IATEFL POLAND ESP SIG
and
THE UNIVERSITY OF LIFE SCIENCES IN LUBLIN
have the pleasure of inviting you to the
3rd IATEFL ESP SIG Conference – 15th/16th January 2016

Venue: Lublin, Głęboka 28, CIW Building A,
Room 102, 1st Floor,
Room 233-234, 2nd Floor
Conference Programme with Abstracts
Streaming Link: http://meet97027820.adobeconnect.com/esp-sig-2016/

Friday, Jan 15th

11:00-11:30 Opening Ceremony, Room 102

11:30-12:30 Opening Plenary – Professor David Little, Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland
ESP and Portfolio Learning: Time to Give the European Language Portfolio a Second Chance?
The European Language Portfolio (ELP) was greeted with a great deal of enthusiasm when it was first launched by the Council of Europe in 2001; in recent years, however, it has sunk without trace in most educational sectors. In this presentation I shall argue that it is time to give the ELP a second chance, especially in LSP contexts. In the first part of my presentation I shall summarize the pedagogical assumptions that underlie portfolio learning and the potential benefits that it can bring. In the second part I shall briefly introduce the ELP and describe the added value that it offers to course providers and learners. And in the third part I shall consider portfolio learning from the perspective of ESP and suggest some ways of redesigning the ELP so that it meets the specific needs of ESP and encourages networking and collaboration among ESP professionals.

Biodata
David Little retired in 2008 as Associate Professor of Applied Linguistics and head of the School of Linguistic, Speech and Communication Sciences at Trinity College Dublin. His principal research interests, on which he has published extensively, are: the theory and practice of learner autonomy in second and foreign language education; the use of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages to support the design of second language curricula, teaching and assessment; and the exploitation of linguistic diversity in schools and classrooms. Starting in 1998, he played a leading role in the development and implementation of the European Language Portfolio at national and European levels; from 2000 to 2010 he was successively consultant to and member, vice chair and chair of the Council of Europe’s ELP Validation Committee. He continues to contribute to the Council of Europe’s language education projects.

12:30 – 13:15
Lunch

13:15-14:00 Room 102
Course Planning In ESP – From Needs Analysis To Materials Writing
prof. dr hab. Jarosław Krajka, dr hab. Magdalena Sowa – Lublin, Poland
Planning ESP courses is an essential task for every single teacher dealing with job-oriented learners. This process is complex and multi-staged, in which teacher decisions influence further development of the course. Course planning determines also the types and shape of teaching resources that are to be used during the course.
Due to a multitude of profiles of ESP groups and their diverse needs the teacher may find it hard to use existing materials, either because they are not relevant or non-existent at all. Even though adapting general English resources might be possible, this has to take into account information on students’ needs and their study purposes.
The aim of the presentation is to reflect upon the process of ESP course planning with the special focus on its two stages: needs analysis and materials development. The theoretical background on teaching ESP will be followed by the analysis of the needs analysis and materials writing assignments of student teachers. These will serve to expose difficulties and problems faced by an ESP teacher throughout the process of course preparation.

13:15-14:00 Room 233-234
Teaching Presentation Skills across a Wide Range of Professions
Kamila Łężniak – Kraków, Poland
My workshop is meant to be a hands-on training session during which I will present a variety of activities, all based on authentic materials, that I use in class to teach presentation skills. We will look at how Steve Jobs, Dragons from the BBC Den and others succeed at communicating their message.
If you feel that your students still seem to be at a loss for words, even though you try hard to teach them how to speak, this session is for you.

14:05-14:50 Room 102
Challenges of ESP Teachers’ Professional Development in the Polish Tertiary Context
dr Agnieszka Dzięcioł-Pędich, Agnieszka Dudzik – Białystok, Poland
The aim of this talk is to report on a study conducted among ESP trainers practicing in a number of educational institutions in Poland. The research sought to identify the challenges they face both in designing and delivering ESP courses. It also aimed to investigate how they perceive their readiness for a subject-specific approach in foreign language instruction.
The talk will offer some practical suggestions for the development of language courses aimed at preparing current and future specialists to strive for academic and professional success. The presentation will be of particular interest to trainers involved in teaching ESP at tertiary level.

14:05 – 14:50 Room 233-234
ELi Makes ESP Easy
Tracey Sinclair – Italy
Eli Publishing has a new series of books that help out teachers in a stupendous way: specialized language in picture form to explain quickly and simply new language, selected film clips to aid both visual and auditory memories, guidance for teachers who may also be new to the language area, …all of this and more in a book with digital material as well.
Each book contains historical and methodological background to the topic area so teachers have everything to create interesting and varied lessons for students new to ESP.
In this presentation, participants will see how the series works through examples of the material demonstrating how the books can help the learner ESP teacher and the more experienced one too.

14:50 -15:15
Coffee

15:15-16:00 Room 102
Teacher Training in ESP- A Neglected Need
Marzena Kasprowicz – Heidelberg, Germany – online
Analysing the need of teacher training in ESP the following aspects will be pointed out:
1. Approaches to ESP teacher training.
2. Selection of ESP teachers.
3. General professional training as an educator and teacher (similarities and differences between training as a teacher of General English and ESP teacher)
4. Special training as a teacher of a second or foreign language.
5. Continuing personal education.
6. ESP teacher education programmes.
The presentation is supported by a PowerPoint presentation, films, examples, practical advice and guidelines for ESP teachers where to find support (workshops, seminars, webpages etc.) in working on ESP course design, material production, needs analysis, testing, ESP assessment and evaluation, teacher development etc.

15:15-16:00 Room 233-234
Encouraging ESP Students to Use Mind Maps
Maria Cyrankowska – Rzeszów, Poland
Mind maps have been with us for about forty years now but not many people really know them and, what is more important, actually use them. Like Tony Buzan, the inventor of mind maps, I believe they are a perfect thinking tool. With mind maps students employ their imagination and creativity for brainstorming thoughts and ideas and organising them, taking notes from books and lectures, preparing for exams, revising the material, preparing topics for written projects, presentations and discussions. They are about engagement, creativity and fun. I use them a lot and so do many of my students. I will share my personal story how we came to use them and I think the story is quite inspiring. The talk will show how I use mind maps in my ESP courses with examples produced by my students.

16:05-16:50 Room 102
Pronunciation and Communication – the Achilles Heel of Future Polish Engineers?
Karolina Mazurowska – Gdańsk, Iwona Sznajderska – Koszalin, Poland
Why is speaking and pronunciation an Achilles heel of Polish future engineers? Why, despite easy access to foreign language resources and long language education, is so-called Polglish even more widespread than before? And why should students of technical studies know not only how to prepare and analyse a specifications table but also how to read it aloud?
We will look at the changing role of engineers in today’s market, the growing significance of high-level communicative skills and the need for precision not only in technical writing but also in communication.

16:05-16:50 Room 233-234
Idea, Development, Implementation and Result of a Blended Pilot Course: “English for Journalists”
Fazli Rrezja – Kosovo, Timea Tiboldi – Hungary
Four English Teachers/ Course facilitators (Hungary, Latvia, Slovakia and Kosovo) are going to share their experiences related to four phases of the blended pilot course ‘English for Journalists’ (Idea, Development, Implementation, Results). The main aim of this course organized by RELO, U.S Embassy and Voice of America is enhancing knowledge of English language through Journalism and knowledge of Journalism skills through English language. Four presenters will elaborate phases of the online simultaneous project developed in ten European countries (Hungary, Latvia, Slovakia, Kosovo, Bosnia, Macedonia, Ukraine, Serbia, Romania, Belarus and it involved a coordinator and a facilitator (from University of California; VOA), ten course facilitators from each countries and eighty senior students.

16:50 – 17:15
Coffee

17:15-18:00 Room 102
Engineering Language Students Collaborating across Borders
Anna Rolińska – Glasgow, UK – online
Project-based learning, collaboration and peer learning may motivate L2 learners to practise specialist language. This presentation reports on the EAST project, a writing and research tele-collaboration pilot during which engineering students at the Islamic University of Gaza and language students on pre-sessional science, engineering and technology courses at the University of Glasgow worked together on engineering-related scenarios. The Gazan students had submitted the problems while their partners in Scotland had to research and evaluate feasible solutions. Using social media, the Gazan students acted as critical friends and provided constructive feedback throughout the process. This innovative intervention into the course design and delivery has created ample opportunities for specialist language practice and allowed the students to develop other transferable skills.

17:15-18:00 Room 233-234
Adapting Authentic Materials for Legal English Classes – Schema-Based Approach
Aleksandra Broniek – Kraków, Poland
A workshop intended for Legal English teachers wishing to introduce source materials in class. Legal English classes based on authentic materials are invariably a great success if such materials contain schemas typical of the legal jargon and the tasks designed to test the acquisition of such schemas. In this workshop I will share my experience on how to effectively select authentic materials for LE purposes, how to adapt them for class purposes and how to successfully introduce them in class. Participants will be provided with assumptions behind the choice of materials and tasks, and then will be asked to do the tasks themselves in order to decide whether such assumptions have been met and if, indeed, they work in practice.

