JALTCALL2002 PROCEEDINGS

Technical English
in the CALL
laboratory
Brian Cullen
Nagoya Institute of
Technology

1. Introduction
Technical English (TE) is a course aimed at students who will use English in the sphere
of technology in their future careers. As many of these students are already familiar
with the use of computers, the CALL laboratory seems to be an ideal environment
for developing TE. However, there has been a shortage of practical techniques for
converting the content of technical English courses into the format required for CALL
classes. This presentation attempted to introduce some techniques which teachers of
technical English or other ESP areas may find useful.

2. What is Technical English?

Since several of the participants in this workshop did not have a clear idea of the
meaning of Technical English, it seems appropriate to explain it briefly. TE is a subject
at many of Japan's technical high schools and universities. It was introduced into the
curriculum to fulfil the specific language needs of engineers and others who work
or plan to work in the technical sphere. It is an offshoot of the English for Specific
Purposes (ESP) movement which includes other specific types of English courses such
2 • Brian Cullen
as English for Medicine or English for Academic Purposes. TE is also known as EST or English for
Science and Technology. Hutchinson and Waters (1987) provide an excellent introduction to
ESP origins, course design, and applications. Although dated, most of its principles are still valid.
There has been considerable debate in the ESP world about how specific TE courses need to
be. An earlier paper (Robins & Cullen, 2002), analysed the context of TE at Japanese universities.
The conclusions included the following notes:

• The present needs of Japanese engineering students are special but it may not be
possible to specify them precisely since there is a great variety of needs between
students.
• This is exacerbated by the fact that different engineering majors, such as chemical or
mechanical engineering, often study together in a single TE class.
• The future needs of these students are also not clearly specified. Engineers may need
highly developed writing skills in one situation or good colloquial conversation ability in
another.

In Japan, TE is common at Institutes of Technology such as the author’s university, Nagoya

Institution of Technology (NIT). At NIT, a general English course with technical content is
provided in the first year. This is based on the textbook, Humanity and Technology (Cullen, 2002)
and serves as an introduction and foundation for the TE course that all students must take in
their second year. Currently, this course uses the textbook, Technical English Techniques (Robins et
al, 2000).
The authors of this textbook recognized that TE needs to include all four skills: reading, writing,
speaking, and listening. Rather than adopting an integrated skills approach, they have chosen to
divide the book into three sections: Technical Writing, Communicative Resources for Technical
English, and Technical Reading. This division reflects the different possible foci of TE and the
wide range of student needs. They have also chosen vocabulary which is relatively genre-free. In
other words, by attempting to reach students with technical disciplines as diverse as chemical
and computer engineering, they have reduced the amount of technical vocabulary. Within a
university with classes of mixed majors and mixed needs, these decisions raise some interesting
questions. How can students in a specialized area learn the vocabulary of their discipline? Should
teaching materials focus on a particular skill such as scientific writing?

3. Technical English: Textbook or CALL?

Bearing in mind this difficulty in specifying the exact content of TE courses, it is clearly
problematic for a single static textbook to fulfil the requirements of all students. A possible
solution in certain circumstances would be to produce or purchase bespoke textbooks for
different students or to provide a core textbook for all students with additions for each
particular major such as chemical engineering. However, this could raise serious problems for
administrators who need to mix majors in the same classes and language teachers who may
lack the background to understand technical parts of the textbooks.
While approaches of this type are still being actively considered, NIT is beginning to make
more use of CALL facilities in the teaching of TE. The CALL laboratory is often used for general
English classes, but the author has found that the computer literacy of General English students
presents a considerable learning block. In contrast, engineering students are usually comfortable
with computers and can start working on language skills immediately.

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 Technical English in the CALL laboratory • 3
It is hoped that CALL can address some of the limitations of regular textbooks in addition to
opening up new ways of learning that are suitable for the engineers of the future. At present,
we are experimenting with a new approach to TE, one which seems ideally suited to the CALL
laboratory. This is based on two different types of learning activity: a) self-access quizzes and b)
research and presentation activities. These are explained in the following two sections.

4. Self-access materials in Technical English

Computers can allow students to break out of lockstep and to work individually towards their
own needs. This is achieved through their role as self-access centers. Traditionally, self-access was
time-consuming to set-up and maintain, but the CALL lab makes it much easier. Without much
difficulty, teachers or course designers can provide a large range of self-access materials using
programming tools such as Javascript, Flash, or Hot Potatoes. These materials will usually consist
of online lessons and quizzes. By using self-access learning materials, students can break out of
the lockstep produced by teacher-determined activities, but rather work separately to satisfy
individual needs. Of course, the teacher needs to guide students through the learning process,
but it is not necessary to prescribe the exact learning path. The student is provided a range of
materials, but is given a degree of freedom in working through them. In this way, the student is
required to identify and work on his/her own weaknesses and needs.
Some good examples of self-access learning material and quizzes can be seen at Marina
Canapero's pages for science students:
<claweb.cla.unipd.it/inglese/ssmmffnn/scienze/exercises_main.htm>. It can be seen how she
has provided different quizzes for students studying different specialties such as biology or
physics. Much TE vocabulary is genre-specific, so a biology student does not need to waste time
learning the less useful vocabulary of physics. This differentiation between students is not easily
achieved through a standard textbook. Her quizzes are made using the freeware, Hot Potatoes,
available from: <www.halfbakedsoftware.com>.
Besides offering a variety of content, Canapero also demonstrates the possibility of
working on different language skills through a range of activity types which include reading
comprehension, listening comprehension, word-building, linking sentences, and so on. Although
the number of exercises on her pages is not large, she has clearly shown that self-access
quizzes can offer a rich variety of learning opportunities. Students can use their own judgement,
computer feedback, and teacher guidance to work through the most beneficial exercises.
An additional advantage in using self-access materials is that many language structures of TE
are more formulaic than those of general English. This results from the need to write impersonal,
clear documents such as instruction manuals or experiment reports. An often-quoted example
in ESP literature is the high frequency of the passive voice in scientific writing. Other scientific
language structures that fit easily into a quiz format include transition words, hedging opinions,
and writing in the imperative. Some more examples of self-access quizzes for TE can be found at
the author’s website: <www.edsys.center.nitech.ac.jp/lang/a07edc04/>. Following the examples
of exercises like these, it is well worthwhile learning to use Hot Potatoes, JavaScript, Flash, or
other software to design your own quizzes.

