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Evaluating and designing materials for the ESP classroom
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DOI: 10.1163/9789042029569_011
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English for Professional and
Academic Purposes
Edited by
Miguel F. Ruiz-Garrido
Juan C. Palmer-Silveira
Inmaculada Fortanet-Gómez
Amsterdam - New York, NY 2010
Evaluating and designing materials
for the ESP classroom
Ana Bocanegra-Valle
This paper explores the development of printed materials in ESP from a practical
point of view and aims to shed light on issues of concern to ESP practitioners when
they set about writing materials for classroom use. Such matters include the reasons
for ESP materials development, the value of authentic materials, the evaluation of
published materials, the development of original and adapted in-house materials, and
the corresponding implications for the ESP practitioner. Sample activities have been
included and commented so as to illustrate the issues raised and to be of practical
guidance to in-service and prospective developers of ESP materials.
1 Introduction
Materials design and evaluation as a key area within EFL/ESL (English as a
Foreign Language/English as a Second Language) teaching goes back to
Cunningsworth (1984) and has since then developed into a topic that has
been dealt with in many volumes (Sheldon, 1987; McDonough and Shaw,
1993; Tomlinson, 1998, 2003a; McGrath, 2002; or Renandya, 2003, to name
but a few), journal papers, conferences, courses, seminars, workshops and
other forms of academic interest around the world. In fact, the existence of an
international association such as MATSDA attests the relevance now enjoyed
by materials development in language learning1
. Many universities and
language centres have begun to offer specialised modules or Master’s and
PhD courses on materials development. Moreover, at some universities,
materials development may be regarded as a key merit for candidates
applying for a job and on the same level as a PhD degree, teaching
experience or (near-) native language competence2
.
Turning attention to the field of English for Specific Purposes (ESP), a
milestone in materials development was Herbert’s (1965) textbook The
Structure of Technical English. This was a pioneering work for two reasons:
1) it was the first coursebook focused on ESP and the learning of applied
languages (engineering English) – from then onwards the number of ESP
textbooks rose steadily and generously, especially from the 90s to the present
1
Since its foundation in 1993, the Materials Development Association (MATSDA) has been a
meeting point for all those interested in the design, evaluation and development of high-quality
materials for the learning of languages (see URL: http://www.matsda.org.uk).
2
Recently, a Finnish university announcing a post for a native-speaker English lecturer stated the
following requirement for potential applicants: “Experience in producing teaching materials
significant for teaching. Both planning and production will be considered. Selected samples of
the teaching material may be enclosed”.
Ana Bocanegra-Valle142
and in certain areas such as Business English; and 2) Herbert followed a
corpus-based approach to materials design, so popular nowadays, by
researching the actual language of engineering publications and providing a
basic corpus of expert language to be mastered by learners (then, future
engineers).
This paper explores the position of coursebook materials design and
evaluation in ESP and aims to shed light on what issues are of concern to
ESP practitioners when they set about writing materials for classroom use or
potential publication. It focuses on printed materials as the most usual
medium for classroom materials delivery; however, many theoretical and
practical insights herein may be relevant and applicable to audiovisual and/or
computer-based materials. Based on my personal experience and practice as a
researcher, in-house materials writer and ESP practitioner, I will try to give
some hints on the multifaceted nature of materials development and offer
practical guidance to in-service and prospective materials developers.
2 Materials development and ESP
2.1 What are materials in ESP?
In language teaching, materials are:
Anything which is used to help to teach language learners. Materials can be found in the
form of a textbook, a workbook, a cassette, a CD-Rom, a video, a photocopied handout,
a newspaper, a paragraph written on a whiteboard: anything which presents or informs
about the language being learned. (Tomlinson, 1998: xi)
Such a definition might also serve the purpose of ESP materials; however,
four main issues should be emphasised before proceeding any further:
1) There are major and minor ESP areas/courses, and published materials
are sensible to this reality. Business English and Maritime English are
examples of these3
. Some courses that are tailor-made to suit a particular
group of students would also fall within the minor category (for instance,
English for tourism to a group of taxi drivers and policemen in a popular
town for British tourists).
2) Subject-matter content is fundamental to ESP materials. Also known as
carrier content, informative content, discipline-based knowledge, specific
3
St John (1996: 9) found that “of 24 ESP books claimed as new in 1994, 21 were business
related”. About a decade later I had a rough look at the 2006 catalogue of the English Book
Centre and data revealed that the situation remained the same. The highest number of published
titles was in the area of “Banking, Business and Finance” (215 titles). Far behind this top ESP
area, titles numbered 20 for “Tourism” and “Science and Technology”, 13 for “Computing and
Telecommunications”, 8 for “Medicine and Health”, 4 for “Aviation” and “Law”, 3 for
“Engineering”, and closed with “Agriculture” (2 titles) and “Maritime” (1 title).
