Tài liệu A proposed esp reading syllabus for the second year students of mathematics department at ha noi pedagogical univesity number 2

tM4 MW M nfli m m M INISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING H A N O I U N IV ER SITY BUI THI HUONG GIANG A PROPOSED ESP READING SYLLABUS FOR TH E SECOND - YEAR STUDENTS OF M ATH E M ATIC S DEPARTM ENT A T H AN O I PED AG O G ICAL UNIVERSITY NUMBER 2 S U B M IT T E D IN P A R T IA L F U L F IL L M E N T O F R E Q U IR E M E N T S O F T H E D E G R E E O F M A S T E R IN T E S O L Hanoi Jan u ary 2009 S T A T E M E N T O F A U T H O R S H IP I hereby certify that the m inor thesis entitled “A Proposed ESP Reading Syllabus fo r the Second-Year Students o f Mathematics Department at Hanoi Pedagogical University N um ber 2”, submitted in partial fulfillment o f the requirements for the degree o f M aster o f Arts in TESOL, is the result o f my work, except where otherwise acknowledged, and that this minor thesis or any part o f the same has not been submitted for a higher degree to any other university o r institution. The research reported in this thesis was approved by Hanoi University Signed: Dated: TA B L E O F C O N TEN TS S T A T E M E N T O F A U T H O R S H I P ................................................................................................................................. I T A B L E O F C O N T E N T S ....................................................................................................................................................II A C K N O W L E D G E M E N T S ............................................................................................................................................... V A B S T R A C T ............................................................................................................................................................................ VI L I S T O F A B B R E V I A T I O N S ........................................................................................................................................VII L I S T O F C H A R T S A N D T A B L E S .......................................................................................................................... V III C H A P T E R O N E : I N T R O D U C T I O N .............................................................................................................................I 1.1. R a t i o n a l e f o r t h e S t u d y ..................................................................................................................................... 1 1.4. SCOPE OF THE STUDY................................................................................................................................................. 2 1.3. A i m s o f t h e S t u d y ...................................................................................................................................................3 1.4. S i g n i f i c a n c e o f t h e S t u d y .................................................................................................................................. 3 1.5. ORGANIZATION OF THE STUDY................................................................................................................................3 C H A P T E R T W O : L I T E R A T U R E R E V I E W ............................................................................................................5 2.1. R e a d i n g T h e o r i e s .................................................................................................................................................... 5 2. /. /. D efinitions about R eading ............................................................................................................................. 5 2.1.2. The P rocess o f R ea d in g ................................................................................................................................. 5 2.1.3. R eading Sub- S k ills ...........................................................................................................................................7 2.2. AN OVERVIEW OF E S P .......................................................................................................................................... 10 2.2.1. D efinitions about ESP ................................................................................................................................ 10 2.2.2. Types o f E S P ................................................................................................................................................. / / 2.2.5. R eading in E S P ............................................................................................................................................ 12 2.3. N e e d s A n a l y s i s ....................................................................................................................................................... 13 2.3.1. Types o f needs ...............................................................................................................................................13 2.3.2. Instrum ents to Collect D ata f o r a N eeds A n a lysis ........................................................................... 18 2.4. SYLLABUSES.............................................................................................................................................................. 