(Luận văn thạc sĩ) an evaluation of the ESP materials for the 2nd year students of faculty of financial accounting, hà hoa tiên university in hà nam and suggestions for adaptation

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES ********************* LÊ THU TRANG AN EVALUATION OF THE ESP MATERIALS FOR THE SECOND YEAR STUDENTS OF FACULTY OF FINANCIAL ACCOUNTING, HÀ HOA TIÊN UNIVERSITY AND SUGGESTIONS FOR ADAPTATION Đánh giá giáo trình tiếng Anh chuyên ngành dành cho sinh viên năm thứ hai khoa Tài Kế toán trường Đại học Hà Hoa Tiên, Hà Nam đề xuất hiệu chỉnh giáo trình M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS FIELD: ENGLISH TEACHING METHODOLOGY CODE: 60140111 Hanoi, 2014 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES ********************* LÊ THU TRANG AN EVALUATION OF THE ESP MATERIALS FOR THE SECOND YEAR STUDENTS OF FACULTY OF FINANCIAL ACCOUNTING, HÀ HOA TIÊN UNIVERSITY AND SUGGESTIONS FOR ADAPTATION Đánh giá giáo trình tiếng Anh chuyên ngành dành cho sinh viên năm thứ hai khoa Tài Kế toán trường Đại học Hà Hoa Tiên, Hà Nam đề xuất hiệu chỉnh giáo trình M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS FIELD: ENGLISH TEACHING METHODOLOGY CODE: 60140111 SUPERVISOR: Dr TRẦN THỊ THU HIỀN Hanoi, 2014 i STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP I certify my authority of the submitted minor thesis entitled “An evaluation of the ESP materials for the 2nd year students of Faculty of Financial Accounting, Hà Hoa Tiên University in Hà Nam and suggestions for adaptation”, in terms of statement of requirement for the thesis and the field study reports in Masters‟ programs, is the result of my own work, except where otherwise acknowledged and that this minor thesis or any part of the same had not been submitted for a higher degree to any other universities or institutions Hanoi, August 2014 ii ACKNOWLEDGMENT On the completion of this thesis, I would like to give my sincere thanks to many people for their encouragement and assistance during the preparation of my thesis First and foremost, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my supervisor, Dr Trần Thị Thu Hiền, who has been most willing and ready to give me valuable and helpful guidance, advice and support during the most difficult time of thesis construction Without her help, this thesis would not have been made possible My special thanks also go to all the teachers in the English Department, at Hà Hoa Tiên University for their enthusiastic participation and constructive suggestions for the development of the study And I also wish to express my thanks for the great cooperation from the second year accounting students of the Faculty of Financial Accounting and the graduated ones in the data collection of my study My gratitude also extends to my lecturers for their interesting and helpful lessons during of working towards my master‟s degree Last but not least, my sincere thanks go to my family who give me much motivation, energy and support in accomplishing this challenging work iii ABSTRACT Coursebook evaluation is of great importance in assessing how effective a coursebook is to the teaching and learning of foreign languages The thesis is carried out in an attempt to evaluate the suitability of the coursebook “English for Finance” (Cao Xuân Thiề u, 2008, Publisher of Finance) for the second year students of financial accounting at Hà Hoa Tiên University, in Hà Nam to the course‟s objectives in terms of aims, contents, and methodology The study makes use of survey research approach with data collection instruments of questionnaires in form of Likert rating scale type, informal interviews, and with the involvement of 69 informants Type of summative evaluation was chosen to seek for significant improvements for subsequent use The findings points out that the coursebook is partially suitable to the course‟s objectives and would be subsequently used for incoming ESP courses at the university However, seeking for effectively and completely obtaining given objectives of the course, there should be necessary improvements to be made with the coursebook in terms of language components, reading topics, types of exercises and tasks, guidance and suggestion for further study and practice as recommended in the study iv TABLE OF CONTENTS STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP i ACKNOWLEDGMENT .ii ABSTRACT iii TABLE OF CONTENTS iv LIST OF ABBRIVIATIONS vii LIST OF TABLES viii PART A: INTRODUCTION 1 Rationale Aims of the study Scope of the study Research question Research method Significance of the study Design of the study PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 1.1 ESP course evaluation 1.1.1 What is meant by evaluation? 