Proposed improvement of informatics reading comprehension tests for hanoi university of technology

Certifícate of Originality of Field Study ReportI certify my authorship of the Field Study Report submitted today entitled PROPOSED IMPROVEMENT OF INFORMATICS READING COMPREHENSION TEST

8 531884 July 1999 November 1999

HANOI UNIVERSITY OF FOREIGN STUDIES

Certifícate of Originality of Field Study Report

I certify my authorship of the Field Study Report submitted today entitled

PROPOSED IMPROVEMENT

OF INFORMATICS READING COMPREHENSION TESTS

FOR HANOI UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY

in terms of the Statement of Requirements for Theses and Field Study Reports

in Masters' Programmes issued by the Higher Degree Committee

Ho Xuan Ngoc

II

That this field study report has been carried out originates from the fact that urgent remedies are needed to improve ESP reading comprehension tests at Hanoi University of Technology This field study report consists of five chapters as follows :

Chapter one gives an overview of ESP testing at Hanoi University of Technology The aims of this field study report are also given in this chapter

Chapter two covers questions such as the role of testing, types of language tests, and main characteristics of a good test

Chapter three considers the problems concerning ESP, for example, a definition of ESP, description of ESP materials for students of informatics and methods used to teach those materials

Chapter four takes into consideration such questions as the characteristics of reading tests, identification of test specifications, techniques for designing reading comprehension tests, problems of existing ESP reading tests at HNUT together with comments, and suggestions for improvement

Chapter five reconfirms the aim of this field study report-to improve ESP reading tests at HNUT

Ill

I am particularly indebted to my supervisor Mr Le Huy Truong, M.A for his valuable instructions, comments, criticism, correction, and for his kind encouragement during the development of this field study report Without his help this field study report would have been impossible

I would also like to acknowledge a debt to Mr Tran Quang Huy, M.A, Dr Nguyen Ngoc Hung, and Dr Pham Kim Ninh

I am grateful to all my lecturers, teachers and the staff of the Post­graduate Studies Department at HUFS for their encouragement and assistance

My gratitude also goes to my wife, Mrs Tran Thi Kim Lien, who is always with me in the sweet or bitter minutes of my life, whose support for writing this dissertation cannot be expressed in words, making a great contribution to my work

I would also like to convey my thanks to my classmates for their help.Finally, I would like to thank my collègues in the Faculty of Foreign Studies at HNUT for their support and encouragement

