CHALLENGES AND IMPORTANT FACTORS TO SUCCESS IN ENGLISH SELF STUDY

3407 CHALLENGES AND IMPORTANT FACTORS TO SUCCESS IN ENGLISH SELF STUDY Phạm Hạ Vy, Mạch Ngọc Nhi, Lê Thị Thanh Loan Khoa Tiếng Anh, Trường Đại học Công Nghệ TP Hồ Chí Minh (HUTECH) GVHD ThS Hồ Hải Ti.

CHALLENGES AND IMPORTANT FACTORS TO SUCCESS IN ENGLISH SELF-STUDY Phạm Hạ Vy, Mạch Ngọc Nhi, Lê Thị Thanh Loan* Khoa Tiếng Anh, Trường Đại học Cơng Nghệ TP Hồ Chí Minh (HUTECH) GVHD: ThS Hồ Hải Tiến ABSTRACT With the growing popularity and importance of the English language, people around the world are taking English classes to enhance their language skills People have also become interested in the topic of English self-study because of its role in successful English language acquisition regardless of whether they take a class with the help of a teacher or not Although most students love the idea of self-learning English, not many would succeed in doing that This paper aims at investigating the challenges in English self-study based on which some solutions to facilitate this process will be proposed with references from literature review Keyword: self-study, challenges, factors to success, English language learning Introduction 1.1 The growing significance of learning English Learning foreign languages has become a trend for young people There are many reasons why people learn foreign languages, ranging from traveling abroad, settling in a new country, getting a good job and career advancement opportunities In the process of integration and globalization, foreign languages in general and English in particular play a very important role English has almost become an indispensable language as it is considered one of the most common languages of the world Crystal (2006) claimed that in the last five years of the previous century, people, including many academics, became especially interested in the topic of English becoming increasingly popular globally In Vietnam, it can be seen that English has gradually become more important The Ministry of Education and Training puts English in the curriculum as a core subject, with equal importance to Mathematics and Literature In addition, a high level of English proficiency gives high school graduates a significant advantage to be admitted to prestigious universities such as FTU (Foreign Trade University), UEH (University of Economics Ho Chi Minh City) or IU (International University) 1.2 Self-study in English language learning To learn a foreign language effectively, self-study is an indispensable factor According to Isaac Asimov, a famous American professor at Boston University, students can only learn through self-study (Casale, 3407 n.d.) There are many studies that have given the definition of self-study Hoat and Duc (2008) defined selfstudy as the process of self-teaching at a basic level in which students themselves acquire knowledge and skills inside or outside the classroom, and whether using programs or textbooks given or not Similarly, Rubakin (Rubakin, 1982) suggested that to self-study is to gain new knowledge, experience and skills through the observation of the true phenomenon Meanwhile, in Dickinson’s definition (1991), selfinstruction refers to situations in which the learner is working alone without the help or control of a teacher It is undeniable that self-study plays a significant part in foreign language learning In general, it is believed that regardless of any language, it is impossible to master that language without the element of self-study For English in particular, self-study helps learners to deeply understand the grammatical structure of the language thanks to the ability to analyze texts and synthesize knowledge Self-study also helps learners broaden their vocabulary through incidental vocabulary learning because they actively increase their exposure to the language environment in natural contexts Incidental vocabulary learning means acquiring new vocabulary by encountering them often when listening, watching, communicating and especially reading materials in the target language (Nation, 2001) English self-study is not really popular amongst students at HUTECH University and even when some of them try to self-learn the language, they often face a number of difficulties This paper will look into the challenges that students have to encounter when they self-study in general and English self-study in particular Additionally, it will show students factors to success in self-learning English to help them overcome the obstacles during their process of learning English independently The information in this paper is gathered from previous studies and presented to provide readers with important views on the issue The challenges of English self-study 2.1 A lack of self-discipline or autonomy due to the impact of traditional learning methods Obviously, it is learned from the definition of self-study that the learners are expected to have a high level of autonomy to successfully study anything on their own Henri Holec (1981) referred to autonomy as the sense of responsibility for all aspect of one’s learning process, including contents, methods, learning pace, time, place and goals Nevertheless, the traditional learning methods are often teacher-centered The teachers are the main character of the classroom as they manage class activities, give instructions, feedback and knowledge to students It is believed that the teachers have considerably more experience than the learners and understand how to conduct a class, or a lesson properly Unfortunately, this resulted in students who are supposed to actively take part in class