vietnam national university, hanoi
college of foreign languages
department of post graduate studies
* * * * * * * * *
NGUYỄN VĂN THUẬT designing an esp reading syllabus for
third - year students at the social department,
bac ninh teachers’ training college THIẾT KẾ CHƯƠNG TRÌNH ĐỌC HIỂU
TIẾNG ANH CHUYÊN NGÀNH SỬ HỌC CHO SINH VIÊN NĂM THỨ BA
KHOA XÃ HỘI, TRƯỜNG CAO ĐẲNG SƯ PHẠM BẮC NINH
MINOR THESIS

FIELD: ENGLISH TEACHING METHODOLOGY
CODE: 601410 HANOI - 2009


HANOI - 2009
Tables of contents
 Acknowledgement
 Abstract
 List of abbreviation
 List of tables and figures

Part one: Introduction Page

1. Rationale for the study 1
2. Aims and objectives of the study 2
3. Scope of the study 2
4. Method of the study 2
5. Organization of the study 3

Part two: Development
Chapter I: Literature review 4
I. An overview of ESP 4
I.1.1. Definition of ESP 4
I.1.2. Types of ESP 5
I.1.3. General English vs. English for special purpose 7

I.2. An overview of syllabus design 7
I.2.1. Definitions of syllabus 7
I.2.2. Syllabus design 8
I.2.3. Types of syllabus 9
I.2.3.1. Content – based syllabus 9
I.2.3.1.1. Structural syllabus 9
I.2.3.1.2. Notional / functional syllabus 9

year – students of History at the SD 26
II.4. Summary of the findings and discussion 30

Chapter III: Designing an ESP reading syllabus
for the 3
rd
year students of History at the SD, BTTC

III.1. Aims and objectives of the expected reading syllabus 31
III.2. Selecting a type of syllabus for ESP students at the SD, BTTC 32
III.3. Sequencing the content in the syllabus 32
III.3.1. Topics in the syllabus 32
III.3.2. Reading skills and learning activities 33
III.3.3. The organization of the syllabus 34
III.3.4. Designing tests for the ESP reading course 35
III.4. The proposed syllabus for the third - year students at the SD, BTTC 35
III.5. Suggestions for the implementations of the proposed syllabus 37
III.5.1. To the teacher 37
III.5.2. To the student 37
III.5.3. To the material designer 38

Part three: Conclusion
1. Conclusions 39
2. Limitations of the study 39
3. Suggestions for further study 40

Appendix 1: TEACHERS SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE
Appendix 2: STUDENTS SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE

REFERENCE
list of tables and figures

Figure 1: ESP classification by experience
Chart1: ESP teachers’ ideas on the current textbook and their opinions on designing a new
ESP reading syllabus
Chart 2: Teachers’opinion about the objectives of the syllabus
Chart 3: Teachers’opinion about the consolidation of grammar in the syllabus
Table1: Teachers’ ranking the objectives of the syllabus in order of importance
Table 2: Teachers’ rating the topics relevant to English for History
Table 3: The teachers’ attitudes to the language and reading exercises
Table 4: Students’ ideas on objectives expected at the end of the reading syllabus
Table 5: Students’ rating the appropriateness of the topics relevant to the syllabus
Table 6: : Students’ opinions of the language and reading exercises

th
decision made by the Ministry of
Education and Training which focuses on renovating the methods of teaching and learning. It
is also based on the plans for the academic school year 2003 - 2004 of Bac Ninh Teacher
Training College (BTTC), one of which aims at changing and improving teaching and learning
methods between teachers and students.

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Accordingly, designing an ESP reading syllabus for the third – year students has been
an urgent task for the development of ESP teaching and learning at BTTC.
2. Aims and objectives of the study
The study aims at choosing an approach to designing an ESP reading syllabus for a
group of history students who are learning to become teachers of history at lower secondary
schools and who are learning English as a foreign language with a view to reading English
materials.
The researcher defined the major objectives of the study as follows:
- to identify the needs of the third - year history students of the Social Department (SD)
at BTTC.
- to design an ESP reading syllabus for the target students which is relevant to their
needs and requirements for their future jobs.
3. Scope of the study
The study mainly focuses on the designing of an ESP reading syllabus for a group of
students of history at BTTC - SD, who are at pre - intermediate level of English proficiency.
4. Methods of the study
In order to successfully fulfill the tasks and achieve the objectives of the study,
attention should firstly be paid to the kind of syllabus, which would be appropriate for the
target students. Qualitative method is employed in the research by means of survey
questionnaires, informal interviews and document analysis.
To identify students‟ needs and expectation, the useful topics and appropriate learning
tasks and activities in the ESP course to facilitate the design of an ESP reading syllabus for the

