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

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST- GRADUATE 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 TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Declaration i Acknowledgements ii Abstract iii List of abbreviations iv Table of contents v PART A: PART B: INTRODUCTION Rationale for the study Objectives of the study Research questions The significance of the study Methods of the study Scope of the study Organization of the study DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER I: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND The nature of reading 1.1 Definition of reading 1.2 Reading comprehension 1.3 Types of reading 1.3.1 Classification according to manners of reading 1.3.1.1 Reading aloud v 1.3.1.2 Silent reading 1.3.2 Classification according to purposes of reading 1.3.2.1 Skimming 1.3.2.2 Scanning 1.3.2.3 Intensive reading 1.3.2.4 Extensive reading Reading in ESP teaching and learning 2.1 Definition of ESP 2.2 The difference between GE and ESP 2.3 The differences between reading in ESP and in 10 GE 2.4 ESP teacher’s role 12 2.5 ESP learners’ role 15 2.6 The role of ESP materials 16 Related studies 17 CHAPTER II: METHODOLOGY General introduction of TBCCA 19 Objectives of the English course for LIS 19 ESP reading materials for LIS 19 Subjects of the study 20 4.1 Teachers 20 4.2 Students 21 Data collection Instruments 22 Data collection procedure 22 vi Research methods 22 CHAPTER III: DATA ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS Teachers and students’ background knowledge 1.1 23 Teachers’ knowledge related to ESP teaching methodology 23 1.2 Teachers’ reading habit 23 1.3 Students’ GE reading skills 24 Evaluation of objectives of an ESP course 24 Teaching reading strategies 26 Difficulties in teaching and learning ESP 27 4.1 Difficulties in teaching ESP 27 4.2 Difficulties in learning ESP 28 Collaboration between ESP teachers and students 30 Evaluation of the currently-used ESP textbook 30 The things teachers should 32 Ways to improve teachers’ background knowledge of 33 LIS CHAPTER IV: PEDAGOGICAL IMPLICATIONS PART C: 34 Improving teachers’ knowledge of LIS 34 Improving teaching methodology 34 Developing materials 35 Motivating students with various reading strategies 36 CONCLUSION Main findings 37 Limitations 37 vii Suggestions for further study 38 References 39 Appendixes I Appendix 1: Questionnaire for teachers Appendix 2: Questionnaire for students (in English) Questionnaire for students (in Vietnamese) viii I IV VII 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 material The students… know more about the content than the teacher” It is usual to be seen in a GE course where the teacher and students use the language to communicate in social situations that teachers often have more experience than the students But in ESP context, the teacher should help students with language and students would use the language to communicate and deal with their task about LIS Furthermore, the teachers should always be willing to listen to the learners and be interested in the subject matter or professional activities the students are involved in ESP teachers should be extremely flexible in adapting the textbook and applying proper teaching methodology to meet their students’ need Developing materials ESP teaching material is very important in an ESP course There can not be an ESP material which is suitable for all ESP courses because of its specificity Each ESP course has its own specificity according to learners’ subject matter and their need Therefore the ESP material should be developed to achieve its aims In order that the ESP teachers can overcome the difficulties they should adapt the current ESP textbook Firstly, it is necessary to adapt “Working with vocabulary” and “Language focus” by using words and terminologies related to each topic to give students adequate practice in the language they are required to master rather than quite general words And if it is possible, the language should be given more realistic exposure by photos or pictures for students to imagine and define clearly the ESP terminologies they have learnt such as catalog cards, microfiches,… Secondly, grammar points presented in “Language Focus” should be adapted by finding the main grammar point in the text and teaching it to the students Thirdly, number of questions in exercises of reading skills should be more for students to practice their reading skills which they are required to master Fourthly, spelling and typing errors should be corrected by the teachers for the students to avoid misunderstanding The ESP teachers should be unanimous in adapting the exercises forms to be similar to them in the tests and 35 exams Lastly, the current ESP textbook should be accompanied by a teacher’s book giving them the right directions in the ESP course Motivating students with various reading strategies One of the main causes of the students’ difficulties in learning ESP reading is lack of effective reading strategies To improve the students’ ability of ESP reading, different reading strategies should be taught to them such as skimming, scanning, predicting, inferring,… The different strategies should be properly chosen for different texts with clear instructions and exercises for students to practice the given skills An example is scanning Scanning is used regularly because it helps readers to locate a particular item of information they need Making use of the reading strategy, the reader determines needed information, goes through quickly the text to find out the relevant information, and then focus just the information Apart from the mentioned things, the ESP teachers have to try their best to improve their reading skills to get good experiences which will be applied to teach their students and find out more supplementary materials for students to practice their reading skills The suggestions given above are made with hope to improve teaching and learning ESP reading skills at TB College of Culture and Arts 36 PART C: CONCLUSION ESP is a compulsory subject for students of LIS at TBCCA The ESP course is carried out after 150-period GE course Being one of the ESP teachers at this college, I recognized difficulties in teaching ESP reading skills In the study, I investigated which reading strategies had been taught and which difficulties the ESP teachers and students had met in teaching and learning the strategies My little original contribution to the field is some suggested pedagogical implications to improve teaching quality To investigate the difficulties which the ESP teachers and