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- An investigation into the views of former non majored students about ESP teaching and learning: A case study in HCMC University of Education
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- AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE VIEWS OF FORMER
NON-MAJORED STUDENTS ABOUT
ESP TEACHING AND LEARNING: A CASE STUDY IN
HCMC UNIVERSITY OF EDUCATION
Nguyen Thi Tu, MA
Nguyen Hien Doan Trang, MA
Nguyen Minh Tam
Nguyen Thi Tu took an MA degree in TESOL from HCM University of Social Sciences and
Humanities-Vietnam National University in 2005. She is interested in TESOL, Linguistics
and Education. She has been a lecturer in HCMC University of Pedagogy for more than 10
years, teaching both General English and ESP. Her research interests involve TESOL,
Applied Linguistics and Education Management.
Nguyen Hien Doan Trang graduated from English Department, HCMC University of
Education in 2007 and taught at Division of Foreign Languages at the same university until
2010. In 2011, she undertook a Masters in Applied Linguistics at The University of
Queensland, Australia on a Vietnamese government scholarship. She is again teaching at the
University of Education and is interested in teaching methodology and nonverbal channels in
teaching. In February, 2012, she attended the 8th Annual CamTESOL Conference on English
Language Teaching in Cambodia and received a CamTESOL Regional Innovation Award
sponsored by Australian Education International (AEI).
Nguyen Minh Tam graduated from Pre-school Department, HCMC University of Education
in 2012. She is teaching at National College of Education - Ho Chi Minh City. She has done
research since a student. She is now taking the higher education program offered by HCMC
University of Education to take M.A degree.
Abstract
English for Specific Purpose (ESP) is not only an important but also an indispensable aspect
in teaching and learning English, especially to the tertiary education. As Johns and Dudley-
Evans (1991) state, ESP emerged as "a vigorous and viable movement" and has attracted the
attention of many researchers, particularly the ones within the field of TEFL (Teaching
21 | T h e 2 0 1 3 c o n f e r e n c e “ I n n o v a t i o n i n t e a c h i n g a n d l e a r n i n g E S P ”
- English as a Foreign Language) for over 30 years (Dung & Anh, 2010). Being aware of the
substantial importance of this trend, ESP has been included in the English teaching
curriculum of Foreign Language Section, Ho Chi Minh City University of Education since
2000. After 13 years launching, does the teaching program achieve the effectiveness as
expected? Does it meet the needs of the learners? These issues are of major concern of both
the lecturers and the administrators of the university, as well as the students who are directly
involved in ESP learning process, especially in today context of changing from the
compulsory program to the credit system. This study aims to provide a general view of the
situation as well as investigate the views of former English non-major students about the ESP
teaching and learning. The data of this qualitative and quantitative study were collected
through the questionnaires and interviews with the former students who used to take ESP
courses. From the results, the paper offered some suggestions for improving the effectiveness
of the program as well as removing the constraints of the situation.
Key words: ESP: English for Specific Purposes
Tóm tắt
Tiếng Anh chuyên ngành (ESP) là một khía cạnh quan trọng và không thể tách rời trong việc
học và dạy tiếng Anh, nhất là đối với bậc đại học. Như Johns và Dudley-Evans (1991) từng
nhận định, tiếng Anh chuyên ngành ra đời như một nhu cầu tất yếu và là một xu hướng phát
triển mạnh mẽ. Hay như Thạc Sỹ Đỗ Thị Xuân Dung và Cái Ngọc Duy Anh (2010) phát biểu
trong bài nghiên cứu về việc dạy và học tiếng Anh chuyên ngành (TACN) rằng đây là một
lĩnh vực đã thu hút sự quan tâm của rất nhiều nhà nghiên cứu trong suốt ba mươi năm qua.
Nhận thấy tầm quan trọng của lĩnh vực này cũng như để bắt kịp với xu thế phát triển chung,
Tổ Ngoại ngữ trường Đại Học Sư Phạm Hồ Chí Minh đã đưa TACN vào chương trình giảng
dạy cho sinh viên không chuyên ngữ kể từ năm 2000. Sau mười ba năm áp dụng, liệu chương
trình có đạt được hiệu quả như mong muốn? Người học đánh giá như thế nào về chương trình
dạy và học TACN? Đây là những mối quan tâm hàng đầu không chỉ của các giảng viên mà
còn của cả các nhà quản lý, cũng như các sinh viên tham gia trực tiếp vào việc học ESP, nhất
là trong bối cảnh hiện nay, khi trường đang chuyển từ niên chế sang học chế tín chỉ. Bài
nghiên cứu giúp cung cấp một cái nhìn tổng quan về việc dạy và học TACN cũng như tiến
hành khảo sát đánh giá của các cựu sinh viên về chương trình. Đây là một nghiên cứu vừa
mang tính định lượng vừa mang tính định tính và được tiến hành thông qua khảo sát và
phỏng vấn các cựu sinh viên đã từng tham gia các khóa học TACN. Từ kết quả thu được, bài
22 | T h e 2 0 1 3 c o n f e r e n c e “ I n n o v a t i o n i n t e a c h i n g a n d l e a r n i n g E S P ”
- nghiên cứu đề xuất một số phương án nhằm nâng cao hiệu quả giảng dạy và khắc phục các
khó khăn trong quá trình dạy và học TACN.
