TEACHERS’ BELIEFS AND PRACTICES ABOUT ESP TEACHING a CASE STUDY AT HANOI UNIVERSITY OF INDUSTRY

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY - HANOI UNIVERSTITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIESFACULTY OF POST- GRADUATE STUDIES ---***---ĐÀO THỊ MAI HƯƠNG TEACHERS’ BELIEFS AND PRACTICES ABOUT

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY - HANOI UNIVERSTITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST- GRADUATE STUDIES

-*** -ĐÀO THỊ MAI HƯƠNG

TEACHERS’ BELIEFS AND PRACTICES ABOUT ESP TEACHING A

CASE STUDY AT HANOI UNIVERSITY OF INDUSTRY

MỘT NGHIÊN CỨU VỀ QUAN NIỆM VÀ VIỆC GIẢNG DẠY TIẾNG ANH

CHUYÊN NGÀNH CỦA GIÁO VIÊN TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC CÔNG NGHIỆP HÀ NỘI

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field : English Teaching Methodology Code : 60.140.111

-*** -ĐÀO THỊ MAI HƯƠNG

TEACHERS’ BELIEFS AND PRACTICES ABOUT ESP TEACHING:

A CASE STUDY AT HANOI UNIVERSITY OF INDUSTRY

MỘT NGHIÊN CỨU VỀ QUAN NIỆM VÀ VIỆC GIẢNG DẠY TIẾNG ANH

CHUYÊN NGÀNH CỦA GIÁO VIÊN TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC CÔNG NGHIỆP HÀ NỘI

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field : English Teaching Methodology Code : 60.140.111 Supervisor : Dr Mai Thị Loan

HANOI - 2015

CANDIDATE’S STATEMENT

I certify my authorship of the thesis submitted today entitled:

TEACHERS’ BELIEFS AND PRACTICES ABOUT ESP TEACHING: A CASESTUDY AT HANOI UNIVERSITY OF INDUSTRY

is the result of my own work for the Degree of Master of Arts at University ofLanguages and International Studies, Hanoi National University The material in thisthesis has not been submitted for assessment in any other courses of study

Hanoi, March 2015

Signature

Đào Thị Mai Hương

First of all, I would like to present my deepest gratitude to my supervisor, Ms.Mai Thi Loan, for her generous guidance, constant encouragement and preciousadvice which take important part in accomplishing the study

I am most thankful to all the lecturers of the M.A course at ULIS-VNUH forproviding me foundation knowledge through their invaluable lessons

I would also like to send my sincere thanks to my colleagues at the EnglishDepartment of Hanoi University of Industry who were enthusiastic about participating

in my research and willing to share their experience

Last but not least, I owe a big debt to my loved family who always stand by me aswell as give me strength and encouragement during my three-year course and duringthe time I fulfilled the research

The study aimed at investigating teachers’ beliefs and practices about ESPteaching at Hanoi University of Industry The objectives were to investigate teachers’beliefs about teaching strategies applied to ESP classes, to find out the most commonESP teaching strategies used by teachers and to explore the relationship betweenteachers’ beliefs and practices when teaching ESP Interviews and classroomobservations were used as the instruments to collect the data The interviews weredelivered to seek teachers’ beliefs about ESP teaching strategies and classroomobservations were applied to explore their actual practices The findings revealed thatthe teachers’ actual practices did not always correspond to their beliefs

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

1 EFL: English as a Foreign Language

2 ELT: English Language Teaching

3 ESL: English as a Second Language

4 ESP: English for Specific Purposes

5 HaUI: Hanoi University of Industry

6 GPE: General Purpose English

7 EAP: English for Academic Purposes

8 EEP: English for Educational Purposes

9 EOP: English for Occupational Purposes

10 EFL: English as a Foreign Language

LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1: ESP classification by experience 8

Figure 2: ESP classification by professional area (Hutchison and Waters, 1987:6) 9

LIST OF TABLES Table 1: Ten techniques applied to ESP lesson (Hutchinson and Waters, 1987:139-142) 10

Table 2: Strategies used to lead into the lesson 23

Table 3: Teachers’ beliefs about strategies used to present problems 27

Table 4: Teachers’ beliefs about strategies used in practice 30

Table 5: Strategies used to lead into the lesson 31

Table 6: Strategies used to present problems in ESP 32

Table 7: Strategies used in practice part 35

Table 8: Description of exercises used in actual practice 36

LIST OF EXCERPTS

Excerpt 1[Data extracted from the class on 2014/5/22] VIIExcerpt 2 [Data extracted from the class on 2014/5/22] VIIIExcerpt 3 [Data extracted from the class on 2014/5/30] XExcerpt 4 [Data extracted from the class on 2014/5/29] XIExcerpt 5 [Data extracted from the class on 2014/6/3] XIIIExcerpt 6 [Data extracted from the class on 2014/6/2] XIV

