VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY – HO CHI MINH CITY UNIVERSITY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES AND HUMANITIES TẠ THỊ NGUYỆT ESP SYLLABUS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF LAW, HO CHI MINH CITY: USE, EVALUATION, AND SUGGESTIONS submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts (TESOL) Supervisor: Senior Lecturer NGÔ THỊ PHƯƠNG THIỆN, M. Ho Chi Minh City, December 2009 CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY I certify my authorship of the thesis submitted today entitled: ESP SYLLABUS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF LAW, HO CHI MINH CITY: USE, EVALUATION AND SUGGESTIONS In terms of the statement of Requirements for the Theses in Master’s Programs issued by the Higher Degree Committee. Ho Chi Minh City 17 November 2009 TA THI NGUYET i RETENTION AND USE OF THE THESIS I hereby state that I, TA THI NGUYET, being a candidate for the degree of Master of TESOL, accept the requirements of the University relating to the retention and use of Master’s Theses deposited in the Library of the school. In terms of these conditions, I agree that the original of my thesis deposited in the library should be accessible for purposes of study and research in accordance with the normal conditions established by the library for the care, loan or reproduction of theses.
Ho Chi Minh City 17 November 2009 TA THI NGUYET ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I am extremely grateful to my thesis supervisor, Ngo Thi Phuong Thien, who has guided, discussed, read, commented on, corrected my drafts of manuscript and significantly contributed to its final articulation. Without her constant guidance and help, my thesis could not have been completed. I am particularly grateful to all my teachers who participated in teaching course TESOL 2005-2008, at the USSH for their very interesting and useful classes. Thanks to them, I have gathered enough knowledge to complete my thesis.
I would like to acknowledge and thank all my classmates in TESOL course 2005 for their care and encouragement that makes me feel shared and confident. In addition, a special word of thanks goes to Mr. Nguyen Thanh Binh, one of my classmates, who helped me so much with typing and formatting my thesis. I am also cognizant of the contribution by my colleagues in both teaching English and law.
Thanks to their discussion, advice and ideas I could think more carefully about the practicalities of teaching English for law at the Ho Chi Minh City University of Law (HCMUL) and could have practical suggestions for my thesis. I do not forget to thank all the members of the Board of Directors, leaders of all departments, faculties, centers who gave support and good conditions to me to complete the thesis. Finally, I would like to thank all the students at the HCMUL for their willingness to have answered the questionnaires for the research project and for trying out many of the activities presented here. iii ABSTRACT The HCMUL has overcome many changes in order to improve the quality of teaching and learning English for Specific Purposes (ESP) for law.
From her own observation, the researcher of this thesis recognized some problems in using and changing ESP syllabuses of the school. When the last ESP syllabus was designed and implemented, the researcher had the intent to evaluate the syllabus to find out its real value. Based on the findings the author would like to give some possible suggestions to improve the quality of the syllabus as well as the effectiveness of ESP for law. The research participants were the students who used the syllabus to learn ESP, teachers who designed and used the syllabus in teaching, ten administrators who are also teachers of Law, and many former students and employers.
The instruments used in the research were classroom observations, questionnaires, informal interviews, and in-put, out-put test result assessments. This research has uncovered that the course book is, in most respects, appropriate for the students and valuable for the training program of law students at the school. Both teachers and students still met with difficulties and challenges using the syllabus, in particular, teaching and learning ESP subject in general. Some suggestions relating to the new syllabus, possible requirements for both teachers and students, and power of the authorities have been given.
This thesis has been undertaken in the hope that its findings, implications, requirements and recommendations will contribute to the improvement of the syllabus, the effectiveness of ESP for law subject as well as meeting the training needs of the school. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Page INTRODUCTION .1 The rationale for the thesis .2 The purpose of the thesis .3 The research questions .4 The significance of the thesis .5 The delimitations and limitations .6 An overview of the thesis .7 Definition of terms. 06 CHAPTER 1: BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY .1 Description of the school .2 The problems in ESP materials at the HCMUL .3 The birth of the new syllabus and its necessity to be evaluated .4 Description and comments of the syllabus. 21 CHAPTER 2: THE REVIEW OF LITERATURE .1 Relationships between GE, ESP and ESP for Law.2 Factors affecting English course design .4 Existing literature concerning evaluation of the current syllabus .3 Subjects and setting of the study .4 Instruments and data collection.
