A proposed esp reading syllabus for the second year students of mathematics department at ha noi pedagogical univesity number 2

The overall aim o f the study w as to propose an applicable syllabus for the second-year students at Hanoi pedagogical University Number 2.on the basis o f the learning needs as well as

M INISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

H A N O I U N IV ER SITY

BUI THI HUONG GIANG

A PROPOSED ESP READING SYLLABUS

FOR TH E SECOND - YEAR STUDENTS OF

M A TH E M A TIC S DEPARTM ENT

A T H AN O I PED AG O G IC AL UNIVERSITY NUMBER 2

S T A T E M E N T O F A U T H O R S H IP

I hereby certify that the m inor thesis entitled “A P roposed ESP Reading Syllabus fo r

the Second-Year Students o f Mathematics D epartm ent at H anoi Pedagogical

U niversity N um ber 2”, subm itted in partial fulfillment o f the requirem ents for the

degree o f M aster o f A rts in TESO L, is the result o f my work, except w here otherwise acknow ledged, and that this minor thesis or any part o f the same has not been subm itted for a higher degree to any other university o r institution

The research reported in this thesis w as approved by Hanoi University

Signed:

Dated:

S T A T E M E N T O F A U T H O R S H I P I

T A B L E O F C O N T E N T S II

A C K N O W L E D G E M E N T S V

A B S T R A C T VI

L I S T O F A B B R E V I A T I O N S VII

L I S T O F C H A R T S A N D T A B L E S V I I I

C H A P T E R O N E : I N T R O D U C T I O N I

1.1 R a t i o n a l e f o r t h e S t u d y 1

1.4 SCOPE OF THE STUDY 2

1.3 A i m s o f t h e S t u d y 3

1.4 S i g n i f i c a n c e o f t h e S t u d y 3

1.5 ORGANIZATION OF THE STUDY 3

C H A P T E R T W O : L I T E R A T U R E R E V I E W 5

2.1 R e a d i n g T h e o r i e s 5

2 / / D efinitions about R ea d in g 5

2.1.2 The P ro cess o f R e a d in g 5

2.1.3 R eading Su b - S k ills 7

2.2 AN OVERVIEW OF E S P 10

2.2.1 D efinitions about ESP 10

2.2.2 Types o f E S P / /

2.2.5 R eading in E S P 12

2.3 N e e d s A n a l y s i s 13

2.3.1 Types o f n eed s 13

2.3.2 Instrum ents to C ollect D ata f o r a N eeds A n a ly sis 18

2.4 SYLLABUSES 18

2 4 ! D efinitions o f S ylla b u s 18

2.4.2 Types o f S y lla b u se s 19

2 5 R e a d i n g M a t e r i a l s 21

2 5 1 A uthentic R eading M aterials 21

2.5.2 M aterials A d a p ta tio n 22

2.6 T e s t i n g i n E S P 23

2.7 P r e v i o u s S t u d i e s in t h e F i e l d 24

T A B L E O F C O N T E N T S

C H A P T E R T H R E E : M E T H O D O L O G Y 26

3 1 R e s e a r c h Q u e s t i o n s 26

3 2 D a t a C o l l e c t io n I n s t r u m e n t s 26

3 2 1 D ocum ents A n a ly sis 26

3.2.2 Interview s f o r the Teachers o f M athem atics a n d the Teachers o f E n g lish 27

3.2.3 Q uestio n n a ire f o r the M athem atics U ndergraduates 28

3.3 S u b j e c t s o f t h e S t u d y 29

3 3 1 S u b je cts o f th e In te rv ie w s 29

3.3.2 S u b je cts o f the Q uestio n n a ire 30

3.4 D a t a C o l l e c t io n P r o c e d u r e s 30

C H A P T E R F O U R : P R E L I M I N A R Y R E S U L T S , D A T A A N A L Y S IS A N D R E S E A R C H F I N D I N G S 32

4 1 P r e l im in a r y R e s u l t s a n d D a t a A n a l y s is 32

4 1 1 P r e l im in a r y R e s u l t s o f t h e D o c u m e n t s A n a l y s is 32

4 / 1.1 F L D 's D o cu m en ted C urriculum A nalysis 32

4.J 1.2 A u th e n tic T exts A n a ly sis 33

4.1.1.3 L a test G E E xam ination Scores A nalysis 33

4 1 2 P r e l im in a r y R e s u l t s o f t h e I n t e r v ie w s f o r T e a c h e r s o f M a t h e m a t ic s 35

4.1.2.1 R ea d in g T echnical D o cu m en ts 35

4.1.2.2 T ypes o f R eading M aterials 35

4.1.2.3 T ext T y p e s 36

4.1.2.4 N e c e ssa ry R eading S kills/ Strategies f o r Technical D ocum ents 36

4.1.2.5 S tudents * D ifficulties in R eading Technical D ocum ents 36

4.1.2.6 S u g g e s te d T o p ic s 37

4 l 3 P r e l im in a r y R e s u l t s f r o m t h e I n t e r v ie w s f o r T e a c h e r s o f E n g l is h 37

4 1 3 1 O b jectives o f th e ESP R eading C o u rse 37

4.1.3.2 S u b R eading S kills f o r the S y lla b u s 37

4.1.3.3 G ra m m a r Item s f o r the S ylla b u s 38

4.1.3.4 E xercises f o r th e S ylla b u s 39

4.L 3.5 S u g g e s te d R eading M a teria ls 39

4 1.4 P r e l im in a r y R e s u l t s o f t h e Q u e s t i o n n a i r e 39

4 1 4 1 S tu d e n ts ' b a c k g ro u n d 39

4 1.4.2 M a th em a tics U ndergraduates ' A ttitudes a n d E xpectations tow ards the E SP C ourse 40

4.1.4.3 M a th em a tics U ndergraduates' P urposes o f R e a d in g 41

4 1.4.4 M a th em a tics U ndergraduates' R eading A ctivities in G E l e s s o n s 42

4.1.4.5 M ath em a tics U ndergraduates' S trategies o f D ealing w ith N ew V ocabulary 43

4.1.4.6 M a th em a tics U ndergraduates' D ifficulties in R eading G E Texts 44

4.1.4.7 M a th em a tics U ndergraduates' P references f o r R eading E x e rc ise s 45

4 1.4.8 M a th em a tics U ndergraduates' P references f o r Teacher s A ctivities 46

4 / 4 9 M athem atics U ndergraduates' Preferences f o r Types o f Technical M a te ria ls 47

