A survey on dentists ability in reading english dental materials at five leading dental departments in ho chi minh city viet nam m a thesis

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY-HOCHIMINH CITY UNIVERSITY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES AND HUMANITIES A SURVEY ON DENTISTS’ ABILITY IN READING ENGLISH DENTAL MATERIALS AT FIVE LEADING DENTAL DEPARTMENTS IN HO CHI MINH CITY- VIET NAM A Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts ( TESOL ) Submitted by TRUONG HOANG TUAN Supervised by NGUYEN TIEN HUNG, Ph.D HO CHI MINH City , October 2010 CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY I certify my authorship of the thesis submitted today entitle: A SURVEY ON DENTISTS’ ABILITY IN READING ENGLISH MATERIALS AT FIVE LEADING DENTAL DEPARTMENTS IN HO CHI MINH CITY- VIET NAM in terms of the statement of requirements for theses in master’s programs issued by the higher degree committee HO CHI MINH City, October 2010 TRƯƠNG HOÀNG TUẤN RETENTION and USE of the THESIS I hereby state that, I, TRUONG HOANG TUAN, 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 term of these conditions, I agree that the origin of my thesis deposited in the library should be accessible for purposes of study and research, in accordance with normal conditions established by the library for the care, loan or reproduction of theses HO CHI MINH City, October 2010 TRƯƠNG HOÀNG TUẤN ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my thesis supervisor, Mr.Nguyễn Tiến Hùng, who whole- heartedly supported me during the writing of this thesis although he has been so busy His guidance and valuable advice did help me through this challenging task Moreover, his devotion, understanding and friendliness have made a strong impression on me I am greatly indebted to all the lecturers of the TESOL graduate program at the University of Social Sciences and Humanities for their helpful instruction during the course from the year 2007 to 2010 In addition, my great thanks go to all the dentists who were very responsive to the questionnaire Without their cooperation, I would have never been able to complete the survey My last thanks go to my wife and my sons for their love and care Abstract In Vietnam, English has regained its role as the main foreign language taught and used, and Waxler-Morrison (2005) stated that English is a helpful tool to obtain the knowledge of the dental field from advanced countries in the world As I have been working in the dentistry field for quite a long time, I notice that the field is very innovative and there have been many new developments recently That is why it is badly needed to find ways to help Vietnamese dentists improve their English so as to acquire the ability in reading and using materials written in English comprehensibly The purpose of this study was to investigate reality of dentists’ ability on reading and understanding dental materials in English at five leading dental departments in Ho Chi Minh City in an effort to find out the difficulties and obstacles faced by dentists in order to suggest some recommendations to improve their English reading skills The questionnaire was directly administered to 80 dentists in order to collect data by using quantitative approach The results indicated that the current English program and learning conditions were not appropriate for dentist students The dentists were completely aware of the important role of English language for practitioners in globalisation but they evaluated that their reading comprehension in English was very poor They did not feel confident of their English proficiency This situation may lead to some urgent recommendations in changing the present English program and the learning environment at university of health sciences as well as in determining their motivations and