June 2006 Volume 1
Article 3.
PDF File

Article Title
From Common Core to Specific

Author
Yong Chen,
Chong Qing University,
P. R. of China

Abstract

This paper looks at the process of designing an English for Specific Purposes (ESP) program for learners of various disciplines within a Chinese industrial institution. It stresses the importance of the identification of a 'common core' of English language needs among the program participants, as well as teaching a diverse range of discourses and genres to meet their 'specific' needs. It is argued in this study that the consideration of 'common core' and 'specific' needs in course design for program participants from multi-disciplinary backgrounds can greatly enhance their English language competence.

The study firstly reviews the literature and case studies related to ESP theories and professional practices in the field and then describes how the course designers in this particular context have conducted needs analyses to identify the sponsor's expectations, job-related needs, and the learners' general and specific needs. As a result of this process, the course designers have been able to formulate the program's foci, which in this case include common core and specific language needs. From the initial curriculum proposal to the revision of course and syllabus design, the author has reflected on the particular features of the program, its relative success and issues of the organization and implementation of materials and language input. Such a study may have some significance for other course designers involved in similar projects for multi-disciplinary learners.

Key words: ESP, needs analysis, common core, specific, course design, curriculum development

1. Introduction
The Chongqing Iron and Steel Designing Institute (CISDI) project was a workplace English training program intended to improve the English of the technical employees. CISDI initiated and sponsored the project, while the Sino-British English Training Center in Chongqing University conducted all the program implementation including needs analysis, curriculum and course design, material production, teaching and instruction, testing and participation in course/program evaluation.
This article is an expansion of recent research concerning the design of an ESP program for multi-disciplinary technical learners (Chen 2005). It firstly discusses the modified definition of variable characteristics of ESP and case studies, which form the theoretical foundations of this research. Many of the variable characteristics of ESP are identified in the CISDI project. Then various background and management issues will be supplied, which give more detailed demographic information to understand the nature of this project. Following this, the needs analysis structure and summary which identified the learners' objective and subjective needs and sponsor's expectations will be presented. Following this, the structure of the curriculum and course design will be discussed from the initial assumption of more 'specific' language elements to the adjustment of a more 'common core' array of language needs, which makes curriculum and course syllabi dynamic during the process of program implementation. Finally, the ESP language features and material development in this program, which emphasize the 'common core' rather than 'specific' language features, will be outlined.

2. Literature Review
An ESP course design is usually based on the specific needs of learners of a particular discipline. There are different purpose-oriented ESP courses, such as EST, EAP, EOP, EBP, ESS, etc. (see, e.g. Trimble 1985, Hutchinson and Waters 1987, Robinson 1991, Holliday 1995). Many articles have discussed the course design for special learners who have specific professional or academic needs (see, e.g. Bloor 1998, Puzyo and Val 1996, Stapp 1998, Yogman and Kaylani 1996). Several successful experiences in designing ESP courses are outlined in which the ESP course designers conduct needs analyses to ascertain the learners' target needs and learning needs (Hutchinson and Waters 1987: pp.54-63) and then integrate the required linguistic elements and skills into the syllabus.

Strevens (1988, pp.1-2 as cited in Gatehouse 2001) defines the absolute characteristics of ESP as being:

" designed to meet specified needs of the learner;
" related in content (i.e. in its themes and topics) to particular disciplines, occupations and activities;
" centered on the language appropriate to those activities in syntax, lexis, discourse, semantics, etc., and analysis of this discourse;
" in contrast with General English.

Later Dudley-Evans and St. John (1998, pp.4-5 as cited in Gatehouse, 2001), offered a modified definition of the variable characteristics of ESP:

" ESP may be related to or designed for specific disciplines;
" ESP may use, in specific teaching situations, a different methodology from that of General English;
" ESP is likely to be designed for adult learners, either at a tertiary level institution or in a professional work situation. It could, however, be for learners at secondary school level;
" ESP is generally designed for intermediate or advanced students; |

From the above absolute and variable characteristics of ESP, a change can be seen in how the range of ESP has been extended and become more flexible in its modified definition. As noted by Gatehouse (2001), Dudley-Evans and St. John (1998, pp.4-5) have removed the absolute characteristic that 'ESP is in contrast with General English' and added more variable characteristics. They assert that ESP is not necessarily related to a specific discipline.

