Suggesting Teaching Strategies in the ESP module: The Case of Mechanical Engineering Students at Djillali LiabèsUniversity, Sidi Bel Abbès.

Abstract

ESP is more problematic and complicated than its counterpart (EGP) in English education, namely when it is noticed a total absence of previously established programmes. The ministry of high education and scientific research is concerned by a systematic study and projects preparation rather than any time else. In the present study, both teachers and the students agreed that ESP courses should have positive effects on students’ professional careers and fields to study, though there were potential problems with ESP as well. The problems that both teachers and students confronted in the present study were extracted from the questionnaires and the class observation processes. Teachers encountered several negative situations and attitudes, such as insufficient student language skills, insufficient instruction hours, and large class sizes. In the present study, both teachers and the students perceived the differences as well as the positive relationship between EGP and ESP. Though they understood that Basic English language ability is the key factor in the success of ESP learning, they felt that some teachers made more effort on fostering their general English skills rather than in the specific subject area. The students strongly asserted their needs to focus on content relevant to their specialized area, not on knowledge of general English skills. In the future, they suggested that their needs be fully understood before the course design. They wanted ESP courses to be domain-oriented, teaching materials and instruction to be more flexible, and above all, they wanted qualified ESP teachers with practical experience. The teachers, on the other hand, wanted ESP courses to be requirements in the university. They suggested that a placement test should be conducted before the enrollment of ESP class to avoid large differences in student proficiency levels coming up in the same class. The aim of this study was to shed light on some of the major aspects of ESP discussed in the literature to reach a better understanding of this kind of English teaching. The purpose of this analysis was twofold; first, to sort out the major 98 students’ needs, lacks, expectations, and attitudes towards learning English in their fields of study. Second, to examine the key roles of ESP teachers in the classroom and focuses on the way in which they can sustain and retain the interest of the students in language and necessitate the management of the needs analysis, materials development, and activities to enable students to learn English effectively and making the language more meaningful to them and increasing the number of opportunities for the language practice in the classroom. Moreover, the most significant conclusions to be drawn from this study were, first, the students’ level of competence was somehow poor i.e. they were passive students, not autonomous, and not motivated to learn English in their field of study. Next, the ESP module did not get equal status with the other modules of the speciality. Then, the lack of ESP teachers’ role which was indicated by their low motivation to try new methods, activities, materials and assessment to improve the students’ level of competence in English. Furthermore, the data revealed from this needs analysis can be used as an evidence to support the hypotheses formulated by the researcher before, in which it is necessary for the ESP teachers to use new methods, techniques, and materials in order to conduct the best learning activities and assess the students’ progress to create a productive and satisfactory ESP learning environment. On the light of these results, the researcher provides different suggestions and recommendations to tackle the problems occurs in the process of teaching and learning ESP and to bridge the gap between the student present level in English and the required English language proficiency in the target situation. Since learning needs are those needs that must be met to achieve the requirement of the target situation, it is important for the ESP teacher to determine those needs as a starting point in any ESP activity. In addition, the researcher suggests some guiding principles for ESP course design. Then, he proposes some techniques of teaching vocabulary and language skills. Next, the researcher suggests some modifications for the administrative system to make the ESP curriculum more effective. And also proposes an English syllabus for the Mechanical Engineering field. To conclude, some interesting 99 questions remain unanswered; why ESP in Algeria is not treated as an important field although it contributes to prepare well-trained individuals with different qualifications? Then, if the reason behind ESP students’ failure in their English courses is due to the absence of the teachers’ role in the classroom, what makes the ESP teachers lose their interest and motivation to develop new methods, materials, and activities in teaching English for Specific Purposes? Is it due to the absence of the administration support? All these questions need to be answered by further research. A big part was also reserved to ESP teachers who are called to use specific methods and notions in order to succeed their courses. According to (Dudley-Evans & St. John, 1998), they are expected to play five roles: teacher, course designer and material provider, collaborator, researcher, and evaluator. To carry out about the above roles, ESP teachers should be trained in language teaching competence and subject specific knowledge. However, there is no certain answer to how well an ESP teacher should be. In addition, there are not ready-made answers to the problems that ESP teachers may expect to encounter. The ESP teacher should always stay open-minded and flexible. The goal of ESP learner is to learn English for the purpose of carrying out certain roles in a specific context, such as studying in an Engineering faculty and performing special tasks. On the other hand, students also confronted problems other than insufficient English language skills, such as the low achievement in ESP, the incompatible teaching materials and methodologies, the ineffective instruction hours, large class size, and particularly, the absence of adequate ESP programme from scientific streams in general. They also questioned the capability of ESP instructors. The capability of the ESP instructors was considered to negatively impact the effectiveness toward ESP. The findings of this study showed that some students questioned the capability of their ESP teacher as well as the materials they offered.