EXPLORING TECHNICAL ENGLISH-MAJORED

UNDERGRADUATES’ LEARNING NEEDS OF THE ENGLISH FOR

ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING AND ELECTRONICS COURSE
Truong Minh Chau, Nguyen Thi Minh Tram*
University of Languages and International Studies-VNU
Hanoi College of Industrial Economics, University of Languages and
International Studies- VNU
chautruong.tieu13169@gmail.com-0986268382, tramntm@vnu.edu.vn-
0915371945

ABSTRACT
In the rapid development of Technology era 4.0, the high demand of technology and
information transmission graduates’ adequate competencies of English for Science
and Technology (EST) such as English for Information Communicative
Technology, English for Electrical Engineering and Electronics, English for
Mechanical Engineering. However, EST education, especially English for Electrical
Engineering and Electronics (EEEE) has still been an under-researched area. With
the purpose of exploring the Technical English-majored undergraduates’ needs of
learning EEEE, a needs analysis in a qualitative research design was employed
through in-depth interviews conducted with 17 undergraduates from a technical
university in Hanoi. The current research findings have shown that the necessary
EEEE competencies were technical knowledge, technical terms, information
researching skills and self-studying. The difficulties the undergraduates have
experienced mainly consisted of the understanding towards technical knowledge,
memorizing technical terms, researching for information and self-studying. As a
result, the suggestions were provided based on both necessary competencies and
learners’ difficulties. The study findings hopefully would inform EEEE course
developers and lecturers to make appropriate adjustments to the course design and
teaching respectively.

[*] Lecturer at University of Languages and International Studies - VNU

Keywords: needs analysis, technical English-majored undergraduates, English for
Specific Purpose, English for Electrical Engineering and Electrical

I. Introduction

With the growing need of using English internationally in the fields of science and
technology, English for Specific Purpose (ESP) in general, and English for Science
and Technology (EST) in particular have already marked its role in the multilingual
and digital world of exponential developments for some recent decades.
Importantly, according to Huhta, Vogt, Johnson and Tulki (2013), the matter of ESP
“should be redirected away from foreign language education and towards training in
communication for professional purposes… The content of ESP course should be
based on evidence, not teacher intuition”. This means, ESP should not be regarded
as the process of “reading” or “translating” the ESP documents, but should pay
more attention to the development of productive skills such as written and oral
communication in ESP. Moreover, the content development for ESP course should
be deeply grounded from the research findings with relevant stakeholders rather
than based on the institute decisions from the course designers’ and lecturers’. In
addition, the research on the needs of English for Electrical Engineering and
Electronics (EEEE) in EST is not conducted frequently, especially the application
of EEEE in Vietnam. As a result, it is necessary to conduct a research in order to
investigate the needs of the undergraduates in learning EEEE. Given the under-
research context and having experienced the course EEEE, which belongs to a
perspective of ESP, in the university herself, the researcher decided to conduct an
investigation on those needs of undergraduates.

Therefore, the overarching research question of the current study is: “What do the
undergraduates perceive to be their learning needs of the English for Electrical
Engineering and Electronics course?” – with three subordinate research questions
are as follows.

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 1. What are English for Electrical Engineering and Electronics competencies
that undergraduates perceive to be necessary for them?
2. What are the major difficulties that the undergraduates have experienced
during the course of English for Electrical Engineering and Electronics?
3. What are suggestions to improve the undergraduates’ English for Electrical
Engineering and Electronics competencies?
II. Literature Review
I.1. English for Electrical Engineering and Electronics

Although English for Electrical Engineering and Electronics (EEEE) is included in

the process of learning EST as a branch in ESP, its definition of EEEE is not
available yet in the literature. Other fields may be included in EST along with
EEEE should be English for Mechanical Engineering and Materials, English for
Information Communication Technology, English for Environmental Science, etc.
Based on the current course-book relating to EEEE of Glendining (1980), Sinclair
& Dunton (2007) and the course-book of a technical university in Hanoi, Vietnam
(2016), some common features are as follows.

(1) The course-books are mainly developed according to content-based

approach, which focus on providing information for the learners on the Electrical-
relating topics such as Electrostatic forces, the structure of matter, electric current,
electromotive force, electric circuits, DC generators & motors, etc.
(2) The course-books concentrate on developing the two main areas: technical
terminology and reading comprehension. Although Glendining (1980) includes
some grammatical exercise and the course-book of the technical university in Hanoi
includes communicative and listening skills, it still focuses on the matter of
accumulating technical terms and knowledge rather than developing communicative
skills.