18:05-18:50 Room 102
Military English: A Case Study in the Field of ESP
Ben Dobbs – York, UK
Military English provides a great case study of ESP. It is a typical ESP area and, like many others which fall under the banner of ESP, creates challenges, concerns and opportunities for teachers and trainers. This workshop session will look at the distinction between Military English and English for the Military, use of NATO StanAg 6001, who we teach and who can teach them in military environments, vocabulary and lexis in military contexts and the use of military texts as carriers for grammar, language and skills.
Attendees may be Military English teachers, teachers working in military contexts, or be curious about this specialised area. No experience is necessary for this interactive session.

18:05-18:50 Room 233-234
Using Online Materials to Activate Speaking in a Legal English Class
Izabela Bakota – Kraków, Poland
When teaching Legal English, a teacher constantly looks for inspiring materials so that the lesson is more than just a vocabulary or text- oriented set of tasks. In this workshop, I wish to share my ideas for using online materials to engage students and help them develop speaking and listening skills.
The aim of the workshop is to demonstrate some techniques which I use when working on authentic texts and videos in a Legal English class and to share the experience of teaching Legal English to law students and lawyer-linguists.

20:00 – 22:00
Evening entertainment

Saturday, Jan 16th

09:00-09:45 Room 102
Plenary – Geoff Tranter, Germany
“Mind the Gap” – The ESP Relevance Gap
One of the main features of people learning English for Specific Purposes, whether this is for professional or for academic reasons, is that they have a very functional view of language. They are learning the language for a purpose, i.e. to be able to deal with the tasks that they will be confronted with in their professional lives. And their motivation to learn is to a great extent dependent on their perception of the relevance of the content and methods in the classroom.
This talk will look at ESP in many contexts and try to identify where there are risks of gaps in ESP teaching in order to establish a set of criteria with which ESP teachers can assess their own work.

09:50-10:35 Room 102
Not a Whimper but a Bang. Learning Catalytics in ESP
Krzysztof Flis, Andrzej Boguta – Lublin, Poland
Students often find economic jargon difficult. By employing Pearson’s Learning Catalytics and ample video material, we’ll attempt to simplify needlessly complicated concepts. Students and teachers, if they choose to become engaged, may break student language and interest barriers and make studying economics in English (or anything else for that matter) enjoyable for all. As example material the concept of ‘black swan’ will be employed. The presentation will offer a modicum of theory associated with the concept and present our current global debt problem as an example of a black swan. By engaging students
with interesting material and direct digital interaction, they are offered a chance to become engaged in ESP vocabulary and concepts. Interesting video clips and classroom technology offer a chance for the language of economics to finally become less confusing and the concepts fun to learn.

09:50-10:35 Room 233-234
How to Teach ESP Effectively in Kyrgyzstan
doc. Gulbarchin Orozbaaeva – Jalal Abad City, Kyrgyzstan
Our ESP Courses give the opportunity to improve the ability to write, read and communicate in English. This is because of the growing number of adult immigrants who want to learn English that is specific to their occupational and academic goals in connection with exchange programs and research outside Kyrgyzstan. However, not much literature and methods on the practical aspects of these classes is available. The reason is the use of post-soviet methods for many years. The aim of the presentation is to throw light on the problems of teaching ESP in our country and how to solve problems by using effective new strategies and methods, and some practical suggestions gained through international conferences and seminars.

10:35 – 10:50
Coffee

10:50-11:35 Room 102
Reflections on Teaching ESP with ‘Keynote’
Ewa Muszczynko – Łódź, Poland
In the presentation I will talk about me and my colleagues’ experience of using “Keynote” (intermediate and upper-intermediate) for the purpose of teaching ESP to engineering students at the Foreign Language Centre of Łódź University of Technology, as part of a pilot teaching program. Apart from presenting the book and talking about its form and content, I am going to analyse and interpret feedback collected from a team of passionate teachers and several groups of students who will have been participating in the program for a few months by January. Ultimately, I will try to establish whether “Keynote” can serve as a basis for a comprehensive, versatile, attractive and practical ESP course.

