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PART I: INTRODUCTION

1. Identification of the problem
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“Learning is enhanced when it is more like a team effort than a solo race. Good
learning, like good work, is collaborative and social, not competitive and isolated. Working
with others often increases involvement in learning. Sharing one’s own ideas and responding
to others’ reactions improves thinking and deepens understanding.” (Whitman, 1988: 117).
As mentioned in Whitman’s view, students learn a great deal by explaining their ideas
to others and by participating in activities in which they can learn from their peers. They
develop skills in organizing and planning learning activities, working collaboratively with
others, giving and receiving feedback and evaluating their own learning. Peer learning is
becoming an increasingly important part of many courses, and it is being used in a variety of
contexts and disciplines in many countries.
The potential of peer learning is starting to be realized, but examination of the ways in
which it is used in existing courses suggests that practices are often introduced in an ad hoc
way, without consideration of their implications. When such practices are used
unsystematically, students unfamiliar with this approach become confused about what they are
supposed to be doing. They miss opportunities for learning altogether, and fail to develop the
skills expected for them. Much peer teaching occurs informally without staff involvement, and
students who are already effective learners tend to benefit disproportionately when it is left to
chance.
At a time when university resources are stretched and demands upon staff are
increasing, students are offered the opportunity to learn from each other. This gives them
considerably more practice than traditional teaching and learning methods in taking
responsibility for their own learning and, more generally, learning how to learn. It is not a
substitute for teaching and activities designed and conducted by staff members, but an
important addition to the repertoire of teaching and learning activities that can enhance the

qualitative analysis.
Due to the limited scope of the study, the biggest aim of the research is only to obtain a
snapshot of the current practice of peer teaching in ESP classes at the College of Science, and
of the survey subjects’ attitudes towards some suggested ways for improving peer teaching
process. The researcher wishes to make a small contribution to the improvement of ESP
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teaching and learning methods at the College, where she has been teaching for many years.
So, the most suitable method for the study is possibly a survey research. The study is both
quantitative and qualitative. The data is collected by means of questionnaires.
5. Design of the study
The study is divided into three main parts: the introduction, the development and the
conclusion.
The very first part, the introduction, covers the background information such as
rationale, aims, scope, and design of the study.
The second part, the main part, of the study is divided into three chapters. Chapter 1
deals with the review of the literature relevant to the study. Chapter 2 covers the
methodological framework for the study, the results and the discussions obtained from the
questionnaires. Chapter 3 presents some suggested ways for improving peer teaching process.
The last part of the study is intended to review what has been presented and to make it
an ending point of the study.
••
• Peer teacher: The term ‘peer teacher’ refers to the student who is more advanced in
her understanding of certain subject matter is enlisted to provide learning assistance to
less advanced students. (Sampson, J., Cohen, R., Boud, D., and Anderson, G, 1999: 7)
•
••
• Peer teaching: Peer teaching is known as the cooperation and group cohesion, a two-
way, reciprocal learning experience. (McKeachie et el, 1986: 12). It involves mutual
benefits and a sharing of knowledge, ideas and experience among participants. It is a
way of moving beyond independent to interdependent learning. This idea of
interdependence is important since the alternative is a more instrumental peer teaching
approach which often involves some form of credit or payment for the person acting in
a teaching capacity thus losing a sense of mutuality. Peer teaching involves students
learning from and with each other in both formal and informal ways. The emphasis is
on the learning process, including emotional support learners offer to each other, as
much as the learning task. The roles of teacher and learner may either not be defined or
shift during the course of the learning experience, unlike peer teaching in which roles
are fixed. Staff may be actively involved as group facilitators or may simply initiate a
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mainly student-directed activity such as a workshop or learning partnership.
Surprisingly, according to Topping's recent review of the literature little research has
been done into either dyadic reciprocal peer tutoring or same-year group tutoring
(Topping, 1987). He identifies only ten studies to date, all with a very narrow focus.
This suggests that a teaching model rather than a learning model is still the most
common view of how students assist each other. While this teaching approach has
value, unless we also consider the learning process itself we are unlikely to make the
best use of peers as resources for learning. According to Boud, Cohen and Sampson’s
(2001:103), “Peer teaching involves students learning from and with each other in

