chapter 1 - constructivist learning approach to esp

8/12/2019 Chapter 1 - constructivist learning approach to ESP

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C o n s t r u c t i v i s t b L e n d e d l e a r n i n g a p p r o a c h

t o t e a c h i n g E n g l i s h f o r s p e c i f i c p u r p o s e s

Chapter 1 .

Exp eriential interactive learning as the

constituent part of the constructivist

approach that determines the methods

ofteaching/learningEnglishforSpecific

Purposes at tertiary schools

Ex p e r i e n t i a l i n t e r a c t i v e L e a r n i n g is t h e f ir st f u n d a m e n t a l n o t i o n f o r t h i s m o n o g r a p h

b e c a u s e i t o n e o f t h e t h r e e b a s i c n o t io n s u n d e r l y i n g t h e c o n s t r u c t i v is t a p p r o a c h

p r o p o s e d i n i t . I n f a c t , i f t h e c o n s t r u c t i v i s t a p p r o a c h i s t h e s u g g e s t e d theory

o f ESP t e a c h i n g / l e a r n i n g a t t e r t i a r y s c h o o l s ( c .f . t h e Introduction , e x p e r i e n t i a l

i n t e r a c t i v e l e a r n i n g i s o n e o f t h e b a s i c ways of implementing that the ory in rea l -

l i f e p e d a g o g i c a l p r o c e s s . To c l a r i f y t h e n o t i o n o f e x p e r i e n t i a l i n t e r a c t i v e l e a r n i n g

a d v o c a t e d i n th e m o n o g r a p h , e a c h o f th e t w o p a r ts in t h e n o t i o n s h o u l d b e

a n a l y z e d s e p a r a t e l y : experiential learning a n d interactive learning.

1 E x p e r i e n t i a l L e a r n i n g

E x p e r i e n t i a l l e a r n i n g h a s b e e n w e l l k n o w n b o t h i n E F L / E S L t e a c h i n g a n d i n t e a c h -

ing other subjects for qui te a long t ime (c . f . , for instance, the works by Cerd,

W i l l ia m s , 2 0 1 2 ; F r e e m a n , Fr e e m a n , 1 9 9 8 ; J e r a l d , C l a r k , 1 9 9 4 ; K o l b , 1 9 8 4 ) . It

o r i g i n a t e s f r o m t h e learning by doing a p p r o a c h ( D e w e y , 1 9 3 8 ) a l r e a d y d i s c u s s e d

in the Introduction. A c t u a l l y , t h e i d e a u n d e r l y i n g e x p e r i e n t i a l l e a r n i n g i n ESL / EFL

i s t h e s a m e a s i n l e a r n i n g b y d o i n g - t e a c h i n g l a n g u a g e s n o t t h r o u g h t h e o r y b u t

t h r o u g h p r a c t i c a l e x p e r i e n c e t h a t a l l o w s k n o w l e d g e a n d s k i l l s t o b e n o t l e a r n e d ,

b u t

internalized {

or

acquired .

Th e i d e a o f internalization d a t e s b a c k t o t h e w o r k s b y P i a g e t ( 1 9 5 0 ) a n d

V y g o t s k i i ( 1 9 7 8 ) . I n t e r n a l i z a t i o n m e a n s g a i n i n g a c t i v e a n d d e e p c o m m a n d o f t h e

k n o w l e d g e a n d s k i l l s t h a t b e c o m e a n i n t e g r a l p a r t o f h u m a n p e r s o n a l i t y a n d

a r e a l w a y s r e a d y f o r i m m e d i a t e o p e r a t i o n a l u s e i n c a s e o f n e e d . Th e p r o c e s s

o f i n t e r n a l i z a t i o n i s m o s t l y s u b c o n s c i o u s o r e v e n t o t a l l y u n c o n s c i o u s , t h e r e b y

req uir in g l i t t le or no ef fort for the re tent io n of wh at is bein g inter nal i z ed.

I n t e r n a l i z a t i o n m o s t l y h a p p e n s in t h e c o u r s e o f g a i n i n g e x p e r i e n c e t h r o u g h

p r a c t i c a l a c t i v i t i e s . C o n v e r s e l y , t r a d i t i o n a l l e a r n i n g i s a m u c h m o r e p a s s i v e

p r o c e s s o f c o n s c i o u s l y t r y i n g t o r e t a i n ( r e m e m b e r ) w h a t w a s e x p l i c i t l y t a u g h t

Ch ap ter 1

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by others (e.g., teachers) and not discovered by learners themselves through

practical experience. This is why what has been learned does not immediately

become an integral part of personality, is rarely ready for practical operational

use, and requires great conscious efforts for retention. Therefore, internalization

is considered to be a much more efficient and effort-saving way of educating

humans.

In ESL/EFL internalization got the name of language acquisition in the works

by Krashen (19 81) and Krashen, Terrell (19 83) that, by the way, represent the

experiential approach to language teaching as well. In those works the much

greater eff iciency of acquisition as compared to learning is also strongly empha-

sized. That eff iciency of internalization/acquisition is most clearly demonstrated

in the famous Learning Pyramid develo ped by the National Training Laboratories

in Bethel, Maine (the USA). It is shown in Fig.l.

In this pyramid the upper four layers belong to what may be called traditional

passive learning while the three bottom layers relate to the active processes of

internalization or acquisition (the latter term w ill be used further sinc e it the one

relevant for ESL/EFL contexts). And it is just the activities that are shown in the

three bottom layers that may be considered as representatives of experiential

learning, including experiential learning in EFL.

Learning Pyramid

F ig 1 Average s t udent ret ent ion rat es (Source: National Training Laboratories. Bethel, Maine, USA;

drawn on the basis of the Internet source at http://images.yandex.ua/yandexsearch?ed=l text=Pyramid

of Learning as retr ieved September 11, 2011).

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Construct iv i st bLended learning approach

to tea chin g ngl is h for specif ic purp oses

That representat ion of experient ial Learning act iv i t ies in EFL concerns even

such an activity little known in that area as Teach Others (i.e., w he n stu de nts

the ms elv es teach la ngua ge sk i l ls to each other). There i s no evidenc e kno wn to

us that it has ever been used in ESL but in EFL teaching to tertiary linguistic stu-

dents (those who are trained for the careers of translators and interpreters from

and into Engl i sh), i t has been used more than successfu l ly for a number of years

already (c.f. Tarnop olsky, Degtyariova , 20 07 ). There i s also so m e ex perie nce

in using a s imi lar approach for an ESP technical master 's program in eHealth

(Toechterle, 2012).

What has been said also concerns the layer of Discussion Group becau se

when students are discussing some extra- l inguist ic i ssue in the target language,

they are constr uct ing so m e new kno wle dge out of the facts and ide as alread y

known to them, and such construct ing i s most certain ly one of the forms of

lea rning b y doing, i.e., of expe rientia l learning, or learn ing thro ug h exp erie nce

of discu ssin g facts and ideas. In th is case, the expe rience in que st io n i s b eing

gain ed th roug h the me dium of the target language. There are other forms of ESL/

EFL learning act iv i t ies that belong to the same category as Discussion Groups,

e.g., brainstorm ing in the target language or case studies done in it They can also

be in included into the list of experiential learning activities for ESL/EFL due to

the same reasons that are g iven above for discussions in the target language.

An d it is even n ot require d to prove that Practice by Doing and Immediate Use

are experiential activities that can be actively and effectively used for ESL/EFL

teaching in a great variety of forms. Those forms can be l i sted under the two

head i ng s above: Practice by Doing and Immediate Use. The forms undo ubte dly

inc lude project work and students presentations in the target langua ge do ne in

the framework of project work or whatever other framework (Pract ice by Doing).

They inc lude role plays and simulations in the target langu age do ne as soo n

as stud ents have gained so m e new inform ation in that language. Such role

plays and simulat ions are staged for better understanding and acquisi t ion of

that information ( Immediate Use) and for pro ces sing the obta ined informa tion

in practical activities (Practice by Doing). Finally, the y includ e search for extra-

linguistic information through target language sources (Internet, audio, audio-

visual, and printed ones). That information i s required for doing extra- l inguist ic

learning tasks to be done in the target language - such as the tasks above, l ike

preparing for a presentat ion or discussion in that language, doing a case study

or project work, etc. The se arc h in qu es tion is als o on e of the form s of Practice by

Doing (practice in the target langua ge thr oug h do ing an extra- l inguist ic act ivi ty

of content information search), as well as one of the forms of Immediate Use

because the search for information i s being done for i ts immediate use - for

instance, when preparing for a presentat ion.

The eight learning act iv i t ies l i sted above are those that are considered and

further analyzed in th is monograph as the basic and principal ones for experiential

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ESP teaching/learning at tertiary schools The reasons why such activities are

believed to be experiential have already been given. But before analyzing those

activities in detail (which is the main essence of the first half of this chapter), it

is necessary to discuss why they are believed to be much more efficient than all

the other learning activities traditionally used in ESP.

