Using project-based learning approach to improve ESP vocabulary for the second year students at Industrial Economics and Technology College

DECLARATION I certify that this minor thesis entitled “Using project-based learning approach to improve ESP vocabulary for the second year students at Industrial Economics and Technolog

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

ECONOMICS AND TECHNOLOGY COLLEGE

Sử dụng phương pháp học theo dự án để trau dồi từ vựng Tiếng Anh chuyên ngành cho sinh viên năm thứ hai tại trường Cao đẳng

Công nghệ và Kinh tế Công nghiệp

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

FIELD: ENGLISH TEACHING METHODOLOGY CODE: 60140111

Hanoi, 2015

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

ECONOMICS AND TECHNOLOGY COLLEGE

Sử dụng phương pháp học theo dự án để trau dồi từ vựng Tiếng Anh chuyên ngành cho sinh viên năm thứ hai tại trường Cao đẳng

Công nghệ và Kinh tế Công nghiệp

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

FIELD: ENGLISH TEACHING METHODOLOGY CODE: 60140111

SUPERVISOR: DƯƠNG THU MAI, PhD

Hanoi, 2015

DECLARATION

I certify that this minor thesis entitled “Using project-based learning approach to improve ESP vocabulary for the second year students at Industrial Economics and Technology College” is the study of my own research and the substance of this research has not been submitted for a degree to any other university or institution

Thai Nguyen, September, 2014

Signature

Pham Thi Khanh Linh

Secondly, my sincere thanks also go to all lecturers and staff of the faculty of Post- Graduate studies for their valuable lessons and precious helps Thanks to their lessons as well as needed helps, I could overcome enormous obstacles when doing the study

I also wish to acknowledge the cooperation of my colleagues and the year students at Industrial Economics and Technology College in contributing to the data collection presented in this study

second-Last but not least, I would like to express my deepest thanks to my mother for her encouragement and great support during my time of fulfilling this thesis

ABSTRACT

English for specific purposes has been taught in universities and colleges in Vietnam for several years and it partially meets student’s needs However, how to teach and learn vocabulary for English for Specific Purposes well is still a challenge for both teachers and learners Besides, it seems that very little research has been implemented on using project based learning in teaching ESP vocabulary The objective of this study is to investigate the attitudes of students and teachers at IETC about project-based learning in teaching vocabulary in an ESP course Four tools of data collection which were employed in this study are a questionnaire for 70 students, interviews for three teachers, learners’ diaries and document analysis After data was received from the questionnaire, it was analyzed in charts, and the information from the teachers’ interviews was summarized interpretively The results of the study show that both students and teachers at Industrial Economics and Technology College think that PBL is a fairly interesting and effective method in learning and teaching ESP vocabulary This suggests that the use of PBL is recommended to be further applied for ESP courses at IETC

