A study on difficulties of the fourth year non english major students at hanoi university of science and technology in achieving english learning outcome standard

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES ************************* NGUYỄN THỊ THANH HẰNG MAJOR STUDENTS AT HA

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-

GRADUATE STUDIES *************************

NGUYỄN THỊ THANH HẰNG

MAJOR STUDENTS AT HANOI UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND

TECHNOLOGY IN ACHIEVING ENGLISH LEARNING OUTCOME

STANDARDS AND SOME SUGGESTED SOLUTIONS

(Nghiên cứu về những khó khăn của sinh viên không chuyên tiếng Anh năm thứ 4tại trường Đại học Bách Khoa Hà Nội trong việc đạt chuẩn đầu ra tiếng Anh

và đề xuất một số giải pháp khắc phục)

M.A.MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field Code

: English Teaching Methodology

: 60140111

HA NOI – 2017

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-

GRADUATE STUDIES *************************

NGUYỄN THỊ THANH HẰNG

MAJOR STUDENTS AT HANOI UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND

TECHNOLOGY IN ACHIEVING ENGLISH LEARNING OUTCOME

STANDARDS AND SOME SUGGESTED SOLUTIONS

(Nghiên cứu về những khó khăn của sinh viên không chuyên tiếng Anh năm thứ 4tại trường Đại học Bách Khoa Hà Nội trong việc đạt chuẩn đầu ra tiếng Anh

và đề xuất một số giải pháp khắc phục)

M.A.MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field : English Teaching Methodology

Supervisor : DR PHẠM THỊ THANH THÙY

HANOI – 2017

NGUYỄN THỊ THANH HẰNG, hereby certifies that this thesis, which is

entitled “A Study On Difficulties Of The Fourth-year Non-English Major Students At Hanoi University Of Science And Technology In Achieving English Learning Outcome Standards And Some Suggested Solutions” is

created from my original work I have firmly declared the contribution of others to

my thesis such as data analysis, practical strategies, and all other researches thatwere employed or reviewed in my thesis

This thesis is the result of my own study in the fulfillment of the requirementfor the Degree of Master of Arts at Faculty of Post-Graduate Studies, University ofLanguages and International Studies, Vietnam National University, Hanoi

Hanoi, 2017

Nguyễn Thị Thanh Hằng

First of all, I wish to express my deepest gratitude to my supervisor, Dr.PhạmThịThanhThùy, whose insightful comments, criticism, direction and kindsupport were of great assistance to me in carrying out this study

My sincere thanks also go to all the lecturers and staff of the Faculty of Graduate Studies, Hanoi University of Languages and International Studies,Vietnam National University, Hanoi, for their valuable knowledge and invaluableguidance and help during my two years of study at the Faculty

Post-I am also indebted to the teachers as well as the students at Hanoi University

of Science and Technology, who have helped me a lot in my data collection to fulfillthis paper

Last but not least, I would like to express my appreciation to my family for their understanding and strong encouragement to me throughout the study

Nguyễn Thị Thanh Hằng

The fact that final year students at universities in Vietnam in general and at HanoiUniversity of Science and Technology in particular face many difficulties inachieving English learning outcome standards is of great concerns to many peopleincluding educational managers, teaching staff and families This study aims toexplore the difficulties that students encounter in achieving English learningoutcomes, identifies which particular factor poses the most difficulty of the students

in order to propose feasible solutions that help them overcome the problems and getthe best results in English study The subjects of the study were the fourth-year non-English major students of Hanoi University of Science and Technology amongwhich 108 students who took English examination in the academic year 2016-2017were selected for the study Data on difficult factors that students face in achievingEnglish learning outcome standards were collected using questionnaire andinterview The results show that the fourth year non-English major students havemany problems that negatively affected their academic achievements in bothEnglish subject and university study These problems mainly resulted from 3sources: (1) the students themselves, (2) the teaching staff, and (3) the management.Several suggestions to help students overcome the problems by the participants arealso presented

TABLE OF CONTENTS

DECLARATION i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii

ABSTRACT iii

TABLE OF CONTENTS iv

ABBRIVIATIONS v

LIST OF TABLES vi

LIST OF FIGURES vi

PART A INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 Rationale of the study 1

1.2 Research objectives 2

1.3 Research questions 2

1.4 Scope of the Study 3

1.5 Structure of Research 3

PART B DEVELOPMENT 5

CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 5

1.1 Definition of outcomes and outcome-based education 5

1.1.1 Definition of outcomes 5

1.1.2 Definition of outcome-based education 6

1.2 Difficulties of learning English as a foreign language 6

1.3 Difficulties in achieving expected learning outcomes in English language study7 1.3.1 Difficulties relating to the students 7