18 2. 4 !. D efinitions o f Syllabus ............................................................................................................................. 18 2.4.2. Types o f S ylla b u ses ..................................................................................................................................... 19 2 . 5 . R e a d i n g M a t e r i a l s .............................................................................................................................................21 2 .5 .1. A uthentic R eading M aterials .................................................................................................................. 21 2.5.2. M aterials A d a p ta tio n .................................................................................................................................... 22 2.6. T e s t i n g in E S P .........................................................................................................................................................23 2.7. P r e v i o u s S t u d i e s in t h e F i e l d .........................................................................................................................24 C H A P T E R T H R E E : M E T H O D O L O G Y ..................................................................................................................26 3 .1 . R e s e a r c h Q u e s t i o n s ........................................................................................................................................... 26 3 .2 . D a t a C o l l e c t io n I n s t r u m e n t s ..................................................................................................................... 26 3 .2 .1. D ocum ents A nalysis ................................................................................................................................... 26 3.2.2. Interview s f o r the Teachers o f M athem atics a n d the Teachers o f E n g lish ............................ 27 3.2.3. Q uestionnaire f o r the M athem atics U ndergraduates ................................................................... 28 3.3. S u b j e c t s o f t h e S t u d y ....................................................................................................................................... 29 3 .3 .1. S u bjects o f th e In terview s ........................................................................................................................ 29 3.3.2. S u bjects o f the Q uestionnaire .................................................................................................................... 30 3.4. D a t a C o l l e c t io n P r o c e d u r e s ....................................................................................................................... 30 C H A P T E R F O U R : P R E L IM IN A R Y R E S U L T S , D A T A A N A L Y S IS A N D R E S E A R C H F I N D I N G S ................................................................................................................................................................................ 32 4 . 1. P r e l im in a r y R e s u l t s a n d D a t a A n a l y s is ............................................................................................... 32 4 .1 .1 . P r e l im in a r y R e s u l t s o f t h e D o c u m e n t s A n a l y s is .........................................................................32 4. /. 1.1. F L D 's D ocum ented Curriculum A nalysis .......................................................................................... 32 4.J. 1.2. A u th en tic Texts A n a lysis .......................................................................................................................... 33 4.1.1.3. L atest G E Exam ination Scores A nalysis ............................................................................................ 33 4 .1 .2 . P r e l im in a r y R e s u l t s o f t h e I n t e r v ie w s f o r T e a c h e r s o f M a t h e m a t ic s ............................35 4.1.2.1. R eading T echnical D ocum ents .............................................................................................................. 35 4.1.2.2. Types o f R eading M aterials ....................................................................................................................35 4.1.2.3. Text T yp es ..................................................................................................................................................... 36 4.1.2.4. N ecessary R eading Skills/ Strategies f o r Technical D ocum ents ................................................36 4.1.2.5. Students *D ifficulties in Reading Technical D ocum ents ...............................................................36 4.1.2.6. S u g g ested T o p ic s ....................................................................................................................................... 37 4 . l .3. P r e l im in a r y R e s u l t s fr o m t h e In t e r v ie w s f o r T e a c h e r s o f E n g l is h ..................................37 4.1.3.1. O bjectives o f th e ESP Reading C o u rse .............................................................................................. 