The course of EEEE mainly focuses on delivering the knowledge rather than skills,
especially the basic knowledge of EEEE for the students in order to create a

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foundation for them in future careers. However, the research about the learning
needs of the undergraduates have not been conducted thoroughly and officially, the
teachers or the lecturers mainly contribute the course-books based on their
experience rather than the undergraduates’ needs about the course. Therefore, in the
current study, the undergraduates’ competencies including knowledge, skills and
attitude (Council of Europe, 2001) in EEEE will be explored for better
understanding of their needs.

In conclusion, under the situation when ESP is widely regarded under vocational
orientation rather than academic one, the matter of EEEE, which is still mainly
considered as content-based approach should be improved. In addition, EEEE
should be regarded based on the needs of learners. In other words, studying on
learners’ difficulties and necessary competencies they should accumulate after the
course in order to help them learn and work effectively is important.

I.2. Needs Analysis

The term “analysis of needs” first appeared in the 1920’s in West Bengal, a
province of India when Michael West introduce the concept of “needs” to cover
what learners will be required to do with the foreign language in the target situation
and how learners might best master the language during the period learning
(Rahman, 2015).

Due to the fact that the ESP course is developed regarding to the needs of the
learners, the role of NA before designing an ESP course is considered as the key
stage. In language teaching, NA is considered as the corner stone of ESP and leads
to a focused course. Strevens (1980) suggests that NA is a necessary first step for
specific purposes language teaching. In addition, Hutchinson and Waters (1987)
also argue that “any language course should be based on needs analysis”, Hamp-
Lyons (2001) opines that needs analysis is a fundamental component to and ESP
approach in term of course design. Regarding to the definition, Dudley-Evans and

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St John (1997) defines NA as “the process of establishing the what and how of a
course”. They argue that “need analysis is neither unique to language teaching-
needs assessment, for example, is the basis of training programs and aid-
development, programs – nor, within language training, is it unique to Language for
Specific Purpose and thus to ESP”

They also stress three aspects about the aim of NA is to know: (1) learners as
people, as language users and as language learners, (2) how language learning and
skills learning can be maximized for a given learner group and (3) the target
situations and learning environment. As a result, the data can appropriately be
interpreted. Due to time constraint, the research main concentrate on analyse the
undergraduates’ learning needs regarding to their needs of EEEE, their difficulties
and suggestions for the course.

I.3. Working Needs Analysis Framework of the Current Study

Needs analysis is viewed as a preliminary-stage of ESP instructional design.

According to Hutchinson and Waters (1987), learning needs analysis relates to the
learners’ perspectives namely their learning experience, cultural information,
reasons, expectations and their attitudes to English. The learning needs analysis
framework about the identity and purpose of the learning, the place and time of the
study, the people the learners will interact with or the level of the proficiency
required is comprised of the following questions:

 Why are the learners taking the course?

 How do the learners learn?
 What resources are available?
 Who are the learners?
 When / Where will the course take place?
(Hutchinson and Waters, 1987, p. 63)
Under consideration on the purpose of the research, the framework of Hutchinson &
Waters (1987) is applied regarding to the set of questions of learning needs analysis
for some reason. Firstly, the framework provides a list of questions for learning
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needs analysis, which is useful and suitable for the process of developing the
research instruments. Secondly, the research purpose is to explore the learning
needs of undergraduates. Thus, the framework by Hutchinson & Waters (1987),
which provides the detailed questions for learning needs analysis seem to be the
most comprehensive and suitable for the aim and objectives of the research.

III. Research Methodology

I.4. Context of the Study

The research took place in a technical university in Hanoi, Vietnam where the
English-majored undergraduates experience the courses English for Science and
Technology and the course EEEE is one course in the segmental technological
courses. The course at the fourth semester (the second year) accounts for 2 credits,
is considered the first technical, fundamental and core course for undergraduates in
order to learn the technical translation and interpretation in later semesters. Before
the course, the undergraduates have been equipped with the four basic skills
(reading, writing, listening and communicative skills in the General English) at B1-
level in Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (Council of
Europe, 2001). Moreover, it is supposed to create opportunities for undergraduates
to reinforce and cultivate practical teamwork skills, discussion skills and
presentation skills (School of Foreign Languages, 2017).