IV

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page

a c k n o w l e d g e m e n t s

ABSTRACT

TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER 1 INSTRUCTION 1

CHAPTER 2 THEORETICAL REVIEW OF TESTING 4

2.1 W hat is testing? 4

2.2 W hat is a test ? 5

2.3 T he role o f te s tin g 6

2.3.1 Testing and te a c h in g 6

2.3.2 Testing and te a c h e rs 6

2.3.3 Testing and s tu d e n ts 7

2.4 T est cla ssific a tio n 8

2.4.1 D iagnostic t e s t s 9

2.4.2 Placem ent t e s t s 9

2.4.3 Progress t e s t s 9

2.4.4 A chievem ent t e s t s 10

2.4.5 Proficiency t e s t s 11

2.4.6 Aptitude t e s t s 11

2.5 T est c h a ra cte ristic s 11

2.5.1 V a lid ity 12

2.5.1.1 Face v a lid ity 12

2.5.1.2 Content v a lid ity 13

2.5.2 R e lia b ility 13

2.5.2.1 Test - r e t e s t 14

2.5.2.2 Internal c o n s is te n c y 15

2.5.2.3 Split - h a l f 16

2.5.3 P rac tic a lity 17

2.5.4 D isc rim in a tio n 18

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2.5.4.1 Item difficulty 18

2.5.4.2 Item discrim ination 19

CHAPTER 3 ENGLISH FOR SPECIFIC PURPOSES 21

3.1 Some understanding of ESP in g eneral 21

3.2 ESP teaching to students of informatics at HNUT 23

3.2.1 Teaching m aterials 23

3.2.2 Teaching m ethods 28

CHAPTER 4 HOW TO IMPROVE ESP READING COMPREHENSION TESTS FOR STUDENTS OF INFORMATICS AT HNUT 32

4.1 Characteristics of reading te s ts 32

4.2 Identification of test specifications 33

4.3 Techniques used for designing reading comprehension tests 36

4.3.1 Multiple - choice te s t 36

4.3.2 True/False te s t 40

4.3.3 Rearrangement ite m s 43

4.3.4 Matching te s t 45

4.3.5 Completion test 47

4.3.6 Cloze test 48

4.4 Problems of existing reading tests at HNUT 50

4.5 Proposed improvement of existing tests 51

4.5.1 Procedures for test construction 51

4.5.2 Proposed improvements of the HNUT existing te s ts 52

CHAPTER 5 CONCLUSION 59

APPENDIX A 61

APPENDIX B 62

BIBLIOGRAPHY 66

VI

CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION

At Hanoi University of Technology (HNUT) students are studying English in two stages of 6 semesters (each semester is of 15 weeks) During the first stage (the first four semesters) the students are provided with 300 lesson periods o f general English (each period is o f 45 minutes) They are expected to acquire pre-intermediate level through learning the first two books o f the Headway series (Headway Elementary and Headway Pre- Intermediate) and some reading materials designed by the teachers of English at the Faculty of Foreign Studies

During the second stage students are provided with 90 lesson periods

o f ESP At this stage ESP is taught to the students of different faculties : chemistry, physics, mathematics, information technology, electronics and telecommunications etc The reality o f ESP teaching and learning at Hanoi University of Technology has supported the fact that there cannot be

a universal ESP for all faculties, but there should be at least one kind of ESP for each faculty, for example, English for Computing

At the Faculty of Information Technology students are studying English in the third year They are required to do the practice of the two macro-skills : reading and writing

In the middle o f each academic year the students have to take a test, the mid-term test and at the end o f the academic year they have to take the achievement test These tests often include subtests in reading and subtests

in writing

The aim o f the reading test is to measure the students’ ability in :

- Skimming the text to obtain the gist;

- Scanning the text to locate specific information;

- Identifying stages o f an argument;

- Guessing the meaning o f words from the context;

- Distinguishing between relevant and irrelevant information;

- Completing ideas based on previous background;

- Identifying function o f cohesion and coherence;

- Identifying key words;

Up to now, there has not yet been an ESP test bank for students at HNUT, so tests are almost designed by the teachers who are responsible for teaching ESP However, they are not professional test designers In addition

to this, there is no cooperation among teachers in designing tests This is because of the fact that the role o f ESP testing in teaching and learning has not been fully recognized In short, ESP testing at our University has not been given adequate attention and careful study

All of these lead to a number o f problems concerning ESP testing such

as :

First, some of the tests may lack reliability because they are not pre­tested anywhere else for the sake o f confidentiality

Second, there is a tendency o f using tests exclusively for grading, there

is no feedback about the tests

Third, there is a gap between what is taught and what is tested For example, tests designed and administered to the students are not relevant to what they have been taught, which is why these tests cannot produce accurate measurement

B ecause o f the problem s already m entioned, I w ould like to focus my

d issertatio n on the follow ing issues :

- To present an overview of language testing in general and, ESP testing in particular;

- To provide the presentation o f the real situation in ESP testing at HNUT for students of informatics

- To offer practical suggestions for the improvement of existing ESP reading tests at HNUT

In the next chapter I begin the discussion o f the problem of ESP testing

at HNUT by setting the theoretical context with an overview o f English language testing and test characteristics

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CHAPTER TWO THEORETICAL REVIEW OF TESTING

In this chapter I would like to consider the role of testing, types o f test and main characteristics of a good test As a preliminary to this, however, I would like to deal with the meaning given to the term “testing” in a number

o f books

2.1 WHAT IS TESTING ?

In “M odem Language Testing”, Valette (1977) deals with such questions as preparing the classroom test, giving the classroom test, evaluating classroom test results Furthermore, Jacobs, Zinkgraf, Wormuth and Hartfield (1981), in their book “Testing ESL Composition” also deal with such questions as establishing the purpose of the evaluation, preparing the writing test, planning the evaluation of composition tests, administering the composition test, interpreting test scores, and making decisions and recommendations from the test scores In "Testing for Language Teachers ", Hughes (1989) covers the stages o f test construction such as writing specifications for the test, writing the test and pretesting Through these books, “testing” could be understood rather more broadly as a process of assessment consisting of the following stages :

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At FAAPI seminar, Mardel plata, Argentina, October 1995, Allan, D Paper wrote :

“Tests are instruments of evaluation, one o f the ways in which we try

to measure participant’s performance They have a physical existence and operate within specific time frame, seeking to make accurate predictions on the basic of relatively small samples of performance in the case o f such an enormously complex thing as language”

There is no the so called ‘the best test’ or ‘the best testing techniques’

for all purposes of testing.

