Some problems in teaching and learning esp at ho chi minh city construction college m a

HOCHIMINH CITY NATIONAL UNIVERSITY UNIVERSITY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES AND HUMANITIES DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LINGUISTICS AND LITERATURE SOME PROBLEMS IN TEACHING AND LEARNING ESP AT HOCHIMINH CITY CONSTRUCTION COLLEGE Submitted to the Faculty of English linguistics & Literature in partial fulfillment of the Master’s degree in TESOL By HO THI THANH THUY – TESOL 2009 Supervised by NGUYEN THI KIEU THU, Ph D HO CHI MINH CITY, MARCH 2014 HOCHIMINH CITY NATIONAL UNIVERSITY UNIVERSITY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES AND HUMANITIES DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LINGUISTICS AND LITERATURE SOME PROBLEMS IN TEACHING AND LEARNING ESP AT HOCHIMINH CITY CONSTRUCTION COLLEGE Submitted to the Faculty of English linguistics & Literature in partial fulfillment of the Master’s degree in TESOL By HO THI THANH THUY – TESOL 2009 Supervised by NGUYEN THI KIEU THU, Ph D HO CHI MINH CITY, MARCH 2014 RETENTION AND USE OF THE THESIS I hereby state that I, Ho Thi Thanh Thuy, being the candidate for the degree of Master in TESOL, accept the requirements of the University relating to the retention and use of Master’s Theses deposited in the Library In terms of these conditions, I agree that the original of my thesis deposited in the Library should be accessible for purposes of study and research, in accordance with the normal conditions established by the Library for the care, loan or reproduction of theses Ho Chi Minh City March, 2014 HO THI THANH THUY i CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY I certify my authority of the thesis submitted today entitled: SOME PROBLEMS IN TEACHING AND LEARNING ESP AT HOCHIMINH CITY CONSTRUCTION COLLEGE In terms of the statement of Requirements for Theses in Master’s Programs issued by the Higher Degree Committee Ho Chi Minh, March 30th , 2014 HO THI THANH THUY ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would particularly like to express my sincere thanks to Dr Nguyen Thi Kieu Thu who has helped and encouraged me during the writing of this thesis The thesis could not have been completed without her patience and help I am also grateful for helpful advice given by Dr Nguyen Ngoc Tran Chau who helped me to form the foundation for this study In addition, I would like to thank Dr Le Hoang Dung, Dr Pho Phuong Dung, Dean and Vice Dean of the Faculty of English Linguistics and Literature at the HCM University of Social Sciences and Humanities, for their sympathy about my difficulties I also would like to express my gratitude to all the teachers who have taught me in the school years of 2009 to 2012 and my TESOL 09 classmates Besides, I would like to send my thanks to all English teachers and other teachers in the Department of Basic Sciences at HCMC Construction College, and students at this school as well as recruiters and alumni They have provided me with the important data and given me useful suggestions for my study Last but not least, I would like to express my deepest gratitude and special thanks to my beloved family who greatly encouraged and supported me during the time this thesis was being carried out iii ABSTRACT ESP (English for Special Purposes) courses for vocational schools in Vietnam are important and necessary for learners in present time However, these courses are not effective as hoped because of many reasons The study investigated the current situation of teaching and learning ESP at HOCHIMINH City Construction College and also identified the problems in teaching and learning ESP courses More importantly, the feedback from alumni and recruiters has provided useful information for the improvement The data were collected through the questionnaire for students and the interviews with ESP teachers, alumni and recruiters The participants of the study were 240 students who were studying Construction and Architecture majors at this school The results of the study showed that generally the current ESP courses were ineffective due to the monotonous teaching methods and lack of learning motivation from students as well as out-dated