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Using information technology in teaching and learning reading skill of english for biology for 2nd-year students
1 INTRODUCTION Rationale Since computers were invented, they have increasingly been used for multi purposes to assist people all over the world As a result, information technology (IT) has become an essential part in all aspects of our life Thanks to IT, everything is now becoming faster, more convenient, more comfortable and more effective Vietnam has recently integrated itself into the whole world in applying IT in all walks of life, including education When Vietnam joined WTO in 2006, our opportunities to push the total development of education have been increasing with IT IT has, in fact, contributed greatly to the renovation of teaching and learning in Vietnam Teachers and students are now encouraged to update the information of their interests by searching on the Internet Their knowledge, thus, is much broader For the past years, schools and universities have launched the movement of renovating the methods of teaching and learning IT, then, has proved its role The teachers and students in the field of foreign languages also take part in the movement of renovating the methods of teaching and learning in Vietnam The Faculty of English at Hanoi National University of Education (HNUE) have lately renovated the methods of teaching and learning by using IT However, the effect remains limited As a lecturer at the Faculty of English, the author has been studying an aspect in teaching English for Specific Purposes (ESP) for non-English-major students with the assistance of IT: Using IT in teaching and learning Reading English for Biology for 2ndyear students at HNUE Aims of the study The thesis focuses on studying the extent to which IT can facilitate teaching and learning reading English for Biology at HNUE In details, it aims at: Discovering how IT influences foreign language teaching and learning (generally) and reading English for Biology teaching and learning (particularly) and the extent to which IT can assist reading English for Biology teaching and learning; Synthesizing the real situation of teaching and learning reading English for Biology using IT at HNUE by analyzing students’ questionnaire, teacher interview; and Investigating certain recommendations for administrators and teachers for applying IT to improve the quality of reading English for Biology teaching and learning at HNUE Scope of the study Due to the limited time, the researcher only focuses on using computers to promote 2nd-year students’ reading English for Biology at HNUE because of some reasons Firstly, there are many means of IT in Vietnam now Nevertheless, the computer is definitely by far the most popular IT means in Vietnam Secondly, English for Biology, to some extent, is comparatively difficult to teach and learn because it is ESP The trained teacher is the teacher of just English, not a teacher of Biology, so he/she is in lack of Biology knowledge The students possess the knowledge of Biology, but they don’t know Biological terms in English Computers are used to make the lessons easier to understand by showing the difficult structures and terms popularly used in Biology with the assistance of Projector and searching information on the Internet Thirdly, the Faculty of English at HNUE have taught ESP for non-English-major students in order that they are able to read the professional materials in English and translate them into Vietnamese for study Research questions This thesis is accomplished for finding the answer to the question: How effectively is IT exploited to improve reading English for Biology teaching and learning at HNUE? More specifically, it deals with the following smaller questions: i ii How has IT been used in teaching and learning foreign languages at HNUE? To what extent have lecturers of The Faculty of English and students of The Faculty of Agro-biology raised the quality of teaching and learning reading English for Biology with IT recently? Methods of the study The author has used the following main methods to the research: Consulting books, journals and newspapers on applying IT in teaching and learning foreign languages or ESP; Searching information on the Internet ; Doing a survey on 2nd-year students of the Faculty of Agro-biology; Interviewing lecturers of the Faculty of English who have taught English for Biology; and Analyzing the data collected quantitatively and qualitatively to find out the real situation of teaching and learning reading English for Biology at HNUE with IT Significance of the study As I have mentioned above, the movement of methods of teaching and learning renovation has been launched in HNUE, including the Faculty of English The lecturers of English have often used IT to teach English-major students However, they only sometimes teach non-English-major students with IT Last year, they started to teach ESP for 2nd-year non-English-major students Therefore, the idea of using IT to teach ESP is fairly fresh The author, who has taught English for Biology at HNUE, have thought of how to apply IT to raise the quality of teaching and learning English for Biology and the idea has, in fact, worked well Students were fascinated in learning reading English for Biology with IT in class However, due to certain reasons, such lessons with IT cannot be done frequently The researcher has acted her mind about the situation in order that IT will be applied more often and more efficiently for teaching and learning reading English for Biology promotion in the coming time If that