(LUẬN VĂN THẠC SĨ) An investigation into students’ communicative needs in English The case of University of Labour and social affairs

In the last few years, first L1 and second L2 language acquisition research into language teaching have led to an increased interest in investigating the most effective ways of improving

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POSTGRADUATE STUDIES

CAO SƠN HÙNG

AN INVESTIGATION INTO STUDENTS’ COMMUNICATIVE NEEDS IN ENGLISH: THE CASE OF UNNIVERSITY OF LABOUR AND SOCIAL

AFFAIRS (NGHIÊN CỨU ĐIỀU TRA VỀ NHU CẦU GIAO TIẾP TIẾNG ANH CỦA

SINH VIÊN TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC LAO ĐỘNG XÃ HỘI)

M.A MINOR THESIS

Field: English Teaching Methodology

Code: 60 14 10

HÀ NỘI, 2012

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POSTGRADUATE STUDIES

CAO SƠN HÙNG

AN INVESTIGATION INTO STUDENTS’ COMMUNICATIVE NEEDS IN ENGLISH: THE CASE OF UNNIVERSITY OF LABOUR AND SOCIAL

AFFAIRS

(NGHIÊN CỨU ĐIỀU TRA VỀ NHU CẦU GIAO TIẾP TIẾNG ANH CỦA

SINH VIÊN TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC LAO ĐỘNG XÃ HỘI)

M.A MINOR THESIS

Field: English Teaching Methodology

TABLE OF CONTENT

Part A: INTRODUCTION 1

1 Rationale 1

2 Scope of the study 4

3 Aims of the study 4

4 Subjects and Methodology of the study 4

5 Research question 5

6 Design of the study 6

Part B: DEVELOPMENT 7

CHAPTER 1: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND 7

1.1 "COMMUNICATIVENESS" AND COMPETENCE 7

1.1.1 What is ―communicativeness‖? 7

1.1.2 Communicative competence 7

1.1.3 Communicative performance 9

1.1.4 Needs 10

1.1.5 Needs analysis 11

1.1.6 Changing the communicative needs 12

1.1.7 The impact of integrated language skills in communication 19

CHAPTER 2: THE STUDY 21

2.1 Data and Methodology 21

2.2 Results and Discussion 23

2.2.1 Students‘ Needs and Actual Use 23

2.2.2 Students' Wants 28

2.2.3 Students‘ lacks 30

PART C: CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATION 34

1 Conclusions and implications 34

2 Limitation and suggestion for further study 36

References 38

APPENDIX………I

LIST OF TABLE AND DIAGRAM

Table 1: Students‘ needs of listening by type of job 24

Table 2: Students‘ needs of speaking by type of job 25

Table 3: Students‘ needs of reading by type of job 26

Table 4: Students‘ needs of writing by type of job 27

Table 5: students‘ wants by type of work 29

Table 6 Response percentages: Language proficiency

(self-assessment) by type of work

PART A: INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale

English is undoubtedly considered a golden key to open the door of such fields as commerce, science and technology throughout the world Therefore, it is necessary to teach this language in educational establishments of all levels One of the most important purposes of learning English is to communicate with other people especially native speakers while communication is mainly based on speaking

in which intonation is an important aspect Therefore, how to speak English smoothly and fluently with an accurate intonation is essential to any learners of English including Vietnamese learners However, during the course of the research‘s study and teaching practice, it is found that little or even no attention is paid to the teaching and learning of communicativeness In addition, among many aspects of the teaching and learning English, communicativeness is often neglected

at non-major language colleges Students are taught about this issue when they are

in university or college; so many of them find it difficult to communicate because of their pronunciation or because they can‘t pronounce an utterance with accurate intonation As a result, their English does not sound native-like Similarly, students always have troubles in listening and understanding native speakers This leads to the fact that a lot of them feel shy and lack of confidence in speaking English

During the past 20 years, the explosion in business and communications technology has revolutionized the field of English language teaching, and has radically shifted the attention of course designers from teaching English for Academic purposes to teaching English for more specialized purposes In the last few years, first (L1) and second (L2) language acquisition research into language teaching have led to an increased interest in investigating the most effective ways of improving the ability of workers in using English for specific purposes in the workplace (Li So-mui and Mead, 2000; Louhiala-Salminen 1996) Several recent studies of ESP have provided evidence of the importance of teaching English for specific purposes (Li So-mui and Mead, 2000; Edwards, 2000; Lohiala-Salinen,

