1.
A GOLDEN AGE OF ESP TEACHING:
MATERIALS, PRACTICE AND TEACHER
EDUCATION IN 20TH CENTURY SCIENCE AND
TECHNOLOGY EDUCATION
SHONA WHYTE
Colloque GERAS Nancy 19/03/2021

2.
ESP DIDACTICS: DOCTORAL THESES/HABILITATIONS
• Schug, D. (2019). Les cours d'anglais à travers les disciplines : une question de
motivation, Paris 8/Ca’ Foscari, Venise.
• Labetoulle, A. (2019). Etude de la complexité des environnements d’apprentissage et
d’enseignement LANSAD pour la conception, la mise en place et l’évaluation d’un
dispositif en anglais, Lille.
• Bloor, T. (2020). Travail coopératif entre une enseignante-chercheuse de physique et une
professeure d’anglais dans le secteur LANSAD (LANgues pour les Spécialistes d’Autres
Disciplines), Brest.
• Brantley, K. (2020). Re-framing the Specificity Debate in the Lansod Sector around
Pragmatics: An Action Research Project Exploring the Development of Flexible Pragmatic
Skills instead of “General English” for Second-year Students in Culture and Media, Lille.
• Carnet, A. (2020). L’utilisation de séries télévisées pour l’enseignement/apprentissage de
la communication pour la consultation médicale, Lorraine
• Conan, M. Apprendre à interagir en anglais vétérinaire : l’interculturel en langue de
spécialité, Université Côte d’Azur/Paris 3.
• Henderson, A. (2021). Intelligibility and identity : from teaching pronunciation to training
for spoken language variation, Université Savoie Mont Blanc
Sarré &
Whyte 2016
Sarré & Whyte 2017

3.
(DIS)CONTINUITIES IN ESP: ESP DIDACTICS
• science and humanities
• disciplinary content and
language
• linguistic description and
language teaching
• teaching and learning
Is it true that we have typically
prioritised the first element in each
pair?
Are there historical explanations for
these preferences?
What reasons can be advanced in
favour of reversing the trend?

4.
• ESP didactics - some context
• “the ESP juggernaut” - early figures in British ESP (1970s,1980s)
• conclusions and consequences
• new perspectives for ESP in French higher education
PLAN

5.
ESP
DIDACTICS
ENGLISH
LANGUAGE
TEACHING
(ELT)
ENGLISH
STUDIES
literature
ENGLISH FOR
SPECIFIC
PURPOSES
(ESP)
NON-LANGUAGE
DISCIPLINES &
PROFESSIONS
culture
linguistics
science
law
disciplinary
CONTENT
what do we
teach?
how do we teach?
METHODS

6.
Sarré & Whyte (2016: 37) https://journals.openedition.org/asp/4834
“the branch of English language studies which concerns the
language, discourse and culture of English-language professional
communities and specialised social groups, as well as the
learning and teaching of this object from a didactic perspective”
ESP
ESP DIDACTICS
• is a distancing and theorising process which seeks to analyse
the way ESP teaching leads to learning
• draws on several contributive sciences,
• takes a broader perspective than SLA, covering elements of
both SLA and foreign language education”

7.
A. Johns (2013) cited in Douglas (2017)
“Unlike many other research areas in theoretical
and applied linguistics, ESP has been, at its core, a
practitioners’ movement, devoted to
establishing, through careful research, the needs
and relevant discourse features for a targeted
group of students”
EMPHASIS ON TEACHERS AND TEACHING

8.
Whyte (2016: 27-8) https://journals.openedition.org/apliut/5487
ESP research “often focuses on the analysis of a specific variety, and not
always on how non-native speakers might acquire it (Sarré & Whyte 2016).
But for L2 learners and users, the goal is usually an acquisitional one, even
of only the ‘narrow set of occupation-specific uses and functions’ (Saville-
Troike 2006).
The goal of language education in SLA terms is communicative
competence [… focusing on] L2 learner/user comprehension and
production, rather than the explicit knowledge of language rules” which are
often emphasised in English studies and ESP research.
WHAT ABOUT LEARNING?