Evaluating and designing materials for the ESP classroom 143
content, specialist knowledge or expert knowledge, this refers to the
information which is specific to a particular discipline and which people,
like students and future experts, possess in their mother tongue. ESP
teachers will need a reasonable understanding of the specific discipline as
well as “an interest in the disciplines or professional activities the students
are involved in” (Dudley-Evans and St John, 1998: 14).
3) All too often, ESP teachers become evaluators, designers and developers
of materials, simply because “publishers are naturally reluctant to produce
materials for very limited markets” (Hutchinson and Waters, 1987: 106)
and most ESP areas conform to this reality. These roles are not exclusive
to ESP teachers but, if compared with EFL/ESL teachers, they are more
often engaged in the task of evaluating, designing and developing
materials for their classroom use. It is precisely this additional role of
materials providers/developers that has endowed ESP teachers with the
denomination of practitioners (Robinson, 1991)4
.
4) Unlike EFL/ESL teaching, there exists a mismatch between pedagogy and
research; that is, there is a gap between coursebooks and pedagogical
practice, on the one hand, and research findings, on the other. For
instance, as Harwood (2005: 150) found, there is “a lack of fit between
how academic writers write and what the textbooks teach about writing”.
2.2 What does ESP materials development entail?
Materials are particularly useful in ESP because they play a key role in
exposing learners to the language of a particular discipline as it is actually
used; in short, they are a source of “real language” (Dudley-Evans and St
John, 1998: 171). Developing materials for the ESP classroom is a trade-off
between learning needs, language content and subject-matter content which
implies the review of a number of issues:
- What is the target topic/what will be the carrier content?
- Is this topic relevant for my students/the discipline?
- What do I, as an ESP practitioner, know about the carrier content?
- What are my students supposed to know about the carrier content?
- To what extent do materials reflect the language/conventions of the
discipline?
- What are the learning goals?
- What is the target language form/function/skill?
- What materials are available, suitable and accessible?
- What teaching equipment is required and available?
4
The practical volume edited by Master and Brinton (1998) is a good example of current
practices worldwide. Arranged into seven ESP macro-areas, the wide range of contributions
felicitously illustrates in-service ESP practitioners’ commitment to in-house materials design and
development.
Ana Bocanegra-Valle144
- How much time should be spent on the design, development and
implementation of activities?
- Will materials be classroom-oriented or provide additional work?
At its most basic level, the process of ESP materials development is as shown
in Figure 1. Firstly, available materials are reviewed, evaluated and selected
according to different criteria and with reference to a particular ESP course.
Then, if there is a lack of materials, or if materials available are not suitable
according to such evaluation, practitioners might be required to develop
materials from scratch or abridge, extend, refine, rewrite – in short, adapt –
the available materials for a particular learning situation, ESP area, target
group of learners, timing or set of resources. There exists the possibility that,
although there are materials available for classroom use, practitioners feel the
need to provide additional materials for out-of-classroom work, self-study or
the like. In this case, the process would not differ.
Lastly, because materials development is an ongoing process, those engaged
in creating or adapting materials will be required to pilot test or perform
evaluative reviews so as to adjust materials over time in response to
implementation outcomes, current trends in the field or research findings.
This last step is a desirable practice because “materials that undergo this
evaluative review and revision process are likely to serve student and teacher
audiences more effectively than materials that do not” (Stoller et al., 2006:
175). Developing materials is a matter of trial and error, and it will be
convenient to bear in mind that materials that are appropriate for a particular
ESP course/area may not prove so efficient for other ESP courses/areas.
Evaluating and designing materials for the ESP classroom 145
Figure 1. Flowchart on the process of ESP materials development
2.3 The value of authenticity
Authentic, genuine, real, natural or unsimplified are adjectives randomly
used today in ESP to refer to texts or materials that can be used within
language-learning contexts but which were specifically written or developed
for an audience other than language learners. Similarly, an authentic text
would be a text “normally used in the students’ specialist subject area:
written by specialists for specialists” (Jordan, 1997: 113).
The notion of authenticity has been subject to controversy for some decades,
and there might be scholars who would still disagree with today’s generally
accepted definition. Henry Widdowson (for whom the authenticity of
materials had to be understood in terms of their appropriateness, interaction,
outcomes and efficiency rather than based on their origin) stirred up lively
discussions on the belief that “what is real or authentic to users is not
authentic to learners” (Widdowson, 1998: 19). The view of authenticity in
terms of appropriate language use regardless of the origin of the materials
(Kuo, 1993), the distinction between text authenticity and learner authenticity
Yes
Evaluate materials
No
Design and
develop in-house
materials from
scratch and/or
authentic texts
Adapt authentic
materials and/or
materials
published for
other ESP areas
Implement
Yes
Are materials
suitable as
such for my
ESP course?
