VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

TRẦN NGUYỆT MINH

DESIGNING AN ESP READING SYLLABUS
FOR FIRST-YEAR STUDENTS OF ARCHITECTURE
AT HANOI UNIVESITY OF BUSINESS AND TECHNOLOGY

THIẾT KẾ CHƯƠNG TRÌNH ĐỌC HIỂU TIẾNG ANH
CHUYÊN NGÀNH CHO SINH VIÊN THỨ NHẤT KHOA KIẾN TRÚC,
TRƯỜNG ĐH KINH DOANH VÀ CÔNG NGHỆ HÀ NỘI
M.A .MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: English Teaching Methodology

M.A. MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS
Field: English Teaching Methodology
Code: 60.14.10
Supervisor: Dr. Ngô Hữu Hoàng
HA NOI – 2013
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
DECLARATION i
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii
ABSTRACT iii
TABLE OF CONTENTS iv
LIST OF TABLES vi
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS vii
PART A INTRODUCTION……………………………………………………………… 1
1. Rationale of the study 1
2. Previous related studies 3
3. The aim of the study 4
4. Research questions 4
5. Methodology 4
6. Scope of the study 4

REFERENCES………………………………………………………………………………I
APPENDICES…………………………………………………………………………….III
APPENDIX 1 FIRST-YEAR STUDENT QUESTIONNAIRE III
APPENDIX 2 THIRD-YEAR STUDENT QUESTIONNAIRE VI
APPENDIX 3 ARCHITECT QUESTIONNAIRE VIII
APPENDIX 4 INTERVIEW FOR ESP TEACHERS X
APPENDIX 5 Teachers’ suggested teaching techniques XII
APPENDIX 6 A proposed ESP reading syllabus XIV
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LIST OF TABLES

Table 3.1. Architects’ jobs, working places, and frequency of reading 24
Table 3.2. Text genres 25
Table 3.3. Source of materials 25
Table 3.4. First-year students’ expectations towards the ESP reading course 28
Table 3.5. First-year and third students’ purposes of attendance 31
Table 3.6. Word-attack strategies 33
Table 3.7. First-year students’ preferences on topics of reading text 34
Table 3.8. Third-year students’ attitudes towards the current reading syllabus for
first-year students 34
Table 3.9. Third-year students’ suggestions for improving ESP training quality 35

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LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
ELT


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It is the fact that the ESP syllabus plays a significant part in the whole English
program. However, from academic year 2013-2014, due to some factors, the whole
time for the English program will be cut short to only two years. If the ESP reading
instruction lasts for one academic year only, it would not be a sufficient time to
train students the language for Architecture purpose.
In addition, during the time teaching EGP and ESP to Architecture students, from
first-year to third-year ones, the researcher recognizes two major issues. First,
whereas they are quite confident with English grammar exercises, they struggle a lot
when dealing with the four language skills, particularly reading. Third-year students
prove to be ineffective readers, with weak reading skills although they have taken
one academic year studying GE with a four-skill integrated course. Secondly, quite
a few teachers have made complaints about our Architecture students’ lack of focus
and motivation in reading GE texts, mostly because they find them uninteresting
and irrelevant, so the effectiveness of the class is often low.
In conclusion, it is the fact that the current syllabus has not yielded the teachers’
desired results and has proved inadequate in addressing the students’ needs. To
improve the students’ reading skills, it is suggested that a separate reading course
should be introduced earlier from the first academic year, because reading takes
considerable time and resources to develop, and it cannot be taught in one or two
courses (Grabe, 1991). Apart from that, in order to make the syllabus accommodate
the Architecture students’ immediate and long-term needs, an ESP approach to
syllabus design should be adopted.
With consideration of the whole context, I decided to carry out the research entitled
“Designing an ESP reading syllabus for first-year students of Architecture at Hanoi
University of Business and Technology”
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is also expected to contribute its distinguished features to the whole research
scenario of ESP teaching in general.
3. The aim of the study
The main aim of the study is to investigate the learning needs, wants and lacks of
the first-year students of Architecture in ESP reading learning, and expectations of
ESP teachers, which serve as the foundation for designing an appropriate ESP
reading syllabus. To achieve the aim, a needs analysis was done to identify the
target needs and learning needs of the students because, as Basturkmen (2008) puts
it, a key feature of ESP syllabus design is that the syllabus is based on an analysis of
the needs of the students.
4. Research questions
This study aimed to address the following research questions:
1. What are the perceptions and attitudes of Architecture students, ESP teachers at
HUBT, and architectural professionals towards ESP reading?
The answer to question 1 leads to the next question:
2. Is it necessary to introduce an ESP reading syllabus to first-year students of
Architecture at HUBT? And if yes,
3. How should such an ESP reading syllabus be designed?
5. Methodology
Survey research is employed in this study with the use of questionnaire and
interview as the means of collecting data about first-year Architecture students’
target needs and learning needs. (For more details, see chapter II, Part B)
6. Scope of the study
The study is done based on the circumstances for first-year Architecture majors at
Hanoi University of Business and Technology (HUBT). Due to the scope of the
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thesis, a needs analysis of the students was focused, which serves as the foundation
to put forwards an ESP reading syllabus for them.
7. Significance of the study

