Literature review
Business English
In the last two decades, Business English (BE) has attracted increasing interest and awareness BE courses are offered by many language schools worldwide Yet despite this enormous interest, BE is an area often neglected by linguistics researchers, who prefer to work on other – more easily defined – areas of special English
Mark Ellis and Christine Johnson (1994:3) states that BE must be seen in the overall context of English for Specific Purposes (ESP), as it shares the important elements of needs analysis, syllabus design, course design, and materials selection and development which are common to all fields of work in ESP As with other varieties of ESP, BE implies the definition of a specific language corpus and emphasis on particular kinds of communication in a specific context However, BE differs from other varieties of ESP in that it is often a mix of specific content (relating to a particular job area or industry), and general content (relating to general ability to communicate more effectively, albeit in business situations)
The above authors also show many developments in the ways in which teachers and course designers look at BE First, in the 1960s and 1970s, there was a focus on specialist vocabulary
They were often put in the context of a written or dialogue that dealt with a particular topic
Exercises consisted mainly of comprehension questions on the text, vocabulary exercises, and the drilling of randomly selected structures
The following second approach placed a greater emphasis on training „the skills of communication in English speaking, writing, listening and reading within a business context‟
In the mid-1970s and 1980s, following the trends in General English, BE teaching began to focus more and more on functional areas – formulaic language for recommending, giving opinions, showing agreement, and so on And since the late 1980s, BE teaching has drawn on aspects of all the previous approaches, but also places much more emphasis on the need to develop the skills for using the language learned
Embleton, D and S Hagen (1992) states that the development of company training programmes during the 1980s began to provide employees with opportunities to attend courses in presentation techniques, negotiating, and other effective skills The recognition of the need for businesspeople to be proficient in business communication skills has had a major impact on
BE teaching Although it is not the designated brief of the BE teacher to train businesspeople in behavioral techniques (for example, presentation or negotiation), it is hard to ignore the influence that good behavioral skills have on successful communication Many job-experienced learners now come to the language course to learn to perform in English, tasks that they can already perform in their mother tongue In other cases, however, pre-experience language learners may need training in behavioral skills, and in colleges and business schools there is now a wide acceptance of the need to start training learners in, for example, basic presentation techniques
I.1.2 Characteristics of the language of business I.1.2.1 Sense of purpose
Mark and Johnson (2003) deal with the most important characteristic of exchanges in the context of business is sense of purpose Language is used to achieve an end, and its successful use is seen in terms of a successful outcome to the business transaction or event Users of BE need to speak English primarily so that they can achieve more in their jobs Business is competitive: competition exists between companies and within companies, between employees striving to better their careers: It follows that performance objectives take priority over education objectives or language learning for its own sake Much of the language needed by businesspeople (apart from social language) will be transactional: getting what we want and persuading others to agree with the course of action we propose
Rasanen A (1991) claims that international businesspeople have a need to make contact with others whom they have never met before, or know only slightly Meetings or discursion is often short because businesspeople are always pressed for time There is a need for an internationally accepted way of doing things so that people from different cultures, and with different tongues, can quickly feel more comfortable with one another
Social contacts are often highly ritualized Formulaic language is used (in greetings and introductions, for example) in the context of a routine pattern of exchanges A certain style is generally adopted which is polite but also short and direct Although some situations may require more than this, the style and content of social interactions will be typified by a desire to build a good relationship while avoiding over-familiarity
Information has to be conveyed with minimum risk of misunderstanding and the time for processing (both by the speaker and by the listener) needs to be short Therefore, there is a preference for clear, logical, thought emphasized by the kinds of words that indicate the logical process and there is often a need to be concise (Rasanen-1991)
People around the world conduct business meetings in English even though English may be a foreign language to all those present The language that they use will be neither as rich in vocabulary and expression, nor as culture-bound, as that used by native speakers, but will be based on a core of the most useful and basic structures and vocabulary Business people do not always need to know the full complexities of English grammar and idiom Fine distinctions in meaning (as are conveyed by some of the compound tenses, for example) may not be important in a business context On the other hand, in a BE course some structural areas may require more attention than in a conventional course: for example, conditionals in negotiating, or modality for expressing possibility or politeness There is consequently a need for syllabus designers to be selective when addressing the needs of BE learners
I.1.2.4 Business and General English courses
Not all courses run by a company or a business college necessarily merit the title of
„Business English‟ Some companies and colleges provide language courses where needs have not been analysed and the course content is drawn from a GE coursebook It may be that a choice has been made to improve the general command of English of the participants, and that this then constitutes the course objectives On the other hand, such a course may be the result of a lack of informed strategy on the part of the company or institution, or a lack of expertise on the part of available trainers
BE is not a neatly defined category of special English The term is used to cover a variety of Englishes, some of which are very specific, and some very general In Teaching Business English, the author makes some general statements about key differences between BE and GE
They include need analysis, assessment of level, syllabus, course objectives, time, learner expectations, material, methodology and evaluation However, we acknowledge that there are many situations where the distinctions are not so clear.
Oral presentation
According to Comfort, J (1995), presentation is a popular kind of activity where a student (or students) give(s) a presentation on a topic of their own choice or given by the teacher Such talks are not designed for informal spontaneous conversation but they are subject matter oriented; because they are prepared, they are more „writing like‟ Presentation is a defined and useful speaking genre, and if properly organized, can be extremely interesting for both speakers and listeners
Comfort suggests four stages a presenter should follow through his or her presentation including:
Introduction part: In this part the presenter tells the audience some brief information about his/her name, the title of the presentation, the purpose(s) of the presentation, the length of time he/she will take, the main parts or points he/she will cover, the visual aids he/she will use, the time the audience can ask questions
Body part: The presenter goes on in details what have been introduced in the introduction part In each part the presenter can use the visual aids to supplement his/her presentation (if available) and the body languages to attract the audience‟s attention
He/she should signal the audience when moving from one part to another by using key words and phrases for liking ideas
Finishing off: The presenter summarizes what have been mentioned and invites questions from the audience
Question time: In this part the audience including both the teacher and other students ask the presenter to know more about the presentation This part is very important as it helps the teacher to know whether other students pay attention to his/her presentation or not
It can be concluded that by introducing the procedures in advance will help students feel more confident when making presentation, as they know how to carry out the task We, however, should encourage them to do it creatively as individual creativeness can attract the audience We can also see that by encouraging or even forcing the other students to give comments or ask questions during the question time, they will pay more attention to the presentation
I.2.3 Advantages of oral presentation towards ESP students
According to Comfort (1995), presentation exerts considerable demands on the learners‟ communicative ability, requiring them to perform to a very high standard under very stressful conditions Presenters are under the pressure of achieving their own objectives, meeting expectations from the audience, dealing with difficult questions from the teacher and the classmates, having to stand and speak in English in front of the audience, using visual aids, etc
In order to meet those demands, presenters must have certain knowledge about ESP including knowledge of language and knowledge of content, knowledge of how to make presentation
We use oral presentation as a technique to increase the students‟ participation in classroom speaking activities because this kind of activity is often carried out after discussion activities
Students, therefore, will have to participate more in these activities as they want to be well- prepared , before performing in front of the class Moreover, the topics are closely related to their expertise, and as pointed out by Huchinson and Waters (1987) the language in ESP is usually used in real communication, which helps increase their interest in their learning In other words, their learning has concrete purposes which are future work-oriented
I.2.4 Some problems of presentation making
Although this kind of activity has salient advantages towards developing learners‟ communicative competence, both students and the teacher may have some difficulties carrying out it
First, this kind of activity is quite difficult with high demands, that is, students have to perform their work under high pressure: speaking English in front of the crowd, attracting attention and dealing with questions from the audience, etc Thus, in order to perform the work well, learners must have knowledge of language, knowledge of content and basic skills of making presentation In a mixed-level class, it is likely that some good students will dominate the activity
Second, students often lose their confidence when giving their presentation It is the result of the fact that they do not often have chance to speak English in front of the crowd and they are lack of their above mentioned knowledge In addition, some students may give a boring presentation and cannot attract attention from the audience, which can also make them feel confidence to deliver their talk
Finally, this kind of activity takes time so not all students have chance to speak English in one lesson
It can be inferred from the analysis that students should be allowed time to prepare for this kind of activity In other words, it is advisable that the teacher should give them the topic(s) in advance so that they can prepare well in term of both language and content
As for the teacher, he has to plan the lesson carefully to have as many interesting topics as possible as well the procedures to carry out the activity Moreover, the teacher has to master the level of each student to assign him/her a suitable topic based on their level of English proficiency as well as help them him/her accomplish their work Additionally, he has to provide students with basic skills of giving presentation Thus, we can see that the teacher has to work harder with this kind of activity
In conclusion, though presentation has certain drawbacks it is a good technique to improve students‟ communicative ability and a „push‟ to force students to participate in-group activities
I.3 Difficulties for learning Business English oral presentation skills I.3.1 Difficulties about real business knowledge
According to Mark and Christine (2003), today there are many varieties of BE The most important distinction to be made is that between pre-experienced (or low-experience) learners and job-experienced learners Students in universities will have gained their knowledge of business largely from books and, as a result, such knowledge will be incomplete and theoretical rather than practical They will be less aware of their language need in terms of communicating in real-life business situations, and their expectations of language learning will be moulded by their experiences from schools, and thus by the educational policies of the country in which they grew up
For job-experienced learners, their educational backgrounds will also be influenced, but they, in most cases, have gained some practical experience of having to communicate on the job This experience has the effect of focusing their attention on what they perceive as their own shortcomings in terms of fluency, getting the message across, and being able to understand the people from other countries that they have to deal with
On the contrary, pre-experienced learners often read textbooks in English or follow lectures in English in order to gain the qualifications they are seeking In addition, (depending on where they are studying), they may have to attend seminars or write papers in English However, they are hard to have a deep understanding of the objectives without real-life situations
I.3.2 Difficulties about language knowledge, culture and perceptions
There exist many student-related problems in teaching presentation skills in English classes
Many learners, as reported by studies into speaking (e.g Tsui: “Reticence and anxiety in second language learning”, 1996), are unprepared or unwilling to speak Their reluctance and reticence in English oral classes pose a big challenge for teaching presentation skills
3.3.1.1 The amount of teacher talk
According to L2 acquisition theories from (Cook, 2000; Legarreta, 1977), both teachers and students should participate in language classes actively Teachers have to face two tasks in language classrooms: 1 offer enough high-quality English language input; 2 offer more opportunities for students to use the target language So the distribution of teacher talk time, as an important factor that affect language learning, has been concerned by many scholars An important issue is whether the amount of teacher talk influences learners‟ L2 acquisition or foreign language learning Many researchers have testified this Researchers in L2 classrooms have established that teachers tend to do most of the classroom talk (about 70 percent of the total talk) It is evident that if teachers devote large amounts of time to explanations or management instructions, student talk will be indeed severely restricted Teacher-initiated talk will dominate the classroom, allowing little opportunity for extended student talk In such an environment, students have little opportunity to develop their language proficiency In order to avoid the over-use of teacher talk, many scholars tend to maximize students talk time and minimize teacher talk time (Harmer, 2000)
Inevitably, learners will make mistakes in the process of learning (Brown, 2002:205) It is a vital part of the teacher‟s role to point out students‟ mistakes and provide correction In correction, some specific information is provided on aspects of the learner‟s performance, through explanation, or provision of better or other alternatives, or though elicitation of these from the learner Correction helps students to clarify understanding of meaning and construction of the language
One of the crucial issues is how correction is expressed: gently or assertively supportively or as a condemnation, tactfully or rudely Ur (2000) points out we should go for encouraging, tactful correction The learner has reliable intuitive knowledge about what kind of correction helps most, that is, learner preferences are on the whole reliable guide So teachers have to be careful when correcting, if teachers do it in an insensitive way, the students will feel upset and lose their confidence
Input plays a critical role in language learning There is no learning without input The language used by the teacher affects the language produced by the learners, the interaction generated, and hence the kind of learning that takes place The problem is what type and how much of input is appropriate and useful for language learners in classrooms
Krashen‟s (1985:2) states that acquisition takes place by means of a learner‟s access to comprehensible input Human acquire language in only one way-by understanding messages or by receiving comprehensible input Learning will occur when unknown items are only just beyond the learners‟ level He comments that the input, which is totally incomprehensible to learners, is not likely to cause learning to take place Teacher talk, actually serves as main sources of input of language exposure in classroom learning, is more important for foreign language learning, so teachers should make their input comprehensible and in right quantities
The relationship between the teacher and students plays a part in evoking problems in teaching oral communication skill A prerequisite for creating a favorable learning atmosphere in the class is to establish a good relationship between the teacher and his students One of the possible ways of pursuing this aim is to talk with students about their feelings and help them rationalize their anxiety about presentation, which results in difficulties learning presentation skills (Tsui, 1996) The teacher may decide to talk to individual students outside the classroom, as students may feel inhibited about discussing their feelings in front of their classmates This step may contribute to the creation of trust and partnership between the student and the teacher
I.3.3.2 Teacher’s deficiency in English communicative competence
This can another constraint in teaching presentation skills which is related to teachers‟ deficiency in English communicative competence For many years, language teaching was seen as helping learners to develop linguistic competence-that is, helping students master English
The idea was that by studying bits and pieces of a language, students could eventually put them all together and communicate
There are several important models of communicative competence (Littlewood, 1994, Hedge, 2000), all of which include some forms of sociolinguistic competence, or the ability to use language appropriately in various contexts In detail, Hedge (2000:261) lists a range of implications that the notion of communicative competence has for teaching and learning They are linguistic competence, pragmatic competence, discourse competence, strategic competence and fluency According to her, learners who want to communicative adequately have to master them However, in English oral classes, teachers only spend teaching time in providing the knowledge of linguistic competence (syntactic structures, vocabulary, and pronunciation), which causes students‟ failure to unsuccessfully communicate because this kind of competence is not the only requirement of teaching presentation skills
I.3.3.3 Teacher’s deficiency in business English knowledge and teaching skills
Many language teachers come to the profession from a background in general TEFL teaching, and have a TEFL qualification They may come to BE by chance because they work in language institutions which have decided to broaden the kinds of courses they offer to include BE courses On the other hand, they may be attracted to BE and choose to make the change
Some situations enable BE teaching to get easy Firstly, if BE teachers come from a business background, for example, they have worked in companies themselves and have useful knowledge of the way in which companies are organized and run Secondly, students are job- experienced learners, that is, they have specific content knowledge and they are able to bring that knowledge to the classroom Lastly, it is a perfect case when both teachers and learners have background in business Nevertheless, in many contexts, these don‟t often take place
In fact, in many occasions, neither teachers nor learners have any ideas of fields that they are orienting Like Mark and Christine (2003:25) states that many language teachers have started teaching out professional skills without business experience This hinders them from gaining the educational aims in an effective way Therefore, the authors suggest some solutions to these problems when dealing with improving both skills and content knowledge
Firstly, about personal skills development, they mention three useful things to mention to teachers when teaching learners: it is essential for learners to have an outgoing personality, to like contact and interaction with a wide variety of people; a second skill is to be a good negotiator, that means it will require tact and diplomacy; and vitally important skill is to be curious and interested in all aspects of business One of the best ways for the trainer to unlock the learners‟ motivation and learning potential is to show that he or she can relate to the subjects that most concern the learners
Secondly, about specific knowledge, the author stress that it is a misconception that in the field of ESP the trainers needs to be an expert in the subject matter He or she is not teaching business strategies, nor good management practice, nor economic theory If the learners need to know about these things, they will learn them from other sources The language trainer‟s task is to train learners to communicate in English about the subjects they are specialized For materials, trainers should read printed and video materials They extend trainers‟ general knowledge and understanding of business topics Finally, one important way to learn about business is through working with knowledgeable BE learners The teacher can often gain more insight into the workings of companies through asking questions and listening to the answers, than through books Accessing these human resources is one of the skills that is vital in becoming a good BE trainers
The objective factor like multilevel classes and textbook also result in the difficulties in learning and teaching presentation skills
Julies Mathews-Aydinli and Reginal Van Home (2006) have pointed out that multilevel classes can present challenges to teachers, as it is very difficult to design or organize activities for many learners with different levels and interests These often derive teachers from energy and time The suggested solutions are also presented in their study As for them, there are some things that teachers should follow in order to promote success of multilevel classes not only in presentation periods but also in other ones
For textbooks, they are always new problems about whether they have suitability with learners‟ ability or not In the majority of the cases, the matching rarely happens because the materials are usually more difficult for learners‟ awareness Therefore, the adaptation is always necessary in different contexts
3.3.1.3 Input theory
Input plays a critical role in language learning There is no learning without input The language used by the teacher affects the language produced by the learners, the interaction generated, and hence the kind of learning that takes place The problem is what type and how much of input is appropriate and useful for language learners in classrooms
Krashen‟s (1985:2) states that acquisition takes place by means of a learner‟s access to comprehensible input Human acquire language in only one way-by understanding messages or by receiving comprehensible input Learning will occur when unknown items are only just beyond the learners‟ level He comments that the input, which is totally incomprehensible to learners, is not likely to cause learning to take place Teacher talk, actually serves as main sources of input of language exposure in classroom learning, is more important for foreign language learning, so teachers should make their input comprehensible and in right quantities.
3.3.1.4 Teacher-learner relationship
The relationship between the teacher and students plays a part in evoking problems in teaching oral communication skill A prerequisite for creating a favorable learning atmosphere in the class is to establish a good relationship between the teacher and his students One of the possible ways of pursuing this aim is to talk with students about their feelings and help them rationalize their anxiety about presentation, which results in difficulties learning presentation skills (Tsui, 1996) The teacher may decide to talk to individual students outside the classroom, as students may feel inhibited about discussing their feelings in front of their classmates This step may contribute to the creation of trust and partnership between the student and the teacher
I.3.3.2 Teacher’s deficiency in English communicative competence
This can another constraint in teaching presentation skills which is related to teachers‟ deficiency in English communicative competence For many years, language teaching was seen as helping learners to develop linguistic competence-that is, helping students master English
The idea was that by studying bits and pieces of a language, students could eventually put them all together and communicate
There are several important models of communicative competence (Littlewood, 1994, Hedge, 2000), all of which include some forms of sociolinguistic competence, or the ability to use language appropriately in various contexts In detail, Hedge (2000:261) lists a range of implications that the notion of communicative competence has for teaching and learning They are linguistic competence, pragmatic competence, discourse competence, strategic competence and fluency According to her, learners who want to communicative adequately have to master them However, in English oral classes, teachers only spend teaching time in providing the knowledge of linguistic competence (syntactic structures, vocabulary, and pronunciation), which causes students‟ failure to unsuccessfully communicate because this kind of competence is not the only requirement of teaching presentation skills
I.3.3.3 Teacher’s deficiency in business English knowledge and teaching skills
Many language teachers come to the profession from a background in general TEFL teaching, and have a TEFL qualification They may come to BE by chance because they work in language institutions which have decided to broaden the kinds of courses they offer to include BE courses On the other hand, they may be attracted to BE and choose to make the change
Some situations enable BE teaching to get easy Firstly, if BE teachers come from a business background, for example, they have worked in companies themselves and have useful knowledge of the way in which companies are organized and run Secondly, students are job- experienced learners, that is, they have specific content knowledge and they are able to bring that knowledge to the classroom Lastly, it is a perfect case when both teachers and learners have background in business Nevertheless, in many contexts, these don‟t often take place
In fact, in many occasions, neither teachers nor learners have any ideas of fields that they are orienting Like Mark and Christine (2003:25) states that many language teachers have started teaching out professional skills without business experience This hinders them from gaining the educational aims in an effective way Therefore, the authors suggest some solutions to these problems when dealing with improving both skills and content knowledge
Firstly, about personal skills development, they mention three useful things to mention to teachers when teaching learners: it is essential for learners to have an outgoing personality, to like contact and interaction with a wide variety of people; a second skill is to be a good negotiator, that means it will require tact and diplomacy; and vitally important skill is to be curious and interested in all aspects of business One of the best ways for the trainer to unlock the learners‟ motivation and learning potential is to show that he or she can relate to the subjects that most concern the learners
Secondly, about specific knowledge, the author stress that it is a misconception that in the field of ESP the trainers needs to be an expert in the subject matter He or she is not teaching business strategies, nor good management practice, nor economic theory If the learners need to know about these things, they will learn them from other sources The language trainer‟s task is to train learners to communicate in English about the subjects they are specialized For materials, trainers should read printed and video materials They extend trainers‟ general knowledge and understanding of business topics Finally, one important way to learn about business is through working with knowledgeable BE learners The teacher can often gain more insight into the workings of companies through asking questions and listening to the answers, than through books Accessing these human resources is one of the skills that is vital in becoming a good BE trainers
The objective factor like multilevel classes and textbook also result in the difficulties in learning and teaching presentation skills
Julies Mathews-Aydinli and Reginal Van Home (2006) have pointed out that multilevel classes can present challenges to teachers, as it is very difficult to design or organize activities for many learners with different levels and interests These often derive teachers from energy and time The suggested solutions are also presented in their study As for them, there are some things that teachers should follow in order to promote success of multilevel classes not only in presentation periods but also in other ones
For textbooks, they are always new problems about whether they have suitability with learners‟ ability or not In the majority of the cases, the matching rarely happens because the materials are usually more difficult for learners‟ awareness Therefore, the adaptation is always necessary in different contexts
To conclude, this chapter has reviewed a theoretical framework of BE, oral presentation related issues and difficulties in learning and teaching BE oral presentation In the following chapter, the methodology used in the study will be dealt with.
Methodology 15
The research context
Dai Nam University has been in operation for nearly 3 years At present, it consists of eight faculties: Finance and Banking, Accounting, Construction Engineering, Business Management, Information Technology (IT), Foreign Relations Studies, English and Chinese It is also planning to expand some new branches: tourism, fashion industry Its duty is to train students at the levels of university in the said fields and those of college in the two areas, IT and Finance and Banking It is proceeding to open master programs with international co-operations from many foreign organizations Every year, the University admits about 2000 students for all the faculties After graduating, learners can meet standard requirements from vacancy organizations such as banks, joint-venture companies, office representatives and so on
Although DNU has just been established for a short time, it has concentrated in advanced education approaches and new teaching methodology What is more, it has had remarkable investment in learning and teaching facilities with all the classrooms equipped with overhead projectors, computers, amplifiers and some modern tools and facilities
At present, DNU has two temporary working bases to train three first courses with nearly
3000 students at the level of both university and college As planned, in 2011 DNU will start all learning and teaching activities at a new location officially with the total area of over 10 hectare that is under construction
Foreign language is now a compulsory subject in all the faculties Like in other non- language major universities, the English course in the DNU is divided into two stages: one for GE; the other for ESP
In the first semester, the University categorizes the students‟ level by TOEIC entrance test
The students who do not gain 300 marks have to join English classes (including 90 periods)
This course is free and non-compulsory
What follow is two stages The first stage is for GE-lasts 270 periods Aiming at providing students with general knowledge of English grammar, vocabulary, phonology as well as developing students‟ four-language skill, at this very first stage, the textbooks Cutting Edge (for technology branches) and ML (Market Leader, for economic ones) are used With these textbooks, we can develop our students‟ communicative competence and our students can learn the real things from daily life and real working environments (in ML and some extra materials)
Students are required to work in pairs, in groups to practice English in daily and business situations Additionally, students also have chances to listen to both native and non-native speakers from the tapes used with the textbooks or sometimes with real foreign speakers At this stage, four forms of tests are used for the semesters: a writing test, an oral test (considered progress tests), a mid-test and a TOEIC test at the end of each term
The second stage-the stage for ESP - lasts 60 periods At this stage, our students are provided with the knowledge of terms and structures related to their profession The materials used at this stage vary at every faculty and are compiled by teachers at the DNU ourselves
They mainly focus on developing students‟ reading, speaking and a little on writing skill At the end of this stage students have a writing test and an oral test
Since 2008 the University has applied TOEIC teaching programs for all the students right from the beginning of the course appalling with normal English course This syllabus enables students to make acquaintance with real situations in business working environments At the final semester, students will specialize in learning 90 periods for TOEIC only and they will have to complete two tests: mid-term and final test
The objectives of the English course are clear At the end of the course, students are required to obtain:
- General knowledge of English with active vocabulary of 2000 words
- The ability to communicate with foreigners in English in common and specific situations
- Understanding and using the professional terms and structures
- The ability to work in dynamically real working environments
II.1.2 Description of the first year students of the Accounting faculty at DNU
The first year students of the Accounting faculty are mainly females aging from 18 to 21
They do not have the same level of English language proficiency Some of them have learned English for 7 years at junior and senior high schools; some have only learned English for 3 years while a few have never learned English Although some of them study English rather well, they are only good at grammar, not speaking They are likely to do grammatical exercises very quickly at their level but they cannot speak fluently about many common topics as well as business related ones, and most of them do not feel self-confident or even a bit frightened in communicating in English Moreover, motivation to learning English in these non-English language classes is generally low since English, for most of the students, is only understood as an obligatory subject in the university curriculum Another important thing is that these students, in the first year, have to learn way how to present business English through the topics in ML and the ones given by the teachers
Shortly, these students, as mentioned in the part “difficulties for learners”, belong to the group Pre-experience learners or low experience learners They may lack confidence in their ability to deal with business subject matters Most of them will need to improve their language skills in general and BE oral presentation skills in particular Hence, it is very important that the staff at the English session of DNU find out effective ways to help these students overcome their difficulties in BE presentation
II.1.3 Description of the teachers at DNU
In DNU, there are 10 full time and 15 part time teachers of English aged from 26 to 60
Two of them have been to English-speaking countries for their studies and work Most of them were trained at Hanoi University of Languages and International Studies-Vietnam National University (HULIS) and Hanoi University (HU) One-third of them took M.A degree already either domestically or internationally Most of the rest have been taking M.A courses in HULIS, Hanoi University and some foreign organizations of education and training in Hanoi
Before working at DNU, some of the teachers have at least 7 or 8 teaching experience in English at other universities and colleges, and they have acquired considerable pedagogical competence As a result, they have some advantages of both their language teaching background and teaching conditions Nevertheless, the others have just graduated the university and so they lack of teaching experience A common obstacle for the whole teacher at DNU in their work as well as for teachers teaching ESP at other universities in general and BE in particular is the real knowledge of the branches that they are teaching Except for specific vocabulary and common definitions, it is quite hard for them to understand the business settings profoundly
II.1.4 Description of Market Leader Elementary coursebook and the business related presentation topics
II.1.4.1 The course book Market Leader Elementary
At Dai Nam University, the non-major English first year students of the Accounting faculty are required to study the Market Leader Elementary (MLE) for two first semesters with
120 periods The topics for the oral presentation are mainly used from this book Besides, there are also extra topics given by the teachers Before looking at the list of the presented oral topics for the students, I will review the objectives, strengths and weaknesses of MLE
MLE is an extensive new BE course designed to bring the real world of international business into the language-teaching classroom It has been developed in association with the Financial Times to ensure the maximum range and authenticity of business content It is intended for use either by students preparing for a career in business or by those already working who want to improve their English communication skills
The book combines some of the most stimulating recent ideas from the world of business with a strong task-based approach Role- plays and case studies are regular features of each unit Throughout the course, students are encouraged to use their experience and opinions to maximize their involvement and learning
II.1.4.3 Strengths and weaknesses of the coursebook
Research design
In order to get information to fulfill the aims of the study, first, the survey will be conducted between two different groups of subjects The first questionnaire was administered to 5 teachers who teach English to the first-year non-major English students of Accounting faculty at DNU The total English classes of the Accounting faculties are eight and each teacher of English is responsible for teaching one class The researcher selected them as the subjects of the study with the hope to find out the difficulties they confront in teaching BE presentation skill to non-English major students of the Accounting faculty at DNU
The second questionnaire was randomly administered to 60 non-major students of the Accounting faculty at DNU They are the students who belong to eight classes from KT02-01A to KT02-04B They occupy one-fourth of the total students of the Accounting faculty of the 2 nd course at DNU (because DNU is newly established university, the number of students is not large and the average students in each English class of the Accounting faculty is from 25 to 30 students Most of them are from 18 to 20 years old and they are the first-year students Only first-year students of 2 nd term were chosen because they were learning English at the time of delivering questionnaires
Data were gained through the employment of two research instruments, namely questionnaires and interviews For the former, in this study, the self-completion questionnaires with closed-questions will be employed As it name suggests, surveyees will complete the questionnaire by themselves without the assistance of the interviewer In using the self- completion type, I can seek better cooperation from the part of respondents as they may complete the questionnaire, given sufficient time to think over the answers In two survey questionnaires above, the respondents were asked to answer and tick the closed-questions; however, some questions have more than one option To identify the participants for the follow-up interviews in phrase two, the researcher only applies one quite simple criterion based on the biggest amount of assumed options of the difficulties in teaching and learning presentation skill experienced by informants and sometimes other potential difficulties
For the latter, the researcher employed the semi-structured interviews The questions had been prepared in advance to clarify and supplement the statistical results from the two survey questionnaires for teachers and students These questions were open enough to allow the interviewees to express their thoughts, feelings, or opinions freely
In the first phase, questionnaires were administered to 60 DNU first-year non-English students at the end of the second semester of the academic year 2009 and 5 teachers of English of Foreign Languages at DNU The participants were asked to complete the questionnaire at home and returned their responses one week later that they have as much time as they needed
After the collected data were analyzed, in the second phase, some teachers and students informants with the most problems were contacted for semi-structured interviews with the researcher in locations where they felt at ease and at a time they suggested The interviews were all recorded in a natural way and help the researcher review in details later In addition, in order to capture the complexities of the student respondent‟s individual perceptions and experience, the student interviews were done in Vietnamese while the teacher interviews conducted in mainly English At the beginning of the interviews, the participants were explained clearly, explicitly about the nature of the study During the interview, the researcher modified the questions and procedures according to the subjects‟ responses
Data analysis is not simply a single description of the collected data In fact, it is the process by which the researcher interprets the data collected from the survey questionnaires and interviews The scheme and coding categories in this research emerged from an examination of data rather than being pre-determined and imposed on the data The information from the interviews were transcribed and major themes were identified with a view to clarifying and supporting the statistical results
In short, this chapter has looked at the setting of the study, research methods, instruments and procedures employed in this study What follows is the findings and discussion.
Findings and Discussion 22
Difficulties from students
As mentioned in the statistic results from the tables below, a great number of students (83%) had difficulties in learning how to present business English at English classes in consistent with DNU teachers‟ difficulties in teaching presentation skills originated from student-related problems When asked in the survey questionnaires and interviews to comment on what caused teachers and students those constraints in oral English language classrooms, they identified a multitude of variables such as past educational experiences, lack of BE knowledge, lack of background, cultural and social knowledge, low motivation for learning English, low level of English proficiency, negative traits, traditional cultural beliefs and external factors
Table 1: Teachers’ difficulties when teaching business English presentation skills Options No of teachers Percentage (%)
Lack of business English knowledge 5 100
Students‟ low level of English proficiency 5 100
Unawareness of oral presentation skills 5 100
Teacher‟s deficiency in English communicative competence 3 60
Students‟ passive way of learning 5 100
Students‟ negative personal traits (introverted, shy,…) 4 80
Others: lack of teaching aids, Western cultural and social factors in English textbooks alien to teachers and students
Table 2: Students’ difficulties when learning business English presentation skills
Options No of students Percentage
If yes, which following causes lead to your difficulties in
(tick more than one option)
Lack of business English knowledge 57 95
Lack of cultural and social knowledge 34 56.6 Low level of English language proficiency 52 86.6
Secondary education in many different parts of Asia was strongly didactic and exam- oriented (Li, 1998; Sato, 1990; Tsui, 1996) As a result, both teachers and learners focused on marks and written tests while neglecting oral English Students were possibly not encouraged to speak in their English language classes Speaking was not considered too important a skill In their lessons, the emphasis was presumably placed on accuracy of linguistic forms Their idea of language lesson, therefore, might comprise reading and doing written exercises that practise grammar Students had also formed the habit of sitting in class and listening quietly to teachers and they remained it until requested by teachers to speak As a student described, “sitting quietly and listening to teachers has a long history and was deeply rooted in our mind” (LA)
Teachers in the interviews were completely inconsistent with students‟ opinions on past educational experiences, which were also considered one of the main causes for student reticence in oral English language classes According to the interviewed teachers, first-year students at DNU were quite dependent on their teachers In class, they preferred to work individually and quietly, which means that written work and private learning are preferable in many oral English classes This style is typical of Vietnamese learners, who look for structured learning, with a teacher as an authority figure and are less comfortable with autonomous learning and situations
“My students often feel nervous and unconfident when speaking in front of the class The learning style in the past affected them unavoidably Whenever being called to present, they express reluctance or anxiety” (H)
The subjects concluded that this bad learning habit really hinders the development of students‟ communicative ability in the target language
III.1.2 Lack of background, business, cultural and social knowledge
One additional problematic area related to students is their lack of BE, background or lack of cultural and social knowledge Students nowadays have more chances to take easy accesses to information about various fields in the life via numerous channels, that is, TV, radio, newspapers, magazines and especially Internet However, they only paid the most attention to relaxation area with brief news (i.e., the latest news of the results of football matches, the emergence of computer games, the sensational news of film stars,…) whereas other fields are paid less attention to and/or even are neglected Therefore, they (95%) found it difficult to express themselves in English when discussing topics related to such business as: presenting product, marketing a product or launch a new product etc or politics which are considered to be serious and hard Many students in the interviews reported that they often could not think of what to say on a particular topic Their excuse was that they did not have any relevant knowledge of the topics, they are not interested in, or have no ideas to contribute with In agreement with students‟, negative evaluations of their background knowledge, some teacher respondents affirmed the problem
“Lexical, specific and conceptual problems hinders students‟ active participation Most of the learning time, learners are overloaded when everything is unfamiliar” (P)
“Most of the students have no experience of the subject matters discussion The consequence is that they can not bring to their language learning real-life experience of these fields” (M)
III.1.3 Low motivation for learning English
Skinner and Belmont (1991:3) note that students who are motivated to engage in school
“select tasks at the border of their competencies, initiate action when given the opportunity, and exert intense effort and concentration in the implementation of learning tasks; they show generally positive emotions during ongoing action, including enthusiasm, optimism, curiosity, and interest” Less motivated or disengaged students, on the other hand, “are passive, do not try hard, and give up easily in the face of challenges”
Student motivation is often divided into two categories (Dev, 1997):
Extrinsic motivation: A student can be described as extrinsically motivated when he or she engages in learning “purely for the sake of attaining a reward or for avoiding some punishment”
Intrinsic motivation: A student can be described as intrinsically motivated when he or she is motivated from within: Intrinsically motivated students actively engage themselves in learning out of curiosity, interest, or enjoyment, or in order to achieve their own intellectual and personal goals
Table 3: Students’ reasons for learning English
Options No of students Percentage (%)
Obligatory subject in university curriculum 52 86.6
For the purpose of entertainment 14 23.3
Widen your knowledge about countries 15 25
An important means of communication 42 70
