ESP teachers’ practice of developing curriculum for nonEnglish majors at some universities in Ho Chi

HUE, 2022

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

HUE UNIVERSITY

UNIVERSITY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES

HUYNH THI HOA SEN

ESP TEACHERS’ PRACTICE OF

DEVELOPING CURRICULUM FOR NON-ENGLISH MAJORS

AT SOME UNIVERSITIES IN HO CHI MINH CITY

DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY THESIS IN THEORY AND

METHODOLOGY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING

HUE, 2022

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

HUE UNIVERSITY

UNIVERSITY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES

HUYNH THI HOA SEN

ESP TEACHERS’ PRACTICE OF

DEVELOPING CURRICULUM FOR NON-ENGLISH MAJORS

AT SOME UNIVERSITIES IN HO CHI MINH CITY

CODE: 9140111

DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY THESIS IN THEORY AND

METHODOLOGY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING

SUPERVISOR:

ASSOC.PROF., DR. TRAN VAN PHUOC

1

DECLARATION

I certify that the present dissertation submitted today entitled:

“ESP teachers’ practice of developing curriculum for non-English majors

at some universities in Ho Chi Minh City”

for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in theory and methodology in English language

teaching, is the result of my own research, and that, to the best of my knowledge and

belief, contains no material which has been accepted for the award of any other degree

in any institute, college, or university, or previously published or written by another

person, except where due reference is made in the text of the dissertation.

Signature:

2

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The road to achievement within this Doctoral Program is paved with the

assistance and efforts of the many who worked diligently to assist me, believed in me

and guided me to pursue a personal goal. I acknowledge those who without hesitation

contributed their professional and academic knowledge to this study. Without these

individuals, this would never have been possible.

I would like to acknowledge the forbearance of my supervisor Associate

Professor Doctor Tran Van Phuoc, who provided instruction and feedback to all steps

of the study and to various versions of this dissertation with the support and words of

wisdom. I was exceptionally fortunate to have him as a mentor for this work. His

encouragement allowed me to continue to grow as a person and a researcher. He helped

me keep things prioritized and in focus. Without him, this work would not have taken

its final shape.

I would also like to extend my sincere gratitude to Rector Pham Thi Hong

Nhung and the lecturers and professors of the University of Foreign Languages, Hue

University for patiently and wholeheartedly guiding me through the process required to

complete my program of study. Their support, encouragement, and willingness to serve

as academic committee members were of huge benefit to me. Their knowledge and

wisdom inspired me to broaden my scope of investigation.

A special mention goes to my colleagues whose understanding, sympathy, and

support were invaluable spiritual strength for me during the process of completing this

work. I owe a great debt to many English teachers at the four universities who

voluntarily and patiently answered the questionnaire and took part in the in-depth

interviews during the data collection process of this study.

3

This journey was made possible through the love and support of my parents, my

sisters, my husband and children. I would like to express my deep gratitude to my

family. To my husband, for his unconditional love, support, and encouragement. He

encouraged me unfailingly, provided ongoing support and kind words, motivated me,

and had confidence in me. To my parents whose life demonstrated that honor is found

in hard work and sacrifice. I thank them for loving me unconditionally and for

providing me with encouragement in my educational pursuits. My thanks go to my

children, who are a source of strength to me. Along the way, they constantly made

sacrifices to facilitate me in my endeavors. They were persistent in reminding me of

my desire to complete the journey and motivated me every step of the way. I will be

forever grateful for and inspired by their love.

4

ABSTRACT

In the effort to enhance the quality of English teaching in tertiary institutions,

ESP teaching is considered to make English learning more relevant to the students’ use

of English in their future jobs, and thus arouse their interest and motivation in English

learning. The development of ESP curriculum is, therefore, of great significance to

meet these needs and teacher involvement in the process is essential because an ESP

teacher is not only a teacher but also a collaborator, a course designer and material

provider, a researcher, and an evaluator (Dudley-Evans & St. John, 1998). The study

thus aims to investigate ESP teachers’ practice of developing the ESP curriculum for

non-English majors at some universities in Ho Chi Minh City to find out about the

practice of this process. The study also aims to investigate the ESP teachers’

perceptions of the process, the advantages and difficulties they may encounter as well

as their suggestions for improvement of the process.

