TABLE OF CONTENT
Course Syllabus Sections | Description |
---|---|
Introduction and Context analysis | This section provides an overview of the course and explains the context in which it will be taught. |
Needs analysis | This section describes the process of identifying the needs of the learners. |
Course goals | This section outlines the overall objectives of the course, including both primary and secondary goals. |
Course content | This section details the specific content that will be covered in the course, including the teaching method and the sequence of topics. |
Assessment plan | This section describes how student learning will be assessed, including both formative and summative assessments. |
Evaluation plan | This section outlines how the effectiveness of the course will be evaluated. |
Conclusion | This section summarizes the key points of the syllabus. |
References | This section lists the sources used to develop the course. |
Appendices |
Tung Dining |
A communicative English language course for waiters at Tung Dining
Introduction and environment analysis
Tung Dining is a new 5-star restaurant chain in Vietnam which aims to promote its professional image to have higher position in Food and Beverage (F&B) industry. It currently has 2 branches in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City and expects to expand. Its international customers accounts for about 45-50% and are mainly from France, USA and other Asian countries. The restaurant specializes in tasting menu – which means around 20 dishes in small portions will be served one by one and waiters will introduce the name, cooking style, ingredients. The menu will be altered every season, so employees need to have an adequate language ability to adapt with the change in content of food presentation. Besides, while serving, waiters are required to use functional English to hold a communication with customers.
This 10-week course is a part of the mandatory training for part-time employees who apply for the position of official full-time staff. 8 students are in the 18-30 age range whose English levels vary from A2 to B1. Most of them struggle with speaking skills, which are of great importance for their work. Besides, they only have grammar and vocabulary knowledge about general topics, not specifically for restaurant. Though time will be a major constraint for them because they are busy with their study at university, with their work and family, being promoted will be a strong motivation for them. Moreover, a practical and realistic course content and interactive activities can also intrigue them.
Tung Dining |
Teachers are required to graduate from university or above with at least 1 year experience due to upcoming heavy workload and a new teaching approach in Vietnamese context. In preparation for the course, there will be 2 days training for teachers: (1) Introduction about the course and English for F&B; (2) Lesson planing and class organization. Before each session, teachers are expected to prepare the lesson by adapting given sample lesson plans. The class will take place in the meeting room of the restaurant which is convenient for learners to come to class and spacious enough for in-class activities. The class is decided to take place on Monday morning from 10:00 to 11:30, which will not affect working schedule of learners because Tung Dining is open from afternoon to evening. Students are not allowed to be absent for more than 2 lessons or they will be eliminated from the course.
Needs analysis.
Hutchinson & Waters (1987) maintain that needs analysis is a fundamental and indispensable part of any course design process. The raw data from it will be interpreted into reasonable content and contributes to the validity and relevancy of other following course design activities (John, 1991). As mention by Jordan (2010), needs analysis should be conducted at the starting point of course design process. In my case, it is conducted 3 weeks before the course so that course developers have suficient time to prepare content and materials of the syllabus (West, 1994). Needs analysis is proceeded in 3 ways as follows.
First, course developer will conduct a structured interview for 2 stakeholders who are the managers of the restaurant with questions written in appendix 1. Jordan (2010) maintains 3 main advantages of using interview for needs analysis as: (1) all the questions will be answered without left unanswered as in questionnaire, (2) the information gatherer can clarify the questions to inhibit the misinterpretation of questions, (3) interviewer can explore some potential unpredictably interesting aspects or ideas to focus on by using follow-up questions. In the interview, stakeholders generally describe the situation and language level of their staff. They express their overall expectation about the improvement of staff. Notwithstanding, as more detailed information is needed, a questionnaire is given to 8 students.
Questionnaire is considered ‘a straightforward way’ to collect information about students (Jordan, 2010). Students are asked to genuinely answer the questions about their level of English, the difficulty and importance of some listed activities requiring English use such as ‘explaining the price’ and ‘persuading customers’. By conducting self-assessment, students can raise awareness of their present language skills and ability (Jordan, 2010). They also specify their expectation about the outcome of the course. However, in Jordan’s research (1977, cited in Jordan, 2010), students at lower end tend to overestimate their language ability when the opposite happens to students at higher end. Moreover, Blue (1988) suggests that cultures can involve in overestimation or underestimation of students. Hence, another on-site teacher observation will be conducted to eliminate the probable subjectivity.