TABLE OF CONTENT

CANDIDATE’S STATEMENT i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii

ABSTRACT iii

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS iv

LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES v

LIST OF EXCERPTS vi

TABLE OF CONTENT vii

PART I: INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 Rationale 1

1.2 Aims and objectives of the study 1

1.3 Research questions 2

1 4 Scope of the study 2

1.5 Methods of the study 2

1.6 Significance of the study 3

1.7 Design of the study 3

CHAPTER ONE: LITERATURE REVIEW 4

1.1 Theory of ESP 4

1.1.1 Some basic concepts 4

1.1.2 Definition 4

1.2 Roles of ESP teacher 13

1.2.1 The ESP practitioner as a teacher 13

1.2.2 The ESP practitioner as a course designer and material provider 14

1.2.3 The ESP practitioner as a researcher 14

1.2.4 The ESP practitioner as a collaborator 14

1.2.5 The ESP practitioner as an evaluator 15

1.3 Teachers’ beliefs 15

1.4 Relationship between teachers’ beliefs and classroom practices 16

1.5 Review of previous related studies 17

1.6 Summary 18

2.1 Restatement of the research questions 19

2.2 Context of the study 19

2.2.1 The setting of the study 19

2.2.2 Participants 20

2.3 Instruments 20

2.3.1 Pre- observation interviews 20

2.3.2 Classroom observations 21

2.3.3 Post-observation interviews 21

2.4 Data collection procedure 22

2.5 Data analysis procedure 22

2.6 Summary 22

3.1 Interview 23

3.1.1 Teachers’ beliefs about strategies used to lead into the lesson 23

3.1.2 Teachers’ beliefs about strategies used to present problems in ESP 25

3.1.3 Teachers’ beliefs about strategies used to help students practice 29

3.2 Classroom observation 30

3.2.2 Strategies used to present problems in ESP 31

3.2.3 Strategies used in practice part 34

Table 8: Description of exercises used in actual practice 36

3.3 Findings 37

3.3.1 Strategies used to lead into the lesson 37

3.3.2 Strategies used to present problems in ESP 37

3.3.3 Strategies used in practice part 38

3.4 Summary 38

PART III: CONCLUSION 39

1.1 Summary of the thesis 39

1.2 Implication from the study 40

1.3 Limitations and suggestions for further study 41 APPENDICES I

PART I: INTRODUCTION

1.1 Rationale

There is a fact that English is needed for every field such as technology, medicine,business and education As a result, the demand for ESP is increasing in manycountries where people speak English as a foreign language Besides, people needEnglish for passing the exams, promoting at work and developing their career.Therefore, ESP has been taught in most of universities in Vietnam for recent years Teaching ESP has become one of the most important features of English teachingprocess, which is necessary to meet the demand of the changing world According toHutchinson and Waters (1987: 19), ESP is an approach for language teaching in whichall decisions regarding content and methods are based on the learners’ reasons forlearning They can use English effectively in different fields like economics, literature,law, and medicine Compared with General English, ESP has both similarities anddifferences Although teaching ESP has much been concerned by researchers whohave tried to develop its own methodology, it is still really hard for teachers to decidethe effective strategies for their students

In context of Hanoi University of Industry (HaUI), students start learning ESP inthe second semester of the third year In fact, with the students’ low proficiency ofEnglish, it is extremely challenging for teachers to provide a successful ESP course.Besides, Vietnamese students keep a passive way of studying which makes theteachers’ methodology become the most important factor in teaching ESP In spite oflong duration of 60 class hours, ESP teaching and learning quality has still been farfrom satisfaction Therefore, the teachers’ beliefs and practices in teaching ESP should

be worked out as soon as possible to improve the situation

1.2 Aims and objectives of the study

This study aims to do research on teachers’ beliefs and practices about ESPteaching The objectives of the study were:

(1) To investigate teachers’ beliefs about teaching strategies applied to ESPclasses,

(2) To find out the most common ESP teaching strategies used by teachers,

(3) To explore the relationship between teachers’ beliefs and practices whenteaching ESP

1 4 Scope of the study

The research focuses on investigating the teachers’ beliefs towards teachingstrategies applied to ESP classes and their practices It was conducted among ESPteachers who work for Ha Noi University of Industry

1.5 Methods of the study

The study was conducted following these stages:

Firstly, the pre-observation interviews were delivered to seek teachers’ beliefsabout teaching strategies used to lead into the problem, teaching strategies used topresent problems in ESP and teaching strategies used to enhance practice as well asproduction of students

Secondly, the classroom observations were made by the author to investigateteachers’ teaching strategies they actually used in their ESP class and find out whetherthese practices were consistent with the beliefs or not

Thirdly, the post-observation interviews were carried out to find out the reasonsfor any inconsistence between teachers’ beliefs and practices

Finally, the data was gathered and analyzed to disclose the main findings andanswer the research questions