With the aim of investigating the practice of ESP teachers in developing

curriculum and for the nature of the research questions, a descriptive research design

was employed. Data collection was carried out with three instruments, that is,

documentation, questionnaire and interview. Various types of documents related to the

ESP curriculum development process were collected. Seventy-eight ESP teachers from

four universities in Ho Chi Minh City agreed to participate in the study and answered

all the closed questions in the questionnaire and among them, twenty-one teachers took

part in the interview.

The findings of the study revealed the steps that the ESP teachers participated in

most were determining the teaching methodology and support for effective teaching,

and determining the assessment contents and methods. The steps of the curriculum

development process that the ESP teachers were not involved in most were needs

analysis, course goals or objectives specification, and curriculum evaluation. The

advantages for the ESP teachers in the curriculum development process can be counted

5

of existing knowledge and skills in teaching and planning lessons in General English,

availability of coursebooks and teaching materials for certain specialties, support and

encouragement from their faculties and universities, and individual help from specialist

teachers in the same universities. The difficulties ESP teachers often encountered in the

curriculum development process were undefined workplaces’ target needs, unclear

course goals and objectives, inappropriate teaching coursebooks and materials, lack of

specialist knowledge, and lack of effective tools for needs analysis and curriculum

evaluation at different stages of the curriculum development process. They proposed

various recommendations concerning conducting a comprehensive needs analysis as a

scientific base for later stages of the curriculum development process, specifying clear

goals and objectives, and selecting and sequencing contents based on the needs

analysis information, which in turns serves as the scientific base for the selection or

compilation of coursebooks and teaching materials, supporting teachers with specialist

training, supportive teaching and learning environment and assessment tools, as well as

effective tools for ongoing needs analysis and curriculum evaluation.

6

TABLE OF CONTENTS

DECLARATION.........................................................................................................................1

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS.........................................................................................................2

ABSTRACT................................................................................................................................4

TABLE OF CONTENTS............................................................................................................6

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS....................................................................................................10

LIST OF FIGURES...................................................................................................................11

LIST OF TABLES.....................................................................................................................12

CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION...................................................................................15

1.1. Rationale.............................................................................................................................15

1.2. Statement of purpose..........................................................................................................19

1.3. Scope of the study...............................................................................................................20

1.4. Significance of the study....................................................................................................20

1.5. Structure of the study..........................................................................................................21

CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW...............................................................22

2.1. Definitions of key terms.....................................................................................................22

2.1.1. Curriculum.......................................................................................................................22

2.1.2. English for Specific Purposes..........................................................................................23

2.2. Language curriculum development....................................................................................26

2.2.1. Language curriculum components...................................................................................26

2.2.2. Common approaches in language curriculum development............................................30

2.2.3. Common procedures in language curriculum development............................................38

2.3. Steps in ESP curriculum development...............................................................................42

7

2.3.1. ESP needs analysis..........................................................................................................43

2.3.2. Specification of course goals or objectives.....................................................................46

2.3.3. Selection and sequencing of content................................................................................48

2.3.4. Methodology and support for effective teaching.............................................................51

2.3.5. Selection or compilation of materials..............................................................................52

2.3.6. Determination of assessment methods and contents.......................................................54

2.3.7. Curriculum evaluation.....................................................................................................55

2.4. Teacher’s involvement in the curriculum development process........................................57

2.5. Previous studies on teacher’s involvement in curriculum development and ESP teaching

................................................................................................................................................... 59

2.6. Summary of the chapter......................................................................................................66

CHAPTER THREE: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY........................................................67

3.1. Research Design.................................................................................................................67

3.2. Participants.........................................................................................................................70

3.3. Data collection methods.....................................................................................................72

3.3.1. Documentation and artefacts...........................................................................................74

3.3.2. The questionnaire.............................................................................................................75

3.3.3. Interview..........................................................................................................................78

3.4. Piloting data collection.......................................................................................................79

3.5. Data collection procedure...................................................................................................80

3.6. Data analysis methods........................................................................................................80

3.6.1. Analysing documents and artefacts.................................................................................81

3.6.2. Analysing questionnaire data...........................................................................................81

3.6.3. Analysing interview data.................................................................................................81

3.7. Reliability and validity........................................................................................................81

8

3.8. Summary of the chapter......................................................................................................83

CHAPTER FOUR: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION..........................................................84

4.1. Teachers’ perceptions of developing ESP curriculum for non-English majors..................84

4.1.1. Teachers’ general perceptions of developing ESP curriculum........................................85

4.1.2. Teachers’ perceptions of the steps in developing ESP curriculum..................................89

4.1.2.1. Step One: Analyzing ESP needs...................................................................................89

4.1.2.2.Step Two: Specifying the cour se goals or objectives..................................................92

4.1.2.3.Step Three: Selecting and sequencing the contents......................................................93

4.1.2.4. Step Four: Methodology and support for effective teaching........................................94

4.1.2.5. Step Five: Selecting or compiling coursebooks or teaching materials.........................96

4.1.2.6. Step Six: Determining methods and contents of assessment........................................98

4.1.2.7. Step Seven: Evaluating the performed curriculum through different channels or tools

................................................................................................................................................. 100

4.2. Teachers’ actual participation in the process of developing ESP curriculum at some

universities in Ho Chi Minh City.............................................................................................101

4.2.1. Step One: Analyzing ESP needs....................................................................................102

4.2.2. Step Two: Specifying the course goals or objectives....................................................108

4.2.3. Step Thr ee: Selecting and sequencing the contents.....................................................111

4.2.4. Step Four: Methodology and support for effective teaching.........................................113

4.2.5. Step Five: Selecting or compiling coursebooks or teaching materials..........................118

4.2.6. Step Six: Determining methods and contents of assessment.........................................121

4.2.7.ep Seven: Evaluating the performed curriculum through different channels or tools124

4.3. Advantages and difficulties in the ESP curriculum development process.......................126

4.3.1. Step One: Analyzing ESP needs....................................................................................126

4.3.2. Step Two: Specifying the course goals or objectives....................................................128

9

4.3.3. Step Three: Selecting and sequencing the contents.......................................................129

4.3.4. Step Four: Methodology and support for effective teaching.........................................130

4.3.5. Step Five: Selecting or compiling coursebooks or teaching materials..........................130

4.4. Summary of the chapter....................................................................................................131

CHAPTER FIVE: CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS.........................132

5.1. Summary of key findings..................................................................................................132

5.2. Recommendations.............................................................................................................135

5.3. Contributions of the study................................................................................................138

5.4. Limitations of the study....................................................................................................139

5.5. Suggestions for further studies.........................................................................................140

5.6. Summary of the chapter....................................................................................................140

REFERENCES........................................................................................................................141

APPENDICES.........................................................................................................................148

Appendix 1: The questionnaire (English version)...................................................................148

Appendix 2: The questionnaire (Vietnamese version)............................................................159

Appendix 3: Interview questions (English).............................................................................169

Appendix 4: Interview questions (Vietnamese)......................................................................170

Appendix 5: Table of Reliability (Cronbach’s Alpha)............................................................171

10

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

EFL English as a Foreign Language

EMP English for Mathematical Purposes

ESL English as a Second Language

ESP English for Specific Purposes

HUFI University of Food Industry

LSA Learning Situation Analysis

LSP Languages for Specific Purposes

MOET Ministry of Education and Training

PSA Present Situation Analysis

SPSS Statistical Package for the Social Sciences

TSA Target Situation Analysis

11

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 2.1: A model of the parts of the curriculum design process (adapted from Nation &

Macalister, 2010).......................................................................................................................29

Figure 2.2: Tyler’s Curriculum Development Model (adapted from Tyler, 1949)...................33

Figure 2.3: Backward-design model (adapted from Wiggins and McTighe, 1998)..................36