Từ khóa: TACN: Tiếng Anh chuyên ngành
1. Introduction
With the developments of the society, ESP, denoting English for Specific Purposes has
been used with EGP (English for General Purposes) for communication activities and
professional growth to language learners in both specialized non non-specialized contexts and
dimensions. ESP formally defined in the early years of the 17th century has become one of the
most primary areas in English target teaching and learning sector with the courses offered for
ESP in a large number of universities and colleges in a lot of developed countries with
excellent educational system. There is even an international journal dedicated to ESP-,
―English for Specific Purposes: An international Journal‖. Hutchinson and Waters (1987)
state, ―ESP is an approach to language teaching in which all decisions as to content and
method are based on the learner‘s reason for learning‖ (p. 19). Therefore, in this learner-
centered approach, learners‘ needs and purposes in their learning are the prominent factors
needing to be administered and focused. Definitely, studying the views from students about
an ESP program or an ESP syllabus and other related aspects after its being carried out in
particular educational contexts should be done in order to strengthen the good points and
adapt the shortcomings of that ESP program and facilitate students‘ learning as well as
promote teachers‘ professional growth.
ESP was introduced in Ho Chi Minh City University of Education (HCMC UE) in 2000. ESP
teaching and learning, however, has not undergone little evaluation either at a class or
university scale in this setting. This study focuses on investigating the views of former non-
majored students about ESP teaching and learning in HCMC UE. The study was processed
with background information, method and the discussion part based on the data collected via
questionnaires delivered to 130 former students. From the results drawn, the paper conveys
several pedagogical implications in improving the effectiveness of the ESP program in
HCMC UE.
2. Literature Review
The paper investigates the views of HCMC UE's former non-majored students about
the ESP teaching and the necessity of ESP course to their career as well as asks for their
recommendations with regard to the curriculum, textbooks and the teaching and learning
23 | T h e 2 0 1 3 c o n f e r e n c e “ I n n o v a t i o n i n t e a c h i n g a n d l e a r n i n g E S P ”
- ESP. Hence, the foremost issue that needs to be considered is the clarification of the term
"ESP". How is it defined? What is special about ESP? Reviewing the large body of literature
about ESP can provide a thorough understanding about the origin as well as the reason why it
has become an important and indispensable aspect of English teaching and learning.
2.1. Terminology
2.1.1. Definition
Coming into existence in the early 1960s, ESP has nearly half of century history of
development and has undergone many phases of changes (Hutchinson & Waters, 1987). It is
interesting that although it captures the attention of many researchers in the field and has
been an important topic for discussion for a long time, no clear consensus on a concise
definition of ESP exists (Anthony, 1997). Throughout this time, many definitions of ESP
have been suggested.
As a common sense, it is often believed that ESP is the teaching and learning English of
special subjects with specialized terminologies and vocabulary (Fiority, 2005). Taking part in
an ESP course, students are supposed to deal with special grammar, vocabulary and
knowledge taken from authentic materials of these specialized subjects. Therefore, it is no
wonder why some researchers state that ESP involves teaching and learning specific skills
needed for learners' professional career (Day & Krzanowski, 2011). This way of thinking is
also in line with that of Fiority (2005) who agrees that the term "specific" in ESP refers to
"specific purposes" of English learning. This "specific purpose" is again emphasized in Tahir
(2009)'s paper when he discusses about the definition of ESP. To him, the term "specific" is
used , by implication, to highlight the learners' purpose of language learning. Sharing the
same view, El-Minyawi (1984) indicates that ESP courses are designed to help learners read
and talk about their specialized subjects confidently and fluently.
Taking a more general view, Hutchinson and Waters (1987) note in their book that
ESP is not merely an issue of teaching specialized varieties of language. Instead of
emphasizing the specialized form of language, contrary to popular belief, they shift the focus
onto the particular context of language use because "Language varies as it functions varies, it
differs in different situations." (Hallliday, McIntosh & Strevens, 1964, p.13). To have a
comprehensive picture of ESP, Hutchinson and Waters (1987) use the image of a tree to
illustrate the significant relation among the divisions of ELT (English Language Teaching)
(see Fig.1).
24 | T h e 2 0 1 3 c o n f e r e n c e “ I n n o v a t i o n i n t e a c h i n g a n d l e a r n i n g E S P ”
- Fig. 1: The ELT tree
Looking closely at this analogy of the tree, it is clearly seen that ESP is a branch of EFL
(English as a Foreign Language), which itself is a branch broken down from ELT. Therefore,
they conclude that ESP is not only for specialists or scientists but it is a language teaching
approach and is not much different from other forms of language teaching. If there is any
difference, it lies at the heavier emphasis on the learners' needs. Or as Dudley-Evans (1997)
proclaims, the focal aspect of ESP is the focus on the issue of need analysis. To state
explicitly, ESP is a language teaching approach in which the learners' needs determine all the
aspects of teaching, from the content to method. (Anthony, 1997; Hutchinson & Waters,
1987). Once the learners' needs are identified; suitable genres, language, and activities for the
course would be carefully chosen to meet these needs (Dudley-Evans, 1997). This way of
defining ESP has the agreement of most researchers at the time.
