VIET NAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HA NOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST – GRADUATE STUDIES ***************** NGUYỄN THI ̣ MINH THÁI DESIGNING AN ESP SPEAKING SYLLABUS FOR THE SECOND-YEAR STUDENTS OF MARINE ENGINE DEPARTMENT AT MARITIME COLLEGE NO.A MINOR THESIS Field: English Language Teaching Methodolog Code: 601410 HANOI, 2012 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com VIET NAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HA NOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST – GRADUATE STUDIES ***************** NGUYỄN THI ̣ MINH THÁI DESIGNING AN ESP SPEAKING SYLLABUS FOR THE SECOND-YEAR STUDENTS OF MARINE ENGINE DEPARTMENT AT MARITIME COLLEGE NO.A MINOR THESIS Field: English Language Teaching Methodolog Code: 601410 Supervisor: Prof. Hoàng Văn Vân HANOI, 2012 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com TABLE OF CONTENTS PART A: INTRODUCTION. Aims and objectives of the study. Scope of the study.
Methods of the study. Design of the study. 5 CHAPTER I: LITERATURE REVIEW .1 Definitions of a syllabus. Approaches to Syllabus Design in ESP.
Language-centred approach. Skills-centred approach.3 Learning-centred approach. Types of syllabus. Structural /grammatical syllabus.
Functional Notional syllabus. 9 vi LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail. Task-based syllabus. Principle to syllabus choice.
Overview of ESP…………………………………………………………… 12 1. Definition of ESP. Benefits of ESP. Types of ESP.
Need analysis in ESP. The definition of needs. The definition of needs analysis. The purposes of needs analysis.
Target situation analysis. Present situation analysis. Learning needs analysis. Definitions of speaking ……………………………………………… 17 1.
Importance of speaking …………………………………………… 18 1. Speaking activities to be employed in the syllabus ………………… 18 1. Summary of chapter I. 20 vii LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com CHAPTER II: Syllabus design ……………………………………………… 21 2.
Aims and objectives of the syllabus…………………………………. The aims of second-year ESP speaking syllabus………… 32 2. The objectives of the syllabus……………………………… 32 2. The content of the Proposed ESP Speaking Syllabus for second- 33 year students of Marine Department at MCI……………………………….
Some specific topics included in the syllabus. The language functions in the syllabus…………………… 34 2. The timing of the syllabus. The organization of the syllabus.
A suggested speaking syllabus for second-year students of Marine viii LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com Engine Department at Maritime College No. Test for student progress/syllabus effectiveness. Form of testing. Sample of a speaking test.
Marking scales for Speaking test ………………………… 40 PART C: CONCLUSION. Summary of the study………………………………………………………. Limitations of the study……………………………………………………… 42 3. Suggestions for further study……………………………………………….
Guidelines on implication……………………………………………………. 43 Reference i APPENDIX 1 A student questionnaire iii APPENDIX 2 A questionnaire for teachers of English xi APPENDIX 3 A questionnaire for ex-students working onboard xv ix LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com PART A: INTRODUCTION 1. Rationale In the context of globalization, English has become more and more important for everybody all over the world, especially for those who work in an international environment. Seafarers are one of the most typical examples.
Nowadays we can see different nationalities on board. This cross-cultural labour mobility makes maritime English teachers aware that the quality of cadets in the global seafarer‟s community needs a proper teaching pedagogy. For this reason, much attention has been paid to the teaching and learning English at MCI. According to the curriculum, students at MCI have to study English for 5 semesters of which two semesters are for General English and three for English for Specific Purposes (ESP).
Each semester consists of 60 periods. After completing this course, their English proficiency will reach Intermediate level by Vietnamese standard. Although many seafarers have brought some English knowledge to their workplaces, their language skills may not be sufficient for communicating instructions and commands. This deficiency is most apparent among multi-national crews in emergency situations when the use of English is critical.
The International Maritime Human Element Bulletin (Issue No. 14 May 2007) asserts: The ability to properly convey information by word of mouth and/or by written communication is important not only to the safety of ships‟ crews, visitors and passengers, but also to the wellbeing of crews. It would seem that the standard of English of some seafarers is so bad that they have difficulty communicating not only between themselves but also with agencies outside the ship (p. Students of MCI also have the same problem after graduating.
They meet difficulty finding out a job onboard a foreign ship because of their poor English proficiency. Some of them who are working onboard say that the ESP they have learnt at MCI does not meet the demand of their current work. When they work on a ship (i. they live and work in an international environment), English becomes their most important communication instrument and speaking and listening become their essential skills to carry out their daily communication.
The ESP course at MCI seems to be not practical 1 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com enough for them to survive on board a ship. The question here is “What are causes of this problem?” The answer will be addressed below. The course book in use for teaching English to the second-year students of Marine Engine Department in MCI is named Basic English Marine Engine Students. This book was written by teachers of the English Division in MCI.