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Part two: Development
Chapter I: Literature review
This chapter will present different definitions of ESP to highlight the characteristics of
an ESP course and factors to be taken into account in designing an ESP course. This chapter
also discuses needs analysis in the syllabus designs.
I.1. An overview of ESP
I.1.1. Definitions of ESP
In fact, there have been a number of definitions for ESP defined by different people
because different people have given different emphases to the variety of elements that
characterize ESP.
Fitzjohn (in Robinson 1980: 9) mentions the time factor as a characteristic feature of ESP. He
states:
The very concept of ‘special purposes’ implies that foreign language study is a
subsidiary contribution to another, main interest, and that there will normally
be pressure to achieve the required level of linguistic competence in the
minimum time.
Pauline Robinson (1991) shared the same idea. One of her features is that ESP courses
are generally constrained by a limited time period. That is the objectives must be achieved
within a short period of time, the learners must obtain the required level of linguistic
competence.

In short, all the above presented definitions show that ESP belong to the English language
teaching and that meeting the needs of the learners is the first priority in the teaching of ESP.
For this obvious focus, ESP course designers should base on learners‟ needs to determine the
content of the syllabus, the materials and the teaching method to make the course valuable.
I.1.2. Types of ESP
Traditionally, ESP has been divided into two main areas: English for Occupational Purposes
(EOP) and English for Academic Purposes (EAP). Kennedy and Bolitho (1984: 4) explain the
two areas quite clearly as the followings:

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EOP is taught in a situation in which learners need to use English as part of their work
or profession. Instances of EOP students would be doctors in casualty or technicians
servicing equipment. They need English, in the first case, to talk and respond to
patients and other staff, and, in the second, to read technical manuals.
EAP is taught generally within educational institution to students needing English in
their studies. The language taught may be based in particular discipline at higher
levels of education when the student is specializing (in - study) or intends to specialize
(pre - study) in particular subject.
Sharing the same view of dividing ESP into EOP and EAP, Robinson (1991: 3 - 4) shows us
the following tree diagram:

Figure1. ESP classification by experience
It is obvious that the division of ESP into EOP and EAP is of great importance, as they
will affect the degree of specificity that is appropriate to the course. (Dudley - Evans and St
John, 1998: 6). A pre - experience or pre - study course will probably rule out any specific
work related to the actual discipline or work as students do not have required familiarity with
the content, while course of in - service or in - study will provide the opportunity for specific
or integrated work.
ESP
EOP

The notion of „syllabus‟ in current literature, has been defined in several different ways
by different authors.
Traditionally, the notion of „syllabus‟ was seen simply as a statement of content. Hutchinson,
in his book (1987: 70), defined syllabus as follows:
At its simplest level a syllabus can be described as a statement of what is to be
learnt. It reflects an official assumption as to the nature of language and
linguistic performance.
This is a rather traditional interpretation of syllabus focusing as it does on outcomes
rather than process. Regarding the matter in the same point of view, Yalden (1983: 87) also
defined a syllabus as an approximation of what will be taught and that it can not accurately
predict what will be learnt, a summary of the content to which learners will be exposed.
Yalden‟s another view on syllabus which is concerned with the „fit‟ between learners‟
needs and purposes of learning from a social and biological perspective: The syllabus replaces

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the concepts of ‘method’, and the syllabus is now seen as an instrument by which the teacher,
with the help of the syllabus design, can achieve a degree of ‘fit’ between the needs and the
aims of the learners (as social being and individual), and the activities which will take place
in the classroom. (Yalden 1984: 14).
Obviously, the syllabus in Yalden‟s and some other authors‟ view must be the
combination of „what‟ and „how‟ language will be instructed to the learners. More
importantly, the „who‟ was paid much attention to when constructing language - teaching
materials, especially materials for ESP learners?
In summary, syllabus could be broadly or narrowly defined by different authors, the
issue is that whatever the designer must combine the appropriate language content for the
target - learners and the methodology which can help the learners perceive the most of what
the syllabus means to be. Additionally, the needs of the learners must be taken into account
due to the fact that syllabus is designed in respond to what the learners wish to gain.
I.2.2. Syllabus design
According to Webb (1976), syllabus design is understood as the organization of the

language, while notions are the conceptual meanings (objects, entities, states of
affairs, logical relationship and so on) expressed through language. (Nunan 1988:35)
According to Wilkins (1997), the notional / functional syllabus has a main concern about the
teaching of meaning and the communicative use of patterns. This type of syllabus emphasizes
what speakers communicate through language and its content is derived from an analysis of
the learner‟s need to express certain meaning.
I.2.3.1.3. Situational syllabus
A situational syllabus focuses on the language used in society. In Wilkins‟ view (1997:
16), the assumption is that language is always used in a social context and can not be fully
understood without reference to that context. Therefore, in most situational syllabuses, the
prediction of what situations the learners will have to deal with is the basis for the selection of
content.
I.2.3.1.4. Topic - based syllabus
With content - based syllabus, learners are helped to acquire language through the
study of a series of relevant topics with each topic being exploited in systematic ways and