The course-book is developed by the School of Foreign Language with 12 Units on

12 basic fields of Electrical Engineering and Electronics. Each unit consists of three
parts. The first part is reading comprehension, which provides technical terms,
technical knowledge by a set of vocabulary and reading text with some questions
for comprehension. The second part is further practice, which provides some further
knowledge about the topic, other 2 skills: listening and writing skill. The last part is
provided at the end of the course, which is presentation on a chosen topic in 12
units.
I.5. Participants

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17 English-majored undergraduates from a technical university in Hanoi, Vietnam
agreed to participate in semi-structure interviews. Their ages ranged between 19 and
21. Among them, 12 out of 17 ones had already experienced the course English for
Electrical Engineering and Electronics and got their result after the course, whereas
other 5 were freshmen, who would experience the course in the next semester. The
participants were selected with various range of EEEE abilities with two
undergraduates at A level, two at B+, six at B, one at C+ and one at C for the results
of EEEE.

I.6. Data collection instruments

The sets of interview questions were designed based on the learning needs analysis
framework by Hutchinson and Water (1987). The interview development process
was conducted with the help from one expert with 15 years of experience in
conducting NA in ESP for instrument verification. In order to check if the questions
are efficacious and whether the wording was clear and understandable, a pilot study
with two undergraduates was conducted. The pilot interviews had at first 6
questions including (1) the information about the participants, (2) their awareness of
the course, (3) their learning methodology, (4) their difficulties and interest, (5)
their suggestions towards the course. However, after discussion and pilot study, the
interview questions were developed with 12 questions and closely followed the
framework of Hutchinson and Water (1987) as follows.

No The theories Question for the interview Theme

questions
1 Who are the Please introduce yourself (name, age, your Information
learners? school year) about the
participants
2 What do the Before the course, what knowledge and Learners’ prior
learners already skills relating to EEEE you have already knowledge of
know about the known? EEE
subjects?
3 What do learners What did you expect to achieve from the Their
think they will course at the beginning of the course? expectation for
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 achieve? the course
4 What is their What is your attitude towards the course? Learners’
attitude towards At what extend do you think that the course attitude towards
the ESP course? have provided you necessary skills and the course
knowledge for the later courses and for
your future careers?
5 How do the What was your learning methodology for Learners’
learners learn? EEEE? learning
- Did you spend time self-studying? methods
How often?
6 What learning and What were your familiar learning and Familiar
teaching styles are teaching style? learning and
they used to? teaching styles
7 What resources In the process of learning EEEE, what Available
are available? resources of information did you often use? resources
8 Why are the Why did you take the course? Reason for
learners taking the taking the
course? course
9 What are their Which part did you find the most Their interest
interests? interesting in the course, and you desired to
develop more in the future? Why?
10 What are their Which part did you find the most difficult Their
difficulties? in the course? Why? difficulties
11 What Which learning methodology do you think Their learning
methodology will that it could help you improve your results? method
appeal to them? preference
12 Their suggestions What is your suggestion for self-studying? Suggestions
Table 2: The application of the learning needs analysis framework by Hutchinson
and Waters (1987) in developing the interview questions
I.7. Data collection procedure

The participants went through an in-depth interview lasting from 20 minutes to 45

minutes in semi-structured interviews. The data were conducted during the August,
2020 in Vietnamese language to ensure the fully delivered interaction between the
researchers and the participants. Due to the impacts of Covid-19 and to ensure the
time flexibility between the interviewers and the participants, the in-depth
interviews were taken online through Zoom Meeting and calling.
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Before starting the interviews, the participants were provided a set of semi-
structured questions to brainstorm and review what they had experienced with the
course. In order that the interviewees could express themselves freely, the interview
was conducted in Vietnamese language. In addition, during the interview, the
interviewees were informed that the interviews were recorded to serve the process
of data analysis, as well as, the interviewer would take note of some necessary
information and main ideas.

I.8. Data analysis methods and procedure

After recording the answers of the interviewees, these recordings were transcribed
and analysed. Firstly, the researcher read the transcription carefully to grasp the
overall structure and information. Then, the data collected from the interviews was
analysed qualitatively using qualitative data analysis techniques suggest by Miles
and Huberman (1994). This process helped to make sense of qualitative data. Then,
the data were categorized into concepts and connected to show how one concept
might influence another. Finally, the findings were reported.

II. Findings
II.1. Research question 1: What are English for Electrical Engineering
and Electronics competencies that undergraduates perceive to be
necessary for them?

From the in-depth interviews, it could be analysed that also the students desired to
improve their basic skills in application in real situation of Electrical Engineering
and Electronics environment. In addition, they wanted to accumulate technical
knowledge and technical terms in order to pass the course and serve for their future
careers. 15 out of 17 undergraduates needed improve their basic skills: reading –
writing, listening and speaking in Electrical Engineering and Electronics field.
Some of them said that:

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 I wanted to improve in Listening skill because it was the worst of mine
(Undergraduate_2)
I wanted to improve the four skills relating to EEEE (Undergraduate_4)
In addition, 10 out of 15 undergraduates expect to accumulate the knowledge about
Electrical Engineering and Electronics in both Vietnamese and English. They
express their expectation that:
I wanted to accumulate enough knowledge to deal with documents relating to
EEEE (Undergraduate_1)
I wanted to achieve some knowledge relating to Electrical Engineering and
Electronics (Undergraduate_6)
In addition, 9 out of 17 undergraduates hoped that they could accumulate enough
technical terms to adapt the future jobs. 5 out of 17 wanted to be able to deal with
Electrical Engineering and Electronics in reading and translation – interpretation
materials, whereas other 4 just wanted to be able to apply the knowledge and skills
in EEEE environment. They expressed that:

I wanted to accumulate knowledge and terms relating to Electrical Engineering and

Electronics for my future careers (Undergraduate_1)
I wanted to be able to comprehend, translate and interpret the Electrical
Engineering and Electronics documents (Undergraduate_8)
I wanted to accumulate and gain enough knowledge and skills to apply in dealing
with some situation relating to EEEE (Undergraduate_13)
With the reasons and expectations for the course, in the process of learning, the
learners provided many necessary competencies should be accumulated to pass the
course and apply the course for the later study.
Regarding to knowledge, 15 out of 17 undergraduates agreed that being able to
comprehend technical knowledge in both Vietnamese and English language was
necessary in EEEE. One of the undergraduates seriously recommended

I do not know how other undergraduates learn, but for me, the most necessary is to
comprehend the technical knowledge in both English and Vietnamese, rather than
just English one. Because we need to understand the nature first, then we could
explain in English more easily and effectively (Undergraduate_10)

Another important knowledge agreed by 15 out of 17 undergraduates was the

comprehension of technical terms. The understanding towards technical terms may

10
be one elements controlling their comprehension and their application of the four
basic skills. One undergraduate expressed her opinion:

I think the understanding towards the technical terms in this course may help me
improve my communicative skills, I also could comprehend the reading text and
improve my listening skills in EEEE based on technical terms (Undergraduate_4)

Regarding to skills, researching and collecting information from the available

resources were agreed by 17 out of 17 undergraduates to be the most necessary and
important to achieve after the course. One of the undergraduates shared that

Researching for information is necessary because the course-book is not enough for
both learning and working purpose. It is difficult to understand and lack of
illustrations. (Undergraduate_3)

In addition, all the undergraduates confirmed that having the motivation in self-
studying was another necessary skill along with researching information. One
undergraduates highlighted that if she had a chance to learn the subject again to
improve her grade, she would “push myself in self-studying more”
(Undergraduate_5).

For the matter of self-studying, the learners also shared some of their learning
methodology in order to accumulate both technical knowledge and terms, as well
as, achieve some necessary for their working purpose such as: using glossary to
collect the technical terms, reading Vietnamese materials relating to the working
principles to understand before reading English ones, watching videos or visual aids
to improve their imagination about the machines, using concept mapping in
summary and reviewing the lessons, etc.

I used to use concept mapping in order to summarize and organize the information
about the lessons I had learnt in class and I found it was effective
(Undergraduate_11)
I used videos on Youtube to improve both listening skills and the comprehension
about the lesson (Undergraduate_16)

Moreover, 15 out of 17 undergraduates did not deny the necessities of four basic
skills in application of Electrical Engineering and Electronics environments

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 I think that the four basic skills in general English have been equipped carefully
and enough for the requirement from the beginning of the course. However, it does
not apply much in EEE environment. As a result, strengthening those skills in
particular situation is important. (Undergraduate_4)

In general, it could be concluded that the necessary knowledge for learners to learn
effectively may lie on their understanding towards technical skills and technical
terms. Regarding to skills, the learners should be able to research and collect the
information from the available source and self-studying to contribute the knowledge
themselves. In addition, the improvement of the four basic skills in technical
situation could not be denied from required skills after the course.

II.2. Research question 2: What are the major difficulties that the
undergraduates have experienced during the course of EEEE?

In the process of learning the course, the undergraduates had faced with many
difficulties.

They mainly experienced the difficulties with technical terminology and technical
knowledge rather than the basic skills. Some of them pointed out their difficulties
with technical knowledge as follows.

The terminology system of this course is dense and too difficult to remember. One
term seems to relate to the whole system or working principles. However, when
doing the final test, the learning of technical terms seems not to be used effectively
(Undergraduate_1)
I wasted a lot of time and effort in researching the working principles, but I still did
not understand anything (Undergraduate_8)

Even when the undergraduates explained that they did not improve basic skills in
EEE situation, their main reason still based on the lack of technical terminology and
knowledge rather than their ability in that skills in General English. For example,
they confirmed that if they were provided enough information and vocabulary for
the relating areas such as the working principle of a semiconductor, they can
explain and present or communicate confidently with their partners. Only two

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participants stressed that they really experienced the problems with their basic skills
such as incorrect pronunciation, accents in listening and reading skills.

In listening skills, many exercises were provided with loud music, I would rather
listen to music rather than the content of the texts (Undergraduate_10)
I cannot apply what I understood from concept maps into the illustrations and vice
versa in both writing and speaking because concept maps were a sequence of
organized text, illustration did not contain any text. (Undergraduate_8)

The results of difficulties may root in the prior knowledge of the undergraduates at
the beginning of the course. The undergraduates for the course entered the
university through an entrance examination focusing on Maths, Literature and
English. As a result, their technical base was not as effective as others equipped
with Physics or Chemistry.

The course focuses on some matter of Physics and Chemistry. However, we mainly
focused on English and Literature when we were in High Schools to pass the
entrance exam to the university. As a result, we did not have any foundation about
this course. (Undergraduate_11)

However, their basic skills of English had been developed enough to adapt and meet
the requirement of the course EEEE. 12 out of 17 undergraduates confirmed this
matter.

The Schools of Foreign Language had already instructed us carefully to develop the
four basic skills in order to suit the requirement from the later technical course
(Undergraduate_12)

In addition, 8 out of 17 undergraduates shared that although they had knowledge of

Physics or have the brief overview about the purpose and the content of the course,
they still faced with many problems in the process of experiencing the course.

I knew that the course relating to Physics we had experienced in high school, so I
had read through the Physics course-book before starting the course
(Undergraduate_7)

In addition, despite the fact that only one undergraduate had trouble with resources
researching, on interviewing towards the available resources of the course, they all
confirmed that researching the reliable resources was one of the most important

13
skills in learning EEEE. As a result, the students coped with many difficulties as
reflected below.

There are so many websites written with a large number of new words, as a result, I
cannot understand anything (Undergraduate_3)
Some words seems not to have the equivalence in Vietnamese, I cannot search for
Vietnamese information to read for understand first, but have to learn the definition
by heart (Undergraduate_6)

It can be seen that the undergraduates mainly used Google for researching for both
English and Vietnamese information for the course (11 out of 17 undergraduates,
accounts for 65%). Even when the undergraduates owned some reliable addresses to
research the information, they still used Google.

I did not have a reliable source, but I used Google very often. I searched for the
information and found the most suitable source one (Undergraduate_12)

Due to the fact that the students have many difficulties in explaining and describing
the working principles of the elements in the given topics, using Youtube should be
considered as effective and necessary strategy. However, the learners used Youtube
the same way as they applied for Google, they still did not have their own reliable
channels.