4.1.4.10 M athem atics U ndergraduates ’ Preferences f o r Text- T y p e s 48

4.1.4.11 M athem atics U ndergraduates' Preferences f o r T o p ics 49

4.2 R e s e a r c h F i n d i n g s 50

4 2 1 The L earning N eeds f o r the M athem atics U ndergraduates 50

4.2.2, The Target N eeds f o r the M athem atics U ndergraduates 52

C H A P T E R F I V E : T H E P R O P O S E D S Y L L A B U S , S U G G E S T I O N S A N D C O N C L U S I O N S 54

5.1 THE PROPOSED SYLLABUS 54

5.1.1 The Time F ram e 54

5.1.2 A im s a n d O bjectives o f the ESP R eading C o u rse 54

5 1.3 The C ontents o f the Syllabus 55

5.2 S u g g e s t i o n s 65

5.2.1 M aterial A d a p ta tio n 65

5.2.2 S u g g estio n s f o r a S am ple Unit 66

5.2.3 S u g g estio n s f o r C ourse A ssessm ent a n d T estin g 66

5.3 C o n c l u s i o n s 67

R E F E R E N C E S 70

A P P E N D I X E S 73

A P P E N D I X 1 73

A P P E N D I X 2 79

A P P E N D I X 3 A 82

A P P E N D I X 3 B 87

A P P E N D I X 4 93

A P P E N D I X 5 94

A P P E N D I X 6 97

A P P E N D I X 7 99

A P P E N D I X 8 100

A C K N O W L E D G E M E N T S

I am greatly indebted to my supervisor Mrs Doan Thi Minh Nguyet, M A, for her precious guidance Her generous support and encouragem ent gave me motivation and self-confidence to com plete this thesis

My profound thanks also go to Mrs Nguyen Thai Ha, M A, Vice Dean o f Postgraduate D epartm ent for her extremely valuable help, useful com m ents and suggestions during my tim e studying at the Department, and especially during the study period

My special thanks also go to the leader and my colleagues at Hanoi Pedagogical University N um ber 2 for their support and encouragement

I would like to thank my students for their enthusiasm and helpfulness during the process o f collecting data

Finally, I w ould like to convey my deepest gratitude to my family for their love, care and support to help m e finish this study

A B STR A C T

The study A Proposed ESP Reading Syllabus f o r the Second-Year Students o f

M athem atics Department at H anoi Pedagogical University N um ber 2” w as carried

out in order to m eet the students' needs o f reading m athem atic materials in English The study would also meet the requirements o f an ESP syllabus o f Foreign Language Departm ent at Hanoi Pedagogical University N um ber 2 as well as curriculum requirem ents o f M inistry o f Education and Training

The overall aim o f the study w as to propose an applicable syllabus for the second-year students at Hanoi pedagogical University Number 2.on the basis o f the learning needs

as well as the target needs o f the M athem atics undergraduates

The study started w ith the review o f the literature related to the field o f the study including the theories o f reading, English for specific purposes, syllabuses, testing and the previous studies Next, an investigation on the learning needs and target needs o f the students o f M athem atics was done, and then a com pile o f the learning needs and the target needs to identify the contents and skills that m ust be included in the syllabus

In order to investigate students’ learning needs and target needs, the author sought for the data from 3 sets o f documents, 4 teachers o f M athem atics, 5 teachers o f English and 90 M athem atics undergraduate students The students provided information about their learning English and their learning needs The teachers o f M athem atics, teachers

o f English and the sets o f documents, which consist o f the docum ented curriculum o f Foreign Language Department at Hanoi Pedagogical University N um ber 2, the selected authentic texts and the latest exam ination scores provided the data about the students’ level before the course and the target needs The analysis o f the learning needs and target needs help to develop the final ESP reading syllabus for the second- year students o f M athem atics Department at Hanoi Pedagogical University number 2

The study concluded w ith a proposal o f an ESP reading syllabus and some suggestions for ESP reading material design, teaching methodology, assessm ent and testing

L IS T O F A B B R E V IA T IO N S

HPUN 2 H anoi Pedagogical University N um ber 2

LIST O F C H A R T S AND T A B L E S

Table 4.1: M athem atics undergraduates' latest GE exam ination scores

Table 4.2: M athem atics undergraduates sub-parts exam ination results

Chart 4 1: M athem atics undergraduates’ attitudes tow ards the ESP course

Table 4.3: S tudents’ background

Table 4.4: M athem atics undergraduates' expectations tow ards the ESP course

Table 4.5: M athem atics undergraduates' reading purposes

Table 4.6: M athem atics undergraduates’ current practice o f reading skills

Table 4.7: M athem atics undergraduates' frequency o f using strategies to deal with new vocabulary

Table 4.8: M athem atics undergraduates' difficulties when reading G E texts

Table 4.9: M athem atics undergraduates' preferences for exercises

Table 4.10: M athem atics undergraduates’ preferences for teacher’s activities

Table 4.11: M athem atics undergraduates’ preferences for types o f technical reading materials

Table 4.12: M athem atics undergraduates’ preferences for text-types

Table 4.13: M athem atics undergraduates’ preferences for topics

C H A P T E R O N E : IN T R O D U C T IO N

C h a p te r o n e - th e first c h ap ter- p resen ts the ra tio n a le , sc o p e , sig n ifican ce , aim s

an d o rg a n iz a tio n o f the stud y

1.1 R ationale for the Study

Hanoi Pedagogical University Number 2 (HPUN 2) w as founded in 1976 with two main functions: training undergraduates and post-graduate students Up to now, the university has 10 D epartm ents: Mathematics, Philology, Chem istry, Physics, Politics Education, Biology, Physical Education, Primary Education, Foreign Languages, and Post-graduate M athem atics Department (MD) is one o f the four first established

D epartm ents and has a long history o f training teachers or researchers o f M athematics throughout V ietnam T he Foreign Languages Departm ent (FLD) is responsible for teaching English, G eneral English (GE) and English for Specific Purposes (ESP), to students o f o ther D epartm ents o f the university

As dem ands for ESP increase socially, the introduction o f ESP to students at HPUN 2 began in 2001 In general, teaching and learning ESP at HPUN 2 occurs in a typical setting w here ESP is applied in the second stage o f English teaching, and where students are not required to use English as a medium o f speaking and listening but a means to reading T he ESP course should help students to deal with reading materials

as well as provide them w ith the knowledge and skills needed for their English reading requirem ents ESP, a compulsory subject included in the curriculum, is intended to last for 75 class hours after 225 class hours o f GE T he second-year undergraduates attend sessions for 5 class hours per w eek and after w eek 7 and week

15, they w ill sit for a m idterm and an end-of-term exam ination on reading skills

In order to m eet the objectives o f the ESP course, the ESP teachers at Hanoi Pedagogical U niversity N um ber 2 com piled different textbooks to teach ESP for each

Department T he ESP course book currently used for M D is named “Reading fo r

Students o f M a t h e m a t i c s It includes 15 units used for 15 weeks Each unit begins

with V O CA BU LA RY , then READING TEX T and finishes w ith COM PREHENSION QUESTION S T he first part, VOCABULARY includes about 20 lexical items,

READING TEXT, has reading passage(s) o f about 500 words The last part, aim ing at developing com prehension skills, consists o f about 5 com prehension questions When designing a syllabus for ESP teaching, the teachers o f Foreign Language Department used the M athematical Handbook by M Vgodsky, chose 15 texts, and classified them into topics in accordance with the 4 subdivisions o f M athematics: 4 Algebra units, 4

G eom etry units, 4 Arithmetic units, and the other m ixed 3 units Up to now, no official syllabus for ESP teaching has been made except for som e guidelines about the tim e allocation and objectives o f the course from the Department The so-called ESP syllabus has been based on the above course book and these guidelines

Som e problem s have occurred resulting from the lack o f an official syllabus First, the course book lim its the teachers from teaching in many ways W hat they have done so far in a lesson is: explaining vocabulary, asking students to read and translate into

V ietnam ese, helping them to answ er the comprehension questions In other words, they do not have many opportunities to apply different and interesting teaching techniques to the lesson Second, both ESP teachers and students have found the book lack o f relevant and interesting topics and shortage o f tasks and activities in the book

In short, the currently used ESP reading course book seem s not to be very successful

in facilitating both teachers and students in ESP classes due to the absence o f an appropriate syllabus

M otivated by the above problems o f teaching and learning English by ESP teachers and students, the researcher is eager to design an ESP reading syllabus for the second- year students o f M athem atics at HPUN 2 with the hope that it will satisfactorily meet all the needs o f the students o f M athematics and consequently help them gain good English for their current study, and their future jobs

1.4 Scope o f the study

The study is lim ited to designing an ESP reading syllabus for the second-year students

o f M athem atics at HPUN 2 within a pedagogical framework o f w hat to be learnt and how these should be learnt, monitored and assessed to achieve the aim s and objectives assigned by the U niversity and Department

1.3 Aim s o f the Study

This thesis aim s a t designing an ESP reading syllabus for the students o f MD o f HPUN 2 In o rder to achieve this aim, the following specific objectives are set:

- C onducting a N eeds A nalysis i.e investigating target needs and learning needs o f

M athem atics undergraduate students

- Proposing a suitable syllabus basing on the results com piled from Needs Analysis

1.4 Significance o f the Study

Although designing a syllabus is not a new activity am ong teachers in Vietnam, at FLD o f H PUN, th is is the first tim e an ESP syllabus is designed not merely on the assum ption o f the teachers, but on a careful research o f students’ needs Therefore, it has tw o im portant roles Firstly, it helps teachers o f ESP to have a framework o f what should be taught and learnt in order to achieve the objectives o f the course Moreover,

it is fully expected to im prove the quality o f learning English at HPUN 2

1.5 O rganization o f the Study

The study is d ivided into the following five chapters

C hapter One: Introduction

This chapter gives the rationale, aims, scope, significance and the layout o f the study

C hapter Two: L iterature Review

Relevant literature about Reading theories, ESP, N eeds A nalysis and Syllabuses are reviewed in this chap ter

C hapter Three: M ethodology

In this chapter, th e author presents the data collection instruments, describes the subjects and the procedures o f the study

C hapter Four: P relim inary results a n d research findings

Chapter Five: A proposed syllabus and suggestions

A framework o f linguistic items and reading skills needed for the reading syllabus was presented in this last chapter together with suggestions

C H A P T E R T W O : L IT E R A T U R E R E V IE W

2.1 Reading Theories

2.1.1 D efinitions about Reading

In literature, there are num erous definitions about reading N uttal (1982) summarizes that different definitions about reading will use words o f one o f the follow ing Groups:

G roup A- decode, decipher, identify e.t.c

G roup B- articulate, speak, pronoun e.t.c

G roup C - understand, interpret meaning

W ords used in G roup A refer to the process o f recognition o f the w ritten words But recognizing words, by no m eans, is the only end o f reading A ccording to Ur (1996, 138), if som eone says that “ I can read the words but I do not know w hat they mean”, this person is not a real reader W hat he/she is doing is not reading, but he/ she is simply translating sym bols into corresponding sounds

if the definitions about reading include what is described in G roup B, they do not totally reveal the nature o f reading, although in many classroom s, teachers who want

to help students associate spoken words with written w ords can ask them to read aloud

Looking at the definitions o f such writers as W iddowson (1979), G oodm an (1988), Grellet (1981), in turns, w e can see: “reading is the process o f getting linguistic information via print”, “ reading is a receptive language process”, o r reading is

“extracting the information from it as efficiently as possible” These definitions share one thing in com m on: reading m eans understanding or com prehending

2.1.2 T he Process o f Reading

Reading is considered by m any authors as a process not a product (W iddow son, 1979; Carrell (1988) It m eans that the em phasis is on how the reader interprets the written

texts rather than w hat the reader “got out o f ’ the texts A s a process, reading is considered as a purposeful process and an interactive process.

2.1.2.1 Reading a s a Purposeful Process

General reading o r specialist reading o f any kind is purposeful G rellet (1981:4) classifies reasons for reading into reading for pleasure and reading for information (in order to find out som ething or in order to do som ething with the information you have)

N uttall (1992:3) views that “the way you tackled each text w as strongly influenced by your purpose in reading” For example, the way you read to find a telephone number

is different from the way you pursue a legal document

Similarly, M artin (1992: 24) em phasizes that learner's purposes have relations with his/ her m otivations and “motivation allows the learner, am ong other things, to be ready to m ake the most o f learning opportunities which the course provides” Therefore, taking learners’ purposes o f learning into consideration is o f essence in an ESP course

2.1.2.2 Reading a s an Interactive Process

The theories o f reading have changed dramatically from bottom -up strategies - including decoding graphic features and gramm atical characteristics, and top-down strategies - including predicting, applying background know ledge and recognizing global text structures to interactive process This m eans that the reader does not perceive to texts passively Rather, it is one in which the reading activates a range o f know ledge in the reader's mind that he or she uses and that, in turn, m ay be refined and extended by the new information supplied by the text O ur understanding o f reading is best considered as the interaction that occurs between the reader and the text (G oodm an, 1970; Nuttal, 1982; Carrel, 1983;G rabe, 1988)

The notion o f reading as an interactive process im plies that an ESP reading course should not only em phasize building up students' know ledge o f rhetorical structures and im proving th eir knowledge o f the target language, it should also take learners’

content schem ata into consideration (Kavalaiauskiene, 2002)

2.1.3 Reading Sub- Skills

G rellet (1981:3) proposes a list o f reading sub- skills (adapted from M unby's Com m unicative Syllabus Design):

- Recognizing the script of a language (discriminating the graphemes, following grapheme sequencing, understanding punctuation);

