Difficulties in reading english for finance of the second year students of accounting department at hanoi vocational training college for electro mechanics

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES ĐINH THỊ TUYẾT THOA difficulties in reading “English for Finance” of the second-year-students of Accounting Department at Hanoi Vocational Training College for Electro-Mechanics TÌM HIỂU NHỮNG KHÓ KHĂN TRONG VIỆC ĐỌC HIỂU TIẾNG ANH CHUYÊN NGÀNH CỦA SINH VIÊN NĂM THỨ HAI KHOA KẾ TOÁN CỦA TRƢỜNG CAO ĐẲNG NGHỀ CƠ ĐIỆN HÀ NỘI M.A Minor Thesis Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 601410 Hanoi – 2011 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES ĐINH THỊ TUYẾT THOA difficulties in reading “English for Finance” of the second-year-students of Accounting Department at Hanoi Vocational Training College for Electro-Mechanics TÌM HIỂU NHỮNG KHÓ KHĂN TRONG VIỆC ĐỌC HIỂU TIẾNG ANH CHUYÊN NGÀNH CỦA SINH VIÊN NĂM THỨ HAI KHOA KẾ TOÁN CỦA TRƢỜNG CAO ĐẲNG NGHỀ CƠ ĐIỆN HÀ NỘI M.A Minor Thesis Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 601410 Supervisor: Dr Dƣơng Thị Nụ Hanoi – 2011 iv List of abbreviation ESP: English for Specific Purposes EOP: English for Occupational Purposes EAP: English for Academic Purposes EEP: English for Educational Purposes GE: General English IT: Information Technology HVTCEM: Hanoi Vocational Training College for Electro-Mechanics v List of figures, charts and tables Figures: Figure 1: ESP classification by experience Figure 2: ESP classification by professional area Tables: Table 1: Students’ perception on the purposes of learning reading English for Finance Table 2: Students’ focus when learning English for Finance Table 3: The difficulties in term of reading skills Table 4: The difficulties in term of vocabulary Table 5: The difficulties in term of grammar Table 6: The difficulties in term of cultural background knowledge Table 7: Students’ views of sources of difficulties Table 8: The students’ expectation in term of materials Table 9: The students’ expectation in term of methodology Charts: Chart 1: Students’ preference in ESP reading Chart 2: Students’ perception on the importance of ESP reading Chart 3: Students’ perception on the necessity of reading English for Finance for their future job vi TABLE OF CONTENTS Statement of authorship i Acknowledgement ii Abstract iii List of abbreviations iv List of figures, tables and charts v Table of content vi Part I INTRODUCTION……………………………………………………… 1 Rationale Aims of the study Research questions Methods of research Scope of the study 1 2 2 Organizations of the study Part 2: Development ……………………………… Chapter 1: Literature review 1.1 Basic concepts about ESP……………………… ………………… 4 1.1.1 Definitions of ESP 1.1.2 Types of ESP 1.2 Reading in ESP teaching and learning 1.2.1 Reading skills in ESP 1.2.2 ESP teachers and their roles 1.2.3 ESP students and their roles 1.2.4 ESP reading materials and their roles 1.3 Difficulties in ESP reading 1.3.1 Reading skill problem 1.3.2 Language problem 1.3.3 Cultural background knowledge problem vii 1.4 Summary 10 Chapter 2: The current situation of teaching and 11 learning English for Finance at Hanoi Vocational Training College for Electro-Mechanics 2.1 Institution 11 11 2.2 The teachers and their methods of teaching 2.3 The students and their background knowledge 2.4 The teaching and learning English at HNVTCEM 2.5 General review of the course book “English for Finance” 2.5.1 Rationale for choosing the course book and objectives of the course 2.5.2 Topics, terminologies and grammatical structures 2.5.3 Characteristics of reading texts 2.6 Summary 12 12 13 13 14 16 17 Chapter 3: Research Methodology 18 3.1 Participants 3.2 The data collection methods 3.3 The data collection procedure 3.4 Data analysis 18 18 19 20 20 3.5 Summary Chapter 4: Findings and discussion 21 4.1 Discussion of the results collected by means of the questionnaire 4.1.1 Students’ attitude towards ESP reading 4.1.2 Students’ perception on the purposes of reading lessons 4.1.3 Students’ focus when learning English for Finance 4.1.4 Students’ difficulties in learning reading English