This study is threefold: 1) To investigate the needs of English for Academic Purposes at the Institute of Public Administration (IPA) in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia (SA), and the needs of English for Job Purposes in the Saudi private sector; 2) To establish goals based on the needs found; and 3) To propose an alternate design for the current English Language Center at the IPA in SA. The researcher used multi-modal approach to data collection that included questionnaires, focus groups, and interviews with different populations: managers, employees, human resource managers, students, and teachers. In business settings, the results showed that English is often used in the private sector for the following reasons: existence of non-native speakers of Arabic expatriates in the private sector in SA, nature of the company, dealing with international companies, agents of some international companies, and the company itself is not Saudi. In academic settings, students faced difficulties mainly in three skill area: reading, writing, and speaking. Based on the needs found, the researcher suggested teaching two business courses: Business Correspondence and Business Communication. In addition, the researcher proposed an alternate design for the current program at the English Language Center which should focus on General English, rather than English for Specific Purposes. / Department of English

No description available.

published_or_final_version / Linguistics / Master / Master of Arts in Applied Linguistics

This is a case study of the academic and occupational discourse of immigrant entrepreneurs in a bilingual (Cantonese and English) business and language program which aims to relate the linguistic and managerial knowledge acquired in class to the business operations. This case study raises problematic questions for both LSP (Language for Specific Purposes) research and bilingual code-switching research. There were two purposes: (1) to study the functional variation of discourse in the educational program and the operation of small business; and (2) to investigate the importance of the functional variation of discourse in code-switching. Pursuing purpose one, part one of the study explores two models: an LSP approach based on "genre" and learning tasks(Swales, 1990); and the Language Socialization approach (Halliday,1975; Mohan, 1986; Ochs, 1988) viewing language learning and sociocultural learning as occurring simultaneously in "activities"(social practices or situations). Two issues are raised: (1) Data indicate that the LSP approach does not illuminate the relation between academic discourse and occupational discourse; (2) It does not account for specific connections between tasks in classroom discourse and genres in business practices. The Language Socialisation approach, however, points to important dynamic theory/practice relations which appear in contrasts between business rules and examples, language rules and examples, seminar discourse and workshop discourse, and the English class and service encounter discourse. Pursuing purpose two, part two of the study compares the Language Socialization model with two models of code-switching as it relates to functional variation of discourse: (1) Guthrie (1983), and (2) Faerch (1985). Model (1) misses a large proportion of second language examples while model (2) fails to account for data labelled as "business rules" and "business examples" in the sample. The Language Socialization approach, however, recognises in discourse both theory (e.g., language and business rules) and practice (e.g., language and business examples). Rules are mostly handled in the first language while examples are mostly handled in the second language. A log-linear analysis indicates that, in all cases, "rules/ examples" is the strongest predictor of language choice.

Title page, abstract and table of contents only. The complete thesis in print form is available from the University of Adelaide Library. / "This study attempts primarily to bring together some of the existing literature on text coherence, cohesion, and thematic structure and the influence of these text characteristics on reading comprehension and EAP material preparation, particularly in an EFL/ESL context. The textual features of coherence, cohesion and comprehensibility are of primary concern... The results of the analysis suggest that thematic elements and cohesive devices, which act as signposts in directing the readers’ attention in the meaning making process, are to be taken into account in teaching and testing reading and writing." -- From abstract. / http://proxy.library.adelaide.edu.au/login?url= http://library.adelaide.edu.au/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?BBID=1289484 / Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of Adelaide, School of Humanities, 2007

Title page, abstract and table of contents only. The complete thesis in print form is available from the University of Adelaide Library. / "This study attempts primarily to bring together some of the existing literature on text coherence, cohesion, and thematic structure and the influence of these text characteristics on reading comprehension and EAP material preparation, particularly in an EFL/ESL context. The textual features of coherence, cohesion and comprehensibility are of primary concern... The results of the analysis suggest that thematic elements and cohesive devices, which act as signposts in directing the readers’ attention in the meaning making process, are to be taken into account in teaching and testing reading and writing." -- From abstract. / http://proxy.library.adelaide.edu.au/login?url= http://library.adelaide.edu.au/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?BBID=1289484 / Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of Adelaide, School of Humanities, 2007

Title page, abstract and table of contents only. The complete thesis in print form is available from the University of Adelaide Library. / "This study attempts primarily to bring together some of the existing literature on text coherence, cohesion, and thematic structure and the influence of these text characteristics on reading comprehension and EAP material preparation, particularly in an EFL/ESL context. The textual features of coherence, cohesion and comprehensibility are of primary concern... The results of the analysis suggest that thematic elements and cohesive devices, which act as signposts in directing the readers’ attention in the meaning making process, are to be taken into account in teaching and testing reading and writing." -- From abstract. / http://proxy.library.adelaide.edu.au/login?url= http://library.adelaide.edu.au/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?BBID=1289484 / Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of Adelaide, School of Humanities, 2007

This is a case study of the academic and occupational discourse of immigrant entrepreneurs in a bilingual (Cantonese and English) business and language program which aims to relate the linguistic and managerial knowledge acquired in class to the business operations. This case study raises problematic questions for both LSP (Language for Specific Purposes) research and bilingual code-switching research. There were two purposes: (1) to study the functional variation of discourse in the educational program and the operation of small business; and (2) to investigate the importance of the functional variation of discourse in code-switching. Pursuing purpose one, part one of the study explores two models: an LSP approach based on "genre" and learning tasks(Swales, 1990); and the Language Socialization approach (Halliday,1975; Mohan, 1986; Ochs, 1988) viewing language learning and sociocultural learning as occurring simultaneously in "activities"(social practices or situations). Two issues are raised: (1) Data indicate that the LSP approach does not illuminate the relation between academic discourse and occupational discourse; (2) It does not account for specific connections between tasks in classroom discourse and genres in business practices. The Language Socialisation approach, however, points to important dynamic theory/practice relations which appear in contrasts between business rules and examples, language rules and examples, seminar discourse and workshop discourse, and the English class and service encounter discourse. Pursuing purpose two, part two of the study compares the Language Socialization model with two models of code-switching as it relates to functional variation of discourse: (1) Guthrie (1983), and (2) Faerch (1985). Model (1) misses a large proportion of second language examples while model (2) fails to account for data labelled as "business rules" and "business examples" in the sample. The Language Socialization approach, however, recognises in discourse both theory (e.g., language and business rules) and practice (e.g., language and business examples). Rules are mostly handled in the first language while examples are mostly handled in the second language. A log-linear analysis indicates that, in all cases, "rules/ examples" is the strongest predictor of language choice. / Education, Faculty of / Curriculum and Pedagogy (EDCP), Department of / Graduate

The aim of this project is to provide a curriculum designed specifically on the basis of negotiated and strategic competence, which will meet the needs of the business world.

This project addresses the need for effective English training for speakers of other languages who are engaged in professional careers.