EFL Tech - France a Site for Teachers of English ( as a Foreign Language) for  Engineering

  [Introduction]    [Part I : Teaching materials]     [Part III : Class activities]
 

PART II - SYLLABUS

In this part, you will find information about needs analysis,  vocabulary, grammar,  how to plan a syllabus,  and  learning about engineering.
 
 

    One of the first questions a novice teacher will ask is: "What is English for engineering? How far is it different from the general English I am used to teaching? What about the vocabulary? All I know about mechanics is what I learn when I have my car serviced! ... Since I'm hardly able to use my VCR, how will I be able to discuss with my students about a machine tool or a transistor? I won't even understand what they'll be telling me!". Don't panic! The immediate answers are reassuring. EFL for engineering is not a strange and mysterious lingo and 99% of what you - as an EFL teacher- are used to teaching is "recyclable". As far as technical knowledge is concerned, you certainly have enough to begin with. Moreover be persuaded that in many cases your students will know much less about technology than you imagine.

    What is EFL for engineering? Although English for engineering is first of all English, it is (slightly) different from general English: it is not simply general English with a layer of technical vocabulary added to it, but it also has its own patterns and structures. These are no problems for the teacher because he already knows them, as they exist and are used in general English; however they are sources of difficulties for the students since these features - some of them being not all too common in general English - are usually not sufficiently well mastered. That's why, EFL for engineering can perhaps be defined as 95% plain EFL, simply requiring to teach a limited additional amount of words and to focus on a few grammar points. Moreover, because the needs of vocational students are very specific you also have to develop some specific exercises.
 
 

NEEDS ANALYSIS

    Of course, it has to be your first priority, before you start planning your syllabus. It's very difficult to give advice because situations can be so totally different. If I take our example, the students whom my colleague Jerôme Collet and I teach in France almost always have the same academic background when they arrive from their Senior High School, to take very similar state exams (one in electronics, the other in mechanical engineering) after their two-year courses. As to their future career, 90 or 95 percent of them will do more or less the same types of jobs as highly qualified technicians. You will easily understand that, in our case, needs analysis has been fairly simple.

    There does not seem to be any fundamental difference between a needs survey and analysis for engineering students and for learners of general English.  Indeed there are basic principles that underlie doing any effective needs assessment. These are probably the same for most contexts and the needs analysis will show what specific vocabulary the students need, the structures that are found in Engineering texts and what target situations the students use English in. Indeed, even if you prepare your students for an exam, don't forget to work out what they will use English for once they have passed the exam and graduated.

Target situations. In a way, consider that , as a teacher of EFL for engineering, you are lucky, because when you work with technicians /engineers, the basic information, techniques, machines, etc., are the same regardless of the students' native country. This means that, once you have identified the situations the students will use English in, you don't have to care about the countries where they'll use the language. For someone teaching English for Law, for instance, this wouldn't be so simple !

    Ideally, needs analysis should be informed by engineering instructors, members of the engineering community and certainly by the students themselves. Some teachers have sent out questionnaires "to every student who had graduated to attempt to find out when and where they used English, what areas should have been better covered during and course and what areas were covered appropriately. We have tried to incorporate some of the answers into the way we teach the course."

    A contributor also reminds us not to forget to teach how to write CVs and that it is important that university students should have experience of presenting themselves to future employers in English.
 
 

VOCABULARY

    What vocabulary should to be taught? Of course, in addition a large amount of general English vocabulary, there must be some more specialised vocabulary. However one can draw a line between a corpus of "semi-technical vocabulary" and a "highly specialised field-specific one". What ought to be taught?

    A novice's first reaction would probably be to say both and especially the second variety, and most of us may have been tempted to do so when we began. But you must remember that there is as an enormous amount of variety among engineering fields and consequently it's impossible to imagine teaching -let alone actually do it- the whole lexis encompassing all these fields. Moreover, what's the point for a student to learn words which he/she will seldom ever see and use - isn't that what dictionaries are made for? We also believe that a student will not require this specific vocabulary before he has reached a high level of proficiency in his technical studies. On the contrary, we believe that an essential thing a non native speaker requires is acquiring proficiency in general English, and once he has mastered this reasonably well, learning new words - however specialised they are- is no problem at all!

    However we must not forget to give our teaching a technology-oriented trend at the same time. This means that large parts of the corpus of vocabulary which is traditionally taught can be put aside and forgotten ( you seldom have talk about a machine's feelings and emotions, for instance!) while the teacher has to introduce a kind of general-purpose technical English - the "semi- technical vocabulary" referred to earlier. All these semi-technical words are also used in general English but they do come up extremely frequently in technical documents, papers or conversations. Some of them are fairly international but most of them, although they  look harmless,  can cause a lot of trouble to students ... for instance 'work', 'feed', or 'drive'.

