Pronunciation is an essential factor in English learning. It affects intelligibility, communicative competence, and confidence, which are the primary factors in English language learning and pronunciation. However, the teaching of pronunciation has consistently been given less priority, especially in EFL contexts where it gets overshadowed by grammar and vocabulary. The current study explores the relationship between the attitudes of English majors towards pronunciation learning at a Vietnamese university, including both internal (learner-related) factors and external (contextual and instructional) factors. Using a quantitative method, information was gathered from 371 university students via a specifically designed questionnaire. Based on the results, most participants positively viewed pronunciation learning. Internal factors, like motivation, self-efficacy, and attitudes of learners, exhibited stronger predictive power compared to external factors, such as quality of instruction and support from the institution. In addition, gender and English proficiency were observed to affect the attitudes, with female students and students of higher proficiency having more positive views. Importantly, both internal and external factors were identified as strong predictors of the pronunciation learning attitudes, thus highlighting the combined effect of psychological and methodological influences. This study enhances the comprehension of the continuous interaction between the psychological and instructional factors, calling attention to the necessity of rethinking the curriculum design, teaching practices, and learner support in the context of EFL pronunciation instruction
THE Impact Ranking reflects the impact and contribution of universities around the world, including Vietnam, to the community towards the 17 sustainable development goals of the United Nations. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the ranking results of Vietnamese universities in this ranking and the sustainable development goals that they are pursuing. The results show that from only one Vietnamese university among 467 global universities ranked in 2019, there are now 13 Vietnamese universities out of 1,936 global universities in the rankings. In addition to the mandatory SDG17, most Vietnamese universities mainly focus on the 8 SDGs related to economy, health, education, peace, equality and community (SDG1, SDG3, SDG4, SDG5, SDG8, SDG10, SDG11, SDG16). However, few universities focus on the goals related to poverty and environmental resources (SDG2, SDG6, SDG7, SDG9, SDG12, SDG13, SDG14, SDG15). This situation poses great responsibility and challenge for Vietnamese universities in accompanying the world in realizing the goal of sustainable development. This study is a reference resource for Vietnamese universities to identify sustainable development goals that should be prioritized in their short-term and long-term plans when participating in THE Impact rankings, in order to contribute to building a peaceful, just and prosperous society
The article explores the influence of the mother tongue (Vietnamese) on practicing to develop first-year students’ English writing skills at Thu Dau Mot University. Analytical data was collected from 100 first-year students majoring in English Language at the Faculty of Foreign Languages - Thu Dau Mot University. Research results show that students are still greatly influenced by Vietnamese (first language) in the process of practicing English writing skills. Among the students surveyed, up to 58.4% said they were still influenced by the way of thinking in Vietnamese, and then switched to English to follow the writing style of Vietnamese. … The remaining % said they had practiced writing in English through many writing activities at English centers and had practiced writing through thinking in English. The rest of the article proposes some solutions to help students overcome the above barriers to develop effective writing skills.
This study aims to investigate students’ common errors in Vietnamese-English translation. For the objectives, 70 first-year students at Foreign Trade University – Ho Chi Minh campus, were invited to participate in this study. To identify students’ errors in Vietnamese-English translation, the participants were asked to complete five weekly assignments. The results revealed that students made grammatical, lexical, and spelling errors. The causes of these observed errors were also indicated, which included the difference between English and Vietnamese, inadequate culture background, students’ insufficient linguistic competence in English language and Vietnamese language, lack of cultural background knowledge, students’ inappropriate translation strategies, interference of Vietnamese, misunderstanding, and students’ carelessness. In addition, some suggestions were offered in the light of the findings identified in the study to help students improve their translation ability.