Page 15 - ELG2406 June Issue 490

SPECIAL FEATURE

All about… the Occupational English Test

What is the Occupational English Test and who teaches it?

Melanie Butler gives us a crash course…

hen we decided to list all the Speaker Level English
Occupational English Test may all be necessary, but
(OET) Premium providers, they are not sufficient.
Wwe had to ignore their scores I know this only too
in British Council Rankings. Ten of the well, as someone who
UK language schools to make grade 8 are wrote ESP curricula for
BC, and while three of these are Centres a living during the 80s
of Excellence, none of those are on when specialist courses
All Stars list. were king. I worked
When we decided to list all the for quite a prestigious
Occupational English Test (OET) Premium language school in
providers, we had to ignore their scores in Rome run by a delightful
British Council Rankings. Ten of the UK principal who could sell
language schools to make grade 8 are BC, and ice to Inuits.
while three of these are Centres of Excellence, One Friday afternoon
none of those are on All Stars list. he came in and declared
Now all language schools who offer OET that he had sold a two-week course in English The short answer is: no.
must undertake some training, but those who for mudloggers starting the following Monday In EFL it has always been the teacher who
want to excel at it take further courses in and gave me the weekend to come up with pays for the qualification. However, with a lot
order to achieve Premium status. However, something. of graduate jobs on offer after COVID, and
not all Premium schools want to take part “Do you know what a mudlogger is?” EFL teachers in most countries offered the
in the All Star programme, which involves I asked. same amount of money as 20 years ago, the
having their teachers teach online. So, an “Er… No,” came the reply. supply of teachers has dried up.
unaccredited OET All Star is not necessarily Luckily I had previously taught among This is a simple case of the economic law
better at teaching Medical English than a the oil fields in pre-revolutionary Iran. of supply and demand: if the demand for
Centre of Excellence peer which is an OET “A mudlogger is a sort of geologist in the teachers with particular qualifications is
premium provider. petroleum industry,” I told him. “They check higher than the supply, put their money up.
Premium status does mean that both of the rock and sludge that comes up from In the UK, the industry has responded
them excel at teaching for that exam and drilling.” by dropping the qualification requirements.
their students are more likely to pass it, “Do they?” The British Council quietly dropped the
because when it comes to exams, it’s the I went home, dug out my old copy of requirement that teachers ‘normally’ have
teachers’ specific subject knowledge that English for the Petrochemical Industry, a level 6 qualification, so that’s graduate
makes the difference to students’ exam designed the programme and taught the teachers gone. Meanwhile, English UK
result, according to a 2022 paper cited course myself for the next two weeks. I was are launching a new ‘low cost’ on-the-job
in Science Direct. Higher level teaching probably not very successful, any more than qualification, presumably paid for by the
qualifications, such as a Master’s in I was successful at teaching Military English trainee teacher, designed to replace the
Education, are also correlated with better (my actual job in Iran), Spanish Air Traffic necessity to shell out £1000 and upwards for a
results. Controllers or the Currency Traders in the CELTA and Trinity CertESOL.
It is not possible to be an OET Premium Italian Ministry of Finance. I did have a Minimum Level of English required to
Centre without having excellent specialist degree and a DELTA but I didn’t have a teach English? B2.
teaching. However, it is possible to be a CELTA, because it hadn’t yet been invented. Will this make any difference to your
Centre of Excellence based on BC Inspection And as for my technical knowledge of average general English class? Not really. But
and still have teaching that is no more than mudlogging, I had a unit of six or seven pages for others it’s a disaster. How can you teach
satisfactory. in a textbook. Academic English when you have never been
The BC inspectors do not place particular It is precisely this kind of unprofessional to university and learned to use it? How can
emphasis on teaching; it is just one of up to nonsense that OET is determined to minimise you teach IELTS when your own level of
15 areas – everything from student welfare in the teaching of its medical English exam. English is B2?
to premises and facilities – that they inspect. As they explain in their article, they train As for the OET, even if you are a graduate
You can be a Centre of Excellence if your not only the schools who offer their exam but with a DELTA, no medical experience or
teaching is merely satisfactory, and some also the teachers who teach it. The teacher specialist training, can you successfully teach
of your teachers do not have all the right training is absolutely free, and if you look at a nurse to pass it? OET don’t seem to think
qualifications, as long as you are awarded the full list of Premium providers you will see so, therefore they will train you free of charge.
an area of strength in at least nine other many of those teachers work for themselves And they do not only train EFL teachers to
categories. online or work in small groups hired directly teach medical English, they will also train
Success at specialist language teaching, by hospitals. Language Schools in English- Medics to teach English.
by contrast, has nothing to do with student speaking countries form only a small part of The OET business model is simple and
services, school management or leisure the provision. revolutionary: if you want to create a
activities; success depends on the knowledge But can’t all English language schools specialist exam, you train the people that are
and skills of its teachers and its academic be trusted to train their teachers to get needed to help your candidates to pass it. If
management. Possession of a degree, a four- their students through high-level exams in only other exam boards , and accreditation
week English course like CELTA and Native specialist English? schemes, would follow their example…
editorial@elgazette.com 15