Saudi Students in English Learning as a Second Language - Essay Example

1. Specifications: Introduction and Characteristics This is meant for Intermediate level Saudi in English as a Second Language (ESL). It aims at equipping these students with technical skills in communicative business English to enable them undertake activities like placing orders, speaking on the telephone, networking and problem solving. It will take 12 weeks with 48 hours of teaching. Cost This unit is compulsory in all Saudi technical colleges. It is offered free of charge for all qualified Saudi students. Saudi students who have not met enrolment requirements and international students will be subjected to fees payment for the period of study. Organisation This course is organised in such a way as to make it simple for students being introduced to the technical application of English in business context. There will be lessons on accessing relevant resources, assessment items and key events during the course which will be uploaded on the online university blackboard. The classrooms will hold between 10 and 20 students. Course Goals and Objectives This part seeks to guide the organisation of the syllabus as indicated by White (1988). The course seeks to consolidate previously gained English knowledge by the students and raise it to levels applicable in business context. It aims at improving skills in English listening, speaking and writing so as to enhance business communication. Consequently, the students will be expected to: i. Effectively communicate using social and major-related business terminology and vocabulary. ii. Understand basic dialogues in simple social and business contexts. iii. Further confidence when using English to execute business functions such as placing orders, speaking on the telephone, making reservations and handling irate customers, employee complaints and unreliable suppliers. iv. Use basic sentence structure, appropriate vocabulary, and reasonably correct punctuation and spelling to write short, guided business transaction texts such as delivery notes. v. Model a business premise and describe the business processes and objects used to undertake business transactions. vi. Brainstorm on possible business problems and share opinions. vii. Use role plays to practice problem solving in a semi-authentic context. viii. Improve on fluency in oral communication. ix. Develop skills to enable success in intercultural context. Context and Needs Analysis This course employs context defined by Graves (2000) as the nature of the course, time, teaching resources, classroom set-up and the people. The lessons will be conducted on Saturdays and Tuesdays from 10.00 am, since in Saudi Arabia, the week begins on Saturday, each session taking two hours for 12 weeks summing up to 48 hours of teaching. The venue will be Najran College of Technology, Saudi Arabia being a country where English is not the first language, fitting within the example of Target Language – Removed Context cited by Graves (2008). The setting will adopt the European schooling approach described by Ahmad (2009) and Nunan (1999) as involving a teacher-fronted set-up with students seated in rows facing the teacher. Each classroom will have between 10 and 20 students having previous exposure to English since the instruction will presume Intermediate learning level. A triangulation approach will be applied for needs analysis supported by Derakhshan, Rezaei and Alemi (2011) and Wang (2011) as an approach that increases reliability and validity. The course teacher will issue questionnaires to students intending to join the class to understand their needs. Additionally, the teacher will continuously evaluate the students to determine the area they are wanting as not all learners understand their needs. As cited by Richards (2001), needs analysis determines whether the course meets the potential needs of the students and therefore influences this course design. Using questionnaires would be critical in imparting the necessary writing and reading and grammar and vocabulary skills on learners in the business context. Furthermore, by engaging the students in the course of learning, the teacher assesses the listening and speaking abilities of the students. These approaches play a critical role in providing the teacher with an opportunity to understand the needs of the students and appropriately customise the lessons to meet such needs. 2. Syllabus The predominant syllabus in this course is the product-oriented syllabus which has what the learner acquires at the end of the session of instruction as its focus (Katsara, 2008; Lavadenz, 2011). It encompasses grammatical structure, lexical, situational, competency and functional skills. In grammatical syllabus, the learners acquire knowledge of grammatical linguistic items sequentially. The lexical syllabus employs vocabulary as its building blocks with teaching largely concerning high frequency phrases and vocabulary so as to build up areas in vocabulary (Bernado & Gonzales, 2009; Graves, 2000). Since this syllabus does not target impacting on the process in which the learner acquires the skills as propagated by a process-oriented syllabus but rather on how the skills acquired benefits the learner in practical situation, a product-oriented syllabus best fits this syllabus. It will also encompass situational syllabus where learners will be taught how to communicate in a given context, in this particular case, the business context. Closely related to this would be the competency based syllabus that will equip learners with skills for successful completion of activities in the business context. Finally, the functional syllabus gives knowledge on the communicative skills such as conversing, inviting, warning, suggesting and asking needed for activities in business communication including placing orders, speaking on the telephone, networking and problem solving. Combining these syllabi making this product-oriented syllabus an integrated syllabus justifies the fact that various priorities could be covered by a single syllabus (Rahimpour, 2010). The twelve units will be covered in a linear sequence each in one week. Of these units, reviews 1, 2 and 3 will be conducted after every three units to review the material that would have been covered in the preceding three weeks and would form an important aspect of assessing the students. As discussed in Graves (2000), these units will have topics relevant to the discussions covering topics on business processes and operations. This would depend on the learning context and the students’ profile, that is, their