Abstract
This paper aims to describe about English for the police. The content of
this paper aims to describe about the the development of the English for
Police course which can use in ESP class. This paper is organized into three sections. The first
sections describe about investigating learner needs. The second section
describes the course, the materials (a number of illustrations of the materials
are given). The final section describes the particular difficulties and
constraints.
Keywords : ESP, English for the Police
I.
INTRODUCTION
English for Specific
Purposes (ESP) is known as a learner-centered approach in teaching English as a foreign or second language.
It meets the needs of
(mostly) adult learners who need to learn a foreign language for use in their
specific fields, such as science, technology, medicine, leisure, and academic
learning.
The purpose of
this paper to learn about English for the police. As a police officer you have one of the most
important jobs in the world: to serve and protect the people. While you are
fighting crime and handling emergencies you probably come across many English
speakers. Some may commit crimes, while others may be victims of crime. In both
cases, you need to ask and answer questions in English. Your job may also
require you to speak to English witnesses. Time can be a key factor in solving
a crime or saving a life. You cannot always wait for an interpreter. These
pages will help you learn vocabulary and phrases that will be useful when you
encounter English speakers.
II.
DISCUSSION
A. Investigating
of Needs
The course
developers set about investigating needs on the Police College and the Central
Police Station in the city. On a visit to the Police College they were able to
observe a writing class and sessions in which recruits gave presentations as
part of their regular training. They were also able to analyse written texts
supplied by the police and to talk to some of the sergeants who directly
supervise the training of officers at the college. The course developers also
went on ‘ride-alongs’ (car-based-patrol), often at night, with recently
qualified ex-PRECEP members. Additionally, they carried out an assessment of
the language proficiency of 14 potential participants (English as an Additional
Language (EAL) members of PRECEP program) using standardized and self
assessment instruments. They also conducted individual pilot assessments of
these potential participants. Furthermore, police officers came to the course
developers to explain the language problems or needs as they saw them and they
also sent in many examples of written police work texts. From these multiple
sources of information, the course developers found that potential participants
had advanced to higher levels of spoken English with some control of advanced
idiomatic language, but faced particular problems in pronunciation, especially
when speaking under pressure. Their proficiency in writing was found to be
lower than their proficiency in speaking and there was some evidence of
difficulties with collocations and connotations (vocabulary) and selecting an
appropriate register or style for the types of writing required.
The course
developers were aware that further needs analysis would be needed to provide a
fuller picture, and the report from the initial needs analysis described above
identified three areas still to be investigated which included speaking
situations – exchanges between police officers, exchanges between police
officers and members of the public and giving evidence in court. A more
detailed second needs analysis was conducted one year after the initial needs
analysis. In light of the findings from this second needs analysis and the
course developers’ increasing understanding of the situation derived from their
ongoing contact with the police, three distinct sets of needs were identified.
These were needs related to the language that police use ‘on the job’, needs
related to the language the recruits require to ‘get through Police College’
and needs related to further academic and/or specialist training. An example of
the latter is language needed for ‘legal 114’, the university law course the
officers take during the two years they spend as probationary constables after
graduating from Police College. This course requires advanced academic language
skills. During this probationary period, the officers often select a specialist
area (such as crime, traffic police and frontline policing) Each specialist
area presents particular language-based demands. The description of the
language needs written by the course developers. The description details police
recruits’ ‘on the job’ language needsand highlights how these are different
from their academic language needs
B.
Designing
the course and materials
The course
originally developed primarily targeted PRECEP officers and the needs of the
first category that is, language use ‘on the job’. The course was developed
with time constraints in mind: Not only would the course participants have very
little time for language studies but they would also have to fit their language
learning into busy schedules which might include night shifts. This meant that
the course structure would need to be flexible and this requirement led to the
development of a set of self-access, online lessons.
The
self-access lessons contain tasks that require participants to conduct searches
of the corpus and make observations of language use in it. These tasks focus on
aspects of language that have been identified as language needs or
difficulties. Materials for each lesson were reviewed and revised extensively.
Having designed the materials, the teacher/course developer asked others at the
Language school to review the materials: firstly the second teacher/course
developer and then a pool of senior teachers. Feedback from others usually led
to substantial revision. Once revised the material was trialled with the
learners and then re-edited and modified.
Segments from
one of the self-access, online lessons, this lesson focuses on language for
describing suspects. The segments are concerned with describing hair and build
and the order of elements in a description. As can be seen :
Task 5 :
Now you
will look at expressions you can use to describe different aspects of
appearance. The following tasks involve using the NZ Police Corpus. If you are
not familiar with how to use this Corpus, then do the police lesson called
‘Using the NZ Police Corpus’ first. Then come back to this lesson. Look at
these concordance lines below. Which word is missing?
Learning Point 3
Describing
hair colour
‘blond or
blonde’? There are two spellings for this word. Usually ‘blond’ is used
for men and ‘blonde’ is used for women but as you can see from concordance
lines 1 and 3 above, this is not always consistent.
‘brown’
– is not usually used in description of hair colour – but is used for the
colour of a car. Try doing a search of the NZ Police Corpus for ‘brown and
hair’ used together. There are lots more words to describe hair in the NZ
Police Corpus. Try your own search and add to the table above.
Strategy Focus
Extend these tasks
When you
are studying, you may decide that you need to go into more detailed research on
a particular topic. For example, you may decide that you need more words to
describe Caucasian hair. Here are some extension tasks that you can try:
1. There
are lots more words to describe hair in the NZ Police Corpus. Try your own
search and add to the table above.
2. Try a
search in a General Corpus. See if any different words are used.
3. When you
are at work and hear people giving descriptions, note down any different words
they use and add them to your vocabulary notes.
Materials developed
for the group classes allow for teacher-led discussion and pair and group work.
This lesson focuses on interview planning and investigative interviewing
techniques. It also involves a focus on language (cohesion) in the writing a
summary of facts (type of written report).
C.
Responding
to difficulties and constraints
There were some
constraints on obtaining authentic spoken texts for the analysis of needs and
specialist discourse. These constraints were due to the confidential nature of
police spoken exchanges with suspects and members of the public. Creative
solutions were devised by the course developers and included their use of
television program, recording police on patrol and at work and the police in
providing ‘mock’ interviews.
One difficulty
in developing this course arose from the individual nature of the needs of the
course participants. The course developers responded by developing self-access
lessons (in which course participants select lessons to work on).
III.
CONCLUSION
This paper
reported the development of the English for Police course. The first discussion
about investigating of needs in English police. They were needs related to the language that
police use ‘on the job’, needs related to the language the recruits require to
‘get through Police College’ and needs related to further academic and/or
specialist training. The second discussion about the course and material. The
third discussion about Responding To
Difficulties and Constraints, the difficulty in developing this course arose
from the individual nature of the needs of the course participants. And the constraints
were due to the confidential nature of police spoken exchanges with suspects
and members of the public.
Refferences
Basturkmen, Helen. (2010). Developing Courses in English for Specific Purposes. University of Auckland, New
Zealand
https://www.englishclub.com/english-for-work/police.htm accessed on 12 Desember 2014, at 8.15 p.m.