Construction engineering students' evaluation of the esp programme at vinh university

Construction engineering students' evaluation of the esp programme at vinh university

PART I: INTRODUCTION1 RATIONALE

The status of English has turned a significant percentage of the world’s population.In addition to General English, English for Specific Purposes (ESP) has been gaining anincreasing importance and it has grown to become one of the most prominent areas of theTeaching of English as Foreign or Second Language (TEFL/TESL) Ewer (1976: 247)believes that “the teaching of English for scientific, technological and technical purposes isof comparatively recent growth as specialized activity, but it is now emerging as one of themost rapidly expanding and important branches of TEFL/TESL today”.

To meet the demand of the learners, many ESP programmes have been designed.Together with the worldwide trend to learn ESP, the teaching staff of Foreign LanguagesDepartment at Vinh University collected documents and designed some ESP programmesfor some specific fields, including the ESP programme for Construction which was firsttaught for K.46 Construction Engineering students at Vinh University.

Besides an effort to offer the learners with the ESP programme according to theirspecific needs, it is necessary to implement an evaluation Furthermore, the fact is that theESP programme for Construction designed by the teaching staff of Foreign Languages atVinh University was first taught for K.46 Construction Engineering students at VinhUniversity and it received some learners’ evaluative comments while it was in the progress.Therefore, it is necessary to have an evaluation on the ESP programme for Construction atVinh University carried out by the learners themselves as Wallace (1991: 163)‘s thought“One source of evaluation will obviously be the trainees themselves”.

2 AIMS AND SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

The study is aimed at researching Construction Engineering students’ evaluation onthe ESP programme at Vinh University in terms of audience, aims, time allocation,contents and methodology in order to determine whether the ESP programme forConstruction is suitable to the learners’ abilities and needs.

Significantly, the process of this ESP programme evaluation can be seen as a wayof developing our understanding of the ways in which it works and, in doing so, ofcontributing to both acquisition theory and pedagogic practices Hence, the teachers would

find ways to do interesting things in their teaching ESP in order to realize all the potentialsembedded in the programme.

It is hoped that the findings of this study and some suggestions would contribute inimproving the ESP programme for Construction at Vinh University to make it moresuitable for the learners’ needs and abilities in the coming years.

3 RESEARCH QUESTIONS

The study aims to find out the answers to the following questions:

1) What are the learners’ evaluative comments on the ESP programme forConstruction at Vinh University?

2) What are the learners’ needs for learning ESP at Vinh University?

3) How should the ESP programme for Construction at Vinh University beimproved to make it more suitable to the learners’ abilities and needs?

4 METHOD OF THE STUDY

This minor thesis uses a number of books concerning ESP and evaluation Theresearch method used is the survey The data collection instrument is questionnaire Thepractical data from K46 Construction Engineering students at Vinh University forms basisfor this study.

5 SCOPE OF THE STUDY

Within its scope, this research mainly focuses on the learners’ evaluation of the ESPprogramme at Vinh University such as: the time allocation, the topics of the ESP readingtexts, the length of the ESP reading texts, the amount of technical vocabulary contained ineach ESP reading text, the level of difficulty in grammar, the usefulness of exercises, themost difficult type of exercises, the satisfaction towards practice through exercises, theachievements after finishing the programme, and the satisfaction towards needs afterfinishing the programme

Basing on the findings and the learners’ needs, it provides some suggestions toimprove the ESP programme for Construction at Vinh University.

Its major object is K46 Construction Engineering students of TechnologyDepartment at Vinh University.

6 DESIGN OF THE STUDY

The minor thesis is composed of three main parts: introduction, development andconclusion.

The introduction presents the rationale, aims and significance, research questions,method of the study, scope of the study, as well as design of the study.

The development consists of three chapters:

- Chapter I, “Literature Review”, provides the relevant theories: an overview ofESP (definition of ESP, classification of ESP and the development of ESP), evaluation(terminology definition, types of programme evaluation, purposes for evaluation, criteriafor evaluation and central questions in programme evaluation design) and learner-centeredness in ESP.

