Luận văn evaluation of the 3rd semester reading syllabus for english major students at hanoi university of industry haui istics

Walter expressed their opinion about needs as follows: + Needs can refer to leamers” study or job requirement that is what they have to be able to do at the cnd of their language cour

Vietnam national university

College of Foreign Languages

Department of postgraduate studies

NGUYEN THU HUONG

Evaluation of the 3" Semester Reading Syllabus for English Major Students at Hanoi University of Industry (HaUI)

Đánh giá đề cương môn đọc hiểu học lạ) 3 cho sinh viên chuyén ngit

trường Đại học Công Nghiệp Hà Nội

M.A MINOR THESIS FIELD: ENGLISH TEACHING METHODOLOGY

Supervisor: Dr To Thi Thu Huong

Hanoi, 2010

2.2 Qyerview of reading process seesisssssusanieeetseestistusieiesieinesens 9

iii, Intervizw withteachers and officials cseeereeiroreeeee.22

Chapter 4 lindings and recommendations

4.1.1 Sbuäents” necds

4.1.2 Objectives in relation to students’ needs

4.1.5 Other findings

4.2 Recommendation for improving the current syllabUS .ojcssisneestemeenenen nena dS

Goal and ObjeztiVes „.36

actually happening in the classroom can be observed, described and assessed ‘hus, there

is parallel between assessing the sludenis’ learning and svalusting the course According to

DELL Needs

In fact, there are different discussions about the meanings of needs Researchers

like R Berwick, H.G Widdowson and P.C Robinson and ' Hutchinson & A Walter

expressed their opinion about needs as follows:

+ Needs can refer to leamers” study or job requirement that is what they have to

be able to do at the cnd of their language course, This is called to be a goal-

oriented definition of needs (Widdowson, 1981, p.2)

- Needs can be considered what the learners need to do to actually acquue the language ‘his is a process- oriented definition of needs and the means of

learning

(Widdowson, 1981, p.2)

- Needs are considered to be what students themselves would like to gain from the language course In Ibis sonsc “needs are perhaps tors approprialcly described as objectives” (Berwick, 1989, p $7)

- Needs may be interpreted as lacks, that is what students do not know or cannot

do in English (Robinson, 1991, p 8)

In this study, learners’ needs will be taken info account under Hutchinson and Walters’ point of view in terms of target needs and learning needs Target needs are what the Icamer needs to do in the target situation and can be categorized as necessities, lacks

and wants,

“Necessities are the type of needs which are determined by the demands of the target situation, that is what learner has to know in order to function effectively in the target situation” (Hutchinson & Wallers 1987, p.55) In olher words, ‘lies ean be regarded as learners’ target proficiency the scope of the language knowledge and skills that learners are supposed to acquire on completing a course

Lacks are the gap between the target proficiency and the existing proficiency of the learners’ (Hutchinson & Waltors 1987, p.56) Tn other words, information about learners” lacks will help the designer to determine how much language training, is needed to bridge the gap between learners” entry level and their exit one

Wants is one of the terms of target needs with the actual learners playing active role thal is the learners have a view as lo what their needs are, Richierich (1984) comments that needs do not exist independently of'a person, People build the image of their needs on the basis of data relating to themselves and their environment

In conclusion, within the category of target needs, further division under necessities, lacks and wants in which the route ftom the starting point (lacks) to the destination (necessitics) and what the destination should be (wants) form the so called learning needs (Hutchinson & Walters, 1993, p.60)

In other words, learning needs are defined in terms of what the leaner needs to do

in order to learn Llowever, to the destination successfully, Llutchinson & Walters (1987)

point out

My study is targeted at the 3° semester reading syllabus of Linglish major students of the

i To what extent does the syllabus meet the expectations of both teachers and leamers in terms of course objectives, time allocation, materials and assessment?

2 What are the suggestions to further kuprave the syllabus?

Such findings will provide insights into the strengths and weaknesses of the ourrent

syllabus and help propose some revommendations for an even beticr syllabus

The thesis is onganived imo five chaplers Chapter 1 is the Introduction, Chapter 5 is the Conclusion Chapter 2, Literature Review, consists of an overview of evaluation, reading process and of syllabus Chapter 3, the Study deals with the methodology of the study dolailing the dala collections and analysi

Chaplv 4, Findings and Recommendations, provides an insight into the current syllabus with its own strengths and weakness in real situation via feedbacks from students and teachers, It also gives recommendations for an even better syllabus

further improve the course With the aim to make a better change in the implementation of

the 3° semester English reading syllabus for English major studorts al Hanoi University of Industry (HaUT) this study focuses on evaluating the syllabus developed by teachers at the English Department at IlaUI regarding factors such as course objectives, tims allocation,

material and assessment,

1.2 Background of the study

Hanoi University of Industry (lat), which previously known as a collsge of vocational training, was founded in 2005 Previously, English was taught as a compulsory subject following the requirement of Ministry of Education and ‘Training After finishing the college, students only need to master basic level of Generat English (GE) Although al that time English was a compulsory subject, students and teachers did not consider English

as important as other subjects, thus teachers thought that it was not necessary to evaluate

any GE syllabuses

Recently, recognizing the needs of society for good English for Specific Purposes (ESP) teachers, translators and interpreters, HaUl establishes its English Department at the same time of Hall's foundation The ultimate goal of the English Department is to train ESP teachers, translators and interpreters who need both English and knowledge in specific fields of science and technology The English Department has 50 teachers who mostly graduated fiom University of Foreign Languages in Hanoi and some fiom other places nationwide to meet the demand of training At present, these English teachers are able to

teach GE as well as ESP

1.3 Statement of the problem

Having been teaching af Tlanoi University of Industry (TalJ1) for five years, T have

used many syllabuses in teaching English for different kinds of students namely non- English major students, for ESP, and for English major students As far as [ am concerned, the English syllabi at IlaU] have not ever been evaluated yet J, therefore, would like to

al anc

make contribution to the devclapment of teaching Fnglish al my University in ger

at the English Department in particular This is the reason why 1 evaluate one of the syllabi used at the English Department at 1IaUI with the aim of revising the current syllabus and

the hope to make a better change in its implementation.

