Needs analysis students’ perceptions of languageneeds at hanoi university of pharmacy

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHER EDUCATION GRADUATION PAPER NEEDS ANALYSIS: STUDENTS’ PERCEPTIONS OF LANGUAGE NEEDS AT HANOI UNIVERSITY OF PHARMACY Supervisor: Cấn Thị Chang Duyên M.A Student: Nguyễn Tùng Linh Course: QH2016.F1.E1 Hanoi, 2020 i ĐẠI HỌC QUỐC GIA HÀ NỘI TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC NGOẠI NGỮ KHOA SƯ PHẠM TIẾNG ANH KHĨA LUẬN TỐT NGHIỆP PHÂN TÍCH NHU CẦU NGƯỜI HỌC: NHẬN THỨC CỦA SINH VIÊN VỀ NHU CẦU HỌC TIẾNG ANH TẠI ĐẠI HỌC DƯỢC HÀ NỘI Giáo viên hướng dẫn: ThS Cấn Thị Chang Duyên Sinh viên: Nguyễn Tùng Linh Khóa: QH2016.F1.E1 HÀ NỘI – 2020 ii iii iv ACCEPTANCE PAGE I hereby state that I: Nguyen Tung Linh QH2016.E1, being a candidate for the degree of Bachelor of Arts – English Teacher Education program accept the requirements of the College relating to the retention and use of Bachelor‟s Graduation Paper deposited in the library In terms of these conditions, I agree that the origin of my paper deposited in the library should be accessible for the purposes of study and research, in accordance with the normal conditions established by the librarian for the care, loan or reproduction of the paper Signature Date: 11/05/2020 v ACKNOWLEDGEMENT I would like to express my tremendous gratitude towards Ms Can Thi Chang Duyen for being her supervisor I am exceptionally grateful to her for bestowing upon me a golden opportunity to learn from her valuable skills and knowledge regarding conducting research Without her careful guidance and supportive encouragement, I could not have been successful in carrying out the paper I greatly appreciate her willingness to assist student as well as admire her commitment to her field of ESP research Secondly, only with the enthusiastic support from HUP‟s teachers and students did the research produce fruitful and valid results Finally, I am appreciative of my friends and family, who have provided me with remarkable emotional support throughout the journey With deepest gratitude, i ABSTRACT The need for English in the context of pharmacy has become increasingly inevitable over the years Acknowledging the importance of that, in 2012, Hanoi University of Pharmacy (HUP) has implemented the English for Specific Purposes (ESP) program into the graduate curriculum As ESP is still in its experimental years at HUP, a lack of efficiency was hypothesized This paper aims to investigate language needs in the context of ESP for pharmacy students, from the perspectives of students and teachers In addition to the use of the survey, the researcher gathered data through questionnaires distributed among the whole population of 102 participants, followed by in-depth interviews to gain a deeper understanding of the participants‟ experience The findings revealed that English language skills, including reading, writing, listening, speaking, were perceived to be essential for students in both their academic and professional aspects Among these, reading was perceived as more critical as being used more frequently The outcomes also indicated that both teachers and students share a similar view on the need to improve students‟ reading skills Moreover, the students also emphasized the significance of communicative skills in the pharmacy context Surprisingly, this was neither mentioned by teachers and course designers nor included in the course syllabus With the findings yielded from questionnaires and interviews, this study is expected to serve as a reference for course designers at HUP in particular and other pharmacy universities, in general, to take into consideration while designing their ESP syllabus Keywords: English for Specific Purposes (ESP), Need Analysis ii LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1: “The Tree of ELT” Figure 2: The ESP “Family Tree” LIST OF TABLES Table 1: Importance of the English language 23 Table Pharmacy Students‟ Purposes of Learning English at university 23 Table Pharmacy Students‟ Perceived confidence over skills 24 Table The Significance Order of Major Language Skills 26 Table The importance of Improving Listening Skill 27 Table 6: The importance of Improving Reading Skill 28 Table 7: The importance of Improving Writing Skill 29 Table 8: The importance of Improving Speaking Skill 29 Table 9: Interests in learning English skills 30 Table 10: Preferences for learning activities 36 Table 11: Preferences for learning methods 37 Table 12: Preferences for classroom interaction 38 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS CNP: Communicative Needs Processor EAP: English for Academic Purposes ELT: English Language Teaching EOP: English for Occupational Purposes ESP: English for Specific Purposes GE: General English HUP: Hanoi University of Pharmacy PNA: Pedagogic Needs Analysis PSA: Present Situation Analysis iii TSA: Target Situation Analysis TABLE OF CONTENT ACKNOWLEDGEMENT i ABSTRACT ii LIST OF FIGURES iii CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION 1.1 Statement of the research problem 1.2 Research Aims and Research Question 1.3 Significance of the study 1.4 Scope of the study 1.5 Structure of the study CHAPTER TWO LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 English for Specific Purposes (ESP) 2.1.1 Definitions of ESP 2.1.2 Characteristics of ESP 2.1.3 Branches of ESP 2.2 Need analysis 2.2.1 Definitions and importance of needs analysis 2.2.2 Classification of Needs 10 2.2.3 Approaches to Needs Analysis 11 iv 2.3 Previous Studies 13 CHAPTER THREE 16 METHODOLOGY 16 3.1 Research Design and Approach 16 3.2 Participants 17 3.3 Instruments 17 3.3.1 Students‟ questionnaires 17 3.3.2 Teachers‟ interview 19 3.3.3 Students‟ interview 19 3.4 Procedures 20 3.4.1 Data collection 20 3.4.2 Data analysis 21 CHAPTER FOUR 22 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 22 4.1 Results 22 4.1.1 To what extent are the perceived Pharmacy English language needs of fourth-year students addressed in the course? 