ABSTRACT

The paper presents about an ESP course design of airport ground staff working at the
Information Desk. It explains first about the importance of English in globalization era and
reasons and the consideration about English as International language. It gives a brief review
of ESP as a new approach of language learning and the methods of doing the analysis of
target situation related to teaching and learning. It clearly lists about the responsibilities of
Airport Information Desk Staff which are translated into communicative needs and
competences. This paper also describes the needs analysis of the target group. Hopefully this
work will give its best for the readers. Writer opens for constructive critics in order to be
better in arranging scientific paper.

ESP Syllabus Designer

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 TABLE OF CONTENTS

Abstract ...........................................................................................................................1

Table of contents .............................................................................................................2

Introduction .....................................................................................................................3

The Importance of English ...............................................................................................3

Brief review of ESP syllabus design ................................................................................4

Methods of doing needs analysis .....................................................................................7

Conducting needs analysis ...............................................................................................8

Syllabus design ...............................................................................................................11

References .......................................................................................................................14

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 CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

1. The Importance of English

English is the most spoken second language in the world. English has speakers in almost
all continents around the world. It is learnt by people in more than 25 country. The
learners of English has also been increasing for over a decade. Everyone must have
realized that the English language has been used in almost all international meeting. In
this globalization era, English has been becoming a means of communication for
traveling, studying abroad, conducting research, writing and reading a book and an
article, dealing with overseas business partners, and etc. English has become an
International language.

English has speakers in almost all continents around the world. The first two world that
use English as first language are England and the United States of America. Since
England had been conquering many country in the world, then the learners and the users
of English has been increasing. By the declaration of globalization era, the needs of
language that can be used to communicate by anyone in the world is increasing, this
statement pointed to the English language. Therefore, many people in the world want to
learn English, not only about knowing the language for pleasure or prestige but English is
the key to the International activities related to technology and commerce.

In terms of technology, the language that is used the most in Internet is the English
language. Consider, when a student wants to learn something from the internet, to
understand the contents, he or she must be able to use English related to reading texts. In
relation to education, for instance, a college graduate would like to research about social
and economical phenomena in certain country, then he finds a number resources in the
internet, in fact, most of the researchs in the internet use English. It is undeniable that
English is preferable and very significant in human life. Another example to be
considered that English is important to be learnt is that the existence of literature. In order
to understand culture and philosophical thinking of people of another country, we have to
learn about literature, and most of literature’s work are originally written in English.

A good information nowadays is that English can be learned by many ways and for many
purposes. Based on the fact that a language can be mastered by using it in daily life, many

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people learn English in order to fulfill their needs. Some of them learn English for
tourism, academic purposes, businesses, banks, and etc. Furthermore, according to several
researchs, the more the users of the language, the strongest the language will be, and the
English language learners has been increasing for over five decades, so that it strengthens
the existence of English as International language.

2. Brief review of ESP in syllabus design

ESP, stands for English for specific purposes, is a particular case of the general category
of special-purpose language teaching. The same principles apply no matter which
language is being learned and taught. French for specific purposes, Russian for specific
purposes, Chinese for specific purposes – all of these exist and are constructed on the
same basis as English for specific purposes. The vastly greater demand for English makes
ESP more common than FSP, RSP, or CSP, but the principles are the same.

A definition of ESP needs to distinguish between four absolute and two variable
characteristics:

a) Absolute Characteristics of ESP

ESP consist of English language teaching which is:
- designed to meet specified needs of the learner;
- related in content to particular disciplines, occupations and activities;
- centred on the language appropriate to those activities, in syntax, lexis, discourse,
semantics, etc;
- in contrast with ‘General English’.

b) Variable Characteristics of ESP

ESP may be, but is not necessarily:
- Registered as to the language skills to be learned
- Taught according to any pre-ordained methodology.

There are a number of claims to be considered that ESP is preferable in English language
teaching. It is being focused on the learners’ needs, it wastes no time. ESP teaching is
perceived as relevant by the learner. It is successful in imparting learning. It is more cost-
effective than General English.

