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VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY-HANOI
COLLEGE OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES
POST GRADUATE STUDIES



VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY-HANOI
COLLEGE OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES
POST GRADUATE STUDIES HOANG THI HAI HANH

A STUDY ON STUDENTS’ DIFFICULTIES IN LEARNING ENGLISH
FOR SPECIFIC PURPOSES AT FACULTY OF BROADCASTING
TECHNOLOGY OF COLLEGE OF BROADCASTING I


3. Scope of the study
4. Methods of the study
5. Design of the study
Part II: Development
Chapter 1: Theoretical Background
1.1 Reading and reading comprehension
1.1.1 The nature of reading and reading comprehension
1.1.2 Reading process
1.1.3 Classification of reading according to the purposes of
reading
1.2 ESP reading
1.2.1 Definitions of ESP
1.2.2 Reading skills in ESP
1.2.3 ESP reading materials
1.3 Problems in learning ESP reading
1.3.1 Reading skill problem
1.3.2 Language problem
1.4 Previous studies
1.5 Summary
Chapter 2: The current situation of teaching and learning ESP
reading at College of Broadcasting I. (CB-I)
2.1 Introduction about CB-I learners
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3.1 Research questions
3.2 The participants
3.3 The data collection methods
3.4 Data analysis
3.4.1 Students’ attitudes towards ESP reading
3.4.2 The purpose of reading ESP in the views of the students
3.4.3 Students’ perception of ESP reading difficulties
*In term of grammar
* In term of vocabulary
* In term of discourse
* In term of reading skills
* Rank order of ESP reading difficulties
3.4.4 The causes of difficulties
* The reading materials
* The teachers
* The learners
3.4.5 Students’ expectations in term of material
3.4.6 Students’ expectations in term of methodology
3.5 Summary
Chapter 4: Some suggestions to improve learning ESP reading in
CB-I
4.1 Improving teachers’ classroom techniques for teaching
Broadcasting Technology reading
4.1.1 Applying different approaches to teach vocabulary
4.1.2 Supplying more grammar structures
4.1.3 Increasing students’ reading interest and motivation
4.2 Training students to become efficient readers
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4.2.1 Teaching students different reading strategies
4.2.2 Assigning and checking students’ completion of
homework.
4.3 Training teachers
4.3.1 Improving Broadcasting Technology background
knowledge for teachers of English
4.3.2 Improving teaching methodology
4.4 Developing ESP reading materials
4.4.1 Developing topics
4.4.2 Adapting reading practice exercises
4.4.3 Simplifying highly specialized texts
4.5 Summary
Part III: Conclusion
1. Summary of the findings
2. Some conclusions
3. Limitations of the study and suggestion for further study.
References
Appendices
Appendix 1: Some pictures about mixing desk and recording studio
Appendix 2: Unit 6- Making a recording
Appendix 3: Bảng câu hỏi dành cho sinh viên
Appendix 4: Translated version of the questionnaire for students
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ESP: English for Specific Purposes
FBT: Faculty of Broadcasting Technology
GE: General English
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PART I: INTRODUCTION
1. Rationale
Owing to the ongoing process of regional and global integration in Vietnam, the
demand for English language learning across the country is increasing. English has become a
compulsory subject in every school, college and university with a considerable length of time.
To students, nowadays, English is not only a subject in the curriculum at university but also a
key to gain access to the information world. In Vietnam, there is a growing demand for English
language teaching to meet the needs of a new generation of learners who want to learn English
to “gain access to the required knowledge that is available, either exclusively or most readily, in
English” (Munby, 1978:3) or to serve other different specific purposes. That leads to the
coming into being of English for Specific Purposes (ESP).
Being aware of the great demand for English in particularly and the importance of ESP
in specially, officials in CB- I have adapted GE since 1990 and ESP since 1993 as compulsory
subject. It is aimed at broadening students‟ knowledge and achieving success in their career life
as well.
As a technical college, one of the requirements for graduates is to be able to read
professional documents in their field for further study or future jobs. Therefore, ESP was first
introduced into the syllabus about 10 years ago. However, teachers and students at CB-I still
face some of these problems:
- There has been little or almost no research work touching upon ESP teaching
methodologies to language students in Vietnam.
- Most teachers at CB-I lack experience in teaching ESP.
- There are no training courses for teachers of ESP.
- Students are not of equal level of English

