Tatjana Marković

Belgrade Business School

Aims and motivation

o The Simulation project is a result of our search for an instruction

format that would
• increase student motivation and
• lead to deeper. more effective and comprehensive learning
o by being:
• authentic, holistic and humanistic
• in compliance with the tenets of a communicative and learner-
centered approach
• meaningful , contextualized and relevant for the needs of future
professional communication
• In line with the ever-increasing demands of 21 st century language
education aimed at whole person development
Simulation as inspiration

o As an interactional and communicative technique simulations

enable:
• Creating a learning experience that is closer to the world and the
way digital natives think and act, involving a strong fun and
game element, excitement, challenge and teamwork;

• Bringing teaching and learning closer to real-world professional

experiences, by integrating language, content and skill
development in meaningful and purposeful tasks that replicate
workplace target tasks.
Simulations and Experiential learning

o As a technique belonging to the provenance of experiential

learning, ”learning by doing”, simulations provide an environment
where students learn:

• by self-discovery and experimentation (Kolb, 1984)

• by active participation and being in touch with the

phenomenon being studied, not just observing it (Kolb 1984;
Kohonen, 2007)

• by working on specific meaningful tasks, not by studying

discrete elements of the target language (Knutson, 2003: 53)
Simulations as deep-end strategies
o Students are thrown in at the deep end - driven into a communicative
situation where they are expected to execute a task with whatever
resources they have available ( Dudley-Evans & St. John, 1998).
o As the drive to communicate and reach the required outcome
necessitates the activation of both old and new forms and strategies
(Willis & Willis, 2001), simulations:
• activate, consolidate and reinforce existing competences

• push the development of the verbal repertoire

• offer a richly intertwined texture of output, input and interaction,

key ingredients of successful FL learning (Richards & Rodgers, 2001)
• abound in modified interactions and negotiation of meaning, the
core of communication and building social relations
• reveal holes in the existing knowledge system, creating a
metacognitive state where there is a readiness and susceptibility to
receive instruction (Swain, 2000).
Simulations and ESP

o Experiential learning easily lends itself to ESP settings and

requirements for authentic language use and authentic tasks and
focus on the language of discourse (Oxford & Crookall, 1990;
Richards & Rodgers, 2001).

o Simulations of workplace situations can easily be adapted to suit

the target needs of students in professional fields, thus resulting in
enhanced learning.
The Enterprise Simulation - Design & Implementation
o The Enterprise simulation was deemed a pertinent framework for
the English I course at the Belgrade Business School, as it
encompasses elements and tasks relevant to students of business
and business informatics who are increasingly being encouraged
to enter the entrepreneurial world of business startups.
o It follows Jones’(1982:5) definition of simulation as ”a reality of
function in a simulated and structured environment”.
o The Enterprise simulation recreates the settings and environment
of the corporate world reality.
o It revolves around the tasks of establishing enterprises,
recruitment and delegation of company roles, different business
interactions related to attending a business fair and further
business transactions, with students acting out their chosen
business roles.
 Main tasks Subtasks
Stage I Company establishment A Briefing- Framework
B Setting up a company
C Deciding on a business idea
D Delegating roles and responsibilities
E Presentation
Stage II Recruitment and job applications A Briefing - Framework
B Job applications – CVs & cover letters
C Review and reflection
Stage III Attending a business fair A Opening activity - Framework
B Booking flights & accommodation
C Making contacts at the trade fair
D Wining and Dining
E Review and reflection
Stage IV Conducting business transactions A Opening activity - Framework
B E-mailing – enquiries, offers, placing an
order, complaints
C Review and reflection
Stage V Final Presentation
Stage VI Debriefing and Evaluation A Feedback and Comments
Evaluation & Discussion
The Enterprise Simulation - Structure
o The Enterprise simulation has six stages with the briefing and
debriefing session accompanying all phases of the project.
o The briefing session builds the framework and is used to introduce
some specialist vocabulary and useful expressions and activate the
content, linguistic and socio-cultural background knowledge
(Knutson, 2003), through brainstorming, listing, mind maps…
o The reflection/debriefing session is “a bridge between practical
experience and theoretical conceptualisation” (Kohonen, 2007:1-2).
o It is a joint reconstruction of the learning experience, analysis and
evaluation of its success, reflection on the emotions and challenges
faced (Jones, 1982; Bullard, 1990; Knutson, 2003).
o It opens the door for corrective work.
o It is the key to the transformation of experience into knowledge
(Kolb, 1984).
The Enterprise Simulation
Stage I – Establishing a company
o Opens with a short brainstorming session aimed at building a
conceptual framework for company set-ups, organizational charts
and roles of different departments.
o Students in teams of 4 to 8 members take to the task of:
• establishing their own companies
• defining ownership and organizational type, name and headquarters,
• defining business operations and main business ideas
• selecting roles appropriate for the chosen business operations
(general manager, executive secretary, financial manager…).
o Students are free to keep their own identities or create imaginary
ones.
The Enterprise Simulation
Stage II – Recruitment

o Stage II revolves around designing and preparing CVs and cover

letters for the appropriate position.

