NEW MEXICO STATE UNIVERSITY
MASTER OF ARTS IN TEACHING
WITH AN EMPHASIS IN TEACHING ENGLISH TO SPEAKERS OF OTHER LANGUAGES
THE IMPORTANCE OF VOCABULARY IN ESP CURRICULA
JEANCARLO VISENTAINER
December 2001
(Delivered to the Library in 2007)
THE IMPORTANCE OF VOCABULARY IN ESP CURRICULA
Dissertação apresentada ao Curso de Mestrado em Ciências da Linguagem da Universidade do Sul de Santa
Catarina em atendimento à Resolução CNE/CES nº 2,
de 9 de junho de 2005, para fins de reconhecimento do
título de Mestre obtido na New Mexico State University.
Final paper submitted for the COMM 590- Issues in Teaching English for Specific Purposes,
course under the supervision of Dr. Robert Weissberg (NMSU instructor).
JEANCARLO VISENTAINER
THE IMPORTANCE OF VOCABULARY IN ESP CURRICULA
Esta dissertação foi julgada adequada como requisito ao
processo de reconhecimento do título de Master of Arts
in Teaching with an Emphasis on Teaching English to
Speakers of Other Languages, em atendimento à Resolução CNE/CES nº 2, de 9 de junho de 2005.
Tubarão – SC, 19 de março de 2007.
______________________________________________________
Prof. Dr. Lincoln Fernandes
Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina
______________________________________________________
Prof. Dra. Débora de Carvalho Figueiredo
Universidade do Sul de Santa Catarina
______________________________________________________
Prof. Dr. Antônio Carlos Gonçalves dos Santos
Universidade do Sul de Santa Catarina
To my daughter Sofia.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
My grateful thanks and appreciation to Dr. Lincoln Fernandes for his encouragement and advice.
I would like to acknowledge Professor Sônia Maria Hitchel Probst for her dedication in order
to recognize this MA.
I wish to thank Dr. Wilson Shuelter for his polite attitudes in all situations and for his brilliant
work in this MA program.
It is not possible to be a teacher without loving
teaching (Paulo Freire).
RESUMO
O principal objetivo deste estudo de multicase é investigar se os currículos de três
instituições de ensino superior trazem instruções claras de como utilizar vocabulário em salas
de aulas voltadas ao ensino de inglês para fins específicos. Este estudo ainda tem a finalidade
de mostrar a importância do desenvolvimento do currículo nos cursos que possuem a língua
inglesa voltada para fins específicos e como o vocabulário é ensinado neste contexto
específico. O tema currículo será conceituado à luz de teorias recentes e o foco do ensino de
vocabulário é verificar se cada currículo apresenta orientações para os professores de como
utilizar o vocabulário em sala de aula quando nele estiver previsto. Um aspecto importante
identificado durante a coleta dos dados é que os currículos envolvidos neste estudo de caso
podem ser pré-classificados em funcionais, situacionais, baseados em
tópicos e em
conteúdos. Os dados analisados indicam que quase todos os currículos não trazem nenhuma
informação em como lidar com o vocabulário em sala de aula e que algumas atividades de
vocabulário previstas não possuem correlação com o conteúdo ou meios avaliativos. Estes
aspectos ilustram a falta de análise das necessidades e também a falta de desenvolvimento
curricular.
Palavras-chave: currículo, vocabulário, inglês para fins específicos.
ABSTRACT
The aim of this multi-case study is to investigate if curricula of three private
institutions, one technical school and two universities, have clear instructions on how to deal
with vocabulary in ESP (English for Specific Purposes) classroom settings. This study also
attempts to show the importance of curriculum development in ESP courses and how
vocabulary is taught in this specific context. Curriculum is going to be defined in the light of
the latest theories and the focus on the vocabulary teaching is to verify if each curriculum
brings orientation for teachers on how to deal with vocabulary when previewed in the
document. An important aspect identified while the data was gathered is that the institutions’
curricula involved in this case study may possibly be pre classified in Functional, Situational,
and Topic-based ones. The analyzed data showed that almost the curricula do not bring any
information on how to deal with vocabulary and that some vocabulary activities included do
not have any further association with the content or assessment. Those aspects illustrate the
lack of curricula development or yet lack of needs analysis.
Keywords: curriculum, vocabulary, ESP.
ACRONYMS AND DEFINITIONS
CLT
Communicative Language Teaching
EAP
English for Academic Purposes
EBP
English for Business Purposes
EFL
English as a Foreign Language
ELT
English Language Teaching
ESP
English for Specific Purposes
IBES
Instituto Blumenauense de Ensino Superior
UNIDAVI Universidade para o Desenvolvimento do Alto Vale do Itajaí
SENAI
Serviço Nacional de Aprendizagem Industrial
CONTENTS
1
INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................ 11
1.1 INITIAL REMARKS ................................................................................................. 11
1.2 THE PURPOSE AND OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY........................................... 13
1.3 METHOD ................................................................................................................... 13
1.4 ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE ........................................................................ 15
2
REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE ............................................................................ 17
2.1 DEFINING CURRICULUM ..................................................................................... 17
2.2 TYPES OF CURRICULA .......................................................................................... 19
2.2.1 Overview on curricula types ............................................................................... 20
2.3 CONTENT BASED CURRICULA ........................................................................... 21
2.4 NEEDS ANALYSIS................................................................................................... 22
2.5 THE NEED TO BUILD VOCABULARY................................................................. 24
2.6 VOCABULARY TEACHING ................................................................................... 24
2.6.1 Vocabulary in ESP .............................................................................................. 25
2.7 COURSE EVALUATION IN ESP............................................................................. 26
2.8 THE LEARNER-CENTERED APPROACH............................................................. 28
2.9 SUMMARY................................................................................................................ 30
3
METHOD...................................................................................................................... 31
3.1 DATA COLLECTION ............................................................................................... 31
3.1.1 Administration of the methods ............................................................................ 31
3.1.2 Institutions’ curricula ......................................................................................... 32
3.1.3 Analytical procedures ......................................................................................... 33
3.1.4 Vocabulary activities........................................................................................... 34
4
ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION................................................................................. 35
4.1 ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS ................................................................................... 35
4.2 DISCUSSION ON THE FINDINGS.......................................................................... 37
4.3 FINDINGS ON COURSE DESIGN........................................................................... 38
4.3.1 SENAI.................................................................................................................. 38
4.3.2 IBES .................................................................................................................... 39
4.3.3 UNIDAVI............................................................................................................. 40
4.4 FINDINGS ON VOCABULARY .............................................................................. 42
4.5 RELEVANCE OF THE SUBJECT AND CONTENT............................................... 44
4.6 SUMMARY................................................................................................................ 48
5
CONCLUSIONS........................................................................................................... 50
5.1 SUMMARY OF THE STUDY................................................................................... 50
5.2 THE RESEARCH QUESTIONS REVISITED.......................................................... 52
5.3 PRACTIVAL APPLICATIONS OF THIS STUDY .................................................. 53
5.4 LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY AND SUGGESTION FOR FURTHER
RESEARCH .............................................................................................................. 54
BIBLIOGRAPHY................................................................................................................ 55
APPENDIXES...................................................................................................................... 57
APPENDIX A – UNDERGRADUATE COURSE IN TECHNOLOGY IN
PROCESSES OF MECHANICAL PRODUCTION .......................... 58
APPENDIX B – UNDERGRADUATE COURSE IN MODELING PROCESSES....... 60
APPENDIX C – UNDERGRADUATE COURSE IN TOURISM (ENGLISH I).......... 62
APPENDIX D– UNDERGRADUATE COURSE IN TOURISM (ENGLISH II) ......... 65
APPENDIX E – UNDERGRADUATE COURSE IN INTERNATIONAL TRADE .... 68
APPENDIX F – UNDERGRADUATE COURSE IN COMPUTER SCIENCE............ 70
11
1
INTRODUCTION
Education involves a passion to know that should
engage us in a loving search for knowledge
(Paulo Freire).
1.1 INITIAL REMARKS
Being a language teacher nowadays turns out to be an enormous challenge. In a
globalized scenario where languages play the role of a window to the world around us,
teaching a language demands a great deal of work. Some years ago to teach a foreign
language was just to follow the curriculum1. Students had to learn the language whether they
liked it or not (Harmer, 1997, p. 01). Today, this scenario seems to have changed, people are
aware of the importance of learning a foreign language because they think it offers a chance
of improving their professional lives. They assume that they will get a better job with two
languages than if they only knew their mother tongue.
Regarding the chance of improving one’s professional life by knowing more than
one language, teachers’ responsibilities increase at the moment of curriculum design because
they must be aware of students and institutions’ needs. In some circumstances the curriculum
is a mere process to follow such as in public schools where the curriculum is determined by
the Ministry of Education. Private school systems, in their turn, are almost the same since the
curriculum is developed at a regional level and in some cases at a national one. Teachers do
not have much to do but follow the curriculum and use the teaching materials made available
by the government or by the institution.
1
In this research, the word “curriculum” assumes the role of “program”. It means the teaching program that
professors must follow in their classrooms to accomplish with the institutions and students’ needs.
12
In teaching English for Specific Purposes (ESP), for instance, the teacher in many
cases must design his own curriculum, make and find his own materials because there are no
available teaching materials in some ESP areas. Stern (1993) points out that the teacher is
completely on his own in these circumstances. He also maintains that in this kind of situation
the teachers must develop their own curriculum, make or find their own materials and
introduce their curriculum to the class.
The concept of curriculum is controversial. According to Sauvignon, sometimes it
is defined as the same as syllabus and the difference is a mere use of the word, such as
curriculum for American English and syllabus British. Nevertheless, there are several
conflicting views about curriculum development and syllabus design in books that address
this issue. The following definition can help to better understand the Curriculum versus
Syllabus dichotomy.
A statement of both the content and process of teaching for a course or sequence of
courses; a guide to selection of items and activities (British: syllabus); all
educational experiences for which the schools is responsible (Savignon, 1993, p.
303).
Even with the diversity of opinion about curriculum and syllabus, the quote above
tries to show some similarity between them. It also shows that irrespective of the use of the
word (i.e. curriculum or syllabus), the role of a curriculum continues to be that of a guideline
to be used in the classroom in order to meet learners and schools’ needs, that is, to develop the
learning process.
Assuming the importance of curriculum development, this research adopts the
following definition for curriculum: “A statement of both the content and process of teaching
for a course with a selection of items and activities”.
The next section presents the aspects of curricula that will be analyzed in this
research.
13
1.2
THE PURPOSE AND OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
Being aware of the fact that the curriculum plays a crucial role in the learning
process and that each institution organizes it according to its curriculum designer’s point of
view, the main purpose of this study is to investigate if some selected curricula have clear
instructions on how to deal with vocabulary in ESP classroom settings. In fact, this study
attempts to show the importance of curriculum development in ESP courses and how
vocabulary is taught in this specific context.
In this context, the more specific objectives of this study can be subsumed under
three Research Questions (RQs):
(i)
How much importance do curricula attach to vocabulary teaching?
(ii) What kind of vocabulary activities do these curricula portray?
(iii) Do these curricula have any justification for the use of vocabulary activities?
The above questions are important to guide this multi-case study in order to
investigate if vocabulary is present in ESP curricula and which importance is given to this
significant issue. To answer them it is important to describe the methods and data source on
which this study is centered. This is discussed in the next section.
1.3 THE METHOD
This is a multi-case study motivated by the conviction that vocabulary is essential
in ESP curricula and that influences the process of foreign language learning. It investigates if
four specific curricula have clear instructions on how to deal with vocabulary in ESP
classroom settings. In addition, this respective study is qualitative in nature because the
curricula will be analyzed according to the literature review and the findings from the data
analysis.
