KHÓ KHĂN của SINH VIÊN ĐHNN TRONG VIỆC TIẾP cận THUẬT NGỮ của KHÓA học TIẾNG ANH KINH tế

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
1.1. Rationale
Globalization enhances the close relationship, and the mutual understanding
among nations. It takes place in various areas such as economy, technology,
environment, culture, and society. The most remarkable area in globalizing period is
economy. In this area, the globalization is of necessity to foster the international and
national economic integration.
To facilitate the integrating process, a global language – English is an efficient
and indispensable means to seek the common voice among nations. Therefore,
learning English all over the world recently has been of great popularity. As it has
become increasingly aware that general English courses frequently which focus on
grammar, structure do not meet learners’ or employers’ wants and needs. English
should be specified and intensive in certain fields. Therefore, from the early 1960's,
English for Specific Purposes (ESP) has grown to be one of the most prominent areas
of EFL teaching today. With the globalization of trade and economy and the
continuing increase of international communication in various fields, the demand for
English for Specific Purposes is expanding, especially in countries where English is
taught as a foreign language. That is the true case in Vietnam; ESP has shown a slow
but definite growth over the past few years. Its development is reflected in an
increasing number of courses offered to students. Especially, increasing interest has
been spurred since Vietnam opened its doors and recently entered WTO (2007) with a
lot of well-paid job opportunities for English competent employees. This has led to a
rapid demand for English courses aimed at specific disciplines, e.g. English for
Economics, in place of the traditional 'General English' ones. As one of the leading
universities in language training, ULIS – VNU has applied English for Specific
Purposes (ESP) course for the last 10 years, aiming at improving students’ skill in
using English as a tool to work in an international working environment and to
comprehend technology transference. The course has been applied for seniors whose
English competence is upper-intermediate. Their four skills: reading, listening, writing
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and speaking are nearly accomplished. The course-book was written by Mr. Nguyen

Xuan Thom, a professor in ULIS. This book consists of eight chapters; each chapter
presents an economic topic. The texts give general background on economics’ items
and definitions. Besides, reading texts are followed by different exercises related to the
text. The fist type of exercise is definitions matching; the second type is multiple
choices on text information. Translating exercises are also given to help students to
apply the new knowledge. The objectives of the course are providing students with a
great deal of terminology, enhancing students’ ability in translating economic
materials, building student’s knowledge of grammar, etc. The objectives to achieve are
variable; however, the most desirable aim of students in learning and teachers in
teaching this course is the acquisition of terminologies. As stated in the data analysis
of Tran (2009) 70% teachers pay attention to teach terms, and 65% students want to
learn terms in ESP course.
Due to the fact that term really plays an essential role in distinguishing ESP
from other language branches, and forming the ESP course. As Robinson (1991, p.4)
claims “It may often be thought that a characteristic or even a critical feature of ESP is
that a course should involve specialist language (especially terminology) and content”.
However, the proper attention has not been paid to this issue; students
encounter many difficulties in approaching terminology in the course, which could be
considered a major motivation to this study.
1.2. Aims and research questions
The study intends to detect the potential problems that ULIS students
encounter, to reveal the causes for such difficulties, based on which the study would
propose some possible suggestions and strategies for learning terms to answer the
following questions:
1. According to ULIS students, what are the difficulties they encounter when
approaching ESP’s terminology?
2. What are the causes of the difficulties they encounter?
3. From the students’ perspectives, what are the solutions to overcome the
difficulties?
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4. What are the solutions to student’s problems as suggested by the teachers
of ESP?
1.3. Significance of the research
- Teachers, after going through this research will be more aware of the difficulties
facing these students, and will be able to help them gradually overcome these
difficulties.
- For educational administrators, the study would provide them with a close view into
the current situation, which may then reveal some pedagogical suggestions.
- The findings hopefully would contribute to the improvement of students in learning
terms.
- Last but not least, with regards to researchers who have the same interest in the topic,
could find fundamental, and useful information to develop their studies.
1.4. Scope of the study
Although the topic of study was “Difficulties facing ULIS’s students in
approaching terminology in English for Economics’ course”, in the scope the study, the
researcher aimed at senior students in Faculty of English Language Teacher Education
who had opportunities to learn ESP course in this semester. Specifically, difficulties
were on each different process of approaching terms such as understanding,
remembering, and applying.
1.5. Organization of the study
The rest of paper comprises five chapters as follows:
Chapter 2 (Literature review) lays the theoretical foundations for the whole
study including the definition of key terms as well as a concise review of related
studies.
Chapter 3 (Methodology) elaborates on the research methods, participants,
instruments, data collection procedure and data analysis methods
Chapter 4 (Results and Discussion) presents the results of the research and
gives interpretation and analyses of major patterns found in data.
Chapter 5 (Conclusion) summarizes the major findings and puts forward some
pedagogical implications and recommendations.

