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LIST OF TABLES AND CHARTS Chart 1: Time length of learning English before college entrance Table 1: Results in learning basic English Chart 2: Most difficult part of ESP vocabulary Table

1.5.1 Developing a variety of techniques for the teaching of meaning 14 1.5.2 Encouraging the development of effective strategies 14 1.5.3 Exposing learners to vocabulary through reading and training lexical

1.5.5 Evaluating the vocabulary component of course books 15 1.5.6 Teaching vocabulary explicitly through a range of activity types 15

Chapter 3: Data analysis, major findings and suggested solutions 19

3.2.2 ESP vocabulary pronunciation and meanings 32

3.2.4 Lack of effective strategies for learning ESP vocabulary 33

3.3.2 Developing resources for ESP vocabulary teaching and learning 34 3.3.3 Encouraging the development of effective vocabulary learning strategies 35 3.3.4 Developing the effective ESP vocabulary teaching 36 3.3.5 Encouraging students to form their learning autonomy 36

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

ESP: English for Specific Purposes

EBE: English for Business and Economics

ESS: English for Social Science

EST: English for Science and Technology

EAP: English for Academic Purposes

EOP: English for Occupational Purpose

GB: Great Britain

GE: General English

UK: The United Kingdom

USA: The United States of America

LIST OF TABLES AND CHARTS

Chart 1: Time length of learning English before college entrance Table 1: Results in learning basic English

Chart 2: Most difficult part of ESP vocabulary

Table 2: Obstacles with ESP vocabulary learning materials

Table 3: Problems with learning ESP vocabulary in the course books Chart 3: Teachers‟ instructing the meanings of ESP vocabulary Chart 4: Teachers‟ instructing the uses of ESP vocabulary

Chart 5: Students‟ ways to learn new ESP words

Table 4: Students‟ practising ESP vocabulary during the class time Table 5: Ways of revising ESP vocabulary

Table 6: Realization of transcription

Table 7: Realization of stressed syllable positions

Table 8: Recognition of word meanings in contexts

Table 9: Uses of word when describing the subject contents

Table 10: Uses of ESP word

PART 1: INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale of the study

Words take an important part in our daily social and occupational communications With teaching and learning English, especially English for Specific Purposes, words appear as the materials and products of these procedures McCarthy has stated that “no matter how well the student learns grammar, no matter how successful the sounds of L2 are mastered, without words to express a wide range of meanings, communication in an L2 just cannot happen in any meaningful way.” (1990: viii)

When working as seamen on board the vessels, especially multi-lingual ones, the Vietnamese seafarers need sufficient knowledge of navigation and good competence of English of at least an elementary level Students at the Navigational Faculty of Haiphong Poly-technical College will become future seamen on board, thus good competence of English language is necessary for them in both speaking and listening They have to learn technical terms about deck equipment, departure, anchoring and pilotage It is also required that they should learn specific vocabulary such as the weather station, magnetic compasses, ventilator, funnel, gyro compasses, GPS, steering stand, navigation lights, engine order telegraph, control consol, navigation table, communication station, emergency equipment, anchor, hatch, hawser, and other appliances on board the vessels They also need to know English vocabulary about operations in hoisting gangways, mooring ropes, cargo handling, and keeping watches, hear steering orders and repeat them for confirmation before operation

The second-year students of the Navigation Faculty of Haiphong Poly-technical College start to learn maritime English at the beginning of their third term 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 discovered that there have been some obstacles while the students have been learning their maritime English vocabulary, although the teachers have tried their best to instruct them After a number of periods learning maritime vocabulary, the learners seem unable to remember correct words or to use the right one for their learning purposes Some admit that they wish to widen their quantity of vocabulary but they lack suitable ways

In order to discover the problems with the learning Maritime English vocabulary which navigation students may face, we carry out this study on the second-year navigation

students‟ difficulties in learning major vocabulary Certain ways to overcome the obstacles for the navigation students will be drawn out from the results of this study

2 Aims of the study

On doing this minor research, we aim at finding out the difficulties which the year students have in learning maritime English vocabulary and some possible causes of these difficulties Five suggested solutions will be provided to help second-year students overcome these obstacles

second-3 Scope of the study

There have been a number of investigations on the difficulties in learning English vocabulary up to now This assignment covers some of the navigation students‟ prevailing obstacles in learning maritime English vocabulary The participants are 122 second-year navigation students and four other ESP teachers at Haiphong Poly-technical College The results of this study will be used as suggestions for better teaching and learning ESP vocabulary at Navigation Faculty of the college