14
Yin (2003, p. 46) considers the multi-case study as being a variant of the single
case study, although he points out that some fields consider them to be different
methodologies. A multi-case study allows for cross-case analysis and the opportunity to
generalize findings relative to the cases studied, as well as strengthening the reliability of the
study. Moreover, he argues that multiple cases, in this sense, should be considered multiple
experiments.
McDonough & McDonough (1997) explain that:
Cases…are objects to be studied and are not themselves synonymous with any
particular techniques. They are for this reason methodologically eclectic, with a
number of different permutations and possibilities of choices (p. 279).
In addition, they suggest that the typical techniques for interpretative research
include collecting existing information. As regards existing information, this researcher had
access to curricula from the following involved institutions:
(i) SENAI – Serviço Nacional de Aprendizagem Industrial;
(ii) IBES – Instituto Blumenauense de Ensino Superior;
(iii) UNIDAVI – Universidade para o Desenvolvimento do Alto Vale do Itajaí.
SENAI is a big industry organization that has branches in many Brazilian states.
The branch whose curriculum will be analyzed is located in Rio do Sul. Their school focuses
on “Professional Education” and “Technology”. It has more than seventeen hundred students
spread among technical courses such as Mechanics, Computing, Electronics, Modeling,
Electricity, Technical Drawing, High School and Technical Undergraduate courses. At
SENAI students have to pay their studies but affiliated companies and industries give
subsidies to the institution so the institution can offer cheaper courses and the companies can
get back qualified labor.
15
IBES is a small private University. It is located in Blumenau and offers for the
community courses such as Administration, Accountancy, Tourism, Marketing, Publicity and
Psychology. The institution has around nine hundred students and focuses its marketing on
students from public high schools, offering higher education with low prices.
UNIDAVI is a Community University. Even though it is private, it does not focus
on profit but on regional growth. It is located in Rio do Sul and has more than four thousand
students; it offers twenty three undergraduate courses to better prepare local students. Courses
span from Administration, Law, Arts, Accountancy, Pedagogy, Physical Education, Biology,
Chemistry, Computer Science, International Trade, Tourism, Journalism, etc. Students have to
pay for the courses, but they also have the possibility to apply for scholarships. All the money
is reverted to services for the local community, aiming at regional development.
This research specifically analyzes the ESP curricula of private institutions. In the
private technical school, SENAI, the ESP curricula analyzed are from two different
undergraduate courses: Mechanical Production and Modeling Processes. In relation to the
universities, at IBES the curriculum analyzed is from Tourism; and at Unidavi is Computer
Sciences, and International Trade.
1.4 ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE
This work is divided in five chapters to better explain the importance of
vocabulary in ESP curricula. Chapter 1 includes the initial remarks, the purpose and
objectives of the Study, the method applied in this research and its organizational structure.
Chapter 2 reviews the literature on curriculum development and introduces some definitions,
even if controversial. Additionally, this chapter makes another review of vocabulary teaching
and its importance to ESP curricula. Chapter 3 deals with the methods of this research.
16
Chapter 4 discusses the analyzed institutions’ curricula, and presents the data analysis and
findings. Finally, Chapter 5 presents the summary of the study, the research questions
revisited, practical applications of this study, limitations of the study and suggestions for
further research.
17
2 - LITERATURE REVIEW
To the Romans, a curriculum was rutted course
that guided the path of two-wheeled chariots (The
National Research Council).
2.1 DEFINING CURRICULUM
In the 60s, traditional curriculum models were replaced by critical theories.
Traditional models were theories of approval, adjustment and adaptation. Critical theories are
theories of mistrusting, questionings and extreme transformation. To these critical theories,
the most important thing is not the development of techniques to devise curriculum, but the
development of concepts, which allows us to understand what the curriculum actually does.
According to Nunan (2002), there are several controversial views about
curriculum development and syllabus design. For him, it is possible to distinguish a broad and
a narrow approach to syllabus design. Nunan (Op. Cit.) refers to a narrow view as a
distinction between syllabus design and methodology. “Syllabus design is seen as being
concerned essentially with the selection and grading of content, while methodology is
concerned with the selection of learning tasks and activities” (p. 5). On other hand, the broad
view is questioning this separation because with the advent of communicative language
teaching the distinction between content and tasks is difficult to sustain.
Nunan (2005, p. 05) presents some quotes that provide an excellent overview of
the range and diversity of opinion on curriculum. These quotes also represent the broad and
narrow view that he suggested in his book.
…I would like to draw attention to a distinction… between curriculum or syllabus,
that is its content, structure, parts and organization, and… what in curriculum theory
is often called curriculum processes, that is curriculum development,
18
implementation, dissemination and evaluation. (Stern, 1984, p. 14, quoted in Nunan,
2002, p. 05).
[The syllabus] replaces the concept of ‘method’, and the syllabus is now see as an
instrument by which the teacher, with the help of the syllabus designer, can achieve
a degree of ‘fit’ between the needs and aims of the learner (as social being and as
individual) and the activities which will take place in the classroom. (Yalden, 1984,
p. 14 quoted in Nunan, 2002, p. 05).
Any syllabus will express – however indirectly – certain assumptions about
language, about the psychological process of learning, and about the pedagogic and
social process within a classroom. (Breen, 1984, p. 49 quoted in Nunan, 2002, p.
05).
… curriculum is a very general concept which involves consideration of the whole
complex of philosophical, social and administrative factors which contribute to the
planning of an educational program. Syllabus, on the other hand, refers to that
subpart of curriculum which is concerned with a specification of what units will be
taught (as distinct from how they will be taught, which is a matter for methodology).
(Allen, 1984, p. 61 quoted in Nunan, 2002, p. 05).
Nunan (2005, p. 05), after these quotes, summarizes that some specialists believe
that syllabus (the selection and grading of content) and methodology should be kept separate,
while others think otherwise. Savignon (1993, p. 303), for instance, suggests that curriculum
is “a statement of both the content and process of teaching for a course or sequence of
courses”.
Stern (1993) reinforces Savignon’s idea about the equivalence between
‘curriculum’ and ‘syllabus’.
He reports that “in Britain, the term ‘syllabus’ is roughly
equivalent to curriculum in the more restricted sense above” (p. 20).
When the discussion concerns curriculum, it gets into a wide range of talk. What
must be in mind is that the curriculum is part of school and students’ needs.
Giroux
(discussed in da Silva, 1999) says that the organization of a curriculum should be an
opportunity for students to practice the democratic abilities of discussion and participation,
questioning the conjectures of social life common sense. On the other hand, teachers cannot
be seen as technicians or bureaucrats, but as people actively involved into critical and
questioning activities. Giroux (ibid.) also sees teachers as intellectual transformers and for
19
him the curriculum is not simply involved with transmission of facts and objective knowledge
but it is an opportunity through which social meanings are produced and created.
Regarding Giroux’s assumptions the curriculum is an opportunity for students and
schools to attach themselves to the production and creation of social meanings, increasing
their relations to the whole society.
Even though all the above quotations and assumptions are controversial, it is
important to choose one of them to be the guideline to this research. In this research the word
curriculum means: “a reference program, which is concerned with a specification of what
units, contents, structures, situations, functions, and exercises, will be taught during a specific
semester or course-term, including evaluation.”2
According to da Silva (1999), the word “curriculum” is linked to worries of
organization and method. As Tyler (discussed in da Silva, 1999, p. 27) states, the organization
and the development of curriculum must answer four basic questions: (1) What educational
goals must the school search for? (2) What educational experiences can be offered which may
help achieve those goals? (3) How to organize efficiently those educational experiences? (4)
How can we be sure that those goals will be reached?
The course designer should answer these questions in the organization of the
curriculum, even though he does not participate in the decision-making process of curriculum
instruction. The next section discusses the types of curricula.
2.2 TYPES OF CURRICULA
Stern (1993, p. 166) presents several kinds of curriculum designs proposed
between 1976 and 1985. He assumes that they are similar in giving prominence to functional
2
This definition was adapted from Nunan (2005, p.5) in order to better understand the focus of this research and
the use the word curriculum, which is used along this work.
20
analysis, but they vary in the emphasis they place on it and the aspect of functional analysis
that they highlight.
The next section presents an overview of the development of ELT curriculum and
its different types, including grammar, lexical, functional, situational, topic-base, task-based,
and multi-curricula curriculum.
2.2.1 Overview of curriculum types
Harmer (2005) presents some types of curriculum (see below), all of which might
be taken as a starting point in planning a new coursebook, or of a term’s or year’s work.
Table 1 – Types of curriculum (adapted from Harmer, 2005, pp. 296-298)
The grammar curriculum
The lexical curriculum
The functional curriculum
The situational curriculum
The topic-based curriculum
The task-based curriculum
This is the component type of curriculum,
both traditionally and currently. A list of
items is sequenced in such a way that the
students gradually acquire knowledge of
grammatical structures, leading to an
understanding of the grammatical system.
It is organized on the basis of vocabulary and
lexis.
It includes categories of communicative
functions such as ‘inviting’, ‘requesting’,
‘offering’, ‘agreeing’ and ‘disagreeing’, etc.
It offers the possibility of selecting and
sequencing different real-life situations such
as ‘at the bank’, ‘at the restaurant’, ‘at the
travel agent’, etc.
It is organized in different topics, i.e.
‘weather’, ‘sport’, ‘music’, etc.
It lists a series of tasks, and may later list
some or all of the language to be used in those
tasks.
It is any combination of items from grammar,
lexis, language functions, situations, topics,
The multi-curricula curriculum tasks, different language skill tasks or
pronunciation issues.
21
The above types of curriculum can vary from institution to institution according to
their needs and goals. Krashen (1982, discussed in Freeman & Freeman, 1998, p. 33), for
instance, argues that students acquire language when they receive comprehensible inputs that
are “slightly beyond their present level of proficiency”. He also asserts that as they study
different content areas by reading texts in English, discussing their contents and writing about
the specific subject areas, students naturally acquire the target language. This type of
curriculum could be called “content-based”. The content-based curriculum is explained
below.
2.3 CONTENT BASED CURRICULA
Nunan (2002) suggests that a content curriculum is derived from a “well-defined
subject area” (p. 48). This might be other subjects in a school curriculum, such as specialist
subject matter relating to an academic or technical field like mechanical engineering,
medicine, or computing.
Brinton et al. (1989, discussed in Freeman & Freeman, 1998, pp. 32-33) show that
teaching language through content is not something new. They say that most early language
learning came when travelers or scholars recognized the need to learn a new language to meet
daily needs.
According to Freeman & Freeman (Op. Cit.) in foreign language teaching a
number of courses referred to as “English for specific purposes” have been developed:
For adult students, many courses were designed to teach the language of a specific
subject area. For example, engineers might take a course in English for engineers.
Doctors might study the English needed to talk with patients and write prescriptions.
This approach appealed to groups interested in specialized fields of study because
the classes were directly tied to their area of interest (Ibid, p. 33).
This shows the importance of content curricula, and Nunan (2002, p. 48-50)
believes that content curricula certainly give learners a lot of exposure to the language, which
22
is good. In order to define the type of curricula which is going to be adopted, Harmer (2005,
p. 296) calls attention to needs analysis that is essential to this kind of curriculum, which is
going to be presented in the next section.
2.4 NEEDS ANALYSIS
As Yalden (1983, discussed in Stern 1993, pp. 43-44) has argued, needs analysis
remains an important first stage of curriculum development in many types of language
teaching, serving as a key source of input for decisions to be made with respect to content,
objectives, and strategies.
Richterich (1980, discussed in Stern 1993, p. 43) mentions that analysis of student
needs has become increasingly important for language course designers, since the appearance
of Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) and English for Specific Purposes (ESP) in the
1960s and 1970s.
