Evaluation of the 3rd semester reading syllabus for English major students at Hanoi University of Industry (HaUI) Đánh giá đề cương môn đọc hiểu học kỳ 3 cho si

With the aim to make a better change in the implementation of the 3rd semester English reading syllabus for English major students at Hanoi University of Industry HaUI this study focuses

Vietnam national university College of Foreign Languages

Department of postgraduate studies

- -

NGUYỄN THU HƯƠNG

English Major Students at Hanoi University of Industry (HaUI)

Đánh giá đề cương môn đọc hiểu học kỳ 3 cho sinh viên chuyên ngữ

trường Đại học Công Nghiệp Hà Nội

M.A MINOR THESIS

FIELD: ENGLISH TEACHING METHODOLOGY

Hanoi, 2010

TABLE OF CONTENT

Chapter 1 Introduction 1

1.1 Theoretical background 1

1.2 Background of the study 2

1.3 Statement of the problem 2

1.4 Objective and structure of the study 3

Chapter 2 Literature review 4

2.1 An overview of evaluation 4

2.1.1 Needs analysis 5

2.1.1.1 Needs 5

2.1.1.2 The roles of needs analysis 7

2.1.2 Language course evaluation 8

2.2 Overview of reading process 9

2.2.1 Reading and reading comprehension 9

2.2.2 Reading strategies 11

2.2.2.1 Reading strategies to approach reading materials effectively 11

2.2.2.2 Reading strategies for effective processing of reading materials 12

2.2.3 Purposes of reading 13

2.3 Overview of syllabus 14

2.3.1 Syllabus vs Curriculum 14

2.3.2 Definitions of syllabus 15

2.3.3 Types of syllabus 16

2.3.4 Roles of syllabus in training program 17

2.3.5 The role of reading syllabus in language curriculum 17

Chapter 3 The study 20

3.1 Research objectives and methodology 20

a Subjects 20

b Instruments 21

i Document analysis 21

ii Questionnaires for teachers and students 21

iii Interview with teachers and officials 22

c Data presentation 22

i Document and context analysis 22

1 The curriculum (Appendix 1) 22

2 The syllabus (Appendix 2) 23

ii Questionnaire results 25

iii Interview results 31

Chapter 4 Findings and recommendations 34

4.1 Finding of the study 34

4.1.1 Students‟ needs 34

4.1.2 Objectives in relation to students‟ needs 34

4.1.3 Effectiveness of the course book in use 35

4.1.4 Time allocation 35

4.1.5 Other findings 35

4.2 Recommendation for improving the current syllabus 35

Goal and Objectives 36

Goal of the course 36

Objectives 36

Time allocation modification 37

Course book consideration 37

Chapter 5 Conclusion 38

Appendix 1 39

Appendix 2 43

Appendix 3 46

Appendix 4 49

Appendix 5 51

References 56

Chapter 1 Introduction

1.1 Theoretical background

Recently, along with the development of technology and business, English is considered to be the language of opportunity that is the reason why the demand of English

has remarkably changed Particularly in Vietnam, people use English to learn better, to

know more about new technology and be able to get a good job For many reasons, English has gradually become the most widely used language in international relations In Vietnam, many foreign companies, the majority of which use English as a medium of communication, have come and invested in various fields like tourism, electronics, telecommunication, banking, transportation, environment, oil industry, etc Therefore, how

to teach and learn English effectively has become an important mission to meet the great demand for communication with foreigners, especially in various fields mentioned above That is the reason why the demand of good English users is higher especially in the field of translation and interpretation Another issue is whether the designed syllabus meets the expectation of both teachers and learners In this light, evaluation is very important for teachers because of the future direction in classroom practice, the planning of course and the management of learning tasks and students (Rea- Dinkins and Germaine, 1992)

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

as well as the participants‟ attitudes within the context of particular institutions involved (Rea- Dinkins and Germaine, 1992, p.3), evaluation plays three interrelated and overlapping roles in course design They are evaluating needs, student‟ learning and the course itself (Grave, 2000, p.207) Evaluation could be done at the end of a course and provides information about the students‟ overall achievement as well as the overall effectiveness of the course (Hedge, 2000, p 375) for further improvement When you evaluate the course, you assess what your course design has achieved with respect to you intention in designing it (Grave, 2000, p.207) However, evaluation is not an easy job as it needs to take into consideration many different factors such as course objectives, time allocation, material and assessment; once completed, the evaluation of a course can help

further improve the course With the aim to make a better change in the implementation of the 3rd semester English reading syllabus for English major students at Hanoi University of Industry (HaUI) this study focuses on evaluating the syllabus developed by teachers at the English Department at HaUI regarding factors such as course objectives, time allocation, material and assessment

