ESP vocabulary handbook for beginner students of the software development major at the Instituto Superior Tecnológico del Azuay

Abstract

This research study aims to create an English for Specific Purposes (ESP) vocabulary handbook for the Software Development Major of the Instituto Superior Tecnológico del Azuay and determine the degree of vocabulary improvement after its application. The participants were 20 first-level students at the morning schedule of the Software Development Major. This quasi-experimental research design used mixed methods for data collection. In order to collect qualitative data, two questionnaires were administered to determine the degree of interest in learning technical English before the intervention and observational field notes were taken during the application of the manual. The quantitative data were collected from a pre-test to determine their level of vocabulary knowledge, and a posttest after the application of the handbook to find out whether the students had made some progress. The data were calculated through the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS 24). The results of the research demonstrate that students increased their vocabulary knowledge after applying an ESP handbook that was created for the Software Development Major.