10:50-11:35 Room 233-234
Human Animal – Animal in Human
Izabela Batyra – Trawniki, Poland
Necessity is the mother of invention…
This research supplies the needs and expectations of all Polish and international non-native English speaking veterinary physicians working in or off the clinical settings, students, academics and the like specialist of veterinary medicine who wish to communicate in English on their professional arena.
Frequent conferences which DVMs are obliged to participate in to stay on the surface and keep their licence, delegations outside the country, international workshops or student exchange demand from the specialists to operate with exceptionally technical and undoubtedly complicated medical language.
The idea to write an English course book for veterinarians was born when my best friend and the most dedicated doctor of all my pets asked me to teach him general and specialized English. Although ESP has been expanding aggressively in the past few years satisfying English language needs of the majority of the professions, no single English course book for veterinary surgeons has been identified among the publishers.
The outcome of the research is the presentation of the teaching aid dedicated to cattle and swine and a sample section ‘Cats and Dogs’ with various task types concentrated around receptive and productive skills as well as language areas, that is grammar and specialized lexis catering for all possible learning styles and learners’ preferences.

11:40-12:25 Room 102
English for Students of Electronics and Tele-Communications – a Presentation of the Writer’s ESP Textbook
dr Monika Badecka-Kozikowska – Gdańsk, Poland
Following from the 1st ESP – IATEFL Poland presentation of Challenges of Technical English Textbook Writing, Monika Badecka-Kozikowska will reveal the fruit of her two years’ work on the ESP textbook: English for Students of Electronics and Telecommunications. Selected sample activities, and somewhat absurd pronunciation drills from the ten chapters textbook will be demonstrated and discussed at the presentation. Mind you, controversies as to the difficulty of the text content of the book will certainly arise, which, no doubt, will spark off a debate amongst the audience.

11:40-12:25 Room 233-234
How to Avoid Gobbledygook – Training Scientists to Use Their New Toys
Konrad Dejko – Świdnik, Poland
A PowerPoint-supported talk presenting possible solutions of problems that might arise while training specialists in using newly purchased equipment. A case study of ushering scientists from Maria Curie-Skłodowska University’s Faculty of Biology and Biochemistry into nuances of operating their cutting-edge units (including real-time qPCR and Cell Analyser). The premise of the talk is to promote the use of English as the main medium for training and discussing parameters in order to facilitate accessible reporting on future findings (including DNA barcoding) and publication in foreign periodicals.

12:25 – 13:00
Lunch

13:00-13:15 Room 102
Safety Engineering – a Technical English Study Programme: Motivation and Practical Approach
prof. dr hab. Krzysztof Gołacki, Joanna Rączkiewicz – Lublin, Poland
Safety engineering has become a challenging and rewarding career field in the present day age of rapid technological and scientific advances. But how to raise student’s awareness regarding the legal and regulatory requirements introduced by safety organizations and government agencies? The aim of this presentation is to show how successful cooperation between professionals in the field of safety engineering and experienced university language teachers can boost student motivation and inspire them to face the social and industrial needs of changing business environments.

13:20-14:05 Room 102
Merging Critical Pedagogy with Medical English – Syllabus Design during Medical Education Neslihan Onder Ozdemir – Bursa, Turkey – online
Following Benesch (2001, 1996), this research underlines critical ESP syllabus design through merging ESP with critical pedagogy in the pre-clinical period during medical education. Specifically, the description for the ‘degree of specialization in the process of teaching medical English in light of content/subject courses in Turkish in medicine’ for the 1st, 2nd and 3rd year teaching period will be detailed, which is grossly under-researched. In the development of critical ESP syllabus, medical students were viewed as active participants to question and scrutinize their learning to encourage them to find their own voice in Turkish academic culture. It is notable that the critical ESP practitioner’s roles were revisited because of the difficulties and constraints encountered. The samples from the content of the critical syllabus design and medical students’ reports will be provided to show the degree of specialization for discussion in the mainstream ESP courses.

13:20-14:05 Room 233-234
The Interactive Loop – Passport to the Future of ESP.
Radek Krzyżanowski – OUP, Poland
Every single teacher I know of has always been struggling to cope with their students’ lack of interest or gradual burnout. No matter how motivated and determined they are, time and assessment seem pretty ruthless and motivation is slowly fading away. What does it take to attract your students’ attention? The answer is simple: make sure the interactive loop around their “cognitive neck” is tight enough. In this session, we will look at some crucial aspects of well-designed online materials that are no longer just a gimmick or a pleasant diversion from your class routine. You will also become familiar with the very idea of interactive loop and see how amazingly attentive and assessment oriented online platforms are, thus making you substantially more efficient as ESP teachers.

