An investigation into the esp reading materials at information technology department at south east vocational college (sevc) in dong nai province

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY – HO CHI MINH CITY UNIVERSITY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES AND HUMANITIES DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LINGUISTICS & LITERATURE - - AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE ESP READING MATERIALS AT INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY DEPARTMENT AT SOUTH-EAST VOCATIONAL COLLEGE (SEVC) IN DONG NAI PROVINCE Submitted to the Department of English Linguistics and Literature in partial fulfillment of the Master's degree in TESOL By TRẦN THỊ THANH MAI Supervised by LÊ THỊ ANH PHƯƠNG, Ed D Ho Chi Minh City, 2011 i CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY I certify my authorship of the thesis submitted today entitled AN INVESTIGATION INFORMATION INTO THE TECHNOLOGY ESP READING DEPARTMENT MATERIALS AT AT SOUTH-EAST VOCATIONAL COLLEGE (SEVC) IN DONG NAI PROVINCE in terms of the statement of Requirements of theses in Master's Program issued by the Higher Degree Committee Ho Chi Minh City, October 2011 TRẦN THỊ THANH MAI ii RETENTION AND USE OF THE THESIS I hereby state that I, TRẦN THỊ THANH MAI, being the candidate for the degree of Master of 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 copy 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 and reproduction of theses Ho Chi Minh City, October 2011 TRẦN THỊ THANH MAI iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my thesis supervisor, Dr Lê Thị Anh Phương for her treasured and invaluable support over the course of this study With her insightful guidance and encouraging spirit, it is my supervisor who helped me a lot to finish the thesis She was always available for reading and commenting on my work Thanks to her constant guidance and valuable comments, the thesis has become a complete piece of work I would also like to thank all the English teachers in the University of Social Sciences and Humanities for their valuable instructions during the course, as well as other staff at this university for their necessary support during my studies Last but not least, I am deeply thankful to my family for their care and support, and to my college authorities, my colleagues as well as my students at South-East Vocational College (SEVC) – Đồng Nai province for their cooperation At the same time, special thanks are granted to SEVC graduates and their employers for spending time answering my questionnaires and interviews for this study iv LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS B.A : Bachelor of Arts EFL : English as a Foreign Language EGP : General Purposes English ELT : English Language Teaching ESP : English for Specific Purposes IT : Information Technology L1 : The first Language SEVC : South – East Vocational College TOEFL : Test of English as a Foreign Language 10 USB : Universal Serial Bus v ABSTRACT This study was aimed to evaluate the suitability of the coursebook ''English for Information Technology'' adapted from "English for Computer Science" (Brown & Mullen, 1992) currently used to teach English to Information Technology (IT) learners at South-East Vocational College (SEVC) in Đồng Nai province Specifically, the study was designed to find out the students' and teachers' perceptions about the book as the English teaching material for IT learners On the basis of their evaluation, the strengths and the weaknesses of this textbook could be identified to make adequate improvements for the book to meet the needs and the ability of the students and to enhance their English competence as required by the college and the society Data for the study were collected from (1) questionnaires distributed to 85 current IT students and eight ESP teachers, 28 former IT students and 10 of their employers, and (2) interviews with the two college authorities and the eight ESP teachers The findings showed that the ESP teaching materials currently used for IT students at SEVC was generally considered suitable to IT learners at the college because it was relevant to the aims set by the college and to the social needs, which was mainly to understand, and sometimes to translate, the basic IT materials written in English In addition, the textbook was perceived to be