The Situation of Learning English for Electrical Engineering of D06k52 Students in Faculty of Foreign Language, Ha Noi University of Technology

Le Thi Bich Ngoc D06K52 Faculty of Foreign Language Ha Noi University of Technology The Situation of Learning English for Electrical Engineering of D06k52 Students in Faculty of Foreign Language, Ha Noi University of Technology Abstract       This report was concerned with the situation of learning English for Engineering (EEE). It is fact that ESP subjects, especially EEE are worried problems. Although EEE is one of compulsory subjects, many students in FOFL, HUT did not get good marks and d06, k52 students were not an exception. The objective of this report was to investigate the advantages and disadvantages of learning EEE as well as the main reason why they did not get good mark in the final test. Techniques of gathering data including different types of questionnaires administered to students in d06, k52 in FOFL, HUT. The study found that most of them found difficulties in learning EEE. Although teacher was very enthusiastic for teaching, the main difficulties they met are the lack of basic knowledge and new terms. Moreover, the main reason they got bad marks are that most of them did not learn EEE until the test. Based on the results of this study, it is recommended that school or FOFL should have general subjects for consolidating the basic knowledge for students before learning ESP. Moreover, glossary should be written at the end of each of lesson to help students understand lesson more and easier. And finally, some methods should be done to check student’s lesson correctness. Introduction             This report discusses the situation of learning EEE of d06, k52 students in FOFL, HUT. Before studying this topic, a small survey was carried out to investigate the attitude and score for EEE of d06, k52 students in the final test. And it was very surprised that 62, 5 % students got C marks and found it difficult to cope with learning EEE. The result of this small survey is table 1 in the end of this report. Nowadays, many projects have been carried out to study many topics relating ESP subjects in school. However, the research which was concerned about the situation of learning EEE of d06, k52 students in FOFL; HUT has not yet been done. Therefore, the objectives of this research is to consider the advantages and disadvantages they meet when learning EEE as well as the main reason why they got bad marks in final test in order to help students and teachers have solutions to improve the quality of learning ESP , especially EEE in FOFL, HUT. Literature Review         ESP subjects, especially EEE are becoming concerned issues. Many people want to learn it, but they found it really boring and the reading section in some books did not meet their demand. According to Duc Lam (2009), EEE is really difficult. The reading section in book is too basic; they were not up-to-dated. They only dealt with issues such as phenomenon’s related to magnet, or magnetic flux… but it doesn’t explain why they occur like that. That is the reason why EEE is really boring.        According to Anh Kien (2008), in his opinion, the simple method to learn ESP well is to read many ESP related documents. The more they read, the better your ESP knowledge is. Moreover, according to DKC05 (2009), learning General English well does not mean that learning ESP will be well. If one person, who learns English very well, does not read any catalogs or ESP related books, he / she will not be able to understand it well. The main reason is that the terms in ESP subjects are very different from the words in the general English. In his opinion, learning general English well is only the foundation for learning ESP well. In other word, people who want to learn ESP subjects well have to spend a lot of time on reading ESP documents and studying on it. ESP subject is not the general English. Their grammar is the same but the vocabulary of ESP subject is more difficult than the general English. Therefore, to learn ESP subjects better, learners should have the basic knowledge of general English. It is really useful for learn ESP subjects effectively and help learns to save more their time.     And according to the course requirements in textbook of English for Electrical Engineering, FOFL’s students have to consolidate and prepare the lesson at home before going to school.               Furthermore, there is a fact that although students in D06 have mastered the general English, they did not study EEE well. Most of them sometimes or never follow these above requirements. They seldom read or repair lesson before going to class. They did not spend a lot of time on studying it. From these facts, they could not understand all things learned in class and then, they got bad mark in final test.] Methodology      The situation of learning EEE of d06, k52 students in FOFL, HUT is investigated through questionnaire survey. Questionnaire was designed in form of respondent-completed one, and consists of 6 questions: 5 pre-coded questions and 1 attitude scales. Objects are all 16 students in d06, k52 in FOFL, HUT. They were required to tick into the answers they chose. After being designed, this questionnaire survey was tested out on a scale of all students in another FOFL’s class, and 2 pre-coded questions need to be improved. And then, each of students in d06 completed one copy of the questionnaire. After collecting necessary information, the results were analyzed and evaluated. And finally, the researcher plotted information in diagram and explained in the report.      