In addition, Anthony (1997 as cited in Gatehouse 2001) notes that it is not clear where ESP courses end and General English courses begin; numerous non-specialist ESL instructors use an ESP approach in which their syllabi are based on analyses of learners' needs and their own personal, specialist knowledge of using English for real communication. Many ESP programs are examples of such curriculum development and course design.

In the development of an ESP curriculum for Greek EFL students of computing, Xenodohidis (2002) stated that "the goals should be realistic, otherwise the students would be de-motivated." The integration of a considerable amount of General English along with various functions with computing terminology into the syllabi was based on the needs assessment from students, and was consequently considered as being realistic by the learners.

In the ESP course for employees at the American University of Beirut, as described by Shaaban (2005), the curriculum development and course content also focus on a common core for the learners from various workplaces. This content includes basic social English communication, following directions and giving instructions plus work-related terms and expressions.

Gatehouse (2001) also integrates General English language content and acquisition skills when developing the curriculum for language preparation for employment in the health sciences.

From all the cases of ESP curriculum design described, it can be concluded that General English language content, grammatical functions and acquisition skills are dominant in curriculum development and course design, while terminology and specific functions of discipline content are integrated in the course to meet the learners' specific needs. Hutchinson and Waters (1987) liken ESP to the leaves and branches on a tree of language. Without tree trunks and roots, leaves or branches can not grow because they do not have the necessary underlying language support, seen through an analogy of water. The same is true of ESP since content-related specific language can not stand alone without General English syntax, lexis and functions.

This is also true for ESP students whose specific needs emanate from disciplinary content English. In such cases, they usually have a sound language background before they proceed to ESP study. Dudley-Evans and St. John (1998, as cited in Gatehouse 2001) define ESP as being generally designed for intermediate or advanced students and is likely to be suited to adult learners, either at a tertiary level institution or in a professional work situation.

Since ESP is an approach to language teaching in which all decisions as to content and methodology are based on the learner's rationale for learning (Hutchinson and Waters 1987), the role of the ESP practitioner is essential to the success of ESP programs. Dudley Evans and St. John (1998, as cited in Gatehouse 2001) identify five key roles for the ESP practitioner: teacher, course designer and materials provider, collaborator, researcher and evaluator.

As an ESP practitioner, I will offer insights into my experiences in developing an ESP project for multi-disciplinary technical learners, and also discuss the research process and findings of the curriculum and course design based on the above literature review in ESP theories and case studies.

3. ESP Project in CISDI, China
Chongqing Iron and Steel Designing Institute (CISDI) is a state-owned design institute for the metallurgical industry in China. It has a little over one thousand staff, of which 90% are technical personnel. Since English, as a world-wide language, is required more and more often at work, in conferences, at business occasions as well as in personal communication, CISDI decided to sponsor a 16-week full-time English training program every year for its technical staff to enhance their English competence. This project lasted three years during which three classes of learners underwent training.

3.1. The trainees
Trainees numbered between 20 to 28 in each class and were mostly undergraduates, some of them post-graduates, aged from 25 to 38. All learned English for at least 10 years at school and most of them had working or design experience for several years. In terms of their subject-matter specialties, there existed a wide variety, among which are: mechanics, automation, electrical engineering, civil engineering, architecture, computer science, water & waste water, heating & ventilation, steel manufacture, casting, material engineering, precision instrument, environment protection, accounting, economics and even meteorology.

