Challenges for teachers and students in the ESP course for Police Studies

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST- GRADUATE STUDIES - TRAN THI HUONG GIANG CHALLENGES FOR TEACHERS AND STUDENTS IN THE ESP COURSE FOR POLICE STUDIES (Những thách thức giảng viên sinh viên việc dạy học tiếng Anh chuyên ngành cảnh sát) M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 8140231.01 HANOI, 2019 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST- GRADUATE STUDIES - TRAN THI HUONG GIANG CHALLENGES FOR TEACHERS AND STUDENTS IN THE ESP COURSE FOR POLICE STUDIES (Những thách thức giảng viên sinh viên việc dạy học tiếng Anh chuyên ngành cảnh sát) M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 8140231.01 Supervisor: Dr Tran Thi Thu Hien HANOI, 2019 DECLARATION I hereby certify that the minor thesis entitled: “Challenges for Teachers and Students in the ESP Course for Police Studies”, which is submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in English Language Teaching Methodology at Faculty of Post-Graduate Studies, University of Languages and International Studies, Vietnam National University, Hanoi is the result of my own work I have provided fully documented references to the work of others The material in this thesis has not been submitted for any other university or institution wholly and partially Hanoi, 2019 Tran Thi Huong Giang i ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This research paper would not have been completed without the help of people to whom I would like to express my deep gratitude First and foremost, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to Dr Tran Thi Thu Hien, my supervisor, for her wholehearted support, continuous motivation and precious guidance which were decisive factors to the completion of the thesis Also, I would like to give my warmest thanks to all of the lectures and officers working at the Postgraduate Faculty, University of Languages and International Studies, for their supporting me while I was studying and conducting this thesis I would like to extend my special thanks to all the research participants, my dear colleagues and students Without their valuable opinions and ideas in the questionnaires, the study would not have been accomplished Last but not least, I owe my family their continuous support Their patience and love have helped me go beyond what sometimes looks like an insurmountable task ii ABSTRACT This study was intended to investigate the challenges for teachers and students in the ESP course for police studies More specifically, the researcher strived to (i) investigate challenges that the teachers and students encounter in teaching and studying the ESP course for police studies, and (ii) propose some suggestions to overcome these challenges To achieve the above mentioned objectives, a survey research was conducted with the participation of 24 teachers and 100 students at an academy in Ministry of Public Security The data came from a questionnaire for the teachers, a questionnaire for the students, and interviews with some of the participants The results from data analysis have shown that the teachers had such difficulties as knowledge of the subject, class organization, teaching methods, the learners’ English proficiency, time-constraint, as well as the course book and teaching materials From the other perspectives, the students had to face up with challenges like time-constraint, the students’ English proficiency, knowledge of the subject, motivation and studying habits On the basis of the findings, some recommendations were given to help solve the challenges met by the teachers and the students iii TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION i ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ii ABSTRACT iii TABLE OF CONTENTS iv LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS vii LIST OF TABLE AND FIGURES viii PART A INTRODUCTION 1 Rationale for the study Aims and objectives of the study Research questions Research method Scope of the study Significance of the study Structure of the thesis PART B DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND 1.1 English for Specific Purposes 1.1.1 Definitions and characteristics of ESP 1.1.2 English for Specific Purposes vs General English 1.1.3 Types of ESP 1.1.4 Features of ESP courses 10 1.1.5 ESP teaching material 13 1.1.6 The roles of ESP teachers 13 1.1.7 The roles of ESP learners 14 1.1.8 ESP learners’ motivation 16 1.2 Previous studies 18 1.3 Chapter summary 19 CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY 21 2.1 Research setting 21 2.2 Participants 21 iv 2.3 Research types 22 2.4 Data collection