LSP curriculum development: from theory to practice. A case study

A Language for Specific Purposes (LSP) course is one in which the methodology, content, objectives, materials, teaching and assessment practices all derive from the specific use of a target language based on a specified set of professional needs. Developing an LSP curriculum involves a very similar...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Stefania M. Maci
Format: Article
Language:deu
Published: University of Ljubljana Press (Založba Univerze v Ljubljani) 2023-12-01
Series:Scripta Manent
Subjects:
Online Access:https://journals.uni-lj.si/scriptamanent/article/view/19138
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1850249149228777472
author Stefania M. Maci
author_facet Stefania M. Maci
author_sort Stefania M. Maci
collection DOAJ
description A Language for Specific Purposes (LSP) course is one in which the methodology, content, objectives, materials, teaching and assessment practices all derive from the specific use of a target language based on a specified set of professional needs. Developing an LSP curriculum involves a very similar process to any other language course, because it should be systematic and defensible, and should start by understanding the needs of the students taking the course. Furthermore, the current trend seems to be moving towards a process of internationalization in most regions, whereby ‘internationalization’ is often understood by stakeholders as ‘English’. By providing practical examples, and based on a self-ethnomethodological approach, this paper tries to describe the process we used to create an LSP syllabus as a curriculum for an MA in tourism planning and management, where English is the language of instruction. While the theoretical approach to curriculum development is linear, the reality is much more complex: though curriculum development and syllabus creation are intrinsically linked to needs analysis to such an extent that without a needs analysis they cannot be planned, there are cases where a needs analysis cannot be done because similar curricula or syllabi do not exist. Then, the LSP teacher must resort to what has been defined as a needs analysis on the run while adopting an interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary approach to curriculum development. In this process, students play an active role and promote their interest with the teacher who could thus adjust and implement the envisaged educational goals. The hope is to provide teachers and curriculum developers with the information and tools they may need to design and create their own LSP courses.
format Article
id doaj-art-ea2bc41ce85b4bfcac945d4d06955ee6
institution OA Journals
issn 1854-2042
language deu
publishDate 2023-12-01
publisher University of Ljubljana Press (Založba Univerze v Ljubljani)
record_format Article
series Scripta Manent
spelling doaj-art-ea2bc41ce85b4bfcac945d4d06955ee62025-08-20T01:58:33ZdeuUniversity of Ljubljana Press (Založba Univerze v Ljubljani)Scripta Manent1854-20422023-12-0118110.4312/SM.18.1.4-21LSP curriculum development: from theory to practice. A case studyStefania M. Maci0University of Bergamo A Language for Specific Purposes (LSP) course is one in which the methodology, content, objectives, materials, teaching and assessment practices all derive from the specific use of a target language based on a specified set of professional needs. Developing an LSP curriculum involves a very similar process to any other language course, because it should be systematic and defensible, and should start by understanding the needs of the students taking the course. Furthermore, the current trend seems to be moving towards a process of internationalization in most regions, whereby ‘internationalization’ is often understood by stakeholders as ‘English’. By providing practical examples, and based on a self-ethnomethodological approach, this paper tries to describe the process we used to create an LSP syllabus as a curriculum for an MA in tourism planning and management, where English is the language of instruction. While the theoretical approach to curriculum development is linear, the reality is much more complex: though curriculum development and syllabus creation are intrinsically linked to needs analysis to such an extent that without a needs analysis they cannot be planned, there are cases where a needs analysis cannot be done because similar curricula or syllabi do not exist. Then, the LSP teacher must resort to what has been defined as a needs analysis on the run while adopting an interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary approach to curriculum development. In this process, students play an active role and promote their interest with the teacher who could thus adjust and implement the envisaged educational goals. The hope is to provide teachers and curriculum developers with the information and tools they may need to design and create their own LSP courses. https://journals.uni-lj.si/scriptamanent/article/view/19138LSP, curriculum development, syllabus, LSP teachers’ needs, genre analysis, needs analysis on the run
spellingShingle Stefania M. Maci
LSP curriculum development: from theory to practice. A case study
Scripta Manent
LSP, curriculum development, syllabus, LSP teachers’ needs, genre analysis, needs analysis on the run
title LSP curriculum development: from theory to practice. A case study
title_full LSP curriculum development: from theory to practice. A case study
title_fullStr LSP curriculum development: from theory to practice. A case study
title_full_unstemmed LSP curriculum development: from theory to practice. A case study
title_short LSP curriculum development: from theory to practice. A case study
title_sort lsp curriculum development from theory to practice a case study
topic LSP, curriculum development, syllabus, LSP teachers’ needs, genre analysis, needs analysis on the run
url https://journals.uni-lj.si/scriptamanent/article/view/19138
work_keys_str_mv AT stefaniammaci lspcurriculumdevelopmentfromtheorytopracticeacasestudy