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4 NGÔN NGỮ & ĐỜI SỐNG Số 11b(319)-2021
LINGUISTICS AND VIETNAMMESE LINGUISTICS
CONVERSATIONAL IMPLICATURE:
MAJOR FEATURES AND SOME TEACHING
RECOMMENDATIONS
VO DAI QUANG*
ABSTRACT: This article is a review paper on (i) Major characteristic features of conversational
implicature; (ii) Ways of generating conversational implicature; (iii) Some (expected to be effective
to the degree posible) tentatively recommended guidelines for the teaching of conversational
implicature to Vietnamese students of English. The approach consistently adhered to throughout the
research is qualitative and inductive. The major specific research techniques employed are those
typical of a review research such as document analysis, introspection, generalization, and
systematization. Along with these techniques, some other techniques typical of discourse analysis as
multimodal analysis, register analysis, and genre analysis are also employed.
KEY WORDS: conversational implicature; principle; maxmaxi; feafeatur; generation.
RECEIVED: JULY, 29th, 2021. EDITED: NOVEMBER, 14th, 2021.
1. Introduction
1.1. Rationale and significance: Why should there be this research?
It is now extensively recognized that implicature is a phenomenon inherently associated with
language-in- use, especially in high-context cultures. In theoretical linguistics and socio-linguistics
this theme has been, and for certain, will always be placed under constant research as long as there
exits verbal and nonverbal interpersonal communication within a culture and among different
cultures. Information regarding characteristic features of implicatures established from different
perspectives appears to be essential for language users. Also, the establishment of such features
would contribute, in some aspect and to some certain extent, to building a framework for language
teaching. So far there have been a lot of research work in Vietnam and abroad on implicature. In face
of the huge amount of relevant information in the field due to the rapid development of 4.0
revolution, a succinct, systematic, easy-to-read review of major theoretical theses and issues on
implicature is felt to be time-saving for concerned readers in general, and practically useful for
teachers of English in particular. Tentatively, it is our desire to recommend some guidelines, which
might be found useful to the possible extent, for implicature teaching to Vietnamese students of
English.
1.2. Aims and objectives: What is the research for and what are to be set under investigation?
From my own experience of English language teaching to Vietnamese university-level students
(both undergraduate and graduate), it is observed that, from time to time, learners of English are
likely to misinterpret implicature in daily communication via spoken language, i.e. misunderstand the
speaker’s intended meaning. And this misunderstanding often leads to communication breakdown.
On account of this, the aim set forth for this research is to provide an overview of implicature in
English. This general aim might be elaborated into three research objectives: (i) establishing major
properties of conversational implicature; (ii) presenting the ways in which conversational implicature
can be generated; (iii) offering some tentative guidelines for the teaching of implicature to
Vietnamese students of English.
1.3. Research questions
The research objectives mentioned above can be reformulated into the following research
questions:
*
Associate Professor, Dr.; VNU University of Languages and International Studies;
Email: vodaiquang8@gmail.com
Số 11b(319)-2021 NGÔN NGỮ & ĐỜI SỐNG 5
(i) What are the major characteristic features of conversational implicature?

(ii) How can conversational implicature be generated?
(iii) What should be the guidelines for the teaching of conversational implicature to Vietnamese
students of English?
1.4. Scope of research
The research is confined to identifying major characteristic features of conversational implicature
regarding categorization, property establishment, and generation. Also, an element of methodology is
placed under analysis, which is aimed at working out tentative teaching guidelines. Although features
of conventional implicature lie outside the scope of this research, some relevant features of
conventional implicature are still taken into consideration with a view to highlighting the differences
between these two types (i.e. conventional vs. conversational implicatures).
2. Methodology
2.1. Research approach: This paper is designed as a review research conducted in adherence to
qualitative and inductive approach.
2.2. Research techniques: Such common reviewing techniques as document analysis,
introspection, generalization, and systematization are used. Along with these techniques, for more
effective exploitation and establishment of the sought-for features and the identification of the
possible ways to generate conversational implicature, an employment of some other techniques
typical of discourse analysis such as multimodal analysis, register analysis, and genre analysis
(Paltridge, 2012; Gee & Handford, 2012) is also resorted to.
2.3. Sources of data under analysis: data for analysis are taken from research works in the field,
recorded conversations between native speakers of English, videos, literary works, relevant examples
provided by the writer of this article as a teacher of English. The illustration examples collected by
the author are taken from Vo Dai Quang (2019).
3. Results and discussion
3.1. Definition of related terms
3.1.1. Distinction between ‘High-context’ and ‘Low-context’ cultures
An insight into cultural characteristics can be obtained via a close examination of social
frameworks. Viewed in this way, two major types of culture can be identified: low-context vs. high-
context cultures. In low-context cultures, less emphasis is paid to the context of communication.
Reliance on explicit verbal behaviour rather than on implied meaning or nonverbal messages is a
prominent characteristic of low-context cultures. On the contrary, in high-context cultures, great
emphasis is paid to communication context and much of interlocutors’ attention is given to implicit,
nonverbal messages. High-context cultures rely on implicit communication. “People from high-
context cultures have been taught from early childhood to look for implied meaning. They believe
that what is implied takes precedence over what is said; they will recognize discrepancies between
actual words and intended meaning” (Sana Reynolds & Deborah Valentine, 2011:15). In short, as
can be seen above, implicature (implied meaning) in communication is favoured in high-context
cultures. In what follows, an understanding of the concept ‘implicature’ will be offered.
3.1.2. Defining ‘Conversational Implicature’
Up till now there have been several definitions of the term ‘implicature’. The wordings in these
definitions might be different, but they all refer to this understanding: ‘Conversational implicature is
a type of additional, unstated, implicit meaning created by way of either flouting, violating or
observing the cooperative principle and the conversational maxims initiated by Grice, H.P. (1975).
Conversational implicature is something implied but left unsaid in an utterance. This ‘something’
must be inferred on the basis of the words uttered and the specific context of communication’. This
understanding is quite in harmony with what was stated by Yule, G. (1997:36): “Implicatures are
primarily examples of more being communicated than is said, but in order for them to be interpreted,
some basic cooperative principle must first be assumed to be in operation”.
3.1.3. Distinction between ‘Implication’ and ‘Implicature’
The term “implicature” was originally used by Grice to refer to the act of implicating. In his
terminology, “implicatum” means what a speaker implicates (Grice, H.P.,1975:43-44). ‘Implicata’ is
the plural form of ‘implicatum. Regarding the distinction between ‘Implicature’ and ‘Implication’,
Sperber & Wilson (1986:194-195) and Bach (2006:26) share the conception that implicatures are
implications of utterances, but not everything inferred from an utterance is an implicature.
3.2. Major types of implicature
It is recognized that different types of implicature have so far been proposed by different authors.
Among the different classifications available, the one advocated by Yule, G. appears to be quite
rational and easily approachable. Implicature, like presupposition, conveys implicit meaning.
Implicature is of two types: conventional and conversational. Conversational implicatures can be
further sub-classified into generalized implicatures and particularized implicatures. The question
herein raised would be: In what way is generalized implicature different from particularized
implicature?. “When no special knowledge is required in the context to calculate the additional
conveyed meaning, it is called a generalized conversational implicature” (Yule, G., 1997:41). For
example, B’s answer in the following exchange is a generalized implicature (+> ‘I didn’t buy
butter’):
A: Did you buy bread and butter? B: I bought some bread.
Accordingly, when some special knowledge is needed in a particular context for inferences to
work out the conveyed meaning we have particularized conversational implicatures.
e.g. Bert: Do you like ice-cream? Ernie: Is the Pope Catholic? (Yule, G., 1997:41)
In this example, the implicature +> ‘Obviously, yes!’ can be worked out only when Ernie knows
what ‘Pope’ and ‘Catholic’ refer to before this question (i.e. Is the Pope Catholic?) is uttered.
What is meant by ‘Conventional implicature’?. “In contrast to… conversational implicatures…,
conventional implicatures are not based on the cooperative principle or the maxims. They don’t
have to occur in conversation, and they don’t depend on special contexts for their interpretation”
(Yule, G., 1997:45). Conventional implicatures are associated with specific words and result in
additional conveyed meanings when those words are used. An example is the use of the word ‘even’
in this utterance: “Even Tom agreed”. The word ‘even’ here generates the implicature of ‘contrary to
expectation’. The implicature generated might be: +> ‘The fact that Tom agreed is contrary to our
expectation’.
Some students of English are not quite familiar with the term ‘scalar implicature’. It is observed
that certain information is transmitted via a word which expresses one value from a scale of values.
This is clearly seen in quantity-related linguistic expressions ranging from the highest value to the
lowest one. “The basis of scalar implicature is that, when any form in a scale is asserted, the
negative of all forms higher on the scale is implicated” (Yule, G., 1997:41). In short, the possible
scalar implicatures of ‘some’ is +> ‘not all, not much’, ‘not many’. e.g. The scalar implicatures for
‘Some students came late” might be +> ‘Not all students came late’, or +> ‘Not many students came
late’.
A sketch of major types of implicatue is given in what follows:
(i) Conventional implicature vs. conversational implicature
a. Conventional implicature: “An additional unstated meaning associated with the use of a
specific word, e.g. ‘A but B’ implies a contrast between A and B, so ‘contrast’ is a conventional
implicature of ‘but’” (Yule, G., 1997:128).
b. Conversational implicature: “An additional unstated meaning that has to be assumed in order
to maintain the cooperative principle, e.g. if someone says “The President is a mouse”, something
that is literally false, the hearer must assume the speaker means to convey more than is being said”
(Yule, G., 1997:128).
(ii) Conventional implicature

Nonscalar (Common)
a. Types: Conventional implicature
Scalar
b. Scalar conventional implicature: An additional meaning of the negative of any value higher on
a scale than the one uttered.
e.g: In saying “some children” the speaker implies that what he says does not apply to all
children; i.e. ‘some’ + ‘not all’ (scalar).
c. Non-scalar conventional implicature: An additional, unstated meaning not associated with
words denoting values on a scale.
e.g: ‘A but B’ + ‘contrast’.
c. Features of conventional implicature: (i) Associated with the use of a certain word; (ii) Fairly
stable in the semantic system of language.
(iii) Conversational implicature
Generalized
a. Conversational implicature
Particularized
b. Generalized conversational implicature: An additional unstated meaning that does not depend
on special knowledge. e.g.
Mary: Did you buy bread and butter?
Tom: I bought some bread.
“I bought some bread” + ‘I didn’t buy butter’.
c. Particularized conversational implicature: An additional unstated meaning that depends on
special knowledge. e.g.
Tom: Would you like another beer?
Peter: Is the Pope catholic?
“Is the Pope catholic?” + ‘Of course, yes’.
In order to infer this implicature, the listener is supposed to know about Catholism and the
relationship between Catholism and Popes.
d. Features of conversational implicature: (i) Situated within conversation; (ii) Generated by way
of observing, flouting, or violating the conversational maxims.
By now we have been provided with a sketch of major types of implicature. As mentioned in the
Introduction section, one of the objectives of the research is to recommend guidelines for the
teaching of conversational implicature to Vietnamese students of English. Therefore, an
understanding of the properties of conversational implicature is essential for this intended endeavor.
3.3. Properties of conversational implicature
Based on the obtained data, it is possible to say that there are a number of properties characteristic
of conversational implicature. These are cancelability, calculability, indeterminacy, non-
detachability, and universality vs. culture-specificity. These properties contribute to helping identify
whether a putative implicature is correctly identified as such.
3.3.1. Cancelability
“Conversational implicatures are deniable. They can be explicitly denied (or alternatively,
reinforced) in different ways” (Yule, G., 1997:44). Cancelability is a property detectable in most
implicatures. This means that these implicatures are pragmatically inferred, and are not part of the
linguistically encoded meaning of the utterance in question. Two aspects to cancelability can be
identified: explicit cancelability and contextual cancelability.
e.g: A: Do you want some beer? B: I’m on a diet. Still, I need some anyway.
In this example, the added sentence by B explicitly cancels the implicature conveyed by the first
sentence in B’s reply (i.e. +> ‘No, I don’t’). This is an example of explicit cancellation.
Charlene: I hope you brought the bread and the cheese?
Dexter: Ah, I brought some bread. (Yule, G., 1997:40)
Here the implicature +> ‘I didn’t bring the cheese’ might be contextually and implicitly cancelled.
The implicitness might be clarified if the question “Why didn’t you bring the butter?” is asked. The
cancelability can be made explicit if the conversation goes on as follows:
Charlene: Why didn’t you bring the cheese?
Dexter: I didn’t say ‘I didn’t bring the sheese’.
Here the implicature +> ‘I didn’t buy butter’ is contextual. Conversational implicatures are
cancelable because they are not part of the linguistically encoded meaning.
3.3.2. Calculability
Calculability is considered by pragmaticists as the most important property of conversational
implicature. Implicatures are not linguistically encoded or decoded. They are inferred, and so can be
worked out rationally. Grice considers calculability a defining property of conversational
implicatures. “The final test for the presence of a conversational implicature has to be, as far as I
could see, a derivation of it. One has to produce an account of how it could have arisen and why it is
there” (Grice, 1981:187). It is possible to say that calculability is a property of pragmatic inference.
For example, calculability is available in interpreting this utterance:
“Yesterday she intended to buy a bat”
Ambiguity resides on the word ‘bat’. Does it refer to a small mammal or to a sporting
instrument? Whom does ‘she’ here refer to? What does the speaker intend to convey via this
utterance? Without calculation of the relevant parameters needed for interpretation, the intended
implicature cannot be arrived at. “In terms of their defining properties, then, conversational
implicatures can be calculated, suspended, cancelled, and reinforced” (Yule, G., 1997:44-45).
3.3.3. Nondetachability
By the expression ‘nondetachability’ we mean the fact that different word arrangements for one
and the same proposition do not affect the shaping of an implicature that resides on that proposition
(i.e. conveyed via those different word arrangements). ‘Nondetachability’ is the label employed by
Grice to refer to this property. The example below is an illustration:
a) My childhood days are gone.
b) My childhood days are gone, gone. (Sperber & Wilson, 1986:219)
Utterance (a) may yield the implicature +> ‘My childhood is really nice and memorable’. The
repetition of “gone” for emphasis in (b) fails to cancel the implicature associated with utterance (a).
3.3.4. Indeterminacy
Indeterminacy is a property of conversational implicature. What is implied in a particular
utterance may be judged as indeterminate. Why so? This can be accounted for via the non-
demonstrativeness (or non-referentialness) observable in pragmatic inferencing. “Since, to calculate
a conversational implicature is to calculate what has to be supposed in order to preserve the
supposition that the Cooperative Principle is being observed, and since there may be various
possible specific explanations, a list of which may be open, the conversational implicatum in such
cases will be disjunction of such specific explanations; and if the list of these is open, the implicatum
will have just the kind of indeterminacy that many actual implicata do in fact seem to possess”.
(Grice, H. P., 1975:58).
Below is an example for illustration:
[Woman to uncouth suitor] “Keep your paws off me”. (Sperber & Wilson, 2008:101)
In this case the phrase “your paws” is used to refer to the suitor’s hands, but it may also suggest
the imagery of the paws of an animal. With this phrase, the speaker suggests that the interlocutor is
“clumsy, gross, lusting like a beast and so on” (Sperber & Wilson, 2008). There is no particular
implicature among these possible interpretations that the speaker intends the hearer to stick to.
Instead of this, the addressee “… is encouraged to consider at least some of them and see them as
part of the speaker’s meaning” (Sperber & Wilson, 2008:101).
3.3.5. Universality vs. culture-specificity
It is common knowledge that politeness is inherent in verbal and nonverbal communication.
Conversational implicature, along with relevant linguistic forms, is a device for conveying politeness.
Politeness is inherent in interaction and pervasive in all cultures. Implicature is an effective means for
conveying politeness. Presumably, this might be the answer to the question: How is it that
implicature can be universal (found in all cultures)? ‘Implicature is assumed to be universal’ (Green
1989, Levinson 1983). On the other hand, however, implicature is culture-specific. “Culture refers to
complexes of learned behavior patterns and perceptions. Culture is a form of communication,
governed by hidden rules that involve both speech and actions” (Edward Hall). Cultural traits reside
behind language. Each culture has its own core values and novelty. Behavior patterns and perceptions
in different cultures may be different in some certain aspects. This means that one and the same
conversational implicature is likely to be interpreted differently by different hearers in different
cultures due to cultural differences. It then follows from this that in teaching a foreign language we
are teaching the culture of the target language.
Examples for illustration of the points herein raised can be found below:
Example 1
A: Is Mary a good student? B: Oh! She is wearing a nice shirt this morning.
+> ‘I don’t think she is’ (Implicature generated by flouting Relation maxim)
Example 2
C: Do you want to go swimming now? D: I am gaining weight.
+> ‘Yes, I will go because swimming will help me lose weight.’
+> ‘No, I won't go because I don't want to look gross in others’ eyes.’
(Implicature created via violation of Manner/Relation maxims)
3.4. Ways of generating conversational implicature
3.4.1. The cooperative principle and conversational maxims (Grice, H.P., 1975).
Implicature is inherently associated with language-in-use. Implicatures possess certain properties
and they are classifiable into different types. Investigation into how different types of implicature can
be created in language use is useful for language teaching, translation, and interpersonal
communication. Some knowledge of the cooperative principle and conversational maxims initiated
by Grice (1975) is essential for understanding the way in which implicature can be created via
language-in-use.
Principle: Make your conversational contribution such as is required, at the stage at which it
occurs, by the accepted purpose or direction of the talk exchange in which you are engaged.
Maxims:
a.Quantity:
(i) Make your contribution as informative as is required (for the current purposes of the
exchange).
(ii) Do not make your contribution more informative than is required.
b. Quality: Try to make your contribution one that is true.

(i) Do not say what you believe to be false.
(ii) Do not say that for which you lack adequate evidence.
c. Relation: Be relevant.
d. Manner: Be perspicuous.
(i) Avoid obscurity of expression. (ii) Avoid ambiguity.
(iii) Be brief (avoid unnecessary prolixity). (iv) Be orderly.
It is observed in what has been stated above that the points provided in Grice’s cooperative
principle and conversational maxims are simple, obvious, truthful, and very easy to understand. In
my opinion, Grice’s contribution to knowledge lies in the fact that it is these simple, obvious,
truthful things systematically condensed in the cooperative principle and conversational maxims that
constitute a firm basis for language users to gain an insightful look into how implicature is generated.
The sub-section below is devoted to conversational implicature generation.
3.4.2. Ways of generating conversational implicatures
From the perspective of communication, it has been identified that conversational implicature can
be created in 3 ways: (i) Observing the conversational maxims (i.e. communicating verbally in
adherence to the conversational maxims); (ii) Flouting the conversational maxims (i.e.
communicating verbally with the listener being expected to be able to understand the message); (iii)
violating the conversational maxims (i.e communicating verbally with the listener being expected not
to note this). Examples of these ways can be found below (ULIS Faculty of Languages and Cultures
of English Speaking Countries, 2020 Slideshare):
(i) Adhering to the maxims. e.g.
A: I’ve run out of petrol.
B: There’s a garage just round the corner.
(Possible implicature: : +> ‘Take your car there for petrol’).
(ii) Flouting the maxims e.g.
C: John is John.
(Possible implicature: +> ‘You can’t persuade him. He’s so stubborn’).
(iii) Violating the maxims e.g.
D: Where does John live?
E: Somewhere in the South of England.
(Possible implicature: +> ‘I don’t know exactly where he lives’).
3.5. Some tentative recommendations for teaching conversational implicature to Vietnamese
students of English
Some major features of conversational implicature have so far been succinctly provided in this
article. We now feel the need to write a few words about implicature teaching. What is herein
provided is taken from relevant materials, and from my own experience of teaching English to
Vietnamese university-level students of English (both undergraduate and graduate). Tentatively, the
following points are recommended as guidelines:
3.5.1. Data sources for implicature exploitation and presentation procedure
(i) The first lecture should be devoted to the following things: - Give students a brief introduction
to pragmatics with emphasis laid on the role played by context in interpreting utterances; - Present
Grice’s cooperative principle and conversational maxims and explain how conversational implicature
can be created in communication; - Acquaint students with types of implicature obtained from
different sources.
Lectures other than the first one should be spared for presenting different types of implicature. It
is convenient to present these types of implicature in accordance with the ways of generating
conversational implicature (i.e. observing, flouting, or violating Grice’s conversational maxims of

quality, quantity, relation, and manner).
(ii) Students’ ability in interpreting and producing implicature can be measured by means of an
implicature questionnaire administered at the beginning and end of the teaching process. Students are
asked to read a dialogue containing an implicature. Then among the 4 options (related to the
implicature) provided, they need to choose the one closest in meaning to the intended interpretation.
Making students aware of implicature is just an initial step to helping them correctly interpret it. A
more comprehensive understanding of encountered particular implicatures might be gradually
obtained by students during the teaching-learning process.
(iii) Printed dialogues with implicatures on handouts are a good source for students to be exposed
to. Videos constitute another source. Videos could be produced in two ways: filming native speakers
using implicature in dialogues, and filming students themselves using implicature in their role-play
exercises. Students are required to watch videos and take notes of the implicatures they can identify
for later discussion with their teacher and classmates.
Scenes from movies on TV can also be resorted to. Students are asked to view the films and try to
find the utterances that contain specific implicatures and work out the possible intended meanings for
each of the detected implicatures.
Story-telling is another effective way for implicature teaching. Often it happens that students are
interested in real events. So story-telling is likely to activate their interest. In telling stories, teachers
can use irony, metonymy, metaphor, hyperbole, and other relevantly effective figures of speech in
realistic classroom situations. Students can be systematically exposed in this way to a large number
of implicatures by imitating real situations in the classroom.
Also, literary works are a good source for implicature teaching. Students are required to read
literary works assigned to them and find out the implicatures available in the assigned materials.
3.5.2. Some recommended types of activity for implicature teaching
In implicature teaching, the following 4 activities can be employed:
Activity 1: Give students a dialogue with a number of utterances, each with different intended
meanings. Students are asked which meaning they can use in a certain situation with a certain person.
For each of the responses, they must make out the intended implicature available. Teachers can
develop their own examples to teach in appropriate contexts by getting implicatures from real
situations, by listening for them in movies and plays, by reading them in literary works,
advertisements, newspaper articles, etc.
Activity 2: Provide students with a context in a dialogue and ask them to create an appropriate
implicature.
Activity 3: Prepare students for an interview where one student must try to get as much
information as possible, and another tries not to provide the sought-for information. Settings of this
type might be press conferences, family debates, presidential debates, police investigations, and so
on….This activity shows students how to persist in obtaining information and how to avoid
supplying information. Via this activity, students get acquainted with how to create implicature via
violating, flouting, or adhering to the 4 four conversational maxims in this way: violating Quantity
maxim by responding with too little information; flouting Quality maxim by telling something that is
not true; violating Relation maxim by saying something not relevant to the question asked; flouting
Manner maxim by giving semantically or syntactically ill-formed sentences as utterances.
Activity 4: Ask students to compare implicatures in English with the equivalents in Vietnamese.
The goal of this activity is to make students aware of the universality vs. culture-specificity
dichotomy of implicature in language use. With sufficient practice they will be sensitive to
implicature universality (utterances in the two languages that convey the same implicature in the
same context) and culture-specificity of implicature (different implicatures associated with the same
utterance in the same context. The different interpretations of the speaker’s intended meaning might
be attributed to cultural differences).
4. Conclusion
As stated in the Introduction section, based on relevant literature, this article is an attempt to
establish major characteristic features of conversational implicature, to point out the ways in which
implicature can be generated in conversation; and, on the basis of such knowledge along with
personal teaching experience gained, some tentatively recommended guidelines for teaching
implicature to Vietnamese students of English are expected to be ibidum found.
Conversational implicature is a kind of implicit meaning. It is something meant but left unsaid,
created by way of observing, flouting, or violating the conversational maxims initiated by Grice, H.P.
(1975). Judging by the literature so far obtained, it is asserted that conversational implicature is of
two types: generalized and particularized. Such properties as cancelability, calculability,
jndeterminacy, nondetachability, and universality vs. culture-specificity are found inherent in
conversational implicature.
Major characteristic features of implicature are mostly situated in the sub-areas of categorization,
property establishment, and generating mechanism. It is possible to say that all these features are, in
one way or another, related to the cooperative principle and conversational maxims initiated by
Grice, H. P. Implicature can be seen as a device for creating indirectness. It, therefore, contributes a
lot to conveying politeness in interpersonal communication, especially communication in high-
context cultures.
In teaching conversational implicature to Vietnamese students of English, attention should be paid
to allocation of time and teaching points. The first lecture needs to be spared for an overall
introduction to pragmatics with emphasis laid on the role played by context in generating implicature.
Lectures other than the first one are to be spared for the presentation of different types of implicatures
exploited from such data sources as recorded conversations, videos, TV films, stories, and other types
of literary work. A thorough understanding of conversational implicature can be obtained via
consolidation practice in accordance with the 4 types of activity just mentioned. The tentatively
recommended teaching guidelines regarding teaching procedure, data source exploitation, and
implicature presentation are expected to bring about, to the extent possible (if any), fruitful results to
teachers in their endeavor to teach conversational implicature to Vietnamese students of English.
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15. Lyons, J. (1977), Semantics (Vol. 1). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
16. Paltridge, B. (2012), Discourse Analysis: An Introduction (2nd Ed.). London: Bloomsbury
Publishing Plc.
17. Reynolds, S. & Valentine, D. (2011), Guide to Cross-Cultural Communication. USA: Pearson.
18. Sperber, D. & Wilson, D. (1986), Relevance: Communication and cognition. Oxford:
Blackwell.
19. Sperber, D., & Wilson, D. (2008), A deflationary account of metaphors. In R. W. Gibbs
(Ed.), The Cambridge handbook of metaphor and thought (pp. 84-108). New York:
20. Schiffrin, D., Tannen, D. & Hamilton, H. E. (2001), The Handbook of Discourse Analysis.
Massachusetts: Blackwell Publishers Ltd.
21. ULIS Faculty of Languages and Cultures of English Speaking Countries (2020), Slides on
Pragmatics (Document for internal distribution).
22. Yule, G. (1997), Pragmatics. Hong Kong: Oxford University Press.
23. Yule, G. (2010), The Study of Language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Hàm ngôn hội thoại: những đặc điểm chính và một số đề xuất về giảng dạy
Tóm tắt: Bài viết này là một nghiên cứu tổng quan về: (i) Những đặc điểm đặc trưng của hàm
ngôn hội thoại; (ii) Phương thức tạo sinh hàm ngôn hội thoại; (iii) Một vài đề xuất ban đầu (được kì
vọng là có hiệu quả ở mức độ có thể) về việc dạy hàm ngôn hội thoại cho sinh viên người Việt học
tiếng Anh. Đường hướng nghiên cứu được tuân thủ nhất quán trong toàn bộ nghiên cứu là định tính
và quy nạp. Các kĩ thuật nghiên cứu chính được sử dụng là những kĩ thuật điển hình của nghiên cứu
tổng quan như phân tích tài liệu, nội quan (tự nghiệm), khái quát hóa, và hệ thống hóa. Song hành với
những kĩ thuật cụ thể này, nghiên cứu này cũng sử dụng một số kĩ thuật phân tích diễn ngôn điển
hình như phân tích đa thức, phân tích ngữ vực, và phân tích thể loại.
Từ khóa: hàm ngôn hội thoại; nguyên tắc; phương châm; đặc điểm; tạo sinh.
AWARENESS OF THE WORLD THROUGH THE ANIMAL