Drawing from the significant influence of Hutchinson and Waters (1987)'s definition
and Strevens (1988)'s point of view, at the ESP conference in Japan in 1997, Dudley-Evans
provided another definition of ESP which is considered truly comprehensive and is widely
25 | T h e 2 0 1 3 c o n f e r e n c e “ I n n o v a t i o n i n t e a c h i n g a n d l e a r n i n g E S P ”
- accepted nowadays (Anthony, 1997; Tahir, 2009). According to Dudley-Evans (1997), ESP
has two principle characteristics which are absolute and variable ones. With regard to
absolute characteristics, ESP course is believed to be designed for learners' specific purposes
and the course is built up from the language appropriate to methodology and activities "in
terms of grammar, lexis, register, study skills and discourse genre" (Dudley-Evan, 1997, p.6).
Whereas the relation to specific discipline and the possibility of being used in particular
situation with different teaching method compared to General English is considered variable
characteristics of ESP.
To sum up, the definition offered by Dudley-Evans (1997) which defines ESP as a
learner-centered approach with absolute and variable characteristics seems to be the most
adequate one to end the discussion on the definition of ESP and this is also the reference for
ESP used in this study.
2.1.2. Types of ESP/ ESP taxonomy
In contrast to the issue of definition ESP which draws the attention of many researchers
and educationalists, the question about how many types of ESP there are is often neglected.
However, drawing on studies of ESP, it would cause a bit of surprise to find out that different
taxonomies have been proposed (Tahir, 2009). Among them, the classification developed by
Carver (1983) which groups ESP into three main types: English as restricted language,
English for academic and vocational purpose, and English with specific topics is the one
which is widely employed in most research into ESP field.
According to Carver (1983), the language used by specific groups of occupations such
as traffic controllers and waiters is quite limited. Although they can use these "restricted
repertoires" to communicate successfully in certain situations, it is not likely that they can
have the same effect in situations outside their vocational environment (Mountford, 1978).
The second type of ESP, English for academic and vocational purposes, is taken from
the idea of Hutchinson and Waters (1987)'s analogy of the ELT tree. As it can be seen from
figure 1, the ESP branch is broken down into EAP (English for Academic Purposes) and EOP
(English for Occupational Purposes) or EVP (English for Vocational Purposes). With EAP,
English is learnt for the purpose of academic study while with EOP or EVP, English is used
as a useful tool and medium for the learners' work or training. However, the distinction
between EAP and EOP is quite vague since the language that the learners need to use in their
academic study and in their working environment can be overlapped. Due to having no clear-
26 | T h e 2 0 1 3 c o n f e r e n c e “ I n n o v a t i o n i n t e a c h i n g a n d l e a r n i n g E S P ”
- cut distinction between these two divisions, Carver (1983) groups them together as one type
of ESP.
Among three types of ESP, the last one seems to counter the most argument concerning
the matter of whether it is a type of ESP or it is only an aspect of this learner-centered
teaching approach (Tahir, 2009). To Carver (1983), the specific topics refer to particular
situations in which ESP is used. For example, ESP has been used in at workplace, at a
conference or in the case of reading for reference.
2.2. Need analysis and the differences between ESP and General English (GE)
Although there are different ways of defining ESP, all these definitions hold the focus
on learners' needs in common. Hence, identifying the learners' needs or need analysis, the
term widely used today, is considered the most substantial issue of ESP.
As mentioned in Tahir (2009), need analysis is defined as the involvement of "the
assessment of the needs for which a learner or groups of learners may require language" (p. 109).
However, it is not until the existence of ESP that the learners' need catches the researchers'
attention. The importance of a systematic analysis of learners' needs has been taken into
consideration of not only the researchers but also the teachers, course designers and material
providers for such a long time because needs analysis is the foremost issue of any language
teaching methodology (Dudley-Evans, 1997). This issue has commanded more special
attention and grasped more critical importance since the significant development of CLT
(Communicative Language Teaching) approach which puts a strong emphasis on the analysis
of learners' needs (Tahir, 2009).
Once the matter of what the learners would do through the medium of English is
identified, the suitable language, content, instruction and methodology would be chosen to
meet these requirements. And of course, as these needs are fulfilled, the teaching and learning
process would be successful and the effectiveness of the course would be maximized.
Compared with General English, need analysis in ESP is given more importance due to the
fact that the target learners of ESP mostly are adults and, more importantly, they are more
aware of their purposes of learning the language (Hutchinson & Waters, 1987) or as Gillett
(1996) notes in his paper, ESP is more goal-directed, hence, the matter of need analysis is
placed at a more importance focus. ESP learners, in addition to having some acquaintance
with English, have a clearer understanding about what to do with this medium of language in
27 | T h e 2 0 1 3 c o n f e r e n c e “ I n n o v a t i o n i n t e a c h i n g a n d l e a r n i n g E S P ”
- their study or career. This feature of the learners' nature is the first factor that distinguishes
ESP from GE.
The second factor that makes ESP different from GE is the language and skills taught in
the courses. Whereas GE covers all four skills, ESP focuses on language in context and the
choice of which skill to teach depends on the learners' needs. If the learners are tourist
guides-to-be, the skills needed to include in the course are speaking and listening. But if the
course is designed for translators, then reading and writing skill are included.
