MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HUE UNIVERSITY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES ------------ HO THI AI AN INVESTIGATION INTO MECHANICAL ENGINEERING STUDENTS’ NEEDS OF ESP LEARNING AT HUE INDUSTRIAL COLLEGE 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, 2015 MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HUE UNIVERSITY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES ------------ HO THI AI AN INVESTIGATION INTO MECHANICAL ENGINEERING STUDENTS’ NEEDS OF ESP LEARNING AT HUE INDUSTRIAL COLLEGE MA THESIS IN THEORY AND METHODOLOGY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING CODE: 60.11 SUPERVISOR: TON NU NHU HUONG, D. HUE, 2015 i BỘ GIÁO DỤC VÀ ĐÀO TẠO ĐẠI HỌC HUẾ TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC NGOẠI NGỮ -------- HỒ THỊ ÁI ĐIỀU TRA NHU CẦU HỌC TIẾNG ANH CHUYÊN NGÀNH CỦA SINH VIÊN CƠ KHÍ Ở TRƯỜNG CAO ĐẲNG CÔNG NGHIỆP HUẾ LUẬN VĂN THẠC SĨ LÝ LUẬN VÀ PHƯƠNG PHÁP DẠY HỌC BỘ MÔN TIẾNG ANH MÃ SỐ: 60.11 NGƯỜI HƯỚNG DẪN KHOA HỌC: TS. TÔN NỮ NHƯ HƯƠNG HUẾ, 2015 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: 20/ 7/ 2015 Signature HỒ THỊ ÁI iii ABSTRACT This study examined the Mechanical Engineering students' needs of ESP learning. The aims of the study are to focus on: (i) investigating and analyzing Mechanical Engineering students’ needs of ESP learning at Hue Industrial College(ii) exploring students’ perceptions of their current ESP course and expectations of their English language lecturers (iii) suggesting appropriate measures to develop ESP programs to Mechanical Engineering students that meet the learners’ needs and purposes of learning ESP based on the identified results. The subjects for this study consist of 65 Mechanical Engineering students, five English Language lecturers, five subject instructors at Hue Industrial College and 20 former Mechanical Engineering students who are working in different domestic and foreign enterprises in Vietnam. The data were mainly collected through questionnaires and interviews.
The data collected were analyzed quantitatively according to statistical frequency and percentage. The findings of the study firstly pointed out the students’ needs in the ESP course such as purposes of learning, language skills and areas required, themes and learning styles. In addition, the students’ attitude towards their current ESP course and expectations of their English language lecturers were analyzed. The results from the study also revealed language functions and language forms were included in the syllabus.
From a detailed discussion, some implications related to ESP syllabus design based on the students’ needs were made. Additionally, limitations and suggestions for further research were also included. iv Acknowledgements In the process of choosing and conducting the study, I am fortunate enough to receive valuable assistance and support. First, my thanks go to my supervisor, Dr.
Ton Nu Nhu Huong for her warm support and excellent insights throughout the current study. I am really thankful that she has spent a great deal of her valuable time correcting and giving comments to my work. Without her experienced guidance, this study would not have been done with a correct direction. Second, I am greatly indebted to all the lecturers in my TESOL course.
They gave me helpful knowledge on teaching and learning through the subjects they taught. It really inspired me with ideas for this study. Third, I would like to express my sincere thanks to the Board of leaders and lecturers of the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering for their whole- hearted help and encouragement when I collected the data. Additionally, sincere thanks go to all the students seriously answering my questionnaire.
Moreover, I would like to thank ESP lecturers who were willing to collaborate with me and take part in my interviews. Last, but not least, I would like to show my deep gratitude to my family, especially my husband, and my friends for their love, understanding and support during the time I was busy doing this project. v TABLE OF CONTENTS Contents Pages SUB COVER PAGE. i STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY .v TABLE OF CONTENTS.
vi LIST OF FIGURES. ix LIST OF TABLES .x LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS. Significance of the Study. Structure of the Study.
English in Viet Nam. Status of English in Viet Nam. Teaching and learning English in Viet Nam. Issues of ESP and Needs Analysis (NA).
Definitions of ESP. What is English for Mechanical Engineering?. Definitions of Needs Analysis. The importance of NA in ESP.
Syllabus – its definitions and functions in language teaching. Definition of syllabus. Types of Syllabus Design and Integrated Syllabus. Previous Studies Related to the research.
Instruments for Data Collections. Data collection process. FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS. The Students’ English Language Proficiency.
Findings on Students. Students’ perceptions regarding the current ESP course. Students’ expectations regarding their English language lecturers. Students’ Opinions for a Suggested ESP Syllabus.
The subject topics in an ESP course. Lecturers’ Opinions about the Necessity of Students’ Needs Analysis in ESP Teaching. Lecturers’ Opinions about ESP teaching and learning at HUEIC. Lecturers’ Opinions about English importance and needs to students’ future jobs (Interview questions No 1, 3, 4, 5 and 6).
Lecturers’ Suggestions for an ESP Syllabus. Results of Analysis of Subject Instructors’ Responses. Subject Instructors’ Views on the Importance of ESP in their Jobs. Subject Instructors’ Views on an ESP course.