The reasons for such a belief are psychological and psycholinguistic.

First, in all human activities the goal and motives are directly connected with

the activity itself. For instance, a man who h imse lf des igns and makes furniture for

his own house instead of buying it at the store does it with the aim of furnishing

that house (providing furniture for it) and following the motive of saving money

(DIY is much cheaper) and/or, possibly, another motive of satisfying his hobby

or passion for handicraft. Thus, both the aim and the motive(s) directly generate

the relevant activity - producing a piece of furniture - within ( inside) which they

both l ie in the process of that activity. The only exception from this rule is the

communicat ive act iv ity . According to Russian psychol inguists Leontiev (1969)

and Zimniaya (1985) , the a im and m otives of a l l com mun icat ion (a comm unicat ive

activity) are beyond (outside) the boundaries of that activity. For instance, if

a wife is trying to convince her husband, who is quite good at handicraft, to

make a piece of furniture for their house himself instead of buying it, her aim

is, again, providing such a piece of furniture for it and her motive is also saving

money. But if in the first case, the activity, its aim, and motive fully coincide in the

process of furniture making, in the second case the aim and the motive for DIY

furniture prod uction are the same, while the activity for satisfying the m otive and

achieving the aim is totally different. It is communication as a vicarious activity

replacing the production of a piece of furniture. With communicative activities

it is always l ike that - they are almost never the end but practically always the

means (except those quite rare, and mostly cl inical, cases when people talk just

to talk and not to achie ve some thing).

If any communicative activity is always the means for doing other activities,

gaining the command of that communicative activity wil l , certainly, be most

effective when it is acquired while fulf i l l ing its natural function - being such

means. Actually, this is exactly how hum ans acquire their L l (mother tongu e) in

their ontological de velopment. They acquire i t unco nsciously (or su bconsciou sly) ,

not by form ulating con sciou s rules for them selve s but by gradu ally adjustin g their

communication so as to achieve the best organization of those other activities

that they want to launch through verbal communication. And it is well known

that in the ontological developm ent of children such sub consc ious adjustments

(Ll acquisition) happen quite fast, very eff iciently, and seemingly effortlessly.

That is why Krashen (1981) recommends that the same approach is fol lowed

in L2 teaching - replacing conscious language learning with subconscious

language acquisition that can ensure much better learning outcomes and greatly

eco nom ize students efforts. But exp erien tial EFL/ESP learning does exactly that

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t o t e a c h i n g n g l i s h f o r s p e c i f i c p u r p o s e s

- i t p r o v i d e s fo r s u b c o n s c i o u s L 2 a c q u i s i t i o n t h r o u g h u s i n g t h e t a r g e t l a n g u a g e

c o m m u n i c a t i o n w h i l e d o i n g s o m e o t h e r a c t i v it i e s a n d a s a m e a n s f o r d o i n g t h o s e

a c t i v i t i e s (e .g ., f o r d o i n g s o m e t o p i c a l l e a r n i n g p r o je c t i n t h e t a r g e t la n g u a g e - s e e

a b o v e ) . Th i s is w h y e x p e r i e n t i a l EF L /E SL l e a r n i n g a c t i v i t i e s w i l l a l w a y s b e m o r e

e f f i c i e n t i n t h e l a n g u a g e t e a c h i n g / l e a r n i n g p r o c e s s t h a n t h e m o r e t r a d i t i o n a l

o n e s - i n f u l l a c c o r d a n c e w i t h t h e Learning Pyramid a b o v e .

S e c o n d , o n l y w h e n c o m m u n i c a t i v e s k i l l s a r e b e i n g d e v e l o p e d i n t h e f r a m e w o r k

o f e x t r a - l i n g u i s t i c a c t i v i t i e s i s g a i n i n g c o m m a n d o f a l l t h e b a s i c f u n c t i o n s o f

h u m a n c o m m u n i c a t i o n r e a l ly p o s s i b le . T h e R u s s i a n p s y c h o l o g i s t L i s i n a ( 1 9 8 6 )

n a m e s t h r e e s u c h b a s i c f u n c t i o n s : a nominative o n e ( n a m i n g s o m e t h i n g a n d

c l a s s i f y i n g ) , a regulative o n e ( o r g a n i z i n g jo i n t a c t i v i t i e s w i t h o t h e r p e o p l e ) , a n d

a n expressive o n e ( e x p r e s s i n g o n e ' s f e e l i n g s a n d e m o t i o n s ) . A l l t h e s e f u n c t i o n s

r e l at e t o t h e h u m a n e n v i r o n m e n t a n d h u m a n e x t r a - l i n g u i s t i c a c t i v i t i e s i n t h a t

e n v i r o n m e n t a n d n o t t o c o m m u n i c a t i o n per se F o r i n s t a n c e , g a i n i n g c o m m a n d

o f t h e r e g u l a t i v e f u n c t i o n o f h u m a n c o m m u n i c a t i o n i s p o s s i b l e o n l y i n t h e

s i t u a t i o n s o f o r g a n i z i n g s o m e t h i n g , i .e ., i n e x t r a - l i n g u i s t i c a c t i v i t i e s a i m e d a t

e n s u r i n g s u c h a n o r g a n i z a t i o n . Th a t is w h y if a c q u i r i n g c o m m u n i c a t i o n s k i l l s

i s a c h i e v e d t h r o u g h e x t r a - l i n g u i s t i c a c t i v i t i e s w h i c h m o d e l r e a l - l if e h u m a n

a c t i v i t i e s , t h e r e s u l t s f o r m a s t e r i n g c o m m u n i c a t i o n f u n c t i o n s a r e m u c h b e t t e r .

A n d a g a i n , t h i s i s e x a c t l y w h a t i s d o n e i n e x p e r i e n t i a l t a r g e t l a n g u a g e l e a r n i n g

- f o r i n s t a n c e , w h e n s e v e r a l s t u d e n t s t o g e t h e r d o a p r o je c t t a s k ( e x t r a - l i n g u i s t i c

a c t i v i t y ) i n t h e t a r g e t l a n g u a g e , t h e y m a y g a i n t h e c o m m a n d o f t h e r e g u l a t i v e

c o m m u n i c a t i v e f u n c t i o n in t h a t l a n g u a g e m u c h b e t t e r t h a n w h e n t h e i r l e a r n i n g

a c t i v i t y i s a i m e d a t l a n g u a g e o n l y .

Th i r d , i t i s w e l l k n o w n t h a t s t u d e n t s ' p o s i t i v e m o t i v a t i o n i s t h e m o s t i m p o r t a n t

f a c t o r f o r s u c c e s s f u l l e a r n i n g i n g e n e r a l a n d l a n g u a g e l e a r n i n g i n p a r t i c u l a r . Th e

b e s t f o r l e a r n i n g i s w h a t s o m e R u s s i a n p s y c h o l o g i s t s l i k e L e o n t i e v ( 1 9 7 5 ) c a l l

intrinsic process motivation I n t r i n s i c p r o c e s s m o t i v a t i o n ( o f t e n c a l l e d s i m p l y

intrinsic motivation i n W e s t e r n p s y c h o l o g i c a l l it e r a t u r e - W i l l i a m s , Bu r d e n ,

2 0 0 7 : 1 2 3 ) i s m a n i f e s t e d i n c a s e s w h e n a p e r s o n i s e n jo y i n g t h e p r o c e s s o f

a c t i v i t y it s e l f - r e g a r d l e s s o f t h e s i g n i f i c a n c e o f it s g o a l s a n d a c h i e v e m e n t s i n

i t for the ind iv id ua l 's l i fe , career , etc . G am es that peo ple p lay for p le asu re a nd

n o t f o r a c h i e v i n g a d e f i n i t e g o a l a r e t h e b e s t e x a m p l e s o f s i t u a t i o n s i n w h i c h

i n t r i n s i c p r o c e s s m o t i v a t i o n i s m o s t v i v i d l y d e m o n s t r a t e d . I n t r in s i c p r o c e s s

m o t i v a t i o n i s t h e m o s t e f f e c t i v e o n e f o r l e a r n i n g p u r p o s e s b e c a u s e w h e n t h a t

k i n d o f m o t i v a t i o n i s a c t i v a t e d , i t e s t a b l i s h e s a d ir e c t l in k b e t w e e n t h e a c t i v i t y

a n d i t s g o a l , s o t h a t t h e a c t i v i t y b e g i n s t o b e d o n e f o r i t s o w n s a k e ( H e c k h a u s e n ,

1991) , just for the p leasure of doing i t .