Youtube is used frequently in class. We sometimes recorded a video and posted on

Youtube to receive comments from lecturers and friends to improve speaking skill.
It was effective. (Undergraduate_15)
We used Youtube to improve our listening skills in EEEE. There were many
scientific and technical videos relating to components and working principles of a
machine with vivid illustration. We could both understand the technical knowledge
and improve listening skill (Undergraduate_8)

Moreover, they highlighted that the available resources only met their needs for
passing the course (11 undergraduates out of 17), but their needs for future work or
the recommendation for more thorough documents were not fulfilled. One
undergraduate also stated that the resources on the Internet still made her confused.
Some were too difficult to understand, whereas others were too easy, in addition,
the Vietnamese resources to help the students contribute their knowledge relating to

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their majority were limited. Sometimes, they cannot find the equivalence of the
technical terminology in Vietnamese, which led to the matter of misunderstanding
the concepts.

The available resource still just adapted about 70%-80% of my learning needs. For
working careers in the future, it did not meet my requirements (Undergraduate_4)
There were not any sources for equivalent technical terms between English and
Vietnamese language, it was hard for me to find one Vietnamese equivalence to
English one (Undergraduate_11)

In general, the students might have experienced many difficulties in the process of
learning the course based on their prior knowledge on the course and their
expectation after finishing the course. However, some key difficulties should be
concluded after the in-depth interview are: (1) their understanding towards the
technical knowledge, (2) their learning methods to deal with technical terms and (3)
their confusion in researching relating resources to Electrical Engineering and
Electronics.

II.3. Research question 3: What are suggestions to improve the

undergraduates’ English for Electrical Engineering and Electronics
competencies?

The learners were also asked if they had had a chance to learn the course again,
what they would have done to improve their results, knowledge and skills from the
course. They agreed that, besides the knowledge, they would improve their learning
methodology. 12 out of 17 learners agreed that they were familiar with the learning
style such as:

The teachers would prepare the slide, explain the lessons in both English
and Vietnamese, then, we were provided some exercises to discuss and
practice in class. Some necessary knowledge should be noted down on the
notebook. We also did some homework (Undergraduate_16)

On the other hand, the learners researched for the lessons before coming to class.
Then, they would exchange and discuss their ideas in class. The lecturer would

15
observe and give comments, feedbacks, recommendation or answer some questions
for them.

We researched and prepared for the lessons at home first. Then, in class, we
focused on discussing and sharing information. When we did not
understand, the teachers would give their explanation or sharing
(Undergraduate_5)

However, they said that they would prefer the learning and teaching methodology
such as:

Regarding to teaching methodology, 12 out of 17 undergraduates expressed that

they would like to participate in more in-class activities in order to interact and
share information with their friends. One undergraduates shared that

I would like to have more in-class activities and interaction. If I could learn the
course again, I would ask and share with my friends more often (Undergraduate_9)

Some of them hoped that the lecturers spent more time communicating with them to
share and deepen the information and knowledge for students

I would like the lecturers spend more time in communicating and sharing with
students to make us understand the lessons and the EEE area deeper.
(Undergraduate_1)

In addition, other undergraduates paying more attention in creating communicative

situation to improve speaking skills in EEE should be paid reasonable concentration
as one of them shared

I want to experience some real situation which applying EEEE knowledge to deal
with in order to improve my communicative skills. (Undergraduate_1)

Regarding to learning methodology, because they did not satisfy with their result
after the course, 14 out of 17 undergraduates thought that they should change their
learning methodology when the final examination came to achieve better results. As
one of them gave the example

We should change our learning methodology when the examination comes. For
example, we should communicate with our friends or classmates more to exchange

16
 information and strengthen our knowledge rather than self-studying.
(Undergraduate_12)

12 of them did not oppose with the idea of exchanging information and knowledge
with friends, but they still found that the motivation of self-studying should be
improved. As a male undergraduate shared

I think self-studying is more efficient for me, because when I asked my friends,
they are all girl and they even do not understand the nature of working principles,
not even to share with me (Undergraduate_10)

Or a female shared another reason for choosing self-studying

I think self-studying is more efficient. When I learn with my friends, we can only
spend some minutes to learn before starting to talk something off-topic
(Undergraduate_14)

In conclusion, the learners expressed their interests in real situation or the model or
being able to practise both technical knowledge and linguistic skills in the process
of learning. In addition, the undergraduates also have interests in the interactive
activities in class and self-studying and self-reviewing after the lessons at home.
Then, before the final examination, they would rather collaborate with each other
and exchange their resources with others in order to achieve a better understanding
towards the lessons.