5. Research and presentation in Technical English

While self-access quizzes offer excellent means of practicing reading and listening and of learning
vocabulary and language structures, they do not offer much to develop the productive skills of
speaking and writing. It is vital for Japanese universities to teach these productive skills, so that

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4 • Brian Cullen
future engineers can carry out necessary tasks such as explaining their designs and products,
working in international teams, and installing and maintaining equipment around the world.
Many of these skills can be practiced effectively by requiring students to carry out small-scale
research and to present their findings in both written and oral form. Written form could include
instruction manuals, descriptions of experiments, or other standard technical English writing
assignments. Students could be required to use the standard rhetorical structures of scientific
writing such as cause and effect, or analyzing. Many good textbooks for Technical Writing are
available (e.g., Kimball, 1994), so writing will not be discussed further in this paper.
As in the case of self-access quizzes, the CALL laboratory offers wonderful opportunities for
research and presentation. The Internet offers extensive and accessible research resources. A
simple search engine can turn up more information in a few seconds than a whole day's search
through the library. Most computers in CALL labs also offer Microsoft PowerPoint, a powerful
presentation program. As the interface is intuitive, most engineering students can work out the
basics of the program within a few minutes.
Students need guidance in choosing topics for research. The author offers a list of possibilities,
and sometimes assigns particular topics. Below is a list of sample research projects assigned in
the past:

Carry out a photo interview with an engineer that you know.

Prepare instruction for an everyday appliance.
Describe the life of a famous scientist/engineer.
Explain a process, e.g., the water cycle.
Prepare a report of an engineering project or accident.
Describe your future work.
Describe your current studies.
Describe an experiment that you carried out or researched.
Explain a scientific theory.

While research and presentation is an excellent area for developing student autonomy, most
students need substantial guidance in the procedure at least the first time they carry it out.
Instructions will depend on the teaching situation, but here is an example of a set of instructions
the author gave:

Research your topic on the Internet.

Prepare a quick story outline.
Open PowerPoint.
Set up one slide for each item in your outline.
Prepare an appropriate photograph or drawing for each slide.
Prepare the script for each card.
Practice giving your presentation to other members of your group.

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 Technical English in the CALL laboratory • 5
Record your presentation in PowerPoint.
Submit to your teacher.

As can be seen from these instructions, students can practice presentations in small groups.
Since this gives students more opportunities to practice, it is a much better use of time than
asking everyone to present in front of the whole class. One or more students can be asked
present in front of the whole class.
In this example, students record their presentations directly into PowerPoint. At the lowest
sound quality setting (8kB/sec), this is a feasible option on modern large hard disks. Alternatively,
students could simply use PowerPoint as a presentation aid and only give the presentation to
other students. Of course, the teacher could also choose to not use PowerPoint, but it is a
presentation aid that engineers will find very useful in studies and work. Examples of various
kinds of student presentations can be accessed from: <www.edsys.center.nitech.ac.jp/lang/
a07edc04/Research/Resources/TE>.

6. Conclusions
Technical English has certain needs that go beyond the needs of General English. Even more
than General English, the need for learners to work towards a range of different specific
language and content goals implies that a learner-centered, content-based learning environment
is most suitable. The CALL laboratory is an excellent resource for filling these needs. With self-
access quizzes that build up the receptive skills of listening and reading, and with research and
presentation to develop the other important skills, we can use the technology in the computer
laboratory to ensure that students are as well-prepared as possible for the international world
of technology.

References
Cullen, B. (2002). Humanity and technology. Fukuoka, Japan: Intercom Press.
Hutchinson, T., & Waters, A. (1987). English for Specific Purposes. Cambridge: CUP.
Kimball, J. (1994). Writing about science: Mastering paragraphs and short papers in English. Tokyo:
Kaibunsha.
Robins, A., & Cullen, B. (2002). Technical English in Japanese universities: ESP or diversity? Aichi
University of Education Bulletin.
Robins, A., Matsuura, S., Deguchi, Y., Seguchi, M. (2000). Technical English techniques. Japan:
Gakujutsu Tosho.

– Local Decisions, Global Effects –