BANKING ACADEMY OF VIETNAM FACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES GRADUATION THESIS COMMON PROBLEMS OF ATC STUDENTS IN ACADEMIC WRITING AND REASONS TO THESE PROBLEMS Supervisor : M.A Tran Thi Thu Thuy Student name : Le Thi Thanh Nhan Class : K20 ATCB Faculty : Foreign Languages Student code : 20A7510131 Hanoi 2021 17014125932391000000 CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY I declare that the thesis entitled “Common problems of ATC students in academic writing and reasons to these problems” is the result of my original research work. The research is based on my reading and understanding of the original texts, firstly submitted to the Banking Academy of Vietnam. The other books, articles, and websites, which I have made use of are clearly referenced in the paper. Hanoi, 23rd May, 2021 Signature Le Thi Thanh Nhan i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to express my sincerest thanks to those who have supported me to successfully complete my graduate thesis.
Thanks to everyone's help, guidance, and encouragement throughout the process, I was able to complete the most difficult project in four years of university. First of all, I would like to express my sincerest thanks to my instructor, Mrs. Tran Thi Thu Thuy. She enthusiastically guided, provided me with the necessary knowledge, and edited meticulously when I was working on my research.
Without her supervision and dedicated guidance, the thesis would be impossible. Besides, I would also like to thank all the students who participated in the questionnaire of the thesis. Your contributions were integral to the research. Finally, I would like to thank my family as well as all my friends who have accompanied, comforted, and encouraged me to complete the thesis.
ii Table of Contents CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY. ii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS. v LIST OF FIGURES. vii CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION.
Background of the Thesis. Objectives of the Thesis. Scope and Limitations of the Thesis. Significance of the Thesis.
Structure of the Thesis .4 CHAPTER II: LITERATURE REVIEW .1 Academic Writing Skills.1 Definition of Academic Writing .2 Processes of Academic Writing .3 Types of Academic Writing .4 Approach to Teach and Learn English Academic Writing Skills .2 Common Problems in English Academic Writing .1 Problems in Planning Stage .2 Problems in Writing Stage .3 Problems in Revising Stage .3 Reasons for Problems in English Academic Writing Skills .21 CHAPTER III: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY .2 Procedure of Data Collection. Research Population and Sample Description .28 CHAPTER IV: DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION. Problems of Academic Writing. Problems in Planning Stage.
Problems in Writing Stage. Problems in Revising Stage. Reasons of the Problems in Academic Writing .34 CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION .1 Summary of the Research Results .2 Recommendations of the Research. 47 iv LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ATC English-majored students at the Faculty of Foreign Languages at Banking Academy of Vietnam MoET Ministry of Education and Training of Vietnam L1 First Language L2 Second Language FL Foreign Languages ELT English Language Teaching v LIST OF FIGURES Figure 4.1 Students' common problems in planning stage Figure 4.2 Students' common problems in writing stage Figure 4.3 Students' common problems in revising stage Figure 4.4 The objective reasons of problems in academic writing Figure 4.5 The subjective reasons of problems in academic writing vi ABSTRACT The title of the thesis: Common problems of ATC students in academic writing and the reasons of these problems.
Author: Le Thi Thanh Nhan, student of the Faculty of Foreign Languages, Banking Academy of Vietnam. Tran Thi Thu Thuy (M.A) Key words: academic writing problems, reasons, writing 3, ATC students, English- majored students. Abstract: For most second language learners, mastering the four English skills: reading, writing, listening, and speaking is always a big challenge. Among them, academic writing is considered the most difficult one.
The research paper aims to find out the common problems encountered by ATC students and the reasons behind them, so that some useful solutions can be offered. The problems of academic writing were analyzed according to the three-stage writing process: planning stage, writing stage, and editing stage. Besides, the reasons of these problems were divided into two groups: objective reasons and subjective reasons. A research questionnaires was applied to survey all students who completed Writing 3 and the data were then quantitatively and qualitatively analyzed.
The gathered results showed that during the planning phase, students regularly had problems in outline preparation and ideas collection, as well as topic decision. Meanwhile, at the writing stage, problems related to grammar and language use were most commonly coped with. At the final stage, students frequently faced up with problems of inappropriate format. In terms of the reasons behind these problems, lack of experience and lack of substantive resources were the top two prevalent objective reasons; whereas, common subjective causes were lack of background knowledge, lack of English language proficiency, interference of mother tongue and carelessness.
To overcome these problems, the writer proposed some practical recommendations that could support teachers and ATC students improve their academic writing performance. vii viii CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION This chapter offers a summary of the study's background information, research objectives, and research questions, research significance as well as the structure. It also highlights the study's scope and limitations. Background of the Thesis In the twenty-first century, English, the most prevalent foreign language taught in Vietnam, has been accepted as the standard language in global trade.
