Sử dụng minh họa để dạy từ vựng Tiếng Anh chuyên ngành điều khiển cho học sinh năm thứ nhất trường Trung cấp Thủy Sản

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES ********************* LÊ THỊ KIM NHUNG USING ILLUSTRATIONS TO TEA

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

*********************

LÊ THỊ KIM NHUNG

USING ILLUSTRATIONS TO TEACH ESP VOCABULARY

TO THE FIRST YEAR NAVIGATION STUDENTS AT THE FISHERIES

VOCATIONAL SCHOOL

SỬ DỤNG MINH HỌA ĐỂ DẠY TỪ VỰNG TIẾNG ANH

CHUYÊN NGÀNH ĐIỀU KHIỂN CHO HỌC SINH NĂM THỨ NHẤT

TRƯỜNG TRUNG CẤP THỦY SẢN

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

FIELD: ENGLISH TEACHING METHODOLOGY CODE: 60140111

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

*********************

LÊ THỊ KIM NHUNG

USING ILLUSTRATIONS TO TEACH ESP VOCABULARY

TO THE FIRST YEAR NAVIGATION STUDENTS AT THE FISHERIES

VOCATIONAL SCHOOL

SỬ DỤNG MINH HỌA ĐỂ DẠY TỪ VỰNG TIẾNG ANH

CHUYÊN NGÀNH ĐIỀU KHIỂN CHO HỌC SINH NĂM THỨ NHẤT

TRƯỜNG TRUNG CẤP THỦY SẢN

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

FIELD: ENGLISH TEACHING METHODOLOGY CODE: 60140111

SUPERVISOR: Dr NGUYỄN THỊ THU HÀ

Hanoi, 2014

DECLARATION

I hereby certify that the thesis entitled: “Using illustrations to teach ESP

vocabulary to the first year navigation students at the Fisheries Vocational

School (FVS)” is the result of my own research for the Degree of Master of Arts at

the University of Languages and International Studies, Vietnam National University, Hanoi and that this thesis has not been submitted for any degree at any other University or tertiary Institution

Hanoi, August 2014 Signature

Lê Thị Kim Nhung

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

First and foremost, I would like to express my gratitude to Dr Nguyễn Thị Thu

Hà, my supervisor, for her invaluable advice, constructive criticism and encouragement in the completion of my research work

Secondly, my sincere thanks also go to all lecturers and staff of the department

of the Post-graduate Studies for their valuable lectures which laid the foundation for this thesis and for their knowledge as well as their sympathy

Besides, I would like to send my thanks to my colleagues and students of Class

A and Class B at Navigation Department at the Fisheries Vocational School, who provided me with inspiration for the research topic and helped me with the research data

Last but not least, I would like to convey my deepest gratitude to my family, especially my husband, my children for their help and encouragement to complete this study

ABSTRACT

This thesis is carried out with the aims to: (1) investigate the effectiveness of using illustrations to teach ESP vocabulary to the first year navigation students, (2) investigate teachers’ and students’ attitudes towards the application of illustrations

in teaching ESP vocabulary

To achieve the given aims of the study, two survey questionnaires for students and teachers have been designed to collect information from 100 navigation students and five teachers of English after applying three lesson plans to two classes The results indicate that both the teachers and the students enjoy the use of illustrations in teaching and learning ESP vocabulary They highly appreciate the benefits of illustrations during teaching and learning processes Besides, some of them are also coping with various difficulties during teaching and learning ESP vocabulary through illustrations

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1: ESP classification by professional area

Figure 2: Students’ interest in learning vocabulary through illustrations

Figure 3: The usefulness of illustrations from students’ perspective

Figure 4: Students’ impression of types of illustrations

Figure 5: Students’ difficulties in learning vocabulary in navigating through illustrations

Figure 6: Students’ opinions towards the benefits of using illustrations in learning vocabulary

Figure 7: Students’ feeling about lessons with illustrations

Figure 8: Habit of using illustrations in teaching vocabulary

Figure 9: Teachers’ interest in teaching vocabulary through illustrations

Figure 10: Teachers’ attitudes towards the use of illustrations in teaching vocabulary

Figure 11: The activities of illustrations which the teachers like to use

Figure 12: Teachers’ difficulties in teaching vocabulary in navigating through illustrations

Figure 13: Teachers’ opinions towards the benefits of using illustrations in teaching vocabulary

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

GE: General English

ESP: English for Specific Purposes

EST: English for Science and Technology

EBE: English for Business and Economics

ESS: English for Social Studies

EAP: English for Academic Purposes

EOP: English for Occupational Purposes

FVS: Fisheries Vocational School

MA: Master of Arts

TABLE OF CONTENTS

DECLARATION i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii

ABSTRACT iii

LIST OF FIGURES iv

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS v

TABLE OF CONTENTS vi

Chapter 1: Introduction 1

1 Rationale 1

2 Aims of the study and Research questions 2

3 Scope of the study 2

4 Methods of the study 2

5 Significance of the study 3

6 Design of the study 3

CHAPTER 2: Theoretical background and Literature review 4

I Theoretical background 4

1.1 English for special purposes 4

1.1.1 Definition of ESP 4

1.1.2 Classification of ESP 5

1.1.3 Maritime English 6

1.1.4 The role of ESP teachers 7

1.1.5 Students’ competence 8

1.2 Vocabulary 8

1.2.1 Definition of vocabulary 8

1.2.2 Classification of vocabulary 9

1.2.3 The importance of vocabulary in language teaching and learning 10

1.3 Illustrations in teaching and learning vocabulary 10

1.3.1 Boards 10

1.3.2 Pictures 11

1.3.3 Using mimes, gestures and facial expression 11

1.3.4 Overhead projectors 11

1.4 Benefits of using illustrations to teach ESP vocabulary 12

II Review of existing literature 13

CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 16

2.1 English teaching and learning context at the Fisheries Vocational School.16 2.1.1 Students’ language background 16

2.1.2 Teachers’ current method of teaching vocabulary 17

2.1.3 Textbook 18

2.2 Research method and Procedures 18

2.2.1 Research questions 18

2.2.2 Procedure 18

2.2.3 The lesson plans 19

2.2.4 The subjects of the study 21

2.2.5 The questionnaires 21

CHAPTER 4: Data analysis and discussion of results 24

3.1 Data analysis results 24

3.1.1 The students’ questionnaire 24

3.1.2 The teachers’ questionnaire 30

3.2 Discussion of results 36

CHAPTER 5: Conclusion 37

1 Summary of the study 37

2 Limitations of the study 37

3 Suggestions for further study 38

References 39 APPENDICES I

APPENDIX 2: Survey questionnaire for the teachers V APPENDIX 3: Three piloted lesson plans VII

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale

In recent years, there has been a global increase in the number of language teachers who have greater and wider responsibility thrust upon them by training institutions They are required to teach English to students from various fields such

as engineering, navigating, information science, accountancy, etc to enable the students to cope with their academic job This type of English is called English for Specific Purposes (ESP) Since ESP was introduced, it has attracted the attention of language instructors Furthermore, the idea of English for Specific Purposes has been welcomed by staffs of universities who have seen the great benefits from learning ESP

In order to become good seamen on board the vessels, especially multi-lingual ones, the Vietnamese seafarers need sufficient knowledge of navigation and good competence of English, at least at the basic level Students at the Fisheries vocational school will become future seamen on board, thus good competence of English language is very necessary for them in both speaking and listening They

have to learn specific vocabulary such as the weather station, magnetic compasses,

funnel, navigation lights, engine order telegraph, anchor and other appliances on board the vessels Furthermore, they also need to know English vocabulary about

the operations in mooring ropes, cargo handling and keeping watches, hearing steering orders and repeating them before operation

In the context of the Fisheries Vocational School in Thanh Hoa, the navigation students start to learn maritime English at the second semester of the first year Their course book is “English I for Navigation students”, which has been composed and brought into use for one course Through my teaching experience, I have realized that it is difficult for the students to learn their maritime English vocabulary, although the teachers have tried their best to instruct them After a number of periods learning maritime English, the students seem unable to

admit that they wish to widen their quantity of vocabulary but they lack suitable ways I have been working as a teacher of English for 9 years and my students have asked me many times about the ways of vocabulary learning effectively Therefore,

in order to motivate students to learn vocabulary especially ESP vocabulary more

effectively, we carry out this research entitled “Using illustrations to teach ESP

vocabulary to the first year navigation students at the Fisheries vocational school”

It is hoped that this study will help the teachers in some ways to find an appropriate method to improve vocabulary for their students

2 Aims of the study

+ In answering the research questions, the study specially aims at:

- Investigating the effectiveness of using illustrations to teach ESP vocabulary to the first year navigation students

- Investigating teachers’ and students’ attitudes towards the application of illustrations of class in ESP vocabulary

- Offering some suggestions for further research on the employment of using illustrations in ESP vocabulary as well as in general English teaching and learning + The study was carried out with the following research questions:

(1) Is the use of illustration to teach ESP vocabulary to navigation students

effective?

(2) What are the teachers’ and students’ attitudes toward the use of illustrations in teaching and learning vocabulary in navigating?

3 Scope of the study

Due to the limited time and the small scope of an MA minor thesis, the study focuses on how illustrations can be applied to teach ESP vocabulary in the class The subjects chosen for this study are 100 first year navigation students and five teachers of English at the Fisheries vocational school where the researcher is teaching It cannot be said that the results of this study are general to other language researchers and to all Vietnamese vocational students

4 Methods of the study

This study is an action research which involves the analysis of three piloted lesson plans, two survey questionnaires and statistical data to investigate the effectiveness of using illustrations in teaching and learning ESP vocabulary

5 Significance of the study

The study is significant because of the following reasons: Firstly, the effectiveness of using illustrations in teaching and learning ESP vocabulary in this minor thesis is believed to be useful for both teachers and students of English at FVS so that teachers can apply these techniques to teach ESP vocabulary more effectively Secondly, this research may help increase students’ interest of learning ESP vocabulary Thirdly, the study can lay grounds for further research on the employment of using illustrations in ESP vocabulary as well as in general English teaching and learning

6 Design of the study

The study consists of five chapters:

Chapter 1 presents the background to the rationale, aims of the study and research

questions, scope of the study, significance of the study, methodology and the design of the study

Chapter 2, theoretical background and literature review, presents a brief overview

on ESP, the theoretical background of vocabulary and ESP vocabulary, the overall view of some illustrations

Chapter 3, research methodology, focuses on the methodology of the research,

including the methods, procedure, the lesson plans, the subjects and the survey questionnaires

Chapter 4, data analysis and major findings, presents the data collected from two

survey questionnaires for students and teachers as well as the discussion of the data

Chapter 5 summarizes the issues addressed and limitations of the study as well as

some suggestions for further research

CHAPTER 2: Theoretical background

And literature review

In this chapter, the relevant literature will be reviewed in order to create a theoretical background for the study First, a brief description of ESP will be discussed including the definition of ESP, vocabulary and illustrations Besides, the issues of teaching vocabulary and the benefits of using illustrations to teach vocabulary will be reviewed

I Theoretical background

1.1 English for specific purposes

1.1.1 Definition of ESP

"ESP" stands for “English for Specific Purposes” then “what is ESP?” This is

a big and complicated question that requires much effort in seeing how ESP at the present relates to the rest of English Language Teaching (ELT) The first one is that

of Hutchinson and Waters (1987:19), it is clear that ESP is a big multi-levels branch of ELT being nourished by the learning and communication roots Hutchinson and Waters regard it as “an approach to language teaching in which all decisions as to content and method are based on the learners’ reason for learning” ESP must be seen as an approach not as a product and is directed by specific and apparent reasons for learning ESP Students' goal of learning a second 1anguage might be acquiring not only general linguistics competencies but also academic and job-related skills

Strevens (1988), by contrast, states that “ESP is a particular case of the general category of special - purpose language teaching” (p.1) In his work, he points out the following four absolute characteristics of ESP:

- ESP is designed to meet the learners’ specified needs

- ESP has the content relating to particular disciplines, occupations and activities

- ESP is centered on language appropriate to those activities in syntax, lexis, discourse, semantics, and analysis of the discourse

- ESP is in contrast with General English

In order to make the above mentioned absolute characteristics of ESP distinctive, other two variable characteristics are set up Firstly, ESP may be restricted to skills to be learnt (for example reading only) Secondly, ESP may not

be taught according to any pre-ordained methodology All of the characteristics of ESP make us come to an end that teaching and learning ESP is a challenging task for both teachers and students

As a teacher of ESP, the author aims to share the opinions that ESP serves the learners’ needs This determines the learner’s motivation, attitude and effort in learning ESP For vocational school learning purposes, ESP may be a particular English language environment in which learners study both the specific knowledge represented in this foreign language and the communicative language skills needed for each specific field

1.1.2 Classification of ESP

From the elucidation of ESP, it is inferred that the learners’ needs lead to a number of areas in ESP because these needs will differ from individuals to individuals and from groups to groups Different trends in classifying the term will

be explored for particular discussion

Hutchinson (1987:16) divides ESP into three branches: English for Science and Technology (EST), English for business and Economics (EBE) and English for Social Studies (ESS) Each of these branches is split into two smaller parts: English for Academic Purposes (EAP) and English for Occupational purposes, English for Vocational purposes or Vocational English as a Second language (EOP, EVP or VESL) This classification, as they admit, “is not a clear-cut distinction: people can work and study simultaneously; it is likely that in many cases the language learnt for immediate use in a study environment will be used later when the student takes