- Chapter II, “An overview of English for Construction at Vinh University”,presents background information about English for Construction at Vinh University,including in the teaching and learning situation, a description of current ESP programmefor Construction and the learners at Vinh University.

- Chapter III, “The study”, describes the methodology employed to collect data forthis thesis at first (participants, data collection instrument and procedure) Then it reportson the learners’ evaluation of the ESP programme for Construction at Vinh University andtheir needs, and shows the major findings Finally, it provides some suggestions to improvethe ESP programme for Construction at Vinh University

The conclusion presents what have been found out from the study and thelimitations and suggestions for further study.

PART II: DEVELOPMENTCHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter aims to provide a theoretical base to develop an operational frameworkfor programme evaluation The first part presents an overview of ESP with regards todefinition, the classification and the development of the ESP The second part discussesabout evaluation, concerning in terminology definition, types of programme evaluation,purposes for evaluation, criteria for evaluation and central questions in programmeevaluation design The third part relates to the learner-centeredness in ESP.

1.1 AN OVERVIEW OF ESP1.1.1 Definition of ESP

ESP has been defined by different researchers as well as scholars’ different views.

According to Hutchinson and Waters (1987: 19), ESP must be seen as an approach,not as a product In their opinion, ESP is not a particular kind of language or methodology,

nor does it consist of a particular type of teaching material.

However, Strevens (1988) defines ESP by making a distinction between four

absolute characteristics and two variable characteristics:

- The absolute characteristics are that ESP consists of ELT (English Language Teaching) which is:

• designed to meet specified needs of the learners;

• related in content (that is in its themes and topics) to particular disciplines, occupations and activities;

• centred on language appropriate to those activities in syntax, lexis, discourse, semantics and so on, and analysis of the discourse;

• in contrast with ‘General English’.- The variable characteristics are that ESP

• may be restricted as to the learning skills to be learned (for example reading only);

• may not be taught according to any pre-ordained methodology.

(Source: Strevens, 1988; cited in Dudley-Evans and St John, 1998: 3)Robinson (1991) ‘s definition (cited in Dudley-Evans and St John, 1998: 3) is based

on two key defining criteria (i.e ‘normally goal-directed’ and need analysis) and a numberof characteristics (i.e limited time period, adults in homogeneous classes) that are

generally found to be true of ESP.

Dudley-Evans and St John (1998: 4-5) comment that above definitions have validitybut also weaknesses, either in the definition or in the features described They believe that adefinition of ESP should reflect the fact that much ESP teaching, especially where it isspecifically linked to a particular profession or discipline, makes use of a methodology thatdiffers from that used in General Purpose English teaching They also believe that languageshould be included as a defining feature of ESP.

In summary, all the above definitions show that ESP belongs to English LanguageTeaching (ELT) The ESP courses are performed successfully in occupational roles by anindividual or a group whose need is considered to be a distinguished feature from GeneralEnglish

specific discipline Post-study

The diagram shows a useful division of courses Those distinctions are veryimportant and they will affect the degree of specificity that is appropriate to the course

Dudley-Evans and St John (1998) also present the classification of ESP through atree diagram but it divides EAP and EOP according to discipline or professional area as inthe figure 2.

English for Specific Purposes

English for Academic PurposesEnglish for Occupational Purposes

English forEnglish forEnglish forEnglish forEnglish forEnglish for(Academic)(Academic)(Academic)Management,ProfessionalVocational Science andMedicalLegalFinance andPurposesPurposesTechnologyPurposesPurposesEconomics

English forEnglish forPre-VocationalMedicalBusinessVocationalEnglishPurposesPurposesEnglish

Figure 2: ESP classification by professional area (Dudley-Evans and St John 1998: 6)

The tree diagram for ESP by Dudley-Evans and St John (1998) describes that EAPconsists of English for Science and Technology (EST), English for Medical Purposes(EMP) English for Legal Purposes (ELP) and English for Management, Finance andEconomics And EOP includes English for Professional Purposes with sub-sections asEnglish for Medical Purposes (EMP) and English for Business Purposes (EBP) and Englishfor Vocational Purposes with sub-sections as Pre-Vocational English and VocationalEnglish.

In short, studying various ways of classifying ESP provides a teacher an overallpicture of the groups of learners with whom he or she is going to work

1.1.3 The development of ESP

Hutchinson and Waters (1987: 9-14) refer to five stages of the development of ESPfrom the early beginnings in the 1960s They point out that ESP is not a monolithicuniversal phenomenon and develops at different speeds in different countries.

The first stage, which took place mainly in the 1960s and early 1970s, is

characterized by the register analysis or the concept of ESP as a special language The

basic principle of this concept is that the English of Electrical Engineering constitutes aspecific register different from that of Biology or General English and the aim of theanalysis is to identify the grammatical and lexical features of these registers Teachingmaterials then take these linguistic features as their syllabus English for different purposeshas different registers, and the aim of the analysis is to identify the grammatical and lexicalfeatures of these registers A good example of a syllabus is “A Course in Basic ScientificEnglish” by Ewer and Latorre (1969) and their aim is to produce a syllabus which giveshigh priority to the language forms students meet in their Science studies and low priorityto forms students do not meet.

Whereas in the first stage of its development, ESP focuses on language at thesentence level, the second stage of development shifts attention to the level above the

sentence with the emerging field of discourse or rhetorical analysis Attention shifts to

understanding how sentences are combined in discourse to produce meaning Therefore,the concern of research is to identify the organizational patterns in texts and to specify thelinguistic means by which these patterns are signaled These patterns will then form thesyllabus of the ESP course.

The third stage is characterized by the target situation analysis The most thorough

explanation of the target situation analysis is the system set out by John Munby in“Communicative Syllabus Design” (1978) The Munby model produces a detailed profileof the learners’ needs in term of communication purposes, communicative setting, themeans of communication, language skills, functions, structures, etc And the targetsituation analysis stage marks a certain ‘coming of age’ for ESP What it aims to do is totake the existing knowledge and set it on a more scientific basis, by establishing proceduresfor relating language analysis more closely to learners’ reasons for learning This stage alsomarks a significant change is that the purpose of an ESP course is to enable learners tofunction adequately in a target situation in which the learners will use the language they arelearning

Unlike the above three stages of the development of ESP, mainly looking theanalysis of the learners’ need at the surface linguistic features of the target situation, thefourth stage of ESP attempts to look below the surface and to consider not the language

itself but the thinking processes that underlie language use This stage is characterized by

skills and strategies Hutchinson and Waters (1987: 13) point out a great influence of

researchers’ works (Françoise Grellet (1981)’s, Christine Nuttall (1982)’s and CharlesAlderson and Sandy Urquhart (1984)’s) on developing strategies for reading skills for theteaching of ESP The principal idea behind the skills-centred approach is that underlying alllanguage use there are common reasoning and interpreting processes, which, regardless ofthe surface forms, enable us to extract meaning from discourse There is, therefore, no needto focus closely on the surface forms of the language The focus should rather be on theunderlying interpretive strategies, which enable the learner to cope with the surface form,for example guessing the meaning of words from context, using visual layout to determinethe type of the text, exploiting cognates (i.e words which are similar in the mother tongueand the target language) etc.

The fifth stage of ESP development is characterized by the learning-centred

approach which is concerned with “language learning” The learning-centred approach is

based on the assumption that describes and exemplifies what people do with language willenable someone to learn it This is an importance of ESP like Hutchinson and Waters(1987: 14) say: “A truly valid approach to ESP must be based on an understanding of theprocesses of language learning”.

In summary, ESP undergoes five stages of the development with variouscharacteristics for each stage The examples of all approaches which were described abovecan be found operating somewhere in the world at the present time.

and it can be very formal or informal It is also something that may not always be madeexplicit but may actually be undertaken unconsciously.

Dudley-Evans and St John (1998: 128) define that “Evaluation is a whole processwhich begins with determining what information to gather and ends with bringing aboutchange in current activities or influencing future ones” They believe that evaluation mustbe more than collecting and analyzing data They describe evaluation as formative orsummative Evaluation which takes place during the lifetime of an activity /a course andthe findings help to shape the course during its life-time is called formative evaluation.Summative evaluation takes place at (or after) the end of an activity and so does notinfluence that version of the activity Its purpose is to assess impact and to provideinformation that can be fed into repeat versions or related activities Therefore, summativeevaluation is valuable for durable courses.