Here are a few examples:

vocabulary necessary for description:
nouns such as top, bottom, amount, edge, level,  length, width, stiffness;
adjectives such as light / lightweight, loose, tight etc;

vocabulary referring to quality
reliable, low-cost, cost-efficient, affordable,  to feature,  general purpose,  failure,  to improve, versatility,  etc.);

verbs used in operation manuals
check, secure, fasten,  perform, fit, avoid, supply, fit, insert etc.;

the basic vocabulary of computing;

phrases expressing position or motion :
upside down, at the back, on the left, across, through, off, backwards etc;

Be sure that everyone knows adjective and corresponding nouns to talk about physical / mechanical properties :
tension / tensile,  resistance, elasticity, etc

A list of over 200 / 250 such words together with a number of short exercises can be read in this Web site. (Use the Contents of the Databank  link.)
However the students' actual proficiency in English should be kept in mind: this corpus of 200 words is the foundation stone and its precise extent as well as the time devoted to its teaching must depend on each class situation.

In addition, youy shouldn't forget to teach (or revise):

how to express equivalence: (it can be) defined as, for instance, e.g., namely, known as, that is, i.e., (which) means, called;

measurements: though Imperial Units are now rarely found (except  in US documents), the students shoulld be able to
a/ recognise  usual abbreviations ( in. or even '' / ft or ' / oz / lb / psi, etc.)
b/ have a vague idea of their metric equivalents. As teachers of English we don't have to teach  the precise values,  which can be found in dictionaries or with calculators, but a student ought to be able to make a rough estimate and know if, for instance,  10 psi is worth (very approximately) 0.1 or 1 or 10 kg/cm².
Other abbreviations and acronyms may be useful, for instance hp, rpm, h/w/d ( for height / width/ depth).
 
 
 

GRAMMAR

    What grammar should be taught? What has just been said about vocabulary also applies to grammar. We can here only make suggestions, show directions, advise to teach this and avoid that but your actual teaching will depend on your students' level. It is clear that with mediocre students you will have to dwell at length on very basic aspects of grammar such as verb forms or low-level sentence building whereas, with more advanced students the field of study is much wider. For instance, one contributor writes : " At this university we have found that the level of English that technically minded students leave secondary schools with is not very high. Due to this we have been teaching/revising general English (using general English textbooks) with these students to get them to a high enough level to be able to deal with the specialist material which we have access to. "

It is true that all the structures commonly said to be typical of English for engineering are found in ordinary language, though not so commonly.
It seems possible to make the following recommendations:

* The PASSIVE,
so usual in English for science and technology will be a problem:  your students will (probably) have no (or little) difficulty in understanding passive verbs (be careful with continuous passives, though) but are unlikely to use them spontaneously.

Moreover it is a well-known fact that French-speaking students (and probably lots of others) tend to forget using irregular past participles or to drop "ed" or also to mix "ed" and "ing" suffixes. It will be one of your repeated tasks to remind them that a/ they must watch this grammar and b/ they ought to avoid saying / writing things such as "we have / one has / the operator has fitted in a new part" instead of "a new part has been fitted in".

* MODAL VERBS
They allow to say that something has to be done or is advisable or forbidden; or, like a rheostat, they enable you to express a whole range of nuances from certainty to doubt or impossibility. Granted, this is commonly used in general English, and students ought to be able to handle such verbs correctly, but ...is it always the case? Besides, though we have no study to prove it, we feel modal verbs tend to be more frequently used in "technical" English.

It may be important to go into some details, e.g; 'will' to express capability and not  futurity ( The needle will point towards the magnetic pole); 'can' means ' what sometimes happen', or expresses ability or possibility as well as capability ( Metal which cools rapidly can fracture - The losses can easily be calculated - Thermo-couples can be used to measure.. - These planes can fly at 600 miles per hour.)

* PHRASAL VERBS
The problem is not limited to English for engineering and your students have already tacked the problem.
If it is not 100% clear for them, they should be made aware that, in phrasal verbs, the particles (?) can
a/ convey no real information: find out - fill in;
b/ express a 2nd idea: switch off - lift out;
c/ give the verb a totally different meaning : carry out - make out.
However some phrasal verbs are extremely usual in technical English and students have to know them well. Here are a few:
built in - wear out - keep away - take off - carry out - set up - work out - pick up - go / switch off/on - throw out - carry along - run out of.

