Language problems of esp students in reading comprehension at the university of natural sciences

'I.' / ..J -

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRA INING
VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY
HOCHIMINH CITY UNIVERSITY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES AND HUMANITIES

TRUONG THI. TUYET HANH
.

LANGUAGE PROBLEMS OF ESP STUDENTS
IN READING COMPREHENSION
AT THE UNIVERSITY OF NATURAL SCIENCES
A Thesis in Master's Programs
Major: English Teaching
Code Number: 5.07.02

Submitted in partia l fulfilment of the requirements

F;lfVT·;.;.. I;: .i;.~ '1
i

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r- " LA. : -' '"'J

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for the Degree of Master ofTESOL

' ~_: ~..: ~:.:~::":'--:.: ' SUPERVISOR : D0 HUY TH!NH, Ph.D.
HOCHIMINH CITY - 2002

CERTIFICATE OF ORGINALITY
I hereby certify my authorship of the thesis submitted today entitled:

A SURVEY OF LANGUAGE PROBLEMS
WHILE READING OF ESP STUDENTS
AT THE UNIVERSITY OF NATURAL SCIENCES
in terms of the statement of
Requirements for Thesis in Master's Programs
issued by the Higher Degree Committee

Ho Chi Minh City, November 22 nd, 2002

TRUONG THI TUYET HANH


RETENTION AND USE OF THE THESIS
I hereby state that I, Truong Thi Tuyet Hanh, being the candidate for the
degree of Master of TESOL, accept the requirements of the University relating to
the retention and use of Master 's Theses deposited in the Library.
In terms of these conditions, I agree that the original of my thesis deposited
in the Library should be accessible for the purposes of study and research, in
accordance with the normal conditions established by the Library for care, loan and
reproduction of theses.

Ho Chi Minh City, November 22nd, 2002

TRUONG THI TUYET HANH

11


ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
A great many people need to be thanked for their help

In

sharing their

experiences for my thesis.
First of all, I am very grateful to my supervisor, Dr. Do Huy Thinh, who
spent a lot of time reading my draft with great care, counseled and guided
throughout with valuable advice while my thesis was carried out.
I especially thank teachers and students who were willing to participate in
the interviews and questionnaires, gave their permission to use their information
and their own experiences .
My special thanks go to my best friend Le Thi Thu Huong, who checked and
corrected my mistakes in spelling and grammar; my cousin Nguyen Thi Thanh
Van, who typed a remarkable number of pages in a short time and did so with
admirable patience and good humour; my student Van Chi Nam, who was
enthusiastic to design the thesis for me, helped more than I can say.
All that remains is to thank my husband, who always encouraged and
supported me during the time I did my thesis; my parents and my younger brother,
who were dedicated to look after my baby so that I could devote all my time to
complete my thesis.

111

ABSTRACT
This study aims at investigating the problems in grammar and vocabulary
that the third-year students majoring in Information Technology often encounter
while they study English at the University of Natural Sciences, from which it leads
to seeking an efficient method of teaching and learning reading comprehension to
enable students to have greater self-confidence and to learn English more
successfully both in the final years at the University of Natural Sciences and for
their jobs afterwards. About 100 third-year students majoring in Information
Technology will be given questionnaires which directly get information about their
own problems while reading. Besides, five teachers who teach English for
Information Technology will also be interviewed to consider their perceptions about
students' difficulties and solutions they adopt to help students learn English more
effectively.
The findings of this study emphasize that although nearly all of the students
have learned English at schools as well as the first stage of the university, (1) their
English knowledge is quite inadequate for them to understand what is expressed in
the texts, (2) students have troubles with complex sentence structures, connectors,
articles and modals, (3) students have a lot of difficulties in vocabulary such as
inability to pronounce new words and lack of words while reading.

IV


TABLE OF CONTENTS
Certificate of Orginality

i

Retention and Use of the Thesis

ii

Acknowledgements

III

Abstract

IV

Table Of Contents

v

. OfF·Igures ..........................•................................................................. VIII
...
List
List Of Tables
CHAPTER

ix

1 : INTRODUCTION ...........•............................................................... 1

1.1. Background

1

1.2. Statement of purpose

1

1.3. Research questions

2

1.4. Significance of the study

2

1.5. Definition of terms

3

1.6. Assumptions

4

1.7. Delimitations

4

1.8. Limitations

4

1.9. Methodology

5

1.10. Organization of the remainder of the study

6

CHAPTER 2

: LITERATlJRE REVIEW

8

2.1. The role of Grammar and vocabulary

8

2.2. Vocabulary in ESP

11

2.3. Technical vocabulary

12

2.3.1. Semi-technical vocabulary

14

2.3.2. Students' difficulty and the teaching of vocabulary in ESP

15

2.4. Grammar in ESP

18
v


2.4.1. Verbs and tenses

19

2.4.2. Voices

19

2.4.3. Modals

20

2.4.4 . Articles

21

2.4.5 . Nominalisation

23

2.4.6 . Logical connectors

24

2.5. Summary

25

CHAPTER 3 : OVERVIEW OF THE ENGLISH TRAINING AT THE HoCmMINH
CITY UNIVERSITY OF NATURAL SCIENCES
26

3.1. The teaching / learning time

27

3.2. The teaching / learning materials

28

3.3. The teaching / learning situation.....•....••....••...•••...•••....................•.. 28
3.3.1. The role of English in the country

28

3.3.2. Students' reasons and needs for learning English

29

3.3.3. The learning time

29

3.3.4. Class size - students' age, level, and ability

30

3.3.5. Students ' learning condition

30

3.4. The learners

30

3.4.1. Psychological features:

30

3.4.2. Langua ge-learning experience:

30

3.4.3 . Role:

31

3.4.4 . Learning style:

31

3.5. The teachers

31

3.5.1. Role:

31

3.5.2. Education:

31

3.6. Summary
CHAPTER 4

31

: DESIGN AND METHODOLOGy

32

4.1. Research setting

32

4.2. Research design

32

4.2.1. The observation

33

4.2.2. The questionnaire

33

4.2.3. The interview

35

vi


4.3. Summary

36

CHAPTER 5 : FINDINGS A.ND ANALySIS..........•.•....•......................••................ 37

5.1. Findings

37

5.1.1. Questionnaires to students :

37

5.1.2. Interviews with teachers:

48

5.2. Analysis

53

5.2.1. Students ' background information

53

5.2.2. Students' difficulties in vocabulary

55

5.2.3. Students' difficulties in grammar

60

5.3. Summary

62

CHAPTER 6: SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS, AND RECOMMENDATIONS ••••••••••• 64

6.1. Summary

64

6.2. Conel usions •••••••••••••••...•..•...•....•..••..•...•••.•••••••••••••••..••...•••..••...••........ 65
6.3. Recommendations

66

6.3.1. To the students:

66

6.3.2. To the teachers :

68

BIBLIOGRA.PHY ......•......................................................................•.................

74

ApPENDIX A

78

ApPENDIX

B

82

ApPENDIX

C

86

ApPENDIX

C

86

VB


LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1 : Nation's decision chart for dealing with low frequency words in specialized

texts (cited in Jordan , 1997: 152)

13

Figure 2 : Flow chart for choosing the right article

22

Figure 3 : Use of flow chart with sample noun phrases (as cited in Selinker, Tarone and

Hanzeli, 1981: 1985)

23

Figur e 4 : The place students come from

38

Figure 5: The students' learning English time

39

Figure 6 : Students' reading comprehension

40

Figure 7 : Students' assessment of ESP program

41

Figure 8: The reason why ESP for IT is difficult for students

42

Figure 9 : Some aspects students want to be equipped with

43

Figure 10 : Students' problems with vocabulary

44

Figure 11 : Students' methods in learning vocabulary

45

Figure 12 : Students' ideas about grammar

46

Figure 13 : Students' needs of grammar points

47

Figure 14 : Students' ideas about teachers ' using English in class

48

V1ll


LIST OF TABLES
Table 1 : Item 1 "Where do you come from?"

38

Table 2 : Item 2 "How long have you learned English?"

39

Table 3 : Item 3 "How much can you comprehend the reading texts for Information

Technology?"

39

Table 4 : Item 4: "Is the ESP program you are learning suitable for you?"

40

Table 5: Item 5: "What problems do you have when reading ESP texts?"

41

Table 6 : Item 6 "What do you want to focus on when learning English For Information

Technology?"

42

Table 7: Item 9: "Why is vocabulary difficult to you?"

43

Table 8 : Item 10: "How do you learn vocabulary?"

44

Table 9 : Item 14: "Why is grammar difficult to you?"

45

Table 10 : Item 15 "Which grammar points do you want to be mentioned?"

46

Table 11 : Item 16: "How much of Vietnamese do you want your teacher to use in class?"

............................................................................................................................................. 47

IX


Introduction

CHAPTER 1 : INTRODUCTION
1.1. BACKGROUND
Like in many other Vietnamese colleges and universities, English is now
considered one of the main subjects in the University of Natural Sciences. Although
nearly all of the students have learned English at schools and at the first stage in this
university, they are still supplied with basic English through "Headway Elementary and Pre-intermediate" textbooks by Liz & Soars; then English for
Special Purposes is especially taught at the second stage in which the reading skill
is crucially focused. Learning to read, students are carefully trained a related group
of distinct reading skills such as skimming , scanning , surveying, predicting,
generalizing, summarizing , inferring, and concluding. Nevertheless, students
majoring in Information Technology in their third year still have a lot of difficulties
when reading Information Technology texts in English partly because they are not
well-equipped with leaming-how-to-leam strategies in order to improve their selfstudy and partly because they lack knowledge of English, which results in their
inability to comprehend the texts. The fact that students have troubles with English
through observations of English teachers at the University of Natural Sciences
really needs a fully empirical research once it is said that so much time and effort
have been spent on teaching reading in high schools and colleges where grammar
and vocabulary are two aspects mainly mentioned.

1.2. STATEMENT OF PURPOSE
The purpose of this study is to investigate: (1) the difficulties that students
majoring in Information Technology may face when reading English texts in
Information Technology; and (2) solutions teachers adopt to help students overcome
their problems in their English training.
1

Introduction
The survey of these issues is based on: (1) observations on learning English
reading comprehension of students majoring in Information Technology; (2) a
questionnaire asking third-year students majoring in Information Technology at the
University of Natural Sciences about their problems in grammar and vocabulary;
and (3) interviews with teachers of English at the University of Natural Sciences on
the various difficulties that students often face and methods teachers use to help
students overcome these problems.

1.3. RESEARCH QUESTIONS
The study is guided by the following questions:
./ What are the problems in grammar and vocabulary that the third-year
students majoring in Information Technology often encounter while they
study English at the University of Natural Sciences?
./ What can be done to enable students to overcome their English
problems?
The study will also consist of discussions of discourse which has a very
important role in presenting words and structures in the written texts to consider
whether it might be useful to equip students with the cohesion, coherence and
information structure while teaching grammar and vocabulary in the reading text.

1.4. SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
The Internet and publications in English have become so popular that reading
in

English has become an indispensable demand for students especially those

majoring in Information Technology. Living in the Age of Information, students

majoring in Information Technology, more than whoever else, are the ones who
have to endlessly update their knowledge by reading not only the traditional kind of
English texts in paper like books, documents, newspapers, and magazines but
another new kind of text such as electronic texts through e-mail and the Internet as
well. Thus, this study of language problems is significant for several reasons.

2


Introduction
First, the study alms at helping many students - who have already
encountered language difficulties while reading in their disciplines , but are only
vaguely aware of what their problems are and how to address them - identify their
problems and search for specific and ultimate solutions to improve their knowledge
of English.
Second, aimmg at evaluating properly students' language problems, from
which the study leads to seeking an efficient method of teaching and learning
reading comprehension in the hope of enabling students to be more successful in
learning English in the final years at the University of Natural Sciences and be
well-equipped for their jobs afterwards.
Last but not least, the study supplies teachers and researchers with necessary
and useful information about students ' English knowledge to design reasonable and
suitable ESP courses for students at universities and do research in the similar field
at other institutions, colleges or universities.

1.5. DEFINITION OF TERMS
./ ESP: English for Special Purposes or English for Specific Purposes
./ EAP: English for Academic Purposes
./ EBP: English for Business Purposes
./ IT : Information Technology

./ EST: English for Science and Technology
./ EFL: English as a Foreign Language
./ Ll : a first language
./ L2: a target language or a second language

3


Introduction

1.6. ASSUMPTIONS
The study starts with the following methodological assumptions:

First , the sample students and teachers represent the majority of
students and teachers at the University of Natural Sciences.
Second, the research methods are valid and reliable, and the process of
collection and analysis of data is reliable and appropriate.
Third , the responsive informants are interested in these issues and
willing to cooperate in sincerely responding to the questions and giving true
information.
Fourth, the informants have no difficulties in understanding the items in the
questionnaire and do not misunderstand the meaning of questions both in the
questionnaire and in the interview.

1.7. DELIMITATIONS
Initially, this research confines itself to observing, interviewing, and
investigating the non-English-majored students and teachers of English in full-time
classes at the Uni versity of Natural Sciences. Due to the time limit, this paper just
discusses some students' language problems, not all of the aspects in detail about
their problems in learning reading.

1.8. LIMITATIONS
This research will not be generalizable to other high schools, colleges, and
foreign language centres. Especially, the study results will be quite unsuitable to
English-majored students who have good English knowledge and ha ve been wellequipped with both learning strategies and good materials in some colleges and
institutions such as the University of Social Sciences and Humanities.

4


Introduction

1.9. METHODOLOGY
This study, which was a descriptive research in which data were typically
collected through observations , a well-structured questionnaire, and semi-structured
interviews, was done at the HoChiMinh City University of Natural Sciences
consisting of approximately 1,500 students majoring in Information Technology.
Although the failing rate in English tests of these students is lower than that of
students majoring in other subjects such as Chemistry, Biology, Physics, it tends to
be worse:

The academic year

Failing rate

Average rate

1999 - 2000

15%

46,7%

2000 - 2001

15,4%

47%

2001 - 2002

16%

45,3%

The table shows that during the academic years from 1999 to 2002, the
failing rate of the students has regularly increased (1 % in which from 1999-2000 to
2000-2001: 0,4% and from 2000-2001 to 2001-2002: 0,6%), the average rate of the
students has slightly increased (from 1999-2000 to 2000-2001 : 0,3%) and rapidly
decreased (from 2000-2001 to 2001-2002 : 1,7%). Facing the problem that the
increasing number of students fails to comprehend the texts, which leads to bad
results in their reading comprehension tests, this research was done by distributing a
17-item questionnaire to 100 third-year students majoring in Information
Technology about their language obstacles and by structured interviews with 5
English teachers who have directly been teaching English for Information
Technology at the University of Natural Sciences about their solutions to students'
problems.
Being a combined qualitative-quantitative method, the study aimed at
achieving triangulation in action, which improved the validity of research . In the
quantitative paradigm, the questionnaire was used to get real information about

students' language issues. Another purpose for distribut ing questionnaires among

5


Introduction
English classes was to determine which aspects were the most important to students
at the advanced level - for both grammar and vocabulary - in order to establish
proper methods within the ESP curriculum.

In addition to the quantitative, the qualitative paradigm with observations
and interviews was also carried out. Students' difficulties could be observed in
English classes and in homework assignments . This was particularly suitable for
perceiving reading difficulties, and for noting students who lacked confidence and
who might need extra help. The researcher had observed both her own English
classes - the researcher as a complete participant - and other English classes - the
researcher as a complete observer - during four semesters of the academic years of
1999-2000 and 2000-200 I. With this method, "researcher has firsthand experience
with informants , researcher can record information as it occurs, unusual aspects can
be noticed during observation and it is useful in exploring topics that may be
uncomfortable for informants to discuss" (Creswell, 1994:150).
Along with observations, individual and group face-to-face interviews with
English teachers were necessary and significant in getting more reliable, truthful ,
and helpful information because firstly, this helped to gain additional insights into
students' difficult ies. Secondly, this kind of work allowed the researcher to make
discoveries about the teachers' attitudes and teaching methods which were of great
importance for students' learning improvement.
While doing the research, the researcher was working as a teacher of English
at the University of Natural Sciences. Therefore, the researcher was also the
researched one.

1.10. ORGANIZATION OF THE REMAINDER OF THE STUDY
The study is divided into six major segments. Besides chapter I presenting
the introduction, chapter II reviews the relevant literature and research to the study.
Chapter III focuses on the specific circumstances for carrying out the study. Chapter

6


Introduction
IV describes the research design and methodology. Chapter V discusses and
analyzes the research findings. And finally, chapter VI consists of a summary,
conclusions and implications for the learning and teaching of English at the
University of Natural Sciences in particular, and at other universities in general.

7


Literature Review

CHAPTER 2 : LITERATURE REVIEW
Alderson (2000) says that in second- and foreign-language reading , it has
always been assumed that learners have to first acquire language knowledge before
they can read. For this reason, a great deal of time has been spent on teaching
reading in which grammar and vocabulary are two major aspects mainly focused
(Nunan, 1999).
Testing several hypotheses about the role of language and skills, Alderson
(1984) shows that poor reading in a foreign language is due in part to poor reading
in the Ll, together with an inadequate knowledge of the foreign language. He,
consequently, reveals that learners need to reach a threshold level of language

knowledge before they are able to transfer any Ll skills to their L2 reading tasks.
Since language is one of the first and essential elements in any successful language
experience , Alderson (2000) is not far from the truth when saying that, for secondlanguage readers, an important component in developing reading ability must be
increasing language proficiency, and that what learners need to know in order to
read texts in their subject disciplines is knowledge of the language of that discipline:
initially lexis, and then later syntactic and rhetorical features.

2.1. THE ROLE OF GRAMMAR AND VOCABULARY
Grammar and vocabulary play a very significant role in learning a foreign
language. H. Douglas Brown (1994) comments that the teaching of grammar and
vocabulary has always been a central aspect of foreign language teaching. For
centuries, in fact, the only activity of language classrooms has been the study of
grammar and vocabulary.
However, which one

IS

more important - grammar or vocabulary ?

Wilkins , one of the principal architects of communicative approaches to

8


Literature Review
language teaching, points out that acquiring the grammatical system of the target
language is of central importance because an inadequate knowledge of grammar
will severely constrain linguistic creativity and limit the capacity of communication:
A notional syllabus , no less than a grammatical syllabus , must seek to ensure
that the grammatical system is properly assimilated by the learner.

(Wilkins, 1976: 66)
In other words, grammar exists to enable to "mean", and without grammar, it
is impossible to communicate beyond a very rudimentary level (Nunan, 1991).
However, mastering grammar structures is not the most important aspect of
learning a foreign language, moreover, the success is measured in terms of learners'
ability to use what they have learned to communicate in the language.
In details, it is said that
. .. grammar becomes the means to an end; knowing the grammar rules and
memorizing the forms is not the goals . Learners, therefore , should not view
grammar only as an objects of study and manipulation. Rather, they should view
grammar as a way to express meaning, interact , and communicate.

(James & Bill, 1994: 144)
Similar to grammar, vocabulary is also a central field in learning a foreign
language. To some people, vocabulary is even more important than grammar. A
good comment of grammar can not ensure good communication because we need
words to put in the structures to express ourselves (Harmer 1991).
Having a large amount of vocabulary enables learners to acquire grammar
successfully, Lee & Vanpatten (1994) say that while learners are reaping the
benefits of vocabulary acquisition from the input they are exposed to, they are also
acqumng grammar.
It is clear that, as with grammar, learners need opportunities to use

vocabulary to communicate information.

9


Literature Review

Only in this way can they work on those process responsible for the
development of fluency and accuracy in second language speech.

(James F. Lee & Bill Vanpatten, 1994: 131)
Indeed, in reality, as part of the language system, vocabulary is intimately
interrelated with grammar. Nunan (1999) notes that in terms of the subsystems of
language, in most language teaching approaches, vocabulary plays second fiddle to
grammar. According to him, foreign language learning will be most effective if
learners concentrate their efforts on mastering the basic sentence patterns of the
language. Once these patterns have been memorized, new vocabulary can be
"slotted in" (Nunan, 1999: 103). Furthermore, the early development of extensive
vocabulary can enable learners to "outperform their competence" (Nunan, 1999:
103). In other words, if one has an extensive vocabulary, it will be possible to
obtain meaning from spoken and written texts even though (s)he does not know the
grammatical structures in which the texts are encoded.
Sharing the same experience, Rivers (1983), as cited in Nunan (1991),
believes that the acquisition of an adequate vocabulary is essential for successful
second language use because, without an extensive vocabulary, we will be unable to
use the structures and functions we may have learned for comprehensible
communication.
Also, according to Bowen and Marks (1994), grammar teaching is often
thought of as teaching the operation of "grammatical" or "structural" words such as
the ones referring to number, gender, definiteness, aspect, tense and modality. But
all words have grammatical restrictions and grammatical implications. Grammar is
generalization about how words and groups of words behave. So grammar plays an
inevitable role in teaching and learning vocabulary. In other words, grammar
teaching and vocabulary teaching are two sides of the same coin.
In brief, grammar plays a vital role in communication. Through increasing
control over grammar, learners can progressively extend and refine their ability to
express and communicate meanings clearly and in keeping with their intentions, and

10


Literature Review
their ability to interpret other speakers' meaning more accurately. Together with
grammar, a rich vocabulary is an important factor in the acquisition of a second
language. We can say that grammar and vocabulary are not mutually exclusive but
complementary to enhance comprehension in communication.

2.2. VOCABULARY IN ESP
The importance of vocabulary in general English as well as in ESP is now
widely acceptable (Swales, 1983, as cited in Dudley-Evans and St John, 1998).
Therefore, in order to measure reading ability, Alderson (2000) suggests that
because it is clearly important to comprehend the vocabulary in a text, the simplest
advice is to guard against only test in lexical knowledge and that if estimates of
vocabulary size or quality are available, one may be able to estimate vocabulary
effects in the final reading score.
The significant role of vocabulary suggests the need for its development
which is not a specific study skill but it relates to all language learning. Jordan
(1997 : 149) mentions two reasons for this demand: firstly, students always express
the desire to expand their amount of vocabulary, considering it as "a yardstick of
their language improvement." Secondly, once it seems not to be a primary aspect of
concern in EAP courses, "there is a tendency for it to become incidental to reading
comprehension. "
In order to meet their reading needs at the university level, students require a
certain amount of needed vocabulary. Therefore, calculating a realistic minimum
vocabulary size for these learners is very useful. However, the suggestion of
students' vocabulary size is different among the scholars. For example, many of
them take for granted that learners should know at least 95 per cent of the running
words in a text in order to read independently (Read, 2000: 83) or in other words,

"on average only one word in twenty will be unfamiliar to them" . Meanwhile,
Quinn (1968) holds the view that learners need less than 1000 words; Nation (1990)

11


Literature Review
and Laufer (1992) propose the necessary number of word families reaching 3,000;
and Nurweni and Read (1999) recommend a number of 1,200 words on average.
Carter (1987) has agreed with Nation when maintaining that the vocabulary
appropriate for students following EAP courses should clearly be more advanced
than the core 2,000-3,000 words that provide the basis of about 80 per cent of the
words likely to be encountered.
It can be said that there are two main kinds of vocabulary in ESP: technical

and semi-technical.

2.3. TECHNICAL VOCABULARY
Discussing the teaching vocabulary of ESP, Hutchinson and Waters (1987),
Higgins (1966), Nation (1990) contend that teaching technical vocabulary, or
specialist vocabulary is the responsibility of the subject matter teachers, not that of
EAP teachers who should be given to the teaching of semi-technical or core
vocabulary. Also, Dudley- Evans and St John (1998 : 81) take the view that
While in general we agree that it should not be the responsibility of the ESP
teacher to teach technical vocabulary , in certain specific contexts it may be the
duty of the ESP teacher to check that learners have understood technical
vocabulary appearing as carrier content for an exercise. It may also be necessary
to ensure that learners have understood technical language presented by a
subject specialist or assumed to be known by a subject specialist. In any ESP
exercise which exploits a particular context, that context will use certain

technical vocabulary. It is important that both the teacher and the learners
appreciate that this vocabulary is acting as carrier content for an exercise , and is
not the real content of the exercise . However, students usually need to be able to
understand the technical vocabulary in order to do the exercise.

To help students learn technical vocabulary efficiently, Compion and Elley
(1971), and Nation (1986) have compiled word lists for academic vocabulary in
which two types of frequency counts of university texts are stressed: the first is a
core vocabulary of about 2,000-3,000 words and counts words outside this basic
list. The second is only those words in the university texts causing difficulties for
oversea students. Nation (1990) says that such specialized word lists can be used:

12


Literature Review
(1) as a guide and focus for teachers in different activities; and (2) as a check list
and aim for students. For technical vocabulary , students are advised to "learn every
word you meet that you don't know" and assisted in deciding which words to learn
by a chart for low-frequency words.
low-frequency words

technical

nontechnical

(learn it as part of your subject)

not containing known parts

containing known parts
learn it, the known parts will help
you remember it)

nonrepeated

repeated

(may be ignored)

(learn it, it's useful and the repetition will

Figure 1: Nation's decision chart for dealing with low
frequency words in specialized texts (cited in Jordan,
1997: 152)

13


Literature Review
Having the same intention with Nation in aiding students to learn
vocabulary, Dudley-Evans and St John (1998) also divide technical vocabulary into
two kinds: the first consists of terms which are cognate with the equivalent ones in
the students ' first language and therefore , it will not cause difficulties for students
except the difficulty with pronunciation, for example, the word ' cycle' is
pronounced in English /saikl/ while in most other languages it is pronounced /si:kll.
The second kind comprises terms which are not cognate and are unfamiliar. These
terms then may need to be introduced and explained before the exercise is tackled.
If there is a one-to-one relationship between the terms in English and the leamer's
Ll, it will be enough to translate each term into the Ll after a brief explanation.

And finally, Dudley-Evans and St John (1998 : 82) suggest that:
In some situations, learners starting a new academic course or professional

training programme will need help with technical vocabulary that is completely
new to them. One way to prepare learners for such a situation is for the
language teacher and the subject expert to prepare a glossary of new terms with
straightforward explanation of the terms.

2.3.1. Semi-technical vocabulary
Another kind of vocabulary in ESP, besides specialist words, is variously
called semi-technical , sub-technical or academic, and consists of words which occur
across a number of disciplines (Jordan, 1997).
Although teaching this kind of vocabulary

IS

a must, there are many

definitions of the concept. For example, Martin (1976, as cited in Jordan , 1997:
152-153) divides academic vocabulary into three groups:
a) The research process: the vocabulary is primarily verbs and nouns and is
"presented in a context which discuss the five steps of research: formulating,
investigating , analyzing, drawing conclusions and reporting results".
b) The vocabulary of analysis: it includes high-frequency and two-word verbs
needed "in order to present information in an organized sequence ", e.g. consist
of, group, result from, derive, base on, be noted for.
c) The vocabulary of valuation: it includes adjecti ves and adverbs that occur in
reviews, critiqu es and some reports , e.g. exhaustive , controversial, coherent,

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