BANKING ACADEMY OF VIETNAM FACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES GRADUATION THESIS TOPIC: DEALING WITH ECONOMICS COURSES: A VOICE FROM ENGLISH-MAJORED STUDENTS Student : Nguyen Phuong Thao Class : K21ATCA Academic year : 2018 – 2022 Student ID : 21A7510119 Advisor : Dr. Nguyen Ngoc Nga Hanoi, May 2022 17014126147241000000 DECLARATION I declare that the graduation thesis entitled “Dealing with Economics courses: A voice from English-majored students” is an original report of my research, has been written by me under the guidance of Dr. Nguyen Ngoc Nga. Due references have been provided on all supporting literatures and resources.
I declare that this thesis was composed by myself, that the work contained herein is my own, and that this work has not been submitted for any other degree or professional qualification. Hanoi, 20 May, 2022 Author Nguyen Phuong Thao i ACKNOWLEDGEMENT Throughout the writing of this dissertation I have received a great deal of support and assistance. Most importantly, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my supervisor, Dr. Nguyen Ngoc Nga, whose expertise was invaluable in formulating the research questions and kept me on the right track when I was about to lose my way.
Her insightful feedback pushed me to sharpen my thinking and brought my work to a higher level. Second, I want to express my gratitude to my university – Banking Academy of Vietnam. Thank you to all the lecturers of the Faculty of Foreign Languages, for guiding and helping me through the learning process. My special thanks go to all students of the Faculty of Foreign Languages, who were generous with their time and offered valuable insights into their learning experiences with Economics courses.
I would also like to thank my colleagues who provided me with feedback on the questionnaire items. Last but not least, I want to send my gratitude to my family and friends for their endless support that gave me the strength to complete this long and strenuous journey. They help me both mentally and physically by giving me encouragement and useful suggestions. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION.
ii TABLE OF CONTENTS. iii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS. v LIST OF TABLES. vi LIST OF FIGURES.
viii CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION. 4 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW. Overview of EMI. Different stakeholder groups' attitudes towards EMI.
Difficulty of students in learning EMI. Limited vocabulary and knowledge. Insufficient English proficiency. Students facing challenges in EMI.
EMI in Vietnam. 12 CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODS. Setting of the study. Data collection instruments.
19 CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION. Difficulties facing students in learning Economics courses. General information of students and Economics courses. Difficulties relating to teaching factors.
Difficulties relating to students. Students overcoming difficulties. 42 CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATIONS. 56 iv LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS EMI English as a Medium of Instruction FFL Faculty of Foreign Languages L1 First Language L2 Second Language HE Higher Education BA Bright Ages v LIST OF TABLES Table Page Table 3.
Sample questions in the questionnaire 17 Table 3. Sample interview questions 19 Table 3. Summary of interviews’ results 21 Table 4. Distribution of students participating in the survey 24 Table 4.
The difficulty level of Economics courses 25 Table 4. The scores of Economics courses 26 Table 4. Difficulty relating to lectures’ pronunciation 27 Table 4. Difficulty relating to lectures’ speed of delivery 28 Table 4.
Difficulty relating to lectures’ explanations 29 Table 4. Difficulty relating to class size 31 Table 4. Difficulty relating to tests’ content 32 Table 4. Difficulties relating to Economics’ vocabulary and 33 knowledge Table 4.
Difficulties relating to learning materials 35 Table 4. Difficulties relating to students’ ability to remember 37 Table 4. Difficulties relating to listening and taking notes 38 Table 4. Difficulties relating to writing 39 Table 4.
Difficulties relating to speaking 40 Table 4. Difficulties relating to psychological characteristic 41 vi LIST OF FIGURES Figures Page Figure 3. Data from Google Forn 19 Figure 3. Data exported to Excel 20 Figure 3.
Results in percentage 20 vii ABSTRACT Globalization and internationalization have accelerated the development of programs and course in which English is used as a medium of instruction (EMI). Such EMI are gaining popularity worldwide. Along with this trend, different universities in Vietnam have included EMI in their undergraduate programs in the form of advanced or high-quality training programs. However, little research has been done to explore the difficulties students facing in these EMI courses, especially in the context where English is not the first language.
This study was to investigate the issue in the context of Vietnam, a country where English is used as a foreign language. 115 third-year and final-year students majoring in English in a leading public university in the country participated in the study. Data for the study were collected via a questionnaire delivered to all students participants and via following-up interviews with some of them. The findings showed that the most prevalent issues facing students throughout Economics courses were relating to vocabulary and background knowledge.
The majority of the students were not struggling with taking notes or communicating with lecturers and classmates. Suggested strategies were presented and addressed in order to enhance the students' achievement in Economics courses. The findings from this study provided implications to the investigated university and its teachers and students. viii CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.
Research problem Spoken by one quarter of the global population, English has become the most popularly language in the world. This language has a significant impact on tourism, medicine, policy, diplomacy, and the academic world. This importance is further highlighted in the era of globalization. Prakash Babu Bodapati (2016) remarks that "Globalization and English language are said to work as pull factors for one another".