- Deducing the meaning and use o f unfamiliar lexical items, through understanding word formation or contextual clues;

- Understanding explicitly stated information;

- Understanding information in the text, not explicitly stated, through making inferences or understanding figurative language;

- Understanding conceptual meaning, especially, quantity and amount, definiteness and indefiniteness, comparison, degree;

- Understanding the communicative value (function) o f sentences and utterances (with explicitly indicators; without explicitly indicators);

- Understanding relations within the sentence especially elements of sentence modification structure (pre /post modification), negation, modal auxiliaries;

- Expanding salient/ relevant points in to summary o f the whole text, a specific idea/ topic in the text;

- Skimming to obtain the gist o f the text;

- Scanning to locate specifically required information ;

- Understanding cohesion between parts o f a text through grammatical and lexical cohesion devices (Repetition, synonymy, hyponymy, );

- Deducing the text through rejecting redundant or irrelevant information and items, especially (omission o f closed- system items )

- Recognizing discourse markers for introducing, developing, concluding an idea, transition to another idea;

- Distinguishing the main idea from supporting details;

- Basic reference skill of understanding and use of headings, tables o f contents;

- Planning and organizing information in expository language (esp presentation of reports, expounding an argument, evaluation o f evidence), using rhetorical functions, especially definition, classification, description o f properties, description

o f process or description of change o f state;

- Transcoding information presented in diagrammatic display or to diagrammatic display, through interpretation or completion o f diagrams, tables or graphs

A m ong these sub-skills, the following ones: skimming, scanning, and deducing the

m eaning o f unfam iliar lexical items will be discussed below T he extracted inform ation source is from English f o r A cadem ic Purpose.(

http://pioneer.net.serv.chula.ac.thA

2.1.3.1 Skim m ing

Skim m ing is the process o f reading main ideas within a passage to get an overall

im pression o f the content o f a reading selection

This process involves:

- Read the title

- Read the introduction or the first paragraph

- R e a d th e f irs t se n te n c e o f e v e ry o th e r p a ra g ra p h

- Read any headings and sub-headings

- Notice any pictures, charts, or graphs

- Notice any italicized or boldface words or phrases

• Read the summary or last paragraph.

2.1.3.2 Scanning

Scanning is a reading technique used when you w ant to find specific information quickly In scanning you have a question in your mind and you read a passage only to find the answer to this question, ignoring unrelated information

This process involves

- State the specific information you are looking for

- Try to anticipate how the answer will appear and what clues you might use to help you locate the answer For example, if you were looking for a certain date, you would quickly read the paragraph looking only for numbers

- Use headings and any other aids that will help you identify which sections might contain the information you are looking for

- Selectively read and skip through sections o f the passage

2.1.3.3 Deducing M eaning o f Unfam iliar Lexical Items

Nuttall ( 982) advises that readers should only use dictionary as the last resort, because t slow s dow n reading and interrupts thinking D educing or interpreting

m eaning ) f unfam iliar lexical items is a necessary skill for second language readers

In fact, if readers frequently use dictionary, reading is slow and thinking is interrupted

T o deduc; the m eaning o f unfam iliar words, first o f all, the reader should recognize the “th ro vaw ay’ vocabulary This term refers to the sort o f w ords that d o not play an

im portam role in ou r understanding o f a written text for interm ediate purpose

“T hrow avay” vocabulary depends on the students’ level, their reasons for reading and the contert Besides throw ing away unim portant w ords w hen reading, readers should also knov when to ignore difficult words- some certain im portant w ords It means that w e d) not need to know the explicit meaning o f the w ords, an d w e can guess the

m eaning >f the w ords through context clues

I W ord e le m e n ts such as prefixes, su ffix es, an d roots.

2 Pictures, diagrams, and charts;

2.2.1 D efinitions about ESP

Nowadays learning English is a necessity for students at tertiary level not only because it is a com pulsory subject included in curriculum but also because it may be a key to open many career doors The English that students will use in their future jobs

is called ESP

ESP is com m only understood as English for Specific Purposes However, there has been considerable recent debate about what ESP means despite the fact that it is an approach which has been widely used over the last three decades Strevens (1977) suggests “a definition o f ESP that is both simple and w atertight is not easy to produce” (cited from Robinson: I, 1991) Hutchinson and W alters (1993) prefer considering ESP as “an approach not a product” They mean that ESP does not involve any particular type o f language, teaching m aterials o r methodology They

em phasize the im portance o f learners’ needs when carrying out any ESP course

M eanwhile, Dudley- Evans and St John (1988) defined ESP by giving out absolute and variable characteristics o f ESP (modified from Streven’s definition).They say that ESP has the following characteristics:

1 Absolute characteristics:

- ESP is defined to meet specific needs of the learners

- ESP makes use o f the underlying methodology and activities o f the discipline it serves.

- ESP is centred on the language (grammar, lexis, and register), skills, discourse and

;genres appropriate to these activities

2 Variable characteristics

- ESP may be related to or designed for specific disciplines

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

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

a professional work situation It could, however, be for learners at secondary school level;

- ESP is generally designed for intermediate or advanced students;

- Most ESP courses assume some basic knowledge o f the language system, but it can

be used with beginners (1988: p.4-5)

Although there are a certain num ber o f ESP definitions, som e o f w hich are even in contrast, m ost authors have agreed that an ESP course should have th e following characteristics: a) ESP is norm ally goal-directed Learners learn English because they need it for their study or work and b) ESP course is designed based on a needs analysis (C arter (1983), Robinson (1991), Hutchinson and W alters (1987)

2.2.2 T y p es o f ESP

As cited in Robinson (1991), David Carter (1983) classifies ESP into three types: English as a restricted language, English for A cadem ic and O ccupational Purposes, English with specific topics In the “tree o f ELT” H utchinson and W alters (1993) divide ESP into branches o f a) English for Science and T echnology (EST), b) English for Business and Econom ics (EBE), c) English for Social Studies (ESS) Each o f these subject areas is further divided into English for A cadem ic Purposes (EAP) and English for O ccupational Purposes (EOP)

The distinction between EOP and EAP is that “EOP is taught in a situation in which learners need to use English as part o f their working or profession (Kennedy, 1991: 4) and EAP is taught generally within educational institutions to students needing English in their studies The language taught maybe based in particular disciplines at higher levels o f education when the students is specialized o r intend to specialize in a particular subject However, this distinction is not a clear- cut: “ people can work and study simultaneously, it is also likely that in many cases the language learnt for immediate use in a study environment will be used later when the students take up, or returns to a jo b (Hutchinson and Walters, 1987: 16).

