MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HUE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES ------------ DOAN THI PHUONG NGA DESIGNING SOME THEME-BASED ENGLISH UNITS OF FINANCE FOR ESP STUDENTS AT QUANG BINH ECONOMIC SCHOOL MA THESIS IN THEORY AND METHODOLOGY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING HUE, 2013 MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HUE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES ------------ DOAN THI PHUONG NGA DESIGNING SOME THEME-BASED ENGLISH UNITS OF FINANCE FOR ESP STUDENTS AT QUANG BINH ECONOMIC SCHOOL MA THESIS IN THEORY AND METHODOLOGY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING CODE: 60140111 SUPERVISOR: Assoc. TRAN VAN PHUOC HUE, 2013 i BỘ GIÁO DỤC VÀ ĐÀO TẠO ĐẠI HỌC HUẾ TRƢỜNG ĐẠI HỌC NGOẠI NGỮ ------------ ĐOÀN THỊ PHƢƠNG NGA THIẾT KẾ MỘT SỐ BÀI HỌC TIẾNG ANH TÀI CHÍNH DỰA VÀO QUAN ĐIỂM CHỦ ĐỀ DÀNH CHO SINH VIÊN TIẾNG ANH CHUYÊN NGÀNH Ở TRƢỜNG TRUNG CẤP KINH TẾ QUẢNG BÌNH LUẬN VĂN THẠC SĨ LÝ LUẬN VÀ PHƢƠNG PHÁP DẠY HỌC BỘ MÔN TIẾNG ANH MÃ SỐ: 60140111 NGƢỜI HƢỚNG DẪN KHOA HỌC: PGS. TRẦN VĂN PHƢỚC HUẾ, 2013 ii STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP I hereby acknowledge that this study is mine. The data and findings discussed in this thesis are true and have not been published elsewhere.
Author Doan Thi Phuong Nga iii ABSTRACT The study attempted to design some theme-based English units of Finance which might be used as a suggested teaching material for the ESP course of Finance at Quang Binh Economic School (QBES). Hence, the research focuses mainly on exploring the students‟ needs in learning English for Finance (EF), examining the reality of teaching and learning EF at QBES, and highlighting some suggestions and solutions to improve the effectiveness of teaching and learning EF at QBES. A combination of both qualitative and quantitative approaches was employed in this study. The data collection methods included questionnaires, interviews and experimental teaching.
The subjects of the study consisted of 100 students, 8 ESP teachers and 10 content teachers at QBES. The findings revealed that EF should be taught not only as a subject in the training curriculum but also as a crucial tool to support students for their future jobs. The results from students‟ needs analysis enabled the researcher to design a theme- based syllabus of Finance and two sample units with the balance of the integrated language skills and language elements in a unit to provide them with the opportunities to improve their language competence and professional knowledge as well. On the basis of the findings, some pedagogical implications for making ESP course of Finance more effectively were suggested, limitations of the study were pointed out and further researches were also proposed.
The study was conducted with the hope of making contribution a significant part to the development of ESP course of Finance at QBES. iv Foremost, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my supervisor, Assoc. Tran Van Phuoc, for his professional guidance, insightful comments, helpful suggestions and constant encouragement in the preparation and completion of this thesis. I would like to convey my sincere thankfulness to Dr.
Bao Kham, Assoc. Truong Vien and Assoc. Le Pham Hoai Huong for their valuable advice to my thesis. I am indebted to the lecturers who gave me precious instructions during my M.A course for their precious lectures at Hue College of Foreign Languages and the reference materials’ authors whose ideas inspired me throughout the writing process.
I am also grateful to my colleagues, especially the leaders of Quang Binh Economic School, where I have been working for their assistance, support and encouragement during the time I carried out this study. Last but not least, I would like to devote my special thanks to my beloved family who created favourable conditions and v supported me both spiritually and materially to implement this thesis. v vi TABLE OF CONTENTS SUB COVER PAGE. i STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP .v TABLE OF CONTENTS.
vii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS. xi LIST OF TABLES. xii LIST OF FIGURES. xiii CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION.
Rationale of the research. Scope of the research. Structure of the thesis .4 CHAPTER 2:LITERATURE REVIEW AND THEORETICAL BACKGROUND. English books for Finance in Vietnam and other countries.
English books for Finance in Vietnam. English books for Finance in other countries. Concepts and key terms. What is ESP?.
What is English for Finance?. Definitions of syllabus. Types of syllabus. Theme-based syllabus.
Definition of theme-based syllabus. Characteristics of theme-based syllabus. Syllabus design and principles for designing an ESP syllabus of Finance. Principles for designing an ESP syllabus of Finance.
Principles for designing materials. A framework for materials design. Definitions of needs analysis. Types of needs.
The current syllabus at Quang Binh Economic School. Instruments for data collection .32 CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION. ESP teachers‟ and students‟ perceptions on learning EF. ESP teachers‟ and students‟ responses to the purposes of learning EF.
ESP teachers‟ and students‟ perceptions of the importance of EF to students‟ future careers. ESP teachers‟ and students‟ responses to the necessity of improving language skills and language elements in the ESP course of Finance. The current issues on teaching and learning EF at QBES. ESP teachers‟ and students‟ evaluation on the currently used ESP materials of Finance.