CATEGORY: SIMILARITIES AND DIFFERENCES
IN VIETNAMESE AND ENGLISH
TRAN THI PHUONG LY* - NGUYEN THI THANH THAO**
ABSTRACT: This study explores similarities and differences in process of awareness of the
world through the animal category in Vietnamese and English languages and shows how cultural
characteristics and thought of the Vietnamese and the British within these linguistic pictures display.
Through the combination of quantitative and qualitative methods, we illustrate this by exploring of
linguistic expressions containing conceptual metaphors of animal category via the data source
including 1.689 words of animals in Dictionaries and 1.339 words related to animal conceptual
metaphors from proverbs, idioms, folk songs in Vietnamese and English. The findings point to
although geographical distance between two nations is quite far, the Vietnamese and English usually
use concepts of animal category to conceptualize the object world based on natural instinct and
habitat of animals. In addition to the universal common characteristics, interesting distinctions are
also expressed through the categories of animals in the linguistic picture of the two nations. The
reasons for these distinctions such as culture, experience, geographic condition, beliefs, religion
factors have been analyzed in-depth in turn in this paper.
KEY WORDS: animal categories; cognition; culture; conceptual metaphor; Vietnamese; English.
RECEIVED: OCTOBER, 20th, 2021. EDITED: NOVEMBER, 14th, 2021.
1. Introduction
To gain an awareness of the world around us in daily life, we always have to use the concept of
category because we think and perceive the world by the category and use categories to classify and
name things and phenomena existing in the world. People accumulate their knowledge and
experience by the conceptualization and categorization that expressed through the delimitation of the
world into diversified categories such as: the category of space, time, plants, animals, etc. and also
use these categories to be aware of the world in an exquisite way by metaphorical and metonymical
thought. From cognition to language, conceptual categories are expressed through the physical cover
(as linguistic expressions) that sets up the close relation of ‘trio’: awareness - culture - language.
In human’s language, the words that refer to animals are used as a means where people have
corresponding associations about human-animal relationships clearly reflected in daily life through
the characteristics of each animal, such as: appearance, instinctive attributes, food, habitat... The
question is that in the process of conceptualizing and perceiving the world through the category of
animals is reflected in that language, there are similarities and differences between two
geographically distant ethnic groups like Vietnamese and British or not? What are the similarities and
differences? What causes these similarities and differences, and what do they reveal about the
cultural and thinking characteristics of each language community?
In this paper, based on the theoretical background related to the relationship between language,
culture and thought, we conduct a comparison of conceptual metaphors related to the animal category
in Vietnamese and English in order to clarify how the Vietnamese and British communities have
conceptualized the animal category to be aware the world around them; thereby finding similarities
and differences in cognition through the image of animals to understand more about the cultural and
ethnic characteristics of each community.
2. Theoretical background
The relationship between language, culture and thought has long been one of the most important
topics for these who wish understand the nature of human cognition. The issue has been investigated
for decades across a broad range of research disciplines since ancient time such as Plato to present
* Dr; Saigon University; Email: lytran7581@gmail.com

** Saigon University; Email: thaohiltek@gmail.com
with many well known scholars such as Humboldt, Boas and Sapir, Vygotsky, Whorf, Lenneberg,
Lakoff,…
In 1820, Wilhelm von Humboldt, who first clearly opened the idea that language as the expression
of the spirit of a nation, connected the study of language to the national romanticist program by
proposing the view that language is the fabric of thought. He argued that languages with an
inflectional morphological type, such as German, English and the other Indo-European languages,
were the most perfect languages and that accordingly this explained the dominance of their speakers
over the speakers of less perfect languages. In the early 20th century, Boas saw language as an
inseparable part of culture and he was among the first to require of ethnographers to learn the native
language of the culture under study and to document verbal culture such as myths and legends in the
original language. After then, Boas' student Edward Sapir reached back to the Humboldtian idea that
languages contained the key to understanding the world views of peoples. He espoused the viewpoint
that language represented reality differently, it followed that the speakers of different languages
would perceive reality differently (see: Boas, 1911).
This relationship relates to the question: "Do people who speak different languages think and
experience the objective world differently? And if so, are the differences that occur in the mindset
based on the structural and vocabulary differences in the native language?". Known as the initiators
of this research, Benjamine Whorf and Edward Sapir with the "linguistic relativity hypothesis" are
famous for the argument that the language determines how to think and see the world, so culture and
thought depend on language. Moreover, language is a valuable tool in studying a (certain) culture
because it is an instruction symbolized culture. Via comparision of Indo-European languages, Whorf
believes that studying the grammatical categories of languages will lead to cultural insights. (see:
Whorf, 1956).
From the late 1980s, a new school of linguistic relativity scholars has examined the effects of
differences in linguistic categorization on cognition, finding broad support for non-deterministic
versions of the hypothesis in experimental contexts. One of those who adopted a more Whorfian
approach was George Lakoff. Lakoff reappraised linguistic relativity and especially Whorf's views
about how linguistic categorization reflects and/or influences mental categories. (see: Lakoff, 1987).
A historical overview over the Plato’s viewpoint to the 21 century theories proves that the
outlooks of the relationship between language, culture and thought have been changed for centuries.
Especially, together with the establishment and development of cognitive sciences, the Sapir-Whorf
hypothesis has been renewed. Cognitive linguistics argued that language is often used metaphorically
and that languages use different cultural metaphors that reveal something about how speakers of that
language think. Besides, a bit of empirical evidence from both cognitive linguistics and cognitive
psychology has revealed that the availability of metaphor in linguistic expressions reflects and
constitutes not only the movements of individual spiritual structures but also those of different
cultural models. The process of conceptualization through metaphor is closely related to thinking and
culture, thus we can find both considerable similarities and diversities of thought and culture in
metaphorical expressions of different languages. To our knowledge, because metaphors are typical
phenomena of language and is the key to open the door of understanding human thought and social
culture, choosing metaphor for making empirical investigative object in order to explore the
relationship among language-culture-thought model is most appropriate.
In Vietnam, the issue of the triad relationship language-culture- cognition has been viewed from
many perspectives. Cao Xuan Hao (1997) said that, according to the relative point of view of E. Sapir
and B. Wholf, language is a lens through which native speakers perceive the world so how to
recognize their world toward reality. Besides, Ly Toan Thang (2009) also emphasized that a
similarity in researching linguistics in Viet Nam is that authors have investigated not only the twin of
language and culture but also the trio of language - culture - awareness. It means that linguists have
paid attention to the role of thought and awareness. In general, through the process of moving from a
pure language learning to learning both language and culture, researchers acknowledge that language
and recognition are natural cultural phenomena.
3. Data Source and Research Methodology

A data source of dictionaries and texts was complied for this study, it contained 1.689 words of
animals in Dictionaries and 1.339 words related to animal conceptual metaphors from proverbs,
idioms, folk songs in Vietnamese and English. The samples of data were drawn from the sources
including: Từ điển tiếng Việt (Vietnamese Dictionary) [Hoàng Phê, 2015]; Thành ngữ, tục ngữ, ca
dao, dân ca Việt Nam (Vienamese Idioms, Proverbs, folk songs) [Vũ Ngọc Phan, 2016]; Truyện Kiều
(The Tale of Kieu) [Nguyễn Du, 1995]; Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary [Hornby, 2010];
Oxford Dictionary of English Idioms [Cowie, A. P., Mackin R., Mc Caig I. R. (2015), 2016]. In
addition, we also carried out the reseach on some documents of poems, stories, lyrics and daily
speech with the aim of obtaining the variety of data sources1.
This study used a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods to identify the process of
conceptual transfer from animal category to other categories in Vietnames and English. The method
of comparison was also used to consider similarities and the differences in characteristics of culture-
psychology- ethnicity in world linguistic picture related to animal concepts between two linguistic
communities.
4. Results and discussion
4.1. Findings
4.1.1. From dictionaries
To identify similarities and differences between the Vietnamese and the British in cognition of
world through metaphors related to animal categories, we conducted a survey to collect data sources
of animal conceptual metaphor in both Vietnamese and English, specifically:
We generated a statistics from Từ điển Tiếng Việt (Vietnamese Dictionary), there are 894 words
indicating animals, then we divided into 3 groups: the unit group of species (22 words), the unit
group of sub-species (671 words) and the unit group of body parts (201 words). Of all, there are
169/894 words used for animal conceptual metaphor, accounting for 18.9% (11/22 referring to
species, 119/671 words referring to sub-species and 39/201 words referring to body parts). Similarly,
when carried out a survey on the Oxford Advanced Learners’ Dictionary, we figured out that there
are 795 words mentioning species, including unit group of species (17 words), unit group of sub-
species (583 words) and unit group of body parts (195 words). Of all 795 words, there are 89 words
used to create conceptual metaphors (including 8/17 words referring to species, 49/583 words
referring to sub-species and 32/195 words referring to body parts).
It can be seen that the Vietnamese and the British have the similarity in using concepts about
animal category to be aware about other categories. First of all, of all general words indicating
animals, both linguistic communities find it common to use the number of words indicating animals
in creating conceptual metaphors. This figure for the Vietnamese and the British is 18.9% (169/894
words) and 11.2% (89/795 words) respectively.
The similarity between how to think and reflect thought in the language of two Vietnamese-
English communities is also expressed by the rate of transferring concepts in every unit group of
animal vocabulary. We can see clear that Vietnamese and English have interesting intersection points
from taking ideas of the animal category to be aware of objects of other categories.
However, we also see relative difference in the rate of conceptual transfer in the sub-species group
of two languages (Vietnamese accounts for up to 70.4%, while we see a quite equal distribution
between the group of sub-species and the group of body parts in English by 55.1% and 36%). This
also reveals to us several difference in the perception of each ethnic, the British often prefer to be
more meticulous in analytical thought. The similarities and differences in conceptual metaphors of
this animal category in Vietnamese and English will be analyzed in more detail in the content of
discussion.
4.1.2. From proverbs, folk songs, poems, lyrics and daily speech
The survey results from proverbs, folk songs, poetry, Kieu stories, lyrics and daily speech in
Vietnamese show that there are 632 samples of data related to animal conceptual metaphor,
specifically: i) The group of animal species: all 11 species units used to transfer conceptions by
Vietnamese people appear in metaphor expressions from data sources. In that, the cattle appear 93
times, accounting for 14.7% of the total number of surveyed data, species with the lowest frequency
are reptiles, accounting for 1.9% of the total number of surveyed data with 12 metaphors; ii) The
group of animal sub-species: the sub-species with the highest frequency of conceptual transfer is the
birds with 78 times, accounting for about 12.4% of the total number of surveyed data. The next one is
fish, accounting for about 10.1% with 64 appearances. Sub-species with the lowest frequency of
conceptual metaphors are cockroaches, bran... with 1 occurrence (accounting for about 0.2%); iii)
The group of animal body parts: we found that the highest frequency of occurrence is head with 46
times, accounting for 7.3% of the total surveyed language. The part with the lowest frequency of
occurrence is the nails, the chela, the tongue,... with 1 appearance, accounting for about 0.2%.
Similarly, we surveyed Oxford Dictionary of English Idioms, poetry, magazines, lyrics, daily
speeches in English with the aim of finding similarities and differences in the transfer of conception
from the animal category to other ones. The survey results include 707 data samples related to animal
conceptual metaphor, specifically: i) The group of animal species: there are 8 species units related to
conceptual metaphors used by the British to transfer to objects of other categories in a diverse way. In
that, domestic animals rodents is the highest frequency species with a total of 124 metaphorical
expressions, accounting for 17.5%. The reptiles have the lowest frequency with only 3 expressions,
accounting for 0.4%; ii) The group of animal sub-species: the sub-species has the highest frequency
of metaphor is the bird with 42 appearances, accounting for 5.9%. The sub-species with the lowest
frequency including: butterfly, camel, donkey, snail, mule... accounts for 0.14% with 1 occurrence;
iii) The group of animal body parts: the part with the highest frequency of conceptual metaphor is
head (đầu) with 36 expressions, accounting for 5.1%. Parts with the lowest frequency are sting (nọc)
and brain (não) with only one occurence, accounting for 0.14%.
It can be seen that the number of components indicating animals in Vietnamese is more than that
in English. In fact, the number of animals used to transfer concepts in Vietnamese doubles that in
English. There is a wide range of the species like chim (birds), cò (storks), trâu (buffaloes), sâu bọ
(insects), bướm (butterflies),… that have link with fields in Vietnamese, mainly because Vietnam is
an agricultural country with a wet rice civilization. Besides, Britain has strongly developed the
animal husbandry, so there are many names for farm animals such as: mare (ngựa cái), horse (ngựa
đực), sheep (cừu lớn), lamb (cừu non), cow (bò cái), bull (bò đực), ox (bò thiến), calf (bê), donkey
(lừa), ass (lừa cái), jackss (lừa đực),...
Vietnamese have appearance of most body parts of animal in common with English. The parts
appearing with high frequency in Vietnamese such as: đầu, lòng/dạ, lưng, mắt, miệng... and that in
English such as: head (đầu), heart (trái tim), face (mặt), neck (cổ), foot/feet (chân), mouth (miệng)...
Irrefutably, there are parts appearing in many animals, but there are also parts that just appear in
some animals. Moreover, there are a number of parts associated with animals’ name in Vietnamese
but it is not their characteristic, or they do not have that parts, such as: lông rùa, trứng thỏ, gan rồng,
trứng trâu, đầu cua, chân rắn, gan kiến... Similarly, there are some examples in English: to find a
mare’s nest (tìm thấy cái tổ con ngựa cái), to skin a flea for its hide (lột da của bọ chét để lấy da)…
Some parts of animal body are used to transfer to conceptual domain of human in Vietnamese such
as: Lòng, bụng, dạ refer to evil mind of human (lòng lang dạ sói); Ruột refers to a straight and
enthusiastic character (thẳng ruột ngựa); Da, lông: human appearance (da bọc xương); Đầu: vital
position, starting point (đầu sóng ngọn gió); Gan refers to willpower (gan cóc tía),... On that basis,
we have found out interesting similarities and differences between the Vietnamese and the British in
cognition of the world through animal categories. This content will be presented in following section
4.2- Discussion.
4.2. Discussion
4.2.1. Similarities
The animal world has a wide variety of species and habitats. We realize that there are three main
kinds of living environment where animal lives and survives, including: air habitat, land habitat and
water habitat. There are the similarities in the awareness of the world between the British and the
Vietnamese. In this article, we select the most typical cases as follows:
Having the same sight of air living space, both nations also associated with the image of birds
(chim). From the statistics of conceptual metaphors related to this species, the result investigated
illustrates that there are 78/632 metaphorical expressions in Vietnamese và 42/707 ones in English
with 12.4% and 5.9% respectively. And, it is the kind of animal having the highest rate in conceptual
metaphors of animal. Being free to move in the sky, birds can fly to wherever they want. Thus, it is
indisputable that they symbolize the subject having open-minded and unsettled life. It is hard to find
out and meet the people like that. Consequently, their image becomes diverse when entering into the
language of two countries. For instance:
… Bring the child down to me for a fortnight. I have a huge old graden where he can be as free
as a bird and perfectly safe… (Hãy mang thằng bé đến chỗ tôi chơi nửa tháng, tôi có một khu vườn
rộng, tuyệt đối an toàn, cho nó tha hồ bay nhảy).
Cá bể chim ngàn; Cá nước chim trời; Tìm em như thể tìm chim/ Chim ăn bể Bắc, anh tìm bể Nam.
There is a noteworthy point that the British and the Vietnamese not only find out the similarity
between the attribute of some animal living in the air and human beings but also realize the relation
ween human and the aquatic animal, which creates interesting ways of conceptual transfer. Beside
birds, fish (cá) is also the species that having the high frequency of conceptual metaphor. The
statistics is that 64 metaphorical expressions in Vietnamese and 21 ones in English reveal cognitive
similarities in the use of their atttributes with the aim of transfering to conceptual domain of human
category. Relying on witnessing the cannibalistic scene of fish species, both the Vietnamese and the
British communities draw the regulation of survival in society. For example:
…Tôi muốn nói với bạn Khải Tâm là Cá lớn nuốt cá bé không phải là quy luật đối với loài người
văn minh, như VN đã không để cá lớn nuốt vậy thôi. Tôi nghĩ rằng Saddam Hussein đã rất dũng cảm
nên mới đương đầu với Mỹ…
It’s always mackerel which gulps down spra. (Cá lớn nuốt cá bé)
Or an experience that is summarized in life: If you want to get something bigger, you have to
sacrifice small one: Thả con săn sắt bắt con cá rô; To throw a sprat to catch a whale.
Beside the above animal classes, a glance at the investigated result reveals that terrestrial animals
are diverse in many species, from living things friendly to our daily life such as cats, dogs... to
wildlife such as foxes, wolves,... Thanks to them, people have abundant connotational meanings
about the world around them.
Cats (mèo) have been domesticated for a long time and have become a friendly and useful pet of
humans because of their brilliance and wisdom. However, in different civilizations, cats also contain
the distinct conceptions of fortune. Because of the combination of humans and cats, their image has
often portrayed in the communicative culture of each community. According to A dictionary of
symbols (1997), cats bring the heterogeneous symbolic meanings of the various nations around the
world and it is prone to negative sense than positive sense. In Vietnam, cats are associated with
severe meanings, for example: Whoever has a mistress will mean: Anh ta có mèo. If someone is a old
goat (máu dê), people assert that “He is a libertine”; Anh ấy thích mèo mỡ. In fact, those who
immerse in the lustful life and spend much time in debauchery are often considered immoral through
some satirical sentences such as Mèo đàng chó điếm, Mèo mả gà đồng. And O mèo is not cô mèo (O
means aunt in Vietnamese), but O is a verb referring to a flirtation with females to catch a lover,...
In the West, cats are regarded as the representative of evil force and the contact between witches
and demons. In the communicative language of the British, hardly does the cats’ image stand for
positive meanings mainly because of the fairly serious perspectives on cats. To be more specific, our
survey indicates that there are 39/707 conceptual metaphorial expressions related to cats in English
with 5.5% of the total number of expressions. In fact, to describe those who are always fully satisfied
with what they have already done something good but that brings others discomfort, the British say
Like the cat that got the cream, Put the cat among the pegions which refers to troublemakers.
Moreover, As suspicious as a cat refers to people remaining sceptical about everything; or Look like
something the cat dragged in refers to dirty and messy people,…
As regards foxes (cáo), the Vietnamese uses the idiom cáo mượn oai hùm to refer to the people
who always do the abuse of power to threaten and bluff others into doing whatever they want.
Similarly, the British people also have idioms such as: Tom is sly as a fox (Tom xảo quyệt như con
cáo); A fox in lamb’s skin (Cáo đội lốt cừu) or As cunning as a fox; as smart as a fox (Ranh như cáo);
To set a fox to keep one’s geese (Kẻ xấu). Or the meaning of idiom When the foxpreaches, take care
of your geese in English corresponds with the meaning of idiom in Vietnamese Dẫn sói về nhà or
Cõng rắn cắn gà nhà. These examples show that foxes can be used to describe someone who is arful,
deceitful, and mischievous in both Vietnamese and English.
The above examples represent that both Vietnamese and English have the same relation of
cultural meaning of some animals such as birds, fish, leeches, dogs, cats, goats, wolves, foxes,…
Irrefutably, the objective reality that we live is not absolutely similar. Nevertheless, there are many
similarities owing to the close connection between people and the animal world in parallel existencen
as a whole.
4.2.2. Differences
In addition to the universal common characteristics, interesting distinctions are also expressed
through the categories of animals in the linguistic picture of the two nations, including the private
influence of culture, geographic condition, history, beliefs, religion, thought,...
a.Influence of culture
As can be seen from the data source surveyed, selecting living things close and typical to the daily
life, especially working animal is the dominant trend of both the Vietnamese people and the British
people.
Vietnam is well-known as an agricultural country with a wet rice civilization. The representation
of a wet rice economy is clearly reflected in the animal category: Vietnamese culture has had a
tendency towards cultivation and animal husbandry for thousands of years. In fact, the residents are
familiar with images of pasture such as buffaloes, cows, mice, insects, fish, birds, pigs, chickens,...
Hence, they have been applied to transfer the concept to human’s qualities. For instance, image of
buffaloes is used in the sentences as follow: Cưa sừng làm nghé; Trâu ta ăn cỏ đồng ta; Trâu chậm
uống nước đục; Cơm no bò cưỡi; Mất bò mới lo làm chuồng… (th.n).
In the United Kingdom, horses (ngựa) occupying an important role in agriculture are often
associated with strength and fortitude such as to work like a horse (làm như ngựa), to eat like a horse
(ăn như ngựa)… while the Vietnamese people use the element buffalo (trâu) such as to work like a
buffalo (làm như trâu), to be strong like a buffalo (khỏe như trâu),… In other words, the inhabitants
of nomadic civilization are keen on riding horse, going hunting, playing a game of sea horse...
Therefore, the symbol of horses refers to positive meanings in English language and English culture,
such as: A dark horse (Người ẩn giấu tài năng); If you can’t ride two horses at once, you shouldn’t
be in the circus (Là mục đích cần phấn đấu); It is the good horse that never stumbles (Là người cẩn
thận),…
In contrast, the Vietnamese cognition of horses seems fairly negative. For example, Cưỡi ngựa
xem hoa (th.n) refers to those who have a cursory glance at work, whereas the job requires
consideration; Ngựa non háu đá refers to young people often get a bad temper and immaturity or cầm
cương nảy mực talks about assuming responsibilities as a leader,...
Although wet rice agriculture has been developed in both two nations, several images of other
living things are used to transfer concept with variety in Vietnam but not in the UK. For instance, Ếch
(frog) vào cua (crab) ra; Ếch (frog) cõng nhái (frog); Ăn ốc (snail) nói mò; Cò (stork) bay thẳng
cánh; Đầu cua (crab) tai đỉa (leech)… (th.n) As a result, the fact that the rule of conceptual transfer
leads to the close relation between certain animals and their attributes is not completely similar in
language and culture of each nation.

b. Influence of experience
Since ancient times, the image of chickens (especially roosters (gà trống)) having become
familiar to everyone in physical and spiritual life in the Eastern and Western culture. To be more
specific, roosters are the tenth of the 12-year cycle of animals which appear in the Chinese zodiac.
The name is translated in Vietnamese as Dậu, representing ‘Year of the Rooster’ as an age. People
born in the Year of the Rooster are straightforward and decisive in their actions. Moreover, most of
them are considered as intelligent and patient people. According to observing their daily activities
during breeding, ancestors gained valuable experience in reality. Consequently, the Vietnamese
people often use the phrase gà trống nuôi con to refer to the widowed men that shoulder two roles
and take care for their children by themselves. On the other hand, the symbol of chickens is
associated with bad meanings in Vietnam such as gà công nghiệp (industrial chicken) refers to some
people who are improperly overindulged, increasingly passive and independent as well as have lack
of practical experiences and capability. As a result, they gradually become slow and weak… Or using
‘slang’ of the Vietnamese people such as gà hạng sang, gà hàng dạt, gà móng đỏ… refers to the
female being a prostitute.
In Western countries, cocks (gà trống) have spiritual meaning through religionplays an important
in religion. In addition to the frequent appearance in works of Christianity, symbol of cocks is
considered as an embodiment of Jesus and a symbol of Christianity. As a consequence, associating
with cocks, the British people draw on experience from cocks’ representation in religion through their
speech. Firstly, a look at church’s bell tower shows that a cock is placed at the top of the tower - the
highest position. Hence, the British use cocks to talk about people with great status, such as cock of
the walk (chief); cock of the school (the most stubborn student) or old cock (grandfather, grandfather
(used in family)). Secondly, the fact that church have the weather vane (weathercock) with cock on
top refers to people who is changeable through the idiom as changeable as a weathercock.
c.Influence of geographic condition
Vietnam is located in both a tropical and a temperate zone, which greatly affects nature and
people. With a strong monsoon influence, Vietnam has a considerable amount of sunshine, a high
rate of rainfall, and high humidity as well as many ponds, lakes, rivers, streams… Beside the close
animals, the diverse wildlife world in the tropical forests is conceptualized through daily speech, such
as: Vạch đường cho hươu chạy; Dạy khỉ leo cây… (th.n); … Tuy là nơi khỉ ho cò gáy đấy! nhưng Đăk
Sao (một làng thuộc xã Đăk Rinh, huyện Kon Plông, tỉnh Kon Tum) lại rất văn minh, bức tranh
không gian sống thì đầy nguyên sơ và bền vững,…
In addition, the image of some insects is shown clearly in cognition of the Vietnamese people
thanks to tropical monsoon climate which is extremely advantageous for their proliferation and
growth. The image of insects becomimg familiar to the daily life, so the Vietnamese applying them to
daily speech to refer to evaluate others’ qualities from different perspectives; whereas it is difficult
for that image to appear in the countries with an oceanic climate such as United Kingdom. For
example: Bới bèo ra bọ; Muỗi đốt sừng trâu; Mật ít ruồi nhiều; Đan lồng nhốt kiến… (th.n).
Due to characteristics of oceanic climate, in the UK, animal’s category has close relation with
fishing and aquaculture economics. Therefore, there are many words related to boat và fishing in
English vocabulary. There is great variety in conceptualization of objective world of the natives
through animal category of ocean environment and fishing activities. Typically, the element fish has a
high frequency in English expressions but it has no certain meaning such as: A big fish (Một nhân vật
quan trọng hoặc có quyền thế); An odd fish (Người lập dị); A cold fish (Người lạnh lùng); Have
other/bigger fish to fry (Nắm bắt một cơ hội lớn hơn); After to teach fish to swim (Múa rìu qua mắt
thợ),…
d. Influence of beliefs and religion
Religion which is a dominant component of human culture reflects different attitudes of praise,
admiration, and taboos in each nation. Through the conceptual metaphors of animal world
investigated, we found out a group of imaginary animals but exist in the spiritual world, that is the
image of dragons (rồng). They represent the emperors, the prosperity and power of the nation, so
they often appear in imperial palace, mausoleum, temples, and pagodas... Dragons are symbolic
creatures in the folklore and mythology of Vietnam. According to an ancient origin myth, the
Vietnamese people are descended from a dragon and a fairy, which creates ethnic origin of the
Vietnamese. Therefore, the ancient Vietnamese are always proud of being con rồng cháu tiên
(Children of Dragon, Grandchildren of Gods). That creates specificity of beliefs in Vietnam in
comparison with the conceptual metaphors of dragons in some Western countries. Beside being
merely a reptile, dragons is regarded as an imaginary animal that can breathe fire like a monster in
there. They symbolize strength that has dangerous tendency to cause disaster and death for humans.
Futhermore, British culture was strongly influenced by Christianity, which partly explained why the
British have many phrases and idioms related to Christianity such as THE DOVE IS THE SYMBOF
OF THE HOLY SPIRIT, thank to based on dove-related meanings in Western culture and concept of
the Holy Spririt in Christian theology.
5. Conclusion
On the basis of the theoretical foundation of the relationship between the culture-thinking-
language trinity of previous works (we have introduced it in section 2 of the study), we conducted a
survey of linguistic expressions related to the process of using the animal category to perceive objects
of other categories in English and Vietnamese. To facilitate survey and analysis, we have classified
the data source into three groups, including: the unit group of species, the unit group of sub-species
and the unit group of body parts. From here, the research questions raised have been solved in this
study. Firstly, the survey of data source shows that there are a large number of conceptual metaphors
related to animals in both Vietnamese and English languages, thereby showing the use of the animal
category to be aware about other objects in the world is a common way of perception of Vietnamese
and British people. The similarity between how to think and reflect thought in the language of two
Vietnamese-English communities is also expressed by the rate of transferring concepts in every unit
group of animal vocabulary. Both Vietnamese and English have the same relation of cultural
meaning of some animals such as birds, fish, leeches, dogs, cats, goats, wolves, foxes… Secondly,
the research results also show that the difference in the ways of perception of Vietnamese and British
people related to perceiving the world through animals displays in the rate of conceptual transfer in
the sub-species group of two languages. This also reveals to us several difference in the perception of
each ethnic, the British often prefer to be more meticulous in analytical thought. That difference
comes from being influenced by factors including experience, geographic condition and beliefs and
religion.
Even this brief analysis has hopefully shown that a combination of approaches including cognitive
psycholinguistics and contrastive linguistics can lead us to catch interesting results in researching of
languages, to help us directly answering to the open question that has always received the
consideration of human beings for long centuries: ‘what can we see about human thoughts and
culture of one country inside linguistic picture of that country?’. Articular living circumstance and
natural condition make big difference in each nation. Thus, there are animals that exist in the
community but not in other communities. In other words, with different attributes of the same animal,
selecting suitable attribute depends on the historical and psychological conditions of certain linguistic
cultural community, which are conceptualized through animal category. Researching on similarities
and differences in cognition of animal category in Vietnamese and English shows that the cognition
has cultural characteristics of the linguistic community as well as universality of humans. The result
of comparison between the typical conceptual metaphor related to animal category in Vietnamese
language and English language has clarified cultural values through cognition of these elements.
Since then, it helps us comprehend the meanings of metaphors related to animal categories in these
two linguistic communities. Research results in this study also contribute to indicate that language
and culture - specific cognitive mode of thingking can play important role on cognitive processes and
knowledge representation independent of each orther.
_______________________
1
The number of samples from surveyed data includes: <1> 15 short story, modernist poetry and
editorial with the length of 155 pages and 1046 sentences. To be more specific, we selected the text
with the length of less than 2000 words, less than 200 words, less than 500 words for short stories,
poems and editorials respectively.
REFERENCES
English
1. Boas, F. (1911), Handbook of American Indian languages. 1. Bureau of American
Ethnology, Bulletin 40. Washington: Government Print Office
2. Cowie, A. P., Mackin R., Mc Caig I. R. (2015), Oxford Dictionary of English Idioms.
Oxford University Press.
3. Hornby (2010), Oxford Advandced Learner’s Dictionary. Oxford University Press.
4. Lakoff, George (1987), Women, fire, and dangerous things. University Of Chicago Press
5. Du, N. (1995), Truyện Kiều (Nguyễn Quảng Tuân hiệu đính và chú giải). Hà Nội: Nxb
Khoa học xã hội.
6. Sapir, Edward (1929), "The status of linguistics as a science", Language, 5 (4): 207–
214).
7. Whorf, Benjamin (1956), Carroll, John B., ed. Language, Thought, and Reality: Selected
Writings of Benjamin Lee Whorf. MIT Press.
Vietnamese
8. Nguyễn Ngọc Phan/Phan, N.V; 2016), Tục ngữ, thành ngữ, ca dao dân ca Việt Nam. Hà
Nội: Nxb Văn học.
9. Hoàng Phê/ Phê.H (2015), Từ điển tiếng Việt. Đà Nẵng: Nxb Đà Nẵng.
10. Lý Toàn Thắng/Thắng, L.T. (2009), Ngôn ngữ học tri nhận từ lí thuyết đại cương đến
thực tiễn tiếng Việt. Hà Nội: Nxb Phương Đông.
Nhận thức về thế giới qua phạm trù động vật:

những nét tương đồng và khác biệt trong tiếng Việt và tiếng Anh
Tóm tắt: Phạm trù động vật là một trong những phạm trù ngữ nghĩa quan trọng của mọi ngôn
ngữ. Từ những nhận thức cụ thể mang tính trực giác, ngây thơ về con người và động vật, mỗi dân tộc
sẽ có cách biểu tượng hóa riêng trên cơ sở những kinh nghiệm nhận thức và tư duy căn bản mang
đậm tính đặc thù dân tộc. Trong cuộc sống hàng ngày, người Việt và người Anh dù ở hai vùng địa lí
cách xa nhau vẫn thường dùng những ý niệm thuộc về phạm trù động vật để nhận thức thế giới dựa
trên bản năng tự nhiên và tập tính sinh sống của động vật. Những sự liên tưởng thú vị này đã hình
thành nên những ẩn dụ ý niệm rất độc đáo. Trong bài viết này, thông qua việc khảo sát, phân tích các
biểu thức ngôn ngữ có chứa ẩn dụ ý niệm của phạm trù động vật trong tiếng Việt và tiếng Anh, chúng
tôi đi vào tìm hiểu những nét tương đồng và khác biệt trong cách thức lấy động vật để nhận thức về
thế giới xung quanh nhằm từ đó khám phá ra những dấu ấn văn hóa và lối nghĩ của người Việt và
người Anh được thể hiện trong các bức tranh ngôn ngữ này.
Từ khóa: phạm trù động vật; tri nhận; văn hóa; ẩn dụ ý niệm; tiếng Việt ; tiếng Anh.
SPEECH CHARACTERISTICS IN COMMUNICATION