comes true, ESP in general and English for Biology in particular will definitely interest non-English-major students and lecturers of English Organization of the study This brief study is divided into three main parts: Introduction, Development and Conclusion The first part, INTRODUCTION consists of seven subparts: Rationale, Aims of the study, Scope of the study, Research questions, Methods of the study, Significance of the study and Organization of the study The second part, DEVELOPMENT has three chapters: Literature Review, The study and Recommendations The second part is by far the most important of the whole thesis It contains the real fact and data synthesis and analysis to answer the research questions with specific techniques, different types of exercises designed for drill as vivid illustrations The final part, CONCLUSION summarizes all the ideas expressed throughout the research, analyzes limitation of the paper and suggests further research orientations DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER ONE LITERATURE REVIEW This chapter gives an overview of the literature on computers in English as a foreign language (EFL) teaching and learning and computers in ESP teaching and learning I.1 Theoretical backgrounds of computers and EFL teaching and learning I.1.1 Introduction This section starts with the introduction about the educational technology in foreign language teaching and learning to create a portrait of the field Next, we look into a specific branch of technology, computer technology To provide a deeper view, history of computerassisted language teaching and learning and computer uses in EFL teaching learning are investigated I.1.2 Educational Technology and EFL teaching and learning Thanks to the achievements of international science and technology, the methods of teaching and learning have undeniably been changing year by year Now it is time for us to make up the general scenery of technology in foreign language classroom or “educational technology” (Harmer 2001, p.134) The grammar-translation method has usually been the most popular method of teaching with chalk, blackboards, pens, paper and textbooks These go with educational technologies Warschauer, M & Carla Meskill (2000) said nearly every type of foreign language classroom teaching is supported by its own technologies The blackboard can be considered a perfect tool for grammar-translation method The teacher uses the board for a lot of purposes, such as note pad, explanation aid, picture frame and so on However, all the educational technologies above sometimes not work well In Vietnam and in the world, the traditional educational technologies are currently used by teachers or educators To make the matter better, such modern media as radios, cassette players, recorders, movies, televisions, computers, projectors, etc have contributed to the renovation in teaching and learning According to Nguyen Lan Trung (2002), they have changed classroom structures and have assisted learners’ acquisition of knowledge Foreign language classroom activities have been much more fascinating and understandable to both teachers and learners, which is due to the usage of modern media Learners learn foreign languages when they listen to CDs/tapes, watch films/programmes, or see images projected from computers’ screen Of all the means of modern media, undeniably, computer is now quite a useful multipurpose tool for foreign language education A newly established branch called Information Technology (IT) started the actual revolution of innovating methods in foreign language education Within this thesis, the researcher would like to discuss a central component of IT, computers I.1.3 Computers and EFL teaching and learning I.1.3.1 Definition of CALL (Computer-assisted Language Instruction) To start this research, it is necessary to mention and explain the term CALL (Computer-assisted Language Instruction) CALL is a comparatively new way to acquire foreign languages Hence, not many people have given adequate definitions of CALL Having collected and consulted relevant materials, the author would like to discuss the definition of CALL on the website Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer-assisted_language_learning): Computer-assisted language learning (CALL) is an approach to language teaching and learning in which computer technology is used to aid to the presentation, reinforcement and assessment of material to be learned, usually including substantial interactive element Computer is the key for successful CALL Teachers and learners discover the language with the assistance of computer technology The teachers use computers to show their lectures on the computer screen; the learners look at the lectures during their listening to the teachers and take note Then, learners not have to write too much As well, they tend to be fond of the lectures They can both study foreign language and improve their computer experience I.1.3.2 History of CALL Up to now, CALL has already had a history of approximately fifty years So many changes in CALL are due to the achievements of science and technology revolution CALL began in the 1960s, but only on big mainframe computers CALL became more widely available in 1976 with the appearance of a Prime 300 “minicomputer” The microcomputer was invented in late 1970s The seminal work “The mighty micro” published in 1979 clarified how to use a microcomputer The 1980s marked the microcomputer boom In 1980 schools in the UK embraced the BBC Micro Then, BBC began to reach the masses During the 1980s, the professional associations CALICO (1983) and