Developing and Implementing 
 an English for Specific Purposes Syllabus 
 for Business Majors in Japan Ken Urano (urano@hgu.jp) Hokkai-Gakuen University, Sapporo, Japan http://bit.ly/IICEHawaii2017 The IAFOR International Conference on Education – Hawaii 2017 @ Hawai’i Convention Center, Honolulu, HI January 8, 2017

English for Specific Purposes (ESP) • ESP can be defined as an approach to the teaching of English to the learners who share specific goals and purposes. • Further divided into: • English for Occupational Purposes (EOP) • English for Academic Purposes (EAP)

School Systems in Japan • 2–3 years of kindergarten • 6 years of primary school (compulsory) • 3 years of junior high school (compulsory) • 3 years of senior high school • 4 years of university

• In junior/senior high schools, • “Foreign Language” became a compulsory subject in 2002. • English should be selected in principle, though some (very few) schools (mostly senior high schools) choose to provide other languages such as Chinese, Korean, French, and German. • Before 2002, “Foreign Language” was an elective, but almost all students took it. (Butler and Iino, 2005; Terasawa, 2014b) English Language Education in Japan

English Language Education in Japan • In elementary schools, • “Foreign Language Activities” became a compulsory subject for 5th & 6th graders in 2011. • It will be expanded to 3rd & 4th graders in 2020.

English Language Education in Japan Why do we teach/learn English in Japan? or Why is English a compulsory subject in Japan?

Why do we teach/learn English in Japan? • Needs are very limited (Terasawa, 2014a, 2015). • Japanese General Social Surveys (JGSS) dataset • 2002 & 2003 data combined (N = 4,910) • “Do you use English in your everyday life?” “I frequently/sometimes use English in business.” 6.1% “I use English for non-business purposes.” 9.8% “I hardly (ever) have a chance to use English.” 85.9%

Why do we teach/learn English in Japan? • Japanese General Social Surveys (JGSS) dataset • 2006 & 2010 data combined (N = 4,626) • “Have you ever read, listened, or spoken English for the following activities for the past 12 months? Business use 12.4% Non-business use 36.8% Not at all 58.4%

Why do we teach/learn English in Japan? • Needs for learning English cannot be identified at the national level in Japan. • Therefore, it is difficult to implement an ESP curriculum in primary and secondary education. • However, there is some room for ESP in tertiary education.

English Language Teaching at Universities • Usually offered as a package of 15 90-minute classes per semester (1–2 credits). • Roughly divided into two categories: • University-wide general education courses • Faculty-specific English courses

English Language Teaching at Universities • English as a general education subject • Specific goals are not usually set. • English for General Purposes (EGP)

English Language Teaching at Universities • English as a faculty-specific subject • ESP is becoming popular in fields like engineering, science, medicine, nursing, and pharmaceutical sciences. • English for Business Purposes (EBP) is also becoming popular. (Terauchi, Yamauchi, Noguchi, & Sasajima, 2010)

ESP Curriculum Development Evaluation Assessment Course Design Teaching- Learning (Dudley-Evans & St. John, 1998) Needs Analysis

ESP and Needs Analysis In an era of shrinking resources, there are growing demands for accountability in public life, with education a particularly urgent case and foreign language education a prime example within it…. There is an urgent need for courses of all kinds to be relevant… to the needs of specific groups of learners and of society at large. (Long, 2005, p. 19)

Sources of Needs Analysis • Learning situation analysis (LSA) • Ask the leaners what they want. • Target situation analysis (TSA) • Analyse what the learners actually need to do. • Present situation analysis (PSA) • Evaluate the present situation against LSA & TSA

Target Situation Analysis (TSA) • Closest to the actual needs • Sources: • In-service people • Domain experts • Relevant documents • Target discourse

Steps in Target Discourse Analysis 1. Identify the target discourse. • “Where will the students use English?” 2. Collect target discourse samples. • “What do they actually do there?” 3. Analyse the discourse samples. • “Are there any patterns?”

Importance of Target Discourse Analysis • Discrepancy between commercial textbooks and the actual target discourse • Bartlett (2005) • Collected dialogs at coffee shops and compared the discourse with dialogs found in commercial textbooks.

Wait person Customer Are you ready to order? Yes. Could I have (choose an entreé)? What kind of potatoes would you like? Let me see. I’d like… And would you like peas or asparagus? May I have…? Would you like Italian or French dressing with your salad? Could I have…? What would you like for dessert? What do you have? … … Sample Textbook Dialog (Bartlett, 2005, p. 331)

1 S: Hi. Can I help you? 2 C: Can I get a grande latte with vanilla? 3 S: Did you want that blended or on the rocks? 4 C: Blended, I guess. 5 S: 2% or skimmed? 6 C: Uhm 2%. 7 S: 2% OK. Any whipped cream? 8 C: Sorry? 9 S: Did you want whipped cream on that? 10 C: Yes. 11 S: Anything else? 12 C: No, that’s it. Oh no. Can I get—are those scones? 13 S: Yeah, we have cranberry and blueberry. 14 C: I think I’ll have one of those (pointing). … Sample Prototypical Dialog (Bartlett, 2005, p. 338)

Importance of Target Discourse Analysis As witnessed during the researcher’s own language teaching experience and supported by previous target discourse analyses, many current textbook materials ill- equip learners to handle real-life discourse. The present analysis attempts to show that although natural interactions are somewhat complex and reveal variability, there is a predictable overall nature. (Bartlett, 2005, p. 338)

Quick Summary • English is a compulsory subject in primary and secondary education in Japan, but the need to learn English is not clear. • ESP is becoming popular in universities where English is offered at the faculty-specific level. • Needs analysis is crucial for ESP curriculum development. • Target situation analysis, more specifically, target discourse analysis is important.

