pNATIONAL ECONOMICS UNIVERSITY FACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES DEPARTMENT OF BUSINESS ENGLISH NGUYEN HONG NHAT READING COMPREHENSION DIFFICULTIES AMONG SECOND- YEAR BUSINESS ENGLISH STUDENTS AT NATIONAL ECONOMICS UNIVERSITY AND SOME SOLUTIONS NATIONAL ECONOMICS UNIVERSITY FACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES DEPARTMENT OF BUSINESS ENGLISH NGUYEN HONG NHAT READING COMPREHENSION DIFFICULTIES AMONG SECOND- YEAR BUSINESS ENGLISH STUDENTS AT NATIONAL ECONOMICS UNIVERSITY AND SOME SOLUTIONS Hanoi, April 2023 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT On top of the list, I am most in debt to the professors in the Faculty of Foreign Languages at National Economics University. My genuine gratitude is reserved for all teachers who have led and passed down knowledge to me during the past four years. I also want to show my thankfulness to the dean of the department, Mrs. Kelly Pham and the faculty assistant, Mrs.
Nguyen Thi Bich Thuy for assisting me in changing the field of internship despite the sudden request. It would be incomplete to miss out on my thesis instructor, Mrs. Nguyen Do Huong Giang, who has accompanied me throughout the whole period of research with meticulous care and enthusiasm. Besides the beloved teachers are my fellows, both inside and outside of the department, who actively fought alongside me and sent continuous blessings to each other during the previous three months.
Had it not for their encouragement, I would have been defeated by pessimism and struggles. To all the participants who helped to fill out my survey, you guys play the most crucial role to my research and in return, this should also help you to detect your problems and work on it strategically. The last tribute is paid to my family. Their love and empathy meant so much during the process of graduation.
EXCUTIVE SUMMARY English is now the compulsory standard to enter and graduate from most universities. Among the four skills that are determined to judge one's English skill, this study focuses on reading only, with a specific objective to investigate second- year BE students’ reading comprehension difficulties at National Economics University. 50 answers collected from the survey and 5 interviews contributed to the analysis of the difficulties. In particular, reading comprehension problems are scrutinized from two aspects: linguistic and non-linguistic.
While the former comprises vocabulary and grammar (or syntax), the latter examined text features, prior knowledge and reading strategies. The results indicated that vocabulary and text features were the most taxing problems regarding linguistic and non-linguistic respectively. Within vocabulary territory, technical terms seemed to perplex students the most when reading. In the case of text features, most students displayed their concern about unfamiliar topics and contents.
Finally, some solutions to both teachers and students were proposed to improve the situation. The recommendations were matched with the order of the analyzed data about reading comprehension problems to create a connection between the problems and the corresponding solutions. LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS BE : Business English EFL : English as a Foreign Language NEU : National Economics University : Second Language : Vocabulary Nn : Syntax TF : Text features RS : Reading strategies 1 LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1. The number of Foreign Languages learners worldwide.
The Bottom-up Model .-- -- + 5 + 4+1 E311 11 ng rệt 6 Figure 3. The Top-down MOde]L. 132111393113 11 9111 11 H1 vn ky 7 Figure 4. The Interactive ÏMOCelL.
-- --- + c + 111119311911 91111 ng nh ng ky 8 Figure 7. Data analysis of vocabulary difficulties. Data analysis for syntactic dIfiCuÏfI€s.- --- «5< cssc+sxsssseesres 18 Figure 9. Most difficult linguistic aspect.
Text features difficulties. cc eeceseeeeeessceeececeeeeeeeceaeceeeeseeeeeeneeeees 20 Figure 11. Prior knowledge difẨICUÏty. c1 HH nhe, 21 Figure 12.
Reading comprehension strategies awareness and usagøe. Reading strategies difficulties. cc cceescesseeeseeeeeeeseeeeteeeeeeeseeeees 23 Figure 14. Most difficult non-linguistic aSP€CI.
Responses to reading comprehension difficulties. 24 11 TABLE OF CONTENTS EXCUTIVE SUMMARY .cicccccccccceceseeseeseeseesecseeaecnecseseceeseeaeeaeeseeaeeeeaeeaeeaes i LIST OF ABBREYVIA TIONS.- Ác SH HH HH HH re, ii LIST OF FIGURES 1. iii CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION. Background to the sfudly.
Aims of the SfUdy. - -- Gà LH TH TH TH HH HH ng Hiệp 2 1.-- SG Ă ng ng ng nhiệt 2 1. Scope of the sfudly. - --- - HH HH TH HH HH Hiệp 3 1.