Thus, ESP a com pulsory independent curriculum subject for students o f MDs at HPUN2, which students have to learn after they have familiarized with their major and after their GE and students can use English as a m eans for their future job , can be considered a com bination o f both EOP and EAP This m eans that the content o f the ESP reading syllabus for the second-year students o f M athem atics should be made as close to what students need to know in their target situation as possible This is an

im portant point to consider when designing an ESP course to develop reading skill for them

2.2.3 Reading in ESP

A ccording to Robinson (1991: ppl02-103): “ reading is probably one o f the mostneeded skill Activation o f knowledge o f the language through writing andspeaking can feed back into reading.” She cites from the researches o f Ulijin (1984), Alderson and U rquhar (1983), (1985), Koh (1985), M oham m ed and Swales (1984), Evans (1988), Bramki and W illiams (1984), to em phasize that subject knowledge can com pensate for linguistic difficulties in reading, however, particular structures and types o f vocabulary can cause most difficulty in reading Thus, she recom mends that

“a good approach to the issue o f what gram m ar (and vocabulary) teaching is necessary to aid reading is provided by the ‘minimum discourse gram m ar’.”

Robinson (1991) also shares the same idea with Johns and Davies (1983) that in EAP (and in ESP in generally), texts are “vehicles for inform ation”, not “ linguistic objects”, and that “ a methodology for studying w ritten texts, such that the focus is on

the inform ation in them and not primarily on the linguistic forms used to realize that inform ation.”

is o f im portance Sysoyev (1999) even indicates that “a better term than needs analysis m ight be students’ analysis

2 3 1 T y p e s o f n eed s

“ What do we m ean by needs? A ccording to Robinson cited in W iddowson (326, p.2) and other authors whose definitions she cited from, needs can be the followings:

“First, needs can refer to students’ study or jo b requirem ents, that is, w hat they have

to be able to do at the end o f their language course This is a goal- oriented definition

o f needs Needs in this sense “are perhaps more appropriately described as

“objectives” (B erw ick (55, p.57) Second, needs can m ean “ what the user- institution

or society at large regards as necessary or desirable to be learnt from a programm e o f language instruction” (M ountford (81, p.27) Third, we can consider “w hat the learner needs to do to actually acquire the language This is a process- oriented definition o f needs and relates to transitional behaviour, the means o f learning” (W iddow son (326, p.2) Fourth, w e can consider w hat the students them selves would like to gain from the language course This view o f needs implies that students may have personal aim

in addition to (or even in opposition to) the requirem ents o f their studies or jobs Finally, we m ay interpret needs as lack, that is, w hat the students do not know or can not do in English

Hutchinson and W aters (1987) suggest needs as “necessities”, “ lacks” and “wants” They expand on the idea o f needs by classifying them into the “target needs” and

“learning needs" (p 54) It is the idea o f this classification that the author took into consideration when answ ering for the question “w hat do w e m ean by needs?”

2.3.1.1 T a rg e t needs

Hutchinson and W ater (1993: 54) define target needs as “ w hat the learner need to do

in the target situation” It is an umbrella term covering “necessities”, “ lacks” and

“wants” N ecessities can be described as “what learner has to know in order to function effectively in the target situation” Lacks are analyzed in w hat is called a

“deficiency”, w here w hat a learner already knows is set against “ necessities Wants are w hat learners feel they need in order to operate in a target situation

Hutchinson and W aters provide a framework for analysing the target situation (1987:59-63)

/ Why is the language needed?

- For study, for work, for training, for a com bination o f these, for some other

purpose, e.g status, exam ination, promotion

2 H ow w ill the language be used?

- M edium : speaking, w riting, reading, etc;

- C hannel: e.g telephone, face to face;

- Types o f text or discourse: e.g academ ic texts, lectures, informal conversations, technical manuals, catalogues

3 What w ill the content areas be?

- Subjects: e.g m edicine, biology, architecture, shipping, commerce, engineering;

- Level: e.g technician, craftsman, postgraduate, secondary school

4 Who w ill the learner use the language with?

- N ative speakers or non-native;

- Level o f know ledge o f receiver: e.g expert, layman, student;

- Relationship: e.g colleague, teacher, custom er, superior, subordinate

5 Where w ill the language be used?

- Physical setting: e.g office, lecture theatre, hotel, workshop, library;

- Human context: e.g alone, meetings, dem onstration, on telephone;

- Linguistic context: e.g in own country, abroad

6 When w ill the language be used?

- C oncurrently w ith the ESP course or subsequently;

- Frequently, seldom, in small amounts, in large chunks

To gather inform ation about the target needs o f students o f M athem atics, the author has to answ er all o f the above 6 questions Some o f the answ ers are obvious from

context For question / , the students o f M athem atics need English as a means to read

technical materials for their current study and their work in the future Second, for

question 4, because the course focuses on reading, the students will m ainly use

English for them selves T hird, for question 5, the language will be used by the

students to read specialist m aterials at university and their future w orkplace Thus, the author needs to use questions 2, 3, and 6 to gather data for this study

Question 2 helps the researcher find out the types o f m aterials and types o f texts that

the students will have to deal w ith in their current study and future jo b s Question 3

aim s at collecting inform ation about the subject contents and linguistic contents o f the

ESP reading m aterials used in the target situation Question 6 is needed to decide

when the language is used and the frequency o f language use in the target situation

2.3.I.2 Learning needs

Learning needs are w hat the learner needs to do in order to learn A ctually, the route

to target situation is not a straight line T he question is how students are going from the departure to the destination M any factors such as need, potentials, constraints o f

needs also concern the conditions for the learning situation (teaching aids, class, and adm inistration), the learners' background knowledge, their identification (age, sex, social status) and the teaching art o f strategies (selecting suitable materials, conducting activities in class).

Analyzing the specific needs o f a particular learner group serves as the prelude to an ESP course design, because it determines the ‘w hat’ and ‘how ’ o f an ESP course Munby (1987) considers it as the “ starting point for any course design”

Hutchinson and W aters also provide a framework for analysing the learning needs parallel to the fram ew ork for analysing target situation (1987:59-63)

/ Why are the learners taking the course?

- C om pulsory or optional

- A pparent need or not

- A re status, money, promotion involved?

- W hat do learners think they will achieve?

- W hat is their attitude towards the ESP course? D o they w ant to improve their English o r do they resent the tim e they have to spend on it?

2 H ow do the learners learn?

- W hat is their learning background?

- W hat is their concept o f teaching and learning?

- W hat m ethodology will appeal to them?

- W hat sorts o f techniques are likely to bore/alienate them?

3 What resources are available?

- N um ber and professional com petence o f teachers

- A ttitude o f teachers to ESP

- T eachers' knowledge o f and attitude to the subject content

- M aterials

- O pportunities for out-of-class activities

4 Who are the learners?

- Age/sex/nationality;

- W hat do they already know about English?