In addition, participation in this program was voluntary. Upon entry, learners had to take a pre-course test which they needed to pass before being admitted. It should be noted that they also incurred a loss in income by participating in this program. Usually the designers received a higher bonus depending on their completion of design tasks. However, they just received an average bonus if they took this program. This indicates that the trainees were very motivated learners with high enthusiasm for improving their English.

3.2 The trainers
The Sino-British English Training Center in Chongqing University was responsible for this project. The mission of this center is to design and offer English courses and programs to Chinese learners from technical, engineering or science backgrounds on campus or at their workplaces. The British Council assigned an EFL specialist each year to the center, who worked with our EFL professionals, designing programs, teaching courses, as well as conducting evaluation and research in EFL, ESP, EAP, etc. The cooperation with the British Council in Chongqing University lasted for four years. For each class, four to seven trainers were involved in needs analysis, curriculum and course design, teaching and evaluation. Generally speaking, there was not a big turnover among the trainers, with the exception of the specialist from the British Council who only worked for one year. This meant that three different British trainers worked on the CISDI project, each working one year respectively. The other trainers were all involved for at least 2 years. At the time, some of us had master degrees in TESP or applied linguistics in the UK and most of us had had many years teaching and research experience in Chongqing University before the project started. According to Holliday (1995), implementation phases also include trainer training. Therefore, in this project we applied a collaborative approach in which we held regular meetings to discuss and solve teaching problems and difficulties in materials. This was a valuable process since experienced teachers helped the less experienced. Peer observation and co-teaching were both carried out and, in addition, regular staff development was offered. This took the form of in-service staff training in which workshops, seminars and video demonstration were given on methodology, ESP language studies and material production.

3.3 Project Administration
The project administration included both parties from the trainees' institute and the trainers' center. After discussion and negotiation, it was agreed that the Sino-British English Training Center was responsible for curriculum and course design, needs analysis, material preparation, course teaching and coaching, test design and the organization of program evaluation. All the administration was shared by the trainers from the Training Center. For example, I was the course coordinator, and also the co-designer of curriculum, a materials writer as well as a trainer. In the center, we had a meeting room and a teaching staff room in which there were sufficient resources of books and other teaching aids, such as tape recorders, tapes, a video recorder and technical facilities, for example, TV sets, a photocopier, computers, and a printer. We also set up a self-access library in CISDI during the program equipped with many books and tapes.

The Education Section in CISDI took the role of student management, supplying the classroom and facility, and coordination with the trainers in terms of student and project affairs. CISDI assigned a full-time administrator to this program and prescribed strict regulations to the learners to guarantee a smooth course implementation. They also offered a suitable furnished classroom and a language laboratory. This was intended as a means to create a harmonious institutional culture beneficial for the learners and to make educational management more effective in CISDI.

4. Needs Analysis
The project needs analysis consisted of pre-course and ongoing needs analyses (Chen 2005). With the pre-course needs analysis, we obtained information and data concerning 'the need for communication skills' (Holliday, 1995) to guide the curriculum development and course design. Additionally, though the ongoing needs analysis, we kept improving the program so that the learners' needs could be optimally satisfied.

4.1 The Structure of Needs Analysis
We employed pre-course needs analysis and ongoing needs assessment. The following (Table 1) is the structure of the needs analysis applied in CISDI:

See MS Doc for Table 1

4.1.1 Pre-course Needs Analysis
Questionnaires were given to potential course participants in order to gain insights into their perceived needs, wants and defects. Additionally, information was sought about their specialist areas, work experience, personal background and other relevant details that would play some role in shaping the program.

Interviews were conducted with administrative personnel in the Education Section and the chief engineer in the institute, from whom we could determine the objective communication needs in jobs and the sponsor's expectations for this project.

Pre-course tests included listening, reading and speaking, and were taken by all the potential course participants every year before each class began. From the results of the tests, we could ascertain the language level of the learners, which was helpful in course design and materials selection.