1.3.2 Difficulties relating to the teachers 8

1.3.3 Difficulties relating to the management 9

1.4 Previous studies on the difficulties faced by language learners 10

1.5 Chapter summary 13

CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY 14

2.1 The context of Hanoi University of Science and Technology 14

2.1.1 Teachers 14

2.1.2 Students 14

2.1.3 The English teaching and learning at HUST 15

2.1.3.1 The syllabus of English teaching and learning 15

2.1.3.2 The English teaching and learning in HUST 15

2.1.4 Requirements of English learning outcomes for HUST students 16

2.2 Research method 18

2.2.1 Description of the subjects 18

2.2.2 Conduct preliminary study 18

2.2.3 Data collection instruments 20

2.2.3.1 Questionnaire 20

2.2.3.2 Teacher interview 20

2.2.4 Procedures 21

2.2.5 Data analysis 21

2 3 Summary 22

CHAPTER 3: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 23

3.1 Difficulties faced by the fourth-year non-English major students 24

3.1.1 Difficulties relating to the students 24

3.1.2 Difficulties relating to the teachers 28

3.1.3 Difficulties relating to the university management 30

3.2 The factor that poses the most difficulty for the students 33

3.3 Summary of the results 35

PART C: CONCLUSIONS 37

1 Recapitulation of the main ideas 37

2 Implications 37

REFERENCES I APPENDIX 1: QUESTIONNAIRE

III APPENDIX 2: DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS V APPENDIX 3: INTERVIEW

VIII

v

HUST: Hanoi University of Science and TechnologyEFL: English Foreign Language

L2: Second Language

LIST OF TABLES

TABLE1 1: DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS 1 25

TABLE1 2: DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS 2 28

TABLE1 3: DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS 3 30

TABLE1 4: DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS 4 33

TABLE 2 1: FACTORS AND PARTICULAR DIFFICULTIES INFLUENCING THE EFL LEARNERS‟ ACHIEVEMENT 36

LIST OF FIGURES FIGURE 1 1: SPOLSKY‟S (1989) MODEL OF SECOND LANGUAGE LEARNING 12

FIGURE 1 2: MINIMUM ENGLISH LEVEL FOR STUDENTS AT HUST 17

FIGURE 1 3: EQUIVALENT TO SCORES OF ENGLISH LEVEL 17

FIGURE 1 4: SUMMARY OF FACTORS CAUSING DIFFICULTIES TO THE EFL LEARNERS IN ACHIEVING LEARNING OUTCOMES 19

FIGURE 2 1: DIFFICULTIES RELATING TO THE STUDENTS 26

FIGURE 2 2: DIFFICULTIES RELATING TO THE TEACHERS 29

FIGURE 2 3: DIFFICULTIES RELATING TO THE MANAGEMENT BOARD 31

FIGURE 2 4: DIFFICULTIES FACED BY THE 4TH YEAR NON-ENGLISH MAJOR STUDENTS AT HUST IN ACHIEVING ENGLISH LEARNING OUTCOMES 34

PART A

INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale of the study

There is no denying that English has been taken up by people in all walks oflife not only in academic institutes but also in companies in Vietnam People areeager to learn English and wish to acquire it at an early age Also, in order to speed

up the country economy and to improve the living standards as soon as possible, it

is necessary for engineers, technicians, scientists, etc to learn and acquire English

to keep up to date with the latest developments in technology in the world.However, as a matter of fact, there are a large number of graduates who cannot useEnglish at work fluently, while English proficiency is constantly considered as akey requirement for recruitment In order to improve this situation, Ministry ofEducation and Training (MOET) launched the dispatch No 2196/BGDĐT-GDĐHdated April 22nd 2010, universities and colleges must notify the graduate outcomestandards to students to know Accordingly, English is one of the compulsorycriteria to evaluate students‟ performance after 4 years at schools Moreover, as

cited from Prime Minister‟s Decision No 1400/QĐ-TTG approving the project

"teaching and learning of foreign languages in the national education system period

2008-2020”(Nhan, 2008), in the higher education level, students who are studying

in universities non-specialized in foreign languages have to pass at least thelanguage proficiency-level 3 (450 TOEIC) after their graduation Therefore, as one

of the leading universities in Vietnam, Hanoi University of Science and Technologyhas integrated TOEIC as one of learning outcome standards to the evaluationsystem In addition to the number of outstanding students attaining the requiredEnglish level, there are a lot of undergraduates, especially non- English major ones,encountering problems with English outcome standards in their final year at thisuniversity That is the reason why “difficulties faced by the fourth-year non-Englishmajor students at Hanoi University of Science and Technology in achieving Englishlearning outcome standards” is chosen as the research‟s topic

Therefore, it can be assumed that mastering English skills will be a key forgraduates to open the career gate rather than struggling and become the ineffective

labor force in the market And meeting learning outcome requirements is a stage inthe roadmap to prove personal capability.

1.2 Research objectives

Rather than serving only for the purpose of completing the graduate thesis,the author has found it interested in the project implementation, which may alsohelp the school and educators consider the effective ways how to improve Englishteaching and learning quality at university Accordingly, the research needs toaddress the following issues

 Having general understanding about learning outcome standards forstudents in Vietnamese universities and Hanoi University of Science and Technology inparticular

 Understanding difficulties of fourth-year non-English major students;

 Examining the relations and correlation between difficulties of fourth-year non-English major students and achievement of learning outcome standards;

 Identifying the most influencing difficulties to impact on the fourth-yearstudents‟ learning outcomes at Hanoi University of Science and Technology;

 See how to improve the situation to help students accumulate sufficient knowledge and skills

1.3 Research questions

The purpose of the study is to find out factors causing challenges inachieving learning outcomes faced by the fourth year non-English major students atHUST To this end, the researcher has formulated the following leading questions to

be answered in the course of the study:

1 What are the difficulties faced by the fourth year non-English major students of HUST in achieving leaning outcome standards?