According to Dudley-Evans and St. John (1998, p. 122) the teaching of English
for Specific Purposes (ESP) is a separated activity within English Language Teaching (ELT).
They believe that ESP has developed its own methodology to several specific areas of
people’s needs. Moreover, they reinforce that the main concerns of ESP have always been,
and remain, with needs analysis, text analysis and preparing learners to communicate
effectively in the tasks prescribed by their study or work situation.
Developing course-curricula has to be a careful process which respects some
aspects of ESP methodology, as Dudley-Evans and St. John (1998) point out:
all ESP teaching should reflect the methodology of the disciplines and professions it
serves; and in more specific ESP teaching the nature of the interaction between the
teacher and learner may be very different from that in a general English class (p. 4).
23
It shows that ESP teaching has its own methodology since the classes can not be
the same as in general English classes for the reason that ESP courses serves different
professions and professionals.
Before starting to develop a course, curriculum designers have to develop several
frameworks to help on the process. Graves (1996) specifies that a framework of components
is useful for several reasons:
[…] i) it provides an organized way of conceiving of a complex process; ii) it sets
forth domains of inquiry for the teacher, in that each component puts forth ideas as
well as raises issues for the teacher to pursue; iii) it provides a set of terms currently
used in talking about course development and thus a common professional
vocabulary and access to the ideas of others (p. 87).
Trim (1980, discussed in Stern 1993, p. 43) backs up the above quotation when he
points out that curriculum development often demands as a first step “an analysis of the entire
learning context, including social and individual motivations and needs”.
According to Richterich (1980, discussed in Stern 1993, p. 43), language needs
are "the requirements which arise from the use of a language in the multitude of situations
which may arise in the social lives of individuals and groups." He also says that by analyzing
the language needs of specific groups of learners, teachers should be able to identify those
notions and functions, which will be most valuable to the teaching process.
West (1994, p. 14) observes that "most needs analysis procedures do not begin to
handle the leap between needs analysis and methods/materials selection or development". He
also suggests that students and teachers explore learning needs together, and that it helps the
students become aware of learning processes and to handle the "leap" of application through
negotiation with the teacher.
The next section deals with the importance of building vocabulary.
24
2.5 THE NEED TO BUILD VOCABULARY
Lewis (2000) states that students read articles or texts, often grouped thematically
around a particular content area such as “work and careers”, and then respond to the readings
in writing, using a variety of discourse types. Furthermore, he mentions that recent research,
while not advocating total abandonment of inferring from context, which is a valuable reading
skill in its own right, supports the notion that some systematic, explicit study of vocabulary is
vital to gaining language proficiency.
According to Lewis, different careers demand different kinds of vocabulary and
particular meanings and that it helps on the language gaining. Vocabulary teaching is
important to the learning process and it is presented in the next section.
2.6 VOCABULARY TEACHING
An ability to manipulate grammatical structures does not have any potential for
expression unless words are used. Harmer (1997) describes very well the importance of
vocabulary teaching and suggests that one way of organizing curriculum would be in terms of
vocabulary rather than grammatical structures or functions.
The idea of vocabulary as an organizing feature of a curriculum – rather than as an
afterthought – is closely similar to situational and topic-based curricula. This means
that situations, topics and lexical items cluster together (pp. 25-27).
The quote above maintains the idea that the practice of vocabulary teaching must
be attached to curriculum, and Harmer goes further saying that “language may not be the
only way to organise a curriculum.” For him, teachers could also organize their teaching
based on a number of situations – “at the bank, at the railway station”, for example. However,
he maintains that for general language students the situational organization is a bit restrictive
25
since “it limits the amount of vocabulary available” and may produce language use which
only works in that situation. In this case, he indicates that topic-based curricula are certainly
suitable for vocabulary material. Harmer (1997) sums up by saying that
[…] for many years vocabulary was seen as incidental to the main purpose of
language teaching – namely acquisition of grammatical knowledge about language.
Vocabulary was necessary to give students something to hang on to when learning
structures, but was frequently not a main focus for learning itself (p. 154).
Freeman & Freeman (1998, p. 135) advert that students have no trouble learning
vocabulary, however they need more than vocabulary to “compete academically”’ with their
peers or do business in the globalization era.
Harmer (1997, p. 154) highlights the importance of vocabulary teaching,
contributing to Freeman & Freeman’s above proposition. He suggests that
The acquisition of vocabulary is just as important as the acquisition of grammar, and
the decision about what vocabulary to teach and learn will be heavily influenced,
then, by information we can get about frequency and use. But this information will
be assessed in the light of other considerations such as topic, function, structure,
teachability, needs and wants (Ibid, p. 154).
Those aspects are important, and course designers must be aware of them, mainly
about needs and wants (as presented in the last section).
Regarding ESP courses, Dudley-Evans & St. John (1998, p. 83) point out that the
teaching of vocabulary in ESP (see below) follows similar general principles to those in
English for general purposes.
2.6.1 Vocabulary in ESP
Dudley-Evans & St. John (1998, p. 80) discuss the importance of the teaching of
vocabulary in ESP and say that now it is accepted. However, they contend that the situation
with regard to the teaching of technical vocabulary is rather more complicated than the simple
notion that the ESP teacher should not touch it. While in general they agree that it should not
26
be the responsibility of the ESP teacher to teach technical vocabulary, in certain specific
contexts they suggest that it may be the duty of the ESP teacher to check if learners have
understood technical vocabulary appearing as carrier content for an exercise.
It may also be necessary to ensure that learners have understood technical language
presented by a subject specialist or assume to be known by a subject specialist. […]
it is important that both the teacher and the learners appreciate that this vocabulary is
acting as carrier content for an exercise and is not the real content of the exercise
(Dudley-Evans & St. John, 1998, p. 81).
The authors report that in some situations learners starting a new academic course
or professional training programme will need help with technical vocabulary that is
completely new for them. “One way to prepare learners for such a situation is for the language
teacher and the subject expert to prepare a glossary of new terms with straightforward
explanations of the terms” (Ibid, p. 82).
Additionally, another important aspect of teaching vocabulary for ESP is course
evaluation, as follows.
2.7. COURSE EVALUATION IN ESP
Possibly, one of the fields of EFL education that has addressed the topic of course
evaluation more consistently than most is that of ESP, and at this point it would be
advantageous to present a brief summary of the history of ESP. The initial work occurred in
the late 1960s, as some teachers and course developers realized that traditional general
English courses were not meeting the needs of their students. According to Hutchinson and
Waters (1987, p. 57), the development of ESP can be divided into four stages:
27
Stage 1 (1960s and early 70s): it was assumed that the English used by, for example, doctors,
constituted a particular register. The register was analyzed in order to identify its grammatical
and lexical features, and the results formed the basis of the course curriculum.
Stage 2 (1970s and early 80s): ESP curriculum development during this period was greatly
influenced by developments in linguistics, especially the move towards discourse level as
opposed to sentence-level analysis.
Stage 3 (early to late 80s: this could be termed the ‘needs analysis’ stage, in which the
experience gained in the previous stages was combined with detailed procedures for
determining the language required in specific situations.
Stage 4 (late 80s to present): in contrast to the first three stages, which were limited by their
concern with the surface linguistics features of a target situation, stage 4 has attempted to
examine the thinking process that underline language use. This approach regards any focus on
specific registers as unnecessary.
These four stages report the trajectory of the ESP in the last decades and the
authors suggest that since the first stage the lexical features are present in course curriculum
and highlight the importance of examining learner’s needs.
Furthermore, McDonough (1984) mentions that extremely rapid developments in
ESP have had many beneficial effects on other areas of ELT (for example, creating an
awareness of the importance of examining learner needs), but have also led some to
mistakenly believe that ESP and general English are separate fields. In the early days of ESP
this was perhaps not surprising, as ESP teachers and materials writers often saw themselves as
28
pioneers in an entirely new field, and the typical science/technical English-based content of
early courses was felt to be diametrically opposed to the literature-based materials of
traditional courses. In fact, it appears that the fundamental concerns of ESP, namely
identification of learners’ needs, relevant course content, and emphasis on communication,
and the promotion of language in action are now shared by all areas of ELT, and current
developments in learning centered approaches appear to be developing concurrently, whether
in ESP, EAP or general EFL.
It is important to present a brief description about the learner centered approach to
better guide the forthcoming findings on this research. This is presented in the next section.
2.8 THE LEARNER-CENTERED APPROACH
Another aspect of a learning-centered approach is that learners will have
developed certain learning skills from their academic study, or experience at work, and these
skills can be exploited in the ESP classrooms. John and Davies (1983, discussed in DudleyEvans & St. John, 1998, p. 26) take this idea a stage further: in arguing for an approach based
on the text as ‘a vehicle for information’ rather than as ‘a linguistic object’, and on a topictype analysis of text.
Dudley-Evans & St. John (Op. Cit.) say that the learning-centered approach also
takes into account the fact that different students learn in different ways. The emphasis on pair
or group work and problem solving allows for these differences.
Brown (1994, pp. 124-137) presents some aspects of the learner-centered
instruction. It includes techniques that focus on or account for learners’ needs, styles, and
goals; students are allowed to be creative and innovative; students work in groups or pairs
where they have the opportunity to take control of the activities, and the curricula includes the
29
consultation and input from students. In fact, it is what the students look for, because they
want to be part of their learning process.
Moreover in learner-centered classes teachers attempt to get a sense of what
students know and can do as well as their interests and passions – what each student knows,
cares about, is able to do, and wants to do (Brown, Op. Cit.). Thus, in learner-centered
environments teachers lead learners to construct their own meanings, respecting beliefs,
understanding, and cultural practices they bring to the classrooms.
Learner-centered instruction also includes sensitivity to the cultural practices of
students and the effects of those practices on classroom learning. Teachers, on learnercentered classes, also respect the language practice of their students because they provide a
basis for further learning. Teachers look for students needs what gives to the classes a
democratic environment view. This way, students feel that their prior knowledge, needs,
wishes and cultural background are valorized, and take a place on the curricula. For instance,
teachers could organize classes with students’ help. A good way to enhance this are jigsaw
activities where the students are the center (the main goal) because they have to interact with
their classmates and give contributions to other groups according to what they have learned in
their original groups. It gives “power” to students report their own opinions and beliefs about
the subject in question.
However, some teachers shy way from the notion of giving the “power” to the
student associated with a learner-centered approach. Brown (1994) states that such restraint is
not necessary because even in beginning levels classes, teachers can offer students certain
choices. For example, working with projects is a kind of learner-centered classes where
students have the opportunity to choose what they want to learn during a semester or a year of
study. They feel comfortable to choose the subject or activities that they are going to
study/practice.
30
All of these factors help to give students a sense of “ownership” of their learning
and thereby add to their intrinsic motivation. These factors make classes a kind of community
learning because teachers and learners work together and share information, and everybody
learns with each other. Everybody tries to contribute to the learning process. Brown (1994, p.
124) suggests that “accomplished teachers give learners reasons, by respecting and
understanding learners’ prior experiences and understanding, assuming these can serve as a
foundation on which to build bridges to new understandings”. Therefore, teachers are the
facilitators to help students to improve their knowledge.
2.9 SUMMARY
This chapter has covered a brief review of the curriculum development including
definitions, characteristics, and typologies. It also considered some curricula types such as
grammar, lexical, functional, situational, topic-base, task-based, and multi-curricula.
Additionally, aspects of vocabulary teaching and its importance on general English and ESP
learning were presented. The next chapter discusses the methodology of this study.
31
3
METHOD
Learners do not learn effectively without the
intervention of properly educated teachers
(Widdowson).
