24.701, Diss: Applied Ling/ English: Trabelsi: 'Towards a Framework for Authenticity of Business English Materials for Tunisian Students'

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LINGUIST List: Vol-24-701. Thu Feb 07 2013. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 24.701, Diss: Applied Ling/ English: Trabelsi: 'Towards a Framework for Authenticity of Business English Materials for Tunisian Students'

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Date: Thu, 07 Feb 2013 10:46:24
From: Soufiane Trabelsi [sofientt2000 at yahoo.fr]
Subject: Towards a Framework for Authenticity of Business English Materials for Tunisian Students

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Institution: Leeds Metropolitan University 
Program: Curriculum and Instruction 
Dissertation Status: Completed 
Degree Date: 2011 

Author: Soufiane Rachid Trabelsi

Dissertation Title: Towards a Framework for Authenticity of Business English
Materials for Tunisian Students 

Linguistic Field(s): Applied Linguistics

Subject Language(s): English (eng)


Dissertation Director(s):
Brian Tomlinson
Ivor Timmis

Dissertation Abstract:

This thesis reports on a case study that investigates the authenticity of Business 
English teaching materials used in a Tunisian higher education context. The 
notion of authenticity has been still problematic among ELT researchers and 
applied linguists. The study attempts to suggest a localised approach to 
authenticity through the development of a new principled framework of authentic 
materials that will be valid for Tunisian intermediate students of Business 
English. 

In more practical terms, the case study attempts to theorise a framework of 
authenticity based on surveying the literature on authenticity and subjecting it to a 
critical appraisal. Thus, an inductive research methodology approach is applied. 
Two types of input informed the construction of the newly obtained framework: 
external input is based on insights from theories related to SLA, CLT, ESP, 
authenticity, and corpora; internal input is represented by an empirical study 
undertaken on the current teaching materials and their major stakeholders.

The site of study is Sfax University where the researcher has employed a 
triangulation of methods consisting of a questionnaire to fourth year business 
students, an interview to their teachers of English, and a content analysis to their 
course materials. As a fourth tool, surveys were given to some randomly chosen 
potential students’ employers, who were relevant stakeholders, in order to obtain 
their input and to further validate the framework. The findings show that the 
authenticity of teaching materials is conditionally determined by surveying the 
profile of the students, their major stakeholders, and the context where materials 
are to be used. The implication of the study is that authenticity of the course 
materials is the result of the mediation of the needs and the demands of all the 
stakeholders and their context, bearing in mind that the teachers are likely to 
assume a primordial role in such mediation.






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