2 Which particular factor poses the most difficulty for the fourth year English major students of HUST in achieving leaning outcome standards?

non-3 What could be done to solve the problems of the fourth year non-Englishmajor students of HUST?

1.4 Scope of the Study

In the research, the author would emphasize the difficulties of the fourth-yearnon-English major students facing and determine the most influencing factor.Although students, especially ones in the fourth year, this research focuses on thedifficulties of language Moreover, with the limitation of time and resources, theauthor would conduct the project in small target population in order to provideprecise findings and conclusions on the issue

Firstly, the research targets to find out some major difficulties whenstudents‟ English ability cannot reach the requirements of outcome beforegraduating

Rather than spreading the research‟s scope of work to the entire area ofHanoi, the author chose to make the research at Hanoi University of Science andTechnology

Last but not least, the research also considers these factors‟ influence onacquiring learning outcomes, which is regulated by the school‟s board

Although the research is conducted on target population in reality, with somelimitations and pressure, it cannot avoid the uncertainty in the implementation.Therefore, all of findings and conclusions are only relative and referential

framework or an outline for readers to follow the researcher‟s thoughts andarguments.

Part B Development

Chapter 1: Literature review

In this chapter, the author will provide different theories and academicknowledge to develop a conceptual framework Accordingly, many literatures andterminologies are reviewed carefully to choose some typical difficulties a fourth-year student may face when preparing to reach the outcome requirements.Moreover, other scholars focusing on the studying methods are also included.Therefore, this part is regarded the basis to help the researcher develop statementsand prove the findings in the following chapters

Chapter 2: Methodology

The chapter will focus on methods to conduct the research Accordingly,description and explanation of research tools are interpreted clearly in the phase ofdeveloping research strategies, data collection and data analysis The author willprovide two study methods including questionnaire, interview and observation Themethod of questionnaire is much more preferable because it helps to save resources

in the project implementation Besides, interview will be the supporting method toclarify the answer of respondents Information related sample and implementingway are also explained in detail in this part

Chapter 3: Findings and Discussion

After the phase of data collection and data analysis, the author will havefindings about the main tendencies in this chapter Accordingly, the findings anddiscussions will decide whether the initial hypothesis can match with the results

Part C Conclusion and Recommendation

In this part, based on the calculated results, the author may jump to theconclusions as well as provide practical recommendations to improve the situation

of learning English at Hanoi University of Science and Technology Besides, withexperience in the project implementation, the author will also raise somerecommendations for further studies mitigating the external influencing factors

PART B DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter comprises five sections The first section discusses thedefinitions of outcomes and outcome-based education The second section states thedifficulties in learning English as a foreign language The third section presents thedifficulties in achieving English learning outcomes The fourth section reviews thestudies conducted on difficulties faced by language learners in general and inVietnamese context Finally, a brief summary of the reviewed literature will begiven

1.1 Definition of outcomes and outcome-based education

Jenkins and Unwin defined that: “Learning outcomes are statements of what isexpected that the student will be able to do as a result of learning the activity.” (2011)

Another definition is that “Learning outcomes are an explicit description ofwhat a learner should know, understand and be able to do as a result of learning.”(Bingham, 1999)

Or “A learning outcome is a statement of what the learner is expected toknow, understand and/or be able to do at the end of a period of learning.” (Donnellyand Fitzmaurice, 2005)

Moon, (2002) asserted that “A learning outcome is a statement of what alearner is expected to know, understand and be able to do at the end of a period oflearning and of how that learning is to be demonstrated” (Moon, 2002)

Thus, it can be seen that the various definitions of learning outcomes do notdiffer significantly from each other From these definitions, it is clear that:

• Learning outcomes focus on what the learner has achieved rather than theintentions of the teacher;

• Learning outcomes focus on what the learner can demonstrate at the end of

a learning activity

In short, learning outcomes are statements that describe significant andessential learning that learners have achieved, and can reliably demonstrate at theend of a course or program In other words, learning outcomes identify what thelearner will know and be able to do by the end of a course or program

1.1.2 Definition of outcome-based education

William G Spady, an educational researcher, defines that outcome-basededucation is an approach to education in which decisions about the curriculum aredriven by the exit learning outcomes that the students should display at the end ofthe course

Outcome-based education means clearly focusing and organizing everything

in an educational system what is essential for all students to be able to dosuccessfully at the end of their learning experience

Spady, (1994), who spearheaded the development of outcomes basededucation, suggests that the ability demonstrate learning is the key point Thisdemonstration of learning involves a performance of some kind in order to showsignificant learning, or learning that matters He claims that significant content isessential, but that content alone is insufficient as an outcome Rather, knowledge ofcontent must be manifested through a demonstration process of some kind

1.2 Difficulties of learning English as a foreign language

A foreign language (or a second language) is a language other than one‟smother tongue used for a special purpose, e.g for education, government (Crystal,1997:256) English as a second or foreign language (ESFL), refers to the use ofEnglish by speakers with different native languages In recent years, teachers ofEnglish as a foreign language (EFL) have been paying increasing attention toidentify the needs of their students, to students‟ attitudes towards English and theirreasons for learning it The researchers investigate the answer to the following

question: why do students still find difficulties in learning English, although theirteachers do their best to help them achieve good results? The answer to thisquestion lies in the fact that learning English or any other foreign language isdifficult, not only for EFL students, but for all native speakers Beardsmore (1982)suggests that many of the difficulties a second language learner has with thephonology, vocabulary and grammar of L2 are due to the interference of habitsfrom L1 The formal elements of L1 are used within the context of L2, resulting inerrors in L2, as the structures of L1 and L2 are different.

1.3 Difficulties in achieving expected learning outcomes in English

language study

There is no denying that there are various different factors affecting learningoutcomes of L2 learners If the learners put a lot of effort into coordinating theseelements positively, their learning outcomes will be improved Conversely, thesefactors will be difficulties and barriers for the learners in an attempt to reachexpected outcomes unless the learners combine them properly Difficultiesbelonging to the factors are categorized in three relating subjects as follows

1.3.1 Difficulties relating to the students

Numerous studies have confirmed the relationship between backgroundknowledge and achievement It is said that background knowledge is a key factoraffecting the learners‟ success, especially in language study The term backgroundknowledge is described as what students already know which is very advantageousfor learners in accessing a new language Poor knowledge is one of the biggestdifficulties faced by learners not only in language learning but also in achievingexpected outcomes

Besides, according to Brown (2008 as cited in Liu, 2011), what contributed

to negative outcomes for their language-learning is the international students‟ lack

of English language skills It means that language skills are important for learners toreach the success in language learning

Motivation and attitudes are considered one of the most important factors inthe process of second language acquisition (Ellis, 1994) According to Ellis, attitude

and motivation of learners will determine the persistence of them whenencountering with the challenges and difficulties in the study process These factorsaffect the fluency degree of the language learners; therefore, they lead the success

or failure of language development There is a truth that most students are notinterested in learning the language and just think about passing the course, thus,because they are not interested, they do not listen to their teacher and do not learnanything, even they learn something they will forget it quickly (Akram, 2013).Inaddition, the role of attitude and motivation has been conducted by many L2researchers The overall findings show that positive attitude and motivation arerelated to success in second language learning (Gardner, 1985)

It is commonly said that practice makes perfect The saying is considered thevaluable guideline for every language learner due to its meaning It shows anundeniable fact that practice plays an important role determining the success oflanguage study As a matter of fact, before joining the test, the course had beenoffered to the students in order to give them preparation through daily practice This

is needed in order to make them familiar with the test and to guide them inanswering the tests

In association with practice, self-study is vital for learning results and alsothe most important factor of education program basing on credits (Tran Thanh Ai,2013) According to Little (2007), the capability of foreign language learners‟ self-study will determine the success of that language study process Hedge (2000)describes in detail the possibility that is the case learners who are aware of needsand goals try to reach the aims, know how to exploit the resources independently,move in thinking and adjust the learning methods in order to improve the resultsand manage the study time reasonably

1.3.2 Difficulties relating to the teachers

According to Willy A Renandya (2013), who conducted the related research

in Singapore, input is arguably one of the most important elements in languagelearning Years of research by L2 researchers have clearly demonstrated the criticalrole of input in L2learning.In the language classroom, language input essentially

refers to oral or written language that a learner receives Research has shown thatfor input to be beneficial for language development, it has to be highlycomprehensible and abundantly and reliably available in the classroom as well asoutside the classroom Nunan (1991) quoted that "successful language learnersapplying their developing language skills outside the classroom can play a crucialrole in their second language development".

Ellis (2005, p 218) writes, "… most researchers now acknowledge thatlearner output also plays a part." L2 researchers (e.g., Ellis, 2005; Swain, 1999)agree that learner output is useful for learners' language development It can makelearners pay more attention to grammar, thus enabling them to produce moreaccurate language; it can provide them with an opportunity to try out newly learnedgrammatical points; it can facilitate faster access and retrieval to existing linguisticknowledge, which through repeated use improves learners' fluency; and finally, itenables them to develop their ability to produce longer stretches of speech, thusenhancing their discourse skills

1.3.3 Difficulties relating to the management

One of the reasons why our students are not successful in learning English inschool is probably due to the way the English curriculum is designed and thecontent it is covering It is proved that the more appropriate the English program is,the more successful the English learners can be Unless the English content of thetextbook meets the learners‟ need, learners‟ motivation will possibly decrease,which affects directly and profoundly on the learners‟ achievement

Up to now, numerous researches on effective English learning methods haveshown that learning a language requires learners to be persistent to keep learning in

a long and continuous period Time is a real factor determining the success oflanguage study

When mentioning factors influencing language learning outcomes, it isnecessary to take assistance and instruction into consideration It is obvious that themanagement board is responsible for the assistance and instruction to the learners.Research has shown that instruction that is distributed over a longer stretch of time

is less effective than one that is taught more intensively Light Bown's (2000)research in Canada with the French immersion programs is exemplary and showsthat "students who have intensive exposure to the second language near the end ofelementary school have an advantage over those whose instruction was thinlyspread out over a longer period of time." (p 499) What‟s more, assistance fromrelated objects and subjects such as facilities, materials, references, extra-classes,tutors or advisors supported by the board of management will contribute to thesuccess of language learners.

