Những khó khăn và giải pháp gợi ý trong việc dạy từ vựng chuyên ngành cơ khí cho sinh viên năm thứ hai trường Cao đẳng nghề Bắc Ninh

Being a teacher of English at BVC, the author does realize a number of problems that the teachers and students encounter in teaching and learning vocabulary in Mechanical Engineering.. C

UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST - GRADUATE STUDIES



CAO THỊ TÚ

TEACHING VOCABULARY IN MECHANICAL ENGINEERING

TO THE SECOND YEAR STUDENTS AT BACNINH

VOCATIONAL COLLEGE: CHALLENGES AND SUGGESTIONS

FOR SOLUTIONS

(NHỮNG KHÓ KHĂN VÀ GIẢI PHÁP GỢI Ý TRONG VIỆC DẠY TỪ VỰNG CHUYÊN NGÀNH CƠ KHÍ CHO SINH VIÊN NĂM

THỨ HAI TRƯỜNG CAO ĐẲNG NGHỀ BẮC NINH)

M.A Minor Programme Thesis

SUPERVISOR: ASSOC PROF DR NGUYỄN VĂN ĐỘ

Hanoi, July-2010

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

BVC: Bacninh Vocational College

M.E: Mechanical Engineering

GE: General English

ESP: English for Specific Purposes

LIST OF TABLES AND CHARTS

Tables:

Table 1: Teachers’ difficulties in teaching vocabulary in Mechanical Engineering Table 2 : The learners' purposes of learning vocabulary in Mechanical Engineering Table 3: Students' ways of learning vocabulary

Table 4: Ways of learning English vocabulary for Mechanical Engineering

Table 5: Ways of vocabulary presentation students interested in

Charts:

Chart 1: The teachers' attitude towards the importance of vocabulary in language

teaching

Chart 2: Students' attitude towards vocabulary learning

Chart 3: Way of practising new words students like most

Chart 4: The students' attitudes towards the present course book

Chart 5: Parts students find most trouble when dealing with an English word

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Candidate's statement i

Acknowledgements ii

Abstract iii

List of abbreviations iv

List of tables and charts v

Table of contents vi

PART 1: INTRODUCTION 1

1 Rationale 1

2 Aims of the study 1

3 Scope of the study 2

4 Research questions 2

5 Method of the study 2

6 Design of the study 2

Part 2: Development 4

CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 4

1.1 Definition of vocabulary 4

1.2 Classification of vocabulary 4

1.3 The importance of vocabulary in language teaching and learning 6

1.4 How teaching vocabulary differs from teaching other skills 7

1.5 What should be taught in teaching vocabulary? 8

1.5.1 Word form 8

1.5.2 Grammar 8

1.5.3 Collocation 8

1.5.4 Aspects of meaning 9

1.5.5 Word-formation 10

1.6 Techniques in vocabulary teaching currently used 10

1.6.1 Techniques in presenting vocabulary 10

1.6.1.1 Visual techniques 10

1.6.1.2 Verbal techniques 10

1.6.1.3 Translation 11

1.6.2 Techniques in practising new words 11

1.7 Vocabulary in ESP teaching and learning 11

1.7.1 What is ESP? 11

1.7.2 The roles of ESP teachers 12

1.7.3 ESP and EGP 13

CHAPTER 2: AN INTRODUCTION ON THE CONTEXT OF LEARNING AND TEACHING VOCABULARY OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING AT BVC 2.1 Teaching staff and teaching methods 15

2.2 Students and their background 15

2.3 The teaching materials 16

2.3.1 The textbook 16

2.3.2 The course content 16

2.4 Teaching facilities 16

CHAPTER 3: THE STUDY 18

3 1 Context of the study 18

3 2 The subject 18

3 3 Instruments for collecting data 18

3.3.1 Questionnaires 18

3.3.2 Interviews with ESP teachers 19

3 4 Data collection procedure 19

3 5 Data analysis results 19

3 5 1 The teachers' interviews 19

3 5 2 The students' questionnaires 22

3.6.Problems in teaching and learning vocabulary in Mechanical Engineering at BVC 3.6.1 Teachers' problems 28

