CONTENTS

The Road Less Travelled 2

Vanya Katsarska

OVERVIEW

ESP A toll for life 3

Rod Mitchell

WRITING SKILLS

Teaching Basics of Argumentation 9

Nadeda Stojkovi

Paramedic Method 12
Tamilla Mamadova

READING SKILLS

Teaching Academic ESP Reading skills 15

Peter Master

Introducing Reading skills in the classroom 19

Nalan Kenny

The Angragogical Approach 21

Tanju Deveci

COURSE DESIGN

ESP and EAP in the context of university education 25

Svetlana Rubtsova

EXPERIENCE

I was lost and tried to figure out! 27

Abdulsamad Humaidan
 Editorial
Welcome to the first issue of
ESP Professional, our new
quarterly supplement for
people who are interested in English for specific
purpose including Academic English, Business
English, Technical and any engineering branches.
This magazine is for readers who want to expand
their horizons within the ESP field. Being an ESP
practitioner myself, I have found it increasingly
frustrating that no such publication is already in
existence. In the literature, ESP is stated to be
vocabulary teaching or an approach in EFL. These
notions are, frankly, rather dated now and have little
relevance to the thousands of us whose day-to-day
work encompasses ESP teaching.
We want to show readers what ESP actually does
mean. We will share ESP teachers experiences in
the classroom, observations on learners needs and
how to meet those. This magazine is intended to be
informative and a voice for ESP Teachers and a
contribution to the ESP field.
You will find a variety of ESP topics in this issue. We
are honoured that Prof Peter Master has permitted
one of his articles to be published Nadezda Stojkovic
tells us how to write academic letters. If you have ever
Editor in chief: Nalan E Kenny
Editorial Consultant: Nadeda Stojkovi
Editorial Board: Tanju Deveci, Vesna Stankovic,
Rod Mitchell, Somali Gupta, DanicaPirls, Rosita
Maglie,
Jamie Wilson
Purpose
To share different teaching approaches, methods
and new techniques in ESP field among language
teachers.
Website: www.espprofessional.wordpress.com
considered whether your methods might be
andragogical and/or paramedical, Tanju Devici and
Tamila Mamadova have, respectively, provided some
further assessment of this. Vanya Katsarska provides
some well-chosen words at the start of this edition
which will resonate with practitioners, Rod Mitchell
contributes a nice overview of the subject and
Abdulsamad Humaidan shares his own experience of
learning how to teach medical English in the USA.
Svetlana Rubstova and I both write about some
specific instances from experience relating to course
design and introduction of reading skills.
We do hope the magazine is successful, achieves a
wide circulation and, of course, you enjoy this first
issue. The success of this will depend significantly on
the feedback we receive and the relevance of the
material to practitioners and, in this respect, your
feedback is respectfully sought. What would you like
to see in future issues? Is there some experience or
observation you could contribute?
With kindest regards
Editor in chief
Nalan E Kenny
Published by: Language Conference
Company Ltd
71-75 Shelton Street, Covent Garden
London WC2H 9JQ
Contribution: email espprofessional@teachers.org
Subscriptions: email esp@teachers.org
The magazine is published quarterly
ISSN 2515-513X (print)
 The Road Less Traveled

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I--

I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
Robert Frost

For a lot of young people success starts at School with the great Teacher. For a lot of young
professionals international success starts with their ESP Teacher. In an age of globalization,
technological innovations and labour market requirements there is a special breed of language
teachers who have taken the road less traveled teaching with care about their students future.
ESP teachers prepare graduates for professional success. The ESP courses are developed based
on the analysis of the purposes, needs, and the specific activities for which English language will
be needed.
Teaching ESP focuses primarily on the linguistic knowledge and skills which are required to
undertake professional tasks and deals with topics and issues within a specific academic,
professional or vocational field. It is a daunting task to intertwine in the ESP lessons English as
foreign language knowledge with specific purpose background knowledge. How can we succeed?
Teaching ESP is not only finding the right method or technique; its finding your own voice.
Use your own unique power to make students think who they might become. Use your own
strengths to help them make the best of their own strengths. Finding your own voice in ESP is
challenging but it does not go unrewarded. You feel great because then you touch your students
lives and they touch yours.
Teaching is finding your own voice. Publishing is owning your voice. It is expressing in words
who you are as a teacher or a researcher. We publish when we want to contribute to the teachers
world with our ideas, when we have an opinion to assert or lessons learned to share.
The ESP Professional magazine takes us, ESP teachers, along the road less traveled and
engages us in a quest for new knowledge and global collaboration. It asks us to revisit experience,
to share tips and tricks for the classroom, to collaborate.
With the ESP Professional magazine we would like to challenge ESP teachers to take the road
less traveled, to inspire them to make a difference in their students lives, and to support them
in publishing their voice in their own authentic way.
Vanya Katsarska,
National Military University,
Bulgaria

