VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES
*****************

PHẠM THỊ TÂM DIFICULTIES IN MEMORIZING ESP VOCABULARY IN THE
COURSE BOOK “ENGLISH FOR FINANCE” FACED BY THE
SECOND-YEAR NON-ENGLISH MAJOR STUDENTS AT THE
ACADEMY OF FINANCE AND SOME SUGGESTED SOLUTIONS

( Những khó khăn mà sinh viên năm thứ hai không chuyên tiếng Anh học viện
tài chính gặp phải khi ghi nhớ từ vựng tiếng Anh chuyên ngành và một số giải
pháp) M.A. MINOR THESIS Field: English Linguistics
Code: 602215
Ha Noi - 2012
iv LIST OF TABLES AND CHARTS
Tables:
No
Title
Page
1
Students‟ opinion on the language input
19
2
Students‟ opinion on their teachers‟ vocabulary teaching methods
21
3
Students‟ opinion on their own vocabulary learning
23
4
Students‟ vocabulary memorizing strategies used
24

No
Title
Page
1
The comparison between used strategies and effective ones
25

GHQ: General Headquarters
LBO: leveraged buyout


9
1.2.3. Factors afecting ESP vocabulary memorizing 11
1.2.3.1. Word related factors 11
1.2.3.2. Learner-s related factors 12
1.2.3.3. Teacher- related factors 13
1.2.3.4. Learning context 13
CHAPTER 2: THE INVESTIGATION 15
2.1. The context of teaching and learrning ESP vocabulary in “Englisf for Finance” at the
AOF 15
2.1.1. A description of the course book and the syllabus 15
2.1.2. The second-year non-English major students 16
2.1.3. The teachers and their methods of teaching 17
vii 2.2. Research methodology 17
2.2.1. Research questions 17
2.2.2. The participants 18
2.2.3. Data collection instruments 18
2.2.4. Data collection procedure 18
2.2.5. Data collection procedure 18
2.3. Data analysis and discussion 19
2.3.1. Discussion of the results 19
2.3.1.1. The results collected by questionnaire on the target language input 19
2.3.1.2. The results collected by questionnaire on the teachers’ vocabulary teaching
methods 21
2.3.1.3. The results collected by questionnaire on students’ vocabulary learning 23
2.3.2. Major findings 29
2.4. Some suggested solutions 30
2.4.1. Material writers and curriculum developers 30

example, Quach Thi Mai (2007), Nguyen Thu Huong (2008) and many other authors. It
is still quite a problem. Learners face difficulties in vocabulary learning in general and
memorizing in particular. Memorizing vocabulary has been discussed a lot in the foreign
context, however, in Vietnam it is still a potential to exploit.
Many Vietnamese students experience considerable difficulties in learning
vocabulary because of word nature, lack of time, learning strategies, motivation and so
on. Having worked with the course book “English for Finance” by Cao Xuan Thieu, the
Financial Publishing House (2008) and examined many oral final tests of the second-
year non-English major students at the AOF for several years, the researcher has noticed
a number of problems faced by students here. These problems still exist in the process of
learning ESP vocabulary when many of the students could not even give a simple
answer or speak a simple sentence. They find it hard to remember, to correctly
pronounce and use vocabulary. Many students confide to the researcher that they spend
lots of time learning vocabulary but they can remember only few words they have learnt.
As a result, English vocabulary becomes very challenging and threatening for them in
learning English for specific purposes at university.
These reasons urge the researcher to find out the difficulties in memorizing ESP
vocabulary faced by the second-year non-English major students at the AOF and the
possible solutions to help students improve their vocabulary memorization.

2 2. The aims of the study
The study aims at finding out the difficulties in memorizing ESP vocabulary
faced by the 2
nd

the collection and analysis of the data and major findings of the study. The last part,
Conclusion, summarizes the findings, draws teaching implications, states the limitation
of the research, and offers suggestions for further research.
3 PART B: DEVELOPMENT
CHAPTER 1
LITERATURE REVIEW
1.1. Vocabulary in second language learning and teaching
1.1.1. Definitions of vocabulary
There have been different definitions of vocabulary. Ur (1996) defined
vocabulary as “the words we teach in the foreign language. However, a new item of
vocabulary may be more than a single word: a compound of two or three words or multi-
word idioms”. A similar definition from Richards and Platt (1992) is that vocabulary is
“a set of lexemes, including words, compound words and idioms”. Read (2000) believes
that vocabulary is considered as an inventory of individual words, with their associated
meanings. From different definitions of vocabulary, it indicates that vocabulary is “the
total number of words in a language” (Hornby, 1995)

1.1.2. The status of vocabulary in language teaching and learning
Vocabulary teaching and learning has changed dramatically in the last two
decades. Mc Carthy (1990) pointed out that the biggest component of any language
course is vocabulary. The fact is that no matter how well the student learns grammar, no
matter how successfully the sounds of second language (L2) are mastered, without
words to express a wide range of meanings, communication in an L2 just cannot happen
in any meaningful way.
Since the mid-1980s there has been a renewed interest in the role of vocabulary
in second language learning. There have been studies on the nature of the bilingual
lexicon, vocabulary acquisition, lexical storage, lexical retrieval, and the use of

Specialized words are made up of
words that occurred frequently in a specialized text or subject area but did not occur or
were of frequency in other fields (Nation and Chung 2004).

