Resources

There are two categories of books in this Appendix. The first deals with books and a journal which you can use for reference, and from which you can build your professional ESP skills. The second deals with textbooks which can be used either as course books, or sources from which you can develop your own courses.

Reference Books

A. For a background of the evolution of ESP:

John Swales, Episodes in ESP, "Oxford: Pergamon Press, 1985).

This book is a source and reference book on the development of English for Specific Purposes. It aims to both explain and illustrate the major lines of development in ESP. It achieves this by focusing on fifteen landmark publications in the field. Each publication -- eleven articles and four extracts from textbooks -- is analyzed as follows:

1. Setting - The background of the publication and its role in the development of ESP.

2. Text and Commentary

3. Activities - Questions on the text: for example, "Here again is the short "authentic" passage from Example 1. What language work can you derive from it?"

4. Evaluation - Discussion points: for example, " How much say should the students have in the kind of ESP course they get?"

5. Related Readings.

B. For Grammar:

G. Leech & J. Svartvik, A Grammar of Communicative English.

C. For Language and Methodology:

1. Bernard A. Mohan, Language and Content, (Addison-Wesley, Reading, MA, 1986).

A comprehensive treatment of the teaching of language through content. Presents a "knowledge framework" for integrating language and content, giving general principles for organizing information and activities. Useful for the teacher interested in learning theory and program development. Designed as a course text, this book also includes exercises and suggested reading for each chapter.

2. F. Dubin, D.E. Eskey, & W. Grabe, Teaching Second Language Reading for Academic Purposes, (AddisonWesley Publishing Co., Reading, MA, 1986).

A good introduction to reading theory and the reading process, especially as it applies to the second language learner. Separate chapters discuss reading skills development at the beginning, intermediate, and advanced levels. A section on texts discusses authentic vs. adapted texts and teacher-made lessons. Reading testing and assessment are also discussed. This book is designed as a course text for ESL teachers and contains discussion questions and suggestions for further reading.

D. For an update on what's going on in ESP:

ESPMENA Bulletin.

Published twice a year-by the English Language Servicing Unit, Faculty of Arts, University of khartoum, Sudan. News about research, materials development projects, new courses, and conferences and workshops related to teaching languages for special purposes, especially in the Middle East and North Africa.

E. For Cultural Orientation

1. To the United States:

E. N. Bearny, M.A. Kearny, & J.A. Crandall, The American Way (Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, N.J., 1984.)

An introduction to American culture, including such topics as "Basic American Values and Beliefs," "Government and Politics," "Education in the United States," "The American Family," and others. Includes vocabulary, comprehension, and other exercise types, questions for discussion and composition, and suggestions for further reading. This book provides useful information about the United States and is richly illustrated with photos, graphs, and charts.

2. To Great Britain:

Britain; 1986, published annually by the Central Office of Information, 49 High Holborn, London, WCIV 6HB. Intended for the use of scholars planning to study in Britain.

A smaller publication, Britain and its People is available from the Kraus-Thompson Organization, Rt. 100, Milwood, N.Y. 10546.

Course Books

The books recommended in this category were selected because of their conceptual endurance, their teaching support, and their emphasis on reading skills. It is unlikely that you will have access to large budgets for buying books, so the ones you do buy will have to last and should be examples of sound, practical teaching based on solid ESP theory. They should also offer stimulation and support to you, the teacher, who will frequently have to develop and adapt the books' ideas and activities. In addition, these books will have to be flexible enough to train students with varying levels of English in their most pressing task of extracting important information from texts written in English.

The books in this category are:

For the sciences:

A. Nucleus Series
B. English in Focus

For computer science:

C. English for Computer Science

For business management and accounting:

D. Business World
E. Business Concepts for English Practice
F. Fluency Squares

For tourism:

G. Restaurant English
H. Hotel English

For study skills:

I. Reading and Thinking in English
J. Skills for Learning

A. Nucleus Series: English for Science and Technology, C. Barron & D. Stewart, Editors. (Longman Group Ltd., London)

The General Science book in this series has become one of the most successful ESP textbooks ever written, with sales of over one million copies. The Nucleus Series, for which General Science is the core book, originated at a university in northwest Iran. It was written for students entering university with a low level of English, whose medium of instruction at university was not English, and whose main need of the language was to study English textbooks for their science courses.

