Part A: INTRODUCTION

This part introduces briefly about the study including rationale, aims, scope, significance of the
study, research methodology as well as design of the thesis.

The participants in this study are seniors and a sophomore of the Faculty of Foreign Languages at
NEU

1. Rationale of the study

It is not an exaggeration to say that English is one of the most popular languages in this era of
globalization and international exchange. English has become an extremely useful tool for most
countries to access the world of modern technology and update latest achievements in many fields
of life. In Vietnam, since 1971, English teaching and learning have attracted a great deal of
attention. Hence, the demand of learning English has increased rapidly. In recent years, English has
proved its important role as the most popular foreign language that is being taught in all
educational levels cover countries in the worldwide. It is a compulsory subject, which is not only
for tertiary institutions, but also for that from primary to high schools in Vietnam.

Hanoi University of Industry (hereafter HaUI) has always been proud of being a multidisciplinary
training school with great contributions to the technological developments as well as
industrialization and modernization process. Therefore, along with General English-training
course, English for Specific Purposes (hereafter ESP) course such as English for Business, English
for Electrical Engineering, etc., that has been received very much attention from students in this
university. How to teach and learn ESP effectively, however, is not simple.

For many students, “reading is by far the most important of the four skills in a second language,
particularly in English as a second or foreign language” (Carrel, 1981:1), however, reading
comprehension is still considered as one of the least interesting ones for both lecturers and
students. Though many lecturers of English for Electrical Engineering also try in their best ways in
order to make ESP reading lessons more attractive to their students, it seems to be all their efforts
that do not capture the desired results.

The question of how to deal with English for Electrical Engineering reading more effectively at my
university has always been haunted in my mind. Although ESP reading strategies have long been
implemented and applied in its programs for ESP-training context at HaUI, up to now, there is no
in-depth study to assess the effectiveness of the ESP reading strategies yet. Therefore, the
researcher have a desire to perform “An evaluation of teaching ESP reading strategies for
Electrical Engineering third-year students at Hanoi University of Industry” which aims to
offer recommendations to improve the situation.

2. Purposes of the study

The study aims to evaluate the teaching ESP reading strategies that is applied for Electrical
Engineering third-year students so as to offer recommendations with purpose to enhance the
lecturers’ quality of teaching ESP reading at HaUI.

The study also aims to identify the strategies employed by lecturers in teaching ESP reading for
Electrical Engineering third-year students and benefits that the students gain from these
strategies.
3. Scope of the study

Although the ESP course is designed for all the third-year students at HaUI with eight different
majors, it would be impossible for the researcher to get them involved in the study due to obstacles
of time, duration and expense. Instead, the sample of the study consists of the third-year students
at Faculty of Electrical Engineering only. Besides, each ESP reading lesson often covers reading and
writing skills and translation techniques. Nevertheless, the scope of this study aims to evaluate
lecturers’ strategies in teaching ESP reading skill, it does not cover all aspects of writing skill and
translation techniques. The participants of the study are the Electrical Engineering students at
HaUI who have already finished the ESP course in the second term of the third-year.

4. Research questions

In order to achieve the research aims and objectives, the study is to find out answers to the
following research questions:

1. What strategies do the lecturers currently employ in teaching ESP reading for Electrical
Engineering third-year students at HaUI?

2. How beneficial are the lecturers’ teaching ESP reading strategies to Electrical Engineering third-
year students at HaUI?

5. Research methodology

To answers the two research questions, the study is conducted by combining both
qualitative and quantitative methods. The researcher used survey questionnaires for ESP lecturers
and Electrical Engineering third-year students. The detail of the methodology applied in the study
is discussed in Chapter 2.

6. Design of the study

The study consists of three main parts as follow:

Part A, Introduction, presents a brief introduction of the rationale for the study, the aims and
objectives, scope, significance, research method as well as design of the study.

Part B, Development, includes the following chapters:

Chapter 1, Literature review, deals with the theoretical background of the study and results from
the previous studies for the issues relevant to the field investigated.

Chapter 2, Methodology, describes the context and the research methodology of the study.

Chapter 3, Results and Discussions, presents analysis, discussions and evaluation basing on results
of the study.

Part C, Conclusion, summarizes the main issues of the whole study and indicates limitations of the
research as well as suggests for further study. In addition, the study also includes sections of
References which display the sources of referenced information and Appendices which present the
survey questionnaires for students and lecturers.