VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES ********************* MAI THỊ THANH USING A CONTENT-BASED APPROACH TO TEACHING ENVIRONMENTAL ENGLISH TO STUDENTS: AN ACTION RESEARCH Sử dụng phương pháp dựa vào nội dung để dạy tiếng anh chuyên ngành môi trường cho sinh viên: Phương pháp cải tiến sư phạm M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS FIELD: ENGLISH TEACHING METHODOLOGY CODE: 60140111 Hanoi, 2014 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES ********************* MAI THỊ THANH USING A CONTENT-BASED APPROACH TO TEACHING ENVIRONMENTAL ENGLISH TO STUDENTS: AN ACTION RESEARCH Sử dụng phương pháp dựa vào nội dung để dạy tiếng anh chuyên ngành môi trường cho sinh viên: Phương pháp cải tiến sư phạm M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS FIELD: ENGLISH TEACHING METHODOLOGY CODE: 60140111 SUPERVISOR: Dr Trần Hoài Phương Hanoi, 2014 DECLARATION I declare that the thesis entitled “Using a content-based approach to teaching English to students of environmental studies: an action research” is the result of my own research for the Degree of Master of Arts at University of Languages and International Studies, Vietnam National University, and that this thesis has not been submitted for any degree at any other university or tertiary institution Ha Noi, September 2014 Signature Mai Thị Thanh i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First and foremost, I would like to express my profound gratitude to my supervisor, Dr Trần Hoài Phương, for her valuable instructions, constructive criticisms and her kindly encouragement during the development of this thesis Without her guidance the thesis would have been impossible My special thanks go to all professors and lecturers at the Faculty of PostGraduate Studies, University of Languages and International Studies – VNU for their useful lectures, helpful suggestions, and tireless assistance I am also grateful to my colleagues and the third-year students of Environment at Central Regional College of Natural Resources and Environment for their invaluable feedback, support and participation in this research Finally, to my beloved family go my heart-felt thanks for their understanding as well as their help throughout my graduate program ii ABSTRACT The study was conducted to investigate the effectiveness of using a content-based approach to teaching English to students of environment major: an action research at Central College of Natural Resources and Environment The specific objectives of the study were: (1) to examine the extent to which the attitude of students toward English skills and ESP at Central College of Natural Resources and Environment was changed following the application of the content-based approach to teaching Environmental English in their class, and (2) to investigate how effective the application of content-based instruction (CBI) was in helping students at Central College of Natural Resources and Environment learn Environmental English The action research procedure was carried out on 32 students of Environment major from one class by the teacher in charge of the class, and one English teacher as an observer The effectiveness of the course was investigated by means of questionnaires completed by 32 students, their pre-test, post-test scores, and teachers’ observation It was found that this application of a content-based approach had brought about positive results for the students at elementary level of English It is to enrich students’ specific terms as well as develop their English skills related to environment major iii LIST OF TABLES AND ABBREVIATION TABLES Table 1: English study background Table 2: Students’ skills weakness Table 3: Skills important for future job Table 4: The usefulness of ESP Table 5: Students’ ESP learning style Table 6: Material input in the CBI approach Table 7: t-Test: Paired Two Sample for Means ABBREVIATIONS EAP: English for Academic Purposes EGP: English for General Purposes EFL: English as a foreign language ELT: English Language Teaching EOP: English for Occupational Purposes ESP: English for Specific Purposes GE: General English CRCNRE: Central Regional College of Natural Resources and Environment NRE: Natural Resources and Environment M.A: Master of Arts ULIS: University of Languages and International Studies VNU: Vietnam National University ESL: English as a Second Language TVET: technical and vocational education and training IT: Information Technology CBI: content-based instruction iv TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii ABSTRACT iii LIST OF TABLES AND ABBREVIATION iv PART I: INTRODUCTION 1 Rationale for choosing the topic Purposes of the study: Research questions Significance of the study Design of the