A study on second year navigation students difficulties in learning ESP vocabulary at haiphong poli technical college

1 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POSTGRADUATE STUDIES TRẦN THÁI SƠN A STUDY ON SECOND-YEAR NAVIGATION STUDENTS’ Difficulties IN LEARNING ESP Vocabulary at Haiphong poly-technical college (NGHIÊN CỨU NHỮNG KHÓ KHĂN TRONG VIỆC HỌC TỪ VỰNG TIẾNG ANH CHUYÊN NGÀNH CỦA SINH VIÊN NĂM THỨ HAI NGÀNH ĐIỀU KHIỂN TÀU BIỂN TẠI TRƯỜNG CAO ĐẲNG NGHỀ BÁCH NGHỆ HẢI PHÒNG) M.A MINOR THESIS FIELD: ENGLISH METHODOLOGY CODE: 601410 HANOI - 2010 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POSTGRADUATE STUDIES TRẦN THÁI SƠN A STUDY ON SECOND-YEAR NAVIGATION STUDENTS’ Difficulties IN LEARNING ESP Vocabulary at Haiphong poly-technical college (NGHIÊN CỨU NHỮNG KHÓ KHĂN TRONG VIỆC HỌC TỪ VỰNG TIẾNG ANH CHUYÊN NGÀNH CỦA SINH VIÊN NĂM THỨ HAI NGÀNH ĐIỀU KHIỂN TÀU BIỂN TẠI TRƯỜNG CAO ĐẲNG NGHỀ BÁCH NGHỆ HẢI PHÒNG) M.A MINOR THESIS FIELD: ENGLISH METHODOLOGY CODE: 601410 SUPERVISOR: MAI THỊ LOAN, M.A HANOI- 2010 TABLE OF CONTENTS Declaration of originality Acknowledgement Abstract Table of contents List of abbreviations List of tables and charts Part 1: Introduction Rationale of the study Aims of the study Scope of the study Methods of the study Significance of the study Design of the study Part 2: Development Chapter 1: Literature review 1.1 English for Special Purposes 1.1.1 Definition of ESP 1.1.2 Classification of ESP 1.1.3 Maritime English 1.1.4 The requirements for ESP teachers 1.2 Terminology 1.2.1 Definition of terminology 1.2.2 Characteristics of terminology 1.3 Vocabulary 1.3.1 Definition of words 1.3.2 Classification of words 1.3.3 Four strands in learning vocabulary 1.4 Factors affecting vocabulary acquisition 1.4.1 Learner styles and learner strategies 1.4.2 Materials 1.4.3 Pronunciation and spelling 1.4.4 Prototypes 1.4.5 Contextualization 1.4.6 Learner autonomy 1.5 Strategies to enhance students‟ vocabulary 1.5.1 Developing a variety of techniques for the teaching of meaning 1.5.2 Encouraging the development of effective strategies 1.5.3 Exposing learners to vocabulary through reading and training lexical inferencing 1.5.4 Teaching the effective use of dictionaries 1.5.5 Evaluating the vocabulary component of course books 1.5.6 Teaching vocabulary explicitly through a range of activity types 1.5.7 Developing resources for vocabulary teaching 1.6 Summary Chapter 2: Methodology 2.1 Context of the study 2.2 Research question 2.3 Subjects of the study 2.4 Data collection instruments 2.4.1 Questionnaire 2.4.2 Test 2.4.3 Interview 2.5 Data collection procedure Chapter 3: Data analysis, major findings and suggested solutions 3.1 Data analysis 3.1.1 Questionnaire 3.1.2 Test 3.1.3 Interview 3.2 Major findings 3.2.1 Lack of necessary GE knowledge 3.2.2 ESP vocabulary pronunciation and meanings 3.2.3 Inappropriate materials 3.2.4 Lack of effective strategies for learning ESP vocabulary 3.2.5 Difficulties in teaching ESP words 3.2.6 Lack of learner autonomy 3.3 Suggested solutions 3.3.1 Enhancing the necessary GE knowledge 3.3.2 Developing resources for ESP vocabulary teaching and learning 3.3.3 Encouraging the development of effective vocabulary learning strategies 3.3.4 Developing the effective ESP vocabulary teaching 3.3.5 Encouraging students to form their learning autonomy Part 3: Conclusion Summary of the study Limitations of the study Suggestions for further study References Appendices Appendix 1: Questionnaire Appendix 2: Test Appendix 3: Answer keys to the test Appendix 4: Interview questions for ESP teachers ... VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POSTGRADUATE STUDIES TRẦN THÁI SƠN A STUDY ON SECOND- YEAR NAVIGATION STUDENTS? ?? Difficulties IN LEARNING. .. in learning vocabulary 1.4 Factors affecting vocabulary acquisition 1.4.1 Learner styles and learner strategies 1.4.2 Materials 1.4.3 Pronunciation and spelling 1.4.4 Prototypes 1.4.5 Contextualization... solutions 3.1 Data analysis 3.1.1 Questionnaire 3.1.2 Test 3.1.3 Interview 3.2 Major findings 3.2.1 Lack of necessary GE knowledge 3.2.2 ESP vocabulary pronunciation and meanings 3.2.3 Inappropriate