TEACHING MARITIME ENGLISH AT A TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY

Violeta Karastateva Abstract In the present paper the author shares her experience in teaching Maritime English at the Technical University of Varna (TU-Varna) and designing in-house teaching materials for the specialities of Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering. Current problems of building students motivation, developing learner autonomy and improving performance are addressed. Rethinking evaluation and assessment criteria with regard to the state exam requirements are further discussed. Maritime English definition and requirements Maritime English, being a branch of ESP, originated as a variety of professional specialized technical English out of the necessity of effective communication between ship and shore, between crew members and between crew and passengers in order to ensure safety at sea. Furthermore, specialized terminology referring to ship types, ship general arrangements, sailing, navigation, ship power plants, etc. developed and needed to be studied, classified and standardized. In addition, with the globalization of the shipping industry and the multi-national character of crews, English has become the lingua franca of intercultural communication at sea [5]. Standardisation of marine terms and phrases is an on-going process which was initiated by those practically involved in the teaching process (language teachers, textbook authors) and the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) in the capacity of a body setting the standards and requirements for the skills and qualifications of seafarers. English was officially adopted by IMO as the language of the sea in 1995. Since then teaching of English to mariners has dramatically increased resulting in greater safety due to the introduction of the International Safety Management Code and the development of the SMCP (Standard Marine Communication Phrases). Maritime English is an operational language featuring some restrictions in terms of functional characteristics. Specialized lexis is considerable but grammar structures are limited taking into consideration technical text style restrictions. Maritime terminology is rich and varied depending on the particular sphere (e.g. navigation, marine engineering, naval architecture, port operations, etc.) and the process of acquiring and mastering the latter is highly dependent on the learners specialized knowledge of the respective notions [2, 1]. Therefore university curricula should take into consideration the above specificities in order to ensure successful language training based on the communicative approach principles, as well as balance between General English and Maritime English input. TU Background Maritime English Teaching at the TU-Varna is of great importance for the higher educational environment nationwide. Together with the N. Y. Vaptsarov Naval Academy, possessing long-term recognized traditions in the field, it is the second institution training seafarers in the specialities of Marine Engineering and Navigation. At the same time, the TU-Varna is unique in providing instruction in the field of Naval Architecture, the Shipbuilding Department being one of the oldest units in the nearly 50-year history of the university.

It should be noted that for a number of structural and administrative reasons the Maritime English language instruction at the university is not consolidated. Therefore the language training for the speciality of Navigation is ensured by language lecturers who are appointed at the Navigation, Transport Management and Waterways Preservation Department while Maritime English for the specialities of Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering is taught by full-time lecturers from the Language Section of the Department of Mathematics and Foreign Languages. For the above reason the author is going to make an overview of the different aspects of Maritime English at the TU-Varna sharing her experience in teaching Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering students. Maritime English Teaching (MET) at the TU-Varna should comply with various requirements linguistic (The Common European Framework), academic (Bologna process), vocational maritime (International Maritime Organisation - IMO), national (Bulgarian Maritime Administration examination bodies) and international (MARLINS, TOMEC, MARTEL standardized exams). Since standardization is still a hot issue in MET it is IMO requirements for language knowledge and language communication skills, as defined in STCW Convention and exemplified in IMO Course 3.17, that are applied and adapted when designing a syllabus for the speciality of Marine Engineering and the state exam respectively. They need written and oral skills in English in order to be able to understand and use general and technical marine vocabulary, use operation and maintenance manuals, communicate successfully and effectively when the latter is needed to perform engineering duties, machinery operation and repair in a multilingual/multicultural crew regarding safety of life at sea. Naval Architecture students, on the other hand, are not expected to be as active communicators as Marine Engineering students since they are not going to sail. However, practice shows that their career development is connected with work for foreign companies and on international projects. Hence, their language competence is equally important in order to discuss issues related to the specialised subject matter. With regard to keeping the balance between General and Maritime English TU-Varna situation is quite favourable for the learners. For Marine Engineering students General English is taught in the first 5 semesters (150 academic hours in all, 2 lessons per week) and 4 semesters (240 academic hours in all, 4 lessons per week) are devoted to Maritime English input. On the other hand, according to the new syllabus, Naval Architecture students revise General English grammar and study specialized vocabulary simultaneously due to the less number of language lessons for the course of their education (only 240 academic hours). Maritime English teachers from the Language Section have come to the conclusion that depending on the needs analysis of the respective group of learners it could be reasonable to start introducing maritime terminology and simplified specialized texts shortly after the beginning of language instruction in order to catch students interest and demonstrate the relevance of English language instruction to their subject matter. However, an optimized curriculum and syllabus is a formal guarantee for successful training but it can hardly make up for students deficiencies in terms of General English entrance level, academic study skills, general linguistic competence, etc. Maritime English Courses run by the Language Section at the TU-Varna Maritime English is taught by the lecturers from the Language Section of the Department of Mathematics and Foreign Languages at the TU-Varna in various courses as follows:

a. Introduction to Maritime English for the Bachelors degree of the speciality of Naval Architecture an optional course (150 academic hours, II-VI semester, 30 lessons per semester) for both Bulgarian and foreign Naval Architecture students providing grammar revision, introduction to general technical topics, maritime context and general marine terminology. Advantages: students start studying the specialized content from the first year of their university education and thus their motivation is raised immediately after commencing their university studies; the optional course allows for increasing the number of academic hours devoted to language instruction. Disadvantages: being an optional discipline it is not taught systematically every year; therefore a certain overlap with the syllabus content intended for the 2nd semester when the obligatory lessons of English begin could be observed. (An interesting fact to mention is that since its introduction a few years ago the course has been chosen for the first time only this year by the foreign students. Since the majority of those students have finished maritime colleges in the Republic of Turkey or are already professionally oriented in the field of maritime industry their motivation is much stronger than the one of Bulgarian students.) b. English for the Bachelors degree of the speciality of Naval Architecture an obligatory course studied throughout the course of education ( 240 academic hours, IIVIII semester, 30 lessons per semester). Grammar revision is combined with various general maritime and specialized Naval Architecture topics dealing with history of ships, ship types, general arrangements, port organization and management, cargo types, cargo handling facilities and equipment, ship safety, ship design and shipbuilding, etc. General technical vocabulary, basic marine terminology and specialized shipbuilding terms are in the focus of language training. Advantages: extensive General English and ESP lessons are provided for 7 successive semesters allowing students to improve both their linguistic and professional competence in the field. Disadvantages: due to various administrative considerations and requirements the examination procedure according to the syllabus is a pass for the first 6 semesters and there is an exam only in the 7 th semester. The lack of an examination procedure and a mark which is to be written into students markbooks has been extremely demotivating for their performance and has resulted in modest achievements for the last five academic years. A decision of the current academic year, taken by the Faculty Council of the Shipbuilding Faculty, to terminate the state exam procedure for this speciality will inevitably cause various further problems. Since the state exam has been the leading motivating factor for the learners to take their English language studies more seriously, at least towards the end of the course of education, and the syllabus content has been aimed at fulfilling the exam requirements, it will be necessary to revise the established classroom approaches and practices and take into consideration the new teaching-and-learning situation. c. English for the Masters Degree of the speciality of Marine Engineering an obligatory course studied throughout the course of education (390 academic hours for full-time students, I-IX semester, 30 or 60 lessons per semester/ 195 academic hours for extra-mural students). Extensive grammar revision during the first 5 semesters is accompanied by various general maritime and technical topics such as ship types, ship general arrangements, manning, engines, forces in engineering, etc. This first stage of students specialized language instruction is followed by specific topics in the field of Marine Engineering including marine diesel engines, ship power plants, gas exchange systems, turbochargers, fuel feed systems, lubrication systems, cooling systems, control and governor systems, marine steam boilers, auxiliaries, ship service systems and devices, automation and maintenance of ship power plants, machinery repairs, classification of

