PART A: INTRODUCTION
i Rationale
Nowadays, as an effective means of international communication, English is widely used
in all fields of activity throughout the world. Therefore, there has been a growing demand
for the learning of this language of those who want to master English to serve their
different purposes. This leads to the introduction of English for Specific Purposes (ESP) in
many universities in Vietnam. Being aware of the importance of ESP, Department of
Linguistics and Vietnamese Studies at University of Social Sciences and Humanities
(USSH) – VNU have had its own collections of teaching material on Linguistics Studies. It
is aimed at providing students with background knowledge and a system of terms related to
Linguistics.
In the process of acquiring English as a whole, students must learn not only language items
but also four language skills among which reading plays an important part. This is also true
to students of linguistics because they can broaden their professional knowledge in their
major as well as get access to language inputs to develop the other language skills when
reading a lot of materials on linguistics in English.
Despite the significant role of reading skills, the teaching and learning of it at the
Department have not been properly carried out. There are some exiting problems such as
the lack of experience in teaching ESP, no training course for teachers of ESP, uneven
English level of the students. Besides, Grammar-Translation method is still in use to
exploit reading texts. Reading skill is often taught separately or, in other words, there is no
integration with the other language skills. The text is, in fact, exploited as a source of
materials for a language lesson. As a result, most of the students become bored and
passive.
This has given rise to the question, “How can ESP teachers improve the situation to bring
life into the lessons and motivate the students to read in English?” And the following
answer can often be heard, “To teach reading skills in integration with the other language
skills.” But how can this be done? This study will try to answer this question.
ii Objectives of the study
The study is aimed at:
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However, defining reading is not easy although a lot of attempts have been made to define
it. Different people define the term reading in different ways and each definition reflects a
different viewpoint of reading. According to Robinson and Good (1987: 9), “reading is
best described as an understanding between the author and the reader Reading is much
more than just pronouncing words correctly or simply knowing that the author intends; it
is the process whereby the printed page stimulates ideas, experiences and responses that
are unique to an individual. Reading can simply be thought of as a personal encounter
with the printed page. Basically, an important aspect of reading is the process of
constructing meaning from printed materials.”
Petty and Salzer (1989: 323) held a similar point of view, that is, “reading involves the
identification and recognition of printed or written symbols which serve as stimulus for the
recall of meanings built up through past experience and further the construction of new
meanings through the reader's manipulation of relevant concepts already in his or her
possession. The resulting meanings are organized into thought processes according to the
purposes that are operating in the reader.”
Both of the above definitions indicate that reading is not only an interaction between the
reader and the author but also between the reader and the text.
Gould, DiYanni, Smith and Standford (1990), on the other hand, defined this term by
looking at its scope. According to them, reading is a creative act, interaction, interpretation,
a social act and responding.
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Although "no definition of reading can possibly include all viewpoints and features"
(Robinson and Good - 1987: 9), for the sake of teaching and learning reading skills, the
following definition should be emphasized: “Reading means "reading and understanding".
A foreign language learner who says, "I can read the words but don't know what they
mean" is not, therefore, reading, in this sense. He or she is merely decoding - translating
written symbols into corresponding sounds.” (Ur - 1996: 138) This does not mean that the
reader needs to understand every word in a text but actively work on the text and extract
the required information efficiently.
So far we have had some knowledge of the definition of reading. The following section

quick scanning of a page in the telephone directory to find a single name is very different
from the careful attention one pays to a legal document.
According to Rivers and Temperly (1978: 187), we read normally because we
1. want information for some purpose or because we are curious about some
topic;
2. need instructions in order to perform some task for our work or for our daily
life ;
3. want to act in a play, play a new game, do a puzzle, or carry out some other
activity which is pleasant and amusing;
4. want to keep in touch with friends by corresponding or understand business
letters;
5. want to know when or where something will take place or what is available ;
6. want to know what is happening or has happened ;
7. seek enjoyment or excitement
Also concerning the reasons for reading, Nuttall (1989: 3) wrote: “You read because you
wanted to get something from the writing: facts, ideas, enjoyment, even feelings of family
community (from a letter).”
Sharing the same opinion, White in "Communication in Classroom" (Johnson, Morrow -
1981: 87), stated that “we read in order to obtain information which is presented in written
form. By "information" I mean content which is cognitive (or intellectual), referential (or
factual) or affective (or emotional).”
All of the above opinions agreed that reading is carried out for, at least, a reason other than
reading the language itself. When reading, readers are not concerned with the language but
with the message and its applications. In other words, they have authentic reasons for
reading. Therefore, the teacher of English should combine the teaching and learning of the
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target language with the uses to which his or her students can put reading in their daily life
outside the classroom. In addition, the teacher of reading should know how to exploit each
text with each proper strategy by making students practise different types of reading.
1.4 Kinds of reading

