Employment and attitudes towards schema-building activities in ESP reading comprehention

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

HO CHI MINH CITY OPEN UNIVERSITY

-----------------------------------------

EMPLOYMENT AND ATTITUDES

TOWARDS SCHEMA-BUILDING ACTIVITIES

IN ESP READING COMPREHENSION

A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS

FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS (TESOL)

Submitted by LE THI KIM TRUOC

Supervisor: Assoc. Prof. Dr. PHAM VU PHI HO

Ho Chi Minh City, April 2017

i

STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP

I certify that this thesis entitled “Employment and Attitudes towards Schema￾building Activities in ESP Reading Comprehension” is my own work.

Except where reference is made in the text of the thesis, this thesis contains no

material published elsewhere or extracted in whole or in part from a thesis by which I have

qualified for or been awarded another degree or diploma.

No other person‟s work has been used without due acknowledgement in the main

text of the thesis.

This thesis has not been submitted for the award of any degree or diploma in any

other tertiary institution.

Ho Chi Minh City, 2017

Le Thi Kim Truoc

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This thesis is the report of a research that could not have been accomplished without

the help and support of many people.

First and foremost, I would like to express my sincere appreciation and deep

gratitude to my supervisor, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Pham Vu Phi Ho, for his advice, critical

questions, valuable suggestions, detailed comments, hands-on experience, and for always

having an open door. His enthusiasm and great care will always be remembered.

Second, special thanks are also forwarded to Ph.D. Luu Trong Tuan who taught me

the research methodology subject and gave me useful comments in the early stage of

choosing this research topic. Besides, I am very grateful to all of my teachers who have

taught and guided me with useful knowledge and experiences during the M.A. course.

Third, I would like to extend my appreciation to the Dean of FFL-HCMUTE– Ph.D.

Dang Tan Tin, the Vice-Dean of FFL-HCMUTE–M.A. Le Phuong Anh, and the Head of

ESP Department–M.A. Le Thi Thanh Ha, M.A. Pham Van Khanh, M.A. Dang Ba Ngoan,

M.A. Tran Thi Thien Thanh for their permission and support during the data collection

process.

Fourth, I am deeply indebted to all ESP teacher participants and the student

participants at FFL-HCMUTE who have been willing to fulfill the study‟s questionnaires

and involved in the interviews. This thesis would not be possible without their kindness

and willingness.

Fifth, a big thank you goes to my friends M.A. Le Thi Kim Thu, M.A. Pham Van

Khanh, M.A. Nguyen Thi Tham, M.A. candidate Nguyen Thi Tuyet, and M.A. Truong

Minh Hoa for their valued friendship as well as for their support, assistance, comments,

proofreading, and encouragement throughout the study.

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Finally, I would like to express my greatest love and gratitude to my beloved mother

in heaven who inspired me to take this M.A. course, my beloved father who always give

me love and care, my three cousins whose own pursuit of an M.A. degree demonstrated to

me that I also could attain such achievements someday. In addition, I warmly thank my big

family, my roommates, and my closed friends who always support and encourage me in

doing this research. My dream of fulfilling this academic goal in life would have been

impossible without my beloved people.

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ABSTRACT

This study aims at investigating the extent to which pre-reading schema-building

activities (Pre-SBAs) are applied in teaching ESP (English for Specific Purposes) reading

comprehension for English majors as well as the learners‟ and teachers‟ attitudes towards

these applications at Faculty of Foreign Languages – Ho Chi Minh City University of

Technology and Education (FFL-HCMUTE). To do this, a survey method was designed

with survey questionnaires and semi-structured interviews employed as measure

instruments. The participants included 118 English majors and 4 ENEE teachers for the

questionnaire surveys and 12 English majors and 2 ENEE teachers for the interviews. After

all data were collected, they were coded in Excel, analyzed Mean (M), Standard Deviation

(SD), and percentage in SPSS version 22, descriptively interpreted, and discussed. The

findings indicate that various Pre-SBAs have been frequently implemented in teaching

