Vietnam national university, Hanoi UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FALCUTY OF POST-GRADUATED STUDIES

Training program: Course title:

MA in English Linguistics
English for Specific Purposes

ESP MATERIALS EVALUATION REPORT

End of Course Assignment By: Nguyen Ngoc Phuong Thao Date of birth: 19/02/1986 Place of birth: Uong Bi, Quang Ninh Cohort: PG 12 E- mail: nguyenthao1902@gmail.com Instructor: Do Ba Quy, Med Date due: 28/07/2011

HANOI-2011

TABLE OF CONTENT

Table of contents Acknowledgement I. Introduction II. Situational Factors II.1. The target situation II.2. The teacher II.3. The learner III. Logistical Factors IV. Pedagogical Factors V. Human Factors VI. Conclusion References

1 2 3 5 5 6 6 7 10 12 14 16

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

First and foremost, I would like to give my sincere thanks and profound gratefulness to my supervisor, Do Ba Quy, Med who has made significant contributions to the success of this research. He has been sharing his experience with me and piloted the enormously valuable materials in this assignment, which assumed determining factors in the completion of my final assignment. I am grateful for his enthusiastic support as well as his invaluable guidance that he has given to me. Besides the birth of this assignment paper derives greatly from the constant supporting and continual encouragement from my friend ant group PG12 Vietnam National University, Hanoi. Finally, I wish to extend an extra special acknowledgement to my family for the support and understanding. Without their support, love, patience and encouragement this assignemt could have been uncompleted. .

Hanoi 28/7/2010

Nguyen Ngoc Phuong Thao

Name of Material/Book: Market Leader, Elementary Business English Course Book and Practice File. Author: David Cotton, David Falvey, Simon Kent

Publisher: Nha xuat ban Khoa hoc Xa hoi. Year of Publication: 2009

I. INTRODUCTION
From the middle 21st century, English for Specific Purpose (ESP) has grown to become one of the most prominent areas of EFL teaching today. Its development is reflected in the increasing number of universities offering an MA in ESP and in the number of ESP courses offered for overseas students in English speaking countries. ESP has been defined differently by different authors. It is clearly that defining ESP is a very difficult task and gains many attentions of many researchers. ESP should be seen simple as an approach of teaching. Hutchinson & Water (1987:19) state that ESP is an approach to language teaching in which all decisions as to content and method are based on the learners reasons for learning. Further evidence can be drawn from research conducted by Burmfit (1977: 71) an ESP course is directly concerned with the purpose for which learners need English which are usually expressed in functional term. Most researchers (Streven, 1980; Robinson, 1980; Dudley Evans & St John, 1998) have agreed that an ESP course would have the following features: It is purposeful and aimed at the successful performance of occupational or educational roles by an individual or a group. It is based on an analysis of the students need and is tailor made to meet these needs.

 It may differ another general language course in its selection of skills, themes, topics, situations, functions, languages, and methodology. Dudley- Evans & St John (1998) propose some ESP absolute characteristics: ESP is defined to meet specific needs of the learners. ESP makes use of understanding methodology and activities of the discipline it serves. ESP is centered on the language appropriate to these activities in term of grammar, lexis, register, study skills, discourse, and genre. Moreover, they also give some variable characteristics are: * ESP may be related to or designed for specific disciplines. * ESP may use in specific teaching situations, a different methodology from that of General English. * ESP is likely to be designed for adult learners, either at a tertiary level institution or in a professional work situation. It could, however, be for learners at secondary school level. * ESP is generally designed for intermediate or advanced students. Most ESP courses assume some basic knowledge of the language systems. The definition Dudley-Evans offers is clearly influenced by that of Strevens (1988), although he has improved it substantially by removing the absolute characteristic that ESP is in contract with General English (John et

al, 1991: 298), and has revised and increased the number of variable characteristics. The division of ESP into absolute and variable characteristics, in particular, is very helpful in resolving argument about what is and is not ESP. From the definition, we can see that ESP can be necessarily concerned with a specific discipline and has to be aimed at a certain age group or ability range. ESP should be seen simple as an approach to teaching, or what Dudley-Evans describes as an attitude of mind. With specific purposes in mind, the learners know clearly, what they need to learn more and more, and they will learn with high motivation what they find useful for their work later or at present. For this reason, an ESP teacher should be aware of the learners need so as not to introduce irrelevant materials to the course.

