Globalization professional purposes in administration, medicine, law

Globalization has made it possible for many people tofind their academic and job opportunities overseas.  Thosepeople have to learn English which is an international language to communicatewith others and to be successful in their jobs.

Asa result, learning English is considered to be a must for lots of people.  But as English teachers what is ofconcern to us is that teaching and learning English must be in line with thespecific needs of those people.  Here, thesignificance of English for Specific Purposes (ESP) becomes highlighted.  Richards and Schmidt(2010) define ESP as “ the role of English in a language course or program ofinstruction in which the content and aims of the course are fixed by thespecific needs of a particular group of learners” (p. 198).

According to Dudley-Evans and St John (1998), ESP is consideredto be a sub-category of English language teaching (ELT) and it has its own methodologieswhich are influenced by the course content. Saragih (2014) suggests that ESP courses aim to meet “ the needsof adult learners who need to learn a foreign language for use in theirspecific fields; such as science, leisure, medicine, economics, technology andacademic learning” (p. 60). Robinson(1991; cited in Dudley-Evans & St John, 1998) divides ESP into two maincategories: English for Academic Purposes (EAP) and English for OccupationalPurposes (EOP).

Dudley-Evans and St John (1998)clarify the two terms stating that EAP is “ any English teaching that relates toa study purpose” (p. 34), while EOP “ refers to English that is not for academicpurposes; it includes professional purposes in administration, medicine, lawand business, and vocational purposes for non-professionals in work or pre-worksituations” (p. 7). Thefocus of this study is on EAP in nursing field. The importance of learning English for nursing students relies onthe demands of their future career.  Forexample, many nurses may aim to join Doctors without Borders Doctors or Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF)projects in which they have to be communicatively competent in English so as todeliver emergency aid to afflicted people.  In another example, Gass (2012) states thatdue to an increase in the numbers of medical tourists in Thailand, nurses arerequired to have a remarkably good command of English to be able tocommunicate with the patients.

Heemphasizes that “ nurses must have the ability to communicate effectively withthem and to deal with different situations that might arise” (p. 2). Since ESP coursesare developed to serve learners with particular and certain needs, the processof needs analysis is a crucial step which has to be taken to detect theirneeds.  Brown (1995; cited in Saragih, 2014) definesneeds analysis as “ the systematic collection and analysis of all subjective andobjective information necessary to define and validate defensible curriculumpurposes that satisfy the language learning requirements of students within thecontext of particular institutions that influence the learning and teachingsituation” (p. 61).  As Dudley-Evans and St John (1998)argue, needs refer to the reasons why learners are learning another languagewhich may vary from their purposes of learning such as continuing academicstudies or of participating in business meetings or conducting research inEnglish-speaking countries.  Hutchinson andWaters (1987) claim, needs analysis enables us to prioritize students needs andmake the ESP course more effective, useful, relevant and motivating for them.

Needsanalysis is the basis for ESP curriculum design. According to Gardner and Winslow (1983; cited in Gass, 2012), thepurpose of conducting a needs analysis is “ to produce information which whenacted upon makes courses better adapted to students’ needs” and “ part of theobject of formal needs identification is to back up one’s proposals withquantitative evidence of their importance” (p. 4). Similarly, Nation and Macalister (2010) make a distinctionbetween present knowledge and required knowledge. They believe that there is a difference between students’ existingknowledge of language (present knowledge) and what they are required to know tobe able to perform in the ultimate situation (required knowledge) and thepurpose of needs analysis is to help us design a curriculum that is able to bridgethe gap between students’ present knowledge and their required knowledge. Thepurpose of this paper is to carry out a needs analysis in order to recognizenursing students’ needs to meet their academic needs.

As Dudley-Evans and St John (1998) suggest, in ESP courses there isa practical and immediate need for the learners which is supposed to be met atthe end of the course.  Thus, if we aregoing to educate proficient nurses it is essential to design a useful andeffective curriculum which itself relies on conducting a well-establishedprocedure of needs analysis. LiteratureReviewEnglishfor Specific Purposes (ESP)Although the idea of language for specific purposes hasbeen commenced for a long time, it was in 1960s that ESP was introduced as anindependent discipline (Dudley-Evans and St John, 1998).  According to Hutchinson and Waters (1987), there are two historical grounds that led to the development of ESP.

