A study on Congruence between ESP course objectives and students’ needs at Business Management Department, Vietnam Forestry University

CHAPTER 1: Introduction Background to the study Vietnam Forestry University offers English for Environmental Science which is a compulsory course for the third year students of Business Management Department. The course book was compiled by teachers at Foreign Language Department and has been published only for students of the university since the academic year 2005 – 2006. During the academic year, around 200 students of the third year study this course. The researcher had the opportunity to teach English for Environment Science to those students half of academic year.  But do all ESP course designers try to gain insight into learners’ perceived needs, wants, and lacks? “Teachers may rely more often on intuition when making course planning than on informed assessment of learners’ needs” (Barkuizen 1998, Spratt 1999 as cited in Davies 2006). Since certain chapters of the books seem to have been designed without involving learners in the course design process, it is quite likely that they may not reflect the needs and interests of any particular learner groups. The readymade book is prescribed for all students of any background of English; it is the responsibility of the ESP practitioner to evaluate the congruence between the ESP course objectives and learners’ needs and to make any adaptation suitable to better enable learners to learn effectively and meet the learners’ needs. Rationale From the early 1960's, English for Specific Purposes (ESP) has grown to become one of the most prominent areas of EFL teaching today. With the globalization of trade and economy and the continuing increase of international communication in various fields, the demand for English for Specific Purposes is expanding, especially in countries where English is taught as a Foreign Language. In Vietnam, the ESP movement is a young and developing branch of EFL. ESP has shown a slow but definite growth over the past few years. Its development is reflected in the increasing number of universities offering BA and MA in ESP (e.g. Hanoi University) and in the number of ESP courses offered to overseas students in English speaking countries. In particular, increased interest has been spurred since Vietnam opened its doors and recently entered WTO with a lot of well-paid job opportunities for English competent employees. This has led to a rapid growth in English courses aimed at specific disciplines, e.g. English for Forestry, in place of the more traditional 'General English' ones. Even though ESP courses have become popular recently in Vietnam and many institutions and universities offer ESP courses for senior students, for years ESP courses are given with already made books or ESP materials compiled without students’ needs analysis. Such approach fundamentally ignores the learners’ personal interests. This often leads to low motivation in their English studies and, in turn, poor performance later when they use English in their future profession. In response to these problems, it is important that university English faculties need to design or adapt ESP courses in the way that students’ needs are paid attention to. This means that ESP course objectives should be congruent with learners’ needs and therefore best prepare learners for future professional communication. However, to do this, it requires a complete understanding what are students’ needs and ESP course objectives. How can teachers develop a new course whose objectives congruent with learners’ needs? Where should they start? What are the ways that best find out students needs? What are the objectives that can best congruent with students’ needs? What should be included in an ESP course? These are some of the questions that ESP course designers or ESP instructors should answer and they help to improve the quality of the ESP courses. This is the reason that inspired me to conduct this study in a hope that the study can help at least improve the quality of ESP course at Business Management Department of Vietnam Forestry University. Aims of the study The writer intends to centre this study on the following major aims: To find out learners’ needs (third term students who are studying ESP course at Business Management Department of Vietnam Forestry Industry). To study ESP course objectives of English for Environmental Science book designed by teachers at Foreign Language Department to be applied for third year students at Business Management Department of Vietnam Forestry University; To investigate the congruence between the ESP course objectives and learners’ needs in Vietnam Forestry University; To suggest any adaptation suitable to better enable learners to learn effectively and meet the learners’ needs. 1.4 The scope and the significance of the study This study cannot cover all the aspects of needs analysis and course objectives. The study just investigates the stated ESP course objectives in the ESP materials, the book English for Environmental Science, designed by teachers at Foreign Language Department and tries to find out learners’ needs at Business Management Department of Vietnam Forestry University. The subjects of the study are the third-year students at Business Management Department of Vietnam Forestry University. The current ESP reading textbook is “English for Environmental Science”. The findings of the study will hopefully serve as a back-up for the improvement of the ESP syllabus. Practically, those findings are believed to be beneficial to teachers, course designers as well as students at Business Management Department of Vietnam Forestry University. 1.5. The overview of the study The study comprises four chapters: Introduction, Literature Review, Methodology, Data analysis and Findings, and Recommendations and Conclusion. Chapter 1; Introduction, provides information on the background to the study, the rationale, the aims as well as the scope and significance of the study and the outline of the study. Chapter 2, Literature Review, reviews the literature related to three main areas. First, it is a brief overview of different writers’ opinions on ESP. Second, It looks at the theory of course objectives. And finally, theory of needs analysis and related issues are discussed. Chapter 3, Methodology, Data analysis and Findings, includes the research questions, the description of the subjects, and the description of data collection instruments, and the findings of the study. Chapter 4, Suggested adaptations and Conclusion, presents the writer’s suggestions for adaptation suitable to better enable learners to learn effectively and meet the learners’ needs. After that, there will be the conclusion of the thesis. CHAPTER 2: Literature review This chapter, literature review, will look at the three main issues that are relevant to the study: the conception of ESP, need analysis and course objectives. In the first section, the author would like to present briefly an overview of ESP which tackles several prominent definitions of the term as well as some differences between ESP and general English. The second section will discuss the issues of needs analysis. And finally, the theory of course objectives will be reviewed in the last section of this chapter. 2.1 An overview of ESP 2.1.1 What is ESP? According to Hutchinson and Waters (1997) ESP is one important branch of EFL/ESL (English as a Foreign/Second Language) system that functions as the main branch of English language teaching ELT. Therefore, ESP is not a particular kind of language or methodology, but rather an approach to language learning whereby the contents and methods are based on the learner’s particular needs to learn the language. Since its emergence, much effort has been made to give an exact definition of ESP. There are almost as many definitions of ESP as the number of scholars who have attempted to define it. Many others have tried to define ESP in terms of what it is not rather than in terms of what it really is. But for the purpose of exploring what ESP really means these definitions will not be looked at. Mackay and Mountford (1978) defined ESP as the teaching of English for clearly utilitarian purposes (p. 2). The purposes they refer to are defined by the needs of the learners, which could be academic, occupational, or scientific. These needs in turn determine the contents of ESP curriculum to be taught and learned. Mackay and Mountford also defined ESP as a special language that is taught in specific settings by certain participants. They stated that those participants are usually adults. They focused on adults because adults are usually highly conscious of the reasons to attain English proficiency in a determined field of specialization, and because adults make real use of special language in the special settings in which they work. Strevens (1977, p. 90) said: “ESP courses are those in which the aims and the contents are determined, principally or wholly, not by criteria of general education…but by functional and practical English language requirements of the learners”. Robinson (1980) defined ESP courses as the ones in which participants have specific goals and purposes (again, academic, occupational, and scientific). She cited Strevens (1977) to emphasize that the purposes language learners have for using language are of paramount importance. She stated that those purposes must be understood as the driving force of the curriculum in a way that would help teachers and learners to not let irrelevant materials be introduced into the course. She also placed the learners in the role of curriculum designers in order to make the curriculum more learner-centered. Strevens also argued that ESP courses are those that are almost strictly based on the analysis of the participants’ needs - a key and crucial element - in order to tailor the curriculum to meet its true purposes. Dudley-Evans (Dudley-Evans and St John, M.T. 1998, p.56) took a general approach in defining what ESP really is in terms of ‘absolute’ and ‘variable’ characteristics as follows: ESP Absolute Characteristics 1. ESP is defined to meet specific needs of the learners 2. ESP makes use of underlying methodology and activities of the discipline it serves 3. ESP is centered on the language appropriate to these activities in terms of grammar, lexis, register, study skills, discourse and genre. Variable Characteristics 1. ESP may be related to or designed for specific disciplines 2. ESP may use, in specific teaching situations, a different methodology from that of General English 3. ESP is likely to be designed for adult learners, either at a tertiary level institution or in a professional work situation. It could, however, be for learners at secondary school level 4. ESP is generally designed for intermediate or advanced students. 5. Most ESP courses assume some basic knowledge of the language systems The definition Dudley-Evans was clearly influenced by that of Strevens (1988), although he has improved it substantially by removing the absolute characteristic that ESP is “in contrast with ‘General English’” and has included more variable characteristics. The division of ESP into absolute and variable characteristics, in particular, is very helpful in resolving arguments about what is and is not ESP. According to Widdowson (1983) ESP is viewed as parasitic in nature because it largely depends on the demands and requirements of the other disciplines and areas of expertise and activities. While Hutchinson and Water (1987) considered ESP as an approach, not product in which all decisions as to content and method are based on the learner’s reason for learning. This means ESP does not involve any particular kind of language, teaching material or methodology, but it is an approach to language learning, which is based on learners’ needs. They claim that “ESP is not a matter of etching “specialized varieties of English” and “ESP is not different in kind from any other form of language teaching” (Hutchinson, T. and Water, A., 1987). From the definition, we can see that ESP can but is not necessarily concerned with a specific discipline (subject), nor does it have to be aimed at a certain age group or ability range or in other words ESP can be applied to any subject and any learner. ESP should be seen simple as an ‘approach’ to teaching, or what Dudley-Evans describes as an ‘attitude of mind’. This is a similar conclusion to that made by Hutchinson et al. (1987:19) who states, “ESP is an approach to language teaching in which all decisions as to contents and method are based on the learner’s reason for learning”. The last definition of ESP is the definition that this study will definitely employ in the process of examining the congruence between the course objectives stated in the current teaching material and the studying needs of the learners at Business Management Department of Vietnam Forestry University. 2.1.2 Is ESP different from GE? The above definitions have shown how broad ESP really is. In fact, one may ask ‘What is the difference between the ESP and GE approach?’ Hutchinson et al. (1987:53) answer this quite simply, “in theory nothing, in practice a great deal”. When their book was written, the Hutchinson’s answer was quite true. At the time, teachers of General English courses, while acknowledging that students had a specific purpose for studying English, would rarely conduct a needs analysis to find out what was necessary to actually achieve it. Teachers nowadays, however, are much more aware of the importance of needs analysis, and certainly materials writers think very carefully about the goals of learners at all stages of materials production. Perhaps this demonstrates the influence that the ESP approach has had on English teaching in general. Clearly the line between where General English courses stop and ESP courses start has become very vague indeed. Rather ironically, while many General English teachers can be described as using an ESP approach, basing their syllabi on a learner needs analysis and their own specialist knowledge of using English for real communication, it is the majority of so-called ESP teachers that are using an approach furthest from that described above. Instead of conducting interviews with specialists in the field, analyzing the language that is required in the profession, or even conducting students’ needs analysis, many ESP teachers have become slaves of the published textbooks available, unable to evaluate their suitability based on personal experience, and unwilling to do the necessary analysis of difficult specialist texts to verify their contents. In conclusion, English for Specific/Special Purposes (ESP) and General English (GE) are the two branches of English Language Teaching (ELT). General English and English for Specific Purposes share the same principles of language teaching, having effective and efficient learning as a main objective.  The main difference between ESP and GE lies in the awareness of a need.  ESP learners are current or future specialists who need English for their specific area and who are aware of their need; they know what exactly they need English for, they know what the ESP course should offer them.  (Hutchinson and Waters (1987). 2.1.3 Characteristics of ESP courses The characteristics of ESP courses identified by Carter (1983) are discussed here. He states that there are three features common to ESP courses: a) authentic material, b) purpose-related orientation, and c) self-direction. Dudley-Evans’ (1998) claim that ESP should be offered at an intermediate or advanced level, use of authentic learning materials is entirely feasible. Closer examination of ESP materials will follow; suffice it to say at this juncture that use of authentic content materials, modified or unmodified in form, are indeed a feature of ESP, particularly in self-directed study and research tasks. For Language Preparation for Employment in the Health Sciences, a large component of the student evaluation was based on an independent study assignment in which the learners were required to investigate and present an area of interest. The students were encouraged to conduct research using a variety of different resources, including the Internet. Purpose-related orientation refers to the simulation of communicative tasks required of the target setting. Carter (1983) cites student simulation of a conference, involving the preparation of papers, reading, note taking, and writing. At Algonquin College, English for business courses have involved students in the design and presentation of a unique business venture, including market research, pamphlets and logo creation. The students have presented all final products to invited ESL classes during a poster presentation session. For our health science program, students attended a seminar on improving your listening skills. They practiced listening skills, such as listening with empathy, and then employed their newly acquired skills during a fieldtrip to a local community centre where they were partnered up with English-speaking residents. Finally, self-direction is characteristic of ESP courses in that the “... point of including self-direction ... is that ESP is concerned with turning learners into users” (Carter, 1983, p. 134). In order for self-direction to occur, the learners must have a certain degree of freedom to decide when, what, and how they will study. Carter (1983) also adds that there must be a systematic attempt by teachers to teach the learners how to learn by teaching them about learning strategies. Is it necessary, though, to teach high-ability learners such as those enrolled in the health science program about learning strategies? I argue that it is not. Rather, what is essential for these learners is learning how to access information in a new culture. 2.2 Learner Need- Need analysis 2.2.1 Learner Needs Learner needs is an important aspect in determining the success of an ESP course. therefore, it has drawn attention from numerous scholars who want to explore what the term is all about. Among them Berwick Brindley, Mountford, and Widdowson have discussed different meanings of needs. First, according to Widdowson (1983, p.2) needs refers to students’ study or job requirements, that is, what they have to be able to do at the end of their language course. This is a goal-oriented definition of needs Needs in this sense “are perhaps more appropriately described as “objective” (Berwick 1989, p.57). Second, needs can mean “what the user-institution or society at large regards as necessary or desirable to be learnt from a program of language instruction” (Mountford (1981, p.27). Third, needs is defined as “what the learner needs to do to actually acquire the language”. This is a process-oriented definition which bears the meaning of learning (Widdowson (1983, p.2). Fourth, needs is also viewed as what the students themselves would like to gain from the language course. This view of needs implies that students may have personal aims in addition to (or even in opposition to) the requirement of their studies or jobs. Berwick (1989, p.5) notes that such personal needs may be (and often are) devalued by being viewed as “wants or desires”. Finally, Berwick concluded needs is interpreted as lacks, that is, what the students do not know or cannot do in English. Some of these views of needs have been paired, and the members of each pair seen as polar opposites, although the distinctions are not as clear cut as might be supposed. This parings indicated the differences between what is believed to be the needs and what is the really needs. The pairings of contrasted views of needs include perceived versus felt needs (perhaps covering the same ground as objective and subjective needs), the terms products and process have a range of uses as well as equating product with a target view of needs