1 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST - GRADUATE STUDIES ********* NGUYỄN THỊ NGỌC TUYẾT DIFFICULTIES IN TEACHING ESP VOCABULARY TO SECOND – YEAR STUDENTS AT HANOI COMMUNITY COLLEGE: A CASE STUDY NGHIÊN CỨU NHỮNG KHÓ KHĂN TRONG VIỆC DẠY TỪ VỰNG TIẾNG ANH CHUYÊN NGÀNH CHO SINH VIÊN NĂM THỨ HAI TẠI TRƯỜNG CAO ĐẲNG CỘNG ĐỒNG HÀ NỘI M.A MINOR THESIS Field: English methodology Code: 60.14.10 Hanoi – 2010 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST - GRADUATE STUDIES ********* NGUYỄN THỊ NGỌC TUYẾT DIFFICULTIES IN TEACHING ESP VOCABULARY TO SECOND – YEAR STUDENTS AT HANOI COMMUNITY COLLEGE: A CASE STUDY NGHIÊN CỨU NHỮNG KHÓ KHĂN TRONG VIỆC DẠY TỪ VỰNG TIẾNG ANH CHUYÊN NGÀNH CHO SINH VIÊN NĂM THỨ HAI TẠI TRƯỜNG CAO ĐẲNG CỘNG ĐỒNG HÀ NỘI M.A MINOR THESIS Field: English methodology Code: 60.14.10 Supervisor: Dr Nguyễn Huy Kỷ Hanoi TABLE OF CONTENTS Candidate’s statement ………………………………………………………………………i Acknowledgements ……………………………………………………………………… ii Abstract ……………………………………………………………………………………iii Table of contents ………………………………………………………………………… iv List of abbreviations ………………………………………………………………………vii List of tables …………………………………………………………………………… viii List of figures …………………………………………………………………………….viii PART A: INTRODUCTION …………………………………………………………… 1 Rationale ……………………………………………………………………………… Objectives of the study …………………………………………………………………2 Research questions …………………………………………………………………… Scope of the study …………………………………………………………………… Methods of the study ………………………………………………………………… Significance of the study ……………………………………………………………….3 Design of the study …………………………………………………………………… PART B: DEVELOPMENT …………………………………………………………… CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW ……………………………………………… 1.1 ELT vocabulary teaching ……………………………………………………………5 1.1.1 What is vocabulary? …………………………………………………………………5 1.1.2 Selecting vocabulary ……………………………………………………………… 1.1.3 What need to be taught? …………………………………………………………… 1.1.4 Teaching vocabulary ……………………………………………………………… 1.1.4.1 Presentation techniques ……………………………………………………………6 1.1.4.2 Practice and consolidation techniques …………………………………………… 1.2 ESP vocabulary teaching …………………………………………………………….7 1.2.1 What is ESP vocabulary? ……………………………………………………………8 1.2.2 Needs analysis in ESP vocabulary teaching …………………………………………9 1.2.3 Important aspects of ESP vocabulary teaching …………………………………….10 1.2.3.1 Word formation ………………………………………………………………… 10 1.2.3.2 Word relations ……………………………………………………………………11 1.2.4 Teaching ESP vocabulary ………………………………………………………….12 1.2.4.1 Presentation techniques ………………………………………………………… 12 1.2.4.2 Practice and consolidation techniques ……………………………………………12 1.3 Problems in conducting an ESP course ……………………………………………13 CHAPTER 2: THE INVESTIGATION ……………………………………………… 14 2.1 The context of teaching and learning vocabulary at Hanoi Community College 2.1.1 The syllabus and materials …………………………………………………………14 2.1.2 The teachers ……………………………………………………………………… 14 2.1.3 The students ……………………………………………………………………… 15 2.2 Methods and procedures ………………………………………………………… 15 2.2.1 Research questions …………………………………………………………………15 2.2.2 The participants …………………………………………………………………….16 2.2.3 Data collection instruments ……………………………………………………… 16 2.2.4 Data collection procedure ………………………………………………………… 16 2.2.5 Data analysis ……………………………………………………………………….17 2.3 Findings and discussion .17 2.3.1 The teachers’ questionnaire …………………………………………………… 17 2.3.1.1 The teachers’ background ……………………………………………………… 17 2.3.1.2 The teachers’ attitude towards ESP vocabulary teaching ……………………… 18 2.3.1.3 The teachers’ techniques to teach ESP vocabulary ………………………………19 2.3.1.4 The teachers’ difficulties in teaching ESP vocabulary ………………………… 21 2.3.1.5 The teachers’ suggestions to improve their ESP vocabulary teaching ………… 22 2.3.2 The students’ questionnaire …………………………………………………… 24 2.3.2.1 The students’ background ……………………………………………………… 24 2.3.2.2 The students’ attitude towards ESP vocabulary learning ……………………… 25 2.3.2.3 The students’ ways of learning ESP vocabulary …………………………………27 2.3.2.4 The students’ difficulties in learning ESP vocabulary ………………………… 32 2.3.2.5 The students’ suggestions to improve their ESP vocabulary learning ………… 34 PART C: CONCLUSIONS …………………………………………………………… 37 Difficulties in teaching ESP vocabulary to second – year students at HCC ………… 37 Suggestions to improve teaching ESP vocabulary to second – year students at HCC …38 Limitations and suggestions for further studies ……………………………………… 39 REFERENCES ……………………………………………………………………………40 APPENDICES …………………………………………………………………………… I APPENDIX ……………………………………………………………………………….I APPENDIX …………………………………………………………………………… IV LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ELT: English Language Teaching ESP: English for Specific Purposes HCC: Hanoi Community College 10 LIST OF TABLES Table Teachers’ experience in teaching ESP ………………… ………………………17 Table Purposes of teaching ESP vocabulary……………………………………………18 Table Teachers’ evaluation on the importance of phonetics, vocabulary and grammar in ESP teaching ……………………………………………… ……………………………18 Table Teachers’ frequency of presentation techniques ……… ……………………….19 Table Teachers’ frequency of practice techniques ……………….