Discussion on the Training and Assessment of Maritime English Based on IMO Model Courses

Dang+Kun

Abstract：With the fast and continuous development of international shipping， maritime English proficiency has been an inevitable requirement for multinational crews. To attain the abilities and skills in maritime English put forward by STCW Convention， IMO model courses provided for maritime English training and assessments contribute a lot to this goal； however， some special cases may cause trouble to the trainers and trainees， such as different designed teaching hours set for one function goal， etc. which should need further discussion.

Keywords：Maritime English； STCW standards； IMO Model Courses； Special Cases

1. Introduction

According to Peter Trenkner， maritime English is the entirety of all those means of the English language which， being used as a device for communication within the international maritime community， contribute to the safety of navigation and facilitation of seaborne trade[1].

Maritime English is a professional subsystem of the English language， developed through history on the basis of various language resources in response to the societys requirements in the domain of seafaring and shipping. As a maritime empire， the British Empire had a marvelous influence on the development of maritime English after the 17th century and the adoption of SMCP （Standard Marine Communication Phrases） by the 22nd Assembly of the IMO in November 2001 is also of great significance in the development of maritime English by providing a comprehensive standardized safety language， which reduces the problem of language barriers at sea and avoids misunderstandings and errors. As a whole， maritime English is composed of several contrasting sublanguages： （1） general English， （2） general maritime English， （3） maritime English for navigation， （4） maritime English for marine engineering， （5） maritime English for ships documentation and correspondence， （6） maritime English for radio communication， （7） SMCP， （8） maritime English for IMO conventions， regulations， manuals， etc.， （9） maritime English for semiotic systems， （10） maritime English for visual aids and others[2].

2. Standards for Mmartime English set by STCW Convention

For many years， STCW Convention has set qualification standards for masters， officers and watch personnel on seagoing merchant ships， the following just specifies the minimum maritime English competence requirements for marine engineers at the operational level.

3. IMO Model Courses

In order to meet the maritime English competence requirements of STCW Convention， International Maritime Organization has pulished model courses. With suggested frameworks to improve the language competences of trainees， the maritime English model courses play a great role and have been revised and updated sine the adoption of Manila amendments to STCW Convention in 2010， keeping training standards in line with new technological and operational requirements.

Among the current IMO model courses， IMO Model Course 3.17 for Maritime English， IMO Model Course 7.03 for Officer In Charge of A Navigation Watch， IMO Model Course 7.04 for Officer In Charge of An Engineering Watch， etc. are the existing model courses for training， and IMO Model Course 3.12 for Assessment， Examination and Certification of Seafarers and IMO Model Course 1.30 for On-board Assessment serve trainees exam and assessment.

The current model course 3.17 on maritime English is divided into two parts： Core section 1 for General Maritime English （GME） and Core section 2 for Specific Maritime English （SME）. SME involves the following major matters： Part 2.1： Specialized Maritime English for officers in charge of a navigational watch on ships of 500 gross tonnage or more （90/56）；Part 2.2： Specialized Maritime English for officers in charge of an engineering watch in a manned engine-room or designated duty engineers in a periodically unmanned engine-room （105/56）； Part2.3： Specialized Maritime English for Electro-Technical Officers （ETO） （104/54）； Part 2.4： Specialized Maritime English for GMDSS radio operators （28/14） and Part 2.5： Specialized Maritime English for personnel providing direct service to passengers in passenger spaces on passenger ships （42/20） [4]. In the brackets the first number is teaching hours and the second for self study.

4. Discussion

To a large extent， the IMO model courses greatly improve the quality and effectiveness of training courses all over the world； however， based on the trainers experience and the trainees learning process， some confusing problems or cases which may affect the training outcome should be discussed and solved.

For instance， in IMO Model Course 3.17 Maritime English Part I GME： the lesson plans of Elementary level （not the beginner） （441 teaching hours and 91 self study hours） and Intermediate Level （244 teaching hours and 49 self study hours） are respectively arranged. Are they suitable for China and other contracting states in which English is not the first language？ Things maybe not as good as expected. Due to different educational system and cultural background， the time is insufficient to satisfy the training objective. Therefore， the trainees actual experience， ability and entry level is suggested to be carefully considered when the training hours are set up.

