Sử dụng các nhiệm vụ mô phỏng trong giảng dạy từ vựng tiếng Anh chuyên ngành

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USING SIMULATION TASKS IN ESP VOCABULARY TEACHING 
SỬ DỤNG CÁC NHIỆM VỤ MÔ PHỎNG TRONG GIẢNG 
DẠY TỪ VỰNG TIẾNG ANH CHUYÊN NGÀNH
Đặng Thị Thanh
Email: dangthanhhd79@gmail.com 
Sao Do University
Date received: 6/01/2017 
Date of post-review correction 24/12/2017 
Release date: 28/3/2018
Abstract
In teaching vocabulary in general and English for Special Purpose (ESP) vocabulary in particular, teachers 
employ many techniques and activities in order to help their students retain learned lexical items. The 
study was carried out with the aim to: (1) investigate the difficulties encountered by the students of 
Automotive Engineering Technology Department (AETD), Sao Do University (SDU) when learning ESP 
vocabulary, (2) find out the techniques/activities that teachers at SDU used in teaching ESP vocabulary, 
and (3) exam how far the use of simulation tasks improves ESP vocabulary for the students at AETD, 
SDU. The findings show that pronunciation and retention of word meaning are factors prevent students 
from mastering vocabulary and among various techniques and activities employed by the teachers at 
SDU, simulation tasks prove its effectiveness in the ESP vocabulary improvement of the students.
Keywords: Vocabulary; ESP vocabulary; simulation task; English for Automotive Engineering.
Tóm tắt
Trong việc giảng dạy từ vựng nói chung, từ vựng tiếng Anh chuyên ngành nói riêng, giáo viên đã sử 
dụng rất nhiều hoạt động nhằm giúp sinh viên nắm bắt được từ vựng. Nghiên cứu này được thực hiện 
nhằm (1) điều tra những khó khăn mà sinh viên gặp phải trong quá trình học tiếng Anh chuyên ngành 
ô tô, Trường Đại học Sao Đỏ; (2) khám phá những kỹ thuật, hoạt động giảng dạy từ vựng chuyên ngành 
hiệu quả; và (3) điều tra hiệu quả của việc sử dụng các nhiệm vụ mô phỏng - một hoạt động giảng dạy 
mới trong việc nâng cao vốn từ vựng tiếng Anh chuyên ngành ô tô cho sinh viên. Kết quả nghiên cứu 
đã chỉ ra rằng phát âm và ghi nhớ nghĩa của từ là rào cản, khó khăn của sinh viên trong quá trình học 
từ vựng, và trong các kỹ thuật, các hoạt động được sử dụng để giảng dạy từ vựng tiếng Anh chuyên 
ngành thì các nhiệm vụ mô phỏng đã chứng tỏ hiệu quả của nó trong quá trình nâng cao vốn từ vựng 
tiếng Anh chuyên ngành cho sinh viên.
Từ khóa: Từ vựng; từ vựng tiếng Anh chuyên ngành; các nhiệm vụ mô phỏng; tiếng Anh ngành Công 
nghệ Kỹ thuật ô tô.
1. INTRODUCTION
The appearance of ESP as a means of 
international communication was necessary to 
satisfy the demand for learning English in the fields 
of business, education, and industry. It is difficult 
to deny Ammon & McConnell’s [1] conclusion that: 
English as a foreign language and major European 
lingua franca has now spread into most European 
countries as a language of university teaching, 
alongside the national official languages. This is 
true also of “big”/international languages (...) and 
usually coincides with languages that have played 
or are still playing an important role in scientific 
communication. According to Hutchinson & Waters 
[2], ESP is broken down into three branches: a) 
English for Science and Technology (EST), b) 
English for Business and Economics (EBE), and 
c) English for Social Studies (ESS). Each of these 
subject areas is further divided into two branches: 
English for Academic Purposes (EAP) and English 
for Occupational Purposes (EOP). Recently, Jin 
Jinghua [3] proposed a new trend in that Business 
English should be classified into ESP, which could 
also be divided into two types such as: EGBP 
(English for General Business Purpose) and 
ESBP (English for Specific Business Purpose), 
among which EGBP targeted to those learners 
who were lack of working experience while ESBP 
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was designed to train those professional people 
who had business working experience. 