Now, opinions are divided about the use of phrasal verbs or their (often more formal) equivalents: several contributors (but all of them) believe that many phrasal vebs tend to be used when speaking, while  more formal verbs are commonly used in technical (and scientific) writing: for instance take in / absorb - built in / incorporated - carry out / perform - take to pieces / dismantle - held up / supported, etc.

* COMPOUND NOUNS and ADJECTIVES
In all technical writing the noun or the naming-word has a major function. You know how widespread compound  nouns and adjectives are ( particularly in computing and electronics). Quite a lot of languages (for instance these from Latin origin) do not use compound words and unless your students are already good at English (and even then, they may find it difficult to understand long or complex compound words ), you can be convinced this will be one of the main difficulties, something which your students will find really tough and to which you will have to come back again and again. If you can read French, have a look at Lire l'anglais scientifique et technique and Gearing Up (See Part I - Books) where you'll find quite a lot of exercises to introduce this tricky point.

* COMPARATIVES
are of course essential: an engineer or a technician is always referring to quality and/ or quantity, hence he has to compare things, data, results, etc. In addition to "conventional" comparatives,  you'd better check whether your students are really able to use " same... as /that, similar /equal to, different from, other...than" not to mention " the more ..., the more... " (as well as other ways to express variables (e.g. : as the velocity increases, so the turbine speed increases - the velocity varies according to/with the turbine speed).
With more advanced students, don't forget to teach about numerical problems such as "it is less than one third as high as..." or "one third less high than...". You can be sure this will be quite difficult to explain

* PREPOSITIONS
Compared to prepositons in some other languages, English preps are extremely precise and consequently sometimes difficult to understand.
First of all, make clear the difference between prepositions expressing position or movement (e.g. in / inside and into - on and onto)
Intermediate French students have difficulties making out the the following differences: beside / by the side of and near / close to, bottom and back / rear, before and beyond, upside down and wrong way round. Of course students speaking another L1 will have their own list of difficulties!
Among the prepositions to teach or revise: back- / down- / for- /in- / to- / upward(s), (anti)clockwise, from side to side - sideways and of course very commun ones such as below / underneath / beneath, in the middle, and on the left, across and through (a difficulty, sometimes), along, out of, etc, etc.

. * LINKWORDS
are particularly essential in a language that has to be logical and accurate and in which the notions of cause, consequence and purpose are often expressed. Your students are likely to know already quite a few of them, teach them a few new ones, including: as a result - further / furthermore - on account of - thus + ing (thus resulting in / thus leading to).

Teach your students to find out the structure of sentences and arguments by spotting the linkwords, remind them / or show them that, when a linkword comes at the beginning of a new paragraph this means the paragraph (or, at least a good part of it) will express a different opinion /will add a new argument / will re-inforce the previous idea, etc, (depending on the linkword that is used).

In particular, insist that
a/ SINCE is a linkword expressing cause in most cases and and seldom refers to time;
b/ YET is generally used  as a synonym of however;
c/ special attention could be givent to AS which  has so many different muses and meanings: as (large) as, as well (as), as = because, as a whole, such as, as though, as (or like), as a result, etc...

* CONTRACTED TIME STATEMENTS, contracted passive forms / if-clauses such as When in the triggered mode, the oscilloscope.../ if using the built-in microphone / when on, oscillation will begin... This kind of phrases (with a subject and a verb missing) does not exist in many languages and may require more than a few minutes' attention. With quick-minded students this won't be a problem after they have seen it once or twice. With others, it may take longer before they clearly realise which categories of words are missing. In addition to a few systematic exercises to show and explain what is missing in this phrases, don't forget to draw your students' attention every time you meet one such contracted statement by asking to provide the full sentence and, at least, you'll be sure everyone has understood !

* IF CLAUSES and CONDITIONALS
Depending on the students' L1 they may be a problem or not. Some languages such as French use conditionals very much in the same way as English so that here in France, we tend to skip  this part of grammar -or  teach it very quickly. It is obvious that you may have  to dwell at length on this point with some other students. This is an  area which may be important to future engineers for instance to handle tables of truth or to talk about  the technique of troubleshooting which  relies a lot on understanding the subtler forms of conditionals. "Traces of oil may indicate a broken seal" ( If traces of oil are present this may indicate a broken seal).

* MISCELLANEOUS
You should not forget to teach scientific phrases concerning precise levels of knowledge: It appears, it seems, it is clear that, there can be no doubt, etc...

You may also think of the following pattern, so common to start a statement : its + adjective + (that)... It is likely / essential / known - it should be noted - it can be shown / demonstrated - it has been arranged / noticed....
 