Main characteristics of vocabulary in business context
It is necessary to specify that the characteristics of specialized English, including
medical English, technical English, business English, etc lies in its lexicon. Nguyen
Phuoc Vinh (2011) researches the main characteristics of Business English. Business
English covers many subjects and professions, therefore; the meaning of a word is
usually related to one/more than one subject such as accounting, finance, banking,
marketing, etc. These following parts will focus on the morphological and semantic
characteristics of financial, accounting, and banking English vocabulary (Vinh, 2011). Morphologically he mentions:
Simple words: financial, accounting, and banking English has simple words such
as „asset‟, „bear‟, „capital‟, „debit‟, „earnings‟, „fraud‟,etc., and most words are
composite in that they have a recognizable internal structure.
5 Compound words: according to Longman Business English Dictionary (2007),
compound nouns make up a large part of the vocabulary of business English. Nguyen
and Ton (2010) point out that collocations (nouns plus nouns and adjectives plus nouns)
are one of the most typical features of financial, accounting, and banking English. The
corpus of the collocations of compound nouns in „Longman Business Dictionary‟ given
by these two authors shows that the word „account‟ has 65 collocations; „asset‟ has 13
collocations; „balance‟ has 14 collocations and so on.
Some compounds consisting of verb + preposition also add to the terminology
of finance, accounting, and banking such as buy-back, buy-in, take-out, take-over, turn-

specialised English students but they are new to general English students.
Culture in the terminology of finance, accounting, and banking: what is meant
by culture here is culture-bound terms. Harvey (2003) defines culture-bound terms as
the terms which refer to concepts, institutions and personnel which are specific to the
source language culture. Any readers, learners, and translators for a financial text must
have had some problems with a range of culture-bound terms as in bulldog market, bear,
bull, bull market, shark, cats and dog, white knight, black knight, red herring, wildcat.
The difference between British English and American English in the area of
finance, accounting, and banking: this is the most significant characteristic because the
difference between them sometimes faces learners, for example , the British use debtors
(the amounts of the money that are owed to a company which are recorded as assets on
its BALANCE SHEET) when Americans use accounts receivable. Below are some
more examples.
British English: Annual General Meeting, Articles of Association, authorized share
capital, barometer stock, base rate, bonus issue, bridging loan, building society, etc.
American English: Stockholders Meeting, bylaws, authorized capital stock, bellwether
stock, prime rate, stock dividend, bridge loan, savings and loan association, etc.
The oppositions or contrasts in financial English: one of the characterisics
(typical of financial English) is the strong oppositions or contrasts in financial English
as in assets / liabilities, credit / debit, income / expenditure, output / input, supply /
demand. Learners should pay much attention to these oppositions because they are
typical of financial English.
The lexical productivity in financial English: by lexical productivity, firstly, we
mean „derivatives: words that have been developed or produced from other words such
as speculate (v), speculation (n), speculator (n), speculative (adj). This is one of the
7 ways to enlarge vocabulary. Secondly, lexical productivity is also one of the main
features in the types of specialised English owing to the new developments in the fields
Ex. 1. Shareholders are expecting to see some RETURN from their investment.
Ex. 2. Bond INTEREST is fixed, but earnings per share are growing.
Ex. 3. He has a 15% controlling INTEREST in the new company.
Polysemous words with many specialised senses: the phenomenon of
polysemous words is also one fairly common feature in the terminology of finance,
accouting, and banking. In Oxford Business English Dictionary, the word credit has 8
senses, four of which refer to specialised senses. (1) Commerce: an arrangement that you
make with a bank, shop/store, etc, to be able to buy things now and pay for them later.
(2) Finance: money that financial institutions lend to business, governments and people.
(3) Accounting: an amount that is written in a company‟s financial account to show an
increase in money that the company owes or a decrease in the value of the assets. (4)
Accounting: an amount of money that is paid back or owed to you, because you paid too
much. The following examples will be given in the order of subjects/topics:
Ex. 1. I bought it on CREDIT.
Ex. 2. It is unlikely that the bank will extend additional CREDIT to the firm.
Ex. 3. Produce a trial balance to ensure that CREDITS equal the debits.
Ex. 4. We will issue you with a CREDIT for any damaged goods that you return.
1.2. Vocabulary memorization
1.2.1. Memorization
Language learning involves memorization, i.e., the storage of the new
information in memory (Schmitt, 1997). Many definitions of memorization can also be
found in various studies and dictionaries. For example, according to Richards and Platt
(1992), "Memorizing is the process of establishing information in memory. The term
'memorizing' usually refers to the conscious processes." This means the learners use
memorization consciously and they think about the process of memorization when they
are applying it. Another explanation can be found in the Oxford Advanced Learner's
Dictionary (2005) that "Memorizing is to learn something carefully so that you can
remember it exactly." This technique is similar to a description of a cognitive learning