3.1
DATA COLLECTION
This multi-case study was carried out, as presented earlier, in order to investigate
if three educational institutions had clear instructions on how to deal with vocabulary in ESP
classroom settings.
According to Yin multi-case study allows for cross-case analysis and the
opportunity to generalize findings relative to the cases studied and as well strengthens the
reliability of the study.
cases are not ‘sampling units’ and should not be chosen for this reason. Rather,
individual case studies are to be selected as a laboratory investigator selects the
topics of a new experiment. Under these circumstances, the mode of generalization
is ‘analytic’ generalization, in which a previously developed theory is used as a
template with which to compare the empirical results of the case study. (Yin 2003,
p.32).
The aforementioned author also suggests that the typical techniques for
interpretative research include the collection of existing information. Even though there is
existing information, it is important to define how it will be conducted. This is defined in the
next section as follows.
3.1.1
Administration of the methods
The first step of the process was to ask for permission to the directors to conduct
the research in the institutions, explaining the purpose and objectives of this research, and
consequently accessing the institutions’ curricula in order to analyze them.
32
Secondly, as presented before, all the institutions have more than one category of
course and just some curricula were selected to be analyzed from each institution (see next
section).
3.1.2
Institutions’ curricula
As described in Chapter 1, all the institutions have several courses that vary from
technical to undergraduate courses. Regarding the courses, many curricula, which have a
foreign language in their organization could be analyzed; however, this research concentrates
on those curricula with a focus on English as a Foreign Language (EFL), more specifically on
those with an English for Specific Purposes (ESP) format. The general courses descriptions
are presented below (Table 2). For a better organization the complete curricula are disposed in
the Appendixes (p. 57).
Table 2 - Institutions and the analyzed curricula
Institution
Course / Subject
a)
Undergraduate Course: Technology in Processes
of Mechanical Production
i) SENAI
Subject: Technical English
b)
Undergraduate Course: Modeling Processes
Subject: Technical English
a)
Undergraduate Course: Tourism
ii) IBES
Subject: English I
b)
Undergraduate Course: Tourism
Subject: English II
a)
Undergraduate Course: International Trade
iii) UNIDAVI Subject: Technical English
b)
Undergraduate Course: Computer Science
Subject: Technical English
Curriculum
See Appendix A
See Appendix B
See Appendix C
See Appendix D
See Appendix E
See Appendix F
33
The above institutions’ curricula will be analyzed according to elements in Table
3. These elements were previously analyzed in accordance to van Ek (1975, pp.8-9, discussed
in Nunan, 2002, p. 7). He suggests some elements that are relevant when analyzing a
curriculum; others were elaborated in order to conduct this research.
Low
Fair
High
Extremely
high
Relevance of the subject and content
Extremely
low
Table 3 – Curriculum Evaluation Criteria (adapted from Nunan, 2002, p. 7)
0
1
2
3
4
Situations in which the foreign language will be used, including
the topics dealt with
Language activities in which the learner will engage
What the learner will be able to do with respect to each topic
Specific (topic-related) notions which the learner will be able to
handle
Language forms which the learner will be able to use
Instruction on how to deal with vocabulary
Activities which focus on vocabulary
Resources and materials
Learner assessment
The analytical procedures used to carry out the data analysis are discussed in the
next section.
3.1.3
Analytical Procedures
The method for analyzing the data collected was that of comparison and data
interpretation. Craft (1996, p. 131) suggests that to handle data it is important to identify the
categories, which involves finding recurrent themes and categories and sorting the data
according to them. Interpreting the data means “linking the analyses of data to wider theory”,
in this particular case to investigate if the curricula analyzed had clear instructions on how to
deal with vocabulary in ESP classroom settings. This way the curricula under analysis were
34
linked to the wider theories (see Chapter 2) to come up with the findings, that is, to identity
the presence of vocabulary activities, as presented in the next section.
3.1.4 Vocabulary activities
This multi-case study deals with the identification of vocabulary activities in ESP
curricula and from these analyses it is possible to verify if the involved curricula (see section
3.1.2, p. 32) have clear instructions on how to deal with vocabulary activities.
The complete data analysis is presented in the next chapter.
35
4
ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION
Teachers always need to adapt lessons to fit their
context and their orientation (Freeman &
Freeman).
4.1 ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS
In the analysis of the data obtained from the curricula selected, as outlined in
Chapter 3, an interpretative technique was employed. The researcher had access to the
curricula from the three involved institutions. Next, the researcher examined each curriculum
for individual findings using the curriculum evaluation criteria presented in the previous
chapter (see section 3.1.2, p. 33). As was expected, each institution had different curricula for
similar courses, and they were classified as Functional, Situational, Topic-based and Contentbased curricula, as seen in Table 4 below.
Table 4 – Types of curricula
Institutions / Courses
Types of Curricula
SENAI
IBES
UNIDAVI
Functional
_
Tourism
International Trade
Situational
_
Tourism
International Trade
_
Computing Science
Topic-based
Mechanic Production and
Modeling Process
_
Content-based
_
International Trade
and Computer
Science
Stern (1993, p. 166) contends that several kinds of curriculum design proposed
between 1976 and 1985. He assumes that they are similar in giving prominence to functional
36
analysis, but they vary in the emphasis they place on it and the aspect of functional analysis
which they highlight. Moreover, Harmer (2005, pp. 296-298) presents some of these types of
curriculum: grammar, lexical, functional, situational, topic-based and task-based curricula
(see complete description in chapter 2, section 2.2.1, p. 20).
After analyzing all curricula involved in this research, the topic-based curriculum
showed to be more frequent, especially at SENAI. This is understandable because the
curricula from this institution focus on technical courses; therefore, technical vocabulary is
present in all their curricula.
At IBES the curricula analyzed was from the undergraduate course “Tourism”.
Two types were identified here, functional and situational curricula. The subject “English”
course is divided in two semesters, and real-life situation activities were present in both.
Harmer (2005, p. 298) suggests that the situational curriculum offers the possibility of
selecting real-life situations such as “at the bank”, “at the supermarket”, “at the travel agent”,
“at the restaurant”. They foresee situations such as “preparing a trip: choosing a hotel,
booking a hotel, flying out”, “visiting a trade fair: finding out about a trade fair, place and
order”, “dealing with problems, making decisions, complaining, thinking ahead, apologizing”,
and so on (see complete curricula in appendixes C and D.
UNIDAVI showed a similar situation. Both curricula analyzed are from
undergraduate courses. The first one has a strong presence of real-life situations such as:
“dining out about a city”, “renting a car”, dining out on business”, dealing with problems”,
etc. These real-life situations give to the curriculum a situational format with functional
activities. The second curriculum analyzed, Computer Science, was classified as topic-based
because all the descriptions conducted to this assumption (see section 4.3.3 in this chapter).
Harmer (2005, p. 298) asserts that topics provide a welcome organizing principle
in that they can be based on what students will be interested in. The third institution,
37
UNIDAVI, by selecting a topic-based curriculum for its second course surely tries to better
attend the students’ needs.
4.2 DISCUSSION ON THE FINDINGS
The study revealed that, from a general analysis, in all the three institutions
involved, the curriculum designers attempted to organize the curricula in an ESP format. It is
an important aspect since all the courses’ curricula analyzed in this research, regardless of
belonging to technology or ESP courses, are developed to groups interested in specialized
fields of study and the contents are directed to their area of interest. Freeman & Freeman
(1998, p.33) suggest that many courses are designed to teach the language of a specific
subject area: “engineers might take a course in English for engineers. Doctors might study the
English needed to talk with patients and write prescriptions. […] classes must be directly tied
to their area of interest”.
Those aspects of specific usage of English appear at the curricula analyzed, as
follows in the next sections.
38
4.3 FINDINGS ON COURSE DESIGN
4.3.1
SENAI
Regarding both curricula analyzed from this institution, the Mechanical
Production curriculum (see chapter 3, section 3.1.2, p. 32) showed the following structure:
content, goals, strategy, chronology, and assessment. There is no detailed orientation on
vocabulary teaching. It just states that students are going to learn specific vocabulary from
mechanical production. However the strategy section does not bring any orientation on how to
work with this vocabulary.
Moreover, Harmer (1997, p. 154) highlights the importance of vocabulary
teaching affirming that “the acquisition of vocabulary is just as important as the acquisition of
grammar.” This suggests that vocabulary teaching is crucial to apprenticeship, and in the
curriculum above the vocabulary is not emphasized, it seems that it just appears as an
obligation of the curriculum or the institution’s needs.
In a wider analysis, when comparing curricula (Mechanical Production and
Modeling Process) from SENAI (see chapter 3, section 3.1.2, p. 32 and appendixes A and B),
some similar goals can be noticed among them such as “develop technical vocabulary in the
specific area”, “identifying keywords in a text”, and “develop a glossary of technical terms”.
Nevertheless, the curricula mentioned above are not clear about the use of the vocabulary.
They simple expect students to select words from texts that they read in classroom in order to
develop the “technical dictionary” or “glossary”. However, both curricula (Mechanical
Production and Modeling Process) do not propose any type of evaluation for the “technical
dictionary” or “glossary”.
The problem identified here is that there is no orientation on how to deal with
vocabulary in any curricula analyzed, nor any orientation about the assessment related to
39
supposed technical vocabulary in curricula of Mechanical Production and Modeling Process.
It seems that the curricula designer just concerned about the institution’s needs, forgetting
needs analysis and any instruction on how to deal with vocabulary.
Graves (1996) marks that before starting to develop a course, curriculum
designers have to develop several frameworks to help on the process. For him a framework of
components is useful for several reasons:
[…] i) it provides an organized way of conceiving of a complex process; ii) it sets
forth domains of inquiry for the teacher, in that each component puts forth ideas as
well as raises issues for the teacher to pursue; iii) it provides a set of terms currently
used in talking about course development and thus a common professional
vocabulary and access to the ideas of others (p. 87).
In brief, the curriculum designer who developed both curricula analyzed in this
section probably did not develop any framework to help on the process. It is a different
process compared to IBES’ curricula, as we will see in the next section.
4.3.2
IBES
The curricula from this institution, as mentioned before in section 4.1, focus on
Tourism, and the contents students are expected to develop come from a truly specialized
field. The following excerpts from the curriculum show it: i) “Traveling on business: arriving,
going out, arranging to meet, and eating out”, ii) “Organizing a trip: finding out about a place
and organizing a trip”, iii) “Advertisements. Creating simple advertisements to sell tourism
package”, iv) “Getting a job: job advertisements, applying for a job, an interview”, v)
“Arrangements: future engagement, fixing the date, getting connected, appointments”.
All the examples above showed two important aspects in this analysis: i) the
curriculum designer organized the curricula thinking of the learners’ needs to prepare them to
communicate effectively in the tasks proposed; ii) the curricula is built in the content-based
40
and functional mode because all the contents proposed are directed to the specific area of
tourism, including communicative functions.
Nunan (2002, p. 48) argues for the content curriculum, and states that it is derived
from a “well-defined subject area”. This might be other subjects in a school curriculum such
as specialist subject matter relating to an academic or technical field like mechanical
engineering, medicine, or computing. This way learners are prepared to communicate
effectively in the tasks prescribed by their study or work situation.
Regarding the content from the curricula analyzed above it became apparent that
they are well-defined and that the curricula designer was concerned about needs analysis.
4.3.3 UNIDAVI
The analysis of International Trade curriculum from UNIDAVI (see chapter 3,
section 3.1.2, p. 32) confirms that it was designed to a defined area of ESP, that of EBP. This
curriculum focuses on business contexts reinforced in the curriculum’s contents, such as
“business trips”, “dining out on business”, “getting connected”, “appointments”. This
curriculum is a situational one. It also corresponds to students’ needs because they really need
in their daily routine to use the foreign language in situations like the ones above. Harmer
(2005, p. 298) says that the situational curriculum offers the possibility of selecting and
sequencing different real-life situations such as ‘at the bank’, ‘at the restaurant’, ‘at the travel
agent’, etc.