and inauthentic ESP textbook The teachers and alumni suggestions may help make some changes to make ESP courses more effective iv TABLE OF CONTENTS RETENTION AND USE OF THE THESIS i CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS iii ABSTRACT iv TABLE OF CONTENTS v LIST OF TABLES viii LIST OF CHARTS .ix LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS .x CHAPTER INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background to the study 1.2 The rationale for the study 1.3 Aims of the study 1.4 Research questions 1.5 Significance of the study 1.6 Limitations of the study 1.7 Organization of the study CHAPTER LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 An overview of ESP 2.1.1 Definitions of ESP 2.1.2 Benefits of ESP .9 2.1.3 The differences between General English (GE) and English for Special Purposes (ESP) 10 2.1.4 Terminology 11 2.2 Some factors influencing ESP course 11 2.2.1 Motivations in ESP course 11 2.2.2 ESP teaching methodology 13 2.2.3 ESP textbooks .14 2.3 Hypothetical problems arising from ESP teachers in teaching ESP .16 2.3.1 Lack of an ESP orthodoxy to provide a ready-made guide 17 v 2.3.2 Lack of content knowledge 18 2.3.3 The change in the status of English Language Teaching 19 2.4 Hypothetical problems arising from ESP students in learning ESP 21 2.4.1 Lack of integrative motivation in learning English 21 2.4.2 Lack of lexical knowledge 22 2.4.3 Lack of authentic materials 22 2.4.4 ESP teaching methodology 23 2.5 Hypothetical problems arising from ESP textbook in teaching and learning ESP courses 24 2.5.1 The ESP contents 24 2.5.2 ESP Textbook relevance to learners’ English levels, needs and interests 25 2.6 Conceptual frame of the study .25 CHAPTER METHODOLOGY 27 3.1 RESEARCH DESIGN 27 3.2 SETTING .27 3.3 PARTICIPANTS 28 3.3.1 TEACHER PARTICIPANTS .29 3.3.2 STUDENT PARTICIPANTS .29 3.4 INSTRUMENTS 30 3.4.1 QUESTIONNAIRE 30 3.4.2 INTERVIEWS 32 3.5 Data collection procedures 35 3.5.1 Procedure for conducting the questionnaire for the students 35 3.5.2 Procedures for conducting the interviews .35 3.6 Data analysis procedure .36 3.7 Chapter summary 37 CHAPTER RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 38 4.1 Results 38 4.1.1 Results of the questionnaire to students 38 4.1.2 Results of the interview with the ESP teachers 54 vi 4.1.3 Results of the interview to alumni 65 4.1.4 Results of the interview with recruiters 72 4.2 Main findings 76 4.2.1 How ESP is taught and learnt at HCMC CC 76 4.2.2 Some main problems in teaching and learning ESP at HCMC CC 77 4.3 Summary 82 CHAPTER CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS.………………83 5.1 Conclusion .83 5.2 Recommendations 85 5.2.1 For the administrators 85 5.2.2 For teachers 86 5.2.3 For students 87 5.3 Suggestions for further studies 88 5.4 Chapter summary 88 REFERENCES .89 APPENDIX 1A: The questionnaire for students in English 93 APPENDIX 1B : The questionnaire for students in Vietnamese 96 APPENDIX 2A: Questions for the teachers’ interview in English 99 APPENDIX 2B: Questions for the teachers’ interview in Vietnamese 101 APPENDIX 3A: Questions for the alumni’s interview in English 103 APPENDIX 3B: Questions for the alumni’s interview in Vietnamese 104 APPENDIX 4A: Questions for the recruiters’ interview in English .105 APPENDIX 4B: Questions for the recruiters’ interview in Vietnamese 106 APPENDIX 5: ESP textbook……………………………………………………… 107 vii LIST OF TABLES Table 3.1 Teachers’ background information Table 3.2 Students’ background information Table 3.3 The number of statements in the questionnaire for students Table 4.1a How grammar structures were taught Table 4.1b How reading texts were taught Table 4.2 The use of teaching facilities Table 4.3 The use of additional practical documents to teach ESP Table 4.4 The teaching of ESP terms Table 4.5 The correction of students’ translations Table 4.6 Students’ participation in class activities Table 4.7 Students’ participation without teachers’ elicitation Table 4.8 Students’ self –study Table 4.9 Students’ revision before class Table 4.10 Students’ opinions about ESP textbook Table 4.11 Students’ opinions about contents of ESP textbook Table 4.12 Students’ opinions about vocabulary teaching in ESP textbook