No
Are there
materials
available for
my ESP
course?
Review /Pilot testSelect and implement
Ana Bocanegra-Valle146
(Lee, 1995), or authenticity of purpose versus genuineness of text (DudleyEvans
and St John, 1998) sustained the literature of the time.
An eclectic view is that aired by Mishan (2005), who links theory, research
and practice to provide a five-factored criteria for measuring authenticity: i)
provenance and authorship of the text; ii) original communicative and
sociocultural purpose of the text; iii) original content of the text; iv) learning
activity engendered by the text; and v) learners’ perceptions of and attitudes
towards the text and its corresponding activity. Mishan’s (2005) manual
generously illustrates how authentic materials can be used in the general
language classroom and may be a source of inspiration when attempting to
develop materials and tasks for ESP learners.
The two texts in Figure 2 may serve to illustrate this discussion. Text I was
extracted from an authentic publication (for an expert audience) and Text II
from a non-authentic publication (for ESP learners)5
.
Figure 2. The language of authentic versus simplified texts
A swift comparison shows the following main differences:
1) Text I is more content-specific than Text II, it provides far more
information, more data and greater detail; hence, subject-matter
5
It must be noted that Text II is not an explicit adaptation of Text I. They are two independent
texts with similar content (The Nickel-Cadmium Cell is the carrier content) which I happened to
find and, to my understanding, can be paralleled and compared for the purposes of this paper.
Text I Text II
The Nickel-Cadmium Cell. In this cell
the active material of the positive plate
is nickel-peroxide, and of the negative,
metallic cadmium. The active materials
are contained in perforated steel tubes
which are assembled in steel frames to
form complete positive and negative
plates. The positive and negative plates
are separated by ebonite rod insulators,
and the complete cell is erected in a
welded sheet steel container. The
electrolyte is a solution of pure
potassium hydroxide of specific
gravity 1·19. On discharge, the nickel
peroxide is reduced to a lower oxide
while the cadmium is oxidized. On
charge the process is reversed.
Nickel-cadmium cell (NiCad). The
electrodes are of nickel (+) and
cadmium (-) and the electrolyte is
potassium hydroxide. It has an EMF
of 1.2V and is made in the same
sizes as primary cells, e.g. HP2, PP3;
button types are also available. High
currents can be supplied. Recharging
must be by a constant current power
supply because of the very low
internal resistance.
(Laws, W. (1991) Electricity Applied to
Marine Engineering, London: The
Institute of Marine Engineers, page 417)
(Glendinning, E.H. and J. McEwan
(1993) Oxford English for
Electronics. Oxford: OUP, page 27)
Evaluating and designing materials for the ESP classroom 147
complexity is higher and learners should be more familiar with the target
discipline;
2) In relation to 1) above, the language used to convey such specificity is
much more elaborated in Text I as regards:
- Lexical density: “The electrolyte is a solution of pure potassium
hydroxide of specific gravity 1·19” (Text I) versus “The electrolyte
is potassium hydroxide” (Text II).
- Grammatical structures: compare “The active materials are
contained in perforated steel tubes which are assembled in steel
frames to form complete positive and negative plates” (Text I) with
the absence of subordinate and complementary clauses in Text II.
- Sentence length: compare “In this cell the active material of the
positive plate is nickel-peroxide, and of the negative, metallic
cadmium” (Text I) with “The electrodes are of nickel (+) and
cadmium (-)” (Text II), which is much shorter.
- Language simplification: in the example above, symbols in Text II
act as visuals for simplifying the use of the language and assisting
understanding.
- Linguistic devices: writing is more elaborated in Text I because it
makes use of more links, time relaters, etc. that serve different
functions (e.g., showing a step in a process).
3) In contrast with Text II, the cognitive load when processing the
information provided in Text I is much higher. Consider “On discharge,
the nickel peroxide is reduced to a lower oxide while the cadmium is
oxidized. On charge the process is reversed” (Text I) versus “Recharging
must be by a constant current power supply because of the very low
internal resistance” (Text II). Text I is focused on what happens during
the charging/discharging process whereas Text II does not pay attention
to such a process but to a condition for the process to take place.
For most materials writers, the great disadvantage of an authentic text is that
the amount of information outweighs the amount of learnable language; in
this sense, simplified texts help learners focus their attention on the main
language features and use. Nevertheless, as Tomlinson (2003b: 5) claims:
the counter-argument is that such texts overprotect learners, deprive them of the
opportunities for acquisition provided by rich texts and do not prepare them for the
reality of language use, whereas authentic texts (i.e., texts not written especially for
language teaching) can provide exposure to language as it is typically used.
Moreover, when simplifying a text there is a risk of distorting language and
making the text inauthentic (Islam and Mares, 2003). This possibility is
particularly important in the field of English for Academic Purposes (EAP)
(as a branch of ESP) because EAP is very genre-dependent and “materials to
Ana Bocanegra-Valle148
familiarize students with a given genre are necessarily authentic texts”
(Barnard and Zemach, 2003: 313).
There may be convincing arguments in favour of, or against, the nature and
role of authentic materials in language learning, but their extensive use in
ESP classrooms is common practice today. Authentic materials are a link
between the classroom and the outside world (Wong et al., 1995) and, since
the advent of Internet, they are more varied and accessible than ever, thus
providing ESP practitioners with a diversity of ‘take-away formats’ (video,
audio, pictures and text) awaiting time investment and exploitation effort6
.
3 Evaluating published materials
Measuring the potential teaching/learning value of authentic texts,
coursebooks and other types of materials is one of the ESP practitioner’s
duties. Unlike language teaching at primary or secondary school levels,
where administrations, departments or staff choose particular coursebooks for
a whole institution, materials evaluation is particularly frequent in ESP at
tertiary level. This is simply due to the fact that, as a general rule, no single
coursebook is followed from beginning to end but, rather, extracts (units,
exercises or tasks) from a number of published materials are brought together
and, if necessary, supplemented with in-house activities. The reasons for
evaluation, however, are common to language teachers in general because
there is a need to examine the implications that certain materials may have
for a particular course and to come to grounded opinions about the
appropriateness of the methodology and content of the materials for a
particular context (Littlejohn, 1998).
The use of already available materials implies pros and cons, and these vary
according to each target ESP course. Unfortunately, there is no global recipe
to carry out an effective evaluation at all levels and for all areas; however,
some relevant works suggest methods, include checklists and provide criteria
which help to identify gaps, avoid pitfalls, recognise achievements, and
confront strengths and weaknesses so as to make decisions for materials use.
Materials are mostly evaluated through questionnaires and checklists or
analysis sheets, but there are also other methods like interviews, observation
procedures, rating scales, and so forth.
Ur (1996), Jordan (1997), Dudley-Evans and St John (1998), Ellis (1998),
Littlejohn (1998), Hall (2000), Tomlinson et al. (2001), Islam and Mares
(2003), Rubdy (2003) or Tomlinson (2003c), to name but a few, provide
general guidelines, establish factors, suggest criteria or provide instructions
on how to evaluate published language-learning materials for classroom use
6
Barahona and Arnó (2001), for instance, is a good example of how authentic material from the
Internet can be implemented in EAP courses.
Evaluating and designing materials for the ESP classroom 149
which may be of relevance to ESP7
. More specifically, Cunningsworth
(1995), Candlin et al. (2002), Barnard and Zemach (2003), Pritchard (2004),
Flinders (2005) and Chan (2009) provide criteria, checklists and analytical
descriptions with varying levels of detail for particular ESP areas.
Some scholars (Littlejohn, 1998; Rubdy, 2003; Tomlinson, 2003c) complain
that, even though useful for their purpose, most frameworks (checklists and
questionnaires, mainly) that exist to aid in materials evaluation make general,
impressionistic judgements on the materials and do not provide a detailed
analysis. From my point of view, Pritchard’s (2004) and Chan’s (2009)
proposals for two particular ESP disciplines fill this gap.
Pritchard (2004) offers an in-depth evaluation of published materials for
Maritime English, a field of ESP which particularly stands out as an example
of a minor discipline. Pritchard covered a wide selection of textbooks and
audiovisual materials published between the mid-80s and 90s by searching
worldwide through well-known publishing houses, educational institutions
and training establishments. Pritchard’s detailed survey is of most use to all
those ESP practitioners who seek to evaluate ESP materials (not only
Maritime English materials) in a consistent manner. Moreover, it is also a
neat example of how to make ESP materials evaluation a coherent,
systematic, objective and credible activity. On the other hand, Chan (2009)
devises her checklist for a radically different discipline. By making use of
research findings, she presents a six-step model for linking pedagogical
considerations and the particular discourse of Business English, and develops
a two-part topic-specific checklist for materials evaluation. Part A categorises
pedagogical considerations into six issues of common concern to ESP
courses (needs analysis, learning objectives, methodological approach,
naturalness of the language models, contextualization of the language, and
learner autonomy) which can thus be replicated as such in ESP areas other
than Business English. Part B is more topic-specific but may also serve as a
guide to other specialised discourse types if supported by research findings.