37 4.1.3.2. S u b R eading Skills fo r the S ylla b u s .....................................................................................................37 4.1.3.3. G ram m ar Item s f o r the Syllabus ........................................................................................................... 38 4.1.3 . 4. E xercises f o r th e Syllabus ....................................................................................................................... 39 4.L3.5. S u g g ested R eading M aterials ................................................................................................................ 39 4 . 1.4. P r e l im in a r y R e s u l t s o f t h e Q u e s t io n n a ir e ...................................................................................... 39 4.1.4.1. S tu d e n ts ' b a ck g ro u n d .............................................................................................................................. 39 4 1.4.2. M athem atics Undergraduates ' A ttitudes a n d E xpectations tow ards the ESP Course. .. 40 4.1.4.3. M athem atics U ndergraduates' Purposes o f R ea d in g ................................................................. 41 4 1.4.4. M athem atics U ndergraduates' R eading A ctivities in G E le s s o n s ........................................ 42 4.1.4.5. M athem atics U ndergraduates' Strategies o f D ealing with N ew V ocabulary .................... 43 4.1.4.6. M athem atics U ndergraduates' D ifficulties in R eading G E Texts .......................................... 44 4.1.4.7. M athem atics U ndergraduates' P references f o r Reading E xe rcises ..................................... 45 4 .1.4.8. M athem atics U ndergraduates' P references f o r Teacher s A ctivities ................................... 46 4. / 4 9 . M athem atics U ndergraduates' Preferences f o r Types o f Technical M a teria ls ................. 47 4.1.4.10. M athem atics Undergraduates ’ Preferences f o r Text - T yp es .................................................... 48 4.1.4.11. M athem atics U ndergraduates' Preferences f o r T opics ............................................................ 49 4.2. R e s e a r c h F i n d i n g s ............................................................................................................................................... 50 4 .2 .1 The Learning N eeds f o r the M athem atics U ndergraduates ............................................................ 50 4.2.2, The Target N eeds f o r the M athem atics U ndergraduates .................................................................. 52 C H A P T E R F I V E : T H E P R O P O S E D S Y L L A B U S , S U G G E S T I O N S A N D C O N C L U S I O N S . . . . 54 5.1. THE PROPOSED SYLLABUS..................................................................................................................................... 54 5.1.1. The Time F ram e .............................................................................................................................................. 54 5.1.2. A im s a n d O bjectives o f the ESP R eading C o u rse ...............................................................................54 5 .1.3. The C ontents o f the Syllabus .......................................................................................................................55 5.2. S u g g e s t i o n s ............................................................................................................................................................. 65 5.2.1. M aterial A daptation ...................................................................................................................................... 65 5.2.2 . Suggestions f o r a Sam ple Unit...................................................................................................................66 5.2.3. Suggestions f o r C ourse Assessm ent a n d T estin g ................................................................................66 5.3. C o n c l u s i o n s ..................................................................................................................................... .......................67 R E F E R E N C E S .......................................................................................................................................................................70 A P P E N D I X E S ........................................................................................................................................................................ 73 A P P E N D I X 1...........................................................................................................................................................................73 A P P E N D I X 2 .......................................................................................................................................................................... 79 A P P E N D I X 3. A .................................................................................................................................................................... 82 A P P E N D I X 3. B .................................................................................................................................................................... 87 A P P E N D I X 4 .......................................................................................................................................................................... 