thiết kế chương trình dạy kỹ năng viết theo nhiệm vụ kết hợp định hướng phát triển nghề nghiệp cho sinh viên năm hai khoa tiếng anh trường đại học thương mại

The situational and needs analysis were conducted in TMU with the employment of the following research instruments: two questionnaires for teachers and students, and the students’ writin

TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC THƯƠNG MẠI

KHOA TIẾNG ANH

NGHIÊN CỨU KHOA HỌC CẤP TRƯỜNG

DESIGNING A TASK-BASED WRITING SKILL SYLLABUS

INTEGRATED WITH WORKING SKILLS FOR THE SECOND-YEAR

ENGLISH MAJORS OF THUONG MAI UNIVERSITY

THIẾT KẾ CHƯƠNG TRÌNH DẠY KỸ NĂNG VIẾT THEO NHIỆM VỤ KẾT HỢP ĐỊNH HƯỚNG PHÁT TRIỂN NGHỀ NGHIỆP CHO SINH VIÊN NĂM HAI KHOA TIẾNG ANH TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC THƯƠNG MẠI

Người thực hiện : Ths Trần Lan Hương Đơn vị công tác : Khoa tiếng Anh

HANOI, 2017

I hereby declare that this thesis is a presentation of my original research work.Wherever contributions of others are involved, every effort is made to indicate thisclearly, with due reference to the literature, and acknowledgement of collaborativeresearch and discussions

Signature

Tran Lan Huong

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I would also like to express special thanks to all the English staff and the year English majors of Thuong Mai University for their contribution to the datacollection and their constructive suggestions for this research

The thesis was aimed at designing a practical, feasible and enjoyable writing skills syllabus for the second-year English majors of Thuong Mai University (TMU) The study started with the situational and needs analysis based on Hutchinson and Water(1987) The situational and needs analysis were conducted in TMU with the

employment of the following research instruments: two questionnaires for teachers and students, and the students’ writing papers, the CEFR (2001) and the current writing skills syllabus The informants of the study include all 62 second-year English majors and 10 teachers of English major section in TMU

The results of the situational and need analysis show that there is no separatedtextbook and syllabus to meet the needs of both the university and the students interms of its objectives and contents The new sets of objectives which emphasize thecommunicative competence of the learners in their desirable target situations werere-determined in accordance with their needs To best serve the objectives of thecourse and learning style preferences of the students, task based was chosen as theapproach driving the design of the new syllabus in which the target tasks in fourmain domains: the personal, the public, the occupational and the educational werederived from the target needs analysis and selected to suit the current level of thelearners (CEF A1+ -A2)

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

DECLARATION i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii

ABSTRACT iii

TABLE OF CONTENTS i

TABLE OF FIGURES iv

PART 1: INTRODUCTION 1

1 Rationale 1

2 Aims and Objectives of the study 3

3 Scope of the study 3

4 Research questions 4

5 Design of the study 4

PART 2: DEVELOPMENT 5

Chapter 1: Literature review 5

1.1 Approaches to Teaching Writing for Specific PurposeError! Bookmark not defined. 1.1.1 Product Oriented Approaches Error! Bookmark not defined. 1.1.2 Process Oriented Approaches Error! Bookmark not defined. 1.1.3 Genre Approaches Error! Bookmark not defined. 1.2 Task-Based Approaches Error! Bookmark not defined. 1.2.1 Tasks and types of tasks Error! Bookmark not defined. 1.2.1.1 Target Tasks Error! Bookmark not defined. 1.2.1.2 Learning Tasks Error! Bookmark not defined 1.2.2 The framework of TBLT applied in teaching writingError! Bookmark not defin 1.3 Task-Based syllabus (TBS) Error! Bookmark not defined Chapter 2: Methodology 5

2.1 Setting of the study 28

2.2 Informants 28

2.3 Data collection instruments 29

2.4 Data collection and data analysis procedure 30

Chapter 3: Findings and Discussion 32

3.1 The situational analysis of the teaching and learning context in TMU 32

3.1.1 The teachers 32

3.1.2 The students 32

3.1.2.1 Background 32

3.1.2.2 Writing competence 32

3.1.2.3 Motivation in learning writing skills 34

3.1.3 The shortcoming of the current writing textbook 34

3.2 Needs Analysis 36

3.2.1 Target tasks and target language focus perceived by the university based on the CEFR 36

3.2.2.Target tasks and learning tasks perceived by teachers and learners 38

3.3 Learning needs analysis 39

Chapter 4: The proposed writing skill syllabus 4.1 Justifications for the choice of task based approach to designing the syllabus 4.2 Course description 4.3 Tasks Selecting and Grading PART 3: CONCLUSION 54

1 Summary of the study 54

2 Limitations of the study 55

3 Suggestions for further studies 56

References I

Appendixes III

Appendix 1: NEEDS ANALYSIS FRAMEWORK (Hutchinson and Waters,

1987) III

Appendix 2: THE STUDENTS’ QUESTIONNAIRES V

Appendix 3: THE TEACHERS’ QUESTIONNAIRES VIII

Appendix 4: Written test evaluation criteria (Adapted from CEFR (2001)) XI

Appendix 5: Sample lesson procedures XIV

TABLE OF FIGURES

Figure 1: Framework for task based writing teaching Error! Bookmark not defined.

Figure 2: Framework for task based syllabus design (Ellis 2003: 66)Error! Bookmark not def Figure 3: Framework for task based syllabus design (Nunan, 2004:25)Error! Bookmark not de Figure 4: Students’ length of time of learning English 32

Figure 5: The estimated writing competence of the students 33

Figure 2: Students’ attitudes toward Writing Skills 34

Figure 7: The target level for the writing skills after the first semester as required

by TMU ( Based on CEFR( 2001:61,62, 82) 37

Figure 8: Teachers' and students' preference for the specific writing tasks 39

Figure 9: The familiar vs the expected teaching and learning styles 40

PART 1: INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale

Writing is one of the four major language skills that foreign languagestudents have to master It is a common knowledge that writing is very important inlanguage learning as, according to Rames (1983), writing helps learners not only inthe ways it reinforces learners to practice certain grammar and vocabularystructures and reflect on why those are used and not others but also in the way itimproves the learners’ thinking skills as when students write, they make effort toexpress ideas with constant use of eyes, hands and brain and discover a real need forfinding the right word and the right sentence