Against
•
Listening to inaccurate pronunciation from
classmates confuses understanding of the
sound - symbol relationship.
•
The reader is so intent on articulation
that he loses track of the content.
•
It does not allow the reader to use natural
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•
It is appropriate to certain kinds of texts
such as poetry and drama.
•
Many students enjoy oral reading and
are motivated by it.
•
Traditionally it is the mode of reading in
many educational systems.
strategies for reading quickly and forces him
to revert to a slow reading of every word so
that overall meaning may be lost through
attention to detail.
•
It requires a considerable amount of
classtime that might be better exploited.
As a result, according to Doff (1995: 59), "if a teacher wants students to read
aloud, it should be the final activity at the end of a reading lesson". It can be suggested that
to make full use of this type of reading, a reading lesson must be carefully prepared and

piece of information or to get an initial impression of whether the text is suitable for a
given purpose ”
Unlike skimming, scanning is a kind of reading carried out when we go through the text very
fast in order to find a particular item of information, then concentrate on it. When scanning, we
only try to find what we are looking for. Therefore, this kind of reading can be very useful in
reading selectively.
1.4.2.3 Extensive reading
Extensive reading is also called "reading for fluency". The student reads long texts to have
general understanding, to practise his fluency in reading, or to relax. Therefore, this kind of
reading is often carried out individually outside classroom. In general, the student should
be encouraged to do extensive reading to improve his knowledge of the world as well as of
the target language or simply to foster fluency and pleasure.
1.4.2.4 Intensive reading
In contrast with extensive reading, intensive reading requires full understanding of the text.
Nuttall (1989: 23) wrote “intensive reading involves approaching the text under the close
guidance of the teacher , or under the guidance of a task which forces the student to pay
great attention to the text. The aim of intensive reading is to arrive at a profound and
detailed understanding of the text: not only of what it means, but also of how the meaning
is produced. The "how" is as important as the "what", for the intensive reading lesson is
intended primarily to train students in reading strategies.” Accordingly, intensive reading
should be a basic activity in a reading classroom.
In conclusion, the above kinds of reading are closely related. They can be used either
alternatively or in combination in reading one text. The teacher of reading should vary
reading strategies and make full use of each kind of reading. Furthermore, to make the
teaching and learning reading better, the teacher should select activities suitable for
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promoting reading as a major language skill as well as its sub-skills which will be
discussed below.
1.5 Reading skills
The reader employs a number of specialist skills when reading and his success in

7. recognizing discourse markers;
8. recognizing the function of sentences - even when not introduced by discourse
markers;
9. understanding relations within the sentence and the text;
10. extracting specific information for summary or note taking;
11. skimming to obtain the gist, and recognise the organisation of ideas within the
text;
12. understanding implied information and attitudes; and
13. knowing how to use an index, a table of contents, etc. Understanding layout,
use of headings, etc.
(Willis - 1998: 142)
Basically, Willis took the same view on reading sub-skills as Matthews, Spratt and
Dangerfield. These methodologists all emphasized that the student of foreign languages
should improve his reading ability by acquiring the ways to make prediction; how to skim
and scan; understanding the text by getting the main idea, the specific information;
recognizing the organization as well as the discourse patterns.
Also being concerned about reading skills, Harmer (1992: 183) gave another list of six
specialist skills which, to some extent, summarize all the above-mentioned skills including
1. Predictive skills;
2. Extracting specific information;
3. Getting the general picture;
4. Extracting detailed information; and
5. Recognizing function and discourse patterns
6. Deducing meaning from context
All the skills mentioned above should be paid a special attention to by both teachers and
learners of English in the process of acquiring the language. The teacher of reading should
encourage his or her students to predict what they are going to read, to know how to find
out a fact in the fastest way, how to pick out main points or detailed information rapidly,
and how to discard what is not essential or irrelevant. In addition, he or she needs to make
the students aware of discourse markers, help them develop their ability to deduce the

