Application for approval of

Master Thesis

Name: Lumnije Kurti

Study Programme: English language teaching

Faculty: Faculty of Languages ,Cultures and Communication

Start date: March ,2017

Faculty of Languages ,Cultures and Communication

South East European University

Request1

Request

I herby submit this request of my master thesis proposal to the Academic and Scientific Council
of LCC in order to be approved to conduct my master thesis research .

In the world of globalisation English language has become an essential part in almost all life
aspects .Apart from being taught and used as a general English , English language is being
taught as an approach known as English for Specific Purposes , an approach that takes into
account learner's needs and purposes . In Kosovo ESP is introduced recently and there is still a
lot to be done in order to introduce ESP to the learners of different fields /profiles of study.

This research is planned to be conducted at the high technical school ,,Architect Sinani'' in
Mitrovica ,Kosovo - Introducing English for Food and Technology .

Therefore ,the aim of this research is to discover if English for food and technology will help
students to do better with their studies and improve their level of English for their future
profession with some basic vocabulary and prepare them for the local and international labour
market .

Mentor: Candidate:

Prof. Dr.

Veronika Kareva Lumnije Kurti

The aim of this research is to discover if English for food and technology will help students to

do better with their studies and improve their level of English for their future profession as it will

help them gain some basic professional vocabulary .Both qualitative and quantitative methods

will be used in this research as there will be a questionnaire , interviews and literature review.

There will be a study case in the high technical school ,,Architect Sinani " in Mitrovica , Kosovo

, where there will be interviewed the school director, school coordinator and a few English

teachers . There will be a questionnaire consisted of 10 questions and it will be answered by

students of that school ,who are the age of 16 to 18 , both genders .The final result of this

research is expected to give answers to the questions if it is really necessary to teach ESP to the

students of this profile and how would they benefit from it .

Qëllimi i këtij kërkimi është të zbuloj nëse gjuha angleze për teknologji ushqimore do të ndihmoj

studentët të jenë më të mirë në mësimet e tyre dhe të përmirsojnë nivelin e gjuhës angleze për

profesionin e tyre të ardhshëm pasi që do të iu ndihmoj atyre të fitojnë një fjalorth profesional

bazikë .Në këtë kërkim do të përdoren që të dy metodat ;kualitative dhe kuantitative , pasi që do

të ketë një pyetësor ,intervista dhe rishikim të literaturës. Ky kërkim do të bazohet në një rast

studimi në SHMT ,, Arkitekt Sinani '' në Mitrovicë , Kosovë, ku do të merren në intervistë

drejtori dhe koordinatori i shkollës si dhe disa mësimdhënës të gjuhës angleze .Do të ketë një

pyetësor me 10 pyetje i cili do të plotësohet nga nxënësit e kësaj shkolle ,të moshës 16 deri në

18 vjeç, të dy gjinitë .Rezultatet përfundimtare të këtij kërkimi pritet të japin përgjigje në pyetjet

se a është me të vërtet e nevojshme të mësohet gjuha angleze për qëllime specifike për studentet

e këtij profili dhe si do të përfitonin ata nga kjo.

''Introducing English for Food Technology at the Secondary Technical School ''Architect

Sinani'' from Mitrovica , Kosovo ''

Translation of the working title in Albanian:

“Prezantimi i gjuhës angleze për teknologjinë ushqimore në SHMT,, Arkitekt Sinani" në

Mitrovicë ,Kosovë ''

Translation of the working title in Macedonian:

“Воведување на предметот Англиски за прехранбена технологија во сердното

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Table of contents

1. Research field .......................................................................................................................... 3

2. Aims of the research ................................................................................................................ 7

3. Hypotheses.............................................................................................................................. 8

4. Research Methodology ............................................................................................................ 9

5. Importance of the thesis ......................................................................................................... 10

6. Structure of the thesis ............................................................................................................ 10

7. Conclusions ..........................................................................................................................13

8. Bibliography of thesis ........................................................................................................14

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1. Research field

English language has been accepted and used as an international language all over the world

in almost each aspect of life . Apart from being used as a mother tongue in many countries ,

English is being used officially in a lot of countries as a second language , whereas there are

countries where English is being used as a foreign language . No matter the fact if it is used as a

foreign language or as a second language , there is a fact that no one can reject , English is being

used and taught in all schools around the world .