the best strategies for dentists to self – study in order to help them improve their English proficiency, especially reading skills TABLE OF CONTENTS page Certificate of the originality i Retention and use of the thesis ii Acknowledgements iii Abstract iv Table of contents v Introduction CHAPTER I : BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY I.1- Problem statement I.2- Research objectives I.3- Research hypothesis I.4- Importance and benefits of the study I.5- Limitations I.6- Overview of thesis chapters CHAPTER II : LITERATURE REVIEW II.1-Use of English language in Vietnam II.2 Reading II.2.1- What is Reading? II.2.2 -Models of the Reading Process II.2.2.1-Bottom-up model ( local strategy) II.2.2.2-Top-down Model ( global strategy) 10 II.2.2.3-Interactive Model 10 II.3- Reading Comprehension 12 II.3.1-What is Reading Comprehension? 12 II.3.2-Schema Theory and Reading Comprehension 14 II.3.2.1-Schema Theory 14 II.3.2.2-Types of Schema 15 II.3.2.3-Schemata and Reading Comprehension 16 II.4 Effective Readers and Ineffective Readers 16 II.4.1-The Difference Between Effective Readers and Ineffective Readers 16 II.4.2- List of Common Reading Strategies 18 II.4.3-Strategy Identification 19 II.5 English For Specific Purpose ( ESP) 20 II.5.1- What is ESP ? 20 II.5.2-Characteristics of ESP Courses 23 II.5.3-The Importance of Teaching Reading Strategies to ESP Learners 24 II.5.4- Successful ESP Learners 25 II.6-The Important Role of English Language in Dental Field in Vietnam 26 II.7- Summary 27 CHAPTER III :METHODOLOGY 28 III.1-Research question 28 III.2- Research design 28 III.2.1- Research method 28 III.2.2- Research subject 29 III.2.3 – Instruments 30 III.2.4 – Data collection 31 CHAPTER FOUR: DATA ANALYSIS and DISCUSSION of RESULTS 34 IV.1-Analysis of dentists’ responses 34 IV.2 –Summary 55 CHAPTER FIVE : RECOMMENDATIONS and CONCLUSION 57 V.1- Recommendations 57 V.1.1-Class size 58 V.1.2-Course 58 V.1.3- Studying 58 V.1.3.1-Control of the environment 60 V.1.3.2- Building your vocabulary 65 V.1.3.3- Learning grammar 66 V.1.3.4- Skimming and scanning scientific materials 69 V.1.3.5- Reading speed 71 V.2- Conclusion 75 Bibliography 78 Appendix 1: Phiếu khảo sát 86 Appendix : Questionnaire 91 Appendix 96 Appendix 101 Appendix 106 INTRODUCTION According to Hutchinson and Waters (1987), English after the Second World War is an accepted international language of science, technology and commerce It creates a new generation of learners, including dentists as scientists, who know why they have to learn English In Vietnam, English has regained its role as the main foreign language taught and used (Alter & Moreau, 1995; Mydans, 1995; Shapiro, 1995) For dentists, English is a helpful tool to obtain the knowledge of the dental field from advanced countries in the world (Waxler-Morrison 2005) Therefore they take extra effort to master it and be able to use it efficiently As a dentist, the importance of getting scientific and technological information cannot be overstated This is because the dentistry field is innovative and there are new developments everyday In order for one to remain relevant to the field, it is needed for dentists to acquire the ability to use and read materials written in English comprehensibly What have been mentioned above can be clearly demonstrated by the fact that in Ho Chi Minh city recently held seminars and conferences about new technicalities in diagnosis and treatments in dentistry were in English, and in the dental field there are countless items of materials with different usages written in English Moreover, the influx of many big dental production companies into Vietnam, dentists who would like having up- to- date information in this field have to be able to read and understand English effectively This study investigates how dentists read and understand