Meanwhile, Dudley Evans and St John (1998) devise a tree diagram illustrated

in figure 1 below for ESP which divides EAP and EOP according to discipline or professional area

English for Specific Purposes

English for Academic Purposes English for Occupational Purposes

English for Management

Finance and Economics

English for Professional Purposes

English for Vocational Purposes

English for Medical Purposes

English for Business Purposes

Pre - Vocational Purposes

Vocational English

Figure 1: ESP classification by professional area

However, David Carter (1983) classifies ESP into three types:

- English as a restricted language

- English for Academic and Occupational purposes

- English with specific topics

Though, there are different ideas from many authors about types of ESP, the two categories of EAP and EOP in ESP are widely accepted nowadays in ESP teaching area

1.1.3 Maritime English

From the above mentioned classification of ESP, it is inferred that maritime English is considered as part of the EST, EOP This field of English is used by seamen on board most kinds of vessels and in most countries in the world Jackson and Amvela (2000:141-142) mentioned maritime English or sea-speak with air-speak as kinds of restricted language “Its restrictedness is meant to facilitate

communication between air and ground and between sea and land, both by being a limited set of words to learn and speak, and by being limited set of words and combinations of words to hear and understand in radio transmission” This view classifies maritime English as a small component of ESP, in which a sufficient boundary of language content is used to exchange information

1.1.4 The role of ESP teacher

The roles of ESP teachers have been pointed out by a variety of studies An ESP teacher must master fully the roles of General English teachers and ESP course process In learning process the teacher must help the learner achieve their goals effectively Especially, in vocabulary teaching, the teacher mostly focus on words, idioms to express the topics like "machines and its application" or " machines types", etc, plus words in the general and (s)he has to provide the students with the anxiety-free atmosphere Besides, (s)he also has to create favorable environment in which students are able to practice to memorize new words Hutchinson and Waters (1987) said “the ESP teacher will have to deal with need analysis, syllabus design, materials writing or adaptation and evaluation” (p.157) Martin (1992) lists and explains different roles of the teacher, he views the role upon the process of carrying out a task in ESP lesson “before, during and after

a task” A teacher wishing to support learning throughout the various phrases of a task would need to be able to play an extended set of roles including explorer, organizer, adviser, instructor and a guide Little Wood (1981) states that the ESP teacher is expected to "perform in a variety of roles, separately or simultaneously" (p.51) Nunan (1988) also said that these roles of an ESP teacher include an instructor, a manager, counselor, facilitators, organizer, curriculum developer, material writer, material writer and even a friend Robinson (1991) gives his own opinion, "the ESP teacher does not only teach but very often he or she is involved

in designing, setting up, administering, evaluating and testing the ESP course" (p.132)

Obviously, the ESP teacher must be flexible and his roles will vary according to type of syllabus and course, teaching and learning environment, etc

1.1.5 Students’ competence

ESP is designed to meet the specific needs of learners Learners are expected

to perform with adequate language skills in target situations at the end of the ESP courses However, the performance of ESP learners have been considered unacceptable or poor in many cases (Bacha & Bahous, 2008) Students’ overall English language competence has usually been considered the indicator of the success or failure of English learning (Shi, Corcos & Storey, 2001) Some teachers inputted the low achievement of ESP to the students’ poor English language skills They argued that the student’s poor English language skills were inadequate to cope with the ESP courses and make ESP courses inefficient

By contrast, the students often declare themselves to be suffering from learning difficulties, which make them perform badly in ESP class Some researchers also reported that students suffer from learning difficulties relating to the content of ESP (Gatehouse, 2001), the instruction of ESP (Bacha & Bahous, 2008) and the tasks involved in the ESP courses (Ferris & Tagg, 1996) The students had difficulties participating in class discussion, asking and responding to questions Learners had difficulty coping with the ESP reading because of weak English skills (Jackson, 2004)

1.2 Vocabulary

1.2.1 Definition of vocabulary

There are different definitions of vocabulary Each linguist gives his own definition of vocabulary depending on the criteria that he considers the most important in terms of linguistics, semantics, lexicology, etc In her book, "A course

in language teaching", Penny Ur (1996) defined vocabulary roughly as "the words

we teach in the foreign language” However, she also accepted "a new item of vocabulary may be more than a single word, a compound of two or three words and

multi-word idioms" Pyles & Algeo (1970) said "it is true that vocabulary is the focus of language with its sound and meaning, which interlock to allow us to communicate with one another, and it is words that we arrange together to make

sentences, conversation and discourse of all kinds” (p.96) This statement indicates

that vocabulary is essential for learning a language

The American Heritage Dictionary defines vocabulary as "the sum of words used by, or at the command of a particular person of group "

