A SWOT analysis of the Department of Communication courses: A case of English for Academic Purposes (EAP) and English for Professional Purposes (EPP).

Abstract

This study attempts a SWOT analysis of the higher level English Communication courses offered by the Department of Communication at the Polytechnic of Namibia (Communication Skills, Professional Writing and Professional Communication), in order to probe the current situation and use the findings to argue a case for English for Academic Purposes (EAP) and English for Professional Purposes (EPP) as alternative higher level courses. The study aims at carving a niche for an English curriculum that meets the demands made upon the learners by target situations. Therefore, the problem that this study seeks to address is that whereas learners face a heterogeneous target situation characterised by varieties of English, (English foe Specific Academic Purposes (ESAP), English for Specific Business Purposes (ESBP), English for Legal Purposes (ELP), English for Medical Purposes (EMP), English for Economics (EE) and English for Science and Technology (EST), as the case may be, (Dudley - Evans and St. John, 1998), the higher level courses expose students to mainly a generalised English curriculum which, by and large, does not fully address the requirements of the target situation. Findings from the study are aimed at bolstering efforts to implement an ESP curriculum that meets the expectation of learners as is demanded by the target situation. The study employs a descriptive analysis of data within the qualitative research paradigm.