A Case of a University EBP Curriculum • English for Specific Purposes (ESP) • English for Academic Purposes (EAP) • English for Occupational Purposes (EOP) • English for Medical Purposes (EMP) • English for Business Purposes (EBP) • …

A Case of a University EBP Curriculum • A private university located in Sapporo, the 5th largest city in Japan on the island of Hokkaido. • Largest and oldest private university in Hokkaido. • Five faculties: Economics, Law, Engineering, Humanities, and Business Administration • The Faculty of Business Administration has its own English program.

Needs Identification Place of Employment 6% 32% 11% 52% Sapporo Other area in Hokkaido Kanto (in and around Tokyo) Other

Needs Identification Industry Type 10.3 6.8 8.2 11 11.3 16.4 16.8 19.2 Banks and financing business Services Transportation and telecommunications Retail Wholesale Public officials Manufacturing Other

• Needs to use English in Hokkaido (Naito et al., 2007) • Internet survey for business people in Hokkaido • Data in 2005 (N = 1,085) • “How often do you use English for work?” “Every day.” 4.7% “A few times a week.” 4.6% “A few times a month.” 4.4% Needs Identification

Needs Identification • Frequent tasks (Naito et al., 2007) Listening customers 30% phone calls 16% office conversation 13% Speaking customers 34% phone calls 16% office conversation 14%

Needs Identification • Frequent tasks (Naito et al., 2007) Reading websites 43% manuals 38% emails 34% Writing emails 34% reports 12% research papers 9%

Business Email Writing • Course goals: 1. To understand different types of business emails and ways to write them effectively 2. To learn frequent expressions used in business emails 3. To be able to write effective business emails for different purposes

Business Email Writing • Materials: • Combination of a commercial textbook (for practicality) and original writing tasks that are partly derived from target discourse samples

Target Discourse Sample 1 Not available online. Please contact urano@hgu.jp for further information.

Target Discourse Sample 2 Not available online. Please contact urano@hgu.jp for further information.

• Final writing assignment Sample Writing Task

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Not available online. Please contact urano@hgu.jp for further information.

Difficulty in ESP Curriculum Development • The target discourse is often inaccessible. • Discourse samples very often contain confidential information, and researchers/teachers are often denied access. • Still we need to formally request access. • Winn (2005) suggests networking with the persons in charge can be helpful.

Summary Summary • ESP is becoming popular in universities where English is offered at the faculty-specific level. • Needs analysis is crucial for ESP curriculum development. • Target situation analysis, more specifically, target discourse analysis is important. • Access to the target discourse is sometimes difficult. Ken Urano urano@hgu.jp http://bit.ly/IICEHawaii2017

• Bartlett, N. J. D. (2005). A double shot 2% mocha latte, please, with whip: Service encounters in two coffee shops and at a coffee cart. In M. H. Long (Ed.), Second language needs analysis (pp. 305–343). Cambridge University Press. • Butler, Y. G. & Iino, M. (2005). Current Japanese reforms in English language education: The 2003 "Action Plan." Language Policy, 4, 25–45. • Dudley-Evans, T., & St John, M. J. (1998). Developments in English for specific purposes: A multi-disciplinary approach. Cambridge University Press. • Long, M. H. (2005). Methodological issues in learner needs analysis. In M. H. Long (ed.), Second language needs analysis (pp. 19–76). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. • Naito, H., Yoshida, M., Iida, M., Miura, H., Sakabe, T., Shibata, A., et al. (2007). Hokkaido-no sangyokai-niokeru Eigo-no niizu. [The needs of the English language in the industries in Hokkaido.] Kitahiroshima: JACET ESP Hokkaido. • Terauchi, H., Yamauchi, H., Noguchi, J., & Sasajima, S. (Eds.) (2010). 21-seiki-no ESP: Atarashii ESP riron-no kouchiku-to jissen. [ESP in the 21st century: ESP theory and application today.] Tokyo: Taishukan. • Terasawa, T. (2014a). The needs to use English in Japanese society: A statistical examination of policies and goals of English education. In S. Yoshijima (ed.), Foreign language Education V: Roles and challenges in general education (pp. 262-284). Tokyo: Asahi Shuppan-sha. • Terasawa, T. (2014b). “Nande Eigo-yaruno?”-no sengoshi: “Kokuminkyoiku”-toshiteno Eigo, sono dento-no seiritsukatei. [The postwar history of "Why do we teach English?": The process of building up the tradition of "English as national education.”] Tokyo: Kenkyusha. • Terasawa, T. (2015). “Nihonjin-to Eigo”-no shakaigaku: Naze Eigokyoikuron-wa gokaidarake nanoka. [Sociology of English language and the Japanese: Why do we have so many misunderstandings about English education?] Tokyo: Kenkyusha. • Winn, M. (2005). Collecting target discourse: The case of the US naturalization interview. In M. H. Long (Ed.), Second language needs analysis (pp. 265–304). Cambridge University Press. References