP master's program, the university rectors should consider multiple and significant measures. First of all, it has to be known that teaching ESP should not be taken for granted, and it should not be confused with teaching general English. Many researchers emphasized the role of ESP and that a proper approach to the use of language in communication must be employed by ESP teachers (Luo and Garner, 2017). ESP students should constantly be involved in the learning context to ensure adequate skills development and to help create a good learning environment. ESP should be integrated within the teachers' central roles, and institutions should provide teachers with active and preserved training. Some researchers urge stakeholders to give the institutions a proper ESP education because teaching ESP comes with the challenges and burdens of creating a curriculum, syllabus and choosing the appropriate materials (Bezukladnikov and Kruze, 2012). Respectively, Harmer (2001) accentuates the importance of teachers' training on ESP to enhance their English proficiency and develop their knowledge about specific subject matters. This research is supported by Bracaj's work (2004), which affirms that being knowledgeable about specific subject matters and some teachers' Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political & Economic Studies I am a Global Learner; The Urge to Establish an ESP Master Program in the Algerian University Abir Soundous GHASKIL 57 ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives training will help teachers fulfil their learners' different needs. Bracaj (2004) also highlighted some points that can help ESP teachers develop their teaching skills; he believes that: “Only specialized teachers (those who master content knowledge) who are ready to teach ESP can teach ESP. Secondly, ESP teachers should be well-educated or have the willingness to pursue higher education in language teaching. Thirdly, they should get general professional training as a teacher and as an educator to acquire pedagogical concepts and other aspects related to teaching and educating. Fourthly, there must be special training for either EFL or ESL teachers to understand learners’ needs and what to offer to fulfill their learning needs” (cited in L. Iswati, A. Triastuti, 2021, p. 3). ESP teachers should develop thorough language knowledge, enhance their course design abilities, and have expert knowledge about specific subject matters (Maleki, 2008). Besides these complex issues that educators and stakeholders should work on, needs analysis is one crucial component in ESP studies. A practical ESP approach should start with diagnosing the learners' needs and building a curriculum based on these needs. The classroom condition can also contribute to the success of an ESP master's program. For example, language departments have to make small classes with limited students to provide an effective teaching/learning atmosphere. Last but not least, selecting the suitable materials for an ESP course is one crucial step that should be pointed out by both teachers and heads of different departments. Conclusion Based on the issues presented and explained above, it is clear that establishing an ESP master's program is quite challenging. As mentioned above in the challenges and obstacles section, teaching ESP in Algerian higher education institutions is far from ideal due to many obstacles. These obstacles vary from the lack of ESP teaching materials, large classes, teachers' readiness to teach ESP and the absence of teachers' training to prepare these instructors. However, these challenges and issues are present only at Batna 2 University, which cannot be generated for all the Algerian institutions. Therefore further investigation must be conducted on a large scale to gain more insight and shed light on ESP's actual practices. The practice of ESP in Algerian universities, specifically non-English departments, is still humble and requires more attention from both teachers and policymakers. This study tried to shed light on specific challenging matters so that policymakers can take a stand and give more attention to the practice and the importance of ESP. the arguments presented above about the issue of large classes, the lack of a proper needs analysis, teachers' incompetency and learners varied abilities have to step to the light to work on it and hence develop the practice of ESP in general. This article is a wake-up call to policymakers to give this field more focus and attention. The discrepancy between teaching ESP and teaching other subject matters in the non-English department is enormous; stakeholders shall pay more attention to this issue and start making effective regulations and introducing new policies to enhance ESP practice. Circumstantial to this matter, Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political & Economic Studies I am a Global Learner; The Urge to Establish an ESP Master Program in the Algerian University Abir Soundous GHASKIL 58 ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives researchers Yu and Liu (2018) suggest that "stakeholders should initiate reform at a university level since they can provide funds and management support" (cited in (L. Iswati, A. Triastuti, 2021, p. 14, 15). References 1. Aldohon, H. I. (2014). English for Specific Purposes (ESP) for Jordanian tourist police in their workplace: Needs and problems. International Education Studies, 7(11), 56-67. 2. Alsharif, D., &Shukri, N. (2018). Exploring pedagogical challenges of ESP teachers at a Saudi Arabian university. International Journal of Asian Social Science, 8(10), 841- 855. 3. Basturkmen, H. (2006). Ideas and Options in English for Specific Purposes.London and New jersey: ESL and Applied Linguistic Professional Series: Eli Hinkel, Edition. 4. Bezukladnikov, K., &Kruze, B. (2012). An outline of an ESP teacher training course. World Applied Sciences Journal, 20(0), 103-106. 5. Bialik, M., &Fadel, C. (2015). Skills for the 21st century: What should students learn ? (Issue May). Center for Curriculum Redesign. 6. Boroujeni, S. A., & Fard, F. M. (2013). A needs analysis of English for Specific Purposes (ESP) course for adoption of communicative language teaching: A case of Iranian first year students of educational administration. International Journal of Humanities and Social Science Invention, 2(6), 35-44. 7. Bracaj, M. (2014). Teaching English for Specific Purposes and teacher training. European Scientific Journal, 10(2), 40-49. 8. Brown, D. (2007). Principles of language learning and teaching. (Fifth edition). White Plains, NY: Pearson Education. 9. D. Belcher. (2001). 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Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political & Economic Studies I am a Global Learner; The Urge to Establish an ESP Master Program in the Algerian University Abir Soundous GHASKIL 59 ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives 15. Gestanti, R. A., Nimasari, E. P., &Mufanti, R. (2019). ESP Issue in Indonesian tertiary context: what students need in learning English. PUPIL: International Journal of Teaching, Education and Learning, 3(1), 98-117. 16. Harmer, J. (2001). The practice of English Language Teaching. (Third edition). Essex: Pearson Education. 17. Hoa, N. T. T., & Mai, P. T. T. (2016). Difficulties in teaching English for Specific Purposes: empirical study at Vietnam universities. Higher Education Studies, 6(2), 154- 161. 18. Hou, H. I. (2013). A needs analysis of culinary arts majors’ ESP learning in Taiwan’s context. Asian ESP Journal, 9(3), 5-34. 19. Hutchison, T. & Waters, A. (1987). English for Specific Purposes: a learner-centred approach. England: Cambridge UniversityPress. 20. Hyland, K. (2002). Specificity revisited: How far should we go now?. English for Specific Purposes, 21(4), 385-395. Robinson, P (1980) English for Specific Purposes.Oxford: Pergamon Press. (1991) ESP today.UK: Prentice Hall International ltd. 21. Inozemtseva, K., &Troufanova, N. (2018). ESP tertiary teachers’ perception of how they comply with requirements of cross disciplinary education. In L. G. Chova, A. L. Martínez, & I. C. Torres (Eds.), Proceedings of EDULEARN18 Conference (pp. 6427- 6434). IATED. 22. Kazar, S. G., & Mede, E. (2015). The perceptions of ESP students’ target needs: A case study. Procedia Social and Behavioral Sciences, 191, 2526-2530. 23. Kellerman, E., Koonen, H., & Van der Haagen, M. (2010). “Feet speak louder than the tongue”: A preliminary analysis of language provisions for foreign professional footballers in the Netherlands. In M. H. Long & J. C. Richards (Eds.), Second Language Needs Analysis (pp. 200-222). Cambridge University Press. 24. L. Iswati, A. Triastuti. (2021). Voicing the Challenges of ESP Teaching: Lessons from ESP in Non-English Departments. Studies in English Language and Education, 8(1), 276-293, 2021. 25. Long, M. (2005). A Rationale for Needs Analysis Research.Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 26. Luo, J., & Garner, M. (2017). The challenges and opportunities for English teachers in teaching ESP in China. Journal of Language Teaching and Research, 8(1), 81-86. 27. M. A. K. Halliday, A. McIntosh & P. Strevens, The Linguistic Sciences and Language Teaching. (Longmans' Linguistic Library.) London: Longmans, 1964. Pp. xix + 322. 28. Maleki, A. (2008). ESP teaching: A matter of controversy. ESP World, 7(1(17)), 121. 29. Özyel, M., Özdemir, C., &Kalajahi, S. A. R. (2012). Needs of an ESP context: Needs analysis, curriculum & unit design. Advances in Asian Social Science, 1(3), 265- 280. 30. Poedjiastutie, D., & Oliver, R. (2017). 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Needs analysis for specialized learner populations: essential methodological improvements. English for Specific Purposes, 40, 11-26. 36. Setiawati, B. (2016). Needs analysis for identifying ESP materials for medial record students in APIKES Citra Medika Surakarta. KajianLinguistikdanSatra, 1(1), 61-72. 37. Stojkovic, N. (2019). Possible reasons why ESP is under recognized in academia. The Journal of Teaching English for Specific and Academic Purposes, 7(3), 405-409. 38. Strevens, P. (1977) New Orientations in the Teaching of English.Oxford: Oxford University Press. (1988) “The Learner and the Teacher of ESP”. in ESP in the classroom: Practice and evaluation. Chamberlain and Baumgardener. vol. 6; pp 39-44. 39. Trisyanti, U. (2009). Developing materials for ESP (English for Specific Purposes) class. JurnalSosialHumaniora, 2(1), 66-77. 40. Tsou, W., & Chen, F. (2014). ESP program evaluation framework: Description and application to a Taiwanese university ESP program. English for Specific Purposes, 33(1), 39-53. Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political & Economic Studies I am a Global Learner; The Urge to Establish an ESP Master Program in the Algerian University Abir Soundous GHASKIL 61 ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives Beyond words: teaching English for Medical Purposes Agnieszka DUDZIK1 Abstract 1 Doctor; Medical University of Bialystok The existence of English for Medical Purposes (EMP) is inevitably (Poland) related to the late twentieth-century emergence of English as the foremost international language of medical sciences (Ferguson, 2013: 246). However, there are a number of other factors which contribute to the increasingly growing demand for medical English, including the professional mobility of healthcare workers, increasingly multinational patient populations, and the internationalisation of medical training. Consequently, growing numbers of medical graduates require English to provide an effective level of practice and care, establish strong relationships with patients and colleagues, and lead and participate in successful healthcare teams. As there seem to be inadequate guidelines designed to provide assistance to teachers attempting to determine essential EMP course components, this article aims to indicate key content areas to be considered in medical English syllabus design. Keywords: English for Medical Purposes (EMP), medical English, syllabus design, communication skills, intercultural communication Citation: DUDZIK, A. (2022). Beyond words: teaching English for Medical Purposes. In H. Andaloussi (Ed.), ESP Teaching Today: Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives (pp. 62-68). Berlin, Germany: Democratic Arabic Center. Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political & Economic Studies Beyond words: teaching English for Medical Purposes Agnieszka DUDZIK 62 ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives Introduction Recent years have witnessed an increased demand for English in the healthcare field, not only in terms of general skills but also, more importantly, the discipline-specific language of medical care. The demand for specialist language programmes largely results from the fact that general English is frequently characterised by limited application in healthcare environments and is not always adequate for effective communication in specific professional settings. English for Medical Purposes training, which is aimed at addressing learners’ specific needs and enabling them to function successfully and effectively in their educational settings and future professional environments, cannot be restricted solely to training in specialist terminology and translating an abundance of specialist texts. Instead, it should prepare medical graduates to communicate in more complex healthcare settings, where cultural factors may have an impact on the physician-patient interaction. It is necessary for care providers today to be aware of and sensitive to the background and cultural needs of their patients, which means that they should be trained to communicate effectively and independently with individuals from different cultures. Thus, apart from the specific language of the discipline, the ability to function effectively in medical interactions seems to have become mandatory nowadays for members of the medical profession who wish to participate in and take advantage of what globalisation offers in terms of medical knowledge and practice. Emergence of English for Medical Purposes English for Medical Purposes is one of the strands of English for Specific Purposes. Ferguson (2013: 246) attributes its emergence to the spread of English as the predominant international language of science and medicine in the twentieth century. Prior to that, medical science was dominated by Latin and Greek, although the latter became gradually subsumed by the former as the predominance of Latin to the learned culture became evident. Latin achieved pre-eminence as a medium of medical communication in the Middle Ages, when it emerged as the dominant international language of science and medicine, and medical knowledge was disseminated in Latin translations of Greek and Arabic texts (Frinculescu, 2009: 4). Consequently, Latin was recognised as the lingua franca of Western medical writing and served as the universal language for scholarly communication. As pointed out by Maher (1986), despite the significance of other languages in mediating medical knowledge, ‘it is Latin which has been traditionally the most powerful medium of medical and scientific communication in Europe from the Middle Ages to the recent past’ (Maher, 1986: 208). Its influence on the development of medical phraseology can be observed even today in the large number of Latin- derived medical terms which entered the English language as well as the medical terminology of other languages (Mareckova et al., 2002). The primacy of English as a universal medium of communication in science and medicine was largely preceded by a period of regional lingua francas in academic life (Maher, 1986: 206), which began as early as in the seventeenth century with an increased use of national languages, i.e. English, French, and German, in medical texts. Yet, as observed by Wulff Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political & Economic Studies Beyond words: teaching English for Medical Purposes Agnieszka DUDZIK 63 ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives (2004), it was English as one of the three which superseded Latin to become the medium of international communication. French and German had been supplanted by English by the early twentieth century, and thus the latter began to assume the role of the lingua franca of medicine in both international and intra-national communication (Showell et al., 2010). Consequently, following an era of national languages in medical texts, English emerged as the international language of medical sciences and the foremost medium of international communication in medicine. Notably, Wulff (2004) points out that the era of medical English bears a resemblance to that of medical Latin in the sense that a single language has been selected by physicians for international communication. English has become both the language of publication in the most influential medical journals and the medium of communication at international health-related conferences. It is recognised as an intra-national and international medium of medical communication, which means that it is also established as an important tool of communication in various non-native contexts. Growing demand for intercultural communication in EMP Although the existence of EMP is related to the late twentieth-century emergence of English as the primary language of medical sciences (Ferguson, 2013: 246), there are a number of other factors which contribute to the increasingly growing demand for medical English. Not only do they indicate the need for English in a variety of healthcare contexts, but they also help it to secure its position as an international language of communication in medical settings today. The factors that seem to deserve particular attention are healthcare workers mobility, increasingly diverse patient populations, and the internationalisation of medical training. Due to the development of the global economy, increased geographical and occupational mobility and a global workforce shortage in healthcare (European Commission, 2012), there has been a surge in the professional mobility of healthcare personnel. Migration among medical providers has become commonplace and many countries around the world are increasingly reliant on foreign health professionals. Consequently, the inevitability of intercultural communication is recognised in many healthcare institutions, as the demographic profiles of medical personnel have become increasingly varied. Medical students and practising healthcare professionals need to be trained in terms of intercultural communication competence, as they need to be able to communicate with culturally diverse members of the healthcare team. Alongside the migration of healthcare professionals, increasingly mobile patient populationshave created a need to prepare medical graduates to communicate in more complex healthcare settings, where their competence in a foreign language may have an impact on the provider-patient interaction. In today’s world, it is necessary for members of the healthcare team to be prepared to communicate effectively and independently with multinational patient groups. As the profiles of both healthcare providers and consumers are becoming increasingly multinational and multicultural (Kreps and Kunimoto, 1994: 5), the ability to communicate effectively is crucial. Medical graduates need to be able to provide effective medical care and treatment to every patient, regardless of race, ethnicity and cultural background. Finally, the demand for intercultural communication competence in EMP is linked to the international character of medical education and research nowadays. Due to the fact that the Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political & Economic Studies Beyond words: teaching English for Medical Purposes Agnieszka DUDZIK 64 ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives ‘internationalization of higher education has stimulated an increased use of English as a medium of medical education’ (Ferguson, 2013: 247), more diverse stakeholder groups seem to be in demand of discipline-specific language and communication skills. Not only does the growing number of international courses offered by universities around the world create a need for EMP among international students undertaking a medical degree, but it also puts linguistic demands on medical academic staff involved in their training. This means that, apart from medical students, doctors working in academic medicine, as well as other medically qualified personnel employed in medical schools, research councils, or other institutions engaged in medical research may be required to deliver medical training across cultural boundaries. Similarly, the wealth of opportunities for professional development for medical graduates and practising healthcare workers offered globally results in an increased need for intercultural communication among qualified medical staff. The growing number of international conferences and workshops conducted in English, the expanding access to training offered by private and public institutions globally, the opportunities to take up residencies or fellowships at international centres, and the increasing number of international exchange programmes all lead to an increased demand for EMP among individuals qualified in the medical field. Not only do they require profession-specific language that includes workplace culture and jargon for the safe and effective delivery of professional services, but they also need to be able to coordinate research and treatment in multicultural teams. Key communication skills to consider in EMP instruction English for Medical Purposes instruction, similarly to other sub-domains of ESP, is characterised by a high awareness of learners’ needs, as it primarily seeks to prepare learners to function effectively in English in the target situations. Hence, apart from developing their knowledge of medical terminology, EMP instruction is primarily aimed at preparing healthcare workers to communicate, in speech and in writing, with patients and their relatives, with medical colleagues, and with paramedical staff. It may also entail the teaching of reading skills needed to handle a range of medical texts and introducing learners to different kinds of medical writing, including a variety of documentation of a patient's history and physical examination, clinical findings, diagnostic test results, preoperative and postoperative care, operation notes, daily notes of a patient's progress and medications, or discharge summaries. Depending on the target group’s needs, EMP courses may also include academic writing and an introduction to selected medical genres, such as case reports, referral letters, abstracts, or research articles. Evidently, communication skills involved in healthcare practice are manifold and not solely limited to doctor-patient encounters. Therefore, an awareness of what is considered a pre- condition of qualification for practising in healthcare also seems necessary to design relevant EMP training for medical students seeking to operate within specific requirements. According to the UK Department of Health (2003), good communication skills expected of healthcare graduates include the ability to: • talk to patients, carers and colleagues effectively and clearly, conveying and receiving the intended message; Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political & Economic Studies Beyond words: teaching English for Medical Purposes Agnieszka DUDZIK 65 ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives • enable patients and their carers to communicate effectively; • listen effectively, especially when time is pressured, i.e. skills in engaging and disengaging; • identify potential communication difficulties and work through solutions; • understand the differing methods of communication used by individuals; • understand that there are differences in communication signals between cultures; • cope in specific difficult circumstances; • understand how to use and receive nonverbal messages given by body language; • utilise spoken, written and electronic methods of communication; • know when the information received needs to be passed on to another person/professional for action; • know and interpret the information needed to be recorded on patients’ records, writing discharge letters, copying letters to patients and gaining informed consent; • recognise the need for further development to acquire specialist skills. Undoubtedly, awareness of these expectations concerning medical communication is necessary for medical personnel seeking to practise in English-speaking environments within the NHS and beyond. However, it is also of paramount importance to EMP practitioners and course designers in order to establish how the skills translate into the teaching of English to non-native speaking medical students. One of the few attempts in the literature at transcribing them into EMP training is offered by Wright (2010, 2012), who suggests that in order to respond effectively to the linguistic demands of healthcare practice EMP training should be focused on developing the following areas: • verbal communication (including the ability to adjust language to suit various levels of understanding); • non-verbal communication; • active listening; • voice management (including comprehensible pronunciation); Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political & Economic Studies Beyond words: teaching English for Medical Purposes Agnieszka DUDZIK 66 ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives • cultural awareness; • strategies to deal with deficiencies in communication (e.g. the treatment of sensitive issues). Thus, not only language practice but also communication skills training both seem necessary in EMP programmes designed for medical graduates wishing to function effectively in global professional contexts. It needs to be emphasised, however, that health communication is neither confined to doctor-patient encounters nor to face-to-face interactions. Therefore, depending on their professional contexts, physicians may also need to be able to communicate with other healthcare members, patients’ families, carers, visitors, researchers, members of the public, or the media. Moreover, they may be required to use authentic documentation, communicate in writing, electronically, through third parties (including interpreters and translators), or communication aids (e.g. pictures or charts). Hence, the list of areas to be included in EMP instruction is not confined to the items demonstrated above. Depending on the teaching context, a need to focus on other aspects in the EMP curriculum may arise. This means that the design of the curriculum needs to be shaped by the analysis of learners’ needs. It is the EMP classroom, however, where the learners’ needs to be equipped with the communicative skills necessary to participate in multinational academic and professional cultures ought to be addressed. Conclusion Contemporary medical practice is exposed to the inevitability of communicating in multicultural environments. Therefore, apart from equipping future healthcare professionals with a solid background in the discipline-specific language, preparing them to confront intercultural realities should be an integral learning objective of EMP. Enhancing foreign language skills and exposing students to culturally diverse issues in the medical English classroom ought to ensure that future healthcare professionals acquire the necessary competences to communicate more effectively in multicultural contexts. This means that Medical English programmes cannot be restricted solely to training in specialist terminology. Instead, they should also emphasise communicative competence and expose learners to real- world tasks embedded in their field of study or work. The transfer of culturally specific information in the EMP setting should be integrated into the overall communication skills programme, as caring for patients requires much more than a knowledge of terminology to discuss particular diseases. Healthcare personnel need to be able to work alongside and treat all individuals, irrespective of their social, ethnic or cultural origins and, therefore, intercultural communication training should be an integral part of the English for Medical Purposes syllabus. Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political & Economic Studies Beyond words: teaching English for Medical Purposes Agnieszka DUDZIK 67 ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives References Department of Health. (2003). Guiding principles relating to the commissioning and provision of communication skills training in pre-registration and undergraduate education for healthcare professionals. London: Department of Health. European Commission. (2012). Commission Staff Working Document on an Action Plan for the EU Health Workforce, 18 April 2012, SWD (2012) 93 final. Strasbourg: EC. Accessed January 2020. http://ec.europa.eu/health/workforce/policy/index_en.htm Ferguson, G. (2013). English for medical purposes. In: Paltridge, B., Starfield, S. Chichester (Eds.), The Handbook of English for Specific Purposes. Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell. Frinculescu, J.C. (2009). The physiology of English as a lingua franca in Medicine. Fiziologia – Physiology, 19.2(62): 4-6. Kreps, G.L. and Kunimoto, E.N. (1994). Effective Communication in Multicultural Health Care Settings. London: Sage. Maher, J. (1986). The development of English as an international language of medicine. Applied Linguistics, 7(2): 206-220. Mareckova, E., F. Simon, and L. Cerveny. (2002). Latin as the language of medical terminology: some remarks on its role and prospects. Swiss Medical Weekly 132(41-42): 581-587. Showell, C.M., E.A. Cummings, and P. Turner. (2010). Language Games and Patient- centred eHealth, Seamless care - safe care: the challenges of interoperability and patient safety in health care, 2-4 June 2010, Reykjavik, Iceland, pp. 55-61. ISBN 978-1-60750-563-1 [Refereed Conference Paper] Wright R. (2010). Doctors’ language in need of intensive training care. The Guardian Weekly, 13 July, 2010. Wright, R. (2012). Medical English debunked. ESP Journal, 39: 39. Wulff, H. R. (2004). The language of medicine, Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine 97 (4): 187-188. Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political & Economic Studies Beyond words: teaching English for Medical Purposes Agnieszka DUDZIK 68 ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives Challenges of Integrating Culture in ESP Course at the Algerian Tertiary Level: The Case of Business English Teachers Somia BOUDINAR1 Abstract 1 Assistant Professor, Ph.D (MCB) in ESP It is widely accepted that learning and teaching a Foreign Language (FL) - Business English- Mohamed Lamine cannot be merely restricted to rigid instructions in linguistic system but Debaghine Setif 2 University, Algeria. rather the intercultural awareness is an essential dimension too. In fact, cultural content is a significant dimension in English for Specific Purposes (ESP) classes; it gives students the chance to behave correctly and appropriately whenever they meet a member of the target culture in professional settings. In this respect, it is a debatable issue regarding how culture should be introduced and integrated in ESP classes and to what extent it is really effective and relevant to English learning. Henceforth, this paper discusses the main challenges and requirements that Business English teachers face in incorporating the cultural information in ESP classes. Accordingly, a semi-structured interview was conducted with five (5) Business English teachers working at different universities. The obtained results reveal that participants argue about the necessity of integrating cultural information in ESP course. Besides, they stated that they encounter considerable difficulties in finding practical methodologies to teach culture within their classes and, more importantly, in identifying which aspects of culture to include. Consequently, it is suggested that in ESP teaching methodologies and instructions there should be a shift from the cognitive approach that focuses on language skills towards an attempt to offer many cultural aspects at the same time with the teaching of the language skills, mainly using the communicative approach. Keywords: English for Specific Purposes, Business English, Teaching Challenges, Culture Integration, Business English course Citation: BOUDINAR, S. (2022). Challenges of Integrating Culture in ESP Course at the Algerian Tertiary Level: The Case of Business English Teachers. In H. Andaloussi (Ed.), ESP Teaching Today: Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives (pp. 69-77). Berlin, Germany: Democratic Arabic Center. Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political & Economic Studies Challenges of Integrating Culture in ESP Course at the Algerian Tertiary Level: The Case of Business English Teachers Somia BOUDINAR 69 ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives 1. Introduction Recently, the emerging trends and pedagogies in teaching/learning a foreign language (FL) do not require the merely teaching of linguistic components such as phonology, morphology, lexicology, and syntax, but also “...the vital component of cultural knowledge and awareness” (Bachman, 1990). At the era of globalization and digitalization, the main focus of learning FL aims to develop a successful and sustainable communication in social, political, academic, professional or any cultural contexts. That is to say, learning a language effectively necessitates the knowledge of the cultural aspects of that language as far as that intercultural communication is concerned. The cultural information transferred by language is an important part of English for Specific Purposes (ESP), particularly Business English (BE) teaching. Therefore, ESP teachers should not only improve the language level of the students, but also develop the students' intercultural understanding. In fact, Business Communication that lacks appropriate cultural content often results in an irrelevant situation, leading to miscomprehension, misinterpretation and miscommunication. Accordingly, to promote learners’ intercultural awareness, incorporating cultural activities in teaching BE is a matter of fact. In this vein, the adoption intercultural awareness to BE teaching/learning is believed to be one of the many paradigms in this complex global perspective. 1.1. Statement of the Problem Globalization has led to dramatic increase of business communication enhancing the demand for Business English teaching throughout the world, and Algeria is not an exception. For intercultural effective communication, it is important to incorporate intercultural aspects in BE teaching to develop learners’ awareness of intercultural sensitivity. However, there is still an absence of the cultural component in the ESP course, particularly Business English course at Commerce, Economics, and Management Sciences Faculties at different Algerian universities. BE syllabus is merely restricted to delivering lessons on syntactic structures, grammatical rules, and phonetics. It is indeed, “Simple mastery of the linguistic forms of a language is not enough for learners to be considered competent in the target language” (Krasner, 1999). Based on the problem stated previously, this study aims at investigating ESP teachers’ perceptions and challenges while integrating the cultural content that suits learners’ needs in the field of Business. It also aims to highlight the importance of using appropriate teaching materials and providing their English teachers with necessary training in order to prepare these students to use the language in different cultural contexts in the workplace. 1.2. Research Questions 1. What are ESP teachers’ perceptions towards the integration of the target culture in Business English course? Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political & Economic Studies Challenges of Integrating Culture in ESP Course at the Algerian Tertiary Level: The Case of Business English Teachers Somia BOUDINAR 70 ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives 2. To what extent have ESP teachers integrated the target culture in the BE course? 3. Literature Review 3.1. The Concepts of Culture and Language Theoretically speaking, there is difference between Culture with a “big C” and culture with a “little c”. For instance, traditional study of British and American life and institutions has placed emphasis on “big C” or “achievement” culture – history, geography, institutions, literature, art and music. On the other hand, “little c” entails “behaviour” or “behavioural” culture, which includes cultural behaviours, culturally-influenced beliefs and perceptions (cf. Čurković Kalebić,1998; Stern, 1992; Strevens 1977). Culture and language are two broad and multifaceted notions, to which several definitions have been stated. It is appropriate, for the purpose and the context of this research, to define culture in its relation to language teaching and learning. In literature, it is believed that language and culture are intertwined concepts that cannot be separated from each other, one being part of the other. That is to say, Language is used to maintain and convey culture standpoints.In this vein, Brown argues: “a language is part of culture, and a culture is part of language; the two are intricately interwoven so that one cannot separate the two without losing the significance of either language or culture” (2000, p.177). Moreover, culture should be taught through its language, in this context, Byram says: “the language holds the culture through the connotations and the denotations of its semantics” (1989, p.94). The interrelation between language and culture can be summarized as follows (Kramsch, 1998, p.3): • Through language the cultural reality can be expressed, in other words, language gives people the access to the systematic knowledge (words, nouns, expressions, verbs ...) whereby we can express our feeling, reality and state easily. • The cultural reality is embodied within language. That is to say, language represent our culture, culture without language would be nothing. Culture is realized by means of language. • Culture is symbolized through language that means, people can represent their culture only by means of language, language is the only mean whereby culture can be expressed. To cut it short, separating language from its target culture will necessarily impede the effectiveness of the foreign language teaching and learning. 3.2. Teaching Culture in ESP Reviewing previous studies, ESP was to some extent regarded as “free of culture”: ESP was supposed to be “a conception of teaching and learning the practical command of a language, unrelated to aspects of culture” (Strevens, 1977, p.89), and Bower (1992, pp.29-30), for instance, describe English at the international level as “essentially acultural” with a “universal functional value”. According to Mckay (2002), “It can be questioned whether the teaching of culture is necessary to integrate in teaching English, which has become the international language” (p.86). Similarly, Brown (1986, p. 45) maintains that culture is necessary because “it is really an Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political & Economic Studies Challenges of Integrating Culture in ESP Course at the Algerian Tertiary Level: The Case of Business English Teachers Somia BOUDINAR 71 ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives integral part of the interaction between language and thought. Cultural patterns, customs, and ways of life are expressed in language; culture- specific world views are reflected in language”. Henceforth,the integration of culture when using the language seems to be an essential component, Mckay (2002, p.85) gives an illustration about scientific writing which deals with cultural assumptions and presuppositions. For instance,students in Business context need to acquire the necessary knowledge concerning the culture of the target language, since, in their future careers, they might encounter different situations when they will have to be aware of the similarities and differences between their culture and the culture of the second language.. The main aim of teaching culture in an ESP course are different and vary according to the context of teaching and learning. Nonetheless, the following aims seems to be relevant in the context of ESP and may be regarded as a basis for integrating culture in ESP syllabus. In this respect, Ouakrime (1992) states the following aims of integrating culture in FL syllabus: • To understand the forms of organizations, concepts, customary beliefs and patterns of behaviour of members of the target culture community. • To acquire enough knowledge and understanding of the target culture with the purpose of developing a tolerant attitude towards its community. • To develop an awareness of the differences and similarities existing between cultures and their implications. • To be able to behave linguistically and non-linguistically in such a way that one’s intended meanings are understood by members of the target language and culture community. • To use cultural awareness as a fostering factor for developing communicative competence in the target language. Foreign language teaching requires introducing the culture of the community where the FL is used. Hence, in order to put cultural awareness into practice,Byram et al. (2002) recommends four techniques that EFL teachers can apply to promote cultural awareness in a language class: 1. FL teachers can employ comparative analysis in a lesson by encouraging students to compare and contrast the new culture with their own, based on theme and content. For instance, in the theme of sports, teachers can talk about many aspects of culture such as age and gender. Suggested activities include role-play and simulations. 2. FL teachers are suggested to use authentic materials such as authentic texts and documents, maps, photographs, diagrams, cartoons and audio recordings in their teaching. Context of the material, such as where and when it was published, its target audience and its purpose could be discussed. Activities can include discussion and writing to show understanding of the texts and visuals. 3. FL teachers could select textbooks that are written with an intercultural and critical perspective to promote intercultural awareness. Moreover, teachers can make use of existing content such as grammar exercises to broaden students’ cultural views. For example, grammar exercises may contain some stereotypical statements, such as, “Jane likes cooking, while John likes playing football”; if such is the case, teachers can ask students to discuss or comment upon these statements. 4. FL teachers should teach some vocabulary that helps learners talk about cultural diversity, and suggest that they respect the rules of discussion as part of an overall respect for human rights. Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political & Economic Studies Challenges of Integrating Culture in ESP Course at the Algerian Tertiary Level: The Case of Business English Teachers Somia BOUDINAR 72 ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives However, before integrating culture information in FL syllabi, FL teachers need first to be acquainted with the FL culture , acquire the necessary knowledge of the target culture and the appropriate methodology to teach it.Though most teachers are generally aware that language and culture must not be taught separately, the teaching and learning of culture is still rarely practiced due to a number of difficulties and problems (Omaggio, 2001). In this respect, Omaggio (2001) provides three main reasons: First, teachers usually have an overcrowded curriculum to cover and lack the time to spread on teaching culture, which requires a lot of work. Second, many teachers have a limited knowledge of the target culture and, therefore, are afraid to teach it. Finally, she argues that teachers are often confused about what cultural aspects to cover. 3. Research Methodology With an aim to develop an in-depth understanding of participant’s perceptions of integrating Cultural information in Business English courses; an exploratory investigation was adopted using a qualitative research method in form of semi-structured interview. The participants in this research were five English teachers at Commerce, Economics, and Management Sciences Faculties at different Algerian universities. The interviews were semi- structured, with a set of pre-determined questions to grant “sufficient flexibility to probe some aspects in depth” (Richards, 2009, p. 186). For the data analysis, participants’ answers were initially transcribed. Then, the recurrent themes were explored through thematic analysis procedure that emerged from the data, thus presenting an overall representation of the participants’ perceptions regarding the incorporation of culture in Business English course. 4. Results and Discussions 4.1. Participants’ Profile The participants are three males and two femalesteaching English at Commerce, Economics, and Management Sciences Faculties at different Algerian universities. Their ages range from 24 years old to 36 years old. Three of the participants hold a Master degree in English language, while two have License degree with a teaching experience ranges from two to eight years. 4.2. Qualitative Data Analysis The interview conducted with five ESP teachers aimed at shedding light on their perceptions towards the integration of the target culture in Business English courses. The core recurring themes were: 1. The perceptions of the content of culture in BE course 3. The importance of the target culture in the BE class 4. Challenges of integrating the target culture in the BE course 5. Techniques and strategies of integrating the target language culture Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political & Economic Studies Challenges of Integrating Culture in ESP Course at the Algerian Tertiary Level: The Case of Business English Teachers Somia BOUDINAR 73 ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives 6. Suggestions to promote cultural awareness in BE classroom 1. The perceptions of integrating culture in BE course The qualitative results of the semi-structured interview revealed that all teachers advocated the significant role of teaching culture content in BE course. Teachers believed that culture teaching is important so that learners can learn and understand the English language appropriately in its cultural context. Significantly, they placed high emphasis on the need for addressing the target culture in BE classes. Although respondents recognized its importance, their positive perception of culture seems as being to lack some aspects to be incorporate culture in BE course. 2. The integration of culture and language in BE course Regarding the readiness to integrate culture content into Business English teaching, three out of five participants were ready to integrate culture information into Business English teaching and shared their teaching culture from the basic level such as teaching greetings. In teacher’s opinion (T1), “it would be hard to attract the students if culture was taught separately”. According to another participant (T5),“the teacher should teach culture whenever it appears in the lesson” Although some participants demonstrated an understanding of how language reflects culture and how culture affects language and language use, the majority considered the acquisitionof language knowledge as a priority compared to cultural information. The majority of participants put much focus on the four skills, vocabulary, pronunciation and grammar in their Business English teaching. According to one respondent (T3), “students will be evaluated during the examinations on their linguistic knowledge and not culture”. They believed that most of the teaching time was devoted to linguistic activities and “culture content was additionally taught when the cultural instructions were explicit” or when the contexts needed to have cultural explanations. Other teacher (T1) illustrated that “There are many intercultural opportunities hidden in teaching opportunities Business English”. BE activities such as telephoning “Preparing to make a call”, “Receiving calls”, Taking and leaving a message, yet “the teacher mainly focuses on key phrases, sentence structures, speaking and listening skills”. Despite the mentioned views, all respondents emphasized on the tight connection between language and culture which should be instructed in term of unity. 3. The importance of the target culture in the BE class The results revealed that all respondents agreed upon the importance of the target culture in BE course which is not a question of debate. A participant (T4), for instance, said: ‘mainly in business communication culture is essential because it prevents learners from misinterpreting the target language while communicating.” Therefore, to communicate efficiently, one must not only have the knowledge of the linguistic patterns but also culture information. Similarly, (T2) stated that: ‘Most of the time, we see or we learn the language from the cultural standpoints. It is authentic …’. All participants aimed to convey the importance of the target culture alongside with the English language. Thus, to gain genuine knowledge of the English language in Business context, language should be put back in its context and context refers to culture. Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political & Economic Studies Challenges of Integrating Culture in ESP Course at the Algerian Tertiary Level: The Case of Business English Teachers Somia BOUDINAR 74 ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives 4. Techniques and activities of integrating the target culture One of the main recurring themes during the different interviews was the techniques and strategies used by teachers as an attempt to incorporate the target culture within their classes. The findings demonstrated that all respondents agreed to having attempted to use some strategies aiming to create a genuine atmosphere similar the target language. A teacher (T3), for example, mentioned “I try to do this through role play and simulation’. He also added ‘When I teach speaking skills, I try to bring authentic conversations and videos to teach them the usage of language in context.” Another interviewee (T1) believed that “the most appropriate activity were dialogues to facilitate communication, learn the speaking functions through: how to apologize, request, agree and give your opinion …etc”. Accordingly, the choice of the appropriate strategies and activities is highly important to transmit culture content in language course. For the teaching materials, respondents named some ofthe information sources “internet, video, TV programmes, songs, newspapers, fieldwork, surveys, pictures…etc” that help a lot in providing students with cultural content that suit their needs in the field of Business, however, none of these materials“are used to promote cultural awareness”. In addition, the teacher did not ask students “to prepare any research including some cultural aspects as a classroom assignment”. In fact, respondents agreed that most of culture teaching were done incidentally when the culture content were explicit, when there came the need to touch upon culture for language teaching. Yet, these spontaneous teaching acts were not adequate to develop the students’ cultureal awareness. That is to say, the teachers viewed culture embedded implicitly within language knowledge, particularly communicative competence. Hence, the teachers merely focused on linguistic competence and considered culture as the marginal dimension in spite of acknowledging its importance. 5. Challenges of integrating the target culture in the BE course All the participants showed their willingness to integrate culture into Business English teaching ; however, many barriers confronted them, for instance teachers’ inadequate intercultural knowledge and culture teaching methods, as well as contextual factors such as curriculum, students’ reluctance, the shortage of time, and selection of pertinent materials,. To begin with, there seems to be an agreement on the main problems is the teachers’ lack of cultural awareness, knowledge and experience about the appropriate content and techniques that enhance the incorporation of culture; it seemed to be the reason behind skipping culture integration in BE classes. Teachers in this study acknowledged their “limited knowledge in the target culture” due to “lack of training”. T2 justified this challenge “I do not have enough intercultural experience to share with my students, and sometimes I’m not sure about the cultural points that I should cover” The second challenge for teachers in promoting cultural content was the curriculum. Two participants (T2 and T5) highlighted that the curriculum focuses only on enhancing “language skills”rather than promoting cultural awareness. Since the curriculum usually focuses on language content, “I think it is our task to balance between language and cultural information”. The third challenging issue in promoting cultural awareness is time shortage. One respondent’s answer said it all “ I believe that the provided time for the BE lessons is not sufficient to cover all the Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political & Economic Studies Challenges of Integrating Culture in ESP Course at the Algerian Tertiary Level: The Case of Business English Teachers Somia BOUDINAR 75 ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives needed aspects of teaching…. there are a lot of language content to be covered…. So, I will integrate culture only when time permits.” The fourth challenge is the selection of instructional authentic materials. One participant complained that “the selection of the appropriate that contain intercultural content is a real challenge for me…”, while another participant (T5) asserted that the material did not contain enough cultural knowledge. For example, some participants stated clearly that the difficulties lie in “the lack of authentic materials available, which consequently prevents the possibility of bringing the foreign language culture in the BE classroom”. Finally, learners’ lack of interest in learning the foreign culture is anotherchallenge. Respondents highlighted that most of the “learners are either resistant to learning the foreign culture”, or unfamiliar with the foreign culture due to the lack of exposure to cultural content. Moreover, a participant (T3) equally commented saying that learners are often reluctant and “demotivated when talking about cultural topics”. Another teacher (T4) explained that their “students lack intercultural exposure and are not open-minded enough to accept cultural differences.” 6. Suggestions to promote cultural awareness in BE classroom At the end of the interview, the participants were asked to give some suggestions regarding how to better promote cultural awareness in BE classroom. Accordingly, the participants suggested that they needed more supports in all of the aspects in order to develop their cultural knowledge and promote its teaching. In this vein, they suggested that there should be teachers’ trainings, workshops and tutorials of how to properly integrate cultural content in BE courses. They also stressed supportive authentic materials could be helpful to their future teaching. Finally, interviewees put forwards that promoting cultural awareness comes gradually by developing teaching syllabi in which language and culture are interrelated and take the same level of importance. Conclusion It is important to recognise the importance of culture for ESP courses regardless whether needs are defined as what students have to be able to do at the end of their languagecourse or as what the society at large regards as desirable to be learnt from the programme(cf. Robinson 1991, pp.7-8). The present paper investigated BE teachers’ perceptions of culture integration in BE course. The qualitative results revealed that although all teachers acknowledged the importance of culture in BE course, their perceptions of the encountered challenges can be one of the reasons Business learners may not be able to develop their cultural knowledge. The main conclusion of this study recommends a need to train ESP teachers on the integration of culture into the ESP course and promote their own cultural competence so that they could subsequently promote that of their learners. Significantly, teaching culturethrough the transmission of factual knowledge, balancing language and culture to an effective integration of cultural content into BE course. This paper may be useful to BE teachers in raising their awareness and self- reflection. Teacher trainers can also build upon the findings and accommodate their training Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political & Economic Studies Challenges of Integrating Culture in ESP Course at the Algerian Tertiary Level: The Case of Business English Teachers Somia BOUDINAR 76 ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives programs to address teachers’ specific needs. Further research is encouraged especially with regard to the effect that teachers’ perceptions can have on their IC teaching practices. List of References - Bachman, Lyle F. (1990). Fundamental Considerations in Language Testing. Oxford: Oxford University Press; - Bower, Rogers. 1992. “Memories, Metaphors, Maxims, and Myths: Language Learning and Cultural Awareness.” ELT Journal 46(1):29-38 - Byram, M. (1997). Teaching and assessing intercultural communicative competence. Clevedon, UK: Multicultural Matters. - Čurković Kalebić, Sanja. (1998). Cultural aspects of the EFL classroom” in British Cultural Studies: CrossCultural challenges. Conference Proceedings. Janja Ciglar Žanić, Damir Kalogjera and Jasna Jemeršić (Eds.). Zagreb: The British Council Croatia, pp. 439-47. - Kramsch, C. (1993). Context and Culture in Language Teaching. Oxford: Oxford University Press - Kramsch, C. (1998). Language and culture. Hong Kong: Oxford University Press - Kramsch, C. (2001). Intercultural communication” in teaching English to speakers of other languages. Roland Carter and David Nunan (Eds.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 201-206. - McKay, L.S. (2002). Teaching English as an International language. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Ouakrime, M. (1992). Formal and Deep Culture for E.F.L Students: A Course Proposal. Faculty of Letters, Sidi Mohammed Ben Abdallah University, Fés - Morgan, C. (1993). “Teaching ‘Culture’ at A-level”. In Language Learning Journal. No.7, 1993. pp. 42-44. - Omaggio-Hadley, A. (1993). Teaching Language in Context. Boston, MA: Heinle & Heinle Publishers. Omaggio, Al - Risager.K. (1998). Language teaching and the process of European integration. In M. Byram & M. Fleming (Eds.), Language learning in intercultural perspective: Approaches through drama and ethnography (pp. 242-254). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. - Strevens, P.( 1977). New orientations in the teaching of English. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political & Economic Studies Challenges of Integrating Culture in ESP Course at the Algerian Tertiary Level: The Case of Business English Teachers Somia BOUDINAR 77 ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives The Impact of Critical Thinking on Achievement in the Subject of Culture and Civilisation of Language among 1st-Year Students of English, Batna 2 University Athina BOUKHELOUF1 Oualid NEMOUCHI2 Abstract 1 Doctor; This investigation aims at examining the extent to which the elements of Department of English, Batna 2 University. Paul-Elder’s model for critical thinking could help learners of English as
[email protected]a Foreign Language (EFL) achieve better and gain higher scores in the 2Doctor;Departement of English subject of Culture and Civilisation of Language (CCL). To collect the Abdelhafid Boussouf University Center. needed data,training sessions were designed for a randomly selected oualid.nemouchi]@centre-univ-mila.dz sample of thirty first-year LMD students of EFL at the department of English at Batna2 University. The training waspart of CCL lectures. It was fundamentally based on Paul-Elder’s model for critical thinking, one of the models that proved fruitful and efficient in developing critical thinking skills. During the six-month training, the experimental participants learned the different intellectual standards used to assess the way and the quality of thinking. Additionally, they inquired into the intellectual traits, the core elements of reasoning and the main steps of solving problems. Furthermore, they were encouraged to apply Citation: BOUKHELOUF, A., NEMOUCHI, intellectual standards to the (CCL) subject content.On the other hand, the O. (2022). The Impact of Critical Thinking on control subjects received the same CCL content but traditionally through Achievement in the Subject of Culture and Civilisation of Language among 1st-Year a direct administration of information. The examination of the second Students of English, Batna 2 University. In exams’ scores demonstrates a satisfactory progress and evolvement in H. Andaloussi (Ed.), ESP Teaching Today: students' thinking skills, and therefore their scores and achievement have Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives (pp. 78-89). Berlin, Germany: Democratic been improved. Ultimately, experimental scores were statistically Arabic Center. significant compared to those of the control group. Consequently, this paper recommends the prompt integration of critical thinking, particularly the elements of Paul-Elder’s model for critical thinking, in the process of foreign language education, and eventually at an earlier stage, in primary school. Keywords: Critical thinking skills, Paul-Elder’s model for critical thinking, Culture and civilisation of languages, Academic achievement. Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political & Economic Studies The Impact of Critical Thinking on Achievement in the Subject of Culture and Civilisation of Language among 1st-Year Students of English, Batna 2 University Athina BOUKHELOUF, Oualid NEMOUCHI 78 ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives 1. Introduction The global world has set new parameters and frequencies that necessitate particular skills and competencies for individuals to successfully integrate into that world. Critical thinking is one of those skills that are considered as key elements of success and achievement in all fields. Indeed, it permits individuals to assess their thinking and identify their deficiencies to yield rational and logical decisions that would inevitably culminate in an enhancement in the quality of life. Also, this skill could help in solving problems, analysing and evaluating situations to create new and effective ways out of dilemmas. Accordingly, developing critical thinking skills should be one of the core objectives of the process of education. Recent empirical research indicates the tremendous impact critical thinking has on learners’ mental mechanisms (Ajilchi & Kalantar Ghoreishi, 2013). Additionally, critical thinking might help learners to control their emotions (Hong et al., 2012) and develop their intelligence and awareness (Burke and Williams, 2012). Moreover, it could enable learners to reason creatively and raise their self-confidence which would certainly improve their academic achievement (Lazarga et al.,2010; William, 1993). 1.1 Statement of the Problem: Although the objective of education is to provoke rational thinking among learners, still, some foreign language learners do manifest some deficiencies in generating logical and all-inclusive analysis and evaluation of a piece of knowledge. Unfortunately, they are only absorbing knowledge provided by the teacher without having the opportunity to analyse and evaluate the information gained. Furthermore, to pass an exam, learners tend to memorise and learn by heart, the fact that might hinder and impede them from reflecting, benefiting and applying the acquired knowledge appropriately in real-life intercultural situations. Indeed,the findings of the pilot study that preceded this investigation and which aimed at analysing learners’ responses to Culture and Civilisation (CCL) exams, indicate thatEFL learners’ were unable to reflect or effectively employ the gained knowledge throughout CCL lectures. Instead, they had the propensity to copy all details and information acquired. In other words, they were incapable of evaluating and selecting the appropriate piece of information that might be the effective answer to the exam questions. This inherent consequence might be attributed to the method used to teach CCL content. This method might be based on thedirect administration of knowledge. Particularly, it involves memorization without providing the learner with any opportunity to ponder, evaluate and draw conclusions from the gained knowledge.This might negatively impact learners’ performances and achievement. Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political & Economic Studies The Impact of Critical Thinking on Achievement in the Subject of Culture and Civilisation of Language among 1st-Year Students of English, Batna 2 University Athina BOUKHELOUF, Oualid NEMOUCHI 79 ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives 1.2 Hypothesis The current paper aims at testing the following hypothesis: A training based on critical thinking can effectively help EFL learnersdevelop some thinking skills like analysing, evaluating, and synthesising, which would assist them in achieving better in the module of CCL. This investigation was set to answer the following questions: • Will the training based on Paul-Elder’s model for critical thinking help experimental learners to develop the ability to analyse, synthesise and evaluate? • Will those students who receive the training perform better in CCL exams than those who do not get the training? 1.3 The Significance of the Study This study would pave the way for educationists and specialists to develop, design and tailor new and efficient methods and models to teach cultures. Also, it might propel curriculum designers to integrate critical thinking skills in FL curriculums for the purpose of generating academics with potent intellect and critical minds. 2. Literature Review Critical thinking is one of the modes of reasoning that is not easy to teach. However, a myriad of models and strategies that aim at improving and developing this cognitive skill was suggested and highly recommended by many researchers and specialists. Paul-Elder’s model for critical thinking is one of the models that proved fruitful and efficient. It can be infused into different disciplines due to its flexibility and adaptability (Reed, 1998). The model consists of three main interrelated components: intellectual standards, elements of reasoning and intellectual traits (Foundation for critical thinking, 1996). Paul-Elder’s model for critical thinking promotes questioning and necessitates specific criteria to be respected by the thinker. These criteria are known as “intellectual standards”. In other words, the critical thinker should effectively respect some principles like clarity, relevance, significance, accuracy, precision, logic, depth and breadth, during the process of reasoning (Foundation for critical thinking, 1996). He should permanently question the quality of his thoughts. Additionally, he should be aware of and differentiate between the main “elements of reasoning” such as assumptions, implications, inferences, questions, information, points of view and concepts (Foundation for critical thinking, 1996). The constant application of the” intellectual standards” to the “elements of reasoning“ would inevitably culminate in Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political & Economic Studies The Impact of Critical Thinking on Achievement in the Subject of Culture and Civilisation of Language among 1st-Year Students of English, Batna 2 University Athina BOUKHELOUF, Oualid NEMOUCHI 80 ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives “intellectual traits” manifested by integrity, humility, empathy, autonomy courage, perseverance, confidence reason, fair-mindedness (foundation for critical thinking, 1996). Ultimately, Paul-Elder’s model for critical thinking might enable the individual to rationally assess his thoughts through the identification of equivocations and flows of logic and substitute them for logical, fair and relevant thoughts. This would assuredly, permit the individual and particularly the learner to be more responsible for the process of learning. Henceforth, he would become more engaged when establishingknowledge; the fact that would certainly help him to found an authentic capital that could result in better achievement in the field of academia and life in general. 3. Methodology 3.1 Design This study attempts to canvass the impact of training based on the elements of Paul- Elder’s model for critical thinking on scores and achievement in the module of CCL. Hence, it involves a pre-test, post-test experimental design. Consequently, this investigation uses two main groups, control and experimental. Thelatter is the group that receives the training on critical thinking skillsthroughout CCL lectures. 3.2 Population and Sampling The population targetted by this study is first-year LMD students of English as a Foreign Language at the Department of English at Batna2 University, Algeria. The whole population is estimated to be 1000 students. Thus it is quite unfeasibleto appropriately conduct the experimentation with all those students. As a result, the option for a sample was imperative. In this respect, two groups of thirty students each were randomly selected. 3.3 Procedures and Instrumentations At the beginning of the academic year 2016-2017, a pre-test has been administered to both experimental and control participants. The aim of this test was to inquire into students’ ability to analyse, synthesise and evaluate, and pinpoint their initial level. Then, participants of this experimentation received the same content of CCL for six months, during which the experimental students undergo two main phases: Phase one (Duration: three months): Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political & Economic Studies The Impact of Critical Thinking on Achievement in the Subject of Culture and Civilisation of Language among 1st-Year Students of English, Batna 2 University Athina BOUKHELOUF, Oualid NEMOUCHI 81 ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives The CCL lecture was portioned into two parts. The first part was meant to initiate learners to critical thinking skills through direct instructions and explanation of the elements of Paul-Elder’s model. The second part deals with the CCL content through which learners were taught CCL lectures. Meanwhile, they were encouraged to question, apply and practice the acquired elements of the model. Phase two (Duration: three months): By the end of the first phase, learners become aware of Paul-Elder’s model for critical thinking and its elements. Then the teacherstarts using some strategies like Socratic questioning, discussions, and equivocations that provoke reasoning. This might certainly help learners raise their misunderstandings and preconceptions and rectify them appropriately. Particularly, during this phase, learners were asked to read chapters pertaining to culture. Also, they were required to identify specific elements, analyse, compare, categorise, to evaluate and synthesise those chapters. On the other hand, control students were taught CCL content in the old way through the direct administration of knowledge and information.In other words, control participants were acting as receivers. Threeprogressive tests aiming at examining learners’ ability to analyse, synthesise and evaluate were administered to participants. These tests were scored out 10. In the seventh month, both groups took the second term CCL exam. This latter has been pretested to ensure its reliability. Accordingly, Cronbach Alpha for this exam proved reliable at α= .95. It comprises five open-ended questions scored out of 20. These questions are scored according to a scoring rubric designed by CCL teachers. Table 3.1 Instrumentations used to collect the needed data Instrument Description Pretest. • Before the administration of treatment • Both groups • Examines learners’ initial level and their ability to analyse, synthesise and evaluate • Comprises three questions • scored out 15 • Reliable at α= .83 Progressive test 1 • After one month • Both groups Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political & Economic Studies The Impact of Critical Thinking on Achievement in the Subject of Culture and Civilisation of Language among 1st-Year Students of English, Batna 2 University Athina BOUKHELOUF, Oualid NEMOUCHI 82 ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives • Inquire into learner’s ability to analyse • Scored out 10 Progressive test 2 • After one further month • Both groups • Inquire into learner’s ability to synthesise • Scored out 10 Progressive test 3 • After one further month • Both groups • Inquire into learner’s ability to evaluate • Scored out 10 Post-test • At the end of experimentation • Both groups • Overall evaluation of students’ ability to analyse, synthesise and evaluate CCL exam • 1 st term scheduled Exam. • All participants • Comprises five open-ended questions that attempt to test learners’ knowledge about CCL and their ability to flexibly manipulate that knowledge. • Scored out of 20 in accordance with ascoring rubric designed by CCL teachers. The table above clearly summarises the instruments used to collect the needed data.The results obtained were organised using descriptive statistics. Additionally, they were analysed and interpreted through the utilisation of the independent T-test with the help of SPSS. This statistical tool,namely the independent T-test,is utilised to compare the means of the scores achieved by both groups to draw appropriate conclusions. 4. Results Analysis Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political & Economic Studies The Impact of Critical Thinking on Achievement in the Subject of Culture and Civilisation of Language among 1st-Year Students of English, Batna 2 University Athina BOUKHELOUF, Oualid NEMOUCHI 83 ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives 4.1.Pretest Table 4.1 denotes that participants in both groups do tremendously lack the techniques and the knowledge that mightallow them to analyse, synthesise and evaluate effectively. The means of the scores obtained were very close. This leads us to put forward that the initial level of participants in the skills above is almost the same. Hence, any positive change in experimental performances would be attributed to the treatment. Table 4.1 Descriptive Statistics of the pretest for both groups Std N Minimum Maximum Sum Mean deviation PretestControl 30 ,00 3,00 18,00 ,6000 ,93218 PretestExperiment 30 ,00 2,00 23,00 ,7667 ,67891 al N 30 4.2.Progressive tests The table below illustrates the descriptive statistics pertaining tothe three progressive tests assigned to the experimental participants. Table 4.2.1 Descriptive statistics of progressive tests 1, 2 and 3 (Experimental group) Standard N Minimum Maximum Sum Mean Deviation Progress Test1 : 30 ,00 8,00 188,00 6,2667 1,70057 Analysis Progress Test 2 : 30 5,00 8,00 200,00 6,6667 ,80230 Synthesis Progress Test 3 : 30 5,00 7,00 182,00 6,0667 ,82768 Evaluation N Valid 30 Figures demonstrate that the experimental group succeeded to obtain the average score (5 ) in the three tests. This implies that experimental participantshave acquired some fundamentals that entailedand promoted their ability to analyse, synthesise and evaluate which is not the case of the control participants. Indeed, the table below indicates that the control students are still unable to reach the average score. Thoroughly, their responses to the tests’ Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political & Economic Studies The Impact of Critical Thinking on Achievement in the Subject of Culture and Civilisation of Language among 1st-Year Students of English, Batna 2 University Athina BOUKHELOUF, Oualid NEMOUCHI 84 ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives questions unveil some deficiencies that hindered them to construct the appropriate answer. Astonishingly, although they possess the knowledge that would certainlypermit them to respondto the test appropriately, they were unable to reflect, manipulate, and employ the gained knowledge effectively. Table 4.2.2 Descriptive Statistics of progressive tests1,2 and 3 (Control group) Std N Minimum Maximum Sum Mean Deviation Progress Test 1 30 ,00 4,00 72,00 2,4000 1,27577 Progress Test 2 30 ,00 3,00 62,00 2,0667 1,01483 Progress Test 3 30 ,00 5,00 31,00 1,0333 1,09807 N Valid 30 4.3.Post-test Table4.3.1highlights the scores of post-test. Itportrays a clear and significant difference in students’ scores. Indeed, experimental subjects have the propensity to react appropriately vis-à-vis the test questions. Additionally, they manifested a mastery of the knowledge acquired during CCL sessions and great flexibility in using that knowledge. Whereasthe control students showed some inadequacies in handling the learned knowledge skillfully. The comparison between scores’ means (See Table 4.3.1) demonstrates that there is a notabledistinction in partcipants’performances. Table 4.3.1 Descriptive statistics of post-test for both groups Standard N Minimum Maximum Sum Mean Deviation Posttest Control 30 5.00 8,00 178,00 5.9333 0,90719 group Posttest 30 7,00 14,00 302,00 10,0667 1,79911 Experimental group N 30 Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political & Economic Studies The Impact of Critical Thinking on Achievement in the Subject of Culture and Civilisation of Language among 1st-Year Students of English, Batna 2 University Athina BOUKHELOUF, Oualid NEMOUCHI 85 ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives 4.4. CCL Exam Table 4.4.1compares the means of scores gained by both groupsin CCL exam. Also, itpinpoints the standards of deviation. Figures accentuate that the mean of the experimental scores was significantly higher than that of control ones. That is to say; experimental participants succeeded to obtain scores that are statistically greaterthan those gained by control subjects. Particularly, critical thinking training helped the experimental group to develop the necessary skills that would permit them to establish the knowledge appropriately and therefore improve their performance. To leave no room for misunderstanding and bias and to draw authentic conclusions, inferential statistics, particularly, the independent T-test has been performed. Table 4.4.2 reports the main results. Table 4.4.1 Descriptive Statistics of CCL Exam for Both groups Standard Std of deviation Group N Mean Deviation error CCL exam Experimental 30 15,0000 2,87678 ,52523 Control 30 10,7000 2,60172 ,47501 Table 4.4.2outlines the main results of the independent T.test which aims at comparing the means of CCL scores gained by experimental and control learners. The interpretation of the numerical data on the table maintains that there is a significant difference in scores between the two groups. Statistically, t (58) = 6.07, p less than 0.05, the two-tailed with the experimental group (M =15, SD = 0.52) scoring higher than the control group (M= 10.70, SD= 0.475).Taking Cohen’s findings (1988) into account,the degree of the difference in the means (Mean difference= 4.30, 95 ٪ Cl: 2.88 to 5.71) is indexed to have alarge size effect (eta squared= .38). In other words, the group who received the treatment, Paul’s model for critical thinking, has significantly overscored the control group. This means that Paul’s model for critical thinking has positively impacted students’ CCL scores. Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political & Economic Studies The Impact of Critical Thinking on Achievement in the Subject of Culture and Civilisation of Language among 1st-Year Students of English, Batna 2 University Athina BOUKHELOUF, Oualid NEMOUCHI 86 ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives Table 4.4.2 Independent samplesT-Test Levene's Test for Equal Variances T- test for equality of Means 95% Confidence interval of the Std.Err difference Sig(2- MeanDiffe orDiffer F Sig. T df tailed) rence ence Lower Upper CCL Equal ,182 ,671 6,072 58 ,000 4,30000 ,70816 2,88246 5,71754 exam Variances assumed EqualVar 6,072 57,424 ,000 4,30000 ,70816 2,88216 5,71784 iance not assumed 5. Discussion The data reported in the above tables suggest that CCL scores gained by students in control and experimental groups were statistically contrasting. Also, it rejects the null hypothesis at ap-value less than 0.05. Consequently, we can deduce that Paul’s model for critical thinking has a positive impact on the progress of learners’ thinking skills, CCL scores and therefore on their academic performance and achievement in the module of Culture and Civilisation of Language (CCL). Indeed, learners’ awareness of intellectual standards and the constant application of those standards to their reasoning allowed them to develop an ability to: • Ask the appropriate question, • permanently question facts and information to structure logical, rational and authentic knowledge, • inquire into the information, • identify differences and compare them, • evaluate elements, and • synthesise information from various perspectives. A posteriori,thequalities above enabled experimental participantsneither to rely on learning by heart, nor toregurgitate the knowledge gained through the CCL classes. However, they became more responsible for the process of learning and constructing their capital of Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political & Economic Studies The Impact of Critical Thinking on Achievement in the Subject of Culture and Civilisation of Language among 1st-Year Students of English, Batna 2 University Athina BOUKHELOUF, Oualid NEMOUCHI 87 ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives knowledge. Additionally, they became more eager and curious to know about the other and to respect culture differences; they boosted their self and cultural awareness. Furthermore, they developed their consciousness and enlarged their insights and perceptions. In other words, they became more tolerant and open to accept others opinions and views.Thus, Paul’s model for critical thinking promotes learners’ critical thinking skills such as analysis, synthesis and evaluation. This conforms to the findings of Reed (1998). Particularly, the aforementioned skills have tremendously helped and propelled learners to achieve better.This agrees and corresponds with empirical research pertaining to the impact of critical thinking skills on achievement in various domains like mathematics and medicine (Scott and Markert, 1994;Chukwuyenum, 2013) On the contrary, the control group relied on rote learning. They learned by heart the information provided by the teacher without any endeavour to look for further explanation and interpretation. Flagrantly , this group failed to answer some types questions that necessitate analysis and criticality. They possessed a certain amount of knowledge, but they were unable to use it appropriately. 6. Conclusions and Recommendation The following are the conclusions that might be drawn from the above findings: • Paul’s model for critical thinking proved successful and efficient in the progress of CCL scores. • It permitted learners to develop critical thinking skills that would facilitate the path for them to become professional and critical academics. • It makes learners more responsible for their learning and knowledge formation. Hence, they become more aware of what to accept and what to refuse through the use of logic and reason. Respectively, this paper holds that critical thinking skills have an exceptional influence and positive impact on academic achievement, particularly in CCL Subject. It recommends the use of Paul’s model for critical thinking as it is a flexible model that could be infused in different disciplines. Also, it is easily absorbed and comprehended by learners, especially, EFL learners. Finally, it suggests and calls for the immediate integration of critical thinking skills in the foreign language curriculum. Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political & Economic Studies The Impact of Critical Thinking on Achievement in the Subject of Culture and Civilisation of Language among 1st-Year Students of English, Batna 2 University Athina BOUKHELOUF, Oualid NEMOUCHI 88 ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives List of references Ajilchi, B. & Kalantar, C. (2013). The effect of teaching critical and creative thinking skills on the locus of control and psychological well-being in adolescents. Procedia Social and behavioural sciences, 82, 51-56. Burke, L.A. & Williams, J.M. (2012).The impact of a thinking skills intervention on children’s concepts of intelligence. Thinking skills and creativity. In press. Chukwuyenum, A.N. (2013). Impact of critical thinking on Performance in Mathematics among senior Secondary School Students in Lagos State.Journal of Research& Methods in education. Volume 3, Issue 5, pp 18-25. Foundation for Critical Thinking. (1996).Critical thinking workshop handbook. Santa Rosa, CA: Author. Hong, J.C, Hwang, M.Y, Chen, M.Y. ,& Liu, L.C. (2012).Using eight trigrams (BaGua) approach with epistemological practice to vitalise problem-solving processes: A confirmatory analysis R&D managers. Thinking skills and creativity. In press. Lazarga, L.M.S.D.A., Baquedano, M.T.S.D.A & Oliver, M.S. (2010). Stimulation of thinking skills in high school students. Educational Studies, 36(3), 329-340. Reed, J.D. (1998).Achievement in primary source document analysis and interpretation argumentative reasoning, critical thinking dispositions, a history content in a community College History course. College of Education: University of South Florida. Scott, J.N.and Markert, R.J. (1994).Relationship between critical thinking skills and success in pre-clinical courses. Academic medicine, 69, 920-924. William, S. (1993). Evaluating the effect of philosophical enquiry in secondary school. Derbyshire, England: Derbyshire Country Council. Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political & Economic Studies The Impact of Critical Thinking on Achievement in the Subject of Culture and Civilisation of Language among 1st-Year Students of English, Batna 2 University Athina BOUKHELOUF, Oualid NEMOUCHI 89 ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives ESP between the Logic and the Scientificin the LMD Curriculum: the case of First year CPST students at Oran’s ENP; Maurice Audin Souhila BOUKHLIFA1 1 Doctor and researcher Abstract Over the past twenty years, research has examined the evolution of universities nationally and internationally. Critical voices have denounced its subordination to market pressures as they have expressed concern about the declining autonomy of essential or disinterested research. Indeed, the different positions taken on the question of reform of higher education are implicitly based on confusion between the logic of the scientific fields and that of the academic one.This work aims to shed some light on the status of ESP compared to the status of the English as a Foreign Language (EFL) at the Algerian University on the one hand, and its position in the official programme approved by decision-makers at the Higher Polytechnic School MA (Maurice Audin) on the other hand where first year CPST(Preparatory Classes in Science and Technology)students programme is the case study. Keywords: ESP, EFL, Curriculum, LMD, CPST Citation: BOUKHLIFA, S. (2022). ESP between the Logic and the Scientificin the LMD Curriculum: the case of First year CPST students at Oran’s ENP; Maurice Audin. In H. Andaloussi (Ed.), ESP Teaching Today: Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives (pp. 90-99). Berlin, Germany: Democratic Arabic Center. Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political & Economic Studies ESP between the Logic and the Scientificin the LMD Curriculum: the case of First year CPST students at Oran’s ENP; Maurice Audin Souhila BOUKHLIFA 90 ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives 1. Introduction Over the past twenty years, research has examined the evolution of universities at both national and international levels. Critical voices have denounced the subordination of higher education to market pressures as they have expressed concern about the declining autonomy of essential research where official programmes cited by decision-makers have become mandatory for the teacher to follow. All things considered, it can be stated that the different positions taken on the question of reform of higher education are implicitly based on both the teacher and the decision maker’sconfusion between the logic and the academicor/and the academic and the scientific. This work’s main objectivethen is to shed some light on the status of ESP(English for Specific Purpose) compared to the status of (EFL)English as a Foreign Language at the Algerian University on the one hand, and to compare its position in the official programme approved by decision-makers at Oran’s Higher Polytechnic School on the other hand where first year students programme serves asa case of study. 2. ESP versus EFL Comparing to EFL Students who belong to different ages, it is generally approved thatESP learners are adults already familiar with English language but need to communicate a set of professional skills and perform specific job-related functions. One of the main distinctions between an EFL and an ESP class settles on the scope of goals of instructions where English is required. While all four skills are equally stressed in an EFL classroom for instance, a special attention is given to the most needed one in the ESP course. In fact, Compared to engineering where reading skills are required, conversational and speaking ones are more appropriate for students wishing to study tourism and hospitality. An ESP programme then should be built on a set of objectives and functions for which English is requireddepending on the learners’ specific needs whereas an EFL courses focuses much more on general English. However, despite the fact that is generally agreed that English language in general and ESP in particular undergo a remarkable development in the Algerian society in general and in the Algerian university in particular, and despite the decision-makers' consciousness about its status as they urge all sectors to be in tune with the times,it has historically been approved that the latter ambition remains merely a wishful desire. The main reason behind this state of affairs among them can be duetothe lack means to make balance between scientific needs and academic reform especially for students who are really positioning themselves to enter a professional degree. What is more, the majority of Algerian people, if not the entirety have become much more cognizant of the indulgence of English language in their jobs where its mastery has become a must, especially for persons working for SONATRACH, and SONALGAZ industries for instance, business, aviation and so on. Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political & Economic Studies ESP between the Logic and the Scientificin the LMD Curriculum: the case of First year CPST students at Oran’s ENP; Maurice Audin Souhila BOUKHLIFA 91 ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives 3. Algerian Decision Makers between Cognizance and Confusion It has historically been approved that some Algerian educational policy-makers have done many changes in favour of English language as they are still facing struggles to officialise its status. The ex-Algerian minister of education, Pr.Boubakeur BENBOUZID’s decision to introduce it from the firstinstead of the third year in the middle school for instance serves as a concrete example about its changing status in Algeria. For him, this global language is much more important than its situation in the traditional programme. He also maintained that English language may contribute to the development of learners’ future and personality citing four main objectives behind furnishing them with two supplementary years in the middle school: 1- Providing students with a second foreign language of wider communication. (i.e. English remains the most widespread language in the world); 2- Allowing students to open up their vision to other cultures and participate in intercultural conversations; 3- Facilitating access to information and to the scientific and technical literature published in this language, IT, in particular; 4- Finally, helping students who wish to pursue training or higher education in this language. (Benbouzid, 2009) According to ‘English disrupts French language in Algerian universities’, an article published in the Algerian official newspaper El Watan(Semmar, 2010), the status of English language is changing in the Algerian Universities. The Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research has always been preparing to introduce it in science and technology instead of the French language. RachidHarraobia, an ex-minister of higher education and scientific research, at the plenary session of the (NPC) National People Congress, also stated that his department had been, seriously, working on the possibility of using English language instead of the French one in the Algerian university; especially, in science and technology: “this process is now a vital necessity for the University of Algeria…”, (Semmar, 2010, p. 1-2). Despite the fact that the above claim may be considered just a wishful objective due to the student’s lack of its masteryon the one hand, and the academicians’ hesitancy towards its teaching on the other hand, the situation of this language is gradually challenging the French language. Further, even though, it is still an expectant mediation which may not be realized overnight,as it is hardto substitute statuses, “English remains the most spoken language and Algeria must not remain on the side-lines”, as stated by the ex-minister of higher education and scientific research ChemsEddineChitour, (Chitour, 2020). It has become obvious then that English is a global language and no one can be considered part of this globalization if s/he doesn’t master it,“any literate, educated person on the face of the globe is deprived if he does not know English” (Burchfield, quoted in Louznadji, 2003. 78). Further, although many people from all over the world speak this language, its weight may spring from its broad employment rather than the number of its speakers. “English is the major language of news and information in the world. It is the language of business and government even in some countries where it is a minority language.”(Kitao, 1996) Yet, this is not the case of Algeria where divergence and confusions still exist. Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political & Economic Studies ESP between the Logic and the Scientificin the LMD Curriculum: the case of First year CPST students at Oran’s ENP; Maurice Audin Souhila BOUKHLIFA 92 ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives In the light of all the above endeavouring, the actual minister of higher education and scientific research, Pr. Abdelbaki BENZIANEhas directed a signing ceremony of a cooperation agreement between his ministry and the Embassy of the United States in Algeria According to Algerian Press Service (2022), this ceremony has taken place in June 23, 2022in the presence of the Chargé d' Affaires of the United States Embassy in Algeria. this convention aimedatfinding means to createa favourable climate to strengthen the place of English language, particularly in terms of innovation and creativity, which can provide visibility at the international level in terms of research, scientific and technological interactions In this context, Benzianehas accentuated on the efforts of his sector to meet the aspirations of students for quality training in English, focusing on the importance of the cooperation between Algerian universities and the American counterparts. Hehas also stressed on the concretization of the partnership between the Faculty of Teachers at Columbia University and the Department of Higher Education and Scientific Research to improve both English language status in general (GE)and/or ESP in particular. According to him, teaching students professional English has become a must where different methods should be developed. Yet, what makes this project so elusive and to take many years to achieve? A query that gives birth to other ones such as: - How best to balance broad-based educational goals with the need to allow great numbers of students to specialize? - How can both decision-makers and teachers enable students to become broadly educated and at the same time gain in-depth knowledge in a particular field in an ESP context? To meet the above queries, an action research has been conducted in the Department of Preparatory Education in Sciences and Technology(CPST) of MA Higher Polytechnic School where focus has been on the elaborated programme comparing to the coefficient and the time allotted to English Language since it can be one of the major reasons behind the enduring impossibility to concretise the above mentioned decision maker’s aim. 4. Analysis of MA’s English Language Official Programme Oran’s National Polytechnic School MA offers a preparatory class in science and technology (CPST-ENPO), accessible directly after the baccalaureate.It receives almost three hundred and fifty (350) students annually within 16, 5 and 17, 5averages i.e., they are among the most brilliant learners. Admission to the ENPO-MA engineer cycle is through a selective competition called Common National Admission Competition to the Grande-Engineering Schools. This school then envelops the cream of the crop of the society who will best represent it one day. Ergo, a qualified and high level training must be planned for them where English language of course must be at the centre. 4.1.General Aims and Time Allowance However, compared to the above mentioned consciousness and claims about the utility of English language, its status in MA preparatory classes is still too lean if compared to the time Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political & Economic Studies ESP between the Logic and the Scientificin the LMD Curriculum: the case of First year CPST students at Oran’s ENP; Maurice Audin Souhila BOUKHLIFA 93 ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives and the coefficient allotted to this subject. One hour a week is the time devoted to the latter within the coefficient of one point (1)only which does not recommend what has been claimed earlier. A Screenshot from (CPST)’s 2015 Official programme of English Language: Time allowance According to 2015’s official programme, the main objectives behind the teaching of this subject of English language in the department of CPST are: - To help students understand basic vocabulary of science and technology. - To help them use essential vocabulary of science and technology. - To consolidate/reinforce grammar rules. - To write meaningful paragraphs. - To write coherent paragraphs. - To answer written examination questions correctly. - To read and to grasp the general idea of a text. - To read in order to find the main ideas within a text. - To listen and comprehend basic functional scientific English. 4.2. Division of Units compared to Time Allotted The first semester is divided into three units whereeach of which includes a set of designed lessons so as to meet students’ needs in the fields of science and technology where different skills are taken into consideration as illustrated in the following table. Diagrams and description diagrams and description diagrams and description of objects of devices of processes 1 Drawings 5 Machine Tools 8 How Energy is Produced 2 Technical Drawing 6 Measurement 9 Passive Voice 3 Present Tenses 7 Expressing Purpose 10 Computer Technology 4 Information Technology andResult Division of Units in the CPST’s 2015 Official Programme Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political & Economic Studies ESP between the Logic and the Scientificin the LMD Curriculum: the case of First year CPST students at Oran’s ENP; Maurice Audin Souhila BOUKHLIFA 94 ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives The time allotted to Diagrams and description of objectsand devicesis (11h25). It includes the four skills where each one is built upon a set of objectives focusing on ESP students’ needs in each topic. Unit one: Diagrams and description of objects and devices (11h25) 1. Topic one: diagrams and description of objects 2. Topic two: diagrams and description of devices Discovering language Developing skills (language outcomes) (skills and strategies outcomes) a) Grammar-pronunciation (3h30) a) Functions: - Present simple - Describing component shapes - Pronunciation of final ‘s’ and features - Punctuation - Describing the function of a - The use of the ‘ing’ form device - Expressing purpose - Composition of a diagram - Link words based on a description b) Vocabulary (3h25) - Making statements about - Strategies for checking amonolingual diagrams dictionary - Illustrating a text with diagrams - Study of a dictionary entry - Expressing measurement - Vocabulary used to - Expressing purpose expressrelationshipbetween a wholeand its b) Listening & speaking (1h30) parts or between a setand its members - Listening to a presentation of a (including, making up) (excluding, notbeing device part of) - Listening for specific - Language of measurements information, general ideas - Basic metric units - Making inferences - Derived metric units - Talking about a given device - Compound metric units - Making a presentation of a - Describing shapes anddimensions device c) Reading & writing (3h00) - Reading - Reading for specific information, general ideas Unit two: Diagrams and Description of Processes (11h25) 1. Topic one: How Technology Works 2. Topic two: How Energy is produced Discovering language Developing skills (language outcomes) (skills and strategies outcomes) a) Grammar-pronunciation (5h25) a) Functions: - Present simple vs. continuous - Drawing and labeling a diagramof a process, - Passive voice using drawingsand terms provided - Pronunciation of final ‘ed’ - Providing descriptions forprocesses - Sequencers (first, next…) illustrated bydiagrams Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political & Economic Studies ESP between the Logic and the Scientificin the LMD Curriculum: the case of First year CPST students at Oran’s ENP; Maurice Audin Souhila BOUKHLIFA 95 ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives - Short-form time clauses - Transformation of directions - Relative pronouns etc. into descriptions - Short-form relative clauses - Changing descriptions into setsof directions b) Vocabulary (1h30) and statements ofresults. - Vocabulary related to processes - Describing a process (usingsequences) - Definitions b) Listening & speaking (1h30) - Generalizations - Listening to a presentation of aprocess - Listening for specificinformation - Listening for general ideas - Recognizing and showing a sequence of events - Providing the sequencing ofideas - Talking about a given process - Managing through a longconversation by asking forclarifications, giving examples… - Making an oral summary of aprocess c) Reading & writing (3h00) - Reading - Skimming, scanning - Contextual reference - Rephrasing - Guessing the meaning of words through context - Analysis of paragraph linksbetween sentences andparagraphs - Writing a descriptive essay(process) Unit one’s Lessons according to (CPST)’s 2015 Official Programme According to the study carried out in the department of CPST in MA, the hourly volume devoted to the study of English language represents only 54.76% of the overall volume estimated for the teaching of this language as illustrated in the following diagram. However, students should have an hourly volume of (fourty-two) 42 hours to properly acquire the knowledge expected in the official programme. Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political & Economic Studies ESP between the Logic and the Scientificin the LMD Curriculum: the case of First year CPST students at Oran’s ENP; Maurice Audin Souhila BOUKHLIFA 96 ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives 50 official programme 40 30 time alloted 20 10 estimated time 0 appropriate for the 1 program 2 3 4 Deficiency of Time Allowance compared to CPST’s Official programme 5. Interpretation of Results Despite the fact that the programme of English language in the CPSTdepartment seems to be rich and fruitful, unfortunately, the current phase has illustrated the extent to which it remains too lean and needs revision since an immense gap has been noticed between the scientific (lessons) and the academic fields (decision making) which seem to be divorced from each other. Therefore, this may result negatively on boththe learning and the teaching processes since it does not meet students’ needs as it can put the teacher in a qualm situation i.e., between time management and performance. As far as teaching English in the department of(CPST) in post-Covid classroom and the researcher-teacher' s own experience are concerned, an obvious unwillingness towards this subject has been noticed among learners who have become reluctant due to its low coefficient which is about one (1) pointonly on the one hand and its position in the official canvas (transversal unit) on the other hand. Despite the teacher’s attempts to make them aware about the importance of this subject/English in their lifelong course and professional career, their attitudes have remained negative since for them, it is just atransversal subject that can be easily compensated with other ones requiring a higher coefficientwhich is the result of an unperceivingimpact of a decision making. In order to confirm what has been stated earlier,theagreement that has been recently signed in Oran between the national company of Hydrocarbons SONATRACH and the National Polytechnic School of Oran MA may serve as concrete evidence. After several meetings between the director of Research and Development at SONATRACH, Mustapha Benamara and the rector of ENPO-MA Pr. Houari BENCHIKH, acontract has established in june, 19th, 2021.Both sides consider it a means to consolidate the strategy advocated by the government about security and energy evolution where it has been stated that this partnershipaims at Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political & Economic Studies ESP between the Logic and the Scientificin the LMD Curriculum: the case of First year CPST students at Oran’s ENP; Maurice Audin Souhila BOUKHLIFA 97 ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives strengthening relationship between the MA School and the economic enterprise focusing on a quality that can contribute to the development of the country. According to the official Facebook page of MA (2021), for his part, the director of Research and Development of SONATRACH has also indicated that SONATRACH has taken an increased approach in order to set up a favourable environment within the entities dedicated to Research and Development. He added that the fact that his sector is a great consumer of technology, it is time to create a national cooperation so as to benefit from the means and the expertise available in SONATRACH and the university andto set up technology and innovation,capable of breaking down the chains of excessive monopoly and to create specific in-house technologies. Yet, could this cooperation meet its tenets without taking into account the language of technology into consideration? Does this contract include articles focusing on the importance of the use of this global language so as to facilitate research in the field? 6. Suggestions and recommendations As far as it is highly admitted that English remains a global language as itis a universal form of communication in science and technology, English language should not be neglected as it should hold a central place in any field of teaching and/or in/national agreement. This research then suggests the urgent need to think seriously to include a detailed and a specific English devoted to this project as well as to settle a convenient canvas taking into consideration both scientific knowledge content and appropriate scheduling. The scheduled programme of English language in MA school needs a careful planning through a deep revision that can lead to a determined decision in its favour. Coefficient for instance should be reviewed so as to attract student’s attention and make them changing attitudes towards it. Furthermore, it could more effective if a whole department is devoted to ESP where a second selective competition after the Common National Admission Competition to the Grande-Engineering Schools is done so as to choose students already familiar with EFL.Subjects and lessons in this departmentshould include a detailed and a separate programme for each field starting with technology, and business English since they do not require a great eforts for EFL teachers. 7. Conclusion Because what English represents is more than what it is, the present work’s main tenet has been to bring to the fore some confusions Vis a Vis EFL in general and ESP in particular where light has been shed on their statuses in Algeria. The main attempt of this action research has been also to find ways to make concrete and practical recommendations. Thus, it has become more than ever urgent to make balance between scientific knowledge content and appropriate programme for students so as to bridge the flagrant gap between the scientific and the academic fields. Yet, this cannot be achieved unless an organisation of periodic meetings that envelop teachers and researchers in different fields as well as decision makers so as to achieve convenient solutions and conscious and practical decisions Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political & Economic Studies ESP between the Logic and the Scientificin the LMD Curriculum: the case of First year CPST students at Oran’s ENP; Maurice Audin Souhila BOUKHLIFA 98 ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives so as to discuss draw solutions such as reviewing its programme and its planning in official canvas, revising its coefficient and time allowance or/and to think seriously to open new ESP departments so as to give it more significance. References - Algeian press service, (2002) a Cooperation Agreement to strengthen the Teaching of English Language, available in https://www.aps.dz/sante-science- technologie/124024-algerie-usa-signature-d-une-convention-de-cooperation-pour- le-renforcement-de-l-enseignement-de-la-langue-anglaise consulted (Jan, 2022) - BENBOUZID, B. (2009) La Réforme de l’Education en Algérie: Enjeux et Réalisation. Algiers : Casbah. - CHITOUR, C. E (2020) « L’Algérie doit vite aller vers la langue anglaise », available in https://www.algerie-eco.com/2020/03/10/chitour-lalgerie-doit-vite- aller-vers-la-langue-anglaise/. consulted (January, 2022) - KITAO, B. (1996). Why Teaching English. TESL Journal, No. 2. Available in (http://iteslj.org/archives/kitao.whyteach.html). Consulted (Apr 2021). - LOUZNADJI, M. (2003) English Open Doors: 3eme As. Oran: Ibn Khaldoun House of Publication - Maurice Polytechnique Higher School’s official Facebook Page, (June, 19th, 2021) (https://www.facebook.com/276362976217257/posts/794299194423630/) consulted (June, 2020) - SEMMAR, A. (2010) L’Anglais Bouscule le Français Dans les Universités. El WatanNewspaper. Sep, 17th, pp1-2. Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political & Economic Studies ESP between the Logic and the Scientificin the LMD Curriculum: the case of First year CPST students at Oran’s ENP; Maurice Audin Souhila BOUKHLIFA 99 ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives Learning Needs in the Workplace: Some Techniques Based on Communicative English Teaching Input for Banking and Hotel Employees Khadidja HADJ DJELLOUL1 1 Doctor;Faculty of Law & Political Abstract Sciences, Dr. Taher Moulay University of Saida (Algeria). The present paper seeks to provide a theoretical overview of English for