in Western Australia, outlined the over-whelming communicative constraints in the formal
whole class interactions and stressed the need for a move toward structured small group
interactions. More significantly, both Scharle and Szabo (2000) and Dickinson (1995) agreed
that it is essential for the learners to believe that they are capable of monitoring their own
learning, being independent from the teachers, and self-evaluating their own work. They
affirmed the benefits of ‘Peer-teaching’ to autonomous attitude. First, it encourages the
learners to rely on each other. Second, learners can get feed back from peers. Finally, they
have more time and chances to get involved in a task. Thus, learners should be given many
more chances to ‘peer-work’ such as pair work or group work as possible.
1.2.2. Types of peer teaching activities
As far as we are exploring, there is a range of different reciprocal peer teaching
activities to suit different course contexts and to foster different learning outcomes. The
followings are typical types of peer teaching activities introduced by Anderson and Boud
(1996: 52) in the writing “Role of peer teaching in university courses” (1996):
- Student-led workshops in which the students themselves are responsible for
designing and conducting a workshop for their peers, thus learning about working
as a member of a team as well as researching the content for the workshop.
- ‘Learning exchanges’ or formal class presentations in which students learn about a
topic directly from their peers whilst also learning from the experience of
delivering their own presentations and receiving critical feedback.
- Seminar presentations in small groups or pairs following a completed shared
project or assignment.
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- Work-in-progress reports by individuals or groups working together on a project or
assignment, followed by questions and discussion.
- Debriefing sessions following a field placement, industrial visit or work experience
program. These can occur in pairs, small groups and finally plenary sessions.
- Peer feedback, whereby peers comment on each other’s assignments according to

occur this way or that the method will work in all contexts for all students. A lot will depend
upon the conception of teaching and learning which is held. For these reasons peer teaching
could be located among a number of qualitatively different conceptions as peer teaching is in
the repertoire of teaching methods; it is a part of a range of learning strategies; it is an
informal activity which could be formalised. Further more, peer teaching is considered as a
strategy to remedy specific problems. Even, it may become the central organising feature of
learning. And above all, peer teaching is thought to be a part of a holistic conception of
teaching and learning.
Certain conditions are necessary for effective peer teaching, for instance:
• there is perceived value in cooperation and the roles involved;
• there is a microclimate of trust which already exists or can be established;
• there is a minimally agreed process and some initial preparation;
• reflection and reflective discussions are accepted and encouraged;
• it is acceptable to make mistakes and seek assistance;
• any previous negative experiences with similar activities are dealt with.
Other issues will also need to be addressed, such as: (i) how to introduce students to
the notion of learning from each other; (ii) how to build upon experiences to move the group
forwards; (iii) how to convince students that different perspectives may be equally valid; (iv)
how to encourage sharing in competitive courses.
1.2.4. Benefits of peer teaching
There is a wealth of evidence that peer teaching is extremely effective for a wide range
of goals, content, and students of different levels and personalities (McKeachie et al., 1986).
Peer teaching can enhance learning by enabling learners to take responsibility for reviewing,
organizing, and consolidating existing knowledge and material; understanding its basic
structure; filling in the gaps; finding additional meanings; and reformulating knowledge into
new conceptual frameworks (Dueck, 1993).
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Help from peers increases learning both for the students being helped as well as for

