The use extra activites to improve ESP vocabulary for third year students at faculty of tourism, USSH VNU

UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES DEPARTMENT OF POSTGRADUATE STUDIES ---o0o--- PHẠM THANH VIỆT THE USE OF EXTRA ACTIVITES TO IMPROVE ESP VOCABULARY FOR THIRD – YEAR STU

UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

DEPARTMENT OF POSTGRADUATE STUDIES

-o0o -

PHẠM THANH VIỆT

THE USE OF EXTRA ACTIVITES TO IMPROVE ESP VOCABULARY FOR THIRD – YEAR STUDENTS AT

FACULTY OF TOURISM, USSH – VNU

(Sử dụng một số hoạt động bổ trợ nhằm nâng cao hiệu quả việc học từ vựng chuyên ngành cho sinh viên năm thứ ba Khoa Du lịch học, Trường

Đại học Khoa học Xã hội và Nhân văn, ĐHQG Hà Nội)

MA MINOR THESIS

Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 601410

Hanoi, 2009

UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

DEPARTMENT OF POSTGRADUATE STUDIES

-o0o -

PHẠM THANH VIỆT

THE USE OF EXTRA ACTIVITES TO IMPROVE ESP VOCABULARY FOR THIRD – YEAR STUDENTS AT

FACULTY OF TOURISM, USSH – VNU

(Sử dụng một số hoạt động bổ trợ nhằm nâng cao hiệu quả việc học từ vựng chuyên ngành cho sinh viên năm thứ ba Khoa Du lịch học, Trường

Đại học Khoa học Xã hội và Nhân văn, ĐHQG Hà Nội)

MA MINOR THESIS

Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 601410

Supervisor: MA Kim Văn Tất

Hanoi, 2009

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Candidate’s statement……… i

Acknowledgment……… ii

Abstract ……… iii

Table of contents ……… iv

INTRODUCTION ……… 1

1 Rationale of the study……… 1

2 Aims and objectives of the study ……… 2

3 Scope of the study ……… 2

4 Research questions ……… 2

5 Method of the study ……… 3

6 Design of the study ……… 3

CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW ……… 4

1.1 Definition of vocabulary ……… 4

1.2 The role of vocabulary in language learning and teaching ……… 4

1.3 Principle of vocabulary teaching……… 5

1.3.1 Selecting vocabulary to teach ……… 5

1.3.2 What needs to be taught about the vocabulary item? ……… 6

1.3.2.1 Meaning ……… 7

1.3.2.2 Usage……… 8

1.3.2.3 Form ……… 8

1.3.2.4 Grammar ……… 9

1.4 Vocabulary teaching and learning ……… 10

1.4.1 Vocabulary Learning ……… 10

1.4.1.1 Explicit vocabulary learning ……… 10

1.4.1.2 Implicit vocabulary learning ……… 11

1.4.2 Vocabulary Teaching ……… 11

1.4.2.1 Presentation techniques ……… 11

1.4.2.2 Practice and consolidation activities ……… 12

1.5 Vocabulary in ESP teaching and learning ……… 13

1.5.1 What is ESP? ……… 13

1.5.2 How is ESP different from ESL/ GE? ……… 14

1.5.3 What is ESP vocabulary? ……… 15

1.5.4 Identify the needs of ESP learners for vocabulary ……… 16

1.5.5 Important aspects of ESP vocabulary teaching ……… 17

1.5.5.1 Word formation ……… 17

1.5.5.2 Word relations ……… 18

1.5.5.3 Presentation techniques ……… 19

1.5.5.4 Practice and consolidation techniques ……… 19

1.5.5.5 Dictionaries and online – dictionaries ……… 20

1.5.6 Features of vocabulary in tourism ……….…… 20

CHAPTER 2: OVERVIEW OF ENGLISH TEACHING AND LEARNING AT

FACULTY OF TOURISM … ……… 22

2.1 The students ……… 22

2.2 The teachers ……… 22

2.3 The teaching facilities, syllabus, and course book ……… 23

2.4 Problems of the students of tourism ……… 24

CHAPTER 3: THE STUDY ……… 26

3.1 Subjects of the study ……… 26

3.2 Instruments and materials used in the study ……… 26

3.2.1 The questionnaires ……… 26

3.2.2 Handouts and additional reading materials ……… 27

3.2.3 Supplementary listening lessons ……… 27

3.3 Data analysis and findings ……… 28

3.3.1 About the first questionnaire……… 28

3.3.2 About the second questionnaire ……… 28

3.3.2.1 Students’ evaluation of the applied extra vocabulary activities…… 29

3.3.2.2 Effectiveness of extra vocabulary activities on the vocabulary

memory capacity of the student ……… 29

3.3.2.3 Students’ assessment about the effectiveness of extra vocabulary activities ……… 29

3.3.2.4 Students’ favourite extra vocabulary activity ……… 30

3.4 Discussion ……… 31

CHAPTER 4: SUGGESTED EXTRA ACTIVITIES TO IMPROVE VOCABULARY OF STUDENTS OF TOURISM ………

34 4.1 Useful notices for extra vocabulary activities ……… 34

4.2 Suggested extra vocabulary activities ……… 34

4.2.1 Vocabulary presentation activities ……… 34

4.2.2 Vocabulary practicing activities ……… 37

4.2.3 Vocabulary revising activities ……… 39

CONCLUSION……… 41

1 Summary of the study ……… 41

2 Implications ……… 42

3 Limitations and recommendations for further study ……… 43

REFERENCE ……… 44

APPENDIXES

INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale

Together with teaching General English (GE), many teachers are now required to teach English to students of different fields such as tourism, medicine, engineering, etc namely English for Special Purposes (ESP) Many universities in Vietnam, including the University

of Social Science and Humanity, Hanoi, have paid more attention to ESP and offered ESP courses to English learners, especially to non – major students

Despite many similarities to GE, ESP is viewed difficult to teach by language teachers due to unfavourable working conditions, lack of subject knowledge, and, sometimes, the language itself with many terms, expressions, and structures Teaching and learning ESP in general and ESP vocabulary in particular are a matter of concern for many linguistic researchers and teachers

Vocabulary plays an important role in deciding language proficiency of every learner J Read

(2000: 1) states “vocabulary is the basic building block of language, the unit of meaning from which larger structures such as sentences, paragraphs and whole text are formed” The great importance of vocabulary is also stressed in Harmer‟s statement: “If language structures make up the skeleton of language, then it is vocabulary that provides the vital organs and the flesh” (Harmer 1991:153) Moreover, according to Wilkin (1972), “without grammar, very little can be conveyed, without vocabulary nothing can be conveyed”

The lack of vocabulary not only prevents learners from expressing themselves in speaking and writing but also makes it difficult for them to comprehend a reading passage Thus,

learning process is hindered I also agree with Wallace when he points out that “not being able to find the words you need to express yourself is the most frustrating experience in speaking another language” (Wallace 1984:9) Having taught English to students of Tourism

for several years, I find out that my students face a great difficulty in learning vocabulary, especially ESP vocabulary partly due to lack of practice and revision whereas the vocabulary activities in the course book proves to be quite few and not various Therefore, I have decided

to conduct a study on “The use of extra activities to improve ESP vocabulary for third – year students at Faculty of Tourism, USSH – VNU” with a hope to help my students learn

ESP vocabulary better

2 Aims and objectives of the study

The study is carried out with the following aims:

 Investigate the students‟ attitudes toward learning vocabulary

 Investigate the students‟ attitude toward vocabulary activities in the course book

 Encourage learners‟ autonomy in learning vocabulary through guidance and instruction

 Investigate the effectiveness of extra activities on vocabulary learning of students

 Identify which extra activities applied are most preferred by the students

The author of this study, by doing such research, hopes to contribute to the improvement of ESP teaching and learning in general and ESP vocabulary teaching in particular at USSH – VNU

3 Scope of the study

Obviously, we have a wide range of choice of activities that can help to improve ESP vocabulary of students However, this research only targets on the extra activities that were designed and introduced by the author to the third – year students at Faculty of Tourism,

USSH Also, it focuses on exploiting words, expressions and terms of the book English for Students of Tourism, which is now being used as textbook in class for the target students,

edited by a group of teachers at the Department of Foreign Languages, USSH – VNU, and some additional reading materials as well as supplementary listening lessons provided by the teacher

With such limited scope, the result of this research, of course, may not be applicable to students of all levels or of all classes as well

4 Research questions

This study was carried out in order to find the answer to two questions as follows:

1 How do extra activities help improve ESP vocabulary of third-year students at Faculty of Tourism, USSH – VNU?

2 Which applied activity is most favoured by the students?

5 Method of the study

The study applied quantitative approach which included two questionnaires for the target students (one questionnaire is provided before the application of extra activities, and the other

is provided after the students have done all the activities designed and provided by the teacher) The data collected from the two questionnaires is analyzed statistically Moreover, the author‟s own experience in designing specific vocabulary activities and the analysis of the used textbook, additional reading and supplementary listening materials will contribute to the completion of the study

6 Design of the study

The study is designed as follows:

 Introduction This part provides a general introduction of the research including the

rationale, the aims and objectives, the scope, the research questions, the methodology, and the design of the thesis

 Chapter 1: Literature review This chapter deals with the theoretical background of

the research It concerns with the issues of vocabulary teaching and learning in

general as well as ESP teaching and learning in particular

 Chapter 2: Overview of English teaching and learning at Faculty of Tourism, USSH – VNU This chapter reveals the fact of the students, teachers, as well as the problems students facing in English learning

 Chapter 3: The study The study itself is described in this chapter It provides

information about the participants and the questionnaires, the material to be used The later part of this chapter provides the analysis of collected data as well as findings and discussion

 Chapter 4: Suggestions for extra activities used to improve ESP vocabulary for students of tourism, USSH – VNU In this chapter, extra activities used in the

research are described in detail

 Conclusion The conclusion summarizes the issues addressed and presents limitation

of the research as well as recommendations for further improvements or research

CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW

Vocabulary learning is central to language acquisition, whether the language is first, second

or foreign Although vocabulary has not always been recognized as a priority in language teaching, interests in its role in second language learning has grown rapidly in recent years and specialists now emphasize the need for a systematic and principled approach to vocabulary by both the teacher and the learner This chapter deals with theoretical background of vocabulary in general and ESP vocabulary in particular

1.1 Definition of vocabulary

Nobody can deny that vocabulary, together with grammar, phonology, is an essential component of language Thus, there exit various concepts relating to vocabulary In Longman dictionary of language teaching and applied linguistic, vocabulary is defined as “a set of lexemes, including single words, compound words and idioms” (Richards, 1997:400) Pyles and Algeo (1970) stated “it is true that vocabulary is the focus of language with its sound and meaning, which interlock to allow us to communicate with one another, and it is words that

we arrange together to make sentences, conversation and discourse of all kind” Meanwhile, Penny Ur (1996) maintained “a new item of vocabulary may be more than a single word, a compound of two or three words and multi-words idioms”

The above quotations about vocabulary have given us at least a partial answer to the question

of what vocabulary is in terms of vocabulary teaching and learning Vocabulary deals not only with simple words which may express a single idea, but also with complex, compound words and multi – words idioms which can only be understood in a given sentence or context

1.2 The role of vocabulary in language learning and teaching

“When most of us think about language, we think first about words” (Pyles and Algeo, 1970)

