VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY - HANOI UNIVERSTITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST- GRADUATE STUDIES ---***--- ĐÀO THỊ MAI HƯƠNG TEACHERS’ BELIEFS AND PRACTICES ABOUT ESP TEACHING: A CASE STUDY AT HANOI UNIVERSITY OF INDUSTRY MỘT NGHIÊN CỨU VỀ QUAN NIỆM VÀ VIỆC GIẢNG DẠY TIẾNG ANH CHUYÊN NGÀNH CỦA GIÁO VIÊN TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC CÔNG NGHIỆP HÀ NỘI M. MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field : English Teaching Methodology Code : 60.111 HANOI - 2015 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY - HANOI UNIVERSTITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST- GRADUATE STUDIES ---***--- ĐÀO THỊ MAI HƯƠNG TEACHERS’ BELIEFS AND PRACTICES ABOUT ESP TEACHING: A CASE STUDY AT HANOI UNIVERSITY OF INDUSTRY MỘT NGHIÊN CỨU VỀ QUAN NIỆM VÀ VIỆC GIẢNG DẠY TIẾNG ANH CHUYÊN NGÀNH CỦA GIÁO VIÊN TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC CÔNG NGHIỆP HÀ NỘI M. MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field : English Teaching Methodology Code : 60. Mai Thị Loan HANOI - 2015 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com CANDIDATE’S STATEMENT I certify my authorship of the thesis submitted today entitled: TEACHERS’ BELIEFS AND PRACTICES ABOUT ESP TEACHING: A CASE STUDY AT HANOI UNIVERSITY OF INDUSTRY is the result of my own work for the Degree of Master of Arts at University of Languages and International Studies, Hanoi National University.
The material in this thesis has not been submitted for assessment in any other courses of study. Hanoi, March 2015 Signature Đào Thị Mai Hương i TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First of all, I would like to present my deepest gratitude to my supervisor, Ms. Mai Thi Loan, for her generous guidance, constant encouragement and precious advice which take important part in accomplishing the study. I am most thankful to all the lecturers of the M.A course at ULIS-VNUH for providing me foundation knowledge through their invaluable lessons.
I would also like to send my sincere thanks to my colleagues at the English Department of Hanoi University of Industry who were enthusiastic about participating in my research and willing to share their experience. Last but not least, I owe a big debt to my loved family who always stand by me as well as give me strength and encouragement during my three-year course and during the time I fulfilled the research. ii TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com ABSTRACT The study aimed at investigating teachers’ beliefs and practices about ESP teaching at Hanoi University of Industry. The objectives were to investigate teachers’ beliefs about teaching strategies applied to ESP classes, to find out the most common ESP teaching strategies used by teachers and to explore the relationship between teachers’ beliefs and practices when teaching ESP.
Interviews and classroom observations were used as the instruments to collect the data. The interviews were delivered to seek teachers’ beliefs about ESP teaching strategies and classroom observations were applied to explore their actual practices. The findings revealed that the teachers’ actual practices did not always correspond to their beliefs. iii TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS 1.
EFL: English as a Foreign Language 2. ELT: English Language Teaching 3. ESL: English as a Second Language 4. ESP: English for Specific Purposes 5.
HaUI: Hanoi University of Industry 6. GPE: General Purpose English 7. EAP: English for Academic Purposes 8. EEP: English for Educational Purposes 9.
EOP: English for Occupational Purposes 10. EFL: English as a Foreign Language iv TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1: ESP classification by experience. 8 Figure 2: ESP classification by professional area (Hutchison and Waters, 1987:6). 9 LIST OF TABLES Table 1: Ten techniques applied to ESP lesson.
10 Table 2: Strategies used to lead into the lesson. 23 Table 3: Teachers’ beliefs about strategies used to present problems. 27 Table 4: Teachers’ beliefs about strategies used in practice. 30 Table 5: Strategies used to lead into the lesson.
31 Table 6: Strategies used to present problems in ESP. 32 Table 7: Strategies used in practice part. 35 Table 8: Description of exercises used in actual practice. 36 v TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com LIST OF EXCERPTS Excerpt 1[Data extracted from the class on 2014/5/22].
XIV vi TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com TABLE OF CONTENT CANDIDATE’S STATEMENT. iii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS. iv LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES. v LIST OF EXCERPTS.
vi TABLE OF CONTENT. vii PART I: INTRODUCTION. Aims and objectives of the study. Scope of the study.
Methods of the study. Significance of the study. Design of the study. 3 CHAPTER ONE: LITERATURE REVIEW.
Theory of ESP. Some basic concepts. Roles of ESP teacher. The ESP practitioner as a teacher.
The ESP practitioner as a course designer and material provider. The ESP practitioner as a researcher. The ESP practitioner as a collaborator. The ESP practitioner as an evaluator.
Relationship between teachers’ beliefs and classroom practices. Review of previous related studies. Restatement of the research questions. Context of the study.
The setting of the study. 19 vii TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail. Pre- observation interviews. Post-observation interviews.
Data collection procedure. Data analysis procedure. Teachers’ beliefs about strategies used to lead into the lesson. Teachers’ beliefs about strategies used to present problems in ESP.