In short, it can be concluded that vocabulary is the total number of all the words that a language possesses, including a single words, two or three words items expressing a single idea and multiword idioms of which meaning cannot be deduced from the analysis of the component words but only understood in the sentences, or in contexts, etc

1.2.2 Classification of vocabulary

Vocabulary can be classified in different ways based on different criteria, feature or functions We can consider the following ways of classifying them Hutchinson and Waters (1987: 165-166) mention four types of vocabulary: structural (because, we, just, those…), general (cargo, vessel, anchor, seaman, habour…), sub-technical (boiler, derrick, pump, piston…) and technical (starboard side, portside, evacuation…)

The first arrangement of words seems simpler and lists the ESP word types

of technical fields The second one, on the other hand, uses two general concepts to separate the vocabulary in usage For the goals of using the ESP vocabulary in real communication on board vessels, we should divide the English words into sub-groups: one sub-group based on the learners’ needs, the other depends on the usefulness of the vocabulary items and the last is not of these two aspects (Meara, 2002: 37)

Dudley Evans and St John (1998) are of the opinion that teaching ESP vocabulary is the same as teaching English for general purposes The only

distinction that should be made is between the vocabulary for comprehension and the vocabulary for production

1.2.3 The importance of vocabulary in language teaching and learning

Vocabulary is commonly accepted to be the most important language element among pronunciation, vocabulary and grammar Wilkins (1972) emphasized: “without grammar, very little can be conveyed, without vocabulary nothing can be conveyed” (p.72) Pyles & Algeo (1970) also supported this idea with “when we first think about language, we think first about words Its words that

we arrange together to make sentences, conversation and discourse of all kinds” And “words are the tools we use to access our background knowledge, express ideas, and learn about new concepts” (p.4)

These statements are enough to conclude that vocabulary is the decisive element

in language communication

According to Ron Forseth & Carol Forseth (1995), “words are a good place to begin a course in language teaching methodology Vocabulary words are simple enough to begin learning on the first day of a class and they are powerful enough to encourage communication from the very beginning Words are small pieces of language, which carry bits of meaning Knowing many words does not guarantee a person will be able to speak a language, but not knowing enough words can prevent

a person from effectively speaking or understanding a language So, we must teach words from the very start” (p.23)

This is all true in learning a foreign language If a learner has a wide range of vocabulary, he can help himself understand others easily On the contrary, if his vocabulary is limited he will surely have difficulty in doing so and in English learning Therefore, vocabulary is a “must” for all language learners by all means 1.3 Illustrations in teaching and learning vocabulary

1.3.1 Boards

We often use boards in most classrooms There are two types of boards: Chalk board and white boards But nowadays, we mostly use white boards Although they are expensive than chalk boards, they are easier to keep clean and to stick pictures and they are good for the users Special pens must be used It is obvious that boards are common and very useful They can be used for different purposes such as: presenting vocabulary, drawing or giving a model In general, they can create illustrations and make their lessons more interesting

1.3.2 Pictures

Pictures bring not only images of reality, but can also function as a fun element in the class Sometimes it is surprising, how pictures may change a lesson, even if only employed in additional exercises or just to create atmosphere

There are some kinds of class pictures: wall pictures, wall charts, flash cards and work cards

- Wall pictures: is simply a large illustration of scenes or events It is usually

to be used with the whole of class so it is very useful to carry out activities

- Wall charts: is a large diagram or picture display card Most of wall charts can be used for picture composition

- Flash cards are pieces of paper in which words or sentences are written or pictures are drawn The cards can be used to demonstrate exactly what the teacher wishes (mostly in reading and writing skills)

- Work cards are for individual student use (not only reading but also all other skills without the teachers’ help)

1.3.3 Using mimes, gestures and facial expressions

This kind of visual aids costs the teachers nothing but some energy to mime, make gestures or express his/her face Although they are the cheapest visual aids, they can have big effects on teaching vocabulary

1.3.4 Overhead projectors

Nowadays, overhead projectors are one of the most useful tools a language

environment for teachers Teaching materials can be pre-printed on plastic sheets upon which the teachers can directly write using a non-permanent, washable color making pen This saves time, since the transparency can be pre-printed and used repetitively, rather than having materials written manually before each class

