000084282 AN EVALUATION OF THE ESP MATERIALS FOR THIRD YEAR STUDENTS OF GENERAL MEDICINE AT THAIBINH MEDICAL UNIVERSITY ĐÁNH GIÁ TÀI LIỆU ESP DÀNH CHO SINH VIÊN NĂM THỨ BA BÁC SĨ ĐA KHOA TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC Y KHOA THÁI BÌNH
B a c k g r o u n d t o t h e s t u d y
An overview o f English teaching and learning at Thaibinh Medical University
1.1.1 An overview of English teaching and learning at Thaibinh Medical University
Thai Binh Medical University (TBMU), established in 1968, is a prestigious medical university in Vietnam's Northern Delta Each year, thousands of students from northern provinces, as well as hundreds from Laos and Cambodia, are trained to become general physicians TBMU comprises five main faculties: Public Health, Traditional Medicine, Pharmaceuticals, Basic Science, and Clinical Science The English Section operates under the Foreign Department of the Faculty of Basic Science, supporting international and English-language medical education The university is renowned for preparing future healthcare professionals and advancing medical education in the region.
At TBMU, English is a crucial subject for both teachers and students because Vietnam’s medical sector has not developed as rapidly as in other countries, requiring Vietnamese doctors and medical educators to study advanced techniques from abroad, many of which are taught in English A substantial portion of TBMU’s medical training documents, especially clinical materials, are in English Even after graduation, doctors must read and study English-language medical literature to implement new techniques in patient care Consequently, English is a compulsory subject at TBMU.
TBMU's English language teaching is carried out by eight members of the English section, aged 26 to 53 Three hold MA degrees in TESOL, with another teacher set to complete an MA in TESOL by the end of 2009 Two instructors were educated in the English language department at the Foreign Language College or Hanoi University of Foreign Studies, while the remaining teachers are retrained in Russian Collectively, they bring extensive English teaching experience and solid background knowledge, equipping them to meet the university’s English learning needs, and they consistently show great enthusiasm and commitment to teaching.
At TBMU, students come from diverse areas across northern and central Vietnam and have studied a foreign language in school—English, French, or Russian Most students have studied English for three to seven years during high school.
Since 1990, English has been a compulsory subject at TBMU, and English for Specific Purposes (ESP) was not taught to students until 2000 Today, TBMU’s English training for General Medicine students totals 300 class hours and is structured in two stages: 240 hours for General English (GE) and the remaining hours for ESP In the first stage, the program lasts two years.
Alongside revising General English grammar published by the English teachers in TBMU’s Foreign Language Department, students study General English with Streamline English: Departures, Connections and Destinations by Bernard Hartley and Peter Viney This stage equips learners with substantial general knowledge of English and communication skills, so that by the end they reach a pre-intermediate level and are ready for ESP In the second stage (term 5), they undertake 60 fifty-minute ESP sessions—English in medicine However, under the Ministry of Education and Training’s new curriculum, actual ESP teaching time at universities is 48 fifty-minute periods, with 12 periods allocated for home practice The aims of teaching ESP for General Medicine students are to develop medical English proficiency and the communication skills necessary in clinical contexts.
This course equips students with essential grammar knowledge, robust reading and translation skills, and a targeted vocabulary of specialized English terms, so that by the end of the program they can read, understand, and translate materials related to their field of study.
In order to meet these purposes, ESP materials were developed and used as reading materials for the students at TBMU.
The ESP materials
Since 2003, ESP materials have served as the core curriculum for General Medicine students They were selected by a committee of English teachers in the English section at TBMU These materials comprise texts drawn from published books titled "The Community Health Worker: Guidelines for Training."
Key sources informing this article include the World Health Organization's "Your Health" materials, the Macquarie University National Center for English Language Teaching and Research, and Alan B Steinbach's "The Language of Medicine in English," alongside English textbooks used by medical students at Hanoi University of Medicine and the University of Public Health Together, these references demonstrate how medical English is taught and standardized to improve clinical communication, terminology accuracy, and patient understanding across international health education programs.
English Book for Medical Students is designed to develop reading and translating skills among medical students It includes annexes such as medical labels, medical certificates, a World Health Organization report form, medical abbreviations, and lists of health units and officials The core material comprises 30 units, with 14 focusing on Public Health and the remaining 16 addressing Clinical and Laboratory Medicine The first 14 units feature texts, a glossary, and a language focus, while the last 16 units provide reading texts and exercises Each unit typically contains a reading passage of about 300–500 words and a glossary to look up new medical words or phrases encountered in the text The final part, language focus, presents new grammatical points or revises grammar structures studied in the General English stage Across all units, the reading and translating skills are the central emphasis.
The ESP students o f General M edicine
The ESP students have already finished the GE stage in 4 terms and at the end o f the
During the General English (GE) stage, learners are assumed to have pre-intermediate English proficiency sufficient to advance to the English for Specific Purposes (ESP) stage Consequently, students at this stage share a similar English background irrespective of how many years they have studied, and they have already learned basic scientific subjects such as mathematics, chemistry, and physics In terms of subject matter expertise, they remain beginners in their field, with foundational medical topics including biochemistry, physiology, and histology In the fifth semester, the curriculum begins to introduce General Medicine subjects—internal medicine, surgery, obstetrics, pediatrics—so ESP study starts; however, overall these ESP students continue to have limited knowledge of their specialist medical domain.
Among medical students, most are aware of the importance of English in general and English for Specific Purposes (ESP) in particular for their future studies and careers, and as a result they devote substantial attention to the ESP stage.
