Using simulation tasks to improve ESP vocabulary for the second year students of automotive engineering technology department at sao do university

In teaching vocabulary in general and ESP vocabulary in particular, teachers employ manytechniques and activities in order to help their students retain learned lexical items.Therefore,

In teaching vocabulary in general and ESP vocabulary in particular, teachers employ manytechniques and activities in order to help their students retain learned lexical items.Therefore, this thesis is carried out with the aim to: (1) investigates the difficultiesencountered by the second year students at AETD, SDU when learning ESP vocabulary,(2) to find out the techniques/ activities that teachers at SDU used in teaching ESPvocabulary, and (3) to find out how far the use of simulation tasks improve ESP vocabulary forthe second year students at AETD, SDU

To achieve the given aim of the study, a pre – task survey questionnaire and a post – taskquestionnaire have been designed to gather information from 170 students The findingsshow that pronunciation and retention of word meaning are factors prevent students frommastering vocabulary and among various techniques employed by the teachers at SDU,simulation tasks prove its effectiveness in the ESP vocabulary improvement of thestudents

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Declaration……… i

Acknowledgements……… ii

Abstract……… iii

Table of contents……… iv

List of tables and figures……… viii

List of abbreviation……… ix

PART A: INTRODUCTION 1 Rationale……… 1

2 Aims of the study……… 2

3 Research questions……… 2

4 Research methodology……… 2

5 Scope of the study……… 3

6 Design of the study……… 3

PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER I: LITERATURE REVIEW 1.1 Simulation……… 4

1.1.1 Definitions……… 4

1.1.2 Characteristics of simulation……… 5

1.1.2.1 Reality of function……… 5

1.1.2.2 Simulated environment………

5 1.1.2.3 Structured environment………

6 1.1.3 Advantages of simulation……… 6

1.1.4 Criteria for applying simulation……… 8

1.2 Vocabualry……… 9

1.2.1 Definitions……… 9

1.2.2 Vocabulary classification……… 10

1.2.3 The role of vocabulary in language learning……… 10

1.2.4 Aspects of vocabulary teaching……… 11

1.2.4.1 Form……… 11

1.2.4.2 Meaning………. 12

1.2.4.3 Usage………. 12

1.3 Techniques in vocabulary teaching………. 14

1.3.1 Techniques in presenting and practising new words……… 14

1.3.1.1 Presenting techniques……… 14

1.3.1.2 Practising techniques………. 15

1.3.2 Vocabulary teaching in ESP……… 17

1.3.3 Simulation tasks in ESP vocabulary teaching……… 18

1.3.3.1 Simulation tasks………. 18

1.3.3.2 Simulation tasks in ESP vocabulary teaching……… 19

CHAPTER 2: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 2.1 English teaching and learning context in SDU – background information… 21

2.1.1 The course objectives and the textbook “ English for Automobile Engineering 21

2.1.2 Students’ English background and vocabulary learning……… 21

2.1.3 The teachers and current ESP teaching methods……… 22

2.2 Methodology……… 23

2.2.1 Subjects of the study……… 23

2.2.2 Methods of the study ……… 23

2.2.3 Instruments……… 23

2.2.3.1 The pre – task questionaire……… 23

2.2.3.2 The post – task questionaire………

23 2.2.3.3 Interview……….

24 2.2.5 Study procedures……… 24

2.2.5 Data analysis……… 24

CHAPTER 3: DATA ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS 3.1 Data analysis of the pre – task survey questionaire……… 25

3.1.1 The students’ perception and purpose in learning ESP vocabulary……… 25

3.1.1.1 The students’ opinion of the importance of ESP vocabulary learning……… 25

3.1.1.1 The students’s purpose in learning ESP vocabulary………. 25

3.1.2 The students’ evaluation of vocabulary in the coursebook English for Automotive Engineering……… 26

3.1.2.1 How many terminologies? ……… 26

3.1.2.2 How difficult is the terminology? ……… 27

3.1.3 The students’ difficulties in learning ESP vocabulary……… 28

3.1.3.1 Difficulties encountered by the students when learning ESP vocabulary…… 28

3.1.3.2 Factors causing the difficulties……… 29

3.1.4 Techniques/ activities exploited by the teachers in teaching ESP vocabulary… 30

3.1.4.1 Techniques exploited by the teachers in presenting ESP vocabulary………… 30

3.1.4.2 Techniques exploited by the teachers in practising ESP vocabulary…………

31 3.1.4.3 Techniques exploited by the teachers in consolidating ESP vocabulary……

32 3.1.4.4 The students’ expectation toward teacher’s vocabulary teaching techniques 33

3.2 Data analysis of the post – task survey questionaires………. 34

3.2.1.1 The students’ interest in simulation tasks………

3.2.1.2 The students’ participation in simulation tasks………

3.2.1.3 The students’s feelings after taking part in simulation tasks………

3.2.2 The benefits and effectiveness of simulation tasks toward ESP vocabulary learning………

3.2.2.1 The students’ ESP vocabulary practice situation through simulation tasks… 3.2.2.2 The students’ confirmation of the effectiveness of simulation tasks toward ESP vocabulary learning………

3.2.3 The students’ preferences and expectations to make use of the simulation tasks in ESP vocabulary learning………

3.2.3.1 The students’s preference to make use of simulation tasks in ESP vocabulary learning………

3.2.3.2 The students’ expectation for the frequency of exploiting simulation tasks… 3.3 Findings………

3.4 Sample of simulation tasks used in ESP teaching………

PART C: RECOMMENDATIONS AND CONCLUSION 34 34 35 36 36 37 39 39 40 40 42 1 Summary of the findings……… 45

2 Suggestions on applying simulation tasks to improve ESP vocabulary……… 45

3 Limitations of the study and Recommendations for further study ……… 46

4 Conclusion……… 46 REFERENCES

APPENDICES

LIST OF TABLES

Table 1: Knowledge of a word

Table 2: Garage job sheet

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1: Students' opinion of the importance of ESP vocabulary

Figure 2: Students' purpose in learning ESP vocabulary

Figure 3: Students’ evaluation of the amount of ESP terminologies

Figure 4: Students’ evaluation of the difficulty level of ESP terminologies

Figure 5: Students’ difficulties in learning of ESP vocabulary

Figure 6: Factors caused students’ difficulties in learning of ESP vocabulary

Figure 7: Frequency of techniques used in presenting ESP vocabulary

Figure 8: Students’ preference toward vocabulary presenting technique

Figure 9: Students’ preference toward vocabulary practising technique

Figure 10: Students’ preference toward vocabulary consolidating technique

Figure 11: Students’ expectation toward vocabulary teaching technique

Figure 12: Students’ interest in simulation tasks

Figure 13: Students’ participation in simulation tasks

Figure 14: Students’ feelings after taking part in simulation tasks

Figure 15: Students’ ESP vocabulary practice in simulation tasks

Figure 16: Students’ confirmation of the effectiveness of simulation tasks toward ESP

vocabulary learning

Figure 17: How effective?