To be specific, teacher will observe the language use in the restaurant for 2 times with each time lasts for 3 hours. During the observation, observer will take notes of the discourse-types and situation when learners need English (Huhta, et al., 2013). This observation is useful because it can visualize the target situation from insight of people who work in that situation (Chambers, 1980). Similarly, Long (2005) advocates that observation is a valuable source of data, which allow in-depth, contextualized study of how learners use English in their professional context. In a case study about methods and triangulation in needs analysis in a hotel, Jasso-Aguilar (2005) points out that participant observation is a more helpful method of collecting data for needs assessment than to other two - interview and questionnaire. By combining 3 methods above, course developer can ensure reliability and validity of a needs analysis process (Huhta, et al., 2013; Serafini, et al., 2015)
Tung Dining Tung Dining Tung Dining
Course goals
Understanding constraints, environment and needs is the basis for deciding achievable goals (Graves, 2014). Goals refer to a ‘description of the general purposes of a curriculum’. Specifying goals is crucial because course developer will have a focus to write materials, giving instruction (Richards, 2001)
Primary goals
Primarily, the course aims at improving communication skills of learners. In the questionnaire, staff indicate that it is important to understand preferences and requests of customers which they normally fail. It is because they are devoid of exposure opportunities to practice their listening. Moreover, the result from teacher’s observation shows that when responding to customers, they tend to use choppy sentences without subjects and some function words. These problems may lead to confusion or misunderstanding between staff and customers. Hence, providing students appropriate grammar and listening comprehension practice is of utmost significance.
The second goal focuses on enhancing oral presentation of students. The main reason why customers choose a tasting menu restaurant is that they will be led into ‘a culinary journey’ by listening to the waiters’ presentation about the dishes. However, as gained from on-site observation, waiters’ knowledge about specialized words relating to food and beverage is limited. They have insufficient lexical items about name of ingredients and struggle with pronunciation of the dishes. Moreover, as stakeholders want to deliver the best customer service, they require the presentation to be fluent. Therefore, the course will aim to provide them with necessary vocabulary and also organize activities to improve pronunciation and fluency.
Secondary goals
As mentioned by stakeholders in the interview (see appendix 2), due to the lack in confidence when speaking English, they tend to avoid serving international customers, which is considered unprofessional. Additionally, evidence from the on-site observation shows that there are various unpredictable problems arise during the meal which require English use to address. Hence, the secondary goal of this course is to provide them with useful expression in common situations in the restaurant so that students feel more confident when copping with anticipated problems. After the course, students can not only use English but also use English in a professional manner of a service provider
Course content
Teaching method
Task-based language teaching (TBLT) is an ideal option for is course. In this context, most of learners and stakeholders expect to have a communicative class with a plethora of interaction and TBLT can meet that need as it enables negotiation (Long, 1985; Prabhu, 1987). In addition, authenticity, one of TBLT feature, meets the requirement of the course because it allows students practice English with real-world tasks (Nunan, 2014)
Scope and sequence
When considering about the course’s content, course developer expects to develop the functional competence specified by Council of Europe (2001). First, the content of lesson focuses on developing micro-functions such as giving information, expressing attitude, requesting, and suggesting). Simultaneously, students can also develop macro functions (explanation, description, demonstration). In terms of vocabulary, as learners’ English levels range from A2 to B1, they are assumed to know about 1500 – 3250 word families (Milton & Alexiou, 2009). This course will be the chance for students to retrieve known vocabulary and provide them with new lexical items so that they can have knowledge of about 3000 most frequent word families. Zeeland & Schmitt (2013) prove that by knowing 2000-3000 word families, students can understand 90-95% listening comprehension. Besides, students are also provided with some high-frequent F&B terminologies to function the language in the restaurant.