…………………….20 Table Teachers’ frequency of consolidation activities …………………………………20 Table Teachers’ difficulties in teaching ESP vocabulary .21 Table Teachers’ suggestions to improve their ESP vocabulary teaching …….……… 22 Table Students’ evaluation on the importance of phonetics, vocabulary and grammar in ESP learning ………………………………………………………………………………26 Table 10 Students’ habits of learning vocabulary ……………………………………… 28 Table 11 Students’ regular activities in class …………………………………………….29 Table 12 Practice exercises which were most preferred by the students ……………… 30 Table 13 Students’ suggestions to improve their ESP vocabulary learning …………… 34 LIST OF FIGURES Figure Teachers’ experience in being trained on teaching ESP ……………………….18 Figure Students’ background ………………………………………………………… 24 Figure Students’ opinions about the role of ESP for their future job ………………… 25 Figure Students’ evaluation on the importance of phonetics, vocabulary and grammar in ESP learning ………………………………………………………………………………26 Figure Students’ frequency of learning new words at home ………………………… 27 Figure Students’ favourite way of new lexical item explanation ………………………27 Figure Students’ favourite consolidation activities …………………………………….31 Figure Students’ difficulties in learning vocabulary ………………………………… 32 Figure Students’ understanding about ESP vocabulary learning strategies ……………33 11 PART A: INTRODUCTION Rationale Nowadays, English language plays an important role in increasing development of science, technology, politics, culture and international relations in Vietnam For that reason, there is a great demand for teaching and learning English throughout the country for different purposes In the rapidly changing world, teaching English for Specific Purposes (ESP) has become one of the most prominent features of the English language teaching process Hutchinson and Waters (1987) reported that ESP is an approach for language teaching in which all decisions regarding content and methods are based on the learners’ reasons for learning It focuses on using English effectively in specific academic fields such as business, law, medicine, sciences, etc In teaching English for Specific Purposes, no one argues that the scope of specialized vocabulary is a primary goal As Robinson (1991:4) stated the central role of vocabulary as carrier content in ESP: “It may often be thought that a characteristic, or even a critical feature, of ESP is that a course should involve specialist language (especially terminology) and content.” However, up to now, teaching and learning ESP, particularly teaching and learning vocabulary has still been far from satisfactory With many similar characteristics and a number of different features in comparison with General English, ESP is viewed as something hard to teach for language teachers In the context of Hanoi Community College (HCC), students start to learn ESP at the beginning of the second year In fact, with a short duration of 30 class hours, one of the most important aims of ESP course for these students is achieving basic ESP vocabulary However, with limited knowledge of vocabulary, it is hard for them to study They often learn vocabulary passively through their teachers’ explanation In addition, there are too many new words given in each lesson, too little time spent on memorizing and recycling those words Thus, there arises the need to increase the number of words they know, which requires a great deal of help from the teachers Meanwhile, the frequently used method to teach vocabulary in class is to give the explanations and Vietnamese equivalents, then have students some kinds of vocabulary exercises and rarely give feedback to their students 12 As a result, the teachers are facing a number of problems during their teaching process, which need to be identified and worked out as soon as possible to improve their vocabulary teaching For all these reasons, I would like to conduct a research to find out the difficulties in teaching ESP vocabulary to second-year students at Hanoi Community College and give some suggestions to improve the teaching and learning of ESP vocabulary there Objectives of the study In this study, three objectives were involved as follow: To give better understanding of the notions of vocabulary and ESP vocabulary; some important aspects of ESP vocabulary teaching, some techniques currently used in teaching vocabulary and ESP vocabulary To identify some problems in teaching ESP vocabulary to Second – Year Students at HCC To suggest some solutions to improve teaching ESP vocabulary to Second – Year Students at HCC Research questions The research is carried out with an attempt to find out the answers to the following questions: What are the major difficulties encountered by teachers in the teaching of ESP vocabulary to Second – Year Students at HCC? What are the suggestions for a better teaching ESP vocabulary to Second – Year Students at HCC? Scope of the study The study is limited to the area of teaching ESP vocabulary to Second – Year Students at HCC Specially, this minor thesis deals with the current and common problems experienced by the teachers at HCC There are two levels of training at the college: College level and Vocational Training level Within its scope, the study is limited itself only to the ESP for Vocational students The investigation primarily deals with reading in an ESP course - “English for Architecture and Construction” 13 In addition, based on the discussions of these problems, some feasible solutions will be introduced Methods of the study The study is designed to use a combination of various methods to obtain its aims and objectives To begin with, an extensive of literature review is conducted, defining the notions of vocabulary and ESP vocabulary; some important aspects of ESP vocabulary teaching, some techniques currently used in teaching vocabulary and ESP vocabulary Then the major method used in the study is the quantitative one That is all comments, considerations, suggestions given in the thesis are based on the analysis of the statistic from the survey questionnaires conducted with the teachers and students at HCC The results from the survey questionnaires are combined with course book assessment, classroom observation, informal interviews and discussions with the teachers and students at HCC Significance of the study The significance of this research stems from the fact that vocabulary plays an important role in teaching and learning ESP This study emphasizes the need for finding out the difficulties in teaching ESP vocabulary and suggestions to improve the teaching and learning ESP vocabulary The results obtained in this study would be helpful to the teachers and students at HCC as well as general audience, especially second language teachers and learners who want to teach and learn ESP better In addition, the findings would be useful to researchers who want to further research on this topic or extend this knowledge to any other related fields of study Finally, for ESP textbook writers it would serve as a reference in the development of teaching materials necessary for successful ESP teaching and learning Design of the study The thesis is organized into three parts: Part A: Introduction This part presents the rationale, objectives, research questions, scope as well as methods and significance of the study 43 As the results presented in above figure, word pronouncing seemed to be the least difficult for the students, which accounts for 41% Besides, 44% of the students had difficulty in using words, in other words, they could not find the right words to use while they knew a number of words What is more, a considerable number of the students (52%) found it difficult to remember words Additionally, many students complained, in a further interview, that they easily forgot the words they had learnt though they spent much time learning new words This may result from the fact that that they did not have effective ways of learning vocabulary or maybe their teachers did not provide them with various vocabulary learning strategies Last, at the top of the difficult list was finding appropriate meanings with a great proportion (77%) Indeed, not all ESP words or phrases have equivalents in Vietnamese and they can only be fully understood in specific situation require ESP knowledge Question 10 Following Question 9, Question 10 was set up to explore the students’ understanding about vocabulary learning strategies Figure shows the results of this question Figure Students’ understanding about ESP vocabulary learning strategies 26% 3% 18% Clear understanding Understanding No understanding No understanding at all 53% The collected data indicated that there were only 18% of the students had some understanding about vocabulary learning strategies In addition, no more than 3% of them had good knowledge of vocabulary learning strategies A great proportion of the students (53%) admitted that they did not understand about vocabulary learning strategies Furthermore, 26% of them had no ideas at all Findings of this question revealed the fact that this problem may not be paid due attention to 44 2.3.2.5 The students’ suggestions to improve their ESP vocabulary learning Question 11 Table 13 Students’ suggestions to improve their ESP vocabulary learning Suggestions Agree Disagree A Organizing small classes (25-30 students) 72% 28% B Increasing ESP course duration from 30 class hours to 60 class hours 89% 11% C Supplying word lists of new vocabulary for each unit and phonetic translations next to each new lexical item 91% 9% D Giving more thorough explanations of new lexical items from teachers 68% 32% E Giving more post-reading activities to help students with the process of new lexical item