4.1.2 Ongoing Needs Assessment
Weekly student feedback was considered an essential part of the ongoing needs assessment of the students. To achieve this, a questionnaire was distributed to gather data from students about their perceived progress, drawbacks and requirements in all the courses.

The test results from the previous class or from students themselves in scores gathered from quizzes and final tests were used for data collection and analysis for the further improvement of the project.

The course evaluation report from the previous year was also helpful for us to continuously improve all the courses and the project as a whole.

4.2 Summary of the Needs Analysis
4.2.1 Objective Needs
At the initial stage of the project, we conducted several interviews, first with administrative personnel in the Education Section in CISDI, then with the chief engineer, in order to find their job requirements or "what they have to be able to do at the end of their language course" (Robinson, 1991: p.7). These types of needs were regarded by the sponsor or institute as being relevant to the job. From the interviews, we identified the following as constituting their 'objective' needs:
" reading specialist literature, academic journals, reading instructions,
" writing instructions, drawing labels, writing technical and academic articles,
" attending conferences, lectures, technical or business negotiation in English,
" communicating with foreign engineers in design and at work,
" visiting and receiving foreign visitors.

4.2.2 Subjective Needs
The other important needs emanated from learners themselves in the form of 'subjective' needs. Robinson (1991: p.7) describes these as "what the students themselves would like to gain from the language course. This view of needs implies that students may have personal aims in addition to the requirements of their studies or jobs." By means of informal talk with course potential participants, the following were adjudged to represent such needs:
" passing English examinations for professional promotion,
" working or studying abroad or in joint ventures,
" doing part-time translation,
" enjoying films, songs or VCD in English.

The following summary from the questionnaire (see Appendix 1) led us to deduce that the learners did not really use much English for their jobs:

See MS Doc for Table Q3 Q4

We may also interpret needs as their shortcomings, or what they lack in knowledge and ability in English (Robinson 1991). These findings also helped us design a program to meet language needs. From the completed questionnaires in the pre-course needs analysis, we gathered the information about what they perceived themselves as lacking as listed in the questionnaire summaries below:

See MS Doc for Table Q6 Q7

It could be concluded from the analysis of the above summaries that they felt they lacked and wanted mostly a focus on the improvement of their listening and speaking skills.

4.3 The Effect of Ongoing Needs Assessment
Every week we asked students to fill in a questionnaire to provide feedback on the course instruction and on their progress in learning (see Appendix 2). The following is one of the question summaries

See MS Doc for Table

Summarizing the feedback from this question, it was found that the learners' speaking skills had improved. This was considered to be the most difficult skill and one in which the learners wanted to make most improvement. However, a summary of the results from the following question showed their progress in reading and writing was not obvious. The findings revealed that our course design, material selection or instruction needed some modifications.

See MS Doc for Table

The testing results analysis (see Appendix 3) also demonstrated the strengths and weaknesses of our program. Generally speaking, by comparing Test One and Test Two in listening, reading and grammar, the progress was substantial. But there were some negative different percentages in reading and grammar tests, while all the different percentages in listening tests were positive. This assessment guided us with our adjustment to concentrate more attention on reading and writing courses.

5. Curriculum Development and Course Design

Based on interviews with the education administration personnel and the chief engineer in CISDI, we put forward a proposal for curriculum design and general course syllabi. But after analysis of the questionnaire findings and the pre-course test from potential learners, we revised our initial assumption to focus on the learners' needs and perceived weaknesses. Over the three years of the project implementation, the program became dynamic externally, in the sense that there were continuous changes in curriculum design, and internally in the revision of course syllabi.