2
ESP a tool for life
Rod Mitchell outlines ESP by using his
long experience in this field.
3
Rod Mitchell, Linguarama, Italy
ESP-English for Specific Purpose: An
overview
ESP, English for Specific Purposes, or EPP
English for Professional Purposes English for
Special Purposes fits in a loose foursome of
English for Adults coursework, the others being
Gen Eng - General English, EBP - English for
Business Purposes, and EAP English for
Academic Purposes. Gen Eng and ESP are the
umbrella groupings, while EBP and EAP are
strictly speaking parts of ESP.
1. A What is ESP?
Simply put, ESP is the teaching and learning of the
English used within a specific field or interest, such
as a profession, a trade, a subject, a sport, a calling,
hobbies, etc. Course content is designed to meet
the specific needs of the learners within their field
of interest, as well as including a certain amount of
General English for social and other
communication directly or indirectly related to
that, such as for social contacts with clients, travel
and accommodation, small talk, and so on. ESP
has always been needed, from when the English
established their first international business and
other contacts centuries ago before the Norman
Conquest even. Foreign merchants and the like
who did business in England and Lowlands
Scotland often learnt English for their trade just
as the English and Lowlands Scots learnt other
languages for the same purpose. However, as a
specific field, ESP came fully into its own in the
1960s, as part of a general development and
expansion of education, of Globalization, of
increasing business contacts, of business
development often being in the hands of English
speakers through the already existing network of
Commonwealth and US fields of influence a host
of factors which led to English often being a
common language between associates from
different countries.
Coursework centers on the language appropriate
to the learners activities, in discourse and
communication, grammar, vocabulary, register,
genre, study/training skills. Often ESP is more
task/content-based coaching and training rather
than actual language teaching, guiding and refining
English language use rather than following a
language acquisition program. Coursework often
borrows from the training processes of the field
engineering, computing, medicine, hospitality,
and so on. That is to say, focused Task/Content-
Based Learning is the most important aspect of
ESP, with presentation skills, meetings and
discussions, telephoning, emailing, report writing,
using English on the job, effective international
professional communication forming major parts
of coursework, and grammar and other language-
specific content playing a significant support role
on an as-needed basis.
The English language trainer does not even have
to have a TESOL qualification; expertise in
training in language and other skills within the field
is very effective, as the trainer has personal job-
based experience in the use of the language and
how to train workers on the job. Such skills are
recognized as valid ESP qualifications by
accreditation bodies such as the British Council
though specific TESOL training is always a plus.
1. B Scope of ESP -- how many types of ESP
are there?
While each of Gen Eng, ESP, EAP and EBP cover
a wide range of different types of coursework
content, ESP is the most variable and internally
differentiated, in that each ESP course deals with a
specific field virtually to the exclusion of others,
such as the language of Medicine and Health,
Engineering of various kinds, Airlines and
Airports, Military and Policing, Marketing,
Publicity and Advertising, Accounting and
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Bookkeeping, Art and Photography, Nursing,
Hospitality, Travel and Tourism, a science such as
Biochemistry or Ecological Management, the
Petroleum business, Banking and Finance, Acting
and the Film Business, Sports, Technology,
Restaurants and Waiting, Cooking and Cuisine,
Fashion and Accessories, Academia,
Housekeeping, Nannying, Shipping and Transport
--- there are dozens of types of ESP potentially
as many as there are different jobs, sports, callings
and interests in the world.
1. C Training Venues
ESP courses are carried out in the fullest range of
venues imaginable, such as dedicated EFL schools,
universities and colleges, company training rooms,
learners office or home, on-the-job training, in a
nearby caf or park, or on-line in virtual
classrooms. Ideally, the venue is a training room or
a classroom away from the students workplace
and other distractions; however, there are also
important modes of ESP, namely coaching, on
the job English, seminars, workshops and the like
which are best done at the students workplace.
2. ESP Courses
Coursework is therefore very variable, seeing a
large part of the content depends on the
professional or other types of activities the learner
needs English for, whether it is English for
professional communication, for the workplace,
for professional studies or training, for promotion
at work, for a change of company language after
acquisition or merger, on transfer to an English
speaking country for work, to improve future job
prospects among even other possibilities. They
range from tightly structured syllabus-rich courses,
to completely open, almost come-what-may,
student-led coursework.
2. A Structure of ESP courses
2. A.1 Language
The language taught is the language used within
any given area, with the appropriate jargon,
registers, and so on, with a good dash of General
English, not only to highlight how language is used
differently in different contexts, but also to widen
the language-use experience; people do not want
to just talk about work. Family, country, food,
sport, friends and other topics are also of great
interest to professionals, and form part of the
interpersonal bonding so important in
international professional contacts. Such topics in
some ESPs are absolutely important, such as
Medical English, Banking, Psychiatry and
Psychology, Social Work, Nannying, Work Place
Psychology, and so on. Communication is between
social beings not professional automates.
ESP programs were and often still are - aimed
mostly at intermediate or higher learners, covering
the range from Intermediate/B1 (ILR level 2,
ACTEFL Intermediate-High) to virtually native-
speaker (ILR 4+, ACTFL Distinguished), with
most covering the Upper Intermediate/B2 to
Advanced (C1) levels (ILR 2-3+, ACTFL
Advanced-Mid and Superior). Therefore, most
ESP courses assume a working degree of
awareness of the language. However, for some
years now ESP for the A1-A2 range has become
well-established, supplying coursework for
Beginners, Elementary and Pre-Intermediate
learners (A0-A2, ILR 0 to 1, ACTFL Novice-Low
to Intermediate-Mid ). This is true for other
international languages as well, in particular
French, Spanish, Chinese, Russian, Arabic and
Japanese, this latter perhaps having led the way for
formal Language for Professional Purposes
coursework from the -level as early as the 1970s.
At one time it was thought that the student first
needed to get a good amount of General English
under the belt before approaching an ESP and
some still feel that this is the case. However,
teachers soon realized that all that is needed is
adaptation of Beginners General English
coursework to the students world. For example, in
teaching an ESP course for museum staff,
directions take the form of How do I get to the
Egyptian Section from here? : Go to the end of
the corridor, turn right, head along and take the
second doorway to the left, turn right straight after
5
that and go downstairs. The Egyptian Section is to
the left at the bottom of the stairs; in General
English: How do I get to the station from here?
Go to the end of the street, turn right, head
along and take the second corner to the left, turn
right straight after that and go downhill. The
Station is to the left at the bottom of the hill.
2. A.2 Content
Depending on the needs of the student, ESP
coursework can be restricted, e.g. concentrating on
the particular skills the student needs to improve,
such as reading and writing reports, or attending
meetings, teleconferences and video-conferences,
or presentation skills at international trade fairs, or
email and on-line chat language for international
help desk workers, or English for hotel receptions,
or recruitment, or international conference
management, help desk operations, and so on.
Sometimes the learner is already proficient in their
English use, but feel they need to improve the
language itself, grammar, word use, idioms,
pronunciation, intonation and the like, or need to
widen their listening skills so as to understand
accents better, be these native speaker or non-
native speaker accents, and in such cases the
content really is language focused.
A common reason for doing an ESP course is that
the student is already proficient in English, and has
been employed because they are not only experts
in their field, but already have more than the right
level of English for it. However, during a
presentation of say 10 minutes to an international
group, around 4 minutes into the presentation, the
student sees the lights in the eyes of the audience
turn off for a few very short seconds the
presenter has lost the audience. The lights come
back on, but something happened and the
presenter has lost confidence. Afterwards, the
presenter finds out that he or she had said
something in a way that the audience for a moment
did not understand and so were trying to work out
that, or that had sounded strange, and the audience
didnt want to laugh. Such ESP coursework takes
more the form of how to recover when you make
a mistake in a presentation.
2. A.3 Methodology
Much ESP coursework is designed for adult
learners in and for professional work situations;
however, ESP finds a very important place in
tertiary institutions (universities, business colleges,
etc.) and secondary schools. Courses therefore also
vary greatly in the methodologies used. The
Communicative Approach and Task Based
Learning, which include and improve on all that
came before, dominate, with the Direct Method,
Functional Approach, Grammar-Translation and
other earlier methods, along with Coaching and
other situation-based training techniques, also
being useful and effective when needs be or
according to institutional context which at times
depends on whether there is a final exam or not.
When all is said and done, courses are largely tailor-
made for the learners needs according to a back-
grounding methodology of communicative task-
based coaching and training, even when
coursework is fully institutionalized, as in HR
managed company training programs, university
coursework and secondary school subjects.
2. A.4 Goals
The goals of ESP students are on the one hand
quite simple deceptively so, at times and on the
other hand complex. Any teacher or student who
imagines that language for special purposes is
simply a subset of the whole language is deluding
themselves. The difference is in degree, not in
kind.
It is fairly rare for the communication needs to be
so specific that we can safely limit the language
taught and learnt to the language of a single part of
a single profession. As stated earlier, Special
Purposes communication needs normally include
development in Social English, Travelling, Wining
and Dining, Small Chat, Asking for General
Information, Presentation Skills, Pronunciation
and Intonation, Expanding on Vocabulary, and
more. The differences between General English
6
and ESP is more often than not in lexical content;
a specific field has specific word/lexicon uses,
even though the bulk of the language learnt is
common to Gen Eng, EAP and EBP and where
grammar, syntax, pronunciation and intonation are
concerned, there is no real difference.
2. A.5 Testing and Assessment
Just as there are a vast array of possible ESP
courses, so are testing and assessment manifold
and more often than not there is no assessment
during or on completion of a course, merely before
the beginning of the course to asses level and
needs. The best assessment of an ESP course is
how effective the learning and training has been
for the student in their job. Immediate successful
applicability is probably the best feedback for a
course. However, for more formal coursework, the
students company or other funding bodies need
measurable proof not only of course attendance
(signed course registers), but also an end-of-course
assessment of some kind. In such cases
institutional practices might mean a formal array of
tests covering oral and written communication and
at times language knowledge testing, though often
the assessment can take the shape of role plays and
the like, where the students demonstrate improved
language skills within work-related tasks.
2. B Problem Areas
2. B.A
The bulk of problems facing ESP teachers,
students and courses are much the same as for any
EFL/ESL coursework content, programming,
motivation, time allocation, scheduling, mobile
phones in the lesson, and so on. As there are quite
a few potential minefields of a political nature, it
is very uncommon for a teacher relatively new to
EFL/ESL to be assigned to ESP classes, unless
that teacher has excellent personal experience
within the field of the classes.
Teacher/institutional validity is important in ESP
coursework. A teacher or institute that has little or
no experience in the field comes across as such to
the student hence the importance of doing your
homework, and treating the student as the expert
and the teacher as the language coach. However,
with care, good planning and strong
communication between teacher, student, institute
and company, coursework supply is relatively
problem-free.
The interpersonal relationship between student,
teacher, institute and company is most important,
seeing that many if not a majority of ESP courses
are 1-to-1, or very small groups of up to 8
participants. Personality clash is an underlying
cause for problems for both teachers and students.
With experience the teacher learns how to handle
such clashes; however, often for the student it is
the first time. As many a 1-to-1 student is someone
of importance and authority within their own
company (even at times the CEO), a power play
can develop between the teacher and the student.
Some private EFL institutes even have a
contractual clause whereby if the student is not
happy with the teacher, the teacher is to be
changed immediately; at times the teacher is
already aware that things are not working, and so
asks to be changed anyway.
A further complication is that the students
program can change midcourse according to
unexpected changes or unexpected happenings in
the students company. A course that is training the
student in general Business Language might
suddenly become a course in Preparing the
Presentation I Am to Do Next Month at a Trade Fair in
Chicago, or a course in Management English when
the student unexpectedly changes position.
ESP courses demand flexibility, and not only for
the unexpected, but more often because regular
attendance in regularly scheduled classes is
impossible for most in-company classes,
particularly 1-to-1 courses students who often
need flexibility for unscheduled meetings, client
visits, emergencies, and so on. Such courses
typically are once or twice a week, 1 and a half to 4
hours a week, over 20 weeks or so which in real
time can stretch out over 30 weeks or so. As many
EFL teachers on such courses are free-lance or on
7
casual worker contracts, ones weekly income can
suffer. Often such teachers tend to be somewhat
over-booked for classes, because you can almost
guarantee that there are going to be one or two
cancellations during the week and so hopefully
the bottom line of income can be maintained by
being somewhat over-booked.
2. B.B After the Course
Most importantly, seeing no such coursework can
ever cover the complete body of language needs of
the student, course content covers a subset which
consists hopefully the immediately most important
body of language used in the field. Student and
company expectations need to be managed; at
times these are unrealistic, an assumption being
that the course is sufficient unto itself.
Therefore, the course should also supply self-
learning tips and guidance how to continue
language improvement after the course is finished.
Language learning is a long term project that can
take years. Being aware of how to self-learn AND
of how to put this awareness into practice shortens
that time.
3 ESP and Institutions
3. A Learning to be an ESP professional.
ESP training programs are to be found in many
schools, colleges and universities of the world.
Professional EFL/ESL associations have ESP
sections, working on and researching teaching and
learning processes, course design and content, the
importance of student input and personalisation to
the students needs, and so on. It is possible to do
on to further studies, such as a Masters in Applied
Linguistics, specialising in ESP, or to do such
coursework as part of a Bachelor of Education in
EFL or the like.
However, entry-level ESP training is generally on-
the-job. The bulk of ESP teachers fall into it,
either by having personal expertise in specific fields
of ESP, coming from a business or other
background themselves. Many a teacher does ESP
because they are at the right place at the right time
and somehow develop the knack of being able to
absorb the core language of any specific area of
ESP the ESP language teacher has much in
common with journalists and lawyers, an ability to
get up to speed quickly with an awareness of the
field and the language used therein - while also
keeping in mind that the student is the expert in
the field he or she is to tell the teacher about the
field, who helps with the English.
Many if not most institutes supply professional
development training, either ad-hoc or as part of a
yearly professional development program, dealing
with ESP teaching. However, doing a dedicated
ESP teachers training program is very useful and
doing research as part of a Masters or the like
often leads to groundbreaking improvements.
However, like the CELTA and similar coursework,
you can only learn so much in such coursework,
namely the important procedural aspects of course
content, development, materials development,
some aspects of teaching and learning processes,
and so on. Because ESP is so wide, it is important
to do research on the students company and field
before and during the course so as to be better able
to guide the learning of English.
3.B Research into, and Literature on - ESP.
ESP training coursework depends not only on the
experience of teachers and trainers, but also on
research, the analysis of what constitutes specific
language, teaching-learning processes, the
psychology of the learning process and so on.
Much focused research is part of Masters or PhD
studies, while other pieces of research are case
studies a teacher develops an idea on
methodology or the like, maps it out, and then
adapts teaching methodologies to see if the idea
works, is valuable, improves things, and so on.
Such research is then most commonly reported in
EFL/ESL/TESOL journals of which there are
many, such as English for Specific Purposes
(Elsevier Linguistics), ESP Today (University of
Belgrade), the Journal of Teaching English for
Specific and Academic Purposes (University of
Ni, Serbia), The Asian ESP Journal (SITE
8
Australia Ltd), EFL Journal
(http://www.efljournal.org), The Internet TESL
Journal (http://iteslj.org/), TESOL Journal
(TESOL International Association), TESOL in
Context (Australian Council of TESOL
Associations), Applied Linguistics (Oxford
Journals), and Communication and Medicine
(Equinox Publishing). Much more rarely, a few
teachers manage to convert their experience and
research not only into becoming ESP teacher
trainers, but also into books, such as Developing
Courses in English for Special Purposes (Helen
Basturkmen, Palgrave MacMillan). It is important
for the ESP teacher to keep abreast of the
literature, to read papers, journals and so on in the
field. Being a freelance ESP professional is
particularly lonely it is hard to meet other
colleagues, and often it is difficult to attend
professional development sessions. The internet is
a great resource for our personal professional
development.
4 Overview
ESP entails designing course content that meets
specific needs within a specific profession or field,
and normally includes a degree of General English.
ESP courses can be more flexible than regular Gen
Eng or EAP classes and demand flexibility. ESP
training is available and hopefully the institution
the teacher works for supplies good professional
development sessions; but, the best training is
always having personal experience in the field of
the students. Freelance ESP is very fulfilling for the
experienced teacher, or the professional looking
for a career change. It allows for a variety of
different experiences in different fields, different
levels of students, and a means of seeing quite a bit
of the city or country where the teacher works. It
is often not for the teacher who prefers the
regularity and security of a regular teaching job
with a set number of teaching hours each week and
set curriculums. However, ESP in such contexts
can also be fulfilling, in that students are not
learning English they are learning English as a
tool for their careers. Which is what ESP is a tool
for the job.
TEACHING BASICS OF
ARGUMENTATION in spoken and
written academic and professional discourses
Nadeda Stojkovi explains basics of
argumentation in spoken and written
academic and professional discourses
9
Nadeda Stojkovi, University of Ni, Serbia
Argumentation is ever present in both academic
and professional settings. At its core
argumentation equals persuasion that a stance,
viewpoint, belief, is valid. Students need to be
made aware of the ways how to present and put
forward an argument as a specific
communication act, set in a particular socio-
cultural, academic and professional setting, that
uses specific linguistic and discourse resources.
They also need to internalize the recognition of
notions of stance and engagement in order to
make their argumentation comply with the
interpersonal dimension of discourse
community. Students should know how to
engage, that is control the impact their
argumentation is making on their audience, or in
other words, they need to be taught how to
properly structure their argumentation in order
to persuade their audience into accepting their
stance. Structuring argumentation primarily
means properly defining the stance and
adequately defending.
This in turn implies the development of
thinking and organizing skills for rhetorical goals
leading to students' achieving a rhetorical mindset
when they are able to direct their
performance to produce focused, coherent argumentation that supports their thesis. Rhetorical
mindset allows students to speak their own minds, which is the purpose of instruction in this field,
but also of education itself.

