Developing an English Speaking and Writing Course For Australian Immigration Agents

Introduction
The curriculum represents a planned learning experience of any educational institution to put the educational ideas into practice (Prideaux, 2003). That is, the curriculum is designed by focusing on three levels that are: what is mapped by the designers, what is delivered to the students, and then find out what is learned by the students. Any curriculum will be consisted of different units, and each unit is developed from a serious of lessons that are underpinned by a set of values and beliefs about what students should learn (Brown, 2007, p. 148).

Units that are embedded in curriculum should be useful through being responsive to any changes to meet the stakeholder’s expectations. Therefore, it was assumed that changes to language learning understanding and theories should occur to seek recent teaching approaches when people become more interested in learning English language skills that are needed for different aspects of life (Richards, 2001, p. 24).

Richards (2001, p. 28) stated that English courses for specific purposes (ESP) became more essential to cover the learners’ needs, as the ESP course for nurses. As a result, the Migration Agents Registration Authority (MARA) recently proposed a new policy that requires all Australian immigration agents to register yearly in a course called Continuing Professional Development (CPD). This to ensure they will improve their knowledge with any changes related to immigration legislation and issues (Continuing Professional Development, n.d.).

However, due to the increase of complaints by immigration case officers and clients about the agents’ language skills, the Australian Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC) has funded and put forward a permanent mechanism to identify the language needs for CPD courses based on its national needs.

Therefore, DIAC have implemented a relevant ESP teaching curriculum that can be combined together with CPD courses, so that all agents become qualified in their English skills.

In this project, the important aspects of curriculum is discussed will only concentrate on the spoken and written English skills that are needed by the immigration agents to succeed in their job. It will also discuss other elements such as the content, aims and outcomes, needs analysis, situational analysis, rationale, entry and exit levels, structure of delivering the course, syllabus frame work, teaching and English learning methods, materials and resources, assessment and evaluation of the course. Those elements will assist the agents to reinforce the spoken and written English skills that are required for immigration purposes (Prideaux, 2003). They are linked and there is no one element can be decided without considering the other.

Needs Analysis

The procedures used to collect information about learners’ needs, background, aspirations and attitudes are called needs analysis. This is a central approach that addresses the specific purpose of the Australian immigration policy makers, case officers, and its agents for a language that can use technical English concepts related to immigration field rather than any general English courses (Brown, 1995 & Richards, 2001, p 32). The followings will outline the importance for this needs analysis:

Purpose

The purpose of this needs analysis was to determine what language skills the agents need to perform their jobs, to explore if any existing language courses address similar needs, to identify their strengths and weaknesses in a specific skill, to identify any gap between what they can do and cannot do, to find out what prior educational experiences they have, and finally to collect information about any problems they are encountering (Richards, 2001, p. 52).

This analysis commences prior starting the teaching program. Three months were spent to conduct needs analysis for immigration agents. Data were gathered through reports about agents’ performance available by DIAC, interviews and meetings between MARA and DIAC officials, and questionnaire were distributed to immigration agents to collect information about their needs.

Procedures

Information of needs analysis was obtained by observation (from earlier DIAC courses), interviews, and meetings with immigration agents and case officers. Moreover, questionnaires for agents and for immigration staff will be distributed to seek information about the agents’ language and non-language needs and goals (Richards, 2001, p. 63).

DIAC and MARA have provided documents about agents’ language proficiency levels. Additionally, at the end of the course, DIAC set out a test to identify if the agents have developed their language proficiency levels and have upgraded their immigration information, so that DIAC can modify the course for the following year.

Findings

The policy makers of DIAC and MARA analyzed the information presented by a written report in their annual meeting and found the following:

Based on the needs analysis, all immigration agents’ have intermediate English level. All agents were bilingual speakers (Arabic speakers). Most agents encountered difficulties in their spoken English performance when dealing with clients and immigration, and also with their writing skills specially when doing submissions.

That is, because all agents have various educational backgrounds which lack the skills required for immigration jobs. Yet, the immigration field requires from agents to gain special technical terminologies that can be employed with immigration to have professional and clear manner while serving DIAC and people.

There were twenty agents, and five of them were women. Their ages ranged between thirty two to forty five years old. Twelve of them were working already as immigration agents, while others need to get work experience, including the language skills to accomplish their job.

The inexperienced agents were unable to find proper English words to tell the client’s story, or sometimes they were straggling when interacting with native case officers who tend to speak too fast or use idiomatic expressions. Therefore, DIAC decided to motivate immigration agents by improving their English confidence for communication purposes.

Situational Analysis

According to Richards (2001, p. 91) situational analysis is the analysis of factors such as the institutional, societal, the audience, and needs of the students that can be relevant to implement a successful language project. Therefore, societal factors studies the role and values of teaching special English course for immigration agents, so it can improve their services they offer to the society, and to meet the expectations of the Immigration Department who is funding the course.

