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133 be considered by language teachers to ensure future graduates are well prepared for a challenging labour market.
However, teaching and learning English for specific purposes in Vietnam is ineffective and does not meet society requirements. Only about:
• 49.3% of graduating students meet employers’ English requirements;
• nearly 19% do not meet employers’ English requirements; and
• nearly 32% need to be trained further (Vietnam Department of Higher Education, 2014).
Apart from teachers’ qualifications and teaching methods, challenges for teaching and learning this subject include lack of time, classes with too many students, and not regularly updated textbooks. For these reasons this study aimed to analyze the difficulties of Learning and Teaching English in a Tourism Classroom, and then proposes recommendations for students and teachers at CTU.
Data collection and analysis
Primary data were collected through direct interviews conducted with respondents using an open-ended questionnaire. Respondents consisted of forty students who are majoring in Tourism, and five teachers who are teaching English for Tourism at Can Tho University.
In addition, students and teachers were required to complete a questionnaire aimed at determining their motivation regarding the learning and teaching strategies used. The data were analysed by mainly descriptive statistics in order to determine the students’ and teachers’ views on difficulties associated with using English in the tourism course.
Students were expected to tick the appropriate answer to five questions. Students had to comment on learning ESP and especially the carrier content of the course. The survey results are shown in Table 1.
Table 1. Students’ answers about learning English for Tourism (%)
No. Question Disagree Partly agree Agree
1. Do you have enough knowledge of a foreign language to learn English for Tourism?
22.2 24.4 53.4
2. Do you understand carrier content of the English for Tourism course?
26.6 35.6 37.8
3. Do you understand ESP words and collocations needed for a specialty?
13.3 60.0 26.7
4. Do you understand ESP words and collocations needed for a specialty?
51.0 31.2 17.8
5. Does the carrier content of English for Tourism course meet your learning needs?
17.8 33.3 48.9
Table 1. showed that over half of respondents believe they have sufficient knowledge of a foreign language to learn English for Tourism, and about one-quarter of respondents partly agree that they have enough knowledge of a foreign language to study it. Almost one third of the respondents stated that it was difficult to understand the carrier content of the course.
134 It can also be seen from Table 1. that over one-quarter of the respondents understand ESP words and collocations needed for tourism, 60% of the respondents understand them partly and over one-tenth do not understand them at all. As students study the ESP course in the third semester they have not acquired the knowledge of the specialty subjects yet. This problem can be effectively solved by consulting the subject specialists.
Important things which must be considered when analyzing learning needs include who the learners are, their level of general English, their level of professional knowledge, and their expectations about the course, etc.
Very important decisions have to be made by the teacher. These include selection and adaptation of ESP materials, the selection of tasks, designing tasks for students, and choice of teaching methods that would suit the learners’ needs best.
Table 1. indicates that the carrier content of the ESP course meets the learning needs for about half of the respondents. One-third thought the course partially met their needs, whereas almost 20% answered that the course does not meet the needs of the learners.
Teachers may have difficulty teaching both language and content but in the real world people learn language and content simultaneously, and teachers need to be able to address both language and content within their classrooms. One more thing that ESP teachers can do is to try to develop their competence in students’ particular professions. The experience of teaching and knowledge of students’ specialties gives the ESP teacher confidence.
Research findings and discussion
Table 2. Results of the empirical study
Difficulties Very difficult Difficult No problem Easy Very easy Differences between
Vietnamese and English
56.5 43.5 0.0 0.0 0.0
Lack of vocabulary 39.2 60.8 0.0 0.0 0.0
Dependence on dictionary
4.3 43.5 3.1 8.7 4.4
Listening skills 39.1 43.5 4.4 8.7 4.3
Speaking skills 10.9 37.0 26.1 10.9 15.2
Reading skills 8.7 37.0 32.0 10.9 10.9
Writing skills 13.0 58.7 21.7 2.2 4.4
Quality of lectures
and textbooks 8.7 47.8 30.4 8.7 4.4
Qualifications and teaching methods of teachers
4.4 34.8 37.0 19.6 4.3
Lack of theoretical framework
2.2 28.3 23.9 30.4 15.2
Lack of teaching
materials 41.3 37.0 8.7 8.7 4.3
Classes with too large numbers of students
30.5 34.8 15.2 8.7 10.8
Heavily focused
examination 32.7 43.5 15.2 4.3 4.3
135 Difficulties related to students
It can be seen from Table 2. that over half of respondents believed that there are differences between Vietnamese and English involving parts of speech, pronunciation, word usage and grammar. This is partly the reason they have difficulties in learning and teaching ESP in general and English for tourism particularly. Many long and difficult ESP words as well as complex structures in scientific articles creates difficulties in teaching ESP. This results in the lack of English vocabulary among Vietnam students.
The survey results show respondents have difficulties with vocabulary. Therefore, they depend heavily on the dictionary. There are 43.5% of respondents who think that dependence on the dictionary causes difficulties in teaching ESP.
The proportion of students who feel they have difficulties with the four skills is relatively high.
Writing is the most difficult one (58,75%), then listening (43,5%), speaking (37%); and reading (37%). Reading skills are considered essential as they help students understand the course.