It is native to base a course design simply on the target objectives, just as

it is native to think that a joumey can be planned solely in terms of the starting point and the destination ‘I'he needs, potential and constrains of the route (ie the leaning situation) must also be taken into account, if we are going to have any usefull analysis of learners’ needs (p.61)

On the basis of the theory above, information on leamers’ needs is often collected and analyzed in the various steps of teaching and leaming, ftom the course design,

implementation Lo the svaluation,

2LL2 The roles of needs analysis

Needs analysis is of great importance in defining and meeting the various needs of particular learners The course designer has to analyze the learners’ needs so as to design appropriate course and help the learners to acquire English more effectively and

successfully Discussing the important role of needs analysis, [lutchinson & Walters

(1987) assorL thai

If Icarners, sponsors and teachers know why learners need English, that awareness will have an influence on what will be acceptable as reasonable content in the language course, and on the positive side, what potential can

be exploited (p.53)

It is clear that nesds analysis very much influence the input of a language

programme .\ major reason for conducting a needs analysis is to provide a specifications

of input which is relevant to the needs of a given leamer or group of learners (target needs) Ii wors possible or desirable lo tcach the entire system of the largst language, then need analysis would not be necessary (Nunan, 1985, p.7) Need analysis can be divided into two stages The first stage is the objective analysis which 1s carried out before the beginning of a course and involves consideration of both input and methodology The

a

- Needs are considered to be what students themselves would like to gain from the language course In Ibis sonsc “needs are perhaps tors approprialcly described as objectives” (Berwick, 1989, p $7)

- Needs may be interpreted as lacks, that is what students do not know or cannot

do in English (Robinson, 1991, p 8)

In this study, learners’ needs will be taken info account under Hutchinson and Walters’ point of view in terms of target needs and learning needs Target needs are what the Icamer needs to do in the target situation and can be categorized as necessities, lacks

and wants,

“Necessities are the type of needs which are determined by the demands of the target situation, that is what learner has to know in order to function effectively in the target situation” (Hutchinson & Wallers 1987, p.55) In olher words, ‘lies ean be regarded as learners’ target proficiency the scope of the language knowledge and skills that learners are supposed to acquire on completing a course

Lacks are the gap between the target proficiency and the existing proficiency of the learners’ (Hutchinson & Waltors 1987, p.56) Tn other words, information about learners” lacks will help the designer to determine how much language training, is needed to bridge the gap between learners” entry level and their exit one

Wants is one of the terms of target needs with the actual learners playing active role thal is the learners have a view as lo what their needs are, Richierich (1984) comments that needs do not exist independently of'a person, People build the image of their needs on the basis of data relating to themselves and their environment

In conclusion, within the category of target needs, further division under necessities, lacks and wants in which the route ftom the starting point (lacks) to the destination (necessitics) and what the destination should be (wants) form the so called learning needs (Hutchinson & Walters, 1993, p.60)

In other words, learning needs are defined in terms of what the leaner needs to do

in order to learn Llowever, to the destination successfully, Llutchinson & Walters (1987)

point out

It is native to base a course design simply on the target objectives, just as

it is native to think that a joumey can be planned solely in terms of the starting point and the destination ‘I'he needs, potential and constrains of the route (ie the leaning situation) must also be taken into account, if we are going to have any usefull analysis of learners’ needs (p.61)

On the basis of the theory above, information on leamers’ needs is often collected and analyzed in the various steps of teaching and leaming, ftom the course design,

implementation Lo the svaluation,

2LL2 The roles of needs analysis

Needs analysis is of great importance in defining and meeting the various needs of particular learners The course designer has to analyze the learners’ needs so as to design appropriate course and help the learners to acquire English more effectively and

successfully Discussing the important role of needs analysis, [lutchinson & Walters

(1987) assorL thai

If Icarners, sponsors and teachers know why learners need English, that awareness will have an influence on what will be acceptable as reasonable content in the language course, and on the positive side, what potential can

be exploited (p.53)

It is clear that nesds analysis very much influence the input of a language

programme .\ major reason for conducting a needs analysis is to provide a specifications

of input which is relevant to the needs of a given leamer or group of learners (target needs) Ii wors possible or desirable lo tcach the entire system of the largst language, then need analysis would not be necessary (Nunan, 1985, p.7) Need analysis can be divided into two stages The first stage is the objective analysis which 1s carried out before the beginning of a course and involves consideration of both input and methodology The

a

Chapter 2 Literature review

2.1 An overview of evaluation

‘There are many definitions of evaluation Basically, evaluation is asking questions and acting om the responses, According Io Brown (1989, p.223), cvaluation is the systematic collection and analysis of all relevant information necessary to promote the improvement of a curiculum and assess its effectiveness and efficiency, as well as the participanls’ attitudes within the context of the particular institutions involved

Rea- Dickins and Germaine (1992) claini thal cvaluation is an intrinsic parl of teaching and learning, It can provide a wealth of information to use for the futwe of classroom practice, for planning of courses, and for the management of learning tasks and students, ‘They assert that “making evaluative judgments is therefore a feature of social life,

