Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Book review
Current developments in English for academic and specic purposes in developing, emerging and least-developed
countries, ed. Mark Krzanowski. Reading: Garnet Education, (2009), (pp. 348), ISBN 9781901095173, paperback, 9.95.
The area of English for Specic Purposes (ESP), which emerged in the 1960s, has been developing and expanding since
then along with the more recent subarea of English for Academic Purposes (EAP). Due to the changing economic and
development needs of various countries in the world, many of them have been involved in the teaching of ESP and its subeld,
EAP. Based on his position as coordinator of the ESP SIG of IATEFL in the UK, Mark Krzanowski was able to meticulously edit
and present to practitioners of ELT/ESP/EAP a collection of 21 state-ofthe-art pedagogical and research articles that portray
the status of ELT/ESP/EAP in 18 countries, covering Africa, Asia and Latin America. To avoid bias and display neutrality, the
editor resorted to alphabetical organisation of articles by country. Each chapter carries the country name as a title followed by
a subtitle of the article. As mentioned in the Foreword from the Editor, most of these articles were presented as papers at the
Pre-conference Event of the IATEFL Conference held in Harrogate in 2006.
As we know from the literature, there is a consensus among applied linguists and ESP theorists including Strevens (1977),
Munby (1978), Robinson (1991), Dudley-Evans and St. John (1998), and many others that ESP is used as a blanket term to cover
two major sub-elds: English for Academic Purposes/English for Educational Purposes (EAP/EEP) and English for Occupational Purposes (EOP). That means ESP instruction may take place in either academic/educational or occupational settings.
These two major sub-branches are then further bifurcated into other sub-branches, according to specic needs of various
learners who belong to different specialisations/occupations. Researchers and practitioners whose work intersects with ELT
in general and ESP/EAP in particular will therefore nd something that attracts them in this collection. It covers many ESP
branches, including English for Academic Purposes (EAP), English for Business Purposes (EBP) and English for the Workplace
(EWP). The collection is unique in its focus because it demonstrates that ESP and EAP in developing, emerging and leastdeveloped countries are becoming challengers to the models of ESP and EAP in developed countries, and that both models can
now learn useful lessons from each other (p. 1).
A quick glimpse of the book reveals that not all the chapters are related to ESP/EAP as suggested by the title of the book. A
few chapters discuss ELT in general with very limited reference to ESP/EAP. Some others present the status and practices of
ELT/ESP in their respective countries, whereas a few other chapters are extensively devoted to ESP. Because each chapter is
independent from other chapters, without a uniform format or pattern and without a thematic organisational scheme, it
becomes difcult to present a comprehensive review that covers all the chapters; each chapter may require a review of its
own. However, a positive aspect of this style is that the book takes on an encyclopaedic character. In spite of this strength of
the book, it indicates a weakness of thematic organisation. That is, it would have worked better for readers if the chapters had
been grouped according to their themes and ideas they present and discuss. For example, Chapters 1 and 15 could have been
grouped together, as they more or less cover one theme: English for the Workplace.
Having observed the odd organisational aspect of the book, I will therefore move selectively in this review over chapters to
present their salient features in groupings that made sense to me.
Chapter 1 is devoted to the teaching of EWP. In this chapter the author evaluates an experiment of teaching technical
English to a group of mechanics working for a petroleum company in Angola. This chapter is useful for those interested in
EWP, particularly with the pressing demand for English in the labour market, locally, regionally and globally.
Based on a needs analysis in Japan, chapter 15, which is thematically related to chapter 1 in its focus on workplace English,
describes the experience of writing a textbook by English-language teachers in collaboration with elderly care specialists. The
audience for such a textbook, which was entitled English for Students Caring for the Elderly in Japan, is elderly care students and
care workers from overseas, particularly from the Philippines. Though this chapter was given the title Philippines, both the
experience and the writer come from Japan. Thus, the title Japan could have been given to this chapter.
Chapter 5 evaluates a Business English Programme that was run at the British Council in Burma/Myanmar by focusing on
project work as one activity of the programme. The chapter highlights the benets of project work in teaching Business
English, which enables students to use authentic material and work in real contexts, as this will help them communicate
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effectively and meaningfully. It also includes very useful information that could be of help when teachers and students deal
with project work, such as sample tasks, instructions for the students, and a detailed outline of the course for the teacher.
The authors of chapters 2, 7, 8, 10, 12, 13, 14, 16 and 21 present evaluations of ELT/ESP developments from the point of view
of teaching and research in their countries. The authors discuss the factors that contribute to the success or failure of ELT/ESP
in their contexts. Their views are well presented and deserve to be taken into account by the concerned authorities in the
respective countries.