5.1 Initial Assumptions of Course Design
Since the course was designed for an iron and steel designing institute, our first assumption of this ESP course was to provide English instruction for the metallurgical industry. From the interview with the chief engineer and section director of the Education Section of the designing institute, we determined that the institute wanted to offer English language training to the technical staff in order that they could meet the work place demands of the future market. This illustrates, as Robinson (1991) points out, the goal-directed nature of ESP provision. That is, students study English not because they are interested in the English language (or English-language culture) as such, but because they need English for study or work purposes. The CISDI viewed English as a necessary international language for future work needs, so it provided English training to the staff. Robinson (1991: p.4) calls this an "institutional" (or even national) requirement to study English, usually because of the known role of English as an international language of communication, trade and research.She also notes that "first, needs can refer to student study or job requirements, that is, what they have to be able to do at the end of their language course" (1991: p.7). Along with course designers and the leaders of the institute, we all assumed that the learners needed to learn technical English for the iron and steel industry for their job needs. Therefore, we started to collect materials from the literature in metallurgy for preparation of linguistic input in the learners' specialties and proposed a curriculum design with emphasis on specific language content as shown in the following diagram (Figure 1):

See MS Doc for Figure 1

This curriculum proposal was a typical ESP course design which focused on the learners' supposed institutional and job needs to meet the sponsor's expectations for the program.

5.2 The Revision of Curriculum and Course Design
Our first assumptions about the nature of the program were found to be incorrect when we conducted the pre-course oral test. When talking with potential course participants, we found out that many of them had not graduated from the metallurgical discipline, but from various other specialties. It was also discovered that they wanted to improve their General English proficiency, such as speaking, listening, reading and writing rather than their specialist English. Robinson (1991) notes that students may wish to practice general topics and activities, in addition to those shown to be relevant for their work or specialist study.We almost ignored such preferences while concentrating too much on institutional requirements. But the question remained as to what kind of language and content could be offered to them if the course in metallurgical English could be flexible. Robinson (1991) suggests that in mixed ESP classes of engineers from electrical engineers and mechanical engineering backgrounds, much remains in common among participants in the sense that they have shared knowledge and overall objectives even though they have different job duties. To deal with such mixed classes, the following is proposed:

… an ESP course need not include specialist language and content. What is more important is the activities that students engage in. These may be specialist and appropriate even when non-specialist language and content are involved. We should be guided by what the needs analysis suggests and what we are institutionally capable of, and cases certainly exist where apparently general language and content are best. (Robinson, 1991: p. 4)

After reviewing the ESP literature and theories, we revised our course design and put more stress on classroom activities in General English and General Technical English instead of content-specific language. Our resulting experiences proved that Robinson's suggestion was the most feasible approach to the CISDI project.

After the first assumption was proven as false, we quickly made changes in our perception of the original course design. By looking at the learners' objective work and study needs and subjective personal needs, we mixed and filtered these needs into core needs as follows:
" the need to improve General English in four skills, particularly in listening and speaking;
" the need to improve common-core Technical English in five skills (including translation).

This significant reorganization of needs led to our first curriculum design comprised of General English and General Technical English including 7 courses as follows (Figure 2):

See MS Doc for Figure 2 Figure 2. The Revised Curriculum and Course Design

This design was based on the above needs analysis and our understanding that ESP is not a separate discipline from general EFL or ESOL (Holme, 1996: p. 1). Courses of Listening, Pronunciation, Video and Writing focused on General English topics, while Speaking classes embraced a range of input in both General English and General Technical English. English for Science and Technology was initially designed to bridge General Technical English and Technical English, but Reading classes concentrated more on Technical English. This revised curriculum structure changed the perception of the ESP program, resulting in a program in which General English, representing the 'common core' of language input, had more weight than Technical English, which was seen as meeting the 'specific' language needs of the participants. General Technical English was stressed more than 'specific' Technical English. Thus, 'common core' English and General Technical English played a more dominant role in the curriculum in this ESP project at CISDI. This curriculum structure was applied over all the three years of its operation with a little modification in the third year program in which a Business English component replaced the subject of Pronunciation.