Figure 18: How beneficial?

Figure 19: Students’ preference to simulation tasks

Figure 20: The frequency of exploiting simulation tasks

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

AETD : Automotive Engineering Technology Department

EAE : English for Automotive Engineering

EAP : English for Academic Purposes

ED : English Division

EGP : English for General Purposes

ESP : English for Special Purposes

L2 : Second language

SDU : Sao Do University

TFLD : Tourism and Foreign Language Department

PART A: INTRODUCTION

This part presents the rationale, aims, research question, research methodology and scope

of the study In addition, design of the study is also briefly mentioned

1 Rationale

Vocabulary teaching and learning plays an important role in the process of languageacquisition because there is a close relationship between vocabulary and the four languageskills of listening, speaking, reading and writing Reality shows that due to the shortage ofvocabulary, many learners fail to communicate smoothly though their knowledge of

grammar is fairly good Therefore, Wilkins (1972) emphasized: “Without grammar, very little can be conveyed, without vocabulary nothing can be conveyed”(p.11).

In addition, with the development of profession in many fields such as engineering,information science, finance and banking…, there is a worldwide increase in the need forEnglish for specific purpose (ESP) However, the prominent difference between ESP andEnglish for General Purpose (EGP) is the lexicon as Zimmerman (1997 as cited in Eyraud,

el al, 200, p.2) states “Vocabulary is central to language and of critical importance to the typical language learner” and it is further described by Jahangard (2007, p.8) that

vocabulary, particularly specialist vocabulary (or terminology), is a key element of ESP

At Sao Do University, ESP is offered to both English majors and non – English majors.However, ESP vocabulary teaching and learning have not been paid enough attention andstill far from satisfactory due to many reasons such as course book, mixed – level students,large class, low learner motivation and poor participation Thus, it is necessary for teachers

to create an active and motivated learning environment to get students to involve inlearning vocabulary

Among various kinds of techniques, simulation is defined as “reality of function in a simulated and structured environment” (Jones, K 1982) Simulation with its characteristics

and advantages is considered one of the most useful activities that can help studentsenlarge their vocabulary Moreover, up to now, there has been little research on theapplication of simulation tasks in improving ESP vocabulary for foreign language learners

For the above reasons, the author would like to carry out this research entitled, “Using

simulation tasks to improve ESP vocabulary for the second – year students

of Automotive Engineering Technology Department at Sao Do University” The author does

hope that this study will help the teachers in some ways to find appropriate teachingmethod to improve vocabulary for their students

2 Aims of the study

The study aims at investigating the use of simulation tasks to improve vocabulary amongthe second year students at Automotive Engineering Technology Department (AETD),SDU The main purposes of the study are summarized below:

1 To investigate the difficulties encountered by the second year students at AETD, SDU when learning ESP vocabulary

2 To find out the techniques that teachers at SDU used in teaching ESP vocabulary

3 To find out how far the use of simulation tasks improved ESP vocabulary for the second year students at AETD, SDU

3 Research questions

1 What difficulties do students of Automotive Engineering Technology

Department face with during the process of acquiring vocabulary?

2 What are the techniques that teachers at SDU employ in teaching ESP

5 Scope of the study

Due to the limitation of time and scale of a minor thesis, it is impossible to cover everyaspect of language theory and practice in this study Thus, the study focuses on examiningthe use of simulation tasks to improve ESP vocabulary for the second year students atAETD, SDU Last but not least, the term “ESP vocabulary” is restricted to “vocabulary inEnglish for Automotive Engineering”

6 Design of the study

The study is designed with 3 parts

Part A: “Introduction” presents the rationale for study, aims of the study, the

scope of the study, methods as well as research questions

Part B: “ Development” consists of three chapters

Chapter one “Literature review” displays the theoretical background of the

research related to vocabulary theory (definition, classification, roles) and simulation tasks(definition, characteristics, advantages) and the discussion of simulation tasks in ESPvocabulary teaching

Chapter two “Research Methodology” presents the methodology performed in

the study: subjects of the study, the data collection method, instruments as well as process

of data collection and data analysis

Chapter three “Data analysis and findings” deals with documentation, data

analysis This focuses on presenting, analyzing and discussing the results obtained from thestudy based on the pre – task survey questionnaire, the post – task surveyquestionnaire ,interviews

Part C: “Recommendations and conclusion” summarizes the findings,

implication, recommendations and future directions for further research

PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW

As mentioned above, vocabulary plays an important role in learning and teaching alanguage Many techniques and activities are employed to enlarge learners’ vocabulary.Simulation has recently considered one of the most useful activities in improving thestudents’s word retention The literature review has been made in the hope ofdemonstrating the scope of the study theoretically in terms of ESP vocabulary andsimulation tasks

1.1 Simulation

1.1.1 Definitions

Simulation is a kind of potential activity that shows much effectiveness to language

proficiency The term “simulation” is defined by many researchers and the latest

definitions can be found in “Longman Dictionary of Language Teaching and AppliedLinguistics” by Jack C Richards & Richard Smith(2002, p.487) as follows

“classroom activities which reproduce or simulate real situations and which often involve dramatization and group discussion… In simulation activities, learners are given roles in a situation, tasks, or a problem to be solved, and are given instructions to follow (for example, an employer–employee discussion over wage increases in a factory) The participants then make decisions and proposals Consequences are “simulated” on the basis of decisions the participants take They later discuss their actions, feelings, and what happened.”