EUROCALL (1986) were established IALL (International Association for Learning Labs) goes back to 1965, initially focusing on language labs IALL is now known as IALLT (International Association for Language Learning Technology) and focuses on language learning technology in general The 1990s witnessed the advent of the Web which became available in 1993 EUROCALL became a recognised professional association (1993) The First World CALL conference took place in Melbourn, Australia in 1998 From 2000 to now, Broadband has become more widely available, opening up new possibilities for delivering audio and video materials via the Web Blogs and podcasts have appeared Since CALL was applied by learners or teachers, learning and teaching foreign languages have been much more fascinating, vivid and efficient The writer has usually used CALL in her daily acquiring and teaching English, which has brought about surprisingly good results I.1.3.3 Computer uses for language teaching and learning Over the past few years, people have exploited the uses of computers for teaching and learning (in general) and teaching and learning FL (in particular) As far as this study is concerned, certain applications of computers in teaching and learning FL are going to be listed Firstly, computers are widely used for reference Teachers and students can easily search for any information of language teaching and learning with the help of CD/DVD-ROMs and Internet CDs/DVDs of FL have continuously been programmed and produced to meet the enormous needs of FL teaching and learning The two most distinguishing programmes to count are Encyclopedia and FL Dictionaries The Encyclopedia such as Encarta, Grollier, Hutchinson contains knowledge of all fields, including maps, photos and films To those who teach and learn FL, FL Dictionaries can be used as a perfect tool for reference They are available on CD-ROM or Internet Undeniably, Internet is now the most convenient source of materials “As a vast virtual library the Internet offers a seemingly endless range of topics to choose from, all in one handy location.” (Dede Teeler and Peta Gray, 2001, p.36) Google, Yahoo, Alta Vista, etc have been the most popular searching engines Only with a key word, a teacher or student can find a vast amount of information related The second use of computers is for Computer-mediated communication (CMC) People use computers to exchange information through Internet E-mail, electronic bulletin boards or electronic newsgroups facilitate their online communication The trend of applying IT in education encourages using CMC for FL teaching and learning The researcher now would like to quote the two most common CMC forms used for FL teaching and learning, e-mail exchanging and instant messaging E-mail exchanging is currently of great use Email is more widely known as a method of sending messages from one computer to another “The most obvious benefit of using e-mail is speed.” (Dede Teeler and Peta Gray, 2001) Additionally, e-mail is cheap, simple, efficient and versatile Messages can be sent anywhere in an instant Transmission can cost nothing or very little It is easy to use after initial set-up Sending to a group can be done in one action Pictures or other files can be attached to the notes typed and sent (http://www.logintolearn.com/uti/section3_2.html) Thus, the teacher and students can share necessary materials for study However, e-mail users are able to encounter some risks like Spam or Virus Instant messaging (IM) is the most popular means of talking online with such websites as Yahoo Instant Messenger, Skype, etc According to Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Instant _messaging), “IM is a form of real-time communication between two or more people based on typed text The text is conveyed via computers connected over a network such as the Internet.” A screenshot of PowWow, one of the first instant messengers with a graphical user interface IM applications began to appear in the 1970s on multi-user operating system such as UNIX Since then, IM has always been made use of by people from all walks of life For FL teaching and learning, the teacher and students exchange information online at any time without meeting face to face Web sites People surf web sites every hour all over the world “The Web has become both a widespread and legitimate source of information retrieved” (Paul Stapleton, ELT Journal, volume 59/2, April 2005) Importantly, FL students and FL teachers make great use of web sites in FL as authentic materials for research or reference Each Web page is identified by a unique address called URL (Uniform Resource Locator) Lina Lee from University of New Hampshire (http://www/unh.edu/spanish/lina/internet1.html) wrote: “Most of Web pages contain both text and images Some browsers also have access to sounds and videos.” A variety of web sites are designed specifically for FL students and FL teachers to search information, exchange emails, exercises, play games, etc Here is an example of this kind of web sites: 10 http://eltj.oxfordjournals.org Articles on ELT teaching and learning are available on the Web page Information is various on the Web sites, so the problem is how to select suitable information to search If we can that, web sites are beneficial enough for us to learn and teach FL Word-processor Nowadays, computers have been exploited in a lot of ways; however word-processor is by far the most common computer software in FL teaching and learning Without it, we are not able to have materials for learning and teaching FL Alison Piper (1987, cited in Harmer, J., 200, p.150) said that “the most successful educational use of computer at that time was a wordprocessor” Word-processor is typically useful for teachers to prepare materials for their lectures in advance in the current age of IT It is possible that a lecture with IT cannot be done without word-processor I.1.4 Summary The above section of this chapter is an overview of IT and computer, the common application of IT and the way it has been exploited in FL teaching and learning The following section will focus on theoretical backgrounds of computers in ESP teaching and learning I.2 Theoretical backgrounds of computers in ESP teaching and learning I.2.1 Introduction In FL teaching and learning, computers have been used efficiently for educators, teachers and students’ numerous purposes Moreover, people can teach and learn ESP with computers in the world and in Vietnam So far as this section is concerned, the writer would like to discuss such main ideas as (1) computers in academic setting, (2) computers and ESP I.2.2 Computers in academic setting Computers with Internet and word processing programmes have been used for searching, selecting and preparing materials in teaching and learning reading ESP Both teachers and students need to equip themselves with basic computer skills In Vietnam, students are taught basic computer skills during their 1st-year studying at university, which 29 The third part in the questionnaire is Studying The researcher aims at finding out how ready the students are for the new method of teaching ESP with IT The data collected shows surprising information of the students’ study Question Do you often search information on the Internet? A Yes B No Chart shows that 38% of the students often search information on the Internet; whereas 62% said they don’t 62% surf the Internet, but for other purposes such as chatting, checking e-mail, entertaining themselves by listening to music, watching movies, reading stories/ e-newspapers, etc The Internet is an enormous source of information, so the students should make a full use of the information Therefore, the teacher should assign them tasks of collecting ESP information for the lectures Question 0% 38% 62% A B Chart Frequency of searching information on the Internet Question Do you often search information from articles in English on the Internet? A Yes B No It is really bad news that only 13% of the respondents chose A as their answer The students rarely look for information from articles in English Maybe they are not good at English, so they find it difficult and uninteresting to search such kind of information It is the common situation among non-English-major students 87% said they don’t often search information from articles in English on the Internet To the teachers of English, this is sad 30 news It means that the teachers have to make effort to instruct and encourage students to form steadily the habit of searching information in English on the Internet Question 0% 13% A B 87% Chart Frequency of searching information in English on the Internet Question How difficult is it to search information about an ESP topic on the Internet? A Very difficult B Difficult C Not very difficult D Easy To non-English-major students, it is shown that searching information about an ESP topic on the Internet is very difficult More than half (56%) of the respondents confirmed the answer “very difficult” However, 22% agreed it is not very difficult to that kind of searching From the data collected for the questions and 9, the researcher can say that sometimes, the students are lazy at seeking for information in English They not have that habit partly because English is not their major They are able to find information in English concerning their subjects, but they cannot translate the materials as there are so many new words The writer is happy when 2% stated it is easy to look for information about an ESP topic on the Internet 31 Question 2% 0% 20% 22% A B C D 56% Chart Difficulty of searching information about an ESP topic on the Internet With the years’ learning English, the students with more years found searching information about an ESP topic on the Internet easier than those with fewer years of learning English students (6-11 years’ learning English) thought it is not very difficult and (6-11 years’ learning English) said it is easy On the contrary, only (2-5 years’ learning English) determined it is not very difficult and no students with 2-5 years’ learning English believed it is easy – years – 11 years A B 12 14 C D Table Difficulty of searching information about an ESP topic on the Internet Question 10 How should students be prepared for an ESP reading lesson with IT? (More than answer can be circled.) A Students should learn how to use the computer B Students should be taught how to search information on the Internet C Students need to be assigned with tasks of collecting information about a topic prior to the ESP reading lesson D Students should be told how the ESP reading lesson with IT will proceed in advance so that they can be fully prepared psychologically E All A, B, C and D 32 The table illustrates that 55.6% of the students chose E as their answer to the question 10 They thought that students should learn how to use the computer, be taught how to search information on the Internet, be assigned with tasks of collecting information about a topic before the ESP reading lesson and be told how the ESP reading lesson with IT will proceed beforehand so that they can be fully prepared psychologically In other words, the students should both improve their computer skills and ask for the teacher’s assistance when they find it difficult to the tasks assigned by her In general, the students need to be hardworking and willing to get the teacher’s help The teacher needs to be responsible for instructing students any time they need her help A B C E C,D B,C,D A,B,C B,C A,B 3 25 1 2 6.7% 6.7% 8.8% 55.6% 2.2% 2.2% 8.8% 4.5% 4.5% Table Students’ preparation for an ESP reading lesson with IT II.2.2.2 Data analysis of the teacher interview II.2.2.2.1 Teachers’ personal information Two lecturers from the Faculty of English were interviewed They both have taught reading English for Biology One lecturer is 32 years old; the other is 25 years old Both of them are good at using computers and have used computers in teaching However, they have not used computers in teaching reading English for Biology yet They were asked questions Each of them had differently individual opinions II.2.2.2.2 Teachers’ evaluation of the effectiveness of teaching reading English for Biology with IT For the same questions, the two lecturers had their own ways of evaluation The research is centered on the analysis of their answers Question What difficulties did you encounter when you taught reading English for Biology? Both of the teachers agreed that the main difficulty was that there were so many biological terms They sometimes could not work out equivalent words in Vietnamese for the terms to explain to the students The older teacher added the reading texts had a lot of 33 complex structures, so both the lecturer and the students found it difficult to translate the texts into Vietnamese The younger teacher said another problem was the students’ limited stock of vocabulary As a result, the teacher had to explain the new words to the students for such a long time The writer herself taught reading English for Biology, as well She agreed with the two lecturers She would like to add one more difficulty That is, the teachers did not have intensive knowledge of biology Thus, we had troubles in finding equivalent words for biological terms We often had to explain new terms to the students to find appropriate meanings in Vietnamese Both the lecturers and students had to make effort when reading English for Biology was taught Question How did the students feel interested in learning reading English for Biology? Both of the teachers said that almost all the students were interested in learning It was because they could review, learn and discuss their professional knowledge in English This was a big advantage for the lecturers to teach such students However, the younger lecturer additionally stated some students could not express themselves wholeheartedly because of the languages barrier The researcher is for the teachers’ ideas The students felt like learning reading English for Biology a lot; they became extremely hard-working because they could express themselves well with their professional knowledge Only some who were not good at English were lazy because they said there were so many new terms Question In your opinion, if you teach reading English for Biology with IT, will students be more interested in learning? The younger lecturer thought the answer is yes She said the students would definitely be more interested in learning reading English for Biology because they could learn with modern technology On the contrary, the older teacher believed students would like because of their curiosity but it would not work well since the class was crowded 34 The two lecturers agreed the students would be more interested in learning One worried that it would not be very efficient for so many students learnt in a class Crowded classes are the factual situation at HNUE On average, each non-English class has about 40 – 50 students It is slightly difficult for the teacher of English to teach efficiently Not all the students have chances to speak and their mistakes to be corrected The teacher can only call some of them to speak or correct exercises communally in class The researcher herself believes it is likely that all the students will be much fonder of learning reading ESP when it is taught with IT She has taught them two lessons of reading English for Biology with IT All of them liked the lessons a great deal They were much more excited in learning new terms and doing exercises They could see colourful screen, a lot of photos, etc Question In your opinion, how effective the lecture will be when a computer and a LCD projector are used? The younger teacher confirmed it would be much more effective to teach in that way The older said the lesson would not be very effective if the teacher used a computer and a LCD projector frequently because it took much time She thought that the teacher should teach reading English for Biology with IT for review lessons only once a month The writer had the same idea with the first teacher It was definite that the students understood the lectures much more when she taught them with a computer and a LCD projector II.2.3 Findings This section is to answer the research question and sub-questions proposed at the beginning of the thesis Research sub-question How has IT been used in teaching and learning foreign languages at HNUE? The research determined that IT has been used in teaching and learning foreign languages at HNUE, but it is not very often The teachers at times for the short-term movement or competition of renovating methods of teaching 35 Almost all the teachers at the Faculty of English know how to use computers It means most of them are able to teach with IT However, for the shortage of LCD projectors, they can only sometimes teach foreign languages with IT