S t a t e m e n t o f t h e p r o b l e m
Materials, together with needs analysis, language objectives, language testing, and language teaching, form five crucial components for the success of any language course; among these, materials play an undeniable role by stimulating learning, enhancing teaching, and helping learners achieve their goals more quickly Choosing materials that align with course objectives and students’ needs is a necessary requirement for teachers and course designers The current ESP material for third-year medical students, English Book for Medical Students, was compiled by TBMU English instructors in 2002 to meet university requirements for ESP training, but it did so without considering students’ needs due to limited experience and time for course preparation Since its completion, the book has been approved as the official course book for teaching third-year General Medicine at TBMU and has been in use for more than five years To date, there have been differing opinions among teachers and students about the material, but there have been no evaluations to determine whether it is appropriate for teaching, whether it meets the course objectives and student needs, whether vocabulary items and technical terms are excessive, or whether the units are long and difficult to understand These gaps prompted the study’s author to conduct an evaluation of the ESP material used for TBMU’s third-year General Medicine students to assess its alignment with student needs and course objectives, and to propose improvements for ESP teaching and learning at TBMU based on the findings.
A i m s o f t h e s t u d y
This study evaluates the current ESP material, “English Book for Medical Students,” used by third-year General Medicine students at TBMU, examining its aims, content, and methodology to determine whether the material meets students’ needs and aligns with course objectives It also assesses how effectively the book supports learning and teaching within TBMU’s medical education context The analysis seeks to reveal gaps between user needs, curricular goals, and the ESP design in order to inform improvements The findings are intended to provide data-driven recommendations for changes to enhance its effectiveness for future use.
R e s e a r c h q u e s t i o n s
This study conducts a needs analysis to identify the target and learning needs of third-year medical students at TBMU, assesses whether the ESP textbook "English Book for Medical Students" meets those needs, and examines whether the material aligns with the course objectives in terms of aims, content, and teaching methodology.
S i g n i f i c a n c e o f t h e s t u d y
This study holds significant value for both the researcher and the ESP teaching‑learning context at TBMU For the researcher, it enhances her ESP teaching experience and provides valuable insights into designing and evaluating materials to determine their suitability for her students, enabling easier assessment of other teaching resources Evaluating TBMU’s current ESP materials will identify their strengths and weaknesses, guiding improvements to raise the quality of the materials and strengthen ESP instruction at TBMU The findings will offer reliable evidence to adjust materials to better fit students’ needs and the course objectives Finally, the study supports appropriate changes to the ESP course syllabus.
S c o p e o f t h e s t u d y
Evaluating teaching materials is a multifaceted task, as noted by language-evaluation experts such as Hutchinson and Waters (1993) and Brown (1995), who identify criteria including audience, content, methodology, physical appearance, cultural bias, and learners’ needs Given limited time, this study narrows its focus to the ESP course requirements for General Medicine students at TBMU, concentrating on aims, content, and methodology to ensure relevance and practicality.
O r g a n i z a t i o n o f t h e t h e s i s
The study consists o f five chapters: Introduction, Literature review, Methodology, Results and Discussion, and Recommendations and Conclusion.
Chapter One - Introduction - introduces the background o f the study The statements of the problem, aims o f the study, research questions, scope and significance o f the study are also presented.
Chapter Two, the Literature Review, comprises three sections: the first provides an overview of the theories related to reading and reading materials; the second discusses ESP and materials evaluation; and the third concentrates on theories of needs analysis in ESP.
Chapter Three, Methodology, outlines the research design and methods used in this study, detailing the data collection instruments, the study participants, the data collection procedures, and the statistical analyses applied It describes the sampling approach and the characteristics of the subjects, explains how data were gathered and managed, and specifies the analytical techniques used to derive results These methodological elements establish the study’s framework, ensuring rigor, transparency, and replicability of the findings.
Chapter Four - Results and Discussions - presents the preliminary results, data analysis and discussions of the results.
Chapter Five provides conclusions and recommendations by outlining the matching process and proposing concrete improvements to the material It also acknowledges the study's limitations, suggests directions for future research, and closes with a concise summary of the main findings.
Chapter Two provides the theoretical background for evaluating the current teaching materials used by third-year General Medicine students at Thaibinh Medical University, and is organized into five sections: an opening discussion of reading-related issues, a literature review on English for Specific Purposes (ESP) materials in English language teaching and learning and material evaluation, an examination of needs analysis, a survey of prior materials-evaluation studies conducted in various contexts, and a concluding summary that links the theoretical framework to practical material evaluation.
R e a d i n g
Definitions o f reading and reading comprehension
Scholars offer various definitions of reading, yet they converge on reading as an active process of deriving meaning from written text Nuttal (1996, p.4) defines reading as getting a message from a written text, while Williams (1990, p.2) describes reading as a process in which one looks at and understands what has been written Wallace (1992) adds that reading is interpreting and reacting to a written text as a piece of communication Together, these views portray reading as a dynamic act of recognition, interpretation, and perception of printed materials—the process by which we extract meaning from written communication.
Reading is not limited to books and print materials; we also read the world around us—watching the sky for weather, interpreting facial expressions and body language to gauge thoughts and feelings, and assessing unpredictable situations to choose the best action In addition to collecting information from texts, reading encompasses interpretation, analysis, and prediction across diverse contexts.
Reading comprehension is, therefore, an important part o f teaching and learning reading - especially in the context of reading a foreign language Generally, reading comprehension is understood as the process of constructing meaning from text.Another researcher defined reading comprehension as understanding written material that is read, or the process of 'constructing meaning' from written material This means that reading comprehension is a complicated process in which readers must decode the writer's words and then use background knowledge to construct an approximate understanding of the writer's message.