[email protected]Specific Purposes as one of the major areas of EFL teaching. It also presents the developments related with the theoretical aspects concerning ESP and needs analysis as the fundament in designing courses in English language teaching and learning. The most common ESP teaching theories are summarized beginning with register analysis which paved the way for course designers to design specific courses based on teaching the linguistic features of a language to the urgent need for developing communication skills. Accordingly and based on the nature of the workplace, banking and hotel industry, the purpose of this paper is first to mention some previous case studies related to research fields in hands because most of the linguistic researches conducted by ESP specialists focused in particular on the formal aspects of a language especially in the academic field and neglected the needs of the occupational settings. Then, it is to discuss the major learning needs and therefore to propose possible solutions to overcome the existing deficiencies. Keywords: Banking; English for Academic Purposes; English for Occupational Purposes; English for Specific Purposes; Hotel Industry; Needs Analysis. Citation: HADJ DJELLOUL, K. (2022). Learning Needs in the Workplace: Some Techniques Based on Communicative English Teaching Input for Banking and Hotel Employees. In H. Andaloussi (Ed.), ESP Teaching Today: Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives (pp. 100-113). Berlin, Germany: Democratic Arabic Center. Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political & Economic Studies Learning Needs in the Workplace: Some Techniques Based on Communicative English Teaching Input for Banking and Hotel Employees Khadidja HADJ DJELLOUL 100 ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives Introduction English is playing a vital role in political, social, educational, and economic concerns of the nations. Recent researches state that international organizations in the field of international relations make some official use of English. As cited in McKay (2002), in Asia and the Pacific, 90 % of the organizations use only English for their official proceedings. It is the language of popular culture which entertains people all over the globe. Knowing English is essential to access printed and electronic information. It is necessary for accessing many discourses at a global level from international relations to popular culture to academia (ibid). English is being used as a lingua franca in all spheres of international activity and it can be claimed that, internationally it has developed a special role that is recognized in every country (Crystal 1997). Individually more and more people are learning it, and it is also finding a place in the academic curricula in various countries (Boroujeni and Fard, 2013). It has been witnessing an extraordinary growth due to its significant role in the current globalised world and the demand for it is expanding especially in countries where it is taught as a foreign or second language. Graddol (1997) specifies the following domains of English in the international area: 1) English is the working language of international organizations and conference. 2) English is the international language of science and technology. 3) English is used in international banking, economic affairs and commerce. 4) Advertising for global brands is done in English. 5) English is the language of audio-visual and cultural products. 6) English is the language of international tourism. 7) English is the language of tertiary education. 8) English is the language of international safety in the fields of aeronautics and sea. 9) English is the language of international law. 10) It is a relay language in interpretation and translation. 11) It is the language of technology transfer. 12) It is the language of internet communication. Actually, banking and hotel management are two among the above various fields where English is needed. We should note that there is a relatively limited body of research about employees’ needs in the business context. Therefore, the first objective of the present research is to address this issue by providing a comprehensive view of English for Specific Purposes and then investigating and presenting some previous case studies related in different countries. To this end, the work in hands is grounded on the following research questions: Q1:What are the major perceptions of banking and hotel employeets on their need to English? Q2:What are their most common communication problems when using English? Q3:What are their learning needs ? Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political & Economic Studies Learning Needs in the Workplace: Some Techniques Based on Communicative English Teaching Input for Banking and Hotel Employees Khadidja HADJ DJELLOUL 101 ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives I. English foe Specific Purposes The definition of English for Specific Purposes (ESP) as conceptual term appeared in the literature only in the 1960s. Hutchinson and Waters (1987, p.19) define ESP as an “approach” rather than a product, meaning that ESP does not involve a particular type of language, teaching materials or methodology. By the term English for Specific (or Special, Specified, Specifiable) Purposes, it is meant that type of language learning which has its focus on all aspects of language pertaining to a particular field of human activity (Wright, 1992 cited in Ahmed, 2014). In other words, it is a way of teaching/learning English for specialized subjects with some specific vocational and educational purposes in mind. In ESP syllabus, the teaching content is geared to the special language 'repertoire' pertaining to the specialized aims that are required of the learners (Gatehouse, 2001). It is a relatively new discipline within Applied Linguistics that bids a new learner-centered approach to English language teaching whose methodology is based on the specific needs of the learner. Kennedy and Bolitho (1984, p. 3) point out that ESP is based on “an investigation of the purposes of the learner and the set of communicative needs arising from these purposes”. It is rather contrasted with EGP (English for General Purposes). For that, if English is taught for specialized learners with some specific vocational and educational purpose in mind, then this is ESP. It is learning and learner oriented, with a conception and preference for communicative competence. Defined to meet the specific needs of the learners, ESP makes use of methodology and the activities of the discipline it serves by focusing on the language appropriate to these activities (Gatehouse, 2001). According to Hutchinson and Waters (1987), as a specific approach to language teaching, ESP requires that all decisions as to content and method should be based on the learner’s reason for learning. For them, there are three common reasons to the emergence of all ESP: the demands of New World, a revolution in linguistics, and focus on the learner. The general effect behind all this development was to exert pressure on the language teaching profession to deliver the required goods. Whereas English had previously decided its own destiny, it now became subject to the wishes, needs and demands of people other than language teachers (ibid, p. 7). Another key reason that Hutchinson and Waters consider to have a tremendous impact on the emergence of ESP was a revolution in linguistics. While traditional linguists set out to describe the features of language, revolutionary pioneers in linguistics began to focus on the ways in which language is used in real communication. In this context, ESP continues to expand throughout the world. II. The Development of ESP Teaching Theories Since the early days of ESP, in the late 1960s and early 1970s, there has been a great much research into the nature of particular varieties of English. At that time, one area was given a particular attention by scholars namely English for Science and Technology (EST). ESP and Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political & Economic Studies Learning Needs in the Workplace: Some Techniques Based on Communicative English Teaching Input for Banking and Hotel Employees Khadidja HADJ DJELLOUL 102 ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives EST were almost related to each other since EST is the reason behind the evolution of ESP. In this regard, Swales (1985) demonstrates that “EST is the senior branch of ESP senior in age, larger in volume of publications and greater in number of practitioners employed” (p. 98). ESP has undergone several phases of development from its early beginnings as an approach to meet employees or learners’ needs. In fact, it has contributed in many developments in language teaching in general and applied linguistic in particular as it has adopted several teaching theories. In this regard, it is important to mention that ESP has passed through five stages of development: • The concept of special language: register analysis, • Beyond the sentence: rhetorical or discourse analysis, • Target situation analysis, • Skills and strategies, • A learning-centred approach. Briefly, let us consider then the main different phases in the development of ESP. II.1. Register Analysis Also called ‘Lexicostatistics’ and ‘Frequency Analysis’ by Robinson (1991, p.23). This concept was introduced by Halliday, McIntosh and Strevens (1964) when they explain that language varries according to the different purposes and situations in which it is used (these are called registers). Then, according to the users who speak it (these are dialects). Both types are interpreted with reference to their formal linguistic properties. They are what Widdowson (1979, p.55) calls ‘types of text’. The purpose of this approach is to identify the lexical and grammatical features of the different specific varieties of the language to design ESP courses based on scientific English. Thus, the approach was sentence-based and form-focused that can guide teachers in the selection and preparation of materials that should by their content validity motivate learners to learn so that it helps ensure appropriateness of content. The crucial criterion of any given register is to be found in its grammar and texts. Every one of these specialized needs requires detailed studies of special registers carried out on the basis of large samples of language used by the particular practitioners. So, early ESP courses put emphasis on the scientific English grammar and vocabulary as stated by Ewer and Latorre (1969, p. 122), “There is a basic language of scientific English, made up of sentence patterns, structural words and non-structural words common to all the sciences.” It is to this essential framework that the large specialized vocabularies of each field are added. Special attention was given to ESP writing that is why large corpora of specialised texts are analysed by early ESP materials’ designers to find out the statistical contours of various registers. Herbert (1965), Ewer and Latorre, (1969) gave much importance to form, Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political & Economic Studies Learning Needs in the Workplace: Some Techniques Based on Communicative English Teaching Input for Banking and Hotel Employees Khadidja HADJ DJELLOUL 103 ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives grammatical structure and vocabulary that students would meet in their scientific studies. Further, they tend to take the formal features of register as a syllabus. At that time, it was expected that once the students had mastered the structures and vocabulary that is related to the specialized field, they would automatically be able to put these structures to use. Although the register analysis was a useful approach, it has ultimately proved to be an insubstantial basis for the selection of syllabus items. For Coffey (1984), research continues, but the outcomes have not been encouraging, i.e., for the selection process, register cannot be used as the major basis because there is no specific way in which the language of science differs from any other type of language. The approach was decisively criticized and influenced by new approaches of linguistics for being only descriptive, not explanatory, sentence-based and form-focused. Pedagogically, it did not encourage students to see English as a vehicle of communication. Such reaction has led to the beginning of a new trend in ESP that is : II.2. Rhetorical /Discourse Analysis Contrary to the previous approach which is quantitative and informs us what linguistic forms occur and how often they occur, this approach is qualitative and informs us what the forms count as communication and how they express elements of discourse. The main concern of this phase was to repair the deficiencies of the previous approach; to understand how sentences were combined, and how the linguistic methods were used to determine the modes of organization and form a meaningful whole instead of focusing on language at the sentence level. So, the focus was on the sentence and on the purpose of writing rather than on form. In comparing both approaches, Duan and Gu (2005) declared that Discourse Analysis shifted attention to the level above the sentence. It focused on how sentences are organized to form discourse, and the linguistic models used to determine the modes of organization. ‘English for Science and Technology: a Discourse Approach’ is a practical account of this approach that is given by L. Trimble (1985). The objective of this theory is to establish a correspondence of purpose with device; that is to say, to capture the relationship between grammar and lexicon to meet the authors’ rhetorical aims. Such method became the main criterion for selecting ESP materials. However, Discourse Analysis approach had also entailed some drawbacks that are discussed by Dudley- Evans and St John (1998). Actually, Discourse Analysis course gave much importance to teaching language items based on functional/notional syllabus and neglects the four skills. The deficiencies of Discourse Analysis approach gave birth to another major trend in ESP development which is: Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political & Economic Studies Learning Needs in the Workplace: Some Techniques Based on Communicative English Teaching Input for Banking and Hotel Employees Khadidja HADJ DJELLOUL 104 ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives II.3. Target Situation Analysis In this approach, attention shifted to the text structure that is to say the purpose of writing and then to target situation analysis which became the starting point for ESP syllabus design. ESP course design should at first identify the target situation and then conduct an analysis of the linguistic features of that situation. Hence, the learner became an active actor of the learning process whose needs have to be well defined with reference to his present or future real uses of the English language. The term was first introduced by Chambers (1980) who stated that Target Situation Analysis (TSA) means “communication in the target situation” (p.29). This new approach adopted the idea that an ESP course seeks to make learners able to communicate adequately in the target situation in which the language they are learning will be used. Within this approach, the ESP course developer seeks to answer the question ‘‘What does the expert communicator need to know in order to function effectively in this situation?’’ This information may be recorded in terms of language skills, strategies, subject knowledge, etc. As a matter of fact, the ESP movement in the 1970s adopted Needs Analysis (NA) as its guiding principle. Hutchinson and Waters (1987) sum up the period when they designate Munby’s (1978) Communication Needs Processor (CNP) as “a watershed and a coming of age for ESP.” Accordingly, to decide which skills are essential for a group of students or employees, the analysis of needs is an inevitable step that should not be underestimated as it is acknowledged to be the keystone of ESP in the new revolution of science, technology and business (Dudley Evans & St John, 1998). NA began along with the development of the communicative approach and has gone through multiple developments and stages in the 1970s and 1980s. The work of Munby’s CNP (1978) is the most well-known model because it has become “an unavoidable reference point’’ (Tudor, 1996, p.66). Munby presents a detailed set of procedures to figure out the target situation needs. Although Munby’s target-situation analysis work (1978) is a landmark in the history of ESP, he had been criticized bitterly by linguists. Consequently, several models and approaches to needs analysis appear to consider learners’ present needs or wants as Lesiak-Bielawska (2015, p. 6) declared “needs analysis as a concept includes a series of extra elements, such as subjective needs analysis, present situation analysis, learning needs analysis, discourse/genre analysis and means analysis”. To sum up, TSA became a dominant approach to design ESP courses to effectively meet the learners’ as well as employees’ needs. However, it was not able to show how the expert communicator learnt the language items, skills and strategies used. NA is a complex process, involving much more than simply looking at what the learners will have to do in the target situation. Thus, TSA approach was developed and led to the rise of skills and strategies approach. Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political & Economic Studies Learning Needs in the Workplace: Some Techniques Based on Communicative English Teaching Input for Banking and Hotel Employees Khadidja HADJ DJELLOUL 105 ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives II.4. Skills and Strategies This approach, proposed by some scholars and exemplified by books like Skills for Learning (1980), turned the focus from the teaching of language (in terms of grammar and vocabulary) to the teaching of the basic skills. The most important tenet of this approach is to help students to develop skills and strategies because the core principal idea behind the skills- centred approach is that underlying all language use that are common reasoning and interpreting processes, which, regardless of the surface forms, enable us to extract meaning from discourse (Hutchinson and Waters, 1987). West (1995) declares that the first generation of ESP materials that appeared in the mid-1960s took skills as their principal means of selection. The need to focus on the text as a product to be understood became so important. Thus, reading is the first skill to be selected in early materials by providing specialist texts with comprehension and language activities. ESP course in this stage aimed at making learners read a number of English specialized texts focusing on reading strategies that enable them to extract meaning from discourse. That is to say, within this approach, the focus must be upon the interpretive strategies which support the learner to cope with the surface forms. Learners are expected to master a set of linguistic competencies together in a certain skill like listening to an audio or reading a specific text, writing good paragraphs or presenting effective topics orally. In terms of materials, this approach generally puts the emphasis on reading and listening skills and learners analyze how meaning is produced from written and spoken discourse. Therefore, the growing awareness of the central position the learner occupies in language learning, ESP adopted a new approach as mainstay for designing ESP courses. II.5. Learning-Centered Approach This approach regarded learning as an internal process which is dependent on the knowledge and skills the learners already acquire. It is of great importance to distinguish between learning-centered approach and learner- centered approach as they sound the same. In the former, several factors are included; the learner is one of them and is considered as a key element in the learning process. On the other hand, learning in learner-centered approach is totally determined by the learner and the teacher is almost excluded, This approach further looks beyond the competence that enables someone to perform something; how someone acquires that competence. The syllabus must be used in a more dynamic way taking into account learners interest, learners involvement and motivation to enable them to reach the end target. According to Dudley- Evans and St. Johns (1998), learning-centered approach also took into account the fact that different students learn in different ways. Along with the aforementioned approaches, it can be said that ESP has emerged as a major area of interest that has attracted the attention of scholars, educational institutions and language teaching professionals. Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political & Economic Studies Learning Needs in the Workplace: Some Techniques Based on Communicative English Teaching Input for Banking and Hotel Employees Khadidja HADJ DJELLOUL 106 ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives III. Some Research Studies on Banking and Hotel Employees’ Perceptions on the Need to English ESP has experienced an unprecedented growth as an applied linguistics discipline in response to employees’ communicative needs in specific work settings. Consequently, effective communication and adequate English language competency is highly recommended. Obviously, the position of English in the contexts of business is well entrenched (Beddiaf and Ben Safi, 2018). In this light, it becomes a must for the employees to communicate effectively and appropriately at the workplace. However, there are always shortfalls as experienced by the following researchers: Jasso-Aguilar (1999) carries out a study in a hotel in Waikiki (Hawaii) in order to investigate the perspectives of maids and to identify whether they perceive the tasks and language needed to perform their job effectively. Qualitative methods, including observation, unstructured interviews, and questionnaires are used to answer the above questions through analyzing the vocational English-language-instruction needs of hotel maids. The main aim is to figure out to what extent the lack of language abilities and competencies might have a negative effect on their performance and to identify their needs and wants. Actually, Aguilar’s work showed the value of using multiple sources and methods for identifying and conducting needs analysis. The study revealed a discrepancy between the maids’ and their supervisors’ perceptions in terms of language needs. While according to the maids, they used very little English in their job, and they did not need to further their foreign language skills, the institutional representatives saw a need for housekeepers to do so, and they identified a variety of language needs. Reguieg (2012), in her magister thesis, investigates the English language communicative needs of front office staff working in Gourara Hotel in Timimoun (Algeria) graduating from training centres. To explore the hotel clients’ satisfaction with receptionists’ performance, structured interviews were conducted and questionnaires were distributed to collect data in order to measure the extent to which clients were satisfied with the front desk staff English use and thus the language needs that should be improved. The results indicated that there was a negative gap between clients’ expectations and perceptions. Clients were satisfied with service quality of the hotel receptionists and not with their communicative skills performance. Al-Khatib (2005) conducts a study to investigate the use of English by tourism and banking personnel in Jordan by shedding light on their attitudes towards the language and its use in the workplace. The investigation was tackled via questionnaire, interviews, and analysis of authentic workplace texts under the main headings : Workers’ needs and use; Workers’ wants; Workers’ lacks and Workers’ attitudes. Among the main results that concerned the needs, the majority of the respondents preferred getting information themselves, improving listening skills and sharpening their ability in speaking. Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political & Economic Studies Learning Needs in the Workplace: Some Techniques Based on Communicative English Teaching Input for Banking and Hotel Employees Khadidja HADJ DJELLOUL 107 ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives Salameh and Abu Jarad (2015), in their turn, aimed to determine the banks’ employees attitudes towards the importance of English in a study conducted in Tulkarm district, Palestine. Also, it adds to the one in charge awareness towards supplying courses and syllabuses that serve to use of English effectively. The work came up with the following recommendations: 1. Banks' administrations should give high importance to English Language fluency as an important criteria for choosing bank employees in various fields of work. 2. There should be English courses sponsored by banks' administration to be given to employees for enhancing their ability to use English with others fluently. 3. A system of reinforcement for taking these courses and developing English use should be accredited and considered as an urgent requirement for the bank. Another study conducted by Mohammadzadeh, Barati and Ali Fatemi (2015) to understand to what extent employees of Saderat bank in Mashhad in Iran needed to use English in their work and also to find out what language problems they had during their work. With the aim of identifying the language needs of bank employees, a need analysis questionnaire was developed. The employees answered that they needed speaking, reading, writing and listening a lot. When they were questioned about problems they had in using English, they announced that they had problems with all four skills. They argued that the bank should provide English training courses for them. The research concluded that useful English language instruction is highly necessary to do the job effectively. Hadj Djelloul (2021a) sought to raise the awareness of students about the significance of needs analysis and how successful English for tourism purposes course helps to fulfill the learning needs in order to fully provide a learning experience that can sustain them once they practice and apply what they have learned in their specific job opportunities. With the same token she (2021b) addressed the employees4 need to English of an Algerian bank in a research paper which concludes that although English is not the medium of oral communication in the daily work setting, these employees need English if they want to minimize their lacks at work. Therefore banking and hospitality industry employees, as the above experiences indicate, are among the group with demands for ESP. IV. Implications Based on the above results, the researcher proposes some implications that may contribute to teaching English for banking and hotel employees. Among the implications: IV.1. Identifying and Conducting the Learning Needs Effective communication at the workplace is the target of ESP courses for it has an impact on business service quality. These courses should start and be based on needs analysis (NA) to Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political & Economic Studies Learning Needs in the Workplace: Some Techniques Based on Communicative English Teaching Input for Banking and Hotel Employees Khadidja HADJ DJELLOUL 108 ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives determine the end objectives. The nature of NA varies from one situation to another according to the final objective of the learning process. Needs are distributed as product-oriented and process-oriented, perceived and felt Berwick (1989), objective and subjective (Brindley, 1989) and Robinson (1991). This detailed study into the existing need to English in the workplace recommends that course designers, teaching developers and learning materials should provide more specifically focused English courses to learners in their respect fields of work. The study also helps us to establish realistic measures for treatment which would be incorporated in the design of a particular type of courses and textbooks as materials to ESP students either in university education or professional training. After identifying the needs, in company courses and training should be planned. The training programme can be developed to cater for the specific needs of the employees at the appropriate language level, skill, content and environment. Thus, this enables them to perform work related tasks successfully and will curb the shortcomings. These should also be exposed to English native or non-native speakers to help them to interact or at least listen to them. In case the training is in their country, a syllabus should be designed for ESP courses. The syllabus should focus on communicative skills depending on either field. Administration and workplace managers should be aware of the language needs and should provide the employees with the necessary materials to assist them in their learning or training process. Carefully identified needs and appropriate teaching materials will produce not only satisfied learners but also plenty of professional fulfillments in their future career at work.The implications of this research for language teachers and for the administration in large institutions is to find the ways of motivating workers to lifelong learning, to negotiate with them on their priorities for various skills to be sharpened, to incorporate activities that trainees prefer and to design courses that suit their needs. IV.2. Classroom Pedagogy Classroom English pedagogy has its own characteristics. One of them is the use of appropriate teaching technique by various activities that must be student-centered approach where teachers become good model to support students’ confidence in English communicatively. In addition, teachers have to be excellent especially in deciding the most suitable teaching techniques for their students and managing vocational classroom discipline. Teachers are suggested to use teaching method such as inquiry based learning, discovery learning, project based learning and problem based learning by a wide variety of techniques. Hence, teachers must have competence of stimulating interaction and cooperation as well as implementing appropriate classroom management. This can be reached only through a significant training. Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political & Economic Studies Learning Needs in the Workplace: Some Techniques Based on Communicative English Teaching Input for Banking and Hotel Employees Khadidja HADJ DJELLOUL 109 ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives Industries vary from one to another as each needs to enrich and develop specific skills and neglect others on a global scale. For instance, in the hotel industry, the hotel employees need to develop listening and speaking skills; whereas, within banks, employees need to develop reading and writing skills in general. Then, either academically or occupationally, the implementation of the above techniques in ESP classes is of great significance. In fact, many ESP specialists have offered a considerable number of works and articles bringing out new insights and approaches from different theoretical perspectives about the workplace. Accordingly, such works should be extended, and it is hoped that research into the needs of employees, including banking and hotel receptionists, will have implications for ESP pedagogy. Conclusion Previously, English language was taught for educational purposes in terms of literature and culture. However, it has become obvious that teaching it does not only involve such an interest; there was a shift towards the practical teaching of language ability as a means of communication and as a vehicle which facilitates further progress in different subjects and sectors leading to the birth of ESP. In this light, there is a call for the need to develop English language communicative skills on a global scale and for the need to be able to communicate appropriately and effectively in different settings either academically or occupationally. Throughout the present work, some common findings have been reached. Employees working in banking and the hotel industries need English to perform their tasks effectively; however, they face many communication problems related to its use. This could be more closely tailored to ESP materials, to the workplace needs and utilizable of some technique based on communicative language teaching input carried out by teachers into their own practices to improve their students’ experiences. Developing materials and teaching methods can be adopted anywhere to address communication required in the specific workplace. Besides, regarding the various implications towards the materials design, there are implications for teacher development, so that the suggested lesson plan can be realized. It is likely that the teachers would benefit from the educational approach. To facilitate such a process of tailoring teaching-learning more closely to needs, there is a need to maximize institutional support, since investment in both material design and ESP teacher’s knowledge is needed. In fact, in approaching any lesson plan, the aim behind is to better meet students’ needs. References Ahmed, M. K. (2014). Issues in ESP (English for specific purposes). International Journal for Teachers of English, 4(1), 36-59. Al-Khatib, M. (2005). English in the workplace: An analysis of the communication needs of tourism and banking personnel. Asian EFL Journal, 7(2), 174-194. Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political & Economic Studies Learning Needs in the Workplace: Some Techniques Based on Communicative English Teaching Input for Banking and Hotel Employees Khadidja HADJ DJELLOUL 110 ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives Basturkmen, H. (2010). Developing courses in English for specific purposes. Springer. 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(1985). EST: A discourse approach. Cambridge: CUP. Tudor, I. (1996). Learner-centredness as language education (Vol. 279). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. West, R. (1995). ESP: The State of the Art, ESP SIG Newsletter, 16-26. Widdowson, H. (1979). The Description of Scientific Language. In H. Widdowson, Explorations in Applied Linguistics. Oxford: Oxford University Press. WRIGHT, C. (1992) ' The Benefits of ESP.' Cambridge Language Consultants. www.camalang.com/art001.htm Retrieved May 25th, 2004. Wright, C. (1992). The Benefits of ESP. Cambridge Language Consultations. Available on: http://camlang.com/art001.htm. XIE, Q., & Adamson, B. (2015). How effective is workplace English for occupational purposes (eop) training? Case studies of corporate programs in the Chinese context. The ASIAN ESP Journal, 11(1), 151-184. Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political & Economic Studies Learning Needs in the Workplace: Some Techniques Based on Communicative English Teaching Input for Banking and Hotel Employees Khadidja HADJ DJELLOUL 113 ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives Applying Critical Pedagogy in the Teaching of English for Economics in Algerian Universities Hanaà BERREZOUG1 Abstract 1 Doctor and researcher This paper sets out to look into the current state of teaching English for Economics and Management in Algerian universities, as well as the possibilities of incorporating critical pedagogy principles into teaching English for specific purposes. English is a minor module with a lower hourly volume in economic science departments in Algerian universities and this has made students as well as teachers approach it anemically. Teachers, who are perhaps lulled into this state of indifference by standard teaching methods, can turn the tide by changing how they approach ESP. By adopting Freirean critical pedagogy, teachers will be able to create essential links between would-be managers and economists and the corporate world. As a result, rather than depending on the "banking model" of imparting ready-made knowledge, teachers will be required to apply the problem-posing technique, which helps students create knowledge that is relevant, useful, and empowering in their own social situations. Keywords: Algeria; critical pedagogy; critical thinking; english for economics; ESP Citation: BERREZOUG, H. (2022). Applying Critical Pedagogy in the Teaching of English for Economics in Algerian Universities. In H. Andaloussi (Ed.), ESP Teaching Today: Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives (pp. 114-119). Berlin, Germany: Democratic Arabic Center. Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political & Economic Studies Applying Critical Pedagogy in the Teaching of English for Economics in Algerian Universities Hanaà BERREZOUG 114 ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives Introduction Paulo Freire introduced critical pedagogy to the world of education for the first time (1970). Other notable scholars, such as Giroux (1992), Luke (1988), and McLaren (1989), have developed critical pedagogy ideas and approaches. Their ideas and notions can be summarized as a comprehensive sum of cooperative learning, consciousness-raising among learners, nexus between educational setting and broader community, and critical thinking about injustice or inequalities prevailing around us. The critical pedagogy movement is heavily influenced by the pedagogical views of philosopher John Dewey (1980). He claimed in his book "Democracy and Education" that education must be transformative. Dewey (1980) felt that the ideal classroom should be a place where students can learn through trial and error the skills they need to participate in authentic, ethical and democratic citizenship. Therefore this research is an attempt at testing the practicality of critical pedagogy in teaching English for economics in Algerian universities. The main question that is addressed in this work is: how can we adopt the tenets of critical pedagogy in teaching ESP while focusing on the objectives of language teaching set out by the domain within which it is learnt/ taught? To investigate this issue, the researcher selected the economics department where teaching English can be a double edged sword task that improves communication skills and inspires social change through critical thinking. English for Economics While this is not a paper on economic theories, it is deemed necessary to briefly introduce the basics of economics as they are approached in the educational realm. The prevailing neoclassical theory, which has the "rationality" concept at its foundation, is responsible for most of economics' rigor. Nonetheless, there are a number of competing economic theories, known as heterodox theories that call into question the restricted, simplistic assumptions. According to rational choice theory, Individuals employ logical calculations to make rational choices and attain outcomes that are compatible with their own personal goals. These findings are also linked to optimizing one's own self-interest. However, many economists question whether the rational choice theory and the invisible hand theory are true since individuals may not always make logical, utility-maximizing judgments. The more recent field of behavioral economics, for instance, tries to explain why individuals sometimes make irrational decisions, and why and how their behavior does not always match the expectations of economic models, from a psychological standpoint. Critics of rational choice theory argue that in an ideal world, people would always make the best decisions that benefit them and provide them the most happiness. However, we do not live in a perfect environment; in reality, emotions and external influences frequently sway people. Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political & Economic Studies Applying Critical Pedagogy in the Teaching of English for Economics in Algerian Universities Hanaà BERREZOUG 115 ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives If ESP is based on mainstream (textbook) economic theory, it faces the potential of creating a "canon of knowledge." In his “Textbooks and the Sociology of Scientific Knowledge,” Myers (1992) explored the paradox that economics textbooks are better at imparting a canon of information but worse at encouraging critical reading, Because textbooks contain the codified knowledge of a field, the unproblematic basis for further work, they play a central role as repositories of what we hold to be true. We tend to think that a statement is in a textbook because it is a fact (Myers 1992: 3). With these considerations in mind, I set out to propose an ESP experience that avoids teaching a "canon of knowledge" and instead focuses on increasing students' understanding of the diversity of economic ideas while also developing their language abilities. It is a strategy that stresses "critical thinking" while also addressing the strictly communicative and terminological goals. Brazilian educator and social critic Paulo Freire (1921-1997) devised a system of education that prioritized social change as the ultimate purpose of instruction. The premise that people may develop knowledge that is more relevant, practical, and empowering than knowledge that is limiting, coercive, and hegemonic is the beginning point for social change action. When Paulo Freire first released Pedgagogy of the Oppressed (1972) he made a clear distinction between the “banking” concept of education as an instrument of oppression and the “problem- posing” concept of education as an instrument for liberation. Corresponding to what Jean Paul Sartre calls the “digestive” and “nutritive” concept of education, the banking concept of education refers to the model of teaching where “the scope of action allowed to the students extends only as far as receiving, filing, and storing the deposits” (Freire, 2005, p. 72). Within the framework of problem-posing education, however, students should be able to negotiate and make decisions with an expert teacher who works hard to ―”help them develop their epistemological consciousness, and their sense of identity as empowered democratic citizens‖ (Kincheloe, 2008, p. 13). Instead of dictating societal standards, Freire advises that teachers become co-learners, collaborating closely with students by immersing themselves in their cultural experiences and settings where palpable power imbalances and problems may be genuinely addressed and assessed. By preparing the ground for a dialogical relation between the teacher and the student, the “teacher still and should have authority to ensure that the activity runs well without restricting students freedom to participate actively in encountering the common knowledge forms and social relations (Yulianto, 2015, p. 27). Following this line of thought, democratic classrooms could only be reached by creating classroom conditions based on two primary ingredients: dialogue and the eagerness to produce knowledge that could support individual freedom and social justice. Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political & Economic Studies Applying Critical Pedagogy in the Teaching of English for Economics in Algerian Universities Hanaà BERREZOUG 116 ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives Course Design M1 English for Economics is a two-semester, mandatory course for first-year master's students at most Algerian universities. It consists of one and a half hours of class per week. Critical pedagogy is best suited for students at the M1 level. They have frequently come across some heterodox economic ideas, such as behavioral economics or institutional economics, in addition to general economic theories (microeconomics, macroeconomics, international commerce, political economy, statistics, etc). As a result, they are more susceptible to the idea of pluralist economic philosophy and this will help them acquire a deeper sense of debate and discussion during their English classes. The subject chosen for class work should try to fulfill communicative and language skills as well as the broader objective of encouraging pluralist thought in order to improve critical thinking. Implementing Critical Pedagogy and Teaching Methods Critical pedagogy in general, and its status in language teaching in EFL/ELT contexts in particular, has a large body of research (Shin and Crookes, 2005; Akbari, 2008; Breuing, 2011; Liyanage, 2012; Kohansal and Akbari, 2013; Yulianto, 2015; Sarroub and Quadros, 2015). In order to help students develop critical thinking skills, textbooks should be designed with binary objectives i.e., linguistics objectives and non linguistic objectives. Linguistic objectives stress grammar injection and handling, vocabulary loading, fluency, and writing skills. Non-linguistic objectives, however, emphasize critical thinking, analytical skills, and problem-solving skills. Examples of non-linguistic objectives might include: 1. Critical thinking on the limits of indicators 2. Opening up to heterodox theories 3. Understanding behavioral economics throughout role play activities (different situations) 4. Working on empathy and listening (problem-solving skills) Students are able to relate to and identify with diverse personalities by using a range of role plays of various types, making this a beneficial technique of strengthening their communication skills. It encourages individuals to enhance not just their vocabulary but also their whole communication skills (empathy, understanding, tact, along with negotiating skills, cross- cultural awareness, etc.). At the end of each unit, students prepare class presentations, on topics of their choice, keeping in line with the main themes of the unit. Following the student presentations, the audience is asked to react, remark, and ask questions in a question-and-answer session. By reminding students at the start of the semester that participation in the question-and-answer session is one of the key components of the semester's participation grade, the entire class is frequently involved in this general discussion. Keeping the “critical thinking” objective Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political & Economic Studies Applying Critical Pedagogy in the Teaching of English for Economics in Algerian Universities Hanaà BERREZOUG 117 ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives in mind, one of the characteristics of an effective presentation, is when students demonstrate awareness of multiple lines of thought on the subject. When the presentation evaluation criteria are provided to them beforehand, they make a great effort to ensure that their topic is well-rounded. Furthermore, the question and answer session displays a varied range of references and examples, demonstrating that students can and do rely on a variety of theories and thought, particularly when encouraged to do so. Rajapakse (2019) provides insightful activities done in class and based on the premise of critical thinking. The latter include: practicing sales pitch (chapter 3) and problem-solving skills: working on empathy and listening (chapter 4) to name but these (7). To enhance critical thinking, educators should incorporate "challenge activities" that encourage students to appreciate economic theories other than the neoclassical one. An interesting example might be to ask students to track the economic decisions they made over the course of a week and consider what influenced them to make those decisions and get ready to discuss their findings with the class. Table one Tracking my decisions Capture Sheet Day Decision Influencing Factors Predicted by Traditional Behavioral economics economics 1 2 3 4 5 6 This practice will assist students in recognizing how rational their decisions are. When students keep track of the elements that influence their judgments, they develop critical thinking skills. Students' choices may differ and even collide during class discussions, but they eventually understand that there is no such thing as canon knowledge. Conclusion: The premise that ESP is a strategy that needs to be conceived depending on the demands and techniques of the field at hand is strengthened, rather than contradicted, by including pluralist economic theories into the curriculum of English for Economics classes. However, for Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political & Economic Studies Applying Critical Pedagogy in the Teaching of English for Economics in Algerian Universities Hanaà BERREZOUG 118 ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives economics, it involves that the method becomes less defined, as the boundaries of the discipline become more porous. By teaching students that agents are rational, we are inadvertently training them to believe it and act rationally. Thus, English for Economics programs provide an opportunity to teach economics as multidisciplinary and with blurred boundaries, reducing the likelihood of "rational fools." References Freire, Paulo. (2005). Pedagogy of the Oppressed. (Myra Bergman Ramos, Trans.) New York: Continuum Publishing Company, (originally published in 1972) Kincheloe, J. L. (2008). Knowledge and critical pedagogy: An introduction. London: Bergin & Gavery. Myers, Greg. 1992. “Textbooks and the sociology of scientific knowledge”. English for Specific Purposes 11, 3–17. Rajapakse, Nadeera (2019). The Challenges for Teaching English for Economics, with Pluralist Theories and Fuzzy Boundaries, ASP La Revue du GERAS, 75 (varia): 1- 13, DOI : https://doi.org/10.4000/asp.5869 Yulianto, S.W. (2015). “The Use of Critical Pedagogy Principles in Teaching EFL Reading”. English Review: Journal of English Education,.4 (1): 25-38 Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political & Economic Studies Applying Critical Pedagogy in the Teaching of English for Economics in Algerian Universities Hanaà BERREZOUG 119 ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives Digital Literacy Importance in ESP Teacher Education: Perceptions, Engagements and Reality Radia BOUGUEBS1 Abstract 1 English language lecturer at the Different from teaching English for general purposes, the English for Department of English in the Ecole Specific Purposes (ESP) teaching environment enlarges from the role Normal Supérieure “Assia Djebar” of assigned to the ESP teacher. Adding to his role as a teacher, he is a course Constantine. She holds a PHD degree in Applied Linguistics from the University designer and materials provider, a collaborator, a researcher, and an of Constantine 1. She has been teaching evaluator. These additional teaching tasks dealt with in an ESP setting English for more than 15 years. Her make from an ESP teacher a “practitioner” rather than just a teacher. research interests are technology enhanced language teaching/learning, Progress in Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) and reading and writing effective teaching its application in education have influenced methods of teaching and methods, mobile assisted language teaching/ learning, ESP teaching/ means of learning. ICTs instruments such as the computer and the learning. She has many publications in Internet brought to learners new modes of access to knowledge and national and international peer reviewed information including Moodle platforms, Massive Open Online Courses journals. She started a rich reviewing experience in various committees in (MOOCs), Google classroom, Zoom…etc. To what extent ESP teaching academic journals and editorial boards is affected by all these innovations. And what other skills ESP since 2019.
