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Part 1: Introduction
1. Rationale
English is considered to be one of the most popular languages in the world. In
Vietnam, with the changes and the developments of the economy and society, as well
as the implementation of the open- door policy, English has been used more and more
widely both by the young and the old and it has been the most popular foreign
language. English also occupied a specially important status in the development of
international relationship in Vietnam. More importantly, English has been influenced
on our education curriculum as a compulsory subject. It is known that, in learning a
foreign language in general, and English in particular, the knowledge and mastery of
vocabulary play an extremely important role. Pyles and Algeo (1970) noted that:
"When we first think about the language, we think about words. It is words that we
arrange together to make sentences, conversations and discourse of all kind". In fact,
vocabulary is the element that links the four skills of speaking, listening, reading and
writing all together. In order to communicate well in a foreign language, students
should acquire an adequate number of words and should know how to use them
accurately. However, both teachers and learners have faced many difficulties in
English teaching and learning, especially in teaching and learning vocabulary. It seems
difficult for teachers to apply the suitable way to teach learners.
In the context of Thanh Hoa Teachers' Training School (THTTS), students with
Vocational Training level are taught English as a compulsory subject. And students of
Information Technology start learning IT English at the beginning of the second year.
The short period is mainly aimed at improving reading and translating skills. However,
with limited knowledge of vocabulary and English grammar, it is difficult for them to
study English for IT, especially in reading and translating exercises. They often learn
vocabulary passively through their teachers' explanation, It is hard for them to
memorize new words. Thus, it requires a great deal of help from teachers.
ESP (English for specific purpose) is viewed as something hard to teach for language
teachers. As a teacher of English for IT, I myself find out many difficulties during
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teaching vocabulary. They arise from the lack of specialized knowledge, so teachers
fail to provide every reasonable explanation. Moreover, the target students at THTTS
are lower in comparison with those at colleges or universities on the ground of needs,
interest and motivation. In addition, it is difficult for teachers to understand a lot of
terminology, complicated structures and countless expressions.
Facing this problem, the teachers of English of THTTS want to do something to change
the ways of teaching and learning vocabulary in order to improve the students' learning
effectiveness to help them succeed in their future job. Therefore, I have conducted a
research to find out the main difficulties in teaching IT vocabulary at THTTS. Then to
offer some solutions to these problem.
2. Aims of the study
The study aimed at:
- Giving a brief overview about ESP and vocabulary and its relevance in teaching
and learning English for IT.
- Finding out difficulties that ESP teachers at THTTS are facing in teaching English
vocabulary to students of IT
- Suggesting some solutions to the learning of vocabulary to students of IT
effectively
3. Research questions
The research is carried out with an attempt to find out the answer to the following
research questions:
- What are the main difficulties experienced by teachers who are teaching
vocabulary to students of IT at THTTS?
- What solutions should be offered to help teachers to find out the effective ways to
teach vocabulary to students of IT at THTTS?
4. Scope of the study
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The study limited itself to the investigation of difficulties in teaching vocabulary to
students of Information Technology at Thanh Hoa Teachers' training school. The
solutions are also provided to help to improve teaching and learning English in general,
teaching and learning English vocabulary of IT in particular at THTTS.
5. Methods of the study
In order to achieve the aims mentioned above, the study was designed to use varieties
of methods such as: interview and questionnaire. The data can be recorded formally
and informally. The interview is used to record information from teachers. The survey
questionnaire to students is to get more information to support the study.
6. Design of the study
This study is organized into 3 main parts:
Part 1: Introduction: in this part the rationale, the aims, the research questions, the
scope, the method, and the design of the study is presented.
Part 2: Development: It consists of three chapters.
Chapter 1 provides the theoretical background, which is relevant to the purposes of the
study.
Chapter 2 presents an introduction on the context of learning and teaching vocabulary
of Information Technology at THTTS.
Chapter 3 is the main part of the study. It includes the context of the study, the
subjects, and the data collection methods and data collection procedure. Also in this
chapter, the data will be analyzed and the finding will reveal teachers' difficulties in
teaching vocabulary to students of IT. On the basis of these findings, solutions in
teaching and learning will be suggested.
Part 3: Conclusion: This part offers a summary of the study and some suggestions for
further study.
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Part 2: Development
Chapter 1: Literature review
1.1. An overview of ESP
1.1.1. What is ESP?
"ESP" stands for English for Specific Purposes and different authors have defined this term
so far. According to Hutchinson and Waters (1987: 19), ESP is "an approach rather than a
product to language teaching in which all decisions as to content and method are based on
learner's reason for learning". For Hutchinson and Waters, starting point in determining
appropriate input for ESP course is identifying learners' need.