Materials evaluation is not a straight-forward exercise but a process that
“depending on its purpose and the context of use it can embrace different
perspectives (prospective, ongoing and/or retrospective) and can be
multidimensional (external and/or internal; static and/or dynamic)” (Rubdy,
2003: 54). As a cyclical process, it aims to match course needs with available
solutions as well as to bring about improvements in current and future
classroom work. In line with this final purpose, Stoller et al. (2006) support
pilot testing (also known as class testing or trialing) as an effective means of
evaluating the efficiency of (i.e., validating) materials. One of the advantages
of pilot testing is that mismatches between course aims and the materials
7
Hutchinson and Waters (1987), Sheldon (1987, 1988), Robinson (1991), McDonough and
Shaw (1993) and Griffiths (1995), although perhaps a little dated, are still worth reading.
Ana Bocanegra-Valle150
themselves are revealed and corrective measures can be taken and
implemented.
When evaluating materials, it might also be useful to take into consideration
the potential feedback and expert opinion of subject-matter colleagues on the
timely inclusion of certain topics or the relevance of certain activities. Should
the opportunity arise, it would also be advisable to obtain perceptions and
feedback from learners as potential or actual users of certain materials. In
short, both expert colleagues and learners may be extremely illuminating in
helping ESP practitioners match, following Dudley-Evans and St John’s
(1998) terms, carrier content (i.e., the subject matter) to real content (i.e., the
specific language).
4 The case for in-house materials
In-house materials refer to materials developed locally by a particular teacher
or group of teachers for a particular course, a particular group of students and
with the resources available at a particular time. As opposed to published
materials, they are also referred to as tailor-made materials, locally produced
materials, self-designed materials, internal materials, home-made materials
or home-grown materials. In the context of language learning, in-house
materials may be developed either from scratch or by adapting existing
learning materials and authentic materials/texts. Materials adaptation is
defined as:
Making changes to materials in order to improve them or to make them more suitable
for a particular type of learner. Adaptation can include reducing, adding, omitting,
modifying and supplementing. Most teachers adapt materials every time they use a
textbook in order to maximise the value of the book for their particular learners.
(Tomlinson, 1998: xi)
In contrast to materials evaluation, in-house materials is an under-researched
area: literature is wanting and principled frameworks and criteria for in-house
materials development and adaptation are scarce. Some suggestions for
materials production and/or adaptation may be found in the relevant literature
(Dudley-Evans and St John, 1998; Jolly and Bolitho, 1998; Tomlinson, 1998,
2003a; Barnard and Zemach, 2003; Islam and Mares, 2003; Saraceni, 2003)
and can be customised for use in ESP contexts, as required.
The reasons why ESP practitioners need to grow their own materials may be
varied and can be summed up as follows:
- To have course materials
- To add variety to available materials and classroom work
- To supplement coursebooks and other available materials
- To exploit authentic materials
- To foster particular language items or skills
Evaluating and designing materials for the ESP classroom 151
- To modify or increase/decrease the difficulty of learning targets
- To enhance or simplify informative content
- To attend to learners’ needs, lacks and wants
- To highlight genre and/or discourse conventions
- To cater for learning diversity (i.e., differing learning styles)
- To deal with large, heterogeneous learner groups
- To maximise resources and time available
- To provide supplementary work
- To promote language learning autonomy
- To adapt the course to suit the demands of a particular institution
and/or country/region
Some ESP areas are particularly sensitive to in-house materials due to the
lack of published materials available. Hence, ESP practitioners dealing with
minor disciplines (in the sense discussed above) are required to rely wholly
or mostly on their self-designed materials. In other cases, materials available
may be too country/region-specific or, on the contrary, too internationally
oriented; therefore, some replacement may be needed8
. There might be other
particular circumstances, such as external mandates, by which ESP
practitioners may feel obliged to provide their own materials.
In any case, following Krzanowski (1998), as far as possible good selfdesigned
ESP materials should:
- balance informative, language and communicative content (i.e.,
“adequacy of content”);
- be based on topics of general academic and professional interest;
- be directly linked to related degree/course/curriculum;
- be recyclable and evergreen;
- be evaluated against length and time available;
- be set in a memorable context;
- meet the criterion of authenticity;
- ideally cover both language and skills;
- offer students the opportunity to gain transferable skills;
- not over-promote one discrete skill;
- lend themselves to being adapted and/or extended;
- stimulate student interaction;
- adapt preferences to learners’ needs and knowledge;
- be professionally printed and edited;
- help practitioners develop their own teaching style.
