Case Studies in ESP Course

Development

Source:
Developing Courses in English for Specific Purposes Helen Basturkmen 2010
English for the Police

• This chapter aims to show how courses are developed in response to

a given situation and in light of the particular characteristics of the
learners.
5.1 Context

The beginnings of the course development can be traced to the

publication of an article in a local newspaper. The article featured a
young man (Yuichi) who was hoping to become New Zealand’s first
ethnically Japanese policeman.
However, Yuichi faced two hurdles, the language proficiency test and
the fitness assessment.
Reading this article, the Chief Executive Officer of the language school
contacted the police force leading to the development of the English
for Police course.
5.2 Investigation
• The course developers set about investigating needs through:
- meetings with the police
- visiting key sites such as the Police College
- observe a writing class and sessions in which recruits gave
presentations as part of their regular training
- analyze written texts supplied by the police
- talk to some of the sergeants who directly supervise the training of
officers at the college
5.2 Investigating needs
Multiple sources of information
• The course developers set about investigating needs through:
• went on ‘ride-alongs’ (car-based-patrol)
• carried out an assessment of the language proficiency of 14 potential
participants using standardized and self- assessment instruments.
• conducted individual pilot assessments of these potential
participants.
• police officers came to the course developers to explain the language
problems or needs as they saw them, and they also sent in many
examples of written police work texts.
5.2 Investigating needs
Multiple sources of information
From these multiple sources of information, the course developers
found that:
• potential participants had advanced to higher levels of spoken English
but faced problems in pronunciation, especially when speaking under
pressure
• their proficiency in writing was lower than speaking
• difficulties with collocations and connotations(vocabulary)
5.2 Investigating needs
Multiple sources of information
A further needs analysis is needed to provide a fuller picture.
• The initial needs analysis identified 3 areas still to be investigated
including speaking situations
• for example, the language needed for ‘legal 114’ which requires
advanced academic language skills.
• officers usually select a specialist area (e.g. crime, traffic police etc.)
Each specialist area presents language-based demands. Thus the course
developers investigate these language needs and highlight how these
are different from the academic language needs
5.3 Investigating specialist discourse

• The senior police officer provided sample reports

• The course developers used them to identify the officer expectations
for the various genres in question
• The results of the investigations of needs and specialist discourse
were incorporated into the design of the course through the
specification of course objectives.
5.4 Designing the course and materials Flexible and individualized

• The objectives targeted language skills (writing and speaking),

language knowledge (grammar and vocabulary) and language learner
development.
• This corpus comprises (written texts supplied by the police during the
needs analysis stage & texts selected by the course developers from
the police website)
5.4 Designing the course and materials

• 5.4 Designing the course and materials

• To evaluate the course and learning of individual participants, the course
developers track participants’ progress through internal and external measures.

• Internal assessment  the use of proficiency and competency language tests

and comparison of scores with initial assessments.

• External assessment  working with the police to identify improvements in

the participants’ ability to cope with the language demands of Police College
and to see if they develop acceptable levels of language for policing.
5.5 Difficulties and Constraints
1- Constraints on obtaining authentic spoken texts for the analysis of
needs and specialist discourse.
2- Needs varied across the group of course.
3- For the course developers themselves, the development of the course
entailed a learning curve since they had no direct experience of working
in the police.
4- Some limited literature on police discourse is available (based on
other countries)