An investigation into difficulties faced by third year english majors in learning english vietnamese consecutive interpreting at vietnam national university of agriculture

VIET NAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF AGRICULTURE FACULTY OF EDUCATION AND FOREIGN LANGUAGES BA THESIS AN INVESTIGATION INTO DIFFICULTIES FACED BY THIRD-YEAR ENGLISH MAJORS IN LEARNING ENGLISH – VIETNAMESE CONSECUTIVE INTERPRETING AT VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF AGRICULTURE TÌM HIỂU NHỮNG KHĨ KHĂN CỦA SINH VIÊN NĂM THỨ BA NGÀNH NGÔN NGỮ ANH TRONG HỌC PHIÊN DỊCH NỐI TIẾP ANH – VIỆT TẠI HỌC VIỆN NÔNG NGHIỆP VIỆT NAM STUDENT : NGUYEN THU TRANG STUDENT CODE : 621256 MẢJOR : ENGLISH SUPERVISOR : MA NGUYEN THI HUONG Hanoi – 2021 VIET NAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF AGRICULTURE FACULTY OF EDUCATION AND FOREIGN LANGUAGES BA THESIS AN INVESTIGATION INTO DIFFICULTIES FACED BY THIRD-YEAR ENGLISH MAJORS IN LEARNING ENGLISH – VIETNAMESE CONSECUTIVE INTERPRETING AT VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF AGRICULTURE TÌM HIỂU NHỮNG KHĨ KHĂN CỦA SINH VIÊN NĂM THỨ BA NGÀNH NGÔN NGỮ ANH TRONG HỌC PHIÊN DỊCH NỐI TIẾP ANH – VIỆT TẠI HỌC VIỆN NÔNG NGHIỆP VIỆT NAM STUDENT : NGUYEN THU TRANG STUDENT CODE : 621256 MẢJOR : ENGLISH SUPERVISOR : MA NGUYEN THI HUONG Hanoi – 2021 CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY I, the undersigned, hereby certify my authority of the study project report entitled An investigation into difficulties faced by third-year English majors in learning English-Vietnamese consecutive interpreting at Vietnam National University of Agriculture submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Bachelor in English Language Except where the reference is indicated, no other person’s work has been used without due acknowledgement in the text of the thesis Hanoi, 2021 Nguyen Thu Trang Approved by SUPERVISOR (Signature and full name) Date:…………………… i TABLE OF CONTENT CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY i TABLE OF CONTENT ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENT iv ABSTRACT v LIST OF TABLES vi LIST OF FIGURES vii PART INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale for the study 1.2 Aims and objectives of the study 1.3 Research questions 1.4 Scope of the study 1.5 Significance of the study 1.6 Design of the study PART II DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER LITERATURE REVIEW 1.1 REVIEW OF THE PREVIOUS STUDIES 1.1.1 Foreign research 1.1.2 Vietnamese research 1.2 REVIEW OF THEORETICAL BACKGROUND 1.2.1 Statement of theoretical framework 1.3 SUMMARY 21 CHAPTER METHODOLOGY 22 2.1 RESEARCH GOVERNING PRINCIPLES 22 2.1.1 Research question(s) 22 2.1.2 Research types 22 2.1.3 Data analysis method 22 ii 2.2 RESEARCH METHODS 23 2.2.1 Major method(s) 23 2.2.2 Supporting method(s) 24 2.3 RESEARCH SETTING/CONTEXT 24 2.4 DATA COLLECTION 25 2.4.1 Data collecting instruments 25 2.4.2 Data collecting procedures 25 2.5 SUMMARY 27 CHAPTER FINDING AND DISCUSSION 28 3.1 STUDENTS’ BACKGROUND 28 3.2 FINDING ABOUT DIFFICULTY 34 3.2.1 Problems in the listening stage 37 3.2.2 Problems in using short-term memory 44 3.3 SUGGESTED SOLUTIONS 47 3.3.1 Solutions to difficulties in listening 47 3.3.2 Solutions to difficulties in note-taking 48 3.3.3 Solutions to difficulties in short-term memory 49 3.4 SUMMARY 51 PART III CONCLUSION 52 Recapitulation 52 Limitation of the study 52 Recommendations/Suggestions for further study 53 Concluding remarks 53 REFERENCES 55 APPENDIX 57 APPENDIX 62 iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENT In the process of doing the graduation paper, I have received a lot of help, assistance, guidance, and encouragement from my teachers, family, and friends First and foremost, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my supervisor Ms Nguyen Thi Huong M.A, lecturer of Faculty of Education and Foreign Languages, Vietnam National University of Agriculture, for her wholehearted guidance and valuable advice greatly contributed to the accomplishment of this study I also would like to show my profound gratitude to all the lecturers of Faculty of Education and Foreign Languages at Vietnam National University of Agriculture for their precious and useful lessons during my four-year study, which has been then the foundation of this research paper Last but not least, I would like to give my heartfelt thanks to my family, my friends who always encourage and inspire me to complete this graduation paper Ha Noi, 29 July 2021 Nguyen Thu Trang iv ABSTRACT The thesis is: An investigation into difficulties faced by third-year English majors in learning English-Vietnamese consecutive interpreting at Vietnam National University of Agriculture This study will answer two questions: (1) Investigate some difficulties in learning English Vietnamese consecutively interpreting of the third-year English majors at VNUA; (2) Propose some solutions to their learning English – Vietnamese consecutive interpreting The reason why I decided to