III. Implications and conclusion

The research has answered for the three researches questions. Firstly, the necessary
competencies to learn effectively in the university according to the undergraduates
are technical knowledge, technical terms and the ability of researching for resources
and information, as well as, the capability in self-studying. Secondly, the difficulties
the undergraduates faced with in the process of experiencing the EEEE are technical
phenomena comprehension, technical terms memorization and materials
researching skill served for learning process. Lastly, they provided some suggestion
towards improving learning and teaching methodology which are learning sticking

17
with real and practical situation, spending more time in self-studying and joining
more interactive activities in class.

For implications, to enhance in-class learning for EEEE, the lecturers should
organize some interactive activities for the students. For example, the students
should research for the topic before class. When coming to the class, they can share
their understanding or knowledge they have researched at home with some of their
friends. In addition, they have time to discuss with the teachers whether the
information is suitable for the topic or not. To enhance self-studying among
students, it should be some available sources providing for students to support for
their process of searching for information such as an interactive website, technical
dictionary, mobile apps for learning vocabulary and terms, portfolios with
illustrations of the daily machines, etc.

The conclusion from the research may be used as the references for the later
research on improving the ability of learning EEEE, designing or adjusting the
learning course to be more suitable or need the requirements of the students in both
the university and the workplace. In addition, it helps the other researchers on
developing some supporting tools to enhance learning autonomy of the
undergraduates for this course.

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School of Foreign Languages. (2017). Undergraduate Program 2017 for Bachelor in
English language. Hanoi: Unpublished by School of Foreign Languages, Hanoi
University of Science and Technology.

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KHẢO SÁT NHU CẦU CỦA SINH VIÊN CHUYÊN NGÀNH TIẾNG ANH KỸ
THUẬT VỀ MÔN HỌC TIẾNG ANH KỸ THUẬT ĐIỆN – ĐIỆN TỬ
TÓM TẮT

Với sự phát triển nhanh chóng của kỷ nguyên công nghệ 4.0, nhu cầu liên quan dến
chuyển giao công nghệ và trao đổi thông tin tác động tới nhu cầu học các môn học
tiếng Anh khoa học – kỹ thuật như tiếng Anh Công nghệ thông tin – Truyền thông,
tiếng Anh kỹ thuật Điện – Điện tử (TA KTĐ – ĐT), tiếng Anh cơ khí. Tuy nhiên, việc
học tập các bộ môn tiếng Anh khoa học kỹ thuật, đặc biệt đối với môn TA KTĐ - ĐT
vẫn chưa được chú trọng nghiên cứu và phát triển. Với mục đích khảo sát nhu cầu học
của sinh viên tiếng Anh chuyên ngành về môn học TA KTĐ - ĐT, một nghiên cứu
định tính về phân tích nhu cầu được tiến hành thông qua phỏng vấn chuyên sâu với 17
sinh viên từ một trường đại học kỹ thuật ở Hà Nội. Kết quả của nghiên cứu cho thấy
rằng các năng lực TA KTĐ – ĐT cần thiết là các kiến thức về tiếng Anh kỹ thuật, các
thuật ngữ kỹ thật, khả năng nghiên cứu thông tin và khả năng tự học. Những khó khăn
mà các sinh viên thường gặp phải đồng thời tập trung chủ yếu và khả năng đọc hiểu
kiến thức chuyên ngành, ghi nhớ thuật ngữ kỹ thuật, tìm kiếm thông tin và tự học. Bởi
vậy, những gợi ý phát triển môn học cũng được đưa ra cũng dựa trên các năng lực cần
thiết và khó khăn của người học. Những kết quả thu được từ nghiên cứu có thể là
những phân tích để phục vụ cho việc phát triển các khóa học tiếng Anh chuyên ngành
theo nhu cầu của người học hoặc có thể dùng làm tư liệu phát triển những công cụ hỗ
trợ cho quá trình tự học của nười học. Hy vọng rằng, kết quả của nghiêm cứu có thể
phục vụ cho các đối tượng như những giảng viên, người phát triển các khóa học TA
KTĐ - ĐT, giúp họ có thể đưa ra các điều chỉnh chính xác cho việc giảng dạy và thiết
kế khóa học.

Từ khóa: phân tích nhu cầu, sinh viên tiếng Anh chuyên ngành kỹ thuật, tiếng Anh
chuyên ngành, tiếng Anh kỹ thuật Điện – Điện tử
21