Students' evaluation of ESP coursebook in Faculty of Geography, Hanoi National University of Education = Đánh giá của sinh viên đối với giáo trình tiếng Anh chu20150227

LIST OF CHARTS, FUGURES, AND TABLES Chart 3.1: Learners’ attitude towards skill development Chart 3.2: Learners’ attitude towards the usefulness of exercises in skill development Chart 3

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

EG: English for Geography

ESP: English for Specific Purposes

GE: General English

HNUE: Hanoi National University of Education

LIST OF CHARTS, FUGURES, AND TABLES

Chart 3.1: Learners’ attitude towards skill development

Chart 3.2: Learners’ attitude towards the usefulness of exercises in skill development Chart 3.3: Learners’ fulfillment of exercises and activities

Chart 3.4: Learners’ attitude towards the necessity of an ESP course

Chart 3.5: Learners’ expectations in terms of the the time allocation for ESP course Chart 3.6: Learners’ expectations of additional topics

Chart 3.7: Learners’ preference in terms of additional topics of the coursebook

Figure 1.1: Stages in the ESP process

Figure 1.2: The material evaluation process

Figure 1.3: A preliminary framework for materials analysis and action

Table 3.1: Learners’ ranking of their purposes of learning ESP

Table 3.2: Learners’ needs met by the ESP coursebook

Table 3.3: Learners’ attitude towards the content of the ESP coursebook

Table 3.4: Learners’ evaluation on time allocation for ESP

Table 3.5: Learners’ attitude towards vocabulary and grammar

Table 3.6: Learners’ attitude towards exercises and follow-up activities

Table 3.7: Learners’ preference for types of exercises and activities

Table 3.8: Learners’ suggestions for better coursebook

Table 3.9: Learners’ satisfaction towards classroom activities

Table 3.10: Learners’ attitude towards teacher’s use of language and the coursebook

Table 1: Teachers’ views of physical characteristics

Table 2: Teachers’ views of content

Table 3: Teachers’ perceived limitations of the coursebook

Table 4: Students’ reactions to the coursebook as observed by teachers

Table 5: Challenges to the students in using the coursebook as observed by teachers Table 6: Teachers’ self-reported challenges in using the coursebook

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Certificate of originality of study project report i

Acknowledgements ii

Abstract iii

List of abbreviations iv

List of charts, figures and tables v

Table of contents vi

PART I: INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 Rationale 1

1.2 Aims of the study 1

1.3 Scope of the study 2

1.4 Research questions ………2

1.5 Method of the study 2

1.6 Composition of the thesis 2

PART II: DEVELOPMENT 3

CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 3

1.1 Approaches to ESP……….……….3

1.1.1 Learner-centeredness in ESP………3

1.1.2 Learner-centeredness vs learning-centeredness in ESP……… 3

1.2 Coursebook evaluation 5

1.2.1 Definition of coursebook evaluation 5

1.2.2 Purposes of coursebook evaluation 6

1.2.3 Types of coursebook evaluation 6

1.2.4 Coursebook evaluation in ESP 8

1.2.5 Rationales of students’ evaluation 9

1.2.6 Models for evaluation 10

1.2.7 Criteria for evaluation 12

1.3 Conclusion 12

CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY 13

2.1 The context of the study 13

2.1.1 The course 13

2.1.2 The coursebook 13

2.1.3 The ESP teachers 14

2.1.4 The students 14

2.2 The methodology 15

2.2.1 Participants 15

2.2.2 Data collection instruments 16

2.2.3 Procedure 17

CHAPTER 3: DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION 18

3.1 Results and discussion 18

3.1.1 Learners’ attitude towards learning ESP 18

3.1.2 Learners’ evaluation of ESP coursebook 19

3.1.3 Learners’ evaluation of the teachers’ exploitation of ESP coursebook 29

3.1.4 Learners’ evaluation of the teachers’ exploitation of ESP coursebook 31

3.1.5 Teachers’ views of ESP coursebook 33

3.2 Major findings 34

3.2.1 The suitability of the coursebook to the audiences 34

3.2.2 The suitability of the coursebook to the aims 35

3.2.3 The suitability of the coursebook to the content requirements 35

3.2.4 The suitability of the coursebook to the methodology 36

3.3 Recommendations 37

3.3.1 Content improvements 38

3.3.2 Methodology improvements 38

3.3.3 Other recommendations……… 39

PAER III: CONCLUSION 41

1 Conclusion 41

2 Limitations of the study 41

3 Suggestions for further researches 42

REFERENCES……… 43 APPENDIX 1 (Students questionnaire) I APPENDIX 2 (Teachers’ views as stated in the interviews) ……….VI APPENDIX 3 (A sample unit in the coursebook)……….VIII

PART I: INTRODUCTION

1 RATIONALE

From the early 1960s, English for Specific Purposes (ESP) has grown to become one of the most prominent areas of English foreign language teaching This development is reflected in an increasing number of publications, conferences and journals dedicated to ESP discussions Similarly, more traditional general English courses gave place to courses aimed at specific areas, for example English for business purposes, English for travelling purposes