Building A Case in Spoken Conversations

Putting forward an argument means building a case. When speaking, these are the segments of it,
not each and every necessarily present, all depending on circumstances and the flow of
conversation:
1. Introduction directing the attention of the audience towards the problem, why it concerns them,
of what relevance it is.
2. Credentials stating clearly why you speak with authority on the subject. The reasons here may
be infinitely varied. You may be an expert in the field, or you may have seen something intriguing
on the on the television. You just need to identify your sources.
3. Position/Solution/Summary start the next section of your talk with a brief summary of your thesis
and the proposed solution. It is of an equal importance to provide your reasons for advocating
that particular solution.
4. Background of the Problem - this is where the elaboration on the problem begins. To give it a proper
depth, you need to present your audience with the background of the problem, its origins, reasons
for occurrence, how it has been solved so far. Again, it is recommended to relate the audience with
the issue by restating how it concerns them.
5. Argument for Position or Solution - as you are now in the core part of your talk, signal it by specifying
minutely the criterion for judgement. This is highly important, as it will direct the audience's
attention to the aspects you want to highlight and give them the opportunity to assess properly if
you have presented and supported your thesis well.
In as much detail as the situation, time and space allow you, explain your thesis. Support it with
relevant and examples. Two supportive arguments are the basic standard. If there are more
instances that confirm your points, perhaps it is more refined to use a general statement like There
are numerous other arguments that support my idea", then go on numerating them. In other
words, it is better to use two major arguments.
The strong, persuasive, well supported speech is incomparably more persuasive and pleasant to
listen to and engage in, than an unnecessarily long one. It is at least a sign of well breeding to
account for the different options which you do not approve of. Yet, it is also a way of proving the
superiority of your opinion. Give credit to the viewpoints you are against, say what their strengths
are. Then go back to your ideas as presented earlier and explicitly show their superiority to those
you do not admit.
6. Conclusion - conclusion is in many respects a variation of the introduction. Never repeat the same
words and phrases. Summarise your position and the benefits of your solution. This repeating is
in part done as a psychological manoeuvre intended to once again persuade your audience to
confirm the validity of your opinion.
After you have finished talking, it is not only good manners to invite others to comment on what
you have just said, but also a sign of your erudition. In that way you show your in correct or

10
complete your knowledge. Yet, probably the most beautiful aspect of this is that exchange of ideas
often leads to the rise of new vistas.
Basic Argumentative Model of Written Composition
Introductory paragraph
The introductory paragraph begins with the thesis statement, the crucial statement of your essay.
It is a kind of definition of the viewpoint you will be defending in the essay. Make it clear and
complete. It needs to be followed with two or three supporting sentences. Those are miniatures
of the arguments you will present in what is to follow.
Body of the essay:
First paragraph
The first paragraph of the body contains the strongest argument, most significant example,
cleverest illustration, or an obvious beginning point.
The first sentence of this paragraph clearly indicates its connection with the previous, introductory
paragraph. The topic for this paragraph should be in the first or second sentence. This topic should
relate to the thesis statement in the introductory paragraph. The last sentence of this paragraph
should include a transitional tie to the second paragraph of the body.
Second paragraph
The second paragraph of the body contains the second strongest argument, second most
significant example, second cleverest illustration, or an obvious follow up of the first paragraph in
the body. The first sentence should include the connection with the previous paragraph. The topic
that needs to be in the first or second sentence relates to the thesis statement in the introductory
paragraph. The last sentence gives a hint of the following paragraph.
Third paragraph
This paragraph contains the contra argument to your thesis. Here you give credit to the possible
opposing views. Explain their advantages. Yet, you need to prove the superiority of yours so as to
finally defend your ideas. You can do this by making contrasts between your and those contra
arguments, so as to make it obvious that your argument is better founded.
The last sentence contains a concluding transitional word or phrase that signals the reader that
this is the final major point being made in this paper. It also leads into the last, concluding
paragraph.
Concluding paragraph
This paragraph should include the following:

allusion to the pattern used in the introductory paragraph

restatement of the thesis statement, using some of the original language or language that
echoes the original language. (The restatement, however, must not be a duplicate thesis
statement.)
summary of the three main points from the body of the paper - final statement that gives
the reader signals that the discussion has come to an end. This final statement may be a
call to further action in a persuasive paper.