‘bul evaluation is nol always somelling [hat we do ina principle and systematic way”

Evaluation plays three interrelated and overlapping roles in course design The first

is evaluating needs, the second is evaluate students’ learnmg and the third is evaluating the course itself (Graves, 2000, p.207) While evaluation entails the collection of information on what foansrs can do in the targel language, it also involves additional processes designed to assist us in interpreting and acting on the results of our evaluation

Graves also believes that cvaluation can be both formative and summative Formative evaluation, whose purpose is pedagogically motivated (Hedge, 2000, p 376), lakes place as Ihe course is in progress and provides information about how well the students are doing what they have achieved, what they need to work on, and how well the course is meeting their needs Summative evaluation is done at the end of a course and provides information about the studenls’ overall achievement as well as the overall effectiveness of the cowse

Hedge (2000) also refurs to the term “evaluation” as “the assessment of students at the end of the course, Recently, however, the meaning of evaluation is understood as an assessmen! of all aspects of a programn Dvalualion can relal lo course and learners in a mumber of ways First, the couse can be judged as it is planned Second, all what are

actually happening in the classroom can be observed, described and assessed ‘hus, there

is parallel between assessing the sludenis’ learning and svalusting the course According to

DELL Needs

In fact, there are different discussions about the meanings of needs Researchers

like R Berwick, H.G Widdowson and P.C Robinson and ' Hutchinson & A Walter

expressed their opinion about needs as follows:

+ Needs can refer to leamers” study or job requirement that is what they have to

be able to do at the cnd of their language course, This is called to be a goal-

oriented definition of needs (Widdowson, 1981, p.2)

- Needs can be considered what the learners need to do to actually acquue the language ‘his is a process- oriented definition of needs and the means of

learning

(Widdowson, 1981, p.2)

Chapter 2 Literature review

2.1 An overview of evaluation

‘There are many definitions of evaluation Basically, evaluation is asking questions and acting om the responses, According Io Brown (1989, p.223), cvaluation is the systematic collection and analysis of all relevant information necessary to promote the improvement of a curiculum and assess its effectiveness and efficiency, as well as the participanls’ attitudes within the context of the particular institutions involved

Rea- Dickins and Germaine (1992) claini thal cvaluation is an intrinsic parl of teaching and learning, It can provide a wealth of information to use for the futwe of classroom practice, for planning of courses, and for the management of learning tasks and students, ‘They assert that “making evaluative judgments is therefore a feature of social life,

‘bul evaluation is nol always somelling [hat we do ina principle and systematic way”

Evaluation plays three interrelated and overlapping roles in course design The first

is evaluating needs, the second is evaluate students’ learnmg and the third is evaluating the course itself (Graves, 2000, p.207) While evaluation entails the collection of information on what foansrs can do in the targel language, it also involves additional processes designed to assist us in interpreting and acting on the results of our evaluation

Graves also believes that cvaluation can be both formative and summative Formative evaluation, whose purpose is pedagogically motivated (Hedge, 2000, p 376), lakes place as Ihe course is in progress and provides information about how well the students are doing what they have achieved, what they need to work on, and how well the course is meeting their needs Summative evaluation is done at the end of a course and provides information about the studenls’ overall achievement as well as the overall effectiveness of the cowse

Hedge (2000) also refurs to the term “evaluation” as “the assessment of students at the end of the course, Recently, however, the meaning of evaluation is understood as an assessmen! of all aspects of a programn Dvalualion can relal lo course and learners in a mumber of ways First, the couse can be judged as it is planned Second, all what are

- Needs are considered to be what students themselves would like to gain from

and wants,

“Necessities are the type of needs which are determined by the demands of the target situation, that is what learner has to know in order to function effectively in the target situation” (Hutchinson & Wallers 1987, p.55) In olher words, ‘lies ean be

Wants is one of the terms of target needs with the actual learners playing active role thal is the learners have a view as lo what their needs are, Richierich (1984) comments that needs do not exist independently of'a person, People build the image of their needs on the basis of data relating to themselves and their environment

In conclusion, within the category of target needs, further division under necessities, lacks and wants in which the route ftom the starting point (lacks) to the destination (necessitics) and what the destination should be (wants) form the so called learning needs (Hutchinson & Walters, 1993, p.60)

In other words, learning needs are defined in terms of what the leaner needs to do

in order to learn Llowever, to the destination successfully, Llutchinson & Walters (1987)

point out

Chapter 2 Literature review

2.1 An overview of evaluation

‘There are many definitions of evaluation Basically, evaluation is asking questions and acting om the responses, According Io Brown (1989, p.223), cvaluation is the systematic collection and analysis of all relevant information necessary to promote the improvement of a curiculum and assess its effectiveness and efficiency, as well as the participanls’ attitudes within the context of the particular institutions involved

Rea- Dickins and Germaine (1992) claini thal cvaluation is an intrinsic parl of teaching and learning, It can provide a wealth of information to use for the futwe of classroom practice, for planning of courses, and for the management of learning tasks and students, ‘They assert that “making evaluative judgments is therefore a feature of social life,

‘bul evaluation is nol always somelling [hat we do ina principle and systematic way”

Evaluation plays three interrelated and overlapping roles in course design The first

is evaluating needs, the second is evaluate students’ learnmg and the third is evaluating the course itself (Graves, 2000, p.207) While evaluation entails the collection of information on what foansrs can do in the targel language, it also involves additional processes designed to assist us in interpreting and acting on the results of our evaluation

