Content based instruction and the teaching of english for accounting at cfc

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY – HO CHI MINH CITY UNIVERSITY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES AND HUMANITIES D E NGUYỄN THỊ CHÂU NGAÂN CONTENT-BASED INSTRUCTION AND THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH FOR ACCOUNTING AT CFC A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS IN TESOL SUPERVISOR: VŨ THỊ PHƯƠNG ANH, Ph.D HO CHI MINH CITY, February 2009 CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY I certify my authorship of the thesis submitted today entitled: CONTENT-BASED INSTRUCTION AND THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH FOR ACCOUNTING AT CFC This thesis has not previously been submitted for a degree Ho Chi Minh City, February 2009 NGUYEN THI CHAU NGAN i RETENTION AND USE OF THE THESIS I hereby state that I, NGUYEN THI CHAU NGAN, 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 of my thesis deposited in the library should be available for any purposes of study or research, accompanying with the normal regulations established by the library for the care, loan or reproduction of theses Ho Chi Minh City, February 2009 NGUYEN THI CHAU NGAN ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my thesis supervisor, Dr VU THI PHUONG ANH, who has helped to shape the ideas that have gone into this study and given practical advice, correction, and encouragement for the accomplishment of the study I am also indebted to my relatives, my friends, my rector and colleagues for the financial support and encouragement they provided during the time of my candidature Finally, I am also grateful to my students, who have taken part in the survey in a whole-hearted way iii ABSTRACT Teaching ESP has been a concerned problem for ESP teachers at the College of Finance and Customs (CFC) The current ESP syllabus has monotonous reading texts which carry a lot of new terms of the Accounting field Moreover, its contents are too above the teachers and students’ capability of understanding Faced with this reality, the researcher would like to bring something new to the ESP program In particular, the researcher wishes to replace the current ESP material and its traditional method by materials designed and taught in the ContentBased Instruction (CBI) approach To this, firstly the researcher designed a course in the CBI approach Then it was used in the treatment group in one semester To see its effects when the course finished, the researcher delivered a post-test and administered a survey including the questionnaire and interview The findings in this research revealed (1) the students’ capability of achieving better scores when they learnt ESP with the CBI approach; (2) the students’ interests and motivation when they were exposed to authentic materials in simplified language as well as in-class interactive activities All in all, this thesis is considered as an exploratory research which provides the useful collections for concerned ESP syllabus developers to see the effects of the CBI approach and then have successive further research on it to renovate the current learning material iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Certificate of originality ………………………………………………………….i Retention of the thesis ……………………………………………………………ii Acknowledgment ……………………………………………………………… iii Abstract ………………………………………………………………………….iv Table of contents ……………………………………………………………… v List of abbreviation …………………………………………………………… ix List of tables and charts ………………………………………………………….x INTRODUCTION ……………………………………………………………… CHAPTER 1: BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY ………………………….3 1.1 Theoretical considerations ……………………………………………………3 1.2 Practical concerns ……………………………………………………………4 1.2.1 The teaching/ learning materials ………………………………….5 1.2.2 The teaching/ learning situation ………………………………….5 1.2.3 The learners ……………………………………………………….6 1.2.4 The teachers ……………………………………………………….7 1.3 Objectives of the study ………………………………………………………8 1.4 The scope and limitations of the study ……………………………………….9 1.4.1 The scope…………………………………………………………….9 1.4.2 Limitations ………………………………………………………….9 1.4.3 Bias ………………………………………………………………… 1.5 Organization of the thesis …………………………………………………10 v 1.6 Definition of terms …………………………………………………………11 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW ……………………………………13 2.1 Comparison of ESP and CBI ……………………………………………….13 2.1.1 History of ESP …………………………………………………….13 2.1.2 CBI Approach ………………………………………………………15 2.2 Types of CBI ……………………………………………………………… 17 2.2.1 The sheltered model ………………………………………………18 2.2.2 The adjunct model …………………………………………………19 2.2.3 The theme-based model ………………………………………… 19 2.3 An overview of syllabus ……………………………………………………24 2.3.1 Definition …………………………………………………………24 2.3.2 Types of syllabus ……………………………………………… 24 2.3.3 Syllabus design ………………………………………………… 25 2.3.4 Syllabus design in the CBI approach ……………………………30 2.4 The Six-T’s Approach ………………………………………………………34 2.4.1 Methodology …………………………………………………….34 2.4.2 The Six-T’s Approach ……………………………………………37 2.5 Students motivation and evaluation ……………………………………… 39 2.5.1 Students motivation ………………………………………………39 2.5.2 Evaluation ……………………………………………………… 40 2.6 Summary …………………………………………………………………….42 CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY ……………………………………………43 3.1 Research questions and hypotheses ……………………………………….43 vi 3.2 Research design ……………………………………………………………44 3.2.1 Participants ……………………………………………………….44 3.2.1.1 Students ………………………………………………… 44 3.2.1.2 ESP teachers …………………………………………… 45 3.2.1.3 Teachers of the Accounting Faculty …………………… 46 3.2.2 Instruments ……………………………………………………… 46 3.2.2.1 The questionnaire ………………………………………46 3.2.2.2 Interviews ……………………………………………… 48 3.2.2.3 The input used in the treatment group ………………….49 3.2.2.4 The post-test …………………………………………… 51 3.2.3 Data collection procedures ……………………………………….52 3.3 Summary ………………………………………………………………… 53 CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS …………………………….54 4.1 Results collected from tests ……………………………………………… 54 4.1.1 Before the quasi-experimental period ………………………… 54 4.1.2 After the quasi-experimental period …………………………….60 4.2 Results collected from interviews and the questionnaire …………………70 4.2.1 Data from the questionnaire …………………………………….70 4.2.2 Data from interviews …………………………………………….76 4.2.2.1 The graduates ……………………………………………76 4.2.2.2 The specialist subject teachers …………………………78 4.2.2.3 ESP teachers …………………………………………….79 4.2.2.4 Students of the quasi-experimental …………………… 81 vii 4.3 Discussions of the findings …………………………………………………82 4.3.1 Teaching ESP with the current material …………………………82 4.3.2 Teaching ESP with the material designed in CBI ………………83 CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS ………… 85 5.1 Conclusions …………………………………………………………………85 5.2 Recommendations ………………………………………………………… 86 5.3 Summary …………………………………………………………………….89 BIBLIOGRAPHY ………………………………………………………………90 APPENDIX 1: The material input used with the treatment group …………… 96 APPENDIX 2: Questionnaire (for students of Accounting Major) ……………107 APPENDIX 3: Interview questions (for ESP teachers) ……………………….113 APPENDIX 4: Interview questions (for teachers of the Accounting Faculty) 117 APPENDIX 5: Interview questions (for the graduates) ………………………118 APPENDIX 6: Pre-test …………………………………………………………119 APPENDIX 7: Post-test ……………………………………………………… 123 APPENDIX 8: English test scores (class C6B1b) …………………………… 128 APPENDIX 9: English test scores (class C6B1d) …………………………… 131 APPENDIX 10: Sample of week …………………………………………….134 viii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS CBI Content-Based Instruction CFC College of Finance and Customs EFL English as a Foreign Language ELT English Language Teaching ESL English as a Second Language ESP English for Specific Purposes FLD Foreign Language Department GE General English L1 Vietnamese L2 English PSA Present Situation Analysis TSA Target Situation Analysis TACN Tiếng Anh Chuyên Ngành ix 124 Double-entry system g Economic resources owned by a business that are expected to benefit future operations h The right side of an account i The left side of an account j The process of recording financial transactions and keeping financial records Bookkeeping Balance sheet 10 Cash flow Answer: 10 B READING COMPREHENSION Circle the correct answer 11 Double-entry bookkeeping system involves making at least two for every transaction A credits B debits C entries D debts 12 Controllers are responsible for the records of the company’s operations A maintaining B explaining C transferring D giving 13 accountants have formal training and some practical experience in the field B Teaching C Working D Experiencing A Advising 14 Ernst & Young is one of the largest multinational firms A working B factory C advising D accountancy 15 Cost accounting is the process of , recording and analyzing costs A protecting B advising C tracking D informing 16 Managers use cost accounting to decision