English Major Students Research Articles

Exploring challenges of online learning in the context of Ba Ria – Vung Tau University by English Major students

This study aims to find out challenges of English major students in conducting online learning at Ba Ria – Vung Tau University (BVU). The research results were found by analyzing quantitative data by introducing survey to 160 English major students; the qualitative data was summarized by 15 English major students and 10 teachers from the interview. The results revealed many difficulties by the evaluation and perception of both students and teachers. The aspect of support is the highest while the lowest belonged to the challenges in aspect of the environment. Meanwhile, the challenges in aspect of collaboration were at the second position and the third position is about students’ attitude towards online learning. About challenges relating to equipment, the result was at the fourth position. Additionally, further discussions and recommendations on challenges that English major students encountered during online learning were also proposed.

Using AI Tools to Enhance Translation Skills among Basic Education English Major Students

Using AI Tools to Enhance Translation Skills among Basic Education English Major Students

The “Complex Dynamic Model of Autonomy Development” in Action: A Longitudinal Multiple Case Study on Language Learners’ Trajectories

This paper explores the autonomy development in the language learning trajectories of two English major students within the complexity paradigm (Larsen-Freeman, 1997, 2017; Larsen-Freeman & Cameron, 2008). Autonomy is viewed as a complex, evolving phenomenon shaped by life experiences, including setbacks, stability, and progress. The Complex Dynamic Model of Autonomy Development (Borges, 2022) guided this four-year longitudinal study conducted at a university in Northern Brazil. This multiple case study utilized learning narratives, diaries, and a final interview to generate data. Learning narratives depicted the participants’ profile and their learning initial conditions, while diaries captured their reflections on language learning and autonomy. An interview was conducted in the final semester to shed light on how autonomy influenced students’ empowerment and participation in the academic and professional community (Borges, 2019; Murray, 2017; Nicolaides, 2017; Oxford, 2003). The results show that the personalized and complex nature of autonomy development is manifested differently for each student in varying contexts over time. Subsystems like motivation, beliefs, identities, and emotions were found to either enhance or inhibit autonomy along their language learning journeys.

Factors Contributing to Academic Boredom among English-Major Students at Nong Lam University Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

Academic boredom can detrimentally impact students' motivation, engagement, and academic performance. Recognizing the challenges faced by English-major students at Nong Lam University, Ho Chi Minh city, the authors of this paper conducted a study to investigate the underlying factors contributing to academic boredom within this specific academic context. A quantitative research method was employed in the current study to investigate the antecedents of academic boredom among the English-majored students. The population of this study consists of 427 English language majors at Nong Lam University, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. A convenience sampling method was utilized. Correlation and regression analyses were used to explore the relationships between the antecedent factors and academic boredom among students. The findings reveal a combination of internal and external factors contributing to boredom. It was also found that the most common causes of boredom are the students’ attitude toward their learning and the university’s environment while no significant correlation was observed between the level of boredom and teaching contents, teaching methods and pedagogical style. Some implications concerning how to reduce EFL classroom boredom are also presented in this paper.

An Investigation of the Difficulties in Academic Writing with the First-year English-majored Students: The Case of a University in Vietnam

Writing is considered one of the four key abilities in English that enhances the achievement of language learners. Therefore, English major students have challenges in the learning process when trying to enhance their writing skills. This research, titled “An Investigation of the Difficulties in Academic Writing with the First-year English-majored Students: The Case of a University in Vietnam,” aims to uncover challenges faced by first-year English students in writing and propose solutions to address these issues. The research is being carried out at Nam Can Tho University. The research approach employed is descriptive research. 51 English language first-years were chosen by a simple random sampling method. They will be required to complete a questionnaire. The aim is to pinpoint the issues and errors that students may encounter in English writing. The research findings will be examined to identify common faults in writing pertaining to vocabulary, grammatical structures, and background knowledge.

