UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST — GRADUATE STUDIES NGUYEN THI THAO A PRELIMINARY EVALUATION OF THE ENGLISH COURSE FOR .CADEMIC PURPOSES AT THE INTERNATIONAL DEPARTMENT, THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY (DÁNH GIÁ SƠ BỘ KHÓA HỌC TIÊNG ANH PHỤC VỤ MUC DICH HOC THUẬT TẠI KHOA QUOC TE, DAI HOC THÁI NGUYÊN} M. Minor Programme Thesis Vield: English Language Teaching Methodology Codc: 001410 Hanoi, 2012 TABLE OF CONTENTS Page PART A: INTRODUCTION. Rationale of the study. Objectives and significance of the study.
tk Research questions. 1à ba 4, Scope of the study. hà 5 Methods of the study Ms Organization of the study: m iw PART B: DEVELOPMENT. DR Bam GỌI CHAPTER |.
Fnglish for Academic Purposes 1. Definition of KAP. The relationship between EGAP and ESAP. English for GRP and English for SBP 1.
Definition of course evaluation. The importance of course cvaluation 1. Common features of course evaluation.1, Definition of coursebook. 9 1, ‘The significance of coursebook evaluation.
Criteria of coursebook evaluation. Previous stutlics 12 CHAPTER 2' METIIODS OF THE STUDY. Background of the study - 13 2.1 The International Department and its teaching and learaing conditions. An overview of the course applied for the 1 year students of IDTNU.
Methods of the study.1, Restating the rescarch questions. Data collecting instruments 2. Questionnaire for students 2. The interviews - _ CHAPTER 3: DATA ANALYSIS ANT) DISCUSSION.
Findings of the study. The results of the questionnaire. Students’ background of learning English. Stadents’ assessment on time spent for each skill 3.
Students’ assessment on the teaching materials for each skill.4 Students’ assesstncnt on the sub-skills thal they were laught 3. Students’ self-assessment on the skills they have gained.6 The evaluation on teaching performance 3. The results of the interviews. Answer to textbooks.
Students’ Knglish proficiency 3. Discussions about the study results. Summary PART C: CONCLUSION ch se 1. Summary of the main findings and conclusion.
Pedagogical implications 3, Limitations and suggestions for further rescarch. v The questionnaires which were delivered to the first year students at IDTNU to discover the students’ background of leaming Unglish, their self-assessment on the course books used during the course, whal they were laughL and what they gained from the course. The interviews were used to get the feedback from the lecturers of the course on the students’ English proficiency, the course books used as well as the suitability of the workload on each Hnglish skill. Organization of the study ‘The thesis consists of three main parts: Part A is the introduction, which presents an overview of the study with the rationale for Ibe rescarch, the aims and the research questions of the study.
TL also narrows the scope, presents the research method and outlines the content of the sludy Part B is the development, which includes three chapters as follows: * Chapter 1 is the literature review. ‘his chapter presents all the related theoretical background that precedes and necessitates the information of the research. * Chapter 2 describes the research methods used in the study with some necessary components. * Chapter 3 is devoted to a detailed description of data analysis and thorough discussion of the findings of the study.
In this chapter some explanation and interpretations of the findings are explored. Part C is the conclusion which presents the study conclusions and teaching implications. Besides, it also offers the limitations and suggestions for further study but not least important, some suggestions are given to improve the course of LUnglish for academic purposes at the International Department, Thai Nguyen Universily ‘This study is done in a hope that it will help better the quality of teaching and learning English for academic purposes at IDENU. Thus, it will help enhance students’ English competence.
Research questions Tn order to draw the conclusion, the following research questions arc raised 1. ‘To what extent does the course satisfy students? 2. What da the students still need to leam? 3. How can the course be improved? Hopefully, based on its findings, the International Department would bring aboul the improvements inthe course.
would also help teachers have a clear view of what aspects of the program that cause difficulties to students and which skills/ activities they should add in their lessons. Vinally, with regard to researchers, the information in the study would be a reference for other related researches 4, Scope of the study The research limits its scope to the Fnglish course for general academic purposes for the first year students at (1)''NU. ‘The choice of participants is simply a matter of convenience as the researcher is working as a training managing staff for TDTNU. Mcthods of the study To achieve the aims, the qualitative and quantitative approach including survey questionnaires and interview is used to collect the data.
‘he method used in this research is formative evaluation. In common, the data for the study wore obtained through the following instruments APPENDIX1: Questionnaire. VI PART B: DEVELOPMENT CTIAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW In this chapter, all the related theoretical background that precedes and necessitates the information of the research is presented. There are three main parts Fnglish for Academic Purposes and Cowse Evaluation.
The first part deals with definition of Linglish for academic purposes, the relationship between Uglish for general academic purposes and English for specific academic purposes and the relalionship between Fnglish for goncral business purposes and Engliah for specific business purposes. ‘The second one refers to the definition of course evaluation, its importance, teaching evaluation and course book evaluation. English for Academic Purposes 1.1 Definition of EAP According to Mlowerdew & Peacock (2001:p8; Jordan, 1997: p.1), Lnglish for Academic Purposes (EAP) is generally defined as teaching English with the aim of facilitating learners’ study or research in that language. The definition explains that LAP requires not only study-skills teaching but also all the general Linglish skills.