OF AUTISTIC CHILDREN AGED 5-6 YEARS
NGUYEN THI GIANG* - PHAM HIEN** - NGUYEN DONG HUNG***
ABSTRACT: Deficits in language use are a hallmark of children with autism. Therefore, the
study of the language of autistic children in general, including speech characteristics in
communication is crucial. The present study investigates patterns of utterances in five autistic
children aged 5-6 years. Their utterances in this period into low to high levels (jargon, echolalia,
prompted speech, active speech) have examined. In addition, we compare the speech features of
autistic children in this period (5-6 years old) with the previous one (3-4 years old) to recognize the
development process of their speech usage through each stage. These findings reinforce the
importance of focusing intervention programs for professionals and parents to provide speech therapy
for autistic children.
KEY WORDS: autistic children; language; speech; communication; speech therapy.
RECEIVED: AUGUST, 30th, 2021. EDITED: NOVEMBER, 14th, 2021.
1. Introduction
For the past decades, researchers state that the rate of autistic children has been on a rapid uptrend
in countries. In the US, according to data from Baird G., Charman T., et al. (2000), the rate of
children with autism was 3%; after 10 years, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention (CDC), the figure went up to 6.6%, 1 in 110 alive births (Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention, 2010, details can be seen in Figure 1). In South Korea, according to the study of Kim et
al., the rate of children with autism in this country in 2011 was 2.6% (1 in 38 children) (Kim Y. S.,
Leventhal B., et al., 2011). In Vietnam, although there is no official census nationwide, according to
the research on children disability model of the Rehabilitation Department of the National Children's
Hospital in the period 2000-2007: the number of autistic children visiting for a check-up in 2007 was
50 times as many as in 2000; the number of autistic children visiting for treatment in 2007 increased
to 33 times of 2000 (Nguyen Thi Huong Giang, Tran Thi Thu Ha, 2008). As a result, the study of
children with autism in general, including their language, is a pressing issue.
Researchers in the 1970s and 1980s focused on some of the questions they tried to answer in their
study on the role and nature of language characteristics in autism. The main question remaining: Are
language deficits in autism primary or secondary characteristics of the condition? Several proposes
possible hypotheses are as follow: (1) Language deficits in autism are the product of other major
impairments (Boucher 1976; Waterhouse and Fein 1982); (2) Language deficits are the major
impairments that cause all the other manifestations of autistic symptoms: impairments in social
interaction, rigid thinking and challenging behaviors (Churchill 1972; Rutter, Bartak, and Newman
1971). However, it was found that some children who developed good grammar and vocabulary still
exhibited behaviors specific to autism.
*
Institute of Linguistics; Email: blueriver063@gmail.com.
**
Dr; Institute of Linguistics; Email: phamhieniol@gmail.com.
***
Ha Noi Orthopedic and Rehabilitation Hospital; Email: nguyendonghungb7@gmail.com
Figure 1. Prevalence of autism spectrum disorder per 1000 children

(Source: https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/autism/data.html, Accessed on 30-8-2021.)
Based on these considerations, the current study aims to extend the knowledge about the speech
characteristics in communication of autistic children at the age of 5 to 6 in comparison with the
previous period (3-4 years old) to identify the development of the communicative level of children
with autism through each stage. The findings of this research are valuable material for experts and
parents to implement speech therapy for autistic children.
2. General characteristics of research subjects and methodology
2.1. General characteristics of research subjects
The study included 5 autistic children (5-6 years old) who are being intervened at the Center for
Language Teaching and Speech Therapy (Institute of Linguistics) and An Binh Center for Applied
Psychology Research and Education (Hanoi). Out of the 5 surveyed autistic children (coded as T01,
T02, T03, T04, and T05), 4 of them were born in 2014 and 1 in 2015. Among the 5 surveyed
children, there are 3 boys and 2 girls; T01 and T05 are clinically diagnosed with severe autism, T02
and T04 average autism, T03 mild autism.
2.2. Research methodology
The statistics on the autistic children's speech in communication in the period of 5-6 years old are
collected by the following research methods and techniques:
Observation method and interview method: By observing the children in group study, class
activities and individual study, we keep a full record of their utterances in chronological order; in
order to obtain their statements at home and kindergarten, we interview their caregivers
(grandparents, parents, etc.) and their teachers at kindergarten.
Techniques of description, counting, analysis, compilation: We classify the obtained speech of the
children into levels of usage (jargon, echolalia, prompted speech, active speech). At the same time,
we generate analysis, evaluation and remarks on the amount and percentage of each certain type of
speech by levels of usage.
Comparison method: To perceive the development progress in levels of speech by the autistic
children, we set the number and meaning of utterances by levels of usage by the children in this
period (5-6 years old) side by side with those of the previous one (3-4 years old).
3. Research findings
3.1. Features of the number of utterances by autistic children (5-6 years old) by levels of usage
The concepts of levels of speech usage in autistic children that have been aforementioned are:
jargon, echolalia, prompted speech, and active speech. What do those concepts specifically denote?
From our point of view: jargon is utterances of unclear sounds without a specific communication
purpose; echolalia refers to utterances that the children are not yet able to make themselves in
communication, they are at the stage of repeating others' words in specific communication situations;
prompted speech means utterances that the children use with suggestions from others, they are not yet
capable of using it themselves but no longer at the passive level as jargon; active speech includes
utterances that the children speak on their own with an apparent communication purpose and without
the help of others.
After the actual survey on the 5 autistic children in the period of 5-6 years old, a table of data on
the quantity of utterances by levels of usage is accomplished as follows:
Table 1. The number of utterances by levels of usage in autistic 5-6-year-olds
Number of utterances
60 months 72 months
Jargon Echolalia Prompted Active Total Jargon Echolalia Prompted Active Total
speech speech speech speech
T01 2 38 37 71 148 2 81 119 188 390

T02 0 21 86 105 212 0 22 195 309 526
T03 3 0 114 565 682 3 0 133 786 922
T04 3 62 46 191 302 3 82 108 233 426
T05 3 7 20 86 116 3 16 91 217 327
Total 11 128 303 1018 1460 11 201 646 1733 2591
The above table demonstrates that, at the age of 6, the amount of jargons was the least and has
ceased to rise since they were 4 (remaining 11 in total). Like ordinary children, the first sounds the
autistic children utter are “babbles” such as: mum mum, bà bà, pa pa, ma ma, ba ba, pà pà, xì xì, ta
ta. As for ordinary children, “babbling sounds’ appearance stems firstly from the sign of hunger and
food demanding... at first, the babbles are merely a mixed behavior, in combination with other
gestures of children" (Nguyen Huy Can, 2001, pp.47-48). Nguyen Huy Can dissents from R.
Jakobson (1971) who said “children's uttering at this stage is simply a spontaneous, natural behavior
and has no effect on grasping the mother tongue". Nguyen Huy Can believes that “during the
development process, uttering behavior gradually develops into a goal-oriented behavior and the
child is increasingly active in producing signs to communicate with the surroundings” (Nguyen Huy
Can, 2001).
Children with autism repeatedly utter babbling sounds when playing alone, which can be
interpreted as a way of learning to “speak” or their impression of the sounds that stimulates them to
unconsciously emit. The specialized term for the babbles that autistic children produce when playing
alone is "jargon" (speech of purposeless communication). However, from our standpoint, these
sounds of children actually serve certain purposes, but we may not figure out their reason and
intention.
Ordinary children also utter babbling sounds “when playing alone”, which is explained by
Nguyen Huy Can that “children are more cautious when making sounds, because they know those
sounds will have different impacts on people around them” (Nguyen Huy Can, 2001, p.50). In view
of autistic children, it is uncertain whether they have that awareness in common with ordinary
children or not, but their jargon often carries certain implications, for example, they need to calm
down when encountering “stimulation” beyond the “limit”.
The most fundamental difference between “babbles” of ordinary children and “jargon” of autistic
children is: autistic children not only make "babbling" sounds at the "pre-linguistic" and "babbling"
stages, but they regularly remain “jargon” even when they can use spoken language to communicate.
Meanwhile, regarding ordinary children, the “babbling” stage commonly appears early (at about 9
months of age) and disappears when they acquire spoken language.
Compared to the age of 5, at 6 years old, the number of utterances by levels of usage of the
autistic children witnesses a marked fluctuation. As we have mentioned, jargon is the smallest type of
speech and has retained its amount since the children were 4. It is followed by echolalia, the type of
speech with the second lowest number in terms of the total number of utterances (201) and the
increase after one year (73). The next one is prompted speech with the total number of utterances
being 646, a rise of 715 utterances. Active speech is the largest one with 1733 utterances, plus, it has
recorded the most dramatic growth after one year (715 utterances).
The following table of percentage of speech types by levels of usage in the autistic children is
derived from the table of the number of utterances by levels of usage in autistic 5-6-year-olds
(Table1):
Table 2. Percentage of speech by levels of usage in autistic 5-6-year-olds
Percentage of speech (%)
60 months 72 months
Jargon Echolalia Prompted Active Total Jargon Echolalia Prompted Active Total
speech speech speech speech
T01 1.35 25.68 25 47.97 100 0.51 20.77 30.51 48.21 100
T02 0 9.90 40.57 49.53 100 0 4.18 37.07 58.75 100
T03 0.44 0 16.72 82.84 100 0.33 0 14.43 85.24 100
T04 0.99 20.53 15.23 63.25 100 0.71 19.25 25.35 54.69 100
T05 2.59 6.03 17.24 74.14 100 0.92 4.89 27.83 66.36 100
Total 0.75 8.77 20.75 69.73 100 0.42 7.76 24.93 66.89 2591
The table of percentage of speech in the autistic children (5-6 years old) exhibits:
At 5 years old, the proportion of jargon accounts for 0.75% of the total amount of speech by levels
of usage; at 6 years old, this type’s figure goes down to 0.42%. Echolalia makes up 8.77% at 5 years
old and 7.76% at 6 years old. Prompted speech’s percentage is 20.75% at 5 years old and rises to
24.93% at 6 years old. Active speech constitutes 69.73% at 5 years old and 66.89% at 6 years old.
Accordingly, the proportions of types of speech by levels of usage witness no significant variation at
6 years old compared to one year earlier. Jargon and echolalia at both stages hold a small percentage
(the two only contribute less than 10% of the total), whereas prompted and active speech occupy
more than 90%.
Considering the children separately, the proportions of types of speech by levels of usage in the
two periods relatively stabilize. T03 possesses the highest percentage of active speech and this
number has been on an upward trend (the child's active speech takes 82.84% at 5 years old and
85.24% at 6 years old). The percentage of active speech in T05 occupies the second position after
T03 (this indicator at 5 and 6 years old is 74.14% and 66.36% respectively). The change in ranking
between the two stages is observed in T02 and T04. Previously (at 5 years old), the percentage of
active speech of T04 stayed at the third place with 63.25%, T02 took 49.53%); at this stage, the
corresponding figure of T04 dips to 54.69% and T02's climbs to 58.75%. The percentage of active
speech in T01 is the lowest in both periods (with 47.97 % at 5 years old and 48.21% at 6 years old).
Regarding prompted speech, the highest number goes to T02 at both ages of 5 and 6 (40.57% and
37.07% respectively). The second place is occupied by T01 (25% at the age of 5 and 30.51% at the
age of 6). T01 is followed by T05 with 17.24% at the age of 5, 27.83% at the age of 6. Only T03 and
T04 have a shift in position from 5 years old to 6 years old. At the age of 5, the prompted speech of
T04 stands at the bottom out of the 5 children (15.23%); at 6 years old, that position belongs to T03
(14.43%).
With regard to echolalia, T01 and T04's percentage is at the top spot and outstrips the other
children (accounting for 19.25% to 25.68%). Meanwhile, as for the other children (T02, T03, and
T05), this type of speech only makes up under 10%, and T03 even has no echolalia. Prompted speech
of T02 and T05 has seen a downturn at the period of 5 to 6 years old.
The percentage of jargons in all 5 children is extremely low and plunges drastically when they are
6. As the above analysis of the number of utterances by levels of usage: All of the 5 children
produced few jargon utterances when they started learning to speak, afterward (since they were 4),
there has been no jargon recorded. Thus, the proportion of jargon is negligible and has a tendency to
reduce while other types of speech go in the opposite direction. T02 has not made any jargon since
the child obtained the spoken language. Although this is not the child possessing the best language
skills among the 5.
Accordingly, for children whose language was already satisfying since the previous stage, their
language is increasingly active at this stage. For the children with poorer language proficiency,
although their language has improved, they are still dependent on others (the amount of echolalia and
prompted speech remains copious).
3.3.2. The development of speech by levels of usage in autistic 5-6-year-olds
At this stage, (5 - 6 years old), all of the 5 surveyed autistic children no longer utter new jargon.
Their jargon at this time appeared since they were 3. For example: Mum mum (T01), bà bà (T01),
papa (T03, T04), baba (T03, T04), mama (T03), pà pà (T04), xì xì (T05), ta ta (T05).
The echolalia in this period consists of multiple syllables with more complicated content
compared to the previous stage.
These are utterances specifying functions of objects: backpacks for going to school (T01),
scissors for cutting paper (T01), crayons for coloring (T01), glue for sticking paper (T01),
microwave for heating food (T04), washing machine for washing clothes (T01), glass for drinking
water (T05); objects that are used in pairs: shoes and socks (T01), vases and flowers (T01), locks and
keys (T01); characteristics of seasons: flowers bloom in spring (T01), it’s cool in autumn (T01), it’s
cold in winter (T01); trees flourish in spring (T02), trees are lush in spring (T05), etc.; weather:
today it’s sunny (T01), today it’s raining (T01); state of objects, animals: this glass of water is full
(T01), this glass of water is half empty (T01), this shirt is dirty (T01), these pants are clean (T01),
the turtle crawls slowly (T05), the rabbit runs fast (T05); functions of foods, vegetables: Vegetables
for cooking soup (T01), rice for cooking rice (T01), pineapples for making pineapple juice (T04);
self-introduction: I live in an apartment building (T01), my house is in My Dinh (T01); food
substances: Vegetables are high in vitamin (T01), beef is high in protein (T01); quantity: there are
many clamps (T01), comparison (similarity and difference): a circle is different from an oval (T04),
these two rectangles are the same (T04); weekdays in chronological order: yesterday was Monday
(T04), today is Tuesday (t04), tomorrow is Wednesday (T04), today is Monday (T05), yesterday was
Sunday (T05), tomorrow is Tuesday (T05); suitable clothes for each season: in winter I have to wear
a coat (T04), in summer I wear a short-sleeved shirt (T04); attributes of means of transport:
motorcycles belongs to road vehicles (T04), airplanes belongs to air transport vehicles (T04), etc.
Thus, despite being at the age of 6, certain autistic children still rely on others’ vocalization to
utter long speech containing new information and abstraction.
For the children with slow language development, at this stage (6 years old), they still resort to
others' reminders to produce utterances that are simple words naming animals, objects, flowers,
drinks, substances, holidays, etc.: panda (T01), hedgehog (T01), fox (T04), kangaroo (T04),
swordfish (T04), coconut leaf beetle (T04); short-sleeved shirt (T01), pants (T01), basket (T01),
cutting board (T01), red envelopes (T02), electric bike (T01), rice cooker (T05), microwave ( T05);
sunflower (T01); purified water (T05); sugar (T01), protein (T01), fat (T01); Mid-Autumn Festival
(T01), etc.
However, there are not many single words requiring reminders. Those are mainly the words that
the children have yet to learn or have already learned but do not remember, therefore, they still count
on suggestions of teachers and families. The majority of this type of speech is emitted by T01, T04,
and T05; T02 produces only one prompted utterance (red envelopes); T03 has none of this type.
Most of the prompted utterances by the children contain a large number of syllables or more
abstract meaning: These are utterances specifying functions of objects and means of transport:
notebook for writing (T01), basket for holding vegetables (T04), bathtub for bathing (T04), bowl for
eating rice (T05), fire truck for extinguishing fires (T02), police car for catching criminals (T02);
describing the characteristics and properties of humans, objects, and weather, etc.: this friend is funny
(T01, T05), this friend is fat (T01); this paper is dry (T01), this tree is tall (T01), this ruler is long
(T02), gerberas are orange (T01), loofah flowers are yellow (T01), sunflowers are yellow (T04),
roses grow on land (T02), lotuses live in the water (T02), peach blossoms bloom on the lunar new
year holiday (T02), a triangle has 3 sides (T02, T04, T05), a hand has 5 fingers (T02) , pigs are
raised for meat (T02), coffee is bitter (T04), sugar is sweet (T05), coke is fizzy (T04), the ball is far
away (T05); the sun shines during the day (T02, T05), it’s sunny at noon (T04), it's hot in the summer
(T02, T05), it's cold in winter (T02), etc.; denoting objects going in pairs: pant with shirt (T01);
mirror with comb (T01, T04), toothbrush with toothpaste (T01), kettle with cup (T05); introducing
humans and things, etc.: I am 6 years old, my mother is a worker (T05); this is jackfruit (T01), this is
peach tea (T04), this is ginger tea (T04), this is left hand (T05); referring to children's interests and
animals: I like eating ice-creams (T01), I like watching TV (T01), I like going to the supermarket
(T01); cats like eating fish (T04); indicating quantities: there is a chair (T01), there are 2 balls in
total (T02); pointing out the similarity and difference of things: these two hearts are the same (T02),
the circle is different from the oval (T02); stating requirements, methods: I hold a pen with my right
hand (T02), I have to wash my hands with soap (T02), I give things to the teacher with 2 hands
(T02), I have to walk on the sidewalk (T05); utterances of wishes, thanks, apologies: have a good
time (T02), good luck with your studies (T02), thank you (T02), I'm sorry (T02); stating objects
needed for certain jobs: when brushing teeth, I need a toothbrush and toothpaste (T03), when
sweeping the floor, I need a broom and dustpan (T03), when traveling or going to the hometown, I
need a suitcase (T03); routines during the day: I wake up at 7 in the morning (T03); after waking up
in the morning, I brush my teeth, wash my face and then have a breakfast (T03); after waking up in
the morning, I do personal hygiene routines, have a breakfast, and then my dad takes me to school
(T03); after having breakfast, I go to school at 8 o'clock (T03); when I go to school I take my
sandals away and go to the classroom with the teacher (T03); symptoms when they get sick: when I
am sick I will cough (T04), when I am sick I will sneeze (T04), when I am sick I will have a fever
(T04), etc.
Active speech is the largest type of speech by usage level. The children produce active speech
differently in the number of syllables and content, depending on the level of each child.
The speech of numbers constitutes a substantial proportion of active speech of the children at this
stage. At this stage, all of the 5 surveyed children can count to 100 by rote.
In addition to the numbers, the children can make statements denoting names of objects, animals,
means of transportation, vegetables - fruits, flowers, cakes, alphabets, occupation or human actions,
etc.: coat (T01), hat (T01), knife (T01), air conditioner (T01), sweater (T05), picture card (T05),
mid-autumn lanterns (T01), red light (T05), green light (T05); seahorse (T01), crocodile (T01),
camel (T04), snake (T04), octopus (T05), starfish (T05); horse-drawn carriage (T01), cyclo (T01);
sweet pepper (T01), cauliflower (T01), cabbage turnip (T05), eggplant (T05), plum (T01), peach
(T01); Bougainvillea (T01, T05), lily (T01); moon cake (T01), snow skin moon cake (T01); biscuits
(T05); letter a (T02), letter b (T02), etc.; miner (T05); electrician (T05); exercise (T01), etc. ;
characteristics of animals, flowers, fruits, and time, etc.; little stork (T01); flamboyant flowers are red
(T01), roses are fragrant (T02), mums are yellow (T02), radishes are white (T02); the sun appears in
the morning (T04), the moon appears at night (T04); Actions of humans: the friend is playing with
jump ropes(T04); the baby cries(T02); mother holds the baby (T02); I color letter o (T02); dad stays
up late to watch soccer (T02), dad takes me to school (T02), etc.; hobbies of humans or several
animals: I like ice-cream while the teacher likes cakes (T03); the cat likes to eat fish (T04); needs of
the children: mother gives me milk (T02); grandmother takes me to go on the merry-go-round (T02);
lend me the phone (T02); do not walk around in class (T02); dad, lend me the remote so I can watch
TV (T03); mom, when I woke up, take me to buy pomelos (T03); mom, lend me the Samsung phone
(T03); dad, let me watch for a minute (T03); please play another song, this one is not good (T03); I
don't open Korean anymore, I only open English (T03), etc. ; statements recounting the incident:
school is closed, I stay at home (T02); Ms. L has gone to get her things (T02); my house has a space
heater (T02); I was scolded by the teacher (T03); going to room 205, the door had been closed, the
power had been gone (T03); I go to bed at night (T02); the day before, I spilled water, I was scolded
by dad (T03); the slide's power went out, so no one could play (T03); barbershop was closed due to
power cut and darkness (T03); today is Sunday, the school is closed (Tuesday); grandmother went to
the market, then she came back and cooked (T03), etc.;
Questions: How many? (T02); who’s talking nonsense? (T03); how much does it cost? (T03); why
don’t I sing in Vietnamese? (T03); what is “cái mũ” (hat) in English? (T03), etc.
4. Conclusion
In summary, each autistic child experiences a different development process of speech by levels
of usage. Although they are 6 years old at this stage, as for the children with severe and average
autism, the proportion of echolalia and prompted speech is still considerable (nearly 50%).
Meanwhile, the children with mild autism deliver a sizable proportion of active speech (more than
85%). Additionally, the quality in the children's utterances is disparate. At this stage, the children
with slow language development still utter echolalia and depend on reminders even with simple
speech (words, phrases). On the other hand, the children with rapid language development seldomly
imitate others’ speech at this stage, only long and hard utterances require reminders. They can
actively establish basic daily communication. Therefore, in order for the children to express in the
best language, it’s advisable to assess their language skills according to specific levels, thereby
planning proper speech therapy for each child.
REFERENCES
Vietnamese
1. Bui Kim Tuyen (editor) (2015), Language development activities of preschool children
(according to the new education program), Education Publishing House.
2. Dinh Hong Thai (2015), Preschool language development textbook, Hanoi University of
Education Publishing House.
3. Le Thi Kim Anh (1999), Methods of language development for preschool children, Hanoi
University of Education Publishing House.
4. Luu Thi Lan (1996), Steps of language development in children from 1 to 6 years old (based
on the material of children's language in the inner city of Hanoi), Thesis of Associate
Doctorate in Literature, University of Social Sciences and Humanities, VNU.
5. Ngo Cong Hoan (1995), Child psychology, volume 2, Education Publishing House.
6. Nguyen Huy Can (2001), From activities to language of children, Vietnam National
University, Hanoi Publishing House.
7. Nguyen Nu Tam An (2014), Lecture materials on education for children with ASD, Faculty of
special education, Hanoi University of Education.
8. Nguyen Thi Huong Giang, Tran Thi Thu Ha (2008), Research on the prevalence and some
epidemiological characteristics of autistic children treated at the National Children's
Hospital in the period 2000 to 2007, Practical medicine 4, pp.104-107.
9. Nguyen Xuan Khoa (2003), Methods of language development for preschool children, Hanoi
University of Education Publishing House.
10. Pham Hien (PI) (2018), Developing a set of criteria for language assessment of children from
birth to 36 months old, Ministry-level Scientific Research Project, Institute of Linguistics.
11. Tran Van Cong-Nguyen Thi Hoang Yen (2017), Rate of children with ASD: Statistical
figures, Journal of Science, Hanoi University of Education, Faculty of Education, ISSN 2354-
1075, No. 62.
12. Tran Thi Trong-Tran Thi Suu (1998), A collection of preschool games, songs and stories for
5-6-year-olds, Education Publishing House.
English
13. Baird G., Charman T. et al. (2000), "A Screening instrument for autism at 18 months of age:
A 6-years follow-up study", Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent
Psychiatry, 39, pp. 694-702.
14. Boucher, J. (1976), "Is autism primarily a language disorder?". British Journal of Disorders
of Communication, 11, pp.135-143.
15. Bryna Siegel (1996), Behavioral Intervention for Young Children with Autism - A Manual for
Parents and Professionals, PRO-ED, Inc.
16. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2010), Prevalence of the Autism Spectrum
Disorders - Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring Network, 2006, Surveillance
Summaries, 59(30), p.956.
17. Churchill, D. (1972), ‘The relation of infantile autism and early childhood schizophrenia
1.to developmental language disorders of childhood.’ Journal of Autism and Childhood
Schizophrenia, 2, pp.182-197.
18. Kim Y. S., Leventhal B. et al. (2011), Prevalence of Autism Spectrum Disorder in a total
population sample, The American Journal of Psychiatry, 168, pp. 904-912.
19. Rutter, M., Bartak, L. and Newman, S. (1971), ‘Autism - a central disorder of cognitionand
language?’ In M. Rutter (ed.), Autism: Concepts, Characteristics, and Treatment. London:
Churchill Livingstone.
20. Waterhouse, L. and Fein, D. (1982), "Language skills in developmentally disabled children".
Brain and Language, 15, pp.307-333.
Đặc điểm sử dụng phát ngôn trong giao tiếp của trẻ tự kỉ 5-6 tuổi
Tóm tắt: Sự khiếm khuyết trong việc sử dụng ngôn ngữ là một đặc điểm nổi bật để nhận dạng trẻ
tự kỉ. Do vậy, việc nghiên cứu các vấn đề về ngôn ngữ của trẻ tự kỉ nói chung trong đó có vấn đề về
việc sử dụng phát ngôn trong giao tiếp của trẻ tự kỉ là hết sức cần thiết. Trong bài viết này, chúng tôi
tiến hành khảo sát, thống kê số lượng các phát ngôn mà trẻ tự kỉ có được trong giai đoạn 5-6 tuổi.
Chúng tôi cũng phân loại các phát ngôn của trẻ tự kỉ trong giai đoạn này theo các mức độ từ thấp đến
cao (nói nhảm, nói theo, nhắc nhở, chủ động). Bên cạnh đó, chúng tôi cũng so sánh đặc điểm sử dụng
phát ngôn của trẻ tự kỉ trong giai đoạn này (5-6 tuổi) với giai đoạn trước (3-4 tuổi) để thấy được quá
trình phát triển về cách sử dụng phát ngôn của trẻ tự kỉ qua từng giai đoạn. Kết quả của nghiên cứu
này của chúng tôi rất hữu ích để các nhà chuyên môn cũng như phụ huynh có con mắc chứng tự kỉ sử
dụng trong quá trình trị liệu ngôn ngữ cho trẻ.
Từ khóa: trẻ tự kỉ; ngôn ngữ; phát ngôn; giao tiếp; trị liệu ngôn ngữ.
ISCOURSE OF ‘THE SORROW OF WAR’

(NỖI BUỒN CHIẾN TRANH) BY BAO NINH,
PROM PRAGMATIC PERSPECTIVE
DAO THI LUYEN*
ABSTRACT: The paper deals with a discourse issue of zero-anaphor cohesion From Pragmatic
perspective. To be specific, it is a survey and data analysis of The sorrow of War by Bao Ninh,
pointing out the types of zero- anaphor equivalents to subjects in the linking utterances. The
outcomes of the paper show that the zero anaphors with grammatical, semantic and pragmatic
representations are those which have high values in verbal communication.
KEY WORDS: zero anaphor; cohesion; reference; discourse; functions.
RECEIVED: SEPTEMBER, 4th, 2021. EDITED: NOVEMBER, 14th, 2021.
1. Introduction
Cohesion in discourse is a matter of interest to many researchers because it is the “glue” that
connects sentences together, making a sequence of sentences become a texture. According to Tran
Ngoc Them (1989), cohesion is adding, that is, using linguistic devices to create a meaningful
continuity for discourse to become a operable verbal unit in communication. However, it is not
always necessary for markers to be added for cohesion. On the contrary, cohesion sometimes goes
without any presence of a cohesive device but utterances still achieve a communicative conformity.
That phenomenon is “zero anaphora”, which is proved in this paper using the methods of statistics,
textual analysis, and conversational analysis. The corpus is taken from the work The sorrow of war
by Bao Ninh with a high frenquency of zero anaphora. Examples are confined to those which are
functionally equivalent to subjects.
2. Zero-anaphor devices in discourse from Pragmatic Perspective
2. 1. Cohesion and reference in discourse
Discourse is a linguistic term that has been used since the second half of the 20th century with the
initiation of the American structural linguist Z. Harris (Diep Quang Ban, 2017, p.47). Since then, the
approach to the concept of “discourse” has always gone with that of “text”. Nguyễn Thiện Giáp
believes that “text and discourse are synonymous terms that refer to the products of language, written
or spoken, long or short, forming a unification in which discourse is often understood to include text,
while text tends to represent written language.” (Nguyen Thien Giap, 2000, p.171). Diep Quang Ban
(2017) suggests that the two words “text” and “discourse” have been used interchangeably since the
first half of the 20th century. Thus, they are sometimes differentiated, sometimes synonymous, but in
fact both of them refer to a whole linguistic system with certain rules, deeply submerged in words. It
is a texture presented in thought by the speaker or the writer.
Cohesion in discourse (text) is used to solve the existence of a subordinate or linking utterance,
turning them from unrecognized sentences into evidence for a close connection in discourse. “With
its presence, cohesion is not only capable of making a series of grammatically correct sentences into
text... but also making grammatically incorrect sentences also become textual. Ungrammatical
sentences are regarded as part of the corresponding texts and are closely linked with the surrounding
texts”. (Pham Van Tinh, 2002, p.40).
*
Military Science Academy; Email: daoluyen1972@gmail.com
Cohesion in discourse is formed with linguistic means connecting utterances in terms of lexis and
grammar such as ellipsis, reference, linking words, word order, intonation, personal and
demonstrative words, etc. that have anaphoric and cataphoric functions. Of that linguistic means, the
device that is viewed with cohesive functions of cohesion not by word presence but by word absence
is termed “zero” anaphora.
Anaphora is thought to be close to speech events and relations between language, language
devices that are used with entities (material or mental, factual or non-factual, singular or
collective,…) in the possible world of entities. Therefore, reference shows a relation of 4 factors in
communication: speakers/ writers-language devices, “things” in the world-listeners/ readers.
Referring to cohesion, Halliday & Hassan (1998, p.559-560), point out 4 cohesive devices:
Conjunction (denoting continuity); reference (making connections between factors); ellipsis &
substitution (denoting continuity); lexical cohesion (word choice for cohesion) including 3 sub-
devices: repetition; synonymy, superordinates, hyponymy.
In Vietnam, the work “Hệ thống liên kết văn bản trong tiếng Việt” (The system of text cohesion in
Vietnamese) by Trần Ngọc Thêm [9] is regarded as being a first foundation for research into Textual
grammar that is a study of making a random series of sentences become a text thanks to texture. The
author suggests a system of cohesive devices of text in terms of 2 aspects: Form and content: (1)
repetition; (2) opposition; (3) synonym/superordinate; (4) association; (5) linearity; (6) pronoun; (7)
weak ellipsis, (8) loose connection; (9) strong ellipsis; tight connection.
Considering the above systems of cohesion, Zero anaphora is a means of cohesion belonging to
ellipsis, substitution and reference suggested by Halliday; weak ellipsis and strong ellipsis by Tran
Ngoc Them (1989). Anaphora is in the follwing table of reference:
REFERENCE
Exophoric Endophoric
Anaphoric Cataphoric
Thus, anaphora belongs to endophoric reference. In this paper, the devices of anaphora are zero
elliptical elements, that is, grammar “blanks” in the text organization. The appearance of zero
anaphoric devices enables text to avoid clumsiness, lengthiness, duplication in expression and to gain
close cohesion, show the situation of the rest of the textual structure. In other words, it is one of the
devices to make text coherence.
2.2. Zero-anaphor devices
Looking at zero anaphora, researchers consider it to be ellipsis. This type of ellipsis has a cohesive
value between utterances. The elliptical elements are necessary to interpret the content of utterances.
In order to interpret the content of linking text part, the listener or reader needs to “recover” it,
relying to antecedent text part. Halliday argues “Anaphora is not exophoric but provides a link with
the preceding portion of the text” (Halliday & Hassan, 1998, p.559) and he distinguishes the means
of anaphora as personal, demonstrative and comparative pronouns. Halliday also asserts: “Another
anaphoric type in text is an elliptical use in which it presupposes a portion with an unmentioned
portion” (Halliday & Hassan, 1998, p.568).
In essence, the zero-anaphor unit is an elliptical phrase in the subordinate or linking utterance
(under-sentence, elliptical units). It is a zero-anaphor cohesion that refers backward to the antecedent
units. In other words, zero-anaphora is a reference to things and events in the antecedent utterance,
not by means of words but by the zero anaphora. Accordingly, it can be defined: 'Zero anaphora is a
device of linking discourse (text) expressed with the use of zero anaphor (signed with *) in the linking
utterance in order to change the structure and content of this utterance.
2.3. The pragmatics of discourse
Pragmatics is the study of language in communication activities. Since 1991, Levinson has been
interested in the definition of pragmatics: ‘Pragmatics studies the relations between language and
context that are grammaticalized and encoded in the structure of language’ (cited in Nguyen Nhan Ai,
2017, p.43). Since 1983, there have been many other definitions of pragmatics, e.g. ‘Pragmatics deals
with language communication and the actual use of language in specific contexts"; “ragmatics is
meaning in interaction’ (cited in Nguyen Nhan Ai, 2017, p.43). Do Hưu Chau (2001) believes that,
after all, the most commom thing of the definitions of pragmatics is language meaning.It is language
meaning that is the conecting thread, chaining sentences in discourse, making them coherent. In
contrast, semantic coherence is realized with discursive organization and cohesion. He also points out
two stages of pragmatics since the 70s: stage one in which pragmatics is concerned with monologues;
stage 2 in which pragmatics focuses on interaction. In the monologue stage, pragmatics studies the
speaker's speech, speech is discourse. In the dialogue stage, pragmatics considers both the speaker
and the listener’ s speech, focusing relation between the speaker and the listener and placing
discourse into the sequence of adjacent utterances in the dialogue movement. Applying this
pragmatic point of view in analyzing the discourse of The Sorrow of War by Bảo Ninh, we analyze
the cohesive values of dialogue pairs with adjacent responses through the organization of utterances
with zero-anaphor devices.
3. The pragmatics of zero-anaphor devices in the Sorrow of War
The Sorrow of War by Bao Ninh was considered to be a ‘classic work of the world’ (cited in Bao
Ninh, 2018, p.346). It received several literature Vietnamese and international prize and it was also
‘translated into 18 languages and published in 22 countries’ (Bao Ninh, 2018, p.350). The work is a
perfect one with an artistic and spiritual depth. Its words are like a stream of lava pouring out
emotions. It contains so many dialogues that use the zéro dense anaphoric elements-a way of
organizing language that makes the work so attractive because of its cohesion and coherence.
3.1. Quantity and frequency of zero anaphor
Because of the absence of the surface anaphora, the identification of the zero (*) anaphor needs to
be based on the antecedent utterance for inference ( Pham Van Tinh, 2002). Example: Anh có nói
chuyện với cha bao giờ không?/ *(Anh) có chứ. Hỏi gì lạ thế? Sao*(anh) lại không. *(Anh) nói nhiều
chuyện (Bao Ninh, 2018, p.179). (Have you ever talked to your father?/ * (I) yes. The question
sounds queer, isn’t it? Why*(I) not. *(I) talked a lot. (Bao Ninh, 2018, p.179). In the places of * are
the grammar blanks. Readers can easily infer that they are “you” with sufficient elements of the
antecedent utterance: ‘Have you ever talked to your father?’. The appearance of * does not lose the
cohesion of the discourse, on the contrary, it even makes the sentences more closely linked. From the
example, it can be seen that based on the antecedent utterance, readers are able to see the position,
function, structure, and cohesive value of *. Therefore, according to the core structural types, the zero
anaphor can be divided into the following types: 1/The zero anaphor equivalent to the subject; 2/the
zero anaphor equivalent to the predicate; 3/the zero anaphor equivalent to subject + predicate. Each
type of anaphora brings its own characteristics for the cohesive purpose of discourse.
Surveying Bao Ninh's The Sorrow of War, we found that the zero-anaphor equivalents to the
subject is 396/497 units, accounting for 79.7%; the zero-anaphor equivalents to the predicate is 8/497
units, accounting for 1.6%; the zero-anaphor equivalents to the subject + predicate is 93/497 units,
accounting for 18%. In terms of structure, the zero-anaphor equivalents to the subject is of 88%
words, the other zero-anaphor equivalents account for a negligible amount. In terms of words, 80% is
personal pronouns such as tôi, tao, mày, chúng tao, chúng ta,...; 14.67% temporary nouns as personal
pronouns such as anh, em, chị, con, bố, mẹ, ông, cha, dượng,...4.3% is proper names, such as Kiên,
Phượng, Hòa, Toàn, Can, Sơn,... as all the survey results cannot be shown in the paper, we opted out
to focus on describing the type of zero anaphor equivalent to the subject. The structure of a
subordinate/ linking utterance with the zero-anaphor equivalents to the subject is as follows:
Subordinate/linking with zero-anaphora equivalents to the subject
* (Zero-anaphor equivalents to the Verbs, (Verb phrases,
personal pronouns) Adjectival phrases)
(1): - Kiên này, - để át tiếng máy, Sơn nói như quát- trở xong chuyến xương này là anh vù luôn
hả?
- * (Tôi) cũng chưa biết. * (Tôi) còn phải làm khối thủ tục. (Bao Ninh, 2018, p.56)
In example (1), the 2nd adjacent turn has 2 utterances containing zero anaphor called the
subordinate/ linking utterance. The structures of these utterances include “*+ verb phrase”. The
zero-anaphor equivalents to the personal pronouns is as the subject contain a cohesive effect between
the coming subordinate utterance “* (Tôi) cũng chưa biết. * (I don’t know yet) (I) will have to a
bunch of official procedures” with the antecedent utterance.
3.2. Types of zero-anaphor equivalents to the personal pronouns as the subject
The zero-anaphor equivalents to the personal pronouns in The Sorrow of War contains: the first
singular persons: tôi, tao, tớ; the second singular persons: cậu, mày,..., the second plural persons:
chúng mày, bọn mày,... These pronouns refer to the main character named Kiên and his comrades,
army friends, friends, parents, neighbors in common life and in war. Sometimes they refer to the
enemies Kiên arrested. Therefore, the antecedent utterances and linking utterances have a close
cohesive relation. Also, thanks to the inference and reference, the grammatical blanks, that is, the
zero anaphors are explicit in meaning:
(2): Không ngẩng lên, Can nói, giọng bị nuốt đi trong tiếng mưa và tiếng suối:
- Thì thế chứ sao. Tôi đi... Tôi biết anh là người tốt, sẽ hiểu, nên tôi tìm đến anh để qua anh xin có
lời từ biệt anh em...
- Mày điên rồi, Can. Một là mày không có quyền làm thế, hai là * (mày) tút làm sao nổi. Rồi *
(mày) sẽ bị tóm. Rồi tòa án binh, ăn đạn, * (mày) càng vô phúc hơn. Nghe tao, * (mày) bình tâm lại
đi. Tao sẽ kín miệng, sẽ không ai biết. (Bao Ninh, 2018, p.26).
In this dialogue, the * sign is the zero anaphor that can be inferred and restored as mày, the first
singular pronoun with a function as the subject refers to Can mentioned in the antecedent utterance.
As a result, the antecedent utterance and linking utterance are close in cohesion. The pronoun mày
expresses Kien's intimate and close attitude when he advises Can not to desert because of the
unpredictable consequences. The use of 4 consecutive anaphors in a turn makes Kien's tone both
angry and sympathetic to someone who has lost all bravery to fight.
These are the words Kien said to the enemies captured by him and his teammates after they had
killed three girls in the village where he stationed:
(3): - * (Chúng mày) không cần đào sâu lắm đâu. * (chúng mày) nằm chứ có đứng đâu mà lo -
Kiên khuyên – cốt rộng cho đủ chỗ, không * (chúng mày) lại thò chân, thò tay ra. Và * (chúng mày)
khẩn trương lên, tối rồi. (Bao Ninh, 2018, p.46)
In terms of language use, that is, verbal communication in context, the 4 zero elements * - chúng
mày, the second person plural pronoun are a means of reference back to the enemy creating a texture
linking the three utterances. * Chúng mày refers to those who “ăn thịt” ba cô gái (“ate” the three girls
(according to their testimony). Therefore, with deep hatred and rage, Kien loudly called them *chúng
mày and forced them to dig themselves. Kien's consecutive zero-anaphor use proves his extreme
indignation towards the enemy as well as his heartbreaking grief for the tragic deaths of three young
girls. At the same time, the four zero* elements make Kien's resentment linked from one statement to
another. To maintain the conversation topic (topical link), both Kien and the captured enemies
understood: The price to pay for the barbaric crime they did to the three girls in the village. Kien
constantly used the zero-anaphors instead of the subject chúng mày because then he was in the upper
position as a role of justice to judge and punish the evil. Based on the crimes, he used no addresses of
them.
In addition to the first, second singular and plural person pronouns that are equivalents to the
subject, in The Sorrow of War, there are also zero-anaphors that are which are nouns, kinship nouns,
and provisional proper names as personal pronouns. The number of these factors is not abundant.
Their grammatical functions, referential ability and pragmatic meanings are completely identical to
those of personal pronouns. The difference is that zero anaphors that are equivalent to proper names
as the subjects usually denote people's names such as Kiên, Phương, Can, Thịnh, Toàn, Sơn, Lan,...
without family and middle names. As for the anaphors that are temporary kinship nouns as personal
pronouns, for example:, cha, dượng, mẹ, cô, ông,...rarely have possessive elements like cha tôi, mẹ
tôi; defining elements like bà cố nội, ông anh họ,...
In a context, zero-anaphors can be equivalent to the third person referring to somebody or
something:
(4): - Nhận ra mình không Sinh?
- * (Sinh, Chú ấy) vẫn nhận ra đấy!- Bà chị dâu nói chõ tới- cơ mà* (chú ấy) chả nói nổi, *
(chú ấy) còn hơi nữa đâu mà nói.
- * (Sinh) có ăn uống được gì không?
- * (Chú ấy) vẫn, nhưng* (chú ấy) lại tự tháo ra hết. Vậy mà* (chú ấy) vẫn cứ gượng. * (Chú
ấy) Khổ lắm thay. (Bao Ninh, 2018, p.96).
In (4), the dialogue takes place with 4 speech turns, 6 utterances with 8 zéro anaphors * (chú ấy).
These anaphors are equivalent to the subject in the third person, referring to Sinh, (chú ấy), who Kien
and Sinh’s sister-in-law referred to (Sinh could not speak because he was about to die). The events in
the utterances are clear, the speaker, the listener and the audient are all explicit. It is a necessary and
sufficient condition for the zero anaphors come up, creating the discourse a texture.
The above examples show that the occurrence of zero anaphora requires the following conditions:
First, the zero anaphor appears only when there is a reference between the personal pronoun and the
subject. And there must two or more the number of subjects. If there is only one subject, this anaphor
will not be present. Regarding the order, in this referential cohesion, the explaining elements-
antecedents- come first and the explained element-the zero anaphors come then. It is the imperative
linear order of zero anaphora. Utterances containing the zero anaphors occur in all types of sentences:
imperative, interrogative, declarative, and are mostly composed of a simple sentence, one part of a
compound sentence. It is rare of it to be a complex sentence.
3.3. Characteristics of zero-anaphor equivalents to the subject
Looking at the relationship between functions and reference, we can see that the zero-anaphors in
the following cases:
+ The zero anaphors have the same functions, the same references. Example (4) above is the case
of the same function, reference. 8 * (chú ấy) has the function of the subject, referring back character-
Sinh.
+ The zero anaphors have the same function but different reference:
This is the case where the zero anaphors dominates in Bao Ninh's The Sorrow of War. This type
of anaphora has the same function as the subject but refers to different subjects. It can appear in two
turns of speech-an initiative turn and a responsive turn referring to the two different subjects of the
sender and the receiver of the message, or it can also appear in a single turn of speech:
(5): - Thế trò chuyện gì được không?
- Thì phải trò chuyện chứ, con chú con bác kia mà. Cơ mà nói theo kiểu dưới âm. Vô thanh.
Không lời. Khó tả lắm, rồi bao giờ mơ thấy anh sẽ hiểu.
- *(Chuyện) hay nhỉ!
- *(Chuyện) hay đếch gì! *(Chuyện) buồn lắm. *(Chuyện) thương lắm. *(Chuyện) ai oán.
Dưới mồ sâu người đâu có là người. *(Họ) nhìn nhau. *(Họ) hiểu nhau mà *(họ) không làm gì được
nhau. (Bao Ninh, 2018, p.51)
In (5), turn 4 has 7* equivalent to the subject and refers to the two different subjects. The 4* refers
back to the story the two characters were talking about, and the following 3* shows the ghosts (họ)
from the remains that Kiên and Sơn had collected and brought to the martyrs cemetery.
In the adjacent turns, the utterances containing one zero anaphor are not abundant, in contrast, the
utterances with zero anaphor are dominant. The density of zero anaphor turn makes the speed of
speech more rapid, the discourse atmosphere becomes tense, expresses the urgency and danger of war
vividly. Simultaneously, such a big number of utterances with zero anaphor make the cohesive
degree between the antecedent utterance and linking utterance closer. Hence, there is more relevant
cohesion in the dialogues. Particularly, in the utterance sequences, the anaphora has a flexible
change. At first, the referential anaphors to the speaker and the listener in the first and second
persons, then the reference combines the first and second singular persons into the first plural
persons. Along with the shift of the personal persona is a change of attitudes and emotions of the
communicator. In some linking utterances, there are zero anaphors referring to a character with the
use of one pronoun but the person itself denotes more than a message:
(6): Sự thay đổi đập vào mắt Kiên đầu tiên khi anh từ miền Nam ra, lần đầu sau 10 năm ly biệt
sang thăm phòng nàng: ấy là không còn thấy chiếc dương cầm màu đen, kiểu cổ, báu vật của mẹ
nàng, ngày trước kê kề cửa sổ đâu nữa.
- Em bán nó đi rồi. * (Nó) chiếm hết cả buồng. Mà em thì, loài ca kĩ, chơi gì thứ thiên cầm đó
nữa. (Bao Ninh, 2018, p.286)
In (6), the second turn contains the second utterance "* (Nó) took up the whole room". *(Nó) is
used to refer to the antique, treasured black piano of her mother. Thus, the use * is restored as the
pronoun nó here not only refers to the thing in the third singular person-the piano - but also contains
its characteristics in terms of color, style and it is very precious to Phuong's mother.
At the level of informative provision, zero-anaphora always represents old news known in the
antecedent utterances and this amount of information usually has a 1:1 relationship, that is, the
restored information in the zero anaphors coincide old information in the previous factors. But there
are also cases where the inference gives more than the given information. That is, in a position of
* can infer more than on subject with different reference. In example (4) above, the position of * in
the utterance: “* Khổ lắm thay” makes the reader can infer and refer back to the subjects: *Cuộc đời
(1) khổ lắm thay, *Đời người (2) khổ lắm thay *Tôi (3) khổ lắm thay, *Chú ấy (4) khổ lắm thay.
If the inference is a zero factor (1) and (2), then the sister-in-law's attitude was a sympathy
presented to Sinh and Kiên as well as herself. That was the burden left by the war and each person
needed to bear. If the anaphor is (4), the sister-in-law's attitude was a pity for her brother-in-law, and
if the factor is (3), the sister-in-law's attitude was self-pity and expected my brother-in-law to be
liberated so that she, her troubled family and her brother-in-law would all be less miserable. In any
way of inferring, readers can realize that the consequences of war are fierce, the price people have to
pay, even if they win, are still very big. That is the sorrow of war that no involved party wants to
suffer.
4. Conclusion
In summary, though it is absent in utterances, zero-anaphora is one of the important cohesive
means of texts. It is because it helps to make the text become the texture and then avoid
cumbersomeness in communicative expression. The Sorrows of War by Bảo Ninh has a high
frequency of zero-anaphor occurrence in the dialogues. In addition to the anaphoric relation, ie, a
pronoun referring to one subject, there is also the phenomenon of a pro-form referring many entities;
a pronoun referring to multi-information. Interesting observations brings up an important conclusion:
Sometimes, it is necessary to recover the zero-anaphor units to learn the semantic and pragmatic
shift, however, sometimes this restoration is not necessary. It is because it is the zero-anaphor
cohesion that creates a unique and vivid connection to the text.
REFERENCES
1. Nguyễn Nhân Ái (2017), Nghiên cứu phương tiện liên kết hồi chỉ trong diễn ngôn trên
bình diện dụng học (theo cứ liệu tiếng Anh và tiếng Việt). Luận án tiến sĩ ngôn ngữ học,
Hà Nội.
2. Diệp Quang Ban (2017), Phân tích diễn ngôn với ngôn ngữ văn chương, Nxb Đại học
quốc gia, Hà Nội.
3. Đỗ Hữu Châu (2001), Đại cương ngôn ngữ học, tập 2, Nxb Giáo dục, Hà Nội.
4. Nguyễn Thiện Giáp (2000), Dụng học Việt ngữ, Nxb Đại học Quốc gia Hà Nội.
5. Halliday, M.A.K (1998), Dẫn luận ngữ pháp chức năng (Hoàng Văn Vân dịch), Nxb. Đại
học Quốc gia Hà Nội, Hà Nội.
6. Cao Xuân Hạo (2006), Tiếng Việt sơ thảo ngữ pháp chức năng, Nxb Giáo dục, Hà Nội.
7. George Yule (1997), Dụng học một số dẫn luận nghiên cứu ngôn ngữ Đại học Tổng hợp
Oxford, Nxb Đại học Quốc gia Hà Nội.
8. Trần Ngọc Thêm (1989), Hệ thống liên kết văn bản tiếng Việt, Nxb Giáo dục, Hà Nội.
9. Phạm Văn Tình (2002), Phép tỉnh lược và ngữ trực thuộc tỉnh lược trong văn bản tiếng
Việt, Nxb Khoa học Xã hội, Hà Nội.
DIALOGUE QUOTATIONS
Bảo Ninh (2018), Nỗi buồn chiến tranh, Nxb Trẻ, Hà Nội.
Phương tiện liên kết hồi chỉ zéro

trong diễn ngôn “Nỗi buồn chiến tranh” của Bảo Ninh, từ góc nhìn dụng học
Tóm tắt: Bài báo trình bày một số vấn đề liên quan đến phương tiện liên kết hồi chỉ zéro trong
diễn ngôn từ quan điểm dụng học, từ đó khảo sát, phân tích ngữ liệu trong tác phẩm Nỗi buồn chiến
tranh của Bảo Ninh để miêu tả đặc điểm của các loại hồi chỉ zéro tương đương với chủ ngữ trong cấu
trúc kết ngôn chứa nó. Kết quả của bài báo chứng minh rằng hồi chỉ zéro với những biểu hiện ngữ
pháp, ngữ nghĩa, ngữ dụng là một trong những phương tiện phổ biến trong giao tiếp ngôn từ, mang
lại giá trị liên kết cho diễn ngôn.
Từ khóa: hồi chỉ zéro; liên kết; quy chiếu; diễn ngôn; chức năng.
A TRANSITIVITY ANALYSIS OF THE

THE VIETNAMESE ECONOMICS RESEARCH ARTICLES
NGUYEN THUY PHUONG LAN*
ABSTRACT: This paper aims to investigate into how transitivity is applied in economics research
articles in Vietnamese. To carry out the research, ten Vietnamese economics research articles were
selected from the leading economics journals in Vietnam. Ranking clauses were then separated and
analyzed for data in terms of transitivity resources, which include types and number of processes,
subject participants and circumstances. Research findings show that all process types, various subject
participants and circumstances are applied at various frequency levels; with the relational and
material processes being most highly used, central participants - the economic factors, economic
agents and economic researchers - being inanimate subjects or agentive passive. Findings also show
that the combinations of process types with certain subject participants and circumstances play an
indispensible role in the expression of experiential meanings in the research articles, and this
combination does assist he researchers to establish credibility and reliability for their own research.
KEY WORDS: economics research articles; transitivity; clause; process; circumstances.
1. Introduction
Halliday (2005:59) categorized the literature of economics or other subject areas into three
‘brows’: high, middle, and low. ‘High brow’ refers to learned journals, ‘middle brow’ refers to
college textbooks and ‘low brow’ refers to magazines for the general public. Discussions on the
nature of economics discourse of the three ‘brows’ have been made by both scholars of science and
linguistics as well. Among many others, McCloskey, a prominent economist, proposed his view of
economics discourse via his series of work The Rhetoric of Economics (1983, 1986, 1990). He
explored the nature of economic writings which were considered the ground for the establishment of
a common ground between economists and linguists (Dudley Even and Henderson, 1990). He
proposed a change in the way we should look at economic texts due to the new literary approach to
text. He confirmed that there is something to tell about the ways economists communicate.
Henderson (1980, 1982, 1986, 1990) and Dudley Evans (1990, 1991, 1993) also had great concern
about economics discourse. As put by Henderson and Dudley Evans (1990:2), it is important to carry
out an analysis of economics discourse based on the general question, “What can we say about
economics and economics texts on the basis of an understanding of language and language use as
revealed in the texts considered?”. Such analysis provides insights from both subject expertise and
language expertise which will enable language experts and subject experts to consider the nature of
economics writing and language use both at the level of the sentence and beyond in ways that tell us
how economics texts work. The insights gained as a result of such analysis are likely to be of
potential value in improving the reading and writing competence of second and first language
students coming new to the discipline. In their works, Henderson and Hewings (1987, 1990) and
Hewings (1989, 1990) paid much attention to the investigation into lexical metaphor and the syntax
of economics. They also investigate into the organization of the Introduction section of economics
research articles - the ‘high brow’ level of knowledge as Halliday (2005) calls it - to find out the
changes in economic writing.
Apparently, much effort has been put into the study of the language of economics in various
economics ‘brows’ in general including those of ‘high brow’ as Dudley-Evans and Henderson
* University of Languages and International Studies (ULIS), VNU; Email: ntplan1011@gmail.com

(1990), ‘middle brow’ by Mason (1990) and Hewings (1990) or ‘low brow’ magazines by Royce
(1999), but all the studies have considered the language of economics from what could be described
as the ‘lexis’ rather than the "grammar" aspect.
This study sets out to investigate the ‘high brow’ which means the research articles in economics
written by the Vietnamese economists and economic researchers from the grammar angle.
Particularly, the researcher aims to look at the economic research article from SFL perspective,
treating the research articles as having specific generic structures as proposed by Swale (2001, 2005)
and Bhatia (1991).
2. Literature review
2.1. Systemic functional approach
Systemic functional linguistics is a model of language which was developed by M.A.K. Halliday.
His linguistic theory draws on work by a number of eminent linguists such as Ferdinand de Saussure
(1913, 1983), Hjelmsev (1961), Malinowski (1923, 1935) and Firth (1957, 1968).
Systemic functional linguistics (SFL) views language as a set of options for meaning making and
these options can be at the level of semantics, grammar or phonetics. The choices made by language
users can take the start from the broadest view to step by step arrive at the most specific point. From
any specific point selected in the system, language users can still take “path” into a set of options in
another system and proceed to any other point.
Based on the studies by Halliday (1985, 1994, 2004), Hoang Van Van has developed a model for
SFL as follows,
(Hoàng Văn Vân, 2020:4)

As illustrated in the model, SFL is a comprehensive model of language which consists of four
levels: context, semantics, lexicogrammar, and phonology/ phonetics. By context, Halliday refers
social functions of language (1) to show speakers’ relationships, (2) to construe their experience of
social activities and (3) to combine all these together to realise meaningful discourse. The three
functions correspond to the three situational dimensions termed tenor - social relations between
interactants, field - what is happening, what actions are taking place, and mode - how language is
used in interactions.
As can be seen from the model, transitivity lies at the level of lexicogrammar. In SFL, grammar is
not merely the analysis of structures but the “words” and the various combinations of words to make
meanings, hence it is lexico-grammar rather than just grammar as viewed by traditional grammarians.
Grammar in SFL is realized by the system of transitivity, system of mood and the system of theme.
The Transitivity aims to describe the option of representational/ ideational meaning, analyzing the
clause in terms of who is doing what to whom. The Mood aims to describe the option of interpersonal
meanings, analyzing the clause structure- a more traditional syntactic function. The Theme aims to
describe the option of textual meanings, analyzing how different themes are structured to carry out
the message.
If in formalist approach, the unit of grammar is a sentence, SFG takes the “clause” as a unit of
analysis. The clause lies at the lexico-grammar stratum and “being the gateway from semantic to the
grammar” (Halliday, 1985:66).
2.2. The transitivity system
Our experience of the world is goings-on, as a flow of events. This flow is “chunked into the
quanta of changes by the grammar of the clause” with each clause including a quantum of changes
graphically described as a figure of happening, doing, sensing, saying, being or having (Halliday and
Matthiessen, 1999). This grammar system includes (1) processes unfolding through time, (2)
participants involved in the processes, and (3) circumstances as attendants – and is called
TRANSITIVITY. Processes include material, relational, verbal, mental, existential and behavioral
processes, realised by verbs.
Material process is the process of doing, construing doings and happenings. A material clause is
characterized by structural configurations Actor, Goal/Recipients + Process and Circumstances.
Material processes can be realized by verbs such as advance, conduct, create, collapse, increase,
develop, design. Relational process construes our inner and outer experience as ‘having’ or ‘being’
rather than ‘doing’ or ‘sensing’. This process type is concerned with describing, certifying and
characterizing things, and can be expressed in two modes namely ‘Attribute’ and ‘Identifying’. The
configuration can be Process +Be-er 1 + Be-er 2, which unpacks the relationships of class-
membership and identity in domains of experience. They can be realised by verbs demonstrate,
encompass, account for, appear, be, include, mean. Mental process, also known as the process of
sensing, is an internalized and conscious type of process which is subdivided into cognition,
perception and affection. The process construes the sensing, perception, cognition, emotion.
Examples of this type of process can be expect, observe, find, understand, know, believe, remember,
remind, think, feel, like, hate. Verbal processes are actually processes of saying things. The process
can also be considered the idea in human consciousness with their linguistic representation of Sayer,
the Addressee is labelled as Target and the Verbiage. The verbal processes can be realised by verbs
show, indicate, argue, confirm, explain, suggest, Existential process is the process of existing or
showing that something exists or happens. In such clauses in English there often appears the item
“there” which does not have a function in transitivity and the typical verbs used in this type of clause
are often be, exist, arise, and other verbs that express existence. Behavioural Process relates the
physiological and psychological behavior and realized by verbs such as smile, cry, laugh or breath.
And thus they stand in between material and mental processes.
Participants of these processes include doers, be-ers, sayers, sensors, existents and behaviors as
the central participants and others including goals, recipients, be-ers 2, verbiage, target, or
phenomena. Circumstances include circumstance of extent, of place, of time, of manner (quality and
means), of comparison, of cause, of contingency, of role, and circumstance of angle. As mentioned
above, processes reflect the changes of the inner and outer world of the participants. The
circumstances are at work to specify when, where, why, and how the changes occurs. In short, the
‘configuration’ of Participants + Processes + Circumstances models the experience of changes.
2.3. Genre and genre analysis
Genre was defined by Swale (1990, 2001) as “comprises a class of communicative events, the
members of which share some set of communicative purposes. […]. Exemplars of a genre exhibit
various patterns of similarities in terms of structure, style, content and intended audience.”. Bhatia
(1993:13), based on the work by Swales (1990) defines genre as a communicative event recognizable
and is characterized by members of a professional or an academic community. These genres are
structured and conventionalized with specific intents, forms, positioning or functional values which is
often best exploited by the discourse community members. Swales (1981, 1990, 2004) also made
investigations into the genre of the research articles (RA) in English and concluded that research
articles are living genres since they are constantly evolving. He investigated how genre in RA was
constructed and made the first attempt to analyse the introduction of the research articles, followed by
a number of studies on moves to develop arguments in RA.
Research on genre under the light of SFL includes the studies on ideational, interpersonal and
textual components of the language (Bloor and Bloor, 1993; Meyer, 1989, Salager-Meyer, 1994);
Modality and Hedges (Halliday, 1994). Martin and Rose (2008) confirmed that the kind of
‘knowledge’ involved in genre is a matter of Field, where professional disciplinary, recreational and
domestic activity would be described. The effects of speaking and writing and of mono-modal and
multi-modal discourse are matters for Mode, where the amount of work language is doing has to be
explored. Similarly, the effect for the negotiation of social relations is the concern of Tenor and its
implication for interpersonal meaning. This research is set out to investigate the use of transitivity or
experiential resources - the Field - expressed in economics research articles in Vietnamese.
3. Methodology
The study investigates the use of transitivity in 10 Vietnamese economics research articles. They
are taken from Vietnam's most prestigious economic journals - Nghiên cứu kinh tế, Kinh tế và phát
triển, Phát triển kinh tế - written by Vietnamese economics researchers. The economics journal
articles are updated journal articles (published in years from 2008 to 2020), having Introduction -
Research Method Discussion (IRMD) structures. The investigation into the use of transitivity
resources was made in each of the section of the research articles since each of the small section has a
specific schematic structure, reflecting specific aims and objectives. An overview of the use of
transitivity resources in the research articles as a whole was then made to pinpoint the experiential
meanings expressed in the corpus.
In this study, the major research design adopted is the corpus linguistics. Following a corpus-
based linguistic approach, quantitative method is used to quantify the types and frequency of
transitivity resources. Qualitative and descriptive methods are used to describe how the resources are
used to construe experiential meanings in the corpus. Unit of analysis is the ranking clause of the
articles. The author uses percentages (%) when describing, and analysing the data.
4. Findings and discussion
4.1. Processes
Findings shows that all process types are used in all sections of the economics research articles
with the highest ones being relational processes (at 43.84%), followed by material processes at
28.17%. Verbal and mental come next at respectively 13.57% and 9.77% respectively. Existential
processes account for 3.52% and behavioral occur very little. Following is how processes are used in
the corpus.
1. VJ6 Tiến trình hội nhập giúp hệ thống ngân hàng trong nước ngày càng trở nên vững mạnh
hơn (The process of integration helps domestic banks become stronger and stronger).
In the example 1.VJ6 above, Tiến trình hội nhập (The process of integration) is the Attributor,
giúp (help) is a causative process, hệ thống ngân hàng trong nước is the Carrier and vững mạnh hơn
is the Attributive. This way of writing in Vietnamese RAs accounts for a high frequency, which
results in a high frequency of relational process in Vietnamese articles. Similarly, relational processes
in Vietnamses R.A can also be the processes có, là, giúp (have, be, help) + Verbs bao gồm, làm cho,
chiếm (%), đóng (%) (include, take up, account for) as in the example 2.VJ4 below:
2. VJ4 Cơ cấu ngành kinh tế cấp I của tỉnh Quảng Nam đã có xu hướng chuyển dịch tích cực
(Quang nam’ economic structures at level 1 has the tendency to transform positively).
Instead of saying tend to as in English; Vietnamese writers use has a tendency. This is one reason
why the number of relational processes in Vietnamese articles seems very high.
Material processes unfold economic happenings or researchers’ activities as in example 3 below:
3. VJ1 Bài viết này sẽ cố gắng khảo sát một cách tổng quan nhất mối quan hệ giữa chi tiêu chính
phủ và tăng trưởng kinh tế. (This paper will investigates in the most general manner the relationships
between government spending and economic growth).
Processes khảo sát as in clause 3.VJ1, or thực hiện 5 are all material processes used to unpack the
research activities by the writers. Though the Actors are Bài viết này or Nghiên cứu này, they refer to
the researchers, and the Goals are the subject matters of the studies.
Mental processes in these Vietnamese research articles concentrated in clauses that unfold the
sensing, perception or desideration including tập trung (focus on), đánh giá (estimate), xem xét
(consider)… rather than emotion of the researchers as in the clause below:
4. VJ6 Chỉ số PCI cũng được xem xét như là một chiều mục tiêu tương tự những chiều mục tiêu về
các yếu tố nguồn lực.(Like the goal dimensions of resource factors, PCI index is also considered a
goal dimension).
xem xét is a mental process and the Medium is the researcher. Process of perception nhận thấy
(realise), for example, shows a specific mode of perception: the need to do research in an area.
Existential processes such as có, xuất hiện, tồn tại, unfolding the existence of economic factors
and problems such as xuất hiện vấn đề như (…), có sự thay đổi đáng kể về (…), không tồn tại hiện
tượng (…) are also found. For example:
5.VJ8 Có sự thay đổi đáng kể về trật tự xếp hạng của các doanh nghiệp. (There is a significant
change in the business ranking order).
Verbal processes are used to summarise the findings of the studies. These verbs are cho thấy, chỉ
ra, chỉ rõ as follows:
6.VJ4 Kết quả này cũng chỉ ra sự gia tăng này chưa thúc đẩy mạnh CDCC ngành kinh tế. (But
these results also show that this increase has not significantly boosted economic restructuring).
Behavioural processes such as đối xử (treat), tránh (avoid) in the clauses below are rare but can
still be found in cases where the authors suggest the appropriate behaviour for businesses:
In general, the high relational processes are used to characterize and identify economic agents/
factors/ data/ problems, as a way that the research uses to step backward to distance themselves from
the research. Material processes are second most frequently used to unfold the happenings in the
economies as well as construing the experience of doing research by the researchers. This high
frequency of material processes in passive forms or inanimate active forms is intended, by the
researchers, to maintain objectivity for the research. Next, verbal and mental processes are used to
state aims, purposes, suggest or to express the perception and cognitions by the researchers.
Existential processes are used to unfold the existence of economic factors/problems/happenings plus
economic research related to the research carried out in the articles. Behavioural processes are found
at very low frequency. This is because the research articles are reports of research, hence academic
rather than having tone of emotions construed by behavioural processes.
4.2. Participants
A general glimpse at the participants in various process types used in the corpus showed that they
are mostly bài báo này (this study), nghiên cứu này (this paper/research), chúng tôi (we), thuế
(taxes), chi tiêu chính phủ (government expenditures), các doanh nghiệp (businesses) and other terms
denoting economic indicators, factors, being the subject matters of the study, taking various roles
(including actors, goals, behavers, be-ers, sensors, existents) in various processes.
In this section, however, the author focused her investigation only on the subject participants
which reflect the central participants in the processes investigated to pinpoint the subjects of the
experiences expressed via the processes. The use of subject participants was investigated via the
application of various structures, including Active + Inanimate, Active Agent, Passive Agentless,
Passive + Agent, Ergative, There + be structures. The examination of the use of subject participants
is carried out in each of the Vietnamese research article section and in the articles as a whole. Here
below are examples of how various structures are applied in processes:
Active + Inanimate structures are used with the subject participants being Bài viết này (this
research) as in example 7.VJ1, nghiên cứu này (cho thấy), kết quả (của bài viết chỉ ra), or the
economic issues as the subject matter of that study as in other instances, rather than the researchers, or
We.
7. VJ1 Bài viết này sẽ cố gắng khảo sát một cách tổng quan nhất mối quan hệ giữa chi tiêu chính
phủ và tăng trưởng kinh tế. (This article will attempt to examine the most general relationship
between government expenditure and economic growth).
Passive + Agentless structures are used in the clauses to describe the research methods, or the
impacts exerted on economic factors, as sên in 8.VJ3.
8. VJ3 300 phiếu hỏi được gửi trực tiếp đến các nhà quản lí (300 questionnaires are sent directly
to managers).
This shows that all the authors make efforts to create an objectivity sense to the paper but they
have their own choice in expressing this, either by using Passive + agentless structure or by Active +
Inanimate Agents.
Active agentive subjects such as tác giả (the author), or nhóm nghiên cứu (research groups), or
chúng tôi – We- as in 9.VJ6 are rare:
9. VJ6. Tác giả thực hiện nghiên cứu về năng lực cạnh tranh của các ngân hàng VN.
Passive + Agent structures are rare and where applied, this structure type places the focus on the
data or economic indicators; i.e., the first participant - the Goal - is given the priority/focus, thus is
mapped onto the subject. The Actor in this material process takes the role of an Adjunct and is not
left out due to its importance to certify the Goal:
10. VJ3 Bộ dữ liệu này được xử lí bởi Viện Khoa học Lao động và Xã hội phối hợp với Viện Kinh
tế Trung ương Quản lí và trường đại học Copenhagen, Đan Mạch.
The example above has the first participant Bộ dữ liệu này as the Goal, given the priority/ focus,
thus is mapped onto the subject, and the Actor Viện Khoa học Lao động và Xã hội phối hợp với Viện
Kinh tế Trung ương Quản lí và Trường Đại học Copenhagen, Đan Mạch takes the role of an Adjunct
and is not left out due to its importance to certify the Goal and also to confirm the reliability of the
Goal.
Ergative structures can be found to denote the changes, happenings and doings of the economies,
economic agents. In 11.VJ8, the economies nền kinh tế and the economic agents/indicators tính chuyên
môn hóa are personified and considered as human:
11.VJ8 Khi nền kinh tế ngày càng phát triển tính chuyên môn hóa ngày càng tăng. (As the
economy grows, specialization is increasing).
To sum up, findings show that inanimate or agentive subject structures are highest, playing an
essential role in expressing the central participants of the processes and in reflecting the authors’
objectivity level. The investigation illustrates very low frequency of use of Active voice + Animate
Subject structures in all Vietnamese research articles. Only 18.4% of all the processes has the central
participants being animate or human and these actually refer to the “We” – the authors or researchers
of the articles. This also means more than 80% of the clauses are in passive, used in the forms of
Passive + agent, Passive + agentless (11,84%), Active + inanimate subject , There + be structures
(2.79%), and Ergative (1.29%). The high frequency use of the passive form and ergativity obviously
means the intentional distancing that the authors create to confirm the objectivity of their studies, the
precision of the analysis, which are independent of any subjective thoughts.
4.3. Circumstances
The investigation of circumstances in each of the Vietnamese research article section shows that
all types of circumstances including circumstances of extent, of location, of manner, of cause, of
contingency, of accompaniment, of matter and of stance are employed. Circumstance of location
specifies when and where researches are done or the economic processes unfold and this type of
circumstance is found most regularly used, at 41.1%, followed by manner at 35.5%, then cause at
8.72% and contingency at 4.26%. Circumstances of manner are used to depict how things are done.
They are more frequently used in the Abstract and Conclusion sections of the research articles under
investigation to introduce and wrap up the manner of researches. Circumstances of cause are used to
unfold the reasons of economic happenings and purposes of economic activities as well as purposes
of the researchers’ activities. Circumstances of angle or stance and matter are relatively high, at
3.45% and 3.04 % respectively compared to that of extent (0.81%) and role (0.61%).
Let’s investigate how circumstances are used in the corpus.
Circumstance of location showing time and space can be seen in 12.VJ8:
12. VJ8 Liên kết với khách hàng và nhà cung ứng đều có tác động đến kết quả kinh doanh của các
tổ chức trong chuỗi cung ứng thủy sản ở Bến Tre. (Linkages with customers and suppliers have an
impact on the business results of organizations in the seafood supply chain in Ben Tre).
Circumstance of manner denoting quality theo chuẩn mực quốc tế in example 13.VJ3 is used to
show how process phát triển (develop) unfolds.
13. VJ3 Tiến trình hội nhập giúp hệ thống ngân hàng trong nước dần phát triển theo chuẩn mực
quốc tế.(The integration process helps the domestic banking system gradually develop according to
international standards).
Circumstance of manner denoting means với dữ liệu mảng SMEs trong giai đoạn 2009-2015 in
example 14.VJ1 below also suggests a way for the economic agent under the consideration to deal
with an economic problems or situations Sử dụng mô hình kinh tế lượng vi mô.
14. VJ1 Nhóm sử dụng mô hình kinh tế lượng vi mô với dữ liệu mảng SMEs trong giai đoạn 2009-
2015. (We use the micro econometric model with array data of SMEs in the period 2009-2015).
Circumstance of cause denoting purposes Với mục tiêu như vậy as in 15.VJ7 is important to the
process được trình bày in cấu trúc còn lại của bài nghiên cứu.
15. VJ7 Với mục tiêu như vậy, cấu trúc còn lại của bài nghiên cứu được trình bày như sau. (Given
such an objective, the remaining structure of the paper is presented as follows).
Example 16.VJ8 includes a circumstance of angle/stance:
16. VJ8 Theo như kết quả kiểm định các giá trị xác suất theo kiểm định LLC đều nhỏ hơn mức ý
nghĩa 5%. (According to test results, the probability values under the LLC test are less than the
significance level 5%).
Circumstance Theo như kết quả kiểm định above provides a source of reference, which enables the
researchers to confirm something in their research on a reliable ground.
Circumstance of contingency trong bối cảnh hội nhập can be seen in 17.VJ6, denoting condition,
specifiying under which circumstance the process xem xét (tác động) occurs, and studied by the
research.
17. VJ6 Nghiên cứu này xem xét tác động của năng lực cạnh tranh đến lợi nhuận và sự ổn định
của các ngân hàng VN trong bối cảnh hội nhập. (This study examines the impact of competitive
competency on the profitability and stability of Vietnamese banks in the context of integration).
Circumstances of accompaniment are used at low frequency, providing further information of
what goes in parallel with the participants in the process. The circumstance bên cạnh mức phí hiệu quả
hoạt động in example 18.VJ3goes with the Verbiage mức lãng phí đầu vào in the same process biểu diễn
(illustration), having the same Sayer Hình 1 (figure 1). Thus, this circumstance is considered participant-
oriented as it can join the Verbiage to become the same element.
18. VJ3 Hình 1 biểu diễn mức lãng phí đầu vào của DMU4 bên cạnh mức phí hiệu quả hoạt
động. (Figure 1 shows the input of the DMU4 in addition to the inefficiency level).
Circumstance of extent in example 19.VJ8 shows the duration Sau 2 tháng thu thập that the data
was collected before the analysis process in the research was made.
19. VJ8 Sau 2 tháng thu thập,153 phiếu hợp lệ đã được đưa vào phân tích. (After 2 months of
collection, 153 valid votes were included in the analysis).
Circumstance of role can elaborate the nature of a participant as như nguồn mồi, nguồn dẫn xuất
các nguồn đầu tư khác vào nền kinh tế in example 20.VJ4 below:
20. VJ4 Đầu tư công chỉ nên được sử dụng như nguồn mồi, nguồn dẫn xuất các nguồn đầu tư
khác vào nền kinh tế. (Public investment should only be used as a prey source of funding that
channels other sources of investment into the economy).
Obviously, all types of circumstances have been employed at different frequencies but high
frequency of circumstance of location, manner, cause, angle enhances the precision, validity and
reference-based of processes unfold in the economics research articles.
5. Conclusions
Overall, the exploration of transitivity resources in Vietnamese economics research articles shows
that they are condensed-written, informative, reflecting two lines of experiential meanings (1) the
quantum of changes in the economic world and (2) the quantum of changes brought about by
economics researchers via their impacts. The transitivity resources, also called experiential resources,
including participants, processes and circumstances are all used at various frequencies to reflect the
experiential meanings above. Particularly, the highest number of relational processes with high
inanimate subject structures (meaning high impersonality) is employed by the Vietnamese economics
researchers as a technique to distance themselves from any possible happenings in the economies or
from any result of research activities. In so doing, Vietnamese economics researchers aim to achieve
impersonality, objectivity and validity in their research activities. Additionally, the high frequency of
Active + inanimate structures in the research articles is also a technique employed by Vietnamese
researchers to conceal the causality, revealing high degree of in-negotiability in their research.
Furthermore, the use of various circumstances in processes is a way that researchers enhance, and
elaborate the information either related to the participants or the processes themselves, which enables
them to achieve persuasion via the precision, argumentation, justifications and referenced-based
methods.
The study implies that SLF is a framework for description and analysis of not merely English
language but also Vietnamese one. Moreover, the inheritance of the features of RAs as pointed out
from genre theory, and the SFL-based analysis of the economics RAs also confirm that there is no
clash between the two theories. It is expected that this study can provide novice researchers an insight
into the way they can use experiential resources to express their research experiences in the right
manner.
REFERENCES
English
1. Creswell, J. W., & Poth, C. N. (2016), Qualitative Inquiry and Research Design:
Choosing among five Approaches. Sage publications.
2. Halliday, M. A. K. and Martin, J. R. (2005), Writing Science: Literacy and Discursive
Power. London and Washington, DC: The Falmer Press.
3. Halliday, M. A. K. and C. M. I. M Matthiessen (2014), Halliday’s Introduction to

Functional Grammar. Fourth Edition. UK: Routledge.
4. Henderson, W and Dudley-Evans, T. (1990), The Language of Economics: The Analysis
of Economics Discourse. Hong Kong: Modern English Publications and British Council.
5. Hoàng Văn Vân (20012), An Experiential Grammar of the Vietnamese Clause. Hanoi:
Vietnam Education Publishing House.
6. Hoàng Văn Vân (2020), The Language of School Science Textbooks: A Transitivity
Analysis of Seven Lessons (Texts) of Biology 8. Linguistics and the Human Sciences. LHS
VOL. 14.1 - 2 2018, pp.1-35. http://doi.org/10.1558/lhs.31715.
7. Swale, J. M. (2005), Research Genres: Explorations and Applications. Cambridge:
Vietnamese
8. Hoàng Văn Vân. (1998), Những ứng dụng cơ bản của lí thuyết chức năng hệ thống (The
Applicability of Systemic Functional Linguistics). Tạp chí Khoa học-ĐHQGHN (VNU
Journal of Science), t.XIV, No. 5, tr.10-31.
9. Hoàng Văn Vân. (2005), Ngữ pháp kinh nghiệm của cú tiếng Việt: Mô tả theo quan điểm
chức năng hệ thống. (In lần thứ 2). Hà Nội. Nxb Khoa học Xã hội.
Phân tích hệ thống chuyển tác trong các tạp chí nghiên cứu kinh tế
Tóm tắt: Bài báo nghiên cứu cách thức hệ thống chuyển tác được sử dụng trong các bài báo
nghiên cứu kinh tế học tiếng Việt. Để thực hiện nghiên cứu, 10 bài báo nghiên cứu chuyên ngành
kinh tế tiếng Việt đã được chọn lọc từ các tạp chí kinh tế hàng đầu Việt Nam. Sau đó, để phục vụ quá
trình phân tích nguồn lực chuyển tác được sử dụng như thế nào trong các bài báo, tác giả phân tích,
lưu trữ và phân tích số lượng cú, sau đó kiểm đếm và phân loại các kiểu quá trình, các loại và số
lượng tham thể là chủ ngữ trong các cú và các kiểu chu cảnh được sử dụng. Kết quả nghiên cứu cho
thấy tất cả các kiểu quá trình đều được áp dụng với tần suất khác nhau; tham thể trung tâm, hay tham
thể là chủ ngữ cũng thuốc nhiều loại và tần suất khác nhau, và các tham thể này chính là các yếu tố
kinh tế, các tác nhân kinh tế và các nhà nghiên cứu kinh tế. Kết quả cũng cho thấy rằng sự kết hợp
của các loại quá trình, các thành phần tham thể trung tâm và các chu cảnh đóng một vai trò quan
trọng trong thể hiện trải nghiệm nghiên cứu kinh tế của các nhà kinh tế học, đồng thời việc sử dụng
các nguồn lực chuyển tác này này giúp các nhà kinh tế học thiết lập uy tín và độ tin cậy trong nghiên
cứu của họ.
Từ khóa: các bài nghiên cứu kinh tế; chuyển tác; các quá trình; tham thể trung tâm, các chu cảnh; nghĩa
kinh nghiệm.
FOREIGN LANGUAGES AND VIETNAMESE
RETHINKING THE TOEIC TEST AS

AN ENGLISH PROFICIENCY ASSESSMENT
FOR INTERNATIONAL COMMUNICATION
NGO HUU HOANG* - PHAM HONG VAN**
ABSTRACT: The TOEIC test is worldwide used as a tool of testing and assessing English
proficiency in international communication of non-native English speakers. Practically and succinctly
speaking, "if you score a success on the TOEIC test, you are considered to be able to communicate
internationally in English". However, in the paper authors’ opinion, this view should be rethought.
Accordingly, the paper shows a critical discussion of whether it would be objective and reasonable if
TOEIC, ever listening and reading tests and for Japanese learners, is considered to be the measure
standard of English proficiency in international communication. Next, pursuing TOEIC exams can
make learners 'good test takers rather than 'good communicators'. Then, the paper also deals with the
fact that there must be a widespread belief that American English is often equated with international
English due to American hegemony. Interestingly, Americans seem eager to enhance that belief. It is
possibly because the TOEIC business must bring great profits to them.
KEY WORDS: TOEIC; ETC; the TOEIC Test; English proficiency; American English;
international English; EIL; international communication; American hegemony.
1. Introduction
Today, one of the innovations in English teaching and learning is a ‘revolutionary’ focus on
outcome requirements toward learners’ proficiency of English in which ‘The TOEIC Test’ (TOEIC
hereafter) has been one of the relevant tests chosen to measure English language proficiency of
millions of learners in the world, particularly in Asia, Vietnam included. Of course, because of the
prestigious name ‘ETS’, a US great testing organization (see 3.2.1. below) which designs TOEIC,
most training institutions trust in TOEIC in many countries. It has almost been well-organized in the
world. Everything seems to be going on well up to now. However, critically speaking, there appears
to be a question arising of whether TOEIC is really a measure of International English competence
or, in reality, it was just a measure of American English competence ETS expected to supply to
Japanese people then and whether it is now just a variety of American English now.
From that question, the authors of the article conducted a critical discussion to see whether
America facilitated Japanese people’s English proficiency with TOEIC. Moreover, the article deals
with the fact of whether American English is really international English. In other words, is
international English just like a ‘photo’ of American English? It’s noted that we don’t mean to have
over-stones of demeaning American English and the Japanese competence of English. We only
critically discuss the potentially controversial inconsistencies in the perceptions of English, which is
used by billions of people from different cultures in the world nowadays in terms of a famous and
dominant system of English testing and assessment: TOEIC. Therefore, the article is aimed to discuss
four arguments as follows:
a. Whether TOEIC is actually for non-speaking English people or for the Japanese or both.
b. Whether TOEIC is a sign of US hegemony.
c. Whether TOEIC is aimed to make learners become good communicators or good test takers.
d. Whether TOEIC represents English as an international language (EIL) as it is termed today.
* Associate Professor, Dr.; Thăng Long University; Email: hhoang161@gmail.com