This definition seems to cover three definitions of following researchers

Maley and Duff (1978) call simulation "an attempt to place learners in circumstances resembling as closely as possible, those they will actually meet with in daily life" Through

this definition, they recognize simulations as involving overt role-playing On the otherhand, Livingstone (1983) declares that simulation is often a problem-solving activity towhich the student brings his own personality, experience and opinions while Stephen M

Smith (1984) defines a simulation as " a means of activating the knowledge and language associated with topics you and your students are studying.”

However, Dougill (1987) in “Drama Activities for Language Teaching” states that

“Simulation can be defined as a structured set of circumstances that mirror real life and participants act as instructed” Meanwhile, in “Simulations in Language Teaching” it is defined as “reality of function in a simulated and structured environment” Jones, K (1982,

p5) This definition shows three essential elements in simulations: reality of function,simulated environment, and structure The researcher further states that reality of function

is the key concept in simulation

The two definitions agree in that simulation “mirror real life” and “reality of function in a simulated and structured environment”, which means that simulation is not real life, it is

only a type of simulating real life in a simulated environment

The most important part of simulations is having participants accept the reality of function(role and duties) fully, not thinking as students but taking the role; otherwise the simulationsimply will not work Acceptance of the reality of function means that a participant whohas the function of doctor must examine the patient, communicating effectively to do thejob The role of students in simulations, therefore, is (1) taking the functional roles such asreporter, survivor, or customer as a participant, (2) stepping into the event, and (3) shapingthe event, carrying out their duties and responsibilities (as citied on Lyu, Y, 2006, p13)

1.1.2.2 Simulated environment

The environment must be simulated; otherwise it is not a simulation A learner - driverunder instruction on the roads, or a student-teacher involved in classroom practice, or amedical probationer examining patients are not in a simulated environment

“facts” of the simulation must be provided, not invented, by the participants.

The cohesion of structure means that a simulation is more involved and involving than asingle transactional episode, such as a shopper returning a broken teapot, or a travelerasking for the time of the next train

In practice, a simulation can be thought of as a case study, but with the participants on theinside, having the power and responsibility to shape the event and tackle the problem

1.1.3 Advantages of simulation

Jones (1989) draws the advantages of simulations as follows:

a) Simulation removes the teacher, who as controller, is in an ideal position to monitor the language and behavior

b) Simulation provides realism of both action and (usually) documentation

c) Simulation contains built-in motivation, and language which is cohesive in action, focusing on points of duty and function

d) Simulation helps break the ice and be used for cross-cultural purposes

e) Simulation is an excellent means of assessing language ability

Doff (1990) describes the benefits of using simulation in the language classroom as

follows:

a) They are fun

b) They help to prepare students for real-life communication by simulating reality insituations In this sense, they bridge the gap between the classroom and the world outside theclassroom

c) They can be used for assessment and feedback purposes at the end of a textbook unit.d) They can consolidate learning and allow students the opportunity to discover their own level of mastery over specific language content

e) By simulating reality, they allow beginning students and EFL students to feel that they are really using the language for a communicative purpose.

f) They heighten students’ self-esteem and improve their ability to work cooperatively.g) They allow students to experiment with language they have learned

h) They allow students to express who they are, their sense of humor, and their own personal communication style

i) They offer good listening practice

j) They provide an opportunity for practicing the rules of social behavior and the various sociolinguistic elements of communication

k) They engage the learner physically This involves the learner more fully and can be an aid in language retention

l) They can be liberating for many students who may enjoy expressing themselves through

a role or a mask but may be inhibited about expressing themselves otherwise during the class.m) They provide a context for understanding attitudes, expectations, and behaviors related

to the target culture

n) They may be used as a stimulus to discussion and problem solving

o) They can be extensions of more controlled practice using dialogues

Furthermore, Sam (2008) has drawn the advantages of using simulation as the teaching technique in ELT as follows:

a) Stimulates authentic conversations

b) The fluency activities

c) Suitable for consolidation

d) Creates sensitivity and a sense of awareness

e) Increases motivation

f) A break from routine

g) Prepare students for real life and unpredictability

To mention advantages of simulation, these three linguists agree that simulation offers highmotivation, a useful assessment method, a practical communicative environment, as well asfluency practice, etc

1.1.4 Criteria for applying simulation tasks

Simulation tasks require some teaching procedures in implementing them in ELT

classroom

According to Littlewood (1988), steps in applying simulation are as follows:

1) The students are asked to imagine themselves in a situation which could occur outside the classroom, such as a series of business negotiations

2) The students are asked to adopt a specific role in the situation In some cases, they may simply have to act as themselves In others, they may have to adopt a simulated identity

3) The students are asked to behave as if the situation really existed, in accordance with their roles

Furthermore, Joyce and Weil in Savage (1996) draw a complete simulation phase as follows:

1) Overview: During the phase, we introduce pupils to the simulation Parts to be played

by individual learners are described, and assignments to these parts are made General rules ofthe simulation are introduced at this time

2) Training: This amounts to a “walk through” of processes to be followed once thesimulation begins We select several learners, assign those parts, and use them to illustratehow class members will be involved once the simulation begins

Following this introductory information, pupils should be allowed to review their roles Ifthe simulation features several groups, group members should be allowed to meet todiscuss their roles and to plot preliminary strategy

3) Activity: This is when the actual simulation activity takes place During this time, weplay the roles of discussion, coach and referee At times, students may not grasp the point of thesimulation We may find it necessary to stop the action for a moment to help pupils think abouttheir decisions and to explain the purpose of the activity

It is common for disputes to arise during simulation activities Often there are situations forwhich the rules fail to provide a specific action guideline When this happens, we need tointervene and make a ruling that will allow the simulation to continue

4) Debriefing: This is a critical important part of any simulation activity Duringdebriefing, we lead a discussion highlighting various events that occurred during the activity.The discussion help students recall things that might have escape their notice during the fast pace

of the activity itself Debriefing discussions sometimes focus on specific decisions made andtheir desirability relative to alternatives Sometimes,

debriefing concerns the design of the simulation Often, individuals will want to critiquetheir own performances and suggest ways they might act differently were they to do theexercise another time.

