Designing an esp syllabus for the second-year students of library study at the national teachers training college

Designing an esp syllabus for the second-year students of library study at the national teachers training college

Vietnam national university, HanoiCollege of foreign languages

Post-Graduate Department -

Duong Thi hao

Designing an esp syllabus for the second-yearstudents of library study at the national

teachers training college

“ ThiÕt kÕ gi¸o tr×nh tiÕng Anh chuyªn ngµnh chosinh viªn n¨m thø hai ngµnh Th viÖn trêng Cao

§¼ng S Ph¹m Trung ¬ng”MA minor thesis

Major: English language teaching methodology

Hanoi, 2007

Vietnam national university, HanoiCollege of foreign languages

Post-Graduate Department -

Duong Thi hao

Designing an esp syllabus for the second year

students of library study at the national teachers training college

“ ThiÕt kÕ gi¸o tr×nh tiÕng Anh chuyªn ngµnh cho sinh viªn n¨m thø hai ngµnh Th viÖn trêng Cao

§¼ng S Ph¹m Trung ¬ng”MA minor thesis

Field: English language teaching methodologyCode: 601014

Hanoi, 2007

First of all, I’d like to express my deepest gratitude to my supervisor, Dr Nguyen Xuan Thomwho gave me valuable suggestions, insightful discussions and immeasurable support andencouragements in the development and completion of this study.

I gratefully acknowledge all those whose works which are referred to in this study Inparticular, I would like to thank Dr.To Thu Huong for her lectures and advice that helped shapingmy thinking on this subject matter

My special thanks go to all the lecturers of the Postgraduate Department at the College ofForeign Languages, Vietnam National University, Hanoi for their useful lectures and guidanceduring the course.

I also wish to thank all my colleagues and my dear students at the National Teachers TrainingCollege for their participation, assistance and support for this thesis

This study is intended to deal with one of the problems in teaching English for the students oflibrary study at the National Teachers Training college (NTTC): That’s the shortage of anappropriate ESP syllabus for the students of library study when they take the ESP course Thus, thisstudy aims at designing an appropriate, practical, feasible and also enjoyable ESP syllabus for thestudents of library study to facilitate the process of teaching and learning ESP.

The study consists of three main parts: Introduction, Development and Conclusion.

The first part: Introduction discusses the rationale, aim and objectives, scope, methods anddesign of the study.

The second part of the study contains three chapters Chapter one is devoted to the theoreticalbackground of the study Chapter two is the investigation into some textbooks relating to librarystudy The next chapter deals with methodology of the study, data collection, findings anddiscussion and the proposed syllabus for the target students based on the previous chapters

The last part of the study is a summary of the study including the conclusion of the study,limitations of the study as well as suggestions for further study.

It is hoped that the results of the study can be helpful to those who are in charge of teaching ESPfor students of library study at NTTC in particular and those who are interested in teaching anddesigning appropriate syllabuses for their target students in general.

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

List of figures and tables

Figure 1 Types of ESP ……… ……… 5

Figure2: Bases for language syllabus design ……… ………9

Figure 3 : Cohesive devices……… ……… 18

Figure 4 : Organization of information……… …………20

Table 1: Terms and acronyms in the selected texts……… … ………56

Table 2: Prefixes and suffixes in texts related to library study………….……….56

Table 3: Simple vs complex sentences……… 56

Table 4: Active vs passive sentences……….56

Table 5: The teachers’ ranking of the objectives in the ESP reading course……….……….57

Table 6: Teachers’ ranking topics relating to library study……… 57,58Table 7: English teachers’ ranking of Grammar and structures needed to be included in the syllabus……… 58

Table 8: Teachers’ ranking of reading skills and language exercises……… 59,60Table 9: English teachers’ ranking of language tasks………61

Table 10 The students’ expectations in the ESP reading course……… 62

Table 11: Students’ ranking topics relating to library study……… 63Table 12 : Students’ ranking of reading skills and language exercises……….64,65Table 13 : The proposed ESP reading syllabus for library study at NTTC……… 34-38

Table of content

List of abbreviationsList of figures and tables

PART I: INTRODUCTION……… ……… ……… ……… … 1

1 Rationale……… ………… …… ……… ….1

2 Aims and Objectives……… …….… ……… … 2

3 Research questions……… …… ……… …….2

4 Scope of the Study……….………… ……… …….2

5 The significance of the study……….………… …… …….2

6 Methods of study……… ………… ………3

7 Design of the study……… ……… …3

PART II: DEVELOPMENT……….………… …… …….4

CHAPTER I: LITERATURE REVIEW……… …… ……4

1.2.1 Definition of syllabus……….……… ………… 7

1.2.2 Task, Function, Activity and Exercise……… ……… 8

1.2.3 Types of ESP syllabus……….…… ………9

1.2.3.1 Language form syllabuses (Structural/ grammatical syllabus) 9

1.2.3.2 Notional- functional syllabuses 10

1.2.4 Approaches to language syllabus design 12

1.2.4.1 Language - centered approach 12

1.2.4.2 Skills- centered approach 12

1.2.4.3 Learning- centered approach 13

1.2.5 Stages in syllabus design 13

1.2.5.1 Needs Analysis (NA) 13

1.2.5.2 Aims and objectives setting 15

3.4.2.2 Active vs passive sentences 20

3.4.3 Text 20

3.4.3.1 Organization of information 20

3.4.3.2 Making a definition or explanation 21

3.4.3.1 Some other characteristics 21

3.1.1.2 Teacher factor ( Teachers of English at NTTC) 23

3.1.1.3 Students factor (Students of library study) 23

3.1.1.4 The teaching and learning English at NTTC 24

3.1.2 Subjects of the study 25

3.1.3 Instruments for collecting data 25

3.1.3.1 Questionnaires 25

3.2 RESULTS AND ANALYSIS OF DATA COLLECTION 26

3.2.1 Needs perceived by the English teachers 26

3.2.1.1 Section 1: The teachers’ attitude towards ESP reading course for the second year students of library study and the objectives perceived by them 26

3.2.1.2 Section II: English teachers’ and subject teachers’ opinions on needed topics 27

3.2.1.3 Section III: Grammar and structures needed to be included in the syllabus 27

3.2.1.4 Section IV: English teachers’ ranking of reading skills, language exercises and language tasks needed to be included in the syllabus 28

3.2.2 Needs perceived by the second year students of library study at NTTC 28

3.2.2.1.Section I: The students’ attitude towards ESP reading course 28

3.2.2.2 Section II: Needed topics perceived by the students 29

3.2.2.3 Section III: Students’ ranking of reading skills, language exercises and language tasks needed to be included in the syllabus 29

3.3 DESIGNING AN ESP READING SYLLABUS FOR THE SECOND YEAR STUDENTS OF LIBRARY STUDY AT NTTC 30

3.3.1 Selecting the type of ESP syllabus 30

3.3.2 Aims and objectives of the reading syllabus 31

3.3.3 The selection and gradation of content in the syllabus 31

3.3.3.1 Topics in the syllabus 31

3.3.3.2 Reading skills and exercises 32

3.3.3.3 Language tasks 33

3.3.3.4 Grammar and structures 33

3.3.4 The proposed reading syllabus for the target students 33

PART I: INTRODUCTION 1 Rationale

The National Teachers’ Training College (NTTC) used to be the National College forEarly Childhood Teachers No1 Thus, library study is a new field of study at the college.There have been students of library study since 2004 Although English has been taught atNTTC since 1990 and English is a compulsory subject, ESP is only taught for students oflibrary study and computer science students At the NTTC students take the GeneralEnglish (GE) course with 150 periods After finishing their GE course students of librarywill take the ESP course of 60 periods.