1.6.2 Teaching reading ESP
There are three main factors involved in a reading lesson: the ESP teacher, the student and
reading materials. But before these factors are discussed, the following question should be
answered, “What is the difference between a language lesson and a reading lesson?”
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1.6.2.1 Language lessons and reading lessons
As mentioned before, foreign language teachers should give students the authentic
purposes of reading. This means that reading is not just a linguistic exercise but is involved
with the getting of meaning out of a text for some purpose. But in fact, the most typical use
of reading in an ESP class is to teach the language itself, that is the teacher tries to present
or practise specific linguistic items such as vocabulary, structures, etc. Although language
improvement is the central purpose of a foreign language learner, this is not an authentic
use of a reading text. Furthermore, according to Nuttall (1989: 20), “We need lessons like
this, of course, but we need reading lessons too, if our students require the ability to read
in the foreign language.”
Therefore, it is necessary to point out the differences between a language lesson and a
reading lesson. Nuttall (ibid.) argued that giving a lesson based on a text is not the same as
giving a reading lesson because most of the skills practised are probably not reading skills
at all. She also gave out two features that make a reading lesson different from a language
one. “First, it is different because the type of text used is likely to be different. In a reading
lesson we need to use texts that have been written not to teach language but for any of the
authentic purposes of writing: to inform, to entertain and so on. Even if the language has
been modified to suit the level of the learners, the purpose of the text must be first and
foremost to convey a message. Second, the procedures have to be different, because the
aim of the reading lesson is to develop the student's ability to extract the message the text
contains. So, unlike a language development lesson, we are not trying to put some thing
into his head, but instead we are trying to get him to take it himself: to get him to make
use of the knowledge he already has in order to acquire new messages.”
The above differences between a language lesson and a reading lesson suggest that the ESP
teacher should use reading lessons to develop students’ reading proficiency and

develop his own skills, but we (teachers) must make him aware of what he is doing, and
interested in doing better.”
In addition, to fulfill the aim of an ESP course, the ESP teacher must act as a material
provider involving “choosing relevant published material, adapting material when publish
material is not suitable” (Jordon – 1997: 15). He or she should also create an environment
of a communicative classroom where meaningful and useful reading activities are carried
out so that the students can best acquire reading skills and practise other language skills in
order to communicate successfully.
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1.6.2.3 Learner's roles
As "a communicative approach is essentially learner - centered" (Sheils - 1993: 1), the
roles of the learner in a reading lesson should also be discussed. Generally, although the
roles of the student seen by different methodologists are not the same, it can be undeniable
that they all agreed that the student in a communicative classroom must do his work on his
own or with little help from the teacher. In other words, he is supposed to contribute as
much as he gains and learns in an interdependent way. And, in fact, he plays an active role
in every language lesson. This means that "the student's role as a reader", wrote Nuttall
(1989: 147), "demands that he should make sense of the text for himself. In his reading
lesson, he is supposed to learn how to do this: doing it for him will not teach him this".
In summary, the ESP teacher and the students are interrelated to each other during the
process of teaching and learning a foreign language in general, and reading skills in
particular. The teacher's job is to provide suitable texts, assign such tasks and activities that
the student can acquire his own skills while the student is supposed to do most of these
tasks and activities by himself.
1.6.2.4 Reading material's roles
It should be noted that materials for reading ESP play an important role in reading teaching
process. Firstly, they enable students to improve their fluency as well as accuracy in acquiring
the target language. Through reading materials, students can enrich their vocabulary related to
their major, structures, etc. They can also develop other language skills. Secondly, materials for
reading provide students with more knowledge of the major field. Furthermore, they help