ENEE reading comprehension, the previewing and pre-questioning were used more

“often” than brainstorming activities; both learners and teachers possessed a positive

attitude towards the applications. Specifically, for learners, a majority of them positively

believed, thought, and behaved in ENEE reading classes. For teachers, most of them also

acknowledged the usefulness of Pre-SBAs in learners‟ reading comprehension and thought

that these activities could inspire learners to engage in the class. However, the positive

levels which were not really high uncover that the application was not remarkably

effective, so learners still had difficulties in comprehend the ENEE texts. Although the

emerging findings reveal that there was no significant difference between learners‟ and

teachers‟ attitudes towards the implementation in ENEE reading comprehension, there was

a tendency that the ENEE teachers overestimated the effectiveness of the methods on

learners‟ thinking and feelings while they were unaware of learners‟ behaviors in while￾and post-reading stage. Based on these findings, the study ended with some implications

for improvements and suggestions for further research.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP ........................................................................................i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS...................................................................................................ii

ABSTRACT..........................................................................................................................iv

TABLE OF CONTENTS.......................................................................................................v

LIST OF TABLES.................................................................................................................x

LIST OF FIGURES ..............................................................................................................xi

LIST OF ABREVIATIONS AND SYMBOLS...................................................................xii

Chapter 1: INTRODUCTION ...............................................................................................1

1.1. Background of the study .............................................................................................1

1.2. Statement of the Problem............................................................................................3

1.3. Research questions......................................................................................................6

1.4. Significance of the study.............................................................................................6

1.5. Overview of thesis chapters........................................................................................7

Chapter 2: LITERATURE REVIEW ....................................................................................8

2.1. ESP and reading comprehension.................................................................................8

2.1.1. Definitions and characteristics of ESP ................................................................8

2.1.2. Relationship between English for Specific Purposes (ESP) and General English

(GE)................................................................................................................................9

2.1.3. Definitions of reading comprehension ...............................................................12

2.1.4. Reading approaches............................................................................................13

2.2. Pre-reading schema-building activities in teaching reading comprehension............16

2.2.1. Definitions and characteristics of schema ..........................................................16

2.2.2. Types of schemata/background knowledge........................................................18

2.2.3. Pre-reading schema-building activities ..............................................................20

2.2.3.1. Definitions of pre-reading schema-building activities...............................20

2.2.3.2. Benefits of pre-reading schema-building activities on learners.................21

2.2.3.2.1. Pre-reading schema-building activities facilitate learners‟ reading

comprehension....................................................................................................21

2.2.3.2.2. Pre-reading schema-building activities positively affect learners‟

feelings ...............................................................................................................24

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2.2.3.2.3. Pre-reading schema-building activities positively affect learners‟

behavioral intentions/ actions.............................................................................25

2.2.3.3. Types of pre-reading schema-building activities in teaching reading

comprehension ........................................................................................................26

2.2.3.3.1. Previewing..........................................................................................26

2.2.3.3.2. Pre-questioning...................................................................................28

2.2.3.3.3. Brainstorming .....................................................................................28

2.3. Learners‟ and teachers‟ attitudes...............................................................................30

2.3.1. Definitions and components of attitudes............................................................30

2.3.2. The importance of attitudes in teaching and learning ........................................31

2.4. Summaries of related previous studies......................................................................33

2.4.1. Pre-reading schema-building activities and reading comprehension .................33

2.4.2. Pre-reading schema-building activities and attitudes.........................................37

2.5. Implications for the present study.............................................................................41

2.6. Summary of chapter 2 ...............................................................................................43

Chapter 3: METHODOLOGY.............................................................................................44

3.1. Research setting ........................................................................................................44

3.1.1. Research site.......................................................................................................44

3.1.2. Sampling methods..............................................................................................45

3.1.3. Participants.........................................................................................................47

3.1.4. Research design ..................................................................................................49

3.2. Data collection ..........................................................................................................51

3.2.1. Instruments.........................................................................................................51

3.2.1.1. Questionnaires ...........................................................................................51

3.2.1.1.1. Questionnaire for students..................................................................52

3.2.1.1.2. Questionnaire for teachers..................................................................54

3.2.1.2. Interviews...................................................................................................55

3.2.2. Procedure............................................................................................................56

