Abstract
Language acquisition is believed to be most
effectively facilitated if it is embedded
within the learners' field of study or work.
This paper describes a learner-centred activity
which aims to help learners develop qualities
of confidence, initiative and responsibility
through interacting with practitioners at
the workplace. This activity is one of the
activities conducted in an English for Specific
Purposes programme of Universiti Teknologi
Malaysia which adopts an enculturation approach
in the curriculum of the English language
training programme. Data were gathered from
170 Civil Engineering undergraduates through
questionnaires on their viewpoints regarding
the activity and the programme as a whole.
Overall findings of the study indicate positive
perception of the learners towards the activity
which had helped them increased their knowledge
in Civil Engineering and become better learners
of the English language through the interaction
with practitioners in the workplace.
Keywords:
ESP, project wok, learner-centred, interaction,
workplace
1
Introduction
Language learning should not be restricted
to only textbook and classroom activities.
It is believed that language acquisition would
be most effectively facilitated if it could
be embedded with the learners' field of study
or work. Through appropriate pedagogy for
learning, the more the learners are exposed
to real world tasks, the better language users
they will become. Real world tasks as defined
by Nunan (1989) are those which "require
learners to approximate, in class, the sorts
of behaviours required of them in the world
beyond the classroom" (p. 40).
This paper however, will go further, beyond
the classroom and into the real world of the
target profession and explore what opportunities
can be tapped in developing learners' L2 proficiency
through interaction with professionals in
the workplace. As has aptly been outlined
by Ellis (2005) as Principle 8 - The opportunity
to interact in the L2 is central to developing
L2 proficiency. This paper will describe a
learner-centred activity which delves into
new roles for the teachers and learners in
the language acquisition process. The activity
concerned is a project work related to the
professional field the learners will be joining
upon graduation.
By carrying out such projects learners indirectly
develop qualities of confidence, initiative
and responsibility through interacting with
experts and practitioners in the professional
field. This is not merely simulation or role
play, but 'real play' (to borrow Dorothy Cheung's
terminology. See Cheung, 1997) or work-embedded
activities that arise out of the learner's
overall training to be an effective member
of the target community.
The activity is one of the activities carried
out in an English for Specific Purposes (ESP)
programme in Universiti Teknologi Malaysia
(UTM). The ESP programme was designed to cater
specifically for undergraduates from the Faculty
of Civil Engineering and is known as the English
for Civil Engineering (ECE) programme.
2 Background of the English for Civil Engineering
(ECE) programme
The Department of Modern Languages of UTM
adopted the enculturation approach in the
curriculum of the English language training
programme for its Civil Engineering undergraduates.
The adoption of such an approach entails 'embedding'
the communication training of Civil Engineering
undergraduates within their immediate academic
environment. However, since the undergraduates'
academic environment is embedded within the
larger social environment of the chosen professional
field, communication training should also
take into consideration the wider professional
context of Civil Engineering. The programme
therefore views training of Civil Engineering
undergraduates as a process of enculturation
into the professional community of civil engineers.
The three-semester programme which is integrated
with the Civil Engineering curriculum should
be viewed as one continuous, coherent training
scheme that takes students through a stepped
progression from the ability to extract information
for academic purposes to the more demanding
task of oral and written communication for
academic and vocational purposes (see K. I.
Abdullah et al., 1995 for a detail discussion
of the framework of the programme and M. Hamzah
et al., 1995 for examples of the learning
materials).
2.1
The underlying principles of the ECE programme
The approach adopted and the activities designed
are guided by four principles, each is briefly
described below:
I)
Language acquisition is most effectively facilitated
if it is embedded within the learners' field
of study or work.
In an academic setting, the main concern of
learners is the acquisition of knowledge related
to their present field of study or future
workplace. It is therefore pedagogically logical
that the subject matter, linguistic input
and learning activities be derived from and
embedded in the learners' immediate area of
interest - Civil Engineering. The activities
are designed to promote language acquisition
through the content of Civil Engineering.
II)
The main role of the English for Specific
Purposes (ESP) instructor is to manage learning.
