Difficulties in learning computer-related vocabulary of students of computer science at Yen Bai teachers' training college and some solutions khó khăn trong vi20150227

iii ABSTRACT In learning a foreign language in general, and English in particular, the knowledge and mastery of vocabulary play an important role.. Being a teacher of English at Yenbai

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ABSTRACT

In learning a foreign language in general, and English in particular, the knowledge and mastery of vocabulary play an important role Without vocabulary, it is difficult to convey anything In order to use language suitably in real context, students should acquire

an adequate number of words and should know how to use them accurately However, teaching and learning vocabulary efficiently is a problem to every teacher and student Vocabulary- learning difficulty is an issue that needs a lot of discussion

The aims of this study are to identify the difficulties in learning vocabulary of students

of computer at Yenbai Teachers’ training college and to find out possible solutions to the found difficulties in order to help students learn computer- related vocabulary in effective way

The study was undertaken among all teachers and 3rd year students of computer at Yenbai teachers’ training college Statistical analysis revealed that most of students are coping with various difficulties in learning vocabulary, i.e the lack of specialized knowledge with numerous terms, complicated structures and countless expressions, the lack of various teaching technique, the lack of teaching aids and reference materials Some solutions are suggested to deal with these problems including encouraging students to develop their self- studying in order to become active learners, improving learning vocabulary interest and motivation, improving specialized knoledge for ESP teachers and students, improving teachers’ activities in teaching vocabulary and equiping teaching facilities

The result of the study can be some help to students who learn Information Technology at Yenbai Teachers’ Training College

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TABLE CONTENT

Candidate’s statement i

Acknowledgements ii

Abstract iii

Table of contents iv

List of abbreviations vii

List of tables viii

PART A: INTRODUCTION 1

1 Rationale 1

2 Aims of the study 1

3 Research questions 1

4 Scope of the study 2

5 Methods of the study 2

6 Significance of the study 2

7 Design of the study 2

PART B: 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 learning 5

1.4 Factor affecting learners in learning vocabulary 5

1.5 English for Specific Purposes 6

1.5.1 Definition of ESP 6

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1.5.2 Teaching and learning ESP vocabulary 6

1.5.2.1 Selecting vocabulary 6

1.5.2.2 Presenting vocabulary 7

1.5.2.3 Practising and consolidating vocabulary 7

1.6 Terminology 8

1.6.1 Definition of terminology 8

1.6.2 Characteristics of terminology 8

1.6.2.1 Accurate 9

1.6.2.2 Systematic 9

1.6.2.3 International 9

1.6.3 Computing terminology 9

1.6.3.1 Single terms 9

1.6.3.2 Compound terms 10

CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY 11

2.1 Context of the study 11

2.2 The subjects of the study 12

2.3 Data collection instrument 13

2.3.1 Questionaires 13

2.3.2 Observation 13

2.3.3 Data collection procedures 13

CHAPTER 3: DATA ANALYSIS, MAJOR FINDINGS, SOLUTIONS 14

3.1 Data analysis 14

3.1.1 The teachers’ questionnaires 14

3.1.1.1 The teachers’ attitude towards vocabulary& vocabulary teaching 14

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3.1.1.3 The teachers’ difficulties in teaching computer- related vocabulary 17