Investigating the Challenges and Strategies of Thai University Students in Mastering English Idioms

Background: The acquisition of English idiomatic expressions is a critical aspect of language proficiency that unquestionably contributes to the improvement of effective communication skills. A number of studies have been conducted in the field of English idioms; however, there are still unanswered questions in this area. Since learning English idioms is a complex process, further investigation is needed, especially among students learning English as a Foreign Language (EFL) in the specific educational milieu of a university setting. Purpose: This study investigated the attitudes of Thai university students towards the importance of learning English idioms. In addition, it examined the challenges faced by these students in learning and comprehending English idioms, along with the effective strategies employed to overcome the difficulties. Methods: This study adopted a descriptive research design involving 50 fourth-year English major students (12% male, 88% female) from a university in southern Thailand. A survey questionnaire on a five-point Likert scale adapted from Orfan (2020) was used to collect the data from the participants. Results: The findings demonstrated that Thai university students had a positive attitude towards the importance of learning idioms and recognized the critical role they play in successful communication in English. Nevertheless, they faced various challenges when learning English idioms. They reported that idioms were challenging to grasp when taken out of context, and they faced difficulties due to their limited knowledge and cultural background. The participants in the study also reported utilizing different strategies to learn and comprehend idioms, such as guessing the meaning of idioms, using descriptive definitions in English, and memorization. Conclusion: This study offers valuable insights for both educators and researchers, serving as a foundation for the development of more efficient language teaching methodologies and promoting cross-cultural understanding in language acquisition.

An Investigation on the Effectiveness of the Drama Method of English Major Students in Studying Listening Skills at Ho Chi Minh City University of Industry and Trade

This research investigates how incentives might be used to build pedagogical decision-making skills in EFL classroom environments. It examines how the effectiveness of drama methods can revolutionize teaching and learning English as a foreign language in EFL classrooms. The study's data, which involved using a creative theater technique to intervene in required and prescribed EFL curriculum and pedagogy with English major students who struggled with English listening abilities, is used in this report. The four main categories of thematic themes addressed are: enhancing learner-to-learner interaction, motivating students, and introducing new or altering methods. To compare motivation and the traditional methods, data from 60 English major freshman students in two classrooms was gathered through questionnaire surveys. The researcher used a qualitative and quantitative approach to analyze 60 survey subjects in this study. The results show the effectiveness of using the drama method to help students study English listening skills better. Based on the study’s findings, the researcher suggests how lecturers and teachers might use drama to create efficient teaching and learning strategies for English listening skills.

Alignment of Coursebook and Curriculum: Effective Business English Learning Outcomes

Confronted with the challenges of an interconnected work environment, students often have difficulties in connecting theoretical knowledge with practical communication skills. This article examines the potential of business English coursebooks to be reimagined as transforming tools that equip students to traverse the business environment effortlessly. Previously seen as purely theoretical resources, these coursebooks may now be recognized as valuable assets for students. We contend that meticulously crafted coursebooks, when used proficiently, may serve as gateways to developing essential communication aptitudes, cultural consciousness, and pragmatic negotiation proficiencies. Through interesting case studies, interactive activities, and simulations, students obtain genuine experience in composing emails, making presentations, and participating in negotiations, increasing confidence and enhancing their employability potential. In conclusion, we emphasize the many advantages of using coursebooks not just as reservoirs of information but also as dynamic tools for molding self-assured and accomplished corporate communicators. This article only concentrates on the compliance of the coursebook to the aims of the course of the English major students at Ho Chi Minh City University of Industry and Trade.

The Role of Vocabulary Knowledge in Advanced Listening Comprehension in English as a Foreign Language and Some Suggested Strategies for HUIT Students to Improve Their Vocabulary

This article aims at examining the impact of vocabulary knowledge on listening comprehension. The study revealed a substantial correlation between listening comprehension and the depth and breadth of vocabulary knowledge. The study used a quantitative method to collect data from 103 English-majored students at HUIT. The paper highlighted the particular methods for learning vocabulary which can assist students to learn more vocabulary in English and broaden their vocabulary at the same time. Additionally, it might increase students' motivation to learn the language and make the process simpler.