1.4 Previous studies on the difficulties faced by language learners

It is important to shed the light on some of the studies conducted on thedifficulties faced by EFL learners in achieving learning outcomes all around theworld to take advantage of the procedure and ways of account

Frederick Wehbe (2013) indicated that “some of the problems ESL studentswill face are due to the diversity in racial, ethnic, religious, and linguisticbackground.” With the indifferent perspective, Liu (2011) specified the four barriersthat EFL learners encountered They were culture shock, language proficiency,cultural personality and earlier learning experiences

Besides, researches on EFL language learning problems have also attempted

to point out the factors that may influence learners‟ outcomes Renandya W A.(2013) conducted a research named “Essential factors affecting EFL learningoutcomes” pointed out eight factors that can influence the outcomes of foreignlanguage learning They are roles of input, output, fluency, formulaic expressions,motivation, grammar, vocabulary, and amount and intensity of instruction Theresearcher suggested that language teachers should focus on these eight factors inorder to raise students‟ level of proficiency up However, the research has its ownlimitation because of not covering all other factors related to curricula issues,teacher factors, learner factors, and a whole host of situational factors that mayaffect on learners‟ outcomes in their language learning process

Another research on the factors influencing the outcomes of languagelearning conducted by AoutaGhania (2013) identified and analyzed internal and

external factors leading learners to succeed in EFL According to the researcher,internal factors include intelligence, perception, self-esteem, and learning styles;whereas external factors are divided into such two sub-factors as motivation andsocio-cultural status The research deals with one of the most issues in foreignlanguage learning, which is the internal and external factors influencing learners‟success in EFL Nevertheless, the research is limited to third year students becausethey have a great relation with the problem; they have studied English for threeyears, so they can recognize the main problems they face in learning English Thiscould provide teachers and learners into the main factors that contribute to students‟success in learning process.

In addition, Ellis‟s (1994) review of research demonstrated thatpsychological factors such as language aptitude, learning style, age, motivation,strategy use and learner belief; and social factors such as gender, class, ethnicity,cultural background and settings for learning were considered the barriers of theEFL learners‟ achievements

In order to have the generic picture of language performance, the languageevaluator should define and understand clearly what they are going to assess as well

as which criteria should be included Accordingly, Spolsky (1989) indicated therelations among different components, including contextual factors, learningopportunities, learner differences like background and learning environment, andthe learning outcomes Therefore, lacking any of these components will influencethe ability of language performance Accordingly, contextual factors include allcomponents related to the context, for example, the noise, the special environment

or so on Besides, learning opportunities describes the possibility to learn newthings or acquire new knowledge Notably, it also includes the environment,whether the language learners have good environment to practice their language.Besides, the background and even personalities of language learners also influence

on their performance in language For quick-win learners, they can learn andacquire new words in some seconds but for the slow-processing students, theyspend time on learning but not have long-lasting memory Therefore, if one of these

factors is failed to meet, language learners will be posed to the difficulties inEnglish learning In turn, these difficulties will result in the failure to meet theexpected outcomes in the future.

Figure 1.1: Spolsky’s (1989) model of second language learning

(Source: Spolsky‟s (1989) Model of Second Language Learning)

In Vietnam, some studies have been conducted on factors posing difficultiesand affecting the learning outcomes of EFL learners Ha ThanhBich Loan (2015),who conducted a research on the issue of English outcomes for full-time students atUniversity of Economics, Ho Chi Minh City, pointed out the factors influencing thelearning outcomes The two main factors are time issue (learning program amount

of time), appropriateness of English program for non-English major students

(English program) Also, Nguyen Van Loi (2014), in a study on factors influencingthe English proficiency growth of English education students at Can Tho Universitythat self-study, indicated four factors such as self-study, opportunities to accesscomprehensible input and to use meaningful output, motivation and attitude,assessment method.

In conclusion, based on the analysis above, it can be concluded that languagelearners, especially who do not have much time to learn English, will face manytroubles in language learning process Lack of such factors as learning orientation,learning motivation and awareness of learning English is considered one of themain challenges Moreover, the shortage of basic knowledge, the limitation ofEnglish proficiency, the inexperience in testing skills and some other situationalfactors are of great obstacles for EFL learners to reach the success in languagestudy

1.5 Chapter summary

With this review, it can be seen that mastering a target language is the term process, which requires the language learners to be well prepared and willing

long-to overcome difficulties The complication of different faclong-tors as well as difficulties

in the learning process has created the barriers for language learners to master thetarget Accordingly, the determination of learning outcomes, for example, definition

of language competency will help both students and educators have insights ofcurrent scenarios Therefore, this review provided the basic theories to develop theupcoming chapter

Accordingly, the next chapter will define the methodology that meansmethods to conduct the research That will lay the foundation for the researcher toanalyze the results and come up with conclusion

CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY

This chapter introduces the context of Hanoi University of Science andTechnology where the study is conducted Then it describes the methodologiesemployed in the study in terms of the research questions, target population andsampling, the data collection instruments and data analysis

