VIET NAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF AGRICULTURE FACULTY OF EDUCATION AND FOREIGN LANGUAGES BA THESIS A STUDY ON AUTONOMOUS LEARNING OF ENGLISH-MAJORED STUDENTS AT VNUA NGHIÊN CỨU VỀ TÍNH TỰ CHỦ TRONG HỌC TẬP CỦA SINH VIÊN NGÀNH NGÔN NGỮ ANH HỌC VIỆN NÔNG NGHIỆP VIỆT NAM Student: NGUYEN THI QUYEN Student code: 621228 Major: ENGLISH LINGUISTICS Supervisor: M.A LE THI HONG LAM, M.A NGUYEN THI KIM QUE Hanoi – 2021 1 VIET NAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF AGRICULTURE FACULTY OF EDUCATION AND FOREIGN LANGUAGES BA THESIS A STUDY ON AUTONOMOUS LEARNING OF ENGLISH-MAJORED STUDENTS AT VNUA NGHIÊN CỨU VỀ TÍNH TỰ CHỦ TRONG HỌC TẬP CỦA SINH VIÊN NGÀNH NGÔN NGỮ ANH HỌC VIỆN NÔNG NGHIỆP VIỆT NAM Student: NGUYEN THI QUYEN Student code: 621228 Major: ENGLISH LINGUISTICS Supervisor: LE THI HONG LAM, M.A, NGUYEN THI KIM QUE, M.A Hanoi – 2021 2 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT First of all, I would like to thank the enthusiastic guidance of teachers at the Faculty of Education and Foreign Language those have helped me complete my BA thesis during the past 5 months. Thanks for providing me with both professional knowledge and learning spirit, which is the foundation to help me acquire practical knowledge during the process of completing this BA thesis. I would like to express my deepest gratitude to M.A Le Thi Hong Lam who gave me many detailed comments and reviews so that I can draw from my own experience through this BA thesis. Thank you very much for your kind cooperation during this time helping me complete the BA thesis.
Besides, I would like take this opportunity to sincerely thank my family and my friends for being supportive of my education and always being by my side through hard times. 3 CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY I, the undersigned, hereby certify my authority of the study project report entitled A Study on Autonomous Learning of English-Majored Students at VNUA submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Bachelor in English Language. Except where the reference is indicated, no other person’s work has been used without due acknowledgement in the text of the thesis. Hanoi, 2021 Quyen Nguyen Thi Quyen Approved by SUPERVISOR Le Thi Hong Lam M.A Date:…………………… 4 TABLE OF CONTENTS Part 1: INTRODUCTION.
Rationale for the study. Aims and objectives of the study. Scope of the study. Significance of the study.
Design of the study. 12 Chapter 1: LITERATURE REVIEW. Review of the previous studies (At home & abroad). Overview of previous studies abroad.
Overview of domestic research studies. Review of theoretical background. The concept of autonomous learning. Students' perception of autonomous learning.
Teachers' perception of autonomous learning. Research setting/context. 24 Chapter 3: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION. Limitation of the study.
52 5 ABSTRACT This study presents the results of a research project conducted in 2021 to investigate the perception of autonomy of English-majored students – Vietnam National University of Agriculture. This research study uses questionnaires and interviews, which are a combination of qualitative research methods and quantitative research methods. The participants are 100 students from the first year to the fourth year (K62-K65) with 25 students for each level. After that, conduct in-depth interviews with 05 lecturers and 10 students to collect more accurate information.
This study results show that English-majored students are aware of the importance of autonomous learning, have more motivation and take responsibility for their own learning. 6 LIST OF ABBREVIATION M.A: The Master of Art VNUA: Vietnam National University of Agriculture M: Mean SD: Standard Deviation 7 LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES Figure 1. Figure of awareness of autonomous learning of English-majored students. Survey of self-study environment of English-majored students.
Self-study method survey of English-majored students. Survey of self-study time of English-majored students. Assessment of self-study consciousness of English-majored students. Figure of factors affecting self-study of English-majored students.
Figure of skills for autonomous learning of English-majored students. Figure of consciously self-selecting external learning content and relating to situations encountered in communication of English- majored students 8 Part 1: INTRODUCTION 1. Rationale for the study In the current era of information technology boom, there are more and more important innovations, especially educational innovations with more appropriate and effective learning methods. The Ministry of Education and Training is constantly changing and implementing learning methods to improve learning efficiency for students, inspiring students to study seriously.
In the university environment, autonomous learning is extremely necessary for learners to master knowledge that motivates research to create a basis for lifelong learning. According to Resolution 43/2007/QĐ-BGDĐT, the Ministry of Education and Training promulgates the regulations on formal university and college training under the credit system. The essence of credit-based training is a positive, learner-centered training that allows students to actively decide on their ability and duration of credit. In particular, autonomous learning is the decisive factor to support students in learning effectively in the university environment.
For a long time in scientific journals, there have been many studies on this matter, author Dinh Thi Hong Thu “Tổng quan nghiên cứu tính tự chủ trong học ngoại ngữ ở Việt Nam” (2017) demonstrates that there are many conflicting opinions and views on the concept of autonomy. Each topic has its own advantages and outstanding features, but most of them cannot solve the problems that students encounter when they are autonomous learning. They have really mastered and taken responsibility for their school career or wondered about effective learning methods. It is from the overview of students' understanding of autonomy and ineffective learning methods that motivated the author to choose the topic "A study on autonomous learning of English-majored students at Vietnam National University of Agriculture”.