TABLE OF CONTENTS

DECLARATION i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii

ABSTRACT iii

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS vii

LIST OF FIGURES viii

P A R T A : INTRODUCTION 1

1 Rationale 1

2 Objectives of the study 2

4 The scope of the study 3

5 Research methods 3

6 Design of the study 3

PART B: DEVELOPMENT 5

CHAPTER I LITERATURE REVIEW 5

1.1 English for Specific Purposes 5

1.1.1 Definitions 5

1.1.2 Special features of ESP 6

1.2 Performance-based Assessment and Project-based learning 7

1.2.1 Performance-based Assessment 7

1.2.1.1 Performance-based Assessment 7

1.2.1.2 Approaches of Performance-Based Assessment 8

1.2.2 Project- based learning 9

1.2.2.1 Definitions 9

1.2.2.2 Advantages of Project-Based Learning 10

1.2.2.3 Types of Projects 11

1.2.2.4 Process of project-based work 11

1.2.2.5 Project- based learning in ESP 12

1.3 Vocabulary 14

1.3.2 Aspects of vocabulary teaching 15

1.3.3 Vocabulary acquisition 17

1.3.4 ESP vocabulary teaching 18

1.3.5 Vocabulary projects 18

1.5 Previous studies in the world and in Vietnam 20

CHAPTER II RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 23

2.1 Teaching and learning ESP vocabulary at IETC 23

2.1.1 Teachers 23

2.1.2 Students 23

2.1.3 The textbook 24

2.1.4 The project 24

2.2 Research Design 25

2.2.1 Research Method 25

2.2.2 Participants 26

2.2.3 Data collection 26

2.2.2.1 The questionnaire 27

2.2.2.2 Interviews 28

2.2.2.3 Document Analysis 29

2.3 Data analysis procedures 30

CHAPTER III: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 32

3.1 Students’ general attitude towards using PBL in learning ESP vocabulary (Research Question 1) 32

3.1.1 Students’ attitude towards learning ESP vocabulary through the project 32

3.1.2 Students’ attitude towards teacher’s help in doing the project 34

3.1.3 Students’ attitude towards interest and motivation of the project 34

3.1.4 Students’ attitude towards the content of the project 35

3.1.5 Students’ attitude towards the aims of the project 36

3.1.6 Students’ attitude towards group work in doing the project 37

3.1.7 Students’ difficulties in doing the project 38

3.2 Teachers’ attitude toward PBL (Research Question 2) 39

3.3 The extent that the project met the project objectives (Research Question 3) 42

3.4 Discussion 43

PART C: CONCLUSION 45

1 Recapitulation 45

2 Main findings 45

3 Limitations of the study 46

4 Suggestions for further study 47

REFERENCES 48 APPENDICES I

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

PBL: Project- Based Learning

PBA: Performance- Based Assessment

ESP: English for Specific Purposes

IETC: Industrial Economics and Technology College

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 3.1: Students’ attitudes towards PBL improvement Figure 3.2: Students’ attitudes towards the teachers’ help Figure 3.3: Students’ attitudes towards interest and motivation Figure 3.4: Students’ attitudes towards content of the project Figure 3.5: Students’ attitudes towards aims

Figure 3.6: Students’ attitudes towards group work

Figure 3.7: Students’ difficulties

Figure 3.8: Document Analysis of the final products

P A R T A : INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale

English has become an international language and a very important and compulsory subject at schools because of the development of science, technology and economy in the world The process of globalization have demanded us to use English in all fields with various activities which require special linguistic competency such as technical English, scientific English, medical English, English for business, English for political affairs, and English for tourism As a result, English for Specific Purposes has become

an important subject at universities and colleges to meet students’ needs when they graduate and find jobs

English for Specific Purposes has been taught at IETC for some years It partly meets the students’ needs However, ESP is still a new subject for both teachers and students, making both have difficulties in the teaching and learning process, especially

in teaching and learning ESP vocabulary It is also an important aspect in teaching and learning ESP British linguist Wilkins (1972: 111) once said that “Without grammar, little can be conveyed; without vocabulary, nothing can be conveyed”

Meanwhile, project-based learning approach is said to be an effective way which can help increase students’ motivation, which can improve not only all skills (listening, speaking, reading, writing) in language learning but also other ones in society PBL is considered as a bridge between classroom and reality According to Blumenfeld et al., (1991: 372), “projects can serve to build bridges between phenomena in the classroom and real-life experiences; the questions and answers that arise in their daily enterprise are given value and are shown to be open to systematic inquiry” When doing project works, students have to use English, so they have a chance to improve their English Also, they will obtain knowledge, information about the real world or their major as well as several social skills In Vietnam, the project “Intel Teach to the Future” has been implemented by Ministry of Education and Training and Intel Vietnam in order to

experience PBL in teaching since 2003 By 2005, there were 2.340 teachers all over the country taking part in this program PBL has been used as a new and interesting approach

in teaching at schools and universities

Besides, teaching and learning ESP vocabulary is not as very successful as what IETC’s teachers and students expect It is still a challenge for both teachers and learners in general and for the ones at IETC in particular Because of these reasons, this action research was done on the situation of the teaching and learning ESP vocabulary

entitled: “Using project-based learning to improve ESP vocabulary for the second-year

students at Industrial Economics and Technology College.”

2 Objectives of the study

With the reasons above, this study was conducted with these following main ones:

To explore the students’ and teachers’ attitudes towards project-based learning

To see positive aspects and the difficulties that the students at IETC meet when they learn English for Specific Purposes vocabulary as well as problems that the teachers at IETC get when they teach ESP vocabulary

To investigate the extent of the ESP vocabulary project that meet the project objectives

3 Research questions

With the aims stated above, three following questions were proposed for the study:

1 What are students’ attitudes to the project- based learning?

2 What are teachers’ attitudes to the project- based learning?

3 To what extent does the students’ ESP vocabulary projects meet the project objectives?

4 The scope of the study

As mentioned in the research methodology, this is an action research The subjects

of the study include 70 second-year, non-major English students and three EFL teachers at Industrial Economics and Technology College

Due to the limitation of time and scale of a minor thesis, it is impossible to cover every aspect of language theory and practice in this study, the study only focused on investigating the targeted students’ and teachers’ attitudes towards using PBL in teaching and learning ESP vocabulary and extent of the project that met the project objectives measured by the questionnaire responses, interviews and document analysis

5 Research methods

The study was conducted as an action research

Different methods of an action research were used They are a questionnaire, interviews, learners’ diaries and document analysis These methods were used to collect data from the students and teachers at IETC as well as from students’ products

A questionnaire was designed to investigate students’ attitudes and their main difficulties After collecting the data from the questionnaire, the data was analyzed qualitatively and quantitatively

The second method – interviews Teachers were interviewed to obtain clearer view of teachers’ attitude towards the application of project-based learning at IETC

Learners’ diaries were used to collect information for research question 1 and 3

Document Analysis was used to explore which aspects of the projects met its objectives Documents include students’ final products of the project

