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27100 Norwegian Journal of development of the International Science No 1,2016
VARIETIES OF THE CONSTRUCTIVIST APPROACH TO TEACHING ENGLISH FOR SPECIFIC
PURPOSES TO UNIVERSITY STUDENTS
Tarnopolsky O.
Doctor of Pedagogy, Professor, Head of the Department of Applied Linguistics and Methods of Foreign
Language Teaching at Alfred Nobel University, Dnipro, Ukraine
Abstract: The article discusses different varieties of the constructivist approach to teaching English for specific purposes (ESP) at Ukrainian universities. These varieties depend on the students' major and their stage of learning. The varieties are analyzed by way of describing the gradual development of the method of constructivist English language teaching for professional communication. Three principal varieties of the developed method/approach have been elaborated. The first two are: the ones for teaching English to 2nd year students majoring in Economics and Business as distinct from the one for teaching that language to 2nd year students with some humanitarian major. The third variety is for teaching 1st year students as distinct from teaching 2nd year students.
Key words: teaching English for specific purposes at universities, constructivist approach, varieties of the method of constructivist learning, blended learning, experiential learning, continuous simulation, aspectization.
Introduction
Constructivism as a general approach to teaching and learning different disciplines at universities has been used for quite a long time already and has become quite popular. The constructivist teaching of English for Specific Purposes (ESP) in profession-oriented university courses of English as a foreign language has also started to be developed recently but, regretfully, this particular type of constructivist teaching and learning is still only at the initial stages of its elaboration and introduction into broad teaching practice. In particular, there are practically no developments and absolutely no publications on what concerns the diversification of the approach or method (both terms being considered as synonyms in this article) in language teaching, i.e. the elaboration of varieties of the constructivist method depending on students' majors and their stage of learning. Though in fact such varieties already exist, the principal differences between them have not been studied yet. This is why the issue of elaborating and researching those varieties discussed in this article is certainly topical and important for further development of the con-structivist approach.
Constructivism in foreign language teaching -research and publications
In general, constructivism in teaching and learning is based on the psychological and pedagogical theories of Bruner, Piaget, and Vygotskii [1; 5; 12] and its essence is in making learners "construct' themselves their own knowledge and skills through specific learning activities modeling genuine practical activities where such knowledge and skills are required and where they usually emerge and get reinforced in natural (e.g., professional) situations and conditions. For instance, when solving in the classroom professional or quasi-professional tasks, university students autonomously "construct" their ability to solve similar tasks in their future professional activities through realizing the specific method of solving them (knowledge) and acquiring the skills necessary for using that method efficiently in practice.
After publication of the works by Ioannou-Geor-giou and Jonassen [3; 4] devoted to using constructivism in language training, it has become possible to formulate a definition of the essence of the constructivist
approach to ESP teaching and learning. Such a definition has been given by Tarnopolsky [6] who states that constructivism presupposes a specific design of a university ESP course giving students opportunities of subconsciously acquiring skills of professional communication in English through learning activities modeling professional activities while those modeled activities are performed by means of English being learned.
It should be said that it is in the works of the latter author and his co-authors [6; 7], as well as in the series of ESP textbooks developed by him and his team [8; 9; 10; 11], that the constructivist method in ESP teaching has found its fullest embodiment.
However, even in Tarnopolsky's et al. publications and research, the varieties of that method depending on students' majors have not been discussed. The dependence of such varieties on the stage of ESP learning has not been analyzed either which leaves a broad gap in publications devoted to research on constructivism in foreign language teaching and learning. Therefore, the aim of this article was to consider theoretically and practically the varieties of the constructiv-ist method/approach already developed for the teaching practice by me and my team for ensuring the best adaptation of the method/approach to each of the students' particular major and the stage of their learning ESP.
The first variety of the constructivist method/approach
The first variety of the constructivist method of ESP teaching was developed and tested by us in 20022004 [6; 7] and was fully practically embodied in the textbook "Business Projects'' [8]. The variety was developed for university students who had already achieved the intermediate level in their command of General English (B1+/B2 according to "Common European Framework of Reference for Languages'" [2]), and, in the conditions of Ukraine, it means that it could be used not earlier than the second year of university ESP course. The variety was designed for students majoring in Business and Economics and it was distinguished by some basic characteristics common for all our following varieties and modifications of the con-structivist approach to language teaching.