Teachers’ beliefs about strategies used to help students practice. Strategies used to present problems in ESP. Strategies used in practice part. 34 Table 8: Description of exercises used in actual practice.
Strategies used to lead into the lesson. Strategies used to present problems in ESP. Strategies used in practice part. 38 PART III: CONCLUSION.
Summary of the thesis. Implication from the study. Limitations and suggestions for further study. I viii TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com PART I: INTRODUCTION 1.
Rationale There is a fact that English is needed for every field such as technology, medicine, business and education. As a result, the demand for ESP is increasing in many countries where people speak English as a foreign language. Besides, people need English for passing the exams, promoting at work and developing their career. Therefore, ESP has been taught in most of universities in Vietnam for recent years.
Teaching ESP has become one of the most important features of English teaching process, which is necessary to meet the demand of the changing world. According to Hutchinson and Waters (1987: 19), ESP is an approach for language teaching in which all decisions regarding content and methods are based on the learners’ reasons for learning. They can use English effectively in different fields like economics, literature, law, and medicine. Compared with General English, ESP has both similarities and differences.
Although teaching ESP has much been concerned by researchers who have tried to develop its own methodology, it is still really hard for teachers to decide the effective strategies for their students. In context of Hanoi University of Industry (HaUI), students start learning ESP in the second semester of the third year. In fact, with the students’ low proficiency of English, it is extremely challenging for teachers to provide a successful ESP course. Besides, Vietnamese students keep a passive way of studying which makes the teachers’ methodology become the most important factor in teaching ESP.
In spite of long duration of 60 class hours, ESP teaching and learning quality has still been far from satisfaction. Therefore, the teachers’ beliefs and practices in teaching ESP should be worked out as soon as possible to improve the situation. Aims and objectives of the study This study aims to do research on teachers’ beliefs and practices about ESP teaching. The objectives of the study were: 1 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com (1) To investigate teachers’ beliefs about teaching strategies applied to ESP classes, (2) To find out the most common ESP teaching strategies used by teachers, (3) To explore the relationship between teachers’ beliefs and practices when teaching ESP.
Research questions In dealing with the above aims, the thesis should be clarified with the following questions: (i) What are teachers’ beliefs about teaching strategies applied to ESP classes? (ii) What are the most common ESP teaching strategies used by teachers? (iii) Is there a relationship between the teachers’ beliefs and practices in terms of ESP teaching strategies? 1. Scope of the study The research focuses on investigating the teachers’ beliefs towards teaching strategies applied to ESP classes and their practices. It was conducted among ESP teachers who work for Ha Noi University of Industry. Methods of the study The study was conducted following these stages: Firstly, the pre-observation interviews were delivered to seek teachers’ beliefs about teaching strategies used to lead into the problem, teaching strategies used to present problems in ESP and teaching strategies used to enhance practice as well as production of students.
Secondly, the classroom observations were made by the author to investigate teachers’ teaching strategies they actually used in their ESP class and find out whether these practices were consistent with the beliefs or not. 2 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com Thirdly, the post-observation interviews were carried out to find out the reasons for any inconsistence between teachers’ beliefs and practices. Finally, the data was gathered and analyzed to disclose the main findings and answer the research questions. Significance of the study In terms of theory, the author expected to contribute to perfecting theories about ESP and teachers’ beliefs and practices.
On the other hand, the findings of this study can be used as a reference by ESP teachers in general and teachers at HaUI in particular to improve their practices in ESP class. Design of the study The study is divided into three main parts. Part one is the INTRODUCTION which consists of rationale, aim and objectives of the study as well as research questions. It also covers scope, methods, significance and design of the research.
Part two is the DEVELOPMENT separated into three chapters: Chapter one provides theoretical background regarding as theory of ESP, roles of ESP teachers, teachers’ beliefs and practices. Added to this, previous related studies are summarized in brief. Chapter two is concerned with methodology used in the thesis. In the first place, the author restates the research questions and emphasizes the context, setting, participants, instruments, data collection and analysis procedure in process of conducting the thesis.
Chapter three shows the main content with findings as well as discussion based on the results from observations and interviews. Part three is the CONCLUSION offering a summary of the issues mentioned, implication from the study and suggestions for further study. 3 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com PART II: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER ONE: LITERATURE REVIEW 1. Theory of ESP 1.
Some basic concepts In literature on theories of foreign language teaching, such terms as “practices”, “activities”, “techniques” and “strategies” are widely used. Followings are a brief distinction between them. Practices include what teachers do and behave in the classroom. Activity refers to what learners actually do in the classroom and it implies the active performance of the learners.
Technique, in the most general sense, include all tasks and activities which are almost always planned, deliberate and are the product of a choice made by the teacher (Anthony, 1963:63); practice, behavior, exercise, procedure, strategy are described, in varying degrees of intensity, as technique. Strategy, in general, is a well-planned series of actions for achieving an aim. Thus, a teaching strategy is a conscious plan comprising a wide range of selected skills and techniques, which is targeted at the achievement of an objective. In other way, strategy is connected with how different types of learning and teaching activities are carried out in the classroom.
Definition In the past few decades, many researchers have been working to define ESP which has remained a controversial topic. Those definitions should be classified into three categories.