5.3 Dynamic Design of Curriculum and Course Syllabi
Over the duration of the project, the program did not remain static, instead becoming quite dynamic in the design of the curriculum structure and syllabi. As Robinson (1991) notes, there are often constraints from administrative factors, financial factors, learners' expectations and the status of English in society which play a role in shaping English courses. For example, in the third year program, a Business English course was added to take the place of the Pronunciation course. This decision was made because the learners' needs in pronunciation were not considered so important as those of other language areas; another reason for this change was that the learners' wants had partly shifted to the Business English area. This is an example of how the curriculum structure was changed to meet their evolving needs. In addition to these external factors which bring about changes in the course, there were also cases of some amendments emanating from internal origins. One instance of this occurred in the EST syllabus. For the first two classes, EST focused on Technical English for building construction and architecture, yet there were only a few participants who were actually working as civil engineers, architects and HVAC engineers. For them, the syllabus was seen as being practical in nature, but not for others. So in the following two years, the EST syllabus was revised to include 'common core' Technical English covering more specialist subjects. Table 1 below represents the EST course objectives, materials used and comments from the evaluation report in the third-year program:

English for Science and Technology

Aims
* to help students communicate effectively in their professional field
* to develop all 4 skills
* to enhance the ability to solve problems
* to understand the general features of a text
* to discuss, ask and answer questions related to technical topics
* to make notes of the main points of a reading text
* to write summaries and paragraphs related to technical topics
* to understand and increase technical vocabulary related to general science and technology, computer science, general mechanical engineering and building construction
* to describe or present technical content related to their work

Materials Used
CU Materials involving the technical content of computer science, material engineering, technical engineering, construction and case study. There are 8 units in the course each presenting different and/or related topic areas
Unit 1 Properties and Shapes
Unit 2 Computers
Unit 3 Structure
Unit 4 Computer Application
Unit 5 Engineering Materials
Unit 6 Construction
Unit 7 Operating systems
Unit 8 Glass under tension

General Comments
Previously 'Nucleus: Architecture and Building Construction' was used as the core textbook. However, due to the fact that there were many areas which were not relevant to the majority of the participants, it was thought important that CU develop their own materials which would be more relevant.

Each unit consists of all four skills together with a variety of activities to give students the opportunity to develop their communicative competence. Since the content includes different topics, the language presented in the text varies - it includes technical vocabulary, sentence structure and paragraph development. It also includes a grammar review.

This approach has proved to be an improvement on previous training courses. It is hoped that further materials will be trialed and developed in the future.

Table 1: The EST Course Evaluation

 

Based on the needs analysis and theories of ESP, our perception of this project was that it did not represent a typically specialist content-focused ESP program, but rather, a project with much stress on General English, and 'common core' Technical English. As a consequence, we designed the curriculum structure and course syllabi in a bottom-up manner (Figure 3). Many courses aimed to improve General English; some courses concentrated on 'common core' Technical English enhancement; and a few courses focused on subject knowledge and terminology.

See MS Doc for Figure 3 Figure 3: Bottom-up Course Design

6. Implementation Issues of Language and Materials
In accordance with the curriculum and course design stressing 'common core' language, General Technical English and little specific language, the course syllabi were designed with the same stress on the selection of language and materials based on course organization.

6.1 Language Elements Selection
Based on the theories of language description and the findings from needs analyses, we placed the language input in the program into three categories - General English, General Technical English and Technical English (Chen 2005). As Chen explains (2005):

We did not sequence them in terms of priority, namely, General English first, General Technical English second and, finally, Technical English. Instead, we distributed all the input of the three categories into courses simultaneously. However, we did sequence language in each category internally in terms of degrees of difficulty and complexity, and from generality to specificity in each course.