Figure 2.4: Flowchart presentation of the Taba-Tyler curriculum development model (adapted

from Taba,1962; Tyler, 1949, 1969).........................................................................................38

Figure 2.5: Procedures of curriculum process (adapted from Wheeler, 1967)..........................39

Figure 2.6: Systematic Approach to Designing and Maintaining Language Curriculum

(adapted from Brown, 1995)......................................................................................................41

Figure 2.7: A teacher’s path through the production of new or adapted materials (adapted from

Jolly & Bolitho, 1998)...............................................................................................................54

12

LIST OF TABLES

Table 3.1: Participants’ ethnographic information....................................................................71

Table 3.2: Research inquiries and their corresponding data collection instruments.................73

Table 3.3: Questionnaire item distribution................................................................................76

Table 4.1: Teachers’ general perceptions of the ESP curriculum development steps...............85

Table 4.2: Teachers’ general perceptions of the university/faculty’s implementation level of

the ESP curriculum development steps.....................................................................................86

Table 4.3: Teachers’ general perceptions of their participation................................................88

Table 4.4: Teachers’ perceptions of the ESP needs analysis tools............................................89

Table 4.5: Teachers’ perceptions of the contents to be collected in ESP needs analysis..........91

Table 4.6: Teachers’ perceptions of the stake-holders involved in ESP needs analysis...........91

Table 4.7: Teachers’ perceptions of the bases of goals or objectives specification..................93

Table 4.8: Teachers’ perceptions of the ESP syllabus framework types...................................93

Table 4.9: Teachers’ perceptions of the elements ensuring the ESP curriculum effectiveness 95

Table 4.10: Teachers’ perceptions of the activities supporting the ESP curriculum

implementation..........................................................................................................................96

Table 4.11: Teachers’ perceptions of types of ESP coursebooks and materials.......................97

Table 4.12: Teachers’ perceptions of the bases for selecting or compiling ESP coursebooks

and materials..............................................................................................................................98

Table 4.13: Teachers’ perceptions of the specification of the assessment methods and contents

in ESP curriculum development................................................................................................99

Table 4.14: Teachers’ perceptions of the bases or principles for determining testing and

assessment requirements in ESP curriculum development.....................................................100

Table 4.15: Teachers’ perceptions of the contents to be evaluated in ESP curriculum

evaluation.................................................................................................................................101

13

Table 4.16: The ESP needs analysis tools used by the university/faculty...............................102

Table 4.17: The ESP needs analysis tools used by the teachers..............................................104

Table 4.18: The contents collected for ESP needs analysis by the university/faculty.............105

Table 4.19: The contents collected for ESP needs analysis by the teachers............................106

Table 4.20: The stake-holders involved in ESP needs analysis by the university/faculty.......107

Table 4.21: The stake-holders involved in ESP needs analysis by the teachers......................108

Table 4.22: The bases for goals or objectives specification by the university/faculty............109

Table 4.23: The bases for goals or objectives specification by the teachers...........................110

Table 4.24: The types of ESP syllabus framework developed at the university/faculty.........111

Table 4.25: The elements or mechanisms implemented by the university/faculty to ensure the

effectiveness of the ESP curriculum........................................................................................114

Table 4.26: The elements or mechanisms implemented by the teachers to ensure the

effectiveness of the ESP curriculum........................................................................................115

Table 4.27: The university/faculty’s activities to support the ESP curriculum implementation

................................................................................................................................................. 116

Table 4.28: The teachers’ participation in the supportive activities for the ESP curriculum

implementation........................................................................................................................117

Table 4.29: The sufficiency of the ESP coursebooks and materials at the university/faculty 119

Table 4.30: Teachers’ participation in selecting or compiling the ESP coursebooks and

materials...................................................................................................................................120

Table 4.31: Assessment methods and contents specified by the university/faculty................121

Table 4.32: Assessment methods and contents specified by the teachers...............................122

Table 4.33: The university/faculty’s reference to the bases for selecting or compiling ESP

coursebooks and materials.......................................................................................................123

Table 4.34: Teachers’ reference to the bases for selecting or compiling ESP coursebooks and

materials...................................................................................................................................124