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iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Candidate’s statement ……………………………………………………………………i Acknowledgements ……………………………………………………………………….ii Abstract ……………………………………………………………………………… …iii Table of contents …………………………………………………………………………iv List of abbreviations …………………………………………………………………….vii List of tables ……………………………………………………………………………viii CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION …………………………………………………… 1.1Rationale……………………………………………………………………………….1 1.2 Aims of the study …………………………………………………………………… 1.3 Research questions ………………………………………………………………… 1.4 Scope of the study ……………………………………………………………………2 1.5 Methods of the study …………………………………………………………………3 1.6.Design of the study ………………………………………………………………… CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW …………………………………………… 2.1 An overview of ESP ………………………………………………………………….4 2.1.1 The Concepts of ESP………………………………………………………… 2.2.1 Classification of ESP………………………………………………………… 2.2 Teaching ESP vocabulary…………………………………………………………….4 2.2 What is ESP and EEE vocabulary…………………………………………… 2.2.1.1 What is ESP vocabulary………………………………………………… 2.2.1.2 What is EEE vocabulary…………………………………………………5 2.2.2 Important aspects of ESP vocabulary teaching……………………………… v 2.2.2.1 Word formation ………………………………………………………….5 2.2.2.2 Word - form …………………………………………………………… 2.2.2.3 Grammar…………………………………………………………………6 2.2.2.4 Aspects of meaning………………………………………………………6 2.2.2.5 Pronunciation and spelling……………………………………………….7 2.3 Terminology………………………………………………………………………… 2.3.1 Definition of terminology………………………………………………………8 2.3.2 Characteristics of terminology……………………………………………… Methodology in vocabulary teaching……………………………………………… 2.4.1 The grammar- translation method…………………………………………… 2.4.2 Direct Method…………………………………………………………………10 2.4.3 The communicative approach (CLT)………………………………………… 10 2.4.4 Audio-lingual method…………………………………………………………11 2.5 ESP teaching vocabulary challenges for teachers………………………………… 11 2.5.1 The roles of ESP teachers…………………………………………………… 11 2.5.2 Teachers’ linguistic challenges in ESP vocabulary……………………… 13 2.5.3 Teachers’ pedagogical challenges in teaching ESP Vocabulary………… 14 2.6 Summary…………………………………………………………………………… 15 CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY……………………………………16 3.1 The context of teaching and learning vocabulary at Ho Chi Minh university of industry………………………………………………………………………………… 16 3.1.1 Brief introduction of Ho Chi Minh City University of industry based in Thanh Hoa………………………………………………………………………………… …16 3.1.2 The teachers and teaching methods………………………………………… 16 3.1.3 The students and their background ………………………………………… 17 3.2 The course book…………………………………………………………………… 18 3.2.1 The textbook………………………………………………………………… 18 vi 3.2.2 Book content…………………………………………………………………….18 3.3 Methods and procedures ………………………………………………………… 19 3.3.1 Research questions …………………………………………………………… 19 3.3.2 The participants …………………………………………………………………19 3.3.3 Data collection instruments …………………………………………………… 19 3.3.4 Data collection procedure ………………………………………………………20 3.3.5 Data analysis ……………………………………………………………………21 3.4 Findings and discussion 21 3.4.1 The teachers’ questionnaire …………………………………………………….21 3.4.1.1 The teachers’ linguistic challenges in teaching EEE vocabulary …… 21 3.4.1.2 The teachers’ pedagogical challenges in teaching EEE vocabulary ….23 3.4.1.3 The teachers’ personal view of sources of their challenges in teaching EEE vocabulary ………………………… 24 3.4.1.4 The teachers’ suggestions to improve their EEE vocabulary teaching……….26 3.4.2 Findings from the interviews and journal writings………………………………… 27 3.4.2.1 The teachers’ linguistic challenges in teaching EEE vocabulary ……27 3.4.2.2 The teachers’ pedagogical challenges in teaching EEE vocabulary 30 3.4.2.3 The teachers’ suggestions to improve their EEE vocabulary teaching 31 CHAPTER 4: SOLUTIONS………………………………………………………….33 4.1 Ways of training EFL Teachers for ESP teaching……………………………… 33 4.2 Improving teachers’ professional knowledge……………………………………….34 4.3 Improving teacher’s activities in teaching vocabulary…………………………… 34 4.3.1 Sample activity 1: Guess the meaning…………………………………….….35 4.3.2 Sample activity 2: Brainstorming……………………………………………35 vii 4.3.3 Sample activity 3: Group-work ……………………………………… …… 35 4.4 Teaching word formation……………………………………………………………37 CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSIONS……………………………………………………….39 Summary of the study………………………………………………………………39 Limitations and suggestions for further studies ……………………………………40 REFERENCES ……………………………………………………………………… 41 APPENDICES ………………………………………………………………………… I APPENDIX …………………………………………………………………………… I APPENDIX ………………………………………………………………………… IV APPENDIX 3……………………………………………………………………………VI viii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS CLT: Communicative Language Teaching EG: English for General ESP: English for Specific Purposes EEE: English for Electronics Engineering EE: Electronics Engineering HUI: Ho Chi Minh University of Industry ix LIST OF TABLES Table 1a: Teachers’ perceptions of their teaching EEE vocabulary Table 1b: Rank order of difficult of teaching EEE challenges perceived by teachers Table 2: The teachers’ pedagogical challenges teaching EEE vocabulary Table 3: Teachers’ personal view of sources of their challenges in teaching vocabulary Table 4: The teachers’ suggestions to improve their EEE vocabulary teaching CHAPTER1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale Nowadays, the English language has been widely used in many areas such as politics, economics, tourism, telecommunication, culture, science, technology, so on Since Vietnam carried out the open door policy towards the regional and global integration, the English language has become more and more important for people of all ages and careers nationwide Therefore, there is great demand for teaching and learning English throughout the country for different purposes It is evident that teaching English for Specific Purposes (ESP) has become one of the most prominent features of the English language teaching process (Hutchinson &Waters, 1987; Robinson, 1991) Hutchinson and Waters (1987) reported that ESP is an approach for language teaching in which all decisions regarding content and methods are based on the learners‟ reasons for learning It focuses on using English effectively in specific academic fields such as business, law, medicine, sciences, etc As Robinson (1991:4) stated the central role of vocabulary as carrier content in ESP: “It may often be thought that a characteristic, or even a critical feature, of ESP is that a course should involve specialist language (especially terminology) and content.” In teaching English for Specific Purposes, however, no one argues that the scope of specialized vocabulary is a primary goal Up to now, teaching ESP, particularly teaching vocabulary, has still been far from satisfaction With many similar characteristics and a number of different features in comparison with General English, ESP is viewed as something hard to teach for language teachers In the context of Ho Chi Minh University of Industry ( HUI ) based in Thanh Hoa province, students are taught English as a compulsory subject In addition, students of Electronic Engineering have to learn English for electronics at the beginning of the third academic year In fact, with a short duration of 30 periods, one of the most important aims of ESP course for these students is achieving basic ESP vocabulary However, in reality, the teacher researcher has seen students have troubled during their English learning process In the first place, most of the students said that they had to deal with a wider range of unfamiliar words and cope with their growing specialized vocabulary Consequently, it is hard for them to study with their limited knowledge of vocabulary They often learn vocabulary passively through their teachers‟ explanation There are also too many new words given in each lesson, too little time spent on memorizing and recycling those words As a teacher of English for Electronics Engineering (EEE), the teacher herself finds out many difficulties during teaching vocabulary At first, in her opinion, the difficulties probably arise from the lack of specialized knowledge, which makes teachers fail to provide every reasonable explanation Moreover, the target students at HUI based in Thanh Hoa province are at lower levels in comparison with those at colleges or universities on the ground of needs, interest and motivation In addition, it is difficult for teachers to understand a lot of terminology, complicated structures and countless expressions Facing this problem, the teacher researcher of English of HUI made an attempt to something to change the ways of teaching and learning vocabulary in order to improve the students' learning effectiveness to help them succeed in their future job In this study, therefore, the teacher researcher has conducted a research namely: “Teachers’ linguistic and pedagogical challenges in teaching ESP vocabulary to the third-year students of Electronics Engineering at Ho Chi Minh University of Industry based in Thanh Hoa province” 1.2.Aims of the study The study aimed at: - Giving a brief overview about ESP, vocabulary and its relevance in teaching English for Electronics Engineering at HUI - Finding out Teachers‟ linguistic and pedagogical challenges that ESP teachers at HUI are facing in teaching English vocabulary to students of Electronics Engineering - Suggesting some solutions to the teaching of vocabulary to students of Electronics Engineering effectively 1.3 Research questions The research is carried out with an attempt to find out the answer to the following research questions: - What are the main teachers‟ linguistic and pedagogical challenges experienced by teachers who are teaching ESP vocabulary to students of Electronics Engineering at HUI? - What solutions should be offered to help teachers to find out the effective ways to teach ESP vocabulary to students of Electronics Engineering at HUI? 1.4 Scope of the study Dealing with all types of teaching ESP vocabulary is too large for studying this size Thus, this study focuses on investigating linguistic and pedagogy challenges that the teacher encounters in teaching ESP vocabulary to students of the third-year students of Electronics Engineering at Ho Chi Minh University of Industry based in Thanh Hoa province Therefore, proper teaching methods can be adopted to help them overcome the difficulties The solutions are also provided to help to improve teaching and learning English in general, teaching and learning English Electronic vocabulary in particular at HUI 1.5 Methods of the study In order to achieve the aims mentioned above, the study was designed to use varieties of methods including interview, questionnaire and teaching journal analysis The data were recorded both formally and informally The survey questionnaire to teachers is to get more information to support the study 1.6 Design of the study The thesis consists of five chapters, with a list of references, and appendices Chapter I: “Introduction”, presents the rationale, objectives, research questions, scope as well as methods of the study Chapter II: “Literature review”, deals with the theoretical background for the study The focus of this chapter is vocabulary and ESP vocabulary, some important aspects of ESP vocabulary teaching, some techniques currently used in teaching vocabulary and ESP vocabulary Chapter III: “Methodology”, is the main part of the study It gives a brief introduction on the context of teaching ESP vocabulary at HUI, the data collection methods and procedures In addition, the data will be analyzed and the findings will reveal the difficulties in teaching ESP vocabulary to the third-year students at HUI Some suggestions to improve the teaching of ESP vocabulary will be given in this chapter Chapter IV: „Solution”, deals with ways to improving the teaching ESP vocabulary at HUI Chapter V: “Conclusions”, summarizes the findings, refers to some limitations of the study, and offers suggestions for further studies CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 An overview of ESP and English of Electronics Engineering 2.1.1 The Concepts of ESP To talk about challenges in teaching English for Electronics Engineering vocabulary (EEE vocabulary), we need to begin with the definition of English for Specific Purposes (ESP) provided by different authors Strevens (1988: 1) defined „ESP‟ as “a particular cause of the general category of special purpose language teaching" At the same time, Perren (1974) suggested that an ESP course is purposeful and aims at the successful performance of occupational or educational roles It is based on a rigorous analysis of students‟ needs and should be “tailor-made.” According to Hutchinson & Waters (1987: 19), ESP is "an approach rather than a product to language teaching in which all decisions as to content and method are based on learner's reason for learning" For Hutchinson and Waters, starting point in determining appropriate input for ESP course is identifying learners' need These researchers believed that any ESP course might differ from another in its selection of skills, topics, situations and functions, and language As stated by Perren (1974), students may be at any level of competence in the language: beginner, post-beginner, intermediate, etc …they may also take part in their ESP course before embarking on their occupational or educational role, or they may combine their study of English with performance of their role in English as well as in their first language 2.1.2 Classification of ESP Traditionally, ESP can be classified into two major groups: English for Academic Purposes and English for Occupational Purposes, English for Academic Science and Technology belongs to EAP and English in Electronics Engineering is one of branches of English for Academic Science and Technology Therefore, EEE has the following characteristics: 1) designed to meet specified needs of the learner in the field of Electronics Engineering 2) related in content (that is in its themes and topics) to Electronic disciplines, occupations and activities 3) centered on language appropriate to Electronic activities in syntax, lexis discourse, semantics and so on, and analysis of the discourse 2.2 Teaching ESP vocabulary 2.2.1 What is ESP and EEE vocabulary 2.2.1.1 What is ESP vocabulary In general, English vocabulary includes grammatical words, basic lexical words, auxiliaries ESP vocabulary refers to a word or a group of words in the form of a noun phrase used as a special lexical unit in a specific field with specific meaning to the field (Nation, 2001) It varies according to different fields of study such as engineering, medical sciences, and applied linguistics 41 References Brown, H Douglas 1994 Teaching by Principles: An Interactive Approach to language Pedagogy Prentice Hall Bell, T (1996) “Do EAP Teachers Require Knowledge of Their Students' Specialist Academic Subjects?” The Internet TESL Journal, Vol 5, No 10, October 1999 Bojovic`, M (2006) “Teaching Foreign Language for Specific Purposes: Teacher Development.” Application of Teacher Education in Europe 31st Annual ATEE Conference, 2006 Cabré, M T (1999) Terminology Theory, methods and applications The Netherlands and the USA: John Benjamins Publishing House Chen, Tsai-Yu (2000).”Self training for ESP through action research.” English for Specific Purposes Vol 19, Issue 4, 15 December 2000, pp: 389-402 Crandall, J (1998) “Collaborate and Cooperate: Teacher Education for Integrating Language and Content Instruction.” FORUM Vol 36, No 1, January-March 1998 p.2 Crandll -1998 Chung, T M and Nation, P (2003) Technical vocabulary in specialized texts Reading in a Foreign Language 15 (2): 103-116 Dudley Evans & St, John (1998).Developments in ESP A multi-discipline approach UK: Cambridge University Press Erich, Glendinning and John Mc Ewan (1994) English for Electronic Oxford University Press 10 Fries, C (1945).Teaching and learning English as Foreign Language Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press 11 Fries, C (1963) Linguistic and reading New York: Holt , Rinehart,& Winston 12 Harmer, J (1989) The Practical Language Teaching Essex: Longman Group Ltd 13 Hatch, E and Brown, C (1995), Vocabulary, Semantics, and Language Education.: Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 14 Hutchinson, T and Walters, A (1987) English for specific purpose Cambridge: CUP 15 Kennedy C & Bolitho, R (1984) English for Specific Purpose London and Basingstoke: Macmillan Press Ltd 42 16 Little Wood W (1981) Foreign and Second Language Learning, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 17 Lee, S.K (1995) Create games for the language class Forum, 33(1), 35, http://www.teflgames.com/why.htm 18 Munby, J (1978) Communicative Syllabus Design Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 19 Martin I (1992) An Invitation to explore ESP, SEAMEO Regional Language Centre, Singapore 20 Nunan D (1988) Syllabus design, Oxford University Press, Oxford 21 Nation, P (1994) New ways of Teaching Vocabulary Bloomington: Pantagraph Printing 22 Nation, P (2001) learning vocabulary in another languae Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 23 Nguyen, T.T.H and Khuat, T.T.N (2003) Learning Vocabulary through games Asian EFL Journal Webside http://www.asian_efl_Journal.com/de 03 sub.vnm 24 Paul Nation (1994) New ways in Teaching Vocabulary Teachers of English to speakers of other Languages Inc (TESOL) 25 Robinson, P C (1991) ESP today: A Practitioner's Guide Hertfordshire: Prentice Hall International (UK) Ltd 26 Ruth Gairns and Stuart Redman (1999) Working with words: A guide to teaching and learning vocabulary Cambridge University Press 27 Schmitt, N and Mc Carthy M (1997) Vocabulary: Description, Acquisition & Pedagogy Cambridge: CUP 28 Strevens, P (1988) ESP after twenty year : A re- appraisal In M Tickoo (Ed), ESP : State of the Art PP 1-13 Singapore: SEAMEO Regional Centre 29 Trimble, L (1985), English for Science and Technology: A Discourse Approach Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 30 Ur, Penny (1996) A course in Language Teaching Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 31 Waters, A (1983), Issues in ESP, Oxford University Press Vietnamese Nụ, D.T (2004) Một vài suy nghĩ dạy từ vựng ngoại ngữ chuyên ngành Kỷ yếu hội nghị Trường Đại học Ngoại Ngữ- ĐHQG Hà Nội 43 Websites: http://www.asian-esp-journal.com http://www.english-to-go.com http://www.espteacher.com http://www.esp-world.info http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk http://www.vocabulary.com I APPENDICES APPENDIX 1: QUESTIONNAIRE FOR TEACHERS AT HUI The following questionnaire is designed for my study on “Teachers’ linguistic and pedagogical challenges in teaching ESP vocabulary to the third-year students of Electronic Engineering at Ho Chi Minh University of Industry based in Thanh Hoa province Your answer to these questions will be highly appreciated and will be valuable help in identifying some problems in teaching ESP vocabulary and suggesting some solutions to improve teaching ESP vocabulary to third – Year Students at HUI You can be confident that you will not be identified in any discussion of the data Thank you very much for your help! Here are some difficulties in linguistic you may encounter when teaching EEE vocabulary Please tick the appropriate box according to the level difficulties you have Very difficult (VD) difficult (D) easy (E) very easy ( VE) Areas difficulties VD D E VE Pronunciation and writing lengthy word Understanding and explanation professional technical words Understanding and explanation idiomatic expression 4.Translation EE vocabulary in to Vietnamese Finding the meaning of unfamiliar words Finding the appropriate meaning for polysemantic Understanding borrowed vocabulary Explaining the concept of electronic device Explaining the block diagram 10 using dictionary to find the meaning of the words 11 Understanding Greco- Latin vocabulary 12 Understanding the meaning of phrasal verbs Other ways ( please specify… ) Here are some difficulties in method you may encounter when teaching EEE vocabulary Please tick the appropriate box according to the level difficulties you have Very difficult (VD) difficult (D) easy (E) very easy ( VE) II Areas difficulties VD D E VE Using visual aids (pictures, video, real objects… 2.Saying the words clearly one by one and writing them on the board Introduces a new words in context and gives examples Using mimes, gestures and facial expressions Using target language to define the new word Ask students to list as many new words as possible on board Fill in the blanks to complete sentences Connect new lexical items with their correct definitions Making sentence with given words 10 Playing games Other ways ( please specify… ) Would you please point out , whether in your experience each of the items below is true for you ? N0 Content I lack knowledge of the electronic especially vocabulary I lack background/ general knowledge I sometimes find many difficult or easy new words in the text many words are very long, difficult to read and write My Students lack of ESP vocabulary I lack confidence and motivation I usually repeat my teaching method in every vocabulary I can‟t understand and remember terminologies I don‟t always supply further exercises after teaching vocabulary 10 I don‟t always give Vietnamese equivalent for specific words and terms true Not true Not sure III What are your recommendations to overcome your difficulties in teaching EEE vocabulary and improve your students’ vocabulary? Increasing ESP course duration from 30 class hours to 60 class hours Providing teachers with more teaching aids and reference books Establishing the co-operation between subject teachers and English teachers ESP teachers should develop their self–learning specialized knowledge Workshops and training vocabulary teaching methods should be regularly delivered to ESP teachers Training specialized knowledge for ESP teachers - The end Thank you for your help! IV APPENDIX 2: INTERVIEW QUESTIONS FOR TEACHERS AT HUI INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT Question1: What are the major challenges facing you when teaching EEE vocabulary in the “ Electronics” to the third year student at HUI ? Teacher 3: well Firstly I think EEE vocabulary is very important for me I usually meet some trouble with abbreviations for example: IC FM, AF, CMOS and so on I can remember them but difficult to explain their concept and translate in to Vietnamese Then, some technical words are difficult to understand such as: thermisto, transistor, transducer, buzzer, relay, collector When I taught unit component values, I couldn‟t teach the resistor values which code with colored band although, before teaching I asked some teachers of Vietnamese electronic explain to me In addition, There are a lot difficult compounds such as: automatic cut-off, tamper protection, battery backup, and so on Sorry! I can remember all of them Finally, It is difficult to choose the teaching methods , I usually translate all the new words in to Vietnamese on the board and say the word clearly one by one Sometimes I use synonyms and antonym, visual aids and target language to define for new words presentation Teacher 4: Well, there are a lot of challenges when teaching EEE vocabulary For me the most difficult that I can‟t explain some concepts of them, such as : some abbreviations as : POT, MSI, AT, some technical as preferred values, stepped values, adjacent values, tolerance, extremes sometimes I can‟t write correctly I don‟t give enough explanation the concept of electronic devices because I don‟t know about what they are I want to use playing games in free practice but it is not enough time for me to do, There are many electronic terms which are long and difficult to remember for students I often translate and give student some exercises as: making sentences with given words, word matching, and so on… Teacher 5: In teaching EEE vocabulary, several problems occur unexpectedly I can just explain the use of some terms by Vietnamese, but sometimes not Vietnamese equivalents and that makes the students unsatisfied and sometimes many questions related to terms and specialized knowledge from the students make me confused or embarrassed Especially, some abbreviations as: SLSI, LDR, CMOS, AM, some symbols in electronics circuit diagram ( P C.R ), resistor codes and some technical words such as: stepped values, adjacent V values, transducer I often use grammar translation method, it helped me save time with new words presentation In practices, I ask student make sentences with the given words, order words and gap-filling And I think, it is necessary for the teachers to give the students a variety exercises to help them remember the taught words Teacher 6: Well! I think that teaching EEE vocabulary is not easy for me There are many electronic terms which are long and difficult to remember for students such as abbreviations, compounds so on… I like teaching new words by the direct methods I often present new words by using mines, gestures and facial expressions and using word guessing I never translate all the words in to Vietnamese although it is necessary to make the new words clear for the students to understand their meaning, in order to provide students more chances to recall the taught words through some activities such as: Using target language to define the new word, Making sentence with given words Playing games…But it is difficult to play games, because we have very short time for vocabulary practice in students‟ classroom I encourage my students to learnt new words by heart by coping words many times Question 2: Could you suggest some ways to help improve teaching EE vocabulary” to the third year student at HUI ? Teacher 3: Before teaching EEE vocabulary, Teacher had to self- study On Electronics books in Vietnamese, teacher should combine various way to teacher vocabulary and are different in choosing types of vocabulary exercises Teacher 4: The teacher should improve teaching methods, especially use visual aids and teaching students from guessing words meaning from context because context can connect the word knowledge to the knowledge that learners already have Teachers should combine exercises and activities for students to practice for example play games, listen to the English songs, upgrade teaching facilities and divide students into smaller groups Teacher 5: the teachers should improve teaching methods: use visual aids, play games, teach word meanings in context and give further practice and consolidation There should be more equipment such as: radios, computers…Number of students in class should be reduced Teacher : I often present new words by asking students to read new words after them, and then translating into Vietnamese Using real objects, Showing the pictures, Giving examples to illustrate In my opinion, it is necessary to make the new words clear for students to understand their meaning, that‟s why we should translate all of them Using visual aids are also very important in presenting some electronic terms for example: body organs… VI APPENDIX 3: QUESTIONS FOR TEACHERS’S JOURNAL WRITING AT HUI Question: Write about the challenges happening and solutions in your teaching EE vocabulary to the third-year students of Electronic Engineering at Ho Chi Minh University of Industry based in Thanh Hoa province in weeks Teacher 1’s journal writng week Week1 Week2 Content (recounted problems in each week in your teaching witting to be specific about the linguistic and pedagogical challenges that the teachers encountered and to resolve in the next weeks.) Class :DT 3ATH Date 7/6/2011 Total student: 50 Unit 1: Electronics home Period 1-5 Teaching ESP for students of electronics is really hard work In the journal writing below, I first summarize what goes on in unit and then I try to work out some problems when teaching this unit The lesson aims at helping students know how to describe block diagrams and circuits At first, students are provided with a brief overview of electronics in the home In terms of language skills, this is called „reading for a purpose‟ which helps students have a clear purpose when reading a text relating to electronics In this reading part, they get used to new technical terms concerning electronics such as: ‘ vacuum tube’, ‘low-powered devices’, ‘ hi-fi