Furthermore, situation analysis will focus on institutional factor related to immigration, to keep professional standards and good reputation for agents, and to provide necessary curriculum guidelines and resources. Despite the yearly CPD courses administered by MARA which was delivered by an immigrant specialist, there was no focus on the English language skills needed by the agents.

And when immigrants and refugees have increased, it was required from agents to use special terminologies and skills to each visa. For instance, for refugee cases they should address the client’s discrimination and torture, while for spouse visa cases they should write about how the relationship has developed.

For this reason the demand of learning English skills has increased. Bilingual TESOL qualified teacher, who is also an immigration accredited specialist, was teaching this course. He was offering good immigration training, updating information, motivation and English proficiency that is required for the job.

The teacher was relaying on existing materials supplied by the Department of Immigration and Citizenship. Project materials took 3 weeks to be made as a booklet consisting of old submissions, letters, forms, and interviews for previous cases. The materials that have errors and mistakes were chosen so that it can be good examples to learn from. Materials were obtained from the Freedom of Information and Privacy section of DIAC, which requires saving the old files for seven years by law (FOI, 2012).

Additionally, learner factors were considered by acknowledging the language levels for all agents, type of learning approach they prefer, times for attending the course, and what they are expecting from it. Situational analysis along with needs analysis assisted to identify any barriers, and helped in setting the goals and outcomes for the English course for immigration agents.

Aims and objectives

The aims of this course are to develop the ability for immigration agents to communicate effectively, in both speech and writing, in everyday situation for immigration purposes. Also, to develop strategies improving sensitive writing choices of acronyms and expressions related to immigration case.

Objectives:

After completing this course the immigration agents will be able to:

Perform in broad areas of need such as undertaking complex speaking and writing tasks related to immigration purposes.
Perform in specific tasks like demonstrating understanding of advanced, institutional notes and massages related to immigration.
Learn how to use particular skills and strategies when setting out a formal letter in an appropriate format.
Become familiar with various techniques of vocabulary learning related to immigration field.
Fill out various forms for different visa categories.
Motivate immigration agents to perform more effective work by updating their existing information.
Build confidence.
Develop cultural understanding.

Course rationale

The course rationale is a brief written description of the reasons for the course and the nature of it (Richards, 2001, p. 145). This course is designed for adult Australian immigration agents, who have intermediate English level, to develop their communication skills. This course is mainly focusing in speaking and writing in the context of immigration. It will assist those who have less experience and intermediate level of English to strengthen their vocabulary size to become more precise and accurate when referring to each case separately.

This course will give guidance for agents to recognize their strength and needs in language learning. It will gradually build their confidence to communicate with immigration agents and clients in English.

Entry and exit level

5.1. Entry Level

The learners must be: (from Continuing Professional Development, n.d.)

Registered migration agents with the office of MARA.
Bilingual speaker
Have intermediate level of English or above.
Working or practicing as immigration agents.
Australian citizens.

5.2. Exit Level

After passing successfully a test based on immigration law knowledge at the end of the course, all agents will be able to repeat their registration yearly, in order to keep their professional licenses updated. They will also receive a recognized certificate of completing the required English course by immigration (see appendix 3). This will ensure all agents are able to communicate and use English effectively.

Structure for delivery

The scope of this course will focus on skills and task based on the learners’ needs. So, tasks will teach the learners how to use the language succinctly for communication purposes. The sequence and activities have been distributed according to the immigration agents needs’ for language use. Moreover, prerequisite learning experiences for learners will be considered to integrate their skills with language components such as vocabulary and pronunciation (Richards, 2001, p. 150-151).

This course is consisted of 8 tasks that involve different contents related to immigration. Each one has its own objectives. It is divided into two modules that have integrated skills for four hours weekly.

The course will last for eight weeks and it will be running in Sydney. It will be delivered on Saturday mornings as most of the agents are working except on weekends. The agents will be tested in week 8, and upon passing this test their licenses will be renewed. Thirty two hours of work plan based on the topics selected for each unit is attached in appendix 1.

Syllabus framework

The syllabuses of this course are task based and skills. Task-based learning is an activity or goal that is carried out using a language (Richards, 2001, p. 161). It is English-need-based approach for relevant immigration topics are used by learners/agents. So, the purpose of the ‘task’ is to provide a context to study language (Skehan, 1996, p. 20). Richards (2001, p. 162) stated that tasks focus on process rather than product. It assists learners to facilitate second language learning and motivate them to be engaged in meaningful and effective communication.

However, skills syllabus is about the different abilities that are involved in using a language when speaking or writing, such as editing or paraphrasing (Richards, 2001, p. 159). Therefore, communicative activities, whether spoken or written, are used as methods of instruction.