93 A P P E N D I X 5 .......................................................................................................................................................................... 94 A P P E N D I X 6 .......................................................................................................................................................................... 97 A P P E N D I X 7 ..........................................................................................................................................................................99 A P P E N D I X 8 ............... ...................................................................................................................................................... 100 iv ACKNOW LEDGEM ENTS I am greatly indebted to my supervisor Mrs. Doan Thi Minh Nguyet, M.A, for her precious guidance. Her generous support and encouragement gave me motivation and self-confidence to com plete this thesis. My profound thanks also go to Mrs. Nguyen Thai Ha, M.A, Vice Dean o f Postgraduate Departm ent for her extremely valuable help, useful comments and suggestions during my time studying at the Department, and especially during the study period. My special thanks also go to the leader and my colleagues at Hanoi Pedagogical University N um ber 2 for their support and encouragement. I would like to thank my students for their enthusiasm and helpfulness during the process o f collecting data. Finally, I would like to convey my deepest gratitude to my family for their love, care and support to help m e finish this study. v A BSTR A C T The study A Proposed ESP Reading Syllabus f o r the Second-Year Students o f M athematics Department at Hanoi Pedagogical University Num ber 2” was carried out in order to meet the students' needs o f reading mathematic materials in English. The study would also meet the requirements o f an ESP syllabus o f Foreign Language Department at Hanoi Pedagogical University N um ber 2 as well as curriculum requirements o f M inistry o f Education and Training. The overall aim o f the study was to propose an applicable syllabus for the second-year students at Hanoi pedagogical University Number 2.on the basis o f the learning needs as well as the target needs o f the M athematics undergraduates The study started with the review o f the literature related to the field o f the study including the theories o f reading, English for specific purposes, syllabuses, testing and the previous studies. Next, an investigation on the learning needs and target needs o f the students o f M athem atics was done, and then a compile o f the learning needs and the target needs to identify the contents and skills that m ust be included in the syllabus. In order to investigate students’ learning needs and target needs, the author sought for the data from 3 sets o f documents, 4 teachers o f M athematics, 5 teachers o f English and 90 M athem atics undergraduate students. The students provided information about their learning English and their learning needs. The teachers o f M athematics, teachers o f English and the sets o f documents, which consist o f the docum ented curriculum o f Foreign Language Department at Hanoi Pedagogical University N um ber 2, the selected authentic texts and the latest examination scores provided the data about the students’ level before the course and the target needs. The analysis o f the learning needs and target needs help to develop the final ESP reading syllabus for the secondyear students o f M athematics Department at Hanoi Pedagogical University number 2. The study concluded with a proposal o f an ESP reading syllabus and some suggestions for ESP reading material design, teaching methodology, assessm ent and testing. vi L IST O F A B BR EV IA TIO N S ESP English for Specific Purposes EAP English for Academic Purposes EBE English for Business and Economics ELT English Language Teaching EOP English for Occupational Purposes ESS English for Social Studies EST English for Science and Technology FLD Foreign Language Department GE General English HPUN 2 Hanoi Pedagogical University N um ber 2 MD M athem atics Department vii LIST O F C H A R T S AND T A B L E S Table 4.1: M athem atics undergraduates' latest GE exam ination scores Table 4.2: M athem atics undergraduates sub-parts exam ination results Chart 4 . 1: M athem atics undergraduates’ attitudes towards the ESP course Table 4.3: S tudents’ background Table 4.4: M athem atics undergraduates' expectations tow ards the ESP course Table 4.5: M athem atics undergraduates' reading purposes Table 4.6: M athem atics undergraduates’ current practice o f reading skills Table 4.7: M athem atics undergraduates' frequency o f using strategies to deal with new vocabulary Table 4.8: M athem atics undergraduates' difficulties when reading G E texts Table 4.9: M athem atics undergraduates' preferences for exercises Table 4.10: M athem atics undergraduates’ preferences for teacher’s activities Table 4.11: M athem atics undergraduates’ preferences for types o f technical reading materials Table 4.12: M athem atics undergraduates’ preferences for text-types Table 4.13: M athem atics undergraduates’ preferences for topics C H A P T E R O N E : IN T R O D U C T IO N C h ap ter o n e - th e first ch ap ter- p resen ts the ratio n ale , sco p e, sig n ifican ce, aim s and o rg a n iz a tio n o f the study. 