English for Occupational Purposes (Eop) and *Training: Two Languages or One
This study involves research exploring the practice of English for Occupational Purposes (EOP) training in Korea. The expansion of global business and industry has expedited the growth of EOP, as English is regarded as the universal communication medium in many parts of the world. English for Occupational Purposes shares many common characteristics with general training such as program design process, according to literature on EOP theories and models; but few evidences show any exchange between the two fields. The purpose of the study was to investigate how EOP training was perceived and operated in adult language education in Korea, and to explore the possible linkage between scholarly inquiry into EOP and general training for human resource development. The study adopted a mixed-method research design, utilizing a case study within a single institution consisting of field observations and interviews, as well as a survey in representative EOP institutions. Three months of field work was conducted in an EOP program provided for a group of EOP learners from the human resource development department of a major corporation. The study also utilized survey in seven locations, in order to complement the case study. The major findings are: (1) Participants universally expressed that English proficiency was an essential job qualification in their fields and that they always felt the need to improve their English. (2) Participants seemed intuitively able to articulate the core elements of EOP although they were not familiar with EOP as a term. (3) The EOP instructors had autonomy to design and develop their EOP curriculum and instruction without a significant extent of curricular guidance or standards to follow. (4) Participants generally saw the similarities between EOP and general training in terms of their core objectives and characteristics. (5) However, the implementation of training models and techniques was rarely observed in the selected case. The methodology of the study allowed emergent themes to appear while exploring the major questions. The discrepancy between perceived and actual needs for EOP was one of the strongest themes that surfaced in the course of data collection and analysis.
University of Illinois - Urbana-Champaign
Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign