VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES PHAN THỊ THU HÀ DEVELOPING ESP SUPPLEMENTARY READING EXERCISES FOR SECOND-YEAR STUDENTS AT FACULTY OF NURSING, PHU THO MEDICAL COLLEGE XÂY DỰNG CÁC BÀI TẬP ĐỌC BỔ TRỢ TIẾNG ANH CHUYÊN NGÀNH CHO SINH VIÊN NĂM THỨ HAI TẠI KHOA ĐIỀU DƯỠNG, TRƯỜNG CAO ĐẲNG Y TẾ PHÚ THỌ MINOR PROGRAM THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 601410 HANOI, 09-2012 z VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES PHAN THỊ THU HÀ DEVELOPING ESP SUPPLEMENTARY READING EXERCISES FOR SECOND-YEAR STUDENTS AT FACULTY OF NURSING, PHU THO MEDICAL COLLEGE XÂY DỰNG CÁC BÀI TẬP ĐỌC BỔ TRỢ TIẾNG ANH CHUYÊN NGÀNH CHO SINH VIÊN NĂM THỨ HAI TẠI KHOA ĐIỀU DƯỠNG, TRƯỜNG CAO ĐẲNG Y TẾ PHÚ THỌ MINOR PROGRAM THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 601410 Supervisor: Dr. Dương Thị Nụ HANOI, 09-2012 z LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS - ESP: English for Specific Purposes - PTMC: Phu Tho Medical College - EMP: English for Medical Purposes - L2: Second Language - U.K: United Kingdom - EFL: English as a Foreign Language - T: Teachers - S: Students - N: number of the teachers/ students - P: percentage of the teachers/ students z LIST OF TABLES Table 1: Exercises believed to be suitable to develop ESP reading skills (Grellet, 1981: 4-5). Table 2: Exercise types in ESP reading skills (Kenedy and Bolitho, 1991: 74-84). Table 3: Types of reading exercises in each unit in the currently used teaching coursebook.
Table 4: Teachers and students’ perception of students’ difficulties in terms of reading exercises. Table 5: Teachers and students’ perceptions of the effectiveness of using supplementary exercises in reading lessons. Table 6: Teachers and students’ perceptions of exercise types to be included in the ESP supplementary reading exercises. Table 7: The proposed supplementary reading exercises.
z LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1: Teachers and students’ perceptions of the reading exercises in the currently used teaching coursebook. Figure 2: Teachers and students’ perceptions of the necessity of ESP supplementary reading exercises. Figure 3: Teachers and students’ perceptions of exercise types accompanying the reading texts in the currently used teaching coursebook. Figure 4: The frequency of the teachers and students in using supplementary reading exercises.
Figure 5: Teachers and students’ perceptions of the place of using supplementary reading exercises. z TABLE OF CONTENTS Page DECLARATION. iii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS …………………………………………. iv LIST OF TABLES ………………………………………………………….
v LIST OF FIGURES …………………………………………………………. vi PART A: INTRODUCTION 1. Rationale of the study ……………………………………………………. Objectives of the study…………………………………………………….
Scope of the study…………………………………………………………. Significance of the study …………………………………………………. Design of the study………………………………………………………. 3 PART B : DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND 1.
An overview of English for Specific Purposes (ESP) and English for Medical Purposes (EMP) …………………………………………………. An overview of materials development in language teaching. Materials and materials development………………………………. Definition of materials……………………………………………….
Materials evaluation and its criteria …………………………………. An overview of reading comprehension in teaching ESP. Definitions of reading and reading comprehension……………………. What is reading?.
What is reading comprehension?. Types of ESP reading exercises……………. 13 CHAPTER 2: THE STUDY 2. Instruments for collecting the data.
Data collection procedures. Data analysis and major findings. An overview of the currently used teaching textbook. Data from survey questionnaires.
Suggested exercises for the ESP supplementary reading. Guidance for the teachers and students. Guidance for the teachers. Guidance for the students.
37 PART C: CONCLUSION Recapitulation. 38 Limitations of the study. 39 Suggestions for further study. Rationale of the study It is undeniable that English now is one of the most commonly used languages throughout the world.
In Vietnam, with the changes and the development of the economy and society, as well as the implementation of the open-door policy, English has been used more and more widely. Importantly, it has influenced on our education curriculum as a compulsory subject. In recent years, there has been a global increase in the number of language teachers who are required to teach English to students from various fields such as engineering, information science, medicine, accounting, etc to enable them to cope with their academic work. This type of English is called English for Specific Purpose (ESP).
Since ESP was introduced, it has attracted the attention of many language instructors. Furthermore, the idea of ESP has been welcomed by staffs of universities who have seen the great benefits of learning ESP. In addition, it is to meet the learners’ needs for better reading of specialized books in English and for more successful job performance in the future. The English language program at Phu Tho Medical College (PTMC) is designed to be composed of two major stages.
The first stage is called English for General Purposes, focusing on developing students’ ability to communicate in English at a very simple level. The second stage is ESP, emphasizing the development of students’ linguistic skills that are linked to their future occupational purposes. After having taught English at PTMC for 3 years, the researcher finds that although the currently used teaching coursebook for ESP has shown a great deal of improvement, it still has some problems with reading exercises. Some are too easy for students whereas some make students bored.