As writing is of such great importance for language learners, teaching how

to write well is the inevitable aim of almost all language courses Yet, teachingwriting is challenging for language teachers as ‘writing fluently and expressively is

a tough task for all language users regardless of whether the language in use is first,second or foreign language’ (Nunan,1988:3)

Whether the journey writing teachers and learners have to go on under theirwriting course is smooth and whether the learners can reach the destination of thejourney depend on a wide variety of factors such as the course syllabus, the teachingmethodology, the available resources and the motivation of the students From allthese influential factors, the course syllabus is extremely important because ifappropriately designed with careful need analysis, the syllabus can act as theguidance for both teachers and learners in terms of aims, the objectives, teachingmethodology, material suggestions, time allocation, assessments, and almost all thematters of learning and teaching In fact, a course syllabus can be compared with ahelpful travel guidebook or a compass for teachers and learners in their journey toknowledge Especially, a course syllabus plays an absolutely significant role whenwriting for specific purposes because it requires a lot of skills which can helpsstudents meet the requirements from the employers and be ready for their jobs fortheir future

From early 1960s, English for Specific Purposes (ESP) has grown to becomeone of the most prominent areas of EFL teaching today and gained a well-

established position as a component of applied linguistics research (Dudley-Evans

& St Johns, 1998) As the word “specific” suggests, the nature of ESP is differentfrom that of general English in a sense that ESP learners learn English for a certainprofessional or occupational purpose Therefore, teaching/learning ESP includesmuch more than the teaching of English through specific materials and content Infact, it combines the development of linguistic skills together with the acquisition ofspecific information Consequently, to ensure the success of ESP learning, thematerials should be wisely selected and adapted and learning activities should becarefully designed, and more importantly, an appropriate teaching method should beadopted

In the recent years, the ESP movement in Vietnam has been rapidlydeveloping due to the existence of diverse needs of the learners Currently, alluniversity students must learn the ESP that suits their learning branches Forexample, students at economics universities have to learn English for commerce,while students from the Information Technology universities have to learn Englishfor IT However, a lot of questions have been raised over the quality of ESPteaching and learning at university as many students studying ESP show quite poorperformance on four language skills and a lot of graduates cannot use ESP in theirwork This results in an unsolved problems that ESP teachers are encountering:How to design appropriate syllabus and authentic learning activities to enhance ESPlearning?

In addition, the fast changing business environment and the ever-growingdemand facing professional communicators in the 21st century pose new challenges

to language learners and teachers alike Competitive business organizations attempt

to recruit employees who have excellent linguistic competence coupled withnonlinguistic competences and skills It is not easy to acquire these additionalcompetences and skills However, most of them are transferable and can be greatlyimproved if students are provided with adequate teaching materials and appropriateinput from the teacher

Despite the importance of syllabus in teaching writing for ESP- one of themost difficult language skills, it is not always given adequate attention to This is

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exemplified by the context of teaching writing for ESP in Thuong Mai University(TMU) where the current used syllabus is available but developed out of thesyllabus writers’ personal experience and intuition without referring to the situationanalysis and learner needs analysis Consequently, when the syllabus for ESP wasoperated, it showed a lot of pitfalls, the greatest of which being the students’disinterest in learning writing, the irrelevance of the writing tasks and the teachingmethodology This fact gives rise to the need to design a new business writingsyllabus for second-year students who have already got basic writing skill in Thebusiness Pre-intermediate in the first year and have better knowledge about generalbusiness writing as well as see the importance of the business writing for their jobs

in the future That syllabus should be based on careful analyses of contextual factorsand learner needs as well as educational needs, i.e., the objectives of the foreignlanguage program

The ideas above motivate me to design a new writing skills syllabus for the year English majors at TMU

second-2 Aims and Objectives of the study

The study aims at designing a new appropriate writing skills syllabus for thesecond-year English majors at TMU

To achieve this aim, the following objectives are established:

(1) To develop a theoretical framework related to writing syllabus design

(2) To identify the needs perceived by the university, the teachers, the year English majors toward an appropriate writing syllabus for the target students

second-(3) To propose a writing syllabus based on the relevant theories and the needs analysis

3 Scope of the study

The syllabus limits itself to the design of new writing skills syllabus for second-yearEnglish majors in TMU Thus, it is not intended for other groups of the students atthe University or students from other universities However, once the syllabus hasbeen implemented, and evaluated by the university teachers who implement the

syllabus, it can serve as a reference for those who are interested in designing a similar syllabus for similar groups of students.

4 Research questions

1 What are the students’ learning needs and target needs from the perspective

of the students, the teachers and the university?

2 What aims and objectives should be included in the writing skills syllabus forthe second-year English majors?

3 What contents and teaching methodology should be included and organized

in the writing skills syllabus for the second-year English majors?

5 Design of the study

The thesis will be comprised of three parts

Part 1 is the introduction, which presents the rationales, the aims, the objectives, thescope, the methods and the design of the study

Part 2 is the development which consists of four chapters:

o Chapter 1 reviews the literature related to the syllabus design and thetheoretical issues on the definition and features of task based language teaching inrelation to the teaching of writing skills in EFL context

o Chapter 2 reports the research methodology the setting, theinformants, the instruments and the data collection and analysisprocedure

o Chapter 3 presents and discusses the findings from need analysis in

light of teaching problems with the current syllabus, the insiders’attitudes towards writing skills and the current syllabus as well as theirexpectations of the changes in teaching and learning writing skills Inaddition, a new task-based syllabus is proposed based on the findings

of the research

Part 3 is the conclusion that provides a summary, state the limitations of the study and give some suggestions for further research on the topic

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PART 2: DEVELOPMENT

CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 1.1.