[email protected]practitioners should be aware about to fit a generation of learners that is more digitally oriented. The present paper advocates the need to reconsider ESP teacher profile and necessary education. Through a descriptive exploratory and analytical investigation, the researcher’s aims are to examine teachers’ knowledge and perception about the ESP practitioner’s main roles, and to explore their attitude towards the importance of digital literacy skills as a completion to the ESP practitioner’s profile. To reach the study objectives, a questionnaire was posted online to a number of ESP teachers from different Algerian Citation: BOUGUEBS, R. (2022). Digital Literacy Importance in ESP Teacher Higher education institutions. Results revealed the necessity of including Education: Perceptions, Engagements digital literacy training programs in teacher education for the sake of and Reality. In H. Andaloussi (Ed.), ESP satisfying their learners’ English specific learning needs in a digital Teaching Today: Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives (pp. 120-132). environment. Developing the digital literacy skills will complete the Berlin, Germany: Democratic Arabic profile of ESP teachers so that ensuring their effectiveness as ESP Center. practitioners in the digital age. Keywords: 21st century generation learners, Digital age, ESP practitioners, ESP Teaching, ICTs tools, teacher education Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political & Economic Studies Digital Literacy Importance in ESP Teacher Education: Perceptions, Engagements and Reality Radia BOUGUEBS 120 ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives Introduction English for specific purposes (ESP) implies the teaching/learning of English as a second or foreign language where the development of learners’ use of English in a specific domain is the dominant objective (Paltridge&Starfield, 2013). The essence of this approach is the design of specific English language course which aims to meet the needs and the exigencies of specific learners whose intention is to use English in professional context and for professional purposes (Hutchinson &Waters, 1987). Primordial is that the goals, the objectives and the content of an ESP course are matched to the learners’ communicative needs (Carter &Nunan, 2001, p. 3). Advances in Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) and its application in education have influenced methods of teaching and means of learning. “New technologies are responsible for the rapid introduction of new classroom techniques and course configurations” argue Kessler and Hubbard (2017, p. 285). It has been proved that ICT is an important catalyst and tool for inducing educational reforms that change our students into productive knowledge workers (Pelgrum 2001, p.163) because it provides enormous tools for enhancing teaching and learning. Consequently, ICTs instruments such as the computer and the Internet brought to learners new modes of access to knowledge and information including Moodle platforms, Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs), Google classroom, Zoom…etc. Departing from this novel teaching/learning reality, to what extent ESP teaching is affected by ICT progress . Like any other kinds of language teaching, ESP has been affected by the integration of technology education. The fact that the inclusion of ICTs as pedagogical tools in an ESP setting may fit a generation of learners who are digitally oriented, ICT application for teaching/learning purposes in ESP has become an issue of debate in contemporary education (Dogoriti&Pange , 2012, p. 25). Although technology has long been used to facilitate the teaching-learning process, its practice is not without problems” argues Iswati (Iswati, 2021, p. 36). If it is so, what other skills ESP practitioners should be aware about; to fulfill their roles adequately while manipulating the ICTs tools in their ESP classrooms. This implies the prerequisite of more additional knowledge and skills. The acquisition of these new skills requires specialized training programs. Hence, the need for appropriate language-teacher education has become apparent since the time technology has become more established in language teaching (Kessler & Hubbard, 2017, p. 278). Because interest in preparing language teachers to use technology in their classrooms has continuously grown over the past years (Ibid, p. 278), this paper presents a reflection on a study in which we tried to investigate teachers’ awareness about the utility of digital literacy skills in the profile of ESP practitioners. The study revolves around finding out to what extent ESP teaching is affected by all these innovations; more specifically, what other skills ESP practitioners should be aware about to fulfill their roles adequately while manipulating the ICT Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political & Economic Studies Digital Literacy Importance in ESP Teacher Education: Perceptions, Engagements and Reality Radia BOUGUEBS 121 ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives tools in their ESP classrooms. The current study advocates the need to reconsider ESP teacher profile and necessary education. Literature Review Educational technology progress provides enormous tools for enhancing teaching and learning process. Like any other teaching/learning approach, “technology has been utilized in ESP instruction since the introduction of the computer into the classroom, throughout the development of the Internet and the World Wide Web and to the very invention of mobile and cloud-computing technologies”( Kirovska-Simjanoska, 2020, pp. 426-427). ICTs instruments such as the computer and the Internet that brought to surface new modes of teaching/learning including Moodle platforms, Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs), Google classroom, Zoom…etc reshape ESP teaching/learning environment. Consequently, ESP pedagogy has been profoundly affected by ICTs progress . As the teaching ESP in the digital age “involves a focus on digital mediation as one component of goal-directed activity in specialized communication practices”(Hafner& Pun, 2020, p.3), teachers should be familiar with the technology tools(Anggeraini,2020). Research in this field revealed that despite the benefits technology can offer to languages for specific purposes, ESP teachers have demonstrated slow adoption in using new technologies (Li, 2018). This researcher relates such developed attitude to various reasons, including lack of awareness and deficient computer literacy and ICT pedagogy (ibid). Vukićević-Đorđević, however, considers that teacher attitude towards the use of ICT tools in their classrooms to a mismatch between teachers’ previous education and the 21st century educational technologies advances needed skills. This scholar highlights this issue in the following quote : Many teachers whose education was based on the grammar-translation and other traditional methods might find themselves not properly trained to teach in the 21st century learners especially when it comes to modern technologies and introducing state-of-the-art devices into teaching and learning activities (Vukićević-Đorđević, 2015, p. 492) . Since ICT use in education makes learning enjoyable, interesting, interactive, language instructors are more than ever technically challenged with the latest innovative technologies in language learning (ibid, p. 492). To solve this problem, argues Vukicevic-Dordevic, all the needed is a successful combination of life-long learning and self-development because substantial additional workload for teachers is simply the matter of their responsibility (ibid, p. 492) . In brief, the ESP practitioner profile has been modified in the digital age. Besides being a teacher, a material designer, a collaborator, a researcher, and an evaluator, at the same time; ESP practitioner is more than ever required not only to be digitally literate but to keep skills up-to-date with digital progress. This adopted new profile will enable the ESP practitioner fulfills the multiple of roles attributed to him in an ESP setting where fitting the communicative Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political & Economic Studies Digital Literacy Importance in ESP Teacher Education: Perceptions, Engagements and Reality Radia BOUGUEBS 122 ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives needs of a category of learners who are digitally more knowledgeable will be easily achieved. Holding to the fact that the manipulation of ICT tools during classroom practice is not without problems (Iswati, 2021, p. 36), what other skills ESP practitioners should be aware about to fulfil their roles adequately. ESP Teaching Today “Technology has been utilized in ESP instruction since the introduction of the computer into the classroom throughout the development of the Internet and the World Wide Web and to the very invention of mobile and cloud-computing technologies”. Methodology This study aims is to investigate about the importance of digital literacy in teacher education. The researcher’s intentions then are (a) to investigate teachers’ attitude towards the facilities ICT tools use could bring to the ESP classrooms, (b) to explore teachers’ awareness about the utility of digital literacy skills in the profile of ESP practitioners, (c) and to certify whether or not keeping up-to-date their digital literacy skills via teacher education future programs is perceived as a MUST. To reach the study objectives, we departed from the following research questions : 1. Are teachers aware about the different duties attributed to an ESP practitioner? 2. To what extent ESP teaching is affected by progress in ICTs? 3. What is ESP practitioners’ attitude towards the importance of digital literacy knowledge in teacher education ? 4. How important is the inclusion of the digital literacy training in ESP teacher education? In the current investigation, digital literacy is identified as the minimal set of skills that facilitate for the user undergoing effective operations with software tools, or performing basic information retrieval tasks (Buckingham,2006, 265). Teacher education, however, refers to the policies and procedures designed to equip prospective teachers with the needed knowledge, attitude, behaviors and skills to fulfill their tasks effectively, not only in the classrooms, but also in the schools and the wider community. Sampling, Research Design and Data Analysis Procedure To explore the above questions, the researcher adopted a descriptive analytic research design that was carried on thirty one (31) ESP teachers from different universities in Algeria. A quantitative data analysis procedure was followed to analyze the online questionnaire data so that valid answers might be provided. Data collection started when the online questionnaire was posted to thirty one (31) university teachers. The participants are all teachers of English working at eleven Algerian higher education institutions. These include: The Teachers’ Training School of Constantine, Les Frères Mentouri Constantine 1 University, Larbi Ben M’hidi University, 8 May 1945 University, Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political & Economic Studies Digital Literacy Importance in ESP Teacher Education: Perceptions, Engagements and Reality Radia BOUGUEBS 123 ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives Batna 2 University, Mohamed Boudiaf University, Abd El HafidBoussouf University, LarbiTebessi University, Algiers 1 University, Algiers 2 University, and KasdiMerbah University. The rationale behind selecting this sampling was that all participants who responded to this questionnaire have experienced ESP teaching. The online questionnaire was posted via the following google link: https://forms.gle/adLeCzvzD75jXMubAand the online responses were also saved via the same link . The questionnaire that started with an introduction explaining to the participants the purpose of the questionnaire included eighteen (18) items that vary between yes/no items, Likert scale items and open ended question items. To get a fruitful feedback from the respondents, they were asked to justify their stands even with yes/no questions. The designed questionnaire aims at compiling sufficient information from the informants about the issue which turned around their perspectives towards the importance of digital literacy skills in ESP teacher profile. Data Analysis Background Information Thirty one (31) EFL teachers teaching at different higher education institutions in Algeria responded to the online questionnaire. All the respondent teachers hold higher degrees ranging between doctoral degree (48.4%), magister degree (42%), and master degree (6.5%). Only one participant holds a BA degree (3.4%). More than half of them experienced teaching English at the university for more than 12 years (51.6%). The remaining participants teaching experience is six to ten years for 11 teachers and less than five years for 4 teachers. As for their field of speciality half of them (48.4%) are specialised in Applied Linguistics, 35.5% of them are specialised in Language and Didactics, and 2 teachers in Civilisation and Literature. Digging deep in the experience of these university teachers who are from different higher institutions in Algeria would serve the research objectives; so that the researcher would enrich the study with fruitful recommendations. Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political & Economic Studies Digital Literacy Importance in ESP Teacher Education: Perceptions, Engagements and Reality Radia BOUGUEBS 124 ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives ESP Teaching Experience 35,5% Yes 64,5% No Figure N° 1. ESP Teaching Experience As displayed in figure 1, more than a half of the participants (64.5%) had experienced teaching ESP; yet, the remaining portion (35.5%) did not. When asked to specify the different ESP setting they have exercised teaching English for a community of learners whose interest in learning English is specified, the informants feedback was as the following: • Engineering, Mechanical engineering, Material engineering • Doctors and dentists (Medical sciences), Biology, and English for pharmacy students • Business English, Industry, Trade and Sociology, civil engineering, Management • Economics, ESP course for administrative staff • Teaching ESP for Sciences and Technology (ST) common core students • Islamic Sciences • Librarians • Math • In a private school for adult learners • Political sciences, administration Again this data confirm what was said above. This chosen sample is suitable and deeply fits the study main objective which is raising the awareness of ESP teachers towards the importance of digital literacy as a facilitator to their ESP classroom practices. Teachers’ Knowledge about the ESP Practitioners Duties Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political & Economic Studies Digital Literacy Importance in ESP Teacher Education: Perceptions, Engagements and Reality Radia BOUGUEBS 125 ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives Figure N° 2. ESP ESP Practitioners Duties It is apparent from figure 2 that the majority of the interrogated teachers (80.6%) are knowledgeable and aware about the different roles of an ESP teacher. For them the latter fulfils many duties including teaching, selecting materials, developing new materials related to the learners’ needs, evaluating his course so that to identify its weaknesses and improves it, and more importantly keeping himself up-to-date with ESP research. ESP Practitioner and the Digital Skills As for the use of ICT tools in the classroom whether when preparing lectures or when delivering them, 80.6%of the participants rely on these tools whereas few of them doesn’t (19.4%). Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political & Economic Studies Digital Literacy Importance in ESP Teacher Education: Perceptions, Engagements and Reality Radia BOUGUEBS 126 ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives 19,4% 80,6% Yes No Figure N° 3. ICT Tools Use in an ESP Classroom To dig deep in this matter, the informants were asked to specify the ICT tools used during their ESP course preparation. Other 16,1% Available YouTube videos 67,7% E-books in the field of speciality 71% Internet Browsers 61,3% Smart phones 54,8% Translator machines (google translate,… 41,9% Percentage Tablet 22,6% Social media 25,8% Presentation tool :PPT presentation, Prizi, 41,9% Personal computers 81% 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% Figure N° 4. The Hardware/Software Technology Tools Used in Course Preparation It is noticeable from figure 4 that teachers rely on hardware and software tools when preparing their ESP lectures. Almost all of the participants used their PCs to prepare their courses, and an important portion of them also used tools such as the Power Point, smart phones, tablet for the same purpose. Furthermore, tools such as internet browsers, e-books, youtube videos, translator machines, social media appeared to be very commonly used tools for course preparation among ESP practitioners. Besides, a few participants rely on other sources to prepare their ESP courses including printed text books and dictionaries. Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political & Economic Studies Digital Literacy Importance in ESP Teacher Education: Perceptions, Engagements and Reality Radia BOUGUEBS 127 ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives Other 19,4% Instant messaging: Whats App, Viber,… 19,4% Zoom 22,6% Google classroom 38,7% Smart phones 22,6% Translator machines (google translate,… 9,7% Tablet 9,7% Social media (Facebook, Instagram) 25,8% Emails 54,8% Percentage E-learning platforms 51,6% Presentation tool :PPT presentation, Prizi, 45,2% Personal computers 67,7% 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% Figure N°5. The Hardware/Software Technology Tools Used in Course Delivery As presented in the figure 5, the apparent is that informants appeared to integrate different tools when delivering their ESP courses. Actually the ESP practitioners utilised similar technologies as for the preparation or for the delivery of their courses, as presented in Figures 4 and 5. The PCs, e-mails, e-learning platforms, PPTs, Google classroom were identified as the most popular tools for course delivery. Integrating ICT Tools in an ESP Setting would help ESP Practitioner When it comes to whether integrating technology in an ESP educational setting would help ESP practitioners to fulfil their, the majority of the informant (84%) expressed their agreement; however, the remaining others (16%) held a neutral attitude, they neither agree nor disagree. 16% 0% Agree 84% Neither agree nor Disagree Disagree Figure N°6. Integrating ICT Tools in an ESP Setting would help ESP Practitioner Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political & Economic Studies Digital Literacy Importance in ESP Teacher Education: Perceptions, Engagements and Reality Radia BOUGUEBS 128 ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives To back their stands, a couple of reasons were given. One of them explained that: “Diversifying the digital teaching/ learning tools has its own benefits on facilitating the challenging task because it saves time and energy and it also attracts the attention of the learners (if well organized and presented)”. Another one added arguing that: “Educational technology facilitates both teaching and learning. It would help the teacher widens the choices available for material selection and provide the learners with visual aids that would make understanding easier”. The use of technology is highly recommended in today classrooms because it elicits students' motivation, imagination, collaboration, and confidence. This leads us to check teachers’ knowledge about the definition of “digital literacy”. Among the interrogated informants only few of them (9, 7%) have no information about this concept. Yet the other left portion (80, 3%) is totally aware about this 21 century concept. Moving further in the investigation, we inquired about the issue of whether ESP teachers should develop their digital literacy skills for an appropriate manipulation of technology tools. The informants expressed a total agreement as it is displayed in the figure below. 0% 0% 0% 19,4% Strongly agree Agree Neither agree nor Disagree 80,6% Disagree Strongly disgree Figure N°7. Digital Literacy Development Facilitate ICT Tools Manipulation When checking their degree of agreement or disagreement to the fact that including digital literacy skills in ESP teacher education will complete his profile as an ESP practitioner, not surprisingly, the informants expressed a total agreement. None of the informants express negative attitude, as it is displayed in the figure bellow. 77,4% 100% 22,6% 50% 0% 0% 0% 0% Percentage Percentage Figure N°8. The Inclusion of Digital Literacy Skills in Teacher Education Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political & Economic Studies Digital Literacy Importance in ESP Teacher Education: Perceptions, Engagements and Reality Radia BOUGUEBS 129 ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives The displayed results in figure 8 affirmed that including digital literacy training programs in teacher education for the sake of satisfying their ESP learners’ learning needs in a digital environment is a must. This means that future ESP teacher education programs should address topics related to components on incorporating ICT tools in ESP teaching and learning. To back their high degree of satisfaction towards the utility of digital literacy skill training programs in teacher education, the interrogated teachers advanced a couple of arguments. They agree that ICT tools are integral components in digital literacy education. For the majority, It is a must to involve ICT means in any teaching-learning process for the demanding world progress that depends on technology. Since then, an ESP practitioner should really be competent in digital skills to cope with the changing world and professional qualification . Digital literacy has become an indispensable if not an obligation in teacher education especially due to the pandemic aftermath, so incorporating it in any teacher training program is a necessity. Discussion and Recommendations From the above listed findings, it seems clear that ESP practitioners appeared to realize the significance of using technology in ESP courses. The participants perceive that the introduction of ICT tools in an ESP educational setting would beneficially enhance the students’ learning experience and create a pathway to meet the unique needs of student as individuals. Digital literacy skills may help ESP practitioners easily match between students’ present abilities and students’ target needs . The generated conclusions can be backed with previous researches. ESP practitioners expressed their needs in terms of the utility of ESP teacher training programs that address the use of technology in ESP courses. This finding goes hand in hand with the recommendations provided by Constantinou and Papadima-Sophocleous (2020, p. 27). These scholars suggested the necessity to include in teacher education programs components on how to incorporate ICT tools in ESP teaching and learning. Within the same line of thoughts, the intense need for teacher education on was also recommended in other research studies in different educational contexts (Vukićević-Đorđević, 2015). Moreover, they raised a call for higher education institutions “to provide ESP practitioners with the necessary equipment and technical support in order to be able to apply these technologies in the teaching and learning processes” (Constantinou&SalomiPapadima-Sophocleous 2020, p. 27). It has been signaled that to facilitate for teachers the implementation of ICT tools while exercising their classroom activities, they should be supported by their institutional technology experts’ help. Research in the field acknowledged that teachers’ lack of ICT knowledge and skills can be related to the lack of lower level of complaints among school principals about their Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political & Economic Studies Digital Literacy Importance in ESP Teacher Education: Perceptions, Engagements and Reality Radia BOUGUEBS 130 ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives (Pelgrum, 2001, p. 177). Hence to overcome this problem the qualification of ICT support staff in the school is beneficial for the staff development of teachers (Vukićević-Đorđević, 2015, p. 492). The need for more ESP teacher education programs that address the development of teachers’ digital skills is highly recommended in today 21st digital era. In accordance with, more future researches should address the development of teachers’ digital competences as this will help to face the teachers’ challenges in the digital teaching (Anggeraini,2020, p. 170). The sample of ESP practitioners involved in the current investigation recommended the following : • The assumed is that we enjoy nowadays speedy and convenient way to get information via the technological ware available which put the whole world under our fingertips . • Diversifying the digital teaching/ learning tools has its own benefits on facilitating the ESP challenging issues because it saves time and energy and it also attracts the attention of the learners (if well organized and presented.) • ESP practitioners have to keep themselves updated on the latest ICTs progress. To keepthisskill in a continuous progress, they should attend professional network programs that address the development of digital skills. Conclusion The global emergence of educational technology brought new modifications in the teaching/learning environment where the profile of the teacher was the mostly affected. To fulfill their roles appropriately in an ESP setting, ESP practitioners are required to improve their professional performances so that becoming able to teach ESP of any subject discipline. Adding to some specialized trainings in the subject matter they get involved in, ESP teachers have to develop their digital literacy skills to benefit from ICT educational tools to face such ESP teaching/learning problems. This would minimize the gap between the ESP teacher and a generation of learners who are in fact digitally oriented. References Anggeraini, Y. (2020). Language teaching in the digital age: Teachers’ views and its challenges. Research and Innovation in Language Learning,3(3), 163-172. Buckingham, D. (2006). Defining digital literacy: What do young people need to know about digital media? Digital Kompetanse, 1, 263–276. Carter, R., &Nunan, D.(2001). The Cambridge guide to teaching English to speakers of other languages.Cambridge University Press. Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political & Economic Studies Digital Literacy Importance in ESP Teacher Education: Perceptions, Engagements and Reality Radia BOUGUEBS 131 ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives Constantinou, E. K., &SalomiPapadima-Sophocleous, S. (2020). The use of digital technology in ESP : Current practices and suggestions for ESP teacher education . The Journal of Teaching English for Specific and Academic Purposes, 8(1), 17-29. https://doi.org/10.22190/JTESAP2001017K Dogoriti, E., &Pange, J. (2012).Teaching ESP with ICT in higher education: Foreign language teachers’ perceptions and expectations of computer technology use in foreign language learning and teaching. ICICTE 2012 Proceedings, 24-34. Hafner, C. A., & Pun. (2020). Editorial: Introduction to this Special Issue: English for Academic and Professional Purposes in the Digital Era. SI: English for Academic and Professional Purposes in the Digital Era , 51(1), 3-13. Hutchinson, T., & Waters, A. (1987). English for Specific Purposes: A learner centered approach. Cambridge University Press. Iswati, L. (2021). When teaching must go on: ESP teachers’ strategies and challenges during COVID-19 pandemic.Eralingua: JurnalPendidikan Bahasa AsingdanSastra , 5(1), 36-52. Kessler, G., & Hubbard, P. (2017). Language teacher education and technology. In Chapelle CA, Shannon S (eds) The Handbook of Technology and Second Language Teaching and Learning (pp. 278–292). Wiley Blackwell. Kirovska-Simjanoska, D. (2021). Teaching ESP in the digital world: Developing a blended learning environment for computer science students. 423–438. http://dx.doi.org/10.18485/bells90.2020.1.ch25 Li, L. (2018). Integrating technology in ESP: pedagogical principles and practice. In R. Muñoz- Luna & L Taillefer L (eds) Integrating Information and Communication Technologies in English for Specific Purposes (pp. 7–25). Springer International Publishing. Paltridge, B., &Starfield, S. (2013). The Handbook of English for Specific Purposes. John Wiley & Sons, Inc, 1-4 Pelgrum, W. J. (2001). Obstacles to the integration of ICT in education: Results from a worldwide educational assessment. Computers & Education, 37,163–178. Vukićević-Đorđević, L. (2015). Emerging technologies: Does it feel like learning? Journal of Teaching English for Specific and Academic Purposes 3(3): 483- 497. http://espeap.junis.ni.ac.rs/index.php/espeap/article/view/263 Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political & Economic Studies Digital Literacy Importance in ESP Teacher Education: Perceptions, Engagements and Reality Radia BOUGUEBS 132 ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives ESP Teachers’ Perspectives towards Teaching ESP through the Flipped Classroom Approach Houda FADEL1 Abstract 1 5th year PhD student; Mohamed Lamine English for Specific Purpose (ESP) has been seen as part of English Debbaghine University, Setif 2. Algeria. Language Teaching (ELT). It is tailed to meet the specific needs of the
[email protected]learners, where the content of activities and materials as well as the language instruction may focus on specific fields. Hence, ESP teachers are required to utilize specific methods and techniques in order to meet the specific needs of the learners. In this sense, new educational and instructional technologies have gained application in the presentation of language course contents to students. For language teaching which makes use of authentic materials or online sources in teaching, flipped classrooms can be used to facilitate students’ learning in a systematic way to acquire the target language. The flipped classroom is one of the contemporary pedagogical methods. It is perceived as an instructional model, in which students view the learning content before class through instructor-provided video or other pre-class learning materials outside the classroom, and in-class time is devoted for student-centered active learning. This study was targeted to explore ESP teachers’ perspectives towards teaching ESP through the Flipped Classroom Approach (FCA). Citation: FADEL, H. (2022). ESP Teachers’ Perspectives towards Teaching It addressed (100) ESP teachers in different Algerian universities. The ESP through the Flipped Classroom obtained results have revealed that ESP teachers have positive attitudes Approach. In H. Andaloussi (Ed.), ESP towards teaching ESP through the FCA. ESP teachers indicated that the Teaching Today: Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives (pp. 133-142). FC provided a good teaching experience and offered many benefits. First, Berlin, Germany: Democratic Arabic the teachers confirmed that they have more class time to focus on Center. important ideas, and involve students in problem-solving activities. Moreover, they assured that their role changed to a guide and facilitator, as their learners became more motivated, autonomous, and active learners. Keywords: ESP, ESP teachers, Flipped Classroom, teaching, learning Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political & Economic Studies ESP Teachers’ Perspectives towards Teaching ESP through the Flipped Classroom Approach Houda FADEL 133 ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives 1. Introduction ESP has become a fruitful field over the last three decades. As a learner-centered approach, its main purpose has been that of fulfilling the specific needs of target learners to satisfy either their professional or vocational demands. Foreign Language Teaching (FLT), already burdened by complexities of the 21st century context demands, and learners whose needs have become subtler and specific, have faced various challenges enhanced by the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) and various educational platforms. Educators suggested various learning models. One of these is Blended Learning (BL), which involves a mix of face-to-face and online instructions. The goal of BL is to facilitate greater student learning and enhance learner-centered paradigm (Shibely, 2014). Flipped instruction is a form of BL in the way that it connects face-to-face with online learning. The Flipped Classroom (FC) is a unique educational environment which emerged during the last few years and is quickly gaining in popularity among educators worldwide (Obari and Lambacher, 2015). The FC is a pedagogical model where traditional lecture and homework elements of a course are reversed. It inverts traditional teaching methods, delivers instruction outside of class and moves homework into the classroom (Du, Fu, and Wang, 2014). Technology has been a part of ESP classrooms around the world for decades- since the very introduction of the first PCs and websites- in the form of digital software, tools, or digital learning sources, frequently as a means complementing traditional face-to-face instruction (Bolch, 2013). This study comes to explore teachers’ perspectives towards teaching ESP through the FCA. 2. Literature Review Hutchinson and Waters (1987) traced the early origins of ESP to the end of the Second World War. In the new commerce driven world, many saw the need of learning English, which was considered the accepted international language. Non-native speakers saw it as the lingua franqua that responds to their needs of cross-cultural communication, business doing, and information sharing (Teodorescu, 2010). In other words, according to Hutchinson and waters (1987), ESP emerged due to the development of the world’s economy, which entailed the progress of technology, the economic power of oil-rich countries, and the increasing amount of overseas students in English-speaking countries. Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political & Economic Studies ESP Teachers’ Perspectives towards Teaching ESP through the Flipped Classroom Approach Houda FADEL 134 ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives Moreover, according to Johns and Dudley Evans (1991), the international community recognized the importance of learning English not only as a means to achieve transmission of knowledge and communication. Robinson (1991) states that ESP is goal-directed. That is, students study English not because they are interested in the English language as such, but because they need English for work or study purposes. According to Falaus (2017), compared with teaching English for General Purposes (EGP), ESP teaching usually faces a lot more challenges. Focusing on the specific needs of the learners based on the need analysis, concentrating more on language in context and on the students’ need to acquire a set of professional skills and particular job-related to each function, ESP remains a major testing experience for every teacher in charge of it. Traditional teaching is almost teacher-centered which conflicts with the constructivist approaches to teaching and learning (Brooks, 2002). The problem with traditional lectures - especially in higher education- is a matter of pacing. For some students, the information presented in class may be known for them; other students may have trouble taking in information so rapidly, or they may lack the prior knowledge needed for understanding the presented concepts (Goodwin and Miller, 2013). New trends in teaching and learning seek to enhance student-centered instruction in which students take responsibilities of their learning environments that encourage participation, critical thinking, problem-solving, variety of activities, group work and meaningful instructions instead of rote memorization which results in passive students who are incapable o growth and development. Advanced technology in the 21st century, brings about new opportunities and challenges in societies throughout the world. Consequently, learners in this century need to be well-equipped with the content, knowledge and all necessary skills for their lifestyles and future careers. Many pedagogical approaches have been introduced in English classrooms in terms of responding to the new circumstances. In recent years, the FC has become increasingly popular in higher education. It involves assigning students to work through the basic content of a course on their own time, often by watching a recorded lecture or completing a guided reading instead of listening to a traditional in-person lecture and frees up class time for group problem-solving assignments, demonstrations, experiments, questions and answers, and other engaging experiences (Saitta et al., 2016 ). Ogden, Pyzdrowski and Shambaugh (2014, p.49) state that the FCA to teaching is “ a pedagogical design that replaces what typically takes place during a face to face lecture (passive transfer of knowledge) with engaging activities and assigns the lecture as homework for students to complete autonomously outside of class”. Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political & Economic Studies ESP Teachers’ Perspectives towards Teaching ESP through the Flipped Classroom Approach Houda FADEL 135 ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives The concept of FC is a combination of inversed inside and outside classroom activities. Learners take the responsibility of the outside classroom tasks through watching videos, visiting course-related websites, listening to audios, reading related references … etc. on the other hand, teachers have to create an interactive inside-classroom environment which enhances pair work, group work, hands-on activities and high level thinking activities. Hwang, Lai and a (2015) emphasize that the FC identified as innovative and effective instructional approach which totally brings down the traditional instruction by switching class instruction at home. This teaching model commonly asked students watching video at home and use the class time for discussing, solving complex concepts and answering questions, where students are being encouraged to learn actively. The teacher’s role is for guiding and facilitating them for discussing and giving professional feedback as good self-learning. In the higher education, educators have begun to gradually move parts of their content distribution outside of the classroom for further exploration. The FC is adaptable to teacher’s style, methods and circumstances; the teacher can personalize the version of flipped learning for his students and to play to their individual strengths (Bergmann and Sams, 2014). In the FC model, the role of the teacher has changed from a provider of knowledge to a guide, facilitator and organizer (Bascal, 2015). It allows the teacher to spend greater amounts of time tutoring students in place of lecturing them (Wallace, 2014). Due to the fact that the flipped learning approach provides the instruction outside of class time, teachers have more time to work with all learners and actively act as facilitators, coaches, mentors or advisors to help learners inside the classroom. The teachers also have more opportunities to give feedback on each learner’s progress and help clarify some misconceptions from learning at their own pace. Another important role of the teacher is to be responsible for selecting the content, authentic materials, and creating the content video for learners since videos are the main resources for FC instruction. In addition, the teachers need to create an alternative assessment for learners to elicit and demonstrate their knowledge according to the prescribed learning outcomes (Bergmann and Sams, 2012). 3. Statement of the Problem Learning English as a foreign language requires the use of new innovations in teaching and learning, since acquiring a language is almost a social act which involves students’ activeness and participation. Due to its importance, all universities in Algeria offer ESP courses in all disciplines. Along with the development and existence of technology, the FC gained popularity among ESP teachers and educators in the world. As a matter of fact, many teachers in Algeria are required to opt for using the FCA to deliver their ESP courses. Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political & Economic Studies ESP Teachers’ Perspectives towards Teaching ESP through the Flipped Classroom Approach Houda FADEL 136 ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives 4. Purpose of the Study This paper aims to explore ESP teachers’ perspectives towards the teaching of ESP through the FCA. 5. Research Questions Two research questions were raised: 1. What are ESP teachers’ attitudes towards teaching ESP through FCA? 2. What are the benefits of teaching ESP through the FCA? 6. Method This research is is exploratory quantitative in nature. Data were collected through a three- point Likert scale questionnaire comprising 10 items. The first five items deal with the ESP teachers’ attitudes towards FC in teaching, and the five last items deal with the benefits of FC in teaching ESP (See Appendix A). this questionnaire was administrated online to 100 ESP teachers from different universities in Algeria. The collected data were analyzed and illustrated in the form of tables and figures, then, they were discussed and interpreted. Finally, the research questions were answered and conclusions were drawn. 7. Data Analysis Table 01: ESP teachers’ Questionnaire Results Item Agree Neutral Disagree 1. I use the FC to deliver my lectures 90 % 00 10% 2. The FC provided a good teaching 90% 05% 05% experience. 3. In the FC, learners are encouraged to be 80% 10% 10% more active. 4. In the FC? Learners are more engaged and 95% 05% 00 motivated. 5. My role changed to a guide and facilitator. 92% 03% 05% 6. I use class-time for discussion and problem 94% 10% 04% solving. Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political & Economic Studies ESP Teachers’ Perspectives towards Teaching ESP through the Flipped Classroom Approach Houda FADEL 137 ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives 7. I have more time to give feedback for each 86% 06% 00 learner. 8. Learners have more time to manipulate the 90% 00 10% materials outside the class. 9. The FC allowed for interaction and 94% 06% 00 communication. 10. The FC made the learning process more 98% 00 02% learner-centered. 100% 90% 90% 95% 92% 94% 80% 86% 90% 94% 98% 80% 60% 40% 10% 5% 10% 0 5% 10% 5% 0 5% 4% 10% 20% 3% 10% 6%0 0% 0 6%0 2% 0 Disagree Agree Agree Neutral Disagree Figure 01: ESP Teachers’ Questionnaire Results To start with the items dealing with ESP teachers’ attitudes towards the FCA, as illustrated in table 01, 90 % of the teachers agreed that the use FC to deliver their lectures. Then, 90 % of the participants were in agreement that the FC provided a good teaching experience, meanwhile, 05 % were neutral, and 05 % disagreed. For the third item, concerned with the learners’ activeness, 80 % of the teachers agreed that the FC encouraged the learners to be more active, 10 % of the participants were neutral and 10 % disagreed. Additionally, 95 % of the participant teachers agreed that learners are more engaged and motivated in the FC. Moreover, for the fifth item dealing with teacher’s role, 92 % of the participants agreed that their role changed to a guide and facilitator. Moving to the second part comprising the items dealing with the FC benefits. First, 94% of the teachers agreed that in the FC, they use class time just for discussion and problem solving as the learners have already received the target content before class. Next, 86 % of the Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political & Economic Studies ESP Teachers’ Perspectives towards Teaching ESP through the Flipped Classroom Approach Houda FADEL 138 ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives participants agreed that they have more time to give feedback for each learner, whereas; 10 % were neutral and 04 % disagreed. For the eighth item dealing with learners’ manipulation of materials outside class, 90 % of the teachers agreed that the learners have more time to manipulate and understand the materials before class at their own pace. Furthermore, 94% of the teachers confirmed that the FC allowed for interaction and communication. Finally, 98 % of the participants agreed that the FC made learning more learner-centered. 