The first of them was the introduction of experiential learning modeling professional activities of future
specialists - while communication in the framework of those modeled activities was in English only. The experiential learning activities used when implementing the developed variety of the method in teaching practice included: role plays and simulations; brainstorm-ing, case studies, and discussions on professional issues; students' presentation concerning professional matters; project work, and search for professionally relevant information in English required for doing creative profession-oriented learning tasks. It was experiential learning that made the method a constructivist one because the students were acquiring the skills of professional communication in English as well as relevant knowledge mostly subconsciously - through their subconscious "construction" when doing creative extra-linguistic learning tasks. However, conscious focusing on language forms was not totally excluded but only removed to the periphery of the learning process (students' doing of a limited number of language form-focused exercises as home tasks).
The second peculiarity was content-based instruction (the content being taken from students' majoring disciplines), so that all the experiential learning activities were developing in the framework of that content which allowed not only to bring the language course much closer to students' majoring courses but even to integrate such a course into the common system of professional training.
Finally, the third peculiarity was interactive learning when most experiential learning activities were done by students not individually but in creative communicative target language interaction with each other and the teacher.
However, besides the three above-mentioned characteristics common to all the following varieties and modifications of the method, the variety under discussion was distinguished by one more peculiarity proper only to it. It was designing the language course around one specific innovative kind of experiential learning activity called continuous simulation, its function being full modeling of business activities in the classroom [6; 7; 8].
Continuous simulation is a specific organization of work in the course of English for students in Business and Economics when teaching and learning are implemented through permanent modeling and reproduction of business activities in ESP classes being held. That modeling and reproduction are, in their turn, implemented as simulating the functioning of an invented company. The students themselves invent it, "found" it, "organize" its work and "work" in it. It is a kind of play staged by the students, and in that play they themselves are playwrights, directors, and actors. Continuous simulation, as distinct from ordinary simulations that are mostly disconnected episodes in the learning process, unites this process with a single plot for all learning and communicative activities and becomes the pivotal element in its design. The plot of continuous simulation develops from class to class with students themselves making decisions on the ways of its development.
It was the continuous simulation that made the most prominent distinctive feature of the first developed variety of the constructivist method. Yet, when we
needed to adapt that method to teaching ESP to students of humanities (future psychologists and pedagogues), it became clear that in such a case continuous simulation was hardly usable. The reason was the fact that, if professional activities of business people and economists are always based on interaction of professionals, the work of psychologists and pedagogues usually develops as an individual interaction of one professional (a psychologist or a pedagogue) with non-professionals (clients or students). This is why continuous simulation based on a single plot and developed specifically for modeling business activities is of little help for modeling the professional activities of students with totally different majors (psychologists and pedagogues). That required developing a new variety of the constructivist method,
The second variety of the constructivist method/approach
In the variety under discussion that was developed and tested in the period of 2011-2015 and designed for teaching ESP to future psychologists and pedagogues [6; 9; 10] continuous simulation was totally excluded. However, all the other characteristics of the first variety remained intact (experiential learning, content-based instruction, interactivity, limited out-of-class use of language form-focused exercises). The second variety, just as the first one, was also elaborated for the second year of the university ESP course when the students had already achieved the intermediate (B1+/B2 [2]) level of General English command.
At the same time, it should be taken into account that this second variety was being developed much later than the first one, in the period when Ukrainian universities had already had much broader opportunities for using information technologies in the learning process. This is why the variety under discussion included the so called "on-line component" - obligatory (and not optional) in- and out-of-class students' Internet search on professional sites in English for finding professional information required for doing their creative experiential learning tasks. This kind of on-line learning activities was introduced as special tasks even into the developed textbooks [9; 10], thus turning the learning process into a blended one [6]. It meant such its transformation in which the traditional in-class work and learners' work on-line became organically combined - the first of them was not sufficiently efficient without the second one and vice versa. Besides, the on-line component also changed the way of implementing interactivity in learning - permanent mutual interaction of participants in the learning process was expanded towards their regular interaction with outside sources of professional information in English.
This second variety of the constructivist method is being modified now. The modification is connected with developing a new ESP course and textbook for students majoring in Tourism. This major lies at the intersection of humanities and business-oriented specialties which made it possible to bring the first and the second varieties of the constructivist method much closer together. The on-line component characteristic of the second variety was preserved in the modification under
consideration but, unlike that variety, continuous simulation was also added. Its "plot" turns around students' "establishing their own travel agency and organizing its work." However, in this case continuous simulation is not the pivotal factor in all the experiential learning activities but just one of their elements. The same concerns project work which, as in the first variety of the method, is based on continuous simulation.