However, from a different perspective, ESP is broader than GE because ESP learners
can apply their knowledge about the real world in GE course into their specialized field of
study. In other words, ESP is the combination of both subject matter and the language
teaching (Fiority, 2005).
2.3. Benefits of ESP
It is no doubt that ESP course is designed for the learners who need the language for
their study or career. Therefore, the substantial benefits that ESP courses provide for the
learners are quite vivid. Being able to read authentic materials or learning resources related to
their specialized subjects to improve and widen their knowledge in order to meet their study
or work's demand, being able to communicate with specialists of their field or present at
conference about a specialized matter; are some of the examples of what the learners can
greatly benefit from ESP courses. Those are just what can be observed from the surface.
Taking a deeper look from the perspective of linguistics, ESP can provide considerable
benefits of a faster learning speed, higher learning efficiency and better learning effectiveness
(Tahir, 2009).
Firstly, ESP courses are designed based on the learners' needs, which means that the
learners can learn what they need. According to Input Hypothesis, in language learning, when
the learners are engaged with something meaningful to them, the learning process takes place
faster (Gass & Slelinker, 2008; Mitchell & Myles, 2004). In other words, they acquire the
language faster. Moreover, because their requirements are fulfilled, the learners will be more
motivated to study. To Ortega (2009), motivation is one of the affective factors which has a
substantial importance in language learning and there is an affective filter that subconsciously
screens incoming language based on learners' needs and motives, according to Affective
Filter Hypothesis (Gass & Selinker, 2008). Therefore, ESP offers the learners an accelerated
context to acquire the language faster (Wright, 1992).
28 | T h e 2 0 1 3 c o n f e r e n c e “ I n n o v a t i o n i n t e a c h i n g a n d l e a r n i n g E S P ”
- Secondly, in an ESP course, as the learners will be provided with authentic materials of
which knowledge can be used in their study and work, the learners will take full advantage of
these learning resources, which leads to higher learning efficiency.
Lastly, as for learning effectiveness, after the course or perhaps even during the course,
ESP learners can apply what they study in class right away to their study and working
environment which means that they have an appropriate context to practice the language.
Hence, there is a learning effectiveness in an ESP course (Tahir, 2009).
2.4. ESP development and ESP teaching
2.4.1. International scale
Since the existence of ESP in the early 1960s and more than a quarter of century after
the term ESP was in use, this learner-centered teaching approach has undergone many stages
of development and has flourished at different speeds in different countries.
Commencing on the origin of ESP, Hutchison and Waters (1987) note that due to the
growing demand of commerce and trading, the interest in learning English, the lingua franca
used for almost all international affairs, resulted in an exponential increase after the end of
World War II. In addition, English is also the key to acquire the broad knowledge of
technology. Hence, English learning has become a need and demand of the society since this
time. Then during the late 1960s and the early 1970s, the world witnessed the expansion of
English courses for specific groups of learners. The forerunner of ESP is EST (English for
Science and Technology). At this time, because English was an important means to explore
the world of science and technology, special courses were just designed for learners of this
field and ESP was considered the same as EST. The event that led to the flourish of ESP is
the development in educational psychology which place the emphasis on learner center in
language teaching (Rogers, 1969).
Since then, ESP has steadily grown into an dispensable and important area of EFL. ESP
has been in the curriculum of tertiary level of many universities and colleges such as
Malaysia, China, Japan, Brazil or Vietnam. There are more and more ESP courses offered for
the postgraduates as well as more courses for overseas students majoring in ESP (Anthony,
1997). In addition to this, many international journals and conferences have been devoted to
the discussion about the nature of ESP, how to teach it effectively and what actions needed to
be taken to develop this learner-centered approach. In Brazil, there is even a national project
dedicated to ESP, called ESP Brazilian National Project which aims to enhance the
29 | T h e 2 0 1 3 c o n f e r e n c e “ I n n o v a t i o n i n t e a c h i n g a n d l e a r n i n g E S P ”
- development of ESP by offering useful resources and teacher education for Brazilian
universities (Ramos, 2008). Especially in Japan, the ESP movement has captured great
attention of educationalists of this Asian country. Some ESP communities have existed such
as the JACET ESP SIG with 28 members or the JALT N-SIG (Anthony, 1997). In November,
1997, there was also an international conference devoted to ESP held at University of Aizu,
which attracted nearly hundreds of Japanese and foreign participants.
2.4.2. ESP in Vietnam
When English became the lingua franca and the demand of acquiring this international
language was on the increase, in Vietnam, where English is spoken as a foreign language, this
trend has become much stronger. Because here, this international language is believed to be
an efficient means helping Vietnam to enter the world. Therefore, acquiring a perfect mastery
of English can be considered a key to success for Vietnamese people. Since then, EFL has
still held the influential position in this Southeast Asian country.
When the ESP trend existed and extended its influence worldwide, Vietnam was, of
course, not an exception. Up to now, ESP has been launched in many universities and
colleges such as Vietnam National University in Hanoi, Can Tho University, University of
Industry, University of Da Nang or HCMC University of Education (HCMC UE), to name
just a few. Although ESP has become an integral part of teaching and training program of
many universities, it has received less attention than it should be. As Oanh, Chau and Chi
(2005) indicate in their study about ESP program in Vietnam, there is insufficient attention
given to ESP teaching compared to considerable development of EFL practices. There are not
many studies carried out in this field and most of them are just about ESP teaching method
such as how to teach ESP vocabulary and reading skills effectively, the implementation of
technology in teaching ESP or some case studies about learners' difficulties in ESP learning.