According to the training curriculum, the ESP is to be delivered in the third semester ofthe second year after two semesters of GE The reading texts used for the ESP course areselected by the teachers of the English section from different sources and they use them assyllabus to plan the lessons Since ESP has been a part of English teaching at the NTTC,there has never been an official guidance or any suggestions for the ESP teachers Thosewho are responsible for teaching ESP for students of library study often choose the partsfrom their own sources, which they personally think, are important and appropriate fortheir learners without any investigation into the factors concerning ESP theories as well asthe learners’ need or target situation As a result, consideration for students’ need, the aimand objectives of the ESP course is nowhere to stay but is subjected to teachers’ subjectiveoptions.

It is clear that a syllabus contributes to the success and fulfills the objectives of anEnglish course A syllabus is an integral component in the process of the course design.Hutchinson and Waters (1987, p.83-84) explain why we should have a syllabus byidentifying the roles of a syllabus The syllabus, defining the constituent parts of languageknowledge is a practical basis for the division of assessment, textbooks and learning time.Apart from its practical benefits, a syllabus gives more support to the teachers and learnersin that it makes the language-learning tasks appear manageable A syllabus is an implicitstatement of view on the nature of what is taken to be the most important aspect oflanguage learning A syllabus then tells the teacher and the student not only what to belearned but also why it is to be learned.

The shortage of an appropriate syllabus for the second year students of library study atthe NTTC is a big and urgent question, waiting to be answered And it is of great necessity

and significance to both teachers who are teaching ESP and students of library study This

is the reason why the topic “Designing an ESP syllabus for the second year students of

library study at the NTTC” is the subject matter chosen for my thesis.

2 Aims and Objectives

The study aims at designing an appropriate ESP syllabus for the second year students oflibrary study at the NTTC To achieve this aim, three objectives are set to be obtained. To develop a theoretical framework related to an ESP syllabus design

 To conduct a Needs Analysis to identify the students’ learning situation, the learningneeds perceived by the teachers who are responsible for the ESP course, subjectteachers, and the second year students of library study.

 To propose an appropriate ESP syllabus for the target students based on the relevanttheories and the Needs Analysis.

3 Research questions

To attain these above aims and objectives the following research questions are raised: What are the students’ learning needs and target needs?

 What should be included in the syllabus?

The answer to these question help to develop an appropriate ESP syllabus for thesecond year students of library study at NTTC.

4 Scope of the Study

The study limits itself to design an ESP reading syllabus for the second year students oflibrary study at the NTTC The author of the study is concerned with the second yearstudents of library study, subject teachers and English teachers at the NTTC Otherapproaches to syllabus designs intended for students and other subjects at any other levelsof English language proficiency would be beyond the scope.

5 The significance of the study

It is hoped that the study can be both practically and theoretically helpful In practice,the study is hoped to solve a problem of setting up an ESP syllabus that is urgentlynecessary for the second year students of library study at NTTC It would give a smoothermove to the teaching and learning ESP for both concerning teachers and students.Furthermore, it help to set the first official step to the teaching and learning ESP at theNTTC That would integrate both the learners’ learning Needs and the ESP course

objectives Theoretically, the study may hopefully contribute something to the field ofsyllabus design and at the same time would raise the concern of other teachers at NTTC.

6 Methods of study

Quantitative methods are employed to carry out this Data is collected by means ofsurvey questionnaires an then quantitatively analyzed

7 Design of the study

The study contains three main parts:

Part I: Introduction: that is for the rationale, aims and objectives, the research questions,significance, scope, methodology and design of the study.

Part II: Development that consists of three chapters.

Chapter 1: ‘Literature review’ is devoted to the theoretical background that includes anoverview of ESP, and some current views on syllabus design.

Chapter 2: is the investigation into some texts extracted from some textbooks related tolibrary study to find out some main language feature of ESP reading texts.

Chapter 3: deals with the methodology describing situational analysis, subject of thestudy and instruments for collecting data The findings and analysis of the results collectedfrom the survey are also found in this chapter And from that a proposed ESP syllabus for2nd year students of library study at NTTC is presented.

Part III: ‘Conclusion’ which offers a summary and limitations of the study as well assome suggestions for further study.

PART II: DEVELOPMENTCHAPTER I: LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter will be devoted to theories related to the subject matter The chapter isdivided into three parts: (1) an overview of ESP to highlight the characteristics of an ESPcourse and factors to be taken into account in designing an ESP syllabus; (2) the discussionof approaches to designing an ESP syllabus; and the steps to be taken in designing an ESPreading syllabus.

1.1 An overview of ESP1.1.1 Definitions of ESP

ESP (English for special purposes) has been defined by different researchers andscholars from different points of views Fitzjohn in Robinson (1980: 9) takes the time

factor as a characteristic feature of ESP He points out ‘The very concept of ‘Special

purposes’ implies that foreign language study is a subsidiary contribution to another maininterest, and that there will normally be pressure to achieve the required level of linguisticcompetence in a minimum of time.’ In regard to learners’ age Robinson cited in Long

(1980: 9) states that ‘The number of people wanting to learn English for Specific Purpose

is spiraling By and large these people have been students in tertiary education, andadult.’

Brumfit(1977: 7) and Munby (1978: 2) shares the same view when they take the

learners’ needs as the most important factor in ESP Brumfit states that: ‘First, it is clear

that an ESP course is directly concerned with the purposes for which learners needEnglish, purposes for which are usually expressed in functional terms.’

A definition which covers more detailed characteristics of an ESP course is produced

by Strevens (1988) He points out: ‘English for specific purposes is a particular case of the

general category of special - purpose language teaching The same principles apply nomatter which language is being learned and taught French for specific purposes Russianfor specific purposes Chinese for specific purposes - all of these exist and are constructedon the same basis as English for specific purposes The vastly greater demand for Englishmakes ESP more common than FSP, RSP, or CSP, but the principles are the same’(Strevens, 1988: 1).

Although there have been many definitions of ESP given by different authors, theStrevens’ (1988: 1) definition will be used in this study because it covers more detailedcharacteristics of an ESP course From the definition by Strevens, an ESP course has thefollowing characteristics:

 Absolute characteristics.Absolute Absolute characteristics.characteristics.

