Using competence based approach in the development of a writing course for engineers at vietnam atomic energy institute

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES PHẠM THỊ THU TRANG USING COMPETENCE-BASED APPROACH IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF A WRITING COURSE FOR ENGINEERS AT VIETNAM ATOMIC ENERGY INSTITUTE (Sử dụng cách tiếp cận dựa lực để phát triển khóa học viết dành cho kỹ sư Viện Năng lượngnguyên tử Việt Nam) M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60140111 HANOI – 2016 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES PHẠM THỊ THU TRANG USING COMPETENCE-BASED APPROACH IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF A WRITING COURSE FOR ENGINEERS AT VIETNAM ATOMIC ENERGY INSTITUTE (Sử dụng cách tiếp cận dựa lực để phát triển khóa học viết dành cho kỹ sư Viện Năng lượngnguyên tử Việt Nam) M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60140111 Supervisor: Dr Dương Thu Mai HANOI – 2016 DECLARATION I hereby certify that this thesis is entirely my own work I have provided fully documented references to the others‟ work The material in this thesis has not been submitted for assessment in any other formal course I also accept all the requirements of ULIS relating to the retention and use of M.A Graduation Thesis deposited in the library Hanoi, 2016 Phạm Th Thu Trang i ACKNOWLEDGEMENT This thesis would not be fulfilled without the help of some people, and in some ways, I would like to thank everyone who has taught me, inspired me, challenged me, and supported me throughout the realization of this thesis I would like to express my deepest thanks to my beloved supervisor, Duong Thu Mai, Ph.D, for her whole-hearted assistance, encouragement as well as her profound guidance she gave me while I was doing my research I would like to take this opportunity to express my gratitude to all lecturers in Faculty of Post-graduate Studies, University of Languages and International Studies, Vietnam National University, Hanoi for their interesting lectures which have inspired me to conduct this thesis Besides, I would like to send my gratitute to the teaching experts at Vietnam National University, Hanoi who took part in my interview and gave me orientation to edit the course guide I would also like to express my thanks to the leaders and working learners at Vietnam Atomic Energy Institute for their willingness to participate in the research Without their help, this project could not be fulfilled Last but not least, I am most thankful to my family members who have always inspired and encouraged me to complete this study Hanoi, 2016 Phạm Th Thu Trang ii ABSTRACT Strong needs of working learners, urgent demands of occupation and great expectation of leaders have revealed there is a call for designing a writing course at Vietnam Atomic Energy Institute This course with workplace orientation was developed using competence-based approach so that the learning outcomes can meet future staffing requirements of the nuclear organization In this case, based on understanding of VAEI context, learners‟ needs and employers‟ requirements analysis, the paper is to explore the target genres, determine the specificity of writing competences covered within the course, and then develop course schedules Notably, there have been no attempts in investigating this issue before Hopefully, the paper would investigate needed English written competences for engineers at Vietnam Atomic Energy Institute and provide suggestions for the course components including contents, objectives, teaching methods and assessment to implement the future writing course under the light of Competence-Based Approach iii TABLE OF CONTENTS PART A: INTRODUCTION 1 Rationale Aims of study 3 Research questions Scope of study Methods of study Design of study PART B: LITERATURE REVIEW Chapter 1- An Overview of the Competence-Based Approach 1.1 Definition of Competence and Competency 1.1.1 Definition of Competence 1.1.2 Definition of Competency 1.2 Approaches in course designing 1.2.1 Skill-based approach 1.2.2 Content-based approach 1.2.3 Theme-based approach 1.2.4 Functional-Notional approach 1.2.5 Competence-based Approach 1.2.3.1 The application and features of CBA in course designing 1.2.3.2 The application of CBA in English Language Teaching (ELT) 10 1.2.3.3 Course development process according to CBA 12 Chapter 2- Theoretical Issues on Writing Course 15 2.1 Nature of writing 15 2.2 English writing competence in theory and in reality 15 2.2.1 English writing competences in theory 15 2.2.2 Realization of English writing competence 17 2.2.3 Writing teaching approaches 22 2.2.3.1 The Product Approach 22 2.2.3.2 The Process Approach 23 PART C: METHODOLOGY 26 3.1 Context of the study 26 3.2 The study 27 iv 3.2.1.Research questions 27 3.2.2 Participants 28 3.2.3 Data collection instruments 28 3.2.3.1 Survey questionaire 28 3.2.3.2 Semi-structured interviews 30 3.2.4 Data collection procedure 32 3.2.5 Data analysis 34 3.2.5.1 Needs analysis by graphical method and simple percentage analysis 34 3.2.5.2 Content analysis 35 PART D: FINDINGS & DISCUSSIONS 36 4.1 Students’ needs and employers’ requirements analysis 36 4.1.1 Needs from students‟ perspectives 36 4.1.2 Needs from employers‟ perspectives 44 4.2 Interview results of the 1st course draft – Editting the 1st course content 46 4.2.1 Interview results 46 4.2.1.1 The appropriateness of the course objectives to students‟ language proficiency 46 4.2.1.2 The completeness of the course content and materials 47 4.2.1.3 The coherence of course schedule and assessment scheme to the course objectives 