THE DIMENSION TO THE ES`P WRITING
By
Anik Nunuk Wulyani - Erna Iftanti - Hamamah
Brawijaya University of Malang
THE DIMENSION TO THE ES`P WRITING
ANIK NUNUK WULYANI - ERNA IFTANTI - HAMAMAH
For years, the writing skill in EFL context in Indonesia is depressing phenomenon. Students commonly have unpleasant thought in their minds: I don’t have any ideas to write and I don’t know how to write well. Especially for ESP, the students do not find the relationships between learning to write in English with what they are going to face in their field of study as well as with their future job field. They write merely to get the writing assignment done and obtain score. More to the point, in most ESP writing classes, teacher becomes the center of attention and the students have to struggle individually in doing the tasks.
In addition, many English teachers are aware that teaching writing is more difficult than teaching other language skills, especially to ESP students. First of all, ESP students have limited knowledge of the target language. Second, they have little experience reading it. Still, there is cultural interference owing to the difference in the style of literary and rhetorical patterns of expression in their native language and the target language. Consequently, when writing English, students do no only produce the piece of writing themselves; they simply translate their thought word for word from their native language to the target language, often times with grammatically incorrect result.
We realize that the English curriculum for the junior and senior high schools are mainly to improve students’ reading skills. Tjokrosujoso (1993) mentions that the ever-changing curriculum of senior high schools has one main objective that is to enhance the students’ reading abilities. Due to this reason, it is very likely that, later on, the students in higher education (universities) are not able to express themselves in writing. Attempts have been made by English teachers to improve students’ awareness of writing well. However, the result is far from satisfying.
Competency Based Language Teaching (CBLT) is the recent trend in EFL in Indonesia. It focuses on the outcomes or outputs of learning in the development of language programs. The focus on outputs rather that on inputs to learning is central to the competencies perspective. In this paper, we try to offer solution to the problem of ESP writing by recommending genre approach, which is in line with CBLT in terms of the ability to apply the skill of writing in English in situations that are commonly encountered in the students’ majors and work fields. It addresses at the ways in which language is used for particular purposes in particular contexts. This paper also presents a method of teaching and assessing writing for ESP classes. It involves such process as planning, drafting, revising, and editing. The discussion also covers the method to gear the students’ to give feedback to their peer.
I. WHAT IS ESP?
There are differences in how people interpreted ESP (English for Specific Purposes). Some people described ESP as simply being the teaching of English for any purpose that could be specified. Others, however, were more precise, describing it as the teaching of English used in academic studies or the teaching of English for vocational or professional purposes.
The following extended definition given by Duley-Evans in Richard and Roger (1998) would be helpful to clarify the meaning of ESP. In the definition Duley-Evans defines ESP in terms of ‘absolute’ and ‘variable’ characteristics:
Absolute characteristics
1. ESP is defined to meet specific needs of the learners
2. ESP makes use of underlying methodology and activities of the disciplines it serves
3. ESP is centered on the language appropriate to these activities in terms of grammar, lexis, register, study skills, discourse genre.
Variable characteristics
1. ESP may be related to or designed for specific disciplines.
2. ESP may use, in specific teaching situations, a different methodology from that of General English
3. ESP is likely to be designed for adult learners, either at a tertiary level institution or in a professional work situation. It could, however, be for learners at secondary school level
4. ESP is generally designed for intermediate or advanced students
5. Most ESP courses assume some basic knowledge of language systems
Master and Brinton (1998) explains that ESP has seven subdivisions. The following is the general subdivisions of ESP:
1. General English for Specific Purposes
2. English for Academic Purposes
3. English for Art and Design
4. English for Business and Economics
5. English for Legal Purposes
6. English for Science and Technology
7. English for Vocational purposes
II. GENRE APPROACH
Drawing on the work of Richards (2003), ESL/EFL writing instruction in some parts of the worlds, more recently, has been influenced by a genre approach. This looks the ways in which language is used for particular purposes in particular contexts, i.e. the use of different genre of writing. Writing is seen as involving a complex web or relation between writer, reader, and text.