The sequence of course content is based on the sequence of service process in Tung Dining, from greeting customers to saying goodbye. Details of course outline can be seen in appendix 5. The course involves a linear development that means the knowledge and tasks are gradually more complex and difficult to support learning (Nation & Macalister, 2009; Luoma, 2004). The major disadvantage of this linear progression is the deficiency in recycling knowledge (Nation & Macalister, 2009). Recycling is known to be crucial to the learning process as it maximises opportunities for learning and activates the organic learning principles (Nunan, 2004). However, TBLT can mitigate this problem. Nunan (2004) claims that recycling is one of seven principles of TBLT. TBLT enables naturalistic recycling because students need to use functional and grammatical items for a wide range of contexts in many tasks. Besides, course developer will design activities that require content recycling. For example, in homework session 7, students are required to introduce a dish which is the knowledge learned from session 3-4. Another downside of linear progression is the inability to fit with the learning speed of each individual (Nation & Macalister, 2009). Again, TBLT brings a solution when this teaching approach allows a variety of participatory structures, from teacher – class to small group work (Ellis, 2017). Willis & Willis (2007) state that different ability grouping can help all level of students. If ‘weak’ and ‘strong’ students are grouped together, the ‘weaker’ can be supported and the ‘stronger’ will learn from helping. Otherwise, when same level students work together, they can have more chance to speak out and gain confidence by helping each other.
A different feature of this course comparing to other conventional courses in Vietnam is that students will learn new vocabulary using Quizlet before they come to class. This is to allow students more time to remember the words before they use it for in-class activities. Clark & Tulving ‘s level of processing (1975) shows that if learners process the words more deeply, they will be able to recall it more easily. On Quizlet, the teacher makes a set of flashcards for each session. Using flashcards for learning lexical items is proved to be more time-efficient and more interesting than using wordlist (Sitompul, 2013; Aslan, 2011). Then, students are required to complete the test on Quizlet as evidence that they complete learning new words before the session
Each session follows Nation’s 4 strands model (2007) which has been proved to be beneficial as it governs a well-balanced language course. Time-on-task principle is the major underpinning of the idea of four strands. It infers that the amount of time spent on doing something correlates with the level of mastery a person can obtain. Hence, if students want to improve communication skills, they need a significant amount of speaking and listening practice which this course can facilitate them (Nation & Yamamoto, 2012). Willis & Willis (2007) claim that a task-based session involves a sequence of tasks. First, the session starts with a teacher-led introduction of grammar or functional expressions as a scaffold for later tasks. Then, a listening comprehension task providing comprehensible listening input. Subsequentially, a set of meaning-focused tasks with the topic relating to the previous listening occur and allow students to negotiate. Finally, regarding fluency development, students will take part in activities that combine criteria for fluency development namely repetition, message focus, time pressure (Newton, et al., 2008)
Assessment plan
Formative assessment
Formative assessment or assessment for learning provides information about ongoing development of students’ language so that teachers can have proper adjustment to the course content, in-class activities, and amount of assistance to students (Brown & Abeywickrama, 2010; Graves, 2014; Green, 2014). In this course, students will be formatively assessed via completing homework and doing role-play/presentation
Homework
After each session, students are required to complete homework. The content of homework is using language learned to deal with a real-world situation (see appendix 6). Homework is a chance for students to repeat the knowledge in class. This repetition can lead to an improvement in vocabulary use, accuracy, and grammar complexity (Bygate, 2001; Indrarathne, 2013). It is also a good chance for students to boost their confidence by constant trials when filming the homework. Students are required to film a 4–5-minute video, complete feedback checklist, and submit via Google Drive. Figure 1 illustrates a folder of homework submission.
