1. The document outlines parameters and considerations for ESP course design such as whether the course should be intensive or extensive, assessed or non-assessed, focused on immediate or delayed needs, and more. 2. It presents four case studies of ESP course designs including a residential intensive course for business professionals, an extensive assessed EAP course, a non-assessed EAP course for banking and finance students, and an intensive writing course for scientists. 3. Successful ESP course design requires balancing various parameters while considering learners' needs and institutional limitations, and courses should be revised over multiple years based on feedback.

1. METHODS &
PARAMETERS IN ESP
COURSE DESIGN
Lazarus Gawazah
Namibia University of Science and Technology

2. Objectives of the presentation
• Steps for course design
• Criteria for course design
• Needs analysis questions about needs and wants
• Questions in developing a course outline
• Case studies
• Framework for grouping and ordering course outline

3. Parameters of course design
The following boundaries can be investigated:
• 1. should the course be intensive or extensive?
• 2. Learners’ performance be assessed or non-assessed?
• 3. Dealing with immediate needs or delayed needs
• 4. Teacher as provider of knowledge and activities or facilitator
• 5. Course broad or narrow focus
• 6. Pre-study/pre-experience or run parallel with study/experience
• 8. Homogeneous or heterogeneous group
• 9. Language teacher or learner negotiated course design
• NB# A satisfactory course is achieved over time (several years) through a
number of revisions (Dudley-Evans & Saint John, 1998).

4. Balancing the parameters
• ESP teacher must be aware of institutional limitations or learner
expectations
• Course design before course takes place and revised during course
• Or after the course has been run
• Initial revisions may be major, thereafter details may only need fine-
tuning
• Teacher may be designing the course while course takes place
• Or reacting quickly to the needs as expressed at the beginning
• ESP teacher must have good experience in teaching and material
design

5. 4 Case studies were presented
• 1. Residential intensive non-assessed EOP course-GEC Management
College, Dunchurch
• 2. An extensive, repeated, assessed EAP course for students at the
Jordanian University of Science and Technology (JUST), Irbid, Jordan
• 3. Extensive EAP specific course for students studying international
banking and finance at MBA level, University of Birmingham (non-
assessed)
• 4. An intensive one-off EOP course for research scientists, India

6. Residential intensive non-assessed EOP
course-GEC Management College, Dunchurch
NEED ANALYSIS PROCEDURE
• A British and French company merged
• Duration- one week team taught intensive English course
• Facilitators were: one Human Resources development expert and a
language expert
• Aims were:
• To develop management skills
• English language skills for conducting effective meeting and discussions in
English
• 35 hours formal contact tutoring plus self study
• 10 are European business people with French L1
• Hand outs and practice tasks of business English
• Cross cultural issues when using language

7. An extensive, repeated, assessed EAP course for
students at the Jordanian University of Science and
Technology (JUST), Irbid, Jordan
• Target Situation Analysis (TSA) was conducted using questionnaires
with students and staff, plus structured interviews with subj lecturers
• Formative evaluations over the years will refine the needs and
provide valuable feedback
• The knowledge of English is needed for note taking to short reports,
laboratory reports, problem solving assignments, project reports and
examinations, listening to lectures instructions and comprehension
• Class size of 40 with a heterogeneous composition

8. Extensive EAP specific course for students
studying international banking and finance at MBA
level, University of Birmingham (non-assessed)
• Intensive course for MBA that combines training for work and study
• ESP course is needed for essay writing, oral presentation and
dissertation writing
• It is a course for international students coming to study at the
University of Birmingham
• MBA and Banking Finance groups are separated because their nature
of discussions are different i.e vocabulary and subject matter is
different
• The course details facts include course duration, number of hours,
resources used, group size and objectives

9. An intensive one-off EOP course
for research scientists, India
• India is less represented in scientific journal publishing
• The Target Situation (TS) aimed at:
• getting articles accepted in international, English medium journals with minimum
revisions.
• Producing more effective journal articles
• Increase the rate of acceptance by journal editors
• Spending less time on the entire writing process
• Pre-course consisted of: process writing, scientific articles, analysing
journal articles and previous experience
• Why and how journal articles are read

10. Intensive writing course for
research scientists in India

11. Developing a course outline

12. Developing a course outline

13. Conclusion
• An ESP course can take a number of years to perfect with several
revisions until the students needs are satisfactorily met
• An ESP course is determined by the learner’s needs. i.e learner’s level
and what the English will be used for, immediate or delayed needs
• Factors such as institutional limitations are also considered in course
design, a tailor-made course for every programme will be expensive
• The needs of English first language or native speakers differ from
English as a foreign or second language
• A successful course design is based on intelligent juggling of all the
course parameters and experience that meets the learners needs.

15. References
Dudley-Evans, T., St John, M. J., & Saint John, M. J. (1998). Developments in English for
specific purposes: A multi-disciplinary approach. Cambridge university press.
Hutchinson, T., & Waters, A. (1987).English for specific purposes. Cambridge university
press.
Swales, J. (1989). Service English course design and opportunity cost. In RK Johnson.
(Ed.) The Second Language Curriculum. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Weissberg, R., & Buker, S. (1990). Writing up research: Experimental Report Writing for
Students of English. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.