In the case of the International Trade curriculum, students are going to be
prepared for real-life situations (i.e. a business trip or dining out on business). They can learn
and practice in classroom for these kinds of forthcoming true circumstances in their careers.
41
The course designer was concerned about those kind of real-life situations and
gave instructions in the curriculum “methodology and procedures” section (see appendix E)
that those activities should be carried out through role-plays, “simulating real-life situations
using the target language”. This curriculum is also considered functional because it is related
to categories of communicative functions. Harmer (2005, p. 298) suggests that a functional
curriculum contains categories of communicative functions such as ‘inviting’, ‘requesting’,
‘offering’, ‘agreeing’ and ‘disagreeing’. This way, this curricula, by previewing role-playing
activities, is settling communicative functions as “dining out”, a situation that requires table
reservations and ordering meals.
Additionally, the Computer Science curriculum (see chapter 3, section 3.1.2, p.
32) is similar to the International Trade curriculum in the aspect of focusing on students’
needs. However, this curriculum is designed in a topic-based format. The content section of
the curriculum (see appendix F) presents different topics of study such as:
“vocabulary/functions”, “important commands and functions”, “computing vocabulary”,
“hardware vocabulary”, “common errors (Delphi, Pascal, C, Cobol)”.
This curriculum probably matches students’ needs because all the topics presented
above are in touch with their area of study, that is, Computer Science. Moreover, this
curriculum focus on vocabulary establishing that students are supposed to learn “vocabulary
and functions”, “computing vocabulary”, “hardware vocabulary” to understand common
errors while using language programming and related softwares (see appendix F, in the
“ementa”3). Harmer (1997, p. 25) suggests that one way of organizing curriculum would be in
terms of vocabulary rather than grammatical structures or functions.
Therefore, the curriculum in discussion seems to be organized in terms of
vocabulary, because different topics of study are mentioning, bringing vocabulary teaching
3
The word “ementa” used here is in Portuguese because there is no similar in English. “Ementa” refers to what
professors must teach during a semester or course-term. They cannot modify it.
42
and those topics together to the area of study. Furthermore, the course designer previews in
the curriculum’s content section that students have to “organize a glossary of technical terms
used in classes” (see appendix F, content section) and that they have to “develop a little
software using the technical vocabulary used during the semester” (see appendix F, methods
and evaluation section). To better analyze the vocabulary teaching presence in all the
curricula analyzed, the section bellow is going to present the findings on vocabulary teaching.
4.4 FINDINGS ON VOCABULARY
As presented in chapter 3, this research investigated if curricula have clear
instructions on how to deal with vocabulary in ESP classroom from institutions presented in
the same chapter (section 3.1.4, p. 34).
A general view of all the curricula analyzed is that there are no clear instructions
on how to deal with the vocabulary previewed in the curricula’s content.
This analysis showed that vocabulary teaching is present in almost all the
curricula analyzed. For example, at SENAI, it appears frequently in both curricula
(Mechanical Production and Modeling Processes). At those curricula, it seems that the
designer inserted as mandatory the organization of a glossary of technical terms, because
there are no indications in terms of assessment and conduction of the activities. These
curricula did not preview any elaboration of glossary, but they explore the vocabulary during
the entire course, i.e. reading texts and identifying keywords that better describe the text. In
both curricula there are indications that students are expected to apply a written test just about
vocabulary learned in class.
According to Hutchinson and Waters (1987, p. 57), it is the fourth stage of ESP
development, which has attempted to examine the thinking process that underline language
43
use. This way, the above curricula analyzed from SENAI are in touch with this stage because
is attempted to examine the thinking process of the vocabulary learned in class as part of the
assessment process.
Regarding the second institution, IBES, both curricula (Tourism) preview in the
“ementa” “teaching vocabulary and expressions in Tourism”. Nevertheless, they do not bring
any content, activity or information mentioning vocabulary in the rest of the document. It
looks like the course designer focused the curricula on the contents converging to the
situational mode, which is well-organized and defined (see section 4.3.2, p. 39 in this chapter)
and forgot to preview activities for teaching the vocabulary as informed in the curricula goals
section. It also can be considered a lack of needs analysis. As Yalden (1983, discussed in
Stern 1993, pp. 43-44) believes, needs analysis remains an important first stage of curriculum
development in many types of language teaching, serving as a key, source of input for
decisions to be made with respect to content, objectives, and strategies. In other words, the
course designer possibly analyzed that students should need more real-life situations rather
than vocabulary teaching.
The opposite of the above analysis occurs at UNIDAVI. International Trade
curriculum does not have any information about vocabulary teaching in the goals neither in
the contents. This curriculum is characterized as situational (see section 4.3.3 in this chapter).
On the other hand, Computer Science curriculum seems to be a curriculum based on
vocabulary. The “ementa” manifests that technical vocabulary will be broached during the
semester. In addition, contents are based on vocabulary as well as the activities. Freeman &
Freeman (1998, p. 135) reveal that students have no trouble learning the vocabulary, however
they need more than vocabulary to “compete academically”’ with their peers or do business
in the globalized era.
44
Harmer (1997, p. 154) highlights the importance of vocabulary teaching
contributing to Freeman & Freeman’s above proposition. He maintains, “the acquisition of
vocabulary is just as important as the acquisition of grammar”. It is just like in this
curriculum, because the course designer gives importance to vocabulary teaching rather than
the acquisition of grammar.
Bringing to a close analysis the Computer Science curriculum, from UNIDAVI, is
the only one to have clear instructions on how to deal with vocabulary, because the course
designer previewed contents based on vocabulary, activities and ways of assessment (see
appendix F).
Considering the relevance of the subject and contents from all the curricula
analyzed in this research, the section bellow discusses it.
4.5. RELEVANCE OF THE SUBJECT AND CONTENT
In the previous chapter, methods, was proposed an analysis on the relevance of
the subject and contents of the curricula involved in this multi-case study. It was presented a
table with elements (see chapter 3, section 3.1.2, and table 3, p. 33). All the curricula were
analyzed carefully and it was used as a guideline the curriculum evaluation criteria, presented
below in Table 5, to find out the relevance of the subject and contents of the curricula from
SENAI, IBES, and UNIDAVI.
45
Fair
High
Extremely
high
1
2
3
4
IBES
UNIDAVI
UNIDAVI
UNIDAVI
UNIDAVI
SENAI
IBES
Learner assessment
UNIDAVI
SENAI
SENAI
IBES
Resources and materials
IBES
Activities which focus on vocabulary
IBES
Instruction on how to deal with
vocabulary
SENAI
Language forms which the learner will
be able to use
SENAI
IBES
UNIDAVI
Specific (topic-related) notions which
the learner will be able to handle
SENAI
IBES
UNIDAVI
What the learner will be able to do with
respect to each topic
IBES
UNIDAVI
SENAI
SENAI
Situations in which the foreign language
will be used, including the topics will be
dealt with
Language activities in which the learner
will engage
IBES
UNIDAVI
Low
0
SENAI
Relevance of the subject and content
Extremely
low
Table 5 – Curriculum Evaluation Criteria (adapted from Nunan, 2002, p. 7)
To better understand the analysis on the table above, the following organization is
proposed: a) situations in which the foreign language will be used; b) language activities in
which the learner will engage; c) what the learner will be able to do with respect to each topic;
46
d) specific (topic-related) notions which the learner will be able to handle; e) language forms
which the learner will be able to use; f) instruction on how to deal with vocabulary; g)
activities which focus on vocabulary; h) resources and materials; i) learner assessment.
The first element analyzed was in respect to the “situations in which the foreign
language will be used”. At SENAI it is low because the areas of interests are pure technical,
though at IBES and UNIDAVI it is more frequent because the courses areas are tourism and
international trade, where real-life situations activities are present in their curricula.
Element “B” (language activities in which the learner will engage) is linked to the
element A (situations in which the foreign language will be used) because in the same way as
at SENAI it is extremely low the presence of situations in which the foreign language will be
used, consequently the language activities are low, too. On the other hand, at IBES and
UNIDAVI the presence of language activities engaging the learner are high because even they
have real-life situations of usage, their curricula are focused on specific areas such as tourism
and international trade.
Regarding what the learner will be able to do in respect to each topic, element “C”
(what the learner will be able to do with respect to each topic), all institutions involved in this
research are in a low average. For example, SENAI previews that students are going to
“develop specific vocabulary in the technical area”, see appendixes A and B, but there is no
instruction on how to deal with this topic. In addition, IBES and UNIDAVI are very similar to
SENAI, the only difference is that they preview “practice in classroom” for some topics,
which is a little fair than any previewed practice from SENAI.
In relation to element “D” (specific ‘topic-related’ notions which the learner will
be able to handle), all the institutions show specific notions that the learner will be able to
handle. SENAI is the only one that both curricula analyzed are organized in topics, contrary to
IBES and UNIDAVI, which curricula are situational (see table 4, section 4.1) in this chapter.
47
Krashen (1982, discussed in Freeman & Freeman, 1998, p. 33) maintains that
students acquire language when they receive comprehensible input that contains item “slightly
beyond their present level of proficiency”. He also asserts that as they study different content
areas by reading texts in English, discussing the content and writing about the subject area,
students naturally acquire the target language. The elements analyzed until here, A, B, C and
D, show that each institution has different content areas of study and that organizes the
curricula according to each course’s specificity.
A very interesting aspect is in relation to element “E” (language forms which the
learner will be able to use), all the institutions analyzed have no information about language
forms, which the learner will be able to use.
As discussed in previous chapters, the main goal of this research is to analyze the
institutions curricula in order to find out if they have instructions on how to deal with
vocabulary, and activities that focus on vocabulary, elements “F” (instruction on how to deal
with vocabulary) and “G” (activities which focus on vocabulary) from this analysis. Almost
no institutions have any instruction on it. SENAI just informs that students are going to
elaborate a glossary of technical terms, but there is no orientation on how to do it. IBES just
informs in the “ementa” that students are going to study expressions and vocabulary used in
the specific area, but does not preview any activity or topic related to those vocabulary or
expressions. However, UNIDAVI is the only one to make students clear about the
organization of a glossary of technical terms and how it will be carried out during the
semester (see section 4.4, p. 42, for more details).
Considering the element “H” (resources and materials), just SENAI informs the
materials and resources that are going to be used by the teacher and students in order to
achieve the goals of the curricula. The other two institutions are ranked in an extremely low
48
position, because they do not bring any information about material and resources to be used in
classes.
The last element, “I” is about the learner assessment. IBES is the weaker in this
aspect, because there is no any information about learners’ assessment in any place of the
curricula. SENAI brings little information about assessment but it is not clear, such as “oral
evaluation on vocabulary” that is vague in terms of vocabulary assessment. On the contrary,
Computer Science (UNIDAVI’s curriculum) is transparent about assessment, because it
previews evaluation on the classroom practice and a specific evaluation on the vocabulary,
which is the software about the glossary of technical terms.
The analysis of the elements presented above showed that each institution tried to
develop its own methodology to attend people needs. According to Dudley-Evans and St.
John (1998, p. 122), the teaching of English for Specific Purposes (ESP) is a separated
activity within English Language Teaching (ELT).
They also believe that ESP has developed its own methodology to the several
specific areas of people needs. In addition, they reinforce that the main concerns of ESP have
always been, and remain, with needs analysis, text analyses, and preparing learners to
communicate effectively in the tasks prescribed by their study or work situation.
