Teaching esp to students of accounting major at hai duong college of economics and technology

1 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST – GRADUATE STUDIES PHAN THỊ HIỀN TEACHING ESP TO STUDENTS OF ACCOUNTING MAJOR AT HAI DUONG COLLEGE OF ECONOMICS AND TECHNOLOGY: PROBLEMS AND SOLUTIONS (Dạy tiếng Anh chuyên ngành cho sinh viên chuyên ngành Kế toán trường Cao đẳng Kinh tế- Kỹ thuật Hải Dương: Vấn đề giải pháp) M.A Minor thesis Field: English teaching methodology Code: 60 14 10 Hanoi, 2010 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST – GRADUATE STUDIES PHAN THỊ HIỀN TEACHING ESP TO STUDENTS OF ACCOUNTING MAJOR AT HAI DUONG COLLEGE OF ECONOMICS AND TECHNOLOGY: PROBLEMS AND SOLUTIONS (Dạy tiếng Anh chuyên ngành cho sinh viên chuyên ngành Kế toán trường Cao đẳng Kinh tế- Kỹ thuật Hải Dương: Vấn đề giải pháp) M.A Minor thesis Field: English teaching methodology Code: 60 14 10 Supervisor: Lâm Thị Phúc Hân, M.A Hanoi, 2010 TABLE OF CONTENTS Certificate of originality of the thesis ……………………………………………………i Acknowledgements ……………………………………………………………………… ii Abstract ………………………………………………………………………………… iii Table of contents …………………………………………………………………… …iv List of abbreviations …………………………………………………………………… vi List of tables and charts ……………………………………………………………… vii PART A: INTRODUCTION ……………………………………………………………1 Rationales ……………………………… … ……………………………….……… Aims of the study ……………………………….………………………………………1 Methods of the study ………………… ………….……… ………………………….2 Scope of the study ………………………………… …….… ……………………… Organization of the study ………………………… ………………… …….……….2 PART B: DEVELOPMENT …………………………………………………………….3 CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW …………………………………… …………3 1.1 Overview of ESP ……………………………………….… ……………….…… 1.1.1 Definition …………………………… ………….………… ……………… 1.1.2 Classification of ESP ………………………………… ……………………….4 1.2 Roles of ESP teachers ……………………………… …….…………… ……… 1.3 Development and approaches to teach ESP…….…………… ………… … … 1.4 Difficulties in teaching ESP ………………….….……… …………… .…… CHAPTER 2: THE TEACHING CONTEXT … ………………………….…………11 ESP course and the objectives of teaching and learning ESP … … …… 11 2 The teachers ……………………………………………… ………….……… 11 The learners ……………………………………………… ………… ………12 The materials ………………………………………………… … ………… 13 CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY ………… …………….……… … 15 …………………………………………… ……………15 3.1 Research questions 3.2 Participants ………… …………….……… ….….… ……………….……… 15 3.3 Data collection instrument ………… ……… ……… ……… … ………15 3.4 Data collection procedure …………………….……………………… ………16 3.5 Data analysis procedure ……………………… ………………… … ………16 CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION ……………………… …………… 17 4.1 Teachers’ and students’ attitudes toward the ESP course ……… … ……… 17 4.2 Difficulties in teaching ESP ………………………………………… ………… 18 4.2.1.Difficulties in terms of teachers ………………………………………… …… 18 4.2.1.1 Teachers’ background knowledge of the subject matter…… …………… 18 4.2.1.2 ESP teaching methodology ……………………… ………………………19 4.2.2 Difficulties in terms of students ……………………………… ……………… 23 4.2.2.1 Students’ background knowledge ……… ……………………………… 23 4.2.2.2 Students’ competence in reading skill …………………… ………………25 4.2.3 Difficulties in dealing with the current teaching material ……………… …… 26 4.3 Teachers’ and students’ expectations ………… 27 4.3.1 Teachers‟ opinions of the further training courses ………… …………….……27 4.3.2 Students‟ expectations in terms of teaching method …… ………….………….28 4.3.3 Teachers‟ and students‟ expectations in terms of teaching material ………….29 4.3.4 Teachers‟ and students‟ views of using supplementary materials …… ………30 4.3.5 Teachers‟ and students‟ opinions about the time of ESP course ……….… … 31 CHAPTER 5: RECOMMENDATIONS … ……………… ……………………… 32 5.1 Improving teachers’ professional knowledge ……………………………… … 32 5.2 Improving ESP teaching methodology .32 5.3 Improving teachers’ classroom techniques …………………………… ……… 33 5.4 Helping students to enrich their background knowledge …………….….…… 36 5.5 Developing teaching materials ………………………………………….….…… 37 5.5.1 Adapting the current course book……………………………………….….…….37 5.5.2 Providing appropriate supplementary materials ……………….………… …….38 PART C: CONCLUSION …………………………………………….………….….… 39 Conclusion of the study …………………………………….………… …….….….39 Limitations and suggestions for further study ……… …………………….….….40 REFERENCES ……………………………………………………………………… …41 APPENDICES…………………………………………………………………………….I Appendix 1: Questionnaire for the teachers ……………………………………………I Appendix Questionnaire for the students ……………………………………………V Appendix 3: Sample Unit 13: Liabilities ……………………………………………XIII LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ESP: English for specific purposes GE: General English EAP: English for Academic Purposes EOP: English for Occupational Purposes HCET: Hai Duong College of Economics and Technology No: Number Ts: Teachers Sts: Students LIST OF TABLES AND CHARTS Table 1: Teachers‟ training in Economics and Accounting fields Table 2: Teachers‟ frequency of enriching specialized knowledge Table 3: The teachers‟ focuses in ESP lesson and students‟ responses Table 4: Forms of practice in ESP lesson and students‟ responses Table 5: The frequency of using pre-reading techniques and students‟ responses Table 6: The frequency of using while-reading techniques and students‟ responses Table 7: The frequency of using post-reading techniques and students‟ responses Table 8: Students‟ background knowledge of subject matter Table 9: Students‟ English competence Table 10: Teachers‟ and students‟ opinions about the current course book Table 11: Teachers‟ opinions of the further training courses on Economics and Accounting Table 12: Students‟ expectations in terms of teaching method Table 13: Teachers‟ and students‟ expectations in terms of material Table 14: The reasons for using supplementary materials Table 15: Teachers‟ and students‟ opinions about the time of ESP course Chart 1: Attitudes toward the importance of ESP course for the students‟ future job Chart 2: Teachers‟ and students‟ opinions about the current ESP course Chart 3: Students‟ competence in reading skill from the views of teachers and students Chart 4: Teachers‟ and students‟ opinions of using supplementary materials 10 PART A: INTRODUCTION Rationales The turn of the century has witnessed the dramatic growth in Vietnamese economics and the ensued reforms in its education sector, specifically, the reform of its language education In every school curriculum, English has become a compulsory subject and in higher education, “English majors” have been set up in many Vietnamese universities English education then has since been divided into two phases; one being devoted to the general education of English knowledge and the cultivation of English skills, the other being devoted to English education for specific purposes The coming into being and the development of English for specific purpose (ESP) education can be seen as a natural response toward the socioeconomic development of contemporary Vietnam and the globalization of the international community With the purpose of providing vocational English knowledge in specific disciplines, the ESP courses train the graduates to become the comprehensive language talents that are urgently needed in many sectors in today‟s Vietnamese society Being aware of the importance of ESP, Hai Duong College of Economics and Technology (HCET) has introduced the ESP course into the college curriculum since 2002 Since then, the teaching ESP at HCET has been improved, however, some problems in teaching ESP have emerged and need to be solved This current situation has aroused the author‟s interest For the reasons above, the author has decided to carry out the study of “Teaching ESP to students of accounting major at Hai Duong College of Economics and Technology: problems and solutions” Aims of the study The study aims at: - Investigating the teachers‟ and students‟ attitudes toward the ESP course - Examining the difficulties in teaching ESP to students of Accounting major at HCET - Offering some suggested solutions for the current ESP course It is hoped that the findings of this study will make some contributions to the improvement of teaching ESP at Hai Duong College of Economics and Technology in particular and teaching ESP in general 11 Method of the study In order to achieve the aims mentioned above, the author conducted the study in the form of a survey research The major method used in this thesis is quantitative one All the problems and suggestions given in this thesis are based on the analysis of data collected from the questionnaires responded by both teachers and students at Hai Duong College of Economics and Technology Scope of the study Teaching ESP is a broad issue Due to the limited time, the researcher just focuses on the problems in teaching ESP to the first - year students of Accounting major at Hai Duong College of Economics and Technology The problems explored are limited in terms of the students‟ and teachers‟ background knowledge, teaching methodology and teaching material In addition, the emphasis of the current ESP course is reading skill Therefore, when examining the problems concerning with teaching method, the researcher focuses on the method of teaching reading ESP Design of the study This study comprises six chapters as follows Part A: Introduction presents the rationales for the study and set up the aims, the method, the