Adapting reading tasks of ESP materials for the third-year students at Haiphong Medical University

Adapting reading tasks of ESP materials for the third-year students at Haiphong Medical University Đồng Quỳnh Trang Trường Đại học Ngoại Ngữ Luận văn ThS Chuyên ngành: English Linguistics; Mã số: 60 22 15 Người hướng dẫn: Nguyễn Bàng, M.A Năm bảo vệ: 2010 Abstract: Many teachers of English as a foreign language have recognized the importance of material adaptation In reality, a textbook can never totally be an effective tool for teachers to follow without any adaptation because of its intrinsic deficiencies such as linguistic inaccuracies, out-of-datedness, lack of authenticity or lack of variety Adaptation is to compensate for those deficiencies The thesis “Adapting reading tasks of ESP materials for the third-year students at Haiphong Medical University” was carried out in an attempt to investigate into the evaluation and attitudes of the third-year students and teachers at Haiphong Medical University towards the current ESP reading tasks used in here for the third-year students It also aimed to find out the suitable techniques of adapting ESP reading tasks in order to make ESP reading lessons more effective, interesting and motivating to the students The data of the study was collected from the survey questionnaires for both the teachers and the students, and the notes from class observation The findings indicated that there were a number of factors that the teachers should take into consideration when adapting reading tasks of ESP materials such as the difficult level, the students’ needed topics, the kinds of activities, etc Basing on these factors, some suitable techniques of adapting materials are suggested Keywords: Tiếng Anh chuyên ngành; Đại học Y Hải Phòng; Kỹ đọc 6 Content: Table of Contents Declarations Acknowledgement Abstract Table of contents List of abbreviation List of figures, charts and tables Part I Introduction I Rationale II Aims of the study III Methods of the study IV Scope of the study V Design of the study Part II Development Chapter I Literature review I.1 An overview of ESP I.1.1 Definition of ESP I.1.2 Types of ESP I.1.3 Characteristics of ESP I.2 Material adaptation I.2.1 Definition of material adaptation I.2.2 Purposes of material adaptation I.2.3 Techniques of material adaptation for teaching reading 10 I.2.3.1 Adaptation as addition 10 I.2.3.2 Adaptation as change 11 I.3 An overview of reading 13 I.3.1 Definition of reading and reading comprehension 13 I.3.2 Classification of reading 14 I.3.2.1 According to manner 15 I.3.2.1.1 Reading aloud 15 I.3.2.1.2 Silent reading 15 I.3.2.2 According to purposes 16 I.3.2.2.1 Skimming 16 I.3.2.2.2 Scanning 16 I.3.2.2.3 Intensive reading 16 I.3.2.2.4 Extensive reading 17 I.4 Concluding remarks 17 Chapter II The study 18 II.1 Situational analysis 18 II.1.1 ESP teaching and learning situation at HPMU 18 II.1.2 The material description 18 II.1.3 The course objective 19 II.2 Research methodology 20 II.2.1 Subjects of the study 20 II.2.1.1 The teachers 20 II.2.1.2 The students 20 II.2.2 Data collection instrument 21 II.2.2.1 Questionnaires 21 II.2.2.2 Follow-up class observation 21 II.3 Procedures 22 II.4 Data analysis 23 II.4.1 Questionnaires 23 II.4.1.1 Evaluation of the effectiveness of reading tasks in the ESP materials 23 II.4.1.2 The attitudes and evaluation of the reading texts in the current textbook 24 II.4.1.3 Needed topics perceived by the students 26 II.4.1.4 Students’ attitudes towards pre-reading activities 26 II.4.1.4.1 The frequency of using extra pre-reading activities designed by the teachers (responded by the students) II.4.1.4.2 Students’ attitudes towards given pre-reading activities 26 27 II.4.1.5 The post-reading activities used by the teachers 28 II.4.1.6 The necessity of adapting the reading tasks in the ESP materials 29 II.4.1.7 The students’ and teachers’ difficulties in learning and teaching medical reading (respectively) 30 II.4.1.8 The students’ expectations from the teachers and reading activities employed by the teachers to help their students overcome difficulties 31 II.4.2 Follow-up class observation 32 II.5 Concluding remarks 33 Chapter III some suggested techniques of adapting reading tasks for the third-year students at hai phong medical university 34 III.1 Replacing 34 III.2 Supplementing 35 III.3 Extending 38 Part III Conclusion 40 Summary of the study 40 Limitations of the study 41 Suggestions for further study 41 References Appendices Abbreviations HPMU Haiphong Medical University ESP English for Specific Purposes ELT English Language Teaching EOP English for Occupational Purposes EAP English for Academic Purposes EST English for Science and Technology EBE English for Business and Economics ESS English for Social Studies 10 List of tables and charts Chart Evaluation of the effectiveness of reading tasks in the ESP materials Chart The frequency of using extra pre-reading activities designed by the teachers Chart The necessity of adapting the reading tasks in the ESP materials Table The attitudes and evaluation of the reading texts in the current textbook Table Needed topics perceived by the students Table Students’ attitude towards given pre-reading activities Table The post-reading activities used by the teachers Table Students and teachers difficulties in learning and teaching medical reading (respectively) Table The students’ expectations from their teachers and reading activities employed by the teachers to help their students overcome difficulties 11 Part I Introduction I Rationale Nowadays English has gained its great popularity all over the world, and this is not an exception in Vietnam Our country has now been in the process of regional and global integration, which has brought about a great many arrivals of foreign visitors, especially since the implementation of the open-door policy This makes English the commonest language of communication which is widely used in all aspects of life Thus, the demands for using English as a means of communication make the English teaching and learning more and more necessary This is realized by the teaching of this language at almost all universities in Vietnam, and unexceptionally at Haiphong Medical University (HPMU) To meet the increasing needs for using English as a means of international communication, English has been made a compulsory subject in the curriculum of HPMU It is taught with the purpose that the students will use it effectively to fulfill their daily work in the future, so it receives great deal concern of both teachers and students here Non-stop attempts have been made to provide the students with general English as well as English for Specific Purposes (ESP) ESP is now established chiefly in the universities and the teaching of adults outside the state school system The main objective of ESP course is aimed at providing the students with linguistic knowledge relevant to their field and skills up to their expectation of their future employment However, students learning ESP in Vietnam rarely have opportunities to use English in communication outside the classroom They mainly have access to popular documents written in English through reading Hence, skills in reading English texts are naturally of special importance in teaching and learning ESP, which is not an exception for the ESP teaching at HPMU HPMU is one of those where ESP involves within an English teaching situation in response to the demand for specific language skills for the specialists – 12 the graduated doctors Therefore, improving students’ reading skills is recognized as a principal objective of ESP course provided by teachers of English at HPMU Besides, the ESP at HPMU mainly focuses on reading skills and has now been one of the most stimulating but challenging subject It is stimulating because, in comparison to general English, it is more relevant course of the students’ major concern However, challenges appear due to the fact that the ‘literary’ teachers are constantly facing the ‘content burden’ problem, students are still immature in terms of both assumed knowledge and the English language Moreover, the material English in Medicine for the third-year students at HPMU is an edited collection from various sources and is designed with nearly all exercises relating to the texts It is lack of realistic and interesting tasks to meet the needs and expectations of the students Consequently, adapting ESP reading tasks has become vital for teachers In fact, there have been some researches about material adaptation by I an McGrath (2002) or Tomlinson (1998), etc However, there have not been any studies dealing with reading task adaptation, especially for teaching and learning English in a medical university like HPMU Nevertheless, it can not be denied that adapting material is a broad field to cover In the limit of a minor thesis, I just wish to find out the evaluation and attitudes of the teachers and the students in the university about the ESP reading materials This then would be taken as the basic for my recommendation of the appropriate techniques for adapting ESP reading tasks to make the lessons more effective and interesting With all the above mentioned reasons, ‘Adapting reading tasks of ESP materials for the third year students at HPMU’ is chosen for the thesis and it also has been an urgent work for the development of ESP teaching and learning at HPMU II Aims of the study This thesis has been carried out to:  Investigate into the evaluation and attitudes of the third-year students and teachers at HPMU towards the current ESP reading tasks used in here for the third-year students 13  Find out techniques of adapting ESP reading tasks in order to make ESP reading lessons more effective, interesting and motivating to students In brief, these objectives are summarized into the following research questions:  What are the HPMU teachers and third-year students’ evaluation and attitudes towards the current ESP reading tasks used by them?  What techniques of adapting materials should be used for teaching ESP reading to the third-year students at HPMU? III Methods of the study Both qualitative and quantitative methods are employed in this study The quantitative method, which is used to collect data by questionnaires, aims at exploring the needs of the students, their expectations and opinions about the ESP reading tasks The questionnaires are administered to the third-year student population studying ESP as well as the teachers of ESP at HPMU The tackling methods are statistic, analytical and synthetical Also the qualitative method is used in the sense that relevant issues concerning reading and reading comprehension, ESP materials, and adapting materials etc are gathered, critical reexamined, analyzed and synthesized in order to establish the senses in which terms or concepts in the field are employed Consulting the supervisor, observing classes and collecting information for the study through the discussion with colleagues, students of HPMU are also involved IV Scope of the study The ESP course is only for the third-year students at HPMU, so the study is only concerned with the adaptation of ESP reading tasks to the third year students at HPMU V Design of the study The study is comprised of three parts: Introduction, Development and Conclusion  Part I is the introduction which presents the rationale, the aims, the scope, the research methods and the design of the study  Part II is the development, consisting of three chapters: 14 o Chapter explores the literature for the thesis, relating to ESP, material adaptation and reading theories o Chapter deals with subjects, research methodology, instruments, detail description of data analysis and a brief discussion of the findings o Chapter is devoted to some recommendations on ways of adapting ESP reading tasks suggested in the form of giving samples  Part III is the conclusion which offers a summary of the study, limitations and suggestions for further study 52 References Carter, D (1983) “Some Propositions about ESP”, The ESP Journal (2), pp 131-137 Charles, M (1992) Nursing in a New Language Lynx Publishing Cunningsworth, A (1984) Evaluating and Selecting EFL Teaching Materials London: Heinemann Cunningsworth, A (1995) Choosing Your Course Book London: Heinemann Doff, A (1988) Teaching: A Training Course for Teachers Cambridge: CUP Dudley-Evan, T., & St John, M (1998) Development in ESP: A multi – disciplinary approach Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Glendingning, E H., & Holmstrom, B A (1987) English in Medicine London: Heinemann Goodman, K S (1971) Reading a Psycholinguistic Guessing Game In Harry Singer and Rorbert B Ruddell (Eds) Greenwood, J (1985) The Teaching of English as an International Language Collins: Glassgrow and London 10 Grellet, F (1981) Developing reading skills: A practical guide to reading comprehension Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 11 Harmer, H (1989) The Practice of English Language Teaching Harlow: Longman 12 Hutchinson, T., & Waters, A (1987) English for specific purposes: A learning centred approach Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 13 Kenedy, C., & Bolitho, R (1984) English for Specific Purposes London: Macmilan Press 14 Lewis, M., & Hill, J (1985) Practical Techniques for Language Teaching London: Commercial Color Press 15 McDonough, J., & Shaw, C (1993) Materials and Methods in ELT Oxford: Blackwell 16 McGrath, I (2002) Material Evaluation and Design for Language Teaching Edinburgh University Press 53 17 Merki, M B (1990) Teen Health Macmillan: McGrawhill 18 Norman, R (1990) Let’s Examine The Texts University of Canberra 19 Nunan, D (1991) Curriculum Development in Language Education Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 20 Nuttall, C (1982) Teaching reading skills in a foreign language London: Macmillan Publishers Ltd 21 Nuttall, C (1996) Teaching reading skills in a foreign language London: Heineman Educational Books 22 Rubin, J., & Thompson, I (1994) How To Be a More Successful Language Learner Boston: Heinle & Heinly Publishers 23 Robinson, P (1991) ESP Today: A Practitioner’s Guide New York: Prentice Hall 24 Rummerhart, D (1977) Towards an Interactive Model of Reading In S Dordic (Eds) Attention and Performance IV Academic Press 25 Swan, M (1975) Inside Meaning Cambridge: CUP 26 Tickoo, M L (Ed.) (1988) ESP: State of art SEAMEO Regional Language Centre 27 Tomlinson, B (1998) Materials Development in Language Teaching Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 28 Tomlinson, B (2003) Developing Materials for Language Teaching Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 29 Tomlinson, B (2004) Materials Evaluation Trowbridge Wiltshire: Cromwell Press 30 Trinh Thi Thuy, Ho Lieu Bieu, Pham Gia Khai, & Nguyen Van Truong (1990) English for Medical Student Centre of Human Resources for Health  ... out the evaluation and attitudes of the teachers and the students in the university about the ESP reading materials This then would be taken as the basic for my recommendation of the appropriate... extra pre -reading activities designed by the teachers Chart The necessity of adapting the reading tasks in the ESP materials Table The attitudes and evaluation of the reading texts in the current... evaluation and attitudes of the third-year students and teachers at HPMU towards the current ESP reading tasks used in here for the third-year students 13  Find out techniques of adapting ESP reading