The course is designed based on the above theories, needs analysis, and the motivational learning activities. The course tasks involved authentic materials such as audio-recorded interviews, submissions, letters, and so on for practicing the speaking and writing skills that are essential for immigration purposes. Furthermore, the communicative approach focuses on skills and task-based language learning methods that offers good practice for immigration agents.

The learning process happens through listening to teacher’s instructions, agents’ participation in writing letters, practice speaking via role plays, and reading specific information. The topics were covered in the syllabus were based on the learners’ needs and DIAC’s requirements for the job as shown in the below table:

Syllabus Framework

Date

Week

Time

Topic/Activity

Saturday

30 June 2012

Week 1

9.00am
10.00am
10.00am-1.00pm

Introduction to the course.

Accounts Management

Practicing interviews/spoken tasks /recordings

Saturday

7 July 2012

Week 2

9.00am – 10.00

10.00am – 1.00pm

Ethics & Professional Practice

Answering telephone / role plays

Saturday

14 July 2012

Week 3

9.00am– 110.00am

11.00am -1.00pm

Meeting clients / watching DvD

Merits review / Discussion / spoken skills

Saturday

21 July 2012

Week 4

9.00am – 12.00pm

12.00pm – 1.00pm

Notes and messages / spoken & written skills / listening tasks

Clients priority

Saturday

28 July 2012

Week 5

9.00am – 12.00pm

12.00pm – 1.00pm

Writing submissions/introduction, body, conclusion skills

Students to PR

Saturday

4 August 2012

Week 6

9.00am-11.00am

11.00am – 1.00pm

Resident Return Visas

Writing letters / examples, important notes

Essential skills

Saturday

11 August 2012

Week 7

9.00am – 11.30am

11.30pm – 1.00pm

Writing facsimile / important details / names/ moods/aspects / design

Recent developments

Saturday

18 August 2012

Week 8

9.00am -11.00am

11.00am – 1.00pm

Forms – filling a form, techniques

Different visa categories / note cultural questions / build confidence

Important key words, vocabularies

The most essential course contents are: practicing interviews, writing submissions, writing letters for different applications, answering telephone enquiries, and filling forms. Those topics were combined together with CPD course content by distributing the units so that the speaking and writing skills can be taught. Two hours of lesson plan on how to write submissions is attached in appendix 2.

Teaching approaches

The most suitable approaches used in this course are the Direct Method, Audiolingual Method, Communicative Method and Task Based Approach (Brown, 2007).

However, communication language teaching approach and integration of skills have been chosen for the immigration agents to support their language development for best communication needs. According to Brown (2007), communication approach focuses on many areas that are appropriate for the immigration agents. For instance, it will teach them language techniques for functional use and meaningful purposes. Integration of skills approach will combine what the agents knows and what they don’t know in terms of English and immigration skills.

It will also teach them fluency, accuracy, comprehension and production for formal settings. This approach will be applied by various tasks, role plays and activities (Harmer, 2007). So, the course will depend on the materials used as a teaching method. The teacher role will become as a facilitator (Brown, 2007). Furthermore, the facilitator will supply language handouts, notes, and new updated information related to immigration field for all agents.

Materials and resources

The materials used for CPD courses are supplied and updated yearly by the Department of Immigration and Citizenship. However, the English language teaching support is implemented in this project for the first year. Therefore, DIAC and MARA have decided to use existing materials that have minor errors or mistakes which can be collected together to generate a special booklet for the purpose of this course.

Materials such as internet articles, submissions, recorded interviews, and letters (faxes and emails) are used by the facilitator to provide a highlight of the requested aspects for immigration field with combination of the English skills. The facilitator will supply copies for all agents. Those existing pieces of writings will have different difficulty levels and topics.

It is believed that learning with existing materials is more effective; thus case studies will be used to enhance their learning. Harmer (2007, p. 98) asserted that without such motivation learners will certainly fail to make the necessary effort. So, the facilitator will encourage effective communicative practice by asking the agents to participate in role play like being an immigration agent who is assisting a client. The facilitator will administer the task and will show their weaknesses. Then, facilitator will provide a detailed guide for those agents to become more accurate when interacting with clients. Harmer (2007, p 98) argued that motivation means the teaching materials must help the learners to learn how to devote efforts in order to reach their goals.

The benefit of those authentic materials that involves practical examples will clarify for the agents what sort of language is needed to their field (Paltridge, 2001). They will learn how to comprehend a scenario, use appropriate language, and structure their speech according to their ideas.

Conversely, those materials are very important but they will take long time to prepare as the facilitator has to collect them after getting permission from the FOI unit within DIAC (Richards, 2001).

Assessment

Assessing learners’ progress is very essential part of curriculum for the facilitator and the immigration agents. It will provide information to stakeholders about the agents’ achievement, what English skills they need, and what sort of methods they are using in learning English (Brown, 1999).