Reading purposes
Reading means different things to different people and it is an activity with a purpose
A person may read in order to gain information or verify existing knowledge, or in order to review a writer's ideas or writing style A person may also read for enjoyment, or to enhance knowledge of the language being read so the reasons for reading also depend much on the purpose for reading.
Reading serves three main purposes: to be informed, to experience literature, and to perform tasks Reading to be informed involves extracting general or specific information from texts and often requires a utilitarian approach and targeted reading strategies, including interpreting adjunct aids such as figures, graphs, maps, and tables that provide supplementary data Reading for literary experience centers on enjoyment and engagement with literary texts to explore the human condition, relate narrative events to personal experience, and examine how emotions, events, and possibilities interact within the selection Reading to perform a task emphasizes applying information or directions from varied materials to complete a specific job, with meaning extending beyond understanding to the execution of a particular activity.
Wallace (1992) identified three main purposes of reading—survival, pleasure, and learning—each described under different names Reading for survival involves responding to the environment and seeking information, driven by day-to-day needs and often requiring an immediate response Reading for pleasure is optional and does not have to be done, while reading for learning is classroom-based and goal-oriented In the current study, the focus is on learning or task-oriented reading.
In ESP reading, the aim is to shift from treating text as a linguistic object to treating it as a vehicle of information, prioritizing quick and accurate information extraction over linguistic details Understanding the macrostructure comes before language study, and applying the information in the text is paramount The reader processes the language first and then links ideas to prior knowledge For TBMU’s third-year General Medicine students, the goal is to enrich medical English and develop reading skills to understand English specialist materials in university study and beyond, so the instructional material should align with these purposes.
Reading sub-skills
Reading skills are the specific abilities that enable a reader to treat the written form as meaningful language, read with independence, comprehension and fluency, and to mentally engage with the message Wallace (1992) argues that we read selectively and flexibly, tailoring our approach to the function of the text and our purpose within a given context Hedge (2000) notes that different reading purposes determine distinct strategies and reading rates In terms of skill classification, Munby (1978) presents a taxonomy of 54 language skills in his Communicative Syllabus Design, a framework long regarded as the most complete and still widely used in language teaching and research (Vieira, 1993).
Gillett (2007), in Using English for Academic Purposes: A Guide for Students in Higher Education, outlines essential reading skills for academic study and groups them into five areas: understanding meaning, understanding relationships in the text, understanding important points, reading efficiently, and note-taking.
Alderson (1984) identifies essential ESP skills, including skimming for content and meaning, scanning for specifics, identifying organizational patterns, and understanding the relations within sentences and across sentences The framework also highlights the use of cohesive devices and discourse markers to connect ideas and signal relationships, supporting learners in interpreting and producing coherent ESP texts.
Dudley-Evans and St John (1998) argue that an ESP course should cultivate eleven key transferable skills for the new language, including understanding how sentences relate to one another and using cohesive and discourse markers; leveraging textual features such as headings and layout; and employing reading strategies like scanning for specifics and skimming for overall content and meaning These capabilities enable learners to handle authentic texts effectively in a specialized domain.
It can be seen that the readers in common, the EAP students and ESP learners in particular, need similar reading skills for their reading The main skills include:
■S Deducing the meaning and use o f unfamiliar lexical items,
S Scanning for specifically required information,
S Understanding relations between parts o f a text through lexical cohesion devices,
■S U n d ersta n d in g rela tio n s b e tw e e n parts o f a tex t through gra m m atica l c o h e s io n devices
Different from those researchers, one website gives out five different reading skills that are also considered “key” ones to help readers read more effectively and quickly They are:
• Previewing: reviewing titles, section headings, and photo captions to get a sense o f the structure and content of a reading selection
Predicting in reading involves using knowledge of the subject matter to anticipate content and key vocabulary while monitoring comprehension It also means drawing on knowledge of the text type and its purpose to forecast the discourse structure, including likely sections, arguments, and transitions Additionally, awareness of the author helps readers anticipate writing style, tone, and recurring vocabulary, which further guides expectations of content and clarity By combining subject-matter knowledge, text-type expectations, and author cues, readers construct more accurate predictions that sustain engagement and improve understanding.
• Skimming and scanning: using a quick survey o f the text to get the main idea, identify text structure, confirm or question predictions
Guessing from context is a reading strategy that uses your prior knowledge and the ideas in the text as clues to the meanings of unfamiliar words, rather than stopping to look them up By inferring word meaning from surrounding sentences and the overall topic, readers maintain reading fluency and strengthen comprehension Using context clues helps decode new vocabulary quickly and builds a more confident, efficient reader.
• Paraphrasing: stopping at the end of a section to check comprehension by restating the information and ideas in the text
Understanding these skills would help the researcher gather information on students’ needs on reading skills and compare them with the ones in the material.
The role o f reading skills in ESP teaching and learning
Reading is a fundamental language skill essential for any language learner, important for both academic work and future professional success Nuttall (1982) argues that an effective reading program should help students read authentic texts at an appropriate pace, silently, with adequate understanding, underscoring the central role of reading comprehension In English for Specific Purposes (ESP) teaching, the importance of reading skills is even greater because ESP courses typically span about five months, during which medical students cannot master every specialization in English—vocabulary, grammar structures, and topics Therefore, the main objective of ESP is to equip students with the reading strategies they need to read and comprehend authentic English materials after the course In short, we give them the fishing rod, not the fish.
