Designing a task based english syllabus for students of information and library science at nghe an college of culture and arts

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MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

VINH UNIVERSITY - & LL s& -

NGUYEN THI THANH YEN

DESIGNING A TASK — BASED ENGLISH SYLLABUS FOR STUDENTS OF INFORMATION AND LIBRARY SCIENCE

AT NGHE AN COLLEGE OF CULTURE AND ARTS

(THIET KE CHUONG TRINH DAY HOC TIENG ANH THEO NHIEM VU CHO SINH VIEN CHUYEN NGANH THONG TIN THU VIEN TAI

TRUONG CAO DANG VAN HOA NGHE THUAT NGHE AN)

MASTER THESIS IN EDUCATION

«œ Nghe An, 2013 @

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MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING VINH UNIVERSITY - & LL) & -

NGUYEN THI THANH YEN

DESIGNING A TASK — BASED ENGLISH SYLLABUS

FOR STUDENTS OF INFORMATION AND LIBRARY SCIENCE AT NGHE AN COLLEGE OF CULTURE AND ARTS

(THIET KE CHUONG TRINH DAY HOC TIENG ANH THEO NHIEM VU CHO SINH VIEN CHUYEN NGANH THONG TIN THU VIEN TAI

TRUONG CAO DANG VAN HOA NGHE THUAT NGHE AN)

M.A THESIS IN EDUCATION

FIELD: ENGLISH METHODOLOGY

CODE: 601410

Supervisor: Nguyen Thi Kim Anh, M.A

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This thesis was completed due to the material, intellectual and emotional supports from many people whom I wish to thank here

Firstly, I would like to express my special thanks to my supervisor Nguyễn Thị Kim Anh, M.A for her invaluable guidance and instructive

comments, whithout which the thesis would not have been successful

completed I wish to take this opportunity to express my gratitude to all my lectures in Foreign Language Department, Vinh university whose lectures and support have laid foundation for my thesis

Secondly, I would like to thank all the librarians in Nghe An library, my colleagues, my students in Nghe An college of Culture and Arts for their precious help and cooperation during my survey

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ABSTRACT

In the scope of a minor thesis, this study aims at designing a task-based English syllabus for students of information and library science at Nghe An college of Culture and Arts

In order to achive the above aims, the author has reviewed theories of

syllabus design, task-based syllabus and ESP, then attempted to come up with the tasks that are necessary for students of Information and library science to prepare for their future jobs by doing situational and need analysis The data collection was carefully analyzed to determine the aims, objectives and the components of a task-based syllabus

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TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgement Abstract Table of contents List of Figures CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale

1.2 Aims of the Study 1.3 Scope of the Study 1.4 Methods of the study 1.5 Organization of the Study

CHAPTER 2: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND 2.1 Definitions of Syllabus

2.2 Definitions of Syllabus Design 2.3 Types of Syllabi

2.4 Task -based Syllabus and ESP

2.4.1 Definitions of Task and Task-based Language Teaching 2.4.2 Pedagogical Tasks

2.4.3 Task-based Language Teaching

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CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY 3.1 Aims of the research 3.2 Research Questions 3.3 Situational Analysis 3.4 Data Collection

CHAPTER 4: THE PROPOSED SYLLABUS CONTENT 4.1 Situational Analysis and Needs Analysis 4.1.1 Situational Analysis 4.1.1.1 Educational Setting 4.1.1.2 Learners Factors 4.1.1.3 Teacher Factors 4.1.1.4 Institutional Factors

4.1.1.5 Assessment and Evaluation Requirements 4.1.1.6 The Existing Curriculum

4.1.2 Needs Analysis of Librarians at Nghe An Library 4.2 The Content of Designed Syllabus

4.2.1 Objectives of Syllabus 4.2.2 Type of Syllabus 4.2.3 Time Requirement 4.2.4 Tasks in the syllabus 4.2.5 The Proposed Syllabus

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CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION 5.1 Recapitulation

5.2 Recommendations of the Study

5.3 Limitation and Suggestion for further Study

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FIGURES

Chart 4.1: Helping readers to use the library Chart 4.2: Lending book

Chart 4.3: Service in the Library Chart 4.4: Making Library Catalogs Chart 4.5: Making Classification Systems Chart 4.6: Assigning Subject Heading Chart 4.7: Making Reference

Chart 4.8: Using Dewey Decimal Classification

Chart 4.9: Using Machine Readable Cataloging System (MARC) Chart 4.10: Improving readers’ library skills

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CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Rationale

The importance and role of English can not be denied as it is used widely

in the world for information and communication, as well as in educational field

and everyday’s real life situation

“The syllabus as contract can serve as the document by which the classroom practices, expectations and norms are discussed and codified Any later ambiguities of meaning can be resolved by examining the contract that exists between the parties, Danielson [4, pg 8] One of the most popular types of syllabus is task — based syllabus which seems to satisfy at least four of the rationales It promotes the eventual uses of the target language by emphasizing the real-world tasks And tasks derived from the analysis of the learners’ needs increase learners’ interest and motivation , Robinson [20, pg 267]

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In addition to the material issue, the author realizes that most of students

of information and library science face difficulty in learning speaking and listening skills while their grammar is quite good Lots of instructors still use grammar-translation method as it is easy for them but not suitable to students anymore Among several versions of the Communicative Approach, the author sees that Task-based language teaching (TBLT) is popular and relevant to our educational purposes.”

TBLT refers to an approach based on the use of tasks as the core unit of planning and instruction in language teaching, Willis [25, pg 36] And it provides a structured framework for both instruction and assessment Students are more likely to develop intrinsic motivation in a task-based approach and it enables teachers to see if students are developing the ability to communicate in language learning It is noted that, the ultimate goal of an ESP course is to meet the needs of a particular learner Thus, one of the main tasks done by ESP teachers is concerned with designing appropriate syllabus for different groups of learners Syllabus design is considered to be of great importance in deciding the success of learners

For the above reasons, the author aims at conducting the study entitled

“Designing a Task-based English Syllabus for Students of Information and

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1.2 Aims of the Study

The main purpose of the study is to design a task-based English syllabus for students of information and library science at Nghe An College of Culture and Arts Specially, the present study is aimed:

- To investigate the current situations of teaching and learing ESP at Nghe An college of Culture and Arts

- To propose a syllabus with selected topics which are to be well- matched to the objectives of the course of teaching ESP at Nghe An College of Culture and Arts

1.3 Scope of the Study

This thesis studies some theoretical background about TBLT, syllabus, and ESP Moreover, situational and needs analysis of teaching and learning English based on the fact of students of information and library science at Nghe An College of Culture and Arts is also one of the main themes of this study Besides, the study presents a suggested syllabus content to English teaching in our college The data for the study was collected from librarians at Nghe An Library and librarians at our college by using questionnaires

1.4 Methods of the study

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1.5 Organization of the Study

The study consists of 5 following chapters Chapter 1: Introduction

This part introduces the rationale, aims, scope, methods, and organization of the study

Chapter 2: Literature Review

Theoretical background related to the study such as task, task — based language teaching, syllabus, syllabus design, and ESP are presented

Chapter 3: Methodology

This chapter presents the detailed procedure of the study: the methodology, the situational and needs analysis, the population selection, data collection and analysis

Chapter 4: Suggested content of the proposed syllabus

The chapter deals with designing the syllabus content, with the focus on the objectives of syllabus, type of syllabus, time requirement, tasks in the syllabus and the suggested content of the proposed syllabus

Chapter V: Conclusion

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CHAPTER 2

THEORETICAL BACKGROUND

2.1 Definitions of Syllabus

A syllabus is an expression of opinion on the nature of language and learning; it acts as a guide for both teachers and learners by providing some goals to be attained Hutchinson and Waters [8, pg 80] define syllabus as follows: “At its simplest level, a syllabus can be described as a statement of what is to be learnt It reflects language and linguistic performance.”