study PART II: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 1.1 Definitions of ESP and related concepts 1.1.1 ESP/EAP/EOP 1.1.2 English for non-majors, English for majors and ESP in Vietnam 1.1.3 English for non-majors and ESP in practice in Vietnam 1.2 A content- based approach 12 1.2.1 Definitions of content-based instruction 12 1.2.2 Types of Content-Based Instruction 14 1.2.3 Theme-based model in designing ESP material 15 1.3 Issues of CBI 16 1.4 An example of CBI 18 1.5 Chapter summary 20 CHAPTER 2: THE STUDY 21 2.1 The participants and CRCNRE context 21 2.2 Methodology 24 v 2.2 Action research procedure 27 CHAPTER 3: RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS 30 3.1 The results of the pre-treatment questionnaire survey 30 3.1.1 Students’ English study background 30 3.1.2 Students’ perceptions of their weakness 31 3.1.3 Skills important for future job 31 3.2.1 Data collected from the post test 32 3.2.2 Data collected from the post-questionnaire (second part) 34 PART III: CONCLUSION 37 Conclusions 37 Limitations of the study and suggestions for further study 37 REFERENCES 39 APPENDIX 1: PRE-TREATMENT QUESTIONAIRE I APPENDIX 2: POST-TREATMENT QUESTIONAIRE III APPENDIX 3: PRE-TEST V APPENDIX 4: POST-TEST X APPENDIX 5: SAMPLE OF LESSON PLAN APPLYING CONTENTBASED APPROACH…… XV APPENDIX 6: CLASSROOM OBSERVATION SHEET XXV vi PART I: INTRODUCTION Rationale for choosing the topic The unprecedented spread of English throughout the world in recent years has resulted in its major role and high prestige in the academic, cultural, and political landscape of a growing number of countries (Crystal, 1995, 1997; Fishman, Cooper, and Conrad, 1977; McArthur, 1998, 2002) Because of its international role in international economic relations and cultural exchange, the need for communication in English is becoming more and more important As Harmer (1991) indicates ―people want to study English because it offers a chance for advancement in their professional lives‖ ―Traditionally the aim of linguistics had been to describe the rules of English usage, that is, the grammar However the new studies shifted attention away from defining the formal features of language usage to discovering the ways in which language is actually used in real communication‖ ( Widdowson, 1978, in Hutchinson & Waters, 1987, p 7) With subsequent developments, it required an emergence for English courses tailored to specific needs for groups of learners that people called English for Specific Purposes or ESP for short Since its emergence in the late 1960s, ESP has drawn upon three major realms of knowledge: language, pedagogy and the students/ participants’ specialist areas (Hutchinson & Waters, 1987, p 9) However, after some initial success, ESP was found to be of some limitations to both teachers and learners For example, Hutchinson and Waters (1987) indicate that as well as having to cope with the uncertain values of the strange land of ESP, ESP teachers may also have to struggle to master language and subject matter beyond the bounds of their previous experience Also, as ESP is language-centred, and the language-driven approach is in its dominance, this mode unintentionally poses many difficulties on teachers and learners as they have to cope with linguistics surface form through monotonous specialist texts Rivers (1992) points out that although learners can participate in memorized conversations easily and effortlessly, hardly any can produce at length fluent variations from the basic materials, and none could talk on unrehearsed topics without hesitation In the trend of integration nowadays, a country can hardly be isolated and self-sufficient As for the local context, since Vietnam became the 150 th member of the World Trade Organization in 2007, more and more foreign investors have poured capital into Vietnam English has become the ultimate means of communication in foreign trade To meet the society’s needs, Vietnamese students must have sound English knowledge to work well in their jobs They need to be not only proficient in general English (GE) but also capable of interpreting specialist contents To help students achieve this aim, the choice of appropriate learning materials in harmony with suitable teaching methods is considered as a vital and primary concern for ESP teachers, language program developers, and also curriculum designers It was mainly this reason that motivated the researcher to choose the thesis topic: ―Using a contentbased approach to teaching English to students of environmental studies: An action research study‖ Purposes of the study: This study aims at exploring the effectiveness of the application of a content-based approach in teaching Environmental English studies