THUONG MAI UNIVERSITY ENGLISH FACULTY ------ GRADUATION PAPER THE INFLUENCES OF SOCIAL NETWORKS ON ENGLISH SELF-STUDY PROCESS OF FRESHMEN IN ENGLISH FACULTY, THUONGMAI UNIVERSITY HANOI, 2019 Luan van ABSTRACT The study aims to explore the effects of social networks in the process of self- learning English of students belong to English Faculty, Thuongmai university (TMU) through a number of popular social networking sites such as Facebook, YouTube,Zing.A total of 61 students from English Faculty at TMU participated in this study.The participants were divided into two main groups that including the first year students and the final year students in order to compare the difference in the process of using the social network for English self-study and how the impact of social networks affect them.A mixed method consisting questionnaire method, interview method and group interview method was implemented to analyze the collected data. The findings of this study indicate that social networks can effectively assist college students in self-learning process.Students can improve their professional knowledge not only from the in-class instruction but also through social network sites. However, due to the lack of appropriate learning methods, social networks still exist a few negative effects in the learning process.Finally,some useful instructional strategies are provided to educators and practitioners in the English education field. Keywords: Social networks, self-learning process, research method ii Luan van ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This graduation thesis would never have been able to finish without the guidance of my supervisor, help from my friends and support from my family.
Firstly, to complete this graduation thesis, I have received a lot of helps from school and teachers.I would like to thank to faculty of English,TMU for giving me a good learning environment, providing me with knowledge about business English, as well as opportunity to let me have time to access to practical. Secondly,I would like to express my sincere thanks to the teacher: Ms.Han Thi Bich Ngoc. During the time of writing the thesis, I received the guidance of the teacher.She helped a lot in correcting, supplementing and perfecting the missing theoretical knowledge to complete the thesis with the best results. Thirdly, I would also like to thank the library management of Thuongmai university who has helped me a lot in the process of collecting materials, providing valuable materials to complete this thesis.
Last but not least, I want to show my appreciation to participants, including K54,the first year students and K51,the final year students of English major at Thuongmai university, who provided me with valuable assistance in collecting data. However, due to limited qualifications and limited research time, the research and presentation process is inevitable. I really hope to receive comments and advice from teachers so that my graduation thesis will be more perfect. Thank you so much! Hanoi, April, 2019 Tran Thi Cuc iii Luan van TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT.iii TABLE OF CONTENTS.iv LIST OF TABLES AND CHARTS.vi LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS.vii CHAPTER I: OVERVIEW OF THE STUDY.Aims of The Study.Some features of the study’s place.Theoretical and Practical Significance.Organization of The Study.10 CHAPTER II: LITERATURE REVIEW.
Self-study process.Thesis: “ The Influence of Social Networking Sites on Political Attitudes and Behavior” (Weiwu Zhang ,2010).Thesis: “Impact of Social Networks on Young People” ( Bui,2014).Thesis: “Behavior of Using Social Network of Student at Hai Duong University” ( Nguyen,2018).19 CHAPTER III: RESEARCH FINDINGS.Results of Questionnaire Method.Results of interview method.Social networks have a positive impact on the English self-study of freshman students at TMU.Social networks have negative impacts on self-learning English.30 iv Luan van 3.Results of group interview method.32 CHAPTER IV: RECOMMENDATION AND SUGGESTIONS.Problems and suggestions of research topics.The first problem.The second problem.The third problem.Limitations of the study.Some specific limitations of the study.Suggestions for further research.45 REFERENCE APPENDIX v Luan van LIST OF TABLES AND CHARTS Figure 1: The world's largest social networks.14 Figure 2: Popular Social Networks in The English Eelf-study Process of Freshman, Thuongmai University.22 Figure 3: The Level of Social Network Usage of Freshman on English Self-study Process. 23 Figure 4: The Frequency of Using Social Networks of Freshmen on self-learning English Process (unit:%).24 Figure 5: Influence of Social Networks in English self-learning process of freshman, Thuongmai University (unit:%).25 Figure 6: The Level of Satisfaction about Using Social Networks of The First-year Student on English Self-study Process (unit:%).26 Figure 7: The level of assessment to students about the impact of social networks on English self-study process (unit:%).27 Figure 8: Compare the social network usage level on English self-study between freshmen and final year students.32 vi Luan van LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS NO ABBREVIATIONS EXPLANATION 1 E.g Exempli gratia (for example) 2 TMU Thuong Mai University 3 Etc Et cetera vii Luan van CHAPTER I: OVERVIEW OF THE STUDY 1.Rationale In the context of international integration, English has become the most widely used language all over the world. It is considered as the medium communication in many different fields such as: science, technology aviation, international sport, and so on. Businesses are increasingly focusing on their English language skills (especially English).