Hedge (2000: 351) refers to the term “evaluation” as “the assessment of students atthe end of a course, but in recent years its meaning has widened to include all aspects of aprogramme” Evaluation can relate to courses and learners in a number of ways: (1) It cantry to judge the course as it is planned; (2) It can try to observe, describe, and assess whatactually happening in classroom as a course progresses; (3) It can test what learners havelearned from a course

In summary, evaluation relates to courses and learners It has been widened toinclude the aspects of a programme and it should be carried out at the end of the courses.The aspect of the programme which is chosen to evaluate depends on the purpose of theevaluation

1.2.2 Types of programme evaluation

According to Stufflebeam (1971), there are four types of programme evaluationwhich are identified as: context evaluation, input evaluation, process evaluation andproduct evaluation

The table below is the CIPP model for programme evaluation by Stufflebeam(1971).

Table 1: The CIPP model for programme evaluation

To define the institutional context, toidentify the target population and assesstheir needs, to identify opportunities foraddressing the needs, to diagnoseproblems and to judge if proposedobjectives are sufficiently responsive toassessed needs.

To identify and assess systemcapabilities, alternativeprogramme strategies,procedural design forimplementing the strategies,budges and schedules.

To identified and predict, inprocess, defects in the proceduraldesign or its implementation; toprovide information for

preprogrammed decision, and torecord and judge proceduralevents and activities.

To collect descriptions andjudgements of outcomes, andto relate them to objectivesand context, input, andprocess information tointerpret their worth andmerit.

By using such methods as systemanalysis, survey, document review, hearing, interviews, diagnostic tests andthe Delphib technique.

By inventorying and analyzingavailable human and materialresources, solution strategiesand procedural designs for

By monitoring the activity’spotential procedural barriers andremaining alert to unanticipatedones, by obtaining specific

By defining operationally andmeasuring outcome criteria,by collecting judgements of

outcomes from stakeholders,

relevance, feasibility, andeconomy And by using suchmethods as literature search,visits to exemplary

programme, advocate teams,and pilot trials.

information for programmeddecisions, by describing theactual process and by continuallyinteracting with and observingthe activities of project staff.

and by performing bothqualitative and quantitativeanalyses.

Relation to decision marking in the change process

For deciding on the setting to be served,the goals associated with meeting needsor using opportunities, and the

objectives associated with solvingproblems, i.e., for planning neededchanges And to provided a basis forjudging outcome.

For selecting sources of

support, solution strategies, andprocedural design, i.e., for structuring change activities.And to provide a basis forjudging implementation.

For implementing and refiningthe programme design and procedure, i.e., for effectingprocess control And to provide alog of the actual process for lateruse in interpreting outcomes.

For deciding to continue,terminate, modify, or refocusa change activity And to present a clear record ofeffects (intended and unintended, positive andnegative).

b A procedure in which a set of questions or tasks is sent out to experts in the field The collective responses are then collated and analysed.

(Source: Stufflebeam, 1971; cited in Nunan, 1992: 194-195 )

Tomlinson (1998) divides programme evaluation into macro- and micro-evaluationas follows:

task evaluation of evaluation

etc.practice, ect participation

etc.

Figure 3: Macro- and micro-evaluation in language teaching (Tomlinson, 1998: 219)

It is necessary for the evaluator to study the types of programme evaluation becauseit can help him or her decide what type of evaluation he or she would like to conduct inspecific situations and for purposes of evaluation.

1.2.3 Purposes for evaluation

Evaluation plays a very important role in the improvement of a languageprogramme There is no language programme which can be completely useful to allteaching situations.