ESP is really one of the major activities around the world today It is an enterprise involving education, training and practice ESP draws upon three major realms of knowledge: language, pedagogy, and the students’ specialist areas of interest ESP teachers generally have a great variety of often-simultaneous roles, such as researchers, course designers, materials developers, testers, evaluators as well as classroom teachers Nowadays it is still urgent to discuss what to teach and how to teach a foreign language taking into account the objective social and professional needs of future specialists in our country Beside businessmen, tradesmen, engineers, scientists and scholars all over the world must know English because it is the international means of exchange of information and experience

To meet the needs of the learners, many ESP coursebooks have been designed Together with the worldwide trend to learn ESP, the teaching staff of Faculty of English at Hanoi National University of Education (HNUE) has compiled some ESP coursebooks for some specific fields including the ESP coursebook for Faculty of Geography The main objective of ESP coursebook is to provide the students with linguistic input relevant to their field and skills up to the expectation of their future employment However, no research on the coursebook evaluation has been carried out to see how far it meets the students’ needs and expectations Therefore, it is necessary to have the coursebook English for Geography (EG) evaluated by the learners themselves at Faculty of Geography at HNUE for the improvement of the coursebook in the following courses

2 AIMS OF THE STUDY

This study was carried out to have a better insight into the learners’ evaluation of the ESP coursebook at Faculty of Geography, HNUE The aims of the study are:

- To find out students’ evaluative comments on ESP coursebook in Faculty of Geography, HNUE

- To offer suggestions for further improvement of the coursebook which is appropriate to the needs and expectations of the students in the light of learner-centered approach

3 RESEARCH QUESTIONS

The study was carried out to answer the following questions:

1) What are the learners’ evaluative comments on the ESP coursebook?

2) What are the learners’ expectations for learning ESP in Faculty of Geography, HNUE?

3) How should the ESP coursebook be improved to be more relevant to the learners’ needs and expectations?

4 SCOPE OF THE STUDY

The ESP course is only for the second year students at HNUE, thus the study focuses on the evaluation of the second year students of Faculty of Geography at HNUE on ESP coursebook currently used

5 METHOD OF THE STUDY

The study follows a quantitative research method Specifically a survey questionnaire was designed and administered to the second year students in Faculty of Geography to explore their evaluation of ESP coursebook In addition, interviews with teachers were conducted to gain supplementary information to the questionnaire data

6 COMPOSITION OF THE THESIS

The thesis is comprised of three parts: Introduction, Development and Conclusion Part I presents the rationale, aims, scope, research questions, method and composition of the thesis

Part II consists of three chapters:

- Chapter 1, Literature Review, provides the relevant theories related to approaches to ESP and coursebook evaluation

- Chapter 2, Methodology introduces the context of the study and describes the methodology employed in the study

- Chapter 3, Data Analysis and Discussion, presents and discusses the findings that arise from the data collected Then, it offers the recommendations for further improvement of the coursebook

Part III presents what have been found out from the study, the limitations and suggestions for further study

PART II: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter is aimed at providing a theoretical base to develop a framework in which the study operates Firstly, approaches to ESP with a focus on learner-centeredness and learning-centeredness are reviewed Secondly, an overview of coursebook evaluation is provided including definition, purposes of coursebook evaluation, types of coursebook evaluation, coursebook evaluation in ESP, rationales of students’ evaluation, models for evaluation and criteria for evaluation

1.1 APPROACHES TO ESP

A variety of linguistic scholars, such as Hutchinson and Waters (1987) and Tudor (1993) have taken pains to study learner-centered approach In this study, two major approaches namely learner-centeredness and learning-centeredness will be distinguished in the viewpoints of Hutchinson and Waters

1.1.1 Learner-centeredness in ESP

The learner-centered approach is based on the principle that learning is totally determined by the learner In other words, this approach focuses on the learner Hutchinson and Waters (1987, p.72) states, “As teachers we can influence what we teach, but what learners learn is determined by the learners alone.” Then, learning is seen as a process in which the learners use what knowledge or skills they have in order to make sense of the flow of new information This process depends on the knowledge the learners already have and their ability and motivation to use it According to Hutchinson and Waters (1987), however, a truly learner-centered approach does not really exist at the current time due to two reasons Firstly, it is very difficult to see how such an approach could be taken in current institutionalized systems Secondly, most syllabuses, materials, coursebooks, etc which have designed and compiled for learners are pre-determined ones Therefore, the term learner-centeredness should be replaced by learning-centeredness to indicate that the concern is to maximize learning

1.1.2 Learner-centeredness vs learning-centeredness in ESP

While learner-centered approach focuses on learner, learning-centered approach focuses on activities In other words, this approach considers learning process in the context it takes place Hutchinson and Waters (1987, p.72) note that “Learning is not just a

mental process; it is a process of negotiation between individuals and society.” Society sets the target (in the case of ESP, performance in the target situation) and the individuals must

do their best to get as close to that target as is possible (or reject it) Therefore, learner is one factor to be considered in the learning process, but it is not the only one When the learning-centered approach is taken, further questions will be asked and other factors will

be considered to evaluate the coursebook Then, it will maximize the potential of the learning situation