48 4.2.1.4 The integration of teaching methods, teachers and students‟ roles 50 4.2.1.5 The success probability of course implementation 50 4.2.2 Decisions on editting the 1st course guide 51 4.2.2.1 Course objectives 51 4.2.2.2 Course content and materials 51 4.2.2.3 Course schedule and assessment scheme 52 PART E: CONCLUSION 53 5.1 Reflection on research process 53 5.2 Recommendations 54 5.3 Limitations and suggestions for further study 55 REFERENCES 57 APPENDICES I v LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS AND SYMBOLS ADDIE Analysis, design, development, implementation, and evaluation CBA Competence – based approach CBESL Competency – based education in ESL CBLT Competence- based language teaching CBI Content-based instruction CEFR Common European Framework of Reference for Languages CSW Common Scale for Writing ELT English Language Teaching EOP English for Occupational Purposes ESOL English for Speakers of Other Languages ESL English as Second Language ESP English for Specific Purposes ETS Educational Testing Service FNA Functional-Notional approach IELTS International English Language Testing System L2 Second language No Number SBA Skill-based approach TBA Theme-based approach TOEFL Test of English as Foreign Language ULIS University of Languages and International Studies VAEA Vietnam Atomic Energy Agency VAEI Vietnam Atomic Energy Institute VNU Vietnam National University vi LIST OF TABLES, CHARTS, FIGURES Table VAEI leaders‟ features in the semi-structured interview 33 Table Experts‟ features in the semi-structured interview 34 Chart 1: Course development process according to CBA 13 Chart Stages of teaching writing under the product approach 22 Chart 3.1 Stages of writing process according to process approach 23 Chart 3.2 Stages of writing process according to process approach 24 Figure Tasks expected in thewriting course 36 Figure Major skills needed to support 37 Figure Aim at CEFR level of language proficiency 37 Figure Genres of written documents needed to learn 38 Figure Genres of written documents with difficulty 38 Figure Type of feedback expected in the course 39 Figure The importance of assessment types 40 Figure The effectiveness of assessment types 40 Figure The appropriate teaching methods 41 Figure 10 The students‟ willingness for self-study 41 Figure 11 The appropriate proportion of class time/self-study time 41 Figure 12 The effectiveness of the given lesson sequences 41 Figure 13 The students‟ roles in the course 42 Figure 14 The teachers‟ roles 42 Figure 15 The types of materials included in a writing course 43 vii PART A: INTRODUCTION Rationale In the industrialized world, a great number of graduates, engineers and businessmen, who are expecting to gain more advanced knowledge and open access to the world, notably need English competences Among English competences that working learners seek training, achievement of English writing proficiency assumes an enormous importance in fitting the heavy literacy demands of their employers Not only is it hard to imagine modern workplaces without English essays, commercial emails, reports, case studies and journal articles but writing is also a key feature for writers to demonstrate their understanding of subjects and their experiences Nevertheless, these kinds of experiences are extremely challenging to students and may be especially frightening to those writing in a second language This is not only because different languages seem to have different ways of organizing ideas and structuring arguments but because students‟ prior writing experiences in the school, college or university not prepare them for the literacy expectations of their professional workplace That is one of reasons why for the last decades, the matter of educational contents corresponding to future job demands has become an essential issue in educational reforms all over the world Due to widespread concern about the quality of students‟ learning process, in particular, fluency in the conventions of writing in English at work, Competence – Based Approach originated in response to increase calls for learning outcomes upon course completion The approach focuses on assisting students towards writing competence in particular target genres so as to be more responsive to professions‟ needs; in other words, familarizing them with writing English for Occupational Purposes (EOP) (Auerbach, 1986) As a result, writing course designers are supposed not simply to develop the content of teaching writing generally but to recognise particular kinds of writing which are valued and expected in one certain professional context In details, EOP practitioners need to make considerable use of the findings such as the literacy demands to determine what is to be learned and to organise instruction around the genres that learners need and the social contexts in which they will operate In the social context of Vietnam, one recent upsurge attempts in acquiring English competence involves in human resource of nuclear field, when the network ... learners, urgent demands of occupation and great expectation of leaders have revealed there is a call for designing a writing course at Vietnam Atomic Energy Institute This course with workplace... at VAEI? What are the teaching experts‟ opinions of the developed need -based competence- based writing course? Scope of study The development of a EOP writing course using competence - based approach. .. - Addesses the task only partially; the format may be inappropriate in places; LIII this is minimally adequate for the task - May make noticeable errors in spelling and/or word formation that