67 v CHAPTER 4: DATA ANALYSIS, FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION. 110 CHAPTER 5: RECOMMENDATIONS AND CONCLUSIONS. 156 vi LIST OF CHARTS Chart 3.1: The good marks in placement tests .2: Teachers’ qualification and ESP teaching experience .1: The necessity of ESP for Law students .2: The three most difficulties students meet in learning ESP .3: Students’ percentage on program similarity level .4: Satisfaction on ESP design and organization .5: Percentages on difficulty, interest, effectiveness of vocabulary tasks .6: The most difficult, interesting, or effective language skills .7: Three best sections in the current syllabus .8: Three least relevant sections in the current syllabus .9: Teachers’ and students’ satisfaction on the syllabus in details. 93 vii LIST OF TABLES Table 1.1: The contents of the ESP course at the HCMUL .1: Types of syllabi .2: Characteristics of a good text book .1: Student subjects’ background information .2: English teachers’ background information .1: The necessity of ESP for Law students .2: The course package and need to design a workbook .3: Evaluation on form, arrangement of topics and time allocation .4: Difficulty level of vocabulary, grammar and pronunciation .5: Effectiveness of vocabulary, grammar and pronunciation tasks.6: Teachers’ and students’ opinions on content and quality of topics .7: Teachers’ methods and students’ attitude .8: Difficulty level, students’ attitude and the effect of further tasks .9: The quality of tape and CD .10: Results of placement tests .11: Results of achievement tests.
100 viii ABBREVIATIONS ASEAN Association of South East Asian Nations CLT Communicative Language Teaching EFL English as a Foreign Language EGP English for General Purposes ELT English Language Teaching ESL English as a Second Language ESP English for Specific Purposes ESPL ESP for Law GE General English HCMC Ho Chi Minh City HCMUL Ho Chi Minh City University of Law TESOL Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages TOEIC Test of English International Communication WTO World Trade Organization ix INTRODUCTION 0.1 The rationale for the thesis Together with the expansion of international relations in most fields of life, English has become increasingly popular and important. It has become the most ‘‘common language of foreign trade and international communication’’ (Le Hong Hanh, 2004:5) for many countries and nations all over the world. The more important English has become, the more people would like to acquire it and the more attention English teaching has received. In Vietnam, the past decade has witnessed significant changes to English learning and teaching techniques.
Since joining ASEAN, Vietnam “can be listed as one of the Expanding Circle of countries where English is taught and learned as a foreign language" (Tran Thi Lan, 2000:27). Thanks to the government's "open door" and "integrating" policies, English education has been blooming. It has been introduced into the curriculum at all levels from primary to tertiary as a pivotal foreign language for economic development. To meet the needs of the students in studying English, many course books, textbooks, guidebooks, books for reference in English have been published in different areas such as economics, politics, and informatics.
English books have become diversified and are available everywhere. However, the abundance of resources can confuse teachers and students to make the right choice. The Ho Chi Minh City University of Law (HCMUL) as well as many other schools and universities in Vietnam in the last few years have encountered the same problem. Only through careful evaluation, selection and adaptation can one ensure that the materials one uses match the particular students and program as well as teaching style.
There have been many studies and researches providing some general as well as specific information and guidelines for selecting, evaluating, and developing materials 1 for English language teaching. Among those, there are some researches about English for Specific Purposes (ESP) syllabi evaluation written by candidates for Master of Arts (M.A) in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL). The Master thesis by Duong Thi Thuy Uyen (2004) is about evaluating the syllabus for Business Administration students; the Master thesis of Cao Thi Hoang Yen (2005) evaluates the syllabus for Finance and Accounting students; or the Master thesis criticizing the syllabus for Civil Engineering students was written by Ha Thi Thanh (2006). However, there has been no research carried out about selecting, evaluating, and developing any ESP for law (Legal English) syllabi although they have been used and changed many times since it was introduced.
Being an ESP teacher of the HCMUL, from her own observation the writer of the thesis recognized some problems in using and changing ESP syllabuses of the school. She would like to contribute to the improvement of the quality of teaching and learning ESP for law (ESPL) through evaluating the newest Legal English syllabus “Introduction to Law in English”.2 The purpose of the thesis The purpose of evaluating the new ESP syllabus is to identify 1. the objectives of the authors in designing the syllabus 2. the students’ needs in learning English for law, 3.
the strengths and weaknesses of the syllabus, 4. the difficulties teachers and students encounter when using the syllabus. Based on the identified problems above, the researcher considers the suitability and acceptability of this syllabus and suggests possible improvements to ESP for law subject.3 The research questions The questions that guide this study are: 1) What are the strengths and weaknesses of the syllabus? 2) To what extent is the syllabus suitable and accepted by both teachers and students? 3) What could be done to improve the quality of the syllabus for ESP for law? In addition, the following sub-questions must be clarified: 1) What are the students’ needs in learning English for law? 2) What are the purposes of the writers in designing the syllabus generally and the reasons for choosing each language item for each specific part? 3) What difficulties do the teachers and students encounter when they use the syllabus? 0.4 The significance of the thesis The syllabus has been carefully compiled and officially implemented in teaching and learning ESP for law as a main subject at the HCMUL and it must be critically looked into to find out its real values. The evaluation carried out in the thesis would help the teachers, students and the university administrators not only know the strengths and weaknesses of the syllabus, the difficulties the teachers and students meet in using it, but also identify the suitability and acceptability of this syllabus.
The suggestions derived from the thesis findings may be a good platform on which the syllabus designers could improve on in the future. The thesis will be the basis for the next study – to adapt the new syllabus for the students at the HCMUL.