1996; Huchinson and Waters, 1987) For example, it has been observed that the type of language used by each worker is influenced by the worker‘s working instrument (see for example, Pogner, 2003; Zak and Dudley-Evans, 1986), by his aims and professional constraints, as well as by his specialization and the type of duties assigned to him, and by the texts the worker produces and deals with (e.g., Edwards, 2000; Macintosh, 1990) These educational studies have been developing

in tandem with a recognition that learning English for specific purposes play important roles in workers‘ and administrators‘ success in their fields of work and business environments

Over the last few years, many researchers have offered a number of books and articles bringing out new insights and approaches from different theoretical perspectives For instance, an important survey was conducted in Finland in 1998

by the National Board of Education on the language and communication skills in the fields of industry and business It studied language/ communication needs of industry and business employees and was aimed at showing how language teaching could best equip students with the skills required in professional life The survey has revealed that compared with engineers, employees in production jobs, installation and repair workers do not need to use foreign languages as much as the members of the other group However it is clear that they have to read instructions, socialize and travel They rarely get involved with writing formal papers, giving presentations or negotiating The study thus has shown that the need for oral communication overrides written skills (reading and writing) in the first group, while the discrepancy in the second is smaller (Reported in Viel 2002:1)

Similar studies have been carried out in other European and Asian countries (see Perrin, 2003; Ponger, 2003; Edwards, 2000; Le So-Mui and Mead, 2000) In his study on writing and interacting in the discourse community of engineers, Pogner (2003:865) has concluded that writing in the discourse community of engineers cannot be isolated from its contexts, from the chains of communication of

which it is a part, or from the interaction between the writers (consultants) or readers (Clients) On this issue, Pogner also adds:

Text production and revision by consultant engineers are not only

cognitive problem-solving and communication processes … but also means of negotiation professional standards and roles; defining strategic functions of texts and genres; establishing, maintaining or changing the text’s and interaction’s context by helping the readers/users of the text carry out their own complex technological and business tasks

In like manner, in a study which took place in a specialized business context involving senior German bankers, Edwards (2000) has observed that there is a correlational relationship between the place of work and the effective needs of workers in terms of language skills practiced, terminology used, and syllabus design and materials preparation for the workers

This work arose from a long-standing association between the on-going process of research in the field of teaching/learning English for Specific purposes in General, and the study plan towards a Bachelor of Arts degree from the Department

of English for Applied studies at the University of Labor and Social Affairs (ULSA) More specifically, it developed from an attempt to revise the study plan continuously based on the results of other studies on ESP along with an authentic analysis of learners' perceptions of needs, wants and lacks in the workplace in the future The rationale behind choosing these two areas of students‘ future work (accounting and insurance) for the purpose of investigation is because they are two

of the most important fields in which English is used extensively

So, for a better understanding of the day-to-day activities and the ‗real world‘ needs of these students, an empirical investigation was carried out so as to see whether the type of material and skills being taught to our students suit their

needs or not Another aim of this study is to see whether there is a need to modify our objectives or to update our programs in light of the results of this investigation

So this study will concern itself partially with studying language use, and the workers‘ perceptions of ESP in light of their abilities and ‗real world‘ need

2 Scope of the study

The research is based on data collected from thirty respondents in four different classes at University of Labor and Social Affairs in Hanoi, Vietnam The participants in the survey were students in the major of accounting and insurance

This paper is an exploratory study of the use of English by accounting and insurance students It attempts to examine the communication needs of the students

in the workplace by shedding light on their perceptions of needs, wants and lacks

3 Aims of the study

This study was conducted for the purpose of achieving a better understanding of the communication needs placed upon Vietnamese accounting and insurance students Moreover, this study was to identify the students‘ needs, wants, lacks of English for the purpose of including in our curriculum what is needed by our students and excluding what deemed to be less important to them

This study also was carried out so as to see whether the type of material and skills being taught to our students suit their needs or not Another aim of this study

is to see whether there is a need to modify our objectives or to update our programs

in light of the results of this investigation

4 Subjects and Methodology of the study

The design of this investigation is based on the work of Hutchinson and Waters (1987), and Dudley-Evans and Jo ST John (1998), in which they define needs in terms of ―target needs (i.e what the learner needs to do in the target situation) and Learning needs (i.e what the learner needs to do in order to learn).‖ The main concern of this investigation will be an analysis of the target needs of the subjects in these two areas of workplaces However, as all the subjects of this study

are university undergraduates, no attempt will be made here to investigate their learning needs To understand the undergraduates‘ preferred ways of learning, it is highly recommended that such investigation to be conducted at the University of Labor and Social Affairs in Hanoi, Vietnam, where several ESP courses are taught

to the university students

According to Hutchinson and Waters (1987), and Dudley-Evans and Jo ST John (1998), the best methodology for studying the target needs of any particular group of students is to use such methods as Questionnaires, follow-up interviews, collection of authentic workplace texts, and visits to the workplace