ESP consists of English language teaching, which is (1) designed to meet specifiedneeds of the learner, (2) related in content (i.e in its themes and topics) to particulardisciplines, occupations and activities, (3) centered on the language appropriate to thoseactivities, in syntax, lexis, discourse, semantics, etc and (4) in contrast with “GeneralEnglish”.

 Absolute characteristics.Variable Absolute characteristics.characteristics.

ESP may be, but is not necessarily restricted as to the language skills to be learned(E.g.: reading only, speech recognition only, etc.) and taught according to any pre-ordainedmethodology

The above definitions imply two factors: (1) the broad meaning of the term ‘purpose’and (2) the syllabus bases on learners’ needs analysis to determine the content of thesyllabus, the materials and the method of teaching/ learning purposes.

1.1.2 Types of ESP

There are many types of ESP, but the major distinction is often drawn between EOP(English for Occupational Purposes), EAP (English for Academic Purposes), and EST(English for Science and Technology) Strevens (1977a cited in Munby, 1978:55) made aclassification of various types of ESP in the following figure:

Figure Absolute characteristics.1 Absolute characteristics.Types Absolute characteristics.of Absolute characteristics.ESP Absolute characteristics.(Munby: Absolute characteristics.156 Absolute characteristics.taken Absolute characteristics.from Absolute characteristics.Strevens Absolute characteristics.1977 Absolute characteristics.b)

Educational (EEP)

Pre-studyIn-studyPost-study

1.1.3 Terminology

Robinson (1991: 27) argues that ‘particularly specialist vocabulary (or terminology), is

a key element of ESP’ It means that terminology makes the basic distinction between ESP

and GE

1.1.3.1 Definition of terminology

There have been many definitions of terminology but I here by cited 2 definitions In Longman dictionary of applied linguistics (1992: 376), terminology is defined as:

“the special lexical items which occur in a particular discipline or subject matter”.

Nguyen Thien Giap (1985:308) defines terminology as a special linguistic that consistsof word and fixed phrase providing precise definitions of objectives that belong to aparticular scientific area.

These definitions share the same view that terminology are specialist words used inspecial fields or branches.

Three main characteristics of terminology have been given by many linguists These

are: accuracy, Absolute characteristics.systematicity and internationality.

1.1.3.3.1 Accuracy

Terms have the basic nuclear meaning and “one concept has only one term for it and

vice versa” A scientific term expresses a scientific concept or definition precisely and

concretely There is no connotation emotional meaning, polysemy, synonymy and anonym.

1.1.3.3.2 Systematicity

In every field of science there exists a limited system of concepts which are denoted bycertain terms and each term is in the relationship with other terms in the same system andits value is also determined by this relationship The term, therefore, depends closely onother terms in the system.

LIMS: Library Information Management System

1.2 Current views on syllabus design1.2.1 Definition of syllabus

The notion of “syllabus” have been defined by different writers In defining syllabusthere are several conflicting views on the distinction between syllabus design andcurriculum development Some writers advocate the narrow view that draws a cleardistinction between syllabus design and methodology whereas some others adopt a broaderview that argues that the advent of communicative language teaching, the distinctionbetween content and tasks is difficult to sustain.

Yalden (1984: 14) and Breen (1984:49) believe that the syllabus replaces the concept of‘method’, and it is seen as an instrument the teacher uses with the help of the syllabusdesigner to achieve a degree of ‘fit’ between the needs, the aims of the learners, and the

class activities ‘Any syllabus will express, however indirectly certain assumption about

the language, about the psychological process of learning, and about the pedagogic andsocial within a classroom’ ( Breen, 1984:49)

Some other researchers such as Nunan (1988), Alen (1984: 49), Hutchinson and Waters(1987: 80) hold the different view They believe that syllabus and methodology should bedistinctive and separate.

According to Allen (1984: 49) ‘Syllabus is concerned with a specification of what

units will be taught’ Nunan (1988) shares the same view that a syllabus is a specification

of the content that is to be taught in a language program and the order in which it is to betaught All or any of the phonology, grammar, functions, notions can be found in asyllabus.

Hutchinson & Waters (1987: 80) state that ‘A syllabus is a document which says what

will (or at least what should) be learned’.

In short, a syllabus is now narrowly then broadly defined For the sake of designing anESP syllabus for the second year students of library study at NTTC, the author attempts to

adapt the view that - A syllabus is concerned with what to be learned.

1.2.2 Task, Function, Activity and Exercise

It is necessary at this point to distinguish task, function, activity and exercise This willhelp to understand the issues discussed in the following sections and later help to chooseappropriate language units for the target syllabus.

In Longman dictionary of language teaching & applied linguistics task is defined as ‘an

activity which is designed to help achieve a particular learning goal The teacher’ choice oftasks determines learning goals, how learning is to take place , and how is the result of

learning is demonstrated’ A number of dimensions of tasks including goals, procedures,

order, pacing, product, learning strategy, assessment, participation, resources, andlanguage influence their use in language teaching (Longman, 1997; 373)

Function is ‘ the purpose for which an utterance or unit of language is used In languageteaching functions are often described as categories of behaviours; e.g.: requests,apologies, complaints, offers, compliments.’ In linguistics, the functional uses of languageare studied in speech acts theory, sociolinguistics, and pragmatics.

In communicative approach to language teaching , a syllabus is often organized in termsof different functions the learners need to express or understand.

In language teaching, ‘activities are defined as relatively short blocks of classroomtime-typically 10 to 20 minutes– during which students are arranged in a particularway’(Walter, 1986; 398) In this sense, an activity may consist of different tasks and thatmay carry out different functions.

Exercise

Exercise is an activity or process involving a particular skill and it is designed toachieve a result In language teaching exercises are often used to practice grammar andstructures as well as to enforce lexical items.

1.2.3 Types of ESP syllabus

Some different ways of classifying syllabuses are employed by different researchers Inthis study the author would like to take the classification of syllabuses by Robinson(1991:35) She classifies syllabuses into three main types as follows:

Figure2: Absolute characteristics.Bases Absolute characteristics.for Absolute characteristics.language Absolute characteristics.syllabus Absolute characteristics.design Absolute characteristics.(Sources: Absolute characteristics.White Absolute characteristics.(325); Absolute characteristics.ovals, Absolute characteristics.Breen(270); Absolute characteristics.rectangles, Absolute characteristics.Allen Absolute characteristics.(256) Absolute characteristics.(In Absolute characteristics.Robinson, Absolute characteristics.1991: Absolute characteristics.35)

1.2.3.1 Language form syllabuses (Structural/ grammatical syllabus)

In this kind of syllabus, syllabus input is selected and graded according to grammaticalnotions of simplicity and complexity The most basic aspects of such a syllabus arelanguage structures The main advantage of this kind of syllabus is that the teaching isbased on the principle of working from the familiar to the unfamiliar However, this kindof syllabuses have been criticized because they focus only one aspect of language formal-

grammar Nunan and Wilkins points out “Structurally graded syllabuses misrepresented

the complex nature of language as a system and tended to focus on only one aspect oflanguage, that is, formal grammar” (Nunan, 1988: 30).