Approaches to Teaching Writing for Specific Purpose

English for Specific Purposes

Teaching English for Specific Purposes (ESP) is a prime illustration of thesaying “what comes in time, changes over time.” ESP as a term came into languagemore than 50 years ago The notion of a language for specific job-related purposesappeared in the sixties and the early seventies of the 20th century and wasconnected with the pioneering research of Halliday, MacIntosh and Strevens (1964).Since its introduction ESP has been changing and developing all the time, and it isexpected to change and develop in the future as well

Widdowson (1983:10) is of the opinion that “ESP is simply a matter ofdescribing a particular area of language and then using this description as a coursespecification to impart to learners the necessary restricted competence with thisparticular area.” Hutchinson and Waters (1987:19) support the idea that ESP must

be seen as an approach, rather than a product

According to Hutchinson and Waters (1987:5), there were three main reasonsfor the emergence of all varieties of ESP: the demands of the New World after WW

II, a revolution in linguistics, and a focus shift from the teacher to the learner(Hutchinson & Waters, 1987; Dudley-Evans & St Johns, 1998) English becamesubject to the wants, needs, and demands of people other than language teachers Itwas the learner who explicitly called for courses tailored to meet their professionalneeds

A significant discovery at that time was that the ways in which we speak alanguage and write in a language vary The significance of this discovery was that,

as a result of these variations in language use, language teaching could be tailored toboth spoken and written professional situations

In the late 1960s and the early 1970s, there were first attempts to teachEnglish for Science and Technology (EST) It was the first variety of language forspecific purposes that received scientific attention Hutchinson and Waters (1987),

Another significant discovery came from the psychology of learning –theresearch showed that another focus shift was needed, that from language delivery tolanguage acquisition (Hutchinson & Waters, 1987) Focus on learners’ needsbecame as important as the methodology of language teaching Designing coursesthat could best meet these needs was bound to be a success.

According to the definition given by Hutchinson and Waters (1987:19), “ESP

is an approach to language teaching in which all decisions as to content and methodare based on the learner’s reason for learning.” It was a real revolution in languageteaching – from a teacher-centered approach to a learner-centered and learning-centered approach, a milestone in language teaching that had its repercussions forthe decades to come

In 1983, Carter distinguished three varieties of ESP: English as a restrictedlanguage, English for Academic and Occupational Purposes, and English withspecific topics The famous “tree of ELP” (Hutchinson & Waters,1987) shows thatESP was subdivided into English for Science and Technology (EST), English forBusiness and Economics (EBE), and English for Social Studies (ESS) Each ofthese three varieties was further subdivided into EAP and EOP Now ESP is anumbrella term which includes English for Science and Technology, English forAcademic Purposes, English for Business and Economics, English for Management,English for Medicine, English for Finance and Banking, English for Law, Englishfor Tourism/Engineering/Accounting, etc

The number of ESP dictionaries reflects the creation and development ofeach variety of ESP By analyzing the year of publication, the type and the number

of ESP dictionaries on the market, we can make conclusions on the popularity ofeach ESP variety In the 1980s and 1990s, about 80 new ESP dictionaries (mostlytechnical) appeared on the Polish market, and during the period 1990–2006 therewere more than a hundred new business dictionaries available in Poland Itdemonstrates the popularity and expansion of ESP

Today we can witness that publishers not only offer course-books and on-linematerials for the varieties of ESP presented above but also publish books andmaterials targeted at a single profession, e.g English for Nurses, English for Job

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Hunters, English for Beauticians or Air Speak (English for Air Traffic Controllers).The variety of course-books on offer shows that there is a huge demand for highlyspecialized language courses.

At the early stages of ESP teaching, courses were aimed mainly atspecialized linguistic competence In the 1970s, specialized terminology andfunctional language were regarded to be the priorities in ESP courses

Courses were, to a great extent, language-oriented, and their main aim was toteach specialized lexis and grammar In the mid-1970s and 1980s, a new approach

to teaching business English appeared – it was the communicative languageteaching approach focused on communication in typical professional situations.With time the priority of linguistic competence was replaced by the priority ofcommunicative competence, and communication skills became target number one inESP

In Europe, the 1990s were the decade when the following importantinnovations were introduced: the euro, financial deregulation, and venture capital.Throughout the world, globalization processes brought greater job mobility andinternational cooperation It was also the time when new communicationtechnologies became more accessible worldwide: the Internet and mobile phoneshave significantly facilitated and sped up communication All these changes havehad a strong impact on learners’ needs Successful ESP courses imply that course-book authors cater for future real-life needs of learners, especially in the case of pre-experienced adult students, who may not fully realize what language competencetheir future job will require of them Target situations, in which they will have tocommunicate effectively, have to be examined (as part of needs analysis) andconsidered when designing a course-book

A learner-centered approach adapted in ESP courses has allowed for thefollowing developments in language teaching:

– inclusion of materials into a syllabus is based on the learners’ reasonsfor learning,

– courses are more intensive – learners want to achieve good language

competence in the shortest time possible,

– learners can negotiate the syllabus,

– learning is understood as an active construction of meaning,

– teaching is perceived as guiding, scaffolding, and facilitating learning,– real-life tasks are prioritized,

– meaningful and purposeful interaction can be created through language,– tasks are cognitively more challenging,

– learners have more autonomy,

– learners accept more responsibility for the outcome of the learning process,– making vocabulary personal helps to make it more memorable (McCarten,2007)

Today we can still witness that demand for English for Specific Purposescontinues to increase and expand throughout the world (DudleyEvans, 2001).Learners need courses matching their ever growing needs and requirementsresulting from what the labour market demands

English for Specific Purposes (ESP) is divided into English for OccupationalPurposes (EOP) and English for Academic Purposes (EAP) It aims to preparestudents, in a relatively short period of time, to communicate, read, and write better

so they can work appropriately and successfully in certain activities In order toachieve this goal, ESP activities have to be presented in context because context isthe central idea of ESP The other point that has to be taken into consideration inteaching ESP is to use authentic materials; this will lead the students to acquirewhat they need to develop for their jobs (Hutchinson & Waters 1987) According toDudley-Evans (2001), the absolute characteristics of ESP are:

• ESP is designed to meet the specific needs of the learners

• ESP makes use of the underlying methodology and activities of the

specialization it serves

• It is centered not only on the language (grammar, lexis, register), but also

on the skills, discourses and genres appropriate to those activities

English for Occupational Purposes (EOP)

English for Occupational Purposes is a branch of ESP (English for Specific Purposes) and covers situations in which learners are studying English for work

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related reasons EOP can be grouped into business English, professional English(e.g English for doctors, lawyers) and vocational English (e.g English for tourism,aviation, and nursing).