8
For instance, a Maritime English teacher in southern Spain may feel the need to replace a unit
with the carrier content of “particulars of icebreakers” with a unit that includes the carrier
content of “particulars of fishing vessels”, which, in this particular case, will be more relevant to
the profession given the fishing industry in the area and the absence of icebreakers.
Ana Bocanegra-Valle152
5 A sample of in-house materials for the ESP classroom
This section provides examples of in-house materials developed from scratch
and by adaptation9
. When attempting to produce your own materials and/or
adapt available materials, I would suggest following these Ten
Commandments:
I evaluate resources and time available
II evaluate input (terminology, grammar, level of formality, relevance
to the discipline, etc.)
III contrast students’ formal (linguistic) knowledge with that required
by the piece of oral and written discourse
IV contrast students’ content (subject-matter) knowledge with that
required by the piece of oral and written discourse
V evaluate the relevance of learning goals against the
unit/course/discipline
VI consider the relevance of carrier content (subject matter) within the
unit/course/discipline
VII consider the relevance of the real content (language) within the
unit/course/discipline
VIII consider timing, lay-out and edition requirements
IX take into account updating and recyclability
X be aware of your limitations
Materials may be adapted by means of different techniques as explained and
illustrated in Figure 3. Moreover, this range of techniques may be applied for
adapting materials across disciplines, within disciplines, from other learning
materials and from authentic materials.
9
This issue has been of particular interest to me for some time. For more illustrative materials of
this kind, see Bocanegra (1997, 1999, 2001).
Evaluating and designing materials for the ESP classroom 153
Figure 3. Techniques for adapting materials (based on Islam and Mares,
2003: 91-92)
SAMPLE ACTIVITY 1: A presentation to the board (see Appendix)
This example illustrates how materials can be adapted across disciplines from
published learning materials and by means of extending, expanding and
replacing techniques. The original exercise was found in Waistell, M. (1993)
Executive Listening, London: Nelson, page 81. It was a follow-up exercise to
Materials
adaptation
techniques
ADDING – supplementing
the existing materials and
providing more materials
EXTENDING –
supplying more of the
same type of material
(quantitative change)
EXPANDING –
adding something
different to the materials
(qualitative change)
DELETING –
removing parts or sections
of existing materials
SUBSTRACTING –
extracting part of the
available materials
(quantitative change)
ABRIDGING –
excluding certain parts
and focussing attention
on others
(qualitative change)
SIMPLIFYING –
rewording a text so that it becomes more accessible to learners or
simplifying an activity to make it more manageable
REORDERING –
sequencing an activity in a different way so that it makes more
pedagogic sense
REPLACING –
substituting parts or sections of existing materials with different
purposes (to cater for culture specific interests, etc.)
Ana Bocanegra-Valle154
promote vocabulary learning targeted at a Business English audience. The
original exercise consisted of a text with gaps to be filled in with words from
a lead-in exercise and considering the graph included. For the adaptation task
I inserted a blank graph, tried to imitate a real speech to the board and
provided a more visual layout by making use of different visuals. The
language of the reference text has been adapted so as to resemble oral
language and contain terminology relevant to the new ESP area (industrial
engineering). The main similarities and differences between source and
adapted material are summarised in Table 1.
Feature Original exercise Adapted exercise
ESP area Business English English for industrial
engineering
Language level Intermediate Low-intermediate
Learning aim Terminology Reading comprehension
Tasks Fill in gaps from graph and
lead-in text
Skim text and draw graph
from text
Type of input Graph and lead-in text Text
Language Imitating oral language but
not presented as such
Imitating oral language and
presented as such
Rubrics Direct instructions to carry
out the exercise
Building of context to
resemble a real professional
situation
Visual aids Graph drawn Graph to be drawn.
Representation of context
where input occurs. Oral
language is brought into
context
Preparation time 0 mins 45 mins approx.
Implementation
time
5 mins 5 mins
Group work Individual work Individual work
Variations No Yes. Working in pairs, one
student performs the role of
advisor to the company
reading the annual report
and another student fills in
the graph paying attention
to the oral input. Additional
aim: to provide
opportunities for speaking
and listening
Table 1. A presentation to the board: similarities and differences between
authentic and adapted material
Evaluating and designing materials for the ESP classroom 155
SAMPLE ACTIVITY 2: My ship’s voyage (see Appendix)
This example illustrates how materials can be adapted within disciplines from
published learning materials (Blakey, T.N. (1987) English for Maritime
Purposes, London: Prentice Hall, page 100) and by means of extending,
expanding, reordering and replacing techniques. Here, Maritime English
learners were asked to write a similar description to the one exemplified by
using the prompts given and inserting the corresponding prepositions and
definite article if necessary. The main similarities and differences between
source and adapted material are summarised in Table 2.