In the next part o f this chapter I will further discuss the characteristics

of a good test

2.3 THE ROLE OF TESTING

2.3.1 Testing and teaching

Testing plays an important part in the teaching-learning process Heaton (1985 : 5) points out: “Both testing and teaching are so closely interrelated that it is virtually impossible to work in either field without being constantly concerned with the other” Thus, the relationship between testing and teaching is that o f partnership and tests may have both good and bad effects on teaching Heaton (1985 : 5) also says : “Tests may be constructed primarily as devices to reinforce learning and to motivate the student or primarily as a means of assessing the student’s performance in the language” This can be understood that the test is geared to the teaching that has taken place, whereas teaching is often geared largely to the test The reality o f teaching and testing at our university has supported the fact that teachers and students spend time practising in order to pass tests (achievement tests)

2.3.2 Testing and teachers

The function indicated in the preceding paragraph provides one of the answers to the question: Why test ? The TEFL Newsletter (1977 : 15) also suggests : “When a test is administered to new students, the results can indicate the general level o f proficiency of a class and the initial level at which a teaching program should aim A test at the end of a teaching program can indicate the extent to which the student has mastered what has been taught.”

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The role of testing can be summed up as follows :

• To help teachers to diagnose their students’ weaknesses, difficulties and strengths;

• To help teachers to locate the precise areas of difficulties encountered by the whole class or by the individual student;

• To give teachers an opportunity to analyse the errors and the reasons why a student makes them, so that they can determine where to concentrate extra class drill and how best to assist each student;

• To enable teachers to determine which parts of the language program are presenting difficulties for the class;

• To enable teachers to increase their own effectiveness by making adjustments in their teaching;

• To help teachers to evaluate the effectiveness of the syllabus, methods and materials they are using

2.3.3 Testing and students

It goes without saying that tests can benefit teachers as well as students The TEFL Newsletter (1977:14) states : "A well-constructed and properly administered test can reinforce the students' learning processes" Thus, we can see that the students can benefit from the test because:

• They are motivated to display what they have learned

• The feedback they get from test results may add to their motivation

• They are made aware o f their errors and reasons for making them, so they will be able to avoid them in the future

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2.4 TEST CLASSIFICATION

Test classification varies slightly from writer to writer For example, Valette (1977 : 5) divides tests into four basic types : aptitude, progress, achievement and proficiency Heaton (1988 : 171, 172, 173) : progress, achievement (attainment), proficiency, aptitude and diagnostic Madsen (1983 : 8) divides tests into seven contrasting pairs as follows :

• Knowledge tests and performance (or skills) tests

• Subjective tests and objective tests

• Productive tests and receptive tests

• Language subskill tests and communication skills tests

• Norm-referenced tests and criterion-referenced tests

• Discrete-point tests and integrative tests

• Proficiency tests and achievement tests

We use tests to obtain information The information obtained from tests

is used for different types of decisions However, the information that we hope to obtain will o f course vary from situation to situation, that is, there will be different types of information The type o f information, which the tester needs for making decisions, will determine to a large extent the type

of test, which the tester will use

There is some confusion regarding the terminology used to denote the different types of tests Most test specialists, however, agree on the following broad divisions : diagnostic tests, placement tests, progress tests, achievement tests, proficiency tests and aptitude tests

Each type o f test has its own characteristics and I shall now give a brief description o f each type

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2.4.1 Diagnostic tests

According to Arthur Hughes (1983 : 13): “Diagnostic tests are used to identify students’ strengths and weaknesses They are intended primarily to ascertain what further teaching is necessary” In other words, diagnostic tests are designed to show what skills or knowledge a student knows and does not know For example, a diagnostic pronunciation test may be used to measure the student’s pronunciation o f English sounds It would show which sounds a student is and is not able to produce