Several studies (Flanegin and Rudd, 2000; Goffman, 1979; Pakir, 1999,Puvenesvary, 2003) have been conducted on the importance of English in theoccupational fields

Flanegin and Rudd (2000) discuss the need and importance of English skills

in all professions In addition, they emphasize on the importance of communicationskills in the business and management fields by suggesting some solutions to enablestudents to be good communicators in business majors Goffman (1979) indicatesthat business negotiations are carried out and letters are usually written in English.This sometimes discomforts those whose first language is not English The use ofEnglish is even more widespread because of the business-environment revolution

In fact, Pakir (1999) points out that the spread of English is most likely to continuebecause of the rapid spread of telecommunication, mass communication, business,and internet links Thousands of international non-native to non-nativecommunication and deals are undertaken daily in a huge number of settings: trade,diplomacy, tourism, journalism, science and technology, politics etc As a result,there is a need to ensure there are competent writers and speakers of English.Puvenesvary (2003) reveals the importance of being a competent writer of English

in the banking sector in Malaysia and the consequences of poorly-written businessletters to clients

The five key stages in EOP teaching include needs analysis, course (andsyllabus) design, materials selection (and evaluation), teaching and learning, andevaluation Among these, needs analysis is the very first and perhaps the decisivefactor in the success of any EOP courses According to Johns, while teaching EOP,

“all language teaching must be designed for the specific learning and language usepurposes of identified groups of students.”(Johns, 1991, p.67) Teaching EOP istherefore determined by different - professional/ occupational, social and other -needs of the learners In Nunan’s view, needs analysis is the initial process for thespecification of behavioral objectives It is from these objectives that detailed

aspects of the syllabus such as functions, topics, lexis and structures are derived.Dudley-Evans and St John believe that it is the “corner stone of EOP and leads to avery focused course” (p.122) Likewise, in a definition of ESP course, Hutchinsonand Water (1987) state that EOP is an approach to language teaching which aims tomeet the needs of particular learners Richards (1984) also points out thesignificance of NA as follows:

“Needs analysis serves three main purposes: it provides a means of obtaining wider input into the content, design and implementation of a language program; it can be used in developing goals, objectives and content; and it can provide data for reviewing and evaluating an existing program.” (p.5)

Dudley-Evans and St John in their “Development in ESP” (1998) suggestthat needs analysis can be done through a variety of means such as pre-courseinformation questionnaires, structured interviews, observation, analysis of authentictexts, discussion, and record-keeping These suggested methods have their ownstrengths and weaknesses but if utilized appropriately, they can provide useful andreliable data for the process of needs analysis Hopefully, with a smooth beginning,the whole EOP course will run successfully

The target needs: Before designing a course, students should know why theyare taking the course and how they will apply that learning Also English languageteachers should know what kind of tasks and activities learners will be usingEnglish for (Kandil, 2003) Hutchinson, and Waters, 1987 suggested the followingquestions as a start-point to uncover relevant information

 Why is the language needed?

 How will the language be used?

 What will the content areas be?

 Who will the learners use the language with?

 When/Where will the language be used? (Hutchinson, T and Waters, A

1987, pp 59)

The learning needs: The learning needs refer to the learners’ language

difficulties, their learning objectives, their styles of learning etc (Jolly.and

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Bolitho.1998) It is the starting point or the route and answers the question To understand the learning needs we should find answers for the following questions.

 Why are the learners taking the course?

 How do the learners learn?

 What resources are available?

 When/Where will the course take place?

The new educational pedagogy emphasizes the importance of the learnersand their attitudes to learning (Hutchinson, and Waters, 1987, pp 59) Satisfyinglearners’ needs and interests has an important influence on the learners’ motivationand therefore achievements Moreover, this approach gives learners the opportunity

to participate in the syllabus design In a context where the nature of the workchanges, and the linguistic needs change too, the importance of this approachincreases As Mackay and Mountford (1978) stated, adults who need English foracademic or professional purposes are more aware of what they want to use Englishfor

In fact, the results of a needs analysis are not absolute but relative There are

a number of factors that could affect the outcomes: for instance: who to ask; whatthe questions are; and how the responses are interpreted (Dudley-Evans and St John1998)

Methodologies for Teaching Writing for Occupational Purposes

Prior to discussing the theories related to writing for occupational purposes, afew studies will be highlighted in relation to writing problems (Arndt, 1987; Badgerand White, 2000; Davies, 1988; Hyland, 2003; Jordan, 1997; Kambal, 1980; Myles,2002; Paltridge, 2001; Silva, 1990; Smith, 1982; Swale, 1990; Tribble, 1996;Vygotsky, 1978; and Zughoul and Husain, 1985)

Kambal (1980) analyzed errors in three types of free composition written byfirst year Sudanese university students The study took into consideration the majorsyntactic errors made by these students in the verb phrase and the noun phrase.Also, Kambal (1980) reported that the three main types of errors made in the verb

phrase are verb formation, tense, and subject-verb agreement He discussed errors intense within five categories: tense sequence, tense substitution, tense marker,deletion, and confusion of perfect tenses The findings of this study reveal that thethird-person singular marker was used redundantly, and they also revealed the use

of the incorrect form of verb to be

Zughoul and Husain (1985) point out that the lack of lexical variety,subordination, and their heavy reliance on redundancy that does not add any newinformation to the text are the main problems learners have in writing skills As aresult, L2 practitioners are still in search of a coherent, comprehensive theory of theteaching of writing The major writing theories proposed in the literature areproduct, process, and genre

According to Raimes (1983), there are 3 principal ways of approaching thewriting task: focusing on form, focusing on the writer, focusing on the reader Thefirst perspective can be found in traditional, text-based approach or product orientedapproach in other words Teachers who adopt this approach often presentauthoritative text for students to imitate or adapt and they may see errors assomething they have a professional obligation to correct and eliminate (Tribble,1996: 37) The second approach which is called “process approach” emerges in part

as a reaction against the tradition of form- focus It particularly stresses on thewriters as an independent producers of text The third approach called “genreapproach” is considered to be more socially oriented with the assumption that if thereader cannot recognize the purpose of a text, communication cannot be successful

1.1.1 Product Oriented Approaches

According to Brown (2000), product-oriented approaches to writing largelyconcern the forms of the written products that students compose The writingexercises applied in this approach typically deal with sentence-level writing andparagraph-level organization Students are often given a framework whichillustrates a pattern of rhetorical organization; then, they are asked to fit their ideasinto this framework Both the content and the form which the students deal with arelargely controlled by the teacher Since the main focus of these approaches is onwritten form, grammar is emphasized and a particular effort is made to avoid errors

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1.1.2 Process Oriented Approaches

Dissatisfaction with controlled composition approach paved the way for theprocess approach, an ‘expressive approach’ which became prominent in English-speaking composition classrooms during the 1980s Process approach encouragesstudents’ communication of ideas, feeling and experiences (Steele, 2002) Processapproach focuses more on the various class activities which are believed to promotethe development of skilled language use With the process approach, writers areencouraged to get their ideas on paper in any shape or form without worrying toomuch about formal correctness It also encourages collaborative group work amongstudents as a way of enhancing motivation and developing positive attitudes towardswriting Moreover, process approach encourages the development of criticalthinking skills, which help them to have chances to challenge their social reality(Nunan, D, 1991: 87)

