An evaluation and recommendation of the english syllabus for the finance and accounting students at van lang university in ho chi minh city

The study takes a critical look at the current syllabus for the students of the Finance and Accounting Department in order: 1 to identify the goals of the university and its students’ ne

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY- HO CHI MINH CITY UNIVERSITY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES AND HUMANITIES

-[Ư\ -

CAO THỊ HOÀNG YẾN

AN EVALUATION AND RECOMMENDATION

OF THE ENGLISH SYLLABUS FOR THE FINANCE AND ACCOUNTING STUDENTS

AT VAN LANG UNIVERSITY IN HO CHI MINH CITY

A THESIS IN TESOL CODE NUMBER: 5.07.02

SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT

OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF

MASTER OF ARTS (TESOL)

Supervisor: NGUYỄN HOÀNG TUẤN, M.A

HOCHIMINH CITY, 2005

CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY

I certify my authorship of the thesis submitted today entitled:

AN EVALUATION AND RECOMMENDATION OF THE ENGLISH SYLLABUS FOR THE FINANCE AND ACCOUNTING STUDENTS AT VAN LANG UNIVERSITY IN HO CHI MINH CITY

In terms of the statement of Requirements for Theses in Master’s Programmes issued by the Higher Degree Committee

Ho Chi Minh City December 15, 2005

Cao Thị Hoàng Yến

RETENTION AND USE OF THE THESIS

I hereby state that I, CAO THI HOANG YEN, being the candidate for the degree of Master of TESOL, accept the requirements of the University relating to the retention and use of Master’s Theses deposited in the Library

In terms of these conditions, I agree that the original of my thesis deposited in the Library should be accessible for purposes of study and research, in accordance with the normal conditions established by the Library for the care, loan and reproduction

of theses

Ho Chi Minh City December 15, 2005

Cao Thị Hoàng Yến

To the Board of Directors in the Finance and Accounting Department at Van Lang University for their approval and untiring assistance

To the ESP teaching staff, finance and accounting students at Van Lang University and the directors of Giditexco, Van Dat Thanh and Nagakawa companies who heartidly responded to my questionnaires and interviews

To Ms Thai Thi Xuan Thuy, Head of the Foreign Languages Department of Ho Chi Minh City University of Economics, Ms Nguyen Thi Thanh Ha, Mr Vo Dinh Phuoc,

Mr Stephen Dudzik, my colleagues and my friends for their help and patient support

To my family, who with patience and encouragement, kept me going right to the end

ABSTRACT

This study examines the possibilities of improving the ESP instruction at Van Lang University through syllabus design As required by Ministry of Education and Training, time length as well as teaching method should be readjusted so as to give students more flexibility in their learning Accordingly, a syllabus that can meet those requirements is to be recommended The study takes a critical look at the current syllabus for the students of the Finance and Accounting Department in order: (1) to identify the goals of the university and its students’ needs; (2) to evaluate the syllabus performance by qualitative and quantitative methods employed in the study including questionnaires, interviews and test results and; (3) to recommend the revised syllabus relevant to the needs of the community

Through an extended data analysis, conclusions are made as follows: (1) within a time length of 150 periods (in the Vietnamese context, a period is equivalent to a class-contact hour which is forty-five minutes), reading skills form the central core

in a teaching program; (2) the syllabus must address communication skills relevant

to job interviews and; (3) the content-based syllabus and communicative approach should work together to achieve the syllabus target

Extra activities are recommended to motivate students and develop their English competence Evaluation on the implementation of the syllabus is also desirable so as

