Material thoughts: ESP and culture

English/m SgcciFf Pmjwses, Vol. 10, pp. 172-187, 1991 Pergamon Press pk. Ptinted in the USA

0889-4906/91$3.00 + .OO Copyright Q 1991 The American University

Material Thoughts: ESP and Culture

colin Ban-on

Abstmt - ESP has so far totally ignored the traditional cultures of students. A review of all the articles that have appeared in English fir S@x$ic Purposes since its inception ten years ago found none that considers the students’ culture. There are several reasons for this trend, including general English teaching’s fear and embarrassment in introducing culture into the classroom and a widely held view that science and technology are culturally neutral and a secondary culture system. Whereas major elements of the teaching of technology in the West stress its abstract and instrumental aspects, in nonliterate societies such as those in Papua New Guinea (PNG) technology is concrete and integrative. Artefacts are the technological texts of PNG societies, with social, economic, and religious meanings. ESP’s role of effecting a smooth transition from textualisation in PNG societies to textualisation in English re- quires more than a linguistic input. ESP in this situation should break away from its parasitic role and look outwards to include the students’ culture. In so doing it may satisfy the Piagetian notions of assimilation and accommodation as well as the expectations and aspirations of the students.

Introduction

Any philosopher pondering the human condition worldwide . . who omits considering it (i.e., traditional technology), is overlooking a fundamental aspect of what it is to be human, which is inevitably going to flaw seriously and render distortingly partial any understanding achieved. (SiIlitoe, 1988, p. 11)

The purpose of this paper is to argue that, in some situations at least, the traditional cultures and technologies of students should be included in ESP courses. To date, ESP has ignored traditional cultures and technologies. To test this hypothesis that ESP is not concerned with traditional culture, I re- viewed the articles that have appeared in English for Spec@ Purgoses (for- merly The ESP Journul) since its inception ten years ago. Only one article makes any reference to culture, and that is a recent one Uacob, 1987), influenced perhaps by Swales’ call for closer links with cultural anthrropology (Swales, 1985a, p. 212). However, even here, the culture it refers to is generally that of the target language, that is, British or American culture, and specitically, “the cultural repertoire of the academic community concerned.” Uacob, 1987, p. 204).

If we go back before ten years ago and consider ESP throughout its history, Swales’ episodes provide an excellent summary of the development of ESP up to the mid-eighties (Swales, 1985b). ESP’s lack of concern for the traditional culture and technology of students is also reflected in the episodes, none of which considers traditional culture. Another recent trend,

Address correspondence to: C. Barron, Department of Language and Communication Studies. The Papua New Guinea University of Technology, Private Mail Bag, Lae, Papua New Guinea.

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also influenced by a call made by SwaIes in his 1985 article, is the ethnographic approach to ESP:

Within the ELTiESP profession, the first ex$licit call for an ethnographic approach to the teaching of English to research scientists and advanced users of English in professional disciplines was made by Swales (1985). (Ramani, Chacko, Singh, & Glendinning, 1988, p. 83)

The paper by Ramani et al. is itself an example of this ethnogq%ic trend. However, there are no descriptions of an ethnological approach to ESP, that is, an approach which uses the students’ cultural background and contrasts it with the modem technology they are studying. The purpose of this paper is to offer a start in that direction.

Reasons for ESP’s Neglect of Culture

There are several reasons why traditional culture has not found a place in ESP courses. The first is itself a cultural phenomenon which is inherited from general English teaching. As Whitney states:

“Culture” is a word that does not come easily to the lips of many British TEFL teachers, to many of whom it can be a source of unease, even embarrassment. (Whitney, 1990, p. 1)

When culture does make an appearance in the English classroom, it is generally that which the native-speaking English teacher feels most comfort- able with, that is, the culture of the target language. For example, Dunnett, Dubii, and Lezberg list fourteen topics for an ~ter~t~~ syllabus, all of which focus on American culture (1986, pp. 152-153). But if it is felt worthwhile to include the culture of the target language in the classroom, is it not just as worthwhile to include the students’ culture? To do so would provide a cultural balance, provide the opportunity to make cross-cultural compari- sons, and lessen the risk of damaging the students’ self-esteem.