Table 4.13 Students’ opinions about grammar structures in ESP textbook Table 4.14 Students’ suggestions of textbook revision Table 4.15 Students’ opinions about the suitable time for ESP course viii The teacher explained carefully ESP terms to help us understand before reading and comprehension phase The teacher corrected carefully our translation and offered the best translation of text for reference During ESP lesson, I usually participated in class activities (pair work, group work,…) During ESP lesson, I usually put questions to get feedback from English teacher or gave personal ideas without teacher’s elicitation I usually self –studied to upgrade my English besides class lessons because of many reasons I usually reviewed old ESP lessons before the next ESP ones 10 Current ESP textbook was too difficult for my English level 11 Current ESP textbook provided us with a lot of knowledge on construction and architecture 12 Quantity of vocabulary in the textbook was large and difficult to remember 13 The Grammar in the textbook was difficult and unfamiliar with what I had learned from General English course 94 14 I think teacher should revise the textbook to suit the learners' proficiency 15 Teaching ESP in the first semester when we didn’t have professional knowledge in construction and architecture made it difficult for us to understand the terminology 95 APPENDIX 1B THE QUESTIONNAIRE FOR STUDENTS IN VIETNAMESE Nhằm thu thập thông tin cho ñề tài nghiên cứu số vấn ñề việc dạy học tiếng Anh chuyên ngành (TACN) trường trung cấp xây dựng thành phố HồChí minh từ ý kiến em qua khóa học TACN vừa qua, chúng tơi gửi bảng câu hỏi đến em Chọn câu trả lời cách ñánh dấu ( √ ) vào năm lựa chọn tương ứng bảng câu hỏi Sự hợp tác em có ý nghĩa đề tài Cảm ơn em hợp tác PHẦN 1: THƠNG TIN CHUNG Lớp: …………………………… Giới tính: Nam Nữ Tuổi: Từ 18 ñến 20 Hơn 20 tuổi PHẦN 2: MỘT SỐ VẤN ðỀ TRONG VIỆC DẠY VÀ HỌC TIẾNG ANH CHUN NGÀNH Hồn Khơng Khơng ðồng Hồn tồn đồng ý có ý ý tồn khơng (2) kiến (4) ñồng ý ñồng ý (1) 1a Giáo viên tiếng Anh thường dạy cấu trúc ngữ pháp riêng biệt 1b Giáo viên thường dịch text sau chúng tơi trả lời xong tập phần đọc hiểu học Giáo viên thường sử dụng bảng đen máy tính xách tay để trình chiếu từ vựng từ text nghĩa chúng dạy TACN 96 (3) (5) Giáo viên sử dụng giáo trình sẵn có bổ sung tài liệu TACN cập nhật để dạy Giáo viên giải thích rõ ràng thuật ngữ chuyên ngành cho trước tự chúng tơi đọc hiểu text Giáo viên sủa dịch kỹ cung cấp cho dịch tốt ñể tham khảo Trong học TACN, tơi thường xun tham gia hoạt động lớp: Làm việc theo cặp, theo nhóm,… Trong học TACN, tơi thường đặt câu hỏi cho giáo viên để trình bày thắc mắc chưa hiểu hay phát biểu ý kiến mà khơng gợi ý giáo viên Tơi thường xun tự học để nâng vốn tiếng Anh nhiều lý Tôi thường xuyên ôn lại học TACN trước học 10 Giáo trình TACN khó so với khả tiếng Anh tơi 11 Giáo trình TACN cung cấp cho nhiều kiến thức kiến trúc xây dựng 97 12 Lượng từ vựng sách nhiều khó nhớ 13 Ngữ pháp khó lạ so với tơi học phần tiếng Anh 14 Tôi nghĩ giáo viên nên biên soạn lại giáo trình cho phù hợp với trình độ người học 15 Dạy TACN học kỳ I mà không nhiều kiến thức chuyên ngành xây dựng kiến trúc gây khơng khó khăn cho học thuật ngữ chuyên ngành 98 APPENDIX 2A QUESTIONS FOR THE TEACHERS’ INTERVIEW IN ENGLISH During ESP lesson, what skill(s) did you focus on? With focusing on English skill(s) mentioned above, you think it’s enough? Should we add anymore? 2.1 During ESP lesson, what teaching method did you use? 2.2 During ESP lesson, what teaching aids did you usually use? 2.3 When teaching ESP, did you just stick to the textbook or also provide some more hand-outs to expand content knowledge for students? 2.4 After each ESP lesson, did you give any homework for students? 