2.4.2 Placement tests

Placement tests are intended to provide information which will help to put new students into different groups according to their ability, so that they can start a course at approximately the same level The term “placement test” does not refer to what a test contains or how it is constructed, but to the purpose for which it is used

At Hanoi University o f Technology this kind o f test has been used to

classify the first year students into two levels : the zero level covering absolute beginners who know nothing at all about English and the other level consisting o f those students who do know something about English This type of test usually takes the form o f a dictation or a short grammar test It is administered in an informal atmosphere and the students have no reasons to be worried because they will be admitted into an English class in any case whether passing the test or not

2.4.3 Progress tests

Heaton (1988 : 171) describes progress tests as follows:

“The progress test is designed to measure the extent to which the students have mastered the material taught in the classroom It is based on

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the language programme which the class has been following and is just as important as an assessment of the teacher’s own work as the student’s own learning Results obtained from the progress test enable the teacher to become more familiar with the work of each student and with the progress

of the class in general”

Thus, tests prepared by a teacher and given at the end o f a chapter, course, or term are progress tests They help the teacher to judge the degree

of success o f his or her teaching and to identify the weakness o f the students

Progress tests may be regarded as similar to achievement tests but narrower and much more specific in scope

2.4.4 Achievem ent tests

Achievement tests are designed to measure how much o f a language the students have learned with reference to a particular course o f study or programme o f instruction These tests are based on what the students are presumed to have learned - not necessarily on what they have actually learned nor on what has actually been taught

To some extent, achievement tests are similar to the class progress tests but they are far more formal tests and are intended to measure achievement

on a larger scale, which is why Heaton (1988 : 172) states :

“M ost annual school examinations take the form o f achievement tests; all public tests which are intended to show mastery of a particular syllabus are also achievement tests Achievement tests frequently take the form of- secondary school entrance tests and school certificate examination”

At Hanoi University o f Technology this type of test takes the form of examinations at the end o f each semester, or academic year and exerts a

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strong influence on the teaching.

2.4.5 Proficiency tests

According to Hughes (1989 : 9) :

“Proficiency tests are designed to measure people’s ability in a language regardless o f any training they may have had in that language The content o f a proficiency test, therefore, is not based on the content or objectives of language course which people taking the test may have followed Rather, it is based on a specification on what candidates have to

be able to do in the language in order to be considered proficient”

An example of this would be a test designed to determine whether a student’s English is good enough to follow a course o f study at a British University

2.4.6 Aptitude tests

Aptitude tests are designed to measure a student’s aptitude for foreign language learning They can be used to identify those learners who are most likely to succeed Language aptitude tests usually consist o f several different tests which measure such abilities as : sound coding ability, grammatical coding ability, inductive learning ability and memorization

to it may mean that they do not perform on it in a way that truly reflects their ability.

2.5.1.2 Content validity

Harrison (1983 : 11) gives a definition o f content validity as follows:

"Content validity is concerned with what goes into the test The content

of a test should be described by considering the purposes of the assessment, and then drawing up a list known as a content specification"

In terms o f content validity, Hughes (1989 : 22) states: "A test is said

to have content validity if its content constitutes a representative sample o f the language skills, structures, etc with which it is meant to be concerned".For example, a test o f pronunciation skills in a language would have low content validity if it tested only some o f the skills which are required for accurate pronunciation, such as a test which tested the ability to pronounce isolated sounds, but not stress, intonation, or the pronunciation

o f sounds within words The reason for this is that the content of tests is too often determined by what is easy to test rather than what is important to test This tendency leads to a harmful backwash effect: areas which are not tested are likely to become areas ignored in teaching and learning To solve this problem, Heaton (1988 : 160) advises: "When embarking on theconstruction o f a test, the test writer should first draw up a table o f test specifications, describing in very clear and precise terms the particular language skills and areas to be included in the test."

2.5.2 Reliability

Reliability is a necessary characteristic o f any good test It is said that

no test is valid if it is unreliable Test reliability means that tests should be designed, administered and scored in such a way that they can produce accurate measurement A test is said to be reliable if it gives the same results when it is given on different occasions or when it is used by different

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According to Harrison (1983 : 10)

"The reliability o f a test is its consistency"

Heaton (1988 : 162, 163) points out that test reliability is affected by a number o f factors, such as :

• The extent o f the sample o f material selected for testing The larger the sample (i.e the more tasks the students have to perform), the greater the probability that the test as a whole is reliable

• The administration o f the test: is the same test administered to different groups under different conditions or at different times ?

