Luận văn an investigation into linguistic bases of desining an esp reading syllabus for 3rd year students of english for international relations at diplomatic academy of vietnam

An ovarview of discourse properties of intemational news, a comparison of discourse properties of international news in Linglish and Vistnamese; an overview of ESP; approaches to languag

HANOI NATIONAL UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES DEPARTMENT OF POST GRADUATE STUDIES

hk

NGUYEN THI THUY HANG

AN INVESTIGATION INTO LINGUISTIC BASES OF

DESIGNING AN ESP READING SYLLABUS FOR 3®° YEAR STUDENTS OF ENGLISH FOR INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

AT DIPLOMATIC ACADEMY OF VIETNAM

NGHIÊN CỨU GỠ SỞ NGÔN NGỮ CỦA VIỆC THIẾT KẺ

CHƯƠNG TRÌNH TIỀNG ANH CHUYÊN NGÀNH CHO SINH VIÊN TIẾNG ANH QUAN HE QUỐC TẾ NĂM THỨ 3 HỌC

VIÊN NGOẠI GIAO VIỆT NAM

MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

FIELD: METHODOLOGY FIELD CODE: 601410

SUPERVISOR: Ass.Prof.Dr.TRAN HUU MANH

HANOI - 2009

6 The study is comprised of ttuce parts

Part If: DEVELOPMENT

CHAPTER 1; LITERATURE REVIEW

1.2.1 Discourse and text

1.2.2 Discowsse propcitics of intemational news

1.3.3 Principles of ESP course design

1.4, Approaches to language syllabus design

vi

1.4.2, Approaches to language syllabus design

1.4.2.1 The structural approach

1.4.2.2 The stuattional approach

1.4.23 The notional/functional approach

CHAPTER 2: THE STUDY

2.1 ESP teaching and learning at Diplomatic Academy of Vietuam (DAV)

2.2 The ESP teachers

2.5.L Needs perceived by the teachers of English

2.5.1 Needs perceived by the third-year students of Vaculty of Lnglish

2.6 Summary

CHAPTER 3, DESIGNING AN APPROPRIATE ESP READING

SYLLABUS FOR 3% YEAR STUDENTS OF EIR

3.L Objectives

3.2Time allotment for the sytlabus

3.3 Scqueneing the content and the tasks in the syllabus

3.3.1 Topics in the syllabus

3.3.2, Reading skills and learning tasks

3.4 Suggestions for implementation of the proposed syllabus

3 Limitations of the thesis

4, Suggestions for further study

Diplomatic Academy of Vietnam English for Titernational Relations English for Seicnee and Technology

English for Business and Economics

English for Social Studies Association of Southeast Asian Nations European Union

United Nations

Asia Pacific Econornic Cooperation

Part I: INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale

Nowadays, ths FSP arca proves lo be in groal demand for a global community of poople speaking different languages, where a good coramand of English can help to contribute 10 professional as well as personal development of each individual earner, People with good Eugtish proficiency ar extensively needed in mmmy areas, such ax business, banking, tourism, electronics, telecommmunications, international relations, etc, ESP therefore has become really necessary and an indispensable branch in English language leaching in Vietnam lo movl the growing demand for professional communication

‘As we know, there are two patties involved in the implementation of any syllabus program teachers and leamers Basically, if the syllabus is to be designed realistically, its contents must be coherent with the needs and expectations of the clients Additionally, the contents should be technically, physically, and mentally conceivable and able to be unplemented within the time allotted in the curriculum ‘hese requirements, when designing the ESP syllabus, in fiel are still chellonges for Vietnamese FSP leachars,

Students learning ESP in Vietnam rarely have opportunities to use English in communication outside the classroom, ‘They mainly have access fo popular documents written in English through reading Honee, skills in reading English texts arc maturally of special importance in teaching and learning ESP, which is not an exception for the ESP

teaching at Vietnam Academy of Diplomacy (DAV)

The main objectives of ESP cours

knowledge relevant to their field and skills up to the expectation of the future

employment Since the establishment of the Section of inglish for Intemational Relations

(EIR) in 2006 which is under the Faculty of English, no available couse books arc approptiate for these target students

is aimed al providing the sludsnis with linguistic

Accordingly, designing an TSP reading syllabus for the third year stndents has been an urgent task for the development of ESP teaching at learning at DAV

2, Aims and Objectives

‘The study majorly aims at designing an appropriate USP reading syllabus for students of FIR al DAV To achicve Uhis aim, there are three specific objectives as follows:

- To develop a theoretical framework to design an appropriate syllabus for students

of KIR at Vietnam Academy of Diplomacy, taking into account the reality of ESP

loaching and learning as walt as ESP learners at DAY

- To conduct a Needs Analysis to idenlify the students’ learning situations and the learning needs perceived by the ESP teachers, the third-year students of EIR at

1 What are the reading needs of the ESP students of ETR at DAV?

2 ‘What should be included in the syitabus?