choose this topic is because Interpreting is a rather new and difficult course for students of English major There are many factors that cause difficulties in the process of learning Interpreting, so I chose this topic with the aim of delving into the difficulties that third-year English language students are facing to find out the causes really and offer some solutions to help students learn interpreting easily and achieve high results In this research, I will use a combination of questionnaires and se-mi structure interviews to make analysis and evaluation based on the collected data Thus, the difficulties and suggested solutions have been presented in the thesis v LIST OF TABLES Table 2.1 Statistics about problems from topics 35 Table 2.2 Statistics about problems from the listeners 37 Table 2.3 Statistics about problems from listening material and equipment 40 vi LIST OF FIGURES Figure 2.1 Statistics about purposes of students when studying Interpretation 29 Figure 2.2 Students' frequency self-practice consecutive interpreting English – Vietnamese 30 Figure 2.3 The currently level of students’ English 31 Figure 2.4 The level of importance of skills used in consecutive Interpreting 33 Figure 2.5 Factors causing difficulties when learning English Vietnamese consecutive interpreting 36 Figure 2.6 Types of information causing difficulty to remember 44 Figure 2.7 Reasons of difficulties in short-term memory 45 Figure 2.8 Element prevents students from taking a good note 46 Figure 2.9 Students’ strategy when encountering a new word or phrase 47 Figure 2.10 How students deal with difficulty in taking note 48 vii PART INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale for the study Today, in the era of globalization and internationalization, English has become an indispensable "weapon" in all countries, especially countries in the stage of economic development and international integration No English means no communication; without communication, there is no way to express thoughts, ideas, and feelings And how can the country's economy develop when the countries tend to integrate international economy for the whole development? English becomes a common language that helps people understand each other more in diplomatic relations and economic cooperation, and many other fields in today's era English is the most influential international communicative language It is also the official language in a large number of countries English is the third language that is widely used only just after Chinese and Spanish All most international events and global organizations are using English as the default language of communication We again cannot deny the advantages English bringing to us, especially in the booming age of information and technology Because knowing English and using the computer more effectively are demands of job's requirements if you want to get one's dream job in any international company, earn more money or communicate more effectively with more people around the world When Vietnam became one of the members of World Trade Organization in 2006, encountering difficulties in communicating with international friends, it has more and more requirements for Vietnamese to have expert English skills, especially interpreting skills, which is considered as a bridge helping Vietnam connect with partners, enhance the international economy and exchange our culture with other countries in the world Therefore, the demand for professional interpreting is getting more necessary than ever apart from Interpreting practice hours in the Faculty's lab Therefore, requiring them to have in-depth knowledge of skills is difficult, mainly gathering information through practice, not theory The following limitation is that the quantitative survey cannot help us know how the student's interpretations look The resulting analyzes are based solely on the writer's judgment of the data And these figures also only show the subjective views of the students, so it is impossible to draw accurate conclusions about the level of students' interpretation acquisition Recommendations/Suggestions for further study I hope that more researchers will conduct to address these difficulties In addition, it is recommended to study more deeply the issues that cause problems in learning to interpret and analyze more closely the process of students performing their interpreting work For example, in a qualitative survey, the surveyor asks students to several exercises to test their proficiency and understanding of consecutive interpreting; therefore, the results of this survey will contribute to more research in this area Concluding remarks Like chess, interpreting is problem-solving, judgment, critical thinking, intuition, and forecasting Each game is different, and each game is a challenge, requiring the interpreter to develop knowledge and experience constantly It is the disciplined study and repeated practice of many techniques and skills that bring victory to the interpreter However, becoming an