4 Methods of the study

When carrying out this assignment, the author prepares a questionnaire, a test and an interview to investigate the second-year navigation students‟ difficulties in learning maritime English vocabulary and find out some possible causes of these difficulties The questionnaire consists of 10 questions, basing on the information in the literature review part and the aims of the study This questionnaire is prepared in Vietnamese for the learners to read, think and answer suitably and adequately After that it is delivered to second-year navigation students, and the answers are collected and analyzed The real difficulties in learning maritime English vocabulary and some possible causes to these difficulties will be found out

A test paper with two exercises on maritime vocabulary is also designed for the learners, who have fulfilled the questionnaire, to take The results of this minor test will help find out the students‟ actual difficulties in learning maritime English vocabulary Besides, an interview with four other teachers teaching English I for Navigation Students to the second-year students is also conducted Each teacher is given four questions and their answers will contribute to consolidating our findings about the students‟ difficulties in learning ESP words and suggesting some solutions to overcome those difficulties

5 Significance of the study

Theoretically, this study will help us to uncover the second-year students‟ obstacles in learning the maritime vocabulary A clearer look into the reasons for these difficulties will also be gained, and some suggested solutions will be drawn out

Practically, it suggests a certain ways in teaching and learning vocabulary to help the students overcome these difficulties so that they can be confident not only in learning maritime English vocabulary but also in using these words for their future jobs on board seagoing vessels

6 Design of the study

The thesis consists of three main parts as follows:

Part 1: Introduction

This component of the study includes the rationale, aims, scope, methods, significance and design of the study The readers are provided with the reasons for choosing the research issue, the research questions, the boundary of the investigation, the ways to carry out the study and its organization

Part 2: Development

This part contains three chapters

Chapter 1 reviews some theoretical background for this study It focuses on the English for Special Purposes, vocabulary, terminology, factors affecting learning vocabulary, and strategies to enhance students‟ vocabulary

Chapter 2 introduces the methodology of this study It provides some necessary information about the context of the study, research questions, subjects of the study, data collection instruments and data collection procedure

Chapter 3 represents the data collection analysis on the questionnaire, test and interview Some major findings based on the analysis will be drawn out, and some suggested solutions to the difficulties which the navigation students cope with when learning ESP vocabulary, the possible causes of these difficulties and some solutions will

be included in this chapter

Part 3 is the conclusion, which summarizes the study, states its limitations, and suggests further investigation into the problem

PART 2: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter introduces some background information about English for Specific Purposes, vocabulary, terminology, factors affecting learning vocabulary, and some strategies to enhance students‟ vocabulary

1.1 English for Specific Purposes

In an understandable way, Martin (1992: 16-23) has explained the E, S and P elements

of ESP The „S‟ element is inclined to mean „specifiable‟ For the „E‟ of ESP, there is a general field of „languages for specific purposes‟ (LSP) The „P‟ in ESP refers to the learner‟s purpose, which was defined as „a combination of pre-determined or pre-selected goal and ongoing intentionality and motivation‟ This definition of ESP shows us a simple segregation of the three elements and explanation of each one We can see that the learner‟s purposes on learning specific English have been mentioned clearly

Evans and St John (1998: 2-5) use „absolute‟ and „variable‟ characteristics to clarify the term ESP Their definition is as follows: „1 Absolute characteristics: ESP is designed

to meet specific needs of the learner; ESP makes use of the underlying methodology and activities of the discipline it serves; ESP is centered on the language (grammar, lexis, and register), skills, discourse and genres appropriate to these activities 2 Variable characteristics: ESP may be related to or designed for specific disciplines; ESP may use, in specific teaching situations, a different methodology from that of general English; ESP is likely to be designed for adult learners, either at a tertiary level institution of in a professional work situation It could, however, be used for learners at secondary school level; ESP is generally designed for intermediate or advanced students Most ESP courses assume basic knowledge of the language system, but it can be used with beginners.‟ This description broaches the ESP as satisfaction for a wide range of learner and their needs It consists of activities and some language factors suitable for the learners

As a teacher of ESP, the author shares the opinions that ESP serves the learner‟s needs This determines the learner‟s motivation, attitude and effort in learning ESP For vocational 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

In the „tree of ELT‟, Hutchinson and Waters (1987: 16-18) divide 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

up, or returns to, a job‟

Martin (1992: 39-41) suggests the varieties of ESP He introduces five basic degrees of specificity These vary in the way that the learners‟ target objectives (skills, knowledge and affect) are specifiable (whether by the teacher, the course sponsor or the learner)