Jones (1989) particularly emphasizes that the procedure of simulation should include thefollowing steps:

1) Decide on the priority of aims – icebreakers, assessment and so on

2) Estimate the interactive language competence of the students

3) Search a wide area, including simulation literature

4) If the language level is suitable, then examine the mechanics of the simulation: time, numbers, hardware, space, organization and so on

5) If it seems suitable, then participate in it personally

6) Consider whether it needs adapting, but bear in mind that over adaptation can kill agood simulation by removing or altering elements which help the simulation to run smoothly inpractice

essence of learning a language

Ur (1996, p.60) defines “vocabulary is words we teach in the foreign language” However,

she explains in detail that words are not just single ones but may be a compound of two orthree words or multi word idioms In addition, the Longman dictionary of language and

linguistics defines vocabulary is “a set of lexemes, including single words, compound words and idioms” These two definitions are similar in the point that vocabulary consists

of not only single words but also phrases, idioms, chunks, etc

From the mentioned definitions, it can be concluded that vocabulary is a number of words

or a bunch of words that should be familiar with someone and have in his/her mind In

other words, vocabulary is the word capacity of someone when he is writing or reading atext, or when he or she is expressing own ideas in practical communication So, it would beimpossible for one who does not have enough vocabulary to communicate his ideas asclearly as he would like either in oral or written

1.2.2 Vocabulary classification

There have been different ways of classifying vocabulary according to different criteria

Semantically, vocabulary items are divided into notional or lexical words and functional or grammatical words Notional words form a large amount of the speakers’ vocabulary and address objects, actions, qualities and have meaning in themselves while functional words

only have their meaning in relation to other words with which they are used Particles,articles, prepositions, etc belong to that category

Grammatically, vocabulary items are classified into different parts of speech such asnouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, prepositions, pronouns, etc Each part of speech has itown position complying with certain grammatical rules and relating to others

Morphologically, vocabulary is separated into simple words, derived words and compoundwords Simple words consist of a root morpheme; derived words comprise of a root andone or more derivational morpheme and compound words have at least two roots with orwithout derivational morphemes

However, methodologically, vocabulary is categorized into active and passive vocabulary

or productive or receptive vocabulary The words which learner can understand, pronounce

correctly, use effectively in speaking and writing are active words The words whichlearner can recognize and understand when they occur in a context, but which he cannotproduce or use correctly himself even when he wants to are passive words

A foreign language teacher should understand these classifications in order to choose themost relevant words that suit the learners’ level of proficiency so that they can enlarge theirvocabulary actively and productively

1.2.3 The role of vocabulary in language learning

Regarding the function of vocabulary in language teaching and learning, Wilkins (1972,

p.11) stresses that “vocabulary is one of the three dimensions of a language (phonetic, grammar, vocabulary) Without grammar, very little can be conveyed, without vocabulary, nothing can be conveyed” To talk about the importance of vocabulary McCarthy (1990:

viii) also states that no matter how well the student learns grammar, no matter howsuccessfully 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 It can be seen that one canuse grammar correctly, but he cannot express himself properly because word source isinadequate Reed (2000, p 1) agree that words are the basic building blocks of language, theunits of meaning from which larger structures such as sentences, paragraphs and whole texts areformed Thus, to become a successful communicator in a foreign language, it is important tomaster the meaning as well as the use of a word.

Wallace (1982) further emphasizes that “failure to find the words one needs to express himself is the most frustrating experience in speaking another language” Without having

sufficient vocabulary, it is impossible to communicate effectively in English Increasingthe size of one’s vocabulary, also called vocabulary building, is generally considered to be

an important part of both learning a language and improving one’s skills in a language inwhich one is already proficient Therefore, it is highly essential for English teachers to helptheir students in mastering vocabulary

1.2.4 Aspects in vocabulary teaching

Nation (2001) divides word knowledge into three areas: knowledge of form, knowledge ofmeaning and knowledge of use It is clear that words enable learners to convey any oflanguage skills and can be a key of success of language learning Introducing or teachingnew vocabulary is not an easy task, therefore, the instructor should provide his learnerswith its form, meaning, and use simultaneously

1.2.4.1 Form

In learning a language, learners need to know how to pronounce and write the wordscorrectly That means the word’s oral form (pronunciation) and written form (spelling)should be carefully, accurately presented and learned However, there exist so manyexceptions in English pronunciation It is really difficult for foreign language learners totackle the pronunciation of new vocabulary because of the complex relationship betweensound and spelling

In addition, grammar of a new word should be instructed, for example, the grammaticalfunction, the unpredictable change of form in certain grammatical context, the regularityand irregularity, the singular and plural forms of the new word Therefore, Nation (2005)

1.1.4.2 Meaning

According to Nations (2001, cited in Milton, 2009, p.14) word meaning can be divided into

three parts The first sub-division, form and meaning, is the part most of us will think of in

terms of knowing a word It involves being able to link the form, however it occurs, to ameaning, and often in a foreign language this involves forming a link between a foreignlanguage word and its translation in the native language Languages are not exactly parallel

to each other in the way they use their vocabulary, however The other sub-divisions,

concepts and referents and associations, indicate, therefore, that a word in one language

might require several translations or carry subtly different meanings and associations inanother language A word such as “fat” carries very negative connotations in English whendescribing a person, and native speakers should use this word with some care

It should be noted that meaning of words is closely related to each others There arevarious such relationships as synonyms, antonyms, hyponym, chunks of language, etc.Thus, the teacher is required to select and decide on which meaning and how manymeanings of a word to teach in a given class time to help learners avoid confusion

1.1.4.3 Usage

Knowing how to use a word appropriately and effectively is considered one of primaryaspects that both learners and teachers have to pay attention to Nations (2001, cited inMilton, 2009, p.15) also categorizes knowledge of word use is also divided into three parts

Grammatical functions concerns knowing what part of speech a word is and how it will link with other words as a consequence If you know the word young, for example, and

know that it functions as an adjective, then in English it should be placed before the noun it

qualifies and not after: a young woman is right, therefore, but a woman young is not The collocations sub-section refers to the company words like to keep Some words occur very

frequently alongside certain others and these words are said to collocate with each other A

frequent English verb such as do forms many phrasal verbs with prepositions (do up, do in,

do away with), and links with nouns and noun phases (do homework) Some words are

highly restricted in their company, for example, kith almost never occurs outside the phrase kith and kin Other words do not show this kind of preference and can mix with other

words much more widely according to the meaning the speaker or writer is trying toexpress

In sum, Nation (2001, p.27) summarizes the knowledge of word students should be taught

in the following table

Table 1: Knowledge of a word

Spoken

R What does the word sound like?

P How is the word pronounced?