for Finance 4.1.4.1 In term of reading skills 4.1.4 In term of vocabulary 4.1.4 In term of grammar 21 21 22 23 23 24 24 25 viii 4.1.4 In term of cultural background knowledge 27 4.1.5 The causes for these difficulties in learning reading English for Finance 27 4.1.5.1 From the reading materials 27 4.1.5.2 From the teachers 27 4.1.5.3 From the learners 28 4.1.6 The learners’ expectation in term of materials 30 4.1.7 The learners’ expectation in term of methodology 31 4.2 Discussion of the result collected by means of the interview, classroom 32 observation and journal keeping 4.2.1 Teachers’ attitude towards ESP reading 32 4.2.2 Teachers’ opinion on the course book they are teaching 33 4.2.3 Teachers’ focus when teaching reading English for Finance 33 4.2.4 Teachers’ techniques to teach students in reading English for Finance .33 4.2.5 Teachers’ difficulties in teaching reading English for Finance 34 4.2.5.1 In term of cultural background knowledge 34 4.2.5.2 In term of methodology 35 4.3 Summary 36 Chapter five: Recommendations 37 5.1 Training students to become efficient readers 5.1.1 Improving students with different reading strategies 5.1.2 Encouraging students to develop extensive reading habits 37 37 38 39 40 5.2 Improving teachers’ techniques in teaching English for Finance 5.3 Developing English for Finance reading materials 41 5.4 Improving teachers’ professional knowledge about economics 5.5 Improving teachers’ teaching methodology 5.6 Summary 40 41 ix Part 3: CONCLUSION………………………………………………………… 42 Summary of the findings 42 Limitation of the study and suggestion for further study 43 REFERENCEs………………… …………………………………………… Appendices ……………… …………………………………………… Appendix 1: Phiếu điều tra nghiên cứu Appendix 2: Interview questions for teachers Appendix 3: List of topics in the course book Appendix 4: Unit 17: Financial statements Appendix 5: Translated version of the survey questionnaire for students 44 I V VI VII IX Part 1: Introduction Rationale Learning English now is not only an interest but also a practical thing for many people Learning English means learning four related skills: listening, speaking, reading and writing In teaching and learning English as a foreign language in Vietnam, reading has always received a great deal of attention This is understandable because English is taught and learnt in non-English environment, so reading is not only the important means to get knowledge but also means of further study What is more, by means of English, the learners can take it professionally in their future work as well as in reading their specialized materials It is exactly true for students of accounting At Hanoi Vocational Training College for Electro-Mechanics (HVTCEM), after finishing 120 general English periods, students of accounting department begin to take 60 ESP periods Being an ESP teacher of economics, the researcher has always been aware of the importance of developing reading skill for accounting students If students read well, they are able to handle subject-related written materials in English and to work with modern technology equipment But in fact, in spite of the effort of the teachers and students, the researcher finds her students‟ reading disappointing, which not meet the requirements of the college It is often seen that when poor reading results are reported, one tends to blame the students for having poor ability or for making insufficient effort However, the students are not always at fault With some years of English teaching experience, the researcher recognized that there are many other factors that affect the teaching and learning reading process such as inappropriate teaching methods and classroom techniques, inappropriate attitude of the teachers and learners towards the subjects, unsuitable teaching materials, etc For all the above reasons, the researcher would like to find out the areas of students‟ difficulties at HVTCEM when learning reading English for Finance and the cause of these difficulties It is also hoped that the study will make some suggestions for the teachers and learners to improve the teaching and learning English for Finance at