English for special purposes [Mubarak Abdessalami]

The teachers of English as a foreign language are always reminded that they are teaching the language not about the language.

This is not the only advice the teachers are given but this one has to be regarded differently. I think this advice seems to lose its importance though it is always valid.

Interesring news for these teachers. They will soon be multifunctional monitors. Their duty is generally known as teaching structures, functions, grammar and vocabulary through the four famous skills, notably listening, speaking, reading and writing. This duty however will expand to include teaching science, economy, and technology to name only a few. The internationally evolving character of the English language will somehow force them to be ambivalent.

How many English languages are there?

British, American, Australian, South African, Indian or eventually International? Teachers will first be determined to make it clear if it is

How are you?
Or
How do you do?

Whether it is "a taxi" or "a cab", "colour" or "color", "programme" or "program", "organisation" or "organization" ? I mean that the "English language" is generally divided into two major categories because of their different spellings and pronunciations. The teachers may find it difficult to fix which of which the right one to teach is relying on its degree of use in the world.

All in all this is not the urgent problem which has to be fixed. There are other features of this diversity, which may affect the role of the teacher. Which "English" for which students? That's, in my opinion, the most burning task teachers have to decide upon. To teach English so that the students could read William Shakespeare, or so as to surf the web. As I see it, both of them should be dealt with seriously because there is "some" of Shakespeare on the Web. Hence the importance of introducing the term English for Special Purposes (E.S.P) into our educational system to solve this ambivalence.

E.S.P, to what extent?

English for Special Purposes as a method "based on the learner's reason for learning", (Hutchinson et al; 1987:19) is what will probably help teachers decide on what English for which discipline; and how it can be performed in an appreciatively short time! The complication of the teachers' job will surely stem from this huge diversity of English as a language and as an international communication means par excellence. If the objectives (reasons) are spotted and defined, there will be less disorder in the teachers' tasks. Spelling and pronunciation, which seem to be the main obstacles to understand each other, even among native speakers from different geographical areas, will be absolutely discarded as a challenging evil. Technology will solve most of this dichotomy to which English is exposed. Nevertheless, teachers will have to accelerate the urge to skip from teaching "English" to teaching through English in order to lessen the bad impact of these differences and successive subdivisions of the language for those who learn English as a foreign language. Here dwells the culmination of the whole affair.

Which English do you need to learn?

This question, as it is, should be directed to the students or to their parents. The answer to the question is not that easy because many factors are included. The teachers of English will sit to the parents to explain the "why" of the question. The factors that have to be taken into account are mostly those connected to economy and employment. Most students do no longer go to school to be well educated or to be academic thinkers; they only go there as job-hunters. And because English is the ultimate key to success besides scientific fields of course, students as well as their parents are restless and reluctant. To get a good job as quickly as possible is what matters for them all. School should be neither a burden for the parents nor an ordeal for the students; and so the English they have to learn should be selected and well chosen. Both parents and students may allude to the fact that they only need the amount of English necessary to enter the labor market with some confidence. Tough, isn't it?

The syllabus for each group of students should be designed and shaped to satisfy their needs from English. Thus, the syllabus should be Student-centered, that's to say the English Language is seriously selected and presented to fit each group apart. The targeted English is not learned to write books or give lectures. It is needed for short-term purposes. Nonetheless, some students may need it for further academic studies. Generally speaking, most of them are after it just for the sake of acquiring the amount of vocabulary and functions necessary to communicate with the others within a specific narrow setting... Take hotel receptionists or taxi drivers for example. These people would not use as much English as a tourist guide or a bazaar keeper for example. These two categories of jobs require different classrooms, materials, methods and somehow different diction. Two separate "English languages" are to make the teachers' job more technical and specific. Consequently, teachers need use new strategies to overcome the slight specificities that rule over the method of "English for special purposes". They first have to be aware of this diversity of purposes to get to know which English and which approaches and methods are more suitable for which classroom environment. The use and usage of English are to be carefully highlighted.

Even in academic schools the English taught to Science-oriented students is not the same as the one used in Letters-oriented students' classrooms. These differences ought to be recognised to make it easy mapping the future needed careers.

English is no longer the same!