 

PLANNING A SYLLABUS - Contributed by Margaret van Naerssen

I'd like to propose an approach that Moya Brennan and I've used. At one point we called it "Teaching EST without Fear." Can't go into all the details here, just a brief sketch. The teacher needs to go into the course with an initial schedule so the students and the teacher feel some sense of an overall organization, but it does not have to be built in concrete.

1. Commit to a student-centered approach with students assisting in needs assessment, in identifying English language materials in their environment, etc.
2. Commit to a course that is open to adjustments as more is learned about needs.
3. Commit to being a communications expert and to recognizing your students as experts (at their level of learning in their field).
4. Prepare a skeleton schedule fitting the calendar and hours allotted. Find out quickly what work they have to do in English (reading only, lectures, exams, etc.) in a core course in engineering or in one in which most of the students are enrolled. (Note: if one or several core course(s) is/are taught in English)
5. Take an engineering prof to lunch...one who teaches one of those core courses...and pick the prof's brains about English needs.
6. Find out the schedule for that core course and use it to shape your schedule at a general level, supporting the core course at a general level. Organize your course into a series of workshops to support the general English needs of the engineering course...to match the timing of the needs. Create generic homework assignments tied to the workshops or reading assignments of the course. or create several strands that you will follow throughout the course of a generic nature based on general English needs of the engineering course. (for example, a open-ended pronunciation strand would support the content of other another strand, focussing on pron. of key terms or on clarity of explanations, etc.)
7. Build in a student-based needs assessment for the first week of classes and indicate that adjustments in the course will be made based on feedback. Also build in one or two more interim student-based needs assessment as their needs might change. Also build in points for additional feedback from the profs so you can make adjustments as you find out more information. You might even have an assignment for the students to create in class a English needs assessment questionnaire and then carry it out...all done in English in class, even if they ask the questions in their L1. Make it clear in the course outline you submit that adjustments will be made as needed.

EXAMPLE: Find out the schedule for a when exams. Slot in workshop classes on exam-writing strategies/language in the days prior to the exams. These will actually be exam prep time, with students brainstorming on questions, answers and the ESP teacher providing English for answering the exams and helping them organize their ideas. Even if the exams are written in L1 you will be helping them organize their ideas and at the same time learn the English for expressing these ideas.

Build in activities in which students will identify English language materials in their environment related to Engineering and they will bring in those materials which can then be cycled into the course.

8. Subscribe to EST-L (listserv@asuvm.inre.asu.edu) and TESP-L and post questions as you go along in the course. There is also a rich website attached to EST-L.
Margaret van Naerssen (mvnaerss@sas.upenn.edu)
 
 

DO YOU HAVE TO KNOW ABOUT ENGINEERING ?

    Here are two contributors' views on the subject:

A/ " You can only become a teacher of technical English by teaching technical English. We have all started from scratch without any prior knowledge of technology. You learn as you go on, technology makes you very humble, you can never master it completely, it is such a huge area and changes rapidly. The consolation is that you can teach the language of technology with a superficial understanding of it. The students do not expect you to be an engineer, they are only too happy to teach you! Teaching technical languages is hard work, but extremely rewarding! "

B/ " My students are aware that I do not have an engineering background but it doesn't seem to cause problems. In fact one advantage is that they have to express themselves clearly so that I can follow. The material seems to be at a fairly basic level (of engineering) I have found that my general knowledge and the occasional use of a dictionary has managed ok so far. "

    However other colleagues maintain that if knowledge of specific fields is not 100% necessary for ESP, having "a light coating of engineering varnish" (to quote one of them) may be advisable. When you know (a little) about the subject you are talking about, you may ask the right questions and focus the conversation on the right subjects. This may help to avoid embarrassing situations such as the following one : a new colleague gave her students a document and she announced they were going to work from a text about "an engine". Seconds later, much to her surprise, she heard one of her students say : "But, Ma'am, this is a gear-box." Quite uncomfortable, isn't it ? And yet, even though knowledge of specific fields may be necessary for ESP, specific knowledge can gradually be developed teaching.

    Now, if you do wish to have some "engineering varnish", here are a few tips :
* read a few beginners' books (even in your L1) about physics, electricity, mechanics, electronics, etc (or whatever your students' main subject is ).
* Then spend as much time as possible in the school engineering labs, talk with engineering instructors (especially if they happen to be native speakers of English !), ask them to be allowed to attend some of their lessons.
* You can also read a few technical magazines, even if you don't understand half what you read!

    That's it! The rest will come little by little, and you will learn as you go.