In fact, the multicultural view is one that is beginning to gain ground: “Other peoples’ views, values, traditions, feelings, cultures, are as valid and valuable as our own” (Brown, 1990, p. 14). However, even those general English courses which recognise this balance lack the confidence to plunge into the depths of the students’ culture and are content to paddle in the sbal- lows. For example, one course which recognises the value of the culture of the students includes:

fictitious reports, interviews, studio games, and phone-m programmes on the real-life English-language service of the Moroccan radio; . . . reports, articles, advertisements, readers’ letters, and interviews from an imaginary En- glish-language newspaper in Morocco . . . (Adaskou, Britten, & Fahsi, 1990, P. 9)

Although this course does include “real interviews with Moroccan celebri- ties” (Adaskou et al., 1990, p. 9), the overt-all result is likely to be the “culturally neutral” course advocated by George (1981, p. 12) and Alptekin & Alptekin (1984, p. X3), a neutrality which is encouraged by publishers in order to make textbooks saleable worldwide.

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The results of the unease and embarrassment which culture induces in the average British (and American?) EFL/ESL teacher is carried over into ESP teaching because by far the majority of published ESP courses and articles have been written by expatriate teachers working in cultures other than their own. Their influence on the field has therefore been out of proportion to their small number when compared with the many ESP teachers working within their own cultures. A review of the bibliography in Robinson’s survey of ESP (1980) reveals only 19 items out of a total of 504 (3.8%) which have been written or partly written by teachers from non-western countries. The position has probably not changed much in the last ten years. The nature of the typical expatriate’s ESP career is mobility, moving from one post to another every few years. These ESP practitioners do not have the time or opportunity to study another culture in depth.

An important aspect of ESP has been English for science and technology (EST). This has been a major branch of ESP, as shown by the many textbooks and article on EST, and has had a big influence on ESP. In order to establish its credentials in the scientific and technological subjects, EST has eagerly embraced all the latest technology, computers being the most recent example. Modem technology tends to adopt a dismissive attitude towards traditional technology, considering it to be crude and primitive. Overdependence on the latest technology may result in it exploiting the ESP situation, rather than ESP exploiting the technology which the students bring with them.

Similarly, in order to establish its credibility, ESP has undertaken detailed analyses of students’ needs. The most influential of these is Munby (1978). His instrument is very detailed and thorough, but from a sociolinguistic standpoint only. The syllabus designer determines the model within the nar- row confines of language needs. It is static and inward-looking. No mention is made of external factors (i.e., what the learner brings with him or her to the learning situation) until the epilogue. Munby calls these factors “variables, which are constraints upon the implementation of the syllabus specifi- cation” (Munby, 1978, p. 217). These variables include “Psycho-pedagogic- learner’s motivation and expectations; traditional styles of learning; etc.” (Munby, 1978, p. 217). The variables should also include the students’ cultural background. Munby goes on to state that such variables should take place in the next stage in course design (1978, p. 217). Because they have not been specified in detail and because they have been regarded as constraints, these variables have been neglected in ESP courses.

Another important factor that has determined the lack of traditional culture in ESP is the belief that science is culturally neutral. In some countries this belief has been a major factor in accepting ESP courses. Widdowson has been influential in putting forward this view:

I assume that the concepts and procedures of scientik inquiry constitute a secondary cultural system which is independent of primary cultural systems associated with different societies. So although, for example, a Japanese, and a Frenchman, have very different ways of life, beliefs, preoccupations, pre-

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conceptions, and so on deriving from the primary cultures of the societies they are members of, as scientists they have a common culture. In the same way, I take it that the discourse conventions which are used to communicate this common culture are independent of the particular linguistic means which are used to realize them. (Widdowson, 1979, p. 51)

Thus, Widdowson assumes that there is an independent scientific culture that is the same all over the world, which is secondary to particular cultures. But what distinguishes humans from other animals is the fact that humans manufacture artefacts. They are technological animals. Science, and here I include technology, is therefore neither independent of nor secondary to primary cultural systems. It is an integral part of them. Anthropologists have long recognised this:

The technology of any people is . an important aspect of their adaptation to their environment. No human beings anywhere in the world live without artifacts coming between them and nature. . . It is an intrinsic feature of being human. (Sitoe, 1988, p. 11)

. . man is tirst and foremost a technological animal and that the major dis- tinctions among lifeways should be made on the basis of manufactured forms. Thus, it basically is, and was, technoculture that made man what he is or is not. (Oswalt, 1973, p. 21)

