MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING VINH UNIVERSITY THÂN THỊ BÍCH HƯỜNG SOME SUGGESTIONS TO IMPROVE ESP READING COMPREHENSION SKILL FOR STUDENTS OF AUTOMOTIVE TECHNOLOGY AT THE CENTRAL REGION TRANSPORT COLLEGE (CRTC) MASTER’S THESIS IN EDUCATION NGHE AN - 2014 2 MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING VINH UNIVERSITY THÂN THỊ BÍCH HƯỜNG SOME SUGGESTIONS TO IMPROVE ESP READING COMPREHENSION SKILL FOR STUDENTS OF AUTOMOTIVE TECHNOLOGY AT THE CENTRAL REGION TRANSPORT COLLEGE (CRTC) Major: Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages Code: 60.14.01.11 MASTER’S THESIS IN EDUCATION Supervisor: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Trần Văn Phước Nghe An, 2014 4 DECLARATION I certify my authority of the paper submitted entitled SOME SUGGESTIONS TO IMPROVE ESP READING COMPREHENSION SKILL FOR STUDENTS OF AUTOMOTIVE TECHNOLOGY AT THE CENTRAL REGION TRANSPORT COLLEGE (CRTC) In total fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts. Vinh, August 2014 Student’s signature Thân Thị Bích Hường i ACKNOWLEDGEMENT On the completion of this thesis, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my supervisor, Dr. Tran Van Phuoc, who gave me precious guidance, comments, suggestions and encouragement throughout my research. My special thanks go to all my teachers of my M.A. course (TESOL) at the Post-graduate Department at Vinh University, Nghe An province, for their interesting and useful lectures. I also wish to convey my sincere thanks to all my colleagues and the second- year students at the Mechanical Faculty, Central Region Transport College, for their contribution to the data collection and their constructive suggestions for this research. Finally, I am grateful to my friends and my family who gave me support and encouragement during the time of fulfilling this work. ii ABSTRACT This case study was carried out with an attempt to give “Some suggestions to improve ESP reading comprehension skill for students of Automotive Technology at the Central Region Transport College (CRTC)”. The study aims to investigate the attidude and expectation of learning ESP reading skill; to find out the difficulties that teachers and students of Automotive Technology have in current teaching and learning ESP reading and to offer some suggestions and recommendations for the improvements of ESP reading comprehension skill for students of Automotive Technology. Two sets of survey questionnaires for 4 teachers of English in the Basic Subject Department and 68 students of Automotive Technology were employed to find answers to these three questions. The researcher used both qualitative and quantitative methods in collecting data and making analysis on details related to students’ ESP reading skill. The findings of the research revealed that although the students were aware the importance of learing ESP reading, there were still problems making them unmotivated. Besides, the students were not equipped with necessary reading skills to become successful readers. One of the causes for difficulties was the reading materials, which are claimed to contain too many difficult terminologies. Finally, inefficient teaching methods, classroom techniques and teachers’ poor specialized knowledge of Automotive Technology are other problems. Based on the results of the study, the researcher has presented some suggestions for both teaching and learning English for Automotive Technology. These include the ways to make English reading more interesting and useful, to train the students to become efficient readers, to increase students’ reading interest and motivation, to encourage students to develop extensive reading habit and to improve teachers’ professional knowledge about Automotive Technology and teaching methodology. iii TABLE OF CONTENT iv LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS CRTC: Central Region Transport Collge EAP: English for Academic Purposes EFL: English as a Foreign Language ELT: English Language Teaching EOP: English for Occupational Purposes ER: Extensive Reading ESP: English for Specific Purpose GE: General English v LIST OF TABLES Table 4.1. Teachers and students’ view of sources of difficulties Error: Reference source not found Table 4.2. The learners’ expectation in term of methodology Error: Reference source not found vi [...]... and the causes of difficulties for teaching and learning English on Automotive Technology at CRTC, then make some suggestions to improve students ESP reading comprehension skill 1.2 Aims and objectives of the study The study aims to provide some suggestions to improve the skill of ESP reading comprehension for students of Automotive Technology at CRTC 2 To be more specific, the objectives of the study... inappropriate attitude of the teachers and learners about the subjects, unsuitable teaching materials… So that, despite the effort of the teachers and students, the students reading comprehension skill has not met the requirements of the collge For the above-mentioned reasons, the researcher would like to study about the perceptions and attitude towards ESP reading, the current situations, the difficulties... 1.3 Scope of the study This study is to find out the perception and problem in ESP reading experience by the second year students of Automotive Technology at CRTC The information is intended to be used as the base for giving some suggestions for improving students reading comprehension skill Also, the findings from this study will help ESP teachers at the college meet the learners’ expectation by narrowing... Scanning requires two skills of the reader One of them is that they recognize the specific type of word that identifies the item The other is the use of a different eye movement pattern, vertical vision Nearly all the background reading required 11 for the presenting of a topic to the class by a group calls for proficiency in this type of reading There is a great range of text suitable for scanning – indexes,... English but also to further study At CRTC, after finishing 120 periods of GE, students of Automotive Technology begin to take 60 periods of ESP Being an ESP teacher of Automotive Technology, the researcher has always been aware of the importance of developing reading skills for students If students read well, they are able to handle subjects related written materials in English and to work with modern... what the author intends It is the process in which the readers, as they read, can recognize the graphic forms of the reading text and understand what is implied behind these forms For the teachers who teach reading, a profound understanding about the nature of reading comprehension may help them find out the students difficulties of learning reading 2.2.1.3 Classification of reading according to the. .. study are: - To invesigate the present situation of teaching and learning English for Automotive Technology in order to find out the teachers and learners’ difficulties for reading comprehension skill - To suggest the ways to overcome the difficulties and help improve students ESP reading comprehension skill It is hoped that the findings from this study will be of some benefits to the students at CRTC... narrowing the gap between teaching and learning Any other purposes would be beyond the scope of the study 1.4 Research questions 1 What are teachers and students attitude and expectation of learning ESP reading skill? 2 What problems did the teachers and students of Automotive Technology get when teaching and learning ESP reading? 3 What helps students overcome the difficulties and improve ESP reading skill? ... competence in the English language and reinforcing specification knowledge of automotive technology Most of knowledge related to students major is compiled in automotive technology texts in the materials As a sequence, mastering the reading comprehension skill plays the priority importance in teaching and learning ESP However, there have been not many studies related to developing ESP reading skill for students. .. unfamiliar words from the context in which they appear Perhaps, these skills are largely subconscious in the minds of the students when reading in their mother tongue However, reading in a foreign language can create barriers for the students, which may make these sub-skills more difficult to use The teacher’s job, then, is to reactivate these skills which may be less effective when the students are faced . with an attempt to give Some suggestions to improve ESP reading comprehension skill for students of Automotive Technology at the Central Region Transport College (CRTC) . The study aims to investigate. aims to provide some suggestions to improve the skill of ESP reading comprehension for students of Automotive Technology at CRTC. 2 To be more specific, the objectives of the study are: - To invesigate. reading and to offer some suggestions and recommendations for the improvements of ESP reading comprehension skill for students of Automotive Technology. Two sets of survey questionnaires for 4 teachers