1

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES
*****************
NGUYỄN THỊ LÝ
DESIGNING A TASK-BASED ESP SYLLABUS FOR THE
SECOND- YEAR STUDENTS OF ACCOUNTING AT TUYEN QUANG
ECONOMIC AND TECHNICAL SECONDARY SCHOOL

THIẾT KẾ CHƯƠNG TRÌNH TIẾNG ANH CHUYÊN NGÀNH
THEO NHIỆM VỤ CHO HỌC SINH NĂM THỨ HAI
CHUYÊN NGÀNH KẾ TOÁN TRƯỜNG TRUNG HỌC
KINH TẾ KỸ THUẬT TUYÊN QUANG M.A. MINOR THESIS
Field: English Teaching methodology
Code: 60 14 10

KINH TẾ KỸ THUẬT TUYÊN QUANG M.A. MINOR THESIS
Field: English Teaching Mehodology
Code: 60 14 10
SUPERVISOR: LÊ VĂN CANH, Ph.D HANOI – 2011 6

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

ESP: English for Specific Purposes
GE: General English
TQETSS: Tuyen Quang Economic and Technical Secondary School
ESS: English for the Social Sciences
EST: English for the Science and Technology
EAP: English for Academic Purposes
EOP: English for Occupational Purposes
TBLT: Task- Based Language Teaching

8
Table 1: Students‟ reasons for learning English
21
Table 2: Students‟ opinions on prospective job and workplace
22
Table 3: Students‟ anticipated possibilities to use English at work in the future
23
Table 4. Ex-students‟ situations of using English at work
25
Table 5: Students‟ opinions on tasks which should be included in the course book
26
Table 6. Ex-students‟ opinions on tasks which should be included in the course book
28
Table 7: Students‟ evaluation of the current ESP course book
29
Table 8: The proposed syllabus for the second-year students of Accounting at TQETSS
(see Appendix 1)


1
2. Aims and objectives of the study
1
3. Research questions
1
4. Scope of the study
2
5. Method of the study
2
6. Structure of the study
2
7. Summary
3
PART B: DEVELOPMENT
4
CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW
4
1.1. Definition of ESP
4
1.2. Types of ESP
5
1.3. Syllabus Design
5
1.3.1 Definitions of syllabus
5
1.3.2. Approaches to ESP Language Syllabus Design
7
1.3.2.1. Language- centred approach
7
1.3.2.2. Skills- centred approach

1.3.4.3. Characteristics of Task-based Syllabus
12
1.3.4.3. Theoretical Advantages of Task-based Syllabus
13
1.2.4.4. Limitations of Task-based Syllabus
14
1.3.5. Rationale of choosing Task-based Syllabus
15
1.3.6. Needs analysis in syllabus design
16
1.3.6.1.The important of needs analysis
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1.3.6.2.Target needs and learning needs
16
1.4. Summary
17
CHAPTER 2: NEEDS ANALYSIS OF STUDENTS OF ACCOUNTING AT
TUYEN QUANG ECONOMIC AND TECHNICAL SECONDARY SCHOOL
18
2.1. The teaching and learning ESP at TQETSS
18
2.2. The students
18
2.3. The teachers
19
2.4. The study
19
2.4.1. The subjects
19
2.4.2. Instruments for collecting data