II. SITUATIONAL FACTORS

II.1.The target situation This book has been designed for younger adult learners on business and management in colleges and universities, or for people training for a career in the enterprises sectors. I am evaluating this book for 1 st year Economic students in the general English program of Hanoi University, Thanh Xuan, Hanoi. All the 1st year students attend this course. This course focuses on all four language skills namely: speaking, listening, reading and writing. They have an assigned general English textbook: Market Leader. I carried out a needs analysis of one of these classes and the results were that many students did indeed want careers in enterprises: therefore I will proceed to evaluate this book with the purpose of

perhaps introducing it into their syllabus. McCarten (2007, 26) states making vocabulary personal helps to make it more memorable. Thus this book should appeal fully to the students intrinsic motivation and aid their learning. II.2.The teacher It is common enough in ESP that teachers will have to choose their own textbook. All teachers can benefit even the more experienced ones by taking explicit steps to compare and evaluate the textbooks objectively, so that the textbook and the use of the textbook is the best match to the needs of the students. Subjective feelings should only be guide by establishing a list of criteria these feelings can be confirmed or shown to be wrong. In addition, I am assuming that normally the decision to use a textbook will involve discussion with other colleagues or partners. It is far easier to discuss materials selection when objective criteria are established and agreed. After finishing this book, the teacher hopes their students will develop essential business communication skills such as making presentation, taking part in meeting, negotiating, telephoning, and using English in social situations effectively. II.3.The learner Market Leader is an elementary level business English course for businesspeople and students of business English. It has been developed in association with the Financial Times, one of the leading sources of business information in the world. It consists of 12 units based on topics of great interest to everyone involved in international business.

If the learners are in business, the course will greatly improve their ability to communicate in English in a wide range of business situations. If the learners are a student of business, the course will develop the communication skills they need to succeed in business and will enlarge their knowledge of the business world. Everybody studying this course will become more fluent and confident in using the language of business and should increase their career prospects.

III. LOGISTICAL FACTORS

This book has been revised and updated to take into account changing practices and new technologies such as computerized reservation systems in the hotel trade which is good. Because this book is an elementary level course book, it importantly is at the right level for the 1 st year students at Hanoi University. The authors claim in their revised edition to include more listening and speaking practice which is precisely what the students need. They also have included an extended real activity at the end of every unit designed to get students talking about real situations, I believe this book has been well thought out and the revisions have kept it abreast of new vocabulary. This book feels very modern; the majority of exercises and tasks are for listening and speaking. The most important English skills needed for workers in economic sector. In the needs analysis and class observation of the students the author could see a real lack of communicative skills among the students. As the length of the units has been kept quite enough, there are 12 units in the book covering a large variety of situations which are common especially in the business and

management. John & Evans (1991) state that the students target English situations have identifiable elements. This book clearly covers many of those identifiable elements although it is of course impossible to cover all possible situations that students would encounter in their working lives. As suiting younger elementary students, the units have been quite long enough and as you can see Maps of The Book, they have divided units on the basis on Communicative Areas which is perfect for the students at Hanoi University. Market Leader divided into 8 parts in each unit including Starting up, Vocabulary, Discussion, Reading, Listening, Language review, Skills, Case study, and Revision Units. Starting up: Students are offered a variety of interesting activities in which students discuss the topic of the unit and exchange their ideas with partners about it. Vocabulary: Students will learn important new words and phrases which students can use when they carry out the tasks in the unit. A good dictionary, such as the Longman Basic English Dictionary will also help students to increase their vocabulary. Discussion: Students will build up their confidence in using English and will improve their fluency through interesting discussion activities. Reading: Students will read adapted articles on a variety of topics from the Financial Times and other newspapers. Students will develop their reading skills and learn essential business