Similarly, Munby (1978: 2) states: "ESP courses are those where the syllabus and materials
are determined in all essentials by the prior analysis of the communication needs of the
learner". And Robinson (1991: 3), discussing the criteria to ESP, also emphasizes the
students' needs element of ESP: " An ESP course is based on a needs analysis, which aims
to specify as closely as possible what exactly it is that students have to do through the
medium of English". She defines that time period should be specified clearly for an ESP
course, in which their objectives have to be achieved.
Likewise, Streven (1988: 1) stated: "ESP is a particular cause of the general category of
special purpose language teaching".
It is obvious that all the above definitions stem at different time by different authors, these
definitions reveal that any ESP course must be based on learners' needs.
1.1.2. Classification of ESP
It can be seen that, language varies according to the context of use. Thus, there are many
types of ESP. Traditionally, ESP has been divided into two main areas. Kennedy and
Bolitho (1984: 4) defined the types of ESP:
"English for Occupational Purpose (EOP) is taught in a situation in which learners need to
use English as a part of their work or profession". Whereas, "English for Academic
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Purpose (EAP) is taught generally within educational institutions to students needing
English in their studies".
Robinson (1991) provides the distinction between these two areas.
Pre- experience
EOP Simultaneous/ In service
Post- experience
ESP
Pre- study
For study in a specific discipline In- study
EEP/ EAP Post- study
Independent
As school subject
Integrated
Figure 1: Types of ESP (Robinson, 1991: 3-4)
This division of ESP plays a very important role in affecting the degree of specificity that
is appropriate to the course. However, according to Hutchinson (1987: 16) " This is not a
clear- cut distinction: people can work and study simultaneously, it is also likely that in
many cases the language learnt for immediate use in a study environment will be used
later when the student takes up, or returns a job".
ESP
EST EBE ESS
EAP EOP EAP EOP EAP EOP
English for English for English for English for English for English for
Medical Study Technicians Economics Secretaries Psychology Teaching
Figure 2: Types of ESP (Hutchinson, 1987: 16)
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On Hutchinson' ELT tree, there are three categories basing on nature of the learners'
specialism. English for Science and Technology (EST), English for Business and
Economic (EBE) and English for the Social Science (ESS). Though ESP if classified by
different author, they are common that ESP can be divided into EAP and EOP. On ELT
tree mentioned above, English for Information Technology belongs to English for
Technician.
1.1.3. The roles of ESP teachers
The roles of ESP teachers have been pointed out by a variety of studies. An ESP teacher
must master fully the roles of General English teachers and ESP course process. In
learning process teacher must help the learner achieve their goals effectively. Especially,
in vocabulary teaching, the teacher mostly focus on words, idioms to express the topics
like "computer and its application" or "computer types", etc, plus words in the general,
and (s)he has to provide the students with the anxiety- free atmosphere. Besides, (s)he also
has to create favorable environment in which students are able to practice to memorize
new words. According to Hutchinson and Waters (1987: 157), the ESP teacher will have to
deal with need analysis, syllabus design, materials writing or adaptation and evaluation.
Whereas Martin (1992) lists and explains different roles of the teacher. He views the role
upon the process of carrying out a task in ESP lesson" before, during and after a task. A
teacher wishing to support learning throughout the various phrases of a task would need to
be able to play an extended a set of roles including explorer, organizer, adviser, instructor
and a guide. Little Wood (1981: 51) states that the ESP teacher is expected to "perform in
a variety of roles, separately or simultaneously". Nunan (1988) also said that these roles of
an ESP teacher include an instructor, a manager, counselor, facilitators, organizer,
curriculum developer, material writer, material writer and even a friend. Robinson (1991)
gives his own opinion, '' the ESP teacher does not only teach but very often he or she is
involved in designing, setting up, administering, evaluating and testing the ESP course"
Obviously, the ESP teacher must be flexible and their roles will vary according to type of
syllabus and course, teaching and learning environment, etc.
1.1.4. The problem of ESP teachers
Robinson (1980: 83) stated some problem of ESP teachers "Lack of sufficient preparation
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time", "lack of personal and professional contact with subject teachers", and" the content
may be very specific indeed, requiring a high degree knowledge and skill from teachers".
ESP teachers may also have to struggle to master language and subject beyond the bound
of their previous experience because most of them have been trained for General English
teaching and has unexpectedly found themselves required to teach the texts whose content
they know little or nothing about. It is true to all teachers teaching at THTTS. They are
teachers of GE who lack experience, the needed specialized knowledge and the choice of
appropriate teaching methodologies seem to be the major concerns. Obviously, it is not
easy and does take time for the teachers to become familiar with the ESP course materials
as well as with the language of the subject.
1.2. Vocabulary teaching in ESP
1.2.1. Definition of vocabulary
The term "vocabulary" appears to be a very simple concept but in fact, we can find it
extremely difficult to give an exact definition of vocabulary. Based on different criteria,
linguistics defined vocabulary in different ways. According to Peny, Ur (1996: 60),
vocabulary "as the words we teach in the foreign language. However, a new item of
vocabulary may be more than a single word: a compound of two or three words or multi-
word idioms". Pyles and Algae (1970: 96) also noted that: "It is in words that sound and
meanings inter- lock to allow us to communicate with one another and it is words that we
range together to make sentences, conversations and discourses of all kinds".
In general, vocabulary is the total number of all the words that a language possesses,
including a single word, two or three word items expressing a single idea and multi- word
idioms whose meaning cannot be deduced from the analysis of the component words.
Vocabulary can be defined as the words we teach in the foreign language and a useful
convention is to cover all such cases by talking about vocabulary "items" rather than
"words". It can be seen that a "vocabulary" item can be more than one word. Therefore, it
is necessary not to make confusion between vocabulary item and word.
1.2.2. Main principles in Vocabulary Teaching
1.2.1. Decision about the content
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Before considering the main principles in vocabulary teaching, we should pay attention
where we select vocabulary from. According to Ruth Gairns and Stuart Redman (1999:
54) vocabulary reaches the classroom from four mains sources such as the course book,
supplementary materials, the students, and specific vocabulary activities designed by the
teacher for his particular group of students
The course book: This will include the written and spoken texts, activities for the
presentation and practice of grammatical structures, testing exercises, and so on. Even the
instructions for classroom activities can form a source of new vocabulary.
Supplemental materials: these are not designed specially not for vocabulary development
or provided by educational institution, or selected by the teacher himself. This may
include texts, drill, role- plays, video, exercises etc.
The students: a wide range of unanticipated and unpredictable items will inevitably
surface from student enquires, queries, and errors.
Specific vocabulary activities designed by the teacher for his particular group of students
1.2.2. Criteria for selection
It can be seen that vocabulary should be selected in a suitable teaching setting. That is,
every situation is different and so core items in one context may be useless in another.
Teaching can effectively deal with only a small amount of information about vocabulary
items at a time. Thus, teachers have to take into considerations factors. We should consider
the following table.
Criteria Order of importance Definition
Frequency 1 Average number of occurrences of a
word in a language
Range 2 A measure of the different types of texts
in which a word occurs
Language needs 3 The words that are regarded as 'require'
by the learner in order to communicate
Availability and
familiarity
4 The word the learner is mostly in contact
with and somehow ' know'
Coverage 5 the capacity of a word to take the place
of other words
Regularity 6 How is the use of a word 'spread' over
the language
Learn ability 7 Are some words easier to learn than
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other?
Table 1: Criteria for selection
Source: http://arts-humanities.cant.ac.uk/language-studies
1.2.3. What need to be taught in English Vocabulary?
According to Penny Ur (1996), when vocabulary is introduced to learners, pronunciation
and spelling, word form, grammar, collocation, aspects of meaning, word- formation need
to be taught.
1.2.3.1. Word form
When learning vocabulary students should be introduced its pronunciation and its spelling.
To many students, the complex relationship between sound and spelling in English seems
to make the language inexplicable. It is easy understand when we consider the number of
homophones in English such as: weight/ wait, sole/ soul, and the number of similar forms
that differ wildly in their pronunciation like hurry/ humor.
1.2.3.2. Grammar
There are two main pedagogic issues involved: the highlighting of regular and irregular
forms, and the role of source books in allowing learners to be sift- sufficient as Ruth
Gairns and Stuart Redman stated. In the classroom, the new item is not obviously covered
by general grammatical rule, grammar will need to be introduced or examined. The
teachers need to clarify regular forms and common regular forms for students. When a
new word is taught, for example we might also give its past form such as: buy/ bought and
it is transitive or intransitive, when a noun such as a person is taught, it should be given its
plural form as people.
1.2.3.3. Collocation
Collocation is the way in which words are used together regularly in a specific language. It
refers to the restriction on how words can be used together in right contexts. Thus, this is
another piece of information about a new item, which may be worth teaching. For
example, you throw a ball but toss a coin. We can talk about thick fog and dense fog, thick
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smoke and dense smoke with the same meaning. However, we cannot say dense hair
instead of thick hair
1.2.3.4. Aspects of meaning
Aspect of meaning include denotation, connotation, appropriateness and meaning
relationship
The denotation meaning refers to or point out things, concepts. This is often the sort of
definition given in dictionaries such as "cat" denotes a small animal with soft fur, often
kept as a pet or for catching mice.
Connotation of a word is less obvious component of its meaning. This is association, or
positive and negative feelings the word evokes which may not be indicated in a dictionary
definition. Connotation includes stylistic, affective, evaluation, intensifying value,
pragmatic communicative values, the word acquires by virtue of where, when, how and by
whom, for what purpose and in what context it is or it may be used
Appropriateness is more subtle aspect of meaning that indicates whether a particular item
is appropriate one to use in a certain context or not. Thus, it is useful for a learner to know
whether a certain word is very common, or relatively rare or taboo in a polite conversation,
or tends to be used in writing but not in speech, or is more suitable for a formal than
informal discourse or belongs to a certain dialect.
It is necessary to list aspects of meaning in the sense of meaning relationships. This can
also be useful in vocabulary teaching and learning. They show how the meaning of one
item relates to the meaning of others. These are various relationships and here are some of
the main ones like synonyms, antonyms, hyponyms, co- hyponyms or co- ordinates, super
ordinates, and translation
1.2.3.5. Word- formation
Word can change their shape and their grammatical value. Vocabulary items whether one-
word or multi- word, can often be broken down into their components "bits". Students need
to know facts about word formation and how to use words to fit different grammatical
contexts.
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[...]... one by one and writing them on the board The next position is translating all the words into Vietnamese, counting for (18.2%) The number of students who are interested in new words presenting by using visual aids and using target language to define the new word hold nearly the same percentage (16.3% and 17.5% correspondingly) Using synonyms and antonyms receives 13.5% while presenting new words by... second year of studying in the school and 15 of them are female 3 3 Instruments for collecting data According to Hutchinson and Waters (1987: 59), there are a number ways in which information about the needs can be gathered such as questionnaires, interviews, 18 observation, etc The researcher of this study decided to choose questionnaires and interviews as main tools for collecting information 3.3.1 Questionnaire... magnetize (từ hoá); access (truy cập); transmit ( truyền ); load (tải); code ( mã hoá); curse ( con trỏ); decoder (bộ giải mã); memory (bộ nhớ) 1.3.3.2 Compound terms 12 Compound terms are the ones which are composed of two or more than two words; these words, which are of different part of speech, combine together and create terms that have the form of nominal groups For example: operating system... notebook and read them everyday and writing the words and meaning, their synonyms or antonyms takes up only 6.5 %, 5.3 % and 10.8% corresponding It can be seen that students focus only on the spelling aspect of the words rather than how to use the words in sentences or context (only 6.5 %) Thus, they will failure in both speaking and writing skills 3 Which ways of presenting new words are you interested... presenting new words are you interested in? Options Question Which ways of presenting new words are you interested in? a Translating all the words into Vietnamese b Using visual aids c Using mines, gestures and facial expressions d Using target language to define the new word e Saying the words clearly one by one and writing them on the board f Using synonyms and antonyms g Other ways (songs, games,... relating to IT - A unit is divided into three parts, and each part focuses on grammar, function or vocabulary Every unit provides students many vocabularies through practice of listening, reading, speaking, and writing 2.3.2 The course content English at THTTS is allowed to be non- major and not the compulsory subject for entrance exam Like many other subjects, English is taught in a formal setting... to present new words? Generally, most of the teachers (3/4) often use the techniques of saying the words clearly one by one and writing them on the board and using synonyms and antonyms for new words presentation Two teachers chose the presentation new words by translating all the words into Vietnamese, using visual aids and using target language to define the new word while using mines, gestures and... score is the winner Thus, they take turns to choose a number and answer the questions For example: What is the brain of the computer? (Central processing unit) The teacher adds the rule that if students cannot pronounce the words correctly, they lost 0.5 point So they try their best to avoid pronunciation mistakes The game is very fascinating and motivating For example: 1 What is the brain of the computer?... students reading and writing ability Hieu, one of the teacher says, In ESP reading, there is a lot of vocabulary and terms including the knowledge completely specialized that make students unable to comprehend, or one passage may contain too many IT terms and difficult sentences that make them unable to interpret Thus, students should enrich vocabulary in order to improve reading and writing skill, as well... there are no good opportunities for 15 studying English, these students commonly did not spend much time learning English at high school before The others come from cities, who, theoretically, have all finished three years or seven years of learning English at secondary schools before entering the THTTS Most of them are male students (78%) To some extent, there are some students whose English is very . but very often he or she is
involved in designing, setting up, administering, evaluating and testing the ESP course"
Obviously, the ESP teacher must. teaching vocabulary to
students of Information Technology at Thanh Hoa Teachers' training school. The
solutions are also provided to help to improve
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