Scientific laws and principles may, indeed, be the same all over the world; however, it is the variation in the practical realisation of the laws and principles from society to society and the role of technology in society which account for cultural differences. Thus, Widdowson’s secondary scientific culture derives from Western education’s practice of separating scientists from nonscientists by means of distinct courses and a distinct jargon. On the other hand, in nonliterate societies (in Papua New Guinea [PNG] for example) technology is a part of everyday life from an early age. The small island of Ponam in Manus Province is typical:

On Pomun . children are engaged in a host of multifaceted activities. They help to build and then learn to handle variously sized canoes, and they work various sections of the reef with different tools and techniques. They make rope; work with wood; make a variety of traditional ornaments, costumes, and bilutns (string bags); and mend and make various nets, spears, and other fishing gear. (Lsncy, 1983, pp. 121-122)

Technology in nonliterate societies, such as those in PNG, is intimately

bound up with the social, economic, and religious life of the people. It is part of the primary culture.

In the next section I wish to demonstrate further how technology is part of the primary culture in PNG. But first we need to define what is meant by culture. Following Lancy (after Goodnow), culture is “whatever it is one has to know or believe in order to operate in a manner acceptable to members of the society” (Lancy, 1983, p. 101). Culture in this definition is an information-processing system which has links with education, and ultimately therefore with ESP, because it involves the transfer of information in a for- mal system, the purpose of which is to produce fit members of society.


Technology and ESP in Papua New Guinea

Let us first set the scene. Papua New Guinea has a population of less than four million but over 800 languages. The majority of the population, 87%, lives in rural areas (Papua New Guinea National Statistical Office, 1988, pp. 17-19). All societies were nonliterate before the arrival of Euro- peans. The extremely rugged nature of the country is an important factor in the diversity of cultures in PNG. It is also the cause of an unusual technological phenomenon. Road building is difficult, so the aeroplane is the primary means of transport. The first and sometimes the only wheel that many Papua New Guineans see is on an aeroplane. The people are isolated from technological developments, depending for their livelihood on subsistence ag- riculture using traditional technology such as the digging stick, yet at regular intervals modem technology flies into the local airstrip.

All PNG societies have technology. Further, the basic scientific concepts have been known and used in all societies in PNG for centuries. There is a technological base, of different levels, which all students possess. We have already seen in the example of Ponam above that in PNG this technological base is acquired at an early age. The artefacts which are made - canoes, spears, valuables, wooden objects - are an integral part of the culture. Technology is a part of the primary culture and an important way of ex- pressing thoughts:

Artifacts were, as they continue to be, a material expression of their (i.e., human beings’) thoughts, existing outside and independent of them, with the same origin as any intangible mental image or the spoken word. (Silktoe, 1988, p. 11)

Artefacts are the means by which nonliterate societies textualise technology. They have no writing system to express their thoughts. They have no system of signs and symbols to represent numbers. Technology is expressed purely in concrete terms. Abstract concepts are rarely found in this system. So we would expect that when Papua New Guineans study in a system that gives importance to abstract concepts they will face problems. Many studies have shown this. Writing in 1968, Prince stated that the basic concepts of physical sciences “present greater difficulties for the Papuan and New Guinean student than they do for the European” (1968, p. 18). More recently, Lancy’s work on mathematics in Papua New Guinea has shown similar results (Lancy, 1983, pp. 171-194). Part of the mathematics problem arises from the fact that traditional counting and measuring systems in PNG are conceptually different from those in western countries. The difference is not just between a concrete and an abstract system:

One of the major differences, for example, between a more and a less technical society may well be famikarity with such basic operations as counting and measuring, and many differences on specific tasks may stem from a differen- tial use of these basic techniques. (Goodnow, 1969, 456459)

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In PNG the emphasis is on the qualitative aspects of objects, not the quantitative aspects. The Loboda of Milne Bay Province are a typical example:

Things for the Loboda people are either qualitatively different from one another (e.g., yams and tobacco) in which case they are not sufficiently similar to allow their being counted into a simple total. Or, they are qualitatively com- parable (as all the yams making up a pile of yams) in which case the total sum is not subdivided into individual . . units . . rather it is treated as a single whole. (Thune, 1978, p. 76)

There are four types of counting systems in PNG (Lanccy, 1983, p. 102), some more robust than others. Even in the most robust type, “people are indifferent to quantitative aspects of things beyond one, two, and many (Lancy, 1983, p. 109). Many PNG societies have different counting systems for different objects, none of which may go beyond five. The Nasioi of North Solomons Province, for example, have different systems for counting each of the following categories of objects: people, four-footed animals, birds, fish, fruit, hollow objects, tools and implements, rope-like objects, bag-like objects, leaf-shaped objects, years and months, days, and wooden objects. All go only up to four (Lean, 1985, pp. 56-59).