For medium and large enterprises, foreign language certification is gradually becoming a mandatory requirement, and is considered a prerequisite for applicants when interviewing.However, the response and the way we are implementing so that English becomes a second language for graduates, there are still many issues to consider. Back to the university training environment, like many universities in the country today, Thuongmai University also requires that before graduation, students need to have a certificate of English as a required condition. Studying foreign languages at school is not enough for students to apply well what they have learned in practice. So the core problem for students to improve their foreign language skills is in students' self-study in addition to the lessons in class.Self-study is really a very important skill for students.
It helps students to grasp knowledge effectively. However, how self-study is effective and how to have the best self-study method? Especially for freshmen in English Faculty, finding a suitable method for the English self-study process is really necessary.While the internet is having a booming era, new forms of communication are attracting more and more viewers. Internet users - especially young people, start looking for a place that satisfies all the needs of information, entertainment, connectivity and social networking that are launched to meet all those needs.For students, the benefits that social networks bring have an immense role in self-studying English of students at TMU. Students through social networking links to work together as a group of people with the same goal of self-learning English, with interest, online exchange, help each other improve English proficiency and English skills.Not only that, social networks 1 Luan van also expand the scope, allowing students from different schools not only in the country but also abroad to create sites to help each other learn.
This is one of the channels to help them improve learning efficiency, share knowledge and materials.Nowaday, the world has hundreds of different social networks like Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter,. Each social network has a certain success based on its compatibility with cultural, geographic factors. Facebook and YouTube are social networks that are commonly used in Vietnam. In addition, having some appearances of other social networks such as: Zing me, YuMe, Tamtay,etc.
Many young people, especially the first-year students in English Faculty who have just entered the university environment are still having difficulties and surprise during their study, the use of social networks will help very much in their English self-learning process.In addition to studying on the school under the guidance of teachers, they use social networks to provide more knowledge and exchange skills to learn English with others. Not only that, networks also provides an opportunity for students to interact with foreigners who do not need to go abroad or lose the cost of taking English courses. Besides convenience, social networks also lead to negative phenomena among current students. One of the most remarkable phenomena is the "online addiction" phenomenon.For students, spending too much time using social networks also has many consequences such as: reduce labor productivity, poor health (vision loss, insomnia, mental fatigue, .A large amount of information that is not original, uncensored or social networking groups with bad intentions will cause them to lose money without any effect in the learning process.Besides, the dissemination of information from social networks is quick and easy, creating an environment for the bad guys to exploit and entice,which make to reduce the students' will to study.
Students account for the most number of members using social networks during their self-study process.However, they are faced with multi-dimensional impacts daily, affecting both awareness and behavior in the process of using social networks.However, the problem of social network impacts on students, especially first-year students of English Faculty at Thuongmai University has not been deeply studied. The problem is: How is the impact of social networks on students major in 2 Luan van English? What social network has changed to their habits and needs during the English self-learning process? These questions need to be addressed by practical, concrete surveys and based on solid theoretical background. The things mentioned above are the reasons why I choose “ The Influences of Social Networks on English Self-Study Process of Freshmen in English Faculty, Thuongmai University ” for my graduate thesis. Hopefully, it will be beneficial to learners of Vietnamese, who have a passion for English.Previous Studies Considered as a new communication channel, the explosive growth of social networks attracted the attention of researchers.
In the world, there have been many research projects, articles on social networks and young people that have attracted many achievements, such as: Research: “Social Networks and Internet Usages by The Young Generations”(Ehrhardt,2013). This study has shown the habits of young people when using social networks and the internet, comparing these habits with real life behaviors as well as the views of the younger generation on social networks. At the same time, the study also emphasizes the importance of social networks in modern society. A different study of with a multiple name “Young and Old Use Social Media for Surprisingly Different Reasons” (Ladegaard,2014) indicates the reasons that people participate in social networking.
How it has changed their habits and lifestyles as well as the trend of using social networks in the future. Besides, there are also many discussions around the negative and positive impacts of social networks on the younger generation, such as Debate.org website with the title: “ Is Social Networking Bad for Today’s Generation?”.There have been a lot of opinions in the debate, of which 58% agree that social networks are having negative impacts on the younger generation, 42% disagree and tell the advantages that social networks bring. In Vietnam, Social networks have only been introduced in recent years but it has also attracted many people's attention and interest. There are many studies as well as articles written about the power of social networks in the multilateral media 3 Luan van era.
However, these studies only stop at a general level and often focus mainly on features as well as ways of communicating on social networks, the interaction between social networks and traditional communication. It has not shown the true impact on young people, especially students who studying in the university environment. Through the process of surveying and researching this topic, I have the conditions to refer to the documents at the faculty offices, libraries of TMU, national universities, national libraries as well as materials from different sources and found that in forums, libraries, research on social networks, there have been quite a number of research projects on social networks, such as: Graduation thesis with the theme:“Social Network Movement in Vietnam”(Quynh,2013) (surveyed through 3 manifest social networks now in Vietnam: Vietspace, Cyworld Vietnam and Yahoo).This thesis mainly studies the participation of social networks of young people and regular internet users in Vietnam through three social networks.The thesis also assesses the consequences as well as the implications of social networks, thereby proposing some development solutions and ideal models for social networks in Vietnam.