A study on teaching and learning ESP vocabulary to 2nd year students in Accounting Faculty at Hanoi College of Economics and Technology

ABSTRACT This study has been conducted to investigate difficulties which both the ESP teachers and the learners at Hanoi College of Economics and Technology have to face during their tea

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI

UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

**********

TRẦN THỊ ÂN

A STUDY ON TEACHING AND LEARNING ESP

ACCOUNTING FACULTY AT HANOI COLLEGE

OF ECONOMICS AND TECHNOLOGY

(NGHIÊN CỨU VIỆC GIẢNG DẠY VÀ HỌC TỪ VỰNG CHUYÊN NGÀNH CỦA SINH VIÊN NĂM THỨ 2, KHOA KẾ TOÁN, TRƯỜNG CAO ĐẲNG KINH TẾ –

KỸ THUẬT HÀ NỘI)

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field : English Teaching Methodology Code : 60140111

HÀ NỘI – 2014

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI

UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

**********

TRẦN THỊ ÂN

A STUDY ON TEACHING AND LEARNING ESP

ACCOUNTING FACULTY AT HANOI COLLEGE

OF ECONOMICS AND TECHNOLOGY

Ơ

(NGHIÊN CỨU VIỆC GIẢNG DẠY VÀ HỌC TỪ VỰNG CHUYÊN NGÀNH CỦA SINH VIÊN NĂM THỨ 2, KHOA KẾ TOÁN, TRƯỜNG CAO ĐẲNG KINH TẾ –

KỸ THUẬT HÀ NỘI)

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60140111

Supervisor: Dr Kiều Thị Thu Hương

HÀ NỘI – 2014

DECLARATION

I hereby, certify the thesis entitled “A study on teaching and learning ESP

Economics and Technology” is the result of my own research for the Minor Degree of Master of Arts at University of Language and International Studies, Vietnam National University, Hanoi The thesis has not been submitted for any degree at any other universities or institutions I agree that the origin of my paper deposited in the library can be accessible for the purposes of study and research

Hanoi, 2014

Trần Thị Ân

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

In completion of this study, first of all, I would like to express my sincere deep gratitude to my supervisor Dr Kieu Thi Thu Huong, without whom this thesis could not have been completed She gave me not only reliable guidelines and knowledgeable suggestions but also continual encouragement to accomplish this study

I am indebted to Assoc Prof Dr Le Hung Tien – the chair of Faculty of Graduate Studies for his valuable and interesting course in Research Methodology, which provides me with essential techniques to complete this thesis

My deep appreciation goes to all staff, teachers and members at Faculty of Graduate Studies of University of Languages and International Studies, Vietnam National University for their work and services Especially, I am grateful to the librarians who supplied me with a lot of materials

Post-My thanks are also extended to all my students, my colleagues at Hanoi College

of Economics and Technology, and all the people who have assisted my research work

Last but not least, my special thanks go to my parents and my friends, without their encouragement my dream of pursuing this study would not have been possible

ABSTRACT

This study has been conducted to investigate difficulties which both the ESP teachers and the learners at Hanoi College of Economics and Technology have to face during their teaching and learning Accounting vocabulary of ESP course The subjects of the study are six ESP teachers and fifty second-year students

of Accounting major The data have been collected by a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods, including the use of questionnaires and informal interviews The study confirms that both the ESP teachers and the learners face difficulties in teaching and learning ESP vocabulary There are three main problems existing in the ESP vocabulary teaching and learning process: (i) teachers’ lack ESP knowledge and various teaching techniques; (ii) students’ traditional and passive vocabulary learning strategies and their limited GE vocabulary and (iii) large-sized classes

Based on the findings, some recommendations have been proposed ESP teachers should improve their ESP knowledge, apply flexible and various techniques in teaching ESP vocabulary Students should enhance their GE knowledge and develop effective strategies of vocabulary learning Finally, the size

of classes should be reduced

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Declaration - i

Acknowledgements - ii

Abstract - iii

Table of contents - iv

List of abbreviations - vii

List of charts and tables - viii

List of figures - ix

PART I: INTRODUCTION - 1

1 Statement of the problem - 1

2 Aims of the study - 2

3 Research questions - 2

4 Scope of the study - 2

5 Methods of the study - 2

6 Design of the study - 2

PART II: DEVELOPMENT - 4

CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW - 4

1.1 Overview of ESP - 4

1.1.1 Definition of ESP - 4

1.1.2 Classification of ESP - 5

1.1.3 Characteristics of ESP - 7

1.2 ESP Vocabulary - 9

1.2.1 Definition of ESP vocabulary - 9

1.2.2 Terminology - 9

1.2.2.1 Definition of terminology - 9

1.2.2.2 Features of terminology - 10

1.3 Teaching and learning ESP vocabulary - 10

1.3.1 Teaching ESP vocabulary - 10

1.3.1.1 Dudley-Evans and St John’s viewpoint - 10

1.3.1.2 Hutchinson and Waters’s viewpoint - 11

1.3.2 Learning ESP vocabulary - 12

1.4 Roles of ESP teachers - 14

1.4.1 ESP practitioners as teachers - 14

1.4.2 ESP practitioners as course designers and material providers - 14

1.4.3 ESP practitioners as researchers - 15

1.4.4 ESP practitioners as collaborators - 15

1.4.5 ESP practitioners as evaluators - 15

1.5 Difficulties in teaching and learning ESP vocabulary - 16

1.5.1 Students at different levels - 16

1.5.2 Teachers’ lack of basic specialized knowledge - 16

1.5.3 Teaching and learning materials and conditions - 17

1.6 Previous studies on teaching and learning ESP vocabulary - 17

1.7 Summary - 18

CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY - 19

2.1 Context of the study - 19

2.1.1 Course book - 19

2.1.2 Students and their background - 20

2.1.3 Teachers and teaching methods - 21

2.2 Subjects of the study - 22

2.3 Data collection instruments - 22

2.3.1 Questionnaires - 22

2.3.2 Informal interviews for teachers - 24

2.4 Data collection procedure - 24

CHAPTER 3: DATA ANALYSIS, MAJOR FINDINGS AND SUGGESTED SOLUTIONS - 25

3.1 Data analysis - 25

3.1.1 Questionnaire for teachers - 25

3.1.2 Questionnaire for students - 33

3.2 Major findings - 41

3.2.1 Teachers’ difficulties in teaching ESP vocabulary - 41

3.2.1.1 Lack of specialized knowledge - 41

3.2.1.2 Lack of various teaching techniques - 41

3.2.2 Students’ difficulties in learning ESP vocabulary - 41

3.2.2.1 Lack of effective strategies for learning ESP vocabulary - 41

3.2.2.2 Lack of GE vocabulary - 42

3.2.3 The contextual problem - 43

3.3 Suggested solutions - 43

3.3.1 Solutions to teaching ESP vocabulary - 43

3.3.1.1 Improving the teachers’ ESP knowledge - 43

3.3.1.2 Improving teacher's methodology and techniques in teaching vocabulary - 44

3.3.2 Solutions to learning ESP vocabulary - 45

3.3.2.1 Enhancing the necessary GE knowledge - 45

3.3.2.2 Developing effective strategies of vocabulary learning - 45

3.3.3 Solutions to the contextual problem - 46

PART III: CONCLUSION - 47

1 Summary of the findings and solutions - 47

2 Limitations of the study - 48

3 Suggestions for further research - 48

REFERENCES - 49 APPENDICES - I Appendix 1 - I Appendix 2 - IV

LISTS OF ABBREVIATIONS

LISTS OF CHARTS AND TABLES

Chart 1: Teachers’ attitudes towards teaching ESP vocabulary in the course book Chart 2: Teachers’ evaluation about students’ learning ESP vocabulary

Chart 3: Teachers’ difficulties in teaching ESP vocabulary

Chart 4: Teachers’ techniques in presenting new words

Chart 5: Teachers’ recommendations to overcome your difficulties in teaching ESP vocabulary

Chart 6: Students’ English competence

Chart 7: The purposes of learning ESP vocabulary

Chart 8: Students’ difficulties in learning ESP vocabulary in the course book Chart 9: Problems have influenced students’ motivation and interest

Chart 10: Students’ solutions when meeting a new word

Table 1: The purposes of teaching ESP vocabulary

Table 2: Teachers’ ways to ask students to practice vocabulary

Table 3: Teachers’ frequency of consolidation activities

Table 4: The students’ difficulties in learning ESP vocabulary

Table 5: Students’ ways of learning new ESP words

Table 6: Students’ favourite ways of new lexical item explanation

LISTS OF FIGURES

and St John, 1998:6)

Figure 2: Types of ESP (Hutchinson and Waters, 1987: 16)

Figure 3: ESP Classification by professional area (Dudley-Evans and St John, 1998:6)

PART I: INTRODUCTION

1 Statement of the problem

English has nowadays become the language of international communication As Phillipson points out,

English has a dominant position in science, technology, medicine, and computers;

in research, books, periodicals, and software; in transnational business, trade, shipping, and aviation; in diplomacy and international organizations; in mass media entertainment, news agencies, and journalism; in youth culture and sport; in education system, as the most widely learnt foreign language

Phillipson (1992: 6)

Therefore, students have more opportunities to build up their knowledge by reading

a variety of materials in English Also, they have more chances to perform qualified work abroad Obviously, in order to do these activities, students need to have certain knowledge of English for Specific Purposes (ESP) vocabulary related to their subjects or fields This ESP vocabulary will help them adjust to their working environment and meet requirements of their future jobs

Vocabulary is an inseparable part of any teaching syllabus However, “Teaching

vocabulary especially in ESP course is becoming a challenge for English Language Teachers” (Xhaferi, 2010: 231) Working as ESP teachers at Hanoi College of