6 Design of the study

The thesis is entitled “Using project-based learning to improve ESP vocabulary for the second-year students at Industrial Economics and Technology College.” The study will be designed with three parts: Introduction, Development and Conclusion

The first part, Introduction, is a brief overview of the study with more details of the rationale, the objectives, the methods, the research questions, the scope of the study as well as the design of the study

The second part, Development, consists of three chapters Chapter 1 is literature review which presents the theoretical background of the thesis This chapter consists of definitions of key terms: project-based learning, vocabulary and ESP A review of previous studies is also put in this chapter Chapter 2 begins with an overview about teaching and learning ESP vocabulary at IETC This chapter is also a deeper look on the method used in the study with participants and data collection procedures as well as data analysis one Chapter 3 deals with the findings and discussion

The last part, Conclusion, is devoted to the summary of the findings, limitations of the study This chapter also provides some suggestions for further study

References and Appendices will be in the end

PART B: DEVELOPMENT

CHAPTER I LITERATURE REVIEW

This part reviews some authors’ viewpoints concerning with PBL, ESP and vocabulary teaching in order to build up the theoretical background for the study, which consists of four main parts: related issues of ESP, an overview of project-based learning and vocabulary as well as overview of previous studies in the world and in Vietnam about using PBL in language teaching

1.1 English for Specific Purposes

It is seen that the teaching of English for specific purposes is a separate activity within English Language Teaching and ESP research as an identifiable component of applied linguistics research Since the early 1960s English for Specific purposes has grown to become one of the most prominent areas of EFL teaching The development

of ESP is reflected in the increasing number of universities offering an MA in ESP and ESP courses for students

1.1.1 Definitions

English for specific purposes has been defined by many writers and researchers in the world According to Hutchinson and Waters (1987:19), ESP is an approach to language teaching in which all decisions as content and method are based on the learner’s reason for learning According to them, “ESP must be seen as an approach not as a product” and “ESP should properly be seen not as any particular language product but as an approach to language teaching which is directed by specific and apparent reasons for learning.”(19)

Dudley-Evans and St John (1998:4-5) also defined ESP by giving out characteristics of ESP, both absolute and variable ones Among them, three absolute

characteristics of ESP are: (1) ESP is designed to meet specific needs of the learners,

(2) ESP makes use of the underlying methodology and activities of the disciplines it

serves, (3) ESP is centered on the language (grammar, lexis, resister), skills, discourse and genres appropriate to these activities

The variable characteristics include: (1) ESP may be related to or designed for specific

disciplines, (2) ESP may use, in specific teaching situations, a different methodology from that of General English, (3) 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 secondary school level, (4) ESP is generally designed for intermediate

or advanced students Most ESP courses assume basic knowledge of the language system, but it can be used with beginners

Dudley-Evans and St John had looked at the three definitions from Hutchinson and Water (1987) and Strevens’ (1988) Strevens defined ESP by making a distinction between four absolute characteristics and two variable characteristics Clearly, Dudley-Evans and John, M (1998) inherited and developed Strevens’s definition of the term 1.1.2 Special features of ESP

Types of ESP

Linguists and researchers have tried to classify ESP by different criteria such as experience and professional area ESP has traditionally been divided into two main areas: English for Academic Purposes and English for Occupational Purposes According to Carter (1983:20), there are three types of ESP:

(1) English as a restricted language: The language used by air traffic controllers

or by waiters are examples of English as a restricted language

(2) English for academic and occupational purposes: English for science and technology, English for Business and Economics, English for social studies, English for academic purposes, and English for occupational purposes

(3) English with specific topics: This type concerned with anticipated future English needs of, for example scientists requiring English for postgraduate reading studies, attending conferences or working in foreign institutions

ESP as a learner-centered approach

ESP is known as a learner-centered approach to teaching English as a foreign or second language This approach considers knowledge as being an over-changing process, which is built upon the learner’s prior experience (Hutchinson & Water, 1987:59f) A learner-center approach provides opportunities for students to practice critical and creative thinking, problem solving and decision making

Carter (1983) also stated that an ESP course has three features They are authentic

material, purpose-related orientation and self-direction The use of authentic content

material, modified or unmodified in form is one of ESP features, particular in directed study Purpose-related orientation refers to the simulation of communicative tasks required of the target setting Carter (1983:134) said: “point of including self- direction is that ESP is concerned with turning learner into users.” Or it can be said that ESP is determined by students’ specific learning needs Therefore, the learners must have a certain degree of freedom to decide when, what and how they will study

self-This part is a brief introduction of ESP definitions and specific features The next presentation will focus on another key term, PBL