activities having no sense of responsibility for their own learning (Sheerin, 1991) They rely heavily on the teachers and think that doing differently from the instructions will affect their scores and overall performance This seriously 3408 impacts their creativity and confidence, and more importantly, undermines the ability to self-study of students 2.2 A lack of motivation The importance of motivation in self-learning a language can never be overemphasized (Lee, 1998) Lack of motivation is another obstacle that learners have to face in their process of self-studying Unfortunately, due to the traditional way of learning, most students nowadays not have their own motivation for learning as they just follow the instruction given by the teacher (Toogood & Pemberton, 2002) Many other researchers share the same view about motivation, saying that it is a deciding factor in how much students learn at home and how much they exercises to retain the knowledge learned (Chan et al., 2002; Cunningsworth & Tomlinson, 1984) Regarding self-studying English, a lack of motivation is definitely a roadblock from success since it impacts how much effort learners put into learning a foreign language, and hence affects their performance Unlike other disciplines, success in self-learning a language requires learners to develop a habit of working on that target language on a daily basis over a really long period of time, which is hardly possible without a big enough motivation 2.3 Difficulty in selecting the right materials It is undeniable that the internet and technology devices have been a great assistance in the educational field (Salihoğlu, 2020) Nowadays, students can go online to search for a wide range of materials to help them learn about any area of study From books, documents, to lesson plans, or even previous test files, everything is available on the internet Foreign language self-learners receive enormous benefits from the development of the internet and technologies This is because they may improve their knowledge and language abilities by taking virtual language lessons, joining online academic groups, or interacting with native speakers via social media With the help of the internet, students can both share and receive valuable information with other language learners from all over the world However, this capability to easily access information online also comes with drawbacks Since it is easier for people to post and share their knowledge on the internet, students may encounter difficulties in choosing the correct materials for their learning It would take a great deal of work and time for students to distinguish and select the suitable information as some of the shared data online are without high credibility or verification Even printed materials nowadays are also more available There are more authors and publishers, causing much confusion to any language learner who visits the book store to find a good book for his or her self-study In short, there are a great number of challenges that make students struggle with their English self-study progress 3409 The factors to success in self-learning English 3.1 Have a detailed plan for students’ self-learning process A better plan should be the first solution to enhance the effectiveness and possibility of English selflearning Hue et al (2017) suggested a few tactics such as establishing a time schedule, keeping a journal of the learning process or learning in a group The authors argued that by doing these, students have a clear plan to stick to and they can maintain their level of motivation by fulfilling each small goal at a time A study by Fukuda et al (2019) also confirmed that when students design their own learning plans such as deciding on their goals and activities to achieve them, they spend more out-of-class time studying for their goals 3.2 Make support from faculty members easily accessible to students Even though self-learning means learning without the supervision or direct help of the teacher, it does not necessarily mean teachers would not be involved at all Since students often feel lost when working alone, the timely help from teachers are needed to help students go on the right track They may provide guidelines on effective self-study, give advice on suitable learning materials as well as where to find them or motivate students on their journey (Hue et al., 2017) This would solve many of the previously mentioned problems 3.3 Make necessary facilities and learning materials available to students Educational institutions should also make sure self-learners have what they need to self-study at the campus There should be enough learning space for independent learning or group learning with access to the Internet and books of different disciplines (Hue et al., 2017) Moreover, all students should be made aware of the availability of such convenient facilities and materials to encourage the practice of self-study at the campus Conclusion Despite the benefits and necessity of self-study in general, English self-learning in particular, there are a wide array of obstacles students may face when studying on their own The paper presented only the main challenges faced by self-learners, including the lack of self-discipline in learning and motivation as well as the superfluous information and materials these days Fortunately, there are feasible solutions to make students’ self-learning process successful among which the help from educational institutions plays a vital role in facilitating self-study amongst students References Casale, B (n.d.) 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