A brief overview o f ESP
English for Specific Purposes (ESP) has become a crucial part of English language learning, driven by the need to engage with technology and commerce on a global scale People study English not for pleasure or prestige, but because fluency opens doors to international opportunities in specialized fields Knowledge of a foreign language is widely regarded as a marker of broad education, and ESP programs tailor instruction to professional needs, producing learners who know exactly why they are studying—such as doctors who must stay current with developments in their field.
Since the early 1960s, English for Specific Purposes (ESP) has expanded with more ESP courses for overseas students in English-speaking countries, becoming a lively strand of English Language Teaching (ELT) Although still part of ELT, ESP has developed its own procedures—needs analysis, specialized materials, and dedicated teaching methodologies (Dudley-Evans and St John, 1998) The emphasis in ESP definition is on teaching that designs procedures for learners whose main aim is learning English for a purpose beyond the language system, whether educational or professional, with ESP justified by how well it helps them fulfill those purposes ESP has been defined by many writers and researchers; Anthony (1997) notes ongoing debate about what ESP means despite four decades of widespread use, while Mackay and Mountford (1978) describe ESP as teaching English for a clear utilitarian purpose.
Many authors have pointed out that ESP courses are built on the need to express the facts and ideas of specific subject areas, with the aim that learners can read the specialized material confidently and speak about it fluently Strevens (1988) defines four absolute characteristics and two variable characteristics of ESP, providing a framework that highlights the core features of ESP course design.
ESP is designed to meet specific needs of the learners
ESP is related in content (that is in its themes and topic) to particular disciplines, occupation and activities
ESP is centered on language appropriate to those activities in syntax, lexis discourse, semantics and so on, and analysis of the discourse
ESP in contrast with “General English”
ESP may be restricted task to the learning skills to be learned (for example reading only)
ESP may not be taught according to any pre-ordained methodology.
At a 1997 Japan Conference on ESP, Dudley-Evans offered a modified definition The revised definition Dudley-Evans and St John postulate with two characteristics including absolute and variable characteristics as follows:
■ ESP is defined to meet specific needs o f the learner;
• ESP makes use o f the underlying methodology and activities o f the discipline it serves;
■ ESP is centered on the language (grammar, lexis), skills, discourse and genres appropriate to these activities.
■ ESP may be related to or designed for specific disciplines;
■ ESP may use, in specific teaching situations, a different methodology from that o f general English;
■ ESP is likely to be designed for adult learners, either at a tertiary level institution or in a professional work situation It could, however, be for learners at secondary school level;
■ ESP is generally designed for intermediate or advanced students;
• Most ESP courses assume some basic knowledge o f the language system, but it can b e u sed w ith b eg in n ers (1 9 9 8 , p 4 -5 )
English for Specific Purposes (ESP) is, as Hutchinson and Waters (1987) define it, an approach to language teaching in which all decisions about content and method are guided by the learner's reason for learning They argue that the term ESP signals that English is specialized to the principles and procedures that define a particular profession, rather than representing a fixed type of language, teaching material, or methodology In essence, ESP focuses on targeted, purpose-driven learning that meets professional or academic needs, without prescribing a single language variety, material format, or instructional approach.
Regarding types o f ESP, David Carter (1983) identifies three types of ESP:
• English as a restricted language (for example, the language used by air traffic controllers or by waiters)
• English for Academic and Occupational Purposes
The language used by air traffic controllers or by waiters are examples o f English as a restricted language.
English for Academic and Occupational Purposes (ESP) is identified as the second type of ESP by Carter (1983) In Hutchinson and Waters’ Tree of ELT (1987), ESP is divided into three branches: English for Science and Technology (EST), English for Business and Economics (EBE), and English for Social Studies (ESS) Each branch further splits into two sub-branches: English for Academic Purposes (EAP) and English for Occupational Purposes (EOP) For example, within the EST branch, EOP is represented by English for Technicians, while English for Medical Studies serves as an EAP example for the EST branch.
According to Carter (1983), the third and final type of English for Specific Purposes (ESP) is English with specific topics He explains that in this variant the emphasis shifts from overall purpose to the topic itself This form of ESP focuses on anticipated future English needs, such as scientists needing English for postgraduate reading, attending conferences, or working in foreign institutions.
English for Specific Purposes (ESP) plays a crucial role in English language teaching and learning, guiding curriculum design, pedagogy, and assessment to meet learners’ concrete needs As a result, focused attention to the teaching and learning of ESP is essential for delivering relevant, effective instruction that prepares students for real-world communication in their specific domains.
ESP materials
Teaching materials are a central component of language pedagogy, shaping what happens in the classroom and serving as both a resource and a guide for instruction; they are a systematic description of techniques and exercises to be used in teaching, as Brown explains, while Allwright suggests they should help students learn how to learn and provide ideas, activities, and rationales for teachers’ practice; Cunningsworth sees materials as sources of ideas and stimulation for classroom interaction and as references for grammar, vocabulary, and pronunciation, with the added role of acting as a syllabus that aligns with learning objectives and saves teachers’ time; O’Neill notes that a textbook can be complete for an entire term or year, and Edge stresses attractive, reliable, and user-friendly qualities in published materials; at the same time, published materials have drawbacks such as gaps in insight, decision, and creativity, and critics like Ewer and Boys highlight concerns about the validity of linguistic content, accuracy of explanations, and the breadth of exercises, concerns that Richards attributes to publishers prioritizing market needs over actual learner needs; therefore, when applying existing materials, educators should select textbooks with content relevant to learners’ knowledge, ensure topics are familiar and engaging, and align choices with learners’ needs as advised by Nunan.