Questionnaire survey is really useful for collecting information which was used for supporting topic. By using this method, researcher can investigate the common difficulties and advantages students had during the fifth term when they studied EEE. Moreover, the main reason of getting bad mark in the final test will be found quickly and easily. Results 1.      The course requirements in textbook of English for Electrical Engineering: Before the lesson    - Students are required to prepare for the lesson by doing homework and tasks their teachers ask them to do.   -Students are expected to find materials related to each lesson’s topic to support the lesson          During the lesson - Students are expected to take full and active participation in all class activities.          After lesson - Students should revise previous lessons regularly - Students are encouraged to keep their own vocabulary book for EEE terms - Students should search for materials in different EEE fields to consolidate their language skills and their EEE knowledge. 2.        Whether or not student in d06 met difficulties when studying EEE? Difficulty in studying EEE Always Sometimes Never No opinion Attitude score 1 2 3 4 Number of respondents 10 6 0 0 Total 10 12 0 0 Chart 2.1 The total of score is: 10 + 12+ 0+ 0 =22 Dividing by the number of respondents, the mean score is:  22: 16 = 1, 375 The Mode = 1 The results of the questionnaire used for ensuring that if the students had difficulties in learning EEE or not are presented in the chart 2.1. The mean score and the mode are calculated.  (SEEE appendix for decoded meanings) 3.        Advantages in studying EEE: Chart 3.1 illustrates the advantages or interest of learning EEE. Q4b and Q4e show the highest level of advantages while Q4a makes up the lowest level. What Q4a, Q4b or other codes stand for is listed in Summary of Questionnaire Survey attached at the end of the report. 4.        Difficulties in studying EEE: Difficulties in learning EEE are shown in chart 4.1. In this chart,  Q5a and Q5c points out the highest level or the difficulties students met most and the Q5b shows the lowest point or the difficulty which students rarely got. The Summary of Questionnaire Survey attached at the end of the report will show what stand for Q5a, Q5b…, and other codes. 5.        Why students did not get good marks in final test This chart 5.1 shows the main reason causing the bad marks of students for EEE. The yellow piece shows the highest percentage. However, the lowest percentage is invisible because it is 0 %. In this chart, yellow is used for Q6a, violet for Q6b, and green is for Q6c. SEEE the Summary of Questionnaire Survey attached at the end of the report will show what stand for Q6a, Q6b…, and other codes Analysis and discussion:        K52 in FOFL-HUT is the first course applied the credit-based training. It means that students can choose the subjects they like to learn and shorten their training time for term of 4.5 years. However, they cannot avoid studying ESP subjects. Although ESP subjects including EEE are one of the compulsory subjects, many students, especially students in d06, k52, found EEE difficult. The Mean score: 1.375 shows that most of students in d06, k52 found that they always meet difficulties in studying EEE.            To help students study EEE well, the material facilities in FOFL have been improved, for example, air-conditioner, projector… were installed in some classes. The purpose of this is to supply students with better environment for studying. Beside the advantages of material facilities, other factors making students interested in EEE are that teacher is very enthusiastic and EEE connects to their future jobs. With 37.5 % students in chart 3.1, it is fact that teacher’s role and future job are really important factors building the student’s interest in some subjects including EEE. Because EEE is a difficult subject, if students do not find the interested feeling from teacher or other things, they will feel bored quickly and do not want to learn it any more.        In spite of these above advantages, most students still have many difficulties in studying EEE such as difficult exercises… However, the main difficulties seem that students lack of basic knowledge and there are many terms in each lesson. Many people think that FOFL’s students learn ESP subjects very well because they have mastered the general English. This ideal is totally wrong. General English and ESP subjects have many differences with each other. Their grammar is the same, but their vocabulary is different. The term in ESP subjects is much more difficult than one in the general English, it is not as popular as general English is. And it can be said that General English only is the foundation for studying ESP subjects well. Moreover, the program FOFL’s students are trained is focused on studying linguistic subjects, therefore, it is reasonable when they did not have the basic knowledge and met difficulties in studying terms in EEE. However, with the figures in the chart 4.1 (75%), this situation is really a worried problem for quality of training EEE in FOFL, HUT.        