General assessment on the currently used ESP materials of Finance. Assessment on vocabulary, reading texts and grammatical structures. ESP teachers‟ and students‟ evaluation on the use of teaching techniques in ESP class of Finance. Responses to the use of teaching aids.
Responses to the application of classroom activities. Responses to the use of teaching approaches. ESP teachers‟ and students‟ responses on the difficulties in teaching and learning EF. ESP teachers‟ and students‟ suggestions to improve the effectiveness of teaching and learning EF at QBES.
ESP teachers‟ and students‟ opinions about the necessity of redesigning the ESP course book of Finance. ESP teachers‟ and students‟ opinions about themes of Finance. Criteria of a good theme-based ESP course book of Finance. ESP teachers‟ and students‟ suggestions to improve the quality of ESP course of Finance at QBES.
The preliminary experiments: two sample theme-based English units of Finance for ESP students at QBES. Description of the sample units. Two sample theme-based English units of Finance (see Appendix 4). Students‟ feedbacks on the two experimental units .59 ix CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION, IMPLICATIONS AND SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER RESEARCH.
Summary of the key findings. For educational administrators. For ESP teachers. For material designers.
Limitations of the study. Suggestions for the further research .72 x LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS GE: General English EF: English for Finance ESP: English for Specific Purposes N Number P Percentage Q Question QBES Quang Binh Economic School xi LIST OF TABLES Table 4.1: Students‟ purposes of learning EF .2: Students‟ needs for language skills and language elements .3: Language skills and language elements .4: The quality of the current materials .5: The use of teaching aids .7: The use of teaching approaches .8: The difficulties in teaching and learning EF .9: ESP teachers‟ and students‟ preference for themes .10: Criteria of a good theme-based ESP course book of Finance .11: Criteria of a good theme-based unit in an ESP course book of Finance54 xii LIST OF FIGURES Figure 4.1: The importance of EF to students‟ future careers .2: Assessment on vocabulary .3: Assessment on reading texts .4: Assessment on grammatical structures .5: The necessity of redesigning the ESP course book of Finance .50 xiii CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1. Rationale of the research There is no doubt of the significant role of English in the process of globalization. It has been regarded as an indispensable means of international communication among people around the world.
Since the implementation of the open-door policy in the early 1990s and the integration into World Trade Organization by the end of 2006, Vietnam has opened more new opportunities to engage in various fields with international community. The demand of using English for interacting professionally in specific fields has been rapidly increasing in almost workplaces in our country. Therefore, together with the flourishing of learning General English (GE), English for Specific Purposes (ESP) has widely developed in most universities, colleges, professional secondary schools in Vietnam with the purpose of “preparing learners to use English within academic, professional, or workplace environments” (Basturkmen, 2006, p. It is not an exception for the students at QBES, where ESP is taught as one of the compulsory subjects in the training curriculum.
However, the researcher, as a teacher of ESP at QBES, has found that the current situation of ESP teaching and learning here still reveals gaps. ESP courses are not really effective due to some following objective as well as subjective causes that have affected the real quality of the outcomes. First of all, the level of students is mixed because some of them are from remote areas where they obtained little input of English before entering QBES whereas the others have learnt English from three to seven years. Such a multi-level class has caused certain problems to teaching process as “the teacher may not know how to make a lesson easy enough for less able students, while at the same time challenging enough for more able students” (Le, 2002, p.
Additionally, large class sizes with the average of around 50 students (Le, 2002) “sitting in long rows with five students in each row” (Le, 2001, p.37) have hindered them from paying attention to lessons and actively participating in classroom activities. Moreover, 1 students lack English proficiency required to learn ESP and motivation in achieving job-related knowledge as “the majority of students learn English just to pass the examinations” (Bock, 2000, p. Furthermore, the insufficiency of classroom facilities is also the obstacle leading to the less effectiveness of courses. Lastly but most importantly, although the quality of ESP materials is considered a determining factor which influences strongly on the success of an ESP course, it has remained some problems.
Compiled over ten years ago, the current ESP course book of Finance is out of date due to lacking updated information. It is done inappropriately to the students‟ situations, levels and interests. It mainly focuses on improving vocabulary and reading skill rather than integrated skills, which might be a great hindrance to students‟ professional communication. Moreover, it does not provide a diversity of input with various types of authentic texts and language activities which has demotivated students and has deterred language teachers from teaching ESP effectively.
For the existing problems and shortcomings mentioned above, an ESP course book of Finance should be redesigned for all integrated skills associated with learners‟ field to improve the quality of ESP courses as well as meet their needs for future professions as “what they learn would serve clear and specific purposes” (Nguyen, 2003, p. The inadequacy of ESP teaching materials of Finance has motivated the researcher to conduct the study on: “Designing some Theme-based English Units of Finance for ESP Students at Quang Binh Economic School”. Research purposes In order to deal with the insufficiency of teaching materials as noted previously, an ESP course book of Finance will be developed with an effort to help students not only achieve a good command of all language skills but also master professional knowledge to serve their future jobs. Particularly, the objectives of the study are to: 2 - Investigate the current ESP course book of Finance being used to teach for students at QBES.
- Identify the needs of students at QBES in learning EF. - Find out how to design a theme-based English syllabus of Finance for ESP course. - Design two sample theme-based English units of Finance as a suggested teaching material in ESP course at QBES. - Offer some pedagogical implications for making ESP course more effective.