instruments 22 2.4.1 Questionnaires 22 2.4.2 Interviews 23 2.5 Data collection procedure and analysis 23 2.6 Chapter summary 24 CHAPTER 3: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 25 3.1 Results of the survey questionnaires 25 3.1.1 The questionnaires for ESP teachers 25 3.1.2 Results of the questionnaire for the students 29 3.2 Results of the Semi-Structured Interviews 31 3.2.1 Teachers and students’ suggestions to improve their knowledge 31 3.2.2 Teachers’ suggestions for class organization 33 3.2.3 Teachers’ suggestions for teaching methods 33 3.2.4 Teachers and students’ suggestions to enhance students’ English proficiency 34 3.2.5 Teachers and students’ suggestions for time-constraint 35 3.2.6 Teachers’ suggestions for using the course book and teaching materials 37 3.2.7 Teachers and students’ suggestions to motivate students 37 3.2.8 Students’ suggestions to change their studying habits 39 3.3 Discussion 39 3.3.1 Challenges the teachers encounter in teaching ESP 39 3.3.2 Challenges the students encounter in studying ESP 42 3.4 Implications 44 3.4.1 Suggestions to overcome the challenges for the teachers 44 3.4.2 Suggestions to overcome the challenges for the students 47 3.5 Chapter summary 49 PART C CONCLUSION 51 Recapitulation 51 Limitations of the Study 52 Suggestions for further studies 52 v REFERENCES 53 APPENDICES I APPENDIX I APPENDIX IV APPENDIX VI APPENDIX VII vi LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS EAOP: English for Academic and Occupational Purposes EAP: English for Academic Purposes EFL: English as Foreign Language EGAP: English for General Academic Purposes EOP: Occupational Purposes ESAP: English for Specific Academic Purposes ESP: English for Special Purposes EST: English for Science and Technology GE: General English PPA: the People’s Police Academy vii LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES Table 3.1: Training areas the teachers want to receive 27 Table 3.2: Challenging aspects in teaching ESP 28 Table 3.3: Challenging aspects in studying ESP 31 Figure 1.1: Tree of ELT (Hutchinson and Waters, 1987) Figure 1.2: The Division of ESP (Carter, 1983) 10 Figure1.3: Factors Affecting ESP Course Design (Hutchinson and Waters, 1987) 11 Figure 3.1: Teachers’ ESP & GE teaching experience 25 Figure 3.2: Teachers’ subject knowledge 25 Figure 3.3: Formal training forms received by teachers 26 Figure 3.4: The use of a different teaching methods 26 Figure 3.5: Factors made the methods different 27 Figure 3.7: Students’ ESP studying experience 29 Figure 3.7: Students’ English proficiency 29 Figure 3.8: Students’ means of studying ESP 30 Figure 3.9: Teachers’ suggestions to improve their knowledge 31 Figure 3.10: Students’ suggestions to improve their knowledge of the subject 32 Figure 3.11: Teachers’ suggestions for class organization 33 Figure 3.12: Teachers’ suggestions for teaching methods 33 Figure 3.13: Teachers’ suggestions for students’ English proficiency 34 Figure 3.14: Students’ suggestions to enhance their English proficiency 35 Figure 3.15: Teachers’ suggestions for time-constraint 35 Figure 3.16: Students’ suggestions for time-constraint 36 Figure 3.17: Teachers’ suggestions for using the course book and teaching materials 37 Figure 3.18: Teachers’ suggestions to motivate students 37 Figure 3.19: Students’ suggestions to motivate their motivation 38 Figure 3.20: Students’ suggestions to change their studying habits 39 viii should find part-time jobs requiring to use English, especially English for specific purposes for the opportunity to practice regularly the learned knowledge This also enhanced learning motivation and made the students more confident after graduation Fifthly, some recommendations were given to change the students’ studying habits Staying away from temptations like phones, social networks, or TV was indispensable to the students Such temptations games on the phones, friends’ chatting on the internet, or films on TV could easily distract the students from their studying They would be attracted by these things and then neglect what they were doing Another way to form a studying habit was using group work effectively Each member in a group could support, supervise and speed up the others’ studying so that they could forget their tasks and exercises every day To this, working out a daily schedule for studying was imperative The students needed to make a list-to-do to let them know what they had to learn every day They could check what they had done and what they had not done after a day From that, they kept track of their studying and adjusted what they should on the next day Asking for more exercises