The corpus of this study was collected with the assistance of three ESP students enrolled in the Department of English for Applied Studies at University of Labor and Social Affairs (ULSA) by means of a questionnaire and interviews Data collection methods used in this study include calculating percentage of answers in the questionnaire Details of methodology applied in the study are discussed in part

B, chapter 2

Some of the interviews were conducted by me The present research is based on data collected from thirty respondents in leading positions in four different classes: accounting and insurance The participants in the survey were students in the major

of accounting and insurance, all of whom are Vietnamese-English balanced bilinguals capable of using English for different purposes Fifteen of them study in the field of accounting and the other fifteen in the field of insurance The sample is composed of twenty-two males and only eight females

5 Research question

The main purpose of the study is to investigate the students‘ communicative needs

in the workplace by shedding light on their perceptions of needs, wants, lacks of English and the use of English in the workplace To achieve this objective, the study seeks the answers to the following questions:

1 What are the students’ perceived English communicative needs?

2 How to they self-evaluate their ability to communicate in English?

3 What is the gap between their perceived communicative needs and their self-evaluated communicative ability?

6 Design of the study

The research is divided into three parts as follows:

the objectives, the scope, the methodology and the design of the study

consists of two chapters:

Chapter 1 provides theoretical background knowledge of the studied issue touched

upon in the research There are seven sub parts in this chapter This part outlines the evolving definitions of Communicativeness, and Communicative competence

and performance, Needs, Needs analysis, Changing the communicative

Chapter 2 covers methodology applied in the study The research question comes

first, followed by an introduction to the subjects of the research, the data instruments and the procedures and methodology used for data collection In this chapter, the discussion and interpretation of the collected data is given to find out errors made by the subjects of the research in producing the glide up based on an analysis of their performance in the listening and pronunciation tests

research, followed by implications and suggestions for teachers and learners of English Limitation of the study and suggestions

PART B: DEVELOPMENT

CHAPTER 1: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND

In this chapter, some theoretical background of ―communicativeness‖ and competence is included This chapter consists of seven sub-parts: section 1.1 revises definition of communicativeness, section 1.2 introduces communicative competence, communicative performance is introduced in the section 1.3, followed

by need in section 1.4 and need analysis in the section 1.5 and section 1.6 discusses about changing the communicative needs and finally, section 1.7 deals with the impact of integrated language skills in communication

1.1 "COMMUNICATIVENESS" AND COMPETENCE

1.1.1 What is “communicativeness”?

'Communicativeness' is a widely used word, often signifying rather vague

notions.Ellis (1982) states the term "has no clearly understood and received

meaning" (p.73)

Similarly, 'communicative competence' is a concept still evolving in

definition towards recognizing language use, following its solidly linguistic background To avoid the multifarious "myths" surrounding these terms, we must

"clarify which version of 'communicative' is being referred to"

(Johnson,1996.p.173), and determine what constitutes competence

Allwright's (1979) succinct enquiry "Are we teaching language (for communication)? or Are we teaching communication (via language)?" (p.167)

centralizes this critical issue

1.1.2 Communicative competence

Widdowson's(1978) assertion that acquisition of communicative competence

is "the ultimate aim in language learning‖(p.67), necessitates reconciling these

distinctions for practical classroom purposes Widdowson usefully and pertinently

recognized that communicative competence is ―not a list of learnt items, but a set of

strategies or procedures 'for realizing the value of linguistic elements in contexts of use” (1979a, p.248)

In answer to Allwright, it is probable that both are essential Richards and

Rogers (1986) assert "communicativeness involves acknowledging the

interdependence of language and communication" (p.66) However, materials have

traditionally focused on the first concept, that linguistic knowledge is central to communication Chomsky (1956), Hymes (1971), Canale and Swain(1980) and Canale (1983) all separated knowledge and actual use Unlike Chomsky, who

posited that knowledge of grammar alone was sufficient, Hymes recognized a

sociolinguistic importance, stating "There are rules of use without which the rules

of grammar would be useless" (in Brumfit and Johnson,1979.p15)

Canale's assertion that a primarily knowledge-oriented focus is "an exercise

in futility and frustration [which fails] to help learners to master the necessary skills in using knowledge" (1983,p.15) advanced a more interactive model, inclusive

of discoursal and strategic competencies However, he excluded performance, assuming preparation to communicate rather than communication, or "actual use"

(p.5), constituted competence, “the main goal is to prepare and encourage learners

to exploit in an optimal way their limited communicative competence in the second language in order to participate in actual communication.”