Evaluation is a matter of judging the fitness of something for a particular purpose,and then it is concerned with relative merit Hutchinson and Waters (1987: 96) emphasizesthat “There is no absolute good or bad – only degrees of fitness for the required purpose”.In any kind of evaluation, the decision finally made is likely to be the better for being based

Program / projectevaluation

Learnersevaluation

on a systematic check of all the important variables Hutchinson and Waters (1987: 97) alsobelieve that a careful evaluation can save a lot of expense and frustration

Rea-Dickins and Germaine (1992) identify a number of different purposes forevaluation They divide evaluation into two broad categories: general purposes; andspecific, topic-related purposes

- For general purposes of evaluation, Rea-Dickins and Germaine (1992) refer tothree principal reasons for which evaluation may be undertaken as follows:

1 accountability

2 curriculum development and betterment

3 self-development: teachers and other language teaching professionals.(Rea-Dickins and Germaine, 1992: 23)In their discussion about the general purposes of evaluation, they emphasizethat evaluation for purposes of accountability is mainly concerned with determiningwhether there has been value for money; Evaluation for purposes of curriculumdevelopment will involve information from teachers and other relevant ELTprofessionals; Evaluation for purposes of teacher self-development involves indescribing and better understanding the teachers’ own contexts with a view toimproving the teaching.

- For specific, topic-related purposes of evaluation, Rea-Dickins and Germaine(1992) consider evaluation as the means by which we can gain a betterunderstanding of what is effective, what is less effective, and what appears to be ofno use at all.

Hedge (2000: 352) refers to the purposes of evaluation are for accountability andfor development The purpose which evaluates for accountability is to make staff and / orinstitutions answerable to authorities and / or sponsors and evaluation for developmentaims at improving to the current programme as well as to future programme.

In summary, it is necessary to evaluate aspects of a language programme in order tounderstand how the programme works and how successfully it works The results ofevaluation enable the different kinds of decision to be made about the programme, such as:to decide whether to continue the programme or not or to improve the programme to makeit more useful

1.2.4 Criteria for evaluation

1.2.4.1 Criteria defined by Hutchinson and Waters (1987)

Hutchinson and Waters (1987: 99-104) suggest five evaluation criteria for objectiveand subjective analysis which are summarized as follows:

- Audience: the learners and the materials intended for.- Aims: the aims of the course and the aims of the materials.

- Content: language description, language points, proportion of work on eachmacro- skill, micro-skills, text-types, subject-matter area(s) (level of knowledge,types of topics, treatment), organization of content within the course units, sequenceof content throughout the course, sequence of content within a unit.

- Methodology: theory/ies of learning, aspects of the learners’ attitudes to /expectations about learning, kinds of exercises/tasks, teaching-learning techniques,aids, guidance/support for teaching the course, the flexibility.

- Other criteria: price, quantities, availability.

1.2.4.2 Criteria defined by Sheldon (1988)

Sheldon (1988) (cited in Hedge, 2000: 367-371) presents the list of evaluationcriteria including: rationale, availability, user definition, layout/graphics, accessibility,linkage, selection/grading, physical characteristics, appropriacy, authenticity, sufficiency,cultural bias, education validity, stimulus/practice revision, flexibility, guidance, andoverall value for money

1.2.4.3 Criteria defined by Ur (1996)

Ur (1996: 184) lists as examples of general criteria and specific criteria: general

criteria (i.e clear layout and print, provides periodic review or test sections) and specificcriteria (i.e attractive and colourful illustrations (which may be particularly relevant for

younger learners), vocabulary and texts relevant to topic (if the materials are intended forstudents of science and technology)).

1.2.4.4 Criteria defined by Tomlinson (1999)

Tomlinson (1999, cited in McGrath, 2002: 32) takes the definition of criteria a step

further, suggesting four categories of specific criteria: (1) Media-specific criteria (i.e those

which related to the particular medium used In reference to audio-recorded material, for

instance, one might consider the audibility of the recording; (2) Content-specific criteria

(i.e those which related to the nature of the material, such as the choice of topics, situationsor language in a business English book or the texts included and skills covered in a book

focusing on the development of reading skills; (3) Age-specific criteria (i.e the suitability

of the material (e.g visuals, cognitive challenge) for the age-group for which it is

intended); (4) Local criteria (i.e the appropriateness of the material for the particular

environment in which it is to be used).