making to reduce a company’s costs A buy B support C employ D bring 17 Cost elements are A indirect expenses B raw material C income D both A and B 18 costs are costs which tend to remain the same even during busy periods A stable B fixed C variable D controlling 19 Almost all individuals and organizations in the United Sates are required to compute the tax A duty B liability C need D job 125 20 There are three major forms of business organization: the individual proprietorship, the corporation, and the A company B partnership C enterprise D factory C LANGUAGE FOCUS Choose the correct verb and fill in the blank borrowed financed made owed show saved gave spent invest wasting 21 In 1990 the group …………… $4m from investment in overseas companies 22 The accountants advised us to repay 15% of what we …………… to the banks 23 The shareholders criticized the board for …………… so much money on unnecessary trips abroad 24 The company …………… $5,000 to a local school to set up a computer department 25 My stockbroker suggested I should …………… in a South East Asia Unit Trust 26 The government …………… over $3.5m on a research and development project 27 The government …………… $6.5 billion from the IMF for a construction project 28 We …………… $323,500 in administrative costs by reducing the number of office staff 29 The project will be ……………… with the help of the National Bank of Manara 30 The figures in the balance sheet ……………… large outstanding loans D TRANSLATION Vietnamese – English translation 31 Trong sở kinh doanh nhỏ, ban lãnh đạo gồm người chủ sở kinh doanh Trong sở kinh doanh lớn, ban lãnh đạo thường gồm nhà quản lý thuê mướn 32 Mục tiêu sở kinh doanh thường khác phức tạp 126 33 Muốn thành công tồn môi trường kinh doanh có tính cách cạnh tranh, điều đòi hỏi ban lãnh đạo phải tập trung nổ lực vào hai mục tiêu quan trọng: khả tạo lợi nhuận khả toán công nợ 34 Một doanh nghiệp toán thuế nhiều mức thuế cần thiết phải đóng có định tài sai lầm English – Vietnamese translation VIETCOMBANK AND VINALINES 35 The Bank for Foreign Trade of Vietnam (Vietcombank) has signed a deal to provide banking and investment services to the country’s shipping giants, the Vietnam National Shipping Corporation (Vinalines) According to Mr Nguyen Hoa Binh, Chairman of Vietcombak, the co-operation between the bank and Vinalines is very important for the development of both parties and is in line with the country’s integration into the global economy “We hope this will bring more opportunities for both of us in terms of supporting investment capital, expanding operational networks and diversifying business sectors,” said Mr Duong Tri Dung, Chairman of Vinalines The firms also have plans to co-operate on infrastructure projects (extracted from Vietnam Economic Times) 127 E LISTENING Listen and complete the following dialogue Clerk: Petty: Clerk: Petty: Clerk: Petty: Clerk: Petty: Clerk: Petty: Clerk: Petty: Clerk: Petty: Clerk: Petty: Clerk: Petty: Clerk: May I help you? Yes, please I work in a joint .(36) corporation and shall stay here about two years I’d like to open a savings (37) Can you (38) me some (39) .? Yes, I’d be (40) to help you What .(41) of accounts you like to open? Well, I’m not sure What kinds of accounts can I open here? Usually we offer .(42) account and fixed account for individuals Could you tell me the (43) between them? Of course I will If you open a fixed account you’ll have a deposit certificate in the name of the .(44) And the interest .(45) is higher for fixed account Then how about the current account? The current account (46) the form of a deposit book You may (47) the money at any time and you just need to present your deposit book and a withdrawal slip I’d rather open a current account OK, please fill in this .(48) form Here is the filled out application form Is .(49) all right? Yes, quite all right But you have to deposit some money at the same time you open the account Fine Here is one hundred yuan Please show me your (50) Here you are Good Everything is done Here is your deposit book and passport Thank you very much It’s my pleasure -The end - 128 APPENDIX ENGLISH TEST SCORES Class: C6B1b No of Students: 50 Major: Accounting School Year: 2007 - 2008 General Eng Test Gram Trans Total List Final ESP Test Read Students' Names Voc No La Kim Bửu 10 12 Trần Thị Hồng Cẩm 10 8 13 Hồ Ngọc Bảo Châu 8 8 10 Nguyễn T Kiều Châu 9 13 Hồ Ngọc Chi 9 12 Mai Thò Kim Chi 10 10 11 Nguyễn Thị Linh Chi 9 11 Trương Thò Thanh Chi 8 12 Phạm Trần H Chương 8 14 10 Lê Mộng