The following demonstrates the distribution of the courses in three categories:

See MS Doc for Table 2. Table 2. Course Distribution in Categories

6.1.1 General English Coverage
From the above table, it can be seen that most courses focused on General English. In these courses, participants' existing knowledge of English was reviewed and new lexis, structures, and content as well as all the skills were improved. This approach was based on the cognitive view of language learning and the affective factor in language learning, as Hutchinson and Waters (1987) consider learners as 'feeling' beings. When new knowledge comes in the form of input with familiar language elements and topics, learners tend to perceive learn as easier. The contents of these courses focused on general topics so the learners became more interested in the lessons, leading, in turn, to an increased sense of motivation in their studies. Moreover, General English improvement could fill the gap in sub-technical English because "scientific English, for example, uses the same structures as any other kind of English but with a different distribution" (Kennedy and Bolitho 1984: p.19). As a result, at the sub-technical level, learners could easily deal with sub-technical contents with the help of General English knowledge because in Technical English, as Robinson (1991) points out, many common core language words are used for technical purposes. One interesting example was noted when the common core word 'preliminary', which was learned in an EST class, was applied by many participants when describing their technical drawings. In brief, these General English courses helped the learners build their vocabulary and led to overall improvement in their English.

6.1.2 From General English to General Technical English
The second category is the bridge to connect General English with Technical English. Speaking and Writing courses are organized with the language input from general to specific. For example, in the speaking class, topics were sequenced in three stages. In the first stage, very general topics were involved, such as personal details, weather, traffic problems and story telling. However, the second stage progressed a little further to cover general technical topics, such as talking about buildings, advantages and disadvantages of dams, modern and old vehicles. The third stage of topic selection was most relevant to the participants' work since it included designing projects, technical negotiation and holding specialist conferences. The participants felt very comfortable in producing language since productive skills were acquired gradually from simplicity to complexity and from generality to specificity. In addition, EST and Reading courses started from this category. Since the learners were from multi-disciplinary areas, their needs in technical English varied greatly so that the 'common core or nucleus' (Robinson 1991) of special English had to be taught to bridge the gap between General and Technical English.

6.1.3 From General Technical English to Technical English
There was no very obvious difference crossing from the second to the third category. Considering that all the participants were engineers and designers, albeit from various fields, 'common core' subject content as language input was selected in EST and Reading. However, the crossing to the third category placed more emphasis on the organization of the content, which ranged from the very general technical to the more specific. As the content input became more and more technical, language input in the content grew more and more specific. In addition, quite a lot of visual input was included in the EST. Johns (1998: pp.183-197) states the importance of visual presentations in ESP to include graphs, charts, maps, technical drawing, plans, etc, because engineers read such visually-related literature frequently in their work. The visual information includes language input as well as content input, so it can be transferred to verbal information or vice versa. The course participants were very familiar with the visual input of the content; as a result, they were interested in utilizing this language feature and tried to express themselves by means of the visuals to which they were exposed, thus promoting their language learning. At the end of the program, all the learners felt very confident in using Technical English as well as General English.

6.2. Material Organization
As Hutchinson and Waters (1987: p. 96) state, there are three possible ways of applying materials: using existing materials, writing materials and adapting materials. Robinson (1991) indicates that these come in the form of textbooks and in-house materials. In the light of the aims and objectives of the CISDI course design and course syllabi, all these types of materials --- published textbooks, tailor-made materials and written materials--- were employed in the program.

6.2.1 Selection of Published Textbooks
According to Robinson (1991), published textbooks have the advantages of saving time, costing less than in-house materials, having greater availability, and being easy access for learners to reviewing and referencing. Since the program had seven courses, there was insufficient time and human resources to write all the textbooks for this program. Consequently, it was decided that some courses, such as Pronunciation, Listening, Reading and EST, should be instructed with published textbooks to exploit the syllabus objectives. In order to meet the learners' needs and expectations, the selection of textbooks followed these emphases (Chen 2005):

1) the avoidance of selecting extremely advanced textbooks in language because learners would be confounded by difficult language added to the complexity of content information, and hence lose interest in the text full of new lexis;

2) the selection of textbooks with appropriate subject contents relevant to learners' common knowledge, personal interests and professional fields;

3) paying attention to both verbal and visual information existing in the textbooks;

4) matching difficulty extent of textbooks between courses.

