STATEMENT OF ORIGINAL AUTHORSHIP The work contained in this thesis has not previously been submitted for a degree or diploma in any university. I certify that, to the best of my knowledge and belief, my thesis contains no material previously published or written by another person except where due reference is made in the thesis itself. i ABSTRACT This study aims to find out the types of frequently used ESP Vocabulary Learning Strategies by the nursing students at QuangTri Medical College and challenges in their learning ESP vocabulary. The participants of the study included 86 second-year nursing students studying at the intermediate level and taking the English for Specific Purposes course.
They ranged in age from 19 to 22 years. The students were required to answer a five-part questionnaire, five interview questions, and do a reading task. The collected data was quantitatively and qualitatively analysed. The results indicated that the most used ESP vocabulary learning strategies among the participants were consolidation strategies.
In terms of the strategy categories, cognitive strategies were used with the highest frequency. Pronunciation of words was found as the biggest challenge in learning ESP vocabulary. The findings of the study suggest recommendations for students and teachers in order to make teaching and learning ESP vocabulary better in some extents and how to instruct learners to limit challenges in learning ESP. ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENT First of all, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my supervisor, Dr.
Truong Bach Le for his enthusiastic and professional guidance. He has been a source of knowledge, and his feedback is great value for me in improving and completing this thesis. I truly appreciate the kind support and cooperation of the teachers and students of Quang Tri Medical College during the time I carried out this study. Lastly, from the bottom of my heart, I wish to thank my family and my friends for their constant support and encouragement during the time I was conducting this research.
iii TABLES OF CONTENTS Page Statement of Original Authorship…………….iii Table of contents …………………………………………………………….iv List of tables ……………………………….……vi List of abbreviations………………………………………………….4 Scope of Research .5 Organisation of the thesis .1 Definition of vocabulary .2 Learning ESP vocabulary .3 The importance of ESP vocabulary learning.4 Vocabulary learning strategies .5 Difficulties of ESP vocabulary learning .6 Vocabulary teaching techniques and activities .7 Review of previous studies.4 Data collection method .5 Data analysis method. 25 FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION .1 Reliability of the research.2 The evaluation of students‟ proficiency in English and perceptions on ESP course .3 The current learning English vocabulary by QTMC students .4 ESP Vocabulary Learning Strategies used by the student participants.1 The overall ESP VLS use .2 Student participants’ frequency of use of ESP VLS categories .3 The most and least frequently used ESP VLSs by student participants .4 Effectiveness of using ESP VLSs by student participants .5 Teaching activities by teachers and practice activities by students from in the interviews .6 Challenges in learning ESP vocabulary by student participants. 46 CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS .1 Recommendations for students .2 Recommendations for teachers .3 Limitations of the research .4 Suggestions for further research. 49 APPENDICES v LIST OF TABLES Table 4.1: The reliability of the questionnaire .1: Students’ proficiency in English .2: The usefulness of ESP .3: Students’ preference of ESP .4: Time for studying ESP .5: ESP textbook in accordance with nursing .6: ESP important areas .1: Definition of learning English vocabulary .2: Time for learning English vocabulary .3: Means of studying English vocabulary .4: The difficulties in learning English vocabulary .1: The importance of learning ESP vocabulary.2: The overall ESP VLS use .3: Student participants’ frequency of use of discovery strategies and consolidation strategies .4: Student participants’ frequency of use of ESP VLS categories .5: The five most frequently used ESP VLSs (DIS) .6: The five least frequently used ESP VLSs (DIS) .7: The five most frequently used ESP VLSs (CON) .8: The five least frequently used ESP VLSs (CON) .9: Effectiveness of using ESP VLSs by student .1: Teaching activities by teachers and practice activities by students .1: Time for learning ESP vocabulary .2: Challenges in learning ESP vocabulary by student participants .3: Factors impact on learning ESP vocabulary.
39 vi LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS COG : Cognitive CON : Consolidation DET : Determination DIS : Discovery ESP : English for Specific Purposes GEV : General English Vocabulary MEM : Memory MET : Meta-cognitive QTMC : Quang Tri Medical College SOC : Social VLSs : Vocabulary Learning Strategies VTSs : Vocabulary Teaching Strategies vii viii CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION This chapter presents in detail the background that motivated the research. It then describes the research rationale, research aims, research questions as well as the scope of the research. Finally, the structure of the research is also presented in the chapter.1 Rationale English is the most actual common universal language. It is the primary language for all parts of the world.
English can be understood almost everywhere among educated people, as it is the language of TV shows, and the computer world. All know many English words, their pronunciation, and meaning. Together with information technology, English is as the second language and the priority in the educational reformation of countries. A good English-speaker has the requirement of four basic skills: listening, speaking, reading and writing.
Each skill has its tips or techniques that help speakers efficiently to get language acquisition. However, vocabulary learning is central to language acquisition, whether the language is first, second, or foreign. Knowing the way how to learn pronunciation, meaning, the intonation of a word is also the condition to develop four above mentioned skills. To meet the need for global integration and strengthen studying, exchanging and cooperative relationship with international friends, English became an essential and compulsory subject in every curriculum of universities, schools in the education system in Vietnam.