Th a t c r e a t e s t h e b e s t c o n d i t i o n s f o r involuntary retention ( Z i n c h e n k o , 1 9 6 1 ) ,

i.e. , for ef fort less an d long -term reten t ion of ev ery thin g re lated to the act iv i ty -

ju s t l i k e p e o p l e e f f o r t l e s s l y r e t a i n e v e r y t h i n g r e l a t e d t o t h e i r f a v o r i t e g a m e t h a t

t h e y e n jo y p l a y i n g . I n v o l u n t a r y r e t e n t i o n e x p l a i n s w h y p e o p l e w h o a r e l e a r n i n g a

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foreign language under the influence of intrinsic process motivation (those who

enjoy learning and communicating in the target language) almost effortlessly

remember and retain great numbers of foreign words.

In experiential ESP learning there are many more opportunities for developing

students' intrinsic process motivation than in traditional ESP as developed by

Robinson (1991) - with its principal focus on language for professional purposes

and not on professio n-related activities. Contrary to that, experiential learning in

EFL,

as it is clear from what has already been said,

is based on modeling extra-

linguistic activities a nd on comm unication in the target language related to those

activities. That comm unication is used as a mean s for achieving the goals of the

extra-linguistic activities be ing don e, and it is in the process of doing such activities

and using the target language as a mean s of achieving their goals that the target

language itself is subconsciously acquired.

But if it concerns ESP teaching and

learning, such modeled extra-l inguistic activities can only be profession-related.

ESP tertiary students are practically always highly motivated as to everything

that is closely related to or models their future professional activities. That is

why if such activities are modeled in the university ESP course, they are very

likely to generate students' intrinsic process motivation. Such motivation, when

generated, cannot but spread to everything through wh ich the goals of m odeled

profession-related activities are achieved, i .e., to professional target language

communication. That can really help in achieving the involuntary retention of

materials processed in the course of such communication, thereby improving

and facil itating the development of EFL/ESP communication skil ls - again, in full

accordance with the Pyramid of Learning in Fig.l above.

Finally, the last reason to believe in greater eff iciency of experiential ESP

teaching/ learning at tert iary schools as compared to the tradit ional ESP

approach is bound with the highly comm unicative nature of experient ia l

learning.

From the end of the f irst decade in the 2000s it has become fashionable to

spe ak about the the post-co m mu nicative era in ESL/E FL (c.f. Symposium on

gramm ar teaching in the post-commun icative era - Burkert, Mumford, t Lackman,

2010 - as the name for one of the symposia held at the IATEFL 2009 Cardiff

Conference). Communicative language learning (CLL) has started to be regarded

as a thing of the past - something to be replaced with the intercultural approach

(IA): a kind of training allowing students to communicate in English eff iciently

with representatives of different cultures without breaking the sociocultural

norms characteristic of a given culture, and in this way attaining communicators'

specif ic pragmatic goals (Ferradas, 2010). CLL is beginning to be considered as all

the more outdated because ESL/EFL teaching is more and more distancing itself

from the idea that students should be taught either British English or American

English as the two most widely spread varieties of the language that has become

the universally accepted media of international communication. After Kachru's

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Constructivist bLended learning approach to teach ing ngl ish for specif ic purposes

(1986) work on World Engl ishes, the movement advocat ing teaching Engl ish as

an International Language (EIL) or English as a Lingua Franca (ELF) is gathering

momentum (Graddol, 2006, Jenkins, 2004) , gradual ly oust ing CLL.

On the other hand, in the discussion of Tarnopolsky (2010 and 2011) vs Berry

and vs Young (2011) on the pages of three issues (217, 219, and 220) of IATEFL

Voices itwas argued that the l ine of thinking behind the assertion thatthe IA, EIL,

and ELF can oust CLL is methodologically incorrect. It is nothing better than the

result of misinterpretation because if CLL is responsible for the method of teach-

ing {how the language is taught), IA, EIL, and ELF are responsible for the selection

of teaching/learning content (what is taught in a language course) (Tarnopolsky,

2010,2011a). That is why CLL, being indifferent to the content, not only does not

form an opposition to IA, EIL, and ELF, but may very well complement them (Tar-

nopolsky, 2010, 2011a). Moreover, if we agree about the importance of teaching

IA, EIL, and ELF (and that importance cannot be denied nowadays), we have to

agree that we absolutely must complement and combine these approaches with

CLL. The reason for that is quite evident.

In what concerns the goals, nobody argues that whatever kind of English we

teach to our students (General English or ESP, American English, British English,

or EIL), we do it to develop their communicative competence (Council of Europe,

2001; Paulston, 1992). However, developing it, we may emphasize different

components of that competence which, according to the Common European

Framew ork of Reference for Language s (Council of Europe, 2001), consists of

three principal parts: the linguistic compe tence sociolinguistic competence and

pragmatic competence.

For instance, when we follow the intercultural approach, we focus more on

the sociol inguist ic and pragmatic com petences (especia l ly i f we teach Engl ish to

solve some specif ic pragmatic tasks, as in Business English) and pay less atten-

tion to the l inguistic com petenc e. But we can never totally ignore any of the three

competences whether we teach English for intercultural communication, British

or Am erican English, EIL or ELF. This is be cause in all case s we teach our studen ts

to communicate eff iciently enough to attain through that communication their

pragmatic goals without breaking any of the important l inguistic, sociolinguistic

and cultural norms that come into play in every particular communicative event.

And how can we teach such com mun icat ion without CLL that, roughly speaking,

is nothing but teaching communicat ion for communicat ion through and in com-

munication? Of course, if we focus on intercultural aspects of communication in

English and try to teach our stude nts to use EIL or ELF in such co mm unication, w e

will necessarily neglect to a certain extent traditional/standard English grammar

and pronunciation in our teaching. But it does not compromise CLL in any way.

CLL has never emphasized grammar or phonetics. But it has always emphasized

spec if ic meth ods of teach ing such as role-plays, stude nts project work and dis-

cussions, brainstorming and essay writing and a multitude of other similar com-

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municat ive learning act iv i t ies that real ly represent and embody communicat ive

langu age learning. An d no bo dy as yet has rejected such me tho ds of teaching/

learning or has even spoken about the necessi ty of reject ing them. But i f th is

i s so, there remain no grou nd s for sp ea king ab out the post- com mu nica t ive era.

Therefore, it is hard not to recognize that CLL is sti ll here to stay remaining the

most ef f i c ient method for develop ing students ' target language communicat i ve

competence which i s the f inal goal of whatever ESL/EFL teaching and learning.

But, as p roved in the article by Tarn opo lsky (201 1), in what con cer ns ESP ( in

particular, Busin ess Engl ish), experient ial le arning i s the be st represe ntat ion and

em bo dim en t of CLL, and the m ost eff icient and effect ive as to learning outco me s.

This i s because experient ial learning act iv i t ies have features that best su it the

bas i c requ i rements to communicat i ve Eng l i sh teach ing for u s ing the language

taught in s tudents ' fu ture profe ss iona l comm unicat ion that i s su pp os ed to serve

their future professional work:

1. They al low faithful m ode ling of pro fessio nal act iv i t ies, pro fessio nal com -

mun icat ion, and profess iona l com mun icat ion s i tuat ions.

2. Al l ESP exper ient ial learning activ i ties can easi ly be bas ed on whate ver

conte nt matter related to pro fessio nal act iv i ties that nee ds to be learned.

This makes such learning act iv i t ies very f lex ible in what concerns their adjust-

ment to ESP teaching/learning at tert iary schools, potent ial ly improving thereby

students ' learn ing outcomes.

The al l-pervasive communicat ive nature of experient ial learning does not

me an that, i f such learning i s introduc ed into ESP tea ching proc ess at tert iary

scho ols, more fo rma l typ es of lea rning act ivi t ies, al l thos e that are most ly aime d

at s tudents ' ga in ing the command of vocabu lary and g rammar, are p lanned to

be total ly discarded. That would not be rat ional at al l because second language

acquisi t ion (SLA) research and pract ical teaching in the last three decades have

shown that some focus ing o f s tudents ' a t tent ion on language forms and con-

sc ious ness- r a i s ing a s to them are ind i spe nsab le for ach iev ing the best resu l t s in

target langu age acq uisi t ion (Dough ty, Wi l l iams, 19 98 ; El li s, 19 90 ; Fotos, 19 94 ;

Rutherford, 19 87 ; 0. Tarnop olsky, 19 99 ; Walter, 201 2).W hat i s actual ly mea nt i s

a hardly refutable statement that more or less formal (speci f ic language forms-

oriented) learning act iv i t ies should be on the periphery of the teaching/learn-

ing process. The focus sho uld be on total ly com mu nicat iv e exp erient ial lea rning

act iv i t ies and the greatest amount of teaching/learning t ime should be devoted

to them.