at Central College of Natural Resources and Environment The specific objectives of the study are: - To examine the extent to which the attitude of students at Central College of Natural Resources and Environment was changed following the application of a content-based approach in teaching Environmental English in their class Many world leaders have closed Risk Pollution Evolution This is perhaps the most compelling from a new study Future their ears B LISTENING Listen and fill in the gap An American lawmaker has said cycling (1) _ environment He also said cyclists (2) ride their bikes on the roads Ed Orcutt, a representative from Washington State, sent an email to the owner of a local bike shop to (3) He wrote: "A cyclist has an increased heart (4) That means that the act of riding a bike results in greater emissions of carbon dioxide from the rider Since CO2 is…a greenhouse gas…cyclists (5) when they ride." Mr Orcutt said: "You can't just say that there's no pollution as a result of riding a bicycle….You would (6) CO2 if you are riding a bike than driving in a car." Mr Orcutt also believes cyclists should (7) roads He said it was unfair that motorists (8) the costs of building and repairing roads He wrote: "Currently motorists are paying to use their cars on the roads…(9) the roads they are using, it only makes sense that bicyclists would also (10) the roads they use when they are actually biking on them." Dale Carlson, owner of the Tech Bike Shop said Mr Orcutt's ideas were wrong He wrote: "People who choose to ride a bicycle instead of driving a car (11) ." He added: "They save wear and tear on our roads and bridges, and reduce the [need for police] (12) ." XII C LANGUAGE FOCUS CORRECT WORD: Put the correct words from a–d below in the article World’s mightiest rivers on ―at risk‖ list A report (1) by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) warns that the current rate of climate change is putting many of world’s great rivers at risk of drying up The report, ―WWF's Top 10 Rivers at Risk‖, was released to (2) with World Water Day (March 22nd) It is a worrying (3) Among the endangered rivers are the Rio Grande, which (4) along the U.S.-Mexico border; the Yangtze, Mekong and Ganges rivers in Asia; the Danube in Europe; and Africa’s (5) River Nile The WWF says these waterways, which provide fresh water to millions of people, are ―facing widespread degradation‖ Carter Roberts, president of the WWF, issued a (6) warning: "The world's freshwater ecosystems are under siege, and the rivers in this report are the front lines," he says The Rio Grande (7) the list, says the report, ―because the river is severely threatened by water diversions,‖ coming from a ―widespread alteration of the floodplain‖ Dams and pollution are also (8) blame for putting the river in danger A combination of drought and people taking too much water out of the river is draining it (9) This is endangering a (10) desert river ecosystem, which might damage the economic growth of communities along the U.S.-Mexico border The WWF is working to improve matters to conserve fish stocks It also hopes farmers can maintain a sustainable supply of water and live (11) harmony with the rivers Another WWF initiative is the establishment of more protected areas along (12) of the rivers most important for wildlife A releasing B release C released D releases A coincide B coincidence C coincidental D coin XIII A reads B read C reed D reading A bows B kneels C walks D runs A mite B mightier C mighty D might A Fire B Dire C Hire D wire A makes B Takes C Lakes D fakes A Of B With C For D to A Dry B Wet C Moist D as 10 A unlikely B Uniqueness C Unique D uniquely 11 A Big B With C On D in 12 A stretches B Stitches C stretches D stretchers XIV APPENDIX 5: SAMPLE OF LESSON PLAN APPLYING CONTENT-BASED APPROACH Unit 7: TRAFFIC POLLUTION! Class: 4MA Allowed time: 90 minutes I Aims : The purpose of this lesson is to: - Provide students with the vocabularies and knowledge relating to traffic pollution - Enhance students’ learning and motivation by using real world context - Improve students’ English skills: reading, speaking, writing and listening II Teaching Contents: - Language items: Traffic pollution - Teaching skills: Reading, speaking, writing and listening III Teaching methods: - Content-based approach IV Teaching aids: - Textbook, lesson plan, chalks, board, Projector V Procedures: THE ARTICLE Traffic pollution damages kids’ lungs Road pollution is a serious danger to children’s health That’s the worrying conclusion of the longest and largest study ever undertaken into the effects of traffic fumes on child development Researchers from the University of Southern California spent 13 years studying children who lived within 500 meters of busy highways They found that most of the 3,600 children in the study had significantly weakened lungs Researchers said this meant the children could have breathing problems for the rest of their lives The main XV author of the study W James Gauderman said: "Someone suffering a pollution-related deficit in lung function as a child will probably have less than healthy lungs all of his or her life.