35
3.4.2. The organization of the syllabus
35
3.5. Teaching and assessment methodology
35
3.5.1. Teaching methodology
35
3.5.2. Assessment methodology
36
3.6. Syllabus evaluation
36
3.7. Summary
37
PART C: CONCLUSION
38
1. Conclusion
38
2. Limitations and suggestions for further study
39
References
40
Appendices
I
Appendix 1: The proposed syllabus for the second-year students of accounting at
TQETSS
I
Appendix 2: A sample unit
V
Appendix 3: Questionnaire for students
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communication and the job market in the period of international economic integration.
At Tuyen Quang Economic and Technical Secondary School, English is a
compulsory subject which are being taught to all students of all majors. It consists of two
parts: General English (GE) and English for Specific Purposes (ESP). According to the
training curriculum, the ESP course is to be delivered after students finish GE course.
However, teaching ESP has encountered a number of problems such as inappropriate
materials, content burden, lack of experience ESP teachers. The most concern of ESP
teachers is the course books. The current ESP course book for students of accounting is
compiled by the teachers of English section. After few years of implementing, it has
revealed a number of limitations in terms of content and methodology. This is because the
materials are based on the syllabus which was developed without reference to learner
needs. This gives rise to the need of developing a syllabus which is task-based and learner-
centred. And this is the motivation of this study.
2. Aims and objectives of the study
The study aims at designing a task-based ESP syllabus for the second-year students
of accounting at Tuyen Quang Economic and Technical Secondary School. To achieve this
aim, the major objectives of the study are:
- to identify the rationale for a task-based syllabus design.
- to identify the learning needs of the second-year students of accounting through a
needs analysis.
- to develop a task-based ESP syllabus which based on the learners‟ needs at Tuyen
Quang Economic and Technical Secondary School.
3. Research questions
With the aim stated above, the author proposed the three following questions for the
study: 12
syllabus evaluation.
 Part C is the conclusion that consists of concluding ideas, limitations and
suggestions for further study. 13

7. Summary
This part presents the rationale of designing a task-based syllabus for the second-year
students of accounting at Tuyen Quang Economic and Technical secondary school. Also,
the aims, the research questions, the scope, the methodology and the structure of the study
are presented. The Literature review, Needs analysis and the Proposed syllabus will be
presented in the part B below.
analysis in defining ESP. She considers “ESP is normally goal directed”, and that ESP
course is based on a need analysis, which „aims to specify as closely as possible what
exactly is it that students have to do through the medium of English‟ (Robinson, 1991:3).
In more detailed approach to characteristics, Streven (1988) defines ESP by
identifying and making a distinction between its absolute and variable characteristics:
Absolute characteristics: are that ESP consists of English language teaching, which
is (1) designed to meet specified needs of the learner; (2) related in content (i.e. in its
themes and topics) to particular disciplines, occupation and activities; (3) centred on the
language appropriate to those activities in syntax, lexis, discourse, semantics, etc., and
analysis of this discourse; (4) in contrast with General English.
Variable characteristics: are that ESP may be, but is not necessarily: (1) restricted as
to the language skills to be learned (e.g. reading only); (2) not taught according to any pre-
ordained methodology.
Dudley- Evans and St John (1998: 4-5) assert that ESP is likely to be used with adult
learners, either at tertiary level institution or in a professional work situation, although it
could be used with young adults in the setting of a secondary school. Additionally, they
note that ESP is generally designed for intermediate or advanced students and most ESP
course assume some basic knowledge of the language system, but it can be used with
beginners. 15

1.2. Types of ESP
According to Hutchinson and Waters (1987:16) ESP is divided into three branches,
namely English for the Science and Technology (EST), English for Business and
Economics (EBE) and English for the Social Sciences (ESS). Each of these subject areas is

Some authors who advocate the broader view such as Breen (1984), Yalden 1984)
suppose that the selection of content to teach and methodology are combined in the
syllabus. Yalden (1984: 14) points out:
“[The syllabus] replaces the concepts of „method‟, and the syllabus is now seen as an
instrument by which the teacher, with the help of the syllabus designer, can achieve
a degree of „fit‟ between the need and aims of the learner (as social being and as
individual) and the activities which will take place in the classroom”. (cited in
Nunan, 1988:4).
In a similar vein, Breen (1984:49) states: “Any syllabus will express- however
indirectly- certain assumption about language, about the psychological process of learning,
and about the pedagogic and social processes within a classroom”. (cited in Nunan,
1988:4).
In contrast to a such broad view, authors advocating a more narrow view (for
instance Nunan, 1988; Hutchinson and Waters, 1987; Allen, 1984) argue that syllabus
design and methodology should be distinctive and separate.
According to Allen (1984:61) “a syllabus is concerned with a specification of what
units will be taught (as distinct from how they will be taught, which is a matter for
methodology)”. (cited in Nunan, 1988:6).
Hutchinson and Waters (1987:80) also hold the same view with Allen: “A syllabus is
a document which says what will (or at least what should) be learnt”.
Likewise, Nunan (1985) views syllabus design as being concerned essentially with
the selection and grading content, while methodology is concerned with the selection of
learning tasks and activities.
In summary, the term „syllabus‟ could be defined narrowly or broadly. With the aims
of designing a task- based ESP syllabus for students of accounting and the current context
of teaching and learning ESP at TQETSS, the author will adopt the broad view. This is
because the issue is that no matter what the designers will select to form a syllabus, it must