1.1.3 Genre Approaches

Genre Based approach has become popular since the 1980s along with thenotion that student writers could benefit from studying different types of writtentexts (Yan, 2009) To begin with, genre-based approaches start with the whole text

as the unit in focus rather than the sentence The focus on the whole texts impliesthat there is higher level of order and patterning in language than just in sentence-grammar at the level of discourse organization and meta-patterning of grammaticalfeatures Genre –based approaches emphasize that this higher order must beattended to for effective language use The specification of genres to be taught isbased on the classification used by many systemic functional linguists, especially inapplication to classroom teaching of English (Lin, 2006)

Genre approaches have strong similarities with product approaches, and insome ways, genre approaches can be regarded as an extension of productapproaches Like product approaches, genre approaches regard writing aspredominantly linguistic but, unlike product approaches, they emphasize thatwriting varies with the social context in which it is produced As a result, there is arange of kinds of writing-such as sales letters, research articles, and reports - linkedwith different situations (Flowerdew 1993: 307)

1.2 Task-Based Approaches

Apart from the three mainstream approaches above, there is also an approachnamely TBLT that is rather slippery to be classified into either product oriented,process-oriented or genre approaches as it is kind of selected combination of all toserve the purpose of enhancing communicative competence with target language

For that reason, task based approach in this paper is discussed in a separated part.

Although the approach known as ‘task-based language teaching’ (TBLT) hasalready emerged since mid 1980s with Long & Porter (1985), Nunan.D (1989) andflourished with a lot of research done honors the names of Candlin , Crookes,Skehan, Willis, Ellis and many other scholars of ELT, little research has beenconcerned with teaching writing in particular except for Yoshito, S (2009) andSetyaningrum, Z.(2011) However, none of these two studies suggests anydefinition or framework for TBLT for teaching writing skills Therefore, task basedwriting, like other language skills, in this studied, is discussed mainly based on thegeneral framework for TBLT in general

Accordingly, TBLT approach to teaching writing seeks to engage learners ininteractionally authentic language writing by having them perform a series of tasks

It aims to both enable learners (1) to acquire new linguistic knowledge and (2) toproceduralize their existing knowledge (Ellis, 2003)

1.2.1 Tasks and types of tasks

Willis, J (1996:23) defines ‘tasks are always activities where the language isused by the learners for the communicative purpose (goal) in order to achieve anoutcome.’ More clearly, according to Ellis (2003), a task is a work plan that requireslearners to process language pragmatically in order to achieve an outcome that can

be evaluated in terms of content (rather than language) In these two definitions,tasks are seen in the pedagogical perspectives only.(Nunan, 2004)

Nunan, (2004) refers the definition of tasks in Ellis (2006) as ‘definition ofpedagogical tasks’ (Nunan, 2004:3) and gives his own definition in terms of twotasks: real world tasks and pedagogical tasks which are called target tasks andpedagogical tasks by Long, & Crookes (1992) and communication tasks andlearning tasks by Breen (1987, 2) respectively

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The two terms Target Tasks and Learning Tasks are used instead in thisstudy.

Learning tasks are pieces of classroom work that involve learners in

comprehending, manipulating, producing and interacting in target language whiletheir attention is focused on mobilizing their grammatical knowledge in order to express meaning rather than manipulate forms (Nunan, 2004)

Therefore, a controlled practice activity involving repetition of target

patterns is not a task, even if this is done in pairs For example, the activity of changing the verb forms from present to past simples or in pairs ask and

answer question using Do you like ….?Yes, I do, No, I don’t (Willis, J., 1996)

In short, tasks draw the attention paid on meaning while a controlled practiceactivities or exercises are focused on forms That tasks are meaning focused doesnot mean that forms are not important, but it means forms can be learntsimultaneously through the process of task completion

1.2.2 The integrated EOP framework of TBLT applied in teaching writing

It is well-known that an EOP course design includes the following elements:needs analysis, objectives, means, syllabus, methodology, and assessment (Jordan1997: 57)

Although Willis’ framework for TBLT is a complete guide to themethodology and practice of task-based language teaching, she does not providemuch about the framework for task-based writing teaching Based on the frameworkfor TBLT in general in Willis (1996), the following framework for task basedwriting teaching is developed

1 PRE-TASK PHASE INTRODUCTION TO TASK

Teacher explores the communicative situation with the class with specificcommunicative prompts The prompts should provide learners good reasons to writeand should include useful words and phrases Teacher helps learners understandwriting task instructions Learners may be exposed to the description of others doing

a similar task, or read part of a text as a lead in to a task as a source of inputlanguage for their task completion later

2 TASK CYCLE

Students discuss how to After planning how to do Some groups present their

do the task and what to do and what to do to fulfill written or oral reports of

in pairs or small groups the task, students work how they did the task toTeacher monitors from a individually, in pairs or in the class and show theirdistance, encouraging all groups to complete the written works as anattempts at task that definitely indispensable evidence ofcommunication, not involves writing task completion They cancorrecting Since this something as the only exchange written reportssituation has a "private" mean to complete the and written work andfeel, students feel free to task For example, if the compare Teacher acts as aexperiment Mistakes task is applying for a job, chairperson, and thendon't matter they have to write an comments on the content

application letter of the written work

3 LANGUAGE FOCUS

Students examine and then discuss Teacher also highlights their commonspecific features of their written works errors in their written work and suggestswith their peers with references to the corrections and conducts practice of newinput language in the prompts provided words, phrases, and patterns occurring in

Figure 1: Framework for task based writing teaching

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To put concretely, in the first phase, what need to be done in writingclassrooms are mainly some preparatory activities for a specific writing task Theteacher should set a written task, then highlights useful words and phrases, as well

as a variety of background knowledge to help students understand task instructions

At the beginning of the second phase ‘task cycle’, students are firstly required todiscuss task orally in pairs or groups to decide how to approach this task while theteacher monitors from a distance After that, each pair or group will be asked todiscuss outline and to write down some notes in the planning stage Then, the firstdraft for the task will be asked to finish within one pair or group in required time.Subsequently, drafts will be exchanged with another pair or group asking for somesuggestions for improvements At the end of planning stage, each pair or group will

be required to redraft, check, improve their first versions to make final drafts readyfor audience After planning, several pairs or groups of students will be randomlychosen to present their reports to the rest of the class, sharing with other groupswhat they have found and learnt from their collaboration pertinent to specificfeatures of the written products In addition, some points worthy of noticing willalso be summed up by the teacher