college Aims of the study This study aims to investigate the difficulties in reading English for Finance of the second year students at HVTCEM To be more specific, the objectives of this study are: 45 14 O‟Donnell, R.C (1961) „A study of the core relation between Awarness of Structural Relationship in English and Ability in Reading comprehension‟ Journal of Experimental Education, XXX 1961, 313-316 15 Ltd Robinson, P (1991), ESP today- A practice guide, Prentice Hall International 16 Robinson, P (1994), Techniques and resources in teaching reading, OUP 17 Sarig, G (1987) „High level Reading in the First and in the Foreign Language: Some Comparative Process Data‟ In J Deine, P.L Carrell & D.E Eskey (Ed.) Research in Reading in English as a Second Language Washington, D.C: TESOL 18 Silberstain, S (1994), Techniques and resources in teaching reading, OUP 19 Steffensen, M.F, Joag- Dev, C& Anderson, R.C (1979) „A cross-cultural Perceptive on reading comprehension‟ Reading research Quarterly, 15,10-29 20 Strevens, P (1988) ESP after twenty years: a reappraisal in Makhan.l Tickoo (ed), ESP: State of the art SEAMEO Regional Language Center 21 Teaching English for specific purposes, (2005), journal of Using English Retrieved December 12, 2005 from http://www.usingenglish.com/articles/teachingenglish-special-purposes 22 William, E (1990), Reading in the classroom New York: Macmilan Publisher 23 Waters, A (Ed.) (1982) Issues in ESP (Volume 5) Bergamo Press 24 Widdowson, H.G (1990) Aspects of language teaching, OUP 25 William, R (1986), „Top ten’ principles for teaching reading‟, ELT journal 40(1): 42-45 26 Yorio, C.A (1971) Some Sources of Reading Problems for Foreign Language Learners’ Language learning, 21, 107-115 I Appendix I: PHIẾU ĐIỀU TRA NGHIÊN CỨU Bảng câu hỏi lập nhằm mục đích tìm hiểu khó khăn việc đọc hiểu tiếng Anh chuyên nghành sinh viên năm thứ hai khoa Kế Toán trường Cao Đẳng nghề Cơ Điện Hà Nội Các câu trả lời mà bạn cung cấp nguồn đóng góp có giá trị để chúng tơi hồn thiện cách dạy học tiếng Anh chuyên ngành Dữ liệu điều tra sử dụng cho việc nghiên cứu,khơng mục đích khác (Chỉ có người nghiên cứu biết câu trả lời bạn mong bạn trả lời theo suy nghĩ mình.) Trước trả lời câu hỏi, xin vui lịng điền số thơng tin sau: - Giới tính: - Gia đình bạn sống đâu? - Trước vào trường CĐNCĐ bạn có học tiếng Anh khơng? Có + Nếu có bắt đầu học nào? + Nếu khơng bạn học ngoại ngữ nào? - Bạn học giáo trình chuyên ngành nào? Phần A: Xin vui lòng khoanh tròn vào câu trả lời phù hợp cho câu hỏi sau: Bạn có thích học đọc tiếng Anh chun nghành không? a Rất nhiều b Nhiều c Không nhiều d Không chút Bạn nghĩ kỹ đọc hiểu quan trọng việc học tiếng anh chuyên nghành? a Rất quan trọng b Quan trọng c Không quan trọng d Không quan trọng Đọc hiểu tiếng Anh chuyên nghành cần thiết cho nghề nghiệp tương lai bạn có phải khơng? a Rất cần thiết b Cần thiết c Không cần thiết d Khơng cần thiết chút Mục đích học kỹ đọc hiểu tiếng Anh chuyên ngành bạn gì? a.Để giải trí b Để nâng cao vốn kiến thức chuyên ngành kinh tế bạn c.Để mở rộng vốn từ vựng thuật ngữ chuyên ngành kinh tế bạn II d Để nâng cao kỹ đọc hiểu e.Ý kiến khác (Nếu có) Khi học môn đọc tiếng Anh chuyên ngành, bạn thường tập trung ý vào yếu tố nào? (Bạn có lựa chọn) a.Ngữ pháp học b Ý nghĩa học c.Từ vựng thuật ngữ chuyên ngành kinh tế d Kiến thức chuyên ngành kinh tế có liên quan e.Ý kiến khác (Nếu có) Phần B: Dưới số khó khăn bạn thường gặp trình đọc hiểu tiếng Anh chuyên ngành.Bạn cho biết khó khăn mà bạn gặp theo mức độ: Rất khó (RK) Khó (K) Dễ (D) Rất dễ (RD) Về kỹ đọc hiểu bạn thấy khó việc: RDK D RD a Đọc lướt để lấy ý đọc b Đọc để tìm thơng tin chi tiết cho đọc c Đốn nghĩa từ đoán nội dung đọc dựa vào ngữ cảnh d Hiểu ý hàm ngôn ( thông tin khơng nói rõ mà ngầm ám ), suy đốn kết luận e Tóm tắt đọc f Trả lời câu hỏi đọc hiểu g Dịch đọc từ tiếng Anh sang tiếng Việt h Các ý kiến khác (Nếu có) Về từ vựng bạn gặp khó khăn việc: VD a Nhớ phát âm từ dài b Hiểu nhớ từ thuật ngữ kinh tế c Hiểu nhớ nghĩa cụm từ thành ngữ, cụm động từ cụm danh từ d Tìm nghĩa phù hợp từ đa nghĩa D E VE III e Ý kiến khác (Nếu có) Về ngữ pháp bạn gặp khó khăn việc: VD D E VE D E