At Sao Do University, ESP is offered to both English 
majors and non-English majors. The teachers 
would like to aim at communicative ESP lesson, 
which is still far from satisfactory due to course 
book, mixed-level students, large-sized class, low 
learner motivation and poor participation. The main 
reason that students fail to communicate smoothly 
in ESP lesson is the shortage of professional 
words. Thus, it is necessary for teachers to create 
an active and motivated learning environment to 
get students to involve in learning vocabulary. 
Among various kinds of methods and techniques, 
simulation is defined as “reality of function in 
a simulated and structured environment” [4]. 
Simulation with its characteristics and advantages 
is considered one of the most useful techniques 
that can help students enlarge their vocabulary. 
However, up to now, there has been little research 
on the application of simulation tasks in improving 
ESP vocabulary for foreign language learners.
For the above reasons, the study aims at 
investigating the difficulties encountered by 
the students at AETD, SDU when learning ESP 
vocabulary. The paper also focuses on examining 
methods and techniques that teachers at SDU 
used in teaching ESP vocabulary, investigating the 
use of simulation tasks in improving vocabulary for 
students at Automotive Engineering Technology 
Department (AETD), SDU. More specifically, the 
study tries to find out the answer for the following 
research questions:
1. What difficulties do students of AETD encounter 
during the process of acquiring vocabulary?
2. What are the methods and techniques that 
teachers at SDU employ in teaching ESP 
vocabulary?
3. How can simulation tasks improve ESP 
vocabulary for the students at AETD, SDU?
2. LITERATURE REVIEW 
2.1. Simulation 
Simulation is a kind of potential activity that shows 
much effectiveness to language proficiency. The 
term “simulation” is defined by many researchers 
and the latest definitions can be found by Jack C. 
Richards & Richard Smith [5] as follows: “classroom 
activities which reproduce or simulate real 
situations and which often involve dramatization 
and group discussion In simulation activities, 
learners are given roles in a situation, tasks, or a 
problem to be solved, and are given instructions 
to follow ...”.
This definition seems to cover three definitions of 
following researchers. 
Maley and Duff [6] call simulation “an attempt 
to place learners in circumstances resembling 
as closely as possible, those they will actually 
meet with in daily life”. Through this definition, 
they recognize simulations as involving overt 
role-playing. On the other hand, Livingstone 
[7] declares that simulation is often a problem-
solving activity to which the student brings his own 
personality, experience and opinions. However, 
Dougill [8] in “Drama Activities for Language 
Teaching” defined simulation as “a structured 
set of circumstances that mirror real life and 
participants act as instructed”. Meanwhile, in 
“Simulations in Language Teaching” it is defined 
as “reality of function in a simulated and structured 
environment” Jones, K [1]. This definition shows 
three essential elements in simulations: reality of 
function, simulated environment, and structure. 
The researcher further states that reality of 
function is the key concept in simulation.
2.2. Vocabulary and ESP vocabulary teaching 
Wilkins [9] states that “vocabulary is one of the three 
dimensions of a language (phonetic, grammar, 
vocabulary)” while Ur [10] defines “vocabulary is 
words we teach in the foreign language”. However, 
she explains in detail that words are not just single 
ones but may be a compound of two or three words 
or multi word idioms. In addition, Jack C. Richards 
& Richard Smith [5] defines vocabulary is “a set of 
lexemes, including single words, compound words 
and idioms”. These definitions are similar in the 
point that vocabulary consists of not only single 
words but also phrases, idioms, chunks, etc. From 
the mentioned definitions, it can be concluded that 
vocabulary is a number of words or a bunch of 
words that should be familiar with someone and 
have in his/her mind. In other words, vocabulary is 
the word capacity of someone when he is writing or 
reading a text, or when he or she is expressing own 
ideas in practical communication. ESP represents 
a specific reason for learning a foreign language. 
According to Hatch and Brown [11], “special 
lexical items are present in nearly all professions, 
and each branch has special vocabulary to cover 
abstract concepts”. Kennedy and Bolitho [12] 
distinguish these word categories for teaching 
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technical vocabulary: technical abbreviations, 
symbols and formulae, sub-technical vocabulary, 
highly technical vocabulary.
According to Morgan and Rinvolucri [13] the 
new words are not learned mechanically, but 
associatively. Therefore, the most progressive 
methods in ESP vocabulary teaching should be 
sorting words by process or activity, by categories 
(materials: rigid and brittle), by word families (to 
assemble, assembly), by theme/topic (interior 
car parts, exterior car parts) and synonyms/ 
antonyms. Vocabulary tasks should be revised 
thematically. Moreover, it allows learners to work 
independently on vocabulary areas that they are 
interested in. ESP vocabulary can be practiced 
and consolidated by similar methods and 
techniques used for practicing and consolidation of 
general vocabulary. 
