Teaching English for science and technology (EST) in India suffers from drawbacks such as unrelated courses/methods, poor teaching materials, and underqualified teachers. To address this, EST teaching needs a new orientation focusing on student needs analysis, understanding the structure of technical English and materials, and teacher expertise in applied linguistics. Properly analyzing student profiles and equipping teachers with relevant knowledge can help improve EST education in India.

2. Teaching of EST in Indian
Conditions – R.S.Sharma
Prepared by
Vaidehi Hariyani
(Research Scholar)
Department of English,MKBU
#Semester3 #MA

3. Overview
• Teaching EST (English for Science and Technology) in India suffers
from certain drawbacks: courses and methods are unrelated to the
specific needs of the students, teaching materials are not based on an
analysis of the scientific sub-register and the teachers are ill-
equipped.
• How to overcome these drawbacks???????
• This approach involves a new kind of orientation of the teacher.

4. Sub-Register
English
Engineering
(Register)
Mechanical Engineering
(Sub-register)

5. EST (English for Science and Technology)
EAP (English for Academic
Purpose)
EGAP (English
for General
Academic
Purpose)
ESAP (English
for Specific
Academic
Purpose)

6. Reasons for the drawbacks
• EST has a direct bearing on India’s modernization and progress.
• EST learners’ Communicative Competence in English is not achieved
to a considerable extent.
• Learner’s chief concern will be academic for three or four years,
hence the basic needs are to acquire knowledge from text-books and
scientific journals.
• There’s a scarcity of resources in mother tongue and regional
languages.

7. Three Important aspects to understand the
problem
Need analysis
Structure of
technical English
and technical
material
Expertise

8. Need Analysis
• The learner’s profile suggests that he has been admitted to First Year
B.sc or B.tech through an admission test, possess intelligence and
attainment above the average.
• He knows some basic English that is why they could crack such exam,
but now requires remedial work and improvement.
• For next 4 to 5 years the learner’s chief concern will be academic.
• His basic need is an ability to gather scientific knowledge found in the
text-books and scientific journal, as the materials is not available in
regional language.

9. • First year consists mainly of Applied Science – Physics, Chemistry and
Mathematic. He is aware of this, but he has no knowledge of
technical and Engineering subjects.
• Now looking at this analysis, the learner’s need two abilities.
• 1.) Reading and comprehension of technical texts written in English.
• 2.) Writing of technical English.

10. Structure of Technical English and Teaching
Materials
• It should be in a systematized in manner.
• Technical writing is essential.
• • Technical English (T.E.) is based on technical vocabulary.
• Technical language follows the principles of economy and
conciseness; it therefore avoids peripherals and rhetorical expression,
lying emphasis on directness rather than figurative communication.
• Semantically, the language is referential and denotative without any
emotive overtones. i.e. Mathematics, Physics, and Chemistry

11. • A word is needed about material for practice, exercise, and testing.
This will also naturally be based on the corpus.
• • Careful analysis of Indian learner is essential.
• He further explain this with some examples from his book Technical
English.
• There are four kinds of books of T.E which are called First Generation
books suggested by experts.

12. Experts
General
English
Course on
grammar
T.E by
Foreign
authors
Have to be
designed as per
needs of the
students
Simplifi
ed
Science

13. Expertise and Training
• Teachers of EST must have good command over English and
• some acquaintance of science is also required or should be from
Science background.
• • T.E. is a situational variety of English. In order to handle it properly
in the class, a teacher requires some knowledge of register and style.
• Therefore, expertise in applied linguistics is the third requirement.
Contrastive linguistics and error analysis, both of which form part of
applied linguistics, will offer a great deal of advantage to the EST
teacher.

14. • They will help him in turning the focus on the salient features and
areas where error is mostly likely.
• It is well-known that the knowledge of the mother-tongue interferes
with the learning of a foreign or second language.
• This applies to EST also and in this regard the Indian situation is quite
complex because of a number of regional languages. L1 interface
errors, errors made by English medium students.

15. Sum Up
• The teacher of EST who can plan his work properly and shrewdly,
make the right kind of remarks and ask the right kind of questions –
never attempting to deliver a “lecture” will pick up a good deal of
science in the course of teaching.
• The students don’t mind that he does not know everything of
science; they don’t mind even his occasional blunders and eagerly
volunteer information, turning the classroom situations into a
cooperative activity marked by lively give-and-take.
• This is however cannot be used as an excuse for not acquiring the
basic concepts and ideas of science.