On the basis of the above analysi s of the characteri st ics of experient ial learn-

ing and i ts adva ntage s, the defin i t ion of such learning for an ESP cou rse at terti -

ary schools can be formulated. That defin i t ion may be worded as fol lows:

The

e x p e r i e n t i l l e r n i n g

in the conditions of teaching ESP to tertiary school

students is a form of learning implem ented through a set of specific learning activi

ties. They ensure the acquisition ofth target language and comm unicative skills in

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Constructivist bLended learning approach to teachin g English for specific purposes

it as by-products of extra-linguistic activities modeling professional activities of a

future specialist. In this way, students them selves construct their target language

professional comm unication skills through the experience of direct participation in

such professional comm unication. This makes experiential learning a fundamental

feature of the constructivist approach.

The specific learning activities through which experiential learning in an ESP

course can be implemented have already been listed above. They include:

1. Role playing professiona l situations in the target language;

2. Sim ulating professional activities in the target languag e (including such a

form of simulations as continuous simulations discussed further);

3. Project work (when students do profession-oriente d learning projects

using the target language for doing such projects);

4. Brainstorming some professiona l issue(s) in the target language;

5. Case studies conce rning some profession al issue(s) and done in the target

language;

6. Discus sions of some professiona l issue(s) condu cted in the target

language;

7. Stude nts' presentations on some professiona l issue(s) delivered in the

target language;

8. Stud ents ' search for profe ssiona l extra -l inguistic information through

target language sources (Internet, audio, audio-visual, and printed

ones), that search being undertaken for f inding some particular

information required for doing some profession-oriented learning

assignments.

All these learning activities deserve special and detailed analysis.

2 E x p e r i e n t i a l L e a r n i n g a c t i v i t i e s

2.1. Role p layin g profes sional situations in the target

language in ESP

2.1.1. Definition of roLe pLays and their use in ESP teaching/

Learning

For decades role playing has been very popular in language teaching and widely

discussed in professional literature on such teaching (c.f. Car, 1976; Debyser,

197 6; Livingstone, 1982; Maley, Duff, 198 3; Ments, 1999 : Nunan, 198 9;

Watcym-Jones, 1978, and many other authors). This is because role playing is

an inalienable part of CLL. And since experiential learning is one of the branches

(modifications) of CLL, it cannot do without role playing, all the more so that role

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play ing has a lways bee n cons idere d as Learn ing th rough exp er ience in m ode led

real-life situations.

The comp lete d efin i t ion of role playing in langua ge learning m ay be as fol lows:

o l e p l a y s in language learning are based on classroom mode ling of target

language comm unication situations. In such modeled situations every learner-

comm unicator acts out the roles typical for those modeled situa tions (a custom er,

a passenger, a patient, etc. - the num ber of possible roles is unlimited). While

acting out roles, the learner-comm unicator is suppose d to solve some extra-

linguistic problem (s) (set in the assignmen t/instruction to the role play) w ith the

purpose of achieving some e xtra-linguistic goals (those goals having been either

explicitly set in the assignment/ instruction to the role play or formulated by

learners-comm unicators them selves in the process of role playing). The learner-

communicator is also supposed to take into account the modeled situations, the

roles, and the possible relationships betwe en comm unicators in accordance with

those roles, as well as the comm unicative intentions of all participants in that

particular p iece of comm unication. If all the above conditions are observed, role

playing becom es a kind of life-size experience for students in which mod eled life-size

problem s are being solved and modeled life-size goals are being achieved through

the medium of the target language. This allows for subconscious acquisition of the

target language in the process of living the mod eled experience.

The g iven defin i t ion i s fu l ly with in the range of shorter defin i t ions form ulated

by L i vi ngst one ( 198 2) (aclassroom activity which gives thestudents the opportunity

to practice the language they may need outside the classroom), Ment s ( 1999 )

(asking someo ne to imagine that they are either them selves or another p erson in a

particular situation), or Al-M utaw a, Kai lani (1 98 9) (a technique that affords an

opportun ity to practice a new structure in the context of natural comm unicative

usage). But the def in i t ion g i ven by us see ms to be much m ore com preh ens i ve

than the on es q uoted, i.e., more precise and mu ch less am bigu ous .

As an exa mp le pract ical ly ideal ly su it ing the defin i t ion above, one o f man y role

plays sugges ted in the book by L i v ingstone (1 98 2: 18 ) can be c ited:

You bought a sweater tw o days ago. You have discovered a hole init Takeitback

to shop and explain the problem. You do not want another sweater; you want your

money back. Be polite at all times.

This example clearly demonstrates probably the most important feature of

all role plays: their problem -solving nature that makes them representat ive not

only of experient ial learning but also of the task-based approach to language

teac hing (Pica, 20 07 ; Prabhu, 19 87 ; Skehan, 2002 ). Fol lowing the instruct ion to

the role play above, the students f ind themselves in a problem-solv ing s i tuat ion

where they are supposed to play the roles of unsat i sf ied customers who need to

prove their points despite the object ions of shop staff in order to be refunded

(problem-solv ing, or solv ing of a l i fe- l ike task with an unavoidable confl ict of

interests in the proc ess of f inding so m e sa t i sfying solut ion). It i s th is pro blem -

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solv ing nature that makes role playing di fferent from other k inds of learning

act iv i t ies such as dramatizations or playing out situations of social contacts.

Dramatizations are a kind of lea rning activities in wh ich stu de nts act out

dialo gue s or stories written or othe rwis e p repare d for them. The part icipants

in a dram atizat ion s im ply act out the text of a dialo gue or transform a story into

a dialogu e a nd act it out. The de vel op me nt of the convers at ion a nd i ts end are

known in advance ( l ike for actors on the stage). Such dramatizat ions are useless

in ESP teaching because nothing in th is k ind of act iv i ty may be considered as

typical of pro fessio nal c om mu nicat ion . With a role play, it i s abs olut ely di fferent.

Because of the problem and the confl ict of interest, nobody knows how the

com mu nica t ion i s go ing to de velo p and h ow it i s go ing to end - just as it hap pe ns

in profes siona l com mu nica t ion (e.g., in busin es s talks). This i s w hy o nly pro blem -

solv ing role plays and not dramatizat ions are required for ESP teaching on the

con ditio n that the stu de nts neve r prepa re su ch role pla ys in adv ance , i.e., the y

must be total ly spontaneous. I f students f i rst discuss how they are going to act

out a role play, the s eq ue nc e of their rem arks, etc., it is not a role play but a

dramatization with no problem to solve or no conflict of interest.

The same can be said about the learning act iv i ty that could be cal led playing

out situations of social contacts. The instruct ion for a student doing such a k ind

of activity may be as follows, You are a customer who w ishes to buy some definite

issue of a definite magazine from a news agent (the other student in the pair). Ask

for the maga zine and its price. If it is available, buy it; ifnot,ask w hether you can

order it or where you can get it . There i s absolutely no problem to solve in th is

cas e and no conflict of intere sts as distinct from role plays, and, therefore, su ch

social contacts are not very typical of genuine professional communicat ion. That

is w hy if suc h lea rning activities are quite p oss ibl e and use ful at the initial stage s

of teac hing G ene ral E ngl i sh, they are hardly go od for ESP.

So role plays developed for experient ial learning should always have a problem

to be solve d by the stud ents w ho are doin g the role playin g - like in Di Pietro s

sce nario s (1 98 7) w hich are, in fact, the sam e role plays. In most cases, the p rob lem

is based on the conflict of participants interests, that conflict being conditioned

by the roles they play (e.g., like in the ab ove role play de ve lop ed by Livingstone :

the interests of the customer who wants to be refunded oppose the interests of

a shop a ssi stant w ho w ants to avoid the necessi ty of paying the refund money).

It sho uld also be rema rked that in ESP it i s more habitual to spe ak abo ut

simulations and not about role plays because s imu lat ions are most ly bel ieved to

be l inked to professional content matter - including the content of professional

communicat ion in the target language. But whether we shou ld speak about and

use s imulat ions or role plays depends on students future specialty and their

current m ajor. If the stu de nts major in Econo mic s, Engin ee ring, or science s, it

i s better to speak abo ut s im ulat io ns (e.g., w he n bus ine ss talks or mee tings at

a Product ion Department are s imulated). Communicat ion in such si tuat ion

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is too specif ic, both in what concerns the content and the Language, and too

far removed in that respect from everyday problems and everyday (General)

English required for solving such problems. On the other hand, if the students

major in humanities, in a number of cases it is better to speak about role plays

and not simulations. A good example demonstrating why it is so may be taken

from the already mentioned coursebook for university students of Psychology

Psychological Matters by Tarnopolsky, Kozhushko, et al. (2011a) - Unit 4.

Balancing Work and Family.

Role play Act outadialogue betw een an employer and a working person (mother

or father) who is asking for a release time from work to attend to her/his children's

needs a t school. Themother/father'should follow the recomm endations (both those

that are in the text above and those that you have deve loped in your discussion).

