MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HUE UNIVERSITY UNIVERSITY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES HO THI QUYNH NHU DESIGNING A VOCATIONAL ENGLISH CURRICULUM FOR HUE INDUSTRIAL COLLEGE DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY THESIS IN THEORY AND METHODOLOGY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING HUE, 2018 MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HUE UNIVERSITY UNIVERSITY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES HO THI QUYNH NHU DESIGNING A VOCATIONAL ENGLISH CURRICULUM FOR HUE INDUSTRIAL COLLEGE DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY THESIS IN THEORY AND METHODOLOGY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING CODE: 62 14 01 11 SUPERVISORS: TON NU NHU HUONG, Ed. TRUONG BACH LE, Ed. HUE, 2018 STATEMENT OF ORIGINAL AUTHORSHIP The work contained in this thesis has not been previously submitted to meet requirements for an award at this or any other higher education institution. 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.
Signature: _______________ Date: 28 September 2018 i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This study would not have been completed without the help and patience of many people to whom I would like to express my sincere gratitude. First of all, I feel deeply grateful to both of my supervisors – Dr Ton Nu Nhu Huong and Dr Truong Bach Le – for their continuously kind supervision and warm encouragement. My gratitude also goes to the lecturers of Hue University of Foreign Languages: Assoc. Tran Van Phuoc, Dr.
Bao Kham, Assoc. Pham Thi Hong Nhung, Assoc. Truong Vien, Assoc. Le Pham Hoai Huong and Dr.
Pham Hoa Hiep who have wholeheartedly encouraged and guided me through the fulfillment of this thesis. I also appreciate the enthusiastic cooperation from business administration employees from the eleven corporations in Hue City for fulfilling the questionnaires and attending the interviews. I would like to express my thanks to the Rector Board of my college for granting me study leave and for their participation in this study. I am also grateful to my colleagues at the Department of Foreign Languages – Business Administration – Tourism for supporting me and joining this study and taking up my workload while I was conducting the research.
I wish to express my profound thanks to my parents, parents-in-laws and my two little daughters who always give me great strength to overcome the tough and challenging obstacles in study and in life. Last but not least, I feel truly indebted to my husband who is always by my side supporting me with unconditioned love and care. ii ABSTRACT The central objective of this study was to develop a vocational English curriculum for Hue Industrial College (HUEIC) in Vietnam. The development was based on identifying the students‟ target needs and learning needs regarding English for business administration (BuAdmin) and on analyzing the educational environment.
A combination of quantitative and qualitative approaches was adopted with the use of multiple instruments: document study, placement testing (with 114 BuAdmin students), questionnaires (delivered to students and BuAdmin employees), semi- structured interviews (administered to 26 students, 8 employees, 3 employers, 7 ESP teachers, 5 content teachers and 3 college administrators) and curriculum evaluation (HUEIC panel). The research methodology was constructed based on the statement of the problem and the theoretical discussion of situation analysis and needs assessment for the purpose of proposing an appropriate ESP curriculum. The triangulation of data collection instruments, sources of information and various investigated locations helped to increase the validity and reliability of the findings. The data obtained were analyzed through SPSS statistics, content analysis and triangulation.
The findings informed factors that were important to both the students‟ English learning and their target careers, which are: (i) all four English language skills were perceived important but listening and speaking were more needed at BuAdmin workplace; (ii) language skills for job purposes namely telephoning, speaking and listening in social situations with business partners, writing business letters and emails, reading business texts and job interviewing should be prioritized in the new ESP curriculum; (iii) the course contents recommended by the participants were marketing, sales/selling, finance, human resources and production; and (iv) content-based and skill-integrated materials should be used with the conduction of interactive activities during the ESP program. Accordingly, the study proposed a new ESP curriculum for BuAdmin students. It employed an integrated model of theme-based approach, skill-based approach and communicative approach. The primary goals of this sample ESP curriculum were to assist the students to achieve the expected EFL learning outcomes and to promote the students‟ English knowledge and skills for BuAdmin job contexts.