3.2.2.1. Preliminary study ......................................................................................57

3.2.2.2. Pilot study ..................................................................................................58

3.2.2.3. Students‟ data collection procedure...........................................................59

3.2.2.4. Teachers‟ data collection procedure ..........................................................61

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3.3. Data analysis .............................................................................................................61

3.3.1. Reliability and validity of instruments...............................................................61

3.3.1.1. Reliability of the instruments.....................................................................62

3.3.1.2. Validity of the instruments ........................................................................63

3.3.2. Analytical framework.........................................................................................64

3.4. Summary of chapter 3 ...............................................................................................64

Chapter 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS.....................................................................65

4.1. Research question 1...................................................................................................65

4.2. Research question 2...................................................................................................72

4.2.1. Learners‟ cognitive attitudes ..............................................................................73

4.2.2. Learners‟ affective attitudes...............................................................................79

4.2.3. Learners‟ behavioral attitudes ............................................................................83

4.3. Research question 3...................................................................................................90

4.3.1. Teachers‟ cognitive attitudes..............................................................................91

4.3.2. Teachers‟ affective attitudes...............................................................................95

4.3.3. Teachers‟ behavioral attitudes............................................................................98

4.4. Emerging findings...................................................................................................103

4.5. Summary of chapter 4 .............................................................................................104

Chapter 5: CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS ..........................................106

5.1. Summary of main findings .....................................................................................106

5.1.1. Research question 1..........................................................................................106

5.1.2. Research question 2..........................................................................................107

5.1.3. Research question 3..........................................................................................108

5.1.4. Emerging findings ............................................................................................110

5.2. Implications.............................................................................................................111

5.2.1. Theoretical implications...................................................................................111

5.2.2. Practical implications .......................................................................................111

5.2.2.1. Implications for teachers..........................................................................112

5.2.2.2. Implications for learners..........................................................................113

5.2.2.3. Implications for administrators................................................................114

5.3. Limitation and suggestions for further research......................................................114

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5.4. Summary of chapter 5 .............................................................................................116

REFERENCES ..................................................................................................................117

APPENDICES ...................................................................................................................135

APPENDIX 1A: CONSENT FORM TO THE DEAN OF FFL-HCMUTE (ENGLISH

VERSION).....................................................................................................................135

APPENDIX 1B: CONSENT FORM TO THE DEAN OF FFL-HCMUTE

(VIETNAMESE VERSION) .........................................................................................136

APPENDIX 2: SUMMARY OF RELATED PREVIOUS STUDIES...........................137

APPENDIX 3A: PRELIMINARY SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE FOR STUDENTS 142

APPENDIX 3B: PRELIMINARY SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE FOR TEACHERS 145

APPENDIX 3C: PRELIMINARY SURVEY FINDINGS FROM STUDENTS ..........147

APPENDIX 3D: PRELIMINARY SURVEY FINDINGS FROM TEACHERS..........151

APPENDIX 4A: PILOT QUESTIONNAIRE FOR STUDENTS (ENGLISH VERSION)

........................................................................................................................................153

APPENDIX 4B: PILOT QUESTIONNAIRE FOR STUDENTS (VIETNAMESE

VERSION).....................................................................................................................155

APPENDIX 4C: PILOT QUESTIONNAIRE FOR TEACHERS (ENGLISH VERSION)

........................................................................................................................................157

APPENDIX 4D: PILOT QUESTIONNAIRE FOR TEACHERS (VIETNAMESE

VERSION).....................................................................................................................159

APPENDIX 4E: RELIABILITY ANALYSIS – CRONBACH‟S ALPHA (PILOT

STUDY).........................................................................................................................162

APPENDIX 5A: QUESTIONNAIRE FOR STUDENTS (ENGLISH VERSION) ......164

APPENDIX 5B: QUESTIONNAIRE FOR STUDENTS (VIETNAMESE VERSION)

........................................................................................................................................166

APPENDIX 5C: QUESTIONNAIRE FOR TEACHERS (ENGLISH VERSION) ......168

APPENDIX 5D: QUESTIONNAIRE FOR TEACHERS (VIETNAMESE VERSION)

........................................................................................................................................170

