PPT

1. Political and Economic Roots of EAP
EnglishforAcademicPurposes

2. Political and Economic Roots of EAP
• English has increasingly become a medium for the teaching and
learning of other subjects. This use of English as an auxiliary
language is especially important in those countries where a
great deal of university-teaching is carried out in English (e.g.,
India)
• As long as ARAMCO [Arabian American Oil Company] has been
involved in formal training—and this (in one form or another)
covers thirty years—there has been a special emphasis on
English language training. English is the language of oil
technology and of the people who work in oil

3. • ESP’s discourse of neutrality and consensus, shown
in its unquestioned acceptance of the dominance of
English in overseas universities, textbooks, and
science and technology, presenting that dominance
as naturally occurring and inevitable

4. Examining the First Quote: ESP’s Official History
• Barber’s (1962) rationale for studying and teaching scientific
English exemplifies how ESP specialists have traditionally
presented their work.
• Dudley-Evans and St. John (1998) describe the “flowering” of
ESP resulting from “general developments in the world economy
in the 1950s and 1960s,” including the “increased use of English
as the international language of science, technology, and
business” (p. 19

5. • Flowerdew (1990) describes interest in ESP as a function of
“market forces,” creating a “continuing demand” for these
courses in developing an “ideology of pragmatism” (Benesch,
1993), getting the job done with no critical analysis of the
consequences for the various parties, some of which may have
much to gain at the expense of others
• The quietism in the ESP/EAP community about the colonial
history of Middle Eastern countries and the desire of the
United States and United Kingdom to maintain control of their
oil is remarkable
• without an analysis of the underlying motivation and goals, it is
impossible for ESP teachers to come to terms with the ethics of
their practice, to ask who they are working for, and to examine
possible consequences of their teaching

6. Examining the Second Quote: ESP’s Unofficial History
• The conference on Adult English for National Development in
Beirut in May 1971 sponsored by the Ford Foundation.
• A side of ESP not usually discussed in the literature: its role in
furthering the economic aims of a company.
• Associates modern and Western with superior and traditional
and non-Western with backward.

7. • The ARAMCO training consisted not of courses narrowly
focused on ESP but in assimilation to the company’s practices,
its focus on carrying out its business, making the workers into
company men.
• The 1971 Beirut conference is just one example of the
conscious planning on the part of industry, aided by
governments, foundations, and academic institutions working
together to shore up markets in developing countries.
• ESP was never, nor is it now, purely a language-teaching
enterprise but also a political and economic one.

8. Phillipson’s Analysis of the Political and Economic
Roots of English Language Teaching
Chapter 6 of Phillipson’s (1992)
Linguistic Imperialism entitled
“British and American Promotion of
English” is an important corrective to
the ESP literature’s portrayal of the
“rise” of English worldwide as a
natural and politically neutral
phenomenon.

9. The British Council’s Promotion of English
• According to Phillipson (1992), the British Council’s origins
can be traced to 1934 when the British Foreign Office,
prompted by members of the business community, formed
a committee, The British Council for Relations with Other
Countries (p. 137), to explore ways to promote English
language teaching and British culture abroad.
• After the war, the British Council played a greater role in
promoting commercial interests due to a “flagging
economy” and the need to reduce military spending (p.
144).

10. • Two reports published during the 1950s convinced the British cabinet
to significantly increase its spending on the promotion of English
• One sentence from that report, quoted by Phillipson, describes in a
particularly frank way a cause-and-effect relationship between
promoting English and developing new markets
• The second influential report was issued in 1956 by the Official
Committee on the Teaching of English Overseas. In it, they declared
that “opportunities unquestionably exist for increasing the use of
English as the main second language in most parts of the non-English
speaking world” (Ministry of Education, 1956, cited in Phillipson,
1992, p. 147)

11. U.S. Promotion of English
• In U.S. Promotion of English, there some government agencies were
involved in English-teaching activities and including some activities:
radio broadcasts, libraries, language courses, academic exchanges,
and cultural exchanges.
• In establishing ESL as an academic discipline, there are some roles
that discussing in private foundations—creating universities in areas
of strategic importance to the U.S.; teacher training projects;
curriculum development projects; funding of overseas students to
train in U.S. universities; and training U.S. citizens as overseas
consultants.

12. • The implementation of linguistics in the University of Edinburgh’s
school is being discussed by the United Kingdom and the United State
in some conferences in order to promote English and English language
teaching. Including to formulate joint policy statements and develops
strategies for implementation of projects.
• The conference participants have not argued that to use English as a
tool to change the thinking and loyalties of citizens in countries where
English was being taught. Instead, they saw English as a ticket to the
modern world. The political site of the conference participants has
revealed that English as a tool for fighting Communism and believed
that those who learned English would be turning toward the future
rather than remaining stuck in what they characterized as traditional or
nationalistic thinking.

13. Conclusion
• EAP’s discourse of neutrality has presented the history of political and
economic roots of EAP field as a consensual and inevitable
chronology of pedagogical events. A critical approach to EAP avoids
these uncomplicated and ahistorical assumptions and allows for a
more nuanced and dynamic relationship between target situations
and students’ purposes, desires, and aspirations.
• EAP attempts to examine the reasons why students are enrolled in
English courses and how their goals relate to the types of courses
they will take as they pursue degrees in their chosen areas of study. It
is can be said that EAP’s responsiveness can be applied to specific
institutional demands, academic requirements, and classroom
activities.

14. QUESTION?

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