LanguageReceptive/ Productive

focus

ProcessLearning focus

ProceduralCognitive

Notional/ task focus

However, In fact structural syllabus is still commonly used in both GE and ESP coursessince it provides a commonly recognized set of structures which can be used as one criteriafor syllabus organization.

1.2.3.2 Notional- functional syllabuses

In contrast to the structural syllabus, this type of syllabus emphasizes the semantic

knowledge as primary and attempts to answer the question ‘What do the learners need to

express?’ (Wilkins, 1983:86) The learners and their communication are the focus of the

syllabus (Nunan, 1988:36) Thus, the main advantage of this type of syllabus is to providethe teaching with ‘realistic learning task, real world language

However this type of syllabus has some drawbacks Firstly, it provides simple series ofisolated functions that can’t help to develop the learners’ communicative competence.Secondly, the content is restricted to specific of use to perform many functions Thirdly,the functional content is presented in short utterances and units of discourse, large structureof discourse may be ignored and the learners may fail to handle the new language in longerdiscourse

Despite its weakness, the notional/ functional syllabus is widely used in specificteaching programmes for specific purposes because it based on specific discourse andneeds analysis to define the content of the course.

1.2.3.3 Situational Syllabuses

The situational syllabus treats the language as a social medium ‘Language is always

used in a social context and cannot be fully understood without reference to that context’

(Wilkins, 1976:16) In most situational syllabus the content is highly relevant to the needsand interests of the learners Students’ knowledge of the world is used as an aid to learningand provides realistic materials.

However, this type of syllabus also presents some shortcomings Firstly, ‘there is

principle no way to grade situations in terms of difficulty or as to which ones need to belearned before others’ Long and Crookes (1993).Secondly, there is no strong predictable

relationship between the situation and the language used in it, except for highly ritualizedlanguage use Bell (1981: 54).

1.2.3.4 Topic - based syllabuses

This type of syllabus is based on the assumption that ‘text must be about something,

thus all textbooks have willy-nilly topic syllabus’ (Hutchinson, 1987:89).The main

advantage of this type of syllabus is that it ‘motivates’ the students and as a basis for the

real ‘syllabus of the language forms, tasks or whatever the course designers wish to focus

on’ (Robinson (1991:37) Topic-based syllabus deploys the content of the students’ work

or specialist study so it is of great importance to ESP One objective of the ESP course mayin fact be to teach this specialist content (Robinson; 1991:36) However, Brown and Yule(1983:73) point out some difficulty in grading and defining the semantic construct and also

‘the logic of the subject may provide a non-linguistic rationale for the selecting and

grading content’.

1.2.3.5 Skill-based syllabuses

Skill-based syllabuses ‘focus exclusively or principally on one of the four traditional

skills However, the actual content of the course might be the language forms or functions,as in content-based syllabuses.’ (Robinson, 1991:37).

The main advantage of this type of syllabus is that it helps to develop students’ skills

and strategies because it’s based on the assumption that ‘underlying and language

behavior are certain skills and strategies, which the learner uses in order to produce orcomprehend discourse’ (Hutchinson, 1987:69).

1.2.3.6 Task-based syllabuses

The main organizing principle of task-based syllabuses is activities or tasks Accordingto Robinson (1991:39).The procedural or task-based syllabuses consist of a set of tasks oractivities ordered according to cognitive difficulty Class time is devoted to performance ofthe tasks and attention is only consciously directed to language if this is necessary forcompletion of the task A major concern is that students understand the task and what theyare doing, and do not act in a mechanical way.

Task-based syllabuses are of clear significance for ESP students Robinson (1991: 40)observes that in ‘using the medium of English, they should successfully perform a work orstudy task’ However, the main difficulty of this type of syllabus lies in the degree ofcontextual support, the cognitive difficulty of the task, the amount of assistance, thelanguage complexity, the psychological stress, and the amount and type of knowledgebackground (Nunan, 1988).

1.2.3.7 Communicative syllabuses

This kind of syllabus is designed basing on the communicative approach to languageteaching which emphasizes that the goal of language learning is communicative

competence (Richards & Roger, 1986) This type of syllabus provides the language neededto express and understand different kinds of functions and focuses mainly on the process ofcommunication, such as using language appropriately in different types of situations; usinglanguage to perform different kinds of tasks; using language for social interactions withother people.

1.2.3.8 Audio-lingual syllabuses

This type of syllabus is base on the beliefs that speaking and listening are the mostimportant language skills and each language has its own unique structure and rule systemand learning a language is forming habits The audio-lingual method was used in the 1950sand 1960s,however, this method received a lot of criticisms because of its theory andtechniques.

1.2.3.9 Analytic syllabuses

This kind of syllabus see the language behaviors as the starting point (e.g descriptions,requests, apologies, enquiries, and other speech acts) The vocabulary and grammar usedfor different functions can be later analyzed (Wilkinsm, 1976) This kind of syllabusappears to be a combination of some types of syllabuses

All kinds of syllabus have their own advantages as well as disadvantages For the sakeof designing an appropriate ESP syllabus for the second year students of library study thecombination or integration of syllabuses will be a good solution because the practice of asingle syllabus cannot guarantee the satisfaction of the students.

1.2.4 Approaches to language syllabus design

There have been different approaches to language syllabus design Wikins (1976)makes a useful distinction between analytic and synthetic approaches to language teaching.Hutchinson and Water (1987: 65) suggests three ways: language- centered, skills- centeredand learning- centered For the purpose of this paper, the later will be taken into account.

1.2.4.1 Language - centered approach

This approach ‘aims to draw as direct a connection as possible between the analysis ofthe target situation and the content of the ESP course’ (Hutchinson and Waters, 1987: 65).

The starting point of this approach is learners and their needs but it’s restricted to thearea of language not the whole of language And the criticism falls on its static procedureand it can only cover the surface of the performance.

1.2.4.2 Skills- centered approach

This approach in ESP focuses on developing learners’ skills and strategies It treatslearners as users of language rather than learners of language The skills-centered approachtakes the learner more into account than the language- centered approach After the ESPcourse the learner will be keen on processing the information.

1.2.4.3 Learning- centered approach

The main concern of learning- centered approach is ‘to maximize learning’ (Hutchinsonand Water 1987: 72) In this approach learners are not the only one concern of the learningprocess, and learning process is not totally decided and based on the learner but should beseen in the context where it takes place This approach deals with learning process not onlyas a process of mentality but also a negotiating process taken place between individuals insociety It doesn’t only pay attention to the learner’s competence itself but also to how thelearner acquires that competence

needs and cannot guarantee the effectiveness of the course

In order to design and ESP syllabus for the second year SLS at the NTTC, an integratedapproach will be the choice, the rationale for this to maximize the advantages andminimize the drawbacks of each approach.