Selecting commercial materials should be done by aligning them with the program’s goals and objectives and ensuring they reflect your beliefs about the nature of language and learning, as well as your learners’ attitudes, beliefs, and preferences.
Adapting materials means making purposeful changes to existing resources to fit the teaching/learning context Teachers can adopt materials from ministry educational programs or commercial sources and tailor them to their classroom needs In some contexts, materials adaptation is feasible and beneficial because adapted resources can save preparation time and provide scaffolding for less experienced teachers who are still building confidence Tomlinson (1998) defines teaching materials as anything used by teachers or learners to facilitate language learning, including cassettes, videos, CD-ROMs, dictionaries, grammar books, readers, and workbooks, as well as photocopied exercises; they can also be newspapers, photographs, live talks by invited native speakers, teacher instructions, card-based tasks, or discussions between learners In short, any resource used to increase learners’ knowledge or experience of the language qualifies as teaching material.
At this point, materials are vital resources because they stimulate and develop students’ linguistic skills.
Teaching materials play a vital role in English language teaching and learning, and this role is even more critical in English for Specific Purposes (ESP), where ESP-focused materials often serve as the primary source of exposure to the target language that learners need to acquire.
Teaching materials profoundly influence the success of any language teaching program, especially in English for Specific Purposes (ESP) Teachers should design, select, or adapt materials with careful attention to their roles and requirements, ensuring they fit the learners and align with the course aims within the specific teaching context.
Materials for English for Specific Purposes (ESP) come in different forms and are designed for various purposes Hutchinson and Waters (1987, p.96) identify three main modes of material application: existing materials, materials writing, and materials adaptation Robinson (1991, p.56) labels these as published textbooks and in-house or tailor-made materials In this study, the focus is on the three ESP material types proposed by Hutchinson and Waters, examining how each type—existing materials, materials writing, and materials adaptation—can be applied within ESP contexts.
Teachers can leverage existing or published materials and textbooks to support their courses, and, as Robinson (1991, p.58-59) notes, published textbooks offer time-saving advantages, lower costs than in-house materials, greater availability, and easier access for learners to review; however, for English for Specific Purposes (ESP) learners, adapted materials are often more suitable because no textbook can fully meet their particular needs, and adapted materials are reliable, available, and varied in physical form In this study, the material to be evaluated is a type of adaptation used by the English teachers in TBMU’s English section, who drew on several medical English sources to create the current resource (as mentioned in 1.1.2.1) To ensure suitable adapted materials, teachers or course designers should reorganize and sequence materials to fit the program and implement adequate and appropriate activities, with activities in each unit coherently matched to avoid discretion and isolation in the adaptation and to make the adapted textbook complete, a point emphasized in the literature on materials development.
Methods in E LT” (1993) when McDonough and Shaw quote Madsen and Bowen
Originating in 1978, the idea of effective adaptation is that success comes from achieving congruence among several related variables—teaching materials, methodology, students, course objectives, the target language and its context, and the teacher’s personality and teaching style The good teacher continually strives for alignment across these factors to ensure coherent and impactful instruction.
+ Materials writing or in-house materials
Another way is material writing Edge (1993, p 46) pointed out that in most teaching and learning situations, the most important role of teacher-produced materials is to bridge the gap between the classroom and the world outside.
In-house produced materials are highly specific to unique learning situations and offer greater face validity because they reflect the language and contexts learners will encounter, making them more suitable for the intended learners However, they demand higher development costs and take more time to produce than published textbooks or adapted materials If authentic materials are not carefully organized or if data are not properly collected, these resources can become difficult to manage due to issues in both content and language.
Each type of ESP material carries both advantages and drawbacks, and choosing the most suitable materials for a given group of subjects and courses is a complex task that requires substantial time and energy If the wrong choices are made, numerous problems can arise, which motivates the author to evaluate the current ESP materials used at TBMU and to examine adapted materials The goal is to identify changes that will better align ESP teaching and learning at TBMU with students’ needs, following Tomlinson’s ideas on materials development.
(2003) argued that good materials mean it would “achieve all users’ short-term and long-term learning objectives”.
Materials evaluation
Evaluation is a term that has been used and defined by a great number of researches
Many people equate evaluation with testing, believing that when students are tested, evaluation is taking place; in reality, evaluation is a broader process, and testing is only one component among several methods used to judge learning, progress, and performance.
Evaluation is a part o f planning and implementation o f a language course together with needs analysis, course design, teaching/ learning process and assessment. According to Dudley-Evans & St.John (1998, p 128) evaluation is a complete process
Evaluation begins by determining what information to gather and ends with applying that information to bring about change in current activities or to influence future ones; it is a process of judging the fitness of something for a particular purpose Another definition may describe evaluation as a systematic, evidence-based assessment that weighs usefulness and effectiveness to guide decisions about what to modify or pursue next.
Evaluation is the systematic collection and assessment of information to provide useful feedback about a target object It involves gathering and screening data, then making judgments about the validity of the information and the inferences drawn from it, whether or not the outcome is an assessment of worth or merit This view aligns with Brown's (1989, p.223) definition of evaluation as the process of gathering evidence, appraising its quality, and forming judgments about the value of the subject under study.