The ESP instructor's main role is to manage
learning by setting up conditions in the classroom
that will promote language acquisition. This
role includes designing suitable learning
materials, setting up relevant tasks and acting
as a resource person to the learners on matters
related to language. It is important that
the ESP instructor, being a language expert,
does not take it upon himself to teach the
content of Civil Engineering. Any validation
of the truth or otherwise of subject matter
related to Civil Engineering should be referred
to four possible sources: students of Civil
Engineering who themselves have some knowledge
of the subject matter, authentic texts on
Civil Engineering, Civil Engineering lecturers,
and practitioners in the field.
III)
Input that is comprehensible and authentic
promotes language acquisition.
The input, especially in the form of written
texts, has been graded both conceptually and
linguistically, from simple (but authentic)
to complex. It is hoped that such input will
be challenging but not frustrating to learners.
The instructor's aim is to assist the learners
to eventually become independent users of
English for academic and professional purposes.
The learners should therefore be assisted
to progress towards independent use of authentic
texts that they are expected to handle in
their current studies or future workplace.
IV)
Language training is part of human resource
training.
In addition to the development of communicative
and linguistic skills, language training should
include the training of the 'whole person'
to include the inculcation of personality
traits such as confidence, independence and
initiative. The learner-centred tasks designed
require the learners, working in groups, to
take responsibility for the successful completion
of their own assigned projects. In doing so,
they develop the skills of time management,
teamwork and interpersonal communication.
An
example of how the underlying principles are
put into practice is found in the next section.
It takes the form of a description of a task
assigned to learners.
3
The Project Work
This section describes one of the main tasks
learners do in the third and final course
of the ECE programme. The task is entitled
"Project Work: Insights into the Civil
Engineering Profession".
The project work aims to develop in learners
qualities of confidence, initiative and responsibility.
It is intended to provide opportunities for
the learners to interact with Civil Engineering
professionals in the workplace while collecting
information on the profession. Through this
activity, it is hoped that learners will acquire
good communication skills, especially the
skills of interacting with practitioners in
the engineering field (e.g. practicing engineers,
contractors and other professionals) as well
as the skills of planning, negotiation and
time management.
To achieve the aim of the project, learners
are expected to work independently in small
groups outside class hours to gather the necessary
information. The group decides on the areas
of information they are interested in or think
will be useful or of interest to other Civil
Engineering students. Based on this, the learners
then gather information by interviewing as
many practitioners in the field as possible
(among the categories of information that
learners in the past had gathered include
career path, duties and responsibilities,
and problems faced). Although the interview
is the main source of gathering information,
the learners could also collect information
from books, journals and the Internet.
The learners are also expected to come up
with an action plan detailing the steps to
be taken to complete the project and the division
of duties and responsibilities among group
members. The instructor will allocate some
class time to guide the learners (e.g. to
prepare them for the interview sessions),
to monitor their progress as well as to motivate
them in their work. After collecting the information
learners are expected to present their findings
orally to the class and to turn in a written
report of their findings.
4
The Study
The aim of the study was to specifically find
out the perception of the students on the
Project Work assignment. The study also examined
the viewpoints of the students regarding the
ECE programme as a whole.
A total of 170 second-year undergraduates
from the Civil Engineering Faculty who had
followed the ECE programme participated in
the study. Two sets of questionnaires were
distributed, one focused on the project work
while the other focused on the overall evaluation
of the programme.
5
Findings of the Study
For the purpose of this paper, only related
data from the study will be presented. This
takes the form of questions extracted from
the questionnaires. The first part discusses
responses of two open-ended questions related
to the experience of the learners while carrying
out the project work. The questions are 1)
What is one valuable experience that you
gained from the project? and 2) What is one
problem that you faced while conducting the
project?.
Part
two of the findings section presents responses
to the second set of questionnaire which aimed
at examining the perception of the learners
on the ECE programme as a whole.