3.6.1.1 Methods of teaching vocabulary 28

3.6.1.2 Knowledge of Mechanical Engineering 29

3.6.2 Students' problems 29

3.6.2.1 Ways of learning vocabulary 29

3.6.2.2 Level of English 29

3.6.3 Materials and equipment … 30

CHAPTER 4: SOME SUGGESTIONS FOR SOLUTIONS TO IMPROVE THE TEACHING OF VOCABULARY IN MECHANICAL ENGINEERING AT BVC 4.1 Students 31

4.1.1 Guiding students with different vocabulary learning strategies 31

4.1.2 Assigning and checking students' fulfillment of homework 36

4.2 Teachers 37

4.2.1 Improving teachers' classroom techniques for teaching vocabulary in particular and teaching methodology in general 37

4.2.2 Improving specialized knowledge for ESP teachers 38

4.2.3 Equipping teaching facilities ……… 39

PART 3: CONCLUSION 40

1 Summary of the study 40

2 Limitations and suggestions for further study 41

References 42

Appendices I

PART 1: INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale

In recent years, there has been a global increase in the number of language teachers who have greater and wider responsibility thrust upon them by training institutions They are required to teach English to students from various fields such as engineering, information science, medicine, accountancy, etc to enable them to cope with their academic work This type of education is called English for Specific Purpose (ESP) Since ESP was introduced,

it has attracted the attention of language instructors Furthermore, the idea of English for Specific Purpose has been welcomed by staffs of universities who have seen the great benefits from teaching ESP Also it is to meet the learners‘ needs for better reading of specialized books in English and for more successful job performance in the future

ESP courses are now offered not only by universities and colleges of language but also by departments of technical universities and colleges Bacninh Vocational College (BVC) is a typical example of the training centre where ESP involved within an English language teaching situation in response to the demand for specific language skills

However, up to now, teaching and learning ESP, particularly teaching and learning vocabulary items has still been far from satisfactory Being a teacher of English at BVC, the author does realize a number of problems that the teachers and students encounter in teaching and learning vocabulary in Mechanical Engineering That is the reason why the

author would like to carry out this research entitled, ―Teaching vocabulary in Mechanical

Engineering to the second year students at Bacninh Vocational College: Challenges and suggestions for solutions”

2 Aims of the study

The study is aimed at:

a) Better understanding the notions, types, roles and techniques in teaching vocabulary currently used and vocabulary in ESP teaching and learning

b) Identifying some problems in teaching vocabulary in Mechanical Engineering at BVC

c) Offering some suggestions for solutions on teaching vocabulary in Mechanical

Engineering at BVC

Hopefully, the study will make some contributions to the improvement of teaching ESP in general and teaching vocabulary in Mechanical Engineering in particular at BVC

3) Scope of the study

It is impossible to cover every aspect of language theory and practice in this study Therefore the study focuses on problems in teaching vocabulary in Mechanical Engineering to the second year students at BVC It is not proposed to deal with other language elements: pronunciation and grammar or with language skills The other subjects

of the study are the second year students at BVC Also, the ―Specific Purpose‖ of the course are confined to ―English in Mechanical Engineering ―

The major method used in the study is the quantitative one That is all comments, consideration, suggestions given in the thesis are based on the analysis of the statistics from the survey questionnaires conducted with the teachers and students at BVC Besides, the study is also carried out through course book assessment, informal interviews, and discussions with the teachers and students at BVC

6) Design of the study

The study is organized into introduction, the main part and conclusion

The introduction includesthe rationale, aims of the study as well as scope and methods of the study

The main part comprises 4 chapters

Chapter 1 deals with the theoretical background of the research It is concerned with the

issues relevant to the topic of the research: vocabulary (definition, classification and roles), techniques in vocabulary teaching and vocabulary in ESP teaching and learning

Chapter 2 is an overview of English teaching and learning context at BVC

Chapter 3 The study explores problems of teaching and learning vocabulary in

Mechanical Engineering experienced by the teachers and students at BVC

Chapter 4 offers some suggestions for solutions to improve the teaching of vocabulary in

Mechanical Engineering

The conclusion summarizes the issues addressed and presents recommendations for

further improvements and some suggestions for further research

PART 2: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 1.1 Definition of vocabulary

There are different definitions of vocabulary Each linguist gives his own definition of vocabulary depending on the criteria that he considers the most important in terms of linguistics, semantics, lexicology, etc In her book, "A course in language teaching", Penny