This is a rather traditional interpretation of syllabus focusing on outcomes rather than process However, a syllabus can also be seen as a "summary of the content to which learners will be exposed", Yalden [27, pg 87] It is seen as an approximation of what will be taught and that it cannot accurately predict what will be learnt

A syllabus is a document that a professor writes and distributes to provide students with an overview of a college course The syllabus is usually distributed on the first day of class, Grace [7, pg 35] The syllabus is the key to success Use the syllabus as a time management tool and put every important date in the planner right away

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Among several definitions of syllabus, the author specially concerns about Hutchinson and Waters [8, pg 80] because the author thinks that one is the most appropriate to this study

2.2 Definitions of Syllabus Design

The terms "syllabus", "syllabus design" and "curriculum" have given rise to confusion in terms of their definitions and use According to Stern [21, pg.45], the field of curriculum studies is part of the discipline of educational

studies In its broadest sense, it refers to the study of goals, content,

implementation and evaluation of an educational system In its restricted sense, curriculum refers to a course of study or the content of a particular course or programme It is in this narrower sense of curriculum that the term "syllabus" is employed According to Stern [21, pg 45], "syllabus design" is just one phase in a system of interrelated curriculum development activities

To design a syllabus is to decide what gets taught and in what order For this reason, the theory of language underlying the language teaching method will play a major role in determining what syllabus should be adopted Theory of learning also plays an important part in determining the kind of syllabus used For example, a syllabus based on the theory of learning evolved by cognitive code teaching would emphasize language forms and whatever explicit descriptive knowledge about those forms A syllabus based on an acquisition theory of learning, however, would emphasize unanalyzed and carefully selected experiences of the new language

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e Progress from known to unknown matter e Appropriate size of teaching units

e A proper variety of activities e Teachability

e Creating a sense of purpose for the students

Garcia [6, pg 116] expands on this and provides more comprehensive criteria which should be taken into consideration when designing a language syllabus He says that “particulars concerning the social forces, the prejudices, the habits and the motives of the student population, the relation of student characteristics to what are considered universal concepts in language learning processes, contemporary insights into the nature of the language, and how it should be taught to non-native speakers and for what realistic purposes, must guide curricular decision”

According to Munby [14, pg 92] syllabus design is seen as "a matter of specifying the content that needs to be taught and then organizing it into a teaching syllabus of appropriate learning units’’

Maley [13, pg 77] sums it up when he says that syllabus design encompasses the whole process of designing a language programme He says that "the needs analysis which produces an order unit of items to be taught is organically related to a methodology consistent with the syllabus, a set of techniques consistent with the methodology, and evaluation procedure

consistent with the whole."

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2.3 Types of Syllabi

In keeping with the British tradition, White [26, pg 4] curriculum to be the “totality of conte

one school or educational system” and

considers a nt taught and aims to be realized within further considers syllabi as the “content or subject matter of an individual subject” However he suggested for many

reasons that a curriculum should not b e seen as an extended syllabus Syllabus varies in many aspects Some are very short and barely readable, while others are lengthy and neatly bound

According to White [26, pg 59]), syllabi are divided into two types from the most generically perspective Type A: What is to be learnt? Type B: How is to be learnt? Interventionist External to the learner Other directed Determined by authority Teacher as decision-maker Content = what the subject is to the expert Content = a gift to the learner from the teacher or knower Non — Interventionist

Internal to the learner

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Objectives defined in advance Objectives described afterwards

Assessment by achievement or by | Assessment in relationship to learners’

mastery criteria of success

Doing things to the learner Doing things for or with the learner

Source: White [26, pg 59]

These two types of syllabi can be subdivided in to six different sub-types of syllabus: structural (formal) syllabus, notional/functional _ syllabus,

situational syllabus, skill-based syllabus, task-based syllabus, content-based

syllabus

Although six different types of language teaching syllabi are treated here as though each occurred purely, in practice, these types rarely occur independently of each other Almost all actual language teaching syllabi are combinations of two or more of the types defined here For a given course, one type of syllabus usually dominates, while other types may be combined with it Furthermore, the six types of syllabi are not entirely distinct from each other For example, the distinction between skill-based and task-based syllabi may be minimal In such cases, the distinguishing factor is often the way in which the instructional content is used in the actual teaching procedure The

characteristics, differences, strengths, and weaknesses of individual syllabi are

defined as follows:

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being taught Examples include nouns, verbs, adjectives, statements, questions,

subordinate clauses, and so on

Unlike the structural syllabus, the content of the language teaching in the notional/functional syllabus, is a collection of the functions that are performed when language is used, or of the notions that language is used to express Examples of functions include: informing, agreeing, apologizing, requesting;

examples of notions include size, age, color, comparison, time, and so on

In the situational syllabus, the content of language teaching is a collection of real or imaginary situations in which language occurs or is used A situation usually involves several participants who are engaged in some activity in a specific setting The language occurring in the situation involves a number of functions, combined into a plausible segment of discourse The primary purpose of a situational language teaching syllabus is to teach the language that occurs in the situations Examples of situations include: seeing the dentist, complaining to the landlord, buying a book at the book store, meeting a new student, and so on

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purpose of skill-based instruction is to learn the specific language skill A possible secondary purpose is to develop more general competence in the language, learning only incidentally any information that may be available while applying the language skills

In the content-based syllabus, the primary purpose of instructions is to teach some content or information using the language that the students are also learning The students are simultaneously language students and students of whatever content is being taught The subject matter is primary, and language learning occurs incidentally to the content learning The content teaching is not organized around the language teaching, but vice-versa Content-based language teaching is concerned with information, while task-based language teaching is concerned with communicative and cognitive processes An example of content-based language teaching is a science class taught in the language the students need or want to learn, possibly with linguistic adjustment to make the science more comprehensible

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teaching the specific language content that occurs in the situation (a predefined product), task-based teaching has the goal of teaching students to draw on resources to complete some piece of work (a process) The students draw on a variety of language forms, functions, and skills, often in an individual and unpredictable way, in completing the tasks Tasks that can be used for language learning are, generally, tasks that the learners actually have to perform in any case Examples include: applying for a job, talking with a social worker, getting housing information over the telephone, and so on

All these six types of syllabi reflect different views in teaching and learning English Since the students of Information and Library science at Nghe An College of Culture and Arts are supposed to work as librarians in different school libraries after graduation, they are expected to undertake various tasks using English Therefore, through the survey that the author has conducted, the informal interviews with teachers and students at my school, it is believed that a task — based syllabus is the most appropriate to these students than other types of syllabus As a result, only the task — based syllabus is discussed in detail in subsequent sections

2.4 Task -based Syllabus and ESP

2.4.1 Definitions of Task and Task-based Language Teaching

It should be noted that, most good studies start by defining their terms and a study on “Task-based syllabus” seems to require a definition of “task” as a priority

From the 1980s to now, more than 20 definitions of task have been

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the concept has been associated with relating to real world activities, focusing on meaning and focusing on form, and finally comes to the comprehensive definitions after 2000 In the following, the definitions are selected to indicate the changes in people’s conception about tasks or task-based language teaching

A task is a classroom activity or exercise that has an objective attainable only by the interaction among participants, a mechanism for structuring and sequencing interaction, and a focus on meaning exchange; a language learning endeavor that requires learners to comprehend, manipulate, and/or produce the target language as they perform some set of workplans, Lee [10, pg 32]

Richards [19, pg 31] clarifies that a task is something that learners do or carry out using their existing language resources, which involves a focus on meaning, and in the case of tasks involving more that one learner, the task calls upon the learners’ use of communication strategies and interactional skills He states that tasks involve communicative language use in which the user’s attention is on meaning rather than grammatical form

A task also refers to a job responsibility or duty that is a specific part of a particular job that a person is asked to do For example, the job of an administrative assistant requires the task of scheduling appointments for the supervisor Jobs can be “task-analyzed” for personnel and training purposes

Smith [23, p.581]

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comprehending, manipulating, producing, or interacting in the target language while their attention is focused on mobilizing their grammatical knowledge in order to express meaning, and in which the intention is to convey meaning rather than to manipulate form The task should also have a sense of completeness, being able to stand along as a communicative act in its own right

2.4.2 Pedagogical Tasks

When they are transformed from the real world to the classroom, tasks become pedagogical in nature A pedagogical task can be defined as an activity or action which is carried out as the result of processing or understanding language (i.e as a response) For example, drawing a map while listening to a tape, listening to an instruction and performing a command may be referred to as tasks Tasks may or may not involve the production of language A task usually requires the teacher to specify what will be regarded as successful completion of the task The use of a variety of different kinds of tasks in language teaching is said to make language teaching more communicative since it provides a purpose for a classroom activity which goes beyond the practice of language for its own sake Richards, Platt and Weber [18, pg 289]