1.2.5 Stages in syllabus design

Different researchers have a variety of ways to look at the issue due to certain reasons.The syllabus for the target students at NTTC will be designed by working out on thefollowing steps (1) Needs analysis; (2) Goal setting; (3) Selecting and grading content.Nunan (1988, 60) points out that the initial step in the process of designing a syllabus is tocarry out a needs analysis to assess the needs of the learners Basing on the result of thisanalysis, the aim and the objectives of the syllabus will be set up and the content of thesyllabus will be selected and graded

1.2.5.1 Needs Analysis (NA)

Needs analysis is now seen as the logical starting point for the development of a

language program Robinson (1991, 41) suggests that ‘ the decision as to which syllabus

type or types to employ will result from a judicious consideration of the students’ needsand the objectives of the course, together with the institutional bias of the teachinginstitution’ It implies that a material designer must analyze the needs of the learners for

whom he or she designs the materials Richards (2001, 32) defines needs analysis as ‘ the

process of determining the needs for which a learner or a group of learners requires alanguage and arranging the needs according to the priorities’.

* Needs : Firstly, needs refer to (1) students’ study or job requirements that are whatthey have to be able to do at the end of their language course Widdowson (1981, 2), (2)‘what the user-institution or society at large regards as necessary or desirable to be learntfrom a program of a language institution, (3) ‘what the students themselves would like togain from the language course’ Berwick (1989, 55) Under Hutchinson and Waters’perspective, needs analysis include target needs and learning needs Target needs refer to

a number of important distinctions: necessities, lacks and wants.

* Necessities: Necessity determined by the demands of the target situation, that is, whatthe learner has to know in order to function effectively in the target situation (Hutchinsonand Waters, 1987, p.55) In other words, necessities are learners’ target proficiency- thescope of the language knowledge and skills that the learner has obtained in order to fulfillthe study requirements after finishing the course The analysis about the learners’necessities provides the syllabus designer with significant information about thecharacteristics of the target language, which will determined the content of the syllabus.

* Lacks: The gap between the target proficiency and the existing proficiency of thelearners can be seen as the learners’ lacks (Hutchinson and Waters, 1987, 56).Whendesigning a syllabus the designer also needs to know what the learner knows already(existing proficiency) in order ‘to decide which of the necessities the learner lacks’(Hutchinson, 1987, 56)

* Wants: Can be considered as learners’ needs in a subjective sense Learners’motivation always play an important role in the process of learning so syllabus designercannot ignore the learners’ perceptive wants.

In short, information about the target needs is of great importance to a syllabusdesigner To get that kind of information it is essential to ask questions about the targetsituation and attitudes towards that situation of the participants in the learning process.Hutchinson and Waters (1987, 59) suggest a target situation analysis framework asfollow:

 Why is language needed? How will the language be used? What will the content areas be?

 When will the language be used?

1.2.5.2 Aims and objectives setting

Establishing the basis aims and objectives of the syllabus is very important since suchaims will in fact govern the whole process of the syllabus design as well as the syllabusimplementation Aims refer to the underlying reasons for purposes of a course whileobjectives describe what is to be achieved in a course According to Nunan (1988, 61)objectives can be useful, not only to guide the selection of the structures, functions,notions, tasks, and so on, but also to provide a sharper focus for teacher Thus, aims andobjectives of the syllabus determine the selections of contents and teaching proceduresand activities and there is an invaluable guide for evaluation as well For all these reasons,the aims and objectives of the syllabus should be clear , precise and appropriate.

1.2.5.3 Selecting content

That is the choice of linguistic content (vocabulary, grammar, etc) for a languagecourse, textbook, etc, including the use frequency counts, needs analysis and pedagogicgrammar procedures for selecting language items to include in a language course (Richard,Platt and Webber, 1986: 253).Here, in ESP, vocabulary, particularly specialist vocabulary-terminology is a key element (Robinson, 1991: 27).

After selecting the content of the syllabus the next important step is to integrate thesenotions, tasks, structures or lexis, topical and notional elements as well as grammaticalones and tasks should be well integrated in such a way that the notion will be re-cycledthroughout the course with different structure at certain time, appropriately used in relevantcontext

1.2.5.5 Grading content

Grading of linguistic components is the next stage to be considered Grading has been

defined as ‘the arrangement of the content of a language course or a textbook so that it is

presented in a helpful way Gradation would affect the order in which words, wordmeanings, tenses, structures, topics, tasks, skills, etc are presented Gradation may bebased on the complexity of an item, its frequency in written or spoken English, or itsimportance for the learner’ (Richard, Platt and Webber 1985:125).

Gibbons (in John, 1984: 136) suggests two criteria when grading the content of asyllabus:

(1) Steady increase in the number of elements in the structures(2) A component relationship between items

Graves (1996: 28) presents two general, complementary principles of sequencing:(1) Building (from the simple to the complex, from more concrete to more open-ended)(2) Recycling (accessing previous items in new ways: in a new skill area, in a different

type of activity, or with a new focus)

Obviously, language has to be ordered in such a way as to facilitate teaching andlearning The ESP syllabus for the second year students at NTTC will be combinedfollowing these above criteria.

CHAPTER 2: INVESTIGATION INTO TEXTBOOKS RELATED TOLIBRARY STUDY

The aim of this chapter is to have a thorough look at some language characteristics usedin the field of library There will be an investigation into some texts extracted from two

textbooks related to library fields namely ‘Library Absolute characteristics.and Absolute characteristics.Information Absolute characteristics.Science Absolute characteristics.: Absolute characteristics.English

Reading Absolute characteristics.Materials’ (B1) by Duong Thi Thu Ha and ‘Basic Absolute characteristics.Library Absolute characteristics.Skills’ (B2) ( Third

edition) by Carolyn Wolf and Richard Wolf The texts under investigation are selectedrandomly as they can objectively represent those textbooks.

In fact, these textbooks are based on some certain assessed criteria by the authors andin general, the language contents are updated with new knowledge in library field.However, these syllabuses cannot be applicable to the SLS at NTTC for some certainreasons The first syllabus is designed to provide a minimum of 75 hours of classroomteaching and for SLS at University of Cultures with a wide range of topic areas, whereasthe time allocation for the subject at NTTC is 60 teaching periods with reading skill focus.Furthermore, students at University of Cultures are of higher level of English proficiencythan that of the students at NTTC And the target students at NTTC are lower incomparison with that at universities on the grounds of needs, interest and motivation.Second syllabus is intended for ‘a self-contained short course in the use of library not anexhaustive treatment of the subject’ All above reasons call for the need to design anappropriate ESP syllabus for students of library study at NTTC In order to have an overallunderstanding of text features in the above mentioned textbooks, this investigation isworked out on some texts/ paragraphs which are randomly selected The focus is going todeal with topics, terminology, acronyms, grammatical structures and text structures whichexist in the textbooks.