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English for specific purposes is being focussed on the learners’ needs, it wastes no time.
Learners’ needs are related to the purposes of learning English, for example, a bank teller
has some duties to communicate to the foreigners about explaining local exchange
currency. In order to be able to do his job, he needs to learn English as an international
language. He learns English based on his duties, so it is unnecessary to learn something
out of teller responsibilities.

ESP is more cost-effective than General English. Effective means the activity wastes a
little time and money. Put one example, a travel agent driver, everything that must be
learned by a driver is how to communicate to the clients related to the cost of journey, the
destinations, how long the process, where to start, and another important duties for
drivers. It is unneccessary for him to learn about the history of English or house
vocabulary, because it is General English. The driver only needs to understand about how
to communicate in English related to his job, it is very specific.

In designing ESP syllabus, a course designer must be able to understand the target needs
by doing a needs analysis. It is a process of determining the subject that learners need to
learn. Needs analysis are divided into three target situation in terms of necessities, lacks,
and wants.

a) Necessities

We can call ‘necessities’ the type of need to determined by the demands of the target
situation; that is, what the learner has to know in order to function effectively in the target
situation. For example, a businessman or –woman might need to understand business
letters, to communicate effectively as sales conferences, to get the necessary information
from sales catalogues and so on. He or she will presumably also need to know the
linguistic features—discoursal, functional, structural, lexical—which are commonly used
in the situation identified. This information is relatively easy to gather. It is a matter of
observing what situations the learner will need to function in and then analysing the
constituent parts of them.

b) Lacks

To identify necessities alone, however, is not enough, since the concern in ESP is with the
needs of particular learners. You also need to know what the learner knows already, so
that you can then decide which of the necessities the learner lacks. One target situation

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necessity might be to read texts in a particular subject area. Whether or not the learners
need instruction in doing this will depend on how well they can do it already. The target
proficiency of the learners. The gap between the two can be referred to as the learner’s
lacks.

c) Wants

Wants means that the learners are given a knowledge which they believe they need it and
based on their environment. For example, a teacher has conducted an interview and a
questionnaire for an hour, then a student is asked about his needs, he beliefs that it is
speaking. However, the data showed that he wants to learn grammar.

There are several ways to determine learners’ needs in order to be able to design a
syllabus for specific learning situation. It can be done through a number of methods as
follows:

- Interview
- Questionnaires
- Observation
- Consulation to the people in the field
- Collecting data from some credible researchs

In view of the complexity of needs which we have seen, it is desirable to use more than
one of these methods. The choice will obviously depend on the time and resources
available. It is also important to remember that needs analysis is not a once-for-all
activity. It should be continuing process, in which the conclusions drawn are constantly
checked and re-assessed.

The analysis of target situation needs is in essence a matter of asking questions about the
target situation and the attitudes towards that situation of the various participants in the
learning process. These are target situation framework.

A target situation analysis framework

Why is the language needed?

- For work
- For study

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 - For training
- For some other purposes, likes status, examination, promotion, etc.

How will the language be used?

- Medium: speaking, writing, reading, etc;

- Channel: telephone, face to face;
- Types of text or discourse: academic texts, lectures, informal conversations,
technical manuals, catalogues.

What will the context areas be?

- Subjects: medicine, biology, architecture, shipping, commerce, engineering;

- Level: technician, craftsman, postgraduate, secondary school.

Who will the learner use the language with?

- Native speakers or non-native speakers;

- Level of knowledge of receiver: expert, layman, student;
- Relationship: colleague, teacher, customer, superior, subordinate.

3. Methods of doing needs analysis

The writer looks for many credible articles in order to find Airport Information Desk staff
responsibillities.

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 CHAPTER II

CONDUCTING NEEDS ANALYSIS

Category Information
Target Group Airport Information Desk Staff
Responsibilities of the target group  Giving directions to airport
facilities and services
 Giving suggestions about
tourist information
 Giving out up-to-date
information on flights and
services
 Imparting information about
prohibited items
 Dealing with telephone
enquiries
 Dealing with e-mail enquiries
 Dealing with Lost & Found
properties
 Dealing with passengers face
to face
 Solving Conflict
 Making announcements for
passengers over the public
address system
 Updating and monitoring a
computerised flight
information system
 Exchanging Currency
 Booking hotels and car hire
Translating Target Group duties into  How to give information to the
Communicative Needs passengers
 How to deal with airport and
passengers needs
 How to make an announcement
for passengers over public
address system
 How to arrange flight
information system
 How to exchange currency