recycling and acquisition 83% 17% F Creating various new activities to attract students into learning process 61% 39% G Providing students with some effective vocabulary learning strategies 79% 21% H Equipping the college library with more specialized reference books and ESP dictionaries 64% 36% I Providing students with some useful websites for learning vocabulary on the Internet 69% 31% Students’ suggestions in term of materials As can be seen, 72% of the students wished to learn in small classes with 25-30 students Indeed, further interviews with the students revealed the fact that their large classes (constantly over 50%) prevented them from fully involving in all activities which the teachers organized in class From Table 13, it is apparent that a high percentage of the students (89%) would like the course to be longer Many students made complaints in further interviews that 30 class hours seemed to be not long enough for them to study well They need more time with more activities to help them understand, remember and revise new words 45 Another finding is that nearly all of the students (91%) preferred being supplied word lists of new vocabulary for each unit and phonetic translations next to each new lexical item Indeed, remembering ESP words is relatively hard work, especially long terminologies That is the reason why the students required word lists and phonetic translations to make it easier to read and remember What is more, 64% of the students expected their college library to be equipped with more specialized reference books and ESP dictionaries In fact, in the college library there are only a few specialized reference books and no ESP dictionaries at all Meanwhile dictionaries are good resources where new words and new uses for old words can be encountered Especially, 64% o the students expressed their preference to be provided some useful websites for learning vocabulary on the Internet As we know, class time is limited, so the students need to study more after classes Computers are seen to be an invaluable learning aid Nowadays, mostly everyone is required to be computer literate The use of computers helps students to learn at their own pace, lever their motivation and enable self-check (Penny Ur, 1996) Moreover, we should make use of the worldwide web for different activities to create the habit of self-learning for ESP students Students’ suggestions in term of teacher’s methodology Teaching methods have significant influences on students’ motivation and involvement in class activities Thus, 68% of the students expected their teachers to explain new lexical items more thoroughly Besides, a great number of the students (83%) wanted to have more activities to recycle the new words As you know, recycling is an efficient method to repeat and acquire new items and it seem to be quite effective with the new lexical items of ESP Moreover, 61% of the students preferred to participate in more activities created by the teacher to smooth their vocabulary acquisition process In addition, there should be a variety of activities such as presentation, problem solving, role-play, practical hand-on activities, field visits and interviews with experts using the target language exclusively, etc Finally, 76% of the students expected to be taught some effective ESP vocabulary learning strategies This finding perfectly matches with the findings presented in Figure 46 of Question 10 regarding students’ understanding about ESP vocabulary learning strategies in which 79% of the students declared that they had no understanding about it 47 PART C: CONCLUSIONS Difficulties in teaching ESP vocabulary to second – year students at HCC From the findings in analysis of the collected data as well as small talks, discussion and interviews with the teachers and students, we can come to the following conclusions about the difficulties in teaching ESP vocabulary to second – year students at HCC Obviously, vocabulary plays an important role in teaching and learning ESP It has been given the first rank by all of HCC teachers and students at the college However, how to teach and learn ESP vocabulary efficiently is really a difficult question to both ESP teachers and students at the college The difficulties, according to HCC teachers and students, might come from different sources, Firstly, it is unsuitable class size (ranging from 50 to 60 students) that may reduce the effectiveness of teaching and learning process Besides, short duration of ESP course (30 class hours) accounts for one more difficulty Secondly, different background, different levels of General English and limited vocabulary knowledge of the students challenge both the teachers and students so much Other difficulties lie in the students‟ ignorance of vocabulary learning strategies and selflearning habit Thirdly, the most common problem is in the area of the nature of ESP vocabulary with a lot of terminologies which the students find it difficult to pronounce, remember