Please, keep in mind that 'the employer' is certainly unwilling to give 'the employee'

some extra release time. S/he will listen to reason only if'the employee' proves that

such extra release time is absolutely necessary and that her/his work will not suffer

because ofit.

The learning activity in the example above is undoubtedly aimed at developing

professional target language communication in English of future practical

psychologists - those skil ls that they need to advise their cl ients how to behave

in working place conflicts. But that activity is better called a role play and not a

simulation because it deals with a situation of everyday life (just like the work

of practical psychologists usually does) and everyday (General) English with no

special terminology is to be used for communicating in such a situation. It means

that not only simulations but also role plays can be used in ESP teaching dep end ing

on what particular ESP is being taught. When teaching future psychologists, it is

going to be mostly role plays, not simulations ( l ike in the coursebook mentioned

above), and this is why they are analyzed in this monograph.

As to professional communication skil ls development with the aid of role

plays, they are certainly most beneficial for acquiring speaking skil ls in the

target language. Naturally, l istening skil ls are also developed because when

role playing, students are listening to each other. It means that role plays as a

learning activity are mostly design ed for studen ts acqu isition of skil ls in target

language oral communicat ion.

However, role plays can be no less helpful in developing reading and writing

skil ls. For instance, as can be seen from the instruction to the role play above

designed for students of Psychology, it is based on reading a professional

text, that reading preceding and providing information for actual role playing

(role playing could be based on l istening as well - e.g., l istening to a fragment

of a psychological session where a psychologist is advis ing his/her cl ient how

to behave in a similar situation). Reading can also follow role playing - for

instance, when after role playing a psychological consultation, students are

requested to read some professional text explaining how such a particular kind

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of psychological consultat ions should be conducted with further discussion of

drawbacks in students' performance in the role play from the professional point

of view. Writing m ay follow role play ing in the same manner - for exam ple, wh en

students are requested to write a report on a psychological consultation just role

played by them w ith the aim of presen ting that report at a seminar of p ractical

psychologists ( the learning tasks discussed above are based on the coursebo ok

Psychological Matters by Tarnopolsky, Kozhush ko, et al. (2011a)).

In all these cases, rea ding and w riting tasks either serve as the source of extra-

l inguistic information for role playing or are the means of summarizing its re-

sults, and it is in the process of solving such extra-l inguistic tasks that students'

target language ski l ls in reading and writ ing are being developed subc onsc iously

in full accordance with the experiential learning procedure discussed before.

Therefore, in a properly organized ESP learning role playing may serve both the

development of target language oral communication skil ls (speaking and l isten-

ing) and target language written communication skil ls (reading and writing) with

practically equal eff iciency.

An important question concerns the stage of students' target language

development at which role plays, such as the role play for future psychologists

described above, become feasible. The role plays of the above level of language

and content diff iculty are most definitely impossible to be used atthe beginner's

A level of students' language development in General English. But on the other

hand, they become accessible to students if their level of EFL development is

Bl , Bl+, a l l the more so B2 (Counci l of Europe, 2001) - pre-intermediate and

intermediate levels. But it is just at this level of command of General English

that students start to learn ESP. For instance, in Ukraine, for which the teaching/

learning approach discussed in this monograph was initially developed, tertiary

students usual ly atta in Bl , Bl+, or sometimes B2 level in their General Engl ish

command by the end of their f irst year of university studies, and it is beginning

with their second year at university that they ordinarily start learning ESP. It is

just for the students of this level of language development (i.e.,for those who have

reached B1/B1+/B 2 levels in their General English and start learning ESP on that

basis) and this period o f language studies that our approach had originally been

developed, and that should be kept in mind when evaluating both the ESP role

play above and all the other learning activities suggested in this chapter and the

monograph as a whole.

2.1.2. CLassification of roLe pLays and their organization

Role plays can be classif ied according to:

1. The num ber of participants - those played in pairs, in sm all grou ps of 3- 4

students, or by the entire academic group who are learning ESP together

in one classroom.

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2. The Location - classroom role plays or those held outside the classroom,

for instance, when ESP students are touring a practical psychologist or a

doctor s office for learning purposes.

3. The need for initial preparation - like reading, or listening, or watch ing a

video before staging the role play to obtain some information required

for such staging.

k. The degree of using aids for role playing - a bsenc e of aids; using only

visual or auditory aids like video, pictures, or music; using also verbal

supports like lists of words for giving language help to students when

they are role playing (hand-outs), etc.

5. Involveme nt of all four comm unication skills (speaking, listening, reading,

writing) or limiting them to two (speaking and listening only) or three

skills (reading or writing in addition to speaking and listening).

6. The degree of control of students role behavior (whether the instructions

to the role play grant students freedom in what they do within the loose

framework oftheroles indicated for them or whether that instruction fu lly

determ ines their role behav ior - e.g., when in the role play for students of

Psychology above the student impersonating the employer is instructed

to be as little compromising as possible).

7. The degree of control of goa l-settin g in a role play - w hether the go al

of communication is predetermined by an instruction or whether the

players themselves formulate their goals in the process of playing

on the basis of the roles assigned to them. For instance, in the role

play above the communication goal of the employee talking to his/

her employer is pre-set (getting release time from work), but in

other role plays it may be not formulated at all with only the roles of

communicators and the situation of communication being outl ined in

the instruction.

In the organizational aspect, role playing may include several stages:

1. Preparation by the teacher: dec iding what the comm unication situation,

the roles of participants, and their goals are going to be; dec iding whether

the students leve l of langua ge de velopm ent is sufficient for just such a

role play; deciding whether they will need supports, what kinds of sup-

ports, and preparing those supports; deciding whether students will need

initial preparation for role playin g - like reading, or listening, or w atching

a video before staging the role play to obtain some information required

for such staging - and assem bling m aterials for such students prepara-

tion; compiling instructions for students, etc.

2. Stude nts initial preparation: reading, or listening, or wa tching video be-

fore staging the role play to obtain some information required for such

staging.

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3. Instructions to stude nts (by the teacher): des crib ing the com mu nicatio n

situation, assigning roles, setting goals (if they need to be set), and answer-

ing possible students questions.

k. Role playin g itself.

5. Debriefing - d iscussin g and comm enting on the results of role playing

(both the teacher and the students comments).

6. Follow-up - l ike students majoring in Psychology writing a summ ary in Eng-

lish of psyc holo gical session that they have just role played for p reparing

a presentation or report at a mode led seminar of practical psycholog ists

that may be one of the following experiential learning activities.

Only the third and the fourth stages are mandatory and absolute ly unavoidable;

all the others can be m ore or less optional. For instance, the first stage (preparation

by the teacher) is not required when everything necessary for organizing a role

play has already been prepared for the teacher in the cou rsebook or other teach-

ing materials used by him or her (as it is in the coursebook Psychological Mat-

ters by Tarnopolsky, Kozhushko, et al. (2011 a) mentioned above). As to the secon d

stage (initial stud ents preparation), it is less frequ ently omitted in ESP, but such

omissions are quite possible when the students were learning all the content ma-

terials required for role playing at some earlier stages. The debriefing stage (omit-

ted most rarely) may be useless in such infrequent case s when students work was

so good that the teacher has practically nothing to comment on except say ing how

good a job the students have done. Finally, though the follow-up stage sh ould

mostly be used in experiential teaching to ensure logica l modeling of professional

activities follow ing e ach other in a consecutive order according to a certain profes-

sional logic, in some case s the role play itself may be the en d- pi ec e -f or instance,

when finishing a ll learning activities on some ESP topic of profession al interest.

An important issue is the teacher s invo lvement in the process of stude nts

role playing. In principle, teachers may take part in their studen ts role plays as

participants. But this is probably not the best solution because, in this case, a

teacher can join only one pair or small group out of several who are role playing

simultane ously in the classroom. The opportunity of helping and obse rving (to get

information for debriefing) other pairs and small groups will be lost. So, the best

involvement for the teacher is probably becoming an observer circulating among

pairs and small groups of students and listening to their role playing. In that case,

the teacher can also be a consultant givin g prompts to students when they require

them.