1.2 Performance-based Assessment and Project-based learning

1.2.1 Performance-based Assessment

1.2.1.1 Performance-based Assessment

In recent years, a new approach has been applied in teaching and learning- that

is performance-based assessment Performance assessments or authentic assessments

"represent a set of strategies for the application of knowledge, skills, and work habits through the performance of tasks that are meaningful and engaging to students" (Hibbard and others, 1996:5) According to Shavelson & Baxter (1991) performance-based science assessments provide students with hands-on opportunities to demonstrate their knowledge, not simply by recalling scientific facts but by constructing solutions

In evaluating student performance there is an emphasis on the process by which

students generate solutions, not just on the correctness of the solution itself Students demonstrate their knowledge and skills in the course of their everyday work by solving problems, doing mathematical computations, writing journal entries, conducting experiments, presenting oral reports, and assembling portfolios of representative work

It can be said that performance –based assessments involves having the students produce a project, whether it is oral, written or a group performance The students are engaged in creating a final project that exhibits their understanding of a concept they have learned

There are two parts to performance-based assessments The first part is a clearly

defined task for the students to complete This is called the product descriptor The

assessments are either product related, specific to certain content or specific to a given task The second part is a list of explicit criteria that are used to assess the students Generally this comes in the form of a rubric The rubrics can either be analytical, meaning it assesses the final product in parts, or holistic, meaning that is assesses the final product as a whole

Before PBL is introduced, it is necessary to mention PBA because PBA seems to be

a broader field covering PBL In other words, PBL is one of many types of PBA

1.2.1.2 Approaches of Performance-Based Assessment

Ferrara and Mctighe (1997) designed “Framework of Assessment Approaches and Method” with 5 columns which are 5 assessment methods as well as examples According to them, approaches and methods of performance-based assessment include constructed response (fill in the blank, short answer ), products (essays, reports, portfolios, science project ), performances (oral presentation, debate, ) and process-focused (oral questioning, observation )

Constructed response require test-takers to write brief responses that capture

their knowledge and thinking processes, create graphical representations of concepts,

or manipulate objects or text in certain ways to communicate their understanding

Short- written answer and visual representation are said to be used widely This method takes less time to administer than other types of PBA

Performance is the method that can help the teacher be able to observe the

application of desired skill and knowledge It is widely used in certain disciplines such

as music, physical education This method is extremely valuable when students apply the scoring tools, making them put more effort However, it may be time-intensive for both teacher and students

Process-focused provide information about students’ learning strategies and

thinking This method does not focus on responses, products or performance, it focus

on the process of learning It is used typically over time

Project method is the one with which students’ products can provide application

of knowledge and skills Teachers can evaluate written, visual, aural products or any types of products to determine the proficiency and level of quality The representative sample of projects is portfolios

As it is said before that performance –based assessment involves having the students produce a project, whether it is oral, written or a group performance Therefore, project

is considered as one type of performance-based assessment In the next part, that type

of performance-based assessment will be deeper discussed

1.2.2 Project- based learning

1.2.2.1 Definitions

Project- based learning has been used in several fields such as medicines, educations, engineering for many years This term has been defined by researchers and linguists Project-based learning is a comprehensive instructional approach to engage students in sustained, cooperative investigation as what Bransford & Stein (1993) defined

Adderly et al (1975:1) presented a good definition for the project method with

the following aspects: (1)[projects] involve the solution of a problem; often, though not

necessarily, set by the student himself, (2)They involve initiative by the student or group of students, and necessitate a variety of educational activities, (3)They commonly result in an end of product (eg: thesis, report, ), (4)Work often goes on for

a considerate length of time, and (5)Teaching staff are involved in an advisory, rather than an authoritarian, role at any or all of the stages-initiation, conduct or conclusion

Among them, the first and the third one is said to be important aspects of project-based learning According to Haines (1989), the project work was defined as multi-skill activities which focus on a theme of interest rather than specific language tasks

Among three definitions above, the one given by Adderly et al (1975) seems to be the clearest and the most specific, so it is applied in this study

1.2.2.2 Advantages of Project-Based Learning

From the definitions above, we all know that project- based learning involve learners in projects Through projects, the learners have to use English; therefore, they have chances to practice English, to learn English Meanwhile, they have opportunities

to gain a lot of knowledge from the real world and develop different skills Blumenfeld

et al., (1991: 372) mentioned the benefits of project-based learning clearly:

" Project-based learning also places students in realistic, contextualized

problem-solving environments In so doing, projects can serve to build bridges between phenomena in the classroom and real-life experiences Projects are adaptable to different types of learners and learning situations Projects can increase student interest because they involve students in solving authentic problems, in working with others, and in building real solutions (artifacts) Projects have the potential to enhance deep understanding because students need to formulate plans, track progress and evaluate solutions" (372-373)

It is clear that PBL allows students to own their own work, discover their own talent and interest They have a chance to decide what to do for the project and when to

do in their learning process, which can help them improve self-directed learning It is

clear that PBL is an approach which can bring a lot of advantages for learners in learning process