‖ He added: "If you live in a highpollution area and live near a busy road, you get a doubling of the damage.‖ Gauderman and his team conducted their research on youngsters who lived near busy roads Once a year, the team measured the children's lung power It checked how much air the children could release in one breath and how quickly it could be released The team found that by their 18th birthday, children who lived within 500 meters of a highway exhaled three per cent less air compared with children who lived one-and-a-half kilometers away Further, the highway children’s lung power was seven per cent weaker in the rate at which they could exhale Gauderman said that: "Even if you are in a relatively low regional pollution area, living near a road produces lung problems." About a third of the children moved away from busy roads during the study but stayed near the same community Their lungs developed more healthily Time Teacher’s activities Content Students’ activities 15’ - Asking students to - Working in Warm up: Brainstorm Brainstorm different types of work in pairs pollution pairs - Asking students to -Brainstorming list different types and listing the of pollution types pollution - Asking students to - Talking XVI of Talk about the pollution levels talk about the -Changing where you live / study / work and pollution levels partners to then change partners to report report on on previous partners previous partners 15’ Pre-Reading - Asking student to - Working in Vocabulary work in group of groups - traffic fumes to - weakened lungs words underline - a pollution-related deficit in they or to any underlining the phrases words or not phrases lung function understand and pool -Using - release unknown words and dictionaries to - exhaled use dictionaries to find find their meanings the meanings - Reading the new - Listen and words and asking repeat students to repeat While-Reading 15’ Task : True/False statements - Asking students to - Looking at Look at the article’s headline and work individually to the article’s decide whether these statements look at the article’s headline and are true or false headline and decide deciding whether these whether these children’s lungs was the largest statements are true statements are ever or false true or false - Calling some - Reading the a A study into pollution and b Researchers monitored different children for 30 years XVII c The survey found almost half students to read answers of children studied had lung their answers damage - Checking and -Paying correcting the attention d Living near a busy road doubles the chances of lung answers damage e Researchers tested the children’s lungs on a monthly basis f Kids living 500 meters from busy roads had 30% less lung power g Living near a road is still bad even if it’s in a low pollution area h Children who moved away 15’ from roads still suffered lung problems Key: - Asking students to -Working in work in pairs to pairs to the T F F T F F T F the task - Calling students Task 2: Phrase match task to some -Reading read answers their answers Match the following phrases - Checking from the article (sometimes correcting answers XVIII -Paying and attention the the more than one combination is possible) Road pollution is a serious Researchers from the b danger to children’s health children who lived within c University of Southern California Significantly d lung power Children could have e low regional pollution area measured the children’s f which they could exhale how much air the children g developed more healthily the rate at h 500 meters of busy highways a relatively i weakened lungs 10 Road pollution is a serious 25’ a breathing problems j breathing problems Post-Reading  STUDENT A’s - Asking students to - Working in QUESTIONS (Do not show work in pairs to pairs these to student B) discuss a Did the headline make you questions answers want to read the article? b Did anything in the article surprise you? c What you think of road pollution? d Do you live or have you lived near a busy road? e Is there a lot of road pollution near where you live? f What is the worst pollution you have encountered? XIX the and g What is your government doing to tackle road pollution? h Should vehicles with high emissions be banned from the roads? i What bothers you more, road pollution or noise