1.6 Significance of the study

In terms of theory, the author expected to contribute to perfecting theories aboutESP and teachers’ beliefs and practices On the other hand, the findings of this studycan be used as a reference by ESP teachers in general and teachers at HaUI inparticular to improve their practices in ESP class

1.7 Design of the study

The study is divided into three main parts

Part one is the INTRODUCTION which consists of rationale, aim and objectives

of the study as well as research questions It also covers scope, methods, significanceand design of the research

Part two is the DEVELOPMENT separated into three chapters:

Chapter one provides theoretical background regarding as theory of ESP, roles ofESP teachers, teachers’ beliefs and practices Added to this, previous related studiesare summarized in brief

Chapter two is concerned with methodology used in the thesis In the first place,the author restates the research questions and emphasizes the context, setting,participants, instruments, data collection and analysis procedure in process ofconducting the thesis

Chapter three shows the main content with findings as well as discussion based onthe results from observations and interviews

Part three is the CONCLUSION offering a summary of the issues mentioned,implication from the study and suggestions for further study

PART II: DEVELOPMENT

CHAPTER ONE: LITERATURE REVIEW

1.1 Theory of ESP

1.1.1 Some basic concepts

In literature on theories of foreign language teaching, such terms as “practices”,

“activities”, “techniques” and “strategies” are widely used Followings are a briefdistinction between them

Practices include what teachers do and behave in the classroom

Activity refers to what learners actually do in the classroom and it implies theactive performance of the learners

Technique, in the most general sense, include all tasks and activities which arealmost always planned, deliberate and are the product of a choice made by the teacher(Anthony, 1963:63); practice, behavior, exercise, procedure, strategy are described, invarying degrees of intensity, as technique

Strategy, in general, is a well-planned series of actions for achieving an aim Thus,

a teaching strategy is a conscious plan comprising a wide range of selected skills andtechniques, which is targeted at the achievement of an objective In other way, strategy

is connected with how different types of learning and teaching activities are carried out

in the classroom

1.1.2 Definition

In the past few decades, many researchers have been working to define ESP whichhas remained a controversial topic Those definitions should be classified into threecategories The first group based on learners’ needs Typically, Hutchison and Water(1987:19) believed that ESP should be regarded as “an approach to language learning,which is based on learner need.” Understood properly, students should aim atacquiring both language proficiency and occupational skills in process of learning asecond language According to Anthony (1997:1), the researchers were divided into

two groups The former considered ESP as teaching English for any purpose that could

be specified On the other hand, the latter held the view that ESP was “teaching ofEnglish used in academic studies or the teaching of English for vocational orprofessional purposes” (Anthony, 1997: 1) Mackay and Mountford (1978:2) bothreferred it as the teaching of English to the learners who have specific goals andpurposes They were academic, professional and scientific that depends on thelearners’ needs

Besides, the second group of studies identified ESP by its absolute and variablecharacteristics For example, Strevens (1988:1) made a comprehensive definition ofESP that was distinguished between absolute and variable characteristics of ESPrelated to design, content, activities, learning skills to be learned and methodology.Similarly, other researchers (e.g Strevens, 1980; Robinson, 1980; Dudley-Evans and

St John, 1997 etc.) have agreed on the following qualities of an ESP course:

1/ The goal is performing job-related and educational roles successfully

2/ It is designed particularly based on the students’ needs to meet the demand.3/ Compared with a general language course, it has differences in selection ofskills, themes, topics, situations, functions, language and methodology

However, the third group discussed “S” standing for specific as the core toteaching ESP Hadley (2006:3) agreed that “the key to teaching ESP is to focus on the

“S” for specific ESP can be differentiated from general ELT by its concern withspecialized language and practice” Mackay and Mountford (1978:4) clarified thepoint “special language” as follows:

“The only practical way in which we can understand the notion of speciallanguage is as a restricted repertoire of words and expressions selected from thewhole language because that restricted repertoire covers every requirement within

a well-defined context, task or vocation”

Barron (1994:3) also confirmed the place of ESP “within the multidimensionalspace that constitutes the students’ chosen disciplinary culture” Added to this, Fiorio(2005:1) stated that “the ESP focal point is that English is not taught as a subject

separated from the students' real world (or wishes); instead, it is integrated into asubject matter area important to the learners.” On the other hand, “specific” alsointerpreted as “special aim” which connected to the learners’ special purpose oflearning English as a second language (ESL) or English as a foreign language (EFL)rather than their intention to learn nature of the English language (Mountford, 1978:4).

