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

HOÀNG THỊ THU INVESTIGATING THE DIFFICULTIES IN READING
ENGLISH FOR SPECIFIC PURPOSES EXPERIENCED BY
THE SECOND-YEAR STUDENTS AT THAI NGUYEN
UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY
(KHẢO SÁT NHỮNG KHÓ KHĂN TRONG VIỆC HỌC ĐỌC
TIẾNG ANH CHUYÊN NGÀNH CỦA SINH VIÊN NĂM
THỨ HAI TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC KỸ THUẬT CÔNG NGHIỆP
THÁI NGUYÊN) MINOR THESIS

Field: English Teaching Methodology
Code: 601410

Hanoi – 2011 TABLE OF CONTENTS

DECLARATION
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
ABSTRACT
TABLE OF CONTENTS
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES

PART ONE: INTRODUCTION
1. Rationale
2. Aims of the study
3. Methods of the study
4. Scope of the study
5. Organization of the study
PART TWO: DEVELOPMENT
Chapter 1: Literature review
1. The nature of reading
1.1 Definition of reading and reading comprehension
1.2 Reading process
1.3 Reading comprehension skills
2. ESP reading

8
9
9
10
10
11
12
13

14 1. Introduction to Thai Nguyen University of Technology
2. Syllabus, materials and assessment
3. Teachers and methods of teaching
4. Students
5. Summary
Chapter 3: Research Methodology
1. Research questions
2. The participants
3. The data collection instrument
4. Procedure for data collection
5. Data analysis
Chapter 4: Findings and discussion
1. Students’ attitude towards ESP reading
2. Students’ opinion of ESP reading difficulties
2.1 In the area of vocabulary
2.2 In the area of grammar
2.3 In the area of discourse
2.4 In the area of reading skills

24
26
27
28
30
30
31
31
32
32
34
34
34
34
35
35 3.1 Making students aware of the nature of reading process
3.2 Making students fully aware of their purpose of reading
3.3 Teaching students a variety of reading strategies
3.4 Encouraging students to develop extensive reading habits
4. Improvement of teachers’ teaching techniques in the classroom
4.1 Employing three phases in ESP reading lessons
4.2 Giving homework and checking the previous lessons frequently
4.3 Adjusting teaching time and imposing time limits
5. Summary
PART THREE: CONCLUSION
1. Conclusion
2. Limitations of the study and suggestions for further study

English for electrical and mechanical engineering, it is an important skill which is paid
more attention than other skills because they will have to read English materials related
to their future jobs. However, they encounter a lot of difficulties when reading and do
not get good marks. So what are the difficulties that they face during reading ESP
materials? And what hinders their reading comprehension?
This study aims to explore the areas of difficulties in ESP reading experienced by
second-year students at Thai Nguyen University of Technology and the causes of their
unsuccessful reading comprehension. To collect data for the study, a survey
questionnaire was done on 100 second-year students randomly chosen from K45.
The results of study have shown that our students have difficulties in such areas as
vocabulary, grammar, discourse, and reading skills and background knowledge. Their
sources of difficulties are: inadequate linguistic knowledge, unsuitable reading
materials, the teaching methods of teachers and negative attitude of students. This
study also suggests some ways to reduce their difficulties when reading ESP materials
to get better results.
PDF Merger
Thank you for evaluating AnyBizSoft PDF
Merger! To remove this page, please
register your program!
Go to Purchase Now>>
 Merge multiple PDF files into one
 Select page range of PDF to merge
 Select specific page(s) to merge
 Extract page(s) from different PDF
files and merge into one
AnyBizSoft