interpreter with knowledge, skills, and experience is not an easy task "Interpreting" is included in the training program for students majoring in English at universities so that students can get acquainted with another aspect of the language and train students to become an interpreter in the future In the learning process, students faced many difficulties from themselves and outside influences To find out 53 about the challenges and solutions of students when studying this subject, the author decided to choose the topic "An investigation into difficulties faced by third-year English majors in learning English-Vietnamese consecutive interpreting at Vietnam National University of Agriculture." Thanks to the instruments such as questionnaire, semi-structured interview, the researcher has achieved the two main goals initially set: “Investigate the difficulties in learning English - Vietnamese consecutive interpreting at VNUA third-year English majors” and “Propose some solutions to the problems” In short, the purpose of this thesis is to find out the difficulties of students in learning consecutive interpreting from English to Vietnamese and propose solutions By providing definitions of consecutive Interpreting, solutions to problems commonly encountered by students, as well as practical examples, I hope that students studying this subject will be able to define the concept of consecutive interpreting accurately and completely, grasping how to overcome this subject to be highly effective Through this thesis, I hope that students will spend more time practicing and equipping themselves with techniques so that you can handle problems during interpreting Due to the limitation of time and comprehensive knowledge in this field, mistakes and shortcomings are unavoidable Any comments and contributions from readers for perfection of this paper are gratefully appreciated Once again, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my supervisor, Ms Nguyen Thi Huong, M.A, as well as all of my teachers in Faculty of Education and Foreign Language for their guidance and comments 54 REFERENCES Andrew Gillies (2017) “Note-taking for Consecutive Interpreting: A Short Course” Taylor & Francis Publishing Boyce, C & Neale, P (2006) “Conducting in-depth Interviews: A Guide for Designing and Conducting In-Depth Interviews”, Pathfinder International Tool Series Catford, J C (1965) “A linguistic theory of translation” England: Oxford University Press Flowerdew, J and Miller, L (1996) “Student perceptions, problems and strategies in second language lecture comprehension” “RELC Journal Vol.23 (2)” Gile, D (1995) “Basic Concepts and Models for Interpreter and Translator Training” Amsterdam & Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing Company Graces, C V., & Martin, A (2008) “Crossing borders in community interpreting” Definitions and Dilemmas USA: John Benjamins Publishing Company Hanh, N.T (2006) “Note taking in consecutive interpreting” Vietnam: Hanoi University Hasan, A (2000) “Learners’ perceptions of listening comprehension problems” Language, Culture and Curriculum, Vol.13 (137-153) Herron, C and Seay, I (1991) “The effect of authentic aural texts on student listening comprehension in the foreign language classroom”, in Foreign Language Annals Vol.24 10 Jones, R (2002) “Conference Interpreting Explained” USA: St Jerome Publishing 55 11 Liu, Minhua (2008) “Consecutive Interpreting and Note-taking” Taipei Bookman Publishing 12 Mahmoodzadeh, K (1992) “Consecutive Interpreting: Its Principles and Techniques” In Dollerup, C and Loddegaard, A (eds.) (231-236) 13 Nguyen Thi Mai Anh (2012) “Difficulties and suggested solutions in learning English to Vietnamese consecutive interpreting for the third-year English majors at Haiphong Private University” 14 Seleskovitch, Danica (1978) “Interpreting for international Conferences” (2nd printing 2001), Pen and Booth, Arlington, VA 15 Yagang, F (1994) “Listening: Problems and solutions” In T Kral (eds.) 16 Teacher Development: Making the Right Moves Washington, DC: English Language Programs Divisions, USIA 17 https://www.questionpro.com/blog/what-is-a-questionnaire/ 56 APPENDIX QUESTIONNAIRE ( Bảng khảo sát) Survey on the difficulties faced by third-year English majors in learning English-Vietnamese consecutive interpreting at Vietnam National University of Agriculture My nam is Trang, I'm currently doing my graduation thesis and I have a small survey about the difficulties in learning English - Vietnamese consecutive interpreting of Vietnam National University of Agriculture I hope you can spend time taking part in this survey from your point of view Below is a questionnaire about the difficulties you have faced when studying interpreting and some ways to solve the difficulties to collect information in the most objective way Your feedback is very important to the study I am sure all information will be used for research purposes only Please circle the appropriate answers ( Khoanh trịn vào đáp án thích hợp) What is your purpose of