MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HUE UNIVERSITY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES ------------ BUI THI THANH LOAN EXPLORING THE NEEDS OF NURSING STUDENTS AT QUANG TRI MEDICAL COLLEGE TO DESIGN A SUGGESTED ESP SYLLABUS MA THESIS IN THEORY AND METHODOLOGY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts, Hue University of Foreign Languages HUE, 2017 MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HUE UNIVERSITY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES ------------ BUI THI THANH LOAN EXPLORING THE NEEDS OF NURSING STUDENTS AT QUANG TRI MEDICAL COLLEGE TO DESIGN A SUGGESTED ESP SYLLABUS MA THESIS IN THEORY AND METHODOLOGY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING CODE: 60. TRUONG VIEN In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts, Hue University of Foreign Languages HUE, 2017 i BỘ GIÁO DỤC VÀ ĐÀO TẠO ĐẠI HỌC HUẾ TRƢỜNG ĐẠI HỌC NGOẠI NGỮ ------------ BÙI THỊ THANH LOAN KHẢO SÁT NHU CẦU CỦA SINH VIÊN ĐIỀU DƢỠNG ĐỂ THIẾT KẾ CHƢƠNG TRÌNH TIẾNG ANH CHUYÊN NGÀNH TẠI TRƢỜNG CAO ĐẲNG Y TẾ QUẢNG TRỊ LUẬN VĂN THẠC SĨ LÝ LUẬN VÀ PHƢƠNG PHÁP DẠY HỌC BỘ MÔN TIẾNG ANH MÃ SỐ: 60.11 NGƢỜI HƢỚNG DẪN KHOA HỌC: PGS. TRƢƠNG VIÊN HUE, 2017 ii STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY This work has not previously been submitted for a degree or diploma in any university. To the best of my knowledge and belief, the thesis contains no material previously published or written by another person except where due reference is made in the thesis itself.
Date: 09/11/2017 Bui Thi Thanh Loan iii ABSTRACT Exploring learners‟ needs to design a teaching material is a necessary step in the process of material development. In the context of Quang Tri Medical College, an English for Specific Purposes (ESP) course for nursing students(NSs) has not been developed to facilitate the teaching and learning of English in nursing. Therefore, the main purpose of this study is to explore the needs of the NSs at Quang Tri Medical College to have a comprehensive understanding of learners‟ purposes to design a suggested ESP syllabus for the first college nursing ESP course. In an ESP approach, learners‟ English needs were identified and addressed because their English learning is directly related to their profession.
Questionnaires were delivered to 88 NSs, 35 former nursing students who are now serving in health services in Quang Tri province, 10 teachers of nursing subjects, and 7 teachers of English. In addition to the questionnaires, interview questions were addressed to 3 nursing teachers and 3 ESP teachers who have experiences in ESP teaching. All responses were coded and analysed both quantitatively and qualitatively with SPSS. The results from the questionnaires showed that majority of the NSs found English proficiency helpful for their work and academic study.
Building up nursing vocabulary mastery and medical terminologies is the main objective of NSs to join an ESP course. Regarding language skills, the learners consider reading skill as the most important skill in learning an ESP course. Preferred learning activities and testing forms were also examined. Based on the findings of the study, an ESP syllabus was suggested, which was composed of 10 topics arranged in a logic order of the subject content which was suggested by QTMC teachers of nursing.
A sample unit was shown to prove the feasibility of the ESP syllabus. Key words: ESP, Nursing English, needs analysis, syllabus design iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to express my deeply sincere thanks to many people for supporting and helping me in every phase of my thesis fulfillment. Above all, I am most grateful for my advisor, Assoc. Truong Vien, who has helped me explore and expand my idea with creative comments, constant encouragement and steady support.
I also truly appreciate open-minded attitude that all the professors in Hue University of Foreign Languages showed me. Truong Vien always contributed his precious time for my unscheduled discussions about my thesis. In addition, I highly appreciate the cooperation and participation of teachers, nursing students, and nurses who participated in the survey or helped me to conduct the survey. Special thanks should go to my husband, Nguyen Anh Linh and my beloved children, who ceaselessly encouraged me to complete my studies and shared all my difficulties during studying at HUCFL.
I also would like to extend my special thanks to my colleagues from QTMC, all of whom have shared QTMC‟s ups and downs and helped me through all of them. v TABLE OF CONTENTS SUB COVER PAGES STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY .v TABLE OF CONTENTS. vi LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS. viii LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES.
Aims and Objectives of the Research. Scope of the Research. Significance of the Research. Organization of the Research.
An overview of English for Specific Purposes (ESP). Definitions and characteristics of ESP. ESP teacher‟s role in course design .3 Current views on ESP syllabus design .1 Definition of Syllabus .2 Types of Syllabus .3 Theme-based Syllabuses.4 Steps to Design a Syllabus.5 Needs Analysis in syllabus design .6 Goals and Objectives determining .7 Selecting and Grading Themes .8 Testing and Evaluation Forming .1 Research Purposes and Questions .5 Instruments for Data Collections. FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS .1 The findings from the questionnaire .2 The findings from Interviews .4 Designing an ESP syllabus for nursing students at QTMC.
Aims and Objectives of the syllabus. Syllabus design approach. Topics in the syllabus. Timing of the syllabus.
Recommended materials and websites. CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS. Summary of the study and its key findings. Limitations and suggestions for further study.
