Poster Presentation

Aspects of Designing an English for
Science and Technology Course inNon-English Speaking Countries

Dr. Sonia Sharmin
Faculty of Pure and Applied Sciences, University of Tsukuba
The need for an English for Science and Technology (EST) course, where EST is a subcategory of English for Specific Purposes (ESP),is to familiarize science and engineering
students with the lexicon and different genres of their particular subjects in English. Oneof the main differences between English for Academic Purposes (EAP) and ESP is that thewords and sentences learned and the subject matter discussed in ESP should all relate toa specific field or discipline in which the studentsare specializing. Thus, the course design
includes making use of vocabulary and tasks related to a certain subject. Many aspects need
to be considered when designing a suitable EST course for non-English speaking students,
specifically, needs analysis, choice of textbooks, subject-matter expertise of the teachers,
English proficiency of the students, and evaluation of the students. In this paper, thesedifferent concerns are addressed in detail to contribute to a model of a comprehensive anduseful EST course that can be beneficial for both students and universities.

For various reasons, English is considered at present the foremost international
language. According to the particular context in which English is used, thevariant of English changes. Thus, to meet the needs of learners in specificcontexts, language instruction also needs to be suitably modified. The need for
an English for Science and Technology (EST) course is to familiarize scienceand engineering students who have been taught their major academic texts in alanguage other than English with the lexicon and different genres of their subjects
in English ( Johns & Dudley-Evans, 1991). EST is considered a sub-category ofEnglish for Specific Purposes (ESP). Nowadays, almost all teachers consider theEST course necessary. This seems to indicate that all of the teachers differentiate
164

Aspects of Designing an English Course, OnCUE Journal, 9(2), pages 164-171

EST from general English very well and believe that general English alone cannot
fulfill their students’ future specific needs ( Jordan, 1997).

Need for the EST Course

One of the main differences between English for Academic Purposes (EAP) andEnglish for Specific Purposes (ESP) is that the words and sentences learned andthe subject matter discussed in ESP should all relate to the particular field or
discipline in which its students are specializing(Hyland, 2006). Thus, the course
design should include making use of vocabulary and tasks related to that specificsubject. However, there is considerable difference between the vocabularyneeds of students of different science and technology departments, for example,
between those studying computer science and those who are studying mechanicalengineering. All teachers seem to agree generally that since their students areand will be working in a scientific environment, whether that is in academia, aresearch institute or a company, they need to operate in English in a number ofdifferent situations. The students will probably be required to present a paper at aconference, exchange views informally at a gathering, read relevant literature on
their subject or write papers. Each of these situations demands a different language
skill and a different range of communicative abilities. These are considered as therespective genres of EST (Parkinson, 2000).

Stages of EST Course Design

For the EST course, it is required that teachers consider what their students
particularly need to be able to communicate their specific subject. From myviewpoint, arising from my almost 10 years of experience as a professional
scientist working in a research university, and strong knowledge of academic
English, it seems that the efficient use and understanding of technical terms
related to their subject needs to be emphasized. After gaining a suitable level ofproficiency, the students then can be encouraged to use that learning in different
genres, such as writing a research paper or giving a talk. This is an essential process
for them to be able to communicate their specific subject in a coherent manner.
Reading comprehension of specialized texts is an important objective, as well as
165

Sharminthe improvement of the range of specialized vocabulary and grammatical skills.
Improving listening comprehension and/or speaking skills are also important as
the students certainly need aural-oral skills for their future careers, and they alsoneed such capabilities to continue their studies at higher academic levels (Figure1).
However, one person’s observations should not be the basis of an EST course
design. It is undoubtedly necessary to consider the viewpoints of a number ofteachers in the different departments of a university involved in the EST course.
The following steps are envisaged to be able to contribute to a successful EST
course design (Figure 2).
1. Needs Analysis
Answers to the following questions should be addressed by all teachers of theEST course (Gatehouse, 2001):
1. What should the objectives of the EST course be?