8. Discussion and Interpretation The FC is a pedagogical model where traditional lecture and homework elements are reversed. It inverts traditional teaching methods, delivers instruction outside class and moves homework into the classroom (Du, Fu, and Wang, 2014). The data obtained from the first part of the questionnaire which was administrated to ESP teachers, and which was devoted to answer the first research question: what are ESP teachers attitudes towards the teaching ESP through the FCA?, have revealed that ESP teachers have positive attitudes towards teaching ESP through FCA, as they agreed that they perceive FC as a good teaching experience that they use to deliver their ESP lectures as facilitators and guides to more motivated, engaged and active learners. In this sense, Hwang, Lai and Wang (2015) emphasize that the FC identified as innovative and effective instructional approach which totally brings down the traditional instruction by switching class instruction at home. This teaching model commonly asked students watching video at home and use the class time for discussing, solving complex concepts and answering questions, where students are being encouraged to learn actively. The teacher’s role is for guiding and facilitating them for discussing and giving professional feedback as good self-learning. Concerning the second research question inquiring about the benefits of using FCA to teach ESP, the teachers agreed that it has many benefits. First, it allowed more class time for discussion and problem solving. Moreover, it increased learners’ materials understanding. Also, it allowed more time for feedback from the teacher. In addition, it allowed for interaction and communication, and made learning more learner-centered. In this vein, Bergmann and Sams (2012) confirm that Due to the fact that the flipped learning approach provides the instruction outside of class time, teachers have more time to work with all learners and actively act as facilitators, coaches, mentors or advisors to help learners inside the classroom. The teachers also have more opportunities to give feedback on each learner’s progress and help clarify some misconceptions from learning at their own pace. Another important role of the teacher is to be responsible for selecting the content, authentic materials, and creating the content video for learners since videos are the main resources for FC instruction. In addition, the teachers need to create an alternative assessment for learners to elicit and demonstrate their knowledge according to the prescribed learning outcomes. Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political & Economic Studies ESP Teachers’ Perspectives towards Teaching ESP through the Flipped Classroom Approach Houda FADEL 139 ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives 9. Conclusion The FC blends the use of technology-based asynchronous teaching methods to give students more control of their own learning and promote greater interaction and cognitive engagement. Hence, teachers are invited to use the FCA in their teaching. The goal of this paper was to explore the ESP teachers’ perspectives towards teaching ESP through the FCA. The obtained results have revealed that ESP teachers have positive attitudes towards using the FCA to teach ESP. the teachers indicated that the FC provided a good teaching experience and offered many advantages. First, the teachers confirmed that they have more class time to focus on important ideas, and involve students in problem solving activities. Moreover, they assured that their role changed to a guide and facilitator, as their learners became more motivated, engaged and active learners. Finally, it allowed for more personalized feedback. In brief, the FCA is perceived as an innovative effective learner-based pedagogical model to teach ESP as it offers plenty of advantages and opportunities to both learners and teachers. References • Arnold-Garza, S. (2014). The Flipped Classroom Teaching Model And Its Use For Information Literacy Instruction. Communications in Information Literacy, 8(1), 9. • Bane, J. (2014). Flipped By Design: Flipping the Classroom Through Instructional Design. Ohio: The Ohio State University. • Basal, A. (2015). The Implementation of a Flipped Classroom in Foreign Language Teaching. Turkish Education Online Journal of Distance -TOJDE, 16(4), 28-37. http://dx.doi.org/10.17718/tojde.72185 • Bergmann, J. & Sams, A. (2014a). Flipped Learning for Elementary Instruction. Washington DC: International Society for Technology in Education. • Bergmann, J., & Sams, A. (2012). Flip your classroom: Reach every student in every class every day. Virginia: International Society for Technology in Education. • Bloch, J. (2013). Technology and ESP. In: B. Paltridge and S. Starfield (Eds.), The hand- book of English for specific purposes (pp. 429-447). Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell. • Clark, K. R. (2015). The Effects Of The Flipped Model Of Instruction On Student Engagement And Performance In The Secondary Mathematics Classroom. Journal of EducatorsOnline,12(1),91-115. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1051042 • Du, S., Fu, Z. & Wang, Y. (2014). The Flipped Classroom–Advantages and Challenges. International Conference on Economic Management and Trade Cooperation, 17-20. doi:10.2991/emtc-14.2014.3 • Fălăuş, A. (2017, May). The Current Challenges Of Teaching Esp. In IOP Conference Series: Materials Science and Engineering (Vol. 200, No. 1, p. 012059). IOP Publishing. Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political & Economic Studies ESP Teachers’ Perspectives towards Teaching ESP through the Flipped Classroom Approach Houda FADEL 140 ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives • Goodwin, B., & Miller, K. (2013). Research says: Evidence on Flipped Classrooms Is Still Coming. Educational Leadership, 70(6), 78-80. • Hutchinson, T., & Waters, A. (1987). English for specific purposes: A learning centred approach. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. • Hwang, G. J., Lai, C. L., & Wang, S. Y. (2015). Seamless Flipped Learning: A Mobile Technology-Enhanced Flipped Classroom With Effective Learning Strategies. Journal of Computers in Education, 2(4), 449-473. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40692-015- 0043-0 • Johns, A., & Dudley-Evans, T. (1991). English for specific purposes: Inter- national in scope, specific in purpose. TESOL Quarterly, 25(2), 297-314. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/3587465 • Obari, H., & Lambacher, S. (2015). Successful EFL teaching using mobile technologies in a flipped classroom. In F. Helm, L. Bradley, M. Guarda, & S. Thouësny (Eds.), Critical CALL – Proceedings of the 2015 EUROCALL Conference, Padova, Italy (pp.433-438). Dublin: Research-publishing.ne. • Ogden, L., Pyzdrowski, L. & Shambaugh, N. (2014). A Teaching Model for the College Algebra Flipped Classroom. In J. Keengwe, G. Onchwari & J. Oigara (Eds.), Promoting Active Learning through the Flipped Classroom Model (47-70). Hershey: Information Science Reference. • Saitta, E., Morrison, B., Waldrop, J. & Bowdon, M. (2016). Introduction: Joining the Flipped Classroom Conversation. In J. Waldrop & M. Bowdon (Eds.), Best Practices for Flipping the College Classroom (1-16). New York: Routledge. • Shibley, I. (2014). Putting the Learning in Blended Learning. In M. Bart (Eds.), Blended and Flipped: Exploring New Models for Effective Teaching & Learning (pp. 4-5). Wisconsin: Magna Publications, Inc. • Teodorescu, A. (2010). Teaching English for Specific Purposes. Petroleum – Gas University Of Ploiesti Bulletin, Philology Series, 62(2), 67-74. • Wallace, A. (2014). Social Learning Platforms and the Flipped Classroom. International Journal of Information and Education Technology, 4(4), 293-296. http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/ICeLeTE.2013.6644373 Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political & Economic Studies ESP Teachers’ Perspectives towards Teaching ESP through the Flipped Classroom Approach Houda FADEL 141 ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives Appendices Appendix A : ESP Teachers’ Questionnaire Dear teacher, You are kindly requested to answer this questionnaire for the purposes of conducting a study aiming at exploring ESP teachers perspectives towards teaching ESP through the Flipped Classroom Approach (FCA). Please put a tick (√) in the appropriate column. Item Agree Neutral Disagree 1. I use the FC to deliver my lectures 2. The FC provided a good teaching experience. 3. In the FC, learners are encouraged to be more active. 4. In the FC? Learners are more engaged and motivated. 5. My role changed to a guide and facilitator. 6. I use class-time for discussion and problem solving. 7. I have more time to give feedback for each learner. 8. Learners have more time to manipulate the materials outside the class. 9. The FC allowed for interaction and communication. 10. The FC made the learning process more learner-centered. Thank you for your cooperation! Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political & Economic Studies ESP Teachers’ Perspectives towards Teaching ESP through the Flipped Classroom Approach Houda FADEL 142 ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives Needs Assessment : The Cornerstone of an Effective ESP Teaching. The case of Computer Science Master Students at Dr. Moulay Tahar University-Saida, Algeria Mokhtaria KHERRAZ1 Abstract This paper attempts to shed light on the important role Needs 1Doctor; Dr. Moulay Tahar university- Saida, Algeria. Analysis/Assessment play as a launching step in teaching English for
[email protected]Specific Purposes (henceforth ESP) which represents a major area within EFL teaching. For this target, an exploratory research has been selected so as to explore the extent to which needs analysis are conducted with master students, as a case study, in the Computer Science department at Dr. Moulay Tahar university in Saida, Algeria. In this vein, three data collection instuments were used : a questionnaire that was addressed to the target students, an interview that was conducted with their ESP teacher in addtion to a class observation. The gathered data were analysed using mixed method. The results revealed that despite the fact that ESP teachers are making remarkable efforts, they still face some challenges in conducting real needs analysis that would serve learners’wants and interest. Hence, this may hinder their success which makes an urgent call for effective training for the sake of ESP teachers. Keywords: ESP – Needs Assessment - effective training – computer science students – learners’ wants – learners’interest Citation: KHERRAZ, M. (2022). Needs Assessment : The Cornerstone of an Effective ESP Teaching. The case of Computer Science Master Students at Dr. Moulay Tahar University-Saida, Algeria. In H. Andaloussi (Ed.), ESP Teaching Today: Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives (pp. 143-156). Berlin, Germany: Democratic Arabic Center. Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political & Economic Studies Needs Assessment : The Cornerstone of an Effective ESP Teaching. The case of Computer Science Master Students at Dr. Moulay Tahar University-Saida, Algeria Mokhtaria KHERRAZ 143 ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives 1. Introduction After its appearrance in 1920, English for Specific Purposes (henceforth ESP) stuck with a neglect from the educational community. Then, by the 1960s, ESP has strongly reappeared to the surface mainly after the remarkable progress in science and the growth of business which led to the foundation of international companies all over the globe. As English was dominating all fields, it was required as a universal language. Moreover, different learners who needed to learn English for their professional sake required a specific English to fullfil their needs the fact that led to a recall to ESP as an approach in the teaching/learning process. Since then, ESP could settle itself as an important approach within EFL teaching/learning and has been more required by learners of different levels and categories, yet this approach still faces some obstacles that hinder against teachers’ and learners’ satisfaction such as needs analysis. The present paper attempts to highlight this issue in a higher educational setting as a real context and tries to find reliable and valuable suggestions for future use. In this vein, three research questions have been suggested : √ Is the ESP teacher competent in conducting needs analysis? √ Are the students aware about what they really need in their field of expertise? √ How can the ESP teacher reconcile students’ needs to their language proficiency? In accordance, the following hypotheses have been sated : √ ESP teachers ought to be able to conduct needs analysis in any field of expertise. √ The target students are master students; they have already studied computer science for two years then they should be knowledgeable about the English they need. √ Reconciling students’ needs with their language proficiency requires a detailed study about both students’ level of English and the requirements of their discipline. Indeed, the study in hand is important in a way that it seeks to uncover one of the most important elements within ESP which is needs analysis. This process has long been tackled by various scholars as a matter of fact that without needs analysis, ESP would never improve reliable outcomes. For this reason, needs analysis requires more study, research and discussion from everyone in the community of higher education. Actually, the main objective of the current study is to investigate the main challenges that hinder against needs analysis and its efficiency in drawing the path forward for both teachers and students in order to express students’ real needs on the one hand and to design an effective ESP syllabus by the teacher on the other hand. If these two focal points are well investigated Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political & Economic Studies Needs Assessment : The Cornerstone of an Effective ESP Teaching. The case of Computer Science Master Students at Dr. Moulay Tahar University-Saida, Algeria Mokhtaria KHERRAZ 144 ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives then the findings will be fruitful and may result in good strategies in conducting needs analysis. In fact, the main target of teaching ESP is to prepare learners for a specific academic or occupational setting or field and this cannot be achieved without a process called needs analysis. Many studies have tackled the issue of needs analysis for the important role they play in designing any ESP course and syllabus, among which the work of Reguieg (2012)1 in Algeria. This work was mainly based on the English language communicative needs of the front office staff working in Gourara Hotel in Timimoun. Another study of Merine (2018)2 which dealt with the communicative need analysis of the receptionist in Meridien Hotel in Oran. A third study of Kherraz (2020)3 which highlighted, in her work, needs analysis (at the workplace) of the technicians of Algerie Telecom Company in Saida. Therefore, needs analysis has gained importance in recent studies in Algeria as an example. 2. Needs Analysis Interpretations Needs analysis appeared first in the 1920 in India, they were introduced by Michael West to enable learners do what is required from them in the target situation after learning the foreign language for a specific period, yet they were rejected. In the 1960s, needs analysis came back to the surface thanks to the conference held by the Commonwealth Education Comittee in 1961 (West, 1961). Indeed, various scholars have defined needs analysis from different perspectives as Hutchinson & Waters (1987 :53) argue emphasize that any ESP course ought to be based on needs analysis for it is fundamental to course design. On her side, Robinson (1991 :7) claims that « needs analysis is generally regarded as critical to ESP, although ESP is by no means the only educational entreprise which makes use of it »4 Furthermore, Dudley-Evans & St John state First needs analysis aims to know learners as people, as language users and as language learners. Second, needs analysis study also aims to know how language learning and skills learning can be maximized for a given learner group. Third, needs analysis study aims to know the target situations and learning environment so that data can appropriately be interpreted5 1 Nadia Reguieg, Language needs for Hotel Resptionists : The case of Gourara Hotel in Timimoun. Algeria, University of Hassiba Ben Bouali, Chlef, Magister dissertation 2 Asmaa Merine, Needs Analysis of Communicative Skills of Hotel Receptionists and Future Steps towards Possible Solutions : The case of Sheraton, Royal and Meridien in Oran. Doctoral Thesis 3 Mokhtaria Kherraz, Developing the English Competencies of the Telecommunication Employees through In- Service Trainings. The case of Algerie Telecom Company-Saida. Doctoral Thesis 4 Tom Hutchinson & Alan Waters, English for Specific Purposes. New York : Cambridge University Press 5 Tony Dudley-Evans & Maggie St John Development in English for Specific Purposes. Cambridge : Cambridge University Press Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political & Economic Studies Needs Assessment : The Cornerstone of an Effective ESP Teaching. The case of Computer Science Master Students at Dr. Moulay Tahar University-Saida, Algeria Mokhtaria KHERRAZ 145 ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives Then, it is clear that needs analysis is the launching step towards designing ESP course or syllabus, providing the needed material, providing the suitable learning environment for learners and more than that they aims to know the effectiveness of the course content or syllabus program to guarantee its continuous improvement for learners. It is worth noticeable that needs analysis have gone through continuous development from the 1970s to 1980s for the important role they play as a pre-stage in ESP teaching context and a continuous assessing process which means an on-going process that facilitates designing, implementing, assessing and improving learners’ needs. In fact, the sources of needs analysis may be learners themselves, people working the target field, ex-students who have previously experienced the learning context, employees and employers and even colleagues if it is a matter of workplace training. Besides, to conduct needs analysis in any ESP teaching context it requires a set of instruments such as questionnaires, interviews, discussions and analysis of authentic written or oral texts so that they can reliable and valid. 2.1. Models of Needs Analysis Indeed, models of needs analysis are deeply closed to the re-emergence of ESP in 1970s in parallel with the re-appearance of needs analysis through the Communicative Needs Processor (the first model) which was suggested by Munby in 1978 and was described by Hutchinson and Waters as « a watershed and a coming of age for ESP » since then needs analysis have gone through remarkable changes and developments. Actually, many ESP scholars such as Munby (1978)6, Hutchinson and Waters (1987), McDonough (1984)7, Robinson (1991)8, West (1994)9, Dudley-Evans and St John (1998) have suggested various models of needs analysis according to his/her perspective. Each model was focused on a component that the scholar viewed important though they were similar to some extent. Next, each model is described and studied in details. 2.1.1. Communicative Needs Processor (CNP) As has been mentioned earlier, Communicative Needs Processor or CNP was the first model introduced by Munby (1978). This modal was set to analyse learners’ needs in terms of purposive domain, setting, interaction, instrumentality, dialects, target level, communicative event and communicative key. This modal ended with a profile of students’ language needs. Munby’s CNP was later criticized for being purely linguistic as Hutchinson and Waters (1987) who claim that the modal does not consider the target needs from different standpoints such as the teacher, the learner and the sponsor. On his side, West (1994) opposes Munby’s modal for being systematic, inflexible, complex and time consuming. Another criticism from Jordan 6 John Munby, Communicative Syllabus Design : A Sociolinguistic Model for Defining the Content of Purpose- Specific Language Programmes. London : Cambridge University Press 7 John McDonough, ESP in Perspective : A Practical Guide. London and Glasgow : Collins Educational 8 Pauline Robinson, Today : A Practionner’s Guide. New York : Prentice Hall 9 Richard West, Needs Analysis in Language Teaching. Language Teaching Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political & Economic Studies Needs Assessment : The Cornerstone of an Effective ESP Teaching. The case of Computer Science Master Students at Dr. Moulay Tahar University-Saida, Algeria Mokhtaria KHERRAZ 146 ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives (1997)10 was based on that in Munby’s modal, practical constraints should be considered first and language items should be derived from real world situations. 2.1.2. Deficiency Analysis This modal was proposed by Ritcherich and Chancerel (1980)11. It was also known as Present Situation Analysis (PSA) or Lacks Analysis. This modal helps identify learner’s actual level of proficiency so that to decide about what to implement in the course as lacks. AllWright states that the approaches that help identify learner’s actual needs may be called analysis of learner’s deficiencies or lacks. As for PSA, Chancerel and Ritcherich have suggested three sources of information: learners themselves, language teaching establishment and user’s institution. In contrast to Munby’s modal, this modal was less criticized. 2.1.3. Learning Needs Analysis Learning needs analysis or styles analysis emphasizes more on the styles or strategies learners use in their learning. In other words, it focuses on how to learn rather than what to learn. Hence, this approach reflects what learners wish to learn and not what they needs to learn. 2.1.4. Means Analysis Means Analysis is another modal within ESP it has proved good outcomes as it seeks to adjust the learning needs to the local situation of learners so as to make them workable. Indeed, this approach provides enough information about the learning environment in which the course takes place in matter of learning methods, teacher, the setting, attitudes …etc. Hence, it is worth noticeable that this approach considers all what is excluded in Munby’s modal. 2.1.5. Pedagogic Needs Analysis In order to complete the other modals and overcome the shortcoming of each, West (1994) has suggested Pedagogic Needs Analysis. This approach is mainly based on gathering information about the learner and his/her learning environment in addition, it encompasses some major issues that have relation with needs conducting. In short, needs analysis is an important phase within ESP without which neither teaching nor learning can improve efficiency and proficiency. Next, syllabus design is defined. 10 Robert Jordon, English for Academic Purposes : A Guide and Resources Book for Teachers : London (UK) : Cambridge University Press 11 Robert Ritcheritch & Jack Chancerel, Identifying the Needs of Adults Learning a Foreign Language. Oxford : Pergamon Press Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political & Economic Studies Needs Assessment : The Cornerstone of an Effective ESP Teaching. The case of Computer Science Master Students at Dr. Moulay Tahar University-Saida, Algeria Mokhtaria KHERRAZ 147 ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives 3. Research Methodology As has been mentioned at the beginning of this investigation, an exploratory research has been selected so as to have a deep insight in the atmosphere in which master students in the departmernt of computer science at Dr Moulay Tahar university-Saida study ESP in terms of conducting needs analysis. In other words, whether needs assessment are conducted and whether they are taken into consideration in designing their English courses. As for the sampling, 77 students, who are actually first year master, have been selected as target respondents from whom rich information may be reached because they are divided into three specialised groups (three specialties): 34 students in Microsoft, 36 students in Security and 37 students in Networks in addition to their teacher who is an ESP instructor. Actually, data collection which represents the roadmap that bridges the theoretical and the empirical parts of any study has been done using three instruments. Moreover, triangulation in data gathering has been used in order to ensure validity and reliability of the findings. In the same vein, Yin (2003)12 has explained that the use of multiple sources enables the researcher to cover a broader range of issues and to develop converging lines of inquiry by the process of triangulation. First, a questionnaire was addressed to the students. Second, a semi-structured interview was conducted with their English teacher in addition to a class observation. The data was analysed using both qualitative and quantitative approaches or mixed approach. 4. Data Analysis 4.1. Questionnaire Findings The questionnaire was the first data collection tool that was addressed to master students. It is worth noticeable to mention that using a questionnaire in this study was due to the characteristics of this tool that would be beneficial such as its flexibility, structure, easiness in administering to a large number of respondents and there is no influence from the side of the investigator. From 77 samples of questionnaire, only 70 samples were filled and returned back with a percentage of 90.90%. The questionnaire comprised two rubrics. The first rubric was concerned with the personal information about the respondents so as to get a clear image about the students in matter of sex and number of students in each specialty. The second rubric shed light on the atmosphere in which the students study ESP. In terms of on-line courses, conducting needs analysis, content …etc. Next, a table introduces students’ personal information with numbers and percentage. 12 Robert Yin, Study Research Methods. Thousand Oaks : Sage Publications Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political & Economic Studies Needs Assessment : The Cornerstone of an Effective ESP Teaching. The case of Computer Science Master Students at Dr. Moulay Tahar University-Saida, Algeria Mokhtaria KHERRAZ 148 ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives Table 1: Students’ Personal Information Number Percentage Female 42 60% Sex Male 28 40% Microsoft 17 24.28% Number per specialty Security 22 31.42% Networks 31 44.28% As the table indicates, there are more females than males which explains that females are more interested in studying languages than males. As for specialties, 17 students study Microsoft with a percentage of 24.28%. It is important to mention that these students were classified first last year. Besides, 22 students are specialized in Security with a percentage of 31.42% and 31 students study Networks with a percentage of 44.28%. As has been mentioned earlier, the second rubric of the questionnaire was concerned with the learning environment in which computer science students are involved in matter of conducting needs analysis, their satisfaction or dissatisfaction of the content, the methods and the style their English teacher adopts in addition to their wants because investigating the success of ESP teaching depends on whether learners’ needs and wants are fulfilled or not on one hand and whether they are satisfied with what they are actually learning. Next, a table introduces students’ opinion about their learning environment. Table 2: Students’ opinion about their learning environment YES NO Do you have an idea about your English needs? 20% 80% Is one hour and a half of course enough to improve 25% 75% your English? In what skill do you need more practice? The speaking skill? 82% 18% The listening skill? 15% 85% The reading skill? 30% 70% The writing skill? 74% 26% Do you prefer face to face courses? 86% 14% Do you need translation in your studies? 75% 25% What do you think about submitting in English? 70% 30% Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political & Economic Studies Needs Assessment : The Cornerstone of an Effective ESP Teaching. The case of Computer Science Master Students at Dr. Moulay Tahar University-Saida, Algeria Mokhtaria KHERRAZ 149 ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives The table above shows that students though they conduct needs analysis with their teacher, they have no idea about their needs. In other words, the respondents do not know what is required from them to know and to learn in English so that they can improve their English competencies in their specialty. Indeed, 80% of the students claim that they are not aware about their English needs whereas only 20% who are competent in English said that whatever their English needs are, they have no difficulty to understand or practise and improve their English proficiency. Talking about their timing, which is limited to one hour and a half per week, enough for them to improve their English competencies the respondents argued that it is not enough for them and they have required for more time particularly face-to-face courses because, according to them, it is an opportunity to learn more vocabulary and practice more tasks. Another question about what skills the respondents need to master, most of the students have required for more practice in both speaking and writing skills because students in computer science have the opportunity to get scholarships abroad like in Norway and and they are aware that there they would need fluency in speaking English and writing it as well. Besides, only 15% of the students have required for the listening skill and 30% have demanded more practice in the reading skill. From another side, the respondents have been asked about online-courses, 86% said that they prefer face-to-face classes than online courses. They argued that the presence of the teacher is crucial for them because whenever they do not understand or they face a difficulty in practice the teacher is there to explain, clarify and repeat. Moreover, the presence of their teacher would help them practice pronunciation which is very important for them. In fact, students have not refused online courses but according to them this new trend of learning should be a plus and not an alternative to the traditional system. Responding to a question about using translation in learning English, the students have demonstrated great interest in using translation while learning; they said that it is a good way to grasp some terminology, understand complex statements and solve difficult tasks. They added that translation from English to French would be helpful as they study the other modules in French. The last question which was more psychological was concerned with their viva. Students were asked whether they would submit their dissertation in French or English in the case they are free. 70% of the respondents have demonstrated great interest in submitting their dissertation in English for they know that in English it would be easier yet, they said that the administration would not allow them because teachers in the department of computer science are not competent in English to debate with them a whole work written in English. In short, it is obvious that students as computer science learners have demonstrated remarkable interest in learning ESP. Though they conduct needs analysis with their ESP Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political & Economic Studies Needs Assessment : The Cornerstone of an Effective ESP Teaching. The case of Computer Science Master Students at Dr. Moulay Tahar University-Saida, Algeria Mokhtaria KHERRAZ 150 ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives teacher, they need to be involved as partners not as learners that is to mean students are not knowledgeable about the approach they are leaning which is English for Specific Purposes then raising students’ awareness about what ESP is would help raise their interest, motivation and satisfaction. 4.2. Interview Findings The second instrument that has been used in data collection is the interview. Yet, in such studies the interview “should only be used to obtain information that cannot be obtained in any other way” (Darke, Shanks and Broadbent: 1998 p 283)13 On his side, Cohen argues Interview enable participants be they interviewers or interviewees to discuss their interpretations of the world they are living in and to express how they regard situations from their own point of view. In these senses the interview is not simply concerned with collecting data about life; it is part of life itself its human embeddedness is inescapable14 Then using the interview as a tool in data gathering would help have a deeper insight but from another angle which is their ESP teacher. It is important to mention that the questions were planned in advance though the investigator had to modify some of them to avoid ambiguity and add some others while interviewing. The meeting lasted for half an hour and the answers were both written down and recorded so that not to forget any detail. Next, the interview is represented in question and answer. Q1: When have you been teaching in computer science department? The interviewee has informed that she has been teaching ESP in the department since 2015. Q2: Are you specialized in ESP? The respondent has confirmed that she is specialized in teaching English for Specific Purposes (ESP) and she is graded doctor. Q3: Is the English program available? The interviewee confirmed that no English program is available at the level of the department nor anywhere else which means she designs the English courses for her students. Q4: On what criteria do you design the course content? 13 Peta Darke, Greame Shanks & Marianne Broadbent, Successfully Completing Case Study Research : Cambridge Rigour, Relevance and Pragmatism. Information System Journal, 8(4), 273-289 14 Louis Cohen, Research in Education : . Routledge : London Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political & Economic Studies Needs Assessment : The Cornerstone of an Effective ESP Teaching. The case of Computer Science Master Students at Dr. Moulay Tahar University-Saida, Algeria Mokhtaria KHERRAZ 151 ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives According to the interviewee, two criteria are taken into consideration when designing her courses: the field which is computer science and the level because teaching ESP to second year licence students would not be the same as the program of master students Q5: Do you collaborate with the other teachers in the department? Responding to this question, the respondent confirmed that she often collaborate with the other teachers so that she can have an idea about what they need to learn and what they do not. Q6: Do you conduct needs analysis with your students? Talking about needs analysis, the interviewee confirmed that she does, unfortunately, according to her, students are not aware about what would be beneficial for them. While filling the forms she gives them, they fill them randomly that is why she often grounds the course content on their lacks. Q7: What are the language skills you focus more in your teaching? The respondent replied that she focuses more on reading and writing because the specialty of computer science is more practical than theoretical and students need to improve their reading and writing skills more than speaking and listening. Yet, she added that students require more practice in speaking for they have the intention to get scholarship and continue their studies abroad. Q8: Do you encourage students to use translation in their learning? Responding to this question, the interviewee said that it is true that translation is important in teaching ESP, yet in order to help students improve their English she does not integrate translation in her teaching. Q9: Do you have any suggestions? To end the interview, the interviewee has required for teacher training so that she can up- date her teaching in matter of methodology, styles, techniques …etc To sum up, the interviewee has shown that teaching ESP has made great strides yet it needs some more reforms for the sake of both teachers and learners. 4.3. Class Observation As a third instrument, a class observation was selected in order to analyse the investigation in its realistic environment. The investigator was an observer, The course lasted for one hour and a half. The class observation lasted with the following points : √ Students ware satisfied with the course content √ Good interaction between the teacher and her students Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political & Economic Studies Needs Assessment : The Cornerstone of an Effective ESP Teaching. The case of Computer Science Master Students at Dr. Moulay Tahar University-Saida, Algeria Mokhtaria KHERRAZ 152 ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives √ Good motivation of some students √ Among the students, there were aged people who faced difficulties in responding √ All the students were writing down the course √ Some students were asked to go to the board to correct the tasks and explain. All in all, the class observation was fruitful because the investigator could have a clear insight of his target in real context. From one side, he could realize the validity and reliability of the findings and from another side, data collected through questionnaire and interview could be confirmed through class observation. 5. Suggestions and Recommendations On the light of the above analysis, it has been realized that urgent strategies ought to be taken into consideration so that to overcome all sorts of difficulties ESP teachers and students are facing and to embitter the ESP teaching/learning environment in the Algerian universities. Therefore, the following points are suggested for the benefit of the educational community as a whole: √ Ministry of higher education ought to provide ESP teachers with training programs related to their field of expertise √ Encourage collaboration between ESP teachers from different universities √ Organizing workshops and seminars on how to conduct needs analysis √ Encourage ESP teachers to share their experiences with foreign ESP teachers through international conferences. 6. Conclusion Last but not least, it is true that ESP has encountered various ups and downs, ESP is then is in a continuous change yet some aspects which remain as basis in teaching ESP and without which no syllabus design nor course design can be done such as needs analysis needs more intention, more research and more reform. In Algeria, for instance, though teaching ESP in higher education faced some obstacles because it twas not welcome at first, it could impose itself among the main teaching approaches within ELT. However there are still some obstacles that hinder against teaching ESP like the low number of ESP teachers, lack of teacher training and lack of English programs through which there should be a guide of how to analyze learners’ needs. Therefore, it’s high time researchers, teachers and experts took needs analysis into account for a better ESP teaching in the future. Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political & Economic Studies Needs Assessment : The Cornerstone of an Effective ESP Teaching. The case of Computer Science Master Students at Dr. Moulay Tahar University-Saida, Algeria Mokhtaria KHERRAZ 153 ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives 7. References - AllWright, R. L. (1982). Perceiving and Pursuing Learners’ Needs. In : Geddes, M and Strutridge, G(Ed) : Individualisation. Oxford : Oxford University Press - Cohen, L & Manion, L. (1980). Research in Education : . Routledge : London - Darke, P., Shanks, G & Broadbent, M. (1998). Successfully Completing Case Study Research : Cambridge Rigour, Relevance and Pragmatism. Information System Journal, 8(4), 273-289 - Dudley-Evans, T. & St. John, M. J. (1998). Development in English for Specific Purposes. Cambridge : Cambridge University Press - Hutchinson, T & Waters, A. (1987). English for Specific Purposes. New York : Cambridge University Press - Jordon, R. R. (1997). English for Academic Purposes : A Guide and Resources Book for Teachers : London (UK) : Cambridge University Press - Kherraz, M. (2021). Developing the English Competencies of the Telecommunication Employees through In-Service Trainings. The case of Algerie Telecom Company-Saida. Doctoral Thesis - Mc Donough, J. (1984). ESP in Perspective : A Practical Guide. London and Glasgow : Collins Educational - Merine, A. (2019). Needs Analysis of Communicative Skills of Hotel Receptionists and Future Steps towards Possible Solutions : The case of Sheraton, Royal and Meridien in Oran. Doctoral Thesis - Munby, J. (1978). Communicative Syllabus Design : A Sociolinguistic Model for Defining the Content of Purpose-Specific Language Programmes. London : Cambridge University Press - Reguieg, N. (2012). Language Needs for Hotel Receptionists : The case of Gourara Hotel in Timimoun. Algeria, University of Hassiba Ben Bouali, Chlef,, Magister dissertation. - Ritcherich, R. & Chancerel, J. 1980). Identifying the Needs of Adults Learning a Foreign Language. Oxford : Pergamon Press - Robinson, P (1991). ESP Today : A Practionner’s Guide. New York : Prentice Hall -West, R. (1994). Needs Analysis in Language Teaching. Language Teaching - Yin, R. (2003). Case Study Research Methods. Thousand Oaks : Sage Publications Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political & Economic Studies Needs Assessment : The Cornerstone of an Effective ESP Teaching. The case of Computer Science Master Students at Dr. Moulay Tahar University-Saida, Algeria Mokhtaria KHERRAZ 154 ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives 8. Appendices 8.1. Questionnaire I would be thankful if you accept to fill this sample of questionnaire and help me highlight the English learning environment you are engaged in. Tick the right answer: - I am : 1- female 2- male - I am specialized in : 1- Microsoft 2- Security 3-Network - Do you have an idea about your English needs? 1- yes 2- no - Is one hour and a half of course per week enough to improve your English ? 1- yes 2- no - In what skill do you need more practice? 1- The speaking skill 2- The listening skill 3- The reading skill 4- The writing skill - Do you prefer face-to-face courses? 1- yes 2- no - Do you need translation in your studies? 1- yes 2- no - What do you think about submitting in English? 8.2. Interview Questions I would be grateful if you devote some of you time to conduct an interview about teaching ESP and conducting needs analysis with your students. - When have you been teaching ESP in the computer science department? - Are you specialized in ESP? - Is the English program available? - On what criteria do you design the course content? - Do you collaborate with the other teachers in the department? - Do you conduct needs analysis with your students? - What are the language skills you focus more in your teaching? Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political & Economic Studies Needs Assessment : The Cornerstone of an Effective ESP Teaching. The case of Computer Science Master Students at Dr. Moulay Tahar University-Saida, Algeria Mokhtaria KHERRAZ 155 ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives - Do you encourage students to use translation in their learning? - Do you have any suggestions? Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political & Economic Studies Needs Assessment : The Cornerstone of an Effective ESP Teaching. The case of Computer Science Master Students at Dr. Moulay Tahar University-Saida, Algeria Mokhtaria KHERRAZ 156 ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives Identifying and Analyzing Students’ Needs in a Business English Context: the Case of Master2 Public Management Students at Tlemcen University Qwider LARBI1 Abstract 1 PhD Nowadays, Algeria is witnessing a set of changes and advances regarding Student; University of Mohammed Ben Ahmed, Oran2, Algeria. the promotion of the use of English language in academia. Among the Lab. Linguistique Dynamique du decisions that the committees have adoped is the creation of doctorate Language et Didactique.