English for Specific Purposes (ESP) refers to teaching the English language to university or college students. A given course of ESP will focus on one occupation or profession that students chose after they finish Basic English in universities. It is also a good condition for students to reach the work environment by applying English in their specific work. There are different kinds of ESP books for each occupation.
Some books under common standards of curriculum issued by publishers. Licensed lecturers compile other books from universities. All books have a common point, that is, most contents in the textbook are focusing on providing related knowledge to each 1 occupation through extensive readings with a lot of paragraphs in a unit. It is different from the books of English for communication for the beginners to learn with the videos, pictures, tapes.
Mainly, each paragraph in the readings contains new and challenging words that are hard for learners to pronounce them and to remember the meaning of the words. Therefore, how learning ESP vocabulary quickly and effectively is a very important thing. It requires teachers to have suitable teaching methodologies and necessary strategies of students in learning ESP vocabulary. In universities and colleges in Vietnam, in spite of the increasing number of research on language learning strategies, most studies have focused on learning strategies in English language skills in the classroom, difficulties on learning English language, ESP textbook… It, hence, needs to be taken into consideration by teachers of English because ESP vocabulary learning strategies are essential to non-English majors who will go out to work in other specific professions.
QuangTri Medical College is one of the high-quality medical colleges in Vietnam, at present; the college is training chiefly two principal majors in nursing and pharmacy at the college level. After students graduated from high school, they enter the college to take a course of three years. ESP is always a subject in the training program and makes specific difficulties for students of QuangTri Medical College. English for Nurses and English for Pharmaceutical Students are used to teach the students in the college.
As were compiled by lecturers of the college according to the curriculum and approved by the Training Council of the college, most of the units in the textbook are the combination of basic skills, in which, vocabulary is central to connect those skills. In the recent years, nursing students often take a long time to learn ESP vocabulary because they are the terms in medicine, nursing techniques, scientific names called in hospitals, diseases in the diagnosis and the way how to care the in-patients and out-patients. Not many students can learn the vocabulary and remember exactly their meanings, even they also make some mistakes in communication because of the meaning of the words, word-formation. All second-year nursing students at QuangTri Medical College have to take a 75-hour-ESP course after finishing the Basic English.
The students cannot find a certain ESP vocabulary learning strategy that helps them to 2 improve their vocabulary. This is the situation happening to nursing students at QuangTri Medical College in learning ESP vocabulary. All of these motivated me to conduct this research with the topic “An investigation into ESP vocabulary learning strategies of nursing students at QuangTri Medical College.” The study would go into details of the ESP vocabulary learning strategies of nursing students at this college as well as challenges in learning ESP vocabulary and suggest the ways to improve vocabulary learning and to teach for both students and teachers.2 Research aims With the purpose of (1) identifying the types of ESP vocabulary learning strategies for consolidating a word once it has been encountered and the discovery of a new word‟s meaning by nursing students at Quang Tri Medical College, (2) determining the challenges in learning ESP vocabulary by the students. From the conclusion, the author suggested detailed recommendations for teachers and students to improve ESP vocabulary learning and teaching at the college.3 Research questions Based on the research objectives, this research was designed to answer the following questions: - What types of strategies do nursing students at QuangTri Medical College frequently use to learn ESP vocabulary? - What challenges do nursing students at QuangTri Medical College have in learning ESP vocabulary? 1.4 Scope of Research To determine the types of ESP vocabulary learning strategies of nursing students and challenges in learning, the sample consisted of all second-year nursing students who were taking the ESP course in the training program of the college.
The research‟s result cannot be reflected the common situation to all Vietnamese students that are learning ESP course. The difficulties in learning ESP vocabulary include both spelling problems and semantic, learning strategies, appropriate teaching materials, and the interactions between students and teachers are the necessary components to solve the current learning difficulties. In this research, an investigation of nursing 3 students‟ strategies regarding to learning ESP vocabulary was conducted to help language teachers understand what students need.5 Organisation of the thesis The thesis consists of five chapters, including this introduction. The chapters will be: Chapter 1: INTRODUCTION: The presentation of the research rationale, research aims, research questions, the scope as well as the structure of the research.
Chapter 2: LITERATURE REVIEW: The review of some previous related research. Chapter 3: METHODOLOGY: Description of the research methods, participants, data collection and data analysis process. Chapter 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION: This chapter concentrates mainly on the data collected from questionnaires and informal interviews. In this chapter, the data collected will be analyzed to answer the research questions.
Then, a discussion is conducted based on the collected data from the research. Chapter 5: CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS: This final chapter which summarizes the whole research and then the pedagogical implications related to the main issues of the thesis are provided. 4 CHAPTER II LITERATURE REVIEW This chapter will focus on the theoretical background of the research. The chapter begins with the definitions of vocabulary and ESP vocabulary.
followed by vocabulary learning strategies, vocabulary teaching techniques, the importance of ESP vocabulary learning and difficulties in learning ESP vocabulary. The chapter closes with a review of previous studies on ESP VLSs.