vocabulary. They will also be able to discuss the ideas and issues in the articles Listening: Students will hear interviews with businesspeople. They will develop listening skills such as listening for information and note taking. Language review: This section focus on common problem areas at elementary level. Students will become more accurate in your use of language. Each unit contains two Language review boxes which provide a review of key grammar items. Skills: Students will develop essential business communication skills such as making presentations, taking part in meetings, negotiating, telephoning, and using English in social situations. Each Skills section contains a Useful language box which provides the learners with the language they need to carry out the realistic business tasks in the book. Case study: The case studies are linked to the business topics of each unit. They are based on realistic business problems or situations and allow students to use the language and communication skills students have developed while working through the unit. They give students opportunities to practice students speaking skills in realistic business situations. Each case study ends with a writing task. A full writing syllabus is provided in the Market Leader Practice File.

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 Revision Units: Market Leader Elementary also contains four revision units, based on material covered in the preceding three Course Book units. Each revision unit is designed so that it can be done in one go or on a unit by unit basis. These 8 parts motivate both teacher and students with familiar and interesting topics, with clear instructions and picture aids. In addition, the presentation of the skills in the book is very clear, which makes it easy for teachers to design lesson plans and for students to follow the lesson. Each skill sections is divided into three stages (before, while, after) and they are integrated together at some point, so that students can practice authentic communication and teachers could be available to help when necessary, give feedback, and enjoy the pregress of their own students.

IV. PEDAGOGICAL FACTORS

As can be seen from Maps of The Book, following the communicative are the language items are broken down into categories. First situational or functional language which is to be expected from a textbook designed to teach specialized language for economic students of workers. Second each unit has language structures outlined. These language structures closely follow that of an expected general English book containing mainly grammar points. For example Unit 3 (Maps of The Book) lists situation/functions as requesting information and structures as Present simple: negative and questions have got . It seems though that the main decision for use of language covered in each unit was the actual communicative area. For example in Unit 4 the communicative

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are is making booking and checking arrangements, functions are requests, and structures are requests and offer with can/ cant, there is/ there are. The author doesnt believe that this mixing up of grammar is wrong, research has shown the students learn different grammar at different points in their lives and the grammar covered in this book would have been covered by all students at the middle or high school level. The actual language used in the book isnt highly specialized considering the nature of the industry most of the language used could be considered general English; and as the books level is elementary the language had to be kept reasonably simple and specific in the sense of getting students to practice the main structures of a unit without being bogged down by large vocabulary lists which can de-motivate students (McCarten, 2007). As was said earlier though the language feels to be authentic and realistic and I found out students feelings about the language used and whether it was authentic and language they encountered in their every day lives. The results were positive with several workers saying the thought the language used was useful and relevant to their occupations. The rational of the book is modern and communicative based. New language is presented in PPP form (presentation, practice and production) in the first sections of the unit and then students are expected to produce the language firstly in more controlled activities and then finally in freer fluency promoting tasks at the end of each unit. Language structures are given clear examples in the language study section and then student are expected to

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practice specific grammar points or chunks of language by first practicing simple writing activities. I believe students are given a lot of autonomy in the book. It would be entirely possible for students to use this text book as a self study aid at home although they would need at least one other student to practice the pair work speaking activities. Gatehouse (2001, 3) states that the catchword in ESL/ EFL circles is learner centered or learning centered. This book meets those criteria. The listening activities have been set deliberately easy as the expected level of the students is elementary. But each unit has different tasks, sometimes true/false or yes/no checklists. In other units; sorting sentences, matching, ticking correct sentences or labeling pictures are all used as activities. The whole book has been designed very well to include a variety of task types within the overall framework and structure of the book. The use of a wide range of types increases motivation for both the learners and the teacher (Dudley Evans & St John, 1998, 178)