Counting quantitatively does occur in PNG societies, but usually during important social ceremonies when the quantity of items exchanged is crucial in determining relative social status. During the moka exchange system of the Western Highlands, for example, men go to great lengths to count pigs and pearlshells prior to exchanging them (Strathem, 1971, pp. 137-167). Lancy summarizes the situation as follows:

They count things often; they count in the absence of actual referents (the items need not be present); they add, subtract, and multiply; and they have evolved procedures for counting to very large numbers by using two or more counters. One man keeps track of the ones, a second keeps track of the eights or tens. (Lancy, 1963, p. 109)

In general, though, PNG societies are like the Loboda of Milne Bay Prov- ince who “eschew the level of abstraction of which finite numbers is a part - other things are more important” (Lancy, 1983, p. 109).

However, not all scientific concepts are expressed differently in PNG languages. For example, the Kalam of the Highlands of PNG classify bids, animals, and plants with taxonomies that are similar to the Western taxonomies (Bulmer, 1967, 1968; Majnep & Bulmer, 1977). On the other hand, the Ndumba, also of the Highlands of PNG, classify plants in a way that is very different from the Western taxonomy (Hays, 1979).

The conceptually different attitude of Papua New Guineans towards technology derives from the fact that artefacts have social, economic, and religious meaning over and above their usefulness as everyday objects:


The value of manufactured objects of use must also be explained through man’s emotional nature, and not by reference to his logical construction of utilitarian views. (Malinowski, 1922, p. 172)

The armshells (muraZz] and necklaces (bq$ that circulate around the kukz ring in Milne Bay Province, for example, have social and religious values that far transcend their use as utilitarian objects of exchange (Malinowski, 1922). The building of a canoe (Takatoz] by the Motu of Central Province is an important social occasion in which all members of the community have specific roles to play:

The leading man, who is caked “baditauna,” asks another man to assist him in the construction. The second man is caked “doritauna.” Thus the two men may be referred to as man at the “top” and man at the “root” respectively.

. . The men who had volunteered to go as crew are assigned to the various areas of their specialist working groups. For instance, the sail-captain’s job is to make the sails and the mast-captain’s to make masts while other men work onthemainhuks.. . . After everything has been completed several runs are made back and forth to test how efficient the lakatoi is. During the runs several young girls dance on the protruding platform while the rear end is used by the steersmen, usually five or six in number. (Weni, 1990)

Western definitions of engineering usually emphasise its theoretical and practical aspects, mention its economic function, and end with a statement that its purpose is for the benefit of mankind. For example:

Engineering is the profession in which a knowledge of mathematical and natural sciences gained by study, experience and practice is applied with judge- ment to develop ways to utilize, economically, the materials and forces of nature for the benefit of mankind. (Whinnery, 1965, p. 3)

Thus, Western technology stresses the abstract and instrumental aspects. Its purpose is to enhance and change the lives of individuals, Technology in PNG societies, on the other hand, benefits the society as a whole and serves to maintain the social system, not change it. Economic consider- ations are unimportant because traditionally materials have been supplied by nature and because in PNG’s egalitarian societies goods and services are re- ciprocated. Despite the availability of Western technology, Papua New Guin- eans are not anxious to embrace it wholeheartedly:

Throughout many parts of the country, the steel ax, steel knife, and metal pots have been the only products of Western technology to be adopted and applied to traditional systems. (Lancy, 1983, p. 12)

Widespread adoption of Western technology would mean radical changes to society, which is not what the majority of Papua New Guineans want. Rather, they want to use technology to maintain the traditional social system. Applications of Western technology which threaten the social order are rejected. For example, the small island of Ponam in Manus Province has a population of about 500 people, of whom about 200 live off the island working in the towns and cities of PNG (Carrier, 1981, p. 19). Many of these