1.2.4.5 Criteria defined by McGrath (2002)

McGrath (2002: 32-33) discusses criteria for evaluation to be “from general to

specific” In his view, one way of thinking about general criteria is as headings or ways of

summarizing sets of more specific criteria and the specific criteria can only be determinedon the basis of individual circumstances He sets out a possible basic set of such criteria

which consists of: Practical considerations (all components available; affordable; level); Support for teaching and learning (additional components (teacher’s book, tests,cassettes), suitable or self-study); Context-relevance (suitable for course (length of course,

multi-aims of course, syllabus, exam), suitable for learners (age, level, cultural background),

suitable for teacher, required resources available, evidence of suitability); Likely appeal to

learners (layout, visuals, topics, suitable over medium term).

In short, studying criteria is very important when an evaluation is carried out Oneessential issue is that a wide variety of relevant and appropriate criteria for the evaluationof the ESP programme should be established and applied to evaluate the suitability of theprogramme to the learners’ needs and abilities

1.2.5 Central questions in programme evaluation design

Nunan (1992: 196) makes a list of questions which needs to deal with somepractical issues in programme evaluation as follows:

• What is the purpose of the evaluation?• Who is the audience for the evaluation?

• What principles of procedure should guide the evaluation?• What tools, techniques, and instruments are appropriate?• Who should carry out the evaluation?

• When should it be carried out?

• What is the time frame and budget for the evaluation?

• How should the evaluation be reported?

It is useful to studying Nunan ‘s (1992) central questions in programme evaluationdesign before evaluating so that all factors that need evaluating will be covered.

1.3 LEARNER-CENTEREDNESS IN ESP 1.3.1 Learner-centered approach

Hutchinson and Waters (1987: 19) state ESP as “an approach”, not as “a product” tostress the commonality of the language and learning in which the learners are centered Thelearner-centered approach is based on the principle that learning is totally determined bythe learner Learning is seen as a process in which the learners use what knowledge orskills they have in order to make sense of the flow of new information Learning, therefore,is an internal process, which is crucially dependent upon the knowledge the learnersalready have and their ability and motivation to use it Learning should be seen in thecontext in which it takes place Learning is not just metal process; it is a process ofnegotiation between individuals and society Society sets a target (in the case of ESP,performance in the target situation) and the individuals must do their best to get as close tothat target as is possible (or reject it) The learners will certainly determine their own routeto the target and the speed at which they travel the route, but that does not make the targetunimportant The target still has a determining influence on the possible routes Hutchinsonand Waters (1987:19) emphasize that ESP is understood properly as an approach tolanguage learning, which based on learner need.

Historically, approaches to course design were developed from centeredness to skill-centeredness and then to learner-centeredness Hutchinson and Waters(1987: 72-76) make a comparison about the approaches to course design to show theembracing feature of the learner-centered approach: A language-centered approach onlydetermines the ESP course as the nature of the target situation performance; A skill-centered approach determines the ESP course as the nature of the target situationperformance and looking behind the target performance data to discover what processesenable someone to perform; A learner- centered approach determines the ESP course as thenature of the target situation performance, looking behind the target performance data todiscover what processes enable someone to perform, and looking beyond the competence

language-that enables someone to perform, because what we really want to discover is not thecompetence itself, but how someone acquires that competence

1.3.2 Learner-centered courses

The learner-centered courses are different from other courses These courses paygreater attention to the process of learning and they allow for learners’ preference on whatshould be taught

Brumfit (1984: 7) states that an ESP course is a direct factor concerning withpurposes of the learners: “First, it is clear that an ESP course is directly concerned with thepurpose for which learners need English, purposes for which are usually expressed infunctional terms ESP fits firmly within the general movement towards ‘communicative’teaching of the last decade or so” Any learner learns for his or her own purposes He or shewants to learn what he or she needs That appears more clearly in ESP learning The ESPlearners aim to learn about their specific fields.

Hutchinson and Waters (1987: 16) distinguish ESP courses by the general nature ofthe learners’ specialism and they divide ESP into three large categories basing on thelearners’ specialism: EST (English for Science and Technology), EBE (English forBusiness and Economics) and ESS (English for the Social Sciences).