In terms of feedback, homework will be checked by teacher, by peer, and by themselves. The checking of homework is gradually less teacher-controlled to the end of the course. Specifically, the teacher will give feedback via a checklist on homework of session 1 and 4. The aim of doing teacher checklist at the beginning of the course is to eliminate subjectivity – a drawback of self- and peer-checking. Students will have clearer ideas about their ability and have a basis to assess their peers (Brown & Abeywickrama, 2010). For homework session 3, 6, 8 and 10, students will do self-checklist. Underhill (1987) claims that “self-assessment is the easiest, cheapest, and quickest form of assessment” but mostly happens unconsciously. Basing on self-asessment checklist, learners can express explicit ideas about their own level of skills (Cram, 1995; Underhill, 1987). This learning-oriented assessment promotes autonomy which, according to Brown (2010), is one of the elementary foundations of successful learning. By doing self-check, students can understand assessment criteria to perform better in the homework (Patri, 2002). Besides some shared benefits with self-checking, peer assessment provides information about language ability from a different perspective and encourages cooperative learning (Brown & Abeywickrama, 2010; Linn, et al., 1975). This deliberate learning will be a guidance for them to further their own learning in the future after the course (Cheng & Fox, 2017). It should be noted that using checklists remains a downside. It is the deprivation of elaborate and open-ended comments that can scaffold their learning (Ibberson, 2012). To cope with that weakness, the checklist has an evidence/note section so that they can point out the problems for friends and give explicit feedback.
Role-plays and presentation
Role-plays (in session 2 and 8) and presentation (in session 5) take place as a task during class time. In role-plays, students work in pairs in the role of a customer and a waiter to use English in a given situation which replicate their job. Role play is advantageous because it can simulate reality (Stern, 1983). A similar view is shared by Luoma (2004) that role play resembles genuine social interaction and can assess how well students can use language in their profession. The purpose of this roleplay is to assess student’s language ability and confidence so that teacher can give proper assistance to students as well as make adjustments to the course. Both students are given cue cards which provide them with descriptions of situations and a list of objectives of each role to guide their performance. They have 5 minutes to prepare before performing in front of the class. According to the results of Crookes’s study (1989), preparation leads to longer utterance and more complex grammar in students’ performance. There is also time limit for their roleplay to ensure class-time (5 minutes). Moreover, it is said that time pressure leads to better accuracy and effort (Bachman & Palmer, 2010). For presentation, students are required to introduce a randomly selected dish. They are grouped into pairs and will change partner every time they finish presenting to foster language repetition and productivity of class time. Teacher will come to each group and assess their performance. Specifications for role-play and presentation can be found in appendices 10 and 11. Rating scales are presented in appendices 12 and 13.
Summative assessment:
Summative assessment takes place after 10 weeks of learning and teaching with the aim of measuring student’s progression (Brown & Abeywickrama, 2010). Because it will affect test-taker’s occupation, it is a high-stake assessment (Green, 2014). If students fail the assessment, they cannot pass the course and become fulltime employees. It is a speaking test in which each student will play a role of waiter and be challenged by situations in the cue cards. There are 4 sets of cue cards to avoid many students has the same questions and the leakage of test. The test lasts for 20-25 minutes and includes 3 stages which replicate the process of serving a customer in real life. These 3 stages from greeting, introducing dishes and problem solving (see appendix 15) require all the language knowledge and skills learned during the course. For rating scale, teacher will use an analytic scale which has an advantage of having detailed descriptions of test-taker’s language ability at different levels. It may take more time to use than other types of scale, but it can pinpoint student’s strength and area for continued efforts (Katz, 2014). The rating scales have 3 main criteria (content, language, and interaction) and they are divided into sub-criteria to facilitate a more detailed assessment.
An effective test should ensure some basic principles introduced by Brown & Abeywickrama (2010), Green (2014), Bachman & Palmer (2010): practicality, reliability, validity, authenticity, and washback. First of all, regarding practicality, the test will take place in the classroom within 2 days and students can vote on the date which suits their schedule. Although individual testing can be time-consuming for examiner (Luoma, 2004), it allows teacher to observe each individual. The marking process does not take too much time thanks to the guidance of rating scale and the small class size. Next, to avoid violation of reliability, the rater is trained to use rating scale consistently (appendix 16). All the performances will be recorded for double checking. The test format and marking criteria will also be informed to students so that they are clear about requirements and testing procedure. The content of the test is similar to role-plays and presentation that students did as formative assessment, so they already understand the requirements. Before the test, the scale is introduced with the aim that learners can set goal for language learning and probably have better preparation (Luoma, 2004). Simultaneously, a proper training and guideline will be given to the interlocutor (appendix 14) and the testing process will remain the same interlocutors for all students to maintain fairness. The cue cards are ensured to be designed at the same level. In terms of validity, it is the central and most complex principle of an effective test because a valid test can ensure measuring that it is supposed to measure (Brown & Abeywickrama, 2010; Fulcher & Davidson, 2016). The content of the test will cover all the content taught in class to fully assess the language ability of students. Marking criteria are practical and based on course goals. Regarding authenticity, it is evident that the test content replicates real-world tasks as it involves the role of waiter and customer. The topics provide students with a chance to practice language for their profession once again. Lastly, the test designer attempts to bring students positive washback. The test will be a chance to let student have a summative view of their learning. That the content and format are all specified and students have the chance for preparation help the assessment avoid distressing students. After the test, teacher will send students detailed feedback which not only focus on weakness but also strengths and potential to develop in the long run. Learners will also have the chance to reflect their performance by writing their learning journals.