Graves also believes that cvaluation can be both formative and summative Formative evaluation, whose purpose is pedagogically motivated (Hedge, 2000, p 376), lakes place as Ihe course is in progress and provides information about how well the students are doing what they have achieved, what they need to work on, and how well the course is meeting their needs Summative evaluation is done at the end of a course and provides information about the studenls’ overall achievement as well as the overall effectiveness of the cowse

Hedge (2000) also refurs to the term “evaluation” as “the assessment of students at the end of the course, Recently, however, the meaning of evaluation is understood as an assessmen! of all aspects of a programn Dvalualion can relal lo course and learners in a mumber of ways First, the couse can be judged as it is planned Second, all what are

Chapter 2 Literature review

2.1 An overview of evaluation

‘There are many definitions of evaluation Basically, evaluation is asking questions and acting om the responses, According Io Brown (1989, p.223), cvaluation is the systematic collection and analysis of all relevant information necessary to promote the improvement of a curiculum and assess its effectiveness and efficiency, as well as the participanls’ attitudes within the context of the particular institutions involved

Rea- Dickins and Germaine (1992) claini thal cvaluation is an intrinsic parl of teaching and learning, It can provide a wealth of information to use for the futwe of classroom practice, for planning of courses, and for the management of learning tasks and students, ‘They assert that “making evaluative judgments is therefore a feature of social life,

‘bul evaluation is nol always somelling [hat we do ina principle and systematic way”

Evaluation plays three interrelated and overlapping roles in course design The first

is evaluating needs, the second is evaluate students’ learnmg and the third is evaluating the course itself (Graves, 2000, p.207) While evaluation entails the collection of information on what foansrs can do in the targel language, it also involves additional

processes designed to assist us in interpreting and acting on the results of our evaluation

Graves also believes that cvaluation can be both formative and summative Formative evaluation, whose purpose is pedagogically motivated (Hedge, 2000, p 376), lakes place as Ihe course is in progress and provides information about how well the students are doing what they have achieved, what they need to work on, and how well the course is meeting their needs Summative evaluation is done at the end of a course and provides information about the studenls’ overall achievement as well as the overall effectiveness of the cowse

Hedge (2000) also refurs to the term “evaluation” as “the assessment of students at the end of the course, Recently, however, the meaning of evaluation is understood as an assessmen! of all aspects of a programn Dvalualion can relal lo course and learners in a mumber of ways First, the couse can be judged as it is planned Second, all what are

It is native to base a course design simply on the target objectives, just as

it is native to think that a joumey can be planned solely in terms of the starting point and the destination ‘I'he needs, potential and constrains of the route (ie the leaning situation) must also be taken into account, if we are going to have any usefull analysis of learners’ needs (p.61)

On the basis of the theory above, information on leamers’ needs is often collected and analyzed in the various steps of teaching and leaming, ftom the course design,

implementation Lo the svaluation,

2LL2 The roles of needs analysis

Needs analysis is of great importance in defining and meeting the various needs of particular learners The course designer has to analyze the learners’ needs so as to design appropriate course and help the learners to acquire English more effectively and

successfully Discussing the important role of needs analysis, [lutchinson & Walters

(1987) assorL thai

If Icarners, sponsors and teachers know why learners need English, that awareness will have an influence on what will be acceptable as reasonable content in the language course, and on the positive side, what potential can

- Needs are considered to be what students themselves would like to gain from

and wants,

“Necessities are the type of needs which are determined by the demands of the target situation, that is what learner has to know in order to function effectively in the target situation” (Hutchinson & Wallers 1987, p.55) In olher words, ‘lies ean be

Wants is one of the terms of target needs with the actual learners playing active role thal is the learners have a view as lo what their needs are, Richierich (1984) comments that needs do not exist independently of'a person, People build the image of their needs on the basis of data relating to themselves and their environment

In conclusion, within the category of target needs, further division under necessities, lacks and wants in which the route ftom the starting point (lacks) to the destination (necessitics) and what the destination should be (wants) form the so called learning needs (Hutchinson & Walters, 1993, p.60)

In other words, learning needs are defined in terms of what the leaner needs to do

in order to learn Llowever, to the destination successfully, Llutchinson & Walters (1987)

point out

Chapter 1 Introduction

1.1 Theoretical background

Recently, along with the development of technology and business, English is considered to be the language of opportunily thal is the reason why the đennmd of English: has remarkably changed, Particularly in Vietnam, people usc English to learn better, to know more about new technology and be able to get a good job For many reasons, English has gradually become the most widely used language in international relations, In Vietwam, many foreign companies, the majority of which use English as a medium of commmnication, have come and invested in various fields like tourism, electronics, isleconmunicalion, bariking, transportation, environment, ait industry, ete Therefore, how

to teach and learn English effectively has become an important mssion to meet the great demand for communication with foreigners, especially in various fields mentioned above

‘That is the reason why Ihe demand of good English usors is higher spat ly in the field of

cls the

translation and incrpretation, Another issuc is whether the designed syHabus me

expectation of both teachers and leamers In this light, evaluation is very important for teachers because of the firture direction in classroom practice the planning of course and the management of learning tasks and students (Rea- Dinkins and Germaine, 1992)

Being the syslemalic collection and analysis of all relevant information necessary to promote the improvement of'a syllabus and assessment of its effectiveness and efficiency,

as well as the participants’ attitudes within the context of particular institutions involved