11
PARAMEDIC METHOD
Facilitator between argumentative reading and writing
Tamilla Mammadova, ADA University, Azerbaijan
T oday academic writing remains a
milestone in many higher education programs.
If some ten-fifteen years ago many language
specialists and particularly English language
teachers were mainly concerned with students
poor speaking skills, today writing or
academic writing, as we are accustomed to call
it at educational institutions, has turned into
the major target of many English language
curriculum programs, either ESP or General
English. Osmond (2013:14) claims that
academic writing is formal; the scholar also
believes that writing essays and assignments is
difficult (2013:1). This is true because, writing
is not a detached skill or subject, but is closely
connected with reading and even listening. It
is also true that academic writing is normally
taught within a particular content. That is,
students write about materials they are
currently studying in an academic course or
that the language or composition course itself
stimulates the academic process (e.g.,
minilectures, readings, and discussion on a
topic lead into writing assignments) (Shih,
1986:617). Thus, having integrated with
reading, listening, and discussion about the
core content and about collaborative and
independent research growing from the core
material (Shih, 1986:618) academic writing
goes hand in hand with such notions as
referencing, argumentation, citation, etc.
Referencing your research correctly is a vital
part of academic writing. It is impossible to
separate the mechanics of referencing from
how we effectively bring our research into our
own writing and our own arguments
(Osmond, 2013:5). For instance, such
12
assignments as critical analysis, argumentative
essays, persuasive essays, etc. will look much
more credible and readable if the author uses
arguments to support his/her idea. In its turn,
Argument doesnt mean a specific
debate between two or more people around
the kitchen table or at the pub! (Osmond,
2013:2); it should be well supported by
appropriately selected references, i.e. the
sources which are reliable and valid. Often,
teachers, or instructors provide their students
with those supporting materials among which
are: scholarly articles, newspapers, journals,
magazines, etc., i.e. authentic reading
materials. Thus, here the problem for many
academic writing instructors starts!
I believe that many of my colleagues will
agree that in our classes we sometimes deal with
students of different language competence level.
Particularly, those students who come from
various majors and gather in a common EFL or
ESP class, they all possess different levels of
English language knowledge which often may vary
from intermediate to advanced. This makes it
difficult for the teacher/instructor to select
reading materials (in this case, I am talking about
content reading which is later used by the students
for referencing their pieces of writing). Joiner et al.
(1989:428) assume that in typical classroom
practice texts are generally used at the intermediate
level to prepare the students for their first
encounter with authentic texts, which are usually
reserved for advanced students, if they are used at
all However, when we deal with academic
writing class, in order to provide students with a
credible source,
 we, teachers/instructors, usually try to provide
our students with authentic materials. Gilman
and Moody (1984:333) have pointed out that
authentic texts, by their very nature, are more
culturally rich and interesting and that they are
also more redundant than most texts prepared
for learners. The richness of these texts makes
them appealing to students; their redundancy
gives the students more clues to comprehension.
So, what to do with/for those students whose
English is different from Standard English? Do
we (teachers/instructors) need to give students
simplified/adapted texts only? Or, we can use
real/authentic texts, but change our approach in
their class presentation. I believe that the latter
variant is more appropriate for an interesting and
productive academic writing teaching. Thus, in
the next part I will describe the ways and
techniques how students with an intermediate
English language competence level overcome
long and complicated authentic texts later used
in their essays.
Paramedic method
It is believed that turning a simple easy-to-read
sentences into a complicated one is very tempting
(Osmond, 2013:130); even more tempting is
turning complicated academic sentences into the
simple ones. Based on my personal observations,
out of twenty-two students in writing and
information literacy class, nearly fourteen students
avoid reading long academic texts giving their
preferences to short level-adapted materials that
consist of simple grammatical structures and level-
appropriate vocabulary. Yet, all good and
interesting materials are rarely level-appropriate;
this makes us search for such methods and
techniques that will teach students read
complicated texts previously simplifying them.
Thus, developed by Richard Lanham, Paramedic
Method is targeted to facilitate students poor
understanding of complicated texts and
paragraphs, i.e. to improve clarity and readability,
13
to make texts effective and concise. This method
can be easily used by writing instructors at the very
early stages of the writing course to teach students
how to easily manage with those materials which
they find incomprehensible and hard. According
to Paramedic Method, there are several steps to make
confusing syntax comprehensible.
Circle the prepositions (of, in, about, for,
onto, into);
Draw a box around the "is" verb forms;
Ask, "Where's the action?";
Change the "action" into a simple verb;
Move the doer into the subject (Who's
kicking whom);
Eliminate any unnecessary slow wind-ups;
Eliminate any redundancies.
To show how this method works in practice, I
would like to demonstrate one of the activities I
use in Writing and Information Literacy class. At
first, students are distributed a short but complex
text, and are asked to underline three long
sentences that seem to be the most
inapprehensible ones. Interestingly, the majority
of students select the same sentences which are
later put on the board. Lets see one of those
sentences!
The self-conscious personality must be taken into
account by the science of psychology not only because
personality is so distinctive of the human species, but
also because it is so precious, and so important in
practical way, to the individual himself and through
him to every social group and to society as a whole.
(Weber P.L. 1940:305)
Then, I ask students to copy this sentence into
their copybooks (papers), so that everyone can
work individually, and start instructing them in the
following way:
1. Underline prepositions or prepositional phrases
in the sentence:
The self-conscious personality must be taken into account by
the science of psychology not only because personality is so
distinctive of the human species, but also because it is so
precious, and so important in practical way, to the individual
himself and through him to every social group and to society as
a whole.
2. Mark the to be verbs:
The self-conscious personality must be taken into account by
the science of psychology not only because personality is so
distinctive of the human species, but also because it is so
precious, and so important in practical way, to the individual
himself and through him to every social group and to society as
a whole.
3. Find nominalizations and make it an action verb:
The self-conscious personality (to personalize self-
consciousness) must be taken into account by the science of
psychology not only because personality is so distinctive of the
human species, but also because it is so precious, and so
important in practical way, to the individual himself and
through him to every social group and to society as a whole.
4. Find the agent of the action:
The self-conscious personality must be taken into account by
the science of psychology not only because personality
is so distinctive of the human species, but also because it is so
precious, and so important in practical way, to the individual
himself and through him to every social group and to society as
a whole.
5. Eliminate (cross out) unnecessary words:
The self-conscious personality must be taken into account by
the science of psychology not only because personality is so
distinctive of the human species, but also because it is so
precious, and so important in practical way, to the individual
himself and through him to every social group and to society as
a whole.
Note! Students are explained each of the
instructional steps. Additionally, to make the analysis
more distinctive, students can use different
pen/pencil colours or, different figure for each of
the steps.
14
Finally, students are asked to rewrite the sentence,
following all the steps they have previously taken.
The results show that normally the majority of
students are in a correct track and have two possible
versions:
1. The science of psychology personalizes self-consciousness as
a precious and important one for individual himself and for
every social group and society.
2. The science of psychology takes self-conscious personality as
a precious and important one for individual himself and for
every social group and society.
This activity can be repeated during the first two-
three classes (within 15-20 minutes) unless the
students get a full comprehension on how to work
with level-inappropriate materials. Due to my
personal experience, I am strongly convinced that
such a technique substantially changes students
attitude towards academic reading which has a
positive impact on ensuing classes and enriches
students writing skills.
References
Gillman, Robert A. and Lorraine M. Moody (1984).
What practitioners say about listening: research
implications for the classroom. Foreign
language Annals 17: 331-334
Joiner, Elizabeth G., Adkins, Polly B., Eykynn, Lollie
B. (1989). Skimming and scanning with Champs-
Elysees: using authentic materials to improve
foreign language listening. The French Review. Vol. 62,
#3, 1989, pp.427
Osmond, Alex (2013). Academic writing and grammar for
students. SAGE Publications LTD
Shih, May (1986). Content-based approaches to
teaching academic writing. TESOL Quarterly
Vol.20, #4, pp.617- 648
Weber, Pearl L. (1940). Education for self-respect.
Social Science, Vol.15:3, pp.304-306
Teaching
Academic ESP
Reading Skills
Peter Master describes
Academic ESP reading skills
in different stages and
suggests some practical ideas
Peter Master, San Jose State University, USA
Teaching ESP reading is much like teaching any academic reading
class. The difference lies in the highly organised nature of ESP text.
Developing the skill of reading requires attention to four aspects:
specific reading skills, vocabulary development, intensive and
extensive reading, and class discussion to solidify the ideas derived
therefrom. Only the first aspect is discussed here.
The specific reading skills include speed reading and its subsets
skimming and scanning, analyzing paragraph layout and cohesion,
and analyzing complex sentences. Most college programs in the U.S.
overwhelm the student with reading material. Foreign students needs
to learn, however, that a professor's assignment to "Read this book
for next week" does not mean "Learn this material" but rather "Have
an idea as to the content of this material because it will be discussed
in class next week." To this end, students must be taught to skim
material by moving the eyes rapidly down the page, reading thought
groups rather than individual words. Although some students resist
this effort to increase their reading speed, they can be shown that it
works by means of reading exercises in which the student is given a
very short time to determine the "sense" of a passage, reading the
title and the topic sentence (usually early in ESP paragraphs but
occasionally at the end) and then skimming for kinds of words (e.g.,
negative, laudatory, aggressive, conditional), perhaps, or for degree
of detail. After a few exercises, students are surprised at their own
innate skimming skills.
Scanning, the rapid searching of text for specific information, can
also be improved by timed reading exercises with the goal of finding
a specific date, name, amount, etc., rather than a general
apprehension of content. Teachers usually allow students to read the
questions before this kind of exercise so that the object of the search
is firmly in mind. ESP students read a variety of material from
newspapers, journals, annual reports, textbooks, and other sources,
Their motivation is stimulated by the currency of such material, for
which reason most ESP teachers resist using a single
15
ESP reading text. The journalistic format differs from that found in a textbook. Magazines and newspapers try
to catch the reader's attention by offering all the main ideas in the first paragraph or two and then returning to
develop the ideas in greater detail, whereas textbooks tend to develop a single idea completely before a new
idea is introduced. Labels and headings are often employed in the latter to maintain the reader's sense of
structure.
Paragraph cohesion, both within and among paragraphs, is brought about primarily by transitional devices or
by "key phrasing" (see below). The analysis of cohesion is linked to vocabulary development in that it requires
knowledge of the meanings of the various transitional devices (conjunctive adverbs, dependent clause markers,
etc.). Students can be asked to predict what might follow such a word or phrase in a reading passage before
reading it, as reading has been described as a "psycholinguistic guessing game" (Goodman, 1967) in which we
anticipate what will come and then have our anticipations confirmed.
Complex sentence analysis first requires the identification of the simple subject(s) and verb(s) of the sentence.
This can be fostered by crossing out the sentence. This can be fastened by crossing out embedded clauses and
other modification devices. Students need to see the location of a main idea vs. a subordinate one in the
structure of the complex sentence and finally to understand the logical relationship between the two, an essential
prerequisite to decoding the terse writing of academic ESP.
Key phrasing (Swales, 1972) is the restatement of a subject in a later sentence or paragraph in one of three
ways: 1) direct restatement, 2) partial restatement, often with this or such, and 3) restatement in an altered
form.
For example, the topic sentence