In sum, there are various types of illustrations to be used for language teaching and learning, we can use any illustrations which are suitable for our teaching From

my experience, students always pay attention and are curious what they are going

to do with the pictures shown These illustrations can motivate them learn vocabulary more effectively Furthermore, when the collection of pictures is once made, it can be served for a long time Besides, most of vocabulary items in the lesson plan are concrete ones which are easy to use pictures to illustrate, “because picture gives some ideas that it is easier to conjure up a mental image of a concrete item than an abstract one” (Gairns and Redman,1993) In the lesson plan in this research, pictures and overhead projectors are frequently employed to motivate students’ technical knowledge and the teachers are able to explain the new words much easier

1.4 Benefits of using illustrations to teach ESP vocabulary

When presenting the content of the words to the students, the duty of the teachers is to enable them to use the words correctly This is a very crucial step in vocabulary teaching, especially when the words taught are viewed as active or productive Therefore, the teacher should find out different types of teaching aids to explain the meaning of new words May be, using illustrations to teach vocabulary will certainly bring a lot of benefits Through my experience, English teachers tend

to feel that using illustrations in teaching vocabulary makes the process enjoyable and memorable They also feel that illustrations attract students’ attention and deepen their understanding of vocabulary Students are always eager to objects relating their future jobs Students of marine navigating enjoy looking at

illustrations of anything concerning navigating (for example: vessels, deck tool

store…) Using illustrations, teacher can expand upon the textbook and provide

additional practice in an engaging way According to Harmer (2001), illustrations should be appropriate not only for the language to be learned but also for the classes they are being used for Illustrations also need to be visible - especially if they are being shown to the whole class they need to be big enough for everyone to see And it also helps if pictures are durable – that is, strong enough to be used several times

Thus, most teachers notice that using illustrations to teach vocabulary will certainly bring a lot of benefits:

- Using illustrations can create real situation and motivate learners in vocabulary learning It helps to make language used in the classroom more lively and interesting W.R Lee and H Coppen (1970:1) claim that visual aids can help teacher create real communicative situations, clarifying the meaning of the words used Visual aids can quickly and efficiently demonstrate ideas that are difficult to explain verbally Many science and art concepts can only be effectively taught by showing students as well as, or instead of, simply telling them the meaning of Therefore, the learners can have a feeling of reality as visual aids help them make the meaning of the words clearer and more understandable

- Using illustrations can be used as a tool for memorizing vocabulary more effectively Chamberlain (1980) pointed out that the learners receive information

in the mind better than through hearing It is obvious that what students see has a great influence on their learning process With the assistance of visual aids, they decrease teacher-talking time therefore increase students-talking time They enrich the classroom by bringing in the outside

II Review of existing literature

Due to the importance of vocabulary teaching and learning, many scholars have conducted studies relating vocabulary to find out the problems or techniques that help the students learn vocabulary better The great interest they created has been reflected by the number of the studies on this topic Among these are studies

(2000), Chamberlain (1980), and so on The results of these studies revealed that many learners employ learning strategies in vocabulary learning more frequently than in other language learning activities Research has also shown that one of the most important factors that influence the successful learners is their learning ways

In Vietnam, there are also many researchers who have conducted this topic with different levels of students to find out the most useful ways to teach and learn vocabulary In order to conduct this study, the author has consulted some other studies as follows:

- Quyên (2008) conducted a study on difficulties in teaching vocabulary to

students of information technology at Thanh Hoa teachers’ training school and some solutions The aims of her study are to identify the difficulties in teaching

vocabulary to second year students of IT department and teachers of English for IT

at foreign language group She used questionnaire for students and interview for teachers to collect information Her study indicated that most of ESP teachers had some difficulties in teaching vocabulary to information technology students i.e the lack of specialized knowledge, the lack of various teaching technique or the lack of teaching aids and reference materials

- Another study is one of Thanh (2010) about using simulation tasks to

improve ESP vocabulary for the second year students of automotive engineering technology department at Sao Do University This study investigated the current

situation of using simulation tasks in some classes in automotive engineering technology department at Sao Do University The data for the study were based mainly on the two survey questionnaires, informal focus on vocabulary The study indicated that pronunciation and retention of word meaning prevented students from mastering vocabulary and simulation tasks prove its effectiveness in the ESP vocabulary improvement of the students

- The next one is a study on activating students’ specialized knowledge through

illustrations for Marine Engineering vocabulary learning at Maritime College No.1

of Yến (2012) Its aim is to identify students’ attitudes towards learning of ESP

vocabulary, their abilities and difficulties of guessing the meaning of the words The study also draws out the ways to activate students’ knowledge in learning marine engineering vocabulary The data collected come from questionnaire and observation The study showed that students are eager to guess the meaning of the new words through illustrations; however some students had some difficulties during learning ESP vocabulary