and advice from the teachers was advisable for all of the students With the aid of the teachers, they could overcome their difficulties quickly 3.5 Chapter summary In short, the purpose of the present thesis study was mainly aimed at searching for the answers to the two research questions First of all, the six most challenging issues the teachers had to face up with were knowledge of the subject, class organization, teaching methods, the learners’ English proficiency, time-constraint, as well as the course book and teaching materials Meanwhile, the five most challenging issues that most of the students encountered were time-constraint, the students’ English proficiency, knowledge of the subject, motivation and studying habits needed solving to help the students make progress in their ESP course In addition, the findings of the interviews for the teachers and the students consolidated the answer to the first question They also helped answer the second one related to the methods to get over the challenges that the teachers and students 49 encountered Some recommendations were given to aid them solve their difficulties in teaching and studying 50 PART C CONCLUSION Recapitulation This study aimed at investigate the challenges that the teachers and students at an academy in Ministry of Public Security came across while teaching and studying ESP courses and give some suggestions for them to overcome the difficulties The researcher invited 24 teachers and three classes including 100 students taking part in the ESP course to participate the research At first, two questionnaires were given to both the teachers and the students to investigate the challenges that they might encountered After analyzing the answers to the questionnaires, some interviews were carried out The subjects were called for the interviews to look into their issues thoroughly and give out some recommendations for their own problems The researcher collected all of the data, analyzed the results, and pointed out remarkable findings In terms of challenges encountered while teaching and studying the ESP course, the teachers had such difficulties as knowledge of the subject, class organization, teaching methods, the learners’ English proficiency, time-constraint, as well as the course book and teaching materials Meanwhile, the students had to face up with challenges like time-constraint, the students’ English proficiency, knowledge of the subject, motivation and studying habits These findings played a significant role in the research They help the researcher be more determined to find out solutions for the problems After that, some recommendations were given to solve the challenges that the teachers and students suffered from It was advisable for the teachers to improve their knowledge, and teaching methods continually by sharing experience, or taking part in domestic and overseas courses The students were advised to work in pairs or groups, learn from others’ experience, make a strong connection with the teachers, and pay attention to the four core communicative skills To improve class organization, it was suggested to divide large-sized classed into smaller ones or divide a large-sized class into small groups of different studying levels Timeconstraint could be solved by reducing unnecessary topics, increasing the teaching 51 periods, or opening extracurricular classes In connection with the course book and teaching materials, a database teaching system, working together and updating the latest teaching materials were highly suggested Regarding the learners’ English proficiency, motivation, and studying habits, it was vital for the students to have short-term and long-term studying goals, work in groups, participate actively in the class activities and tasks, as well as join English clubs or teams Limitations of the Study Although much effort was made, the researcher encountered some difficulties in the process of implementation As a consequence, the research had the following limitations First of all, the number of the participants of this study was limited to all of the first-year students that had just finished their ESP course Their challenges could not represent the challenges of the others In addition, not all participants doing the questionnaires participated in the interviews The number of the interviewed students was too small in comparison with the number of those who did the questionnaire Thus, it was difficult to a deep insight into the problems remaining in teaching and studying ESP Therefore, all comments and suggestions were highly appreciated In addition, the study has found out the students’ difficulties in