VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST – GRADUATE STUDIES ********************* HỒ THỊ HƯỜNG AN EXPLORATORY STUDY ON COMMUNICATIVE NEEDS AT TRANS-NATIONAL CORPORATIONS (Nghiên cứu tìm hiểu về những nhu cầu giao tiếp tại những công ty xuyên quốc gia) M.A MINOR THESIS (Type I) Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 8140231.01 Hanoi - 2018 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST – GRADUATE STUDIES ********************* HỒ THỊ HƯỜNG AN EXPLORATORY STUDY ON COMMUNICATIVE NEEDS AT TRANS-NATIONAL CORPORATIONS (Nghiên cứu tìm hiểu về những nhu cầu giao tiếp tại những công ty xuyên quốc gia) M.A MINOR THESIS (Type I) Field : English Teaching Methodology Code : 8140231. Le Van Canh Hanoi - 2018 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com DECLARATION I hereby declare that this thesis is my own work and effort and that it has not been submitted to any other university or institution wholly or partially. Hanoi, December 2018 Hồ Thị Hường LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First and foremost, I would like to express my deep gratitude to my supervisor Assoc. Le Van Canh who gave me a lot of valuable guidance, encouragements, criticisms and correction throughout my thesis writing.
I am indebted to 100 technical staffs of 2 trans-national corporations - my old students at HaUI, who provided me with lots of useful information by answering my questionnaires. My sincere thanks go to my family, my friends for their encouragement and support that help me to complete my work. LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com ABSTRACT This thesis reports the result of an exploratory study on the English communicative needs by graduates from mechanical engineering and electronic department at HaUI, who are working as technical workers at 2 trans-national corporations. It attempts to find their common communicative needs at workplaces in order to inform curriculum design.
Simultaneously, it explores the challenges in using those common communicative needs during their working tasks and also gives suggestions for an effective ESP syllabus design. The data was collected by means of questionnaires by handing them out to 100 technical workers at 2 trans-national companies. The results of this study have shown that their common communicative needs and their difficulties in using English at workplaces as well as given positive contributions to ESP syllabus design. LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Declaration Acknowledgements Abstract Table of contents List of abbreviations List of tables and figures PART I: INTRODUCTION.
Rationale for the thesis. Aims of the study. Methods of the study. Significance of the study.
Scope of the study .2 PART II: DEVELOPMENT .4 CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW. Definition of need analysis. Classification of “needs” in need analysis. Definition of “analysis” in needs analysis.
The importance of needs analysis. Definition of ESP and different types of ESPs. Definition of ESP. Types of ESP.
Characteristics of ESP. Definition of the syllabus .16 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail. Steps to design a syllabus. A brief summary of some existing relevant studies.
The research question. Methods of data analysis .23 CHAPTER 3: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS. The findings for the first research question. Technical workers‟ general common communicative needs.
Technical workers‟ communicative needs in terms of correspondence. Technical workers‟ communicative needs in terms of writing a document. Technical workers‟ communicative needs in terms of order/customer satisfaction. Technical workers‟ communicative needs in terms of business meeting.
Technical workers‟ communicative needs in terms of business trip. The findings for the second research question. Their challenges in writing email, fax, report and plan. Their challenges in reading email, fax, report and plan.
Their challenges in listening and speaking for business trip and social meeting. Technical workers‟ general common communicative needs. Technical workers‟ common challenges in using means of communication at workplace. Recommendation for students .34 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.
Recommendation for teachers. Recommendation for course and syllabus designers .35 PART III: CONCLUSION. Conclusion of the study. Suggestions for further studies.
LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS HaUI: Ha Noi University of Industry NA: Need analysis ESP: English for Specific Purposes GE: General English EOP: English for Occupational Purposes EAP: English for Academic Purposes LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES Table 1: Brown‟s different views on needs Table 2: Brown‟s different types of analysis Table 3: Dudley-Evans & John‟s classification of ESP Figure 3.1: Technical workers‟ general common communicative needs Figure 3.2: Technical workers‟ communicative needs in terms of correspondence Figure 3.3: Technical workers‟ communicative needs in terms of writing a document Figure 3.4: Technical workers‟ communicative needs in terms of order/customer satisfaction Figure 3.5: Technical workers‟ communicative needs in terms of business meeting Figure 3.6: Technical workers‟ communicative needs in terms of business trip Figure 3.7: Technical workers‟ general common communicative needs LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com PART I: INTRODUCTION 1. Rationale for the thesis With the development of economy in 21st century, there are lots of international companies investing and opening subsidiaries in Viet Nam. They need a huge of Vietnamese workforces to play a role as technical workers and managers of individual departments. This is actually a good sign for Vietnamese workforce in generally and newly graduated vocational training students of Hanoi university of Industry (HaUI) in particular.