Through this English learning program, the suggestions put forth by all the participants were catered for. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS STATEMENT OF ORIGINAL AUTHORSHIP ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ABTRACT LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS LIST OF TABLES LIST OF FIGURES CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION. Scope of the study. Significance of the research.
Structure of the study. 9 Chapter 2: LITERATURE REVIEW. Language curriculum design. Definition of the term curriculum.
Difference between syllabus and curriculum. Model of language curriculum design. Content and sequencing. Format and presentation.
Monitoring and assessing. Curriculum approaches in language teaching. English for Specific Purposes (ESP). Development and definition of ESP.
Characteristics of ESP. English for Business Purposes (EBP). ESP and needs analysis. Approaches to ESP curriculum design.
Language-centred approach. Skills-centred aproach. A learning-centred approach. Theory to language instruction.
Task-based approach. Theme-based instruction .The current English curriculum at HUEIC. Previous studies related to the current research. Business administration students.
Business administration employees. ESP teachers and content teachers. Reliability and validity. The role of the researcher.
85 Chapter 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION. Target needs analysis. Employers‟ expectations of their employees‟ English competence. Language requirements at work.
Language skills for job contexts. Frequency of English communicative activities. Communicative topics at work. Types of problems in English use encountered by BuAdmin employees.
BuAdmin employees‟ suggestions to students‟ English preparation. The students‟ English learning needs analysis. Students‟ purposes of learning English. Students‟ English proficiency.
Students‟ assessment of their English language competence. Students‟ accessibility to learning facilities. Perceptions about English teaching and learning. Students‟ perceptions of English courses at HUEIC.
Students‟ perceptions of language skills needed for communication. The frequency of communicative activities conducted in English. Preference for ESP materials. Preference for learning approach.
The development of a new vocational English curriculum for HUEIC. The sample vocational English curriculum design. Overview of the program. Physical environment and resources.
Goals and objectives. Knowledge and skills. Testing and assessment. The evaluation of the sample ESP curriculum.
The alignment of the new curriculum to the identified needs. The college‟s evaluation of the new curriculum. 150 CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATIONS. Summary of key findings.
Contributions of the research. Limitations of the present study and directions for future studies. 160 THE AUTHOR‟S PUBLICATIONS. i Appendix A: QUICK PLACEMENT TEST.
i ANSWER KEYS TO THE QPT. xi MARKING KIT. xi Appendix B: QUESTIONNAIRES. xii B1: QUESTIONNAIRE FOR BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION EMPLOYEES.
xii Appendix B2: QUESTIONNAIRE FOR STUDENTS. xviii Appendix C: INTERVIEW SCHEDULES. xxvi Appendix C1: INTERVIEW SCHEDULE WITH ESP TEACHERS. xxvi Appendix C2: INTERVIEW SCHEDULE WITH CONTENT TEACHERS.
xxvii Appendix C3: INTERVIEW SCHEDULE WITH ADMINISTRATORS. xxviii Appendix C4: INTERVIEW SCHEDULE WITH STUDENTS. xxix vii Appendix C5: INTERVIEW SCHEDULE WITH BUADMIN EMPLOYEES. xxx Appendix C6: INTERVIEW SCHEDULE WITH EMPLOYERS.
xxxi Appendix D: TRANSCRIPTS OF INTERVIEWS. xxxii Appendix D2: SAMPLE INTERVIEW WITH CONTENT TEACHERS. xxxiv Appendix D3: SAMPLE INTERVIEW WITH HUEIC ADMINISTRATORS. xxxvi Appendix D4: SAMPLE INTERVIEW WITH STUDENTS.
xxxvii Appendix D5: SAMPLE INTERVIEW WITH COMPANY MANAGERS. xxxviii Appendix D6: SAMPLE INTERVIEW WITH EMPLOYEES. xl Appendix E: STATISTICS. xlii Appendix E1: BuAdmin employee questionnaires.