1.1. R ationale for the Study Hanoi Pedagogical University Number 2 (HPUN 2) was founded in 1976 with two main functions: training undergraduates and post-graduate students. Up to now, the university has 10 Departments: Mathematics, Philology, Chem istry, Physics, Politics Education, Biology, Physical Education, Primary Education, Foreign Languages, and Post-graduate. M athem atics Department (MD) is one o f the four first established D epartm ents and has a long history o f training teachers or researchers o f Mathematics throughout Vietnam. T he Foreign Languages Department (FLD) is responsible for teaching English, General English (GE) and English for Specific Purposes (ESP), to students o f other Departm ents o f the university. As dem ands for ESP increase socially, the introduction o f ESP to students at HPUN 2 began in 2001. In general, teaching and learning ESP at HPUN 2 occurs in a typical setting w here ESP is applied in the second stage o f English teaching, and where students are not required to use English as a medium o f speaking and listening but a means to reading. T he ESP course should help students to deal with reading materials as well as provide them with the knowledge and skills needed for their English reading requirem ents. ESP, a compulsory subject included in the curriculum, is intended to last for 75 class hours after 225 class hours o f GE. T he second-year undergraduates attend sessions for 5 class hours per week and after week 7 and week 15, they will sit for a midterm and an end-of-term exam ination on reading skills. In order to m eet the objectives o f the ESP course, the ESP teachers at Hanoi Pedagogical University N um ber 2 compiled different textbooks to teach ESP for each Department. T he ESP course book currently used for M D is named “Reading fo r Students o f M a t h e m a t i c s It includes 15 units used for 15 weeks. Each unit begins with V OCABULARY, then READING TEXT and finishes with COMPREHENSION QUESTIONS. T he first part, VOCABULARY includes about 20 lexical items, mainly technical words, and their equivalence in Vietnamese. The second part, 1 READING TEXT, has reading passage(s) o f about 500 words. The last part, aim ing at developing comprehension skills, consists o f about 5 com prehension questions. When designing a syllabus for ESP teaching, the teachers o f Foreign Language Department used the M athematical Handbook by M.Vgodsky, chose 15 texts, and classified them into topics in accordance with the 4 subdivisions o f M athematics: 4 Algebra units, 4 Geometry units, 4 Arithmetic units, and the other mixed 3 units. Up to now, no official syllabus for ESP teaching has been made except for some guidelines about the time allocation and objectives o f the course from the Department. The so-called ESP syllabus has been based on the above course book and these guidelines. Some problem s have occurred resulting from the lack o f an official syllabus. First, the course book limits the teachers from teaching in many ways. What they have done so far in a lesson is: explaining vocabulary, asking students to read and translate into Vietnamese, helping them to answer the comprehension questions. In other words, they do not have many opportunities to apply different and interesting teaching techniques to the lesson. Second, both ESP teachers and students have found the book lack o f relevant and interesting topics and shortage o f tasks and activities in the book. In short, the currently used ESP reading course book seems not to be very successful in facilitating both teachers and students in ESP classes due to the absence o f an appropriate syllabus. Motivated by the above problems o f teaching and learning English by ESP teachers and students, the researcher is eager to design an ESP reading syllabus for the secondyear students o f M athematics at HPUN 2 with the hope that it will satisfactorily meet all the needs o f the students o f Mathematics and consequently help them gain good English for their current study, and their future jobs. 1.4. Scope o f the study The study is limited to designing an ESP reading syllabus for the second-year students o f M athematics at HPUN 2 within a pedagogical framework o f what to be learnt and how these should be learnt, monitored and assessed to achieve the aim s and objectives assigned by the University and Department. 2 1.3. Aims o f the Study This thesis aim s a t designing an ESP reading syllabus for the students o f MD o f HPUN 2. In order to achieve this aim, the following specific objectives are set: - C onducting a N eeds Analysis i.e. investigating target needs and learning needs o f M athem atics undergraduate students. - Proposing a suitable syllabus basing on the results compiled from Needs Analysis. 1.4. Significance o f the Study Although designing a syllabus is not a new activity am ong teachers in Vietnam, at FLD o f HPUN, this is the first time an ESP syllabus is designed not merely on the assum ption o f the teachers, but on a careful research o f students’ needs. Therefore, it has tw o im portant roles. Firstly, it helps teachers o f ESP to have a framework o f what should be taught and learnt in order to achieve the objectives o f the course. Moreover, it is fully expected to improve the quality o f learning English at HPUN 2. 