Drinking water is usually treated with chlorine before being delivered to consumers.

might be detailed later in sentences such as:

1) Safe drinking water is taken for granted in the U.S. (direct restatement)
2) This water is taken from rivers or mountain reservoirs. (partial restatement)
3) Chlorination kills bacteria that are not removed by setting or filtration. (restatement in an altered
form)
The students understanding of this much employed technique in the reading class can lead to greatly
improved paragraph construction in the writing class, as the application of key phrasing curbs of internal
cohesion.
References
Bennett, P. and D. Carroll. 1990. Stress management approaches to the prevention of coronary heart disease.
British Journal of Clinical Psychology, 29, 1, pp. 1-12.
Goodman, K.S. 1967. Reading: a psycholinguistic guessing game. Journal of the Reading Specialist, 6(4), 126-
135.
Swales, J. 1972. Writing scientific English. Sunbury on-Thames, UK: Thomas Nelson.

APPLICAATIONS
Small Group Tasks
Directions: Address the tasks in a group of 4-5 persons. Prepare your group speaker to present your findings
to the rest of the class.

16
 1. What is meant by skimming? What is meant by scanning? Which do you you think is more
important?
2. The author says that most ESP teachers resist using a single ESP reading text. Can you imagine
a circumstance under which this might not be true?
3. What is a conjunctive adverb? What is a dependent clause marker?
4. What is an embedded clause?
5. The most logical relationship between main and subordinate clauses are additional information,
contrary information, cause and effect, and time relationships. How can you determine the logical
relationship between a main clause and subordinate clause?
6. What kind of key phrasing is exhibited in the following quotations from the reading?

. Students must be taught to skim material by moving the eyes rapidly down the page,
reading thought groups rather than individual words. Although some students resist this
effort to increase their reading speed, they can be shown that it works by means of reading
exercises
Scanning the rapid searching of text for specific information, can also be improved by
timed reading exercises with the goal of finding a specific date, name, amount, etc., rather
than a general apprehension of content. Teachers usually allow students to read the
questions before this kind of exercise so that the object of the search is firmly in mind.

Activities
1. Would a reader be more likely to use the skill of skimming or scanning in performing the
following tasks?
a) finding a specific telephone number in a telephone book
b) seeing if a newspaper article is worth reading
c) determining how much sugar is needed in a recipe
d) getting a sense of how well a company is doing from an annual report
e) checking the average June temperatures in a travel brochure
f) determining the level of language in a potential students textbook
g) checking the meaning of a word in a dictionary
h) checking the appropriateness of a research article for use in a term paper
2. One way to show students that they already possess innate skimming skills (presuming they are
literate in their first and/or second languages) is to give them a very limited time to get the
gist of reading.

Try this activity with your students or fellow classmates:

1) Choose a reading of 300-400 words (from a newspaper or this text) that your students have not
read before.
2) Provide instructions: "You will have one minute (more for lower proficiency groups) to determine the
main point of this passage, after which you cannot look at the gist of the passage to another student.
3) Have each students report the gist of the passage to another students.
4) Ask the class to volunteer what they consider to be a good example and write one or two on the
blackboard.

17
 5) Now have students read the passage slowly and completely to see if the gist they
determined was indeed correct.
6) Discuss the strategies students used to carry pout this task.
7) Repeat the activity again a few days later (students will get better at this the ore times they do
it)

3. Analyse the first three paragraph of a textbook chapter and a newspaper article. Do they support the
author's description of the difference between textbook and journalistic writing?
4. Label each of the following items as a conjunctive adverb (also known as a sentence connector) or
a dependent clause marker:

a) if ____________ g) although __________

b) nevertheless _______ h) in that case _____________
c) when _____________ i) because _______________
d) before ____________ j) after that ______________
e) therefore __________ k) in addition ____________
f) that ______________ l) at that moment __________

5. Draw a line through all the modifying words and phrases in the following paragraph taken from the
Journal of clinical Psychology.

Type A behaviour remains the only behaviourally defined risk factor for CHD [coronary heart
disease] (Review Panel, 1981). Although its status is now controversial, the majority of
perspective epidemiological studies in healthy subjects show TAB [Type A behaviour]
independently to predict CHD; it is generally methodologically weaker studies of re-infarction
and correlational studies of TAB and degree of atherosclerosis as determined by angiography
that have provided conflicting evidence (Haynes & Mathews, 188). Nevertheless, future research
will probably focus on hostility and anger as major precursors of heart disease, and allocate a less
central role to other component behaviours such as time urgency and competiveness (Bennett &
Carroll, 1989; Williams & Barefoot, 1988).

Master, P. (2000) "Teaching academic ESP reading skills." In P. Master (Ed.), Responses to ESP. U.S.
State Department, Washington DC. Used with permission. Available for freedownload at
http://www.sjsu.edu/faculty/pmaster/.

18
Did someone say

reading?
Nalan Kenny, Kings Leadership Academy, UK

ESP methodology comes with the content of the course. That

changes the techniques that the teacher implements in the classroom.
For example, if the teacher happens not to be familiar with such
specific subject matter as the operation of a blast furnace or power
station, he wont be able to prepare his own material for this matter.
It is not always possible to find material a teacher would want to use
during the course in the coursebook. In ESP courses, the teacher has
to put in more effort that for general English courses. Materials and
how you use them in the classroom are important in teaching. What
methodology you use to teach reading text in the classroom? Do
you just copy and give the students? Ask them to read and
summarise? Find the unknown word?
First of all I want to look into the acquisition of reading skills in
language learning. Reading is a purposeful activity which involves
skimming, scanning, cognition and interacting. Reading a text in ESP
is different from reading a text in EGP. In ESP reading text are more
complex and needs prior knowledge to connect the meaning and the
linguistics features of the text. Dudley Evans and St John (1998)
stated that crucial skills to be learnt or transferred into the new
language. Reading can be done in many ways: skimming, scanning,
finding the main idea, identifying the key words, predicting, inferring,
guessing, using cohesive and discourse makes, evaluating the
information during reading and identifying the purpose of the text.
Reading Procedure
There are usually three stages when introducing the reading text to
the class. Each stage can be limited with time or flow with the
content. It all depends on the group of learners prior knowledge,
ability and aptitude. Before you give the reading text to the class you
should follow three steps:
-Pre-reading:
This stage is also called warm up. This is the stage that students are
introduced with text by introducing the key word in a different
structure or visually showing a relevant picture to the text and
predicting. Questions and answer will bring out the discussions.