Som e other essential requirements for teachers whe n organ izing their students

role playing in an ESP course are as follows:

1. to avoid makingon e pairof students oro ne smal l gro up ofth em perform in

front of all the other students who are silently l istening; though sometime s

that may become advisable (e.g., for demonstrating the performance of

the best students as a sample) - as a rule, all students in class should role

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p lay s imulta neo us ly i n the ir pa i rs or sma l l g roup s ; otherwi se , p rec ious t ime

of ta rget langu age com mun icat ion, wh ich m ode ls rea l- li fe p rofess iona l

communicat ion, wi l l be lost for the major i ty of learners;

2 . to avo id i n ter rupt ing s tudent s wh i le they a re com mu nica t ing in the ta rget

language in the process of role p lay ing for correct ing their language

mistakes (except thos e ca se s wh en mi s takes m akes wha t i s be in g sa id by a

s t uden t i n co mp reh en s i b l e - t a c t f u l p rompt s s hou ld be u sed in s u ch c a ses );

teache r s i n ter rupt ions d ue to lea rners langu age fau l t s may d i s rupt the i r

c ommun i ca t i on ;

3. to avo id dem on stra t ing to stud ent s the interest in their l inguist ic

perf orm ance only; learners sho uld fe el that their teache r is intereste d in

wh at the y say, their ideas, etc., an d n ot onl y in ho w th ey sa y it (the la ngu age );

4. to avo id ma kin g stud ent s nerv ou s and anxi ou s (e.g., abo ut their grade s,

about hear ing someth ing d i scourag ing f rom the teacher concern ing the i r

performance) in the process of role p lay ing; students should feel re laxed

and f ree of whatever persona l fea rs tha t can d i s rupt communicat ion or

mak e it m uch less eff ic ient than i t cou ld be other wise;

5 . to avo id lower ing s tude nt s mot i va t ion leve l s by sug ges t ing ro le p lay s

that cannot interest them or repeat ing the same kinds of role p lays over

and over aga in , thus gene ra t ing m on oto ny and b ore do m in the teach ing/

learning process;

6 . to avo id s tag ing ro le p lay s very ra re ly and i r re gu la r ly - t he y sho u ld bec om e

a regular part of the learning process for the students to learn p lay ing them

without too much efforts and to start enjoy ing such p lay ing.

7 . to avo id surpa ss ing the reason ab le leve l o f langu age and in format ion

di ff iculty for stud ent s (at the given stage of their langu age a nd pro fess iona l

dev e lop me nt ) i n the ir ro le p lay ing a s s i g nme nt s . It doe s not m ean that

s tude nt s sho u ld have abso lute ly a ll content i n format ion and a ll langua ge

(for instance, a ll vo cab ular y) for role p lay in g at their d i sposa l. There sh ou ld

be som e k ind of inform at ion gap, just l ike in a l l tas k-b ase d ass ig nm ent s,

oth erw ise there is go in g to be no sen se in role p lay ing at a l l be cau se the

pr ob lem s to be so lve d wi l l be lacking (c.f. Prabhu, 198 7). There a lso ma y

be som e voc abu lary that stu den ts do not know but may need for their role

p lay . However , th i s voca bu la r y sh ou ld i nc lude o n ly a few wo rds tha t may be

easi ly prompted by the teacher before role p lay ing or in the process of i t

w i t hou t endang e r i n g t he smo oth f low o f s t uden t s c omm un i ca t i on . S o , wha t

i s mea nt by the above requ i reme nt is mak ing ro le p lay ing ta sks ac cess ib le

to s tudent s , even though a t ta in ing that access ib i l i t y may demand the i r

se r iou s e f for ts . In fac t, su ch e f for ts sho u ld be constant ly d em an de d f rom

s tuden t s beca u se on l y t hey c an en su re t he l ea rn i ng p rog re s s .

The requirem ents formulated above concern all experiential learning activities

discussed in this chapter so they will not be repeated again.

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t o t e a c h i n g E n g l i s h f o r s p e c i f i c p u r p o s e s

2

S i m u l a t i n g p r o f e s s i o n a l a c t i v i t i e s b y m e a n s o f t h e

t ar get l anguage i n E SP

2 2 1 D efin it io n o f s i m ul at i o n s an dt h e i r us e i n E SPt eac hing/

learning

S i m u l a t i o n s i n E S P t e a c h i n g h a v e b e c o m e n o l e s s p o p u l a r th a n r o l e p l a y s a re i n

t e a c h i n g G e n e r a l E n g l i s h . T h e y a r e a l s o v e r y t h o r o u g h l y a n a l y z e d in p r o f e s s i o n a l

l it e r a tu r e ( C r o o k a ll , & O x f o r d , 1 9 9 0 ; D a v i s o n , & G o r d o n , 1 9 7 8 ; J o n e s , 1 9 8 2 ;

V i s h n y a k o v a , 1 9 8 7 ) . J o n e s d e f i n e s a s i m u l a t i o n in l a n g u a g e t e a c h i n g a s

... r e a l i t y o f f u n c t i o n i n a s i m u l a t e d e n v i r o n m e n t , a n d i t i s t h a t r e a l i t y o f

f u n c t i o n th a t d i s t i n gu i s h e s i t f r o m a r o l e p l a y ( J o n e s , 1 9 8 2 : 4 - 5 ) . Th e d e f i n i t i o n

i s g o o d b e c a u s e i t d r a w s a d i s t i n c t i o n b e t w e e n s i m u l a t i o n s a n d r o l e p l a y s .

T h e s e t w o l e a r n i n g a c t i v i t i e s a r e v e r y m u c h a l i k e s i n c e i n s i m u l a t i o n s s t u d e n t s

a l s o p l a y r o l e s w h i l e t h e y a r e e n ga ge d i n e x t r a - l i n gu i s t i c a c t i v i t i e s i n w h i c h

c o m m u n i c a t i o n i s h e l d in th e t a rg e t l a n g u a g e . B u t i n s i m u l a t i o n s

the function

o f t h e a c t i v i t y ( l i k e s o l v i n g a p r o f e s s i o n a l p r o b l e m ) i s f o c u s e d u p o n , w h i l e i n

r o l e p l a y s t h e f o c u s i s o n m o d e l i n g a r e a l - l i f e s i t u a t i o n f o r c o m m u n i c a t i o n .

H o w e v e r , J o n e s ' s d e f i n i t i o n is n o t s u f f i c ie n t f o r E S P t e a c h i n g b e c a u s e n o t h i n g

i s s a i d a b o u t th e o r i e n t a t i o n o f s i m u l a t i o n s a t s t u d e n t s ' p r o f e s s i o n a l a c t i v i t i e s .

J u s t t h a t p o i n t w a s e m p h a s i z e d b y t h e R u s s i a n s c h o l a r V i s h n y a k o v a ( 1 9 8 2 ) w h o

w a s d i s c u s s i n g u s i n g s i m u l a t i o n s in t e a c h i n g R u s s i a n a s a f o r e i g n l a n g u a g e a n d

d e f i n e d t h e m a s p r a c t i c a l c l a s s e s m o d e l i n g d i f fe r e n t a s p e c t s o f p r o f e s s i o n a l

a c t i v i t i e s .

On t h e b a s i s o f t h e s e t w o d e f i n i t i o n s , o u r o w n d e f i n i t i o n o f s i m u l a t i o n s i n ESP

t e a c h i n g a n d l e a r n i n g c a n b e f o r m u l a t e d :

Simulations in ESP teaching and learning are learning activities similar to role

plays with the difference that they focus not so much on comm unication situations

but more on the functions of professional activities being modeled in them.

Just l i ke in a ro le p lay , in s imulat ions there are ro les , s i tuat ions of communica-

t i o n i n w h i c h t h o s e r o l e s a r e p l a y e d , s e p a r a t e a c t i o n s w i t h i n t h e a c t i v i t y b e i n g

modeled, and, of course, the problem(s) to be solved. But i f for a ro le p lay

the

conflict of interests i s q u i t e c o m m o n ( e .g ., t h e c o n f l i c t o f i n t e r e s t s b e t w e e n a c u s -

t o m e r a n d a s h o p a s s i s t a n t i n t h e r o l e p l a y s u gge s t e d b y L i v i n gs t o n e o r a c o n f l i c t

o f i n t e r e s t s b e t w e e n a n e m p l o y e e a n d a n e m p l o y e r in t h e a b o v e ESP r o l e p l a y

f o r s t u d e n t s o f Ps y c h o l o gy ) , f o r a s i m u l a t i o n

the conflict of opinions

i s m u c h m o r e

t y p i c a l s i n c e t h e p a r t i c i p a n t s s t r i v e t o a t t a i n o n e a n d t h e s a m e go a l a n d t h e r e a r e

n o c o n t r a d i c t i o n s a m o n g t h e m a s t o w h a t t h a t go a l is . But t h e r e i s a c o n t r a d i c t i o n

a s t o t h e w a y o f a c h i e v i n g t h e go a l ( a c o n f l i c t o f o p i n i o n s ) t h a t d i f f e r e n t p a r t i c i -

p a n t s s u gge s t , a s c a n b e s e e n f r o m a n e x a m p l e b e l o w o f a n ESP s i m u l a t i o n t a k e n

f r o m t h e c o u r s e b o o k

Business Projects

b y Ta r n o p o l s k y , K o z h u s h k o , et a l. ( 2 0 0 2 )

Unit

7.

Marketing.

