The writing course for overseas-trained dentists
A number of overseas-trained dentists have immigrated to an Englishspeaking country. They are preparing to sit the registration exams which, if
they pass, will allow them to work as dentists. A government-sponsored
bridging programme has been established to help them prepare for the
exams. The course is run at a university. The programme provides courses on
medical and dental topics, ethical issues and the law surrounding medical
practices in the country. The English-language-teaching unit at the university
has been approached by the organizers of the bridging programme and
asked to provide an English writing course. It has been noted that the writing
of some of the overseastrained dentists who sat the registration exams to
date was poorly organized and expressed. The English-language unit
appoints a teacher. The teacher, who is given very little time to develop the
course, devises a syllabus focusing on paragraph and essay organization and
based on topics related to dentistry, such as, the addition of fluoride to tap
water and the relationship between smoking and diseases of the mouth
(topics that the teacher has discovered from reading recent issues of the
regional dental journal).
In teaching the course, the teacher devotes a good deal of time to
responding to the students writing. She provides feedback and corrections
on the students writing in terms of organization and breakdowns in
meaning. Often she reformulates the students sentences.
Half way through the course the teacher conducts a course evaluation. The
class members are very positive about the efforts of the teacher on their
behalf and they have clearly appreciated the very detailed feedback on their
writing the teacher has supplied. The teacher is surprised to find that
although they feel the writing course has been useful for developing their
ability to write in English generally, they think it will have limited impact on
their actual performance in the registration exams and would prefer to spend
the remaining time before the exams preparing by self-study rather than
continuing with the writing classes.
1. What seems to have gone wrong?
2. What was missing from the investigation of needs ?
The language for care home workers course
Anna has been asked to provide language support for a small group of
care home workers. They have come from an East Asian country to work in a
rest home and hospital facility for the elderly in an English-speaking country.
Most of the care workers were formerly nurses in their home countries. Their
role as care workers involves looking after the physical and emotional needs
of the elderly residents. The facilitys nursing and medical staff members are
pleased with the work the new care workers do. However, there have been
some complaints from the residents about difficulties communicating with
the new group of care workers. The nursing manager reports that when she
questioned the residents about the problem they mentioned poor
pronunciation and not being able to understand the care workers accents.
Anna, a relative of one of the facilitys medical officers, has just
finished a MA programme in English Language Teaching and before that she
taught English in a small language school in Thailand for a year. On the MA
programme she took courses in a range of subjects such as second-language
acquisition, descriptions of modern English language and language testing.
There was no ESP course on offer. Anna is employed by the rest care facility
to provide a weekly two-hour session to help the care workers improve their
pronunciation and speaking. Anna works with the care workers to help
achieve clear enunciation.
She finds out from the care workers which language expressions,
conversational routines and vocabulary they use regularly with the residents.
Anna uses role plays in her teaching and encourages the care workers to use
clear enunciation in them. She introduces them to a number of self-study
techniques for working on pronunciation and speaking.
Anna is surprised to find that even in her first teaching session with the care
workers she had almost no difficulty understanding the care workers accents
or pronunciation herself. The language sessions prove to be a lot of fun and
the care workers take their self-studies seriously. The care workers enjoy
their time out from caring for the elderly residents. Everyone is happy,
except that is for the residents who continue to complain.
1. What seems to have gone wrong?
2. What was missing from the investigation of needs?