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1.3. Theoretical background of the ESP teaching
1.3.1. What is ESP?
ESP has been defined differently by different authors. Some regard it as “an approach
to language teaching in which all decisions as to content and method are based on the learner’s
reason for learning” (Hutchinson and Waters, 1987: 19). Likewise, Strevens (1988: 1) stated
that “ESP is a particular case of the general category of special-purpose language teaching”.
Most people (Streven, 1980; Robinson, 1980; Widdowson, 1983; Dudley-Evans and St John,
1997; etc.) have agreed that an ESP course would have the following features:
• It is purposeful and aimed at the successful performance of occupational or educational
roles by an individual or a group
• It is based on an analysis of the students’ needs and is tailor-made to meet these needs.
• It may differ from another general language course in its selection of skills, themes,
topics, situations, functions, language and methodology.
Strevens (1988) produces a definition which covers more detailed characteristics of an
ESP course. As is stated by Strevens (1988:84), “English for specific purposes is a particular
case of the general category of special-purpose language teaching. The same principles apply
no matter which language is being learnt and taught”. From the definition, Strevens goes on to
maintain that a definition of ESP needs to distinguish between absolute characteristics and
variable characteristics. The absolute characteristics of ESP are as follows:
* “ESP consists of English language teaching which is:
- designed to meet specified needs of the learners;
- related to content, to particular disciplines, occupations and activities;
- centred on the language appropriate to those activities, in syntax, lexis,
discourse, semantics, etc;
- in contrast with “General English”
* “ESP may be, but is not necessary:
- restricted as to the language skills to be learned;
- taught according to any pre-ordained methodology
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1.3.4. Role(s) of ESP teachers and students in peer teaching process
What should be the role of the teacher before, during and after a peer teaching activity?
A teacher wishing to support learning throughout the various phases of a task would need to
be able to play an extended set of roles:
explorer of how the learners view the task, how they get ready for it, handle it and how
their outcomes satisfy the demands of the task, indicate progress, highlight
problems still to be addressed, ect. In fact, the ESP teacher is supposed to play
the role as an explorer throughout the phases of a task, from warming-up the
students to the task, instructing them how to handle it, monitoring their work,
…, to giving feedback. The more the ESP teacher can explore about the
students as well as the task itself, the more succesful the task will be.
organizer of the choice of one peer teaching activity over another, the relationship
between today’s task and the rest of the programme, the choice of doing the
task in groups or individually, in the classroom or in the self-study centre; the
arrangement of furniture in the classroom, the use of time, the overall planning
and management of the teaching-learning encounter. As to have been discussed
in the earlier section, there are many types of peer teaching activities. So, the
ESP teacher has to choose and organize the most appropriate one to each task.
For example, peer feedback should be applied to a translation task/ or a writing
task where the students will check and give their comments on their peer’s
translation version.
advisor to the learners (at whatever “level of training”) to become better learners, better
peer teaching strategy users, more autonomous users of other sources expertise
than the teacher (i.e. themselves, peers, reference materials); providing
opportunities for learners to discuss how they handle a peer teaching task, to
encourage them to provide evaluation feedback on the quality of the task, etc.

learning strategies which can facilitate the handling of peer teaching activities
(metacognitive, cognitive and socio-affective strategies).
performer - in this role, the learner participates in teacher-instructed, rather structured,
monitored learning activities. The ESP students can perform the whole task
such as pairwork, groupwork, or even formal presentations. In some cases the
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ESP teachers can share the teaching responsibility to a/ or a group of students
whose knowledge of the subject matter and language skills are good.
guide - in this role, the learner participates in classroom learning activities either self-
referenced, or in interaction with other learners; these may be “communicative”
activities in which the learner is called upon to simulate or deploy knowledge
in relatively unmornitored circumstances.
The idea that teacher and learners play several roles is not particularly controversial
(Wright 1987). Such roles reflect the view that learners will become more effective if they are
helped to become self-aware of their own learning strategies and preferences as applied to
various peer teaching activities. It is important to realize that the roles suggested here do not
“just happen”. The roles which learners will be expected to play will need to be carefully
explained.
How, in fact, would learner role-expansion take place? Essentially, it would take place
through the peer teaching process. Note that each of the teacher roles – except for trainer and
instructor – has a parallel learner role, so we could imagine teachers and learners playing co-
explorers, co-organizers, and co-communicators:
Co-explorers could dialogue about the process of the teaching and other matters. The
dialogue could be oral (individual or group discussion in English), or
written (diaries, questionnaires, comment sheets, etc.).
Co-organizers would talk about how the peer teaching activities could be organized to
promote optimum learning, and would negotiate such arrangements.
Co-communicators would talk in English in order to get and give input which would

it hard to cope with the questions put out by some students. But, at the time, such questions
may be sorted out by some other students who have acquired a very good knowledge of the
specific field. So, as a teacher of ESP, I have wondered why we do not create good chances so
that the students can discuss, help and even teach each other.
2.1.2. A survey research
Surveys are widely used for collecting data in most areas of social inquiry, from
education to linguistics. According to Cohen and Manion (1985), surveys are the most
commonly used descriptive method in educational research, and may vary in scope from
large-scale investigations through to small-scale studies carried out by a single researcher. The
purpose of a survey is generally to obtain a snapshot of conditions, attitudes, and/ or events at
a single poit in time.
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In survey research, the researcher doesn’t “do” anything to the objects or subjects of
research, except observe them or ask them to provide data. The research consists of collecting
data on things or people as they are, without trying to alter anything.
In carrying out a survey research, one works through a series of steps. Nunan (1997:
141) introduced 8 steps as follows:
* Step 1: Define objectives
(What do we want to find out?)
* Step 2: Identify target population
(Who do we want to know about?)
* Step 3: Literature review
(What have others said/ discovered about the issue?)
* Step 4: Determine sample
(How many subjects should we survey; how will we identify this?)
* Step 5: Identify survey instruments
(How will the data be collected: questionnaire/ interview?)
* Step 6: Design survey procedures