inflexible procedure. Third, it appears to be a systematic and systematic analysis and
presentation of language data will produce systematic learning in the learner. Finally, its
analysis of target situation data is only at the surface level and reveals very little about the
competence that underlines the performance.
1.3.2.2. Skills- centred approach
According to Hutchinson and Waters (1987: 69) “a skills- centred approach aims to
get away from the surface performance data and look at the competence that underlines the
performance”. Thus, a skills-centred course will present its learning objectives in terms of
both performance and competence. It can be seen as helping learners to develop skills and
strategies which will continue to develop after the ESP course itself with the aim of not
providing a specified group of linguistic knowledge but making the learners into better
processors of information. However, it still approaches the learner as a user of language
rather than as a learner of language and it is concerned with the process of language use
not of language learning. 18

1.3.2.3. Learning- centred approach
Hutchinson and Waters (1987:72) state “learning is seen as process in which the
learners use what knowledge or skills they have in order to make sense of the flow of new
information”. In this approach, learners are not the only concern of the learning process,
and learning process is not totally decided and based on the learners but should be seen in
the context where it take place. This approach takes account of the learners at every stage
of the design process and it does not only consider the learners‟ competence but also how
the learners acquire that competence.
To sum up, the learning-centred approach pays attention to competence and 1.3.3.1. Structural/ Grammatical syllabus
This type of syllabus assumes that the learner‟s need is for items which can cope
with what is, after all, a grammar demand. So the focus of the structural syllabus is the
grammatical structure of the language. Most language teaching materials deriving from
structural syllabuses reflect the point of view that language is a grammatical system and
learning a language consist of learning that system.
A fundamental criticism on the grammatical syllabus is that it focuses on only one
aspect of language, namely grammar, whereas in reality there exist many more aspects to
language. “Structural-graded syllabuses misrepresented the nature of that complex
phenomenon language. They did so in tending to focus on only one aspect of language,
that is formal grammar” (Nunan, 1988:30).
1.3.3.2. Situational syllabus
According to Richards (2001:156) “situational syllabus is one that is organized
around the language needed for different situations such as at the airport or at a hotel”.
This syllabus identifies the situations in which the learners will use the language and the
typical communicative acts and language used in that setting. Situational syllabuses “have
the advantage of presenting language in context and teaching language of immediate
practical use” (Richards, 2001:156). However, a situational syllabus will be limited for
students whose needs were not included by the situations in the syllabus.
1.3.3.3. Function Notional syllabus
Functional syllabus is “one that is organized around communicative functions such
as requesting, complaining, suggesting, agreeing” (Richards, 2001:155). The most salient
feature that characterizes this type of syllabus is that it “takes the desired communicative
capacity as the starting point” (Wilkins, 1976:18).
The advantage of the notional syllabus is that “functional-notionalism has the
„tremendous merit‟ of place the students and their communicative purposes at the centre of

and teaching materials. It teaches skills that can transfer to many other situations.
However, this type of syllabus presents some shortcomings. Firstly, “there is no serious
basis for determining skills”. Secondly, it focuses on discrete aspects of performance rather
than developing more global and integrated communicative abilities (Richards, 2001:161).
1.3.3.6. Process syllabus
Process syllabus can be described as a quite innovative one for it is largely on project
work and problem- solving tasks and activities. In the process syllabus the course
materials, content and teaching methods are negotiated between the teachers and the
students thus ensuring its innovative nature. However, White (1988:101) states some
problems with this syllabus: The first problem is that there exists no evaluation of such a
model in practice. Secondly, the process syllabus calls for considerable professional
competence and confidence on the part of teachers. Thirdly, there is inadequate provision
within the proposals for relating the syllabus to the context in which it will occur. Fourthly, 21