VE a Hiểu sử dụng động từ, dạng động từ b Phân biệt từ loại:danh từ, động từ, tính từ c Hiểu sử dụng giới từ cụm giới từ d Hiểu phân biệt loại câu đơn, câu phức, câu bị động câu chủ động e Xác định thành phần chủ vị câu đơn f Xác định mệnh đề phụ câu phức g Hiểu mối quan hệ mệnh đề câu phức h Các ý kiến khác (Nếu có) Về kiến thức văn hóa bạn gặp khó khăn việc: VD a Hiểu kiến thức chuyên nghành mẻ b Hiểu đọc có nội dung văn hóa xa lạ (có khác biệt giá trị, phong tục, tập quán) c Hiểu ngữ liệu nguyên lấy từ sống d Các ý kiến khác: Phần C: 10 Bạn cho biết nguyên nhân gây khó khăn việc đọc hiểu tiếng Anh chuyên nghành True Not True a Bài đọc chuyên nghành dài nhiều từ b Trong đọc có nhiều cấu trúc ngữ pháp c Giáo viên không dạy bạn kỹ đọc d Giáo viên không cho bạn luyện tập đầy đủ từ vựng ngữ pháp e Giáo viên đòi hỏi bạn q cao f Bạn khơng có đủ tự tin động học tập g Bạn khơng có đủ vốn từ thuật ngữ kinh tế IV h Bạn thấy khó khăn việc hiểu thuật ngữ chuyên ngành đọc i Bạn thiếu kiến thức chủ đề bạn học j Bạn thấy nội dung đọc hoàn toàn k 11 Các ý kiến khác (Nếu có) Để giúp việc đọc hiểu tiếng Anh chuyên nghành dễ dàng hấp dẫn hơn, theo bạn giáo trình tiếng Anh chuyên nghành nên điều chỉnh bổ sung nào? ( Bạn đánh dấu vào câu sau tùy ý) a Các đọc nên gắn sát với nghề nghiệp b Các đọc nên ngắn gọn tạo hứng thú c Các đọc nên có lượng từ vừa phải d Các từ nên day theo tính kế thừa từ sang khác e Các tập nên phong phú đa dạng f 12 Các ý kiến khác: Để giúp bạn đọc tiếng Anh chuyên nghành tốt hơn, bạn mong điều giáo viên việc dạy đọc? (Bạn đánh dấu vào câu sau tùy ý) a Bạn muốn giáo viên giải thích kỹ tượng ngữ pháp đọc b Bạn muốn giáo viên giải thích cung cấp cho bạn nghĩa tiếng Việt từ chuyên nghành c Bạn muốn giáo viên cung cấp thêm kiến thức theo chủ đề bạn học d Bạn muốn giáo viên hướng dẫn cho bạn thủ thuật đọc phù hợp với e Bạn muốn giáo viên hướng dẫn cho bạn học theo cặp, theo nhóm f Bạn muốn giáo viên cho nhiều dạng tập giao tiếp để bạn dễ nhớ từ vựng g Bạn muốn giáo viên kiểm tra bạn nhiều dịch thuật h Các ý kiến khác: Thank you for taking time to complete this questionnaire V Appendix 2: Interview questions for teachers This questionnaire is designed for my study on difficulties in reading English for Finance of the second – year – students of Accounting Department at Hanoi Vocational Training College for Electro – Mechanics Your assistance in answering the following questions is highly appreciated All the information provided by you is solely for the study purposes, and you can be confident that you will not be identified in any discussion of the data Thank you very much for your cooperation Do you think the course of learning “English for Finance” for the students of Accounting Department is necessary? How important you think reading skill is in teaching English for Finance? Do you think the course book you are teaching is suitable for your students? Why (not)? Please give reasons in terms of topic, content and difficulties of reading texts? What you focus most on in your teaching reading English for Finance? Which techniques have you used to teach your students in reading English for Finance? Have you ever been trained in the financial field? In terms of cultural background knowledge, what difficulties have you ever encountered? 10 What problems are you coping with in teaching English for Finance? + Before starting each lesson + While teaching each lesson + After teaching each lesson What have you been doing to overcome these difficulties? What you think must be adjusted in the English for Finance material? VI Appendix 3: List of Topics in the course book Unit The econom Unit Economic s Unit Supply and Unit Nature and Unit Pricing pol Unit Inflation Unit Finance Unit Public finan Unit Corporate f Unit 10 Direct and Unit 11 Function of Unit 12 Central ban Unit 13 Commercia Unit 14 Capital mar Unit 15 Credit card Unit 16 Accounting Unit 17 Financial st Unit 18 Assets Unit 19 Liabilities Unit 20 Depreciatio Unit 21 Audits – th Unit 22 What is ma Unit 23 Promotion Unit 24 Free trade a Unit 25 Importing a VII Appendix 4: Unit 17: Financial statements I Reading: The end product of