1.2.2.3 Types of Projects

There is a myriad of projects such as making news, portfolios, drawing pictures, make records, carry out interviews and surveys , so it is quite difficult to describe how the project work is North, S (1990) divided projects into four groups based on the difference in the nature of the main resource: community projects, case studies, practical projects and library projects Haines (1989:1) identifies three types of projects

according to final products and information delivery: (1) Production projects which foresee the work with radio, video, wall newspaper, etc (2) Performance projects involves presentation, debates, and (3) Organizational projects which are connected

with parties, plays, dramma, ect In term of data collection techniques and sources of

information, Hains (1989) also classified projects into 5 categories: Research projects which include such kinds of work as reports, display; Survey project which may also include displays, but more interview, summaries, finding; Text projects which deal with “text” rather than people; Correspondences projects which involve communication with individual, and Encounter projects which require face to face with

other people Though there may be many types of projects, they have some common characteristics and process The next part will discuss this

1.2.2.4 Process of project-based work

There are different models in implementing a project In other words, procedure

in project-based learning is different from each project, each linguists or each teacher This model of projects is suggested by professional development organizers at the Buck Institute for Education (BIE) using the following five principles or stages:

1 Begin with the end in mind and plan for this end result

2 Craft the driving question; select and refine a central question

3 Plan the assessment and define outcomes and assessment criteria

4 Map the project: Decide how to structure the project

5 Manage the process: Find tools and strategies for successful projects

(The Project Based Learning Handbook (2007) developed by the Buck Institute for

Education)

It can be seen that this model have only five steps, but in each steps there are more than one requirement The steps are so common and the work is not clear, so it is difficult for the teacher to follow

Sheppard & Stoller (1995, 1997) suggested teachers need to follow 10 steps when they develop a project work

Step 1: Students and instructor agree on a theme for the project

Step 2: Determine the final outcome

Step 3: Structure the project

Step 4: Instructor prepares students for the demands of information gathering Step 5: Gather information

Step 6: Instructor prepares students to compile and analyze data

Step 7: Students compile and analyze information

Step 8: Instructor prepares students for the language demands of the final activity

Step 9: Present final product

Step 10: Evaluate the project

It can be seen clearly that the two models more or less have same process in implementing PBL approach in teaching However, the model that Sheppard and Stoller (1995) offered seems to be clearer and more specific Each step in this model has precise aim and is easy to follow That is the reason why it became the structure that the project in this study is based on

1.2.2.5 Project- based learning in ESP

At present, ESP is a subject that is offered for students at colleges, vocational

training centers and universities Besides, in ESP teaching course it is vocabulary that seems to be primary goal Specialized words are more focused than grammar or structures PBL is a teaching approach which has been used by teachers aiming to teach ESP vocabulary better Recently, PBL has been heralded as an appropriate approach to content-based second language education (Stoller, 1997), and ESP Liuoliene, A and Metiuniene, R (2013) said that PBL is a creative method of expanding ESP vocabulary for student, but it is “the most challenging activities” It is a creative and innovative because it requires new habits of learning It stimulates students thinking for themselves, conduct researches, solving problems In process, students not only improve such skills but also acquire more academic knowledge about their major, especially their ESP In other words, PBL helps learners improve ESP vocabulary, knowledge about their major and other related skills However, this is a very challenging method in teaching ESP vocabulary One of the reasons is that this approach requires teachers to have to set up projects which must be suitable for the learners if they want their projects are successful It is known that learners are usually adults who want to learn ESP with particular purposes- for their future career They have motivations and clear goals in their learning, but their English may be advanced, good or even not very good This causes the teacher to have an extremely careful choice of project which is suitable for learners to do

of student products; it is systematic in that the student products that are included relate

to major instructional goals Portfolio assessment also actively involves the students in the process of assessment (Tierney, Carter, & Desai, 1991) The process of portfolio assessment includes several steps some of which may need the conjunction of the students and the teacher This makes the students develop cognitive skills, engage them actively and consolidate the teacher-student communication

1.3 Vocabulary

This section is going to present vocabulary definitions, the role of vocabulary in language teaching as well as aspects of vocabulary which need to be taught

1.3.1 Definitions and the role of vocabulary in language teaching

The term vocabulary is used every day in language teaching, but what is

vocabulary? Is a word, a lexeme vocabulary? Recent studies on vocabulary concern with an understanding of “Lexis”, the Greek one for “word”, which “refers to all the words in a language, the entire vocabulary in a language” (Barcroft, Sunderman and Schmitt, 2011:571) Hornby (1995:1331) agreed with that idea, that it “is the total number of words in a language; all the words known to a person or used in a particular book, subject, etc; a list of words with their meaning, especially one that accompanies a textbook.” From definitions above, it can be concluded that vocabulary is much more than such a single word It is all the words in a language

The role of vocabulary in language teaching and learning

Many people think that grammar is more important than vocabulary, and they have a habit of focusing on grammar rather than vocabulary However, it is vocabulary that needs to be focused as Wilkin (1972:111-112) said “ while without grammar very little can be conveyed, without vocabulary nothing can be conveyed” In other words, learning English without vocabulary is nothing It can be observed that a student is able

to remember and use grammar structures well, he can still not express what he wants to say if he does not know vocabulary Also, it develops students’ abilities in reading,

writing, listening and speaking skills If the student is good at vocabulary, they will be good at learning English too They can read English books, newspapers, listen to English songs and communicate with foreigners Vocabulary is the factor that can help students develop and practice English According to Joseph P O’rourke (1974),

“Vocabulary is central to language and important to language learners Without sufficient vocabulary, one cannot communicate effectively or express his ideas in both oral and written form.”