1.5. Organization o f the Study The study is divided into the following five chapters Chapter One: Introduction This chapter gives the rationale, aims, scope, significance and the layout o f the study Chapter Two: Literature Review Relevant literature about Reading theories, ESP, N eeds Analysis and Syllabuses are reviewed in this chapter Chapter Three: M ethodology In this chapter, th e author presents the data collection instruments, describes the subjects and the procedures o f the study. Chapter Four: P relim inary results a n d research findings The prelim inary results and research findings are presented in this chapter 3 Chapter Five: A proposed syllabus and suggestions A framework o f linguistic items and reading skills needed for the reading syllabus was presented in this last chapter together with suggestions. 4 C H A P T E R T W O : L IT E R A T U R E R E V IE W 2.1. Reading Theories 2.1.1. Definitions about Reading In literature, there are numerous definitions about reading. Nuttal (1982) summarizes that different definitions about reading will use words o f one o f the following Groups: Group A- decode, decipher, identify e.t.c Group B- articulate, speak, pronoun e.t.c. G roup C- understand, interpret meaning Words used in G roup A refer to the process o f recognition o f the w ritten words. But recognizing words, by no means, is the only end o f reading. A ccording to Ur (1996, 138), if someone says that “ I can read the words but I do not know w hat they mean”, this person is not a real reader. What he/she is doing is not reading, but he/ she is simply translating symbols into corresponding sounds. if the definitions about reading include what is described in G roup B, they do not totally reveal the nature o f reading, although in many classroom s, teachers who want to help students associate spoken words with written w ords can ask them to read aloud. Looking at the definitions o f such writers as Widdowson (1979), G oodm an (1988), Grellet (1981), in turns, w e can see: “reading is the process o f getting linguistic information via print”, “ reading is a receptive language process”, o r reading is “extracting the information from it as efficiently as possible” . These definitions share one thing in common: reading m eans understanding or com prehending. 2.1.2. The Process o f Reading Reading is considered by m any authors as a process not a product (W iddowson, 1979; Carrell (1988). It m eans that the em phasis is on how the reader interprets the written 5 texts rather than what the reader “got out o f ’ the texts. A s a process, reading is considered as a purposeful process and an interactive process. 2.1.2.1. Reading as a Purposeful Process General reading o r specialist reading o f any kind is purposeful. Grellet (1981:4) classifies reasons for reading into reading for pleasure and reading for information (in order to find out something or in order to do something with the information you have). Nuttall (1992:3) views that “the way you tackled each text was strongly influenced by your purpose in reading”. For example, the way you read to find a telephone number is different from the way you pursue a legal document. Similarly, M artin (1992: 24) emphasizes that learner's purposes have relations with his/ her m otivations and “motivation allows the learner, am ong other things, to be ready to make the most o f learning opportunities which the course provides” . Therefore, taking learners’ purposes o f learning into consideration is o f essence in an ESP course. 2.1.2.2. Reading as an Interactive Process The theories o f reading have changed dramatically from bottom-up strategies including decoding graphic features and grammatical characteristics, and top-down strategies - including predicting, applying background knowledge and recognizing global text structures to interactive process. This m eans that the reader does not perceive to texts passively. Rather, it is one in which the reading activates a range o f knowledge in the reader's mind that he or she uses and that, in turn, m ay be refined and extended by the new information supplied by the text. O ur understanding o f reading is best considered as the interaction that occurs between the reader and the text (G oodm an, 1970; Nuttal, 1982; Carrel, 1983;G rabe, 1988) The notion o f reading as an interactive process implies that an ESP reading course should not only em phasize building up students' knowledge o f rhetorical structures and im proving their knowledge o f the target language, it should also take learners’ content schemata into consideration (Kavalaiauskiene, 2002) 6 2.1.3. Reading Sub- Skills Grellet (1981:3) proposes a list o f reading sub- skills (adapted from M unby's Com m unicative Syllabus Design): - Recognizing the script of a language (discriminating the graphemes, following grapheme sequencing, understanding punctuation); - Deducing the meaning and use o f unfamiliar lexical items, through understanding word formation or contextual clues; - Understanding explicitly stated information; - Understanding information in the text, not explicitly stated, through making inferences or understanding figurative language; - Understanding conceptual meaning, especially, quantity and amount, definiteness and indefiniteness, comparison, degree; - Understanding the communicative value (function) o f sentences and utterances (with explicitly indicators; without explicitly indicators); - Understanding relations within the sentence especially elements of sentence modification structure (pre /post modification), negation, modal auxiliaries; - Expanding salient/ relevant points in to summary o f the whole text, a specific idea/ topic in the text; - Skimming to obtain the gist o f the text; - Scanning to locate specifically required information ; - Understanding cohesion between parts o f a text through grammatical and lexical cohesion devices (Repetition, synonymy, hyponymy,...); - Deducing the text through rejecting redundant or irrelevant information and items, especially (omission o f closed- system items...) 