1.1.2 Why should the evaluation be carried out? 1.1.3 When should the evaluation be occurred? 1.1.4 How can the evaluation be carried out? 1.1.5 Who should be involved in the evaluation 1.2 Materials, coursebook and textbook 1.3 Materials Adaptation 1.3.1 Definition and principles of materials adaptation 1.3.2 Materials adaptation techniques 1.4 Previous studies 1.5 Chapter summary 10 CHAPTER 2: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 11 2.1 Context of the study 11 v 2.1.1 The ESP course 11 2.1.2 The ESP coursebook 11 2.1.3 Other ESP materials resources 12 2.1.4 Participants 13 2.2 Data collection 13 2.2.1 Data collection instruments 13 2.2.1.1 Questionnaire 13 2.2.1.2 Informal interviews 14 2.2.2 Data collection procedures 14 2.2.2.1 For the questionnaire 14 2.2.2.2 For the informal interviews 14 2.2.3 2.3 Data analysis procedures 14 Chapter summary 15 CHAPTER 3: DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSIONS 16 3.1 Subjective analysis 16 3.2 Objective analysis 17 3.2.1 In terms of aims 17 3.2.2 In terms of contents 20 3.2.3 In terms of methodology 20 3.3 Findings and discussions 22 3.3.1 Suitability of the coursebook in terms of aims 22 3.3.2 Suitability of the coursebook in terms of contents 23 3.3.3 Suitability of the coursebook in terms of methodology 23 Recommendations for the coursebook’s adaptation 24 3.4 3.4.1 In terms of aims 24 3.4.2 In terms of contents 25 3.4.3 In terms of methodology 26 3.5 Chapter summary 27 PART C: CONCLUSION 28 Recapitulation 28 Concluding remarks 28 Limitations of the study 29 vi Suggestions for further study 30 REFERENCES 31_Toc399741752 APPENDIX I APPENDIX III APPENDIX V APPENDIX VII APPENDIX XIII APPENDIX XV vii LIST OF ABBRIVIATIONS EGP: English for general purposes ESP: English for specific purposes FOFA: Faculty of Financial Accounting HHT: Hà Hoa Tiên University VNU-ULIS: Vietnam National University – University of Languages and International Studies viii LIST OF TABLES Table 1: Statistics on the 2nd year students‟ opinions on the coursebook in terms of aims Table 2: Statistics on the 13 graduated students‟ opinions towards the statement (appendix 1) Table 3: Statistics on the graduated students‟ opinions toward statements and (appendix 1) Table 4: Statistics on the 13 graduated students‟ opinions towards the statement (appendix 1) Table 5: Statistics on the 53 second year students‟ opinions towards the statement (appendix 2) Table 6: Statistics on the 13 second year students‟ opinions towards the statements and (appendix 1) Table 7: Statistics on the 2nd year students‟ opinions toward statements and (appendix 2) Table 8: Statistics on the 53 second year students‟ opinions towards the statement (appendix 2) Table 9: Statistics on the 2nd year students‟ opinions toward statements 10 and 11 (appendix 2) III APPENDIX Phiế u khảo sát sinh viên năm thứ hai khoa Tài kế tốn Mục đích: Phiế u khảo sát này nhằ m thu thập ý kiến sinh viên năm thứ khoa Tài kế tốn giáo trình tiếng Anh chun ngành mà họ vừa học xong Những thông tin bạn cung cấ p rấ t cầ n thiế t và quan tro ̣ng , đươ ̣c dùng làm sở để đưa những kế t luâ ̣n xác đáng nghiên cứu của về đánh giá mức đô ̣ phù hơ ̣p của giáo triǹ h Tiế ng Anh chuyên ngành kế tốn với mục tiêu mơn học Những thơng tin này đươ ̣c đảm bảo chỉ sử du ̣ng cho mục đích nghiên cứu tơi Bạn vui lòng trả lời đầy đủ xác câu hỏi hoă ̣c đánh dấ u () vào ô bạn chọn Xin chân thành cảm ơn! I Thông tin cá nhân Giới tiń h: Nam:  Nữ:  Tuổ i: …………… Bạn học tiếng Anh rồi? II …………… năm Ý kiến bạn Bạn đọc câu chọn câu trả lời gần nhất với ý kiến bạn cách đánh dấu () vào ô mà bạn chon Hoàn Hoàn toàn Đồng đồng ý ý Giáo trình tiếng Anh trang bị cho bạn vốn từ vựng chuyên ngành Giáo trình giúp bạn củng cố nâng cao kiến thức ngữ pháp tiếng Anh Giáo trình giúp bạn thực hành luyện kỹ đọc hiểu, dịch tiếng Anh lĩnh vực tài kế tốn Giáo trình giúp bạn thực hành kỹ Ý kiến trung lập Khơng đồng ý tồn khơng đồng ý IV giao tiếp ngữ lĩnh vực tài kế tốn Bạn có hội luyện kỹ viết tiếng Anh học giáo trình Hầu hết chủ đề đề cập đến giáo trình gắn liền với kiến thức chuyên ngành bạn Các dạng đọc hiểu giáo trình khơng đa dạng nhàm chán Các câu hỏi đọc hiểu mang tính suy luận đòi hỏi vận dụng nhiều đến kiến thức lĩnh vực tài kế tốn