** Dr; Thăng Long University; Email: vanphamhong78@gmail.com
2.Background
2.1. An overview of TOEIC
TOEIC is an acronym of the Test of English for International Communication but it is usually a
modifier itself to another equivalent term: The TOEIC Test. Initially, only two skills were tested and
assessed: Listening and Speaking. Its use has spread globally over times since then. It is now a well-
established standard to measure a person's English communication skills almost in non-English
speaking world. It has been introduced and developed by ETS. (Website 1).
Compared to TOEFL, TOEIC is said to be simpler but has quite a different focus and format. As a
skill measure of English in international businesses, corporations, government agencies and
educational institutions, TOEIC is believed to be for those who expect to use it to determine whether
‘global’ job applicants are qualified for recruitment. In other words, it is designed and administered
to measure staffs’ ability to use English successfully in the ‘international’ communication workplace,
not to use it for academic studies abroad in English speaking countries like TOEFL. (Website 1).
From a measure of English skills targeting at the Japanese, TOEIC has spread throughout the
world, recognized in more than 14,000 organizations in 160 countries from Asia (Vietnam included)
to Europe and South America. (Website 2). In general, the Test is accepted as a ‘global’ standard for
measure English language ability in international communication. (Website 3). Thus, it “has become
the de-facto standard measure of English proficiency in many parts of Asia, at least in international
business contexts’ (Chapman and Newfields, 2008:32).
2.2. TOEIC in Vietnam
In Vietnam, higher education programs have an indispensable relationship with the requirement of
English proficiency of students. Like many other countries, Vietnam almost decided to choose
TOEIC as a measure for learners’ English skills. More than 127 universities, colleges, vocational
schools use TOEIC as a benchmark for graduation. Human resources of more than 350 enterprises
also consider it to be an evaluation tool for recruitment. (Website 4). Some universities started to
introduce it to their language programs around 2006; more and more universities have adopted the
same policy later, especially since 2010, when the Ministry of Education and Training (MOET)
required universities to publicize their learning outcomes for all the subjects they offered. Although
the MOET did not require universities to use a specific language exit test or specify any tests for
learning outcome assessment, quite many universities took TOEIC as an English ability test for exit
exams to non-major students of English.
In other words, in addition to finishing their own university programs, Vietnamese students are
required to attend a TOEIC test and have to gain a certain TOEIC score for a condition of gaining a
university degree. It is meant they will not be able to leave school if they ‘fail’ a TOEIC test. In that
case they have to ‘miss’ their graduation and continue preparing for a coming test and take it again
until they are qualified according to the scores their universities require. All in all, with a perception
of TOEIC by Vietnamese universities, it is believed to be a tool of helping students meet the
requirements of the labor market to have a job, even a good job more easily thanks to a TOEIC
certificate in hand.
In fact, while some universities require their students ‘pass’ an international TOEIC test designed
and administered by ETS, others administer a simulated TOEIC test for their students. The simulated
TOEIC test, usually called the institutional TOEIC, is developed by universities using a format and
content-like TOEIC test. The TOEIC benchmark also varies across universities, but it is usually in
the range from 400 to 550.
3. Critical discussion
3.1. Whether TOEIC is actually for non-speaking English people or the Japanese or both
TOEIC was not designed in the first place for sake of a global world, but for the Japanese’s socio-
political and economic relation with the US and for a possible solution with getting high scores of an
assessment test of English for Japanese learners. Therefore, frankly speaking, it was a Japanese
centered test, i.e., at first designed particularly for the Japanese with the only two skills- listening and
reading- to be tested and assessed in Japan at that time. Consequently, there is an interesting question
arising: why it is the US that Japan requested rather than any other English-speaking country to
design TOEIC with only two skills examined as an English proficiency measure tool? More
interesting, no one has ever questioned such an event.
Looking back at history, America was Japan's enemy during the Second World War. However, its
postwar growth spurt would not have been possible without Japan's alliance with the United States,
since the United States absorbed Japanese exports, tolerated controversial Japanese trade practices,
subsidized the Japanese economy, and transferred technology to Japanese firms; thereby magnifying
the effectiveness of Japanese trade policy’. (Website 5). In this sense, America, as such a big aider of
Japan since 1945, has been completely aware of a need to build a language bridge of communication
between them and the Japanese, namely, English in order to trade with each other more successfully.
Undoubtedly, Japan itself was even more aware of this need as well.
However, ‘the Japanese government has no idea how to encourage speaking of English in schools
or in the culture at large, and businesses in Japan have no incentive to actually teach the language to
an effective level’. (Website 6). Thus, in the 1960s, Herman Kahn, an American professional of
education was hired by the Japanese government to advice how to become more integrated into the
world economy. One step he recommended was to teach more English. (Roger A., 2009:157). In fact,
there was a famous English proficiency test at that time named ‘TOEFL’ for the world and Japan.
But, the Japanese public appeared to reject it because it seemed too difficult and academic for their
English proficiency.
In terms of linguistic aspects, Japanese and English are the two of the most different languages in
sentence structure, vocabulary, and writing. Japanese verbs appear at the end of the sentence
while English verbs are located after the subject. (Website 7). Additionally, in a Japanese American’s
opinion, ‘the reason Japanese have difficulty with English is because of the limited range of
vocalization used in the Japanese language’ (Website 8). Moreover, the Japanese don’t use Latin
alphabets. It is also difficult to them integrating into a Latin language system like English. (Roger A.,
2009:157). Therefore, it is possible to say one of the reasons why Japanese people
are poor in English is that there is a huge difference between the two languages.
In terms of cultural aspects, again, Japanese and English belong to so different social frameworks
as well. English belongs to a low-context culture, so dialogues always need to be explicit and open
and has very low honorifics. Those are the cross-cultural issues that are too hard for a society with
such a so specific culture like Japanese society, where the people own a high context culture, to
adapt. For instance, in Japan, ‘you can find there will always be periods of silence in any dialogue
with the Japanese’ (Roger A., 2009:157) as a sign of politeness. That may influence the learning of
English of Japanese learners. Scamento Bee maintains, ‘the American style of learning is to ask
questions, discuss the questions and then go do it and ask more questions. The Japanese style is to
observe the master, not ask questions. If you ask questions, it can suggest that the master didn’t do
his job properly. The different styles can cause problems’. (cited in Lustig and Koster, 2010:232).
Moreover, the Japanese usually have a fear of mistakes and they ‘miss out on opportunities’
(Website 9). They don’t seem to know or at least care about a ‘rule’ that while speaking and writing,
it is not only about studying the language itself, but also about the indispensable process of
improving your skill by making mistakes. That might be why they hardly challenge themselves in
making mistakes. The ETS is may be so aware of that so it is very wise and flexible when it tries to
accommodate the Japanese with a type of language skill test with only 2 receptive skills, reading and
listening. The other skills-speaking and writing - would definitely make the Japanese fail TOEIC if
they were conducted. There is an interesting observation that the educational tradition of Japan is
very similar to that of Vietnam and of some Asian countries: learn to pass tests.
Most typically, it is possibly said that the national spirit, unique life style, unwillingness to mix
with other nations about English has also made the Japanese prefer TOEIC, a simpler and easier test
version and of course it must be their ownership. For those features, Japanese people wanted this
English proficiency test of skills modified and shifted away from a ‘traditional’ test system like
TOEFL or IELTS. Indeed, the one with only the receptive skills-listening and reading (suitable and
close to the Japanese preference of silence and calmness)-rather than the productive skills-speaking
and writing (that requires dynamic acts without being afraid of causing mistakes). Thus, was that
possibly the reason why they requested the ETS design TOEIC for their own? And interestingly, the
ETS agreed to ‘please’ the Japanese. However, it is the agreement that might demotivate Japanese
learners from the learning of writing and speaking skills of English.
It was not until 2009 that the ETS began to add the other 2 skills to TOEIC. It is possibly because
the demand for TOEIC implementation was not limited to Japan anymore. The ETS might find it has
become a cash cow exam service for a large market throughout Asia and many other countries around
the world. However, why was the fact that the Japanese ‘enjoyed’ that English skills test with only 2
skills lasted such a long time, i.e., 30 years? An official and reasonable answer seems still vague.
Even today, although TOEIC is for both, the Japan and the rest of the non-English speaking world,
with all of the four skills to be measured, that priority for the Japanese is still a ‘mystery’.
3.2. Consequently, does TOEIC represent English as an international language?
3.2.1. First of all, who makes TOEIC?
The answer is obviously the ETS. According to Wikipedia (Website 10), the ‘ETS’ is a short form
of the ‘Educational Testing Service’, founded in 1947. It is the world's largest private nonprofit
educational testing and assessment organization. It is headquartered in Lawrence Township, New
Jersey, but has a Princeton address. ETS develops various standardized tests primarily in the United
States for K-12 and higher education, and it also administers international tests including
the TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language), TOEIC (Test of English for International
Communication), Graduate Record Examination (GRE) General and Subject Tests, HiSET and
The Praxis test Series-in more than 180 countries, and at over 9,000 locations worldwide. Many of
the assessments it develops are associated with entry to US tertiary (undergraduate) and quaternary
education (graduate) institutions, but it also develops K-12 statewide assessments used for
accountability testing in many states, including California, Texas, Tennessee, and Virginia. In total,
ETS annually administers 20 million exams in the U.S. and in 180 other countries. Clearly, it is easy
to see the ETC jobs are mainly for the sake of America.
3.2.2. ‘American’ or ‘International’ does TOEIC approach?
Having known the ETS prestige above, we can fully realize the ‘cause and effect’ of TOEIC. That
is, thanks to its background with its status, goals and functions coming from the ETS, TOEIC is a
great and trustable testing system to many people and institutions in the world. However, it does not
seem to care about anything international in its nature at all. It is observed that through TOEIC,
Americans exports their English just like any kind of their exported goods. Possibly, it is ‘soft’ kind
of goods in terms of American hegemony.
Indeed, the ETS claims that TOEIC scores “indicate how well people can communicate in English
with others in the global workplace” (Webpage 2). However, even though it tries to make TOEIC
sound “non-American” but it is still very ‘American’ instead of the so-called ‘international’. In this
sense, the ‘inside’ content of TOEIC is usually advertised like something as follows:
The TOEIC® Listening and Reading test is a paper-and-pencil, multiple-choice assessment. There
are two timed sections of 100 questions each.
Section I. Listening
Test takers listen to a variety of questions and short conversations recorded in English, then
answer questions based on what they have heard (100 items total).
Section II. Reading
Test takers read a variety of texts in English, then answer questions based on what they have read
(100 items total). (Website 2)
That isn’t the content and ideology of TOEIC at all. Reading the ad, test takers can imagine how
to do but not what to do with. With pompous advertisements and inherent strengths of an English-
speaking superpower, the ETS seems to make people believe ‘American’ English is ‘International’
English, nothing else. In other words, English in international communication is just a synonym of
English in American communication. And more importantly, Americans might have a psychological
feeling that they are in language hegemony. Maybe, but there should be much more research for a
check, anyway. The only thing which can be sure is that Americans have a cash cow with the TOEIC
business.
By the ETS claim that ‘TOEIC reflects real-life English-language usage’ (Website 2), using only
a common sense, a learner of English can think about a truism that ‘my real life is not American’s
real life?’. So ‘what life and whose life does the ETS mean?’ So ‘what ‘standard’ does ETS mean as
well? Is it considered “standard’ in British English, Australia English, Canadian English, and so on?
In terms of the English used in the USA, it is undeniably standardized from American perception and
ideology. It is because American English must be American-based with American identity and
cultural pragmatic standards of American English. Nevertheless, suppose that test takers who do not
know very much about American English, the format and content of TOEIC while they are so fluent
in British English and/ or Australian English to contact many foreign people in their workplace (but
not Americans), would they gain high scores if they attended a TOEIC test? The answer tends to be
‘hardly’. So, what about their English competence measured in this case? Are they incompetent in
English just because they are incompetent in American English use?
3.3. Whether TOEIC is aimed to make learners be good communicators or good test takers
It is undeniable that the traditional focus of English language learning tends to be on a test, hardly
on communication and self-expression in formal language education in Vietnam and many Asian
countries as well. In this sense, the fact that test takers have to learn American English in order to
take the TOEIC Test well might lead to a possibility that TOEIC makes them become successful test
takers, not successful communicators. Indeed, there is a tendency by learners that they have the
following two strategies to get a high score in a TOEIC exam. Firstly, they follow American English
courses oriented to a qualification for attending a TOEIC exam. Secondly, they see TOEIC as a
subject and TOEIC materials as ‘textbooks’ to directly learn rather than any other English materials.
These possibly bring about a narrowing of content teaching and learning and a shift away from
communicative language teaching strategy to a backwash strategy that is very popular in Asia,
learning is for testing as mentioned above.
3.4. As a result, what is the TOEIC position in English as an international language/English as
a global language?1
1
It is indeed a little different between the terms 'international English' and 'global English' in their reference to
their actual use, but not within the scope of the article. Thus, we hope to distinguish between them in other
research.
According to Kachru (1992), a model of 3-concentric Circles denotes the use of English in the
world today: the Inner Circle denoting the English speaking countries (America, Britain, Australia,
Canada, etc.). The other two are the Outer Circle denoting the countries speaking English as a second
language (the Philippines, Singapore, India,..) and the Expanding Circle denoting the countries
speaking English as a foreign language (Vietnam, China, Japan, Brazil,…). Undoubtedly, American
English or any variety of native English go together to form a ‘plurality’ into the language: World
Englishes, in which each variety, from ‘native’ to ‘non-native’, is in reciprocal existence with another
to ‘reproduce’ a special and common variety of English for a purpose of global contact.
David Crystal (1997) calls that special one English as a Global language (EGL). Sandra McKay
(2002) terms it ‘English as an International language’ (EIL), McArthur (1996) names it World
language (WL). Particularly, Larry Smith calls EGL, EIL, WL ‘International Auxiliary language’.
This is the one who defines most assertively and clearly that “an international language is one which
is used by people of different nations to communicate with one another’. (Smith, 1976:38). He
assertively focuses on the relationship between an international language and culture with three
assumptions:
(1) Learners do not need to internalize the culture norms of native speakers of that language.
(2) The ownership of an international language become ‘de-nationalized’ and
(3) The educational goal of learning is to enable learners to communicate their ideas and culture to
others.
According to the views of the above authors, American English can be seen as the one of the
Englishes taking part in forming an internationalized variety of English in international
communication. The former is not the unique one to form the latter though it might strongly influence
the latter. In the meanwhile, TOEIC is mainly a measure of American English because it is American
centered. In other words, it is completely suitable to choose TOEIC as a measure for your English
fluency when you expect to contact people and/or colleagues who speak American English to you
every day in your workplace; or you are going to America to work. All in all, TOEIC proficiency is
completely good but it seems unnecessary in a non-American workplace without any Americans and/
or American factors.
4. Conclusion
To sum up, TOEIC has been a popular American-made Testing and Assessment system for
several decades. It used to be designed exclusively for the Japanese with the two receptive skills only
-Listening and Reading- to match the English competence of the Japanese for economic and socio-
political reasons at that time. It is now spreading to hundreds of countries and attracting millions of
test takers in the all four skills. TOEIC tends to be taught and learned as a subject to go to an exam
for itself.
Definitely, it would be entirely reasonable if TOEIC was identified as a measure tool between test
takers and American people with practical ties to each other. Americans seem to have seen TOEIC as
a ‘soft’ commercial product to be consumed by as many international markets as possible. They have
been very successful so far in swapping the concept from ‘American’ to ‘International’. However, to
be honest, TOEIC does not represent any competence conditions of EIL. It is because EIL does not
necessarily require the skills for a TOEIC test so that it becomes a global language. A mistaken but
popular belief that TOEIC is used to test and assess EIL in international communication might
mislead ‘International English’ to the English ‘of Americans’, ‘by Americans’ and ‘for Americans’.
REFERENCES
1. Chapman, M., & Newfields, T. (2008), The ‘new’ TOEIC, Shiken: JALT Testing &
Evaluation SIG Newsletter, 12(2), 32-37.
2. Crystal, D. (1997). English as a Global Language, Cambrige: CUP.
3. Educational Testing Service. (2003), TOEIC From A t Z, p. Princeton, NJ: Educational

Testing Service.
4. Kachru, B.B. (1992), The other Tongue, Chicago: University of Illinois Press.
5. Lustig, M. and Koster, J. (2010), Intercultural Competence: Interpersonal Communication
Across Cultures, 6th Edition, p.232, Pearson Education, Inc.
6. McArthur, T. (1996), The Oxford Companion to the English Language, Oxford: OUP.
7. McKay, S. (2002), Teaching English as an International Language, Oxford: OPU.
8. Roger, A. (2009), Do’s and Taboos of Using English around the world, 157, Castle Books.
9. Smith, L. (1976), English as an International Auxiliary Language, RELC Journal, 7/2:38-43.
Websites:
1. https://www.testden.com/toeic/test.htm: TestDen: TOEIC Test
2. www.ets.org/toeic: ETS TOEIC-The TOEIC Program
3. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0265532219828252: SAGE Journals: Language
Test-The Test of English for International Communication.
4. https://www.iigvietnam.com/bai-thi-toeic/: IIG Việt Nam: Chi tiết bài thi TOEIC
5. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_economic_miracle: Japanese Economic Miracle.
6. https://www.liveworkplayjapan.com/the-real-reasons-why-japanese-people-cant-speak-
english/: VWP Japan- The REAL Reasons Why Japanese People Can’t Speak English by
Charlie Moritz
7. https://japan-forward.com/japanglish-why-do-japanese-have-difficulty-speaking-english/:
1. Japan Forward: ‘Japanglish’: Why Do Japanese Have Difficulty Speaking English?
by Archie Miyamoto
8. https://jbilocalization.com/linguistic-differences-japanese-english/: IBI-Linguistic Differences
between Japanese and English.
9. https://livejapan.com/en/in-tokyo/in-pref-tokyo/in-tokyo_suburbs/article-a0002216/: Live
Japanese-Perfect Guide: The Weird Truth Behind Why Japanese People Can’t Speak English.
10. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Educational_Testing_Service.
Nghĩ về bài thi TOEIC như một công cụ đánh giá năng lực tiếng Anh trong giao tiếp quốc tế
Tóm tắt: Bài thi TOEIC được sử dụng rộng rãi như một công cụ để đánh giá trình độ tiếng Anh
giao tiếp quốc tế của những người nói tiếng Anh phi bản ngữ trên thế giới, trong đó có Việt Nam.
Nói thực tế, “nếu bạn đạt điểm cao trong bài thi TOEIC, bạn được coi là có khả năng giao tiếp quốc
tế bằng tiếng Anh”. Tuy nhiên, theo nhóm tác giả bài báo, quan điểm này nên được xem xét lại. Theo
đó, bài báo đã đưa ra một phân tích phản biện rằng liệu có khách quan và khoa học không khi coi kết
quả TOEIC, một loại hình kiểm tra và đánh giá kĩ năng tiếng Anh, thoạt đầu chỉ có Nghe và Đọc vốn
dành cho năng lực người Nhật, là chuẩn mực của sự đánh giá tiếng Anh giao tiếp quốc tế. Kế đến
việc theo đuổi những kì thi TOEIC có thể làm người học “thi giỏi” nhưng không “giao tiếp giỏi”.
Ngoài ra, bài báo cũng cho thấy có một suy nghĩ phổ biến rằng tiếng Anh Mỹ thường được đánh
đồng với tiếng Anh quốc tế nhờ sức mạnh siêu cường của nước Mỹ. Thật thú vị, người Mỹ dường
như cũng hăng hái thúc đẩy niềm tin đó, đơn giản có lẽ là vì TOEIC là một loại hàng hóa “mềm”
mang đến lợi nhuận không nhỏ cho họ.
Từ khóa: TOEIC; bài kiểm tra TOEIC; năng lực tiếng Anh; tiếng Anh Mỹ; tiếng Anh quốc tế;
giao tiếp quốc tế; sức mạnh Mỹ.
STUDENT PERCEPTIONS OF LEARNER AUTONOMY:

A CASE STUDY WITH ENGLISH JUNIORS
AT DA LAT UNIVERSITY
NGUYEN DO THIEN VU*
ABSTRACT: The present study aims to investigate the English juniors of Dalat University’ s
perceptions on learner autonomy, self-study methods, and overall satisfaction with their academic
achievement. The data was collected through structured interviews (N=38) and then analyzed using
deductive and inductive approaches. The major findings indicate that students have a good perception
of learner autonomy through a good awareness and positive attitudes. However, they do not have
effective self-study methods. As a result, they are not satisfied with their academic performance
based on their semester grade point average. In addition to this, a major learning style has been
recorded showing that the students prefer audio-visual learning and Internet-based tools to paper-
based materials. The paper concludes by discussing some implications for instructional practices in
the field.
KEY WORDS: Academic achievement; EFL; learner autonomy; learning styles; satisfaction.
1. Introduction
The Vietnam’s Education Law of 2005 stressed the important role of learner autonomy (LA):
‘Training methods in higher education must be brought into play to foster the learners’ ability to be
active learners, to study and research by themselves, and to foster their practical abilities, self-
motivation, creative thinking, and ambition’ (Le, 2018). Specifically, the Ministry of Education and
Training (MOET) of Vietnam implemented the project entitled ‘Teaching and Learning Foreign
Languages in the National Education System, Period 2008 to 2020’ to boost the quality of learning
and teaching English as a foreign language (EFL) across all levels in the country. Altogether,
teachers have adhered to student-centered and interactive approaches in order to meet the
government’s innovation requirements. In this regard, students are supposed to be actively engaged
in self-study so that they can be able to improve their language proficiency. Besides, the rapid
development of technologies and the explosion of information media have made learners become
more autonomous.
In Asian educational settings, it is highly recommended that students be more responsible for their
learning outcomes, and more capable of managing their own learning activities (Nguyen et al., 2014).
In this manner, students are required to mainly acquire knowledge themselves. Besides, languages
learners often develop their skills by interacting with their peers as well as practicing with native
speakers. Indeed, the social constructivism and the conception of the zone of proximal development
of Vygotsky (1986) emphasized the social interaction in the development of cognition and the co-
construction of knowledge. However, Vietnamese learners have not paid particular attention to social
strategies since they do not have the habit of using a foreign language to communicate in the
Vietnamese settings. Furthermore, they do not have frequent opportunities practice speaking or to
communicate with English speakers or native ones whereas Oxford (1990) considered
communicative competence as the main goal.
In Vietnam, little research has addressed this topic (Bui, 2016; Dinh, 2017; Nguyen et al., 2014).
Dinh Thi Hong Thu (2017) mentioned two first papers of Nguyen Nghia Dan (1998) entitled
Towards students’ self-directed learning and creativity and Cao Xuan Hao (2001) A discussion on
learner autonomy, following which autonomy is essential for teaching and learning in an era of
information and communication technologies. In the period of 2007-2017, only twenty journal
* Da Lat University; Email: vundt@dlu.edu.vn

articles relating to language learner autonomy have been recorded. For instance, Nguyen Van Loi,
Chung Thi Thanh Hang, Truong Nguyen Quynh Nhu, & Pham Thi Mai Duyen (2014) revealed that
Vietnamese students advocated the psychological and social perspectives of LA more than the
political and technical ones. They also argued that autonomy development is a fundamental element
of the ECTS credit system. It is important that teachers raise their own awareness of autonomous
learners and that they take effective measures to foster LA. For their part, students should take
responsibility and control of their own learning. Nonetheless, the concept of LA has been perceived
and interpreted in different ways by Vietnamese researchers. This can be seen as a limitation in the
current body of research pertaining to LA (Roe & Perkins, 2020).
For the above reasons, the author of this paper attempts to conduct research in this field in order to
contribute to the existing literature. In the next section, the definition and overall perceptions of LA
will be reviewed to serve as a theoretical framework for this case study.
2.1. An overview of learner autonomy
Despite semantic conflicts, the terminology ‘autonomy’ refers to the learner’s attitude of
responsibility (Dickinson, 1987; Holec, 1980) or his/her own needs to entirely change the course for
self-directed language learning (Rivers, 2001) (as cited in Oxford, 2003). This term was further
defined as ability and willingness to take responsibility (Littlewood, 1996, as cited in Oxford, 2011).
Oxford (1990) also noted that learner self-direction and learner autonomy are often applied in relation
to language learning strategies (LLSs). Dickinson (1987) used ‘autonomy’ to refer to the learning
mode, situation, or techniques associated with the responsible attitude and ‘self-direction’ to refer to
the learner’s attitude of responsibility. In contrast, Holec (1980, 1981) associated ‘autonomy’ to the
learner’s attitude and ‘self-direction’ to the learning mode, situation, or techniques. Besides, Holec
(1981) described ‘autonomy’ as a broad-spectrum ‘ability to take charge of one’s own learning’ (as
cited in Roe & Perkins, 2020, p.14). Specifically, Little (1999) argued that L2 learner autonomy
could refer to his or her ability to study independently in different contexts, and with conscious
intention and reflection. In addition to this argument, the capacity of taking control of important
aspects of one’s learning can be seen as a specific form of personal autonomy (Benson, 2011, 2013).
Therefore, a comprehensive definition of LA could be: ‘ability and willingness to take responsibility
for one’s learning, along with the action necessary to make this happen as relevant to the cultural
context’ (Oxford, 2016, p. 80).
The work of Benson (2001) revealed three dimensions of LA: "learning management, cognitive
processing and the content of learning" (as cited in Benson, 2006, p.24). Oxford (1990) emphasized
the ultimate goal of the hub of European research and experimentation on self-directed language
learning (CRAPEL) in France that has provided self-directed language learning opportunities and a
variety of course structures for autonomous learners, who only get assistance in learning how to learn
from a helper. Another model described by Holec is the Eurocentre language training institute in the
UK that caters mainly to students who want to simply communicate in English so that they will be
able to live in the country of the target language. In addition, Benson (1997) argued for ‘technical,
psychological, and political dimensions’ to LA (as cited in Roe & Perkins, 2020, p.13). Oxford
(2003), for her part, advocated technical, psychological, sociocultural and political-critical
perspectives. From these perspectives on LA, it is obvious that the technical perspective focuses on
the physical situation; the psychological perspective on characteristics of learners; the two forms of
the sociocultural perspective on mediated learning; the political-critical perspective on ideologies,
access, and power structures. Additionally, Benson (2000) considered learner autonomy a human
right while Naiman et al. (1978) argued that increasing learner autonomy is a more effective method
of language learning in comparison to others (as cited in Roe & Perkins, 2020). Thus, this key
concept is apparently a multidimensional construct. Each dimension embraces four themes, namely:
context, agency, motivation, and learning strategies.
2.2. Overall perceptions of learner autonomy
On the whole, LA can be reflected in the learner’s attitude of responsibility and his or her own
needs to change and to take concrete action in order to achieve their goals. It also refers to learners’
capability to develop their own learning methods or mobilize available resources to learn a foreign
language more effectively. Moreover, autonomous learners are able to assess their learning process
and outcomes (Le, 2018). Some authors contended that these two components are affected by LA
(Bajrami, 2015; Borg and Al-Busaidi, 2012; Dang, 2012) and that LA plays a key role in both
academic study and teaching practices (Duong and Seepho, 2014). Thomson (1996) argued that
language learning is a life-long endeavor (Le, 2018, p. 28) and that LA constitutes the foundations for
multiple types of learning, including lifelong learning. Recently, Vietnamese researchers have also
studied various aspects of LA through different dimensions such as planning, monitoring and
regulating (Trinh, 2005); self-initiation and self-regulation (Nguyen, 2009); monitoring, initiating,
goal-setting and evaluating, and using Information Communication Technologies (Dang, 2012).
Hence, LA plays an essential role in the learning process (Borg & Al-Busaidi, 2012). Some studies in
the field have revealed the positive impact of autonomous learning on ESL students’ academic
achievement while other research on beliefs and practices from the ESL teachers’ perspectives have
also valued the benefits of LA.
Based on the definition of Oxford (2016) stressing on learners’ responsibility, concrete actions
and learning strategies for effective learning, as well as the previous work of Bui Ngoc Quang (2016)
that valued the LA model consisted of three components: students’ awareness, attitudes, and self-
study methods, it is an opportune time to investigate, on the one hand, EFL students’ perceptions and
practices regarding LA. On the other, the present study makes an attempt to find out students’ overall
satisfaction with their academic achievement and comprehend their future plans to improve their
learning. Through a more thorough discussion of the findings, the researcher of this paper aims not
only to contribute to the literature in the field, but to raise the awareness of the importance of LA
amongst students. This paper also intends to put forward some recommendations for instructional
practices.
3. Methodology
The present case study was conducted through structured interviews within groups of maximum
five students each. In this paper, the English juniors refer to all third-year students of Dalat
University (DLU English juniors), majoring either in English for Business and Tourism (EBT),
English for Translation and Interpretation (ETI), or EFL Teaching (ELT). The Vietnamese language
was used since talking in their mother tongue helped the interviewees to feel more confident and
comfortable with expressing themselves. Each group interview lasted about half an hour. The
structured interview guide consisted of ten core questions linked to the main factors as defined by
Oxford (2016) regarding students’ responsibility for self-study, present and future actions in English
learning, and six learning strategy groups (1-Memory strategies; 2-Cognitive strategies; 3-
Compensation strategies; 4-Metacognitive strategies; 5-Affective strategies; 6-Social strategies).
These questions are also connected to the three main components studied by Bui Ngoc Quang (2016)
comprising 1) students’ awareness of LA, 2) their attitudes towards LA, and 3) their self-study
methods of learning English. Questions 1 and 2 are related to learning strategies; questions 3 and 4
concerning awareness and attitudes; questions 5 and 6 exploring time and frequency of self-study;
questions 7, 8 and 10 aiming to identify methods of self-study; question 9 measuring satisfaction with
academic performance based on 4-point Likert scale (1-Very dissatisfied; 2-Dissatisfied; 3-Satisfied;
4-Completely satisfied). In addition, the analysis of interviews helped identify the students’ learning
styles and how capable they are of self-directing their learning. It also permitted to ascertain student’s
overall satisfaction with their academic performance based on their semester grade point average
(GPA) of the first semester of 2020-2021. The group interviews were conducted via the Internet
using Google Meet due to the uniqueness of the pandemic situation.
The current research was conducted using the qualitative approach. Both inductive and deductive
approaches were then used in analyzing the information gathered. To its end, the author needs to
answer the following questions:
1. What are DLU English juniors’ perceptions of learner autonomy?

2. What self-studies methods have they developed in learning English?
3. What was their overall satisfaction with their academic achievement?
4. Findings and discussion
The survey population consisted of 38 English juniors of DLU were invited to voluntarily
participate in the group interview during the first week of July 2021. They belonged to six groups of
five students, namely groups A to F, and two groups of four students, namely G and H. The
participants were then numbered from 1 to 38 for the purpose of analysis. Because of the majority of
female students selecting this major, there were only 11 males interviewees. However, these 38
participants come from six different classes and they major either in EBT (15 students), ETI (15
students) or EFL (8 students). The number of EFL respondents is lower than that of other two majors
due to the fact that there is only one EFL class. The respondents represent approximately 20% of the
total number of juniors. Among 38 interviewees, 14 (36.8%) managed to obtain a semester GPA
classified as ‘good’ according to the four-point scale, ranging from 2.50 to 3.59 while 24 (63.2%)
received poor results, with the semester GPA under 2.49. In this paper, only some relevant segments
of participants’ statements are presented.
4.1. DLU English juniors’ perceptions of LA
All of the 38 interviewees have confirmed that learner autonomy is important and necessary to
study in general and especially to learn English. However, the participant B7 has argued that ‘In my
opinion, the importance of learner autonomy largely depends on the learner’s goals, for example, if
one aims to study for self-development, go abroad for further study or get a good job after, he or she
must be an autonomous learner. Self-studying can be the fastest way to realize one’s goals.’.
According to some others, LA is considered a must since it is impossible for teachers to provide
everything learners need. Indeed, effective autonomous learning can be done everywhere and
anytime. It not only helps extend the area of study that has been introduced at university, and enlarge
the knowledge of the subjects taught, but also allows improving skills through practice. Hence, goal
setting for improving language proficiency or academic achievement is really important in the self-
learning process (Oxford, 2011). The participant A1 has noted: ‘Self-studying is extremely important
and much better than what has been taught in class because the course is often designed for every
student […] because it is limited by time and amount of knowledge.’ Similarly, C14 has added that
‘the topics covered in class are just a solid foundation of knowledge, but not enough. There are many
aspects of the field of study that are not mentioned or deeply explored.’ Another interviewee D16 has
valued the importance of autonomy by quoting Les Brown: ‘Accept responsibility for your life. Know
that it is you who will get you where you want to go, no one else.’ .
Such pieces of information could show that the students have been aware of the concept of LA
and also know how it is important in language learning, particularly learning outside the classroom.
Moreover, six participants have postulated that learner autonomy should be obligatory. This is in fact
strongly recommended in the Vietnamese system of academic credit (Bui, 2016; Le, 2018). The
interviewee A4 has considered self-study ‘an obligation to improve one’s competencies’ while E25
has argued that ‘learning is a life-long process and students are supposed to be autonomous
learners’. Some other participants have stated that learner autonomy refers to the self-awareness of
each student and that the awareness of autonomy can create motivations for language learning. Such
a finding also reveals that the participants have adopted positive and favorable attitudes towards
autonomy. Similarly, the results of the research on awareness, attitude and self-study methods
conducted by Bui Ngoc Quang (2016) showed that the surveyed students are profoundly aware of
autonomy, that they have a serious attitude towards autonomy and that they are applying various self-
study methods. It has also been suggested that the students’ academic outcomes are affected by these
three dimensions. Thus, this concept has been perceived as a sine qua non for academic improvement
and sometimes an obligation to make language learning effective. Indeed, without LA, one cannot go
further in his or her studies.
4.2. General description of DLU English juniors’ self-study methods

Through the interviews, the participants have described themselves as autonomous learners of
English. Thereby, their approaches to self-learning have been found such as their own learning time,
learning means, and learning methods. In general, the majority of participants do not have a fixed
schedule of self-study. Most of them prefer audio-visual learning on the Internet to paper-based
materials. Yet they do not often go to the library or work in group. They are not fond of asking for
help from their teachers after class for they think this might disturb them and they can manage to find
answers and/ or solutions either by themselves or from their friends. The participant C12 has stated
that ‘it is necessary to go on the Internet to learn [English] by watching videos’, whereas B10 has
openly said ‘I don’t feel comfortable contacting my teachers, so I’ll find solutions by myself or ask
for help from my friends. I think only self-study can help me understand and no one can learn for
myself’. Today, one cannot deny the positive roles of media and social networks in learning. English
students actively learn and practice the language in a variety of situations. For instance, F29 has
reported that ‘[to learn English, he] often plays online video games with people from around the
world’ while H36 has said that she spends ‘an hour every day watching YouTube, talk shows,
listening to music, etc. online’. Besides, some participants have added that they use mobile
applications such as Duolingo, Memrise or Podcast either to learn vocabulary, structures or to
improve English skills. This result corresponds to the digital literacy practices in the era of new
technologies as mentioned in the work of Benson (2013). In terms of learning time, most of the
interviewees spend less than an hour on a daily basis for self-learning, but many of them study over
two hours a day. Such a finding corresponds to that of Bui Ngoc Quang (2016). In fact, some others
have advocated that their learning time depends on their learning objectives. For example, F28 has
confided ‘It depends on my purposes, so I don’t have a self-study schedule […] Sometimes I spend
the whole afternoon or sometimes all my free time for self-learning. However, before examinations I
spend much more time than I normally do.’ Also, H36 has revealed that ‘during the examination, I
review all day long, otherwise the knowledge I need for my exams is often not very practical.
Normally, I study for communicative purposes, to use English in real life, but not only for tests or
exams at university.’ .
Additionally, a few students have stated that they can practice language skills by working part-
time in a café, a hotel or a restaurant and that they need English for real-life contexts. This is the case
of B7: ‘I am not a passive student, so I don’t often sit down at a table or in front of a computer to
learn English. In my spare time, I often go to my grandma’s house where there’s a bunch of native
speakers to speak with them. In this way, I think I can learn lots of things beside books’ or that of
H38: ‘I’ve chosen to work part-time at places where there are lots of foreigners so that I can improve
my English’. Hence, it is obvious that the methods of self-study are different from one student to
another depending on their own purposes and at their own pace. Some are keen on audio-visual
learning and their self-study is based on their availability (Oxford, 2003), whereas the others choose
their study mode based on their preferences (Lessard-Clouston, 1997). Finally, this finding has
shown that different learning styles reflect broad approaches to self-learning among the participants.
4.3. DLU English juniors’ overall satisfaction with the academic achievement and their future
plans
In the interviews, the majority of participants have expressed dissatisfaction with their academic
achievement (levels 1 and 2). They all want to improve their academic results for the next semester.
However, many of them have not specified their future plans or concrete action to improve their
study. Broadly, they have stated that they would spend more time on self-learning and that they
should practice English more often to improve their language proficiency. Anyway, while some will
keep to their own ways of self-study, others think they will change their methods or their learning
approaches. Here are some words of A1: ‘My plan is to continue self-studying everywhere and
anytime, but I’ll read more and I’ll grasp every opportunity to communicate with native speakers.
The most important of self-study, I think, is practice.’ Here is the utterance of A3: ‘Because of the
pandemic outbreak, it is a great experience for me to learn from home, discover new ways of
learning, and find out how to control my emotions. I’ll focus more on my interests’. Yet, a few
interviewees did not mind having bad results as they think, in learning, the scores are not everything.
At this point, the participant E25 has given her example, ‘I just feel normal [when having these
semester results]. Recently, I’ve followed online courses [due to the pandemic], so these results are
just fine. Next semester, I will spend more time reviewing lessons, doing IELTS exercises…’. For his
part, F28 believed that ‘the scores [semester GPA] are not important to me because they don’t
necessarily reflect my abilities so I don’t care about the scores. Actually, the scores won’t make me
happy or sad.’ The fact that they do not often cooperate with their friends or that they do not have
motivations might be a cause of their poor academic performance. These are indeed some factors that
affect learners’ achievement as studied in the work of Dinh Thi Hoa, Hoang Thi Ngoc Diep, & Le
Thi Kim Tuyen (2018).
Similarly, some students have also pointed out why they did not obtain high scores like H38 when
saying ‘I’m not happy. I think can do better, but I’m lazy and I often procrastinate, so I plan to study
harder and be more self-disciplined. However, I can’t find out good methods yet.’ B10, for his part,
has explained that ‘I’ve tried really hard but the results were not as expected. But to be honest, that’s
all I can do. Even if I try my best, I won’t be able to get better scores. So I have to accept it, period.
[…] I think I’ll have to focus on speaking and improve problem-solving skills so that I’ll be able to
work in the future.’ It is also important to notice that some participants have expressed their intention
to use more LLSs and more frequently to improve the effectiveness of their study. Particularly, these
students want to employ the social strategy group in their learning process. F30 has mentioned, ‘I’d
want to improve my results. I’d like to explore and apply social strategies so that I can communicate
with English speakers.’ This finding also implied that appropriate learning methods could help
students to improve their language skills (Dinh et al., 2018; Nguyen et al., 2012:24b).
The information gathered through interviews with 38 participants showed that they all are well
aware of the importance of learner autonomy and they have positive attitudes towards autonomy in
language learning. The interview analysis also revealed their learning styles that vary from one to
another depending on their abilities, conditions, personality and so forth. Though they have expressed
no satisfaction with their academic performance, they have all committed to strive to improve in the
future. However, some students do not attach much importance to the academic results because they
do not consider the high scores as their motivations as well as their goals. Finally, it has been
suggested that the participants do not have effective self-learning methods and/ or approaches.
5. Conclusion
The results of the interview survey indicate that the concept of learner autonomy has been
perceived as a good awareness of self-study, positive attitudes towards self-study, and self-study
practices. Besides, the self-study methods documented within DLU English juniors partly reveal their
learning styles which relate to broad approaches to learning, such as intuitive-random versus concrete
sequential, or visual versus auditory (Oxford, 2003). The majority of students opt for audio-visual
learning, and particularly Internet-based tools while some of them prefer social interactions. As
educators, the exploration of the Internet and the application of new technologies should be
incorporated more often and more effectively into the teaching and learning processes. Nevertheless,
many students did not take their self-study seriously in terms of self-learning schedule. Apparently,
their seriousness in self-studying depends on their mood and emotions. Such a finding suggests that
EFL teachers should raise the awareness of the importance and necessity of self-study, particularly at
tertiary education level. They should focus more on students’ psychological aspect to help them gain
an emotional control suitable for their studying. Besides, EFL students should be assisted in
determining short-term objectives and strategic goals for immediate learning as well as lifelong
learning. Finally, it is important that English teachers help their students to find out appropriate self-
learning methods and/or approaches for improving language proficiency or academic achievement.
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9. Bùi Ngọc Quang (2016), "Tác động của tự học đến kết quả học tập của sinh viên
ngành Song ngữ Nga-Anh, Trường Đại học Khoa học Xã hội và Nhân văn, Đại học Quốc
gia TP. Hồ Chí Minh". Tạp chí Phát triển Khoa học và Công nghệ, 19(2), tr.105-117.
10. Đinh Thị Hóa, Hoàng Thị Ngọc Điệp, & Lê Thị Kim Tuyên (2018), "Phân tích các
nhân tố ảnh hưởng đến kết quả học tập của sinh viên Khoa Kinh tế Trường Đại học Đồng
Nai". Tạp chí Khoa học, Trường Đại học Đồng Nai, 11, tr.18-29.
11. Đinh Thị Hồng Thu (2017), "Tổng quan về nghiên cứu tính tự chủ trong học ngoại
ngữ ở Việt Nam". Tạp chí Nghiên cứu nước ngoài, Trường Đại học Ngoại ngữ, Đại học
Quốc gia Hà Nội, 33(5), tr.123-130.
12. Nguyễn Văn Lợi, Chung Thị Thanh Hằng, Trương Nguyễn Quỳnh Như, & Phạm Thị
Mai Duyên (2014), "Nâng cao khả năng tự chủ trong học tập cho sinh viên tiếng Anh-
nhận thức của giảng viên tiếng Anh tại một số trường đại học". Tạp chí Khoa học, Trường
Đại học Cần Thơ, tr.75-83.
Quan điểm về tự chủ học tập: nghiên cứu trường hợp

của sinh viên Anh văn năm thứ ba tại Trường Đại học Đà Lạt
Tóm tắt: Bài báo nghiên cứu quan điểm về tự chủ học tập, phương pháp tự học và sự hài lòng đối
với kết quả học tập của sinh viên tiếng Anh năm thứ ba tại Trường Đại học Đà Lạt. Dữ liệu được thu
thập thông qua phương pháp phỏng vấn nhóm có cấu trúc (N=38) và sau đó kết quả được phân tích
dựa trên cách tiếp cận diễn dịch và quy nạp. Kết quả cho thấy, mặc dù sinh viên có thái độ tích cực và
nhận thức đúng đắn đối với tự chủ học tập, họ không có phương pháp tự học hiệu quả. Do đó, họ
không hài lòng với kết quả học tập đã đạt được căn cứ điểm trung bình tích lũy trong học kỳ. Bên
cạnh đó, số khách thể nghiên cứu cho thấy họ thích học ngoại ngữ theo phương pháp nghe-nhìn và
ứng dụng các công cụ trên nền tảng Internet hơn là sử dụng tư liệu giấy truyền thống. Cuối cùng, bài
báo nêu ra một số gợi ý nhằm tăng cường khả năng tự học của sinh viên.
Từ khóa: kết quả học tập; tiếng Anh ngoại ngữ; tự chủ học tập; phong cách học tập; sự hài lòng.
A SURVEY ON PRONUNCIATION RESEARCH THROUGH

AN INDUCTIVE APPROACH AT SAI GON UNIVERSITY
NGUYEN QUANG MINH TRIET*
ABSTRACT: This article describes the implementation of an inductive approach with two non -
English major classes at Faculty of Culture and Tourism at Saigon University. The purpose of this
approach is to give students the ability to rationalize what information is needed and, thereby, to
make them conscious of the intent and content of the lesson presented to them.
KEY WORDS: inductive approach; non-English major student; implementation; rationalize; Sai
Gon University.
RECEIVED: SEPTEMBER, 11th , 2021. EDITED: NOVEMBER, 16th, 2021.
1. Introduction
Almost everyone understands the importance of studying pronunciation to communicate
effectively. However, not only students at Saigon University but also students from other Universities
have many difficulties in pronnouncing. Pronunciation is one of the most important concepts in
human communication. It is this assurance that people understand and share any thoughts and
concepts properly. Imagine how confusing it can be for people to understand you if you speak a
language other than their native tongue. When they say something incorrectly, it can be understood
by others as if they were trying to understand another foreign language. It is important to use your
words properly in order to get your point across effectively, and practicing good basic speech can
also add credibility to what you say. From these aims, the research tries to address the following
research questions:
1/What are the difficuties in pronouncing of non-English major students at Faculty of Culture and
Tourism at Saigon University?;
2/What are some best solutions to improve the difficulties in pronouncing?
A number of research studies have reported that learners need ample opportunities for
communication use so that they can integrate separate structures into given concepts for expressing
meanings. Spada & Lightbown (1993) hold that thinking skills operate effectively when students
voice their analysis and take part in the learning process occurring in the classroom. Methodologists
also argue that learners in the classroom should experience creative reflections through which the
teacher probes their understanding to elicit answers for the questions he or she poses. In this way,
students can lay the foundations for their internal representation of the target language, which can
allow effective learning to function properly Pica [Pica, T., 1994].
2.1. Definition of pronunciation
"This introduction to the pronunciation of American English describes the sound system, suggests
ways of tackling pronunciation problems, and provides a variety of techniques and exercises for use
in the classroom" according to Peter Avery [Avery, P. and Ehrlich, S. ,1992].
The Communicative Value of Intonation in English, originally published in 1985 by the English
Language Research unit in Birmingham and revised in 1992, sets out David Brazil's description of
the system of intonation in English. This model of English intonation takes a discourse-based
*Dr; Sai Gon University; Email: nqmtriet@sgu.edu.vn

approach and attempts to assign 'meaning' or a communicative value to the different aspects that
make up the system of intonation. Chapters within the book describe parts of the intonation system
which vary according to speaker choice: the tone unit as a whole, prominence, key, pitch and
orientation. Three chapters are devoted to tones and their communicative value. This is an important
and controversial work, which has influenced scholars in the field and ELT materials writers alike. A
cassette containing all the examples of intonation features in the book is available, David Brazil says
[Brazil, D. ,1997].
This book is a thorough revision of the highly successful text first published in 1994. The authors
retain the multidisciplinary approach that presents research from linguistics, sociology, psychology,
and education, in a format designed for use in an introductory course for undergraduate or graduate
students. The research is updated throughout and there are new sections and chapters in this second
edition as well. New chapters cover child language acquisition (first and second), Universal
Grammar, and instructed language learning; new sections address issues, such as what data analysis
doesn't show, replication of research findings, interlanguage transfer (multilingual acquisition and
transfer), the aspect hypothesis, general nativism, connectionist approaches, and implicit/explicit
knowledge. Major updates include non-language influences and the lexicon.
2.2. Inductive approach
The inductive approach would seem to be the way one's first language is acquired: simply through
exposure to a massive amount of input the regularities and patterns of the language become evident,
independent of conscious study and explicit rule information. Induction, or learning through
experience, is seen as the "natural" route to learning and is strongly identified with methods of
second language inductive that model themselves on first language acquisition such as the Direct
Method and the Neutral Approach.
The workbook, Second Language Learning Data Analysis, Second Edition, makes an ideal
accompaniment to the text. Susan M.Gass and Larry Selinker said "The purpose of this workbook is
to provide students with practice in analyzing second language data. For the student of second
language learning, "hands-on" experience with actual data is essential in understanding the processes
involved in learning a second language. Working through exemplars of the kinds of interlanguages
that learners do and do not create brings about a clearer understanding of the principles underlying
these interlanguages, as well as the universal principles of language learning (those that are
independent of particular languages and interlanguages)" [Gass, Susan M. and Larry Selinker, 2008 ].
However, anything has good and bad: Students are more actively involved in the learning process,
rather than being simply passive recipients: they are therefore likely to be more attentive and more
motivated. The mental effort involved ensures a greater degree of cognitive depth which, again,
ensures greater memorability. It is an approach which favors pattern-recognition and problem-solving
abilities which suggests that it is particularly suitable for learners who like this kind of challenge.
Working things out for themselves prepares students for greater self-reliance and is therefore
conductive to learner autonomy. Beside, the bad thing is students may hypothesize the wrong rule, or
their version of the rule may be either too broad or too narrow in its application: this is especially a
danger when there is no overt testing of their hypothesis, either through practice examples, or by
eliciting an explicit statement of the rule. It can place heavy demands on teachers in planning a
lesson. They need to select and organize the data carefully so as to guide learners to an accurate
formulation of the rule, while also ensuring the data is intelligible.
3. Methodology
Participants: DQT1171 and DVT1171’s non-English major students at Faculty of Culture and
Tourism participated in contributing answers to the questionnaires. These classes were selected
randomly to participate in the research. The participating students were in their second year of study
K17.
Instruments: In order to answer the main research questions of this paper, two instruments were
used namely: participate a pronunciation class and answer the questionnaires.
The first part: Students of two classes listen to me, then practice pronunciation; the second part:
after finishing the lesson, a survey on aspects in pronouncing was conducted a lesson with two non-
English major students. The survey consists of 104 questionnairs (each class is 54 questions) of
which 27 sentences in Vietnamese and 27 sentences in English. The purpose is to test the
students’pronunciation improvement after the inductive approach.
3.1. Methods
Firstly, based on the theory of research approaches, this paper is a quantitative research. The
emphasis of quantitative research is on collecting and analyzing numerical data; it concentrates on
measuring the scale, range, frequency etc. of phenomena.
Secondly, in order to get the most correct results for my paper, I use the most popular positivistic
methodology: surveys. By using questionnaires with some multiple choice questions or open
questions, I can easily get the students' opinions about the research I am conducting and withdraw the
final conclusion from them.
3.2. Procedure
First of all is making a lesson for the pilot teaching. This lesson plan has to be ensured that it has
enough necessary features of the inductive approach. I have to observe and understand this approach
carefully before making this pilot lesson plan.
Making questionnaires is really important in the second step because it reflects the final results
when conducting this paper. After the first pilot lesson of DQT1171 class, I do a survey through
questionnaires to get their opinions about the lesson. When having the pilot results and analyzing
them, I draw the advantages and disadvantages from my lectures so that my real teaching DVT1171
class cannot have any problems.
Similarly, I continue to conduct our research on class DVT1171. After finishing the lesson, I
continuously do a survey through questionnaires to get their opinions about the lesson, then I analyze
the figures. Many criteria of pronunciation teaching and of pronunciation lesson were listed and from
that I rearranged them in logical orders with suitable questions. I had to make sure that these
questions could be used for inductive approach. And finally, basing on these analyzed figures, I can
sum up yhe conclusion.
In detail, there are six questions in total including in my questionnaires. All of them are multiple-
choice questions except question number 3 because it is an open question. Multiple-choice questions
are used for students to choose the suitable items that they agree while question number 4 and 6 is
usually based on particular conditions of the class when the experiment is conducted. One hundred
and eight copies of the questionnaires in total were prepared for students at Sai Gon University,
specifically: two classes DQT1171 and DVT1171 from Faculty of Culture and Tourism with 54
questionnaires written in English for inductive approach for each class.
4. Experiment
4.1. Piloting at Sai Gon University
4.1.1. Inductive approach piloting
Steps: Firstly, I began the lesson with the warm-up activity by asking students some questions.
Secondly, I set the scene for the lesson and taught pronunciation Thirdly, I held a game "Stamp
collectors" in order to let students practice the new words and sentences. And finally, I gave students
homework as a part of production stage.
Results: Thanks to this pilot teaching, I am able to discover some advantages as well as some
potential problems which I cannot easily identify through the inductive lesson plan. The lesson was
taught via the Presentation-Practice-Production method. With the first step - brainstorming, I used the
most common way to begin the lesson: asking students some questions related to the topic of the
lesson. This stage helps students brainstorm as many ideas as they can understand about the lesson
before studying. It is much better if all of students are involved in this first activity. Most of students
in these two classes know the answers but only 3 to 4 students raised their hands to answer. The
reason for this case is that they were afraid to do the activity individually at the very first moment of
the lesson. They were not willing to get involved. Therefore, I have to understand my students'
mental behaviors in order to put them into suitable activities to increase their interest in the lesson.
The second stage is presentation - presenting pronunciation of unit 5 to students. One important
point in this inductive approach is the context used for leading in. An inductive approach starts with
some examples from which a rule is inferred. That means I have to set a scene so that students can
completely withdraw the rule by themselves. With the chosen context, students in two classes could
fully grasp the meaning of new words and sentences. Moreover, when students can figure something
out by themselves, they can remember that thing for a long period of time. This is one of the best
features of this inductive approach.
The next stage is practice. This is one of the most basic but important stages in an inductive
approach. I developed my scope for creativity in this stage as much as I could through a combination
of games and exercises in order to encourage students to take part in the activity. To have a good
classroom management, I divided class into 4 groups (each group consists of 7 students) by colorful
stamps. Since then, all of students could practice the pronunciation point more and understand it
properly. As a result, students in the two classes were almost strongly interested in participating in
this activity. However, the biggest problem of this step is that it took us too much time for class
division because students had to change their positions. Besides, to let them understand the rules of
this game, I had to explain too much and students had to play from 2-3 times in order to understand
the rules completely. And the final stage - production, because I did not have enough time for this, I
had to let them do this task at home instead of in class. This could lead to the case that I was not sure
if all of them could understand themselves after this lesson.
In conclusion, I can easily see that students in these two classes were interested in participating in
every activity of this lesson. However, to make sure that I can get the best result that I want for this
research, I have to change the lesson plan somehow to fix some problems that I got through this pilot
lesson in two classes before I have a real lesson.
- Survey: I chose two classes DQT1171 and DVT1171 to do the pilot because these classes do not
belong to pedagogy major. I want to check their learning outcomes and also their interest after they
study the pronunciation in inductive approach.
Basing on the main objectives and activities of the lesson, I list out some strategies in the
questionnaire to make the survey. In order to make it clear for students when they do the
questionnaire, I decided to give out two inversions of the questionnaire. After the experiment, we
found out that the results were what we had expected before. But there was a problem that because of
not understanding the two questionnaires clearly, some students gave different answers to two
versions of the questionnaires. As a result, English version and Vietnamese version were a little
different.
4.2. Teaching practice at Sai Gon University
4.2.1. Inductive approach teaching
As mentioned above in part 4.1.1. Inductive approach piloting, the previous lesson plan had some
problems which affected somehow the studying atmosphere in class. That is the reason why I decided
to change some steps in that lesson plan in order to get the best result for my research. Therefore,
with class DVT1171, they had a chance to experience some new steps which made them interested
more in the lesson through the new lesson plan. With all the experience I got from the pilot class
before, in this lesson, I tried to avoid those problems and correct all mistakes I used to have. The first
problem I had was the students' involvement in the brainstorming activity. The solution to this case is
that I had to change the activity from individual one to group-work. I changed from answering
questions individually to arranging some pieces of paper into a complete picture in groups. This
helped me very much to get them involved in the activity. All members in a group gathered around
and support each other to finish the task. Since then, I could increase their motivation for studying at
the very first minutes of the lesson.
Especially, the stage of practice was a great change from the one in the pilot process. The first
change in this stage was that I did not use colorful stamps for class division as I used to do in the
pilot lesson. Instead of this, this class already got their own 4 groups divided by their homeroom me,
so I could save time for another activity in the lesson. Secondly, the rules for the practice activity
were much clearer and easier for students to follow because I showed them all on the screen. Students
in class DVT1171 need not interact too much with the board as class DQT1171 used to do because it
really did waste time. Instead, they could take time to interact with their groups and the teacher. With
this activity - a combination of doing exercises and playing games, students in class DVT1171 were
really exciting and sometimes hyperactive. But above all, they finally understood the meaning of new
words and sentences. This can be proved completely in the stage of production.
Finally, thanks to these changes mentioned above, I could have enough time for the production
stage. This stage helps me know how much students understand the lesson they just learnt. And with
this class DVT1171, all of the students were really active and most of them understood the meaning
completely. The most absolute proof was students in group 2. When they were asked to write down
as many words and sentences related to the given picture as they could, after 1 minute 30 seconds,
their mini board was full of words and sentences, 9 to 10 correct ones. Similarly, the other groups
also had 5 to 7 correct answers for this task.
In general, when comparing 2 classes with one lesson in inductive approach: one in pilot class
DQT1171 and one in class DVT1171 at Faculty of Culture and Tourism at Sai gon University, I see
that the class DVT1171 had the same interesting atmosphere, but the lesson in this one was much
better because I tried to avoid some problems that I had had before in class DQT1171.
4.2.2. Survey
In order not to repeat the mistakes in the pilot lesson with class DQT1171, I decided to give
students in class DVT1171 the questionnaires only in the English version. I am sure that the words
used in these questionnaires is not very difficult for students to understand.
After analyzing the information I had from the survey through questionnaires in two classes:
- Question 1: Circle the focus of the lesson
a. Pronunciation b. Grammar c. Reading d. Listening

