English for occupational purposes (EOP): A case study of the English syllabus for the economic education program

Abstrak

syllabus designing of the English language teaching becomes one of key factors determining the results of teaching. Moreover, the presence of English syllabus in the realm of English for occupational purposes (EOP) at the university level should play a prominent role to maximize students’ achievement of language learning programs in fulfilling their needs of becoming professional figures in their own field of study. This study was intended to analyze, criticize and evaluate the syllabus design of the English for Business course for the Economy Education Department, STKIP PGRI Nganjuk, East Java. The study explored a case that presents a certain situation thus a qualitative case study was employed. A structured interview and documents were obtained as data collection instrumentation in order to develop an in-depth understanding of the case. The findings indicate that the process of designing the syllabus has missed some essential parts including needs analysis which is a key factor of developing English for specific purposes (ESP) syllabus. In addition, the type of the syllabus remained unspecific since the content did not meet the criterias of syllabus types as being discussed by the experts. Strengths and weaknesses of the syllabus were also discussed. The findings are suggested to the university and syllabus developers to evaluate the process of syllabus designing and the content of the syllabus to maximize the course goals. Wider investigation of the phenomenon of syllabus development in the realm of ESP is also suggested.