- Type I: The targets are very specifiable, predictable or routine Objectives are narrow skills (content secondary) with specific and routine text-types encountered For example,

an international hotel needs to train waiter or waitresses to serve in their restaurant

- Type II: The targets are specifiable or predictable in terms of types Objectives include skills and some content The text-types encountered can be identified as genres, routine and non-routine One example of this type is the English course not for specific company

- Type III: The targets are half specifiable, half unpredictable The objectives consist of content and skills balanced The text-types encountered contain a wide range of definable types An example of this type is the case in which the students of a polytechnic need to cope with the English needed in the world of work after graduation

- Type IV: The targets are not primarily predictable, but with some important specifiable elements Objectives are content-focused and skills subordinate with a wide range of variable and unpredictable text-types For instance, the students need competency in all skills, and at an advanced level, over a wide range of unpredictable content and text-types

- Type V: There are very few specifiable or unpredictable targets The objectives include balanced content and skills with a wide range of definable text-types Examples of this type are general purpose courses for adults

In the relation of five degrees to the traditional types of ESP, Martin (1992: 42-43) specifies EOP objectives at Type I, II and II degrees and correlates EAP with type IV specifiability

Hutchinson and Waters (1987) see the division of ESP branches as results of learner‟s purposes in learning English This way of classification only points out the names and the learning targets of ESP division In a different way, Martin also mentions the target ESP objectives, and he introduces the varieties of ESP with the use of such terms as „learner‟s target objectives‟ and „specifiable‟ The first way of classifying ESP seems a traditional one, and the second appears as a modern one The second division is preferable because it presents the target, objectives and text-types

as a small component of ESP, in which a sufficient boundary of language content is used to exchange information

1.1.4 The requirements for ESP teachers

Whether the ESP teacher should master the materials or content of the subject matter seems a debating issue Two points of view will be introduced in this part for typical consideration

Hutchinson and Waters (1987: 157) think that „ESP teachers do not need to learn

specialist subject knowledge‟ They list three requirements of the ESP teachers as follows:

- a positive attitude towards the ESP content;

- a knowledge of the fundamental principles of the subject area;

- an awareness of how much they probably already know

When mentioning the roles of the ESP practitioner, Evans and St John (1998: 13-14)

claim that „the teacher is not in the position of the „primary knower‟ of the carrier content

of the material‟ They also believe that „the teachers have clear objectives for the class and

a good understanding of the carrier content of the teaching material ESP teachers also

need to have a great deal of flexibility, to be willing to listen to learners, and to take an

interest in the disciplines or professional activities the students are involved in.‟

Both of the ways to point out the roles of ESP teachers have their own importance

They imply that the teachers should be aware of the students‟ needs, have basic knowledge

of the subject areas, and act as actual learners In the author‟s point of view, ESP teachers

need to master somehow the specific knowledge of the major subject and fundamental

teaching knowledge so that they can help the learners better and more thoroughly

Vocational students need to use simple but effective specific English in their working

conditions, therefore, the language skills are learnt in a combination with specific

knowledge for better communication

1.2 Terminology

1.2.1 Definition of terminology

Terminology is defined as „the process of compiling, describing, processing and

presenting the terms of special subject fields in one or more languages‟ It is „not an end

itself, but addresses social needs and attempts to optimize communication among

specialists and professionals by providing assistance either directly or to translator or to

committees concerned with the standardization of a language‟ (Cabré, 1999: 10-12)

Terminology may be considered as a system of words or symbols to name a typical

phenomenon or phenomena in natural and social research fields in a scientific way It also

includes necessary methods in language contents and study to reach sufficient and suitable

terms Additively, there may be terms which are accepted and used by a large number of

individuals and terms which are admitted by a restricted group of persons

1.2.2 Characteristics of terminology

Features of terminology have been mentioned in certain research works since the appearance of this field One of the theories in terminology concentrates on „assigning terms to concepts‟ This research field is „primarily concerned with the relationship between the real objects in the real world and the concepts represent them‟ (Cabré, 1999: 7-8) Terminology also cares about the „nature of things in the real world‟ and the relationships formed in this world (Cabré, 1999: 8) In addition, it is considered as „closely linked to the special subject fields‟ Subject specialists and terminologists may cooperate to arrange and standardize „the concepts and terms for each special field‟ (Cabré, 1999: 9)