The genre approach seeks to address not only the needs of ESL/EFL writers to compose text for particular readers but also examines how texts actually work. Discourse communities such as business executives, applied linguists, and technicians possesses a shared understanding of the text they used and create an expectations as too the formal and functional features of such texts. Genre theory would include the different types of writing (e.g. narrative, descriptive, and argumentative writing), as well as the different text types (e.g. research reports, business letters, essay examinations, technical reports). ESL/EFL writing is involving composing skills and knowledge about text, contexts, and readers. Writers not only need realistic strategies for drafting and revising but also clear understanding of genre to be able to structure their writing experience according to the demands and constraints of particular context.
III. COMPETENCY BASED IN LANGUAGE TEACHING
There is assumption that more effective language learning will take place when syllabuses, materials, and activities are improved or when the role of learners and teachers is altered. Competency Based Education (CBE) by comparison is an educational movement that focuses on the outcomes. The characteristics of CBE are described by Schenck (1978: vi):
Competency-based education has much in common with such approaches to learning as performance-based instruction, mastery learning and individualized instruction. It is outcome-based and is adaptive to the changing needs of students, teachers and the community … Competencies differ from other student’s goals and objectives in that they describe the student’s ability to apply basic and other skills in situations that are commonly encountered in everyday life. Thus CBE is based on a set of outcomes that are derived from an analysis of tasks typically required of students in life role situation.
Competency Based Language Teaching (CBLT) is an application of the principles of Competency Based Education to language teaching.
Richard (2002) mentions that there are several advantages of competencies’ approach from the learner’s point of view:
1. The competences are specific and practical and can be seen to relate to the learner’s needs and interests.
2. The learner can judge whether the competences seem relevant and useful.
3. The competencies that will be taught and tested are specific and public – hence the learner knows exactly what needs to b learned.
4. Competencies can be mastered one at a time so the learners can see what has been learned and what still remains to be learned.
STAGE I: Reading Analyzing Writing
In this stage, students are given examples of what good texts are like and are introduced to cohesive devises employed, the overall organization, and the various methods of developing the main idea in the texts related to their field of study. In analyzing the text, the students are asked to recognize (a) the topic sentence, (b) the supporting details, (c) the conclusion, and (d) the genre of the text.
STAGE 2: Summarizing
With the understanding of the first stage, students are expected to be ready for summarizing texts. This stage is important in prewriting step. The aim of this activity is to help students express their understanding of the text in their own words. Besides, it is expected that the students will be familiar with the genre which is commonly used in their field of study.
STAGE 3: Self-Producing Text
With the knowledge acquired from the previous stages, students are expected to be ready to produce their own texts. During this stage, the students proceed through the following writing process: brainstorming, planning, drafting, and revising.
A. Brainstorming
Brainstorming is a significant prewriting step. The goal of this activity is to generate ideas, since at the early stage of the writing process all ideas are welcome. Since the ESP classes in Indonesia are generally large in number, teachers need to assign students to work in small groups. They jot down facts, ideas, words, phrases, sentences related to the topic. The related information may stimulate the students’ imaginations, trigger other words and images in their minds, and provide necessary materials for their writing.
B. Planning
Now the students can begin to organize their ideas equipped with the rough notes from the small group discussion. The teachers ask the students to formulate a topic sentence and the supporting ideas in the form of outline.
C. Drafting
With this schema, the students are ready to write their first draft. Now the teacher asks the students to expand the topic sentences into several supporting ideas that might compose the text.
At this stage, emphasis is given to the correct use of the language and coherence. While writing, students are encouraged to apply the characteristics of the genre learned from the written input.
D. Revising
After the text is done, the students begin the next activity: revising. Revision provides a prospect for the writer to review and reexamine his work, which is an essential part of the writing.