Alan Baddeley and Graham J. Hitch (2010) define working memory as a limited
capacity part of the human memory system that combines the temporary storage and
manipulation of information in the service of cognition. Klimesch (1994) points that
there exist four characteristics that are important in describing short-term memory: it‟s
limited capacity, its primarily serial way of processing, its importance as temporary-
working store and its control processes. Material remains in working memory for about
twenty seconds. The existence
of articulator loop enables this new material
processing. It works a bit like audiotape going around again. It assures the short-
term store to be
kept refreshed. The ability to hold a word in working memory is
a good
predictor of language learning aptitude. The better ability to hold words in
working memory the smoother the process of learning foreign languages is.
Long-term memory
Long-term memory can be seen as kind of filling system. Unlike working
10 memory, which has a limited capacity and no permanent content, this kind of
memory
has an enormous capacity and its contents are durable over time.
However, to ensure
moving new materials into permanent long-term memory requires a number of
principles to be followed, described by Thornbury (2002):
Repetition - repetition of encounters with a word is very important, useful and
effective. If the word is met several times over space interval during reading activities,
students have a very good chance to remember it for a long time.
Retrieval - another kind of repetition. Activities, which require retrieval, such as
using the new items in written tasks, help students to be able to recall it again in the

words better than the others: the nature of the words themselves, under what
circumstances they are learnt, the method of teaching and so on. The following
paragraphs will discuss the factors in detail.
1.2.3.1. Word- related factors
Nation (2001) points out that specific lexis is one of the key problems in teaching
and learning ESP. As he states, then, specific lexis can be a problem for ESP language
learners not only because they do not know the correct words, but because they lack
experience of a “whole new way of conceptualizing” that is characteristic of discourse
community using that word. Similarly, ESP lexis constitutes a puzzle for ESP learners
because it involves values and conventions shared by a discourse community, which are
not familiar to outsiders.
Moreover,
Bowker and Pearson (2002) mention that technical words and
general words can have some degree of
overlap. When two words overlap in meaning,
learners are likely to confuse them. Words with multiple meanings can also be
troublesome for learners. Having learned one meaning of the word, they may be
reluctant to accept a second, very different meaning. Unfamiliar concepts may make a
word difficult to learn.
1.2.3.2. Leaner- related factors
Vocabulary memorizing strategies
Research on the use of vocabulary strategies has revealed differences among learners
in terms of their strategy use. Macaro (2005) states that a learner needs to be able to
consciously apply a strategy to a cognitive process to strengthen the link between the
strategy and the achievement of vocabulary learning. In this regard, Cohen (1996)
indicates that many learners do not develop sufficient mastery of a strategy repertoire that
will allow them to make progress in language learning on their own.
Daller, Milton, and Treffers-Daller (2007) propose that learning strategies and
individual variation interfere with vocabulary memorizing to some extent. In general,
memorization strategies refer to making connections between the to-be-learned word and

Teacher‟s methodology is a pivotal factor that much influences on learners‟
motivation and involvement in class activities, which much contribute to learners‟
vocabulary memorizing success. Clearly, some language teachers are better than others
at providing appropriate and effective learning experiences for their students in their
classrooms. These students will make faster progress in language learning in general and
vocabulary memorizing in particular.
Vocabulary is acquired incidentally but it should be taught systematically and
intentionally, especially in foreign language environment where learners have limited
exposure to the language outside of the classroom as in Vietnam. If teachers have
suitable methods in introducing vocabulary, it is more interesting to study vocabulary. It
is therefore a motivation for students to pay attention to and then store it in their long-
term memory. However, this may be very difficult, when ESP teachers are rarely trained
13 in specific knowledge and they often lack of time for vocabulary presenting because
they have to focus so much on the content and structure of the lessons.
Strategy training
Ellis (1985) notes we should remember that vocabulary learning also involve the
use of individual learning techniques. He has also found that vocabulary learning
techniques and strategies enhance understanding of the acquisition processes in the
learners‟ mind. Therefore, a description of vocabulary learning strategies can be used as
a guideline to help learners in their lexical acquisition (Ellis, 1995). Thus, they need to
be given explicit instruction to become more aware of and proficient with the broad range
of strategies that can be used through the learning process (Cohen, Weaver & Li, 1998).
1.2.3.4. Learning context
The learning context refers to the socio-cultural-political environment where
learning takes place. The learning context can include the teachers, the peers, the
classroom climate or the classroom interaction in general. With regard to classroom
interaction and second language acquisition, Ellis (1994) concluded that opportunities to