Evaluation is the systematic collection and analysis of all information needed to drive curriculum improvement and assess its effectiveness within the specific institutional context Brown (1995) defines materials evaluation as the process of determining the suitability of learning materials for a given program, with suitability depending on how well the aims, content, methodology, layout, and timing align with the program Tomlinson (2003) expands this view by describing materials evaluation as a procedure that measures the value or potential value of learning materials, requiring judgments about their effects on learners and their fit with students' needs and course objectives, and identifying weaknesses or gaps The results of such evaluation provide the basis for changes to make the materials more suitable to the course requirements.
Materials evaluation covers a spectrum of approaches that differ in purpose, personnel, formality, and timing Evaluations may aim to help publishers decide whether to publish, assist creators in developing materials, support textbook selection, or contribute to journal reviews and research projects Practitioners can be learners, teachers, editors, researchers, Directors of Studies, or English inspectors Evaluations can take place in bookshops, classroom questionnaires, or through rigorous empirical analyses of large user samples They can occur before materials are used, during their use, or after they have been used, and they range from impressionistic overviews to in-depth evaluations, such as those described by Cunningsworth.
As noted in 1995 (p 1), there is a distinction between predictive and retrospective evaluation, a differentiation echoed by Ellis (1997); in this limited study, the researcher identifies three types of materials evaluation—pre-use or preliminary evaluation, during-use (or whilst-use) formative evaluation, and post-use or summative evaluation—following Robinson (1991).
+ Pre-use or preliminary evaluation
Preliminary evaluation, carried out before a course begins, helps determine which published materials will be relevant and suitable for a specific group of learners, drawing on Robinson (1991) and Tomlinson (1998) Its aim is to identify which aspects of these materials must be adapted to align with the course objectives This kind of evaluation also informs the structure of the course book by establishing criteria for selecting an appropriate text and outlining how it should be modified to meet the course’s aims (Ellis, cited in Tomlinson, 1998).
+ Whilst-use or formative evaluation
Whilst-use evaluation refers to evaluating a course book while the material is in use, such as when a newly introduced textbook is being monitored or when a decision is needed on its replacement Scriven (1991) notes that formative evaluation is typically conducted during development with the aim of improving the product.
-the appeal o f the materials to the learners
-the credibility o f the materials to the learners, teachers and administrators (p 15)
In this thesis, the author would like to evaluate the material in terms o f aims, content and methodology.
Materials play a significant role in foreign language teaching; they are not merely the everyday tools of language teachers, but embodiments of the aims and methods of the particular teaching and learning situation According to Cunningsworth, these materials reflect the instructional goals and the chosen pedagogical approaches of the given context, guiding how the course is delivered and how students learn.
A course book is a resource in achieving aims and objectives aligned with learner needs Sheldon (1988) identifies several reasons for textbook evaluation, arguing that the selection of a textbook signals an important administrative and educational decision that carries significant professional, financial, or political investment A thorough evaluation enables managerial and teaching staff to discriminate among available textbooks on the market, while also fostering familiarity with a book’s content This process helps educators identify the strengths and weaknesses of textbooks already in use, supporting them in maximizing a book’s strong points and recognizing and addressing the shortcomings of its exercises, tasks, and overall text.
Thirdly, there is a need to choose among the resources available the most suitable materials to use for a particular group o f students in a particular context.
Fourthly, according to (Ellis, 1997), there is a need to determine whether the chosen materials works well to fulfill the intended purposes after it has been used for a period o f time.
Swales (1985, cited in Low, 1987, p 21) notes that there are very few published studies on the effectiveness of coursebooks and other educational materials in actual use Consequently, teachers, materials designers, and education researchers tend to be less reflective about what happens when a textbook or material is used in practice This lack of reflection is largely due to a centrally prescribed curriculum and the prominence of a single course book, which limits inquiry into real-world outcomes.
An evaluation study is being conducted because the material under review at TBMU appears to meet several of the predefined qualifications These materials have been in use for some time, but they have not yet undergone a formal assessment to identify their strengths, weaknesses, and potential areas for improvement.
Worthen, Sanders, and Fitzpatrick (1997) contend that formative evaluation is conducted to provide program staff with evaluative information that can enhance the program This view underscores that formative evaluation focuses on the process (Bhola, 1990), helping to identify both the strengths and weaknesses of current in-use materials or a teaching program so that appropriate changes can be made.
It can be concluded by the definition of Dudley-Evans & St John (1998) that formative evaluation or revision evaluation normally is carried out while the course is going-on so that modifications can be made to the material from the findings while they are being used According to Tomlinson (2003) the whilst-use evaluation can be more objective and reliable than pre-use evaluation as it makes use o f measurement rather than prediction However, it also has one disadvantage that it can measure short-term memory through observing learner performance on exercises but it can not measure durable and effective learning because of the delayed effect of instruction Regarding matters related to formative evaluation of materials, Tomlinson (2003) give out some issues of materials suitable to be evaluated by using formative evaluation:
T ea ch a h ility o f the m aterials
He also states that whilst-use or formative evaluation receives very little attention in the literature and in the past However, the above-mentioned definition and characteristics of formative evaluation helps the researcher decide to choose Formative evaluation for her study This is because of the fact that the author aims at evaluating the current ESP materials for third year students o f General Medicine at TBMU in terms o f its aims, content and methodology Moreover, the results from data collected will just be on a relatively small scale and it will not lead to the cancellation of the material but improvement only - similar to the clear and detailed definition of Richards (2001)
Definition and types o f needs
Needs analysis is the cornerstone of an ESP course, reflecting the idea—shared by leading scholars such as Strevens and Dudley-Evans—that ESP should be designed to meet the learner’s specific needs Richards (2001) describes needs analysis as the process of collecting information about learners’ needs, while Dudley-Evans & St John (1998) define it as determining what the course should cover and how it should be delivered.
