Luận văn difficulties in teaching and reading vocabulary in the textbook english for food production staff for the second year students of pre intermediate level at hanoi tourism college

VIETNAM NATIONAT, UNIVERSITY, HANOT UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES - & HH s&--—- MAI TUYẾT NHUNG DIFFICULTIES IN TEACHING AND LEAR

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOT

{S AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES,

UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAG

FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

- foe (Do -

MAITUYET NITUNG

> AND LEARNING VOCABULARY IN

DIFFICULTIES TN TEACHT!

THE TEXTBOOK “ENGLISH FOR FOOD PRODUCTION STAFF”

FOR THE SECOND YEAR STUDENTS OF PRE-INTERMEDIATI

LEVEL AT HANOI TOURISM COLLEGE

KHỎ KHĂN KHI DẠY VAHOC TU VUNG TRONG GIAO TRINH “TIENG ANH

CHUYEN NGANH CHE BIEN THUC PHAM” CHO SINH VIEN NAM CUÔI HỆ

TRUNG CAP GO TRUONG CAO DANG DU LICH IA NOL

M.A MINOR THESIS

Field: English Teaching Methodology

Code: 601410 Hanoi, 2011

VIETNAM NATIONAT, UNIVERSITY, HANOT

UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

- & HH s& —-

MAI TUYẾT NHUNG

DIFFICULTIES IN TEACHING AND LEARNING VOCABULARY IN

THE TEXTBOOK “ENGLISH FOR FOOD PRODUCTION STAFE"

FOR THE SECOND YEAR STUDENTS OF PRE-INTERMEDIATE LEVEL AT HANOT TOURISM COLLEGE

KHO KHAN KHI DẠY VẢ HỌC TỪ VỰNG TRƠNG GIÁO TRÌNH “TIỀNG ANH

CHUYÊN NGẢNH CHẾ BIẾN THỰC PHẨM” CHO SINH VIÊN NĂM CUÔI HỆ

TRUNG CAP Ở TRƯỜNG CAO ĐẲNG DU LỊCH HÀ NỘI

M.A MINOR THESIS

Field: English Teaching Methodology

Code: 601410

TABLE OF CONTEN'

Certificate of originality

Acknowledgements

Abstract

Table of contents

List of abbreviations

List of tables

Part 1: Introduction

Rationale

Aims of the study

Research questions

Scope of the siudy

5 Methods of the study

6 Design of the study

Part 2: Development

Chapter 1: Literature review

11

1.1.1 Definition of ESP

An overview of LSP

iv

1.1.2 Classtfieatlon øfESP

1.1.3 Characteristics of ESP

1.1.4 Problems of ESP teachers

1.2 ESP Vocabulary

1.2.1 Definitions of RSP

1.2.2, Kinds of ESP vocabulary

1.2.3 Selection of vocabulary for teaching

1.2.3.1 Word lists at an carly stage

1.2.3.2 Awareness of criteria in selection

1.2.3.3 The use of concordaness

1.3 What should be taught in teaching vocabulary

1.3.1 Word form

1.3.2 Grammar

1.3.3 Collocation

1.3.4 Aspects of meaning

1.3.5 Word formation

1.4 Teaching and learning vocabulary items

1.4.1 Techniques used in the presentation of new vocabulary ilems

1.4.1.1, Visual techniques

1.4.1.2 Verbal tectinigues

1.4.1.3, Translation

1.4.2 Techniques in practicing new words

1.4.3 Independent learning stralcgics

1.4.3.1, Contextual guessing

1.4.3.2 Memorizing

1.4343 Affixas learning

1.4.3.4, Repetition and recycling a word

1.4.3.5 Relating the word in reality

1.43.6 Brainslonming activilics

Chapter 2: The Research Methodology

2.1 Context of the study

2.2 Descriptions of the subjects

2.3 Descriptions of data collection instrument:

2.4, Data collection provedure eo

2.5 Data analysis results

Chapter 3:

vocabulary to the second year students af pre-intermediate level at Hanoi

‘ndings and some solutions for better teaching and learning English

Tourism College - HH HH HH ty "_

3.1 Iindings

3.2 Suggested solutions

Part 3: Conclusions We ^

1 Summary of the study

2 Limitations and suggestions for furtter stuẩy "—

References,

Appendices

vi

1

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

In competition of this slury, first of all T would like ta express my sincere and deup gratilude

to Ms, Tran Hien Lan, M.A my supervisor for her invaluable advice, careful instructions and helpful encouragement during the process of writing this minor thesis