this thesis uses the analysis of the statistics from the instruments including one questionnaire,
informal interviews and small talks conducted with the teachers and students at CB-I.
5. Design of the study
The study is organized into three main parts: the introduction, the development and the
conclusion.
The first part introduces the rationale, aims of the study, method, scope of the study as well
as design of the thesis.
The second part consists of four chapters:
Chapter 1 reviews the theoretical background of the research including Reading and reading
comprehension, ESP reading and problems in learning ESP reading.

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Chapter 2 discusses the present situation of teaching and learning reading English in Faculty
of Broadcasting Technology at CB- I.
Chapter 3 presents the research methodology which focuses on the research questions, the
participants, research method including data collection methods, data analysis process and
some discussion and findings.
Chapter 4 suggests some recommendations to reduce difficulties and to improve the
teaching and learning of ESP reading.
The last part summarizes the issues addressed, presents some conclusions made on the basis
of the findings, shows the limitations of the study and makes some suggestions for further
research.
whereby one looks at and understand what has been written.” He takes the same view with
Goodman on reading, especially on the act of reconstruction as Goodman.
Clearly, there is a great deal of defining reading and no definition can capture all the
ideas and features of what reading is. Each researcher reflects what reading means according to
his or her own opinions. What is common between them is that however they have an effort to
find out the nature of reading, reading act in which reading, the readers and the text are
emphasized. Now it is essential for us to understand thoroughly the definition of reading
comprehension before teaching a reading text.
* Reading Comprehension
Grellet (1983: 3) indicated that “reading or understanding a written text means
extracting the required information from it as effectively as possible”.
Reading comprehension is considered as an important part in teaching and learning
reading a foreign language. It can be understood as the ability to attract the required
information from the text as effectively as possible.

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According to Swan (1975: 1) “a student is good at comprehension, we mean that he can
read accurately and efficiently, so as to get the maximum information of a text with the
minimum of understanding.” That means reader can show his/her understanding by re-
expressing the content of the text in answering questions, summarizing the text, choosing right
answer, etc.
Besides, Richards (1992) stated that “reading comprehension is best described as an
understanding between the author and the reader”. The emphasis is on the reader‟s
understanding of the text based on the individual‟s unique background of experience.
In conclusion, reading comprehension is the process in which the readers, as they read,
can recognize the graphic form and can understand the relation between the writing and the
meaning. It means that after reading reader can understand what is implied behind these graphic
forms, for example, they can master grammatical structures, word pronunciation, understand
the context, the text and use it in real life as effective as possible.
1.1.2. Reading process

able to read, a child must be encouraged to predict, to use prior knowledge or even have non-
visual information provided” (1975:60). Smith (1971:2) emphasizes the role of meaning and of
the reader‟s need to predict when reading: reading is less a matter of extracting sound from
print than of bringing meaning to print. He cites four distinctive and fundamental characteristics
of reading: (1) reading is purposeful; (2) reading is selective; (3) reading is based on
comprehension; (4) reading is anticipatory. Smith gives the reader a central role in
understanding what he or she reads. However, one of the shortcomings of the top-down model
is that it sometimes fails to distinguish adequately between beginning readers and fluent ones.
* Bottom-up models of reading process
In bottom-up reading models, the reader begins with the written text (the bottom) and
constructs meaning from letters, words, phrases and sentences found within and then processes
the text in a linear fashion. Alderson (2000: 16) noted that: in bottom-up approaches, “the
readers begins with the printed word, recognizes graphic stimuli, decoded them to sound,
recognizes words and decodes meanings. Each component involves sub-processes which take
place independently of each other, and build upon prior sub-processes. Sub-processes higher up
the chain cannot, however, feed back into components lower down.
LaBerge and Samuels (1974) also emphasizes the role of attention in processing
information and the importance of automaticity in the reading process. They assume that the
reader‟s understanding depends on what appears in the text and that the reader performs two
tasks when reading: decoding and comprehending. For LaBerge and Samuels, decoding is
going from the printed word to some articulatory or phonological representation of the printed
stimulus. Comprehending is deriving meaning from the decoded materials (Samuels & Kamil,