Besides, the modification being discussed is distinguished by practically total absence of language form-focused exercises (even done out of class) since our teaching practice has demonstrated quite few of their benefits on the level of General English command (B1+/B2) proper to our students who started their constructivist ESP course in the second year of their target language studies at university.
On balance, the two developed varieties of the constructivist approach and their modification have demonstrated various possible ways of adapting this approach to the specific conditions of teaching ESP to students with different majors. However, the varieties discussed above were designed for one stage of ESP teaching only - the second stage of university language course in the second year of students' university studies, the year that they ordinarily start with B1+/B2 level of General English command. But one more variety of the constructivist approach to ESP teaching was urgently required - the one for the first stage of university target language course. That stage is the first year of students' university studies, and they usually join their language course at this stage with the level of General English command not higher than the pre-intermediate one, or B1 [2].
Such a third variety of the constructivist method of ESP teaching has also been developed in our research and teaching practice.
The third variety of the constructivist method/approach
The relevant research was being conducted in the period of 2012-2016 with the results embodied in the ESP textbook "Professional Basics" [11] designed for the first year students majoring in Business and Economics, as well as in Technology.
Elaborating the variety under discussion, we proceeded from the fact that ordinarily during the first stage of the target language course (the first year of university studies) at Ukrainian universities students are learning General English to bring them to level B2 in its command before starting an ESP course in the second year. Such an approach also allows giving students during their first year of university studies some basic knowledge of their majoring disciplines before the content of those disciplines starts to be included into the ESP course.
Despite the seeming rationality of such an approach, we considered it as totally inadequate because out of the two years that are allocated to any ESP course at Ukrainian universities one is devoted not directly to ESP training but only to preparation for it with no obvious use for teaching English for professional communication. The solution of this problem suggested by us was in devoting the first stage (first year) of the university ESP course to "non-specialized ESP
training" which directly leads to "specialized ESP training" at the second stage (the second year) - see the two varieties of the approach discussed above.
The learning content selected for that first stage (year) of target language studies was based on what was called "generalized professional target language communicative skills" common for all the students having as their majors economic, business, and technological disciplines. These skills are absolutely necessary for a number of professional activities but only those ones that are not narrowly professionally specialized and do not require narrowly specialized knowledge and narrowly specialized language of professional communication. The examples of these generalized professional target language communicative skills are professional telephoning skills, professional letter writing skills, professional negotiating skills when selling and buying equipment, skills for participating in professional fairs and exhibitions, etc. On the one hand, such skills are indubitably professionally relevant because they are required for professional activities of future economists, business people, and specialists in technology. It means that acquiring them students are in fact learning ESP and not preparing for learning it at the next stage of their language course. On the other hand, such not narrowly professionally specialized skills are simpler to acquire in what concerns both the language and the professional knowledge than narrowly professionally specialized skills. Therefore, they are quite accessible for teaching and learning at the first stage (first year) of university ESP course.
It was on such a basis that the third variety of the constructivist method designed for the 1st year students was developed. It was elaborated only for the students of Economics and Business and for the students of Technology since for students with other majors generalized professional communicative skills may be totally different. That third variety was the closest one to the second variety discussed above and it was constructed on the foundation of the same five components:
1) experiential learning activities (but without continuous simulations);
2) interactivity;
3) content-based instruction, the content being based on generalized professional target language communicative skills common for all economic or technological majors;
4) limited use of a certain number of out-of-class language form-focused exercises;
5) inclusion of the on-line component into the learning process turning it into the blended one with organic combination of traditional in-class work and online learning.
However, the third variety is very different from the two varieties of the method developed before it due to the introduction of such a feature as aspectization of teaching and learning. Aspectization in the framework of this variety of the constructivist method characterizes all classes held on one particular profession-oriented topic, such as, for instance, professional telephoning. The aspectization under consideration depends on separate components (aspects) of target
language professional communicative competence being developed by the students. Those components (aspects) include the linguistic, socio-cultural, and psychological ones, as well as the professional subject matter component (e.g., understanding the structure and potential content of professional telephone talks). As-pectization requires consecutive focusing of teacher and learners' attention and efforts on different components (aspects) with the aim of optimizing the development of knowledge and skills proper to each of them. Then, all this knowledge and all such skills are integrated in the last focus (aspect) class of the learning unit devoted to a particular topic. This final class bears the name of the communicative focus (aspect). Such an approach is especially rational at the first stage of a university target language course when students' professional communicative competence in that language is still at the initial stage of its development and special attention is required for forming its different aspects-components.