studying English for Police Studies terminology and translation skills It, however, has not specially focused on the way to help the students to study terminology and translation skills effectively Suggestions for further studies The limitations and scope of the study leave the gaps for other studies in the field of teaching ESP to fill in It is hoped that those who are interested in this thesis can widen the scale of the study in other universities with more participants Further studies can focus on solutions to help the teachers and students overcome challenges they encountered It is also expected to find out methods and techniques to study terminology and translation skills successfully 52 REFERENCES Abdulaziz, M et al (2012) “Change From A General English Teacher To An Esp Practitioner: Issues And Challenges In Pakistan” Interdisciplinary Journal of Contemporary Research in Business VOL 4, NO Al-Jarf, R (2006) Large student enrollments in EFL programs: Challenges and consequences Asian EFL Journal Quarterly, 8(4), 8-34 Ames, C A (1990) Motivation: what teachers need to know? 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Handbook of Research in Second Language Teaching and Learning (Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates), pp 99–115 28 McDonough, J (1984) ESP in Perspective: A Practical Guide London and Glasgow: Collins ELT 29 McDonough, J (1998) Recent Materials for the Teaching of ESP ELT Journal, 52(2), 156 30 Milevica, B (2006) Teaching Foreign Language for Specific Purposes: Teacher Development 31st Annual Association of Teacher Education in Europe (ATEE) Conference, Serbia Available online http://www.pef.unilj.si/atee/978-961-6637-06-0/487-493.pdf 31 Mohammad, K A (2014) The ESP Teacher: Issues, Tasks and Challenges English for Specific Purposes World, ISSN 1682-3257, www.esp-world.info, Issue 42, Vol 15, 2014 32 Robinson, P (1991) ESP today: A practitioners’ guide.Prentice Hall International New York 33 Shadlyn, R (2004) Motivation (http://www.2students.net/download/m Retrieved from iscellaneous/talk2-821-motivation essay.rtf.html) (06.12.2015) 34 Smoak, R (2003) “What is English for specific purposes?” English Teaching Forum, 41 (2), p: 01 55 35 Stevens, P (1977) Special Purpose Language Learning: A perspective survey article language teaching and applied linguistic abstracts,10, 145-163 36 Streven, P (1998) ESP after twenty years: A re-appraisal InM Tickoo (Ed.), ESP: State of the Art (pp 1-13) Singapore: SEAMEO Regional Centre 37 Trauth, E M 2001 “Choosing Qualitative Methods in IS Research: Lessons Learned,” in Qualitative Research in IS: Issues and Trends, Trauth, E M (ed.), Hershey, PA: Idea Group Inc., pp 240-287 38 Woolfolk, A & Margetts, K (2013) Educational psychology (3rd edition) Australia: Pearson Education 56 APPENDICES APPENDIX QUESTIONNAIRE FOR ESP TEACHERS Dear colleagues, My name is Tran Thi Huong Giang, and I am a postgraduate student at the University of Languages and International Studies, Viet Nam National University, Hanoi I am conducting a study in ESP and I would be grateful if you took the time to complete this questionnaire as it would provide me with invaluable data for my research The data collected will be used only for research purposes and will not be provided to the third party Abbreviations: GE: General English Please answer the following questions, by circling the appropriate answer(s), or filling in where necessary I GENERAL INFORMATION How long have you been teaching English for Police Studies? ……………………… Have you taught GE? a Yes b No If yes, for how long? …………………………………………………………………… Do you have specialist knowledge? If yes, how much? a A little a Yes b Satisfactory b No c Very good How did you come to acquire it? (you can choose more than option) a Attending lectures b Own reading c Years of teaching □ Other (please specify) If not, how you deal with the lack of it? Please specify …………………………………………………………………………………………… Do you believe that specialized knowledge is essential for English for Police Studies teachers? a Yes b No I If yes, how much you think is essential? a A little b Satisfactory c Much Have you had formal training to teach EPS? a Yes b No If yes, of what form? (you can choose more than option) a Degree b Short course Please specify the title of your degree / short course…………………………………… Do you use a different teaching methods in English for Police Studies classes from GE classes? a Yes b No If yes, what makes it different? (you can choose more than option) a The learners' age b The learners' majors c The subject itself d Other reasons (please specify) Which of the following areas would you like to receive