units’, ‘portable radios’, ‘ microelectronics’, ‘ silicon chips’, ‘IC’, ‘electronic timers’, ‘digital alarm clock’, ‘CD’, ‘computer-controlled robots’… These new terms will be used later during the course Although this unit is designed to match the all-round skills improvement, there is a fact that no listening is provided, meaning that students not have the opportunity to understand native speakers, professionals, and experts talking informally about different aspects of electronics My lecture of this unit, therefore, was not quite satisfactory There are a lot of abbreviation and technical term such as AM (amplitude-modulated); Hi-fi(high fidelity); Multimedia; Microelectronics; Low-powered; Electronic timer ; IC : intergraded circuits; CD : Compact dics; hi-fi units; silicon chips; block diagram; tuner; detector; volume control; power apm; (R2; C1; R3; C3; P1; L1)(GHz; MΩ; kV; dB; mW; mH; nF) Moreover, in the speaking part, it was even more difficult for both the teacher and the students because they had to deal with describing the diagram (which was new and difficult for them), and/ or they had to pronounce these new words in English and tried to make the partners understand what they spoke out To the best of my knowledge, the unit is better for ESL students than EFL students because of the fact that the EFL students often face difficulties in mastering both their General English and English for specialist subjects whereas the ESL students far outweighed their partners in terms of General English Class :DT 3AH Total student: 50 Period 6-10 Date: 14/6/2011 Lesson 2: Component values VII Week3 Week4 At first, I would think that this lesson would be a lot easier to teach than the first one but it was not actually as what I expected Upon preparing for my lecture, I found that this lesson focuses mainly on Electronics study It took me at least hours to read Electronics course books and I had to make phone calls to my friends who had studied Electronics to master the content of the lesson Although the students, with their own specialized knowledge, knew how to read the resistor code, they still found it difficult to master and pronounce such words as: digit, component values, resistor, resistance, tolerance, and band and so on Some even were confused about all the different colors on the resistor I think it is very difficult to teach about the resistor values are coded with colored band and identify Diode codes BXA16- BY126- BZX55C2V4- AA119 - BPX65BB105 - I asked students to talk about resistor by Vietnamese, they talk me a lot, when I give them some color band and asked them find out the missing color They did very well However, some students cannot call the names of the color I think , there are some St lack GE knowledge Class :DT 3ATH Date: 21/6/2011 Total student: 50 Lesson 3: Making a recording Period 11-15 Unlike the first two lessons which deal with simple components and diagrams, this one focuses on the process of making something In this case, the students had to learn how to make a recording which makes no difference to them in every daily life Although the students already knew some musical words such as: hiss, bass, treble, sound, mixer, cassette, record… they still found it hard to complete the lesson because of the following problems: - phrasal verbs: plug into, link to, feed to/ back through, master down… - prefixes and suffixes: micro-, multi-, -ist, -ian, -ation… - compound nouns: two-track mastering machine, mixing desk… - abbreviations: VU, EQ, CDs, MDs - unfamiliar structures : too low, too high a level… I called some students make sentences with new words, only one st make true sentences At the end of the lesson I asked st write all of the words they learned in this lesson on the paper The results made me disappointed, most of them wrote to words Class :DT 3A TH Date: 28/6/2011 Total student: 50 Period 16-20 Lesson 4: Remote control Today I taught my students lesson 4: “Remote control” My first impression towards this lesson was that it was not as complicated as the three lessons above A very important thing in this lesson was that both the teacher and the students are familiar with the remote control My first step to introduce the lesson was successful as the students already knew all the remote control buttons and the function of those buttons VIII However, in the second step, the students still failed to understand when reading paragraph and paragraph The most important thing which I observed was the way the students struggled to know the meaning of the particles ‘on’ and ‘off’ in two different structures In addition, it took them hours to get familiar with the following idiomatic expressions: „couch potatoes’, ‘gone are all the fiddly’, ‘in turn’… The use of such compound nouns as: „light-emitting diode’, ‘ infra-red beam’ also threw them into total confusion To day I used target language to define the new words, St did very well but when I asked them explain again nobody could Last but not least, I also mentioned some problems students faced in learning Exercise 7& as follows: - Electronics terms: transmitter, signals, interference, background ‘noise’, pulses, oscillator, buffer amplifier, integrated circuit, current output, capacitor… - Abbreviations: LED, IC, DC - Symbols: R1, R2, R3, C1, C2 In my opinions, students should pay more attention to Electronics words before learning their own major in ESP Week5 Class :DT 3ATH Total student: 50 Period 21-25 Date: 5/7/2011 Lesson 5: Alarm systems Today we started 15 minutes later than usual because the alarm bell rang incorrectly This was, in effect, a practical example for me to introduce the new lesson „Alarm systems‟ to my students As planned, I attempted to