A case study of the potentials of SGC-based curricula

Abstract

This paper examines how the Specification of Generic (Foundation) Competencies – English (SGC-Eng) provides clear and objective standards for developing language curricula through a case study. A suite of thirty in-service English certificate programmes using eighteen Units of Competency (UoCs) were launched for various industry sectors in the Vocational English Enhancement Programme (VEEP) from 2012 to 2015. It offers a unique experience and the best opportunity to study the value of the SGC-Eng in organising and delivering vocational English modules. Descriptive accounts and documentation of the VEEP were analysed to shed light on the potentials and constraints of using the SGC-Eng. They revealed tremendous strengths in customising programmes to suit different target learners, allowing multiple articulation pathways to higher levels or across different skills and UoCs, compartmentalising learning to bite sizes, and offering a model of common currency for language learning courses across the territory. They also pointed out certain inadequacies of the programme which could be attributed to some inherit characteristics of the SGC-Eng.