Homonymy Related English Vocabulary Learning: Investigating the Difficulties of the Third Year Students

Homonymy, as a type of lexical relations between words, is a significant linguistic phenomenon which has received a lot of attention in recent years. English contains numerous homonymous forms with different meanings, which often cause confusion for EFL/ESL learners. In line with that, this research was carried out primarily to investigate the linguistic difficulties of learning and teaching homonymy in English in the Yemeni context. Hence, this data-oriented descriptive study was designed to investigate the difficulties in learning using homonymous English words as the data of the study. A total sample of 80 third-year English major students and 20 of their teachers at the Faculty of Education, Aden, University of Aden, were selected randomly as the subjects for this study. The qualitative and quantitative data required for this investigation were collected by employing two research instruments: a diagnostic test and a questionnaire. The major findings of the study revealed that phonological and orthographical identities of homonymic words, ‘unrelatedness’ of meanings, similarity in pronunciation, insufficient vocabulary size and knowledge, inadequate practice, poor focus in the course materials and stereo-typed teaching methodology contribute to learner difficulties with homonymy. Significantly, the literature survey and the findings of this work would be a modest contribution to vocabulary teaching and learning with special reference to homonymy.

BEYOND LIKES AND SHARES: HOW SOCIAL MEDIA SHAPES VOCABULARY ACQUISITION

Social media has become a prevalent tool for teaching and learning, enabling students to engage in self-directed learning, collaborative discussions, and feedback exchange to enhance their grammar and writing skills. This study investigates the influence of social media on vocabulary development and motivation for English language learning among second-year English major students at Nueva Ecija University of Science and Technologys College of Education. It employs a Likert scale questionnaire to explore both the positive and negative influences of social media platforms on language learning. The studys findings aim to illuminate how social media can contribute to vocabulary acquisition and foster interest in English language learning. KEYWORDS: Social Media, Vocabulary Development, English Language Learning, Motivation

Self Directed Learning Scale at University Context

This research was carried out to investigate a relationship between self-directedness, self-involvement, expressive language, self-assessment, language varieties, metacognitive skills, editing and problem solving, text processing, knowledge rehearsal, idea planning, goal oriented monitoring and evaluating, peer learning, feedback handling, interest enhancement, motivational self-talk, and emotional control and the main and forming factors of self-directedness, self-involvement, expressive language, self-assessment, language varieties, metacognitive skills, editing and problem solving, text processing, knowledge rehearsal, idea planning, goal oriented monitoring and evaluating, peer learning, feedback handling, interest enhancing, motivational self-talk, and emotional control of self directed learning. A convenience sample approach was used to recruit English majors from a range of State University of Yogyakarta. All participants were recruited intentionally, and that they were informed that they might leave the study at any moment either during collecting data. The participant criteria include second-year English major students from various State Universities of Yogyakarta. As the result of pearson correlation in this research, it was found that there was a substantial relationship between the variables examined in this research. Moreover, as the result of factor analysis in this research was found that from the 11 variables included in the research namely self involvement, expressive language, self assessment, language varieties, metacognitive skills, editing and problem solving, Cognition, Metacognition, Social Behavior, and Motivational Regulation, they can be grouped into two main factors. The implications of these findings lie in a deeper understanding of the underlying conceptual structure of self-directed learning in a university context. With the identification of the key factors emerging from these variables, a more focused approach can be developed to enhance students' self-directed learning. This can also aid in the development of more precise and measurable assessment instruments to gauge progress in crucial aspects of self-directed learning. Thus, the implications of these findings can enrich teaching and learning practices in higher education settings.

Challenges of Teaching Reading: A Case of University English Reading Courses

The centrality of reading in students’ academic performance has been well-established in the literature. As a learned skill, reading is acquired in an instructional setting and students’ ability to comprehend and interact with texts is largely shaped by reading instruction. The efficacy of reading instruction is subject to varied factors that stand as challenges to be overcome. This study aimed to explore the challenges experienced by university teachers in teaching reading to B.Ed. English major students. To this end, the study adopted a case study design that comprised purposively selected four university English teachers teaching English reading courses at a constituent campus of Tribhuvan University, and eight B.Ed. English majors from the same campus. The data were collected through a combination of three qualitative methods: classroom observation, semi-structured interview and focus group discussion. The findings revealed students having no coursebooks and relying on other substandard reading materials, students’ poor reading habits, students’ limited vocabulary knowledge, strategically untrained students, and the length of courses and texts as major challenges faced by teachers in teaching the prescribed reading courses. Drawing on these findings, implications for reading pedagogy are considered.

Task complexity and foreign language writing emotions as predictors of EFL writing performance

Emotions and task complexity have gained scant attention in EFL writing. This study, based on control-value theory and a positive psychology perspective, explores the relationship between task complexity, writing anxiety, writing boredom, writing enjoyment, and task complexity and writing emotions interaction on EFL writing performance among English major students in China’s educational context (N = 84). It has been found that difficult writing tasks can result in higher writing anxiety and lower writing boredom. By 6 × 2 between-subject ANOVA, there is a significant interaction of task complexity and different levels of writing anxiety, writing boredom, and writing enjoyment for the dimensions of language fluency, complexity, and accuracy among English major students in China’s educational context. This study is an initial step in extending the writing emotions and task complexity in the production of EFL writing, which promotes the mutual integration of emotion and cognition in EFL writing research and thus supplies suggestions for task-based EFL writing instruction.

SOME SUGGESTIONS TO IMPROVE ENGLISH PRESENTATION SKILL FOR THE 3RD- YEAR- STUDENTS OF FACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES- HUNG YEN UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY AND EDUCATION

Presentation is one of the most important skills for language learners and other professions in general. To make a successful and effective presentation, students need to practice many language skills and master public speaking skills. This research was conducted by asking survey questions and interviews to find out students' attitudes toward presentation skills, the difficulties students encounter and suggest methods to help students present more effectively and confidently in order to have good results in studying and effectiveness in future work. Because the implementation time is limited and the FFL, UTEHY has different training facilities, we only conducted research on the 3rd year English major students in My Hao campus. From the above difficulties and challenges that students are facing, we offer suggestions to help students make better presentations such as improving vocabulary, developing an attractive and coherent topic, mastering speaking speed and voice, using body languages naturally and exploiting visual aid from power point, mind map, posters, painting etc.

READING STRATEGIES USED BY ENGLISH-MAJORED STUDENTS AT THU DAU MOT UNIVERSITY

In the accelerating pace of globalization and internationalization of trade, professionals from a wide range of organizations believed that English as an international language, which is a way of thinking, researching and practicing, was used in almost all areas of life, study, and work. That’s why the study's foremost objectives were to comprehend reading learning strategies used by English-majored students at Thu Dau Mot University. A quantitative method was used to conduct the research with a questionnaire divided into four parts. The subjects of this study are 100 English majors from the Faculty of Foreign Languages at Thu Dau Mot University. According to the results, the majority of students agree with the difficulties faced when learning English reading. Likewise, students also subscribe that they also use some reading learning strategies such as extensive reading strategy, the phonics strategy, the whole language strategy, reading comprehension strategy and vocabulary building strategy. Moreover, some solutions, such as the function of the word in the sentence, the main gist, guessing the unfamiliar word and reading aloud are recommended to them to read more effectively and improve their reading ability. Ultimately, some recommendations are made in the hope of helping both teachers and students.

THE POTENTIALS OF UTILIZING KARAOKE ACTIVITIES TO ENHANCE STUDENTS' ENGLISH PRONUNCIATION

Karaoke, a form of entertainment that employs a karaoke machine to present audio, visual, and textual information simultaneously, holds potential for language teaching due to its effective combination of language comprehension and verbal expression. This study investigates the impact of karaoke activities on English pronunciation by engaging 27 English major students in five karaoke-based pronunciation learning sessions. Both pretests and posttests, along with survey questionnaires and interviews, were employed to assess changes in participants' pronunciation competency before and after the treatment. The findings demonstrate positive improvement in participants' pronunciation as a result of karaoke activities.