The quotation has proved the essential role of vocabulary in language Obviously, for most language learners it is important to acquire the components of a language before developing its skills People, in communication, can understand each other even if they make grammatical mistakes However, not knowing the exact word that you need makes it frustrating for both you and the interlocutor That is why Flower and Berman (1989) came to

a conclusion that “good English means having a big vocabulary”

Yet, knowing a lot of words makes no certainty that you will be successful in communication but put a restraint on your effective communication in the target language After accumulating an amount of words, learners will be able to communicate at a certain level from the very first stage Then, the skills of language, such as speaking, etc can be developed

In conclusion, vocabulary plays a fundamental role in a language It serves as a foundation on which all language skills are built Thus, teachers often feel obliged to instruct learners how

to learn vocabulary probably

1.3 Principle of vocabulary teaching

1.3.1 Selecting vocabulary to teach

For teachers the first thing comes to mind is determining what words to teach The words to

be taught, which are useful to students, depend on the particular teaching situation When preparing a word list for the students to learn the teachers have to take into consideration the following criteria:

 Familiarity with the corresponding word in the students‟ mother tongue

According to Harmer (1991), however, there are two general principles of vocabulary selection:

 The principle of frequency – words that are frequently used should be taught first,

 And the principle of coverage – words that comprise more things and have not just one specific meaning are useful to be taught as first

According to R.Gairns and S.Redman (1999), vocabulary to be taught comes from following main sources:

 The course book which includes both written and spoken texts

 Supplementary materials which include drills, exercises, texts, audio, video, etc

 The students who provide a wide range of unanticipated and unpredictable items in forms of questions, enquiries, and even errors

 Specific vocabulary activities designed by the teacher for his particular group of students

In addition to above-mentioned principles, Gairns and Redman (1986) provide also cultural factors and the principle of need and level Learnability and teachability are other criteria we should take into consideration

1.3.2 What needs to be taught about the vocabulary item?

Once we have chosen what words to teach it is also necessary to know what to teach about each lexical item There are many categories which can be taught to know the word properly; nevertheless, it is not necessary for learners to know about all the words they have learnt

As for what involved in the learning of a new word, B Laufer summarizes that knowledge of the following is necessary in order to know a word:

According to Harmer (1991:158) to know the word involves knowing its:

 Meaning (its definition) - meanings in context, sense relations (synonyms, antonyms)

 Usage – collocations, idioms and metaphors, style and register

 Form – spelling and pronunciation, prefixes and suffixes, parts of speech

 Grammar – irregular forms, phrasal verbs, adverbs and adjectives

1.3.2.1 Meaning

The meaning of a word, which can be found in the dictionary, is primarily what it refers to in the real world – its denotation While a less obvious component of meaning of a word is its connotation in different contexts or its connotative meaning, which may or may not be indicated in the dictionary This is the association or positive or negative feeling it evokes

Also, it is useful to teach the way the meaning of words is related to students Such relationships are various including synonyms, antonyms, translation, and so on

The meaning of words can be communicated in many different ways Nation (1994) suggests

that teachers can convey meaning to their students by demonstration or pictures and by verbal

explanation Besides that, teachers should involve their students in discovering the words‟ meanings by themselves and let them make efforts to understand words‟ meanings When the students are involved in discovering meaning, they will never forget those meanings and they will be able to express themselves fluently

When a single word has various meanings, the teacher should decide which meanings are to

be taught first, i.e., the teacher must decide which meanings occur most frequently and which meanings the learners need most As a result, the students will be motivated, and gradually they will build their own store of words which will be a basis for communication at any time

Furthermore, students should be familiar with the words‟ meanings when words are used in metaphors and idioms, and they should know when to choose the right word for the right place

1.3.2.2 Usage

Vocabulary knowledge involves considerably more than just knowing the meaning of a given word in isolation; it also involves knowing the words that tend to co- occur with it These patterns, or collocations, consist of pairs or groups of words that co-occur with a very high frequency and are important in vocabulary learning because “the meaning of a word has a great deal to do with the words with which it commonly associates” (Nattinger, 1988, p.69) These associations assist the learner in committing these words to memory and also aid in defining the semantic area of a word

If collocational associations are not learned as part of L2 vocabulary knowledge, learners‟ speech or writing will be marked as deviant or odd in some way and as decided non – native

According to De Carrico (2001), when concerning collocational associations as memory aids, researchers have noted that vocabulary is best learned in context and that words that are naturally associated in a text are more easily learned than those having no such associations

In terms of syntax, collocation can be divided into two mains syntactic groups: grammatical and lexical In grammatical collocations, a noun, verb, or adjective frequently co – occurs

with a grammatical item, usually a preposition For example, reason for, rely on, account for

Whereas lexical collocations do not contain grammatical words but combinations of full lexical items, i.e., nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs These combinations are such verb +

noun (spend time, leave a message), adjective + noun (luxurious hotel, spacious room), verb + adverb (serve carefully), and adverb + adjective (terribly sorry)

According to Bahns (1993), learners seem to rely on a “hypothesis of transferability” whereby the majority of collocational errors found in learner English can be traced to L1

influence For example, Vietnamese learners in elementary level usually say phone to somebody instead of phone somebody, based on influence from a Vietnamese equivalent

Bahns also recommends that teacher should help students focus on identifying the differences for a chosen group of semantically equivalent L1/L2 pairs

1.3.2.3 Form

Students also need to know the different forms words have and when to use them Therefore, word formation is a very important part in teaching vocabulary Getting familiar with the different forms of words, the students can easily know how to use the words in writing and speaking