Economics and Technology (HCET), my colleagues and I face many difficulties in teaching ESP vocabulary, such as lack of specialized knowledge and terminologies Also, learning ESP vocabulary is a very difficult task for our second-year students

of Accounting They have limited knowledge of vocabulary and English grammar They do not actively study new words and build up their vocabulary Their poor vocabulary results in their bad results each term

Realising above problems, the teachers of English of HCET want to do something

to change the ways of teaching and learning vocabulary in order to improve the students’ learning effectiveness to help them succeed in their future jobs Therefore,

I have decided to conduct a research to find out main difficulties in teaching and learning English vocabulary of accounting at HCET Then, I would like to suggest some solutions to overcome these difficulties

2 Aims of the study

The study is aimed at finding difficulties that ESP teachers and learners at HCET are facing in teaching and learning ESP vocabulary and suggesting some solutions

to teaching and learning ESP vocabulary

3 Research questions

1 What difficulties do HCET’s teachers have in teaching ESP vocabulary?

2 What major difficulties do accounting students face in learning ESP vocabulary at HCET?

3 What are solutions to improving Accounting English vocabulary teaching and learning at HCET?

4 Scope of the study

The study has limited itself to the investigation of difficulties in teaching and learning ESP vocabulary in the course book “English for Finance” for the students who major in Accounting at Hanoi College of Economics and Technology The suggested solutions are also provided to help improve teaching and learning of ESP vocabulary at HCET

5 Methods of the study

The research is carried out by using both qualitative and quantitative methods The data collection instruments are survey questionnaires and informal interviews The questionnaires are designed for the teachers and students to get information on the difficulties they have in teaching and learning ESP vocabulary The informal interview is designed for teachers to get more information to support the study and solutions to these problems

6 Design of the study

The study includes three parts:

Part one is the Introduction of the study, which states the problem, the research questions, aims, scope, methods and the design of the whole paper

Part two is the Development, which consists of three chapters Chapter one presents the theoretical background related to the topic Chapter two describes the context and the methodology of the study in detail Chapter three includes data

analysis, findings and suggested solutions for better teaching and learning ESP vocabulary at HCET

Part three is the Conclusion, which summarizes major findings of the investigation, provides suggested solutions, limitations and suggestions for further studies

PART II: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW

In this chapter, the author addresses some theoretical issues, such as overview of ESP, ESP vocabulary, teaching and learning ESP vocabulary, roles of ESP teachers and difficulties in teaching ESP vocabulary

1.1.1 Definition of ESP

ESP, which stands for “English for Specific Purposes”, has become an essential part

in “the Teaching of English as a Foreign or Second Language movement” (Howatt,

1984 cited in Dudley-Evans and St John, 1998: 1) To understand the term ESP correctly, we will ponder on certain following clarifications There have been a lot

of attempts to define ESP

Hutchinson and Waters (1987:19) define ESP as “…an approach to language

teaching in which all decisions as to content and method are based on the learners’ reason for learning” They confirm that ESP must be seen as an approach not as a

product ESP is neither a particular kind of language or methodology, nor includes a particular type of teaching material Teaching ESP does not mean teaching a special form of the language It is an approach to language teaching, which is based on specific and apparent learners’ needs and interests

Strevens (1988: 1) states: “ESP is a particular cause of the general category of

special purpose language teaching" Robinson’s definition of ESP (1991: 3) is

based on two criteria: 1) ESP is normally ‘goal-directed’, and 2) ESP courses develop from a needs analysis which aims to specify what exactly it is that students have to do through the medium of English, and a number of characteristics which

explain that ESP courses are generally constrained by a “limited time period” in which their objectives have to be achieved and are taught to “adults” in

“homogenous classes” in terms of the work or specialist studies that students are

involved in (cited in Dudley-Evans and St John, 1998: 3)

Munby (1978: 2) says that ESP courses are those of which the syllabus and materials must be designed and determined on the base of the prior analysis of the communication needs of the learner Learners usually have different needs and interests, which would have an important influence on their motivation and attitude

to learn

The above definitions stated at different time periods by different authors obviously show that the growth of ESP is a combination of the expansion of demand for English to suit particular needs and developments in the fields of linguistics and educational psychology (Hutchinson and Waters, 1987:19) In other words, any ESP course must be based on learners’ needs

1.1.2 Classification of ESP

There are many types of ESP, which are classified in different ways Traditionally, ESP can be divided into two main groups according to when they take place: English for Academic Purposes (EAP) and English for Occupational Purposes (EOP) Robinson (1991) shows the distinction between these two areas in the following tree diagram

In-s tudy

EEP/EAP

EOP ESP

Pre-experience Simultaneous/ in- service

Post-experience

As a school subject

For study in a specific discipline

Kennedy and Bolitho define the two types of ESP:

English for Occupational Purposes (EOP) is taught in a situation in which learners need to use English as a part of their work or profession Meanwhile, English for Academic Purposes (EAP) is taught generally within educational institutions to students needing English in their studies

Kennedy and Bolitho (1984: 4)

From the above diagram, we can see that the ESP course depends on whether it can

be classified as EOP or EAP This division of ESP is vital because “they will affect

the degree of specificity that is appropriate to the course” (Dudley-Evans and St

John, 1998:6) However, Hutchinson and Water (1987: 16) do note that it is not “a

clear-cut distinction” because people can work and study at the same time, “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 a job".