Ur defined vocabulary roughly as "the words we teach in the foreign language" However, she also accepted, "a new item of vocabulary may be more than a single word, a compound

of two or three words and multi-word idioms" Pyles and Algeo (1970) said, "it is true that vocabulary is the focus of language with its sound and meaning, which interlock to allow

us to communicate with one another, and it is words that we arrange together to make sentences, conversation and discourse of all kinds " (p.96) This statement indicates that

vocabulary is essential for learning a language

The American Heritage Dictionary defines vocabulary as "the sum of words used by, or at

the command of a particular person of group "

According to Michael Lewis (1993:89), vocabulary " may be individual words or full sentences - institutionalized utterances - that convey for social or pragmatic meaning within a given community "

In short, it can be concluded that vocabulary is the total number of all the words that

a language possesses, including a single words, two or three words items expressing a single idea and multiword idioms of which meaning cannot be deduced from the analysis of the component words but only understood in the sentences, or in contexts, etc

1.2 Classification of vocabulary

Vocabulary can be classified differently according to different criteria basing on morpheme, meaning, function, frequency or the use of word, etc

- Vocabulary classified according to the concept of morpheme

Word can be divided into three kinds: simple, derived, and compound

Simple word

A simple word consists of one morpheme only and cannot be broken down into smaller

meaningful unit like heat, port, oil, gas…

Derived word

A derived word is a word that consists of a root and one or more derivational morphemes

For example: democratic, taxation, vaccination, etc

Compound word

A compound word is a word that consists of at least two roots with or without derivational

morphemes For example: electric fan, washing machine, man killer, etc

- Vocabulary classified according to meanings

A word can possess two kinds of meaning: lexical and grammatical meanings Vocabulary, therefore, can be divided into notional and functional words

- Vocabulary classified according to functions

In sentence, word has many different functions English words can be classified basing on function as different parts of speech such as noun, verb, adjective, adverb, preposition and pronoun Each part of speech has to follow particular grammar rules so that when learning English words we have to be aware of the importance of the parts of speech of that word in sentence

For example: Noun: a pump, a diffuser, a tube

Verb: to pivot, to clog, to install Adjective: precise, hydraulic, horizontal

Apart from meaning, pronunciation and spelling of new words, learners need to know how

these words function in sentences For example, with the word „foreigner‟ some learners

may make sentence like this:

*‖ she‘s a foreigner student‖

In that case, teacher would need to clarify that „foreigner‟ is a noun, and the adjective of it

is “foreign” Also, teacher better needs to point out that a word can have more than one

grammatical function, for example „farm‟ can be a noun, a verb, an adjective (Paul Davis:

2000:64)

- Vocabulary classified according to the frequency of use

To save time, and even more important to reduce possible stress caused by learning by heart many new words each lesson, learners should be aware of words with high frequency

in use and those with low frequency

For example: words used to denote daily activities or routines are often employed Such as:

to go, to work, to eat (high frequency)

Many other words are only used in some specific situations such as the words belong to

some specific fields For instant: word processor, main board, wizard (low frequency)

Active words refer to vocabulary that students have been taught or learnt – and which they

are expected to be able to use, for example: to do, attractive, under…Whilst the passive

words refer to words, which the students will recognize when they meet them but which

they will probably not be able to produce, such as, ISP, IP, URL (Harmer, J: 1993:159)

1.3 The role of vocabulary in language teaching and learning

Vocabulary is commonly accepted to be the most important language element among

pronunciation, vocabulary and grammar Wilkins (1972) emphasized: “without grammar,

very little can be conveyed, without vocabulary nothing can be conveyed‖ Pyles and Algeo

also supported this idea with ―when we first think about language, we think first about

words Its words that we arrange together to make sentences, conversation and discourse

of all kinds” And ―words are the tools we use to access our background knowledge, express ideas, and learn about new concepts” (Texas reading initiative: 2000:4)

These statements are enough to conclude that vocabulary is the decisive element in language communication

According to Ron Forseth, Carol Forseth, (1995), ―words are a good place to begin a

course in language teaching methodology Vocabulary words are simple enough to begin learning on the first day of a class and they are powerful enough to encourage communication from the very beginning Words are small pieces of language, which carry bits of meaning Knowing many words does not guarantee a person will be able to speak a language, but not knowing enough words can prevent a person from effectively speaking or understanding a language So, we must teach words from the very star” (Ron Forseth,