background in English as a foreign language and age. Additionally, the sequencing of the topics will adopt the progression from simple concepts and gradually graduating to more complex ones, with spiral sequencing as suggested by Richards (2001) also being adopted so that through repetition, students will effective learn more difficult aspects of the topics. Averagely, each topic is estimated to last for four hours. Teaching Materials For this course, the textbook Business Goals 1 (Knight, O’Neil & Hayden, 2004) is recommended. It introduces grammar, vocabulary and functional language, focusing on speaking and listening so as to provide learners with skills necessary for ordering, telephoning, dealing with problems and networking in business context. Students will access handouts at their cost from the student centre in the college. Additionally, the teacher will supply instructional materials from textbooks, newspapers, magazines and websites as would be appropriate. Students could also find the course online interactive blackboard a useful source of materials. 3. Activities Overview of the Weekly Course outline Week 1: Introduction of self and others Saturday: Introducing oneself among strangers Tuesday: Introducing others Week 2: Learning business vocabulary Saturday: Vocabulary related to internal business operations Tuesday: Vocabulary related to external business operations Week 3: Answering and making business calls Saturday: Taking notes from the caller Tuesday: Making calls to get the required information Week 4: Review and Test Saturday: Review 1 Tuesday: Test 1 Week 5: Placing orders Saturday: Searching for prospective suppliers and reserving orders Tuesday: Sealing the deal on supplies Week 6: Handling challenges Saturday: How to deal with challenging customers Tuesday: How to deal with challenging employees and suppliers Week 7: Oral communication Saturday: Internal communication Tuesday: External communication Week 8: Review and test Saturday: Review 2 Tuesday: Test 2 Week 9: Making transaction texts Saturday: Formal texts Tuesday: Informal texts Week 10: Company Saturday: Describing various companies Tuesday: Giving details of companies’ profiles Week 11: Describing business environment Saturday: Describing products Tuesday: Describing business office equipment Week 12: Review and test Saturday: Review 3 Tuesday: Final Test Weekly Overview Week 1 Topic: Introduction of self and others Goals By the end of this week, the students should be in a position to: Introduce oneself in English among business people. Introduce others in a business context. Understand proper ways of referring to business participants and respect their cultures. Saturday Unit 1: Introducing oneself among strangers Objectives By the end of this unit, the students should be able to: Use the right grammar and tenses when introducing oneself. Address the audience appropriately. Tuesday Unit 1: Introducing others Objectives By the end of this unit, the students should be able to: Use the correct grammar and titles to introduce the intended people. Properly address the audience. Address the intercultural aspect when making introductions. Week 2 Topic: Learning business vocabulary Goals By the end of this week, the students should be in a position to: Refer to business operations appropriately. Saturday Unit 2: Vocabulary related to internal business processes Objectives By the end of this unit, the students should be able to: Describe internal business processes in business terms. Communicate using appropriate terminologies with internal relationships. Tuesday Units 2: Vocabulary related to external business processes Objectives By the end of this unit, the students should be able to: Describe external business processes in business terms. Communicate using appropriate terminologies with external relationships. Week 3 Topic: Answering and making calls Goals By the end of this week, the students should be in a position to: Start a business telephone conversation. Observe telephone etiquette. Identify important information relayed in a telephone call and make the appropriate notes. Handle difficult callers. End a business telephone conversation. Saturday Unit 3: Taking notes from the caller Objectives By the end of this unit, the students should be able to: Receive business calls appropriately. Determine the nature of the caller. Take down important information from the caller. Understand how to deal with difficult callers. Tuesday Unit 3: Making calls to get the required information Objectives By the end of this unit, the students should be able to: Start a business telephone conversation, making appropriate introduction. Prepare adequate information that will guide the telephone conversation. Take up important notes for follow up or referral. End a business call appropriately. Week 4 Topic: Review 1 and test 1 Goals By the end of this week, the students should be in a position to: Give feedback for units covered in weeks 1,2 and 3. Sit for test 1. Saturday Review 1 Objectives By the end of this unit, the students should: Give written feedback of their experience in weeks 1, 2 and 3. Tuesday Test 1 Objectives By the end of this unit, the students should be able to: Sit for a 90-minutes test 1 covering units learnt in weeks 1, 2 and 3. Week 5 Topic: Placing orders Goals By the end of this week, the students should be in a position to: Source for appropriate suppliers. Communicate appropriately with suppliers to reserve the rightful orders. Saturday Unit 4: Searching for prospective suppliers and reserving orders Objectives By the end of this unit, the students should be able to: Use available resources to identify the rightful suppliers. Communicate appropriately to prospective suppliers to reserve the needed. Tuesday Unit 4: Sealing the deal on supplies Objectives By the end of this unit, the students should be able to: Communicate appropriately on the description and quantities of supplies needed. Describe the location of delivery. Week 6 Topic: Handling challenges Goals By the end of this week, the students should: Acquire listening skills. Understand basic procedures in coming up with solutions to challenges. Communicate decision to the involved parties. Saturday Unit 5: How to deal with challenging customers Objectives By the end of this unit, the students should be able to: Listen to customer issues. Be firm yet polite to the customer. Ensure the customer is satisfied with the decision undertaken. Tuesday Unit 5: How to deal with challenging employees and suppliers Objectives By the end of this unit, the students should be able to: Listen to