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1984: 197). However, an important shortcoming of these models is lack of feedback (Samuels
and Kamil, 1988: 31). Because of this limitation and together with the advent of Goodman‟s
top-down view of reading as a psycholinguistic process, the bottom-up view of reading fell into
disfavor.
In short, bottom-up models tend to be linear as they start with the printed stimuli and
proceed to higher-level stages, one step after another. The basis for bottom-up processing is

students to pay great attention to the text.” And Francoise Grellet (1981:41) defined “intensive
reading means reading short texts to extract specific information. This is an accuracy activity
involving reading for details”
The objective of intensive reading is to understand a text in details that is contrastive
with extensive reading. In intensive reading, readers are required a very good understanding in
details of the text.
In brief, intensive reading does not require a large amount of reading material, but a rich
comprehension of a small amount of reading material which may be even a few lines or a
passage. The readers have to research and try to get to know every idea, and every piece of
hidden information in the text. They have to pay their attention to the area of the words in the
passage through which some hints may be conveyed. Students read intensively when they are
seeking for detailed instruction for using sound mix machine or video recorder for the first
time, etc.
This reading way is very important for foreign language learners, especially for students
of Faculty of Broadcasting Technology. Therefore, teachers should design more exercises and
to provide more reading texts about the same topic for the students to develop their reading
ability as well as knowledge.
* Skimming
Grellet (1981:19) stated that: “when skimming, we go through the reading material
quickly in order to get its main points or the intention of the writer, but not o find the answer to
specific questions.”
Nuttall said: “By skimming we mean glancing rapidly through a text to determine
whether a research paper is relevant to your own work or in order to keep ourselves
superficially informed about matters that are not of great importance to us”.
The purposes of skimming are:
- To check relevance of text
- To set the scene for more concentrated effort that is to follow if the text is useful
Skimming is useful to look at chapter/ section headings, summaries and opening
paragraphs. Skimming is very useful for students. It can help students have an overview of what
they are reading.

disciplines serves” (Dudley-Evans & St John, 1998: 8).The important elements of methodology
and activities determine the success of an ESP syllabus to train the learners how to use the
language and to be skillful in practicing it.

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Finally, ESP should be in contrast with GE. Learners of ESP usually study English to
perform a role rather than studying for general examination. ESP course, thus, have to find out
the distinguish features of the language in the specific specialism in its selection of skills and
themes, topics, situations, functions language and methodology. Only in this way, ESP does its
special work.
It is clear that all the above definitions originate from different time by different
researchers; they meet each other at a point that any ESP course must be based on the learner‟s
needs.
1.2.2. Reading skills in ESP
Reading is always considered an important skill in both GE and ESP teaching and
learning. In ESP, English is not only taught with the purpose of improving the students‟ reading
skills, but also of familiarizing them with the English language used in many specific fields
(English for business, English for Medicine, English for computer science…) in terms of
vocabulary, terminology, registers. That is, after an ESP reading course, students are supposed
to be able to interpret texts of their subjects in order to get information for their further studies,
their future work in the most appropriate way. In the field of teaching reading comprehension
researchers have recommended a lot of essential reading skills. In an ESP course, the learning
of the reading comprehension is the learners‟ most important need. In second language
education, Munby‟s taxonomy of micro skills has been influential in syllabus and material
design as well as the design of the language tests. Reading involves a variety of skills. Munby
(1978) distinguishes the nineteen reading micro skills. Dudley-Evans and St. Johns (1998:96)
show some of the key skills:
- Selecting what is relevant to the current purpose
- Using all the features of the text such as headings, layout, typeface
- Skimming for content and meaning