1.3.2 Aspects of vocabulary teaching

Vocabulary can be learned in various ways People can learn words by chance through reading, listening but this kind of learning is difficult and not very sufficient Vocabulary learning is an incremental process, both for sheer numbers of words and for specific lexical items (Schmitt, 2010: 19) Vocabulary learning strategies are useful

in learning/reviewing new word or phrases Otherwise students simply forget what they are learning and have learned

Ur, P (1999:23) pointed out what needs to be taught about vocabulary They are:

Form (Pronunciation and spelling), Grammar, Collocation, Aspects of meaning (1): denotation, connotation, appropriateness, Aspects of meaning (2): meaning relationship and Word formation

According to Nation (2001:27), to know everything about a word, one needs to know the word’s:

Form: spoken form, written form, and word parts (e.g., prefix/ root/ suffix )

Meaning: meaning(s), concepts/referents, and associations ( positive )

Use: grammatical functions, collocations, constraints (register, frequency )

Three aspects of vocabulary which need to be taught presented in this study are words meaning, form and use

Word meaning:

The meaning can be classified according to the form they attach to It can be classified into three forms: lexical meaning, morphological meaning, and syntactic meaning Lexical meaning is the meaning of a word considered in isolation from the sentence containing it, and regardless of its grammatical context For example, the

lexical meaning of learn in or as represented by learns, learned, learning, etc

Morphological meaning is the meaning that attaches to morphemes In linguistics, a morpheme is the smallest meaningful unit of a language A morpheme

cannot be further divided Smallest is an example with two morphemes small and est

Grammatical meaning is the meaning that is conveyed by word order and other grammatical signals For example, a question attaches to the word arrangement in the

sentence are you tired? Word meaning has four components, two of which are

denotation and connotation Denotation is conceptual meaning and dictionary meaning and connotation is feeling and emotion that occurs within a word

Word form

In learning and teaching vocabulary process, it is commonly observed that learners must know how to write the words and how to pronounce it correctly As Ur (1996: 60) said that there are some important points that should be considered when teaching vocabulary that is form including pronunciation and spelling Pronunciation of

a language is the main components of speech which combine together (Hewings, 2004:3) It is defined as the way in which a word is pronounced Rules of pronunciation vary widely from language to language Spelling is the writing of a word

or words with letters and diacritics In other words, spelling is the arrangement of letters or putting letters together Spelling is important because it aids in reading and writing It helps cement the connection that is shared between sounds and letters In dictionaries there are two spellings of a word: phonetic spelling and standard spelling

Word Use

According to Nation (2001:1), teachers are able to direct learners’ attentions to the use of words with several techniques such as quickly showing the grammatical pattern the word fits into (countable/uncountable, transitive/intransitive, etc), giving a few similar collocates, mentioning any restrictions on the use of the word (formal, informal, impolite, only used with children, etc), and giving a well known opposite or a well known word describing the group or lexical set it fits into

In conclusion, teachers should ensure that the form, the meaning, and the use of words are all aspects which need to be taught Besides, these aspects also need to be regularly revised because students easily forget the words they just learn

1.3.3 Vocabulary acquisition

Many researchers have emphasized that vocabulary acquisition plays a crucial part in language learning, especially in second language learning such as Nation (1990), Richards (1980)… According to Hulstijn (2003) learning a second language can either

mean months and years of intentional study, by deliberately committing to memory thousands of words along with grammatical words, or it can mean incidental learning

by picking up structures and lexicon of a language, through getting engaged in a variety of communicative activities, namely reading and listening, while the learner's attention is focused not on the form but on the meaning In other words, intentional vocabulary acquisition is memorizing straightforwardly term after term with their respective translations from a list Intentional learning is quick and therefore usually preferred by learners They encounter vocabulary in an isolated, often infinitive form and remain incapable of using it correctly in context Incidental vocabulary acquisition, which means leaning vocabulary as the by-product of other activities such as reading, listening, is often longer Learners encounter terms together with syntactic information This will help them use the words accurate, and vocabulary in context often appears repeatedly under different aspects and hence engrains in the learners’ minds