and use and which sometimes both the teachers and students could not find Vietnamese equivalents Fourthly, on the part of ESP teachers, difficulties are caused by their lack of specialized knowledge and lack of various vocabulary teaching techniques All of the teachers most frequently use the traditional method of teaching vocabulary - translating into Vietnamese, whereas most of the students prefer learning new words with visual aids and realia This fact may negatively influence the students‟ interest in learning vocabulary Moreover, the teachers have to cover a number of different ESP subjects in a year, which is very timeconsuming due to the fact that with an ESP subject a lot of work has to be done 48 For the last difficulty, apparently teaching aids and reference materials are significant factor in teaching and learning process At the college there is only one language laboratory with quite old equipment which is usually out of order Especially, the college library lacks reference materials, especially ESP books and dictionaries Suggestions to improve teaching ESP vocabulary to second – year students at HCC Based on the findings of the study and to the best understanding of the researcher, some suggestions are provided with the hope that they would diminish the difficulties in teaching ESP vocabulary to second – year students at HCC and improve the effect of ESP vocabulary teaching and learning First, small classes with 25-30 students should be organized instead of too large classes at the present Also, ESP course duration should be increased from 30 class hours to 60 class hours These will be considerable advantages to the effectiveness of both teaching and learning Second, in order to improve learning vocabulary interest and motivation, the teachers ought to present vocabulary by using effective vocabulary teaching techniques such as full use of visual aids and realia Teachers should concentrate on the learner’s interaction (student-centered) rather than lecturing and overwhelming the course with exhaustive list of new words and boring vocabulary exercises Extra-activities such as discussion, interview, role-play, word games should be created to enhance students‟ motivation and maximize their enthusiasm and initiative Third, students should be provided with various strategies for learning vocabulary It may be worth considering that not everybody learns in the same way Even without close attention to learning styles, some variety is beneficial to more or less everybody Teachers can both suggest and demonstrate various methods to students so that they can choose the best one for themselves Fourth, to the students, is is necessary for them to be more aware of the importance of their self-learning while time distributed for their ESP lessons is strictly limited Dictionaries, E-learning, vocabulary notebook and homework are recommended as tools to serve their self-learning 49 Fifth, ESP teachers need to be well-prepared and well-qualified for what they‟re going to teach Therefore, ESP teachers should have a twofold training in language and the content area of their students They should keep up to date concerning both their training as ESP teachers and their students' field Sixth, the ESP teacher should not work in total isolation, they should work with colleagues teaching the same branch of ESP, or co-operate with subject specialists They work together to needs analysis, to plan and design ESP courses with the purpose of developing true interdisciplinary teaching partnerships Subject teachers may act as the specialists in the academic field and share their expertise in the area of both curriculum and instruction of core academic material, while language teachers can contribute their expertise in terms of language acquisition and pedagogy Last, it is very important to upgrade the language laboratory and equip the college library with various dictionaries and reference books on ESP written in both English and Vietnamese The library is useful for the teachers as well as the students to improve not only their English language but also their specialized knowledge In conclusion, all the objectives of the study have been accomplished and it is hoped that the study will contribute to improve teaching ESP vocabulary to second-year students at HCC Limitations and suggestions for further studies Although much effort has been made, the limitations of this research are unavoidable due to the author’s limited knowledge and research experience First, the study is limited to only one specific part in teaching ESP – vocabulary, and one course book compiled by the teachers at the college Second, ESP teacher was also the researcher so the so called “teacher factor’ may concern the validity of the research Finally, the target subjects of the study are also limited to second-year students of Construction Department and the English teachers at HCC Therefore, generalization of this study should be made carefully