As can be seen from the above table, a frequent students‟ answer (86.6%) was that they had to learn English since it forms one of the obligatory subjects in the universities‟ and colleges‟ curriculum These results suggest that students‟ motivation for learning English arises, in a large extend, from external stimuli, i.e the requirements of their universities and colleges and demands of the contemporary society in general Thus, the students‟ motivation, in its prevailing part, can be characterized as extrinsic Moreover, the reason for learning English that recurred in students‟ responses was that they would need English in their future lives, e.g in their future profession, when studying, working or traveling abroad In short, they need English in order to extend their prosperous chances Upon scanning the results, it becomes apparent that the reason connected to extending future opportunities gained in prominence with the approval of 91.6% of the students The stimulus for learning English to extend future opportunities may be classified as belonging to extrinsic, instrumental category of motivation It may be concluded that in general the students‟ motivation for learning English is extrinsic
III.1.4 Low level of English proficiency
Students‟ low proficiency in English is also identified as a major factor that prevents them from speaking willingly according to the survey findings (i.e., 100% of teachers in Table 1 and 91.6 % of students in Table 2 opted for this item) Although the student respondents of this study have learnt English since they were at secondary school, their vocabulary, grammar, and pronunciation are still so poor that they cannot express their ideas in English when they are appointed to do oral activities All the above-mentioned factors deter them from speaking unwillingly Gradually, they will lose their interest in trying to speak and become discourage to speak English anymore In consistent with the survey findings, low English proficiency is also considered as a main factor that hindered the students from talking to others in English class “I usually feel unconfident and hardly speak in classes for my oral English is very weak and my oral English become weaker and weaker” (M) Because they perceived their English to be poor, many students chose to be quiet “In my class, some learners speak and listen quite well and they are very confident and eager to present in front of other peers And as a result, I get more and more nervous” (B)
As claimed by Ellis (1999), that extrovert people were more willing to interact with others while the introverted and shy preferred to by quiet and listen to others, personal traits were also identified as a main cause for reticence in oral language class on the part of many students in the present study A number of learners are rather introverted in the nature, or they are not used to expressing themselves in front of others (Bradwell) They do not enjoy being the centre of attention That is why presenting English may states itself as a problem for them
All the teacher interviewees (M, C, P) said that it was the introversion dimension of their student‟s personality that prevented them from taking an active part in presenting periods
Typical personality traits of students who are introverted, as revealed by these teachers, included shyness, quietness, introspectiveness, and reservedness Also, all of the teachers shared the same negative viewpoint on students‟ introversion which had negative impact on the student‟s learning
“From my classroom observation, the introverted students seem to be very isolated during presentation sessions Normally, they have a tendency to withdraw from classroom oral activities which consequently leads to a passive way of learning, deficiencies in oral skills and a bad relationship with other classmates” (H)
In addition to that, some students also thought that reticence was so strongly related to personality, especially introversion They believed that some people were born to be so and this was further illustrated by a vivid description from a student informant, “my partner kept silent unless it was a must to open his mouth And he would be delighted if he was not chosen to answer a question during the class”
An important source of student reticence in oral English classes, according to an interesting discovery from the student interviewees, was concerned with traditional cultural beliefs, which emphasized modesty and respect for the old and superior Vietnamese people, consistent with Confucian ideology, generally showed respect to elders and people in authority This was truthfully reflected in the classrooms where teachers were considered as figures of authority (Cortazzi & Jin, 1996) In V‟s words: “Because we often think that we are students, we should sit silently and listen to the teachers who are very knowledgeable We ourselves feel rude if we interrupt, question, or argue with our teacher”
Lack of knowledge about business English and oral presentation skills 27
A reality is that not all the teachers at DNU have good oral presentation ability It is due to both objective and subjective factors With the requirements about syllabus, teaching progress, lesson plans, testing system or students‟ learning problems and so on that prevent them from concentrating on only teaching and practicing oral presentation skill And it becomes harder when this is combined with BE One thing is also claimed that if someone desires to be a good presenter, it must be up to his/her own ability and it is a truth to some of teachers of English at DNU
III.2.2 Inappropriate teacher pedagogical practices
Inappropriate teacher pedagogical practices are examined in terms of too much teacher talking time, unsuitable teacher mistake correction, incomprehensible teacher input and too distant teacher- learner relationship Table 4 and 5 below are statistic results from survey questionnaires for teachers (question 1 and 2) and for students (question 5), which exploit the problems in teacher pedagogical practices in BE presentation classes
Table 4: Teacher pedagogical practices in teaching oral presentation skills
Questions Options No of teachers
1 What teaching methods are currently applied in your teaching oral presentation?
2 What is your reaction to the students keep making mistakes?
Keep quiet, until they finish their task, smile and encourage them to go on
Keep quiet, but not smile supportively or encourage them to go on
Stop them and correct mistakes 3 60
Get annoyed when students keep making mistakes 1 20
Table 5: Students’ opinions on inappropriate teacher pedagogical practices in English oral presentation lessons
Questions Options No of students
Percentage (%) Are your teacher’s pedagogical practices appropriate?
If no, what are they?