Form

Written

R What does the word look like?

P How is the word written and spelled?

Word parts

R What parts are recognisable in this word?

P What words parts are needed to express meaning?

Form and meaning

R What meaning does this word form signal?

P What word form can be used to express this

Meaning Concepts and referents

R What is included in the concept?

P What items can the concept refer to?

Associations

R What others words does this word make us think

P What other words could we use instead of this

Grammatical functions

R In what patterns does the word occur?

P In what patterns must we use this word?

Use Collocations

R What words or types of word occur with this one?

P What words or types of words must we use with

Constraints on use

R Where, when and how often would we meet this

P Where, when and how often can we use this word?

Note: R = receptive, P = productive

Teachers should ensure that the form, the meaning, and the use of words are regularlyrecycled/ revised because students will easily forget the words they learn otherwise theyget chance to put it into use.

1.3 Techniques in vocabulary teaching

1.3.1 Techniques in presenting and practicing new words

1.3.1.1 Presenting techniques

The main aim of presenting vocabulary is to insert the meaning, the correct form and appropriate usage of the new word into the student’s memory There are quite lots of methods and techniques to present the form and meaning of new lexical items It depends

on teachers to decide which form of presentation is the most suitable for the particular topic According to Gairns and Redman (1986, p.73), there are some traditional methods and techniques used to present new vocabulary: a) Visual techniques:

 Visuals – photographs, flashcards, blackboard drawings, pictures, videos, wall

charts, pictograms and real objects; they are useful for teaching concrete words

 Demonstrating: mime/facial expression and gesture – useful for teaching action

verbs

b) Verbal techniques:

 Illustrative situations (oral or written) – this technique is helpful when the words

are more abstract

 Synonyms and antonyms – using the words students have already known to teach

them similar words

 Definitions and explanations – appropriate for intermediate learners To make

definition of words can be difficult, especially at elementary levels

 Scales – if students know 'big' and 'small', for example, other steps could be to

teach 'short' and 'long' etc

 Examples of the type – give examples of words you want to introduce.

 Translation – it has been the most widespread activity used for presenting the

meaning of a word in classes

 Guessing from the context, matching/labelling – learners match words to words or

sentences or pictures It belongs to so called discovery techniques: they activate the learner’s

previous knowledge of a language and initiate the work with

the new vocabulary Discovery techniques demand the autonomous students withhigher knowledge of English

Taking into consideration the specific factors of ESP vocabulary teaching, we can see

“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, p.59) Consequently, presenting

ESP vocabulary can be fully realised by methods and techniques mentioned above Ofteneven translation may be useful, necessary and appropriate because of the level of students

at the vocational secondary schools and to avoid the fatal misunderstanding Duringpresentation vocabulary, teachers have a great opportunity to explain the purposefulmeaning of a word in the context of the real life and work at the school workshops.However, this kind of presentation should be simple, interesting and amusing to motivateand encourage students’ interest

1.3.1.2 Practising techniques

Presenting a word in the class does not secure that it will be remembered for a long time.There are many practice activities that include repeating the new vocabulary to fix the newwords in the learners´ memory The practice activities are divided into two main groups:

receptive and productive.

According to Thornbury (2002, p.94-99) receptive practice (the learner does not reallyproduce the target words) includes these following types:

 Identifying – means finding words in a text or listening, e.g underline specific

words or expressions in the text, or tick, put in the correct column or list items that you hear

 Selecting – means recognizing words and making choices among them, e.g circle

the odd word in the line

 Matching – includes recognizing words and then pairing them with their synonym,

antonym, definition, pictures to words etc It can be intended to match parts of lexical items tocreate collocations

 Sorting – putting the lexical items into different categories, e.g put these adjectives

in two groups – positive and negative

 Ranking and sequencing – putting the lexical items in some kind of order, e.g.

ordering items chronologically, ranking items according to personal preference etc Productive practice (the productive skills – writing or speaking – are incorporated in the vocabulary teaching,) includes these types (Thornbury, 2002, p.100): completion and creation

 Completion tasks (context is given), often called gap-fills, are widely used not only

in practice but also in revision stages They include open gap-fills or closed gap-fills (multiplechoice activities), crosswords

 Creation tasks: the learner use the word in a sentence or a story, in writing,

speaking or both forms, use affixes to build new naming units from given words

Generally speaking, vocabulary practice is divided into controlled and free Controlledpractice has to come first, because controlled activities require the student to produce acertain structure, they practice accuracy and fix the pattern The second phase, whichdemands productive use of vocabulary, is free practice The specialists point out the usage

of free practice in the class, because according to Lewis (1993, p.151-152) “to know a word means how to use it in the real life to be able to communicate” This is a typical

example of the lexical approach where there is a primary role of words which determinegrammar Free practice is aimed at fluency and is productive However, Gairns and

Redman (1986, p.137) warn against “a certain degree of stress involved in productive practice” According to them, practice should be challenging, but not frustrating or

stressful for the learner They give several arguments in favour of productive practice ofvocabulary in the classroom; above all, it promotes fluency and improves pronunciation, ithelps the memory to store words, and retrieve them later, conversation in English is verymotivating and it builds learner’s confidence Learners expect to get the opportunity topractise new language

Another division includes spoken and written practice Many vocabulary activities used inthe class are based on discussions, dialogues, descriptions, role-play activities, or differentwritten tasks

1.3.2 Vocabulary teaching in ESP

Most learners acknowledge the importance of vocabulary acquisition According to

Thornbury(1) “the acquisition of new words is the process which never stops” To build a

good storage of vocabulary is the first and one of the most important steps when starting tolearn a new language People learn new words permanently and identify their meaning.Vocabulary learning does not officially belong to the language skills (listening, speaking,reading and writing) but there is no way of making advance in language without buildingvocabulary that can be applied into grammar structures and make meaningful utterances It

is difficult for students to communicate without creating and developing their own lexicon.English for Specific Purposes (ESP) represents a specific reason for learning a foreignlanguage There are distinguishedly two types of ESP: English for Specific Purposes andEnglish for Academic Purposes (EAP) At present these streams include a lot of other

fields, e.g English for Technicians According to Hatch and Brown (1995, p.312), “special lexical items are present in nearly all professions, and each branch has special vocabulary

to cover abstract concepts” Kennedy and Bolitho (1984, p.56 - 58) distinguish these word

categories for teaching technical vocabulary:

• Technical Abbreviations, Symbols and Formulae: they partly cause the problems.Teachers´ role is to explain patiently their form and meaning, and students should practise them in spoken and written exercises

• Sub - technical vocabulary: words which are not directly a part of specific technicalbranch, but they occur generally in scientific and technical texts - e.g derivation, conversion,dense and isolation

• Highly technical vocabulary: words that have a close thematic relationship and belong to the specific technical field

The fundamental problem which has to be solved by authors’ designing technical teachingmaterials is that: English non - major students at most vocational schools, colleges oruniversities have little knowledge of ESP This fact reflects in these two factors: teachingmaterial should be managed by students in both the language and specialization Hatch and

Brown (1995, p.370) stress that “the specificity of any individual’s knowledge about a word depends on the person and his or her motivation, desires, and needs for the word”.