22 4.1.2 To what extent the teaching methods and activities in the course meet students' preferences? 35 4.2 Discussion 40 4.2.1 Language needs of pharmacy students at HUP 40 4.2.2 Issues related to teaching ESP practice in HUP 42 CHAPTER FIVE 43 CONCLUSION 43 v Basturkmen, H (2006) Ideas and Options in English for Specific Purposes; Lawrence ERLBAUM Associates Publishers, London Brindley, G P (1984) Needs Analysis and Objective Setting in the Adult Migrant Education Program Sydney, Australia: N.S.W Adult Migrant Education Service Brindley, G (1989) The role of needs analysis in adult ESL programme design In R K Johnson (Ed.), The second language curriculum (pp 63-78) Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press Brown, J D (1995) The Elements of Language Curriculum: A Systematic Approach to Program Development Boston, MA: Heinle & Heinle Chowdhury, T A., & Haider, M Z (2012) A Need-based Evaluation of the EAP Courses for the Pharmacy Students in the University of Asia Pacific (UAP), Bangladesh Asian Social Science, 8(15) doi: 10.5539/ass.v8n15p93 Dudley-Evans, T., and St John, M (1998) Developments in ESP: A multi-disciplinary approach Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Duff, P (2008) Case Study Research in Applied Linguistics Taylor & Francis group, New York Gao, J (2007) Designing an ESP course for Chinese University Students of Business Asian ESP Journal, 3(1) Graves, K (2000) Designing language courses: a guide for teachers Boston: Heinle and Heinle Hutchinson, T., & Waters, A (1987) English for Specific Purposes: A Learner-Centered Approach Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Johns, A (1991) English for specific purposes: Its history and contribution In CelceMurcia, M (Ed) Teaching English as a second or foreign language (pp.67-77) Boston, MA: Heinle & Heinle Kaewpet, C (2009) A framework for investigating learner needs: Needs analysis extended to curriculum development Electronic Journal of Foreign Language Teaching, 6(2), 209-220 48 Kayaoğlu, M N., & Akbaş, R D (2016) An Investigation into Medical Students English Language Needs Participatory Educational Research, spi 16(1), 63–71 doi: 10.17275/per.16.spi.1.8 Kennedy, c., & Bolitho, R (1984) English for specific purpose London: Macmillan Khan, I A (2017) Revisiting ESP curriculum for pharmacy: An exploratory analysis of EFL learners International Research Journal of Human Resources and Social Sciences, 4(7) Long, M H (2005) Methodological issues in learner needs analysis In M H London(Ed.), Second language needs analysis (pp 19-75) Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press Mackey, A., & Gass, S M (2005) Second language research: Methodology and design Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Munby, J (1978) Communicative Syllabus Design Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Mackay, R and Mountford, A (1978) English for Specific Purposes: A case study Approach London: Longman Mayo, M del P G., & Antó, V N (1995) Needs Identification for an ESP Pharmacy Course Revista De Lenguas Para Fines Específicos, Nguyen, T., Nguyen, T., Nguyen, H., & Truong, D (2017) Evaluation of ESP Effectiveness in Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Medicine and Pharmacy at Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam MedPharmRes, 1(1), 37–45 doi: 10.32895/ump.mpr.1.1.37/suffix Nguyen, H (2017) A text-based ESP book for pharmacy students Hanoi University of Pharmacy Nunan, D 1988: Syllabus design Oxford: Oxford University Press Putra, C (2017), Need Analysis for Teaching English at Pharmacy Study Program Survey Study at First Richards, J C (2001) Curriculum development in language teaching Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press 49 Richards, J.C and Farrell, T.S.C (2005) Professional Development for Language Teachers: A Description and Analysis Cambridge University Press Richterich, R & J.J Chancerel (1987) Identifying the needs of adults learning a foreign language Oxford: Prentice Hall Robinson, P (1991) ESP today: A practitioner’s guide New York, US: Prentice Hall International Seedhouse, P (1995) Needs analysis and the general English classroom ELT Journal, 49(1), 59-65 Songhori, M H (2008) Introduction to needs analysis English for Specific Purposes World, 4(20), 1-25 Strevens, P (1988) ESP after twenty years: A re-appraisal In M Tickoo (Ed.), ESP: State of the Art (pp 1-13) Singapore: SEAMEO Regional Centre Weir, C and Roberts, J (1993) “Education in EFL”; In Applied Language Studies, D Crystal and K Johnson (Ed) West, R (1997) Needs analysis: State of the art In R Howard & G Brown (Eds.), Teacher education for languages for specific purposes (pp 68-97) London, UK: Multilingual Matters West, R (1994) Needs