Những khó khăn và giải pháp gợi ý trong việc dạy từ vựng chuyên ngành cơ khí cho sinh viên năm thứ hai trường Cao đẳng nghề Bắc Ninh

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY - HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF POST - GRADUATE STUDIES




CAO THỊ TÚ


TEACHING VOCABULARY IN MECHANICAL ENGINEERING
TO THE SECOND YEAR STUDENTS AT BACNINH
VOCATIONAL COLLEGE: CHALLENGES AND SUGGESTIONS
FOR SOLUTIONS


(NHỮNG KHÓ KHĂN VÀ GIẢI PHÁP GỢI Ý TRONG VIỆC
DẠY TỪ VỰNG CHUYÊN NGÀNH CƠ KHÍ CHO SINH VIÊN NĂM
THỨ HAI TRƯỜNG CAO ĐẲNG NGHỀ BẮC NINH)



M.A. Minor Programme Thesis


FIELD: TEACHING METHODOLOGY
CODE: 60 14 10
SUPERVISOR: ASSOC. PROF. DR. NGUYỄN VĂN ĐỘ

Hanoi, July-2010

iv
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

BVC: Bacninh Vocational College
M.E: Mechanical Engineering
GE: General English
ESP: English for Specific Purposes

v
LIST OF TABLES AND CHARTS

Tables:
Table 1: Teachers’ difficulties in teaching vocabulary in Mechanical Engineering.
Table 2 : The learners' purposes of learning vocabulary in Mechanical Engineering.
Table 3: Students' ways of learning vocabulary.
Table 4: Ways of learning English vocabulary for Mechanical Engineering.
Table 5: Ways of vocabulary presentation students interested in.
Charts:
Chart 1: The teachers' attitude towards the importance of vocabulary in language
teaching.
Chart 2: Students' attitude towards vocabulary learning.
Chart 3: Way of practising new words students like most.
Chart 4: The students' attitudes towards the present course book.
Chart 5: Parts students find most trouble when dealing with an English word.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Candidate's statement i
Acknowledgements ii
Abstract iii
List of abbreviations iv
List of tables and charts v
Table of contents vi

PART 1: INTRODUCTION 1
1. Rationale 1
2. Aims of the study 1
3. Scope of the study 2
4. Research questions 2
5. Method of the study 2

6. Design of the study 2

Part 2: Development 4
CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 4
1.1. Definition of vocabulary 4
1.2. Classification of vocabulary 4
1.3. The importance of vocabulary in language teaching and learning 6
1.4. How teaching vocabulary differs from teaching other skills 7
1.5. What should be taught in teaching vocabulary? 8
1.5.1. Word form 8
1.5.2. Grammar 8
1.5.3. Collocation 8
1.5.4. Aspects of meaning 9
1.5.5. Word-formation 10
1.6. Techniques in vocabulary teaching currently used 10
1.6.1. Techniques in presenting vocabulary 10

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1.6.1.1. Visual techniques 10
1.6.1.2. Verbal techniques 10
1.6.1.3. Translation 11
1.6.2. Techniques in practising new words 11
1.7. Vocabulary in ESP teaching and learning 11
1.7.1. What is ESP? 11
1.7.2. The roles of ESP teachers 12
1.7.3 ESP and EGP 13
CHAPTER 2: AN INTRODUCTION ON THE CONTEXT OF LEARNING AND
TEACHING VOCABULARY OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING AT BVC
2.1. Teaching staff and teaching methods 15
2.2. Students and their background 15

2.3. The teaching materials 16
2.3.1. The textbook 16
2.3.2. The course content 16
2.4. Teaching facilities 16
CHAPTER 3: THE STUDY 18
3. 1. Context of the study 18
3. 2. The subject 18
3. 3. Instruments for collecting data 18
3.3.1. Questionnaires 18
3.3.2. Interviews with ESP teachers 19
3. 4. Data collection procedure 19
3. 5. Data analysis results 19
3. 5. 1. The teachers' interviews 19
3. 5. 2. The students' questionnaires 22
3.6.Problems in teaching and learning vocabulary in Mechanical Engineering at BVC
3.6.1. Teachers' problems 28
3.6.1.1. Methods of teaching vocabulary 28
3.6.1.2. Knowledge of Mechanical Engineering 29
3.6.2. Students' problems 29
3.6.2.1. Ways of learning vocabulary 29

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3.6.2.2. Level of English 29
3.6.3. Materials and equipment … 30
CHAPTER 4: SOME SUGGESTIONS FOR SOLUTIONS TO IMPROVE THE
TEACHING OF VOCABULARY IN MECHANICAL ENGINEERING AT BVC
4.1. Students 31
4.1.1. Guiding students with different vocabulary learning strategies 31
4.1.2. Assigning and checking students' fulfillment of homework 36
4.2. Teachers 37

4.2.1. Improving teachers' classroom techniques for teaching vocabulary in particular
and teaching methodology in general 37
4.2.2. Improving specialized knowledge for ESP teachers 38
4.2.3. Equipping teaching facilities …………………………………………………. . 39
PART 3: CONCLUSION 40
1. Summary of the study 40
2. Limitations and suggestions for further study 41
References 42
Appendices I










1

PART 1: INTRODUCTION

1. Rationale
In recent years, there has been a global increase in the number of language teachers who
have greater and wider responsibility thrust upon them by training institutions. They are
required to teach English to students from various fields such as engineering, information
science, medicine, accountancy, etc to enable them to cope with their academic work. This
type of education is called English for Specific Purpose (ESP). Since ESP was introduced,
it has attracted the attention of language instructors. Furthermore, the idea of English for

Specific Purpose has been welcomed by staffs of universities who have seen the great
benefits from teaching ESP. Also it is to meet the learners‘ needs for better reading of
specialized books in English and for more successful job performance in the future.
ESP courses are now offered not only by universities and colleges of language but also by
departments of technical universities and colleges. Bacninh Vocational College (BVC) is a
typical example of the training centre where ESP involved within an English language
teaching situation in response to the demand for specific language skills.
However, up to now, teaching and learning ESP, particularly teaching and learning
vocabulary items has still been far from satisfactory. Being a teacher of English at BVC,
the author does realize a number of problems that the teachers and students encounter in
teaching and learning vocabulary in Mechanical Engineering. That is the reason why the
author would like to carry out this research entitled, ―Teaching vocabulary in Mechanical
Engineering to the second year students at Bacninh Vocational College: Challenges and
suggestions for solutions”.
2. Aims of the study
The study is aimed at:
a) Better understanding the notions, types, roles and techniques in teaching
vocabulary currently used and vocabulary in ESP teaching and learning.
b) Identifying some problems in teaching vocabulary in Mechanical Engineering at
BVC.
c) Offering some suggestions for solutions on teaching vocabulary in Mechanical
Engineering at BVC.


2

Hopefully, the study will make some contributions to the improvement of teaching ESP in
general and teaching vocabulary in Mechanical Engineering in particular at BVC.
3) Scope of the study
It is impossible to cover every aspect of language theory and practice in this study.

Therefore the study focuses on problems in teaching vocabulary in Mechanical
Engineering to the second year students at BVC. It is not proposed to deal with other
language elements: pronunciation and grammar or with language skills. The other subjects
of the study are the second year students at BVC. Also, the ―Specific Purpose‖ of the
course are confined to ―English in Mechanical Engineering ―.
4). 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 teaching vocabulary
to students of ME at BVC?
- What suggestions for solutions should be offered to help teachers to find out the
effective ways to teach vocabulary to students of ME at BVC?
5) Methodology
The theoretical background of the study mainly relies on many published books written by
different authors on language teaching, English for Specific Purpose, approaches to ESP
teaching, etc.
The major method used in the study is the quantitative one. That is all comments,
consideration, suggestions given in the thesis are based on the analysis of the statistics
from the survey questionnaires conducted with the teachers and students at BVC. Besides,
the study is also carried out through course book assessment, informal interviews, and
discussions with the teachers and students at BVC.
6). Design of the study
The study is organized into introduction, the main part and conclusion.
The introduction includes the rationale, aims of the study as well as scope and methods of
the study.
The main part comprises 4 chapters.


3

Chapter 1 deals with the theoretical background of the research. It is concerned with the
issues relevant to the topic of the research: vocabulary (definition, classification and roles),
techniques in vocabulary teaching and vocabulary in ESP teaching and learning.
Chapter 2 is an overview of English teaching and learning context at BVC.
Chapter 3 The study explores problems of teaching and learning vocabulary in
Mechanical Engineering experienced by the teachers and students at BVC.
Chapter 4 offers some suggestions for solutions to improve the teaching of vocabulary in
Mechanical Engineering.
The conclusion summarizes the issues addressed and presents recommendations for
further improvements and some suggestions for further research.

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PART 2: DEVELOPMENT
CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW
1.1 Definition of vocabulary
There are different definitions of vocabulary. Each linguist gives his own definition of
vocabulary depending on the criteria that he considers the most important in terms of
linguistics, semantics, lexicology, etc. In her book, "A course in language teaching", Penny
Ur defined vocabulary roughly as "the words we teach in the foreign language". However,
she also accepted, "a new item of vocabulary may be more than a single word, a compound
of two or three words and multi-word idioms". Pyles and Algeo (1970) said, "it is true that
vocabulary is the focus of language with its sound and meaning, which interlock to allow
us to communicate with one another, and it is words that we arrange together to make
sentences, conversation and discourse of all kinds " (p.96). This statement indicates that
vocabulary is essential for learning a language.
The American Heritage Dictionary defines vocabulary as "the sum of words used by, or at
the command of a particular person of group ".
According to Michael Lewis (1993:89), vocabulary " may be individual words or full
sentences - institutionalized utterances - that convey for social or pragmatic meaning
within a given community ".
In short, it can be concluded that vocabulary is the total number of all the words that
a language possesses, including a single words, two or three words items expressing a
single idea and multiword idioms of which meaning cannot be deduced from the analysis of
the component words but only understood in the sentences, or in contexts, etc.
1.2 Classification of vocabulary
Vocabulary can be classified differently according to different criteria basing on

morpheme, meaning, function, frequency or the use of word, etc.
- Vocabulary classified according to the concept of morpheme
Word can be divided into three kinds: simple, derived, and compound.
Simple word
A simple word consists of one morpheme only and cannot be broken down into smaller
meaningful unit like heat, port, oil, gas…
Derived word


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A derived word is a word that consists of a root and one or more derivational morphemes.
For example: democratic, taxation, vaccination, etc.
Compound word
A compound word is a word that consists of at least two roots with or without derivational
morphemes. For example: electric fan, washing machine, man killer, etc.
- Vocabulary classified according to meanings
A word can possess two kinds of meaning: lexical and grammatical meanings.
Vocabulary, therefore, can be divided into notional and functional words.
Notional words
Notional words are words with clear lexical meaning. They are objects, actions, qualities…
and they have meaning in themselves. Notional words form a great number of each
speaker‘s vocabulary. Example: a filter, a pendulum, to treat, to withstand …
Functional words
Functional words are those whose meaning is grammatical and they have meaning in
relation to the order words with which they are used. Functional words are particles,
articles, prepositions, auxiliaries, conjunctions… for example: at, on, and, because, then,
there…
- Vocabulary classified according to functions
In sentence, word has many different functions. English words can be classified basing on

function as different parts of speech such as noun, verb, adjective, adverb, preposition and
pronoun. Each part of speech has to follow particular grammar rules so that when learning
English words we have to be aware of the importance of the parts of speech of that word in
sentence.
For example: Noun: a pump, a diffuser, a tube
Verb: to pivot, to clog, to install
Adjective: precise, hydraulic, horizontal
Apart from meaning, pronunciation and spelling of new words, learners need to know how
these words function in sentences. For example, with the word „foreigner‟ some learners
may make sentence like this:
*‖ she‘s a foreigner student‖
In that case, teacher would need to clarify that „foreigner‟ is a noun, and the adjective of it
is “foreign”. Also, teacher better needs to point out that a word can have more than one


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grammatical function, for example „farm‟ can be a noun, a verb, an adjective. (Paul Davis:
2000:64)
- Vocabulary classified according to the frequency of use
To save time, and even more important to reduce possible stress caused by learning by
heart many new words each lesson, learners should be aware of words with high frequency
in use and those with low frequency.
For example: words used to denote daily activities or routines are often employed. Such as:
to go, to work, to eat (high frequency)
Many other words are only used in some specific situations such as the words belong to
some specific fields. For instant: word processor, main board, wizard (low frequency)
Active words refer to vocabulary that students have been taught or learnt – and which they
are expected to be able to use, for example: to do, attractive, under…Whilst the passive
words refer to words, which the students will recognize when they meet them but which

they will probably not be able to produce, such as, ISP, IP, URL (Harmer, J: 1993:159)
1.3 The role of vocabulary in language teaching and learning
Vocabulary is commonly accepted to be the most important language element among
pronunciation, vocabulary and grammar. Wilkins (1972) emphasized: “without grammar,
very little can be conveyed, without vocabulary nothing can be conveyed‖. Pyles and Algeo
also supported this idea with ―when we first think about language, we think first about
words. Its words that we arrange together to make sentences, conversation and discourse
of all kinds”. And ―words are the tools we use to access our background knowledge,
express ideas, and learn about new concepts” (Texas reading initiative: 2000:4).
These statements are enough to conclude that vocabulary is the decisive element in
language communication.
According to Ron Forseth, Carol Forseth, (1995), ―words are a good place to begin a
course in language teaching methodology. Vocabulary words are simple enough to begin
learning on the first day of a class and they are powerful enough to encourage
communication from the very beginning. Words are small pieces of language, which carry
bits of meaning. Knowing many words does not guarantee a person will be able to speak a
language, but not knowing enough words can prevent a person from effectively speaking or
understanding a language. So, we must teach words from the very star”. (Ron Forseth,
Carol Forseth: 23)


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Meara (1995) points out that knowing only 500 words is functionally useless. English
learners with such a minimal vocabulary who try to process a text will encounter too
many unfamiliar words, and frequently these are precisely the words that convey the
meaning of the text.
―Vocabulary and lexical units are the heart of learning and communication. No amount of
grammatical or other type of linguistic knowledge can be employed in communication or
discourse without the mediation of vocabulary. Indeed, vocabulary and lexical expression

can sustain a great deal of rudimentary communication without much support from other
aspects of the language system. Understanding the nature and significance of vocabulary
knowledge in a second language therefore needs to plays a much more centre role in the
knowledge base of the language teachers.”
This is all true in learning a foreign language. If a learner has a wide range of vocabulary,
he can help himself understand others easily. On the contrary, if his vocabulary is limited
he will surely have difficulty in doing so and in English learning. Therefore, vocabulary is
a ―must‖ for all language learners by all means.
1.4 How teaching vocabulary differs from teaching other skills?
Nowadays it is widely accepted that vocabulary teaching should be part of the syllabus,
and taught in a well-planned and regular basis. Some authors, led by Lewis (1993) argue
that vocabulary should be at the centre of language teaching, because ‗language consists of
grammaticalised lexis, not lexicalised grammar‘. In vocabulary lessons, teachers teach the
students about the meaning(s) of the word , its spoken and written forms , what ―word
parts‖ it has (e.g., any prefix, suffix, and ―root‖ form) , its grammatical behavior (e.g: its
word class, typical grammatical patterns it occurs in) , its collocations , its register ,what
associations it has (e.g., words that are similar or opposite in meaning) , what connotations
it has . Teaching vocabulary is unlike teaching other skills such as speaking or grammar.
With speaking skill, the aim of speaking is communication and that does not require
perfect English, then it makes sense to encourage quantity in your classroom. The role of
the teacher is to break the silence and get students communicating with whatever English
they can use, correct or not and selectively address errors that block communication.
Speaking lessons often tie in pronunciation which is necessary for effective oral
communication. With teaching grammar, language teachers focus on grammar as a set of
forms and rules. They teach grammar by explaining the forms and rules and then drilling


8

students on them. In short, teaching vocabulary is very important and different from

teaching other skills. So, language teachers should pay much attention to it.
1.5. What should be taught in teaching 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.
1.5.1. 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.
1.5.2. 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.
1.5.3 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
smoke and dense smoke with the same meaning. However, we cannot say dense hair
instead of thick hair
1.5.4. Aspects of meaning
Aspect of meaning include denotation, connotation, appropriateness and meaning
relationship.

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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.
1.5.5. 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.
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")


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1.6. Techniques in vocabulary teaching currently used
1.6.1. Techniques in presenting vocabulary
When presenting the content of words to the students, the duty of the teacher is to enable
them to use the words correctly. This is a very crucial step in vocabulary teaching,
especially when the words taught are viewed as active or productive. Therefore, the teacher
should find out useful and effective ways to present vocabulary items. The followings are
most commonly used techniques in presenting vocabulary items.
1.6.1.1. Visual techniques
According to Gairns and Redman (1986) these techniques can include flash cards,
photographs, blackboard drawings, wall charts; realia (i.e., object themselves); gestures
and mime. They are extensively used for conveying meaning and are particularly useful for
teaching concrete items of vocabulary such as food or furniture and certain areas such as
places, professions, description of people, actions and activities (such as sports and verbs
of movement). They often lend themselves easily to practice activities involving student's
interaction, for example, a set of pictures illustrating sporting activities would be used as a
means of presenting items such as skiing, swimming, and climbing. This technique is
attractive to get students involved in the lesson. They are interesting but only useful for
relevant words that refer to cheap and small objects. On the other hand, it may be difficult
to find pictures and photographs. Drawing takes time and not all teachers can draw well.

Besides, mines and gestures are very effective ways of introducing a new word since it
clearly promotes the understanding and meaningful retention of new items.
1.6.1.2. Verbal techniques
This is commonly used to help students understand more especially the abstract words. It
consists of the use of illustrative situations (oral or written), definition, synonyms/
antonyms, gradable items and examples of type. Teachers can use definition and
illustrative sentence (the use of other words in the same language) to offer the advantage of
con-tantalization and show how the new word is used; synonyms and antonyms to help
students build the new vocabulary based on the words they already know. The techniques
of the presentation of related words in scales are very useful as it can combine the visual
and verbal techniques. Once students have learnt two contrasting or related gradable items,
this can be a useful way of revising and feeding in new items. Examples of types are used


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to illustrate the meaning of super ordinates such as "furniture‖, ―vegetables", "meat", and
―transport‖ , it is a common procedure to exemplify them e.g. ―table‖, ―chair‖, ―bed‖ and
―sofa‖ are all furniture.
1.6.1.3. Translation
There are arguments for and against the techniques of translation. Mackey discussed the
use of translation to teach vocabulary after some attempt at explanation of items, but it
appears that it is better to put before explanation because most Vietnamese learners tend to
make use of it first.
The problem of whether translation should be used or how often it is used in vocabulary
teaching has undergone much controversy. Many methodologists nowadays view it as a
very effective way in conveying meaning to the learners.
Translation can save valuable time that might otherwise be spent on a largely unsuccessful
explanation in English and in can be a very quick way to dispose of low frequency items
that may worry the students. Furthermore, it can help the learners avoid their

misunderstandings of the meanings of the words.
It would appear therefore, that translation should be used when necessary and particularly
when there it is a word that is too difficult to explain in the given time. However,
translation is considered a complicated process. So it might be used with care and
consideration, especially when precise equivalents in Vietnamese are difficult to establish.
1.6.2. Techniques in practising new words
Joseph Pettigrew (2005) proposes different tips and techniques of practising vocabulary
such as matching, synonyms/opposites, filling the blank sentences, complete the phrases/
sentences. Teachers give the example and students give the category or vice versa, correct
the mistakes, label a picture, cross out the word that doesn't belong with the others in
group, arrange the words on a scale and complete the definition. Fun and games are very
useful to motivate students as crosswords, puzzles, category games.
1.7. Vocabulary in ESP teaching and learning
1.7.1. 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


12

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 the above definitions stem at different time by different authors, these
definitions reveal that any ESP course must be based on learners‘ needs.
1.7.2. 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 the 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 "machines and its application" or " machines 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


13

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 his roles will vary according to type of

syllabus and course, teaching and learning environment, etc.
1.7.3. ESP AND EGP (ENGLISH FOR GENERAL PURPOSES)
Regarding the distinction between ESP and EGP, there remains different point of views
among experts. At its early time, ESP was said to be 'In contrast with general English"
(Strevens, 1988). This agrees with Hutchinson and Waters* explanations in some points.
According to the various definitions and classifications, some important points about ESP
classes and its comparison with EGP ones can be shown as follows.
ESP differs from EGP in terms of content and purpose of the course. The content of ESP
courses relate to a particular field or discipline, whereas EGP is essentially the English
language education in junior and senior high schools. In EGP courses, students get access
to the sounds and symbols of English, as well as to the lexical, grammatical, and rhetorical
elements that compose spoken and written discourse. Four skills are stressed equally. EGP
' deals with usages of English in general situations. Moreover, EGP curricula provide
learners with supplementary information about appropriate gestures, cultural conventions,
and cultural taboos. EGP may be called ESL or EFL up to the countries where it is used as
a second or a foreign language. ESP, however, though being built on EGP; ESP is likened
to the leaves, branches on a tree of language, and is designed to meet the demand of
students or working adults for the English used in specific disciplines, vocations, or
professions to satisfy specific purposes. It is needs analysis that determines which
language skills are most needed by the students and the syllabus are designed accordingly.
Not only does it mean English for specific purposes, but also it implies specific purposes
for learning English. The focus of ESP is in context. English is not taught as a subject
separated from the student's real world/ wishes. Learners are able to use what they learn
from ESP classes right way in their work and studies In short, as Hutchison and Waters
(1987, p.53) state "what distinguishes ESP and general English (GE) is an awareness of
the need."
However, the distinction between ESP and EGP is not clear- cut as they are closely related
to each other. Robbinson (1991 as cited in Far. 2008) states that "in an ESP class, language
is as a "service" rather than a 'subject' in its own sake" To support this idea. Anthony

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(1997) comments "it is not clear where ESP courses and general English courses begin".
Dudley-Evans & St. John (1998; p 8-9) prove that there is a potential confusion and
overlap between ESP and EGP in the "continuum of ELT course types" which runs from
GE to Specific English.

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CHAPTER 2: AN INTRODUCTION OF THE CONTEXT OF LEARNING AND
TEACHING VOCABULARY OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING STUDENTS AT
BVC
2.1. Teaching staff and teaching methods
The English teaching staff at BVC consists of 10 teachers at the age from 25 to 35. They
graduated from College of Foreign Languages - Vietnam National University, Hanoi,
Hanoi Open Institution, Hanoi University. Four of them are MA in English. Two other
teachers are 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, 5 are engaged in teaching English for
Mechanical Engineering in which 3 teachers have 3 years experience and two other
teachers have 1 year 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 them 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 Mechanical Engineering, which made up totally 84
students. The age of the students varies from 18 to 24. They come from different parts of
the province. Some of them are from the rural or remote areas, where there are no good
opportunities for studying English, these students commonly did not spend much time
learning English at high school before. The others come from cities, which, theoretically,
have all finished three years or seven years of learning English at high schools before


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entering the BVC .Most of them are male students (85%). To some extent, there are some
students whose English are very good, but generally the target students' English
proficiency is still low. 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 Mechanical Engineering, on the other hand, brings them high
motivation in learning ESP. In addition, it helps students feel more confident to interact
with the teacher in ESP class.
2.3. The teaching materials
2.3.1. The textbook
The book "English for Mechanical Engineering" are subjectively selected by the teachers
and then compiled into the material to teach students of Mechanical Engineering at BVC in
60 periods.
"English for Mechanical Engineering" consists of ten units, designed in combination with

Mechanical Engineering topics to enable students to develop both their language skills and
vocabulary relating to Mechanical Engineering.
A unit is divided into three parts, and each part focuses on grammar, function or
vocabulary. Every unit provides students with many vocabularies through practice of
listening, reading, speaking, and writing.
2.3.2. The course content
English at BVC is allowed to be non- major and not the compulsory subject for 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 semesters and 60- period for the third
semester.
The textbook "Very Easy TOEIC‖ has been used recently for General English (GE). In
addition, the book "English for Mechanical Engineering" 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


17

to use for their class contact when necessary. However, classrooms are not appropriately
arranged for language classes. In fact, they are designed as lecture halls for other subjects.
Therefore, classroom interaction is often in the form of question and answer. There is one
library with some sort of materials for reference like English books, magazines,
newspapers but it mainly provides books of Mechanical Engineering in Vietnamese, not
English books, especially ESP books. It is obviously that teaching facilities at BVC are
poorly provided. 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 BVC, 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 "Very Easy TOEIC‖ by Anne Taylor and
Garrett Byrne 2004. During the third term students are introduced English for Special
Purpose (ESP) which is written by the teachers of English at BVC 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 5 teachers of English of Mechanical
Engineering currently teaching at BVC. All of them are female. They have at least 3-years
experience in teaching English. And 84 second-year students of Mechanical Engineering.
The number of participants is limited to only 5 teachers and 84 students because there are
only 8 teachers teaching in BVC at the time the study was being carried out. 5 teachers is
not a small number in comparison with total. The teachers involved in the study are those
who have experience on teaching English for ME. At present, there are classes with 84
students of Mechanical Engineering in BVC. The students are in their second year of
studying in the school and 7 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,
observation, etc. the researcher of this study decided to choose questionnaires and
interviews as main tools for collecting information.
3.3.1 Questionnaires


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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
questionnaires , what common vocabulary difficulties they have to cope with when
learning English vocabulary for questionnaires , and what teaching methods used by
teachers they would enjoy.
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 3 ESP teachers).
The interviews are 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 Mechanical Engineering 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 and teaching in general and their English
vocabulary of Mechanical Engineering in particular so all their information is kept secret
and only used for research.
The interviews between the researchers and 3 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 Mechanical
Engineering, and their solutions. It was recorded for later references.
3.5. Data analysis results
This part of the thesis is the analysis of all the data collected from the survey
questionnaires and the teachers‘ interviews.
3.5.1 The teachers’ interviews
. 1. What do you think of the role of vocabulary in learning a foreign language?