Thus from the body of literature reviewed above, it is clear that ESP is an prominent
aspect of EFL and the ESP movement is catching more attention from the researchers as well
as the educationalists. However, this issue has not been fully investigated. Most of the
research is theoretical and focuses too much on analyzing the nature and characteristics of
ESP or the responsibilities of ESP teachers and students, leaving the matter of students'
judgment about ESP programs, teaching process or the materials neglected. Moreover, most
participants in these studies are students who are doing the ESP courses and little attention is
paid to former students who already completed their courses. Especially in Vietnam, the
30 | T h e 2 0 1 3 c o n f e r e n c e “ I n n o v a t i o n i n t e a c h i n g a n d l e a r n i n g E S P ”
- focus is just on how to teach ESP whereas the issue of evaluating the effectiveness of the
program is still unexplored. Therefore, to bridge this gap and with the aim of investigating
the learners' view about the ESP program, this study was carried out with former non-
majored students of HCMC UE, asking for their judgments and recommendations about the
ESP teaching program as well as the teaching materials.
To sum up, the study aims to answer the following questions:
1) What do former non-majored students think about the HCMC University of
Education ESP teaching program and ESP materials?
2) What do former non-majored students think about the necessity of ESP courses? Did
the courses meet their demands?
3) What recommendations do former non-majored students offer to improve the
effectiveness of the course?
3. Methodology
Realizing the importance and necessity of ESP at tertiary level, ESP program has been
included in the English teaching curriculum of Foreign Language Section, HCMC UE since
2000. The students have to pass through two stages: General English and ESP. After three
semesters (195 periods) of General English, the students take another two courses (60
periods) of ESP. Up to now, the Foreign Language Section has launched ESP programs for
the Department of History, Geography, Biology, Literature, Political Education,
Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, Physical Education, Information Technology, Primary
Education and Pre-school. However, today the university is changing to credit system, hence
after the three compulsory courses of General English, the students can register for ESP
course if they like.
3.1. Study instruments
The current study was undertaken with 130 former non-majored students of HCMC UE
who used to take ESP courses during their study here. To investigate the students' view about
ESP teaching program, teaching materials as well as the necessity of the program,
questionnaires and interviews were employed as the methodology of the study.
3.1.1. Questionnaire
Questionnaire (see Appendix) was used as the main instrument of the study. Since the
students coming from different departments with different English levels and some of them
31 | T h e 2 0 1 3 c o n f e r e n c e “ I n n o v a t i o n i n t e a c h i n g a n d l e a r n i n g E S P ”
- might have difficulties in expressing themselves in English, the questionnaire was written in
Vietnamese. The participants are former students, therefore there was a great difficulty in
contacting them. That is why some questionnaires were given directly to the participants
whereas most of the questionnaires were sent by email.
Each questionnaire consisted of three main sections: the personal information and
English learning experience, the opinions about ESP program and material taught at HCMC
UE as well as the necessity of the program, and the recommendations for the program. The
questionnaire was designed with both close and open questions.
3.1.2. Interview
The questionnaire survey was followed by interviews with the participants. Due to the
limited time for the study, only one student from each department was chosen randomly to
take part in 30-minute interview. The interviews were carried out in Vietnamese and then
were transcribed by the researchers.
3.2. Participants
130 former non-majored students were taken part in the study. The former students
were chosen due to their deeper understanding about the necessity of the courses. After some
years working or teaching, now they can fully realize the importance of ESP to their career,
especially to the ones who are or will enroll for higher study. 10 former students from each
department which includes ESP course in the program were expected to take part in the
study. However, due to some unexpected difficulties in contacting with these former students,
while the group of Physics, Chemistry, Physical Education, Geography, Primary Education
and Pre-school had enough 10 participants for each department, Political Education group
had only 5 participants and Literature group had 7. But out of expectation, the students of
Mathematics, Information Technology, Biology and History Department were too eager to
take part in the study, hence the number of participants of these departments exceeded with
16 participants of Mathematics, 13 of Information Technology, 14 of Biology and 15 of
History. According to their answers on the demographic section of the questionnaire, their
year of graduation ranged from 2004 to 2013. Many of them are doing their master degree
and nearly most of them have some qualifications of English.
32 | T h e 2 0 1 3 c o n f e r e n c e “ I n n o v a t i o n i n t e a c h i n g a n d l e a r n i n g E S P ”
- 3.3. Data analysis
After the questionnaires were collected, the data was entered and analyzed using
SPSS (20.0) software. The information from this was used as the main source to answer the
first two research questions. The investigation of the third question was based on students'
comments collected through the last section of the questionnaire and the interview.
4. Results and Discussion
A questionnaire was delivered via emails and in person to 130 non-majored students of
12 departments for the data. Then, the data were collected and analyzed using SPSS (20.0).
Cronbach‘s Alpha was reported at .710 regarding 39 items in four parts of the questionnaire
for scale reliability.
