I hope you don't mind if I post this message in two locations on the ESL Cafe. You never know who reads them.
Having read the ELTNews.com summary of the article in the Guardian Weekly which talks about the current situation of teaching English in Japan, I jumped to the GW link where I found another related article. It was written about the poor state of affairs in Japan with regard to English used by scientists.
I have an interest in this subject, both from my own professional background and from the fact that I have some private students who are Japanese scientists. One statement in the article struck me:
"The emphasis on practical usage already has other professionals searching for alternatives to Toeic, which critics say rewards cramming, but not communication skills. Doctors, lawyers and accountants are just some of the groups for whom tests in English for Specific Purposes have been devised."
I have searched high and low for suitable texts to teach conversational English for scientists, and to teach presentation skills for EFL students. All in vain. Does anyone here know of the ESP tests that this article is talking about? Moreover, on a professional level of curiosity, just what good are tests without the proper training? I wish the article had mentioned how those doctors, lawyers, and accountants are getting their required specialized training. Does anyone know sources for this, as well?
teaching English to Japanese scientists
Moderators: Dimitris, maneki neko2, Lorikeet, Enrico Palazzo, superpeach, cecil2, Mr. Kalgukshi2
Scientists and Communication
I am currently teaching ESL through an adult education program in the United States. I had a professor in college who used to talk about everything being "ecologically valid". I try to do this. I ask my students to describe the "who", "when", and "where" of speaking English and then I use those descriptions to design my lessons for them. Of course, my students, many of whom are scientists at a laboratory here in the states, are immersed in American culture and language. If I were in Japan teaching I might look at conversational language from American TV shows or movies. I might ask American students in Japan to visit my class and practice speaking with my students. I think that scientific writings and oral presentations are different enough from conversational English to merit separate approaches. I'm sorry I can't comment on any tests. Good Luck
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James Trotta
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Have you called the major publishers?
I know that OUP and CUP each publishes a presentations course. I like the OUP one, Effective Presentations, better, but I usually supplement it with CUP's Professional presentations.
As for science texts, there are lots of fields. IT is well represented. I've personally used Infotech from CUP. It's getting dated, but it has good readings and listenings about computers. OUP has Techtalk (coming soon) and English for Information Technology. I've never seen either of them... They've also got stuff for mechanical engineering, and electronics.
Anyway call your local publishers. It's their job to know what books are available and they'll probably send you a sample of whichever ones sound interesting.
As for science texts, there are lots of fields. IT is well represented. I've personally used Infotech from CUP. It's getting dated, but it has good readings and listenings about computers. OUP has Techtalk (coming soon) and English for Information Technology. I've never seen either of them... They've also got stuff for mechanical engineering, and electronics.
Anyway call your local publishers. It's their job to know what books are available and they'll probably send you a sample of whichever ones sound interesting.
English for Scientists
I went to Amazon and did a search for 'English for scientist' and came up with some titles. Try it.
I tutor scientists and engineers and don't use a book specifically for ESL for scientists. Scientists are so highly specialized that any textbook would not contain the specific material they need and it would be outdated soon after being published.
I use a technical writing manual and its companion works, plus current publications in professional journals in the scientist's or engineer's exact field of research.
The texts I use are written by a mechanical engineer and are used in colleges and industry for scientific technical writing courses. The author is Michael Alley, the books The Craft of Scientific Writing, The Craft of Editing, and The Craft of Scientific Presentations: Critical Steps to Succeed and Critical Errors to Avoid.
For example, I tutored a scientist a number of years ago who specialized in geological engineering. His publications had abstracts in English. I searched scientific databases using keywords listed in his abstract for articles of the current year.
Alley has a discussion in his Writing of De Broglie, a scientist whom an engineer would be familiar with. This led to a discussion, in English, about the concept of symmetry in the sciences which brought us to crystal symmetry in the geological sciences and to a discussion of physical forces in crystals and materials and voilà! we were at freeways, stress and strain and earthquakes.