the English dental materials in an effort to identify the difficulties and obstacles in reading comprehension faced by dentists Hopefully, the results of this study will allow the author to give some recommendations which may be helpful to dentists to solve their own problems in order to improve their English reading skills CHAPTER I: BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY I.1- Problem statement Over the last several years, the use of the English language in the field of dentistry has been on a steady rise Dentists are under immense pressure to improve their proficiency in English since recent conferences and seminars have been conducted in English, most of dentistry medical books and journals are now written in English Also, knowledge of English language will improve the communication and sharing of ideas between dentists in Vietnam and others from the developed nations and others The need to assimilate ways that can culminate to a greater proficiency in English among dentists in Vietnam will raise their levels of productivity and profitability and will enable them to serve the general public better Most people feel that the services offered in the health care sector will be improved further if all the key players share ideas since this is a field that new methods of treatment are being invented all the time If there is a barrier in communication then some of these instrumental services will be lost on some Some dentists would rather remain with their old methods of performing their duties and not engage in reading dentistry materials that offer new innovative ways of dealing with dental issues This is because human nature is mostly resistant to change especially when the future outcome is not very certain or suspicious and /or when the old seems to work just fine Therefore, these dentists are not the respondents in the survey Devising ways and offering dentists incentives that enable them to improve their English language skills will definitely improve their understanding, enhance their participation in the dentistry forums and boost their performance as well-educated dentists Notably, if the recommendations that will be given by the researcher are implemented it could culminate to a transformation of the dentistry field for the better 81 Johns, A., & Dudley-Evans, T (1991) English for Specific Purposes Johns, A M (1991) English for specific purposes (ESP): Its history and contributions In M Celce-Murcia (Ed.), Teaching English as a second or foreign language 2nd edition (pp 67–77) Boston: Heinle & Heinle Johnson, D., & Johnson, R (1975) Learning together and alone: Cooperation, competition and individualization Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall Johnson, R (Ed.) (1989) The second language curriculum Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Jones, G (1990) ESP textbooks: Do they really exist? English for Specific Purposes, 9, 89-93 Jordan, R R (2002) The growth of EAP in Britain Journal of English for Academic Purposes, 1, pp.69–78 Karl Krahnke.(1994).Teaching English as a Second /Foreign Language Kvale, S., (2007) Doing Interviews London: Sage Publications Mackay, R., & Palmer, J (Eds.) (1981) Languages for Specific Purposes: Program design and evaluation London: Newbury House Mackay, R., & Mountford, A (Eds.) (1978) English for Specific Purposes: A case study approach London: Longman McCormick, Thomas W (1988).Theories of reading in dialogue: An interdisciplinary study New York: University Press of America McNeil, J.D (1992) Reading comprehension new directions for classroom practice (3rd ed.) Los Angeles: U of California 82 Mydans,S.(1995,May 7)Vietnam Speak English with an Eager accent New York Time Nunan, David (1999).Second language teaching and learning Boston : Heinle & Heinle Publishers Nunan, David (1991).Language Teaching Methodology Prentice Hall International (UK) Ltd Nist, S.L & Mealey, D.L.