Các tập liên quan đến từ vựng ngữ pháp đa dạng, tạo hứng thú cho người học 10 Các tập có gợi ý, hướng dẫn cụ thể giúp người học vận dụng để thực yêu cầu 11 Cuối phần, hoặc có gợi ý giúp bạn thực hành thêm, hoặc đọc thêm Chân thành cảm ơn sự hợp tác của bạn! V APPENDIX The teachers’ views on the ESP coursebook in terms of aims, contents, and methodology as stated in the interviews The teachers‟ opinions toward the coursebook in terms of aims  The coursebook provides students opportunities to……… Communicate orally in English in the area of financial accounting Comprehensively read English documents relevant to financial accounting Comprehensively make English written documents relevant to financial accounting Improve knowledge in English grammar Enrich English vocabulary in financial accounting Present topics of financial accounting in English Key:  = mentioned by the teacher Teacher A Teacher B Teacher C                   = not mentioned by the teacher The teachers‟ opinions toward the coursebook in terms of of contents Students are provided with topics closely related to their major The course units should be organized in a way suitable to the students‟ needs and quality Key:  = mentioned by the teacher Teacher A Teacher B Teacher C       = not mentioned by the teacher 3 The teachers‟ opinions toward the coursebook in terms of methodology Students find it difficult to answer reading comprehension questions They are more motivated with multiple choices and true/false tasks Students have been not motivated with grammar and words study‟s individual works There should be specific guidance and Teacher A Teacher B Teacher C          VI suggestions for further study Key:  = mentioned by the teacher = not mentioned by the teacher VII APPENDIX Recommended samples for adapting the coursebook Sample 1: Unit ECONOMICS Part 4: Writing comprehension Write a brief description (no more than 300 words) about economics beginning with the following sentence, using structures of simple sentence: “Economics is defined as a study of how goods and services get produced, and how they are distributed.” Translation – Compound nouns Part 5: * Instructions: - A compound noun is a noun composed of two or more words that are used together to form a single noun - Some basic structures of noun compounding method Noun + Noun: sales manager: giám đốc bán hàng Adjective + noun: distressed-sale: nhu cầu bán gấp Preposition + noun: by- product: phụ phẩm Noun + preposition + noun: cost of capital: chi phí vay vốn door to door (service): dịch vụ tận nơi Noun + preposition: bail out: cứu trợ tài Noun + verb_er: share-holder: cổ đơng been-counter: kế tốn - To translate these nouns, start at the end or consider the context to get their meanings correctly an executive search company: a company that searches for executive a government training course: a course of training provided by the government * Exercises for practice Task 1: In pairs, work out the meanings of these following compound nouns, you can use your dictionary if necessary Commodity-types products Buyer-choice behavior Product-line manager VIII Sales manager Production manager Finance manager Exchange rate Manufacturing productivity Manufacturing exports Task 2: Work with your partner and translate the following sentences from English to Vietnamese and vice versa 27 An economic system is supposed to be regulated by the law of supply and demand 28 Economics is about the everyday things of life, how we get our living, and why sometimes we get more and sometime less 29 I can also report that manufacturing grew last year by 1.6%, manufacturing productivity grew by 4.4% 30 Giám đốc tài có vai trò định việc đưa chiến lược định giá sản phẩm 31 Kinh tế học nghiên cứu cách thức đưa định thành viên tham gia vào kinh tế Sample 2: What is cost accounting? Cost accounting involves the techniques for determining the costs of products, processes, projects, etc in order to report the correct amounts on the financial statements, and assisting management in making decisions and in the planning and control of an organization For example, cost accounting is used to compute the unit cost of a manufacturer's products in order to report the cost of inventory on its balance sheet and the cost of goods sold on its income statement This is achieved with techniques such as the allocation of manufacturing overhead costs and through the use of process costing, operations costing, and job-order costing systems Cost