April 2010 Volume 6 Issue 1
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Foreword

Welcome to the Spring 2010 issue of The Asian ESP Journal Spring! It is our pleasure to publish six selected papers addressing a range ESP issues in a range of genres from English language course, academic research writing, research article introductions, to argumentative writing; and in a diverse disciplines including engineering, medical and computer.
            The first paper featured in this edition is entitled ‘Investigating the English language needs of petroleum engineering students at Hadhramout University of Science and Technology’. Atef Saleh Al-Tamimi and Munir Shuib identify students’ needs and perceptions on English language skills by means of a questionnaire survey and conclude that the current course is not appropriate to the students. The study has important pedagogical implications that may help improve the English language course offered to the petroleum engineering students.  
            Yanling Hwang and Siouzih Lin’s ‘A study of medical students’ linguistic needs in Taiwan’ uses a questionnaire survey to identify and compare the linguistic needs and perceptions held by three groups in the medical field, namely faculty, students of junior years and students of senior years. The article also discusses some issues relating to English in the medical field such as the frequency of the use, importance of the language, students’ proficiency, assistance or requirements for students, and the English curriculum for the School of Medicine.
            In the third article ‘Integrating product, process and team teaching in writing instruction’, Carmel Heah and Sujata S Kathpalia describe a joint project between Nanyang Technological University and Stanford University, and discuss the advantages of adopting an integrative three-dimensional approach (process, product and team-teaching) to teaching writing of discipline-specific academic genres in a technical communication course. The study finds that such approach develops students’ metacognitive skills regarding genre-stability and genre-change, which are necessary for them to be immersed into the research culture and practices of their disciplines.
            Yan Zhang and Jiyue Hu’s ‘A genre-based study of medical research article introductions: A constructive analysis between Chinese and English’ is a corpus-based study of twenty English and twenty Chinese introductions of academic medical research articles. The study employs Swales’ CARS model and has identified major  differences between the two corpora in terms of macro-structural and micro-linguistic features. The article discusses the differences based on social and cultural factors.
            Afnan H Fatani’s paper entitled ‘Electronic syllabus design for Language & Computers: Bridging the gap between two disciplines using Moodle as a Learning Management System (LMS)’ presents the rationale, procedures, and results of designing and structuring a graduate level linguistics course that aims to bridge the gap between Language & Computers and Computational Linguistics. The paper also shows how to convert the delivery of the course from face-to-face to online ore blended delivery using Moodle as a course management system.
            Fei-Wen Cheng’s ‘A socio-cognitive modeling approach to teaching English argumentation’ reports on the effectiveness of the use of a socio-cognitive modeling approach to teaching argumentative writing in English. Both textual analysis of students’ writing and questionnaire results show that the approach has helped EFL learners compose effective arguments in their writing.
            We hope you will enjoy reading the articles in this Spring issue and find some of the findings useful for your teaching and research activities. We look forward to receiving your contributions in the future!

April 2010
Volume 6 Issue 1
PDF EBook Version (Click)


Foreword by Winnie Cheng

1. Atef Saleh Al-Tamimi & Munir Shuib. Investigating the English Language Needs of Petroleum Engineering Students at Hadhramout University of Science and Technology

2. Yanling Hwang, Siouzih Lin. A Study of Medical Students’ Linguistic Needs in Taiwan

3. Carmel Heah & Sujata S Kathpalia. Integrating Product, Process and Team Teaching in Writing Instruction

4. Yan Zhang & Jiyue Hu. A Genre-based Study of Medical Research Article Introductions: A Contrastive Analysis Between Chinese and English

5. Afnan H. Fatani. Electronic Syllabus Design for Language & Computers: Bridging the Gap Between Two Disciplines Using Moodle as a Learning Management System (LMS)

6. Fei-Wen Cheng. A Socio-cognitive Modeling Approach to Teaching English Argumentation