- W hat subject knowledge do they have?

- What are their interests?

- W hat is their socio-cultural background?

- W hat teaching styles are they used to?

- W hat is their attitude to English or to the cultures o f the English-speaking world?

5 Where w ill the ESP course take place?

- Are the surrounding pleasant, dull, noisy, cold etc?

6 When w ill the ESP course take place?

- Tim e o f day; every day/once a week;

- Full - tim e/part - time;

- C oncurrent w ith need or pre-need

For the scope o f the study, the author does not intend to find the answ ers to all the sub-questions o f the above questions to collect data on learners’ learning needs She only em phasizes the followings:

Q uestion 1 is used to find information about learners’ reasons for taking the course in

w hich learners’ attitudes and expectations before the course needs to be investigated

Question 2 is im portant to know about what m ethodology will appeal to them.

Question 3 is used in the author's analysis to collect inform ation about the materials

available for the course

Question 4 is included in the data collection instrum ent to extricate data about learner

s' age/sex, w hat they already know about English, w hat their interests are and what teaching styles they are used to

For question 5, the answ er is obvious The course certainly will take place at classes

at HPUN 2

Question 6 is used to gather information about the tim e o f the course, tim e o f the day.

2.3.2 Instrum ents to C ollect Data for a Needs Analysis

To identify the learning needs and target needs, various m ethods can be used like , interviews, observation, case studies, data collection (H utchinson and W aters, 1987; Dudley- Evans, 1988) It is im portant to rem em ber before deciding which instruments

to choose is 1) needs are com piled so annalists are advised to use m ore than one o f the methods and 2) N eeds Analysis is not once- for-all activity but a continuing process

In this thesis, the author used questionnaire, interviews and docum ents analysis as the main m ethods T he reasons for choosing them will be discussed in chapter 3

In conclusion, getting data on needs analysis is a crucial step for any ESP syllabus designer to set course objectives and determ ine scientific approach to teaching and learning

2.4 Syllabuses

2 4.1 D efinitions o f Syllabus

A syllabus is prim arily concerned with w hat is to be learned There are several different w ays to define syllabus A t its sim plest level a syllabus can be described as a statement o f w hat is to be learnt (H utchinson and W alters: 1987, 80) N unan cited from W iddow son (1984: 26) another definition about syllabus “ th e syllabus is sin p ly a fram ew ork w ithin w hich activities can be carried out: a teaching device to

facilitate learning” In addition to specifying the content o f learning, a syllabus provides a rationale for how that content should be selected and ordered (Me Kay,

1980, cited in Furey, 1984) Wilkin (1981) says, “Syllabuses are specifications o f the content o f language teaching which have been subm itted to som e degree o f structuring o r ordering with the aim o f making teaching and learning a m ore effective process.”

However, a distinction between syllabus and curriculum is im portant In America, syllabus is used w ith sim ilar meaning to curriculum In Britain, curriculum , however, refers to issues o f policy, planning and the com plete educational environm ent (Pauline Robinson, p.33) A nother distinction, also cited by N unan from Allen, is (1984: 61) “ curriculum is a very general concept which involves consideration o f the whole com plex o f philosophical, social and adm inistrative factors w hich contribute to the planning o f an educational program Syllabus, on the other hand, refers to the subparts

o f curriculum w hich is concerned with a specification o f w hat units will be taught” In this paper, I use syllabus as a plan o f what to be taught in a particular course; it acts as

a guide for both teachers and learners by providing some goals to be attained

Tabo (1962:12) as cited in Brumfit (1984) develops the general m odel o f syllabus design which has dom inated discussion for many years as 7 steps isolated below:

1 Needs Analysis

2 Formulation o f objectives

3 Selection o f content

4 Organization o f content

5 Selection o f learning activities

6 Organization o f learning activities

7 Decisions about what needs evaluating and how to evaluate

2.4.2 Types o f Syllabuses

To review briefly, 6 types o f syllabuses stated by Rabini (2000) are as follow:

/ ( Structural (Form al) Syllabus

T he content o f language teaching is a collection o f the form s and structures o f the language being taught A more fundamental criticism is that the structural syllabus focuses on only one aspect o f language, namely gram m ar, w hereas in truth there exist

m any more aspects to language

A N otional/F unctional Syllabus

T he content o f the language teaching is a collection o f the functions that are perform ed w hen language is used, or o f the notions that language is used to express

W hite (1988:77) criticizes that “ language functions do not usually occur in isolation” and there are also difficulties o f selecting and grading function and form

A Situational Syllabus

T he content o f language teaching is a collection o f real or im aginary situations in which language occurs or is used The primary purpose o f a situational language teaching syllabus is to teach the language that occurs in the situations A situational syllabus will be a limitation for students whose needs w ere not encom passed by the situations in the syllabus

A Skill-B ased Syllabus

T he content o f the language teaching is a collection o f specific abilities th a t may play

a part in using language The primary purpose o f skill-based instruction is to learn the specific language skill A possible secondary purpose is to develop m ore general com petence in the language, learning only incidentally any inform ation that m ay be available w hile applying the language skills

Skill-based syllabuses have their problem As Richards said (2001: 161) there is no serious basis for determ ining skills and this type o f syllabuses focuses on discrete aspects o f perform ance rather than on developing m ore global and integrated com m unicative abilities

A Task-Based Syllabus

The content o f the teaching is a series o f com plex and purposeful tasks that the students w ant or need to perform w ith the language they are learning Language learning is subordinate to task performance, and language teaching occurs only as the need arises during the performance o f a given task The weakness o f this syllabus is that it is difficult to grade which tasks to choose first in the selections.

A Topic o r C ontent- B ased Syllabus

Learners o f this syllabus are helped to acquire language through the study o f a series

o f relevant topics; each topic is exploited in systematic w ays and from different angles The topics are often sequenced on the basis o f their perceived importance or

on the basis o f the relative difficulty o f reading the passage involves (Brown, 1995:9) Topic- based syllabus is important to ESP course, because it “deploys the content

o f the students’ w ork in specialist study One objective o f the ESP course may, in fact,

be to teach this specialist content” (Robinson, 1991: 36)

However, this kind o f syllabuses reveals some problems First, it is difficult to decide and select w hat topics or themes to be put in syllabus Second, it m ay not be possible

to reconcile the different strands o f the topics and the com plexity o f language level

In conclusion, in this part, the author has tried to review briefly different types o f syllabuses A lthough six different types o f language teaching syllabuses are described here as though they are separated, in practice, these types rarely appear independently

o f each other M ost language teaching syllabuses are combined by tw o or more types

In a language teaching course, one type o f syllabus usually dom inates, w hile the other types o f content m aybe combined with it Robinson (1991: 41) points out that the decision as to w hich type or types to employ will result from a judicious consideration

o f the students’ needs, the objectives o f the course and the institutional bias o f the teaching institution

2 5 R eading M aterials

2.5.1 A uthentic Reading Materials

N unan (1988:4) defines authenticity texts as “the m aterials w ere not specifically designed for the purpose o f language teaching.” Lindner (cited from N unan) adds that

‘■"Authenticity: not a characteristic o f a text in itself- is created by the response o f the receiver A text is authentic when the context o f speaker and receiver is shared, the purpose o f the speaker understood.