In summary, terminology focuses on the process from the concept to the term It also concerns the features of things in the reality and the relationships in that real world, and may be used for specific subject field Within the limit of this study, the author follows the viewpoint by Nguyen Thien Giap (1998) on the basic characteristics of terminology The first characteristic is preciseness, which mentions the concepts in terminology as accurate concepts of a particular science The second feature is systematization, which asserts that the terms cannot exist individually, but they are always present as elements of a particular term system The last characteristic of terminology is internationality, which refers to terminology as special part of vocabulary presenting general scientific concepts for persons speaking different languages (Nguyen, 1998: 271-275, self translation)

1.3 Vocabulary

1.3.1 Definition of words

It is widely agreed that words help forming a language, their meanings can be exposed

in real communication and usage, and successful usage of a word depends on intelligent and positive minds

We may see vocabulary of a language as the words of that language Words are considered as „freestanding items of a language that have meaning.‟ (McCarthy, 1990: 3) According to Ur (1996: 60), “vocabulary can be defined, roughly, as the words we teach in the foreign language.”

Jackson and Amvela (2000: 50) consider the word as „an uninterruptible unit of structure consisting of one or more morphemes and which typically occurs in the structure

of phrases The morphemes are the ultimate grammatical constituents, the minimal meaningful units of language‟ They also state that “lexical words are nouns, verbs,

adjectives and adverbs‟ and „grammatical words are elements like prepositions, articles, conjunctions, forms indicating number or tenses, etc.‟

In conclusion, the researchers have their particular ways of defining the term „word‟ Taking the learning and teaching ESP into account, words may be considered as what to learn and to teach and also what to help the two procedures to happen smoothly When dealing with new ESP words, we should learn their meanings, pronunciation, spelling and uses in real communication on board vessels

Another categorization by McCarthy (1990) considers the terms core vocabulary and procedural vocabulary Core words may be „the most frequently occurring ones‟ in any given lexical field We use procedural vocabulary to state other words, to rephrase them and explain them and to arrange them in communication (1990: 49-52)

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 segregate 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 depending on the usefulness of the vocabulary items and the last not of these two aspects (Meara, 2002: 37)

1.3.3 Four strands in learning vocabulary

In his researches into vocabulary teaching and learning, Nation (2003: 133-134) has broached four strands which applied for all aspects of language in general and for vocabulary learning in particular These strands have disclosed the relationship between learning vocabulary with the four language skills, fluency and language features

1.3.3.1 Learning from meaning-focused input

This strand includes learning vocabulary from listening and reading The learners of English should have known ninety-eight percent of the occurring words, and the rest will

be conjectured from the contexts and will not prevent „comprehension of the text‟ (Nation, 2003: 133)

1.3.3.2 Deliberate learning

The deliberate learning strand (form-focused instruction, language-focused learning or language study) comprises „paying deliberate attention to language features such as sounds, spelling, vocabulary, grammar, or discourse that are presented out of context‟ The clearest technique is „learning new vocabulary by memorizing their first language translation‟ (Nation, 2003: 134)

1.3.3.3 Learning from meaning-focused output

This strand consists of learning vocabulary „through speaking and writing where the learners‟ main attention is on communication messages‟ Using the „productive skills as sources of vocabulary learning‟ can enhance learning (Nation, 2003: 134)

1.3.3.3 Fluency development

The fluency development strand of a language course intends to assist learners in making „the best use of what they already know‟ Fluency may be considered as related to each of the four language skills with fluency requiring to be developed individually in each

of these skills (Nation, 2003: 134)

1.4 Factors affecting vocabulary acquisition

For the purpose of the study, learner styles and learner strategies, materials, pronunciation and spelling, prototypes, contextualization and learner autonomy are mentioned and discussed as factors affecting vocabulary acquisition

1.4.1 Learner styles and learner strategies

According to Hedge (2000: 18-19), learning style can be generally defined as „a characteristic and preferred way of approaching learning and processing information‟ She also adds that „culture, as learned by the child from family, community, and school, has a strong influence on learning style‟

Learning strategies are „techniques used by learners to deal with input, assimilate new language, store, retrieve, and practise using it‟ (Hedge, 2000: 19) Teachers and textbook writers „have attempted both to find ways of improving the strategies learners already have and to raise their awareness about others they might develop‟ (Hedge, 2000: 19) There are some types of learner strategy to consider such as cognitive, meta-cognitive, communication and socio-affective strategies

Willing (1989: 9-10) thinks cognitive style as the „individuals‟ unique methods of operation in the mental sphere.‟ These styles also correlate very highly with certain broad, psychological and personality factors