Hamp-Lyons (2002: p2) gives his opinion about EAP. which refers to language research and instruction that focuses on the specific communicative needs and practices of particular groups in academic contexts. This means learners have to practice to develop new kinds of literacy: communicative skills to parlicipale in particular academic and cultural contexts, Scureella, Robin (2003, p9) defines EAP as a variety or a register of English used in professional bouks and characterized by the specific linguistie features associated with academie disciplines. In his opinion, Academic English tasks include reading abstracts, understanding the key ideas.
research projects, expository essays. Academic English includes many diverse sub-regislers associated with diflerent disciplines such as science, economic, and mathematics (Johus, 1997). Compared with the definition in LIST OF TABLES AND FINGURES Tigure 1: The variety of years that students have learnt English before going to university Figure 2: The subjcets thal students had lo study for lhe entrance oxam Figure 3: Students’ assessment on ine spent [or cach skill Tigure ‘1: Students’ assessment on the applicability of the textbook into business major Figure 5: Students’ assessment on the textbooks’ suitability with students” level Table1: Students’ opinion about. the sub-skills (hey were taught ‘Table 2: Students’ self-assessment on the skills they have gained ‘Table 4: students’ evaluation on teacher /A’s teaching performance Table 5: Students evaluation on Mr.
B's teaching performance Table 6: Students’ evaluation on Ms. C’s teaching, performance ‘Table 7: Students’ evaluation on Mr. D’s teaching performance 31 Figure 6: Comparison of the students’ satisfying about the English 31 teachers rey PART A: INTRODUCTION This part is comprised of six sections including the rationale for the study, the objectives and significance of the study, the research questions, the scope of the study, the methods used in the study and the organization of the study. Rationale of the study Nowadays, in many countries whose mother tongue is not English, English is nola general subject but a language used io instrucl other subjects.
Tn rec in Viet Nam, the development of education has required many universities to import curricula from other countries, whose official language used to teach those subjects is English. This raises another challenge for learning and teaching English: how lo teach English for Academic Purposes. ‘he International Department, a new department under Thai Nguyen University, with the aim of applying imported advanced programs into the school, has implemented an advanced program collaborated with Manchester Metropolitan University. In this program, students are going to use English as a medium of listening to lectures in their major.
Therefore, for the first year of studying, students are taught Hnglish in such a way that they can use it for their academic purposes in the later years. In fact, the school year of 2011- 2012 is the first year the International Department has implemented the English course for academic purposes su the preliminary evaluation of the course is important for the course designers to get the feedback from students about the ‘program. Objectives and significance of the study Firstly, the thesis is carried out to investigate the effectiveness and weakness of the English course for the purpose of preparing study skills in English for the first year students, Intemational Department - Thai Nguyen University. Secondly, the aim of the study is to find out what aspects of language skills that studonts still need to leam so that they can use Linglish as a medium of instruction in their major.
Last but not least important, some suggestions are given to improve the course of LUnglish for academic purposes at the International Department, Thai Nguyen Universily ‘This study is done in a hope that it will help better the quality of teaching and learning English for academic purposes at IDENU. Thus, it will help enhance students’ English competence. Research questions Tn order to draw the conclusion, the following research questions arc raised 1. ‘To what extent does the course satisfy students? 2.
What da the students still need to leam? 3. How can the course be improved? Hopefully, based on its findings, the International Department would bring aboul the improvements inthe course. would also help teachers have a clear view of what aspects of the program that cause difficulties to students and which skills/ activities they should add in their lessons. Vinally, with regard to researchers, the information in the study would be a reference for other related researches 4, Scope of the study The research limits its scope to the Fnglish course for general academic purposes for the first year students at (1)''NU.
‘The choice of participants is simply a matter of convenience as the researcher is working as a training managing staff for TDTNU. Mcthods of the study To achieve the aims, the qualitative and quantitative approach including survey questionnaires and interview is used to collect the data. ‘he method used in this research is formative evaluation. In common, the data for the study wore obtained through the following instruments PART A: INTRODUCTION This part is comprised of six sections including the rationale for the study, the objectives and significance of the study, the research questions, the scope of the study, the methods used in the study and the organization of the study.
Rationale of the study Nowadays, in many countries whose mother tongue is not English, English is nola general subject but a language used io instrucl other subjects. Tn rec in Viet Nam, the development of education has required many universities to import curricula from other countries, whose official language used to teach those subjects is English. This raises another challenge for learning and teaching English: how lo teach English for Academic Purposes. ‘he International Department, a new department under Thai Nguyen University, with the aim of applying imported advanced programs into the school, has implemented an advanced program collaborated with Manchester Metropolitan University.
In this program, students are going to use English as a medium of listening to lectures in their major. Therefore, for the first year of studying, students are taught Hnglish in such a way that they can use it for their academic purposes in the later years.
