27.4508, FYI: Volume on Research in ESP Teaching/Learning

Fri Nov 4 15:53:34 UTC 2016

LINGUIST List: Vol-27-4508. Fri Nov 04 2016. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 27.4508, FYI:  Volume on Research in ESP Teaching/Learning

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Date: Fri, 04 Nov 2016 11:53:19
From: Cedric Sarre [cedric.sarre at paris-sorbonne.fr]
Subject: Volume on Research in ESP Teaching/Learning

Call for contributions to a collective volume on research in ESP teaching and
learning

Cédric Sarré, EA 7332 CeLiSo, Université Paris-Sorbonne
Shona Whyte, UMR7320 Bases, Corpus, Langage, Université Nice Sophia Antipolis

New developments in ESP teaching and learning research
(working title)

Although research in English for Specific Purposes (ESP) has historically been
dominated by text or discourse analytic perspectives (Hewings 2002; Paltridge
& Starfield 2011), there is evidence of recent interest in research into ESP
teaching and learning (Belcher et al., 2011). Indeed, what appears to be a new
trend may actually correspond to a renewal of interest, since teaching-related
aspects of ESP research, such as curriculum design and programme development,
enjoyed greater popularity in the 1980s (British Council, 1980), with papers
investigating ESP teaching and learning considerably less common in the
following decades (Hewings 2002).

Research in languages for specific purposes has a long tradition in applied
linguistics, ESP perhaps more than others given the position of English as a
principal international language of scientific and business communication.  On
the one hand, much attention has been given to contextual factors in the form
of learner needs analysis, materials development, and practitioner
preparation, for example. On the other, efforts to characterise particular
specialised varieties of English have deployed the tools of corpus linguistics
to analyse written, spoken, and interactional data and thus help determine
learning objectives in ESP programmes (Boulton et al, 2012). At the same time,
in related fields outside ESP proper, developments in second language research
(Spada, 2015), task-based language teaching (Ortega, 2015), and
computer-assisted language learning (Gonzalez-Lloret, 2014) among others,
offer new perspectives with respect to shared epistemological and
methodological concerns (Sarré & Whyte, 2016).

Although innovative practices in ESP teaching are certainly numerous
(Shrestha, 2015; Teaching Practices in ESP today, 2016), there is a shortage
of published research in this area, particularly studies with sound
theoretical and methodological bases as opposed to what Bowyers (1980) has
called ''war stories and romances.'' Master (2005) has noted a continuing lack
of research on the efficacy of ESP programmes, a problem compounded by new
needs arising at the intersection of ESP and English as a lingua franca
education (Hewings, 2002). This volume aims to bridge these gaps by offering
strong research-based contributions in a wide range of ESP contexts.

Objectives:

The present volume intends to address key issues related to research in ESP
teaching and learning by bringing together current research at the
intersection of the theoretical and practical dimensions of English for
Specific Purposes. With the ambition of developing new theoretical and
pedagogical insights for ESP practitioners and researchers alike,
contributions will go beyond descriptions of ESP situations and/or programmes
and involve sound research design and data analysis. Papers must therefore be
anchored in previous ESP teaching and learning research, include a careful
description of the research framework and design, the methods used to collect
and analyse data, and an evaluation of results. Data may include syllabus and
teaching materials, classroom data related to teaching and learning
activities, and participant feedback in the form of questionnaire and
interview protocols, for example.

Recommended topics:

Proposals for articles on topics relevant to this collective volume may
include, but are not limited to:

- ESP needs analysis: outline of teaching context, learner needs and
objectives, practitioner perspectives, including instruments and data analysis
- Materials development: careful description of design of ESP teaching
materials including relevant research, sample teaching materials, and data on
piloting and feedback processes
- Instructional effects: investigation of teaching efficacy in ESP context,
experimental research to test the efficacy of particular pedagogical
intervention
- Investigation of learner language in ESP contexts: collection of L2 data
(writing, oral production, interaction), evaluation of language and content
knowledge
- Intersections with other areas of language teaching research (e.g., CALL,
TBLT, testing)
- ESP teacher education: design and implementation of training modules,
evaluation of ESP materials or activities created by trainee teachers,
evaluation of teaching efficacy.

References:

Belcher, D., Johns, A. M. & Paltridge, B. (Eds.) (2011). New directions in
English for Specific Purposes research. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan
Press.
Boulton, A., Carter-Thomas, S., & Rowley-Jolivet, E. (Eds.). (2012).
Corpus-informed research and learning in ESP: Issues and applications. New
York: Benjamins.
Bowyers, R. (1980). War stories and romances. In Projects in materials design
(ELT documents special). London: British Council, 71-82.
British Council. (1980). Projects in materials design (ELT documents special).
London: British Council.
González-Lloret, M. (2014). The need for needs analysis in technology-mediated
TBLT. In González-Lloret, M., & Ortega, L. (Eds.). Technology-mediated TBLT:
researching technology and tasks. New York: Benjamins, 23-50.
Hewings, M. (2002). A history of ESP through English for Specific Purposes.
English for Specific Purposes World, 3(1) [retrieved on 24 October 2016 from
<http://www.esp-world.info/Articles_3/Hewings_paper.htm>].
Master, P. (2005). Research in English for specific purposes. In Hinkel, E.
(ed.). Handbook of Research in Second Language Teaching and Learning. London:
Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Ortega, L. (2015). Researching CLIL and TBLT interfaces. System, 54, 103-109.
Paltridge, B. & Starfield, S. (2011). Research in English for Specific
Purposes. In Hinkel, E. (Ed.) Handbook of Research in Second Language teaching
and learning, Volume II. London: Routledge, 106-121.
Sarré, C., & Whyte, S. (2016). Research in ESP teaching and learning in French
higher education: developing the construct of ESP didactics. ASp. la revue du
GERAS, (69), 139-1164. http://asp.revues.org/4834
Shrestha, P. N. (Ed.) (2015). Current Developments in English for Academic and
Specific Purposes: Local Innovations and Global Perspectives. Reading: Garnet
Education.
Spada, N. (2015). SLA research and L2 pedagogy: Misapplications and questions
of relevance. Language Teaching, 48(1), 69.
Teaching practices in ESP today. (2016). Seminar 14, ESSE Conference (English
Society for the Study of English), Galway, Ireland.

Submission procedure:

Abstracts (500 words plus references) outlining the content and aims of the
proposed chapters should be submitted by email to the editors
cedric.sarre at espe-paris.fr and shona.whyte at unice.fr no later than 15 December
2016.

Publisher:

This collective volume is scheduled to be published by Research Publishing
(http://www.research-publishing.net) as an open access and print-on-demand
edited book.

Important Dates:

3 November 2016: Call for expression of interest
15 December 2016: Submission of abstracts (500 words plus references)
15 January 2017: Notification of acceptance
15 March: Submission of first draft (5000 words excluding references)
31 May 2017: Submission of second draft
July 2017: Final acceptance.
October 2017: Publication.

Linguistic Field(s): Applied Linguistics
                     Language Acquisition

Subject Language(s): English (eng)

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