accounting assists management by providing analysis of cost behavior, cost-volume-profit relationships, operational and capital budgeting, standard costing, variance analyses for costs and revenues, transfer pricing, activity-based costing, and more Cost accounting had its roots in manufacturing businesses, but today it extends to service businesses For example, a bank will use cost accounting to determine the cost of IX processing a customer's check and/or a deposit This in turn may provide management with guidance in the pricing of these services (extracted from an online article retrieved from www.businessdictionary.com/definition/cost-accounting.html) Sample 3: What is accounting for sales discount? A sales discount is a reduction in the price of a product or service that is offered by the seller, in exchange for early payment by the buyer A sales discount may be offered when the seller is short of cash, or if it wants to reduce the recorded amount of its receivables outstanding for other reasons An example of a sales discount is for the buyer to take a 1% discount in exchange for paying within 10 days of the invoice date, rather than the normal 30 days (also noted on an invoice as "1% 10/ Net 30" terms) Another common sales discount is "2% 10/Net 30" terms, which allows a 2% discount for paying within 10 days of the invoice date, or paying in 30 days If a customer takes advantage of these terms and pays less than the full amount of an invoice, the seller records the discount as a debit to the sales discounts account and a credit to the accounts receivable account The sales discounts account appears in the income statement and is a contra revenue account, which means that it offsets gross sales, resulting in a smaller net sales figure The presentation of a sales discount in the income statement is: Gross sales $xxx,xxx Less: sales discounts (xxx,xxx) Net sales $xxx,xxx A company may choose to simply present its net sales in its income statement, rather than breaking out the gross sales and sales discounts separately This is most common when the sales discount amount is so small that separate presentation does not yield any material additional information for readers Most business not offer early payment discounts, so there is no need to create an allowance for sales discounts (extracted from an online article retrieved from http://www.accountingtools.com/questions-and-answers/what-is-the-accounting-for-salesdiscounts.html) X Sample 4: Read the text and choose the best answer The report confirms an auditors‟ first responsibility of ……… to his client A confidentiality D errors B accountants C auditors D businesses Auditors should go direct to the regulatory authorities in cases of …… A frauds C irregularity The report suggests …… must also consider the publics A managers B notice B irregularities C errors D all There are cases where an auditor is …… obliged to disclose information to the authorities A legally B illegally C responsibly D irresponsibly Which one is NOT true according to the paragraph 17-p.208? A Many people were interested in what auditors B People in the influential and financial aware group ignore what auditor C The accountant never worried about his or her image D The influential group included chairman, director, or partner in an enterprise Am auditor‟s role is very often confused with that of an/a ……… A sales director B bookkeeper C accountant D auditor Sample 5: - pre-reading: discussing a given topic relating to accounting job as the students‟ future job, listing what accounting jobs concern with, naming accounting works by looking at some relevant pictures, constructing semantic webs (a graphic arrangement of concepts or words showing how they are related) - While-reading: identifying topic sentences, and the main idea of paragraphs, distinguishing between general and specific ideas, identifying the connectors to see how they link ideas within the text, skimming/scanning the text for specific information - post-reading: reflecting what they are reading, mapping the process by first drawing and then describing it, or retelling based on such major concepts as definition of accounting, the purpose of accounting, types of accounting information XI Sample 6: Reading comprehension exercises Multiple choices: 1.1 What a company possesses is …… a the balance sheet c assets b liabilities d a statement 1.2 Which does the writer likely agree with? a Every country in the world shares a common method