1.2 Background of the study

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

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

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

1.3 Statement of the problem

Having been teaching at Hanoi University of Industry (HaUI) for five years, I have used many syllabuses in teaching English for different kinds of students namely non- English major students, for ESP, and for English major students As far as I am concerned, the English syllabi at HaUI have not ever been evaluated yet I, therefore, would like to make contribution to the development of teaching English at my University in general and

at the English Department in particular This is the reason why I evaluate one of the syllabi used at the English Department at HaUI with the aim of revising the current syllabus and the hope to make a better change in its implementation

My study is targeted at the 3rd semester reading syllabus of English major students of the English Department

1.4 Objective and structure of the study

The ultimate goal of the study is to evaluate the current 3rd semester reading syllabus (thereafter called the syllabus) for English major students at HaUI Due to time constrain, I plan to conduct the research to find answers to the following questions:

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

2 What are the suggestions to further improve the syllabus?

Such findings will provide insights into the strengths and weaknesses of the current syllabus and help propose some recommendations for an even better syllabus

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

Chapter 2 Literature review

2.1 An overview of evaluation

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

Rea- Dickins and Germaine (1992) claim that evaluation is an intrinsic part of teaching and learning It can provide a wealth of information to use for the future of classroom practice, for planning of courses, and for the management of learning tasks and students They assert that “making evaluative judgments is therefore a feature of social life, but evaluation is not always something that we do in a principle and systematic way”

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

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

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

Hedge (2000) also refers to the term “evaluation” as “the assessment of students at the end of the course Recently, however, the meaning of evaluation is understood as an assessment of all aspects of a program Evaluation can relate to course and learners in a number of ways First, the course can be judged as it is planned Second, all what are

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

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

In conclusion, evaluation relates to courses and learners, it is also include the aspects of a program so it can be referred to three notions of evaluations such as pre-course evaluation, on- course evaluation or post-course evaluation which depend on the purpose

2.1.1.1 Needs

In fact, there are different discussions about the meanings of needs Researchers like R Berwick, H.G Widdowson and P.C Robinson and T Hutchinson & A Walter

expressed their opinion about needs as follows:

- Needs can refer to learners‟ study or job requirement that is what they have to

be able to do at the end of their language course This is called to be a goal- oriented definition of needs (Widdowson, 1981, p.2)

- Needs can be considered what the learners need to do to actually acquire the

language This is a process- oriented definition of needs and the means of learning

(Widdowson, 1981, p.2)

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

the language course In this sense “needs are perhaps more appropriately described as objectives” (Berwick, 1989, p 57)

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

“Necessities are the type of needs which are determined by the demands of the

target situation, that is what learner has to know in order to function effectively in the target situation” (Hutchinson & Walters 1987, p.55) In other words, necessities can be regarded as learners‟ target proficiency – the scope of the language knowledge and skills that learners are supposed to acquire on completing a course

Lacks are the gap between the target proficiency and the existing proficiency of the

learners‟ (Hutchinson & Walters 1987, p.56) In other words, information about learners‟ lacks will help the designer to determine how much language training is needed to bridge the gap between learners‟ entry level and their exit one

Wants is one of the terms of target needs with the actual learners playing active role

that is the learners have a view as to what their needs are Richterich (1984) comments that needs do not exist independently of a person People build the image of their needs on the basis of data relating to themselves and their environment

In conclusion, within the category of target needs, further division under

necessities, lacks and wants in which the route from the starting point (lacks) to the

destination (necessities) and what the destination should be (wants) form the so called learning needs (Hutchinson & Walters, 1993, p.60)

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

in order to learn However, to the destination successfully, Hutchinson & Walters (1987) point out:

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

it is native to think that a journey can be planned solely in terms of the

starting point and the destination The needs, potential and constrains of

the route (i.e the learning situation) must also be taken into account, if we

are going to have any useful analysis of learners‟ needs (p.61)

On the basis of the theory above, information on learners‟ needs is often collected and analyzed in the various steps of teaching and learning, from the course design, implementation to the evaluation