As a basic platform for communication, English affords opportunities for international trade and diplomacy among countries with different languages, which enables the exchange of science, technology, goods, and labor sources. And regarding the individual level, global employers and HR managers report that employees with exceptional English proficiency at their country's level can earn 30- 50% higher salaries. Therefore, to meet the requirements of society in the modern world and improve living standards, it is vital for people to self-improve their knowledge of foreign languages, especially English. To integrate with global development, the Vietnamese government has considered English as a compulsory subject in general education.
In legal normative documents issued by the Vietnamese Governments and the MoET, it is accentuated that higher education students need to have sufficient English proficiency for effectiveness in the global working environment. Hence, students are expected to master 4 English skills: reading, writing, listening, and speaking; in which writing skills, especially academic writing skills, are considered a crucial and challenging level for most second language learners. As one of the top universities in the economics sector, Banking Academy also pays great attention to the English level of students and has established the Department of Foreign Languages to train financial English. However, through the author's experiences in writing classes at the university, it is found that despite being taught methodically, most students majoring in English often cope with many problems in writing an academic paper.
Intending to acquire a more general and in-depth 1 overview of the current state of academic writing skills in the Foreign Languages' Department of Banking Academy, the author has decided to choose a research topic: “Common problems of ATC students in academic writing and the reasons of these problems”. The study will identify common problems students encounter in the academic writing process and the reasons behind them. Based on the research results, some solutions will be recommended. Objectives of the Thesis The research aims to determine what problems the students in the Faculty of foreign language at Banking Academy commonly encounter when studying academic writing skills in English and to find out the possible reasons for these problems.
Therefore, some effective solutions to reduce these problems will be recommended. The research is conducted with the expectation that teachers and students are able to determine the common problems in academic writing and then recommend teaching and learning methods to obtain a better performance in academic writing. Research Questions The general objective of the study is to figure out the prevalent problems in academic writing that ATC students face and some probable causes of these problems. To achieve the goal, two questions are specifically addressed in the study: 1.
What are the common problems in academic writing that students in the Faculty of Foreign Language at Banking Academy meet? 2. What are the reasons for these problems? 1. Scope and Limitations of the Thesis The research was carried out among students majoring in English in the Faculty of Foreign Languages at Banking Academy who had finished the Writing 3 courses to determine the most common problems they had encountered and the causes behind these problems. As a result, the emphasis was centered on determining their problems and the reasons to these problems.
A survey was conducted to collect data 2 on the many kinds of academic writing challenges that they encountered. The research data would be examined to achieve the study's goal. Nonetheless, the research paper has certain limitations due to a shortage of time, lack of references, and limited knowledge of the researcher. Firstly, the number of participants was only sixty-two, which makes it difficult to determine if the results were similar when the study was conducted with a larger number of participants.
Therefore, the results of the study may be less convincing. Secondly, the research questionnaire divides problems in academic writing and the reasons behind them into two different questions. This makes it difficult for the author to determine the relationship of each cause to a certain problem. Thus, the research results might not fully reflect and detect all causes of problems that students frequently encounter.
Finally, due to the complicated pandemic situation, the author could not apply some other research instruments such as interviews, preparation of a writing test to support a more comprehensive research result. Significance of the Thesis The current study program, which investigated ATC students' programs in producing academic papers and the reasons for these problems, is noteworthy on both practical and theoretical levels. At a practical level, because studying English is critical to integrate with the global economy, which is the top priority of Vietnamese higher education, the current study is timely. This study specifically identified the sorts of challenges ATC students experience when studying academic writing, the root causes, and then recommended feasible solutions to improve students' academic writing ability.
These findings may support lecturers, peers, and parents, as well as the Faculty of Foreign Languages as a whole, to improve learners' writing performance. These understandings may aid in the improvement of the lecturer's course or material design at Banking Academy. At a theoretical level, the current study supplements existing academic writing literature by addressing deficiencies in this area. This study, in particular, has offered insight into the problems ATC students have while learning academic 3 writing, as well as how significant persons (such as lecturers, classmates, and parents) may impact their ability.
Furthermore, the findings of this study have contributed to self-determination theory in terms of its relevance and comprehension in examining academic writing issues and their causes in the Vietnamese cultural context. Structure of the Thesis The study contains five main chapters, organized as follow. Chapter 1 (Introduction) offers a critique of the study's background information, including the reason for the topic decision, the study's objectives, scope and limitation, and significance. Chapter 2 (Literature review) discusses the compatible theories related to academic writing, problems in academic writing, and its reasons.
Chapter 3 (Research methodology) states the research's context and participants, the main research's collecting data instrument as well as data collection process. Chapter 4 (Finding and Discussion) details statistical analysis and presents a comprehensive explanation on the purpose of answering precisely the research questions. And finally, Chapter 5 (Summary and Recommendation) briefs the gathered findings of the research which will be the foundation to provide some recommendations. Besides, the chapter uncovers some limitations, and proposes resolutions for further research.