(Rea Dinkins and Germaine, 1992 p.3), evaluation plays three interrelated and overlapping roles in couse design They are evaluating needs, student’ learning and the course itself (Grave, 2000, p.207) Evaluation could be done at the end of a course and provides information aboul the students’ overall achievement as well as the overall effsotivenass of the course (Hedge, 2000, p 375) for ñmther amprovement When you evaluate the course, you assess what your course design has achieved with respect to you inlention in designing it (Grave, 2000, p.207) However, 2 uation is not an easy job as il needs to take into consideration many different factors such as course objectives, time allocation, material and assessment, once completed, the evaluation of a course can help

actually happening in the classroom can be observed, described and assessed ‘hus, there

is parallel between assessing the sludenis’ learning and svalusting the course According to

DELL Needs

In fact, there are different discussions about the meanings of needs Researchers

like R Berwick, H.G Widdowson and P.C Robinson and ' Hutchinson & A Walter

expressed their opinion about needs as follows:

+ Needs can refer to leamers” study or job requirement that is what they have to

be able to do at the cnd of their language course, This is called to be a goal-

oriented definition of needs (Widdowson, 1981, p.2)

- Needs can be considered what the learners need to do to actually acquue the language ‘his is a process- oriented definition of needs and the means of

learning

(Widdowson, 1981, p.2)

Chapter 1 Introduction

1.1 Theoretical background

Recently, along with the development of technology and business, English is considered to be the language of opportunily thal is the reason why the đennmd of English: has remarkably changed, Particularly in Vietnam, people usc English to learn better, to know more about new technology and be able to get a good job For many reasons, English has gradually become the most widely used language in international relations, In Vietwam, many foreign companies, the majority of which use English as a medium of commmnication, have come and invested in various fields like tourism, electronics, isleconmunicalion, bariking, transportation, environment, ait industry, ete Therefore, how

to teach and learn English effectively has become an important mssion to meet the great demand for communication with foreigners, especially in various fields mentioned above

‘That is the reason why Ihe demand of good English usors is higher spat ly in the field of

cls the

translation and incrpretation, Another issuc is whether the designed syHabus me

expectation of both teachers and leamers In this light, evaluation is very important for teachers because of the firture direction in classroom practice the planning of course and the management of learning tasks and students (Rea- Dinkins and Germaine, 1992)

Being the syslemalic collection and analysis of all relevant information necessary to promote the improvement of'a syllabus and assessment of its effectiveness and efficiency,

as well as the participants’ attitudes within the context of particular institutions involved

(Rea Dinkins and Germaine, 1992 p.3), evaluation plays three interrelated and overlapping roles in couse design They are evaluating needs, student’ learning and the course itself (Grave, 2000, p.207) Evaluation could be done at the end of a course and provides information aboul the students’ overall achievement as well as the overall effsotivenass of the course (Hedge, 2000, p 375) for ñmther amprovement When you evaluate the course, you assess what your course design has achieved with respect to you inlention in designing it (Grave, 2000, p.207) However, 2 uation is not an easy job as il needs to take into consideration many different factors such as course objectives, time allocation, material and assessment, once completed, the evaluation of a course can help

further improve the course With the aim to make a better change in the implementation of

the 3° semester English reading syllabus for English major studorts al Hanoi University of Industry (HaUT) this study focuses on evaluating the syllabus developed by teachers at the English Department at IlaUI regarding factors such as course objectives, tims allocation,

material and assessment,

1.2 Background of the study

Hanoi University of Industry (lat), which previously known as a collsge of vocational training, was founded in 2005 Previously, English was taught as a compulsory subject following the requirement of Ministry of Education and ‘Training After finishing the college, students only need to master basic level of Generat English (GE) Although al that time English was a compulsory subject, students and teachers did not consider English

as important as other subjects, thus teachers thought that it was not necessary to evaluate

any GE syllabuses

Recently, recognizing the needs of society for good English for Specific Purposes (ESP) teachers, translators and interpreters, HaUl establishes its English Department at the same time of Hall's foundation The ultimate goal of the English Department is to train ESP teachers, translators and interpreters who need both English and knowledge in specific fields of science and technology The English Department has 50 teachers who mostly graduated fiom University of Foreign Languages in Hanoi and some fiom other places nationwide to meet the demand of training At present, these English teachers are able to

teach GE as well as ESP

1.3 Statement of the problem

Having been teaching af Tlanoi University of Industry (TalJ1) for five years, T have

used many syllabuses in teaching English for different kinds of students namely non- English major students, for ESP, and for English major students As far as [ am concerned, the English syllabi at IlaU] have not ever been evaluated yet J, therefore, would like to

- Needs are considered to be what students themselves would like to gain from the language course In Ibis sonsc “needs are perhaps tors approprialcly described as objectives” (Berwick, 1989, p $7)

- Needs may be interpreted as lacks, that is what students do not know or cannot

do in English (Robinson, 1991, p 8)

In this study, learners’ needs will be taken info account under Hutchinson and Walters’ point of view in terms of target needs and learning needs Target needs are what the Icamer needs to do in the target situation and can be categorized as necessities, lacks

and wants,

“Necessities are the type of needs which are determined by the demands of the target situation, that is what learner has to know in order to function effectively in the target situation” (Hutchinson & Wallers 1987, p.55) In olher words, ‘lies ean be regarded as learners’ target proficiency the scope of the language knowledge and skills that learners are supposed to acquire on completing a course

Lacks are the gap between the target proficiency and the existing proficiency of the learners’ (Hutchinson & Waltors 1987, p.56) Tn other words, information about learners” lacks will help the designer to determine how much language training, is needed to bridge the gap between learners” entry level and their exit one

Wants is one of the terms of target needs with the actual learners playing active role thal is the learners have a view as lo what their needs are, Richierich (1984) comments that needs do not exist independently of'a person, People build the image of their needs on the basis of data relating to themselves and their environment

