difficulties encountered by english - majored students when conducting a graduation thesis a case study of department of english language and culture, school of foreign languages, can tho university

i CAN THO UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND CULTURE GRADUATION THESIS DIFFICULTIES ENCOUNTERED BY ENGLISH - MAJORED STUDENTS WHEN CONDUCTING A G

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CAN THO UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND CULTURE

GRADUATION THESIS

DIFFICULTIES ENCOUNTERED BY ENGLISH - MAJORED STUDENTS WHEN CONDUCTING A GRADUATION THESIS:

A CASE STUDY OF DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND CULTURE,

SCHOOL OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES,

CAN THO UNIVERSITY

Can Tho, May 2015

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CAN THO UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND CULTURE

GRADUATION THESIS

DIFFICULTIES ENCOUNTERED BY ENGLISH - MAJORED STUDENTS WHEN CONDUCTING A GRADUATION THESIS:

A CASE STUDY OF DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND CULTURE,

SCHOOL OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES,

CAN THO UNIVERSITY

Can Tho, May 2015

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STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY

I hereby declare that this graduation thesis is conducted under the guidance of

Ms Truong Thi Ngoc Diep (M.Ed.), at Department of English Language and Culture, School of Foreign Languages, Can Tho University This thesis is the work of mine All

of information quoted or paraphrased from other materials are acknowledged

Nguyen Thi Xuan Vinh

May, 2015

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

First of all, I am particularly grateful to my supervisor, Ms Truong Thi Ngoc Diep for her encouragement and dedicated guidance My thesis would be never perfect without her encouragement, valuable comments, careful proof-reading and corrections Above all, she showed me how to be a real researcher, how to think independently and how to work seriously on my thesis

Then, I would like to thank Mr Huynh Minh Hien for teaching me how to use Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) in his course

Next, I wish to thank 12 participants who helped me answer the questionnaire The graduation thesis could not be completed without their help

Last but not least, I am most thankful to my beloved family and my friends for their support and valuable suggestions

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii

TABLE OF CONTENTS iii

LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES vi

ABSTRACT vii

TÓM LƯỢC viii

CHAPTER1: INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 Rationale 1

1.2 Research objectives and significance 3

1.3 Research organization 3

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 4

2.1 Role of graduation thesis 4

2.2 Requirements of a graduation thesis 4

2.2.1 Requirements for writing skill 4

2.2.1.1 Title 5

2.2.1.2 Abstract 6

2.2.1.3 Introduction 6

2.2.1.4 Literature review 8

2.2.1.5 Methods 8

2.2.1.6 Results 10

2.2.1.7 Discussion and conclusion 10

2.2.2 Requirements for format of a graduation thesis 12

2.3 Mistakes in students' graduation theses 12

2.3.1 Writing skill 12

2.3.1.1 Abstract 13

2.3.1.2 Introduction 13

2.3.1.3 Literature review 13

2.3.1.4 Methods 13

2.3.1.5 Results 14

2.3.1.6 Discussion and conclusion 14

2.3.2 Research skill 14

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2.3.3 Presenting format 14

2.4 Difficulties facing students in the process of conducting a graduation thesis 15

2.4.1 Writing skill 15

2.4.2 Psychology 15

2.4.3 Support from the institutions and from the supervisors 15

2.5 Suggestions for improving thesis quality 16

2.5.1 Using software 16

2.5.2 Asking for other people's help 16

2.5.3 Independent work 16

2.5.4 Supervisors' assistance 17

2.5.5 Institution's assistance 17

2.6 Previous studies 17

2.7 Research questions 21

CHAPTER 3: METHODS 22

3.1 Research design 22

3.2 Participants 22

3.3 Instrument 22

3.4 Procedure 23

CHAPTER 4: RESULTS, DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS 24

4.1 The questionnaire 24

4.2 Summary of the questionnaire 24

4.3 Difficulties encountered by students in conducting a graduation thesis 25

4.3.1 Writing skill 25

4.3.2 Research skill 26

4.3.3 Presenting format 26

4.3.4 Psychology 27

4.3.5 Support from the institution and from the supervisors 28

4.3.6 Other difficulties 28

4.4 Remedies for difficulties in conducting a graduation thesis 29

4.4.1 Using software 29

4.4.2 Having the others' help 29

4.4.3 Independent work 30

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4.4.4 Other suggestions 30

4.5 Expectations 31

4.5.1 Expectations from the department and from the supervisors 31

4.5.2 Other expectations 31

4.6 Discussion 32

4.7 Conclusion 33

CHAPTER 5: LIMITATIONS, IMPLICATIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 35

5.1 Limitations 35

5.2 Implications 35

5.3 Suggestions for further research 36

REFERENCES 37

APPENDICES 39

APPENDIX A: QUESTIONNAIRE 39

APPENDIX B: OUTPUT DATA 42

APPENDIX C: THE QUESTIONNAIRES AFTER COLLECTED 55

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LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES

Table 2.1 Requirements for writing introduction section 7

Table 2.2 Requirements for writing literature review section 8

Table 2.3 Requirements for writing methods section 9

Table 2.4 Requirements for writing results section 10

Table 2.5 Requirements for writing discussion and conclusion sections 11

Table 4.1 Summary of the questionnaire 24

Figure 4.1 Difficulties in terms of writing skill 25

Figure 4.2 Difficulties in terms of research skill 26

Figure 4.3 Difficulties in terms of presenting format 27

Figure 4.4 Difficulties in terms of psychology 27

Figure 4.5 Difficulties in terms of support from the institution and from the supervisors 28

Figure 4.6 Using software 29

Figure 4.7 Having the other's help 29

Figure 4.8 Independent work 30

Figure 4.9 Expectations from English Department and from the supervisors 31

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ABSTRACT

Conducting a graduation thesis is difficult for English-majored students Previous studies have focused on challenges in thesis writing, or mistakes in theses (Huhta, Varttala & Ervaala, 2007, Han, 2014) Although these studies have mentioned difficulties facing students in conducting a graduation thesis, few researchers have researched on students' perceptions about their difficulties in conducting a thesis in greater depth, which is the rationale of implementing this current thesis This present study is to achieve three objectives: (1) investigating difficulties facing students in conducting a thesis, (2) finding out remedies that students apply to overcome those difficulties, and (3) learning about students' expectations Descriptive, quantitative and qualitative research design have been employed in this project The questionnaire included 37 statements with a five-points likert-scale used to evaluate students' attitude Three open-ended questions were also included in this questionnaire The questionnaires were delivered to 12 English-majored students who were on the process

of conducting a graduation thesis The results of the study showed that students faced difficulties in research skill (50% in average), writing skill (17.85% in average), psychology (75% in average), presenting format (25% in average), and support from the institution and from the supervisors (33.3% in average) In addition, students faced difficulties in accessing high quality articles, designing questionnaire, analyzing data, making the participants concentrate on answering the questionnaire They also lacked time to complete the thesis, lacked good strategies and lacked good advice for conducting a thesis This study may be the reference material for students who would like to conduct a thesis, for instructors who guide students in conducting a thesis Also, this study has some recommendations that the Department of English Language and Culture could consider to help students improve thesis quality

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TÓM LƯỢC

Thực hiện luận văn là một việc khó đối với sinh viên ngành Tiếng Anh Có nhiều nghiên cứu về những thách thức khi viết luận văn hay những nghiên cứu tìm hiểu về các lỗi trong luận văn (Huhta, Varttala & Ervaala, 2007, Han, 2014) Những nghiên cứu này có đề cập đến những khó khăn mà sinh viên đối mặt khi làm luận văn Tuy nhiên, ít có nhà nghiên cứu nào tiến hành nghiên cứu sâu hơn để tìm hiểu nhận thức của sinh viên về những khó khăn khi thực hiện luận văn Nghiên cứu này nhắm tới ba mục tiêu: (1) điều tra về những khó khăn mà sinh viên vấp phải khi thực hiện luận văn, (2) tìm ra những phương pháp mà sinh viên áp dụng để khắc phục những khó khăn đó, (3) tìm hiểu về những mong đợi của sinh viên khi làm luận văn Nghiên cứu này sử dụng kết hợp cả thiết kế nghiên cứu mô tả, định lượng và định tính Bảng hỏi gồm có 37 mục hỏi, sử dụng thang đo Likert gồm 5 mức để đo lường thái độ của sinh viên đối với mỗi vấn đề được đặt ra Ngoài ra bảng hỏi cũng có thêm 3 câu hỏi mở Bảng hỏi được phát cho 12 sinh viên đang trong quá trình thực hiện luận văn tốt nghiệp Kết quả nghiên cứu cho thấy sinh viên gặp khó khăn về kỹ năng nghiên cứu (trung bình 50%), kỹ năng viết (trung bình 17.85%), tâm lý (trung bình 75%), trình bày hình thức của luận văn (trung bình 25%), sự hỗ trợ từ viện đại học và giáo viên hướng dẫn (trung bình 33.3%) Sinh viên còn gặp khó khăn trong việc tiếp cận các bài báo có chất lượng cao, thiết kế bảng hỏi, phân tích số liệu, thu hút đối tượng tham gia nghiên cứu trả lời bảng hỏi Ngoài ra, sinh viên cũng thiếu thời gian để hoàn thành luận văn, thiếu chiến lược tốt và lời khuyên tốt cho việc thực hiện luận văn Nghiên cứu này có thể được sử dụng làm tài liệu tham khảo cho những sinh viên lựa chọn làm luận văn và các giảng viên hướng dẫn sinh viên làm luận văn Hơn nữa, Bộ môn Ngôn ngữ và Văn hóa Anh có thể xem xét đến những đề xuất trong nghiên cứu để từ đó có thể có những biện pháp nhằm hỗ trợ sinh viên trong việc thực hiện luận văn

According to Nguyen (2013), conducting thesis is a major job in curriculum of

a university, and the grade of graduation thesis always occupies a highest proportion compared to other subjects He also claims that writing thesis helps develop students' study ability and graduation thesis is a reliable tool for evaluating students’ study competence Graduation thesis plays an important role in evaluating quality of education in independent institutions (Han, 2014) Han (2014) also says that graduation thesis is a big project for English as Foreign Language students to complete Thesis writing requires knowledge relating to a certain field of study and such knowledge must be used to argue over the findings of the study in a logical and coherent way (Council of Graduate Schools in the U.S., 1991, cited in Dong, 1998) Therefore, it is hard for those who use their first language to write thesis, and the difficulties are even greater when they write thesis in foreign languages (Zimmermize,

2000, cited in Han, 2014)

Through mistakes of students' theses, their difficulties may be explored Students write too long thesis title and make mistakes when writing each part of a thesis including introduction, literature review, argumentation, conclusion, and acknowledgement (Han, 2014) Also, students commit grammatical mistakes when writing thesis (Huhta, Varttala & Ervaala, 2007) Maybe, students make those mistakes because they face difficulties in writing skill Graduate students have limited vocabulary, have difficulties in using English, and because of weakness in English, students copy exactly sentences from others' work; therefore, they commit plagiarism (Dong, 1998)

Besides, research skill is another difficulty facing students Students choose broad topic, collect data from a small scale, lack ability in synthesizing information from relevant materials, read few materials or read materials of low quality (Han, 2014) In addition, research question may not be addressed or remains unanswered (Huhta, Varttala & Ervaala, 2007) Huhta, Varttala, & Ervaala, (2007) also indicate that students use irrelevant background information, use too much direct quote, forget

If students do not have a standard guideline to follow, they may encounter difficulties in presenting format of a thesis Even students are provided a guideline for thesis writing by their department, they do not pay much attention to citation style and

as a result, they commit mistakes in citation, quotation, and fonts (Han, 2014)

Students can ask for the others’ help to support them in conducting a thesis Students can have their friends proof-read their thesis (Dong, 1998) Dong also suggests that supervisors should give specific comments when they correct students' thesis and care of students' work more Also, discussion between supervisors and students should be enhanced (Huhta, Varttala & Ervaala, 2007)

Moreover, the department can help students by establishing some policies and offering courses that support students in conducting a thesis An informal group for reviewing the thesis should be established and courses that familiarize students with thesaurus, software program, academic writing book, guideline of the thesis writing should be offered before students conduct a thesis (Dong, 1998) Furthermore, more academic writing courses should be offered (Huhta, Varttala & Ervaala, 2007) Students' thesis quality can be improved thanks to effective guidance, supporting in terms of reference sources, enhancing teaching quality, building and improving curriculum (Han, 2014) Huhta, Varttala & Ervaala (2007) suggest that guideline for thesis writing should be available for students to use, strict rules for preventing plagiarism should be established, native teachers should be invited to teach English

Dong (1998), Hamatani & Pearson (1997), Huhta, Varttala & Ervaala (2007) mention difficulties facing students in conducting a thesis Nevertheless, difficulties facing students may not been investigated in greater depth Moreover, in his study, Dong (1998) mentions graduate students' difficulties in conducting thesis, not

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undergraduate students' difficulties Suggestions for improving thesis quality are presented in the studies of Dong (1998), Han (2014), Huhta, Varttala & Ervaala (2007) However, there are few remedies suggested by students In the study of Dong (1998), very few expectations of students are mentioned Therefore, this present study aims to finding out difficulties facing students in conducting thesis, remedies they used

to solve difficulties and their expectations

1.2 Research objectives and significance

This study is carried out to investigate difficulties facing students in conducting

a thesis and find out students' suggestions for improving thesis quality as well as their

expectations

It is hoped that the findings of this study can help students avoid popular mistakes when conducting a thesis, help them realize difficulties that may face them Also, some suggestions that may be helpful to students are given through the results of the present study Moreover, this study is expected to be the useful reference material for teachers in guiding students for writing thesis It is also hoped that recommendations in the study could be considered by Department of English

Language and Culture

1.3 Research organization

The study is divided into five chapters: (1) Introduction, (2) Literature review, (3) Research methods, (4) Results, discussion and conclusions, and (5) Limitations, Implications and recommendations

In Chapter 1, background information relating to the topic are provided The situation and the findings of previous study are mentioned The objectives and significance of the research are addressed The final part is the organization of the research

In Chapter 2, the previous studies which are relevant to the topic are summarized and synthesized

In Chapter 3, research design, participants, instrument, procedures are clarified

In Chapter 4, the answers for the research questions are satisfied Discussion and Conclusion sections are also put in this chapter

In Chapter 5, limitations, implications and suggestions for further research are mentioned

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CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter includes (1) role of graduation thesis, (2) requirements of a graduation thesis, (3) mistakes in students' graduation theses, (4) difficulties facing students in the process of conducting a graduation thesis, (5) suggestions for improving graduation thesis quality, (6) previous studies, and (7) research questions

2.1 Role of graduation thesis

Thesis writing in English is very popular because of the increasing number of international programs and international students (Huhta, Vartalla & Ervaala, 2007) Moreover, Huhta, Vartalla & Ervaala (2007) say that thesis is important because many employers require a thesis written in English, thesis writing also makes a contribution into research and development