(1983, p.17) Conversely, Halliday (1973) highlighted the functional importance of

language, recognizing knowledge (or potential ability), and use (actualised

potential) as being interdependent This accords with Krashen and Terrell's (1983) Acquisition-Learning Hypothesis, which recognized two separate processes, that of learning, through conscious studying; and acquisition, through the subconscious

processes of comprehending language "that is a little beyond our current level of

(acquired) competence" (p.32) Here knowledge and learning, and use and

acquisition can be viewed as the separable components of communicative

competence as defined by Chomsky, Hymes and Canale Widdowson's (1978) assertion that acquisition of communicative competence is "the ultimate aim in language learning" (p.67), necessitates reconciling these distinctions for practical classroom purposes Widdowson usefully and pertinently recognized that

communicative competence is ―not a list of learnt items, but a set of strategies or

procedures 'for realizing the value of linguistic elements in contexts of use' (1979a,

p.248)

1.1.3 Communicative performance

Communication has become fully accepted as an essential and major

component of the “product' of language teaching, but it has not yet been given more than a token place, as an essential and major component of the 'process' A logical extension of the argument would suggest that if communication is THE aim, then it should be THE major element in the process

(Allright, 1979, p.167)

Allright's call for the centrality of performance is fundamental to teaching language communicatively Brown (1994) recognizes "students' eventual need to apply classroom learning to heretofore unrehearsed contexts in the real world" (p29) Materials need to provide the contexts in which knowledge and use, or

learning and acquisition can be tested, applied and evaluated, as Ellis recognized,

Communicative opportunity is both necessary and sufficient for acquisition to take place; the contribution of language teaching materials must be to provide this

(1982, p.75)

Performance identifies for learners how pronunciation and successful

communication are mutually dependent, through breakdowns in communication These create immediate, focused and relevant teaching opportunities to "bring students to the point where they can utilize the outside world" (Krashen,1982.p.183) Similarly,

Widdowson urges learners do the things they will recognize as purposeful and have some resemblance to what they use their own language to do (1990, p.160)

This combination of competence (knowledge) and performance is termed

"communicative performance" by Canale and Swain, or "the realization of

competencies and their interaction in the actual production and comprehension of utterances" (1980,p.6) They succinctly encapsulate the essence of

communicativeness,

The primary objective of a communication-oriented second language

programme must be to provide learners with the information, practice, and much of the experience needed to meet their communicative needs in the second language

(ibid, p.28)

Performance also necessitates intelligible pronunciation, also essential to communicative competence (Morley,1987) This provides clear interactive goals and requires actual use Pennington (1996) states "no communication can take place without a certain level of mutual intelligibility" (p.220) Celce-Murcia et al (1996) cite evidence indicating a threshold level of phonological competence, below which intelligibility and communication will suffer regardless of grammatical and lexical proficiency

1.1.4 Needs

The first, essential, point to make is that needs do not have themselves an objective reality (Brindley, 57.p.65) ―What is finally established as a ―need‖ is a matter for agreement and judgement not discovery‖ (Lawson, 75.p.37) quoted in Brindley (57 p 65) The needs that are established for a particular group of students will be an outcome of a needs analysis project and will be influenced by the ideological preconceptions of analysts A different group of analysts working with the same group of students, but with different views on teaching and learning would be highly likely to produce a different set of needs

A number of people, for example Berwick (55), Brindley (57), Mountford 81),Widdowson (326) have discussed the different meanings or types of needs

First, needs can refer to students‘ study or job requirements that is what they have to

be able to do at the end of their language course This is a goal-oriented definition

of needs (Widdowson, 326, p.2) needs in this sense are perhaps more appropriately described as ―objectives‖(Berwick, 55 P 57) Second, needs can mean ―what the user-institution or society at large regards as necessary or desirable to be learnt from

a program of language instruction‖ (Mountford, 81 P 27) Third, we can consider what the learner needs to do to actually require the language This is a process-oriented definition of needs and relate to transitional behavior (Widdowson, 326 p 2) Fourth, we can consider what the students themselves would like to gain from the language course This view of needs implies that students may have personal aims in addition to (or even in opposition to) the requirements of their language course (Berwick, 55 p 57) is that such personal needs may be another devalued by being viewed as wants or desires Finally, we may interpret needs is what the students do not know or cannot do in English

on to a school or college timetable: someone at some time must have decided there was a need for it What then, in the terms of our definition, is the difference between ESP and General English?