Awkward as it used to be few years ago,"which English do you speak?" is now a legitimate question. A taxi driver's English is not the same as that of a hotel receptionist's though they are one at the end. I mean the range of diction, functions, structures, in brief, the Jargon for each specialty; do not have the same repertoire. A future hotel receptionist may need some writing practice whereas a "Bargaining" Bazaar keeper may need more spoken English and a lot of negotiating expressions. In both cases, the spoken language would be much focused upon. The four skills, however, should be subject to reorganization and permanent review. The order of importance of these skills is not the same for all options.

The computer, as a machine or vehicle, is the same in the bank, the supermarket, the post office or at home; but it is the program of each of them which make them so different that none can replace the other. They have separate jobs, functions, and tasks to accomplish. So is English which is at the same time "one" and "various". There is independent English for each of the following branches: marketing, advertising, tourist guiding, media, medicine, engineering and so forth and so on. No doubt, English has become the language of success in each field thanks to its power in the world of economy. Globalization will accentuate it sooner or later. The Dollar "speaks" English; and if any one wants to bind a relationship with it, he should first know how to communicate with it and its sources. Therefore, we have to deal with English on this basis. We should not ignore its influence and importance in the business world otherwise; we will keep turning around looking for a harbor that has never existed. Meanwhile we should develop our National language to cope with it; who knows? one day the world will need to speak another language to embrace success and prosperity. For the time being, English is the language that the world understands well. So we should not take too lightly its importance in our schools in order to match with the requirements of the labor market. That is the point.

The teachers of English as a foreign language are aware of this though the students and their parents don't seem to be concerned. No way! We are doomed to learn it so as to stay inside the tide and not drift away.

Why English?

The modern life has influenced our choices a lot and forced us to cope with it as it dictates. The complexity, which shapes our life, has begun to force our students to specialize in options that the labor market would require most. Some of these specialties have been unknown to us just few years ago. Because of all this, students become mature at a very early age. They become haunted by the idea of getting a good job if the opportunity to immigrate is not presented.

To get a good job nowadays means a lot. Students must discover what they want and which the appropriate short cut to get there quickly but surely is. They must know exactly what sort of studies they should take and which lessons they should attend and give more importance. They must forget about what they like and like what they have to do. They also must know what means can lead them where they can gain profit or only find a job. What skills they should develop to be accepted as candidates in the labor market and be selected as being qualified. To that end, English has to be a priority in students' interests to eventually harness their abilities to conquer technological fields which are now prevailing all over the business world. In a word, the students should consider the importance of the English language in their future professional life.

On this basis, English has become a necessity not a privilege for students to familiarize with the nature of electronic technologies (omnipresent in almost all occupations) and to situate themselves in their professional environment and in the world beyond.. Thus they should be aware of the fact that the English language has found itself a place in almost all business and financial systems. It is now considered as central to pioneering, discovering, learning, and marketing. In brief it becomes a world wide hookup for communication.

Thus English should be regarded and targeted as the most important factor on which success in life relies greatly. To achieve their goals, students should engage in a wide range of activities and operations paving them the way to master and own this "key" to work. These activities should be related to the very job they intend to do later: That is what we call English for Special Purposes.

How can we make that possible in our schools ?

Let's first talk about the traditional academic school still in action. We have to divide its branches into specific options. Take science-oriented students. They should have compulsory and optional subjects. The compulsory ones should be well defined and appealing to the students' personal tastes and abilities. They also should, intensively, be worked on. They should take Physics, biology, chemistry, geology or zoology accordingly but not all of them at the same time. Physics students, for instance, should concentrate more on physics than any other school subject. This is meant not to burden them with distressing trivial matters. Moreover, it would be better to teach them in the language which produces and innovates in physics through magazines and newsletters concerning new experimentations and discoveries in the field. In this case, students will not need to look for someone else to translate for them; or waste time waiting for an academic translation , which might be published too late.

To put it short, goals should be drawn and clearly set up. Which English for which future careers? Then, to what extent we are ready to train people, able to contribute to the prosperity of the country.
In the next papers we will concentrate on tourism as a field that can benefit from this E.S.P we are talking about very a lot, particularly that Morocco is planning to receive about 10 million tourists by the year 2010. For more details..
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Work-Oriented Learning