Những khó khăn và giải pháp cho việc dạy từ vựng cho sinh viên chuyên ngành tin học trường THSP thanh hóa

Part 1: Introduction
1. Rationale
English is considered to be one of the most popular languages in the world. In
Vietnam, with the changes and the developments of the economy and society, as well
as the implementation of the open- door policy, English has been used more and more
widely both by the young and the old and it has been the most popular foreign
language. English also occupied a specially important status in the development of
international relationship in Vietnam. More importantly, English has been influenced
on our education curriculum as a compulsory subject. It is known that, in learning a
foreign language in general, and English in particular, the knowledge and mastery of
vocabulary play an extremely important role. Pyles and Algeo (1970) noted that:
"When we first think about the language, we think about words. It is words that we
arrange together to make sentences, conversations and discourse of all kind". In fact,
vocabulary is the element that links the four skills of speaking, listening, reading and
writing all together. In order to communicate well in a foreign language, students
should acquire an adequate number of words and should know how to use them
accurately. However, both teachers and learners have faced many difficulties in
English teaching and learning, especially in teaching and learning vocabulary. It seems
difficult for teachers to apply the suitable way to teach learners.
In the context of Thanh Hoa Teachers' Training School (THTTS), students with
Vocational Training level are taught English as a compulsory subject. And students of
Information Technology start learning IT English at the beginning of the second year.
The short period is mainly aimed at improving reading and translating skills. However,
with limited knowledge of vocabulary and English grammar, it is difficult for them to
study English for IT, especially in reading and translating exercises. They often learn
vocabulary passively through their teachers' explanation, It is hard for them to
memorize new words. Thus, it requires a great deal of help from teachers.
ESP (English for specific purpose) is viewed as something hard to teach for language
teachers. As a teacher of English for IT, I myself find out many difficulties during
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teaching vocabulary. They arise from the lack of specialized knowledge, so teachers

fail to provide every reasonable explanation. Moreover, the target students at THTTS
are lower in comparison with those at colleges or universities on the ground of needs,
interest and motivation. In addition, it is difficult for teachers to understand a lot of
terminology, complicated structures and countless expressions.
Facing this problem, the teachers of English of THTTS want to do something to change
the ways of teaching and learning vocabulary in order to improve the students' learning
effectiveness to help them succeed in their future job. Therefore, I have conducted a
research to find out the main difficulties in teaching IT vocabulary at THTTS. Then to
offer some solutions to these problem.
2. Aims of the study
The study aimed at:
- Giving a brief overview about ESP and vocabulary and its relevance in teaching
and learning English for IT.
- Finding out difficulties that ESP teachers at THTTS are facing in teaching English
vocabulary to students of IT
- Suggesting some solutions to the learning of vocabulary to students of IT
effectively
3. Research questions
The research is carried out with an attempt to find out the answer to the following
research questions:
- What are the main difficulties experienced by teachers who are teaching
vocabulary to students of IT at THTTS?
- What solutions should be offered to help teachers to find out the effective ways to
teach vocabulary to students of IT at THTTS?
4. Scope of the study
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The study limited itself to the investigation of difficulties in teaching vocabulary to
students of Information Technology at Thanh Hoa Teachers' training school. The
solutions are also provided to help to improve teaching and learning English in general,
teaching and learning English vocabulary of IT in particular at THTTS.

5. Methods of the study
In order to achieve the aims mentioned above, the study was designed to use varieties
of methods such as: interview and questionnaire. The data can be recorded formally
and informally. The interview is used to record information from teachers. The survey
questionnaire to students is to get more information to support the study.
6. Design of the study
This study is organized into 3 main parts:
Part 1: Introduction: in this part the rationale, the aims, the research questions, the
scope, the method, and the design of the study is presented.
Part 2: Development: It consists of three chapters.
Chapter 1 provides the theoretical background, which is relevant to the purposes of the
study.
Chapter 2 presents an introduction on the context of learning and teaching vocabulary
of Information Technology at THTTS.
Chapter 3 is the main part of the study. It includes the context of the study, the
subjects, and the data collection methods and data collection procedure. Also in this
chapter, the data will be analyzed and the finding will reveal teachers' difficulties in
teaching vocabulary to students of IT. On the basis of these findings, solutions in
teaching and learning will be suggested.
Part 3: Conclusion: This part offers a summary of the study and some suggestions for
further study.
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Part 2: Development
Chapter 1: Literature review
1.1. An overview of ESP
1.1.1. What is ESP?
"ESP" stands for English for Specific Purposes and different authors have defined this term
so far. According to Hutchinson and Waters (1987: 19), ESP is "an approach rather than a
product to language teaching in which all decisions as to content and method are based on
learner's reason for learning". For Hutchinson and Waters, starting point in determining