V. HUMAN FACTORS
Each unit is laid out the same which the author thinks is fine for this level of student. Dudley Evans & St John (1978, 171) state that materials need to be consistent and to have some recognizable pattern . The familiarity gained from studying the book should mean the students become accustomed to the book quickly and know precisely what is expected of them from each segment of the unit. Every unit starts with an outline of the unit and expected language structures to master. Every unit contains a starter or warm up exercise

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designed to elicit language en encourage motivation. There then follow a listening exercise which introduces language in an authentic manner. There then is a language study section with structures to practice. This section contains the grammatical structures which students should learn. Finally every unit contains a speaking activity for pairs which uses all the vocabulary previously covered. This matches Dudley Evans & St John (1998, 172) aims for materials that the input would be used outside the learning situation. This section is very practically focused designed for use in real life situations. It has very purpose related orientation which Gatehouse (2001) believes is an essential component of any material designed for specific purpose. At the very bottom of each unit is useful vocabulary that students should know and learn if they havent already done so. For example, in Speaking period, teachers use the main method being the communicative method in order to help students have more chances to practice and exchange information. This method may evoke the students interesting more than the others. However, teachers can use Grammar Translation method for Pre stage such as matching or ordering to give some cues, brainstorm, check students understanding, etc. I believe this book would be very motivating to learn from. Every unit has a large variety of authentic pictures, diagrams screens to illustrate the unit and help guide the students as to what exactly the unit is dealing with. The pictures give a clear context for activities and vocabulary follow. Unit 1: Introductions is an example of one of the units from the book. There are

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pictures of people showing four businesspeople at the positions of accountant, consulting group and product manager. So this textbook helps students to feel at ease. The layout of presentation, tasks and activities, and texts and illustrations all look friendly to the students so that they feel relaxed when seeing them. Besides this textbook help to build up students confidence by providing tasks or activities that students can cope with.

VI. CONCULSION
Having taught for several years one gets university, I am very impressed with this book. Because of the layout generally was excellent, colorful and clear. The units were well designed with a clear presentation, practice and production methodology. The language was well thought out for elementary level students. The units were quite enough and very varied. Dudley Evans & St John (1998, 177) state that variety is essential in any English class but particularly important in an ESP class. And the tasks themselves changed although keeping a structure throughout the whole book. The book has clearly been designed with the goal of practicing a variety of situations which business workers would encounter. Anthony (1997, pp.3) states that materials writers think very carefully about the goals of learners at all stages of materials production this book shows that. This book should be authentic, up to date and relevant for the students specializations. So I believe that this textbook meets all these criteria.

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References:
Anthony, L. (1997). Defining English for specific purposes and the role of the ESP practitioner. Retrieved November 18, 2008 from http://www.antlab.sci.waseda.ac.jp/abstracts/Aizukiyo97.pdf Burmfit, C. (1977). Key issues in Curriculum and Syllabus Design for ELT London: British Council. Cambridge University Press.

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Dudley-Evans, T. & St. John, M. (1998). Developments in English for Specific Purpose : A multi-disciplinary approach. Cambridge University Press Gatehouse, K. (2001). Key issues in English for Specific purposes (ESP) curriculum development. Internet TESL Journal, Vol VII, No. 10. Retrieved November 17, 2008 from http://iteslj.org/Articles/Gatehouse-ESP.html Hutchinson, T. & Waters, A. (1987). English for specific purposes: A learning centered approached. Cambridge University Press. Johns, A. (1991). English for specific purposes: Its history and contribution. In Celce-Murcia, M. (Ed). Teaching English as a second or foreign language (pp.67-77). McCarten, J. (2007). Teaching vocabulary: Lesson from the corpus, lesson for the classroom. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press. Robinson, P.C. (1991). ESP Today: A Practitioners Guide. Hemel Hempstead: Prentice Hall International (UK) Ltd.

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