In “the Tree of ELT” (Hutchinson and Waters, 1987:16), ESP is broken down into three branches: English for Science and Technology (EST), English for Business and Economics (EBE), and English for Social Studies (ESS) Each of these subject areas is further divided into two sub-branches: English for Academic Purposes (EAP) and English for Occupational Purposes (EOP) An example of EOP for the EBE branch is “English for Secretaries” whereas an example of EAP for the EBE branch is “English for Economics”

Figure 2: Types of ESP (Hutchinson and Waters, 1987: 16)

English for Teaching

English for Econo- mics

English for Secreta -ries

Another division of ESP divides EAP and EOP according to “discipline or

professional area” in the following way:

Figure 3: ESP Classification by professional area (Dudley-Evans and St John, 1998:6)

From figure 3, it is obvious that ESP which is taught to students majoring in Accounting at Hanoi College of Economics and Technology belongs to English for Management Finance and Economics and it is a type of English for Academic Purposes

In brief, various types of ESP are like an overall picture to help ESP teachers choose teaching materials and classroom activities, design or/and adapt an appropriate ESP course for their target students

English For Business Purposes

English for Professional Purposes

English for Vocational Purposes

English for Specific Purposes

English for Occupational Purposes English for Academic Purposes

English For

Management

Finance and Economics

* Absolute characteristics:

- ESP is designed to meet specified needs of the learners;

- ESP is related in content (that is in its themes and topics) to particular disciplines, semantics, occupations and activities;

- ESP is centred on the language appropriate to those activities in syntax, lexis, discourse, semantics and so on, and analysis of the discourse;

- ESP is in contrast with “General English”

* Variable characteristics:

- ESP may be restricted as to the learning skills to be learned (for example reading only);

- ESP may not be taught according to any pre-ordained methodology

(cited in Dudley-Evans and St John, 1998: 3)

Then, ten years later, Dudley-Evans and St John (1998: 4-5) identified ESP with

three absolute characteristics and four variable characteristics

* Absolute characteristics:

- ESP is designed to meet specific needs of learners;

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

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

* Variable characteristics:

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

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

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

in a professional work situation IT could, however, be used for learners at secondary school levels;

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

Thus, the absolute and variable characteristics of ESP determine what ESP is and what ESP is not ESP should be seen as simple as an “approach” to teaching, based

on the analysis of learners’ needs and their own personal knowledge of using English for real communication

Ur (1996: 60)

In other words, vocabulary is the total number of all the words that a language possesses, including a single word or multi-word idioms whose meaning can be understood in the sentence, or in the context

English vocabulary, in general, includes grammatical words, basic lexical words

and auxiliaries In addition, “special lexical items appear in most professions, and

every field has special vocabulary to cover abstract concepts” (Hatch and Brown,

1995: 312) Nation (2001: 198) defines ESP vocabulary as a word or a group of words used as a special lexical unit in a specific field with specific meaning to the field

1.2.2 Terminology

1.2.2.1 Definition of terminology

Linguists have come up with various definitions of terminology In Longman

Dictionary of Applied Linguistics (1985: 290), terminology is defined as “the special lexical which occur in a particular discipline” Cabré (1999) insists:

Terminology is not an end itself, but addresses social needs and attempts to optimize communication among specialists and professionals by providing assistance either directly

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

Cabré (1999: 10-12)

Meanwhile, Nguyễn Thiện Giáp (1985) says:

Terminology, which is understood as a special linguistic unit of a language consists

of word and fixed phrase that provide definitions of objectives that belong to a particular scientific area

Nguyễn Thiện Giáp (1985: 308)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, terminology is defined as the study of terms and their use Terms are words and compound words that are used in a specialized field or a branch of study

In brief, unlike ordinary words, terminology or a set of terms are regarded as scientific words and each term denotes a concept in a particular field such as economics, biology, chemistry, and so on

1.2.2.2 Features of terminology

It is commonly known that most of the layers of vocabularies have their own features and are used in certain situations by particular groups of people That is

also applied to terminology Nguyễn Thiện Giáp (1985) in his book Từ vựng học

Việt Nam or Vietnamese Lexicology has pointed out three main characteristics of

terminology The first is accuracy, which says that a concept in terminology must

be clear and exact An accurate term should not make the reader misunderstand the

concept it expresses with another The second is systematization This means

terminology of a specific profession should include terms that are closely related to each other and reflect a system of concepts of the profession The last characteristic

of terminology is internationality With respect to this feature, terminology denotes

common scientific concepts shared and equally understood by speakers of different countries and different cultures