4.1. Descriptive analysis in former non-majored students’ general information
48,5% of the student participants belong to the natural science group which includes
such departments as Mathematics, Chemistry, Physics, Information Technology, and Biology
while 24,6% of the subjects used to learn social sciences like Literature, History, Geography.
The other group was counted at 26,9% for the particular group involving students from
Primary, Pre-school, Physical, and Political Education. The students from the Mathematics
department got the highest number of 12,3% with 16 students over 130. The second largest
was History former non-majored students with 15 students occupying 11,5%. The least was
3.8% of the Literature students. A striking point that should be noted here was these students
have had learnt English for a long time with the highest number of 27 students learning
English for more than 13 years. They have also studied this language for more than 10 and 11
years with the cumulative percentage of 53,7% whereas the others of less than 9 years was a
mere percentage of 13.8%. An evidence for their English learning was that 80 over 130
students of 61.5% got the certificate such as TOEFL, IELTS, TOEIC meanwhile the rest was
reported at 19.2% excluding missing numbers.
These former non-majored students mostly were main-stream ones with 69,2% while
their regional counterparts were only 17,7% and the rest was only a modest percent of 12,1%.
When it comes to the graduation year, most of the participants have just graduated from the
university. Students graduating a year ago were reported at the largest percentage of 29.2%
which ranked second by 27.7% equal to 36 students graduating 2 years ago. Only one student
took B.A degree 6 years ago.
33 | T h e 2 0 1 3 c o n f e r e n c e “ I n n o v a t i o n i n t e a c h i n g a n d l e a r n i n g E S P ”
- Regarding their current courses or programs of the former non-majored participants,
these students reported to be taking M.A degree with 43 over the overall 130 of 33.1%. One
noticeable feature was that 54.6% of them are not enrolling in any courses for a higher degree
or particular professional certificates.
Take a look at the use of ESP in the current jobs of the non-majored student
participants, the number stood out in the statistic figure was 47 students who sometimes make
use of ESP knowledge in their career. This 36,4% could be a little bit contrasted to 18.6% of
24 students never obtaining any opportunities for using the specialized English language.
The total number of approximately 53% of the students resorting to ESP in their profession
appeared to highlight the need for ESP to be taught although only 9.3% of the students asked
assumed its regular use.
4.2. Former non-majored students’ evaluation in ESP teaching and learning in HCMC UE
Despite the fact that whether the students can use ESP in their jobs or not, they still
expressed their interest in learning ESP in HCMC UE with 90 students taking up 69.2%.
31.5% of the participants said they found teaching and learning ESP in HCMC UE
exciting and 47.7% picked up the average level of excitement that these ESP courses brought.
Besides, the overwhelming majority of students, 95.4%, claimed the necessity of ESP in the
university (Figure 2).
Fig.2 The necessity of teaching and learning ESP in HCMC UE
The students‘ views on the length of the syllabus and the time spent on ESP in the
university were displayed in Figure 2. Approximately 50% of the students asked thought the
time for ESP in HCMC UE was too little, which may, in many ways, affect their effective
ESP acquisition. Only 4,6 % said that the time for ESP was too much.
34 | T h e 2 0 1 3 c o n f e r e n c e “ I n n o v a t i o n i n t e a c h i n g a n d l e a r n i n g E S P ”
- Fig. 3 Students opinions about the length of the syllabus and the time spent on
ESP in HCMC UE
As regards the difficulty level of the ESP course books in HCMC UE, the majority of the
students of 70% picked up ―of the average difficulty‖. This massive percentage was opposed to
that of the students claiming that the ESP course books in HCMC UE were easy and very easy
with 1.5% and 8.5% respectively. Only 20% of the participants thought that the course books
were difficult. However, the students seemed not to be satisfied with the content of the ESP
course books when only 24.6% of them appreciated the appropriateness of the course books to
the majors they were taking at the university. The modest 14.6% percentage considered the
course books inappropriate, which was opposed to 59.2% of the participants thought them
fairly appropriate. Vocabulary and grammar are two important dimensions in ESP course books
were also evaluated by the students. With vocabulary, the striking point was that the vocabulary
stock supplied in the course books was reasonable with 81 students of 62.3% claiming so while
the minority of the participants found this stock heavy. Grammar was also the aspect which
students were in absolute agreement with each other when they shared their opinions in the
necessity and appropriateness of the grammar points mentioned in the course books with 80.8%
approval.
When it comes to skills, reading and translation were reported to take the leading
positions compared to other skills. With 77% and 78.6% of the students found reading and
translation interesting, these two skills seemed to bring much more excitement in class
compared to listening and speaking skills with 36.5% and 39.7% respectively. The students
also reported to be more pleased with how suitable reading and translation skills carried out
in classrooms to meet students‘ demands and English level than with other skills. The figures
of 81% for Reading and 79% for translation appeared to prove this. writing skills was also
appreciated by students with more than 60% of the participants for all three items in the
35 | T h e 2 0 1 3 c o n f e r e n c e “ I n n o v a t i o n i n t e a c h i n g a n d l e a r n i n g E S P ”
- figure. From the figure, listening and speaking skills should be more focused since students
thought these skills didn‘t meet their needs and English level.