3.1 Topics

These two textbooks cover a wide range of topics The first one contains 15 topics, thesecond one provides 16 topics Generally, each topic starts by examining some generalarea of library before focusing on a specific aspect It is worth noting that these textbooksprovide various topics related to the field of library However, it is impossible to includeall these topics because of the limited time of the course.

3.2 Terminology and acronyms

To illustrate these issues, two texts from two selected textbooks are taken intoconsideration Result is presented in Table 1 (See appendix 4; table 1).

As can be seen from table 1, both single terms and compound terms appear in the twoselected texts Firstly, single terms are provided in density of 4.6% in text 1; 6.2 % in text2 Secondly, compound terms are given in higher rate , they respectively account for 5 %;and 7.2% in those two texts Besides, acronyms take the percentage of 2% in each text

In sum, terms and acronyms are key element of ESP, their frequency of occurrenceturns out to be a convincing factor in the selected texts, this means that these texts carry thecommon features of ESP in general and of ELS in particular.

3.3 Cohesion

Halliday (1997: 4) states that ‘the concept of cohesion is a semantic one, it refers torelations of meaning that exist within the text and that define it as a text’ It is clear thatcohesion is expressed partly through the grammar and vocabulary, therefore, there existgrammatical cohesion and lexical cohesion The first paragraph of Unit 6 from “Libraryand Information Science : English Reading Materials” is going to examined to see thecohesive devices used The results of comprehensive analysis of all the cohesive ties in theselected paragraph are demonstrated in figure 3:

Figure Absolute characteristics.3 Absolute characteristics.: Absolute characteristics.Cohesive Absolute characteristics.devices

Obviously, most of cohesive devices are applied to this paragraph but with a cleardistinction between certain devices According to the results shown in the graph, the lowestoccurrence frequency belongs to “substitutions” accounting for 5 % “Conjunctions” andlexical cohesion expressed through “synonyms” both account 13 % This may due to thefeatures of ESP texts which is required to be exact and clearly stated In contrast,‘repetitions’ and ‘references’ are major grammatical cohesive devices They get thepercentage of 51 % and 18 % respectively

It is highlighted that reference and repetitive devices are used frequently to help readersremind the content of the paragraph in particular texts The use substitution cohesive takesa small part in the overall picture of cohesive links.

What is worth to mention here is by having a close look at the sample paragraph, wecan see the close links of language through different cohesive devices that should be takeninto consideration when designing the ESP syllabus for the second year students of librarystudy The syllabus should provide students enough knowledge of cohesion in order tohelp them comprehend the ESP texts.

As shown in the table, prefixes and suffixes appear at a considerable proportion in all ofthe selected texts And it is clearly that the later occur more frequently than the former.Outstandingly, in text 1, suffixes account for 20.5% It’s worth noting that in ESP texts ,word formation has little deference from texts in General English.

3.4.2 Sentences

The reading text of unit 14 extracted from the textbook ‘Library and Information

Science : English Reading Materials’ was taken as sample text to investigate the sentences

in the texts for library study in terms of simple and complex sentences and active vs.

passive sentences

3.4.2.1 Simple and complex sentences

Table 3 (see appendix 4; table 3) summarizes some statistics of simple and complexsentences (complex sentences are examined in terms of types of clause used in thesentences).

As can be seen from table 3, the text has 22 sentences among which 14 are complexsentences accounting for 63.6 % Simple sentences appear at lower percentage of 36.4%.Obviously, the density of complex sentences overtakes that of simple ones.

3.4.2.2 Active vs passive sentences

The results of the investigation in terms of active and passive sentences used in thesample text are shown in Table 4 (see appendix 4; table 4).

The results in table 4 indicate that passive sentences are at lower occurrence frequencythan active sentences (31.8% in comparison with 68.8%) However, passive sentencesappear at a frequency of 31.8 % which is high enough to become a distinctivecharacteristic of ESP reading texts for library study and that should be taken intoconsideration when designing the syllabus.

Figure Absolute characteristics.4 Absolute characteristics.: Absolute characteristics.Organization Absolute characteristics.of Absolute characteristics.information

Sample paragraph: A card catalog entries are printed on card that libraries arrange

alphabetically in drawers A card catalog usually contains of three types of cards for eachitem in the library’s collection The first type has the author’s name or other persons orinstitutions that contributed to the work on the top line The second has the title of the bookor other item on the top line , and the third has the subject of the item on the top line.Usually the subject heading is printed in all capital letters or in red for further emphasis.(Unit 10- B1)

3.4.3.2 Making a definition or explanation

has the author’s name or other persons or institutions…

has the title of the book or other item on the top line

has the subject of the item on the top line

Main idea

Major details

A card catalog entries are printed on card that libraries arrange alphabetically in drawers A card catalog usually contains of three types of cards for each item in the library’s collection

Minor details

Definitions and explanations can be seen frequently in the texts Common words andexpressions used in definition or explanations are: Is/ are, mean, be referred to as, is takento be, in other words, is/ can be defined as, refer to For example:

A library( institution) is a collection of books and other informational materials madeavailable to the people for reading, study, or reference

Other markers are means of defining relative clause by using: which, that, where, when.

For example: In addition to maintaining collections within library buildings…… that

provide users with access to information at remote sites ……(unit1; B1)

Another way of explaining or defining is to use a noun, a noun phrase or a clause

separated from the rest of the sentences by commas, or dashes For instance: ‘School

librarians – sometimes called media specialists- select library materials and offerinstruction to promote access, delivery, and interpretation of information.’ ( Unit 7- B1)

3.4.3.1 Some other characteristics

It is worth noting that listing markers indicating the relation in which sentences andgroups of sentences combine to present information that is linked by means of aconnective word or marker are frequently used in the reading texts in the two books.

The time relaters are also used to express the sequence of events, so in order to make thesequence clear

Another feature is expressions indicating comparisons (equivalence, non-equivalence,the highest degree of something, and parallel increase) can be found in some of the texts inthe two selected texts.

It is also noted here that like texts in GE when the main aim of a text is to inform thereader about a subject, examples are often used to explain a point or to illustrate an idea orargument using markers.

The makers used to add information such as furthermore, moreover, in addition, as wellas, again, besides, further, similarly, in the same way, not only…but also, can be found inthe reading texts of the two books.

Both two kind of classification makers especially general - to specific classificationmarkers such as is, may be divided into, is of, has, may include, including, contain,comprises, are found in texts in the two books

Contrastive indicators used in investigated texts are: However, on the contrary, on theone hand, on the other hand, by contrast, in contrast to, opposite, in comparison, by way of

contrast Moreover, cause and effect relationship is often expressed in texts in the twoselected books The commonly used means are verbs linking cause and effect (contributeto, ensure, produce, allow, enable, cause, result in, result from, bring about0, connectivesintroducing cause (with such, due to, as the/ a result, since, because, as), and connectivesintroducing result (and so, so that, thus, therefore, consequently ), and if-clause for cause In short, after having a critical look at some texts, the conclusion should be drawn hereis that these texts cover a wide range of language features These features work closelytogether to make the texts cohesive and comprehensive.

