VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST- GRADUATE STUDIES ---------- BÙI THỊ KIM LỘC TEACHING ESP READING SKILLS TO STUDENTS OF LIBRARY AND INFORMATION AT THAI BINH COLLEGE OF CULTURE AND ARTS: REALITY AND SOLUTIONS DẠY KỸ NĂNG ĐỌC TIẾNG ANH CHUYÊN NGÀNH CHO SINH VIÊN NGÀNH THÔNG TIN - THƯ VIỆN Ở TRƯỜNG CAO ĐẲNG VĂN HÓA -NGHỆ THUẬT THÁI BÌNH: THỰC TRẠNG VÀ GIẢI PHÁP M.A MINOR THESIS FIELD: ENGLISH LANGUUAGE TEACHING METHODOLOGY CODE: 60.10 HANOI-2012 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Declaration i Acknowledgements ii Abstract iii List of abbreviations iv Table of contents v PART A: INTRODUCTION 1. Rationale for the study 1 2. Objectives of the study 2 3. The significance of the study 2 5.
Methods of the study 2 6. Scope of the study 2 7. Organization of the study 3 PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER I: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND 1. The nature of reading 4 1.
Definition of reading 4 1. Types of reading 5 1. Classification according to manners of 5 reading 1. Reading aloud 5 v LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.
Classification according to purposes of 6 reading 1. Reading in ESP teaching and learning 8 2. Definition of ESP 8 2. The difference between GE and ESP 9 2.
The differences between reading in ESP and in 10 GE 2. ESP teacher’s role 12 2. ESP learners’ role 15 2. The role of ESP materials 16 3.
Related studies 17 CHAPTER II: METHODOLOGY 1. General introduction of TBCCA 19 2. Objectives of the English course for LIS 19 3. ESP reading materials for LIS 19 4.
Subjects of the study 20 4. Data collection Instruments 22 6. Data collection procedure 22 vi LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail. Research methods 22 CHAPTER III: DATA ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS 1.
Teachers and students’ background knowledge 23 1. Teachers’ knowledge related to ESP teaching methodology 23 1. Teachers’ reading habit 23 1. Students’ GE reading skills 24 2.
Evaluation of objectives of an ESP course 24 3. Teaching reading strategies 26 4. Difficulties in teaching and learning ESP 27 4. Difficulties in teaching ESP 27 4.
Difficulties in learning ESP 28 5. Collaboration between ESP teachers and students 30 6. Evaluation of the currently-used ESP textbook 30 7. The things teachers should do 32 8.
Ways to improve teachers’ background knowledge of 33 LIS CHAPTER IV: PEDAGOGICAL IMPLICATIONS 34 1. Improving teachers’ knowledge of LIS 34 2. Improving teaching methodology 34 3. Motivating students with various reading strategies 36 PART C: CONCLUSION 1.
Limitations 37 vii LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail. Suggestions for further study 38 References 39 Appendixes I Appendix 1: Questionnaire for teachers I Appendix 2: Questionnaire for students (in English) IV Questionnaire for students (in Vietnamese) VII viii LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com PART A: INTRODUCTION 1. Rationale for the study It is usually said that anybody and any country that want to have fast development, expand international relationships, and receive the achievements in all fields can not help knowing English and having effect strategies of learning the language. Vietnam is now on our way to develop, and we are doing our best to catch up with the development of other countries in the world in all aspects.
Because of this feature, English, being considered as a tool for Vietnamese people to integrate to the developmental flow of the world, now proves its very important role in the society. Although English is a foreign language, it is a compulsory subject in most schools and universities. It is highly appreciated at universities because it is a passport for students of any majors to access the information and to find a good job in the future. According to Carrell (1981), reading is the most important of the four macro language skills in English as a second language.
Eskey (1970) said that the ability to read the written language at a reasonable rate and with good comprehension seemed to be considered more important than oral skills. It has been pointed out that teaching English is to provide students with the linguistic basis that would enable him to participate in transferring other nations’ scientific and technological advances that can enhance the progress of his nation. ESP has appeared because of the aim, too. ESP reading enables students read materials and update information on their specific field, perhaps science or technology.
Having been teacher of ESP, I always take interest in how to help my students obtain necessary knowledge in their specific field in English. In order to do that, I have tried my best to study the language and teaching methods to help students study their specific field in English. That has resulted in my little success in teaching ESP. But in fact, I still have some difficulties with which my colleagues meet, too.
In order to overcome the difficulties, the first thing should be done was specify what the 1 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com difficulties were. That was why I decided to conduct a study on “Teaching ESP Reading to students of Library and Information Science at Thai Binh College of Culture and Arts: Reality and Solutions”. Objectives of the study The study is conducted to achieve the following aims: - To investigate the current situation of teaching and learning English for Library and Information Science at TBCCA in order to find out the teachers’ and learners’ needs and difficulties when teaching and learning ESP reading skills. - To suggest some ways to overcome the difficulties and to help students improve their ESP reading skills.
