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VIET NAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES
*****************
TỐNG THỊ THANH HƯỜNG

DESIGNING AN ESP SYLLABUS
FOR THE SECOND-YEAR NURSING STUDENTS AT
TUYEN QUANG MEDICAL VOCATIONAL SCHOOL
THIẾT KẾ CHƯƠNG TRÌNH TIẾNG ANH CHUYÊN NGÀNH
CHO HỌC SINH NGÀNH Y TÁ, ĐIỀU DƯỠNG NĂM THỨ HAI
TRƯỜNG TRUNG CẤP Y TẾ TUYÊN QUANG
M.A. MINOR THESIS

2. Aim of the study……………………… …….…………………………………
3. Scope of the study ………………………… ………… ……… ……………
4. Methods of the study……………………………… ….… …….… …………
5. Significance of the study………………………… ……….……… …………
6. Design of the study ……………………………… …………………………

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2
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3
3
4
PART B: DEVELOPMENT………… ….……………… ….……………………

CHAPTER 1. LITERATURE REVIEW……………………….………………………
1.1. An overview of ESP……………………………………….……………… ……
1.1.1. Definitions of ESP…………………………………………………… ……
1.1.2. Types of ESP……………………………………………………….… ……
1.1.3. ESP teacher’s role in course design ………………… ….…………… ……
1.2. Current views on ESP syllabus design………………….………… ……
1.2.1. Definitions of syllabus……………………………………… …….….……
1.2.2. Approaches to ESP syllabus design…………………………… … ………
1.2.2.1. A language-centered approach…………………………… …… ……
1.2.2.2. A skill-centered approach………………………………… ….… ……
1.2.2.3. A learning-centered approach……………………………… … ……
1.2.3. Types of syllabus………………………………………………….…….… …
1.2.3.1. Content – based syllabus………………………………… … ………
1.2.3.2. Skill – based syllabus………………………….………… ……………
1.2.3.3. Method – based syllabus……………………………….…… …………

Vocational School………… ….……………… …………………………………….
2.1.1. The teaching staff…………………… ……………… ……………………
2.1.2. The students…………………………………………… …………………….
2.1.3. The materials…………………………………………….… ………………
2.2. The study………… ….……………… ……………… …….………………….
2.2.1. The subjects…………………………………… ……… …………………
2.2.2. Instruments for collecting data…………………………….…………………
2.2.3. Data analysis and major findings……………………… ……………………
2.2.3.1. Data from Questionnaires……………………… … …………
2.2.3.1.1. Course objectives……….…………… … … ….…………
2.2.3.1.2. Main tasks for a nurse…………………….…… … ……………….
2.2.3.1.3. Skills for a nurse to fill the main tasks………… …………………
2.2.3.1.4. Language skills and learning activities………… … ……… ……
2.2.3.2. Data from Interviews………………………… … …………………
2.2.3.2.1. Language skills and learning activities ………….….….……………
2.2.3.2.2. Time allotment for the ENP course…… …… …… ….…………
2.2.3.3. Major findings……………………….… …………… … …………

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3.2.1. Topics in the syllabus……………………… ………….…………………….
3.2.2. Language skills and learning tasks………………….……… …… … ……
3.2.3. Functions in the syllabus……………………………… ……………………
3.3. Timing of the syllabus ……………………… …………… …………….……
3.4. Syllabus organization……………………… …………………….………… …
3.5. The proposed ESP syllabus for the 2nd year nursing students at Tuyen
Quang Medical Vocational School……………………… ………………………….
3.6. Summary……………………… ……………………………… ……………… 36
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PART C: CONCLUSION…………………….… ……………………………… …
1. Summary of the study ……………………………… …………………………
2. Limitation and suggestion for further study…….……………………… ……
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REFERENCES

APPENDICES

English for specific purposes
ENP
English for nursing purposes
EAP
English for Academic Purposes
EOP
English for Occupational Purposes
MOET
Vietnam Ministry of Education and Training 10
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PART A: INTRODUCTION 1. Rationale
Teaching English for Specific Purposes (ESP) has developed rapidly since the
development of the globalization. People with good English proficiency are extensively
needed in many areas, such as, tourism, economics, nursing, banking, etc. In Vietnam, ESP
teaching and learning are getting more and more attention in order to provide students the
best preparation for their future career to meet the growing demand for professional
communication.
ESP is a compulsory subject in the teaching curriculum for students at Tuyen
Quang Medical Vocational School (TQMVS) and it has been taught there for a few years.
However, the ESP teaching and learning at TQMVS has experienced a number of
difficulties such as lack of materials, inappropriate contents, lack of experienced ESP
teachers and so on. Among these, the lack of an appropriate ESP course book for the
nursing students seems to be most urgent because the current course book, a teacher self-
made material without surveying or analyzing students‟ needs has revealed unsuitable to its
learners. Moreover, English for Nursing Purpose (ENP) materials are either not very

(1) To identify the 2
nd
year nursing students‟ needs as perceived by ESP teachers, ESP
students, subject teachers and graduates.
(2) To propose an appropriate ESP syllabus for the target students based on the relevant
theories and the Needs Analysis.
To achieve the aim & objectives, the following research questions are to be answered:
1) What are the students‟ needs as perceived by the ESP teachers, ESP students, subject
teachers and graduates?
2) What should be included in the ESP syllabus for the 2
nd
year nursing students at
TQMVS as perceived by the ESP teachers, ESP students, subject teachers and
graduates?
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3. Scope of the study
The study limits itself to design an ESP syllabus of elementary level in English for
the 2
nd
year nursing students at TQMVS. The author of the study is concerned with the 2
nd

year nursing students who are being trained to reach the intermediate level in nursing,
subject teachers, teachers of ESP and graduate students at TQMVS. Other approaches to
syllabus design intended for students and other subjects at any other levels of English
language proficiency would be beyond the scope.
4. Methods of the study

- Chapter 1 reviews the related theoretical background such as definitions of ESP
and syllabus, approaches to ESP syllabus design and types of syllabus.
- Chapter 2 describes current ESP teaching and learning situation at TQMVS, data
collection instruments and analysis of the results.
- Chapter 3 proposes an ESP syllabus for the 2nd year nursing students at TQMVS.
 Part C (Conclusion) gives some conclusions on the research and makes suggestions
for further study.

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PART B: DEVELOPMENT
CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW


secondary school level;
4. ESP is generally designed for intermediate or advanced students;
5. Most ESP course assume some basic knowledge of the language systems, but it
can be used with beginners.
From the above definitions of ESP, it can be said that teaching ESP must be based on
learners‟ needs.
1.1.2. Types of ESP
The two main types of ESP that have traditionally been divided by famous authors
are English for Academic Purposes (EAP) and English for Occupational Purposes (EOP)
(Robinson 1991: 3-4; Dudley-Evans and Jo St John 1998: 6; Strevens, 1977a). The former
involves work-related needs and training while the later involves academic study. They are
further divided in terms of discipline or professional area (as can be seen from figure 1.1
below).
Figure 1.1. ESP classification by professional area
(Dudley-Evans and Jo St John, 1998:6)
English for Specific Purposes
English for Occupational Purposes
English for Academic purposes

Purposes
English for
Vocational
Purposes
English
for
Medical
Purposes
English
for
Business
Purposes
Pre-
vocation
-al
English
Vocation
-al
English 17
Hutchinson & Waters (1987: 16-17) propose “tree of ELT” in which ESP is divided
into 3 branches: English for Science & Technology (EST); English for Business &
Economics (EBE) and English for Social Sciences (ESS). Then each of these three main
areas is subdivided into 2 branches: English for Academic Purposes (EAP) and English for
Occupational Purposes (EOP). These two types of ESP “differentiated according to
whether the learner requires English for academic study (EAP) or for work/ training
(EOP)”. However, they emphasize that there is “not a clear cut distinction” between EAP
and EOP because “people can work and study simultaneously; it is also likely that in many

learning” and it is the ESP teacher who most understands his teaching context such as
students‟ proficiency level, motivation, institutional requirement, and so on.

In sum, ESP teachers have an important role in designing a course with an aim to
fit the needs of a specific group of learners. As an ESP teacher, I adopt the above authors‟
view that ESP teachers are required to do more than simply teaching a language, i.e. they
should take up in writing or adapting materials to fill the specific needs of their students so
that they can improve the ESP teaching and learning quality at their institutions. This view
has inspired me to design an ESP syllabus, an important document in the teaching and
learning process.

1.2. CURRENT VIEWS ON ESP SYLLABUS DESIGN
1.2.1. Definitions of syllabus
Syllabus is defined by different writers in broad view and narrow view.
Yalden (1987:86) holds a broad view of syllabus in stating that “It replaces the
concept of method. The syllabus is now seen as an instrument by which the teacher, with
the help of the syllabus designer, can achieve a certain coincidence between the needs and
aims of the learner, and the activities that will take place in the classroom”. To advocate
this opinion, Been (1984:61, cited in Nunan, 1988: 6) points out: “Any syllabus will
express, however indirectly, certain assumptions about language, about the psychological
process of learning, and about the pedagogic and social process within a classroom”.
Obviously, authors advocating the broad view believe that syllabus and methods should
not be kept separate and argue that with the advent of communicative language teaching
the distinction between content and tasks is difficult to sustain. 19
On the other hand, the narrow view argues that there should be a clear distinction
between syllabus design and methodology. For them, syllabus design is concerned with the
selection and grading content, while methodology is concerned with the selection of


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course. Finally, its analysis of target situation data is only at the surface level and as such
reveals little about the competence that underlies the performance.
1.2.2.2. A skill-centred approach
A skill-centred approach aims to reveal the competence that underlies the
performance. With the view that an ESP course helps learners to develop skills and
strategies which will continue to develop after the ESP course, this approach aims at not
only providing learners with a certain amount of specific linguistic knowledge but also
making them into better processors of information. Therefore, in this approach learners are
taken into more consideration than in the language-centred approach. However, this
approach still sees the learner as a user of language rather than as a learner of language
and it is concerned with the processes of language use not of language learning.
1.2.2.3. A learning-centred approach
The learning-centred approach is based on the recognition of the complexity of the
learning process in which learners is not the only one factor to be considered. When
designing a syllabus in a learning-centred approach, the methodology must be considered
right from the start. It cannot be just decided on to the end of an existing selection of
syllabus items and texts. A learning-centred approach takes account of the learner at every
stage of the design process. It really wants to discover not the competence that enables
someone to perform itself but how someone acquires that competence.
After a careful consideration about different approaches to syllabus design, the
learning-centred approach is chosen as the basis for designing an ESP syllabus for the 2
nd

nursing students at TQMVS.
1.2.3. Types of syllabus
There are many types of syllabus and approaches to syllabus classification
mentioned by different authors. So far, Robinson‟s (1991) classification of language
syllabi into three main types: content-based syllabus, skill-based syllabus and method-

“learner-rather than subject-centred” (Wilkins, 1976:16). However, this syllabus presents
some drawbacks. First, the grading situations in terms of difficulty or need to be learn 22
before is rather complex. Second, language used in a specific situation may not transfer to
another.
1.2.3.1.4. Topic-based syllabus (Theme-based syllabus)
Topic syllabus is organized by topics or themes which are selected by the
textbook writers on the basis of their perception on the importance of the topics to its
learners‟ lives. In designing a topic-based syllabus, it is theme which is the point of
departure rather than grammar or situations. The main advantage of this syllabus is that “it
motivates the students and as a basis for the syllabus of the language forms, functions or
whatever the course designers wish to focus on” (Robinson, 1991:37). This syllabus is, in
general, of great importance to ESP because it helps “deploy the content of the student‟s
work or specialist study. One objective of the ESP course may, in fact, be to teach his
specialist content” (Robinson, 1991: 36). Beside the above advantages, this type of
syllabus also reveals a problem of grading as argued by Nunan (1988:49) that “the logic of
the subject may provide a non-linguistic rationale for the selecting and the grading
content”.
1.2.3.2. Skill-based syllabus
The content of language teaching in this syllabus is a collection of particular skills
that may play a role in using language. Skill-based syllabus combines linguistic
competences (pronunciation, vocabulary, grammar and discourse) and generalized types of
behavior, such as listening to spoken language for the main ideas, writing well-formed
paragraphs, giving effective oral presentations, and so on. This syllabus focuses on helping
learners to develop specific language skills and strategies as well as to develop more
general competence in the language. However, it has been criticized for focusing on
discrete aspects of performance rather than on developing more global and integrated
communicative abilities.

result of instruction” (Nunan, 1988:42). Moreover, due to lake of substantive evidence that
negotiation produces better results, a more cautious approach might be more desirable.

In summary, each type of syllabus contains strengths and weaknesses in itself. In
fact, “any teaching materials must, in reality, operate several syllabuses at the same time.
One of them will probably be used as the principal organizing feature, but the others are
still there” (Hutchinson and Waters,1988: 89). As such different types of syllabus are 24
usually combined in more or less integrated ways. Therefore, in the case of the ENP
syllabus, I follow an integrated way. That is, the theme-based syllabus is chosen as the
principal organizing feature, around which are others.
1.2.4. Steps in syllabus design
Different stages of designing a syllabus have been proposed by a number of
linguists so far. Nunan (1988: 75-96) believes that all the language programs should take
their form of departure from the goals and objectives that have been derived from an
analysis of learners‟ needs. He suggests four steps in syllabus design including (i) needs
analysis, (ii) setting goals, (iii) selecting and grading content and (iv) selecting and grading
learning tasks. Taba (1962, cited in Brumfit, 1984: 268) advocates seven steps in designing
a syllabus as follows: (i) needs analysis, (ii) formulation of objectives, (iii) selection of
content, (iv) organization of content, (v) selection of learning activities, (vi) organization
of learning activities, (vii) decisions about what needs evaluating and how to evaluate.
However, on discussing about syllabus design in the light of the communicative approach,
Munby (in Read, 1984: 58) points out that syllabus design is composed of three logical
stages: (i) need analysis, (ii) content specification, (iii) syllabus organization.
Obviously, the above authors share a concern with needs analysis as the starting
point in syllabus design. This principle receives even more priority in specific-purpose
syllabus design. Munby (1978:1) claims that this principle “seems to be of crucial
importance” in terms of designing courses in ESP. Similarly, in their book about ESP,

potential can be exploited”. Sharing with Hutchinson‟s and Waters' view, Richards
(2007:51, cited in Zohrabi, 2008: 52 ) holds “a sound educational program should be based
on an analysis of learner needs”.
In short, needs analysis has an importance in language learning and teaching
especially for specific purposes. Thus, it is very important for designers to analyze their
learners‟ needs to design appropriate courses for them, motivate them and help them learn
English more quickly and more effectively.
1.2.4.2. Goals and Objectives of the syllabus
Identifying learning goals and stating objectives are of great importance in the
development of a language program. These provide a rationale for the course or program.
There is an important distinction between goals and objectives. Nunan (1988: 61)
points out that “Goal statements are relatively imprecise. While they act as a signpost, they 26
need to be fleshed out in order to provide information for course and programme planners.
This can be achieved through the specification of objectives”. In other words, goals are
general statements about the general purposes for which a language program is being
taught or learned, whereas objectives express the specific ways in which the goals will be
achieved or spell out what learners will actually be able to do as a result of instruction.
Establishing precise goals and appropriate objectives is very important because
such goals and objectives will govern the whole process of syllabus design as well as the
syllabus implementation. They determine the selection of contents and teaching procedures
and activities.
Thus, syllabus or course designers should take goals and objectives into careful
consideration. This will help teachers to make sure what materials should be taught, and
when and how it should be taught.
1.2.4.3. Selection of content
After having identified the language needs of the learner, forming the goals and
objectives, the next step would be to decide on the content of the syllabus.

language as a formal system, then the criteria for sequencing would be related to
„simplicity‟ or „complexity‟ of structures. If the syllabus represents a functional view of
language, then the „usefulness‟ or „frequency‟ criteria would be prominent. The subject
matter can also be sequenced from „familiarity‟ to „unfamiliarity‟ and can be taken into
account whether it is „easy to teach‟ or „more urgent‟.
In short, "the objective of organizing a syllabus is not to produce an adequate
description of the language, but to promote learning" (Gibbons in Read 1984:137). Thus
the content should be organized in such a way in order to facilitate teaching and learning.
The unit organization should also be suitable for the particular purpose of learning.
In this study, with the selection of theme-based syllabus as the principal organizing
feature for the ESP course, the syllabus will be organized in an integrated manner
including components: topics, functions, skills, grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation.
The syllabus will be organized based on topics which are imposed by the identified needs.

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1.3. Summary
In this chapter, the author has revealed the literature review of ESP and syllabus
design, which will be the theoretical background for the study. ESP definitions proposed
by Hutchinson and Waters (1987), Dudley-Evans and St John (1998) are discussed. The
different viewpoints on syllabus of such linguists as Yalden (1987), Been (1984),
Hutchinson and Waters (1987), and Nunan (1988) are also mentioned. As regards
designing the intended syllabus, the learning-centred approach, and four main steps namely
needs analysis, objective settings, content selection and syllabus organization have been
identified. After considering different types of syllabus, the intended syllabus will be
designed in an integrated way with theme-based syllabus as the principal organizing
feature.


needs on health care for people in Tuyen Quang, other provinces in Vietnam as well as
some health centers abroad.
Besides medical knowledge, the school students are equipped with English because
it is regarded as an important subject which enables the students to communicate, read
medical documents in English, and to widen their specific knowledge. English is also
considered as a means that can assist students in their future career.
The whole English curriculum for the nursing students at TQMVS consists of 90
class hours (45 minutes each) which is divided into two parts as follows:
+ Part I: Students learn 40 class hours of General English in their second
semester of the first year. The textbook used in this stage is shorten
from New Headway Elementary by John and Liz Soars
+ Part II: Students learn 50 class hours of ESP in their first semester of the
second year. In teaching ESP, teachers use a textbook complied by
an inexperienced teacher. This self-made textbook will be further
discussed in section 2.1.3. below.
The school provides good condition for enhancing teaching and learning quality.
Almost all the classrooms are equipped with modern facilities such as computers, laptops,