(1991) Teacher-directed comprehension strategies In R.Flippo & D Caverly (Eds.) Teaching reading and study strategies at the college level Newark, DE: International Reading Association Noe, R., Hollenbeck, J., Gerhart, B & Wright, P., (2006) Human Resource Management: gaining a competitive advantage 5th ed New York : McGraw Hill Oxford, R (1990).Language Learning Strategies: What every teacher should know Newbury House, 1990 Penny Ur.(1996).A course in language teaching Cambridge University Press Parahoo, K., (2006) Nursing Research- Principles, Process and Issues 2nd ed Basingstoke: MacMillan Phan, H., (2008) Teaching English as an international language: identity, resistance and negotiation London: Multilingual Matters Randall, M., (2007) Memory, psychology and second language learning New Jersey: John Benjamins Publishing Company Ray, N, & Yanagihara, W., (2005) Vietnam Lonely Planet Richards,J.;Platt,J.and Weber,H.(1987).Longman dictionary of applied linguistics Longman Richards, J C., J Platt & H Platt Longman Dictionary of Language Teaching & Applied Linguistics Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press, 1992 83 Richards, J.C (2001) Curriculum development in language teaching Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Richards,R.Day(1993).New Way in Teaching Reading.Illinois: TESOL Inc Roy, H (2000) Rethinking writing London: Athlone Press Rumelhart, D.E (1977) Toward an interactive model of reading In S Dornic (Ed.), Attention and performance VI Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum, 1977 Shapiro,L.(1995).English language Training in Vietnam in the Era of Doi Moi Ho Chi Minh city: A Descriptive Case Study Unpublished Master’s thesis , School for International Training , Brattleboro,VT Spratt M, Pulverness.A,Williams.M (2007).The TKT-Teaching Knowledge Test Course.Cambridge University Press Swan,M& Smith,B.1987.Learner English Cambridge :Cambridge University Press Spring, J., (2006) The Intersection of Cultures: Multicultural Education in the United States and the Global Economy London: Routledge Stanovich, KE ( 1980) Toward an interactive compensatory model of individual difference in the development of reading fluency Strevens, P (1988) ESP after twenty years: A re-appraisal In M Tickoo (Ed.), ESP: State of the Art (pp 1-13) Singapore: SEAMEO Regional Centre Waxler-Morrison, N., (2005) Cross-cultural caring: a handbook for health professionals UBC Press Widdowson (1996).Teaching Language as Communication Oxford,OUP Widdowson,H.G.(1979) The Deep Structure of Discourse and the Use of 84 Translations in C.J.Brumfit and K.Johnson (eds),the Communicative Approach to Language Teaching.Oxford.Oxford University Press William,E.W (1984).Reading in the Language Classroom Mac Milan Urquhart, A H & C J Weir Reading in a Second Language: Process, Product and Practice London: Longman, 1998 Yogman, J., & Kaylani, C (1996) ESP program design for mixed level students English for Specific Purposes, 15, 311-24 85 Appendix PHIẾU KHẢO SÁT Kính chào quí vị nha sĩ, bảng câu hỏi nhằm thu thập liệu khả đọc tài liệu chuyên ngành Nha tiếng Anh nha sĩ cho đề tài luận văn cao học mơn tiếng Anh Rất mong q vị bỏ chút thời gian q báu trả lời giúp chúng tơi Câu trả lời đầy đủ thành thật quí vị giúp đưa kết luận khách quan góp phần định cho thành cơng đề tài Chúng xin cam đoan sử dụng thơng tin mà q vị cung cấp cho mục đích nghiên cứu mà thơi khơng nhằm mục đích khác Cảm ơn quí vị nha sĩ hợp tác , giúp đỡ quan tâm đến đề tài chúng tơi Câu hỏi khảo sát Xin vui lịng đánh dấu cho câu quí vị chọn 1-Khi học anh văn quí vị nhận thấy kĩ khó học nhất? 1- Nghe - Nói - Đọc - Viết * Và theo quí vị , kĩ quan trọng nhất? 1- Nghe - Nói - Đọc - Viết 2- Theo quí vị , khái niệm đọc ? 