9.
ENGLISH
LANGUAGE
TEACHING
(ELT)
ESP
DIDACTICS
ENGLISH
STUDIES
literature
ENGLISH FOR
SPECIFIC
PURPOSES
(ESP)
NON-LANGUAGE
DISCIPLINES &
PROFESSIONS
culture
linguistics
science
law
disciplinary
CONTENT
what do we
teach?
how do we teach?
METHODS
LEARNING
(CONTENT &
LANGUAGE)
THEORY
what and how do
students learn?
INSTRUCTED
SECOND LANGUAGE
ACQUISITION
[ISLA]
classroom
intervention
psycholinguistics

10.
the intended or official curriculum rests atop
the taught curriculum, which teachers deliver
once they close their classroom doors, the
learned curriculum, or what students take
away from class, and the tested curriculum,
which represents an even narrower band of
knowledge
Cuban 2012
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TRADITIONAL DIFFICULTIES
WITH CHANGE
MOVING FROM TEACHING TO
LEARNING

11.
Previous reforms create the historical
context for the multi-layered curriculum
and influence the direction of
contemporary reforms. This historical
context is like a coral, a mass of skeletons
from millions of animals built up, that
over time accumulates into reefs above
and below the sea line. Its presence
cannot be ignored.
Cuban 2012

12.
• ESP focus on the taught layer
• “the ESP juggernaut”
early figures in British ESP 1970-1980s
• 4 figures: Swales, Johns, Dudley-
Evans, Ewer
• materials, teaching practice, teacher
education
PLAN
ESP
Abbott (1978)

13.
JOHN SWALES (1938-‘RETIRED’ 2006)
• 1957 BA Psychology (University of Cambridge),
1966 Linguistics and ELT (University of Leeds)
• British Council: Tripoli College, Libya;
English Language Servicing Unit, University of Khartoum, Sudan (1973-5)
Swales, J. (1971). Writing scientific English
• University of Aston (1978): Language Studies Unit; MA in ESP teaching
• University of Michigan, English Language Institute; Swales & Feak Academic
writing for graduate students
• Genre analysis (1990), English for Specific Purposes editor

14.
TIM JOHNS (1936-2009)
• BA Modern History, Emmanuel
College, Cambridge 1955
• British Council
• Birmingham University (Swales)
(1971-2001): English for Overseas
Students Unit
• father of data-driven learning (DDL)

15.
TONY DUDLEY-EVANS (1943, RETIRED 2001)
• BA Arabic (University of London), PGCE ELT
(University of Wales)
• British Council: Tripoli College, Libya
(Swales); English Language Unit, University of
Tabriz, Iran
• Birmingham University (1976-2001): English
for Overseas Students Unit (Johns, Swales)
• Bates, M. & Dudley-Evans, T. (1976). Nucleus:
General science
• English for Specific Purposes editor (Swales)

16.
JACK EWER (1918-1982)
• Department of English, University of
Chile at Santiago
• Ewer, J & Latorre, G. (1969). A course
in basic scientific English. Longman
• “father of ESP teacher education”
• EST/ESP Chile, editor

17.
Developing EST materials
linguistic focus of textbooks
preference for tailor-made
materials
planned and serendipitous
collaboration

18.
• range of types of syllabus:
• structural (Ewer & Latorre 1969, Swales 1971)
• notional-functional (Bates & Dudley-Evans 1976)
• lack of scientific foundation
• no needs analysis
• no measure of effectiveness
Ewer & Boys (1981)
contemporary textbook analysis

19.
1969

20.
1971

21.
1976
http://www.uefap.net/materials/materials-history
Andy GILLET

22.
The sample used was comprehensive […] introductory university textbooks,
advanced textbooks, semi-popularisations, specialised articles, professional
papers and monographs […] the sample amounted to well over 3 million words.
[…]
The main structural and non-structural vocabulary were identified by visual
scanning; in order to reduce the subjective factor involved, each investigator
worked separately, and only the items noted by both were incorporated into
the final list
Ewer & Latorre (1967) on 1963 collaboration
early corpus linguistics

23.
• such books undermine the professionalism of the
instructor
• they cannot meet the elaborated inventories of
requirements produced by needs analysis or by
schemes of evaluation,
• they are offered in a format ostensibly unsuitable for
communicative language teaching,
• their educational effectiveness may have been
reduced by marketing considerations
Swales (1980, 2013)
preference for tailor-made materials
The standard solution
to these difficulties
with published
materials is for each
institution,
organization, or
training
establishment to offer
its own tailor-made
programmes