In conclusion, within the category of target needs, further division under necessities, lacks and wants in which the route ftom the starting point (lacks) to the destination (necessitics) and what the destination should be (wants) form the so called learning needs (Hutchinson & Walters, 1993, p.60)

In other words, learning needs are defined in terms of what the leaner needs to do

in order to learn Llowever, to the destination successfully, Llutchinson & Walters (1987)

point out

further improve the course With the aim to make a better change in the implementation of

the 3° semester English reading syllabus for English major studorts al Hanoi University of Industry (HaUT) this study focuses on evaluating the syllabus developed by teachers at the English Department at IlaUI regarding factors such as course objectives, tims allocation,

material and assessment,

1.2 Background of the study

Hanoi University of Industry (lat), which previously known as a collsge of vocational training, was founded in 2005 Previously, English was taught as a compulsory subject following the requirement of Ministry of Education and ‘Training After finishing the college, students only need to master basic level of Generat English (GE) Although al that time English was a compulsory subject, students and teachers did not consider English

as important as other subjects, thus teachers thought that it was not necessary to evaluate

any GE syllabuses

Recently, recognizing the needs of society for good English for Specific Purposes (ESP) teachers, translators and interpreters, HaUl establishes its English Department at the same time of Hall's foundation The ultimate goal of the English Department is to train ESP teachers, translators and interpreters who need both English and knowledge in specific fields of science and technology The English Department has 50 teachers who mostly graduated fiom University of Foreign Languages in Hanoi and some fiom other places nationwide to meet the demand of training At present, these English teachers are able to

teach GE as well as ESP

1.3 Statement of the problem

Having been teaching af Tlanoi University of Industry (TalJ1) for five years, T have

used many syllabuses in teaching English for different kinds of students namely non- English major students, for ESP, and for English major students As far as [ am concerned, the English syllabi at IlaU] have not ever been evaluated yet J, therefore, would like to

My study is targeted at the 3° semester reading syllabus of Linglish major students of the

English Department

1.4 Objective and structure of the study

The ullimale goal of the sludy is lo cvatuals the current 3% semester reading syllabus (thercafler called the syllabus) for English major students al HalT Due to time constrain, T plan to conduct the research to find answers to the following questions:

i To what extent does the syllabus meet the expectations of both teachers and leamers in terms of course objectives, time allocation, materials and assessment?

2 What are the suggestions to further kuprave the syllabus?

Such findings will provide insights into the strengths and weaknesses of the ourrent syllabus and help propose some revommendations for an even beticr syllabus

The thesis is onganived imo five chaplers Chapter 1 is the Introduction, Chapter 5 is the Conclusion Chapter 2, Literature Review, consists of an overview of evaluation, reading process and of syllabus Chapter 3, the Study deals with the methodology of the study dolailing the dala collections and analysi Chaplv 4, Findings and Recommendations, provides an insight into the current syllabus with its own strengths and weakness in real situation via feedbacks from students and teachers, It also gives recommendations for an even better syllabus

further improve the course With the aim to make a better change in the implementation of

the 3° semester English reading syllabus for English major studorts al Hanoi University of Industry (HaUT) this study focuses on evaluating the syllabus developed by teachers at the English Department at IlaUI regarding factors such as course objectives, tims allocation,

material and assessment,

1.2 Background of the study

Hanoi University of Industry (lat), which previously known as a collsge of vocational training, was founded in 2005 Previously, English was taught as a compulsory subject following the requirement of Ministry of Education and ‘Training After finishing the college, students only need to master basic level of Generat English (GE) Although al that time English was a compulsory subject, students and teachers did not consider English

as important as other subjects, thus teachers thought that it was not necessary to evaluate

any GE syllabuses

Recently, recognizing the needs of society for good English for Specific Purposes (ESP) teachers, translators and interpreters, HaUl establishes its English Department at the same time of Hall's foundation The ultimate goal of the English Department is to train ESP teachers, translators and interpreters who need both English and knowledge in specific fields of science and technology The English Department has 50 teachers who mostly graduated fiom University of Foreign Languages in Hanoi and some fiom other places nationwide to meet the demand of training At present, these English teachers are able to

teach GE as well as ESP

1.3 Statement of the problem

Having been teaching af Tlanoi University of Industry (TalJ1) for five years, T have

used many syllabuses in teaching English for different kinds of students namely non- English major students, for ESP, and for English major students As far as [ am concerned, the English syllabi at IlaU] have not ever been evaluated yet J, therefore, would like to

It is native to base a course design simply on the target objectives, just as

it is native to think that a joumey can be planned solely in terms of the starting point and the destination ‘I'he needs, potential and constrains of the route (ie the leaning situation) must also be taken into account, if we are going to have any usefull analysis of learners’ needs (p.61)

On the basis of the theory above, information on leamers’ needs is often collected and analyzed in the various steps of teaching and leaming, ftom the course design,

implementation Lo the svaluation,

2LL2 The roles of needs analysis

Needs analysis is of great importance in defining and meeting the various needs of particular learners The course designer has to analyze the learners’ needs so as to design appropriate course and help the learners to acquire English more effectively and

successfully Discussing the important role of needs analysis, [lutchinson & Walters

(1987) assorL thai

If Icarners, sponsors and teachers know why learners need English, that awareness will have an influence on what will be acceptable as reasonable content in the language course, and on the positive side, what potential can