The answer to this very reasonable question is in theory nothing, in practice a great deal, it is often argued that the needs of the General English learner, for example the schoolchild, are not specifiable This is an assumption that owes more

to instructional inertia and the weight of tradition than to any reality, but it is a

powerful force nevertheless In fact, this is the weakest of all arguments, because it

is always possible to specify needs, even if it is only the needs to pass the exam at the end of the school year There is always an identifiable need of some sort

What distinguishes ESP from General English is not the existence of a need

as such but rather an awareness of the need If learners, sponsors and teachers know why the learners need English, that awareness will have an influence on what will

be acceptable as reasonable content in the language course and on the positive side, what potential can be exploited Thus, although it might appear on the surface that the ESP course is characterized by its content ( Science, Medicine, Commerce, Tourism, banking, etc.), this is, in fact, only a secondary consequence of the primary matter of being able to readily specify why the learners need English Put briefly, it is not so much the nature of the need which distinguishes the ESP from the General course but rather the awareness of a need

This being said we would still maintain that any course should be based on and can have an useful effect on General English and indicates once more the need for a common approach The answer to the analysis will probably be different, but the questions that need to be asked are the same Nevertheless, for the time being, the tradition persists in General English that learner needs can‘t be specified and as

a result no attempt is usually made to discover learners‘ true needs Thus, if we had

to state in practical terms the irreducible minimum of an ESP approach to course design, it would be needs analysis, since it is the awareness of an target situation- a definable need to communicate in English-that distinguishes the ESP learner from the learner of General English

1.1.6 Changing the communicative needs

Discusses on testing of English as an international language have been shaped by the discourse on colonization and postcolonial orientations to English

We have to consider the changes in the communicative order to examine whether these discourses are still relevant

Colonization was influenced by what Stuart Hall (1997) called modernist globalization In this form of geopolitical relationship, communities related to each other in a hierarchical and unilateral fashion The dominant communities assumed the superiority of their cultural and social systems, even that of their language, and attempted to spread their influence at the cost of local traditions However, the new social and technological forces unleashed by this form of globalization have generated a new relationship between communities

Some have labeled this position the International English perspective (Davies, Hamp-Lyons, & Kemp, 2003) But this is a misnomer Making a case for standard British or American English as the norm for testing cannot be treated as being international in any meaningful sense of the term Besides, the school of lingua franca English (Jenkins, 2006; Seidlhofer, 2004) holds a position at variance with the International English perspective It is therefore important to distinguish these two perspectives.pora groups; the Internet; transnational production and economic relationships; and the compression of time and space through travel, media, and communication account for what Hall called postmodern globalization This social context is marked by traits that are different from those of previous social formations: The first is the interaction between communities is multilateral—that is, international involvement at diverse levels is needed in today‘s economic and production enterprises The second is national boundaries have become porous—people, goods, and ideas flow easily between borders The third is languages, communities, and cultures have become hybrid, shaped by this fluid flow of social and economic relationships English enables, and is in turn shaped by, these trans-cultural flows To understand the radical implications for English, we need to re-examine the assumptions of the World English model which was introduced by Kachru in 1986 This model raises disturbing questions for assessment practices: It brought into crisis our previous assumptions on the nature

of English language; and with all the other communities increasingly using English

as a foreign language, primarily for international purposes, labeled the expanding

circle and positioned further in the periphery More important, the model established the legitimacy of the new varieties of English in the outer circle, affirming their norms and usage The model thus pluralized the English language

We are now unable to treat English as a homogeneous language characterized by a uniform norm or grammatical system However, the conditions featuring postmodern globalization call into question some of the assumptions behind the Kachruvian model (Kachru, 1986): firstly the model legitimizes each variety in the outer circle in terms of its national identity Thus, Indian English is valid for India, Nigerian English for Nigeria, and Singaporean English for Singapore, and so on However, these varieties of English have started to leak outside their national borders in postmodern globalization Indian English is relevant not just for Indians anymore Personnel from the outsourced companies in Madras or Bangalore use their variety of English when they conduct business with people from other countries More important, British or American nationals cannot be satisfied with their prestigious varieties anymore Americans now have to transact many important types of domestic and personal business with companies outside their border Indian English is now necessary for Americans They should at least have receptive skills in World English to transact business with outsourced companies

