Tài liệu Nghiên cứu tìm hiểu về những nhu cầu giao tiếp tại những công ty xuyên quốc gia

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST – GRADUATE STUDIES ********************* HỒ THỊ HƯỜNG AN EXPLORATORY STUDY ON COMMUNICATIVE NEEDS AT TRANS-NATIONAL CORPORATIONS (Nghiên cứu tìm hiểu về những nhu cầu giao tiếp tại những công ty xuyên quốc gia) M.A MINOR THESIS (Type I) Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 8140231.01 Hanoi - 2018 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST – GRADUATE STUDIES ********************* HỒ THỊ HƯỜNG AN EXPLORATORY STUDY ON COMMUNICATIVE NEEDS AT TRANS-NATIONAL CORPORATIONS (Nghiên cứu tìm hiểu về những nhu cầu giao tiếp tại những công ty xuyên quốc gia) M.A MINOR THESIS (Type I) Field : English Teaching Methodology Code : 8140231.01 Supervisor: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Le Van Canh Hanoi - 2018 DECLARATION I hereby declare that this thesis is my own work and effort and that it has not been submitted to any other university or institution wholly or partially. Hanoi, December 2018 Hồ Thị Hường ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First and foremost, I would like to express my deep gratitude to my supervisor Assoc. Prof. Dr. Le Van Canh who gave me a lot of valuable guidance, encouragements, criticisms and correction throughout my thesis writing. I am indebted to 100 technical staffs of 2 trans-national corporations - my old students at HaUI, who provided me with lots of useful information by answering my questionnaires. My sincere thanks go to my family, my friends for their encouragement and support that help me to complete my work. ABSTRACT This thesis reports the result of an exploratory study on the English communicative needs by graduates from mechanical engineering and electronic department at HaUI, who are working as technical workers at 2 trans-national corporations. It attempts to find their common communicative needs at workplaces in order to inform curriculum design. Simultaneously, it explores the challenges in using those common communicative needs during their working tasks and also gives suggestions for an effective ESP syllabus design. The data was collected by means of questionnaires by handing them out to 100 technical workers at 2 trans-national companies. The results of this study have shown that their common communicative needs and their difficulties in using English at workplaces as well as given positive contributions to ESP syllabus design. TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Declaration Acknowledgements Abstract Table of contents List of abbreviations List of tables and figures PART I: INTRODUCTION...................................................................................1 1. Rationale for the thesis..........................................................................................1 2. Aims of the study..................................................................................................2 3. Methods of the study.............................................................................................2 4. Significance of the study.......................................................................................2 5. Scope of the study.................................................................................................2 PART II: DEVELOPMENT...................................................................................4 CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW..............................................................4 1.1. Need analysis......................................................................................................4 1.1.1. Definition of need analysis..............................................................................4 1.1.2. Classification of “needs” in need analysis.......................................................5 1.1.2.1. Target needs.................................................................................................6 1.1.2.2. Learning needs.............................................................................................8 1.1.3. Definition of “analysis” in needs analysis.....................................................10 1.1.4. The importance of needs analysis..................................................................12 1.2. Definition of ESP and different types of ESPs.................................................13 1.2.1. Definition of ESP..........................................................................................13 1.2.2. Types of ESP.................................................................................................14 1.2.3. Characteristics of ESP...................................................................................15 1.3. Syllabus Design................................................................................................16 1.3.1. Definition of the syllabus..............................................................................16 1.3.2. Steps to design a syllabus..............................................................................17 1.4. A brief summary of some existing relevant studies..........................................17 CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY.......................................................................20 2.1. The research question.......................................................................................20 2.2. The participants................................................................................................20 2.3. The instruments................................................................................................21 2.4. The procedures.................................................................................................22 2.5. Methods of data analysis..................................................................................23 2.5.1. Quantitative method......................................................................................23 2.5.2. Qualitative method........................................................................................23 CHAPTER 3: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS................................................24 3.1. The findings for the first research question......................................................24 3.1.1. Technical workers’ general common communicative needs..........................24 3.1.2. Technical workers’ communicative needs in terms of correspondence.........25 3.1.3. Technical workers’ communicative needs in terms of writing a document.. .26 3.1.4. Technical workers’ communicative needs in terms of order/customer satisfaction............................................................................................................... 