When talking about English Language Teaching ,English is divided in three branches : English

as a Mother Tongue (EMT) , English as a Foreign Language ( EFL) , and English as a Second

Language (ESL) . Always referring to the tree of ELT , English is divided into two sub-

branches : General English ( GE) and English for Specific Purposes (ESP) . Figure 1:ELT Tree

( Hutchinson and Waters ,1987, p.17).

According to Tom Hutchinson (1987.p.6 ) ,, as with most development in humanity , ESP was

not planned as coherent movement but rather a phenomenon that grow of a number of covering

trends .These trends .These trends have operated a variety of ways around the world ''.

Ken Hyland ( 1999, English for Specific Purposes ,19(3):297-300) in his review of the Dudley

Evans and St John's book ,, Developments of English for Specific Purposes : A multidisciplinary

approach''(CUP-1998) states that :

''.. Dudley - Evans and St John characterize ESP as a distinctive methodological approach

which emphasizes specific learner's needs and set a teaching patterns that recognize the

learner's subject -matter expertise''

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According to researches , English for Specific Purposes - ESP is an approach that is being used

in many aspects in people's life and work . The author of the book '' ESP : Its definition ,

characteristics , scopes and purposes '' Choudhary Zahid Javid ( October ,2013 , p.138) , states

that ,

,,... lots of contradicting views have been reported in defining ESP , but there seems an

agreement finally that is confined to the teaching of English to the learners who have

specific goals and purposes : these goals might be professional , academic or scientific .

Thus it is not the specific discipline that is primary in the ESP but the specific learner ".

While reviewing the literature in the topic that I am interested in ,I came to some interesting

findings in our region ,in this case Slovenia .The author of the article ,, ESP in Slovenian

secondary technical and vocational schools '' Marija Potocar ,Slovenia , (July ,2002) , describes

the steps they followed in order to make the changes from EFL to ESP within the new

curriculum framework. In her article about ESP she states that :

''... within the new Slovenian curricula ,vocationally oriented language learning has

become a systematic part of instruction in higher classes of secondary vocational and

technical education ''

After analyzing all these findings about ESP , I would like to conduct a research in ESP in a

field that is quite important but there is not much done when referring to the English language

teaching in Kosovo .

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According to well known professors Dr.Sc Shykrane Germizaj, Dr.Sc Shpresa Hasani (Iliria

International Review -2014/1)

''... despite the fact that students' motives and their needs may be diverse and specific

,most frequently offered courses by the departments within academic units are general

English courses. The Department of English language and literature of the Faculty of

Philology and the Faculty of Economy are among the few exceptions. In the Department

of English Language and Literature ,apart from general English courses ,special courses

,namely English for academic purposes and English for specific purposes are offered.''

The inspiration to do the research on this topic came after I took the ESP course at the SEEU

in Tetovo . I had a little knowledge about this kind of teaching but it was only after the course

that I have started to search about ESP in different fields ,therefore , the aim of this research is to

show the weaknesses and strengths of teaching ESP in the secondary technical school of food

and technology ,, Architect Sinani '' from Mitrovica ,Kosovo ,instead of teaching General

English.

At the end , the results of this research are expected to show if and in what ways English for

Specific Purposes will effect in students' learning skills in English and its impact in their field of

study .

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2. Aims of the research

I have worked as a teacher with many different levels of students and I had the opportunity to

teach students in gymnasium high schools , technical (vocational ) school and university

students . I have noticed that in all those schools students were taught the same things no matter

the field they had chosen to study . I have had the opportunity to teach in a private language

centre where we were asked to teach the type of English that students wanted or required from

us , like : business English , beauty salon , engineering , English that had to do with

management , medical English and a kind of English that had to do with food processing .

Students at the technical secondary school study the profile of food technology which will be

later offered as a bachelor study program and master program at the university in their

city . Hopefully successful students will work as lab technicians , future food technologist

and English will be part of their future studies and work. .

Therefore , the aim of this research is to discover if English for Food Technology ( in the text

that follows , referred to as ESP ) will help students to do better with their studies and improve

their level of English for their future profession , as well as , help them with some basic

vocabulary . Knowing some of the basic vocabulary in their field of study will help them

conduct independent researches and use professional resources in English and they will

be better prepared for the local and international labour market .

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Research questions

There will be four questions that need to be answered to :

1. Why is the professional language needed ?

2. In which settings will the students use the language ?

3. Will students benefit more from having ESP compared to GE ?

4. Which are the challenges that both students and teachers will be faced with in the

process of introducing the ESP ?

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3. Hypotheses

In this research the teacher tries to prove that if students are being taught ESP rather

than GE , they will be more successful in their field of study and in their future

profession . Therefore , the hypothesis of this research are as follows :

 Students will be more competitive at the job market if they master at least the

basic vocabulary from their field of study .

 Learning ESP will motivate them to do more research in their field of study as

most of the resources are in English language .

 Introducing English for food technology ( industry) will contribute to better

achievements in general and a greater success in their academic and

professional career.

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 4. Research Methodology

This research is going to be conducted at the secondary technical school ,,Architect Sinani

" in Mitrovica , Kosovo . The reason why I chose this school is the fact that it is a technical

/ vocational school and they offer the high school studies in food technology . The research is

going to be focused in the need of designing a syllabus where English for Specific Purposes

would be taught according to the students needs .Students are expected to be both genders and

different backgrounds .

Instruments

The instruments that will be used in order to help the research are as follows :

Questionnaire

There will be a questionnaire consisted of 10 questions with multiple choices that will be

answered by the students .It will be in English and Albanian language just to make sure that the

students understand the questions .

Interviews

There will be some people interviewed like; the school management and a few English teachers .

Stakeholders

 school director
 school coordinator
 English teachers
 students of 10th , 11th and 12th grade

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 5. Importance of the thesis

The result of this research will be very important not just to me as a researcher about this thesis

, but to the parties involved in the research as well .English for Specific Purposes is a new

approach in Kosovo and there is not much done or offered in this direction till recently .

Therefore , this research will be helpful for the professors at the technical school as they will

review their syllabus and try to offer something that fulfils students' needs and prepares them

better for the labour market . Findings from the results of the questionnaires , interviews and

conclusions will not be beneficial just for the professors and students , but to the whole education

system in Kosovo . If this kind of researches prove that English teachers are in favour of this

approach having into consideration students' needs than the Ministry of Education , Science

and Technology must take it into consideration and come to a conclusion that English should be

taught based on students' needs and requests at each professional school . this would make

teachers reflect on their syllabuses and help them on what they should focus more in their

teaching in the future .

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 6. Structure of the thesis

Acknowledgment

Abstract

Table of content

Chapter 1 : Introduction

1.1 Literature review

1.2 The history of the ESP

1.3 Its characteristics and purposes

Chapter 2 : Research methodology

2.1 Background of the study

2.2 Research questions

2.3 Aims of the study

2.4 Hypothesis

2.5 Materials

2.6 Instruments

2.7. Stakeholders/Participants

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Chapter 3: Data analysis

3.1 Results from the questionnaire

3.2 Results from the interviews

Chapter 4 : Conclusions

4.1 Conclusions from the questionnaire

4.2 Conclusions from the interview

Chapter 5: Suggestions and possible recommendations

5.1 Limitations of the study

5.2 Recommendations of the study

References

Appendixes

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 7 . Conclusion

There are many reasons why teachers should teach English for Specific Purposes in all those

fields of study where they find it beneficial and suits learners' needs and purposes . In Kosovo ,

for example , English for Specific Purposes is introduced recently and there are a few researches

in this topic , however , there is still too much left to be done in order to prove that English for

Specific Purposes is very important in a country like Kosovo , while highlighting the need in all

those fields where this kind of English would be applicable like in technical and engineering

English , as Kosovo is known for its natural resources and food processing .

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8. Bibliography of thesis

Choudhary Zahid Javid ,English for Specific Purposes : Its definition ,characteristics

,scope and purpose ( October ,2013 ,pp .138- 151) -www.academia.edu

Hyland ,K ( 1999) English for Specific Purposes ,19(3):297-300 - September ,2000

https://www.researchgate.net/publications

Marija Potocar , Slovenia ,, ESP in Slovenian secondary technical and vocational '

education '' ( July,2002) http://www.esp-world.info/Articles_1/esp.html

Dr.sc. Shykrane Germizaj,Dr.sc.Shpresa Hoxha ,Students' Perception of the ESP courses

at the University of Prishtina (Iliria International Review-2014/1) -

iliriapublications.org/index.php/iir/article/view/71

Tom Hutchinson, Alan Waters-English For Specific Purpose (Cambridge Language

Teaching Library,1987) - https://archive.org/details/

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