In summary, the author assumes that ESP is a very flexible approach of teachingEnglish as a second language or a foreign language It is not only connected withspecial disciplines and professions but also meets the specific needs in the field ofEAP

1.1.3 Characteristics of ESP

Strevens' (1988) definition makes a distinction between four absolute and twovariable characteristics:

1 Absolute Characteristics:

ESP consists of English language teaching which is:

- designed to meet specified needs of the learner;

- related in content to particular disciplines, occupations and activities;

- centred on the language appropriate to those activities in syntax, lexis, discourse,semantics, etc., and analysis of this discourse;

- in contrast with General English

2 Variable characteristics:

ESP may be, but is not necessarily:

- restricted as to the language skills to be learned (e.g reading only);

- taught according to any pre-ordained methodology (Gatehouse, 2001 cf.Strevens, 1998:1-2)

Dudley-Evans and St John (1998:4-5) have presented a modified definition ofESP which is also comprised of absolute and variable characteristics of ESP that are asfollows:

1 Absolute Characteristics

- ESP is defined to meet specific needs of the learner;

- ESP makes use of the underlying methodology and activities of the discipline itserves;

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

2 Variable Characteristics

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

- ESP may use, in specific teaching situations, a different methodology from that

of general English;

- ESP is likely to be designed for adult learners, either at a tertiary level institution

or in a professional work situation It could, however, be for learners at secondaryschool level;

- ESP is generally designed for intermediate or advanced students;

- Most ESP courses assume some basic knowledge of the language system, but itcan be used with beginners”

1.1.4 Principles of ESP

It is said that ESP is a "reaction against conventional foreign language instruction"(Strevens, 1977:145) Therefore, it is assumed that any ESP course should obey astrategy of predetermined objectives based on a needs analysis of students learningEnglish, to find out for what they are requiring the language which in turn leads todefine as specifically as possible what the students need to learn in that language According to Hutchinson and Waters (1987), the approach to ESP should be based

on the learner's needs in their respective specialized subjects Hutchinson and Water'sview of ESP points to the importance and roles of learners both in the design of thecourse and its implementation in the teaching and learning processes To recognizespecific needs of students one would have to carry out some kind of assessment orevaluation of the existing textbooks The types of modifications of learning resourcesare made accordingly to meet the kinds of individual differences with regard to time,goals, mode, or expectations of learning (Hutchinson and Waters, 1987) Thediscussion of the importance of needs analysis focuses on its roles as a starting point or

a guide for course design, syllabus design, materials selection, assessment or even

classroom activities With the information at hand of learner needs a course designerwill be able to produce a detailed description of language skills, functions, and forms

as determined in the learner needs profile, which in turn leads to design a course According to Robinson (1991:3), needs analysis is a predominance process in ESPprogramming procedure For him the key criteria of ESP is its goal directedness, andits development from needs analysis to design courses with the "aims to specify asclosely as possible what exactly it is that students have to do through the medium ofEnglish" Needs analysis is neither unique to language teaching nor within languagetraining but it is often seen as being the corner stone of ESP and leads to a veryfocused course (Dudley-Evans and St John, 1998:122)

1.1.5 Classification of ESP

For many decades, ESP has been separated into two major fields: English forAcademic Purposes (EAP) and English for Occupational Purposes (EOP) Theclassification is presented as in the following tree diagram:

Figure 1: ESP classification by experience

(Robinson, 1991, taken from Dudley-Evans and St John, 1998:6)

The above classification of ESP into EAP and EOP is important because it “affectsthe degree of specificity that is appropriate to the course” (Dudley-Evans and St John,

EOP

EEP/EAP

Pre-experienceSimultaneous/In-service

Post-experience

For study in a Specific discipline

As a school subject

Pre-studyIn-studyPost-study

IndependentIntegratedESP

1998:6) According to the diagram, an EOP course has professional purposes and

vocational purposes; meanwhile, an EAP course aims at education

According to the above traditional classification, the scope of ESP is extremely

limited because the learners are able to learn English for only restricted purposes and

cope with particular situations within extremely limited linguistic settings Therefore,

“Tree of ELT” (Hutchison and Waters, 1987:6) broadened the scope of ESP as the

following figure:

English for specific purposes

English for Academic purposes English for Occupational Purposes

Figure 2: ESP classification by professional area (Hutchison and Waters, 1987:6)

Hutchison and Waters (1987:16) believed that EOP and EAP could

not be separated because “people can work and study

simultaneously; it is also likely that in many cases the language

learnt for immediate use in a study environment will be used later

when the student takes up, or returns to, a job”

In general, it is impossible classify ESP clearly without overlap and potential

confusion as a matter of fact Consequently, ESP teachers need to consider different

models given by those authors to decide which type of ESP course they are in charge

VocationalEnglish

English for(Academic)Legal Purposes

English forManagementFinance and Economics

English forProfessional purposes

English forVocational purposes

EnglishFor medicalpurposes

EnglishForBusiness purposes

VocationalEnglish

1.1.6 ESP teaching strategies

There were numerous discussions among well-known researchers in the realm oflanguage teaching in general and ESP teaching in particular such as Brumfit (1984),Nunan (1988), Dickinson (1987), Hutchinson and Waters (1987), Robison (1991),Brown (1994), Dudley and St John (1997) However, the ideas may fall into two majorgroups

