Assignment 2: Developing an English for Specific Purposes Course

Introduction1

Target Group for the Course1

Needs and Discourse Analysis1

Methodology2

Sources of Data2

Owner and manager2

Waiters/Waitresses3

Customers3

Data Gathering Methods4

Questionnaires4

Interviews4

Observations4

Findings5

Questionnaires and Interviews5

Restaurant Owners' Data5

Wait Staffs' Data7

Customers' data9

Observations11

Situation, Functions, Language and Grammar Structure Utilized11

Situations That Waiter Have To Encounter in Restaurant Setting12

The Language (Vocabulary and Grammar) used in restaurant setting13

Objectives of the Course14

Assessment Task14

Conclusion15

References16

Assignment 2: Developing an English for Specific Purposes Course

Introduction

The paper includes the development of an ESP program which is designed for a group of the wait staff from non-English speaking countries, EFL, working at restaurants in Singapore. In order to meet the learners' specific professional needs, needs analysis process was carried out to investigate language (lexis, grammar and register), skills, discourse and genres that are peculiar to their occupations. Based on the findings of the needs analysis, the syllabus and materials of this ESP course will be developed. In this paper, the findings and results of the needs analysis along with the approach to carry out needs analysis and assessment tasks to evaluate the achievement of the objective will be discussed.

Target Group for the Course

The target group of learners for which it is intended to design English for specific purposes course is a group of 16 Burmese people whose proficiency level is Pre -Intermediate. They are working as waiters in Burmese restaurants, in Singapore where English is a means of communication. This course is English for Specific Occupational Purposes (ESOP) course (Paltridge & Starfield, 2013) for this during experience group of learners.

Needs and Discourse Analysis

In order to develop an efficient course, it is exceedingly necessary to identify the actual needs of the course (Basturkmen, 2010). This is attained by the process of needs analysis. In order to carry out the needs analysis in this scenario, multiple sources of information pertinent to the situation were utilized. Questionnaires and interviews were utilized to gain relevant and significant information (Blue & Harun, 2003) from the restaurant owners, the wait staff and customers. Three sources were used in order to prevent the occurrence of any bias. Three different questionnaires were developed for restaurants owners, waiters and customers. This also ensured that the needs are analyzed and identified from all dimensions. In order to validate the data, triangulation that is use of observations, questionnaires and interviews were done (Cutting, 2013).

Needs analysis included two steps including target situation analysis and discourse analysis (Cowling, 2007). For target situation analysis, the data were collected through observations, interviews and questionnaires. For discourse analysis, the data were collected through observing restaurant dialogues between customers and waiters in restaurants. Information obtained from the need analysis will be used in determining and refining the content and method of the ESP course.

Methodology

The respondents are the owner and manager, the customers and the wait staffs from Inn Lay Restaurant and nearby food service businesses which are located in Peninsula Plaza, 111 North Bridge Road, Singapore 179098.

Sources of Data

Owner and manager

For the purpose of the survey, the restaurant owners and managers were interviewed with the help of ...