An evaluation of the esp material for the third year students of labour department at the university of labour and social affairs

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HANOI UNIVERSITY փփփ PH AM T H I HONG H A N H AN EVALUATION OF THE ESP MATERIAL FOR THE THIRD YEAR STUDENTS OF LABOUR DEPARTMENT AT THE UNIVERSITY OF LABOUR AND SOCIAL AFFAIRS SU BM ITTED IN P A R TIA L FU LFILLM E N T SUPERVISOR: HOANG TH I XUAN HOA, M.A Hanoi M ay - 2009 ACKNOW LEDGEMENTS In the preparation and com pletion o f this study, I have received great assistance, guidance, and encouragem ent from many people M y study m ight not have been finished without their support I am，first o f all，particularly indebted my supervisor, Hoang Thi Xuan H oa M A ， for her valuable advice，instructions and correction, excellent suggestions and constant encouragem ent during the research period W ithout her guidance and help，this study w ould not have been accom plished A lso，I w ould like to thank to Mrs Nguyen Thai Ha, M A for her helpful advice M y thanks and gratitude are extended to all my colleagues and students for their support，encouragem ent and active participation in this research and to many others who helped m e during m y study Finally，I w ould like to express my thanks to my husband，my little son and m y p a re n ts fo r th e ir lo v e , great enco uragem ent and th o ro u g h u n d e rsta n d in g th a t h e lp m e to overcom e the difficulties during my study ABSTRACT The study aims to evaluate the ESP material currently used for the third year students o f Faculty o f Labour at the University o f labour and Social A ffairs in order to find out if the material is suitable to our students，level o f English and their specialized background know ledge and whether it m eets the aims o f the course This study is intended to find out the appropriate and inappropriate points o f the material in use in order to make some contribution to the developm ent and improvement o f this ESP material The researcher em ployed a com bination o f three qualitative m ethods (docum ent analysis，student questionnaire and teacher interview) to guarantee the reliability and objectiveness o f the study Based on the findings ， the researcher attempted to provide som e recom m endations and m odifications to the material in order to make it more effective in language learning and teaching process D espite unavoidable lim itations，it is hoped that this study w ill provide a firm basis for making adjustments to the materials and som e ideas for further evaluation proj ects TABLE OF CONTENTS A C K N O W LED G EM EN TS •I A B S T R A C T II TABLE O F C O N T E N T S II LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES V LIST OF A B B R EV IA T IO N S VI CHAPTER ONE: IN TRO DUCTIO N 1.1 B a c k g r o u n d t o t h e s t u d y a n d s t a t e m e n t o f t h e p r o b l e m 1 1.1.1 General information about teaching and learning English at ULSA 1.1.2 Statement o f the problem 1.2 AIMS o f t h e s t u d y R e s e a r c h q u e s t io n s 1.4 S c o p e o f t h e s t u d y 1.5 T h e s i g n i f i c a n c e o f the study 1.6 O v e r v ie w o f t h e t h e s is ,2 C H A PTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW ,5 2.1 E L T MATERIALS IN LANGUAGE TEACHING AND LEARNING ,5 2.1.1 Roles o f materials 1.2 Types o f materials : P ^ Ố • P 7 շ ^ շ 2.2.8 Previous materials evaluation studies フ Snvrrpx o f thọ Data f o r Evaluation 2.2.7 Research Instruments Employed in Materials Evaluation 2.2.1 Reasonsfo r materials evaluation 2.2.2 Definition o f materials evaluation 2.2.3 Types o f materials evaluation 2.2.4 Models fo r materials evaluation 2.2.5 Criteria fo r materials evaluation Ố 2 O v e r v ie w o f m a t e r ia l s e v a l u a t io n 3 շ 3.1 D a t a c o l l e c t io n i n s t r u m e n t s շ շ 3^ C H A PTER FOUR: RESULTS AND D ISCUSSIO N շ S u b j e c t s o f t h e s t u d y 3 D a t a c o l l e c t io n p r o c e d u r e s 3.1.1 Document analysis 3.1.2 Questionnaires 3.1.3 Interview p / C H A PTE R THREE: M E T H O D O L O G Y 5ố ố5 ố5 ố5 / /?