Investigating the difficulties in reading English for specific purposes experienced by the Second-year students at Thai Nguyen University of Technology

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST – GRADUATE STUDIES ***************** HOÀNG THỊ THU INVESTIGATING THE DIFFICULTIES IN READING ENGLISH FOR SPECIFIC PURPOSES EXPERIENCED BY THE SECOND-YEAR STUDENTS AT THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY (KHẢO SÁT NHỮNG KHÓ KHĂN TRONG VIỆC HỌC ĐỌC TIẾNG ANH CHUYÊN NGÀNH CỦA SINH VIÊN NĂM THỨ HAI TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC KỸ THUẬT CÔNG NGHIỆP THÁI NGUYÊN) MINOR THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 601410 Hanoi - 2011 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST – GRADUATE STUDIES ***************** HOÀNG THỊ THU INVESTIGATING THE DIFFICULTIES IN READING ENGLISH FOR SPECIFIC PURPOSES EXPERIENCED BY THE SECOND-YEAR STUDENTS AT THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY (KHẢO SÁT NHỮNG KHÓ KHĂN TRONG VIỆC HỌC ĐỌC TIẾNG ANH CHUYÊN NGÀNH CỦA SINH VIÊN NĂM THỨ HAI TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC KỸ THUẬT CÔNG NGHIỆP THÁI NGUYÊN) MINOR THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 601410 Supervisor: M.A Nguyen Minh Ha Hanoi – 2011 TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii ABSTRACT iii TABLE OF CONTENTS iv LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS vii LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES viii PART ONE: INTRODUCTION 1 Rationale Aims of the study Methods of the study Scope of the study Organization of the study PART TWO: DEVELOPMENT Chapter 1: Literature review The nature of reading 1.1 Definition of reading and reading comprehension 1.2 Reading process 1.3 Reading comprehension skills ESP reading 2.1 Definition of ESP 2.2 Reading skills in ESP 2.3 ESP reading materials Reading difficulties for non-native learners 10 3.1 Reading skills problems 10 3.2 Language problems 11 3.3 Cultural and background knowledge and reading difficulties 12 Summary 13 Chapter 2: Investigation into the current situation of teaching and learning ESP at TNUT 14 Introduction to Thai Nguyen University of Technology 14 Syllabus, materials and assessment 14 Teachers and methods of teaching 14 Students 15 Summary 15 Chapter 3: Research Methodology 16 Research questions 16 The participants 16 The data collection instrument 17 Procedure for data collection 18 Data analysis 18 Chapter 4: Findings and discussion 19 Students’ attitude towards ESP reading 19 Students’ opinion of ESP reading difficulties 20 2.1 In the area of vocabulary 20 2.2 In the area of grammar 22 2.3 In the area of discourse 24 2.4 In the area of reading skills 26 2.5 In the area of background knowledge 27 2.6 Rank order of ESP reading difficulties 28 The causes of difficulties 30 3.1 The reading materials 30 3.2 The teachers 31 3.3 The learners 31 Students’ recommendations for improving reading 32 Summary 32 Chapter 5: Pedagogical implications 34 Making ESP reading interesting and useful 34 Developing ESP reading materials 34 2.1 Adjusting and improving reading exercises 34 2.2 Updating reading texts in the coursebook 35 Training students to become efficient readers 35 3.1 Making students aware of the nature of reading process 35 3.2 Making students fully aware of their purpose of reading 35 3.3 Teaching students a variety of reading strategies 36 3.4 Encouraging students to develop extensive reading habits 37 Improvement of teachers’ teaching techniques in the classroom 37 4.1 Employing three phases in ESP reading lessons 37 4.2 Giving homework and checking the previous lessons frequently 38 4.3 Adjusting teaching time and imposing time limits 38 Summary PART THREE: CONCLUSION 39 40 Conclusion 40 Limitations of the study and suggestions for further study 40 References 42 Appendices APPENDIX A I APPENDIX B VIII APPENDIX C XII ABSTRACT As we all know, reading is one of the most effective ways to obtain knowledge For students at Thai Nguyen University of Technology, in learning English, especially English for electrical and mechanical engineering, it is an important skill which is paid more attention than other skills because they will have to read English materials related to their future jobs However, they encounter a lot of difficulties when reading and not get good marks So what are the difficulties that they face during reading ESP materials? And what hinders their reading comprehension? This study aims to explore the areas of difficulties in ESP reading experienced by second-year students at Thai Nguyen University of Technology and the causes of their unsuccessful reading comprehension To collect data for the study, a survey questionnaire was done on 100 second-year students randomly chosen from K45 The results of study have shown that our students have difficulties in such areas as vocabulary, grammar, discourse, and reading skills and background knowledge Their sources of difficulties are: inadequate linguistic knowledge, unsuitable reading materials, the teaching methods of teachers and negative attitude of students This study also suggests some ways to reduce their difficulties when reading ESP materials to get better results Thank you for evaluating AnyBizSoft PDF Merger! To remove this page, please register your program! 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