3.1.1.4 The teachers’ attitudes towards vocabulary in present coursebook 17

3.1.1.5 Teaching equipment and materials 18

3.1.2 The students’ questionnaires 18

3.1.2.1.The students’ background 18

3.1.2.2.The students’attitude towards the importance…… 19

3.1.2.3 The students’ ways of learning computer- related vocabulary 20

3.1.2.4 The students’ difficulties in learning computer-related vocabulary 25

3.1.3 The result of the coursebook observation with reference to vocabulary 26

3.2 Major findings 27

3.2.1 Lack of necessary GE knowledge 27

3.2.2 ESP vocabulary pronunciation, meaning, use and memorisation 28

3.2.3 Inappropriate materials 28

3.2.4 Lack of effective strategies for learning ESP vocabulary 28

3.2.5 Difficulties in teaching ESP 29

3.2.6 Lack of learner autonomy 29

3.3 Suggested solutions 30

3.3.1 Enhancing the necessary GE 30

3.3.2 Encouraging the development of effective vocabulary learning 30

3.3.2.1.Guiding students with different vocabulary learning strategies 30

3.3.2.2 Encouraging students to develop their self- study skills 32

3.3.2.3 Improving students’ learning vocabulary interest and motivation 32

3.3.3 Assigning and checking students’ fulfiment of homework 33

3.3.4 Developing effective ESP vocabulary 33

3.3.5 Improving specialized knowledge knowledge for ESP 36

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3.3.6 Equiping teaching facilities 36

PART C: CONCLUSIONS 37

1 Summary of the study 37

2 Limitations of the study 38

3 Suggestions for further study 38

REFERENCES

APPENDICES APPENDIX 1 APPENDIX 2

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LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

ELT: English Language Teaching

ESP: English for Specific Purposes

YTTC: Yenbai Teachers’ Training College

GE : General English

ESP: English for specific purpose

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LIST OF TABLES & FIGURES

Table 1 The importance of vocabulary teaching 14

Table 2 Purposes of teaching computer- related vocabulary 14 Table 3 Teachers’ techniques in presenting new words 15 Table 4 Teachers’ frequency of practice techniques 16 Table 5 Teachers’ frequency of consolidation activities 16 Table 6 Teachers’ difficulties in teaching computer- related vocabulary 17

Table 7 Teachers’ attitudes towards the vocabulary in the coursebook 17

Table 8 Students’ attitude towards the importance ………… 19

Table 9 Students’ purposes of learning computer-related vocabulary 20

Table 10 What students do when meeting new words 20

Table 11 Students’ frequency of learning new words at home 21

Table 12 Students’ favourite way of new lexical item explanation 21

Table 13 Students’ strategies in learning computer-related vocabulary 22

Table 14 Students’ involvement in class activities 23

Table 15 Practice exercises were most prefered by students 24

Table 16 Students’ activities for consolidating new words 25

Table 17 Students’ difficulties in learning computer-related vocabulary 26

Figure 1 18

PART A: INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale

In recent years, many teachers of English at training institutions have been 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 Purposes ( ESP ) Since it was introduced, teaching and learning English for Specific Purposes ( ESP ) has become one of the most prominent features of the English language teaching process In teaching English for Specific Purposes, every one agrees that the scope of specialized vocabulary is a primary goal As

Robinson (1991:4) stated the central role of vocabulary as carrier content in ESP: “It may often be thought that a characteristic, or even a critical feature, of ESP is that a course should involve specialist language (especially terminology) and content.”

However, teaching and learning ESP, particularly teaching and learning vocabulary has still been far from satisfactory Being a teacher of English at Yenbai teachers’ training college (YTTC), I myself do realize a number of problems that the teachers and students encounter in teaching and learning computer- related vocabulary

For all these reasons, I would like to conduct a research to find out the difficulties in learning computer- related vocabulary to third-year students of computer science at Yenbai Teachers’ Training College and give some solutions to improve the teaching and learning

of computer- related vocabulary there

2 Aims of the study

The study is aimed at: Giving better understanding of vocabulary and ESP vocabulary, terminology and computing terminology, ESP vocabulary teaching and learning; finding out difficulties that students at YTTC are facing in learning computer- related vocabulary; giving some solutions to overcome the difficulties

3 Research questions

The research is carried out with an attempt to find out the answers to the following questions:

1 What are the major difficulties encountered by students of computer science

in the learning computer- related vocabulary at YTTC?