„Learning strategies may mean possession of specific study skills or techniques; a general ability to take the initiative or simply, an enthusiasm for learning.‟ They can be grouped into two parts The first one is managing the learning processes, which includes a number of activities „suggested to help learners become aware of the nature of language and language-learning and of their own preferences, habits, strengths and weaknesses as learners‟ The second part is managing information, which encourages „learners to take more responsibility for planning and evaluating their own learn‟ (Willing, 1989: 1-5)

As a whole, learning styles refer to individual choice of cognition A number of elements such as culture, psychology and personality make influence on learning styles Selecting the suitable manner for a student requires his or her learning experience and assessment Thus, as teachers, we should suggest choosing the most appropriate learning style for each learner as well as encouraging them to follow their right styles

Learning strategies refer to techniques in mastering a language item or skills The former view point has listed four groups of learning strategy in a brief way The latter classifies these into two parts (managing the learning processes and managing information) This classification seems a detailed and useful guidance for learners and teachers to improve English language acquisition processes

1.4.2 Materials

It appears as an agreement that materials affect the learning vocabulary in a supportive way Hutchinson and Waters (1987: 107-108) define some principles in the actual writing

of the materials as follows:

a Materials provide a stimulus to learn Good materials do not teach: they encourage learners to learn

b Materials help to organise the teaching-learning process, by providing a path through the complex mass of the language to be learnt

c Materials embody a view of the nature of language and learning

d Materials reflect the nature of the learning task

e Materials can have a very useful function in broadening the basis of teacher training,

by introducing teachers to new techniques

f Materials provide models of correct and appropriate language use

Evans and St John (1998: 170-172) introduce some reasons for using materials significant in the ESP contexts Materials can be a source of language, a learning support, for motivation and stimulation and for reference As a source of language, „materials need

to present real language, as it is used, and the full range that learners require‟ As a learning support, materials need to „involve learners in thinking about and using the language The activities need to stimulate cognitive not mechanism processes The learner also needs a sense of progression.‟ Materials also need to be challenging yet achievable; to offer new ideas and information; to encourage fun and creativity For self-study or reference purposes, materials need to be complete, well laid out and self explanatory

It can be concluded that materials assist the learning and teaching procedures Materials act as resources for language learning For ESP vocabulary learning, the materials should be utilized for acquiring the word meanings and practising the word uses

1.4.3 Pronunciation and spelling

The difference between pronunciation and spelling among the languages may lead to difficulties in learning the vocabulary of a particular language as a foreign one Schmitt and McCarthy (1997: 142-145) conclude that „there may be a gap between the learner‟s ability to perceive a word and his/ her ability to pronounce it correctly‟ Correct pronunciation of a word inquires the correct stress syllable Also, there may be difficulties due to „the learner‟s inability to discriminate between some phonemes and subsequent confusion of words differing precisely in these problematic phonemes‟ (Schmitt and McCarthy, 1997: 143) In addition to this, „the degree of sound-script correspondence in a word is a facilitating- or difficulty-inducing factor‟ (Schmitt and McCarthy, 1997:144) An English written word may give no evidence for its similarity in pronouncing Long words are considered as more problematical ones than the short because of the quantity of input

1.4.4 Prototypes

Hedge (2000: 123) introduces the prototypes as one of the culturally affected factors influencing acquisition These prototypes are defined as the foremost example of a particular conceptual category, the one that springs most easily to mind when a learner hears a word For example, we may see or hear the word „vessel‟ If a general cargo vessel

is the kind of vessel the learner first thinks of, it is a prototype, and other vessels are prototypes

non-McCarthy (1990: 45) states that „in any given field, some words will seem more salient, will spring more immediately to mind, and will be perceive as classic example of that field‟ He also says that „for a variety of reasons, some cultural, some personal it seems shared widely across speech communities, certain entities are seen as more central representatives of their class than others.‟

Both of the researchers may share the same ideas that prototypes refer to the first image

or notion of a word occurring in the learner‟s head when he or she hears or reads it Learners need to be provided with precise and typical pictures related to the vocabulary items to form suitable prototypes

1.4.5 Contextualization

Davies and Pearse (2000: 63) state that „an appropriate context helps learners begin to understand the use of the item as well as its basic meaning The item is associated with a certain type of context or situation.‟

„If learners have to perform certain activities on unfamiliar words in texts, there is a good chance of retaining the words The activities comprise guessing meaning from context and from word to word, verifying meaning by checking in a dictionary, and analysis of the word form to recognize relationships between the new word and others already known.‟ (Hedge, 2000: 120)

It is agreed that vocabulary is better acquired not in an isolated form but in a context or situation Although a learner has grasped the pronunciation, spelling and meaning of a word, a text with the appearance of that word will help deepen the word storage in the learner‟s mind