Therefore, it does not help students improve their reading skill much. In this case, the main task for the teachers is developing teaching materials to improve students’ reading skill. In order to do this, the teachers need to evaluate every unit to see what the problems are and then, try to think of the ways to improve them. There are many things that the teachers can do z to improve the units.
They can be looking for supplementary materials from different sources, changing the procedures of teaching, designing activities to motivate the students, etc. One of the effective ways is developing supplementary materials. The above mentioned reasons lead me to my choice of the study: Developing ESP Supplementary Reading Exercises for second-year students at Faculty of Nursing, Phu Tho Medical College. Objectives of the study The study aims to: - develop a theoretical framework which is appropriate for the development of ESP supplementary reading exercises for second-year students of nursing, PTMC.
- investigate and analyze the needs of ESP students of nursing and ESP teachers, PTMC to serve as a practical base for developing ESP supplementary reading exercises. - propose ESP supplementary reading exercises for second-year students at Faculty of Nursing, PTMC, which can meet both teachers and students’ needs. Research questions On carrying out the research, the following research questions are to be answered: - What are the reading needs of the nursing students at PTMC? - Which reading exercises should be supplemented for second-year students at Faculty of Nursing, PTMC? 4. Scope of the study As the current coursebook is compulsory, this study is intended to focus on supplement only.
In the scope of this study, only ESP supplementary reading exercises, which are suitable for the local situation of PTMC, are proposed. Moreover, they are intended for only the second-year students of nursing. Research Methodology The study is based on a survey research, which involves a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods to obtain its objectives. To begin with, an z extensive of theoretical background is conducted, defining the notions of ESP in general and medical English in particular, some important aspects of materials development in language teaching and reading comprehension in teaching ESP.
Then, the major methods used in the study are the quantitative and qualitative methods. To collect data, survey questionnaires to the second-year students of nursing and ESP teachers are in favour. The results from the survey questionnaires are combined with coursebook evaluation, class observation to propose ESP supplementary reading exercises for the second-year students at Faculty of Nursing, PTMC, which can meet both teachers and students’ needs. Significance of the study Due to the lack of ESP supplementary reading exercises that are suitable for the local situation, this study is hoped to provide useful and interesting exercises based on reading texts in the currently used teaching coursebook for the second- year students at Faculty of Nursing, PTMC.
Hopefully, the supplementary reading exercises will be developed into supplementary materials and will be used as the basis to construct other supplementary reading exercises. Design of the study This study consists of three parts: Part A: Introduction: presents the rationale, objectives, research questions, scope, methodology, significance, and the design of the study. Part B: Development: constitutes the body of the study. It consists of three chapters: - Chapter 1: Theoretical background - Chapter 2: The study - Chapter 3: Recommendations Part C: Conclusion: concludes recapitulation, conclusions, limitations of the study and suggestions for further study.
z PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND This chapter presents a theoretical background for the study. It is presented in three sections. The first section discusses English for Specific Purposes (ESP) in general and English for Medical Purposes (EMP) in particular. The second section looks at materials development in language teaching.
The last section discusses reading comprehension in teaching ESP. An overview of ESP and EMP 1. ESP “ESP” stands for English for Specific Purposes. Different authors have defined this term in different ways.
According to Hutchinson and Waters (1987: 19), ESP is “an approach to language teaching in which all decisions as to content and method are based on the learners’ reason for learning”. For Hutchinson and Waters, the starting point in determining appropriate input for ESP course is identifying learners’ needs. Likewise, Strevens (1988) defined ESP by identifying its absolute and variable characteristics. His definition of ESP makes a distinction between four absolute and two variable characteristics: 4 absolute characteristics: ESP consists of English language teaching which is: - designed to meet specified needs of the learner; - related in content (that is in its themes and topics) to particular disciplines, occupations and activities; - centred on the language appropriate to those activities in syntax, lexis, discourse, semantics and so on, and analysis of this discourse; - in contrast with “General English”.
2 variable characteristics: ESP may be, but is not necessarily: - restricted as to the language skills to be learned (for example reading only); z - not taught according to any pre-ordained methodology Ten years later, theorists Dudley-Evans and St John (1998) modified Strevens’ original definition of ESP to give an extended definition as follows: Absolute characteristics: - ESP is designed to meet specific needs of the learner; - ESP makes use of the underlying methodology and activities of the discipline it serves; - ESP is centred on the language (grammar, lexis, register), skills, discourse and genres appropriate to these activities. Variable characteristics - ESP may be related to or designed for specific disciplines; - ESP may use, in specific teaching situations, a different methodology from that of general English; - ESP is likely to be designed for adult learners, either at a tertiary level institution or in a professional work situation. It could, however, be for learners at secondary school level; - ESP is generally designed for intermediate or advanced students. Most ESP courses assume some basic knowledge of the language system, but it can be used with beginners.
Clearly, the definition of Dudley-Evans and St. John was influenced by that of Strevens (1988) although they improved it substantially by removing the absolute characteristic that “ESP is in contrast with General English” and revised and increased a number of variable characteristics. They asserted that ESP can be but is not necessarily related to a specific discipline, nor does it have to be aimed at a certain age group or ability range. Furthermore, ESP is likely to be used with adult learners although it could be used with young adults in a secondary school setting.