appropriate input for ESP course is identifying learners' need.
Similarly, Munby (1978: 2) states: "ESP courses are those where the syllabus and materials
are determined in all essentials by the prior analysis of the communication needs of the
learner". And Robinson (1991: 3), discussing the criteria to ESP, also emphasizes the
students' needs element of ESP: " An ESP course is based on a needs analysis, which aims
to specify as closely as possible what exactly it is that students have to do through the
medium of English". She defines that time period should be specified clearly for an ESP
course, in which their objectives have to be achieved.
Likewise, Streven (1988: 1) stated: "ESP is a particular cause of the general category of
special purpose language teaching".
It is obvious that all the above definitions stem at different time by different authors, these
definitions reveal that any ESP course must be based on learners' needs.
1.1.2. Classification of ESP
It can be seen that, language varies according to the context of use. Thus, there are many
types of ESP. Traditionally, ESP has been divided into two main areas. Kennedy and
Bolitho (1984: 4) defined the types of ESP:
"English for Occupational Purpose (EOP) is taught in a situation in which learners need to
use English as a part of their work or profession". Whereas, "English for Academic
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Purpose (EAP) is taught generally within educational institutions to students needing
English in their studies".
Robinson (1991) provides the distinction between these two areas.
Pre- experience
EOP Simultaneous/ In service
Post- experience
ESP
Pre- study
For study in a specific discipline In- study
EEP/ EAP Post- study
Independent

As school subject
Integrated
Figure 1: Types of ESP (Robinson, 1991: 3-4)
This division of ESP plays a very important role in affecting the degree of specificity that
is appropriate to the course. However, according to Hutchinson (1987: 16) " This is not a
clear- cut distinction: 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 student takes up, or returns a job".
ESP
EST EBE ESS

EAP EOP EAP EOP EAP EOP

English for English for English for English for English for English for
Medical Study Technicians Economics Secretaries Psychology Teaching
Figure 2: Types of ESP (Hutchinson, 1987: 16)
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On Hutchinson' ELT tree, there are three categories basing on nature of the learners'
specialism. English for Science and Technology (EST), English for Business and
Economic (EBE) and English for the Social Science (ESS). Though ESP if classified by
different author, they are common that ESP can be divided into EAP and EOP. On ELT
tree mentioned above, English for Information Technology belongs to English for
Technician.
1.1.3. The roles of ESP teachers
The roles of ESP teachers have been pointed out by a variety of studies. An ESP teacher
must master fully the roles of General English teachers and ESP course process. In
learning process teacher must help the learner achieve their goals effectively. Especially,
in vocabulary teaching, the teacher mostly focus on words, idioms to express the topics
like "computer and its application" or "computer types", etc, plus words in the general,
and (s)he has to provide the students with the anxiety- free atmosphere. Besides, (s)he also

has to create favorable environment in which students are able to practice to memorize
new words. According to Hutchinson and Waters (1987: 157), the ESP teacher will have to
deal with need analysis, syllabus design, materials writing or adaptation and evaluation.
Whereas Martin (1992) lists and explains different roles of the teacher. He views the role
upon the process of carrying out a task in ESP lesson" before, during and after a task. A
teacher wishing to support learning throughout the various phrases of a task would need to
be able to play an extended a set of roles including explorer, organizer, adviser, instructor
and a guide. Little Wood (1981: 51) states that the ESP teacher is expected to "perform in
a variety of roles, separately or simultaneously". Nunan (1988) also said that these roles of
an ESP teacher include an instructor, a manager, counselor, facilitators, organizer,
curriculum developer, material writer, material writer and even a friend. Robinson (1991)
gives his own opinion, '' the ESP teacher does not only teach but very often he or she is
involved in designing, setting up, administering, evaluating and testing the ESP course"
Obviously, the ESP teacher must be flexible and their roles will vary according to type of
syllabus and course, teaching and learning environment, etc.
1.1.4. The problem of ESP teachers
Robinson (1980: 83) stated some problem of ESP teachers "Lack of sufficient preparation
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time", "lack of personal and professional contact with subject teachers", and" the content
may be very specific indeed, requiring a high degree knowledge and skill from teachers".
ESP teachers may also have to struggle to master language and subject beyond the bound
of their previous experience because most of them have been trained for General English
teaching and has unexpectedly found themselves required to teach the texts whose content
they know little or nothing about. It is true to all teachers teaching at THTTS. They are
teachers of GE who lack experience, the needed specialized knowledge and the choice of
appropriate teaching methodologies seem to be the major concerns. Obviously, it is not
easy and does take time for the teachers to become familiar with the ESP course materials
as well as with the language of the subject.
1.2. Vocabulary teaching in ESP
1.2.1. Definition of vocabulary