27 3.1.5. Technical workers’ communicative needs in terms of business meeting.......28 3.1.6. Technical workers’ communicative needs in terms of business trip..............29 3.2. The findings for the second research question..................................................30 3.2.1. Their challenges in writing email, fax, report and plan..................................30 3.2.2. Their challenges in reading email, fax, report and plan.................................31 3.2.3. Their challenges in listening and speaking for business trip and social meeting.................................................................................................................... 31 3.3. Discussion findings..........................................................................................32 3.3.1. Technical workers’ general common communicative needs..........................32 3.3.2. Technical workers’ common challenges in using means of communication at workplace................................................................................................................33 3.3.2.1. Recommendation for students....................................................................34 3.3.2.2. Recommendation for teachers....................................................................34 3.2.2.3. Recommendation for course and syllabus designers...................................35 PART III: CONCLUSION...................................................................................36 1. Conclusion of the study.......................................................................................36 2. Limitations..........................................................................................................37 3. Suggestions for further studies............................................................................37 References...............................................................................................................39 Appendices.................................................................................................................. LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS HaUI: Ha Noi University of Industry NA: Need analysis ESP: English for Specific Purposes GE: General English EOP: English for Occupational Purposes EAP: English for Academic Purposes LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES Table 1: Brown’s different views on needs Table 2: Brown’s different types of analysis Table 3: Dudley-Evans & John’s classification of ESP Figure 3.1: Technical workers’ general common communicative needs Figure 3.2: Technical workers’ communicative needs in terms of correspondence Figure 3.3: Technical workers’ communicative needs in terms of writing a document Figure 3.4: Technical workers’ communicative needs in terms of order/customer satisfaction Figure 3.5: Technical workers’ communicative needs in terms of business meeting Figure 3.6: Technical workers’ communicative needs in terms of business trip Figure 3.7: Technical workers’ general common communicative needs PART I: INTRODUCTION 1. Rationale for the thesis With the development of economy in 21st century, there are lots of international companies investing and opening subsidiaries in Viet Nam. They need a huge of Vietnamese workforces to play a role as technical workers and managers of individual departments. This is actually a good sign for Vietnamese workforce in generally and newly graduated vocational training students of Hanoi university of Industry (HaUI) in particular. However, in order to be employable in these transnational companies, applicants are required to possess not only solid specialized knowledge and skills but also satisfactory communication skills in English as an international language. That is the reason why this study was aimed at investigating on communicative needs of industrial and business employees. Normally, graduates from mechanical engineering and electronic department at HaUI were taught English with popular textbooks such as new headway, objective KET or lifeline for 6 terms as a general English (GE) course and only one term with oriented ESP course. These GE syllabuses mainly offer students with general communicative functions such as greetings, invitation making…etc. and sets of grammar rules before they were taught for only one semester technical English. However, during technological and business tasks, graduates from mechanical engineering and electronic department admitted that they had to face up with difficulties in reading instructions, socializing with co-worker, writing formals email or reports, giving presentations or negotiating. Therefore, it is necessary to conduct “an exploratory study on communicative needs at trans-national corporations” for understanding about graduates’ challenges in using English at their workplaces and for having an effective syllabus design. 1 2. Aims of the study The study was aimed to find out the common communicative needs at the workplace as reported by graduates from mechanical engineering and electronic department who are holding different positions at transnational companies. This information will be used to informed syllabus design for the students at HaUI. Research questions The study was carried out to obtain information for answering the following questions: 1. What are common communicative needs of technical workers at trans-national corporations? 2. What are the common challenges in using English for communication at work that they encounter? 3. Methods of the study Given the purpose of the study, a survey method using the questionnaire to collect data was used. One hundred graduates from mechanical engineering and electronic departments at HaUI who are working as technical workers of individual departments at trans- national corporations) answered the questionnaire. The data obtained from the questionnaire was analysized quantitatively to identify the common pattern of responses regarding the communicative needs and communicative challenges at work that these ex-students of HaUI often encountered. 4. Significance of the study The findings of the thesis may serve as useful information for changes in curriculum design and teaching approaches at HaUI. 5. Scope of the study The study only focused on the communicative functions or needs and the problems the HaUI ex-students had in communicating in English at work as reported by these students. Also, the participants are the ex-students from two departments (Mechanical Engineering and Electronic) of HaUI rather than all graduates from various departments of the university. 