ESP teachers’ practice of developing curriculum for nonEnglish majors at some universities in Ho Chi Minh City.

ESP teachers’ practice of developing curriculum for nonEnglish majors at some universities in Ho Chi Minh City. ESP teachers’ practice of developing curriculum for nonEnglish majors at some universities in Ho Chi Minh City. ESP teachers’ practice of developing curriculum for nonEnglish majors at some universities in Ho Chi Minh City. ESP teachers’ practice of developing curriculum for nonEnglish majors at some universities in Ho Chi Minh City. ESP teachers’ practice of developing curriculum for nonEnglish majors at some universities in Ho Chi Minh City. ESP teachers’ practice of developing curriculum for nonEnglish majors at some universities in Ho Chi Minh City. ESP teachers’ practice of developing curriculum for nonEnglish majors at some universities in Ho Chi Minh City. ESP teachers’ practice of developing curriculum for nonEnglish majors at some universities in Ho Chi Minh City. ESP teachers’ practice of developing curriculum for nonEnglish majors at some universities in Ho Chi Minh City. ESP teachers’ practice of developing curriculum for nonEnglish majors at some universities in Ho Chi Minh City.

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HUE UNIVERSITY UNIVERSITY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES HUYNH THI HOA SEN ESP TEACHERS’ PRACTICE OF DEVELOPING CURRICULUM FOR NON-ENGLISH MAJORS AT SOME UNIVERSITIES IN HO CHI MINH CITY DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY THESIS IN THEORY AND METHODOLOGY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING HUE, 2022 MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HUE UNIVERSITY UNIVERSITY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES HUYNH THI HOA SEN ESP TEACHERS’ PRACTICE OF DEVELOPING CURRICULUM FOR NON-ENGLISH MAJORS AT SOME UNIVERSITIES IN HO CHI MINH CITY CODE: 9140111 DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY THESIS IN THEORY AND METHODOLOGY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING SUPERVISOR: ASSOC.PROF., DR TRAN VAN PHUOC HUE, 2022 DECLARATION I certify that the present dissertation submitted today entitled: “ESP teachers’ practice of developing curriculum for non-English majors at some universities in Ho Chi Minh City” for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in theory and methodology in English language teaching, is the result of my own research, and that, to the best of my knowledge and belief, contains no material which has been accepted for the award of any other degree in any institute, college, or university, or previously published or written by another person, except where due reference is made in the text of the dissertation Signature: ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The road to achievement within this Doctoral Program is paved with the assistance and efforts of the many who worked diligently to assist me, believed in me and guided me to pursue a personal goal I acknowledge those who without hesitation contributed their professional and academic knowledge to this study Without these individuals, this would never have been possible I would like to acknowledge the forbearance of my supervisor Associate Professor Doctor Tran Van Phuoc, who provided instruction and feedback to all steps of the study and to various versions of this dissertation with the support and words of wisdom I was exceptionally fortunate to have him as a mentor for this work His encouragement allowed me to continue to grow as a person and a researcher He helped me keep things prioritized and in focus Without him, this work would not have taken its final shape I would also like to extend my sincere gratitude to Rector Pham Thi Hong Nhung and the lecturers and professors of the University of Foreign Languages, Hue University for patiently and wholeheartedly guiding me through the process required to complete my program of study Their support, encouragement, and willingness to serve as academic committee members were of huge benefit to me Their knowledge and wisdom inspired me to broaden my scope of investigation A special mention goes to my colleagues whose understanding, sympathy, and support were invaluable spiritual strength for me during the process of completing this work I owe a great debt to many English teachers at the four universities who voluntarily and patiently answered the questionnaire and took part in the in-depth interviews during the data collection process of this study This journey was made possible through the love and support of my parents, my sisters, my husband and children I would like to express my deep gratitude to my family To my husband, for his unconditional love, support, and encouragement He encouraged me unfailingly, provided ongoing support and kind words, motivated me, and had confidence in me To my parents whose life demonstrated that honor is found in hard work and sacrifice I thank them for loving me unconditionally and for providing me with encouragement in my educational pursuits My thanks go to my children, who are a source of strength to me Along the way, they constantly made sacrifices to facilitate me in my endeavors They were persistent in reminding me of my desire to complete the journey and motivated me every step of the way I will be forever grateful for and inspired by their love ABSTRACT In the effort to enhance the quality of English teaching in tertiary institutions, ESP teaching is considered to make English learning more relevant to the students’ use of English in their future jobs, and thus arouse their interest and motivation in English learning The development of ESP curriculum is, therefore, of great significance to meet these needs and teacher involvement in the process is essential because an ESP teacher is not only a teacher but also a collaborator, a course designer and material provider, a researcher, and an evaluator (Dudley-Evans & St John, 1998) The study thus aims to investigate ESP teachers’ practice of developing the ESP curriculum for non-English majors at some universities in Ho Chi Minh City to find out about the practice of this process The study also aims to investigate the ESP teachers’ perceptions of the process, the advantages and difficulties they may encounter as well as their suggestions for improvement of the process