Static ESL texts are not specialized to reach the vocabulary of interest and their level is often way too low for the Ph. D. scientist or engineer. I also use upper division and graduate textbooks, which the professors can obtain copies of for free from publishers. You can find out what texts are used by finding an on-line syllabus for a graduate course in their area of interest at an American or British university (American easier to search for course materials).
The most important thing with scientists is to remember to teach the scientist English, not elementary physics. I watched an ESL teacher at a local company correcting a scientist in her class on the use of the words 'stress' and 'strain' in physics. The teacher was not using the words correctly and clearly could not communicate with the scientists who were not pleased with the situation.
Another type of book I use is scientific readers. These are books, generally published yearly by professional societies, designed to introduce either undergraduates or upper division undergraduates (you want the latter) to an area of research. I have such readers on geology, DNA replication techniques, planetary motion and a few other topics.
I urge you to reconsider using an ESL text as they will only be useful for a very low level introduction to English for scientists. The scientists will be disappointed, and your time and money spent will not get much return.
I tutor scientists and engineers and don't use a book specifically for ESL for scientists. Scientists are so highly specialized that any textbook would not contain the specific material they need and it would be outdated soon after being published.
I use a technical writing manual and its companion works, plus current publications in professional journals in the scientist's or engineer's exact field of research.
The texts I use are written by a mechanical engineer and are used in colleges and industry for scientific technical writing courses. The author is Michael Alley, the books The Craft of Scientific Writing, The Craft of Editing, and The Craft of Scientific Presentations: Critical Steps to Succeed and Critical Errors to Avoid.
For example, I tutored a scientist a number of years ago who specialized in geological engineering. His publications had abstracts in English. I searched scientific databases using keywords listed in his abstract for articles of the current year.
Alley has a discussion in his Writing of De Broglie, a scientist whom an engineer would be familiar with. This led to a discussion, in English, about the concept of symmetry in the sciences which brought us to crystal symmetry in the geological sciences and to a discussion of physical forces in crystals and materials and voilà! we were at freeways, stress and strain and earthquakes.
Static ESL texts are not specialized to reach the vocabulary of interest and their level is often way too low for the Ph. D. scientist or engineer. I also use upper division and graduate textbooks, which the professors can obtain copies of for free from publishers. You can find out what texts are used by finding an on-line syllabus for a graduate course in their area of interest at an American or British university (American easier to search for course materials).
The most important thing with scientists is to remember to teach the scientist English, not elementary physics. I watched an ESL teacher at a local company correcting a scientist in her class on the use of the words 'stress' and 'strain' in physics. The teacher was not using the words correctly and clearly could not communicate with the scientists who were not pleased with the situation.
Another type of book I use is scientific readers. These are books, generally published yearly by professional societies, designed to introduce either undergraduates or upper division undergraduates (you want the latter) to an area of research. I have such readers on geology, DNA replication techniques, planetary motion and a few other topics.
I urge you to reconsider using an ESL text as they will only be useful for a very low level introduction to English for scientists. The scientists will be disappointed, and your time and money spent will not get much return.
In my experience, it's well worth discussing with students as to what they really want. It might be that they have asked for training in English related to their specialism, because that is what their managers will authorize. In reality, they know the specialist vocab in English but what they can't do is field questions at the end of a presentation, or chat with visiting colleagues from abroad.
What They Want
Strider,
Excellent point. I also use seminars at local universities. I subscribe via e-mail to departmental seminar announcements. When one will be in our area that is interesting to the scientists I am tutoring, I get the journal article and we use that for discussion.
When I tutor, we work on how to formulate questions and answers for undergraduates, graduate students and peers.
The seminars are the hits, though. We spend class time working on questions that the scientists actually want to ask about the research of the speaker, and extra time on the vocabulary of possible answers.
Excellent point. I also use seminars at local universities. I subscribe via e-mail to departmental seminar announcements. When one will be in our area that is interesting to the scientists I am tutoring, I get the journal article and we use that for discussion.
When I tutor, we work on how to formulate questions and answers for undergraduates, graduate students and peers.
The seminars are the hits, though. We spend class time working on questions that the scientists actually want to ask about the research of the speaker, and extra time on the vocabulary of possible answers.