M any w riters claim that authenticity m aterials bring out the advantages for learners The advantages can be shortly sum m arized as: a)Texts have trigger function, b) Learners see real language use, are motivated c)Leam ers often need to be able to read

or produce texts o f this type him self or herself (Allwright, 1979; Freeman 1986)

2.5.2 M aterials Adaptation

In Brown’s general param eters o f program design (1995; 20), after analysis, goals and objectives, and testing is material developm ent Brown suggests three strategies to develop m aterials: adopting, developing, and adapting

Adopting materials involves deciding on the types of materials are needed, locating as many different sets o f those types as possible, evaluating the materials, putting them

to use, and reviewing them on an ongoing basis Developing materials will be discussed on terms o f three phrases: developing, teaching (field testing), and evaluating material Adapting materials includes all of the steps necessary in adopting them, but must additionally incorporate phrases that allow for analyzing what is worth keeping in the materials, classifying that remaining material, filling gaps from other sources (pp 139-140.)

According to M e Donough and Shaw (1993:10), the techniques for adapting can cover the follows:

- Adding, including expanding and extending the texts

- Deleting, including subtracting and abridging

- Modifying, including re-writing and re-structuring

- Simplifying

- Re-ordering

- To discover how far students have achieved the objectives o f a course o f study.

- To diagnose students' strengths and weaknesses, to identify what they know and what they do not know

- To assist placement o f students by identifying the stage or part o f a teaching programme most appropriate to their ability (Hughes, 1989:7)

ESP testing can fall into four main kinds: proficiency tests, achievem ent tests, diagnostic tests, and placem ent tests Proficiency tests are designed to measure people’s ability in a language regardless o f any training they m ay have had in that language T he content o f a proficiency test is based on a specification o f what candidates have to be able to do in the language in order to be considered proficiency

A chievem ent tests, m eanw hile, are established to m easure how successful students have been achieving objectives o f a course Diagnostic tests are used to identify students’ strength or w eaknesses They are intended prim arily to ascertain what further teaching is necessary Placem ent tests are intended to provide information which will help to place students at the stage (o r in the part) o f the teaching program

m ost appropriate to their abilities They are used to assign students to classes at different levels (H ughes, 1989: pp 9-14)

In the circum stance o f teaching and learning English at HPUN 2, tests are usually designed to m easure students’ perform ance after a certain period o f time Thus, testing at HPUN 2 can be classified as achievem ent tests A ccording to Hugh (1989:10), achievem ent tests are o f tw o kinds: final achievem ent tests and progress achievem ent tests Final achievem ent tests are at the end o f the course, which are written by the official exam ination board T he content o f the tests is related to the course w ith w hich they are concerned Progress achievem ent tests are intended to

m easure the progress that the students are making They are based on short-term objectives and fit w ith what has been taught.

2.7 P reviou s S tu d ies in the Field

Recently, thanks to the increase in teaching ESP for students at universities and colleges, the num ber o f reading syllabuses has also increased In this paper Two unpublished MA thesises cited are for the second - year students at Hanoi National University m ade by Nguyen Phong Thu (2003) and Than Thi Hien G iang (2004) together w ith the weak and strong points in their thesis

N guyen Phong T h u ’s thesis: “A proposed ESP reading syllabus for the second year students at G eology Departm ent at Hanoi University o f Science” was conducted on her students after 135 class hours o f General English with the textbook Lifelines pre­intermediate (Tom H utchinson) and 56 class hours are going to be followed

Than Thi Hien G iang also designed a reading syllabus for ESP students o f the second year for Econom ics Department at Tay Nguyen University Before learning 60 class hours o f ESP, her students had 300 class hours o f General English with the textbooks

H eadw ay (John and Liz Soars, 1993)

Both Phong T hu and Hien G iang approached designing syllabus by com bining skills- based and topic- based approaches By com bining, their proposed syllabi can help students to develop sub-skills like: scanning, skim m ing, inferring and they also provide students w ith knowledge relating to their m ajors (Econom ics and Geology)

A s a result, students are motivated to learn

The second good point in these researches is their data collection instrument Both Phong Thu and H ien Giang use questionnaires as the main instrum ent to collect information T he questionnaires are said to be cheap, tim e saving and suitable for non- m ajor English students M oreover, information can be collected quickly from a large num ber o f people

However, neither research is totally perfect The w eakest point in both studies lies in the m ethod o f their collecting information As the two researchers made clear, “there was no guaranty that all the questioned students can provide true information”

Therefore, they suggested that “ it should be necessary to carry out another study in

w hich course evaluation should be made in order to check w hether there is fault in the syllabus, how w ell the course is actually fulfilling its aims, w hether it m eets students’ needs”

In conclusion, from the results o f the previous studies, applying in different subjects and learning environm ent, 1 wish to overcom e the limitation and propose a suitable syllabus for reading at my university

In sum m ary, In chapter 2 o f this study, the author has reviewed the relevant literature and conceptual fram ew ork for ESP reading syllabus design They are about reading theories, ESP, syllabus and some previous studies in the field o f the study

C H A P T E R T H R E E : M E T H O D O L O G Y

This chapter presents the methodology applied in the thesis It starts with the research questions Next, it describes the data collection instrum ents Then it discusses the subjects participating in the research Finally, it gives information about the procedures o f the study

3.1 Research Questions

T he study aim s at finding out the answers to the following questions:

1 W hat are the language learning needs o f undergraduate students o f M athematics?

2 W hat are the language target needs o f undergraduate students o f M athem atics?

3.2 Data C ollection Instruments

In order to collect reliable information for the study, the author com bined three main data collection instrum ents They were (1) docum ent analysis, (2) interviews with teachers o f M athem atics and teachers o f English and (3) questionnaire for the

M athem atics undergraduates These instruments are discussed in the following sections in term s o f their purposes as well as development

3.2.1 Docum ents Analysis

T he first data collection instrum ent used for this research w as the docum ent analysis The following types o f docum ents w ere analyzed: the FLD’s docum ented curriculum, the G E last exam ination scores and a collection o f authentic documents

3.2.1.1 Analysis o f FLD’s Documented Curriculum

FLD is responsible fo r teaching English for other nine D epartm ents at HPUN 2 basing

on the M O ET’s objectives and our own teaching conditions Therefore, the new syllabus will be designed to meet the dem ands o f these bodies

