INTRODUCTION 1. RATIONALE The status of English has turned a significant percentage of the world’s population. In addition to General English, English for Specific Purposes (ESP) has been gaining an increasing importance and it has grown to become one of the most prominent areas of the Teaching of English as Foreign or Second Language (TEFL/TESL). Ewer (1976: 247) believes that “the teaching of English for scientific, technological and technical purposes is of comparatively recent growth as specialized activity, but it is now emerging as one of the most rapidly expanding and important branches of TEFL/TESL today”. To meet the demand of the learners, many ESP programmes have been designed. Together with the worldwide trend to learn ESP, the teaching staff of Foreign Languages Department at Vinh University collected documents and designed some ESP programmes for some specific fields, including the ESP programme for Construction which was first taught for K.46 Construction Engineering students at Vinh University. Besides an effort to offer the learners with the ESP programme according to their specific needs, it is necessary to implement an evaluation. Furthermore, the fact is that the ESP programme for Construction designed by the teaching staff of Foreign Languages at Vinh University was first taught for K.46 Construction Engineering students at Vinh University and it received some learners’ evaluative comments while it was in the progress. Therefore, it is necessary to have an evaluation on the ESP programme for Construction at Vinh University carried out by the learners themselves as Wallace (1991: 163)‘s thought “One source of evaluation will obviously be the trainees themselves”. 2. AIMS AND SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY The study is aimed at researching Construction Engineering students’ evaluation on the ESP programme at Vinh University in terms of audience, aims, time allocation, contents and methodology in order to determine whether the ESP programme for Construction is suitable to the learners’ abilities and needs. Significantly, the process of this ESP programme evaluation can be seen as a way of developing our understanding of the ways in which it works and, in doing so, of contributing to both acquisition theory and pedagogic practices. Hence, the teachers would find ways to do interesting things in their teaching ESP in order to realize all the potentials embedded in the programme. It is hoped that the findings of this study and some suggestions would contribute in improving the ESP programme for Construction at Vinh University to make it more suitable for the learners’ needs and abilities in the coming years. 3. RESEARCH QUESTIONS The study aims to find out the answers to the following questions: 1) What are the learners’ evaluative comments on the ESP programme for Construction at Vinh University? 2) What are the learners’ needs for learning ESP at Vinh University? 3) How should the ESP programme for Construction at Vinh University be improved to make it more suitable to the learners’ abilities and needs? 4. METHOD OF THE STUDY This minor thesis uses a number of books concerning ESP and evaluation. The research method used is the survey. The data collection instrument is questionnaire. The practical data from K46 Construction Engineering students at Vinh University forms basis for this study. 5. SCOPE OF THE STUDY Within its scope, this research mainly focuses on the learners’ evaluation of the ESP programme at Vinh University such as: the time allocation, the topics of the ESP reading texts, the length of the ESP reading texts, the amount of technical vocabulary contained in each ESP reading text, the level of difficulty in grammar, the usefulness of exercises, the most difficult type of exercises, the satisfaction towards practice through exercises, the achievements after finishing the programme, and the satisfaction towards needs after finishing the programme. Basing on the findings and the learners’ needs, it provides some suggestions to improve the ESP programme for Construction at Vinh University. Its major object is K46 Construction Engineering students of Technology Department at Vinh University. 6. DESIGN OF THE STUDY The minor thesis is composed of three main parts: introduction, development and conclusion. The introduction presents the rationale, aims and significance, research questions, method of the study, scope of the study, as well as design of the study. The development consists of three chapters: - Chapter I, “Literature Review”, provides the relevant theories: an overview of ESP (definition of ESP, classification of ESP and the development of ESP), evaluation (terminology definition, types of programme evaluation, purposes for evaluation, criteria for evaluation and central questions in programme evaluation design) and learner-centeredness in ESP. - Chapter II, “An overview of English for Construction at Vinh University”, presents background information about English for Construction at Vinh University, including in the teaching and learning situation, a description of current ESP programme for Construction and the learners at Vinh University. - Chapter III, “The study”, describes the methodology employed to collect data for this thesis at first (participants, data collection instrument and procedure). Then it reports on the learners’ evaluation of the ESP programme for Construction at Vinh University and their needs, and shows the major findings. Finally, it provides some suggestions to improve the ESP programme for Construction at Vinh University. The conclusion presents what have been found out from the study and the limitations and suggestions for further study.
