Journal of English for Academic Purposes 10 (2011) 200–202

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Journal of English for Academic Purposes

journal homepage: www.elsevier .com/locate/ jeap

Book review

Current developments in English for academic and specific purposes in developing, emerging and least-developedcountries, ed. Mark Krzanowski. Reading: Garnet Education, (2009), (pp. 348), ISBN 9781901095173, paperback, £9.95.

The area of English for Specific Purposes (ESP), which emerged in the 1960s, has been developing and expanding sincethen along with the more recent subarea of English for Academic Purposes (EAP). Due to the changing economic anddevelopment needs of various countries in theworld, many of them have been involved in the teaching of ESP and its subfield,EAP. Based on his position as coordinator of the ESP SIG of IATEFL in the UK, Mark Krzanowski was able to meticulously editand present to practitioners of ELT/ESP/EAP a collection of 21 state-of–the-art pedagogical and research articles that portraythe status of ELT/ESP/EAP in 18 countries, covering Africa, Asia and Latin America. To avoid bias and display neutrality, theeditor resorted to alphabetical organisation of articles by country. Each chapter carries the country name as a title followed bya subtitle of the article. As mentioned in the Foreword from the Editor, most of these articles were presented as papers at thePre-conference Event of the IATEFL Conference held in Harrogate in 2006.

As we know from the literature, there is a consensus among applied linguists and ESP theorists including Strevens (1977),Munby (1978), Robinson (1991), Dudley-Evans and St. John (1998), andmany others that ESP is used as a blanket term to covertwo major sub-fields: English for Academic Purposes/English for Educational Purposes (EAP/EEP) and English for Occupa-tional Purposes (EOP). That means ESP instruction may take place in either academic/educational or occupational settings.These two major sub-branches are then further bifurcated into other sub-branches, according to specific needs of variouslearners who belong to different specialisations/occupations. Researchers and practitioners whose work intersects with ELTin general and ESP/EAP in particular will therefore find something that attracts them in this collection. It covers many ESPbranches, including English for Academic Purposes (EAP), English for Business Purposes (EBP) and English for the Workplace(EWP). The collection is unique in its focus because “it demonstrates that ESP and EAP in developing, emerging and least-developed countries are becoming challengers to themodels of ESP and EAP in developed countries, and that bothmodels cannow learn useful lessons from each other” (p. 1).

A quick glimpse of the book reveals that not all the chapters are related to ESP/EAP as suggested by the title of the book. Afew chapters discuss ELT in general with very limited reference to ESP/EAP. Some others present the status and practices ofELT/ESP in their respective countries, whereas a few other chapters are extensively devoted to ESP. Because each chapter isindependent from other chapters, without a uniform format or pattern and without a thematic organisational scheme, itbecomes difficult to present a comprehensive review that covers all the chapters; each chapter may require a review of itsown. However, a positive aspect of this style is that the book takes on an encyclopaedic character. In spite of this strength ofthe book, it indicates aweakness of thematic organisation. That is, it would have worked better for readers if the chapters hadbeen grouped according to their themes and ideas they present and discuss. For example, Chapters 1 and 15 could have beengrouped together, as they more or less cover one theme: English for the Workplace.

Having observed the odd organisational aspect of the book, I will therefore move selectively in this review over chapters topresent their salient features in groupings that made sense to me.

Chapter 1 is devoted to the teaching of EWP. In this chapter the author evaluates an experiment of teaching technicalEnglish to a group of mechanics working for a petroleum company in Angola. This chapter is useful for those interested inEWP, particularly with the pressing demand for English in the labour market, locally, regionally and globally.

Based on a needs analysis in Japan, chapter 15, which is thematically related to chapter 1 in its focus onworkplace English,describes the experience of writing a textbook by English-language teachers in collaborationwith elderly care specialists. Theaudience for such a textbook, whichwas entitled English for Students Caring for the Elderly in Japan, is elderly care students andcare workers from overseas, particularly from the Philippines. Though this chapter was given the title “Philippines”, both theexperience and the writer come from Japan. Thus, the title “Japan” could have been given to this chapter.

Chapter 5 evaluates a Business English Programme that was run at the British Council in Burma/Myanmar by focusing onproject work as one activity of the programme. The chapter highlights the benefits of project work in teaching BusinessEnglish, which enables students to use authentic material and work in real contexts, as this will help them communicate

doi:10.1016/j.jeap.2010.10.003

Book review / Journal of English for Academic Purposes 10 (2011) 200–202 201

effectively and meaningfully. It also includes very useful information that could be of help when teachers and students dealwith project work, such as sample tasks, instructions for the students, and a detailed outline of the course for the teacher.

The authors of chapters 2, 7, 8, 10, 12, 13, 14, 16 and 21 present evaluations of ELT/ESP developments from the point of viewof teaching and research in their countries. The authors discuss the factors that contribute to the success or failure of ELT/ESPin their contexts. Their views are well presented and deserve to be taken into account by the concerned authorities in therespective countries.