of arranging three major sections of the BS b The USA and England regulates similarly how to arrange three major sections of the BS c Assets, liabilities and equity are arranged on the left-hand side of the page d English accountants don‟t arrange assets on the left-hand side of the page 1.3 It can be inferred from the passage that… a When listing a company‟s assets, accountants must show the company‟s fixed and current assets b The assets of a company consist of tangible and intangible assets c The liabilities are included in the assets d An accountant doesn‟t need to list current assets in the balance sheet 1.4 Website domain and trademark of a company must be listed in … a the tangible assets c the current assets b the intangible asset d the fixed asset 1.5 Which of the following is TRUE? a The intellectual property right is current assets b Land, machines and equipments are excluded in fixed asset c An American accountant will list the long-term loans on the right hand side of the page d Cash at the bank is tangible assets 1.6 What does the number £2.2 million in line paragraph page 186 refer to? a The total of current assets b The total of current assets after being reduced by the total of current liabilities c The total liabilities d The total of current liabilities 1.7 The word “less” in line paragraph page 186 is closest in meaning to … a Subtract c multiply b Add d divide XII 1.8 The word “topped up” in line paragraph page 187 is closest in meaning to … a added by b reduced by c declined by d cut down by 1.9 Which figure does the word “this sum” in line paragraph a £2.45 million c £8.75 million b £450,000 d £6.5 million 1.10 Why does the shareholders‟ equity increase by further £1.15 million? a Because of the revaluation of its fixed asset b Because of the difference between the issued share value and the actual price of the shares c Because of a more realistic market price d Because of a share premium account Matching definition and terms: 2.1 The term refers to what a company owes a fixed assets 2.2 It consists of fixed assets and current assets b equity 2.3 It can be mentioned with loans and any provisions c liabilities 2.4 It consists of capital and reserves d intangible assets 2.5 The statement of what a company owns and what it e long-term liability owes f assets 2.6 Patens, goodwill are two typical of this kind of assets g the balance sheet 2.7 It refers to freehold property, land, equipments XIII APPENDIX The results of the matching stage The following table is for report the matching result on basis of comparing the subjective realization of course‟s objectives and the coursebook evaluation The coursebook evaluation Aims/Objectives The course’s objective Provide terms, concept, - Ss to be introduced with technical words in financial topics on financial accounting; opportunities to accounting which are enhance English grammar, closely relevant to their practice/training with background knowledge and English reading beneficiary for their future comprehension, translation, career but few opportunities to - Ss to be trained with practice with English English reading writing comprehensions comprehension, English Matching writing comprehension and translation skill, provided with English technical vocabulary in financial accounting English grammar  To be skillful serving well their future employment and get Contents - Suitable and closely related to Ss‟ background knowledge in financial accounting, most relevant to graduated students‟ current jobs - Some irrelevant to promoted in future jobs - To raise up Ss‟ awareness of importance of the ESP to their future career XIV graduated students‟ current jobs Methodology - Motivating team works and pair-works with grammar and words study‟s exercises/task - monotonous and boring reading comprehension questions - No specific guidance or suggestion for further study Note: = does not match the desired feature = partially match the desired feature = closely match the desired feature XV APPENDIX Checklist for evaluating ESP materials by Hutchinson and Waters (1987, 99:104) Subjective analysis Objective analysis (e.g analysis of the course in terms of (e.g analysis of the materials being evaluated) materials requirements) Audience 1A Who are your learners? 1B Who are the materials intended for?  Age  Sex  Study of work specialist  Knowledge of English/ specialist  Educational backgrounds  Interests Aims 2A What are the aims of the course? 