VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FALCUTY OF POST GRADUATE STUDIES HOÀNG NGUYỄN THU TRANG Students’ perceptions on needs for studying English at university – survey research at College of Economics, Vietnam National University, Hanoi (Nhận thức của sinh viên về nhu cầu học tiếng Anh ở đại học - Nghiên cứu khảo sát tại trường Đại học Kinh tế, Đại học Quốc Gia Hà Nội) M. Minor Programme Thesis Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60 14 10 Cohort: MA 16 Hanoi, 2010 z VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST GRADUATE STUDIES HOÀNG NGUYỄN THU TRANG Students’ perceptions on needs for studying English at university – survey research at College of Economics, Vietnam National University, Hanoi (Nhận thức của sinh viên về nhu cầu học tiếng Anh ở đại học - Nghiên cứu khảo sát tại trường Đại học Kinh tế, Đại học Quốc Gia Hà Nội) M. Minor Programme Thesis Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60 14 10 Cohort: MA 16 Supervisor: Dr. Dương Thị Nụ Hanoi, 2010 z TABLE OF CONTENTS Part 1.2 Aims of the study ……………………………………………………………….
Scope of the study ………………………………………………………………. Methods of research ……………………………………………………………. Structure of the thesis paper ……………………………………………………. English for specific purposes (ESP) …………………………………………….
Definitions of ESP …………………………………………………………. Characteristics of ESP ……………………………………………………… 6 1. Classification of ESP ………………………………………………………. Needs and needs analysis ……………………………………………………….
Definitions of needs ………………………………………………………. Definitions of need analysis ………………………………………………. Studies on needs analysis …………………………………………………. Methods of data collection ………………………………………………….
The participants and job advertisements. The job advertisements ……………………………………………………. Procedures and methods of data analysis ………………………………………. Findings and discussion …………………………………………………… 19 3.
Students’ perceptions on needs to learn English …………………………………. The students’ types of needs …………………………………………. The students’ perceptions on learning English at university ………………. The students’ perceptions on difficulties in using EAP.
The college’s and subject teachers’ orientation. The current employers’ requirements for English ………………………………. 39 Appendices ……………………………………………………………………………… I-X z LIST OF ABBREVIATION ESP: English for Specific Purposes EAP: English for Academic Purposes EOP: English for Occupational Purposes ads.: advertisements z LIST OF TABLES Tables Page Table 1. A classification of ESP, Dudley-Evans, T.
The majors of the students who were interviewed 15 Table 3. The majors of the teachers being interviewed 16 Table 4. The proportion of the informants in terms of year and major 17 Table 5. Sources of job advertisements on the internet 18 Table 6.
Classification of fields of the advertised jobs 18 Table 7. The relation between the learners’ year and their expectation for EAP 23 Table 8. The student's year vs. their perceptions on the amount of English used in 27 subject lectures Table 9.
The student's year vs. their perceptions on reading websites for subject matters 28 Table 10. Correlations between amount of web-reading and difficulty in it 29 z LIST OF CHARTS Charts Page Chart 1. Frequency of daily English use among the students 20 Chart 2.
Frequency of English use in daily activities 21 Chart 3. Purposes of learning English at university 22 Chart 4. Proportions of learners intending to get an international certificate 23 Chart 5. Relative importance of the four language skills 24 Chart 6.
Learners’ judgements on the important of some EAP skills 25 Chart 7. Learners’ judgements on the importance of academic writing skills 26 Chart 8. Learner’s judgements on the importance of academic reading skills 26 Chart 9. Requirement for English proficiency on job advertisements 34 Chart 10.
Specification of sub-skills required 35 Chart 11. Specification of international certificate requirement 36 z 1 PART ONE. Rationale Vietnam is welcoming the world‟s opportunities of development by joining regional and international organizations such as ASEAN and then the WTO. A force to push the doors to the world markets open wider is English, an internationally recognized means of communication.
Its status realization is reflected in the policy of making English a compulsory subject at universities with the hours of instruction ranging from 180 to 260 in three semesters (Lê, 2000). Furthermore, Vietnamese Ministry of Education and Training plans to introduce lectures on information technology, finance and banking, administration and management and on tourism and other social majors in English by 2012 and by 2020 respectively (Vũ Thơ, 2008). To have lessons instructed in this international language, College of Economics, Vietnam National University, Hanoi has also sent a number of lecturers to study abroad. Besides, subject teachers especially those who are teaching fast-track classes are encouraged to give lectures and exploit materials in English.
Each of a class-hour in English equals one and a half class-hour in Vietnamese. As for the learners, to prepare for studying their majors in this foreign language, fast-track students in Business Administration and International Economics have been learning English throughout the week (4 hours a day) in their first academic year. Though a lot of requirements have been imposed on learning English, little research has been done focusing on learners‟ needs. In the region, Evans and Green (2006) suggest that EAP is an useful bridge to lead Hong Kong students to better understanding their subjects in English.