This chapter has investigated into some basic language features of some reading texts/paragraphs extracted from two textbooks relating to library study Some characteristics ofESP texts has been referred to like: terms, acronyms in a high frequency of occurrence.Additionally, various cohesive devices are found in the text structures

Chapter 3: RESULTS AND ANALYSIS OF DATA COLLECTION

This chapter is devoted to the discussion of the results collected from English teachers,subject teachers and undergraduate students concerning expectations of the ESP readingcourse, topics, degree of topics, grammatical structures, tasks and reading exercises neededfor the course.

3.1 METHODOLOGY3.1.1 Situational factors3.1.1.1 Institutional factor

NTTC used to be the college for early childhood teachers Since 2004 It has been theNTTC that trains students of various fields including fine art teachers , early childhoodteachers, political teacher, music teachers, teachers of special educations, students oflibrary study(SLS)

According to the curriculum provided by the Ministry of Education and Training thestudents have many general educational subjects and different specializations and Englishis one of the vital and compulsory subjects At the NTTC students take the General English(GE) course with 150 periods After finishing their GE course SLS will take the ESPcourse of 60 periods

3.1.1.2 Teacher factor ( Teachers of English at NTTC)

There are only 10 teachers at NTTC who take responsibility for teaching both GE andESP Among these, six have just finished MA course and 4 are taking MA course The ageof the teacher ranges from 32 to 42 Although most teachers have at least 6 years ofexperience in teaching GE but none of them has experiences in teaching ESP and nobodyhas taken any ESP teaching course ESP has been taught at NTTC for only 2 years sincethere were some new training fields at the college That’s why teachers who areresponsible for ESP have to cope with a lot of difficulties and one of these is the lack of anappropriate syllabus for ESP course In fact, the teachers have to ask for help from theircolleagues who teach ESP at neighboring institutions such as the University of Cultures,the National University and from the subject teachers at NTTC.

3.1.1.3 Students factor (Students of library study)Background

- The age of the students is from 18 to 23 and most of them are females They comefrom different parts of the country Some are from big cities and towns and some are fromrural and mountainous areas Generally, the target students are not on the same ground ofEnglish proficiency Those who are from cities have at least 3 years or even 6 years oflearning English whereas those who come from rural and remote areas have had very littleor even no chance to learn English or any other foreign languages The number of students

in each class is from 40 to 50 and with such big class size both teachers and students havedifficulties in teaching- learning process.

Learning style and interests

Most of the students are influenced by the translational method and teacher-centeredapproach Although most of the students come into the class room with great interest inlearning English they are usually passive in learning.

Since English is a compulsory subject in the training program, all the students are fullyaware of the fact that they have to learn English firstly to pass the exams Secondly, due tothe process of global integration most of them think that English will to some extent beuseful to them in their future career Therefore, in terms of student’ motivation it can beconcluded that students at NTTC are instrumentally motivated.

3.1.1.4 The teaching and learning English at NTTC

The college used to be The College for Early Childhood Teachers so before 2002,students just learned GE with 210 periods of 45 minutes English is delivered to studentsat NTTC as a compulsory subject and it is given to the students in formal class just likeothers subjects Since 2002 ESP has been taught at NTTC However, due to the limitedtime students can only have 60 periods of learning ESP Textbooks for GE are now ‘NewHeadway Elementary and Pre-intermediate’ by John & Liz Soars (2000) The second-yearstudents of library study (SLS) aged from 19 to 24 and most of them are females Afterthey have finished 150 periods of GE they reach pre-intermediate level when they startlearning ESP However, the students’ levels of English proficiency are still low as therequirement of the syllabus That is due to the fact that SLS come from different parts ofthe country some who are from the rural and mountainous areas have learned littleEnglish or even haven’t learned English before whereas those who come from the citieshave learned English for at least three years or more After they have finished the GEmost of them know basic structures and common vocabulary However, students stillhave difficulties with vocabulary, grammar structures and especially in reading skills.And most of them don’t have good learning strategies Most of them, while taking theESP course, prefer the types of exercises that are familiar with ones they have learned atGE course According to the training curriculum, the ESP is delivered in the thirdsemester after two semesters of learning GE The texts used for ESP course are selected

by the teachers of the English section from different sources and they use them assyllabus to plan the lesson The teachers often choose the parts, which they personallythink, are important and appropriate for their learners without investigating students’needs and target situation Sometimes extra exercises for further practice are added assupplementary activity for the course

3.1.2 Subjects of the study

This study is carried out with the participants of (1) 10 English teachers (who are incharge of teaching GE and ESP including ELS, three of whom have been teaching Englishfor more than ten years and one is the head of the foreign language section); (2) ten subjectteachers who are responsible for teaching the subject in Vietnamese; (3) eighty SLS underinvestigation who are in the first term of their second year, and have finished an GEcourse;

3.1.3 Instruments for collecting data

According to Hutchinson and Waters (1987:59) various ways can be used for collectinginformation such as questionnaires, interviews, observation etc This study usesquestionnaires as the main tool.

3.1.3.1 Questionnaires

Three questionnaires are conducted to get information concerning library fields (seeappendixes 1, 2 and 3) On the basis of theories for conducting a questionnaire and somepersonal knowledge gained through teaching experiences, the questionnaires are designedas follow:

The first questionnaire administered to 10 ESP teachers consisting 4 sections:Section I aims at finding out expectations, ideas, opinions on designing a syllabus Section II concerns with topics needed for the syllabus (Table 6) and the difficulty ofthe needed topics

Section III deals with grammar and structure.

Section IV looks for tasks and reading skills that should be included.

The second questionnaire for ten subject teachers is in Vietnamese to make it easy forthe informants to understand properly all the questions and give the correct answers Thisquestionnaire aims at finding out the needed topics perceived by the subject teachers.

The third questionnaire for 80 students is also in Vietnamese These informants havealready mastered GE course This questionnaire consists of three main sections.

Section I is to find out students’ attitude towards ECS reading course and the aims ofthe course perceived by SLS.

Section II deals with needed topics perceived by SLS.

Section III is designed to identify the reading skills and exercises.

100 copies of the two questionnaires were sent to the participants in May 2007 and werereturned with 100 useful answers in June, 2007 The data is manually analyzed Foraccurate and effective interpretation of data, we use frequencies to find out the percentagethat indicate the emphasis given to the items to find out the populations’ ideas of the targetsituation needs.