AN INVESTIGATION ON DIFFICULTIES ENCOUNTERED BY ENGLISH-MAJORED STUDENTS AT DONG NAI TECHNOLOGY UNIVERSITY IN WRITING ACADEMIC ESSAYS

University students in Vietnam are facing a growing demand to use English in their academic and future career endeavors. Among four skills, English writing is a significant challenge for students, particularly those pursuing a major in academic English language, as they are expected to demonstrate the proficiency in a diverse range of writing styles. Consequently, writing difficulties among students have consistently emerged as a primary concern in writing courses. Nevertheless, Dong Nai Technology University has not yet done any research study to examine this particular element. The objective of this study was to examine the challenges encountered by students when attempting to meet the criteria of an academic English essay. Subsequently, some solutions were applied to enhance the quality of students' essays. The author of this study employs a questionnaire and an interview to investigate the English-majored students’ essay writing practice and challenges at Dong Nai Technology University. The survey was sent to a total of 140 students, and the findings revealed that students had not only a low frequency of writing practice but also encountered many barriers to meet writing criteria including task achievement, lexical resource, grammatical range and accuracy, coherence and cohesion . In addition, the interview’ results provided a more comprehensive picture of students’ challenges in writing academic essays. The study also indicates the importance of teachers’ feedback and students’ reading and writing practice in enhancing students’ writing proficiency.

ENGLISH-MAJORED STUDENTS’ PERCEPTIONS OF AUDIO-VISUAL SCRIPT EXPOSURE IN LISTENING COMPREHENSION LESSONS

Pre-listening activities have been proven to be efficient for enhancing learners' English listening abilities. Nevertheless, there has been insufficient attention given to the impact of showing students audio scripts during while-listening stage on their performance and attitudes. To be specific, that students can see audio scripts is regarded as a highly effective instructional tool for enhancing their English listening comprehension skills because it allows them to clearly perceive and comprehend the listening content, as well as boosts their eagerness to acquire English language skills. The objectives of this study are first to gain some insight into the difficulties faced by 80 English-majored students at Dong Nai Technology University when it comes to listening comprehension. Accordingly, it examines their perspectives on the exposure of audio scripts at the stage of while listening. Questionnaires and interviews were employed as tools for gathering essential data. According to the questionnaires, students had significant listening challenges throughout stages of a lesson including lack of vocabulary, pronunciation skills, background knowledge, memorization, concentration, ability to process the information in a short time. Furthermore, the interviews revealed that the display of audio scripts not only improves but also motivates students in their learning journey. In short, the students found the application of audiovisual scripts as a facilitator in an English listening comprehension lesson.

A STUDY ON TEST-TAKING STRATEGIES TO IMPROVE ENGLISH MAJORED STUDENTS’ READING COMPETENCE

Previous studies have investigated the significance of reading proficiency in acquiring the English language and brought attention to the reading difficulties learners have in their learning process. This study examines the use of speed-reading strategies as a method to enhance learners' reading ability. Seventy senior English-major students from the Faculty of Foreign Languages at Dong Nai Technology University were participating in the study during their final semester. The study employed a mixed methodology, which included collecting quantitative data from a pretest-posttest paradigm without a control group, questionnaires before and after the use of speed reading strategies, and qualitative data through observations. The students' reading competence was assessed using a standardized IELTS reading test at the start of the study, followed by a pre questionnaire and 10 hours of speed reading training with observations. After the training, the students took a posttest to determine the discrepancy between the pre-test and post-test, and post questionnaire was sent to the participants to understand their opinion about the use of strategies in doing tests. Speed reading techniques were found to enhance students' performance on reading tests and cultivate a positive attitude towards reading comprehension. The students gained valuable reading skills and strategies that contribute to academic success.