• Test instructions : are the various tasks expected from the testees made clear to all students in the rubrics ?

• Personal factors such as motivation and illness

• Scoring the test : one o f the most important factors affecting reliability

To ascertain the reliability o f a test, test specialists such as Carrol andHall (1985 : 118), Heaton (1988 : 163) suggest the three following methods : test-retest, split-half, and internal consistency

2.5.2.1 Test - retest

In his Field Study Report, Le Huy Truong (1988 : 21) points out :

"This method aims at finding out the reliability index to see whether the testees are similarly ranked in two successive applications of the same test"

In other words, this method measures the reliability of a test by re- administering the same test after a lapse o f time It is assumed that all testees have been treated in the same way in the interval - that they have either all been taught or that none o f them have Provided that such assumptions can be made, comparison o f the two results would then show

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how reliable the test has proved.

Heaton (1988 : 163) comments on this method as follows :

"Clearly, this method is often impracticable and, in any case, a frequent use o f it is not to be recommended, since certain students will benefit more than others by a familiarity with the type and format o f the test"

2.5.2.2 Internal consistency

Another means o f estimating the reliability o f a test is internal consistency That is the measure o f the degree to which the items or parts of

a test are homogeneous or consistent with each other

When given the mean and standard deviation (appendix A) the test internal consistency can be calculated by the following formula:

^ _ n x s d ' - M(n - M)

s d ' x ( n - 1)Where :

I.C = Internal consistency coefficient

n = number o f items in the test

s.d = standard deviation o f the test scores

Thus, with the test o f 40 items, a mean of 25.7, and a standard deviation o f 6.0, the internal consistency coefficient can be calculated as follows :

2.5.2.3 Split-H alf

This method is to estimate the test reliability based on the coefficient of correlation between two halves o f a test This method can be realized by working out the testees' scores on odd and even items However, if the items are graded according to increasing difficulty, division according to odd and even numbers would not be an accurate means o f assessing reliability, since item 2 would be slightly more difficult than item l, item 4 again more difficult than item 3, and so on A more accurate procedure is to balance the items as follows :

where: N = the number o f items in the test ;

m = the mean score on the test for all the testees ;

x = the standard deviation of all the testees' scores ;

rl 1 = reliability

(Note that in this formula, x has to be squared)

For example, a test is administered to 26 students on a particular test consisting of 40 items The mean is found to be 27 and the standard deviation 4.077 Using these figures with the above formula, we obtain :

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• The test paper should be printed or typewritten and appear neat, tidy and aesthetically pleasing ;

• It is essential that all test instructions are clearly written, and grammatical terminology should be avoided ;

• Testees should write their answer on separate sheets, so that the test paper can be used several times This also greatly facilitates marking (through the use o f a mask or key) ;

• Markers should be given the answer sheet in order to maintain the speed o f scoring ;

• If possible, a practice test should be administered beforehand to the testees or, at least, examples on the question paper should make it

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clear to testees what they must do.

2.5.4 Discrimination

Discrimination is the degree to which a test or an item in a test distinguishes among better and weaker students who take the test For example, if all the students who took a test scored around 85 %, yet the students were known to be o f different degrees of ability, the test would fail

to discriminate In other words, if the test is either too easy, or too difficult,

it can not realize its purpose o f discriminating between testees Here we come to the question o f the quality o f a test, i.e the question of 'item difficulty' and 'item discrimination'

difficulty It is calculated by using the formula :

N = the number of students taking the test

Thus, if 21 out o f 26 students tested obtained the correct answer for one o f the items, that item would have an index of difficulty (or a facility value) of 77 or 77 per cent

F V = — =.77 26

Commenting on this, Heaton (1988 : 179) States :

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"The particular item is a fairly easy one since 77 percent of the students taking the test answered it correctly Although an average facility value of

50 percent may be desirable for many public achievement tests and for a few progress tests, the facility value o f a large number o f individual items will vary considerably between 0.3 and 0.7"

2.5.4.2 Item discrimination

This characteristic of test items is very important because it measures the extent to which a particular test item discriminates between the testees, separating the more able testees from the less able ones If a particular item

in a test was answered in the same way by both the students who did well on the test as a whole and by those who did poorly, the item would be said to have poor discrimination because it could not discriminate between goodstudents and bad students Heaton (1988 : 179) gives a formula to calculatethe discrimination index (D) as follows :

as item with an index o f 6 or 7 Discrimination indices can range from + 1 (= an item which discriminates perfectly) through 0 (= an item which does not discriminate in any way at all) to - 1 (= an item which discriminates in entirely the wrong way).

