An investigation into linguistic bases of desining an esp reading syllabus for 3rd year students of english for international relations at diplomatic academy of vietnam

HANOI NATIONAL UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES DEPARTMENT OF POST GRADUATE STUDIES *** NGUYỄN THỊ THÚY HẰNG AN INVESTIGATION INTO LINGUISTIC BASES OF DESIGNING AN ESP READING SYLLABUS FOR 3RD YEAR STUDENTS OF ENGLISH FOR INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS AT DIPLOMATIC ACADEMY OF VIETNAM NGHIÊN CỨU CƠ SỞ NGÔN NGỮ CỦA VIỆC THIẾT KẾ CHƯƠNG TRÌNH TIẾNG ANH CHUYÊN NGÀNH CHO SINH VIÊN TIẾNG ANH QUAN HỆ QUỐC TẾ NĂM THỨ HỌC VIỆN NGOẠI GIAO VIỆT NAM MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS FIELD: Methodology Field code: 601410 SUPERVISOR: Ass.Prof.Dr.TRAN HUU MANH Hanoi - 2009 v TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ABSTRACT TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS Part I: INTRODUCTION Rationale Aims and Objectives Research Questions Research methodology The study is comprised of three parts Part II: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW Introduction 1.1 An overview of discourse properties of international news 1.1.1 News 1.1.1.1 What is news? 1.1.1.2 International news 1.1.2 Discourse 1.1.2.1 Discourse and text 1.1.2.2 Discourse properties of international news 1.1.2.2.1 General structure 1.1.2.2.2 Linguistic features 1.2 A comparison of discourse properties of international news in English and Vietnamese 1.2.1 General structure 1.2.1.1 The headline, the time, and source of information 1.2.1.2 The lead 1.2.1.3 The body 1.2.1.4 Optional news elements 1.2.2 Linguistic features 1.2.2.1 Lexical choice 1.2.2.2 Tense 1.2.2.3 Directness and indirectness 1.2.2.4 Syntactic structures 1.2.2.4.1 The headline 1.2.2.4.2 The lead and the body 1.2.2.4.3 Cohesion devices 1.3 An overview of ESP 1.3.1 Definition of ESP 1.3.2 Types of ESP 1.3.3 Principles of ESP course design 1.4 Approaches to language syllabus design 1.4.1 Defining syllabus i ii iii iv v 1 2 4 4 4 5 6 10 10 10 10 10 11 11 11 13 13 13 13 13 13 16 16 17 18 19 19 vi 1.4.2 Approaches to language syllabus design 1.4.2.1 The structural approach 1.4.2.2 The situational approach 1.4.2.3 The notional/functional approach 1.4.2.4 Procedural/task-based approaches 1.4.2.5 The proportional approach 1.4.2.6 Learner-led approach 1.4.3 Types of ESP syllabus design 1.4.4 Steps in syllabus design 1.5 Reading 1.5.1 Definition of reading 1.5.2 Reading process 1.6 Summary CHAPTER 2: THE STUDY 2.1 ESP teaching and learning at Diplomatic Academy of Vietnam (DAV) 2.2 The ESP teachers 2.3 The students 2.4 The study 2.4.1 The subjects 2.4.2 Instrument for collecting data 2.4.2.1 Questionnaire 2.4.2.2 Questionnaire 2.5 The findings 2.5.1 Needs perceived by the teachers of English 2.5.2.Needs perceived by the third-year students of Faculty of English 2.6 Summary CHAPTER 3: DESIGNING AN APPROPRIATE ESP READING SYLLABUS FOR 3rd – YEAR STUDENTS OF EIR 3.1.Objectives 3.2.Time allotment for the syllabus 3.3 Sequencing the content and the tasks in the syllabus 3.3.1 Topics in the syllabus 3.3.2 Reading skills and learning tasks 3.4 Suggestions for implementation of the proposed syllabus 3.4.1 To the teachers 3.4.2 To the students 3.4.3 To the future choice of materials 3.5 Summary Part III: CONCLUSION Summary of the thesis Conclusion Limitations of the thesis Suggestions for further study REFERENCE APPENDICES 19 19 19 20 20 20 21 21 23 24 24 24 25 26 26 27 27 28 28 28 28 28 28 28 32 37 38 38 38 39 39 40 42 42 42 42 43 43 45 45 45 46 46 47 iv ESP: DAV: EIR: EST: EBE: ESS: ASEAN: EU: UN: APEC: LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS English for Special Purpose Diplomatic Academy of Vietnam English for International Relations English for Science and Technology English for Business and Economics English for Social Studies Association of Southeast Asian Nations European Union United Nations Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation Part I: INTRODUCTION Rationale Nowadays, the ESP area proves to be in great demand for a global community of people speaking different languages, where a good command of English can help to contribute to professional as well as personal development of each individual learner People with good English proficiency are extensively needed in many areas, such as business, banking, tourism, electronics, telecommunications, international relations, etc ESP therefore has become really necessary and an indispensable branch in English language teaching in Vietnam to meet the growing demand for professional communication As we know, there are two parties involved in the implementation of any syllabus program: teachers and learners Basically, if the syllabus is to be designed realistically, its contents must be coherent with the needs and expectations of the clients Additionally, the contents should be technically, physically, and mentally conceivable and able to be implemented within the time allotted in the curriculum These requirements, when designing the ESP syllabus, in fact are still challenges for Vietnamese ESP teachers Students learning ESP in Vietnam rarely have opportunities to use English in communication outside the classroom They mainly have access to popular documents written in English through reading Hence, skills in reading English texts are naturally of special importance in teaching and learning ESP, which is not an exception for the ESP teaching at Vietnam Academy of Diplomacy (DAV) The main objectives of ESP course is aimed at providing the students with linguistic knowledge relevant to their field and skills up to the expectation of the future employment Since the establishment of the Section of English for International Relations (EIR) in 2006 which is under the Faculty of English, no available course books are appropriate for these target students Accordingly, designing an ESP reading syllabus for the third year students has been an urgent task for the development of ESP teaching at learning at DAV Aims and Objectives The study majorly aims at designing an appropriate ESP reading syllabus for students of EIR at DAV To achieve this aim, there are three specific objectives as follows: 10 - To develop a theoretical framework to design an appropriate syllabus for students of EIR at Vietnam Academy of Diplomacy, taking into account the reality of ESP teaching and learning as well as ESP learners at DAV - To conduct a Needs Analysis to identify the students’ learning situations and the learning needs perceived by the ESP teachers, the third-year students of EIR at DAV - To design a proposed ESP reading syllabus based on the analysis of the data collected Research Questions The following research questions were raised in order to attain the above-mentioned aims and objectives of the study: What are the reading needs of the ESP students of EIR at DAV? What should be included in the syllabus? The answers to these questions are to develop an appropriate ESP reading syllabus for the students of in DAV Moreover, basing on the results of the research questions, some recommendations for designing an appropriate ESP reading syllabus for the students of EIR at DAV, will be made to improve the quality of the ESP teaching and learning at DAV Scope of the Study Within its scope, this research paper mainly focuses on designing an ESP reading course book for students of EIR at DAV Its major objects are subject teachers, the teachers of ESP, and the third-year students of EIR at DAV Research methodology Both qualitative and quantitative methods are employed in this study The quantitative method, which is used to collect data by questionnaires, aims at exploring the needs of the students, their expectations and opinions about the ESP course The questionnaires are administered to the third year student population studying ESP, teachers of ESP, as well as subject teachers of EIR at DAV The tackling methods are statistic, analytical and synthetical Also, the qualitative methods is used as the supporting method to collect information for the study through the discussion with colleagues and students The study is comprised of three parts 11 Part I is an “Introduction” which presents the rationale, aims and objectives, research questions, scope of the study, research questions, research methodology, as well as design of the study Part II is the “Development” which consists of - Chapter I, “Literature Review” reviews such the relevant theories as prominent linguistic features of international news on papers, an overview of ESP, approaches to language syllabus, reading, as well as previous studies - Chapter II, “The study” describes and comments on situation analysis, subjects of the study, the instruments for collecting data, the theory of Needs Analysis and the findings of the study resulting from a statistical analysis of the collected data - Chapter III presents some recommendations for “designing an ESP reading syllabus for students at the EIR at DAV” Part III is the “Conclusion” which offers a summary of the study, limitations and suggestions for further research 12 Part II: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW Introduction The focus of this study is to design an ESP reading syllabus for the rd year students of EIR at DAV who wish to gain fluency in reading and understanding English texts dealing with international affairs such as inter-relations among countries, global issues, external policies and political opinions toward other countries Therefore, international news on papers is mainly chosen as reading practice texts for intensive English courses at DAV Within this framework, this chapter deals with some concepts which set background for the study An overview of discourse properties of international news, a comparison of discourse properties of international news in English and Vietnamese; an overview of ESP; approaches to language syllabus design and an overview of reading will be given 1.1 An overview of discourse properties of international news 1.1.1 News 1.1.1.1 What is news? The notion of news is ambiguous In everyday usage, we usually have the general notion of news, meaning “new information”, as we find in such sentences as “I have good news for you” Apparently, the notion of news we are dealing with is different from the notion of news, which involves the media When asking: “Have you read the news?” or “Did you watch the news? we refer to news as an item on newspapers or a television program Here are some definitions of news from dictionaries: “News is new information about something that has happened recently or reports of recent events” (Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary, 7th impression 2005) “News is: - Recent events and happenings - A report about recent events - New information” (American Heritage Dictionary, 5th impression 2006) “News is: - A report of events as given each day by newspaper, radio, etc 13 - Information which was not known before.” (Globe Modern Dictionary, 4th impression 2003) In a nutshell, the notion of news implies three aspects of news:  New information about events, things or persons  A program type (TV or radio) in which news items are presented  A news report, i.e., a discourse on means of media in which new information is given We concerned mostly with the third concept, in which news is considered a type of discourse published on newspapers With this aspect of news, there is a famous cliché among journalists: when a dog bites man, it’s not news; when man bites dog, that’s news In other words, no readers want to read about ordinary events 1.1.1.2 International news International news refers to news which focuses on international issues, which involve:  Inter-relations among countries: official visits, economic cooperation, political negotiations…  Global issues: climate change, peace, conflict, international security…  External policies and political opinions towards other countries 1.1.2 Discourse 1.1.2.1 Discourse and text The word discourse is used differently in different subject areas therefore; it is not an easy term to define Brown and Yule (1983) define text as “the verbal record of communication act” and discourse as “the language in use” Widdowson (1984:24) reckons that “discourse is a communicative process by means of interaction Its situational outcome is a change in a state of affairs: information is conveyed, invention is made clear, its linguistic product is text” There is another approach developed by Halliday and Hasan (1976), who use discourse in relation to text These two researchers claim that a text (discourse) is a unit of meaning It is the language that is functional and has meaning in context of situation It is realized by a word, a phrase, a sentence, a cluster of sentences, or even a book, etc… 14 According to them, text (discourse): can be defined in the simplest way perhaps by saying that it is language that is functional.[…] So any instance of living language that is playing some part in a context of situation, we shall call a text It may be either spoken or written or indeed in other medium of expression that we like to think of (Halliday and Hasan 1989:10) This thesis will follow the view of Halliday and Hasan, considering discourse and text the interchangeable terms 1.1.2.2 Discourse properties of international news 1.1.2.2.1 General structure Headline, lead, and body are considered crucial elements structuring international news Besides, there are supplementary or optional factors (the time, name of reporter, subheadlines, or non-linguistic features) 1.1.1.2.2.1 The headline Headlines for news in general are important, headlines for international news are much more important They perform the following two functions:  As a communicative device: The headline is the most concise summary or the whole news By looking at the headline, readers can understand the main content and the main information addressed in the news  As a navigation device: It is possible to say that the headline is the bridge leading readers to the full story It puts the first impression on the readers and encourages them to read for more information 1.1.1.2.2.2 Date, time of releasing the news The news content may change as soon as the news is posted Identifying the time and date of releasing the news is accordingly very important and beneficial to the readers 1.1.1.2.2.3 Source of information The name of the writer, the reporter or name of any news corporation that published the news is always clearly asserted Sometimes readers can refer to the reporters to find out more about the news 1.1.1.2.2.4 The lead The international news leads often start with location where the events take place One important factor of news is proximity An event will be more important if it is related to 56 24 Streven,G (1987).Some Approaches to Course Design.Working pair No 7,Brazilian ESP project 25 Weber,K (1984) The Globe Modern Dictionary Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 26 White.(1988).The Function of Translation Singapore:Singapore Press 27 Widdowson, H .(1984) Explorations in Linguistics Oxford: Oxford University Press 28 Widdowson, H (1990).Materials and Methods in ELT Oxford: Blackwell Publishers 29 Wilkins.(1976) Contrastive Analysis and Language Development Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 30 Yalden.(1987) Language Development.Cambridge:Cambridge University Press References in Vietnamese: 1.Nguyễ n Hồ.(2006).Phân tích Diễ n ngơn phê phán: Lý luậ n phư ng pháp.Hà Nộ i:NXB Đ i họ c Quố c gia Hà Nộ i 2.Trầ n Hữ u Mạ nh.(2007).Ngôn ngữ họ c đ ố i chiế u-Cú pháptiế ng Anh-Tiế ng Việ t.Hà Nộ i: NXB Đ i họ c Quố c gia Hà Nộ i 3.Trầ n Hữ u Mạ nh.