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Communication Dans Un Congrès Année : 2022

Teaching English for Specific Purposes through Case Studies

Résumé

Even though case studies are used to teach business, law, the sciences, psychology, archaeology, education, etc., their use remains rare in disciplines other than law (Lalancette, 2014). In the literature on languages for specific purposes, and that of English for specific purposes (ESP) in particular, there are not that many occasions when case studies are mentioned. However, this is regrettable given the advantages this approach represents. First, case studies are known to enable students to develop their language skills, and improve their critical and analytical thinking (Grosse, 1988). Second, case studies replicate target situations and are mostly based on authentic material (Brown & Menasche, 2005, cited in Tatsuki 2006; Woodrow, 2018). Third, they can be a solution for dealing with overcrowded and heterogenous groups. In practical terms, case studies are conceived on the basis of real situations or situations inspired by real events; they are presented in the form of a problem that students have to solve by proposing solutions to the problem orally or in a written form. The purpose of the workshop is to familiarise the participants with the case study approach, to show how the work on a case study can be organised in the classroom, and to share practical tips on how to conceive case studies or to adapt existing ones. For this workshop, we selected a case study we had conceived for teaching English to psychology students. The case addresses the issue of depression and its possible treatments that are available to patients in the United States. The objectives of this teaching module were to make students acquire the specialised vocabulary related to depression, to sensitise them to culture-specific elements associated with the treatment of depression in the US and to develop their language skills and transversal skills, as well as to promote collaborative work. The work is divided into three steps. First, the participants of the workshop will learn how, based on descriptions in the DSM-IV, to distinguish the three types of depression depending on the symptoms manifested by a patient. Second, they will learn about six types of treatment, namely tricyclic antidepressants, selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, monoamine oxidase inhibitors, St. John’s wort, cognitive behavioural therapy, and high-tech treatments. Third, they will watch a video with the patient. Then, the participants will be invited into several breakout rooms where they will discuss the patient’s case in order to determine the type of depression the patient is suffering from and to suggest the most appropriate treatment. Finally, the groups will present their suggestions, and we will try to analyse them together. At the end of the workshop, we will describe precisely how this case study was conceived and how it was adapted to our students’ needs. Due to the constraints of the workshop (its duration, participants’ background knowledge in psychology, and the unknown number of the participants), the work on the case study was modified, so we will explain how this module was taught under real-life conditions. Finally, we will share the feedback we received from our students on this case study.
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Dates et versions

hal-04239437 , version 1 (12-10-2023)

Identifiants

  • HAL Id : hal-04239437 , version 1

Citer

Evgueniya Lyu. Teaching English for Specific Purposes through Case Studies. 5th International ESP/LSP Workshop and Conference, University of Niš, Faculty of Electronic Engineering, Sep 2022, Nis, Serbia. ⟨hal-04239437⟩

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