Evaluation plan
In model of curriculum development of Nation and Macalister’s (2010), Brown, (1995) and Richards (2001), there is the presence of evaluation which means that evaluation is an indispensable part of a successful curriculum design process. Hutchinson & Waters (1987) suggests that evaluation for ESP course is necessary to check whether it can fulfill course goals. Moreover, if effective, this course is expected to reoccur in the future because the restaurant is in high demand of full-time employees. The data from this evaluation will be used for course improvement. There are 2 types of evaluation namely formative and summative which will be adopted in this course.
First, learning diary is used as a formative and on-going evaluation. Students are given a form of learning journals to fill out every week. Students are guided to write down the summary of content in a lesson, learner’s explicit thoughts about their performance in class and after class. They can also set personal goals for the next session and express the difficulty in learning (see appendix 18). This is an excellent way to gain insights into students' learning experiences and the data can be used to evaluate the course in a qualitative way (Nunan, 2004). From journals, course developer can detect faults of the course such as teaching quality, level of difficulty, the effectiveness of grouping, etc,. to have proper adjustments to improve the course (Nation & Macalister, 2009).
Secondly, as the direct observer, the teacher should conduct process observation and critically assess the effectiveness of the course via some aspects such as the engagement of students in class, effectiveness of tasks and interaction, etc,. This unstructured observation can indicate some striking issues of the course that are not listed in the learning diary. A teacher with expertise and experience can trace back to find causes of problems. After the evaluation, the teacher will summarize all data and write a report which includes strengths and weaknesses and, most importantly, the measurement for improvements for next courses.
Stakeholders are the last target audience for evaluation because their summative judgement is influential to the reoccurring of the course. Two managers will observe the performance of every student in working setting. They are asked to fill out the checklist to provide data about of the effectiveness of the course as suggested in Graves (2000). By using a measurable checklist, it is easier for stakeholders to express their judgment of students’ achievement throughout the course. They can also give comments or express their thoughts about aspects relating to the course via the evaluation form.
Conclusion
Course developer combines knowledge and theory about curriculum design, teaching method, and assessment to construct this course with the aim to fulfill the need to improve English communication for part-time waiters of Tung Dining – a fine dining restaurant in Vietnam.
References
Appendices
Appendix 1: Needs analysis - Interview questions for stakeholders
What is the learning outcome that you expect?
How do you think about English level of your employees now?
How confident the employees are when speaking English?
How confident your staff should be after the course?
Please list out the situations when they need to use English
What are the difficulties which can be caused by low English competence?
What kind of activities do you want students do in class?
How fluent in oral communication your staff should be after the course?
Appendix 2: Transcript of Stakeholder’s interview
A: So… what is the learning outcome that you expect?
B: I hope our staffs can communicate fluently with customers & be more confident when they use English on duty time as in their life. We have about 45-50% customers from overseas so really expect that this course with give us capable employees. You know, as a restaurant serving tasting menu, we are required to communicate with customers a lot to introduce the food. There are sometimes problems, anticipated problems that I hope they can understand and solve for me. Most of the time I or some people with good English have to solve the problems and it is not convenient, right?
A: Alright! How do you think about English level of your employees now?
B: Basic Level. Some people forget English because they don’t use it for a long time. I try to encourage them to learn the words at home but they don’t. So when they answer the questions from customers they are very shy and don’t know what to reply.