ships and conventions, latest developments in the field of Marine Engineering, etc. Advantages: according to the syllabus the students are exposed to extensive General English and ESP lessons for 9 successive semesters which ensures their deep immersion in the specifics of the professional language to be used in their future career development; Disadvantages: the common low entrance language level of the majority of the students, the mix-ability ESP groups, in combination with the low level of learners motivation during the first 5 semesters ending only with a pass, are factors negatively affecting students performance. d. Instruction through the medium of English (Turkish students) English for the Bachelors degree of the speciality of Naval Architecture - an obligatory course studied throughout the course of education (240 academic hours, II-VIII semester, 30 lessons per semester), designed for students who have successfully finished a preparatory year of English Language instruction at the TU-Varna or a maritime college in the Republic of Turkey. Advantages: this course has proved to be extremely beneficial for the foreign students since it extends their specialized knowledge and helps them master their language competence. Disadvantages: teaching ESP as a second language in a nonEnglish speaking country is accompanied by various problems in terms of methodology and intercultural communication. e. Instruction through the medium of Bulgarian (Turkish students) English for the Bachelors degree of the speciality of Naval Architecture and English for the Masters degree of the speciality of Marine Engineering (following the above syllabi for Bulgarian students, this mode of instruction addresses the needs of foreign students who have successfully finished a preparatory year of Bulgarian Language instruction at the TU-Varna after a maritime college in the Republic of Turkey). Advantages and disadvantages: These foreign students are integrated into the administrative groups of Bulgarian students since they follow the same syllabus and their instruction shares the same advantages and disadvantages already mentioned above. In terms of effective ESP training certain additional problems arise. It is taken for granted that ESP groups are mix-ability but the level of English of the foreign students is often higher than that of Bulgarian students while technical Bulgarian language is a challenge for the foreign students and therefore the lecturers cannot rely on translation when teaching vocabulary related to specialized knowledge. Methodology for teaching foreign students differs from the approaches of teaching Bulgarian learners and the university teachers have to be flexible and very creative in order to manage the multi-cultural mix-ability classroom situation. f. English for the Masters degree of Ship Electrical Equipment after a different Bachelors degree (60 academic hours) with the differentiation between the Bachelors and the Masters degree in Bulgarian higher education context this course was offered for the students at the TU-Varna and was successfully run for a couple of years. It was based on the revision of key Electrical Engineering topics and the introduction of basic Marine Engineering issues suitable for the interdisciplinary nature of the speciality. g. English for the Masters degree of Ship Electrical Equipment - (375 academic hours , 120 of which devoted to General English, I-IV semester, followed by 255 ESP academic hours ,V, VII, VIII, IX semester). This new speciality to be introduced at the TU-Varna and undergoing a procedure of approval by the Ministry of Education combines general technical, general Electrical Engineering and general Marine

Engineering topics exposing students to various subject-related issues. Advantages: in case of successful approval this speciality will meet the market needs for training narrow specialists in the field. Disadvantages: for the time being only the written syllabus for this speciality could be discussed and evaluated taking into consideration that its design reflects both the curriculum specificities and the needs analysis expectations of the language teachers. Materials Design Delivering the courses overviewed above requires developing in-house teaching materials as an on-going task for the ESP lecturers teaching Maritime English. Selection and adaptation of available Bulgarian and foreign MET resources (Russian, Croatian, Romanian, Turkish, French and Italian textbooks and teaching materials); authentic speciality textbooks and journals (e.g. Naval Architecture, Ships and Shipbuilding); schemes, company booklets, manuals, instructions, etc. are essential for compiling a databank of teaching materials adequate for the needs of TU-Varna students. Teacher development through participation in qualification courses (Bulgarian Maritime Qualificational Center; Mirca cel Batran Constantsa Maritime University ); national and international ESP and Maritime conferences; intra-university projects (writing project proposals, carrying out research, writing research papers, giving presentations at conferences, developing teaching materials, etc.) has been a crucial factor for increasing lecturers expertise in the field and raising their self-confidence. As a result two intrauniversity projects have been successfully completed so far, namely: Step-by-Step to Maritime English The project was aimed at developing a handbook in Maritime English for Bulgarian and international students from the specialities of Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering at the TU-Varna. It provides smooth transition from General to Maritime English by introducing the terminology of the respective speciality through authentic texts based on needs analysis. The handbook features a variety of communicative reading comprehension and vocabulary-building exercises stimulating students CLIL and autonomous learning skills. It is expected to meet CEFR requirements by raising learners motivation and ensuring better results at the state exams thus preparing competitive professionals for the multicultural maritime world. PORTFOLIO Teaching Materials for Marine Engineering Students The project was aimed at developing a PORTFOLIO containing English language teaching materials for Marine Engineering. It consists of a variety of self-access materials accompanied by communicative reading comprehension and vocabulary-building exercises fostering students CLIL and autonomous learning skills. The PORTFOLIO is based on introducing the field-specific terminology through authentic texts and is expected to meet CEFR requirements by raising learners motivation and developing self-study academic skills. It is made up of two packs for the learners and for the fellow-lecturers which contain guidelines, an answer key and self-evaluation questionnaire cards designed to aid students, as well as novice ESP lecturers in the field of technical and Maritime English. Students Motivation Motivation is considered one of the main elements determining success in foreign language teaching as it is connected with the extent of students active involvement in the teaching-and-learning process. Regarding the ESP context, although safety at sea and competency in English are undoubtedly interrelated, the technical side of training is often given priority at the expense of developing language competence. The students at the TUVarna are overloaded with preparing assignments, designing engineering projects and

drawings and for most of them this is the major reason to underestimate their language studies. Motivation is further decreased by the well-known fact that the real-life situation and communication on board are quite different from the Standard English textbook and journal texts. The creation of pidgin English on board demotivates learners to study grammar rules and improve their fluency [5, 6]. Students tend to feel confident enough if they have acquired the specialized terminology needed for carrying out their day-to-day duties on board and demonstrate a high degree of carelessness as to the accuracy, appropriacy and spelling of the linguistic devices used. Experience from the last 4-5 academic years has shown that the extra-mural students from the speciality of Marine Engineering are better motivated to study English than the full-time students. In addition, the day-to-day classroom work is often more effective and rewarding with the extra-mural students despite the syllabus restrictions in terms of face-to-face instruction hours. The reasons for this situation are various and different factors should be taken into consideration such as age /maturity/, professional experience, practical skills and last but not least in our case effective intercultural communication in a multilingual environment. While full-time students should benefit from the extensive face-to-face English language training which the syllabus provides (390 academic hours), extra-mural students are exposed to only 50% (195) of these academic hours but they are more aware of their speciality, have set goals and personal ambitions and therefore make up for the inconveniences and limitations of their mode of education. As a whole formal semestrial assessment shows significant differences in the achievements of the two groups of students good (4.25) for the full-time students and very good (4.60) for the extra-mural students. Another aspect is that towards the end of their studies, in the 4th-5th year, the students are better motivated to study English and improve their communicative skills as they need to sit for interviews with manning companies. Since the interviewers are often non-native speakers of English this experience is connected with further worries to what extent the level of students English and their fluency would be adequate for intercultural communication through the medium of English as the lingua franca of the maritime community. The dynamic economic situation and the syllabus requirements for a fifteen-week sailing practice and training onboard ship for the Marine Engineering students call for the introduction of a variety of business communication topics into the Maritime English classroom. Writing CV conventions, basic presentation skills, job interview tips and onboard day-to-day conversation role-plays are the most necessary topics to be taught and practiced along with acquiring the essential highly specific maritime vocabulary and revising General English grammar. Moreover, by finding immediate personal benefits from these tasks students can become more actively involved in the classroom activities. Evaluation, Assessment and State Exams Students Maritime English knowledge and skills are constantly tested and evaluated through diagnostic, mid-term and end-term tests including reading comprehension tasks, related grammar and vocabulary exercises, diagram labeling, scheme description, as well as technical translation assignments. However, the state exams in Maritime English are the final and the most serious challenge for the learners. The state exams in English for the specialities of Marine Engineering and Naval Architecture were introduced at the TU-Varna in 2002 with the aim to ensure effective

evaluation, better competitiveness and higher linguistic competence. The exams formats are the following: State Exam in Specialised English Language for Marine Engineering Students Written part: 1. Translation of a specialized text from English into Bulgarian. 2. Translation of a repair specification from Bulgarian into English. 3. Scheme description of a ship system or mechanism. Oral part: 1. Reading out and translation of a selected excerpt from a specialized text approved by the lecturer for home reading. 2. Oral presentation on a specialized syllabus topic. 3. Discussion with the interlocutors of topical issues and grammar and lexical peculiarities in the translation text. State Exam in Specialised English Language for Naval Architecture Students Written part: 1. Reading Comprehension of an unknown text on a specialized topic. 2. Translation of adapted specialized texts from English into Bulgarian and Bulgarian into English. /For the foreign students this exam component is substituted by a variety of vocabulary exercises connected with the Reading Comprehension text./ 3. Scheme labeling. Oral part: 1. Oral presentation of a summary of a known text from the current textbook. 2. Reading out, oral translation of an excerpt and annotation of a specialized text approved by the lecturer for home reading. /For the foreign students this exam component includes only annotation of and answering questions to a specialized text approved by the lecturer for home reading. 3. Discussion with the interlocutors of topical issues and grammar and lexical peculiarities in the translation text. The present day situation is quite different as of the current academic year the Faculty Council of the Shipbuilding Faculty has taken the decision to terminate the state exam procedure for the speciality of Naval Architecture. It should be noted that the latter decision was taken without considering the opinion of the language teachers and without stating reasons for it. It could be speculated that the major reason for this has been the tendency for lower performance results among Naval Architecture students and the relatively great percentage of failed students. Although the reasons for this were complex, mainly connected with the syllabus limitations in terms of teaching hours and the lack of semestrial examination procedures which inevitably led to decrease in learners motivation, the state exam started to be viewed as a burden and obstacle for the students in applying for a Masters degree course. The following table represents the results of students performance at the state exams since its introduction by speciality and academic year and is indicative of the above mentioned problems and tendencies. The results are approximate since not all students sit for their exams in the academic year in which they finish their semestrial studies. At the same time, students from previous academic years sit for their state exams in a respective