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Student A

You are a representative of a

manufacturer. Discuss with the

middlem an (a who lesaler or retailer)

the conditions of distributing your

product He/she will store it But who

will transport it? You w ould prefer it

to be the middleman because you lack

the means of transportation. If he/she

agrees to undertake transportation,

you are willing to lower the price h e/

she will pay you for the products.

Student

You are a middleman (a wholesaler

or retailer). Discuss with the

representative of a manufacturer

the conditions of distributing his/

her product. You will store it. But

who will transport it? You prefer

it to be the responsibility of the

manufacturer because you lack the

means of transport. But you can solve

the problem and find the means of

transport if the manufacturer agrees

to lower the price at which you will

buy the product. You would like a 15

reduction if you transport the product.

Discuss this with the manu facturer's

representative.

It sho u ld be noted that w he n th i s parti cu lar s imu lat io n i s being organ ized

in the c lassroom, each one of the two studen ts-part i c ipa nts i s not su pp os ed

to know the instruct ions received by h is/her counterpart. Otherwise, i f those

are mutual ly know n, the proble m to be d i scus sed d i sapp ears. Th i s i s bec ause

not only the cause of the confl ict of opin ions (both s ides are unwi l l ing to un-

dertake t ransportat ion ) is revealed in adva nce but the g ro und s for the c om pro -

mise are also dis clo se d be fore the dis cu ss ion beg ins. A s imi lar restr ict ion (the

part i c ipants shou ld not know the op in ions and ideas o f other part i c ipants in

advance) appl ies to most ESP s imu lat ions ju st because, un l i ke ro le p lays, they

represent the conf l i ct o f op in ions typ ica l for profess iona l communicat ion and

not the confl ict of intere sts typica l for eve ryd ay l ife (and wh ich i s in ma ny ca se s

qu i te obv ious wi thout any d i scuss ion ) .

S im u lat io ns in ESP a lwa ys deve lop pr imar i ly ora l com mu nica t ion sk i l l s

(speaking and l i stening - just l ike in role plays) s ince they inevitably include

profe ss iona l d i scu ss io ns in wh ic h part i c ipants act in som e p rofes s iona l ro les.

But un l i ke ro le p lays, the proce ss o f s imu lat ing mos t ly inc lude s agre eing on a

wh ole cha in o f profe ss iona l so lu t ions requ i red to com e to a com pro mis e in

what concerns the conf l i ct o f op in ions. For in stance, in the s imu lat ion above

Student sho u ld agree to undertake t ra nsportat ion ( the f ir st profess ion a l so lu -

t ion in a chain and the f i rst compromise) on the condit ion that Student Aag rees

to lower the pr ice ( the seco nd profe ss iona l so lu t ion in a cha in and the sec ond

compromise) . Th i s s t ructure of ESP s imu lat ions makes them c loser to typ ica l

profess iona l communicat ion than ro le p lays.

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Constructivist bLended learning approachto teachin g nglish for specific purposes

Besides, if in role plays recourse to written communication (reading and

writing) is possible and desirable but more or less optional, in simulations

that recourse is practically mandatory. First, simulations are almost always

preceded by students' collecting some professional information required

for simulating, and that is mostly done through reading. For example, before

staging the simulation above students need to know what product is being

sold and transported, what its characteristics and conditions of transportation

are, what the standard price is on the basis of wh ich the 1 5 discou nt may

be requested, etc. Thus, reading must obligatorily precede such a simulation

- exactly as it would have happened in real-l ife professional oral business

communication. But in real l ife such communication would almost inevitably

be followed by writing - preparing contract on the basis of the talks or writing

a report on the talks for the employer by a representative of the manufacturer,

etc. For an ESP simulation just such a follow-up is also natural and should never

be omitted. So, in this respect (practically mandatory involvement of aII the four

basic communication skil ls) simulations are also closer to genuine professional

communication than role plays.

It is due to such features of simulations, as distinct from role plays, that

they, and not role plays, are mostly used in ESP teaching (though, as already

said, for students of some humanities, l ike Psychology, role plays are better

adapted).

2.2.2. CLassification of simuLations and their organization

The classification of simulations is quite similar to the classification of role plays.

Just like those, simulations can be classified according to:

1. The number of participants.

2. The location - ESP simulations can be held outside the classroom. For

instance, future aviation dispatchers can be taken to the airport training

center with all the mock equipment installed there and simulate doing in

English the job that they are taught to do.

3. The degree of using supports when simulating some professiona l activity,

including using or not using language supports.

k. The degree of control of students' role behavior in a simulation.

5. The degree of control of goa l-setting in a simulation.

But unlike role plays, there can be no simulations that do not need some de-

gree of initial preparation by students (like gathering some information required

for simulating accurately some professional activity). Therefore, simulations with

absolutely no involvement of reading and/or writing are hardly possible either

(see above).

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The stages in organiz ing a s imulat ion also coincide with the stages of organ-

izing a role play:

1. Pre para tion by the teacher.

2. In it ial stud ent s pre pa rat ion.

3. Instruct ing stud ents by the teacher.

4. Sim ulat in g a pro fessio nal act ivi ty i tself.

5. Debriefing.

6. Follow-up.

But unlike role playing, only the stage of preparation by the teacher can

be opt ional among the six stages and i s not required when, for instance, the

coursebook ( the Teacher s Book) contains everything the teacher may need for

organiz ing a s imulat ion. Al l the other stages, as fol lows from everything that has

been sa id above, sho u ld be cons idered as a lmost a lways mandatory.

As i s clear from what has been said when discussing role plays, everything

stated ear l ier concern ing the teachers invo lvement and the requ i rements to

teachers in the process of students role playing relate in an equal measure to

the organizat ion of s imulat ions (as well as to al l the other experient ial learning

act iv i t ies). But there i s one more speci f ic and quite an important requirement

that concerns the organizat ion of s imulat ions only (Vishnyakova, 1987).

This is the requirement to organize them in such a way that imitational mod eling

of professional activities i s ensured. This means that in an ESP simulation not only

the professional communicat ion i tself but the non-verbal professional act iv i t ies

acc om pan ying that com mu nicat ion shou ld a lso be s imulated. For instance, if a

business meeting i s being s imulated, students should not only talk in English on

profess ional (business) matters, they shou ld also d o wha t professiona ls usual ly do

at such meetings: demonstrate diagrams and graphs, present some samples, etc.

Otherwise, learners will not really feel themselves to be in a quasi -genuine pro-

fessional environment and much of the experiential learning effect may be lost.

On the other hand, imitat ing professional non-verbal act iv i t ies and environment

should be balanced and never overdone because that may distract students from

what is really important in an ESP course - professional communication in English.

Thus, s imulat ing profess ional act iv i ties of a rai lway engine er in an ESP classro om

do es not require bringing a locomotive into that classro om - b esid es b eing im po s-

sible, that i s not even desi rable bec ause stude nts attent ion wi l l be focuse d o n the

locomotive and not on comm unicat ion. In the same way, tho ugh o rganiz ing ESP

simula t ions in professional locat ions ( like an ESP simulat ion in a locomotive she d

organized for future rai lway engineers) may sometimes be desi rable, as fol lows

from point 2 in the classification of sim ulat ions ab ove, it sh ou ld never be freq uent.

Such simulat ions in professional locat ions are good only as infrequent (sporadic)

events for reinforcing students belief in the modeled professional activities in

their ESP classroom. But i f those events hap pen too often, they m ay unnec essari ly

distract learners from their communication in the target language.

3 9

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2.2.3. Definition of continuous simulation and its use in ESP

teaching/Learning

ALL the above requireme nts to sim ulations in ESP are be st met in a compara-

tively novel kind of such simulations called continuous simulations (Tarnopolsky,

& Kozhushko, 2003), f irst presented and discussed as a tool in Business English

teac hing at IATEFL 199 8 Manche ster confere nce by Tarno polsky (2000).

ont inuous simulat ion

is a specific o rganization of a Business English (as a spe-

cif ic type of ESP - Ell is, & John son, 1 99 4) course when learning develops as con-

tinuous mo deling and enacting of business activities and comm unication in class.

The enactment is done in the framework of almost life-size functioning of an imagi-

nary company. Students themselves invent it, set itup ,organ ize its functioning ,

and work in that compan y.

It is a kind of play where learners themselves are

actors, directors, and playwrights on an on-going basis. Continuous simulation,

unl ike tradit ional s imulat ions, which are disconnected episodes in the learning

process, creates a common meaningful plot for Business English learning and

communicative activities in the course, that plot being developed from class to

class. Students decide what form of business they are going to organize, what

the structure and management hierarchy of their company is going to be; they

organize the company, elect or appoint its top executives, f ind, interview, and

select employees; determine the place that their business can occupy in the

economy of the country; they do marketing research, solve f inancial problems,

participate in fairs, sign contracts, etc.