2.5 During ESP lesson, did you require your students to work in pairs, in groups and give the presentation? From the assessing results of ESP courses recent years: 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013 and from the feedback of recruiters during the seminar entitled “Foreign languages and work opportunities under the recruiters’ viewpoints” at HCMC CC., what you think about ESP courses at this school? Are you satisfied with these results? Before teaching ESP, did you receive any ready-made guide on how to conduct this course? Were you trained content knowledge about architecture and construction before, during and after ESP course? If not, what problems you have in teaching ESP? How can you overcome them? How you feel when changing from teaching EGP into ESP? At this school, you usually receive the consultancy from content content teachers about special knowledge when teaching ESP? Are they happy and willing to help you? During ESP course, were your students interested in learning and did they try their best to study ESP for their future work? Did your students have enough lexical knowledge to approach ESP reading texts? Did teaching ESP course in the first semester face any difficulties when the students only studied three special subjects like art drawing, construction drawing and geodetics? 99 In your opinion, is the current ESP textbook suitable for students’ needs and English levels? 10 In your opinion, are the contents of the texts and the number of ESP vocabularies in the textbook suitable for students to study? Are they interesting for students to study? Are the contents of the texts up-to-date or out-of-date? Are they practical or not? 11 What you think about the grammatical structures in the textbook? 12 Do the exercises in the textbook help students to improve their understanding the reading texts? Does the current ESP textbook equip self-study exercises to students? 13 What recommendations you suggest to improve the teaching and learning ESP at HCMC CC.? 100 APPENDIX 2B QUESTIONS FOR THE TEACHERS’ INTERVIEW IN VIETNAMESE Khi dạy Tiếng Anh Chuyên Ngành (TACN), thầy/ cô tập trung vào kỹ nào? Với việc vào kỹ đó, thầy/ thấy đủ chưa? Có nên bổ sung thêm kỹ không? 2.1 Khi dạy TACN, thầy / cô sử dụng phương pháp giảng dạy nào? 2.2 Thầy/ cô thường dùng giáo cụ nào?2.3 Thầy dạy bám sát vào giáo trình hay cung cấp thêm phiếu học tập ñể mở rộng kiến thức cho học sinh? 2.4 Sau buổi học, thầy/ có giao tập nhà cho học sinh làm khơng? 2.5 Trong học, thầy/ có cho học sinh làm việc theo cặp, theo nhóm thuyết trình khơng? Từ kết đánh giá mơn học năm gần ñây: 2010, 2011, 2012và từ phản hồi nhà tuyển dụng buổi hội thảo “ Ngoại ngữ hội việc làm góc nhìn nhà tuyển dụng” tổ chức trường TCXD, thầy/ nghĩ khóa học TACN trường này? Thầy/ có hài lịng với kết khơng? Trước dạy TACN, thầy / có nhân hướng dẫn phải dạy mơn học khơng? Thầy/ có tập huấn kiến thức chuyên ngành lĩnh vực kiến trúc xây dựng trước, sau khóa học TACN khơng? Nếu “khơng”, có khó khăn cho thầy/ khơng? Thầy / làm để vượt qua? Khi chuyển từ việc dạy tiếng anh sang dạy TACN, thầy/ cô cảm thấy nào? Ở trường này, thầy/ có nhận dược trợ giúp từ giáo viên môn chuyên ngành dạy TACN khơng? Học có sẵn lịng giúp thầy/ khơng? Trong suốt khóa học, học sinh có hào hứng học mơn cố học TACN cơng việc tương lai khơng? Học trị có đủ kiến thức từ vựng ñể tiếp cận ñọc hiểu không? Dạy TACN học kỳ I, mà học sinh học có chuyên ngành: Vẽ mỹ thuật, Vẽ xây dựng Trắc địa có gây khó khăn cho thầy/ khơng? Theo thầy/cơ, giáo trình TACN có phù hợp với nhu cầu khả tiếng Anh học trị khơng? 101 10 Theo thầy / cô, Nội dung ñọc hiểu số lượng từ vựng chuyên ngành có phù hợp với học trị khơng? Những nội dung có thu hút người học khơng? Những nội dung có cập nhật khơng có tính thực tế khơng? 11 Thầy/ nghĩ cấu trúc ngữ pháp giáo trình? 12 Những tập giáo trình có giúp học sinh cải thiện khả đọc hiểu text khơng? Giáo trình có trang bị cho người học tập tự học khơng? 13 Thầy/ có đề xuất để cải thiện việc dạy học TACN Trường trung cấp xây dựng thành phố Hồ Chí Minh khơng? 102 APPENDIX 3A QUESTIONS FOR THE ALUMNI’S INTERVIEW IN ENGLISH 1.1 What methods did your ESP teachers use to teach you? 1.2 Did your ESP teachers learn the students’ needs and aspirations about the subject? 1.3 Did you feel interested in the ESP course? 