In such a framework for task-based teaching of writing, its core is the taskcycle, in which the emphasis is on fluency and spontaneity during the task stage andthe planning stage, while the report presentation puts demands on attention toaccurate grammatical forms and also contains what need to be finished in what isreferred to as ‘language focus’ in the TBL framework

As for specific tasks conducted in college EFL writing classrooms, Horowitzsummarizes it with a classification of writing tasks employed in college into 7 types:book reports, bibliography, experience reports, reports on theoretical studies, reports

on empirical studies, statistical synthesis and reports of experiments (Horowitz,1986)

In a very real sense, target tasks used in current college EFL writingclassrooms are supposed to be more than what Horowitz has proposed In otherwords, all tasks in which learners use appropriate English resources they have forshowing writing skills in order to share and compare experiences, to exchange

information, to introduce something or someone, to defend themselves and refuteothers’ viewpoints or argue with others, or even to solve some practical or real-lifeproblems, etc can be considered as what I count in this study.

1.3 Syllabus Design in Language Teaching

The term syllabus is generally defined as “a description of the contents of a

course of instruction and the order in which they are to be taught” (Richards &Schmidt, 2002: 532) There is some disagreement, however, concerning the role ofmethodology and its relationship with syllabus design, resulting in two diverging

approaches The narrow approach views syllabus and methodology as clearly and

necessarily distinct: The syllabus consists of the selection and grading of contentwhile the methodology consists of the selection of teaching practices and

procedures Proponents of the broad approach on the other hand, argue that the

emergence of CLT has invalidated the idea that syllabus and methodology can bedeveloped separately (Nunan, 1988)

In some cases, such as in task-based language teaching (TBLT) there is noclear boundary between the syllabus content and the classroom procedures andactivities In other cases, it is argued that combining certain syllabuses with certainmethodologies creates conflict, such as communicative methodology paired to astructural-grammatical syllabus (Willis, 1990)

For the purpose of this paper, a syllabus will be broadly defined as the interaction between pedagogic content and methodology within a specific approach

to language and language learning.

1.3.1 Approaches to Language Syllabus Design ( LSD)

Syllabus proposal of kind or another kind might be analyzed in many differentways Although there are a variety of attempts to classify approaches to LSD, the

division into the two main strands: Synthetic and Analytic suggested in Wilkin

(1976) and Long & Crookes (1992, 1993) seems to be the most commonlyaccepted

1.3.1.1 Synthetic Approach

‘A Synthetic language teaching strategy is one in which the different parts of

language are taught separately and step by step so that acquisition is a process of

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gradual accumulation of parts until the whole structure of language has been built up’ (Wilkin, 1976:2 )

In this view, structural, lexical, notional and functional, and most situational andtopical syllabuses are all synthetic (Long and Crookes, 1993) Those are the syllabiwhich the focus is on forms -the knowledge and skills that learners should gain as aresult of instruction The language learning process is seen as the steadyaccumulation of linguistic rules and items, in the ultimate direction of command ofthe second language It is assumed that the learner is able to learn language in parts,and to integrate them when the time comes to use them for communicativepurposes Wilkins (1976) indicated that the learner’s role is “to re-synthesize thelanguage that has been broken down into a large number of small pieces with theaim of making his learning task easier”

1.3.1.2 Analytic Approach

On the contrary, analytic syllabi ‘are organized in terms of the purposes for which

people are learning language and kinds of language performance that are necessary to meet those purposes (Wilkin, 1976:13).

Here a chunk of language is presented to the learner in the context of a meaning

oriented lesson Analytic refers not to what the syllabus designer does, but to the

operations required of the learner to recognize and analyze the linguisticcomponents of the language chunks presented

Long and Crookes (1993: 11) updates Wilkins’definition, pointing out that analyticsyllabuses are those that present the target language whole chunks at a time, inmolar rather than molecular units, without linguistic interference or control Theyrely on (a) the learners’ presumed ability to perceive regularities in the input andinduce rules, and/or (b) the continued availability to learners or innate knowledge oflinguistic universals and the ways language can vary, knowledge which can bereactivated by exposure to natural samples of the L2

In this sense, process approach based CLT syllabi including procedural, process,and task based syllabus are examples of the analytic approach to LSD

1.3.2 Different Types of Syllabus

As there are two main approaches to LSD, there are two main types of syllabus: the

analytic syllabus and the synthetic syllabus, In fact, this classification is just

theoretical because in the real teaching practice, there are no solely analytic orsolely synthetic The types of syllabus should be determined according to theprominence given to the forms or form Therefore, to be more exact and easier to

follow, this paper hereafter employs the two terms the product based syllabus and the process based syllabus.

The comparison of the two types and their sub-types are presented in the two figuresbelow:

Product based syllabus: Process based syllabus:

What is to be learnt How is to be learnt

Determined by authority Negotiated between learners and

teachersTeacher as decision-maker Learner and teacher as joint decision

makersContent = what the subject is to the Content = what the subject is to the

Content = a gift to the learner from the Content = what the learner brings and

Objectives defined in advance Objectives described afterwards

Assessment by achievement or by Assessment in relationship to learners’

Doing things to the learner Doing things for or with the learner

Figure 2:Product based vs Process based syllabus (adapted from White (1988: 44))

LANGUAGE SYLLABUS

SYNTHETIC

PRODUCT -BASED

ANALYTIC PROCESS- BASED

FUNCTIONAL

Figure 3: Types of Language Syllabus

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1.3.2.1 Product Based Syllabus

1.3.2.1.1 Grammatical syllabus

Historically, the most prevalent of syllabus type is perhaps the structural orgrammatical syllabus in which the selection and grading of the content is based onthe complexity and simplicity of grammatical items (Nunan, 1988) The learner isexpected to master each structural step and add it to her grammar collection Assuch the focus is on the outcomes or the product One problem facing the syllabusdesigner pursuing a grammatical order to sequencing input is that the tiesconnecting the structural items may be rather weak A more fundamental criticism isthat the grammatical syllabus focuses on only one aspect of language, namelygrammar, whereas in truth there exist many more aspects of language Finally,recent research suggests there is a disagreement between the grammar of the spokenand of the written language; raising complications for the grading of content ingrammar based syllabuses