2 6. Structure of the thesis Part I: Introduction presents the rationale, aims, methodology, significance and scope of the study. Part II: Development - consists of three chapters: Chapter 1: Literature review – The first part provides some theoretical background about needs analysis including definition of needs, classification of needs as well as definition of “analysis” in NA and the importance of needs analysis. The next one is definition of the term ESP, different types of “ESP” and characteristics of ESP. Definition of syllabus, syllabus design and steps in designing syllabus are mentioned to. The last one is a brief summary of some existing relevant studies. Chapter 2: Methodology - in this chapter, the introduction of research method including research questions, data collection instruments are presented. Chapter 3: The study - shows the procedure of carrying on the research and presents the data analysis result from questionnaires. Part III: Conclusion, which is the last chapter, followed by references is the summary of the whole study. The limitation of the study and suggestion for further study are also recommended. 3 PART II: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 1.1. Need analysis 1.1.1. Definition of need analysis Needs analysis plays as the most important and crucial step in designing any curriculums. Nunan (1988) considers that needs analysis is the very first stage of the design of a syllabus. More importantly, it attempts to meet the needs of different shareholders, consist of learners, language teaching institutions, and employers. Various authors give various definitions and perspectives of that term. Needs refers to the present or future requirement of learners, and what they expect to learn when they finish the language course. Richterich (1972, cited in Johnson, 1982, p.40) reflected his viewpoint on language needs: “the requirements which arises from the use of a language in the multitude of situations which may arise in the social lives of individuals and groups”. By doing an analysis about language needs of specific group of learners, we may have accurate decisions for what we are going to teach and learn. According to Long (2005), needs analysis is kind of the diagnosis in foreign language teaching . Richards and Rodger (1986, p.156) give a clearer definition, according to which needs analysis is “concerned with identifying general and specific language needs that can be addressed in developing goals, objective and content in a language program”. For Brown (1995, p.36) , needs analysis is “ the systematic collection and analysis of all subjective and objective information necessary to define and validate defensible curriculum purposes that satisfy the language learning requirements of students within the context of particular institutions that influence the learning and teaching situation.” In the context of English for Specific Purposes (ESP), Evan and John (1988, p.125) note that needs analysis in ESP encompasses the following types of information: 4  Professional information about the learners: the tasks and activities learners are/will be using English for- target situation analysis and objective needs.  Personal information about the learners: factors which may affect the way they learn such as previous learning experience, cultural information, reasons for attending the course and expectations of it, attitude to English – wants, means, subjective needs.  English language information about the learners: what their current skills and language use are- present situation analysis- which allow us to assess (D)  The learners’ lacks: the gap between “C” and (A) – lacks Language learning information: effective ways of learning the skills and language in (D) – learning needs.  Professional communication information about (A): knowledge of how language and skills are used in the target situation – linguistic analysis, discourse analysis, genre analysis.  What is wanted from the course.  Information about the environment in which the course will be run – mean analysis. This definition is adopted in this study because it fits both the purpose and the method of the study. 1.1.2. Classification of “needs” in need analysis It is an awareness of learner’s needs to learn English that separate the definition of ESP from GE and also influences the choice of content in an English course. In GE course, needs are often considered by tradition and no attempt has been made on needs while in ESP course, needs analysis is associated with syllabus. Needs can be understood in different ways and the word needs also means to different people in different context as: wants, desires, necessities, lacks, gaps, expectations, motivations, deficiencies, requirements, requests, prerequisities, essentials , the next step, and x+1 ( James Dean Brown, 2016, p.13). 5 Hutchinson and Waters’(1987) two concepts of needs: “target needs” and “learning needs” We can see that point clearly by paying a look on the following figures Needs Targets needs Necessities Lacks Wants Learning needs Psychological Attitudinal/ Material Motivational Hutchinson and Waters (1987) categorize two types of needs 1.1.2.1. Target needs “Target needs” refers to the learner’s “necessities”, “lacks” and “wants” for functioning effectively in the target situation. - Necessities - It is “the type of need determined by the demands of the target situation, that is, what the learner has to know in order to function effectively in the target situation” (Hutchinson &Waters (1987: 55). For instance, a worker needs to understand manual instructions, diagrams or to communicate with other people who have the same profession. He or she needs to know linguistic features such as discourse, functional, structural, lexical which are commonly used in the situation identified. Necessities are considered to be “what the learner has to know in order to function effectively in the target situation” (p.55). (For example they consider whether the learners have to write answers to exam question or not.) - Lacks - According to what the learner already knows, we decide what necessities are missing. There is a gap between the existing proficiency and the target proficiency as Hutchinson & Waters (1987:55) state: “the target needs to be matched against the 6 existing proficiency of the learners. The gap between the two can be referred to as the learners’ lacks”. One of useful methods to know the learners’ lacks is interview teachers and the learners should be tested before an ESP course. Lacks are assessed whether • Teaching and learning styles with which the learners are familiar • Appropriate or ineffective teaching and learning methods • Knowledge of specialized contents that teachers should have • Suitable instructional materials and study location • Time of study and status of English for specific purpose (ESP) courses • Expectations about what learners should achieve in the courses. - Wants - In practice, different learners have different wants. Their