It consists of 8 units which are taught in two semesters. Each unit is concerned with one theme familiar with oilers‟ actual job. Every unit includes a text on the topic and some related exercises followed. The themes of these units are practical for marine engine students.
They are, however, poorly designed with very few communicative tasks for students to develop their language skills. Furthermore, most ESP teachers follow the fixed order offered in the course book which is: vocabulary text questions about the text translation. This has undoubtedly diminished the chances for students to improve four language skills equally. It seems that vocabulary, reading and translation are the foci that students have to deal with throughout the course.
Many students, after the ESP course, complain about their inability to speak and listen properly. Also, complaints from the shipping companies about their employees who fail to communicate successfully in their job are not uncommon. Ex-students who graduated from MCI and are now working onboard point out that what they achieved after their ESP courses is not practical for their current jobs. The problem here is, among four language skills, speaking and listening are more necessary for Marine Engine students in there future jobs but current ESP courses haven‟t met this requirement.
Based on that fact, this thesis attempts to propose an ESP speaking syllabus for second- year students of Marine Engine students in MCI with the aim at improving their speaking skills so that after finishing the course they will be able to carry out simple conversations with their colleagues in English on board. Aim and objectives of the study As mentioned above, the study aims at designing an ESP speaking syllabus for the second-year students of Marine Engine Department at Maritime College No. To achieve this aim, the study first attempts to look at the current ESP course for second- year students of Marine Engine Students in MCI to see if it meets the students‟ needs of 2 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com the students. Then it will carry out a research to identify the students‟ needs.
The final stage is devoted to proposing an ESP speaking syllabus for the second-year students of the Marine Engine Department at Maritime College No. Research questions To make the tasks manageable, the following questions are raised for exploration: 1. Does the current ESP course for second-year students of Marine Engine Students in MCI meet the students‟ needs to learn? 2. What are the learning needs of the second-year students of Marine Engine Department in MCI in terms of present situation needs and target situation needs? 3.
How can the ESP speaking syllabus be designed to meet the demand of the learning needs of the students? Of these three questions, question 3 is the main focus. Scope of the study As set in the aim and the objectives which are operationalized in the research questions above, this study will confine itself to designing an ESP speaking syllabus for the second-year students of Marine Engine Department at Maritime College No. However, one cannot design a viable syllabus without some understanding about the current situation of the institution, the teachers, the students and their needs to learn English. These are also parts of the research which help to provide the backgrounds of the research.
Methods of the study This study uses both qualitative and quantitative research methods. Qualitative method is concerned with the researcher‟s reading the literature on syllabus and ESP syllabus design in order to establish the senses in which the term ESP speaking syllabus is employed. Quantitative method is used to see whether students need to learn English, whether their needs are real, and what level of proficiency is required from them after they graduate from the college, etc. 3 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.
Design of the study The study is divided into three parts: Part A - INTRODUCTION – includes the rationale, the objectives, the research questions, the scope, the methods and the design of the study. Part B - DEVELOPMENT – consists of 2 chapters: - Chapter 1 provides an overview of syllabus design, ESP and speaking skill. - Chapter 2 presents a small research on MCI students‟ needs to learn English in general and speaking skills in particular Then it focuses in the presenting and discussing on how the ESP speaking syllabus for second-year students of Marine Engine Department at MCI is designed. Part C – CONCLUSION – summarizes the main contents which have been studied, presents the limitations of the study and makes some suggestions for further study.
4 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1 LITERATURE REVIEW This chapter is concerned with reviewing some previous studies and examining the notions of syllabus, the overview of ESP, and the notion of speaking. Previous studies In the frame of M. thesis at Vietnam National University, Hanoi – University of Languages and International Studies, there were some previous studies of designing an ESP speaking syllabus. Works by Nguyen Kieu Oanh (2005) and Nguyen Thanh Giang (2007) are some of typical examples.
They are all interested in the this issue. Nguyen Thanh Giang (2007) has conducted the study on the application of the learner-centred approach to designing a speaking syllabus for the third-year students in teacher-training section. Based on the situational analysis and experience from current syllabus, a suitable syllabus framework was developed, he justified his decisions regarding the content of the course, how it is structured, the learning and teaching activities, how the students are selected, assessed and possible feedback for the improvements of the syllabus. Nguyen Kieu Oanh (2005) was also interested in designing an ESP speaking syllabus and she also proposed a suggested syllabus by needs analysis through survey questionnaires and semi- structured interview questions.
These data collection instruments has supported her with much useful information as the basis for designing the ESP speaking syllabus. For this reason, I will also use questionnaires as my data collection instrment but the candidates in the questionnaires are different. Beside undergraduates and graduates, I will give another questionnaire to teachesr of English because they have known students very well. Definition of a syllabus There seems to be as many definitions as definers, each apparently covering similar ground, whilst containing various aspects and differences in emphasis.
For example, Pienemann (1985:23) sees the syllabus as “the selection and grading of linguistic teaching objectives”, while for Breen (1984:47) it is a plan of what is to be achieved 5 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com through our teaching and our students‟ learning”.