14:10-14:55 Room 102
Innovative Methods for Teaching English to Medical Students Shauna Noor Mobley Elkhatib – AlFaisal University, Riyadh Saudi Arabia

English is the current lingua franca and as a result, many medical students are facing the huge task of learning to be doctors in a language that is not their mother tongue. This presentation will discuss some of the problems that students face, some of the problems that teachers face, and suggestions for overcoming these issues.

14:10-14:55 Room 233-234
The Integration of Soft Skills into ESP Teaching
Małgorzata Warmińska-Marczak – OUP, Poland
For a long time ESP instruction has been associated with teaching specialized terminology and translating texts. Is this enough for future specialists? Today’s globalized professional environment needs people who, in addition to their specialist knowledge, have mastered a set of soft skills that help them be competitive in the job market and complete their professional tasks effectively. The presentation will discuss the core skills underpinning successful professional communication and the ways of teaching them in academic settings.

15:00-15:45 Room 102
Practical Application of ESP in European Union Projects
Renata Łukiewicz-Kostro – Lublin, Poland
The talk aims at presenting the need of re-birth of project work in academic classrooms. Unfortunately, the omnipresent standardized courses swept away creative, specially designed and tailor-made courses based on authentic materials. The present labor market , so often using the external funds in European projects, requires not only the linguistic skills but other personal skills, such as: multiple intelligences, including the latest spiritual intelligence, creative thinking, team- work, intercultural communication and the like – all of them can be successfully developed in an ESP classroom.
In my talk I want to present the arguments for the trend, show the practical needs and solutions on the example of ESP in the Faculty of Philosophy and Sociology UMCS and open it for the discussion and consideration with the participants.

15:00-15:45 Room 233-234
Using Media as ESP Materials to Teach Discourse Strategies of Political Texts
prof. Gorjian Bahman – Abadan, Iran
Providing ESP materials could be one of the challenges that the ESP teachers may face in their classes. This study dealt with the current political issues on the nuclear debate in the Los Angeles Times and Tehran Times between Iran and 5+1. Two macro and five micro strategies were used based on van Dijk’s (2000) framework to discover whether the differences in both media were significant. Results showed the positive or negative attitudes against the US or Iran were used differently at the significant level. At the micro level, there were significant differences between the frequencies of stability, accusing and authority but there were not a significant difference between threatening and blaming micro strategies.

15:45-16:00
Closing Ceremony

The conference is sponsored by the University of Life Sciences in Lublin, MONDIALE-Testing, OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS, PEARSON and NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC LEARNING.

The conference fee is 130 PLN for IATEFL Poland members and 180 PLN for non-members.
To register for the conference please fill out the online registration form (go to the form)
and pay the conference fee by 5th January 2016. The conference fee should be paid to:
Bank Zachodni WBK o/Warszawa Account no.: 16 1090 1883 0000 0001 0194 5244 Stowarzyszenie Nauczycieli Języka Angielskiego w Polsce – IATEFL Poland ul. Michałowskiego 4 31-126 Kraków

The number of seats is limited (180) and the registrations will be accepted on a first come, first served basis.
All participants will receive a Certificate of Attendance.
For more information, please contact the conference organizers:
Joanna Rączkiewicz, Sławomir Nowikowski – email: lublin.espsig@iatefl.org.pl

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Mission Statement

The purpose of EALTA is to promote the understanding of theoretical principles of language testing and assessment, and the improvement and sharing of testing and assessment practices throughout Europe.

Rationale

Europe is a multilingual continent, where the diversity of languages, cultures and traditions is highly valued. Part of such diversity is diversity in education systems and assessment traditions and values. Given such diversity, the testing and assessment of language proficiency is a crucial component of language policies which aim to respect linguistic and cultural diversity, whilst seeking to ensure that the highest possible quality is guaranteed of the measurement of educational outcomes and of language learning and language proficiency in particular

Recent developments in Europe, particularly associated with language policy in the European Union and the Council of Europe, including the dissemination of the Common European Framework and the European Language Portfolio, have highlighted the need for a European language testing association, which speaks for testers in Europe and which has no commercial affiliation or aims.

EALTA considers that the enhancement of quality in language assessment and testing is best achieved through international cooperation. EALTA believes that international co-operation can help individuals, institutions and nations learn from each other without any diminution of their cultural autonomy.

EALTA aims to represent those involved in language testing and assessment at a European level, including in the European Union and the Council of Europe. ”

(source: EALTA Website: www.ealta.eu)

ILTA’s purpose is to promote the improvement of language testing throughout the world.

The goals of ILTA include the following:

  1. Stimulate professional growth through workshops and conferences;
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