largely appropriate to the students' levels, needs and interests However, three key aspects of the book, i.e the content, the exercises and visual illustrations, needed further improvement Specific recommendations were provided to increase the quality of the material to respond better to the English requirements for IT students, the current IT development, as well as the learners' expectations vi TABLE OF CONTENTS Page No Certificate of originality i Retention and use of the thesis ii Acknowledgements iii List of abbreviations iv Abstract v Table of contents vi List of illustrations ix CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background of the study 1.1.1 IT department at SEVC 1.1.2 The teaching and learning of English at IT department 1.1.3 ESP materials used at IT department 1.2 Rationale for evaluating the ESP textbook…………………… 1.3 Statement of purposes 1.4 Significance of the study 1.5 Scope of the study 1.6 Research questions 1.7 Organization of the study 1.8 Summary CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 The roles of materials in language teaching 10 2.2 Characteristics of ESP materials 12 2.3 Purposes of material evaluation 13 2.4 Criteria for material evaluation 15 2.4.1 Appearance 21 2.4.2 Language content or authenticity 22 2.4.3 Topics about subject matter 25 2.4.4 Aims 26 vii 2.4.5 Design and organization 26 2.4.6 Appropriacy 28 2.5 Material adaptation 31 2.6 Summary 34 CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY 3.1 Research questions 35 3.2 Research methodology 35 3.2.1 Subjects 37 3.2.1.1 Teachers and college authorities 37 3.2.1.2 Students 38 3.2.1.3 Employers 40 3.2.2 Research instruments 42 3.2.2.1 Questionnaires 42 3.2.2.2 Interviews 47 3.3 Data collection and analysis procedures 48 3.3.1 Questionnaires to ESP teachers 49 3.3.2 Questionnaires to current students 49 3.3.3 Questionnaires to former students 49 3.3.4 Questionnaires to employers of former IT students 50 3.3.5 Interviews with ESP teachers and college authorities 50 3.4 Summary 51 CHAPTER 4: DATA ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS 4.1 Data analysis and discussions 52 4.1.1 Relevance to the course aims and objectives 53 4.1.2 Users' evaluation of the textbook 54 4.1.2.1 IT content 55 4.1.2.2 Textbook organization 56 4.1.2.3 Textbook relevance 57 4.1.2.3.1 Relevance to learners' levels 57 4.1.2.3.2 Relevance to learners' needs 59 4.1.2.3.3 Relevance to learners' interests 61 viii 4.1.2.3.4 Relevance of exercises types to learners' interests 63 4.1.3 Users' recommendations 64 4.2 Findings 66 4.2.1 Summary of main findings 66 4.2.1.1 Aims and objectives 66 4.2.1.2 The IT content 66 4.2.1.3 Textbook organization 67 4.2.1.4 Textbook relevance 68 4.2.1.4.1 Relevance to learners' levels 68 4.2.1.4.2 Relevance to learners' needs 68 4.2.1.4.3 Relevance to learners' interests 69 4.2.2 Strengths and weaknesses of the textbook 70 4.2.2.1 Strengths 71 4.2.2.2 Weaknesses 72 4.3 Summary 74 CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 5.1 Conclusions 75 5.2 Recommendations 76 5.3 Implications 78 5.3.1 Implications for practice 78 5.3.2 Implications for research 80 REFERENCES 82 APPENDICES APPENDIX 1: Questionnaire for ESP teachers 85 APPENDIX 2: Questionnaire for current students 88 APPENDIX 3: Questionnaire for former students 91 APPENDIX 4: Questionnaire for the former students' employers 93 APPENDIX 5: Specification of ESP subject at IT department 95 APPENDIX 6: Types of exercises in the textbook 96 APPENDIX 7: Extract visual pictures from Unit 99 APPENDIX 8: Extract visual pictures from Unit 101 ix APPENDIX 9: Extract pictures from unit and unit 103 APPENDIX 10: Sample readings 104 APPENDIX 11: Sample language focus 111 APPENDIX 12: Sample exercises 113 ... the information Main idea Understanding the passage Locating the information Main idea Understanding the passage Locating the information Main idea Understanding the passage Locating the information. .. Locating the information Main idea Understanding the passage Locating the information Main idea Understanding the passage Locating the information Main idea Understanding the passage Locating the. .. CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY I certify my authorship of the thesis submitted today entitled AN INVESTIGATION INFORMATION INTO THE TECHNOLOGY ESP READING DEPARTMENT MATERIALS AT AT SOUTH- EAST VOCATIONAL