book: economics, money and banking, finance, accounting and auditing, financial
analysis, marketing and international business.
As for the syllabus, the teacher and the students meet three times a week, each
time for three 45 - minute periods to finish one unit. Each unit includes 5 parts: part I:
Reading text, part II: Comprehension questions, part III: Language focus, part IV: Word
study and part V: Vocabulary.
In detail, in part I, the reading texts have from 300 to 500 words for discussing
particular financial topics such as economics, money and banking, finance, accounting
and auditing, and others. These texts often mention the conceptions of the topics. For
example, the first unit is about economics including: what economics is, what the fields
and subfields of economics are. Part II, reading comprehension, designed to help
students understand the content of reading text, has from 5 to 10 questions related to the
reading text. Part III, Language focus, presents grammar issue in both theory and
practice. Part IV and V are about vocabulary. Part IV focuses on vocabulary practice
exercises. The exercises in this part are often blank-filling, one word for each blank in
separate sentences or paragraph so that students can revise the contents and vocabulary
as well, finding the opposites, word- formation, grouping words. Part V is a list of new
vocabulary items and their explanation in English and then meanings in Vietnamese at
the end of each unit.
The teaching syllabus is designed in the form of a form-focused instruction. Less
attention is paid to vocabulary in the specific area because of time limit. At the end of
the term, there is an oral test for students. This oral test includes 4 main parts: reading a
15 paragraph in one unit, summarizing the main contents of a unit, presenting a topic
related to the unit and answering teachers‟ questions. These parts are included in one
unit, which students choose at random.
2.1.2. The second-year non-English major students
The second-year non-English major students are approximately from 19 to 24 in

Through class observation and small talks to ESP teachers and learners, it is
obvious that most of the teachers teaching ESP at the AOF are deeply influenced by the
grammar-translation method. There are few language activities for vocabulary learning.
This is actually one of the reasons why the learners find it hard to acquire vocabulary in
the specific field.
2.2. Research methodology
2.2.1. Research questions
The study aims at finding out the difficulties in memorizing ESP vocabulary
faced by the second-year non-English major students and possible solutions to the
problems by answering two research questions:
(1) What are the 2
nd
year non-English major students’ difficulties in memorizing ESP
vocabulary in the textbook “English for Finance”?
(2) What are the possible solutions to help the learners memorize ESP vocabulary
better?
2.2.2. The participants
There are two groups of participants: students and teachers. Group 1 involves
100 students of 4 departments (31 from the Accounting Department, 23 from the
banking and insurance department, 29 from the international finance department and the
rest from the taxation and customs department). They are in the second term of their
second year at the AOF, and had finished both GE and ESP courses. Most of these
students (78%) come from the countryside, 22% are from towns and cities. Most of them
are female (79%). 87% have learnt English before entering the AOF. Among 13% of the
students who have not learnt English before, 2% have not learnt any foreign languages,
the rest have learned French. Group 2 includes 16 teachers who are teaching ESP at the
AOF. They have got from 4 to 25 years of teaching experience.
2.2.3. Data collection instruments
To collect data, two instruments, questionnaire for students and interview for
teachers are used.

and comparison. For the open-ended questions in the interviews, the common themes
were identified and then analyzed.
2.3. Data analysis and discussion
This part deals with the results from the questionnaire to the students and from
the interviews with teachers. The findings from those results will lead to the suggested
solutions to make improvement for memorizing ESP vocabulary.

18 2.3.1. Discussion of the results
2.3.1.1. The results collected by questionnaire on the target language input

Questions

Options
Sts’ answers
(%)

Topics of reading texts are…to your own knowledge.
A. unfamiliar
61
B. familiar
27
C. very familiar
12

According to you, reading texts contain…new
vocabulary items.
A. many

There are…vocabulary practice exercises in each unit.
A. many
15
B. average
34
C. few
51

Vocabulary practice exercises in each unit are….
A. interesting
7
B. neutral
35
C. boring
58

Table 1: Students‟ opinion on the syllabus and ESP vocabulary in the course book

Regarding students‟ opinion on the syllabus and ESP vocabulary, table 1 shows
that:
In terms of topics of the reading texts, 61% consider they are strange while only
27% feel familiar to their background knowledge when they have finished their course
19 on these topics in Vietnamese. Evidently, it is a challenge for students to memorize what
they do not know in their target language.
The option that reading texts contain many new vocabulary items accounts for
the largest portion, 63%. There are only 2 % choose option C (few). The rest choose
option B (average). Thus, there are too many new vocabulary items, which students are