Carol Forseth: 23)

Meara (1995) points out that knowing only 500 words is functionally useless English learners with such a minimal vocabulary who try to process a text will encounter too many unfamiliar words, and frequently these are precisely the words that convey the meaning of the text

―Vocabulary and lexical units are the heart of learning and communication No amount of

grammatical or other type of linguistic knowledge can be employed in communication or discourse without the mediation of vocabulary Indeed, vocabulary and lexical expression can sustain a great deal of rudimentary communication without much support from other aspects of the language system Understanding the nature and significance of vocabulary knowledge in a second language therefore needs to plays a much more centre role in the knowledge base of the language teachers.”

This is all true in learning a foreign language If a learner has a wide range of vocabulary,

he can help himself understand others easily On the contrary, if his vocabulary is limited

he will surely have difficulty in doing so and in English learning Therefore, vocabulary is

a ―must‖ for all language learners by all means

1.4 How teaching vocabulary differs from teaching other skills?

Nowadays it is widely accepted that vocabulary teaching should be part of the syllabus, and taught in a well-planned and regular basis Some authors, led by Lewis (1993) argue that vocabulary should be at the centre of language teaching, because ‗language consists of grammaticalised lexis, not lexicalised grammar‘ In vocabulary lessons, teachers teach the students about the meaning(s) of the word , its spoken and written forms , what ―word parts‖ it has (e.g., any prefix, suffix, and ―root‖ form) , its grammatical behavior (e.g: its word class, typical grammatical patterns it occurs in) , its collocations , its register ,what associations it has (e.g., words that are similar or opposite in meaning) , what connotations

it has Teaching vocabulary is unlike teaching other skills such as speaking or grammar With speaking skill, the aim of speaking is communication and that does not require perfect English, then it makes sense to encourage quantity in your classroom The role of the teacher is to break the silence and get students communicating with whatever English they can use, correct or not and selectively address errors that block communication Speaking lessons often tie in pronunciation which is necessary for effective oral communication With teaching grammar, language teachers focus on grammar as a set of forms and rules They teach grammar by explaining the forms and rules and then drilling

students on them In short, teaching vocabulary is very important and different from teaching other skills So, language teachers should pay much attention to it.

1.5 What should be taught in teaching vocabulary?

According to Penny Ur (1996), when vocabulary is introduced to learners, pronunciation and spelling, word form, grammar, collocation, aspects of meaning, word- formation need

to be taught

1.5.1 Word form

When learning vocabulary students should be introduced its pronunciation and its spelling

To many students, the complex relationship between sound and spelling in English seems

to make the language inexplicable It is easy understand when we consider the number of

homophones in English such as: weight ! wait, sole / soul, and the number of similar forms that differ wildly in their pronunciation like hurry / humor

1.5.2 Grammar

There are two main pedagogic issues involved: the highlighting of regular and irregular forms, and the role of source books in allowing learners to be sift- sufficient as Ruth Gairns and Stuart Redman stated In the classroom, the new item is not obviously covered

by general grammatical rule, grammar will need to be introduced or examined The teachers need to clarify regular forms and common regular forms for students When a new

word is taught, for example we might also give its past form such as: buy/ bought and it is transitive or intransitive, when a noun such as a person is taught, it should be given its plural form as people

1.5.3 Collocation

Collocation is the way in which words are used together regularly in a specific language It refers to the restriction on how words can be used together in right contexts Thus, this is another piece of information about a new item, which may be worth teaching For

example, you throw a ball but toss a coin We can talk about thick fog and dense fog, thick

smoke and dense smoke with the same meaning However, we cannot say dense hair

instead of thick hair

1.5.4 Aspects of meaning

Aspect of meaning include denotation, connotation, appropriateness and meaning

relationship

The denotation meaning refers to or point out things, concepts This is often the sort of definition given in dictionaries such as "cat" denotes a small animal with soft fur, often kept as a pet or for catching mice

Connotation of a word is less obvious component of its meaning This is association, or positive and negative feelings the word evokes which may not be indicated in a dictionary definition Connotation includes stylistic, affective, evaluation, intensifying value, pragmatic communicative values, the word acquires by virtue of where, when, how and by whom, for what purpose and in what context it is or it may be used