Listening Speaking Reading Writing Translation
Excitement level Yes No Yes No Yes No Yes No Yes No
36.5 63.5 39.7 60.3 77 23 57.9 42.1 78.6 21.4
The suitability Yes No Yes No Yes No Yes No Yes No
to students’
52.0 48.0 50.8 49.2 81 19 69 31 77 23
needs
The suitability Yes No Yes No Yes No Yes No Yes No
to students’ level
49.6 50.4 55.2 44.8 80.6 19.4 77.6 22.4 79 21
Fig. 4: Students‘ views on the excitement level, the suitability to students‘ needs, and
the suitability to students‘ level of ESP course books in HCMC UE (in percentage terms).
Possibly, the above figures showing the students‘ opinions concerning the content and
skills practiced in classrooms somehow identified their views on the benefits they got for
each English skill from ESP teaching and learning in HCMC UE. A massive 64.3% of the
students claimed that they couldn‘t improve their speaking skills and the similar figure of
64.1% was for listening skills. Despite the disappointment of the students in speaking and
listening skills, the others seemed to be enhanced. The most successful skill was stated to be
Translation, for which 84.5% believed that their translation became better and better after
ESP courses in the university. Another skill was Reading with 82.9% of the students who
found their reading get improved. Besides, students said they could develop their writing
skills with 66.7% claiming so. Once again, about 60% of the students participated in the
study recognized the benefits of ESP courses implemented in HCMC UE. As a matter of fact,
106/130 students, taking up 81.5%, said that they would choose to enroll in ESP courses if
asked to choose the course again.
4.3. Summary of former non-majored students’ opinions from the open interview
questions
It is the last part in the questionnaire that asked students to write down their opinions,
suggestions and recommendations for the ESP teaching and learning in HCMC UE. In
general, students expressed their responsibility in their giving ideas since more than 50% of
36 | T h e 2 0 1 3 c o n f e r e n c e “ I n n o v a t i o n i n t e a c h i n g a n d l e a r n i n g E S P ”
- the students delivered the questionnaire supplied their own opinions. Their ideas fell into
three categories as mentioned:
4.3.1. ESP coursebooks
From an overall perspective, the former non-majored student participants reported not
to be totally satisfied with the content of the ESP coursebooks used in the university.
According to them, firstly, the content should be more updated with the current news, events
and issues in both national and international scope. Secondly, the content should be more
closely related to what they were studying in their majors on the grounds that the
coursebooks just provided several vocabulary items and themes that appeared in their
specialized fields. This was an important point to be taken into significant consideration since
a massive 65% of the students asked expressed their wishes to improve the content of the
ESP coursebooks used so that it can convey their real knowledge in their majors. What they
learnt in the coursebooks was sometimes collected from the Internet without careful sorting
and compiling. Moreover, the students from the departments of Chemistry, Mathematics,
Geography, Physical Education, Primary Education and History also suggested the specific
themes that they hoped to find in the ESP coursebooks. Students of Pre-school department
revealed that their course book was not interesting with many texts taken from the Internet.
While the ones of Mathematics Department found that the texts included too many stories
and biography of the scientists, an area which lacked in the course book of Chemistry. Once
again, the upgrading and updating the content in the ESP coursebooks appeared to be of
primary and paramount concern from students. Thirdly, the variety of the tasks, exercises and
activities such as crosswords, information exchange, and role play should be more and more
regarded with 6 students giving their opinions about this aspect. More importantly, more than
50% of the students claimed that the layout and design of the ESP coursebooks was not so
appealing, which somehow exerted an effect on the students‘ learning. They argued that most
of the coursebooks lacked illustrations with pictures and other visual aids. The fourth
common opinion was the cooperation between the ESP lecturers and the experts in
specialized fields and the lecturers from the departments with good command of English in
the university must be fostered. These experts and lecturers must work together from
coursebook design to real teaching in classrooms.
37 | T h e 2 0 1 3 c o n f e r e n c e “ I n n o v a t i o n i n t e a c h i n g a n d l e a r n i n g E S P ”
- 4.3.2. How the teaching and learning ESP were carried out
The most agreed opinion held by the students was the listening and speaking skills
needing to be developed and practiced. Their chief concern was the fact that more time
should be provided for these skills and more exciting and practical activities aiming at using
ESP knowledge in real life communication should be carried out. Role-play, academic oral
presentations, watching videos related to the students‘ specialized fields, joining English
clubs of ESP, outdoor activities, contests in ESP are what they hoped to do more in their ESP
learning. When it comes to other skills of reading, writing and translation, they suggested
being guided to the ways to sort out information obtained from the Internet, getting easier and
more regular access to foreign journal articles of their majors.
4.3.3. ESP lecturers
In general, these former non-majored students appreciated the devotion and
responsibility of their ESP lecturers. They also expressed their wish that their teachers should
provide them with more activities to create a low-threat classroom atmosphere, encourage
them to use the target language. As regards the educational tools, they hoped to get more
benefit from visual aids and article journals in class. Doing project work and giving
presentations in their specialized fields were suggested by more than 55% of the students.
Besides, improving teachers‘ professional quality and teaching skills and techniques was also
of students‘ main concern. Students from the Mathematics and Physical Education
departments thought that their ESP teachers must enlarge their knowledge in the fields to
supply them the correct and mathematics-oriented translation. One more point standing out
was the fact that the ESP teachers should agree on what they were teaching since two
teachers teaching the course at the same time provided the different meanings of the
vocabulary items or translation passages.