19
The students will have a chance to give their opinion and the teacher will find out the extent to which students
have prior knowledge about the text content.
-While-reading:
In the second stage, the students might be given sets of questions and ask to answer them by skimming and
scanning with a limited time. They can try to work out the meaning of unfamiliar words.
-Post-reading:
In the last stage, the students might be asked to review of the content, work on grammar, summarize with their
own words. Post-reading is important because all strategies in pre-reading and during reading stages are
reinforced to be used in learners writing.
I chose a reading text which is very common subject and is well known by everyone, namely, Google1. It is
important how the text is presented in the classroom. I used the following stages:

- Before I introduced the text to the classroom I divided the text into paragraphs, copied and cut them in
paragraphs. Then I used the board instead of asking students directly. I wrote to first letter of the title or
key word(s) and asked them to guess what it could be. In this way, students will interact with the activity
and the teacher.
- After they predicted the text, I tried to find out what they actually knew about google. I emphasized the
unknown and/or repeated words and noted them on the board, so they could connect the meaning with
the words.
- Following the warm up stage, I put the students into a group of four (depends on the number of the students in
the classroom) and gave each group one paragraph with one or two questions from the text. After each group
read and answered the questions related to the paragraph, I asked students to swap their paper with another
one. This went until they completed the whole text by reading each paragraph and answered the questions.
- Then I gave the students the whole text. As they read the each paragraph in details separately, it was much easier
to process the whole text. In this method, I found out that the students engaged with the text and enjoyed
the lesson.
- After finishing reading, I went through the answers with the class. They were more eager to answer the questions
and interact with the lessons. I found out that students had more interaction with their peers and discussed
the answers.
- In the last stage, I gave them a choice which was either to summarize what they knew about google and
write about agree or disagree statement. By following three stages in a reading activity, students actually use
speaking and writing skills as well by discussing the subject and writing a summary. This activity can be
applied to most of the reading texts.

I found this a highly effective exercise in which students appeared to be able to demonstrate insight into their
subject using that methodology. Would that work for the blast furnace operators too?

1
The text can be found on page 28 and used in the classroom under the permission of Mr Morton, creator.

20
THE ANDRAGOGICAL
APPROACH to teaching
English for Specific Purposes
Tanju Deveci, Khalifa University of Science and Technology, UAE

The capacity to learn is a gift; the ability to learn is a skill; the willingness to learn is a choice.

Tanju Deveci suggests Andragogical approach for
English for specific purpose
The words above from the novel Dune: House
Harkonnen by Herbert and Anderson (2000, p. 532)
highlight the fact that the capacity to learn is innate,
but how we use this capacity requires an ability,
which can be learned and developed. More
importantly, however, learning (or not) is our choice,
which depends on a desire for learning. As a choice,
learning depends largely on our interpretations of
the concept. Having said this though, it is also
important to be mindful of institutional factors that
influence the value we attach to learning. Learning is
such a wide concept that educational institutions
adopt a variety of approaches to teaching, thus
impacting individual learners learning experiences.
In this paper, I will first describe two approaches to
teaching and learning, namely andragogy and
pedagogy. Then I will argue that the former is more
appropriate for teaching English for specific
purposes.
Andragogy versus Pedagogy
Andragogy, a term first used by Kapp in the early
19th century to describe Platos educational ideas,
was popularized by Malcolm Knowles, who defines
the term as the art and science of helping adults
learn (Knowles, 1980, p. 38). The term stems from
the Greek words andra meaning man, not boy and
agogus meaning leader of. When put together,
they point to the role of education in assisting adults
in learning. In this sense, it differs from the term
pedagogy, which means the leader of children
(Knowles, 1980). Despite this distinction in
meaning, it is the latter term that is still used far too
comprehensively in educational discourse.

21
 To make a clear distinction between the grades. Motivation may also be based on their wish
terms, Knowles (1992) compares andragogical to avoid punishments such as detention.
assumptions to pedagogical assumptions. First, the
In the andragogical model, the instructors
concept of a learner in the andragogical approach
role shifts from a person who holds and imparts
differs from that in the pedagogical approach. That
knowledge to a person who facilitates the learning
is, andragogy perceives learners as increasingly self-
processes. To this end, the andragogically-oriented
directed. As they gain (learning) experience, adults
instructor involves learners in
like to have control over their learning by
determining their own learning aims, organizing
their learning activities, and assessing their learning.
(1) establishing a climate conductive to learning; (2)
However, in the pedagogical approach, learners, or
creating a mechanism for mutual planning; (3)
rather students, depend on their teachers to make
diagnosing the needs for learning; (4) formulating
such decisions for them. They are often regarded as
program objectives . . . that will satisfy these needs; (5)
incapable of directing their own learning; therefore,
designing a pattern of learning experiences; (6)
they require constant support from their teachers or
conducting these learning experiences with suitable
parents. Second, learners experiences in the
techniques and materials; and (7) evaluating the
andragogical approach are of great importance. That
learning outcomes and rediagnosing learning needs
is, their (prior) experiences in and outside of
(Knowles, 1973, p. 54).
educational settings are seen as a valuable learning
resource upon which they can draw. Their peers
experiences can also be used as a learning source.
As is indicated in this quote, the andragogically-
Therefore, learners are often encouraged to share
oriented facilitator encourages active learner
their experiences with others. On the other hand, the
involvement throughout the learning process from
pedagogical approach normally aims to build on
planning to evaluating to rediagnosing learning
students experience through input sessions.
needs. Such an approach perceives the instructor
Students are thought to require an increasing
and individual learners as mutually liable partners
number of learning experiences to be able to make
rather than one being hierarchically superior or
sense of the world. This usually prevents teachers
inferior to the other. The instructor in his/her role
from drawing on students life experiences. This is a
as a facilitator considers learners as capable of self-
corollary to the concept of readiness to learn. In the
direction and self-development (Finger & Asun,
andragogical approach, learners are believed to be
2001).
better prepared for learning when learning
experiences are built around life tasks and problems The andragogical approach also keeps in
faced. Should they believe that the content matter perspective the challenges adult learners may face.
will help them tackle a particular problem learners One of these is anxiety they may have in a new
will have an intrinsic motivation for learning. Also, (learning) situation (Parker, 2008). If the instructor
learning experiences designed to help them carry out fails to acknowledge this, learners may drop out.
specific tasks in life will create intrinsic motivation. Anxiety may be caused by unpleasant memories of
For instance, an individual who needs to get a job to previous teachers, tests, and punishments. Also, they
provide for his family will be more motivated to may believe that younger students are more capable
learn a foreign language if it helps him find a job. In of learning a foreign language, and it may be too late
the pedagogical model, however, learning is subject- for them to start learning a foreign language. This
centered. Students study various subjects like may lead them to suffer from low self-esteem.
history, mathematics and physics. They may not Unless tackled effectively, these will cause learners to
necessarily be able to draw connections between lose their motivation to learn.
these distinct subjects, or use what they learn in their English for Specific Purposes (ESP)
classes to deal with a real world problem or task.
They often study these subjects for their future adult The basic idea behind ESP is to design courses
life; due to this, they may fail to value the knowledge to meet learners particular needs (Hutchinson &
they are required to learn. Therefore, students are Waters, 1987). Over the years, this has resulted in
often motivated by external rewards such as passing ESP encompassing a variety of areas such as English
for academic purposes (EAP), English for