introduce what „alarm‟ means to my students „Alarm‟ is defined as „ a means of attracting attention utilizing either sound or vision’ This definition clearly activated students‟ knowledge of any alarming device which they happen to see in their own daily life The diagram in the next reading is a very good example of an alarm system for them The way I introduced this definition helped my students to get familiar with different explanations of the devices in the first two reading texts However, such compounds as: magnetic switches, break detectors, pressure mats, motion sensors, entry and exit delays, automatic cut-off, tamper protection, battery backup once again reminded students of their weak points in learning specific terms both in their meanings and pronunciation Some students asked me explain meaning some words by Vietnamese, I did not that and told them find it in dictionary Week Class :DT 3ATH Total student: 50 Period 26-30 Date : 12/7/2011 Lesson 6: Radio Before teaching this lesson, I had borrowed examples from my colleagues in the technical departments of my institute I had also asked some students to bring in sample things which make use of electromagnetic waves such as: radio, light bulb, X-ray photo… I did hope that my students completed the lesson successfully IX It is clear that this lesson provides students with opportunities to further their own knowledge of specialist vocabulary concerning „radio‟ Students encountered many familiar words such as: signal, wave, frequencies, tuner, amplifier, loudspeaker, aerial, capacitor, circuit They also knew similar abbreviations such as: VHF, FM, AM, AF, RF… But I did not really understand the function of each item After teaching this lesson I find my knowledge of electronic is better than before and I feel more confident Teacher 2’s Journal writing week Week1 Content (recounted problems in each week in your teaching witting to be specific about the linguistic and pedagogical challenges that the teachers encountered and to resolve in the next weeks.) Class :DT 3B TH Date: 6/6/2011 Total student: 47 Unit 1: Electric in the home Period 1-5 - To day I taught students about the electric in the house This is the first time I dead with EEE, I asked some students about electronic knowledge Making a list of thing in their house which use electronics, a few students give some popular names of them such as : TV, CD player Electronic cooker - When dealing with this unit we happened to see that teaching English of Electronics is not the same as teaching General English Technically, it is important that both the teacher and the students have a specialist knowledge of electronics I believe, however, that I myself and some other teachers teaching ESP in TH Branch need to improve our specialist knowledge because we are only used to teaching General English And as a matter of fact, this is the first time we are working on this course book - The focus of the lesson is on the second reading in which students have to read both the text and diagrams They have to be able to combine information from both diagram and text In this section, they have to distinguish between a block diagram and a circuit and try to find out how these diagrams work In addition, some types of tasks are designed for individual study and/ or group work so that students can practice describing block diagrams in an easier and more effective way - More importantly, as the materials used for language practice and production have more specialist content, I can see that most students found it difficult to combine knowledge of English and knowledge of their subject This is partly due to the explanation and/or translation from the target language into the source language and vice versa The following words and symbols are listed as follows: AM (amplitude-modulated); Hi-fi(high fidelity); Multimedia; Microelectronics; Low-powered; Electronic timer ; IC : intergraded circuits; CD : Compact dics;hi-fi units; silicon chips; block diagram; tuner; detector; volume control; power apm; (R2; C1; R3; C3; P1; L1)(GHz; MΩ; kV; dB; mW; mH; nF) - After teaching I called some students to go to the board to write what new X Week2 Week3 words they remember in the lesson, I see they don‟t remember lot of words, specially technical words Class :DT 3BTH Date: 13/6/2011 Total student: 47 Lesson 2: Component values Period 6-10 After finishing Unit 1, I found many problems with both me and students I lack of knowledge of EE and students lack of English language Before teaching this lesson, I met some electronic teachers, They helped me to understand Resistor values and the colored bands I found some Vietnamese electronic books I understood in Vietnamese, I can explain by Vietnamese not by English because I couldn‟t find EE words in English The text on preferred valued was quite challenging, I explained some difficult words such as: preferred values, stepped values, adjacent values, tolerance, extremes… Most students did not understand what the text was.When moving on to the next technical reading, the students had difficulty in pronunciation They mispronounced all the abbreviations because all the symbols refer to both the semiconductor materials and application Diode codes BXA16- BY126- BZX55C2V4- AA119 - BPX65- BB105 very difficult to teach I called st identify these diodes, nobody could, the words were very long and confuse between first letters and second letters This was because of the fact that they did not know how to link their own vocabulary knowledge to the structure of the sentences When moving on to the next technical reading, the students had difficulty in pronunciation They mispronounced all the abbreviations because all the symbols refer