Feature Original exercise Adapted exercise
ESP area Maritime English Maritime English
Exercises/Tasks One/Two Four/Six
Language level Low Low-intermediate
Grammatical aim Place/movement
prepositions, definite article,
simple past
Place, movement and time
prepositions, definite article,
simple past, past continuous
and superlatives
Vocabulary aim Ship types, manoeuvres,
geographical names
Ship types, manoeuvres,
geographical names, types
of cargo, identification
Skills aim Reading comprehension,
guided writing
Reading comprehension,
guided and free writing,
listening and speaking
Tasks Describe as guided Choose among options,
deduce grammar rule, relate
prepositions to place and
movement, transfer
information from and to
visual aid, interact orally
Type of input Text Text, drawing, peers
Rubrics Direct instructions to carry
out the exercise
Building of context to
resemble a real context.
Gradual presentation with
increasing difficulty
Visual aids No Yes. Maps
Preparation time 0 mins 60 mins approx.
Implementation
time
10-15 mins 45-50 mins
Group work Teacher to large group,
individual work
Teacher to large group,
individual work, pair-work
with oral interaction
Table 2. My ship’s voyage: similarities and differences between authentic and
adapted material
Ana Bocanegra-Valle156
SAMPLE ACTIVITY 3: Abandoning ship (see Appendix)
This example illustrates how authentic available materials, other than
published texts/books, can be used for the design of classroom exercises. The
source used is an instruction card that can be found (usually posted) on board
any vessel and shows how a packed evacuation suit must be worn when
abandoning ship. The procedure I followed for the layout was scanning the
card, reordering the pictures using the corresponding computer tool and
deleting part of the language in the instructions. The main aim was to provide
opportunities for learners to interact orally in a large group while at the same
time requiring them to classify information and become accustomed to the
language of instructions relevant to their professional field. Students are
introduced to the topic by the set of questions in Step 1 (pre-communicative
activity). Then, they carry out the task by exchanging information and
interacting orally (Step 2). Finally, Step 3 provides some grammar practice of
relevance to the language of instructions. Students are not explicitly taught
how to use the verb in the imperative tense; they are encouraged to have a
look at the example [1], consider the verbs provided in the table, and deduce
how a verb must be used for giving instructions and orders. The form don't
may be additionally added to provide practice on negative instructions and
orders.
SAMPLE ACTIVITY 4: Emergency rescue boats (see Appendix)
This example illustrates one of the many possibilities that the Internet offers
as an authentic source for the development of web-based materials. The
source material was extracted from the official site of a company specialised
in marine and other products (http://www.avoninflatables.co.uk/). The whole
exercise was developed from scratch by making use of the commercial
information provided on-line, a picture of the products offered and basic
computer tools for providing a more learner-friendly layout. The main aim of
the exercise is to practise specific vocabulary by interacting orally. By asking
questions and requesting specific data, students are required to fill in the table
of specifications with the missing information. This is an information gap
activity in which learners are asked to share information with restricted cooperation:
one learner possesses some information which his/her partner must
discover by taking the initiative and by formulating relevant questions. The
difficulty of this exercise lies in the ability of learners to comprehend figures
and interpret abbreviated dimensions. It can work as a sort of note-taking
practice, which will be very useful in the profession because grasping
spellings and, particularly, numbers through speech is quite a difficult task,
even for proficient non-native speakers.
Evaluating and designing materials for the ESP classroom 157
6 The teacher’s role revisited
EFL/ESL and ESP teaching materials development shares a common
rationale and methodology. The process of evaluating and designing
materials to be used in an EFL/ESL classroom does not differ significantly
from doing the same for an ESP context. The difference, however, lies in an
unbalanced distribution of duties. As previously discussed, ESP practitioners
are more often faced with the task and responsibility of developing learning
materials. Furthermore, they are also required to be aware and familiarised
with the specialist knowledge relevant to the learners and to keep learning
materials updated with the latest innovations in the target discipline.
Administrations and other stakeholders (including learners) take for granted
that a good ESP teacher is also a good materials writer or a good developer of
course materials. For Dudley-Evans and St John (1998: 173) this is a myth to
be disputed because “only a small proportion of good teachers are also good
designers of course materials. What all ESP practitioners have to be is good
providers of materials”. Indeed, even though materials writers were good
teachers, “not all good teachers [would] make good materials writers”
(Barnard and Zemach, 2003: 313). This is particularly evident if ESP
practitioners lack the necessary grounding in materials evaluation, design and
development, which in most cases makes them act as materials developers
driven by personal intuition, beliefs and experience, if they have any. In any
case, materials writing may also be understood as a need to reduce
dependency on publisher materials and, more importantly, as a means of
professional development (Jolly and Bolitho, 1998).