‘The answers to these questions are to develop an appropriate ESP reading syllabus for the students of im DAV Marcover, basing on the testis of the Toscarch quostions, some recommendations for designing an appropiate ESP reading syllabus for the students of

LIK at DAV, will be made to improve the quality of the ESP teaching and leaming at

DAY

4, Scope of the Study

Within its scope, this research paper mainly focuses on designing an BSP reading course book far students of FIR at DAY Its major objocis arc subject teachers, the teachers of ESP, and the third-year students of EIR at DAV

5, Research methodology

Both qualitative and quantitative incthods arc employed in this study, The quantitative method, which is used to collect data by questionnaires, aims at exploring the needs of the students, their expectations and opinions abont the ESP comrse The questionnaires are administered to the third year student population studying ESP, teachers of ESP, as well as subject teachers of EIR at DAV The tackling methods are statistic, analytical and synthetical, Also, the qualitative methods is used as the supporting method to collect information for the study through the discussion with collcaguss and students

6, The study is comprised of three parts

Part [is the “Development” which consists of

- Chapter I, “Literature Review” reviews such the relevant theories as prominent Tingnisti

- Chapter LIL presents some recommendations for “designing an LSP reading syllabus for students at the TIR at DAV”

Part OI is the “Conclusion” which offers a summary of the study, limitations and suggestions for firrther research

wilh international affairs such as inter-relations among counties, global

policies and political opinions toward other countries Therefore, international news on papers is mainly chosen as reading practice texts for intensive English courses at DAV

Within this framework, Ihis chapler deals with some concupts which sol background for the study An ovarview of discourse properties of intemational news, a comparison of discourse properties of international news in Linglish and Vistnamese; an overview of ESP; approaches to language syllabus design and an overview of reading will be given 1.1 An overview of discourse propertics of international news

1.1.1 News

1.1.1.1 What is news?

The notion of news is ambiguous In everyday usage, we usually have the general notion

of news, meaning “new information”, as we find in such sentences as “I have good news for you”, Apparently, the notion of news we arc dealing with is different fiom the notion

of news, which involves the media, When asking: “Have you read the news?” or “Did

you watch the news? we refer to news as an item on newspapers or a television program

Here are some definitions oC news fem dictionaries:

vews iy new information about something that has happened recently or reports of

recent events”

(Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary, 7” impression 2005)

“News is

- Recent events and happenings

- Areport about recent everis

13

- Information which was nol known before.”

(Globe Modern Dictionary, 4" impression 2003)

Ina nutshell, the notion of news implies three aspects of news:

«New information about events, things or persons

* Aprogram type (IV or radio) in which news items are presented

* A news report, Le., a discourse on means of media in which new information is given

We concerned mostly with the third concept, in which news is considered a type of discourse published on newspapers

With this aspect of news, there is a famous cliché among joumulists: when a dog bites man, it’s not news; when man bites dog, that’s news In other words, 10 readers want to read about ordinary events

1.1.1.2 International news

Intemational news refers to news which focuses on international issues, which involve:

© Inter-relations among countries: official visits, economie cooperation, political

negotiations

« _ Global issues: climate change, peace, conflict, international security

* Extemal policies and political opinions towards other countries

1.1.2, Discourse

1.1.2.1 Discourse and text

The word discourse is used differently in different subject areas therefore; it is not an

easy term to define

Brown and Yule (1983) define text as “the verbal record of communication act” and discourse as “the language in use”

Widdowson (1984:24) reckons that “discourse is a communicative process by means of

interaction Its situational autcome is a change in a state of affairs: information is conveyed, invention is made clear, tis linguistic product is text”

‘There is another approach developed by Halliday and Hasan (1976), who use discourse in

According to them, text (discourse): can be defined in the simplest way perhaps by saying

that if ts language that is functional { j So any instance of living language that is playing some part in a context of situation, we shall call a text It may he either spoken ov written or indeed in other medium of expression that we like to think of

(Halliday and Hasan 1989:10)

® Asa navigation device: It is possible to say that the headline is the bridge leading readers to the fill story It puts the first impression on the readers and encourages them to read for more information

1.1.1.2.2.2, Date, time of releasing the mews

‘The news content may change as soon as the news is posted Identifying the time and

ccordingly very important and bere

news is always clearly asscrtcd Sometimes readers can refer to the reporters to find out

more about the news

1.1.1.2.2.4 The lead

The international news leads offen start with location where the events take place One important factor of news is proximity An event will be more important if it is related to

b

the readers A conflict in a far-off land is not as interesting as one that is close to home

International news covers all areas in the world, so providing information about the

location is very useful for readers

The lead provides the hook to gel readers inicresled in the story If expands on the slory’s

main point as introduced in the headline Basically, news is variations of “something happened” The lead?s ftmction is to slraight forwardly tell readers what the “something

happened” is In terms of content, the lead captures the essence of the whole news, or it

summarizes the news to draw the readers in

The lead sets the structure for the Test af the story Ifthe lead is good, the test of the siory comes together easily

Functioning as exciting hooks for readers, the leads must be very informative and long enough to load the most newsworthy aspect of the events They are supposed to give brief answers to all the key questions: WHO, WHAT, WHERE, WHEN, WHY and HOW For example:

Mrs Clinton yesterday cane to St Louis, Missouri to seek support for the election by

Why? Llow? What effects? What significanz?