Before handing in their final written text, they must make a couple of revisions. The first revision is self-correction. The students should read the texts they produce carefully and critically in terms of content, organization, lexis and grammar, and mechanics. To help the students undergoing this self-revision, the teacher can help them by giving list of questions:
1. Does your text contain three parts: topic sentence, supporting sentences, and concluding sentence?
2. Is the topic sentence appropriate to the title?
3. What support have you provided for the topic sentence?
4. Does the whole text stick to the main idea and develop logically?
5. Does your conclusion impress the reader with the main idea of the text?
6. Do you use grammatically correct sentence structure and correct punctuation?
The second revision, small-group evaluation, is done by exchanging their composition with each other. By reading each-other’s texts, they evaluate one another’s work primarily on content, organization, and language. Below is a checklist that the student readers can use to help each other.
1. Locate the text’s topic sentence.
2. Distinguish between relevant and irrelevant information, and underline the sentences that do not support the main idea.
3. Point out grammar mistakes and misspelled words.
4. Make some comments and suggestions on a piece of paper or in the margin.
With the feedback from the peers, the student writer may read his or her work with fresh eyes and discover new ideas. Then he or she can revise the text for the last time. The most important part of the final revision is the writer’s consideration of the reader’s views.
ASSESSMENT
The suggested assessment that we proposed is on-going assessment. In the past, writing teachers were mostly concerned with the final product of writing. The students’ final products were be measured based on criteria that include content, organization, vocabulary use, grammatical use, and considerations on spelling and punctuation. Recently, on-going assessment has been adopted widely. It refers to the assessment process that captures important information about the learners’ progress during the process of learning. On-going assessment in writing does the following:
a. Focus on the process that leads to the final written product;
b. Allow the students to write and rewrite;
c. Place central importance on the process of revision;
d. Reflect the students’ progress throughout the composing process (not just to the final product)
CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTIONS
Conclusion. In order to be able to apply CBLT for ESP writing, teachers are obliged to do the need analysis in pre-teaching stage. It is hoped that this need analysis would match the teaching-learning process with the future need of students. In addition, it is wiser to encourage the students to work through a number of revisions; to accept messy drafts as a positive, even essential, stage in writing; to treat early drafts as transition stages to be criticized but not formally assessed.
Suggestions. There are things to be considered further in implementing writing group since the technique also contain possible danger. The following are some of it, which mostly about the social dimension of the group:
1. Politeness strategies, which may lead to conflict or high level of discomfort in multicultural peer-response group.
2. The roles that emerge during the group work, which may give, negative effect to members of the groups such as the feeling of disappointment, displeasure, and discomfort. The roles that might emerge in peer-response group are: the attacker, the weakest writer, the best writer, and the mediator.
The following are the possible means of decreasing the disadvantages of peer-response suggested by Nelson and Murphy (1992):
1. Include the teacher as part of the group.
2. Shift group membership periodically.
3. Give training to the students in order to establish trust and commitment, to develop collaborative skills for critiquing drafts in a way that is not negative, to learn needed social and listening skills.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Brand, Alice G. 1998. Portfolio and Test Essay: The Best of Both Writing Assessment Worlds at SUNY Brockport. Online Posting Discussions on Portfolio and Test Essay Available E-Mail: http://www.indiana.edu. March 1998.
Master, Peter. And Brinton, Donna. 1998. New Ways in English for Specific Purposes. TESL-EJ, (Online), Vol. 4, No.1, (http:// www-writing.Berkeley.edu/TESL-EJ/ej13/r11.html)
Nelson, Gayle L. and John M. Murphy. 1992. An L2 Writing Group: Task and Social Dimension. Journal of Second Language Writing, Vol. 1, p.p. 171-193.
O’Malley, J. Michael. and Pierce Lorraine Valdez. 1996. Authentic Assessment for English Language Learners: Practical Approaches for Teachers. USA: Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, Inc.
Richards, Jack C. 2002. 30 Years of TEFL/TESL: A Personal Reflection. Singapore: SEAMEO Regional Language Center.
Richards, Jack C. and Roger, Ted. 2002. Competency Based in Language Teaching. The paper was presented at Widya Mandala Surabaya Catholic University on October 30th, 2002.
Tjokrosuyoso, Harsono. 1993. Beberapa Catatan Perubahan Kurikulum Sekolah Lanjutan Menengah dari Masa ke Masa. Hand out given in TLS II class. Malang: Jurusan Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris. FPBS IKIP Malang.