learners had met, a questionnaire for teachers and one for students were used, and informal talks to both teachers and students were carried out Main findings In terms of teachers and students’ background knowledge, students’ GE reading skills was bad and the ESP teachers’ teaching methods were poor and unsuitable In terms of reading strategies, teaching reading strategies was not regularly and effectively applied; and the reading strategies were not rich In respect of difficulties in teaching and learning ESP reading skills, the difficulties were considered as teachers’ lack of experience in teaching ESP, low quality of the current ESP textbook, and students’ poorness of vocabulary and reading strategies Limitations Despite lots of efforts, the study can not avoid some limitations Firstly, the paper examined only one skill of the language as ESP reading skills Secondly, the subjects were just limited to 60 third-year students of LIS and ESP teachers at TBCCA Thirdly, the author’ experience in teaching ESP reading skills was not much, so the suggestions were not completely objective 37 Suggestions for further study Because of the given limitations, the author looks forward to further studies to improve the quality of teaching ESP at TBCCA These are some suggestions for further study: - ESP textbook is very important It plays an important role in improving the quality of teaching ESP However, the quality of the current ESP textbook is not very good In my opinion, a study on designing a new ESP textbook of LIS should be conducted at the college - The study was limited to only ESP reading skill In company with speaking skill, I think, other language skills are rather important I suggest conducting a study on the integration of reading skill and other language skills such listening, speaking and writing in ESP context - At Thai Binh College of Culture and Arts, different careers are trained such as tourist guides, singers, painters, instrumentalists, artists of Cheo, teachers of music and painting Of the jobs, ESP is very important to tourist guides Tourist guides are always expected to be able to talk to people from all over the world and English is the key for them to be successful in their job Therefore, I suggest conducting a research on how to improve ESP speaking skills for students of tourism Despite of its limitations, in summary, the study made a given contribution to improvements of quality of teaching ESP at colleges in general and at Thai Binh College of Culture and Arts in particular 38 REFERENCES I Vietnamese authors N.T Huyen (2009) Teachers’ Perceived Challenges in Teaching ESP to the First-year students of Economics Department in Sao Do College of Industry T.T.M Nguyet (2007) Teaching reading ESP in Integration with the Other Language Skills to Students of Linguistics II Foreign authors Abbott G., Wingard P (1985) The Teaching of English as an International Language Collins, London Carrel, P.L (1981) The Effects of Rhetorical Organizations on ESL Readers TESOL Quarterly 18: 441- 469 Carrel P L, Devine J & Eskey D E (1989) Interactive Approaches to Second Language Reading Cambridge University Press Doff A (1988) Teach English Teacher’s Workbook: A Training Course for Teachers (2) Cambridge University Press, Cambridge Doff A (1988) Teach English: A Training Course for Teachers: Trainer’s Handbook (2) Cambridge University Press, Cambridge Dudley - Evans T and St John M J (2000) Developments in ESP: A multidisciplinary approach Cambridge University Press Eskey, D.E (1970) A new Technique for the Teaching of Reading to Advanced Students TESOL Quarterly (4): 315 - 321 Esteban A A and Martos M C V (2002) A Case Study of Collaboration Among the ESP Practitioner, the Content Teacher, and the Students Revista Alicantina de Estudios Ingleses 15: 7-21 39 Grellet F (1990) Developing Reading Skills: A practical guide to reading comprehension exercises Cambridge University Press 10 Hutchinson T and Waters A (1989) English for Specific Purposes: A learning-centred approach Cambridge University Press 11 Johns T and Davies F (1983) Text as a Vehicle for Information: the Classroom Use of Written Texts in Teaching Reading in a Foreign Language Reading in a Foreign Language I: 1-19 12 Nuttall C (2000) Teaching Reading Skills in a foreign language Macmillan Heinemann English Language Teaching 13 Silberstein S (1994) Techniques and Resources in Teaching Reading Oxford University Press 14 Snow C (2002) Reading for Understanding: toward an R&D Program in Reading Comprehension RAND III Internet sources Anthony L (2005) Defining English for Specific Purposes and the Role of the ESP Practitioner Retrieved from http://www.google.com.vn Corps P (1986), ESP: Teaching English for specific purposes, Hormation Collection & Exchange Retrieved from http://collections.infocollections.org Salmani-Nodoushan M A (2002), Text Familiarity, Reading Tasks, and ESP Test Language in India Retrieved from http://www.google.com.vn Sierocka H (2008) The Role of the ESP Teacher Business English Retrieved from http://www.teacher.pl Timothy B (1998) Extensive reading: Why? And how? The Internet Journal IV (12) Retrieved from http://iteslj.org/Articles/Bell-Reading.html 40 APPENDIXES Appendix 1: QUESTIONNAIRE FOR TEACHERS 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 For all the questions below, please answer by ticking () one (or more) of the boxes or writing your own opinion in the given spaces Have you ever taken a course in teaching ESP?  Yes  No How much you read? - You read a lot, both in English and Vietnamese  - You read a lot in Vietnamese but not much in English  - You not read much in any language  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  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  Female + How long have you been learning English? year(s) 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 V  No, never 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:  Nam + Giới tính:  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 mơn 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 chuyên 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 VIII  Khơng, khơng 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 chun ngành  - Giáo trình cung cấp cho anh / chị ngôn ngữ thực tế  - Ý kiến khác (hãy nêu cụ thể): + + Cảm ơn anh / chị hợp tác! IX ... 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... 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... made with hope to improve teaching and learning ESP reading skills at TB College of Culture and Arts 36 PART C: CONCLUSION ESP is a compulsory subject for students of LIS at TBCCA The ESP course