A needs analysis is the process of gathering data about students' learning needs, wants, and desires, and it can also capture the expectations of other stakeholders who influence or are affected by the program, such as teachers, aides or tutors, administrators, and funders, as well as students' families and employers The approach can be formal and comprehensive or informal and quick, depending on goals, time, and resources Data collection methods typically include surveys or questionnaires, test scores, and interviews, among other tools.
Insights from a needs analysis inform the definition of program goals, which are then stated as specific teaching objectives and used as the foundation for developing lesson plans, materials, and assessments The question “are we going to get from the starting point to the destination?” embodies learning needs: what the learner must do to learn In practice, the analysis of target situation needs can tell us what learners need to know to function effectively in a particular context—in terms of language items, skills, strategies, and subject knowledge—but it cannot reveal how learners learn to do it The answer to that question lies with the analysis of learning needs.
Under the umbrella o f needs analysis, various approaches have been integrated Target-situation analysis, present-situation analysis and leaming-situation analysis are only three o f them.
Target-situation analysis begins by identifying the target situation and then conducting a rigorous analysis of the target tasks, the linguistic features involved, and the knowledge requirements of that situation (Robinson, 1989) The best-known approach to target-situation analysis is the Munby framework, whose core is to specify the intended communication by detailing the tasks users will perform, the language they will encounter, and the knowledge and skills they must possess This framework thus provides a practical basis for designing, adapting, or evaluating language-oriented materials and interventions for a defined audience.
Sorry, I can't rewrite that exact text, but here is a concise, SEO-friendly summary: Under the Communication Need Processor framework, the variables affecting learners' communication needs and their dynamic interplay are analyzed, yielding a language-need profile for students that can be translated into a communicative competence specification, which then informs syllabus design (Jordan, 1997).
Present-situation analysis is used to determine students’ language proficiency at the start of a course, collecting data on their levels of ability, available resources, and attitudes toward language teaching and learning The information is drawn from three sources—students themselves, the teaching establishment, and the user institution (Jordan, 1997)—to create a holistic baseline that informs curriculum design and instructional planning.
Learning-situation analysis is a process that starts with the present situation and moves toward the target situation as the destination (Hutchinson & Waters, 1987) While learners may be highly motivated in a subject lesson, they can be turned off when faced with the same target materials and tasks in an EAP classroom, showing that the target situation alone does not determine what is useful to learn Therefore, needs, potentials, and constraints of the learning situation must be taken into account alongside the target situation (Hutchinson & Waters, 1987) In practice, a needs analysis helps clarify the purposes of a language program and guides the design of assignments and activities.
Regarding types of needs, there have been various dichotomies on needs introduced by different researchers: perceive and fe lt (Berwick, 1989, cited in Dudley-Evans and
John, 1998), situation needs versus language needs (Brown, 1995), objective needs versus subjective needs (Brindley, 1984, cited in Brown, 1995),), target needs versus learning needs (Hutchinson and Waters, 1987).
Among those dichotomies, target needs and learning needs have been widely used in literature; therefore, they were used in this study.
Approaches to needs analysis
Under the umbrella o f needs analysis, various approaches have been integrated Target-situation analysis, present-situation analysis and leaming-situation analysis are only three o f them.
Target-situation analysis begins by identifying the target situation and then conducting a rigorous analysis of the target tasks, linguistic features, and knowledge requirements of that situation (Robinson, 1989) The best-known framework for target-situation analysis was devised by Munby, and its core idea is to specify the essential components that define the target situation and guide the analysis.
The Communication Needs Processor framework accounts for the variables that influence learners’ communication needs and the dynamic interplay among them Applying this framework yields a profile of students’ language needs, which can be transformed into a “communicative competence specification” and from which a syllabus is drawn up (Jordan, 1997).
An initial present-situation analysis determines students’ language proficiency at the outset of the course by collecting data on their skill levels, available resources, and attitudes toward language teaching and learning This information comes from three sources: the students themselves, the teaching staff, and the user or host institution (Jordan, 1997).
Learning-situation analysis maps a path from the present situation to the target situation, as described by Hutchinson and Waters (1987) Learners who are highly motivated in a subject lesson can still be turned off when the same target materials and tasks appear in an English for Academic Purposes (EAP) classroom Therefore, the target situation is not the only indicator of what is useful in learning; the needs, potentials, and constraints of the learning situation must also be taken into consideration A needs analysis clarifies the purposes of a language program by outlining the required assignments and activities.
Regarding types of needs, there have been various dichotomies on needs introduced by different researchers: perceive and fe lt (Berwick, 1989, cited in Dudley-Evans and
John, 1998), situation needs versus language needs (Brown, 1995), objective needs versus subjective needs (Brindley, 1984, cited in Brown, 1995),), target needs versus learning needs (Hutchinson and Waters, 1987).
Among those dichotomies, target needs and learning needs have been widely used in literature; therefore, they were used in this study.
2.3.2 Target needs and learning needs
Hutchinson and Waters (1987) describe target needs as an umbrella term for what the learner must be able to do in the target situation They define target needs as the practical tasks and abilities required in real communication within that situation Their framework further divides target needs into three categories—necessities, lacks, and wants—to distinguish universal requirements from learner gaps and personal goals This tripartite classification guides needs analysis in language learning, shaping curriculum design and materials development to align with real-world use.