to make adjustment on teaching approaches

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page

Certificate of originality i

Retention and use of the thesis ii

Acknowledgements iii

Abstract iv

Table of contents v

List of Abbreviations ix

List of Illustrations x

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

1.2 English in Vietnam 3

1.3 English teaching and learning resources at VLU 4

1.3.1 Materials and time allocation 5

1.3.2 The teaching staff 10

1.3.3 Teaching and learning facilities 10

1.4 The analysis of the students’ needs and the faculty’s goals and objectives 11

1.5 The aims of the study 13

1.6 The structure of the study 14

Summary 15

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW Page

2.2 The role of the syllabus 18

2.2.1 Syllabus design 20

2.2.2 Types of language syllabus 25

2.3 The skills-centred approach for ESP 28

2.4 Content-based syllabus for ESP 31

2.4.1 Goal and objective setting 31

2.4.2 The role of the content-based syllabus in a skills-centred approach 32

2.4.3 Choosing course content 34

2.5 Communicative language teaching method 40

2.6 Evaluation 42

2.6.1 Purposes of evaluation 42

2.6.2 Different concepts in evaluation system 44

2.6.3 Evaluation procedures 47

Summary 50

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY

3.2 Research design 52

3.2.1 The qualitative procedure 52

3.2.2 The quantitative method 52

3.3 Subjects 53

3.3.1 Selection of the subjects 53

3.3.2 Characteristics of the subjects 54

3.4 Instruments: data collection procedure 57

3.4.1 The questionnaires 58

Questionnaire for the students 58

Questionnaire for the teachers 60

3.4.2 The interviews 61

Interviews for the teachers 61

Interviews for the directors 62

3.4.3 Test result evaluation 62

Summary 63

CHAPTER 4: DATA ANALYSIS AND THE FINDINGS

4.1.1 Responses to the questionnaires 65

Students’ responses 65

Teachers’ responses 75

4.1.2 Results of the interviews 77

Teachers’ responses 77

Directors’ responses 79

4.1.3 Test results 80

4.2 The findings 82

4.2.1 The current syllabus 82

Syllabus textbooks 83

Skills syllabus 92

Product-oriented syllabus 95

4.2.2 Evaluation of the current syllabus 96

Purposes of evaluating the current syllabus 96

Time constraint and materials evaluation 97

4.2.3 The revised syllabus 109

Summary 120

CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

5.2 Recommendations 124

BIBLIOGRAPHY

APPENDICES

APPENDIX 1: The Plan of the Textbook “Enterprise Three” 135

APPENDIX 2: The Plan of the Textbook “The Language of Accounting in English” 137

APPENDIX 3: The Plan of the Textbook “Accounting” 138

APPENDIX 4: The Plan of the Textbook “Business Speaking” 139

APPENDIX 5: Test in English 140

APPENDIX 6: Questionnaire (in Vietnamese) 150

APPENDIX 7: Questionnaire (in Vietnamese) 152

APPENDIX 8: Questionnaire (in Vietnamese) 155

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

CUP Cambridge University Press

EGP English for General Purposes

EFL English as a Foreign Language

ESL English as a Second Language

ESP English for Specific Purposes

EMT English as a Mother Tongue

FRES Flesch Reading Ease Score

HCMC Ho Chi Minh City

OUP Oxford University Press

TESOL Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages

UE The University of Economics

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

1.1 Continuum of ESP Course Types 8

2.1 Factors Affecting ESP Course Design 23

2.2 Continuum of Syllabuses 26

2.3 A Skills-Centred Approach to Course Design 30

2.4 The Role of The Syllabus in A Skills-Centred Approach 33

2.5 The Materials Evaluation Process 39

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS TABLES Page

3.2 Teachers’ background information 56

3.3 Directors’ background information 57

4.1 Assessment of the students’ levels in the second year 66

4.2 Responses from the student subjects (in the third semester) 68

4.3 Responses from the student subjects (in the last semester) 71

4.4 Responses from the teacher subjects 75

4.5 Test Scores 81

4.6 The Plan of the Textbook “Enterprise” 85

4.7 The Plan of the Textbook “The Language of Accounting in English” 88

4.8 The Plan of the Textbook “Accounting” 90

4.9 The Plan of the Textbook “Business Speaking” 92

4.10 The FRES and Text Length of Reading Texts from Two Textbooks 106

4.11 The Revised Syllabus 112

4.12 The Current Syllabus and the Revised Syllabus 117

1.1 English in the world

English is perhaps the most rapidly advancing language in the world today Deep concerns about developments and controversies in English language instruction appear virtually every day in the media When we look back at the history of language development, the quest for improved English teaching methods has been a major aspect of educational activity since the beginning of the twentieth century English language beginner’s courses appeared in the University of Michigan in the 1940s, and the Michigan materials soon came to influence all materials developed in the United State for teaching English as a Second Language (ESL) students and became the dominant methodology in the United State for more than 20 years In Britain, Hornby built the basic grammatical structures needed in English-language

syllabuses and courses at different level in his books Guide to Patterns and Usage in English (1954) and The Teaching of Structural Words and Sentence Patterns (1959)

But the first lexical and grammatical syllabuses appeared in the 1920s, it is the grammar syllabuses that have been regarded as the core of a language course or program (Richards, 2003: 14)

The twentieth century has seen an immense amount of activity in language teaching

methodology Grammar Translation, The Direct Method, Audio-Lingualism - all preceded what some have called The Age of Methods, comprising most of the last

decades of this century (Richards and Rodgers, 1986 cited in Forum, 2000: 3)

In addition, technology development has brought the whole world so much closer English language radio and television programs, videos, and films are readily available in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) setting, along with newspapers and magazines In addition, Internet usage now provides many opportunities to interact with English-speaking peers on various topics and to develop grammatical, discourse, and socio-cultural competence World Wide Web sites can supply students with an almost infinite range of information

English, then, has developed as an official or secondary language in many regions other than the Britain, Australia, and North America It is currently popular in the former colonies or territories of Great Britain and the United States, such as India, Singapore, the Philippines, Nigeria, and Ghana