I? the headline and the toad are allracting enough and they decide 1a continuc reading, the body of the news is where they find detailed information The primary and the most

prevailing function of news body is to narrate the event While doing so, it gradually

gives answers to all possible questions related to the event: WHAT, WHO, WHERE,

WHEN, WHY, and HOW

Basieally, lhe body will give readers three kinds of infornnalion:

details of the events, by answering three kinds of information

- _ øommenls from peuple invalved in Ihe story

background information to help you understand the story more dept

1.1.1.2.2.6 Optional news elements

- Nowlinguistic feausres: phologtaphs besides the news makes the news mor attractive and intormative

- Sub-headtines: not all news has sub-headlines, Sub-headlines are considered the hooks that facilitate the readers’ information memorizing

1.1.2.2.2, Linguistic features

1.1.2.2.2.1 Lexical choice

Generally speaking, popular words are pretéred, which ensures that everyone across the world can read and understand it By using uncomplicated words, not only the information is provided clearly and exactly but also the readers’ capacity of getting the content will obviously inercase If the reporters make all efforts to think of too cute words

to transfer their ideas, users may encounter difficulties in picking up the meaning of the

text

The international news covers all issues on the world: politics, economy, religion, health, education Hereafter, there appear many term words of certain fields, relying on the main topic of the news

The neutral Janguage is also employed in international news because international issues are very sensitive Press has unimaginably strong impact ‘Ihe relationship between countries may be influenced by just an unftiendly opinion revealed in the news Thus,

reporters try to avoid words expressing their personal viewpoints in international news,

only present the fact of the event Metaphors and modal auxiliaries are rarely found partly because hose kinds of wards, lo some oxlenl, can reflect the writer's

One feature of international news is that puns absolutely do not work

1.1.2.2.2.2, Tense

sonal opinions,

1

The simple present tense is the most popular form of verbs in international news, in spite

of the fact that the news may describe something that is happening, something that happens repeatedly, even something thal happened elroady or something thal is going to happen in the near future The presen tense gives the subject a sense of fieshness and immediately, making it more interesting to read This grammatical phenomenon often appears in the headlines In the news tead and news bodies, verb lenses are used with the consideration of happening time of the event

1.1.2.2.2.3, Directness and indirectness

To meet the require!

it of direel, altractive, and tras to the news content, the dircel and indirect speeches are essential to news The use of directness and indirectness in international news can be classified into three types:

- Direct quotations: represent word-for-word what the speaker said Such quote

are exact words of a source written in complete sentences and are endorsed in

quotation marks

- Partial quotations: are mixtures of direct and indirect quotes They may alsa be referred ta as madified or fragmentary quotation

- indirect quotations: represent more or less what the speaker said, but without

using quotation marks The speakers’ idea are presenied mainly but nel entirely

his own words

1.1 7.2.5 Sentence patterns

‘When analyzing sentence patterns of international news, we need to look closer at three segments of news ‘I'he reason is that in each level of the news, the sentence patterns vary

in order 1o perfortn the ecrlain task

- The headline: Generally, a headline may be formed from a word, a phrase, a sentence fragment or a sentence

~The fead: Taking with ther a lot of information, leads apparently cannot have forms of phrases or fragments as the headlines Instead, in terms of grammatical structure, all of them are sentences More specifically, the leads are always

complex sentences duc to the heavy task o transfering core imformnation of the

events.

- The body; Like the leads, most of sentences in the news body arc complex

sentences

1.1.2.2.2.4 Cohesion devices:

Cohesion devices in the news may be anything from one word to a complete sentence:

© Single words: for, also, finally, furthermore, mearavlule

©) Synonyms

© Phrases: on the other hand, in response, in addition

© Senlences: 4 second factor needs to he considered

* Repeated key words, especially key words from the headline or key words from the preceding paragraphs

1.2 A comparison of discourse properties of international uews in English and Vietnamese

1.2.1 General structure

In general, there is no big difference in overall genetic structure of intemational news between Vietnamese and Unglish, because they are of the same genre ‘They all have to comply with basic principles of general news,

1.2.1.1 The heailline, the time, and source of information

Headlines in English are always the first part of the news In Vietnamese, it is flexible whether Ihe headline or the Hime and date come first

Headlines in English are followed by name of the reporter or source of information This 1s not the same as in Viemamese in which the name of reporters ar source of information oflcn stands al the ond of the news

1.2.1.2 The kead

Leads in Tingtish offen start with location Meanwhile, there is no location identified al the boginning of leads in Vietnamese

Performing the same functions as the lead of intemational news in English, leads in

Vietnamese are also supposed ta be answer to the six key questions: WILAT WIIQ,

WHERE, WHEN, WHY, ancl HOW

News leads in English and Vietnamese share a common feature that none of them provides answer to only one question

1.2.1.3 The budy

19

Generally speaking, the body structure of intemational news in Vietnamese is similar to that in English However, while most paragraphs in English contain only one sentence, the majority of paragraphs in Vietnamese arc cortpossl of Lwo or three sentences of (he sarne idea

Unlike international news in English, one-sentence paragraphs with limited numbers of clause are nol popular in Vielmamese This (acilitates the Vietnamese readers in simplifying the information so that they feel the most understandable For example:

Theo tin nước ngoăi, ngăy 4-6, Tổng thông An Dĩ Pratibha Patl đê trình hăy trước QH

nhiing chính sâch của Chính phủ do Đăng Quốc đại đứng đđu, theo Âö cam Kết sẽ phục

hỗi tốc độ tăng trường kinh lễ vă ghấp hăng triíu người nghỉo bằng câc khoăn chủ nhiễu hơn cũng nh câc chương trinh xẽ hội rông mớ hơn