Recommendations for further studies. Reflections on the researcher .77 vii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS QTMC : Quang Tri Medical College GE : General English ESP : English for Specific Purposes ENP :English for nursing purposes NA : Needs Analysis NSs : Nursing Students FNSs : Former Nursing Students (Hospital Nurses) MOET : Ministry of Education and Training viii LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES.1: Strevens‟ list of ESP characteristics .2: Dudley-Evans‟ and St John‟s list of ESP characteristics .3: Needs Analysis Framework .1: Components of the Questionnaire.1: Mean Performance of The Necessity of Exploring Needs of ESP for Nursing Students (Cluster A) .2: One-sample Test Statistics for Cluster A .3: Mean Score of each item in Cluster A .4: Mean Performance of The Specific Objectives to learn in an ESP course for NSs (Cluster B).5: One-sample Test Statistics for Cluster B .6: Mean Score of each item in Cluster B .7: Mean Performance of Languges Skills and Areas Necessary to Develop in an ESP course (Cluster C) .8: One-sample Test Statistics for Cluster C .9: Mean Score of each item in Cluster C .10: Mean Performance of Major themes to be built up in an ESP course for Nursing Students (Cluster D) .11: One-sample Test Statistics for Cluster D .12: Mean Score of each item in Cluster D .13: Mean Performance of The Expected Learning Activities (Cluster E) .14: One-sample Test Statistics for Cluster E .15: Mean Score of each item in Cluster E .16: Mean Performance of The Preference of Test Forms (Cluster F) .17: One-sample Test Statistics for Cluster F .18: Mean Score of each item in Cluster F.19: The Comparison of Mean Performance of each cluster. 54 ix APPENDICES Appendix 1a.The Questionnaire for Students .The Questionnaire for Teachers. Interview Quesstion list A for Subject Teachers.
A Sample of Subject Teachers‟ Interview Transcripts. Interview Quesstion list B for ESP Teachers. Sample of ESP Teachers‟ Interview Transcripts. Reliability Statistics test on the Questionnaire.
A Suggested ESP Syllabus for NSs at QTMC .99 x CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION This chapter first presents the rationale of the current study. Next, the statement of the problem and the significance of the study will be introduced. Finally, the chapter ends with the description of the general organization of the study.1 Rationale “With the globalization of trade and economy and the continuing increase of international communication in various field, the demand for English for Specific Purposes is expanding, especially in countries where English is taught as a Foreign language” (Jiajing, 2007:1). That comment is true to Vietnamese context since Viet Nam‟s economy has been quickly developing.
Becoming a member of World Trade Organization in 2006 has opened new opportunities for Viet Nam to engage in trade and commerce with international community. The use of English to communicate, conduct business, to do research in specific fields has considerably increased. Therefore, teaching and learning English for Specific Purposes (ESP) has become a key element leading to Vietnamese integration into world community and that‟s why ESP teaching and learning are getting more and more attention in order to provide students the best preparation for their future career to meet the growing demand for professional communication. To enhance the quality of ESP teaching and learning to meet the demands of students in the globalization of trade and economy, it is necessary to carefully consider ESP materials as well as teachers‟ methodologies, facilities for teaching, teachers‟ and students‟ difficulties in ESP teaching and learning.
Indeed, “materials are significant in the ESP context” because they are used “as a source of language, as a learning support, for motivation and stimulation, and for reference” (Dudley- Evans and St John, 1998:170). Therefore, priority must be given to the development of materials. 1 Furthermore, it is suggested that “teaching materials should have relevance to the learning goals and be of appropriate difficulty level to the students concerned, a variety of learning tasks should be presented properly with realistic goals and effective strategies in reaching those goals” (Ames, 1992; Dornyei & Csizer, 1998, McMillan & Forsyth, 1991, cited in Wang, 2007: 3). As a result, the design of a suitable material or course book which meets learners‟ specific learning objectives, level of proficiency, needs, wants and lacks plays a very crucial role in the success of an English course.
In ESP teaching, Needs Analysis is a key stage, according to Dudley-Evan and St.John (1998), needs analysis is the corner stone of ESP and leads to a very focused course. Needs analysis also helps teachers gather information about students‟ learning needs and wants so that teachers can see the objectives of the targeted core course and determine the appropriate content. Brown (1995) defines the term needs analysis as the activities involving gathering information that will serve as the basis for developing a curriculum which meets the learning needs of a particular group of students. As a result, needs analysis has given a significant consideration in designing a particular course that serves a particular group‟s interests (Hutchinson&Waters, 1987) Like students of others different field in Vietnam, nursing students must be equipped with basic knowledge of ESP as well as their subject knowledge.
ESP is a compulsory subject by Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) in the course training curriculum for students at Quang Tri Medical College (QTMC) and it has been taught there for a few years for a 2-year nursing program (at secondary level). However, the ESP teaching and learning at QTMC has experienced a number of difficulties such as lack of materials, inappropriate contents, lack of experienced ESP teachers and so on. Among these, the lack of an appropriate ESP course book for the nursing students seems to be most urgent because of the current course book, a teacher self-made and borrowed material without surveying or analyzing students‟ needs has revealed unsuitable to its learners. Moreover, since 2015, QTMC started 2 providing its first 3-year nursing course (at college level).
This means the first ESP course for college nursing students is going to be taught next year (2017). In addition to this, English for Nursing Purpose (ENP) materials are either not very available in Vietnam or too difficult for QTMC students to learn due to their low English proficiency. The existing problems noted above initiate the idea of exploring the needs of Nursing students at QTMC to design a syllabus in order to meet the learners‟ needs.