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The Approaches of Teaching and Learning Maritime English:

Some Factors to Consider

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Raju Ahmmed
Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Maritime University
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 The Approaches of Teaching and Learning Maritime
English: Some Factors to Consider
Raju Ahmmed1
Abstract
The objective of this paper is to find out the linguistic features of
maritime English and to investigate the approaches that the teachers and
learners can follow. The present study also investigates the needs of the
maritime students in order to develop good syllabi and the approaches of
teaching. The present study finds that the language abilities that the
maritime students mostly need are reading, writing and spoken English.
The paper represents how the learners should learn maritime
terminologies, read texts and comprehension and write responses to
emails or letters. It also explains how the teachers should teach the
required skills to the maritime students, how they (teachers) can develop
communicative competence among the students, and the other factors
they should consider while designing the syllabi and course contents of
maritime English.
Key words: Features, approaches, needs, terminologies and communicative
competence.

Introduction
A common language is needed for communication and for avoiding
accidents at sea. This common language is English. In fact, English is a
language which is widely used in maritime sector. The maritime
professionals and seafarers use maritime English while working in the port
and shipping industries. Often a report about a major maritime disaster
affects and saddens the people working in that sector. Analyzing the
mishaps, it is seen that the accidents often occur due to the breakdown in
communication and cooperation. So, the relation between safety at sea and
competency in English are interlinked. Seafarers having a good command
will hardly have any miscommunications.
These miscommunications occur due to language and cultural barriers as
Thiel (1996) reports that most maritime accidents happen due to human
errors. Therefore, the mariners need to learn that communicative

1
Lecturer, Department of English, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman
Maritime University, Bangladesh

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competence and cross cultural issues can affect their team work at sea.
Since the graduates of maritime university get opportunities to work in
government ministries, shipping company managements, port
administrations, international organizations, diplomatic missions and
maritime educational institutions, they should have good proficiency as well
as efficiency in maritime English.
In fact, maritime English originates from general English and so the
communication in English can be for both maritime and general purposes.
To develop standard syllabus for the students, the learning and the teaching
processes of both general English and maritime English should be
examined. EAP (English for Academic Purpose) and ESP (English for
Specific Purpose) courses provide training about general English as well as
maritime English. The students of EAP or ESP courses need to master the
skills to do presentations; write reports and thesis; take part in national and
international seminars and conferences; communicate with the teachers and
other students at the university and at the dormitories. So, maritime
students‟ efficiency in English is highly expected and this paper will look at
the factors of learning and teaching maritime English.

Literature Review
Researchers over the years have contributed to the understanding of what
happens due to communication gaps and inefficiencies at sea. Being unable
to communicate may cause the loss of lives of not only the passengers but
also the crewmen. Pyne and Koester (2005) in their study report of an
incident in which a repairman of a ship suffered from fever and pain. The
sick repairman asked his colleague to translate his sentences to the chief
officer for medication. However, during the translation the meaning of fever
did not come and so the chief officer gave him a mild pain killer for
treatment. Later, the repairman died and the cause of his death was
identified as pneumonia for which he did not get any medication. Mainly,
the mishaps occur at sea due to communication problems and errors. These
communication errors have been identified as „human error‟ (Albayrak and
Sag (2011). These human errors occur when the crewmen fail to
communicate properly. Regarding communication failure, Pyne R. and
Koester (2005, pp.197) says “human communicative error can be defined as
„Human Errors‟ which occurs as a result of a failure in communication, be it
ship to ship, ship to shore or intra-ship”. Shen and Wang (2011) in their

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research titled “On English Teaching in Maritime Colleges” report about

the incompetency of students in ocean work with poor English capability
and textbooks containing classical works which have nothing to do with
ocean transportation. They found that the offered courses in China ignore
the training of oral English, listening to comprehension, and writing ability.
As a result, students fail to understand English at work. The similar findings
were found in the studies of Shen and Zhao (2011). They stated that many
ship owners complained about Chinese shipmen‟s bad English ability, and
many Chinese shipping enterprises could not effectively communicate with
foreign shipping enterprises or produce many misunderstandings because of
bad English ability. Romanova (2011) conducted a study on the first year
students of Port and Shipping Management and analyzed the kind of
vocabulary used at Latvian Marine Academy, Latvia. She found that
maritime English books available at the academy do not provide sufficient
activities to succeed in learning maritime vocabulary. To many first year
students of Latvian Marine Academy, maritime English is totally unknown.
Kourieos (2015) conducted a study on thirty four first year students of the
programme of Maritime Studies and found that 79% students said that their
main difficulty is to get their messages by using correct English. They also
mentioned their lack of grammatical knowledge and lack of confidence in
expressing themselves in spoken English.
Although many students‟ English writing doesn‟t meet the requirements of
maritime English, they are very keen to learn and acquire these skills for
their respective professions or future careers. For example, Mercado et al.
(2013) conducted his study titled “Teachers‟ perceptions and students‟
needs and attitudes towards to the teaching and learning of maritime
English” on fifty participants and found that the students showed a positive
attitude towards learning maritime English. They wanted to learn Maritime
English (ME) so that they could communicate to the people of different
nationalities. They also said that being able to speak ME is a mark of
respect to foreign crewmen. Comprehending the necessity of maritime
English, a number of European projects have been launched in order to
accelerate the learning process. EU projects such as MarTEL (Maritime
Test of English Language), SeaTALK, CAPTAINS (Communication and
Practical Training Applied in Nautical Studies) etc. have been developed to
establish standards in Maritime English Training (MET) programmes.
Standards of Training, Certification and Watch keeping for Seafarers
(STCW), Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS), Standard Marine Communication
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Phrases (SMCP) and International Maritime Organization (IMO) model
courses are adopted globally, and they provide common ground for MET
institutions. So, learning and being able to speak maritime English is very
significant for maritime nations and its maritime professionals. Therefore,
the researcher of this study wants to find out the characteristics of ME and
the needs of the maritime students and these will help to show the
appropriate means of learning and teaching ME.

Research Questions
a. What are the linguistic features of maritime English?
b. What are the academic and professional needs of maritime students?
c. How maritime English can be approached by learners and teachers?

Methodology
The present study is a secondary research. The existing data and
information were collected from some of the previous researches and
articles on maritime English ranging from 1951 to 2015. The findings have
been analyzed by qualitative research method.

Maritime English and its Features

Maritime English is a restricted language which is largely used at sea. It is
the working language of the shipping industry and it has independent
language system with its specialized lexis and limited grammar. Pejakovic
(2015) says that British linguist, Firth J. R. (1890-1960), introduced this
term (Maritime English) as a label for strictly reduced linguistic system that
is used for a particular activity. In fact, Maritime English is an example of
English for Specific Purposes (ESP) and it is mainly used in maritime
sectors. These ESP courses focus on learners‟ immediate and future wants
and needs, learner centeredness, authentic materials, process oriented
syllabi with students‟ active involvement (Bruton, 2009). About maritime
English (ME), Mercado et al. (2013) say that it (ME) develops students‟
ability to use English at least to intermediate language level. ME is a
practical course in which the sailors have to contact with the foreigners.
However, ME not only facilitates communication at sea but also in various
professional roles.
ME has certain linguistic features. Its vocabulary and writing formats are
different from general English. The lexis and its meanings are distinct in
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maritime English. For example, when looking up the meaning of the word
“ship” in an English dictionary, the meaning shows “vessel, tanker, ferry,
yacht”. However, in maritime English the word „vessel‟ refers to ships for
cargo, „tanker‟ is for oil tanker, „ferry‟ means ferry boat and „yacht‟ refers
to barge, used for pleasure trips. One more example can be considered from
the study of Shen and Wang (2011). The 48th term of China Maritime Law
states, “The carrier shall properly and carefully load, handle, stow, carry,
keep, care for and discharge the goods carried” (Shen and Wang, 2011;
pp.177). In this sentence the words “keep” and “care for” both mean “look
after”; yet they are being used in the same sentence because in maritime
English the word “keep” means “look after”, but it emphasizes that goods‟
quantity is guaranteed, such as avoiding thefts or falling apart. On the other
hand, the phrase “care for” also means “look after” but it focuses on that
good quality is guaranteed. Therefore, the difference between quality and
quantity lies although the meanings are same in general English. Again, the
writing features of ME are also different from general English. For
example, in ordinary English writing “good morning/afternoon/evening, is
used for greeting but ME is overseas and the morning of the sender can be
the afternoon or evening of the receiver. Therefore, the usual maritime
greeting is “good day”.
Shen and Zhao (2011, pp.185) mentions about „7 C‟ in written maritime
correspondence and these are “courtesy, consideration, completeness,
conciseness, clarity, correctness and concreteness”. Firstly, the vocabularies
selected for maritime communication have to be polite and the content of
the correspondence should show respect to the other party. For instance, the
phrases like “your good company” and “your esteemed director” show
respect to others. If one party writes “Do you think you could send us
correct stowage factor?” Sentence like this implicitly indicates doubts to
other party‟s ability. So, such sentences must be rephrased and the above
mentioned sentence can be rewritten as “Would you please advise us correct
stowage factor?” which shows respect to the second party and indicates
politeness of the first party. Secondly, English used in maritime
correspondence needs to be expressed clearly. Shen and Zhao (2011,
pp.186) mention an incident which occurred due to incompleteness of the
meaning of the message. The ship owner told the captain to “proceed to
Fremental (a port of Korea) after unload” but the captain interpreted it as
Fremental port of Australia and directed the ship to that way. The
misunderstanding was found out after 3 days of sailing and then the ship
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had to turn back by wasting six days‟ oil consumption. Thirdly, ME should
consist of simple and concise sentences. The senders have to express
exactly what the real intention is and at the same time instead of equivocal
words or sentences, use of professional words and acronyms is to be
encouraged. For example, the word „stem‟ in ME is used to buy oil. If the
users use „order‟, „purchase‟, „book‟, „buy‟, the other party may assume that
the first party wants to buy other things but not fuel. Fourthly, the other
parties‟ opinions, thinking mood should be respected highly. According to
Shen and Zhao (2011, pp.187), if the proposal provided by the other party
does not suit the first party, then they should not say „Your proposal was
totally rejected‟ because it may sound offensive to the other party. In this
case, the first party can deliver the sentence in a euphemistic way by saying
„I don‟t think your proposal will be accepted” in order to avoid any
embarrassed situation. Fifthly, in ME communication less words should be
used and unnecessary repetitions and flowery words have to be avoided
because the receivers may lose patience to read the whole correspondence if
the message is lengthy. Shen and Zhao (2011, pp.187) also explains how
sentences can be made shorter from lengthier and some of his examples can
be considered. The sentence “We will endeavor to utilize chemicals to clean
holds on approximately March 15, so we place this order of 5 drums” can
be replaced by “We will try to use chemicals to clean holds on about March
15, so we order 5 drums”. Similarly, “We wish to acknowledge the receipt
of your letter” can be replaced by “We appreciate your letter”. The
principle of writing short but to the point has to be maintained. Besides, the
content of the correspondence should have time, place, price and cargo
numbers to avoid disputes for the future business. Finally, the content of the
correspondence needs to be syntactically correct. The messages have to be
checked before they are sent to avoid the typing mistakes.

Need Analysis for Maritime Students

Robinson (1991) in his book titled „ESP today: a practitioner's guide’
defines „needs‟ as the language skills learners need to acquire in order to
function effectively in the target situation. Again, Hutchinson & Waters
(1987) give another definition of needs. According to them, „needs‟ refers
to learners‟ preferred ways of learning, techniques and materials. Whatever
the definition is of needs, need analysis is needed to make teaching-learning
beneficial for all maritime students, seafarers and stakeholders. Usually
learners of maritime English have different needs and expectations which

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have to be determined in order to develop course contents and good syllabi.

ME courses designed anywhere may differ from other parts of the world
due to learners‟ respective needs and prerequisites (Eliasson and Gabrielli,
2015). So, national as well as international requirements of maritime
industry have to be taken into account when analyzing the needs of the
learners. Learners have both academic as well as professional needs.
Among the academic needs, maritime students have to read and understand
class room materials, listen to class lectures and take notes, express their
ideas and opinions accurately in writing, interact with the teacher for the
purposes of the lesson, and use subject specific jargons (Kourieos, 2015).
Besides the students have to interact with the peers to complete the task,
extract the main ideas from a passage, participate in classroom discussion
and prepare and deliver oral presentation. Among the academic needs, the
reading skills are also very vital. The students have to develop
comprehension skills to understand reports, articles, and instruction
manuals. At the same time they should have good writing skills to write
good reports, memos, letters, emails and messages correctly. After that, the
professional needs are required when the students join different sectors of
maritime fields. After completing graduation, the students have to write and
respond to both formal and informal emails, prepare reports, interact with
the clients and colleagues and attend department meetings. Moreover, as
officers they need to acquire knowledge and skills to operate international
ships. They have to learn vocabulary and terminologies. The students when
they join their profession have to take and deliver messages accurately via
VHF (Very High Frequency) radio. So, they need to master these skills as
well. Among the professional needs, the most important is communication
skill because they will need to communicate to multicultural nationalities
whose L1 (mother tongue) is different from each other and because learning
and being able to speak the English language is a mark of respect to the
foreign crewmen. Moreover, when a ship reaches another country, the
sailors need to communicate to the port authority in English. In addition,
seafarers have to use English for inter- and intra-ship communication,
negotiating with foreign employers, from ship to shore and shore to ship
correspondence.
Therefore, the students need to improve their proficiency in English as
determined by STCW (Standards of Training, Certification and Watch
keeping for Seafarers) 1995 Code. Furthermore, the safety measures are
also essential to consider the needs of the maritime students because the
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officers have to give instructions to passengers when an emergency
situation occurs. They have to describe the procedure to survive at sea. All
these descriptions and instructions must be delivered in the English
language. In fact, safety at works is the most important social policy to
prevent risks at sea. Therefore, learners have to study standard marine
vocabulary, crew roles and routines, safety equipment, standard wheel
orders, organization on board, marine protection rules, standard maritime
communication phrases, types of vessels, safety and emergency situation on
board, emergency response, standard engine orders and safety and risks on
board (Mercado et al. 2013).
Albayrak and Sag (2011) mention that the maritime students should have
awareness about the marine environment, training in security, leadership
and teamwork, situational awareness, decision making, health issues and
professional conduct and use of standard operating procedures. If they do
not have these skills, quality and competency, they may not get their desired
employments. Shen and Wang (2011) in their study say that many sailors in
China can just briefly introduce themselves in English when they are
interviewed by the ship owners. They (Shen and Wang, 2011) said that
many ship owners would rather spend much more money in hiring Indian or
Philippine sailors with good English level but a little poor ability. To sum
up, the language abilities that the mariners need to have are spoken English,
reading English, and written English. Spoken English is essential for
meetings and voice communication. Reading English is required for
understanding manuals and instructions whereas written English is
necessary for sending and receiving messages, mails and letters.

The Approach of Learning Maritime English

The learning processes have to be designed in the institutions in which
maritime students receive their Maritime English Training (MET). The
institutions need to design MET programmes which are internationally
unified. In this regard, Eliasson and Gabrielli (2015) state that the
responsibility of ME proficiency as identified with the STCW lies on the
responsible institutions, and not the ME instructors. So, the standards
agreed by IMO member countries have to be taken into consideration so
that the aims and objectives of the courses meet the IMO or STCW
requirements. Apart from the respective institutions, the learners can adopt
some techniques and strategies to learn maritime English. So, the learners

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have to use some strategies while mastering ME as strategies develop

communicative competence. Oxford (1990, pp.117) says “strategies are
specific actions taken by the learners to make learning easier, faster, more
enjoyable, more self-directed, more effective and more transferrable to new
situations.” She mentions three types of strategies: cognitive, metacognitive
and socio-affective strategies. Learners use cognitive strategy to solve new
problems by connecting prior knowledge whereas they use metacognitive
strategy to organize time, self-monitoring and self-evaluation. Learners use
socio-affective strategies to control their emotions, motivation and attitudes
towards learning. Regarding socio-affective strategies, Hutchinson &
Waters (1987) say that much ESP research has been on language analysis
and learners‟ emotions have been neglected. Cole (2002) says that learners
with positive self efficacies feel a strong sense of control over their
language learning process. So, the learners have to be acquainted with these
strategies of learning and use them in their convenience when applicable.

Learning Maritime English Vocabulary

Learning vocabulary is the core activity in acquiring a foreign language.
Vocabulary is not just a set of memorized complicated tokens and so there
are a lot of creative ways to learn them. The learners have to shift their
focus from language system to the act of communication. The knowledge of
maritime vocabulary is necessary for professional development i.e. taking
part in seminars and class discussion. Vocabulary for maritime
communication is normally precise as the length of the message is
restricted. If this precise vocabulary is interpreted literally, the recipient will
misunderstand the message. For instance, „breast line‟ and „back spring‟
mean ropes or lines; a „gypsy‟ means a part of the windlass; „monkey
island‟ means the top of the wheel house (Romanova, 2011, pp. 26). That‟s
why; the meaning of maritime English vocabulary should not be taken
literally. Romanova (2011, pp. 26) categorizes ME vocabulary into three
categories namely core vocabulary (used in general language), semi-
technical vocabulary (used in general language, but has higher frequency of
occurrence in scientific and technical discussion and description) and
technical vocabulary (common in the maritime and engineering area).
Again, the students can practice noticing (paying attention to a word).
Noticing occurs when students realize that the word complements their
knowledge of the language, they check its meaning in a testimony or find it
out from the teacher. So, the students have to study the words to get their

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meaning from the context. The learners should divide the vocabulary items
into manageable chunks. Then, they need to study these chunks and compile
personal glossaries of maritime terminologies. Besides, considerable
attention should be given to collocations in connection with reading texts
and topics studied and the students have to negotiate meanings among
themselves. These are some of the effective ways that the learners can
attempt to acquire maritime English vocabulary.

Reading Maritime English Texts

Reading is a kind of process which involves much strategic behavior.
According to Block and Duffy (2008, pp.25), “Comprehension is a strategic
process; that is, good readers proactively search for meaning as they read,
using text cues and their background knowledge in combination to generate
predictions, to monitor those predictions, to re-predict when necessary, and
generally to construct a representation of the author‟s meaning.” The
learners have to read Standard Marine Communication Phrases (SMCP)
which will describe what to say when and they will learn the safety-related
phrases. These phrases will assist mariners in meeting basic on-board
requirements. The officers need to be familiar with standardized language
for navigational purposes. They can read texts from online resources and
maritime newspapers. While reading any text, the learners can use some
reading strategies like skimming (reading rapidly to get the main points)
and scanning (reading rapidly to find specific of information). They should
also read for pleasure and for detailed information.

Writing Maritime English Letters or Emails

“Writing is a multidimensional process which includes planning what to
say, how to say, translating ideas into written text and revising what has
been written” (Harris, Santangelo & Graham, 2010; pp.226). Except the
VHF radio communication, emails and letters are widely used in maritime
correspondence. Whether writing emails or letters, the maritime
professionals have to meet certain formats and requirements. Each written
document should have an addressee, MSG number, date and subject. The
addressee is the person to whom the mail is being sent, MSG number is the
number of correspondence, and the subject is the topic of the
correspondence. Then the salutation should follow. The usual salutation is
„Good day to you‟; however „Dear Sir/ Madam‟ can be used if the party‟s
name is known. If it is unknown „To whom it may concern/Dear
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Concerned‟ can be used. After that, the body of the letter or email should
follow. In the beginning of the body, the sender should introduce
himself/herself and explain why the letter is being written. Then he/she
should write the facts and provide the supporting details. At the end of the
body, he/she should propose the requirements (if any) and draw the
attention of the recipient. After that, the letter should end with a
complimentary close with the phrases like „sincerely, best regards, yours
truly‟ etc. Finally, the enclosure or attachment section should be written at
the left bottom.

Approach of Teaching Maritime English

Maritime English (ME) should not be taught from the initial stage of the
learners. After learners have achieved a minimum level of proficiency, ME
should be taught. Native as well as non-native learning approaches have to
be adopted which means that the learners will learn the language not only at
the institution but they have to develop it all throughout their life. Shen and
Wang (2011) say that the traditional teaching methods are not suitable for
modern maritime needs. So, the learners are to be taught shipping
terminologies, safety communication, and technical marine English with
new innovative teaching methods. Along with the terminologies, the
teachers have to present new vocabulary with illustrative materials like
drawing or labeling partners. They have to emphasize on the improvement
of students‟ word recognition skills. ME teachers are supposed to be able to
provide any help with the explanation or precise translation of the new
vocabulary. They should help the students when general words are used as
maritime terms. New words have to be taught in such a way that they are
used in the real life professional context. Using the words with common
meaning (synonyms) and their opposites (antonym) is one of the effective
ways of explaining new vocabulary to the learners. Activities like gap-
filling, and word searches, scrambles and puzzles may work better for
teaching vocabulary but these activities should go beyond simply
memorizing new definitions. The teachers should encourage the relation
between words and help to build semantic relations. Romanova (2011)
hypothesized that one of the most successful ways of learning maritime
vocabulary is using explicit teaching of vocabulary by means of the
activities corresponding to the professional needs and the language
proficiency level of the learners. Then, the teachers can raise learners‟
motivation in learning ME by providing them student-friendly materials.

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After that, ME teachers can apply learner centered pedagogy and provide
high quality engineer training, encourage knowledge about shipboard
engine system and maritime industry. The maritime English teachers have
to “teach locally but think globally” (Trenker, 2010 as quoted in Eliasson
and Gabrielli, 2015). Therefore, a global teaching approach as well as
globalization of maritime institutions is needed.
ME teachers should have abundant professional maritime knowledge,
develop teaching skills and arrange training. They have to choose the
textbooks which are related to the latest maritime technology and
regulations. ME teachers have to meet the requirements as set by the
STCW Convention (Convention on Standards of Training, Certification
and Watch Keeping for Seafarers) by developing good syllabi,
classroom materials and adopting effective teaching approaches.
Kourieos (2015) found that lectures were the least preferred means of
instruction whereas classroom discussion is rated highest by the students.
Therefore, more interactive pedagogical approach is needed to be
adopted by the teachers. Speaking and writing skills should be
incorporated into the curriculum. The teachers have to improve oral
English teaching and bring authentic materials to the class. Certainly
there are some challenges for the teachers. One challenge that teachers
mostly encounter is to keep their teaching materials up-to-date. Finally,
as learners use different strategies, the teachers have to focus on the
learning strategies, modify their teaching method and classroom
materials from time to time. Learners‟ age, gender, personality,
motivation, self-concept, life experience and other affective factors that
influence learning have to be taken into consideration.

Developing Communicative Competence and Cultural Awareness

among the Learners
Communication is the „building blocks‟ which ensure effective and safe
working conditions at sea (Vangehuchten, et al., 2010). So, there is always a
need for a clear verbal communication. Good communication can be done
by correction, interaction, balance and understanding. Interaction involves
emotions, creativity, agreement, disagreement, people waiting patiently to
get a word in sighing, nodding, gesticulating and so on (Albayrak and Sag ,
2011). While developing the communication skills of the students, the
teachers must remember about the term „communicative competence‟. It

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refers to learners‟ ability to understand and use language appropriately in

social and school environments. This ability not only covers the
grammatical rules of the sentences, but also when to use these sentences and
to whom. Along with general communicative competence, intercultural
communicative competence is also very significant because people‟s
communication styles are inherently culturally bound. Therefore, maritime
students must have excellent command over English and a sound
understanding of socio cultural issues so that they can deal properly with
multicultural and multinational crew. The majority of errors which arise
from misunderstandings occur not only for grammatical deficiencies but
also for cultural distances among the speakers. Leon (1999) suggested that
the multicultural factors be integrated in English Language Teaching (ELT).
She also found that task based approach is linguistically and
communicatively relevant to the learning situation. The teachers have to
work as a facilitator who will assist the learners to gain confidence by
overcoming the loss of face. Therefore, communicative competence as well
as cultural awareness is essential skills to be instilled among the maritime
students.

Planning of the Course and Syllabus

While planning a course for maritime students, the teachers have to
consider students‟ proficiency level. Their levels can start from low
intermediate to advanced level. So, the course which is suitable for
advanced level students may not be appropriate for intermediate level.
Along with the proficiency level, the learners‟ language needs, although
challenging to sort out, have to take into consideration. Secondly, students‟
diverse linguistic and cultural backgrounds need to be considered. Thirdly,
teachers have to share their expertise, teaching methodology and previous
learning experience among themselves in different seminars and
international conferences. In designing a language course and its syllabus,
the teachers need to think about the social and professional communicative
skills which will be required for students to participate in conferences,
seminars and communicate efficiently in the student hostel, at the
university, within the community. The courses need to be designed not only
for academic purposes but also for professional needs as Harding (2007,
pp.7) mentions in his study that „markets are on the lookout for employees
with professional skills‟. The authentic materials like documentaries, online
news and journal articles have to be incorporated in the syllabus. Along

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with that, the teachers have to adapt communicative aspects of language
learning activities which will develop graduates‟ communicative skills. For
that, use of language lab, readers‟ library and CALL (Computer Assisted
Language Learning) can be incorporated. Finally, learners‟ motivation and
interests are to be taken into account while designing the syllabi for
maritime students.

Recommendations
English should be used as the „Lingua Franca‟ of the seafarers and
maritime students. Teachers‟ competencies in maritime English are also
highly required. Maritime English teachers can use Communicative
Language Teaching (CLT), Content Based Instruction (CBI) and Task
based language teaching (TBLT). Students can use information and
communication technology (ICT) to learn maritime English. Intercultural
contents of communication should be considered in teaching or learning
ME. The learners should be encouraged to use different strategies
(cognitive, metacognitive and socio-affective) to accelerate their learning.
While learning maritime vocabulary, the literal meanings of the words
should not be considered, but their technical use has to be noticed.
Whatever the communication medium (written or spoken) is, the other
party‟s opinions should always be respected. Oral English training hours
should be increased. Modern teaching equipment, multimedia, audio-
video clips and internet can be used to create opportunities for practicing
oral English. English forum, English club, English cares etc. can also be
established within the maritime institution to make students motivated to
speak.

Conclusion
The students and seafarers have to be familiar with the characteristics of
maritime English, its written correspondence styles. The students as well as
the graduates have to understand the principles of politeness and socio-
cultural factors. Collaboration between subject specialists, students and
professionals is also required. Students‟ productive skills (speaking and
writing) should be emphasized more. The people involved in maritime
sector should always keep in mind that maritime mishaps should not occur
due to their inefficiency in English or failure in communication.

118
BMJ Volume- 2, Issue- 1 ISSN 2519-5972

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