22
vocational purposes (EVP), English for medical
purposes (EMP), English for business purposes
(EBP), English for legal purposes, English for
sociocultural purposes (ESCP), and English for
occupational purposes (EOP) (Paltridge & Starfield,
2013).
Jendrych and Wisniewska (2010) point out that
learners of EOP in particular tend to be adult in-
service learners. I believe EAP in general, and EOP
in particular, requires an andragogical approach.
Jendrych and Wisniewska (2010) list various
implications of the andragogical approach for ESP.
The first of these is related to the aims of ESP
courses. According to the andragogical approach,
learners are prepared for learning as long as they feel
the need for it. Therefore, they need to have a clear
understanding of course aims and objectives. They
need to see clearly how content and learning
activities as well as tasks help them reach these aims.
The second implication is related to learning
strategies, which should be individualized as much as
possible. The andragogical approach to learning
suggests that learners individual characteristics need
to be fully taken into consideration. One such vital
characteristic is how people like to learn. To address
this need, instructors should identify students
preferred ways of learning and match learning tasks
with these.
The third implication underscores the
importance of learners experience as a rich resource.
Should students realize that their experiences are
able to be exploited for educational purposes, they
will have higher self-esteem and greater motivation.
To achieve this, a variety of teaching techniques can
be used. These include group discussions, problem-
solving activities, group projects, and case studies.
Through these, students can engage in interpersonal
communication allowing them to share their
experiences with their peers. When learners realize
that their existing knowledge and experiences
contribute to their own as well as their peers
development, they will be more likely to take active
roles in learning. They will also assume responsibility
for their peers learning, which increases mutual
accountability.
Jendrych and Wisniewska (2010) also highlight
the importance of the andragogical approach to
creating learning contexts for ESP classes. In
andragogy, learning has to be authentic. For this to
happen, learners need to be able to apply the content
23
matter in lifelike, if not real, situations immediately.
Cognitively demanding situations created for
learning purposes, therefore, should involve
students in communicative behaviors requiring
active use of the target language. This can be
facilitated through use of task-based learning (TBL),
which creates opportunities for social interaction
between learners as a source of input and means of
acquisition, and involves the negotiation of meaning,
communicative strategies, and communicative
effectiveness (Ellis, 2003, 65). In this manner, TBL
supports several underpinnings of andragogy. The
interaction between learners allows learners to tap
into their experiences and prior knowledge. The
relevant and meaningful learning experiences created
in this way facilitates language acquisition.
An andragogically-oriented ESP instructors
role also differs from a traditional teachers role. The
instructors knowledge of the subject matter is
normally rather limited compared to that of the
learners. Thus, this method entails the instructor
facilitating the process by which the participants
learn to speak about the subject matter in English.
This is impossible without considering adult
learners existing knowledge and previous
experience. More often than not, their knowledge
guides the instructor in terms of planning, executing
and evaluating learning. In this sense, students
active involvement during all stages is necessary. For
instance, an instructor who is unfamiliar with the
content matter will be less able to prioritize which
learner needs to address. As the andragogical
approach suggests, learners should be consulted on
both the content and the order in which it is
delivered. Since ESP learners tend to be
homogenous groups with similar learning goals
(Paltridge & Starfield, 2013), identifying learning
needs in cooperation with learners should not be
difficult. However, their language proficiency and
aptitude for learning a foreign language will likely
vary significantly due to various factors.
Andragogically-oriented ESP educators must
identify how prepared individual learners are. They
also consider the baggage they bring to the learning
environment.
At least some empirical evidence exists showing
the positive effects of programs planned and run
according to andragogical assumptions. One such
initiative was facilitated by Akn (2010) who
investigated training needs for police officers
English language skills and developed a program
based on these needs. The educational intervention Ellis, R. (2003). Task-based learning and teaching. Oxford:
was planned according to the andragogical Oxford University Press.
assumptions. The results of the study indicated that Finger, M. & Asun, J. M. (2001). Adult education at the
the students were highly motivated and recorded crossroads: Learning our way out. London and New York:
substantial increases in their language development Zed Books.
and aptitude for language learning. Similarly, in their
Herbert, B., & Anderson, K. J. (2000). Dune: House
study investigating the impact of the andragogical Harkonnen. New York: Bantam Spectra Book.
approach on graduate students satisfaction levels,
Ekoto and Gaikwad (2015) found that a learning Hutchinson, T., & Waters, A. (1987). English for specific
environment organized according to andragogical purposes. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
assumptions predicted greater motivation and, Jendrych, E., & Wisnewska, H. (2010, November). ESP:
therefore, satisfaction. They particularly highlighted How to design challenging tasks for adult learners. Paper
the roles of teaching and learning strategies, presented at the ICT for language learning, Florence:
classroom interaction patterns, and course Italy. Accessed through http://conference.pixel-
assignments as potential factors contributing to online.net/ICT4LL2010/common/download/Proceedi
ngs_pdf/CLIL01-Jendrych,Wisniewska.pdf on
student motivation and success. These results are
25.04.2017
supported by another study investigating how adult
learners were influenced by the incorporation of Knowles, M. (1973). The modern practice of adult education:
andragogical principles in their second-language Andragogy versus pedagogy. New York: Association Press.
learning environment (Mayoral, 2013). The results Knowles, M. (1980). The modern practice of adult education:
showed that the learners perceptions of the From pedagogy to andragogy. New York: Cambridge Books.
andragogical approach were positively correlated to
Knowles, M. (1992). Applying principles of adult
their English second language competency. Taken learning in conference presentations. Adult Learning, 4(1),
together, the results of these studies provide 11-14.
evidence for the positive effects of the andragogical
approach on language learners motivation and Mayoral, C. C. (2013). An investigation of Knowles' principles
achievement, which should be given due of andragogy in a second-language environment. (Unpublished
doctoral dissertation). University of Phoenix, Arizona.
consideration in ESP classes as well.
Paltridge, B., & Starfield, S. (2013). The handbook of English
Conclusion for specific purposes. Boston: Wiley-Blackwell.
Meaningful learning experiences lie at the Parker, M. Z. (2008). Andragogy and technology. In L. A.
heart of learning. Since it is the learners themselves Tomei (Ed). Encyclopedia of Information Technology
who construct meaning out of their learning Curriculum Integration (pp. 30-36). New York: IGI
experiences, ESP instruction needs to consider each Publishing.
individual learners characteristics, which include
their needs, desires, preferred learning styles, as well
as anxieties. Only in this way can they be helped to
relish learning and achieve greater well-being. It is
therefore essential that ESP instructors provide
learners with ample opportunities for andragogical
engagement.
References
Akn, G. (2010). Andragojik ilkelere gre gelitirilmi problem
temelli mesleki ngilizce eitimi programnn etkililii [Efficiency of
a problem-based esp training (vocational English) program
enhanced by principles of andragogy]. (Unpublished doctoral
dissertation). Ankara University, Ankara.
Ekoto, C. E., & Gaikwad, P. (2015). The impact of
andragogy on learning satisfaction of graduate students.
American Journal of Educational Research, 3(11), 1378-1385.

24
ESP and EAP
in the context of university education
Rubtsova Svetlana, St Petersburg State University, Russia
Svetlana Rubtsova draws an
attention to the problem of
introducing the modular course
of professionally-oriented
modern languages at St
Petersburg State University
The paper draws attention to the problem of introducing the
modular course of professionally - oriented modern languages
at St Petersburg State University. The importance of teaching
foreign languages related to the professional areas has been
under discussion in many higher educational institutions of the
Russian Federation (Ivanova, 2013: 181-184). The university
foreign language syllabus taught by the teaching staff of the
newly organized faculty of modern languages at St Petersburg
State University is mainly tailored for the students of 20
different faculties (of law, economics, biology, medicine,
chemistry and other sciences and humanities). Most students
learn English that has become a lingua franca in the era of
globalization, the number of students learning German and
French being rather limited. The general approach is that of
combining different modules in teaching English: General
English (GE), ESP and English for Academic Purposes at
different ratios depending on the initial level of language
competence defined by the placement test according to the
Common European Framework of Reference for Languages,
with optional ratios being 70% - 20% - 10%, 50% - 30% - 20%;
25% - 50% - 25%, 10% - 60%- 30% correspondingly. For
example, at the level A1 A2 the ratio of ESP is 20%, of EAP
10%; while at the level B2 C1 their ratios are 60% and 30%.
There is no doubt that in the context of cross - cultural
professional communication, teaching ESP at universities
should be regarded not only from the perspective of students
gaining certain vocational or professional and academic foreign
language competences, but also from that of their obtaining
certain cultural awareness and deepening knowledge of the
history, traditions and mode of life of the native speakers.
25
 It is generally acknowledged that teaching ESP usually implies teaching for a clearly utilitarian purpose.
(Mackay and Mountford, 1978: 2). Students are supposed to be able to use English in specific situations close
to the real ones in their future occupation and to comprehend both oral and written professional and academic
discourse. There is no denying that sometimes in learning ESP, language is learnt not for its own sake or
for the sake of gaining a general education, but to smooth the path to entry or greater linguistic efficiency in
academic, professional or workplace environments (Basturkmen, 2006: 18). However, the practice of
teaching ESP at St Petersburg university demonstrates that not infrequently students are motivated not only
by realizing that mastering ESP would possibly help them in their future occupation, but also by being
introduced to the subtleties of a different culture and mentality, on the one hand, and by gaining the feeling
of cultural, mental and psychological unity with the native speakers, on the other hand, which certainly
contributes to the goal of bringing nations together. That is why the module of cultural background concepts
and intercultural communication core notions is certainly an important component of the ESP and EAP
syllabus. Students normally demonstrate sincere interest to catchphrases coined by Shakespeare, to Biblical
phraseological units, literary and historical allusions one can come across in professional discourse. They are
also rather enthusiastic about buzzwords, professional slang and local knowledge. Learning a language
means studying the basics of geography, politics, and history of the country where the certain language is
spoken, which in its turn can sufficiently help understand different aspects of the language. It is also crucial
to take into account the curricula of special subjects in teaching ESP. The question arises how an appropriate
foreign language syllabus should be tailored from the perspective of ESP convergence with special disciplines.
Obviously, teachers of ESP should try to blend the current topics of their classes with those of special
disciplines, which presupposes teaching the so - called underlying knowledge (Basturkmen, 2006: 137) via
ESP, helping students gain more profound expertise in their specific area in addition to good command of
English. Another aspect of this blended learning and teaching is the essential need for ESP practitioners to
collaborate with teachers of special disciplines. (K. Hyland, 2007: 287).
On top of that, one of the most serious tasks is to empower students with transferable skills such as
communication competence, problem-solving, learning to learn, international collaboration, letter writing,
making presentations, grant writing, public speaking, team work, writing scientific articles, time management,
cultural understanding, etc., all of which are needed for enhancing their employment opportunities in future.
All transferable skills acquired while learning a foreign language could be applied not only in research, but
also in business, teaching and any other professional area, making the world ones oyster, to paraphrase
great Shakespeare.