to other students who have the same level of education and similar backgrounds in another context Further research might be conducted with a larger group of participants, which could yield broader generalization 50 REFERENCES Allen, V F (1983), Techniques in Teaching Vocabulary, Oxford University Press Aitchison, J (1987), Words in the mind: An introduction to the mental lexicon, Oxford University Press Austin, J L (1975), How to things with words, Oxford Bouillon, P and Busa, F (2001), The Language of Word Meaning, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge Coady, J (1997), Second language vocabulary acquisition: a rationale for pedagogy, New York Digby, C (1991), Making sense of vocabulary, London Douglas, D (2000), Assessing Language for Specific Purpose, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge Dudley-Evans, T & St John M J (1987), Developments in English for Specific Purposes, Cambridge University Press Flower, J (1989), Build your vocabulary, Hove Gairns, R and Redman, S (1986), Working with Words: A guide to teaching and learning vocabulary, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge Gillham, B (2000), Developing a questionnaire, London Harmer, J (1991), The Practice of English Language Teaching, Longman, London Hatch, E and Brown, C (1995), Vocabulary, Semantics, and Language Education : Cambridge University Press, Cambridge Hutchinson, T and Waters, A (1987), English for Specific Purposes: A Learning – Centred Approach, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge Huyền, V T N (2005), A study on effective ways to teach vocabulary to enhance comprehension of second year students at Law faculty – Vietnam National University, MA Thesis, College of Foreign Languages, Hanoi Jackson, H and Amvela, E Z (2000), Words, Meaning and Vocabulary: An Introduction to Modern English Lexicology, Cassell, London and New York Kenedy, C & Bolitho, R (1984), English for Specific Purposes, London and Basingstoke, Macmillan Press Ltd Khoo, R (1994), The practice of LSP: perspectives, programmes, and projects, Singapore 51 Kỷ, N H (2006), Ngữ điệu tiếng Anh người Việt (English Intonation by the Vietnamese), Hà Nội, Nhà xuất Văn hóa – Thông tin Martin, I (1992), An invitation to explore ESP, SEAMEO Regional Language Centre, Singapore McCarthy, M (1990), Vocabulary, Oxford University Press Morgan, J and Rinvolucri, M (2004), Vocabulary (second edition), Oxford University Press, Oxford Nunan, D (1999), Second Language Teaching and Learning, Heinle and Heinle Publishers, Boston Pyles, T and Algeo, J (1970), English – An Introduction to Language, New York: Harcourt, Brace and World Read, J (2000), Assessing vocabulary, New York Redman, S (2003), English Vocabulary in Use: pre-intermediate and intermediate, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge Schmitt, N and McCarthy, M (1997), Vocabulary: description, acquisition and pedagogy, Cambridge University Press Strevens, P (1988), ESP After Twenty Years: A Re – Appraisal in Tickoo, M., ESP: State of the Art, SEAMEO Regional Language Centre, Singapore Taylor, L (1990), Teaching and Learning Vocabulary, New York: Prentice Hall Trimble, L (1985), English for Science and Technology: A Discourse Approach Cambridge University Press, Cambridge Ur, P (1996), A course in Language teaching – Practice and Theory, Cambridge University Press Waters, A (1983), Issues in ESP, Oxford University Press Widdowson, H G (1982), Learning Purpose and Language Use, Oxford University Press Websites: http://www.asian-esp-journal.com http://www.english-to-go.com http://www.espteacher.com http://www.esp-world.info http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk http://www.vocabulary.com 52 APPENDICES APPENDIX 1: QUESTIONNAIRE FOR TEACHERS AT HCC The following questionnaire is designed for my study on “difficulties in teaching ESP vocabulary to second – year students at Hanoi Community College” Your answer to these questions will be highly appreciated and will be valuable help in identifying some problems in teaching ESP vocabulary and suggesting some solutions to improve teaching ESP vocabulary to Second – Year Students at HCC You can be confident that you will not be identified in any discussion of the data Please circle your choice Thank you very much for your help! How long have you been teaching ESP? A 5 years Have you ever been trained on teaching ESP? A Yes B No If „Yes‟, where were you trained? A at post-graduate courses B at training courses What are the purposes of teaching ESP vocabulary? (More than one choice is accepted) A To help students pass the exam B To help students enrich their vocabulary C To help students read specialized materials D To help students communicate with foreigners How you evaluate the importance of phonetics, vocabulary and grammar in ESP teaching? Very important Phonetics Vocabulary Grammar Important Neutral Unimportant 53 How often you use the following techniques to present new lexical