Available online at: http://journal.uny.ac.id/index.

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LingTera, 5 (1), 2018, 78-88

Developing content and language integrated English speaking materials

for accounting students
Dominique Savio Nsengiyumva
University of Burundi. Rohero, Boulevard du 28 Novembre, Bujumbura, Burundi
Corresponding Author. Email: dominiquesavio2014@gmail.com
Received: 27 April 2017; Revision: 1 October 2018; Accepted: 8 October 2018

Abstract
This study aimed at developing content and language integrated English speaking learning
materials for the students of international accounting study program to help them learn, practise and
improve their speaking skills first in content subjects classes and then in their future career. The study
involved 27 third year students of Accounting Department, Faculty of Economics, Yogyakarta State
University. The data were collected through an interview, classroom observation, and a students’
questionnaire. The research findings show that, the students prefer: business, accounting basics,
accounting concepts, and financial accounting accounting contents topics. In terms of classroom
activities, students preferred making presentations, discussion, dialogues, role-plays, and making
descriptions. The students have difficulties in discussions/debates, pronunciation, grammatical
structures, and knowledge of specific vocabulary items. Their priorities for speaking English include
presentations, discussions, questions and answers, descriptions, and using specific vocabulary items.
Their preferences on the components of the English speaking learning materials include conversations/
dialogues, grammatical features, specific vocabulary items, presentations, and discussions/debates. The
evaluation of the developed materials falls in the Very Good category for both experts and students’
evaluation.
Keywords: content and language integrated materials, English, accounting students, speaking skills.
How to Cite: Nsengiyumva, D. (2018). Developing content and language integrated English speaking materials
for accounting students. LingTera, 5(1), 78-88. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.21831/lt.v5i1.13829

http://dx.doi.org/10.21831/lt.v5i1.13829
__________________________________________________________________________________________

INTRODUCTION an acceptable TOEFL score for university

students to graduate.
In the 21st century, many universities
Yet, many students are still struggling to
make use of English in order to become world-
use English, especially when it comes to
class universities. According to Ruiz-Garrido,
speaking. One of the strategies to be a world-class
Palmer, & Fortanet-Gómez (2010, p.1), English
university is to use world language in specific
has become a current international lingua franca
programs. The main language used in many uni-
of communication because of the spread of
versities as an international language is English.
science and technology. Both globalization of
This was also discussed by Richards (2015, p.7)
economy and the universities that are becoming
by saying that the current trend of international-
international have made English a world
ization of higher education is operated through
language of communication. Because this
English. It can therefore be said that this is the
language is becoming crucial in many countries
case of international programs in Yogakarta State
over the world, it has become a medium of
University where English is given much
instructions in many universities. This can be
importance. Students of international programs in
realised from the actual requirement of English
YSU are not only required to have a good score
test scores in order to be accepted in many
in TOEFL, they also have to take most of the
universities in the world. In Indonesia, the
subjects in English as one of the standards in
importance of English can be seen from the
international programs. In Yogyakarta State Uni-
requirment from Indonesian universities to have
versity, at least 75% of the classroom activities
are expected to be conducted in English, in

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 LingTera, 5 (1), 2018 - 79
Dominique Savio Nsengiyumva