This common plot developing from class to class creates an imaginary l ife

continuum in which students do not need to focus on conscious learning. They

acquire both Business English and business itself by constantly playing it in con-

ditions imitating or modeling business environment. What is very important is

the fact that in continuous simulation the modeled business environment is cre-

ated by students themselves who develop the plot when they play business.

That makes students' communication highly creative and imaginative. Learners'

creativity and imagination is what the entire approach is based on.

In the teaching/ learnin g process where the continuou s s imu lat ion is used

it becomes the pr incipal type of learning act iv it ies. Al l the other learning

act iv it ies 'serve' this one - leading up to i t , supply ing language materia l for

the continuous s imulat ion and helping organize i t in the most eff ic ient manner

so that students could permanently s imulate business act iv it ies and business

communicat ion in their c lassroom al l through the course of Business Engl ish

not only without too m uch efforts but a lso enjoying th em selves in the process.

Continuous s imulat ion as an approach to teaching Business Engl ish was

most ful ly embodied in the coursebook Business Projects by Tarnopolsky,

Kozhushko, et al. (2002). There continuous simulation was designed as a series

of logica l ly interconnected ep isodes-assignm ents for students that out l ine the

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dev elop me nt and funct ion ing of the imag inary comp any foun ded by them at

the very be ginn ing of the course. The ep iso de s are stage d by the studen ts not

only when they are working on each unit in the coursebook but almost in every

class (see Chapters), ens urin g the cont inuity of the s imulat ion and the ima ginary

cont inuu m of bus ine ss acti v it ies ment ione d above. Som e of such ep i sod es-

a s s i gnmen t s f rom the cou r sebook Business Projects by Tarnopolsky, Kozhushko,

et al. (2 00 2) are g iven below to provide e xam ples. The ep iso de s are borr ow ed

from: Unit 3. Making Appointments and Applying for a Job; Unit 7. Marke ting; and

Unit 9. Banking.

Con t i n u o u s s imu l a t i o n .

Conduct your company s Executive Board meeting.

You have already advertised some job vacancies and decided how many people

of various occupations should be employed. Your company s Personnel Officer

has already received a number of applications. Thejob interviews will be held very

soon. Now you need to discuss the personal qualities and qualifications you want

an applicant to have in order to be given a certain position in your com pany. Every

member of the Executive Board, as well as every director or manager, should give

his or her opinion about both the qualifications (education, work experience, and

other aspects) and the personal qualities th at are required of the candidates./4s

a result of the discussion, minimum requirements for the candidates should be

listed. The discussion should be based on the list you comp iled in project work

(la.2) - professions required, the numb er o f emp loyees from tho se professions to

be employe d, cond itions of their work, and salaries.

Con t i n u o u s s imu l a t i o n sma l l g r o u p w o r k ) .

In small groups of three or four

students, discuss the kinds of prom otion you think would be good for your busi-

ness and give your reasons. Which methods do you need (ifany ,and w hy? You will

surely include advertising. Which m ethod of advertising do you recomm end that

your company uses, and w hy? After a 5 to 7 minute discussion, each small group

will make a two-m inute presenta tion to the class, giving their recomm endations

and answe ring questions.

Co n t i n u o u s si m u l a t i o n . A t t h e me e t i n g o f t h e F i n a nc e De p a r t m e n t .

In the pre-

ceding class ea ch pair in the class simulated getting a loan for your com pany. Now

the results should be reported. Each pair bases the presentation on their written

report prepared after the preceding class. If every pair tried getting a loan for the

same project, when all the reports have been given, there should be a whole-class

discussion to decide which bank h as offered the best conditions.

If the loans were for different projects, each p air should first explain the project

itself, and then report which bank was willing to grant a loan for it and on what

conditions. In that case, the report of each pair should be discussed separately and

a decision taken wheth er the project itself is acceptab le and wheth er the conditions

ofthe loan are suitable.

It has a l ready be en m ent ion ed that in con t inuo us s im u lat ion learners them -

selves develop the p lot o f the s imu lat ion and p lan everyth ing that i s go ing

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to happen. But the genera l out l ine is promp ted/d eterm ined by the teacher/

cour seb ook. I t can be see n f rom the exam ple s abo ve and f rom the gene ra l out -

lay of the coursebook in quest ion how it i s done. The f i rst unit in i t i s ent i t led

Forms of Business and i s devoted to d i scuss ing in Eng l i sh the most spread

forms of bus iness organ izat ion : so le propr ietorsh ip, partnersh ip, two types o f

corpo rat ions/c omp an ies, a nd f ranch i s ing . It i s wh en wo rk ing o n that uni t that

the con t inu ous s imu la t ion starts by s tude nts s imu lat ing a me et ing o f fou nd -

ers whe re they dec ide to establ i sh their ow n bus ine ss. They a l so dec ide

what the form of that business i s going to be (a partnership, a corporat ion/

co m pa ny , etc.), wh at they are goi ng to do (ma nufa cture , sell, etc.), w he re their

business organizat ion i s going to be located, what i ts name is going to be, what

contr ibut ion to the common cause every s tudent in the g roup i s go ing to make,

etc.

When work ing on the next un i t Company Structure , learners develop the h i -

erarchy and structure of their bu sin es s organiza t ion and elect or app oint its

top execut ives. Then, whi le working on the th i rd and fourth units, students are

en gag ed in recruit ing staff and interview ing app l ican ts for vaca nt posi t ions ;

later they start orga niz ing product ion, doin g market research, laun ching pro mo -

tion campaigns, and so forth from unit to unit.

Co ntin uo us s im ulat ion gen eral ly d ev elo ps for quite a long per iod of t ime - in

the case of the courseb ook Business Projects,for the who le ac ade mic year - a nd

i s most ly based on learner autonomy (Benso n, & Vol ler, 19 97 ; Dam, 20 02 ). The

teac her 's gu id anc e i s quite prom inent at the early stage of con t inu ous st imula-

t ion whe n stud ents are not yet use d to th is k ind of learning and are not sure how

to proceed. But with their progress, they be com e m ore and more aut on om ous ,

i f not independent, in everything that concerns organiz ing the act iv i t ies with in

their cont inuous s imulat ion.

From this point of v iew, three levels of learner auto no m y can be dist ingu ishe d

(Tarnopolsky, 2001):

1. Level zero of learner au ton om y w he n eve rything i s de cide d on, guide d,

and c ontrol led by the teacher.

2. The fi rst level of learner auton om y, or the level of gro up auton om y, wh en

a pair, small group, or the ent i re academic group of students are most ly

responsible for the organizat ion of learning act iv i t ies and their results,

whi le the teacher 's funct ion i s only to consult and help students at their

requests, as well as to facilitate the learning process for them as far as

possible.

3. The seco nd leve l of learner autono m y, or the level of indiv id ual

autonomy, when the respons ib i l i t y for learn ing act i v i t ies and thei r

results i s vested in every indiv idual student, and the teacher 's attent ion

is focused on consult ing, helping, and faci l i tat ing the work of such

ind iv idua l s tudents.

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0

l g arnopolsky

T h e m e t h o d u n d e r l y i n g t h e c o u r s e b o o k Business Projects ( T a r n o p o l s k y ,

K o z h u s h k o , et a l., 2 0 0 2 ) r e q u i r e s p u t t i n g a l l t h e t h r e e l e v e l s o f l e a r n e r a u t o n -

o m y in t o p r ac t i c e . W h e n s t u d e n t s a re b e i n g p r e p a r e d f o r s t a g i n g t h i s o r t h a t

p a r t o r e p i s o d e i n t h e c o n t i n u o u s s i m u l a t i o n (l i ke r e a d i n g o r l i s t e n i n g in E n g -

l i sh t o p r o f e s s i o n a l in f o r m a t i o n , c o l l e c t i n g i n f o r m a t i o n a n d a c q u i r i n g v o c a b u -

l a r y t h a t t h e y n e e d f o r t h e i r s t i m u l a t i o n , et c.), t h e y a r e t o t a l l y t e a c h e r - g u i d e d

a n d t e a c h e r - c o n t r o l l e d , i.e., w o r k o n t h e z e r o l e v e l o f l e a r n e r a u t o n o m y . L at er ,

w h e n t h e y p a s s o n to a c t u a l e n g a g e m e n t in s o m e e p i s o d e o f t h e c o n t i n u o u s

s i m u l a t i o n , t h e s t u d e n t s s i m u l t a n e o u s l y p a s s t o t h e f ir st l e v e l o f a u t o n o m y

- t h a t o f g r o u p a u t o n o m y . N a t u r a l l y , w o r k i n g o n t h a t l e v e l, t h e y n e e d a l o t o f

p r o m p t s a n d h e l p f r o m t h e i r t e a c h e r at f ir st , b u t w i t h t h e i r a d v a n c e a n d t h e

d e v e l o p m e n t o f h a b i t o f w o r k i n g i n s

chapter 1 - constructivist learning approach to esp

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