1.4 Did ESP knowledge you studied at HCMC CC support any things for your current work? 1.5 Did your ESP teachers have good knowledge of the subject contents? Do you think ESP course at HCMC CC effective or not effective when applying the knowledge for your work? What skills did your ESP teacher pay attention on teaching you? What skills should English teachers pay attention when they teach ESP? When studying at HCMC CC did you think that you tried your best in learning English to find a good job in the future? What advice can you give to your younger friends who are studying at HCMC CC.? Do you think ESP textbook you used to study at HCMC CC suitable for your work? What you think about the level of technical terms (vocabulary) and grammar focuses in the textbook? Were the contents of the texts up dated? Did the exercises support students to understand the contents of the texts? What suggestions you offer to make ESP course at HCMC CC better? 103 APPENDIX 3B QUESTIONS FOR THE ALUMNI’S INTERVIEW IN VIETNAMESE 1 Trước ñây, giáo viên ñã sử dụng phương pháp giảng dạy ñể dạy TACN cho bạn? 1.2 Thầy/ có tìm hiểu nhu cầu, nguyện vọng bạn trước dạy không? 1.3 Bạn có thấy hứng thú với khóa học TACN khơng? 1.4 Kiến thức TACN bạn học trường có giúp cho công việc bạn không? 1.5 Giáo viên bạn có kiến thức TACN tốt khơng? Bạn nghĩ khóa học TACN trường có hiệu khơng áp dụng kiến thức học vào công việc? Kỹ giáo viên trọng dạy TACN cho bạn? theo bạn giáo viên nên trọng vào kỹ nào? Khi cịn học trường, bạn có cố gắng ñể học tốt môn TACN nhằm chuẩn bị cho công việc tương lai bạn? Bạn có lời khuyên cho học sinh cịn học trường TCXD Tp Hồ Chí Minh? Bạn có nghĩ giáo trình TACN bạn học trường phù hợp với công việc bạn không? Bạn cảm nhận thuật ngữ chuyên ngành cấu trúc ngữ pháp giáo trình bạn học? nội dung có phù hợp khơng? Bài tập có giúp học sinh hiểu khơng? Bạn có đề xuất để khóa học TACN tốt ? 104 APPENDIX 4A QUESTIONS FOR THE RECRUITERS’ INTERVIEW IN ENGLISH To know how the ESP courses are effective when comparing with recruiters’ needs, we send these questions to you Question 1: In the interview in English, did alumni from HCMC CC meet your needs of English level? What skills were they bad at? Question 2: Do graduates meet ESP knowledge for their current work in your company? Question 3: With the requirement for the work at your company, what language skills should a candidate equip? Question 4: What ESP knowledge about architecture and construction fields the employees have to enhance when working in your company? For example: ESP terms, language skills, etc? Question 5: What recommendations can you offer for the administrators at HCMC CC in order that the ESP course becomes more effective to meet the requirements of recruiters? Photo: The seminar held at the school entitled "Foreign Languages and employment opportunities from the employer's perspective”, in 2012 105 APPENDIX 4B QUESTIONS FOR THE RECRUITERS’ INTERVIEW IN VIETNAMESE Nhằm tìm hiểu tính hiệu việc dạy học tiếng anh chuyên ngành ( TACN) kiến trúc xây dựng Trường trung cấp xây dựng thành phố Hồ Chí Minh giai ñoạn so với nhu cầu nhà tuyển dụng, chúng tơi gửi đến ơng ( bà) số câu hỏi sau ñây: Question 1: Trong buổi vấn xin việc TA, ứng viên tốt nghiệp từ trường TCXD có đáp ứng u cầu trình độ ngoại ngữ khơng? Họ cịn yếu kỹ ngoại ngữ ( nghe, nói, đọc, viết) nào, xin vui lòng cho biết! Question 2: Những kiến thức TACN em ñã học trường trung cấp xây dựng có đáp ứng phần nhu cầu cơng việc mà em làm khơng ? Question 3: Xin Ơng (bà) cho biết với cơng việc cơng ty ơng ( bà) người ứng viên cần trang bị kỹ ngoại ngữ nào? Question 4: Xin ơng ( bà) vui lịng cho biết kiến thức ngoại ngữ chuyên môn ( thuộc lĩnh vực xây dựng, kiến trúc) mà người lao động cịn thiếu cần phải hồn thiện? Question 5: Ơng bà có đề xuất để việc đào tạo TACN trường TCXD ñáp ứng ñược nhu cầu cho công việc, cụ thể công ty ông ( bà)? 106 APPENDIX THE ESP TEXTBOOK 107 108 ... situation of teaching and learning ESP at HOCHIMINH City Construction College and also identified the problems in teaching and learning ESP courses More importantly, the feedback from alumni and. ..HOCHIMINH CITY NATIONAL UNIVERSITY UNIVERSITY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES AND HUMANITIES DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LINGUISTICS AND LITERATURE SOME PROBLEMS IN TEACHING AND LEARNING ESP AT HOCHIMINH CITY CONSTRUCTION. .. for practical purposes and meeting the job demands As a common practice, teachers mainly use traditional teaching methods in classes: the Grammar Translation method Of course, like many graduates