pollution? j Do you think motorists should pay to use busier roads? STUDENT B’s QUESTIONS (Do not show these to student A) a Did you like reading this article? b What you think about what you read? c When you think roads will become less polluted? d Have you ever suffered any form of lung complaint? e Do you know of any traffic pollution surveys in your town/city? f Would you raise children near a busy road? g Do you think children with lung damage should sue their government for damages? XX h Would you be angry with your parents if they raised you near a busy road? - Asking students to - Discuss with i Are drivers criminals if they work in pairs with another use busy roads and know they another partner and partner are polluting children’s lungs? tell them what they j Did you like this discussion? talked about AFTER DISCUSSION: Join another partner and tell them what you talked about a What was the most interesting thing you heard? b Was there a question you didn’t like? c Was there something - Asking students to - Working in you totally disagreed with? work in group of groups d What did you like to role-play talking about? c Which was the most difficult question?  ROLE PLAY: CLASSROOM DEBATE: Role A – Road environmentalist You are anti car and an anti vehicle person You think everyone should go on public transport e.g the metro, bus, XXI - Role-playing trolleybus or tram Role B – Car lover You love your car You need your car You drive to work You drive to the supermarket You drive everywhere! There are no trains and buses in your area Role C – A cyclist You hate cars They run you down Their fumes suffocate you You think everyone should cycle to work as it would be good for them People would be healthier and spend less time in hospital You think car drivers are as bad as smokers Role D – A 4x4 school run driver You take your kids to school every day You clog up the roads every morning Your vehicle does very little mileage to the gallon/few kilometers to the litre You hate small cars Role E – An oil company owner XXII You believe all studies into road pollution are rubbish If people stopped using cars, the world economy would collapse No one could get to work Billions of people would lose their jobs When the role play has finished, talk about what people said What you agree and disagree with? 5’ 5.Homework 1.VOCABULARY -Giving homework -Paying EXTENSION: to students attention Choose several of the words doing from the text Use a dictionary or homework Google’s search field (or another home and search engine) to build up more associations / collocations of each word TRAFFIC POLLUTION: Search the Internet and find more information about traffic pollution Talk about what you discover with your partner(s) in the next lesson POSTER XXIII at Make a poster about traffic pollution Show your poster to your classmates in the next lesson XXIV APPENDIX 6: CLASSROOM OBSERVATION SHEET Observer: ………………………………………………………………… Date and time of observation: …………………………………………… Lesson Topic: …………………………………………………………… Material: ………………………………………………………………… Instructions: - This sheet is for observing the whole class’s participation - This sheet is used by the teacher/ researcher only - Start observation during the reading lessons applying content-based approach - Tick in the column Yes, a lot or yes, a little and no for each statement below - Add final comments in the next column if necessary Activities Yes, Yes, a a lot little Do the students participate in the lesson enthusiastically? Do the students understand the vocabulary/phrased in the text? Do students understand the teacher’s explanation in English? Do the students interact with each other while working in pairs/groups? Do students complete all the tasks that the teacher asks? What types of exercises the XXV No Comments students well? - Finding out reference in the text - Matching conjunction with its function - Finding out repetition in the text - Relating given words in the same field - Finding antonym to synonym - Answering the questions - Finding out main idea in each paragraphs - Choosing the best answer - Writing summary of the text Are students good at…….skill? -Listening -Speaking -Reading -Writing XXVI ... TEACHING ENVIRONMENTAL ENGLISH TO STUDENTS: AN ACTION RESEARCH Sử dụng phương pháp d? ?a vào nội dung để dạy tiếng anh chuyên ngành môi trường cho sinh viên: Phương pháp cải tiến sư phạm M .A MINOR... language teachers with an understanding of a content-based approach to teaching Environmental English studies along with its advantages and disadvantages when employed in the context of a Vietnamese...VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES ********************* MAI THỊ THANH USING A CONTENT-BASED APPROACH TO TEACHING