2 What are the solutions for better learning computer- related vocabulary to students of computer science at YTTC?

4 Scope of the study

The study limited itself to the area investigation of difficulties in learning computer- related vocabulary of students of computer science at YTTC The solutions are also provided to help to improve teaching and learning English in general, teaching and learning computer- related vocabulary in particular at YTTC

5 Method of the study

The major method used in the study is the quantitative one That is all comments, considerations, suggestions given in the thesis are based on the analysis of the statistics from the survey questionnaires conducted with the teachers and students at YTTC The results from the survey questionnaires are combined with course book assessment at YTTC

6 Significance of the study

This study emphasizes the need for finding out the difficulties in learning computer- related vocabulary and solutions to improve the teaching and learning ESP vocabulary in general and computer- related vocabulary in particular

7 Design of the study

The thesis is organized into three parts:

Part A: Introduction :This part presents the rationale, aims, research questions, scope as well as methods and significance of the study

Part B: Development :This part is divided into three chapters

Chapter 1: Literature review

This chapter deals with the theoretical background for the study The focus of this chapter is vocabulary and ESP vocabulary, some important aspects of vocabulary learning and teaching; terminology and computing terminology

Chapter 2: Methodology

It provides some necessary information about the context of the study, research questions, subjects of the study, data collection instruments and data collection procedure Chapter 3: Data analysis, major findings and some suggested solutions

In this chapter, the data will be analyzed and the findings will reveal the difficulties

in learning computer- realted vocabulary to students at YTTC as well as some solutions to improve the teaching and learning of computer- related vocabulary will be given

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

Based on different criteria, linguists define vocabulary in different ways According to

Ur (1996:60), vocabulary as “ the words we teach in the foreign language However, 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: 96) also noted that, “ It is in words that sounds and meanings inter – lock to allow us to communicate with one another, and it is words that we arrange together to make sentences, conversations and discourse of all kinds.” Through this

statement vocabulary is essential for learning a language

In short, vocabulary can be defined as the words we teach in the foreign language and

a useful convention is to cover all such cases by talking about vocabulary “items’ rather than “ words”

1.2 Classification of vocabulary

Vocabulary can be classified in different ways according to different criteria In terms

of semantics, it is divided into notional or lexical words and functional or grammartical

words Notional words consist of the majority of vocabulary items a language learner can acquire They are used to name objects, actions, qualities and have meaning in themselves

The meanings of functional words, are grammatical so functional words only have

meanings in relation to other words with which they are used They are particles, articles, preposition, etc In term of grammar, vocabulary is classified into different parts of speech such as nouns, verbs, adverbs, adjectives, adverbs, prepositions, articles, conjunctions, and

so on

However, methodologically, learners’ vocabulary can be divided into active vocabulary and passive vocabulary For active words, the learners can undersatnd, pronounce correctly, use effectively in speaking and writing For passive words the

learners can recognize and understand when they occur in the context, but they cannot produce or use correctly themselves even when they want to Nevertheless, the learner’s

vocabulary is classified in more encouraging terms such as productive and receptive vocabulary Learners can use productive vocabulary effectively to produce information in speaking and writing They only can use receptive vocabulary to receive and understand

information in listening and reading

As foreign language teachers, we should know these classifications so that we can help our students learn vocabulary well, especially help them widen their vocabulary with more

active and productive words

1.3 The importance of vocabulary in language learning

Vocabulary is generally thought to be the most important language element among

pronunciation, vocabulary and grammar Wilkins (1972) wrote: “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” According to Ron Forseth and Carol Forseth (1995:23), “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 start”

Through these statements we can firmly conclude that vocabulary is the decisive element in language communication Therefore, vocabulary is a “must” for all language learners by all means

1.4 Factors affecting learners in learning English vocabulary

It is believed that those factors that affect the learner in language learning also have

an affect on his vocabulary learning These factors include, according to Lighbown and

Spada ( 1999: 51), intelligence, aptitude, personality, motivation and attitudes, learner

preferences, learner beliefs, age and kinds of activities Rubin and Thompson ( 1994: 3)

suggest a similar list of factors affecting learning: age, aptitude, attitude (emotions),

personality (extroversion, inhibition, tolerance of ambiguity), learning style, and past experience Spolsky (1989) explicily adds 2 more factors: learning styles and strategies