However, in order to be employable in these trans- national companies, applicants are required to possess not only solid specialized knowledge and skills but also satisfactory communication skills in English as an international language. That is the reason why this study was aimed at investigating on communicative needs of industrial and business employees. Normally, graduates from mechanical engineering and electronic department at HaUI were taught English with popular textbooks such as new headway, objective KET or lifeline for 6 terms as a general English (GE) course and only one term with oriented ESP course. These GE syllabuses mainly offer students with general communicative functions such as greetings, invitation making…etc.
and sets of grammar rules before they were taught for only one semester technical English. However, during technological and business tasks, graduates from mechanical engineering and electronic department admitted that they had to face up with difficulties in reading instructions, socializing with co-worker, writing formals email or reports, giving presentations or negotiating. Therefore, it is necessary to conduct “an exploratory study on communicative needs at trans-national corporations” for understanding about graduates‟ challenges in using English at their workplaces and for having an effective syllabus design. 1 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.
Aims of the study The study was aimed to find out the common communicative needs at the workplace as reported by graduates from mechanical engineering and electronic department who are holding different positions at transnational companies. This information will be used to informed syllabus design for the students at HaUI. Research questions The study was carried out to obtain information for answering the following questions: 1. What are common communicative needs of technical workers at trans-national corporations? 2.
What are the common challenges in using English for communication at work that they encounter? 3. Methods of the study Given the purpose of the study, a survey method using the questionnaire to collect data was used. One hundred graduates from mechanical engineering and electronic departments at HaUI who are working as technical workers of individual departments at trans- national corporations) answered the questionnaire. The data obtained from the questionnaire was analysized quantitatively to identify the common pattern of responses regarding the communicative needs and communicative challenges at work that these ex-students of HaUI often encountered.
Significance of the study The findings of the thesis may serve as useful information for changes in curriculum design and teaching approaches at HaUI. Scope of the study The study only focused on the communicative functions or needs and the problems the HaUI ex-students had in communicating in English at work as reported by these students. Also, the participants are the ex-students from two departments (Mechanical Engineering and Electronic) of HaUI rather than all graduates from various departments of the university. 2 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.
Structure of the thesis Part I: Introduction presents the rationale, aims, methodology, significance and scope of the study. Part II: Development - consists of three chapters: Chapter 1: Literature review – The first part provides some theoretical background about needs analysis including definition of needs, classification of needs as well as definition of “analysis” in NA and the importance of needs analysis. The next one is definition of the term ESP, different types of “ESP” and characteristics of ESP. Definition of syllabus, syllabus design and steps in designing syllabus are mentioned to.
The last one is a brief summary of some existing relevant studies. Chapter 2: Methodology - in this chapter, the introduction of research method including research questions, data collection instruments are presented. Chapter 3: The study - shows the procedure of carrying on the research and presents the data analysis result from questionnaires. Part III: Conclusion, which is the last chapter, followed by references is the summary of the whole study.
The limitation of the study and suggestion for further study are also recommended. 3 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com PART II: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 1. Definition of need analysis Needs analysis plays as the most important and crucial step in designing any curriculums. Nunan (1988) considers that needs analysis is the very first stage of the design of a syllabus.
More importantly, it attempts to meet the needs of different shareholders, consist of learners, language teaching institutions, and employers. Various authors give various definitions and perspectives of that term. Needs refers to the present or future requirement of learners, and what they expect to learn when they finish the language course. Richterich (1972, cited in Johnson, 1982, p.40) reflected his viewpoint on language needs: “the requirements which arises from the use of a language in the multitude of situations which may arise in the social lives of individuals and groups”.
By doing an analysis about language needs of specific group of learners, we may have accurate decisions for what we are going to teach and learn. According to Long (2005), needs analysis is kind of the diagnosis in foreign language teaching. Richards and Rodger (1986, p.156) give a clearer definition, according to which needs analysis is “concerned with identifying general and specific language needs that can be addressed in developing goals, objective and content in a language program”.36) , needs analysis is “ the systematic collection and analysis of all subjective and objective information necessary to define and validate defensible curriculum purposes that satisfy the language learning requirements of students within the context of particular institutions that influence the learning and teaching situation.” In the context of English for Specific Purposes (ESP), Evan and John (1988, p.125) note that needs analysis in ESP encompasses the following types of information: 4 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com Professional information about the learners: the tasks and activities learners are/will be using English for- target situation analysis and objective needs. Personal information about the learners: factors which may affect the way they learn such as previous learning experience, cultural information, reasons for attending the course and expectations of it, attitude to English – wants, means, subjective needs.
English language information about the learners: what their current skills and language use are- present situation analysis- which allow us to assess (D) The learners’ lacks: the gap between “C” and (A) – lacks Language learning information: effective ways of learning the skills and language in (D) – learning needs.