[email protected]schools in ESP. In fact, ESP teaching and learning is neglected and misapplied in Algerian universities. This is due to many causes. One of them is that ESP teachers are neither qualified nor specialized and they do not apply ESP principles effectively. One of the major ESP pillars is the concept of needs analysis. The aim of this study is to identify and analyze the needs of Master2 Public Management students at Tlemcen University. In doing so, the needed data have been gathered using different tools such as questionnaires and interviews. It has been come up to the conclusion that Master2 Public Management students’ needs are both academic and professional. Therefore, the courses should be designed according, primarily, to these needs. Keywords: ESP, Business English, Management, needs analysis, course design Citation: LARBI, Q. (2022). Identifying and Analyzing Students’ Needs in a Business English Context: the Case of Master2 Public Management Students at Tlemcen University. In H. Andaloussi (Ed.), ESP Teaching Today: Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives (pp. 157-168). Berlin, Germany: Democratic Arabic Center. Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political & Economic Studies Identifying and Analyzing Students’ Needs in a Business English Context: the Case of Master2 Public Management Students at Tlemcen University Qwider LARBI 157 ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives Introduction Today, Algeria undergoes a series of adjustments and progress in promoting the use of English in academia. The establishment of doctorates in ESP is one of the conclusions that the committees have taken. ESP teaching and learning in Algerian higher education is actually ignored and misapplied. This is because of several factors. One of the main causes is the absence of trained or specialized instructor from ESP and the fact that they do not properly implement ESP fundamentals. One of the main cornerstones of ESP is the notion of needs analysis. This research aims to identify and assess the needs and requirements of students in Master2 Public Management at the University of Tlemcen. This was done utilizing diverse techniques namely questionnaire. This questionnaire was addressed to thirty students from this class for the sake of identifying and analyzing their main needs in English. Research Objective This study aims fundamentally at identifying, classifying and analyzing Master 2 Public Management students at Tlemcen University. Additionally, courses are designed based on the results of this analysis. Research Question The main question that could be asked is: what are the main needs of Master2 Public Management students. Research Hypothesis Master2 Public Management students are likely to need English for different reasons. In other words, they need it both for occupational and academic purposes. Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political & Economic Studies Identifying and Analyzing Students’ Needs in a Business English Context: the Case of Master2 Public Management Students at Tlemcen University Qwider LARBI 158 ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives Literature Review Needs analysis defined The concept of needs analysis (NA) has become an important part of ESP as a tool for designing ESP courses (Dudley-Evans, 1998)1. In fact, Hutchinson and Waters (1992)2 argue that needs analysis is the cornerstone of ESP because any course should be based on the findings of the needs analysis. However, as stated by Richterich (1983)3 cited in Ibrahim (2020)4, the concept of needs analysis is interpreted differently among scholars such as (Brindley, 19895; Hutchinson & Waters, 19926; Brown, 19957; Dudley-Evans & Jo St John 19988), as he argued "the very concept of language needs has never been clearly defined and remains at best ambiguous" p.70. As a result, there have been numerous attempts to define the notion. To begin, Richards and Platt (1992)9 define needs analysis as "the process of determining the needs for which a learner or a group of learners acquires a language and organizing the needs according to priorities". According to them, NA is used to determine the learners' goals and then categorize them based on their priorities. Similarly, Xiao (2007)10 defines NA as "a systematic gathering of particular information about learners' language needs and the analysis of this information for the goal of syllabus design". Identifying and analyzing demands, he claims, is one important stage in developing a syllabus. 1 Dudley-Evans, T., St John, M. J., & Saint John, M. J. (1998). Developments in English for specific purposes: A multi-disciplinary approach. Cambridge university press. 2 Hutchinson, T. (1992). English for Specific Purpose. A Learning-centered Approach/Tom Hutchinson, Allan Waters. 3 Richterich, R. (1983). Case Studies in Identifying the Needs. Oxford: Pergamon Press. 4 Ibrahim, H. H. (2020). Needs Analysis as a Prerequisite for Designing an ESP course for Medical Students. Open Journal of Modern Linguistics, 10(2), 83-103. 5 Brindley, G. (2000). Needs analysis. In Routledge Encyclopedia of language teaching and learning (pp. 438- 441). Routledge, Taylor and Francis Group. 6 Hutchinson, T. (1992). English for Specific Purpose. A Learning-centered Approach/Tom Hutchinson, Allan Waters. 7 Brown, J. D. (1995). The elements of language curriculum: A systematic approach to program development. Heinle & Heinle Publishers, 20 Park Plaza, Boston, MA 02116. 8 Dudley-Evans, T., St John, M. J., & Saint John, M. J. (1998). Developments in English for specific purposes: A multi-disciplinary approach. Cambridge university press. 9 Richards, J. P. (1992). J. & Platt, H. Dictionary of language teaching & applied linguistics, Edinburgh Gate: Longman, p. 242,243. Xiao, Lixin, (2007). "What Can We Learn from a Learning Needs’ Analysis of Chinese English Majors in A 10 University Context?" Asian EFL Journal, 8(4).Pages (1-2). Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political & Economic Studies Identifying and Analyzing Students’ Needs in a Business English Context: the Case of Master2 Public Management Students at Tlemcen University Qwider LARBI 159 ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives Bastrukmen11, on the other hand, claims: 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 her, the course content in ESP is primarily dependent on the findings and information from the NA process. In general, needs analysis plays an important role not only in the design of syllabi but also in the design of courses and the selection of relevant teaching materials in all learning circumstances, whether it ordinary English or ESP. Classification of Needs Scholars have distinguished between two sorts of needs: target needs and learning needs. In terms of the first category, target needs refer to what learners must do in order to effectively communicate in the target circumstance. When seen in this light, the meaning is most likely to be closest to the term Objectives; this is why further classifications were created to distinguish between necessities, lacks, and wants. -Necessities: they are the final goals; they indicate what the students can do at the end of the English course. -Lacks: allude to the learners' proficiency level and background, as well as what they lack in order to achieve the required level of competency. -Wishes: are the personal goals that learners hope to achieve during the language study. Learning needs, on the other side, show how learners will be able to move from a starting point (lacks) to a final destination (necessities). In this regard, Hutchinson and Waters (1987)12 argue that designing a course solely on the target objectives is naive, and that the learning situation must also be considered. They went on to say that the goal circumstance alone isn't a valid indicator, and that the learning situation, the learners' knowledge, abilities, techniques, and motivation for learning, as well as the setting and time of day, are all crucial. 11 Basturkmen. H. Developing Courses in English for Specific Purposes. Palgrave MacMillan, 2010, 19. 12 Hutchinson and Waters, ibid. Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political & Economic Studies Identifying and Analyzing Students’ Needs in a Business English Context: the Case of Master2 Public Management Students at Tlemcen University Qwider LARBI 160 ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives Methods of Needs Analysis Scholars have presented two essential elements, namely, Present Situation Analysis and Target Situation Analysis, in order to conduct an effective needs analysis. NA, according to Robinson (1991)13, can be thought of as a hybrid of TSA and PSA. While Present Situation Analysis identifies students' current level of proficiency, including any deficiencies, TSA aims to determine what learners must perform in the target situation. TSA, according to West (1997)14, is the oldest method to NA. TSA basically refers to the process of determining future learners' knowledge and linguistic skills requirements. Target situation analysis covers the learners' future roles and the linguistic skills and information they need to function adequately in their disciplines, according to Dudley-Evans & St. John (1998)15, as referenced by Hyland (2006)16. Also, he adds that "Any vocationally-oriented course must be based on the fundamental problem of "what learners need to do with English," p.5 Similarly, according to Widdowson as stressed by Paltridge and Starfield (2014) 17 “target needs are seen as goal -oriented, learner needs are more process –oriented when they refer to what the learner has to do to acquire the language.”. In practice, TSA is based on asking a series of questions about the target situation and the participants' reactions to it. TSA consists of six central questions, each of which is broken into multiple subquestions. These questions, according to Hutchinson & Waters, referenced by Mohammed & Nur18, ask about why the language is needed, how it is used, the subject areas, who is engaged in the communication process, the environment in which the language will be used, and when the language will be used.p.54 Present Situation Analysis PSA Present Situation Analysis PSA can be thought of as a supplement to TSA. PSA is another way to NA, according to (Robinson, 1991; West, 1997). Unlike TSA, which aims to determine what learners should be able to do after the course, PSA aims to determine the learners' status before the course begins. PSA also reveals "weakness and strength in language, skills, and 13 Robinson, P. (1991). Needs analysis. ESP today. 14 West, R. (1994). Needs analysis in language teaching. Language teaching, 27(1), 1-19. 15 Dudley-Evans, T., St John, M. J., & Saint John, M. J. (1998). Developments in English for specific purposes: A multi-disciplinary approach. Cambridge university press. 16 Hyland, Ken & Hyland, Fiona. Feedback on second language students' writing. Language teaching, 2006, vol. 39, no 2, p. 83-101. 17 Paltridge, B., & Starfield, S. (Eds.). (2014). The handbook of English for specific purposes. John Wiley & Sons, p. 326. 18 Elsaid Mohammed, A. S., & Nur, H. S. M. (2018). Needs analysis in English for academic purposes: The case of teaching assistants at the University of Khartoum. How, 25(2), 49-68. Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political & Economic Studies Identifying and Analyzing Students’ Needs in a Business English Context: the Case of Master2 Public Management Students at Tlemcen University Qwider LARBI 161 ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives learning experience" according to Dudley-Evans & St John (1998), p. 125. Hence, PSA serves as the course's starting point. According to Songhori (2008)19, cited in Mohammed & Nur (2018), PSA was first proposed by Richterich & Chancerel20 in the 1980s in order to supply a set of purposes by supplying data from various sources such as students, academic institutions, and professional organizations. p.55. PSA, as Hyland21 (2006) emphasizes, gives both factual and subjective information, such as learners' age, competency, past learning experiences, etc. on the one hand, and self-perceived needs, flaws, and strengths on the other. Placement examinations could be a main source of data for language learners' current situation analysts. Information regarding a learner's linguistic ability and academic level, on the other hand, can provide ample data about their capacities. p.55, ibid. In brief, it could be stated that NA could be perceived as a mixture of both TSA and PSA (Robinson,1991)22. While PSA refers to determine learners’ present competency, TSA aims at identifying what are the learners’ requirements in the target situation. However, in ESP, due to its advancement, TSA and PSA started to be seen insufficient to identify the multiple learners’ needs. Consequently, other approaches have been introduced by researchers. Research Methodology The main objective of the study is to identify and analyze Master2 Public Management learners’ needs in English. This was done using a descriptive qualitative method. Participants The total number of the participants who participated in this study was 30. This sample is composed of students of Master2 Public Management at Tlemcen University who studied during the academic year 2019-2020. The participants are both males and females. The selected students’ age is from 22 to 39 years old. Some learners are professional i.e. they occupy different jobs. 19 Songhori, M. H. (2008). Introduction to needs analysis. English for specific purposes world, 4(20), 1-25. 20 Richterich, R., & Chancerel, J. L. (1978). Identifying the Needs of Adults Learning a Foreign Language. 21 Hyland, 2006, ibid, p.55 22 Robinson,1991, ibid. Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political & Economic Studies Identifying and Analyzing Students’ Needs in a Business English Context: the Case of Master2 Public Management Students at Tlemcen University Qwider LARBI 162 ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives The Research Instrument In order to elicit both reliable and valid data, a questionnaire has been used. This questionnaire aims at exploring the participants age, gender, level in English, expectations, strengths and weaknesses. Additionally, the questionnaire seeks to recognize the occurrence of the needs analysis and the procedure. Finally, it explores their views towards teaching English at university and, particularly, at the Management department. Procedure Initially the questionnaires were addressed to the students, and ask them to fill them carefully then give them back the next session. To facilitate the task, an Arabic translation was provided. After the collection of the filled questionnaires, they are classified in separated items. The analysis process was done item by item. After the data collection process, the obtained data were analyzed. The process of the data collection followed the following steps: the participants’ filled questionnaires were rated and analyzed item by item. After that, the obtained frequencies of all items were converted to percentages in order to determine the overall value for each one of them. Finally, the gathered data were put into tables and figures for better depiction and further analytic decisions. Data Analysis The data that have been obtained from this research study could be presented as follows: 1- The participants’ age: Regarding the age groups of the respondents, it is between 22 years old and 39 years old. Thus, it’s a variety between young and more adult ones. 2- The participants Gender: 37% of the participants are male and the rest 63 % are females as shown in figure1. Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political & Economic Studies Identifying and Analyzing Students’ Needs in a Business English Context: the Case of Master2 Public Management Students at Tlemcen University Qwider LARBI 163 ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives Male Female Fig.1 : Participants’ Gender 3- Is your level in English: a-Excellent b-Good c-Fair d-Poor 60,00% 50,00% 40,00% 30,00% 20,00% 10,00% 0,00% excellent good fair poor Fig.2 : Participants’ level in English As shown in the bar chart ( fig.2 )the students’ levels and capacities are various. While 6,3% are excellent in English, 34,4 % have good level. The rest are as follows: 50 % of the students are average, and the remaining ones claim that they have poor level. 4- What are your weaknesses in English? a- Speaking b- Writing c- Reading d- Listening Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political & Economic Studies Identifying and Analyzing Students’ Needs in a Business English Context: the Case of Master2 Public Management Students at Tlemcen University Qwider LARBI 164 ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives e- Business Vocabulary f- Others Speaking Reading Listening Writing Business Vocabulary Other Fig.3 : Participants’ weaknesses. As the above pie chart (fig.3 ) showcases the learners’ are weak in many linguistic skills. The big majority are feeble in speaking (42%) and business vocabulary (51.5%). However, they are less weak in the remaining skills; (2%) in reading, (2%) in listening, and 6 % in writing. A portion of 5% claim that they find difficulties in other skills such as grammar, pronunciation, email writing, business communication, public speaking, and fluency, to name a few. 5- What are your main objectives by learning English? Since it is an open-ended question, the students’ answers were multiple. However, the main common objectives that the learners’ provide were as follows: “performing presentations”, “travelling abroad”, “learning how to find English references”, “communicating effectively”, “reading scientific articles”, “use it at work”, “get new job opportunities”, “enhancing my level”, “join the best universities in the world”, “get a deeper view of the world around us”, “to know about other cultures”, “Speak like a native speaker “,“become fluent in English”, and to “publish in English”. 6-What are your expectations by the end of this semester? This question meant to check students’ expectations by the end of the semester. In other words, their main predictions from the teacher. In what follows are some of their answers: Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political & Economic Studies Identifying and Analyzing Students’ Needs in a Business English Context: the Case of Master2 Public Management Students at Tlemcen University Qwider LARBI 165 ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives “getting information about what we study”, “I hope we learn new business vocabulary”, “I hope students will have the desire to learn English”, “to speak English better”, “increase our knowledge”, “more educated”, “overcome difficulty in speaking English”. 7-Suggest some topics of interests In order to meet the learners’ needs, it was necessary to deal with topics that are in relationship with their field of study. Some of the students’ replies are listed here: - “Public Transactions”, “public service”, “public Marketing”, “Public accounting”, “business planning”, “Economics in Algeria”, “Public Administration”, “Wages and corruption”, “New Public Management”, “Public Budget”, “Leadership”, “investment”, How to use English in the workplace”. Findings and Discussion The analysis of the collected data reveals a set of results. First of all, it might be observed that all of the learners have certain difficulties in English. Howbeit, their mail weaknesses are in speaking and business terminologies. This could be because they do not have the prerequisite know-hows in the field of business English. Additionally, it is obvious that the learners’ want to be specialists in their field and they need to improve their knowledge and skills in English. Evidently, they desire to practice specific English i.e. Business English and want to be familiar with related topics. Moreover, the majority of them need to get a lucrative job in the future. Noticeably, most of them think that reaching this objective requires more writing and speaking skills in English as it gives them more chances to get higher paid jobs or even academic opportunities abroad. Furthermore, it might be said that as a final class, Master2 Public Management students have the will to pursue extra sessions in English that would open new horizons in their academic and professional careers as well. Finally, it is to be mentioned that, moving from the present situation to the target situation, needs a coordination and collaboration with the subject matter teachers, and this in order to be familiar with topics of interests. To this end, the syllabus should be, primarily, designed according to these topics as well as student’ needs. Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political & Economic Studies Identifying and Analyzing Students’ Needs in a Business English Context: the Case of Master2 Public Management Students at Tlemcen University Qwider LARBI 166 ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives Conclusion The purpose of the present study is to explore the different needs of Master2 Public Management students. A questionnaire was delivered to the students in this regard. The analysis of the collected data reveal that Master2 Public Management students have some lacks, and wants vis-à-vis English. Hence, based on the needs analysis results, moving from the present situation to the target situation requires a set of teaching sessions in order to cope with these academic deficiencies. As a result, the English teacher designed his lessons according to the needs assessment outcomes. The sessions that the teacher delivered during the period i.e. the first semester of the academic year 2019-2020, are presented as follows: ✓ New Public Management; ✓ Business Presentations; ✓ How to run effective meetings; ✓ paragraph and essay writing; ✓ final “s” and final “ed” pronunciation; ✓ email writing; and ✓ How to write application letters and CVs. These courses were chosen to help students not only to learn new business vocabulary and terminologies but also to assist them in using English at work and in real life situations. All in all, conducting needs analyses properly in ESP in general and, business English, in particular, gives the instructors more insights about their learners’ genuine weaknesses and requirements. References • Allwright, R. L. (1982), "Classroom research and the management of language learning", in: Berger, R. and Haidar, U. (eds.), Pariser Werkstattgespräch 1980: Interaktion im Fremdsprachenunterricht. Munich, Goethe-Institut, 206-223. • Basturkmen, H. (1998). Refining Procedures: A Needs Analysis Project at Kuwait University. In Forum (Vol. 36, No. 4, p. n4). • Basturkmen. H. (2010). Developing Courses in English for Specific Purposes. Palgrave MacMillan • Brindley, G. (2000). Needs analysis. In Routledge Encyclopedia of language teaching and learning (pp. 438-441). Routledge, Taylor and Francis Group. • Brown, J. D. (1995). The elements of language curriculum: A systematic approach to program development. Heinle & Heinle Publishers, 20 Park Plaza, Boston, MA 02116.. Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political & Economic Studies Identifying and Analyzing Students’ Needs in a Business English Context: the Case of Master2 Public Management Students at Tlemcen University Qwider LARBI 167 ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives • Dudley-Evans, T., St John, M. J., & Saint John, M. J. (1998). Developments in English for specific purposes: A multi-disciplinary approach. Cambridge university press. • Elsaid Mohammed, A. S., & Nur, H. S. M. (2018). Needs analysis in English for academic purposes: The case of teaching assistants at the University of Khartoum. How, 25(2), 49-68. • Hutchinson, T. (1992). English for Specific Purpose. A Learning-centered Approach/Tom Hutchinson, Allan Waters. • Hyland, Ken & Hyland, Fiona. Feedback on second language students' writing. Language teaching, 2006, vol. 39, no 2, p. 83-101. • Ibrahim, H. H. (2020). Needs Analysis as a Prerequisite for Designing an ESP course for Medical Students. Open Journal of Modern Linguistics, 10(2), 83-103. • Jordan, R. R. (1997). Needs analysis. English for Academic Purposes: A Guide and Resource Book for Teachers. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press (Cambridge Language Teaching Library), 20-42 • Richards, J. P. (1992). J. & Platt, H. Dictionary of language teaching & applied linguistics, Edinburgh Gate: Longman. • 1 Richterich, R. (1983). Case Studies in Identifying the Needs. Oxford: Pergamon Press. • Richterich, R., & Chancerel, J. L. (1978). Identifying the Needs of Adults Learning a Foreign Language. • Songhori, M. H. (2008). Introduction to needs analysis. English for specific purposes world, 4(20), 1-25. • West, R. (1994). Needs analysis in language teaching. Language teaching, 27(1), 1-19. • Xiao, Lixin, (2007). "What Can We Learn from a Learning Needs’ Analysis of Chinese English Majors in A University Context?" Asian EFL Journal, 8(4).Pages (1- 2). • Paltridge, B., & Starfield, S. (Eds.). (2014). The handbook of English for specific purposes. John Wiley & Sons. Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political & Economic Studies Identifying and Analyzing Students’ Needs in a Business English Context: the Case of Master2 Public Management Students at Tlemcen University Qwider LARBI 168 ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives Teaching Specialized Vocabulary to Property-law Students: A Focus on Confusing Terminology Mohamed Charif MANSOURI1 Abstract 1PhD Student; Laboratory TRADTEC. The present experimental research aims to design a course for University of Oran 2, Algeria. property-law students as part of a wider present study program for the
[email protected]teaching of legal English within the LMD system in Algeria. The main objective of the course is to realize a successful mastery of property-law vocabulary with a focus on confusing words within EFL context. The method used in this research is experimental, in which both an experimental group and a control group participated. A range of research tools was used to identify learners’ needs, such as a diagnostic test, questionnaires, and interviews. The main results showed that property- law students have difficulties in legal English vocabulary within the general context of property law, and they are motivated to have a course that might cater for their needs. The course was multi-dimensional delivered online shedding light on the overlapping lexis, along with a constant evaluation.The post-test revealed that the experimental group showed considerable progress compared to the control group. The most important recommendation is that more attention must be offered to confusing words in real property and personal property terminology. Keywords: EFL, Property Law, Specialized Vocabulary, Confusing Terminology, Course Design Citation: MANSOURI, M, C. (2022). Teaching Specialized Vocabulary to Property-law Students: A Focus on Confusing Terminology. In H. Andaloussi (Ed.), ESP Teaching Today: Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives (pp. 169-183). Berlin, Germany: Democratic Arabic Center. Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political & Economic Studies Teaching Specialized Vocabulary to Property-law Students: A Focus on Confusing Terminology Mohamed Charif MANSOURI 169 ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives Introduction There is no doubt that English has so far been in constant expansion as it is still the key to the new worldwide developments at all levels in all domains. With English being the international language par excellence, the educational institutions all around the globe have been offering a variety of courses in English within their curricula on account of English is a sine qua non to adhere to the international standards. This can be realized through introducing specific and relevant English courses, especially for learners in their home countries like Algeria.One example isteaching legal English within the context of property law, as it constitutes a common feature in many areas such as jurisprudence and business,particularly at the international level. Notwithstanding, the Department of Law at the University of Batna1, for example,does not offer English courses in the license cycle until the beginning of the master’s studies. Ergo, it is expected that English as a Foreign Language (EFL) property-law students there face an array of problems in the different levels, skills, and ways of communication in English related to their domain. It is worth mentioning that many researchers stress the importance of vocabulary teaching in an English for Specific Purposes(ESP) context in general123. However, studies on the confusing terms in specialized contexts that devotes mono-referentiality, such as English for property-law in the EFL context,have been offered little, if no attention. As such, it is wondered whether outlining a course to those students candevelop their terminology scope, thereby improving their skills. In fact, designing such a course with a focus on overlapping lexis for Algerian students might be a relevant need to realize the aforementioned objectives. 1-Literature Review 1-1- Legal English Specialized Vocabulary Teaching specialized lexis is undoubtedly of central importance as it carries the whole special language. The range of vocabulary items in legal language in general, and legal English in particular, is very large, as it comprises a unique terminology such as, among others, foreign words, binomials, and pro-forms. All these lexical features share some degree of technicality in two ways. They can be divided into sub-technical and technical terms with nuances of archaic tone. Some words,for example, do not appear to have a common signification only. However,they acquire a context-based meaning within the legal domain,such as consideration and construction. To a less degree, pro-forms usually function as adjectives positioned before nouns 1 Averil Coxhead, “Vocabulary and ESP”, The handbook of English for Specific Purposes, Brian Paltridge and Sue Starfield (Eds), West Sussex, John Wiley & Sons Publication, (2013), pp 115-132 2 Philippa Otto, “Choosing specialized vocabulary to teach with data-driven learning: An example from civil engineering”, English for Specific Purposes, 61, (2021), pp 32–46 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.esp.2020.08.003 3 Selwa Remichi, “Translation as a Technical Vocabulary Builder in ESP Classes: A Case for the Use of Translation Activities in Teaching Technical English”, In Translation, Vol. 07, N 01, Algeria, 2019. Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political & Economic Studies Teaching Specialized Vocabulary to Property-law Students: A Focus on Confusing Terminology Mohamed Charif MANSOURI 170 ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives to replace demonstratives such as the same instead of this, the said instead of the particular, and the aforementioned instead of whatwas mentioned earlier4. The second type is terms of art, pure legal words that lack comprehensibility outside the legal community and are only agreed on by legal professionals, such as waiver, restraint oftrade, and promissory estoppel5.What can be noticed, however, is the Frenchorigin of these words. In fact, many researchers discussed the penetration of an array of Norman and Latin words in Legal English across history67. The marriage of Latin, French and English after the Norman Conquest resulted in producing two-word and triplecombinations of these languages called binomials such as will and testament8. Using these pairs by draftspersonsat that time might be because they were not sure which word to choose. Therefore, they wereobliged to use both terms from different languages to ensure inclusiveness and avoid violating the principle of precision in legal writing9. Most of these binomials turned into technical words different in sense from when they are separated into isolated items10. 1-2 Confusion in Property-law Terminology Not onlywords having both legal and ordinary meanings might cause confusions to EFL law students, but also technical terms. In a property-law context, for example, the difference between real property and personal property in both civil law and common law systems was reported as follows: “Property Law is the general term used to describe law relating to the different forms of ownership in real property such as land, as distinct from personal property or moveable property within the common-law legal system. In the civil law system, there is a division between moveable and immoveable property. Moveable property equates to personal property, while immoveable property is the same as real estate or real property and the associated rights and obligations attaching to the land. The main distinction in common- law system is between real property (land and what is sited on it) and personal property (chattels)”11. EFL law students must first be aware of the difference between the ‘Civil Law’ as a legal system and the ‘Civil Law’ as a code pertaining to the relations between citizens. In the same vein, the strict meaning of the sub-technical confusing term ‘heir’, for instance, was suggested within the context of ‘will’ as a separated item from the doublet ‘will and testament’ as follows: 4 Giuseppina Scotto di Carlo, Diachronic and Synchronic Aspects of Legal English: Past, Present, and Possible Future of Legal English, UK, Cambridge Scholars Publishing, (2015), pp 37-38 5 Rupert Haigh, Legal English, 2004, (Second Edition, USA, Routledge, p 33 6 Heikki E. S. Mattila, Comparative Legal Linguistics, Ashgate Publishing Company, England, (2006), p 229 7 Ina Veretina-chiriac, “Characteristics and Features of Legal English Vocabulary”, Seria “Ştiinţe umanistice” Lingvistică şi Literatură, (4), 54, Moldova, (2012). 8 Giuseppina Scotto di Carlo, Idem, pp 22-23 9 Crystal David & Davy Derek, Investigating English Style (English Language), USA, Routledge, (1969), p 208 10 Jens Peter Hovelsø, Characteristics of English Legal Language, (2004). 11 Helen Callanan & Lynda Edwards, Absolute Legal English, Delta Publishing, 2010, p 56 Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political & Economic Studies Teaching Specialized Vocabulary to Property-law Students: A Focus on Confusing Terminology Mohamed Charif MANSOURI 171 ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives “An "heir" is a person entitled by statute to the land of someone who dies intestate- without a will... Further, a person who receives personal property, even under the laws of intestate succession (if the deceased had no will) is not an heir. Such a person is a “distribute” or “next-of-kin”. In fact, the word “inherit”, as used in the dictionary definition, was technically misused. Only a ‘distribute’ or ‘next-of-kin’ can inherit; an heir cannot. This is because the term “inherit” in a will can legally refer only to personal property, not land. The analogue for “real property” (land) is ‘to take by descent’” 12 The excerpt above shows that even legal English researchers deal with the use of the words ‘will’ and ‘testament’ controversially.‘Will’ is used for the bequest of real estate only while ‘testament’ is related to the bequest of personal property only13. Ergo, Charrow and Charrow might have misused the word ‘will’ in some parts of their explanation. Furthermore, the draftspersons and legal English researchers’ confusion as to the doublets might be conveyed to law students in the use of ‘will’ and ’testament’ when separated.Then, teaching legal English vocabulary is very challenging in that words are not to be taught in isolation but contextually with syntagmatic and paradigmatic relations, and with taking the necessary precautions. 2-Methods The purpose of this investigation is to show the confusing nature of some legal vocabulary within a property-law English courseas part of a wider present research on designing a study program for the teaching of legal English within the LMD system in Algeria. Law students’ needs were determined by matching a number of research tools such as tests, questionnaires and interviews; sources such as students (lacks, wants and necessities), English teachers views andassumptions; and some adapted previous literature review on similar studies. Then comparing the different obtained data to allow for verification. To participate in this study at the Department of Law at the University of Batna1, 20 property-law students were selected randomly as a sample and experimental group from a population of 102 students in this specialty only. Other 20 students were also selected randomly to form the control group. In addition, all four English teachers were asked to participate in the present research. First, the experimental group and the control groupwere gathered to take a two-hour diagnostic test in both general and legal English. The general English part was extracted from Cambridge Assessment English that provides tests on general English grammar. The legal part of the pre-test contained a multi-dimensional in-house text on law and a variety of questions, including those on property-law lexis. The diagnostic test papers of the experimental group 12 Charrow and Charrow, as cited in Giuseppina Scotto di Carlo, Diachronic and Synchronic Aspects of Legal English: Past, Present, and Possible Future of Legal English, UK, Cambridge Scholars Publishing, (2015), p 54 13 B.J. Sokol & Mary Sokol, Shakespeare’s Legal Language, the Athlone Press, the USA, (2000), p 410 Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political & Economic Studies Teaching Specialized Vocabulary to Property-law Students: A Focus on Confusing Terminology Mohamed Charif MANSOURI 172 ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives were analyzed and evaluated, while those of the control groupwere alsoevaluated but kept apart for future comparison. Two students were givena piloting questionnaire to make the necessary modifications; the final version of the questionnaires was handed to the sample in an amphitheater with explaining the aims and the questions. The latterwere in English and Arabic to ensure understanding. The students’ questionnaire included six sections, namely general information, teaching and learning legal English, linguistic features/genres, legal translation and legal familiesdivergence, international legal English and convergence, digital learning. However, only the questions related to vocabulary will be analyzed. Teachers’ interviews also included interesting questions in English in many areas related to students’ needs that allowed for deeper discussion and objective verification. What is interesting is that three teachers are experienced subject specialists. Two of whom studied law in the UK, and which makes their views critically important as they are expected to know what the nature of legal English looks like. In fact, other considerations might be used as a source of information for the course designerto determine and meet the learners’ needs. These may include some reliable theories, previous results on similar contexts or generalizable studies that the course plannercan use as evidence to define learners’ needs, support their expressed needs, or deny them in that “Needs analysis … is not necessarily the only consideration”14. 3- Results The tests, questionnaires and interviews used in the present research enabled the collection of a considerable important body of data. The diagnostic test revealed that students are terribly suffering from problems in legal lexis in general. Theaverage markobtained by the property- law experimental group in the diagnostic test was 4.56 out of 20 while the control group’s had 4.99 out of 20. 3-1- Interest in Learning General Legal Terms According to table1, only one respondent (5 %) was not interested in learning legal terms that are permeable between the different specialties offered at the Department of Law at the University of Batna1. However, 45% of the respondents showed a stronginterest in learning general legal terms. Half of the respondents were very strongly eager to learn basic elements in legal English use and communication. 14 Helen Basturkmen, Developing Courses in English for Specific Purposes. Palgrave Macmillan, (2010), p 61 Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political & Economic Studies Teaching Specialized Vocabulary to Property-law Students: A Focus on Confusing Terminology Mohamed Charif MANSOURI 173 ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent Valid Not interested 1 5,0 5,0 5,0 Strongly 9 45,0 45,0 50,0 Very strongly 10 50,0 50,0 100,0 Total 20 100,0 100,0 Table 1: Interest in Learning General Legal Terms 3-2- Interest in Learning SpecificLegal Terms The data represented on table 2 showedsimilar results to the table above. One respondent (05%) is not interested in learning specific legal terms. One respondent (05%) is neutral. 25% of the sample have a strong interest while 65% are very strongly interested in learning more focused terms related to their specialty. These may include but not limited to words used especially in estates, auctions and the pertinent procedures, property law documentation and notarizing, and the inheritance and taking by descent properties, etc. Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent Valid Not interested 1 5,0 5,0 5,0 Neutral 1 5,0 5,0 10,0 Strongly 5 25,0 25,0 35,0 Very strongly 13 65,0 65,0 100,0 Total 20 100,0 100,0 Table 2:Interest in Learning Specific Legal Terms 3-3- Interest in Learning the Linguistic Features of Legal English The answers provided in table 3 revealed that at least 85% of the respondents are interested in learning the linguistic features of legal English including lexis. The characteristics at this level mean not only specific vocabulary but also other surrounding features such as archaism, and the history-bound nature of many terms, collocations and the paradigmatic relationships in the form of superordinates and lower levels. Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political & Economic Studies Teaching Specialized Vocabulary to Property-law Students: A Focus on Confusing Terminology Mohamed Charif MANSOURI 174 ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent Valid Not interested 2 10,0 10,0 10,0 Neutral 1 5,0 5,0 15,0 Strongly 5 25,0 25,0 40,0 Very strongly 12 60,0 60,0 100,0 Total 20 100,0 100,0 Table 3: Interest in Learning the Linguistic Features of Legal English 3-4- Interest in Using Applications and Websites to Learn Legal English In order to promote technology-based teaching, students were asked whether they have an interest in using applications and websites to learn legal English. As displayed intable4, more than half (65%) of the respondents at the Department of Law at the University of Batna1 are interested in non-traditional instruments and materials to learn legal English while approximately the third is neutral. Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent Valid Not interested 1 5,0 5,0 5,0 Neutral 6 30,0 30,0 35,0 Strongly 7 35,0 35,0 70,0 Very Strongly 6 30,0 30,0 100,0 Total 20 100,0 100,0 Table 4: Interest in Using Applications and Websites to Learn Legal English 3-5- Teachers Interview The English teachers recommended, during the interview, the teaching of all sorts of lexical characteristics of English within the context of law. These include general legal terms used in all legal fields, semantically narrowed legal terms used in each specialty including property law, and the linguistic features of legal English. It is worthy to mention that English teachers, while encouraged to teach the kinds of terminology above, also expressed their fear lest they be difficult for law students to learn. English teachers also thought that digital learning could be useful for law students. According to them, technology is very important in that it facilitates communication among law students. One teacher said they encourage their students to watch the BBC channel, for example, to boost their legal language in general. Another English teacher declared that recent technological innovations had created many opportunities to serve law students well. 4-The Course Design and Delivering Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political & Economic Studies Teaching Specialized Vocabulary to Property-law Students: A Focus on Confusing Terminology Mohamed Charif MANSOURI 175 ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives The course was outlined thanks to matching a number of parameters based on the sample’s needs as mentioned in figure 1: The teaching method, the content of the materials, the scope, the variety of activities, motivation, and the means of delivering to cite just a few. The teaching method, for example, included linguistic characteristics and intercultural traits. The continuing process of evaluation allowed for discovering the difficulties and the ambiguous points not treated in the needs analysis. Figure 1: Course Design and Delivering Note. En: English, PPT prsnts= Power-point presentations, G-forms= Google forms, LE APP= Legal English Applications, MSNGR= Messenger, YTB= YouTube, DSC = Discussion, ON-Q= Online questions. 4-1- Linguocultural Approach The course contains a combination of legal English idiosyncratic characteristics in terms of vocabulary especially confusing ones, along with somewords of intercultural aspect especially in the divergent nature of the legal systems. For example, ‘Civil Law’ as a legal system, and ‘Civil Law’ as a body of laws governing the relations between-citizens; or the presence of Islamic notions such as the Wakf (Mortmain). The international legal English was also put into consideration as a form of the recent convergence of legal families in the era of globalization, as mentioned in the table below. Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political & Economic Studies Teaching Specialized Vocabulary to Property-law Students: A Focus on Confusing Terminology Mohamed Charif MANSOURI 176 ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives Specialized Categories Words (Indictment/Conviction/Prosecution/Charging/Accusing) Confusing ( Inherit/Take by descent/Heir)(Civil Law/Civil Law (Civil Code)) ((Will and testament) Separated + Collocated))(Consideration) Intercultural (Wakf (Mortmain)) (CPS, Crown Court) International (Court (Tribunal/Court)) Other (Mortgage,Auction)(Collocations)(Archaism)(Foreign words) etc. Table 5: Categories of Specialized Words 4-2-Specialized vs. Common Legal English Law specialties are not so exclusive; as there are boundaries between the different specialisms of law, there is also a permeability between them. The courses delivered to all students in the wider study program for the teaching of legal English within the LMD system tend to include a considerable body of legal genre and linguistic features found in the literature that is applicable in every legal variety.Students belonging to property-law specialty had special courses containingmore related vocabulary needed for specific contexts. 4-3- Legalese vs. Plain English Movement The course was designed with taking into consideration some balance between the complexities of legal English at the lexical level and simpler alternatives such as substituting Latin words with English equivalents, the modal verb ‘shall’ with present simple in some contexts, and archaic words with more familiar ones. This is to ensure that property-law students will be allowed to recognize and draw a line of demarcation between both varieties as some legal documents preserved the tone of legalese while others are written with plain English campaign. 4-4- In-house Materials Since the complexities of legal language and the absence of the community of practice for these EFL law students, the course included the needed language vocabulary within hypothetical short stories to best account for the idiosyncratic lexis. The words were not taught in isolation but with paradigmatic and syntagmatic relations in the form of hyponyms and hypernyms, false friends, doublets, combinations, collocations etc. Consulted with experts, the content of those texts was linked to some of the modules students were studying. 4-5-Motivation Many techniques were included, such as teaching law via games, oradapted literary poems and devices. Law students were sometimes requested to be creative in some courses and activities. Consequently, the advantage is twofold: raising learners’ motivation and revealing Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political & Economic Studies Teaching Specialized Vocabulary to Property-law Students: A Focus on Confusing Terminology Mohamed Charif MANSOURI 177 ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives to them that they can deduce and synthesize different morpho-lexical elements to create syntacticand textual ones. 4-6-Technology As teaching via technology provides some advantages such as collaboration and autonomy, the course was delivered online with PowerPoint presentations via WebEx platform, during which students were pointed towards internet links, YouTube, websites and applications of legal English content. Law students used computers, tablets and smartphones. Students were asked to collaborate with each other via a special group in messenger and discuss difficulties and challenges, and exchange opinions and information. 4-7- Evaluation Law students received a continuous evaluation. In a special messenger group, students were always invited to ask questions and exchange information about the challenges they faced and what new language knowledge they learnt. After this, they could introduce their difficulties in the online course. The difficulties expressed by students were taken into consideration in the following courses. Law students also had a mid-test and a final test to measure their improvement.Theaverage of the obtained marks of property-law experimental group was 4.56 out of 20 in the diagnostic test, 12.35 out of 20 in the mid-test, and 11.19 out of 20 in the post- test. The property-law control group had 4.99 out of 20 in the diagnostic test and 3.40 out of 20 in the post-test. 5- Discussion and Implications The lexical features of legal English show how important the teaching of specialized vocabulary is in English for Legal Purposes (ELP). The results above lead to the interpretation that property law students are aware of the permeability between legal specialties and that there are superordinate and generic terms applicable in general contexts. Property law students might be aware of the critical importance of specialized vocabulary in an ELP context in that a narrow- based terminology makes way to better communication, writing, reading, and understanding. As far as technology in teaching is concerned, the modest interest in using applications and websites to learn legal English might be because of the lack of available digital devices, inexperience in mastering their use, or even incapability of affording internet access (Mobile data or Wi-Fi). The interview with English teachers revealed that they recommend teaching law students general and specific legal terms even though they consider them difficult. They also think that technology-based instruction will make teaching easier. The considerable advancement of the experimental group as compared to the control group under the present experiment might be because of the poor legal English instructions provided at the Department of Law at the University of Batna1. Law students mainly receive general English courses and this will not allow them to develop their skills at any level especially specialized terminology; thereby, designing a course of English for property-law Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political & Economic Studies Teaching Specialized Vocabulary to Property-law Students: A Focus on Confusing Terminology Mohamed Charif MANSOURI 178 ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives purposes with a focus on overlapping lexis for Algerian students shall be relevant for them to realize their needs. It seems necessary to heighten law students’ awareness as to the confusing terminology in the property law context. In this regard, ELP course designers have to show law students what the misunderstanding of those confusing words may cause while reading, writing, speaking, or listening to a legal material. As for the inability of students to learn in a digital environment, ELP teachers can set out an alternative technique such as pair work, if possible, where students that do not have the appropriate devices work with those who have ones.Furthermore, students that do not have access to online applications, for example, can use the offline versions. Conclusion In conclusion, the present experimental research had as an aim to design a special course for property-law students as part of a wider presentstudy program for the teaching of legal English within the LMD system in Algeria. The main objective of the course was to help property-law students to achieve mastery of legal English vocabulary with more focus on overlapping words within an EFL and international contexts, as English constitutes the legal lingua franca. The method used in this study was experimental, in which both an experimental group and a control group participated. The range of research tools was used to identify learners’ needs such as a diagnostic test, questionnaires, and interviews led to the results that property-law students have difficulties in legal English vocabulary within the general context of property law even though they are motivated to have a course that might cater for their needs. The multi-dimensional course was delivered online along with a constant evaluation. The final evaluation revealed that the experimental group showed considerable progress compared to the control group. The most important recommendation is that more attention must be offered to confusing words in real property and personal property terminology. References 1-Averil Coxhead, “Vocabulary and ESP”, The handbook of English for Specific Purposes, Brian Paltridge and Sue Starfield (Eds), West Sussex, John Wiley & Sons Publication, (2013), pp 115-132 2-Philippa Otto, “Choosing specialized vocabulary to teach with data-driven learning: An example from civil engineering”, English for Specific Purposes, 61, (2021), pp 32–46 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.esp.2020.08.003 3-Selwa Remichi, “Translation as a Technical Vocabulary Builder in ESP Classes: A Case for the Use of Translation Activities in Teaching Technical English, In Translation, Vol. 07, N 01, Algeria, 2019. Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political & Economic Studies Teaching Specialized Vocabulary to Property-law Students: A Focus on Confusing Terminology Mohamed Charif MANSOURI 179 ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives 4-Giuseppina Scotto di Carlo, Diachronic and Synchronic Aspects of Legal English: Past, Present, and Possible Future of Legal English, UK, Cambridge Scholars Publishing, (2015), pp 37-38 5-Rupert Haigh, Legal English, 2004, (Second Edition, USA, Routledge, p 33 6-Heikki E. S. Mattila, Comparative Legal Linguistics, Ashgate Publishing Company, England, (2006), p 229 7-Ina Veretina-chiriac, “Characteristics and Features of Legal English Vocabulary”, Seria “Ştiinţe umanistice” Lingvistică şi Literatură, (4), 54, Moldova, (2012). 8-Giuseppina Scotto di Carlo, op. cit.pp 22-23 9-Crystal David & Davy Derek, Investigating English Style (English Language), USA, Routledge, (1969), p 208 10-Jens Peter Hovelsø, Characteristics of English Legal Language, (2004). http://certificateinparalegalstudies.files.wordpress.com/2012/03/origin-of-legal-english.doc 11-Helen Callanan & Lynda Edwards, Absolute Legal English, Delta Publishing, 2010, p 56 12-Giuseppina Scotto di Carlo, op. cit. p 54 13-B.J. Sokol & Mary Sokol, Shakespeare’s Legal Language, the Athlone Press, the USA, (2000), p 410 14-Helen Basturkmen, Developing Courses in English for Specific Purposes.Palgrave Macmillan, (2010), p 61. Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political & Economic Studies Teaching Specialized Vocabulary to Property-law Students: A Focus on Confusing Terminology Mohamed Charif MANSOURI 180 ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives Appendices Appendix 01: part of the diagnostic test “Samir, a real estateowner caught the corporation’s agents red-handeddischarging the wastes on his land. Samir filed a lawsuitbeforethe tribunalagainstthe said medication- waste disposal firm. In parallel, the said company was already in real estate dispute with a neighbor that claims his property of the land whereon the headquarters was built; he even called for indemnitiesin accordance with the Civil Law before the Real Estate Department”. Appendix 02: Part of the students’ questionnaire LINGUISTIC FEATURES/GENRES ما مقدار اهتمامك بالتعلم؟ How much are you interested in learning ? Very I am Strongly Strongly Neutral not Wished area of study بشكل قوي بقوة حيادي interested جدا غير مهتم General legal terms (All legal fields) مفردات قانونية عامة (المشتركة بين جميع )التخصصات Specific legal terms (only the specialty) مفردات قانونية خاصة (الخاصة بالتخصص )المدروس Linguistic features of Legal English (Morpho-lexical, Syntactic, and Discursive) خصائص اللغة اإلنجليزية القانونية على مستوى المفردات والجمل والنصوص DIGITAL LEARNING ما مقدار اهتمامك باستعمال التطبيقات والمواقع عبر األنترنت لتعلم اللغة اإلنجليزية القانونية؟ How much are you interested in using applications and websites to learn legal English? ǀ1-Very strongly بشكل قوي جداǀ2-Strongly بقوةǀ3- Neutral حياديǀ4-Not interested غير مهتم Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political & Economic Studies Teaching Specialized Vocabulary to Property-law Students: A Focus on Confusing Terminology Mohamed Charif MANSOURI 181 ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives Appendix 03: Part of the hypothetical text N°01. David has taken by descent from his father a large land surrounded by a wild rich region with natural resources. Following the new policy of the government towards an environmental planning in Norfolk, he decided to transform his real property to a sanitary landfill. Abraham is… Abraham and David agreed to annul the deal for a failure of consideration between the parties…The CPS prosecuted them then presented the case at the crown courtwherein it was determined by the jury that the defendants are truly liable for a felony;thereby indicted them. They were convicted and got heavy sentences” 11- In a legal dictionary or a downloaded legal application on your smartphone/tablet, look up and choose with your classmate the best equivalent term of art to the sentence hereunder. “Contracts may become unenforceable when the performance is not made properly” Construction/Attachment/Tort/Failure of Consideration 12- What is the difference between: prosecution, conviction, indictment, charging, and accusing? Appendix 04: Part of the hypothetical text N°02. “Sami owns two large lands one of which is of a joint tenancy form with his brother, and the other is notarized with a title deed. He also owns a vehicle estimated at AD 1,000,000.00. In addition to that, Sami decided to take outAD 6,590,000.80 from the local Bank to buy an apartment for a future monthly mortgage payment. Some years later, and before he died, he wrote his last will and testament that included the distribution of his bequests. It stated that his only son shall take by descent his own land and inherit his vehicle, his lot of the Joint tenancy shall be endowed as a Waqf to a charitable trust whereon a mosque and orphanage shall be built, and his building shall be doled to Abdelkader, a person in need”. Questions: 1. Read the text silently. 2. Listen to the text carefully. 3. Read the text orally. 4. Suggest a title for the text. 5. What does the word brother refer to in each position? “Sami owns two large lands one of which is of a joint tenancy form with his brother” 6. What are the other forms mentioned in the text? 7. Suggest other forms you know? 8. In a legal dictionary or a downloaded legal application on your smartphone/tablet, look up and choose with your classmate the synonyms of the following words. Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political & Economic Studies Teaching Specialized Vocabulary to Property-law Students: A Focus on Confusing Terminology Mohamed Charif MANSOURI 182 ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives Joint Tenancy/ Title Deed/ Mortgage/ Will/ Testament/ Bequests/ Charitable Trust/ Debt/ Auction/ Auction House/ Buyout Price/ Auctioneer/ Bidder/ Heir/Mortmain /Take by Descent/ Inherit/ Foreclose/ Sue. 9. According to the text and what you found, in what context do these words differ? Take by descent/inherit/heir 10. Retrieve foreign words and binomials from the text. In the messenger group, discuss with your classmates what was learned today. Also, try to exchange information and the problems faced while learning legal English. Homework! Appendix 05: Course Evaluation Journal Faced Challenges Consumed Activity/ Linguistic time Suggestions Other Question Method/techniqueetc. General Legal English English Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political & Economic Studies Teaching Specialized Vocabulary to Property-law Students: A Focus on Confusing Terminology Mohamed Charif MANSOURI 183 ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives Using English - Arabic Translation Method as an Explanatory Tool for Teaching ESP Noura Bashir SHAGI1 Abstract 1 Lecturer, Libya. This study aims to investigate the most important and effective
[email protected]theories and methodologies of using the English - Arabic translation method as an explanatory tool for teaching ESP. It also intends to highlight the method of translation from English into Arabic as an explanatory tool for the English Language Teachers and experts to enable them to convey the meaning of words, phrases, texts, and expressions to their students. To achieve these aims, structured observation, and a questionnaire (open- questions) were administered to eleven students at the Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering. The analysis of the translation’s observation and questionnaire reveals that translation has a great and very useful role in learning foreign languages, where the students interact with its role. The analysis also demonstrates that translation is considered as an aid to convey the meaning of words, phrases, texts, and expressions for students. Furthermore, translation is not only useful for improving their current language learning but also beneficial in their career. Keywords: Translation, (open- questions), Foreign Language, ESP, Structured Observation Citation: SHAGI, N, B. (2022). Using English - Arabic Translation Method as an Explanatory Tool for Teaching ESP. In H. Andaloussi (Ed.), ESP Teaching Today: Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives (pp. 184-195). Berlin, Germany: Democratic Arabic Center. Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political & Economic Studies Using English - Arabic Translation Method as an Explanatory Tool for Teaching ESP Noura Bashir SHAGI 184 ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives Introduction Translation has occupied a prominent place in English Language teaching and has become an attraction for many communicative classroom activities and teaching aids, despite the changing methods of its use. Many English Language teachers and theorists have begun to view the value and importance of translation as a language activity that occurs in the communicative classroom, despite the scarcity of textbooks offering ideas in this context. As Duff (1989:160) states “Both students and teachers turn to translation in the learning process, not a translation for learning modern translation activities typically span from the L1 mother tongue into the second (foreign) language L2. They have clear communication goals and real cognitive depth, exhibit high levels of motivation, and can produce great results”. The relationship between translation and language learning involves many disciplines and can be explored from different perspectives. According to Roy (2012:76) “The English Language plays a vital role in providing the translated book to the wide readers by bringing them to a global platform. English is known as a’ window’ to the world as well as a library, so fortunately the mission of translating books into English has been successful”. Dagilienė, I. (2012) states that “translation is independent and radically different from the four skills which define language competence: reading, writing, speaking and listening.” Translating written or spoken information is essential today, both for learners who live in their own countries and those who have come to reside in new countries, as well as for home- schooled learners.According to Yakout (2021p.17) cited in Newmark, (1988, p. 05), that is to say; “translation is the act of reforming ideas, concepts, images, and messages into another linguistic structure rather than just a word-for-word replacement. The term translation in this study primarily focuses on the reception, production, and reworking of spoken or written texts that take place in the physical classroom. The renaissance of foreign language learning, as well as the eagerness to discover the cultures behind it, along with the need to revive and represent mother tongues of the countries represented among the languages studied, acquires a foreign language a necessity. And the use of translation as a learning aid is widely used to support a person to learn the language.” Christine Dorio (2007:155) believes that “translation is an educational tool that helps teachers provide knowledge and get the result of their education”. Therefore, translation is a tool used by learners to transfer the characteristics of their official language in written form and transfer it into a foreign language. Substantial research studies were conducted to investigate several issues related to this area of translation. Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political & Economic Studies Using English - Arabic Translation Method as an Explanatory Tool for Teaching ESP Noura Bashir SHAGI 185 ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives One of these studies was done byDanilina (2020) who analyzed some instances of using translation as a teaching aid in the ESP classes of students studying history. As he considered the benefits that the practice of translation can bring to personalize English learning. The findings of this study revealed that although translation does not fully enhance students' abilities, communication skills help make learners aware of the typical deficiencies of their foreign language production activities and bring the spoken and written output of English Language learners closer to natural language production.The researcher recommended that the translation ought to be rendered extremely important for second sight medical learners in terms of developing comprehension skills. There's a dire need for translation in ESP medical categories because of the students’ poor level of English. Similarly, Koteva (2020) conducted a study on the Applicability of Translation in English for Specific Purposes Context: Students’ Perception. He provided a questionnaire containing six questions. The data from this study was collected from 32 Chemical Engineer Students which used expressive translation in their specific relevant English curriculum, including the reading of original texts, language work, and emphasizing vocabulary acquisition. The results indicated that the students showed a very positive attitude towards translation and its possibilities. As language learners, they demonstrated a positive belief that Translation in English for Specific Purposes in their study has improved in their practice and their foreign language skills. Mažeikienė (2019) investigated using translation in psychic phenomena. Although teaching and learning is a “very important” issue, it's been very scarcely researched, and as a result, there are negative connotations with the grammar-translation methodology.One must also, analyze educational publications on the employment of translation (and L1) in parapsychology teaching and learning to ascertain what aspects are raised by researchers and practitioners as regards the potency of translation as pedagogics in ESP categories in education.He provided a thematic analysis to collect the data of this study.The findings revealed that the translation-based activities are helpful for the second sight learner translation is an economical ESP teaching and learning technique if the quantity of translation done is well-balanced, activities are well- planned, and therefore the learner profile and wishes in every specific course are well-analyzed. Translation activities consolidate reading, writing, speaking and listening skills of the ESP learners, facilitate communication and comprehension of a selected field, develop analytic skills and teach to specialize inaccuracy. Finally,Translation activities not solely will consolidate a specific talent (reading, writing, speaking, and listening), however, translation is commonly viewed, because the inherent fifth skill aboard the opposite four specific talents. Contrary to long-held beliefs that translation as teaching and learning methodology isn't communicative, up to date researchers maintain that translation facilitates, cultural understanding, and communication of parapsychology learners improves their data of a particular field, develops ESP learners’ analytic skills interact with them in communication comparisons, and consequently brings a much-needed specialize inaccuracy within the ESP contexts and future skilled settings. Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political & Economic Studies Using English - Arabic Translation Method as an Explanatory Tool for Teaching ESP Noura Bashir SHAGI 186 ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives Correspondingly, Chirobocea (2018) conducted a study on the use of translation as a language learning teaching method in general (English as a Foreign Language) and specifically (English for Specific Purposes) classes, highlighting its advantages in this field. He collected the data of this study by using surveys and classroom-tested methods. The results showed that the use of translation in educational processes is seen as useful and effective and should be reconsidered as a valuable aid to English Language Courses in general and English Language in particular. Therefore, Olivia,(2018) conducted a study the assess their perceptions of the course style that enclosed translation activities as acquisition devices similarly, because of the use of L1, specifically for the introduction and revision of adverse nomenclature concerning their various domains. He collected the data of this study by using questionnaires (both open-ended and closed-ended questions). The results were favorable given the premise, wherein the bulk of participants found the translation activities helpful for the development of their data of English, and conjointly even gratifying. Similarly, Rushwan, (2017) stated that to shed lightweight on the importance of translation as a pedagogic tool in developing the reading comprehension skills of psychic phenomena medical learners at Najran University- KSA. It also aims to help students consider a standardized language and avoid the imperfections of machine translation. This will affect the use of translation in parapsychology medical categories to assist students to comprehend terminologies and texts. He provided an experiment and a questionnaire tool to collect the data of this study. Two comparable similar groups from Community College (Medical Laboratory Department) and the College of Community Service were selected. The Continuing Learning was selected particularly for experimentation purposes. The numbers totaled (80), (40) of them of which were from each college. The researcher depended on experiments and convincing arguments to nullify that the use of L1 is strictly prohibited in teaching. The findings disclosed that the students don't seem to be solely weak in English with command of vocabulary, however, they're additionally very reluctant to find out. The depth of content associated with degreed complexness of medical terms are issues encountered by the bulk of them. Whenever they are available across a term, they resort to MT to visualize its meaning, and most of the time they are misled further.So, as per the researcher’s point of view, correct use of translation in a parapsychology medical category could be a positive teaching tool and can also facilitate the learning process.The researcher recommended that the translation ought to be rendered extremely important for second sight medical learners in terms of developing comprehension skills. Kavaliauskienė, Kaminskienė (2007) stated that to examine students' perceptions about the use of native language and translation in learning English for Specific Purposes (ESP), the researcher surveyed students’ perceptions of the amount of mother tongue which is needed in the acquisition of the English Language. The findings revealed that the translation activities helped raise the awareness of learners, and contributed to the development of the language. Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political & Economic Studies Using English - Arabic Translation Method as an Explanatory Tool for Teaching ESP Noura Bashir SHAGI 187 ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives After reviewing the literature, it has been found that the present study agrees with the previous studies dealing with the subject of translation as a teaching method in ESP. These studies have also used translation as a tool to provide knowledge and help students to learn the language. It was also found that few studies have used the English - Arabic translation for teaching ESP to students specializing in Mechanical and Industrial Engineering. Furthermore, to the researchers' knowledge, few studies have addressed these issues. Therefore, this study was aimed to investigate the usage of English - Arabic translation as an explanatory tool for teaching English as a specific purpose to students from the third semester at the Mechanical and Industrial Engineering Department, so this study gave rise to: 1-Highlight using translation from English into Arabic as an explanatory tool for English Language teachers and experts that enabled them to convey the meaning of words, phrases, texts, and expressions for students. 2- Call English Language teachers to encourage students to draw comparisons between their first language, Arabic, and second language English, to avoid language transfer that results from the characteristics of the mother tongue. Research Problem Using the English - Arabic translation method for teaching ESP to students is considered as one of the most important matters on which translation is based as an explanatory tool. As this issue is still under discussion among English Language learning experts, who are divided about it over into two opinions: The first opinion group believes that the use of the method of translation from English into Arabic, as an explanatory tool in an English class, is very useful. As the student understands the texts, words, sentences, or expressions accurately since it conveys the intended meaning completely by comparing it with the Arabic language and thus learners can differentiate between similarities and differences, especially about language usage and phrasal verbs. The counter-opinion group believes that using the method of translation from English into Arabic as an explanatory tool in an English class may encourage students not to do their best in understanding English words, phrases, texts, and expressions. While learning through the English-English method, thus not relying on the method of translation, enhances their ability to practice English skills in terms of the development of their listening and speaking skills. Research Hypothesis The researcher assumed that the use of the method of translation from English into Arabic, as an explanatory tool in teaching ESP, which is limited to clarifying the meaning is difficult to be understood or is different from Arabic, which in turn helps students to draw correct Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political & Economic Studies Using English - Arabic Translation Method as an Explanatory Tool for Teaching ESP Noura Bashir SHAGI 188 ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives comparisons between English and Arabic. It may enable them to find similarities and differences in linguistic usage between Arabic and English that will promote their level of English Language proficiency and develop their ability to achieve their fluency in English. Research Significance As this study is about using English - Arabic translation method as an explanatory tool for teaching ESP, it explains necessary and significant issues through the following: 1-It focuses on the importance of linking ESP to EFL and refers to paying attention to it as a position of question and interest. 2-It informs English Language teachers of the use of translation from English into Arabic as an explanatory tool in teaching ESP. The Participants To achieve the study goals and test the hypothesis, a sample of eleven Libyan students, three females and eight males, of age range between 25-26 years old were chosen from the Mechanical and Industrial Engineering Department. These students acquired the English Language from their primary schooling and were required to study English (ESP) during their education at the Department. Methodology & Data Collection Procedures To collect data and answer research questions, qualitative research methods were used. The instruments, which were utilized to gather the information, were done through structured observation and a questionnaire (opened- questions). Structured observation the researcher observed and recorded detailed and descriptive data of behavior that students displayed through lectures. According to Nesto (2018) “The researcher, who engaged in structured observations, is interested in a small number of specific behaviors. Therefore, rather than recording everything that happens, the researcher only focuses on very specific behaviors of interest”. The questionnaire was designed to report the students' opinions towards using translation from English into Arabic as a tool for teaching ESP. It consisted of nine items (opened- questions). Almost all the questionnaire items asked students about their attitudes towards using translation as a method useful to them in understanding the English Language. Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political & Economic Studies Using English - Arabic Translation Method as an Explanatory Tool for Teaching ESP Noura Bashir SHAGI 189 ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives The questions used in the questionnaire were as follows: Does the teacher translate everything in the lesson from English into Arabic? What language does the teacher use in English or English with Arabic? Which one do you prefer? Is the use of the translation method useful to you in understanding the English language? Do you agree that translation from English into Arabic is one of the reasons for the problem of not learning English well? Do you consider the teacher's use of the Arabic language as an aid in your understanding of the exact meaning? Would you understand the lesson if the teacher explained the lesson in English only? The questionnaire was analyzed by using the qualitative data and the thematic analysis (placing the students' answers under specific themes). Data Analysis Thematic analysis was used to analyze the collected data. According to Virginia Braun and Victoria Clark (2006) “There are six-step processes in conducting thematic analysis: familiarisation, coding, generating themes, reviewing themes, defining and naming themes, and writing up. 1.1 Familiarisation: The first phase involves taking initial notes generally through the data. 1.2 Coding: In the second phase, the researcher started reading through all the answers and observation and assigning code. 1.3 Generating themes: In the third phase, the researcher created themes, as he/she combined several codes into a single theme that conveyed something helpful about the data. 1.4 Reviewing: In the fourth phase, the researcher had to make sure that his/her themes were useful and accurate presentations of the data. 1.5 Defining and naming theme: In the fifth phase, each code was defined and labeled. 1.6 Writing up: In the final phase, the analysis of the data was written down Table 1. The data analysis process with a sample of codes, categories, and themes Samples of initial coding explains - understanding - support - assistance encouragement - motivation benefit - language level - Difficulty - learning - knowledge - easy - new words help - meaning - comprehension Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political & Economic Studies Using English - Arabic Translation Method as an Explanatory Tool for Teaching ESP Noura Bashir SHAGI 190 ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives Table 1. The data analysis process with a sample of codes Results and Discussion The analysis of the data generated through the short questionnaire (open-ended questions) revealed themes that are related to the use of translation as an English teaching and learning tool. The first theme: Increased comprehension-which refers to using translation in lectures. The second theme: Perceived benefits-which refer to benefits that the participants believed to be associated with translation. Theme 1: Increased Comprehension The first theme that was revealed from the data was increased comprehension. The participating student language learners mentioned that they prefer to use translation in learning English for specific purposes. Particularly, most students preferred to use translation to comprehend the lesson, terms, and new lessons in the lecture. Therefore, the students agreed that using translation was motivating and increased their desire to learn English more. Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political & Economic Studies Using English - Arabic Translation Method as an Explanatory Tool for Teaching ESP Noura Bashir SHAGI 191 ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives Participants’ responses were as follows: Yes, it is considered one of the aids for understanding. How can the student understand the English word? If you do not know the English language. And I have seen lessons to learn Arabic for non-native speakers. They depend on the method of translation from the mother tongue into Arabic. For me, translation helps in comprehending the lesson more and thus facilitates learning the ESP. The translation is considered as an aid to understanding more. The translation is very useful in encouraging the learning of the ESP. For myself, I find translation helps increase the desire to learn ESP. The translation helps in understanding and learning the English language quickly. In all, the academic benefit of using translation was mentioned consistently by the students, which increased their understanding of their desire to learn English as ESP. Theme 2: Perceived Benefits: The second theme that emerged from the data was The perceived benefits of using translation. The participating language learners believed that using translation resulted in academic and social benefits related to teaching and learning English as ESP. One sub-theme was presented in the students’ questionnaire (open- questions) responses. A common benefit of using translation shared by the participating students was increased understanding. Most of the participants reported that translation allows for more understanding of the target language. Participants’ responses were as follows: The translation is an integral part of learning English and practicing it within the community. A translation has a lot of advantages, the most important of which is to facilitate language learning at the beginning for beginners to draw comparisons between vocabulary as well as synonyms between the two languages. The use of translation helps to understand terms and vocabulary and keep pace with the requirements of the language for use in the field of work.” The translation is useful for understanding English grammar and its use in the academic field.” The translation is an aid to understanding the nature of the language and what corresponds to the mother tongue. Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political & Economic Studies Using English - Arabic Translation Method as an Explanatory Tool for Teaching ESP Noura Bashir SHAGI 192 ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives Ultimately, the participating language learners believed that using translation increased their understanding of the English Language. They were able to learn more words that deal with another language in their communities. In addition, it provided a suitable future career. The students’ attitudes towards the use of translation in an ESP class are positive. Regarding the benefits of using translation, the study found that the use of translation resulted in social and academic benefits, such as increased comprehension and understanding. Most participating students agreed that using translation in classes increased their motivation for learning languages. The findings of this study are corresponding to those results of the previous studies conducted by researchers and EFL students Danilina (2020) Koteva (2020) Mažeikienė (2019) Chirobocea 2018) Olivia, (2018) Rushwan, (2017) Kavaliauskienė, Kaminskienė (2007). All these studies have shown that students have a very positive belief in translation to improve practice and improve their ESP. In addition, the use of translation helped in understanding vocabulary and enabled them to make comparisons to their mother tongue, as well as using translation as an auxiliary tool that saved them time and effort. In addition, it provided them again with opportunities to advance their career. Conclusion and Recommendations This study aimed to investigate the usage of English - Arabic translation as an explanatory tool for teaching English as a specific purpose to students from the third semester at the Mechanical and Industrial Engineering Department. It also aimed to encourage students to draw comparisons between their first language, Arabic, and second language, English. The results revealed that translation may be a great tool to develop the four skills of reading, writing, listening, and speaking. Overall, one will say that students show a positive angle towards translation and its potential, and as language learners, they need a positive belief regarding translation to promote, practice, and enhance their foreign language skills. Therefore, Translation has a very important role in learning foreign languages such as ESP. The findings also indicate that the students saved a lot of time and effort through translation by understanding the topic of the lesson. This also refers to the role of translation, which is not limited to understanding the meanings of vocabulary in one lesson but is also useful in obtaining suitable jobs in the future. Recommendation for Further Studies The translation should be rendered highly significant for ESP technical learners in terms of developing comprehension skills. There is a dire need for translation in ESP technical classes due to the students’ poor level in English. Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political & Economic Studies Using English - Arabic Translation Method as an Explanatory Tool for Teaching ESP Noura Bashir SHAGI 193 ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives With limited use of mother tongue, students would accumulate the heavy load of the specialized vocabulary. Translation ought to be concerned within the activities of vocabulary and literature lectures, to form the learner nearer to the origins of the target language and give him the chance to compare it along with his L1. Teachers’ ought to encourage the utilization of written dictionaries instead of electronic ones or enable their students to use them below his control, thus He will correct the deceptive of this technology. Some teachers ought to mirror flexibility towards all the pedagogic ways that serve the learners’ needs, as well as translation. The following areas can be suggested for further research: It is deemed advisable to conduct research regarding ESP and its connection to translation in the field of technology, law, business administration, etc. Reference - Chirobocea, O. (2018). A Case for the Use of Translation in ESP Classes. Journal of Languages for Specific Purposes, 5(2018), 67-76. - Danilina, S. Translation as a teaching aid in the ESP classroom. - Dagilienė, I. (2012). Translation as a learning method in English language teaching. Studies about languages, (21), 124-129. - Jones, F. R. (1989). Alan Duff. Translation. Target. International Journal of Translation Studies, 1(2), 257-259. - Koteva, G. Applicability of Translation in English for Specific Purposes Context: Students’ Perception. - Kavaliauskienė, G., &Kaminskienė, L. (2007). Translation as a learning tool in English for specific purposes. Kalbotyra, 57, 132-139. - Maguire, M., & Delahunt, B. (2017). Doing a thematic analysis: A practical, step-by- step guide for learning and teaching scholars. All Ireland Journal of Higher Education, 9(3). Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political & Economic Studies Using English - Arabic Translation Method as an Explanatory Tool for Teaching ESP Noura Bashir SHAGI 194 ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives - Mažeikienė, V. (2019). Translation as a method in teaching ESP: An inductive thematic analysis of literature. Journal of Teaching English for Specific and Academic Purposes, 513-523. - Nestor, P. G., & Schutt, R. K. (2018). Research methods in psychology: Investigating human behavior. Sage Publications. - Olivia, C. (2018). Translation as Language Learning Technique and the Use of L1 in ESP Classes. Learners’ Perceptions. Ovidius University Annals, Economic Sciences Series, 18(2), 221-227. - Rushwan, I. M. H. (2017). The role of translation in developing ESP learners’ reading comprehension skills-A case study of medical students at Najran University- KSA. International Journal of Applied Linguistics and English Literature, 6(3), 243- 253. - Roy, V. K. (2012). The Need and Importance of Translation and the Role of the English language. Labyrinth: An International Refereed Journal of Postmodern Studies, 3(4). - Yakout, K. (2021). The Use of Translation as a Tool in EFL Learning. Case Study: Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political & Economic Studies Using English - Arabic Translation Method as an Explanatory Tool for Teaching ESP Noura Bashir SHAGI 195 ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives Pedagogical Qualifications for Teaching English for Specific Purposes ; University of M'sila, Algeria Amal ZINE1 Abstract 1 University of M'sila, Algeria. ESP teachers are expected to play different pivotal roles in the teaching
[email protected]and learning process. More than just teaching, they have to be course designers and materials providers, researchers, collaborators and evaluators. Such requirements are not really considered when recruiting ESP teachers at most universities in Algeria. Three teachers from the Economics department at M' sila university were interviewed to test their awareness of the qualifications and readiness for the task of teaching in specialized contexts. The findings revealed that teachers opt for the traditional method of lecturing, where students are passive participants and the course content, in its perfect sense, is no more than teaching specialized registers. Additionally, their pedagogical knowledge is deemed to be less than adequate in the above mentioned discipline. In this respect, this study recommends that recruitment policy should reconsider prerequisites like education, knowledge and training, ESP teachers ought to possess in order to competently appeal for the job. Keywords: English for specific purposes (ESP), English for general purposes (EGP), ESP practitioner, learners' needs, pedagogical challenges, teacher training Citation: ZINE, A. (2022). Pedagogical Qualifications for Teaching English for Specific Purposes ; University of M'sila, Algeria. In H. Andaloussi (Ed.), ESP Teaching Today: Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives (pp. 196-208). Berlin, Germany: Democratic Arabic Center. Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political & Economic Studies Pedagogical Qualifications for Teaching English for Specific Purposes ; University of M'sila, Algeria Amal ZINE 196 ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives Introduction From the early 1960's, English for Specific Purposes (ESP) has grown to become one of the most prominent areas of EFL/ESL teaching and learning. Though it developed considerably at different speeds in different areas in the world, ESP is still at its infancy in Algerian educational contexts. According to a report published by The British Council in 2012, English is spoken to an intermediate level by 7% of the Algerian population. Following the results of the same source, the Algerian government is aware that “improved employability, access to scientific research and ability to communicate in the workplace can be more effectively enhanced through the learning of English” (British Council, 2012). Being aware of such a need, in 2006, an improved curriculum was launched in Algerian middle and high schools as an attempt to modernize the Algerian society and keep updated with globalization. Despite such a decision, in contexts where learning is highly specialized like in higher education, there is an urgent need to revise the way English is taught. Accordingly, if ESP is defined as an approach to teaching English for any purpose that could be specified (Hutchinson & Waters, 1987), students at university level are enrolled in different specialisms where they form homogeneous classes in which the teaching content should be specific and the target needs are well defined. This is not to deny that recently a higher education policy is in the making to Englishize Algerian universities. Being an approach to teaching English, ESP would overburden the task for teachers to opt for a teaching methodology different from that of general English. In this respect, the task for the ESP teacher is challenging and tiresome. It requires a set of qualifications and a special readiness to cope with teaching a specialized class, for a purpose, using appropriate methodology and relevant content. According to Dudley Evans and St. John (1998), ESP is designed to meet the needs of the learners, it makes use of the methodology and activities of the disciplines it serves and is centered on the language, skills, discourse and genres appropriate to these activities. Therefore, it is a real load for the ESP teacher to be tentatively aware of the changing needs of the learners and to train them to master the necessary competences in order to adequately perform in the target situation. The difficulty in teaching ESP, much more, lies in the teachers' perceptions of how ESP teaching and learning takes place. They may wrongly perceive teaching ESP as similar to EGP, because it does not matter how it should be taught as long as it is English. This is to admit that though theoretically ESP and EGP has much in common, but in practice they differ considerably (Hutchinson & Waters, 1987). In respect to the learner-centeredness nature of ESP, learners are said to be the core of the teaching learning process. Their needs, interests, preferred learning styles, cognitive and psychological abilities are the required engine in order for learning to take place. Henceforth, Richterich and Chancerel (1980) stated that everything starts from the learner and everything Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political & Economic Studies Pedagogical Qualifications for Teaching English for Specific Purposes ; University of M'sila, Algeria Amal ZINE 197 ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives goes back to him. This may just add to the multifaceted responsibilities of the ESP teacher; accordingly, a starting task is to define the needs of the students and a final task is to evaluate the relevance of the course and to check the learners' ability to make use of what they learnt to perform academic and professional tasks. In discussing the plethoric roles of the ESP teacher, one may be driven by the belief that it is up to the teacher to do the whole job being overtasked by different roles and may just enquire: what is left for the learner? Doesn't this imply that it is just a modified version of EGP teaching and learning? In fact ESP learners play the role of being partners in their learning. In other words, learners should be responsible enough to link their actual academic and occupational needs to the concurrent instructional courses and methodology. Adding to that, great awareness of learning process in any ESP contexts is dependent on learners’ linguistic level, self-autonomy, and the teachers- learners' interaction. In respect to what ESP teaching and learning looks like, the purpose of the current paper is to investigate the teachers' roles and qualifications in ESP contexts. While ESP scholars recommend the important skills ESP teachers need to be qualified for, teachers' performance at M'sila university, namely in Economics classes, is said to be less than adequate. This paper also aims to define the challenges facing ESP teachers to appeal successfully for their job as ''the success or failure of a lesson, a class, or a learner is not only related to the methodologically perfect teacher, to reach the high standards of a professional educator, it seems just as important as to develop personally as well as professionally'' (Constantinides, 2001, p. 6). It further seeks to answer the following research questions: 1. Does teaching in ESP contexts, at M'sila university, appeal to the requirements and qualifications teachers need to acquire? 2. What are the challenges facing ESP teachers to succeed in teaching for specific purposes? 1. What is ESP? Starting from the assumption that ESP was a phenomenon rather than a planned for movement, it needed time to be appropriately defined. If we assume that ESP began in the 60's, definitions of ESP in literature are late in time. According to Hutchinson and Waters (1987, p. 19), ESP must be seen as an approach not as a product ". It does not involve a particular kind of language, teaching methodology or teaching material. Rather, it is based on the simple question: Why does this learner need to learn a foreign language? Hutchinson and Waters further assume that in order to give a final accurate definition to what ESP is, it is worth stating what ESP is not. To this end, they state that: a. The task of ESP is not to teach special language required by particular contexts. b. ESP is not to teach the language surface features of lexis and grammar displayed in specialized texts. c. The ESP process of learning is not distinctive from that of learning EGP. The ESP methodologies may be used in any other type of English teaching and learning. Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political & Economic Studies Pedagogical Qualifications for Teaching English for Specific Purposes ; University of M'sila, Algeria Amal ZINE 198 ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives "ESP, then, is an approach to language teaching in which all decisions as to content and method are based on the learner’s reasons for learning" (Hutchinson & Waters, 1987, p. 19). Another distinctive definition is that of Strevens' (1988). His definition of ESP makes a distinction between four absolute characteristics and two variable ones. Concerning the absolute characteristics, ESP consists of English language teaching that is: designed to meet specified needs of the learner, related in content to particular disciplines, occupation and activities, centered on the language appropriate to those activities in syntax, lexis, discourse, semantics, etc., and analysis of the discourse, designed in contrast with General English. In terms of variable characteristics, ESP may: be restricted to the language skills to be learned, e.g. reading; not be taught according to any pre-ordained methodology. Robinson’s (1991, p. 3) definition of ESP is based on two criteria accompanied with a set of characteristics: ESP is normally ‘goal-directed’. ESP courses develop from a needs analysis which aims to specify what exactly it is that students have to do through the medium of English. ESP courses are generally constrained by a limited time period in which their objectives have to be achieved. ESP is taught to adults in homogenous classes in terms of the work or specialist studies that the students are involved in. Each of these definitions has validity but also weaknesses. Considering Hutchinson and Water’s definition, Anthony (1997) noted that it is not clear where GE course ends and ESP course begins because numerous non-specialist ESP instructors use ESP approach in that their syllabi are based on analysis of learner needs and their own specialist personal knowledge of English for real communication. Strevens’ definition, by referring to content in the second absolute characteristic, may confirm the impression held by many teachers that ESP is always and necessarily related to subject content. Robinson’s mention of homogenous classes as a characteristic of ESP may lead to the same conclusion. However, much of ESP work is based on the idea of a common-core of language and skills belonging to all academic disciplines or cutting across the whole activity of business. ESP teaching should always reflect the underlying concepts and activities of the discipline. Having this in mind, Dudley-Evans and St John (1998) Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political & Economic Studies Pedagogical Qualifications for Teaching English for Specific Purposes ; University of M'sila, Algeria Amal ZINE 199 ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives modified Strevens’ definition of ESP. In relevance to the absolute characteristics, their definition is that: ESP is designed to meet specific needs of the learner, ESP makes use of the underlying methodology and activities of the disciplines it serves, ESP is centered on the language, (grammar, lexis, register) skills, discourse and genres appropriate to these activities. Concerning the variable characteristics, they claim that: ESP may be related or designed for specific disciplines, ESP may use, in specific teaching situations, a different methodology from that of general English, ESP is likely to be designed for adult learners, either at a tertiary level institution or in a professional work situation it could be used for learners at secondary school level, ESP is generally designed for intermediate or advanced learners, Most ESP courses assume basic knowledge of the language system, but it can be used with beginners. In regard to the scholars' characteristics to ESP, the priority of needs analysis is the common absolute feature of the defining criteria. Analyzing learners' needs is crucial in ESP teaching and learning. It is the legitimate property of the ESP course that characterizes ESP teaching from EGP teaching. 2. Why ESP? The emergence of ESP is attributed to three main reasons which occasionally converged to push this approach to light. New ideas about learning, new ideas about language, and new ideas about learner assisted ESP emergence and set it forth as a new trend to EFL/ESL teaching and learning. As the post World War II witnessed an era of tremendous growth in science and technology that was dominant over the whole world, there was a need for an international language for people to run their businesses and cope with developments in technology and commerce. In this era of development, the United States of America came to power and it seemed unwise to think of a language rather than English. Therefore, English came to play the role of a lingua franca and meanwhile as a key to the international currencies of trade and technology. This era as well was characterized by a shift in the purpose people were learning English for. People became more aware about their needs to learn the language. English was no more a sign of well- education and prestige rather than a means to achieve communicative purposes. “Language is Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political & Economic Studies Pedagogical Qualifications for Teaching English for Specific Purposes ; University of M'sila, Algeria Amal ZINE 200 ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives learnt not for its own sake or for the sake of gaining a general education, but to smooth the path to entry or greater linguistic efficiency in academic, professional or workplace environments” (Basturkmen, 2006, p. 18). Adding to that, the new generation of learners knew exactly what they need English for and they urged teachers to design courses relevant to their needs and interests. Another significant reason that heralded a turning point in language studies was the revolution in linguistics. The study of language shifted from describing the rules of usage to discovering ways in which language is used for real communication (Widdowson, 1978). Identifying the surface features of language is now questioned by the situations of use since they differ considerably and the written and spoken language used differs from one context of use to another. Thus, special spoken and written registers are the property of context. This is being said, teaching English became subject to the learners' purpose of learning. This helped in the development of English courses designed to groups of learners each according to his context of use. In short, through analyzing the linguistic characteristics of each context, the English needed by a specific group of learners could be identified. Consequently, the guiding principle of any task of ESP teaching and learning is purely communicative in nature and is simply stated as: “Tell me what you need English for and I will tell you the English you need” (Hutchinson &Waters, 1987, p. 8). In considering new ideas about the learner, developments in the field of educational psychology remarked a real shift from teacher-centeredness to learner-centeredness. The role of the learner shifted from a passive participant to an active thinking being who can be an effective partner in teaching the language. Eventually, if learners are the center of the teaching learning process, their needs; wishes; interests; preferred learning styles, attitudes towards learning should be regarded to ensure positive outcomes. Ongoing thinking about these subjective factors during the process of teaching would involve the learners and help them enjoy learning. This is supported by Hatchinson and Waters' claim: ''the clear relevance of the English course to their needs would improve the learners' motivation and thereby make learning better and faster.''