international program (or programs of cussions on the scope of CLIL, this study looked
excellence). at CLIL as a setting not a method for English
The students of international programs in language teaching. This was inspired by Coyle
Accounting at YSU have the same problem (2010, p.vii) through Cenoz, Genesee, and Gorter
realised by Ogle & Correa-Kovtun (2010) in (2013, p.11) who asserts that in CLIL “there are
Sasson (2013, p.24) as they put that students are no set of formula and methods for CLIL ...”.
“stuck in the middle ground of being conver- Therefore the steps that were followed to develop
sational in English, but lacking in the breadth of the students materials were those proposed by
English needed for content area success”. To help Communicative Language Teaching Approach
these students to be more comfartable in their (CLT) advocated by Littlewood & Williams
classroom content subjects activities, students (1981, p. 86).
need to learn English that embodies materials Littlewood & Williams (1981, p. 86)
specific to their field of study. Content and discussed with examples the steps of CLT
language integrated materials can assist students activities which include pre-communicative acti-
to overcome the challenges of language in this vities (Structural activities, Quasi-communi-
situation. cative activities), Functional communicative
According to Dalton-Puffer (2007, p.1) activities, Communicative activities, and Social
Content and Language Integrated Learning interaction activities.
(CLIL) is an educational area whereby a language Littlewood & Williams (1981, p. 86) puts
different from the students’ first language is used that there is no clear line-cut between these
as educational medium of instruction. He argues categories and subcategories. The difference
that “CLIL resembles other forms of bilingual resides in the emphasis and oriantation of
education programmes such as content-based individual learners.
instruction and immersion education” that exist In the sense to find out usefulness of the
in North American learning contexts while de the settings of CLIL, Révész, Ekiert, & Torgersen
Zarobe, & Catalán (2009, p. 41) view CLIL as the (2014, pp. 7-8) conducted a research where they
“post method pedagogy” in second language were expected to assess the effect of complexity,
learning. accuracy, and fluency on communicative ade-
The educational setting for international quacy in oral task performance. Révész, Ekiert,
program in YSU is an image of what Dalton- & Torgersen study shows us that in speaking, it
Puffer (2007, p. 1) described students have to is not only fluency that is expected from learners.
study content subjects in English whereas There is also a need for grammatical features,
English is used as a foreign language in Indo- appropriate vocabulary items and pronunciation
nesia. For the academic use of English, Dudley- awareness.Thus, both fluency and accuracy need
Evans & St John (1998, p.112) distinguish four to be taught and in English speaking classes for
types of EAP situations. EAP in English speaking foreign users. Parsons (2017, p. 11) implemented
countries, EAP in a ESL situations, EAP Language Related Episodes and formative peer
situations in which only certain subjects are assessement in classroom oral discussions where
taught in English, EAP situations where subjects “the use of L1 and L2 was tightly controlled, and
courses are taught in the national language. The a focus on accuracy was encouraged.” He found
case under study enters the third situation. That is that students were aware of their language and
“EAP situations where certain subjects are taught they helped one onother in their construction of
in English.” In this situation the international dialogues. On the other hand, Devos (2016, pp.
students in YSU are expected to use more English 45-46) analyzed many researches in CLIL
in their lectures but they still have other classes classrooms and highlighted different findings in
in Indonesian. On the other hand, Devos (2016, terms of language activities in CLIL classrooms
p.11) puts that CLIL is “an educational approach especially in speaking classroom opportunities.
in which students acquire a FL while learning These findings include the use of role-play to
meaningful content matter”. The importance of improve the participant fluency. He then found
CLIL in this study is that of handling specific that students tend to produce elaborated output
content while teaching and learning to effectively more in a students-centered class than in teacher-
communicate in English. led class.
CLIL is not standing alone but it is in the Finally, the development of materials for
setting of other language teaching theories and students of international program in Accounting
approaches. As there are still controversial dis- at YSU should help to solve the problem realized

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 LingTera, 5 (1), 2018 - 80
Dominique Savio Nsengiyumva