1.3.4 ESP vocabulary teaching

From the beginning of ESP in the 1960s, it has emphasized the need for teaching specialized vocabulary The main objective of English for Specific Purposes has always been the teaching of highly specialized vocabulary to specialists in various domains Besides, the new trend in English Language Teaching seems to be best applied to ESP Years ago, grammar used to be the field that teachers and students focused on In classroom, grammar was introduced first and then vocabulary However, nowadays it is different Teachers and learners have seen and noticed the importance of vocabulary for their teaching and learning, so vocabulary has been paid much more attention in classroom Hence, the tight connection between ESP and teaching vocabulary is created It is true that good or advanced students still have problems with accuracy in English The issue is that most of the ESP students are well aware of the importance of vocabulary in studying a foreign language, they are well aware of their need to enrich their vocabulary as well as to improve their communicative competence Teaching vocabulary is extremely important concern for both the ESP student and the ESP practitioner (Dudley-Evans’ and John, 1998:55)

1.3.5 Vocabulary projects

Like other projects, vocabulary projects consist of necessary parts Firstly, the most

important one is final products or outcome It depends on the project that the final

outcome is determined For example, the outcome can be a report, a diary or facebook status The final outcome of the project can be determined by both teacher and students, but it is usually the teacher who determines it because he designs the project

Also, requirements of a vocabulary project must be clearly introduced The teacher

should present the requirements at the beginning of the project, which will help students orientate what and how to do The next part which needs to be carefully

considered is procedure If the procedure of the project is designed and planned well,

the project’s success will be guaranteed One more part which needs to be considered

carefully in each project is assessment A rubric of criteria for assessment should be

created and introduced to the student at the beginning stage of the project

1.4 Attitude

1.4.1 Definitions

In second language learning, attitude seems to be one of the most important factors It

is a complex concept According to Hogg, & Vaughan (2005:150), an attitude is "a relatively enduring organization of beliefs, feelings, and behavioral tendencies towards socially significant objects, groups, events or symbols" From psychological stand-point, attitudes refer to evaluative, emotional reactions (i.e the degree of like and

dislike associated with the attitudinal object) encompassing three categories, affect,

cognition, and behavior It is said that attitudes have cognitive, affective, and conative

components (cf Harding et al 1954)

Cognitive: This represents our thoughts, beliefs and ideas about something Typically

these come to light in generalities or stereotypes

Affective: This deals with feelings or emotions that are brought to the surface about

something, such as fear or hate

Conative (behavioral): it is the way the attitude we have influences how we act or behave

Each one of these components is very different from the other, and they can build upon one another to form our attitudes and, therefore, affect how we relate to the world For example, we could indeed believe that bad students are all lazy (cognitive), hate them for it (affective) and that would drive our behavior towards them (conative)

1.4.2 The Correlation between students’ attitudes, teachers’ attitudes and vocabulary

Students’ learning attitudes largely depend on their beliefs about language learning (Ellis, 1994) and they have certain perspectives about how they can acquire a language

Their beliefs strongly affect their affective states It can be said that students’ attitudes

towards learning vocabulary depend on their attitudes towards learning English If they

do not find English interesting, they may also dislike learning vocabulary Besides,

students’ attitudes to learning vocabulary may be affected by the approaches that the

teachers use in teaching vocabulary And according to Nazary (2008), teachers’

attitudes should correspond to their learners’ aptitude and motivation in learning a

language in general, or in learning vocabulary in particular Teachers’ attitudes are

connected with instructional behaviors which influences students’ attitudes and

achievement Gourneau (2005:Section IV) stated: “ Effective attitudes and actions

employed by teachers ultimately can make a positive difference on the lives of their

students

PBL is an innovative and creative method of expanding ESP vocabulary for student,

but it is challenging activity To have project done successfully, the teacher must be

careful and pay attention much Many researchers cannot deny benefits that this

method brings if the project is well-selected

1.5 Previous studies in the world and in Vietnam

Since project-based learning has been paid more and more attention, many

studies on using PBL in language teaching have been conducted Some previous

studies in the world an Vietnam are shown in the table below

Creative method enhances and updates teaching and learning language for specific purposes, develop new skills for learners Shafaei A, Use of Project-Based Learning The project had great effects

Poorverdi M,

Parvizi, B

(2007)

in Increasing Students' Vocabulary Knowledge &

Communicative Ability

Li Ke

(2010)

Project-based College English:

An approach to teaching English Majors

Non-Improve students’ innovative, communicative and cooperative opportunities

Hoang Huu

Ngo (2014)

Some utilization of based learning for Vietnamese University students of English in the course “Intercultural