complaints. Consult for solutions from all stakeholders. Communicate decisions. Week 7 Topic: Oral communication Goals By the end of this week, the students should be in a position to: Communicate appropriately with internal relationships in the business context. Make appropriate communications with the external parties. Saturday Unit 6: Internal communication Objectives By the end of this unit, the students should be able to: Communicate appropriately with employees and shareholders. Tuesday Unit 6: External communication Objectives By the end of this unit, the students should be able to: Communicate appropriately with suppliers and the media. Week 8 Topic: Review 2 and test 2 Goals By the end of this week, the students should be in a position to: Give feedback for units covered in weeks 5,6 and 7. Sit for test 2. Saturday Review 2 Objectives By the end of this unit, the students should: Give written feedback on units covered in weeks 5, 6 and 7. Tuesday Test 2 Objectives By the end of this unit, the students should be able to: Sit for test 2 covering units taught in weeks 5, 6 and 7. Week 9 Topic: Making transaction texts Goals By the end of this week, the students should be in a position to: Determine when to use formal or informal texts. Use appropriate format and language for both formal and informal texts. Saturday Unit 7: Formal texts Objectives By the end of this unit, the students should be able to: Format texts formally. Use formal business language. Tuesday Unit 7: Informal texts Objectives By the end of this unit, the students should be able to: Understand when to use informal texts. The characteristics that make a text informal. Week 10 Topic: Company Goals By the end of this week, the students should be in a position to: Differentiate the various business models. Give essential characteristics that differentiate a business model from another. Saturday Unit 8: Describing various companies Objectives By the end of this unit, the students should be able to: Use appropriate nouns and pronouns to describe a company. Use appropriate business terminology to describe a company. Tuesday Unit 8: Giving details of companies’ profiles Objectives By the end of this unit, the students should be able to: Understand important aspects of a company. Communicate important aspects of a company’s performance and shareholding. Week 11 Topic: Describing business environment Goals By the end of this week, the students should be in a position to: Describe various business products. Describe the business environment. Saturday Unit 9: Describing products Objectives By the end of this unit, the students should be able to: Appropriately give details of the end products the business entity deals with. Tuesday Unit 9: Describing business office equipment Objectives By the end of this unit, the students should be able to: Describe the available business equipment. Week 12 Topic: Review 3 and final test Goals By the end of this week, the students should be in a position to: Give feedback for units covered in weeks 9, 10 and 11. Sit for final test. Saturday Review 3 Objectives By the end of this unit, the students should: Give written feedback on what was covered in weeks 9, 10 and 11. Tuesday Final test Objectives By the end of this unit, the students should be able to: Sit for the final test lasting 90 minutes and covering all the units. Example of Week 3 Detailed Topic Two lessons’ plans The reasons for selection of this unit for illustrating lesson plans (see appendix) include: i. The topic forms one of the basic components of transactions in business context. ii. The activities in this unit encompass a majority of language skills applicable in business context. iii. This will give an indication of the students’ mastery of business terminologies. 4. Assessment Plan Continuous assessment Students’ learning will be assessed in a formative way, that is, it will be continuous throughout the course duration (Graves, 2000). This method borrows from the European traditional assessment plan and has gained familiarity among students. The assessment plan will be critical in giving information on the learning progress of the students, indicating their achievements and areas in which they could still be wanting. Additionally, it provides learners with feedback for identification of any limitations on which they will act upon so as to improve on their performance with the teacher providing opportunities for further improvement of learning (Lightbown & Spada, 2006). Hence, all students will be expected to participate in class on voluntary basis or on being asked to do so by the teacher. Tests In addition to this, the instructor will administer tests during each review week, thus a total of three tests. These tests will adopt a similar structure and will be guided by the objectives of each unit and as documented by Lavadenz (2011), the tests will seek to give further information on the ability of students to demonstrate the skills learnt, thus a progress achievement testing. Therefore, other than the numerical grading at the end of each marked script, there will be additional suggestions and recommendations to give details on the weaknesses of the students and identify which areas would require more work. Attendance and Participation Finally, there will be marks allocated for attendance. Of importance would be that the students be present for all the three reviews in order to sit for the tests that will be administered during these times. Nonetheless, students with special concerns such as medical conditions will be exempted as long as they back up their cases with valid and reliable evidence and contact the teacher within reasonable time. Such students will only be allowed to miss two weeks of the course duration and will be expected to catch up on the sections they miss through their private arrangements so as to be at par with the other students. Furthermore, the students will be expected to participate in the course by engaging the teacher in questions during the class or outside the class during the teacher’s office hours. The formative assessment plan that will be used by the teacher as the assessor will be as follows: Attendance and participation 30% Test 1 in week 4 15% Test 2 in week 8 15% Test 3 in week 12 40% Total 100% The students will be graded following the European grading system as follows Achievement Marks (%) Description Outstanding 90 – 100 Excellent quality learning outcomes Very Good 75 – 89 High quality learning outcomes Good 65 – 74 Good quality learning outcomes Pass 50 – 64 Satisfactory achievements in the learning outcomes Fail Read More