Translation Challenges Among English-Majored Students: A Case Study at Thu Dau Mot University

Previous discussion about perception and production of flapping in American English mostly centers on native speakers' exploration. The present study offers a new insight into flapping in American English learners. To investigate American-English-trained Taiwan ESL learners' perception and production of [ſ], two experiments were conducted, with completely different subjects. English major (Linguistically-trained) and non-English major college students were invited to the experiments: (1) In the production experiment, both subject groups would read 14 high-frequency words (7 with /t/ and 7 with /d/), whereby word-medial flapping was acceptable, two times in random order. (2) The perception test explored the sensitivity of [ſ] identification. English major students were asked to present phonetic transcriptions while those non-English majors judged that the recordings sounded more [t]-alike or [d]-alike. Results showed more occurrence of flapping laid on English major students but they could have perceptual confusion over [d, ſ] contrast. Hypercorrection, where [ſ] might be pronounced as [d] to seek audio resemblance, was also found in English maj ors. The study generally implicated [ſ] could be well pronounced by Mandarin speakers under more exposure to English and linguistic training. The overall findings can enlighten English pronunciation education in ESL contexts and potentially help ameliorate Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) on non-English-native users' interfaces.

Academic emotions have consistently been a prominent topic in educational psychology. Academic emotions are closely associated with students’ academic achievements and performance. The level of oral proficiency is an important indicator for evaluating the English proficiency of English major students. However, its acquisition process highly depends on interaction and immediate output, which can easily trigger complex academic emotions among students. Although current research has recognized the role of emotions in language learning, there is still a need for further exploration into the specific academic emotions that arise during the oral language learning process among English major students and how they affect their oral language performance. Therefore, in order to address this issue, this study takes academic emotions as the independent variable and the oral English scores of English major college students as the dependent variable. It uses the literature analysis method to investigate how academic emotions affect the oral English scores of English major college students. This study confirms that academic emotions are a key non-intellectual factor influencing oral English performance among English majors. Positive emotions (especially enjoyment) are facilitators of oral learning, while negative emotions (especially anxiety) are the most significant obstacle and inhibitor.

Introduction. Writing skill is one of the most important skills that English-majored students need to master to apply to their jobs after graduation. However, developing writing skill is not easy, especially for students who are not native speakers. To solve that problem, instructional scaffolding plays a very important role to help English-majored students improve their writing skills. Instructional scaffolding is an approach to teaching that involves providing students with temporary support and guidance as they learn new concepts and skills. The goal of scaffolding is to gradually remove this support as students become more proficient, so they can eventually work independently. This approach can be used in a variety of educational settings, from early childhood education to higher education. Scaffolding can take many forms, such as visual aids, graphic organizers, guided questions, or peer collaboration. The type of scaffolding used depends on the learning objectives and the needs of the individual student. In short, instructional scaffolding is a powerful tool for promoting student learning and success. By providing targeted support and guidance, educators can help students build their knowledge and skills in a structured and effective way. In this article, the author will focus on researching the role of scaffolding in writing skills for English majored students at The University of Khanh Hoa. Study participants and methods. The article uses the method of questionnaire survey and in-depth interview to study the status of the role of instructional scaffolding in writing skills of English-majored students at The University of Khanh Hoa. Besides the author also uses methods such as: analysis; synthetic; logic; history to write articles. To have an objective view of the role of academic support activities in writing skill of English-majored students at the University of Khanh Hoa, the author conducted a survey of 133 students studying “writing 1”, in the academic year 2022-2023 and selected 13 students to conduct in-depth interviews. The design is done on a five-step scale. The survey results were processed by SPSS software, with the question why instructional scaffolding are necessary in the English writing classes? The results obtained provide vocabulary and grammar that students agree with at a high level, reaching a level above 4.5, showing that learners appreciate scaffolding. Activities such as doing exercises are 3.47; students' cross feedback is 3.87; the lecturer provides sample text with the corresponding mean value of 3.8; Students reading specialized documents and articles is 3.76. From the data obtained, it is shown that the provision of vocabulary and grammar is the activity most appreciated by students in scaffolding. Meanwhile, doing the set of exercises only scored lower than the other activities. However, students giving each other feedback, lecturers providing sample texts, and students reading specialized papers and articles all achieved relatively high cumulative GPA (Grade Point Average) and are also valuable in instructional scaffolding. Results. Students believe that teachers need to help them develop skills such as: skills to develop ideas for articles; skills to build article structure; language skills; paragraph writing skills; Sentence linking skills. The lack of these skills explains why, while the self-assessments of children's progress were quite positive for each sub-skill, they were the lowest in the overall assessment of progress in writing and speaking. Practical significance. The role of scaffolding in the writing skills of English majors has been studied by many universities around the world so far. In Vietnam in general and the University of Khanh Hoa, this activity plays an important role in improving students' writing capacity to meet social needs.