Changes in the English status and the purposes for studying English around the world led to the language development English for Specific Purposes (ESP) is one

of the developing fields By its narrowly defined nature, ESP requires the use of content materials that are not always constructed for the language learning purpose but for a specialized target ESP teachers have just begun to recognize the importance of the words and phrases that surround the special terms At the same time, Basic English courses are designed to focus on learner needs and needs analysis The movement in learner-centered teaching, therefore, was reflected in ESP from this focus as the underpinning of course design Moreover, discourse and genre analysis and linguistic corpora has also been noticed in the field

1.2 English in Vietnam

In Vietnam, foreign language is a compulsory subject in high schools and universities In the 20th century, after implementation of the ‘Doi Moi’ policy, Vietnam rapidly developed in business and industrialization And foreign investment activities increase every day These factors lead to the country’s education transformation, where English competence is required more than ever There have been growing demands from students and society, so English language classes were among the top choices in 1990s Dang Thi Huong (2004: 99) states “In recent years, particularly after the ‘Open Door’ policy was implemented in 1986, English has become one of the required subjects taught at university” It can be said that Vietnam has undergone dramatic changes in the last decade, especially in the foreign language field “English has undergone explosive growth, hundreds of language centers have been established all over the country with an overwhelming majority of Vietnamese learners studying English” (Nguyen Ngoc Quang, cited in

Do Huy Thinh, 1996: 4)

At VLU, English is one of the required subjects during students’ academic years All

of them take general English classes, in which they work on reading, writing, listening, and speaking skills as needed in an academic environment After that, students concentrate on their majors, where they focus on English relevant to their field Most ESP is carried out in colleges and universities where students complete academic work in order to graduate ESP is very necessary for specialized students

in their perspective careers; as a result, VLU now focuses on developing competence in practical English

Despite the explosion of communicative, interactive, and well-formatted English course books for students, there exist very few specialized course books for students who need to learn job-particular English vocabulary and structure Accounting, medicine and science, for example, have their own unique vocabulary and

terminology and writing styles, which must be taught in greater detail These reasons have led to the syllabus assessments to be able to choose better materials and teaching methods which are more relevant to the students’ English level and needs Self-assessment in practice English was considered in 2000s Since then, more and more assessment programs at the university level have integrated to estimate syllabus design in the ESP learning and teaching process

1.3 English teaching and learning resources at Van Lang University

Van Lang University in Ho Chi Minh City was established in 1995 (VLU, 2004: 22) English is a compulsory subject for ESP students in addition to their specialization at VLU as at many other universities in Vietnam The aim of teaching specialty English for specific applications is to help students master the English language and become more knowledgeable experts The combination of improved language skills and increased knowledge of specialized field can enhance student’s studies, work and ability to become more active and highly motivated participants in their communities

1.3.1 Materials and time allocation

In the 1990s the Vietnamese book market still lacked specialized books, in particular, financial and accounting course books Because Vietnamese teachers cannot write English course books with financial and accounting content, teachers have to seek instructional course books from available materials Paradoxically, specialized materials cannot reinforce enough skills which students need in their training time Therefore, the ESP teaching staff has to choose several appropriate excerpts from each course book to teach in the ESP program

In terms of language development, materials which students are taught must be relevant to their interests and language level The VLU students have come from

many different places in the country, mainly from Southern provinces As we have known, the conditions of teaching and learning English in remote area are poor and dissimilar As a result, the students’ English knowledge is not at the same level There is an unavoidable problem since each English class has more than 50 students, each with different skill levels Large size classes and students’ various levels of English have created a difficult problem for classroom management and syllabus performance

In order to meet the requirement of the University, the teaching staff has to select additional materials to develop the four skills Particularly, the specialized books inadequately address speaking exercises and skills which are needed in the study program Thus teaching staff had to select several necessary textbooks from the work of nine authors: Maurice Jamall, Bruce Wade, Leo Jones, Richard Alexander, Rosemary Palstra, Jane Willis, J S McKellen, Vicky Hollet and Roger Owen to

compile the textbook entitled “Business Speaking” which is applying in the current

syllabus

Through much practice and discussion, the course textbooks chosen for the General

Business English stage are “New Interchange I & II” (Richards, Hull & Proctor,

1997) The aim of using this book is to familiarize students with Basic Business

English as the foundation on which their knowledge of specialist English will be built The course objectives are to provide students with the skills and activities they need to use inside and outside the classroom With the help of some British and American teachers, an effective seminar to teach new syllabus was held for all teachers who will be in charge of teaching English in classes This demonstrated the great interest of the university in assurance of quality instruction

In the second stage, the following five textbooks are used, and each trains different skills:

1 Enterprise Two and,

2 Enterprise Three (Moore & West, 1986) impart four basic skills to all students

3 The Language of Accounting in English (Costinett, 1977) enhances reading and

writing skills

4 Accounting (Sneyd, 1993) is used to teach listening skills

5 Business Speaking (VLU’s English teacher of Finance and Accounting

Department, 1999) allows students to practise speaking skills

The textbook “Enterprise Two” was no longer used in the learning program when the timeframe was limited to 240 periods over four semesters “Enterprise Three”

was taught in the first two terms of 120 periods after 2001 and the other three textbooks were taught at the same time in the remaining terms (120 periods)