(Nhđn đđn-2/6/2009) Bodies of international news in Vietiamese also compy to the inverted pyramid structure with the information is sequenced basing on the level of importance Kor example:

Theo Reuters, ngăy 2-6 tại cube hop bao & Thi dB Santiago, B6 treĩng ¥ 18 Chile Alvaro

Eraco cho biết, anh Ph.V.Man-dô-na-d, 37 tối di chất tại phía nan TP Pu-ô-tô Mon vi

vi-rtit cui A (HIND)

Đđy lă ca từ vang đầu tiín ở Che de dich ct A (4

người chất đầu tiín vì cứu A (ITN]) ö Nam MỊ

nhiễm vi-rúr cm 4 (IN1) ở nước năy Bệnh nhđn lă một phụ nứt đê

29-5 vừa qua từ Philippines trín chuyín bay của hêng hăng không ving Vinh va ed triệu chứng cảm 41 %11NI) ngăy l-6, Nhă cầm quyền 4-rập Xí-út đang theo dõi những người

tiễn xúc với phụ nữ năy trong chuyến bay Cùng ngăy, australia đê năng cắp bảo đông

aâm 4 (HINI) ở Pietorta, bang có số người bị nhiềm vi-nia evn 4 (HIN) nh

nước nău Theo tỄ chức Ÿ tế thí giới (PHO), đến nay có gẫu 19.006 người bị nhiễm cảm

A HIN) ở 64 nước vă vùng lênh thổ vă đê có 117 người chất

Like the English international news, the Viemamese onz also consists of some optional factors such as the sub-headlines or non-linguistic features

This decisive characteristic makes the linguistic features of international news in

Vietnamese definitely not the same as its English counterpart

The most slriking differsnce in terms of lexical choice belwcon Victhamess and English

is the level of cbjeetivencys and ncutral language from the writers Reporlers of English international news always try to avoid expressing their own opinions On the other hand,

we cat see 4 lol of ways using theloric in international news in Vietnamese, which may

be inferred as the reporters’ point of view For example:

Nowa M? “ngdn” hang Trang Quée

(Thánh niền-30/6/2007) Instead of using a more neutal vatb đe mơi like, or king dsich in Vietnamese, the reporter chose the word “ngdn” (Linglish equivalent: be fed up with), which really

conveys more than do not like

Rhetorical speech is often used in the headlines in order to attract readers, This different between Vietnamese and English international news may result ftom the different scale

of impacl Viclnamesc international naws has restricled scale of influence, and English international naws have much wider scale Moreover, it may also be affected by the subjectiveness, which is nature of Vietnamese thinking

However, there still exist similarilics in terms of lexical choice belwcen Vietnamese and English international news, That is the use of popular and comprehensible words Also, the international news in Vietnamese covers all issues: politics, economy, religion, lifestyles, health, education So, like English international news, many torm words af certain fields, relying on the main topic of the news are applied For example

Political news

Tit ngay 4 dén 7-6 98 dién ra cuéc bdu cte Nghi vign chau Au tai 27 mebc thanh vién Lién

hiệp châu Au (EU) Nahi viện châu sâu là một rong ba thế chỗ chỉnh của EU và có vai trà đại diện cho các quyên lợi gia công dân EU, Hai thể chế chỉnh khác là Hội đồng Liên

hiện châu “Âu và Ủy bạn châu Au (EC)

(Thanh mén-30/6/2008)

Economic news:

Thea Tan Hoa xi, ngay 2-6 dai dién Dang C8 Trung Quée (CPC) và phải daan Dang

Nước Ngu Thẳng nhất (URP;, cd quvén tại LB Nga đã có cuộc gắp tại Đắc Kinh dễ trao

di ý kiên về cuộc kháng hoàng tài chính quốc tế

(Nhin din-2/6/2007) 1.2.2.2 Tense

The Isnsas in Vietnamese aro not oxpressod via the conjugation of verbs Tks in English

Instead, the using of words such as dé, dang, sé and time expression like hém qua, hom

nay, biển sau.,.will help to determine the Vietnamese tenses

In the Engfish international news, (he tine: of happenings is only clearly claimed in (he

naws body, but present simple tense is applied with headline because that is the most

concise way to convey key information By contrast, tenses in Vietnamese international news arc identified slraighl forwardly, even in the headlines, For cxapte

Kink lễ thế giới có thể vẽ phục hỗi vào năm 2010

(Shan din-17/5/2009) 1.2.2.5, Directness and Indirectness

Similar to international news in English, directness and indirectness appear in all news in Vietnamese in three main types

- The headline asa phrase

Most of headlines in English intermitional news arc noun phrases, In the case of

Vietnamese intemational news, phrase headlines are flexibly applied, mainly with two types: nom phrases and verb phrases Besides, adjective phrases and prepositional

phrases are sometimes resorted,

There are smore noun phrases employed than other types because nown phrases are the most suitable to state new information Looking back to the structure of noun phrases we

pre-modification The head nouns, therefore, stand initially and are usually followed by post- modification In the below examples, the head nouns are underlined:

Rado tap giita chinh trường Israel

(Lao động-13/7/2007) Intemational news in Vietnamese also use verb phrases as headlines Nouns serve as the heads in noun phrase, are similarly, verb phrases have verbs as the heads Mead verbs in

Vietnamese international news are also placed at the beginning of the phrase Take the

following phrases as illustrations, in which the head verbs are underlined

Trợ giáp nàng nghiệp trong can khủng hoàng

(Lao déng-10/7/2008)

Thục hành tị 1 theo lời Hắc 118 day

(Lao đông-10/7/2008)

Prepositional phrases are occasionally used as headlines in Vietnamese international

news For example:

Bản trong chợ thuắc phiền Afghanistan

(Vietnamnet-30/8/2007)

- The headline as a sentence

Like imlcrmational news in English, sentence headlines are still the most pervasive in

Vietnamese international news because they take along the amount of information that is suflicient enough for readers to continue with the rest of news

As for the four types of sentences thal Quitk (1973:191) points out (stalerent, question, command and exchamation), almost 10 command and exclamation sentences are used as headlines in Vietnamese international news Statement headlines are commonly used in

both Victnamwse and English international news

Comparing the appearance of simple sentences and complex sentences as headlines unveils a fact that simple sentences are mote popular This is the similarity between

English and Vietnamese intemational news

Analyzing simple sentence headkines in Vietnamese international news indicate that there

are plenty of sentence structures used Like international news in Unglish international

hài, Mỹ chía sẽ công nghệ quốc phòng

§V:

Liên Xô trở lại

(Thanh niên -23/8/2007)

‘There is no hig difference in the use of the other sentence structures in the headlines in

‘Vietnamese international news such as SVC, SVOA, SVOC or SVOO

1.2.2.2 The kad and the body

In terms of sentence types, leads and bodies of international news in Vietnamese also

ngage (he carnplox sentonees ralhor then (hy

ple ones For cxampt:

Người phải ngôn Bộ Ngoại giao Tran Mohammad Ali Hoseini hém qua da én ản quyết dink cita Anh phong tuéc hiép s cho nha van Salman Rushdie

(hân đân-17/6/2007) 1.2.2.5 Cohesive devices

Like English interntional news, the mostly used cohesion device is repetitions of the key words which are presented in the hoadlines Take a nows in Vietnamese as an illustration for the use of cohesive devices

‘The headline: Yaliban ngyên bá sẽ định đoạt sổ phân 21 con tìn liền Quốc vàa trưa L8 Key words from the headlines: Taliban, 21 con tin Han Quéc, rưa 1.8

Inthe lead, those key words are repeated The bold adverb “sau khi” helps to connect the two clanses of the sentence:

NÃ lực giải cứa những người Hàn Quắc bị các lay súng Taliban cẩm gi tai Afehearuston

đã trẻ nên cấp bách hơu bao giờ hễt vào hâm 31 7, sau Rhi Tahban ha sit com tire that hai

tà đặt thời hạn chót mời cho số phân của 21 con tư cản lại

From the carly 1960's, English for Specific Purposes (ESP) has grown lo become one of the ros! prominent arcas of EFL teaching loday and it has been defined differently by different authors Some people desoribed ESP as simply being the teaching of English tor any purpose that could he specified Others, however, were more precise, describing it as the teaching of English used in academic studies or the teaching of English for vocational

or professional purposes In 1997, at a Japan conference on ESP Tony Dudley-Evans

gave ancxiended definition of ESP in terns of its ‘absolute! and ‘variable’ characterislics

Absolute Characteristics

1 ESP is defined 10 meet specific needs of the learners

2 BSP makes use of underlying methodology and activities af the disciplina it serves

3 ESP is centered on the language appropriate tv these activities in terms of grammar,

levis, register, stady skills, discourse and genre

Variable Characteristics

1 ESP may be related to or designed for specific disciplines

2 BSP may use, in specific teaching situations, a different methodology from that of

General English

3 ESP is likely to be designed for adult learners, either at a tertiary level instixition or in

a professional work situation It could however, be for learners at secondary school level

4 ESP is generally designed for intermediate or advanced students

5 Most ESP courses assume some basic knowledge of the language systems

(Đudley-Evans, 1997)

The definition Dudley-Evans offers is clearly influenced by that of Strevens (1988), although he has improved it substantially by temoving the absolute characteristic that ESP is “in conteast with General English" (Johns et al, 1991: 298), and has included more variable characteristics The division of HSP into absolvie and variable characlcristios, in particular, is vory helpfil in resolving argumonls about what is end is

3

not ESP, From the definition, we can see that ESP can but is not necessarily concemed with a specific discipline, nor does it have to he aimed at a certain age group or ability range FSP should be

1.3.2 Types of ESP

David Carter (1983) idontifies three types of BSP:

+ English as a restricted language

+ English for Academic and Occupational Purposes

«— English with spocific topics

‘The language used by air trafic controllers or by waiters are examples of English as a restricted language Mackay and Mounlford (1978) clearly iMustrate the difference between restricted language and language with this statement:

“ the language of international air-traftic control could be regarded as ‘special’, in the sense that the repertoire required by the controfler is strictly limited and can be accurately dctcrmined situationally, as might be the linguistic needs of a dining-room waiter or air~

hostess However, such restricted repertoires are not languages, just as a tourist phrase

book is nol grammar, Knowing 4 resiricled ‘language’ would not allow the speaker lo communicatz effectively in novel situation or in contexts outside the vocational

environment”

The sceond type of ESP identified by Carter (1983) is Frgtish for Academic and Occupational Purposes In the Tree of ELT! (Hutchinson & Waters, 1987), ESP is broken down into three branches: a) English for Science and Technology (EST), b) English for

Business and Economics (ERR), and ¢) Tinglish for Social Studies (ESS)

The third type of ESP identified by Carter (1983) is English with specific topics “This type of ESP is concerned with self-direction” (Carter, 1983, p 134) In order for self

direction to occu, the learncrs must have a certain degree of frcedom to decide when,

what, and how they will study Carter (1983} also adds that there must be a systematic attempt by teachers to teach the learners how to learn by teaching them about learning

slralegics

1.3.3, Principles of ESP course design

In designing an ESP course if is imperative to carryout a needs analysis to determine the

specific reasons for learning the Tanguage (Hull

exactly, what students need to achieve through the medium of English (Robinson, 1991) According to Nunan, “techniques and procedures for coliecting information to be used in

son, and Walcrs, 1987) or to specify

syllabus design arc referred to as a necds analysis” (Nunan, 1988: 13) In more formal

terms a needs analysis is “the process of determining the needs for which a learner or group of leamers requires a language and arranging the needs according to priorities” (Richards, and Platl, 1992:242)

Before designing a cowse, it is very important to know why the learners are taking the course and how they will apply that learning Also “English language teachers should

know what kind of tasks and activitics Icarners will bz using English for (Kandil,

2003:134) (Hutchinson and Waters,1987:59) suggested the following questions as a slart-poinl lo uncover relevant infirmation: Why is the language needed?; Tlow will the language be used?, What will the content areas be?, Who will the learners use the language with?, When’ Where will the language be used?

(intchinson and Waters,1987:21) also put forward a point that “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.” These basic questions are as follows: Who are the learners?, Why are the learners taking the cowse?, How do the learners leamn?; What resources are available?; When/Where will the course take place?; What level of proficiency must be achieved?: Whal kind of methodology will he enployed?, How much time is available?

Also, the key elements which are the initial planning procedure, the content selection

and gradation, the methodology, and the evaluation in the procedures of designing any language course syllabus are also applied lo an BSP course

and Waters (1987:80) define sytlabus as follows: “4d its simplest level a syllabus can be

described as a statement of what is to be learnt or it reflects language and linguistic

performance”

This is a rather taditional interpretation of syllabus focusing as it does on outcomes rather than process Llowever, a syllabus can also be seen as a "sanmary of the content to which learners will be exposed" (Yalden,1987: 87) It is seen as an approximation of

what will be taught and that it cannot accurately predict what will be learnt

1.4.1, Approaches to language syllabus design

Various types of approaches are available to course designers and the fact shows that

the focus of syllabuses has shifted trom structure to situations, functions and notions to

topics and tasks,

14.2.1 The structural approach

Llistosically, the most prevalent of syllabus type is perhaps the grammatical syllabus in

which the sclection and grading of the content is based on the complexity and simplicity

of grammatical items The learner is expected to master each structural step and add it to her grammar collection, As such the focus is on lhe outcomes or Ihe product

1.4.2.2, The situational approach

By linking structural theory to situations, the learner is able to induce the meaning from a relevant contzxl One advantage of the situational approach is Uhal motivation will be heightened since it is “learner- rather than subject-centered” (Wilkins,1976:16) However,

a sitnational syllabns will be limited for students whose needs were not encompassed by

the situations in the syllabus

1.4.2.3, The notional/functional approach

In order to establish objectives, the needs of the learners will have to be analyzed by the various types of commnnication in which the Jeamer has to confront Consequently,

approving), makes the task harder to approach

1.4.2.4, Procedural/task based approaches

A task-based approach assumes that speaking @ languagc is a skill best perfected through

practice and interaction, and uses tasks and activities to encourage learners to use the

language communicatively in order to achieve a purpose Tasks must Le relevant to the teal world language needs of the student, That is, the underlying leaming theory of task based and communicative language teaching seems to suggest that activities in which language is employed to complete meaningful tasks, enhances learning

1.4.2.5, The proportional approach

The proportional syllabus basically allempls to develop an “overall competence” Tt consists of'a number of elements with theme playing @ linking rote through the units This theme is designated by the learners It is expected initially that form will he of central

2

being fully aware of the course they are studying it is believed that their interest and motivation will increase, coupled with the positive efffect of nurturing the skills required

1.4.3, Types of ESP syllabus design

According to Nunan, although six difftrent types of language teaching syllabi are Wealed here as they each occur "purely," in practice, these types rarely occur independently of each other, For a given course, one type of syllabus usually dominates, while other types

of content may be combined with it, Furthermore, the six types of syllabi are not entirely distinet fom each other Kor example, the distinction between skill-based and task-based

syllabi may be minima In such

the instructional content is used in the actual teaching procedure The characteristics, differences, strengths, and weaknesses of individual syllabi are defined as follows

he distinguishing factor is oflen the way in which

1 "A strucharal (formal) syllabns." The content of language tsaching is a collection af the forms and structures, usually grammatical, of the language being taught, Examples include nouns, verbs, adjectives, statements, questions, subordinate clauses, and so on