analysis in language teaching Language Teaching, 27/1, 1-19 50 APPENDIX APPENDIX A: STUDENTS’ QUESTIONNAIRES PART A: PERSONAL INFORMATION Department: PART B: Do you think that English is important to you? Yes No If your answer is Yes, please put an “x” in the appropriate column Purpose of learning English Strongly Disagree Disagree Do not know You need English for: your academic studies your future jobs your social life communication with the outside world 48 Agree Strongly Agree PART C: SELF-ANALYSIS How confident are you about your language skills? Please put an “x” in the appropriate column Language skills Not confident Little confident Do not know Confident Very confident Speaking Listening Reading Writing Pronunciation Grammar General Vocabulary 49 Scientific Vocabulary PART D: How important are these language skills to you? Please put an “x” in the appropriate column Not very Little important important Listeni Listening to speeches, talks, ng presentation at pharmacy conference Listening to patients describing their symptoms Listening to pharmacist group discussion Listening to lectures at 50 Moderately Importa Very important nt important university Readi Reading your ng textbooks and scientific articles Reading for specialization specific information in textbook and in the Internet Reading extra references Reading prescriptions in English Writin Writing a research or report g paper Writing pharmacy lab reports Writing a referral letter, letter of discharge or letter of drug regimen Writing correct prescriptions in 51 English Speaki Participating ng in academic/professional discussion Asking for information of diseases Describing diseases and treatment plan Describing graphic data and images How interested are you in learning these language skills to you? Please put an “x” in the appropriate column Not very Little interested interested Listeni Listening to speeches, talks, 52 Moderately Interest Very interested ed Interested ng presentation at pharmacy conference Listening to patients describing their symptoms Listening to pharmacist group discussion Listening to lectures at university Readi Reading your ng textbooks and scientific articles Reading for specialization specific information in textbook and in the Internet Reading extra references Reading prescriptions in English 53 Writin Writing a research or report g paper Writing pharmacy lab reports Writing a referral letter, letter of discharge or letter of drug regimen Writing correct prescriptions in English Speaki Participating ng in academic/professional discussion Asking for information of diseases Describing diseases and treatment plan Describing graphic data and images 54 PART E: How you like to learn and to be taught? Please put an “x” in the appropriate column I prefer (activities) Strongly Disagree Disagree Do not know Agree Strongly Agree Role-plays Simulations Discussions Matching Gap-filling MCQ T/F Writing paragraphs 55 Writing summary and reports Translation of texts into English Translation of texts into Vietnamese I prefer (method) Strongly Disagree Do not know Agree Disagree Strongly Agree Memorizing Problem-solving Getting information on my own Copying from the board Audio-visual aids ICT Project works I prefer (classroom interaction) Strongly Disagree Disagree Do not know Agree Strongly Agree 56 The teacher just talks and students listen Students actively participate in activities The teacher controls everything The teacher does not control everything, but helps and guides students to learn 57 APPENDIX B: TEACHERS’ INTERVIEW QUESTION GUIDELINE Qualifications and your experience in English language teaching? Your experience in ESP teaching? Is there any syllabus provided by your department? Do you think that the content provided to your students is relevant to their needs? What are the problems encountered when teaching ESP? What kind of activities you think that are the most appropriate for ESP students? (the interviewer may suggest some of the following activities) • Listening comprehension • Reading comprehension • Speaking & topic discussion • Writing oriented course • Focusing on grammar • Teaching vocabulary & pharmacy terminology Do you have any remarks or suggestions concerning the design of an ESP course for pharmacy students? 58 APPENDIX C: STUDENTS’ INTERVIEW QUESTION GUIDELINE When and what you need to use English for? - To develop professional communication - To pass the requirements to graduate - To read academic literatures - To benefit future career - … Are you confident with your English skills? If not, what English skills you think you need to improve? Do you think that the ESP courses will be beneficial for your academic purpose or future career? If yes, how you define this beneficial term? 59 ... methods quantitative and qualitative, there were two data analysis phases: Quantitative data analysis Quantitative data analysis was performed with the help of IBM SPSS Statistics (SPSS) software version... teaching with to cater for the increasing demand for professional communication in the era of international economic integration Fully aware of the significance of ESP, Hanoi University of Pharmacy (HUP)... deficiency analysis, strategy 12 analysis or learning needs analysis, and means analysis In deficiency analysis, students are evaluated to see what they lack in terms of language skills This matches