items? Techniques Always Sometimes Rarely Never A Visual techniques (using flash cards, photographs, drawings, charts, realia, gestures and mime) B Verbal techniques (using illustrative situations, definition, synonyms/ antonyms, gradable items and example of type) C Translation How often you use the following practicing vocabulary exercises? Exercises Always Sometimes Rarely Never A Fill in the blanks to complete sentences B Fill in the blanks to complete summary passages C Connect new lexical items with their correct definitions D Make sentences using suggested words/ phrases How often you use the following techniques/ activities to consolidate and check your students’ vocabulary? Always Sometimes Rarely Never A Provide homework B Give tests to the students C Give feedback regularly What are your difficulties in teaching ESP vocabulary to students? (Circle all possible answers) A Too large classes B Short duration of ESP course (30 class hours) 54 C Teaching several ESP subjects at the same time D Finding Vietnamese equivalence E Students‟ lack of ESP vocabulary What are your recommendations to overcome your difficulties in teaching ESP vocabulary and improve your students’ vocabulary? A Organizing small classes (25 – 30 students) B Arranging one teacher to teach only one ESP subject C Increasing ESP course duration from 30 class hours to 60 class hours D Providing teachers with more teaching aids and reference books E Establishing the co-operation between subject teachers and English teachers F Training specialized knowledge for ESP teachers G Regularly training vocabulary teaching techniques for ESP teachers - The end Thank you for your help! 55 APPENDIX 2: QUESTIONNAIRE FOR THE STUDENTS Các câu hỏi nhằm mục đích tìm khó khăn việc dạy học từ vựng tiếng Anh chuyên ngành cho sinh viên năm thứ hai tạị trường Cao Đẳng Cộng Đồng Hà Nội Câu trả lời trung thực, xác em góp phần không nhỏ giúp nâng cao hiệu dạy học tiếng Anh chuyên ngành tạị trường Cao Đẳng Cộng Đồng Hà Nội Xin chân thành cảm ơn hợp tác em! Em trả lời câu hỏi sau cách khoanh tròn vào câu trả lời phù hợp với em viết câu trả lời cần thiết Các thông tin thân:  Giới tính:  Tuổi: ………  Nơi ở:  Trước vào trường Cao Đẳng Cộng Đồng Hà Nội, em học Tiếng Anh chưa? A nam B nữ A nông thôn A học B thành thị B chưa học Nếu học em học năm? A – năm B – năm C – năm D 10 năm Nếu chưa học em học ngoại ngữ nào?………………………  Điểm trung bình môn Tiếng Anh đại cương em năm đầu bao nhiêu? A < B – C – D > Theo em, tiếng Anh chuyên ngành có vai trò công việc em sau này? A Rất quan trọng B Tương đối quan trọng C Không có tác dụng Em đánh tầm quan trọng bình diện sau việc học tiếng Anh chuyên ngành? Rất quan trọng Quan trọng Bình thường Không quan trọng Ngữ âm Từ vựng Ngữ pháp Em có thường xuyên học từ vựng tiếng Anh chuyên ngành nhà không? A Hằng ngày B Sau buổi học tiếng Anh lớp 56 C Vài lần tháng D Không Em cảm thấy dễ nhớ từ vựng thuật ngữ giáo viên giải thích cách: A Sử dụng hình ảnh (tranh vẽ, phim ảnh,…) B Dịch sang tiếng Việt C Sử dụng định nghĩa tiếng Anh D Sử dụng từ đồng nghĩa, trái nghĩa E Để học sinh tự đoán nghĩa dựa ngữ cảnh gợi ý giáo viên Em học từ cách nào? (có thể chọn nhiều phương án) A Tra từ điển ghi lại nghĩa từ vào giáo trình B Chép từ vào sổ từ C Hỏi giáo viên/ bạn bè cố ghi nhớ (không chép lại) D Học thuộc lòng E Cố nhớ từ cách viết lại từ nhiều lần F Cố nhớ từ cách đặt câu với từ G Các cách học khác mà em áp dụng: …………………………………………………………………………………… Trong học tiếng Anh chuyên ngành, em thường tham gia vào hoạt động nào? (có thể chọn nhiều phương án) A Nghe giảng ghi chép B Giơ tay phát biểu ý kiến C Tích cực làm việc theo nhóm, cặp theo hướng dẫn giáo viên D Chủ động hỏi giáo viên từ chưa hiểu nghĩa Trong dạng tập sau, em đánh giá loại tập giúp em ghi nhớ từ hiệu quả? (đánh số thứ tự từ đến vào ô cho, hiệu số 1,…) A Bài tập điền từ vào chỗ trống câu A B Bài tập điền từ vào chỗ trống đoạn văn B C Bài tập nối từ với định nghĩa C D Bài tập dựng câu dựa từ cho sẵn D 57 Theo em, loại hình giúp em củng cố từ vựng hiệu quả? (có thể chọn nhiều phương án) A Bài tập nhà B Bài kiểm tra lớp C Ý kiến/Nhận xét phản hồi giáo viên Khi học từ vựng, em thường gặp khó khăn phần nào? (có thể chọn nhiều phương án) A Phát âm từ B Sử dụng từ C Nhớ từ D Chọn nghĩa từ phù hợp nội dung đọc 10 Qua học lớp, em có biết làm để học từ vựng tiếng Anh chuyên ngành đạt hiệu cao? A Biết rõ B Biết C Không biết D Hoàn toàn 11 Theo em, cần phải làm để giúp em nâng cao hiệu việc học tiếng Anh chuyên ngành? (có thể chọn nhiều phương án) A Giảm số lượng học sinh lớp xuống 25 – 30 học sinh B Tăng thời lượng chương trình Tiếng Anh chuyên ngành từ 30 tiết học lên 60 tiết học C Phổ biến rộng rãi cách học từ vựng Tiếng Anh chuyên ngành cho học sinh D Cần có bảng từ cho học ký hiệu phiên âm quốc tế bên cạnh từ E Giáo viên cần giải thích kỹ từ thuật ngữ Tiếng Anh chuyên ngành F Để giúp học sinh nhớ từ vựng Tiếng Anh chuyên ngành tốt hơn, cần có nhiều hoạt động sau đọc hiểu G Để nâng cao hứng thú học tập học sinh lớp cần có nhiều hoạt động đa dạng H Giới thiệu cho học sinh số websites mạng Internet mà hữu ích cho việc học từ vựng học sinh I Thư viện trường cần có thêm sách tham khảo Tiếng Anh chuyên ngành từ điển chuyên ngành Cảm ơn em nhiệt tình giúp đỡ! [...]