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  How to book hotels and car
hire
 How to solve conflict
Translating the Communicative How to give information to the
passengers
Needs into Competencies
 Can express open, continue,
and close a conversation about
giving direction about airport
facilities and services
 Can express offers and
suggestions about tourist
information
 Can give out up-to-date
information on flight and
services
 Can give clear instruction
about prohibited items

How to deal with airport and

passengers needs
 Can express open-sequence
and pre-sequence in reason to
telephone calls
 Can write subject, opening, and
closing of e-mail
 Can express relevant question
to ask elicit details about lost
and found properties
 Can deal with any passengers
problem

How to make an announcement for

passengers over public address system
 Can make an announcement
for passengers over public
address system

How to arrange flight information

system
 Can arrange flight information
system

How to exchange currency

 Can exchange local and
international currency

How to book hotels and car hire

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  Can express asking, offering,
and suggeting to book hotels
and car hire

How to solve conflict

 Can understand the source of
the problem
 Can solve the problem

Translation of the Competency into  Giving information to the

passengers
Materials
 Dealing Airport and passengers
needs
 Making announcement for
passenger
 Arranging flight information
system
 Exchanging currency
 Booking Hotels and car hire
 Solving Problems

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 CHAPTER III

SYLLABUS DESIGN

Name of the Course: English for Airport Information Desk Staff

Learning Outcomes:

After participating for 7 days in this course participants are expected to be able to use
English in doing responsibilities of Airport Information Desk Staff.

Learning Material Indicators Sub-materials Methods Sources Assessment

Objective s Achievement and
Media
Can give Giving 1. Can express 1. Direction Roleplay Airport 1. Portfo
informati open,
informatio about brochures lio
on to the continue,
ns to the passenge and close a airport and 2. Situat
rs conversatio
passngers facilities employee ional
n about
giving and procedural Rolep
direction
services standard lay
about
airport
facilities
2. Tourist
and services
Informati
2. Can express
on
offers and
suggestions
about 3. Flight
tourist
and
information
service
3. Can give
out up-to-
4. Prohibite
date
information d items
flight and
service

4. Can give

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 clear
instruction
about
prohibited
items

Can deal Dealing 1. Can express 1. Telephon Roleplay Airport 1. Portfo

open-
with with e calls Policy lio
sequence
airport and Airport and pre- 2. E-mail Book and 2. Situat
sequence in
passengers and 3. Lost and Employee ional
reason to
needs passenge telephone Found Procedural rolepl
calls
rs needs propertie standard ay
2. Can write s
subject,
4. Passenge
opening,
and closing rs
of e-mail
problem
3. Can express
relevant
question to
ask elicit
details
about lost
and found
properties

4. Can deal
with any
passengers
problem

Can make Making Can make an Public address Roleplay Airport 1. Portfo
announc announcement for
announce system informatio lio
ement passengers over
ment for for public address n system 2. Situat
passenge system
passenger ional
r
Roepl
ay
Can Arrangin Can arrange flight Flight Roleplay Airport 1. Portfo
g flight
arrange information system information Informatio lio
informati
on

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flight system system n System 2. Situat
informatio ional
n system rolepl
ay
Can Exchangi Can exchange local Local and Roleplay Interntiona 1. Portfo
ng and international
exchange International l and local lio
currency currency
currency Currency policy 2. Situat
ional
rolepl
ay
Can book Booking Can express Hotels and Car Roleplay Books of 1. Portfo
hotels and Hotels asking, offering, hire hotel and lio
car hire and car and suggeting to car agents 2. Situat
hire book hotels and car ional
hire rolepl
ay
Can solve Solving 1. Can 1. Source Roleplay Airport 1. Portfo
Problems understand
problems of the environme lio
the source
of the problem nt 2. Situat
problem
2. The ional
2. Can solve Problem rolepl
the problem
ay

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 REFERENCES

Hutchinson, T. a. (1987). English for Specific Purposes: A Learning-Centred Approach. Cambridge

University Press.

Sujana, I. M. (2006). English for Specific Purposes. Mataram.

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