teaching which aims to meet the needs of particular learners”. Dudley-Evans and St
John asserts that “the main concerns of ESP have always been, and remain, with
needs analysis, text analysis, and preparing learners to communicate effectively in
the tasks prescribed by their study or work situation” (1998, p. 1).
A question emerging here is: what is the difference between ESP and GE, and what
is the position of ESP in ELT. In fact, the border between ESP and GE is not always
clear. Barnard and Zemach believe ESP should not be seen as a discrete division of
ELT, but simply “an area (with blurred boundaries) whose courses are usually more
focused in their aims and make use of a narrower range of topic” (2003, pp. 306–
307, quoted in Basturkmen, 2010). As Basturkmen (2010) points out, the focus of
ESP courses is narrower than ELT courses for they put emphasis on analysis of
learners’ needs.
The definitions show that ESP relates learners closely with their work or study, and
that ESP courses center on work- or study-related needs, not personal needs or
general interests. They once again strengthen the researcher’s assumption that a
reading syllabus designed in the ESP approach is of great benefit to her students in
that it enhances their linguistic competence in the subject matter of Architecture,
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and understanding of basic architectural concepts, which are very helpful when they
are involved in Architecture or construction later on. As a matter of fact, this is in
line with HUBT’s policy of training; accordingly, training students should be
career-oriented, labor-market-oriented and practical.
Hutchinson & Waters (1987, p. 17) present the tree of ELT which shows the
development of ESP in relation with ELT, in which basically there are two main
groups of ESP: English for Academic Purposes, and English for Occupational
Purposes. The target ESP reading syllabus, which is expected to prepare
linguistically students for their future job, can be put into the latter group.
Distinguished by the nature of the learners’ specialism, three major categories are
identified: English for Science and Technology (EST), English for Business and

mainly instructed for both or either of the two purposes. ESP reading instruction
shares the same feature. In fact there is no real difference between reading skills for
EGP and ESP because “reading skills are not language-specific but universal”
(Chitravelu, 1980, quoted in Hutchinson & Water, 1987). Therefore reading skills
instruction in ESP is basically similar to EGP.
On the other hand, ESP reading instruction has its own typical feature. ESP reading
in particular is primarily instructed for the purpose of familiarizing students with the
way the specialized English language is used in a particular subject area (e.g.
English for Business, Tourism and Hospitality, Information Technology), together
with developing reading skills, so they can effectively deal with a possibly
enormous volume of literature in their future career life. Reading in ESP classes,
therefore, demands a greater degree of concentration, precision and intensity than in
GE classes. Thus ESP teachers should equip their students with useful reading skills
and strategies, give them opportunities to get familiar with terminology in their own
domain so as to reach the ultimate goal of any reading program – “to enable
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students to read without help unfamiliar authentic texts at appropriate speed with
adequate understanding” (Nuttal, 1996, p.21).
1.2.3. Taxonomies of reading skills
According to Alderson and Lukmani (1989), many attempts have been made to
build the taxonomies of subskills with or without experimental evidence supporting
their claims (e.g. Davis, 1968; Munby, 1978; Richards, 1983; Weir, 1993; Buck,
Tatsuoka, Kostin & Phelps, 1997). Nonetheless, as Alderson (2000) points out,
there is still no agreement on “whether separable comprehension sub-skills exist,
and what such sub-skills might consist of and how they might be classified” (p. 10).
Although the concept of reading skill divisibility is theoretically of great
controversy, in practice, it is common that language teachers and language test
developers often make distinction between different comprehension sub-skills and
use it as a basis for designing syllabus, materials and tests (Alderson & Lukmani,