2.1.1.2 The roles of needs analysis

Needs analysis is of great importance in defining and meeting the various needs of particular learners The course designer has to analyze the learners‟ needs so as to design appropriate course and help the learners to acquire English more effectively and successfully Discussing the important role of needs analysis, Hutchinson & Walters (1987) assert that:

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

next is the subjective analysis which is conducted during the course of program delivery (Nunan, 1985, p 51)

Needs analysis can be used for a number of different purposes Richards (2001, p 53) lists such purpose of a needs analysis as follows:

- To find out what language skills a learner needs in order to perform a particular role such as a sale manager, tourist guide, or university student

- To determine if an existing course adequately addresses the needs of potential students

- To identify a change of direction that people in a reference group feel important

- To identify a gap between what students can do at present and what they need to be able to do

- To collect information about particular problems learners are experiencing

- To help evaluate a language program

It can be easily seen that needs analysis is essential to the development of a language course in general, and the course evaluation in particular

2.1.2 Language course evaluation

Although the aim of the study is not to evaluate the entire course, it is worth looking briefly at some question to answer while one evaluates a language course The answers to these questions could be some help in terms of methodology for the study The questions are:

1 Who evaluate the course?

2 What can be evaluated?

3 Why evaluate the course?

4 How can you evaluate it? (What are some ways to evaluate it?

5 When can you evaluate it?

6 What is done with the results of evaluation? ( Graves, 2000, pp 214 -216)

According to Pauline Rea – Dickins and Richard Kiely (2005, pp 59 – 60) language course evaluation design factors have had significant influence on the development of evaluation theory and practice in this field Teachers and administrators do course or program evaluation for many different reasons Teachers may, for example, do evaluation

in order to improve the effectiveness of their:

2.2 Overview of reading process

2.2.1 Reading and reading comprehension

According to Goodman ( 1975, p.12), “ reading is a receptive language process which starts with a linguistic surface representative encoded by a writer and ends with meaning which the reader constructs” On the other hand, Hammer (1991, p.190) viewed reading with more physical and mental precision as an “exercise dominated by the eyes and the brain The eyes receive messages and the brain then has to work out the significance of these messages Other authors define reading as the act of simultaneously reading the lines, reading between the lines, and reading beyond the lines (Manzo &

Manzo, 1993) The first part of their definition, reading the lines refers to the act of

decoding the words in order to construct the author‟s basic massage The next part,

reading between the line, refers to the act of making inferences and understanding the author‟s implied message and finally, reading beyond the lines involves the judging of

the significance of the author‟s message and applying it to other areas of background and knowledge It is important to note that neither of these definitions focuses on the sounding out of the words Sounding out of the words is an important skill but it is secondary to the

act of comprehending and thinking Comprehension and thinking is what reading is really all about

Reading is an active process (not a product) in which readers shift between sources

of information (what they know and what the text says) elaborate meaning and strategies, check their interpretation (revising when appropriate) and use the social context to focus their response (Walker, 1996 )

Vacca and Vacca ( 1996) offer the following chart of levels of comprehension:

Figure 2.1 Levels of comprehension (Vacca and Vacca, 1996, p 23)

Obviously, these definitions have pointed out the nature of reading which is

necessary for consideration of how to read effectively

Reading the lines

Reading between the lines

Reading beyond the lines

Level of comprehension

Literal

Interpretive

Applied

2.2.2 Reading strategies

2.2.2.1 Reading strategies to approach reading materials effectively

There have been many discussions about reading strategies, its nature and the skills required for effective reading to be achieved Robinson (1980); Nuttal (1982) and Grabe (1988) hold that reading is not a passive process, but an active process of communication whereby the reader approaches the text for specific purposes The reader‟s involvement in the text is of crucial significance as they should not accept what is written, but they should develop, modify and even reflect on all or some of the ideas displayed in the text

According to some experts, reading is an interactive – constructive process in

which readers comprehend, interpret and respond to text according to what they already

know Interactive is probably best explained by Grabe (1988) as…“the interaction of the

reader‟s several kinds of knowledge and the interaction of the reader and the text”

Grabe‟s point of view (1988, p 56) on the notion of reading as an interactive process refers to a “kind of dialogue” between the reader and the text.” The notion of

reading as an interactive process evolved from schema theory and is often termed the top- down approach to reading Moreover, Grabe (1988) also suggests that the term “ interactive” also refers to the interplay of both bottom – up and top- down reading

strategies Bottom- up strategies include decoding graphic features and grammatical characteristics, while top- down strategies include predicting, applying background knowledge and recognizing global text structure

The notion of top-down strategies is usually used in the literature to include both global strategies for processing the text as well as activating conceptual (background) knowledge of the world

Any imbalance between bottom- up and top- down strategies process can cause problems for the reader In the words of Dublin & Bucina (1991, p 197) “the two processes, bottom- up and top- down, are complementary: one is not able to function properly without the other Thus, interactive theory accounts for the ability to read closely when necessary- for example in scanning for specific information or proof – reading material after composing it.”

Some other researchers describe the reading act as a “transaction”, in which meaning emerges from a continuing give- and – take relationship between the reader and the text, each shaping is shaped by the other This kind of interaction between readers and the text allows readers to construct their own meaning according to their background

knowledge and experience Recent research has conceived reading as an interactive cognitive process in which readers interact with the text using their prior knowledge

(Carrell, 1983) and cultural background Brumfit (1984, p 3) defines reading is a complex activity covering “a combination of perceptual, linguistic and cognitive abilities” It is a constructive thinking process which “involve application, analysis, evaluation and imagination”

In this thesis, the “interactive” reading model with interactive reading strategies is considered applicable to teaching and learning English reading skills Thus, it should be taken into account when designing reading syllabus

2.2.2.2 Reading strategies for effective processing of reading materials

It is meaningless to do anything without a clear purpose and this is especially true for reading practice We can not read any material effectively if we do not know exactly what we want or need from it Different reading purposes result in a wide range of reading strategies also termed techniques applicable to EFL reading comprehension, the final target

of any EFL reading practice According to Munby (1978), the most important of these strategies are:

 Recognizing the script of a language

 Deducting the meaning and use of unfamiliar lexical items

 Understanding explicitly stated information

 Understanding information when not explicitly stated

 Understanding conceptual meaning

 Understanding the communicative value of sentence and utterance

 Understanding relations between parts of a text through lexical cohesion devices

 Understanding relations between parts of a text through grammatical cohesion devices

 Interpreting text by going outside it

 Recognizing indicators in discourse

 Identifying the main point or important information in a piece of discourse

 Distinguishing the main idea from supporting details

 Extracting salient point to summarize ( the text, an idea….)

 Basic reference skills

 Skimming

 Scanning to locate specifically required information

The above strategies are very effective and useful tools to facilitate the reading process and to help EFL readers to achieve different reading purposes When strategies such as skimming, scanning, making inference can be regarded as first basic activities for comprehension, the others including guessing strategies, identifying and reviewing grammatical phenomena used in a text All the strategies are of equal importance since if one fails to identify the cohesive device in a text, she/he may not be able to understand the logical information

2.2.3 Purposes of reading

It is important to define reader‟s purposes in reading a text as this will indicate the skills and strategies to be adopted by the reader and the level of comprehension which is being operated by readers (Kennedy & Bolitho, 1991)

According to The National Capital Language Resource Center, Washington, DC (2010):

Reading is an essential part of language instruction at every level because it supports learning in multiple ways People use reading for some important purposes Observing the way people read, we can find some main purposes as follows:

Reading to learn the language: Reading material is language input

It is necessary to provide multiple opportunities for learners to absorb vocabulary, grammar, sentence structure, and discourse structure as they occur in authentic context by giving learners a variety of materials to read Learners this gain a more complete picture of the ways in which the elements of the language work together to convey meaning

Reading for content information: Learners‟ purpose for reading in

their native language is often to obtain information about a subject they are studying and this purpose can be useful in the language classroom as well Reading for content information in the language classroom gives learners both authentic reading material and an authentic purpose for reading

Reading for cultural knowledge and awareness: Reading everyday

materials that are designed for native can give learners insight into the lifestyles and worldviews of the people whose language they are studying When learners have access to newspapers, magazines and internet, they are exposes to culture in all its variety, and monolithic cultural stereotypes begin to break down

A curriculum contain a broad description of general goals by indicating an overall educational –cultural philosophy which applies across subjects together with a theoretical orientation to language and language teaching with respect to the subject matter at hand A curriculum is often reflective of national and trends as well

A syllabus is more detailed and operational statement of teaching and learning elements which translate the philosophy of the curriculum into series of planned steps leading towards more narrowly defined objectives at each level (p.35)

2.3.2 Definitions of syllabus

Basically, the term “syllabus” has been used and defined by famous authors with the narrow and broad views Thus, the term is still rather confusing to many readers because some authors advocate the narrow view which draw a clear distinction between syllabus and methodology whereas some others adopt the broader view which argues with the advent of communicative language teaching, the distinction between content and tasks

is difficult to sustain Yalden (1984) points out his broad view as follows:

The syllabus replaces the concept of “method”, and the syllabus is now seen ad an instrument by which the teacher, with the help of the syllabus designer, can achieve a degree of “fit” between the needs and the aims of the learners ( as social being and as individual) and the activities which will take place in the classroom (p.14)

Breen (1984, p49) also share the same view a Yalden (1984) He states that any syllabus will indirectly express certain assumption about the language, about the psychological process of learning and about the pedagogic and social processes within classroom It is obvious that both Yalden and Breen support the view that the selection and

gradation of content are combined with the methodology in the so- called syllabus In

contrast to such views, some other authors such as Allen (1984); Widdowson (1981); Hutchinson & Walters (1987) and Nunan (1988) indicate that syllabus and methodology should be distinctive separate parts

Allen shares the same view with Nunan, they define syllabus with the distinction between syllabus and methodology According to Allen (1984, p.49) “syllabus is related to what units the learners will be learned but not how they will be taught and that is a matter

of methodology, and Nunan‟s point of view is “syllabus is seen as being concerned essentially with the selection and grading of content, while methodology is concerned with the selection of learning tasks and activities”

According to Winddowson (1981, p 26), a syllabus is simply a framework within which activities can be carried out: a teaching device to facilitate learning It only becomes

a threat to pedagogy when it is regarded as absolute rules for determining what is to be learned rather than points of reference from which learing can be taken

It is clear from the literature that the authors‟ opinions do not contradict one another, although they study the subject from different points of view and express their ideas in different terms and words Finally, it can be concluded that a syllabus is the description of the contents of a course of instruction and the order in which they are to be taught Moreover, the syllabus functions as a major communication device that provides details on how student learning will be assessed and about the roles of both students and instructors in learning and assessment process

focus

LANGUAGE Receptive/

Productive

LEARNING Skill acquisition focus

PROCESS Learning focus Learner- led

PROCEDURAL Cognitive focus Task-based

Functional focus

Figure 2.2 Bases for language syllabus design

It is clear from the above diagram that “Content”, “Skill”, and “Method” are the main bases for language syllabuses

2.3.4 Roles of syllabus in training program

It is obvious that a syllabus is an integral component in the process of course design Hutchinson and Walters (1987, p.83) have listed different roles of a syllabus in a training programme First, a syllabus, in defining the constituent parts of language knowledge provides a practical basis for the division of assessment, learning time and textbooks Second, a syllabus also gives moral support to the teacher and learner, in that it makes the language learning task appear manageable Third, a syllabus can be seen as a statement of the projected routes, so that teachers and learners do not only have an idea of where they are going, but how might they get there Fourth, a syllabus is an implicit statement of view on the nature of language and learning A syllabus will normally be expressed in terms of what is taken to be the most important aspect of language learning Fifth, a syllabus provides a set of criteria for materials selection and/or writing It defines the kind of texts to look for or produce the items to focus on in exercises and so on Sixth,

a syllabus is one way in which standardization is achieved Lastly, a syllabus provides a visible basis for testing

Therefore, it is said that a syllabus is an important document in the teaching and learning process A language teaching syllabus involves the integration of subject matter (what to talk about) and linguistic matter (how to talk about it); that is the actual matter that makes up teaching

In short, it is clear from the list that a syllabus is a document of great importance in teaching and learning process Therefore, it is necessary to take into account the significant roles of syllabus in designing syllabus

2.3.5 The role of reading syllabus in language curriculum

In order to evaluate a reading syllabus, we should consider the place of reading in a language curriculum According to Nunan (1988), a syllabus is located in the curriculum documents, it can also be found in the classroom itself where it is manifested in the content, resources, and processes of learning There are a great variety of syllabuses in

existence at any time However they can be classified into: grammatical syllabus, lexical syllabus, functional syllabus, situational syllabus, topical or content- based syllabus, skill syllabus, task- based syllabus, text- based syllabus and integrated- syllabus (Richards, 2001) Moreover, what type of syllabus is used depending on the real situation, student needs and objectives of the course According to Read John A S (1984), the four criteria to evaluate a syllabus are: (1) adequacy of the framework, (2) suitability for learner needs, (3) probability of successful implementation, and (4) effectiveness of learning activities based

on the syllabus From the four criteria of syllabus evaluation, researchers point out some distinctions in syllabus design The most clear distinction is language „product‟ and learner

„process‟ as the appropriate orientation towards the curriculum (Rost, 1990, p.222) There are various types of syllabus which can be put under three board headings such as: Content

or Product (focus on the end result), Skill, and Methods or Process (focus on the means to

an end) The first type consists of Grammatical/ Structural/ Language form syllabus, Notional- Functional syllabus, Situational syllabus, Topic syllabus, and Content- based syllabus The second type is just single type and the last are Process syllabus, Procedure/Task- based syllabus, and Learning- centered/Negotiate syllabus

In a product-oriented view of syllabus, language skills are treated as “channels” through which content can be processed (Rost, 1990, p 222) Skills are to be developed in order to enable learners to acquire „product‟ – words, grammatical rules, facts and concept- more efficiently Within product syllabuses, language macro skill are thought of means through which prescribes items are represented, practiced and learned Specifically, reading can be viewed as a processing channel through which language products are presented to the learner

Beside, in the process- oriented syllabuses, language development is considered as progressive gain in skills for handling information and strategies for handing interactions and procedures, with macro- skills (such as reading) viewed as supportive outcomes of learning tasks Nunan (1989, p.40) Another way of stating relationship between skill development and syllabus is that in a process – syllabus, language skill and content can be linked in a curricular cycle In this cycle, texts are used as starting pointes or as necessary source of information needed for a task, skills support interpretation of texts in the task,

language is understood as means of doing task, and appropriately graded and liked tasks constitute the syllabus content of the language course (Long, 1985, cited by Rost, p 224)

So far in this chapter, there was discussion on the relationship between skill development (specifically reading) and the different types of syllabus The next chapter focuses on my study with the aim of finding the merits and demerits of the 3rd semester reading syllabus for English major student at HaUI for further improvement

Chapter 3 The study

3.1 Research objectives and methodology

The study‟s aim is to evaluate the current reading syllabus of the 3rd semester for English major students at Hanoi University of Industry I just focus on the following questions:

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

2 What are the suggestions to further improve the syllabus?

In the light of the literature review and based on my real situation, I decide to use mixed methods to find answers to these 2 questions I use questionnaires, interviews and document review to collect data for my research

Using these tools is more relevant in my study because the aim of this minor thesis

is just a preliminary evaluation of one of the language syllabuses for English major students Specifically, I use questionnaires to collect information from students and teachers, and then I interview teachers and analyse relevant documents from the univesity such as teaching-learning guidelines, course instructions As mentioned in the literature review, when conducting a course evaluation these tools are frequently used to find out factors such as course objectives, materials, assessment and time allocation

The survey questionnaires to 6 teachers and 120 students who used the syllabus were administered to investigate the level of satisfaction and achievement after using the syllabus All questions are in English and also translated into Vietnamese, to make it easier for students to give reliable answers The data were collected and analyzed in both quantitative and qualitative methods such as calculating percentage, ranking, interpreting trends

a Subjects

The subjects/ evaluators of the research include two groups

The first group consists of six teachers of English who are responsible for teaching the reading skill at English major division, the Dean and the Vice of the English

Department They are from twenty five to thirty five of age Most of them hold a Master in TESOL, only two are MA candidates The youngest teachers have three years of English teaching experience while others have around nine years‟ experience Therefore they could

be a very reliable source of data

The second group of participant consists of 55 second year students and 65 third- year students All of them are English- major students at the English Department and have finished the reading load of 3rd semester

b Instruments

i Document analysis

In this study, two documents were analyzed, that is the the overall curriculum of

BA of English which is issued by the English Department with the course objectives (the curriculum for eight semester) and the 3rd semester reading syllabus Examining the overall curriculum is to put the reading course in a broader picture of all reading courses and the other macro language skills The 3rd semester reading syllabus, as mentioned in the Introduction, was designed by teaching staff of the English Department based on the curriculum mentioned above It is meant to be flexible and can be amended so that it can meet the expectations of both teachers and learners and suitable with the need of learners

ii Questionnaires for teachers and students

The questionnaires (Appendix 3) consist of seven questions which mainly focused

on student‟s attitudes toward the syllabus Through students‟ syllabus evaluation, it helps

to reflect on their needs and wants All questions were designed for both second and third year students Second year students were chosen to answer the questionnaire because they had finished the 3rd semester Data were collected at the end of the academic years With students answering the questionnaires as soon as they had just finished the reading component which belongs to the 3rd semester reading syllabus, the information can be reliable and make contribution to the next course The fourth year students were not chosen because they finished the reading component more than a year before, so they may not remember the syllabus which they had implemented and answers to the questionnaires may not be accurate

To help the informants to understand the questions thoroughly and answer them in

a most accurate and complete way, one teacher administered the questionnaire filling session She was willing to explain any difficult or unfamiliar expression The informants were also allowed to write the answers in Vietnamese if they found it not easy to express what they mean in English The answers were then translated into English for analysis and reporting by the research with editing assistance by a professional translator

iii Interview with teachers and officials

The interviews were conducted in one- to – one situation with six teachers who are currently in charge of teaching reading skill for English- major division Five open- ended questions (Appendix 4) were asked to find out their attitude to the following issues:

- Their comments on the syllabus in terms of objectives and time allocation

- The suitability of the course books and supplementary materials for the course

- The assessment of students

- The students‟ achievement of the objectives of the 3rd semester reading syllabus

- Their suggestions on how to further improve the syllabus

Similar interviews were also conducted with the Dean and the Vice Dean of English Department at HaUi

All the interviews took place in a friendly and open manner Data from the interview were then collated with data from the questionnaires for analysis and interpretation

c Data presentation

i Document and context analysis

1 The curriculum (Appendix 1)

During the preparation process of the Bachelor in English for Technical Translation of HaUI, the project board which consists of the Departments of English,

Technical Pedagogy and some other departments whose scientific and technological branches are included in the programe met to discuss the content, sequence and time

allocation of the curriculum With reference to the Bachelor in Foreign Languages Curricula of other universities and the set training goals (training ESP translators/ interpreters and/or ESP teachers for technical universities, college and schools), they established an eight semester curriculum for the entire course This curriculum was then approved by the Ministry of Education and Training in 2004

The curriculum consists of two main parts: the Knowledge of Basic Education and the Knowledge of Major Education The Knowledge of Major Education is divided into five sub-parts: Linguistic, Literature, General English, English for Specific Purposes (ESP), Graduation Practice and Graduation Examination

Knowledge of General English (GE) sub-part of the curriculum is distributed through the four first semesters with the aim of developing the four macro- language skills

of students Students are also provided with basic education knowledge such as Vietnamese Cultural Foundation, Marxist- Leninist Philosophy, Practical Vietnamese Language… This block of basic education knowledge is taught in Vietnamese The last four semesters focus on language theories of translation and interpretation, translation and interpretation practice, American Literature, Western Civilization, Contrastive Linguistic…

The strength of the curriculum is that it is designed with reference to other existing curricula of other foreign language universities However, the biggest weakness of the curriculum is that there was no such a precedent program to compare with Many things are new to the designers and practicality has not been proved yet

2 The syllabus (Appendix 2)

At the end of 2005, this was the time for the preparation of first English major student recruitment All divisions were responsible for designing syllabus(es), which they are assigned The English Department is responsible for all the subjects taught and learnt in English In the first place, the Division of Language Skills is in charge of creating the syllabuses for the four macro- language skills All the members of the Division of Language Skills, based on the set training goals and the contemporary high school English textbooks, outline the needs In my point of view, this is the first and also the biggest weakness of the syllabus

In the next step, a list of all possible text books available was compiled Among these books, all teachers discussed and selected one which they consider the most relevant

to the assumed needs However, the number of collected books was not large This is one

of the limitations for the syllabus design and it could lead to the second weakness in the preparation of the syllabus Furthermore, the selected books have not been actually evaluated because of the fact that at that time we did not have any students to develop this work

According to the syllabus, in the 3rd semester, students have 45 class- hours (3 class- hours per week, and each class- hours lasts 45 minutes) for reading The book used

is Interaction 2 Reading, McGraw- Hill Contemporary In accordance with the overall

curriculum, the objectives of the 3rd reading syllabus were set up and approved by the Dean

of the English Department and members of the Language Skills Division Students are required to effectively use the micro- language skill such as reading for specific information, skimming for main idea, making inferences, predicting reading content, giving comments and discussion, as well as familiar with some common topics which can

be found in ELT (English Language Teaching) course books When these objectives have been achieved, students are to deal with more challenging reading texts in the following semesters

Interaction 2 Reading consists of 12 chapters, which are distributed in 15 weeks of

the 3rd semester Each chapter in about different topics and always starts with a discussion

by looking at pictures and deals with related vocabulary This step is good for students to imagine about what they are going to read The remaining parts of each chapter are a reading text and exercises after reading such as true- false statement, recognizing the main idea, and discussion of the reading text, finding topic and topic sentence This part is also good for student to improve their writing In general, each chapter is designed clearly in accordance with the 3 reading stages: before reading, while reading and after reading However, each chapter is a bit long, and there are too many repeated exercises, this sometimes cause boredom and are tiring for students

In short, the syllabus has selected rather good course books, which has been proved relevant and reliable in some other institutions The course book contains some familiar topic such as: education, city life, occupation, lifestyle, medicine…

ii Questionnaire results

The questionnaires were filled out and returned by 120 students The return rate was 100 percent and all of the questionnaires were valid Below are the results and prominent trends in the questionnaire data

The first question asked about respondents‟ satisfaction on the course book In general, students have positive responses, nearly 100% thought that the course book was

useful (118 or 99% for 1 and 2 - Ranking from 1= very useful to 4= useless) in terms of

providing them the opportunity to enhance vocabulary as well as reading strategies/ skills (micro- skills) Furthermore, they can practice the basic grammatical structures Students stated that although chapters in the course book are a bit long, the course books were organized with clear support/ guidance for their learning

What are the content of the course book like?

(Ranking from 1= very useful to 4= useless) Number and percentage

Table 1 Questionnaires results on content of the course book

Relating to question about the course objectives (Table 2), most of the students held

that the course objectives were not clearly expressed (No: 83 or 70 %) These students

agreed that the objectives of the syllabus did not reveal specific micro skills and strategies

which help them improve their reading skills and be an independent reader Students (25 or 20%) who thought that the syllabus has a clear expression, said that after finishing the

course book they could understand what the objectives of the syllabus mean I think this is one of the weaknesses of syllabus

Do you think that course objectives are clearly

expressed?

Number and percentage

Course objectives Yes No No answer

 Help students master reading skills and

become an independent reader

 Students have to imagine the aims and ideas

before reading

 Give comment and discuss main ideas

 Students can discuss author‟s view and

express their own ideas

Table 2 Questionnaires result on comment on the course objectives

Although 2/3 of the answers showed that the objectives of the course are not clearly

expressed, the students (No 89 or 75%) and (No 30 or 25%) in (Table 3) are still satisfied

with what they got at the end of the course They still confirmed that they understood the course objectives, obtained the purposes and meet the course requirement after finishing the reading course

Evaluate your overall satisfaction with the course

Regarding the topics (Table 4) the answers varied, depending on student‟s knowledge and their interests of the topics Eight out of twelve topics were considered (very) relevant by over half of the answers selecting 1 and 2 (very relevant and relevant respectively) These

topics are Education and student life (No: 90 or 75% for 1 and 2), City life (No: 78 or 66% for 1 and 2), Business and Money (No: 84 or 71% for 1 and 2), Job and Profession (No: 95

or 80%) Lifestyle around the world (No: 92 or 78%), Global connection (No: 71 or 59%), Language and communication (No: 86 or 73% for 1 and 2), Medicine, myths and magic

(No: 90 or 75%) and The Media (90 or 75%) However, there were three (Taste and

preference, New frontiers, With liberty and justice for all) out of twelve topics

considered not to be relevant because of the topic‟s difficulty and lacks of references for students Beside, some students assess that the above topics were very irrelevant but this number is not remarkable Students said that they prefer adding other topics such as

Fashion, Traditions instead of the difficult ones

How relevant are the topics in the course book

to your needs as a second year student? (

ranking from 1= very relevant to 5= very