7 - Recognizing discourse markers for introducing, developing, concluding an idea, transition to another idea; - Distinguishing the main idea from supporting details; - Basic reference skill of understanding and use of headings, tables o f contents; - Planning and organizing information in expository language (esp. presentation of reports, expounding an argument, evaluation o f evidence), using rhetorical functions, especially definition, classification, description o f properties, description of process or description of change of state; - Transcoding information presented in diagrammatic display or to diagrammatic display, through interpretation or completion o f diagrams, tables or graphs. Among these sub-skills, the following ones: skimming, scanning, and deducing the m eaning o f unfamiliar lexical items will be discussed below. T he extracted information source is from English fo r Academ ic Purpose.( http://pioneer.net.serv.chula.ac.thA 2.1.3.1. Skimming Skimming is the process o f reading main ideas within a passage to get an overall impression o f the content o f a reading selection. This process involves: - Read the title. - Read the introduction or the first paragraph. - R e ad th e firs t se n te n c e o f e v e ry o th e r p ara g ra p h . - Read any headings and sub-headings. - Notice any pictures, charts, or graphs. - Notice any italicized or boldface words or phrases. 8 • Read the summary or last paragraph. 2.1.3.2. Scanning Scanning is a reading technique used when you want to find specific information quickly. In scanning you have a question in your mind and you read a passage only to find the answer to this question, ignoring unrelated information. This process involves - State the specific information you are looking for. - Try to anticipate how the answer will appear and what clues you might use to help you locate the answer. For example, if you were looking for a certain date, you would quickly read the paragraph looking only for numbers. - Use headings and any other aids that will help you identify which sections might contain the information you are looking for. - Selectively read and skip through sections o f the passage. 2.1.3.3. Deducing Meaning o f Unfamiliar Lexical Items Nuttall ( 982) advises that readers should only use dictionary as the last resort, because t slows dow n reading and interrupts thinking. D educing or interpreting m eaning )f unfam iliar lexical items is a necessary skill for second language readers. In fact, if readers frequently use dictionary, reading is slow and thinking is interrupted. To deduc; the m eaning o f unfamiliar words, first o f all, the reader should recognize the “throvaw ay’ vocabulary. This term refers to the sort o f w ords that do not play an importam role in our understanding o f a written text for interm ediate purpose. “T hrow avay” vocabulary depends on the students’ level, their reasons for reading and the contert. Besides throwing away unimportant words w hen reading, readers should also knov when to ignore difficult words- some certain im portant w ords. It means that w e d) not need to know the explicit meaning o f the words, and w e can guess the m eaning >f the words through context clues. K ruse ( I ‘79) m akes five suggestions for teaching written vocabulary in context. 9 I. W ord ele m e n ts such as prefixes, suffixes, and roots. 2. Pictures, diagrams, and charts; 3. Clues o f definition; 4. Inference clues from discourse; 5. General aids. To sum up, in the first part o f this chapter, the author aim s at reviewing theories about general reading with the hope that the information will be helpful for ESP reading. 2.2. An Overview o f ESP 2.2.1. Definitions about ESP Nowadays learning English is a necessity for students at tertiary level not only because it is a com pulsory subject included in curriculum but also because it may be a key to open many career doors. The English that students will use in their future jobs is called ESP. ESP is com m only understood as English for Specific Purposes. However, there has been considerable recent debate about what ESP means despite the fact that it is an approach which has been widely used over the last three decades. Strevens (1977) suggests “a definition o f ESP that is both simple and watertight is not easy to produce” (cited from Robinson: I, 1991). Hutchinson and W alters (1993) prefer considering ESP as “an approach not a product” . They mean that ESP does not involve any particular type o f language, teaching materials o r methodology. They emphasize the importance o f learners’ needs when carrying out any ESP course. Meanwhile, Dudley- Evans and St John (1988) defined ESP by giving out absolute and variable characteristics o f ESP (modified from Streven’s definition).They say that ESP has the following characteristics: 1. Absolute characteristics: - ESP is defined to meet specific needs of the learners. 10