the redefinition of roles which such an approach to syllabus design entails. It is not only
the teacher who has to change roles- the students do too.
In sum, each syllabus type has both strong points and limitations. Thus, the choice of
a particular syllabus type depends on the course objectives and the contextual factors such
as the teachers, the learners, the nature of the course, etc. In this study, a Task-based
syllabus was chosen for the ESP course in Accounting at TQETSS. This type of syllabus
will be discussed in details in section 1.3.4 below.
1.3.4. Task-based Syllabus
1.3.4.1. Definition of ‘task’
There has been a number of definitions of „task‟ given by different authors. A broad

make use of their own linguistic resources, although the design of the task may
predispose them to choose particular forms. A task is intended to result in language use
that bears a resemblance, direct or indirect, to the way language is used in the real world.
Like other language activities, a task can engage productive or receptive, and oral or
written skills and also various cognitive processes”.
In sum, all definitions of task reviewed in this chapter emphasize the fact that tasks
involve communicative language use in which the user‟s attention is focused on
meaning rather than grammatical form. This does not mean that form is not important.
Meaning and form are highly interrelated, and grammar exists to enable the language user
to express different communicative meanings and learners will acquire grammar as a by-
product of carrying out tasks.
1.3.4.2. Task-based syllabus (Procedural syllabus)
Robinson (1991:39) states “the procedural or task-based syllabuses consist of a set of
tasks or activities ordered according to cognitive difficulty class time is devoted to
performance of the tasks and attention is only consciously directed to language if this is
necessary for completion of the task. A major concern is that students understand the task
and what they are doing, and do not act in a mechanical way”.
Task-based teaching differs from situation- based teaching in that while situational
teaching has the goal of teaching language content that occurs in the situation (a predefined
product), task- based teaching has the specific has the goal of teaching students to draw on
a variety of language forms, functions, and skills, often in an individual and unpredictable
way, in completing the tasks. The aim of the task-based syllabus is to compose the
language syllabus that would stimulate real communication in the foreign language.
According to Robinson (1991:40), this type of syllabus has proved to be of great
significance for ESP because “using the medium of English, they should successfully
perform work of a study task”.
1.3.4.3. Characteristics of Task-based Syllabus
A task-based syllabus represents a particular realisation of communicative language
teaching. In other words, what arguably permeates it is the need to act as an interface
between purely pedagogical goals and real-world activities. So, instead of making lists of

they can satisfy their demands. Moreover, Nunan (2000) states a task is a communicative
activity that does not usually have a restrictive focus on a single grammatical structure. It
also had a non-linguistic outcome. Consequently these authentic tasks can promote
students‟ motivation and interest, which are of great importance to the second language
acquisition.
Secondly, it is advocated that tasks involve authentic materials targeted real-life
contexts. The authentic input, therefore, will facilitate students‟ foreign language
acquisition. In addition, authentic material and situations shall promote learners‟ ability of
coping with real problems.
The third advantage is the task-based syllabus associates with humanistic orientation. 24

Humanistic approaches encourage students put them to use by caring for and sharing with
others. In the process of completing the task, students are encouraged to negotiate their
meaning, to cooperate with other members in the group. Thus, their communicative
competence is developed. More importantly, they learn to be a social man in the process of
completing the task, which manifests the humanistic view of language education.
Lastly, task-based syllabus is organized around variety of tasks. The application of a
repertoire of tasks is considered as a practical means of broadening learners‟ potential to
varied dynamic communicative situations or dynamic social and occupational roles.
1.3.4.5. Limitations of Task-based Syllabus
Like many other types of syllabus, apart from advantages, the task-based syllabus has
its own limitations as follow.
The first limitation is the ambiguity of definition of „task‟. Definitions of tasks are
sometimes so broad to include almost anything that involves learners doing something