to both the semiconductor materials and application Class :DT 3BTH Total student: 47 Period 11-15 Date: 20/6/2011 Lesson 3: Making a record Today I taught students “ making a record” In the first section I give a picture in which there are some components and diagrams it shows the stages in making a recording Student easily learn some new words such as Bass, instrument, vocalist, track, plug,… However, I met some difficult words as master back, master fader, master down, hiss background I could not explain each concept to students so I only translate it into Vietnamese I found some problems when teaching some phrase verb: link to, feed to, back through, with task3 “putting each verb of the verbs in brackets in the correct form Most of students forgot the passive voice that was taught in GE I spent 15minus to explain the form and the usage of passive voice” Besides, I give students some prefixes and suffixes I ask them to find some words similar I though one way of remembering new words is to group them in to topic sets according to their area of meaning so I called st went to the board to write these words in the correct column One more important thing was that the students did not pronounce the sound of – ed ending correctly I had to help them identify three different –ed forms, for example: XI / id/ as in added; /d/ as in used; /t/ as in shaped After teaching, I asked some students to make sentences with new words It is difficult to make further exercises to students, because I have not enough time to it Week4 Class :DT 3BTH Total student: 47 Period 16-20 Date: 27/6/2011 Lesson 3: Remote control To day I gave to student a remote control Asking student to identified control buttons by English, it seem very familiar with them by Vietnamese but not by English , a few st did well In this lesson task is the most difficult to teach new words When I saw the circuit , I did not understand any components I find some problems with Electronics terms: transmitter, signals, interference, background ‘noise’, pulses, oscillator, buffer amplifier, integrated circuit, current output, capacitor…Abbreviations: LED, IC, DC and Symbols: R1, R2, R3, C1, C2 I did not really know the function of each components so I could only translate them in to Vietnamese, not explain any more when teaching ESP vocabulary , I always translate all the words in to Vietnamese Because it spends more time when I explain them by English, and no time for student to practice Week5 Class :DT 3BTH Date: 4/7/2011 Total student: 47 Unit Alarm systems Period 21-25 To day I taught a lot of vocabulary from the text “detection devices”.Students not seem to understand some of the equipments in English However, I translated these words into Vietnamese for them Of course, it doesn‟t matter to Vietnamese students when they happen to read any word in their own mother tongue But it is even more difficult for them when they encounter any English written word because it may provide no clues to its pronunciation Take, for example, the word „alarm‟ first, some students made a complaint about the different pronunciation of letter „a‟ in the word „alarm‟ The same thing also happens in letter „e‟ in „break detector’, „reset‟, letter „o‟ in „ motion sensors’, „control‟, letter „u‟ in „automatic cut-off’, „backup‟… The most challenging task the students encountered in this lesson was to complete the second text which contains a wider range of specialist vocabulary They were unable to understand the use of technical words such as: ‘thermistor, transistor, transducer, buzzer, relay, collector’… Nor did they identify the difference between „resistance‟ and „resistor‟ The use of prefixes (de-, re-) and particles (in-, out-) also caused troubles for them Week Class :DT 3BTH Date: 11/7/2011 Total student: 47 Lesson 6: Radio Period 26-30 As I observed, the students were able to understand the reading texts but they failed to mark the stressed syllable correctly This is partly because of the fact that Vietnamese is a monosyllabic language whereas the English language XII contains one- syllable words, two- syllable words, three- syllable words and so on In this lesson, they encountered different ways of marking the stressed syllable Some verbs and nouns were stressed in the same positions (ab’sorbab’sorption; in’duce- in’duction; re’flect- re’flection; re’sist-re’sistance) but other verbs and nouns were not (at’tenuate- atten’ation; com’municatecommuni’cation; ‘modulate- modu’lation) Give to st some word formation Such as amplify, amplifier amplification … Likewise, abstract words are assumed to be more difficult to learn than concrete words In this lesson, such concrete words as: attenuator, conductor, inductor, reflector, resistor, modulator were easier than abstract words such as: absorption, attenuation, communication, conductivity, inductance, modulation, reflection, resistance etc Finally, I give some further exercises such as words in pair ( each word in column A often goes before one word from column B e.g integrated circuit) Play game and make sentences Making sentences is easy but playing game is not ... Oxford University Press Vietnamese Nụ, D.T (2004) Một vài suy nghĩ dạy từ vựng ngoại ngữ chuyên ngành Kỷ yếu hội nghị Trường Đại học Ngoại Ngữ- ĐHQG Hà Nội 43 Websites: http://www.asian-esp-journal.com... Industry based in Thanh Hoa Province Ho Chi Minh University of Industry based in Thanh Hoa Province (HUI) has been in operation for years in Thanh Hoa Province Previously, its name was Thanh Hoa... 3.1.3 Students and their background Students of HUI come from all parts of Thanh Hoa province (Thanh Hoa city, districts and mountainous areas) The students who live in Thanh Hoa city and towns