Factors affecting reading comprehension of English for computer science of the second year students at Vinh Technical Teachers' Training University = Những yếu

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY-HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
Department of POST GRADUATE STUDIES
@



Đinh ThỊ THU




FACTORS AFFECTING READING COMPREHENSION OF
ENGLISH FOR COMPUTER SCIENCE OF THE SECOND YEAR
STUDENTS AT VINH TECHNICAL TEACHERS’ TRAINING
UNIVERSITY

(Những yếu tố ảnh hưởng đến việc đọc hiểu tiếng anh chuyên ngành
tin học của sinh viên năm thứ hai ở trường đại học sư phạm kỹ
thuật Vinh)




M.A Minor Programme Thesis

Field: English Teaching Methodology
Code: 60.14.10









HANOI - 2010





VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY-HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
Department of POST GRADUATE STUDIES
@




Đinh ThỊ THU

FACTORS AFFECTING READING COMPREHENSION OF
ENGLISH FOR COMPUTER SCIENCE OF THE SECOND YEAR
STUDENTS AT VINH TECHNICAL TEACHERS’ TRAINING
UNIVERSITY

(Những yếu tố ảnh hưởng đến việc đọc hiểu tiếng anh chuyên ngành
tin học của sinh viên năm thứ hai ở trường đại học sư phạm kỹ
thuật Vinh)



M.A Minor Programme Thesis


Field: English Teaching Methodology
Code: 60.14.10
Supervisor: Dr. Dương Thị Nụ









HANOI - 2010


iv

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS


VTTTU: Vinh Technical Teachers’ Training University
GE: General English
ESP: English for Specific Purposes
CS: Computer Science
IT: Information Technology
L1: The first language
L2: The second language

v

LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES



Figure: Students’ background
Table 1: Students’ attitudes towards ESP reading
Table 2: Students’ preparation lessons before going to class
Table 3: Students’ frequency of reading supplementary materials
Table 4: Students’ evaluation of the texts in the current ESP reading material
Table 5: The causes of the students’ difficulties in reading English for CS
Table 6: Activities the teachers ask the students to do at pre/ post-reading stages.
Table 7: Activities carried out by the teachers to motivate students in a reading lesson
Table 8: The learners’ expectation in terms of ESP materials
Table 9: The learners’ expectation in terms of teaching methodology

vi

TABLE OF CONTENTS


Declaration ………………………………………………………………………………… i
Acknowledgements…………………………………………………………………………ii
Abstract……………………………………………………………………………………iii
List of abbreviations……………………………………………………………………… iv
List of figures and tables ………………………………………………………………… v
Table of contents ………………………………………………………………………….vi
Part A: Introduction …………………………………………………………………… 1
1. Rationale ………………………………………………………………………… 1
2. Aims of the study ………………………………………………………………….2
3. Methods of the study……………………………………………………………… 2
4. Scope of the study ……………………………………………………………… 2
5. Organization of the thesis ………………………………………………………… 2
Part B: Development ……………………………………………………………………. 4
Chapter 1: Theoretical background …………………………………………………….4
1.1. The nature of reading ……………………………………………………………. 4
1.1.1. Definitions of reading and reading comprehension……………………… 4
1.1.2. Classification of reading according to purpose of reading ………………. 5
1.1.3. Reading in General English and in ESP …………………………………. 6

1.2. ESP reading ……………………………………………………………………… 7
1.2.1. Definitions of ESP ……………………………………………………… 7
1.2.2. Reading skills in ESP …………………………………………………… 8
1.2.3. Factors in teaching and learning ESP reading …………………………… 8
1.2.3.1. ESP teachers and their roles ……………………………………… 8
1.2.3.2. ESP students and their roles ……………………………………… 9
1.2.3.3. ESP materials and their roles ……………………………………… 10
1.3. ESP reading difficulties for foreign language learners …………………………10
1.3.1. Reading skills problems …………………………………………………11


vii
1.3.2. Language problems …………………………………………………… 11
1.4. Summary ……………………………………………………………………… 12
Chapter 2: Investigation into the current situation of teaching and learning English
for Computer Science at Vinh Technical Teachers’ training University ( VTTTU )
2.1. Introduction of the VTTTU ……………………………………………………. 13
2.2. The teachers and their teaching methods ………………………………………. 13
2.3. The students and their background …………………………………………… 14
2.4. The teaching and learning English at VTTTU …………………………………. 14
2.5. The present ESP syllabus and materials …………………………………………15
Chapter 3: The study ………………………………………………………………… 16
3.1. Research questions ………………………………………………………………16
3.2. Participants ………………………………………………………………………16
3.3. The data collection method …………………………………………………… 16
3.4. The data collection procedure ………………………………………………… 17
3.5. Data analysis …………………………………………………………………… 17
3.5.1. Factors affecting reading English for Computer Science at VTTTU ………18
3.5.1.1. The participants’ background …………………………………………18
3.5.1.2. Students’ attitudes towards ESP reading …………………………… 19