The English teaching program is divided into two stages at VLU The first stage takes the first two years and requires a General Business English course that lasts

180 periods (a period is 45 minutes) in three terms The total time for the second stage of the ESP course was 300 periods in 1997 but it decreased 60 periods to 240 periods in 2001, it will remain at 150 periods in 2006 per a Ministry of Education and Training’s request Students will study an ESP syllabus particular to their professional field in the last two years The second stage may be divided into two phases due to the requirements of faculty as well as the students’ needs

1 The first phase: Semesters four and five are the pre-intermediate levels of a higher course that includes a focus on four skills and the content of advanced Business English These 120 periods are like a background for collecting specialized terms and mastering the skills needed to develop students’ knowledge in the next phase

2 The second phase: In semesters six and seven - the 120 teaching periods - the course permanently clarifies the nature of specialized documents, situations and fieldwork In this phase, pre-intermediate level students will study Generally Accepted Accounting Principles and Procedures They will consider texts which very specifically address financial and accounting activities, concepts and criteria This paper only examines the second stage

We can present the continuum of two ESP course types as follows:

Semester 4 Semester 5 Semester 6 Semester 7

Pre-intermediate to Intermediate to professional

Business English courses

The students should reach intermediate level English when they graduate from the university Acquisition of communication skills is required in the second phase It forces students to actively take part in any interviews, build their self-confidence and become sufficiently knowledgeable in the English jargon of the financial and accounting field The ESP teaching program will encounter challenges when the course duration must be reduced 90 periods in 2006 This reason leads the study to recommend the revised syllabus

When studying in the university, the students have mastered some knowledge of the various specialties besides English The time reserved for English courses seems less and less in comparison with the previous courses (480 periods before and 300 periods beginning in 2006) The students don’t have enough time to devote themselves to English study, so most of them need to make more efforts when learning this subject As a result, the university and experienced teachers should permanently alter suitable units and reference materials for an English language syllabus

To sum up, some problems occur in administering the English program:

1 The students’ English level is not homogeneous

2 The heavy syllabus places a burden on the time constraint

3 Time allocation is readjusted too often

The issues to be addressed are the renovation and improvement of study materials and instruction The preparation of an appropriate syllabus is one of the main concerns of English teachers at VLU

1.3.2 The teaching staff

A staff of six English language teachers works in the Finance and Accounting department, their ages range from 41 to 55 They all hold BA degrees in English teaching One teacher was granted an M.A, and three had graduate diplomas in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) Two of them obtained

BA degrees in Finance and Accounting as their second major ESP knowledge helps them more in their ESP language teaching All teachers are in charge of teaching

English in the second stage They are experienced, skillful, and helpful and they are updating their knowledge They always welcome new procedures to enhance their teaching duties

1.3.3 Teaching and learning facilities

VLU has a large pool of resources available to teachers: overhead projectors, desktop and laptop computers, cassette players and other equipment The university has an extensive library with a variety of books available for student research The classrooms are large, well-ventilated and full of light

In addition, students can practise English every Sunday in the English clubs of the faculty or other faculties in the university Several foreign teachers frequently participate in informal conversations with the club’s members The University has granted scholarships for the teachers to study further abroad The university leaders often create bonuses for students and teachers to stimulate their efforts in order to establish excellent results in learning and teaching progress The University collaborates with foreign organizations and other Universities to create good opportunities for student practice In addition, the university’s officials are always willing to provide teaching aids quickly Effective teaching and learning tools can be

a great motivational aid Where the students are concerned, the teachers are better able to motivate their performance They can develop more targeted feedback and devise a more tailored learning plan for the student to follow

Although the students study industriously, their recreation is not neglected They attend sporting events and artistic performances among the local universities and are awarded many prizes These are great conditions that effectively support the teaching work of the teachers and the students’ learning

1.4 The analysis of the students’ needs and the faculty’s goals and objectives

By the 1980s the foreign language instruction for ESP students in Viet Nam was very simple; students were trained in only the four skills based on the structural-situational method At VLU, the four skills based on content-based syllabus were trained in the ESP program The students are required to meet the following objectives upon completion of the course:

1 Students must be able to read and comprehend textbooks, articles, statements and advertisements on economics and the finance and accounting fields (Reading skill)

2 Students demonstrate the ability to write reports, prepare balance sheets,

operations statements, memos, notices, messages and different types of

business letters (Writing skill)

3 Learners should be able to use the telephone in the office, discuss their work,

communicate with customers, familiarize with job interviews, give opinions in

company meetings, orally present reports, business plan or accounting ledgers

(Speaking skill)

4 Students should understand office conversations about accounting statements,

financial reports, articles, general questions and requests and phone calls

(Listening skill)

