Designing an ESP task-based syllabus for first-year students at the Border Technikon

Abstract

We are currently experiencing a salient evolutionary phase in syllabus design in which the questioning of established and well-tried types of syllabus coincides with a wealth of innovative proposals from theory, research and classroom experience. A review of the literature indicates that one particular syllabus type, task-based, seems to hold special promise. The main reason being its unit of analysis, namely the task. The task receives much support in second language acquisition research as a viable unit around which to organise language teaching and learning opportunities. Various departments and faculties at the Border Technikon have different language needs. It, therefore, seems inappropriate to subject all the students to the same Communication in English syllabus. Secretarial students, specifically, have a different set of needs, especially because of the sophistication and complexity of the modem electronic office. The purpose of this study, therefore, to: determine the appropriateness of a task-based syllabus for the secretarial course at the Border Technikon, determine the target tasks and task types secretaries need to undertake and devise a task-based syllabus for these students. The results of the descriptive study indicated to appropriateness of designing a task-based syllabus for the special needs of secretarial students. Various target tasks (e.g., basic listening and writing skills, logical reasoning, oral skills, life skills and electronic media usage) and task types (e.g., note-taking, summarising, assessing an argument, interviewing, getting to know other people and mass media) were identified by means of questionnaires to the students as well as to prospective employers. On the basis of the results obtained an ESP task-based syllabus was designed for the secretarial course.