Table 1: The number of students in the four sample classes

Also, 10 lecturers who are teaching ESP at the Department of Foreign Languages were
invited to give responses to the questionnaire. All of them have at least three years’ experience
of teaching ESP classes. They all have had or are going to have, in the near future, M.A.
Degree in Education or Linguistics.
2.1.5. Data collection Instruments
The study is both quantitative and qualitative. The data is collected by means of
questionnaires. The questionnaires were designed for both two groups of informants: the
students and the teachers:
Questionnaire 1 was delivered to 110 students in the
four sample ESP classes to find out their perceptions, attitudes, and
assessment in deploying peer-teaching techniques.
Questionnaire 2 was designed for 10 teachers of ESP
in the Department of Foreign Languages at the College of Science,
VNU to determine their attitudes, knowledge and teaching skills in
applying peer-teaching into their ESP lectures.
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In an attempt to find out the answers for the two research questions, each question of
both types of the survey questionnaires is intended to make a clear facet of the research
questions. Therefore, the survey questionnaire for the teachers and the one for the students
seem rather similar. Both the survey questionnaires are included in the Appendices:
* Questions 1, 2, 3, 4 in both the survey questionnaires focus on finding out the answer
to the first research question, that is, they will show the students’ and the teachers’
conceptions of peer teaching, and the related assessment impact upon their learning and
teaching.
* Questions 5,6,7,8,9,10 are designed to get the answer for the second research
question, which investigate the teachers’ and students’ reflection towards their current use of

b
No %
c
No %
d
No %
e
No %
f
No %
g
No %
h
No %
1
1 10 0 0 8 80 1 10
2
9 90 1 10 8 80 10 100 9 90
3
6 60 9 90 10 100 6 60 8 80 0 0
4
4 40 10 100 9 90 8 80 0 0
5
7 70 2 20 1 10 0 0
6
8 80 1 10 10 100 2 20
7
10 100 7 70 10 100 9 90 8 80
8
1 10 0 0 3 30 8 80 3 30 7 70 5 50 10 100

6
82 82 0 0 87 87 18 18
7
97 97 92 92 97 97 62 62 82 82
8
0 0 2 2 0 0 75 75 13 13 26 26
9
78 78 5 5 16 16 3 3 3 3 0 0
10
16 16 3 3 92 92 3 3
Table 3: Result from the survey questionnaire for the students
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As can be seen from table 2 and table 3 above, the data provided by 10 teachers and
100 students are described respectively. To make the data analysis easier, the author would
like to go deeply into each divided part of the two tables, according to the order of the two
research questions.

2.2.1. Research question 1: What are the students and teachers’ perceptions and their
assessment towards peer teaching practices in ESP classes?
In a hope of working out the answer to this question, items 1, 2, 3, 4, of both types of
the survey questionnaires have been designed. The answer will be explicit through the data
collected from such items. So, the tables below should be taken into consideration:
Option
Item
a
No %
b

No %
1
3 3 91 91 0 0
2
92 92 3 3 83 83 100 100 76 76
3
76 76 2 2 22 22
4
72 72 89 89 92 92 97 97 92 92
Table 5: Students’ perceptions of peer teaching

* As the data shown in item 1, most of the surveyed teachers (8/10) put a check in
option (c), which indicates their good perceptions of peer teaching. They understand that peer
teaching is a pattern of student-student interaction. Similarly, 91% surveyed students found
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that it was (b), which best indicated their response to item 1 in their questionnaire. They can
see that during a peer teaching activity, they usually work with their peers or partners.
* The collected data from item 2 can once more prove the teachers’ and students’ good
conceptions of peer teaching. This item was designed to check the teachers and students about
some concepts of peer teaching. 100% of the students agree that peer teaching is learner-based
teaching. It is then approved by all the surveyed teachers. This reveals that both the teachers
and students have a good grasp of the role of the learners in ESP teaching. Based on the theory
of learner-based teaching, we know that class activities can be done using information that the
students themselves bring to the lesson. The role of the teacher can be varied with a wide
range of nuances. The teacher can be an active participant in the group genuinely taking part
in the activities, contributing ideas and opinions, or relating personal experiences. The teacher
is also a helper and resource responding to students’ requests to help with technique terms or
expressions. And the teacher can be a monitor with checking and correcting the students’ work