I have given an overview o f test types, roles and characteristics and I will now turn to the problem o f a particular area in testing, that is, English for Specific Purposes (ESP) testing at Hanoi University o f Technology In chapter three I will discuss my understanding o f ESP and will consider ESP teaching to students o f informatics at HNUT

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CHAPTER THREE ENGLISH FOR SPECIFIC PURPOSES

In this chapter I would like to present my understanding o f English for Specific Purposes (ESP) in general, to consider ESP materials used for students at the Faculty of Information Technology at Hanoi University of Technology, and to look at the methods used to teach those materials

3.1 SOME UNDERSTANDING OF ESP IN GENERAL

In their book "English for Specific Purposes" (1993:19) Tom Hutchinson and Alan Waters define ESP as follows:

"ESP is an approach to language teaching in which all decisions as to content and method are based on the learner's reason for learning"

Here is another definition taken from the "Longman Dictionary of Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics" by Jack C Richards, John Platt and Heidi Platt (1993 : 125):

English for Special Purposes also English for Specific Purposes, ESP

The role of English in a language course or programme o f instruction

in which the content and aims o f the course are fixed by the specific needs o f a particular group o f learners For example, courses in English for Academic Purposes, English for Science and Technology, and English for Nursing"

Thus, from the definitions given above it is clear that the term ESP has been applied to situations where students have some specific reason for wanting to learn the language For example, air traffic controllers need

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English to guide aircraft through the skies Business executives need English for international trade Waiters may need English to serve their customers These needs have often been referred to as EOP (English for Occupational Purposes).

Students who are going to study at a university in the USA, Great Britain, Australia or Canada, on the other hand, may need English so that they can write reports or essays and function in seminars This is often called EAP (English for Academic Purposes)

Students o f medicine or informatics - or other scientific disciplines - (studying in their own countries) need to be able to read articles and textbooks about those subjects in English This is often referred to as EST (English for Science and Technology) We can summarise these differences in the following way :

ESP

EST

Table 2 : English fo r Specific Purposes.

What is interesting about these examples is that the type of English the students want to learn may be different : waiters may want to talk and listen, whereas scientists may want to read and write This is because their needs are different

In short, ESP has its basis in an investigation of the purposes of the learner and the set of communicative needs arising from those purposes These needs will then act as a guide to the design o f course materials The kind of English to be taught will be based on the interests and requirements

of the learner The skills to be taught may be restricted For example, an analysis may reveal a priority for reading, and materials may be highly specific to suit specialist groups For example, the students o f informatics learning English at the Faculty o f Information Technology at Hanoi University of Technology need to concentrate on reading their speciality materials Here we come to consider the materials they learn and the methods used to teach those materials

3.2 ESP TEACHING TO STUDENTS OF INFORMATICS AT HNUT.

3.2.1 Teaching materials.

As I have mentioned earlier in the introduction, students at HNUT are

g iv en 90 lesson periods o f ESP, but the students at the Faculty o f Information Technology are given 120 lesson periods to learn the book

"Oxford English for Computing" by Keith Boeckner and P Charles Brown (1993)

According to Keith Boeckner and P Charles Brown, "Oxford English for Computing" is intended for people studying Computer Science or working with computers It is suitable for use in universities, colleges, technical schools, and in-company training programmes Thus, this book is also suitable for students o f informatics at HNUT

Keith Boeckner and P Charles Brown also point o u t :

"Oxford English for Computing aims at all-round skills improvement:

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- to write descriptions and explanations o f processes,

- to write summaries o f longer texts,

- to write work-related letters

- to communicate about computing topics

- to understand native and non-native professionals and students talking about their work and study,

- to understand experts talking informally about aspects o f computing

As to the organization o f the book, it contains 15 units and 14 language focus sections designed to provide a minimum o f 100 hours o f work Typically, each unit consists o f five sections as follows :