excessive focus on meaning during task completion will confine learners to the strategic
solutions they develop and pay little attention to structural change or accuracy. Thus, it will
be necessary "to devise methods of focusing on form without losing the values of tasks as
realistic communication motivators, and as opportunities to trigger acquisitional processes"
(Skehan 1996:42).
Lastly, problems in practice is a concern of the task-based syllabus. Task-based
syllabus makes the teaching job demanding. As we can see, task-based syllabus poses a
great challenge to the proficiency level of the teachers, which might be a problem in the
EFL situation. Also the authentic data, the design of authentic tasks might become the
obstacles to the implementation of the syllabus.
1.3.5. Rationale of choosing Task-based Syllabus
Since the students of Business accounting are supposed to work in different
enterprises, firms and companies after graduation especially in the era of integration of the
world economy, they are expected to undertake various tasks using English. Taking this
into consideration, I think a task-based syllabus could be a better choice to design an ESP
syllabus for the students of accounting at TQETSS because of the four following reasons:
First, task-based syllabus represents a particular realisation of communicative
language teaching, it promotes the eventual uses of the target language by emphasizing the
real-world resemblance of the tasks with the purpose of preparing the students for the real-
world tasks. Second, as Robinson (2001:267) states tasks derived from the analysis of
learners‟ needs increases learners‟ interest and motivation. Third, while performing tasks,
learners can learn the target language through contextualized and meaningful use of the
language rather than learning sentence-level usage of the language. Fourth, tasks presented
with gradually increasing complexity provide rich, elaborated, and comprehensible input
for the language acquisition to occur.

26

gap between the two can be referred to the learner‟s lack (Hutchinson and Waters,
1987:56).
iii) Want: Learners‟ want and their view about the reasons why they need language should
be concerned. Learners will may well have a clear idea of the “necessity” of the target
situation: they will certainly have a view as to their „lack‟. But it is quite possible that the
learners‟ views will conflict the perception of other interested in parties: course designers, 27

sponsors, and teachers. What is important is that the ESP course designer or teacher is
aware of such differences and takes account of them in materials and methodology. Thus, a
satisfactory syllabus should meet the needs of all related parties.
Learning needs:
Hutchinson and Waters (1987) use the analogy of the ESP course as a journey in
which „lack‟ is regarded as the starting point, „necessities‟ as the destination and “how we
are going to get from the starting point to the destination” indicates another kind of need:
learning needs. The whole ESP process is concerned not with „knowing‟ or „doing‟ but the
„learning‟. It is naive to base a course design simply on the target objectives, just as it is
naive to think that a journey can be planned solely in terms of the starting point and the
destination. The needs, potential and constraints of the route (i.e. the learning situation)
must also taken into account if we are going to have an useful analysis of learners needs.
Hutchinson and Waters (1987:61).
In sum, both target situation needs and learning needs must be taken into account.
Analysis of target situation can tell us what people do with language. what we also need to
know is how people learn to do what they do with language. We need, in other word, a
learning- centered approach to needs analysis.

At TQETSS, English is a compulsory subject which are being taught with the total
time of 90 periods and it consists of two parts: General English and English for Specific
Purposes. GE serves as mean that provides students with basic knowledge about grammar
and vocabulary, helps students to develop communicative skills and can communicative in
simple situations. Furthermore, it helps students to learn ESP more effectively to meet the
demand of their future employment. ESP, due to the limited time, is being taught with 45
periods and it has been taught since 2005.
The material currently used to teach GE to the non- English major students is “New
Headway Elementary- the Third Edition” by Liz & John Soars published in 2006. The
teaching materials for ESP are compiled by teachers of English at TQETSS. The contents
of the ESP course books are collected from different sources (on the Internet, in the library,
etc.) and they only focuses on reading texts, so students have no chance to practice other
skills such as speaking, listening and writing. The ESP course book for students of
accounting, after being implemented several years, has revealed some limitations and it
was not practical because it are based on the syllabus which was developed without
reference to students‟ needs. This requires to design a new syllabus which meets the
students‟ needs and motivate students‟ learning of ESP.
2.2. The students
Students at TQETSS come from different districts of Tuyen Quang province and
some other mountainous provinces such as Yen Bai, Ha Giang, Thai Nguyen, etc,. Most of
students learnt English at school. However, there was a small number of students,
especially ethic students who come from rural and remote areas have little chance to learn
English for a long time. Some of them who are from city and towns have learnt English for
7 years at secondary and high school, some have only learned English for 3 years and some