While the language-centered approach only determines the ESP course as the nature

of the target situation performance, and the skill-centered approach determines the ESP course as the nature of the target situation performance and looking behind the target performance data to discover what processes enable someone to perform, the learning-centered approach says that is not enough either It is because that although the language-centered approach starts from the learner and learner’s needs, in fact the learner is treated

as a means of identifying the target situation It means that only a restricted area of the language is taught instead of teaching the whole English is taught to learner Meanwhile, the skill-centered approach considers the ESP course as helping the learner to develop skills and strategies which will continue to develop after the ESP course (Hutchinson & Waters, 1987) However, the two authors claimed that this approach still treats learner as a language user rather than a language learner, and the processes it is concerned are that of language use not language learning

The learning-centered approach determines the ESP course as the nature of the target situation performance, looking behind the target performance data to discover what processes enable someone to perform, and looking beyond the competence that enables someone to perform because what we really want to discover is not the competence itself, but how someone acquires that competence (Hutchinson and Water, 1987) These features

of the learning-centered approach seem to make it outweigh the two co-existing approaches

in ESP, namely the language-centered approach and the skill-centered approach

In conclusion, although Hutchinson and Waters (1987) make a distinction between two approaches - learner-centered and learning-centered approaches to ESP - I think such a distinction is not necessary because learning-centeredness is part of learner-centeredness Therefore, in this study, the term “learner-centeredness” is used as an umbrella term

1.2 COURSEBOOK EVALUATION

1.2.1 Definition of coursebook evaluation

To have a good definition of coursebook evaluation, giving a good definition of coursebook is necessary

McGrath (2002, p.7) defines a coursebook as “a textbook on which a course is based” Tomlinson (1998, p.ix) shares similar point with McGrath when he considers a coursebook as “a textbook which provides the core materials for a course” In his viewpoint, a coursebook is used to provide as much as possible in one book and it is designed to serve as the only book which the learners necessarily use during a course It usually includes not only work on grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation, functions but also work on the skills of reading, writing, listening and speaking

In Materials Development in Language Teaching, the term “materials” is defined as

“anything which is used to help to teach language learners It can be in the form of a textbook, a workbook, a cassette, a CD-Rom, a video, a photocopied handout, a newspaper,

a paragraph written on a whiteboard.” (Tomlinson, 1998, p.xi) Therefore, it can be point out that coursebook is a type of materials

Materials evaluation has been defined differently by different authors from their personal stance Hutchinson and Waters (1987, p.96) consider valuation as “a matter of judging the fitness of something for a particular purpose” Evaluation is, then, concerned with relative merit There is no absolute good or bad - only degrees of fitness for the required purpose Evaluation, therefore, can be based on not only the opinions of course designers, material writers, teachers but also the opinions of learners Tomlinson has the same point with the two scholars in defining the term materials evaluation In his opinion, materials evaluation is “the systematic appraisal of the value of materials in relation to their objectives and to the objectives of the learners using them.” (Tomlinson, 1998, p.xi)

From the above definitions, it can be pointed out that cousebook evaluation is the systematic appraisal of the value of the coursebook in relation to both its objectives and the learners’ objectives In other words, the value of a material or a coursebook should be evaluated by considering whether the learning points are potentially useful to the learners, whether the learning procedures can maximize the likelihood of the learners actually learning what they want and need to learn Thus, it is vital to consider the learners’ opinion, not only the objectives stated by the writers of the coursebook This definition is actually given in the light of the learning-centered approach

1.2.2 Purposes of coursebook evaluation

Evaluation plays a very important role in the development of materials

Robinson (1991) asserts the purposes of evaluation as to provide information about the advantages, disadvantages and the effectiveness of the being used materials so that the material can be decided to be reused, adapted to meet the need of the particular teaching situation or changed

Also, Ellis (1997) points out two reasons for materials evaluation Firstly, evaluation is carried out to choose among the available materials the most suitable one to use for a particular situation and such valuation is taken before the course takes place Secondly, evaluation is carried out to determine whether the material which has been chosen works for that situation after it has been used for a period of time This helps to decide whether to continue using the material or to replace it with a better material

In the words of Cunningsworth (1995, p 7), coursebook is “a resource in achieving aims and objectives that have already been set in terms of learner needs” For him, through evaluation, we can assess whether the coursebook is the most appropriate for the target learners at various levels and in various teaching settings What is more, the evaluation process will involve elements of comparison, especially where existing materials are being challenged by newly produced materials

Besides the above purposes, another author, Torres (1993) adds more purposes of material evaluation In his opinion, evaluation should be taken not only to assess the effectiveness of materials but also to afford general insights how teachers use materials Hence, evaluation may be planned to suggest adjustments for both materials development and professional development activities

In summary, materials especially authentic materials play a significant role in foreign language teaching They are not simply the everyday tools of the language teachers; they are an embodiment of the aims and methods of the particular teaching/learning situation Materials evaluation in general and coursebook evaluation in specific is very necessary and important It may be taken for two reasons: first, it confirms the coursebook and second, it adjusts the coursebook Then, it will increase the strengths and minimize the drawback of the coursebook

1.2.3 Types of coursebook evaluation

There are many different ways of dividing coursebook evaluation according to different researchers

According to some scholars, material evaluation in general and coursebook evaluation in specific are divided into three main types depending on the reasons for evaluation, namely Preliminary, Formative and Summative