Diễm 8 12 11 Nguyễn T Ngọc Diễm 9 12 Đặng Thị Ngọc Diệp 10 9 14 13 Nguyễn Xuân Dieäu 7 13 129 14 Lê Thanh Mộng Dung 7 12 15 Trần Thị Thu Dung 10 8 12 16 Leâ Thanh Dung 8 12 17 Bùi Anh Dũng 10 10 18 Nguyễn Thị Dương 10 8 11 19 Nguyễn Thùy Dương 8 7 11 20 Phạm Thị Thùy Dương 7 13 21 Nguyễn T Kim Duyên 7 12 22 Nguyễn T Mỹ Duyên 8 10 13 23 Đặng Thái Giang 8 12 24 Võ Ngọc Giàu 10 10 9 13 25 Nguyễn Thị Thanh Hà 8 8 12 26 Ninh Thò Hà 9 13 27 Phạm Thị Thanh Hà 10 12 28 Nguyễn Thị Hải 8 29 Đinh Thị Thu Hằng 8 12 30 Lê Thị Mỹ Hằng 10 9 13 31 Nguyễn T Lệ Hằng 8 12 32 Nguyeãn Thanh Hằng 10 9 13 33 Trần Thị Thúy Hằng 8 12 34 Trần Thanh Lệ Hằng 8 10 12 35 Trương T Diễm Hằng 8 11 36 Võ Thị Hằng 8 10 130 37 Nguyễn Thị Hạnh 8 11 38 Phạm Thị Hồng Hạnh 8 12 39 Vũ Thị Hảo 10 10 13 40 Trần Thị Tuyết Hậu 7 11 41 Lê Thị Ngọc Hồng 12 42 Nguyễn T Minh Hồng 8 7 11 43 Nguyễn Thị Thu Hồng 9 7 12 44 Phạm Thị Kim Hồng 8 13 45 Trần Thị Hồng 7 7 46 Hoàng Thị Hương 8 10 47 Nguyễn Thị Hương 8 7 48 Nguyễn T Thu Hương 9 13 49 Vương T Xuân Hương 7 7 50 Nông Thị Mai Hương 8 10 12 131 APPENDIX ENGLISH TEST SCORES Class: C6B1d No of Students: 50 Major: Accounting School Year: 2007 - 2008 General Eng Test Gram Trans Total List Final ESP Test Read Students' Names Voc No Hồ Văn Nghóa 6 6 Đặng Phú Hồng Ngọc 6 Lê Thị Bích Ngọc 7 Ngô Tú Ngọc 7 6 Nguyễn Thị Ngọc 7 Phạm Văn Ngọc 6 Trần Duy Ngọc 6 7 7 Ng N.â Thủy Nguyên 6 6 Ng Thị Hạnh Nguyên 6 5 10 Trần Hồng T Nguyên 7 6 11 Bùi T Thanh Nguyeät 7 12 Lê Thị nh Nguyệt 6 13 Ng Thị nh Nguyệt 6 132 14 Phan Thị Thanh Nhàn 7 15 Tăng Thị Linh Nhaân 7 8 12 16 Trần T Thanh Nhàng 4 17 Mai Thị Kim Nhất 6 5 18 Nguyễn Võ Duy Nhất 7 5 19 Ngô Thoại Nhi 6 8 20 Nguyễn T Yến Nhi 7 6 21 Đào Hoàng Nhung 6 22 Đinh Thị Tuyết Nhung 6 23 Đỗ Thị Tuyết Nhung 6 24 Lê Thị Nhung 6 25 Lê Thị Tuyết Nhung 6 26 Phạm Thị Nhung 7 12 27 Nguyeãn T Ngọc Phê 7 12 28 Phạm Đức Phong 7 29 Trịnh Thị Ngọc Phú 30 Lê Văn Phùng 6 31 Trần Uyên Phương 7 12 32 Hồ Thị Phượng 7 33 Ng Thị Phượng 34 Nguyễn Văn Quang 7 35 Trần Thị Quyên 4 36 Phạm Thị Sáu 7 37 Hoàng Tấn Tài 6 133 38 Lê Văn Tấn 5 39 Trương T Ng Thanh 7 40 Trần Thị Minh Thành 6 41 Nguyễn Thị Thảo 6 42 Ng D Phương Thảo 7 13 43 Đào Thị Hồng Thương 6 6 44 Hoàng Kim Thương 13 45 Tạ Thị Thương 6 46 Trần Thị Thương 6 7 47 Trương Ng Thủy Tiên 6 48 Ng Thị Bích Traâm 49 Ng Thị Ngọc Trân 7 12 50 Hà Hoài Uyên 6 134 APPENDIX 10 Week INTRODUCTION After studying this introduction, you will be able to: Identify many job opportunities available that require an accounting background Identify numerous careers in the accounting profession Here are some jobs and definitions Fill in the gaps in the definitions with words from the box below specializing processing the records appoint other managers authorize expenditures Trainee accountants Accountants who are examinations studying for inspecting its accounts to inspect its accounts to render an opinion financial expert especially trained in tax law (1) for professional Bookkeepers Administrative staff responsible for (2) of a business’s financial activities Tax accountant An accountant (3) in a company’s tax affairs Internal auditors Employees of a company who are responsible _ (4) 135 External auditors People employed by an outside firm of accountants and hired by a company (5) Certified Public Accountant (CPA) A CPA is an accountant who has passed a series of examinations and received a certificate or license, entitling him/ her (6), qualified or unqualified, as to the fair presentation of the data in the statements Chief Financial Officer (CFO) or Financial Controller The corporate executive has financial authority to make appropriations and _ (7) for a firm Chief executive officer (CEO) The corporate executive responsible for the operations of the firm; reports to a board of directors; may _ (8) (including a president) A tax advisor A tax advisor is a _ (9) Individuals usually require tax advisors to minimize taxation, to avoid learning the details of tax law in complicated financial situations themselves or to learn the details of tax law from a professional advisor READING On the first day of school, Kendra headed toward her accounting class She wondered what it would be like She had taken some other business classes, and enjoyed them Last year, one of her friend recommended that she take accounting She hoped she would like it The instructor came into the room “Hi, everybody, I’m Victor Perez, your accounting instructor for this class And your first assignment is to come to the