by (Ogle & Correa-Kovtun, 2010) in Sasson Contexts of English Use After University Study
(2013, p.24) as they discuss obstacles students
Data were collected in order to know
encounter in learning to speak English in content-
students’ contexts where they think they will
areas. They put that students are “stuck in the
need to use English after university study. This
middle ground of being conversational in
may be referred to as English for their future
English, but lacking in the breadth of English
workplace communication. Newton and
needed for content area success”.They realise
Kusmierczyk (2011, pp. 66-67) challenges the
that it is possible for students to appear proficient
language materials that are more interested in
in interpersonal communication, but students of
“holistic communicative environment and on the
content-areas do not simply need the inter-
communicative ideology of the workplace” with-
personal communication, they need to move
out focusing on “needs analysis and course
beyond this and practise communication skills
evaluations”. They contend that there is a grow-
that help them to study academic and disciplinary
ing interest in workplace such as physics labs,
language in order to be successful in academic
hospitals, legal practices, hairstyling salons, call
content related subjects.
centers, manufacturing plants, professional work-
METHOD places, and government and civil service”.
This developmental study refers to the Contexts of English use after
100
model of instructional materials writing suggest- university study
ed by Jolly and Bolitho through Tomlinson Students' preferences in
80
(2011, p. 20). The model was adapted and group- 60
percentage
ed into seven developmental steps consisting of:
(a) identification of needs, (b) designing a course 40
syllabus, (c) developing the materials, (d) 20
evaluating the first draft, (e) conducting try-out
0
and revising the first draft, and (f) writing the Contexts
final draft. There was a limited tryout that
involved seven students of the Department of
Accounting, Faculty of Economics, Yogyakarta
State University. After the limited tryout, there Figure 1. Contexts of English use after
was a real tryout which involved 27 semester VI university study
students of Accounting Department, Faculty of
The chart shows that most students think
Economics, Yogyakarta State University. The
that they will have to speak English in business
instruments for data collection were interview
context with a percentage of 85%. Besides, a
guide, observation guide, and a students’
percentage (74%) think that they will need to
questionnaire for needs analysis. The data for the
socialize in English. Students also believe that
evaluation of the appropriateness of the develop-
they will need English in education (62%). There
ed materials were collected using experts’ and
are students who think they will need to talk
students’ evaluation sheets. Analysis of data was
about banking after their university study. While
done using the descriptive statistics and content
context related to politics is not significally
analysis methods.
mentioned (only 12%). It can be deduced that the
RESULT AND DISCUSSION context of English use in students’ future career
is mainly “business”.
Result
Data were also collected through inter-
To develop the materials appropriate to view. The results show that students are
students of accounting in the international study convinced that they will need to travel abroad in
program (class of excellence), an assessement of the ASEAN community and communicate with
needs was compulsory. These needs included others. They will also need to find jobs or create
Necessities, wants, and lacks. Thus, items of the their own businesses. Besides, they commented
instruments for data collection intended to get that they should be ready to use English and work
data in order to know students necessities, lacks anywhere in the global era.
and wants according to the learning of English Knowing the context in which students
speaking based on CLIL and using CLT steps of think they will need to use English is not
classroom activities development. complete. There was a necessity to know what

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 LingTera, 5 (1), 2018 - 81
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activities they think they will do in the job subjects (about Accounting) in classroom during
context. This helped to develop materials based students’actual study in the university were
on these activities in order to familise students investigated.
with the activities.
Topics Often Talked About in Content Subjects
Students’ Job Activities After University Study Classes
Data were collected for the purpose to
inquire about students’ job activities that they Content Subjects Topics
think they will most likely be involved in and that 100

Percentage of occurance
will necessitate the use of English after their 80
university study. 60
40
Job Activities necessitating the 20
0
Students' preferences

Tax…
Activity…
Improving…
Business…

Bank…
Improving…

Improving…
Financial…
Accounting…
Accounting…
use of English after university

Balance Sheet
Book Keeping
study
100
50
0
Content subjects Topics

Figure 3. Classe Content Subjects Topics

Job Activities frequency of occurance
Figure 2. Students’ job activities necessitating The results reveal that all the topics are
the use of English after university study “often” talked about. Topics like accounting
The results from data from students’ basics is the most often talked about With 77% of
questionnaire indicate that students think that occurrance in class content subjects. Other topics
they will be involved more in three main job that are also talked about include accounting
activities. These are: presentations (77%), dis- principles with 65%, financial accounting with
cussions (with 73%), and dialogues/ conversation 65%, bank accounting 62%, activity based cost-
(with 58%). Topics like giving instructions and ing with 65%, Tax accounting with 58%, finan-
giving explanations, recounts and debates receive cial ratios with 58%, accounting practices with
a percentage which is not significant enough. 54%, financial management with 50%.of the total
number of students.
LACKS Thus, the materials that were developed
were based on the accounting topics according to
Classroom content subjects
100 students order of preferences. The accounting
Activities topics that helped to develop the materials were:
80
Percentage

accounting basics, financial accounting, and

60 accounting concepts.
40
Activities in Content Subjects Classes
20
Data were also collected in order to find
0
out the classroom activities that help learners to
learn both the content materials and improve their
English language.
Overall, the results demonstrate that
Activities students are mostly involved in making presen-
tations. This activity is mentioned by 76.9% of
Figure 4. Content Subjects Classroom Activities the total number of participants. Meanwhile,
The study of students’ lacks intended to discussion activities are mentioned by 38.5%.
know what they still need to improve in order to Other activities that are actually practised in class
be communicative whilst using English, mainly subjects mainly include: asking questions
in content subjects classes. In this perspective, (34.6%), communicating in group (30.8%). The
topics that are often talked about in different other activities that students acknowledge to be