scope and the design of the study Part B: Development consists of chapters Chapter 1: deals with the theoretical background of the current study that is relevant to the research topic including the overview of ESP, roles of ESP teachers, the development and approaches to teach ESP and some difficulties in teaching ESP Chapter 2: describes the current situation of teaching and learning ESP at the Accounting Department in HCET Chapter 3: introduces the research methodology Chapter 4: focuses on analyzing the collected data and discussing the findings of the study Chapter 5: provides some suggested solutions for the current problems Part C: Conclusion summarizes the issues addressed and points out some limitations and makes some suggestions for further research 12 PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW Much time and energy has been devoted to the study of teaching ESP so far This chapter reviews some authors‟ viewpoints concerning with ESP and ESP teaching in order to build up the theoretical background for the study, which consists of four main parts: overview of ESP, roles of ESP teachers, development and approaches to teach ESP and difficulties in teaching ESP 1.1 Overview of ESP 1.1.1 Definition Despite the fact that it is an approach which has been widely used over the last three decades, there has been considerable recent debate about what ESP means Definitions of ESP in the literature are relatively late in time, if we assume that ESP began in the 1960s Hutchinson and Water (1987:19) emphasized that ESP should be seen as an approach, not a product It is an approach which is directed by specific and apparent reasons for learning Likewise, Strevens (1988: 1) stated that “ESP is a particular case of the general category of special – purpose language teaching ” He defined ESP by making a distinction between its absolute and variable characteristics Four absolute characteristics are: 1- designed to meet specified needs of the learner; 2- related in content (that is in its themes and topics) to particular disciplines, occupations and activities; 3- centered on language appropriate to those activities in syntax, lexis discourse, semantics and so on, and analysis of the discourse; 4- in contrast with „General English‟ Two variable characteristics are: 1- may be restricted as to the learning skills to be learned (for example reading only); 2- may not be taught according to any pre-ordained methodology The second absolute characteristic may confirm the impression held by many teachers that ESP is always and necessarily related to subject content Dudley-Evans and St John (1998) modified Strevens‟ definition by suggesting the following absolute characteristics and variable characteristics The absolute characteristics are : 1- ESP is designed to meet specific needs of the learner; 13 2- ESP makes use of the underlying methodology and activities of the disciplines it serves; 3- ESP is centered on the language (grammar, lexis, register), skills, discourse and genre appropriate to these activities The variable characteristics are: 1- ESP may be related to or designed for specific disciplines; 2- ESP may use, in specific teaching situations, a different methodology from that of general English; 3- ESP is likely to be designed for adult learners, either at a tertiary level institution or in a professional work situation It could, however, be used for learners at secondary school level; 4- ESP is generally designed for intermediate or advanced students Most ESP courses assume basic knowledge of the language system, but it can be used with beginners To sum up, all the above definitions show that ESP is a language skill course However, its domains not only relate to distinctive content, but also to discipline- specific lexis, genres and registers (Munby, 1978) Therefore, in terms of ESP teaching methodology, there could be some differences in comparison with that in the General Purpose English class 1.1.2 Classification of ESP Traditionally, ESP can be classified into two major groups according to when they take place: English for Academic Purposes (EAP) and English for Occupational Purposes (EOP) Robinson (1991) showed a distinction between these two areas in the following tree diagram Pre-experience EOP Simultaneous/ in- service Post-experience ESP Pre-study For study in a specific discipline EEP/EAP In-study Post-study Independent As a school subject Integrated Figure 1: ESP Classification by experience (Robinson, 1991, taken from Dudley-Evans and St John, 1998:6) 52 APPENDICES Appendix : Questionnaire for the teachers This survey questionnaire is designed to help me complete my graduation paper on “Teaching ESP to students of Accounting major at Hai Duong College of Economics and Technology: Problem and solutions” Your assistance in completing the questionnaire is highly appreciated You can be confident that your name will not be identified in any cases and your answers will be carefully considered The data collected will be used only in the research paper of my post graduation course First of all, please fill in some information about you: Your age: ……………………… Male/ Female: ………………………… How long have you been teaching English? ………… ……….years For all the questions, please answer by ticking one (or more) of the boxes or writing in the given spaces Question 1: ESP course for students of Accounting major is ……… for their future job?  