Teaching ESP reading skills to students of library and information science at thai binh college of culture and arts reality and solutions

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POSTGRADUATE STUDIES -  - BÙI THỊ KIM LỘC TEACHING ESP READING SKILLS TO STUDENTS OF LIBRARY AND INFORMATION AT THAI BINH COLLEGE OF CULTURE AND ARTS: REALITY AND SOLUTIONS DẠY KỸ NĂNG ĐỌC TIẾNG ANH CHUYÊN NGÀNH CHO SINH VIÊN NGÀNH THÔNG TIN - THƯ VIỆN Ở TRƯỜNG CAO ĐẲNG VĂN HÓA -NGHỆ THUẬT THÁI BÌNH: THỰC TRẠNG VÀ GIẢI PHÁP M.A MINOR THESIS FIELD: ENGLISH LANGUUAGE TEACHING METHODOLOGY CODE: 60.14.10 HANOI-2012 Declaration Acknowledgements Abstract List of abbreviations Table of contents PART A: PART B: v vi CHAPTER III: DATA ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS CHAPTER IV: PEDAGOGICAL IMPLICATIONS vii Suggestions for further study References Appendixes Appendix 1: Questionnaire for teachers Appendix 2: Questionnaire for students (in English) Questionnaire for students (in Vietnamese) viii PART A: INTRODUCTION Rationale for the study It is usually said that anybody and any country that want to have fast development, expand international relationships, and receive the achievements in all fields can not help knowing English and having effect strategies of learning the language Vietnam is now on our way to develop, and we are doing our best to catch up with the development of other countries in the world in all aspects Because of this feature, English, being considered as a tool for Vietnamese people to integrate to the developmental flow of the world, now proves its very important role in the society Although English is a foreign language, it is a compulsory subject in most schools and universities It is highly appreciated at universities because it is a passport for students of any majors to access the information and to find a good job in the future According to Carrell (1981), reading is the most important of the four macro language skills in English as a second language Eskey (1970) said that the ability to read the written language at a reasonable rate and with good comprehension seemed to be considered more important than oral skills It has been pointed out that teaching English is to provide students with the linguistic basis that would enable him to participate in transferring other nations’ scientific and technological advances that can enhance the progress of his nation ESP has appeared because of the aim, too ESP reading enables students read materials and update information on their specific field, perhaps science or technology Having been teacher of ESP, I always take interest in how to help my students obtain necessary knowledge in their specific field in English In order to that, I have tried my best to study the language and teaching methods to help students study their specific field in English That has resulted in my little success in teaching ESP But in fact, I still have some difficulties with which my colleagues meet, too In order to overcome the difficulties, the first thing should be done was specify what the difficulties were That was why I decided to conduct a study on “Teaching ESP Reading to students of Library and Information Science at Thai Binh College of Culture and Arts: Reality and Solutions” Objectives of the study The study is conducted to achieve the following aims: - To investigate the current situation of teaching and learning English for Library and Information Science at TBCCA in order to find out the teachers’ and learners’ needs and difficulties when teaching and learning ESP reading skills - To suggest some ways to overcome the difficulties and to help students improve their ESP reading skills Research questions - How is ESP reading skills taught at TBCCA? - What are the difficulties in ESP teaching and learning at TBCCA? - What are suggestions for teaching and learning ESP reading skills more effectively? The significance of the study As mentioned in Rationale, reading is the most important skill that enables learners to access information for entertainment, study, research or work This is true for students of Library and Information Science at TBCCA However, ESP reading skills are not taught effectively here To some extent, the study contributes to the improvement of the quality of teaching and learning ESP at TBCCA Methods of the study To carry out this study, survey research was employed Scope of the study Because of the limited time, the study merely focused on investigation of difficulties in teaching ESP reading skills to students of LIS at TBCCA Then some solutions were made to improve the quality of teaching and learning ESP reading Organization of the study The study is organized into three main parts: Introduction, development, and conclusion Part A named as Introduction presents the rationale for choosing the topic of the study, the aims, research questions, the significance, the methods, the scope and the organization of the study Part B named as Development includes five chapters: - Chapter I reviews the theoretical background including the nature of reading, ESP reading and some characteristics of English for LIS - Chapter II presents the methodology - Chapter III presents data analysis and findings - Chapter IV gives pedagogical implication Part C named as Conclusion gives the conclusion the study, points out the limitations, and offers some suggestions for further study PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER I: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND The nature of reading 1.1 Definition of reading Reading always interests a lot of people There have been many different definitions of reading given by linguists, psychologists, and second language teachers Kenneth Goodman in Carrell, Devine & Eskey (1989; 12) defined “Reading is a receptive language process It is a psycholinguistic process in that it starts with a linguistic surface representation encoded by a writer and ends with meaning which the reader constructs” Nuttall (2000; 18) saw reading as “essentially concerned with meaning” In his points of view, readers need to have the skills of interpretation for a sensitive appreciation of literature Grellet (1990; 7) stated that “Reading is a constant process of guessing, and what one brings to the text is often more important than what one finds in it” Silberstein (1994; 6) considered reading as an active process: “The students work intensively, interacting with the text in order to create meaningful discourse” Thorndike (cited in Silberstein, 1994) gave the concept: “reading is an active process related to problem solving” It is obvious that reading is an abstract concept which is defined differently However, they all implicate that the nature of reading is “comprehension” 1.2 Reading comprehension Comprehension takes a very important role in teaching and learning reading skills It is the ability to understand what has been read and get information from the text as effectively as possible Grellet (1990; 3) said: “Understanding a written text means extracting the required information from it as effectively as possible” In his research about reading for understanding, Snow (2002; 11) defined reading comprehension as “the process of simultaneously extracting and constructing meaning through interaction and involvement with written language” Nuttall (2000; 3) pointed out: “You read because you wanted to know something from the writing” Although the ideas were not exactly the same in words but they all seemed that effective readers are those who can bring their capacities, abilities, knowledge and experience to the act of reading a particular text to achieve their purposes 1.3 Types of reading Although there are different ways to classify reading, the most popular one is to base on manners and purposes of reading 1.3.1 Classification according to manners of reading Based on manners of reading, reading can be divided into reading aloud and silent reading 1.3.1.1 Reading aloud According to Doff (1988, 23), “obviously, reading aloud involves looking at a text, understanding it and also saying it” That is, oral reading is not only to understand what has been read but also to convey it to other people He also pointed out that “for reading a text, it is not a very useful technique” We can see that oral reading is very time-consuming and it is effective for elementary readers to improve their pronunciation and voice as the point of view of Nuttall (2000; 32): People seldom need to read aloud except in the classroom Reading aloud is useful in the early stages In his book named “Teach English: A Training Course for Teachers: Trainer’s Handbook” (1988), Doff stated that reading aloud should be the final activity at the end of a reading lesson 1.3.1.2 Silent reading (or read for meaning) Different from reading aloud, silent reading is the normal and natural activity that most students in classroom as well as in real life According to Abbott and I Which reading strategies you teach in your ESP course? - Inference - Understanding relations within the sentence - Linking sentences and ideas - Predicting - Previewing - Skimming - Scanning What are your difficulties in teaching ESP? - Lack of knowledge of LIS - Lack of experience in teaching ESP - Lack of supplementary materials - Students’ low motivation - Large-sized classes - Others (Please specify): + + What you to improve your background knowledge related to LIS? - Read publications