Chapter 2 Literature review

2.1 An overview of evaluation

‘There are many definitions of evaluation Basically, evaluation is asking questions and acting om the responses, According Io Brown (1989, p.223), cvaluation is the systematic collection and analysis of all relevant information necessary to promote the improvement of a curiculum and assess its effectiveness and efficiency, as well as the participanls’ attitudes within the context of the particular institutions involved

Rea- Dickins and Germaine (1992) claini thal cvaluation is an intrinsic parl of teaching and learning, It can provide a wealth of information to use for the futwe of classroom practice, for planning of courses, and for the management of learning tasks and students, ‘They assert that “making evaluative judgments is therefore a feature of social life,

‘bul evaluation is nol always somelling [hat we do ina principle and systematic way”

Evaluation plays three interrelated and overlapping roles in course design The first

is evaluating needs, the second is evaluate students’ learnmg and the third is evaluating the course itself (Graves, 2000, p.207) While evaluation entails the collection of information on what foansrs can do in the targel language, it also involves additional

processes designed to assist us in interpreting and acting on the results of our evaluation

Graves also believes that cvaluation can be both formative and summative Formative evaluation, whose purpose is pedagogically motivated (Hedge, 2000, p 376), lakes place as Ihe course is in progress and provides information about how well the students are doing what they have achieved, what they need to work on, and how well the course is meeting their needs Summative evaluation is done at the end of a course and provides information about the studenls’ overall achievement as well as the overall effectiveness of the cowse

Hedge (2000) also refurs to the term “evaluation” as “the assessment of students at the end of the course, Recently, however, the meaning of evaluation is understood as an assessmen! of all aspects of a programn Dvalualion can relal lo course and learners in a mumber of ways First, the couse can be judged as it is planned Second, all what are

actually happening in the classroom can be observed, described and assessed ‘hus, there

is parallel between assessing the sludenis’ learning and svalusting the course According to Graves (2000, p 208), when you evaluate the course, you assess what your course design has achieved with respect to your intentions in designing

In conclusion, evaluation relates to courses and learners, it is also inolude the aspcols ofa program so it gar be referred La three notions of cvaluations such as pre-course evaluation, on- course evaluation or post-course evaluation which depend on the purpose

DELL Needs

In fact, there are different discussions about the meanings of needs Researchers

like R Berwick, H.G Widdowson and P.C Robinson and ' Hutchinson & A Walter

expressed their opinion about needs as follows:

+ Needs can refer to leamers” study or job requirement that is what they have to

be able to do at the cnd of their language course, This is called to be a goal-

oriented definition of needs (Widdowson, 1981, p.2)

- Needs can be considered what the learners need to do to actually acquue the language ‘his is a process- oriented definition of needs and the means of

learning

(Widdowson, 1981, p.2)

actually happening in the classroom can be observed, described and assessed ‘hus, there

is parallel between assessing the sludenis’ learning and svalusting the course According to

DELL Needs

In fact, there are different discussions about the meanings of needs Researchers

like R Berwick, H.G Widdowson and P.C Robinson and ' Hutchinson & A Walter

expressed their opinion about needs as follows:

+ Needs can refer to leamers” study or job requirement that is what they have to

be able to do at the cnd of their language course, This is called to be a goal-

oriented definition of needs (Widdowson, 1981, p.2)

- Needs can be considered what the learners need to do to actually acquue the language ‘his is a process- oriented definition of needs and the means of

learning

(Widdowson, 1981, p.2)

actually happening in the classroom can be observed, described and assessed ‘hus, there

is parallel between assessing the sludenis’ learning and svalusting the course According to Graves (2000, p 208), when you evaluate the course, you assess what your course design has achieved with respect to your intentions in designing

In conclusion, evaluation relates to courses and learners, it is also inolude the aspcols ofa program so it gar be referred La three notions of cvaluations such as pre-course evaluation, on- course evaluation or post-course evaluation which depend on the purpose

DELL Needs

In fact, there are different discussions about the meanings of needs Researchers

like R Berwick, H.G Widdowson and P.C Robinson and ' Hutchinson & A Walter

expressed their opinion about needs as follows:

+ Needs can refer to leamers” study or job requirement that is what they have to

be able to do at the cnd of their language course, This is called to be a goal-

oriented definition of needs (Widdowson, 1981, p.2)

- Needs can be considered what the learners need to do to actually acquue the language ‘his is a process- oriented definition of needs and the means of

learning

(Widdowson, 1981, p.2)

actually happening in the classroom can be observed, described and assessed ‘hus, there

is parallel between assessing the sludenis’ learning and svalusting the course According to

DELL Needs

In fact, there are different discussions about the meanings of needs Researchers

like R Berwick, H.G Widdowson and P.C Robinson and ' Hutchinson & A Walter

expressed their opinion about needs as follows:

+ Needs can refer to leamers” study or job requirement that is what they have to

be able to do at the cnd of their language course, This is called to be a goal-

oriented definition of needs (Widdowson, 1981, p.2)

- Needs can be considered what the learners need to do to actually acquue the language ‘his is a process- oriented definition of needs and the means of

learning

(Widdowson, 1981, p.2)

My study is targeted at the 3° semester reading syllabus of Linglish major students of the

English Department

1.4 Objective and structure of the study

The ullimale goal of the sludy is lo cvatuals the current 3% semester reading syllabus (thercafler called the syllabus) for English major students al HalT Due to time constrain, T plan to conduct the research to find answers to the following questions:

i To what extent does the syllabus meet the expectations of both teachers and leamers in terms of course objectives, time allocation, materials and assessment?

