Development of an ESP-based freshman English material for engineering students

Document Type

Article

Source Title

CEd Research Journal

Volume

2

First Page

25

Last Page

52

Publication Date

6-2002

Abstract

This study was designed to develop an ESP-based Freshman English Material for Engineering students. Assessment of the communicative needs was done by using a carefully constructed questionnaire for the Engineering students and English and Engineering instructors and by conducting informal interviews with the teacher respondents. The communicative needs profile was mapped out and was used as guide in the preparation of syllabus and prototype material. The evaluation of engineering material was also done to further determine the communicative tasks required of the engineering students and other items which need to be incorporated in the syllabus and prototype material. The prototype syllabus in this study was based on the functional and structural type of syllabus designing. The prototype material was tried out to five classes handled by three try out teachers. The material was likewise evaluated by five sections of freshman Engineering students and the three teachers of English who joined the try out. The evaluation of material was done to gather feedback for possible revision and refinement of the material. Thus, two different sets of evaluation questionnaire were constructed for the student evaluators and teacher evaluators. Two forms of revision set up were also employed. For the students* evaluation, the revision set up was adopted from Gianan (1997) and Hilario (1981) while the revision for the teachers' evaluation was adopted from Castillo (1995). Shirie The students' evaluation revealed that the passages/texts used were interesting and just right although some evaluators found them difficult. This difficulty was primarily caused by the students' unfamiliarity with the topics and with the words/phrases contained in the passages/texts. It was also found that the students could answer and perform the different activities provided in the material. However, several activities in almost every unit were improved and revised in order to make the material more suitable to them. It was further revealed that the number of activities in each unit was adequate. The instructions and directions were considered clear and easy to follow and the illustrations were found relevant and appropriate. However, most of the revisions done were on instructions and illustrations. The students' total impression of the units was that they were just right for their level and just enough to perform the different communicative tasks. Revision was done on the improvement of instructions, diagrams, typographical errors and format of the material and addition of activities, examples and explanation. As to the teachers' evaluation, the material was generally rated good. This indicates that the material could be used in teaching English to students with specific learning needs like the freshman engineering students. Additional revisions were done on the vocabulary, structure and skill-building exercises based on the evaluators' suggestions and comments. 20 Both the communicative needs profile of the engineering students and the evaluation of engineering materials could be used as basis in the specifications of a core of language functions necessary in the development of the syllabus and prototype material. Also, the prototype material was found useful and feasible in the teaching of English to freshman engineering students since it offered possible chances for engineering students to use English effectively in situations or activities related to their prospective field. The use of authentic materials also provided opportunities for students to visualize the commonly encountered scientific and technical concepts. Furthermore, a functional-structural syllabus was found useful in developing the students* communicative competence. In any material development, try out and evaluation of the prototype material were very useful in the revision and improvement of the material. Although all the important skills were integrated in the ESP material, additional exercises for speaking and listening should be included. ESP materials should also be evaluated by the Engineering instructors to further test the suitability of the reading material.

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Keywords

English language—Study and teaching—Philippines; Curriculum planning—Philippines

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