TIÊU ĐỀ BÀI THUYẾT TRÌNH/PRESENTATION TITLES VÀ TRÍCH YẾU/ABSTRACTS

1/ CHRISTOPHER DENIS DELACOUR

TIÊU ĐỀ BÀI THUYẾT TRÌNH/PRESENTATION TITLE:

Teaching language, learning culture: Why ICC matter in the Vietnamese context

TRÍCH YẾU/ABSTRACT:

This contribution aims to initiate a discussion through an exploration of personal experiences and students’ feedback in a Vietnamese university. Is learning English enough for communication? Discussion will focus on students’ concerns regarding the traditional teaching method regarding English language, the prevalence of passiveness in class and cultural features as stereotypes, generational changes and personal development. We will use these experiences as a source of our own learning in order to try to define the best teaching strategies to meet students’ expectations when they learn English. Focusing on language and communication, and social and cultural distance, we also have to think these needs from a cross-cultural perspective. It is argued that the development of cross-cultural understandings must enhance teaching efficiency and students’ experience while at university and help overcome barriers preventing fresh graduates from making a smooth transition to the workplace. This workshop also intends to clarify the concept of intercultural competencies and to help students and teachers to understand the role of culture and the importance of cultural factors.

2/ TRẦN NGỌC TIẾN & VŨ THỊ QUỲNH TRANG

TIÊU ĐỀ BÀI THUYẾT TRÌNH/PRESENTATION TITLE:

An Exploration of the Benefits and Challenges Perceived by Students in their Graduation Internship

TRÍCH YẾU/ABSTRACT:

Graduation internship has been proved to play a vital role in students’ personal and professional development. It can also be considered a preparatory step for students to gain practical knowledge and supervised experience. However, the perception of students on the advantages and disadvantages of the internship has not been extensively studied in Vietnam context. This study explores the benefits and challenges of the graduation internship perceived by students majoring in English Studies through mixed-method approaches using survey questionnaire and semi-structured interviews at Hoa Sen University, Vietnam. The findings show that students value the graduation internship as the opportunities for them to enhance their personal skills and employability ability. Additionally, the study also indicates difficulties that the students face in performing given professional tasks due to the lack of sufficient personal skills and professional knowledge. The feedback from the research participants can be of valuable for the universities in adjusting or redesigning their programs to meet the demands of the workforce.

3/ TRẦN NGỌC TIẾN & TRẦN THỊ BẢO TRINH

TIÊU ĐỀ BÀI THUYẾT TRÌNH/PRESENTATION TITLE:

An Exploration of the Factors Influencing Students’ Lesson Comprehension in EMI Classes at Hoa Sen University

TRÍCH YẾU/ABSTRACT:

EMI classes have been implemented in many universities’ curriculum all over the world since early 20^th century. However, there is a limitation in the researches on the effectiveness of implementing EMI and the causes hindering students from fully understanding EMI lessons. This study investigates factors affecting students from lesson comprehension when taking EMI classes through a mixed-method study carried out at Hoa Sen University, Vietnam. The findings show that factors hampering students from fully understanding EMI lessons are mainly associated with students’ and instructors’ language competences. Moreover, results from standard multiple regression indicates that vocabulary range, writing skills and teaching methods were found to have significant contribution to the prediction of lesson comprehension level of students.

4/ LỮ VĂN TUẤN

TIÊU ĐỀ BÀI THUYẾT TRÌNH/PRESENTATION TITLE:

Booktalk, an engaging follow-up activity of Extensive Reading

TRÍCH YẾU/ABSTRACT:

Extensive reading (ER) is well recognised as its benefiting language learners in developing their positive learning attitude and motivation (Day, R. et al. 2011). Futhermore, with ER, improvements can also be seen as students develop their vocabulary range and knowledge, grammar use, writing skills, listening and speaking abilities. Most ER programs would rely on sufficient quantities of graded readers in school libraries for their success, where students could borrow and read at home (outside class). Further to this, extensive reading can be enriched with a follow-up activity – Booktalk, where students have another chance to turn their enjoyment or engagement of the book/story plot(s) into a thoughtful speech. The presentation on Booktalk will try to connect existing language teaching and learning theories, extensive reading guiding rules and how Booktalk – resembling a speech contest in the way it’s run – and point out extensive benefits that this engaging activity can bring about.

5/ TRẦN NGỌC DUNG

TIÊU ĐỀ BÀI THUYẾT TRÌNH/PRESENTATION TITLE:

Motivating students’ interest in writing through use of diverse materials

TRÍCH YẾU/ABSTRACT:

Using a writing textbook alone, especially an integrated reading-writing book does not satisfy teacher’s need as there are not many writing instructions, samples or practice. It does not motivate learners’ interest in writing either as students might feel bored quickly if they use the textbook all the time and can predict what is going on. The teacher, as a resource facilitator, should select different kinds of materials and apply them in various activities supplemented to the textbook to enhance students’ writing skill. This paper attempts to show how basic writing (sentence and paragraph writing) will be made more interesting to achieve better performance among the students. Steps to help students write correct sentences, components and kinds of paragraphs will be introduced. The focus of this presentation will be mainly on English lessons for first-year students or intermediate-level learners.