classes. 10 (an absolute majority) teachers declared that peer teaching encourages
collaboration between learners; 9 teachers provided one more benefit of peer teaching, “to
involve students directly in the teaching and learning process”; and to enhance students’ own
learning, peer teaching was proved to be an effective way by 8 teachers. Further more, more
than half of the first group of correspondents (6 teachers) answers that peer teaching can help
them to motivate students and share responsibility for teaching with their students. However,
even when all teachers recognize at least one advantage of peer teaching in their ESP lessons,
several students (24%) find the lessons the same as or even less interesting than the other ones
where peer teaching is not conducted. This may be partly because of the way the teachers
organize and control this teaching technique.
* To item 4 of the survey questionnaire for students which raises a question about the
feelings of this group of correspondents when they are taught by their peers, a large number of
surveyed students showed their negative feelings. Almost all of them (97%) felt suspicious of
whatever their peers say; 92% found that the instruction offered by a peer was not enough and
confusing; and the same figure (92%) revealed that these students always feel at ease thanks to
the lack of the teacher’s control. All of these indicate that most of the students do not trust
their peers; consequently they do not pay attention to the lesson but free themselves during the
peer teaching activities.This problem may be dealt with if the preparation before peer teaching
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is carried out more effectively. However, we shouldn’t forget to inform that a great many
students (89%) still felt more self-confident to share ideas or raise questions to the peer
teacher; and 72% of them are motivated by their peers.
As for the teachers who were asked about the disadvantages of peer teaching in their
ESP lessons which may be the causes of possible negative feelings of the students, all of them
declared that not all students will be “good” teachers; and 9 among them saw that level of
instruction offered by a peer teacher may not be enough, which coincided with the opinion of
92% students asked about their feelings when they are taught by their peers. One more
disadvantage of peer teaching that annoyed 8 surveyed teachers is that this teaching technique

No %
c
No %
d
No %
e
No %
f
No %
g
No %
h
No %
5
7 70 2 20 1 10 0 0
6
8 80 1 10 10 100 2 20
7
10 100 7 70 10 100 9 90 8 80
8
1 10 0 0 3 30 8 80 3 30 7 70 5 50 10 100
9
8 80 7 70 5 50 8 80 0 0 2 20
10
8 80 10 100 9 90 0 0 0 0
Table 6: Teachers’ reflection towards their current use of peer teaching in
ESP classes at the College and some suggested ways for improving
the peer teaching process in these classes?
Option
Item

42% of the students declared that they usually took part in such an activity. And even though
12% of the students admitted that they never joined in any peer teaching, no teacher responded
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that they “never” used this teaching technique. Perhaps, a reasonable way to explain this
difference in the teachers’ and students’ reponses is that while the teachers tried to create and
organize peer teaching activities, their students are not willing to exercise due to certain
reasons; for example, such activities were not very interesting, or the students were not
instructed well enough to conduct them.
* The responses from both teachers and students to Question 6 of both types of survey
questionnaires agreed at the point that peer teaching was mainly used at two phases of a
lesson: Warm-up, and Practice. This reveals that peer teaching may be limited to such types as
pairwork and groupwork. Other types of peer teaching like formal class presentations or work-
in-progress reports which are proved to be effective for ESP teaching and learning may not be
deployed. This may result from the lack of teaching skills or practical experience.
* The next question, question 7, of both types of survey questionnaires was made to
investigate the factors deciding the success of a peer teaching activity. Almost all the surveyed
students (97%) and teachers (the absolute majority) shared the same opinion that teaching
experience and the hardship of the students were the two decisive factors. This makes it clear
that any teaching/ learning activities in general and peer teaching activities in particular can
only be successful when there is a good contribution of both teachers and learners. So, if the
teachers are well-experienced in organizing peer teaching activities, and the students work
hard, peer teaching will certainly be effective to the whole teaching and learning procedures.
A similar number of the two surveyed groups (about 80%) agreed that the language
proficiency of the students was also an important factor for the success of peer teaching. This
suggests that the peer teachers or leaders should be the ones who have good proficiency of
language.
* Question 8 for both teachers and students is about their preparation for peer teaching.
There is a reality, out of the investigator’s expectation, revealed in the collected data that not