Secondly, I would like to send my thanks to all of my lecturers in the Faculty of Post-graduate Studies, the University of Foreign Languages and International Studies whose lectures and

his thesis

advice gave me the inspiration to complsts

‘Thanks are also extended to Mr Nguyen Viet Dung M.A- my colleague at [lanoi ‘Tourism College for his uscful materials and great aids, Besides, I would like to acknowledge my other colleagues and the students at the Faculty of Food Production Management as well for their kind help and great contribution to my survey

My very deep thanks also go to all my friends who have encouraged me and shared their experience during the study

Last but not least, I really appreciate the support and encouragement ftom my family, expecially my parenls

Without all of these aids, this study would hardly have been accomplished

2

ABSTRACT

In leaming a foreign language, vocabulary is the key to success, Without vocabulary, it is so difficull to convey anything Thus, to leach vocabulary efficisntty to students is the desire of any teachers, In the context of Hanoi Tourism College, teaching and learning English vocabulary for Food Production cope with many difficulties, which needs a lat of discussion

The aims of the study are to find out some difficulties theing the students and teachers in the process of teaching and learning vocabulary of liood Production and to propose some

solutions Ip these problems as well

The study was carried ont among the ESP teachers and the second year students of Food Production at Hanoi Tourism College The statistics revealed that most of the students and teachers are coping with many difficulties ‘The students have not had right English leaming strategies or a good motivation in the study and lack of LSP vocabulary as well while the tonchors have shoriage of specialized knowledge, varions teaching technique or teaching aids and reference materials are very poor Some solutions are suggested to reduce these difficulties ineluding improving specialized knowledge for ESP teachers, teachers” activities and teaching facilities; cncouraging, students to devclop their self-study to become mote active

learners

The result of the study can be usefid for those who teach ESP in general and those who teach vocabulary to students of Food Production at Hanoi Tourism College in particular

3 FART 1: INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale

Nowadays, English is a conmnon language in communication in the world In Vietram, English is considered to be a key for communication in offices, companics and at schools Being a compulsory subject, it is thought to give students and workers chances to study and work all over the world,

Talking about learning a foreign language, the first thing we think about is words Vocabulary plays an essential role in acquiring a language and it is also an important tool to activate four

cil However,

language skills in English Hone, the more words we know, the more we suc

to acquire words is not easy at all, therefore, it is a necessary and interesting theme for any

researches on

In the context of Tanoi Tourism College, as a leacher of Rglish, I have found oul that students have difficulties in studying, the English in the course book entitled “English tor Food Production Staff” mainly due to their limited vocabulary, which covers nearly 70% of sxcrcises in the book, especially in reading and translating exercises They oflen learn vocabulary passively through teachers” explanations and forget words quickly after a short

time

Teaching ESP (English for specific puzposcs) is a difficult task for the teachers of the English language Beside vocational knowledge, teachers need to carry out researches in teaching

vocabulary so as to open their views and instruct students later In my opinion, ESP in cookery

is very inleresting but leaching it successfully is extremely hard

2 Aims of the study

The study aims to achieve two purposes The first one is to find out some difficulties facing the students of FP and the ESP teachers in the process of Icaming and teaching English vocabulary in the textbook “English for Food Production Staff”, ‘The second one is to find some solutions Io these problems,

3 Research questions

‘This research was carried out to find out the answers to the following research questions

- What are ths main difficulties facing the students of FP and the LSP teachers in the process of teaching and lcaming English vocabulary in the text book “English for Food Production Staff”?

~ What are the solutions to these problems?

4, Scope of the study

The study focuses on teaching and learning English vocabulary in the course book “English for Food Produstion Staff” for the students who major in cookery Then, the difiicultres found out will be analyzed and the solutions will be made to help to improve the teaching and Toarning of cookery English al HTC

al the study

‘The study uses the following methods to achieve its objectives Virst, the survey questionnaire

5 Methi

is conducted to investigate difficulties for students at TITC in the process of learning vocabulary in the textbook “English for Food Production Staff’, Then, the teachers are interviewed to get more information of their difficulties in teaching English vocabulary for KP and the solutions 1o these problems as well

6 Design of the study

‘The research includes three main parts:

Part 1: Introduction; In this part the rationale, the aimns, the rescarch questions, the scope, the method, and the design of the study are presented

Part 2: Development: It consists of two chapters

Chapter | provides the theoratical background for the study

Chapter 2 is the main part of the study including the context of the study, the subjects, and the data collection methods and data collection procedure, Also in this chapter, the data will be analyzed and the Gndings will reveal teachers and students’ difficulties in touching and leaming vocabulary in the textbook “English for Food Production Staff” for the second year students of pre-intermediate level al Hanoi Tourism College On the basis of these findings, the way of teaching and learning cookery vocabulary will be suggested

Part 3: Conclusion, This part offers a summary of the research and some suggestions for further study

5

PART 2: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW

1.1 An overview of ESP

144 Definitions af ESP

LIntchinson and Waters (1987:19) define LSP as “an approach to language teaching in which

all decisions as to content and meihod are based on the learners’ reason for learming™ As un

approach to language teaching, ESP is dirceted by specific and apparent leamer need

According to Munby (1978: 2), "ESP courses are those where the syllabus and materials are determined in all essentials hy the prior analysis of the comnuication needs of the learner"

And Robinson (1991: 3), also emphasizes the students‘ needs clement of ESP when discussing

the criteria to SP: " An ESP course ix based on a needs analysis, which aims to specifi as closely as possible what exactly it is that students have to do through the medium of English’

1.1.2 Classification of ESP

There are many types of ESP which are classified in different ways Traditionally, ESP has toon conveniently divided into lwo maim types differenliated according to wheller the learner

requires English for academy study: English for Acadenue Purposes (EAP) or for work training: l¿nglish for Occupational Purposes (OP)

sof ESP

1.1.3 Characteri

Absolute characteristics

- BSP is designed to meet specific needs of lsamers;

- ESP makes use of the underlying, methodology and activities of the diseiplines it serves,

- BSP is centered on the language (grammar, lexis, and register), skills, discourse and goures approprials to those activilics

Variable charsetoristios

- _ ESP may’be related to or designed for specitic disciplines;

- ESP may use, in specific teaching situations, a different methodology from that of general English,

- _ ESP is likely to be designed for adult learners, either at tertiary level institution or in a professional work situation, TT coukd, however, be used for teartars al secondary school tevels,

- ESP is generally designed for intermediate or advanced students, Most ESP courses assume basic knowledge of the language system, but it can be used with beginners

6

The absolule and variable characteristics of ESP determine whal ESP 1s and whal ESP is nol

ESP should be seen simple as an ‘approach! to teaching, based on analysis of leamer needs and their own personal specialist knowledge of using English for real cosmumicalion

1.1.4 Problems of ESP teachers

Robinson (1980-83) supposed that the problems of KSP teachers are “lack of sufficient

preparation time, lack of personal and professional contact with subject teachers, and the

content may be very specific indeed, requiring a high degree knowledge and skill from

teachers”

Tom TTutchinson and Alan Waters (1987:158) focus on three problems for ESP teachers: the lack af an ESP orthodoxy to provide a ready-made gnide, the new realms of knowledge the TSP teacher has to cope with, the change in the status of FLT

1.2 ESP vocabulary

1.2.1 Definitions of vocabulary

According to Penny Lr, (1996: 60) vocabulary is defined as “the words we teach in the foreign

language” He accepted “a new item of vocabulary may be more than a single word, a compound of hve or three words and multi-word idioms”

According to Michacl Lewis (1993:89), vocabulary “may be individual words, or full

sentences — institutionalized utterances — that canvey for soctal or pragmatic meaning within

a given community”

1.2.2 Kinds of ESI vocabulary

* Technical lexis only really used in the specialism (e.g TVP, alternator)

« _ Semi-technical= gensral lexis that has a higher frequency in the specialism,

sometimes with a specific or changed meaning (e.g bug)

© Bnabling= general lexis flal occurs frequently in the speciatistn with no change of ineaning, helping Lo bind discourse logether (oflen verbs like produce, canse, or generale)

1.2.3 Selection of vocabulary for teaching

1.2.3.1 Word lists at an early stage

As a matter of fact, word lists not only help teachers to select the words worth attention and

teaching but also enable leamers to have a systematic study of academic words they need for

academic purposes

1.2.3.2 Awareness of criteria in selection

+ lrequeney

+ Range

+ Language needs