English for the Oil Industry: From the Teaching Ritual to the Tailored Teaching The Case of Petroleum Geology Program (1st Year MA)

Abstract

Our motivation in bringing about this study was to investigate the English for the Oil Industry course that MAPG learners received this semester (1 st term, 2013). We intended to see how effective and efficient it is in meeting their needs and the designers’ objectives. We administered a questionnaire and a test to the 34 MAPG learners. We administered also an interview to the two teachers of the course. The findings revealed a variety of facts; first, they showed that the course focuses on the reading skill and the technical vocabulary of EOI. They showed also that it does not give the speaking and writing skills their due importance and emphasis within the learning materials. These skills, according to the needs analysis we carried, appeared to be more relevant to the learners’ future language use. These findings led us to conclude that the course should receive major changes related to the teaching materials, the teaching methodology and the content and that considerable and serious attention must be given to the programs of ESP in the fields where these programs are new. We recommend the establishment of course designs following the ESP course design ethics, approaches, and parameters.