Because word formation provides essential clues for word recognition, language teachers should be prepared to teach the basic rules of productive word-forming processes According

to a number of sources, the five most productive types of word formation in present day English are affixation, compounding, clipping, conversion, and blending Studies suggest that different instructional strategies should be placed in the foreground in teaching vocabulary at different proficiency levels While basic students learn from selective listening, songs, rhymes, and drills, more advanced learners would be better served by synonym and antonym exercises and with clusters of contextualized vocabulary arranged according to situational or semantic categories

According to Bauer (1973) and Quirk et al (1985), English word formation is generally divided into two main parts The first part includes affixation, compounding, and conversion; the second part includes what Bauer calls "unpredictable" formations: clipping, blending, and acronyms

Affixation is a bound morpheme that occurs before or after or within a base, commonly

known as: prefixes, suffixes, and infixes In English word formation, infixes do not occur

Prefixes are those bound morphemes that occur before a base as in prefix Their meanings are

often those of English prepositions and adverbials Suffixes are bound morphemes that occur

after a base Unlike prefixes, suffixes frequently alter the word-class Four main sorts of suffixes are usually distinguished to form nouns, verbs, and adjectives

A compound is a unit consisting of two or more bases But this definition is not quite

sufficient, since derivational processes may sometimes apply to forms combining more than one base A compound, Bauer (1973) suggests, may be more fully defined as a lexeme containing two or more potential stems that has not subsequently been subjected to derivational process Four major kinds of compounds are generally distinguished in English such as: compound nouns, compound verbs, compound adverbs, and compound adjectives

Conversion is the derivational process whereby an item changes its word-class without the

addition of an affix (Quirk, et al., 1985) It is an extremely productive way of producing new words of English since there are no morphological restrictions on the forms that can undergo conversion Conversion seems to be able to produce words of almost any form class The

major kinds of conversion are: noun → verb (a bottle → to bottle), verb → noun (to call →

call) and adjective → verb (dirty → to dirty)

Clipping means cutting off the beginning or the end of a word, or both, leaving a part to stand

for a whole Examples are: lab, dorm, prof, exam, math, and countless others

Blending is the fusion of two words into one, usually the first part of one word with the part

of another as in gasohol, from gasoline and alcohol The resultant blend partakes of both

original meanings

Acronyms are words derived from the initials of several words They are usually pronounced

as the spelling indicates: VIP (very important person) etc

1.4 Vocabulary teaching and learning

Teaching vocabulary is not just conveying the meaning to the students and asking them to learn those words by heart If teachers believe that the words are worth explaining and learning, then it is important that they should do this efficiently Teachers should use different techniques and activities in teaching English vocabulary to motivate the learners, enrich their vocabulary and enable them to speak English properly

There are many techniques and activities that teachers can employ and use in teaching vocabulary, such as presentation, discovery techniques and practice Teaching vocabulary involves not only presentation of new words but also practice and consolidation

1.4.1 Vocabulary Learning

1.4.1.1 Explicit vocabulary learning

In explicit vocabulary learning students engage in activities that focus attention on vocabulary It is a very important consideration that we can maximize vocabulary learning considerably by teaching word families instead of individual words forms Presenting word families with many words built around a particular root, gather word together so that association among them can be seen (DeCarrico, 2001)

Meaning associations attached to words are also important Words appear to be organized into semantically related sets in the mind, and thus the association attached to a word will affect the way that it stores in the brain Psychologists investigate these associations by presenting subjects with a word and asking them to suggest other words that bring to mind

1.4.1.2 Implicit vocabulary learning

Implicit vocabulary learning can be understood as incidental vocabulary learning that occurs when the mind is focused elsewhere, such as on understanding a text or using language for communicative purposes According to Huckin and Coady (1999), implicit learning occurs through multiple exposures to a word in different context

The common problem facing many language learners is the lack of exposure; “a way to combat this problem is to expose students to extensive reading in which reading is done consistently over a period of time” (DeCarrico, 2001:289) Reading material should also be appropriate to the level of students As DeCarrico (2001) puts it intermediate students, who are just on the threshold of reading authentic text, should read a numerous authentic texts on the same topic In such way the text will provide multiple exposures as topic specific vocabulary is repeated in different context which expand what is know about it, thus improving the quality of knowledge, with additional exposures helping to consolidate it in memory

1.4.2 Vocabulary Teaching

New words should neither be taught in isolation nor be learned simply by memorization It is important that new vocabulary items be taught in an appropriate way Thus, techniques and activities in vocabulary teaching are used

1.4.2.1 Presentation techniques

The aim of presentation stage is to establish the basic meaning and the correct form of the word in the learner‟s memory There are many ways how to present the meaning of new items “Most of these are means which tend to be associated with a more teacher-centred approach and consequently the items taught through these means are usually selected by the teacher rather than the learner” (Gairns and Redman 1986:73) That is why it is important to decide which form is suitable for the particular situation It is often to use visual techniques (flash cards, pictures, drawings, charts, realia, ect.), verbal techniques (definition, synonyms/antonyms, etc.), and translation However, as Harmer (1991:162) suggests it is not always the best way since it is sometimes difficult to find the appropriate translation of the word and the process of translating does not encourage the manipulation with words which is very important for the consolidation stage At intermediate levels we can use discovery techniques They employ the learner‟s previous knowledge and activate the work with words Discovery techniques together with using dictionaries and asking others activities belong to

more emphasised strategies that allow the learner more autonomy than the above mentioned techniques

It is suggested that closely related synonyms or antonyms should probably be avoided if the activities of word pairing is used since research shows that similarities between words can make learning more difficult because of interference, or cross - association The way to avoid cross – association in closely related semantic group is to integrate new words with old ones

by teaching the most frequent and useful and only after it is well- established introduce its less frequent antonym partner (Nation 1990; Schmitt 2000)