o CVs and cover letters were related to the students’ own identities or
imaginary professional ones created for the purpose of the
simulation.
The Enterprise Simulation
Stages III & IV – Business Interactions and
Transactions
o Phase three is built around preparations for attending a business
fair.
o It is aimed at practicing different interactions common in the
professional world, such as:
• booking flights and accommodation,
• making contacts with prospective business associates,
• formal and informal social interactions important in
establishing, building and maintaining rapport in business
relations.
Goal : make at least one business deal with another team,
as an introduction for:
o Phase four, in which companies exchange e-mails in developing the
business deal.
The Enterprise Simulation
Stage V – Final presentation
The project culminates in:
o an oral presentation of each company showing all its activities
and transactions;
o a portfolio which contains all the documents created during the
simulation:
 CVs and cover letters

 e-mails

 planners/journals kept by each student throughout the

simulation with the goal of registering progress in the

execution of tasks, consciousness raising in language
learning, improving metacognitive strategies .
VIDEO
The Enterprise Simulation - concluding remarks
Motivation is heightened and deepened owing to:

o Learner autonomy, responsibility and independence

• active role in decision-making and ownership of the whole project
lead to an increased sense of self-esteem and self-confidence
o Interactional authenticity, relevance and usefulness for future work
achieved through
• encountering and conquering different communicative challenges
using purposeful and meaningful communication
o Skills Integration – rich mixture of input, output and interaction
o Integration of language, content and skills – using language for acquiring
interesting and useful information
The Enterprise Simulation - concluding remarks
o Teamwork, cooperation and collaboration – a shared experience of
discovery and exploration, peer modeling, knowledge sharing all in
line with social constructivism
o A safe and low-risk environment and the presence of a non-
linguistic outcome shifts the focus away from the language,
inspiring natural interactions and the application of communicative
strategies in a relaxed and pleasant atmosphere which reduces
shyness and self-consciousness and lowers the affective filter
(Krashen, 1982)
o Sense of achievement , creativity, imagination, risk-taking fun and
excitement, feeling of flow, a complete immersion into the activity,
all create a state of optimal experience
References:
• Bloor, M. & T. Bloor (1986). Languages for specific purposes: practice and theory.
CLCS Occasional Paper No. 19. Dublin: Trinity College.
• Bullard, N. (1990). Briefing and debriefing. In D. Crookall, & R. L. Oxford (Eds.),
Simulation, gaming, and language learning (pp. 55–66). New York: Newbury
House Publishers.
• Dudley-Evans, T & St. John, M.J. (1998). Developments in English for Specific
Purposes: A multi-disciplinary approach. Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press.
• Johnson, K. (1982). Communicative Syllabus Design and Methodology. Oxford:
Pergamon.
• Jones, K. (1982). Simulations in language teaching. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press.
• Knutson, S. (2003). Experiential learning in second-language classrooms. TESL
Canada Journal, 20 (2), 52-64.
• Kohonen V. (2007). Learning to learn through reflection – an experiential learning
perspective, in Council of Europe, Preparing Teachers to Use the European
Language Portfolio – arguments, materials and resources, Council of
Europe Publishing.
References:
• Kolb, D. A. (1984). Experiential Learning: Experience as the Source of Learning
and Development. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
• Krashen, S. (1982). Principles and Practice in Second Language Acquisition.
Pergamon Press.
• Oxford, R. L. & Crookall, D. (1990). Learning strategies. In D. Crookall, & R. L.
Oxford (Eds.), Simulation, gaming, and language learning (pp. 109 – 117).
New York: Newbury House Publishers
• Richards, J. C. & Rodgers, T. S. (2001). Approaches and Methods in Language T
eaching (2nd ed.). Cambridge, New York: Cambridge University Press.
• Swain, M. (2000). The output hypothesis and beyond: Mediating acquisition
through collaborative dialogue. In J.P. Lantolf (Ed.) Sociocultural Theory
and Second Language Learning (pp. 97-114). Oxford: Oxford University
Press.
• Willis; D. & Willis, J. (2001). Task-based language learning. In R. Carter & D.
Nunan, (Eds.) Cambridge Guide to Teaching English to Speakers of Other
Languages. Chapter 25 (pp. 173-179).Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press.
The Design and Implementation of Simulation as
an Experiential Technique in
English for Specific Purposes (ESP)

Thank you for your attention