the financial accounting process is a set of reports that are called Financial Statements GAAP require that such three reports be prepared: (1) a balance sheet, (2) an income statement, (3) a statement of cash flow As we examine the details of the financial accounting process, it is important to keep in mind the objective toward which the process is aimed: the preparation of these three financial statements Most reports, in any field, can be classified into one of categories called (1) stock, or status reports and (2) flow reports The amount of water in a reservoir at a given moment of time is a measure of stocks, whereas the amount of water that moves through the reservoir in a day is a measure of flow Reports of stocks are always as of a specified 10 instant in time; reports of flow always cover a specified period of time Reports of stocks are like snapshots; reports of flow are more like motion pictures One of the accounting reports, the balance sheet, is a report of stocks It shows information about the resources of an organization at a specified moment of time The other two reports, the income statement and the cash flow statement, are reports of flow They report activities of the 15 organization for a period of time, such as a quarter or a year II Comprehension questions: What is the end product of the financial accounting process? What does GAAP mean? How many financial reports must be prepared at the end of the financial accounting process? What are they? What are reports of stocks like? And reports of flow? What you know about the balance sheet? Is the balance sheet a financial report? VIII III Read the text carefully and put T ( true) or F ( false) next to the sentences The balance sheet is a report of stocks GATT require such statements must be prepared: an income statement, a balance sheet, a report of cash flow The income statement is a report of status The amount of water moving through a reservoir in a day is a measure of stocks The flow report provides information on an organization’s operations at a specified period of time IX Appendix 5: Translated version of the Survey QUESTIONNAIRE FOR STUDENTS This questionnaire is designed for my study on difficulties in reading English for Finance of the second – year – students of Accounting Departments at Hanoi Vocational Training College for Electro – Mechanics Your answers to these questions will be highly appreciated and will be valuable help in the development of better way of teaching and learning English for Finance All the information provided by you is solely for the study purposes, and you can be confident that you will not be identified in any discussion of the data Thank you very much for your cooperation Before answering the questions, please fill in some information: - Gender: - Where you come from? - Did you learn English before entering Hanoi Vocational Training College for Electro – - + If Yes, when did you start learning English? + If No, did you learn any other foreign languages? What ESP materials are you studying? Section A: Please circle the appropriate answer for the following questions: Do you like learning English for Finance? a Very much b Much c Not much d Not at all How important you think reading skill is in learning English for Finance? a Very important b Important c Not very important d Unimportant Is reading English for Finance necessary for your future career? a Very necessary b Necessary c Not very necessary d Not necessary at all What are your purposes of learning reading English for Finance? a For entertaining b For enriching your knowledge of economics c For enlarging vocabulary and economic terminology d For reading improvements e Others (Please specify) X When learning reading English for Finance, on which elements you often focus? (more than one opinion is possible) a Grammar b The meaning of the texts c Vocabulary and economic terminology d Relating knowledge of economics e Others (Please specify here) Section B: The followings are some of difficulties you may encounter when reading English for Finance Please tick the appropriate box according to the level of difficulties you have