References:

Basturkmen, H. (2006). Ideas and Options in English for Specific Purposes. London and New Jersey: ESL and
Applied Linguistic Professional Series: Eli Hinkel Edition.
Hyland K. (2007). English for Specific Purposes. In book:
International Handbook of English Language Teaching. London: J. Cummins, Ch. Davison (Eds.), pp.391-
402. Johns A.M and Dudley, E. (1991) English for Specific Purposes: International in Scope Specific in
Purpose. TESOL Quarterly Vol. 25. 2: pp 297-314.
Ivanova B. L. (2013) Career-Oriented Language Teaching as a New Approach in Foreign Language Education
at Universities. Magic of Innovation: New Techniques and Technologies in Teaching Foreign
Languages//International Conference Proceedings, V. 1, Moscow, pp. 181184.
Mackay, R. and Mountford, A. (1978) English for Specific Purposes: A case Study Approach. London:
Longman.

26
 I WAS LOST AND TRIED
TO FIGURE IT OUT!
Abdulsamad Humaidan, Southern Illinois University, USA

Since students had different levels of English proficiency, it was even harder to teach. Some
of them were intermediate and some others were beginners. For this reason, I tried my best
to teach the terms using visual aids and pictures. I noticed that the class was involved in the
learning process and they were progressing and I kept revising terms in each class and
introducing definitions gradually.

Abdulsamad
Humaidan tells his I still remember when I was informed that I was going to teach
first experience in an English course in the Medical Science Department, as it was
teaching medical called at that time, and I needed to see the department Chair. As
students ESP I was going to see the Chair, I was expecting to teach general
English and I did not even give it a thought it might be English for
Medical Purposes. I met the Chair and I told him that I was assigned
to teach their required English course for that semester and I was
looking for any syllabus they had to have an idea about what
topics they wanted me to teach. Yet, the department Chair told
me that they were short in the number of faculty who teaches
medical terminology course and he asked me to teach that class.
Wait a minute! I thought, but I have not taught any medical
terminology course before and I did not have any background in
medicine.
Since I was a Graduate Teaching Assistant at that time, I
was more for Yes, I can. I was telling myself that it was a new
challenge that I wanted to go through. The Chair handed me the
description of the topics that students were supposed to know
and learn by the end of the semester. When I looked at that
description, it was merely a list of human body systems. I was
confused at that moment because I did not expect to see only a
list. I was thinking that the Chair would give me a syllabus that

27
goes in details about each topic, but it was not the case. I asked him if he had any syllabus from other
teachers who taught that class before, but he did not. Now, the challenge is getting harder.
I took the description and the first thing came to mind was to go and google the human body systems
to educated myself about such new experience. I started going through each of those systems and I realized
that there was a big gap between what I knew and what I needed to learn to teach the course. I started
planning to study for the course myself. Therefore, I tried to find textbooks that teach medical terms. I
typed in Google search bar many keywords to get some textbooks titles and I found some. I picked up
one of the titles which seemed easy to read for non-medicine person and I went to the library looking for
that textbook.
I was lucky enough to see the book shelved among the hundreds of books that were under the Medical
Books section. I borrowed the book and went home reading. The textbook was full of pictures and it was
mainly focusing on human body systems vocabulary. Many terms were new to me and I was not surprised.
I thought that the best technique to memorize and remember those terms was to have flashcards. I bought
flashcards and made a pile of them with terms and definitions. I even tried to print out some charts and
match the different systems parts with terms.
Learning the new terms was not over at that moment and it was a semester long process. Yet, that
process was not just learning but also teaching. I started teaching the course and it was focusing on medical
terms. Since students had different levels of English proficiency, it was even harder to teach. Some of them
were intermediate and some others were beginners. For this reason, I tried my best to teach the terms using
visual aids and pictures. I noticed that the class was involved in the learning process and they were
progressing and I kept revising terms in each class and introducing definitions gradually.
If I teach the course again, there are a number of things that I want to employ and to add. Firstly, at that
time I had little experience on how to develop a good syllabus that lies out the course description, the
tentative schedule and explains how the students would be assessed and evaluated. Through that syllabus,
I will be more attached to the course objectives and keep revising them. Secondly, I am planning also to
integrate English language skills into the course. Instead of having just terms and vocabulary, I am thinking
to add reading texts that build the students reading skills. I will also add speaking components where
students will be given related scenarios and they should develop conversations in pairs and then share their
conversations. Moreover, students will be asked to listen to related conversations and answer questions.
Writing will also be introduced, as writing a simple medical report. The last and the most important thing
to add is the final project. Students will be asked to think and work creatively for their final projects. Besides
the test which is a university requirement, they will be given a space to have their ideas produced in more
concreate ways and do the final project the way they would like. Finally, I will definitely try to develop my
ESP teaching skills and learn more when there is any opportunity so I can teach more effectively and give
training to any future teacher in soon future.

28
Nonfiction Reading Test Google
Directions: Read the following passage and answer the questions that follow. Refer to the text to
check your answers when appropriate.
You know that you're doing something big when
your company name becomes a verb. Ask
Xerox. In 1959 they created the first plain paper
copy machine. It was one of the most successful
products ever. The company name Xerox grew
into a verb that means "to copy," as in "Bob, can
you Xerox this for me?" Around 50 years later,
the same thing happened to Google. Their
company name grew into a verb that means "to
do an internet search." Now everyone and their
grandma knows what it means to Google it.
Unlike Xerox, Google wasn't the first company
to invent their product, not by a long shot. Lycos
released their search engine in 1993. Yahoo!
came out in 1994. AltaVista began serving
results in 1995. Google did not come out until
years later, in 1998. Though a few years
difference may not seem like much, this is a
major head start in the fast moving world of
tech. So how did Google do it? How did they
overtake their competitors who had such huge
leads in time and money? Maybe one good idea
made all the difference.
There are millions and millions of sites on the
internet. How does a search engine know which
ones are relevant to your search? This is a
question that great minds have been working on
for decades. To understand how Google
changed the game, you need to know how
search engines worked in 1998. Back then most
websites looked at the words in your query. They
counted how many times those words appeared
on each page. Then they might return pages
where the words in your query appeared the
most. This system did not work well and people
often had to click through pages and pages of
results to find what they wanted.
29
Google was the first search engine that began
considering links. Links are those blue
underlined words that take you to other pages
when you click on them. Larry Page, cofounder
of Google, believed that meaningful data could
be drawn from how those links connect. Page
figured that websites with many links pointing at
them were more important than those that had
few. He was right. Google's search results were
much better than their rivals. They would soon
become the world's most used search engine.
It wasn't just the great search results that led to
Google becoming so well liked. It also had to do
with the way that they presented their product.
Most of the other search engines were cluttered.
Their home pages were filled with everything
from news stories to stock quotes. But Google's
homepage was, and still is, clean. There's
nothing on it but the logo, the search box, and a
few links. It almost appears empty. In fact, when
they were first testing it, users would wait at the
home page and not do anything. When asked
why, they said that they were, "waiting for the
rest of the page to load." People couldn't
imagine such a clean and open page as being
complete. But the fresh design grew on people
once they got used to it.
These days Google has its hands in everything from
self-driving cars to helping humans live longer.
Though they have many other popular products, they
will always be best known for their search engine.
The Google search engine has changed our lives and
our language. Not only is it a fantastic product, it is a
standing example that one good idea (and a lot of
hard work) can change the world.
Photocopiable for classroom use