The first type, preliminary evaluation, is carried out by determining a set of criteria which are used to reach a decision regarding which book to adopt and how it needs to be adapted (Ellis cited in Tomlinson, 1998); thus, it is done before the beginning of a course The purposes of this type are to select “the most relevant and appropriate materials for a particular group of learners”, and identify “specific aspects of the published materials” needed adapting to suit the purposes of the evaluators (Ellis cited in Tomlinson, 1998, p.220)

The second type, formative evaluation, is carried out during the course This type is aimed at shaping the material during its lifetime and suggesting the improvement of the material in the future (Dudley-Evans & St John, 1998)

The third one, summative evaluation, is carried out at the end of the course According to Dudley-Evans & St John (1998, p.128), this type of evaluation is obtained to

“assess impact and to provide information that can be fed into repeat versions” of the material In addition, they believe that summative evaluation is especially valuable for durable courses Also, Richards (2001) claims that this type of evaluation can determine the effectiveness of the material Findings will help to decide whether to use the material again

or not; which tasks and activities are suitable and which are not; which aspects of the materials need to be changed and how to modify them to make the materials more effective and efficient for future use (Ellis, 1997) In short, summative evaluation is carried out to determine the worth and value of teaching materials after they have been used This is study is, accordingly, a formative evaluation

In addition to the above division, there is another way of dividing materials evaluation introduced by Tomlinson (1998) and McGrath (2002) These authors identify three types of materials evaluation namely Pre-use, Whilst-use and Post-use

Tomlinson (1998, p.xi) who affirms that evaluation is “the systematic appraisal of the value of materials in relation to their objectives and to the objectives of learners using them” distinguishes three types of materials evaluations as follows:

- Pre-use evaluation focuses on predictions of potential value

- Whilst-use evaluation focuses on awareness and description of what the learners are actually doing whilst the materials are being used

- Post-use evaluation focuses on analysis of what happened as a result of using the materials

McGrath (2002) shares the similar point with Tomlinson when he introduces three concepts: Pre-use, In-use and Post-use From his opinion, McGrath (2002) claims that these three types and their purposes are interrelated

- Pre-use evaluation establishes potential suitability

- In-use evaluation gathers data on planning decisions, implementation and response; may stimulate preliminary reconsiderations of selection criteria

- Post-use evaluation uses data on in-course use and data on effects to access suitability of selection and selection procedures

In summary, although types of materials evaluation are indicated with different terms, there is no difference in distinguishing evaluation process Preliminary or pre-use evaluation establishes potential suitability of the materials Formative or in-use evaluation examines how materials really work in by gathering data on planning decisions, implementation and response Summative or post-use evaluation is used at the end of the course in order to provide retrospective assessment and identify which strengths and weaknesses of the materials

The present study is a formative, while-use evaluation of the materials with a view

to understanding students’ perspectives on the currently-used coursebook so that improvements can be made to respond better to the students’ needs and expectations

1.2.4 Coursebook evaluation in ESP

To meet the needs of learners in colleges and universities, many ESP coursebooks have been designed and compiled for some specific fields However, there can be a need for materials evaluation to determine whether the material which has chosen works for that situation after it has been used for a period of time (Ellis, 1997)

According to Hutchinson and Waters (1987), a careful coursbook evaluation in ESP can save a lot of expense and frustration On the positive side, it can also help in justifying requests to sponsors or other members of an ESP team for money to buy materials or time

to write them

In ESP, evaluation in ESP has been viewed in the broad context of the teaching and learning process From the perspective of Dudley-Evans and St.John (1998), evaluation does not stand alone, but occupies a prominent place in the ESP process, giving an ESP teacher a wealth of information on their needs, expectations and comments about the material (See Figure 1.1)

Figure 1.1: Stages in the ESP process

(Taken from Dudley-Evans and St John, 1998, p 121)

Obviously, materials evaluation is an indispensable part of the key stages in ESP process (Dudley-Evans and St John, 1998) In other words, coursebook over a period of being used needs to be evaluated to see whether it has worked well for the target situations and students

1.2.5 Rationales of students’ evaluation

Together with the worldwide trend to learn ESP, many ESP coursebooks have been designed for some specific fields Coursebook evaluation in ESP is an indispensable part of the key stages in ESP process (Dudley-Evans and St John, 1998), and students’ evaluation

is really necessary and important because of the following reasons

Firstly, in addition to teachers, students are the most important users of the coursebook ESP coursebook is designed to provide the learners with some basic concepts and knowledge relevant to their field and skills up to the expectation of their future employment As a result, the students can give their own evaluative comments on the coursebook related to their own needs and expectation

Secondly, being the people who use directly the coursebook, the learners are believed to have information of the strengths and weaknesses of the coursebook Therefore, they will give comments on the coursebook according to their own needs and expections which the coursebook designers and teachers may not be aware of

In short, it is necessary to have the coursebook “English for Geography” evaluated

by the learners themselves at Faculty of Geography at HNUE to see how far it meets the learners’ expectations Also, this evaluation is valuable for the improvement of the coursebook in the coming years

1.2.6 Models for evaluation

According to Hutchinson and Waters (1987), evaluation is a process of matching needs to available solutions Thus, the evaluation process is divided into four steps as follows:

- Defining criteria

- Subjective analysis

- Objective analysis

- Matching

The above steps are presented in the following diagram as the following:

Figure 1.2: The material evaluation process

(Taken from Hutchinson and Waters, 1987, p 98)

In Hutchinson and Waters’ view, a teaching material in general and a coursebook in particular has to suit the needs of a number of parties such as teachers, students, sponsors,

so it is important that the subject factors should not be allowed to obscure objectivit y in the early stages of analysis In order to have an objective matching, it is advisable to look at the needs and solutions separately However, in the final analysis, any choice will be made on subjective ground

DEFINE CRITERIA

On what bases will you judge material?