(2005).Danh ngữ vấ n đ ề danh hoá tiế ng Anh tiế ng Việ t.Báo cá tạ i Hộ i thả o Quố c tế Ngôn ngữ họ c Liên Á lầ n thứ VI.Kỷ yế u Hộ i thả o.NXB Giáo dụ c Newspapers: Lao độ ng-5/6/2009 Nhân dân-2/6/2009 Lao độ ng-5/6/2009 Thanh niên-30/6/2007 Thanh niên-30/6/2008 Nhân dân-2/6/2007 Nhân dân-17/5/2009 Lao độ ng-13/7/2007 Lao độ ng-10/7/2008 Lao độ ng-10/7/2008 Thanh niên-25/10/2007 Nhân dân-19/12/2007 Vietnamnet-30/8/2007 Thanh niên -23/8/2007 Nhân dân-17/6/2007 Vietnamnet-10/10/2007) The economist-26/10/2007 57 58 APPENDIX SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE FOR TEACHERS The only purpose of this questionnaire is to collect the ideas and opinions of the teachers to design an appropriate ESP reading syllabus for the third-year students of English for International Relations at Diplomatic Academy of Vietnam Therefore, your answers to the questions will be of great importance to the process of designing this ESP reading syllabus So please respond to each question and fulfill all of them as frankly as possible Thank you for your cooperation Please rank the following objectives needed to be achieved at the end of the ESP course for the students of English for International Relations at Diplomatic Academy of Vietnam, on the order of importance from the most important to the least important (from to 5), and add your own objectives (if any) To build up English terms of International Relations used in books, documents, and newspapers To read and understand concepts of the field of International Relations To read and understand written English materials and books relating to International Relations To consolidate basic grammar structures used in specific texts for International Relations To translate books and newspapers (relating to the field of International Relation) from English to Vietnamese 59 2.Please select the topics that you think are relevant to the English for International Relations reading course and add more of your own (if any) Items Topics Very relevant Globalization Regionalization New World Order Development ASEAN EU UN APEC Vietnam’s Foreign Policy 10 Poverty 11 Natural Disasters 12 Destructive weapons Relevant Not relevant Select the types of reading exercises that you think should be included in the English for International Relations reading course and add more of your own (if any) Items Necessary Reading skills and exercises for developing reading skills Reading Skimming (Choose correct best title, Discover exercises the main ideas, Choose pictures or graphs dealt with the text, etc.) 60 Scanning to have specific information Utilizing the non-text information Interpreting cohesive devices 5.Interpreting discourse markers 6.Write the summary for the texts 7.Read and give opinions and reasons Give questions to the answers 9.Translation Grammar 10 Sentence building exercises 11 Rewrite the sentences without changing the meaning 12 Put the verbs in brackets into the correct tenses 13 Complete sentences with the correct prepositions Vocabulary 14 Find synonyms and antonyms of words or phrases used in the reading text 15 Find the words or phrases to match with the definition 16 Word-transformation 61 APPENDIX SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE FOR STUDENTS The only purpose of this questionnaire is to collect the ideas and opinions of the teachers to design an appropriate ESP reading syllabus for the third-year students of English for International Relations at Diplomatic Academy of Vietnam Therefore, your answers to the questions will be of great importance to the process of designing this ESP reading syllabus So please respond to each question and fulfill all of them as frankly as possible Thank you for your cooperation Please rank the following objectives needed to be achieved at the end of the ESP course for the students of English for International Relations at Diplomatic Academy of Vietnam, on the order of importance from the most important to the least important (from to 5), and add your own objectives (if any) 62 To build up English terms of International Relations used in books, documents, and newspapers To read and understand concepts of the field of International Relations To read and understand written English materials and books relating to International Relations To consolidate basic grammar structures used in specific texts for International Relations To translate books and newspapers (relating to the field of International Relation) from English to Vietnamese 2.Please select the topics that you think are relevant to the English for International Relations reading course and add more of your own (if any) 63 Items Topics Very relevant Globalization Regionalization New World Order Development ASEAN EU UN APEC Vietnam’s Foreign Policy 10 Poverty 11 Natural Disasters 12 Destructive weapons Relevant Not relevant Select the types of reading exercises that you think should be included in the English for International Relations reading course and add more of your own (if any) Items Necessary Reading skills and exercises for developing reading skills Reading Skimming (Choose correct best title, Discover exercises the main ideas, Choose pictures or graphs dealt with the text, etc.) Scanning to have specific information Utilizing the non-text information Interpreting cohesive devices 5.Interpreting discourse markers 6.Write the summary for the texts 64 7.Read and give opinions and reasons Give questions to the answers 9.Translation Grammar 10 Sentence building exercises 11 Rewrite the sentences without changing the meaning 12 Put the verbs in brackets into the correct tenses 13 Complete sentences with the correct prepositions Vocabulary 14 Find synonyms and antonyms of words or phrases used in the reading text 15 Find the words or phrases to match with the definition 16 Word-transformation ` I APPENDIX SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE FOR TEACHERS The only purpose of this questionnaire is to collect the ideas and opinions of the teachers to design an appropriate ESP reading syllabus for the third-year students of English for International Relations at Diplomatic Academy of Vietnam Therefore, your answers to the questions will be of great importance to the process of designing this ESP reading syllabus So please respond