In short, it shows that even they are in different areas, different needs, or different
levels such as technical and ESP curricula, they tend to achieve institutions and learners’
needs.
4.6 SUMMARY
The examination of the individual findings from one case to another revealed that
each institution designed curricula according to students’ needs that follow up the real-life
49
changing conditions. In some cases, like SENAI, all courses attend specific needs in technical
areas, and the grammar is not present because the focus is on reading and comprehending
texts from the related areas. IBES adopts a format of situational curricula to attend to learners’
needs in the area of Tourism, which recovers functional activities such as requesting,
complaining and dealing with problems. UNIDAVI showed a good organization in the
Computer Science’s curriculum. The course is well structured in terms of vocabulary and
previews orientations on how to deal with the vocabulary as well as ways of assessment.
In the next chapter, the final conclusions and suggestions for further research are
presented.
50
5
CONCLUSIONS
Many models of curriculum design seem to produce
knowledge and skills that are disconnected rather than
organized into coherent wholes (The National Research
Council).
5.1 SUMMARY OF THE STUDY
This multi-case study highlighted the importance of curriculum development in
ESP courses. Regarding the controversial opinions about the word curriculum treated by the
experts. This research also showed that irrespective of the use of the word (i.e. curriculum or
syllabus), the role of a curriculum continues to be that of a guideline to be used in the
classroom in order to meet learners and schools’ needs, that is, to develop the learning
process.
The three institutions involved in this research showed different curricula and
different organizations. Two aspects must be considered here: i) one institution is a technical
school and its goals are different from the other ones; and ii) the two colleges analyzed are
from different cities, consequently different regions’ needs are settled.
Regarding the relevance of the subject and contents of the curricula involved in
this multi-case study, it became evident that all institutions focused their curricula in learners’
needs. In addition, the strongest point was the presence of “situations in which the foreign
language will be used, including the topics will be dealt with” in the curricula, though the
weakest one was the absence of “language forms which the learner will be able to use” in all
the curricula analyzed.
According to Savignon (1993, p. 187) language teachers today need, more than
another ready-made method of teaching, it is an appreciation both of language as an
expression of self and of the ways in which meanings are created and exchanged. As they
51
shape curricula for the language programs of tomorrow, “teachers should see the learner as a
physical, psychological, and intellectual being with needs and interests that extend far beyond
those of the language classroom”.
Savignon (Op. Cit.) suggests that the balance of features in a curriculum will and
should vary from one program to the next, depending on the particular learning context of
which it is a part. Development of a curriculum should begin, however, with an awareness of
the full range of potential options, and choices should be made consciously from among those
possibilities.
The above aspect of balancing features in curricula was a characteristic from all
the analyzed curricula in this research. In spite of different courses and opposite areas of study
all the curricula analyzed herein showed a kind of balance in accordance with the course’s
features and learners’ needs because sometimes they go beyond the class, trying to connect
the learner to the real-life. An example of this situation is related to the curricula IBES that
organizes specific contents and activities linked to real-life situations such as role-plays in
restaurant, airport, business meetings and traveling abroad.
In addition, the data gathered illustrated that curriculum development plays an
important role in the learning process. Moreover, this importance increases when it is related
to ESP courses because in many cases teachers must design their own curricula, make and
find their own materials because there are no available teaching materials in some ESP areas.
Stern (1993) specifies that the teacher is completely on his own in these circumstances. He
also maintains that in this kind of situation the teachers must develop their own curriculum,
make or find their own materials and introduce their curriculum to the class.
Finally, the dynamic teaching situations today requires that institutions always be
concerned about designing a curriculum which would be appropriate for the variables
involved in the teaching-learning process. Hutchinson and Waters (1987) point out that
52
Course design is a dynamic process. It does not move in a linear fashion from initial
analysis to completed course. Needs and resources vary with time. The course
design, therefore, needs to have built-in feedback channels to enable the course to
respond to developments (p. 74).
For that reason, the priority in language teaching nowadays is curriculum design
because it influences on the foreign language learning. Therefore, the emphasis on curriculum
design is justified so as producing appropriate curricula for the specific needs of the learners,
institutions and society.
5.2 THE RESEARCH QUESTIONS REVISITED
The resulting data helped to answer the study questions: i) How much importance
do curricula attach to vocabulary teaching? ii) What kind of vocabulary activities do these
curricula portray? iii) Do these curricula have any justification for the use of vocabulary
activities?
An important feature identified is that all the curricula in its main goal’s section
preview vocabulary teaching during the course. However, in some of them, in the case of
IBES, there is no other orientation on teaching vocabulary such as content, activities, and
assessment. It looks like the course designer omitted the teaching of vocabulary in the courses
and charged all the attention to a functional and situational curriculum format. It is
understandable because the course needs real-life situations where students can practice, roleplay and be in touch with the language they are going to use in their profession that is in the
area of tourism.
The other two institutions mention the teaching of vocabulary in their curricula,
though they do not have clear instruction on how to deal with the vocabulary and neither how
students are going to learn the vocabulary. Activities such as the organization of a glossary
and development of software to present the vocabulary learned during the semester portray
53
that the curriculum designer was concerned about the activities selection to exercise and to
learn the vocabulary in classroom and tried to attach them to the specific subject area and the
course frame. As illustrated before with Freeman and Freeman (1998, p.33) quote “for adult
students, many courses were designed to teach the language of a specific subject area”.
It helps to understand why each institution had a different course organization, for
example, SENAI wants to cover the technical vocabulary; while IBES concerns in
communication rather than vocabulary; and UNIDAVI is included in the two situations
above. On the other hand, UNIDAVI is the only one institution to have orientations on how to
deal with vocabulary, specific in the curriculum from Computer Science, because at the
curriculum of International Trade there is no presence of vocabulary teaching, as mentioned
before.
Regarding the aspect of how to deal with the meaning of vocabulary in classroom,
there was no orientation in any curricula. Additionally, none of those analyzed curricular
bring justifications for the use of vocabulary activities, even the activities are relevant such as
organization of technical glossaries and oral presentations on vocabulary.
This research has also put forward some suggestions that might be relevant in
future reviews of the curricula involved in this multi-case study, which are presented below.
5.3 PRACTICAL APPPLICATIONS OF THIS STUDY
As the results of the curricula’s analysis from the three institutions, raised the
necessity of increasing the development of those curricula in question. The first thing to be
done is a complete review of the contents and activities because in some cases, as presented in
chapter 4, the curriculum previews activities in the goals but do not mention anymore in the
document as well as in the assessment section. The second one should give orientations on
54
how to deal with the contents, especially in terms of vocabulary teaching that is so vague in
some cases. All the three institutions should follow this advice, although SENAI needs to
think about this suggestion because there were many cases of contents without instructions
and assessment’s orientations.
Finally, the practical applications of this study could benefit institutions in getting
better results on the foreign language learning in ESP courses. It also could benefit students
because they would have strength curricula linked to their goals and the market job needs.
Suggestions for further research are presented below.
5.4 LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY AND SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER
RESEARCH
The present research was limited to analyze the vocabulary presence in the
curricula and orientations on how to deal with this important subject in foreign language
learning. However, this study identified the importance of analyzing the kind of vocabulary
activities are used in classroom by the institutions involved in this research. It could be led a
further research on those activities to verify if they accomplish learners’ needs and if they are
relevant to the each course. Other important aspect to be analyzed in a further research is if
the vocabulary meaning is given to learners or they are guided to discover it.
As a final point, those institutions should evaluate through learners if curricula are
reaching their needs and what could be changed in order to improve them. It could be done by
leading questionnaires with students checking their learning interests and needs linked to the
literature presented in this research.
55
BIBLIOGRAPHY
BRANSFORD, John, BROWN, Ann L, COCKING Rodney R. How people learn: brain,
mind, experience, and school. The National Research Council. Washington: National
Academy Press, 2000.
CRAFT, A. Continuing professional development. London: Rutledge, 1996.
DUDLEY-EVANS, Tonnny and ST JOHN, Maggie Jo. Developments in English for
specific purposes: A multi-disciplinary approach. UK: Cambridge University Press, 1998.
FREEMAN, Y. & FREEMAN, D. ESL/EFL Teaching: Principles for success. Portsmouth,
NH: Heinemann, 1998.
FREIRE, Paulo. Teachers as cultural workers: letters to those who dare teach. Colorado:
Westview Press, 1998.
GRAVES, K. Teachers as course developers. NY: Cambridge University Press, 1996.
HARMER, Jeremy. The practice of English language teaching. 3rd ed. England: Pearson
Education Limited, 2005.
_______________. The practice of English language teaching. New ed. England:
Longman, 1997.
HUTCHINSON, T. and WATERS, A. English for specific purposes: A learning-centered
approach. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1987.
LEWIS, Michael. Teaching collocation: further developments in the lexical approach.
London: Commercial Color Press, 2000.
LYNCH, B. Language program evaluation: Theory and practice. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 1996.
McDONOUGH, J. and McDONOUGH, S. Research methods for English language
teaching. London: Arnold, 1997.
MCDONOUGH, J. ESP in perspective: A practical guide. London: Collins, 1984.
NUNAN, D. Syllabus design. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002.
SAVIGNON, Sandra J. Communicative competence: theory and classroom practice.
USA: Addison-Wesley publishing company, 1993.
56
SILVA, Tomaz Tadeu da. Documentos de identidade: uma introdução às teorias do
currículo. Belo Horizonte: Ática, 1999.
STERN, H. H. Issues and options in language teaching. Oxford: Oxford University Press,
1993.
WIDDOWSON, H. G.. Teaching language as communication. Oxford: Oxford University
Press, 1978.
YIN, R.K. Applications of case study research. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 2003.
57
APPENDIXES
A
Undergraduate Course of Technology in Processes of Mechanical Production
B
Undergraduate Course in Modeling Processes
C
Undergraduate Course in Tourism (English I)
D
Undergraduate Course in Tourism (English II)
E
Undergraduate Course in International Trade
F
Undergraduate Course in Computer Science
APPENDIX A – UNDERGRADUATE COURSE OF TECHNOLOGY IN PROCESSES OF MECHANICAL PRODUCTION
PLANO DE ENSINO-APRENDIZAGEM
Curso Superior de Tecnologia em Processos de Produção
Mecânica
Módulo/Tema: 1º Módulo – Básico – Inglês Técnico
Turno: Noturno – 48 horas
Semestre/Ano: 1º/2005
Competências
Conhecimentos
Habilidades
Práticas Pedagógicas
Sistema de Avaliação
Nº
1
2
3
Conhecer termos Técnicos
utilizados no processo produtivo
da língua inglesa.
Utilizar estratégias, técnicas e
Saber ler e interpretar termos
habilidades de leitura que facilitem a técnicos em inglês.
compreensão de textos de gêneros e
tópicos diversos.
Utilizar manuais e livros técnicos Resumir o texto a partir das
dirigidos à língua inglesa.
keywords (palavras-chave) e das
idéias principais.
Desenvolver vocabulário
básico para comunicação em
sala de aula e despertar o
interesse pela língua alvo.
Compreender textos de gêneros
Ler artigos de periódicos, textos
Compreender textos da língua
diversos, através da utilização de técnicos e manuais aplicando as
inglesa; e escrever e-mail em
estratégias/técnicas de leitura,
estratégias, técnicas e habilidades de inglês, solicitando serviços
selecionando procedimentos
leitura.
e/ou produtos.
sistematizados, os quais
possibilitarão trabalhar com
textos relacionados a sua área
técnica.
Aulas através de comunicação
dialogada com emprego de
recursos visuais. Prática de
pronúncia.
Oral durante todo o semestre.
Identificar palavras chaves no
texto que irão compor o
dicionário de termos técnicos.