calendar year. Although the figures obtained are not fully representative in terms of statistics some tendencies could be traced and conclusions made. Students Performance at State Exams Academic year 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 Average 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 Average Marine Engineering 4.63 4.75 4.66 4.44 3.90 Number of students 41 47 18 39 11 156 41 42 38 29 30 180 Naval Architecture 4.67 3.98 3.46 3.85 4.30 Number of students 29 25 12 10 12 88 22 24 23 42 199

4.48
4.35 3.93 4.03 3.79 4.24*

4.05
3.72 4.43 3.55 3.74 -

4.20

3.97

As it is seen from the above table the performance of Marine Engineering students has been steadily better than the performance of the students from the speciality of Naval Architecture. Comparing the figures for the 2002-2006 five-year period with the 20072010 one it is seen that the results have generally decreased but the ratio between the two specialities has been kept in favour of Marine Engineering students whose performance continues to be half a point higher. The number of the students who resit state exams is constant through the years 10% for the speciality of Marine Engineering and 20% for Naval Architecture. Considering the strengths and weaknesses of the current teaching-and-learning situation and the exam outcomes a further step towards the optimization of the state examination procedure is updating and standardization in compliance with internationally recognized Maritime English proficiency standards. Conclusions Teaching Maritime English is one of the most demanding and challenging branches of ESP since it has been chosen as the medium for international communication at sea and IMO has developed standards and training tools for its delivery. It requires from language lecturers not only awareness and understanding of the theoretical and practical aspects of the respective speciality but often necessitates engineering expert knowledge. Thus language teachers are involved in an ongoing process of searching for specialised materials, selection and adaptation of authentic professional texts, designing in-house teaching materials, testing and evaluation students performance, etc. Successful ESP teaching goes hand-in-hand with continuous learning and development on behalf of the Maritime English lecturers. Working closely with colleagues from the respective engineering departments, as well as taking part in various Maritime English forums is essential for increasing their qualifications and self-confidence in order to instil in students the appropriate knowledge and skills and to meet the constantly increasing requirements of Maritime English Teaching worldwide.

The above overview of Maritime English teaching issues at the TU-Varna has shown that language teachers keep up-to-date with the developments in the field of ESP methodology, MET in particular, and put efforts into optimizing the syllabi, the teaching materials and approaches with the aim to adequately meet both learners and market needs. Some of the future trends and advances in the day-to-day work of MET language teachers at the TU-Varna are connected with the following issues: focus on developing learner autonomy, continuous materials design, building students motivation, improving students performance, rethinking evaluation and assessment criteria, harmonizing Maritime English proficiency standards for assessment and further certification, updating state examination procedures in compliance with standardization in ME testing at international level, etc.
References: 1. Albayarak, T., R. Ziarati, Evaluation, Assessment, and Testing in Maritime English: Measuring Students Competence and Performance (MarTEL-Maritime Test of English Language), http://www.martel.pro/Researchers/Downloads/Measuring_students_competence_and_perf ormance.pdf 2. Demydenko, N. International Standards of Maritime English as a Means to Improve Safety at Sea, http://www.martel.pro/Researchers/Downloads/International_Standards_Of_Maritime_Eng lish_As_A_Means_To_Improve_Safety_At_Sea.pdf 3. Karastateva, V. State Exams in Maritime English for Marine Engineers and Naval Architects at the Technical University of Varna in . 4. . . .. , , 2006, . 331-338/ 4. Maritime English Model Course 3.17 IMO 2000 5. Maritime English, http://www.britishcouncil.org/professionals-specialisms-maritime1.htm 6. Popescu, C., A.Varsami, Maritime English A Necessity for Nowadays Apprentices in Proceedings of the 3rd International Conference on Maritime and Naval Science and Engineering, WSEAS Press, 2010, pp. 83-88, ISSN: 1792-4707, ISBN: 978-960-474-2226; http://www.wseas.us/e-library/conferences/2010/Constantza/MN/MN-14 pdf.

Contacts: Technical University-Varna Department of Mathematics and Foreign Languages 1 Studentska Str. Varna, 9000 e-mail: vkarastateva@yahoo.com