THE EFFECTIVENESS OF PRESENTING AND PRACTISING ESP VOCABULARY IN MINIMAL CONTEXT: A STUDY AT THUONGMAI UNIVERSITY

Abstract

 The present study entitled “The effectiveness of presenting and practicing new ESP vocabulary in minimal context: A study at Thuongmai University (TMU)” was conducted to investigate the efficiency of teaching business vocabulary in minimal context, in terms of the students’ ESP vocabulary knowledge improvement and motivation in acquiring vocabulary; as well as find out several advantages of minimal context brought about the ESP vocabulary learning and teaching, then propose some pedagogical implications for the teachers at the research site. An action research was implemented in the classes of 100 second-year students at TMU during two weeks (5 periods) and data were collected and generated by pre-test and post-test, questionnaires, and observations. The findings highlighted students’ improvement in ESP vocabulary knowledge and high motivation in the vocabulary lesson using minimal context to present and involve students in practicing new vocabulary. Besides, there still existed a small group of students having little improvement and interest in the lesson. In addition, the study indicated a range of benefits to students’ language study, pedagogy and strategy in vocabulary instruction or learning.