1.4.6 Learner autonomy

The first sentiment to the learner autonomy states that „learners can be encouraged to develop their own personal learning styles for vocabulary, in such areas as memorizing and retaining new words‟ (McCarthy, 1990: 129-130)

Another view by Hedge (2000) draws out the perceptions of the self-directed learners, from which some key characteristics of a learner who can take responsibility for learning are introduced These are „an ability to define one‟s own objectives; awareness of how to use language materials effectively; careful organization of time for learning, and active development of learning strategies‟ (Hedge, 2000: 76-79)

Both viewpoints suggest that learners should build their own responsibility for learning English language in general and learning vocabulary in particular The second one goes in details when mentioning the learners‟ cognition purposes, effective materials usage, attentive arrangement of time, and development of learning strategies This factor may help learners commence forming their solid motivation for learning English vocabulary, and impulse the learning of English vocabulary

1.5 Strategies to enhance students’ vocabulary

There have been a number of useful strategies to develop the students‟ words Hedge (2000: 125-138) suggests some important implications for the vocabulary teaching

1.5.1 Developing a variety of techniques for the teaching of meaning

Learners may hear or see new words in many ways in the classroom through materials, the teachers‟ language and other students‟ language It is necessary for teachers to give an explanation of those words There are various techniques to use such as a physical demonstration, verbal explanation, synonym, translation, pointing to the objects, using visual aids, using antonyms, or asking the learners to check the word meanings in a dictionary

1.5.2 Encouraging the development of effective strategies

During class hours, we ought to help students to form and expand their new strategies

in learning vocabulary as well as consolidate existing ones For instance, learners may be encouraged to copy new words in their notebooks or make a word network of vocabulary related to a particular item

1.5.3 Exposing learners to vocabulary through reading and training lexical inferencing

If the textbook misses a comprehensive approach, the teacher will need to help students develop inferencing strategies, drawing attention to the available instruction and applying

it through careful and repeated work „The more active the learner needs to be; the more likely the word will be remembered‟ (Hedge, 2000: 130) The teacher will need to exploit texts both for reading strategy development and for vocabulary acquisition

1.5.4 Teaching the effective use of dictionaries

Dictionaries have become one of the important classroom and individual resources Teachers can advise students to make suitable use of dictionaries, especially technical ones

If a good monolingual dictionary is stored as a class resource, the teacher can ask a student

to look up an unknown word

1.5.5 Evaluating the vocabulary component of course books

Contemporary course books vary a great deal to the extent that they represent a concern with vocabulary learning Teachers need to assess the vocabulary components of the book and supplement it where necessary The first step is to evaluate the book in terms of its professional targets with relation to vocabulary or to check the claims in the teacher‟s book Then the teacher will need to evaluate the particular lexicon and methodology related to the learners‟ needs

1.5.6 Teaching vocabulary explicitly through a range of activity types

Teachers need to establish rules for their own classroom practice in this area Vocabulary is well-contextualized through listening or reading materials We should use the opportunities formed by the students‟ own requirements or attempts to use the vocabulary, and concentrate for a few periods of time on a word and other relevant ones Additively, we should also allocate time in every lesson to some kind of vocabulary work and to develop a checklist of the covered contents during a year‟s programme

1.5.7 Developing resources for vocabulary teaching

Different types of resources for vocabulary teaching should be developed, such as monolingual dictionaries, pair-work in class, a bank of word puzzles, topic-based crosswords, etc When building these resources, teachers need to clarify a number of issues such as kinds of visuals to include, criteria guiding the selection of the various kinds, ways

to gather together the resources, ways to classify them, the best format for storing them, and the person in charge of maintenance, security and additions

Each of the implications has its own advantage or advantages in teaching vocabulary For teaching ESP vocabulary to navigation students, teachers need to choose suitable and relevant strategies depending on the requirements of the lesson and the learners‟ needs

1.6 Summary

In Chapter 1, we have discussed significant information about English for Special Purposes, terminology, vocabulary, factors affecting the English vocabulary acquisition and some strategies to enhance students‟ vocabulary This theoretical review is necessary for the next chapters of methodology and data analysis

CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY

Chapter 2 includes the context of the study, research questions, subjects of the study, data collection instruments and data collection procedure

2.1 Context of the study

Haiphong Poly-technical College has had a short standing tradition of training seafarers, technicians and workers in the areas of maritime, informatics, ship-building and electronics since its foundation in 2001 ESP has become one of the main subjects in the major courses

of the training fields, one of which is maritime profession Maritime English is one of the two basic education backgrounds for seamen to pass their entrance interviews and to find their jobs on board vessels