With the aim of investigating the practice of ESP teachers in developing curriculum and for the nature of the research questions, a descriptive research design was employed Data collection was carried out with three instruments, that is, documentation, questionnaire and interview Various types of documents related to the ESP curriculum development process were collected Seventy-eight ESP teachers from four universities in Ho Chi Minh City agreed to participate in the study and answered all the closed questions in the questionnaire and among them, twenty-one teachers took part in the interview The findings of the study revealed the steps that the ESP teachers participated in most were determining the teaching methodology and support for effective teaching, and determining the assessment contents and methods The steps of the curriculum development process that the ESP teachers were not involved in most were needs analysis, course goals or objectives specification, and curriculum evaluation The advantages for the ESP teachers in the curriculum development process can be counted of existing knowledge and skills in teaching and planning lessons in General English, availability of coursebooks and teaching materials for certain specialties, support and encouragement from their faculties and universities, and individual help from specialist teachers in the same universities The difficulties ESP teachers often encountered in the curriculum development process were undefined workplaces’ target needs, unclear course goals and objectives, inappropriate teaching coursebooks and materials, lack of specialist knowledge, and lack of effective tools for needs analysis and curriculum evaluation at different stages of the curriculum development process They proposed various recommendations concerning conducting a comprehensive needs analysis as a scientific base for later stages of the curriculum development process, specifying clear goals and objectives, and selecting and sequencing contents based on the needs analysis information, which in turns serves as the scientific base for the selection or compilation of coursebooks and teaching materials, supporting teachers with specialist training, supportive teaching and learning environment and assessment tools, as well as effective tools for ongoing needs analysis and curriculum evaluation TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION .1 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .2 ABSTRACT TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS 10 LIST OF FIGURES 11 LIST OF TABLES 12 CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION 15 1.1 Rationale 15 1.2 Statement of purpose 19 1.3 Scope of the study .20 1.4 Significance of the study 20 1.5 Structure of the study 21 CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW .22 2.1 Definitions of key terms 22 2.1.1 Curriculum .22 2.1.2 English for Specific Purposes 23 2.2 Language curriculum development 26 2.2.1 Language curriculum components 26 2.2.2 Common approaches in language curriculum development 30 2.2.3 Common procedures in language curriculum development 38 2.3 Steps in ESP curriculum development .42 2.3.1 ESP needs analysis 43 2.3.2 Specification of course goals or objectives 46 2.3.3 Selection and sequencing of content 48 2.3.4 Methodology and support for effective teaching 51 2.3.5 Selection or compilation of materials 52 2.3.6 Determination of assessment methods and contents .54 2.3.7 Curriculum evaluation 55 2.4 Teacher’s involvement in the curriculum development process 57 2.5 Previous studies on teacher’s involvement in curriculum development and ESP teaching 59 2.6 Summary of the chapter 66 CHAPTER THREE: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 67 3.1 Research Design .67 3.2 Participants .70 3.3 Data collection methods 72 3.3.1 Documentation and artefacts 74 3.3.2 The questionnaire 75 3.3.3 Interview 78 3.4 Piloting data collection .79 3.5 Data collection procedure 80 3.6 Data analysis methods 80 3.6.1 Analysing documents and artefacts .81 3.6.2 Analysing questionnaire data 81 3.6.3 Analysing interview data .81 3.7 Reliability and validity 81 3.8 Summary of the chapter 83 CHAPTER FOUR: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 84 4.1 Teachers’ perceptions of developing ESP curriculum for non-English majors 84 4.1.1 Teachers’ general perceptions of developing ESP curriculum 85 4.1.2 Teachers’ perceptions of the steps in developing ESP curriculum 89 4.1.2.1 Step One: Analyzing ESP needs 89 4.1.2.2 Step Two: Specifying the cour se goals or objectives 92 4.1.2.3.Step Three: Selecting and sequencing the contents 93 4.1.2.4 Step Four: Methodology and support for effective teaching 94 4.1.2.5 Step Five: Selecting or compiling coursebooks or teaching materials .96 4.1.2.6 Step Six: Determining methods and contents of assessment 98 4.1.2.7 Step Seven: Evaluating the performed curriculum through different channels or tools 100 4.2 Teachers’ actual participation in the process of developing ESP curriculum at some universities in Ho Chi Minh City 101 4.2.1 Step One: Analyzing ESP needs 102 4.2.2 Step Two: Specifying the course goals or objectives 108 4.2.3 Step Thr ee: Selecting and sequencing the contents 111 4.2.4 Step Four: Methodology and support for effective teaching .113 4.2.5 Step Five: Selecting or compiling coursebooks or teaching materials 118 4.2.6 Step Six: Determining methods and contents of assessment .121 4.2.7.ep Seven: Evaluating the performed curriculum through different channels or tools124 4.3 Advantages and difficulties in the ESP curriculum development process .126 4.3.1 Step One: Analyzing ESP needs 126 4.3.2 Step Two: Specifying the course goals or objectives 128 ... certify that the present dissertation submitted today entitled: ? ?ESP teachers’ practice of developing curriculum for non-English majors at some universities in Ho Chi Minh City” for the Degree of Doctor... evaluator (Dudley-Evans & St John, 1998) The study thus aims to investigate ESP teachers’ practice of developing the ESP curriculum for non-English majors at some universities in Ho Chi Minh City.. .MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HUE UNIVERSITY UNIVERSITY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES HUYNH THI HOA SEN ESP TEACHERS’ PRACTICE OF DEVELOPING CURRICULUM FOR NON-ENGLISH MAJORS AT SOME UNIVERSITIES