for consideration. In particular, Grabe (1991) points out that the ability to use meta-
cognitive skills effectively is “widely recognized as a critical component of skilled
reading.” As related to reading, the skills include: using context to sort out a
misunderstood segment; skimming portions of the text; previewing headings,
pictures and summary; using search strategies for finding specific information;
using a dictionary; using word-formation and affix information to guess word
meaning; summarizing information; etc. (Grabe, 1991, p. 382).
Regarding the list of reading strategies, Anderson (1991) suggests that “there is no
single set of strategies that significantly contributes to success” in L2 reading tasks”
(p. 468, quoted in Anderson, 1994). Grabe (1991) shares the same view, saying the
particular skills and strategies to be emphasized in a reading syllabus depend on the
educational contexts, student needs, and teaching objectives. Therefore, one of the
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syllabus designer’s important tasks is to figure out the most basic reading strategies
suitable for first-year Architecture students at HUBT, which serves as a major
component of the syllabus, basing on the needs analysis.
1.3. Syllabus design
In the onset of this section, the term “syllabus” will be discussed, with its definition,
how it relates to a broader field of curriculum development, its components and
organisation.
1.3.1. Curriculum, course and syllabus
Richards (2001) points out the key stages in ELT curriculum development include:
situation analysis, needs analysis, goal setting, syllabus design, materials
development and adaptation, teaching and teacher-support, and evaluation.
According to Nunan (1988), a curriculum has at least three phrases: a planning
phase, an implementation phase and an evaluation phase; syllabus design forms a
part of the planning phase. Accordingly, syllabus design is part of curriculum
development.
As Candlin points out (1984, cited in Nunan, 1988), curricula concern with making

to distinguish the content from the method and evaluation. He thinks that all these
factors should be combined to have a more inclusive view to what teachers are to do
in class. In favor of this view, Dublin and Olshtain (1986, p. 28) offer a very
comprehensive view on syllabus. They hold that it should contain the following
ingredients:
1. What the learners are expected to know at the end of the course, or the course
objectives.
2. What to be taught or learnt during the course.
3. When it is to be taught, and at what of progress relating to the inventory of items
to the different levels and stages as well as to the time constraints of the course.
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4. How it is taught, suggesting procedures, techniques and materials.
5. How it is to be evaluated, suggesting testing and evaluating mechanism.
In this study, the researcher will adopt this broad view which assumes that a
syllabus entails not only what to teach but also how to teach.
1.3.3. Types of syllabus
There have been many ways in which a syllabus can be organized in practice, such
as grammatical or structural syllabus, notional/functional syllabus, situational
syllabus, topic-based syllabus, skill-based syllabus, task-based syllabus, text-based
syllabus (Hutchinson & Waters, 1987; Nunan, 1988; Richards, 2001; Robinson,
2009).
Regarding designing a reading syllabus, the researcher would like to focus only on
three syllabus types, namely skill-based syllabus, topical syllabus and integrated (or
mixed) syllabus with their typical features.
1.3.3.1. Topical or content-based syllabus
This type syllabus is organized around themes, topics rather situations (Brown
1995: 9). With a topical syllabus, content is the starting point in syllabus design and
serves as the only criterion for organizing the framework. The main advantages of
coursed based on this syllabus type mentioned by Richard (2001, p. 158) include:

Architecture students. One important reason is it can integrate both the instruction
of reading sub-skills and the use of specialist texts. However, a decision must be
made of which type of syllabus, topical or skill-based, should be put at the macro-
level of the syllabus.
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1.4. Needs analysis
According to Brown (1995, p. 35), “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”. It is also
acknowledged that “needs analysis is the cornerstone of ESP” and its proper
application can result into a “focused course” (Dudley-Evans & St John, 1998,
p.121). In this part, an attempt will be made to define needs and discuss the types
of needs.
1.4.1. Definition of needs
The concept of needs has been considered under various perspectives with many
interpretations being proposed accordingly. Robinson (1991, p.7) cites different
opinions about needs from Windowson (1981) and Mountford (1981) as follows:
Firstly, needs refer to students’ study or job requirements, which are what they have
to do at the end of the course. This is a goal-oriented definition of needs
(Windowson 1981, p.2). Needs in this sense are perhaps more appropriately
described as “objectives” (Berwich, 1989, p.57). Secondly, needs mean “what the
user-institution or society at large regard as necessary or desirable to be learnt from
a program of language instruction” (Mountford, 1981, p. 27). Needs are seen as
what the learners need to do to acquire the language. This is a process-oriented
definition of needs (Widowson, 1981, p. 2). Fourthly, needs are considered to be
wants or desires, i.e. what the students themselves would like to gain from the
language course (Berwich, 1989, p.55). Lastly, needs are also interpreted as lacks,
that is, what the students do not know or cannot do in English (Robinson, 1991,
p.8).

description will be presented of the research methods, data collection instruments,
the subjects of the study, data collection procedure and methods of data analysis.
2.1. Research methods
The survey method is adopted in this study with the use of questionnaire and
interview as the means of data collection. A detailed description of the data
collection instruments and the participants is presented in the following parts.
2.2. Data collection instruments
One of the best methodologies for studying the target needs and learning needs of
any particular group of workers/students is to use such methods as questionnaires,
interviews, collection of authentic workplace texts and visits to the workplace
(Hutchinson and Waters, 1987; Robinson, 1991; Dudley-Evans and St John, 1998).
In order to answer the first two research questions as stated earlier in the
introduction chapter, a mixture of questionnaire and interview is used to investigate
the target needs and learning needs regarding an ESP reading syllabus for first-year
Architecture students at HUBT.
2.2.1. Questionnaire
Questionnaires were employed as the main means of data collection because is
often considered efficient at collecting information from a large number of
respondents with a wide range of information can be collected. Three sets of
questionnaires were used in this study: a set for first-year students from
Architecture department, a survey set for third-year students, and one for architects.
The questionnaires consist of both close-ended questions and open-ended questions.
The advantage of close-ended questions, as Nunan (1992) states, is that they are
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easy to collect and analyze. Besides, in my opinion, they give suggested ideass,
which allows for the respondents to answer some questions more easily and
comfortably. However, structured surveys with solely closed-ended questions may
have low validity when researching affective variables. Therefore, the additional
use of open items can give more insightful information and reflect more accurately

reading course for the first academic year. Questions from 4 to7 explore their
preferences of the topics in a reading course, and learning styles.
2.2.1.2. Third-year student questionnaire
The respondents of this questionnaire are 48 third-year Architecture students of the
cohort 15 at HUBT. They have spent two years learning GE and are taking an ESP
course.
In this questionnaire (see Appendix 2, p. VII), the first two are close-ended
questions asking about their beliefs towards the role of English learning and their
expected purposes of using English at work. Question 3 investigates third-year
attitudes toward the current reading instruction for first-year students, ESP reading
syllabus for first-year students. Lastly, they are asked to give suggestions for
improving ESP training quality.
2.2.1.3. Architect questionnaire
With a view to investigating how Architectures read specialist materials as part of
their work, this questionnaire entails mostly open-ended questions. The sample
questions in this questionnaire can be seen in Appendix 3 (p. IX).
This questionnaire was administered to six architectural professionals. They have
been working as Architectures for at least 5 years. Three of the informants were
working for a private construction company in Hanoi. One of the informants were
looking for a new job who was once working for a foreign construction consulting