APPENDIX 6A: INTERVIEW PROTOCOL FOR STUDENTS (ENGLISH VERSION)

........................................................................................................................................172

APPENDIX 6B: INTERVIEW PROTOCOL FOR STUDENTS (VIETNAMESE

VERSION).....................................................................................................................174

APPENDIX 6C: INTERVIEW PROTOCOL FOR TEACHERS (ENGLISH VERSION)

........................................................................................................................................176

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APPENDIX 6D: INTERVIEW PROTOCOL FOR TEACHERS (VIETNAMESE

VERSION).....................................................................................................................178

APPENDIX 7: TRANSCRIPTS OF STUDENT INTERVIEWS .................................180

APPENDIX 7A: STUDENT 1.......................................................................................180

APPENDIX 7B: STUDENT 2......................................................................................182

APPENDIX 7C: STUDENT 3 ......................................................................................184

APPENDIX 7D: STUDENT 4......................................................................................186

APPENDIX 7E: STUDENT 5 ......................................................................................188

APPENDIX 7F: STUDENT 6 ......................................................................................190

APPENDIX 7G: STUDENT 7......................................................................................192

APPENDIX 7H: STUDENT 8......................................................................................193

APPENDIX 7I: STUDENT 9 .......................................................................................195

APPENDIX 7J: STUDENT 10 .....................................................................................197

APPENDIX 7K: STUDENT 11....................................................................................199

APPENDIX 7L: STUDENT 12 ....................................................................................201

APPENDIX 8: TRANSCRIPTS OF TEACHER INTERVIEWS .................................203

APPENDIX 8A: TEACHER 1......................................................................................203

APPENDIX 8B: TEACHER 2......................................................................................205

APPENDIX 9: SUMMARY OF FINDINGS FROM THE STUDENTS‟ INTERVIEWS

........................................................................................................................................207

APPENDIX 10: MANN WHITNEY U TEST RESULTS ............................................209

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LIST OF TABLES

Page

Table 3.1 Schedule for the main stages of the research ......................................................56

Table 4.1 Students‟ responses about the frequency of the Pre-SBAs.................................66

Table 4.2 ENEE teachers‟ responses about the frequency of the Pre-SBAs ......................67

Table 4.3 Students‟ cognitive attitude questionnaire responses..........................................73

Table 4.4 Students‟ affective attitude questionnaire responses ..........................................79

Table 4.5 Students‟ behavioral attitude questionnaire responses........................................83

Table 4.6 Students‟ expectation to learn with Pre-SBAs....................................................88

Table 4.7 ENEE teachers‟ cognitive attitude questionnaire responses...............................91

Table 4.8 ENEE teachers‟ affective attitude questionnaire responses................................95

Table 4.9 ENEE teachers‟ behavioral attitude questionnaire responses.............................99

Table 4.10 ENEE teachers‟ expectation in applying Pre-SBAs .......................................101

Table 4.11 Differences between students‟ and teachers‟ attitudes towards the application

of Pre-SBAs.......................................................................................................................103

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LIST OF FIGURES

Page

Figure 2.1 The tree of ELT .................................................................................................11

Figure 2.2 A simplified interactive parallel processing sketch...........................................15

Figure 2.3 A model of attitude formation ...........................................................................31

Figure 2.4 Conceptual framework of the study ..................................................................42

Figure 3.1 Summary of the research process......................................................................50

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LIST OF ABREVIATIONS AND SYMBOLS

AEC : ASEAN Economic Community

EFL : English as a Foreign Language

ENBU : English for Business

ENEE : English for Electrical and Electronic Engineering

ENET : English for Environmental Technology

ENFD : English for Fashion Design

ENIT : English for Information Technology

ENME : English for Mechanical Engineering

ENNF : English for Nutrition and Food Industry

ESL : English as a Second Language

ESP : English for Specific Purposes

FFL-HCMUTE : Faculty of Foreign Languages, Ho Chi Minh City University of

Technology and Education

GE : General English

HCMUTE : Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology and Education

Pre-SBAs : Pre-reading Schema-building Activities

TPP : Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement

1

Chapter 1: INTRODUCTION

1.1. Background of the study

Recent decades have witnessed an unprecedented growth in the number of English

language speakers all around the world. Vietnam is no exception. With the economic