Discussion of the results. Summary of the results. Mechanical Engineering Students’ Perceptions of their Needs of ESP Learning (RQ 1). Mechanical Engineering students’ perceptions of the current ESP course (RQ 2).
Mechanical Engineering students’ expectations of their English language lecturers (RQ 3). Proposed content of ESP syllabus (RQ 4). Implications and suggestions. For students of Mechanical Engineering.
For lecturers of ESP. For subject lecturers. For syllabus designers. Suggestions for Further Research .87 APPENDICES viii LIST OF FIGURES Figure 4.1 : Students’ years of learning English .2(a) : MESs’ perceptions on the importance of ESP for their current study .2(b) : Former MESs’ perceptions on the importance of ESP for their jobs.3 : The frequency of using ESP of former Mechanical Engineering students at workplace.4 (a) : The purposes of learning ESP of MESs.4(b) : The purposes of learning ESP by FMESs .5 : MESs’ perceptions on the importance of English language skills and abilities to their ESP learning .6 (a) : MESs’ perceptions on the importance of English language skills and abilities to their future jobs .6 (b) : FMESs’ perceptions on the importance of English language skills and abilities to their current jobs .7 : The frequency of using 4 skills at workplace of FMESs .8 : The learners’ expectation of using 4 skills in the ESP course .9 : The importance of basic English and English for Mechanical Engineering to MESs’ future jobs .10 : MESs’ preference for learning styles .11(a) : MESs’ perceptions regarding the usefulness of the current ESP course .12 : MESs’ perceptions regarding the frequency of using language skills in the current ESP course .13 : FMESs’ satisfaction of the course .14 : MESs’ perceptions on the relevance of the course materials .15 : MESs’ preferences for their English language lecturers .16 : MESs’ expectations on their English language lecturers.57 ix LIST OF TABLES Table 3.1 : Research Methods for Needs Analysis .2 : Clusters of questions .1 : Students’ Self-assessment of English language proficiency .2 : Students’ needs of using the language functions .3 : Students’ interests in speaking activities .4 : Students’ interests in writing activities .5 : Students’ interests in reading activities .6 : Students’ interests in listening activities.7 : MESs’ satisfaction of the course .8(a) : MESs’ opinions about a suggested ESP syllabus .8 (b) : FMESs’ opinions about a suggested ESP syllabus .9 : MESs’ preference about the subject topics in an ESP course and the frequency of using the subject topics in FMESs’ jobs.
59 x LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS 1. ESP : English for Specific Purposes 2. MESs : Mechanical Engineering Students 3. MOET : Ministry of Education and Training 4.
FESs : Former Mechanical Engineering Students 5. HUEIC : Hue Industrial College 6. NA : Need Analysis 7. TE : Teacher Interview 8.
RQ : Research Question xi CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 1. Overview This chapter firstly presents the background of the research and the rationale of the study in which the reasons for the research are mentioned. In addition, research aims, research questions, research scope, significance of the study and structure of the study are also given. Background Hue Industrial College (HUEIC), one of the vocational and professional training colleges of Ministry of Industry and Trade of Vietnam, is situated on Nguyen Hue Street in Hue.
The mission of the college is to provide the society with diversified, multi-grade and high quality human resources in industrial, economic and technical aspects, meeting the needs of international integration (HUEIC bulletin, 2013). The total number of students is more than 7,000. The classes are very big in size. There is an average of 60 students in each class.
Basic English is taught for the first-year students and English for specific (ESP) is given to the second-year students of Accounting, Business Administration, Tourism, Mechanical Engineering, Electronic Engineering, Automobile Engineering and Information Technology. In general, most of the students have a low standard of English because they come from different rural areas where English has rarely been taught. Hence, they have different levels of proficiency of English. The weak students, whose background of English knowledge is very poor, are not confident in their ability to learn English since English is quite novel to them, they develop negative attitudes towards studying English because they do not feel competent enough.
Although much effort has been made, the quality of learning English as a subject is still very low, they feel lazy and scared of English. As a result, some of them often play truant or take part in the lessons reluctantly, their results of learning decrease significantly. Few students can pass the recruitment schemes of the foreign enterprises because most of the students cannot speak and use English in spite of the most common and simplest sentences. According to the statistical data from the Department of training in the school year of 2013-2014, the ratio of lower 4 marks to 10 marks is over 50 % in the final tests.
1 There are many reasons why they are poor in language performance. Apart from the individual factors, the main reason is that ESP in vocational colleges, especially at HUEIC has not attached special importance from the board of Administration. Precisely, there are not enough modern teaching equipment and ESP materials as well. Also, there are not any training courses for ESP teachers.
According to Bojovic (2006, p. 48), it is important for ESP teachers to develop certain skills to adequately teach the course. ESP teachers should be able to know the objectives of ESP students so that they can have different ideas for teaching ESP that satisfy students’ needs of learning ESP courses ( Mohemmed, 2014). Most of the college students are required to take approximately 5 credit hours of Basic English courses within their first year of studying.
Besides, only some programs are assigned 2 credit hours of ESP for the second year of studying. Although they recognize the importance of the English language in globalization, they are often put into the dilemma of time strain for the other major subjects they need to attend to. The majority of the students tend to view their major subjects as career factors; whereas a large portion of students only study English in general and ESP in particular as a compulsory subject.