lounge with me” When students arrived at the lounge, they found a dozen people waiting to talk to them They were from many companies, including accounting firms, entrepreneurial businesses, and governmental agencies The class broke into smaller 136 groups They chose to talk to an accountant first because Kendra wanted to find out more about the different fields in accounting “Why, there are many different specialized jobs accountants can do,” said Ms Ikeda, an employee for a large accounting firm in town “I am a financial accountant, which means I record a business’s financial activities and prepare the financial reports for my business What I help creditors, investors, bankers, and auditors know the financial stability of my firm” “The managerial accountant I work with takes the financial accounting information I prepare and then analyze, measure, and interpret the information for internal use Managers then use these interpretations to help them make the right business decisions” “Cost accountants analyze and control the costs of an organization They provide information that aids in decision making concerning the costs of operating the business and the costs of manufacturing goods and services” “And, of course, there are tax accountants They prepare tax returns and also perform tax planning responsibilities They must stay up-to-date with changes in the law to ensure a business complies with the law” “System accountants design and adapt the accounting systems that create financial, managerial, cost, and tax information reports for an organization They also work hard to make these systems more efficient” “An auditor’s job is to review the reliability of a business’s accounting records, and issue an opinion based on the information analyzed An auditor’s opinion enables those outside the business too feel confident about the stability of the business” “Lastly, some accountants decide to become personal financial planners They help individuals manage their personal investments, and they make suggestions about when and where money should be invested” COMPREHENSION QUESTIONS INDICATE WHETHER THE FOLLOWING STATEMENTS ARE TRUE OR FALSE When business is bad, the first people to lose their job are always the accountants 137 A private accountant comes from outside an organization in order to examine its financial records Accounting and accounting environment are the same Only the people who work inside the entity need accounting information Management is the group of workers of the enterprise Management needn’t use accounting information Management accounting is the process of developing and reporting financial information for management Investors include people who have invested or may invest in a business Creditors are people who borrow money from the business 10 An accountant needs to have a good background in bookkeeping VOCABULARY EXERCISE Accounting a to describe the main ideas or events of something shortly To summarize b a branch of accounting that deals with fiscal reports which are particularly useful to management in establishing operating policies for an organization Management c Things of value that are owned by a company Assets d a decrease in owner’s equity resulting from the operation of a business Expense e an increase owner’s equity resulting from the operation of a business Revenue f Planning, recording, analyzing, and interpreting financial information Entity g The planning and direction of the policy and operations of an organization 138 Management Accounting h something that exists separately from something else SPEAKING Work in group What you think about the work of an accountant? What are the functions of an accountant play in the company? Compare your group’s opinions with the other ones’ TRANSLATING Articles from Vietnam Economic Times: Corporate News, page -The End - ...CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY I certify my authorship of the thesis submitted today entitled: CONTENT- BASED INSTRUCTION AND THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH FOR ACCOUNTING AT CFC This thesis has not... allow for the integration and combination of language learning and content of subject matter The objective of this study is to prove the effectiveness of the application of CBI approach in the. .. cooperation of all the participants involved” 6 With the current ESP material, the content is written for learners who study accounting profession and English is their mother tongue Therefore, this material