From the studies mentioned above, we can see that there are not any researchers who employed the action research to conduct their studies to find out the effective ways to teach vocabulary especially vocabulary in navigating

Therefore, the author got the desire to conduct an MA minor thesis which applies the action research to investigate the ways to use illustrations to teach ESP vocabulary to the first year navigation students

Chapter 3: RESEARCH Methodology

This chapter starts with the current situation of teaching and learning ESP at FVS It goes on to present the methodology employed to achieve the aims and objectives of the study in detail To be specific, the chapter focuses on the procedure of the research, the subjects of the study, the tools used and finally the data

2.1 English teaching and learning context at the Fisheries vocational school

2.1.1 Students’ language background

The learners of English at FVS are aged from 18 to 40 They come from different parts of the province Most of them are from the rural or remote areas where they did not spend much time learning English at high school before Some

of them come from cities, who have all finished three years or seven years of learning English at high school before entering FVS All students at FVS do not have to pass an entrance exam They enter the vocational school only by their marks of the three years at high school

Every year, there are often two or three classes of navigation of total, 80 or 120 students The navigation students are mostly male Their English proficiency is not high Most of these students are at primary level of English When studying at FVS, they have to take part in GE course and then ESP course Vocational students do not meet any problems in getting knowledge about their profession but ESP vocabulary It is not easy for them to remember English words related to machines, tools and equipment because these words are not used in everyday conversations Furthermore, some students have negative attitudes to studying English They suppose that English is not necessary for their future career They often argue that they will not need to use English as navigator or technical workers They learn English in order to pass the exam only

To some extent, there are some students whose English is very good, but generally, the target students' English proficiency is still low Most of them learn English to read specialized documents rather than speak English to foreigners

Some have strong pressure to pass exams with high marks; the others would prefer ESP to enhance their specialized knowledge, which is required in their future jobs However, specialized knowledge in Vietnamese makes it easy for them to learn English for Navigating On the other hand, it brings them high motivation in learning ESP In addition, it helps students feel more confident to interact with the teacher in ESP class

2.1.2 Teachers’ current method of teaching vocabulary

There are five teachers of English at FVS, aged from 32 to 40 All of them graduated from different Universities in Vietnam One of them learned Russian before being re-trained to teach English Two of them are taking an MA course at University of Languages and International Studies Although none of them has been trained in teaching ESP or taken any course on navigating, they still have to take responsibility to teach both GE and ESP Most of them have a little chance to access the latest alterations of language teaching methods, so they face many difficulties, among which the lack of the professional knowledge and the choice of appropriate teaching methods seem to be the major concerns The majority of them are still adopting a teacher-centered, non-oral approach which emphasizes translation activities, learner conformity in task completion, and success in an examination format

They find it difficult to deal with unfamiliar and unaccustomed subject matters They, therefore, have to face with many difficulties, of which the gap of content knowledge and the choice of appropriate teaching methodology seem to be the major concerns

As far as the methodology is concerned, ESP teachers usually apply different kinds of teaching methods in ESP vocabulary lesson such as the Grammar- Translation method, the Direct Method, the Audio-Lingual method, and the Communicative approach Classes are usually conducted in the form of lectures, with most of the time the teachers playing the key role in the classroom

However, the teachers are always aware of the new trend in teaching methods and aware of the Communicative approach when teaching English to their students in general and vocabulary in particular

Each unit is divided into three parts, and each part focuses on grammar, function and vocabulary Every unit provides students with many vocabulary items through practice of listening, reading, speaking and writing The aims and objectives of the textbook are to provide students with specialized terms and enrich the vocabulary However, subject matter required is rather difficult for students They find it hard to understand the texts, therefore, it requires teachers use illustrations to make the lessons effective

2.2 Research method and Procedures

These are the main steps in my study:

- Design 3 piloted lesson plans focusing on teaching the vocabulary of unit 1, unit 4 and unit 7 in the textbook “English I for navigation students” In these, we

choose to design the lesson plans on vocabulary only with suitable pictures to help the students memorize vocabulary more effectively

- Apply these lesson plans to teach 2 classes A and B in three weeks to gain the basic information about the teacher’ and students’ attitudes towards ESP learning

- Launch two sets of questionnaires to students and teachers after applying the use of illustrations to teach ESP vocabulary Its aim is to investigate the effectiveness of the use of illustrations towards ESP vocabulary improvement of students

- Analyze the data obtained from the two survey questionnaires

In what follows, I will explain these steps in detail

2.2.3 The lesson plans

As mentioned before, I myself employed illustrations to teach ESP vocabulary

to 2 classes A and B I designed and applied 3 lesson plans focusing on teaching the vocabulary of unit 1, unit 4 and unit 7 in the textbook “English I for navigation students” I taught these 3 lessons at each class selected for the survey Each lesson teaching vocabulary includes warm-up and 3 main stages (presenting, practicing and revising)