For instance, Chapter 10 shows that a text-modelling approach to writing proved more effective than a social approach inIran. The former allows learners to have amodel text, analyse it and then imitate it bywriting a similar text. This approachwasused some time ago by Bhatia and Tay (1987), who developed a two-volume set of materials meant for the teaching of Englishfor business and technology. Students were given model genres for analysis and imitation. I have also used this approachwhile teaching a technical writing course to undergraduate students. They liked this approach, as they found it effective,motivating and useful.

Chapter 14 presents the concept of SUT (the school as a unit of training), a government system that is in place in Palestinianpublic schools. This system allows each school to identify its needs and to plan its own training, whereas the role of theMinistry of Education is to provide trainers and supervision committees. The author concludes by saying that no viableeducational improvement can be achieved without an improvement in the overall political situation in Palestine, and unless“permanent and just peace is gained” (p. 230).

Chapter 21 touched upon the prevailing belief in Zambia that teaching reading in English can be done through locallanguages. In the author’s view, this is a myth which should be questioned and investigated by researchers so as to come upwith recommendations and suggestions for language specialists to re-consider the specifics of language policy in the country.

Chapters 3, 4, 9, 11 and 19 specifically focus on ESP history, development, practices and prospects. Chapters 3 and 4evaluate ESP in Brazil through the presentation of two EAP cases and the Brazilian National ESP Project. More specifically,chapter 4 indicates that many ESP professionals in Brazil think that if instructors are teaching a skill other than reading (ormore than one skill), they are not teaching ESP. Of course, this contradicts the definition of ESP proposed long ago by Strevens(1988) and which was modified and expanded by Dudley-Evans and St. John (1998) in which they present ESP as having twotypes of characteristics: absolute and variable. If one absolute characteristic is missing, the ESP situation may be questioned.But, variable characteristics vary from one situation to another. In other words, a group of ESP learners may require listeningand speaking skills, whereas another groupmay need the skills of reading andwriting. This chapter concludes by raising somequestions of interest to the international ESP community regarding the ‘specificity’ or ‘generality’ of ESP.

The involvement of subject-teachers in the design and teaching of ESP courses in India and Kenya is urged in chapters 9and 11, respectively. Without such involvement, ESP teachers will not be able to fully meet the requirements of students fromvarious disciplines and specialisations. Such involvement will familiarise the teachers with students’ specialisations, and willbreak the barrier between students and their teacher. It will connect students and subject-matter teachers, which is a salientfeature of any ideal ESP situation.

Bridging the gap between the input of ESP taught at university and what is required by the Yemeni labour market isemphasised by chapter 19. The author also shows the developments of ESP in Yemen by reviewing research studies that havebeen conducted in the country over about 24 years (1982–2006).

Chapters 6, 17, 18 and 20 focus on the scene of EAP in four countries. More specifically, chapter 18, representing SouthAfrica, describes the steps involved in developing an intensive English skills programme that included general English andEAP for non-English speaking international students studying at the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University. This chapterdescribes a successful experience that can be replicated in other similar contexts. Chapter 20 rightly stresses the challengingsituation of ESP as a whole, academic and occupational, in Yemen, which is characterised by the absence of needs-basedmaterials, facilities and recognition by policy makers and language planners.

In conclusion, in spite of the weakness pointed out about its organisational structure, the strength of this collection lieswith the diversity of topics and themes it offers for a variety of readers in the 18 countries involved and other countries in theworld. It provides valuable insights on ELT/ESP that will be of use and interest to experienced ESP and EAP teachers andresearchers, as well as to newcomers to the language teaching field. Some chapters also present useful experiences, such assolutions to practical problems and specific suggestions for pedagogy which can be replicated in other similar contexts. Thisvaluable collection succeeded in achieving its aim by bringing unknown ELT/ESP/EAP experiences from different developingcountries to light. Thanks to Krzanowski’s edited collection, these experiences have now become accessible to a widerreadership all over the world.

References

Bhatia, V. K., & Tay, M. (1987). The teaching of English in meeting the needs of business and technology, Vol. 1 and 2. Department of English Language andLiteratures, National University of Singapore. The Report of the UNDP-Government of Singapore Project.

Dudley-Evans, T., & St. John, M. J. (1998). Developments in English for specific purposes: A multi-disciplinary approach. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Munby, J. (1978). Communicative syllabus design. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Robinson, P. (1991). ESP today: A practitioner guide. London: Prentice Hall.Strevens, P. (1977). Special-purpose language learning: A perspective. Language Teaching and Linguistics: Abstracts, 10(3), 145–163.Strevens, P. (1988). ESP after twenty years: A re-appraisal. In M. L. Tickoo (Ed.), ESP: State of the art. RLC Anthology Series 21, (pp. 1–13). Singapore: SEAMEO

Regional Language Centre.

Book review / Journal of English for Academic Purposes 10 (2011) 200–202202

Abdulhameed Ashuja’aEnglish Department, School of Languages,

Sana’a University, PO Box: 12473,Sana’a, Republic of Yemen

E-mail address: ashujaa2@gmail.com (A. Ashuja’a)