Khó khăn khi dạy và học từ vựng trong giáo trình “Tiếng Anh chuyên ngành chế biến thực phẩm” cho sinh viên năm cuối hệ trung cấp ở trường cao đẳng Du lịch Hà Nộ20150227.PDF

Wen, 1996, p.16 Chart 2: Students’ residence Chart 3: English learning experience Chart 4: Elements of a new word make students have difficulty Chart 5: Students’ difficulties in learnin

iv

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Certificate of originality……… i

Acknowledgements……… ii

Abstract……… iii

Table of contents……… iv

List of abbreviations……… vi

List of tables……… vii

Part 1: Introduction……… 1

1 Rationale……… 1

2 Aims of the study……… 2

3 Research questions……… 2

4 Scope of the study……… 2

5 Methods of the study……… 3

6 Design of the study……… 3

Part 2: Development……… 4

Chapter 1: Literature review……… 4

1.1 An overview of ESP……… 4

1.1.1 Definition of ESP……… 4

1.1.2 Classification of ESP……… 5

1.1.3 Characteristics of ESP……… 7

1.1.4 Problems of ESP teachers……… 8

1.2 ESP Vocabulary…… ……… 9

1.2.1 Definitions of ESP……… 9

1.2.2 Kinds of ESP vocabulary……… 9

1.2.3 Selection of vocabulary for teaching……… 10

1.2.3.1 Word lists at an early stage……… 10

v

1.2.3.2 Awareness of criteria in selection……… 10

1.2.3.3 The use of concordances……… 10

1.3 What should be taught in teaching vocabulary……… 11

1.3.1 Word form……… 11

1.3.2 Grammar……… 11

1.3.3 Collocation……… 11

1.3.4 Aspects of meaning……… 11

1.3.5 Word formation……… 12

1.4 Teaching and learning vocabulary items……… 13

1.4.1 Techniques used in the presentation of new vocabulary items……… 13

1.4.1.1 Visual techniques……… 13

1.4.1.2 Verbal techniques……… 13

1.4.1.3 Translation……… 13

1.4.2 Techniques in practicing new words……… 14

1.4.3 Independent learning strategies ……… 14

1.4.3.1 Contextual guessing……… 14

1.4.3.2 Memorizing……… 14

1.4.3.3 Affixes learning……… 15

1.4.3.4 Repetition and recycling a word……… 15

1.4.3.5 Relating the word in reality……… 15

1.4.3.6 Brainstorming activities……… 15

Chapter 2: The Research Methodology……… 16

2.1 Context of the study……… 16

2.2 Descriptions of the subjects……… 16

2.3 Descriptions of data collection instruments……… 17

2.4 Data collection procedure……… 17

2.5 Data analysis results……… 18

vi

Chapter 3: Findings and some solutions for better teaching and learning English vocabulary to the second year students of pre-intermediate level at Hanoi

Tourism College………

29 3.1 Findings……… 29

3.2 Suggested solutions……… 32

Part 3: Conclusions……… 38

1 Summary of the study……… 38

2 Limitations and suggestions for further study……… 38

References……… 46

Appendices

vii

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

THC Hanoi Tourism College

ESP English for specific purposes

ELT English Language Teaching

EAP English for Academic Purposes

EOP English for Occupational Purposes

EST English for Science and Technology

EBE English for Business and Economics

ESS English for Social Studies

viii

LIST OF BARS, TABLES AND CHARTS

Chart 1 Simplified Tree of ELT (cf Wen, 1996, p.16)

Chart 2: Students’ residence

Chart 3: English learning experience

Chart 4: Elements of a new word make students have difficulty

Chart 5: Students’ difficulties in learning vocabulary for Food Production

Chart 6: Students’ evaluation on teachers’ teaching methods

Table 1: Criteria for selection

Table 2: Time for learning new words outside the classroom

Table 3: Students’ evaluation on vocabulary exercises in the course book “English for Food Production Staff”

Table 4: Students’ dealing with new words

Table 5: Students’ vocabulary practice

Table 6: Vocabulary teaching techniques

Bar 1: Ways of learning English vocabulary

PART 1: INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale

Nowadays, English is a common language in communication in the world It plays a very important part in many fields of life such as science, technology, history, politics, economics, anthropology, sociology, philosophy, psychology or world wide studies and researches in modern medicine and surgery… At present, in Vietnam, English is considered to be a key for communication in offices, companies and at schools Being a compulsory subject, it is thought

to give students and workers chances to study and work all over the world

Talking about learning a foreign language, the first thing we think about is words Vocabulary plays an essential role in acquiring a language and it is also an important tool to activate four language skills in English: listening, speaking, reading, writing and therefore, it helps us communicate successfully with people within and outside our country To think and to express our ideas, an important factor we need is words Language is the key that helps our mind to think, to plan, to solve problems, and finally to succeed Hence, the more words we know, the more we succeed However, to acquire words is not easy at all, therefore, it is a necessary and interesting theme for any researches on

In the context of Hanoi Tourism College, which has been specialized in vocational training in tourism and hospitability for a long time, Food Production (FP) is much concerned as one of the most developed majors here and the students who major in food production management can study and practice in a better condition than others Nevertheless, only when these students are good at English will a bright future belong to them As a teacher of English in Hanoi Tourism College (HTC), I have found out that students have difficulties in studying the English in the course book entitled “English for Food Production Staff” mainly due to their limited vocabulary, which covers nearly 70% of exercises in the book, especially in reading and translating exercises They often learn vocabulary passively through teachers‟ explanations and forget words quickly after a short time

Teaching ESP (English for specific purposes) is a difficult task for the teachers of the English language Hence, the teachers who teach the subject “English for Food Production Staff” is also involved Beside vocational knowledge, teachers need to carry out researches in teaching

vocabulary so as to open their views and instruct students later In my opinion, ESP in cookery

is very interesting but teaching it successfully is extremely hard To teach vocabulary in FP effectively requires great efforts on the part of the teachers of foreign languages for Tourism at HTC Consequently, the task of vocational training connected with the mastery of foreign languages will be completed soon, which lays the foundation for changing Hanoi Tourism College into a university of Tourism in the country in the following years

Because of the given reasons, I decided to conduct this research with the hope that I will make small but useful contribution to teaching ESP in cookery in HTC

2 Aims of the study

The study aims to achieve two purposes The first one is to find out some difficulties facing the students of FP and the ESP teachers in the process of learning and teaching English vocabulary in the textbook “English for Food Production Staff” The second one is to find some solutions to these problems

3 Research questions

This research was carried out to find out the answers to the following research questions:

- What are the main difficulties facing the students of FP and the ESP teachers in the process of teaching and learning English vocabulary in the text book “English for Food Production Staff”?

- What are the solutions to these problems?

4 Scope of the study

The study focuses on teaching and learning English vocabulary in the course book “English for Food Production Staff” for the students who major in cookery Then, the difficulties found out will be analyzed and the solutions will be made to help to improve the teaching and learning of cookery English at HTC

5 Methods of the study

The study uses the following methods to achieve its objectives First, the survey questionnaire

is conducted to investigate difficulties for students at HTC in the process of learning vocabulary in the textbook “English for Food Production Staff” Then, the teachers are

interviewed to get more information of their difficulties in teaching English vocabulary for FP and the solutions to these problems as well

6 Design of the study

The research includes three main parts:

Part 1: Introduction: In this part the rationale, the aims, the research questions, the scope, the

method, and the design of the study are presented

Part 2: Development: It consists of two chapters

Chapter 1 provides the theoretical background for the study

Chapter 2 is the main part of the study including the context of the study, the subjects, and the data collection methods and data collection procedure Also in this chapter, the data will be analyzed and the findings will reveal teachers and students‟ difficulties in teaching and

learning vocabulary in the textbook “English for Food Production Staff” for the second year

students of pre-intermediate level at Hanoi Tourism College On the basis of these findings,

the way of teaching and learning cookery vocabulary will be suggested

Part 3: Conclusion: This part offers a summary of the research and some suggestions for

further study

PART 2: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 1.1 An overview of ESP

1.1.1 Definitions of ESP

ESP, which is usually thought to stand for “English for Specific Purposes”, has become an important part of English Language Teaching (ELT) As with most developments in human activity, ESP grew out of a number of converging trends to create various disciplines There have been a lot of attempts to define ESP

Hutchinson and Waters (1987:19) define ESP as “an approach to language teaching in which all decisions as to content and method are based on the learners‟ reason for learning” They

ensure that ESP must be seen as an approach not as a product ESP is neither a particular kind

of language or methodology nor includes a particular kind of teaching material Teaching ESP does not mean teaching a „special variety‟ of English which is separate from the common language use such as matters of science words and grammar for scientist or a different kind

from any other form of language teaching As an approach to language teaching, ESP is directed by specific and apparent learner need

According to Munby (1978: 2), "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), also emphasizes the students' needs element of ESP when discussing

the criteria to 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

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

The above definitions stated at different time by different authors show that the growth of ESP

is combination of the need for increased specialization in language learning, the expansion of demand for English to suit particular needs and developments in the fields of linguistics and educational psychology In another words, any ESP course must be based on learners‟ needs

1.1.2 Classification of ESP

There are many types of ESP which are classified in different ways Traditionally, ESP has been conveniently divided into two main types differentiated according to whether the learner requires English for academy study: English for Academic Purposes (EAP) or for work training: English for Occupational Purposes (EOP)

Kennedy and Bolitho (1984: 4) explain the two areas quite early: “EOP is taught in a situation

in which learners need to use English as part of their work or profession Instances of EOP students would be doctors in casualty or technicians servicing equipment They need English,

in the first case, to talk and respond to patients and other staff, and, in the second, to read technical manuals.” And, “EAP is taught generally within educational institutions to students needing English in their studies The language taught may be based in particular disciplines

at higher levels of education when the student is specializing (in-study) or intends to specialize (pre-study) in a particular subject”

David Carter (1983) identifies three types of ESP: English as a restricted language, English for Academic and Occupational Purposes and English with specific topics

The first type of ESP in the view of Carter is English as a restricted language, for example, the language used by air traffic controllers or by waiters According to Mackay and Mountford

(1978) restricted language and language are clearly illustrated: “ the language of international air-traffic control could be regarded as 'special', in the sense that the repertoire required by the controller is strictly limited and can be accurately determined situationally, as might be the linguistic needs of a dining-room waiter or air-hostess However, such restricted repertoires are not languages, just as a tourist phrase book is not grammar Knowing a restricted 'language' would not allow the speaker to communicate effectively in novel situation,

or in contexts outside the vocational environment” (pp 4-5)

The second type of ESP identified by Carter (1983) is English for Academic and Occupational Purposes In the 'Tree of ELT' (Hutchinson & Waters, 1987), ESP is broken down into three branches: English for Science and Technology (EST), English for Business and Economics (EBE), and English for Social Studies (ESS) Each of these subject areas is further divided into two branches: English for Academic Purposes (EAP) and English for Occupational Purposes (EOP) An example of EOP for the EST branch is 'English for Technicians' whereas

an example of EAP for the EST branch is 'English for Medical Studies'

Chart 1 Simplified Tree of ELT (cf Wen, 1996, p.16)

Hutchinson and Waters (1987) do note that there is not a clear-cut distinction between EAP

and EOP: " people can work and study simultaneously; it is also likely that in many cases the

language learnt for immediate use in a study environment will be used later when the student takes up, or returns to, a job" (p 16) It explains the reasons why EAP and EOP are

categorized under the same type of ESP by Cater Moreover, it also shows although EAP and EOP are different in terms of focus on Cummins' (1979) notions of cognitive academic proficiency versus basic interpersonal skills, the end purpose of both EAP and EOP are

In brief, various types of ESP is like an overall picture to help ESP teachers choose teaching materials, classroom activity with a purpose as well as to design or adapt an appropriate ESP course for their target students

- ESP is designed to meet specific needs of learners;

- ESP makes use of the underlying methodology and activities of the disciplines it serves;

- ESP is centered on the language (grammar, lexis, and register), skills, discourse and genres appropriate to these activities

Variable characteristics:

- ESP may be related to or designed for specific disciplines;

- ESP may use, in specific teaching situations, a different methodology from that of general English;

- ESP is likely to be designed for adult learners, either at tertiary level institution or in a professional work situation IT could, however, be used for learners at secondary school levels;

- ESP is generally designed for intermediate or advanced students Most ESP courses assume basic knowledge of the language system, but it can be used with beginners

The absolute and variable characteristics of ESP determine what ESP is and what ESP is not ESP should be seen simple as an 'approach' to teaching, based on analysis of learner needs and their own personal specialist knowledge of using English for real communication

1.1.4 Problems of ESP teachers

As a matter of fact, professionalism is not easily achieved for ESP teachers Becoming an effective teacher of ESP requires more experience, additional training, extra effort, a fresh commitment, compared with being a teacher of General English(GE) Apparently, there are many challenges for the ESP teacher

Robinson (1980:83) supposed that the problems of ESP teachers are “lack of sufficient preparation time, lack of personal and professional contact with subject teachers, and the content may be very specific indeed, requiring a high degree knowledge and skill from teachers” These problems are caused by the fact that the great majority of ESP teachers have

not been trained in that specialism

Tom Hutchinson and Alan Waters (1987:158) focus on three problems for ESP teachers: the lack of an ESP orthodoxy to provide a ready-made guide, the new realms of knowledge the ESP teacher has to cope with, the change in the status of ELT First of all, the use or non-use

of authentic texts is debated In early stages of ESP, A.J Herbert (1965) created their own texts to highlight language features much in the same way as was done in GE The use of

composed texts is to “avoid syntactic complexity”- Allen and Widdowson (1974) Phillips and Shettlesworth (1978) on the other hand support the use of the authentic text “as a repository of natural language use and….as the stimulus for a variety of communication skills”

“Authentic” makes sense of “taken from the target situation and, therefore, not originally constructed fir language teaching purposes” Hence, new settlers in this land must often have

found it difficult to find their bearings with no agreed maps to guide them Secondly, teachers who have been trained for GE teaching or for the teaching of Literature may suddenly find themselves having to teach with texts whose content they know little or nothing about It is obvious that the difference in comprehension lies in the subject knowledge, not the language knowledge The reasons why many ESP teachers find it difficult to comprehend ESP subject

matter are : 1) There is a tradition in education of separating the Humanities and the Sciences Languages have usually been allocated to the Humanities camp The result has been that English teachers often receive little or no education in the Science 2) Many ESP teachers are reluctant settles in the new territory They could be obliged by economic pressure to emigrate 3) Little effort has been made to retrain teachers 4) General attitude in ESP seems to be to expect teachers to conform to the requirements of the target situation Lastly, the status of English changing from being a subject in its own right to a service industry for other specialism leads to a lowering of status for the teacher John (1981) lists five problems that EAP teachers complaining of: : low priority in timetabling, lack of personal/professional contact with subject teachers, lower status/grade than subject teachers, isolation from other teachers of English doing similar work, lack of respect from students In short, it is not easy for ESP teachers to become familiar with the ESP materials, ESP subjects and even the language as well

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, vocabulary is the total number of all the words that a language possesses, from a single word to multi-word idioms which meaning can only be understood in the sentence, or in context

1.2.2 Kinds of ESP vocabulary

ESP includes technical words and terms or jargon These will often be acronyms These technical terms are more difficult for the teacher or the learner in terms of language content ESP includes formulaic expressions and chunks, which need to be taught and learnt as well as single word lexical items Vocabulary in ESP can usefully be divided into three categories:

 Technical= lexis only really used in the specialism (e.g TVP, alternator)

 Semi-technical= general lexis that has a higher frequency in the specialism,

sometimes with a specific or changed meaning (e.g bug)

 Enabling= general lexis that occurs frequently in the specialism with no change of meaning, helping to bind discourse together (often verbs like produce, cause, or generate)

Although technical vocabulary may concern us most when we first teach an ESP specialism, the other categories are, arguably, more important and require much more of our time as ESP teachers This is another example of where ESP teaching overlaps with GE-i.e it‟s not that different We just have to remember to ensure that contexts for vocabulary presentation should

be relevant to the specialism If as a teacher you can‟t find a context, then it probably means the vocabulary is not relevant (Oxford Teachers‟ Academy, 2011)

1.2.3 Selection of vocabulary for teaching

Nation, Warring, 1997 state that teachers “need to judge whether a particular word deserves attention or not”, therefore, beside basic words referred to, teachers should give description of

preferable word lists as the major source of teaching and learning of the English vocabulary

1.2.3.1 Word lists at an early stage

As a matter of fact, word lists not only help teachers to select the words worth attention and teaching but also enable learners to have a systematic study of academic words they need for academic purposes Word lists are derived from different corpora developed from millions of words, for example, UWL (University Word List) (Xue and Nation, 1984) or AWL (Academic Word List) (Coxhead, 1998) They are high utility general academic words profitable to ESP students

1.2.3.2 Awareness of criteria in selection

It is a good start to refer to word lists when teachers prepare a vocabulary teaching programme for the learners However, it is not motivating to utilize the word lists mechanically Some criteria should be taken into account when words are selected for teaching

order to communicate Availability and

Table 1: Criteria for selection Source: http://arts-humanities.cant.ac.uk/language-studies

1.2.3.3 The use of concordances

The use of concordances in selecting words is a good way to promote vocabulary learning because of several advantages Learners can meet the vocabulary in real contexts with a variety of aspects of knowing a word including collocates, grammatical patterns, word family

members, related meanings and homonyms presented “The use of concordances can challenge the learners to actively construct generalizations, note-patterns and exceptions”

(Nation, 2011: 111)

1.3 What should be taught in teaching vocabulary

According to Penny Ur (1996), to teach vocabulary, learners need to know these elements: pronunciation and spelling, word form, grammar, collocation, aspects of meaning, word- formation need to be taught

1.3.1 Word form: Pronunciation and Spelling

What a word sounds like (its pronunciation) and what it looks like (its spelling) are one of obvious characteristics perceived by the learners for the first time of encountering For many students, the complex relationship between sound and spelling in English seems to make the language inexplicable

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: associations,

or positive and negative feelings the word evokes which may or may not be indicated in a dictionary definition The word “dog”, for example, has positive connotation of friendship and loyalty in the linguistic equivalents in many countries

 Appropriateness or formality 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 For instance, “weep” and “cry” have the synonymous meaning but “weep” is more formal and used in writing more than in speech

 Meaning relationships 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 such as synonyms, antonyms, hyponyms, co- hyponyms or co- ordinates, super ordinates, and translation

1.3.5 Word- formation

Vocabulary items whether one-word or multi-word can often be broken down into their components "bits" Students need to know facts about word formation and how to use words

to fit different grammatical contexts

Words can be built by adding the affixes (prefixes and suffixes), thus, students should be taught the common prefixes and suffixes and how they work For example, if learners know the meaning of "sub", "un" and "able", this will help 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")

1.4 Teaching and learning vocabulary items

1.4.1 Techniques used in the presentation of new vocabulary items

Using techniques in the class is considered a very crucial step in vocabulary teaching to help students use the words in right contexts There are many effective ways to present vocabulary items and the followings are most commonly used ones

1.4.1.1 Visual techniques

According to Gairns and Redman (1986), these techniques include flash cards, photographs, blackboard drawings, wall charts; realia; gestures and mime They are 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) This technique is also 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

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 For examples, to illustrate the meaning of super-ordinates

"furniture”, it is a common procedure to exemplify them e.g “table”, “chair”, “bed” and

“sofa” are all furniture

1.4.1.3 Translation

Many methodologists nowadays view translation 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 However, if teachers only give a direct translation, students cannot see how the word is used in an English sentence 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

The teachers also combine different techniques to show what a word means because each technique can reinforce and support one another, thus making the presentation of new words clearer and more effective

1.4.2 Techniques in practising new words

According to Joseph Pettigrew (2005), many different tips and techniques of practising vocabulary were introduced such as matching, synonyms/opposites, filling the blank sentences, completing the phrases/ sentences Moreover, 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

1.4.3 Independent learning strategies

Techniques used in teaching GE vocabulary can be applied to teaching ESP vocabulary However, considering the complexity of the vocabulary learning task, it is necessary for teachers to encourage learners to develop their own vocabulary learning strategies through guessing strategies, dictionary strategies and memory strategies (Gu and Johnson, 1996) Learners can be directed and trained to develop these strategies in their independent study time

1.4.3.1 Contextual guessing

Meaning could be inferred from clues in the context, for example, guessing through incidental and intentional reading, a little proportion of unknown words in the text (learners should know 90% of the words in the text) and the part of speech of the word, its collocation and the various forms the word can take

Affixes learning is another popular strategy for learners to acquire vocabulary In English vocabulary, there is a relatively small group of very useful accessible affixes that can be introduced to learners, for example, “able, er, ish, non, un…” for low intermediate learners The important thing is that teachers help students to recognize their own style of learning and find their own ways of expanding and organizing their word stores Whatever vocabulary strategies are in use, learners must feel these are right for them In the meantime, teachers may help students develop a personal plan that best suits their vocabulary learning

1.4.3.4 Repetition and recycling a word

Richards (1976) says: “knowing a word covers widely, which includes its occurrence, spelling, derivation, appropriateness in different situations and word associations Only by meeting it repeatedly can learners develop a full understanding of its use and meaning”

1.4.3.5 Relating the word in reality

The use of visual images in the classroom is highly appreciated in vocabulary teaching such as

wall charts, flashcards and pictures “because it gives some idea that it is easier to conjure up a mental image of a concrete item than an abstract one” (Gairns and Redman, 1993)

1.4.3.6 Brainstorming activities

Doing brainstorming activities is another way to learn or accumulate learners‟ vocabulary It generally refers to brainstorming associations that a word has and then diagramming the results For example, when asked to give words learners thought of when they heard the words

“kitchen”, most students would generate a number of words and phrases such as chopsticks, spoon, colander, chopping board, spatula, whisk, electric rice cooker, grill, fry, steam, boil etc… Then they can cluster these words together that they think go together

CHAPTER 2: THE RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 2.1 Context of study

At HTC, English is compulsory for all kinds of students from different majors The English course is divided into two parts: general English and ESP The course for pre-intermediate students lasts 2 years In first two terms, students practice English in the textbook “Lifeline- Elementary” by Tom Hutchinson, Oxford University Press, copyrighted by Information Culture Press In this process, students are equipped with basic background of four

communicative skills: listening, speaking, reading and writing in order to prepare for the next step In the next two terms, ESP is chosen for students to upgrade their major in English The textbook “English for Food Production Staff” was compiled by the teachers of English in the faculty of Foreign Languages for Tourism, HTC in 90 periods each term including 20 units arranged according to the followings: getting started, listening and speaking, reading and writing, key vocabulary

Among majors in HTC, cookery English is a difficult subject because there are many terms, especially foreign dishes which teachers have never known The researcher would like to focus on this major and carry out the research on English vocabulary for FP so as to find out the difficulties and solutions to teaching and learning English vocabulary better in the future

2.2 Description of the subjects

At the time this study was carried out, the total of 50 students were chosen from K13D3 All

of them were the second year students specialized in food production management at intermediate level at HTC There were 35 male and 15 female students This class was selected at random among four classes

pre-In addition, four teachers of HTC were interviewed so as to achieve the aims of this research All of them had ever taught English for the students of Food Production Management Faculty for at least three years There were two male and two female teachers Two of them compiled the textbook “English for Food Production Staff”, therefore, their sharing and experience were very invaluable They all had M.A Degree in English

The number of participants was limited but in comparison with the total of 7 teachers who were responsible for teaching English for this major, it was not small at all Furthermore, 50 students were considered representatives for others because the level of students in all these four classes was not much different

2.3 Descriptions of data collection instruments

Among a number ways in which information can be gathered; questionnaire, interview were chosen to achieve the objectives of the study

Questionnaire

The set of survey questionnaire for students was administered to get information related to students‟ common difficulties in learning English vocabulary for cookery, their attitude toward vocabulary learning of cookery and teaching methods and techniques used by teachers

they would prefer The questionnaire was designed with both close-ended and open-ended questions so that the respondents could give the answers freely 14 questions were delivered to

50 students in the faculty of Food Production Management at tea break to make sure that the students could fully understand the questions and ask for clarification if necessary As a result, all distributed questions returned with the answers (See appendix 1)

Interview

Interviews are particularly useful for getting the story behind a participant‟s experiences The interviewer can pursue in-depth information around the topic Interviews may be useful as follow-up to certain respondents to questionnaires, e.g., to further investigate their responses (McNamara,1999) Hence, to get more information about the research, interview was organized to find out teachers‟ attitude towards teaching vocabulary for cookery, their difficulties they had to face in the process of teaching English vocabulary for cookery and solutions to overcome the difficulties and enhance the effectiveness of teaching and learning English for students in HTC in general and in Faculty of Food Production Management in particular The researcher made interviews with four ESP teachers face to face and their answers were really useful for the study (See appendix 2&3)

2.4 Data collection procedure

Both questionnaire and interview were carried out at short break or after lessons in the classroom Students and teachers were encouraged to give their true answers focusing on teaching methods, common difficulties in teaching and learning English vocabulary for cookery, solutions to the troubles All their information was kept secret and only used for this research The interviews with four teachers of ESP were recorded for later reference

2.5 Data analysis results

2.5.1 The students’ questionnaires

First two questions were to find out the factors affecting the students‟ learning English such as living conditions and experience

1 Do you live in the city or in the country?

Students’ residence

72%

City Country

As shown in the pie chart, most of the students from the countryside or suburban areas make

up 72% while 28% came from the cities, which were considered to have better living conditions, especially educational environment for foreign languages like English The number of students from the countryside is nearly three times more than the number of students from the cities It means that almost of students had difficulties in using English at the beginners‟ level in general and using vocabulary in particular

2 How long have you been studying English?

The column chart indicates that all the students were studying English at the time of the research; however, time difference was relatively great All the students from the cities had been learning English for more than 8 years The rate is 28% It means that they started studying English when they were in primary school On the other hand, there was a big number of English learning experiences under 8 years belonging to those who were from the countryside (72%) Half of the students had ever learned English since they were in secondary schools or in high schools; however, there were three students who only studied English when they entered HTC In short, the chart reflects the level differentiation among the students

Chart 2

Chart 3: English learning experience

3 Do you find it difficult to listen, speak, read, write in English due to your lack of vocabulary?

All of the students agreed that they found it difficult to listen, speak, read and write in English due to their lack of vocabulary This helped the researcher investigate their challenges and make solutions to the problems

4 How much time do you usually spend learning new words outside the classroom?

Time for learning new words outside the classroom Percentage

Table 2: Time for learning new words outside the classroom

As can be seen, the percentage students spending one hour a day, two hours a day, some times and no time at all learning new words outside the classroom takes turns to be 4%, 0%, 62%, 34% Almost of the students sometimes studied English at home and the number of students never studied English out of the class was great Therefore, the table shows that the students did not have good motivation in learning English as a foreign language

5 Which of the followings is the most difficult in learning a new word?

word spelling collocation other ideas

As shown in the chart 4, 24% said that word spelling was one factor that made the students confused Beside, 18% said that it was stress, which they found very difficult to learn 12% accounts for collocation It seems that pronunciation was the most difficult for the students

Chart 4

making up 36% while the smallest rate (10%) belongs to other ideas such as word formation, word form, meaning, grammar

6 Which of the followings is the most difficult in learning vocabulary of Food Production?

Students' difficulties in learning vocabulary for Food Production

7 What do you think about the vocabulary exercises in the course book “English for food production staff”?

Types of Exercises Greatly

effective

Quite Effective

Effective Not

effective

Don’t know

Other suggestions

Match the expressions

with the pictures

Chart 5

Fill in the gaps to

complete the sentences

Put the sentences into

the correct order

Find the mistakes and

Listen and choose the

correct words in the box

Table 3: Students’ evaluation on vocabulary exercises in the course book “English for

Food Production Staff”

When being asked this question, most of students (70%) said that vocabulary exercises and tasks in the course book were varied, effective and relevant About 30% of the students said that the exercises were difficult and uninteresting and they expected the teachers to give them

more interesting vocabulary practice through communicative activities such as playing games

or speaking tasks This can be understood that the course book was highly appreciated by the students but adaptation was necessary with vocabulary activities taking into consideration students‟ English level and the ranges of proficiency in different classes

8 Do you think there is too much vocabulary in the textbook “English for food production staff”?

100% students said that vocabulary in the textbook “English for Food Production Staff” was overloaded, they could not remember all new words in each lesson

9 Which of the following ways do you often choose to learn vocabulary?

Ways of learning English vocabulary

Write a word many times

Read a word many times

Do vocabulary exercises

Spell wordsOther ways

The bar 1 shows the ways of learning English vocabulary of the students 38% ensured that they could easily remember new words if they read a word many times Learning new words

by writing a word many times and doing vocabulary exercises also makes up 24% while spelling words makes 8% of students remember words As can be seen, most students were influenced by traditional ways in their learning habits such as writing the words in English and Vietnamese or writing words in English many time in pieces of paper and trying to learn by heart Obviously, it is not effective ways in learning vocabulary, as Decarrico (2001) states that words should not be learned by memorization without understanding The percentage of

Bar 1

students who usually learn English vocabulary via other ways such as song, game, internet,

TV, radio program only takes up 6% Thus, the students should take their ways of learning English vocabulary in consideration

10 If you come across a new word, what do you often do?

Ways of understanding a new word Percentage

d Guess the meaning basing on the context 10%

e Ask your friend or teacher for its meaning 30%

Table 4: Students’ dealing with new words

When being asked about how to deal with a new vocabulary item, 50% of the students supposed that the effective way was using the dictionary to look up new words because they could save time and self-study what words they did not know well 30% wanted their teachers

to explain more or ask for their partners‟ help Only 10% could guess the meaning from the context The students‟ little ability of guessing the meaning of new words was due to their limited vocabulary or traditional ways of learning It should be noted that 4% often ignored new words and the same number liked using word formation Using pictures to illustrate new vocabulary item takes up 2% and there is no other choice

11 What do you do to practice vocabulary?