This study attempts to get at some practical implications
for the development of communicative ESP reading
skills for EST students in science faculties in Iraq.
While the title of this study suggests that the teaching
itself may be the main topic, in fact, a very substantial
amount of the thinking discussed in it is concerned with
planning and realisation of potential. I have tried as
far as I can to visualise the ESP operation throughout
from the viewpoint of the country concerned, which means
a constant awareness of its ideologies, its educational
setting and the structure of its society,as these affect
both national objectives and students' aspirations.
The study comprises five chapters and a conclusion; and
a substantial part of it is a fieldwork carried out in the
faculty of medicine in Iraq.
Chapter One is concerned with the history of the
communicative syllabuses and the development of the
communicative curriculum. It attempts to show how a
realisation of a set of ideas such as notional/functional
syllabuses, needs analysis and communicative language
teaching came about. It also concentrates on the continuous
change in the needs of our developing society,
which implies that our methodological observations,
commentary and recommendations should not be final. In
turn our methods of teaching, research in language
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analyses and language learning and, after all, the teaching
profession needs to be re-assessed in order to cope with
the disciplines relevant to the language teaching/learning
process and to the learners' needs. The Chapter also
discusses how linguists and language teachers, particularly
foreign/second language teachers, have turned their.
attention to the communicative properties of the language,
its use and function, which in turn has led to the notion
that the language teaching/learning process should, simply,
involve a profound change in the profession towards the
idea of communicative language teaching and towards concentration
on the practical needs of the learner.
The main thrust of Chapter Two is towards the analysis
of the communicative functions of language and the implications
of this for ESP. In fact, for the past few years,
English for Specific Purposes has been a major developmental
focus in the area of communicative syllabus design
and materials production. The Chapter identifies some of
the factors that characterise ESP and discusses some of
the theoretical implications of an approach to EST which
emphasises the communicative properties of language
without ignoring the linguistic ones. It also emphasises
the notion of preparing EST materials which should give
priority to learners' needs and aspirations as well as
taking the limitations of the educational environment
into consideration. The taxonomy of ESP courses, nature
of scientific English and approaches to EST materials
analysis and production are discussed. Special concentration
is also placed on EST teacher training and some
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EST communication activities such as group-work techniques,
the debate and the information gap activities.
Chapter Three deals with developing reading skills in
a foreign language for students of science and technology,
with emphasis on reading for meaning. It examines the
various skills required in effective reading and suggests
classroom approaches and materials to develop and integrate
them as well as to integrate reading skills with other
language skills. It looks in detail at study skills which
are adjacent to reading skills. Types of reading tests
are discussed and some reading exercises dealing with
authentic scientific reading texts are incorporated.
Measurement and evaluation of students' reading skills are
also touched upon.
Actually, the huge amount of research carried out in
reading skills recently indicates that the problem of
developing reading skills has not been solved yet, but
these efforts are mute evidence that a solution whereby an
effective theory of reading instruction would evolve.
Surely there is no magical vaccination which can be injected
in students to make them efficient readers, but persistent
and scientific efforts can. However, as the significance
of reading skills in all subjects is increasingly being
recognised, particularly in view of the demands of EST
reading courses in EFL situations, it is essential to
understand as objectively as possible the use of specific
techniques and language teaching approaches which would be
of use in fostering and developing reading skills for
foreign language learners.
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An effort is made in Chapter Four to assess the
usefulness of a communicative approach intended to lead
medical students to flexibility in their reading of
medical texts. The Chapter deals with designing a
communicative EST reading skills course for students of
the faculty of medicine in Iraq. It sheds some light on
some of the language needs of these students, delineates
a step-by-step procedure for designing an EST reading
skills course for them and shows the way in which the
course was applied and the results were analysed and
computed. Essentially, the approach adopted involved
students in group-work activities to read and reflect on
the results of their reading. The approach aimed at
extending students' reading competence and developing
their reading span.
The fieldwork has shown that authentic and directly
relevant texts to students' field of specialisation as well
as communicative teaching techniques can improve the student
reading skills, motivation and attainment to participate
in classroom interaction at discoursal level. It has
also shown that more work needs to be done as far as
reading, listening, writing and speaking are concerned in
the faculty of medicine.
Chapter Five is mainly concerned with the prospects
of the EST situation in Iraq. The Chapter commences by
outlining various factors in the general academic, administrative
and educational environment of EFL in Iraq
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which is thought to have affected the sample before
university entrance. It also discusses the existing
EST situation in the country and touches upon points of
failure and success of the profession. It also suggests
some implications for possible amendment.
The conclusion calls for more detailed work to be done
for the development of the EST course in science faculties
in Iraq where English is increasingly becoming a 'library'
language'. It thus calls for taking genuine steps to
analyse EST students' needs, design effective EST programmes
in Iraqi science faculties and provide them with
well-trained EST teachers.