24.
Tim Johns […] would typically
respond to some description
of materials, with comments
like, “Pretty nice, but have you
thought of doing it like
this?…” Inevitably, adequate
materials would be
immediately transformed into
superior ones
Swales (2013)
Over that kitchen table and of an
evening, [Tony Dudley-Evans and I]
could plan next week's materials,
spark and improve ideas, kill off
weak or stray enthusiasms, and
cobble together collages of
photocopies and handwritten
manuscripts to take to our
secretaries for typing up
collaboration to develop materials

25.
Teaching English for Science & Technology
content and language teacher
collaboration
remedial focus to support
“backward students” and
“underachievement among
overseas students”
challenging and creative for
teachers

26.
EST initiative at Birmingham
English for Overseas' Students Unit (EOSU) Birmingham
University
support in EST from language and content instructors to
international graduate students in regular graduate
programmes in Plant Biology and Transportation
a) understanding academic lectures
b) producing academic/scientific English
Johns & Dudley-Evans (1980)

27.
Johns & Dudley-Evans (1980)
3-way feedback
STUDENT
needs to know how his
performance is measuring
up to the expectations of his
teachers and to have
immediate assistance with
his difficulties as they arise
SUBJECT
TEACHER
needs to have a
clearer idea of how
effectively he is
communicating
with his students
LANGUAGE
TEACHER
needs to grasp the conceptual
structure of a subject his
learners are studying; to know
how the range of different
subjects are taught: to observe
where and how difficulties
arise

28.
course components
1. audio recording of content lectures analysed by language teachers for
subsequent team-teaching
2. exam questions provided by content teachers, analysed by language teachers,
student writing checked by both teachers
3. oral presentations: role-play topic defined by content teacher, student plays
engineer to ‘planning committee’ of language teachers
4. research projects: team-teaching session where students present proposals;
conference with individual students to discuss drafts
Johns & Dudley-Evans (1980)

29.
Johns & Dudley-Evans (1980)
This part of the session requires a degree of tact on the part of the
language-teacher, and of self-awareness on the part of the subject-
teacher, most of whom do not realise how many colloquialisms they use.
The majority react to the realisation by attempting to control the type
and density of colloquial expressions in their lectures; one the other
hand, one lecturer in Transportation appears to have increased his use of
sporting metaphors, perhaps with the intention of putting the language-
teachers on their mettle
content/language teacher interaction

30.
Johns & Dudley-Evans (1980)
while there was some improvement
attributable to the team-taught
sessions for all students, that
improvement was far greater with
the stronger students than with the
weaker: that is to say, they achieved
the reverse effect to that intended
learning effects?
Where in an operation of this kind
subject and language are so enmeshed,
finding out what the language-teacher
has learnt of the subject may be as
reliable a way of estimating its success
as measuring the improvement in the
students' English

31.
Johns & Dudley-Evans (1980)
We hope we avoided the hubris which can too easily afflict the
EAP teacher when, with a smattering of knowledge in the subject
area, and a view of himself as an expert on communication, he
comes to regard himself as an expert - or the expert - on how the
subject ought to be taught, and even on what the subject ought to
central role of ESP teacher
Dudley-Evans: “it remains the most creative aspect of teaching I
have ever been involved with” (St Johns 2012)

32.
EST teacher education
multilayered perspective:
student, teacher, teacher
educator, programme director
ESP teacher collaboration
practical orientation

33.
Ewer (1983)
challenges for EST teacher
1. attitude
2. concepts
3. language
4. methodology
5. organisation
SCIENCE &
TECHNOLOGY
“relaxed attitude to errors”
programme
administration

34.
team-teaching: one “active” instructor, one
“passive” or “watching”
lecture breaks: stop every 10-15 min
group work with close supervision
teacher training programme
Ewer (1983)