Throughout Vietnam, English is considered to play an important role in shaping

outstanding students and skillful citizens Apparently, the course emphasis is to

develop students’ skills, improve their abilities by reading materials appropriate

to their majors, and widely use English in business communication In short, the

general aim of the English program at VLU is to provide students with a

subject-tool to develop their management of language that will help them in

lifelong learning and in their future careers

All of the above factors seem to point towards the need for upgraded specialization in language teaching This led to the expansion of language materials and syllabuses which feature science, business, accounting or finance focused on the ESP training program

“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 a target situation - a definable need to communicate in English - that distinguishes the ESP learner from the learner of General English” (Hutchinson and Waters, 1991: 54)

The students’ needs are not contrary to the training goals of the faculty Social progress forces students to firmly grasp by themselves the language knowledge with which they can use in their future career and in their social relationships In the first stage students like to train fluently the four language skills In the second stage, their needs are the specialized abilities After graduating university, students need to understand or explain the meaning of English specialized knowledge and special terms used in their workplace They wish to be able to advance their career or begin

a new career with self-confidence They want to be good in contact with office conversation In addition, they like to have a good competency in job interviews to get a better job Some of them need English to study more after finishing university

1.5 The aims of the study

The English level of Vietnamese students has risen year after year The Ministry of Education and Training has designed a time-controlled program to promote language development and English fluency in universities across the country At present the main concern for ESP teachers in the Finance and Accounting Department at VLU is to improve ESP syllabus to meet the goals of the University, students’ needs and the change of timeframe The course aims are to enhance the four language skills – reading, writing, speaking and listening – and improve the

students’ knowledge of ESP The materials, limited time, teaching method and the students’ levels require improvement, supplementation, or even replacement of the current syllabus From the above mentioned reasons, the aims of the study are:

1) to determine the basic features of current materials, instruction and timeframe of

1.6 The structure of the study

The study contains five chapters Chapter One provides the background, the information of English learning and teaching activities, examining both teaching and learning resources and facilities at VLU It analyzes students’ needs as well as the faculty’s requirements that lead to the shaping of the study Chapter Two reviews the literature of syllabus design and its position in English teaching and learning as a second language including content-based area, skills-centred approach and pedagogical requirements Some education procedures including questionnaires, interviews and test results are mentioned as an instrument to evaluate effectiveness

of the syllabus performance The issues related to syllabus given in this chapter act

as a foundation for the development of the next chapters Chapter Three states the

methodology employed in the study, including research questions, research design, subjects and instruments Teachers and students at VLU are the main subjects of designing questionnaires and interviews Some company directors share the interviews to illustrate the demand of specialized staff in their organizations The results collected from methodology will be discussed in chapter Four Chapter Four

analyses the collected data, discusses the findings and evaluates the strengths and weaknesses of the current syllabus It studies the practical application of the course content in and time allocation to form a revised syllabus These steps are presented

as forcing condition to apply a revised syllabus that connected content-based syllabus and communicative approach to accomplish the English syllabus target Finally, conclusions and recommendations are shown in Chapter Five for improving the syllabus and bringing forward the application of the ESP course at VLU in the next year

Summary

This chapter has provided detailed information on ESP teaching situation at VLU There is an analysis of the students’ needs and the faculty’s goals and objectives These matters have great influence on the ESP current syllabus at VLU The development of English in the world and in Vietnam has created changes of the foreign language teaching in universities Therefore, the ESP syllabus of the Finance and Accounting department, particularly, also needs revising The next chapter will review the literature that involves problems in syllabus evaluation and development This literature review may shed some light on the act of designing an ESP syllabus for the Finance and Accounting department at VLU

CHAPTER 2

LITERATURE REVIEW

Introduction chapter covers the background information in the study This chapter, chapter Two, will present the theoretical framework to the study including the researchers’ various viewpoints on the following aspects: (1) the definition and the

role of the syllabus; (2) the skills-centred approach, content-based syllabus and communicative language teaching for ESP; (3) some issues of syllabus evaluation

2.1 The definitions of the syllabus

“A syllabus is a document which says what will (or at least what should) be learnt But, in fact, there are several different ways in which a syllabus can be defined.” (Hutchinson and Waters, 1987: 80)

“A syllabus is the specification of the work of a particular department in a school or college, organized in subsections defining the work of a particular group or class” (White, 1988: 3)

Many linguists talk about the syllabus with different words but generally their core meanings are the same “A syllabus is a specification of the content of a course of instruction and lists what will be taught and tested Thus the syllabus for a speaking course might specify the kinds of oral skills that will be taught and practiced during the course, the functions, topics, or other aspects of conversation that will be taught, and the order in which they will appear in the course.” (Richards, 2001: 2)

The syllabus can consider as a framework that denotes the parts of course content or