There is also an important role of teachers to facilitate learning of technical vocabularywith the favourable secondary impact on the good general knowledge of English

The students should be encouraged to think about the importance of the word, therefore theexamples in context are highly useful Moreover, this approach must be focusedpredominantly on learners, each unit has to have clear aims, motivating topics andchallenging practical activities The appropriate issues must be presented in the context ofthe real life In this way, teachers can support the naturalness of learning vocabulary, and insuch an enriched atmosphere, learners find ideal authentic reasons for learning a foreignlanguage.

According to Morgan and Rinvolucri (2004, p.7) the new words are not learnedmechanically, but associatively Therefore, the most progressive methods in ESPvocabulary teaching should be sorting words by process or activity, by categories(materials: rigid and brittle), by word families (to assemble, assembly), by theme/topic(interior car parts exterior car parts) and synonyms/ antonyms Vocabulary tasks should berevised thematically Moreover, it allows learners to work independently on vocabularyareas that they are interested in

ESP vocabulary can be practised and consolidated by similar methods and techniques usedfor practising and consolidation of general vocabulary Writing tasks can include reportsand different instructions for car processing, making summaries from technical journals,describing processes and techniques, labelling diagrams and pictures, describing graphsand comments on charts etc

1.3.3 Simulation tasks in ESP vocabulary teaching

1.3.3.1 Simulation tasks

Methodologically, tasks are often the central part of the practical learning activity.According to Oxford (2006, p.97), in second language teaching and learning, task is nowoften viewed as an outcome oriented instructional segment or as a behavioral frameworkfor research or classroom learning

The main idea of task-based learning is that students study more effectively when theirbrain is occupied with a specific task or topic offering, besides concentration on language,its grammar or vocabulary, also another practical experience, e.g solving problems ormaking decisions In this way, students are forced to communicate in the target languageand therefore they use a wider range of language items, not only a particular pattern orvocabulary group Tasks may include projects for producing pictures, presentations,

dramatic performances, films etc The Teacher helps to choose topics, encourages,regulates and monitors These activities improved above all students’ communicationability, and solving real problems is highly motivating and offers students actual reasonsfor learning a language Therefore, simulation fits well with the recent emphasis on actionlearning and “task” as both a communicative instructional technique and a concept ofcurriculum planning (Nunan 1989)

According to Courtney, M (1998) the basic feature of any simulation is that it requires theparticipants to work co – operatively, and often in a defined role, on a task which isdesigned to develop language and behavior considered to be authentic or relatable to aspecific target domain Simulations often involve chain tasks linked together over a period

of time, with participants transferring information from one task to the next Simulationtasks are in some sense the best known interactive tasks largely because of their wideapplication in training environments “Real” communicative purpose for authentic targetsituation is the central claim for a methodology which is generally accepted as having highmotivation value

He further divides simulation task into two main sub – types One is concerned with the

representation of a “real world” situation and has more in common with the role-play task The second type of task views simulations as “operating realities” (Crook & Oxford 1990:

15) where the emphasis is not on the reconstruction of an assumed reality outside theclassroom, but on processes which are, in themselves, considered relatable to a target domain

1.3.3.2 Simulation tasks in ESP vocabulary teaching

In “Simulation/gaming and the acquisition of communicative competence in anotherlanguage” García et al (2001, p 483-484)) mentioned that the tasks used in simulationcontrast with the artificial tasks of language learning that are imported into the traditionalclassroom In simulation sessions, the classroom provides its own rationale forcommunicating about the materials and tools required to carry out an activity A widerange of speech acts has to be performed in the classroom due to the striking amount ofnegotiation on the materials needed for a task and the different communicative needs thatarise in simulations The learner has the chance to initiate as well as to respond incommunicative exchanges where he or she is able to interact by using a full range ofgrammatical-semantic notions and communicative functions The task-based approach

used in simulation stresses the ability to perform a task instead of explicitly teachinggrammatical structures The learner is provided with opportunities that require his or herown speech be comprehensible because it is only through such opportunities that learnersare pushed to mobilize their grammatical competence which “includes knowing thelinguistic code and vocabulary” (Canale and Swain, 1980) The tasks required stimulatelearners to mobilize all their linguistic resources and push their linguistic knowledge to thelimit.

Furthermore, according to Courtney (1998, p.33) the enormous expenditure on simulationexercises in business, commerce, science indicates that, for instructional and vocationaltraining, simulation tasks are probably the most widely used of all task types Simulationsfor language teaching proposes in tertiary EAP environments are less problematic in terms

of their authenticity or relatability since classroom and target environment are often thesame

To conclude, simulation task is one of the most useful activities that is employed in ESPteaching in general, and ESP vocabulary teaching, in particular

CHAPTER 2: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

2.1 English teaching and learning context in SDU – background information

2.1.1 The course objectives and the textbook “English for Automotive Engineering”

At SDU, English is a compulsory subject in the curricula During a four - year course,English - non majors have 180 periods of EGP (from Elementary to Pre - Intermediate) inthe first academic year English for Automobile Engineering (EAE) has been taught to thesecond - year students of AETD in their third semester so their English proficiency is atPre-Intermediate level, which enables them to improve their professional English

The course book is redesigned basing mainly on the combination of the textbooks:

“Technical English 1” by David Bonamy and Christopher Jacques, Pearson Longman 2008and its Automotive Industries worksheets by the teachers of the English Division (ED),Tourism and Foreign Language Department (TFLD) It is suitable “for students with abasic knowledge of general English who now require an elementary course in English forspecific purposes” (http://pearsonlongman.com/technicalenglish/level1/index.html) Thecourse book consists of twelve units and each unit divided into three sub – themes Thetotal number of teaching periods is 60 Therefore, with the limitation of class teaching, itrequires students 90 hours for self – study and preparing new lessons

To help students in using English at their workplace in the future to read manuals,specifications, instructions or describe a process or working method, ect., the objective ofthe course book is to provide students with necessary English words, structures,expressions about technical fields in general and automotive engineering in particular.After taking the course, they can become familiar with different rhetorical functions oftechnical English and develop their ability to communicate in English about common andprofessional situation

2.1.2 The students’ English background and vocabulary learning

The majority of students of SDU come from rural areas and only a small number ofstudents come from cities and town In addition, it cannot be denied that most of themfailed the entrance examination to well – known national universities Most of thesestudents are at primary level of English although they have learnt English since they were

at secondary schools They learn English because it is a compulsory subject to completethe course; therefore, they always think that mark five is good enough and it is a waste oftime to learn impractical subjects.

What is more, it is characterized that all the students in AETD are male students who arenot considered to be talented for social subjects, especially for English Therefore, in twocourses of EGP (as mentioned, consists of 180 periods), they are provided with basicknowledge of grammar and vocabulary used in everyday life However, through two end –

of – course tests, all the teachers find that students get rather low mark at vocabularyexercises They have problems in learning vocabulary It will become harder when theytake EAE course because many technical words are strange to them as they encounter forthe first time These technical terms will be easily forgotten due to low frequency of use

2.1.3 The teachers and current ESP teaching methods

The number of English teachers in TFLD of SDU is 20 whose age ranges from 23 to 48.All the teachers graduated from universities of foreign languages and five of them haveMaster degree, and the other five are taking MA courses Among them, there were 3 males,and 17 females Half of the teachers have experienced in English teaching for more thanfive years and the rest have taught English for one to five years

In teaching ESP, the teachers have been faced up with difficulties because of the lack ofappropriate teaching methodology, knowledge and authentic materials about the field Inaddition, students’ mixed level of proficiency in large class, their low motivation as well asthe time constraints are problems that the teachers encounter Therefore, most teachers atSDU usually introduce words through word lists with Vietnamese equivalent showing onthe projector Vocabulary practice and consolidation base mainly on some kinds ofexercises such as gap filling, word matching, technical terms and definitions matching,word – picture matching It can be seen that most exercises and activities focus on forms.The teachers centre the class by explaining and translating and students listen and take notepassively Therefore, students’ motivation, interaction and communicative competence inthe class are limited

Realizing the problems, teachers in ED are encouraged to apply teaching techniques andactivities that can deal with their existential shortcomings

2.2 Methodology

2.2.1 Subjects of the study

The study was conducted with the participation of 170 male - students of three classes fromAETD They completed two courses of EGP when they were the first year students ESP istaken in the first semester of the second year They are supposed to be at pre – intermediatelevel of English proficiency 15 out of that number were interviewed for more information

to supplement the study

2.2.2 Methods of the study

The study primarily employs a survey questionnaire to find answers for the research questions

To support the questionnaire data, interviews are carried out to obtain further information.The data is analysed quantively and qualitatively

2.2.3 Instruments

To find answers to the research questions, the study collects data from pre – task surveyquestionnaires and post – task survey questionnaires for the students These questionnairesinclude both closed and open questions and are used as the primary data collectioninstrument and constructed in reference to “Questionnaire design” written by Eric Potterand Peter Spratt from Dakin University, 1995

2.2.3.1 The pre – task questionnaire

The pre - task survey questionnaire for students including 11 questions was administered to

170 students It was designed with four main parts

 Part 1 (question 1, 2) is expected to gather information about the students’ perception and purpose of learning ESP vocabulary

 Part 2 (question 3, 4) is aimed to collect information about the students’ attitudes and their evaluation of ESP vocabulary in their course book

 Part 3 (question 5, 6) is designed to find out the difficulties and the factors causing these difficulties that students often deal with when they learn ESP vocabulary

 Part 4 (question 7, 8, 9, 10, 11) is intended to investigate the techniques employed by the teachers in teaching ESP vocabulary from students’ view

2.2.3.2 The post – task questionnaire

The post - task survey questionnaire was established with 10 questions and was designed with three main parts

 Part 1 including 4 questions (question 1, 2, 3) was given in order to explore the impact

of simulation tasks on students’ interest and participation

 Part 2 (question 4, 5, 6, 7, 8) was designed to discover the benefits of simulation tasksand measure, evaluate the effectiveness of simulation tasks toward ESP vocabulary learning

 Part 3 (question 9, 10) was about the preferences and expectations of the teachers’

methodology

2.2.3.3 Interview

The author conducted an interview after the administration of student questionnaire in eachclass The interview was carried out in Vietnamese between the researcher and thestudents In each class 5 students were randomly selected for the interview, total number ofinterviewees is 15 The questions in the interview were basically based on those in thequestionnaires, but they were extended to cover more open-ended questions to getthorough understanding of the reasons behind each choice Each conversation lasted forabout 5 to 10 minutes

2.2.4 Study procedures

The procedures of the study were done through the following steps:

The researcher taught 3 classes of 170 students in two weeks to gain the basic informationabout their proficiency level and their attitude toward ESP learning, then asked them tocomplete the pre-task survey questionnaire

Some of the activities given in the course book were adapted by supplementing simulationtasks After three periods of applying simulation tasks, the author distributed post - tasksurvey questionnaire to these students to investigate the effectiveness of the use ofsimulation tasks toward ESP vocabulary improvement of students

2.2.5 Data analysis

Data collected from the students’ pre – task questionnaire and from interview were used tofind out the answers for the two first research questions: difficulties encountered bystudents when learning ESP vocabulary, the techniques employed by the teachers inteaching ESP vocabulary To find the answer for the most focus question on the use ofsimulation tasks to students’ ESP vocabulary improvement, data obtained from thestudents’ post – task questionnaire and from interview were exploite

CHAPTER 3: DATA ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS

This chapter analysed the collected data from the pre – task survey questionnaires, the post– task questionnaires and the interviews to find the answers for the research questions