xlii E1a: BuAdmin employees‟ demographic data. xlii E1b: Reliability Statistics of the BuAdmin employee questionnaires. xlv Appendix E2: BuAdmin student questionnaires. xlix E2a: Demographic data about the students.
xlix E2b: Reliability Statistics of the BuAdmin student questionnaires. l Appendix E3: Factor analysis results. Questionnaires for BuAdmin employees. Questionnaires for BuAdmin students.
lv Appendix F: CURRICULUM EVALUATION FORM. lxi Appendix G: DECISION ON ASSESSING THE NEW CURRICULUM AND THE PANEL‟S EVALUATION. lxiii viii LIST OF ABREVIATIONS Ad Administrator BuAdmin Business Administration CBI Content-based Instruction CEF/CEFR Common European Framework of Reference for Languages CLT Communicative Language Teaching CNP Communication Needs Processor CO Company CT Content teacher EAP English for Academic Purposes EBP English for Business Purposes EE Employee EFL English as a Foreign Language ELT English Language Teaching EOP English for Occupational Purposes EPP English for Professional Purposes ESP English for Specific Purposes ET ESP Teacher EVP English for Vocational Purposes FL Foreign Language GE General English GIL/GIS Guided independent learning/study HUEIC Hue Industrial College L1 First Language LCPP Language and Communication Courses for Professional Purposes LSA Learning Situation Analysis M Manager MOET Ministry of Education and Training MOTI Ministry of Trade and Industry NA Needs Analysis NNS Non-native Speaker ix NS Native Speaker PSA Present Situation Analysis QPT Quick Placement Test SD Standard Deviation SL Second Language SPSS Statistical Package for the Social Sciences St Student TEFL Teaching English as a Foreign Language TESL Teaching English as a Second Language TSA Target Situation Analysis x LIST OF TABLES Table 2. Stevens‟s list of ESP characteristics.
Dudley-Evans and St John‟s list of ESP characteristics. The framework proposed by Hutchinson and Waters for needs analysis 34 Table 2. Time distribution in English Courses at HUEIC. Data collection for needs analysis.
The data collection methods. Information of workplace sites. Teacher participants‟ information. QPT conversion table.
Placement testing results. The codes of the interviews. The framework for data analysis. Factor analysis results of the questionnaires for BuAdmin employees.
Factor analysis results of the questionnaires for BuAdmin students. Cronbach‟s Alpha reliability statistics of the questionnaires. Cronbach's Alpha reliability statistics of the clusters. English standards required in the employers‟ recruitment policies.
Language requirements at work. Frequently used language skills for job contexts. English texts and discourse for BuAdmin employees. Frequency of communicative activities conducted in English.
English communicative topics that BuAdmin employees were involved in. BuAdmin employees‟ English language difficulties. Students‟ purposes of learning English. Students‟ assessment of their English language competence.
Students‟ accessibility to learning facilities. Students‟ perceptions of English courses. Students‟ perceptions of language skills needed for communication. The frequency of communicative activities conducted in English.
Students‟ preference for ESP materials. Students‟ preference for English learning approach. A summary of the needs analysis findings. Time allotment for the English program.
Mapping the language content of the curriculum. Course framework of English for Business administration 1. Course framework of English for Business administration 2. The alignment of the new curriculum to the students‟ identified needs of English for vocational purposes.
The panel of curriculum evaluation. 148 xii LIST OF FIGURES Figure 2. Model of the parts of the curriculum design process. Model of forward design.
Model of central design. Model of backward design. Language-centered approach. Skill-centred approach.
Learning-centred approach. BuAmin employees satisfaction with their English competence for workplace use. Students' self-evaluation of English proficiency. Oxford Placement Test Results.
Final test result of English 1 and 2. The English Proficiency Test results of HUEIC graduates. 108 xiii CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION This introductory chapter provides an overview of the thesis. It is arranged in five main sections.
First, the background to the study is briefly introduced, followed by the rationale explaining the reason why the study was conducted.