Teacher talking time is too much 33 55
Teacher‟s manner, reaction, time of mistake correction are not suitable
Teacher‟s style leads to students‟ incomprehensible input
Teachers always keep a distance from students
III.2.2.1 Too much teacher talking time
The statistics from table 4 clearly shows many teachers at DNU preferred applying Grammar-Translation method in their teaching to applying CLT (40) This means that the teachers of English here were still used to traditional teaching methods with grammar- centeredness and teacher-centeredness but CLT with learner-centeredness was less applied in teaching English in general and teaching speaking in particular In consistent with the statistical results above, the student interviewees claimed that their teachers mainly focused on explaining and giving the forms of grammar structures and providing the meaning of vocabulary, or in other words, the goal of teaching was set on grammar accuracy, speaking fluently was neglected As a result of traditional methods, teachers occupied more class-time than students, hence, the students were given very few opportunities and very little encouragement to develop their self-confidence and their presentation ability These findings above were in agreement with a high percentage of students (55% of 80%) who considered „teacher talking time is too much‟ as an inappropriate teacher pedagogical practice
III.2.2 2 Unsuitable teacher mistake correction
Based on students‟ perspectives (32% of 80%) in table 5, „teacher‟s manners reaction, time of mistake correction are not suitable‟ in oral English classes This confirmation of the improper way of correcting mistakes was supported by results from teachers‟ opinions in table
4 Question 2 in Table 4 identified that the participants who stopped students and corrected mistakes when they kept making mistakes made up 60% The results also showed that there still existed some teachers whose reaction to students‟ mistakes was in an unfriendly, unhelpful manner (25%) and was even angry (25%) In addition to that, question 3 indicated in Table 4 reveals that more than half of the teachers (60%) frequently stop students during their performance for mistake correction instead of keeping silent until they finish their task From these statistical data, it can be understood that the ways of mistake correction applied by many of the teachers at DNU prevented students from presenting in classes
The student interviewees also protested against the rude manner of teacher mistake correction L expressed that „whenever my teacher interrupts me immediately to correct my mistakes, I often feel so confused and ashamed Besides, she tends to blame us for any minor mistake and sometimes uses condemning words in her error correction‟
If teachers keep doing so, they cannot enhance students‟ communicative ability
Otherwise, they might construct students‟ fear of making oral mistakes
From Table 5, a majority of the non-English major students (68.3% of 80%) chose incomprehensible teacher input as one of the inappropriate teacher pedagogical practices This suggests that a lot of participants could not understand what was being said by the teacher, which was seen as a major contributor to students‟ difficulties in learning presentation skill in English classes Moreover, according to the input hypothesis in the Natural Approach (Kock &
Terrel, 1991), learners acquire language by understanding input that is a little beyond their current level of competence and in order for learners to understand their teachers‟ meaning, teachers have to not only control the speech of instruction language but also use their mother tongue when necessary During the interview, many students in this study consistently complained that their teachers used too much English or refused to use any Vietnamese at all which resulted in their incapability to keep up during class Another complaint was made about the teacher‟s speaking speed In these students‟ ideas, speaking too quickly in first-year classes was unsuitable because for first-year students, whose listening and speaking skill were very poor, their teachers‟ fast expressions would only be empty utterance in their ears Here is one of the answers from the interviews
“When my teacher of English speaking gives instructions, I often have no idea of what he wants me to do because of his very high speed Thus, I have to ask other classmates for help”
(T.M) III.2.2.4 Too distant teacher-learner relationship About 51.6% in the survey revealed that their teachers often kept a distance from them in oral English lessons, which led to a stressful classroom atmosphere This suggested that the relationship between teachers and students might be another potential source of difficulty in teaching and learning speaking skill in English classes Besides, the information from the interviews with students also supported this confirmation When the student interviewees were asked to give comments on the teacher-learner relationship in their oral English classes, their responses to this question were amazingly consistent All informants agreed on the idea that the teacher who were friendly, considerate, funny, tolerant, sympathetic, and patient actually made them feel comfortable By contrast, those who were impatient and hot-tempered made them feel nervous
“My teacher of English rarely smiles at us Indeed, he is too strict and hard to access I wish he would become closer so that I wouldn‟t feel nervous in speaking lessons” (B)
On the contrary, T expressed a positive attitude towards her teacher
“My teacher is so wonderful For us, she is like a close friend who is always willing to give help and valuable knowledge”
III.2.3 Teachers’ deficiency in English communicative competence
Table 6: Teachers’ English communicative competence
Question Options No of teachers Percentage (%)
How secure or self- confident do you- yourself feel about teaching oral presentation? Are you able to cope orally with different situations?
Very self-confident (be willing to communicate in all various situations) 0 0 Self-confident enough (communicate in different situations if expected) 1 20
Not very self-confident (avoid communicating in various situations as much as possible)
Not self-confident at all (feel a bit frightened if coping orally with different situations)
It can be seen from table 6 that the majority of teachers of English (80%) did not feel self- confident enough about teach presentation skill So they often tried to avoid conducting various communicative situations relating to certain contexts with their students In this regard, 60% of the teachers in Table 1 admitted that they lacked English communicative competence which might be the most suitable explanation to their shortage of self confidence about teaching presenting English They often focus on basic grammatical structures, common vocabulary and acceptable pronunciation but neglect putting that knowledge into use by helping students practise speaking and communicate in various situations and context in combination with the strategic and sociolinguistic competence The informants attributed this problem to some causes Firstly, many of the mare still accustomed to using traditional methods like the Grammar Translation instead of applying CLT in teaching English in general and speaking skill in particular due to the objective factors at DNU which are not favorable to CLT like multilevel classes, time constraint, textbooks The consequence is their lack of the communicative competence and self-confidence to teach English oral skills Secondly, Vietnam is not an English-medium country, and English is a foreign language to both teachers and students
Consequently, not only teachers but also students lack a language environment to develop their communicative competence, which prevents them from communicating in English fruitfully
III.3 Difficulties from external factors III.3.1 Multilevel class
As said in the description of English course and the students at DNU, the number of learners in classes is not over 35 students per class Therefore, large class factor does not exit in this learning context But an existing problem here is multilevel English classes (as seen in table 1 with 100%) The teacher interviewees mentioned it as a constraint in teaching presenting skill These types of class have a wide range of students in each and it is hard to have cooperation among them In the activities that conversation or pair work, a good English proficiency student does not want to work with a low English proficiency one If asked, they soon get bored In addition, designing lessons to meet their communicative needs is beyond teachers‟ capacity Placing them in classes where all students are at the same level would be very helpful, but that is impossible because English is not the main subject at DNU During the interview, the teacher informants shared the same viewpoint that there existed many student- related problems in English practices, of which the most prominent one seems to be mixed proficiency levels of students In fact, the freshmen come from different parts of the country
Some of them come from provinces which the others from cities and towns, so their levels of English proficiency differ, ranging from elementary to advance levels Below is one of the comments from the informants:
“In the same class, while some first-year students who are good at English enjoy every classroom moment, many others seem to be demotivated The latter attends classes just because it is a compulsory subject in the curriculum” (H)