When being asked how they learnt EEE at home, many students gave various answers. From the chart 5.1, 43.75% students only learnt it until the test, 31.25% learnt it when they had free time and 37.5% only learnt it before one day. These figures show that students in d06, k52, FOFL, HUT did not spend a lot of time on studying EEE. According to the above literature review, ESP subjects are the special one which require a lot of time to learn. If students want to learn it well, they have to read many documents related to the ESP subjects. It is one of the most effective ways to study EEE well. However, most of students in d06 did not follow this. And as a result, they could not understand issues or lessons deeply and did not get good marks in the test. Their state of learning EEE at home is the main reason causing bad score of students. Summary and conclusion           EEE is the difficult subject. Although students study in good environment, with the help from the enthusiastic teacher, they still get difficulties in studying it such as lack of basic knowledge or difficult terms. Moreover, in spite of the compulsory subject, EEE is not spent a lot of time for studying by students.            From these facts, some recommendations are given that Faculty or teacher should have solutions for help students consolidate their basic knowledge learned in high school. Doing homework is very important, therefore, some methods should be applied to check the students’ correctness of previous and new lesson at home strictly.          ESP subjects, especially EEE are very important. If students master it well, they will easily approach the modern science and technology in the world. During the process of conducting this research, the researcher cannot avoid some difficulties as well as limitations: Firstly, the scale of this report is too small. It is only studied on the students in D06, K52, in FOFL, HUT. Therefore, the result of this report cannot illustrate the situation of learning EEE of all students in FOFL exactly. Secondly, the researcher only investigates the advantages , disadvantages and reasons causing bad marks. The solution for this situation is not found. Therefore, this report is expected to be used for the foundation for the future researches which will be studied on another topics which will investigate the solution for the situation of learning EEE in FOFL, HUT. References ·           Pham Thanh Duong, MA; Luong Trung Kien, MA English for Electrical Engineering  Course requirement Ha Noi, 2005, pp ii ·           Duc Lam , Phương pháp học ngành Điện, http: (09:22 AM, 1/31/2009) ·           Anh Kien (2008), Phương pháp học ngành Điện, http:   ( 6/10/2008; 07:19 PM) ·           DKC05 (2009), Phương pháp học ngành Điện, http: (02/07/2009; 4:12 PM)                                                     Appendixes 1.    The Summary of Questionnaire Survey Sample size Meet difficulties or not Q3a: always Q3b: Sometimes Q3c: Never Q3d: No opinion Advantages of studying EEE Q4a: easy to understand Q4b: enthusiastic teacher Q4c: reality connected content Q4d: attractive context Q4e: connect to future job Difficulties in learning EEE Q5a: lack of basic knowledge Q5b:unthusiastic teacher Q5c: many terms Q5d: difficult exercises Q5e: less homework Q5f: laziness Q5g: lack of time learn EEE at home: Q6a: learn suddenly Q6b: learn when free Q6c: learn before one day Q6d: only learn until the test Gender: Male Female 16 10 6 0 0   1 6 4 2 6  12              0 12 5 2 8 1 0 5 6 7 9 7 62.5 37.5 0 0 62.5 37.5 25 12.5 37.5 75 0 75 31.25 12.5 50 6.25 0 31.25 37.5 43.75 56.25 43.75 2.    Table 1: Score of the finale EEE test. Score A B C D F Male 0 2 6 1 0 Female 0 2 4 1 0 Total 0 4 10 2 0 percentage 0% 25% 62.5% 12% 0% 3. Questionnaire survey Hello, I are from our class, d06, k52. I am conducting a survey on the situation of learning English for Engineering (EEE) of all members in our class. Would you mind answering a few questions? It will take fust a few minutes and your answers will be kept confidential. Q1: Your score of final EEE test? < 4,0 F 4,0 à 5,4 D 5,5 à 6,9 C 7,0 à 8,4 B 8,5 à 10 A Q2: Did you often have any difficulties when studying EEE? always 1 Sometimes 2 Never 3 No opinion 4 Q3: which interest did you feel when studying EEE? Easy to understand Enthusiastic teacher Reality connected content Attractive context Connect to future / expected job Q4: which difficulties did you meet when studying EEE? Lack of basic knowledge Enthusiastic teacher Many terms Difficult exercises Less homework Lack of time Laziness Others:….. Q5: how did you learn EEE at home? Learn suddenly Learn when free Learn before one day Only learn until the test Q6: Your gender: Male M female F