Interpretação e criação de
textos explorando o dicionário.
Avaliação escrita do
vocabulário técnico. Somativa
Interpretação de textos a partir
das palavras-chaves: Keywords. Somativa, através
da produção realizada em sala
de aula.
Leitura e interpretação de textos
inseridos paralelamente ao
assunto abordado em sala de
aula.
Somativa.
58
4
Empregar o vocabulário
específico da área, através das
diversas atividades e habilidades
propostas de leitura, nos
manuais, revistas/periódicos.
Utilizar o vocabulário/jargão básico
e glossário de abreviatura da área
técnica.
Levar o aluno conhecer
vocábulos importantes na
área de mecânica para
facilitar o uso no dia a dia.
Apresentar comandos e
vocabulários da Internet
importantes para poder explorála e ser ferramenta de apoio na
área de mecânica e processos de
produção.
Análise de manuais técnicos.
Somativa através da
interpretação de um texto
composto pelos termos
técnicos aprendidos.
Trabalhar em Cooperação com os colegas respeitando as diferenças;
Atitudes
Aplicar os conceitos de 5s na utilização das dependências;
Manter a organização de seu posto de trabalho bem como do ambiente.
Bases Científicas ou
Tecnológicas
Uso de termos técnicos / expressões idiomáticas e chavões da área.,
Básicas
Referências Bibliográficas
Complementares
BRIEGER, Nick (Pohl, Alison). Technical english: vocabulary and grammar. Oxford: Summertown, 2002
CARATTOLI, María Cecilia. Nature e environment : student''s book: plus activities, level two. London: Richmond
Publishing, 2000
MURPHY, Raymond. Basic grammar in use: reference and practice for students of english. New York: Cambridge
University, c1993.
Dicionário Oxford escolar: para estudantes brasileiros de inglês : português-inglês, inglês-português. Oxford : Oxford
University Press, 1999.
Cambridge International Dictionary of English. NY: Cambridge University Press, 1995.
Dicionário: inglês – português, português – inglês. 22ªed. São Paulo: Atica, 2001.
FIC-07-II
13/02/05
Rev. 1
59
APPENDIX B – UNDERGRADUATE COURSE IN MODELING PROCESSES
PLANO DE APRENDIZAGEM
CURSO SUPERIOR DE TECNOLOGIA EM PROCESSOS DE
PRODUÇÃO DO VESTUÁRIO
Módulo/Tema:
Turno: Noturno – 32 horas
Semestre/Ano: 1º/2006
NÚCLEO GENÉRICO / Inglês Técnico
Nº
1
2
Competências
Utilizar manuais e livros
técnicos dirigidos à língua
inglesa.
Conhecimentos
Habilidades
Utilizar estratégias, técnicas e
habilidades de leitura que
facilitem a compreensão de
textos de gêneros e tópicos
diversos.
Desenvolver vocabulário
básico para comunicação em
sala de aula e despertar o
interesse pela língua alvo.
Aulas através de comunicação
dialogada com emprego de
recursos visuais. Prática de
pronúncia.
Oral durante todo o
semestre.
Somativa e
participação.
Desenvolver vocabulário
específico da área de moda
para facilitar o uso em
pesquisas na Internet e
revistas.
Identificar palavras chaves
no texto que irão compor o
dicionário de termos
técnicos, chamado
“vocabulary building”.
Interpretação e criação
de textos explorando o
dicionário.
Avaliação escrita
do vocabulário
técnico.
Somativa.
Sistema de Avaliação
Parâmetro
Indicador
60
Compreender textos de
Resumir o texto a partir das
gêneros diversos, através da key-words (palavras-chave) e
utilização de
das idéias principais.
estratégias/técnicas de
leitura, selecionando
procedimentos
sistematizados, os quais
possibilitarão trabalhar com
textos relacionados a sua
área técnica.
Práticas Pedagógicas
3
Empregar o vocabulário
específico da área, através
das diversas atividades e
habilidades propostas de
leitura, nos manuais,
revistas/periódicos.
Atitudes
Bases Tecnológicas
Referências Bibliográficas
Ler artigos de periódicos,
textos técnicos e manuais
aplicando
as
estratégias,
técnicas e habilidades de leitura
Compreender textos da
língua inglesa; e escrever email em inglês, solicitando
serviços e/ou produtos.
Utilizar o vocabulário/jargão
básico e glossário de
abreviatura da área técnica.
Levar o aluno conhecer
vocábulos importantes no
mundo da moda para facilitar
o uso no dia a dia e pesquisas
de produtos.
Leitura e interpretação de
textos inseridos
paralelamente ao assunto
abordado em sala de aula.
Apresentar comandos e
vocabulários da Internet
importantes para poder
explorá-la e ser ferramenta
de apoio de acesso ao mundo
fashion.
Interpretação de textos a Somativa, através
partir das palavrasda produção
chaves: - Keywords.
realizada em sala
de aula.
Análise de revistas de
moda e sites de Internet,
explorando o
vocabulário da área de
moda.
Somativa através
da interpretação
de um texto
composto pelos
termos técnicos
aprendidos.
Utilizar a língua alvo para comunicar-se com outras pessoas e fazer uso da mesma para bons propósitos, focando as necessidades do mercado e
também do mundo globalizado.
•
•
•
•
•
Estratégias e técnicas de leitura;
Grupo ou sintagma nominal;
Grupo ou sintagma verbal;
Referência, conectivos, resumos, uso de termos técnico/expressões idiomáticas e chavões da área;
Emprego do glossário de abreviações.
BRIEGER, Nick (Pohl, Alison). Technical English: vocabulary and grammar. Oxford: Summertown, 2002
Básicas
CARATTOLI, María Cecilia. Nature e environment : student''s book: plus activities, level two. London: Richmond
Publishing, 2000
MURPHY, Raymond. Basic grammar in use: reference and practice for students of English. New York: Cambridge
University, 1993.
Dicionário Oxford escolar: para estudantes brasileiros de inglês : português-inglês, inglês-português. Oxford : Oxford
University Press, 1999.
Cambridge International Dictionary of English. NY: Cambridge University Press, 1995.
Complementares
Dicionário: inglês – português, português – inglês. 22ªed. São Paulo: Ática, 2001.
www.vogue.com
61
APPENDIX C – UNDERGRADUATE COURSE IN TOURISM (English I)
IBES – INSTITUTO BLUMENAUENSE DE ENSINO SUPERIOR
Curso: Turismo
Disciplina: Inglês I
Período:5° semestre
C/H Teórica: Créditos:
68
04
Ano: 2004/1
C/H Prática:
Missão do IBES:
Semestre:
Créditos:
Oportunizar uma formação integral da pessoa humana e sua qualificação profissional
para o mercado, incentivando a formação continuada e permanente para uma atuação
humanizadora, em vista do desenvolvimento da sociedade.
Objetivo do Curso
Capacitar o profissional a planejar, organizar e executar atividades ligadas ao turismo sobretudo eventos, buscando a valorização do turismo em âmbito regional
e nacional e, assim, propiciar o incremento das atividades turísticas e de eventos da região.
Objetivo Geral da Disciplina
Ementa
Levar o aluno a expressar-se oralmente e por escrito em nível iniciante Conhecimentos básicos gramaticais necessários à compreensão de textos e leitura.
(básico), em língua inglesa. Deverá, também, ser capaz de ler o idioma em Estruturas, vocabulário e expressões utilizadas em turismo. Aplicação às
textos relacionados ao turismo, compreendê-los, interpretá-los e também necessidades do turismo.
comunicar-se na língua em situações rotineiras do turismo.
62
Objetivos de Aprendizagem
Conteúdos
PLANO DE ENSINO
Cronograma
habilidade 1. Introducing language. First steps, rules and
important points to start communicating in
English.
Desenvolver a habilidade de tomar
2. Communicating in English. Using common
iniciativas e organizar eventos.
expressions to maintain communication with
foreign people.
Desenvolver a habilidade de
3. Traveling on business: arriving, going out,
demonstrar serviços em feiras.
arranging to meet, and eating out.
8h/a
4. Organizing a trip: finding out about a place and
organize a trip.
8h/a
5. The business pleasure trip: finding out about a
Desenvolver a habilidade da fala city, the trip report.
na língua lavo em situações com
6. Arrangements: telephone language. Answering
problemas.
the phone and preparing a fax, fixing the date,
Desenvolver a habilidade de escrita getting connected, appointments.
e fala em entrevistas para
7. Dealing with problems: making decisions,
empregos.
complaining, thinking ahead, apologizing.
Desenvolver a produção escrita na
8. Preparing a Curriculum Vitae and presenting to
língua alvo.
a company.
4h/a
9. Advertisements. Creating simple advertisements
Desenvolver e despertar o interesse to sell tourism package.
pela leitura na língua alvo.
10. Talking about values.
4h/a
Desenvolver
comunicação.
a
Desenvolver a habilidade da fala.
8h/a
8h/a
8h/a
Procedimentos
Metodológicos
Procedimentos de R.B
Avaliação
Prática em sala de Oral durante
aula
todo o semestre
1e5
(somativa/
Prática em sala de participação)
aula
Prática em sala de
Atividades em sala
aula
de aula
(somativa/
participação)
Prática em sala de
aula
1e5
Prática em sala de Atividades em sala
de aula
aula
(somativa/
Prática em sala de participação)
aula
8h/a
Prática em sala de
aula
8h/a
Prática em sala de
aula através de Apresentação oral
diálogos em pares e em sala de aula
(participação
em grupos.
/nota)
1e5
4h/a
11. Dino’s Day in London
Extra Classe
12
63
Referências Bibliográficas
Básicas
1. JACOB, M.& STRUTT. English for international tourism. UK: Longman, 1997.
2. HARMER, J. & SURGUINE. Coast to coast. Longman, 1987.
3. MURPHY, R. English grammar in use. Cambridge: University Press,1987.
4. SEIDL. Grammar in practice.Oxford. University Press, 1987.
5. STOTT, C. & HOLT, R. First class: english for tourism. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997.
6. EASTWOOD, J. English for travel. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1980.
7. HALL, E.. Tourism in english. United Kingdon: Phoeniz ELT, 1994.
8. POLONIA, E.. English for hotel personnel. Caxias do Sul: EDUCS, 1990.
9. MACZIOLA, S; WHITE, G. Getting Ahead. Australia, Cambridge University Press, 1993.
Complementares
10. GRANT, D.; McLARTY, R. Business Basics. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002.
11. HARDING, K. & HENDERSON, P. High seasons – english for the hotel and travel industry. Oxford University Press, 1997.
12. CATUREGLI, M. Dicionário inglês-português: turismo, hotelaria e comércio exterior. São Paulo: Alephy. 1998.
13. ADAMSON, D.. Be our guest.. United Kingdon: Phoenix ELT, 1992.
14. Cambridge International Dictionary of English. NY: Cambridge University Press , 1995.
15. Dino’s Day in London. LONGMAN, 1997.
64
APPENDIX D – UNDERGRADUATE COURSE IN TOURISM (English II)
IBES – INSTITUTO BLUMENAUENSE DE ENSINO SUPERIOR
Curso: Turismo
Disciplina: Inglês II
Período:6° semestre
C/H Teórica: Créditos:
68
04
Ano: 2004/1
C/H Prática:
Missão do IBES:
Semestre:
Créditos:
Oportunizar uma formação integral da pessoa humana e sua qualificação profissional
para o mercado, incentivando a formação continuada e permanente para uma atuação
humanizadora, em vista do desenvolvimento da sociedade.
Objetivo do Curso
Capacitar o profissional a planejar, organizar e executar atividades ligadas ao turismo sobretudo eventos, buscando a valorização do turismo em âmbito regional
e nacional e, assim, propiciar o incremento das atividades turísticas e de eventos da região.