A Very important  B Important  C No important Question 2: How you feel about ESP as a compulsory subject in the second term of the first school year?  A Difficult  B Ok  C Easy Question 3: Have you ever been trained or taken a course in Economics or Accounting?  A Yes  B No Question 4: How often you enrich your knowledge of Economics and Accounting fields by ……… ? 53 Ways to enrich knowledge Usually Sometimes Never Reading books in Economics and Accounting Searching on Internet Asking lecturers in the college Attending the Economics or Accounting lessons with students Question 5: Evaluate your students‟ reading skill after General English course  A Good  B Fair  C Not good Question 6: What you focus on in an ESP lesson? (more than one choice is acceptable)  A Terminologies  B Grammar  C Specialized knowledge  D Language skills Question 7: How often you let students practice in following forms ? Forms of practice Usually Sometimes Never In class In groups In pairs Alone Question 8: How often you use the following techniques in teaching an ESP reading lesson? Stages Techniques Using pre-reading questions Asking students to make questions about the text Prereading Pre-teaching vocabulary Giving brief introduction of the text Asking students to predict the content of the text Using games to introduce the topic Usually Sometimes Never 54 Using visual aids to introduce the topic Skimming While- Scanning reading Deducing Inferring Answering comprehension questions Translating the text Postreading Summarizing the text Having discussion Question 9: When dealing with the current textbook, you think… Statements True No answer False All the topics are related to students‟ major The texts are too long and full of terminologies The grammatical structures are too complex The types of reading texts are the same in all units The types of the tasks are the same in all units Question 10: The further training courses on Economics or Accounting for teachers of English at HCET is ……  A Very necessary  B Necessary  C Not necessary Question 11: What you expect in terms of ESP material for students of Accounting major? (More than one choice is acceptable)  A The topics should be related to Accounting major  B The tasks or exercises should be various in forms  C The kinds of text should be various in forms  D The texts should be simplified with fewer terminologies Others (please specify)……………………………………………………………… Question 12: You think the supplementary materials in teaching ESP are …  A Very necessary  B Necessary  C Not necessary If necessary, Please choose the reasons? (More than one choice is acceptable) 55  A The supplementary materials help to motivate students  B They provide students with more terminologies in Accounting field  C They provide students with more knowledge of Accounting  D The exercises in the current course book are not enough and not various in types Others (please specify) ……………………………………………………………… Question 13: When should the ESP course be taught to students?  A In the second terms of the first year  B In the first term of the second year  C In the second term of the second year  D In the first term of the third year Thank you very much for your cooperation! Appendix Questionnaire for the students 56 This survey questionnaire is designed to help me complete my graduation paper on “Teaching ESP to students of Accounting major at Hai Duong College of Economics and Technology: Problem and solutions” Your assistance in completing the questionnaire is highly appreciated You can be confident that your name will not be identified in any cases and your answers will be carefully considered The data collected will be used only in the research paper of my post graduation course First of all, please fill in some information about you: Your age: ……………………… Male/ Female: ………………………… How long have you been learning English? ………… ……….years For all the questions below, please answer by ticking one (or more) of the boxes or writing in the given spaces Question 1: ESP course for students of Accounting major is ……… for my future job?  