Research questions - How is ESP reading skills taught at TBCCA? - What are the difficulties in ESP teaching and learning at TBCCA? - What are suggestions for teaching and learning ESP reading skills more effectively? 4. The significance of the study As mentioned in Rationale, reading is the most important skill that enables learners to access information for entertainment, study, research or work. This is true for students of Library and Information Science at TBCCA. However, ESP reading skills are not taught effectively here.
To some extent, the study contributes to the improvement of the quality of teaching and learning ESP at TBCCA. Methods of the study To carry out this study, survey research was employed. Scope of the study Because of the limited time, the study merely focused on investigation of difficulties in teaching ESP reading skills to students of LIS at TBCCA. Then some solutions were made to improve the quality of teaching and learning ESP reading.
2 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail. Organization of the study The study is organized into three main parts: Introduction, development, and conclusion Part A named as Introduction presents the rationale for choosing the topic of the study, the aims, research questions, the significance, the methods, the scope and the organization of the study. Part B named as Development includes five chapters: - Chapter I reviews the theoretical background including the nature of reading, ESP reading and some characteristics of English for LIS. - Chapter II presents the methodology.
- Chapter III presents data analysis and findings. - Chapter IV gives pedagogical implication. Part C named as Conclusion gives the conclusion the study, points out the limitations, and offers some suggestions for further study. 3 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER I: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND 1.
The nature of reading 1. Definition of reading Reading always interests a lot of people. There have been many different definitions of reading given by linguists, psychologists, and second language teachers. Kenneth Goodman in Carrell, Devine & Eskey (1989; 12) defined “Reading is a receptive language process.
It is a psycholinguistic process in that it starts with a linguistic surface representation encoded by a writer and ends with meaning which the reader constructs”. Nuttall (2000; 18) saw reading as “essentially concerned with meaning”. In his points of view, readers need to have the skills of interpretation for a sensitive appreciation of literature. Grellet (1990; 7) stated that “Reading is a constant process of guessing, and what one brings to the text is often more important than what one finds in it”.
Silberstein (1994; 6) considered reading as an active process: “The students work intensively, interacting with the text in order to create meaningful discourse”. Thorndike (cited in Silberstein, 1994) gave the concept: “reading is an active process related to problem solving”. It is obvious that reading is an abstract concept which is defined differently. However, they all implicate that the nature of reading is “comprehension”.
Reading comprehension Comprehension takes a very important role in teaching and learning reading skills. It is the ability to understand what has been read and get information from the text as effectively as possible. Grellet (1990; 3) said: “Understanding a written text means extracting the required information from it as effectively as possible”. In his research about reading for understanding, Snow (2002; 11) defined reading comprehension as “the process 4 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com of simultaneously extracting and constructing meaning through interaction and involvement with written language”.
Nuttall (2000; 3) pointed out: “You read because you wanted to know something from the writing” Although the ideas were not exactly the same in words but they all seemed that effective readers are those who can bring their capacities, abilities, knowledge and experience to the act of reading a particular text to achieve their purposes. Types of reading Although there are different ways to classify reading, the most popular one is to base on manners and purposes of reading. Classification according to manners of reading Based on manners of reading, reading can be divided into reading aloud and silent reading. Reading aloud According to Doff (1988, 23), “obviously, reading aloud involves looking at a text, understanding it and also saying it”.
That is, oral reading is not only to understand what has been read but also to convey it to other people. He also pointed out that “for reading a text, it is not a very useful technique”. We can see that oral reading is very time-consuming and it is effective for elementary readers to improve their pronunciation and voice as the point of view of Nuttall (2000; 32): People seldom need to read aloud except in the classroom. Reading aloud is useful in the early stages.
In his book named “Teach English: A Training Course for Teachers: Trainer’s Handbook” (1988), Doff stated that reading aloud should be the final activity at the end of a reading lesson. Silent reading (or read for meaning) Different from reading aloud, silent reading is the normal and natural activity that most students do in classroom as well as in real life. According to Abbott and 5 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com Wingard (1985, 81), “normally, reading is a silent and individual activity since the writer’s expectation was that the text would be read, not heard”. Doff (1988, 23)’s view on silent reading was that “it involves looking at the sentences and understanding the message they convey, in other words “making sense” of a written text”.
That is, reading a text, we do not merely sit as “passive receivers” of the text but we, based on our own knowledge of the world and of the language, guess, predict, extract the required information and relate it to the real life. In addition, in silent reading, students read at their own speed; they also either ignore or read carefully whatever they want to understand more. Classification according to purposes of reading In real life, people read a lot and they read because of various reasons or, in other words, different purposes, for them the ways they read also vary. According to Nuttall (2000), there are two approaches to reading.
One is intensive reading used to study shortest texts in detail.