HANOI NATIONAL UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES DEPARTMENT OF POST GRADUATE STUDIES *** NGUYỄN THỊ THÚY HẰNG AN INVESTIGATION INTO LINGUISTIC BASES OF DESIGNING AN ESP READING SYLLABUS FOR 3RD YEAR STUDENTS OF ENGLISH FOR INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS AT DIPLOMATIC ACADEMY OF VIETNAM NGHIÊN CỨU CƠ SỞ NGÔN NGỮ CỦA VIỆC THIẾT KẾ CHƯƠNG TRÌNH TIẾNG ANH CHUYÊN NGÀNH CHO SINH VIÊN TIẾNG ANH QUAN HỆ QUỐC TẾ NĂM THỨ 3 HỌC VIỆN NGOẠI GIAO VIỆT NAM MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS FIELD: Methodology Field code: 601410 SUPERVISOR: Ass.TRAN HUU MANH Hanoi - 2009 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com v TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION i ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ii ABSTRACT iii TABLE OF CONTENTS iv LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS v Part I: INTRODUCTION 1 1. Aims and Objectives 1 3. The study is comprised of three parts 2 Part II: DEVELOPMENT 4 CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 4 Introduction 4 1. An overview of discourse properties of international news 4 1.
What is news? 4 1. Discourse and text 5 1. Discourse properties of international news 6 1. A comparison of discourse properties of international news in English and Vietnamese 10 1.
The headline, the time, and source of information 10 1. Optional news elements 11 1. Directness and indirectness 13 1. The lead and the body 13 1.
An overview of ESP 16 1. Definition of ESP 16 1. Types of ESP 17 1. Principles of ESP course design 18 1.
Approaches to language syllabus design 19 1. Defining syllabus 19 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail. Approaches to language syllabus design 19 1. The structural approach 19 1.
The situational approach 19 1. The notional/functional approach 20 1. Procedural/task-based approaches 20 1. The proportional approach 20.
Learner-led approach 21 1. Types of ESP syllabus design 21 1. Steps in syllabus design 23 1. Definition of reading 24 1.
Summary 25 CHAPTER 2: THE STUDY 26 2. ESP teaching and learning at Diplomatic Academy of Vietnam (DAV) 26 2. The ESP teachers 27 2. Instrument for collecting data 28 2.
Needs perceived by the teachers of English 28 2.Needs perceived by the third-year students of Faculty of English 32 2. Summary 37 CHAPTER 3: DESIGNING AN APPROPRIATE ESP READING 38 SYLLABUS FOR 3rd – YEAR STUDENTS OF EIR 38 3.Time allotment for the syllabus 39 3. Sequencing the content and the tasks in the syllabus 39 3. Topics in the syllabus 40 3.
Reading skills and learning tasks 42 3. Suggestions for implementation of the proposed syllabus 42 3. To the teachers 42 3. To the students 42 3.
To the future choice of materials 43 3. Summary 43 Part III: CONCLUSION 45 1. Summary of the thesis 45 2. Limitations of the thesis 46 4.
Suggestions for further study 46 REFERENCE 47 APPENDICES TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com iv LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ESP: English for Special Purpose DAV: Diplomatic Academy of Vietnam EIR: English for International Relations EST: English for Science and Technology EBE: English for Business and Economics ESS: English for Social Studies ASEAN: Association of Southeast Asian Nations EU: European Union UN: United Nations APEC: Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.Vietnam 9 Part I: INTRODUCTION 1. Rationale Nowadays, the ESP area proves to be in great demand for a global community of people speaking different languages, where a good command of English can help to contribute to professional as well as personal development of each individual learner. People with good English proficiency are extensively needed in many areas, such as business, banking, tourism, electronics, telecommunications, international relations, etc. ESP therefore has become really necessary and an indispensable branch in English language teaching in Vietnam to meet the growing demand for professional communication.
As we know, there are two parties involved in the implementation of any syllabus program: teachers and learners. Basically, if the syllabus is to be designed realistically, its contents must be coherent with the needs and expectations of the clients. Additionally, the contents should be technically, physically, and mentally conceivable and able to be implemented within the time allotted in the curriculum. These requirements, when designing the ESP syllabus, in fact are still challenges for Vietnamese ESP teachers.
Students learning ESP in Vietnam rarely have opportunities to use English in communication outside the classroom. They mainly have access to popular documents written in English through reading. Hence, skills in reading English texts are naturally of special importance in teaching and learning ESP, which is not an exception for the ESP teaching at Vietnam Academy of Diplomacy (DAV). The main objectives of ESP course is aimed at providing the students with linguistic knowledge relevant to their field and skills up to the expectation of the future employment.
Since the establishment of the Section of English for International Relations (EIR) in 2006 which is under the Faculty of English, no available course books are appropriate for these target students. Accordingly, designing an ESP reading syllabus for the third year students has been an urgent task for the development of ESP teaching at learning at DAV. Aims and Objectives The study majorly aims at designing an appropriate ESP reading syllabus for students of EIR at DAV. To achieve this aim, there are three specific objectives as follows: TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.Vietnam 10 - To develop a theoretical framework to design an appropriate syllabus for students of EIR at Vietnam Academy of Diplomacy, taking into account the reality of ESP teaching and learning as well as ESP learners at DAV.