There are nine titles in the series, including General Science, which can precede or accompany the study of a special subject book. The titles are:

General Science Geology Biology Mathematics Agriculture Medicine Engineering Nursinq Science

The student's book is accompanied by a teacher's book with notes on methodology and scientific background, together with the texts of listening comprehension passages and answers to the exercises. Each course has a listening cassette containing the pieces for listening comprehension.

All nine of the books have been organized in the same way, following the concepts of form - which includes properties, location, and structure - then process, and finally measurement in each individual subject. In this way the contents pages for Engineering and Biology are almost identical, though students of biology will study the properties and shapes of living organisms, while students of engineerirg will study the properties of materials.

Each unit is organized into sections of Presentation, Development, Reading and Listening. The simplicity of this organization provides an efficient model which you can follow when you are designing additional material.

The series receives high marks for:

a. The visuals, drawings, diagrams, charts, etc., which are inventively used to generate language.

b. The exercises, which are firmly contextualized, either by visuals, or by sentences in the exercise which relate to each other or the text.

c. The exercises which promote active learning of reading and listening skills, which have often been given a passive role.

The series is criticized for:

a. The reading texts which are too short and not authentic.

b. The insufficiently developed reading strategies, which compare poorly with the more sophisticated strategies found in the Focus series.

B. English in Focus Series: J. P. B. Allen and H.G. Widdowson, editors (Oxford University Press, London).

There are eight books in the series:

English in Physical Science English in Mechanical Engineering English in Workshop Practice English in Basic Medical Science English in Agriculture English in Education English in Social Studies English in Biological Science

Each of the books in the series follows the same format, with chapters divided into six sections:

I. Reading and Comprehension

II. Use of Language

III. Information Transfer

IV. Guided Writing

V. Free Writing

The student's book is accompanied by a teacher's book and cassettes containing recordings of the reading texts and some of the exercises. However, the courses can be taught without these tapes.

The series receives high marks for the variety and number of exercises it offers. The following exercises are particularly useful:

a. Reading comprehension: Each chapter opens with a reading passage which has comprehension checks inserted in it. Students are encouraged to think about what they are reading by deciding, for example, whether the inserted statement- are true or not, according to the information they nave just read.

b. Rephrasing: After the reading passage, students are asked to replace selected words in the reading passage with listed expressions which have similar meaning. This exercise is useful. in developing vocabulary consolidation and search reading techniques.

c. Information Transfer: This activity uses exercises such as completing paragraphs with information from diagrams. The main regret among both teachers and students is that these exercises are not used more frequently.

The series is criticized for:

a. The texts which are too short and are too thoroughly worked over. In the process, some students become bored with the repetitious monotony of the exercises' format.

b. The grammar exercises which are frequently mechanical, and contain sentences which are not related to the reading passage.

c. The exercises which vary in level of difficulty and which require more explanation than is given.

However, the last two books in the series, Social Studies and Biological Studies, have responded to these criticisms by adding more study skills exercises and by giving more- appropriate explanations where necessary.

C. English for Computer Science, Norma D. Mullen and P. Charles Brown (Oxford University Press, 1983).

English for Computer Science is one of the few books written for the field of computers in ESP. It comes from Canada and was pilot tested among police officers in Kuwait. It is for use by people studying at post secondary institutions who need a reading knowledge of computer science in English.

The course is divided into three parts: The Computer, with descriptions of the characteristics and kinds of computers available; Computer Components, with descriptions of the processor, memory and input/output devices; and Data Processing, with descriptions of programming.

The student's book is accompanied by an answer book, so it can be used as a self-study course.

Chapters with reading passages are followed by exercises interspersed with Focus chapters, (printed in green), which deal with grammar, vocabulary and language functions.

The book receives high marks for the variety of exercises it includes to develop reading skills. For example, there are exercises to promote:

- understanding information directly stated or implied,
- understanding concepts,
- understanding grammatical and lexical devices which bind a text,
- deducing meaning of new lexical items from context,
- scanning to locate specific information,
- distinguishing main ideas from supporting details,
- selecting important points to summarize an idea.

In contrast to the field of computer science, business management has provoked an abundance of ESP courses. Here, three books from the many are recommended to you - two for upper intermediate to advanced level students, and the third for lower intermediate level.

D. Business World: A Collection of Readings on Contemporary Issues, by Roger Speegle and William B. Giesecke, (Oxford University Press, 1983).

This is a collection of articles from prominent American business magazines, adapted for students at upperintermediate through advanced levels of English as a second language. The aim of the book is to improve business reading comprehension, as well as listening and oral performance.

Each chapter is centered on the reading of an article. The rest of the chapter is divided into business vocabulary, structural review, business communication (summarizing, note-taking, identifying the main idea), action (debating, discussing' interviewing), and reaction (discussing in an open session).

The book receives high marks for:

a. Using authentic materials. The texts are shortened, but the original sentence structure remains unchanged. Potential problems in understanding vocabulary or the cultural context are dealt with by explanatory notes in the margin. Dealing with these problems in this way saves time and prevents fragmentation of your lesson.

b. Being lively. The action and reaction sections provoke student participation. While much of ESP's focus is on developing reading skills, students at this level will want to keep up their oral performance skills, and these exercises provide simulated role play situations. The topics chosen for these exercises relate to the text, but are also expanded to include concerns of interest to developing countries. For example: "The need for environmental protection has created more than 200 new companies in Germany alone. In the U.S., environmental divisions of large companies continue to employ more and more people. Clearly, environmentally related business benefits the economy. Will this sort of business be of interest to businessmen in the developing nations? Where will business in the developing nations be most concerned with investing its money? Do you foresee environmental business becoming an important part of the economy of developing nations?"

The book is criticized for:

a. The exercises in the structural review, which become predictable and monotonous.

b. The exercises in business communications, which are insufficiently developed to teach study skills such as note-taking.

E. Business Concepts for English Practice, B. Dowling & M. McDougal, (Newbury House, Rowley, MA, 1982).

This book is intended for intermediate to advanced students of English as a Foreign Language, with an academic or professional interest in the English of business or accounting. The book aims at providing practice in reading comprehension, technical and business vocabulary, and activities for general language practice and the improvement of study skills. The book was field tested in American colleges and international corporations.

The book has eight units. These unit titles are: Business Basics, Marketing, International Business, Data Processing, Accounting, Finance, Management and Decision Making. Each unit is divided into three parts. The first two parts contain texts followed by exercises, and the third part contains an authentic article excerpted from a journal or newspaper.

The teacher's manual provides additional information on the business and linguistic aspects of the student's book, as well as notes on how to present each lesson.

The book receives high marks for:

a. The thoroughness of its teaching approach. For example, exercises are preceded by proficiency markers indicating whether the level is for intermediate, upper-intermediate or advanced students.

b. The comprehensive approach to the subject matter. Both vocabulary and concepts of business and accounting are thoroughly covered.

The series is criticized for:

a. Failing to exploit the authentic articles more fully.

b. Being insufficiently international in its approach. Attempts are made to refer to other countries and cultures, but this does not quite balance out the strongly American flavor.

F. Fluency Squares For Business and Technology by Phillip L.

-Knowles and Ruth A. Sasaki (Regents Publishing Co., 1981).

This book was developed at the Language Institute of Japan, for students with intermediate levels of English who require English training for their work as bankers, engineers and executives. There is little emphasis on the reading of conventional texts; rather, the thrust is towards active listening. This is ESP as in English for Shy Persons, in that students are encouraged to take an active role in their learning, but need not talk much to do so.