On the other hand, speakers in the expanding circle do not use English solely for extra-community relations For countries such as China, Vietnam, Philippines, and Brazil, English performs many important functions within borders What about the importance of international news, popular culture, and advanced education in these countries? There have been reports in scholarly literature on how hip-hop music in English is appropriated and re-created in a range of communities-Belgium, Japan, Holland-for local consumption These considerations call into question the ESL/EFL (English as a second language–English as a foreign language) distinction and demand that we take account of the increasing currency of English in expanding-circle countries More important, we are learning that expanding-circle communities are developing new norms as they use English for lingua franca

communication We cannot treat them strictly as norm dependent, as Kachru labeled them Multilingual speakers do not seem to defer to inner-circle norms when they communicate with each other in English Lastly if there is still a grudging acceptance in the Kachruvian model that the inner-circle countries enjoy ownership over English—that is, although Kachru labeled the other two circles norm developing and norm dependent, he called the inner circle norm providing—the spread of English questions this assumption The oft-cited statistics by Graddol (1999) and Crystal (1997) have shown that speakers outside the inner circle have grown in number In terms of the currency and usage of the language, there is clearer evidence that English is used more in multinational contexts by multilingual speakers than it is in homogeneous contexts of monolingual speakers These considerations raise questions about the periphery status of the outer and expanding circles in the Kachruvian model The latter communities are quite central to the character and currency of English today

These developments demand a re-conceptualization of the relationship between the diverse varieties of English It is not necessary to announce the death of the native speaker and usher in the dominance of the periphery in theorizations of English language We have to at least move closer to the position that English is a heterogeneous language with multiple norms and diverse grammars We have to start working with Crystal‘s notion of English (2004) as ―a family of languages‖ (p 49) or McArthur‘s egalitarian model (1987) where the different varieties relate to each other on a single level (and not on three hierarchies, as in Kachru‘s model

In a context where we have to constantly shuttle between different varieties and communities, proficiency becomes complex To be really proficient in English today, one has to be multidialectal This does not mean that one needs production skills in all the varieties of English One needs the capacity to negotiate diverse varieties to facilitate communication The passive competence to understand new varieties is part of this multidialectal competence Therefore, we have to move from the ―either–or‖ orientation in the testing debate to a ―both and more‖ perspective

Let me spell out what proficiency in English entails in the postmodern context of communication: first, although I am in sympathy with the need to assess outer-circle speakers according to endogenous norms, this is not enough They must be ready to engage with inner-circle and expanding-circle communities in order to accomplish important communicative and socioeconomic functions Second, proficiency in communicating with inner-circle communities is not enough for outer-circle and expanding-circle communities, because much of the communication in English happens among multilingual speakers in nonnative interactions Researchers on English as a lingua franca point out that when speakers

in the outer and expanding circles speak to each other, they are able to negotiate their differences in their own terms and accomplish their communicative e needs effectively without deferring to inner-circle norms (Jenkins, 2006; Seidlhofer, 2004) Standard American or British English does not have any relevance to many communicative activities of millions of multilingual speakers outside the inner circle Third, proficiency means, then, the ability to shuttle between different varieties of English and different speech communities In this sense, the argument becomes irrelevant whether local standards or inner-circle standards matter We need both and more—that is, the ability to negotiate the varieties in other outer- and expanding-circle communities as well Last, this orientation to globalization does not mean that speakers of English today have to be proficient in all the varieties under the sun What we find from research on English as a lingua franca is the importance of negotiation skills—such as speech accommodation—for shuttling between English varieties and speech communities Such realizations suggest the need for an important shift in assessment practices From focusing overly on proficiency in grammar or in abstract linguistic features, we have to focus more on proficiency in pragmatics Sociolinguistic skills of dialect differentiation, code switching, style shifting, interpersonal communication, conversation management, and discourse strategies are important for shuttling between English varieties (McKay, 2005) We have to be open to the fact that although interlocutors may use

convergence strategies to facilitate communication, they can adopt divergence strategies to distance themselves from each other (Jenkins, 2006) In such cases, we cannot treat the breakdown in interaction as miscommunication but as a creative rhetorical act