The third variety of the constructivist method, just like the first two, has not been tested in teaching practice only but has also undergone testing in special experimental research. Its results (discussed in a number of our publications published in Ukrainian and Russian) have proved to be very successful in what concerns students' learning outcomes which were considered as an evidence of the efficiency of the method as a whole and its developed varieties.
Conclusion and future prospects
The discussed varieties of the constructivist method of ESP teaching and learning allow making a conclusion that in all of them learning English and learning future profession are integrated so that, while acquiring the target language, students acquire in parallel some professional knowledge and skills (through experiential target language learning activities of professional content). And both kinds of acquisition (of professional communication in English and of the future profession itself) are achieved mostly subconsciously through modeling future practical professional activities in the language learning process.
However, to achieve such an effect, which makes the principal advantage of the constructivist approach to teaching ESP, the constructivist method must be diversified, i.e. developed in different varieties, each of which reflects the specific peculiarities both of students' majors and of their learning stage.
Three of such varieties have already been developed by us. But this is only the beginning. The future prospects are:
1. Having developed the variety of the method for the first stage of university ESP course designed for students of Economics and Business and students of Technology, we should next develop varieties designed for the first year students of Humanities and of Natural Sciences;
2. The same concerns developing the varieties of the method for the second year (second stage of ESP learning) students with majors different from those that have been embraced in our preceding research;
3. Developing modifications of each of the varieties depending on the peculiarities of different majors
included into one and the same group (e.g., the group of humanities, of technology majors, of natural sciences, etc.);
4. Developing the method of continuing constructivist ESP teaching and learning after the students complete their university ESP course - for instance, by introducing English immersion into courses of majoring disciplines.
If such prospects find their practical implementation and embodiment, ESP teaching and learning at Ukrainian universities may not only be raised to the highest levels of international standards but even surpass them.
References
1. Bruner, J.S. (1966). Toward a Theory of Instruction. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
2. Council of Europe (2001). Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: Learning, Teaching and Assessment. Strasbourg.
3. Ioannou-Georgiou, S. (2002). Constructing meaning with virtual reality. TESOL Journal, Vol. 11, No.3, 21-26.
4. Jonassen, D.H. (1995). Supporting Communities of Learners with Technology: A Vision for Integrating Technology with Learning in Schools. Accessed September 2002 at DePaul University, Instructional Technology Development Department Web site:
http://www.itd.depaul.edu/website/pages/Trainin gEvents/CourseMaterials/ jonassen.asp.
5. Piaget, J. (1950). The Psychology of Intelligence. New York: Routledge.
6. Tarnopolsky, O. (2012). Constructivist Blended Learning Approach to Teaching English for Specific Purposes. London: Versita.
7. Tarnopolsky, O., Kozhushko, S. (2003). Acquiring Business English in a quasi-natural business environment: A method of teaching Business English to students of Business and Economics. Working Papers in Educational Linguistics. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania, 18, No.2, 55-88.
8. Tarnopolsky, O., Kozhushko, S., Bezugla, R., Degtiariova, Y., Gibson, P. (2002). Business Projects. Coursebook. Student's Book and Workbook. Kyiv: Firma INKOS.
9. Tarnopolsky, O., Kozhushko, S., Degtiariova, Y., & Bespalova, N. (2011). Psychological Matters. A Coursebook of English for Students of Psychology. Student's Book and Workbook. Kyiv: Firma INKOS.
10. Tarnopolsky, O., Volkova, N., Kozhushko, S., Miasoid, G., Stojkovic N. (2015). Pedagogical Matters. A Coursebook of English for Students of Pedagogy. Student's Book and Workbook. Dnipropetrovsk: Alfred Nobel University
11. Tarnopolsky, O., Kornieva, Z., Avsiukevich, Y., Zhevaga, V., Degtiariova, Y. (2016). Professional Basics. A Textbook ofEnglish for 1st Year Students Majoring in Technology and Economics. Student's Book and Workbook. Second edition. Edited by Oleg Tarnopolsky and Zoya Kornieva. Vinnytsa: Nova Knyga.
12. Vygotskii, L.S. (1978). Mind in Society: The Development of Higher Mental Processes. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