- For warm-up stage, I just used some questions to elicit to the lesson

- In the stage of presenting new words, pictures, guessing, explanation, examples are main techniques that I used to introduce new vocabulary

- For practicing new words, I choose matching, choosing correct answer, making sentences that contain the new words

- For revising new words, I only asked students to revise new words that they have learnt in the lesson

Those stages are shown in the piloted lesson plans (see Appendix 3)

To be specific, in each lesson, there are normally 12-13 vocabulary items which are selected from the text in the course book Most of these vocabulary items are

the lesson plans With each vocabulary item, there will be a picture illustrating the real object That means there will be 12-13 pictures as illustrations in each lesson These pictures are collected from course book, documents related navigation branch or the internet These are some examples:

* in Unit 1 (Commercial vessels): in order to help students know and distinguish types of commercial vessels, the teacher shows some pictures on the projector to illustrate them

Cargo ship Passenger ship Special-purpose vessels

2.2.4 The subjects of the study

In order to achieve the aims of the thesis and answer the mentioned research questions, the main subjects of the study include a group of five teachers of English ranging from 32 to 40 years old All of these teachers have been teaching English for at least 9 years at FVS Of these teachers, two are taking part in masters of art in English Teaching Methodology and the other teachers are trained at different universities of Vietnam

The other group includes 100 first year navigation students aged between 18 and 25 years old, most of them are male All of them have similar background They all have finished GE course with the textbook “Streamline English Departure” and are taking part in ESP course with the textbook “English I for navigation students”

2.2.5 The questionnaires

In order to gain the data for the research, two sets of questionnaires were administered to get the information about the effectiveness of illustrations in teaching and learning vocabulary in navigating One is designed for teachers and another for students to investigate the aims and the objectives of the study These

The results are presented in pie charts and column graphs They were designed to get information as the following:

2.2.5.1 The questionnaire for students

The questionnaire designed for students consists of 9 questions which are divided into two parts The first one includes 7 multiple-choice questions and the second one includes 2 open-ended questions It was designed to get information as follows:

- Question 2 is designed to provide information about the students’ interest in learning vocabulary through illustrations

- Question 3 aims to gain information about the usefulness of illustrations from students’ perspective

- Question 4 is designed to investigate the students’ impression of types of illustrations

- Question 5 finds out the students’ difficulties in learning vocabulary in navigating through illustrations

- Question 6, 7, 8 are intended to investigate the students’ opinions towards the benefits of using illustrations in learning vocabulary

- Question 9 is designed to collect information about the students’ feeling about the lessons with illustrations

2.2.5.2 The questionnaire for teachers

The questionnaire for teachers consists of 8 questions which are divided into two parts The first part includes 6 multiple-choice questions and 2 open-ended questions It was designed to collect information as follows:

- Question 1 asks about the habit of using illustrations in teaching vocabulary

- Question 2 is designed to gain information about the teachers’ interest in teaching vocabulary through illustrations

- Question 3 investigates the teachers’ attitudes towards the use of illustrations

in teaching vocabulary

- Question 4 is expected to investigate the activities of illustrations which the teachers like to use

- Question 5, 6, 7 find out the teachers’ difficulties in teaching vocabulary in navigating through illustrations

- Question 8 is to discover the teachers’ opinions towards the benefits of using illustrations in teaching vocabulary

The questionnaires were delivered to five teachers of English and 100 students after the application of illustrations in 2 classes A and B To avoid misunderstanding and ensure the accuracy of the data, the questionnaire for the students were written in Vietnamese and distributed with the author’s clear explanation

CHAPTER 4: Data analysis and DISCUSSION OF RESULTS

This chapter provides an analysis of the data collected from the questionnaires for the students and the teachers The results are presented in pie charts and column graphs for easy interpretation The questions in the questionnaires will be analyzed one by one by calculating its percentage

3.1 Data analysis results

3.1.1 Data from the students’ questionnaire

3.1.1.1 Are you interested in learning vocabulary through illustrations?

7%

23%

70%

No Neutral Yes

Figure 2: Students’ interest in learning vocabulary through illustrations

As can be seen from figure 2, it is obvious that a majority of students have positive attitudes towards using illustrations to teach ESP vocabulary Most of the students (70%) have interest in the teachers’ use of illustrations to teach ESP vocabulary This means that most of these students wanted their teachers to use illustrations during ESP lessons 23% of them have no concern about learning