PART I: INTRODUCTION
1. RATIONALE
The status of English has turned a significant percentage of the world’s population. In
addition to General English, English for Specific Purposes (ESP) has been gaining an
increasing importance and it has grown to become one of the most prominent areas of the
Teaching of English as Foreign or Second Language (TEFL/TESL). Ewer (1976: 247)
believes that “the teaching of English for scientific, technological and technical purposes is
of comparatively recent growth as specialized activity, but it is now emerging as one of the
most rapidly expanding and important branches of TEFL/TESL today”.
To meet the demand of the learners, many ESP programmes have been designed.
Together with the worldwide trend to learn ESP, the teaching staff of Foreign Languages
Department at Vinh University collected documents and designed some ESP programmes for
some specific fields, including the ESP programme for Construction which was first taught
for K.46 Construction Engineering students at Vinh University.
Besides an effort to offer the learners with the ESP programme according to their
specific needs, it is necessary to implement an evaluation. Furthermore, the fact is that the
ESP programme for Construction designed by the teaching staff of Foreign Languages at
Vinh University was first taught for K.46 Construction Engineering students at Vinh
University and it received some learners’ evaluative comments while it was in the progress.
Therefore, it is necessary to have an evaluation on the ESP programme for Construction at
Vinh University carried out by the learners themselves as Wallace (1991: 163)‘s thought
“One source of evaluation will obviously be the trainees themselves”.
2. AIMS AND SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
The study is aimed at researching Construction Engineering students’ evaluation on
the ESP programme at Vinh University in terms of audience, aims, time allocation, contents
and methodology in order to determine whether the ESP programme for Construction is
suitable to the learners’ abilities and needs.
Significantly, the process of this ESP programme evaluation can be seen as a way of
developing our understanding of the ways in which it works and, in doing so, of contributing
to both acquisition theory and pedagogic practices. Hence, the teachers would find ways to
1

6. DESIGN OF THE STUDY
The minor thesis is composed of three main parts: introduction, development and
conclusion.
The introduction presents the rationale, aims and significance, research questions,
method of the study, scope of the study, as well as design of the study.
The development consists of three chapters:
- Chapter I, “Literature Review”, provides the relevant theories: an overview of ESP
(definition of ESP, classification of ESP and the development of ESP), evaluation
(terminology definition, types of programme evaluation, purposes for evaluation, criteria for
evaluation and central questions in programme evaluation design) and learner-centeredness
in ESP.
- Chapter II, “An overview of English for Construction at Vinh University”, presents
background information about English for Construction at Vinh University, including in the
teaching and learning situation, a description of current ESP programme for Construction and
the learners at Vinh University.
- Chapter III, “The study”, describes the methodology employed to collect data for
this thesis at first (participants, data collection instrument and procedure). Then it reports on
the learners’ evaluation of the ESP programme for Construction at Vinh University and their
needs, and shows the major findings. Finally, it provides some suggestions to improve the
ESP programme for Construction at Vinh University.
The conclusion presents what have been found out from the study and the limitations
and suggestions for further study.
3
PART II: DEVELOPMENT
CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW
This chapter aims to provide a theoretical base to develop an operational framework
for programme evaluation. The first part presents an overview of ESP with regards to
definition, the classification and the development of the ESP. The second part discusses
about evaluation, concerning in terminology definition, types of programme evaluation,
purposes for evaluation, criteria for evaluation and central questions in programme

specifically linked to a particular profession or discipline, makes use of a methodology that
differs from that used in General Purpose English teaching. They also believe that language
should be included as a defining feature of ESP.
In summary, all the above definitions show that ESP belongs to English Language
Teaching (ELT). The ESP courses are performed successfully in occupational roles by an
individual or a group whose need is considered to be a distinguished feature from General
English.
1.1.2. Classification of ESP
ESP has traditionally been divided into two main areas: English for Academic
Purposes (EAP) and English for Occupational Purposes (EOP).
According to Robinson (1991), the classification of ESP is generally presented in a
tree diagram as follows:
Pre-experience
EOP Simultaneous / In-service
Post-experience
ESP Pre-study
For study in a In study
specific discipline Post-study
EEP/EAP Independent
As a school subject
Integrated
Figure 1: ESP classification by experience (Robinson, 1991: 3-4)
5
The diagram shows a useful division of courses. Those distinctions are very
important and they will affect the degree of specificity that is appropriate to the course.
Dudley-Evans and St John (1998) also present the classification of ESP through a tree
diagram but it divides EAP and EOP according to discipline or professional area as in the
figure 2.
English for Specific Purposes