Hopefully, in the future, the Faculty of English and the Faculty of French are going to be equipped with enough LCD projectors so that the teachers are able to apply new approach of teaching foreign languages with IT Research sub-question To what extent have lecturers of the Faculty of English and students of the Faculty of Agro-biology raised the quality of teaching and learning reading English for Biology with IT recently? In fact, the students of the Faculty of Agro-biology have not frequently been taught reading English for Biology with IT The researcher has only done a case study After two lectures of teaching with IT, the writer found that the quality was much higher as compared to the traditional approach of teaching and learning The students were interested in learning; they understood the lectures much more than usual The lecturer felt motivated and managed to instruct the students to perform well Obviously, if reading English for Biology is often taught with IT, the quality of teaching and learning will be raised a great deal Research question How effectively is IT exploited to improve reading English for Biology teaching and learning at HNUE? The researcher would like to mention the case study of teaching and learning reading English for Biology with IT at HNUE The lectures with IT worked extremely well Lectures were prepared carefully in advance The teacher typed her lecture with Microsoft Powerpoint She collected information, photos and films about the topic of the reading text She showed the students what she had prepared (with a LCD projector and a big white board) so that all of them could see and learn The students were very excited about learning in that way They were happy and felt relaxed while learning They all readily raised their hands and spoke out their ideas or corrected the tasks assigned That scene was not often seen with the traditional approach of teaching with a blackboard and pieces of chalk 36 After the lectures, the teacher checked the students’ understanding of what they had just learnt She found out that most of the students remembered the new terms and pronounced them correctly The reason was that the students looked at photos and listened to the reading text recorded from the computer The researcher has just described the lectures she taught with IT and the effectiveness was obviously seen It was proved the quality was raised surprisingly If all the teachers who teach English for Biology exploit IT in such way in teaching reading English for Biology, the teaching and learning will be much improved II.2.4 Suggestions for possibly maximal exploitation of computers in reading ESP teaching and learning II.2.4.1 Careful preparation for the lecture It can be inferred from the study that with a computer and a LCD projector, the teachers are able to act themselves well provided that they prepare carefully for the lectures The most popular software for the teacher to type her lecture is Microsolf Powerpoint She should learn to use the software effectively as a tool for preparing lectures before class To make the lessons more fascinating, the teacher ought to insert photos or films and turn the words typed into different colours As a result, the students will feel more interested in learning The teacher should also assign students at-home tasks of searching information about an ESP topic The students should work in groups What they have found at home will be shown and discussed in class In this way, the students get involved in preparing for the lecture in class They will feel motivated and willing to express themselves II.2.4.2 Design of types of computer-assisted tasks In order to make a lecture of reading ESP successful, the tasks need to be designed appropriately Any teacher of English knows what the common types of tasks are They are matching, multiple choice, gap filling, etc When the tasks are typed on the computer, the teacher can have a variety of ways to make them eye-catching The teacher should change 37 the effects of the words in order that the students feel interested when they look at the tasks on the computer The teacher should make use of photos and films to create computer-assisted tasks For example, the task is matching each photo with a term or watching the following piece of film and answer the questions II.2.4.3 How to teach and learn new terms For teaching new terms with IT, the teacher should show colourful photos for each one Learning with photos makes the students bear new terms in their minds In addition, the teacher should play the recorded tape scripts (from the computer) for the students to listen to and repeat The students then can grasp the meanings and pronunciation of the terms more easily To assist the students to learn terms, the teacher should give them hand-outs of the lectures and the photos for the terms they have learnt in class At home, they look at the hand-outs to learn given terms CHAPTER THREE RECOMMENDATIONS III.1 For the administrators 38 From the study, there remain a great number of problems for administrators to solve If all of them are solved, the new approach of teaching ESP with IT is likely to be applied effectively in training all the students at HNUE The main problem that the administrators should deal with is to equip the Faculty of English and the Faculty of French with enough LCD projectors so that teachers can their lectures with IT As well, the teachers should be instructed how to use LCD projectors skillfully There should also be a technical assistant to deal with technical errors in case the teachers cannot work out the problems by themselves The assistant