1- Là trình giải mã chữ viết 2- Là trình cảm nhận giao tiếp tác giả đọc giả 86 3- Là trình đọc to để phát triển ngữ âm ngữ điệu 4- Là trình tái cấu trúc nghĩa 5-Ý kiến khác ( vui lòng nêu rõ ) _ 3- Theo quí vị, yếu tố giúp người đọc hiểu tài liệu tốt , (vui lòng đánh số thứ tự cho tầm quan trọng yếu tố ) 1- Từ vựng phong phú - Ngữ pháp vững vàng - Có chiến lược đọc tốt -Có kiến thức tảng tốt 5- Các yếu tố khác ( vui lòng nêu rõ ) _ 4- Một người đọc có khả đọc hiểu tốt người đốn tác giả tư ơng ta trình bày viết trước ơng ta nói Đồng ý Không đồng ý 3.Không ý kiến 5- Khi đọc , kiến thức có sẳn vơ quan trọng người đọc đốn điều mà đọc chủ đề người đọc hồn tồn khơng biết Đồng ý Không đồng ý 3.Không ý kiến 6-Những phương cách quí vị thường áp dụng đọc tài liệu Nha khoa ? 1- Tra từ dịch sang tiếng Việt để hiểu 2- Đầu tiên tìm từ vựng cấu trúc ngữ pháp mới, đọc câu để hiểu cuối đọc tài liệu 87 3- Đoán chủ đề qua tựa đề hình ảnh kèm theo sử dụng kiến thức tảng có liên quan để hiểu tài liệu đọc 4- Phương cách khác 7- Những khó khăn mà q vị gặp phải đọc tài liệu Nha khoa viết tiếng Anh ? ( chọn nhiều lựa chọn ) 1- Nó có nhiều từ 2- Nó có nhiều thành ngữ , từ chun mơn 3- Nó có nhiều cấu trúc ngữ pháp 4- Qui vị khơng có kĩ đọc 5-Những khó khăn khác ( xin vui lòng ghi rõ ) 8- Học tiếng Anh chuyên ngành tốt xốy trọng tâm vào lĩnh vực khoa học quí vị nghiên cứu hay lĩnh vực khoa học đặc biệt quí vị quan tâm Đồng ý Không đồng ý 3.Không ý kiến 9- Quí vị tự đánh giá khả đọctài liệu chuyên ngành nha ? 1_ Về tốc độ : _nhanh _ chậm _ chậm _ Về khả hiểu : _ tốt _ không tốt _ yếu 3_ Về kĩ đọc # : _ không tốt _ yếu _ tốt # ( kĩ đọc lướt , kĩ đoán nghĩa …) 10- Đọc hiểu tốt tài liệu Nha khoa tiếng Anh quan trọng nha sĩ 88 1.Hoàn toàn đồng ý Đồng ý Khơng đồng ý Hồn tồn khơng đồng ý 3.Khơng ý kiến 11- Giao tiếp tốt tiếng Anh giúp nha sĩ cập nhật sử dụng phát minh lãnh vực Nha khoa, giúp nâng cao trình độ chun mơn q vị 1.Hồn tồn đồng ý Đồng ý Không đồng ý 3.Không ý kiến Hồn tồn khơng đồng ý 12 - Theo q vị , phủ Việt nam có nên cải tiến chương trình giảng dạy tiếng Anh khoa ngoại ngữ trường đại học Y không ? Có Khơng cần Khơng ý kiến 13- Q vị có cho nha sĩ có cấp quốc tế ngơn ngữ ( ví dụ TOEFL ,TOEIC… ) Y tế cấp giấy phép hành nghề khơng ? 1.Hồn tồn đồng ý Đồng ý Không đồng ý 3.Không ý kiến Hồn tồn khơng đồng ý 14- Tốt tất tiến sản phẩm ngành Nha có tài liệu đính kèm viết tiếng Anh dịch sang tiếng Việt 1.Hoàn toàn đồng ý Không đồng ý Đồng ý 3.Không ý kiến Hồn tồn khơng đồng ý Xin chân thành cảm ơn giúp đỡ quí báu quí vị.Trân trọng kính chào 89 Địa năm khoa Nha khảo sát 1- Bệnh viện Răng Hàm Mặt Tp Hồ Chí Minh Địa : 263 – 265 Trần Hưng Đạo, Quận 1, TP Hồ Chí Minh 2- Bệnh viện Răng Hàm Mặt trung ương Địa : 201A Nguyễn Chi Thanh, phường 12, Quận 5, TP Hồ Chí Minh 3- Nha Khoa 2000 Địa :A 36 B, Cống Quỳnh , phường Nguyễn Cư Trinh ,Quận 1, TP Hồ Chí Minh 4- Nha Khoa MINH KHAI Địa : 199 Nguyễn Thị Minh Khai, Phường Nguyễn Cư Trinh, Quận TP Hồ Chí Minh 5-Trung Tâm Nha Khoa THUẬN KIỀU Địa : 463A, Hồng Bàng, phường 14, Quận 5, Tp Hồ Chí Minh 90 Addresses of Five Dental Departments 1- Odonto-Maxillo-Facial Hospital Ho Chi Minh city Address : 263 – 265 Tran Hung Dao Street, District 1, Ho Chi Minh city 2- Institude of Dental Sciences Address: 201A Nguyen Chi Thanh Street, Ward 12, District 5, Ho Chi Minh city 3- 2000 Dental Clinic Address : A 36 B, Cống Quỳnh Street, Nguyen Cu Trinh Ward, District 1, Ho Chi Minh city 4- MINH KHAI Dental Clinic Address : 199 Nguyen Thi Minh Khai Street , Nguyen Cu Trinh Ward, District 1, Ho Chi Minh city 5- Dental Care Center THUAN KIEU Address : 463A, Hồng Bàng Street ,Ward 14, District 5, Ho Chi Minh city 91 Appendix Questionnaire to Dentists Please encircle your answer 1- a-Which of the language skill you find the most difficult to learn ? 