1.3.2.1.2 Situational syllabus

The limitations found in grammatical approach led to an alternative approachwhere situational needs are emphasized rather than grammatical units Here, theprincipal organizing characteristic is a list of situations which reflects the waylanguage is used in everyday life i.e outside the classroom Thus, by linkingstructural theory to situations the learner is able to grasp the meaning in relevantcontext

One advantage of the situational Syllabus is that motivation will beheightened since it is "learner- rather than subject-centered" (Wilkins.1976).However, a situational syllabus will be limited for students whose needs were notencompassed by the situations in the syllabus This dissatisfaction led Wilkins todescribe notional and communicative categories which had a significant impact onsyllabus design

1.3.2.1.3 Notional/Functional syllabus

Wilkins' criticism of structural and situational approaches lies in the fact thatthey answer only the 'how' or 'when' and 'where' of language use Instead, heenquires "what it is they communicate through language" Thus, the starting point

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for a syllabus is the communicative purpose and conceptual meaning of languagei.e notions and functions, as opposed to only the grammatical items and situationalelements.

In order to establish objectives of such a syllabus, the needs of the learnerswill have to be analyzed on the base of communication need Consequently, needsanalysis has an association with notional/functional syllabuses White (1988:77)claims that "language functions do not usually occur in isolation" and there are alsodifficulties of selecting and grading function and form

1.3.2.2 Process Based Syllabus

1.3.2.2.1 Content based syllabus

According to Nunan (1988), the primary purpose of instruction in acontent based syllabus is to teach some content or information using the languagethat the students are also learning The students are simultaneously languagestudents and students of whatever content is being taught The subject matter isprimary, and language learning occurs incidentally to the content learning Thecontent teaching is not organized around the language teaching, but vice-versa.Content-based language teaching is concerned with information, while task-basedlanguage teaching is concerned with communicative and cognitive processes Anexample of content-based language teaching is a science class taught in thelanguage the students need or want to learn, possibly with linguistic adjustment tomake the science more comprehensible

1.3.2.2.2 Task-Based syllabus (TBS)

One particular type of process syllabus is a TBS, where the emphasis is asmuch on what learners do in order to learn as the eventual objectives In TBS, tasksare treated as ‘unit of teaching on their own right and serve as the basis fordesigning the complete courses’ and ‘tasks are the actual means for constructing thesyllabus’ (Ellis, 2003:65)

TBS is built with two types of tasks: target tasks learning tasks Targettasks prioritize the purposeful use of the target language in the real sharing ofmeaning Learning tasks aim to explore the workings of knowledge systems

themselves especially how these may be worked and learned (Breen, 1987) That is,

a learning task serves to facilitate a learner’s participation in target tasks while atarget task ‘facilitates the learning of something new’ and solves a problem Alearning task aiming to prepare for a target task or solve an earlier problem cangenerate real communication among participants

They both require participants to engage the underlying competence inundertaking interpretation, expression, and negotiation in actual communicativeevents Breen (1987) indicates that ‘learners can cope with the unpredictable, becreative and adaptable, and often transfer knowledge and capability across tasks.’ In

a Task-based syllabus, communicative abilities and learning capability are achievedsimultaneously through the new language

1.3.3 Steps in Task –Based Syllabus Design

Nunan (1988: 60) points out that the initial step in the process of designing

a syllabus is to carry out a needs analysis to assess the needs of the learners Basing

on the result of this analysis, the aim and the objectives of the syllabus will be set

up and the content of the syllabus will be selected and graded

In case of TBS design, Long & Crookes (1992) offers the following stepsfor developing a task-based syllabus:

o Conduct a needs analysis to obtain an inventory of target tasks

o Classify the target tasks into task types

o From the task types, derive pedagogical tasks

o Select and sequence the pedagogical tasks to form a task based syllabus

Ellis (2003), however, suggests a rather different framework for designingTBS This process includes the specification of tasks involving task selection and sequencing and the specification of language to be incorporated into tasks

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Figure 4 Framework for task based syllabus design (Ellis 2003: 66)

Nunan (2004:25) proposes a framework particularly for TBS design as following

Figure 5 Framework for task based syllabus design (Nunan, 2004:25)

Based on the common features of the three ideas above, another framework for the TBS designing is suggested with the following steps:

o Situational analysis (the teachers, the students, the current syllabus)

o Need analysis (target needs (target tasks and target language) and learning needs (learning style preference))

- Task types selection

- Learning task development and target language incorporation

1.3.3.1 Needs Analysis (NA) in TBS Design

A syllabus compilation is necessarily preceded by a needs analysis, as it

‘provides a basis for setting goals and objectives’ (Nunan, 1988: 27) In case ofTBS it also provides a basis for task selection

As Hutchinson, Tom and Waters (1987: 54) point out, what is meant by needs

analysis here is ultimately the analysis of the target needs and learning need

analysis

1.3.3.1.1 Target Need Analysis

Target Needs refers to what students need to do in the target situation It islike an umbrella term that hides a number of important distinctions: Necessities,Lacks and Wants

Necessities, according to the demands of the target situation, are what the learner

has to do (target tasks) and to know (target language) in order to function effectively

in that situation

Lacks is a gap between the existing proficiency and the target proficiency This

may be investigated in the contextual analysis Based on what the learner alreadyknows, what necessities are missing is detected

Wants is what the learners expect to learn In case of TBS, it means the tasks

learners want to do However, the learner's "wants" may or may not conform thoseperceived by the teachers or course designers (Hutchinson,Tom and Water, 1987)

1.3.3.1.2 Learning Need Analysis

The learning need is equated to the route of learning This concerns thingssuch as how learners learn the language, why they learn it, what resources areavailable to help them learn In this study, learning need analysis was done throughthe questionnaire to investigate the learning styles preferred by the students andexpected by the teachers Why they learn and what resources are available areinvestigated in the situational analysis instead

1.3.3.2 Aims and objectives setting

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Establishing the basis aims and objectives of the syllabus is very importantsince such aims will in fact govern the whole process of the syllabus design as well

as the syllabus implementation Aims refer to the underlying reasons for purposes

of a course while objectives describe what is to be achieved in a course

As stated by Ellis Rod, the course objectives are “indicated by the needsanalysis, and expressed in terms of what the learner should be able to do” (Ellis,2003:35) In other words, the course objectives are set in relation to the learners’own objectives in learning the language However, in my opinion, apart fromlearners’ own objectives or the learners’ wants in other words, the objectivesshould be also indicated on a basis of necessities or what learners are supposed to

do even regardless of whether they want to do or not

According to Branden (2006), most modern language programs aim at thelearners’ ability to use language in real communication However this overarchinggoal should be broken down to more concrete and operational goals that guide thedesign of the different components of a syllabus down to the level of separatelesson activities

At this practical level, TBLT formulates operational language learning goals not

in terms of which particular words or grammar rules that learners need to acquirebut rather in terms of the target tasks that learners will need to perform

1.3.3.3 Task Selecting and Sequencing

Once target tasks have been identified via the needs analysis, the next step is

to classify and organize them Learning tasks which engage the students in various

aspects of communication are then developed and sequenced to form the TBS.