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 LingTera, 5 (1), 2018 - 82
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involved in though these are not frequent (loook- some others took it twice. The English Tests
ing at the percentage of occurrence) include: taken are of two types: PRO-TEFL and TOEFL
describing procedure (with 11.5%), Answering like Paper-based.
lecturers’ questions (with 26.9%), giving To decide the level of each individual
explainations (with 7.7%). students, Common European Framework of
Reference for Languages served as a reference.
Students’ Score of English Proficiency
According to this framework, scores for
Table 1. Common European Framework of TOEFL/Pro-TEFL are classified according to the
Reference with TOEFL score level of proficiency as follows.
TOEFL score (total The average of the scores of the students in
CEFR levels both the two types of tests that were mentioned
cut score)
A1 Beginner - are: 437,8 for PRO-TEFL and 454.8 for those
A2 Intermediate (Low- 337 who took TOEFL like Paper-based test. Never-
Mid-High) theless, some students did not provide any score.
B1 Advanced Low 460 By knowing the students level of English
B2 Advanced Mid 543 profiency, the developed materiasl are expected
C1 Advanced High 627 to fit the students’ level.
C2 Superior -
Students’ Perception on How Well They Use
Table 2. Students’ Scores of English Proficiency English in Class
Test
A question was asked to obtain data on
Types of the Test students’ use of English in performing some tasks
TOEFL like Paper- (that were thought important). To analyse the
No. PRO-TEFL
based
data the same tasks were grouped in four goups
Score Level score Level
according to the degree of occurance from data
1. 430 Intermediate 407 Intermediate
2. 410 Intermediate 478 Advanced from students’questionnaire. The goups were
Low presented in the chart below and have been
3. 435 Intermediate 620 Advanced Mid grouped according to the frequency of occurance.
4. 428 Intermediate 450 Intermediate These groups correspond to (in the strict order of
5. 467 Advanced 450 occurance): Fair, Good, Poor, and Very Good.
Low Intermediate
6. 430 Intermediate 330 Intermediate Perception on Students' ability to
7. 490 Advanced 430 use English
Low Intermediate
80
8. 413 Intermediate 410 Intermediate
Degree of perception

60
9. 453 Intermediate 40
10. 500 Advanced 20
Low 0
Conversa…

Conversa…
Discussio…

Presenta…
Giving…
Expalinat…

12. 430 Intermediate

Dialogues

Dialogues
Debates

Others
Recounts

13. 447 Intermediate

14. 537 Advanced
Low
15. 437 Intermediate Classroom Activities
16. 435 Intermediate
17. 476 Advanced
Low Figure 5. Activities for the use of English in
18. 428 Intermediate Performing Classroom Tasks
19. 435 Intermediate
20. 490 Advanced The results highlight that students can
Low “fairly” perfom all the tasks except debate (which
Mean is even not significantly fairy practised). No
437.8 Intermediate 454.8 Intermediate activity is believed to be perfomed at the level of
very good. The category of some tasks is “good”
An investigation on students’ score of but this is not significant enough. Making presen-
English Proficiency Test was also conducted. tation is felt to be even more poorly performed.
The results show that most of the students have In the sense to know students lacks, data were
attended an English test. Some took it once while collected to investigate students difficulties in

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 LingTera, 5 (1), 2018 - 83
Dominique Savio Nsengiyumva

speaking English during their content subjects Components of the English Speaking Learning
class activities. Materials
Students’ Difficulties in Speaking English Data were also collected in the sense to
find out students’ wants about what should the
Difficulties in speaking English materials help them to learn.
Percentage of

