Designing supplementary toeic listening and reading test preparation syllabus for pre intermediate level students in ho chi minh city university of natural resources and evrironment a thesis submitted in partial fulfil

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HO CHI MINH CITY OPEN UNIVERSITY - - DESIGNING SUPPLEMENTARY TOEIC-LISTENING AND READING TEST PREPARATION SYLLABUS FOR PRE-INTERMEDIATE LEVEL STUDENTS IN HO CHI MINH CITY UNIVERSITY OF NATURAL RESOURCES AND ENVIRONMENT Major: Teaching English to Speakers of Other Language (TESOL) Major code: 60 14 01 11 MASTER OF ARTS IN TESOL Supervisor: Ph.D HUYNH CONG MINH HUNG - Ho Chi Minh City, 2019 - TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC MỞ CỘNG HÒA XÃ HỘI CHỦ NGHĨA VIỆT NAM THÀNH PHỐ HỒ CHÍ MINH Độc lập – Tự – Hạnh phúc KHOA ĐÀO TẠO SAU ĐẠI HỌC GIẤY XÁC NHẬN Tôi tên là: Nguyễn Lương Tuấn Dũng Ngày sinh: 14/08/1985 Chuyên ngành: MTESOL Nơi sinh: TP Vinh, Nghệ An Mã học viên: 1581401110007 Tôi đồng ý cung cấp tồn văn thơng tin luận án/ luận văn tốt nghiệp hợp lệ quyền cho Thư viện trường đại học Mở Thành phố Hồ Chí Minh Thư viện trường đại học Mở Thành phố Hồ Chí Minh kết nối tồn văn thơng tin luận án/ luận văn tốt nghiệp vào hệ thống thông tin khoa học Sở Khoa học Công nghệ Thành phố Hồ Chí Minh Ký tên (Ghi rõ họ tên) ………………………………… i STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP I hereby declare that I am the sole author of this master thesis “Designing supplementary TOEIC Listening and Reading test preparation syllabus for pre-intermediate level students in Ho Chi Minh City University of Natural Resources and Environment” I certify that the thesis is my original work; it is based on my own research All sources used by me have been documented and I have not used any sources other than those listed in the bibliography and identified as references No other person’s work has been used without due acknowledgement I further declare that I have not submitted this thesis at any other institution in order to obtain a degree Author’s Signature……………………………………………………… Nguyen Luong Tuan Dung Ho Chi Minh City, Date……………………………… ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENT I would first like to express my deepest appreciation to my thesis advisor Ph.D Huynh Cong Minh Hung The door to Ph.D Huynh Cong Minh Hung’s office was always open whenever I ran into a trouble spot or had a question about my research or writing He consistently allowed this paper to be my own work, but steered me in the right the direction whenever he thought I needed it I would also like to thank the students at the Ho Chi Minh City University of Natural Resources and Environment, who were involved in the questionnaire for this thesis Without their passionate participation and input, the validation questionnaire could not have been successfully conducted Besides, I would like to acknowledge M.A Lai Hoai Chau of the Faculty of Basic Sciences at the Ho Chi Minh City University of Natural Resources and Environment as the second reader of this thesis, and I am gratefully indebted to her for her very valuable comments on this thesis In addition, I would like to give a big thank to my friends, my classmates, and my colleagues for their support, assistant, and encouragement in studying, in work, and in the process of doing the thesis Finally, I must express my very profound gratitude to my parents and to my spouse, as well as my beloved son for providing me with unfailing support and continuous encouragement throughout my years of study and through the process of researching and writing this thesis This accomplishment would not have been possible without them Thank you and wish you all the best Author Nguyen Luong Tuan Dung iii Abstract As recognizing the importance of TOEIC certificate as a good tool to assess people’s English competence before entering labor workforce, Ho Chi Minh University of Natural Resources and Environment has been implemented TOEIC in curriculum as an obligatory subject since 2015 However, the limitation of time (90 periods) and big class size organization prevented students to get the qualified band score of 500 to get the approval for graduation To fulfil the knowledge gap and gain the crucial skills in doing the test, students of pre intermediate level are encouraged to attend a supplementary course which lasts in 96 periods This course provides more terminology vocabulary of TOEIC, revising important grammatical points, guiding students with skills to overcome the traps in the newest format test Despite those clear aims, up to now there has been no official guide or syllabus for the course, letting the course run by the experiences of different teachers without united content of lessons or goals to achieve at the end of each period From the requirement of such teaching situation, the author of this thesis is motivated to carry out a research to suggest a sample syllabus for the supplementary course To complete the goal, a survey of learners’ needs would be preceded, providing crucial statistics about what are the strengths and weaknesses of learners as well as their expectations for teachers and for the course Further, the analysis of the TOEIC test samples in new format would also be taken into consideration to help author have a deeper understanding of what skills are required to spend time on Combing all those