English subject for the college level students is divided into two stages: basic English (or general English) and major English The first stage of basic English covers 120 class periods for college level, which are divided into two 60-period terms The second stage depends on each major subject such as information technology, navigation, marine engineering, accounting and enterprise administration The students of navigation will learn three terms of major English The third term includes 90 periods of maritime English, the fourth 60 and the fifth 45 During the second year‟s time, they will study the course

books English I for Navigation Students and English II for Navigation Students in

corresponding 90 period and 60 period stages

Ten teachers in the Foreign Language Department of the college differ in their ages (the teachers‟ ages range from 24 to 40) and ESP teaching experience The teachers are supposed to fulfill both GE and ESP classes during each school-year ESP teaching plans include classes for English on Navigation, Marine Engineering, Information Technology, Electricity and Electronics, Accounting, Marine Administration and Shipbuilding Technology New teachers tend to be assigned to cover GE periods After one or two years‟ teaching experience, the department has some professional meetings and decides to designate suitable teacher for each major

2.3 Subjects of the study

The 122 participants in this research come from ten classes of the navigation vocational subject The students are typical in gender, English background knowledge, motivation and purposes of study Because of the characteristic of the profession, all the learners are male students of the Navigation Faculty Before their entrance into the college, about 59.8% of the students have learnt basic English for seven years, and 16.4% did for more than seven years Only 23% of the participants have not satisfied the requirements of basic English knowledge Besides, they have strong wish to learn maritime English sufficiently and comprehensibly for their future jobs on board vessels

2.4 Data collection instruments

To fulfill the requirements of the study, we employ three kinds of instrument: a questionnaire, a test and an interview Each of them contributes to the overall mission with their own advantages The samples of these data collection instruments are printed in the appendix part at the end of the study report

2.4.1 Questionnaire

The questionnaire consists of two forms: self-administered and group-administered In this study, the group-administered form of questionnaire is chosen because it can give a fast return rate The purpose of this questionnaire is to find out the students‟ difficulties in learning ESP words and some possible causes for these difficulties, based on their answers

to the 10 questions Their contents have been prepared in Vietnamese so that the navigation students can read the questions and give suitable answers These contents focus

on time length of learning English before entering college, difficulties with the learning materials, teachers‟ instructing meanings and uses of ESP vocabulary, the ways in which the students learn, practise and revise their ESP words

2.4.2 Test

The test includes 17 word items arranged into two exercises The first exercise is a multiple choice task checking the pronunciation, uses and meanings of the maritime English words The second one contains five sentences for translation from Vietnamese into English to check the use of five word items to express the major contents Some GE word items are also included in some questions because lack of GE words may result in the navigation students‟ difficulties in expressing and understanding the ESP texts The requirements of each exercise have been provided in Vietnamese language for easy

interpretation The overall purpose of this test is to find out the actual problems in learning ESP words

2.4.3 Interview

As part of our research, we gave four questions to four English subject teachers Our purpose is to receive their own opinions about the difficulties in learning ESP words, some possible causes of these difficulties and the suggested ways to overcome them Interviews are considered as „procedures used for gathering oral data in particular categories, but also for gathering data that was not anticipated at the outset.‟ (Brown, 2001: 5) Individuals, groups and telephone are the ways to conduct interview Individual and telephone interviews are chosen to gather data from the English subject teachers to gain their true opinions

2.5 Data collection procedure

The questionnaire was distributed to 122 learners during their class time The students were instructed to fulfill all the questions freely and trustfully The test papers were also delivered to them simultaneously for completion as part of the study The statistics were collected when the second-year students had gone through thirty periods of ESP, and they have finished two modules of their course books as planned

In addition, four other ESP teachers were invited to take part in the individual interviews Their answers were significant and essential sources, and their suggestions help

to draw out the solutions for the problems in learning ESP vocabulary at the college

The answers to the questionnaire and the test were collected, synthesized, categorized, described and interpreted to draw out relevant comments and conclusions The information was presented in percentage in the tables and chart The data gained from the interview was synthesized, summarized and grouped according to each question

Based on the study context and conditions, three data collection instruments have been selected so that the students‟ real problems of learning ESP vocabulary can be discovered The accuracy and reliable results obtained during the process of study required great care and precautious analysis on the outcomes