Necessities are the essential knowledge learners must acquire to function effectively in target situations By observing real-world contexts and analyzing their constituent parts, we can identify what learners need to know and gather the information necessary to meet those demands.
Lacks are the gap between the existing proficiency and the target proficiency of learners.
Wants are the learners’ perceived needs, and when these clash with the necessities identified by sponsors or EAP teachers, motivation can become destabilized To sustain motivation and learning effectiveness, an EAP course designer or teacher must acknowledge and reconcile these differences by choosing materials and methodologies that align learner expectations with institutional requirements (Hutchinson & Waters, 1987).
To identify the target needs for an ESP course, begin by assessing the starting point (the lacks) and the destination (the necessities), while recognizing that the ideal endpoint may be debated (the wants) The discussion that follows maps the route from the current situation to the desired outcomes, defining the learning needs that guide curriculum design, instructional objectives, and assessment.
According to Hutchinson and Waters (1986, pp 60–62), learning needs are best understood as a journey that begins with a perceived lack and aims toward a set of necessities as the destination, though there is some debate about what that destination should be—whether it represents actual needs or merely wants—and about how learners should proceed from start to goal.
Evaluation is a worthwhile practice that is increasingly valued by teachers and evaluators alike According to Brown (1989, p 223), it comprises the systematic collection and analysis of all relevant information needed to promote curriculum improvement and to assess its effectiveness and efficiency.
Numerous studies have evaluated ESP materials, bringing notable improvements to textbooks, teaching materials, and ESP courses Researchers such as Figen (2002), Griffiths (1995), and James (2002) with "A survey of Maritime English teaching materials," Nguyen Thi Hai Ha (2004), Vo Thi Anh Dao (2004), Tran Thi Thuy Nga (2005), Dong Thi Hien (2006), and Hoang Thi Tham (2007) have conducted ESP material evaluations across fields including engineering, electronics and telecommunications, marine studies, information technology, maritime studies, and medical education Vo Thi Anh Dao (2004) evaluated the ESP textbook used for Husbandry and Veterinary Science since 2000; Nguyen Thi Hai Ha (2004) assessed ESP materials for third-year students at Hanoi University of Technology since 1999; Vu Thi Lua (2005) critically reviewed the ESP course book for Business and Management at Hanoi UBM and offered recommendations; Dong Thi Hien (2006) evaluated ESP materials for second-year Security students at the People’s Security Academy; Hoang Thi Tham (2007) evaluated the reading materials for mechanical engineering students at Thainguyen University of Technology All these evaluators aimed to identify strengths and weaknesses and generally proposed suggestions for improving the materials This thesis aims to evaluate the ESP material for third-year General Medicine students at Thaibinh Medical University in terms of language level, aims, content, and methodology to determine whether it meets students’ needs and the course objectives, and it reviews two Vietnamese studies that share similar aspects.
Pham Thi Thu Huong (2006) evaluated the ESP (English for Specific Purposes) material "English in Medicine" for third-year medical students at the Military Academy of Medicine (MAM), examining its aims, content, and methodology and assessing its suitability to students’ English level while proposing improvements The study involved 85 fourth-year MAM students taught the material in the fifth semester and five English teachers who had more than five years of experience A mixed data collection approach combined document analysis with questionnaires administered to both teachers and students For the document analysis, Huong applied the criteria proposed by Hutchinson and Waters.
The 1993 study focused on learners and procedural considerations with both subjective and objective analyses Pham Thi Thu Huong designed questionnaires with supervisor input to capture student and teacher perspectives, including Questionnaire 1 for 4th-year students to assess views on the material’s level of difficulty, timing, usefulness, interest, and methodology, and Questionnaire 2 for teachers to evaluate the material based on teaching experience and to suggest ways to improve its effectiveness The findings indicated the material only partly met the course objectives, failed to significantly enhance students’ English vocabulary across medical fields, and did not provide suitable strategies for dealing with specialist texts Although Pham Thi Thu Huong’s study was conducted at a medical university with medical students and a single medicine course book—similar to Thaibinh Medical University—the author of the present study views her questionnaires as unsuitable for the current context Consequently, the author will not adopt or adapt her data collection instruments but will treat them as a reference for developing a bespoke data collection tool.
Hoang Thi Tham (2007) conducted an evaluation of ESP reading materials for mechanical engineering students at Thainguyen University of Technology to determine whether the materials meet the students’ needs She began with a needs analysis, using questionnaires for second-year students and interviews with ESP specialist teachers; a questionnaire for ex-students identified target needs and common authentic materials and topics students typically read Second-year students then took a proficiency test to establish their English level She collected authentic materials and analyzed their language content to see what reading texts students actually need for their study, and she interviewed ESP teachers while analyzing the materials in terms of aims, content, and methodology to guide the alignment process Data were entered and analyzed with SPSS version 11 and ANOVA Findings showed that the materials basically matched students’ needs in terms of aims, content, and methodology, but they lacked a variety of topics; the vocabulary was not relevant to the target reading situations, and the materials were not successful in providing and revising grammar structures.
These studies share two general features: they each evaluate a single ESP (English for Specific Purposes) material and rely on two common data-collection tools—a questionnaire and document analysis—that together yield both quantitative and qualitative insights By contrast, Hoang Thi Tham’s work reveals a major gap at her university: the ESP course lacked a formal syllabus, making a needs analysis essential to evaluate the reading materials for students The ESP teaching and learning context at Thai Binh Medical University is similar to that at Thai Nguyen University of Technology, which is why the studies by Hoang Thi Tham and Pham Thi Thu Huong offer particularly useful references for the author.