In effect, in our attitude to proficiency, we have to shift our emphases from language as a system to language as social practice, from grammar to pragmatics, from competence to performance Of course, these constructs are not exclusive However, the bias in language teaching and testing circles is still very much on the first construct in each pair Defining language use as performative involves placing

an emphasis on the second construct in each pair and considering how language diversity is actively negotiated in acts of communication under changing contextual conditions In other words, it is not what we know as much as it is the versatility with which we do things with English that defines proficiency What implications does the aforementioned communicative scenario hold for norms? We realize that norms are relative, variable, heterogeneous, and changing Posing the options as either ―native English norms‖ or ―new English norms‖ is misleading A proficient speaker of English in the postmodern world needs an awareness of both He or she should be able to shuttle between different norms, recognizing the systematic and legitimate status of different varieties of English in this diverse family of languages More interesting, research on English as a lingua franca has shown that there are new norms developing when multilingual people communicate with each other The search is on for the lingua franca core (Seidlhofer, 2004) As multilingual speakers focus more on intelligibility rather than on grammatical correctness, they are developing new norms of English that are different from both the local and the metropolitan varieties

All this leads to the view of English as a heterogeneous language with multiple norms, with each norm coming into play at different levels of social interaction Proficiency in the world of postmodern globalization requires the ability

to negotiate this variability We might have to address the fact that there are

different norms that come into play at different levels of social interaction Although lingua franca core comes into play in multilingual contexts, the local norm may have to be used in clearly demarcated contexts of inner-circle or outer-circle usage In extremely formal institutional contexts where inner-circle norms are conventional (such as in academic communication), one has to adopt the established norms This multi-layering of norms does not have to be confusing as it sounds Although pedagogy and assessment still largely focus on unitary norms, research on the everyday communication of multilingual students and adults has shown that they draw from intuitive resources and skills to negotiate diversity effectively Students adapt to the varieties of neighboring communities for symbolic and affective reasons outside the classroom This might be considered a convergence strategy of adopting the language variety of another group to express solidarity and facilitate intelligibility Harris, Leung, and Rampton (2000) showed how a Bengali student picked up Rastafarian English from the Jamaican communities in his neighborhood to communicate with them Bengalis in London have probably found that Rastafarian English facilitates friendship and other social transactions with the Jamaican community Ibrahim (1999) found that Somali students in Toronto adopted hip-hop English for certain contexts They found Afro-Canadian identity and cultural features important in order to develop an urbane identity Lam (2000) found that a Chinese American student who was defined as limited English proficient in the classroom negotiated diverse varieties with his Internet buddies from other countries as they successfully discussed topics in pop and teen culture Such untutored strategies of negotiation develop in social practice as multilingual people engage with speakers of other languages in their linguistically diverse environments According to the South Asian perspective on identity and community articulated by Khubchandani (1997), such strategies are native to periphery communities because of their multilingual history

1.1.7 The impact of integrated language skills in communication

The proposed model ESP syllabus is basically skills based syllabus integrated with the types of personal group and mass communication and interrelating with the types of speaking and writing activities The students should

be engaged in interactional communication activities to improve speaking skills Engaging the students in interpersonal communication activities like providing self-introduction, small talk, extempore, conversation, chatting, interview and role play; group communication activities like conducting business meetings, group discussions, panel discussions, brain storming and problem solving; and mass communication activities like delivering lectures, public speaking, seminars, symposiums, conferences will make the students to participate and perform in the interactive tasks The students will be able to execute oral tasks with sheer confidence and attempt to display fluency in both language and communication Working in pairs, groups and acting as an audience to witness the activities will help the students to realize themselves about their level of participation and performance The comments and the feedback provided by both the colleagues and faculties will make them to understand to perform better in subsequent oral tasks Teachers should train the students in the speaking activities like greeting and wishing one another, introducing and briefing oneself, presenting about oneself, revealing personal profile, presenting a short lecture, public speaking, presenting on any topic of interest, engaging in informal chatting with short dialogues, participating in mock interviews, performing a role play, presenting a business or technical paper, participating in meetings with an agenda of scrutinizing business developments, thinking logically and critically on any business or technical issues, providing a solution to the problem will make the students to literally develop their professional and technical communication The students should be specifically given tasks to improve speech on discourse and rhetoric (Widdowson, 1983) They should be able to engage in narrative, descriptive, explanative and interrogative mode of language tasks Narrating an ordeal or experience, describing a process or

any graphical representations like graphs, diagrams, pictures and maps, providing

an explanation on a given situation and analyzing a case through oral questionnaire will make the students to improve their communicative ability to engage in rhetorical discourse

Speech on rhetoric and discourse should be trained through practicing to question variedly and to prepare questionnaires on any inquiries on any desirable subject, will improve interrogative skills to process arguments and to precede judgment on any issues.They should be able to frame questions like to put tag questions in conversations, yes/no type and wh‘ type for extracting inquiries in discussions

Writing skills should be adequately improved by providing tasks in writing composition, letters and reports They need to be given practice to write error-free sentences They should be able to think and organize their ideas in a logical sequence and should use discourse markers for ascertaining coherence in their thought and writing They should be able to write with good spelling and punctuation They should also be given practice to identify and distinguish the international use of English language styles like MLA, APA and LSA

Students should be able to practice both formal and informal letter writing to correspond on any official and administrative letters, business mails and report writing They should be able to write official letters, memoranda, inter-office memo, circular, agenda, minutes and notices They should be acquainted with the vivid practice of writing business letters and e-mails They should be able to understand the distinctive use of formalized informal mails, informal formalized mails, formal and informal mails They should be given an adequate training on calling quotations, placing orders, complaining on any issues, appreciating on any services, asking for clarification and explanation on any new products, giving suggestions, instructions, directions, seeking recommendations and reference letters on any context Letters of application with CV, writing personal and professional profile should be encouraged to practice

Writing a proposal on any project, writing the layout of the project, writing project reports, industrial reports, and business reports should be often practiced to improve their project and research writing Students should be assigned to engage in individual, pair or a group to undertake some mini projects and to do some field survey to improve their research skills and subsequently to put the report in writing Research skills are highly scholastic and eventually it leads to impart high degree of speaking and writing ability to enhance professional and technical communication

Chapter 2: the study

This chapter will be devoted to present some aspects of methodology of the research The methodology will be discussed under two sub-headings Section 2.1 introduces a description of the subjects of the research, data instruments with the methodology, the data collection procedure Section 2.2 provides the results from the collected data and the discussion of those results at the same time about students‘ needs and actual use, students‘ wants, students‘ workers‘ lacks as well as language attitude

2.1 Data and Methodology

The design of this investigation is based on the work of Hutchinson and Waters (1987), and Dudley-Evans and Jo ST John (1998), in which they define needs in terms of ―target needs (i.e what the learner needs to do in the target situation) and Learning needs (i.e what the learner needs to do in order to learn).‖ The main concern of this investigation will be an analysis of the target needs of the subjects in these two areas of workplaces However, as all the subjects of this study are university undergraduates, no attempt will be made here to investigate their learning needs To understand the undergraduates‘ preferred ways of learning, it is highly recommended that such investigation to be conducted at the University of Labor and Social Affairs in Hanoi, Vietnam, where several ESP courses are taught

to the university students The target needs, the focus of this work, are further

broken down into the necessities, wants and lacks of the students For more clarification of these three elements an attempt will be made here to examine the students‘ attitudes toward English in general and English for specific purposes in particular According to Hutchinson and Waters (1987), and Dudley-Evans and Jo

ST John (1998), the best methodology for studying the target needs of any particular group of students is to use such methods as Questionnaires, follow-up interviews, collection of authentic workplace texts, and visits to the workplace

The corpus of this study was collected with the assistance of three ESP students enrolled in the Department of English for Applied Studies at University of Labor and Social Affairs (ULSA) by means of a questionnaire and interviews Some of the interviews were conducted by me The present research is based on data collected from thirty respondents in leading positions in four different classes: accounting and insurance The participants in the survey were students in the major

of accounting and insurance, all of whom are Vietnamese-English balanced bilinguals capable of using English for different purposes Fifteen of them study in the field of accounting and the other fifteen in the field of insurance The sample is composed of twenty-two males and only eight females The unbalanced distribution

of the sample by sex is due to the fact that the chances of females in Vietnamese society in occupying these areas of working All of respondents are supposed to have studied English as a foreign language for eight to ten years and their education for the university degree (B.A., M.Sc.) was English medium Also it is worth noting that all those students have studied for duration of two to three years in their respective fields of study

The linguistic questionnaire utilized in this research was largely influenced

by those used in previous works on needs analysis, language use, function and attitudes (e.g., Huthinson and Waters, 1987; Dudley-Evans and Jo ST John, 1998; Louhiala-Salminon, 1996; Li So-mui and Mead, 2000; Perrin, 2003; Alm, 2003; among others) However, the questionnaire was modified in a way so as to better serve the purposes of this study with these particular workplaces The questionnaire