to each question and fulfill all of them as frankly as possible Thank you for your cooperation Please rank the following objectives needed to be achieved at the end of the ESP course for the students of English for International Relations at Diplomatic Academy of Vietnam, on the order of importance from the most important to the least important (from to 5), and add your own objectives (if any) To build up English terms of International Relations used in books, documents, and newspapers To read and understand concepts of the field of International Relations To read and understand written English materials and books relating to International Relations To consolidate basic grammar structures used in specific texts for International Relations To translate books and newspapers (relating to the field of International Relation) from English to Vietnamese 2.Please select the topics that you think are relevant to the English for International Relations reading course and add more of your own (if any) II Items Topics Very relevant Globalization Regionalization New World Order Development ASEAN EU UN APEC Vietnam’s Foreign Policy 10 Poverty 11 Natural Disasters 12 Destructive weapons Relevant Not relevant Select the types of reading exercises that you think should be included in the English for International Relations reading course and add more of your own (if any) Items Necessary Reading skills and exercises for developing reading skills Reading Skimming (Choose correct best title, Discover the exercises main ideas, Choose pictures or graphs dealt with the text, etc.) Scanning to have specific information Utilizing the non-text information Interpreting cohesive devices 5.Interpreting discourse markers 6.Write the summary for the texts 7.Read and give opinions and reasons Give questions to the answers 9.Translation III Grammar 10 Sentence building exercises 11 Rewrite the sentences without changing the meaning 12 Put the verbs in brackets into the correct tenses 13 Complete sentences with the correct prepositions Vocabulary 14 Find synonyms and antonyms of words or phrases used in the reading text 15 Find the words or phrases to match with the definition 16 Word-transformation IV APPENDIX SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE FOR STUDENTS The only purpose of this questionnaire is to collect the ideas and opinions of the teachers to design an appropriate ESP reading syllabus for the third-year students of English for International Relations at Diplomatic Academy of Vietnam Therefore, your answers to the questions will be of great importance to the process of designing this ESP reading syllabus So please respond to each question and fulfill all of them as frankly as possible Thank you for your cooperation Please rank the following objectives needed to be achieved at the end of the ESP course for the students of English for International Relations at Diplomatic Academy of Vietnam, on the order of importance from the most important to the least important (from to 5), and add your own objectives (if any) To build up English terms of International Relations used in books, documents, and newspapers To read and understand concepts of the field of International Relations To read and understand written English materials and books relating to International Relations To consolidate basic grammar structures used in specific texts for International Relations To translate books and newspapers (relating to the field of International Relation) from English to Vietnamese 2.Please select the topics that you think are relevant to the English for International Relations reading course and add more of your own (if any) V Items Topics Very relevant Globalization Regionalization New World Order Development ASEAN EU UN APEC Vietnam’s Foreign Policy 10 Poverty 11 Natural Disasters 12 Destructive weapons Relevant Not relevant Select the types of reading exercises that you think should be included in the English for International Relations reading course and add more of your own (if any) Items Necessary Reading skills and exercises for developing reading skills Reading Skimming (Choose correct best title, Discover the exercises main ideas, Choose pictures or graphs dealt with the text, etc.) Scanning to have specific information Utilizing the non-text information Interpreting cohesive devices 5.Interpreting discourse markers 6.Write the summary for the texts 7.Read and give opinions and reasons Give questions to the answers 9.Translation Grammar 10 Sentence building VI exercises 11 Rewrite the sentences without changing the meaning 12 Put the verbs in brackets into the correct tenses 13 Complete sentences with the correct prepositions Vocabulary 14 Find synonyms and antonyms of words or phrases used in the reading text 15 Find the words or phrases to match with the definition 16 Word-transformation ` ... ASEAN: EU: UN: APEC: LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS English for Special Purpose Diplomatic Academy of Vietnam English for International Relations English for Science and Technology English for Business and... properties of international news, a comparison of discourse properties of international news in English and Vietnamese; an overview of ESP; approaches to language syllabus design and an overview of reading. .. knowledge of terms of the field The students also see the importance of translating books and newspapers (57% of respondents) and reading and understanding concepts of English field (52% of respondents),