A survey on the attitudes of english majored students towards debating skills module at banking academy of vietnam

BANKING ACADEMY OF VIETNAM FACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES GRADUATION THESIS A SURVEY ON THE ATTITUDES OF ENGLISH-MAJORED STUDENTS TOWARDS DEBATING SKILLS MODULE AT BANKING ACADEMY OF VIETNAM Student : Pham Truc Quynh Class : K20ATCC Academic year : 2017 – 2021 Student ID : 20A7510153 Advisor : Assoc Prof Pham Thi Hoang Anh Hanoi, May 2021 Tai ngay!!! Ban co the xoa dong chu nay!!! 17014125810891000000 CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY I hereby declare that this graduation thesis named “A survey on the attitudes of English-majored students towards Debating Skills module at Banking Academy of Vietnam” is my own original work and that it has not previously been submitted to any institution for evaluation purposes Furthermore, I have acknowledged and cited all sources used in the reference section Hanoi, May 19th 2020 Author Phạm Trúc Quỳnh i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First of all, I want to express my sincere gratitude and appreciation to my supervisor, Associate Professor Pham Thi Hoang Anh, for being so patient and supportive throughout my journey of writing this thesis Without her vision and consistent support, this accomplishment could not have been possible Secondly, I want to thank all of my friends and teachers in the Faculty of Languages in Banking Academy of Vietnam for giving me the best four years of my student life Especially, I want to send my heartfelt gratitude to my group of friends – F5 along with Chung Thanh, Thanh Ha, Hoang Quan for always taking care of me like their little sister and calming me down whenever I had a panic attack I would also like to acknowledge the help and understanding of my lovely colleagues in Techcombank, where I serve my internship It has truly been a wonderful time working with the team that has always facilitated me to finish this graduation thesis successfully Furthermore, I would also wish to thank the lecturers Ms Nguyen Thi Dieu Hang, Ms Tran Thi Thu Thuy and Ms Le Thi Minh Que for their encouragement and precious advice Their willingness to impart their knowledge has given me the foundation and overall insights of this research Finally, from the bottom of my heart, my appreciation goes out to my family, my aunt and my best friends, Ha My and Abe, for always being by my side and giving me the love I not deserve ii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS BAV UN Banking Academy of Vietnam United Nation VNU Vietnam National University HPU Hai Phong University CTU Continuing Training University EFL English as a Foreign Language iii LIST OF TABLES Table 2.1: Responsibilities of speakers in British Parliamentary debate format….… 10 Table 2.2: Responsibilities of speakers in Karl – Popper debate format.…………… 13 Table 3.1: Fundamental anthropological information of participants ……………… .20 Table 4.1: Student’s attitudes towards the necessary of Debating Skills course… … 23 Table 4.2: Students’ attitudes towards the helpfulness of lecturers of Debating Skills module …………………………………………………………………………… 24 Table 4.3: Students’ degrees of unwillingness to debate in English in Debating Skills class……………………………………………………………………………….… 26 Table 4.4: Students’ expectations about debating skills for future careers……….… 32 iv LIST OF FIGURES Figure 4.1: Students’ general attitude towards the Debating Skills lessons at Faculty of Foreign Languages 22 Figure 4.2: Students’ comprehension during Debating Skills lessons 25 Figure 4.3: Students’ behaviors in Debating Skills lessons 27 Figure 4.4: Students’ interests in activities in Debating Skills class .28 Figure 4.5: Student’s frequency of debating skills practice 29 Figure 4.6: Students’ expectation about the benefits of debating skills learning 30 Figure 4.7: Students’ general attitudes towards the debating skills 31 Figure 4.8: The reasons why students registered for Debating Skills module 33 Figure 4.9: Factors influencing the BAV’s English- majored students’ attitudes towards Debating Skills lessons 34 v TABLE OF CONTENTS CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS iii LIST OF TABLES iv LIST OF FIGURES .v ABSTRACT viii CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Introduction 1.2 Background of the study 1.3 Objectives of the study 1.4 Research questions 1.5 Significance of the study .3 1.6 Scope and limitations of the study 1.7 Definition of terms CHAPTER 2: REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE 2.1 Literature review 2.2 Theoretical and Conceptual framework 2.2.1 Overview of attitudes .7 a Definition of attitudes b The roles of attitudes towards learning c The roles of attitudes towards learning a language 2.2.2 Overview of debate .9 a Definition of debate b Formats of debate c The Basic of Debating Abilities 15 d Approaches of teaching debating skills 16 e Benefits of debate .17 CHAPTER – RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 19 3.1 Locale of the study 19 vi 3.2 Research design 19 3.3 Data gathering procedure 19 3.4 Population and Sample description .20 3.5 Research instrument 21 3.6 Statistical treatment .21 3.7 Reliability and validity 21 CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION .22 4.1 Findings .22 4.1.1 The BAV’s English- majored students’ attitudes towards Debating Skills module 22 4.1.2 The factors influencing the BAV’s English- majored students’ attitudes towards Debating Skills module .31 4.2 Discussion 35 CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION 38 5.1 Summary of findings 38 5.2 Conclusion 38 5.3 Recommendation 39 REFERENCES APPENDICES vii ABSTRACT Debating Skills is one of the five optional courses in Faculty of Foreign Languages in Banking Academy of Vietnam This study is conducted for the purpose of investigating the English–majored students’ attitudes towards Debating Skills module Because the study is a survey, questionnaire is explained as the instrument of the study The target population included all English-majored students who have finished that course After one week of gathering the responses, there were 81 valid answers including both male and female students from there different academic years The findings from this instrument revealed that the majority of students showed positive attitudes towards the debating skills, the Debating Skills module, along with the teachers and the lessons of the course In addition, the data also demonstrated the students’ lack of concentration during the lessons, as well as the practice outside the classroom Besides, based on such findings, the researcher offered suggestions for both lectures and students to enhance the teaching and learning quality of the Debating Skills module Keywords: attitudes, Debating Skills module, English–majored students viii CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Introduction In modern society, freedom of speech is becoming more and more critical, so too is the need for self-expression and the desire to be heard And thus, debating has become a preferred tool for people to express their ideas clearly and effectively in academia, professional, or even daily lives Healthy debates bring solutions to common disagreements one might encounter throughout one’s life And for that reason, I believe debating skills are very soon to be invaluable skills for students and workers alike Debating is nothing new; in fact, debating has had a long history across the globe and can be traced back to Ancient Greece's philosophical and political debates of the Athenian democracy From 1976 onwards, there have been debates between presidential candidates for the general election as part of the presidential campaign; these debates are generally well-received by the public In other parts of the world, various debating competition at all levels are held annually, most notably is the World Universities Debating Championship, the world’s largest debating tournament; first held in 1980, it is also considered to be one of the most significant student events, not just debating, in the world Vietnam is in a period of “Golden Population Structure,” with over half of the working or training age population Soft skill training, more explicitly debating skills, for the abundant workforce to help create highly skilled workers with proficient critical thinking abilities is essential for developing Vietnam’s working and educational environment However, debating is still a relatively new notion and subsequently unpopular in Vietnam, whose people frequently mistake it as “arguing.” 1.2 Background of the study Research, reasoning, and even public speaking skills are just a few of the many advantages to becoming a good debater Debating can prepare students for any