Current ESP practitioners cannot remain unaware of the fact that “materials
have evolved into much more complex objects” (Littlejohn, 1998: 190) and
that such complexity puts additional pressure on professionals in their day-today
work. The most immediate example is the Internet as a source of
authentic materials, which are just a mouse-click away. In most cases,
teachers and learners are computer literate; thus, it places heavier workloads
and more challenging demands on the teaching profession if practitioners are
required to rely on authenticity to develop learning materials for classroom
use.
Barnard and Zemach (2003: 313) claim that ESP practitioners, as prospective
materials writers, should have “teaching experience in the relevant
specialism”, “some degree of knowledge of the relevant specialism”, “an
interest in the relevant specialism”, and “familiarity with learning materials
available for the specialism”, among others. To my understanding, this heavy
reliance on “specialism” is the key feature that emphasises the difference
between EFL/ESL teachers and ESP practitioners as materials providers, at
the same time as it challenges the latter to:
- become familiar with the specialist subject (carrier content);
Ana Bocanegra-Valle158
- become familiar with the language of the subject (real content);
- become familiar with the teaching of adult learners, and
large/heterogeneous groups;
- become familiar with materials evaluation, design and development;
- be ready to spend time on evaluating, designing and developing
materials;
- be ready to review, pilot test and update materials;
- be creative, imaginative and flexible;
- be ready to accept new challenges and overcome anti-scientific
attitudes;
- be ready to rely on expert colleagues’ knowledge and professional
experience; and,
- be ready to take into account students’ specialist knowledge.
7 Concluding remarks
In this paper, I have tried to cover a range of important issues within the
scope of ESP materials development, paying particular attention to the ESP
practitioner, the case for materials evaluation, and the possibilities and
challenges of in-house materials for minor ESP areas. It has also been my
intention to confront the notion of authenticity when reviewing texts and
materials for classroom use and to identify key areas of potential research.
Figures and tables have been included to enhance a practical approach, and
examples and activities have been analysed in the light of such discussions.
The evaluation, design and eventual development of materials offer a great
potential for ESP practitioners and researchers alike. It is hoped that the ideas
expressed herein and the personal experience shared both contribute to enrich
current classroom practice and fruitful research.
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Appendix
SAMPLE ACTIVITY 1: A presentation to the board
PAPERALIA is a paper plant located outside Manchester (UK). The Managing
Director is presenting the annual report to the other members of the Paperalia board.
The following extract refers to that part of his speech which evaluates the cost of
energy used by the plant in relation to the total production costs. As a member of the
board, you prefer visual information. Read the final report and complete the following
graph according to the information provided.
© Microsoft™ Office Online
Evaluating and designing materials for the ESP classroom 163
SAMPLE ACTIVITY 2: My ship’s voyage
Ana Bocanegra-Valle164
SAMPLE ACTIVITY 3: Abandoning ship
STEP 1. Have a look at the pictures below to answer these questions briefly:
A What are the pictures showing?
B When would you be following these instructions?
C Have you ever worn a suit like this?
D If so, when was that?
STEP 2. Imagine you have to abandon your ship. Look again at the pictures below
and work with your partner to put the ten stages to be followed in the
correct order. The instructions below will help you in case of doubt.
[1] Emergency!
Abandon ship
Evaluating and designing materials for the ESP classroom 165
SAMPLE ACTIVITY 4: Emergency rescue boats
SPECIFICATIONS
Item ERB-310 ERB-380
Overall 10'0''Length
Inside 6'9''
Overall 4'10''Beam
Inside 2'4''
Bow 13.5''Tube Diameter
Stern 15''
Weight 111 lbs
Stowed Dimensions 43'' x 21'' x 13''
Weight 924 lbsCapacity
Persons 5
Motor (max Hp) 10 Hp
Prices $ 3,970.00
Item ERB-310 ERB-380
Overall 12'5''Length
Inside 8'10''
Overall 5'6''Beam
Inside 2'8''
Bow 15''Tube Diameter
Stern 17''
Weight 170 lbs
Stowed Dimensions 47'' x 26'' x 20''
Weight 1430 lbsCapacity
Persons 7
Motor (max Hp) 20 Hp
Prices $4,995.00
Below you will find some information about the well-known AVON Emergency
Rescue Boats. Would you like to know more about their specifications? First of all,
decide with a partner who will be Student A and who will be Student B. Then, work
with him/her to fill in the missing specifications in the table provided but do not
share your paper with him/her (and do not let him/her look at yours, either!).
AVON has just released its brand new emergency
rescue boats 380 and 310. Standard equipment
includes two paddles, high-output foot bellows (for
manual inflation), pressure relief valves (to bleed off
over-inflation), and a repair kit.
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