VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES NGUYỄN THỊ HUYỀN A SURVEY ON CURRENT READING STRATEGIES OF ENGLISH FOR SPECIFIC PURPOSES (ESP) STUDENTS AT A VOCATIONAL COLLEGE Khảo sát các chiến lược đọc tiếng Anh chuyên ngành hiện nay của các học viên tại một trường Cao đẳng nghề M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Major : English teaching methodology Code : 8140231.01 HANOI – 2018 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES NGUYỄN THỊ HUYỀN A SURVEY ON CURRENT READING STRATEGIES OF ENGLISH FOR SPECIFIC PURPOSES (ESP) STUDENTS AT A VOCATIONAL COLLEGE Khảo sát các chiến lược đọc tiếng Anh chuyên ngành hiện nay của các học viên tại một trường Cao đẳng nghề M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Major : English teaching methodology Code : 8140231.01 Supervisor : Trần Thanh Nhàn, PhD. HANOI –2018 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com DECLARATION I declare that this thesis is a presentation of my original research work. While any of the content presented is the result of input or data from a related collaborative research program, the literature and acknowledgement of collaborative research and discussions. The work was done under the guidance of Doctor Tran Thanh Nhan, as appointed by Faculty of Post-graduate Studies, University of Languages and International Studies, Vietnam National University, Hanoi.
Researcher In my capacity as supervisor of the candidate‟s thesis, I certify that the above statements are true to the best of my knowledge. Hanoi, April……, 2018 Supervisor i TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS A completed study would not be done without any assistance. Therefore, I would gratefully express my acknowledgement to the following individuals who have provided me with their support and motivation during the time of conducting this research as a requirement of completing my Degree of Master. I would first like to thank my thesis supervisor, Doctor Tran Thanh Nhan.
Her kindly support and continuous advice went through the process of the completion of my thesis. Her encouragement and comments had significantly enriched and improved my work. Without her motivation and instructions, the thesis would have been impossible to be done effectively. During the actual implementation of the project, my research has received immense contribution from all relevant students.
So far, I would like to thank to the groups who took charge in the process of data collection and data entry for this research. I would also express my thankfulness to the Rector of Viglacera Vocational College who actively supported me and my colleagues who gave me very valuable comments on this thesis. Finally, I would dedicate my very profound gratitude to my parents for their providing me with unfailing support and continuous encouragement throughout my years of study and through the process of researching and writing this thesis. This accomplishment would not have been possible without them.
Researcher ii TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.college TABLE OF CONTENTS TABLE OF CONTENTS. 1 LIST OF TABLES. Problem statement and research contribution. 9 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW.
Definition of reading. Definition of reading comprehension. English for specific purposes. Existing literature of reading strategies.
Data collection methods. Data collection process. Data analysis method. 21 CHAPTER 4: ANALYSES AND FINDINGS .college TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.
Descriptive statistics of the respondents. Results and Analyses. Reading strategy use of vocational students. Differences in reading strategies use by gender.
Differences in reading strategies use by reading proficiency level. 32 CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION & RECOMMENDATION. Limitations of the research .college TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.college LIST OF TABLES Table 4.1: Descriptive statistics of the respondents .2: Frequency of using reading strategies .3: Reading strategies of female and male students .4: Reading strategies of female and male students ranked by frequency .5: Reading strategies of students with different reading proficiency levels.6: Reading strategies of students with different reading proficiency levels ranked by frequency .college TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.college A survey on current reading strategies of English for Specific Purpose (ESP) students at a Vocational College ABSTRACT This study is a survey on English for Specific Purposes reading comprehension perceived by 120 students at a Vocational College. It dedicates to the existing literature by discovering reading strategies of vocational students, identifying strategies needed to enhance students‟ reading comprehension as well as appropriate approach for students to improve their reading skills and achieve good knowledge.
The aim of the study is to point out which strategies the students majoring in building materials at the vocational college need to improve to attain the maximum out of the text they read and differences between “good” and “poor” readers, male and female ones. A twenty-item questionnaire with five-point Likert scales was used to collect data. Descriptive statistics used to analyze the data were frequency, percentage, mean and standard deviation. Based on the statistical data, the overall results point out the differences between female and male students, “good” and “poor” readers in terms of their reading strategies.
Hence, the study suggests several recommendations for the students as well as the English teachers at the Vocational College.college TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.college CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION This chapter first and foremost provides background information about the research topic and stylized facts about students reading both academically and occupationally. Subsequently, it identifies practical and theoretical problems as well as defines research questions and research objectives. The research scope and methodologies to address the research questions are then clarified. Lastly, the chapter wraps up with a demonstration of the thesis structure.
Background Vocational education has been growing in popularity not only in numerous countries around the globe but also in Vietnam. It is considered as an alternative door for students to pursue their dreams rather than higher education. Vocational education is a practical approach that prepares people to work in specific occupations, such as engineering, trading, or crafting. Vocational colleges are designed to provide vocational education, which can be distinguished other colleges in the sense that they provide students with job-specific training instead of high concentration on academic training.
Consequently, students are well equipped with particular skills required for their specifically selected jobs. Among all vocational colleges in Vietnam, Viglacera Vocational College (VVC) is considered as the most well-known vocational institution in the industry of construction materials production. It is an education unity of Viglacera Corporation. Established in 1998, Viglacera Vocational College has been the first and only college in Vietnam providing intensive vocational training in the industry of construction materials production.
VVC and Proskill UK have signed a cooperation agreement in vocational training with 5 (LUAN.college TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.college the aim to propel VVC to become a leading Vietnamese vocational college in the field of construction materials. It can be seen clearly that VVC has been putting efforts in building vocational training programs in compliance with international standards. VVC focuses on training the workers of forty subsidiaries in the Viglacera Corporation. These students have to simultaneously meet the requirements of studying at the college and working at the sites.
They have to work on shifts (three shifts per day) to maintain the working lines and to ensure the effective production. Therefore, they face ample difficulties in learning as well as doing exercises. In class, most of them complain that they are too exhausted to absorb new knowledge, and they want to have interesting easy lessons, which pose a real challenge for the teachers to facilitate their learning. At VVC, English is considered an international language as it has become increasingly popular as a teaching language in Vietnam‟s education.
Especially, together with the rapid pace of globalization, it has grown to be an official medium of instruction for many universities. More specifically, English is a key to “gain access to the required knowledge that is available, either exclusively or most readily, in English” (Mumby, 1981). In other words, it serves other different specific purposes, which results in significant changes in almost all walks of life and the continuing increase of international communication in these various fields. That trend leads to the coming into being of English for Specific Purposes (ESP).
Being aware of the importance of ESP, teachers at Viglacera Vocational College (VVC) pay more attention to teaching ESP than GE for their students. This ESP course aims at providing students with background knowledge and a system of terms related to building materials. However, vocabulary and grammar cause various problems for the 6 (LUAN.college TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.college students at VVC while they conduct reading activities. Many of them find it challenging when they have to embrace a large amount of specialized vocabulary and complicated grammar structures.
Even when they get accustomed to specialized vocabulary, they still encounter problems with understanding general ideas and specific details. The root causes for these obstacles can originate from their study methods, their learning attitudes, the curriculum, and the teaching methods. It is assumed that the students can overcome these problems related to vocabulary and grammar by changing their study methods, particularly reading strategies. Reading strategies play a crucial roles in the process of learning and utilizing the language as Carrell (1984) states that “for many students, reading is by far the most important out of the four macro-skills, particularly in English as a second foreign language”.
The students at VVC indeed need to improve their reading skills which help them make extensive use of academic materials written in English and increase their professional knowledge in their specific or specialized fields. Problem statement and research contribution The ability to read English academic materials is deemed to be one of the most essential skills which university students of both English as a Second Language (ESL) and English as a Foreign Language (EFL) need to develop (Levine et al. Reading comprehension has become the heart of reading and its significant not only to academic learning but also to professional success (Durkin, 1993). Nevertheless, numerous students are not well- prepared for reading requirements that are stressed on them.
When these students are strongly pressed to read academic materials in English, they are more likely to choose ineffective and inefficient reading strategies leading to poor results (Wood et al. Despite the importance of English reading, previous studies have 7 (LUAN.college TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.college shown little interest in the topic of reading strategies among vocational college students in Vietnam. Many students including those at Viglacera Vocational College have been struggling with reading academic materials entirely written in English. The program at this college was originally well designed with attempts to reach the global standards, hence the students are required to prepare themselves to acquire all the knowledge from this program to be certified.
This raises the demand for a study about their in-class reading behaviors in order to find out how they are handling with ESP texts and what strategies they are currently using to read English materials. This study makes an important contribution to the existing literature by discovering reading behaviors and reading strategies of vocational students, identifying strategies needed to enhance their reading comprehension as well as proposing an appropriate approach for them to improve their reading skills and achieve successful academic results. Research question The study aims to find answers for the following questions: ● Which strategies do students majoring in building materials at Viglacera Vocational College use to read ESP texts? ● Are there any differences between good and poor readers, male and female readers in terms of their reading strategy use? 1. Research objectives ● Objective 1: to investigate and analyse reading behaviors as well as reading strategies of the students at Viglacera Vocational College.
● Objective 2: to recommend appropriate strategies for students to improve their reading skills. ● Objective 3: to identify differences in the use of reading strategies between good and poor readers, male and female ones.college TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.