CERTIFICATION OF THESIS DEFENSE The thesis entitled “Self-regulated learning strategy use in learning English as a foreign language of non-English majors at Van Lang university” was successfully defended and approved on 19th October 2021 at Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology (HUTECH). Secretary Member On behalf of the Examination Committee Chair i HCMC UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY POSTGRADUATE INSTITUTE HCMC, December 2020 MASTER’S THESIS REPORT Student name: Nguyễn Xuân Quỳnh Sex: Female Date of birth: 27/04/1990 Place of birth: Dong Nai Major: English Language Student code: 1841900024 I- Thesis title: Self-regulated learning strategy use in learning English as a foreign language of non-English majors at Van Lang university. II- Objectives and contents: This study aimes to explore the self-regulated learning (SRL) strategy use level among Vietnamese first-year university non-English majored students, the relationship between SRL strategy use level and English proficiency along with the differences in SRL strategy use among non-English majored juniors of different genders, disciplines, and years of learning English. The research shows that the SRL strategy use among students is at the medium level.
Male students reported a slightly higher level of learning strategy use than females. Figures also shows that SRL strategy use has a positive relationship with participants’ English proficiency. The results show that English proficiency scores have a significantly positive relationship with students’ report of SRL strategy use while years of learning English do not predict SRL strategy use. III- Starting date: 30/3/2019 IV- Completing date: 31/12/2020 V- Academic supervisor: Phan Thế Hưng ACADEMIC SUPERVISOR FACULTY DEAN ii CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY To be applicable only in the official version, i.e the revised version after the defense session has been conducted.
I certify my authorship of the Master’s Thesis submitted today entitled: Self-regulated learning strategy use in learning English as a foreign language of non-English majors at Van Lang University In terms of the statement of requirements for Theses in Master’s programs issued by The Higher Degree Committee of Faculty of English Language, Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology. Ho Chi Minh City, May 2021 NGUYỄN XUÂN QUỲNH iii RETENTION AND USE OF THE THESIS I hereby state that I, NGUYỄN XUÂN QUỲNH, being a candidate for the degree of Master of Arts (English Language) accept the requirements of the University relating to the retention and use of Master’s Thesis deposited in the Library. In terms of these conditions, I agree that the original of my Master’s Thesis deposited in the Library should be accessible for purposes of study and research, in accordance with the normal conditions established by the Librarian for the care, loan, and reproduction for theses. Ho Chi Minh City, January 2021 Signature …………………………….
NGUYỄN XUÂN QUỲNH iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my advisor, Dr. Phan The Hung, who offered me academic advice and constructive comments on the writing of this thesis. Definitely, this work would not have been completed without his encouragement and assistance. I highly appreciate his thoughtful supervision and his great perseverance.
I also would like to express my gratitude to Dr. Nguyen Thi Kieu Thu and the Faculty of English Language of Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology, who are incredibly supportive and have offered me and my classmates all the knowledge and materials we need for our theses. I am grateful to the sample schools’ principals and co-workers and students for their co-operation during data collection. Last but not least, I am indebted to my family, especially my parents who are always by my side when I was attending MA classes and was doing my thesis.
v ABSTRACT It is shown in different studies that when learners are tasked to complete missions during their learning process in English language, they use particular learning approaches, strategies and eventually undergo self-regulatory processes. So, this study aimes to explore firstly the self-regulated learning strategy use level among Vietnamese first-year university non-English majored students, seondly, to investigate the relationship between self-regulated learning strategy use level and English proficiency and finally, to find out the differences in self-regulated learning strategy use among Vietnamese first-year university non-English majored students of different genders, disciplines, and years of learning English. The quantitative method was employed in this study. Data were collected from questionnaires.
The participants were 328 non-English majored first-year university students from different disciplines from Van Lang university in HCM city, Vietnam. The results of the study indicated that the self-regulated learning strategy use level among Vietnamese first-year university non-English majored students was at a Medium level (Mean = 1. In addition, there were no significant differences in the use of self- regulated learning strategies between male and female students. Also, the more frequently students used self-regulated learning strategies in learning English, the higher their English proficiency would be.
Lastly, factors such as years of learning English, and disciplines did not predict self-regulated learning strategy use. Keywords: Self-regulated learning strategies, university student, English proficiency vi TABLE OF CONTENTS Certification of thesis defense ……………………………………………………….i Master’s thesis report ……………………………………………………………….…ii Certificate of originality ………………………………………………………………iii Retention and use of the thesis …………………………………………………….vi Table of contents …………………………………………….………………………vii List of tables …………………………………………………………………….…x List of figures ……………………………………………………….xi List of abbreviations …………………………………………………….xii CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background to the study …….2 Statement of the problem …….3 Aims and objectives of the study ………………………………………….5 Scope of the study ………………………………………………………………….6 Significance of the study ………………………………………………………….7 Definitions of the key terms ……………………………………………………….8 Organization of the thesis ………………………………………………………….7 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Social Cognitive Theory ………………………………………………………….2 Self-regulated learning model ……………………………………………………10 2.3 Characteristics of self-regulated learners ………………………………………. Vietnamese learning styles and learning strategy …………………………………….1 The relationship between the level of foreign language ……………………….23 proficiency and the learning strategy……………………………………………….2 The relationship between gender and learning strategy ……………………….3 The relationship between disciplines and learning strategies………………….4 The summary of previous studies …………………………………………….1 English Proficiency Test ……………………………………………….6 Data collection procedures…….7 Data analysis procedures …….8 Validity and reliability………….1 In the first phase …………………………….2 In the second phase…………………………………………………….3 In the third phase …………………………….9 Demographic report of participation ……………………….50 CHAPTER 4: RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 4.1 Correlations between independent variables and dependent variables ………….5 Summary………………………………………………………………………… 64 CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION viii 5.1 Summary of findings …………………………………………………………….4 Recommendations for further research ………………………………………….79 Appendix A: Adaptation process…………………………………………………….84 Appendix C: Pattern loading matrix results for QESRL ………………………. 89 Appendix D: A second-order confirmatory factor analysis………………………….96 Appendix E: Independent sample T-test for genders and SRL strategy use………….97 Appendix F: Coefficient in the stepwise regression model ………………………….97 Appendix G: Endorsement form …………………………………………………….99 Appendix H: Plagiarism checker results …………………………………………….100 ix LIST OF TABLES Table 3.