2.1 The context of Hanoi University of Science and Technology

Hanoi University of Science and Technology (HUST) was officiallyestablished in 1956 HUST is a multidisciplinary technical university It alwaysranks first in technology training universities in Vietnam Thousands of engineershave graduated from HUST and are now serving in key industrial and scientificareas Many of them hold important positions in the government

2.1.1 Teachers

The English teaching staff in the university consists of 85teachers of English,

28 of whom are in charge of teaching English for non-English major students Most

of them are masters of English, except to two PhDs and another 2 are in the process

of gaining their M.A degrees Almost all the English teachers are young and active;therefore, they are available to get access to new methods of teaching English in theworld Besides, they always have a tendency to continuously equip themselves withthe latest knowledge of the English language As for the older teachers, they alwaysprove themselves to be experienced In addition, they never set in their own ways;they try their best to keep up with the changes and innovations of the new Englishworld instead In a word, all the teachers of English in HUST are not onlyexperienced in teaching English but also attentive to the new trend in development

of English worldwide What‟s more, they are always highly appreciated because oftheir dedication and enthusiasm to their students

2.1.2 Students

In general, the students in HUST are at the age of 18 -23, and the fourth-yearstudents are at the age of 22-23 They are mostly male students, coming from

different parts all over the country The class consists of about 35 students each.Most of students studied English at high school; however, most of them did notconsider English as their major As a result, they did not pay much attention to learnEnglish at that time.

In addition, English is not their favorite subjects There can be no doubt thatmost of them are not really interested in learning English due to the fact that theyfind it difficult to master English knowledge and to use English skills fluently Forillustration, they are familiar with the common teaching methods at secondary andhigh school with the focus on grammatical and structural issues

2.1.3 The English teaching and learning at HUST

2.1.3.1 The syllabus of English teaching and learning

The main syllabus applied in the HUST is New English Fileby Clive

Oxenden and Christina Latham-Koenig with level intermediate It is asserted thatthe book meets the current requirements of teaching and learning English It focuses

on developing all four skills: reading, speaking, listening and writing At the level

of bachelor, the students only complete the book intermediate for a duration of 180periods, each of which lasts 60 minutes.In addition, non-major English students inHUST have to learn ESP of technical aspects Besides that, other books relating toTOEIC,PET, TOEFL, and IELTS are also used as reference ones for exams In aword, HUST has made great efforts to put forward a satisfactory syllabus of Englishfor the students

2.1.3.2 The English teaching and learning in HUST

While in the past, mentioning studying English, the students always kept in

their mind that they necessarily acquired the grammatical rules with the book New

Headway by Liz Soars, John Soars and Amanda Maris, nowadays, both of the

students and teachers have turned to the new trend of teaching and learning Englishthat is developing such 4 skills as reading, speaking, listening and writing.Therefore, during the lesson, the students have become the centre of attention Theyactively take part in the lesson and use English even outside the class, which has noprecedents before The teachers play the role of instructing, controlling and

encouraging the students As a consequence of this, the lesson has becomeincreasingly appealing and all the students have the chance to participate in learningactivities However, a number of students profoundly affected by inherent passivelearning habits have been unavailable to adopt the new method of teaching andlearning This requires the teachers to pay much attention to make sure that all thestudents have the equal opportunities in the class In addition to follow the program

in the class, the students at HUST are required to obey a fix learning schedule set bythe teachers The aim of the teachers‟ setting the schedule is to help their studentsenhance self-studying outside the English class In order to deal with the schedule,the students have to employ better with their time management, and also employstrategies that help them produce the correct answer for a drill or exercise

2.1.4 Requirements of English learning outcomes for HUST students

According to Ministry of Education and Training‟s (MOET) dispatch No.2196/BGDĐT-GDĐH dated April 22nd 2010, universities and colleges must notifythe graduate outcome standards to students to know Accordingly, English is one ofthe compulsory criteria to evaluate students‟ performance after 4 years at schools.Moreover, as cited from Prime Minister‟s Decision No 1400/QĐ-TTG approvingthe project "teaching and learning of foreign languages in the national educationsystem period 2008-2020”(Nhan, 2008), in the higher education level, students,who are studying in universities non-specialized in foreign languages, have to pass

at least the language proficiency-level 3 after graduating It means that studentsmust reach 450 TOEIC after their graduation

Moreover, with the global inevitable trend of international integration, manyinternational certificates are created to help local residents become global residents.TOEIC (abbreviation of Teaching of English for International Communication) isone kind among these certificates Accordingly, the test will help to evaluateEnglish proficiency for foreign residents (especially in those countries English isnot considered their mother tongue) Notably, TOEIC is a reliable certificate which

is suitable with the communication and working environment Therefore, as one ofthe leading universities in Vietnam, Hanoi University of Science and Technology

has integrated TOEIC as one of learning outcome standards to the evaluationsystem Accordingly, for each year at school (Hanoi University of Science andTechnology, 2014), students have to pass a certain language barrier before beingaccepted to learn in the next level as mentioned below.

