Issues in ESP Program Management(a)

Issues in ESP Program Management
(a) Materials
ESP is often noted as a materials-driven movement. The leading publications
of ESP are more practice-oriented than research- or theoryoriented
(St John, 1996; Dudley-Evans & St John, 1999). Preparing
materials for ESP instruction can be extremely challenging, as the
materials must be directly relevant to the learning needs and context.
However, not all ESP practitioners can be good material writers,
and it is unrealistic and time-consuming to create materials for every
ESP lesson (Edwards, 2000). Instead, ESP practitioners must be good
material providers, utilizing available resources. Checklists and guidelines
are available for evaluating and selecting ready-made textbooks
(e.g., Cunningsworth, 1995). The role of ESP practitioners is then
to be creative in modifying the materials and activities to meet the
needs of the learners. As materials can be obtained both from the
content area and from general or specific language instruction, ESP
practitioners must select, mix and match, grade, and sequence the
materials considering the learning context and needs.
Learners can as well be a source of materials, and so can be the coworkers
and supervisors of the learners. Learner involvement as the
material supplier may enhance learners' motivation in class participation.
Stapp (1998) also emphasized the importance of instructoremployer
collaboration in ESP course management. In ESP contexts
in particular, the learners are the experts on the content area as well
as on the target situations. Learners can provide the authentic materials
from the workplace, and they can participate in evaluating and
modifying the predesigned ESP materials to meet their needs.
(b) Cross-Cultural Issues and Curricular Innovation
The universalist approach to cross-cultural communication views that
the same rules and procedures apply to a particular culture: for
Introduction: Crossing the Line 23
instance, in east Asian culture hierarchy at workplace affects the social
relationship regardless of the context, whereas the boss is only the
boss in the office in North American culture. While many of these
universalist observations are based on close examinations of cultural
diversity, they also can lead to incorrect generalizations of a particular
culture. Hofstede (1980) contends that there is a spectrum of
values and beliefs that underlie a culture, and therefore there can be a
high and low tendency of different dimensions of culture: Hofstede's
dimensions include power distance, uncertainty avoidance, individualism
and masculinity. With regard to the relationship between culture
and language instruction, the major issue is how to assist learners
to communicate effectively in English with people from different cultures.
ESP training, EBP in particular, must reflect the cross-cultural
issues on the language instruction, as the impact of the training may
affect the business relationships between individuals, organizations,
and even nations.
As ESP is a relatively recent movement, it may be necessary for ESP
practitioners to import curricular innovation to the existing convention
of language teaching in the target culture. Curricular innovation
is a complex process involving various stakeholders such as adopters,
implementers, clients, suppliers, and change agents (Lambright &
Flynn, 1980). Kennedy (1988) states that the participants' roles are
not mutually exclusive in practice and the broad range of people
playing out different social roles is always involved in the design
and implementation of any innovation. He also proposes a hierarchy
of interrelating subsystems in curricular innovation as the following:
(a) cultural, (b) political, (c) administrative, (d) educational,
(e) institutional, and (f) classroom innovation. Culture is the foremost
factor in this hierarchy. The degree of openness to the change
and the speed of change will differ in each culture, and clashes will
arise if there is a misfit of concepts and pace of the change. Markee
(1997) describes the impact of sociocultural factors on innovation diffusion
based on his EEL experience in Sudan. He observes that if the
change is regarded inappropriate and irrelevant by the local stakeholders
the change agent is bound to face difficulties. According to
Markee, the crucial conditions for successful curricular innovation
are (a) the service users must feel they have stake in the program
24 English for Occupational Purposes
success, and (b) their needs, interests, and input must be valued in
curricular innovation.
Issues Beyond Classroom
(a) Workplace Literacy and Student Access to Language Training
The U.S. Department of Labor (1996) estimates that illiteracy costs
U.S. business about $225 billion a year in lost productivity. The Workforce
Investment Act of 1998 defines literacy as "an individual's ability
to read, write, speak in English, compute and solve problems at levels
of proficiency necessary to function on the job, in the family of
the individual and in society." This definition may not sufficiently
reflect the complexity of today's workplace environment and the
growing diversity in workforce. The National Institute for Literacy
(n.d.) reports the findings from a survey of more than 300 executives.
The survey found that, while 71 percent reported that basic written
communication training was critical to meeting their workplaces'
changing skills demands, only 26 percent of companies offered this
kind of training.
The statistics universally acknowledge the changing nature of work
and workplace communication and indicate that there is the need for
ESL/EFL workplace literacy training that is specifically designed to
enhance work performance through effective communication skills
in English. One of the major issues is how to make training accessible.
This especially concerns with learners with limited English proficiency
who need basic workplace literacy in order to survive at workplace.
Barriers such as a lack of childcare, healthcare, and transportation
make it difficult for such people to acquire training for work. Kerka
(1989) describes internal and external barriers that may face workers,
such as low self-esteem and lack of family support as the internal
barriers, and environmental instability and need for support services
as the external barriers. Evidence consistently demonstrates that
employment itself does not lead to employment for self-efficacy (e.g.,
Lent et al., 1994; Bandura, 2000). In other words, if the employees
are not provided with opportunities for development, they are not
likely to attain self-efficacy, the belief in their capabilities "to organize
Introduction: Crossing the Line 25
and execute the sources of action required to manage prospective
situations" (Bandura, 1986). Imel (1998) goes forward and claims:
"Based on the information in the literature, the question should not
be 'Should adult education focus on either work force education or
literacy development?' but rather 'Is it possible to combine both literacy
development and work force education?'" This question not only
concerns with the workers with illiteracy in their first language but
also relates to the growing population of international workforce in
English-speaking countries.
(b) Evaluation and Accountability
ESP workplace training is designed to find and apply the most costeffective
solutions to human performance problems in workplace
communication. ESP practitioners thus have the responsibility for
evaluating both the curriculum and the instruction in order to
ensure the positive impact of the program on learners' workplace
performance. Oliva (1997) distinguishes between curriculum evaluation
and instructional evaluation: curriculum evaluation is "the
assessment of programs, processes, and curricular products," whereas
instructional evaluation is the assessment of student achievement and
instructor effectiveness (p. 57). In terms of the duration of evaluation,
formative evaluation (cf. summative evaluation) might be more
beneficial for the practice of ESP as it helps shape and modify the
curriculum with ongoing efforts (Bachman, 1981).
Merrifield (1999) views accountability as "being responsible for
someone else for one's actions" (p. 1). Corporate clients for ESP
training programs should and will demand the evidence of employee
learning. Therefore, it may be crucial that the service provider and
the client agree on specific learning objectives and performance criteria.
Both quantitative and qualitative data can be used to measure the
effectiveness and the impacts of ESP programming. The data can be
as tangible as the return-on-investment (ROI), and intangible impacts
such as enhanced motivation and work morale can also be observed
through qualitative evaluation (Gordon, 2001). The performance
improvement can also be measured through pre- and postinstruction
tests (ibid.). Systematic criteria of the quality of the program can be
2 6 English for Occupational Purposes