Nunan (1988) develops the learner-centered courses within an adult ESP contextbasing on the principles of learner-centeredness He assumes that “in most learning context,it is impossible to teach learners everything they need to know in classes Little class timetherefore must be used effectively to teach those aspects of the language which the learnersconsider to be ‘mostly urgently required’” (Nunan, 1988: 3).

Schleppegrell (1994: 233)’ opinion about the learners in an ESP course is to bringto class a reason for learning English and a real life context for its use; the learners shouldhave knowledge of the specific vocation the course is addressing and well-developedlearning strategies.

In summary, chapter I has presented an overview of ESP and evaluation Thepurposes for evaluation, criteria for evaluation central questions in programme evaluationdesign and the learner-centered in ESP imply that those are issues to carry out a programmeevaluation in which the learners are centered.

CHAPTER 2: AN OVERVIEW OF ENGLISH FOR CONSTRUCTIONAT VINH UNIVERSITY

Chapter 2 provides background information about English for Construction at VinhUniversity, including in the teaching and learning situation, a description of current ESPprogramme for Construction and the learners at Vinh University.

2.1 THE TEACHING AND LEARNING SITUATION OF ENGLISH FORCONSTRUCTION AT VINH UNIVERSITY

Russian was the dominant for foreign languages taught at Vinh University(previously called Vinh Pedagogical College) for a long time After the collapse of theSoviet block, little attention was paid to the teaching and learning of Russian Therefore,English has become most popular foreign language taught in Vietnam in general and atVinh University in particular.

According to the curriculum designed by the Ministry of Education and Training,English is a compulsory subject At first, General English gained much more attention thanEnglish for Specific Purposes In 2000, Vinh Pedagogical College was renamed as VinhUniversity and, since then English for Specific Purposes gained an increasing importancein the teaching and learning English However, General English was taught in the first threecourses and then ESP was taught in the fourth one The teachers used the ESP materials ofuniversities in Hanoi for the teaching in the fourth course

In recent years, with the requirement of the improvements in education in generaland with the learners’ needs in particular, the teaching staff of Foreign LanguagesDepartment at Vinh University collected documents and designed the current ESPprogramme for Construction which was first taught for K.46 Construction Engineeringstudents at Vinh University.

2.2 A DESCRIPTION OF CURRENT ESP PROGRAMME FOR CONSTRUCTIONAT VINH UNIVERSITY

The teaching staff of Foreign Languages Department at Vinh University collectedto design the ESP programme for Construction The ESP materials which were used for

designing the programme are: English for Science and Technology – Architecture and

Building Construction by James Cumming; English for Architecture and Construction

compiled by Vi Thị Quốc Khánh, Nguyễn Thuý Vân, Nguyễn Thị Thu Hải and Trần Tuyết

Lan; Tiếng Anh trong Xây Dựng và Kiến Trúc compiled by Võ Như Cầu

Many English texts for Construction are chosen from those materials to create theESP programme at Vinh University.

The ESP programme for Construction at Vinh University consists of 4 courses andit is described as follows:

12 in the textbook Headway-Elementary by Liz and John Soars are replaced

by some texts / dialogues relating to Construction.

+ Course 3: The time allocated for English course 3 is 75 periods At first,the time for ESP is the time for reading because the reading texts from units

13-15 in the textbook Headway-Elementary by Liz and John Soars are

replaced by the ESP reading texts Then the time is only for ESP because sixother ESP reading texts are chosen to teach for the rest of the course.

+ Course 4 (only for ESP): The time allocated for the course 4 is 45periods There are 7 units in this course and each unit lasts 6 periods 3periods left is used for a mid-term test and revision.