This type of learning should be employed and implemented in other subject

Moreover, in Vietnam, Ministry of Education and Training cooperated with Intel

Vietnam to experience PBL in “Intel Teach to the Future” in 2003, and officially started

it in 2005 By 2005, there were 2.340 teachers all over the country taking part in this

program PBL has been used as a new and interesting approach in teaching at schools and

universities

However, it seems that a lot of studies on PBL in language teaching have been

carried out but few researches are done only in the field of using PBL in teaching ESP

vocabulary

In conclusion, this chapter gives some reviews of some authors’ viewpoints about ESP, ESP vocabulary teaching and project-based learning It provides definition

of ESP by Dudley- Evans and John, M (1998), PBL form Adderly et al (1975:1) and vocabulary by Hornby (1995:1331) It also provides a good model of a project which consists of ten steps by Sheppard and Stoller (1997), which helps the project in this minor thesis to be designed Besides, this part also accommodates the study with previous studies in the world and in Vietnam This brings a better understanding of the phenomenon and it can help the research be done more scientifically It can be said that this literature review provides grounds of ESP vocabulary teaching, steps and relevance of using PBL in teaching for the next chapters

CHAPTER II RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

This part gives an overview of teaching and learning ESP, especially ESP vocabulary

at IETC, of methods in collecting data as well as of procedure in data collection

2.1 Teaching and learning ESP vocabulary at IETC

2.1.1 Teachers

The number of English teachers at IETC is 10 They are from 26 to 42 years old Among them, there is one male and 9 female teachers They all graduated from universities with English major Teachers of English at IETC have experienced in teaching ESP for years They all started with teaching General English which they have been trained to before dealing with ESP Being young teachers, they now have new roles with little experience As Dudley-Evans and John (1998) said the ESP practitioner has various roles They are teacher, course designer, materials provider, researcher, collaborator and evaluator The ESP teacher has additional roles to those of the General English teachers During and at the end of the course, the ESP teacher is likely to be involved in evaluation and testing In addition, English teachers at IETC have to deal with a new teaching environment, so difficulties are unavoidable Some problems that the teachers at IETC, as other ESP teachers, get in teaching process are lack of specialist knowledge, changes in teaching environment, weak motivation, lack

of supporting facilities

2.1.2 Students

The majority of students at IETC is from rural areas They are non-English majors Their majors are accounting, finance in banking, electrical engineering, information technology, and constructing engineering English is a compulsory for the course In their first school year, they are offered General English and ESP in their second one All the students learned English for at least three years at upper secondary schools Most of them even learned English for seven years (four years at lower

secondary schools and three years at upper secondary schools) They are supposed to

be good, advanced in English However, most of them are not very good at English Especially, when they learn ESP, they often have troubles in vocabulary Some students said that they are hard-working, but they often forget new words after a short period of time Some do not spend much time on learning English since they think that mark 5 is enough for them to pass the course

2.1.3 The textbook

In the first year at the college, students at IETC have 150 periods in learning communicative English from elementary to pre-intermediate level In the second academic year, IETC provides students ESP courses in accounting, finance in banking, electrical engineering, information technology, and constructing engineering The courses are redesigned from different books “English in Economics” consists of 12 units with an optional reading which are from “English in Economics and Business” by Sarah Bales, Pham Minh Nam, and A “Beginner’s Guide to the World Economy” by Randy Charles Epping “English in Electrical Engineering” comprises 6 units by Eric

H Glending The total periods for each ESP course are 60 The aim of the course is to develop a basic knowledge of how English is used for specific purposes Students are provided a number of specialized vocabulary, structures which they may use in their future occupation

2.1.4 The project

The project is planning as a nine-week project which is conducted with 10 steps modeled by Sheppard and Stoller (1995) It will consist of in- class participation and after –class assignments

In-class participation: Students attend classes to learn and they will be provided some

topics from readings in the course book

After- class assignments: Students work in groups of five Each group is required to

find articles or studies (at least 2 every week) that are related to the topics of the

lessons every week They can use various sources such as newspapers, the Internet to find articles related to the topic After they collect the articles or studies, they have to read them, list new words and summarize main points Students have to weekly report their work to the teacher, then the teacher will give them feedback Throughout the project period, they were required to provide all of their collection with English summaries of their findings

The project was designed to obtain three aims They are: (1) to extend students’ vocabulary, (2) to help them collect knowledge about their subject matter, and (3) to help students develop their summary writing (see more at Appendix D)

2.2 Research Design

2.2.1 Research Method

The study was designed to seek the answer to the three following questions:

1 What are students’ attitudes to the project- based learning?

2 What are teachers’ attitudes to the project- based learning?

3 To what extent does the students’ ESP vocabulary project meet the project objectives?

With these three research questions, the study will investigate students’ and teachers’ attitude towards project-based learning, to see positive aspects and the difficulties that students at IETC meet when they learn ESP vocabulary as well as problems that teachers at IETC get when they teach ESP vocabulary with PBL approach

This study is an action research Action methods have been used by second language, bilingual education and foreign language researchers to study a wide variety

of issues on language learning According to Richard Sagor (1992: 9), action research can involve a wide array of methods derived from both the quantitative and qualitative domains In this study the questionnaire and interviews were chosen as main methods