IAMU Report

A Survey of Maritime English Teaching Materials

Prof. Dr. Boris Pritchard

University of Rijeka, Faculty of Maritime Studies

Introduction

The present report is an attempt at identifying, describing and evaluating Maritime English learning/teaching materials as used currently in the maritime training institutions, maritime industry (shipping companies, company training centres) and the maritime world. The Report is restricted to 'materials' rather than 'resources', a wider and superordinate concept, for two reasons:

- Availability issues (materials are more readily available than individual resources created by numerous maritime English instructors worldwide to complement specialist Maritime English materials, though the Internet is increasingly becoming an important and readily available maritime English resource)

- it is hoped that a web-based database of Maritime English resources will be made available following some of the principles set out in this Report.

Under the auspices of IAMU this report introduces the methods of evaluation of Maritime English materials which, after obtaining the necessary feedback from the users (both learners and teachers) should form the methodological basis for a wider, comprehensive web-based project on the evaluation of the respective materials.

It covers a selection of the materials in use over the last ten years in:

(a) various MET institutions offering diploma and BSc courses (maritime academies and colleges, faculties and universities),

(b) occasionally, and only exceptionally, at MET establishments within secondary education (nautical & marine engineering training schools), and

(c) specialized, SMCP-based and other (short) courses tailored to the needs of the maritime trade and industry, both seaborne and shore-based.

Within the Maritime English sphere, the materials may be of varied types, e.g.:

(a) general (i.e. comprehensive) Maritime English coursebooks; i.e. conventional textbooks following the methodology of materials design and development in ELT, EFL, and ESP (e.g. T. N. Blakey English for Maritime Studies, 1987)

(b) register/genre/job-specific materials in Maritime English, or, more specifically, in sub-specialisations such as maritime law, shipping, maritime technology, marine electronics, maritime safety, etc. (e.g. R. G. Sansom, The Language of the Navy in English, 1978; B. Pritchard, Ship's Business in English, 1994, V. Petkova & S. Toncheva 2000)

(c) visual and aural materials with textbooks, i.e. video-taped materials, usually on a specified topic (e.g. ANGLOSEA; Nisbet, Kutz, Logie Marlins English for Seafarers, Study Pack 1; Logie, Vivers, Nisbet Marlins English for Seafarers, Study Pack 2)

(d) courses on CD-ROM and multimedia (Maritime English by Maritime Education Sweden AB; Marlins Packs 1 & 2; IMLP by P. van Kluijven)

(e) dedicated programmes, narrow-scope courses in maritime communication (e.g. F.F. Weeks: SEASPEAK Manual 1988)

(f) PC-based programmes & software (MarineSoft, etc.)

(g) Various types of specialized software obtainable from the internet e.g. P. Kluijven at: http://home.planet.nl/~kluijven/

(h) Published vs in-house materials (e.g. Conrad Languages Ltd.)

(i) Self-access materials

(j) Supplementary materials

Since the present report is a general survey of Maritime English materials, only a number of the most representative titles (according to author's personal views and, of course, depending on availability of the materials), will be analysed. A more comprehensive list of Maritime English materials is shown in Supplement No. 1 & 2. This list, however, is far from an all-exhaustive one and readers (i.e. participants in the web-based study of the materials) are therefore invited to furnish data on:

(a) individual teacher-made materials used in conducting Maritime English courses at their MET institutions, maritime training centres, international organisations (ISF, ICS, etc.), shipping companies, crewing and management agencies, etc.

(b) in-house maritime English materials published by shipping companies, or organisations (ICS, ITF, etc.)

(c) any material other than those reviewed or suggested in this report.

At a later stage this report aims to instigate a more detailed survey and review of the current state of the art of Maritime English materials and maintenance of an internet database of such materials.

Various studies articulated in the papers presented at IAMU meetings and conference or workshop proceedings, as well as in such projects as MARCOM, METHAR, METNET, emphasize the following general features of Maritime English materials:

- there is rarely a comprehensive, all-inclusive Maritime English textbook or other learning/teaching material

- no single material (textbook or other) has imposed itself yet as the material with worldwide use or the one setting standards to other Maritime English materials, though one or two have found a wider, international use (e.g. T. N. Blakey 1987 or SEASPEAK 1988, and, most recently, P. van Kluijven 2003)

However, for several decades there has been a demand and a degree of pressure by the international maritime community and the industry to develop:

1. Maritime English as a sub-set of English for the exchange of information and transfer of knowledge to be used as a working language in the maritime world (cf. Pritchard 1999)
2. a restricted variety of Maritime English as the recommended or, in some instances, mandatory communication idiom primarily intended for ensuring safety of navigation (e.g. SMNV 1987, SMCP 2001), cf. Trenkner 1997/1999, and subsequently
3. standard, or more or less widely accepted textbook or other type of material for the learning/teaching of Maritime English (cf. Cole 1999, Logie 1999)

Whilst the first two requirements have been met, to a greater or lesser extent, to the satisfaction of the international maritime community, the third objective has been difficult to achieve for a number of reasons:

non-existence of standards on Maritime English syllabus,

lack of standards on Maritime English coursebooks,

unarticulated demand and, consequently, lack of interest on the publishers' side,

poor supply of textbooks for international use,

restrictive national legislations and language policies,

slow adjustment of conventional textbooks to the developments in foreign language teaching and modern teaching technologies.

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