An effective vocabulay learning is decided by learning strategies Hence many scholars

have striven to introduce different vocabulary learning strategies to help learners of

English improve their vocabulary learning

1.5 English for specific purposes (ESP)

1.5.1 Definition of ESP

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"

Similarly, Munby (1978: 2) stated: "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) wrote: " 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"

It is obvious that these definitions reveal that any ESP course must be based on learners’ needs

1.5.2 Teaching and learning ESP vocabulary

1.5.2.1 Selecting vocabulary

The initial step in teaching ESP vocabulary is to determine which words and special terms in fact to teach Gairns and Redman (1999:59) emphasized especially cultural reasons and the principles of need and level Authors of teaching materials and teachers should take into account also the criteria of learnability and teachability According to

Harmer (1991:154), one of the most common principles of vocabulary selection is to teach

at first concrete words and gradually abstract words Words like chair, table, sofa and wardrobe are easily presented and explained, because students can see or imagine the real things which the words represent On the contrary, abstract words like density, qualifications, safety are more difficult to explain

After selecting words for teaching purpose it is also indispensable to decide what to teach about each naming unit According to Harmer (1991: 158) knowledge of a word involves knowing its:

Meaning - meanings in context, sense of relation (synonyms/antonyms); Form – spelling and pronunciation, affixes, parts of speech; Grammar – plurals, countability, past simple/participle forms; Usage – collocations and appropriate register

1.5.2.2 Presenting vocabulary

In ESP vocabulary teaching, “many of the techniques traditionally used in ELT work can be exploited in ESP vocabulary teaching especially at the early stages when both subject and linguistic content are at an elementary level” (Kennedy and Bolitho, 1984:

59) Teachers must decide which form of presentation is the most suitable for the particular

topic Presentation and practising can be realised by means of visual techniques- they are useful for teaching concrete word and action verbs; verbal techniques- they are useful for

abstract words, similar words, and for different levels of learners Sometimes even

translation will be useful and necessary The main aim of presenting vocabulary is to

insert the meaning, the correct form and appropriate usage of the new word into the student´s memory

When presenting ESP vocabulary teachers should use the context, associated ideas

or make use of synonyms or antonyms to explain the meaning of an unknown word In order not to discourage the learners, the teacher’s presentation of ESP vocabulary should

be interesting, not complicated, motivating, memorable and amusing

1.5.2.3 Practicing and consolidating vocabulary

ESP vocabulary can be practised and consolidated by similar methods and techniques

used for practising and consolidation of general vocabulary

Presenting a word in the class does not secure that it will be remembered for a long time There are many practice activities that include repeating of the new vocabulary to fix the new words in the learners´ memory The practice activities are divided into two main

groups: receptive and productive

Receptive practice (the learner does not really produce the target words) includes these types (Thornbury 2002 : 94): Identifying means finding words in a text or listening; Selecting means recognizing words and making choices among them; Matching includes recognizing words and than pairing them with their synonym, antonym, definition, pictures

to words etc; Sorting means putting the lexical items into different categories; Ranking and sequencing also means putting the lexical items in some kind of order

Productive practice (the productive skills, writing or speaking, are incorporated in the vocabulary teaching,) includes these types (Thornbury 2002: 100): completion and creation Completion tasks (context is given), often called gap-fills, are widely used not only in practice but also in revision stages They include open gap-fills or closed gap-fills multiple choice activities and crosswords Creation tasks: the learner use the word in a

sentence or a story, in writing, speaking or both forms, use affixes to build new naming units from given words