A: How do you think about … how confident the employees are when speaking English?
B: For now, they are all shy to speak English. In my restaurants, there are some people good at English, so when foreign customers come, we have to ask these people to be in charge of that table. This is not convenient for me as manager. I don’t want so see my staff hide and avoid customers. It is not professional!
A: And how confident your staff should be after the course?
B: They will be more confident after the course, confident about their vocabulary to communicate with foreign guests. You know, confident means they do look at customers and show that they are comfortable with customers instead of being punished when they serve international customers. By doing that they can have more tips for themselves and more reputation for our restaurant.
A: Could you please list out the situations when they need to use English
B: Ok… We need English to present our course menu, communicate with customer: talk to them, share them everythings really interesting about life, food, travel, bla bla. Many customers they have special requirements about food or taking pictures.
A: What are the difficulties which can be caused by low English competence?
B: Let me see… first, they can not understand guest’s request by English, can not present food fluently, can not expand relationship with customers. So overall, they can not develop service quality. I remember one time my staff did not understand a customer’s complaints, so she didn’t know how to respond. That customer was very angry because when he need an apology, my waiter didn’t do that. Then we had to give him 20% discount.
A: What kind of activities do you want students do in class?
B: Talk, talk and talk more! I want our staffs to pratice speaking English through the role-playing waiters/waitress and customers.
A: How fluent in oral communication your staff should be after the course?
B: I don’t expect our staffs speak English like a native, I just want them to understand what the guests are saying and respond to them correct informations by English. Customers come here to listen to their presentation about food. We call it ‘a culinary journey’ but then now my staff can’t speak fluently and can’t convey the idea. If you were a customer, you could tell that they are shy and struggling. I think a lot about how to solve it, you know.
A: I see. That is interesting. Thank you for your time
B: You’re welcome. I’m looking forward to the result of the course. Good luck!
Appendix 3: Needs analysis - Questionnaire for students
Needs analysis questionnaire
This questionnaire includes 12 questions about learners’ information and needs. The result of this questionnaire will be used for the aim of course design. Participants should answer questions basing on your true situation.
If you have any questions, please contact Ms. Linh. Phone: 07873691940.
Thank you for your time!
Appendix 4: Course goals
Primary goals (linguistic skills)
At the end of the course, students can:
Improve communication skills (focusing on speaking and listening)
+ Understand customer’s utterances
+ Interact with customers’ utterances appropriately
Give oral presentation
+ Describe the dishes by using appropriate vocabulary (e.g., cooking methods, ingredients, eating manner, etc.)
+ Use intelligible pronunciation (e.g., clear and correct individual sounds, correct sentence stress and intonation
+ Produce fluent discourse
Secondary goals (focus on learners + social context)
Speak with a confident
+ Speak fluently and remain clear voice, eye contact, polite and professional manner
Use English to solve anticipated problems in the restaurant
+ Understand the situation (complaints, arguments, noisiness, disorganization) by talking to customers
+ Use English to explain/apologize/request/… customers
Appendix 5: Course sequence and assessment plan
Appendix 6: Homework questions
Appendix 7: Homework specification
Appendix 8: Self-check list for homework
Tick in box 1-2, write your ideas in box 3.
Appendix 9: Teacher and peer checklist for homework
Tick in box 1-2, write your ideas in box 3.
Appendix 10: Role play (session 2) specification
Appendix 11: Presentation (session 5) specification
Appendix 12: Role-play rating scale
Appendix 13: Presentation rating scale
Appendix 14: Summative assessment guidelines
Appendix 15: Summative assessment specification
In the summative assessment. Students will do roleplay. The class has 8 students, each role play will last for 20-25 minutes.
The role play has 3 stages specified in cue cards:
Greeting, ordering, introducing menu, asking for any preferences 5 mins
Introducing dishes: 6mins
Anticipated problems, giving recommendation and goodbye: 10mins
Appendix 16: Summative assessment rating scale
Appendix 17: Evaluation checklist for stakeholders
Through your observation over your staff over the past week, complete the performance checklist
Appendix 18: Example of learning journals
Figures
Figure 1: Homework submission folder
Figure 2: Quizlet
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