The term "vocabulary" appears to be a very simple concept but in fact, we can find it
extremely difficult to give an exact definition of vocabulary. Based on different criteria,
linguistics defined vocabulary in different ways. According to Peny, Ur (1996: 60),
vocabulary "as the words we teach in the foreign language. However, a new item of
vocabulary may be more than a single word: a compound of two or three words or multi-
word idioms". Pyles and Algae (1970: 96) also noted that: "It is in words that sound and
meanings inter- lock to allow us to communicate with one another and it is words that we
range together to make sentences, conversations and discourses of all kinds".
In general, vocabulary is the total number of all the words that a language possesses,
including a single word, two or three word items expressing a single idea and multi- word
idioms whose meaning cannot be deduced from the analysis of the component words.
Vocabulary can be defined as the words we teach in the foreign language and a useful
convention is to cover all such cases by talking about vocabulary "items" rather than
"words". It can be seen that a "vocabulary" item can be more than one word. Therefore, it
is necessary not to make confusion between vocabulary item and word.
1.2.2. Main principles in Vocabulary Teaching
1.2.1. Decision about the content
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Before considering the main principles in vocabulary teaching, we should pay attention
where we select vocabulary from. According to Ruth Gairns and Stuart Redman (1999:
54) vocabulary reaches the classroom from four mains sources such as the course book,
supplementary materials, the students, and specific vocabulary activities designed by the
teacher for his particular group of students
The course book: This will include the written and spoken texts, activities for the
presentation and practice of grammatical structures, testing exercises, and so on. Even the
instructions for classroom activities can form a source of new vocabulary.
Supplemental materials: these are not designed specially not for vocabulary development
or provided by educational institution, or selected by the teacher himself. This may
include texts, drill, role- plays, video, exercises etc.
The students: a wide range of unanticipated and unpredictable items will inevitably

surface from student enquires, queries, and errors.
Specific vocabulary activities designed by the teacher for his particular group of students
1.2.2. Criteria for selection
It can be seen that vocabulary should be selected in a suitable teaching setting. That is,
every situation is different and so core items in one context may be useless in another.
Teaching can effectively deal with only a small amount of information about vocabulary
items at a time. Thus, teachers have to take into considerations factors. We should consider
the following table.
Criteria Order of importance Definition
Frequency 1 Average number of occurrences of a
word in a language
Range 2 A measure of the different types of texts
in which a word occurs
Language needs 3 The words that are regarded as 'require'
by the learner in order to communicate
Availability and
familiarity
4 The word the learner is mostly in contact
with and somehow ' know'
Coverage 5 the capacity of a word to take the place
of other words
Regularity 6 How is the use of a word 'spread' over
the language
Learn ability 7 Are some words easier to learn than
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other?
Table 1: Criteria for selection
Source: /> 1.2.3. What need to be taught in English Vocabulary?
According to Penny Ur (1996), when vocabulary is introduced to learners, pronunciation
and spelling, word form, grammar, collocation, aspects of meaning, word- formation need

to be taught.
1.2.3.1. Word form
When learning vocabulary students should be introduced its pronunciation and its spelling.
To many students, the complex relationship between sound and spelling in English seems
to make the language inexplicable. It is easy understand when we consider the number of
homophones in English such as: weight/ wait, sole/ soul, and the number of similar forms
that differ wildly in their pronunciation like hurry/ humor.
1.2.3.2. Grammar
There are two main pedagogic issues involved: the highlighting of regular and irregular
forms, and the role of source books in allowing learners to be sift- sufficient as Ruth
Gairns and Stuart Redman stated. In the classroom, the new item is not obviously covered
by general grammatical rule, grammar will need to be introduced or examined. The
teachers need to clarify regular forms and common regular forms for students. When a
new word is taught, for example we might also give its past form such as: buy/ bought and
it is transitive or intransitive, when a noun such as a person is taught, it should be given its
plural form as people.
1.2.3.3. Collocation
Collocation is the way in which words are used together regularly in a specific language. It
refers to the restriction on how words can be used together in right contexts. Thus, this is
another piece of information about a new item, which may be worth teaching. For
example, you throw a ball but toss a coin. We can talk about thick fog and dense fog, thick
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smoke and dense smoke with the same meaning. However, we cannot say dense hair
instead of thick hair
1.2.3.4. Aspects of meaning
Aspect of meaning include denotation, connotation, appropriateness and meaning
relationship
The denotation meaning refers to or point out things, concepts. This is often the sort of
definition given in dictionaries such as "cat" denotes a small animal with soft fur, often
kept as a pet or for catching mice.