Generally speaking, vocabulary practice is divided into controlled and free Controlled practice comes first, because controlled activities require the student to

produce a certain structure, they practice accuracy and fix the pattern The second phase,

which demands productive use of vocabulary, is free practice The specialists point out

the usage of free practice in the class, because according to Lewis (1993:151) “to know a word means how to use it in the real life to be able to communicate.” Free practice is

aimed at fluency and is productive However, Gairns and Redman (1999:137) warn against

“a certain degree of stress involved in productive practice” According to them, practice

should be challenging, but not frustrating or stressful for the learner, and it must promote fluency, improve pronunciation, help the memory to store words, and retrieve them later

Another division includes spoken and written practice Many vocabulary activities

used in the class are based on discussions, dialogues, descriptions, role-play activities, or different written tasks

1.6 Terminology

1.6.1 Definition of terminology

In Longman dictionary of applied linguistics (1985: 290) defines terminology as “ the special lexical which occur in a particular discipline’ and ‘the process of compiling, describing, processing and presenting the terms of special subject fields in one or more languages’ It is ‘not an end itself, but addresses social needs and attempts to optimize communication among specialists and professionals by providing assistance either directly

or to translator or to committees concerned with the standardization of a language’

(Cabré, 1999: 10)

Terminology may be considered as a system of words or symbols to name a typical phenomenon or phenomena in natural and social research fields in a scientific way

Additively, there may be terms which are accepted and used by a large number of

individuals and terms which are admitted by a restricted group of persons

1.6.2 Characteristics of terminology

Terminology has at least three important features: accurate, systematic, and

international according to many linguists including Nguyen Thien Giap (1985)

1.6.2.1 Accuracy

Accuracy is the first criterion of a scientific term because a scientific concept or

definition must be expressed concretely and precisely in order to avoid misunderstanding

one concept for another Terms exist without connotational, amotional meanings and avoid

polysemy, synonym and antonymy In other word, terms remain the basic nuclear

meaning and it works on the principle that one concept has only one term for it and vice

versa”, it is fixed in specialized field and is attached to a definition

1.6.2.2 Systematic

Systematism is one of the important features of terminology because every field of

science has its own limited system of concept which are denoted by certain terms and the

value of each term is determined by its relationship with other terms in the same system

As a result, term loses its value when it is isolated from its system Generally, a term has to

be a dependent member of its system

1.6.2.3 International

Due to the global integration, scientific and technological exchange, the international

links in sciences result in a number of terms, which are present in many different

languages For example, video, radio, computer, telephone… are found in French, English

and Vietnamese with a little bit difference in form

In short, terms in general and technology in particular needs to possess the above

essential characteristics

1.6.3 Computing terminology

1.6.3.1 Single terms

Single terms are made up of one word, a verb or a noun, and involve a number of

neologisms which can be new coinages or acronyms It is not very difficult to pinpoint

examples of verbs as single terms in computer documents, e.g transmit, transfer,

synchronize, modulate, detect, upgrade, download, post, install, input, operate, monitor,

etc Also, single terms in the form of a noun are quite a few, e.g monitor, processor,

storage, computer, data, mouse, document, modemn, case, fax, microphone, program, application, directory, folder, file, byte, bit, cookie, tool, font, protocol, statement, terminal etc Among these words, there are highly technical terms such as byte, bit, cookie, protocol, modemn, processor, directory which may require explanations for learners to

understand the concept fully There are also terms which not only bear its specialized meaning but also a more general meaning as in the case of application – trình ứng dụng or

áp dụng , or terminal- thiết bị đầu cuối or- ga cuối

Acronyms in computing terms are numerous and appear at a high frequency They may refer to an object like RAM (Random access memory), ROM (Read only memory), CPU (central processing unit), CD (compact disk), USB (universal serial bus), or corporations working in field such as IBM, DELL, COMPAQ, etc In other cases, they refer to program languages like COBOL (Common Business Oriented Language), FORTRAN (Formula Translator)

1.6.3.2 Compound terms

The development of computer technology entails increasing occurrence of terms, especially compound terms A compound term is in fact a compound noun which is a fixed expression which is made up of more than one word and which functions in the clause as a

single noun These are some compound terms: Network configuration information, an address bus, a monitor screen, active window, a silicon chip