In this definition, we can see that the authors take a pedagogical perspective Tasks are defined in terms of what the learners will do in class rather than in the world outside the classroom They also emphasize the importance of having a non-language outcome

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'Task' is therefore assumed to refer to a range of workplans which have the overall purposes of facilitating language learning - from the simple and brief exercise type, to more complex and lengthy activities such as group problem- solving or simulations and decision-making, Breen [3, pg 23]

This definition is very broad, implying as it does, that just about anything

the learner does in the classroom qualifies as a task It could, in fact, be used to

justify any procedure at all as 'task-based', and, as such, is not particularly helpful More circumscribed is the following from Willis [25, pg 173], a classroom undertaking " where the target language is used by the learner for a communicative purpose (goal) in order to achieve an outcome" Here the notion of meaning is subsumed in “outcome” Language in a communicative task is seen as bringing about an outcome through the exchange of meanings

2.4.3 Task-based Language Teaching

Task-Based Language Teaching (TBLT) is an educational framework for the theory and practice of teaching second or foreign languages, Nunan [17, pg 21] He proposed more detailed definition of task-based language: a task based language teaching approach is characterized by:

- An emphasis on learning to communicate through interaction in the target language

- The instruction of authentic texts into learning situation

- The provision of opportunities for learners to focus, not only in language but also in learning process itself

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- An attempt to link classroom language learning with language activation outside the classroom (pg 103)

His definition is that a task is a piece of classroom work that involves learners in comprehending, manipulating, producing or interacting in the target language while their attention is focused on mobilizing their grammatical knowledge in order to express meaning, and in which the intention is to convey meaning rather than to manipulate form The task should also have a sense of completeness, being able to stand alone as a communicative act in its own right with a beginning, a middle and an end

While these definitions vary somewhat, they all emphasize the fact that tasks involve communicative language use in which the user's attention is focused on meaning rather than grammatical form This does not mean that form is not important His definition refers to the deployment of grammatical knowledge to express meaning, highlighting the fact that meaning and form are highly interrelated, and that grammar exists to enable the language user to express different communicative meanings

2.4.4 Characteristics of Task-based Syllabus

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teacher can record this report and analyze it for further work The followings are the characteristics of task- based syllabus

1 Task-based instruction is potentially very powerful and widely applicable

2 Suitable for learners of all ages and backgrounds

3 Addresses the crucial problem-directly, by using active and real tasks as learning activities

4 Ability to perform the instructional task is equivalent to the ability to use the language, so functional ability should be a natural outcome of the instructional experience

5 Task-based learning can be very effective when the learners are engaged in relatively similar out-of-class activities (social or academic)

6 Task-based learning can be especially useful for learners who are not accustomed to more traditional type of classroom learning or who need to learn cognitive, cultural, and life skills along with the language

However, like any other types of syllabus, the task-based syllabus has it own advantages and disadvantages Three major advantages of task-based syllabus include: Adequate consideration of needs analysis; Authenticity of materials; and Variety of tasks

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can promote students’ motivation and interest, which are of great importance to the second language acquisition

The authenticity of materials is advocated that tasks involve authentic materials targeted real-life contexts The authentic input, therefore, will facilitate students’ foreign language acquisition In addition, authentic material and situations shall promote learners’ ability of coping with real problems

Variety of tasks which lies in the application of a repertoire of tasks is considered as a practical means of broadening learners’ potential to varied dynamic communicative situations or dynamic social and occupational roles

As for the limitations of the task-based syllabus, the biggest problem is the ambiguity of definition of task In spite of the many definitions provided by scholars such as Long [12, pg 85] , Nunan [16, pg 20] etc, so far no agreement has been achieved on the nature of “task” Moreover, "no complete program has been implemented and evaluated which has fully adopted even the basic characteristics of TBLT much less the detailed principles for making materials design and methodological decisions Long & Crookes [11, pg 94] So we have good reasons to challenge the product based on unclear definition and inadequacy of empirical proof