Appropriateness is more subtle aspect of meaning that indicates whether a particular item

is appropriate one to use in a certain context or not Thus, it is useful for a learner to know whether a certain word is very common, or relatively rare or taboo in a polite conversation,

or tends to be used in writing but not in speech, or is more suitable for a formal than informal discourse or belongs to a certain dialect

It is necessary to list aspects of meaning in the sense of meaning relationships This can also be useful in vocabulary teaching and learning They show how the meaning of one item relates to the meaning of others These are various relationships and here are some of the main ones like synonyms, antonyms, hyponyms, co- hyponyms or co- ordinates, super ordinates, and translation

them guess the meaning of words such as "substandard", "uncomfortable", and "enable"

However, students should be warned that in many common words the affixes no longer

have obvious connection with their root meaning (for example: "consider" ->

"considerable")

Another way vocabulary items are built is by combining two words: two nouns, or a

gerund and a noun, or a noun and a verb to make one item: a single compound word or two

separate (for example: "book list"," sitting room")

1.6 Techniques in vocabulary teaching currently used

1.6.1 Techniques in presenting vocabulary

When presenting the content of words to the students, the duty of the teacher is to enable them to use the words correctly This is a very crucial step in vocabulary teaching, especially when the words taught are viewed as active or productive Therefore, the teacher should find out useful and effective ways to present vocabulary items The followings are most commonly used techniques in presenting vocabulary items

1.6.1.1 Visual techniques

According to Gairns and Redman (1986) these techniques can include flash cards, photographs, blackboard drawings, wall charts; realia (i.e., object themselves); gestures and mime They are extensively used for conveying meaning and are particularly useful for teaching concrete items of vocabulary such as food or furniture and certain areas such as places, professions, description of people, actions and activities (such as sports and verbs

of movement) They often lend themselves easily to practice activities involving student's interaction, for example, a set of pictures illustrating sporting activities would be used as a means of presenting items such as skiing, swimming, and climbing This technique is attractive to get students involved in the lesson They are interesting but only useful for relevant words that refer to cheap and small objects On the other hand, it may be difficult

to find pictures and photographs Drawing takes time and not all teachers can draw well Besides, mines and gestures are very effective ways of introducing a new word since it clearly promotes the understanding and meaningful retention of new items

1.6.1.2 Verbal techniques

This is commonly used to help students understand more especially the abstract words It consists of the use of illustrative situations (oral or written), definition, synonyms/ antonyms, gradable items and examples of type Teachers can use definition and illustrative sentence (the use of other words in the same language) to offer the advantage of con-tantalization and show how the new word is used; synonyms and antonyms to help students build the new vocabulary based on the words they already know The techniques

of the presentation of related words in scales are very useful as it can combine the visual and verbal techniques Once students have learnt two contrasting or related gradable items, this can be a useful way of revising and feeding in new items Examples of types are used

to illustrate the meaning of super ordinates such as "furniture‖, ―vegetables", "meat", and

―transport‖ , it is a common procedure to exemplify them e.g ―table‖, ―chair‖, ―bed‖ and

―sofa‖ are all furniture

1.6.1.3 Translation

There are arguments for and against the techniques of translation Mackey discussed the use of translation to teach vocabulary after some attempt at explanation of items, but it appears that it is better to put before explanation because most Vietnamese learners tend to make use of it first

The problem of whether translation should be used or how often it is used in vocabulary teaching has undergone much controversy Many methodologists nowadays view it as a very effective way in conveying meaning to the learners

Translation can save valuable time that might otherwise be spent on a largely unsuccessful explanation in English and in can be a very quick way to dispose of low frequency items that may worry the students Furthermore, it can help the learners avoid their misunderstandings of the meanings of the words

It would appear therefore, that translation should be used when necessary and particularly when there it is a word that is too difficult to explain in the given time However, translation is considered a complicated process So it might be used with care and consideration, especially when precise equivalents in Vietnamese are difficult to establish

1.6.2 Techniques in practising new words

Joseph Pettigrew (2005) proposes different tips and techniques of practising vocabulary such as matching, synonyms/opposites, filling the blank sentences, complete the phrases/ sentences Teachers give the example and students give the category or vice versa, correct the mistakes, label a picture, cross out the word that doesn't belong with the others in group, arrange the words on a scale and complete the definition Fun and games are very useful to motivate students as crosswords, puzzles, category games