Which criteria will be more important?

SUBJECTIVE ANALYSIS

What realizations of the criteria do you

want in your course?

OBJECTIVE ANALYSIS How does the material being evaluated

realize the criteria?

MATCHING How far does the material match

your needs?

Another author, Littlejohn (1998) introduces the framework as follows:

Figure 1.3: A preliminary framework for materials analysis and action

(Taken from Littlejohn, 1998)

It can be demonstrated from the above diagram that the two steps of describing the target situation and analyzing materials are conducted spontaneously and independently The next step of matching and evaluation in which the level of appropriateness to the target situation is discussed In the last step, the decision on materials is made

Obviously, although these two models consist of different steps, they both set out the way to evaluate the material Based on the above discussion, the materials evaluation model suggested by Hutchinson and Waters is chosen as the framework for evaluation in this study

ANALYSIS OF TARGET

SITUATION OF USE

- The cultural context

- The institution

- The course (proposed aims,

content, methodology, measures

of evaluation)

- The teachers

- The learners

MATERIAS ANALYSIS From analysis:

1 What is their explicit nature?

2 What is required by users?

3 What is implied by their use?

1.2.7 Criteria for evaluation

Various scholars have suggested different ways to help evaluators become more systematic and objective in their method of evaluation by using a checklist

Hutchinson and Waters (1987, p.99-104) suggest five evaluation criteria for objective and subjective analysis as follows:

- Audience: the learners and the materials intended for

- Aims: the aims of the course and the aims of the materials

- Content: language description, language points, proportion of work on each macro-skill, mocro-skills, text-types, subject-matter areas, level of knowledge, types of topics, treatment, organization of content within the course units, sequence of content throughout the course, sequence of content within a unit

- Methodology: theory of learning, learners’ attitudes, kinds of exercises, teaching-learning techniques, aids, guidance/ support for teaching, the flexibility

of materials

- Other criteria: price, quantities, availability

Another list of evaluation criteria is presented by Sheldon (1988) It consists of: rationale, availability, user definition, layout/ graphics, accessibility, linkage, selection/grading, physical characteristics, appropriacy, authenticity, sufficiency, cultural bias, education validity, stimulus/ practice revision, flexibility, guidance, and overall value for money He also emphasizes that in different situations, upgrading, modification and extension to these criteria are needed to suit the specific requirements

1.3 CONCLUSION

This chapter reviews the literature related to ESP One of the key principles of ESP

is the focus on learners’ needs and expectations This principle should be observed throughout the ESP course in terms of all aspects of the course, including the coursebook Giving the students a chance to have their voice heard about the coursebook is one way of making the course more learner-centered This is the aim behind the current study Chapter

2 will present the methodology used for this study

CHAPTER II: METHODOLOGY

In this chapter, the current situation at HNUE related to the study will be taken in close-up and the research methodology will be discussed

2.1 THE CONTEXT OF THE STUDY

2.1.1 The course

Faculty of English – HNUE was founded in 2004, formerly being a division of Faculty of Foreign Languages At first, its primary task is to train teachers of English and to teach General English (GE) as a compulsory subject to students of other majors Since

2005, with the requirement of the improvements in education in general and with the learners’ needs in particular, ESP has gained an increasing importance in teaching and learning English Now, therefore, Faculty of English has two fundamental tasks: teaching English to English-major students and teaching English (both GE and ESP) to English-non-major students

The whole curriculum of English for non-major students is divided into 4 stages as follows:

Stage 1 (Semester 1) consists of 75 periods of GE

Stage 2 (Semester 2) consists of 75 periods of GE

Stage 3 (Semester 3) consists of 90 periods of GE

Stage 4 (Semester 4) consists of 45 periods of ESP

Accordingly, ESP is taught to non-major students of 28 different faculties in the third and the fourth semester The teachers are assigned to design syllabus and coursebooks and take the responsibility for teaching and assessing the students they teach The objective of the ESP course is to provide the students with linguistic knowledge relevant to their field and skills up to the expectation of their future employment

2.1.2 The coursebook

The following is a description of the coursebook currently used in the ESP course for students of Faculty of Geography:

- The coursebook title: English for Geography

- The objectives of the coursebook: to introduce some basic concepts in geography and provide students with specialized vocabulary and knowledge which is useful for their jobs in the future

- The coursebook content: consists of 5 units, each of which has 6 sections namely Vocabulary, Reading, Grammar, Speaking/ Discussion, Writing and Translation It covers

5 topics: The solar system, The structure of the earth, Weather, Volcano and Earthquakes

- Types of task and exercise in the coursebook:

+ Vocabulary: guessing the meanings of words and gap filling

+ Reading: matching, scanning, skimming, comprehension questions, True-False sentences, gap filling, finding synonyms and matching words with their definitions

+ Grammar: building sentences, sentence transformation and gap filling

+ Speaking/ Discussion: role-play and discussion

+ Writing: writing summary, sentence building and sentence transformation

+ Translation: translating from English into Vietnamese and translating from Vietnamese into English

2.1.3 The ESP teachers

The teaching staff of Faculty of English at HNUE consists of above 50 teachers aged between 25 and 55 There are about 25 teachers who take the charge of teaching GE and ESP, of which only 3 teachers are responsible for teaching ESP at Faculty of Geography Most of the ESP teachers have finished or are doing their MA degrees They always try their best to give their students attractive and interesting ESP lessons However, due to their inexperience in ESP, they have to face with some difficulties in terms of knowledge of the specific field they have to teach and the teaching methodologies appropriate to ESP

2.1.4 The students

The students whose evaluation this study focuses on are all the second-year students

of Faculty of Geography Their age ranges from 19 to 22 They have been learning English for the period of 2 to 12 years Additionally, most of them are expected to learn English related to their speciality which will help them much in studying materials for their jobs in the future Those factors seem to be their advantages in learning English

However, those students have some disadvantages in learning English as follows: The first disadvantage is related to the students’ language background These students come different parts of the countries, some from distant provinces and some from rural areas with different language background and different attitudes toward learning English The students who come from cities have learned English a lot at high schools before going to university whereas others who come from rural areas have learned only

little This mixture has caused certain problems to teaching and learning because some students find activities in classroom easy and interesting while the others find them too hard in the same classroom It is really a challenge for teachers in such a mixed class because the teachers cannot meet and satisfy all students’ needs

The second disadvantage is about the students’ learning styles They do not have the habit of learning independently and tend to depend much on teachers and the given coursebook for knowledge Accordingly, it is difficult for them to follow a new learning style which is used in learning English in general and ESP in particular The teachers, therefore, have to help students be familiar with this new learning method

The third disadvantage is related to student’s limited timeframe for ESP They do not have much time in class, so they cannot learn much but only learn a few of geographical terms or concepts in English Thus, the students find it hard acquire and develop their English communicative competence to meet the needs of their future jobs

To summarize, the above provides an overview of ESP learning and teaching situation at Faculty of Geography – HNUE with a description of the course, the coursebook, the ESP teachers as well as the students These are realities making this study

to be developed in the following part

2.2 THE METHODOLOGY

2.2.1 Participants

Questionnaire

The participants of the study were divided into 3 groups

They were 112 second-year students including 103 female and 9 male of K58 Faculty of Geography – HNUE They are from three classes K58A, K58B and advanced class K58 At the time when the survey was conducted, these students had finished three first GE semesters and were in the second semester of the ESP course Among these 112 students, over one third has been learning English for 9 to 10 years and the others have been learning English for 2 to 5 years and a few of them have learned English for 12 years

A questionnaire was used as an instrument for collecting data for this study It is designed to collect students’ information on evaluation of the current- used ESP coursebook in Faculty of Geography, HNUE

The questionnaire (See Appendix 1) consists of four sections:

- Section 1 was designed to get the information of the learners: the time of learning English, the level of English, the thought of the importance of learning ESP and their purpose of learning ESP

- Section 2 was designed to collect the information on the learners’ evaluation of the current ESP coursebook for Geography at HNUE related to needs met by the coursebook, content of the coursebook, time allocation of ESP, vocabulary, grammar, skill development and follow-up activities

- Section 3 was designed to gather the information about the learners’ evaluation of the teachers’ exploitation of ESP coursebook related to classroom practice, exercises and delivery methods

- Section 4 was designed to collect the information about the learners’ expectations

of the course organization, the time of the course, the provision of extra materials and other activities

Interview

To gather more information for the study, interviews were also used as an instrument of data collection To make the result of the interviews objective, three interviews were conducted with three ESP teachers of Geography at three points of time (See Appendix 2 for the results of the interviews)

The interviews were designed with the same questions related to the following issues:

- Physical characteristics of the coursebook

- The content of the coursebook

- The teachers’ perceived limitations of the coursebook

- The students’ reactions to the coursebook as observed by teachers

- The challenges to the students in using the coursebook as observed by teachers

- The teachers’ self-reported challenges in using the coursebook

The reason for using interviews as an instrument of data collection for teachers simply because the number of teachers involved in the study is too small (n = 3) for the use

of questionnaire Another reason is that by interviewing these teachers, I can gain in-depth

information about their specific opinions and suggestions regarding the coursebook they have been using

2.2.3 Procedure

The questionnaires were delivered to the learners while they were in their classrooms The researcher explained the nature and purpose of the study, then guided to the students how to write the answers appropriately The researcher also helped them when necessary The students spent about 30 minutes thinking and answering the questions After all the questionnaires were collected, data was analyzed and results were then interpreted

In addition to questionnaires, three interviews were carried out with three ESP teachers of Geography at three different points of time in the teachers’ classrooms The researcher raised the same questions to each teacher and collected all the answers Each interview took about 15 minutes Then, all the answers were represented in six tables (See Appendix 2)

This chapter have presented the current situation at HNUE related to the study and discussed the research methodology of this study In the next chapter, the results and major findings will be presented Finally, recommendations for better coursebook will be provided

CHAPTER III: DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION

3.1 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

3.1.1 Learners’ attitude towards learning ESP

As mentioned in the previous chapter, these learners are the second-year students who finished two semesters of GE courses and are in the second semester of ESP course

112 students participating the research provided us with a variety of answers to the question about their time of learning English Most of them (42/112 = 37.5%) have learned English for 9 to 10 years, another 29.5% have been learning English for 8 to 9 years, 8.9% have been learning English for 2 to 3 years Surprisingly, there are 12 students (10.7%) have learned English for 12 years The rest of the learners have been learning English for 5,

7, and 8 years Additionally, most of these learners (75.9%) are at Pre-intermediate level, only 8% of the learners are at Upper-intermediate level and the rest of 16.1% are at Intermediate level The difference in the time of their learning English and in levels of English, to some extend, lead to the difference in identifying their purposes of learning ESP The following table shows a variety of purposes among these students:

Important Important

Very important

Most important

To improve English basis

grammar

To read technical documents/

Table 3.1: Learners’ ranking of their purposes of learning ESP

(N=120; group 1: 50, group 2: 49, group 4: 13)

Table 3.1 indicates that the most important purpose of learning ESP to many learners is to widen ESP vocabulary and to read technical documents in English About 47% of the learners consider widening ESP vocabulary as their most important purpose when taking ESP course whereas only 3% of them rank this purpose of the least importance Similarly, reading technical documents in English is seen as the most important purpose to most of the learners (40%) Besides, there are still 30% thinking that improving English basis grammar is the most important In contrast, applying for a job in a foreign company seems to be the least important purpose to these learners when 43% of them do not see this purpose of any importance

Obviously, all the learners take part in the ESP course purposefully Although some learners consider the purpose of learning ESP as a means of improving English basis grammar, most of them are aware that ESP is really a means of broadening technical vocabulary as well as specialized knowledge in English

3.1.2 Learners’ evaluation of the ESP coursebook

This part presents and discusses the information on learners’ evaluation of the current ESP coursebook in terms of its relevance and usefulness, its content, its time allocation, vocabulary, grammar, skills development and exercises/ activities

Section 1: Learners’ evaluation on needs met by the ESP coursebook

In terms of learners’ needs met by the ESP coursebook, the learners were asked to evaluate how much the coursebook meet their needs This is shown in the following table:

No/ (%)

Group 2 No/ (%)

Group 3 No/ (%)

Average No/ (%)

The coursebook meets learners’

As shown in Table 3.2, only about one third of the learners (33%) satisfied with the ESP coursebook One noticed thing is that there is a significant percentage of the learners (40.2%) finding that the ESP coursebook meets their needs little while only 21 of 112 informants (account for 18.8%) think that the ESP coursebook meets their needs much

Obviously, the findings indicate that the ESP coursebook does not really meet most

of the learners’ needs, and it should have some changes to be more appropriate to the students and meet more their needs

Section 2: Learners’ evaluation on the content of ESP coursebook

Table 3.3: Learners’ attitude towards the content of the ESP coursebook

(N=112; group 1: 50, group 2: 49, group 4: 13)

Topics covered in the ESP coursebook

As can be seen from Table 3.3, no one thinks that the topics covered in the ESP coursebook are very boring and only 4.5% of the learners think that the topics are boring Most of the learners (45.6%) think that the topics covered in the ESP coursebook are Ok and 34.8% find that the topics are interesting In general, those figures show that the majority of the learners satisfy with the topics in the ESP coursebook However, it is a good idea to provide more interesting topics in order to satisfy more learners

Information in the ESP coursebook

Table 3.3 indicates that no one in the 3 groups think the information in the ESP coursebook is useless In addition, no one in group 1 and group 3 find that the information

is not very useful There is only 5 out of 49 informants (10.2%) think that the information

is not very useful Most of the learners (61.6%) find that the information is useful (62% in group 1, 59.2% in group 2 and 69.2% in group 3) This finding indicates that most of the learners are satisfied with the usefulness of the information given in the coursebook

However, information in the ESP coursebook shoud be paid more attention in terms

of its update Although thsere is a slight difference in the proportions of the learners who think that the coursebook should provide them with more update information (52.7%) and 47.3% of them find that the information in the coursebook is update Obviously, more learners are not satisfied with the information given in the coursebook Accordingly, more update information should be added to the coursebook to meet the learners’ needs better

Section 3: Learners’ evaluation on time allocation for ESP

Categories too much

N/ (%)

much N/ (%)

enough N/ (%)

little N/ (%)

too little N/ (%) Time for the course 4 (3.6) 4 (3.6) 31 (27.7) 65 (58) 16 (7.1)

Time for each unit 13 (11.5) 19 (17) 63 (56.3) 12 (10.7) 5 (4.5)

Table 3.4: Learners’ evaluation on time allocation for ESP (N=112)

As mentioned in the previous chapter, time allocated for an ESP course is 45 periods and time allocated for each of 5 units in the ESP coursebook is 6 periods On answering the survey question of time allocation for ESP course, most of the learners (58%) agree that it is little and the other (7.1%) think that it is too little Only 4 out of 112 informants (account for 3.6%) find that it is too much and the other 3.6% find that it is much With respect to time allocated for each of 5 units in the coursebook, more than a half

of the learners (56.3%) claim that it is sufficient In most of the learners’ opinion, time for

an ESP course should be 75 periods, so the coursebook should cover more topics with more various and interesting content

Section 4: Learners’ evaluation on vocabulary and grammar

Besides providing the learners a range of technical vocabulary through reading texts, the ESP coursebook introduces to the learners new grammar items and structures

The quantity of technical vocabulary and the level of difficulty in grammar in each unit in the coursebook are shown by the three groups of students in the following table:

N/ (%)

Group 2 N/ (%)

Group 3 N/ (%)

Average N/ (%)

Technical vocabulary in each unit is

Table 3.5: Learners’ attitude towards vocabulary and grammar

(N=112; group 1: 50, group 2: 49, group 4: 13)

Technical vocabulary

According to the informants’ assessment in Table 3.5, only 22.3% feel comfortable with the quantity of technical vocabulary contained in each unit of the coursebook Over a half of the learners (50.9%) thinks that there is little technical vocabulary in each unit Surprisingly, 6 out of 13 informants in group 3 (account for 46.1%) think that each unit provides too many technical words and phrases, and 1 out of 13 informants in this group find that there is much technical vocabulary in each unit These figures indicate that the learners in group 3 paying more attention to their specialized filed, thus they do not spend much time learning English in general and ESP in particular This is a general problem faced by students who learn in advanced classes In short, for a majority of the learners (50.9%), the coursebook should provide much more technical vocabulary

Grammar

It is demonstrated in Table 3.5 that grammar in the coursebook is suitable to a majority of the learners (64.3%) Besides, 25.9% of the learners find it difficult and only 6.2% of them think that the new grammar structures in each unit in the coursebook are easy

Section 5: Learners’ evaluation on skill development in the coursebook

enoughlittlevery littlenot at all

enoughlittlevery littlenot at all

Logical thinking Analytical thinking

Chart 3.1: Learners’ attitude towards skill development (N=112)

As can be seen from Chart 3.1, no one thinks that the coursebook is useless in developing his/her logical thinking and analytical thinking However, a significant percentage of the learners (71.4%) find that the coursebook help little with their skills in terms of logical thinking, and 66.1% find that the coursebook help little with their skills in terms of analytical thinking Learners’ assessment on the usefulness of exercises in skill development will be presented in the following chart:

Chart 3.2: Learners’ attitude towards the usefulness of exercises in skill development

According to the results shown in Chart 3.2, 67 out of 112 informants (account for 59.8%) think that exercises are not very useful in developing their skills Only 35.7 % of the informants find that these exercises in the coursebook help much in developing their skills, and only 5 out of 112 informants (account for 4.5%) find that these exercises are very useful

No one thinks that the exercises are useless in developing their skills

Section 6: Learners’ evaluation on follow-up practice

No/ (%)

Group 2 No/ (%)

Group 3 No/ (%)

Average No/ (%)

Types of exercises in each unit in the

coursebook are

1 extremely various & plentiful

2 various & plentiful

Table 3.6: Learners’ attitude towards exercises and follow-up activities

(N=112; group 1: 50, group 2: 49, group 4: 13)

Types of exercises

To answer the survey question of types of exercises provided in the ESP coursebook, most of the learners (66.1%) agree that these types are various and plentiful, and the other 2.7% find that they are extremely various and plentiful However, nearly one thirds of the learners (29.5%) think that the exercises given in the coursebook are monotonous This may be the cause of the fact that many students practice little through exercises and follow-up activities

Practice through exercises

As shown in Table 3.6, only 29.5% of the informants find that they can practice enough through exercises and follow-up activities Nearly a half of the informants (46.4%) fail to get sufficient practice

Practice of each language skill

As can be seen from Table 3.6, language skills are not equally developed and taken into account

In terms of speaking skill, over a half of the learners (53.5%) claim that the practice

of this skill is not enough 33.9% think that the practice of speaking skill is enough and only 3.6% find that it is more than enough These figures show that the practice of speaking skill should be paid more attention

The practice of listening skill, as described in Table 3.6, even is focused less than the practice of speaking skill 92 out of 112 informants (account for 82.1%) think that the practice of listening skill is insufficient This finding indicates that only few learners are satisfied with the practice of this language skill It is suggested that much more focus should be taken to this skill

Regarding to reading skill, it can be seen from Table 3.6 that a majority of the learners (65.2%) are satisfied with the practice of reading skill 23.2% of the learners find that the practice of this skill more than enough while only 11.6% of the learners think that it

is not enough

Like reading skill, writing skill receives many positive responses Nearly three fourths of the learners (70.5%) agree that the practice of writing skill is enough Only 17.9% of the learners need more practice of this skill, and interestingly, 1 out of 112 informant claims that there is not practice of writing skill in ESP course

The findings of practice of four language skills show that the ESP coursebook does not demand the learners’ needs The practice of reading and writing skills is paid more