The Effect of ESP Needs-Driven Coursebook Development on Naval Academy Deck Cadets’ ESP Knowledge: Voices from Cadets and their Teachers

The present study aimed to investigate cadets’ ESP knowledge affected by the newly-developed Deck Engineering ESP coursebook. Moreover, teachers’ viewpoints of the newly-developed coursebook were explored. Cadets’ perspectives were also examined regarding the strengths and weaknesses of the newly-developed coursebook. Forty Deck cadets were assigned to experimental (N = 20) and control (N = 20) groups. Additionally, four experienced ESP teachers took part in the study. The main instruments for data collection involved ESP pre-and post-test and structured interviews with ESP teachers and cadets. The findings revealed that the experimental group outperformed the control one. Qualitative analysis of ESP teachers’ structured interviews resulted in the emergence of three categories of 1) cadets’ real-life involvement in productive ESP activities; 2) cadets’ real-life involvement in receptive ESP activities; and 3) suggestion of extra communicative tasks. Structured interviews with cadets led to the elicitation of two main components, including 1) provision of ESP learning opportunities and 2) enhancement of group work and communicative activities. Finally, the main weak points expressed by cadets about the new coursebook included 1) shortage of ESP vocabulary exercises and 2) insufficient grammar tasks. Findings contributed to the fact that Maritime English is one of the unique languages among the ESP courses. Thus, by conducting the need analysis, the Maritime English learning materials could match the needs of cadets. Teachers should also be well aware of the coursebook's strengths and weaknesses they teach and decide to adopt or adapt it.