Acknowledge the process of globalization; thousands of multinational firms are growing their influence and presence worldwide. Therefore, English in different disciplines, particularly economics, has been increasingly common. This constitutes the appearance of training courses, in which English is used as a medium of instruction (EMI). This new trend has contributed to lifting the language barrier, satisfying the needs of students and the human resource needs of multinational companies.
In Asia, the need for EMI courses is high owing to two factors: students need to be prepared for professional environments where English is the primary mode of communication (Coleman, 2006; Crystal, 2004; Graddol, 1997, 2006) and the popularity of the academic exchange in the area means that such courses are needed to accommodate incoming international students and local students preparing for a future educational exchange abroad (Brumfit, 2004). Being affected by this trend, in Vietnam, EMI programs and courses have been implemented in different educational institutions to assist students in improving their English proficiency and preparing them for better future careers. At Bright Ages (BA) university - a leading public university in Vietnam, students in the Faculty of Foreign Languages (FFL) are provided with intensive training in both English and Economics. Thus, a wide range of Economics English courses is offered to students; these courses included those relating to different disciplines such as Accounting, Corporate Finance, Securities Market, and Commercial Banking.
In these courses, theory and practice are integrated, aiming to provide students with essential knowledge of Finance, via the use of English. Students graduating from this faculty are expected to have fluent English language skills and solid foundational knowledge of Economics. With this knowledge and experience, these students can meet the requirements of employers, in the context of globalization. However, the records of students’ score have shown that the overall scores for Economics courses such as Accounting, Corporate Finance, Economics, and Fiscal and Monetary in the academic year 2021 – 2022 were relatively low.
This suggests that the students attending these courses may have faced some difficulties in their learning ,thus, failed to achieve high scores. This situation, if it really exists, may greatly affect the students’ learning experiences, their expectations, and their qualities at the point of graduation. In the literature surrounding higher education in Vietnam, there have been a few studies about English-majored students. Some examples include the study by Ha (2018) and Manh (2012).
However, these studies mainly focus on vocabulary (Duyen, 2021; Thao, 2021); listening (Quynh, 2021; Anh, 2021; Tinh, 2021); reading (Ha, 2021; Linh, 2021; Giang & Thuy, 2020); writing (Nhan, 2021; Tham, 2021; Dung & Trang, 2020). Very limited research has been conducted to investigate the teaching and learning of Economics courses for students who are majored in English in such a Economics university as those in BA university. This is the problem this study is designed to investigate, and this study is to fill in the current gap in the existing literature. Research questions First, the study aims to investigate the language difficulties facing English- major students attending the Economics courses.
Through these findings, the study also explores the ways students overcome these difficulties. With these in mind, the researcher has designed the study to answer the two research questions as below: 1. What difficulties do students face while learning Economics courses in English? 2. What do students do to overcome these difficulties? 1.
Scope This small-scope study was conducted among 115 third-year and final-year students in BA university, a leading public university in Hanoi, Vietnam, a leading public university. This study was conducted as a requirement for the graduation of the researcher for her Bachelor degree. This study was conducted within 3 months, from March to June 2022. Significance Considering the gap in the existing literature around the teaching and learning of Economics courses for English-majored students, this study is the first attempt to fill this gap.
This study is hoped to be a model for future research on EMI course. The more attention paid to the difficulties students had to coop with, the more change to improve the course design, material, and teaching strategies. Furthermore, the study's findings are likely to encourage instructors to collect data from students' comments after each Economics course and carefully analyze students' input to improve materials and implement suitable teaching methods in future courses. Any further study about reviewing and improving the lectures’ teaching can use the findings of this study as a source of reference.
Research methods This study was conducted using the mix-methods approach. The quantitative data were collected from a survey questionnaire while the qualitative data were obtained from one-on-one interviews with three sample students. While the questionnaire was to investigate the difficulties the participants were facing, the interviews were to find out the struggles they faced and the strategies they used to overcome those challenges in Economics courses. The questionnaire was first delivered to 115 third-year and final-year students to gather information regarding their difficulties in learning Economics courses.
After that, one-on-one interviews were conducted with four sample students to elucidate the most enigmatic issues raised in the questionnaire replies. Thesis structure This thesis consists of five chapters. These five chapters are summarized as below: Chapter 1 is an introduction to the study, research problem, research question, scope, significance and methods. Chapter 2 includes an overview of EMI, different stakeholder groups' attitudes, and explores the difficulties of students and how to overcome them.
The review of several related studies in this chapter has revealed a research gap that the researcher is pursuing to bridge through this study. Chapter 3 presents the research techniques and demonstrates the sample selection, data collection, and analysis procedures. Chapter 4 presents the findings from both quantitative and qualitative sources. Chapter 5 compares the main findings of the current study with those in the existing literature.
These comparisons are also used for a discussion about the findings of the study. Chapter 6 summarizes the primary findings and emphasizes the research's limitations, as well as practical implications for future research. CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.