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from different angles. Typically, the topics are selected by the syllabus designer on the basis
of his or sense of the importance of the topics or themes to the lives or any specific purposes
of the learners from whom the syllabus is designed.
Topic - based syllabus has a big advantage, as stated by Robinson (1991: 37), that it
can motivate the students and as a basis for the ‘real syllabus’ of the language forms,
functions or whatever the course designers wish to focus on. This is the main advantage of this
syllabus, which is also claimed by Brown (1994: 222) that it can serve the multiple interests of
students in a classroom and can offer a focus on content while adhering to institutional needs
for offering a language course.
However, this type of syllabus presents a problem of grading as. Nunan (1988: 49)
pointed out: the logic of the subject may provide a non - linguistic rationale for the selecting
and grading content”. Besides, Brown and Yule (1983: 7) also claimed that “topic is broad,
difficult to define and semantic construct.

Negotiation between the students and the teacher is the key characteristic of this
syllabus type. (Robison, 1991: 38). Unlike language form and skill - based syllabus, the
process syllabus look beyond the competence that enables someone to perform, this approach
seeks the answer to the question what the competence is and how to acquire that competence.
Process syllabus can be seen as innovative one for it is largely focused on project work and
problem - solving tasks and activities. In the process syllabus the course materials, content and
teaching methods are negotiated between the teacher and the students thus ensuring its
innovative nature.
I.3. Needs analysis in syllabus design
It is very necessary and important to begin the course - developing process with an
analysis of the target group of students. Quite many problems in second language classes are
as a result of teachers not paying attention to the learners‟ interests and ignoring learners as a
source of essential information.
Today, needs analysis is crucial to conduct an in - depth needs assessment before
planning and implementing a curriculum and material (Johns, 1991; Robinson,1991),
especially in the context of ESP, in which ESP is viewed as a cover term for teaching and
learning English for multiple specific purposes.

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I.3.1. Needs analysis
There are many definitions of needs analysis given by different researchers. Brown
(1995: 35) defines: Needs analysis refers to the activities involved in gathering information
that will serve as the basis for developing a curriculum that will meet the learning needs of a
particular group of students.
A very thorough description of needs analysis is presented in development in ESP (Dudley -
Evans & Jo St John, 1998: 125) and covers the following areas:
A- target situation analysis and objective needs
B- wants, means, subjective needs
C- present situation analysis
D- learners‟ lacks

- Wants: Target needs are considered not only in terms of necessities and lacks but also in
terms of wants. To put it more simply, the learners also have a view as to what their needs are.
Their wants include their goal (for future job, for study, for status and promotion ), their
objectives (for instance, at the end of the course, they will be able to understand materials and
books relating to the content of the course), and what they want to learn (skills, topics and
language). Discussing learners‟ needs, Hutchinson and Waters (1987: 56) quote a comment
from Richterich (1984:29): a need does not exist independent of a person. It is people who
build their images of their needs on the basis of data relating to themselves and their
environment.
Learners may have a clear idea of the „necessities‟ of the target situation, of their lacks
and their views may conflict with perceptions of other interested people, for example: course
designers and teachers. Target needs, therefore, will not be reliable if it is gathered from only
one source. What is important is that the ESP course designer or teacher is aware of such
differences and takes accounts of them in materials and methodology. Thus, a satisfactory
syllabus should meet the needs of target needs. This is a challenge to the syllabus designer.
I.3.2.2. Learning needs
Learning needs is defined by Hutchinson and Waters (1987: 54) as: what the learner
needs to do in order to learn. To be more specific, they compare an ESP course with a journey
in which „lack‟ is considered as the starting point, „necessities‟ as the destination and „wants‟