To conclude, this chapter has presented a brief review of vocabulary including

definition, classification, its role in language teaching and learning; principles and common techniques used in teaching and learning general vocabulary and ESP vocabulary; factors affecting learning English vocabulary; terminology and its characteristics, computing term

are also presented in this chapter

CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY

2.1 Context of the study

Yenbai Teachers’ Training College is in charge of training teachers of all subjects for secondary schools in Yenbai province and recently we have had some new training branches such as Computer and Information Technology, Tourism and Comercial English, Library and School equipment management English is a compulsory subject in the curriculum of teaching and learning of all departments And ESP has become one of the subjects in the major courses of the training fields, one of which is computer science English for computer is one of the backgrounds for students to master computer knowledge and help them to find good jobs in the future

English for the college level students is divided into two stages: General English and English for Specific Purposes The first stage of general English covers 120 class periods General English (GE) is taught during the first and second term in the first academic year

to achieve basic knowledge of English The textbook chosen is Lifelines – Elementary by Hutchinson At this stage, the major aims are to develop students’ basic communicative skills The GE stage also serves as the stepping stone for students to proceed to the ESP course

Then they will have 60 class periods for ESP The ESP course aims at providing students with a great deal of technical terms and developing students’ reading comprehension and translation The texts and the exercises were designed in the form of content - based syllabus rather than a task - based one The exercises following each text are often reading comprehension and grammar exercises In fact, the sole focus of the course book is reading while the other language skills are almost ignored

However, GE for students of computer science is 240 class periods It is taught in first year and the second year Students of computer science will also learn 60 class periods for

ESP in the fifth term They study the coursebook Oxford English for computing

The English Department is staffed with seven teachers (five female teachers and two male teachers) aged from 34 to 53 All of the teachers graduated from universities of foreign languages and only one of them has Master degree in Vietnam None of them has been trained in teaching ESP All of them have been teaching GE for a long time They are supposed to fulfill both GE and ESP classes during each school-year and they don’t

feel confident enough to teach ESP ESP teaching plans include classes for English for Geography, Information Technology, Library School equipment Management Teachers must have classes for ESP after one or two year’s teaching experience in GE

In term of methodology, the teachers at YTTC are intensively under the influence of Grammar-Translation method This method focuses on accuracy, the detailed analysis of grammar rules, not on the acquisition of language skills It is characterized by the use of the mother tongue as a medium of instruction and communication in the classroom The teacher plays the key role in the classroom, speaking most of the time In ESP teaching lessons, the main activities are explanation, translation, asking and answering questions Students often listen and take notes passively They raise questions only when they encounter new words or new structures.There are no language activities for vocabulary

learning

The students at YTTC are aged from 18 to 25 and come from all districts of the province and some neighbouring provinces Most of the students have learnt English at high school, however, their English proficiency is not the same The multi- grade classes caused certain problems in teaching and learning English at the college Moreover, the students are quite passive in learning Their learning style is characterized as rote learning

of vocabulary and rules They tend to prefer written work, which may be resulted from their learning habits They also have a tendency of depending on the textbooks and the teachers for knowledge, do not have the habit of self-learning and they pay more attention

to forms than functions and meanings

In general, the students’ level of English proficiency is still very low as compared to the requirements of the syllabus

2.2 The subjects of the study

This study was conducted with the participation of 7 English teachers and 100 students

of YTTC The teachers were all chosen for the investigation as all of them have been teaching ESP for at least 2 years The students were from two classes of Computer Science They were in the fifth term of the third year and had just finished ESP course They come from different districts of Yenbai province and some nearby provinces such as

Phu Tho, Lao Cai, Tuyen Quang and most of them are male Their age varied from 18 to

25 and their English learning background was different

2.3 Data collection instruments

2.3.1 Questionaires

In this study, the main method applied is survey Thus, the questionnaires completed

by teachers and students were the instruments to collect the data The question items were multiple choice, rating-scale, and both close-ended and open-ended The questionnaire

designed for the teachers consists of 8 questions and for students is 10 questions The

questionnaire for students was written in Vietnamese to make sure that the students understand the questions (See appendix 1 and 2)

2.3.2 Observation

Observation was also considered a tool to get information Jo and Steven mentioned 7 goals of observation including: Placement of students; Evaluation of efficacy of materials; Appreticeship for novice/ trainee staff; Staff appraisal: formative/ developmental/ summative; Quality assurance and control; Personal development; Improvement in methodology

In my thesis, I observed the ESP coursebook for computer with reference to vocabulary in order to find out the difficulties in learning vocabulary and make some improvements in learning and teaching vocabulary

2.3.3 Data collection procedures

In order to collect the data for the analysis, the questionnaire was delivered to each

teacher individually to ensure that they would give their own ideas and were not affected

by their colleagues.The questionnaire for students was distributed to 100 students during the class time The students were given careful explanation to each question and encouraged to answer truly and frankly

This chapter provides the information on the context, the subjects of the study and

the data collection instrument In the next chapter, an effort will be made to find out the difficulties of students in learning computer- related vocabulary based on the data collected

through survey questionnaires

CHAPTER 3: DATA ANALYSIS,

MAJOR FINDINGS AND SUGGESTED SOLUTIONS 3.1 Data analysis

This part of the thesis is the analysis of all the data collected from survey

questionaires and the author’s observation of the course book Then the data was analyzed

by using descriptive statistics with percentage, mean and interpretations The results were then presented in forms of tables and figures

3.1.1 The teachers’ questionnaire

3.1.1.1 The teachers’ attitude towards vocabulary teaching

Table 1- The importance of vocabulary teaching

The table indicates that most of the teachers (85,7%) consider vocabulary a very

important element in language teaching, only 14,3% of them think vocabulary is rather important and none of them has different answers This awareness is supposed to create motivation for them to overcome the difficulties they encounter in their teaching process

Table 2- The purposes of teaching computer- related vocabulary

To this question, more than one choice is accepted Thus, the results in Table 2 are presented in percentage that the options are chosen

The findings of this question indicated that a great number of the teachers (85,7%) pay attention to ESP vocabulary teaching in the hope of helping their students pass the exam Besides, 42,8% of them want to help students enrich their vocabulary Only minority of the teachers teach vocabulary with the purpose of helping students communicate with foreigners and read specialized material (14,2% and 28% respectively) It can be included that teachers just pay attention to their short- term goal as helping students pass the exam,

so after the short time students will forget most vocabulary items they have learnt

3.1.1.2 The teachers’ techniques to teach computer- related vocabulary

Table 3-Teachers’ techniques in presenting new words

Asking your students to guess the meaning from

the context

From the teachers’ viewpoints, most of teachers (72%) employ the traditional method- translating into Vietnmese This makes students more passive as they only know the meaning of the word However, not all terminologies have suitable equivalence in Vietnamese and can be fully understood in specific situations requiring knowledge of computer science Consequently, vocabulary translation is not satisfactory to the students and negatively influences their motivation in learning vocabulary It is one difficulty that

students encounter in their learning process

Table 4 -Teachers’ frequency of practice techniques

Ask and answer questions

concerning the new words

Do vocabulary exercises such as

multiple choice, gap filling…etc

Describe pictures, name or draw

It is apparent that asking students to repeat aloud (85,7%) and doing vocabulary

exercises (71,6%) are the most frequently used techniques.The explanation for this fact is that they are traditional activities and do not take much time to deliver as well as it is not difficult to handle The other activities are considered to be the least frequently used Because it takes teachers time to ask students questions and to prepare games or pictures These activities require a lot of vocabulary, knowledge and self-confidence of the students That leads to the difficulty in learners’ vocabulary aquisition

To conclude, the teacher should get students involved in activities in which students can practise the new words and create a more relaxing learning environment

Table 5-Teachers’ frequency of consolidation activities

The percentages in table 5 show the frequency of activities done by the teachers for

regularly to their students All teachers (100%) sometimes give tests to the students to check their vocabulary The most frequently used by teachers is providing homework which gets the highest percentage of 58% In fact, homework provided by teachers encourages students to build the habit of self – learning at home Otherwise, students rapidly forget the words they have learnt in class

3.1.1.3 The teachers’ difficulties in teaching computer- related vocabulary

Table 6-Teachers’ difficulties in teaching computer- related vocabulary

As we can see above, most of the teachers (86%) agreed that the first problem is encountering too many new terminologies Additionally, the majority of the teachers (71%) believed understanding the nature of new terminologies is their difficulty Besides, 43% of the teachers stated that they have difficulties in finding Vietnamese equivalence because not all ESP words and terminologies have equivalence in Vietnamese Also, the same percentage of the teachers (43%) mentions another obstacle is that the students’ knowledge of ESP vocabulary is extremely limited, which prevents the teachers from achieving their aims in the vocabulary lessons

3.1.1.4 The teachers’ attitudes towards the vocabulary in the present course book Table 7 - Teachers’ attitudes towards the vocabulary

From the above data, we can come to the conclusion that the coursebook creates some

difficulties for both the teachers and students at YTTC They are looking foward to proper adjustment of the coursebook in the near future so that it can contribute a great deal to the improvement of the students’ learning motivation and the sucess of teaching and learning

as well

3.1.1.5 Teaching equipment and materials

For this question, the teachers were asked to put the tick the things that the college

provides them, and they are equiped with cassette players, tapes, textbooks, projectors These facilities are very important in teaching foreign languages However, all the teachers

at my college haven’t been trained on ESP, even they didn’t learn ESP before, reference materials such as newspapers, magazines on ESP which are really helpful for them in teaching are not available in the school library This also creates the difficulty for both teachers and students in teaching and learning

3.1.2 The students’ questionnaire

3.1.2.1 The students’ background

Students' experience in learning

Students' results of General English

course

15% 6% 21%

48%

Undersatisfactory Satisfactory Good Excellent

100 students of computer-science in this study had completed both of their General

(80%) 83% of these students come from the other disctricts of Yenbai province, only 17% come from Yenbai city and the towns of districts Thus, they seem not to be of equal starting level of English That is the reason why they had dissimilar results of the course although we had made so many efforts to fill the gap between them

Most of the students had already learnt English before having taking part in this college 62% of the students have learnt from one to three years and 21% of them have learnt from three to six years Accordingly, the students had different results of Basic English course From the collected data, only 6% of the students won the excellent marks, 15% obtained the good scores, 48% of them passed at the level of satisfactory and 21% did not pass the final examination of the General English course All figures above indicate the fact that it was reasonably a hard work for both teachers and students to run the course

of English for Computing

3.1.2.2 The students’ attitude towards computer- related vocabulary & computer- related vocabulary learning

Table 8- Students’ attitude toward the importance of vocabulary

Table 9 - The purposes of learning computer- related vocabulary

To the question, more than one choice is acceptable Therefore, the result in this table

is presented in percentage that the options are choosen

The table shows the learners’ purpose of learning computer- related vocabulary As seen from the table, to pass the exams and to read specialized materials 92% and 76% respectively This results concides with the teachers’ goal Only 31% of the students learn vocabulary to communicate with foreigners and few of them (15%) want to enrich their vocabulary with technical terms It can be included that students just pay attention to their short term goals as passing the exams and understanding the text in the coursebook, so after a very short time they will forget most vocabulary items they have learned This can

be considered the factor which causes the problem in their vocabulary learning process

3.1.2.3 The students’ ways of learning ESP vocabulary

Table 10- What students do when coming cross a new word