Figure 1. Needs of the students of the EST course.

166

Aspects of Designing an English Course, OnCUE Journal, 9(2), pages 164-171

Figure 2. Stages of an EST course.

2. Which objectives should be supported by the materials offered tostudents in the EST course?
3. How will EST teachers evaluate the texts and/or materials offered in theEST course?
4. Who should teach the EST course, prepare course materials and finally
grade the students?
5. Are all the students capable of taking the EST course and benefiting fromit?
2. Choice of Textbooks for the EST Course
There are three major problems in using a standard textbook in non-English
speaking countries ( Jordan, 1997): unpreparedness of the majority of students
for their EST course, the current EST textbooks’ high level of difficulty, andlack of suitable textbooks. However, there are some series for different levelsof English proficiency produced by renowned publishers, such as Cambridge
University Press and Gateway. These are considered to be some of the best
textbooks produced for the science and engineering fields. An examination ofthese textbooks shows that the concentration is on subject-related vocabularyand how to properly use that in different contexts. These textbooks have been
written with great consideration as a result of collaboration between subjectmatter and language specialists, and are used in different universities all over theworld. Almost certainly, they have been proved to be able to produce competencein scientific English. I strongly recommend systematically using such a textbook
as a helping guide when preparing course materials.

167

Sharmin3. Subject-matter Expertise
How much subject-matter expertise the ESP practitioner must possess has been acontroversy since the early days of ESP. Troike (1994) has said that it is far easier,and more efficient, to train subject-matter specialists in the basics ofEnglish
as a Second Language (ESL) than to try to train ESL teachers in the technicalcontent of the ESP subject. Also, tryingto teach ESP without knowing the subject
matter is akin to short changing the students (Troike, 1994). Similar to this idea,
Schleppegrell and Royster (1990) conducted an international survey on thequality of business English training at different institutional environments. Theyinterviewed business managers from various companies. The results indicatedthat the most successful English teachers and administrators were familiar withthe business environment in their city. Thus, they could take into account how
firms in their city do business, what types of business they are in, and what typesof skills they expect their personnel to develop.
In the EST course, students should focus on learning subject-related
English expressions, and thus this program needs instructors with professional
knowledge and understanding for workplace English. It is thus easier for
subject matter specialists with a good command of English to be trained forproper instruction of the EST course. However, in a non-English speaking
country, such instructors may be difficult to obtain. Also, the EST course isforemost a language course, and language specialists undoubtedly possess more
institutional knowledge of the methodologies involved in the efficient teachingof a language. Therefore, since EST is specialized teaching, it requires subjectmatter professionals, as well as English language academics, to provide the whole
range of supporting activities. These include proper curriculum design, properchoice of teaching materials, the actual teaching conducted in a classroom andthe evaluation process.
The overall field of science or engineering certainly has a whole special
range of vocabulary that people who are engaged in the Humanities do not everencounter.It is this technical vocabulary that should be the basis of the ESTcourse. An English teacher will possibly possess limited knowledge of technicalterms, because of not having a background in science. The curriculum and course
168