The course consists of one book with an answer key at the back. Large scale visuals are also available to facilitate classroom use of the book; however, it might not be too difficult to produce your own enlarged versions of many of the visuals.

The chapter format is as follows:

Oral Presentation of Information, in which the teacher reads the text while students follow visual renderings of the same text.

Oral Practice, in which students are guided in question and answer sessions on the text.
Written Reinforcement; for instance, writing down the questions and answers of Oral Practice.

Dictation

Follow-up Activities, for example, "Make a presentation to your class. Compare two models of cameras, pens, tape recorders, etc. Give your recommendations and the reasons for your recommendations. "

Quantitative English, in which students work with numbers.

Test

The book receives high marks for:

a. The-careful and attractive layout, and the good use of information transfer exercises.

b. The emphasis on numbers, graphs, and numerical relations essential to technical communication in any subject.

This book contains no reading passages, and at first this may appear to be a weakness. However, Fluency Squares is directed towards the lower intermediate learner who may well appreciate the use of visuals and numeracy, which provide a non threatening approach to discussions on concepts of business management. The introduction of basic reading skills from a book such as Concepts in Use, (discussed in the section on study skills, below), could easily follow after.

G. Restaurant English, Philip gingham, Riitta Lampola, James Murray. (Pergamon Press, Oxford, 1982 U.S. distribution through Alemany Press.)

H Hotel English, Philip gingham, Riitta Lampola, James Murray. (Pergamon Press, Oxford, 1982. U.S. distribution through Alemany Press.)

These books are written for students or professionals "who have a knowledge of English, but need to familiarize themselves with the language and phraseology" of hotel management. The books were written with European students of English in mind, but since their target is to teach the English of international tourism, most of the situations covered are applicable to almost any country in the world. The books emphasize listening and speaking skills. For that reason, the books cannot be properly taught without the accompanying cassette tapes.

Restaurant English has fifteen chapters which cover most restaurant situations from paying the bill to discussing special diets customers may require for religious or health reasons. Each chapter follows a format of presenting information, either on the cassette or in the form of menus, table charts or pictures of a place setting for dinner, etc. Each presentation is exploited through a series of comprehension questions, completing sentences or role-play situations.

Hotel English has twelve chapters covering reservations, giving directions, telephoning, handling complaints, and other topics, in a format like that described above for Restaurant English.

These books receive high marks for:

a. The good exploitation of cassettes as teaching tools. The dialogues are authentic, recorded at "almost normal speed" and with a variety of accents. The two cassettes for each book cover two different levels. The first requires students to listen and reproduce; the second requires students to manipulate the items presented by, for instance, responding to statements.

b. The emphasis on real-life situations, rather than rigid sets of artificial language exercises.

c. The inclusion of sets of useful phrases.

These books are criticized for:

a. The emphasis on Europe, especially when dealing with food.

b. The sketchy support offered to the teacher in organizing such activities as role-playing or discussions.

I. Reading and Thinking In English, H.G. Widdowson, editor. (Oxford University Press).

This series of four books originated in Latin America in a writing project carried out at the University of the Andes, Bogota, Colombia. The series is designed to "relate ESP with the teaching of more general reading competence", and as such is an example of the study skill materials now coming on the market. The series contrasts with others that have been recommended here in that the focus is on preparation for reading, and not on reading comprehension after the text has been read.

The authors explain the relationship between the four books in the preface:

"The series starts at a near beginner level. It is assumed that the beginning learner has a minimal knowledge of basic grammar and vocabulary...The course then takes the learner progressively through the intermediate stages of language learning by extending his ability to understand the devices of the language and how they are used in academic communication. By the final book he is expected to have developed a sophisticated awareness of the communicative resources of English and an ability to perform a range of challenging reading tasks. "

The four books in the series are:

Concepts in Use (near beginner) Exploring Functions (pre-intermediate) Discovering Discourse (intermediate) Discourse in Action (advanced)

The student's book is accompanied by a teacher's book which contains teaching notes, notes on the units, and answers to the exercises .