should also be present at the lectures for proper technical assistance An ESP lecture will be more successful when the teachers have professional knowledge of the subject they teach Therefore, there should be the cooperation between the teachers of English and the faculties they teach for The teachers from the non-English faculties should supply them with the essential information of the ESP topics they will teach Then, they will find equivalent meanings of ESP terms in Vietnamese more easily III.2 For the teachers The teacher has the most vital role in teaching ESP with IT She prepares the lectures, instructs the students and teaches in class If the teachers act well, the effectiveness of the lecture is much higher than it has been Thus, they must be fully aware of their role and be responsible for what they teach Firstly, the teachers should improve their computer skills They should be good at using some softwares that are useful for their teaching with IT such as Microsoft Powerpoint, Microsoft Word Moreover, they need to know how to search and copy information, photos and movies on the Internet or from other sources including Encarta Secondly, they should prepare the lectures carefully before class During the class time, they only show what they have prepared in advance; they have no time to prepare or type documents Apart from it, they have to manage the class with many students Thirdly, the teachers should learn how to operate LCD projectors in case of the technical assistant’s absence during the lecture Sometimes, because of technical errors, the lecture with IT can not be done well or might even be cancelled If that happens, it is so pitily spoilt 39 Fourthly, the teacher should instruct the students before the lectures with IT begin If not, the students not know what to and how to learn Consequently, the lecture will not be as successful as expected CONCLUSIONS AND FUTURE DIRECTIONS A Conclusion and Limitation of the thesis 40 In the study, the researcher has discussed the issue - teaching and learning reading English for Biology with IT at HNUE - theoretically and practically Having analyzed the data collected from the students’ survey questionnaire and teachers’ interviews, some recommendations were proposed with the hope that the situation will be reinforced in the future when this paper is read and studied by the administrators and teachers If that happens, the quality of teaching and learning reading ESP will be raised Although the writer has made effort, there are still some shortcomings: The thesis is only a case study for a group of second-year students at the Faculty of Agro-biology Teaching and learning reading English for Biology has not been done for all the second-year students at this faculty Thus, the effectiveness of teaching and learning, to some extent, is not reliable The researcher as a teacher only taught some lectures as a sample example She said it was effective to teach and learn reading ESP with IT; however, that has not been done for a long time The reliable success of teaching performance with the assistance of IT requires time experience to be proved of its persuadable validity The scope of the study is comparatively limited Only the teaching and learning reading English for Biology with IT is under consideration, which has not reflected the common picture of teaching and learning ESP at HNUE B Future directions To lessen the limitations of the study, some things should be done in the future: The approach of teaching and learning reading English for Biology with IT should be applied widely for all second-year students from the Faculty of Agro-biology at HNUE After a semester’s teaching and learning, the results will be expected to bear out the effectiveness After the study has been done for the students at the Faculty of Agro-biology, it should be done with students from other faculties, as well Then, if the quality of teaching and learning reading ESP at HNUE is raised, the administrators should consider and encourage the teachers to apply the new method of teaching 41 Hopefully, this study is going to wake up the awareness of teaching and learning ESP with IT among administrators, teachers and students at HNUE Additionally, the researcher will be happy if her thesis could make a practical contribution to renovating the methods of teaching and learning foreign languages at HNUE When this thesis is read, further comments or suggestions are highly appreciated She will be willing to 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“Teaching with e-lesson plans – a new progressive idea”, http://www.edu.net.vn 23 Do Trung Ta (2004), “Using IT for renovating tertiary education in Vietnam”, Tap chi Giao duc, No 84, p.3-5 24 Nguyen Thi Coi & Doan Van Hung (2004), “Using the software Microsoft Powerpoint in teaching history at school”, Tap chi Giao duc, No 98, p.35-37 25 Dang Xuan Hai (2004), “Characteristics of teaching renovation at universities of education”, Tap chi Giao duc, No 103, p.8-10 ... mentioned and discussed: (1) model of teaching ESP reading with computers, (2) programmes used in reading ESP teaching and learning and (3) advantages of using computers in reading ESP teaching and learning. .. computers for teaching and learning (in general) and teaching and learning FL (in particular) As far as this study is concerned, certain applications of computers in teaching and learning FL are going... of the students? ?? questionnaire The students? ?? questionnaire was for collecting students? ?? opinions of teaching and learning reading English for Biology with IT II.2.2.1.1 Students? ?? personal information