Conference Review

The International Symposium on

Innovative Research and Teaching inESP
Leigh McDowell
Nara Institute of Science and Technology
English for Specific Purposes (ESP) is a needs-based, field-specific, and often datadriven approach to teaching English as a second or other language. It is generally
considered a sub-field of TESOL, and there are several organizations and eventsin Japan that promote this approach and support practitioners. The International
Symposium on Innovative Teaching and Research in ESP was a new addition
to the field, held for the first time in Chofu, Tokyo at the University of ElectroCommunications (UEC) in February 2014. The event was hosted by the UEC’s
Research Station for Innovative ESP Research and Education. It was apparent
that the aim of the Research Station was to promote innovation in ESP teaching
and research both within UEC and beyond. The event brought together experts
and participants from Asia and the US for a full-day’s program dedicated to ESP.
Included in the program were seven 30-min presentations from experts, a poster
session, a panel discussion, lunch, and a post-symposium party.

Presentations

The topics covered in the seven presentations spanned a broad range. Firstly,
Laurence Anthony (Waseda University) took the audience step by step, in athree-stage approach, towards describing the application of ESP principles andtools, using a case study of an English course designed for mathematicians.
Anthony knows well the challenges teachers of specific-purpose oriented learners
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McDowellface and was able to demonstrate in a very practical way how the three-stageapproach along with collaborating with specialists can assist non-expert teachers
in preparing expert materials. This practical and informative first presentation
was a highlight of the program for this reviewer.
Next, Stefan Gries (University of California, Santa Barbara) presented cuttingedge corpus-linguistic applications for teaching and research. Gries pointed outthat “corpus linguistics is one of the fastest growing methodological paradigms intheoretical and applied linguistics” and aimed to illustrate how simple frequency
information can be used in teaching situations. For this reviewer the statistics
and corpus-linguistic notions presented were far from simple, but I felt thispresentation would benefit participants with an advanced understanding ofcorpus linguistics.
In the third session, Moonsub Han from South Korea (Hanyang University)offered two case studies of successful ESP programs that he himself had developed:
1) the Samsung Business English Program, and 2) Hanyang University College ofEnglish Program for Engineering. Han covered the needs analysis, course design,
teaching methodology, and materials development—all important features inthe ESP approach—of the Samsung project. The results of this program andsuccess of his approach motivated Han to reform the general English curriculumat Hangyang University. The presenter noted that with this approach, Hangyang
University is able to link their English education with the needs of Koreanbusinesses and companies in much more efficient way. Prof. Han’s relaxed andcolloquial style made this an enjoyable presentation, with many lessons for Japanbased teachers to glean from the Korean context.
In the fourth session, Cai Jigang from China (Fudan University) gave abackground of ESP in China. Thirty years ago when the Cultural Revolution
ended, many subject specialists were teaching content in English, whichaccording to Jigang was not as effective as it aimed to be. The presenter went
on to focus on the present and more effective Framework of Reference for EFL
Teaching at Tertiary Level in Shanghai. Jigang has been active in promoting theimplementation of ESP at the tertiary level in mainland China. Some of thebarriers he has faced in this endeavor may also be relevant to ESP in Japan, such70

Symposium on Innovative Research and Teaching in ESP, OnCUE Journal, 8(1), pages 69-73

as teachers’ lack of specialist knowledge, learners’ proficiency levels, etc.
In session five, Winnie Cheng, (Hong Kong Polytechnic University)presented findings from some of her recent ESP research projects. In particular,
she focused on a project looking at patterns of working languages in utility
engineering in HK. This project was a collaboration between ESP teachers/
researchers and industry, an approach driving many successful ESP projects
in HK. Based on this study, Cheng was able to present a clear overview of thelanguage used within the vocation, including the top five written and spoken
genres, the top five most important aspects of spoken English communication,and the top five most difficult aspects of spoken English. Given the presenter’shuge wealth of experience and body of research in ESP, this 30-minute time slot
was not enough to get the full value out of her expertise.
In the sixth presentation, Theron Muller (University of Toyama) guided
participants through his research on academic literacy. In particular, by examining
preliminary findings from his four cases of Japan-based language teachers Muller
looked at how well teachers themselves are prepared for writing for academic
publication.
In the seventh and final presentation, Jie Shi (The University of ElectroCommunications) reported a case study of the ESP program that she developedfor undergraduate science and engineering students at UEC. Shi spokepassionately of the urgent demand for more efficient English education in Japan,
and the need for Japanese students to move beyond a passive role as language
learners, and towards engaging in the target language (“taking of the Japanesediaper,” as she referred to it).

Posters

In addition to the seven expert presentations, 17 posters were presented during
an hour-and-a-half-long poster session on an even broader range of ESP research
and applications. A full review of the 17 topics presented is beyond the limitsof this review but a few topics of highlight for this reviewer were Materials
Development for Science Students (Keiko Hattori), Acoustic Characteristics ofEnglish Oral Presentation Speech (Tomoko Hori, et al.), The Process-oriented71

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Needs of Japanese Business Undergraduates ( Janice Nakamura), Genre-based
Approach to Teaching and Analysis of Research Abstracts Written by Japanese
University Students (Uma Maheswari Rajagopalan, et al.), A Move-analysisbased Approach for Japanese Science and Engineering Students (Masako Terui),and Feedback Methods of Phonetic Evaluation for Japanese University Scienceand Engineering Students (Suwako Uehara).

Panel

In the final session of the program, six of the seven invited experts came together
for a panel discussion focusing on the topic “ESP in Globalization in HigherEducation—Current Practices in Asia.” The panel discussion went for more than
60 minutes, and participants heard views and opinions from the panelists, covering
a wide range of settings in Japan, China and Korea. Audience participation was
not as lively as it could have been, and discussion bounced mainly between theexperts and their experience. Perhaps given the broad and nature of the topic,
it was beyond the discussion to reach any consensus or conclusions, and theunderlying theme of ESP became the focus.
This was certainly a full day’s program. Lunch was kindly provided byCambridge University Press, and a post-symposium party, hosted by the UEC’s
Research Station for Innovative ESP Research and Education, gave participants
more opportunity to interact and enjoy themselves. At the end of the event, thisreviewer felt that the teachers at UEC were very fortunate to have an international
ESP event like this held in their own university. In addition, the ESP communityof Japan was fortunate to have another event in which they can come together,share professional experience and knowledge, and strengthen the ESP networks.
It is unclear if this event will continue into the future, but given the good numberof participants and the interest in ESP, here is hoping that it will.

Author Bio

Leigh McDowell has an undergraduate degree in applied science, and a master’s
degree in education. He has taught English in Japan since 1999. Currently, heteaches graduate students at the Nara Institute of Science and Technology. He is72

Symposium on Innovative Research and Teaching in ESP, OnCUE Journal, 8(1), pages 69-73

interested in ESP, especially as used in the international scientific community. leighmcdowell@ms.naist.jp
Received: March 14, 2014
Accepted: July 2, 201473