3 2.1.2 A nalysis o f the L atest G E E xam ination S cores

The scores o f the latest G E examination for 45 students o f K33A and 45 students o f K33B (also the subjects o f the questionnaire) were used to help the author find out the students' levels before com ing to ESP course, especially their reading ability (see

A ppendix 2 p.p 78-80) Hence, the author exam ined their final results as well as their results for sub-parts For the reason o f confidentiality, the nam es o f the students are coded by numbers Those who were coded from A1 to A 45 w ere from K33A and those w ho were coded from B l to B45 were from K33B Basing on the result o f the analysis, the author possibly knows the levels o f proficiency o f the students after GE and a suitable syllabus for them is proposed

3 2.1.3 Analysis o f Authentic Documents

Some typical w ritten materials which are often used by the students o f M athem atics for their undergraduate study and those which are norm ally used by graduate students

in real occupational settings will also be collected and analyzed in order to identify the students target needs

3.2.2 Interviews for the Teachers o f M athem atics and the Teachers o f English

The second data collection instrument is interview Interview was chosen to help the author collect data because they can give m ore in-depth information and are appropriate for sm all groups o f subjects

The interview checklist for teachers o f M athem atics consists o f 2 parts: part A and part B (see A ppendix 4 p.92)

Part A has 5 close-ended questions Question 1 w as designed to collect the opinions

o f teachers o f M athem atics about the needs o f reading technical docum ents o f the

M athem atics undergraduates in target situation Questions 2 and 3 explored the types

o f reading m aterials including such 5 main kinds as: technical books, articles on webs, articles on printed newspapers, mathematical reports and mathematic research are needed in the target situation; which types o f texts: authentic texts or non-authentic texts are better for the students Questions 4 and 5 w ere designed to look for

inform ation about the useful reading skills/strategies, and the students’ deficiencies in reading docum ents in technical fields.

Part B has 1 open-ended question to get suggestions on the topics to be included in the syllabus

T he interviews for the teachers o f English are structured interviews see Appendix 5,

pp 93-94) The interview checklist consists o f 4 questions Question 1 sought for data about the objectives o f the course Question 2, question 3, and question 4 aimed at

finding sub reading skills, grammar structures and exercises the teachers think were

necessary for the course Question 4 was to collect information about the types o f

m aterials were suitable for the students

3.2.3 Q uestionnaire for the M athematics Undergraduates

The third data collection instrument is the questionnaire A ccording to Graham (2000) and Richards (2 0 0 !) a questionnaire is considered to be one o f the best instruments used to collect data for the following reasons Firstly, it can be given to a large num ber o f respondents at the same time and the data collected from questionnaires is relatively uniform , standard and accurate Secondly, respondents can com plete the questionnaire when it suits them Thirdly, it obtains inform ation that is easy to tabulate and analyze

The questionnaire w ith the aim o f gathering information about the students’ language learning needs w as adm inistered to 90 undergraduate students w ho are studying in 2 classes o f 33 A and 33B o f M D at HPUN2 To avoid any possible m isunderstanding or incorrect interpretation, the questionnaire was written in V ietnam ese (see A ppendix 3

A for questionnaire in English and 3.B for questionnaire in V ietnam ese, pp 81-91)

The questionnaire includes three parts: Part A, Part B and Part C

Part A was designed to gather personal information about students’ background: age, sex, and years o f learning English

Part B: includes 6 questions designed for the purpose o f finding the learners’ attitudes and expectations tow ardss the ESP course, their current practice o f reading skills and their difficulties in learning English

Question 1 and question 2 investigated the students' attitudes and expectations

tow ards the forth com ing ESP course In other words, students’ w ants w ould be found from the responses to this question

Question 3 w as designed to collect information about the students' purposes when reading technical docum ents As reviewed in chapter 2 for different reading purposes, students should apply different ways o f reading Thus, it is necessary to know students’ reading purposes to design appropriate reading skills for them

Question 4 helped the author to know the students’ current activities in a reading lesson

Question 5 provided information about the students’ frequency o f using strategies to deal with new vocabulary

Question 6 sought for information about the students’ difficulties in reading GE texts

Part C: consists o f 5 questions to collect information about the students’ learning preferences

Question 7, question 8, question 9 question 10 and question 11 were designed to investigate the students’ preferences o f reading exercises, teacher’s activities, types o f materials and types o f texts that the students liked to read

3.3 Subjects o f the Study

3.3.1 Subjects o f the Interviews

Four teachers o f M athem atics were invited to be the subjects o f the interviews They are university lecturers o f 4 subdivisions o f M athematics: Algebra, Arithmetic, Geometry and Analysis They all have had their D octorate Degrees in their majors, and for their current work English is a necessary m eans which helps them read technical docum ents Furthermore, in their lectures, they often provide docum ents in English to th eir students and ask them to read for their studies The author assumed that with the experience o f teaching specialist subjects as well as their experience o f using English for their jobs, the interviewees would help her investigate the target needs

Five teachcrs o f English were also invited to becom e the interviewees o f the data col lectin procedures They were enthusiastic to contribute their opinions to the design

o f the syllabus T hey all have had experience as ESP teachers since ESP was first introduced to the students They were not the designers o f the course book for students o f M athem atics so their suggestions are quite objective Three o f the invited teachers have had their Bachelors o f Art and two o f them have ju st finished M aster o f Art Therefore, their ideas o f teaching as well as English are reliable

3.3.2 Subjects o f the Questionnaire

T he subjects o f the questionnaire were 90 second-year students from class 33A and 33B o f MD at HPUN 2, who finished their 225 class hours after G E stage

A fter four years o f training at HPUN 2, the students o f M athem atics w ill become teachers o f M athem atics at schools, colleges, or universities in Vietnam Some o f them will probably becom e researchers on specialist fields in M athematics Institutions For those w ho do mathematical researches, the opportunities to read docum ents in English are big For those who teach, at their w orkplace, it is not com mon that they use English for their teaching work However, they still need English as a m eans to look for information from published references to widen their knowledge In short, reading English is a necessity for the students o f MD at HPUN 2

3 4 D a ta C o lle c t io n P r o c e d u r e s

At first, F L D 's docum ented curriculum concerning the ESP course was collected and analyzed Then, the a collection o f authentic written texts used by students for their current study and graduates in their workplace w ere collected and analyzed to help form the a u th o r's presuppositions about the students’ target needs The analysis o f the latest en d -o f term scores would provide the author with students’ level o f proficiency before entering the ESP course

A fter that, four teachers o f M athematics and the five teachers o f English were

interviewed T hey w ere all willing to attend in the interviews so the survey’s results were quite satisfactory The results o f the interviews w ould provide inform ation about students' learning needs as well as target needs