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people have acquired technical skills and knowledge. The money they earn in the towns goes back to Ponam to make it self-sufficient and to finance the exchanges that are necessary to maintain the social system. But when Pon- ams return to their island they do not use their technical skills to repair equipment on the island because too great a demand would be made of their services and resources. The villagers expect repairs to be made as a favor because they are relatives, payment being made with a returned favor, not cash. The tec~ci~s do nothing rather than upset the social system:

The concern here is not with the sheer possession of knowledge. Rather, it is with how practical, informal knowledge - especially skills - relates to Ponam daily life, and especially exchange practices. . . . Practices relating to informal knowledge are such that the person who possesses a new and useful skill or piece of knowledge is not likely to use it. Being known to have such skill or knowledge is, in fact, a source of cost and strain for the individual. So, people who have these sorts of things are reluctant to use them. (Car- rier, 1980, pp. 103-104)

When something needs to be repaired, the villagers call in outsiders and pay them with the cash sent in by their relatives in the cities (Carrier, 1980, p. 122). The application of technology in this way does not threaten the social system.

There is therefore a fundamental conceptual difference between both the purposes and the application of technology in Western and PNG societies. In the West technology has an instrumental purpose, to change society. In PNG technology has an integrative purpose, seeking to maintain the social system.

Scientific Discourse

With the above as background, we can now return to Widdowson:

Scientific discourse is a universal mode of communicating, or universal rheto- ric, which is realized by scientific text in different languages by the process of tertwltiutirm.“ (Widdowson, 1979, p. 52; emphases in original)

Thus, the role of ESP is to enable students to transfer the conventions of scientific text in their own language into the conventions of English scientific text by means of textu~sation:

The task for the teacher of EST is to relate these two kinds of knowledge, to convert usage into use by reference to the student’s existing communicative competence in his own language. (Widdowson, 1979, p. 44)

As we have seen, in nonliterate societies, such as those in PNG, the scientific text is an artefact which also has social, economic, and religious meaning. Textualisation in PNG societies is thus much more complicated than in Western languages where the text has no additional meaning other than that of e~osition, or desc~ption, or whatever. Educated Papua New Guineans have access to both kinds of texts, so they are the agents of change. But they do not want to change their societies. “Often the most


highly trained Papua New Guineans are the most vociferous opponents of change in their home villages” (Lancy, 1983, p. 191). So, when western technology is applied to PNG societies, it is changed. Western artefacts become Papua New Guinean technological texts. If western technology is to be meaningful and useful in traditional societies, that is, if educated Papua New Guineans are to be effective agents of change, teaching should make explicit the relationship between Western and traditional technology. ESP has a role to play in establishing this relationship.

The purpose of ESP is to effect a smooth transition into textualisation in English. Where the technologies of two cultures are conceptually similar, for example, Japanese and British, the transition may be effected with linguistic devices. But when the technologies are conceptually very different, as between literate and nonliterate societies, ESP needs more than linguistic input to facilitate the transition. Reference has to be made to the additional meanings which Papua New Guineans give to technology. The additional input can be provided by the students’ traditional culture. ESP courses in such situations need to be culturally rich by including both traditional culture and the culture of the target language, thus forging closer links with cultural an- thropology as suggested by Swales (1985a, p. 212). To ignore the students’ culture is to ignore centuries of experience which the students bring with them. Denigration of traditional culture may lead to loss of identify and self- esteem.

Ignoring or denigrating the students’ culture may also have academic con- sequences, leading to poor academic performance. In English language teaching generally there has long been a concern that “in general ESL students do not do well in mainstream academic courses” (Adamson, 1990, p. 67). The causes have been sought within the system: “These (i.e. ESL) programs . . . do not provide the students with the academic skills they need” (Adamson, 1990, p. 68). Solutions, too, have been purely internal, for example, a precourse of academic skills (Adamson, 1990). However, there may be external factors that need to be addressed. The expectations and aspirations of Papua New Guinean students studying technology are different from Western students studying the same subjects, so external factors such as their educational expectations and aspirations, their traditional learning styles, and their cultural background are important for academic success. If we start with these factors and do not consider them to be secondary as in Munby’s model (Munby, 1978, p. 217), we can follow the Piagetian model of assimilation and accommodation. New knowledge can be assimilated into established schematic categories, and these categories can then be adjusted to accommodate the new information (Widdowson, 1983, p. 67).