3.5.1.3. The reading materials ………………………………………………. . 21
3.5.1.4. The teachers and teaching methods …………………………………. 23
3.5.2. The learners’ expectation in terms of ESP materials ……………………… 25
3.5.3. The learners’ expectation in terms of teaching methodology ………………26
3.6. Summary ……………………………………………………………………… 28
Chapter 4: Recommendations to improve the quality of the teaching and learning to
read English for CS at VTTTU …………………………………………………………29
4.1. Improving teachers’ classroom techniques …………………………………… 29
4.1.1. Increasing students’ reading interest and motivation …………………… 29
4.1.2. Applying different approaches to teach vocabulary ……………………… 29
4.2. Training students to become efficient readers ………………………………… 30
4.2.1. Training students with different reading strategies ……………………… 30
4.2.2. Encouraging students to develop extensive reading habits ……………… 32
4.2.3. Giving homework and checking the previous lessons frequently …………32


viii
4.3. Improving teachers’ background knowledge about CS and teaching methodology
4.3.1. Improving teachers’ background knowledge about CS ……………………33
4.3.2. Improving teachers’ teaching methodology ……………………………… 33
4.4. Developing E CS reading materials ……………………………………………. 34
4.4.1. Adapting and improving reading exercises ……………………………… 34
4.4.2. Choosing supplementary reading materials ………………………………. 35
4.5. Summary ……………………………………………………………………… 35
Part C: Conclusion …………………………………………………………………… 36
1. Conclusions of the study ………………………………………………………… 36
2. Limitations of the study and Suggestions for Further study …………………… 37

References ………………………………………………………………………………. 38
Appendices ……………………………………………………………………………… I

1
PART A: INTRODUCTION

1. Rationale

English learning has been popular in Vietnam over the last few decades. Especially,
learning English has become a burgeoning need when Vietnam fosters its international
relations. Everyday an increasing number of people learn and use English for different
purposes.
In teaching and learning English as a foreign language in Vietnam, English for
Specific Purposes (ESP) has recently received a great deal of attention. It has been
introduced in the training curriculum at almost every university in Vietnam as recognition
of the increasing importance of the language as a tool to help students access information
and technological advancements of the world. One of the main objectives of the ESP
program is to develop the students‟ skills in accessing, analyzing, and evaluating critically
the information available for their career purposes. Therefore, being able to read in a
foreign language, especially in English is often important to academic studies, professional
success and personal development. It is obvious that reading is given the most important
account for the students of Information Technology. That is because reading is not only the
important means to get knowledge but also means of further study. By means of English,
the learners can take it professionally in their future work as well as reading their
specialized materials. It is completely true for the students of IT.
At VTTTU, after finishing three semesters of GE, the students of IT department
begin to take 60 ESP periods of CS.
Being an ESP teacher of CS, the researcher has always been aware of the importance
of developing the reading skills for IT students. If the students read well, they are able to
handle subjects related written materials in English and to work with modern technological
equipments. But in fact, despite of the effort of the teachers and students, the researcher
finds her students‟ reading skills disappointed, which do not meet the requirements of the
college and they have a lot of difficulties in reading English for CS.
For all the above reasons, the researcher would like to find out the factors affecting
reading comprehension of English for CS of the second year students at VTTTU. It is


2

hoped that the study will make some suggestions for teachers and students to improve the
quality of teaching and learning English for CS at VTTTU.
2. Aims of the study
The study aims to examine the factors affecting reading comprehension of English
for Computer Science of the second year students at VTTTU. To be more specific, the
objectives of the study are:
- To examine the students‟ attitudes towards ESP reading.
- To investigate the current situation of teaching and learning English for CS at
VTTTU in order to find out the factors affecting reading comprehension of English for CS
of the second year students at VTTTU.
- To investigate the learners‟ needs in terms of reading materials and methodology.
- To give some recommendations to improve the quality of teaching and learning
English for CS at VTTTU.
It is hoped that the findings from this study will be of some benefits to teachers and
students at VTTTU.
3. Method of the study
In order to achieve the aims mentioned above, the methodologies adopted for this
study are a survey questionnaire with 100 students which is used as the main method to
collect the needed data from the learners and informal interviews and discussions with the
teachers as well as the researcher‟s observation during the course.
4. Scope of the study
The study mainly focuses on the investigation of factors most affecting reading
comprehension of English for Computer Science of the second year students at VTTTU,
and then suggests some techniques to help them improve their ESP reading.
5. Organization of the thesis
This minor thesis consists of three parts: Introduction, Development and Conclusion.
The first part concludes the rationale for the study, the aims, the methods, and the scope of
the study as well as the organization of the thesis.
The second part consists of four chapters. Chapter 1 discusses the theoretical
background to the nature of reading and reading comprehension and reading in ESP

teaching and learning. Chapter 2 investigates the current situation of teaching and learning
English for CS at VTTTU. Chapter 3 deals with the research methodology which covers


3
the research questions, the participants, the data collection method, and the data collection
procedure as well as the data analysis, findings and some discussion of findings. Chapter 4
offers some possible suggestions to improve the current situation of teaching and learning
English for Computer Science at VTTTU.
The last part- Conclusion - summarizes the main issues of the study, points out the
limitations and makes some suggestions for further research.

4
PART B: DEVELOPMENT

CHAPTER 1: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND

This chapter involves the theoretical background of the study which would be a
review of issues relevant to the thesis topic. The review includes an overview on the nature
of reading, in which the definitions of reading and reading comprehension as well as
classification of reading according to the purpose of reading are discussed. Moreover, this
chapter also discusses the definition of ESP, reading skills in ESP, factors in teaching and
learning ESP reading, and ESP reading difficulties for foreign language learners.
1.1. The nature of reading
1.1.1. Definitions of reading and reading comprehension
So far, there are numerous definitions of reading by many perspectives – linguists,
psychologists, educators and second language researchers. Each author defines in a
different way as seen from his own point of view.
According to Goodman (1971:135), reading is “a psycholinguistics process by which
the reader, a language user, reconstructs, as best as he can, a message which has been
encoded by a writer as a graphic display”. This act of reconstruction is viewed as “a
cyclical process of sampling, predicting, testing, and confirming”.
Harmer (1989:153) considers reading as a mechanical process that “eyes receive the
message and the brain then has to work out the significance of the message”. Harmer

focuses on not only two actions dominated by the eyes and the brain but also the speed of
the process: “a reading text moves at a speed of the reader”, which means it is the reader
who decides how fast he wants to read the text.
Sharing the same opinion, Smith (1985:102) defined: “reading is understanding the
author‟s thought”. It means that the readers “read the author’s mind not the author’s
words”.
To sum up, it is obvious that attempts to define reading have been various but no
definitions can reveal all the features and ideas of what reading is. However, the definitions
all focus on the nature of reading that is the interaction between readers and authors.


5
Reading comprehension takes an important role in teaching and learning reading. It
is the ability to get information from the text as efficiently as possible. There are three
elements involving in the reading process: the text being read, the background knowledge
of the reader and the contextual aspects relevant for interpreting the text.
According to Grellet (1981:3), “reading comprehension or understanding a written
text means extracting the required information from it as efficiently as possible”. Richard
and Thomas (1987:9) also stated: “reading comprehension is best described as an
understanding between the author and the reader”.
And according to Swan (1975:1), “a student is good at comprehension” if “he can
read accurately and efficiently, so as to get the maximum information of a text with the
minimum understanding”. After reading, readers can master the grammatical structures,
words pronunciation, understanding the context of the texts and use it in real life as
effective as possible.
Though these ideas are not exactly the same, they all seem that “reading without
comprehension is meaningless” (Karlin and Kartin, 1982:2)

1.1.2. Classification of reading according to purpose of reading
According to purpose of reading, Wood (1985), Williams (1986) and Grellet (1990)

categorize reading into intensive, extensive, skimming, and scanning.
Intensive reading means the careful reading of shorter, more difficult foreign
language texts with the goal of complete and detailed understanding. The objective of
intensive reading is to understand not only what the text means but also how the meaning
is produced. Francoise Grellet (1981:41) defined: “Intensive reading means reading short
texts to extract specific information. This is an accuracy activity involving reading for
details”. And according to Nuttal (1982:36), “Intensive reading involves approaching the
text under the guidance of a teacher or a task which forces the student to pay great
attention to the text”. To this kind of reading, readers are required a profound and detailed
understanding of the text. They have to know every idea, every piece of hidden
information in the text. They also have to pay attention to the area of the words in the
passage through which some hints may be conveyed. In short, intensive reading is reading
in detail for a complete understanding of every part of the text.


6
Extensive reading means to read widely and in quantity. According to Grellet
(1981:2), extensive reading means “reading longer texts usually for one’s own pleasure.
This is a fluency activity, mainly involving general understanding”. Harmer (1989:497)
also has the same view. He states “extensive reading would normally start with reading for
the main idea or for general comprehension and finally, after much practice, for detailed
comprehension”. In fact, most of extensive reading is done silently and out of the
classroom and it gives the students opportunities to use their target language knowledge for
their own purposes.
Skimming is a very useful reading skill for students to locate a specific item of
information that they need. Grellet (1981:19) stated: “when skimming, we go through the
reading material quickly in order to get its main points out the intension of the writer, but
not to find the answer to specific questions”. Because of its nature, the key to skimming is
to know where to find the main idea of different paragraphs and to be able to synthesize
them by way of generalization.

Scanning is another useful skill to locate a specific item of information that we
need. Williams (1986:100) said: “scanning occurs when a reader goes through a text very
quickly in order to find a particular point of information”. In contrast with skimming,
scanning is far more limited since it only means retrieving needed information. This kind
of reading is widely used in reading comprehension.
In sum, there are different ways of reading and they are determined not by the texts
but by the reader‟s reasons for reading. In order to understand a text effectively, the readers
should not use these ways independently. They must know how to use suitable ways to
achieve their reading purpose.
1.1.3. Reading in General English and in ESP
In many countries, English is learnt by a number of students who may never have
opportunities to converse with native speakers, but may have access to scientific and
technical materials written in English. In comparison with other languages skills, reading,
once developed, is the one that can most easily be maintained at a high level by the student
himself with further help from his teachers. Through reading exercises, he can increase his
knowledge and understanding of the speakers‟ culture, their way of thinking and their
contribution to different fields in our everyday life. Reading, therefore, is always
considered an important skill in both GE and ESP contexts.


7
Reading in GE and ESP classes involves teachers, students and texts that are used
for reading. In general, these factors function similarly in both types of English teaching.
However, ESP teaching is different from General English teaching in some aspects.

1.2. ESP reading
1.2.1. Definition of ESP
There are different definitions of ESP by different linguistics. According to
Hutchinson and Waters (1987:16), “ESP – an approach not a product- does not involve a
particular kind of language, teaching materials or methodology”. In their opinion, ESP is

“not a matter of teaching specialized varieties, not different in kind from other form of
language teaching”. They state ESP “is an approach to language teaching in which all
decisions as to content and method are based on the learners’ reason for learning”. So an
ESP course should differ from a GE course in selection of skills, themes, topics, situations
and functions. And, all ESP courses should be based on the learners‟ needs and meet the
learners‟ needs.
However, Strevens‟ definition of ESP (1988) makes a distinction between four
absolute characteristics and two variable characteristics:
- The absolute characteristics of ESP are as follows:
* designed to meet specific needs of the learners.
* related in context (that is in its themes and topic) to particular disciplines, occupations
and activities.
* centered on language appropriate to those activities in syntax, lexis, discourse,
semantics, and so on, and analysis of the discourse.
* in contrast with GE.
- The two variable characteristics are that ESP:
* may be restricted to skills to be learned (for example, reading only).
* may not be taught according to any pre- ordained methodology.
Robinson‟s definition is based on two key defining criteria and a number of
characteristics that are generally found to be true of ESP. The key criteria are that ESP is
“normally goal-directed” and that ESP courses develop from 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” (Robinson; 1991:3).


8
From the definitions above, it is clear that ESP courses are purposeful and aim at the
successful performance of occupational roles by an individual or a group whose need is
considered to be a distinguished feature to those of GE.
1.2.2. Reading skills in ESP

According to Hutchinson and Waters (1987:19) ESP “is an approach to language
teaching in which all decisions as to content and method are based on the learners’ reason
for learning”. An ESP course therefore should differ from a GE course in its selection of
skills, themes, topics, situations and functions. What is more, all courses have a purpose
and aims to achieve. Therefore, the reading component of an ESP course requires a balance
between skills and language development. Dudley-Evans and St. Johns (1998:96) show
some of the key skills:
- selecting what is relevant to the current purpose
- using all the features of the texts such as headings, layout, typeface
- skimming for content and meaning
- scanning for specific information
- identifying organizational patterns
- understanding relations within a sentences and between sentences
- predicting, interfering and guessing
- using cohesive and discourse markers
- identifying main ideas, supporting ideas and examples
- processing and evaluating the information during reading
- transferring or using the information while or after reading

1.2.3. Factors in teaching and learning ESP reading
1.2.3.1. ESP teachers and their roles
Together with students, the teacher is one of the two main necessary elements which
create the teaching and learning process. In general, the role of the teacher is to provide
students with knowledge and the best methods for learning effectively. However, it is
obvious that the work of GE and ESP teachers differs. One of the skills an ESP teacher has
to acquire is the ability to balance content level and language level. Therefore, it is likely
that in addition to the normal functions of a GE teacher, The ESP teacher will have to deal
with needs analysis, syllabus design, materials writing or adaptation and evaluation.

9
According to Littlewood (1881:51), the language teacher is expected “to perform in a
variety of roles, separately or simultaneously”. As for Wright (1987) and other authors, the
roles of the teacher include: an instructor, a manager, a counselor, a facilitator, an
organizer, an evaluator, a curriculum developer, a material writer and even a friend. Swales
(1985) prefers to use the term “ESP practitioner” than “ESP teacher”. Teacher‟s work may
only involve teaching whereas practitioner‟s work involves much more than teaching.
It is true that the role of the teacher will vary according to the type of syllabus and
course, and the teaching and learning environment (Jordan, 1997). Thus, one of the most
important qualities that an ESP teacher expects to have is flexibility - the flexibility to
change from being a general language teacher to being a specific purpose teacher. Firstly,
an ESP teacher must work as a teacher. He should help students learn, be willing to listen
to them, be ready to change tasks in a lesson to take account of what comes up, to think
and respond quickly to events. Secondly, an ESP teacher must also work as a course
designer and a material provider. Moreover, an ESP teacher must know something about
the subject matters of the ESP materials. It does not mean that the teacher must become an
expert of the subject matters (though it should be ideal if he is), but rather an interested
student of the subject matter. According to Hutchinson and Waters, ESP teachers should
have three things: (i) a positive attitude towards the ESP content; (ii) knowledge of the
fundamental principles of the subject area; (iii) an awareness of how much they probably
know. Finally, The ESP teacher is an evaluator who tests and assesses students through
discussion and on-going needs analysis, negotiation with students, then evaluates the
course and teaching materials.
To sum up, the roles of the ESP and GE teacher can hardly be separated, and they
vary as circumstances change. So, it is necessary to note that the success of an individual
teacher depends to a large extent on how flexible and adaptable he is in tackling the actual
teaching situations.
1.2.3.2. ESP students and their roles
Like teachers, students are also one of two main factors of teaching and learning
process. They are not also the subject but also the object of that process. In particular, in a

reading lesson, the students act as readers. They are involved actively in getting the right
meaning from the text. Sometimes, they meet difficulties in interpreting the text because of
unfamiliar vocabularies and limited background knowledge or because their reading speed


10
and comprehension ability are not yet up to the expectation. In this case, the students have
to work under the direction of their teachers.
Apart from all above activities in a reading classroom, ESP students also have to
become familiar with English used in their specialized field. Having acquired Basic
English in terms of grammar and having been familiar with reading activities, these
students attend ESP reading classes with the hope to improve their reading skills in their
specialized field. Furthermore, in reading, the students would tackle texts which are full of
terminologies that can be comprehensively understood only in combination with their
available specialized knowledge. ESP students in reading classes should have ability to
combine their English competence with their specialized background knowledge.
Therefore, for vocational purposes, ESP students are in more requirements of not only
English knowledge but also specialized knowledge of the field.
1.2.3.3. ESP reading materials and their roles
Materials play an important role in exposing learners to the language, especially in
teaching and learning ESP. ESP is designed to meet specific purpose of the learners.
Therefore, selecting reading materials is very important. Selecting materials involves
making choices and decisions. To make good choices, we need to have good criteria on
which to base the decisions. These criteria such as factors about the learners, the role of
materials, the topics, the language, the presentation have been put forwards for the analysis
of materials and each of them has validity. A good ESP material must contain interesting
texts and enjoyable activities which make students think, give them opportunities to use
their existing knowledge, skills and content that they and their teachers can cope with;
truly reflect what you think and feel about learning process; provide clear and coherent unit
structure to guide the students through various activities to maximize the chances of

learning; create a balance outlook which both reflect the complexity of the task, yet make it
appear manageable; introduce teachers to new techniques and provide models of correct
and appropriate language use (Hutchinson and Waters; 1987:107).

1.3. ESP reading difficulties for foreign language learners
It is undeniable that reading in a foreign language is of great importance to personal
development, professional success and academic studies. However, reading in a language
which is not the learners‟ first language is much more difficult. The previous studies by


11
Jolly (1978), Coady (1979), Yorio (1971) and others indicate that problems in reading for
foreign learners may be either in learners‟ reading skills, language proficiency or cultural
and background knowledge. However, in this section I would like to focus on two main
problems that foreign language learners often face with. They are reading skill problems
and language problems.
1.3.1. Reading skill problems
According to Bernhard (1995:17), “reading performance in a second language is
largely shared with reading ability in a first language”. Sharing the same opinion, Sarid
assumed that “the same reading strategies types accounted for success and failure in both
languages to almost the same extent”.
From these above viewpoints, we can come to a conclusion that reading processes
from the first language do appear to the foreign language. It can be seen clearly that
student‟s limited reading skills create many problems. Frequently they read in a foreign
language slower than in their first language. Moreover, they do not know how to read in
the appropriate ways. They just look at every single word, read slowly from the beginning
to the end and consequently fail to grasp the general meaning of the passage. Sometimes,
they may encounter a lot of vocabularies, a long text or an unfamiliar topic, yet they can
not concentrate well on the text and when they get to the last paragraph they may not recall
what they have read in the first ones.

It is common that there are new words, new structures, and ideas in a reading text to
every language learner. If learners do not know how to make use of grammatical, logical
and cultural clues and have a guess or predicting ability, they will read the texts with less
comprehension than he might expect. And poor reading comprehension may result in
disinterest in reading. They may be trapped in a vicious circle:
Doesn‟t understand → read slowly
↑ ↓
Doesn‟t read much ← doesn‟t enjoy reading
1.3.2. Language problems
In contrast, Yorio (1971:108) argues that reading problems of foreign language
learners are due largely to the imperfect knowledge of the target language and to mother
tongue interference in the reading process. In his view, reading involves four factors:


12
knowledge of the language, ability to predict or guess in order to make correct choice,
ability to remember the previous cues, and ability to make the necessary associations
between the different cues that have been selected. Therefore, learners with limited
knowledge of the target language might have considerable difficulty when reading in the
target language. This view is supported by other researchers (Alderson; 1984 and Clarke;
1980). They acknowledge that a lack of appropriate linguistic knowledge constrains the
transfer of reading skills and strategies from L1 to L2.
Dealing with a reading text, readers have to face various difficulties. The first
problem is that the readers may have to work with unfamiliar and difficult topics. These
are called “text problems”. The content of the text may be rather strange to the students
and grammatical structures might be new. Therefore, they can not understand it. The
readers will find the text very challenging and might not have any motivation left to keep
on reading.
The second but not less important kind of problem is the “vocabulary problems”.
As we know, grammatical knowledge accounts for a great deal of competence in reading.

However, knowledge of vocabulary is a great deal more important as a factor of reading
comprehension than awareness of grammatical structures (O‟ Donnel, 1961:313-316).
Readers encounter a lot of difficulties in dealing with proverbs, idioms, synonyms,
antonyms, poly-semantic, and sub-technical vocabulary. Metaphor, metonymy and other
types of transference of meaning also cause great difficulty for readers.

1.4. Summary
In short, this chapter provides a theoretical framework for the study. First, it
provides an overview on the nature of reading, in which the definitions of reading and
reading comprehension as well as classification of reading according to the purpose of
reading are discussed. What is more, this chapter also discusses the definition of ESP,
reading skills in ESP, factors in teaching and learning ESP reading, and ESP reading
difficulties for foreign language learners.






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CHAPTER 2: AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE CURRENT SITUATION OF
TEACHING AND LEARNING ENGLISH FOR COMPUTER SCIENCE AT VINH
TECHNICAL TEACHERS’ TRAINING UNIVERSITY
This chapter will take a close look at the present situation of teaching and learning
English for CS at VTTTU. The intention of this analysis is to achieve a better
understanding of the proposed and actual problems affecting the efficiency of ESP
teaching and learning, which in turn, will lay the foundation for a discussion of
methodology improvement and further recommendations in chapter 4.
2.1. Introduction of the VTTTU
VTTTU has been in operation for 50 years. Initially, it was only a Vocational

School. Gradually, it was upgraded and became a Technical Teachers‟ Training College in
1996, and then a Technical Teachers‟ Training University in 2006. Now its duty is to train
students to become upper- secondary school teachers in four major fields: Mechanical
Engineering, Mechanical Dynamic Engineering, Electrical and Electronics Engineering
and Information Technology.
The students are provided a lot of general educational subjects and different
specializations like other institutions, of which English has been regarded as a vital
component in the program. But in fact, the conditions for teaching and learning are not
ideal due to the large class-size (usually more than 50 students in total and even more than
70 students), no language environment, out of date reference documents, lack of facilities
for language learning and teaching such as videos, tape recorders, networked computers,
multimedia labs, and so on.
2.2. The teachers and their teaching methods
There are twelve teachers of English at VTTTU, aged from 28 to 40. Most of them
are M.A, The others are taking M.A course. They have responsibility to teach both GE and
ESP. They are energetic and willing to devote their time and energy to teaching. However,
they are inexperienced in teaching ESP because none of them has been trained in teaching
ESP and they have no specialized knowledge on the subject matter. They are unexpectedly
required to teach a subject which is new and unfamiliar with them. Most of them have little
chance to access to the latest alterations of language teaching methods. So they have to
face a lot of difficulties, of which the lack of the professional knowledge and the choice of
appropriate teaching methodologies seem to be the major concerns.


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As far as the methodology is concerned, ESP teachers usually employ the traditional
method of teaching in ESP reading lessons. Classes are conducted in the forms of lectures.
Most of the time, the teachers play a key role in the lesson, being the main speakers
working with the text. The teachers often explain every word, new structure and even
translate the text into Vietnamese. Students are passive and only ask the teachers when

they encounter difficult structures or words that they can not find in the dictionary. And the
success rests on how flexible and adaptable the individual teacher is to respond to the
requirement of the new teaching situation.
2.3. The students and their background
The age of the students varies from 18 to 25. They come from different geographical
places. Most of them are from the rural or remote areas, where there are no good
opportunities for studying English. They are varied in terms of English proficiency. Most
of them started learning English from zero when they enrolled the university. The others
come from cities, who, theoretically, have all finished three or seven years of learning
English at high schools before entering the college, but in fact, their levels are rather
mixed. Moreover, their length of English learning was different. To some extent, there are
some students whose English is very excellent, but generally the target students‟ English
proficiency is still of low level.
In fact, the students come to class with different English background and attitudes,
motivation, learning style towards learning the language. Therefore, the first thing the
teachers have to do is to improve the students‟ level of GE before they can deal with
subject matters in this language. Another problem is that most of them do not have the
habit of learning independently and tend to depend on the textbooks and the teachers for
knowledge. These provide the ESP teachers with the basic understanding of the subject of
ESP.
2.4. The teaching and learning English at VTTTU
Due to the particular tasks of our technical college, English at VTTTU is allowed to
be non- major and of course 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: 120–period GE and 60-
period ESP.


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Being responsible for teaching English for Computer Science (ECS) – a type of ESP

at VTTTU, we realize that teaching and learning ESP in general and ECS in particular is
really an issue of immediate concern. Problems in teaching and learning that arise as a
block to teaching and learning quality. There are some actual reasons for the problems.
Firstly, the teaching and learning are realized on no theoretical foundation, materials are
subjectively selected by the teachers and then compiled into reading materials for students.
As a result, different teachers have different self- developed lesson plans with focus on
different language items such as vocabulary, tasks, structures, and skills. Secondly,
teachers do not have experience in teaching ECS, they lack both knowledge of its subject
matter as well as English for Computer Science. Furthermore, the evaluation is not based
on any rules, and instructional materials and testing tools are subjective. As a result,
despite all efforts made in terms of methodology and materials chosen, the students‟
reading competence remains unimproved. Even worse, they seem to be unmotivated during
the reading lessons.
2.5. The present ESP syllabus and materials
As mentioned above, English is taught in two stages with different textbooks. But
to the scope of the study, the syllabus used for the second stage is presented, that is
“English for Computer Science”. It is designed and selected randomly by the teachers of
English without any consideration basing on Needs Analysis and syllabus design theory.
The syllabus was designed concluding 12 units with the stated purposes of providing the
students with an amounts of vocabulary relating to the computer science topics such as:
History of computer, characteristics and applications of computers, the CPU, memory,
hardware and software, the operating systems, computer graphics and design, programs
and programming languages, databases, data transmission, network, etc. and training
reading skills which would be helpful for their future job. It focuses on language skills
such as reading, writing and translation. The ESP syllabus put greater emphasis on content
teaching- the knowledge of the specific area than the language skills. The texts and the
exercises are designed in the form of content-based syllabus than a task-based one. The
exercises after each text are often reading comprehension and grammar ones. There is a list
of new words and their meanings in Vietnamese at the end of each unit.
After some years teaching this material, the teachers continuously get feedback from

the students and make suitable adaptation to improve the course book.


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CHAPTER 3: THE STUDY

This chapter deals with the research methodology that has been employed for the
achievement of the aims and objectives of the study. Data was obtained by means of a
survey questionnaire. Besides the survey data, additional data was gathered by other
instruments such as informal interview or discussion with teachers and students to provide
more in-depth information.
3.1. Research questions
As it has been stated, this study was carried out to find out the factors affecting
reading comprehension of English for Computer Science of second year students at
VTTTU. Thus, it was designed in an attempt to seek answers to the following questions:
1. What are the factors affecting reading comprehension of English for Computer
Science of the second year students at VTTTU?
2. What are the suggestions to help the students improve their ESP reading skills?
3.2. Participants
The participants of the study were 100 second – year students of Information
Technology Department at VTTTU who finished GE course last term and have just
finished ESP course this term. The reason for choosing the second year students is as
follows: The students at this university only take the ESP course after finishing a 120-
period GE course which was studied in the first year and half of the second year.
The 100 students among those of Information Technology Department were selected
at random to participate in the research. It was difficult to select a random sample of
individuals since students had already been assigned to different classes. In this case,
cluster random sampling was more feasible, which means that instead of randomly
selecting the individuals, the researcher randomly selected the group or classes for
investigation (Fraenkel and Wallen, 1996). This approach is more appropriate and

convenient for the researcher to observe the participants who filled in the questionnaire in
classes. Besides, 11 other teachers who were teaching English at the VTTTU were invited
to participate in the study for informal discussion.
3.3. The data collection method


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To reach the primary purposes of the study, a survey questionnaire has been chosen
as the main method for data collection for this particular research. One survey
questionnaire with 12 questions was designed for IT students to identify their opinions on
reading lessons, the factors affecting their comprehension in an English text for CS and to
find out their expectation to achieve better reading competence. To make sure that all the
subjects understand the questions properly, the author asks them to answer the questions
truthfully and trustworthily with the translation from English to Vietnamese. The
questionnaire is constructed based on the literature on factors in teaching and learning ESP
reading, the researcher‟s observation of the students during some years of teaching at
VTTTU as well as her discussions with the other 11 teachers of the University.
The questionnaire consists of two main parts: Part 1 aimed to collect information
about the students‟ background which included their place of domicile, the number of
years they had been learning English and their proficiency levels in English measured by
their average marks in English in the first three terms. Part 2 aimed to collect information
about the students‟ attitude towards reading ESP, the factors affecting their reading English
for Computer Science and their expectation of the teachers‟ methodology and the reading
materials. The questionnaire was written in Vietnamese to ensure students‟ accurate
understanding of all the questions before answering them (See Appendix 1).
3.4. The data collection procedure
To collect data for the study, 100 photocopied copies of the questionnaire were
delivered to the students during the class time. Before giving the questionnaire to the
respondents, the researcher explained the purpose of the questionnaire, the requirement for
the respondents and answered any questions asked by the respondents. The respondents

were also encouraged to ask if there was anything they did not understand in the
questionnaire. Then they were instructed to take as much time as they need to complete the
questionnaire.
3.5. Data analysis
Data from the questionnaire was classified into different categories such as students‟
background, their attitudes towards ESP reading, their difficulties in the reading materials,
the teachers and teaching methods and their expectation in terms of ESP materials and the
teachers‟ methodology.


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Then the data was manually analyzed using descriptive statistics (percentage) and
interpretations. The information was then displayed in forms of tables and figures.

3.5.1. Factors affecting reading English for Computer Science at VTTTU
3.5.1.1. The participants’ background
The participants involved in this research are 100 second- year students of
Information Technology Department, who had fulfilled both of their General English
course and the course of English for Computer Science. Most of them are from the rural or
remote areas, where there are no good opportunities for studying English. They are varied
in terms of English proficiency. Most of them started learning English from zero when
they enrolled the university.

Figure : Students’ background
Duration of learning English
before entering college

The place the students live.
Cities
18%

Countrysides
82%


Beginner
16%
3-4 years
54%
6-8years
30%
More than
10 years
0%