4.3.4. The ESP curriculum in HCMCUE
Firstly, 30% of the students noted that the implementation of ESP teaching should be
closely related to students‘ needs. They argued that whereas most of them intended to get
higher education after graduation, others didn‘t. ESP was supposed to be only beneficial to
the first group. The problem arising here was the question of whether ESP courses should be
taught and the data concerning students‘ needs should be collected and analyzed with
extreme care and consideration before any courses were given. The matter of the length of the
ESP courses, then, was also administered. More than 57% of the students hoped to lengthen
38 | T h e 2 0 1 3 c o n f e r e n c e “ I n n o v a t i o n i n t e a c h i n g a n d l e a r n i n g E S P ”
- their ESP courses with adding one more module to the current modules of real teaching in the
university. One suggestion was that they wished to study ESP from the first to the last year in
order to facilitate their learning and make their learning more effective. Thirdly, evaluation
process of ESP should be stimulated. The ESP coursebooks and teachers should undergo
regular, continuous and formal evaluation process with the students‘ and the teachers‘
feedback. Fourthly, placement tests seemed to get the student‘s concern since 42.3% of the
students approved of this implementation. According to them, this kind of tests could identify
students‘ real level and make it easier and more efficient in getting students in classes with
their suitable English levels.
4.4. Recommendations
4.4.1. Administration
In terms of administration, increasing the time for ESP course is a necessity. Compared
to some other universities such as University of Social Sciences and Humanities or Hanoi
National University with more than 180 periods for ESP courses, time given for this program
of HCMC UE is too limited. 120 periods for two courses was not enough for the learners to
acquire essential knowledge of their specialized subjects. This limited amount of time could
lead to the restriction in teaching process as well as teaching efficiency. Asking for the
extension of the program duration is a significant need of the learners. Even the learners who
do not have good English proficiency and ESP were expected to be difficult for them express
a strong wish for learning this branch of EFL. To this type of learners, it is their lack of
English competence that requires them more time to acquire this specialized language.
Secondly, a suitable syllabus is also required. There should be an agreement about the
syllabus, the curriculum as well as the assessment and target set for the program among the
administrators and the teachers.
Another suggestion put forward was the necessity of a placement test. Due to the
different English level of the learners, it was quite stricky for the teachers to exploit the
lessons and the teaching effectiveness was much reduced. To the students having good
English proficiency, the program was a little bit boring. Nevertheless, weak students found
ESP course was heavy for them to follow. With a placement test, this issue can be resolved.
When the students are classified based on their English level, it will be much easier for both
the teachers in choosing the suitable teaching method and the learners in acquiring the
knowledge. In addition to the placement test, the credit system which is being applied today
39 | T h e 2 0 1 3 c o n f e r e n c e “ I n n o v a t i o n i n t e a c h i n g a n d l e a r n i n g E S P ”
- can be partly solved. Because with the credit system, ESP is no longer a compulsory subject
and the ones who are too weak or feel that they are not confident enough with their English
proficiency can have the right of not enrolling for the course. However, today there is no
university or college in Vietnam that conduct placement test for ESP courses (Anh, 2009).
The third recommendation is about the teaching facilities. When analyzing the
inefficiency of ESP program of Hanoi National University, Van (2008) emphasized that the
inappropriateness of class size and poorly-equipped class were partly responsible for the
failure of the course. Classroom should be well equipped and teachers are provided with good
educational tools so that they can conduct the lesson in the most effective way. Information
technology should be implemented in ESP teaching also to make the lesson more engaging. It
would be more convenient for both teachers and learners if every class can access to the
Internet so that they can look up some terminologies or search for useful information related
to the field (Dung & Anh, 2010).
Last but not least, evaluation should be carried out quite often. Evaluation here includes
not only the learners' performance but also the teaching and the effectiveness of the program.
If it is possible, after the learners engage in the course 6 months, an evaluation should be
conducted. According to Alibakhshi (2011), 6 months after taking part in the course is a good
time to ask for the effectiveness and appropriateness of the program in order to see if there is
any adjustment required or which additional aspects should be covered.
4.4.2. Materials
Nowadays, there is a variety of ESP materials available in the market. Therefore,
textbooks for the course should be chosen carefully. The materials have to be suitable for use
with specific types of learners. Nevertheless, most compiled ESP coursebooks today are not
effective and interesting enough due to the strong focus on language including grammar and
terminologies, which results in the demotivation in the learners and makes the course become
too "dry". Thus, when choosing the materials, the administrators and the teachers need to
consider the learners' level and their needs together with the appropriateness between the time
for the course and the target that the program aims at. A co-operation with foreign experts to
compile better materials is a suggestion for the situation. Besides, it would be much better if
foreign ESP textbooks could be used. This idea of using foreign ESP textbooks has been
taken into consideration of the Foreign Language Section teachers for a time. However, as in
the introduction of these textbooks, the learners are required to achieve 6.0 or 6.5 IELTS to
40 | T h e 2 0 1 3 c o n f e r e n c e “ I n n o v a t i o n i n t e a c h i n g a n d l e a r n i n g E S P ”
nguon tai.lieu . vn