2B What are the aims of the materials? (Note: check that the aims are actually what they are said to be, by looking carefully at the material itself) Contents 3A What language points should be 3B What language points the materials cover? covered? (What particular grammar, structures, vocabulary areas?) 4A What micro-skills are taught? (e.g 4B What micro-skills are covered in the deducing the meaning of unfamiliar materials? words) 5A What proportion of work on each 5B What proportion of work on each micro-skill? micro-skill? Is there integrated work? Is there integrated work? 6A What micro-skills does the course 6B With micro-skills are covered in the need? materials? 7A What text types should be included? 7B What kinds of texts are there in the materials? - The length of the reading texts 8A What subject matters are required? 8B What are the subject matters assumed level of - What level of knowledge should be knowledge, and types of topics in the materials? assumed (e.g second year/third year college)? 9A How should the content be organized 9B How is the content organized throughout the throughout materials? The course? E.g around language points?/ by subjectmatter?/ by some Other means (e.g study skills)?/ by a combination of means? XVI 10A How should the content be organized 10B How is the content organized within the within the units? Course units? - by a set pattern of components?/ - by a variety of of patterns?/ - by some other means?/ to allow a clear focus on e.g certain skill areas, a communication task, etc.? 11A How should the content be 11B How is the content sequenced Throughout sequenced throughthe book? out the course? E.g - from easier to more difficult? – to create variety? - to provide recycling? by other criteria? Should there be no obvious sequence? 12 A How should the content be 12 B How is the content sequenced within a unit? sequenced within a unit? E.g - from guided to free?, - from comprehension to production?,- accuracy to fluency?, - by some other means? Should there be no obvious sequence? Methodology 13A What kinds of tasks and exercises are 13B What kinds of tasks and exercises are needed? included in the materials? 14A What teaching – learning techniques 14B What teaching – learning techniques can be are to be used? used with the materials?  Lockstep  Pair work  Group work  Students presentation  Other kinds 15A What aids are available for used? 15B What aids the materials require?  Cassette recorders?  Overhead projectors?  Video?  Other? 16A What guidance/ support for teaching 16B What guidance the materials provide? the course will be needed?  Statements of aims?  List of vocabulary and other language-skills points?  Language guidance? XVII  Other kinds? 17A What kinds of exercises/ tasks are needed? E.g - Guided – free? - Comprehension – production? - Language/skills practice – language/ skills use - One right answer – many possible answers - Whole class –group – individual? -Language – skill based/content based? - Self study? - Some other kinds 18 A What guidance/support for teaching the course will be needed? E.g statements of aims?/ - lists of vocabulary and language-skills points?/ language guidance?/ technical information?/ - methodological directive or hints?/ - suggestions for further work?/ tests?/ - other kinds? 19 A How flexible the materials need to be? 17A What kinds of exercises/ tasks are needed? 18 B What guidance the materials provide? 19 B In what ways are the materials flexible? E.g - can they be begun at different points?/ - can the units be used in different orders?/ - can they be linked to other materials?/ - can they be used without some of their components (e.g cassettes?) Other criteria 20 A What price range is necessary? 20 B What is the price? 21 A When and in what quantities 21 B When and how readily can the materials be should the materials be available?, etc obtained?, etc ... of the submitted minor thesis entitled ? ?An evaluation of the ESP materials for the 2nd year students of Faculty of Financial Accounting, Hà Hoa Tiên University in Hà Nam and suggestions for adaptation? ??,... some ESP coursebooks, including one for Financial Accounting, as materials for the ESP teaching and learning at the university The ESP coursebook for the 2nd year students of Financial Accounting... etc in order to report the correct amounts on the financial statements, and assisting management in making decisions and in the planning and control of an organization For example, cost accounting