First year Complete 2 English sessions (FL 1100, FL1101)

Figure 1.2: Minimum English level for students at HUST

(Source: Hanoi University of Science and Technology, 2014)

Accordingly, during the fourth year, students at Hanoi University of Scienceand Technology are required to pass 400 score of TOEIC, which is considered theminimum acceptable level for each student

It is obvious that Hanoi University of Science and Technology also acceptsthe results of the students with international certificates basing on the same scorescorrespondingly as the table below:

45-59 FCE

Figure 1.3: Equivalent to scores of English level

(Source: Hanoi University of Science and Technology, 2014)

To sum up, facing opportunities and challenges, students with the supportfrom the school must understand the importance and urgency of mastering Englishproficiency, which helps to prepare sufficient “luggage” for them to step further inthe career path

2.2 Research method

2.2.1 Description of the subjects

This study was carried out with the participation of teachers and the year students who were teaching and learning English as a foreign language atHanoi University of Science and Technology The 108 students under investigationwere in the final academic year Of all the 108 students, there are 60 male students(55.5%) and 48 female students (44.5%) These students were randomly chosenfrom the fourth-year students during the 2016-2017 academic years, belongings todifferent classes It is very difficult to select a random sample of individuals sincethe students had already been arranged to different classes In this case, clusterrandom sampling which means that instead of randomly selecting the individuals,the investigator randomly selected the groups or classes for investigation Thus, thestudents chosen in this study could be representative for the whole group of thefourth-year non- English major students at HUST

fourth-2.2.2 Conduct preliminary study

In order to identify clearly factors causing challenges to EFL learners inachieving learning outcomes, the researcher decides to conduct preliminary studybefore conducting official study

Firstly, the researcher lists out all factors that might affect to EFL learners‟outcomes through personal experience and consulting previous researchers aboutdifficulties in language learning The following table lists out summary of factorscausing difficulties and particular difficulties faced by EFL learners in achievinglearning outcomes

Factors Researchers No Particular difficulties

Knowledge Spolsky‟s (1989) 1 Poor background knowledge

and Ellis (1994) 2 Inadequate vocabulary

3 Uncertain grammatical knowledge

4 Unawareness of TOEIC test

6 Poor exam skillsMotivation / Spolsky‟s (1989) 7 Not interested in learning English

Attitude Nguyen Van Loi 8 Lack of seriousness in learning

English(2014) 9 Unawareness of English‟s importance

10 Not investing much time learningEnglish

11 Not attending the English class fully

methods (2013) 17 Inappropriate teaching methods

18 Unqualified teaching competenceMotivation Ellis (1994) 19 No encouragement from teachers

Learning Renandya W.A 20 Few assignments and revision tasksopportunities (2013) 21 No environment for practicing English

28 Inadequate learning materials

students

Figure 1.4: Summary of factors causing difficulties to the EFL learners in

achieving English learning outcomes

Source: Summary of the author

Secondly, the author chooses a group of people to ask from their opinionsand comments about factors posing difficulties to language learners from abovelisted factors These people include English teachers, leaders from the board ofmanagement of HUST and non-English major students

Before interviewing these people, the researcher emails the factors to them

so that they can have a look at the factors The result of the preliminary study will

be the basis to build up research model, hypothesis and variables of the thesis

2.2.3 Data collection instruments

2.2.3.1 Questionnaire

The first instrument which was employed in this study was questionnaire.According to Zarate (2004), “the questionnaire as a research tool should satisfy veryprecise objectives” The questionnaire was used to get information about thedifficulties the students faced in achieving EFL learning outcomes at HUST Thequestionnaire was designed after a review of the literature (Spolsky, 1989; Ellis, 1994;Willy A Renandya, 2013; Frederick Wehbe, 2013; Liu, 2011; Ha ThanhBich Loan,2015; Nguyen Van Loi, 2014) about difficulties faced by EFL learners in achievingEnglish expected outcomes and after conducting the exploratory study (See figure2.3) All the factors in the questionnaire are classified into three main groupsrelating tostudents, teachers and university management board (named group A, group B andgroup C in the research) Items of the questionnaire were 30 close-ended questions Forthe close-ended items in the questionnaire, the researcher used theLikert five- pointscale which is corresponding the following degrees:„Completely disagree‟, „Disagree‟,

„No idea‟, „Agree‟ and „Completely agree‟

2.2.3.2 Teacher interview

The second data collection instrument which was employed in this study wasinterview The purpose of the interview was to confirm the information that wasobtained through the questionnaire; to obtain data on how the difficulties which hadbeen identified through the questionnaire affected the learners‟ outcomes, to get

information about the reasons for the learners‟ difficulties; and to find out if thereare any other problems that influence EFL learning outcomes Another reason forimplementing interview in addition to questionnaire is that it is “useful for makingsense of highly complex situation (Dörnyei 2007:39) The additional data providedallows participants to provide opinions which minimizes, but does not eliminatepossibly leading answers The combination of the two allows for multi-levelanalysis, and improves the validity of the survey by providing evidence for

“convergence and corroboration of the finding” (Dörnyei 2007: 45)

In order to carry out this research, a small scale qualitative survey consisting

of 5 questions was administered to a separate of teachers The questions werewritten in English, translated into Vietnamese, and the survey was administered toteachers with both the English and Vietnamese questions written together Teachersmostly answered in Vietnamese Their answers were translated into English usingthe same method employed for the survey questions

2.2.4 Procedures

Questionnaires were distributed to the students of HUST, who agreed to takepart in the research in November, 2016 After one week, all the figures from thequestionnaires were gathered and presented in tables for analysis