“a syllabus will specify all or some of the following: grammatical structures, functions, notions, topics, themes, situations, activities and tasks Each of these elements is either product or process oriented, and the inclusion of each will be justified according to beliefs about the nature of language, the needs of the learners,

or the nature of learning” (Nunan, 1988: 12 )

Educational materials that have been effectively designed will facilitate the achievement of desired learning outcomes for students Effective design of syllabus connected with curriculum focuses on paying attention to the provision of a rich

learning activity, providing meaningful opportunities for student reflection and ensuring that the design is suitable for the context in which it will be used Ur (1996: 176) suggests “a syllabus is essentially a list that specifies all the things that are to

be taught in the course for which the syllabus is designed” And Ur (1996:177)

emphasizes:

There are other, optional, features, displayed by some syllabuses and not others A

time schedule is one: some syllabuses delimit the time framework of their

components, prescribing… A particular preferred approach or methodology to be

used may also be defined, even in a syllabus that is essentially content-based.

The syllabus used for ESP students at VLU satisfied these following characteristics:

1 Having a comprehensive list of content items (words, structures and topics) and process items (tasks, methods)

2 In ordered (easier, more essential items first)

3 Selecting from existing materials and references

4 Indicating a time schedule and approach

2.2 The role of the syllabus

Hutchinson and Waters (1986: 83) make clear the requirements of the syllabuses as follows:

1 …the syllabus, in defining the constituent parts of language knowledge, thus provides a practical basis for the division of assessment, textbooks and learning time

2 In addition to its practical benefits, a syllabus also gives moral support to the teacher and learner, in that it makes the language learning task appear manageable

3 A syllabus, particularly an ESP syllabus, also has a cosmetic role Sponsors and students will want some reassurance that their investment of money and/or time will

be worthwhile If nothing else, the syllabus shows that some thought and planning has gone into the development of a course This aspect is, obviously, of particular importance when there are commercial sponsors involved

4 …the syllabus can be seen as a statement of projected routes, so that teacher and learner not only have an idea of where they are going, but how they might get there

5 A syllabus is an implicit statement of views on the nature of language and learning A syllabus will normally be expressed in terms of what is taken to be the most important aspect of language learning… If we take a skills basis, we are saying that skills are the most important aspect and so on A syllabus, then, tells the teacher

and the student not only what is to be learnt, but, implicitly, why it is to be learnt

6 A syllabus provides a set of criteria for materials selection and/or writing It defines the kind of texts to look for or produce the items to focus on in exercises etc…

7 Uniformity is a necessary condition of any institutionalized activity, such as education It is deemed to be important that standards within a system are as equal

as possible A syllabus is one way in which standardization is achieved (or at least attempted)

8 …A syllabus, therefore, provides a visible basis for testing

The role of the syllabus is a complex one, but it plays an important part in revised syllabus for the finance and accounting students at VLU

2.2.1 Syllabus design

Included in the syllabus design are the goals and objectives of the teaching and learning, the needs, desires of a development group of learners; the course structure and teaching methods Hutchinson and Waters (1991: 22) mention to a reason behind syllabus design: “designing a course is fundamentally a matter of asking questions in order to provide a reasoned basis for the subsequent processes of syllabus design, materials writing, classroom teaching and evaluation” As Nunan (1999: 72) has put it:

Syllabus design has to do with selecting and sequencing content, methodology

with selecting and sequencing appropriate learning experiences, and evaluation

with appraising learners and determining the effectiveness of the curriculum as a

From the change of environment, society and person, the needs of language learning are also affected in 1990s In Vietnam the movement of developing and renewing the syllabus has been generated within a lot of universities during this period When discussing the current needs of an ESP course on Economics English in comparison with the current curriculum for the students of Economics English at Ho Chi Minh City University of Economics, Le Thi Cam (2001: 5) concludes “there should be thorough changes in the current curriculum that are urgently necessary to make the

teaching and learning more effective so as to better prepare the students for their jobs-to-be”

These days many people need English and, most importantly, they know why they need it The growth of scientific, technical and economic activities on an international scale has brought English courses tailored to the specific needs; influential new ideas began to emerge in the study of language “In conceptualizing the content of a syllabus the designer must figure out which aspects of language and language learning will be included, emphasized, and integrated in the course and the choices he/she makes are much more context-dependent” (Graves, 1996: 20)

In order to distinguish feature of ESP, Evans and John (2000: 1) identify: “We will see that the main concerns of ESP have always been, and remain, with needs analysis, text analysis, and preparing learners to communicate effectively in the tasks prescribed by their study or work situation”

Having the same idea on the scope of ESP with Evans and John, Brieger (1997: 9) suggests “needs analysis for Business English will set out to identify the range of general and specialist language knowledge required, together with general and professional communication skills”

The ESP student is usually studying English in order to carry out a particular role, such as “scientific English”, “business English” or “technical English” Robinson (1980, cited in Richards, 2003: 33) comments:

The student of ESP is usually studying to perform a role The measure of success

for students learning English for hotel waiters, or the English for food technology,

is whether they can perform convincingly as hotel waiters in English or whether

they can act appropriately as food technologists in English (and pass exams in

food technology, rather than exams in English)

Different types of learners have various language needs and what they are taught should be restricted to what they need Strevens (1977, cited in Richards, 2003: 33) points out: “The content of (ESP) courses are thereby determined, in some or all of

the following ways: (1) restriction: only those “basic skill” (understanding speech,

speaking, reading, writing) are included which are required by the learner’s

purposes; (2) selection: only those items of vocabulary, patterns of grammar,

functions of language are included which are required by the learner’s purposes; (3)

themes and topics: only those themes, topics, situations, universes of discourse, etc, are included which are required by the learner’s purposes; (4) communicative needs:

only those communicative needs… are included which are required for the learner’s purposes.”

There are three main headings: Language descriptions, Theories of learning and Needs analysis which represent the relationship like the following figure:

WHAT?

Language

description

ESP course methodology

HOW?

Learning

theories

Hutchinson and Waters, 1991

Language description is the language system, which refers to ways of analyzing and describing language When describing a language we must seek a distinction between what a person does (performance) and what enables them to do it (competence) Similarly, we must clearly identify how people use a language with how people learn it The learning theory provides the theoretical basis for the methodology which can help us understand how people learn Needs analysis involves both target situation and learning needs The target situation needs, in essence, are a series of questions about the target situation and the attitudes towards that situation of the various participants in the learning process

Analysis of target situation needs is concerned with language use “Using our analogy of the ESP course as a journey, what we have done so far is to consider the starting point (lacks) and the destination (necessities), although we have also seen that there might be some dispute as to what that destination should be (wants) What

we have not considered yet is the route How are we going to get from our starting point to the destination? This indicates another kind of need: learning needs” (Hutchinson and Waters, 1991: 60) In order to conclude the theory, Hutchinson and Waters (1991: 61) explain: “The project, in effect, is guided in terms of its general orientation by the target situation, but its specific content is a response to learning needs”

Regarding ESP courses, Nunan (1988: 11) remarks that syllabus designers should focus not only on language functions but also on experiential content The designers must ensure that in the development of learning, each unit must relate effectively to the other units in the course “There needs to be a coherence between the unit structure and the syllabus structure to ensure that the course provides adequate and appropriate coverage of syllabus items” (Hutchinson and Waters, 1987: 118)

From these factors, the current syllabus performance consisting of materials, timeframe and instruction methods in the Finance and Accounting department at VLU are examined The requirement of current syllabus now is to reorganize because of the change of timeframe, students’ English level and social development

2.2.2 Types of language syllabus

Mentioning the syllabus types, Krahnke (1994: 3) proves that “by syllabus we mean how the content of the instruction is defined and presented Syllabus type does not refer to the organization of the content of instruction but to the nature of its content”

A syllabus describes the major elements that will be used in planning a language course and provides the basis for its instructional focus and content Such six types of syllabuses are defined by Krahnke (1994: 10)

1 A structural (or formal) syllabus

In general, the six types of syllabuses or instructional content are presented beginning with the one based most on language structure, and ending with the one based most on language use If language is viewed as a relationship between form and meaning, and instruction as emphasizing one or the other side of this relationship, then the six types of syllabuses can be represented as a continuum, ranging from that based most on form to that based most on meaning Such a relationship can be represented in Krahnke’s graphic form

Figure 2.2

Continuum of Syllabuses

Structural notional- situational skill- task- content-

functional based based based _, _, _, _, , _, _ emphasis on form emphasis on meaning

Similarly, Brown (2003: 6) subsumes the different ways of organizing of course materials:

Other approaches to syllabus design are also possible, Richards (2001: 153) classifies the nature of these following different syllabus options:

1 Grammatical (or structural) syllabus

For almost all instructional programs, it is clear that some combination of types of

instructional content will be needed to address the complex goals of the ability in

broadly defined settings and structural knowledge and communicative ability in

specific situations, a combination of functional, structural, situational, and

skill-based instruction is the probable choice.

The choice to use which syllabus depends on teachers, students’ level, institution’s requirements and the learning outcome desired Hutchinson and Waters (1986: 89) have the same idea as Krahnke “Any teaching materials must, in reality, operate several syllabuses at the same time One of them will probably be used as the

principal organizing feature, but the others are still there, even if they are not taken into account in the organization of the material.”