3.2 RESULTS AND ANALYSIS OF DATA COLLECTION3.2.1 Needs perceived by the English teachers

3.2.1.1 Section 1: The teachers’ attitude towards ESP reading course for thesecond year students of library study and the objectives perceived by them

The first question aims to find out the teachers’ attitude towards the reading course Allof the English teachers agree that an ESP reading course is very necessary and useful forstudents of library study The second question looks for the expectations of the ESPreading course in terms of the objectives perceived by the teachers The results are detailedin table 5(see table 5- appendix 4).

The results in the table show that most of the English teachers (80 %) consider item

3-To read and understand written English materials and books relating to library - to be the

most important objective Item 1 -To build up English terms of library field used in books.

documents, and newspapers with the percentage of 70% takes the second priority The

third priority is given to item 2 (55%) -To read and understand concepts of library Item 4- to consolidate basic grammatical structures used in specific texts for computer

study-science gets the fourth priority The fifth priority is referred to item 5- to translate books

and newspapers (relating to library) from English to Vietnamese These results indicatethat, from the teachers’ point of view, the objectives of the syllabus is to enable thestudents to improve their reading skills in ESP field and at the same time to enrich theirknowledge of their specification It is expected that terminology relating library field isplaced in the content of the syllabus In short, item from 1 to item 4 should be taken intoconsideration when designing the ESP reading syllabus for the target students The less

important objective (item 5) which is ranked the fifth indicates that low priority is given totranslation Thus the item should not be focused on in the syllabus.

3.2.1.2 Section II: English teachers’ and subject teachers’ opinions on neededtopics

This part is designed to get information concerning the most necessary topics to beincluded in the ESP reading syllabus of library study from the teachers’ perspective.Fourteen topics relating to library study have been given for the teachers to rate from veryrelevant to not relevant The number and the percentage of responses to each topics areshown in Table 6(see table 6- appendix 4).The data in table 6 shows that from theteachers’ point of view the most relevant items which get the highest percentage are items2,4,6,7,10 12 and 14 The rest topics get the lower percentage of positive responses Thisalso indicates that the proposed syllabus should include these above high percentage topicsof very relevant and relevant answers and the rest topics should be used as supplementarymaterials.

3.2.1.3 Section III: Grammar and structures needed to be included in the syllabus

The section is to find out grammar and structures that should be included in the syllabusfrom the English teachers’ perspective Sixteen items have been identified and the teacherswere asked to choose the items according to their appropriateness ( from very appropriateto not appropriate) and the results are shown in table 7(see table 7- appendix 4).The resultsillustrated in the table show that most of the items are necessary for the course except for

items 1, 2 and 14 that receive the percentage of 60% for not appropriate answer, it means

that these three items should not be focused in the syllabus Items 3,4,5,8.11 and 15 with

high percentage of very appropriate option should be the focus of grammar and structuresin the syllabus The items that get the positive answer of appropriate should be taken intoconsideration in designing the syllabus.

3.2.1.4 Section IV: English teachers’ ranking of reading skills, language exercisesand language tasks needed to be included in the syllabus

Nine items were designed to get the information about the reading skills and types ofthe exercises needed to be in the syllabus Teachers were asked to tick the items that theythink should be included in the syllabus The results is in table 8 (see table 8- appendix 4)

It is clearly recognized from the results shown in the table that most teachers agreeupon the various types of techniques and exercises needed to be covered in the syllabusespecially those that have high percentage of positive responses; 1(a,b,d), 2 (a,b), 3 (a,b), 5(a,b,c), 6 (b), 7 (b), 8 (b), and 9 (a,b,d,e,f) With the items that get lower than 50% ofresponses will not be the main concern when designing the syllabus.

Seventeen tasks have been given for consideration to find out the necessary languagetasks perceived by the English teachers The teacher were asked to tick the tasks that aresupposed to be provided in the syllabus The result is presented in table 9 (see table 9-appendix 4).

As illustrated in the table, the items that get the highest choice are 1, 2,3,11,12,16 and17 with the percentage higher than 50% It means that these tasks should be provided forthe students in the syllabus The rest items that have lower than 50% choice should be ofless concern

3.2.2 Needs perceived by the second year students of library study at NTTC.3.2.2.1.Section I: The students’ attitude towards ESP reading course

The first and the second questions were designed to find out the students’ attitudetowards the ESP reading course Most of the students have positive attitude towards theESP course Generally, they agree that an ESP reading course is very necessary and usefuland important to them in their professional field The percentage given to question 1a is98% and 2a is 96%

The third question looks for the students’ perceived expectations of the ESP readingcourse The results are in table 10 ( See table 10 – appendix 4) The results in the table

show that 78.75 % of students consider item 3- To read and understand written English

materials and books relating to library - to be the most important goal they want to reach

after the ESP course Item 1 -To build up English terms of library field used in books.

documents, and newspapers with the percentage of 57.5% takes the second priority The

third priority is given to item 2 (37.5%) -To read and understand concepts of informatics

computer science Item 4 and item 5 accounting 68.75% and 86.25 % respectively get the

fourth priority and the fifth priority These results indicate that, students’ expectations ofthe ESP course is to improve their reading skills in ESP field and at the same time toenrich their knowledge of their specification

3.2.2.2 Section II: Needed topics perceived by the students

This part is designed to get information concerning the most necessary topics for theESP reading syllabus of library study from the students’ point of view Fourteen topicsrelating to library study have been pointed out The students were asked to rate the topicsfrom very relevant to not relevant The number and the percentage of responses to eachtopics are shown in table 11 ( See table 11 – appendix 4).

From the data collected it is noted that students consider most topics necessary for thecourse However, the most relevant items which get the highest percentage are items2,4,6,7,10,11, 12 and 14 The rest topics get the lower percentage of positive responses Itindicates that the proposed syllabus should include those topics that students take interestin and the rest topics should be used as supplementary materials.

3.2.2.3 Section III: Students’ ranking of reading skills, language exercises andlanguage tasks needed to be included in the syllabus

This section aims at gathering the information about the reading skills and types of theexercises needed to be in the syllabus perceived by the students Students were asked totick the items that they think should be included in the syllabus The results can be seen intable 12 (See table 12; appendix 4) In term of language and reading exercises needed thedata shows that most of the students consider most of the items necessary and importantfor the syllabus except for items 4a, b, 6a, 7c,d,f which get the percentage of positiveanswers lower than 50%.

In short this section has analyzed the results of the survey of target needs perceived byboth teachers and the second year students of library study It is clearly recognized that allof them share the same point of view and have the same expectation of the ESP course.And they all consider developing reading skills and specific vocabulary the most importantobjectives of the ESP course In term of the topics needed both teachers and students gavehigh priority to some main items such as 2, 4,6, 7,10, 11, 12, 14 Concerning language andreading exercises the students often expect more than the teachers after the course Thus,they would like to have more types of exercises to be included in the syllabus Whereas,from the teachers’ point of view, within 60 periods of ESP course they can’t do so much.And they tent to focus on some of the most important types.