boom, and needs of development in trade, sciences, cultural exchanges, media, technology,

the internet, as well as other social aspects of Vietnam, English has gained great ground as

the first official foreign language for a long time. Tran Minh (2015) reported that there was

a correlative link between a country‟s English proficiency and its economic strengths and

innovation. Furthermore, after Vietnam has integrated into The ASEAN Economic

Community (AEC) and the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP), Vietnamese

workers can work anywhere within the AEC and TPP community. Various good

international job opportunities will be opened to those with a high level of English

proficiency. Thanks to these opportunities, English language has become more crucial,

especially English for Specific Purposes (ESP). Alan stated that a number of

interconnected trends such as globalization and the increase in vocational learning and

training throughout the world suggested that ESP emerged as a key strand in the ELT

context (as cited in Harding, 2007). Since the 1960s, ESP has become a vital and

innovative activity in ESL/EFL teaching (Howatt, 1984, as cited in Dudley-Evans & St

John, 1998).

The popularity of English use at work and in daily life has made not only General

English (GE) but also English for Specific Purposes (ESP) become more essential for

workers. For ESP, at least, they can read the ESP materials to obtain the ESP knowledge,

to work, and to do research. Because ESP reading is the most important skill for content

area courses (Habbash & Albakrawi, 2014; Gözüyeşil, 2014; Le C. Tinh, 2015; Nunan,

2003), it requires a greater degree of concentration, precision, and intensity (Bonyadi,

1996). For example, most of engineering workers‟ reading needs in their educational or

occupational life include reading advertisements, instructions, brochures, tables, graphic

charts, lists, and tables (Habbash & Albakrawi, 2014), email, reports, and memos (Spence

& Liu, 2013). They also need ESP reading to do research (Gözüyeşil, 2014).

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Despite high demand on learning ESP, the current ESP teaching in Vietnam has been

ineffective and could not adapt to the needs of the society (Do T. K. Dung & Cai N. D.

Anh, 2010; Ho T. T. Thuy, 2014; Nguyen T. H. Tuyen, Pham T. B. Hanh, & Bui T. T.

Van, 2015; Pham N. H. Phuong, 2011; Pham T. Huong, 2009; Vietnam Government Web

Portal, 2015; Vo T. A. Nguyet, 2010). Many workers, especially engineering workers or

technical workers still struggle with reading and understanding the ESP texts (Thuy Vinh,

2009; Dan Phuong, 2015). The ESP course at university does not sufficiently facilitate

students to work in the international community. Recently, ESP has received lots of

attention from educators, teachers, and the whole society for future development (Pham N.

H. Phuong, 2011). Adapting to the requirements of the multinational community, educators

and teachers are trying to innovate the ESP teaching methods to improve the quality of the

outcomes. Together with this progress, great attention should be paid to high quality

training for ESP teachers or ESP student teachers (Do T. K. Dung & Cai N. D. Anh, 2010;

Ho T. T. Thuy, 2014). To have proper training for students, the student teachers need to be

well-trained. That is the biggest concern needed to be improved to help learners fully

achieve a high level of proficiency to work in the international environment.

Tackling the issue of ESP training and learning mentioned above, Faculty of Foreign

Languages of Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology and Education (FFL￾HCMUTE) has offered an undergraduate program of Technical English. Its aim is to train

students to become ESP teachers for technical colleges or vocational schools since 2006.

Importantly, since 2016, the faculty has expanded by providing a similar program to train

students to be Technical English interpreters and translators. Thus, to help learners become

successful users of the ESP language in the workplace, the quality of teaching and learning

the ESP courses needs to be highly examined. At present, in these programs, English￾majored students have to study five obligated ESP subjects, including English for

Information Technology (ENIT), English for Environmental Technology (ENET), English

for Electrical and Electronic Engineering (ENEE), English for Mechanical Engineering

(ENME), and one optional subject amongst English for Business (ENBU) or English for

Nutrition and Food Industry (ENNF), or English for Fashion Design (ENFD).