For presenting word families, one way is simply to introduce such a family along with the definitions for each word Another way is to isolate the word families that occur in a particular text by highlighting them so that students can see the relationships Highlighting passages in texts has the advantage of providing a more natural context in which students can trace words through the discourse and observe how the form change according to discourse function Texts may be authentic materials or, may be simple natural constructed by the teacher

1.4.2.2 Practice and consolidation activities

The aim of this stage is to store the new word in the long-term memory and to turn passive vocabulary into active vocabulary The practice should be carefully organized so that the load

of new lexis would not discourage the learner In addition, it is important to emphasize “that experiments on vocabulary seem to suggest that students remember best when they have actually done something with the words they are learning” (Harmer 1991:160)

Consequently, there are many techniques that involve more than just repeating vocabulary and that help to fix the new word in the learner‟s memory To name some of them: filling in gaps in sentences, matching words to other words, replacing words with their synonyms or antonyms, memory games, paraphrasing, using words in sentences or dialogues, role plays, discussions, picture stories, using prefixes and suffixes to build new words from given words etc

Semantic mapping is an activity that helps recall relationships among learned words and helps deepen understanding by creating associative networks for words In such activity, students are asked to draw a diagram of the relationships between particular words they have

learned so far in a given topic or theme Words association activities can also be constructed with lists of words that have been learned

According to De Carrico (2001), another consideration in teaching vocabulary is promoting a deep level of processing The reason is that learning may involve either short – term memory

or long – term memory The important of promoting a deep level of processing is to transfer information from short – term memory into long – term memory, which has almost unlimited storage capacity “The more students manipulate and think about the words, the more likely it

is that the words will be transferred into long – term memory” Research indicates that efficient learning of vocabulary is an incremental process, one that requires meaningful recurring encounters with a word over time With respect to classroom activities, a semantic mapping or other semantic network activities could be followed later with pair matching activities, along the lines illustrated earlier

1.5 Vocabulary in ESP teaching and learning

Previously, we have discussed the situation in ELT vocabulary teaching However, as it has been mentioned in the introduction the students at the Faculty of Tourism should be trained in the ESP vocabulary, namely English for Students of Tourism that is covered by English for Occupational Purposes Before the special aspects of teaching ESP vocabulary are discussed,

we will first define what the ESP and what ESP vocabulary are

1.5.1 What is ESP?

A very general definition of ESP was offered by Hoffmann: "By LSP we understand a complete set of linguistic phenomena occurring within a definite sphere of communication and limited by specific subjects, intentions, and conditions" (Hoffmann 1979:16)

As Dudley-Evans & St John and Anthony (1998) put it, English for Specific Purposes (ESP)

is centered on the language appropriate to the activities of the discipline it serves in terms of grammar, lexis, register, study skills, discourse and genre

Another definition is Komarova & Lipgart‟s (1994): “By ESP we understand a variety of English characterised by the two most important features: a definite conceptual orientation, and a set of linguistic restrictions imposed upon the contextual functioning of words »

However, according to P Strevens (1988), ESP consists of English teaching which is:

 designed to meet specified needs of the learner;

 related to content (i.e in its themes and topics) to particular disciplines, occupation and activities;

 center on the language appropriate to those activities, in syntax, lexis, discourse, semantics, etc;

 in contrast with General English

The term "specific" in ESP refers to the specific purpose for learning English Students approach the study of English through a field that is already known and relevant to them This means that they are able to use what they learn in the ESP classroom right away in their work and studies The ESP approach enhances the relevance of what the students are learning and enables them to use the English they know to learn even more English, since their interest in their field will motivate them to interact with speakers and texts

ESP assesses needs and integrates motivation, subject matter and content for the teaching of relevant skills ESP combines subject matter and English language teaching Such a combination is highly motivating because students are able to apply what they learn in their English classes to their main field of study, whether it be accounting, business management, economics, computer science or tourism Being able to use the vocabulary and structures that they learn in a meaningful context reinforces what is taught and increases their motivation

The students' abilities in their subject-matter fields, in turn, improve their ability to acquire English Subject-matter knowledge gives them the context they need to understand the English of the classroom In the ESP class, students are shown how the subject-matter content

is expressed in English The teacher can make the most of the students' knowledge of the subject matter, thus helping them learn English faster

1.5.2 How is ESP different from ESL/ GE?

The most important difference lies in the learners and their purposes for learning English ESP students are usually adults who already have some acquaintance with English and are learning the language in order to communicate a set of professional skills and to perform particular job-related functions An ESP program is therefore built on an assessment of purposes and needs and the functions for which English is required

ESP concentrates more on language in context than on teaching grammar and language structures It covers subjects varying from accounting or computer science to tourism and business management The ESP focal point is that English is not taught as a subject separated from the students' real world (or wishes); instead, it is integrated into a subject matter area important to the learners

However, ESL and ESP diverge not only in the nature of the learner, but also in the aim of instruction In fact, as a general rule, while in ESL all four language skills; listening, reading, speaking, and writing, are stressed equally, in ESP it is a need analysis that determines which language skills are most needed by the students, and the syllabus is designed accordingly An ESP program, might, for example, emphasize the development of reading skills in students who are preparing for graduate work in business administration; or it might promote the development of spoken skills in students who are studying English in order to become tourist guides

1.5.3 What is ESP vocabulary?

In addition to General English vocabulary which include grammatical words, basic lexical words, auxiliaries, “special lexical items appear in most professions, and every field has special vocabulary to cover abstract concepts” (Hatch and Brown 1995:312) Kennedy and Bolitho (1984:56-58) provide the following specialist word categories for teaching purposes:

- Technical Abbreviations – e.g kph, km, m3 they usually do not cause a problem, however, learners should listen to them and practise them in note-taking exercises

- Symbols and Formulae – they are the subject matter of the learner‟s speciality, and teacher may explain their function in the text, or if abbreviations are concerned, to demonstrate their transfer from the written form into the spoken version and vice versa

- Sub-technical vocabulary – “words that have one or more „general‟ English meanings and which in technical contexts take on extended meanings (technical, or specialized in some fashion)” (Trimble 1985:129) or as the Kennedy and Bolitho´s definition states

“words which are not specific to a subject speciality but which occur regularly in

scientific and technical texts – e.g reflection, intense, accumulate, tendency, isolate and dense” (1984:57-58)

According to Inmann (cited in Kennedy Bolitho 1984: 58) sub-technical vocabulary seems to be involved in almost 80 per cent of scientific texts which is a quite high occurrence Furthermore, as Trimble (1985:129) emphasized the sub-technical lexis have their meanings in „general‟ English and take on specialized meanings within a technical context, which often represent a problem for both the learner and the teacher Consequently, it is the sub-technical lexis that teacher should give high priority when teaching ESP vocabulary

- Highly technical vocabulary – these terms are very specific and so may be less comprehensible Every subject has its set of highly technical vocabulary and the gap between the generally known terms and those known just by real specialists is quite wide in some fields Kennedy and Bolitho (1984: 57) suggest that these terms “should arise, in context, in the specialist classes and are not normally the teacher‟s responsibility”

1.5.4 Identify the needs of ESP learners for vocabulary

According to Hutchinson and Waters (1987: 55) necessities can be understood as “what the learner needs to know in order to function in the target situation effectively,” which in terms

of vocabulary means to know vocabulary which is “commonly used in the situation identified”

To define what the learner already knows is necessary The learner‟s lack is then the gap between what he knows and the target necessities In terms of vocabulary it means to determine which of the words that are commonly used in the identified situation are in the learners lexicon and which are necessary to be taught

So far, the objective aspects of the target needs were taken into consideration, but also the learner has his own idea of his needs Since the learner motivation is of high importance in both the learning and teaching process, the learner‟s wants is the area that the teacher has also

to pay attention to when teaching ESP vocabulary In short “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)

Altogether, as Kennedy and Bolitho (1984:22-23) point out that the more the teacher specifies the learner‟s needs the more the learner‟s expectations are increased and the teacher has something to live up to

1.5.5 Important aspects of ESP vocabulary teaching

As having mentioned in section 2.3.2 “What needs to be taught about the vocabulary item” it

is the meaning and form of the word that should be focused on in ESP vocabulary teaching Consequently, Kennedy and Bolitho state that “the study of word formation and word relationships” (1984:59), or sense relations, constitutes the two important aspects of teaching ESP vocabulary

1.5.5.1 Word formation

Within this category Kennedy and Bolitho (1984:59) present two areas: the meaning of prefixes and suffixes, and the identification of word classes Trimble (1985:131) pays attention to noun compounding Many specialized lexical items either technical or sub-

technical consist of a root, a prefix and a suffix of Latin or Greek origin, such as mono-, hyper-, - logy, or -meter, -ate Students “need to know how suffixes and prefixes work”

(Harmer 1991:157) It is useful for a learner to guess the meaning of a word by using his knowledge of the meaning of a prefix or a suffix

Kennedy and Bolitho (1984:61) emphasise the learner‟s ability to identify the word class (a noun, a verb or a modifier) in the process of deducing the meaning a text Suffixes often help

to identify the grammatical function of a word and can carry a meaning which may help identify the word In other words “there is a strong relationship between the root of the word and its suffix” (Kennedy and Bolitho 1984: 61), which could be used in many exercises in order to practise the identification of word classes

Furthermore, there is technical vocabulary which is represented by noun compounds or “noun strings” (Trimble 1985:130) Noun compounds consist of two or more nouns and necessary adjectives (sometimes a verb or an adverb can be a part of noun strings) The whole nouns string “expresses a ´single noun‟ idea” and so long phrasing in texts can be avoided (Trimble 1985:130-131) However, as Trimble points out, noun compounding is not common to all languages Thus, both understanding and producing noun compounds makes problems for many non-native students and to analyse them is useful to practise (1985:131,163)

“Compounds are usually formed from prepositional phrases or relative clauses and many can

be back-formed into one or the other of these” (Trimble1985:131) Trimble states basic rules how to understand and produce from simple to very complex noun strings

The complex and very complex noun strings present difficulties also for native speakers and

so these “types of compounds are best left out of teaching plans, except, perhaps, for a few demonstrations of their difficulty” (Trimble 1985:163)

1.5.5.2 Word relations

Kennedy and Bolitho stress that “words do not exist in isolation” (1984:62) and so they should be taught in context Furthermore, “the meaning of a word can only be understood and learnt in terms of relationship with other words in the language” (Gairns and Redman 1986:22) In order to practise these word relationships the learners should do activities involving synonyms (words with similar meaning), antonyms (words with opposite meaning), hyponyms (subordinate terms), collocations, phrasal verbs (a base verb and an adverbial particle) and exercises focused on some other types of relations (e.g cause and effect) Contextual clues is an exercise designed to practise word relationship whereas “building up sets of words related to one another not only practises vocabulary skills but also develops the concept of classification” (Kennedy and Bolitho 1984:64)

Gairns and Redman point out that “the use of synonyms is often a quick and efficient way of explaining unknown words” (1986:23) However, it is important to emphasize that “words seldom have absolute synonyms” (Harmer 1991:156) The ´oppositeness´ may take the form

of complementarity, converseness, gradable antonyms and multiple incompatibles (Gairns and Redman 1986:24-28)

“When two or more words frequently occur together they make what is known as a

´collocation´ Examples are intense heat, dense system (of roots), but complex system (of analysis), to rule out a possibility, etc.” (Kennedy and Bolitho 1984:65) To know

collocations means to use a word naturally (Radman 2003:26)

To sum up, word relations not only help the learner of ESP vocabulary understand the meaning of a word and learn how to use it appropriately but they are also valuable means of presentation in ESP vocabulary teaching

1.5.5 3 Presentation techniques

Bearing in mind the special aspects of ESP vocabulary teaching “many of the techniques traditionally used in ELT work can be exploited in ESP vocabulary teaching especially at the early stages when both subject and linguistic content are at an elementary level” (Kennedy and Bolitho 1984:59) Thus presentation and practising can be realised by means of visual techniques and other techniques mentioned above Sometimes even translation will be useful and necessary

However, at the intermediate and higher levels the learners should be given the definition, explanation or detailed description of the meaning of a new word When presenting ESP vocabulary teachers should use the context, associated ideas or make use of synonyms or antonyms to explain the meaning of an unknown word

In order not to discourage the learners the teacher‟s presentation of ESP vocabulary should be interesting, not complicated, motivating, memorable and amusing

1.5.5.4 Practice and consolidation techniques

As Kennedy and Bolitho assert the process of the introduction of the systems of vocabulary

to the learners and teaching them to classify and guess the meaning of an unknown word is linked with “the study skill of noting and ordering vocabulary for future reference, and with decisions about the priorities of different items” (1984:65) It means that a student should be encouraged to think about whether the word is very important for him and so an example in context would be useful or whether he just needs a short definition to recognize the word next time (Kennedy and Bolitho 1984:66)

Learners can organize new items in different ways However, since “words are not learnt mechanically, as little packets of meaning, but associatively” (Morgan and Rinvolucri 2004:7) the most effective and favourite strategies in ESP vocabulary teaching are diagrams, mind maps, word trees, grouping words by activity or process, by categories (building materials: stone, sand, wood), by word families (to build, builder, building), by topic (at a building site), synonyms or antonyms “As organization is the key to memory, this is an important part of teaching your students how to be efficient learners”(Gairns and Redman 1986:100)

ESP vocabulary can be practised by means of similar techniques used for practising ELT vocabulary Thus, the discussions and simulations focused on working environment and technical issues requiring the learners´ knowledge of ESP vocabulary are useful

Written tasks involve writing reports and instructions for use, giving summaries from technical articles, describing processes, filling in diagrams, describing graphs and tables, or classifying items into lists etc In addition, these days many students participate in various competitions where they introduce their projects and so they may try to develop a brief English summary of their presentations and their teacher should encourage them

1.5.5.5 Dictionaries and online - dictionaries

Dictionaries are the best resources where new words and new uses for old words can be encountered Whereas the students at elementary level prefer using a good bilingual dictionary, the students at the intermediate level should be encouraged to use a monolingual dictionary since it is the best source of information about meaning, spelling, pronunciation, word formation, grammar, and idiomatic use of a word (Harmer 1991:175) As to the ESP vocabulary teaching special attention should be paid to the sub-technical vocabulary when working with both monolingual and bilingual dictionaries When students discover that the meanings of some familiar words may be very different and strange, they will understand that

it is worth to buy a good dictionary in their subject-matter (Trimble 1985:129)

The Internet offers some truly unique opportunities that can give teaching new impetus and

be quite a lot of fun for the students One of these new opportunities is the ability to find the meanings of technical words that are not available in the traditional At the same time, students are exposed to new contexts in which the words are used Therefore, learners can quickly improve specific target vocabulary Most importantly, ESP students get a feel for how English is used in their applied field

1.5.6 Features of vocabulary in tourism

When talking about feature of vocabulary of English for Tourism, theorists and researchers have shown different opinions Lam (2004) reminds us that tourism English is very different from general English and that priority should be given to teaching the use of keywords However, separating technical vocabulary, in this case tourism vocabulary, from general vocabulary has not been an easy task (Briggs and Lee, 2002) since this is time-consuming

and heavily dependent on the selector‟s expertise in English education and specialist knowledge of the field (Utiyama et al., 2004)

With respect to sub-section 1.5.3 “what is ESP vocabulary” mentioned above, the study of the lexicon of English for Tourism include the following levels:

- Technical Abbreviations: – e.g APEX, AAA Reservation, GIT

- Sub-technical vocabulary – e.g reservation, confirmation, facilities, courtesy

- Highly technical vocabulary – e.g gueridon service, uniformed service, a la carte menu

In addition to the above – mentioned terms, foreign phrases, which, in a certain extent, may

make learners confused, also emerge in tourism contexts Some examples are client, entrée, table d’hote, and so on

Moreover, the concept and content of tourism, like some other subjects, change by the time The word frequency, one of the very important factor involving in the study, does not stay the same Words of new concepts rise considerably in frequency as they are in the recent

concern e.g eco- tour, eco - tourism, responsible tourists, greenwashing, sustainable development, etc However, some other words may be out of preference like air-hoster or air- hostess and are replaced by flight attendant

With such informative and descriptive materials, e.g the guidebooks, brochure and leaflet, it

is of no surprise to see how many adjectives and adverbs are used Tourism, in the act of promotion, as well as in the accounts of its practitioners and clients, has a discourse of its own Seen in this light, the language of tourism is thus a great deal more than a metaphor

CHAPTER 2: OVERVIEW OF ENGLISH TEACHING AND

LEARNING AT FACULTY OF TOURISM

2.1 The students

Like the majority of students in the USSH, VNU, most students of Faculty of Tourism are at low level of English Moreover, there exists a considerable disparity of English competence among students Due to the fact that most of the students in the Faculty belong to group C, their English is, obviously, not good Students from rural and mountainous areas, where learning English is facing great difficulty, account for 70% - 80% of the total number of students in the faculty Similarly, the English competence of the students of group D is also different because some of them had studied for 7 years at high school while the other had done for only 3 years