^2 4 T im e a l l o c a t i o n - 4.3.3 The teacher interview Հ 3.4 Discussion ^ 4.3.2 The students questionnaire 4.3.1 Document analysis 4 T h e in t e r e s t o f t h e m a t e r i a l l/9^0090 4.2.1 Document analysis Գ.2.Հ Questionnaire results 4.2.3 Teacher interview 4.2.4 Discussion T h e a p p r o p r ia t e n e s s o f t h e m a t e r ia l t o t h e STUDENTS, LEVEL OF E n g l i s h 4.1.1 Document analysis 4.1.2 Results from teacher interviews and student questionnaires 4.1.3 Discussion 17p 4.1 T h e a p p r o p r i a t e n e s s o f t h e materials t o the a im s o f the c o u r s e 6 J Ố 4.4.1 Document analysis 4.4.2 Results from student questionnaire and teacher interview T h e RESPONDENTS5 SUGGESTIONS 4.5.1 The students’ suggestions 4.5.2 The teachers ’ suggestions J ố Ố C H A PTER FIVE: SU G G ESTIO N S AND C O N C LU SIO N 6 6 R E F E R E N C E S 5.1 S u g g e s t i o n s 5.2 L im it a t io n s a n d s u g g e s t io n s f o r t h e f u r t h e r s t u d y 5.3 C o n c l u s i o n A PPEN D IX APPEN D IX о A PPEN D IX 3: Q U ESTIO N N A IR E FOR E X -ST U D E N T S A PPEN D IX 4: Q U ESTIO N N A IR E FOR THE TH IRD -Y EAR STUDENTS A PPEN D IX 5: Q U ESTIO N S FO R THE TEA C H ER IN T E R V IE W iv LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES Figure The material evaluation m odel by Hutchinson and 12 Waters T ablel The description o f language focus in the material 45 Table The descriptions o f the topics presented in the Units 48 Table Ex-students’ opinions about vocabulary in the specialist 55 material they had learnt Table Ex-students9 opinions on the grammatical difficulty o f 57 the specialist material Table Problem s ex-students have when reading the specialist 58 texts Table Ex-students9 opinions on the relevance o f topics to their 60 specialist know ledge Table Ex-students9 opinions on the topics and issues covered 61 by the specialist material Table The third year students，opinions about the difficulty o f 62 the material Table The teachers9 opinions about the appropriateness o f the 63 material to the students’ level o f English TablelO The students’ interest o f the material 66 Table 11 Teachers’ opinions about the interest o f the material 68 C hart Teachers and students ， opinions about the appropriateness o f the material to the aims o f the course V 50 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ESP English for Specific Purposes GE General English EFL English as a Foreign Language ELT English Language Teaching ƯLSA M A U niversity o f Labour and Social A ffairs M aster o f Arts C H A P T E R O N E : IN T R O D U C T IO N 1.1 Background to the study and statement o f the problem 1.1.1 General information about teaching and learning English at ULSA The University o f Labor and Social Affairs (Ư LSA) belongs to the M inistry o f Labour Invalid and Social A ffairs This is a new ly-established university with four departments such as Labour Accounting, Insurance and Social Work ， There are about 3500 students every year and they have to study many subjects including both com pulsory and elective subjects English is one o f com pulsory subjects in the curriculum for students at the ƯLSA The English training program is divided into two stages In the first stage, the students learn General English (GE) in 150 lesson periods The elem entary and pre-intermediate L ife­ lines are used in this stage The training goals o f the GE stage are to provide students with basic words and structures o f English so after this stage, the students are expected to be at the pre-interm ediate level by which it is assumed that they have covered basic grammatical points o f the English language and a certain amount o f general vocabulary A fter the first stage，the third-year students start learning