English reading strategies and awareness of reading strategies are of great significance for English learners to master and possess high English reading abilities, but in reality, learners' ability to apply English reading strategies is still unsatisfactory. Moreover, this issue seems to be a common and urgent issue for all learners of English as a second language. This study taking a Chinese university (Hunan University of Science and Engineering, HUSE) as an example, using the Survey of Reading Strategies (SORS) to measure three broad categories of reading strategies, 527 respondents involved, through comparing data mean values of English majors with non-English majors and the composite mean value of these respondents, found that: (a) English major students have higher reading strategy awareness than non-English major students; (b) English major and non-English major students are at different levels in terms of reading strategy awareness and generally have a moderate level of reading strategies; (c) There is great room for improvement in university students’ reading strategy. Centering on how to make good use of the teaching resources of reading courses and how to use innovative ways and methods to enhance the awareness and ability of college students' reading strategies, this study puts forward four measures, namely, attaching importance to reading strategy education in reading course teaching, attaching importance to the leading role of reading course teachers in improving students' reading strategy level in curriculum teaching, attaching importance to students' main role, and strengthening students' reading strategy training.

Based on the discussion of critical thinking and related studies, this study conducted a survey of 104 senior English majors in a university by using a questionnaire and applied Excel to analyze the data, and explored English majors' attitudes toward critical thinking. The study found that most English majors do not have a clear concept of critical thinking, but they acknowledge the importance of critical thinking in learning and hold high expectations to be trained in critical thinking. The study indicated that English major students' attitudes need to be taken into due consideration in the development of critical thinking.

Vocabulary knowledge is a key component for literacy skills as well as the development of communication deemed important for students to succeed in university. Gaining adequate receptive vocabulary knowledge would enhance a university student’s comprehension of academic texts. This descriptive study aims to investigate the receptive vocabulary knowledge among English major university students in Malaysia and Thailand. The sample comprises 80 English major students from Universiti Sultan Zainal Abidin (UniSZA), Malaysia and 86 English major students from Prince Songkla University (PSU), Thailand. A Vocabulary Size Test (VST) adopted from Nation and Beglar was employed to gather the primary data from the respondents about their receptive vocabulary knowledge. The Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 21.0 was used for data analysis. Results showed that, on average, UniSZA students had a higher VST score (44.64%) compared to that of PSU students (20.92%). The higher average score gained by UniSZA students was mainly due to early exposure to formal English education in schools. This study recommends preparing students with explicit academic vocabulary instruction, particularly in the beginning semester of an English programme, to meet the academic and professional needs of English major students in future. Keywords: Receptive vocabulary, productive vocabulary, Vocabulary Size Test (VST), breadth of vocabulary knowledge, depth of vocabulary knowledge.Cite as: Yunus, K., Mohamad, M., & Waelateh, B. (2016). The breadth of receptive vocabulary knowledge among English major university students. Journal of Nusantara Studies, 1(1), 7-17.

The aim of this study is to examine how learning anxiety and involution influence students’ learning motivation, the interrelationships among anxiety, involution, and the four language skills (listening, speaking, reading, and writing), as well as the potential variations in these relationships among English major students in different educational backgrounds, specifically in Beijing and Macau. This study employed quantitative research methods to collect data on learning anxiety, involution, and motivation levels from university students in both cities. The results indicate that both groups exhibited motivation levels higher than the average, moderate levels of anxiety and involution, and significant effects of anxiety and involution on motivation. Furthermore, interconnections were observed among the four language skills. Moreover, variations in the results were found across different cultural backgrounds. This study holds important theoretical significance in understanding the impact of affect and positive psychology on English learning, as well as exploring the differences in English learning within diverse cultural contexts.

At present, in the actual translation process, the English translation work is mostly carried out in the form of teamwork.In the future college English teaching, big data and its related concepts and technologies will become one of the main tools for teachers to find and discover teaching rules, summarize teaching experience and innovate teaching methods, especially in the current English translation courses involving international communication.This paper combines the computer big data technology with the emerging teaching methods such as flipped classroom, and attempts to reform the English translation course for English majors, so as to realize the goal of independent learning and improve the quality of English translation teaching.

This paper focuses on the cultivation path of business etiquette for English major students. With the deepening of global economic integration, business communication is becoming increasingly frequent, and business etiquette skills have become crucial for English majors. This study aims to explore how to effectively cultivate the business etiquette skills of English major students. Through literature review and empirical research methods, this article first analyzes the importance and influencing factors of business etiquette, then proposes a systematic training path, and verifies the feasibility and effectiveness of this training path through empirical research. The research results indicate that English major students need to pay attention to knowledge learning, practical opportunities, and personal quality cultivation in improving their business etiquette skills. This study has certain guiding significance for improving the business etiquette skills of English majors.