2.3. Simulation tasks in ESP vocabulary 
teaching 
In “Simulation/gaming and the acquisition of 
communicative competence in another language” 
García et al. [14] mentioned that the tasks used 
in simulation contrast with the artificial tasks 
of language learning that are imported into the 
traditional classroom. In simulation sessions, 
the classroom provides its own rationale for 
communicating about the materials and tools 
required to carry out an activity. A wide range of 
speech acts has to be performed in the classroom 
due to the striking amount of negotiation on the 
materials needed for a task and the different 
communicative needs that arise in simulations. 
The learner has the chance to initiate as well as to 
respond in communicative exchanges.
The task-based approach used in simulation 
stresses the ability to perform a task instead 
of explicitly teaching grammatical structures. 
The learner is provided with opportunities that 
require his or her own speech be comprehensible 
because it is only through such opportunities that 
learners are pushed to mobilize their grammatical 
competence which “includes knowing the linguistic 
code and vocabulary”, Canale and Swain [15]. The 
tasks required stimulate learners to mobilize all 
their linguistic resources and push their linguistic 
knowledge to the limit.
Furthermore, according to Courtney [16] the 
enormous expenditure on simulation exercises in 
business, commerce, science indicates that, for 
instructional and vocational training, simulation 
tasks are probably the most widely used of all 
task types. Simulations for language teaching 
proposes in tertiary English for Academic Purpose 
environments are less problematic in terms of their 
authenticity or relatability since classroom and 
target environment are often the same. 
3. USING SIMULATION TASKS TO IMPROVE 
ESP VOCABULARY FOR STUDENTS OF AETD 
AT SAO DO UNIVERSITY
3.1. Participants
The study was conducted with the participation 
of 170 students from three classes of AETD. 
They completed two courses of English for 
General Purpose. ESP is taken right after 
these two courses. They are supposed to be at 
pre-intermediate level of English proficiency. 15 
students who came from different classes were 
selected at random for interview to supplement 
the study. The ESP text book was redesigned by 
the teachers of English Division in Tourism and 
Foreign Languages Department, SDU basing on 
the “Technical English 1” by David Bonamy and 
Christopher Jacques, Pearson Longman 2008 
and its Automotive Industries worksheets.
3.2. Instruments
To find answers to the research questions, the study 
collects data from pre-task survey questionnaires 
and post -task survey questionnaires for the students 
and the student interview. These questionnaires 
include both closed and open questions and are 
used as the primary data collection instrument and 
constructed in reference to “Questionnaire design” 
written by Eric Potter and Peter Spratt from Dakin 
University, 1995. 
3.3. Procedures
The procedures of the study were done through 
the following steps:
During the first two weeks, the classroom lectures 
were given by the 3 teachers in 3 classes of 170 
students to gain the basic information about their 
proficiency level and their attitude toward ESP 
learning, then asked them to complete the pre-
task survey questionnaire to gather information 
about the difficulties and factors causing these 
difficulties that students often deal with when they 
learn ESP vocabulary, the techniques employed 
by the teachers in teaching ESP vocabulary from 
students’ view. Some of the activities given in 
the course book were adapted by supplementing 
simulation tasks. After seven periods of applying 
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simulation tasks, the author distributed 
post-task survey questionnaire to 
these students to explore the impact of 
simulation tasks on students’ interest and 
participation, to discover the benefits of 
simulation tasks and measure, evaluate 
the effectiveness of simulation tasks 
toward ESP vocabulary improvement 
of students. 
An interview was conducted after the 
administration of student questionnaire and 
was carried out in Vietnamese. 15 students 
were randomly selected from 3 classes for the 
interview. The questions in the interview were 
basically based on those in the questionnaires, 
but they were extended to cover more 
open-ended questions to get thorough 
understanding of the reasons behind each 
choice. Each conversation lasted for about 
10 to 15 minutes.
4. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
- The students’ difficulties in learning ESP 
vocabulary
It is factual that students face many problems 
in leaning ESP vocabulary. It is clearly shown 
in table 1 that 87.06% of the participants claim 
that pronunciation is the most difficult item when 
learning ESP vocabulary. Besides, 74.71% of the 
learners reveal that word meaning troubles them 
much. They easily forget the words they have learnt 
even though they spend much time on learning 
new words. The next ranked difficulty (67.65%) 
is the large number of new terminologies. Table 
1 indicates that respondents have little trouble 
(30.59%) in word spelling. 
Table 1. The students’ difficulties in learning ESP vocabulary and causing factors
Difficulties
Number of 
students
Percentage 
(%)
1. Encountering too many new terminologies
2. Spelling of new terminologies
3. Finding Vietnamese equivalence
4. Pronunciation of new terminologies
5. Classroom activities are boring and overloaded
6. Do not have a chance to practice vocabulary in the class
7. Lack of modern teaching and learning facilities (projector, video, etc)
8. Teacher’s teaching methods, personality and behavior
9. Strange terminologies and the meaning is different from EGP
10. Having effective strategy for learning vocabulary
115
52
127
148
137
121
58
78
117
82
67.65
30.59
74.71
87.06
80.59
71.18
34.12
45.88
68.82
48.24
Referring to factors that lead to their difficulties, 
71.18% of the students state they do not have a 
chance to practice vocabulary in the class. Maybe, 
this factor affects students’ pronunciation much. 
To pronounce a word correctly, it is necessary 
to look up its transcription in the dictionary, then 
listen to the tape and repeat. It also requires 
learners to a have basic knowledge of phonetic 
rules. However, time constraints as well as large 
classes do not permit the teachers to carefully 
teach pronunciation. Besides, most students 
(80.59%) also admit that the lesson is boring and 
overloaded. It is noticeable that nearly half of 
the students (48.24%) say that their vocabulary 
learning method is ineffective. The author has 
interviewed the students to find out the ways they 
learn new words. They usually write down the words 
and the meaning or make a word list. It can be 
concluded that they only pay attention to spelling. 
Other prominent opinion reports that the teachers 
do not check vocabulary regularly so they have 
little motivation to learn words, or the teachers do 
not provide them some proper vocabulary learning 
strategies. It is understandable as 68.82% of the 
students have the idea that the terminologies appear 
longer, stranger and more difficult to pronounce 
and memorize than GEP vocabulary. Therefore, 
vocabulary teaching methods should be considered. 
- Exploited techniques and activities in teaching 
ESP vocabulary
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In presenting ESP vocabulary most of students 
(95.88%) report that they like their teachers 
translate terminologies in Vietnamese, the second 
technique that the teachers employ frequently is 
giving examples (90%) and visual aid (87.06%). 
It can be explained that these activities are time 
saving and are the most traditional techniques. 
Illustrating situation and using definitions of 
explanation in the dictionary are not used frequently. 
Only 30% of the students like the teacher using 
definitions or explanation in dictionaries to explain 
meaning of words. They also found guessing the 
meanings of words from the context difficult. It is 
reasonable that it is difficult to illustrate situations 
in presenting ESP vocabulary while the teachers 
have the knowledge of language solely and do not 
know much about automotive engineering field. It 
also can be seen that all the five listed activities 
are exploited by the teachers but less regularly.
In guiding student to practice ESP vocabulary, 
both techniques asking students to do vocabulary 
exercises and holding vocabulary games are 
preferred by the students which account for 
98.82%, 94.12% respectively. It can be seen 
that besides achieving their goal, students highly 
appreciate a relaxing learning environment in 
the classroom. Asking and answering questions 
concerning new words gain the proportion 
of 2.35%.
Table 2 shows the ESP vocabulary consolidating 
techniques and activities which draw learners’ 
attention. Over half of the students (55.88%) take 
full care of the teacher’s feedback to correct their 
mistake and to revise their knowledge. It cannot 
be denied that feedback sticks on learners’ mind 
for a long time so it is one of the most effective 
ways that help learners improve their vocabulary. 
81.76% of the students want to do the test.
Table 2. Techniques exploited by the teachers in teaching ESP vocabulary
Techniques/Activities
Number of students
Strongly like Like Dislike
1. Translating the meaning of new ESP vocabulary into Vietnamese
2. Using synonyms and antonyms
3. Giving examples
4. Asking students to guess the meanings from the context
5. Using definitions or explanation in dictionaries
6. Using visual aids (pictures, charts, etc)
7. Asking students to repeat loudly
8. Asking and answering questions concerning new words
9. Asking