Take Course 3.17 for another example， its bibliography covers a wide range of materials， IMO references （18）， text books （19）， publications （85）， IMO model courses （15）， teaching aids （10）， video and CBT （35）， recommended reading （33 books）， maritime references （15）， maritime English websites （27）， maritime English resources （46） and maritime websites （13）. Based on these big numbers， it is necessary to make sure whether we need so many books and so much materials and how we deal with them during the delivery of the course. Maybe the trainers and trainees do not have the access to all of them. Even if all these materials are available， much attention will be focused on these materials or the theory during the delivery of the course， and the time left for phonology， listening， speaking， reading， etc. is less.Therefore， the implementation of the combination of the bibliography with the delivery of the course is difficult， which leads to competencies stated in the STCW Convention are impossible to achieve. Careful consideration of recommending some acceptable， key and effective ones are indeed required.

In Model Course 7.04 for Officer In Charge of An Engineering WatchCompetence 1.2， the time for the competence of use English in Written and Oral Form is 20 hours[5]， while in Model course 3.17 Part 2.2 Specialized Maritime English for officers in charge of an engineering watch ， for the same competence function， 105 hours are needed. Obviously， the contrast between the training hours of the two editions is sharp that the confused trainers and trainees will have a question in their mind： Which one should be followed and how can the courses be delivered？ So， a reasonable time arrangement is required and preferred to draw up lesson plans to ensure that training courses to be run effectively and smoothly.

As to Model courses 1.30 & 3.12 on board Assessment Competence of Use English in Written and Oral Form for the Officer In Charge of An Engineering Watch Competence 5： Use of English in written and oral form 5.1 Use engineering publications， operational manuals and fault finding instructions written in English The publications and manuals relevant to the engineering duties are correctly interpreted[6] [7]. Several questions may puzzle the instructors： 1） Besides operational manuals and fault finding instructions， what are other engineering publications？ 2） What is the exact scope of “engineering publications”？ 3） What are standards to make a judgment “correctly interpreted”？ 4） In what way may we make such an assessment？ 5） During the assessment， in case of that contents of operational manuals are partly correctly interpreted， then how can the examiner make decision “pass the assessment” or “fail the test”？ In order to solve the above five problems， practical， clear and detailed maritime English assessment information and standards for a given competence function hsould be provided to bring convenience for the trainers and trainees.

5. Conclusions

By and large， IMO relative model courses to maritime English promote the maritime English training capabilities and the development of shipping industry. However， specials existing cases， such as unreasonable training course arrangements， impracticable and unclear assessment standards， etc. still need to be carfully considered during course delivery. Reorganizing， revising， updating and supplementing the current editions， deserve time and efforts.

Acknowledgment

This work was supported by the Teaching Reform Project of Dalian Maritime University（2016Y13） and the authors also gratefully acknowledge the comments and advisable suggestions of the reviewers， which have improved the presentation.

REFERENCES

[1]P. Trenkner， Maritime English， An attempt at an imperfect definition in Proceedings of the School IMLA Workshop on Maritime English in Asia. Dalian： Dalian Maritime University， 2000：18.

[2]Nadiya Demydenko， Teaching Maritime English： A Linguistic Approach， Journal of Shipping and Ocean Engineering 2 （2012） ：249-254.

[3]IMO ADOPTION OF AMENDMENT TO THE SEAFARERS TRAINING， CERTIFICATIONAND WATCHKEEPING （STCW） CODE， June 2010 London： International Maritime Organization.

[4]The International Shipping Federation of London Model Course 3.17 Maritime English， 2015 edition， London： International Maritime Organization.

[5]IMO Model course 7.04 Officer in Charge Of an Engineering Watch，2014 edition， London： International Maritime Organization.

[6]IMO Model course 1.30 on board Assessment，2000 edition， London： International Maritime Organization.

[7]IMO Model course 3.12 Assessment， Examination and Certificationof Seafarers， 2000 edition London： International Maritime Organization.

Brief introduction to the author

Mr. Dang Kun is an Associate Professor and a Doctor of Marine Engineering at Dalian Maritime University （DMU）， Dalian， China. Dang has taught English of Marine Engineering and Marine Auxiliary Machinery for over 20 years. Dang has 5 books to his credit and more than 15 of his technical papers have been published.