1_ Listening _ speaking 3_ reading _ writing -b And which of the language skill you find the most important to learn ? _ Listening 2_ speaking 3_ reading 4_ writing 2- What is your concept of reading ? 1_ Reading is a process of decoding written symbols 2_ Reading is a process of perceiving and communicating between the writer and the reader 3_ Reading is a process of reading aloud to develop pronunciation and intonation 4_ Reading is the process of reconstructing meaning 5- Others ( please justify ) 92 3-Which factors you think can help you to comprehend a material best and in what important order (please put number ) ? 1_ Rich vocabulary _ Good grammar _ Good reading strategies 4_ Good background knowledge 5_ Other factors ( please specify ) 4- To be an effective reader, you can try assuming what the writer has in mind and what he is trying to say next in the text even before he actually tells you about it Yes No No ideas 5- Schema or prior knowledge is very important in reading because one can always imagine something about what he is reading about even if the topic is entirely unknown to him Yes No No ideas 6- Which strategies you often use when reading a dental material ? _ Look up the new vocabulary and then translate it into Vietnamese to understand 93 2_ First find new vocabulary and grammar structures , then read sentence by sentence to understand and finally read the whole material 3_ Guess the topic via its title or enclosed pictures and use your related background knowledge to understand the coming material 4_ Others 7- Which difficulties you encounter when reading a dental material? (you can stick more than one option) _ It has too many new words 2_ It has too many new expressions, terminologies 3_ It has too many new grammatical structures _ You not have reading skills 5_ Other difficulties ( please specify ) 8- ESP is a favorable course to take because it concentrates on teaching English according to the field of study or the specialization of the students Yes No No ideas 9- How you evaluate your current ability in reading dental English materials? 1- Speed : _ fast _slow 2-comprehension : _ good _ _ very slow not so good _ poor 94 3- Reading skills # : _ good _ not so good _ poor (# : scanning , skimming , guessing …) 10 - It is important for dentists to well on reading and comprehending dental materials in English Strongly agree 2.Agree 3.Neutral 4.Disagree 5.Strongly disagree 11- Proficiently communicating in English helps dentists get up- to -date and apply inventions in Dentistry, and thus help them improve their professionals 1.Strongly Agree Agree Neutral Disagree 5.Strongly Disagree 12– In your opinion , should Vietnam government improve the present English training program at departments of foreign language in universities of health sciences? 1.Yes 2.No No ideas 13- Do you think that only dentists with international certificate of linguistics ( e.g TOEFL , TOEIC …) should be given a dentistry license by the Ministry of Public Health? Strongly agree 2.Agree 3.Neutral 4.Disagree 5.Strongly disagree 95 14- It is better for the packaging of English written literatures of all new innovations and products accompanied by Vietnamese translation 1.Strongly Agree Agree Neutral Disagree 5.Strongly Disagree ... professions I.5- Limitations The study aims to identify ability in reading and comprehending dental materials written in English faced by dentists at five leading dental departments in Ho Chi Minh city. .. investigate reality of dentists? ?? ability on reading and understanding dental materials in English at five leading dental departments in Ho Chi Minh City in an effort to find out the difficulties and...CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY I certify my authorship of the thesis submitted today entitle: A SURVEY ON DENTISTS? ?? ABILITY IN READING ENGLISH MATERIALS AT FIVE LEADING DENTAL DEPARTMENTS IN HO CHI MINH