In the first place, Hutchinson and Waters (1987:142) supposed that “at the level oftechniques, the ESP teacher can learn a lot from General English practice” so “theclassroom skills and techniques acquired in General English teaching can be usefullyemployed in the ESP classroom.” Therefore, they suggested ten techniques which areable to apply to almost any lesson

Table 1: Ten techniques applied to ESP lesson (Hutchinson and Waters, 142)

1 Gaps

1.1

Informationgaps

One learner has some information, another does not.There is a need to communicate and share knowledge

1.2 Mediagaps

The information is available in one medium and needs

to be transferred to another medium

1.3

Reasoninggaps

There are clues and pieces of evidence but the answerneeds to be explored

1.4

Memorygaps

The learners have received some information at onestage of the lesson Now they must use their memories

to reconstruct

1.5 Jigsawgaps

All the parts are there, but they need to be put together

to form a complete unit

1 Gaps

1.6 Opiniongaps

What is important? What is not? What is relevant?

1.7

Certaintygaps

What is definitely known? What can be presupposed?What can be predicted? What is completelyunavailable?

Whole class, pair, individual, group

2.3 Variety

of learner roles

Presenter, evaluator, receiver, thinker, negotiator

2.4 Variety of exercise, activity or task2.5

Variety ofskills

Reading, listening, writing, speaking, graphic skills

2.6 Variety of topic2.7

Variety offocus

accuracy, fluency; discourse, structure, pronunciation etc

3 Prediction Using an existing knowledge of a pattern or system in order to

anticipate what is likely in a novel situation

4 Enjoyment The rich learning environment of an enjoyable experience

7 Preparation

Building up a context of knowledge around the materials and so preparing the learners’ minds to learn

8 Involvement Asking questions and waiting for the answers

9 Creativity Activities should allow for different possible answers, different levels

of response

10 Atmosphere The cultivation of a cooperative social climate within the classroom

In the second place, the recent discussions raised by other authors such asRobinson (1991), Martin (1992), Dudley Evans and St John (1997) and Jordan (1997)concluded that tasks and activities in ESP classroom should reflect the learners’specialist world (Dudley Evans and St John, 1997: 187) More specifically, they can

“involve people undertaking communication work for a purpose” (Martin, 1992: 189).Among those, case studies and project work are strongly recommended to teach ESPbecause of their outstanding advantages

Case studies

Case studies were emphasized as an appropriate activity in teaching ESP because

it offered students a chance to work out “realistic, complex, ill-defined problem thathas many possible solutions, none of them ideal” (Huckin, 1988, quoted in Jordan,1997:114) Thus, this kind of activity aims at presenting “students with some aspect of

a real life scenario, through which they can apply and integrate knowledge, skills,theory and any experience” (Dudley-Evans and St John, 1997:192) A case studyconsists of three stages which are data input (data presented through texts, audio andvideo recordings), data processing (understanding and manipulating data) and outputpresentation (oral presentation or written reports for feedback) (Dudley-Evans and StJohn, 1997, quoted in Yen, 2001:52)

Project work

Jordan (1997:195) assessed project work as a reward but also a high-risk activitybecause students had to take responsibility for collecting information needed tocomplete the project In spite of that, project work is still “particularly appropriate to

ESP/EAP since doing a project may well be a requirement for a university student,especially at the graduate level” (Robinson, 1994:50) Bloor and St John (1988, quoted

in Robinson, 1994:51) categorized project into three major types composed of groupproject which requires the group members to do real research, mini-research projectused for individuals to conduct questionnaires, surveys as well as interviews andliterature-based project involving individuals in reading extensively

In my opinion, ESP teachers should be adaptable and flexible in teaching(Hutchison and Waters, 1987:165) ESP lessons would be more effective if theychoose strategies suitable to their students’ levels and ability The combinationbetween techniques in general English and special skills in teaching ESP seems to bethe best way to teach ESP

1.2 Roles of ESP teacher

In fact, ESP teaching is really diversified so some researchers (Dudley-Evans and

St John, 1998:13) call an ESP lecturer by the term “practitioner” rather than “teacher”

It refers that ESP work requires much more than teacher ESP practitioner can play afew roles as the following:

1.2.1 The ESP practitioner as a teacher

ESP is a practical discipline with the most important objective of helping students

to learn However, the ESP teacher is not the primary knower of the content of thematerial (Dudley-Evans and St John, 1998:13) In the situation that the course focuses

on the subject content or work the students are involved in, they may more master thecontent than the teacher Therefore, the teacher can take advantage the students’knowledge to generate communication in the class The role of ESP teacher changesinto one-to-one consultant to the students ESP teachers need to be flexible, good atlistening to learners and interested in the disciplines or professional activities thestudents participate in

1.2.2 The ESP practitioner as a course designer and material provider

According to Dudley-Evans and St John (1998:14), it is almost impossible to use aparticular textbook without the need for supplementary material Added to this,

sometimes no really suitable published material exists for identified needs As a result,ESP practitioners often have to provide the material for the course They need to selectthe published material, adapt material to be more suitable or even produce it In order

to do these jobs well, “ESP teachers also need to assess the effectiveness of theteaching material used on the course, whether that material is published or self-produced” (Evans and St John, 1998:15)

1.2.3 The ESP practitioner as a researcher

Research has been particularly strong in the realm of English for AcademicPurposes For example, research into English for Business purposes focusing oninvestigating the genres, the language and the skills related to business communicationhas increased “ESP teachers need to be aware of and in touch with this research”(Dudley-Evans and St John, 1998:15) Teachers carrying out a needs analysis,designing a course, or writing teaching materials need to be capable of incorporatingthe findings of the research, and those working in specific ESP situations need to beconfident that they know what is involved in skills such as written communication(Dudley-Evans and St John, 1998:15)

1.2.4 The ESP practitioner as a collaborator

Collaboration with subject specialist is believed to be often the best way toapproach subject-specific work It may need the cooperation helping ESP teachers setsyllabus in academic context or the real tasks Another possibility is that specificcollaboration creates some integration between specialist studies or activities and thelanguage It might be the story of the language teacher specifically providing studentsfor language of subject lectures The fullest collaboration is where a subject expert and

a language teacher team-teach classes (Dudley-Evans and St John, 1998:16)

1.2.5 The ESP practitioner as an evaluator

The ESP practitioner is often required to take different kinds of evaluation –testing of students, evaluation of courses and teaching materials Tests are conducted

to assess how much learners have gained from the course Course design and teachingmaterials should be evaluated in the middle or at the end of the course to assess the

learners’ abilities of using what they have learned and to find out their commands thatthe course has not met Evaluation through discussion and on-going needs analysis can

be used to adapt the syllabus (Dudley-Evans and St John, 1998:16-17)

Overall, ESP teachers as a practitioner take various roles in ESP teaching.Therefore, Hutchison and Waters (1987:165) concluded that “adaptability” and

“flexibility” are the outstanding requirements of an ESP teacher

a cognitive, an affective, and a behavioral component and therefore act as influences

on what we know, feel, and do” Teachers were found to hold their significant beliefs

in five main interconnecting areas known as beliefs about learners and learning,teaching, subjects or curriculum, learning to teach, and about the self and the nature ofteaching (Calderhead, 1996, quoted in Hassan, 2013:23) According to Borg (1999,

2003, quoted in Lin, 2010:23), the development of teaching styles is under theinfluence of personality, educational background and professional experiences in theteacher’s life Richardson (1996) also divided teachers’ experiences into three majorkinds, which include personal experience, experience with schooling and instruction,and experience with formal knowledge (quoted in Lin, 2010:23) Unfortunately, it isimpossible to observe teachers’ beliefs directly so they are difficult to study (Johnson,1994)

Personally, the author supposes that teachers’ beliefs refer to the way they thinkwhich is operated by some major factors such as characteristics, knowledge, teachingexperience and students’ demands

1.4 Relationship between teachers’ beliefs and classroom practices

There has been a plethora of research in English language teaching proving theexistence of relationship between teachers’ beliefs and practices Borg (2006) realized

while beliefs frankly did impact on what teachers do, teachers’ instructional decisionsdid not always reflect their beliefs (quoted in Borg, 2009:149)

Despite that, Richardson (1996, quoted in Lin, 2010:23) indicated that exploringteachers’ beliefs and finding out how these beliefs change is a crucial process toundergo for the purposes of understanding the teachers’ educational development andclassroom practices Beliefs create a structured group of principles based on schoolpractices, a teacher’s prior experiences, and a teacher’s individual personality (Al-Siyabi and Region, 2009, quoted in Borg, 2009:149) Johnson (1994) agreed that itwas necessary to have insights into teachers’ beliefs because it helped improveteaching practices and teacher education programs (quoted in Borg, 2009:149) Thus,Cortazzi and Jin (1996:169) strongly believed “behavior in language classrooms is setwithin taken-for-granted frameworks of expectations, attitudes, values and beliefsabout what constitutes good learning, about how to teach or learn, whether and how toask questions, what textbooks are for, and how language teaching relates to broaderissues of the nature and purpose of education” The importance of understandingteachers’ beliefs was emphasized as “the complex ways in which these relate toteachers’ classroom practices” and “the process of becoming, being and developingprofessionally as a teacher” (Borg, 2009:163)

To sum up, the demand for understanding the hidden belief set of languageteachers as well as the effect these put on their classroom practices has been growing

1.5 Review of previous related studies

In fact, teachers’ beliefs and practices about teaching strategies have drawn muchattention of researchers in Vietnam as well as other countries recently

First of all, Anderson (1999) wrote anecdotes of how life experiences hadimpacted his thinking about teaching, learning and reading in a second language Hepointed out the importance of teaching strategy in a reading program From that, hesuggested plenty of activities for each of the recommended strategies which instructedlearners quite explicitly, supported them and helped them evaluate their effectivenessfor themselves

In 2008, Lin conducted a case study on an ESL teacher’s beliefs and classroompractices in grammar instruction in The United States The findings indicated that most

of the teachers’ beliefs on grammar were transferred into their classroom practices.Then, the author recommended some ways to adjust classroom practices in order tomeet the learner’s satisfaction

Next, Al-Siyabi (2009) did a research on teachers’ practices and beliefs aboutexplicit grammar teaching among grade 8 teachers in Oman The result shows thatexplicit grammar teaching is and will be an important strategy to teach grammar andthe teachers seem entirely dependent on their own experience to decide how to teach

In India, Hassan (2013) investigated the impact of teachers’ beliefs on L2grammar teaching He concluded that there lies a deep woven interrelation betweenteachers’ beliefs and instructional practice Therefore, some professional developmenttraining courses need to be held to make the teachers aware of their hidden beliefs inorder to change their practices towards communicative approach

In the context of Vietnam, Nga (2007) was concerned about teachers’ beliefs inteaching reading She drew conclusion from the finding that teachers’ beliefs drovetheir instructions and classroom practices but those practices were not alwaysconsistent with their beliefs

Canh (2011) did a case study of teachers’ beliefs and practices on form-focusedinstruction The findings showed that teachers’ grammar pedagogy was shaped bytheir beliefs Also, teachers’ beliefs, in general, were correlated to their practices.Lastly, in spite of individual diversity, teachers who worked in a collectivist, top-downand highly centralized culture, were willing to share a collectively normativepedagogy

Last but not least, Canh (2013) examined teachers’ beliefs about culture in EFLteaching Although the study provided a view into beliefs about culture teachers held

in teaching English, it is not clear how they cope with cultural issues in their classroompractices

1.6 Summary

In summary, this chapter has established the theoretical background concernedwith the topic of the research It has mentioned an overview of ESP, roles of teachers,their beliefs and practices and previous related studies

CHAPTER TWO: METHODOLOGY 2.1 Restatement of the research questions

The study was to be done with a view to find out teachers’ beliefs and practices aswell as the underlying relationship between them To make it clear, the study was toseek the answers to the following questions:

(i) What are teachers’ beliefs about teaching strategies applied to ESP classes? (ii) What are the most common ESP teaching strategies used by teachers?

(iii) Is there a relationship between the teachers’ beliefs and practices in terms ofESP teaching strategies?

2.2 Context of the study

2.2.1 The setting of the study

Among teachers of English at HaUI aged from 22 to 45, most of them arepermanent and a few are temporary Added to this, only some of them had the chance

to study abroad in English speaking countries like Australia or the USA Thoseteachers are divided into two groups including major English group 1 and non-majorEnglish group 2 The former is in charge of teaching students belonging to EnglishFaculty The latter teaches students at other Faculties consisting of Economics,Engineering, Electronics, Computer Science, Tourism and Garment There are morethan ten teachers being recruited every year Most of them are quite young and somehave just graduated from university They are judged not to have much teachingexperience However, they do not take any training courses to adapt to the workingenvironment

The teaching and learning English at HaUI is divided into two main phasesincluding General English (GE) and English for Specific Purposes (ESP) Studentsstudy GE during the first five semesters ESP is taught on the sixth or seventh semesterdepending on their major All teachers in non-major English group 2 take part in thefirst stage but there is a group of selected teachers called ESP group participating inthe second one They take turn teaching ESP for students in different majors Those

teachers need to possess better English proficiency and much teaching experience.However, they have to deal with mastering the related subjects themselves because theuniversity does not provide them any training courses Besides, they observe thelessons conducted by more experienced teachers or give a demo lesson to get thefeedback from the board of organizers at the annually held teaching contest

2.2.2 Participants

The research involved four lecturers of English belonging to ESP group at HaUI.They are all female and had at least three years’ experience in teaching ESP.Throughout their career life, two of them participated in teacher training workshopswhich were held by British Council Three of them graduated from University ofLanguages and International Studies, Vietnam National University of Hanoi and theother graduated from Hanoi University Half of them were awarded a Master’s degree

in Teaching English as a Foreign Language from universities in Vietnam The secondhalf are attending postgraduate studies

2.3 Instruments

The data collection instruments used in this study to investigate teachers’ beliefsand practices consist of pre- observation interviews, classroom observations and post-observation interviews

2.3.1 Pre- observation interviews

A semi-structured interview was applied to probe teachers’ beliefs about ESPteaching strategies According to Borg (2006), one of the advantages of semi-structured interviews in seeking teachers’ beliefs is flexibility because intervieweesfeel free to talk in an open-ended atmosphere (quoted in Canh, 2011:105) Similarly,semi-structured interviews were believed as a traditional instrument in teacher thinkingresearch for the reason that they encouraged teachers to express their thoughts in afriendly and non-evaluative environment (Mangubhai, Marland, Dashwood and Son,2004:294) This kind of interview starts with an agenda, or list of general topics tocover; thus, an opening statement and open-ended questions are developed to

investigate participants’ attitudes “without sensitizing the participants to anyhypotheses of the researcher” (Nga, 2007:26).

In this research, the interview questions were designed after a review of theliterature and informal talk with teachers Each interview lasted 20 – 30 minutes andwas audio taped under teachers’ permission Since the interviews aimed at seeking anin-depth understanding of the teachers beliefs about ESP teaching strategies, theyconsisted of three categories in accordance with a lesson procedure: Category 1 –Starter, Category 2 – Presentation, Category 3 – Practice and production (Details can

be seen in Appendix A)

2.3.2 Classroom observations

This study adopted classroom observation as one approach in order to figure outhow teachers’ beliefs about ESP teaching strategies were transferred into theirclassroom practices According to Borg (2006:231), observation is a precious method

to conduct studies in the realm of language teacher cognition because it offersevidence of what occurs in the classroom and “a concrete descriptive basis in relation

to what teachers know, think and believe can be examined.” Compared with self-reportdescriptions, observation provides more direct information (Dörnyei, 2007:178).Moreover, qualitative researches use the combination between observation andinterview in order to examine selected informants’ viewpoints on their actions orbehaviours (Duff, 2008:141)

The observations were held in the middle of the sixth semester in four classes To

be more specific, two teaching periods in two different lessons of each teacher wereobserved The author took note on classroom observation sheet that focused on threemain parts including teachers’ strategies applied to lead into ESP lesson, strategies topresent problems and strategies to help students practice (Details can be seen inAppendix B)

2.3.3 Post-observation interviews

In order to explore further into teachers’ beliefs, clarify practices in classroomobservations and avoid misunderstanding of observation data, post-interviews were

chosen Thus, the author hoped to find out the reasons for activities that the teachersconducted in their observed lessons The interviews were also recorded and transcribedfor subsequent analysis.

2.4 Data collection procedure

The author used a qualitative and quantitative approach divided into three phases

to collect the data In the first phase, four teachers were invited to participate in thepre-interviews which lasted one day to collect qualitative data Four interviews wererecorded under teachers’ permission After that, the author carefully developed theclassroom observation checklist basing on teachers’ beliefs and theory of ESP teachingstrategies In phase two, classroom observations were conducted over a period of onemonth The observations lasted about 45 minutes each and were video-taped In phasethree, the post interviews were conducted to clarify points which were observed andfind out the reasons for the teachers’ actual practices

2.5 Data analysis procedure

Firstly, the data obtained through pre-interviews were analyzed subjectively bylooking for and grouping the common and recurrent themes Secondly, based on theobservation checklist, eight classroom observations were analyzed descriptively Fieldnotes on the teacher‘s use of ESP teaching strategies were taken Then, their practiceswere categorized into groups basing on the criteria of the classroom observationchecklist Lastly, the results of real class observation were compared with teachers’beliefs

2.6 Summary

In general, this section has presented methodology the researcher used to conductthe study The next chapter will focus on data analysis and findings

CHAPTER THREE: DATA ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS

3.1 Interview

The transcript data collected in four interviews is going to be presented in thissection In general, teachers’ beliefs about ESP teaching strategies were categorizedinto three major parts accordance with a lesson procedure including teachers’ beliefsabout strategies to lead into the problem, strategies to present problems in ESP andstrategies to enhance practice as well as production of students

3.1.1 Teachers’ beliefs about strategies used to lead into the lesson

The first question asked the teachers about activities they used to lead into theirESP lesson The answers are carefully presented in the following table:

Table 2: Strategies used to lead into the lesson

1

Teacher 2

Teacher 3

Teacher 4

The percentage of teachers’ beliefs

“The students participate in discussing about the lesson topic or a new terminology

in starter part.” (Teacher 2)

“I showed them some pictures related to the lesson They will guess what the topicis.” (Teacher 3)

“I gave them one or several questions about the lesson, they will discuss in pairs orgroups to find the answer.” (Teacher 4)

Most of teachers (75%) thought that brain storming was an effective activity to dobefore the lesson Besides to activate students’ brains, it helps the teacher to elicit theirbackground knowledge Basing on that, the teacher is able to give them necessarysupport during the lesson Checking homework was also agreed to use before thelesson by 75% of teachers They explained,

“…studying in class is not enough, students need to do homework I need to checkwhether they do it well.” (Teacher 1)

“Checking homework can form the habit of self-studying and autonomy forstudents.” (Teacher 2)

“Starting a lesson by checking homework is a good way to help students recall oldknowledge which is needed for new lesson.” (Teacher 4)

Half of the teachers applied gathering information activity to start their ESPlessons for several reasons

“I want students to activate mentally and physically They will feel very excitedbefore studying.” (Teacher 2)

“It starts communicative atmosphere in class.” (Teacher 3)

Lastly, only 25% of teachers revised previous lesson before starting new onebecause they thought that it was a way to drill knowledge into students’ mind