the students think, opportunities for them to use their existing knowledge, skills and content
that they and their teachers can cope with; truly reflect what you think and feel about learning
process; provide clear and coherent unit structure to guide the student through various activities
to maximize the chances of learning; create a balance outlook which both reflects the
complexity of the task, yet make it appear manageable; introduce teachers to new techniques
and provide models of correct and appropriate language use.
1.3. Problems in learning ESP reading
Reading knowledge of a foreign language is often important to professional, academic
studies, and personal development. There are a great deal of factors affect the success in
reading including students‟ habits, attitude, motivation, exposure to target language, textual
characteristics, the way reading is taught, and the teacher‟s classroom techniques or learning

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environment, etc. Many authors including Jolly (1978), Coady (1979) Yorio (1971) and others
agree that problems with foreign language reading may be classified into three types: reading
skill problems, language problems, and cultural background knowledge.
1.3.1 Reading skill problems
According to Anderson (1984), a reading ability is often all that is needed by learners of
English and other foreign languages. In his experience, as well as that of many other teachers,
the reason their students cannot read adequately in English is that they cannot read adequately
in the native language, in the first place. The problems of reading in English would be vastly
reduced if they learnt to read „properly‟ in their first language.
Student‟s limited reading skills create many problems. Some students who read too
slowly will easily get discouraged. They do not know how to use the appropriate ways to move
their eyes from word group to word group. They just look at every single word, and accordingly
fail to grasp the general meaning of the text.
Reading is an active skill, involving guessing, predicting, etc. If learner does not have a
good guessing ability and cannot make full use of grammatical, logical and cultural clues,
he/she will read the text with less understanding than he/she might expect, and/or will feel
frustrated at the text, and will not want to continue reading. Therefore, the reader is trapped in a

There are some studies relating students‟ difficulties in learning ESP reading were
carried out at Vietnam National University, Hanoi- College of Foreign Languages-
Postgraduate Studies. These studies, two of which were read, revealed some strengths and
weaknesses as well. Both Bui Thi Ngoc Ha (2006) and Pham Hai Yen (2008) proposed studies
on difficulties in reading ESP of learners in the Army Cryptography Technical College and at
Vinh Technical Teachers‟ Training University respectively. Both two these researchers
administered one questionnaire, interviews and small talks to investigate students‟ difficulties
in grammar, vocabulary, reading skills, discourse and cultural background; the causes of these
difficulties and students‟ expectations in reading materials and teaching methodology. These
researchers also presented some suggestions to limit these difficulties. They did not suggest
recommendations to improve students‟ grammar knowledge although the area also made the
students have problems. However, their researches still considered as sample for reference
before the researcher began the study. Probably, the researcher will find out solutions for this
existing to help students feel more motivated in learning ESP reading.
1.5. Summary
In conclusion, this chapter presents a theoretical frame work for the study. It provides an
overview of ESP as well as the nature of reading and reading comprehension. Furthermore, this
chapter also discussed ESP reading with reading skills and reading material. Besides, via this
chapter,the researcher also would like to present problems in learning ESP reading theoretically

