BANKING ACADEMY OF VIET NAM FACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES ________________________ GRADUATION THESIS DIFFICULTIES FACING ENGLISH-MAJORED STUDENTS DURING ESSAY WRITING COURSES IN BANKING ACADEMY Student : Nguyễn Khánh Vi Student ID : 21A7510145 Class : K21ATCA Academic year : 2018 – 2022 Supervisor : Dr. Nguyễn Ngọc Ngà Hanoi, May 2022 17014126219011000000 CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY I declared that the graduation thesis entitled “Difficulties facing English-majored students during essay writing courses in Banking Academy” is the result of my original research. The thesis has not been published on any site. All sources of information used in the thesis are appropriately listed in the reference part.
Hanoi, May 2022 Author Vi Nguyễn Khánh Vi i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I want to send my sincere gratitude to all of the people who helped me finish this thesis. First, I would like to express my sincerest gratitude to my supervisor, Dr. Nguyễn Ngọc Ngà, who has provided me with careful guidance and knowledge. Without her help, I would not be able to finish this graduation paper.
Second, I would like to thank all English-majored students who participated in my survey and interview. Their participation has helped me to collect statistics and information. Finally, I would like to thank my family, who encouraged me when I did this thesis. Their encouragement has cheered me up and given me motivation.
ii TABLE OF CONTENTS CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS. iii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS. v LIST OF TABLES.
vi LIST OF FIGURES. viii CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION. Background of the study. Objectives of the study.
Significance of the study. Scope of the study. Structure of the thesis. 3 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW.
Writing and Academic writing. Challenges in academic writing. Possible solutions to the difficulties facing students in academic writing. Previous research on academic writing .1 Research on academic writing in ESL and EFL contexts.
Research on academic writing in Vietnam. 10 iii CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODS. Data collection instruments .1 Difficulties in EW courses. Reasons for the difficulties in EW courses.
Possible solutions to the difficulties in the Essay writing courses. Difficulties in the Essay writing courses. Reason for the difficulties in the Essay writing courses. Possible solutions to the difficulties in the Essay writing courses.
Summary of findings. 50 Appendix A: Survey questionnaire. 50 Appendix B: Interview question. 56 iv LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS No Abbreviation Meaning EFL is the abbreviation for "English as a Foreign Language".
English is taught to students who do not 1 EFL have English as the first language or the native language. ESL is the abbreviation for “English as a Second 2 ESL Language”. 3 EW Essay writing v LIST OF TABLES Table Name Page Table 3. Sample question in the survey 13 Table 3.
Sample question in the interview 14 Table 3. Data analyzed in Microsoft Word 16 Table 4. Difficulties in Essay writing courses 18 Table 4. Reasons for the difficulties in the Essay writing courses 26 Table 4.
Solutions to the difficulties in the Essay writing courses 33 vi LIST OF FIGURES Figure Name Page Figure 3.1 Data collected from Google Form 15 Figure 4. Students’ attitudes toward the courses 17 Figure 4. Vocabulary Difficulties 19 Figure 4. Word limit difficulties 20 Figure 4.
Academic style difficulties 21 Figure 4. Time-related difficulties 22 Figure 4. Grammar difficulties 22 Figure 4. Cohesion and coherence difficulties 23 Figure 4.
Idea conceptualization and development difficulties 24 Background knowledge and information sources Figure 4. Insufficient learning material difficulties 25 Figure 4. Reasons relating to the lack of writing skill 28 Figure 4. Students’ attitudes and approaches 29 Figure 4.
Lecturer-related reasons 31 Figure 4. Learning material-related reasons 32 Figure 4. Solutions relating to lecturers 34 Figure 4. Solutions relating to students 35 Figure 4.
Solutions relating to learning materials 36 vii ABSTRACT Nowadays, English is an international language. To be fluent in English, one needs to be proficient in four primary skills: reading, speaking, listening, and writing. At the Banking Academy of Vietnam, Essay writing (EW) courses are designed to improve the academic writing skills of English-majored students. However, during these courses, many students may have faced difficulties in their learning.
Therefore, this study set out to investigate the problems and propose some feasible solutions to these problems. Data for this study were collected from both quantitative and qualitative sources. First, a survey questionnaire was delivered to 96 English-majored students in the university. Then five students were invited for follow-up interviews.
The findings showed that the English-majored students encountered difficulties such as vocabulary, word limit, academic style, time, grammar, cohesion and coherence, idea conceptualization and development, background knowledge and information sources, and learning material. The findings also indicated three major factors relating to students, lecturers, and learning materials as the reasons for these difficulties. Practical solutions are proposed to help students overcome the difficulties they face in EW courses. viii CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.
Background of the study Nowadays, to be proficient in English, a person needs to understand and be competent in the four primary skills: reading, speaking, listening, and writing. Among the four skills, people consider that writing skill is essential in many aspects (Gautam, 2019). Being proficient in writing skills helps one to communicate and express one’s ideas through the act of writing. It also assists with the thinking ability, for writing is a method of portraying your thought.
