Selecting texts Who chooses? Traditionally texts have mainly chosen by institutions and teachers: by
institutions through the textbooks in their resource centre and any supplementary material they
provide. The scenario where subject specialists contribute to text selection is most likely in EAP
and English for Vocational Purpose situations where there is set texts to study and to use. In
deciding what to use an ESP teacher will balance needs and motivational factors.
What is chosen? The criteria used for selecting texts will relate to key features of both carrier and real content.
We have already mentioned that the conceptual level of the carrier content must be neither trivial
nor distractingly high and that there must be both value and interest to it.
Using the information that has been gathered Although this may be the final step in the process of reading a text, it is the one from which the
design of activities begins. Knowing what students would really do with a text, and why, is
necessary for setting the task that will guide the reading process and determine all the other
activities.
Listening to monologue The ability to follow monologue, specifically the lecture, is particularly important in EAP
situations and has received a great deal of attention in both research and teaching materials. In
EOP situations doctors and other professional people attend conferences and listen to
presentation technicians have to listen to and understand instructions; business people and other
professionals listen to policy presentations. Comprehension of a lecture, seminar or business
presentation will involve the same two stage process we noted for second language reading
comprehension, the first being processing of the language, the second being the change to
background knowledge of the topic that results from the understanding of the language.
Micro-skills and language A significant number of micro-skills related to listening are seen as necessary for effective
comprehension of monologue. Flowerdew quotes Richards who lists the following micro-skills:
Ability to: 1.
identify the purpose and scope of monologue
2.
identify the topic of lecture and follow topic development
3.
recognize the role of discourse markers
4.
recognize key lexical items related to subject/topic
5.
deduce meanings of words from context
6.
recognize function of intonations to signal information structure
Distinguishing features of monologue