Simplicity and complexity will not result from the traditional application oflinguistic criteria, but reside in some aspects of the tasks themselves A few of thepotential sequencing criteria that have been proposed are: the number of stepsinvolved, the number of solutions to a problem, the amount and kind of languagerequired, the number of learners involved, and other aspects of intellectualchallenge a learning task poses (Long & Crookes, 1992)

Task based theorists de-emphasize the need to articulate methodological

concerns and suggest that they are inherent in the tasks The negotiation of learning

process urged by many (Breen, 1987; Candlin, 1980; Hutchinson, Tom & Waters,

1987) can be built into task-based language teaching as a methodologicalconsideration Breen (1987) draws attention to the frequent disparity between whatthe teacher intends as the outcome of a task and what the learners actually derivefrom it

According to Nunan (1988: 20) learning outcomes will be influenced bylearners' perceptions about what they should contribute their views about the nature anddemands of the task, and their definitions of the situation in which the task takes place

In addition, we cannot know for certain how different learners are likely to carry out atask Nunan (1989: 20) suggests that one way of dealing with the discrepancy betweenpsychological/operational realities for the learner and the teacher is to involve learners

in designing or selecting tasks He suggests that it should be possible to allow learnerschoices in deciding what to do and how to do it provided there is a major change in ourview of the roles we assign to learners and teacher

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CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY

2.1 Setting of the study

The English majors have to take different courses of English as theircompulsory and elective subjects in order to get the BA degree English as a major

is taught with different subjects allocated throughout the academic program of 4years After graduation, English major graduates often have such jobs as translators,teachers and mostly office staff who deal with the correspondence of the office

Writing skills, a compulsory subject of that program, is integrated with other

skills in the same textbook, The Business Intermediate, which is taught in fourcourses in four semesters and accounts for 8 credits It means that there is noseparated writing skill textbook or syllabus for English-majored students

Despite its importance, the limited writing lessons, though available, wasdeveloped out of the designers’ intuitive without referring to need analysis andsyllabus design methodology, so its pitfalls can be seen in the fact that it is nothelpful for teachers in implementing it and it partly contributes to learners’

disinterest in learning Writing skills.

Furthermore, at the present time, TMU has to conform its training

programs to the CEFR (The Common European Framework of Reference for

Languages) as required by the Ministry of Education and Training Therefore, TMUinsists that all the syllabi should be designed if in need to meet the target demandprescribed in the CEFR

2.2 Informants.

The informants of the study were selected from the student and teacherpopulation of TMU The second-year students (62) were taken as the studentinformants of the study They are selected on the account that they are the targetlearners of the course of which the syllabus is intended to design They had taken allthe writing lessons in The Business, Pre-intermediate in their first year by the timethey were asked to answer the questionnaires

All teachers who teach English as a major in TMU including 10 people weretaken as the informants of the study All of them are Masters from the College of

foreign languages, Hanoi National University These teachers are the one who willimplement the syllabus By the time they were interviewed and answered thequestionnaire, they had been teaching English as a major in English Section ofTMU for at least 6 years.

2.3 Data collection instruments

- Section 1 was written to find out the teachers’ profiles including their age,

education and teaching experience

- Section 2 is to investigate teachers’ attitudes toward teaching writing to thesecond-year students and the current syllabus

- Section 3 aims at eliciting teachers’ expectation for the new writing

syllabus in terms of target tasks, target language and methodology

The second questionnaire was administered to 62 second-year students ofEnglish major in TMU with 3 sections similar to the questionnaire for teachers

- Section 1 aims at investigating the students’ background including theirage, their years of learning English, their English entry level, their learning styles

- Section 2 is to examine students’ attitudes toward the current course

- Section 3 is to investigate what students want to learn (target need) andhow they want to learn (learning needs) in the course Writing skills 1 (Target Tasks)

The documents available including the CEFR (2001), the current syllabusand the second-year students’ writing papers were also employed as the research instruments

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2.4 Data collection and data analysis procedure.

To accomplish the purpose of the study, the following procedures werepursued:

First, 62 writing papers written by the student informants as one of theirwriting class work at the first class of the course were marked and analyzed toassess the learners’ writing competence They were asked to write a letter tointroduce themselves to the teachers (see appendix 4) The papers then wereexamined and sorted into different levels from A1 to C2 based on the CEFRassessment of written language level (CEFR, 2001) with 4 criteria:

1 Overall written production

2 General linguistic range

3 Grammatical accuracy

5 Coherence and cohesion

Second, the CEFR common references levels was examined with the view tofinding out the expectation of the university about the target objectives for thecourse What described in the CEFR about the target outcomes of the course wasanalyzed in comparison with the findings from the students’ writing paper in order

to determine the lacks- a gap between the existing proficiency and the targetproficiency The four broad domains of language use proposed in the CEFR (2001)including the personal, public, the occupational and the educational is used as basis

to develop the questionnaire surveying the teachers and students’ attitudes towardsthe target tasks (section 3 of the questionnaires)

Third, the current syllabus was examined to have an overall evaluation interms of objectives, learners’ motivation, contents and methodology in order to findout the shortcomings that are expected to be made up in the new syllabus

Last, questionnaires were developed for teachers of the English section andthe target students based on the need analysis framework in Hutchinson, Tom &Water (1987) The questionnaire for the teachers was administered at the break time

of the English group’s weekly meeting For the students, it was administered at theclosing minutes of the class Before administrating the instrument, the purposes andthe importance of the study were clarified to the participants They also received

oral instruction about how to complete the questionnaire Each questionnaire wasgathered after 15 minutes of administration The data obtained from these twoquestionnaires were imported into the computer and treated in Excel The data werethen subjected to some descriptive and inferential statistics For accurate andeffective interpretation of data, the author uses frequencies and sorting to find outthe percentage that indicates more emphasis given to each item.

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