1.7 Vocabulary in ESP teaching and learning

1.7.1 What is ESP?

"ESP" stands for English for Specific Purposes and different authors have defined this term

so far According to Hutchinson and Waters (1987: 19), ESP is "an approach rather than a product to language teaching in which all decisions as to content and method are based on

learner's reason for learning" For Hutchinson and Waters, starting point in determining appropriate input for ESP course is identifying learners' need

Similarly, Munby (1978: 2) states: "ESP courses are those where the syllabus and materials are determined in all essentials by the prior analysis of the communication needs of the learner" And Robinson (1991: 3), discussing the criteria to ESP, also emphasizes the students' needs element of ESP: " An ESP course is based on a needs analysis, which aims

to specify as closely as possible what exactly it is that students have to do through the medium of English" She defines that time period should be specified clearly for an ESP course, in which their objectives have to be achieved

Likewise, Streven (1988: 1) stated: "ESP is a particular cause of the general category of special purpose language teaching"

It is obvious that the above definitions stem at different time by different authors, these definitions reveal that any ESP course must be based on learners‘ needs

1.7.2 The roles of ESP teachers

The roles of ESP teachers have been pointed out by a variety of studies An ESP teacher must master fully the roles of General English teachers and ESP course process In learning process the teacher must help the learner achieve their goals effectively Especially, in vocabulary teaching, the teacher mostly focus on words, idioms to express

the topics like "machines and its application" or " machines types", etc, plus words in the

general and (s)he has to provide the students with the anxiety- free atmosphere Besides, (s)he also has to create favorable environment in which students are able to practice to memorize new words According to Hutchinson and Waters (1987: 157), the ESP teacher will have to deal with need analysis, syllabus design, materials writing or adaptation and evaluation Whereas Martin (1992) lists and explains different roles of the teacher He views the role upon the process of carrying out a task in ESP lesson" before, during and after a task A teacher wishing to support learning throughout the various phrases of a task would need to be able to play an extended a set of roles including explorer, organizer, adviser, instructor and a guide Little Wood (1981: 51) states that the ESP teacher is expected to "perform in a variety of roles, separately or simultaneously" Nunan (1988) also said that these roles of an ESP teacher include an instructor, a manager, counselor, facilitators, organizer, curriculum developer, material writer, material writer and even a friend Robinson (1991) gives his own opinion, " the ESP teacher does not only teach but

very often he or she is involved in designing, setting up, administering, evaluating and testing the ESP course."

Obviously, the ESP teacher must be flexible and his roles will vary according to type of syllabus and course, teaching and learning environment, etc

1.7.3 ESP AND EGP (ENGLISH FOR GENERAL PURPOSES)

Regarding the distinction between ESP and EGP, there remains different point of views among experts At its early time, ESP was said to be 'In contrast with general English" (Strevens, 1988) This agrees with Hutchinson and Waters* explanations in some points According to the various definitions and classifications, some important points about ESP classes and its comparison with EGP ones can be shown as follows

ESP differs from EGP in terms of content and purpose of the course The content of ESP courses relate to a particular field or discipline, whereas EGP is essentially the English language education in junior and senior high schools In EGP courses, students get access

to the sounds and symbols of English, as well as to the lexical, grammatical, and rhetorical elements that compose spoken and written discourse Four skills are stressed equally EGP ' deals with usages of English in general situations Moreover, EGP curricula provide learners with supplementary information about appropriate gestures, cultural conventions, and cultural taboos EGP may be called ESL or EFL up to the countries where it is used as

a second or a foreign language ESP, however, though being built on EGP; ESP is likened

to the leaves, branches on a tree of language, and is designed to meet the demand of students or working adults for the English used in specific disciplines, vocations, or professions to satisfy specific purposes It is needs analysis that determines which language skills are most needed by the students and the syllabus are designed accordingly Not only does it mean English for specific purposes, but also it implies specific purposes for learning English The focus of ESP is in context English is not taught as a subject separated from the student's real world/ wishes Learners are able to use what they learn from ESP classes right way in their work and studies In short, as Hutchison and Waters (1987, p.53) state "what distinguishes ESP and general English (GE) is an awareness of the need."