1.3.1 Teaching ESP vocabulary

1.3.1.1 Dudley-Evans and St John’s viewpoint

Dudley-Evans and St John (1998: 83) state that teaching vocabulary in ESP has similar principles to teaching English for General Purposes (EGP) The only distinction that should be made is between the vocabulary for comprehension and the one for production They explain that in comprehension, the meaning is deduced from the context and the structure of the actual word Meanwhile, for production purposes, storage and retrieval are the most important

Also, in the book named “Developments in ESP: A multi-disciplinary approach”,

Dudley-Evans and St John (1998: 83) point out that the ESP teacher is not responsible for teaching technical vocabulary Instead, he/ she should check if learners have understood technical vocabulary that appears as carrier content for an exercise From our understanding, they mean that ESP teachers should make the learners understand vocabulary in context, not just look at individual words Understanding and being able to use the vocabulary and structures that they learn in

a meaning full context reinforces what is taught and increases their motivation

A suitable approach for teaching ESP vocabulary is the lexical approach This approach is very useful in teaching ESP (Kavaliauskienë and Janulevièienë, 2000) Most learners equate “vocabulary” with “words”, and there is a tendency among learners to translate any professional text word-for-word, i.e., they usually try to simplify most lexical phrases to separate words This ESP teaching methodology is also mentioned by Dudley-Evans and St John (1998) They say:

… [W]hen learners have a limited need for English in certain predictable situations, the learning of key lexical phrases may provide a very quick road to the proficiency required of that situation…

Dudley-Evans and St John (1998: 86)

1.3.1.2 Hutchinson and Waters’s viewpoint

According to Hutchinson and Waters (1987: 53), “All courses are based on a

perceived need of some sort” and “There is always an identifiable need of some sorts” Moreover, “…it is not so much the nature of the need which distinguishes

the ESP from the General course but rather the awareness of a need” to

communicate in English These sentences mean that the ESP courses must be based

on the learners’ needs and the more important thing is the target needs what the

learner needs to do in the target situation, including “necessities”, “lacks” and

“wants” Necessities is understood as “…what the learner needs to know in order to

function effectively in the target situation” (Hutchinson and Waters, 1987: 55)

However, it is not enough An ESP teacher needs to know learners’ lacks and wants

to design a suitable ESP course because these aspects influence learners’ motivation that is highly important in the learning and teaching process

In short, when teachers make a decision on what ESP vocabulary to teach, they should take the target needs into consideration Accordingly, the ESP teacher plays

an important role in teaching and learning vocabulary as Gairns and Redman (1986)

say:

If the student does not perceive the vocabulary input to be useful it will be difficult

to engage his interest and so effective learning of everything else will also be reduced

Gairns and Redman (1986: 60)

1.3.2 Learning ESP vocabulary

Vocabulary is generally thought to be one of the most important language elements

Wilkins (1972: 111-112) writes, “ while without grammar very little can be

conveyed, without vocabulary nothing can be conveyed” Without sufficient

vocabulary people cannot understand others or express their own ideas McCarthy (1990) points out:

No matter how well the student learns grammar, no matter how successfully the sounds of L2 are mastered, without words to express a wider range of meanings, communication in an L2 just cannot happen in any meaningful way

McCarthy (1990: viii)

Obviously, the importance of vocabulary cannot be deniable

However, from our teaching experience we can say that students face difficulties while learning new English words, especially ESP words because they are low-frequency words and are not encountered very often Schmitt (2000) emphasizes:

The object of vocabulary learning is to transfer lexical information from short-term memory, where it resides during the process of manipulating language, to permanent long-term memory

Schmitt (2000: 131)

ESP courses are designed around students’ needs based on their field of study The goal is to strengthen students’ proficiency and help them to get ready to cope with everyday situations and deal with professionals in many fields such as: Business, engineering, medicine, education, IT, etc In order to develop an ability to learn new vocabulary, especially technical vocabulary in learning ESP, students should become aware of the importance of language learning strategies

In his research into vocabulary teaching and learning, Nation (2001: 133-134) has broached four strands which applied to all aspects of language in general and to vocabulary learning in particular The first is “learning from meaning-focused input” This strand includes learning vocabulary from listening and reading The learners of English should have known ninety-eight percent of the occurring words, and the rest will be conjectured from the contexts and will not prevent

‘comprehension of the text’ The second is “deliberate learning” This strand

(form-focused instruction, language-(form-focused learning or language study) comprises

‘paying deliberate attention to language features such as sounds, spelling, vocabulary, grammar, or discourse that are presented out of context’ The clearest technique is ‘learning new vocabulary by memorizing their first language translation’ The third is “learning from meaning-focused output” This strand consists of learning vocabulary ‘through speaking and writing where the learners’ main attention is on communication messages’ Using the ‘productive skills as sources of vocabulary learning’ can enhance learning And the last strand is

“fluency development” The fluency development strand of a language course

intends to assist learners in making ‘the best use of what they already know’ Fluency may be considered as related to each of the four language skills with

The fact that ESP words are more complex than general words requires learners to spend more time learning them Besides, in the learning process, it is obviously that learners must be helped by the teacher to achieve their goals Hutchinson and Waters (1987: 157) state that an ESP teacher will have to deal with needs analysis, syllabus design, materials writing or adaptation and evaluation Nunan (1988) also finds that an ESP teacher is considered as an instructor, a manager, a counselor, a facilitator, an organizer, a curriculum developer, a material writer, a material writer and even a friend Thus, we can see that the ESP teacher’s work involves much more than teaching Dudley-Evans and St John (1998: 13) use the term “practitioner” rather than “teacher” Also, according to them,

an ESP practitioner can have several roles

1.4.1 ESP practitioners as teachers

In the learning process, teachers must help learners achieve their goals However, the teacher is not “the primary knower” of carrier content of the material The students in this course may know more about content than the teacher Therefore, the teacher has opportunity to draw on students’ knowledge of the content in order to generate communication in the classroom Obviously, it is vital that teachers need a reasonable understanding of the topic before teaching, so that they can start and lead an introductory discussion drawing on students’ understanding of what is being taught Besides, teachers also have to provide the students with anxiety-free atmosphere and to create favorable environment in which students are able to practice memorizing new words Therefore, ESP teachers need to have considerable flexibility, be willing to listen to learners, take an interest in the disciplines or professional activities which the students are involved in Dudley-Evans and St John (1998: 13-14)

1.4.2 ESP practitioners as course designers and material providers

ESP practitioners often have to plan the course they teach and provide the materials for it However, in fact, it is rarely possible to use a particular textbook without the need for supplemental materials and sometimes there is no really suitable published material for the identified needs Therefore, ESP teachers have to work as providers of materials This role involves choosing suitable published material, adapting material if it is not suitable, or even writing material Dudley-Evans and St John (1998: 14-15)

1.4.3 ESP practitioners as researchers

In order to succeed in ESP teaching, ESP teachers need to be able to carry out research to find out ESP learners’ particular interests and needs The reason is that the findings of the research will result in a needs analysis, so that ESP teachers can design a course more reasonably, select suitable material and write teaching material Moreover, ESP teachers need to conduct research to identify and understand the discourse of the texts what learners use Then they can choose the suitable teaching method (Dudley-Evans and St John, 1998: 15)

1.4.4 ESP practitioners as collaborators

Dudley-Evans and St John (1998: 15-16) also see an ESP teacher as a collaborator This may involve cooperation in which ESP teachers find out about the subject syllabus in an academic context or task the students have to carry out in their professional environment

In addition, it may involve specific collaboration when there is some integration between specialist studies or activities and the language Even the collaboration might involve a language teacher and a business trainer working together to teach both the skills and the language related to business communication

1.4.5 ESP practitioners as evaluators

The ESP practitioner is often involved in various types of evaluation, including the testing

of students and the evaluation of courses and teaching material Tests are conducted to assess how much learners have gained from a course or if students have the required

language and skills to undertake a particular course or career Also, the evaluation of course design and teaching materials should be done while the course is being taught, at the end of the course, and after the course has finished By this way, ESP teachers will have suitable changes for a better course then (Dudley-Evans and St John, 1998: 16-17)

In short, depending on the type of syllabus and course, the teaching and learning environment, etc the roles of an ESP teacher must be flexible and variable

Robinson (1991) says that ESP teachers may face many problems in a number of

aspects of ESP teaching The difficulties come from (i) students, (ii) teachers themselves, (iii) teaching materials and other teaching and learning conditions

1.5.1 Students at different levels

Teachers have problems in teaching ESP to students of different language background In other words, learners have different levels of comprehension of the same text because they start from different positions Moreover, Dudley-Evans and

St John (1998) states:

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 (1998:5)

However, from our teaching experience, many students do not acquire that level of language proficiency when they take ESP course, though they have taken part in General English course before As a result, ESP learners are not motivated enough

to learn ESP

1.5.2 Teachers’ difficulties

Regarding to teachers themselves, we agree with Strevens (1973: 223) who claims:

“…learners who know scientific field may have little difficulty with technical words; but a teacher who doesn’t may have a great deal” According to Hutchison

and Waters (1987:163), ESP teachers “must know something about the subject

matters of ESP materials” It means that ESP teachers need to acquire the basic

knowledge of the subject matter Robinson (1980:83) also mentions the problem of

ESP teachers as “lack of sufficient preparation time”

Moreover, the major problem that ESP teachers deal with is teaching method

Dudley-Evans and St John (1998: 4) state, “all ESP teaching should reflect the

methodology of the disciplines and professions it serves” and “interaction between the ESP teacher and learners may be very different from that in general English class” It means that “ESP teaching has its own methodology”, which must be

different from that of general English teaching Teaching methodology should be “a

learning-centred approach” and “the ESP teacher should not become a teacher of the subject matter, but rather an interested student of the subject matter”

(Hutchison and Waters, 1987:163) Learners’ needs should be specified at the beginning of the ESP course and the intensive and efficient teaching of grammar, vocabulary, translation, etc must be scientifically grounded and concentrate only on these items

1.5.3 Teaching and learning materials and conditions

Another aspect connected with difficulties in teaching ESP is teaching and learning

materials According to Hutchinson and Waters, “the ESP syllabus is usually

derived from a detailed analysis of the language features of the target situation”

(Hutchinson and Waters, 1987: 92) Some other teaching and learning conditions may be challenges for both teachers and students such as the class size, teaching and learning equipment, psychological factors, etc Teachers have problems in teaching

in large-sized classes There is a fact that a large-sized class has negative impacts on both teaching and learning, not only in EGP but also ESP courses A large-sized class reduces students’ participation, and leads to lower motivation

Studies on teaching and learning ESP vocabulary are carried out by various researchers from different countries Their aims are to find out difficulties in

teaching and learning ESP vocabulary, methods or strategies of teachers and students in teaching and learning ESP vocabulary

In reference to teaching and learning ESP, the study “Teaching and learning ESP vocabulary” by Brikena Xhaferi (2008) at South East European University (Macedonia) points out that an ESP course is a new trend in English Language Teaching and they include technical English, scientific English, English for medical professionals, etc His paper attempts to add to the existing studies on the use of vocabulary learning strategies in learning ESP vocabulary and students should become aware of the importance of language learning strategies and get trained to use them appropriately

In the context of Vietnamese universities, there have been some studies on difficulties in teaching ESP vocabulary to students at universities For example, Võ Mai Đỗ Quyên (2008) at Thanh Hoa Teachers’ Training School conducted the study “Difficulties in teaching vocabulary to students of information technology at Thanh Hoa Teachers’ Training School and some solutions” to identify the main problems of teaching and learning ESP vocabulary of both teachers and students Based on the study, the researcher gives some suggestions to help the teachers and the students at Thanh Hoa Teacher’s Training School overcome the difficulties to get the best results

To conclude, this chapter has presented a brief review of ESP, including an overview of ESP, ESP vocabulary, teaching and learning ESP vocabulary, roles of ESP teachers and difficulties in teaching ESP vocabulary This theoretical review is necessary for the next chapters of methodology and data analysis

CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY This chapter describes in detail the context and the method of the study The context

is a description of the course book; the students and their background; the teachers and teaching method In the method of the study, research questions, participants, data collection instruments, data collection procedure, data analysis are also presented

2.1 Context of the study

2.1.1 Course book

English is a compulsory subject for students of all departments at HCET The English course is composed of two parts: General English (GE) and English for Specific Purposes (ESP) The GE is taught in the first two terms with the course book “New Headway” by Liz and John Soars, Oxford University Express, 2011 In this part, the major aims are to develop students’ basic communicative skills: speaking, listening, reading and writing The GE also a stepping-stone for students

to proceed the ESP course

The ESP course is introduced in the third term with the aim to provide students with

a number of technical terms and develop students’ reading comprehension and translation so that they are able to use English for their study and future careers, such as reading books and materials related to their major The course book chosen for students of Accounting Faculty at HCET is “English for Finance” This course book is written by teachers of the English Faculty of Academy of Finance (AOF) for the second-year non-English-major students and published by the Finance Publishing House It consists of 42 units and it is also included in the curriculum of teaching and learning English at AOF

There are different topics discussed in this course book, such as economics, money and banking, finance, accounting and auditing, financial analysis, marketing and international business Each unit includes 5 parts: The reading text, comprehension

questions, language focus, word study and vocabulary In part I, the reading texts contain from 300 to 500 words on particular financial topics These texts often deal with the conceptions of the topics For example, the first unit is about economics including: What economics is, what the fields and subfields of economics are Part

II, which has from 5 to 10 questions related to the reading text, is designed to help students understand the content of the text Part III, Language focus, presents grammar issues in both theory and practice Part IV and part V are about vocabulary Part IV focuses on vocabulary practice exercises which has a variety of exercises such as: blank-filling, matching, finding the opposites, word-formation, etc These ones help students revise the content and vocabulary as well Part V, which is designed at the end of each unit, is a list of vocabulary items and their explanations in English and then meanings in Vietnamese

The syllabus consists of 60 periods of 45 minutes and is delivered within 10 weeks

in the third term, covering 20 first units The teachers and the students meet twice a week, each time for three-45 minutes periods From my own experience and other teachers’ ideas, the topics mentioned in this course book are interesting and practical However, the number of exercises is limited and language skills like listening, speaking and writing are not covered in this course book Therefore, it cannot help students improve their listening, speaking, or writing except for reading comprehension

2.1.2 Students and their background

In fact, there are five second-year Accounting-major classes with students aged from 19 to 23 Most of them have finished three-year or seven-year English curriculum at secondary and high schools before entering HCET

However, in terms of English proficiency, there is no much difference between groups of students in each class Most are at the elementary level Moreover, the learning style of the students at HCET is quite dependent on the teachers In other

words, they are really “passive” in learning Most of them experienced the traditional method of English teaching, the “Grammar-translation method”, at high schools, which emphasizes the learning of the grammar rules of the language, not the acquisition of language skills Their vocabulary learning methods are quite traditional such as using a wordlist or writing a word many times to remember it 2.1.3 Teachers and teaching methods

English teachers have been working at the English Faculty at HCET, aged from 28

to 55 All of them graduated from universities of foreign languages such as University of Languages and International Studies, Vietnam National University and Hanoi University Most of them have got their Master degrees in Vietnam Two teachers are taking MA courses at University of Languages and International Studies, Vietnam National University All of them have classes in GE and ESP None of them, however, has been trained in teaching ESP Therefore, they are facing many difficulties in teaching ESP such as lack of the specialized knowledge, the choice of appropriate teaching materials and methodologies seem to be major concerns

The common method of ESP teaching is the traditional teacher-centered one In classes, teachers play a key role and speak most of the time They explain new words, new structures and even translate the text For most teachers, teaching vocabulary involves writing new words on the board, giving Vietnamese meanings, getting the class to repeat words in chorus, asking some of the students to read words aloud and make sentences with each word Meanwhile, the students often listen and take notes passively They raise questions only when they do not know Vietnamese meanings of new words or new structures It is apparent that student-centered approach has not been widely used in teaching English at HCET

As a result, the vocabulary activities are not interesting and motivating enough and students’ vocabulary competence is not improved We should apply more

appropriate teaching techniques to improve the situation of teaching ESP vocabulary at HCET

2.2 Subjects of the study

This study is conducted with the participation of 6 out of 7 teachers of English, including 3 teachers who are teaching Accounting English and 50 second-year students from Faculty of Accounting at HCET These 6 teachers of English are chosen for the investigation as all of them have been teaching ESP and have at least 3 years’ experience

in teaching ESP They are 5 females and 1 male The reason for choosing these 50 students is that only the second-year students can learn ESP after they finish GE course in the first year They are randomly chosen from five accounting classes at HCET, aged from 19 to 23 Most of them are female

The number of participants is limited but in comparison with the total of 7 teachers who are responsible for teaching English at HCET, it is not small at all Furthermore, 50 students are considered representatives for others because the level

of students in all these five classes is not much different

2.3 Data collection instruments

In order to collect information for the study, the researcher uses survey questionnaires for both teachers and students and informal interviews for the teachers

2.3.1 Questionnaires

According to Wisker (2001: 147), questionnaires are used to gather information directly by asking people questions and using them as data for analysis They are often used to collect information about attitudes, behaviours, activities, and responses to events This method is chosen because it is easy to construct, extremely versatile and uniquely capable of gathering a huge amount of information in a short time (Dornyei, 2003: 9) To gain the data for the research, 2 questionnaires have been administered to the respondents One has been designed for the teachers and the other for the students The question items are both close-ended and open-ended so

that the respondents have been able to give adequate answers The questions are asked in order to find out challenges encountered by teachers and students in their teaching and learning ESP vocabulary and their suggestions to overcome these difficulties

Questionnaire for Teachers: The questionnaire designed for the teachers consists of seven questions It aims at investigating the teachers’ attitude, perceptions of teaching ESP vocabulary; challenges for their second-year students; their methods and techniques in teaching ESP vocabulary and their suggestions to improve ESP vocabulary teaching The questionnaire is written in English is provided in appendix 1

eight questions It aims at finding out students’ attitude towards vocabulary learning, difficulties in ESP vocabulary learning, common ways in learning vocabulary as well as their comments on their teachers’ teaching techniques and their expectation

of improving their vocabulary learning This questionnaire is written in both English and Vietnamese to make sure that the students fully understand the questions before giving their answers The total number of survey questionnaires for the students is 50 and it is presented in appendix 2

2.3.2 Informal interviews for teachers

According to McDonough, J and S McDonough (2001: 182), “Interviews, of course, are

just another way of asking questions,… face-to-face interaction, rather than the questionnaire format ” Hence, to reconfirm the teachers’ attitude, perceptions of teaching

Accounting English vocabulary, their students’ difficulties in learning ESP vocabulary and their recommendations to improve ESP vocabulary teaching, the informal interview is designed with the questions from the survey questionnaire for teachers The researcher has made interviews with three ESP teachers, who are teaching Accounting English and their answers are really useful for the study

2.4 Data collection procedure

In order to collect the data for the analysis, the questionnaire has been delivered to each teacher individually to ensure that they have given their own ideas and have not been