types of professional communicative skills and their application in esp classes

Types of Professional communicative skills and their

application in ESP classes.

J.N. MiliarT.M. Nekrasova

Tomsk Polytechnic UniversityMay 27, 2009

Introduction

Communication

Rehearsal;Feedback;

Engagement;Real-life situations;

Declarative language

knowledge

Benefits

Effective communicative tasks criteria

Reflective teaching;Survers; Needs

analysis

Suggested speaking activities(speech genres)

“Side-track” introduction

• Communication is a strong tendency;• ESP curriculum vitae, syllabus optimization;• Specific authentic contexts is dealt with;• International integration via enhancement and

versatile computerized techniques extension;

Types of professional speaking genres:

• Interviews;• Presentations;• Conference talks;• Brief reports;• Project description;• Conference talks;• Brief reports;• Project description (group, mini-research, literature-

based);• Seminars;

Required competencies:• Introduce oneself and ask for other identification;• Distinguish between formal and informal register;• Form a statement or a question in accordance with grammatical,

syntactic rules of a language; • Request general or specific information;• Asking nd answering techniques;• Asking and expressng personal opinion;• Reformulate/restate/repeat a question;• Request additional informaton/details;• Avoiding an answering technique or be able to avoid a direct response;• Follow the rules of politeness and culturally embeded rules of social

behavior;

More speaking suggestions“Speaking-as-a-skill” in ESP classes

• Information-gap activities;• Telling definitions,stories;• Instructions reconstruction;• Important parts;• Meetings and greetings;• Job application;• Surveys;• Situation interviews and Questionnaires ;• Famous peoples great contribution; • Balloon debates;• Role-play ;• Seminars;• Short talks;

Interviews and questionnaires projects

Interview analysis showed some difficulties:• Misunderstanding fluently spoken language;• Asking questions for appropriate purposes;• Taking an active part in;• To differenciate and distinguish between formal and nformal

registers;Pre-interviewing activity:• Interview listening and analysis;• Filling out worksheet and probing with questions;

Presentations

• Organising information into coherent structure;

• Speaking from notes;• Using« signals» to facilitate

task of listeners;• Developing listeners

awareness;• Achieving phonological,

gammatical and lexical accuracy;

• Operating with greater fluency;

• Sequencing;• Delivery (speed/clarity);• Visual aids;• Body language;• Signposting;• To avoid answering

techniques;• Answering questions;• Clarification;• Concluding;• To recap and summing up;

SeminarLanguage- seminar skills• Taking the floor;• Using notes; planning; b• Requesting;• Providing clarification/information;• Stating point of view;• Supporting view expressed by

another speaker;• Challengeng view expressed by

another speaker;• Report-and-discuss;• To ask questions and give new

information; …

Dificiulties• The publicness of the

performance;• The need to think on your feet;• The need to present the

logically ordered arguments;• Academic assessment;• The requirement to call up the

relevant subject knowledge; • It is not the use of appropriate

language;• Speed of reaction;

Simple context situations or semi-controlled productive and free-production situations

Relevant phrases are routinely used in different English contexts• Uncertainty and inevitebility of

usage;• Communication problems and

difficulties;• A badly run organisation leads to

detrimental consequences;• People feel disaffected;• Destructive and maliciuos nature

(innuendo, gossip, rumour) caused by students being excluded from communicational channels;

• General expression of dissatisfaction and alienation;

Semi-controlled productive and free production activities• To raise students awareness of the

underlined competences;• To create context in which students are

involved to practice these competences;• Inclusive approach is to manage the

situation;• Interectional approach is to notice the

essential components of a language;• Tecniques to automize the second

language acquisition by mismatching what the students can do and need to do;

• To become aware of specific linguistic forms avaluable in the input;

Reflective teaching, surveys and needs analysis

Peer evaluation• To stress the value of

communication between and among students;

• To draw attention to the necessity for non-native speakers;

• To get feedback for the speaker on what the audience has understood;

• To obtain a wide sample of options than just one, regarding oral assessment;

Self-evaluation or assessment• The use of questionnaire;• Surveys ;• Structured interviews;• Observation in class;• Monitoring;• Case study;• Final tests;• Presentation self-

evaluation;

Conclusion

1. Communication2. Types of Professional communication;3. Competences required;4. Semi-controlled productive activities and fee- production

activities necessary to provide and improve second language aquisition;

5. Interviews and questionnaires;6. Presentation;7. Seminar skills and difficulties;8. Reflective teaching and needs analysis;9. Self- assessment and evaluation;

References

1. Dramma Techniques in Language Learning. Alom Maley and Alon Duff. Cambridge, 1978, 1982,2001. Pages 2-16, 38, 186, 201.

2. Communication and Language.N. Thompson. Palgrave Macmillan. Great Britain, 2003.Pages 9, 98, 123-132

3. How to teach English.Jeremy Harmer. Pearson Education Limited, 2007.Pages 123-132.

4. Dramma. Sarah Phillips, Oxford, 2001.Pages 5-9.5. How to teach English.Jeremy Harmer, Longman, 1998. Pages 87-96.

Thank you for your attention!!!