5.1
Learners' Viewpoints on the Project Work
Unlike many language programmes which boast
of providing good training to develop specific
language skills in learners, most of the responses
given reveal that the ECE programme is unique
in the sense that it provides 'real world'
learning experiences to the learners. The
responses given to Question 1 range from satisfaction
in having the opportunities to meet up with
professionals in the Civil Engineering field
to gaining knowledge in the Civil Engineering
field, and developing specific soft skills
and self esteem.
With regards to learners' satisfaction when
meeting professionals in the field listed
are some of the (unedited) responses given
by the learners:
The
project work without doubt trains learners
to develop their communication skill but it
apparently also contributes to the training
of the 'whole person' as suggested by the
responses above (in line with Underlying Principle
IV).
In response to Question 2, it was found that
problems faced by the learners while completing
the project were mainly related to difficulty
in getting hold of the interviewees, time
constraint, managing people and lack of confidence
due to poor language proficiency. Table 1
below contains some of the responses given
by the learners (again these have not been
edited).
Table
1: Responses to "What is one problem
that you faced while conducting the project?"
|
*Hard
to find suitable person to interview
and to get all the information given
by the interview.
*The problem is to make an appointment
because the interviewee always busy.
*Don't know what to ask in the interview
and hard to find the interviewer.
*The demand of completing an assignment
in the time period.
*Time
to conducting the project.
*Difficulties to meet/discuss with my
group-mates as they live in various
places.
*Feeling shy/shame to speak and interview
engineers.
*We're ashamed and not good in English.
|
5.2
Learners' Viewpoints on the Effectiveness
of the ECE Programme
In this section findings from the second set
of questionnaire are presented (see Table
2 below). The aim was to examine the perception
of the learners on the ECE programme as a
whole.
The
majority of the learners stated that the ECE
programme had helped them:
(1) increase their knowledge of Civil Engineering
(87.6% agreeing)
(2) in their studies in Civil Engineering
(74.1% agreeing)
(3) improve their English (80.6% agreeing).
Table 2: Viewpoints of learners regarding
the effectiveness of the Civil Engineering
programme
| No. |
Statement |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
| 1 |
The
course has helped increase my knowledge
of Civil Engineering |
37.6% |
50.0% |
4.7%
|
2.4% |
4.7% |
| 2 |
The
course has helped me in my studies in
Civil Engineering |
21.2% |
52.9% |
17.1% |
5.3% |
3.5% |
| 3 |
The
course has helped me improve my English |
34.1% |
46.5% |
12.9% |
3.5% |
2.9%
|
| 4 |
I
am now more confident in my use of English |
12.9% |
48.8% |
30.0% |
5.3%
|
2.9% |
| 5 |
The
English for Civil Engineering course should
be continued in UTM for other Civil Engineering
students |
45.9% |
34.7% |
10.6% |
4.1% |
4.7% |
N
= 170: 1 = Strongly Agree, 2 = Agree, 3 =
Not Sure, 4 = Disagree, 5 = Strongly Disagree
More
than 60% of the learners claimed that the
ECE programme had made them more confident
in using English. The learners had also responded
positively (more than 80%) as to whether the
programme should be continued for other Civil
Engineering undergraduates. Hence, the ECE
programme was able to help learners not only
to improve their understanding of Civil Engineering
but also to improve their English and build
up their confidence in using the language.
6 Conclusion
Language acquisition is more than just the
acquisition of linguistic competence. It is
also the acquisition of discourse competence,
sociolinguistic competence, pragmatic competence
and strategic competence (see Canale, 1983).
Thus, language learning activities should
not be restricted to textbooks and the physical
set up of the classrooms. The study revealed
that learners expressed satisfaction towards
the learner-centred, real play project work
carried out. Learners felt that the activity,
through interaction with practitioners in
the workplace, had increased their knowledge
in Civil Engineering as well as developed
certain soft skills. It had also helped them
become better learners of the English language
and had enhanced their confidence in using
the language. Overall, the ECE programme with
its real world tasks and appropriate pedagogy
was seen to be relevant and useful to the
learners, and hence recommended to other Civil
Engineering undergraduates.
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