Conducting a graduation thesis gives students a chance to learn more about the topic they are interested in, helps students read and analyze what they read in greater depth and shows students' competence in reading, analyzing, thinking and writing (Hamatani & Pearson, 1997) In the process of conducting a thesis, students can identify problems of a particular area, examine optional solutions, apply results of the research to new and changing situations (Opinnäytetyön laadun tekijät, 2006:6, cited

in Huhta, Vartalla & Ervaala, 2007)

Graduation thesis is a criterion to assess quality of education of an institution and it cannot be replaced by other means of teaching (Han, 2014) Thesis develops and shows students' competence in using knowledge and skills of their field of study to research as an expert (Polytechnics Decree 352/2003, cited in Huhta, Vartalla & Ervaala, 2007)

2.2 Requirements of a graduation thesis

2.2.1 Requirements for writing skill

A good thesis must satisfy requirements for writing skill Huhta, Vartalla & Ervaala 2007 claim that thesis should be understandable, functional, practical, clear, and readable These researchers also assume that various parts of the thesis should link together, structure of the thesis must be logical, and register used in the thesis must be appropriate To conduct a good thesis which achieves those requirements, every word, every sentence and every paragraph in the thesis should be written carefully

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Wallwork (2011) addresses requirements for writing words, phrases, sentences and paragraphs in a paper: First, every word in the paper needs to be easily understandable to encourage the readers to read and phrases copied from others work must be easy to understand and popular; second, short and clear sentences should be used to attract reader's attention and to avoid misunderstanding; sentences in a paragraph should be connected with one another by moving from general to specific; relative clause, gerund, article, noun, pronoun, and punctuation should be use carefully

to make sure that a sentence or phrase is not ambiguous or vague; third, to begin a new paragraph, shorter sentences or dynamic language should be used to highlight important points Wallwork (2011) says that each paragraph of a paper must contain topic sentence, intermediate sentences and the last sentence which are the same as title, sections and conclusions of a paper He presents the role of each type of sentence: The topic sentence introduces the readers the main points of the paragraph and it needs to

be linked with previous paragraph; intermediate sentences are arranged in a logical order to develop the topic sentence; and the last sentence can refer back to the topic sentence or become a transitional sentence for the next paragraph He also claims that

a paragraph needs to be linked with the previous paragraph as well as the following paragraph; long paragraph should be broken up so that the readers can read it easily

Wallwork (2011) also indicates requirements for writing a clear and simple paper: Using tenses appropriately; restricting the use of direct quotations; cutting unnecessary words and expressing concept with shortest words can remove redundancy; using hedging by toning down verbs, adjectives, and adverbs and decreasing the level of certainty make the paper easily accepted; moreover, using personal style and passive voice should be followed instructions of the guideline

Besides the requirements for whole thesis, requirements for words, phrases, sentences and paragraphs, requirements for writing each part of the thesis are indicated

2.2.1.1 Title

Wallwork (2011) presents the rules for writing the title of the research papers:

A string of nouns should not be used because the title that includes prepositions can make the title clearer; vocabulary and punctuation should be used effectively to make the title dynamic and to draw readers' attention; the period (.) must not be at the end of

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the title; if the title is a question, the question mark must be put at the end of the title; syntax, vocabulary, spelling and capitalization are elements need to be satisfied; apart from articles and preposition, each initial letter need to be capitalized; the title should

be specific and cover the content of the paper

Wallwork (2011) also mentions other requirements in an abstract: Mentioning limitations in the abstract is unnecessary; background information should not be so general; unnecessary claims, technical or generic terms, mathematical equations should not be put in the abstract; unnecessary details like place names and references

of other research should be avoided; arranging information in a logical way, highlighting important ideas, and being concise make the abstract have a great impact; present simple is used for describing the content of paper, describing the experiment and the opinion as well as conclusion of the author, present perfect is used for stating past to present background information, past simple is used for stating the findings of the author's research

Similar to requirements that Wallwork (2011) mentions, English Department, School of Social Sciences and Humanities, Can Tho University requires that the abstract section must include the research problem and include the description of participants, instrument, procedure, and the major results

2.2.1.3 Introduction

In general, requirements for writing the introduction section established by universities or indicated by authors are almost identical

Humanities, Can Tho University

the other parts of

the thesis must be

to the research question is provided

Second, objective, research questions and scope of the

addressed Third, the rationale for finding out the answer to the research questions, the method to find out the answers are stated, organization

of the whole thesis must be included in this section and the introduction section should moves from

general to specific

The introduction section should go straight to point, the research questions

in the introduction must be clear, and tenses must be used correctly: Present simple should be used to describe the general background context and to describe the method used to conduct the research; past simple is used for reporting

contribution of the person who do the research; present simple is used to talk about the solutions from past

up to now

The research problem must be mentioned and it can be researched; Background

information, the purpose of the research,

importance of the research,

organization of the thesis must be included in the introduction

section

Department, School of Social

Humanities, Can Tho University

reviewed and analyzed so that the gap

of those studies could be realized

Then, the present study will fill that gap

In the literature review, relevant studies should be mentioned in a logical order, then, findings and limitations of these studies need to be addressed and the gap of these studies need to

be indicated; present simple and present perfect are used

in the introductory of the literature review; present perfect is used to mentioned situations from past to present; past simple is used

to reported other authors' findings and past simple is also be used if the date is indicated Redundancy should be removed and limitations of other works should be showed in a constructive way

