Kết hợp dạy ngôn ngữ và phát triển kỹ năng nghề nghiệp cho sinh viên thông qua hình thức học tập sử dụng các bài tập lớn Integrating language and work skills th

1 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST - GRADUATE STUDIES PHẠM THỊ MINH PHƯƠNG INTEGRATING LANGUAGE AND WORK SKILLS THROUGH PROJECT-BASED LEARNING – A CASE OF ENGLISH FOR TOURISM (KẾT HỢP DẠY NGÔN NGỮ VÀ PHÁT TRIỂN KỸ NĂNG NGHỀ NGHIỆP CHO SINH VIÊN THƠNG QUA HÌNH THỨC HỌC TẬP SỬ DỤNG CÁC BÀI TẬP LỚN – ÁP DỤNG TRONG GIẢNG DẠY TIẾNG ANH DU LỊCH) M.A Minor Programme Thesis Field: English Methodology Code: 601410 HANOI, 2010 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST - GRADUATE STUDIES PHẠM THỊ MINH PHƯƠNG INTEGRATING LANGUAGE AND WORK SKILLS THROUGH PROJECT-BASED LEARNING – A CASE OF ENGLISH FOR TOURISM (KẾT HỢP DẠY NGÔN NGỮ VÀ PHÁT TRIỂN KỸ NĂNG NGHỀ NGHIỆP CHO SINH VIÊN THƠNG QUA HÌNH THỨC HỌC TẬP SỬ DỤNG CÁC BÀI TẬP LỚN – ÁP DỤNG TRONG GIẢNG DẠY TIẾNG ANH DU LỊCH) M.A Minor Programme Thesis Field: English Methodology Code: 601410 Supervisor: Nguyễn Thu Lệ Hằng, M.A HANOI, 2010 TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION i KNOWLEDGEMENTS ii ABSTRACT iii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS vi Part I INTRODUCTION 1 Rationale for the study Aims and objectives Scope of the study Significant of the study Method of the study Organization of the study Part II DEVELOPMENT Chapter 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 1.1 An overview of ESP 1.1.1 Definition of ESP 1.1.2 Essential issues in teaching ESP 1.1.2.1 Needs analysis 1.1.2.2 Methodology for teaching ESP 1.2 The teaching and learning of English for Tourism as an ESP 1.2.1 English for Tourism as an ESP 1.2.2 Challenges in teaching English for Tourism 1.2.3 Towards an appropriate syllabus for English for Tourism 10 1.3 Project-based approach and the learning and teaching of EfT 11 1.3.1 An overview of PBL 11 1.3.1.1 What is a project? 11 1.3.1.2 What is PBL? 11 1.3.1.3 Merits and challenges of PBL 12 1.3.2 PBL approach and the ESP classroom 13 1.3.2.1 Rationale for implementing PBL in the ESP classroom 13 1.3.2.2 Process of project work 15 1.4 Summary 16 Chapter 2: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 17 2.1 Background of the study 17 2.1.1 The course 18 2.1.2 The students 18 2.1.3 The teacher 18 2.2 Research questions 18 2.3 Research approach 19 2.4 Participants 19 2.5 Instrument 19 2.6 Procedure of data collection 20 2.7 Data analysis procedure 20 2.8 Summary 21 Chapter 3: THE PRACTICAL STUDY 22 3.1 Preliminary investigation 22 3.1.1 Data presentation of the preliminary questionnaires 22 3.1.2 Findings 26 3.2 Intervention 27 3.2.1 The design and aims of the travel guide project 27 3.2.2 Procedure of the project 28 3.3 Evaluation 29 3.3.1 Data presentation of the evaluation questionnaires 29 3.3.2 Findings 33 Chapter 4: DISCUSSION OF THE FINDINGS 35 4.1 Research question 35 4.2 Research question 36 4.3 Research question 38 4.4 Summary 40 Part III CONCLUSION 41 Conclusion 41 Recommendations 41 Limitations of the study and suggestions for further study 42 REFERENCES 44 APPENDICES LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ESP: English for Specific Purposes GE: General English EFL: English as a Foreign Language CLT: Communicative Language Teaching PBL: Project-based Learning HTTC: Hanoi Teacher Training College EfT: English for Tourism Part I: INTRODUCTION Rationale for the study From early 1960s, ESP, or English for Specific Purposes, has grown to become one of the most prominent areas of EFL teaching today and gained a well-established position as a component of applied linguistics research (Dudley-Evans & St Johns, 1998) As the word “specific” suggests, the nature of ESP is different from that of general English in a sense that ESP learners learn English for a certain professional or occupational purpose Therefore, teaching/learning ESP includes much more than the teaching of English through specific materials and content In fact, it combines the development of linguistic skills together with the acquisition of specific information Consequently, to ensure the success of ESP learning, the materials should be wisely selected and adapted and learning activities should be carefully designed, and more importantly, an appropriate teaching method should be adopted With regard to language learning approaches and methods, the concept of Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) have been developed and adopted by a number of scholars since 1970s Closely allied to CLT are a number of concepts which reflect certain types of learning and teaching such as interactive learning, learner-centred instruction, task-based learning, content-based learning, and cooperative learning (Brown, 2001) These variations of CLT prove effective in many contexts as students can not only learn the language but also develop certain personal and social skills through learning Also originated from these learning types, Projectbased Learning is a “flexible methodology allowing multiple skills to be developed in an integrated, meaningful, on-going activity” As Thomas J W (2000) summarizes, research on PBL have shown clearly the benefits of PBL: (i) gains in student achievement, (ii)gains in students’ problem-solving capabilities, (iii) gains in students’ understanding of the subject matter, and (iv) gains in understanding relating to specific skills and strategies introduced in the project Given these merits and the nature of ESP, PBL will be an ideal choice for ESP teaching and learning In the recent years, the ESP movement in Vietnam has been rapidly developing due to the existence of diverse needs of the learners Currently, all university students must learn the ESP that suits their learning branches For example, students at economics universities have to learn English for commerce, while students from the Information Technology universities have to learn English for IT However, a lot of questions have been raised over the quality of ESP teaching and learning at university as many students studying ESP show quite poor performance on four language skills and a lot of graduates can not use ESP in their work This results in an unsolved problems that ESP teachers are encountering: How to design appropriate syllabus and authentic learning activities to enhance ESP learning? English for Tourism is a new ESP for a relatively new course in Hanoi Teacher Training College, thus it is not surprising that both the administrators and the teachers are experiencing some teething pains In search of an effective teaching method, the researcher of this study, also as a teacher of this subject, has formed a hypothesis that: “Project-based learning would help students not only learn the language but also develop their future work skills” and this is the reason why this study is carried out Aims and objectives As mentioned in the rationale, the study is aimed at exploring the benefit of project-based learning in the teaching and learning of English for Tourism: whether or not this learning activity would allow teachers to integrate language and students‟ work skills in their teaching The objective of the study is to work out the answers to the following research questions:  What are the benefits of project work in learning EfT, as perceived by the teachers and the students involved? 10  How can work skills be integrated in the syllabus for EfT at the department of Foreign Languages, Hanoi Teacher Training College, by means of PBL method?  What are the suggestions for effective project work in learning EfT, as recommended by the teachers and students involved? Scope of the study Due to time constraint as well as the author‟s ability and working conditions, the study is limited to the following extents: 3.1 Participants:  Students: One class of second-year English major students at Department of Foreign Languages, HTTC Their main field of study is English for Business and Tourism  Teacher: The team of English for Tourism staff consists of only members including the author of this study Therefore, only one teacher can take part in the interview conducted for the study 3.2 Form of project-based learning method: PBL can have numerous variations in practice but the one studied in this thesis is group investigation and presentation 3.3 Work skills: Working in the tourism industry calls for a great number of skills However, in this study, only some most typical soft skills such as presenting, communicating, problem-solving and group work skills, etc, are mentioned Significance of the study The research, first of all, would enable the teaching staff at English Department, HTTC to grasp the real situation of their students‟ language competence and needs in learning EfT With such a deep insight, they would be able to evaluate their current teaching method and thus make necessary changes to improve the effectiveness of the teaching and learning of this subject Moreover, if successful, the study would prove that PBL is a suitable and effective method and it would be introduced to other teachers at the college Hopefully, PBL would be adopted and implemented at larger scales with the purpose of developing students‟ future work skills 11 Method of the study This is a qualitative action research carried out in the researcher‟s own class at HTTC, Hanoi The data was collected from preliminary questionnaire and evaluation questionnaire for students, semi-structured interview with another teacher from EfT team and the teacher’s notes and diary Data for the study was collected in the first term of the school year 2009 – 2010 and then analysed by means of descriptive statistic devices and content analysis method Hopefully, with the combination of these instruments, the study would yield reliable findings Organisation of the thesis The thesis consists of three main parts: Introduction which provides an overview of the study, Development which is the main part and consists of chapters, and Conclusion which includes summary of the study, implication, limitations and suggestions for further study Four chapters in the main part are as follows: Chapter 1: Literature review In this chapter, various research on English for Specific Purposes in general and English for Tourism in particular, as well as Project-based Learning approach is reviewed to provide the theoretical background for the study Chapter 2: Research methodology The methods and procedures of the study such as participant selection, data collection methods, data analysis methods, etc, are presented in detail in this chapter Chapter 3: The practical study Under this heading, the main stages of the study: Preliminary investigation, Intervention, Evaluation are