However, the distinction between ESP and EGP is not clear- cut as they are closely related

to each other Robbinson (1991 as cited in Far 2008) states that "in an ESP class, language

is as a "service" rather than a 'subject' in its own sake" To support this idea Anthony

(1997) comments "it is not clear where ESP courses and general English courses begin" Dudley-Evans & St John (1998; p 8-9) prove that there is a potential confusion and overlap between ESP and EGP in the "continuum of ELT course types" which runs from

GE to Specific English

CHAPTER 2: AN INTRODUCTION OF THE CONTEXT OF LEARNING AND TEACHING VOCABULARY OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING STUDENTS AT BVC

2.1 Teaching staff and teaching methods

The English teaching staff at BVC consists of 10 teachers at the age from 25 to 35 They graduated from College of Foreign Languages - Vietnam National University, Hanoi, Hanoi Open Institution, Hanoi University Four of them are MA in English Two other teachers are taking MA course at College of Foreign Languages -Vietnam National University, Hanoi The number of teachers is limited and there are no teachers who are in charge of ESP teaching separately Among them, 5 are engaged in teaching English for Mechanical Engineering in which 3 teachers have 3 years experience and two other teachers have 1 year experience They are energetic and willing to devote their time and energy to teaching However, they find it difficult to deal with unfamiliar and unaccustomed subject matter They, therefore, have to face with many difficulties, of which the gap of content knowledge and the choice of appropriate teaching methodology seem to be the major concerns

As far as the methodology is concerned, ESP teachers usually apply different kinds of teaching methods in ESP vocabulary lesson such as the Grammar- Translation method, the Direct Method, the Audio- Lingual method, and the Communicative approach Classes are usually conducted in the form of lectures, with most of the time the teachers playing the key role in the classroom being the main speakers working through the text The teachers explain new words, terms and even translate them into Vietnamese However, the teachers are always aware of the new trend in teaching methods and aware of the importance of the Communicative approach when teaching English to their students in general and vocabulary in particular

2.2 Students and their background

Normally, there are two classes of Mechanical Engineering, which made up totally 84 students The age of the students varies from 18 to 24 They come from different parts of the province Some of them are from the rural or remote areas, where there are no good opportunities for studying English, these students commonly did not spend much time learning English at high school before The others come from cities, which, theoretically, have all finished three years or seven years of learning English at high schools before

entering the BVC Most of them are male students (85%) To some extent, there are some students whose English are very good, but generally the target students' English proficiency is still low Most of them learn English to read specialized documents rather than speak English to foreigners Some have strong pressure to pass exams with high mark; the others would prefer ESP enhance their specialized knowledge, which is required in their future jobs However, specialized knowledge in Vietnamese makes it easy for them

to learn English for Mechanical Engineering, on the other hand, brings them high

motivation in learning ESP In addition, it helps students feel more confident to interact with the teacher in ESP class

2.3 The teaching materials

2.3.1 The textbook

The book "English for Mechanical Engineering" are subjectively selected by the teachers and then compiled into the material to teach students of Mechanical Engineeringat BVC in

60 periods

"English for Mechanical Engineering" consists of ten units, designed in combination with

Mechanical Engineering topics to enable students to develop both their language skills and

vocabulary relating to Mechanical Engineering

A unit is divided into three parts, and each part focuses on grammar, function or vocabulary Every unit provides students with many vocabularies through practice of

listening, reading, speaking, and writing

2.3.2 The course content

English at BVC is allowed to be non- major and not the compulsory subject for exam Like many other subjects, English is taught in a formal setting (classroom ) without language environment and the students have to do two English courses, divided into three semesters: 120- period GE for the first and second semesters and 60- period for the third semester

The textbook "Very Easy TOEIC‖ has been used recently for General English (GE) In addition, the book "English for Mechanical Engineering" are subjectively selected by the teachers are held to evaluate students' language knowledge

2.4 Teaching facilities

Teaching facilities also play an important part in teaching English and may affect the teaching process positively or negatively All teachers are supplied with cassette recorder

to use for their class contact when necessary However, classrooms are not appropriately arranged for language classes In fact, they are designed as lecture halls for other subjects Therefore, classroom interaction is often in the form of question and answer There is one library with some sort of materials for reference like English books, magazines, newspapers but it mainly provides books of Mechanical Engineering in Vietnamese, not English books, especially ESP books It is obviously that teaching facilities at BVC are poorly provided This certainly has considerable negative effects on English teaching and learning

