ADAPTING CONTENT-BASED MATERIAL IN ESP COURSES: THE EXAMPLE OF DEBORAH POTTER’S HANDBOOK OF INDEPENDENT JOURNALISM

Abstract

The search for suitable teaching materials in ESP classes requires a lot of effort as available materials rarely satisfy all the specific needs of language learners in a particular subject area or syllabus. This is why some ESP teachers resort to adapting existing learning materials. This paper describes the motivation to adapt authentic content-based material for the use in English for Journalism courses within the academic study program of Journalism at the University of Zagreb. It outlines concrete techniques employed in adapting the Handbook of Independent Journalism written by Deborah Potter. These adapting techniques, primarily deletion and omitting, supplementation and rewriting of the original text, help learners to better identify specific morpho-syntactic features of English for Journalism, which is required by the syllabus. The main effect of material adaptation is better identification and acquisition of morpho-syntactic structures pertaining to English for Journalism. Overall, the adapted material re-engages learners with the content of the Handbook and thus enhances learning.