presented Chapter 4: Discussion of the findings In this chapter, the findings from the evaluation questionnaires, the teacher‟s reflection and teacher interview will be integrated and discussed so as to find out the answer to the research questions 12 PART II: DEVELOPMENT Chapter 1: LITERATURE REVIEW This chapter will briefly present a theoretical background of the study which includes an overview of English for Specific Purposes, the teaching and learning of English for Tourism as an ESP, and an overview of Project-based Learning approach 1.1 An overview of ESP 1.1.1 Definition of ESP ESP, or English for Specific Purposes, has become a vital and innovative activity within the Teaching of English as a Foreign or Second Language movement (Howatt, 1984) since 1960s as a result of the increasing recognition of the communicative role of English and its functional styles There are a great number of definitions approaching the nature of ESP as found in literature, each of which may focus on different aspects Hutchinson and Waters (1987) see ESP as an approach rather than a product In this sense, ESP does not involve a particular kind of language, teaching material or methodology This suggests that „the foundation of any ESP course, undoubtedly, is based on learner needs or the simple question: why does the learner need to learn a foreign language?‟ (pp 18-19) The answer to this question has raised the importance of needs analysis in ESP teaching and ESP is then an approach to language teaching in which “all decisions as to content and method are based on the learner’s reason for learning.” (p 19) Strevens (1988) proposes a definition of ESP which makes a distinction between four absolute characteristics and two variable characteristics He thinks that ESP consists of English Language Teaching which possesses some certain absolute characteristics and variable characteristics Likewise, being aware of the current confusion among the ESP community, Dudley-Evans (1997) proposes an extended definition in terms of absolutes and variable characteristics by improving Strevens‟ definition substantially On the whole, each of these definitions has both validity and weaknesses; thus it would be hard to find a satisfactory definition of ESP However, in general, most of these authors have come to an agreement that an ESP course would have the following features: 13 It is purposeful and aimed at the successful performance of occupational or educational roles by an individual or a group It is based on an analysis of the students‟ needs and is tailor-made to meet these needs It may differ from another language course in its selection of skills, themes, topics, situations, functions, language and methodology 1.1.2 Essential issues in teaching ESP 1.1.2.1 Needs analysis The five key stages in ESP teaching include needs analysis, course (and syllabus) design, materials selection (and evaluation), teaching and learning, and evaluation Among these, needs analysis is the very first and perhaps the decisive factor in the success of any ESP courses According to Johns, while teaching ESP, “all language teaching must be designed for the specific learning and language use purposes of identified groups of students.”(Johns, 1991, p.67) Teaching ESP is therefore determined by different - professional/ occupational, social and other - needs of the learners In Nunan‟s view, needs analysis is the initial process for the specification of behavioral objectives It is from these objectives that detailed aspects of the syllabus such as functions, topics, lexis and structures are derived Dudley-Evans and St John believe that it is the “corner stone of ESP and leads to a very focused course” (p.122) Likewise, in a definition of ESP course, Hutchinson and Water (1987) state that ESP is an approach to language teaching which aims to meet the needs of particular learners Richards (1984) also points out the significance of NA as follows: “Needs analysis serves three main purposes: it provides a means of obtaining wider input into the content, design and implementation of a language program; it can be used in developing goals, objectives and content; and it can provide data for reviewing and evaluating an existing program.” (p.5) Dudley-Evans and St John in their “Development in ESP” (1998) suggest that needs analysis can be done through a variety of means such as pre-course information questionnaires, structured interviews, observation, analysis of authentic texts, discussion, and record-keeping These suggested methods have their own strengths and weaknesses but if utilized appropriately, they can provide useful and reliable data for the process of needs analysis Hopefully, with a smooth beginning, the whole ESP course will run successfully ... TOURISM (KẾT HỢP DẠY NGÔN NGỮ VÀ PHÁT TRIỂN KỸ NĂNG NGHỀ NGHIỆP CHO SINH VIÊN TH? ?NG QUA HÌNH TH? ??C HỌC TẬP SỬ DỤNG CÁC BÀI TẬP LỚN – ÁP DỤNG TRONG GIẢNG DẠY TIẾNG ANH DU LỊCH) M.A Minor Programme Thesis... of this subject, has formed a hypothesis that: “Project-based learning would help students not only learn the language but also develop their future work skills? ?? and this is the reason why this... integrate language and students‟ work skills in their teaching The objective of the study is to work out the answers to the following research questions:  What are the benefits of project work in