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Summary
The chapter has provided the rationale for the study by stressing the
importance of learning term in ESP course as well as disclosing the research gap. The
framework of the paper has also been elaborated on four research questions and
clearly defined scope. These elaborations have not only justified the major content and
structure of the study but will also work as the guidelines for the rest of the paper.
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CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1. Key concepts
2.1.1. ESP
2.1.1.1. What is ESP?
"ESP" stands for English for Specific Purposes. Different authors have defined
this term so far. Some people described ESP as simply being the teaching of English
for any purpose than could be specified. Others, however, were more precise,
describing it as the teaching of English used in academic studies or the teaching of
English for vocational or professional purposes. According to Hutchinson and Waters
(1997), ESP is one important branch of EFL/ESL (English as a Foreign/Second
Language) system that functions as the main branch of English language teaching
ELT. Specifically, Streven (1988, p.1) stated: "ESP is a particular case of the general
category of special purpose language teaching".
Since its importance, much effort has been made to give an exact definition of
ESP. There are many scholars who have attempted to define it. Instead of answering
the question of what, many authors start with the question of “why ESP” as the
approaching methods of Hutchinson and Waters (1997).
Why do learners need ESP? For which purpose do they learn ESP? The answer
for these questions will be the foundation to build “the syllabus, materials,
methodology, and evaluation procedures” explained by Hutchinson and Waters (1987,
p.74). Many of scholars share the common opinion on the learner’s need elements of
ESP. Mackay and Mountford (1978) defined ESP as the teaching of English for clearly

utilitarian purposes. The purposes they refer to are defined by the needs of the learners,
which could be academic, occupational, or scientific. The opinion that student’s need
is essential to determine ESP course also be emphasized by Munby (1978). Similarly,
Robinson (1991, p.3) discussing the criteria to ESP, also agrees that a need analysis to
find out exactly what students have to do is the foundation for ESP course.
To sum up, ESP is “an approach rather than a product to language teaching”
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(Hutchinson and Waters (1987)) which the focal point is on the learner’s need, and
their reason for learning.
2.1.1.2. Classification of ESP
ESP is traditionally divided into EAP (English for Academic Purposes) and
EOP (English for Occupational Purposes). Kennedy and Bolitho (1984, p.4) give
further explanations on the above types: "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 Purpose (EAP) is taught generally
within educational institutions to students needing English in their studies".
Robinson (1991) provides the distinction between these two areas as follows:
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)
However, Hutchinson (1987) does not totally agree on this division, he argues
that there 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".
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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)
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 is
classified by different authors, they are common that ESP can be divided into EAP
and EOP
On the first classification, our ESP course is taught as an independent school-
subject, in the branch of EAP (English for Academic Purposes). Students learn
English by ESP’s course to enhance their using English ability in different fields. To
be more specific, the second tree indicates that “English for Economics” is a sub-
branch of EBE.
Regarding ESP’s course in ULIS, researchers found out that it was tough as an
independent school subject, and in the branch of English for Academic Purposes.
2.1.1.3 Differences from ESL (English as a second language/ GE):
The above definitions have shown how broad ESP really is. In fact, one may
ask ‘What is the difference between the ESP and GE approach?’ Hutchinson et al.
(1987, p.53) answer this quite simply, “in theory nothing, in practice a great deal”.
The most important difference lies in the learners and their purposes for
learning English. ESP students are usually adults who already have some acquaintance
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with English and are learning the language in order to communicate a set of
professional skills and to perform particular job-related functions.
ESP concentrates more on language in context than on teaching grammar and
language structures. It covers subjects varying from accounting or banking, to
economics. The ESP focal point is that English is not taught as a subject separated
from the students' real world (or wishes); instead, it is integrated into a subject matter
area important to the learners.
In conclusion, English for Specific/Special Purposes (ESP) and General English
(GE) are the two branches of English Language Teaching (ELT). The main difference
between ESP and GE lies in the awareness of a need. ESP learners aware their need;
they know what exactly they need English for; they know what the ESP course should
offer them (Hutchinson and Waters (1987)).
2.1.2. ESP course in ULIS
The project of launching ESP course was first initiated by the Head-master of
ULIS- Professor Nguyễn Đức Chính. He assigned Prof. Nguyen Xuan Thom who is a
linguistics expert, and also has deep specialized knowledge in economics to compose
the book. Receiving support from the Dean of English Faculty, the textbook was first
introduced in 1996.
ESP was a new branch in ELT although it did not have a long-term history as
ELT; however, learning ESP was a need in the context of globalization. ULIS’s
teachers with a long-term vision recognized the importance of the ESP branch, which
could be the motivation to form the very first ESP sector in ULIS. Moreover, ULIS
became the first university in Vietnam launching ESP course. The ESP textbooks of
ULIS were very first ESP material composed by Vietnamese professor to serve
studying purpose. Professor Nguyễn Đức Chính , a principal of ULIS at that time
intended to compile textbooks for 19 different branches of ESP to teach in ULIS.
Except the English for Economics, and English for Finance and Banking, all other ESP
textbooks which encountered the difficulty in composing process, or in the piloting
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period, cannot exist till today. It can be proved that English for Economics and English

for Finance and Banking were tested in reality, and proved to be effective.
Today, the textbooks “English for Economics”, and “English for Finance and
Banking” are widely used in ULIS, and also become learning material for many other
universities.
2.1.3. Terminology
2.1.3.1. Definitions
There are various definitions of terminology by many linguists. According to
Oxford dictionary, term is “a word or phrase used to describe a thing or to express a
concept, especially in a particular kind of language or branch of study”. The meaning
of terminology can only be precisely understood when putting in a specific area. The
specialization and restriction on terminology’s expression also be stated on Russian
Encyclopedia (1976).
This definition has many features in common with those approached by many
Vietnamese linguists such as the one proposed by Nguyen (1960, p:176),
“Terminology is a word or combination of words that is used in science, technology
politics, art… and it has a specific meaning, denotes precise concepts and names of the
above-mentioned scientific areas”. Do (1998) claims “Terms are specialist words used
within a scientific field, a profession or any technological field”. According to Nguyen
(1981), “Terminology is a section of special lexis of a language. It consists of fixed
words and groups of words which are accurate names of concepts and subjects
belonging to different specialized fields of human beings”.
The common point in these definitions is that “terminology is special linguistic
units in a specific area”
2.1.3.2. Characteristics
Some main characteristics of terminology have been given by many linguists,
these are: accuracy, systematicity and internationality.
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- Accurateness: Terms are often used in highly logic-required fields such as:
economic, science, law, medicine, etc; therefore, terms are required to be accurate.
Each specific field requires its own terms, terms play the role of codes among users to

convey and understand the things, the phenomenon, and the event in the areas. In
General English synonymy and homophone which are regarded as diversity of
language, are considered as ambiguity in ESP sphere and should be highly avoided.
An example to illustrate: “cash book” which has the equivalent as “sổ tiền mặt”, or
the term “invoice” with a sole translated version as “hóa đơn”.
- Systematism: Languge is science which also has its own system. Terminology is a
language element, therefore it must be systematic. When terms are put together in
different systems and context, they convey one specific concept. Some terms can
appear in some different fields; hence, the systematism of term should be highly
considered to understand precisely and correctly the meaning of term. The ignorance
on this relation will lead to the ambiguity for the term.
- Internationalism: As mentioned above, terms are special words expressing common
scientific concepts. Together with the growth of globalization, terms are internationalized.
Besides these above main features, terminology also acquires other features related
to its culture. Thus, terminology in Vietnamese is not an exception; according to Hoang
(2005) they are nationalism and popularity.
- Nationalism: is another core feature of terminology. Terminology is not only used in
specific profession but it is also used in regional/ national area. As a result, the
cultures and characteristics of Vietnamese language will have an effect on the
terminologies, so “the term should be appropriate to Vietnamese people from the
lexicology to the grammatical composition” stated by Hoang (2007).
- Popularity: Language is a means of communication which conveys the ideas,
thinking, etc among people. Terms also contributes to this value of language.
Needless to say, term plays an important role in spreading scientific and technological
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knowledge to all people. The more popular, and understandable a term is, the more
useful a term is for language learning.
In summary, the general features of terminology have been reviewed.
2.1.3.4. The distinction between terms and words
The distinction between terminology and ordinary words is important to foster

the understanding on special features of terms. Baker (1998) claims that “Terms differ
from words in that they are endowed with a special form of reference, namely that they
refer to discrete conceptual entities, properties, activities or relations which constitute
the knowledge space of a particular subject field.”
When a term is placed in a specific context, its meaning will be in the
relationship with other terms in its system. A term only functions in a unique
reference, meanwhile words function in general reference or a variety of subject fields.
However, the distinction sometimes disappears when terms are used frequently,
became popular and familiar to people. In other case ordinary words become terms.
Hoang (2005).
For example: money (tiền) is an economic terminology which is widely understood by
outsiders.
2.1.4. General understanding of approaching terminology.
In this study researcher equated “approaching terminology” with “learning
terminology”. To learn a word in general or a term in particular, learners have to go
through three continuous processes, which will be presented below
2.1.4.1. Three processes of approaching terminology or word in general
Specifically, approaching is the learner’s capacity to perceive, remember and
apply words to communicate. To learn a word, minimally it must be recognized as a
word and enter it into our metal process. According to Nation (2001), vocabulary
acquisition includes three processes, namely noticing, retrieval, and creative
(generative) use. Terminology is one element on vocabulary, so learning terminology
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certainly imbued with these three processes. In other words, there is no single process
of learning terminologies.
Namely noticing is the very first process, involving learner’s detection of a
given terminology. Learner may face unknown words or realize he/she has come
across the word before, but it is used differently, in a new context. Leaner starts to
consider the word to understand it. In this process, the learner need the explanation of
the term, its translation, a synonym, or target language definition to provide foundation

to understand the term. Some types of terms which may be easier to explain as
concrete terms, while conceptual or abstract term are more difficult to understand.
The retrieval, the second process of vocabulary acquisition distinguished by
Nation, reinforces the meaning of the term in the learner’s mind. A term will imprint
deeper in the learner’s memory providing the term is frequently repeated. The more
students practice, the more they learn.
The last process of vocabulary acquisition in Nation’s classification is that of
the creative or generative use. It takes place when “previously met words are
subsequently met or used in ways that differ from the previous meeting with the
word”. In other words, this process reflects the learner’s ability recall the term and use
term in appropriate situation and context.
It is necessary to reemphasize the indispensability of each process to approach a
term. Without understanding terms, learner cannot successfully remember terms;
consequently, s/he has no chance to apply terms. Especially, terminologies of
economics as a professional field, involving intensive research and frequent reading in
order to understand the layers of each term and how they can be applied in the context.
Rotten learning without any attempt to use the word may lead to confusion and the
forgetting of the word.
2.1.4.2. Main factors affect the learning.
In the process of learning, there are different factors that play a significant role
towards making it a smooth, pleasurable and constructive process. As Oxford and
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Nykios (1989) noted that the existence of interaction between learner’s internal factors
and external variables might be reasons for difficulties encountering learners. Williams
and Burden's (1997) also agreed with this classification and outlined four aspects of
the teaching-learning process, i.e., teachers, learners, tasks, contexts; in which
learner is the internal factors, while teachers, tasks, contexts are external factors.
Belonging to learner him/herself (e.g., attitudes, motivation, and prior
knowledge), these elements can cause different difficulties. If students are motivated
to learn to their benefits such as expanding knowledge, seeking better job, etc, they

will feel more interested in learning, then they will mentally prepare themselves to
learn more about this new knowledge, or subjects. In this case learning becomes an
incentive. Besides, student’s awareness of their role in learning will help them have a
right attitude in learning. Motivation is an internal drive which encourages and
energizes students to achieve their goals. In this case, students will be actively
involved in their education. The saying goes: you can bring the horse to water, but you
cannot make him drink. In language teaching, teachers can provide all the necessary
circumstances and inputs, but the leaning can only happen if learners are willing to
contribute. Prior knowledge can be understood as what people already know about the
topic, commonly named as “background knowledge”. Students who have a great deal
of background knowledge in a given subject area are likely to learn new information
readily and quite well.
In term of learning task (e.g., type, complexity, difficulty, and generality) these
elements should be considered to figure out the difficulties; and the learning
environment (e.g., the learning culture, the richness of input and output opportunities)
also contributes to learning process. The learners who have more term production
opportunities may be relatively likely to master new terms more quickly.
The last factor- teachers are considered to be playing an important role for
learner’s language acquisition because they educate and familiarize the students with
knowledge of language. They are held responsible for bridging theories and practices
13
together in the classroom (Lawrence 2000). Furthermore, Wright (1987) believed that
a teacher performs multiple roles such as an instructor, a manager, a counselor, a
facilitator, an organizer, and evaluator, a curriculum developer, a material writer and
even a friend. Therefore, teacher’s teaching style will create certain impact on
students’ learning. While teachers’ personality, educational background, and
professional experiences in life usually have a powerful influence on the development
of their teaching style as explained by Borg (1999), hence, these personal elements
should be considered in this study.
2.2. Related studies

It is undeniable that there has been a general consensus on ESP course, but
they mainly pay attention to course designing. In fact, many of the researches as those
of Tran (2006), Duong (2007). focus on designing syllabus followed these steps of
Nunan (1988): needs analysis, goal setting, and selecting and grading content. The
very first and fundamental step is analyzing student’s need which shows the focal
point in ESP course is learner. Other researcher as Mrs. Dinh, HY studied the ESP
teaching strategies which can be applied for senior students in ULIS. Her study
carefully elaborated, analyzed the different types of strategy in term of their
advantages, drawbacks, applied-conditions, etc. That research presented thoroughly
the ESP setting in ULIS, as well as theoretical background to illustrate suitable
strategies for teacher. Through the lens of curriculum developer, this study could be
very useful to better textbook design. Some other researchers also study to figure out
the factors affecting learning ESP in general, or the difficulties encountered by
students as well as teachers. On Tran, HL’s study, she figured out some problems
which students can encounter in learning reading ESP as vocabulary, grammar,
background knowledge, reading skills. This research will be conducted on different
population; therefore, it will give different results. Besides, these problems can be least
challenging for ULIS students because their main major is English. At this semester,
ULIS’s students expected to be at upper-intermediate level in using English language.
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In addition, most of the pre-researches paid attention to reading skill, and found out the
highest concerned matter in ESP course is terminology acquisition. It seems that
terminology is an attracting topic which received much attention from many writers
which can be named but a few, Tran (2001) with “Translation of term in accounting
documents”, Pham (2003) with “Translation of term in stock market”, Tran (2002)
with “Translation of insurance terminology”, Tran (2005) with “Translation of medical
term”, or Tran (2006) with “Transalation of auditing terminology”. However, the
researcher found no studies on the same issue conducted in the ESP setting in ULIS.
This obviously offers a gap for the researcher to carry out the study. The present study
hopes to bridge the gap by providing a specific and detailed look at the third-year

ULIS students, finding out the difficulties arisen, causes and proposing some
suggestions to improve the approaching of terminology.
Summary
The chapter has provide theoretical background for the whole paper through
elaboration on the key words “ESP” and “approaching terminology” , and the
context of studying ESP’s course of senior students in ULIS. The review of a number
of related studies in this chapter has revealed a research gap which the researcher is
pursuing to bridge through this study.
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CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY
3.1. Setting of the study
The study will be carried out among forth year students at FELTE, ULIS, VNU.
There are 22 classes from 08E1 to 08E23 with nearly 600 forth-year students in
two majors. That is, from E1 to E17, and E21, E22 are classes of English language
teacher education, which accounts for high percentage of students. Classes E18 to E20
are for students who would like to be translators and interpreters, who make up for a
small percentage of students in the total number of the final year ones.
This research only involved students from classes whose major is English
language teacher, and some of ESP’s teachers. In this research, the term “ULIS’s
students” would be understood as seniors from English Language Teaching Education
major only.
Seniors from ELTE major were chosen due to two reasons: 1) they account for
the majority of ULIS students, the difficulties they encountered would be great
concern to both the university authority and teachers to better training quality; 2) Also
solutions which were suggested at the end of the study be more useful for more
students.
At the time of study, the students are in the final term of school year. In this last
semester, students should spend 9 weeks instead of 15 weeks for each subject because
6 weeks in the semester is spent on internship. Also, they have 9 weeks for ESP’s
course. They have to study 5 periods a week instead of 3 periods to complete the ESP

course in a shorter term (9 weeks), the intensive curriculum certainly put pressure on
students. Before attending practicum, students will spend 4 weeks for this subject, and
then they will finish 5 last weeks after practicum. The course is quite short and
intensive. In addition, the disruption of the course also contributes to the difficulty for
students in learning.
3.2. Participants
3.2.1. Seniors from FELTE
As the main focus of the research, forth year ULIS students played a vital role
in contributing to the success of the study. Seventeen classes were those who have
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chance to study English for Economics’ course in this semester; therefore, the number
of students was quite large nearly 500 students. The population was just too large that
it was impossible to include every individual. This was the reason why the researcher
decided to choose 30 of them to involve in the survey. This number, to some extent,
well represents the population of FELTE. These 30 students were chosen via
convenience sampling. This sampling technique was chosen because it is fast,
inexpensive, and easy and the subjects were readily available.
The researcher distributed 20 questionnaires via email, and came to class
directly handled 50 questionnaires. The total valid respondents were 60; however, the
researcher did not analyze all these respondents, randomly picked up 30 among them.
30 students were classified into two groups. The first group (G1) included those
students who studied only a major of language. While the second group (G2)
contained those students who studied double majors (language and economics at the
same time). Students from G2 were supposed to have better economic background, as
in their curriculum they certainly attended more economic courses than G1’s students.
3.2.2. Teachers of ESP
It is highly demanding to be an ESP teacher, teacher must be not only
excellent at knowledge of language but also good at economic professional
knowledge. There are seven teachers in ESP division in ULIS. All of those teachers
received M.A or B.A in Economics besides their M.A or PhD in linguistics. It can be

concluded that they are competent at teaching ESP.
Due to the limited time and access, two teachers were chosen to be
interviewed, who are directly teaching ESP to forth-year students in FELTE. The
reason is that those teachers clearly understand the state of learning, the students’
performances in-class and thus can propose some recommendations for the students to
overcome the difficulties. One teacher who is highly experienced has been teaching
ESP for more than fifteen years. The other has just been transferred to ESP division.
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The researcher expected to collect useful, practical solutions from an experienced
teacher, and fresh, innovative solutions from a new one.
3.3. Data collection instruments
Both the quantitative and the qualitative methods were utilized in this study
because these approaches are regarded by Mackey and Gass (2005) as
“complementary means of investigating the complex phenomena at work in second
language acquisition” (p.164). Accordingly, it employs questionnaires, and interviews
as the instruments to collect data. These two instruments aim at finding answers to the
research questions, and supplement each other in collecting data.
3.3.1. Questionnaires
Questionnaires, as defined by Brown (2001, cited in Mackey and Gass, 2005,
p.92), are “any written instruments that present respondents with a series of questions
or statements to which they are to react by writing out their answers or selecting them
among existing answers”
Since questionnaire can “provide data economically and in a form that lends
itself perfectly to the purposes of the study” (Verma & Mallick, 1999:17), it is taken as
one of the main data collection instruments in the research. Another reason for
researcher’s choice is that this instrument has the ability to reveal a pattern among all
the respondents’ answers (Gillham, 2005:166). The questionnaire designed for
students aimed to find out the following main points:
• Their encountered problems when approaching terms
• Their perceived reasons for above difficulties

• Their suggestions to overcome difficulties
Multiple-choice format is preferably employed in order to create a friendly
feeling and helpful guidance for participants. Because multiple choice questions were
highly structured, they are useful to calculate frequencies of response. One more
reason for using this type of question for students was that normally, students were
lazy at reading and writing long answers, and they preferred multiple-choice questions.
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Besides multiple-choice questions, the survey questionnaires also makes use
of questions which asks the respondents to score a statement according to five-point
scale (Extremely important, very important, somewhat important, not very important,
not important at all) which is adopted to reveal the participants’ perception of the
importance of learning terms, and terms in their future jobs. The other questions were
divided into three groups to answer the difficulties and reasons in each process of
approaching terms, namely understanding, remembering, and applying process. The
items for some questions were purposefully designed based on characteristics of terms
to identify which type of term would be the most striking obstacle for learners. These
other questions concerned with the reasons based on internal and external factors such
as learners, teachers, tasks, textbook, etc. In the last question, the researcher tried to
list out all available and possible solutions which students may use to overcome those
difficulties. Besides, some other questions concerning their education are also utilized
to support the study.
3.3.2. Interviews
Along with survey questionnaire, interview is also chosen by the researcher as
a valuable research instrument to examine the target population. Vaus (2002) asserted
that “in-depth interviewing can give the researcher insight into the meaning of
behavior and attitudes expressed in questionnaires. This can help made more
intelligent interpretations of the patterns discovered in the analysis of questionnaire
data”. A semi-structured interview will be exploited as this type of interviews could
bring about in-depth information and a wide range of responses from the interviewees
(Hancock 1998). Based on the findings from the questionnaires, the interviews will be

conducted for teachers.
3.4. Procedure of data collection
The procedure of collecting data could be divided into three main phases.
- Phase 1: The initial phase is designing student survey questionnaire and interview
schedules for teachers. In any method applied, personal information of all participants
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was ensured to be kept confidential and anonymous. The first draft of the
questionnaire was designed based on theoretical background and the researcher’s
assumption, in comprehensible English. After the questionnaire had been adjusted, the
official questionnaires were finalized and ready to be distributed. The researcher
picked up a small size of population; therefore, the process of data collection occurred
fairly conveniently and quickly in nearly two weeks.
- Phase 2: Finally, after processing data collected from questionnaires, the researcher
switched to the next step, which was designing interview checklist. The results found
out in the questionnaires would reveal the difficulties for students in approaching
terms. Teacher’s checklist interviews were purposefully designed to facilitate teacher
to propose recommendations to solve those difficulties.
- Phase 3: Semi-structured interviews for teachers were conducted in this phase after
the researcher got the permission from them. Interviews were also successfully
conducted thanks to the teacher’s highly supportive attitudes and assistance.
3.5. Procedure of data analysis
Firstly, responses from questionnaire were calculated into numerical form.
Descriptive statistics were used to display the findings from the survey. Secondly, the
collected data were classified corresponding with the research questions.
Since the fact that almost all the data drawn from questionnaires were
numerical statistics, these data were put in categories based on the literature review
and then principally transferred to percentages illustrated in charts for the researcher to
examine and comment more easily.
Data collected from interviews were also summarized as a supportive source of
data to answer question 9. The researcher with the hope that it would help provide

some possible solutions for difficulties encountering students.
Summary
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This chapter has justified the methodology of the study by elaborating on the
participants including the teachers and forth-year ULIS students as well as the data
collection method. Clarification has also been given to the data analysis methods and
process. The presentation and interpretation of findings from such analysis are going
to be made clear in the next chapter.
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CHAPTER 4: RESULTS AND DISSCUSSION
In the previous chapter, the methodology applied to conduct this study has been
presented with descriptions and justifications of the choice of participants, research
instruments as well as the process of data collection and data analysis. In this chapter,
all the collected data will be analyzed and discussed according to 9 survey questions
respectively. Charts and graphs are made use of for better presentation and
elaboration.
4.1. Findings
Before the findings are presented, a glance at the students’ perception towards
the overall importance of learning term would reveal their motivation and attitude to
learn.
Question 1: How do you evaluate the importance of learning terminology in
English for Economics course?
Figure 3. The overall importance of learning term in ESP course as evaluated by students.
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It was very clearly seen from the collected data, high percentages of students in
both groups admitted that learning terminology is very important, accounting for 60%
and 67% in G1, and G2 respectively. 13% of students in Group 1 considered learning
term extremely important, while this number was 33 % (nearly triple) in Group 2.
Very small number of students in G1 supposed that learning term was somewhat
important, and not very important. No participants in G2 negated the essence of

terminology learning. Which means in general, most of the students were aware of the
importance of learning term, however G2 evaluated learning term more necessarily
than G1 did.
When interviewed, teacher B asserted that learning term was one of the most
important purposes in this course. He explained that the aim of the course was not to
train students to be economic experts. The aim of the short course just introduces
general knowledge as well as basic terms in Economics to students. In term of
grammar, there is no difference compared to other subjects, the most outstanding
difference was terminologies. His opinion was echoed by the teacher A. Specifically,
teacher A evaluated learning terms to be very important. He supposed that learning
terms was similar to learning vocabulary. A learner who lacked in grammar
knowledge would be hard to explain his opinions sufficiently, but without vocabulary
one can explain nothing. He quoted “Without vocabulary you can say nothing”.
Question 2: How do you evaluate the usefulness of learning terminology in this
course for your future job?
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Figure 4. The evaluation of students on the usefulness of learning term for their future job
As can be seen from the pie charts, these 2 groups evaluated the importance of
learning terms for their future job differently.
G1’s students are trained to be English teachers, 13% of whom considered
learning term not very important to their future career. Some of them, which accounts
for 27% found that learning term was important to some extends. However, a greater
number of them (53%) thought that learning terms was very important to their future
jobs. ESP courses have just appeared in Vietnam since 90s. Thanks to the development
of economy, the demand for English teachers for economics also increases. In
addition, as teacher A shared that regarding to students who are trained to be teachers,
learning terms is still important to their future job, because a vast amount of updated
information daily is in economic area, so undoubtedly terms become a necessary
instrument to acquire knowledge outside. Students who do not know terms would be

difficult to access the source of economic news. More than half of G1’s students
might be aware of this issue, and they more concern in learning terms. Even 13% of
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them believed that learning terms in this ESP’s course is extremely important for their
future job.
Meanwhile, those students from G2 who take part in double degree program
wish to have more chances to find jobs related to banking, financing, or business
administration, not only restricted to language, and education. Therefore, they need
economic terms to perform well in future working environment. None of them chose
options D and E (Not very important and not important at all). Majority of G2’s
students agreed that learning term was very important for their future jobs (67%), and
27% of they considered that it was extremely important to learn terms for future jobs.
Teacher B held a slight different point of view from teacher A. He stated that it
was unpredictable to evaluate the importance of learning terms for student’s future job.
Some students might merely want to teach four English skills (reading, listening,
writing, and speaking); thus, they would not need these terms to work. While other
students who wished to extend their occupational opportunities in another field as:
tourism, press, business, etc would find learning terms really necessary for their jobs.
In a word, these above statistics somehow explain the result of very first
questions. The target-jobs of each group are quite different, which creates different
attitude to learn terms. Students from G2 are more motivated to learn term because
term acquisition is very important to satisfy future occupation’s requirements.
Question 3: When approaching terminology, you would find most challenging
in…
The column chart below shows the differences in the students’ difficulty in
approaching term.
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