Aims and objectives of the study - Aim: The main aim of this study is to understand the manifestations of English-majored students’ autonomous learning, then propose some measures to improve their autonomous learning. - Objectives: + To identify the indicators of the student’s autonomous learning. + To propose some measures to improve autonomous learning of English- majored students at VNUA. Research questions (in form of questions) - How is the current state of autonomous learning of English-majored students at Vietnam National University of Agriculture? - How can the skills required to independently learn English-majored students at VNUA be used? - What are some suggestions to improve the autonomous learning of English- majored students at Vietnam National University of Agriculture? 1.
Scope of the study - Research subjects: + Autonomous learning of English-majored students at the Faculty of Education and Foreign Language, Vietnam National University of Agriculture. - Research scope: + Object of study: Learning activities of English-majored students at Vietnam National University of Agriculture. + Scope of research: 100 students, including 25 K62 students, 25 K63 students, 25 K64 students, 25 K65 students majoring in English linguistics – Vietnam National University of Agriculture. The above study scope was chosen to provide an overview of students' perception of autonomous learning and realistic evaluation of students’ English skills in each course.
+ Time: From January 2021 to July 2021. Significance of the study The topic contributes to the theoretical issues of autonomy in students’ learning activities, refers to different aspects that give a genuine view to English-majored students, in addition to propose measures improve student autonomy. Students become aware of their personal learning issues and take useful lessons from the study results in order to improve academic success. At the same time, a strong base and a trustworthy theoretical basic for future investigation are also provided.
Design of the study Statement of thesis originality Acknowledgements Abstracts List of abbreviations, graphs, tables and figures Part 1: INTRODUCTION - In this part, the rationale, aims and objectives, research questions, scope, significance, design are discussed. Part 2: DEVELOPMENT Chapter 1: Literature Review - This chapter is intended to give some theoretical background related to autonomous learning. Chapter 2: Methodology - In this part, the research methodology used methods of investigation, interview methods, methods of analysis and data processing; research setting/context, data collection, data analysis are presented. Chapter 3: Findings and Discussion In this chapter is intended to provide a discussion of objectives: - To identify the indicators of the student’s autonomous learning.
- To propose some measures to improve autonomous learning of English- majored students at VNUA. Part 3: CONCLUSION References Appendix 11 PART 2: DEVELOPMENT Chapter 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 1. Review of the previous studies (At home & abroad) 1. Overview of previous studies abroad In the world, autonomous learning has held an important role in learning a foreign language or nearly three decades.
This is always a topic that attracts a lot of interest and is discussed and studied by researchers. Since then, there have been several forms, viewpoints, and approaches proposed to increase the quality of autonomous learning. Through research by Yunsheng Zhong’s (2008) with the name "A study of Autonomy English Learning on the Internet" examines the usage of the Internet by learners to modify traditional learning methods and also to modernize. According to the research's point of view, autonomous learning English is using the websites http://eleaston.html, http: // www.com/, and the language journals.
English, discuss about learning English via E-mail, group chat .; Not only help students improve their English skills but also improve many other skills. However, besides the benefits from the Internet, there are still no suggestions to avoid disadvantages when students abuse the Internet for entertainment purposes. The topic “Developing Responsible and Autonomous Learners: A Key to Motivating Students” by Dr. Barbara McCombs’s (2011) deals with the holistic nature of students' individual learning and effective practices.
The use of Teacher's Modules solves all learning problems and listening to learners with specific modes related to cognitive neuroscience (EQ), question-based learning, combined learning technology, games and digital learning research. The study has given learners a new view of mastery in learning and taking responsibility for their own learning problems. Agnieszka Talkowska, Wojciechowska’s (2015) “Two tendencies of language education are worth being recommended - application of the Internet and the 12 autonomy in learning languages” under the theme “The use of the internet in developing learner's autonomy”. The researchers clearly present and analyse the concepts and aspects of the autonomy of learners and teachers.
In relation to ideas, the activeness of the Internet in self-directed learning activites promotes the development of foreign language learning, especially illustrating the fact that actively helps learning. Oustanding subject features might discover that instructional methods for designing unique circumstances are quite successful in autonomous language acquisition courses. According to "Autonomous learning through task-based instruction in fully online language courses" - Lina Lee’s (2016) in the digital age, autonomous learning is related to the online format for the purpose of developing knowledge and basic skills for students. The topic uses midterm reflections, questionnaires and interviews from the end of the two online language courses to evaluate students' self-learning results.
In combination with, the author mentioned CALL (Computer-Assisted Language Learning), designed courses and passed TBI (Task - based instruction) to promote students' autonomous learning process. The topic “EFL students' voices on learner autonomy at a university in the Mekong Delta” Le Thanh Nguyet Anh (2018) clarified concepts and provided a research overview at home and abroad on EFL students’ autonomous learning. Using the study method to interview 60 English-majored students and subjects equally divided for each course, this evaluation of efficiency contributes. According to the results obtained, the author analysed extremely successfully, but did not give any measures to help students improve autonomy.
Written by Wei Zhang (2018) - “Study on Autonomous Learning College Students in Specialized English” scenario analysis, causes analysis and particular coping methods for students only revolve around learning to cope, in order to pass the exam and get a certificate. As a result, pupils’ autonomous learning becomes inefficient and eventually disappears. Furthermore, the topic revolves around specialized English subjects, leading to the sketchy concept of autonomous learning.