"Oxford English for Computing" includes two appendices Appendix

1, Letter writing, contains a complete guide to writing simple work-related

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letters Appendix 2, Glossary o f technical terms and abbreviations,

consists of brief definitions o f all important technical terms in this book together with abbreviations commonly used in computing

Now I would like to describe the book in more detail

As the purpose o f the students following the course is to concentrate mainly on reading, and this field study report focuses on reading comprehension tests, which is why only the reading sections and the language focus sections are described in detail here

a) The reading sections

All units contain at least two reading passages o f which the first one

is in general English and the second is more specific and/or technical

The reading passages in the first seven units provide the reader with

up - to - date basic information about the underlying computer processes and components The texts cover a wide range o f topics as follows:

• The history o f personal computing,

• The development o f personal computer from keyboard to clipboard,

• Online services : the public databases or bulletin boards which can

be accessed over a computer or telephone network,

• Programs and programming languages such as FORTRAN, COBOL, PL/1, BASIC, and C,

• Computer software and comparing software packages,

• Computer networks including LAN, WAN, and internet,

• Computer viruses and how they work

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The above m entioned topics are m ore general in nature The follow ing topics are m ore specific an d /o r technical :

• The structure o f the processor,

•General features o f operating systems,

• Data transmission including analog transmission and digital transmission and the comparison between the two types o f transmission,

• The description o f C language,

• Network configurations including the star configuration, the switched configuration, the ring network, and the bus/ethemet network,

• Computer security

The reading passages in the last eight units cover different topics about the latest applications o f computer technology, such as :

• The use o f computers in the office,

• The use o f computers in education,

• The use o f computers in medicine,

• The applications of robotic systems in industry, in office, in the home, in the ocean, in space,

• The use o f virtual reality in industry,

• The applications o f computers in translation,

• The applications of AI (artificial intelligence),

• The applications o f multimedia,

• The applications of computer graphics

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There are a lot o f tasks and activities which accompany each reading passage These tasks and activities are designed to improve both extensive reading skills (more speed, less attention to detail) and intensive reading skills (less speed, more attention to detail).

There are fourteen language focus sections in this book These sections present and practise language functions most readily associated with the English used in computing They are as follows :

• Contextual reference : transitional markers

• Word formation : prefixes including :

- negative and positive prefixes,

- prefixes o f size,

- prefixes o f location,

- prefixes o f time and order,

- prefixes o f num ber,

• Making comparison : the regular and irregular comparative and superlative forms of descriptive words (adjectives and adverbs) and how they are used to show equivalence, non- equivalence, the highest degree o f something, and parallel increase.

• Time relaters :

- before given time - references,

- simultaneous with given time-references,

- after given time-references

• Listing,

• The passive,

• Giving examples,

• E xplaning and defining,

• Com pound nouns,

• Classifying :

- from general to specific,

- from specific to general

• Expressing cause and effect,

• Making prediction

3.2.2 Teaching methods

By method I mean some overall means of achieving the general objective of the course A method will be realised as the carrying out of a set of procedures or activities which will have been chosen by the teacher

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These procedures or activities themselves involve the use o f specific techniques to ensure the success.

Simply speaking, method is what goes on in the classroom, what the students have to do and, o f course, what the teacher has to do to achieve the aims o f the course

As it is clear from 3.2.1., the book 'Oxford English fo r Computing'

does not aim at teaching the subject-matter o f informatics It cannot replace textbooks on informatics but can only be considered as a service to the subjects o f informatics It can only play the function o f paving the way for the students to enter the informatics speciality in the English language Thus, our purpose is to show how the English language is used as a medium for the study o f Computer Science and to improve reading skills for our students in terms o f their speciality

To read effectively in English requires both the understanding of grammar and vocabulary o f the English language and also the development

or application o f reading skills

That is why the tasks and activities that accompany the reading passages in the book are designed to meet the above mentioned requirements These tasks fall into two categories: those that concentrate

on form, such as the vocabulary and word formation tasks and those that concentrate on communication, such as the comprehension tasks on the passage - the latter being o f utmost importance Because these tasks are designed to teach and not to test, so it is not enough o f the teacher to give the students only the answers to the questions given in the task, but they have to carry out the teaching in such a way that the students have to explain how and why they can get such answers For example, the students

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