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If I were to go to China, I wonder if the TEFL trade would still be booming? It has been reported that a massive 300 million Chinese people are learning English, which surely makes it the highest number of English learners in any one country in the world.

The BC report

Remarkably, the latest reports are showing that the English market continues to thrive in China. A report made by the British Council into the growth and future of ELT in India and China has resulted in a positive outlook. The demand for teachers in China is still not being met despite the fact that companies and local governments are keen to increase the number and quality of English language teachers.

Who’s learning in China?

Where does this market exist? Understandably, business English is the hot commodity in China as internationally minded companies try to improve their standing on the world scene. It has been reported that English is no longer a desirable skill in job candidates – it’s essential.

EL Gazette reports that it’s not about business English only. The majority of learners in two regions of China cited ‘personal development’ and ‘interest in English’ as their reason for studying the language. The demand for teachers of young learners is also increasing as schools and parents try to develop English skills in their children from a young age. It’s clear, then, that ESP (English for Specific Purposes) is a key part of the China TEFL industry.

TEFL China: recession-proof

A press release on the BC website concludes by saying that ‘the EL market [in China] is seemingly unaffected by the global economic downturn; in fact it may well increase the importance of learning English as competition for jobs becomes more intense.’

Basically, it’s a way of finding out what your students want and need to learn. It consists of gauging their current ability level, and what they want to achieve. It goes back in part to finding out the reason why your students are learning English. If the answer they give to this question is too generic to be useful, some well-pointed questions will help you get the most from them. A needs analysis can be conducted either in conversation or by getting your students to fill out a form. However, it should be engaging, and you should maintain a written record for your own benefit.

Some examples

Carol Rueckert, in her highly informative ESL blog, describes in detail what you need to ask in a needs analysis. In summary, you should gauge their ability in terms of reading, writing, speaking, listening, pronunciation and grammar, and try to find out which of these they are most keen to improve. Business English students may want to work on specific aspects of communication, such as reading and responding to business e-mails, telephone conversations or other business matters.

Similarly, Handouts Online recommends asking a series of questions including:
· What do you use English for now?
· What will/might you use English for in the future?
· What is your current level of English?
· What do you particularly want to study?

The advantages of using a needs analysis
A needs analysis is something that should be updated regularly, especially if students make either rapid or little progress.

Following on from a needs analysis, you can incorporate this information into your lesson plans so as to teach in a more structured and progressive way. Especially if students are at a higher level, lessons can sometimes become formless – in which case analyzing their uses and needs of the English language gives you the upper hand in helping them to level up.

A further summary of a needs analysis can be found over at TEFL.net. Check it out.

Do you use needs analyses in your classes? How do you conduct it? What benefits does it have?

Is there a difference between ESP and general English? Surely any linguistic improvement – whether classified as generic or specific – contributes to the learners understanding of the language? Laurence Anthony of Okayama University wrote a very interesting article on this subject which explains the issues more clearly than I can, but in summary teaching ESP is based largely on the goals and requirements that the students have. Many companies sponsor their employees to learn English specifically to facilitate English communication in their trade, so it is necessary to have specific targets in mind when teaching ESP. However, when students have little or no basic knowledge of English, teaching it for a specific purpose is almost impossible. This is when general English and ESP really cross paths.

ESP as a career choice

ESP has really taken off as an individual subject in the world of TEFL in recent years. In fact, many institutions offer courses in training teachers purely for ESP. If you want to develop your career as an EFL teacher, ESP seems like a highly relevant way to go. The University of Birmingham offers an MA in ESP, as does the University of Warwick.

The advantage of conversation

In Japanese schools, at least, the type of English that is taught is often quite dry, and very grammar-heavy. I often meet people who have no problem reading English, but who have no ability to actually speak the language. The introduction of ALTs through the JET scheme has helped to change this somewhat, and it is giving more Japanese school children a chance to practice spoken English.

Conversation classes are an ideal way to help students achieve fluency without the intense memorising and brain-aching work of grammatical rules. Conversing is also, for many people, the most enjoyable aspect of learning a foreign language – it gives us a chance to communicate with people of a different culture, with different experiences to our own. And if I were to pick up on every grammatical mistake that even native speakers make (including myself) when conversing, I think I would soon go quite insane!

Have you attended or taught conversation classes? How did you find the experience? Let us know!

What is TOEIC?

Before I entered the world of TEFL I was blissfully unaware of TOEIC. But, apparently, there are more than 4.5 million test takers per year worldwide. That’s a phenomenal number. So what is it? TOEIC is the Test Of English for International Communication, and it purports to be the ‘global standard for measuring English language skills for business’. Certainly, the reputation of TOEIC is well known worldwide in both academic and business circles. And a test that comprises of 200 multiple-choice questions is not to be taken lightly. However, it has also come under fire from some critics for relying on ‘question banks’, rather than any creative linguistic ability. In summary, it is argued that TOEIC is not a practical assessment.

Multiple-choice questions are, in my opinion, inherently flawed. As unlikely as it is, it is possible to guess your way through the exam and pass with a high score. Whether this is the case or not, I want to make sure my student does well in the exam so for the next few months we will be preparing for the exam with the help of such books as Bruce Rogers’ Complete Guide to the TOEIC Test.

Have you helped a student prepare for TOEIC? Have you taken TOEIC? Let me know about your experiences of this exam.