- Contents: The contents of the ESP programme for Construction at Vinh Universityis described in the following table:

Course 1 Course 2 Course 3 Course 4Topics The plans of single-storey

house and two-storey house

Concrete, External Walls,

Stability of Concrete Block Walls, The Structural Elements of a Building, Columns and other Compression Members, Frames, Arches, Roofs, Slabs and Floors

Aggregates, Reinforcing Steels,Precast Units, Drilling, The Driving of Piles, PlacingConcrete, Settlement of Foundations

Length of the ESP reading texts

about 60 - over 100 words about over 160 - 450 words about 140 - 200 words (for 3 ESPreading texts); about 375 - 450 words (for 6 ESP texts later)

about 350 - 430 words

Grammar Present Simple (active and passive), Prepositions of position, There is/are

The Passive (present simple, can),Relative Pronoun “which”, have to / must

Transitive verbs and Intransitive verbs, Present Perfect and Present Perfect Continuous, Modals: must, should, should be, may/might, can/could, Conditional Sentences, Present Participle and Past

Compound Nouns, Relative Clauses, Passives, Infinitives, Future Tenses

Types of exercises

matching, conversations, true(T)/false (F)

answering questions, true(T)/false(F), gap-filling

true(T)/false(F), answering questions, verb tenses, translation

answering questions, gap-filling,verb tenses, translation

2.3 THE LEARNERS

The K46 Construction Engineering students of Technology Department - VinhUniversity are aged from 20 to 27 Most of them are at the ages 22, 23 and 24 They havebeen learning English for the time period of 2 to 12 years Those factors seem to be theiradvantages in learning English.

However, those students have some disadvantages in learning English Two maindisadvantages are described as follows:

- The first disadvantage is about the students’ language background They comefrom different parts of the country Some of them come from the rural areas; theothers come from cities and towns The students who come from cities have learnedEnglish a lot at schools before going to university, whereas the others have learnedonly little even there some students have never learned English before enteringVinh University This mixture has caused certain problems to teaching and learningbecause some students find classroom activities relaxing while the others find thoseactivities too hard in the same class The common observation is the students whoknow English a lot are active and the students who know little are shy or passiveduring the class time It is a challenge for the teachers in such a mixed class becausethe teachers cannot satisfy all students’ needs

- The second disadvantage is about the students’ typical learning styles Theyusually depend on the teachers The students prefer written work The dominantmethod of teaching is the transmission model in which the teachers say or read orwrite and the students copy Another learning style is that the students are not in thehabit of using dictionaries They prefer everything being translated

Above advantages and disadvantages make the teachers find out his or her ownmethods and techniques in teaching English in general, and ESP in particular for each typeof students

In summary, chapter 2 provides an overview of English for Construction at VinhUniversity with the teaching and learning situation, a description of current ESPprogramme for Construction and the learners Those are realities which make this study tobe developed and the findings will be presented in chapter 3.

CHAPTER 3: THE STUDY

This chapter presents a description of the methodology employed to collect data forthis thesis at first (i.e participants, data collection instrument and procedure) Next to, itreports the results of the survey (the learners’ evaluation of the ESP programme forConstruction at Vinh University and their needs) and the major findings Finally, itprovides some suggestions to improve the ESP programme for Construction at VinhUniversity

3.1 METHODOLOGY3.1.1 Participants

164 students including 163 male and 1 female of K46 Construction Engineering ofTechnology – Vinh University were invited to participate in the survey These students arefrom two classes (46K1 and 46K2) They are in the third-year and they have the sameEnglish proficiency level At the time when I did the data collection, they had finished fourEnglish courses with their subject matter relating to Construction Those students think thatthe learning of ESP is very important (83%) and important (17%) Their main purposes oflearning ESP are: to be able to read and translate ESP texts/documents (67.1%); to widenESP vocabulary (20.7%); to learn grammar (6.7%) and for the others (5.5).

3.1.2 Data collection instrument

Questionnaire is used as an instrument to collect data for this study I discussed withtwo groups of students chosen randomly to get some information about their evaluativecomments and their needs before designing the questionnaire.

The questionnaire is designed without requiring informing the students’ names Thequestions in the questionnaire are presented in English and then Vietnamese in thebrackets The responses for questions are mainly designed by the “multiple-choice” form

The questionnaire (see Appendix 1) consists of three sections:

- Section 1 was designed to get the information about the learners: gender, age, thetime of learning English, the thought of the importance of learning ESP, and the mainpurpose of learning ESP