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as certain dispute in the process to the destination, and the way to get from the starting point to
the destination indicates learning needs. Learning needs, therefore, can be compared to the
route. Otherwise, to reach the destination successfully, Hutchinson (1987: 61):
The target situation analysis can determine the destination; it can also act as a
compass on the journey to give general direction, but we must choose our route according to
the vehicles and guides available (i.e. the condition of the learning situation), the existing
roads within the learner’s mind (i.e. their knowledge, skills and strategies) and the learners’
motivation for travelling.
So, basing on these theories, when doing Needs Analysis for the ESP reading syllabus

development. Dudley - Evans & St. John (1998: 96) propose some of the key skills as follow:
- selecting what is relevant for the current purposes
- using all the features of the text such as headings, layout, typeface
- skimming the content and meaning
- scanning for specifics
- identifying organizational patterns
- understanding relations within sentence and between sentence
- using cohesive and discourse makers
Although ESP reading relates to a particular field or discipline, the recent trends in
ESP seem to share the assumption that general reading strategies should be taught to ESP
students because according to Hutchinson and Waters (1987), ESP is not different in kind
from any other form of language teaching and ESP teaching should be based on the principles
of effective and efficient learning.
I.4.2. Reading skills/ strategies
The terms reading skills and reading strategies are used interchangeably and classified
by many researchers. According to Nuttal (1996), there are two kinds of macro - reading
skills: word - attack skills and text - attack skills. Word - attack skills are sub - divided into
morphological information; structural clues; inference or guessing the meanings of unfamiliar
words from context; active, receptive and thrown - away vocabulary; learning to ignore
difficult words and using a dictionary. Text - attack skills including understanding sentence
syntax; recognizing and interpreting reference and substitution; interpreting discourse makers;

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recognizing implications and making inference; and prediction.
Broughton et al (1978: 211) classify reading skills into two groups: lower order
mechanical skills and higher order comprehensive skills. The first group consists of
recognition of letter shapes; recognition of linguistic elements (phoneme/ grapheme, word,
phrase, clause pattern, sentence, etc); recognition of sound/letter spelling pattern
correspondence (ability to „bark at print‟) and lower reading speed. The second group is
composed of understanding plain sense (lexical, grammatical, rhetorical); understanding

II.1 Situation analysis
II.1.1 The teaching and learning situation at Bac Ninh Teachers’ Training College
At the Bac Ninh Teachers‟ Training College, English is a compulsory subject in the
curriculum for non - English major students with 150 periods divided through 3 years of
studying, each semester with 30 periods. English, like many others subjects, is taught in a
formal setting (a classroom) without language environment and is divided in three stages. In
the first two stages, GE is taught with 120 periods, focusing on four language skills; listening,
speaking, reading and writing. These two stages last for the first two years. In the third stage,
when students are at the third - year, they have 30 periods left studying ESP. ESP at BTTC
includes English for History, English for Mathematics, English for Computer, English for
Literature, English for Geography, English for Library, etc
The physical condition in BTTC can provide a supportive environment for language
teaching and learning with favorable conditions such as available rooms equipped with
overhead projectors, screens, video, CD and cassette players, big boards, etc in an area which
is not distracted by surroundings like sudden noises or movements
II.1.2. Resources and administrative constraints
Designing and writing an ESP syllabus is a rather difficult task. In order to implement
the syllabus successfully, a number of factors should be analyzed. First, the teaching and
learning environment should be taken into account before designing a course because “it is the
factor that will determine whether the aims of a language program defined with reference to
the learners’ needs and characteristics are feasible and realistic” (Donough, 1993: 8).

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What constraints that we are working under can not change. These might include class
size, time allotment and textbooks. The average class size is from 35 to 40 students. As
mentioned above, English is taught in a formal setting (a classroom) without language
environment. The textbooks being used now for stage 1 and stage 2 are GE I and GE II
simplified by the teachers of English Department, mostly based on Headway by John & Liz
Soars and Lifelines by Tom Hutchinson. These two books have to be simplified in order to suit
the students‟ level. The ESP textbooks students are using for stage 3 are EH, English for

English communicative competence to meet the demand of their future employment.
II.2. The study
II.2.1. The participants
The study is carried out with the participants of ten teachers of English who are in
charge of teaching both GE and ESP, all of them have been teaching English for more than ten
years, and forty students of history who are at the first semester of their third year and have
finished a GE course.
II.2.2. Instrument for collecting data
According to Hutchinson and Waters (1987: 59), various ways can be used for
collecting data such as questionnaires, interviews, observation. etc. This study uses
questionnaires as the main tool for investigating learners‟ need. Hutchinson and Waters also
point out „It is obviously necessary to obtain answers to the questions from a variety of
sources and then try to negotiate a satisfactory compromise‟.
To achieve the aims of the study, qualitative approach bas been used by means of two
survey questionnaires conducted to both the teachers of English Department and the students
of history of the SD and informal interviews to gain the necessary information for Data
Analysis.
- Questionnaire1: (see Appendix 1) given to ten teachers of English is divided into four
sections
Section I (3 questions) aims at eliciting opinions on designing an ESP reading syllabus
for the third - year students and expectations for the ESP reading course in terms of purposes.
Section II deals with the topics needed for the syllabus
Section III explores teachers‟ opinion about the consolidation of grammar