2 "A notional/fanctional syllabus.” The content of the language teaching is a collection

of the fimctions that ars performed when language is used, or of ths notions that language

is used to express Examples of functions include: informing, agreeing, apologizing,

requesting, cxamples of notions include size, agc, color, comparison, time, and so on

3 “A sitnational syllabus.” ‘The content of language teaching is a collection of real or imaginary situations in which lamguage occurs or is uscd A situation usually involves several participants who are engaged in some activity in a specific setting The language occming in the situation involves a number of fimetions, combined into a plausible segiment of discourse The primary purpose of a situational language teaching syllabus is

to teach the language that occurs in the situations Examples of situations inctade: seeing, the dentist, complaining to the landlord, buying a book at the book store, meeting a new student, and so on

4 "A skill-based syllabus" ‘he content of the language teaching is a collection of specific abililics thal may play a part in nsinys langage Skills arc things that people mst

be able to do to be competent in a language, relatively independently of the situation or setting in which the langnage use can occur While situational syllabi group fimetions together into specific settings of languags usc, skill-based syllabi group tinguistic compelencies (pronunciation, vocabulary, grammar, and discourse) together inlo generalized types of behavior, such as listening to spoken language for the main idea, writing well-formed paragraphs, giving effective oral presentations, and so an The primary purpose of skill-based instruction is to learn the specific language skill A possible secondary purpose is to develop more general competence in the language, learning only incidentally any information that may be availabls while applying the language skills

5 "A task-based syllabus.’ ‘he content of the teaching is a series of complex and purposclil tasks that the students wanl or neal lo porform with the language they arc leaming, The tasks are defined as activities with a purpose other than language learning, but, as in a content-based syllabus, the performance of the tasks is approached in a way that is intended to develop sccond language ability Language Icarning is subordinate to task performance, and language teaching occurs only as the need arises during the performance of a given task, Tasks inlegrate language (and other) skills in specific settings of language use, Task-based teaching differs ftom situation-based teaching in that wlule situational teaching has the goal of teaching the specitic language content that occurs in the situation (a predefined product), task-based teaching has the goal of teaching students to draw on resourecs to complete some picoe of work (a process) The students draw on a variety of language forms, functions, and skills, often in an individual and unpredictable way, in completing the (asks Tasks that can be used for language leaming are, generally, tasks that the learners actually have to parform in any case Examples include: applying for a job, talking with a social worker, getting housing information over the tglephene, and so on

6 "A conlent-based-syllabus." The primary purpose of instruction is to teach some content or information using the language that the students are also learning ‘The students are simullancousty language students and studenls of whatever comtont is boing langhL The subject matter is primary, and language learning occurs incidentally to the content

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leaming, The content teaching is not organized atound the language teaching, but vice- versa Content-based language teaching is concerned with information, while task-based language (caching is concord will) communicative and cognitive processas An

example of content-based language leaching is a scisnec elass taught in the language the students need or want to Jeam, possibly with linguistic adjustment to make the science more comprehensible

1.4.4, Steps in syllabus design

According to John (1984), syllabus design includes three stages: Need analysis, content specification and syllabus organization, while Nuan puts forward four stops lo design the syllabus such as: Need analysis, goal setting, selecting and grading content, selecting and grading tasks, Karl Krabnke (1994) points out ten steps to design a syllabus as following:

L Determine, to the extent possible, what outcomes are desired for the students in the instructional program ‘Ihat is, as exactly and realistically as possible, defining what the

sludents should be able Lo do as a resull of the instruction

2, Rank the syllabus types presented here as to their likelihood of leading to the outcomes desired Several rankings may be necessary if outcomes are complex

3, Evaluate available resources in expartise (for teaching, needs analysis, materials choice and production, etc.}, in materials, and in training for teachers

4, Rank the syflabi relative to available resources That is, determine what syllabus types

would be the easiest to implement given available resources

5 Compare the lists made under steps 2 and 4 Making as few adjustments to the earlier

list as possible, produce a new ranking based on the resources’ constraints

6 Repeat the process, taking into account the constraints contributed by teacher and

student faclors described carlicr

7, Determine a final ranking, taking into account all the information produced by the earlier steps

8 Designate one or two syllabus lypes as dominant and one or two as secondary

9, Review the question of combination or integration of syllabus types and determine how combinations will be achieved and in what proportion

10 Translate decisions into actual teaching units

It is worth noticing that in making practical decisions about syllabus design, one must luke into considcration all the possible faelors that might affect the teachabilily of a particular syZlabus By starting with an examination of each syllabus type, tailoring the choice and integration of the different types according to local needs, one may find a principled and practical solution lo the problem of appropriateness and cfietivencss in syllabus design

ding is a complex inter

reading, which are shaped by the reader's prior knowledge and experiences, the readet”s knowledge about reading and writing language and the reader’s language community which is culturally and socially siluated ”