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Chapter 2: The current situation of teaching and learning ESP reading at
College of Broadcasting I. (CB-I)
2.1. Introduction about CB-I learners
The College of Broadcasting I belongs to Radio, the Voice of Vietnam and its duty is to
train journalists and broadcasting technicians for broadcasting stations throughout the country.
The college helps them to master scientific advances and use perfectly modern technological
equipments such as computers, cameras, recorders, sound- mixture machines and so on. The
college has been established for nearly 55 years from a school for technician workers then a
vocational school and now a college. Every year, our college trains about 1000 students in six

reading, which means that in class students work quietly and individually. Consequently, they
are most comfortable with using dictionaries, repetition or copying, taking notes, using
vocabulary notebooks, finding synonyms and antonyms or spelling exercises. Besides, they
prefer translation. It results in the fact that they pay more attention to forms than to functions
and meanings. This fact calls for a teacher‟s provision of the methods of teaching at the tertiary
level for students.
2.2 The objectives of teaching and learning reading ESP in CB-I
ESP was taught in the faculty of Broadcasting Technology after the teaching of GE
three years later. ESP was introduced in the training program to meet students‟ needs of English
for their future work. The aim of these ESP courses is to provide students with adequate
knowledge of English used in the field they are studying so that they can use it for their future
work. To achieve this objective English has been taught with the following format: GE is taught
in the first year with the integration of four skills. Priority is given to teaching translation.
Teachers select materials from newspapers or journals on both Vietnamese and English related
to the students‟ fields of study and students have to translate them from English into
Vietnamese or vice versa.
Students learn ESP for Broadcasting Technology to read materials or control equipment
instructed in English. At the end of each semester, students have to sit for an English
examination.
2.3 Teachers and methods of teaching
There are seven teachers of English in our college, aged from 27 to 35. All of them had
been educated in ELT training in the foreign language university inside Vietnam. Two of them
participated in short-time language courses oversea. These are our advantages; however, we
also have some problems. One of most obvious difficulties is that both teachers and students
lack a language environment to develop their communicative abilities. Another problem is that
none of teachers has been trained in teaching ESP. This is an obstacle for teachers to improve

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the teaching of ESP in the college. Almost teachers teach GE with little or no specific
knowledge of broadcasting technology. Sometimes we find it difficult to transfer specialized


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materials for the course. As the result of this, different teachers had different focal points in
choosing lesson plans with different language items such as vocabulary, functions, structure,
skills or learning activities, and different teaching approaches. The most common approach
then was the grammar-translation one. Although the main focus of this approach was on
teaching vocabulary, grammar was considered as an important component of the whole process.
This method was used as a means of presenting grammar, specialist vocabulary, structures
which were assumed to be relevant to the students‟ needs and at the same time it was used as a
feedback to check the students‟ comprehension. ESP course at CB-I was delivered in this way
for a long time.
At presents, students learn English in three semesters in which GE is taught in the first
year and ESP in the first semester of the second one. The time allocated for GE is 90 periods
(each period lasts 45 minutes) and that for ESP is 60 periods. The ESP syllabus focuses on the
subject matters of broadcasting technology. It also focuses on languages skills, speaking,
reading, writing and translation and reading comprehension is a major source of input.
Regarding assessment, the common form includes written achievement tests (a mid-
term and an end-of-term one). The form of tests usually comprises three main parts: reading
comprehension, grammar exercises and translation. The test aims at assessing students‟
knowledge and the results of the test together with other forms of continuous assessment at the
class through the course will supply information about the students‟ progress. These
information help teachers adjust their methodology and material available to promote learning.
2.5 Summary
In brief, this chapter displays the current situation of teaching and learning ESP reading
at CB-I with introduction about CB-I learners, the objectives of teaching and learning reading
English in CB-I. Moreover, this chapter provides some information about teachers and
methodology as well as the ESP program in CB-I

To reach the primary purposes of the study, a survey questionnaire has been chosen as
the main method for data collection for this particular research. One survey with 15 questions is
designed for students who are currently learning English for Broadcasting Technology to get
information about difficulties of students at FBT in learning ESP reading. Besides, the
questionnaires helps researcher to find out materials and methodology which are appropriate to
students. The questionnaire was written in Vietnamese to ensure students‟ accurate
understanding of all the questions before answering them. One hundred copies of the