First, this section should be easily understandable, well-organized Second,

information cited must be relevant to

problem Third, the literature review section must be ended by a short summary of the literature including research question Fourth, if the research contains hypotheses, then hypotheses need to

be mentioned Finally, plagiarism

is not allowed

2.2.1.5 Methods

Departme-nt, School

of Social Sciences and Humanities , Can Tho University

be addressed

Literature review can

be used to explain for the method section The procedure of data

collection and data analysis must

be explained

The methods section must be clear and its order must be logical The methods should provide the readers enough details The description of the methods needs to be complete and concise To write a methods section, these following steps must be done

First, mentioning the problem and the subject that need to be studied The hypotheses need to be showed The location where the research is carried out and characteristics of this location need to be reported The way how to design the experiment, the way how to sample must be described Next, what variable was measured and the reason why it was measured must be explained The way how the materials were treated, what equipment and what protocol were used to collect data need to be mentioned The process of analyzing the data and what

Research design, sample and sampling, instruments, materials, procedure of the research

described in the methods section

Comparison with previous authors' method should be made Using past simple and passive voice are requirements for writing the methods section

2.2.1.6 Results

Table 2.4 Requirements for writing results section

School of Social Sciences and Humanities, Can Tho University

Unexpected findings that

contradict the hypotheses

should be mentioned Past

simple is used to report the

findings of the person who

conduct the research and

present simple is used to

mention the others' findings

Graphs and tables should be used appropriately

Information should not

be repeated, interesting and unexpected data should be addressed

The results should not

be discussed in this part

if the discussions section is put into a separate part

Tables of data and figures need to be arranged in a logical order In every table and figure, the description of data must be stated

2.2.1.7 Discussion and conclusion

of the research questions are explained These results will be compared with the results of previous studies The effects

of the method used

to collect data will also be discussed

Moreover, some limitations of the research or the research method are also discussed

in this chapter In the conclusion section, discussion

on importance of the study is made

This section also clarifies if the

The discussion section should follow these following steps

First, the data support to what established at the introduction section should be indicated

Then, the findings need to be compared to the others' findings The link as well as the difference compared to other studies need to be discussed Next, the findings should be explained and the limitations of the study should

be mentioned Furthermore, implications of the study should be addressed

Recommendation for further research should be stated based

on the findings In this section, active sentences should be used to help the readers distinguish between the findings of the person who do research and the findings of the

In discussion and conclusion sections, the whole research needs to be summarized What relating to the hypotheses needs to be discussed

Differences or similarities compared to other studies

discussed The conclusion section needs to satisfy the research

question and hypotheses Limitations, pedagogical

Things can be learnt or applied from the results of the study are addressed

Suggestions or recommendations for next studies

mentioned

others In the conclusion section, a short review of important findings should be made Next, the significance of the findings needs to be judged Then, limitations of the research should be showed and suggestions as well as recommendations should be mentioned Present perfect is used to report what was done during the research process and simple past is used to state what was done in the research process

implications, suggestions for further research

included in this part

2.2.2 Requirements for format of a graduation thesis

Each university, each department establishes its own rule for presenting format Because this present study is conducted at Can Tho University, criteria for assessing format are mostly based on criteria of English Department, School of Social Sciences and Humanities, Can Tho University, now it is renamed Department of English Language and Culture, School of Foreign Languages Reference list must be made based on APA style (B.A Thesis Evaluation Criteria 2014, English Department, School of Social Sciences and Humanities, Can Tho University) Moreover, using reference must be clearly indicated (Wallwork, 2011)

2.3 Mistakes in students' graduation theses

2.3.1 Writing skill

Students fail to meet the requirements in terms of writing skill Students can hardly realize major points from minor points of the materials they collect (Han, 2014) Also, students write the thesis in foreign language, the sentences they write in their thesis may be so simple, so short and incoherent (Huhta, Vartalla & Ervaala, 2007) Moreover, components of a sentence sometimes do not link together because

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relation between subject and verb as well as relation between adjective, adverb, noun and verb are difficult to realize (Wallwork, 2011) Wallwork (2011) also indicates that using sophisticated English makes the sentences incomprehensible and plagiarism is also a common mistake that students often commit

2.3.1.1 Abstract

Han (2014) finds out some mistakes in the abstract section of students' graduation theses He indicates that students cannot write an abstract which is formal and objective because they even use abbreviation in the abstract Han (2014) says that some students write the abstract section by their native language, then translate it into English; as the result, they make awkward expression; moreover, committing grammatical mistakes leads to ambiguity in their thesis

Another mistake is that students cannot show the readers the importance of their thesis through the abstract The results and the implications may not be included in the abstract, students cannot explain in the abstract why their research useful; too much information are provided in the abstract, so the abstract become difficult to understand

by the readers (Wallwork, 2011)

2.3.1.2 Introduction

The introduction may contain too much idea of the whole paper and too much general statement that the readers have already known (Wallwork, 2011) Wallwork (2011) shows that the rationale and objectives may not be mentioned in the introduction section and information in this section are disorganized; the problem the researcher mentions or the problem needs to be solved does not stated obviously; the reason for choosing a certain method is unexplained; and many parts in the abstract are cut and pasted into the introduction The introduction section is too long; also, theme, background information, research questions, and argumentation are not stated clearly (Han, 2014)

2.3.1.3 Literature review

Students do not collect enough materials; the materials they select are not reliable, representative, and scientific, so they cannot write a logical review of literature (Han, 2014) Also, irrelevant reference materials are put in literature review (Wallwork, 2011)

2.3.1.4 Methods

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Description of the methods is insufficient because the number of samples is not reported, what sampling method and the reason for choosing that method are not mentioned; explanation for choosing a certain procedures is not stated (Wallwork,

2011)

2.3.1.5 Results

Wallwork (2011) addresses mistakes in the results section: Difference between key findings and minor findings is not emphasized; the findings that contradict the hypotheses are not mentioned; the length of the results section is exceeding and much information in the results section are found in the discussion section; in addition, the importance of the data is not showed

2.3.1.6 Discussion and conclusion

In the discussion section, there is no link between the findings and observations

of the present study with the findings and observations of other studies; implications and limitations of the study are not discussed; there are no explanations for the results

of the study (Wallwork, 2011) The ideas in conclusion section are incorrectly

summarized; popular mistakes in students’ conclusion section are exaggeration,

digression, over brevity, and redundancy (Han, 2014) Many parts of other sections in

the paper are repeated in the conclusion section; in this part, the researcher simply summarizes the whole paper rather than shows the readers the value of the

contribution of the research (Wallwork, 2011)

2.3.2 Research skill

When writing thesis proposal, students choose the topic that is rather broad and

it cannot cover the main ideas of the thesis; they also tend to choose similar topics and

do not create anything new in the topic; students do not collect data from a wide scope; students also lack competence for synthesizing information of the materials they collect; and they even cite some information that is not relevant to their research (Han, 2014) Han also says that students do not read enough literature with high quality;

therefore, their thesis is not convincing, less academic and systematic

2.3.3 Presenting format

Students sometimes choose long thesis title and there is no limitation for the number of words used in thesis title; when students write thesis, they do not take much

2.4 Difficulties facing students in the process of conducting a graduation thesis 2.4.1 Writing skill

Students can hardly state their ideas clearly and make their thesis coherent; also, students cannot always keep formal expression (Han, 2014) Background skills of some students are not adequate to make theoretical research; therefore, they commit mistakes relating to grammar; students are not familiar with style of an academic writing because their knowledge of English relating to academic style is limited when they see and hear real life English in films, songs, on Internet or TV which use informal language; students' level is inadequate to write a thesis in English; moreover, students are under influence of mother tongue and cannot write a thesis that reaches the style of an academic writing (Huhta, Vartalla & Ervaala, 2007) Students also face difficulties in using conjunctions, organizing ideas, understanding the meaning in English; they also face other difficulties such as limited vocabulary, problems in organizing the ideas, and spelling (Hamatani & Pearson, 1997 )

2.4.2 Psychology

Psychological issues also affect students' thesis writing Students fear that they are incompetent for writing thesis and they fear that their thesis will be rejected; moreover, students try to make their thesis as perfect as possible; as a result, they are anxious about making mistakes; all of these psychological factors cause a negative impact on students' ability in thesis writing (Paltridge & Starfield, 2007) Supervisors' feedback plays a vital role in improving both content and language use in students' thesis writing (Riazi, 1997, cited in Paltridge and Starfield, 2007) Meanwhile, fear of supervisors or supervisors' feedback makes student tend to avoid a helpful source for improving thesis writing (Murray, 2002, cited in Paltridge and Starfield, 2007)

2.4.3 Support from the institution and from the supervisors

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Students do not receive enough guidance from the supervisors in the process of conducting a thesis (Huhta, Vartalla & Ervaala, 2007, Dong, 1998) Not many English Departments have identical standards or guidelines for writing a graduation thesis but following requirements: the length of a graduation thesis is about thirty pages and the thesis must be written in English (Hamatani & Pearson, 1997) The thesis process is vague and the guidelines are incomplete or missing (Huhta, Vartalla & Ervaala 2007) Students are also encountered by difficulties in referencing (Hamatani & Pearson, 1997)

2.5 Suggestions for improving thesis quality

2.5.1 Using software

Students can use some software to support them in conducting a thesis CrossCheck program may be used to check if plagiarism is committed by chance (Wallwork, 2011) Furthermore, end-note program is suggested to be used to help students in making a list of references (Hamatani & Pearson, 1997)

2.5.2 Asking for other people's help

Talking to friends or family about research helps the researcher get some ideas for writing paper; moreover, this helps the researcher check if the paper is easy to understand by non-experts; having the native speakers edit the paper is also helpful (Wallwork, 2011) In addition, Wallwork (2011) claims that it is necessary to have the others check the title of the paper to examine if the title is correct in terms of spelling and syntax and if it is clear or easily understandable Also, students can have their friends edit their thesis (Dong, 1998)

2.5.3 Independent work

Students can improve thesis quality by themselves Participating in writing group helps improve writing skill (Wallwork, 2011) Moreover, registering for academic writing courses helps support students in thesis writing (Huhta, Vartalla &

Ervaala 2007)

The relevant papers should be collected and useful phrases in these papers should be noted down; using those useful phrases helps the present study more reliable because the readers may be accustomed to those phrases through previous papers (Wallwork, 2011) Also, Wallwork (2011) says that it is necessary to pay attention to

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the structure of relevant papers; analyzing and taking note strengths and weaknesses of

relevant previous studies help find out the gap of those studies

2.5.4 Supervisors' assistance

Supervisors' guidance can help improve students' thesis quality Regular meetings between supervisor and students should be done to discuss students' thesis (Huhta, Vartalla & Ervaala 2007, Paltridge and Starfield, 2007) Comprehensible and constructive feedback on students' thesis should be given by supervisors (Paltridge and Starfield, 2007, Dong, 1998)

2.5.5 Institution's assistance

Department plays an important role in supporting students in the process of conducting a thesis Foreign language department should provide guidance and equip students with knowledge of citation style before they write a thesis (Han, 2014) More courses of academic writing should be offered (Huhta, Vartalla & Ervaala, 2007)

Huhta, Vartalla & Ervaala (2007) find that students do not have enough background skills to do theoretical research Other problems in students’ theses are showed such as problems in grammar, structure, form and layout Students write short sentences and these sentences lack of connection Their ability is not sufficient to write

a thesis Using English as a foreign language to write thesis, students may write sentences that are so simple and informal There may be no explanations for the

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graphs Students may not advance the research question or if yes, the answer for question is not mentioned Discussion and conclusion sections of the thesis are difficult to understand Students use too much irrelevant background information and direct referencing Smoother transitions are necessary to make the language are not like a manual

As the findings of Huhta, Vartalla & Ervaala's study (2007), 67 % of the respondents say that before being allowed to write a thesis, students at universities of applied sciences must be sufficient ability for reaching some criteria Universities of applied sciences have not advanced the principles for writing a thesis Therefore, obvious criteria for thesis writing should be established Fifty-eight percents of the respondents find the current process of the thesis is not very good Furthermore, the thesis process and guidelines are not clear or missing Language instructors think that supervisors should require students to gain language skills

Huhta, Vartalla & Ervaala (2007) indicate that there are no universities of applied sciences publish guideline for thesis writing on their website Students also face linguistic challenges when writing a thesis Also, both supervisors and students have problems in scheduling time for thesis writing: it takes much time for the supervisors to read and give comments on students' thesis and students often delay conducting the thesis Thirty-six percent of the respondents address some needs for improving thesis’s quality: more time and resources, description of the thesis, more courses for research writing, better guidelines for thesis writing, punishments for plagiarism Moreover, language teachers need resources for evaluating students’ theses Raising teaching level and inviting more native teachers for teaching English are suggested

Han (2014) makes a research on 414 graduation theses of students from Zhejiang University and Ningbo Institute of Technology in 2011 and 2012 to find out problems in these theses and to find out solutions for these problems Graduation thesis plays an important role in education and in helping students receive higher education

This study is conducted to answer three questions First, what is the reality of graduation theses written by English-majored students? Second, which problems exist

in students’ graduation theses? Third, what are solutions for these problems? Apart

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from selecting and analyzing thesis samples, the researcher also talks to supervisors and students in Ningbo Institute of Technology to find out students' problems when students write a thesis

In his study, Han (2014) suggests some ways for students, and teachers to improve quality of the thesis The results of the study show that the topics students choose belong to following fields: Linguistics, Literature, Translation, and Teaching

In both of two universities, the number of students chooses the research field in descending order: Linguistics, Literature, Translation, and Teaching Most students choose linguistics, literature, and translation, so they could gain a great amount of knowledge relating to these fields Few students choose teaching as their research field because they have little chance to access teaching practice while teaching practice is useful for them in the process of data collection and data analyzation

Han (2014) addresses lots of students' problems in thesis writing Students often choose broad topics and their thesis titles sometimes are so long The topic they choose is often similar to the others' topic Their topic also lacks innovation and creativeness Furthermore, data are collected from a narrow scope Students cannot distinguish between main points and minor points Students' ability is insufficient to synthesize information from relevant materials The materials they collect are not reliable As a result, their thesis is unconvincing, short of academic and systematic Students even use some inappropriate citation and irrelevant or out-dated materials In writing each part of the thesis, sometimes students cannot assure the formality and objectiveness because abbreviations are even used in the abstract Moreover, students can hardly write a logical thesis The introduction in the thesis is lengthy Students use few materials in writing literature review Students do not use argumentation and evidence briefly, logical and consistent As a result, the thesis is not academic, scientific and convincing Exaggeration, digression, over brevity, and redundancy are popular mistakes that students often commit

Han (2014) gives some suggestions for improving thesis quality Foreign language department should provide guidance and equip students with knowledge of citation style before they write thesis To make sure the students keep abreast with the progress of graduation thesis, an effective administration and evaluation methods should be applied The basic principles and skills of choosing the title should be

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mastered by the students The title must be clear, specific, and novel To help students comprehend and choose a suitable title, problems in choosing title of previous students should be analyzed and summarized by the instructors Library's quality and service should be enhanced to help students in their thesis writing Moreover, teachers can share their experience with one another to write a book that helps students enhance their writing skill Teachers should help students in their thesis writing by many ways such as improving teaching quality, pedagogy, assessment and educational management; perfecting curriculum; enhancing fields of study; researching the requirements in writing thesis; cultivating students' rigor and diligence in learning and writing

Hamatani & Pearson (1997) say that few English Departments establish a standard guideline to help students with their thesis This increases more work for teachers Hamatani & Pearson (1997) carry out a research in Japanese colleges and universities to determine composition of a graduation thesis, which points make a thesis important The study also aims at finding out criteria for evaluating thesis quality in both process and product Concepts of significance of originality are addressed Definition of plagiarism and treatment for it are mentioned Finally, the students' needs are found out to help English-speaking teachers design a thesis course syllabus The questionnaire and interview are used to collect information from 29 teachers and 6 students

Hamatani & Pearson's findings (1997) show that 73% of the participants agree that graduation thesis helps student understand their topic deeper Ninety-three percent

of the respondents agree that graduation thesis helps show students' ability in reading, analyzing as well as thinking and writing in an academic style Sixty-seven percent of the respondents think that thesis makes students create their ideas and prove their ideas

to be correct For originality of graduation thesis, 53% participants believe that originality proves the difference and superiority of students' thesis compared to others' research with the same topic Thirty-three percent of the participants agree and 67% somewhat agree that originality helps prove students' idea or opinion to be new The results show some important aspects of the thesis such as research question, content or ideas, organization, use of language, research quality, process of doing research and writing, development, and support In addition, summarizing and paraphrasing

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information from other materials are considered to be important The process of conducting a thesis is important Eighty percent of the respondents agree that students should have some proofs to prove that the thesis is their own work and 80% of the respondents agree that students can receive help in English from teachers or native speakers Students read few articles relating to the topic The process used to evaluate the students' graduation thesis including checking the validity of the information, the expression in English, syntactic correctness, originality, logical organization, students' attitude Through the results of the study, plagiarism means using published or unpublished materials without citation

There are some remedies that help students conduct the thesis are suggested by Hamatani & Pearson (1997) Theses of high quality should be given to students to read Also, these theses should be analyzed so that students could understand why these theses are good Discipline-specific reading courses should be offered to enlarge students' vocabulary End-Note program is suggested to be used to help students make

a list of references

Hamatani & Pearson (1997) mention the role of graduation thesis and explore the needs of students Han (2014) shows lots of mistakes in students' graduation theses and mentions remedies for those problems Huhta, Vartalla & Ervaala (2007) indicate challenges in students' process of writing thesis and give suggestions for improving thesis quality However, difficulties are encountered by students in doing the thesis have not been investigated in greater depth; suggestions for improving thesis quality given by students and students' expectations may not be deep researched

2.7 Research questions

Few studies have been made to focus on difficulties facing students when conducting thesis Therefore, this study is conducted to answer following questions:

1 What difficulties are encountered by students in conducting a thesis?

2 How can students overcome difficulties in the process of conducting a thesis?

3 What are students' expectations of the department in supporting them with thesis writing?

Research design of this study was based on above claims Descriptive research design was used in this study to describe which difficulties facing students Numerical data in this study were percentage of the participants' answers for each statement Through the percentage of the participants' answers, the difficulties facing students when doing a thesis could be determined In this study, three open-ended questions were addressed to find out more difficulties were encountered by students, the remedies students used for overcoming those difficulties, and their expectations for supporting them in conducting a graduation thesis So, descriptive, quantitative and qualitative research design were combined to find out answers for three research questions

3.2 Participants

This study was carried to investigate difficulties encountered by majored students at Department of English Language and Culture, School of Foreign Languages, Can Tho University Subjects of this study were 12 senior students, 3 males and 9 females All of them studied English and they were on the process of conducting a graduation thesis in English So, they were assumed to know the difficulties facing them

English-3.3 Instrument

Likert-scale is an instrument use for evaluating attitude of a person towards a certain topic and Likert-Scale helps the respondents choose the option that is most suitable with their point of view (Losby & Wetmore, 2012)

Therefore, in this study, a 5-point likert-Scale with five degrees including (1) strongly disagree, (2) disagree, (3) neutral, (4) agree, (5) strongly agree was used to

measure students' attitude

The questionnaire was designed and delivered to 12 participants This questionnaire included 37 statements and it was divided into three parts