First, Duringthe 1950s and the 1960s there was a large worldwide growth in commerce andtechnology.  This post-war property boom demandedan international language to connect financiers all around the world.  Due to the economic power of theUnited States and many other factors, English was accepted as the internationallanguage.  As a result, the number of people whowanted to learn English increased day by day. Although previously the knowledge of a foreign language wasconsidered to be a sign of educatedness and social prestige, at the time ofpost-war economic prosperity people had found more reasons to learn it.  For example, there were huge numbersof “ businessmen and -women who wanted to sell their products, mechanics who hadto read instruction manuals, doctors who needed to keep up with developments intheir field and a whole range of students whose course of study includedtextbooks and journals only available in English” (Hutchinson & Waters, 1987, p. 6).  As English became the language ofcommerce and technology, English learners found reasons and justifications forthe learning of this language.

Therefore, thelearners of this era felt a significant need for leading English and they alsoknew the reason why they need it.  The second reasonthat gave rise to the development of ESP was “ the oil crisis of the early 1970sresulted in Western money and knowledge flowing into the oil-rich countries”(Hutchinson & Waters, 1987; cited in Gass, 2012, p. 3). Allthese changes shifted the goal of learning English from leisure to a purposefulactivity and ” the traditional leisurely and purpose-free stroll through thelandscape of English language seemed no longer appropriate in the harsherrealities of the market place” (Hutchinson & Waters, p. 7). Principles, Environment, Needs            As Nation and Macalister (2011)suggest, principles, environment and needs analysis are three elements thatprovide the theoretical and practical basis of the course production procedure.

By principles thy mean the applicationof theoretical and research-based guidelines which help us design a successfulcurriculum.  The second element which isenvironment analysis implies that before designing a curriculum we should gothrough the capabilities of the students and teachers, and examine theproperties and limitations of the teaching and learning context either to omitthem or work within them.  The final elementis needs analysis that is defined by different theoreticians in almost similarways.  For instance, Dudley-Evans and St John(1998) define needs analysis as “ the process ofestablishing the what and how of a course” (p. 121).  Inaddition, Witkin and Altschuld (1995; cited in Spector & Yuen, 2016) defineneeds analysis as “ a systematic set of procedures undertaken for the purpose ofsetting priorities and making decisions about programs or organizationalimprovement and  resource allocation”(p. 51).  Hutchinson and Waters (1987)give a more comprehensive description of needs analysis which creates the basisof the present study.

They believe it to be consisting ofthree parts: necessities, lacks and wants. Necessities refer to “ the type of need determined by the demandsof the target situation; that is, what the learner has to know in order tofunction effectively in the target situation” (p. 55).

By lacks and wants they mean what students do not know and whatthey wish to know respectively. Curriculum DevelopmentThecollected information from the needs- and environmental analyses come intopractice in the curriculum development stage.  AsNation and Macalister (2010) suggest, needs analysis has been carried out so asto provide “ a realistic list of language, ideas or skill items, as a result ofconsidering the present proficiency, future needs and wants of the learners”(p. 1).            There are few guidelines inliterature that describe how to design ESP courses.

However, Taba (1962; cited in Saragih, 2014) suggests seven stepsfor developing a curriculum: detection of the needs, specification ofobjectives, selection of content, organization of content, selection oflearning experiences, organization of learning experiences and determination ofthe content and medium of evaluation.  In a similarattempt, Grave (2000) introduces five components for designing a languagecourse; “ setting objectives based on some form of assessment; determiningcontent, materials, and method; and evaluation” (p. 3).  AsGraves (2000, p. 9) mentions “ designing a language course is a work in progressin its whole, in its parts, and in its implementation.” It can be inferred thatdesigning a course, whether ESP or General English, is a dynamic process.

AsGass (2012) suggests, it begins with basic processes of needs- and situationalanalyses, going on the curriculum development, material preparation and finallymodification of the course on the basis of feedback and evaluation.