Aspects of Designing an English Course, OnCUE Journal, 9(2), pages 164-171

material should be thus such thathe can still successfully understand the basic
concepts of the subject after studying the course material, and can then teach thecourse to non-English speaking science majors.
4. English Proficiency
A great problem for the students of the EST course in a non-English speaking
country is that often they have shortcomings in basic English skills. Naturally,
they thus may not have self-confidence or competence when asked to undertake
tasks such as presentations or writing papers. An English proficiency exam maythus be required in order to take the EST course. Those who succeed in thisexamination take the regular EST courses and those who fail are required to takea one-year preparation course. This preparatory course will enable students todevelop their language abilities up to a level which can be inferred as being readyfor technical English instruction. Alternatively, the university could accept somereasonable result in a language proficiency exam such as TOEIC or IELTS.
EST is mainly a course by which students should be able to learn andcommunicate in English, not a class for understanding their science subjects.
Therefore, the continuous usage of English by the teacher for all tasks andinstructions during class can provide the students with the opportunity to learn
different expressions which they can then use in their own speaking. Students
unaccustomed to this can sometimes find the initial classes to be difficult, butthey all seem to be able to rise to the challenge.
5. Evaluation of the Students
Although EAP is an integral part in all universities nowadays all over the world,
including the universities situated in English-speaking countries, ESP is primarily
necessary for students who have completed their tertiary education in a nonEnglish language (Cheng, Myles, & Curtis, 2004). Therefore, the process ofevaluation that is common for EAP courses in the United States, for example,
should not be adopted for judging the level of a non-English speaker’s English
proficiency.
There should be a standardized method for evaluating the students’performance in the EST course. Instruction without proper evaluation is169

Sharminineffective and may mislead the students and their future workplaces about theirlevel of English proficiency.
For linguists and others with not much familiarity with scientific researchtexts, moves analysis is an extremely interesting pedagogical approach. However,for students, researchers and teachers of scientific subjects, these are not muchof a revelation, as almost all research papers are produced with the samepattern. Too much emphasis on the IMRaD (introduction, methods, results,and discussion) pattern prevents the teachers from concentrating on increasing
their students’ vocabulary and grammar skills, which have been shown to be
the primary attributes in enhancing fluency (Geva & Zadeh, 2009). Therefore,
more focus on vocabulary and grammar should be reflected in the grading andassessment of the students.
According to the solutions to these discussed subjects, a proper EST
curriculum can be devised. A more detailed needs analysis based on more thanthese first few preliminary matters should be carried out.

Conclusions

The principal aspects to be considered when designing an EST course in a nonEnglish speaking country have been discussed in this paper. These legitimate
concerns should be considered in more detail to provide a comprehensive anduseful course that is beneficial for both the students and the university.

References

Cheng, L., Myles, J., & Curtis, A. (2004). Targeting language support for nonnative English-speaking graduate students at a Canadian university. TESLCanada Journal, 21(2), 50-71.
Gatehouse, K. (2001). Key issues in English for specific purposes (ESP)
curriculum development. The Internet TESL Journal, 7(10), 1-10.
Geva, E., & Zadeh, Z. Y. (2009). Reading efficiency in native English-speaking
and English-as-a-second-language children: The role of oral proficiency
and underlying cognitive-linguistic processes. Scientific Studies of Reading,10(1), 31-57.
170

Aspects of Designing an English Course, OnCUE Journal, 9(2), pages 164-171

Hyland, K. (2006). English for academic purposes: An advanced resource book.
New York, NY: Routledge.
Johns, A. M., & Dudley-Evans, T. (1991). English for Specific Purposes:
International in scope, specific in purpose. TESOL Quarterly, 25(2), 297314.
Jordan, R. R. (1997). English for Academic Purposes: A guide and resource bookfor teachers. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.
Parkinson, J. (2000). Acquiring scientific literacy through content and genre:
A theme-based language course for science students. English for SpecificPurposes, 19_(4), 369-387.
Schleppegrell, M., & Royster, L. (1990). Business English: An international
survey. English for Specific Purposes, 9(1), 3-16.
Troike, R. (1994). The case for subject-matter training in ESP. TESOL Matters,
3, 7.

Author bio

Dr. Sonia Sharmin completed her D.Phil. in 2006 at the University of Oxford,
U.K., on Experimental Condensed Matter Physics. She has been employed as
an Assistant Professor, Faculty of Pure and Applied Sciences, at the University ofTsukuba from 2015, where she teaches the Technical English course for undergraduate
students as well as other physics subjects. Besides condensed matter physics, her areasof specialization are Corpus Linguistics and English for Specific Purposes (ESP).
sonia.sharmin.gb@u.tsukuba.ac.jp
Received: November 16, 2014
Accepted: November 13, 2015

171