The next limitation is that the task-based syllabus tends to ignore other functions of language From a multi-functional view of language, some people hold that task-based syllabus may restrict the way in which language is used, causing learners to miss out on experiences that maybe of crucial importance for successful language learning

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adequate evidence Actually, language function is realized through language itself We think as long as use of language is involved, all types of functions of language are realized at the same time It is not necessarily for task-based syllabus (in fact for any syllabus) to cover everything

The third limitation of the difficult to grade the difficulty level of task Although many criteria of grading the task have been put forward as Nunan [17, pg 123]., He further points out that “the difficulty level of a certain task is not solely depend on the linguistic items, but it also has something to do with other factors such as the knowledge, the cognitive ability of the task performer and the objective of the task” To make things even worse, Ellis [5, pg 26] claimed that “natural sequences do not really exist in sufficient detail to be used as the basis for a precise order, nor have they been shown to facilitate learning in a second language situation”

Scant attention to form is another concern about task-based syllabus Still some scholars show their concern about potential tendency generated by task- based syllabus, that is, student will pay less attention to the form of language As suggested by Maley [13, pg 96] excessive focus on meaning during task completion will confine learners to the strategic solutions they develop and pay little attention to structural change or accuracy “As a result, it may not be possible to rely on a task-based approach to automatically drive interlanguage forward, and it will be necessary "to devise methods of focusing on form without losing the values of tasks as realistic communication motivators, and as opportunities to trigger acquisitional processes" Maley [13, pg 96]

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can see, task-based syllabus poses a great challenge to the proficiency level of the teachers, which might be a problem in the EFL situation Also the authentic data, the design of authentic tasks might become the obstacles to the implementation of the syllabus

2.4.5 How is ESP designed?

As for a broader definition of ESP, Hutchinson and Waters [8, pg 19] theorize, "ESP is an approach to language teaching in which all decisions as to content and method are based on the learner's reason for learning" Likewise, Strevens [22, pg.1] stated that “ESP is a particular case of the general category of special purpose language teaching” Most scholars (Streven [22, pg.1]; Robinson [20, pg 34]; etc) have agreed that an ESP course would have the following features:

- It is purposeful and aimed at the successful performance of occupational or educational roles by an individual or group

- It is based on an analysis of the students’ needs and is tailor-made to

meet these needs

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From the definition, Strvens goes on to maintain that a definition of ESP needs to distinguish between four absolute characteristics and two variable

characteristics of ESP The absolute characteristics of ESP are as follows:

- Designed to meet specified needs of the learners

- Related in content (i.e in its themes and topics) to particular disciplines, occupations and activities

- Centred on the language appropriate to those activities in syntax, lexis,

discourse, semantics, etc., and analysis of this discourse

- In contrast with “General English”

Besides the absolute characteristics, variable characteristics of ESP are:

- Restricted to the language skills to be learned (e.g reading only); - Not taught according to any pre-ordained methodology (pg 1-2)

With specific purpose in mind, the learners know clearly what they need to learn and they will learn high motivation what they find useful for their work later or at present For this reason, an ESP teacher should be aware of the

learners’ needs so as not to introduce irrelevant material to the course

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2.5 Summary

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CHAPTER 3 METHODOLOGY

3.1 Aims of the research

The study aims at exploring the current trends in Task-based syllabus design and conducting a survey on the needs of Nghe An Library and a survey among librarians at Nghe an Library and at the library in our college We hopefully propose a task-based syllabus with selected contents, which are to be well- matched to the objectives of the course and students’ needs at Nghe An College of Culture and Arts

3.2 Research Questions

- What is the need of learning ESP for Students of information and library science at Nghe An College of Culture and Arts to be good librarians?

- What is the appropriate syllabus content for Students of information and library science at Nghe An College of Culture and Arts?