Chapter 3: the study 3.1 Context of the study

At BVC, English is a compulsory subject in the curriculum of teaching and learning English course is divided into two parts: General English and English for Special Purpose The course is applied for students of all departments General English is taught during the first and the second term with the total of 120 periods with the aim of giving the students basic general knowledge of English At this stage, the teacher concentrates on developing students‘ 4 basic language skills in order to prepare for students‘ knowledge towards ESP taught in the third term The textbook chosen is "Very Easy TOEIC‖ by Anne Taylor and Garrett Byrne 2004 During the third term students are introduced English for Special Purpose (ESP) which is written by the teachers of English at BVC in 60 periods The purpose of teaching ESP is to enable students to read books and materials related to students‘ major so that they will be able to use English for their study and future career

3.2 The subject

In order to achieve the aims of the thesis and answer the above research questions, the main subjects of the study include a group of 5 teachers of English of Mechanical Engineering currently teaching at BVC All of them are female They have at least 3-years experience in teaching English And 84 second-year students of Mechanical Engineering The number of participants is limited to only 5 teachers and 84 students because there are only 8 teachers teaching in BVC at the time the study was being carried out 5 teachers is not a small number in comparison with total The teachers involved in the study are those who have experience on teaching English for ME At present, there are classes with 84 students of Mechanical Engineering in BVC The students are in their second year of studying in the school and 7 of them are female

3.3 Instruments for collecting data

According to Hutchinson and Waters (1987: 59), there are a number ways in which information about the needs can be gathered such as questionnaires, interviews, observation, etc the researcher of this study decided to choose questionnaires and interviews as main tools for collecting information

3.3.1 Questionnaires

The questionnaires for students were designed with both close-ended and open-ended questions in order to find out what attitudes they have towards their vocabulary learning of questionnaires , what common vocabulary difficulties they have to cope with when learning English vocabulary for questionnaires , and what teaching methods used by teachers they would enjoy

3.3.2 Interviews with ESP teachers

The interviews will be conducted because they are personalized and permit a level of depth information-gathering, free response, and flexibility (Selinger & Shohamy, 1995: 172) in addition, the interviews will be not time-consuming as the number of subjects limited (only 3 ESP teachers)

in-The interviews are organized to find out what teaching methods they are using, what difficulties the teachers are coping with in teaching English in general and teaching English vocabulary for Mechanical Engineering in particular, and some solutions made by them

3.4 Data collection procedure

The questionnaires were delivered to the students in their classroom in the first class hour They were encouraged to give their true answers I confirmed to them that the research was carried out to improve their own English and teaching in general and their English vocabulary of Mechanical Engineering in particular so all their information is kept secret and only used for research

The interviews between the researchers and 3 ESP teachers to collect more data for this study were organized They were carried out during short breaks or after lessons focusing

on their teaching methods, comments on vocabulary teaching difficulties for Mechanical

Engineering, and their solutions It was recorded for later references

3.5 Data analysis results

This part of the thesis is the analysis of all the data collected from the survey questionnaires and the teachers‘ interviews

3.5.1 The teachers’ interviews

1 What do you think of the role of vocabulary in learning a foreign language?

2 What are your difficulties in teaching vocabulary in Mechanical Engineering?

Table 1: Teachers‟ difficulties in teaching vocabulary in Mechanical Engineering

This analysis of this table is based on the percentage as to this question, more than one choice are acceptable

Options Number of teachers Percentage Encountering too many new terminologies 2 40 %

Understanding the nature of new terminologies 4 80 %

Finding Vietnamese equivalence 3 60 %

Having limited reference books in Mechanical

Engineering

The table 1 shows that most of the teachers (80 %) find it difficult to understand the nature

of new terminologies in Mechanical Engineering This results from the fact that they haven't been trained on specialized knowledge 60 % of the teachers have difficulties in finding Vietnamese equivalence because they can only be fully understood in specific situations which require knowledge of Mechanical Engineering Another problem is that there are too many new terminologies in reading texts (40%) while they have very limited specialized reference books (40%)

Very important

Rather important