3.1 Data analysis of the pre - task survey questionnaires

The data obtained from the students’ pre – task questionnaires will be discussed to find outstudents’ evaluation of the course book, their difficulties in learning ESP vocabulary aswell as the current techniques exploited in teaching ESP vocabulary before the application

of simulation tasks

3.1.1 The students’ perception and purpose in learning ESP vocabulary

3.1.1.1 The students’ opinion of the important role of ESP vocabulary learning

Figure 1: Students' opinion of the importance of ESP vocabulary

Source: Question 1, pre - task questionnaire

As can be seen in figure 1, most students state ESP vocabulary learning is very important

or important to their language learning which account for 45.88%, 48.24% respectively.Only 5.88% of the students have opposite ideas with that point of view Thus, the majority

of the students realize the importance of ESP vocabulary in their language learning

3.1.1.2 The students’ purpose in learning ESP vocabulary

As mentioned above, students in SDU consider English a compulsory subject and most ofthem set their goal to get mark five, so passing the final exam is the important goal of greatproportion of 82.34 % Few of them (7.06 %) learn ESP vocabulary for communicating inEnglish in their field In addition, the number of students whose purpose in learningvocabulary to read specialized material in Automotive Engineering is rather low (8.24 %)

However, only 2.36 % of the students want to enrich vocabulary with technical term It can

be concluded that students just want to reach their temporary goals They have no ambition

of using English at their future workplace

Figure 2: Students' purpose in learning ESP vocabulary

Source: Question 2, pre - task questionnaire

A To communicate in English in their field

B To pass the final exam

C To read specialized material in Automotive Engineering

D To enrich vocabulary with technical terms

3.1.2 Students’ evaluation of vocabulary in the coursebook English for Automotive Engineering

3.1.2.1 How many terminologies?

Figure 3: Students’ evaluation of the number of ESP terminologies

Source: Question 3, pre - task questionnaire

Data in figure 3 reveals the quantity of terminology in the course book of English forAutomotive Engineering It is clear that students have different evaluation of the amount ofESP terminologies introduced in their textbook More than half of the surveyed students(55.88%) find there are many words in the course book while 9.41 % of them voice thattoo many new words are presented It can be thought of the topics in ESP which aredifferent from the topics in GEP and unfamiliar with the students Only a small proportion

of 5.29 % of students report that amount is not much The rest of 29.42 % shows thatamount is suitable to their English knowledge

3.1.2.2 How difficult is the terminology?

20%

11.76%

D Easy15%

Figure 4: Students’ evaluation of the difficulty level of ESP terminologies

Source: Question 4, pre - task questionnaire

When asked about their opinion of how difficult the ESP vocabulary is, 61.6 % of thestudents agree that the terminology in the textbook is difficult Thus, the reason why somany students state that the terminologies are variable and not easy should be taken intoconsideration

As mentioned about, the course book was redesigned basing on the Technical English 1(Longman) which is suitable “for students with a basic knowledge of general English who

now require an elementary course in English for specific purposes” Therefore, it can be

concluded that students’ basic knowledge of EGP is not good enough and the teachers’method is unsuitable

3.1.3 The students’ difficulties in learning ESP vocabulary

3.1.3.1 Difficulties encountered by students when learning ESP vocabulary

Figure 5: Students’ difficulties in learning ESP vocabulary

Source: Question 5, pre - task questionnaire

To investigate difficulties encountered by students when learning ESP vocabulary and thefactors causing that problem, two multiple – choice questions are designed Therefore, theresult is presented in percentage based on options chosen

It is factual that students face many problems in leaning ESP vocabulary As seen in theabove part, students find vocabulary difficult It is clearly shown in figure 5 that differentlearners have different difficulties 75 29 % of the participants claim that pronunciation isthe most difficult item when learning ESP vocabulary Besides, 68.82 % of the learnersreveal that word meaning troubles them much They easily forget the words they havelearnt even though they spend much time on learning new words The next rankeddifficulty (39.41%) is how to use the words in correct contexts The fact shows that manylearners complain that they know a certain number of words but they cannot use them inexact situations Figure 5 indicates that respondents have little trouble in word spelling.None of the participants claims other difficulties in their vocabulary learning process

D The terminologies are strangeand rather different from themeaning in EGP

E Other

Figure 6: Factors caused students’ difficulties in learning ESP vocabulary

Source: Question 6, pre - task questionnaire

Referring to factors that lead to their difficulties, 69.41% of the students state they do nothave a chance to practice vocabulary in the class Maybe, this factor troubles students’pronunciation much To pronounce a word correctly, it is necessary to look up itstranscription in the dictionary, then listen to the tape and repeat It also requires learners to

a have basic knowledge of phonetic rules However, time constraints as well as largeclasses do not permit the teachers to carefully teach pronunciation Besides, most students(57.56%) also admit that their vocabulary learning method is ineffective The author hasinterviewed the students to find out the ways they learn new words They usually writedown the words and the meaning or make a word list It can be concluded that they onlypay attention to spelling They find it hard to remember word meaning or the word usage

It is noticeable that over a quarter of the students (25.29%) say that the lesson is boring It

is understandable as 34.12% of the students have the idea that the terminologies appearlonger, stranger and more difficult to pronounce and memorize than GEP vocabulary.Other prominent opinion reports that the teachers do not check vocabulary regularly sothey have little motivation to learn words, or the teachers do not provide them some propervocabulary learning strategies Therefore, vocabulary teaching methods should beconsidered

3.1.4 Techniques exploited by the teachers in teaching ESP vocabulary

3.1.4.1 Techniques exploited by the teachers in presenting ESP vocabulary

Figure 7: Frequency of techniques used in presenting ESP vocabulary.

Source: Question 7, pre - task questionnaire

Findings from figure 7 indicate that a large number of students (95.29.5%) report that their

teachers often translate terminologies in Vietnamese, the second technique that the teachers

employ frequently is visual aid (79.41%) and 7.65% of the students say their teachers

usually present ESP words by using learned language such synonyms, antonyms It can be

explained that these activities are time saving and are the most traditional techniques

Illustrating situation and using definitions of explanation in the dictionary are not used

frequently It is reasonable that it is difficult to illustrate situations in presenting ESPvocabulary while the teachers have the knowledge of language solely and do not knowmuch about automotive engineering field It also can be seen that all the five listedactivities are exploited by the teachers but less regularly.