English for Specific Purposes (ESP) and Content-based Instruction (CBI), though different in a number of ways, share a single, basic goal: to blend "content" (defined broadly) and the explicit teaching of relevant language. What does this mean? To make language teaching (and learning) more authentic for a specified group of learners by exploiting the grammar, vocabulary, concepts, genres, and "ways of being" of identified academic, professional, or occupational communities. ESP/CBI practitioners have found that students will be more motivated, and better prepared, if their curricula and classroom activities are founded on appropriate research, including extensive needs assessments and discourse analyses. In addition, these practitioners maintain that

• Language occurs as whole texts which are embedded in the social
• contexts (and communities) in which they are used. (Feez, 1998, p.3)

Thus, good language teaching reflects not only content (and vocabulary ) but the "social" nature of language use in specific settings reflected in oral and written texts.

• To provide an introduction to both CBI and ESP: their histories, research areas, and pedagogical practices.
• To introduce students to some of the extensive research in ESP (and, to a lesser extent, CBI) directed towards needs assessment and discourse analysis.
• To acquaint students with some of the outstanding CBI and ESP work in progress in the San Diego area, and elsewhere, at several levels of instruction.
• To encourage students to develop needs assessments and discourse analyses for specific groups of learners.
• To assist students in writing a text-based syllabus, lesson and assessment plan based upon their needs assessments and discourse analyses.

Put another way…a reflection from Paul Hadri, a student from the Fall 2002 class:
…ESP instructors are researchers…learners deserve to have an instructor work through a process involving the making of principled choices that tailor language teaching to specific language learner needs in context. These principled choices must be based upon research that consists of the analysis of authentic language data and detailed research into context and stakeholders.
There are several key concepts in ESP:

• It is consistently focused on the learner's needs
  
• It wastes no time
  
• It is not derived from, or tied to, any particular teaching methodology
• Nothing should be in the curriculum unless it directly supports the targeted language skills or strategies needed by the learners
  
• Instructors must constantly conduct research before, during, and after the course to determine elements of the target situation and the needs of students.
  
• Assessment should be ongoing, both formative and summative.
  

• (D & S): Dudley-Evans, T. & M.J. St John (1998). Developments in English for Specific Purposes: A Multi-disciplinary Approach. Cambridge.
  
• (Feez): Feez, S. (1998) Text-based Syllabus Design. AMES.

In addition, you will be drawing from readings on reserve or from available journals such as English for Specific Purposes, Applied Linguistics, TESOL Quarterly, and Language and Learning across the Disciplines.

Note: Please register on Blackboard during the first week of class. I will be posting announcements there; and, if possible, we will use this Web-based management system for other purposes.

Oral Review of a research article related to discourse analysis
What is discourse analysis? It is the controlled study of a linguistic or pragmatic feature within authentic written or spoken discourse.

Purposes: To introduce you to some of the extensive discourse analysis research that appears in the ESP literature. To prepare you to complete your own discourse analyses.

Tasks: Select an article or book chapter that involves discourse analysis from an applied linguistics journal (e.g., TESOL Quarterly, English for Specific Purposes, or Applied Linguistics) or from the classic examples under the course title on library reserve. Do not select a study that another student has chosen.
Prepare a handout for the class (and an overhead, if appropriate) in which you present the following:

• the facts of publication in APA style
• the purpose of the study and the research questions
• the methodology employed by the researcher(s)
• the findings, presented, if possible, in table form
• comments, critique, and relevance for teaching or research.

Draft of needs assessment and discourse analysis plan for a specific group
of learners

Purposes: To assist you in using presented research and the 655 textbooks in developing a) a needs assessment plan for a specific group of learners, and b) a discourse analysis plan for a particular genre or purposeful "text."

Tasks:

• Find and identify as completely as possible a real group of English language learners.
• Design a needs assessment plan for them that you would carry out if you had sufficient time and money. Use D & S, Feez, and other readings as guides.
  In the needs assessment, list all of the methods you would use to obtain information.
• Find written or spoken texts for analysis that are appropriate for your learners. If you use more then one text from a genre (e.g., two letters of complaint), you'll be better off in terms of making generalizations. Outline your goals for your analysis, including
  • audiences, contexts, and/or communities from which the discourse
    arises.
  • the apparent purposes for the discourse and specific ways in which the speaker or writer attempts to achieve his/her purposes with the audience.
  • the macro-structure of the discourse.(e.g., problem/solution)
  • the headings and metadiscourse features that are employed to hold the entire text together.
  • the repeated, or essential, grammatical features and their relationship to discourse function.
  • the lexical features and their relationships to each other and the complete text.
  • the visual or extra-linguistic features.

Full and Final version of the needs assessment and discourse analysis plan

This will be a revised version of what is drafted on October 8. November 5: Oral presentation of the needs assessment plan and the results of the discourse analysis. 15%. (The class and the instructor will evaluate your presentation.)