3.3 Situational Analysis

School: Nghe An College of Culture and Arts, number 35, Phung Chi Kien street, Hung Loc commune, Vinh city, Nghe An province

Faculty: General Education and Cultural management Faculties

Teachers - Four teachers of English in General Education Faculty who have at least four years of teaching experience The average age is 30 Among them, one has Master degree of English, two are studying Master of English methodology at Vinh university, and one has B.A degree

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Students: The classroom in which the author implemented tasks has 44

adults second language users of English, both male (n=34) and female (n=10)

Their first language is Vietnamese All the students are 19-22 years old except one female student who is in her 30s The class level is the intermediate level in the program They are 3rd_ students of Information and Library science, who are studying ESP in the fifth term of learning English In this class, students study English language skills and strategies that will help them succeed in a variety of academic settings They learn how to communicate clearly in spoken and written English with teachers, and classmates Activities are aimed to practice these skills in class and then carry out various real-world tasks

Participants: 20 librarians, who are working in Nghe An library All the librarians are 21-46 years old The newest person is 21 years old She has 6 months working experience and the oldest one is 46 years old with 15 years working experience And 10 teacher-librarians at Nghe An college of Culture and Arts are included in the survey

3.4 Data Collection

The study used questionnaires in the form of Discourse Completion Task based on task-based language teaching for the data A Discourse Completion Task using written questionnaires is appropriate for the purpose of this study because it has some specific advantages A large number of participants can be surveyed with the Discourse Completion Task more easily than role plays, thus making statistical analysis more feasible

Based on the questionnaires collected, the author nalyzed the data to see

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questionnaires, the author decided which target tasks are involved in syllabus design

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CHAPTER 4

THE PROPOSED SYLLABUS CONTENT

4.1 Situational Analysis and Need Analysis

This part discusses Situational Considerations and Needs Analysis in syllabus design Since education is influenced by a variety of different factors, syllabus designers have to take into account factors such as learners, teachers,

institutional conditions, etc All these factors will be discussed in this part,

which is followed by a discussion of needs analysis in the context of syllabus design

4.1.1 Situational Analysis

Five situational factors that need considering in syllabus design are the

Educational Setting, Learner Factors, Teacher Factors, Assessment and

Evaluation Requirements, and the currently used curriculum in which the syllabus fits

4.1.1.1 Educational Setting

Nghe An College of Culture and Arts is a public institution which enrolls

students of Music, Arts, Cultural Management, Tourism and Information and

Library Science Its three years training program prepares students for working from different walks of life such as teacher of arts for elementary and junior

high schools, artists, tourist staff, librarians, etc Students of Information and

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In three years at the college, students of Information and library science must complete five terms of learning English including 4-term basic English programme and one ESP course

The first and second year students must complete the basic programme which focuses on four skills including reading, speaking, listening and writing Lifeline (Elementary level) is chosen as the main coursebook during four terms The whole curriculum includes 120 periods for four terms That means each term students have to deal with 30 periods and each period has in 45 minutes Finishing the first term, students will have a written exam at the first term and

oral exam has been chosen for other terms

The rest one term focuses on ESP, English for Information and Library Science which totally takes 60 periods, and each period falls in 45 minutes including an oral exam Therefore, students have to cover 180 periods of English, both general English and ESP in total in three years

As far as physical conditions and resources are concerned, each classroom is equipped with one blackboard, chairs and desks The average class

size is 40 students, most of whom are from the countryside In addition, several

large classrooms are equipped with electronic devices for power point presentation and a library with limited resources for learning English

4.1.1.2 Learners Factors

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English is not included in the curriculum at some secondary schools Thus, the students’ levels vary considerably

Often, some students have negative attitudes towards communicative practice because they have no means and no environment to practice Another

factor that must be considered is the conventional teacher — centered

instructions in English teaching at college, where the teacher is the center of class Teachers give instructions with little feedback from students All of the topics, materials, contents and activities are decided by teacher and students have less reference to their needs or the target needs The students have a few chances to choose what they like, which undermines their intrinsic motivation College students, as social members, often keep reserved and demonstrate less commitment to speak English in public, which demotivate themselves in learning oral English

Students should be involved in different task-based activities in their class whether it is a guessing task, a describing exercise or conversation making For example, they can play roles as a librarian and a student Such activities also include games which especially focus on helping learners develop and use English in different contexts by making the lesson enjoyable

It is very necessary to develop critical thinking of students in colleges It develops and demonstrates critical thinking skills as students take positions in response to a question, consider other viewpoints, identify reasons in support of their position, and draw final conclusions based on discussion and it also takes responsibility for their own learning and for evaluating their own thoughts