Having collected the questionnaires, the researcher invited five teachers ofEnglish to participate in the interview both through emails and in person, whichwere carried out in December, 2016 Each personal interview in which bothinterviewer and interviewees had a feeling of comfort and enthusiasm occurredoutside the classroom and lasted about 5- 7 minutes The communications betweenthe interviewer and interviewees were like asking, sharing the ideas and challenges

of teaching English for non-English major students and some related problemsfaced by their students

2.2.5 Data analysis

The analysis is totally based on the data collected from the questionnairesand interviews The data obtained from the questionnaire were analyzedquantitatively (using percentage and numbers) and qualitatively (using the three

themes as posed in the three research questions).The researcher uses the softwareSPSS 20, which is a modern IBM SPSS Statistics Data Editor, to process andanalyze the data Whereas, the data obtained from the interview were analyzedqualitatively to identify the problems that affected the EFL learners‟ outcomes ofHanoi University of Science and Technology Moreover, while analyzing, theresearcher tried to prevent her subjective opinions from interfering in the researchresults and judgment.

To test the reliability of the scale, the authors calculates Cronbach's alphacoefficients and correlation coefficients variable overall Many researchers agreethat the Cronbach alpha coefficient 0.8 <= 1, the scale of measurement is good,from 0.7 to 0.8 is almost usable Some other researchers also suggest thatCronbach's alpha of 0.6 or higher can be used in the case that the study concept isnew or the concept is new to the respondents in the research context So for thisstudy, the Cronbach‟s Alpha of 0.841 is usable (see Appendix 3)

The correlation coefficient is variable total correlation of a variable with theaverage score of the other variables in the same scale, so the higher the coefficient

of correlation of these variables with other variables in the higher group According

to Nunnally&Burnstein (1994), the correlation coefficient of the variable will be thelevel of classification as follows:

- 0:01 to ± 0.1: Correlation too low, negligible

- ± 0.2 to ± 0.3: Correlation low

- ± 0.4 to ± 0.5: Correlation average

- ± 0.6 to ± 0.7: Correlation high

- ± 0.8 and above: very high correlation

The variable whose correlation coefficient is 0.3 or is less than the totalvariable will be considered as garbage and will be removed from the scale

2 3 Summary

This part has discussed the methodology with details of research setting andresearch methods All information of research objects and their relations have beenclearly presented Besides that, methods and procedure of research have also beenmentioned In the next chapter, data will be analyzed and findings will be discussed

CHAPTER 3: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION

This chapter presents and discusses the results of the study In the firstsection, the results of data analysis and findings on difficulties relating to thestudents, the teachers and the management in achieving English learning outcomeswill be discussed In the second section, the researcher is going to discuss analysis

of data and findings on factor that poses the most difficulty to the fourth-year English major students at HUST in achieving English learning outcomes Finally, abrief summary of the results will be given

non-Firstly, the researcher uses the tool SPSS 20 to calculate the mean value ofthe whole difficulties in the questionnaire including 30 items After inputting thedata and processing 30 statistics in the questionnaire, the reliability obtained is α =.841 (see Appendix 2.1) This indicates that the questions are highly reliable andconsistent between elements in the scale Besides, the average value (mean) aftersurvey of 108 students is 2.74 The general statistics for the entire questionnaire arepresented in Appendix 2.2

The statistical mean ( X̅) refers to the mean or average that is used to derivethe central tendency of the data in question It is determined by adding all the datapoints in a population and then dividing the total by the number of points Theresulting number is known as the mean or the average In other words, the mean isthe average of all numbers and is sometimes called the arithmetic mean Tocalculate mean, add together all of the numbers in a set and then divide the sum bythe total count of numbers The mean allows the researcher to compare the degree

of difficulties in each group in the questionnaire, as a result, the researcher find outgeneral difficulties as well as the most difficult factor that the fourth year non-English major students at HUST are encountering to obtain required Englishoutcomes

In statistics, the standard deviation (SD, also represented by the Greek letter sigma σ or the Latin letter s) is a measure that is used to quantify the amount

of variation or dispersion of a set of data values A low standard deviation indicatesthat the data points tend to be close to the mean (also called the expected value) ofthe set, while a high standard deviation indicates that the data points are spread outover a wider range of values (From Wikipedia)

Moreover, in an attempt to make the data more particular and reliable, theresearcher also computes the equivalent percentage of respondents facing thedifficulties basing on the mean and the standard deviation of each variable in thequestionnaire The results of the percentage calculation are summarized in theAppendix 3

In addition to the data from the questionnaire, this section presents anddiscusses the results of the study basing on the data obtained from the teacherstructured interview At the interview, five full-time teachers and one managerresponded to five open-ended questions regarding their approach in the lesson,about the quality of the facilities and materials, about the problems of the students

in learning English in general and in achieving English expected outcomes inparticular This was later transcribed and analyzed briefly in this chapter

3.1 Difficulties faced by the fourth-year non-English major students 3.1.1 Difficulties relating to the students

Firstly, the researcher uses the tool SPSS 20 to calculate the mean value ofthe whole difficulties relating to the students (group A) including 15 items Theresults of the questionnaire analysis are presented in the table 1.1 below