Connotation of a word is less obvious component of its meaning. This is association, or
positive and negative feelings the word evokes which may not be indicated in a dictionary
definition. Connotation includes stylistic, affective, evaluation, intensifying value,
pragmatic communicative values, the word acquires by virtue of where, when, how and by
whom, for what purpose and in what context it is or it may be used
Appropriateness is more subtle aspect of meaning that indicates whether a particular item
is appropriate one to use in a certain context or not. Thus, it is useful for a learner to know
whether a certain word is very common, or relatively rare or taboo in a polite conversation,
or tends to be used in writing but not in speech, or is more suitable for a formal than
informal discourse or belongs to a certain dialect.
It is necessary to list aspects of meaning in the sense of meaning relationships. This can
also be useful in vocabulary teaching and learning. They show how the meaning of one
item relates to the meaning of others. These are various relationships and here are some of
the main ones like synonyms, antonyms, hyponyms, co- hyponyms or co- ordinates, super
ordinates, and translation
1.2.3.5. Word- formation
Word can change their shape and their grammatical value. Vocabulary items whether one-
word or multi- word, can often be broken down into their components "bits". Students need
to know facts about word formation and how to use words to fit different grammatical
contexts.
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For their parts, students should be taught the common prefixes and suffixes and how they
work, For example, if learners know the meaning of "sub", "un" and "able", this will help
them guess the meaning of words such as "substandard", "uncomfortable", and "enable".
However, students should be warned that in many common words the affixes no longer
have obvious connection with their root meaning (for example: "consider" ->
"considerable")
Another way vocabulary items are built is by combining two words: two nouns, or a
gerund and a noun, or a noun and a verb to make one item: a single compound word or two
separate (for example: "book list"," sitting room")

1.3. Terminology
1.3.1. Definition of terminology
Linguists have stated varieties of definitions of technology. In Longman dictionary of
applied linguistics (1985: 290) defines terminology as the special lexical which occur in“
a particular discipline . ”
According to Nguyen Thien Giap (1985: 308), “Terminology, which is understood as a
special linguistic unit of a language consists of word and fixed phrase that provide
definitions of objectives that belong to a particular scientific area”. Also, Do Huu Chau
(1998) states: “Terms are specialist words used within a scientific field, a procession or
any technological field”.
These definitions, though raised at different times and by different people indicate that
there exist “special words in specialized fields or branches of human knowledge”,
1.3.2. Characteristics of terminology
Many linguists including Do Huu Chau (1981), Nguyen Thien Giap (1985) and Luu Van
Lang (1998) share the idea that terminology has at least three important features: accurate,
systematic, and international.
1.3.2.1. Accurate
This is the first criterion of a scientific term. It means that a term should express a
scientific concept or definition concretely and precisely in order to avoid misunderstanding
one concept for another. Terms exist without connotational, amotional meanings and avoid
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polysemy, synonymy and antonymy. In other word, terms remain the basic nuclear
meaning and it works on the principle that ‘ one concept has only one term for it and vice
versa’, it is fixed in specialized field and is attached to a definition. This relationship is
called the one- to- one equivalence between concept and a term.
1.3.2.2. Systematic
Systematism is considered to be one of the most important features of terminology because
every field of science has its own limited system of concept which are denoted by certain
terms and the value of each term is determined by its relationship with other term in the
same system. As a result, term loses its value when it is isolated from its system.

Generally, a term has to be a dependent member of its system

1.3.2.3. International
Due to the global integration, scientific and technological exchange, the international links
in sciences result in a number of terms, which are present in many different languages. For
example, video, radio, computer, telephone are found in French, English and…
Vietnamese with a little bit difference in form.…
To sum up, terms in general and technology in particular needs to possess the above
essential characteristics.
1.3.3. Classification of terms
Terms can be classified into two main groups according to their structural patterns: single
terms and compound terms,
1.3.3.1. Single terms
Single terms are made up of one word (usually a noun or a verb).
For example: magnetize (tõ ho¸); access (truy cËp); transmit ( truyÒn ); load (t¶i); code
( m· ho¸); curse ( con trá); decoder (bé gi¶i m·); memory (bé nhí).
1.3.3.2. Compound terms
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Compound terms are the ones which are composed of two or more than two words; these
words, which are of different part of speech, combine together and create terms that have
the form of nominal groups. For example: operating system (hÖ ®iÒu hµnh); application
software (phÇn mÒm hÖ thèng); source program (ch¬ng tr×nh nguån); programming
language (ng«n ng÷ lËp tr×nh); Central Processing (Bé xö lý trung t©m); main memory (bé
nhí chÝnh).
1.4. Methodology in vocabulary teaching
According to Mackey (1971), “The method used has often been said to be the cause of
success or failure in language learning; for it is ultimately the method that determined the
what and the how of language instruction”. In recent years, foreign language teaching has
undergone many dramatic changes. In order to understand the scope of the subject,
language teachers should have a clear perspective on the developments of language