In the Finance and Accounting Department when ESP teaching staff organizes the syllabus they also follow these types of syllabuses The subject area reflects the nature of speaking, reading, writing and listening, which depends on skills-centred approach and content-based syllabus used as the basis for planning the ESP course Approaches to syllabus design come and go and reflect the students’ trends: fluently using English in the ESP field

2.3 The skills-centred approach for ESP

Munby (1978) comments “Skills have traditionally been a central focus in language teaching and there have been attempts to identify the microskills underlying the use

of the four macroskills of reading, writing, listening, and speaking as a basis for syllabus design” (cited in Richards, 2003: 160)

One of the basic processes of syllabus design through the 1960s and 1970s was the focus on learners’ needs in relation to ESP The role of needs analysis in a skills-centred approach is twofold Firstly, it provides a basis for discovering the underlying competence that enables people to perform in the target situation Secondly, it enables the course designer to discover the potential knowledge and abilities that the learners bring to the ESP classroom (Hutchinson and Waters, 1991: 70)

At Van Lang University skills-centred course design for all students has been widely applied The skills-centred approach is founded on two fundamental principles, one theoretical; and the other pragmatic The pragmatic basis for the skills-centred approach derives from a distinction between goal-oriented courses and process-oriented courses The theoretical basis is certain skills and strategies which the

learners use in order to produce or comprehend discourse (Hutchinson and Waters, 1991: 69)

Hutchinson and Waters (1991: 70) state that the skills-centred model is a reaction both to the idea of specific registers of English as a basis for ESP and to the practical constraints on learning imposed by limited time and resources In essence it sees the ESP course as helping learners to develop skills and strategies which will continue

to develop after the ESP course itself The skills-centred approach still approaches the learner as a user of language rather than as a learner of language The processes are the processes of language use not of language learning A skills-centred approach to course design is organized below:

Figure 2.3 A Skills-Centred Approach to Course Design

Write

syllabus

Selected texts and write exercises to focus on skills/

strategies

in syllabus

Analyse skills/

strategies required to cope in target situation

Establish

evaluation procedures

which require the

use of skills/

strategies

in syllabus

2.4 Content-based syllabus for ESP

Richards (2003: 157) regards “content-based syllabus is organized around themes, topics, or other units of content”, and the advantages of courses based on content-based syllabuses are:

1 They facilitate comprehension

2 Content makes linguistic form more meaningful

3 Content serves as the best basis for teaching the skill areas

4 They address students’ needs

5 They motivate learners

6 They allow for integration of the four skills

7 They allow for use of authentic materials

(Brinton, Snow & Wesche, 1989; Mohan, 1986; cited in Richards, 2003: 158)

2.4.1 Goal and objective setting

The goals of education are defined in terms of the processes and procedures by which the individual develops understanding and awareness, and creates possibilities for future learning Goal and objective setting can refer to cognitive and affective aspects of the students’ development It can be used to guide the selection

of content and teaching and learning activities Content, then, is based on the overall purposes of the educational process, which allows the formulation of objectives related to the procedural principles

Murcia and Olshtain (2000: 190) determines: “Any curriculum taking a discourse perspective is, however, sure to have two important features: focus on authentic

texts and interactional communicative events in language use, and focus on the social and cultural environment within which language processing and interaction take place.”

The goals and objectives of VLU are to simultaneously expand the four skills used

in specific circumstances It means the teachers are responsible for setting the ESP topics to expose students to a wide variety of speaking, writing, listening and reading ”The process-oriented approach… is at least realistic in concentrating on strategies and processes of making students aware of their own abilities and potential, and motivating them to tackle target texts on their own after the end of the course, so that they can continue to improve.” (Hutchinson and Waters, 1991: 70)

2.4.2 The role of the content-based syllabus in a skills-centred approach

Obviously, a content-based syllabus is set up to develop ESP The starting point in planning a syllabus is to teach some content or information using the language that the students are also learning Learners would be expected to be able to analyse language features in specified contexts in which the learners will use the language after leaving university In a content-oriented, attention of syllabus design is given

to text types and to contextual features When specifying the purpose of learning, such a content-based syllabus would emphasize how the topic relates to the learners’ own needs In everyday communicative situations, well-established professional fluency would seem to play a significant role in the training program A skills-

centred approach will often lay great store by the use of ‘authentic’ texts Holmes

(1981, cited in Hutchinson and Waters, 1991: 91) identifies a skills-centred approach

to the use of the syllabus:

Figure 2.4

The Role of The Syllabus in A Skills-Centred Approach

Analyse target needs

Select interesting and representative texts

Devise a hierarchy of skills to exploit the texts

Order and adapt the texts as necessary to enable a focus on the required skills

Devise activities/techniques to teach those skills

Devise a system to assess the acquisition of the

When we talk about the finance and accounting students at VLU, we have to pay attention to their needs in a recently developing society Many students are hungry for materials and advice that will help them with a specific course or with particular skills related to their course

ESP materials can be done by the use of skills-based and content-based activities

involving an element of problem solving and drawing substantially for their

content on the learners’ specialist subject knowledge and professional experience

Project work which replicates real-life situations is an effective way of helping

learners to develop the skills and strategies that they will need The co-operation

necessary for a group project will also give learners the opportunity to develop

their language skills in inter-personal relations and will help to give them

confidence in using English professionally

(Cunningsworth, 1993: 135)

With regards to ESP materials, Richards (2003: 252) proposes: