Dealing with economics courses a voice from english majored students

BANKING ACADEMY OF VIETNAM FACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES GRADUATION THESIS TOPIC: DEALING WITH ECONOMICS COURSES: A VOICE FROM ENGLISH-MAJORED STUDENTS Student : Nguyen Phuong Thao Class : K21ATCA Academic year : 2018 – 2022 Student ID : 21A7510119 Advisor : Dr Nguyen Ngoc Nga Hanoi, May 2022 Tai ngay!!! Ban co the xoa dong chu nay!!! 17014126147241000000 DECLARATION I declare that the graduation thesis entitled “Dealing with Economics courses: A voice from English-majored students” is an original report of my research, has been written by me under the guidance of Dr Nguyen Ngoc Nga Due references have been provided on all supporting literatures and resources I declare that this thesis was composed by myself, that the work contained herein is my own, and that this work has not been submitted for any other degree or professional qualification Hanoi, 20 May, 2022 Author Nguyen Phuong Thao i ACKNOWLEDGEMENT Throughout the writing of this dissertation I have received a great deal of support and assistance Most importantly, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my supervisor, Dr Nguyen Ngoc Nga, whose expertise was invaluable in formulating the research questions and kept me on the right track when I was about to lose my way Her insightful feedback pushed me to sharpen my thinking and brought my work to a higher level Second, I want to express my gratitude to my university – Banking Academy of Vietnam Thank you to all the lecturers of the Faculty of Foreign Languages, for guiding and helping me through the learning process My special thanks go to all students of the Faculty of Foreign Languages, who were generous with their time and offered valuable insights into their learning experiences with Economics courses I would also like to thank my colleagues who provided me with feedback on the questionnaire items Last but not least, I want to send my gratitude to my family and friends for their endless support that gave me the strength to complete this long and strenuous journey They help me both mentally and physically by giving me encouragement and useful suggestions ii TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION i ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ii TABLE OF CONTENTS iii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS v LIST OF TABLES vi LIST OF FIGURES vii ABSTRACT viii CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Research problem 1.2 Research questions 1.3 Scope 1.4 Significance 1.5 Research methods 1.6 Thesis structure CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Overview of EMI 2.2 Different stakeholder groups' attitudes towards EMI 2.3 Difficulty of students in learning EMI 2.3.1 Limited vocabulary and knowledge 2.3.2 Insufficient English proficiency 2.3.3 Teaching Methods 10 iii 2.4 Students facing challenges in EMI 11 2.5 EMI in Vietnam 12 CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODS 15 3.1 Setting of the study 15 3.2 Participants 15 3.3 Data collection instruments 16 3.3.1 Questionnaire 16 3.3.2 Interview 18 3.4 Data analysis 19 CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 24 4.1 Difficulties facing students in learning Economics courses 24 4.1.1 General information of students and Economics courses 24 4.1.2 Difficulties relating to teaching factors 27 4.1.3 Difficulties relating to students 33 4.2 Students overcoming difficulties 42 CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATIONS 45 5.1 Conclusion 45 5.2 Implications 46 5.2.1 To lecturers 46 5.2.2 To students 47 5.3 Limitations 48 REFERENCES 49 APPENDIXES 56 iv LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS EMI English as a Medium of Instruction FFL Faculty of Foreign Languages L1 First Language L2 Second Language HE Higher Education BA Bright Ages v LIST OF TABLES Table Page Table 3.1 Sample questions in the questionnaire 17 Table 3.2 Sample interview questions 19 Table 3.3 Summary of interviews’ results 21 Table 4.1 Distribution of students participating in the survey 24 Table 4.2 The difficulty level of Economics courses 25 Table 4.3 The scores of Economics courses 26 Table 4.4 Difficulty relating to lectures’ pronunciation 27 Table 4.5 Difficulty relating to lectures’ speed of delivery 28 Table 4.6 Difficulty relating to lectures’ explanations 29 Table 4.7 Difficulty relating to class size 31 Table 4.8 Difficulty relating to tests’ content 32 Table 4.9 Difficulties relating to Economics’ vocabulary and knowledge 33 Table 4.10 Difficulties relating to learning materials 35 Table 4.11 Difficulties relating to students’ ability to remember 37 Table 4.12 Difficulties relating to listening and taking notes 38 Table 4.13 Difficulties relating to writing 39 Table 4.14 Difficulties relating to speaking 40 Table 4.15 Difficulties relating to psychological characteristic 41 vi LIST OF FIGURES Figures Page Figure 3.1 Data from Google Forn 19 Figure 3.2 Data exported to Excel 20 Figure 3.3 Results in percentage 20 vii ABSTRACT Globalization and internationalization have accelerated the development of programs and course in which English is used as a medium of instruction (EMI) Such EMI are gaining popularity worldwide Along with this trend, different universities in Vietnam have included EMI in their undergraduate programs in the form of advanced or high-quality training programs However, little research has been done to explore the difficulties students facing in these EMI courses, especially in the context where English is not the first language This study was to investigate the issue in the context of Vietnam, a country where English is used as a foreign language 115 third-year and final-year students majoring in English in a leading public university in the country participated in the study Data for the study were collected via a questionnaire delivered to all students participants and via following-up interviews with some of them The findings showed that the most prevalent issues facing students throughout Economics courses were relating to vocabulary and background knowledge The majority of the students were not struggling with taking notes or communicating with lecturers and classmates Suggested strategies were presented and addressed in order to enhance the students' achievement in Economics courses The findings from this study provided implications to the investigated university and its teachers and students viii CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Research problem Spoken by one quarter of the global population, English has become the most popularly language in the world This language has a significant impact on tourism, medicine, policy, diplomacy, and the academic world This importance is further highlighted in the era of globalization Prakash Babu Bodapati (2016) remarks that "Globalization and English language are said to work as pull factors for one another" Acknowledge the process of globalization; thousands of multinational firms are growing their influence and presence worldwide Therefore, English in different disciplines, particularly economics, has been increasingly common This constitutes the appearance of training courses, in which English is used as a medium of instruction (EMI) This new trend has contributed to lifting the language barrier, satisfying the needs of students and the human resource needs of multinational companies In Asia, the need for EMI courses is high owing to two factors: students need to be prepared for professional environments where English is the primary mode of communication (Coleman, 2006; Crystal, 2004; Graddol, 1997, 2006) and the popularity of the academic exchange in the area means that such courses are needed to accommodate incoming international students and local students preparing for a future educational exchange abroad (Brumfit, 2004) Being affected by this trend, in Vietnam, EMI programs and courses have been implemented in different educational institutions to assist students in improving their English proficiency and preparing them for better future careers At Bright Ages (BA) university - a leading public university in Vietnam, students in the Faculty of Foreign Languages (FFL) are provided with intensive training in both English and Economics Thus, a wide range of Economics English courses is offered to students; these courses included those relating to different disciplines such as Accounting, Corporate Finance, Securities Market, and Commercial Banking In these courses, theory and practice are integrated, aiming to