information, a sample syllabus is suggested for the supplementary program for pre-intermediate students This syllabus supported as an oriented guide for teachers with the name of the core books and the content needed to cover in each lesson It is aslo helpful for students who want to prepare well for the course and review after the lessons Keywords: TOEIC test, Reading and Listening skills, syllabus design, learners’ need, task analysis iv TÓM TẮT Nhận biết tầm quan trọng việc sử dụng TOEIC công cụ đánh giá trình độ tiếng Anh thị trường lao động, trường Đại học Tài Nguyên Môi trường thành phố Hồ Chí Minh sớm đưa nội dung luyện thi TOEIC vào Chương trình giảng dạy khóa từ năm 2015 Tuy nhiên, hạn chế thời gian học lớp (90 tiết) việc tổ chức lớp học đơng sinh viên mang lại khơng khó khăn cho sinh viên để đạt mức điểm TOEIC mong muốn Thưc tế đặt yêu cầu cần có khóa học bổ trợ để giúp sinh viên bổ sung kiến thức thiếu hụt từ vựng ngữ pháp, mà thu thập luyện rèn kỹ năng, chiến thuật cần thiết trình làm thi TOEIC Tuy nhiên, thời điểm chưa có chương trình giảng dạy thức cho khóa học này, khiến cho tiết học chủ yếu dựa vào kinh nghiệm giáo viên Do đó, mục đích luận văn cung cấp Chương trình giảng dạy mẫu cho khóa học bổ trợ Luyện thi TOEIC Nhờ đó, giáo viên tham khảo vận dụng để thiết kế giảng cá nhân, nhằm đáp ứng mục tiêu, yêu cầu giảng dạy, hết dìu dắt sinh viên đạt điểm số TOEIC mong muốn Để thiết kế chương trình giảng dạy phù hợp, bảng câu hỏi điều tra nhu cầu người học thiết kế sử dụng nhằm giúp cung cấp cho người nghiên cứu tranh toàn cảnh điểm mạnh, điểm yếu điều mong đợi từ khóa học sinh viên Ngồi ra, việc phân tích u cầu, điểm khó, bẫy phần đề thi TOEIC vừa cập nhật tiến hành cách nghiêm túc cẩn thận, chi tiết, nhằm cung cấp cho người học hiểu biết sâu sắc thi TOEIC hình dung chiến thuật họ cần tập trung ôn luyện trước tham gia kỳ thi Sau thu thập nguồn thông tin cần thiết, luận văn đến việc đề xuất Chương trình giảng dạy bổ trợ mẫu Luyện thi TOEIC kỹ nghe đọc cho sinh viên v không chuyên ngữ, trình độ Tiền Trung cấp tiếng Anh trường Đại học Tài Nguyên Môi trường thành phố Hồ Chí Minh Chương trình mong muốn trở thành hải đăng định hướng cho tất giáo viên sinh viên đồng hành thuyền biển tri thức nhân loại, dạy học nhằm đến đạt kết cao thi TOEIC Từ khóa: TOEIC, kỹ nghe đọc, thiết kế chương trình giảng dạy, nhu cầu người học, phân tích nhiệm vụ vi Table of Contents STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP i ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ii Abstract iii Table of Contents vi List of Figures ix List of Tables x List of Abbreviations xi CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Statement of problem 1.2 Purpose of the research 1.3 Research questions (RQ) 1.4 Significance of the study 1.5 Thesis structure 1.6 Chapter summary CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Syllabus and syllabus types 2.1.1 The definitions and nature of syllabus 2.1.2 Types of syllabus 2.1.3 Syllabus design 2.1.4 Needs analysis 10 2.1.5 Selection of syllabus content 12 2.1.6 Syllabus organization 12 2.2 The TOEIC - Listening and Reading Test 13 2.3 Listening and Reading skills 16 2.3.1 Listening 16 2.3.2 Reading 18 2.4 Related studies and research gaps 21 2.5 Chapter summary 23 CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY 25 3.1 Background 25 3.2 Sample and sampling method 26 3.3 Research design 26 vii 3.4 Instruments 28 3.4.1 Description of the Questionnaire 28 3.4.2 Reliability and Validity of the Questionnaire 29 3.4.3 The way of analyzing questionnaire 32 3.4.4 Task analysis 33 3.5 Chapter summary 34 CHAPTER 4: RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 35 4.1 Results and discussion on the RQ1 35 4.1.1 Results of leaners’ need analysis 35 4.1.2 Discussion on the RQ1 44 4.2 Results and discussion on the RQ2 46 4.2.1 Results of task analysis 46 4.2.2 Discussion on the RQ2: 78 4.3 Results and discussion on the RQ3 82 4.3.1 Results of questionnaire on leaners’ need analysis 82 4.3.2 The supplementary TOEIC Listening and Reading test preparation syllabus …………………………………………………………………………88 4.3.3 SAMPLE LESSON PLAN 98 4.3.4 Discussion on the RQ3 105 4.4 Chapter summary 106 CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSIONS 107 5.1 Conclusions 107 5.2 Limitations of the study 107 5.3 Applications and Recommendations 108 5.4 Suggestions for further research 111 5.5 Chapter summary 112 References 113 APPENDICES 120 Appendix A.1 THE QUESTIONNAIRE (English Version) 120 Appendix A.2 THE QUESTIONNAIRE (Vietnamese Version) 125 Appendix A.3 CRONBACH’S ALPHA OF THE QUESTIONNAIRE 131 A.3.1 Items 3.1-3.5: Students’ English-learning experiences 131 A.3.2 Items 4-7: Student’s TOEIC experiences 131 A.3.3 Items 11-18: Evaluation of students’ Reading skills 131 ... AUTHORSHIP I hereby declare that I am the sole author of this master thesis ? ?Designing supplementary TOEIC Listening and Reading test preparation syllabus for pre- intermediate level students in. .. implied meaning in a phrase or sentence (pragmatic understanding) In Reading section, they are: Can locate and understand specific information in tables and passages Can connect information across... Language Building and Practice 2.2 The TOEIC - Listening and Reading Test The Test of English for International Communication (TOEIC) by Educational Testing Service (ETS) is a standardized test