However, needs analysis related to this is particularly rare in Vietnam, especially studies on learners‟ viewpoints, except for some employers‟ viewpoints on EOP surveyed by Nguyen (2009). One common argument among researchers such as Deutch (2003) and Kim (2006) is that pre-experienced learners have vague ideas on what will be required in their future work environments. However, the concept of needs is not only restricted within target language needs, and even target language needs does not only refers to occupational needs but also includes academic uses. Additionally, the extent to which English is used in Vietnam would not be the same as that in universities in English speaking countries or in z 2 English as a second language places such Singapore or Hong Kong, where instructions have been given in English to non-English major students.
Lastly, in order to focus learners more on self study activities, language teachers should know about the learners‟ motivation or self-direction in their study. A way to help non-English major students at College of Economics, Vietnam National University, Hanoi create their own learning opportunities is to raise their motivation for learning the language. This study, thus, aims at learning about the students‟ perceptions on their own learning English for Specific Purposes, their difficulties in using it in their study at university, as well as its usefulness for their academic success. Their expectation for the language use in future careers is also explored in comparison with current employers‟ requirements.
This would provide better understanding of the status of English in the eyes of non-English- major undergraduates in Vietnam. Aims of the study This paper firstly aims at learning about the learners‟ own opinions on the controversial issue of whether ESP should be learned and taught at university. The picture of the society‟s demands may also be reflected by the College of Economics‟ teaching and learning targets as well as the current employers‟ requirements in terms of English proficiency. The “voices” from the stake-holders are expected to help English teachers make feasible decisions in their teaching activities such as choosing appropriate materials.
Above all, this study is: - to raise learners‟ awareness of their English learning, - to provide English teachers with their learners‟ perceptions for considerate choices of teaching methods, - to provide material developers with users‟ viewpoints in assessing the appropriateness of materials, and -to provide language policy makers with learners‟ orientations for expected planning. Research question To fulfill the aims mentioned above, this research addresses the following question: What purposes of learning English do the students at College of Economics, Vietnam National University, Hanoi pursue? In other words, this study focuses on the learners‟ viewpoints on their own needs of learning English for academic and occupational purposes. Their perceptions on the use of English for Academic Purposes will be compared with the institution‟s language policies and planning as well as with the subject teachers‟ application of English and the teachers‟ expectations for the teaching and learning English at university. The learners‟ targets of English for Occupational Purposes will be compared with current employers‟ requirements for English to their applicants through job advertisements on the Internet.
Scope of the study This study focuses on the perceptions on the needs for ESP of the non-English major learners at College of Economics, VNU. Accordingly, the study exclude the fast track learners of Business Administration and International Economics, the double-major freshmen of Finance and Banking and double-degree English-major learners studying Economics at College of Economics, who learn English much more than other major students. The following aspects were in focus: 1) The learners‟ purposes for learning English at university, which are specified as situational needs (for daily communication) or target needs (e. for future work, a university credit, an international certificate such as IELTS, TOEFL or TOEIC or learning other subjects in English).
2) The learners‟ difficulties in applying sub-language-for-academic skills such as note taking, summarizing, reading reference books, subject discussion, etc. 3) The college‟s direction and subject teachers‟ expectation reflected in - the college‟s objectives in education in terms of teaching and learning English - the language policies applied to carry out these aims - subject teachers‟ viewpoints on ESP. 4) Employers‟ requirements in terms of - the proportion of English as a mandatory condition in applying for a job after graduation z 4 - preferred language skills explicitly stated in job advertisements - requests for an internationally recognized certificate (e. TOEIC, IELTS or TOEFL) - requests for specific English skills 1.
Research methods In order to give a whole picture of the learners‟ perceptions on their needs for ESP, a survey approach is applied. The data were gathered mainly by means of a questionnaire to 448 students, semi- structured interviews with 17 students and 6 subject teachers and 196 job advertisements. The questionnaire was designed in direct approach, which helps minimize the risk of being misunderstood and to gain informants‟ trustfulness (Wray and Bloomer, 2006, p. This questionnaire is followed by semi-structured interviews to check the validity of the collected information.
Not only seventeen students of different years and majors but six subject teachers were also interviewed for an insight into learners‟ and teachers‟ beliefs in the usefulness of learning English at university. The interviews were interpreted in terms of shared or unique ideas on the matter teaching and learning ESP. The survey on job advertisement was done in April 2010 when the students are going to graduate and more advertisement for new graduates are expected appear. The survey results were analysed quantitatively on SPSS for means and frequencies of repeated opinions.
Structure of the thesis paper This paper is structured with three main parts: introduction, development and conclusion. The introduction focuses on the reasons for study, which is the lack of agreement in theory on concepts and features of English for Specific Purposes in comparison with General English, and the rareness of research on this matter in Vietnam. This part aims at learning about the non-English major students‟ perceptions on their needs to learn ESP in their current academic environment – situational needs – and for future use – target needs, including their purposes, their application and difficulties in the last semesters at the university, when English is no longer taught. The Development starts with the theoretical background of ESP and of needs analysis.
Studies on needs analysis internationally and nationally are also revisited to find a position for this research. This is the basement for the construction of the study. Its results z 5 are then presented with discussion on focused, striking points related to learners‟ perceived needs and difficulties in use of the language at university and for future work. Viewpoints from the institution‟s subject teachers and employers are also mentioned in this section.
The conclusion includes key noticeable findings in the learners‟ self direction for learning English at university in general and for learning ESP in particular.