Ewer and Latorre (1969) and their aim is to produce a syllabus which gives high priority to
the language forms students meet in their Science studies and low priority to forms students
do not meet.
Whereas in the first stage of its development, ESP focuses on language at the
sentence level, the second stage of development shifts attention to the level above the
sentence with the emerging field of discourse or rhetorical analysis. Attention shifts to
understanding how sentences are combined in discourse to produce meaning. Therefore, the
concern of research is to identify the organizational patterns in texts and to specify the
linguistic means by which these patterns are signaled. These patterns will then form the
syllabus of the ESP course.
The third stage is characterized by the target situation analysis. The most thorough
explanation of the target situation analysis is the system set out by John Munby in
“Communicative Syllabus Design” (1978). The Munby model produces a detailed profile of
the learners’ needs in term of communication purposes, communicative setting, the means of
communication, language skills, functions, structures, etc. And the target situation analysis
stage marks a certain ‘coming of age’ for ESP. What it aims to do is to take the existing
knowledge and set it on a more scientific basis, by establishing procedures for relating
language analysis more closely to learners’ reasons for learning. This stage also marks a
significant change is that the purpose of an ESP course is to enable learners to function
adequately in a target situation in which the learners will use the language they are learning.
Unlike the above three stages of the development of ESP, mainly looking the analysis
of the learners’ need at the surface linguistic features of the target situation, the fourth stage
of ESP attempts to look below the surface and to consider not the language itself but the
thinking processes that underlie language use. This stage is characterized by skills and
strategies. Hutchinson and Waters (1987: 13) point out a great influence of researchers’
works (Françoise Grellet (1981)’s, Christine Nuttall (1982)’s and Charles Alderson and
7
Sandy Urquhart (1984)’s) on developing strategies for reading skills for the teaching of ESP.
The principal idea behind the skills-centred approach is that underlying all language use there
are common reasoning and interpreting processes, which, regardless of the surface forms,

more than collecting and analyzing data. They describe evaluation as formative or
summative. Evaluation which takes place during the lifetime of an activity /a course and the
findings help to shape the course during its life-time is called formative evaluation.
Summative evaluation takes place at (or after) the end of an activity and so does not
influence that version of the activity. Its purpose is to assess impact and to provide
information that can be fed into repeat versions or related activities. Therefore, summative
evaluation is valuable for durable courses.
Hedge (2000: 351) refers to the term “evaluation” as “the assessment of students at
the end of a course, but in recent years its meaning has widened to include all aspects of a
programme”. Evaluation can relate to courses and learners in a number of ways: (1) It can try
to judge the course as it is planned; (2) It can try to observe, describe, and assess what
actually happening in classroom as a course progresses; (3) It can test what learners have
learned from a course.
In summary, evaluation relates to courses and learners. It has been widened to include
the aspects of a programme and it should be carried out at the end of the courses. The aspect
of the programme which is chosen to evaluate depends on the purpose of the evaluation.
1.2.2. Types of programme evaluation
According to Stufflebeam (1971), there are four types of programme evaluation
which are identified as: context evaluation, input evaluation, process evaluation and product
evaluation
The table below is the CIPP model for programme evaluation by Stufflebeam (1971).
9
Table 1: The CIPP model for programme evaluation
Context evaluation Input evaluation Process evaluation Product evaluation
Objective
To define the institutional context, to
identify the target population and assess
their needs, to identify opportunities for
addressing the needs, to diagnose
problems and to judge if proposed

available human and material
resources, solution strategies
and procedural designs for
By monitoring the activity’s
potential procedural barriers and
remaining alert to unanticipated
ones, by obtaining specific
By defining operationally and
measuring outcome criteria,
by collecting judgements of
outcomes from stakeholders,
10
relevance, feasibility, and
economy. And by using such
methods as literature search,
visits to exemplary
programme, advocate teams,
and pilot trials.
information for programmed
decisions, by describing the
actual process and by continually
interacting with and observing
the activities of project staff.
and by performing both
qualitative and quantitative
analyses.
Relation to decision marking in the change process
For deciding on the setting to be served,
the goals associated with meeting needs
or using opportunities, and the
task evaluation of evaluation of
evaluation, sequencing levels of
etc. practice, ect. participation
etc.

Figure 3: Macro- and micro-evaluation in language teaching (Tomlinson, 1998: 219)
It is necessary for the evaluator to study the types of programme evaluation because it
can help him or her decide what type of evaluation he or she would like to conduct in specific
situations and for purposes of evaluation.
1.2.3. Purposes for evaluation
Evaluation plays a very important role in the improvement of a language programme.
There is no language programme which can be completely useful to all teaching situations.
Evaluation is a matter of judging the fitness of something for a particular purpose,
and then it is concerned with relative merit. Hutchinson and Waters (1987: 96) emphasizes
that “There is no absolute good or bad – only degrees of fitness for the required purpose”. In
any kind of evaluation, the decision finally made is likely to be the better for being based on
a systematic check of all the important variables. Hutchinson and Waters (1987: 97) also
believe that a careful evaluation can save a lot of expense and frustration.
12
Program /
project
evaluation
Administrative
matters
Macro-

- For specific, topic-related purposes of evaluation, Rea-Dickins and Germaine
(1992) consider evaluation as the means by which we can gain a better understanding
of what is effective, what is less effective, and what appears to be of no use at all.
Hedge (2000: 352) refers to the purposes of evaluation are for accountability and for
development. The purpose which evaluates for accountability is to make staff and / or
institutions answerable to authorities and / or sponsors and evaluation for development aims
at improving to the current programme as well as to future programme.
In summary, it is necessary to evaluate aspects of a language programme in order to
understand how the programme works and how successfully it works. The results of
evaluation enable the different kinds of decision to be made about the programme, such as: to
decide whether to continue the programme or not or to improve the programme to make it
more useful.
13
1.2.4. Criteria for evaluation
1.2.4.1. Criteria defined by Hutchinson and Waters (1987)
Hutchinson and Waters (1987: 99-104) suggest five evaluation criteria for objective
and subjective analysis which are summarized as follows:
- Audience: the learners and the materials intended for.
- Aims: the aims of the course and the aims of the materials.
- Content: language description, language points, proportion of work on each macro-
skill, micro-skills, text-types, subject-matter area(s) (level of knowledge, types of
topics, treatment), organization of content within the course units, sequence of
content throughout the course, sequence of content within a unit.
- Methodology: theory/ies of learning, aspects of the learners’ attitudes to /
expectations about learning, kinds of exercises/tasks, teaching-learning techniques,
aids, guidance/support for teaching the course, the flexibility.
- Other criteria: price, quantities, availability.
1.2.4.2. Criteria defined by Sheldon (1988)
Sheldon (1988) (cited in Hedge, 2000: 367-371) presents the list of evaluation criteria
including: rationale, availability, user definition, layout/graphics, accessibility, linkage,

teacher, required resources available, evidence of suitability); Likely appeal to learners
(layout, visuals, topics, suitable over medium term).
In short, studying criteria is very important when an evaluation is carried out. One
essential issue is that a wide variety of relevant and appropriate criteria for the evaluation of
the ESP programme should be established and applied to evaluate the suitability of the
programme to the learners’ needs and abilities.
1.2.5. Central questions in programme evaluation design
Nunan (1992: 196) makes a list of questions which needs to deal with some practical
issues in programme evaluation as follows:
• What is the purpose of the evaluation?
• Who is the audience for the evaluation?
• What principles of procedure should guide the evaluation?
• What tools, techniques, and instruments are appropriate?
• Who should carry out the evaluation?
• When should it be carried out?
• What is the time frame and budget for the evaluation?
15
• How should the evaluation be reported?
It is useful to studying Nunan ‘s (1992) central questions in programme evaluation
design before evaluating so that all factors that need evaluating will be covered.
1.3. LEARNER-CENTEREDNESS IN ESP
1.3.1. Learner-centered approach
Hutchinson and Waters (1987: 19) state ESP as “an approach”, not as “a product” to
stress the commonality of the language and learning in which the learners are centered. The
learner-centered approach is based on the principle that learning is totally determined by the
learner. Learning is seen as a process in which the learners use what knowledge or skills they
have in order to make sense of the flow of new information. Learning, therefore, is an
internal process, which is crucially dependent upon the knowledge the learners already have
and their ability and motivation to use it. Learning should be seen in the context in which it
takes place. Learning is not just metal process; it is a process of negotiation between

learners aim to learn about their specific fields.
Hutchinson and Waters (1987: 16) distinguish ESP courses by the general nature of
the learners’ specialism and they divide ESP into three large categories basing on the
learners’ specialism: EST (English for Science and Technology), EBE (English for Business
and Economics) and ESS (English for the Social Sciences).
Nunan (1988) develops the learner-centered courses within an adult ESP context
basing on the principles of learner-centeredness. He assumes that “in most learning context,
it is impossible to teach learners everything they need to know in classes. Little class time
therefore must be used effectively to teach those aspects of the language which the learners
consider to be ‘mostly urgently required’” (Nunan, 1988: 3).
Schleppegrell (1994: 233)’ opinion about the learners in an ESP course is to bring to
class a reason for learning English and a real life context for its use; the learners should have
knowledge of the specific vocation the course is addressing and well-developed learning
strategies.
In summary, chapter I has presented an overview of ESP and evaluation. The
purposes for evaluation, criteria for evaluation central questions in programme evaluation
design and the learner-centered in ESP imply that those are issues to carry out a programme
evaluation in which the learners are centered.
17
CHAPTER 2: AN OVERVIEW OF ENGLISH FOR CONSTRUCTION
AT VINH UNIVERSITY
Chapter 2 provides background information about English for Construction at Vinh
University, including in the teaching and learning situation, a description of current ESP
programme for Construction and the learners at Vinh University.
2.1. THE TEACHING AND LEARNING SITUATION OF ENGLISH FOR
CONSTRUCTION AT VINH UNIVERSITY
Russian was the dominant for foreign languages taught at Vinh University
(previously called Vinh Pedagogical College) for a long time. After the collapse of the Soviet
block, little attention was paid to the teaching and learning of Russian. Therefore, English
has become most popular foreign language taught in Vietnam in general and at Vinh