35.
central role of teacher
groups should contain at least one
fairly good student ("good" in the
sense of quickness of reaction, general
knowledge, energy and, least
important of all, knowledge of
English); if this is not done, all the best
students tend to group together,
leaving all the weak ones together too!
Again, in this game we are learning
all the time, and it often happens
that the active teacher may omit or
underemphasize a relevant point
which the watching teacher can
ensure is brought to the attention of
the students and given its due
weight
Ewer (1983)

36.
HISTORICAL CONTEXT OF ESP
• emphasis on science over humanities
• focus on content as pre-requisite to
language
• linguistic description and language
teaching
• teaching and learning
official curriculum
taught layer
learned layer
tested layer
official curriculum
taught layer
learned layer
tested layer

37.
ESP LEARNER
• paternalistic stance with respect to learner needs and learning
outcomes
• little exploration of intercultural dimensions or learner strategies
(BUT Dudley-Evans & Swales 1980)
• avoidance of theories of (language) learning/acquisition (Bloor &
Bloor)

38.
The students obtain the
trimmings from the University’s
press and copy onto them […]
from textbooks, or from notes,
either the student’s on, or more
frequently borrowed from a
colleague. The multiple copying
of technical terms is illustrative
of the reliance on the ‘word’ as
given, and the fact that the
trimming strips are always
discarded after a revision session
shows how thorough has been
the process of internalisation
Dudley-Evans & Swales (1980)

39.
second language acquisition
in most cases the teaching of a
language involves much more than
providing the cirumstances for optimal
acquisition. Although these are
essential, the teacher is also
responsible for teaching those
aspects of language that have to be
taught even to native speakers: cultural
conventions, and the system and uses
of literacy (Bloor & Bloor 1986)
when Swales directed the
establishment of the first MA in ESP in
Britain at Aston University (on which I
was a founding colleague) he would
not consider suggestions for including
a component on psychology,
psycholinguistics, or language
acquisition, which were commonly
found on masters’ degree courses in
ELT or Applied Linguistics. In this he
saved us all from wandering down
blind alleys. (Bloor 1998)

40.
ESP teaching paradox
is ESP a materials and teaching-led movement?
linguistic inquiry is the most establised area of
research and discussion; value for teaching and
learning
a strong tradition of innovative teaching and
materials design, usually reported as case studies;
materials are most noticeable
relatively limited research and discussion literature
concerning approaches to teaching and learning
“ESP is a theoretically and
empirically based field of inquiry
that aims to identify the linguistic
features of specialist English
varieties, the nature of ESP
teaching, and to understand how
specialist English can be acquired
in instructed ESP and naturalistic
contexts”
Basturkmen (2020)

41.
CURRENT PROJECTS IN FRENCH HIGHER EDUCATION
• Réseau d’acquisition des langues secondes
(ReAL2): intersection of second language
acquisition and teaching/learning - learner
corpora
• DidASp: Sophie Belan, Aude Labetoulle,
collaborative research (ESSE 2021 Lyon)
• CATAPULT (Computer-assisted training and
platforms to upskill LSP teachers (http://
catapult-project.eu) - teacher education
• English Medium Instruction (EMI) teacher
preparation Bordeaux University (Pagèze &
Lasagabaster 2018)

42.
Dafouz et al 2019
“EFL language specialists are often called upon initially to provide
linguistic support to lecturers who are switching into English, yet,
[…] they are also requested to provide support in the areas of
pedagogy, intercultural competences and, more recently,
academic disciplinary language”
“if linguists wish to remain relevant and continue to gain access to
EMI contexts then they will need to take the interests of content
lecturers into account”
Airey 2020
ESP AND EMI: AN OPPORTUNITY AND A CAVEAT

43.
CONCLUSION…
Can we emulate the energy and
creativity of early ESP teachers,
trainers, programme developers
and researchers and turn our
attention to questions of how
students learn?
ESP has historically prioritised
content, description, and teaching
Key figures in late 20th century ESP
typify a creative, innovative, and
individually driven approach to EST
Learning has been overlooked,
assumed rather than attested

44.
A GOLDEN AGE OF ESP
TEACHING: MATERIALS,
PRACTICE AND TEACHER
EDUCATION IN 20TH CENTURY
SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
EDUCATION
SHONA WHYTE
Colloque GERAS Nancy 19/03/2021
shona.whyte@univ-cotedazur.fr