1 Vietnam national university, Hanoi University of Languages and international studies faculty of Post-graduate Studies KIỀU THỊ THU HÀ THE NON-MAJOR ENGLISH STUDENTS’ ATTITUDES TOWARDS THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH IN ELECTRONICS READING AT HAI DUONG COLLEGE OF ECONOMICS AND TECHNOLOGY (Thái độ sinh viên không chuyên việc dạy đọc hiểu tiếng Anh chuyên ngành Điện tử trƣờng Cao đẳng Kinh tế - Kỹ thuật Hải Dƣơng) MA MINOR THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60 14 10 Hanoi, 2010 Vietnam national university, Hanoi University of Languages and international studies faculty of Post-graduate Studies KIỀU THỊ THU HÀ THE NON-MAJOR ENGLISH STUDENTS’ ATTITUDES TOWARDS THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH IN ELECTRONICS READING AT HAI DUONG COLLEGE OF ECONOMICS AND TECHNOLOGY (Thái độ sinh viên không chuyên việc dạy đọc hiểu tiếng Anh chuyên ngành Điện tử trƣờng Cao đẳng Kinh tế - Kỹ thuật Hải Dƣơng) MA MINOR THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60 14 10 Cohort: MA 17 Supervisor: Phạm Minh Tâm, (M.Ed.) Hanoi, 2010 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS HCET: Hai Duong College of Economics and Technology GE: General English ESP: English for Specific Purposes EE: English in Electronics LIST OF TABLES Table 1: Students’ Attitude towards English in Electronics at HCET Table 2: Students’ Awareness of the Importance of English in Electronics at HCET Table 3: Students’ Awareness of Teachers’ roles in EE Reading Teaching at HCET Table 4: Students’ Evaluations to the Teachers’ Approaches in EE Reading Teaching at HCET Table 5: Students’ Evaluations to the Teachers’ Techniques in EE Pre-reading Teaching at HCET Table 6: Students’ Evaluations to the Teachers’ Techniques in EE While-reading Teaching at HCET Table 7: Students’ Evaluations to the Teachers’ Techniques in EE Post-reading Teaching at HCET TABLE OF CONTENTS Declaration………………………………………………………………………………… i Acknowledgements………………………………………………………………………… ii List of Abbreviation……………………………………………………………………… iii List of Tables……………………………………………………………………………… iv Abstract…………………………………………………………………………………… v PART A: INTRODUCTION Rationale……………………………………………………………………… Aims of the Study……………………………………………………………… Research Questions…………………………………………………………… Research Methodology………………………………………………………… Scope of the Study…………………………………………………………… Design of the Study…………………………………………………………… PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 1.1 The Nature of Reading Comprehension…………………………………… 1.1.1 What is Reading and Reading Comprehension? 1.1.1.1 What is Reading? 1.1.1.2 What is Reading Comprehension? 1.1.2 Reading Comprehension Process…………………………………… 1.1.2.1 The Schema Theory……………………………………… 1.1.2.2 Bottom – up and Top-down Processing…………………… 1.1.2.3 Interactive Processing……………………………………… 1.2 An Overview of English for Specific Purposes …………………………… 1.2.1 What is ESP? 1.2.2 English in Electronics……………………………………………… 1.3 Approaches to Teach EE Reading……………………………….………… 10 1.3.1 Grammar – Translation Approach…………………………………… 10 1.3.2 Communicative Language Teaching Approach…………………… 11 1.3.2.1 Content-Based Approach………………………………… 11 1.3.2.2 Task-Based Approach……………………………………… 12 1.4 Techniques to Teach EE Reading ………………………………………… 12 1.4.1 In Pre-Reading……………………………………………………… 12 1.4.2 In While-Reading…………………………………………………… 13 1.4.3 In Post-Reading……………………………………………………… 13 CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY 2.1 Research Context…………………………………………………………… 15 2.1.1 ESP Course and the Objectives of the Teaching of EE Reading at HCET… 15 2.1.2 The Background of the EE Classroom at HCET…………………… 16 2.1.2.1 The Teachers’ Problems…………………………………………… 16 2.1.2.2 The Students’ Problems…………………………………………… 16 2.1.2.3 Materials…………………………………………………………… 17 2.2 Research Questions…………………………………………………………… 18 2.3 Research Approach………………………………………………………… 19 2.4 Participants…………………………………………………………………… 19 2.4.1 Population…………………………………………………………… 19 2.4.3 Sampling…………………………………………………………… 19 2.4.2 Description of Participants………………………………………… 19 2.5 The instrument……………………………………………………………… 20 2.6 Data Collection Procedure…………………………………………………… 21 10 2.7 Data Analysis Procedure…………………………………………………… 21 2.8 Conclusive Remarks………………………………………………………… 22 CHAPTER 3: RESULTS AND DICUSSION 3.1 Results and Discussion……………………………………………………… 23 3.1.1 Questionnaire………………………………………………………… 23 3.1.1.1 General Attitudes towards English in Electronics……………… 23 3.1.1.2 Awareness of the Importance of EE Reading Comprehension… 24 3.1.1.3 Awareness of the Teachers’ Roles in EE Reading Teaching…… 25 3.1.1.4 The Students’ Evaluations to the Teachers’ Approaches in EE Reading Teaching 26 3.1.1.5 The Students’ Evaluations to the Teachers’ Techniques in EE Reading Teaching 27 3.1.1.6 The students’ Style Preferences for EE Reading Teaching……… 31 3.2 Conclusive Remarks………………………………………………………… 34 CHAPTER 4: IMPLICATIONS FOR EE READING TEACHING 4.1 Summary of the Findings…………………………………………………… 35 4.2 Implications…………………………………………………………………… 36 4.2.1 Building up Good Basic Background Knowledge………………… 36 4.2.2 Improving Learning Environment…………………………………… 36 4.2.3 Enhancing Teachers’ Professional Knowledge……………………… 36 4.2.4 Employing the Blend of Two Approaches………………………… 37 4.2.5 Using Various Activities in Three Reading Stages………………… 38 4.2.6 Developing the Reading Materials………………………………… 38 4.2.7 Recommending a Sample Lesson Plan……………………………… 38 PART C: CONCLUSION Conclusion…………………………………………………………………… 39 Limitations of the Study……………………………………………………… 39 11 Recommendations for further Research…………………………………… Reference Appendices A Sample Lesson Plan 39 12 PART A: INTRODUCTION Rationale With the strong and rapid development of science and technology, more and