For instance, Chapter 10 shows that a text-modelling approach to writing proved more effective than a social approach in
Iran. The former allows learners to have a model text, analyse it and then imitate it by writing a similar text. This approach was
used some time ago by Bhatia and Tay (1987), who developed a two-volume set of materials meant for the teaching of English
for business and technology. Students were given model genres for analysis and imitation. I have also used this approach
while teaching a technical writing course to undergraduate students. They liked this approach, as they found it effective,
motivating and useful.
Chapter 14 presents the concept of SUT (the school as a unit of training), a government system that is in place in Palestinian
public schools. This system allows each school to identify its needs and to plan its own training, whereas the role of the
Ministry of Education is to provide trainers and supervision committees. The author concludes by saying that no viable
educational improvement can be achieved without an improvement in the overall political situation in Palestine, and unless
permanent and just peace is gained (p. 230).
Chapter 21 touched upon the prevailing belief in Zambia that teaching reading in English can be done through local
languages. In the authors view, this is a myth which should be questioned and investigated by researchers so as to come up
with recommendations and suggestions for language specialists to re-consider the specics of language policy in the country.
Chapters 3, 4, 9, 11 and 19 specically focus on ESP history, development, practices and prospects. Chapters 3 and 4
evaluate ESP in Brazil through the presentation of two EAP cases and the Brazilian National ESP Project. More specically,
chapter 4 indicates that many ESP professionals in Brazil think that if instructors are teaching a skill other than reading (or
more than one skill), they are not teaching ESP. Of course, this contradicts the denition of ESP proposed long ago by Strevens
(1988) and which was modied and expanded by Dudley-Evans and St. John (1998) in which they present ESP as having two
types of characteristics: absolute and variable. If one absolute characteristic is missing, the ESP situation may be questioned.
But, variable characteristics vary from one situation to another. In other words, a group of ESP learners may require listening
and speaking skills, whereas another group may need the skills of reading and writing. This chapter concludes by raising some
questions of interest to the international ESP community regarding the specicity or generality of ESP.
The involvement of subject-teachers in the design and teaching of ESP courses in India and Kenya is urged in chapters 9
and 11, respectively. Without such involvement, ESP teachers will not be able to fully meet the requirements of students from
various disciplines and specialisations. Such involvement will familiarise the teachers with students specialisations, and will
break the barrier between students and their teacher. It will connect students and subject-matter teachers, which is a salient
feature of any ideal ESP situation.
Bridging the gap between the input of ESP taught at university and what is required by the Yemeni labour market is
emphasised by chapter 19. The author also shows the developments of ESP in Yemen by reviewing research studies that have
been conducted in the country over about 24 years (19822006).
Chapters 6, 17, 18 and 20 focus on the scene of EAP in four countries. More specically, chapter 18, representing South
Africa, describes the steps involved in developing an intensive English skills programme that included general English and
EAP for non-English speaking international students studying at the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University. This chapter
describes a successful experience that can be replicated in other similar contexts. Chapter 20 rightly stresses the challenging
situation of ESP as a whole, academic and occupational, in Yemen, which is characterised by the absence of needs-based
materials, facilities and recognition by policy makers and language planners.
In conclusion, in spite of the weakness pointed out about its organisational structure, the strength of this collection lies
with the diversity of topics and themes it offers for a variety of readers in the 18 countries involved and other countries in the
world. It provides valuable insights on ELT/ESP that will be of use and interest to experienced ESP and EAP teachers and
researchers, as well as to newcomers to the language teaching eld. Some chapters also present useful experiences, such as
solutions to practical problems and specic suggestions for pedagogy which can be replicated in other similar contexts. This
valuable collection succeeded in achieving its aim by bringing unknown ELT/ESP/EAP experiences from different developing
countries to light. Thanks to Krzanowskis edited collection, these experiences have now become accessible to a wider
readership all over the world.
References
Bhatia, V. K., & Tay, M. (1987). The teaching of English in meeting the needs of business and technology, Vol. 1 and 2. Department of English Language and
Literatures, National University of Singapore. The Report of the UNDP-Government of Singapore Project.
Dudley-Evans, T., & St. John, M. J. (1998). Developments in English for specic purposes: A multi-disciplinary approach. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Munby, J. (1978). Communicative syllabus design. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Robinson, P. (1991). ESP today: A practitioner guide. London: Prentice Hall.
Strevens, P. (1977). Special-purpose language learning: A perspective. Language Teaching and Linguistics: Abstracts, 10(3), 145163.
Strevens, P. (1988). ESP after twenty years: A re-appraisal. In M. L. Tickoo (Ed.), ESP: State of the art. RLC Anthology Series 21, (pp. 113). Singapore: SEAMEO
Regional Language Centre.
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Abdulhameed Ashujaa
English Department, School of Languages,
Sanaa University, PO Box: 12473,
Sanaa, Republic of Yemen
E-mail address: ashujaa2@gmail.com (A. Ashujaa)