Learning autonomy is a hot research topic in the field of foreign language education in recent years. It emphasizes that learners should learn to manage their own learning process in order to improve their autonomous learning ability. Even though scholars have different understandings about learner autonomy, they all agree that promoting learner autonomy is an important goal of foreign language education. For English major students in China, there is a great necessity to cultivate their learning autonomy due to the rapid development of information society, the goal of modern foreign language education, the particularity of language learning, and even the individual differences between language learners. However, the status quo of Chinese English major students’ learning autonomy is worrying. They not only lack the awareness of learning autonomy, but also lack the abilities of interaction and cooperation. Furthermore, they have a poor use of language learning strategies and poor abstract thinking ability and self-control. Based on the necessity and status quo of English major students’ learning autonomy in China, this paper puts forward many measures for cultivating English majors’ autonomous learning abilities. From the perspective of school education system and environment, measures like giving English teachers greater autonomy in teaching, the reform of graded teaching for English majors, and establishing autonomous learning centers for English major students are recommended. From the perspective of teachers and classroom teaching, the measures include improvement of English teachers’ awareness of learning autonomy, the change of English classroom teaching model, and guidance and training of systematic learning strategies. From the perspective of students and extracurricular learning, the following measures can be taken, which are strengthening of students’ awareness of being independent, effective use of various learning resources and cooperative learning, and being a reflective learner.

A well-known, long-standing and heated debate across the literature concerning applied linguistics is whether within the classroom teachers are dealing with second language acquisition or second language learning. This controversial issue is especially relevant for contexts where English is learned as an English as an Additional Language (EAL) as in Portugal. This is particulalry important at a national level, where English is currently taught as a compulsory subject across primary education, with minimal input.However, the English language curriculum, its pedagogy, and assessment are not anchored on Content for Language and Integrated Learning (CLIL) principles, hence resorting mainly to the students’ mother tongue. As we move towards identifying and synthesizing best pedagogical practices for Teaching English to Young Learners, it is key that we seek a deep understanding of the most effective teaching strategies to foster second language acquisition. As the matter of fact, second language acquisition and overall literacy development have long been considered key to young learners of English, as a strong and solid primary education is critical to ensuring their long-term academic success (Snow, Burns, & Griffin, 1998). Nonetheless, one major issue concerning primary English langauae teaching is the overwhelming lack of CPD opportunities and research-informed teaching, thus resulting in English language teachers’ unsufficient pedagogical preparation, leading in turn to students’ disengagement within the second language learning process.Therefore, this paper seeks to explore whether exposure to English-only language lessons, through cross-curricular work sets a viable and solid path for second language acquisition in contexts where it is commonly believed that it is only possible to learn English as a set of isolated words.As methodology for the present study there was resort to children’s literature, language games and to an English-only classroom environment to simulate a bilingual education classroom. Within storytelling and cross-curricular work, key vocabulary was taught, hence working the language both at word and sentence level.The findings, based in students’ samples of work, do illustrate pedagogical practices which demonstrate successful second language acquisition, namely morpheme order acquisition, even with minimal exposure to the target language.

Study on the Application of Presentation Approach to C-E Translation Teaching--A Case Study of Vocational English Students

This study aims to explore the relationship between psychological resilience and classroom environment among English major students. The research involved 318 third-year undergraduate English majors from universities in Inner Mongolia, employing a mixed-methods approach combining quantitative and qualitative research. Quantitative data were collected using the 10-item Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale and the Classroom Environment Scale. Subsequently, eight students were randomly selected for interviews. The findings reveal that both classroom environment and psychological resilience among English majors are at moderate levels, and a significant positive correlation exists between classroom environment and psychological resilience. Theoretically, this study enriches research in educational psychology for English majors. Practically, it provides concrete and actionable strategies for optimizing English classroom environments and fostering students' psychological resilience, thereby holding significant implications for enhancing the quality of English major education and teaching.

This chapter presents an in-depth qualitative analysis of the test activity of two English major students (two of the thirteen case studies described in Chap. 6). Through the framework of Activity Theory (established in Chap. 5) and the process of axial coding, this chapter explores the type of goals that motivated students to prepare for the TOEIC, the type of learning contexts they participated in, the type of operations and strategies they engaged in, and the overall outcomes of their test preparation. Each case study begins with a profile of the participant and follows with a theme-based analysis of the goals, actions, operations and outcomes of their test activity. Results reveal ways in which English majors may be influenced by their major when engaging in test preparation for the TOEIC, and at the same time, similar to students with majors other than English (Chap. 7), any number of factors may influence the outcomes of a student’s test activity. To this end, as discussed in the remaining chapters of this book, a greater understanding of the mechanisms involved in the process of washback is one that explores the micro and macro levels of situated learner activity.

As a universal language, English makes a better communication between China and the developed countries, English language teaching has become increasingly important in more and more Chinese Schools. At the beginning, when Chinese students start to learn a second language, they need to translate the second language such as English into Chinese in the first hand, and this procedure will help them to understand and learn English better. For English language translation teachers, they need to research and create the suitable、effective method of learning English translation for most students constantly in order to improve the English translation learning efficiency of the Chinese students. The local culture of China is quite different from the culture of other English speaking countries. When our Chinese students study English language translation, at the same time, they need to learn the different culture in different countries and learn how to accept and face up the cultural background difference between our country and the other English speaking countries. In the meantime, during the time of teaching English translation, the English translation subject teachers need to guide the students to learn and understand the difference in practice, and help them to establish a comprehensive and correct idea of learning English translation (through teaching right and different translation skills.