Very difficult (VD) Difficult (D) Easy (E) Very Easy (VE) In terms of reading skills VD D E VE VD D E VE a Skimming to get the main ideas b Scanning to get the specific information c Guessing new words and predicting the content on the text d Recognizing implication and making inferences and conclusion (deducting) e Summarizing f Answering comprehension questions g Translating the text into Vietnamese h Others (Please specify) In terms of vocabulary a Pronouncing and remembering lengthy words b Understanding and remembering professional technical words c Understanding and remembering idiomatic expressions, verb phrases and noun phrases d Finding the appropriate meaning for poly-semantic words e Others (Please specify) XI In terms of grammar a VD D E VE VD D E VE Understanding and using verb tense and forms b Recognizing the word’ s part of speech: verbs, nouns, adjectives, adverbs c Understanding and using prepositions and preposition phrases d Understanding and identifying the types of sentences: simple or complex, passive and active voice e Identifying elements of simple sentences f Identifying elements of complex sentences g Understanding the relationship between clauses of compound and complex sentences h Others (Please specify) In terms of cultural background knowledge a Understanding unfamiliar professional topics b Understanding unfamiliar cultural content of the reading materials (differences in values, attitudes and customs) c Understanding authentic materials d Others (Please specify) Section C: 10 Please indicate what possible causes of your problems in reading English for Finance True a The texts are too long and full of new words b The texts are full of new grammar structures c The teacher does not teach us sufficient reading strategies d The teacher doesn’t give us sufficient practice of grammar and vocabulary e The teacher is too demanding f I lack confidence and motivation g I lack vocabulary and terminology of economics Not True XII h I find it difficult to understand the technical terminology in the reading text i I lack knowledge about the topic I am reading j I find the contents of the reading text completely new to me k Others (Please specify) 11 To make your reading English for Finance easier and more interesting, what you think must be adjusted in this material? (Choose as many as possible) a Reading texts should be more related to my future job b Reading texts should be shorter and more motivating c Reading texts should have a limited number of new words d New words should be taught repeatedly from this unit to another e Grammatical exercises should be more various in form f Others (Please specify) 12 To help you learn reading English for Finance better, what in your opinion you expect from the teachers? (Choose as many as possible) a I expect the teacher to explain more carefully unfamiliar grammatical structures found in the texts b I expect the teacher to give and explain Vietnamese equivalents for the specific words not found in dictionary c I expect the teacher to provide us more background knowledge related to the topics we are working on d I want the teacher to help us to choose suitable reading strategies for each reading text e I want the teacher to help us to work in pairs or in small groups f I want the teacher to give us more communicative exercises to help remember vocabulary more easily g I want the teacher to check us more often about translation h Others (Please specify) Thank you for taking time to complete this questionnaire XIII ... Understanding authentic materials e Others 4.1.5 The causes for these difficulties in learning reading English for Finance Question 10 investigated the causes of difficulties in reading English for Finance. .. overview of the current situation of teaching and learning English for Finance at Hanoi Vocational Training College for Electro- Mechanics, given some information about the institution, the teachers... fulfill their task of teaching and learning 2.4 The teaching and learning English at Hanoi Vocational Training College for ElectroMechanics Due to the particular tasks of our Vocational Training College,