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Perceptions of Students, Teachers and Graduates About Civil Aviation Cabin Services ESP Program: An Exploratory Study in Turkey

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Key Issues in English for Specific Purposes in Higher Education

Part of the book series: English Language Education ((ELED,volume 11))

Abstract

English for Specific Purposes (ESP) is a movement based on the proposition that language teaching should be tailored to the specific learning and language needs of particular groups of students. In Turkey, the growth of English is striking as it is cultivating students’ English proficiency along with their English competence in specific areas to meet their future needs is given great importance. However, research done for ESP has been limited so far. The present study, therefore, aims to investigate the perceptions of Turkish ESP students, teachers and graduates regarding the English course designed for Aviation Cabin Crew Members. The data were collected by means of semi-structured interviews and analyzed through pattern coding. The results revealed similar perceptions including the three groups of participants’ expectations, experiences, challenges and respective solutions about the development of the existing ESP course which will serve as a reference in designing similar programs to facilitate learning English for specific disciplines.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Bahceşehir University, Istanbul, Turkey

    Enisa Mede & Derin Atay

  2. Fatih Sultan Mehmet University, Istanbul, Turkey

    Nergis Koparan

Authors
  1. Enisa Mede
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  2. Nergis Koparan
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  3. Derin Atay
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Enisa Mede .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. English Language Teaching, Faculty of Education, Çukurova University, Sarıçam, Adana, Turkey

    Yasemin Kırkgöz

  2. English Language Teaching,Faculty of Education, Bahçeşehir University, Beşiktaş, İstanbul, Turkey

    Kenan Dikilitaş

Appendices

Appendices

1.1 Appendix A. Student Semi-structured Interviews

  1. (a)

    What are the expectations of the students about the Aviation English program?

  2. (b)

    How do the students evaluate the ESP teachers and materials used in the Aviation English course?

  3. (c)

    Are they involved in any self-assessment? If yes, how? If not, why?

  4. (d)

    Do you feel yourselves competent in Aviation English? If yes, if what aspects? If not, why?

  5. (e)

    What are the challenges they experience in the program? What respective solutions can be suggested?

1.2 Appendix B. Teacher Student Semi-structured Interviews

  1. (a)

    How do the teachers evaluate their competencies and roles as ESP teachers in the Aviation English program?

  2. (b)

    How prepared do the teachers feel to teach Aviation English? In what ways do they learn to teach the content?

  3. (c)

    In what aspects do the teachers think general English and Aviation English differ from one another?

  4. (d)

    What are the challenges they experience in the program? What respective solutions can be suggested?

1.3 Appendix C. Graduate Student Semi-structured Interviews

  1. (a)

    Has the Aviation English course met your needs? If yes, in what aspects? If no, why?

  2. (b)

    How active do you use Aviation English? In what contexts do you use it? Briefly explain.

  3. (c)

    How competent do you feel using Aviation English? Briefly explain.

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Mede, E., Koparan, N., Atay, D. (2018). Perceptions of Students, Teachers and Graduates About Civil Aviation Cabin Services ESP Program: An Exploratory Study in Turkey. In: Kırkgöz, Y., Dikilitaş, K. (eds) Key Issues in English for Specific Purposes in Higher Education. English Language Education, vol 11. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-70214-8_10

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-70214-8_10

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  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-70213-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-70214-8

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