ESP in 120 lesson periods In the second stage, ESP material is used in order to enhance the students9 reading and translating skills so that at the end o f the course they w ill be able to read and process materials related to their subject matter Therefore，English for Labour designed by staffs o f English Department at the U LSA has been used for the third year students o f Labour department 1.1.2 Statement of the problem It has generally been agreed that material plays an important role in the process o f language teaching and learning Material can stim ulate learning, help learners achieve their goals and objectives and also enhance teaching In order to have a successful language teaching program, the teaching material, after having been selected or designed, need to be carefully evaluated to check whether the material accom plishes its job o f enabling teaching and learning In fact，the textbook “English for Labour” have been in used for three years H owever，this material has never been evaluated to exam ine if it really m eets the defined aims o f the course and if it is suitable to the students’ level o f English and their specialized background know ledge Furthermore, the researcher has noticed som e dissatisfaction with the material during her practical teaching experience For exam ple， the material failed to improve the students9 pronunciation and enhance their listening and speaking skills There-fore, it is quite reasonable for the researcher to conduct this evaluation research H ence，the researcher hopes that the findings o f the study can help the researcher as w ell as the sta ff members find out the appropriate points as w ell as the inappropriate points in order to improve or m odify the material for filture use E specially， the researcher believes that this study can enhance the English teaching and learning at the ULSA 1.2 Aims o f the study The study aim is to evaluate the specialist material for the third year students at the ƯLSA to determine whether the material is suitable to our students in term o f content and their level o f English as w ell as their specialized background know ledge and if it m eets the aims o f the course The researcher hopes that the findings o f the thesis w ill partly help to decide whether to use the material again in the future or what changes can be made to improve the quality and the effectiveness o f the material 1.3 Research questions The study w ill be conducted to answer the follow ing research questions: D oes the material meet the aims o f the course? г \ \ f ^ * Bạn cho biêt mức độ đông ý không đông ý với nhừng vân đê sau bàng cách đánh dấu lựa chọn sau: (5=Hoàn toàn đồng ý; 4=Đồng ý; 3=Khơng có ý kiến (50% đồng ý 50% khơng đồng ý), 2= Khơng đồng ý; ， l=Hồn tồn khơng đồng ý) Lựa chọn Các vân đê đươc đưa 、 chủ đê khó hiêu Các vân đê chủ đê thực tế Các vấn đê chủ đê cập nhật Các khoá cung câp kiên thức chuyên ngành lĩnh vực lao động Các khố giúp bạn tích luỹ thêm kinh nghiệm Các chủ đề tài liệu hay X in bạn điên thông tin cá nhân đây: v , Ծ Դ • Tuổi: • Giórỉ tính: • Cơng việc nơi cơng tác tạ i: • Bạn tốt nghiệp đại học rồi? Nam: N ữ: Cảm он cộng tác bạn! 88 APPENDIX 4: QUESTIONNAIRE FOR THE THIRD-YEAR STUDENTS In an a tte m p t to evaluate the ESP m a te ria l c u rre n tly used f o r students a t ULSA, we design th is q u e stio n n a ire in o rd e r to g e t y o u r o p in ion s on the m a te ria l you have le a rn t Y our answ ers a re v e ry useful to the e va lu a tio n a n d m o d ific a tio n o f the m a te ria l Please indicate the extend to which you agree or disagree w ith the follow ing items by circling one o f the responses ranging from 'strongly agree，to strongly disagree’ A Aims of the material strongly agree agree neutral disagree strongly disagree No Items Number o f choice 1 I could understand and interpret documents related to my major after learning the material My reading skills could