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Teachers and students are two parts in language teaching, students are the

centre of class, and because of students’ different ages in a class, characters,

psychology and lack of English knowledge, thus teachers play a predominant role in language teaching Teachers’ task is to motivate students’ interest in English, cultivate students’ sense of success, guide students to form good learning habits, enable them to communicate smoothly Teachers’ guidance is the basis and premise for students to gain the goal These standards of teachers seem to be far from accomplishment because of some following reasons: First, some students only learn English for their exams, others even have no motivation to learn English Second, to gain success in teaching English, teachers need modern teaching equipment which is not available in the school Instead, all the visual aids are conventional It takes a lot of time not only for preparation but also in teaching process Third, teachers do not get well — paid to support their life and other material benefits are too low for individual and household survival needs to be met Some teachers have to do part time jobs, so they spend less time on their teaching Fourth, for a great number of students, four teachers of English are not enough, therefore, it is necessary to recruit

other new teachers

4.1.1.4 Institutional Factors

English Division is one division of Faculty of General Education which consists of three main groups:

Group |: The sciences of Marxist-Leninism and Ho Chi Minh ideology Group 2: The social sciences and humanities

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Eighty- five percent of the lecturers in the faculty hold M.A degrees and the rest are B.A graduates Besides, we also invite some other lecturers from universities or colleges nearby to teach However, in my faculty, none of four teachers of English were trained to teach ESP and neither were they trained in Information and Library science- related content And, the teachers of English have to collect teaching materials and other resources and compile a book of Information and Library science by themselves

In terms of the college’s physical conditions, one of the problems facing students is the large class size and the arrangement of furniture, which makes movement during speaking activities almost impossible In addition, many students are unconfident in communicating English with other people One of the main causes is that they do not have a good communicative environment They often use Vietnamese when communicating, discussing, talking to their peers in the class Moreover, extracurricular activities such as games, contests, culture exchanges related to English learning are hardly organized Also, students have no chance to get access to modern media of communication There are no language labs, internet access and movies Some of the students ever said to me that “we do like English, we want to practice as much as possible, especially we would like to talk to foreigners to improve our English and know their culture aspect as well ” In facts, their expectations are yet to be responded because there are few foreigners in the area for them to talk to

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syllabus A task-based syllabus, with its focus on specific tasks with simulating real life tasks, will give students opportunities to do something with the language inside the classroom It is expected to compensate for the shortage of facilities and the target language environment

4.1.1.5 Assessment and Evaluation Requirements

Testing and assessment are very important in learning activities because through assessment, two functions are achieved One is to get back, encourage and improve the teaching, another is to choose excellent students and find some problems in teaching and learning Through assessment, we should know what knowledge they have not mastered The assessment can really help students to learn better So, what way of assessment we adapt can lead to positive or negative results In my college, the way of testing and assessment does not motivate students to learn English for communicative purposes The topics are

not diversified and the oral test does not force students to monitor their

arguments This leads students to underestimate the importance of speaking and listening

Moreover, many employers in fact prefer to hire those who have

mastered English communication skills, such as conversation, presentation,

negotiation, and correspondence abilities For majority of students in the college, lack of communicative assessment makes it hard to motivate the students to develop their communicative competence

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facilities for tests such as, cassette players or video players; well arrange time to teach in an well-equipped room and improve the arrangement of classroom for communicative tests The most important thing is that we need to focus on teaching four language skills to students together with the introduction of

examinations and assessments on these four skills

4.1.1.6 The Existing Curriculum

The existing curriculum is compiled by teachers of English in the department It is a structural syllabus, which emphasizes the acquisition of discrete grammatical structures and the ability to use those structures in some imaginative target situations The contents of the book are collected from different sources The whole curriculum includes 60 periods This provides students a stock of vocabulary used in library and many situations are everyday life situations in the library However, after several years of implementation, the syllabus has revealed many limitations The common concern among teachers in department is that the syllabus fails to prepare the students adequately for their future jobs which require them the ability to use English in carrying out a variety of tasks This motivates me to attempt to design a new syllabus which is

more task-oriented

4.1.2 Needs Analysis of Librarians at Nghe An Library