The series receives high marks for:

a. The clarity of its teacher support and the way in which it draws students into the learning process by explaining the learning goals.

b. The attractive layout, (the books are coded with different colored print), and the full exploitation of the information transfer activities, with many visual cues used to generate language.

The series is criticized for:

a. The generality of the texts, which attempt to address students from any scientific background, and which frequently end up being too general.

b. The insufficiency of the vocabulary work.

c. The inclusion of more discourse analysis discussion than is pedagogically useful.

J. Skills in Learning, Thomas Nelson and Sons, Ltd., Walton-onThames, England. (University of Malaya Press).

This series originated at the University of Malaya. It was designed to teach students with little knowledge of English how to extract important information from textbooks and journals written in English. Both this series and Reading and Thinking in English are based on the assumption that it i' more cost effective to teach a core of academic language common to most disciplines, rather than to prepare subject-specific materials. However, this series does include one book, Reading Projects: Science, which focuses on texts specifically for students of science. With this book the authors hope to keep the attention of science students.

There are five books in the series:

Foundations Application Develonment Progression Reading Projects: Science

The first four books cover a variety of general texts suitable for students with intermediate levels of English. Reading Projects complements the main course books by familiarizing students with the linguistic forms and reading strategies appropriate to the particular subject they are studying. These subjects are geology,chemistry, biology, ecology and-physics. The student's book is accompanied by a teacher's book.

The books receive high marks for:

a. The explanations and support given to the teacher for organizing classroom activities.

b. The organized way in which it breaks down study skills into manageable units. For example:

Arriving at main points Making sense of word behavior Reading for relevant information Using contextual clues

Using symbols, abbreviations and equations Learning about graphs

c. The variety of exercises it offers. For example:

Checking illustrations. This involves consulting other books and then correcting illustrations which have been incorrectly drawn and labelled.

Writing appropriate headlines for articles.

Checking statements against flow charts, diagrams or graphs.

Putting pictures in the right seque.ce and then writing subtitles for the pictures.

How to Obtain Copies of These Books

1. Check to see if the book you want is in the Information Collection and Exchange (ICE) catalogue. If it is, you can either ask your associate director to cable ICE asking for the book, or you can contact ICE yourself. The staff at ICE is willing to help and would like you to take full advantage of the services ICE has to offer. Do not hesitate to contact them if you have any inquiries about materials. For instance, you may want to know what books, other tban the ones mentioned in this chapter, are available on ESP in chemistry. ICE can get you a list of titles. Also, you may want photocopies of articles or excerpts from books in the ICE reference section. Again the staff at ICE will be pleased to help.

2. If the book you want is not in the ICE catalogue, you have several options. First, check to see if Peace Co-ps funds are available for your purchase. If they are, you can work through your country staff. Ways of ordering books vary from country to country, but your associate director will be able to tell you the way he or she has devised. A second option is to ask family or friends to order and pay for.- the book for you. If you check ahead with your country desk officer, it may be possible for U.S. publishers or bookshops to send the book to you via your desk officer. But in this case, remember to ask the publisher to put your name and the country desk clearly on the package. A third option is to order the book yourself.

When writing to publishers:

a. Ask how much has to be included in the price to cover postage.

b. Check on the method of payment. The most acceptable are credit cards, international money orders, or U.S. checks for books ordered from the U.S.

c. Specify whether you want airmail or surface delivery.

In considering how long ordering will take, calculate that from the U.S. it will take two to four weeks to process your order, one week to get the book to your desk officer in Washington, and two to three weeks for the pouch to deliver the book to the Peace Corps office in your country. From Europe calculate two to four weeks to process your order, two weeks for airmail delivery and up to three months for surface mail.