DIAC have implemented this course to develop the English skills for their agents to become more professional. The progress and summative assessment will be used to assess learners. There will be one test that involves conducting interview, observing answers to class activities at end of each module, and final written test at the end of the course to evaluate the effectiveness of the teaching.

The test is planned to have oral conversational activities (e.g. answering telephone call) and formal written tasks. The test tasks will find out if learners are using the language skills, techniques and communication skills they have learned. Ongoing feedback will be given at the end of each module.

Evaluation strategies

Evaluation is the final processing step of monitoring the effectiveness of the course in terms of needs, goals, teachers, learners, syllabuses, and materials (Richards, 2001, p. 286). The immigration agents program will be evaluated through the formative and summative evaluation. For formative evaluation, the facilitator will gather information from interviews, tests and monitored activities, to find out what is working well, and what is not, and what problems need to be addressed. Summative evaluation is concerned with determining the effectiveness of a program and its efficiency through measuring the students’ performance throughout the course with written samples, classroom observation, and interviews (Richards, 2001).

The list of audience for evaluation is:

Learners/Agents: must explore the benefit of what they learnt from the course in order to use it in their jobs.
Teachers: must know how useful the DIAC existing materials for the course.
Curriculum developers: must know if there is any aspect of the course content need to be replaced.
Sponsors: need to know if the course has met their expectations.

A feedback report on learners’ strength, weakness, and effectiveness of the teaching according to the course goals and objectives will be submitted to the stakeholders.

Conclusion
Building a curriculum is an ongoing task that involves important principles to be emerged together with constant modification in order to address the learners’ needs.

This project demands building necessary elements to have effective curriculum such as needs analysis, material design, syllabus and structural framework, teach selection, and course evaluation.

The Department of Immigration implemented this program based on their agreement with MARA. Therefore, the curriculum is not fixed to what they have decided, but it will accept adjustments based on the immigration agents’ needs to their field.

REFERENCES

Brown, H. D (2007). Teaching by principles: An interactive approach to language pedagogy (3rd ed.). White Plains, NY: Pearson Education.

Continuing professional development. (n.d.). Retrieved April 29, 2012, from https://www.mara.gov.au/Agent-Information/default.aspx

FOI. (n.d.). Retrieved May 6, 2012, from http://www.immi.gov.au/about/foi/

Harmer, J. (2007). The practice of English language teaching (4th ed.). Harlow, England: Pearson Education.

Paltridge, B. (2001). Genre and the language learning classroom. Michigan: University of Michigan.

Prideaux, D. (2003). The ABC of learning and teaching in medicine: Curriculum design. British Medical Journal. 326(7383): 268-270.

Richards, J. C. (2001). Curriculum development in language education. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

Skehan, P. 1996. A framework for the implementation of task-based instruction. Applied Linguistics 17 (1): 38-61.

Appendices

Appendix 1

Units of work plan

Immigration Agents Training Sessions

Macquaire Graduate School of Management (MGSM)

Level 7, 37 Pitt Street

Sydney NSW 2000

Phone: 02 8006 0146

Website: www.rmatraining.com.au

Week s	Module 1	Module 2	Unit Number	Number of hours
Unit 1 – Speaking
Week 1	Accounts Management	Practicing interviews	34200	4 hours
Week 2	Ethics & Professional Practice	Answering telephone	34201	4 hours
Week 3	Merits Review, Procedures and Requirements: How, When, Where & Why ?	Meeting clients	34204	4 hours
Week 4	Raising Your Client’s Priority	Notes and messages	34205	4 hours
Unit 2 – Writing
Week 5	Students To PR	Writing submissions	34206	4 hours
Week 6	Resident Return Visas	Writing letters	34207	4 hours
Week 7	Recent Developments	Writing facsimile	34208	4 hours
Week 8	Demand-Driven GSM & New Points Test	Forms	34376	4 hours

Appendix 2

Lesson Plan

How to write submissions

Referenced from: (Brown, 2007, p.164 172)

Time	What to teach	Outcomes
9.00am – 10.30am	Goals & Objectives	Agents will comprehend and learn important aspects that should be addressed for different visas such as partner, protection, or student visas. Agents have to know what they need to know. Why writing submissions. Evaluate agents’ success at end of the lesson.
10.30am – 10.45am	Materials & Equipment	The following will be used to teach the writing task for our learners: Computer and power point viewer. Existing submissions related to different visa categories. Case studies for practice (prepared earlier)
10.45am – 12.15pm	Procedures	Here the instructor should teach immigration agents how to write the followings: An opening statement. Learn some relevant techniques of writing. Write strong vocabulary related to each case. Closure statements of submission.
12.15pm – 1.00pm	Assessment	The case studies will be given for agents to practice writing some opening and closing statement in order to have brief discussion with the assistance of the instructor.