A Very important  B Important  C No important Question 2: How you feel about ESP as a compulsory subject in the second term of the first school year?  A Difficult  B Ok  C Easy Question 3: Had you learned any specialized subjects in Vietnamese before taking the ESP course?  A Yes  B No Question 4: Evaluate the level of your existing language competence according to your General English course‟s score (for good: mark upwards, for fair: mark and 6, for not good: marks below )  A Good  B Fair  C Not good Question 5: Evaluate your reading skill after General English course 57  A Good  B Fair  C Not good Question 6: What does your teacher focus on in an ESP lesson? (more than one choice is acceptable)  A Terminologies  B Grammar  C Specialized knowledge  D Language skills Question 7: How often you practise in following forms ? Forms of practice Usually Sometimes Never In class In groups In pairs Alone Question 8: How often you use the following techniques in learning an ESP reading lesson? Stages Techniques Answering pre-reading questions Ask questions about the text Pre-learning vocabulary Prereading Getting brief introduction of the text Predict the content of the text Play games to get information about the topic Finding the information about the topic in visual aids Skimming While- Scanning reading Deducing Inferring Answering comprehension questions Usually Sometimes Never 58 Translating the text Postreading Summarizing the text Having discussion Question 9: When dealing with the current ESP textbook Statements True No answer False All the topics are related to students‟ major The texts are too long and full of terminologies The grammatical structures are too complex The types of reading texts are the same in all units The types of the tasks are the same in all units Question 10: What you expect in terms of teacher‟s methodology? (More than one choice is acceptable)  A I expect the teacher to explain exactly the terminologies in Vietnamese  B I expect the teacher to provide us more knowledge related to the topics  C I want the teacher to focus more on four language skills  D I expect the teacher to use more games or visual aids  E I expect the teacher to guide us more with strategies in while reading stage  F I want the teacher to give us more the communicative activities  G I expect the teacher to let us practise more in pairs or in groups  H I want the teacher to check us more often about translation Others (please specify) ……………………………………………………………… Question 11: What you expect in terms of ESP material for students of accounting major? (More than one choice is acceptable)  A The topics should be related to Accounting major  B The tasks or exercises should be various in forms  C The kinds of text should be various in forms  D The texts should be simplified with fewer terminologies Others (please specify)……………………………………………………………… Question 12: You think the supplementary materials in learning ESP are …  A Very necessary  B Necessary  C Not necessary If necessary, Please choose the reasons? (More than one choice is acceptable) 59  A The supplementary materials help to motivate us  B They provide us with more terminologies in Accounting field  C They provide us with more knowledge of Accounting  D The exercises in the current course book are not enough and not various in types Others (please specify) ……………………………………………………………… Question 13: When should the ESP course be taught to students?  A In the second terms of the first year  B In the first term of the second year  C In the second term of the second year  D In the first term of the third year Thank you very much for your cooperation! Questionnaire for the students (Vietnamese version) 60 Phiếu câu hỏi khảo sát thiết kế nhằm phục vụ cho đề tài luận văn thạc sỹ “Dạy tiếng Anh chuyên ngành cho sinh viên chuyên ngành Kế toán trường Cao đẳng Kinh tế- Kỹ thuật Hải Dương: Vấn đề giải pháp” Tôi đánh giá cao giúp đỡ bạn việc hồn thành phiếu điều tra Tơi xin đảm bảo thông tin cá nhân ý kiến bạn đưa giữ bí mật hồn tồn Trước hết, xin điền thơng tin cá nhân sau: - Độ tuổi:…………………… - Giới tính: (Nam/Nữ)…………………………… - Bạn học tiếng Anh bao lâu? năm Mời bạn trả lời câu hỏi cách đánh dấu vào hộp viết vào chỗ trống Câu hỏi 1: Khóa học tiếng Anh chuyên ngành với sinh viên chuyên ngành Kế toán … cho công việc bạn sau  A Rất quan trọng  B Quan trọng  C Không quan trọng Câu hỏi 2: Bạn thấy học tiếng Anh chuyên ngành môn bắt buộc kì thứ năm học thứ là……  Khó  Được  Dễ Câu hỏi 3: Bạn có học môn chuyên ngành tiếng Việt trước học tiếng Anh chun ngành khơng?  A Có  B Không Câu hỏi 4: Dựa điểm số môn tiếng Anh bản, bạn đánh giá lực tiếng Anh (Khá: điểm> = 7; Trung bình: điểm = 6; Yếu: điểm