80 Learning Material
Frequency

100

Frequency
60
50
40
Limite…

Accura…
0

Makin…
Formal…

Inform…
Poor…
Partici…

Partici…

Other,…
20
0

Difficulties

Figure 6. Students’ Difficulties in Speaking

English
Components of Material
The results from the data show that
students lack of strategies to participate in dis- Figure 7: Students Preferences of the
cussions and/or debates. This has been mentioned Components of Learning Materials
by 65% of the students. They also have
The results from the data illustrate that
difficulties in pronunciation (62%) and lack of
there are different elements of the materials
vocabulary items especially specific vocabulary
according to students preferences. However,
(58%) to use. What can not be ignored is the
pronunciation and vocabulary specific to their
students’ lack of both formal language (54%) and
area of study come at the top with 73% of
accuracy in their sentences (54%). The two last
occurance each. The other elements include
probems are related since formal language
conversations/dialogue with 69%, learning about
include correctness/accuracy of sentences.
making good presentation with 65%, accurate
To try to overcome some of these diffi-
sentences with 62% and strategies about making
culties, the University of Cambridge CLIL
discussions/debates with 54%.
experienced teachers (University of Cambridge
In the same sense, results from
ESOL Examinations, 2008:6) propose a number
of activities to help learners in such settings. Herminingsih (2015, p. 148) about the language
These can include: tasks that involve learners in used in CLIL settings in a biology class include
producing key-subject specific vocabulary and specific words and gammatical features. The
structures in meaningful pair or group work results show that there is a (1) use of both high
activities. Tasks can be at word level (e.g: pair- frequency general words, such as find, use, speak,
work information-gap, or lebelling activity) or continue,... (2) non-specialized academic words
sentence level (pairs can ask and answer auch as examine, conservation, consume, pre-
questions...) or discussions in groups to explain serve, ... and (3) specialised content area words
about the content topics under discussion. (unique to specific content area) such as pollen,
biosphere, chain,... The same author realises also
WANTS the use of sentence patterns in grammar. These
The analysis of data on what content include the declaratives, the imperatives, the
subjects topics students would prefer to talk interrogatives, and the exclamatory sentences.
about while learning speaking English reveal that These results emphasize the students’ needs
the most preferred topics are (ranged in their about learning vocabulary and grammatical
order of importance according to students features and can support the development of any
preferences) Accounting, Basics Financial CLIL related materials.
Accounting, Accounting, Concepts Accounting English Speaking Learning Activities
Principles, Tax Accounting, Income Statement
Students’ wants also include activities that
they would like to be doing and that will help
them to really learn and practise communication.
In this perspective, data were collected to know

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 LingTera, 5 (1), 2018 - 84
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students’ wants about the activities that they Students’ Reasons for Learning English
would prefer to be involved in.
In order to get complete insights about
Learning Activities what the materials should make students learn,
data were collected on students’ reasons for
Frequency of preference

100 learning English.

80
60
40 Studens' Preferences of English
20 speaking skills
0

Percentage
70
60
50
40
30
20
Activities 10
0

Communi…

Communi…
Answering…

Answering…

Asking…
Giving…
Speaking…

Others
Figure 8. Students’ English Speaking Learning
Activities
The results indicate that from all the acti-
vities, the most preferred one is “game activities” Speaking Skills
( 81%). This can be interpreted as students
wanting to learn English in a fun way. The other Figure 9. Students’ Reasons for learning English
type of activities which are very significant
include “dialogue/conversation activities” (77%). From the chart above, the results reveal
This is followed by “group activities”(58%). that students are eager to learn English in order to
These are the main kinds of speaking activities be able to make conversations 92%. Besides,
from the choices of the respondents. Besides, being able to ask and answer questions 88%,
activities like “presentation activities (42%), being able to make presentations 78%, engage in
question and answer activities(47%), Role-play dialogues and being able to give explaination are
activities (42%), discussions activities (38%), the main objectives of the students when they
opinion exchange activities (35%), problem have to take the classes of Speaking English.
solving activities(31%), and spoken exchange From the data from interview, it was found
activities (31%) played an important role in the that students will need to travel abroad in the
variation of speaking activities that were ASEAN community and communicate with
designed for students speaking practice. people. They will also need to find jobs or create
On this point, Huang (2014, p. 402) in her their own businesses. They also commented that
study about chineese students’ needs for learning they should be ready to use English and work
Chinese language in the United States, he found anywhere in this global era and that they need to
that 90% of the students wanted to develop their communicate with foreign friends. Some students
speaking skills. The activities to develop skills also preferred materials that is based on daily
included both pair work and role-play. Besides, conversations and dialogues that can help them to
the students believed that the use of movies and make many friends including foreigners.
songs could also be useful for their speaking Content Subjects Topics Students Would Prefer
skills development. Kim and Yoo (2016, p. 1049) to Talk About
conducted a needs analysis in order to develop
materials for sports students. In their results, they The analysis of data on what content
subjects topics students would prefer to talk
found that students would prefer “the classes to
use various activities such as role-play and about while learning speaking English reveal that
the most prefered topics are (ranged in their order
simulations so that they could practise speaking
of importance according to students preferences)
more effectively”. Because the materials deve-
loped also intended to help students practise the following: Accounting Basics, Financial
Accounting, Accounting Concepts, Accounting
different speaking skills, activities were designed
following both students’wants and what happens Principles, Tax Accounting. As the materials
were limited to four units, some topics were
in actual content subject classes.
considered (according to students’ order of
preferences).

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Syllabus Design Main activities: These are the activities

that help students to truly study and practise the
Based on the results from needs analysis, a
language in order to achieve the intended skills.
syllabus was designed. Since the product was
Students self-evaluation: in this section,
expected to be comprised of four units, this
students evaluate to what extent they can under-
syllabus was a design of the blueprint of the four
stant the structures and perform communication
units. In each unit, this syllabus encompassed: the
using these structures. This also helps the teacher
name of the unit, the content topic, basic com-
to give students feedback according to what is
petences, core competences, and the teaching/
still missing.
learning materials. The teaching materials
Glossary: This section has in it key words
embody the language functions (the language for
that students should have graspered throughout
like describing products, expressing conditions,
the learning activities in the unit.
...), the grammar (like the If-conditional, Relative
References: Each unit shows used refe-
clauses, ...), and vvocabulary (like assets, investi-
rences. These are accounting authentic contents
ment, transanctions, ...). The syllabus also
books and some online references.
contained the learning aactivities. These
activities were structured around CLT structure Discussion
of activities, these activities included pre-
The product in this study has been
communicative, functional communication and
developed based on Content and Language
social interaction activities. Each unit has time
Integrated Learning theory. The product has the
allocation as well.
quality of suplementary content and language
For more details, the syllabus can be seen
integrated English speaking materials for
in the appendices section.
accounting students. These materials will help
Product Description students to increase their skills in speaking
English as far as academic disciplinary contents
The product of the developed materials
and future carrier are concerned. The Textbook
contains elements in the table below.
that is a result of this study has been developed
Table 3: Product Components following Communicative Language Teaching
Unit Title Content Topic
Steps of Activities. The materials are expected to
1. How can I start a Business help students to increase their level of English
Business? language proficiency from intermediate to at least
2. Excuse Me Professor. Accounting mid-advanced level. The practical meaning of the
concepts product is that it can be used by teachers (tutors)
3. If I had computed all the Accounting to teach students in extra-curricula time.
Transactions ... basics The development of materials based on
4. In My Opinion ... Financial language integrated to contents for accounting
accounting students has proven that students are eager to
5. The Income Statement Income practice materials based on subjects that reflect
will be presented by ... Statement
6. He Told Us That ... Socialization
their everyday academic discourse as content
subjects are concerned.
Each of the units is outlined as follows:
Prior to the development of the product
Unit title: This is based on students’ needs materials, a number of steps have been followed.
in terms of accounting and language contents. It In this sense, the target needs results of account-
also expresses what can be expected to talk about ing students’communication skills have shown
in the unit. that most students are eager to be able to commu-
Content of the unit: The contents include nicate effectively in English. The idea of needs
the language skills that are expected to be analysis is also supported by Kusmierczyk (2011,
installed subsquent to the learning process and pp. 66-67) as he challenges the language
activities. materials that are more interested in “holistic
Warm-up activities: The warm-up acti- communicative environment and on the commu-
vities are designed to activate students’ interest nicative ideology of the workplace” instead of
and motivation on what will be delt with all along building students learning materials around their
the unit activities and contents. own needs. In this study students are interested in
English that will help them in their future career.
To develop future carrier related English, Li