2 What are the suggestions to further kuprave the syllabus?

Such findings will provide insights into the strengths and weaknesses of the ourrent syllabus and help propose some revommendations for an even beticr syllabus

The thesis is onganived imo five chaplers Chapter 1 is the Introduction, Chapter 5 is the Conclusion Chapter 2, Literature Review, consists of an overview of evaluation, reading process and of syllabus Chapter 3, the Study deals with the methodology of the study dolailing the dala collections and analysi Chaplv 4, Findings and Recommendations, provides an insight into the current syllabus with its own strengths and weakness in real situation via feedbacks from students and teachers, It also gives recommendations for an even better syllabus

Chapter 2 Literature review

2.1 An overview of evaluation

‘There are many definitions of evaluation Basically, evaluation is asking questions and acting om the responses, According Io Brown (1989, p.223), cvaluation is the systematic collection and analysis of all relevant information necessary to promote the improvement of a curiculum and assess its effectiveness and efficiency, as well as the participanls’ attitudes within the context of the particular institutions involved

Rea- Dickins and Germaine (1992) claini thal cvaluation is an intrinsic parl of teaching and learning, It can provide a wealth of information to use for the futwe of classroom practice, for planning of courses, and for the management of learning tasks and students, ‘They assert that “making evaluative judgments is therefore a feature of social life,

‘bul evaluation is nol always somelling [hat we do ina principle and systematic way”

Evaluation plays three interrelated and overlapping roles in course design The first

is evaluating needs, the second is evaluate students’ learnmg and the third is evaluating the course itself (Graves, 2000, p.207) While evaluation entails the collection of information on what foansrs can do in the targel language, it also involves additional

processes designed to assist us in interpreting and acting on the results of our evaluation

Graves also believes that cvaluation can be both formative and summative Formative evaluation, whose purpose is pedagogically motivated (Hedge, 2000, p 376), lakes place as Ihe course is in progress and provides information about how well the students are doing what they have achieved, what they need to work on, and how well the course is meeting their needs Summative evaluation is done at the end of a course and provides information about the studenls’ overall achievement as well as the overall effectiveness of the cowse

Hedge (2000) also refurs to the term “evaluation” as “the assessment of students at the end of the course, Recently, however, the meaning of evaluation is understood as an assessmen! of all aspects of a programn Dvalualion can relal lo course and learners in a mumber of ways First, the couse can be judged as it is planned Second, all what are

It is native to base a course design simply on the target objectives, just as

it is native to think that a joumey can be planned solely in terms of the starting point and the destination ‘I'he needs, potential and constrains of the route (ie the leaning situation) must also be taken into account, if we are going to have any usefull analysis of learners’ needs (p.61)

On the basis of the theory above, information on leamers’ needs is often collected and analyzed in the various steps of teaching and leaming, ftom the course design,

implementation Lo the svaluation,

2LL2 The roles of needs analysis

Needs analysis is of great importance in defining and meeting the various needs of particular learners The course designer has to analyze the learners’ needs so as to design appropriate course and help the learners to acquire English more effectively and

successfully Discussing the important role of needs analysis, [lutchinson & Walters

(1987) assorL thai

If Icarners, sponsors and teachers know why learners need English, that awareness will have an influence on what will be acceptable as reasonable content in the language course, and on the positive side, what potential can

actually happening in the classroom can be observed, described and assessed ‘hus, there

is parallel between assessing the sludenis’ learning and svalusting the course According to

DELL Needs

In fact, there are different discussions about the meanings of needs Researchers

like R Berwick, H.G Widdowson and P.C Robinson and ' Hutchinson & A Walter

expressed their opinion about needs as follows:

+ Needs can refer to leamers” study or job requirement that is what they have to

be able to do at the cnd of their language course, This is called to be a goal-

oriented definition of needs (Widdowson, 1981, p.2)

- Needs can be considered what the learners need to do to actually acquue the language ‘his is a process- oriented definition of needs and the means of

learning

(Widdowson, 1981, p.2)

Chapter 2 Literature review

2.1 An overview of evaluation

‘There are many definitions of evaluation Basically, evaluation is asking questions and acting om the responses, According Io Brown (1989, p.223), cvaluation is the systematic collection and analysis of all relevant information necessary to promote the improvement of a curiculum and assess its effectiveness and efficiency, as well as the participanls’ attitudes within the context of the particular institutions involved

Rea- Dickins and Germaine (1992) claini thal cvaluation is an intrinsic parl of teaching and learning, It can provide a wealth of information to use for the futwe of classroom practice, for planning of courses, and for the management of learning tasks and students, ‘They assert that “making evaluative judgments is therefore a feature of social life,

‘bul evaluation is nol always somelling [hat we do ina principle and systematic way”

Evaluation plays three interrelated and overlapping roles in course design The first

is evaluating needs, the second is evaluate students’ learnmg and the third is evaluating the course itself (Graves, 2000, p.207) While evaluation entails the collection of information on what foansrs can do in the targel language, it also involves additional processes designed to assist us in interpreting and acting on the results of our evaluation

Graves also believes that cvaluation can be both formative and summative Formative evaluation, whose purpose is pedagogically motivated (Hedge, 2000, p 376), lakes place as Ihe course is in progress and provides information about how well the students are doing what they have achieved, what they need to work on, and how well the course is meeting their needs Summative evaluation is done at the end of a course and provides information about the studenls’ overall achievement as well as the overall effectiveness of the cowse

Hedge (2000) also refurs to the term “evaluation” as “the assessment of students at the end of the course, Recently, however, the meaning of evaluation is understood as an assessmen! of all aspects of a programn Dvalualion can relal lo course and learners in a mumber of ways First, the couse can be judged as it is planned Second, all what are