more inventions are born and applied for daily life demands of human beings The question is that all materials of advanced technology are in English while not all people in the world can use English smoothly, especially English in science and technology Therefore, there is a growing demand for English teaching to meet the needs of learners who want to “gain access to the required knowledge that is available, either exclusively or most readily, in English” (Munby, 1978, p.3) or to serve other specific purposes This leads to English for specific purpose (ESP) Being aware of the importance of ESP, Hai Duong College of Economics and Technology (HCET) has added ESP teaching for students finishing General English with the aim that ESP can provide students with background knowledge, a system of terms related to the fields which they are studying (economics, electrical engineering and electronics) and more importantly, some approaches as well as techniques of reading ESP materials These will help them develop their own communicative competence and self – study on ESP materials According to Carrell (1981, p.1), “reading is by far the most important of the four macro-skills, particularly in English as a second foreign language” that is true for General English and is extremely true for ESP in general and English in Electronics (EE) in particular Thanks to ESP subject, the non-major English students can make extensive use of academic materials written in English and then increase their professional knowledge in their specialized fields However, ESP reading teaching in general and EE reading teaching at HCET in particular remains teacher-centered, and for many English language teachers, ESP reading teaching means teaching terminologies This can be rooted in the Vietnamese traditional philosophy of education who views a knowledge transmission as the ultimate goal of the education process In this process, students are passive and they learn whatever teachers “pour” As a result, not only knowledge but also learning styles are imposed on students by teachers What is more, when they face up with new materials with new terminologies, they not know how to sort them out A study on the nonmajor English students’ attitudes towards the teaching of EE reading is the first reason why I chose this topic Another reason is related to my personal profession Despite being a student who graduated from Ha Noi University of Technology, Department for English in Science and Technology, I have realized that how to make ESP reading teaching satisfactory to students is really a great challenge facing every teacher of English Since graduation, I have been haunted by the question of how to deal with English in Electronics reading more effectively at my college The answer to this question would be of great help to myself as well as to my colleagues I hope that these following evidences of students’ expectations will help teachers have the best ways of teaching EE reading 13 Aims of the Study The study aims at:  To investigate into students’ attitudes towards the teaching of English in Electronics reading at Hai Duong College of Economics and Technology  To find out in what ways the teacher can make their reading teaching more suitable to the students’ expectations To achieve the aims of the study, the following specific objectives were established:  Firstly, to find out how EE reading is approached at HCET as well as the students’ attitudes towards English in Electronics reading This may affect the effectiveness of EE reading  Secondly, to understand the students’ views on the current teaching of English in Electronics reading at HCET to assert the need to narrow the gap between EE reading teaching and learning  Thirdly, to offer some suggestions for treating EE reading teaching issues at HCET in order to heighten the effectiveness of EE reading teaching at HCET Research Questions To achieve the aims of the thesis, the following research questions were proposed: 1) What are the non-major English students’ attitudes towards the current teaching of English in Electronics reading at HCET? 2) What are the implications for the teaching of English in Electronics reading at HCET? Research Methodology In this research, various sources of data were used through one questionnaire, involving the nonmajor English students at Hai Duong College of Economics and Technology The questionnaire was designed in such a way that both closed and open-ended questions to ensure deep data The data was analyzed both qualitatively and quantitatively Scope of the Study As it has been stated above, the study is designed to explore the non-major English students’ attitudes towards the teaching of English in Electronics reading in order to make some methodological recommendations for English in Electronics reading teaching This study is, therefore, descriptive by nature The other subjects of the study are the non-major English students at Hai Duong College of Economics and Technology, the “specific purposes” of the course are confined to “English in Electronics” Design of the Study This study consists of three parts: ... COLLEGE OF ECONOMICS AND TECHNOLOGY (Thái độ sinh viên không chuyên việc dạy đọc hiểu tiếng Anh chuyên ngành Điện tử trƣờng Cao đẳng Kinh tế - Kỹ thuật Hải Dƣơng) MA MINOR THESIS Field: English... Post-graduate Studies KIỀU THỊ THU HÀ THE NON-MAJOR ENGLISH STUDENTS’ ATTITUDES TOWARDS THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH IN ELECTRONICS READING AT HAI DUONG COLLEGE OF ECONOMICS AND TECHNOLOGY (Thái độ sinh. .. processes, seemingly all at one Using top-down and bottom-up approaches, readers use pre-reading information to make some predictions about the text Using bottom-up approach, readers start by processing