CHAPTER 3: DATA ANALYSIS, MAJOR FINDINGS AND SUGGESTED SOLUTIONS 3.1 Data analysis

In this chapter, the analysis of the questionnaire, test and interview will be conducted Research results will be discussed in details for clear and sufficient inference from the participants‟ answers to each item

3.1.1 Questionnaire

3.1.1.1 Aims of the questionnaire

The survey questionnaire aims at finding out the navigation students‟ problems in learning ESP vocabulary and some possible causes of these problems, based on the students‟ answers to ten questions

3.1.1.2 Participants

The participants of this questionnaire include 122 second-year navigation learners in ten classes of the Navigation Faculty of the college These students have finished their basic English stage, and their English has reached the intermediate level

Chart 1 shows the time length of learning English before college entrance It can be seen from the above bar graph that most navigation second-year students have learnt basic English for seven years (about 59.8%) About 19.7% have learnt English for three years, while 16.4% have done for more than seven years A small number of learners (4.1%) have never studied the language before From the information given, it can be inferred that the navigation students participated in this study differed in their starting points of learning English before the college entrance

3.1.1.3.2 Question 2: At what level was your result in Basic English I and II?

Table 1 demonstrates the results in learning basic English, based on the navigation students‟ final marks and own assessments at the end of basic English I and II sub-terms

As presented in this table, no answer goes to the very good level, while most responses (61.5%) fall into average one The number of students good at English subject only accounts for nearly one fifth of the statistic results About 23% of the survey participants gained unsatisfactory outcomes From the statistics given, it can be concluded that about one quarter of navigation students have not met the requirements of basic English knowledge to continue their ESP subjects

Table 1: Results in learning basic English

3.1.1.3.3 Question 3: What is the most difficult to you when you are learning ESP vocabulary?

Chart 2 illustrates the most difficult part of ESP vocabulary for the navigation learners

We can see from Chart 2 that about one fourth of the participants consider the word use, pronunciation and meanings of word as the most difficult to learn Ranking the next positions are grammar forms (17.2%) and spelling (7.4%) From the information given, it can be concluded that the students have been weak in almost all aspects of ESP

vocabulary As a result, they may need comprehensible acquisition of pronunciation, meanings and uses of word

3.1.1.3.4 Question 4: Which difficulties do you have with ESP vocabulary learning materials?

Table 2 presents the obstacles with ESP vocabulary learning materials As shown in this table, 51.6% choose lack of materials for vocabulary learning, 27% select the difficult vocabulary exercises and 20.5% opt for exercises with no combination of the language skills The lowest rate of choice (about 9.8%) falls to vocabulary learning books with insufficient exercises

Lack of material for vocabulary learning 51.6%

Exercises with no combination of the language skills 20.5%

Vocabulary learning books with insufficient exercises 9.8%

Table 2: Obstacles with ESP vocabulary learning materials

Nearly 15.6% of opinions have been collected about the materials hindrances Most opinions focus on the huge number of unknown words which appear in the materials, the lack of supportive means like illustrative video and images, and the application of

language units into real life The students also suggest that teachers should instruct them how to pronounce and write the words and where to buy materials The information in Table 2 implies that most navigation students lack necessary sources of ESP word learning Their language ability may be not satisfactory to do too-difficult exercises, or they may not try their best to practise doing their exercises

3.1.1.3.5 Question 5: Which difficulties do you have with learning ESP vocabulary in the course book ‘English I for Navigation Students’?

Table 3 shows the problems with learning ESP vocabulary in the course books As shown in this table, only small numbers of students (9.8%) pay attention to the lack of vocabulary exercises and difficult vocabulary exercises in their course books 77% think there are many new words they do not know, while 15.6% choose exercises with no combination of the language skills Among 9.8% of opinions received for this question, most of the students think that there are too many new words, complicated phrases, tough word usage and pronunciation From the statistics given, we can infer that the imperfection

of course books resulted in ESP vocabulary acquisition difficulties for navigation students

Exercises with no combination of the language skills 15.6%

Table 3: Obstacles with learning ESP vocabulary in the course books

3.1.1.3.6 Question 6: How does your teacher instruct the meanings of ESP vocabulary to you?

Chart 3 illustrates the teachers‟ instructing the meanings of ESP vocabulary The instruction through four language skills accounts for 47.5 percent, translation from English into Vietnamese 41 percent, use of visual aids 24.6 percent and explanation in English 14.8 percent About 9.8% of other opinions suggest more illustrations in the forms of examples, images and videos Low-levelled students complain that some teachers speak English too much and too fast for them to catch, while others speak English in different accents and make them confused between standard and beyond standard ones The information in