In addition, we carried out the strategies of ongoing textbook evaluation and selection based on learners' ongoing needs analysis. For example, reading textbooks were changed several times, even within the course of one class because of difficulty levels and the learners' changing needs. In the first two years, a published textbook, Nucleus: Architecture and Building Construction was selected as the EST course material. However, it was changed to a tailor-made textbook in the following years, because it met neither the objective specialist needs, nor the personal interests of the most course participants.

6.2.2 Tailor-Made Textbooks
Since materials adaptation is less time-consuming and less expensive than in-house materials, the courses of Speaking, Writing and Video were taught with tailor-made textbooks. Besides, adapted materials are more suitable to ESP learners than textbooks since no textbooks could fully satisfy the particular needs of any ESP learners. Adapted materials are also reliable, available and various to select in the physical sense. In the process of material selection, reorganization and sequencing, three kinds of consideration were stressed (Chen 2005):

1) the selection of materials with properly difficult language input in terms of vocabularies and structures with consideration of their level transition from simplicity to difficulty;
2) attention to subject content input in the tailor-made materials, usually from general topics to subject-specific topics;
3) the adaptation of adequate and appropriate activities in the selected materials, namely, the activities in each unit have to be coherently matched to avoid discretion and isolation in materials adaptation and to make the adapted textbooks complete.

6.2.3 Writing Textbooks
According to Robinson (1991: pp.56-58), in-house produced materials are more specific for unique learning situation, and "have greater face validity in terms of the language dealt with and the contexts it is presented in" and more suitable methodology for the intended learners. However, they are also more expensive and time consuming to produce than published textbooks or adapted materials. Moreover, they will appear more difficult to deal with in both contents and language if the authentic materials are not carefully or cautiously organized, or if the data are not properly collected (Chen 2005). Due to all those difficulties, this method was only used in part of the textbook for EST, in which some units were tailored from published textbooks and some were written by course teachers. This production of the mixed materials was for two reasons. First, there were various subject contents in the course, so it was hard to gather authentic material from all the content areas. As a consequence, we had to create a mixed package from both existing and authentic materials. Secondly, authentic materials produced with academic information in disciplinary fields were usually more subject-specific, therefore, they seemed more difficult in terms of content complexity and subject lexis. Such a case had actually occurred in a previous ESP project, in which all in-house authentic materials had been written and used after much time had been spent writing materials collected from specialist academic journals, literature and data. The materials were very specific and suitable for the learners' target needs, yet they perceived them as too difficult and lost interest in learning. The lesson from that project led us to produce the partly-written EST course materials for this program at a more appropriate level of difficulty, complexity and challenge in language and contents.

From the implementation of the project, these integrated materials proved to be a success in terms of assisting the learners' linguistic development.

7. Conclusions
The CISDI project finally proved to be an example of a successful ESP project and it is felt that the experiences gained from its development have benefited subsequent ESP programs on campus or at other workplaces. This paper has expanded upon the previous study by Chen (2005). The study and research on the implementation of the project and has drawn important conclusions on the process of formulating and conducting needs analyses, and the development and design of the ensuing ESP curriculum. Moreover, it has provided insights into the challenges facing ESP or EFL practitioners who are required to take on a multitude of roles, not only as instructors, but also as course designers, material writers, researchers and evaluators. From this further research on the program, my understanding of ESP program design has led to two major deductions: 1) course designers of any ESP courses should firstly explore the potential learners' actual and various needs, wants, shortfalls and requirements. The designers should also help learners identify their needs since sometimes the learners do not have a clear picture of their own; 2) though ESP learners are usually adults at the intermediate or advanced level and in specific disciplines, they still need to improve their General English or General Technical English before they actually take English for their specific subject areas. If these two steps are completed, all other stages can be performed successfully. Therefore, ESP course designers should strive to ascertain the learners' needs, wants, lacks and whether the program has a technical or common core focus. In this way, curricula and syllabi can be developed which are both more dynamic in nature.

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