Although their English competence is limited, the students are not fully aware of its role in their future job, or further, their career Motivation plays an essential role in the success of learning foreign language in general and learning English in particular However, many students study foreign language only because it is compulsory with many class hours not because it is their hobby or passion to study it There exists an idea among students, which is totally negative, that the examination is too difficult and not relevant with the curriculum It

is such idea that results in inappropriate attitude towards learning English among many students

2.2 The teachers

The Department of Foreign Languages of the USSH – VNU has 60 teachers but there are only 3 to 5 teachers in charge of teaching ESP for Tourism Faculty The head of the group, who is early forties, has got M.A degree in Australia while the others, aged from 25 to 33, are either following M.A course or holding M.A degree of Post graduate Department - CFL, VNU The teachers are all enthusiastic and willing to adopt new teaching methods as well as collecting and designing additional materials for students with a hope of improving their English study

2.3 The teaching facilities, syllabus, and course book

The facilities for English teaching and learning at the Faculty of Tourism – USSH, VNU in general, are not favourable The classrooms are designed in the traditional layout which hinders opportunity for communication between students It is difficult for students to find and to change partners in pair and group work Cassette tape and disc players are provided but not all of them are in good condition Projectors are available but they seem inaccessible

to the teachers of English

For the basic course, students are supposed to complete 10 credits of English The course

books used as main teaching materials at basic level are the New Headway series In addition

to the main course books, other books are introduced as additional materials which include

the Lifeline series, the English KnowHow series, the English Files series, and the Connect

series

The number of credits for English in the period of ESP learning varies among different Faculties in the university (from 4 to 6 credits) However, the students of Tourism are supposed to complete 6 credits of ESP which starts in the fourth term For the first 3 credits, students are supposed to complete the first 8 units (from Unit 1 to Unit 8) of the ESP course book The rest of the book (from Unit 9 to Unit 16) should be completed in the next 3 credits

The theme – based ESP course book, namely English for Students of Tourism, designed and

edited about ten years ago by a group of teachers of Department of Foreign languages, USSH – VNU, was used as teaching material for the students of intermediate and lower – intermediate level It consists of sections that help students to drill skills as speaking, reading, and writing In addition, there is also a section for grammar However, there is not a separated section for listening or vocabulary

The ESP course book consists of sixteen units with various topics related to different aspects

of tourism However, the themes may be classified into two main sections hotel service and travel service Each unit consists of three sections (see Appendix I) which are subdivided into four related parts as follows:

 Grammar: This subsection consists of grammatical aspects which have been introduced previously or will appear in the following subsections as speaking, reading or writing

 Speaking: Tasks and activities based on the topic of the section, i.e booking a room in a hotel, answering an inquiry, dealing with guests’ complaint, etc., are

given here Pair-work and role-play are frequently applied in this subsection

 Reading: A topic – based short passage is presented setting the scene as well as providing general information for comprehension check Activities for vocabulary learning and acquisition are designed in this subsection

 Writing: In this subsection, various forms of writing activities are designed i.e

sentence building, sentence restructuring, letter and fax writing Vietnamese –

English translation and vice versa are also provided in this section Because of time shortage, these activities were sometimes left as homework which would be checked in the next lesson

Apart from additional reading passages given after two units, the teacher also provided additional reading materials as homework or supplementary listening tasks which were based

on the themes and topic of each unit or specific section These materials had been selected

from some other Tourism course books such as High Season, First Class, Five Star (published by Oxford University Press), Welcome! (published by Cambridge University Press), and English for International Tourism (published by Longman)

Looking at the structure of the course book, we do not find a separated subsection for vocabulary activities We also do not find a section for listening – an important source of enriching and practicing vocabulary Thus, there arises the need for more activities designed

to improve the ESP vocabulary for students

2.4 Problems of the students of tourism

The teaching and learning English at the Faculty of Tourism is affected by some constraints such as the large size classes, poor teaching facilities, passive way of learning, and boring activities in the course book Moreover, students‟ background knowledge of English is very poor although they have learnt English for several years

With regard to vocabulary, the researcher realizes that students‟ vocabulary is quite poor They are also facing some difficulties with vocabulary such as remembering words and phrases, pronouncing words correctly, using words correctly in sentences, writing words correctly, identifying part of speech, etc

Unfortunately, vocabulary activities in the course book are not sufficient There is neither a separated section for vocabulary in each unit nor activities for revising words which have been introduced in previous lessons If more activities concerning vocabulary were applied there would be more opportunities for students to be exposed to words Thus, their vocabulary learning would be improved

CHAPTER 3: THE STUDY

3.1 Subjects of the study

The study has the participation of two English classes of 60 third-year students consisting of

4 males and 56 females aged from 20 to 23 years old They all started the ESP course in the previous semester

In general, their background in each class is quite similar, that is, most of the students in class A1 are supposed to be at the intermediate level while some are at lower – intermediate level

of English The students of A2 class are supposed to be at lower intermediate level Further more, the average scores of the final test for the previous semester helped to arrange students

in small groups of same level

3.2 Instruments and materials used in the study

3.2.1 The questionnaires

Two sets of questionnaire were provided to the students before and after the application of extra vocabulary activities The following areas of investigation are covered by the first questionnaire (see Appendix 2):

Table 3.1: Points of investigation of the first questionnaire

Points of investigation Questions in the questionnaire

1 Personal information about students Questions 1, 2, 3

2 Students‟ English proficiency Questions 4, 5

3 The students‟ attitude towards vocabulary learning Questions 6, 7, 8, 9

4 The students‟ preferred vocabulary learning strategy

6 The students‟ comments on vocabulary activity in the

current ESP course book

Questions 12, 13

After the collected information had been analyzed, the teacher would design activities and decide how to apply them to his class