(1987, p. 8) 3. ESP Vs EGP The difference between ESP and EGP may theoretically stem from the fact that while ESP is learner-centered, EGP is language-centered. By learner-centered, the idea is that the course content, the tasks and activities, the objectives of the course are defined in respect to the learner. In contrast, a language-centered approach to teaching regards covering the language aspects like lexis, grammar and skills as being ends themselves. This is expressed by strevens' (1988) claim that ESP is designed in contrast with general English. In the same line of thought, Robinson (1980, p. 6) stated that: The general with which we are contrasting the specific is that of general education for life, culture and literature oriented language course in which the language itself is Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political & Economic Studies Pedagogical Qualifications for Teaching English for Specific Purposes ; University of M'sila, Algeria Amal ZINE 201 ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives the subject matter and the purpose of the course. However, In ESP after the identification and the analysis of specific learning needs, students learn English en- route to the acquisition of some quite different body of knowledge and set of skills. Further distinction between General English courses and ESP is that, learners of the latter are mainly adult with a certain degree of awareness concerning their language needs (Hutchinson & Waters, 1987). Whereas, General English courses are provided to pupils as compulsory module at schools, their unique purpose is to succeed in the examinations. However, this is not absolute as ESP can be designed for beginners. Accordingly, though most ESP courses assume basic knowledge of the language system, it can be used with beginners (Dudley-Evans & St John, 1998). This demonstrates that there is no clear cut between ESP and EGP teaching and where one stops and the other starts. Still, even when claiming that ESP is based on needs analysis; this is not absolute either, as Hutchinson and Water highlight the existence of needs in general English courses. They argue that: It is often argued that the needs of the general English learner, for example the schoolchild, are not specifiable…In fact, this is the weakest of all arguments, because it is always possible to specify needs, even if it is only the need to pass the exam at the end of the school year. There is always an identifiable need of some sort. What distinguishes ESP from General English is not the existence of a need as such but rather an awareness of the need (1987, p. 53). 4. Skills required from the ESP practitioner Due to the heavy and multiple tasks required from the ESP teacher, Swales (1985); Dudley- Evans and John (1998) prefer to call him a practitioner. Dudley –Evans and St. John determine the difference that distinguishes ESP teacher from GE teacher by stating the following: ''It will already be clear that we regard ESP teaching as extremely varied, and for this reason we use the term ‘practitioner’ rather than ‘teacher’ to emphasize that ESP work involves much more than teaching ( 1998, p.13)''. In fact the role of the ESP teacher does not confront with the EGP teacher; rather it goes beyond the task of teaching to other divergent roles to achieve the purpose of which students are attending a specific class. According to Strevens (1988), ESP practitioners are only GE teachers being involved in special training courses to teach ESP to specific groups of learners. Similarly, Robinson proposes that: Being an ESP teacher is not easy. One of the prime requisites would seem to be flexibility and a willingness to try new approaches and methods. Whatever the training that is given to an ESP teacher and whatever the situation, it is probably the case that becoming an effective teacher of ESP requires more ‘’ experience ‘’ , ‘’additional training , ‘’extra effort ‘’“fresh commitment‘’ compared with being a teacher of “General English” (1991, p. 96). Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political & Economic Studies Pedagogical Qualifications for Teaching English for Specific Purposes ; University of M'sila, Algeria Amal ZINE 202 ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives By flexibility, Robinson refers to the general English teacher's ability to cope with new situations where teaching is for specific purposes. This is being said, both Strevens and Robinson's mention of ''training'' implies that the skills required for the GE kind of teaching do not qualify the GE teacher to teach in specific contexts, so the need for pre-determined ESP skills is highly demanded. Thus, adding to the traditional skills performed by the GE teacher; to name just few: information provider, instructor, controller, manager, counselor and social worker (Prodromou, 1991), the ESP practitioner has to play several other roles. Dudley-Evans and St. John (1998) identified five essential roles: ▪ Teacher ▪ Course designer and material provider ▪ Collaborator ▪ Researcher ▪ Evaluator Being a teacher in ESP is characterized by the non-uniqueness of the teaching methodology. That is to say, methodology in ESP is subject to specific disciplines, different skills and tasks, and learners' specific needs. In tracing back ESP defining criteria and in respect to the teaching methodology, it is respectively stated by Hutchinson and Waters, Strevens, and Dudley-Evans and St. John that: ESP does not involve a particular kind of language, teaching methodology or teaching material, it is not to be taught according to any pre-ordained methodology, it may use in specific teaching situations a different methodology from that of general English. For instance, teaching English for science and technology may considerably differ from teaching English for business purposes; therefore, "there never was and probably never will be a method for all (Nunan, 1990, p. 228)". In talking about teaching specific disciplines, students may be more knowledgeable of the subject matter than the teacher himself/herself. This gives new insights to the teaching methodology in ESP classes. Teachers might not be the primary source of knowledge, so that the teaching process is likely to be a partnership between the ESP teacher and the students (Dudley-Evans & St. John, 1998). Another demanding role in teaching ESP is designing the course and providing materials relevant to the students' needs. It calls for absolute readiness from the part of the ESP teacher as it is only performed through a set of overlapping procedures starting from analyzing the students' needs to writing the material if need be. Due to the fact that ESP teaching is centered on the language appropriate to those activities in syntax, lexis, discourse, semantics, etc., and analysis of the discourse, it is the task of the teacher to design the activities that appeal to the defined needs using appropriate language. In comparison with the ESP teacher, the GE teacher is provided with ready-made textbooks recommended to all learners in respect to their level of English language proficiency. Meanwhile, the task is not that easy for the ESP practitioner mainly when no published materials that respond to students' linguistic and communicative needs are available. When he/she can neither adopt nor adapt from what is available, the teacher should create tailored materials. To this end, once again, he/she could not Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political & Economic Studies Pedagogical Qualifications for Teaching English for Specific Purposes ; University of M'sila, Algeria Amal ZINE 203 ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives escape the constant enquiries such as: Does the content of the ESP material need to be highly specialized? How much compulsory is the use of authentic material? ''ESP teachers are all too often reluctant dwellers in a strange and uncharted land ' (Hutchinson & Waters, 1987, p. 158)''. To this fearful description, the ESP teacher needs to collaborate with the specialist in the field to overcome his/her fear and reluctance. While it is not his role to become a subject matter teacher, he/she should play the role of an interested student in the subject matter. Team-teaching is a requirement not only at the first steps of course design but it should last alongside teaching the course content and evaluating the materials (Johns et al., 1988). Collaboration should be ongoing even with students as they are supposed to be knowledgeable about their subject matter and may help whenever difficulties are encountered with the content knowledge. While collaboration may help the ESP teacher generate knowledge about "the strange uncharted land'', of greatest importance is the need for him/her to keep updated with changes and developments in the field and to indulge himself/herself in ongoing search of how ESP teaching could be more effective and ESP learning could be better and faster. John and Price- Machado emphasize on the need for the ESP practitioner to attend classes several times, to discuss with the concerned administrative staff and to dig out the peculiar strategies which guide and assist him/her in teaching (2001). This role, in essence, is highly recommended for the other roles to be performed adequately. Last but not least, the ESP practitioner's fifth role is being an evaluator. Once again, to avoid the misinterpretation of a post course assessment results, evaluation should co-occur alongside the whole process of ESP teaching. Learners should be assessed through placement, achievement, and proficiency tests and courses should be evaluated to check what might go wrong in relevance to needs analysis, materials selection and teaching methodology (Hutchinson & Waters, 1987; Dudley-Evans & St. John, 1998). 5. Methodology The current study opts for a descriptive research to investigate the teachers' skills and competences being ESP practitioners. This qualitative research targets reporting some pedagogical actual problems teachers encounter once they experience teaching English for specific purposes that is both new and demanding. The sample of this paper contains three English teachers who are recruited to teach English at the Economics department. They have been teaching English in this department for 1, 4, and 18 years. Two teachers have a Master degree in English while the longer experienced teacher is a specialist in the field of Economics, with a PhD, and with an English certificate from a private school. Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political & Economic Studies Pedagogical Qualifications for Teaching English for Specific Purposes ; University of M'sila, Algeria Amal ZINE 204 ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives The teachers were interviewed for the major objective stated by the study which is to investigate the ESP teaching situation in this specific field and to find out whether teaching is accompanied with the skills and requirements teachers should be armed with to fulfill the task. The interview contains 14 open-ended questions to leave a room for teachers feel free to express their teaching experiences in a context different from general English. Moreover, their readiness, awareness, attitudes and motivation are also discussed. 6. Results and Discussion 6.1. Teachers' performance and methodology in Economics classes In respect to ESP teachers' competence in this field, we notice that they assume little knowledge of what is meant by ESP teaching. This is because they never experience this approach to teaching English before and they are only familiar with the general English teaching approach. When asked about their awareness and readiness to teach English for specific purposes, all teachers perceive teaching the language as any other general teacher would do. They make use of what they are familiar with and act as information providers. They come to class with the assumption that students, due to their weak English level, may need some rules of grammar and vocabulary lists. When asked to describe the course content and whether they follow the procedures of course design and needs analysis, once again, teachers focus on teaching basic language aspects with much focus on grammar rules and lexis. They are not aware of the priority of the needs analysis process when teaching in an ESP context. All of them depend on their intuition to select the content (texts and activities) for course design. With too much focus on conjugating verbs in the right tenses, teachers design tasks based on isolated sentences most of the time using common-core based examples which do not correlate with the subject matter content. Though the need for carrier content (that is the content of the subject matter) is mandatory to teach the real content (the language), teachers are unconscious to look for relevant contents. In respect to selecting authentic materials for course design, none of the teachers tried them for their ESP classes. Teachers ignore the fact that using authentic materials may just accelerate learning and end up with satisfactory output. Once teachers are aware that bringing the work place tasks to the classroom contexts for training purposes increases learning and ensure motivation, they will be more attentive during the course design process. As reviewed above, needs analysis is the corner stone of any ESP teaching/learning program. Evidently, all interviewees prove total absence of conducting it before setting their students for the course. This indicates that teachers opt for a teacher-centered methodology to ESP teaching. Thus not considering students' present, learning, and target needs may just reflect the inadequate teaching and learning situation in Economics classes. Crucial than that is the teachers' little Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political & Economic Studies Pedagogical Qualifications for Teaching English for Specific Purposes ; University of M'sila, Algeria Amal ZINE 205 ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives awareness and knowledge that this is not a GE context where the approach to teaching is arguably language-centered. Accordingly, it seems that it does not matter how much effective is the course as long as teachers are teaching ''the target language''. Back to the debatable issue of how much knowledgeable about the subject matter content an ESP teacher should be, two teachers claim satisfactory level in Economics; one of them being a specialist teacher and the other being a previous student at the Economics department. While this may just solve the problem of ''who should teach ESP, a specialist in the field or a language teacher?'', the teachers' unawareness of ESP as an approach to teaching English for specific fields and purposes may just sustain it. Concerning the other interviewee, he never tries to acquire the expertise related to the subject matter as he assumes his task is to teach English not Economics. This helps confirm the data concerning the lack of using carrier contents to teach the real contents. The lack of skills and requirements to make the ESP course a motivating stimulus may result in students' frequent absences as stated by all teachers. Another skill of paramount importance for ESP teachers is collaboration whether with experts in Economics or with students enrolled in the field. In spite of its positive outcomes, teachers disregard initiating a teaching/learning partnership with both colleagues and students. Though it is effective to involve learners in their learning through asking questions related to their subject matter from time to time, teachers, again, never render classes as an environment conclusive for genuine communication. When it comes to evaluation, teachers state that the only chance students get evaluated is during exams. They are tested through grammar and vocabulary- based tasks or through translation-based tasks so that students translate from English to Arabic or vice versa. While evaluation is a means to achieve target needs in ESP, it is regarded by the teachers as an end in itself. Hereby, the aim of teaching the language is to pass the exam and this characterizes EGP teaching rather than ESP teaching (Dudley-Evans & St. John, 1998). In short, though there is a necessary shift in teaching methodology, learning objectives, course design, content and materials selection from secondary school context to university context, teachers at Economics department show little awareness about this shift. It seems apparent that they teach general English rather than ESP which may justify their lack of training and requirements to be named ''ESP practitioners''. Seriously enough, they ignore what an ESP approach to teaching English looks like. 7. General recommendations for ESP teachers ✓ A need for ESP training is compulsory for both in-service and newly recruited teachers. ✓ Teachers appealing for the demanding task of teaching ESP should show enough readiness and awareness of what ESP is. Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political & Economic Studies Pedagogical Qualifications for Teaching English for Specific Purposes ; University of M'sila, Algeria Amal ZINE 206 ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives ✓ Teachers should focus on a communicative approach to ESP teaching and regard learners as partners rather than receivers of language features. ✓ ESP teaching is not limited to grammar rules and subject-specific terminology, skills integration is required for achieving communicative purposes. ✓ Teachers need to be flexible to move from general to specific whenever they are called for teaching highly specific subjects like in the science and technology field. ✓ Teachers should conduct a needs analysis process and should keep updated with the learners' emerging needs. Designing courses out of their intuition of what learners need would be misleading. ✓ Teachers should play the role of curious learners to generate knowledge about the subject matter. It is only then that students feel confident and motivated to learn. ✓ Collaboration with both students and colleagues may help teachers overcome the challenges they face in teaching ESP. ✓ It is high time university recruitment policy employed skilled and qualified teachers who can respect the different roles an ''ESP practitioner'' should adequately perform. Conclusion If the Algerian higher education new trend is to improve the status of English language in the different disciplines at university, enough awareness and knowledge are recommended. Teaching English in ESP contexts is distinctive as it should be based on respecting students' needs and purposes for learning. Englishizing university life will be useless if teachers recruited for the job do not receive the necessary training and if students are not aware of their target needs. Urgent is the need not only to make English a compulsory module but also to provide ESP teachers with appropriate materials that would facilitate the daunting task of course design. Brave decisions should be made to understand what ESP actually represents and what it can bring about as a pragmatic approach to English teachers and learners alike. It is necessary to admit, then, that we cannot recruit part time teachers for that big task of teaching ESP and expect them to be qualified enough and caring about their different responsibilities. To this end, we recommend policy makers at university level to recruit permanent teachers to improve the situation of ESP teaching and learning. Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political & Economic Studies Pedagogical Qualifications for Teaching English for Specific Purposes ; University of M'sila, Algeria Amal ZINE 207 ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives References Anthony, L. (1997). ESP: What does it mean? Some propositions about ESP. English for Specific Purposes, 2(2), 131-137. Basturkmen, H. (2006). Ideas and Options in English for Specific Purposes. London and New jersey: ESL and Applied Linguistic Professional Series: Eli Hinkel, Edition. Constantinides, Marisa, (2001). "Hall of Fame Teachers." ELT News, 11.Pages (1-7). Dudley-Evans, A., & St. John, M. J. (1998). Developments in ESP: A multi-disciplinary approach. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Hutchinson, T., & Waters, A. (1987). English for Specific Purposes: A learning centered approach. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. John, A. M & Price-Machado, D. (2001). English for Specific Purposes: Tailoring courses to student Needs-and to the Outside world in Celce-Murcia, M (Ed) Teaching English as a Second or Foreign Language. USA: Heincle and Heincle Inc. Johns, T. F. & Dudley-Evans, T. (1988). An experiment in team teaching overseas postgraduate students of transportation and plant biology. In J. Swales (Ed.), Episodes in ESP. Prentice Hall. Nunan, D. (1990). Action Research in the Language Classroom. In Richards, J.; & Nunan, D (ed), Second Language Teacher Education (pp. 62–81). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Prodromou, L. (1991). The Good Language Teacher. English Teaching Forum, 29 (2), 2-7. Richterich, R.,& Chancerell, J.L. (1980). Identifying the Needs for Adults Learning a Foreign Language. London: Pergamon Press. Robinson, P. (1991). ESP today: A practitioner’s guide. Hertfordshire: Prentice Hall International (UK) Ltd. Strevens, P. (1988). ESP after twenty years: A re-appraisal. In M. Tickoo (Ed.), ESP: State of the Art (pp. 1-13). Singapore: SEAMEO Regional Centre. Swales, J. (1985). Episodes in ESP. New York: Prentice Hall Widdowson, H. G. (1978). Teaching language as communication. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political & Economic Studies Pedagogical Qualifications for Teaching English for Specific Purposes ; University of M'sila, Algeria Amal ZINE 208 ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives New Horizon in Algerian Higher Education ; Challengying ESP by Training University Teachers on Content-based Instruction Manel MOULEME1 Abstract 1 Doctor; Department of letters and In Algerian universities, French is used as a medium of instruction like English Language University of Frères medicine, biology or physics. Since English is considered an Mentouri Constantine, Algeria.
[email protected]international language, the Algerian ministry of higher education decided to revolutionise the field by introducing English in different subject matters and replacing French. In September 2021, the ministry of higher education launched training in collaboration with Columbia Teachers' College to train university teachers from different regions in the country on Integrated Content-based Learning ( ICBL). Thus, English for specific purposes (ESP) is to be replaced by the new approach (CBI). The training aims to prepare university subject matter teachers to use Content-based Instruction (CBI). As a result, medicine, biology, maths and so on are no longer to be taught in French. Therefore, the present research paper seeks to shed light on the teachers' trainees' opinions towards integrating CBI in Algerian Higher education. To achieve this aim, a questionnaire will be submitted to 28 trainees. Keywords: content-based instruction, English for specific purposes, higher education, trainees, university teachers Citation: MOULEME, M. (2022). New Horizon in Algerian Higher Education ;Challengying ESP by Training University Teachers on Content-based Instruction. In H. Andaloussi (Ed.), ESP Teaching Today: Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives (pp. 209-218). Berlin, Germany: Democratic Arabic Center. Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political & Economic Studies New Horizon in Algerian Higher Education ; Challengying ESP by Training University Teachers on Content-based Instruction Manel MOULEME 209 ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives Introduction In Algerian universities and more particularly subject matters such as biology, physics and so on are taught in French. Today, thanks to technological development and since English is considered as an international language used indifferent disciplines, there is a tendency to replace French with English. Algerian higher education in collaboration with Teachers College Columbia University launched a project that aims to train both subject matter and language instructors on teaching language and content. Instead of introducing English as a subject taught known as ESP. The idea here is that language and content are taught subject matter teachers are to be put emphasis on both language and content. This is known Content-based instruction. The training took place from September 2021 to Mai 2022. Three teachers James Purpura, Donna Briton and Erik Voss. The teachers trainees were taught four modules during this training: Contextualizing Integrated Content and Language in Higher Education (ICLHE) in a Learning-Oriented Framework (16h), Fundamentals of ICLHE- Course Development and Instruction(16h), Corpus Analysis of Thematic Resources(6h), Introduction to the Assessment of ICLHE ( 12h). The aim of the project is to promote ICL as a potentially efficient English teaching/learning/ assessing methodcapable to cater for the most important and complex contexts in which this language is used. The aim of the present paper is to investigate teachers’ trainees’ opinions on this project. Some research questions are asked: (1) are the teacher trainees motivated to take part in the training? (2) Do they believe in the success of CBI in the future? (2) Can the CBI succeed in Algerian universities in the future? (3) do the trainees know anything about the CBI before?It is assumed that : teachers’ trainees hold positive views towards CBI. To achieve the already stated aim, a questionnaire is administered to the trainees (28 subject matter and language teachers). The results show that teachers hold positive view towards the training. The enjoyed taking part in this training. Theoretical Framework 1. Definition of Content-Based Instruction Content-based instruction is a revolutionary educational paradigm that seeks learners' potential cognitive background knowledge, if any, as a springboard for input in order to increase teaching/learning, assessment, and testing efficiency. This technique not only allows for greater flexibility in satisfying the learning objectives of homogeneous/heterogeneous groups of Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political & Economic Studies New Horizon in Algerian Higher Education ; Challengying ESP by Training University Teachers on Content-based Instruction Manel MOULEME 210 ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives learners with similar/dissimilar profiles by capitalizing on their possible common interests in themes, subjects, and so on. In this respect, Snow (2014) defined as CBI: . . . is an umbrella term for a multifaceted approach to SFL teaching that differs in termsof factors such as educational setting, program objectives, and target population butshares a common point ofdeparture—the integration of language teaching aims withcontent instruction. (p. 43 ). Language and content may alternatively be regarded as an interdependent connection in which material can be utilized to serve language and language can be altered to serve content ((Nordmeyer). The rationales for CBI are proposed by Genesee and Lindholm-Leary (2013) as follows: 1. It allows L2 learners to develop their language skills in tandem with social and cognitive skills. 2. Its focus on providing meaningful and relevant academic content and buildingopportunities for purposeful communication motivates L2 learning. 3. Exposure to content enables learners to map new language onto meaning andthought. 4. It provides exposure to structural and functional variation in different contexts ofuse, thus enabling L2 learners to acquire forms that are authentic and useful. 5. It facilitates opportunities for learners to link what is new to already known ideasand skills, thus providing opportunities for deeper learning. ( as cited in Briton and Snow, 2017, p.4) In addition to the rationales of the CBI, there are many benefits. According to Briton and Snow (2017), CBI offers a meaningful context for the language items provided and acts as an organizing principle for decisions concerning language item selection and sequencing. It also provides rich chances for L2 learning by giving learners with the input they require, establishing opportunity for meaning negotiation over significant topic, and challenging them to generate acceptable and correct output. Finally, it offers students high-level academic subject while also focusing on academic abilities that may be transferred to other academic fields. The Three Prototype Models of CBI In Content-Based Second Language Instruction, Brinton, Snow, andWesche, (1989) suggested the three main principal CBI models in use at the time: shelteredinstruction, theme- basedinstruction, , and adjunct instruction ((Briton et Snow). Recognizing the importance of flexibility in the approach, several "prototype" models are identified, giving leeway for practitioners to adjust the models to their specific teaching situations(Briton et Snow).Despite Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political & Economic Studies New Horizon in Algerian Higher Education ; Challengying ESP by Training University Teachers on Content-based Instruction Manel MOULEME 211 ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives the fact that many other CBI models exist now, these three remain important to the methodology and hence need further investigation here. CBI Theme-based Sheltered Adjunt Figure1: The Three Prototype Models of CBI (Briton et Snow 5) Briton & Snow ( 2017) explained the three prototype models of CBI. The first model is theme-based instruction. It is the teaching that focuses on certain topics that are of interest and significance to the learners. The themes (for example, Heroes, Save the Environment, or Online Romance) provide the organizational principle for the course and serve as the starting point for skill- and language-based learning. The second model, sheltered instruction, refers to instructional strategies in which students who are still developing their L2 are segregated from native speakers for the goal of receiving subject instruction in their L2. Finally, adjunct instruction refers to instructional approaches in which two courses are coupled (a content course and a language course), with the content and language teachers working to combine or dovetail respective teaching objectives. L2 pupils are frequently segregated for language teaching but integrated with mainstream students in the subject course. Definition of ESP Anthony (2018) defined ESP as follows: English for Specific Purposes (ESP) is an approach to language teachingthat targets the current and/or future academic or occupational needs oflearners, focuses on the necessary language, genres, and skills to addressthese needs, and assists learners in meeting these needs through the useof general and/or discipline-specific teaching materials and methods (p.11). According to Xu Xin (2013 ; as cited in Chen & Huang, 2017),ESP differs from general English in the following ways: first, it has a strong specialization in terms of vocabulary usage, tight standards in syntactic performance, and a unique logical passage structure constrained by the specialized literary form.These traits cannot be swiftly and efficiently acquired by learners in the traditional teaching style, but they may be clearly detected by using corpus. To be more specific, students can develop intuitive, clear cognition in a relatively short amount of time. Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political & Economic Studies New Horizon in Algerian Higher Education ; Challengying ESP by Training University Teachers on Content-based Instruction Manel MOULEME 212 ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives Methodology The present study seeks to investigate the teacher trainees’ opinions towards the training they held on Content-Based instruction. The population under study are subject matter and language teachers who took part in the training. They are 28 teachers. A questionnaire is administered to all these teachers. The study is quantitative in nature. It is based on questionnaire used to get the trainees opinions. It is the adequate means of research because it enables researchers to get large amount of dada in a short period of time. So, it saves time and energy. The questionnaire contains open and closed-ended questions. The questionnaire is administered online to the participants. The data obtained from the questionnaire are to be analysed and tabulated to be interpreted. Analysis of the Questionnaire 1- Are you: - A subject matter teacher - A language teacher Number of Percentage Participants Languageteachers 15 53.57% Subjectmatterteachers 13 48.43% Table 1: The Number of Subject Matter and Language Teachers The aim behind asking this question is to know number of subject matter and language teachers. According to the results shown in the table, there are 15 language teachers and 13 subject matter teachers. 2- Have you taught ESP before the training? Yes no Number of Participants Percentage Yes 8 28.86% No 20 71.14% Table 2: Participants who Taught ESP before This question is asked to see whether the participants have taught ESP before or not. The results show that the majority of them did not teach ESP before and just 28.86% of them they are ESP teachers. This is because half the sample are subject matter teachers. Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political & Economic Studies New Horizon in Algerian Higher Education ; Challengying ESP by Training University Teachers on Content-based Instruction Manel MOULEME 213 ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives 3- Do you like teaching ESP Yes no Numberof Participants Percentage Yes 8 100% No 0 0 Table3: Whether the Participants like Teaching ESP This question is posed to see whether teaching ESP was the participants’ choice or they were asked to do so. The above table shows that all participants who taught ESP before the training liked and enjoyed teaching it. This means that choice of teaching ESP is a personal decision. 4- How do you find the training? -Very interesting -Interesting -Not really -Do not know Number of Participants Percentage Very interesting 24 85.71% Interesting 4 14.29% Not really 0 0 Do not know 0 0 Table4: The Participants’ Perception towards the Training This question is asked in order to get the participants’ opinion towards the training and whether they found it interesting or not. According to the results displayed in the above table, all the participants found the training interesting. Theylikedtaking part in thisproject. 5- Did you know about content-based integration before the training? Yes no Numberof Participants Percentage Yes 5 17.86 % No 23 82.14% Table 5: Whether Participants knew CBI before Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political & Economic Studies New Horizon in Algerian Higher Education ; Challengying ESP by Training University Teachers on Content-based Instruction Manel MOULEME 214 ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives The aim behind asking this question is to know whether the informants knew about the Content-based instruction before the training. Almost all participants did not know CBI before. This means that 17.86% of the participants are language teachers and they have some knowledge about approaches and methods of teaching (more particularly teaching ESP) 6- Why have you participated in this training? ………………….. The aim behind asking this question is know why the participants took part in this training. The informants mentioned many reasons. Some of them said that they are subject matter teachers and they need to be trained on using CBI in teaching different disciplines such as physics, mathematics and so forth. Others mentioned that they are language teachers and they have already taught ESP and when they have heard about the training, they wanted to learn about CBI. Very few of them said that they have never taught ESP and they interested in getting in touch with the new approach. 7- How do you find the methodology used in this training? …………………………………… The aim behind asking this question is to get the trainees opinions about the way teachers have taught them. All the teachers show positive attitudes towards this training and they said that they liked it. They mentioned that class discussions, assignments to read, and group presentations are activities that motivate them to do better. The approachwaslearner-centered. 8- What are the interesting modules for you? ……………………………………. This question is asked to get the informants’ opinion about the modules taught in the training. Some teachers, certainly language teachers, mentioned that all the modules were interesting and that they liked the approach adopted by the teachers which was new for them and they have never taught this subject. Some others said that it was a good opportunity for them to learn how language teaching is conducted. Moreover, they said that they have learnt how to design a unit using CBI, how to design tests and scoring, and how to build glossaries about specialized vocabulary. 9- What are the modules that you have learnt for the first time? …………………………………… Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political & Economic Studies New Horizon in Algerian Higher Education ; Challengying ESP by Training University Teachers on Content-based Instruction Manel MOULEME 215 ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives The aim behind asking this question is to see the modules that are new for the informants. Some teachers mention that all the modules are new for them and that was an occasion to learn about them. I think these teachers are subject matter teachers. However, some other teachers sad that only corpus analysis taught by Dr Erik Voss is new and they have never taught this subject. Just very few teachers declared that they knew all the subjects and the training was an opportunity to consolidate their knowledge. 10- Do you think using CBI in Algerian higher education will be successful in the future? Yes no Whatever your answer, please justify. Numberof Participants Percentage Yes 26 92.86% No 2 7.14% Table 6: The success of CBI in Higher Education in the Future This question aims to get participants opinion about the efficacy of applying this approach in the future. Almost all teachers (26%) were optimistic and believed that this approach will be successful in the future while only. Teachers who were optimistic said that since English is an international language used all over the world it is high time to maximize its use in Algeria. Therefore, instead of teaching ESP that is English is taught in one module of the discipline why not teaching all the modules in English. Yet, very few teachers believed that using this approach is too optimistic in Algeria since French was dominating the Algerian universities since independence. 11- Do you think that subject matter teachers could succeed in teaching language and content? Yes no Whatever your answer, please justify. Number of Participants Percentage Yes 10 35.71% No 18 64.29% Table7: The success of Teaching Language and Content The question aims to see whether the participants believe that teaching language and content will be possible in the future and will be successful. More than half the participants believe that it will not be successful. They said it is too optimistic especially because subject matters were taught in French since the independence. However, the Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political & Economic Studies New Horizon in Algerian Higher Education ; Challengying ESP by Training University Teachers on Content-based Instruction Manel MOULEME 216 ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives other participants believe in the success of subject matter teachers to teach language content. They said all what we need is to train very well teachers. 12- Pleaseaddany suggestion ……………………………………. When asked to add any suggestion, the informants were very optimistic. All of them wished to have other opportunities and trainings in the future. Some teachers stated that it is better if the Ministery of higher education could have collaborations with other foreign universities to benefit from their experience and get a new vision about the novelty in teaching. Discussion of Result The obtained data show that: • Teachers were interested in taking part in the training • Most of them believed that they benefited a lot from the training, they learnt: -how to design a unit using CBI - how to design tests and scoring - how to build glossaries about specialized vocabulary • ESP teachers mentioned that they had never benefited from a training before. • Teachers believed that it is challenging to apply it in our context because Algerian universities need to prepare subject matter teachers on integrating language and content. • The results also confirm the already stated assumption that the teacher trainees hold positive attitudes towards the training since they believe it is of great benefit to them. Conclusion and recommendations On the light of the present study, it is recommended thatAlgerian Ministry of higher education should train more and more teachers on integrating language and content. In addition, Algerian ministry of higher education should take sufficient time before start applying the approach in our universities and preparing subject matter teachers on CBI. Subject matter teachers should have good level at English , the CBI should be piloted on small groups or limited number of Algerian universities before generalizing it on all universities in the country. It is not easy to change French with English especially because the former was rooted in the Algerian universities since independence. All scientific subjects are taught in French. To do so, Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political & Economic Studies New Horizon in Algerian Higher Education ; Challengying ESP by Training University Teachers on Content-based Instruction Manel MOULEME 217 ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives we need a revolution and a strong will for change. We need the collaboration of all university teachers. This revolution needs patience, time and efforts. In conclusion, the training was an enriching opportunity for teachers(ESP, language and subject matter) to get committed into a project that seeks essentially to integrate content and language in Algerian Higher Education. References Anthony, L. «Situating ESP in English language teaching and learning.» Anthony, L. Introducing English for Specific Purposes(1st ed). Australia: Routledge, 2018. 9- 26. Briton, D.M. et M.A. Snow. «The Evolving Architecture of Content-Based Instruction.» Briton, D.M. et M.A. Snow. The Content-Based Classroom, Second Edition: New Perspectives on Integrating Language and Content( 2nd ed). Michigan Teacher Training, 2017. 2-19. Chen, Z. et M. Huang. «Corpus Construction for ESP.» INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF NEW DEVELOPMENTS IN ENGINEERING AND SOCIETY, 1.3 (2017): 35- 38. Nordmeyer, J. «At the intersection of language and content.» Barduhn, J. Nordmeyer & S. Integrating language and content. Alexandria: TESOL, 2010. 1-13. Snow, M.A. «Content-based and immersion models of second/foreign language teaching.» Celce-Murcia, D. M. Brinton, & M. A. Snow. Teaching English as a second or foreign language (4th ed). Boston, MA: National Geographic Learning/Heinle Cengage Learning., 2014. 438–454. Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political & Economic Studies New Horizon in Algerian Higher Education ; Challengying ESP by Training University Teachers on Content-based Instruction Manel MOULEME 218 ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives Keynote Speakers The following scholars have kindly agreed to participate in the conference and deliver plenary talks : ------------------------------------- Conference Chair : Dr. Ouafa OuarniKi – University of Djelfa, Algeria is an associate professor in didactics of teaching ESP at the University of Djelfa, Algeria. She is also a regular presenter at conferences and her conference papers deal with teaching English for Specific Purposes, designing ESP courses, professional development of language teachers, the use of technologies in an ESP instructional enviroment. She peer-reviews papers for local national and international journals (U.S.A, Indonesia, Berlin …). Her main research areas include ESAP, syllabus design and ESP training. She is an active member in the laboratory of Dialects and Speech Processing and the national Research Project P.R.F.U: Toward Critical Thinking Based EFL Class : A Must – to- Have Skill for Impacting Social Change (ENS Oran) participating in all their events, running workshops and presentations, collaborating with other members. Dr. Agnieszka Dudzik is an Assistant Professor and Head of the Department of Foreign Languages at the Medical University of Bialystok, Poland. Her fields of interest include English for Specific Purposes, Communicative Language Teaching, and the nature of doctor- patient communication. Her research interests lie in the area of English for Medical Purposes (EMP) training, withparticular emphasis on the teaching of medical communication skills. She has published widely on various topics of ESP training, syllabus design, and intercultural communication competence. Agnieszka is also a joint events coordinator of the IATEFL English for Specific Purposes Special Interest Group. Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political & Economic Studies ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives Dr. Turqui Barkat is an associate professor in Applied Linguistics and Discourse Analysis at Mohamed Kheider University of Biskra, Algeria. He occupied different Pedagogical and Administrative Responsibilities. His fields of interest include : Discourse Analysis- Applied Linguistics- ESP, innovative Methods of Language Teaching- Intercultural Approach to Foreign Language Teaching. He published a good number of articles and took part in different national and international conferences Dr . Caroline Hyde- Simone Caroline is based in Switzerland as lecturer in English at the Zurich University of Applied Sciences, a position she has held since 2012, with extensive teaching experience in ESP, particularly in the Life Sciences and in Facility Management. She holds a PhD in Applied Linguistics (with a focus on Second Language Acquisition) and a master’s degree in Applied Linguistics for Research Purposes. Her main research areas include ESAP course design, and testing ESP Prof. Fatiha KAÏD BERRAHAL is a senior lecturer of literature at Oran’s Higher Teachers’College. Her researches in English are particularly focused in litearture and language . Teaching dealing with critical thinking as both a 21st century skill and pedagogy. She has shaped various doctorate programs since 2009/2010, an active member in many research projects both domestically and abroad. Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political & Economic Studies ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives Vicky Papageorgiou Vicky Papageorgiou is an ESL/EAP Lecturer with over 25 years of experience with mainly adult learners. She holds a BA from Aristotle University (with Distinction) and was awarded an MA in Education (Open Univ. of Cyprus) and an MA in Art History with her thesis on Derek Jarman’s last film, Blue, and Mark Rothko’s Houston Chapel (Goldsmiths College, UK). She also holds a PGCE in Technology Enhanced Learning from the University of Wales Trinity Saint David (with Distinction). She studied in Greece, Hungary, Italy, Cyprus and the Her fields of interest are ESL and Art, EdTech and MOOCs, creativity and Inquiry Based learning, use of video. She strives for a democratic education that gives the opportunity for critical thinking and continuous questioning through the use of art, images, film and video. She currently divides her time between Greece and the UK working as EAP tutor at Universities. She often publishes articles in International newsletters and Journals and is also a conference presenter. She is also currently a member of the IATEFL Pubcs Committee, a co-editor at ELTA Serbia Publications, and the website editor of the Visual Arts Circle, . Also, working towards her PhD in Technology enhanced learning. Milena Tanasijević Milena Tanasijević has been preparing and implementing blended and distance English courses at Belgrade Metropolitan University for 14 years. Her academic interests are second language acquisition, building autonomy in language learning, curriculum development, assessment, learning technologies, teaching ESP courses. She has presented at numerous national and international professional and academic conferences. She is the editor-in-chief of the ELTA newsletter, published by the English Language Teachers' Association in Serbia, a joint-events coordinator of the IATEFL ESPSIG, as well as the secretary of the ESPSIG of the Serbian Association of Foreign Language and Literature Studies. Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political & Economic Studies ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives Dr. Aleksandra Łuczak an applied linguist and a legal and business English teacher, the Director of the Centre for Languages and Legal English Section at Kozminski University in Warsaw, Poland. A graduate of the Institute of English Studies at the University of Warsaw from which she also holds a doctor’s degree in applied linguistics. Her PhD thesis deals with Then Construction and Evaluation of English for Specific Purposes Syllabus and was prepared under the supervision of Prof. Hanna Komorowska. During her teaching career, she has been successfully running various types of English courses ranging from one-to-one traditional and online sessions with prestigious clients to group classes at various levels of proficiency. Since 1997 an ESP teacher at Kozminski University in Warsaw where she has been running a variety of business English and legal English courses preparing students for international certificate examinations: LCCI and TOLES. She also lectures on Academic Skills, Plain English Writing for Lawyers, Understanding the Language of English Contracts, Business Culture, and Law in Film. Apart from teaching, she is also a regular presenter at conferences and her conference papers deal with teaching English for Specific Purposes, modelling ESP courses, professional development of language teachers, the use of technologies in foreign language teaching. The full list of her publications can be accessed on luczak.edu.pl. She has been granted eight KU Rector’s awards for her publications. She regularly peer reviews other scholars’ papers for publication in scientific journals and post-conference proceedings. An author of numerous teaching materials for ESP courses; a series of her legal English lessons was published in The Teacher Magazine. She cooperates with language schools and training institutions providing them with teacher training and blended learning solutions for their foreign language courses. An active member of EULETA (European Union Legal English Teachers Association) participating in its all recent events, running workshops and presentations, collaborating with other members. Her interests also include the use of the latest technologies in language teaching and her recent project, which she is particularly proud of, involved co-developing innovative software for language testing Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political & Economic Studies ESP Teaching Today : Current Practices, Challenges and Perspectives Dr Katalin Egri Ku-Mesu is a Teaching Fellow at the University of Leicester United Kingdom and works on the MA in Applied Linguistics and TESOL programme. She is also an External Examiner in English for Academic Purposes (EAP) at Xi’an Jiaotong- Liverpool University, Suzhou, China. She holds a PhD in Applied Linguistics and a Doctor Philosophiae degree in American Literature. Her professional experience and interests include English language teaching, English language teacher training and education, EAP, academic literacies, English as a medium of instruction (EMI), language teaching management, language and culture, intercultural communication and discourse analysis. She serves on the committee of the IATEFL ESPSIG as Editor- in-Chief of the ESPSIG journal Professional and Academic English. Dr. ZAGHAR Fatma is an associate professor at the University of Oran -2– , Algeria. She earns a PhD in Didactics. Her research and teaching interests lie in the areas of Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL), English for Specific Purposes (ESP) Teaching, Intercultural Studies, and Educational Psychology Democratic Arab Center For Strategic, Political & Economic Studies