Objetivo Geral da Disciplina
Ementa
Levar o aluno a expressar-se oralmente e por escrito em nível básico, em Comunicação escrita e compreensão de texto de língua inglesa. Estudo de
língua inglesa. Deverá, também, ser capaz de ler o idioma em textos documentos, textos técnicos e da escuta e conversação sobre assuntos cotidianos
do turismo. Habilidades no trato com a língua inglesa, através de conhecimentos
relacionados a turismo, compreendê-los e interpretá-los.
sobre cultura dos países de língua inglesa. Compreensão da língua inglesa.
Habilidades de compreensão oral e fala. Possibilidade ao aluno a criação de um
vocabulário geral e técnico à área de turismo.
65
Objetivos de Aprendizagem
Conteúdos
PLANO DE ENSINO
Cronograma
Procedimentos
Metodológicos
Procedimentos de R.B
Avaliação
habilidade 1. Preparing a trip: choosing a hotel, booking a
hotel, flying out.
8h/a
Prática em sala de Oral durante
aula
todo o semestre
Desenvolver a habilidade de tomar 2. Organizing a convention.
iniciativas e organizar eventos.
3. Away on business: arriving, going out, arranging
to meet, eating out.
Desenvolver a habilidade de
4. Visiting a trade fair: finding out about a trade
demonstrar serviços em feiras.
fair, place and order.
8h/a
(somativa/
Prática em sala de participação)
aula
5. The business pleasure trip: finding out about a
city, the trip report.
4h/a
6. Arrangements: future engagement, fixing the
Desenvolver a habilidade da fala date, getting connected, appointments.
na língua lavo em situações com
7. Dealing with problems: making decisions,
problemas.
complaining, thinking ahead, apologizing.
Desenvolver a habilidade de escrita
e fala em entrevistas para 8. Getting a job: job advertisements, applying for a
job, the interview.
empregos.
8h/a
Desenvolver
comunicação.
a
Desenvolver a habilidade da fala.
Desenvolver a produção escrita na
9. Future trends: making predictions, talking about
língua alvo.
the future, changing the way we work.
Desenvolver e despertar o interesse 10. Talking about values.
pela leitura na língua alvo.
11. Chariots of fire.
8h/a
8h/a
8h/a
Prática em sala de
Atividades em sala
aula
de aula
(somativa/
participação)
Prática em sala de
aula
1e5
1e5
Prática em sala de Atividades em sala
de aula
aula
(somativa/
Prática em sala de participação)
aula
8h/a
Prática em sala de
aula
4h/a
4h/a
Extra Classe
Prática em sala de
aula através de Apresentação oral
diálogos em pares e em sala de aula
(participação
em grupos.
/nota)
1e5
11
66
Referências Bibliográficas
Básicas
1. ADAMSON, D.. Be our guest.. United Kingdon: Phoenix ELT, 1992.
2. CATUREGLI, M. Dicionário inglês-português: turismo, hotelaria e comércio exterior. São Paulo: Alephy. 1998.
3. EASTWOOD, J. English for travel. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1980.
4. HALL, E.. Tourism in english. United Kingdon: Phoeniz ELT, 1994.
5. HARDING, K. & HENDERSON, P. High seasons – english for the hotel and travel industry. Oxford University Press, 1997.
6. POLONIA, E.. English for hotel personnel. Caxias do Sul: EDUCS, 1990.
7. STOTT, C. & HOLT, R. First class: english for tourism. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997.
8. GRANT, D.; McLARTY, R. Business Basics. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002.
9. .MACZIOLA, S; WHITE, G. Getting Ahead. Australia, Cambridge University Press, 1993.
Complementares
10. Cambridge International Dictionary of English. NY: Cambridge University Press , 1995.
11. Chariots of fire. LONGMAN, 1997.
67
68
71
APPENDIX E – UNDERGRADUATE COURSE IN INTERNATIONAL TRADE
UNIVERSIDADE PARA DESENV. DO ALTO VALE DO ITAJAÍ
FACULDADE DE ADM. CONTABIL. E COMÉRCIO EXTERIOR
CURSO ADMINISTRAÇÃO (Habilitação Comércio Exterior) COMÉRCIO EXTERIOR
RIO DO SUL
DISCIPLINA: INGLÊS INSTRUMENTAL CÓDIGO: 2848
SEMESTRE/ANO: 12006 FASE: 7ª
CRÉDITOS: 4 CARGA HORÁRIA: 68 h/a
Ementa
Trabalhar as estruturas intermediárias da língua inglesa dentro das quatro habilidades propostas: falar,
entender, ler e escrever para preencher formulários; fazer conexões em aeroportos; usar telefones
pagos; dirigir e resolver possíveis problemas com um carro alugado; reconhecer os principais sinais de
trânsito; usar transporte público; resolver problemas; negociar o produto da empresa; organizar e
comandar reuniões de negócios.
Objetivo geral da disciplina
Levar o aluno a expressar-se oralmente e por escrito em nível básico, em língua inglesa. Deverá,
também, ser capaz de ler o idioma em textos relacionados à Business, compreendê-los, interpretandoos; Levar o aluno a praticar conversação na língua alvo.
Objetivos específicos da disciplina
•Desenvolver a habilidade da fala em nível básico.
•Explorar a habilidade da escrita e fala utilizando o telefone e fax.
•Simular conversações em situações rotineiras, reserva de hotel, restaurante, alugar carros;
•Produzir pequenos textos, memorandos, fax e e-mail na língua alvo.
•Estimular a habilidade de escrita e fala em entrevistas para empregos.
•Produzir Curriculum Vitae na língua inglesa.
Procedimentos metodológicos e avaliativos
•Prática das habilidades de fala, escrita, leitura e audição na sala de aula durante todo o semestre
letivo.
•Testes escritos (compreendendo todas as atividades, incluindo as leituras), testes orais (incluindo
pronúncia). Nos testes orais incluem-se apresentações orais individuais e em grupo.
•Avaliação do desempenho no semestre através da participação em sala de aula, visto que a prática em
sala de aula será rotina constante da disciplina.
•Roleplays, simulando situações reais com a utilização da língua alvo.
69
71
Conteúdo
- The business pleasure trip: finding out about a city, the trip report.
- Arrangements: future engagement, fixing the date, getting connected, appointments.
- Renting a car.
- Dining out on business.
- Dealing with problems: making decisions, complaining, thinking ahead, apologizing.
- Getting a job: job advertisements, applying for a job, the interview.
- Future trends: making predictions, talking about the future, changing the way we work
- Telephone language.
Referências
Referência Básica
CHURCH, Nancy. How to survive in the U.S.A.: English for travelers and newcomers. New
York: Cambridge University Press, 1996.
GRANT, D. and MCLARTY, R. Business Basics: Student’s Book. Oxford: Oxford University
Press, 2001.
GRANT, D. and MCLARTY, R. Business Basics: WorkBook. Oxford: Oxford University Press,
2001.
JONES, Leo. New international business English: communication skills in English for business
purposes: student's book. United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press, 1996.
Kalinowski, Fiona. Ali Baba and the forty thieves. Essex : Pearson Education, 2000.
MURPHY, Raymond. Essential Grammar in Use. Cambridge University Press, 1990
Referência Complementar
Laird, Elizabeth. Anna and the fighter. London : Heinemann, 1977.
Wallace, Randall. Braveheart. London: Peguin Books, 1996.
70
71
APPENDIX F – UNDERGRADUATE COURSE IN COMPUTING SCIENCE
UNIVERSIDADE PARA DESENV. DO ALTO VALE DO ITAJAÍ
FACULDADE DE CIÊNCIA E TECNOLOGIA
CURSO SISTEMAS DE INFORMAÇÃO
RIO DO SUL
DISCIPLINA: INGLÊS INSTRUMENTAL CÓDIGO: 608
SEMESTRE/ANO: 12006 FASE: 1ª
CRÉDITOS: 4 CARGA HORÁRIA: 68 h/a
Ementa
Access of information, content and context, when embarking on the reading of texts related to the area
of Data Processing and language of computer programs, interacting, effectively, with the texts. At this
stage this access should be through the use of reading techniques and according to the organization of
the texts.
Objetivo geral da disciplina
- Oportunizar o aluno a entender a língua alvo através de textos básicos e vocabulário específico da
área de informática. Deverá, também, ser capaz de ler o idioma em textos relacionados à computação,
compreendê-los, interpretando-os e solucionando problemas de erros disparados pelos softwares.
Objetivos específicos da disciplina
- Despertar o interesse do aluno para o aprendizado de uma língua estrangeira e de sua importância
para o mercado de trabalho e facilidade na operação de softwares que exigem a língua inglesa,
incluindo linguagens de programação;
- Interpretar páginas da web na língua inglesa;
- Compreender erros de mensagens disparadas pelos softwares e linguagens de programação;
- Fazer uso da língua alvo para comunicar-se com estrangeiros em situações simuladas na sala de aula;
- Explorar o laboratório de informática para elaborar o glossário de termos técnicos;
- Utilizar o laboratório de idiomas para praticar a habilidade da fala e da audição na língua alvo.
Procedimentos metodológicos e avaliativos
•Aulas através de comunicação dialogada com emprego de recursos visuais. Prática de pronúncia.
Aulas expositivas e práticas com o uso do laboratório de informática.
•Leitura e interpretação de textos inseridos paralelamente ao assunto abordado em sala de aula.
•Prática intensiva, em sala de aula, do vocabulário técnico e interpretação de mensagens disparadas
pelos softwares;
•Prática das habilidades de fala, escrita, leitura e audição na sala de aula durante todo o semestre
letivo.
•Testes escritos (compreendendo todas as atividades, incluindo as leituras), testes orais (incluindo
pronúncia). Nos testes orais incluem-se apresentações orais individuais e em grupo.
•Avaliação do desempenho no semestre através da participação em sala de aula, visto que a prática em
sala de aula será rotina constante da disciplina.
71
•Avaliação do desenvolvimento de um pequeno software, utilizando o vocabulário técnico do
semestre.
Conteúdo
- Communicating in English: introductions and saying good bye.
- Desenvolver vocabulário básico para comunicação em sala de aula e despertar o interesse pela língua
alvo.
- Vocabulary/Functions. Important commands and functions, computing vocabulary.
- Organização de um glossário dos termos técnicos utilizados em sala e mensagens de erros disparadas
pelos programas de "linguagem de programação".
- Identificar vocábulos importantes em textos e mensagens disparadas pelos softwares de
programação.
Hardware vocabulary
Software hardware
Common Errors (Delphi, Pascal, C, Cobol)
Internet keywords
Referências
Referência Básica
Eric H. Glendinning, John McEwan. Basic english for computing. Oxford : Oxford University
Press, 1999.
CHURCH, Nancy. How to survive in the U.S.A.: english for travelers and newcomers. New York:
Cambridge University Press, 1996.
COMFORT, Jeremy et alii. Speaking Effectively. Cambridge University Press, 1994.
RABLEY, Stephen. Dino's day in London. England: Longman, 1989
Dicionário Oxford escolar : para estudantes brasileiros de inglês : português-inglês, inglêsportuguês. Oxford : Oxford University Press, 1999.
Simon and The Spy. LONGMAN, 1997.
Referência Complementar
COLLIN, S. M. H. Dictionary of Computing. 2nd edition, Peter Collin Publishing.
DEMETRIADES, Dinos. Information Technology. Oxford University Press, 2003
OLIVEIRA, S. Estratégias de leitura para inglês instrumental. Brasília: UnB, 1994.
RILEY, David. Vocabulary for computing: a workbook for users. UK: Peter Colling Publishers,
1995.