Teaching English for Tourism at Vietnamese universities heavily focuses on grammar and vocabulary. Meanwhile, English communication skills are neglected and this negatively influences students’ ability to find jobs after graduation.
Difficulties related to teachers
Nearly half the respondents think that the quality of lectures and textbooks brings about difficulties in learning and teaching ESP. In fact, the lectures and textbooks at Vietnam universities still have many shortcomings, such as a heavy focus on theory as well as insufficient scientific and practical content. Besides, over one-third of respondents believe that teachers’ qualifications and teaching methods are big challenges for teaching ESP. One challenge is the need for a theoretical framework to support teaching.
The fact is that many teachers have English certificates but cannot teach ESP is due to poor listening skills. Some teachers are good at the four English skills but lack specialized knowledge, so their lectures are not lively and attractive to students. Meanwhile, the number of native English-speaking teachers trained in their major is still small.
Difficulties related to environment and others
Over 40% of respondents considered that one difficulty in teaching ESP is the lack of appropriate teaching materials. Can Tho University as well as other Vietnamese universities now focus more on equipment investment, especially for teaching English, such as: classrooms equipped with projectors and the library with many computers connected to the internet.
However, large classes with too many students and a heavy focus on examinations have a negative impact on teaching ESP. English classes usually have 40 students or more. Moreover, the difference in students’ language proficiency makes teaching ESP more difficult.
Meanwhile, most students are passive learners and have no real interaction with the teachers.
A heavy focus on examinations makes students learn passively and decreases their proficiency.
In short, teaching English for tourism is facing many difficulties arising from subjective and objective factors. These difficulties have a direct impact on teaching ESP and students’ ability to find jobs after graduation. For improving ESP teaching effectiveness, there should be
136 collaboration between students, teachers and universities as well as the relevant authorities.
Recommendations for students
• Students should clearly establish learning objectives by improving their learning responsibility (regular class attendance, paying attention to the lectures and so on).
• Students need to improve their knowledge by finding more materials, especially specialized documents for improving reading comprehension skills.
• Students should be more active in learning by interacting more with teachers and participating in activities and tasks such as discussions, presentations and group activities. In addition, students can also gain more knowledge and skills by taking part in clubs and teams at universities. They should spend more time practicing the English skills of listening, speaking, reading and writing.
• Students need to practice two important skills for learning English for tourism, these include translation skills and skills in using a dictionary in small groups. Attending skills training courses would also be desirable. Students should also share knowledge with friends.
• Students should seek part-time jobs requiring English, especially English for tourism for the opportunity to practice regularly the learned knowledge.
Recommendations for teachers
• Teachers’ professional experience should be improved by actively participating in domestic and overseas professional training courses. Sharing experiences with other teachers both in their university and with others is also desirable. This helps expand the relationship and enhance professional experience. They must improve their language knowledge especially by finding more ESP materials and learn from others’ experience.
• Teachers should regularly update teaching methods in grammar and focus on the skills of students. Teachers can give more practical examples and organize trips to acquire specialized knowledge which would help students better understand their major.
• Teachers should use information technology in lectures to increase attention as well as save time and effort. This would increase teaching efficiency especially with equipment investment in universities.
• Teachers need to establish closer relationships with students in the classroom and understand and share the difficulties that the students encounter. Teachers should divide the class into groups of students with different levels. In addition, teachers should also encourage students to participate in listening and speaking skill training classes.
Can Tho University should allocate time within subjects more reasonably by increasing practical classes and focusing more on English for tourism. The University should adjust the student numbers in English classes (about 20 students in a class). This helps students to have more opportunities to practice ESP.
137 The University needs to invest more in teaching materials especially textbooks, by actively coordinating with domestic and overseas universities to develop ESP textbooks in line with Can Tho university and in Vietnam generally. We should increase cooperation among universities in Vietnam and in the world to increase the opportunities for learning and sharing experiences and knowledge among teachers.
Conclusion
The survey results showed that teaching and learning English for tourism in Can Tho University still faces many difficulties. The study showed that the lack of vocabulary, especially ESP terms, makes many students depend on a dictionary. As a result, this dependence limits the flexibility and imagination of learners. Lack of skills in using a dictionary is also a worrying problem. When using a dictionary, many students only pay attention to the first meaning of a word and do not consider its other meanings and usages. Besides, teachers do not often teach dictionary-using skills to students.
The study indicated that most learners had difficulties in identifying and understanding the syntax of sentences. This makes reading English more difficult and sometimes learners may misunderstand sentence meaning. The reason is that there are too few interesting scientific English articles in the university library, so students are unfamiliar with ESP documents.
References
Do Thi Xuan Dung, Cai Ngoc Duy Anh. (2010). Teaching ESP in the new context: Challenges and solutions. Journal of Science (Hue University), 60, 31-41.
Dudley-Evans, T., & St John, M. J. (1998). Research perspectives on English for academic purposes: A Multi-Disciplinary Approach. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Nguyen Thi To Hoa, Pham Thi Tuyet Mai. (2016). Difficulties in teaching English for specific purposes: Empirical study at Vietnam universities. Canadian Center of Science and Education, Higher Education Studies, v. 6, no. 2.
Vietnam Department of Higher Education, Report. 2014.
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