on LIS field - Study online resources - Ask LIS specialists for help - Others (Please specify): + + II How you evaluate the currently ESP textbook? - It gives students adequate practice in the language they are required to master - It gives students enough practice in the skills they are required to master - It gives the same tasks as in tests and exams - It covers the topics included in the curriculum - It gives students exposure to authentic language - Others (Please specify): + + What you think an ESP teacher should do? - Adapt the current ESP textbook - Improve background knowledge of LIS - Improve ESP teaching methods - Conduct on-going evaluation of students’ progress - Design a new ESP textbook - Others (Please specify): + + Thank you very much for your cooperation! III Appendix 2: QUESTIONNAIRE FOR STUDENTS (In English) This survey questionnaire is designed for my study on “Teaching ESP Reading to students of Library and Information Science at Thai Binh College of Culture and Arts: Reality and Solutions” The findings will make great contribution to my study Your assistance in completing following items is highly appreciated This is for study purpose only You can be confident that you will not be identified in any data analysis Personal information: + Age: + Gender:  Male + How long have you been learning English? year(s)   Female For all the questions below, please answer by ticking ( ) one (or more) of the boxes or writing your own opinion in the given spaces How you evaluate your GE reading skills? - Good - Not very good - Bad Please, arrange the objectives of an ESP course in the order of importance (1, 2, 3, 4, 5) - Developing students’ reading skills - Developing students’ all language skills equally - Enriching students’ vocabulary, especially ESP terminologies - Improving students’ grammar - Improving students’ knowledge of LIS IV Which reading strategies are taught in your ESP course? - Inference - Understanding relations within the sentence - Linking sentences and ideas - Predicting - Previewing - Skimming - Scanning What are your difficulties in learning ESP? - Lack of knowledge of LIS in Vietnamese - Lack of motivation - Poor vocabulary in English - Lack of efficient reading skills - Lack of supplementary materials - Others (Please specify): + + Do you collaborate with your ESP teacher as a source of information?  Yes, always  Yes, sometimes  No, never V How you evaluate the currently ESP textbook?  - It gives you adequate practice in the language you are required to master    - It gives you enough practice in the skills you are required to master  - It gives the same tasks as in tests and exams - It covers the topics included in the curriculum - It gives you exposure to authentic language - Others (Please specify): + + Thank you very much for your cooperation! VI QUESTIONNAIRE FOR STUDENTS (In Vietnamese) Bảng câu hỏi nhằm phục vụ việc nghiên cứu “Dạy đọc Tiếng Anh chuyên ngành cho sinh viên chuyên ngành Thông tin - Thư viện Trường Cao đẳng Văn hóa - Nghệ thuật Thái Bình: Thực trạng giải pháp” Các câu trả lời chân thật anh/chị quan trọng việc nghiên cứu + Tuổi:  + Giới tính: Nam  Nữ + Anh (Chị) học Tiếng Anh rồi? năm  Xin anh / chị trả lời cách đánh dấu ( ) vào (những) ô sau viết ý kiến riêng anh / chị vào chỗ trống! Anh / Chị tự đánh giá khả đọc Tiếng Anh anh/chị mức nào? - Tốt - Không tốt - Kém Hãy xếp mục đích môn học Tiếng Anh chuyên ngành theo thứ tự quan trọng (1, 2, 3, 4, 5) - Phát triển kỹ đọc cho sinh viên  - Phát triển kỹ ngôn ngữ  - Bổ sung vốn từ cho sinh viên, đặc biệt thuật ngữ chuyên ngành  - Mở rộng kiến thức ngữ pháp cho sinh viên  - Mở rộng kiến thức chuyên ngành Thông tin - Thư viện cho sinh viên  VII Những chiến lược đọc dạy môn học Tiếng Anh chuyên ngành? - Suy luận - Hiểu mối tương quan phạm vi câu - Nối câu với ý - Đoán - Xem trước tranh ảnh minh họa - Đọc tìm ý - Đọc tìm thơng tin chi tiết Anh / Chị gặp khó khăn học Tiếng Anh chun ngành? - Thiếu kiến thức chuyên ngành Thông tin - Thư viện Tiéng Việt - Thiếu động học tập - Thiếu vốn từ Tiếng Anh - Thiếu kỹ đọc hiệu - Thiếu tài liệu bổ trợ - Ý kiến khác (hãy nêu cụ thể): + + Anh / Chị có hợp tác giáo viên với vai trị nguồn thơng tin khơng?  Có, ln ln  Có, đơi  Khơng, khơng VIII Anh / Chị đánh giá giáo trình Tiếng Anh chuyên ngành dùng nào? - Giáo trình giúp anh / chị thực hành vừa đủ ngôn ngữ anh chị cần nắm vững - Giáo trình giúp anh / chị thực hành vừa đủ kỹ anh chị cần nắm vững - Bài tập giáo trình giống với tập anh / chị phải làm kiểm tra thi - Giáo trình có chủ đề chương trình chuyên ngành - Giáo trình cung cấp cho anh / chị ngơn ngữ thực tế - Ý kiến khác (hãy nêu cụ thể): + + Cảm ơn anh / chị hợp tác! 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