... study It gives a brief introduction on the context of teaching and learning ESP vocabulary at HCC, the data collection methods and procedures Also in this chapter, the data will be analyzed and the findings will reveal the difficulties in teaching ESP vocabulary to second- year students at HCC as well as some suggestions to improve the teaching and learning of ESP vocabulary will be given Part C: Conclusions... how to use it appropriately but they are also valuable means of presentation in ESP vocabulary teaching 1.2.4 Teaching ESP vocabulary 1.2.4.1 Presentation techniques Bearing in mind the special aspects of ESP vocabulary teaching (See subsections 1.2.3.1 and 1.2.3.2) “many of the techniques traditionally used in ELT work can be exploited in ESP vocabulary teaching especially at the early stages when both... questions and encouraged to answer truly and frankly 2.2.5 Data analysis Data collected from the questionnaire was classified into different categories for teachers and students such as their background, their attitude towards ESP vocabulary, their teaching techniques, learning strategies, their difficulties in teaching and learning, their suggestions to improve ESP vocabulary teaching and learning Then... of ESP vocabulary to Second – Year Students at HCC? 26 2 What are the suggestions for a better teaching ESP vocabulary to Second – Year Students at HCC? 2.2.2 The participants This study was conducted with the participation of 7 English teachers and 100 students of HCC The teachers of English at the college were all chosen for the investigation as all of them have been teaching ESP They are all female... vocabulary teaching 18 In the previous section, we described the situation in ELT vocabulary teaching According to Kennedy and Bolitho (1984: 65), ESP vocabulary teaching has been also neglected as ELT vocabulary teaching ”Perhaps this is because of the difficulties involved in teaching vocabulary rather than merely testing it” (Kennedy and Bolitho, 1984: 65) Before the special aspects of teaching ESP vocabulary. .. training at post – graduated courses Consequently, they are facing with many difficulties in teaching process 2.3.1.2 The teachers’ attitude towards ESP vocabulary teaching Question 3 - Table 2 Purposes of teaching ESP vocabulary Purposes Number of teachers Percentage A To help students pass the exam 1 14% B To help students enrich their vocabulary 3 43% C To help students read specialized materials... necessities, are lacks and wants, whereas learning needs represent what the learner are expected to do in order to learn When we make decision about what ESP vocabulary to teach, it is necessary to look at the above-mentioned necessities, lacks and wants in more details According to Hutchinson and Waters, necessities can be understood as “what the learner needs to know in order to function in the target situation... situation are in the learners lexicon and which are necessary to be taught So far, the objective aspects of the target needs were taken into consideration, but also the learner has his own idea of his needs Since the learner motivation is of high importance in both the learning and teaching process, the learner‟s wants is the area that the teacher has also to pay attention to when teaching ESP vocabulary. .. different ESP subjects in a year A lot of works have to be done such as conducting the necessary needs – analysis, designing an appropriate syllabus, preparing suitable materials, meeting and getting to know the students, teaching the course, devising and administering appropriate tests not only for an ESP subject but also for several ones 24 CHAPTER 2: THE INVESTIGATION 2.1 The context of teaching and learning... useful to be taught as first In addition to these principles, Gairns and Redman (1986: 59) provide also cultural factors and the principle of need and level Learnability and teachability are other criteria we should take into consideration 1.1.3 What need to be taught? Once we have chosen what words to teach it is also necessary to know what to teach about each lexical item There are many categories that ... ESP vocabulary To identify some problems in teaching ESP vocabulary to Second – Year Students at HCC To suggest some solutions to improve teaching ESP vocabulary to Second – Year Students at HCC... use it appropriately but they are also valuable means of presentation in ESP vocabulary teaching 1.2.4 Teaching ESP vocabulary 1.2.4.1 Presentation techniques Bearing in mind the special aspects... appreciated and will be valuable help in identifying some problems in teaching ESP vocabulary and suggesting some solutions to improve teaching ESP vocabulary to Second – Year Students at HCC You can