wants consist of their goal, their objectives and what they want to learn. “Learners may well have a clear idea of the necessities of the target situation: they will certainly have a view as to their lacks. But it is quite possible that the learners’ views will conflict with the perceptions of other interested parties: course designers, sponsors and teachers” (Hutchinson & Waters (1987:56). Robinson (1991:12) suggest of using questionnaires to get information from a large group of learners about their wants. Wants mean learners’ needs based on their data relating themselves and their environment. In other words, it is exactly what the learners wish to learn. In short, target needs is like the umbrella term, which in practice hides a number of important distinctions. The analysis of target needs involves far more than simply identifying the linguistics features of the target situation. As Hutchinson & Waters (1987:59) comment: the analysis of target situation needs is in essence a matter of asking questions about the target situation and the attitudes towards that situation of the various participants in the learning process”. There are different ways in which information can be gathered about needs such as questionnaires, interviews, observations, data collection and informal consultations. The choice will depend on 7 the time and resources available. And needs analysis is not a once-for-all- activity. It should be a continuing process. 1.1.2.2. Learning needs “Learning needs” refer to the learner’s motivation and attitudes, interests, personal reasons for learning, learning styles, resources and time available. Learning needs concerns about the route between the starting point (lacks) and the destination (necessities). For examples, learners may be greatly motivated in the subject or work, but may completely lose interests with the long, dull, and old teaching material. The learning process should be enjoyable, fulfilling, manageable, and generative. It is not concerned with knowing, but with the learning. The concept of “learning needs” put forward by Hutchinson & Waters and their analysis of “learning needs” have been proved to be fairly useful in practice. As a result, in the process of leaning, learner’s needs should always be taken into consideration. Course designers need to analyze the learners’ learning needs according to their motivation, the conditions of the learning situation, and their existing knowledge and skills. According to Hutchinson & Water (1987), the target needs are considered as product-oriented needs while learning needs as process-oriented needs. The former focuses on the requirement in learning in the target situation and is situationspecified and result-oriented, the latter links to more importance to the whole process. In conclusion, both target needs and learning needs must be paid attention to and combined harmoniously in the process of designing a syllabus. As Tom Hutchinson & Waters (1987:62) state: “the target situation analysis can determine the destination; it can also act as a compass on the journey to give general available (i.e. the condition of the learning situation), the existing roads within the learner’s mind (i.e. their knowledge, skills and strategies) and the learners’ motivation for travelling”. In my thesis, I mentioned “communicative needs” term – a definition of Richard (1990), but I say little about it because it shares the target needs similar features. 8 Actually, communicative needs is related to the learners’ needs in the target context and necessary specific language skills (reading, writing, speaking, listening), and the level of language proficiency that is required by the target situation. Some people may be confused of 2 terms between definition of Richard about communicative needs and Hutchinson and Waters’ about target needs. According to (Richards, 1990) & (Hutchinson and Waters’ 1987), both communicative needs and target needs refer to learner needs in the target situation. However, the key difference here is the former mainly focus on the language necessities of the learners in the target context while the latter makes comparisons between the required language abilities (necessities) of the target situation and the existing language proficiencies of the learners (lacks), and define the gaps between the present and target situation (wants). Brown (2016, p.13) presents needs from various perspectives, which is summarized in Table 1 below. Table 1. Different views on needs. Needs views points Democratic view Definition of needs What elements of the ESP Related synonyms Wants; desires; majorities of all expectations; requests; stakeholder groups want The difference or motivations discrepancy between what Discrepancy view They should be able to do in the ESP and what they Deficiencies; lacks; gaps; requirements currently can do Whatever elements of the Analytic view ESP students should learn next based on SLA theory and experience Whatever elements of the Diagnostic view ESP will cause harm if they are missing 1.1.3. Definition of “analysis” in needs analysis 9 Next step; x+ 1 Necessities; essentials; prerequisities In the book names “Introducing needs analysis and English for specific purposes” of James Dean Brown (2016) There are at least eleven types of analysis strategies to ESP needs analyst to concern. We can understand those types clearly when looking at the following table: Table 2. Different types of analysis. Analysis options Target-situation use analyses Target-situation linguistic analyses Analysis of what? What information will the NA What the students should typically examine The language uses in the particular be able to do in the ESP at ESP and exemplars of those language the end of instruction uses The specific linguistic characteristics What linguistic features the students will need to know and use in the ESP of the ESP (vocabulary, discourse, pragmatics) in the exemplars gathered What the features of above Information about the target situation Target-situation learning and continuing to in terms of the sorts of learning that learning analyses learn are in the ESP students will need to do in target ESP community situations at various stages What the students can do with the Present-situation analyses What the students’ ESP abilities are at the beginning of instruction What the disparities are between the students’ Gap analyses current abilities and what the need to be able to do in the ESP language of the particular ESP at the outset of instruction (with respect to target-situations use, linguistics, and/or learning) – using tests or other observational techniques. The disparities between what the students can do at the beginning and end of instruction with regard to the ESP-typically based on analysis of test scores or other observational techniques. 10