VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES ************************* NGUYỄN THỊ THANH HẰNG A STUDY ON DIFFICULTIES OF THE FOURTH-YEAR NON-ENGLISH MAJOR STUDENTS AT HANOI UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY IN ACHIEVING ENGLISH LEARNING OUTCOME STANDARDS AND SOME SUGGESTED SOLUTIONS (Nghiên cứu về những khó khăn của sinh viên không chuyên tiếng Anh năm thứ 4 tại trường Đại học Bách Khoa Hà Nội trong việc đạt chuẩn đầu ra tiếng Anh và đề xuất một số giải pháp khắc phục) M.MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field : English Teaching Methodology Code : 60140111 HA NOI – 2017 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES ************************* NGUYỄN THỊ THANH HẰNG A STUDY ON DIFFICULTIES OF THE FOURTH-YEAR NON-ENGLISH MAJOR STUDENTS AT HANOI UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY IN ACHIEVING ENGLISH LEARNING OUTCOME STANDARDS AND SOME SUGGESTED SOLUTIONS (Nghiên cứu về những khó khăn của sinh viên không chuyên tiếng Anh năm thứ 4 tại trường Đại học Bách Khoa Hà Nội trong việc đạt chuẩn đầu ra tiếng Anh và đề xuất một số giải pháp khắc phục) M.MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field : English Teaching Methodology Code : 60140111 Supervisor : DR. PHẠM THỊ THANH THÙY HANOI – 2017 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com DECLARATION NGUYỄN THỊ THANH HẰNG, hereby certifies that this thesis, which is entitled “A Study On Difficulties Of The Fourth-year Non-English Major Students At Hanoi University Of Science And Technology In Achieving English Learning Outcome Standards And Some Suggested Solutions” is created from my original work. I have firmly declared the contribution of others to my thesis such as data analysis, practical strategies, and all other researches that were employed or reviewed in my thesis. This thesis is the result of my own study in the fulfillment of the requirement for the Degree of Master of Arts at Faculty of Post-Graduate Studies, University of Languages and International Studies, Vietnam National University, Hanoi.
Hanoi, 2017 Nguyễn Thị Thanh Hằng i TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First of all, I wish to express my deepest gratitude to my supervisor, Dr. PhạmThịThanhThùy, whose insightful comments, criticism, direction and kind support were of great assistance to me in carrying out this study. My sincere thanks also go to all the lecturers and staff of the Faculty of Post- Graduate Studies, Hanoi University of Languages and International Studies, Vietnam National University, Hanoi, for their valuable knowledge and invaluable guidance and help during my two years of study at the Faculty. I am also indebted to the teachers as well as the students at Hanoi University of Science and Technology, who have helped me a lot in my data collection to fulfill this paper.
Last but not least, I would like to express my appreciation to my family for their understanding and strong encouragement to me throughout the study. Nguyễn Thị Thanh Hằng ii TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.standard ABSTRACT The fact that final year students at universities in Vietnam in general and at Hanoi University of Science and Technology in particular face many difficulties in achieving English learning outcome standards is of great concerns to many people including educational managers, teaching staff and families. This study aims to explore the difficulties that students encounter in achieving English learning outcomes, identifies which particular factor poses the most difficulty of the students in order to propose feasible solutions that help them overcome the problems and get the best results in English study. The subjects of the study were the fourth-year non- English major students of Hanoi University of Science and Technology among which 108 students who took English examination in the academic year 2016-2017 were selected for the study.
Data on difficult factors that students face in achieving English learning outcome standards were collected using questionnaire and interview. The results show that the fourth year non-English major students have many problems that negatively affected their academic achievements in both English subject and university study. These problems mainly resulted from 3 sources: (1) the students themselves, (2) the teaching staff, and (3) the management. Several suggestions to help students overcome the problems by the participants are also presented.standard TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.standard TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION.
iii TABLE OF CONTENTS. v LIST OF TABLES. vi LIST OF FIGURES. Rationale of the study.
Scope of the Study. Structure of Research. 5 CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW. Definition of outcomes and outcome-based education .1 Definition of outcomes .2 Definition of outcome-based education.
Difficulties of learning English as a foreign language. Difficulties in achieving expected learning outcomes in English language study7 1. Difficulties relating to the students. Difficulties relating to the teachers.
Difficulties relating to the management. Previous studies on the difficulties faced by language learners .1 The context of Hanoi University of Science and Technology .standard TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail. The English teaching and learning at HUST. The syllabus of English teaching and learning.
The English teaching and learning in HUST. Requirements of English learning outcomes for HUST students. Description of the subjects. Conduct preliminary study.
Data collection instruments. 22 CHAPTER 3: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION. Difficulties faced by the fourth-year non-English major students. Difficulties relating to the students.
Difficulties relating to the teachers. Difficulties relating to the university management. The factor that poses the most difficulty for the students. Summary of the results.
Recapitulation of the main ideas. III APPENDIX 2: DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS. VIII APPENDIX 4: RATE OF DIFFICULTY .standard TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.standard ABBRIVIATIONS HUST: Hanoi University of Science and Technology EFL: English Foreign Language L2: Second Language vi (LUAN.standard TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.standard LIST OF TABLES TABLE1. 1: FACTORS AND PARTICULAR DIFFICULTIES INFLUENCING THE EFL LEARNERS‟ ACHIEVEMENT.
36 LIST OF FIGURES FIGURE 1. 1: SPOLSKY‟S (1989) MODEL OF SECOND LANGUAGE LEARNING. 2: MINIMUM ENGLISH LEVEL FOR STUDENTS AT HUST. 3: EQUIVALENT TO SCORES OF ENGLISH LEVEL.
4: SUMMARY OF FACTORS CAUSING DIFFICULTIES TO THE EFL LEARNERS IN ACHIEVING LEARNING OUTCOMES. 1: DIFFICULTIES RELATING TO THE STUDENTS. 2: DIFFICULTIES RELATING TO THE TEACHERS. 3: DIFFICULTIES RELATING TO THE MANAGEMENT BOARD.
4: DIFFICULTIES FACED BY THE 4TH YEAR NON-ENGLISH MAJOR STUDENTS AT HUST IN ACHIEVING ENGLISH LEARNING OUTCOMES .standard TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail. Rationale of the study There is no denying that English has been taken up by people in all walks of life not only in academic institutes but also in companies in Vietnam. People are eager to learn English and wish to acquire it at an early age. Also, in order to speed up the country economy and to improve the living standards as soon as possible, it is necessary for engineers, technicians, scientists, etc.
to learn and acquire English to keep up to date with the latest developments in technology in the world. However, as a matter of fact, there are a large number of graduates who cannot use English at work fluently, while English proficiency is constantly considered as a key requirement for recruitment. In order to improve this situation, Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) launched the dispatch No. 2196/BGDĐT-GDĐH dated April 22nd 2010, universities and colleges must notify the graduate outcome standards to students to know.
Accordingly, English is one of the compulsory criteria to evaluate students‟ performance after 4 years at schools. Moreover, as cited from Prime Minister‟s Decision No. 1400/QĐ-TTG approving the project "teaching and learning of foreign languages in the national education system period 2008-2020”(Nhan, 2008), in the higher education level, students who are studying in universities non-specialized in foreign languages have to pass at least the language proficiency-level 3 (450 TOEIC) after their graduation. Therefore, as one of the leading universities in Vietnam, Hanoi University of Science and Technology has integrated TOEIC as one of learning outcome standards to the evaluation system.
In addition to the number of outstanding students attaining the required English level, there are a lot of undergraduates, especially non- English major ones, encountering problems with English outcome standards in their final year at this university. That is the reason why “difficulties faced by the fourth-year non-English major students at Hanoi University of Science and Technology in achieving English learning outcome standards” is chosen as the research‟s topic. Therefore, it can be assumed that mastering English skills will be a key for graduates to open the career gate rather than struggling and become the ineffective 1 (LUAN.standard TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.standard labor force in the market. And meeting learning outcome requirements is a stage in the roadmap to prove personal capability.
Research objectives Rather than serving only for the purpose of completing the graduate thesis, the author has found it interested in the project implementation, which may also help the school and educators consider the effective ways how to improve English teaching and learning quality at university. Accordingly, the research needs to address the following issues Having general understanding about learning outcome standards for students in Vietnamese universities and Hanoi University of Science and Technology in particular Understanding difficulties of fourth-year non-English major students; Examining the relations and correlation between difficulties of fourth-year non-English major students and achievement of learning outcome standards; Identifying the most influencing difficulties to impact on the fourth-year students‟ learning outcomes at Hanoi University of Science and Technology; See how to improve the situation to help students accumulate sufficient knowledge and skills. Research questions The purpose of the study is to find out factors causing challenges in achieving learning outcomes faced by the fourth year non-English major students at HUST. To this end, the researcher has formulated the following leading questions to be answered in the course of the study: 1.
What are the difficulties faced by the fourth year non-English major students of HUST in achieving leaning outcome standards? 2. Which particular factor poses the most difficulty for the fourth year non- English major students of HUST in achieving leaning outcome standards? 3. What could be done to solve the problems of the fourth year non-English major students of HUST? 2 (LUAN.standard TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail. Scope of the Study In the research, the author would emphasize the difficulties of the fourth-year non-English major students facing and determine the most influencing factor.
Although students, especially ones in the fourth year, this research focuses on the difficulties of language. Moreover, with the limitation of time and resources, the author would conduct the project in small target population in order to provide precise findings and conclusions on the issue. Firstly, the research targets to find out some major difficulties when students‟ English ability cannot reach the requirements of outcome before graduating. Rather than spreading the research‟s scope of work to the entire area of Hanoi, the author chose to make the research at Hanoi University of Science and Technology Last but not least, the research also considers these factors‟ influence on acquiring learning outcomes, which is regulated by the school‟s board.
Although the research is conducted on target population in reality, with some limitations and pressure, it cannot avoid the uncertainty in the implementation. Therefore, all of findings and conclusions are only relative and referential. Structure of Research The research consists of 3 main parts, including: Part A: Introduction The first part will provide the overall viewpoints about the learning outcome standards Hanoi University of Science and Technology has required full-time students to achieve. Accordingly, based on the standards, the author would develop other ideas about the difficulties the fourth-year students may face when they cannot accumulate sufficient English skills and knowledge, which are considered the foundation to write the next chapter of Literature review.