New Course Initiative: Language for Special Purposes - Business Japanese

Grant Details

Amount: 1100.00

Project Start Date: 04/01/05

Status: Archived

Project Type:
Campus Based

Languages: Japanese

Project Level:
Advanced

Project Skills:
All - Addresses all language skills

Institutions Involved:
Brown University

Primary Contact:
Yuko Jackson (Yuko_Jackson@Brown.edu)

Box 1850
Brown University
Providence , RI 02912
Phone: (401) 863-9764

Project will involve conducting interviews with American students of Japanese who engage in business with Japanese counterparts. Materials in print, audio and video format will be purchased for use in developing lessons and activities in Business Japanese.

Comments

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Testing language for specific purposes (LSP) refers to that branch of language testing in which the test content and test methods are derived from an analysis of a specific language use situation, such as Spanish for Business, Japanese for Tour Guides, Italian for Language Teachers, or English for Air Traffic Control. LSP tests are usually contrasted with general purpose language tests, in which purpose is more broadly defined, as in the Test of English as a Foreign Language {TOEFL) (Educational Testing Service 1965). As you will see, it is important to note that tests are not either general purpose or specific purpose – all tests are developed for some purpose – but that there is a continuum of specificity from very general to very specific, and a given test may fall at any point on the continuum. I will argue later in this chapter that LSP testing is a special case of communicative language testing, since both are based on a theoretical construct of contextualized communicative language ability, and that LSP tests are no different in terms of the qualities of good testing practice from other types of language tests.

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MACC has specially designed and developed courses for each level of the Proficiency Tests. The Test consists of three parts of Kanji & Vocabulary, Listening Comprehension and Reading & Grammar. Past papers, textbooks with related questions and MACC handouts are used throughout this course. MACC also organizes and provides the original mock tests that have the same format and similar contents as those of the Test itself. The course concentrates on the anticipated questions and consolidates each point necessary for passing the Test. The pass rate is generally much higher than that of the average figure that the Examination Agency publicizes.