The regression path coefficient and its significance Table 3. Frequency distribution of gender Table 3. Descriptive statistics of age and years of learning English Table 3. Frequency distribution of majors Table 3.
Cronbach’s alpha values for overall scale and its subscales Table 3. Formulae to calculate upper and lower quartiles Table 3. Extreme values Table 3. Skewness and Kurtosis Table 4.
Correlations between independent variables and dependent variables Table 4. Descriptive statistics for SRL strategy use and its subscale for the sample Table 4. Descriptive statistics of SRL strategy use among males and females Table 4. Descriptive statistics for SRL strategy use and English proficiency scores Table 4.
Correlation between SRL strategy use and English proficiency score Table 4. Model summary Table 4.7 Coefficient in the stepwise regression Model Table 4.8 The stepwise regression result x LIST OF FIGURES Figure 2.1 Social cognitive model Figure 2.3 Key behavioral, environmental, and personal processes.1 A second-order confirmatory factor analysis after removing items with factor loading under 50 Figure 3.2 Outliers examined by Boxpot Figure 3.3 Histogram for SRL Figure 3.4 Normal Q-Q plot Figure 4.1 Normal P-P plot of Regression Standardized Residual Figure 4.2 Scatterplot for dependent variable LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS AND SYMBOLS* xi ELLs: English language learners KET: Key English Test EFL: English as a foreign Language ESL: English as a second language L2: Second language LLSs: The language learning strategies SRL: Self-regulated learning xii CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1. Background to the study For over the past decades, English has seen a rapid spread all over the world and got recognized as a global language for international communication, diplomacy, and foreign trade. In effect, when it comes to adopting a foreign language to study, English would frequently be a preferred language (Crystal, 2003).
A considerable number of English users in the modern world in the Outer Circle have been recorded, approximately 1 billion speakers, including countries that used to be colonized by the British. Although Vietnam did not use to be a British colony, the majority of Vietnamese students tend to choose English as a foreign language and treat English as a means to pursue their academic studies or get a good job. Also, to keep up with the fast-paced development of the world and open the door to the outer world, Vietnamese students have to study English to participate in the global workforce and international business where English is widely spoken. As a member of the Expanding Circle, Vietnam has recently promulgated English to be taught at all school levels and required job seekers to master a certain English level in recent decades.
English functions as a primary requirement for students to pursue higher academic levels and becomes the compulsory subject for the national entrance exams at all universities. However, there is an undeniable fact, as mentioned by Hoang Van (2007) that before attending a university course, high school students may have already spent at least 700 hours on learning English at schools, and it seems that the amount of actual knowledge and skills they have gained and acquired are still modest. However, this matter has not been taken seriously due to a lack of large-scale studies conducted in Vietnam to address this issue. Also, to enable English language learners (ELLs) to develop their English competence, researchers have spent a considerable amount of time and effort finding 1 best practices in teaching learners to master English.
Among those practices are understanding and training students with SRL strategy use. Studies show that learners who could initiate their study activities and promote SRL strategies appear more likely to progress and get better achievement (Zimmerman, 1986). Thus, SRL has been the growing attention among second-language learning researchers thanks to its contributions to better academic results (Andrade & Evans, 2013). Self-regulated learning involves “deliberate planning, monitoring, and regulating of cognitive, behavioral, and affective or motivational processes toward completion of an academic task” (Hadwin, 2008, p.
Besides, Zimmerman (2013) posited that SRL was rooted in Bandura’s (1986) social cognitive learning theory, which focuses on triadic interactions among personal (i., cognitive beliefs, motivation and affect), behavioral (i., physical activities), and environmental (i., physical and social setting) processes. In second language acquisition, language learners participate actively in the language processes, and, irrespective of their language backgrounds, those learners often adopt strategies (Oxford & Crookall, 1989). Moreover, English learners also have to manage the learning process, such as self-organizing and self-regulating themselves to reach their goals since self-regulation is vital for bettering the learners’ academic results (Corno & Mandinach, 1983; Corno & Rohrkemper, 1985). As SRL strategies are essential for students’ academic achievement, the main goal of the study is to investigate how Vietnamese learners’ SRL use strategies to study English as a foreign language.
In institutional context, English has become an important language and compulsory language at Van Lang university. English has been taught to all students from all majors at all levels during four years. Because of its contribution to the students’ GPA at Van Lang university, the study is carried out to help students overcome the challenges in learning this language.2 Statement of the problem 2 Approximately 70% of Vietnamese English test-takers got 5 points or under (of the 10-point scale), as shown by the local media HaNoitimes in the national entrance exam 2020, which has evoked major concern towards the nation's language education field.