training on to teach English for Police Studies? (you can choose more than option) a Teaching methods b Needs analysis c Materials development d Procedures for course design e Course evaluation f Testing and assessment g Specialized terminology h Other (please specify) ………………………………………………………………… II TEACHERS’ CHALLENGES IN TEACHING ENGLISH FOR POLICE STUDIES 10 Which of the following aspects you find challenging when teaching English for Police Studies? Please rank them in order of importance (you can choose more than option) II a Teaching methods Please specify …………………………………………………………………………… b Knowledge of the subject Please specify …………………………………………………………………………… c Course book and teaching materials Please specify …………………………………………………………………………… d Time constraints Please specify …………………………………………………………………………… e Learners' needs analysis Please specify …………………………………………………………………………… f Learners’ English proficiency Please specify …………………………………………………………………………… g Learners’ studying habit(s) Please specify …………………………………………………………………………… h Learners' motivation Please specify …………………………………………………………………………… i Class organization Please specify …………………………………………………………………………… j Cooperation with the subject lecturer(s) Please specify …………………………………………………………………………… k Other(s) Please specify …………………………………………………………………………… Thank you very much for your time and co-operation III APPENDIX QUESTIONNAIRE FOR STUDENTS Dear students, My name is Tran Thi Huong Giang, and I am a postgraduate student at the University of Languages and International Studies, Viet Nam National University, Hanoi I am conducting a study in ESP and I would be grateful if you took the time to complete this questionnaire as it would provide me with invaluable data for my research The data collected will be used only for research purposes and will not be provided to the third party Abbreviations: GE: General English Please answer the following questions, by choosing the appropriate answer(s), or filling in where necessary I GENERAL INFORMATION How long have you been studying English for Police studies? ……………………… How you rate your English proficiency? a A1 b A2 c B1 d B2 e C1 f C2 How you usually study English for Police studies? a by attending English classes b by doing supplement exercises c by reading English for Police studies documents d other (please specify) ………………………………………………………………… II STUDENTS’ CHALLENGES IN STUDYING ENGLISH FOR POLICE STUDIES Which of the following aspects you find challenging when studying English for Police Studies? Please rank them in order of importance a Teachers’ teaching methods (not suitable, no difference with GE, …) Please specify …………………………………………………………………………… IV b Teachers’ knowledge of the subject Please specify …………………………………………………………………………… c Your knowledge of the subject Please specify …………………………………………………………………………… d Course book and teaching materials Please specify …………………………………………………………………………… e Time constraints Please specify …………………………………………………………………………… f Your English proficiency Please specify …………………………………………………………………………… g Your studying habit(s) Please specify …………………………………………………………………………… h Your motivation Please specify …………………………………………………………………………… i Other(s) Please specify …………………………………………………………………………… Thank you very much for your time and co-operation V APPENDIX Questions for the Teachers’ Semi-Structured Interview What you think are the most challenging problems while teaching ESP? In your opinion, what can you to improve your knowledge of the subject? Do you have any comments or suggestions for the class organisation of the academy? Do teaching methods play an important part in teaching? How can you apply them best to your lesson? How should the teachers deal with the problem of the students’ English proficiency? How should the teachers deal with the problem of time-constraint? Do you have any recommendations on using course book and teaching materials effectively? What might cause the lack of motivation for the students in ESP classes? How can you solve the problem? VI APPENDIX Questions for the Students’ Semi-Structured Interview What you think are the most challenging problems while studying ESP? What you think about the amount of time spent on an ESP course? Is it enough for you to master all of the knowledge? Do you have any comments on it? How good is your English proficiency? How can you improve it? What should you to improve your knowledge of the subject? Is ESP important for your job in the future? Are there any motivations for you to study ESP well? How long have you spent on revising your ESP lessons? Do you want to change your studying habits? How can you change the habits? VII