- To conduct a Needs Analysis to identify the students’ learning situations and the learning needs perceived by the ESP teachers, the third-year students of EIR at DAV. - To design a proposed ESP reading syllabus based on the analysis of the data collected. Research Questions The following research questions were raised in order to attain the above-mentioned aims and objectives of the study: 1. What are the reading needs of the ESP students of EIR at DAV? 2.
What should be included in the syllabus? The answers to these questions are to develop an appropriate ESP reading syllabus for the students of in DAV. Moreover, basing on the results of the research questions, some recommendations for designing an appropriate ESP reading syllabus for the students of EIR at DAV, will be made to improve the quality of the ESP teaching and learning at DAV. Scope of the Study Within its scope, this research paper mainly focuses on designing an ESP reading course book for students of EIR at DAV. Its major objects are subject teachers, the teachers of ESP, and the third-year students of EIR at DAV.
Research methodology Both qualitative and quantitative methods are employed in this study. The quantitative method, which is used to collect data by questionnaires, aims at exploring the needs of the students, their expectations and opinions about the ESP course. The questionnaires are administered to the third year student population studying ESP, teachers of ESP, as well as subject teachers of EIR at DAV. The tackling methods are statistic, analytical and synthetical.
Also, the qualitative methods is used as the supporting method to collect information for the study through the discussion with colleagues and students. The study is comprised of three parts TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.Vietnam 11 Part I is an “Introduction” which presents the rationale, aims and objectives, research questions, scope of the study, research questions, research methodology, as well as design of the study. Part II is the “Development” which consists of - Chapter I, “Literature Review” reviews such the relevant theories as prominent linguistic features of international news on papers, an overview of ESP, approaches to language syllabus, reading, as well as previous studies. - Chapter II, “The study” describes and comments on situation analysis, subjects of the study, the instruments for collecting data, the theory of Needs Analysis and the findings of the study resulting from a statistical analysis of the collected data.
- Chapter III presents some recommendations for “designing an ESP reading syllabus for students at the EIR at DAV”. Part III is the “Conclusion” which offers a summary of the study, limitations and suggestions for further research. TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.Vietnam 12 Part II: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW Introduction The focus of this study is to design an ESP reading syllabus for the 3 rd year students of EIR at DAV who wish to gain fluency in reading and understanding English texts dealing with international affairs such as inter-relations among countries, global issues, external policies and political opinions toward other countries. Therefore, international news on papers is mainly chosen as reading practice texts for intensive English courses at DAV.
Within this framework, this chapter deals with some concepts which set background for the study. An overview of discourse properties of international news, a comparison of discourse properties of international news in English and Vietnamese; an overview of ESP; approaches to language syllabus design and an overview of reading will be given. An overview of discourse properties of international news 1. What is news? The notion of news is ambiguous.
In everyday usage, we usually have the general notion of news, meaning “new information”, as we find in such sentences as “I have good news for you”. Apparently, the notion of news we are dealing with is different from the notion of news, which involves the media. When asking: “Have you read the news?” or “Did you watch the news? we refer to news as an item on newspapers or a television program. Here are some definitions of news from dictionaries: “News is new information about something that has happened recently or reports of recent events” (Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary, 7th impression 2005) “News is: - Recent events and happenings - A report about recent events - New information” (American Heritage Dictionary, 5th impression 2006) “News is: - A report of events as given each day by newspaper, radio, etc.
TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.Vietnam 13 - Information which was not known before.” (Globe Modern Dictionary, 4th impression 2003) In a nutshell, the notion of news implies three aspects of news: New information about events, things or persons A program type (TV or radio) in which news items are presented A news report, i., a discourse on means of media in which new information is given. We concerned mostly with the third concept, in which news is considered a type of discourse published on newspapers. With this aspect of news, there is a famous cliché among journalists: when a dog bites man, it’s not news; when man bites dog, that’s news. In other words, no readers want to read about ordinary events.
International news International news refers to news which focuses on international issues, which involve: Inter-relations among countries: official visits, economic cooperation, political negotiations… Global issues: climate change, peace, conflict, international security… External policies and political opinions towards other countries. Discourse and text The word discourse is used differently in different subject areas therefore; it is not an easy term to define. Brown and Yule (1983) define text as “the verbal record of communication act” and discourse as “the language in use” Widdowson (1984:24) reckons that “discourse is a communicative process by means of interaction. Its situational outcome is a change in a state of affairs: information is conveyed, invention is made clear, its linguistic product is text” There is another approach developed by Halliday and Hasan (1976), who use discourse in relation to text.
These two researchers claim that a text (discourse) is a unit of meaning. It is the language that is functional and has meaning in context of situation. It is realized by a word, a phrase, a sentence, a cluster of sentences, or even a book, etc… TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.Vietnam 14 According to them, text (discourse): can be defined in the simplest way perhaps by saying that it is language that is functional.