(Wilkins.1976: 16) 1.5.2 Reading process

Good tea

This awareness and control of the reading processes is called melacogmition, which

means "knowing about knowing." Some students do not know when they do net know

reading slrategis include predicling, visualizing, questioning, drawing inferences, finding, important/main ideas, summarizing, synthesizing, monitoring comprehension, evaluating In order to teach reading better for diferent types of language learners with

different approaches of learning, thc loacher should know how to exploit all of the strategies involved in the five stages of reading process) Pre-reading, Reading, Responding, ixploring, and Applying

1.6.Summary

This chapter revies such the retevant theories for ESP reading materials as discourse properties of international news, a comparison of discourse properties of international naws in English and Vietnamese, averview of ESP, approachss to language syllabus, slops im syllabus design, needs analysis Therefore, this chapler can frame tha basic theories for the writer to design an appropriate, realistic and applicable ESP reading syllabus for the students of BIR al DAV

CHAPTER 2: THE STUDY

In this chapter, the current situation at Diplomatic Academy of Vietnam (DAV) zelated to the study will be taken in closs-up Research methodology for needs analysis will also be discussed, folowed by the results of the survey questionnaires and conclusion about students’ needs

2.1, ESP teaching and learning at Diplamatic Academy of Vietnam (DAV)

At DAV, there are 4 different faculties namely Faculty of International Relations, Maculty

of International Economics Faculty of Communications and Faculty of international Law A different ESP textbook, syllabus, and test arc cmploysd for cach faculty Accordingly, teachers are divided in to 4 smaller groups in charge of teaching ESP for 4 facullics They arc assigned to design the syllabus and to lake the responsibilily for teaching and assessing the students of respective faculty An ESP programme designer looks at the spacific purposes to design the course and prepare materials for the learners ofa particular profession with special need AL AV we have used published book and also tailor-made materials or documents fiom Internet websites Once good texts have been selected, the activities can be written

So fax, we do not have nny chances to evaluats the ESP syllabus applied to the students AILESP teachers at DAV need more time to further study to design more effective syllabi for learners Since i began, RSP al DAV has become one of the most stimulating bul challenging subjects, Moreover, the present ESP syllabi tor certain fields are selected randomly by the teachers without any consideration regarding needs analysis or syllabus design thoory However, it is challenges thal have ergaled a now English laaming and leaching environment at DAV They raise a motivation from teachers and lewrners in ESP learning development

Tn conclusion, having analyzed the prosanl situation of the Icaching and learning of ESP

at DAY, the researcher realized an wgent demand for the improvement of students’ reading skill Actually non-Linglish major students at DAY should be provided with more effective ESP reading matctials and reading skills sơ that they could better comprehend

2.2, The ESP teachers

The teaching staff of Faculty of English consists of 14 teachers aged between 25 and 56 About a half of them arc responsible of teaching goncral English and ESP There arc only three teachers who take charge of teaching EIR Most of the ESP teachers graduated from

College of Foreign Languages-Vietnam National Universily or Tanoi Universily of

Foreign Studics, Most of them ar2 still very young and have finished or are doing their

MA degrees, Their qualifications are quite good, They enjoy teaching and spend all of their enthusiasm and effort making their teaching lessons interesting and attractive to the

students

Llowever, they are inexperienced in teaching USP because nobody has worked as ESP

loachers hefore Besides,

therefore, have to face with a lot of difficulties in terms of knowledge of the specific field they have to teach and the teaching methodologies to ESP

they have ta (cach genoral Pngtish together with ESP They,

Actually, all ESP tcachers, 1nysclf included, have to work harder to be able to develop good ESP courses and to meet the requirements of the new teaching situation

2.3 The students

The subjects of this study are the third-year students of English They are the ones who have finished three semesters of Engish Most of them are female students ‘This is a typical feature of DAV Their age ranges ftom 19 10 22 years old, Fach English class consists of about 30 students They have 6 periods of ESP per week Most of the students here have experiences of at least 3 years learning English at high school, However, they

do nol have # good commend of English because they did not learn English scriousty all high school What is more, students’ general knowledge and linguistic competence related to the fields of English are insufficient, Due to limited timeframe for SP leaming

and teaching the students cannot learn much but just come to know a few of English

terms or concepts in English This leads to the fact that students find it hard to acquire and develop their English communicative competence to meet the demand of their foture employment

2.4 The stuủy

2.4.1 The subjects

The subjects of the study were divided into two groups The first one were 60 third-year students who have finished 4 semesters of English The second group taking parts in the

study were 14 respondents who are currently working as teachers of English at DAV

2.4.2, Instrument for collecting data

To achieve the aims of the study, two questionnaires based on the analysis of the teaching and learning of USP at DAV were conducted to both the teachers and the students of English,

Scction 2 deals wilh the topies needed for the syllabus

Section 3 is about language and reading exercises which should be consolidated in the syllabus

2.4.2.2 Questionnaire 2

The second questionnaire (see Appendix B) given to 150 students of Faculty of English

‘This questionnaire consist of three main sections

Scelion | is to find out students’ attitude and ideas towards E

Section 2 concems with needed topies perceived by students

Section 3 refers ta rasiding skills and exercises

2.5 The findings

2.5.1 Needs perceived by the teachers of English

As presented in the previous section, this survey questionnaire was designed and administered to the Leachers of the Facully of English These 14 teachers are young oncs most of whom have been teaching English for over 3 years