success; and
14. Encouragement of self - direction and self - monitoring of reading is
important.
Although the principles listed above are, of course, not all-inclusive, it is believed that they
are helpful in guiding teachers in planning reading instruction.
1.6.2.6 Characteristics of an effectively organized classroom for reading instruction
Like the principles of teaching reading, an all-inclusive answer to this question is
impossible. Therefore, in the following, only the most common characteristics of a
classroom effectively organized for reading instruction will be presented. According to
John N. Mangieri (Lapp - 1981: 11), there are six major characteristics of an effective
reading classroom. They are
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1. Individual differences of students are recognized and provision is made to
accommodate these differences. It is obvious that no two individuals are precisely
the same in every aspect. Individual differences exist in intellectual, physical,
emotional and educational traits. Thus, the effectively organized classroom has to
make instructional provisions for the diverse reading capabilities and abilities of
each student.
2. Comprehensive, continuous diagnosis occurs in order to ascertain student reading
proficiencies and deficiencies. Diagnostic test, or in other words, diagnosis, is a
test to find out weaknesses and strengths of students. In an effectively organized
classroom, diagnosis is conducted on an initial, a final, and above all, continuous
basis. It is considered as a blueprint for instruction. Teachers of reading would do
well to remember that instruction will become exemplary only when it accurately
meets the reading needs of each student. Diagnosis can be the vehicle for
determining these needs.
3. Both immediate and long-range planning for reading instruction take place on a
regular basis. It is imperative that comprehensive planning for reading instruction
occurs prior to the actual teaching act. This planning should deal with both immediate
and long-range instructional concerns. The major objective of immediate planning is

the bottom line of instruction and the goal of providing exemplary reading instruction is worth
optimal efforts" (Lapp - 1981: 25).
In summary, what has been done in this chapter is to focus on an overall view of reading
and teaching reading ESP. Some theoretical concepts have been also related to their
application in teaching and learning reading ESP. The next chapter will discuss how
reading skill and the other language skills are interrelated.
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CHAPTER 2: SKILL – INTEGRATION
2.1 Productive and receptive skills
In daily life, people who use language employ a number of different abilities. They are
able to speak on the telephone, write letters, listen to the radio or read books, newspapers,
etc. In other words, they possess the four basic skills of speaking, writing, listening and
reading.
According to Harmer (1992: 16), “speaking and writing involve language production and
are therefore often referred to as productive skills. Listening and reading, on the other
hand, involve receiving messages and are therefore often referred to as receptive skills.”
The following table designed by Harmer (ibid.: 17) represents a very general picture of
language skills.
MEDIUM
SKILL
SPEECH WRITTEN WORD
Receptive Listening and understanding Reading and understanding
Productive Speaking Writing
Table 2.1 The four language skills
Naturally, language users very often employ a combination of skill. Speaking and listening
usually happen simultaneously, and people can read and write at the same time when they
take notes or write something based on what they are reading. Thus, the teacher of reading
should develop not only reading skills for the student but also other language skills through
reading.
2.2 Skill-integration

someone listens to a lecture, he often takes notes and then writes a report on the lecture or
describes it to his friends.
Furthermore, Carol Read (ibid.: 73) offered a number of important advantages in providing
students with the kind of integrated skills practice including:
− Continuity: Task and activities are not performed in isolation but are closely related and
dependent on each other.
− Input before output: In an integrated skills approach, learners can be provided with a
suitable input which may be in the form of a direct model or a much freer stimulus. This
input will then form the basis for the learners' own output - or productive use of the
language - in a subsequent task.
− Realism: It allows for the development of all four skills within a realistic,
communicative framework.
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− Appropriateness: This helps the learners to recognize the appropriateness of a
particular language form and mode in different contexts and with different participants.
− Variety: Activities involving all four skills provide variety and can be invaluable in
maintaining motivation.
− Recycling: It allows the learners to use the familiar language in a variety of new and
different ways.
− Confidence: It may be helpful for the learner who is weaker or less confident in one
particular skill.
Being aware of the significance of skill-integration, the teacher of reading in his or her
teaching will try to reflect the fact that the same experience or topic can lead to the use of
many different skills. For instance, when the student practises reading, the teacher will use
that reading as the basis for practising other language skills. Of course, all activities will
have to focus on reading skill. But the focus can later shift to one or more of the other
skills.
2.3 Relationship between reading skills and other language skills
One of the principles of teaching reading is that "reading and the other language arts are
closely interrelated" (Burns, Roe and Ross - 1988: 24). This point of view is similar to

ammunition for discussions and debates.” (Rivers and Temperly - ibid.: 260)
The teacher can do this in post-reading activities in various ways. For example, he or she can
ask the student to discuss the topic of the text, give his opinions and feelings about the
content of the text, summarize the text orally, etc.
Speaking, in its turns, can serve as input for reading. At pre-reading stage, the teacher can
encourage the student to form certain expectations about the text by saying what he can guess
from pictures, photographs, headings; the student can be asked to say what he knows about the
topic, whether he agrees or disagrees with some given statements concerning the topic and
gives reasons, etc.
2.3.3 Reading and writing
There is no doubt that both reading and writing are active, thinking processes. When a
teacher teaches the two skills to the students, he or she is virtually teaching them to think.
According to Howie (1989: 5), “What students learn can only be more solidly reinforced if
the two processes are taught together, not separately. Teaching reading and writing
together integrates the processes, interrelates them, and enhances the amount and strength
of what is being learned.”
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He also added: “The processes of reading and writing are so intertwined that not to teach
them together, across the curriculum, is to shortchange students. Teaching the two
processes together allows students to learn better how to acquire and use information.”
(Howie - ibid.: 7)
Smith (1990: 137) took the same view when stating “To keep the two activities separately
does more than deprive them of their basic sense, it impoverishes any learning that might
take place.”
Both of them are right in saying that reading and writing are basically constructive
processes. The connection between them is particularly strong. The teacher, therefore, is
responsible for building a scaffold (Robinson and Good - 1987: 282) that aids the student
in getting information from the reading text and helps him to organize the information in
an appropriate form for writing about it. Accordingly, a scaffold should
1. make the students aware of the structure of the text that they read and

answered in sequence, develop a summary or resume of the material read. They may write
an ending to a story or play of which they have read part, or develop a different ending
from the one in the book. They may write letters which one character in the story might
have written to others Students may create their own stories on similar themes to those
they have been reading.” From these suggested activities, the teacher of reading can make
the reading lesson more interesting and motivate the students to learn better.
To conclude, it must be kept in mind that reading is closely related to listening, reading and
writing. By integrating this skill with the other language skills, the teacher of reading can
improve not only students' reading ability but also their knowledge and ability for language
use. Therefore, to make full use of the interrelation between these skills, the teacher is
required to interweave them creatively and flexibly in order to give the students great
motivation for acquiring the target language.
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PART C: THE STUDY
CHAPTER 3: INVESTIGATION OF CURRENT SITUATION OF TEACHING
AND LEARNING READING ESP IN DEPARTMENT OF LINGUISTICS
AND VIETNAMESE STUDIES AT USSH - VNU
3.1 The teaching and learning reading ESP in Department of Linguistics and
Vietnamese Studies at USSH - VNU
It cannot be denied that there have been positive changes in teaching English in
Department of Linguistics and Vietnamese Studies at USSH – VNU in recent years:
language classrooms are better equipped, ESP materials are designed, teachers of English
are more qualified, etc. However, the teaching and learning of this subject in general and of
reading ESP in particular have not been properly carried out yet. This section will have a
general look at the teaching and learning of reading skills by "A collection of teaching
materials on linguistics studies” (Tập bài giảng tiếng Anh chuyên ngành ngôn ngữ học) in
Department of Linguistics and Vietnamese Studies at USSH - VNU.
First of all, at USSH – VNU, the main duty is to train students in various fields such as
Literature, History, Philosophy, Social Work, etc. As a result, English is not considered as
the main subject. Students learn the language as a means to do their future job or future

the material. Secondly, although the material tries to provide the students with many types
of reading comprehension exercises, there are still more exercises which need designing by
the teacher so that the students can improve their reading ability.
Yet, we cannot blame the material completely. We all know that the teacher himself plays
an important role in fulfilling the aim of the reading programme. Nevertheless, many ESP
teachers find it difficult to exploit reading texts in the light of Communicative Language
Teaching. They also have troubles in using techniques to motivate students to learn. Few of
them have experience in teaching ESP for Linguistics. As a result, students become bored
and passive in learning.
It must be admitted that although the students in Department of Linguistics and
Vietnamese Studies have learnt ESP for 4 years, only 5 units have been taught. The rest
has not been put in pratice. Furthermore, despite the fact that each language classroom is
equipped with one cassette player, there is lack of modern equipment like OHP and proper
guide on choosing appropriate supplementary reading materials. Besides, the students'
uneven levels of English and background knowledge are also another disadvantage that
affects the quality of teaching and learning.
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