be improved as a result o f learning the material The material offered me opportunity to practice reading skills such as skimming and scanning I have learnt a lot o f specialist vocabularies as a result of 89 learning the material I could improve my grammatical knowledge I could develop my w riting skills through doing exercises I could improve my speaking skills especially in making a presentation as a result o f learning the material I could develop my listening skills to comprehend the teacher， s presentation after the course в The level o f d iffic u lty o f the specialist texts in this m aterial No Items Number o f choice Most o f the texts are d iffic u lt to understand for my level of English 10 I found most o f the texts long and d iffic u lt to get the main idea 11 The grammatical structures used in the material are d iffic u lt to understand 12 There are too many words and specialist terms 13 The new words and specialist terms are d iffic u lt 14 There are too many exercises in each unit o f the material 15 The tasks for reading to get specific information are d iffic u lt 16 The exercises are d iffic u lt 90 17 The tasks for grammatical revision are d iffic u lt 18 The tasks for remembering the specialist terms are d iffic u lt с The interest of the topics and material 19 Please indicate i f the follow ing topics are interested for you by ticking the appropriate items - Labour law - Employee recruitment - Unemployment and jo b creation - Labour safety and labour sanitation - Occupational safety and health - Labour protection - Salary and wage 20 What you think o f this material?( circle the suitable answer) * very interesting * interesting * neutral * boring * very boring 21 Which aspects o f the material you like? (like very much, like, neutral, dislike hate) ， - Vocabulary - Grammatical structure - Topics - Tasks and exercises - S kill work - Length o f the texts D Time allocation 22 Please tick the appropriate tim e spent on each unit փ periods * periods * periods * more than periods 91 - Please write any suggestions you have for improving the effectiveness o f the material for future use ֊ Please supply some o f inform ation about yourself • A g e • Sex: • How long have you learnt English before starting the ESP material? Male: Female: (Please circle the suitable answer ) • 0-3 years փ 7-10 years • 4-6 years * more than 10 years Thank you very much for your cooperation! 92 Phiếu khảo sát ý kiến sỉnh viên năm thứ ba (bản tiếng việt) Để đánh giá tài liệu Tiếng Anh chuyên ngành sử dụng cho sinh viên năm thứ ba khoa quản lý lao động trường đại học lao động xã hội, thiết kế bảng câu hỏi nhằm thu thập ý kiến bạn tài liệu Câu trả lời bạn hữu ích để đánh giá điều chỉnh tài liệu * Bạn cho biết mức độ đồng ý không đồng ý với vấn đề sau cách đánh dấu lựa chọn sau: (l=H oàn toàn đồng ý; 2=Đồng ý; 3=Khơng có ý kiến (50% đồng ý 50% không đồng ý) 4= Không đồng ý; ， ， 5=Hồn tồn khơng đồng ý) Lựa chọn 2 10 Tơi có thê hiêu dịch tài liệu liên quan đến chuyên ngành sau học tài liệu K ĩ đọc hiêu tơi có thê cải thiện sau học tài liệu Tài liêu tạo cho hội thực hành k ĩ đọc hiểu Tôi học nhiều từ vựng chuyên ngành sau học tài liệu Tơi có thê nâng cao kiên thức ngữ pháp Tơi phát triển k ĩ viết thônẹ qua làm tập Tôi nâng cao k ĩ nói Tơi có thê nâng cao k ĩ nghe ■ fl -ռ ռ - ֊— Lựa chọn Hâu hêt khố khó so vói trình độ iiế ĩìệ Anh tơi Tơi thây hâu hêt khố dài khó để hiểu ý 93 - r - 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 - - Các câu trúc ngữ pháp tài liệu khó hiểu Có nhiêu từ thuật ngữ chuyên ngành Các từ thuật ngữ chuyên ngành khó Có nhiêu tập môi tài liệu Nhiệm vụ đọc hiêu đê lây thơng tin cụ thề khó Các tập đêu khó Nhiẹm vụ ơn lại phân ngữ pháp khỏ Nhiệm vụ nhớ thuật ngữ chuyên ngành khó с Độ thú vị tài liệu 19 Bạn cho biết chủ đề sau có thú v ị bạn cách đánh dấu vào chủ đề sau: - Luật lao động - Tuyển dụng lao động - Tình trạng thất nghiệp tạo cơng ăn việc làm - A n toàn lao động vệ sinh lao động - Sức khỏe an toàn lao động - Bảo hộ lao động - Tiền công tiền lương 20 Bạn thấy tài liệu nào? (Hãy khoanh tròn phương án phù hợp) * thú v ị + thú v ị * khơng có ý kiến * nhàm chán * nhàm chán 21 Phần tài liệu bạn thích? - Từ vựng - Cấu trúc ngữ pháp - Chủ đề - Các nhiệm vụ tập - K ĩ - Độ dài khố D Phân bỗ thị i gian 94 22 Hãy đánh dấu thời gian phù hợp cho : tiết : tiết : tiết : tiết Bạn cỏ gợi ý để cải tiến tài liệu cho phù hợp hiệu X in bạn điền thơng tin cá nhân thân: • Tuổi: • G iới tính: • Bạn học Tiếng Anh trước bắt đầu học tài liệu Tiếng Anh Nam: Nữ: chuyên ngành? (Hãy khoanh tròn phương án phù hợp) + 0-3 năm 7-10 năm • 4-6 năm * 10 năm Cảm ơn cộng tác bạn! 95 APPENDIX 5: QUESTIONS FOR THE TEACHER INTERVIEW We are carrying out a study to investigate the extent to which the existing ESP material could be suitable to your students’ level o f English and i f it could meet the aims o f the course Could you please specify your own opinions on the material that you have used for teaching the students o f Faculty o f Labour Your opinions would be very useful to the research and to the improvement o f the material for ftiture use Please read and answer the follow ing questions carefiilly basing on your experience in the teaching the material These questions w ill be used in the coming interview A Aims of the material Does the material help the students to: - Improve their reading skills for dealing w ith specialized books and documents? - Provide the students opportunity to practise reading skills such as skimming scanning，deducing the meanings o f unfam iliar words ， - Enrich their vocabulary o f labour terms and expressions commonly used in their specialist subject - Improve the students’ grammatical knowledge - Improve their listening skills for comprehending the oral questions，small talk and teachers’ presentation - Improve their speaking skills for exchanging information in every day conversation - Improve their w riting skills for building sentences，w riting reports - Others (please specify ) B Appropriateness to the students9 level of English Is the material in use suitable to your students’ level o f English? Is the material in use suitable to your students9 specialized knowledge? Is this material d ifficu lt for your students? Why? 96 Are the texts in this material d ifficu lt for your students? Are the vocabularies and specialized terms d ifficu lt for the students to learn? ᄀ Are the grammatical points in this material d iffic u lt for your students? Are the tasks and exercises in this material d iffic u lt for your students to do? Is the material in use relevant to your students’ ftiture jobs with regards to their topics and vocabulary? c Interest of the material 10 Are the topics presented in the material interesting to your students? 11 Do you like teaching the material? 12 Which aspects o f the material you like? (like very much like neutral ， ， ， dislike hate) ， ֊ Vocabulary - Grammatical structure - Topics - Tasks and exercises - S kill work - Length o f the texts Comments D Time allocation 13 Do you think amount or time spent on each unit appropriate? 14 How much time you think suitable to your students to learn and to your teaching? (5 periods，6 periods, more than six) Teaching experience and suggestions for materials improvement 15 What are your main problems in teaching this material? 16 Do you trunk the material should be used again for students o f Faculty o f Labour? 17 What changes you thinK It should be made to the material to improve the effectiveness o f the material for future use? * Please write any suggestions you have for improving the effectiveness o f the material for future use 97 *Please supply some o f inform ation about yourself • A g e • Sex: • How long have you taught English in theUniversity o f Labour and Social M a le : Female: Affairs? (Please circle the suitable answer ) • 0-3 years * 7-10 years • 4-6 years * more than 10 years Thanks for your co-operation! 98 aо с л fi ІИ и і і С ди і t и a й oиг ио с H -Answering questions - Deciding true-false -Gap-filling Specialist - English-Vietnamese terms and translation expressio -Scanning - Answering ոտ ( text- - Deducing the meaning questions based) of the lexical items - Matching words through context clues with their synonyms - Gap-filling - Finding the noun forms of the given words - Skimming - Answering - scanning questions - Identifying the meaning - Deciding true-false and the use of unfamiliar - Gap-filling words through - Matching the terms understanding word and their explanation formation - EnglishVietnamese translation ぶ -Verb forms - Gap-filling by using verb forms > 1 1 w4 (N -Verb patterns( present participle) - Relative clause ֊ Verb forms - Combining sentences by using given words - Completing sentences by adding given words Grammar exercises Gram m ar о Family planning policy World population growth 서 Population control Reading exercises lzwQiИ iЯ lН«ofe С Л Reading skills « ао< м1ễ ^xlaZUJdv CÄ Vocabul ary ẩ ể Л11пи\ẽ^ CÄ Ե > l l l l l l l 5" 寸 I с Й CO.2 J 、ÛÛ ầ g 1 M IT) ぶ о •g і < 1 о ồù l 40 g ỗ ặ 1 1 & § о Q и er 1 4-> - Answering the questions - Making words negative by adding given prefixes - G ap-filling - English-Vietnamese translation СЛ ầ マ cầd ձ С ԵՍ ь2 ^영 - S kim m ing - Scanning - S kim m ing recruitment ԵՍ l t - Scanning Em ployee a ment and job creation ■ S kim m ing - Deducing the meaning of the lexical items through context clues Labour law Kfl ^|1 3131 § r- - Prefixes using the given structure - Gap-filling with given prefixes - Identifying prefixes and deciding their meaning -Making sentences - Completing sentences using correct tenses o f the given verbs - Making sentences using “ If •…， …w ill ” or “ If ， would ” - Verb conjugation - The first and second conditional sentences - The present perfect tense - Matching two halves of a sentence - Completing sentences using correct tenses o f given verbs -Time clauses с о o ᄋ о l l 쉬 o ^ 、 о > ■ 1■ H H Job analysis Select the job 0£ в ^ professiona s 1 s ^ Q ^ ջ I ^ Ỉ3 -Skimming - Scanning form ation • Dennmg terms by ticking the best choice - Identifying the m ain point of the text - Skimming - Discussing - Identilymg the meaning questions and the use of unfamiliar • Deciding true-false words through - Matching the terms understanding w ord and their explanations § safety | i - Scanning - Skimming - Scanning - Identifying the main points in a piece o f discourse - Verb patterns ( Past participle) - Relative pronouns (who, which) - Adjective clause - Answering - Suffixes questions - Finding words and phrases with the same meaning G ap-filling - Modal verbs | Role of the protection Labour -Skimming - Scanning - Understanding the relations within a sentence g i l l i l l w < D Ư Cd ՇՍ g Он s 1 - Adverbial clause - Passive voice - Making sentences - Relative pronouns (whose, o f which) containing adverbial clauses into Vietnamese - Completing sentences - Translating sentences pronouns - Gap-filling by using verb forms - Translating sentences into English using the given relative pronouns - Completing sentences using the given relative Verb forms - Completing sentences - Verb patterns (gerund) ...MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HANOI UNIVERSITY փփփ PH AM T H I HONG H A N H AN EVALUATION OF THE ESP MATERIAL FOR THE THIRD YEAR STUDENTS OF LABOUR DEPARTMENT AT THE UNIVERSITY OF LABOUR AND. .. reasons for materials evaluation? ??definitions o f materials evaluation, types o f materials evaluation, m odels for materials evaluation? ? ?and criteria for evaluation, sources o f data for materials evaluation, ... own thesis, used Hutchinson and W aters^ framework for materials evaluation for the adaptation o f the ESP materials for the IT students at the University o f Transport and Com munications The