Additionally, writing skill is one of the requirements for future careers, as prospective jobs demand fundamental writing skillsets (Davies, Birbili, 2000). According to Monica-Ariana (2010), writing could be considered the hardest skill to master for students. It is a skill requiring dedication, concentration, and proficiency. The process of mastering writing skills is considerably long and arduous.
One can not spend little time and effort learning how to write effectively. To educate and prepare the students, the Banking Academy of Vietnam provides the essay writing (EW) courses as a mandatory course after the Writing I and Writing II courses. In the module, students learn how to compose an academic essay. There are three types of essays taught in the course: Argumentative essay, Cause and Effect essay, and Problem and Solution essay.
Students learn about essay structures, essay organization, and formal writing. After the courses, students are expected to understand and be able to write a completed academic essay. In reality, many students reported having problems with their writing of academic essays. However, there have been very limited research attempts to investigate this issue.
Thus, this study is one of the first studies conducted to discover this problem among this group of students. In conclusion, it is essential to conduct the study to discover what kinds of obstacles an English-majored student might experience, the reasons, and possible solutions. Objectives of the study This study aims to achieve three objectives. The study aims to determine the English-majored students' difficulties through the module.
Then, the study conducts the leading causes of these difficulties and proposes possible solutions. This study intends to help English-majored students to achieve better results in the course and improve their writing skills. From these, the study hopes to provide lecturers with more insights into students’ difficulties in EW courses, so they understand these difficulties and support students more effectively. Significance of the study This study is significant because it is one of the very first ones conducted to investigate students’ difficulties in EW courses at the Banking Academy - a leading public university in Vietnam.
Although a large number of studies on difficulties facing EFL learners during their learning of academic writing were conducted, this study is the first to provide insights into those faced by students at Banking Academy. So, the findings and results from this study are expected to provide useful information to both the students and lecturers of an insight into the struggle in the process of learning. English-majored students could understand more deeply about the course and depict their suitable learning style. Lecturers can create more suitable curricula for students to adapt to and improve their writing.
Research questions This study is to answer the following questions: 1. What types of difficulties do English-majored students have in EW courses? 2. Why do English-majored students have these difficulties in EW courses? 3. How can English-majored students overcome these difficulties in EW courses? 2 1.
Scope of the study This is a small-scoped study conducted at Banking Academy, a leading public university in Hanoi, Vietnam. The research participants are the English-majored students studying or having finished the essay writing course. This research data was collected from an online survey among 96 students and follow-up interviews with five sample students. The research study was conducted from 13th March to 7th May.
Structure of the thesis This thesis consists of 6 chapters. Chapter 1 focuses on explaining the background, the purpose, the research question, and the scope of the study. In chapter 2, surrounding literature about the difficulties in essay writing is presented and then the reason for this study is given. Chapter 3 shows the research site, the participants, the instruments used in the research, and the data gathering and processing procedure.
Chapter 4 demonstrates the data and statistical results. Chapter 5 discusses the findings and results mentioned in the previous chapter. The last chapter summarizes the findings and gives the conclusion to the study. 3 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.
Writing and Academic writing Wring is a complex notion and is defined differently by different scholars. Cambridge Dictionary defined writing as “the skill or activity of producing words on a surface”, and Oxford Learner’s Dictionaries described that writing as “the particular way in which somebody forms letters when they write”. To Hounsel (1984), writing is a demanding skill, and its structure and process are more complicated than other skills. One needs to comprehend the topic and write in academic order.
He pointed out that writing was also a way for students to express their personal senses. It has two essential roles, "it is both a tool of assessment and an avenue to learning. For Olson (2020), writing can be described as “a conventional system of marks” (writing – Britannica, 2020), or the expression of a language. It has the characteristics of “concrete” and “permanent” (writing – Britannica, 2020).
Coulmas (1999) stated that writing was a collection of tactile signs representing language in a systematic order, which anyone who understands the language can perceive. Daniels and Bright (1996) described writing as a system of permanent marks that embody the utterance without the utterer’s explanation. In conclusion, writing is the act of using letters, signs, punctuations, and space to convert thought and ideas into legible form. Writers employ their knowledge of grammar structure, vocabulary, and background knowledge related to the topic to compose the writing.
Writing can be a method of expressing one’s self. One can convey their notion, perspective, and emotion through the written symbol to convince the reader of their motive. Academic writing is considered one of the most challenging styles of writing. Hartley (2008) claimed that academic writing was “pompous”, “unnecessarily complicated”, and “impersonal, authoritative, humorless" (p.4), yet it also was appropriate in some contexts and more simple for the non-native to understand.
For Burke (2010), academic writing can only be recognized from society's viewpoint, not from the individual perspective. Irvin (2010) believed that academic writing was “a 4 form of evaluation" (p.8) requiring the writer to demonstrate knowledge and display their competence with their disciplinary thinking, interpreting, and presenting skills. Hence, writing academically is seen as a demanding task. Unlike other writing styles, academic writing does not require complex and overflown sentences, it is clear and concise, and the information in writing is verified with proof.
The style is formal and coherent, and one needs to use suitable vocabulary and sentence structures.