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 LingTera, 5 (1), 2018 - 86
Dominique Savio Nsengiyumva

(2014, P.182) says that ‘for Business English study of Huang, (2014, p. 402) as she studies
students, their motivation of learning English Chinese students’ needs for speaking. In the same
might be to work in a business-related institu- perspectives, Karababa, and Karagül (2013, p.
tion’. That is why there was a need to develop 367-368) study revealed that students of Turkish
materials highlighting the different activities that as foreign language preferred practising conver-
are the picture of what students will be doing in sations (mostly with native speakers). Their
their future carrier. Thinking that they will be subjects also valued working in groups with
involved in activities related to business, most friends.
students preferred to study materials that will The conversations and group works have
help them to be communicative when they are also been the preferences of accounting students
dealing with activities related to business and in the present study. For their learning needs, it
using English. The content materials and activi- was also found that students want to learn about
ties that were developed intended to help learners grammar: pronunciation (62%), and specific
study and practise the appropriate language that vocabulary (58%). The grammar, vocabulary,
is used in business milieu. Thus, the evaluation of and pronunciation will help students to engage in
the materials show that the materials developed structural activities proposed by communicative
are appropriate for this purpose. language teaching approach. This was not only
Though these students are eager to practice true for this study but according to Ahmed at al.
materials that reflect business activities, there (2015, p. 9) during communication between
was a huge need to consider their level of pro- doctors and patients there might still be mis-
ficiency in English. In the analysis of students’ understanding related to issues of language such
needs it has been found that these students have as pronunciation and vocabulary. It was in the
the intermediate level of English proficiency. same sense that the present study also was
In order to fit well the needs of the stu- interested in exploring the needs of students in
dents, it was necessary to develop materials based terms of language use.
on content and language reflecting the students’ The materials developed are based on the
field of study contents topics. Knowing that the students’ needs that have been earlier described
language used in business can vary, there was no and on content and language integrated learning.
intention to cover all the language features used That is the reason why the present materials were
in business considering students level of English built around students’ field of study content
proficiency and time restrictions. Students that topics. The product of the materials was made of
were involved in the study appreciated the mate- four units. They included the topics about
rials and enjoyed learning the contents during the accounting such as Accounting Basics, Account-
try-out phase. A great number of students of ing Concepts, Financial Accounting,
accounting class showed that they want to prac- Because the intended product of the
tise speaking English especially when talking materials embodied six units, the topics that the
about accounting contents. This will help them to materials covered included “Business” as the
be conversant with the discourse used in topic preferred by the majority of students,
accounting. Therefore, students need materials Accounting Basics, also preferred by many
that are based on some topics of their choice. The students, Accounting Concepts, Financial
topics in accounting are braodly various but Accounting, Income Statement, and Social-
students only main preferences were considered ization. Both of the topics were choices of the
and were sufficiently appropriate and useful. students and the materials have been built around
While students enjoyed the materials that these topics. Designing materials based on topics
reflect their activities in their future carrier, there specific to contents helps to teach students
was also a need to consider different main scientific and academic concepts used in the field
activities that students preferred to practise while as discussed by Remache (2013, p. 43) when he
studying speaking English. These (according to argues that ‘the learning of science entails the
students’ preferences) included games, discuss- acquisition of knowledge of certain universal
ions, conversations, and classroom presentations. concepts which are peculiar to scientific and
They are activities that help students to be more technological texts’. In the present study, each of
communicative and participate both in real the units has components like title, contents,
functional communication and social inter- warm-up activities, main activities, students’
actions. These activities were considered in this self-reflection, a glossary, and references. Spe-
developmental study. This matches with the cific vocabulary and grammatical features were

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 LingTera, 5 (1), 2018 - 87
Dominique Savio Nsengiyumva

also developed in the materials of the product. Learning speaking English using the developed
The evaluation of the materials from both the materials will not only help the students in being
students and experts show that the materials are more confident in speaking English and using it
very good considering the students’ needs and in their content subjects classes but it will soften
level. the activities of the content teachers, where
English is used as well.
CONCLUSION
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