Teaching should therefore start with the students’ existing knowledge and build on that. In the case of PNG students this is their cultural background. But if we look at the syllabi prescribed at the PNG University of Technol- ogy, for example, we find that the students’ established schematic categories are not exploited because the syllabi have been devised by the academic staff, of whom about 90% are expatriates. The expectations and aspirations

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of the syllabi are those of the teachers and are based on their own under- graduate experiences. To take an example, trade and exchange are the most important elements of PNG societies. This is true for almost all PNG societies, as in the Ponam example. Exchange “is the most important thing in life; more important even than gardening” (Barr-on, 1988, p. 10). Yet none of the economics courses in the Business Department at the PNG University of Technology includes traditional PNG economic systems. The predominant theme is Western economic theory (Papua New Guinea University of Tech- nology, 1990, pp. Al-A14). A similar statement about the lack of local content and the predominance of theoretical issues can be made for most of the other courses in the university. This is perhaps one of the reasons why there is a 40% drop-out rate. Technology in PNG is concrete and integrative, not abstract and instrumental. Concentration on the latter does not ac- cord with the students’ schematic categories.

What, then, is the role of ESP in this situation? Widdowson states that:

ESP is (or ought logically to be) integrally linked with areas of activity (academic, vocational, professional) which have already been delined and which represent the learners’ aspirations. The learning of ESP is in consequence an essentially dependent activity, a parasitic process, and it follows that the peda- gogy of ESP must be dependent too. It has no purposes of its own; it exists only to service those that have been specified elsewhere. (1983, pp. 108-109)

Academic, vocational, and professional activities are defined by teachers, lecturers and other professionals (e.g., Munby, 19781, not by the students, and represent the teachers’ aspirations. They do not necessarily represent the students’ aspirations. If ESP is totally parasitic as Widdowson claims, the “specific purposes” it addresses in situations like those in PNG will be the abstract, irstrumental objectives in the minds of the course designers of the technical subjects and not the specific purposes of the students, which are concrete and integrative. ESP should not therefore be totally dependent upon the activities of the academic subjects if the students’ aspirations are not being met. In such cases ESP should establish its own activities, break away from the concern for short-term, internal remedies and look outwards for solutions. ESP should move from the “thin“ end of the syllabus and develop “thick” syllabi (Swales, 1985a, p. 219) that include the students’ traditional technology.

A cultural element in an ESP course in situations like PNG gives the students the opportunity to make the transition from traditional textualisation in the form of an artefact to textualisation in written or spoken English. Tradi- tional technology is maintained because there is now a written record to benefit future generations. The students’ sense of identity and self-esteem has been recognised because consideration has been given to their traditional technology. Educational theory is satisfied because the students learn to accommodate the new abstract scientific theories into their existing schematic categories. They can therefore see the relationship between the concepts of their traditional technology and those of the technology taught in their class- rooms and are in a position to become effective agents of change.


An Illustration

I will now describe an ESP project which practises these principles. It is undertaken at the PNG University of Technology by the foundation-year engineering students. The project - Traditional Engineering - deliberately breaks away from the academic and technical topics and activities defined by the engineering lecturers because previous attempts to follow them had proved unsuccessful. Traditional engineering is not taught in any of the four engineering subjects at the university, but the project has resulted in well written, very readable technical papers which in some cases add to the body of knowledge on the traditional technology of PNG. Engineering staff teaching the second and subsequent years now comment that the students’ written English has improved.

The traditional engineering project is the first project in a series which aims to teach technical writing, report-writing, and problem-solving. The specific aim of the project is to teach the elements of writing a technical paper, as opposed to essay-writing which is taught in the schools. The prin- cipal differences are a tight organisation exemplified by headings and subheadings, precise use of technical lexis, illustrations in the text properly referred to, and the use of references.

In the first semester we ask the students to make a model of an example of traditional engineering from their village. The rules are quite simple. The artefact must be one that existed before European contact. All the materials must be traditional ones - no modern materials such as plastic or metal. The materials are gathered by the students from the bush areas of the cam- pus. The model can be of an artefact that is still in use or one that is no longer used. It must be to scale, or life-size if feasiible, and it must be made by the students themselves with no help from parents or relatives, although they can obtain information ti-om relatives to ensure that their models are genuine. Prizes are given for the best models, which are awarded not just for the models, but also for the quality of the oral presentations which the students give before a panel of engineering and language lecturers.

The models which the students commonly make are traditional traps for catching pigs, bandicoots, or birds; bridges; canoes; and houses. The stan- dard is very high and several of the models now reside in the university’s artefact collection. The students come to realise that the basic scientific concepts that they learn in their physics and engineering classes have been used for generations by their ancestors. Traps often make use of an ingenious system of levers. A flying fox trap uses a system of pulleys. Suspension bridges make the maximum use of the properties of bamboo and bush vines. Canoes employ outriggers to prevent them being overturned by the wind. Large sections of roofs of houses are seemingly supported by nothing. A complicated arrangement of beams and rafters transmits the forces to the ground.

The stated purpose of the exercise is to teach the writing of a technical paper. It emphasises the organisation of ideas, the correct use of technical

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terms both in English and the students’ mother tongues, the use of headings and subheadings, and the incorporation of illustrations in the work, with ap- propriate references to them in the text. The latter three elements are not taught in high school essay-writing. An important part of the paper is a dis- cussion of the scientific principles involved, making explicit the transition between concrete traditional technology and the theory of Western technology. The quality of the students’ papers is very high, often much better than the other written assignments they are given during the course. This striking discrepancy, which has been manifest during the last three years, was the inspiration for this paper.

The prizes make the exercise very popular, but this is not the only reason for its popular success. The students recognise the value of this exercise in developing their awareness of the importance of traditional engineering in PNG, which is in general disregarded by the engineering staff. Students’ assignments have been returned with the comment “not much engineering here“ by engineering lecturers. The students were devastated by this comment. The following (unsolicited) comments taken from some of the students’ assignments show what they think:

As the country is developing and becoming modemised traditional cultures and values should also be maintained at the same time.

It is important to inform the coming and future generations of the materials, tools and skills used. In this way, they can also pass the same information onto their children.

The crucial purpose for writing this paper is to remind the new generation and myself about the efforts, talents, methods and the co-operation individuals contributed towards the construction processes.

This simple form of engineering should be passed on from generation to generation so that it is not forgotten.

These comments show that students are aware that traditional systems should be maintained and that education in PNG has an important part to play in this.

The traditional engineering project is similar to Herbolich’s box kite project (Herbolich, 1979), that is:

it is related to a field of engineering, it allows the attainment of new lexis, the device actually operates, and it is enjoyable to construct (Herbolich, 1979, p. 132).

But there are two important differences. The first is that the artefact should be an example of traditional engineering, that is, it is part of the students’ knowledge and makes use of the students’ existing schemata. Her- bolich’s first aim was that “the mechanism should be relatively new to the students” (Herbolich, 1979, p. 132). The second difference is that it should illustrate one or more basic scientific principles and these principles


should be stated in the written description. These two factors enable the new information to be assimilated into the students’ existing schemata and for the schemata to be adjusted to accommodate it. This is one reason for the success of the project. Others are:

1. It takes account of all the cultures in a particular class and allows each culture to translate its artefact into an English text. (Last year, 1990, there were 130 students in foundation year engineering with perhaps at least 100 mother tongues.)

2. It convinces the students that basic scientific concepts have been used by their ancestors for many thousands of years and did not arrive with the Europeans.

3. It provides the opportunity for students to see different technological solutions to similar problems.

4. The written papers are the students’ own work because there are usually no written sources from which to copy.

5. The students are giving the reader (the lecturer) new and real information.

6. The students want the information to be recorded. 7. It is “thick.”

Because some of the engineering staff cooperate in the project, an important spin-off has been that they have come to real&e that important engineering concepts have been employed in PNG for thousands of years and, hence, that perhaps traditional PNG engineering is worth some consideration.

(Received January 1991)

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Colin Barron became interested in cross-cultural relations when he spent three years in Iran where he was one of the Nucleus team. Four years in Nepal provided another perspective. Papua New Guinea, where he is se- nior lecturer in the Department of Language and Communication Studies at the Papua New Guinea University of Technology, has given him the opportunity to develop this interest by studying the traditional co~~cation systems of the country.

Material thoughts: ESP and culture

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