Purpose: To describe to the class your needs assessment plan and the results of your discourse analysis (a-g above), performed on one long text or at least two shorter "texts" from the same genre. To discuss with the class the possibilities for developing teaching materials from the results.

Tasks: Prepare a 10-15 minute presentation in which you outline your ideal needs assessment plan and the results of your discourse analysis. Prepare a handout (and an overhead, if relevant) in which you

• describe your student population as thoroughly as possible, including ages, first language, language levels, interests, needs, etc.
• list the various methods through which you would perform the needs assessment.
• present both the texts (in written form) and the text analyses, on a grid, if possible, including as many of the features listed in a-g as are relevant. If there are other features, particularly as they relate to oral language, include them.
• critique your work and make tentative suggestions for how your analyses might be exploited in syllabus design.

Oral presentation of needs assessment and the results of the discourse
analysis.

Peer review of draft syllabus design, objectives, texts, and language.

Purpose: To present to other members of the class, and the instructor, your initial plan for the final project, excluding (at this point) the assessment elements. To submit your work for peer review.

Tasks:

• Select either a topic-driven (more CBI), a text-driven (more ESP), or a strategy-driven syllabus type. (See Feez, pp. 108ff.)
• Design a curricular table of contents for your chosen syllabus, including at
  least five items. (e.g., five sub-topics, five texts or genres, or five strategies)
• List objectives for one lesson listed on the table of contents.
• For this lesson, design a grid in which you list text types (or genres) as well as the other elements necessary for your chosen syllabus type.
  For topic driven: sub-topic(s), text type(s), language, concepts, activities.
  (See CBI readings)
  For text-driven: genre(s) or text types, language and concepts, and activities
  For strategy-driven: strategy, text-type, language, activities.
  
  Remember: You need to use the texts that were studied in your discourse analysis!

Revision and instructor conferences. No formal class.

Conferences will be held throughout this week on the revision of the draft syllabus design, objectives, texts, and language. This week, you will discuss with your instructor a revised version of what was peer-reviewed on November 19. 5% for your revision.

Peer review of assessment plan.

Purpose: To consider how you will measure student progress-and your own success as an instructor. To integrate assessment into your current syllabus design and to have your plan critiqued by the class.
[What has been missing, so far, are the all-important assessment elements.] Review D & S, Chapter 11 and Feez, pp. 55-64.]

Tasks:

• Develop a formal test including at least five items (or approaches) in which you
  assess your students' ability to use the texts and language (or strategies) you are
  teaching in your chosen lesson.
• List at least three other methods by which you might assess
  • students' progress,
  • their attitudes toward the material,
  • your success as an instructor,
  • and/or, ideally, whether the students are developing the ability to succeed with expert audiences within their chosen communities.

Final project portfolio due.

Purpose: To bring together, and add to, all of the work, and readings, from the semester. To permit your instructor to see how you have integrated the readings, lectures, and peer review sessions.

Tasks: Prepare a portfolio that includes the following entries:

• Research article review: Your handout from the September 24 oral review of the research article.
• Needs assessment and discourse analysis (please include your graded copies, if possible)
  • Draft of the plan (October 8)
  • Full version of the plan (October 22)
  • Handout from the results presentation (November 5)
    
• Syllabus design
  • Draft of syllabus design, etc. (November 19)
  • Revision of syllabus design (Week of November 26)
    
• Assessment: Draft assessment plan (December 10)
• Final product (which I will scrutinize most carefully, so revise your work again, please.) This will include
  • A description of the learners for whom the teaching materials are designed.
  • The context for the syllabus; syllabus type.
  • Your table of contents (based upon syllabus type)
  • A sample lesson and related assessment:
    • Objectives.
    • Grid of texts, topics, strategies, etc for this lesson.
    • Cycle of teaching/learning activities (Feez, pp. 136-140)
      Note: This section from Feez is based upon a text-driven syllabus. If you select a topic-driven or strategic syllabus, you will have to begin the cycle with your chosen focus. Also note that the language items you teach should be related to your discourse analysis!
    • Assessment plan. (This can also be integrated into the teaching cycle. If it is, use different colors or fonts to indicate assessment.)
      
  • Reflection: You can discuss the strengths and weaknesses of your lesson or of your current knowledge. You can move from this class to what you might do for a thesis….

Thought questions:

• What are the relationships between ESP and CBI?
• How do they differ?
• Which approach is most relevant to you as a teacher? Why?
• How might you use this information to build a syllabus?

• What research areas seem most interesting or promising?
• How do these areas relate to your work in other linguistics classes, e.g., advanced syntax? How do they relate to your teaching?
• Have you discovered areas that you would like to investigate?
• What is the relationship between this work, needs assessment, and syllabus design, if any?

Needs analysis. In Feez, read pp. 39-49. In D & S, read Chapter 7.

Thought questions:

• How do we relate the needs analysis discussions of Dudley-Evans and St John and those of Feez? Can you see similarities? Are there important differences?
• How can you use this information for your own needs assessment and
  classroom assessment plan?