learning interpreting? A To pass the exam B To become an interpreter C Other answer:……………… How often you self-study E-V consecutive interpreting? A Never B Rarely C Sometimes D Often E Always What level of English you curently have? 57 A Elementary (A2) B Intermediate ( B1) C Upper Intermediate ( B2) D Advanced ( C1) Which of the following topics is the most difficult one for you in English – Vietnamese consecutive interpreting? A Agriculture B Culture and tourism C Diplomatic service D Socio economics E Scientific and technology F Health How you evaluate the importance of these skills in English-Vietnamese consecutive interpreting? Very important Important Neutral Unimportant Memorizing Note taking Listening Speaking Which of the following elements you think is the most difficult in learning English – Vietnamese consecutive interpreting? A Memorizing B Listening C Note-taking 58 How often you encounter these following problems? Problems Never Sometimes Often Always Guessing unknown words while listening Recognizing main points Lacking of background knowledge Unfamiliar topics Finding Difficulty when deal with strong accents Colloquial words Speed of speech Linking words Ungrammatical sentences Long listening text Noises The poor quality of equipments 8.What type of information you feel difficult to remember? A Private name B Number C List D Signal/ Abbreviation E Terminology 9.What is the reason of your difficulties in short-term memory? A Brain structure B Concentration ability 59 C External environment D Psychological factors E Topic/ Content of source-language information 10.What element prevents you from taking a good note? A Speed of speaking B Accents C Time limit D Pressure 11.What you if you cannot understand words or phrases while listening? A Ignore it and keep on listening B Try to guess its meaning C Feel depressed and cannot listen anymore 12.What you often if you can’t note down all the words? A Use symbols & abbreviations B Keep noting down any words that you can hear without understanding C Stop noting and only listening 13 What are your recommendations to overcome your difficulties in learning English - Vietnamese consecutive interpreting? …………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………… Thank you very much for your help! 60 SEMI-STRUCTURED INTERVIEW Question In your opinion, are listening skills difficult? What difficulties you have when listening? Question Do you often use note-taking skills in consecutive interpreting? What difficulty you have when taking notes? Question What kind of information you find difficult to remember? Question What you usually to enhance short-term memory? Question When you realize the difficulty you are facing, what solutions have you thought of to overcome your difficulties? Did it effective for you? Question Some students claim that daily listening practice will help improve the difficulty they are facing How often you practice listening? How you practice? 61 APPENDIX Example of technology English Vietnamese Photosynthesis Quang hợp Thermometer Nhiệt kế Microscope Kính hiển vi Geology Địa chất học Astronomy Thiên văn học Astrophysics Vật lí học thiên thể Atom Nguyên tử, yếu tố, đơn tố Biochemistry Hóa sinh Interdisciplinary Science Khí hậu học Meteorologist Nhà khí tương học Magnetism Hiện tượng từ, tính từ, từ học Paleontology Môn cổ sinh vật học Zoology Động vật học Example of science English Vietnamese Photosynthesis Quang hợp Thermometer Nhiệt kế Microscope Kính hiển vi Geology Địa chất học Astronomy Thiên văn học Astrophysics Vật lí học thiên thể Atom Nguyên tử, yếu tố, đơn tố Biochemistry Hóa sinh 62 Interdisciplinary Science Khí hậu học Meteorologist Nhà khí tương học Magnetism Hiện tượng từ, tính từ, từ học Paleontology Môn cổ sinh vật học Zoology Động vật học Examples of Common Abbreviations governer gov agriculture agr industry indus telephone tel company co especially esp laboratory lab according acc 10.abbreviation abbr 11 example e.g 12 television TV 13 literature lit 14 chemistry chem 15 physics phys 16 hour hr 63 Lists of Names of International Organizations and Agencies in Abbreviation World Bank WB European Union EU Asian Development Bank ADB World Trade Organization WTO World Health Organization WHO International Monetary Fund IMF United Nations Children's Fund UNICEF North Atlantic Treaty Organization NATO Food and Agriculture Organization FAO Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation APEC Association of Southeast Asia Nations ASEAN United Nations Educational, Scientific and UNESCO Cultural Organization 64 Examples of some conventional symbols 65 66 Symbols for link words Because/ the main reason for/ on account of/ due to/ thanks to/ coz owning to/ since/ as Therefore/ consequently/ as a result/ that’s why/ for that reason/ hence/ thus so/ So as to/ in order to/ with the aim of/ with the intention of/ with the purpose to However/ nevertheless/ on the other hand/ although/ despite/ conversely but/ > < In addition/ furthermore/ moreover/ besides/ also/ too/ and +/& 67