teaching approaches as well as their inter- relationship between developed one. Teachers
should make decision appropriate objectives of which approaches for the teaching
situation. Following is a brief presentation of some major foreign language teaching
method and their application in the vocabulary language teaching, especially in the context
of TTTC.
1.4.1. The Grammar- translation method
The Grammar- translation method is one of the oldest method foreign language teachings.
In general language teaching, the classes are taught mainly in Vietnamese, with little
active use of English. On regard of teaching vocabulary, much of it is taught in the form of
lists of isolated words. Then students are expected to study and memorize that list of
vocabulary together with their translation equivalents in the mother tongue. And the
students are also given the grammatical rules and paradigm to put words together. Besides,
the method aims at providing the rules with wide literary vocabulary in written exercises.
Teachers also find it an easy and quick way to explain the meaning of words.
In this method, the teachers' main task is to given the students grammatical rules,
paradigm and the list of vocabulary by writing down the new words and its meaning in
Vietnamese to help students to do the written exercise in grammatical analysis, not the
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exercises in the context of text. This method can be classed as mental discipline and is
easy to apply and simple to test and to control.
1.4.2. The Direct Method
According to this method, the second language learning should be treated as the first
language learning. It associates directly foreign utterances with object and actions without
the use of the native language. During the process of teaching and learning, only target
language is used, no mother tongue is allowed. This method requires no translation
between first and second languages, little or no analysis of grammatical rules. Besides, it
lays an emphasis on correct pronunciation and grammar.
This method is very useful for teaching vocabulary, the teachers introduces through objects
and pictures. The words used are very common, active and concerning daily activities. By
this method, concrete vocabulary is taught demonstration while the meanings of abstract

words are made clear by association of ideas.
1.4.3. The Communicative approach (CLT)
The communicative approach which teaches student how to use the language is considered
to be at least as important as learning the language itself. In this method, vocabulary is
learnt through for "real- life" communication in classroom, through interaction in the
target language and through enhancement of the learner's own experiences as important
contributing elements to classroom learning and through an attempt to link classroom
language learning with language activation outside the classroom.
This method of teaching make students more confident when communicating with one
another. Being motivated, they also become more active in class. That is the reason why
CLT is considered a good teaching method by a lot of Vietnamese researchers and
teachers.
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Chapter 2: An introduction of the context of learning and
teaching vocabulary of Information Technology students
at THTTS
2.1. Teaching staff and teaching methods
The English teaching staff at THTTS consists of 7 official teachers at the age from 27 to
38. They graduated from College of Foreign Languages- Vietnam National University,
Hanoi, Hong Duc University and Vinh University. One of them is Dr in Russian and re-
trained to teach English. Another is taking MA course at College of Foreign Languages-
Vietnam National University, Hanoi. The number of teachers is limited and there are no
teachers who are in charge of ESP teaching separately. Among them, 3 are engaged in
teaching English for IT in which 1 teacher has 4- years experience and 2 others teachers
have 3- years experience. They are energetic and willing to devote their time and energy to
teaching. However, they find it difficult to deal with unfamiliar and unaccustomed subject
matter. They, therefore, have to face with many difficulties, of which the gap of content
knowledge and the choice of appropriate teaching methodology seem to be the major
concerns.
As far as the methodology is concerned. ESP teachers usually apply different kinds of

teaching methods in ESP vocabulary lesson such as the Grammar- Translation method, the
Direct Method, the Audio- Lingual method, and the Communicative approach. Classes are
usually conducted in the form of lectures, with most of the time the teachers playing the
key role in the classroom being the main speakers working through the text. The teachers
explain new words, terms and even translate into Vietnamese. However, the teachers are
always aware of the new trend in teaching methods and aware of the importance of the
Communicative approach when teaching English to their students in general and
vocabulary in particular.
2.2. Students and their background
Normally, there are two classes of IT, which made up totally 98 students. The age of the
students varies from 18 to 24. They come from different part of the province. Some of
them are from the rural or remote areas, where there are no good opportunities for
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studying English, these students commonly did not spend much time learning English at
high school before. The others come from cities, who, theoretically, have all finished three
years or seven years of learning English at secondary schools before entering the THTTS.
Most of them are male students (78%). To some extent, there are some students whose
English is very good, but generally the target students' English proficiency is still low
level. Most of them learn English to read specialized documents rather than speak English
to foreigners. Some have strong pressure to pass exams with high mark; the others would
prefer ESP enhance their specialized knowledge, which is required in their future jobs.
However, specialized knowledge in Vietnamese makes it easy for them to learn English
for Information Technology, and, o the other hand, brings them high motivation in
learning ESP. In addition, it helps students feel more confident to interact with teacher in
ESP class.
2.3. The teaching materials
2.3.1. The textbook
The book "English for Computer" are subjectively selected by the teachers and then
compiled into the material to teach students of IT at THTTS in 60 periods, and with the
following features:

- "English for Computer" consists of six units, designed in combination with computer
topic to enable students to develop both their language skills and vocabulary relating to IT
- A unit is divided into three parts, and each part focuses on grammar, function or
vocabulary. Every unit provides students many vocabularies through practice of listening,
reading, speaking, and writing.
2.3.2. The course content
English at THTTS is allowed to be non- major and not the compulsory subject for entrance
exam. Like many other subjects, English is taught in a formal setting (classroom) without
language environment and the students have to do two English courses, divided into three
semesters: 120- period GE for the first and second semester and 60- period ESP for the
third semester.
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The textbook "Lifelines (elementary) has been used recently for General English (GE). In
addition, the book "English for Computer" are subjectively selected by the teachers are
held to evaluate students' language knowledge.
2.4. Teaching facilities
Teaching facilities also play an important part in teaching English and may affect the
teaching process positively or negatively. All teachers are supplied with cassette recorder
to use for their class contact when necessary. There are some modern devices such as
overhead projector and projector, but seldom can teachers and students use them because
neither overhead projector nor projector is equipped in classroom except in Informatics
class. Thus, it takes much time for the teachers and students to move to that equipped
room, on the other hand, it is not convenient to bring it to the classroom. There is one
library with some sort of materials for reference like English books, magazines,
newspapers but it mainly provides book of Information Technology in Vietnamese, not
English books, especially ESP books. It is obviously that teaching facilities at THTTS are
poorly supported. This certainly has considerable negative effects on English teaching and
learning
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Chapter 3: The study

3. 1. Context of the study
At THTTS, English is a compulsory subject in the curriculum of teaching and learning.
English course is divided into two parts: General English and English for special purpose.
The course is applied for students of all departments. General English is taught during the
first and the second term with the total of 120 periods with the aim of giving the students
basic general knowledge of English. At this stage, the teacher concentrates on developing
students’ 4 basic language skills in order to prepare for students’ knowledge towards ESP
taught in the third term. The textbook chosen is Lifelines- Elementary by Tom Hutchinson,
Hai Phong Press, 2004. During the third term students are introduced English for special
purpose (ESP) which is written by the teachers of English at THTTS in 60 periods. The
purpose of teaching ESP is to enable students to read books and materials related to
students’ major so that they will be able to use English for their study and future career.
3. 2. The subject
In order to achieve the aims of the thesis and answer the above research questions, the
main subjects of the study include a group of 4 teachers of English for IT currently
teaching at THTTS. All of them are female. They have at least 3 –years experience in
teaching English. And 45 second- year students of IT.
The number of participants is limited to only 4 teachers and 45 students because there are
only 7 teachers teaching in THTTS at the time the study was being carried out. 4 teachers
is not a small number in comparison with the total. The teachers involved in the study are
those who have experience on teaching English for IT. At present, there is one class with
45 students of IT in THTTS. The students are in their second year of studying in the school
and 15 of them are female.
3. 3. Instruments for collecting data
According to Hutchinson and Waters (1987: 59), there are a number ways in which
information about the needs can be gathered such as questionnaires, interviews,
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observation, etc. The researcher of this study decided to choose questionnaires and
interviews as main tools for collecting information.
3.3.1. Questionnaire

The questionnaires for students were designed with both close- ended and open- ended
questions in order to find out what attitudes they have towards their vocabulary learning of
IT, what common vocabulary difficulties they have to cope with when learning English
vocabulary for IT, and what teaching methods used by teachers they would enjoy. (See
appendix 2)
3.3.2. Interviews with ESP teachers
The interviews will be conducted because they are personalized and permit a level of in-
depth information- gathering, free response, and flexibility (Selinger & Shohamy, 1995:
172). In addition, the interviews will be not time- consuming as the number of subjects
limited. (Only 4 ESP teachers)
The interview was organized to find out what teaching methods they are using, what
difficulties the teachers are coping with in teaching English in general and teaching
English vocabulary for IT in particular, and some solutions made by them
3. 4. Data collection procedure
The questionnaires were delivered to the students in their classroom in the first class hour.
They were encouraged to give their true answers. I confirmed to them that the research
was carried out to improve their own English learning and teaching in general and their
English vocabulary of IT in particular so all their information is kept secret and only used
for research
The interviews between the researcher and 4 ESP teachers to collect more data for this
study were organized. They were carried out during short breaks or after lessons focusing
on their teaching methods, comments on vocabulary teaching difficulties for IT, and their
solutions. It was recorded for later reference.
3. 5. Data analysis results
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This section deals with the results of the survey and the interviews collected from the
teachers and the students.
3. 5. 1. The students' questionnaires
1. What do you think of the role of vocabulary in learning a foreign language?
Students' attitude towards vocabulary learning

90%
8%
2%
very important
important
not important
Chart 1
As shown in pie chart, most of the students consider vocabulary a very important
element in language learning. This number presents 90%, only 8% of them think
vocabulary is important and 2% not important. This means that most of these students
are well aware of the importance of vocabulary in their English learning. This
awareness leads to good motivation in their learning process.
2. Which way (s) do you find the most effective in learning English vocabulary for IT?
Ways of learning English vocabulary for IT Percentage
a. Using visual aids 23.2%
b. Store new words in notebook and read them everyday 5.3%
c. Write the words in English and Vietnamese 22%
d. Make sentences with them 6.5%
e. Write the words in English many times in pieces of paper 21.4%
f. Write the words and meaning, their synonyms or antonyms 10.8%
g. Other ways (song, game, internet, TV, radio program,) 12.2%
Table 2. Ways of learning English vocabulary for IT
The result in table 1 shows that 23.2 % ensure that they can remember new words more
easily if the teacher uses visual aids. It seems that it is visual aids and context that make
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students involved in and fascinated by the lesson. Most students are influenced by
traditional ways in their learning habits such as write the words in English and Vietnamese
or write the words in English many times in pieces of paper and trying to learn by heart.
Thus, more than half of students learn new words by writing them again (22% & 21.4%).
Obviously, it is not effective ways in learning vocabulary, as Decarrico (2001) states that

words should not be learnt by memorization without understanding. The percentage of
students who usually learn English vocabulary via song, game, internet, TV, radio program
is less than those of the above mentioned cases (12.2 %) while making sentences with
them, storing new words in notebook and read them everyday and writing the words and
meaning, their synonyms or antonyms takes up only 6.5 %, 5.3 % and 10.8%
corresponding.
It can be seen that students focus only on the spelling aspect of the words rather than how
to use the words in sentences or context (only 6.5 %). Thus, they will failure in both
speaking and writing skills.
3. Which ways of presenting new words are you interested in?
Options
Question
a b c d e f g
Which ways of presenting new
words are you interested in?
a. Translating all the words into
Vietnamese
b. Using visual aids
c. Using mines, gestures and
facial expressions
d. Using target language to
define the new word
e. Saying the words clearly one
by one and writing them on the
board
f. Using synonyms and
antonyms
g. Other ways (songs, games,
TV)
18.2

%
16.3% 10.2% 17.5% 25.7% 13.5% 5%
Table 3. Ways of vocabulary presentation students interested in
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As clearly stated in table 3, at the presentation stage, 25.7% of students answered that they
like saying the words clearly one by one and writing them on the board. The next position
is translating all the words into Vietnamese, counting for (18.2%). The number of students
who are interested in new words presenting by using visual aids and using target language
to define the new word hold nearly the same percentage (16.3% and 17.5%
correspondingly). Using synonyms and antonyms receives 13.5% while presenting new
words by using songs, games, or TV takes only 5%.
4. What would you like your teachers to do in vocabulary lesson?
Students interest towards teachers' vocabulary teaching
60.0%
6.5%
17.0%
16.5%
Use language activities in teaching
vocabulary
Instruct you how to pronounce
words correctly
Review learned vocabulary regularly
Provide many examples of word
usage
Chart 2
As clearly stated in Chart 2, a high percentage of the students express their wish to learn
vocabulary effectively in more interesting and useful ways than the traditional ones that
they knew. Answering to the question what they want their teachers to do to help them
learn English more effectively, a large number of students say that they wish their teachers
to combine teaching vocabulary with the variety of language activities (60%), 16.5% of

them want their teachers to give them more examples of words usage and to check their
vocabulary frequently (17%). Few of them (6.5%) would like their teachers to help them to
pronounce the words correctly
5. Which kind of exercise consolidation do you like most?
Kind of exercise consolidation Percentage
a. Filling the gaps 12%
b. Completing sentences 12.2%
c. Making sentences with given words 10.8%
d. Finding synonyms and antonyms 6%
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e. Matching words 13.1%
f. Reordering words 10.1%
g. Discussing 5%
h. Asking and answering questions 11.8%
i. Playing games 15.8%
Table 4. Kind of exercise consolidation students like most
It can be seen from the table 4, 15.8% of the students strongly agree that learning
vocabulary through playing games can motivate learning and attract them to learn new
vocabulary, hence playing game more important role in English vocabulary learning.
The second ranks are filling the gap (12%), completing sentences (12.2%), matching
words (13.1%), and asking and answering questions (11.8%) with nearly the same
percentage. It means that these kinds of exercises are very helpful for students when
doing vocabulary tests. Whereas, finding synonyms and antonyms and discussing are
difficult tasks, causing only (6%) and (5%).
6. What cause you the most trouble when dealing with an English word?
Parts students find most trouble when dealing with an English word
26.60%
20.00%
40.10%
13.30%

0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
Spelling rule
stress
Pronunciation
Collocation
Chart 3
As shown in Pie Chart 3, 26.6% said that spelling rules is one factor that always
makes them confused. Beside, 20% said that it is stress, which they find very difficult
to learn. 13.3% declared that the forms of words are really a problem for them. The
same number accounts for collocation. It seems that pronunciation is always a
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problem for most students while 40.1% said that it is very difficult for them to learn
how to pronounce.
7. What difficulties do you have when learning English vocabulary for IT?
Students vocabulary learning difficulties
17%
41.50%
28%
13.50%
Remember words but can not
pronounce correctly
Can not remember terminologies
Easy to forget words
Don't know how to use words in
sentences

Chart 4
The result in Chart 4 shows that many students find it difficult to remember terminologies
(4.5%). As we know, term usually appears in a high rate according to 2 kinds of terms:
single terms and compound terms. Firstly, single terms such as byte (bai), bit (bit), code
(mã), circuit (mạch), command (lệnh), mouse (chuột), etc are provided in deep density. In
addition, compound terms are also diverse, like system software (phần mềm hệ thống),
application software (phần mềm ứng dụng), binary adder (phép cộng nhị phân), MS- DOS
(hệ điều hành MS- DOS), etc. Moreover, terms are diverse, they are written in full but by
using acronyms (initial letter of words that form a group of words). Acronyms are
frequently created within special topic and designate products, appliances, and processes
depending on their degree of importance. They are translated by either standard equivalent
terms or descriptive terms. Its advantages is at easy of remembering such as when we want
to mention mạng nội bộ, mạng diện rộng, we can only use LANs (local area
Network), WANs (wide area Networks) or we use PC (máy tính cá nhân) for personal
computer, and ROM/ RAM are used to denote bộ nhớ chỉ đọc / bộ nhớ truy cập
ngẫu nhiên. In pronunciation, 28 % students said that they remember words but cannot
pronounce or cannot pronounce correctly, it means that vocabulary; especially terminology
is very difficult for students to pronounce correctly. In addition, class time is not enough
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for students to practice pronouncing. 17 % and 13.5 % of the students make complaints
about forgetting words and not knowing to use words in sentence.
3. 5. 2. The teachers' interview
1. What is your purpose of teaching English vocabulary?
Most of the teachers highly appreciate the importance of vocabulary teaching, for they
think that it is quite necessary for the students to understand the text later more quickly and
deeply. When being asked about the purpose of teaching English vocabulary, most of the
teachers (3/4) agree that priority must be given to the improvement of students’ reading and
writing ability. Hieu, one of the teacher says, In ESP reading, there is a lot of vocabulary“
and terms including the knowledge completely specialized that make students unable to
comprehend, or one passage may contain too many IT terms and difficult sentences that

make them unable to interpret. Thus, students should enrich vocabulary in order to
improve reading and writing skill, as well . ” Whereas, one of the teachers highlight the
important of teaching vocabulary for examination.
2. What difficulties do you find from your students' vocabulary learning when
teaching English to students of IT?
When being asked the question, all the teachers (4/4) say that students have difficulties in
understanding and remembering the new words and terminologies, their vocabulary is too
poor. They confirm that their students find it very difficult to understand and remember
words found in reading texts. With poor vocabulary, students cannot make sentences with
the taught words or practice speaking skill. Another obstacle is that the learners’
knowledge of vocabulary is limited, which also prevent the teachers from gaining their own
aims in the vocabulary lessons. In addition, many mistakes are found from their
pronunciation of the taught words. A number of students pronounce the taught words
incorrectly or even cannot say them at all, for example: “peripheral” (thiÕt bÞ ngo¹i vi),
“socket” (æ c¾m), “register” (thanh ghi)
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