e. Speaking f. Vocabulary g. Writing
As you can see in this question, students choose correctly. This inductive lesson was conducted
with the aim of letting students distinguish the 4 sounds and understanding the meaning of words and
sentences clearly. The content of this lesson was put above all and it just paid attention to main skills.
That's why most students of two classes chose "pronunciation" and "grammar" and just some of them
chose the other skills like reading, listening, vocabulary... Based on this, I can conclude that the
inductive approach can help teachers have more and more multi-skilled lessons so that their students
can be improved in many aspects when studying English.
- Question 2: Circle activities I used during this lesson. You can choose many items:
a. Meaningful contexts from the topic of Unit 5; b. Examples leading to rules
c. Illustrate rather than explain the pronunciation points; d. Games e. Exercises
The Oxford Advanced dictionary defines "context" is "the situation within which something exists
or happens, and that can help explain it". I chose a suitable and academic context about "Welcome"
to lead into the new words in the inductive lesson, which helped students easily brainstorm the ideas
for the new words. I can completely see in the chart that nearly 70% of students in two classes chose
the opinion "meaningful contexts from the topic of Unit 5: Welcome". The inductive approach is one
of the best approaches for teaching pronunciation. To prove for this opinion, I will continue to
analyze some other sources of information that I had from the survey.
Examples leading to rules and illustrate rather than explain the pronunciation points are the 2 main
features in the inductive approach. With students' good level at studying English, they could totally
figure out these 2 characteristics of this method. DQT1171 class chose Examples leading to rules
with 84.5% and illustrate rather than explain 78.8%, while class DVT1171 also chose with the rate
83.8% and 77.9%. This shows that the difference is not significant.
The origin for these ones is from the chosen context I presented through the lesson. The context is
a stable knowledge for students to begin the unit. Moreover, it contains many related examples
(exactly 3 examples) for the new words and sentences. I based on these examples and fully illustrated
them for students. Therefore, in the inductive approach, both of classes got high percentage (nearly
85% rated for examples leading to rules and 80% rated for illustrating rather than explaining).
As a result, all students in two classes were really excited and interested in playing "games".
"Games" was chosen much more than "Exercises" with DQT1171 100% and DVT1171 97%.
"Games" here is not simply understood as a game you play for relaxing, it totally stands for the
motivation and students' in this pronunciation lesson.
After all, students' learning outcome and motivate are still the most important purposes that I aim
at. In term of question 3 and 4
Question 3: Rate your comprehension through this lesson: 1 2 3 4 5
Question 4: Rate your happiness through this lesson: 1 2 3 4 5
As you can see students' answer for the inductive approach, both of two classes understand what I
taught them: around 99% rated for level 5 and nearly 1% for level 4. Moreover, the inductive lesson
makes students feel more interesting with the pronunciation lesson. It is not surprised that most of
students 96% rated level 5 and 4% rated level 4 for their happiness in this lesson.
5. Conclusion
This paper focuses mainly on the purpose of how to make students feel happier and more excited
when studying pronunciation which is considered very boring with students at Sai Gon University in
particular and others in general. The experiment is really useful for non-major students of Faculty of
Culture and Tourism because according to it, they can see the reality of students' feelings with
pronunciation research through an inductive approach and from this, they can take necessary
experience for their jobs as tour guides in the near future.
Based on this paper, English teachers can conduct some creative ways of teaching pronunciation
in inductive approach, which can be very essential for students to interact with their teacher and their
friends and as a result, they will definitely love studying pronunciation and improve their
pronunciation level.
This research is hoped to be a small contribution in order to create an interesting and happy
atmosphere for students to study pronunciation at Sai gon University.
REFERENCES
1. Avery, P. and Ehrlich, S. (1992), Teaching American English Pronunciation. Oxford
University Press.
2. Brazil, D. (1997), The communicative value of intonation in English, Cambridge University
Press.
3. Celce-Murcia, M, Dornyei, Z., & Thurrell, S. (1997), Direct Approaches in L2 Instruction: A
Turning Point in Communicative Language Teaching? TESOL Quarterly, 31: 141-152.
4. Chaudron, C. (1988), Second Language Classroom, Cambridge Applied Linguistics.
5. Gass, Susan M. and Larry Selinker. (2008), Second Language Acquisition, Taylor and Francis
Group.
6. Larsen-Freeman, D. (1986), Techniques and principles in language teaching, Oxford
University Press.
7. Pica, T. (1994), Question From the Language Classroom: Research Perspective. TESOL
Quarterly, 28 (1): 49-79.
8. Spada, N, & Lightbown, P. (1993), Instruction and Development of Questions in the L2
classroom. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 15:205-224.
Một cuộc khảo sát về nghiên cứu phát âm

thông qua tiếp cận quy nạp tại Trường Đại học Sài Gòn
Tóm tắt: Bài viết này mô tả việc triển khai tiếp cận quy nạp với hai lớp không chuyên tiếng Anh
của Khoa Văn hoá và Du lịch Trường Đại học Sài Gòn. Mục đích của sự tiếp cận này là giúp cho
sinh viên có khả năng giải thích được những thông tin cần thiết và do đó làm cho sinh viên có ý thức
về mục tiêu và nội dung của bài học mà đã được trình bày.
Từ khóa: tiếp cận quy nạp; sinh viên không chuyên Anh; sự thực hiện; giải thích; Trường Đại học
Sài Gòn.
ATTITUDES AND MOTIVATIONS OF

NON-ENGLISH MAJOR STUDENTS TOWARDS
LEARNING ENGLISH AS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE
IN HO CHI MINH CITY
NGUYEN THANH VAN*
ABSTRACT: The aim of this article is to investigate attitudes and motivations towards learning
English as a foreign language by non English-major students. It is an attempt to consider students’
attitudes towards English language learning in terms of three components of the attitude construct
(behavioral, cognitive, and affective). A questionnaire was used to collect data. Two-thousand non
English-major students at Ho Chi Minh City Industry and Trade College (HITC) and Ho Chi Minh
University of Technology Education (HCM-UTC) were asked to answer all the items in the
questionnaire concerning motivations and attitudes towards English language learning. The results
showed that instrumental motivation relating to future professional activities and integrative
motivation entering into the present life are vital for the students. In addition, most of the students
hold highly positive attitudes towards English language learning and English learning-related factors
such as the classroom, teacher, other English extracurricular activities, as well as human
characteristics and the indigenous culture. It is recommended that teachers should be familiar with
their students’ attitudes and motivations to help them succeed in learning English as a foreign
language.
KEY WORDS: attitude; motivation; instrumentality; integrativeness; language learning.
RECEIVED: AUGUST, 4th, 2021. EDITED: NOVEMBER, 17th, 2021.
1. Introduction
Most of the non English-major students are interested in learning English due to its value and role
as an international language for the sake of acquiring modern science and technology. The students
have different levels of motivation and attitude towards learning English as a foreign language.
Similarly, they wish to build positive attitudes in order to achieve higher responses in English. Two
social-psychological variables in the learning process: attitude and motivation seem to be necessary
elements for the acquisition of the English language, and their relationship has been considered as a
major issue in the process of English language learning.
Motivation and attitude, being related primarily to actual classroom learning situations, are very
decisive and essential contributing factors in the foreign language learning process. Researchers such
as Gardner (1985, 2000, 2001); Gardner and Lambert (1959, 1972); Gardner, Smythe, and Clement
(1979) have conducted research on attitude and motivation and their association with linguistic
performance of learners, emphasizing the role of attitude and motivation as antecedent factors in a
foreign language learning. These researchers showed that studying the learners’ motivation and
attitude towards learning English language is the best way to get insight into the learning process of
the students. Also, it is generally agreed by among researchers that attitude is a factor that has a
profound influence on the successful acquisition of a foreign language. Therefore, defining the
characteristics of learners' language attitudes clearly is important in understanding the current
situation as well as proposing solutions to help them to learn a foreign language actively and
effectively.
The current paper focuses on investigating attitudes and motivations of non English-major
students at HITC and HCM-UTC towards learning English as a foreign language. In order to conduct
the research, we base it on two types of motivations in language learning: integrative motivation and
instrumental motivation (Gardner, 2000). With regard to the model of attitude, we analyze the
linguistic and attitudinal characteristics of the participants related to affective, behavioral and
*Thu Dau Mot University; Email: thanhvan0915@gmail.com
cognitive. The model is referred to as the ABC model by Wenden (1991) proposed, applied and
operationalized by many researchers in psychology, sociology and sociolinguistics to study language
attitudes towards learning English as a foreign language.
2. Literature Review
2.1. The nature and types of motivation
According to Gardner and Tremblay (1995), motivation to learn a foreign language plays the
leading role in the socio-educational model but motivation is a complex concept which cannot be
simply measured by one scale and there are many variables which affect motivation. "The importance
of motivation in human activity has been recognized in the field of social
psychology and education for decades" (Zahran, 1990). Canadian social psychologists Lamber and
Gardner (1959) performed the first empirical study looking at the role of motivation in learning
English. This study was conducted in a bilingual context and the results of this study introduced the
socio-educational model of language acquisition in the classroom setting which has since been
revised several times (Gardner, 1985; Gardner & MacIntyre, 1993; Gardner & Tremblay, 1995;
Gardner, 2000). According to this approach, social psychology and individual psychology need to be
integrated to describe the motivational factor in the success of target language learning. Brown
(2000) asserts that studies of motivation often refers to a distinction between two types of motivation
in language learning: (i) integrative motivation (having a positive attitude towards the culture and a
desire to participate) and (ii) instrumental motivation (learning the language for a specific purpose
such as career development or entry to higher education studies). Gardner (1983, p.203) defined
integrative motivation as “learning a language because the learner wishes to identify himself with or
become integrated into the society” of the target language. On the other hand, instrumental
motivation was defined as “learning a language because of someone or less clearly perceived utility it
might have for the learner”. Therefore, a learner is integratively motivated when he/she learns a
language because he/ she wants to “know more of the culture and values of the foreign language
group to make contact with the speakers of the languages to live in the country concerned”. In
contrast, a learner is instrumentally motivated when he/ she wants to learn a language “to pass an
examination, to use it in one’s job, to use it in holiday in the country, as a change from watching
television, because the educational system requires it” (Wilkins, 1972, p.184). Gardner and Lambert
(1972) stated that integratively motivated learners often learn a foreign language more successfully
than instrumentally motivated learners.
2.2. The nature and types of attitude
Language attitude is considered as a signinicant concept because it plays an important role in
language learning and teaching. Allport (2009) says: ”An attitude is a mental and neutral state of
readiness, organized through experience, exerting a directive or dynamic influence upon the
individual response to all objects and situations with which it is related”. Oller (1979) shows that
”Attitudes are merely one of types of factors that give rise to motivation which eventually results in
attainment of proficiency in a second language” (p.138). Also, researchers such as Gardner (1985),
Wenden (1991) consider attitudes as components of motivation in language learning. According to
Wenden (1991), the term attitude contains three major components namely, cognitive, affective and
behavioural. A cognitive component is constituted by the beliefs and ideas or opinions about the
object of the attitude. The affective component consists of the feeling and emotions that one has
towards an object, 'likes' or 'dislikes', 'with' or 'against'. Finally, the behavioural that is a person’s own
actions towards the object. Attitudes are some what indirectly related to foreign language
achievement. Therefore, improving the positive attitude of the students towards English language
learning may increase their desire to learn it, and an ability to apply what they have learnt, as well as
an improvement in remembrance.
3. Research method
The study was carried out at HITC and HCM-UTE. The participants were 2000/18.611 technical
and economic students in the academic year 2020-2021, 937 people (46.9%) male and 1.063 (53.1%)
female, with the mean age of 18-21 (four class levels: freshmen, sophomores, juniors and seniors).
The participants were selected by the following details:
Table 1. Surveyed Sampling Distribution
Ho Chi Minh Industry and Trade
Setting HCMC University of Technical Education
College
School 1st
1st year 2nd year 3rd year Total 2nd year 3rd year 4th year Total
year year
Population 1.417 994 1.229 3.640 3.966 4.075 3.429 3.501 14.971
number 38.9% 27.3% 33.8% 100.0% 26.5% 27.2% 22.9% 23.4% 100.0%
Number of 389 273 338 1000 265 272 229 234 1000
participants 38.9% 27.3% 33.8% 100.0% 26.5% 27.2% 22.9% 23.4% 100.0%
This study was conducted to identify technical and economic students’ motivational and
attitudinal orientations in learning English as a foreign language. To achieve this objective,
questionnaire was used as a research tool. Data were collected by means of closed questionaire items
concerning motivations and attitudes towards English language learning in terms of behavioural,
cognitive, and emotional aspects of attitude. The items were put in a 5-point Likert scale from Level
1: Strongly disagree to Level 5: Strongly agree. The participants were required to answer all the items
of the questionaire in the class. Detailed instructions on how to answer the questionnaire and
necessary explanations were provided. The questionnaire was directly collected after the participants
completed.
By using the Statistical Package for the Social Science (SPSS) version 20 for Windows, the
collected data was analyzed reliably. Descriptive statistics was conducted to determine the frequency
(%), the mean (M) and disaggregation using a sample T-test with 95% reliability, ie α = 0,05.
3. Results of the study
3.1. Motivations towards English language learning
Chart 3.1 illustrates that the highest percentage 92.5% reveals that the great majority of students
learn English because it will enable them to get a job easily, while 82.6% of the students learn
English because it is a future career opportunity, and 80.8% learn English because it is a requirement
for university graduation. In brief, the chart indicates that the largest number of students learning
English is for instrumental reasons, while the integrativeness shows that 78.9% of students learn
English because it is an international language.
The survey results clearly show that the factors belonging to instrumental motivations (allowing
learners to acquire language achievements for practical reasons such as getting a job, a university
requirement, a compulsory subject, entertainment…) is the most dominant, overwhelming the others
in influencing students’ English language learning. Most researchers believe that integrative
motivations (learning English due to interest in people and culture of that language group, desire to
penetrate into the community that speaks that language) play a significant role in promoting attitudes,
resulting in a foreign language learning. In fact, the results state that the participants who has the
greatest motivation to learn English belong to the instrumentality.
90.00%
78.90%
80.00% 70.60%
69.70%
70.00%
60.00% 54.10%
50.00%
38.10%
40.00%
30.00% 22.00%
20.00%
10.00%
0.00%
Integrative motivation
Chart 3.1. Students’ Instrumentality and Integrativeness
The difference in the proportion of motivation types between the research theory and the survey,
as well as not good English achievement of the students shows the role of motivation and
achievement is completely different, and not all motivations create a positive attitude and a good
achievement for learners.
3.2. Attitudes towards English language learning
3.2.1. Cognitive aspect of language attitude
Cognitive aspect of attitude towards English language learning is an important factor because it
cannot be separated from the attitude and the acquisition of a foreign language cannot be separated
from the perception of that language. The cognitive aspect of attitude is related to learners'
understanding, thinking and beliefs about the foreign language they are studying. Affirming the
presence of cognition as an indispensable element of attitude is not only recognized by psychologists
according to the ABC model, but also by many educational researchers. The cognitive aspect is vital
for language learning process. Peter Skehan (1998) lists 6 factors in the diagram of analyzing factors
affecting learning: intelligence, ability, motivation, attitude, personality, cognitive type. Naiman,
Fröhlich, Stern and Todesco (1978) also conclude in their research that the most successful foreign
language learners are not those who have easy access to foreign languages, but those who exhibit
clear personality traits, most of these learners show a clear association with motivation: active
learning task orientation, self-involvement, need for achievement, great aspiration, goal orientation,
perseverance, tolerance for ambiguous.
When considering the cognitive aspect of attitude towards English language learning, in general,
the results of the study show that the students have a deep awareness of the role of English in
practice, 95.1% admit that “Learning English is necessary for the future”. This proporation is
relatively equal in both technical and economic students which shows that the majority of students,
regardless of their major, are well aware of the importance of English in their learning and future
career.
Specifically, students perceive the important role of English through three steps:
(1) Connecting the previous knowledge and the new one: 74.7% of students agreed the item
“Learning English helps me get new information and connect with old knowledge”, only 25.3%
disagreed. This result shows that most students attach great importance to the role of English in
supporting them to update hot news of a volatile world and they must have achieved certain English
achievements in order not to be backward or out of date.
(2) Creating new specialized knowledge: 82.7% of the students agreed with the item “Studying
English helps me learn other subjects better”. This popular view shows that nowadays students
clearly understand English as the fastest and most effective way to quickly access the scientific
knowledge they need. Therefore, even if the psychological barrier exists such as “dislike” of English,
it does not affect learners' decision to participate in English learning and achieve the desired
achievements.
(3) Applying the new knowledge in many situations: 90.2% strongly agreed with the item
“Studying English is important because it will make me more educated”; 85.1% agreed with the view
“I have more knowledge and more understanding when studying English”. This proves that English
is perceived as a versatile tool integrating useful knowledge for learners.
In a narrow context with factors directly related to English learning activities, cognitive aspect of
attitude is also shown through the following factors:
Cognition of learning English: Most of the students are aware that English language is difficult
and complicated to learn when only 18.5% agreed and completely agreed with the item “English is
easy to learn”, 30.1% were neutral and 51.8% did not agree on different levels. This is also proved
that the majority of students (97.4%) have been learning English for nearly 10 years or more, but the
achievements they got were very low (79.8% had no English results at all).
Cognition of English policy: 86.2% knew the university’s English policy. Only 13.8% of students
did not know the regulations on outcomes. This number proves that the majority of learners have a
correct understanding of the English policy and tend to use that policy content as a language goal to
be achieved in the future. However, with a subject that is considered an important skill in the present
and gradually becomes a basic skill in the future, which is considered as one of the graduation
criteria, still up to 13.8% of learners are confused about it. The ambiguity about the outcome
regulations of non English-majored students shows the confusion in planning, arranging learning as
well as designing their future goals.
Cognition of English goals in the future: According to the survey results, students had a certain
admiration for people with high achievements. Specifically, 57.3% agreed with the item “ In my
opinion, people who speak more than one language are very knowledgeable”. From this point of
view, many students consider English as one of the factors that show the wisdom and erudition of
people who are good at foreign languages.
51,80%
57,30%
74,70%
82,70%
85,10%
90,20%
95,10%
Studying I have English In my
Studying English
Studying English is more helps me opnion,
English language is
English is important knowledge get new people who
helps me difficult
necessary because it and more informatio speak more
learn other and
for the will make understand n and than one
subjects complicate
future me more ing when connect language
better d to learn
educated studying… with old… are very…
95,10% 90,20% 85,10% 82,70% 74,70% 57,30% 51,80%
Chart 3.2. Descriptive Statistics of Cognitive Aspect of Language Attitude

In brief, the cognitive attitude involves the beliefs of the language learners about the knowledge
that they receive and their understanding in the process of language learning. This aspect of attitude
can be classified into three steps of connecting the previous knowledge and the new one, creating
new knowledge and applying the new knowledge in many situations.
3.2.2. Affective aspect of language attitude
The emotional factor, especially the willingness to communicate, is an indispensable factor that
creates the language attitude, thereby affecting the results. Emotions with one language is a factor to
bring the complexity of emotions to that language or those psychological, social, cultural factors
related to language and the community who people speak that language. As a subject in the
framework of the training program and the situation in which English is characterized as a foreign
language, not a second language, English emotions are typical with the surveyed students mainly
showing “like” of the subject. Specifically, English has more advantaged than other subjects, the
majority of students expressed eagerness, anticipation, and interest in learning English as a foreign
language.
This affection is quite even among freshmen, sophomores, juniors and seniors. Overall, the rate of
interest in English has increased slightly among students of the upper years compared to the
first one. This shows that the experience of studying English at university not only helps to maintain
but also increase students' interest in this foreign language. The survey results show that students'
good emotions for English are not only interest but also satisfaction and pride with the subject they
are pursuing. More than a half of the students felt so proud to learn English (61.7%), accounting for
33.1% neutral and only 5.2% very low rate with negative attitude towards learning English.
64.9% of the students agreed with the item “Studying English makes me have good emotions”,
only 6.6% disagreed with the above opinion. This agreement rate is not too high, but it also shows
that the majority of learners have positive and interesting feelings in the process of learning
English. In addition, attitudes towards English is also expressed through English extracurricular
activities. The findings show that the high level of interest is 37.1%, the neutral attitude accounts for
50.7% and the rate of disagreement is 12%. If students have a pre-existing interest in English and
learning English, but lack English extracurricular activities that interest, they easily feel depressed,
neglected or have a passive and negative attitude in learning a foreign language.
According to Irena Zovko Dinković, Jelena Mihaljević Djigunović (2016), experimental survey
results show that emotional factors have the lowest role among the three factors affecting attitude,
namely cognitive, affective and behavioural. Our research results also show the inner feelings and
emotions of foreign language learns influence their perspectives and their attitudes towards the target
language.
3.2.3. Behavioural aspect of language attitude
The behavioural aspect of attitude deals with the way one behaves and reacts in particular
situations. Behaviour is a factor constituting an attitude and an outward expression of an attitude
through two aspects of action (specific activities of learners in the classroom) and no action (the
expression of psychological aspects to English-related activities). The results of the study show that
64.5% of students feel excited when communicating in English with others. We found that there was
no homogeneity between the group of people who like English and the group of people who
were excited to communicate in English. Specifically, there was 88.3% of students interested in
English, but only 64.5% excited about communicating in English. This shows that some students
have a positive emotion for English but they feel shy or anxious when expressing their feeling out
with behaviors and specific actions. Besides, most of students have spent a very long time learning
English, but the use of English in their English classes is still at an average level. Only 55.6% of
respondents use English in the classroom. Students’ English long-term learning process factor does
not support the promotion of their active learning behavior. With regard to participation in English
learning activities in the classroom: only 23.2% agreed the item “I like to give opinions during
English lessons”; 29.1% with the item “I actively participate in learning activities in English class”.
In the classroom, the positive behaviour of language learners was shown that up to 71.7% of the
students made themselves pay attention during studying English. In terms of the language use in
interpersonal and intergroup relationships, we find that learners clearly show their willingness to be
friends with English speakers. Specifically, up to 96.4% like to make friends with foreigners. In
addition, 92% of students like to practice English the way native speakers do. On the other hand,
through surveying the behavioral aspect of language attitudes, we also found that there is a
psychological factor that is affecting students' language behavior in a negative way. It is the presence
of language anxiety. Language anxiety is a personal prejudice formed during language
contact. Negative feelings may arise when students feel that learning a language is too hard, or they
feel that these barriers can not access to acquisition such as difficulties about pronunciation of a new
language, congenital lisp, stuttering, apprehension in performing interpersonal and intergroup
activities. With the item "Speaking English anywhere makes me feel worried ", up to 58.1% of
students agreed with. Thus, the fear of learning language is real and it directly affects learners’
behaviour. This language anxiety is a barrier that needs removing in the process of learning a foreign
language. Only when the learners have more confidence in expressing themselves when studying
English, their positive attitude towards learning English as a foreign language is newly boosted. By
contrast, if language anxiety is present during studying English, the learners tends to increase their
negative attitude.
Table 2. Descriptive Statistics of Behavioral Aspect of Language Attitude
Items Participants No. %
I like to make friends with foreigners. 1.928 96.4%
I like to practice English the way native speakers do. 1.840 92%
I am able to make myself pay attention during studying English. 1.434 71.7%
Speaking English anywhere makes me fee worried. 1.162 58.1%
I actively participate in learning activities in English class. 582 29.1%
I like to give opinions during English lessons. 464 23.2%
4. Conclusion
Attitude and motivation are considered as the most important components of language learning
process. Regarding the students’ attitudes towards learning English as a foreign language, the results
of the study show that the majority of the students expressed positive feelings towards English and
English-related factors such as classrooms, learning activities and English extracurricular
activities. Positive emotional aspects are the presence of pride, receptivity, and psychological
readiness in addition to the existence of negative emotions that need to be eliminated such as
language anxiety or behavioral apprehension. In addition, the students showed a high level of
awareness of the foreign language they are learning as well as understand English outcome
regulations at universities.
The findings have clearly revealed the difficulties that the students may encounter in the language
learning process. It is the incompatibility between the desire, the need to practice the language in the
real environment and the fear of the language; the incompatibility between the time, the effort the
student have spent and the results they have achieved; the incompatibility between quantity and
quality of English extracurricular activities... This inadvertently makes learners feel skeptical about
achieving lasting English results in the future.
The wishes and expectations of students as part of the aspects of language attitudes that we have
surveyed should also be considered a valuable reference because those desires also represent a part of
their attitude towards learning English as a foreign language. However, not all desires and needs of
students need to be satisfied. It is recommended that the teachers in English classrooms motivate
students towards English language learning by highlighting its importance. In a nutshell, the teachers
should involve students in activities in the classroom which continuously build up and maintain
positive attitudes towards English language learning. It is hoped that the present study may encourage
further research in the area of non English-majored students’ motivations and attitudes towards
English language learning as a foreign language.
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10. Gardner, R. C. & Tremblay, P.F. (1995), “Expanding the motivation construct in language
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bicultural milieu: An investigation of attitudes, motivation and language proficiency”,
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Cairo.
Thái độ và động cơ của sinh viên không chuyên tiếng Anh

đối với việc học tiếng Anh như ngoại ngữ tại Thành phố Hồ Chí Minh
Tóm tắt: Mục đích bài viết là khảo sát thái độ và động cơ học tiếng Anh như ngoại ngữ của sinh viên
khối không chuyên. Bài viết tìm hiểu thái độ học tiếng Anh của sinh viên theo ba thành tố của cấu trúc
thái độ (hành vi, nhận thức và tình cảm). Tác giả sử dụng bảng hỏi để thu thập dữ liệu. 2.000 sinh viên
khối không chuyên của Trường Cao đẳng Công thương Thành phố Hồ Chí Minh (HITC) và Trường Đại
học Sư phạm Kỹ thuật Thành phố Hồ Chí Minh (HCM-UTC) được khảo sát về những vấn đề liên quan
đến thái độ và động cơ học tiếng Anh. Kết quả khảo sát cho thấy, sinh viên coi trọng nhất những động cơ
công cụ liên quan đến hoạt động nghề nghiệp trong tương lai và những động cơ hội nhập với mong muốn
hòa nhập vào thực tiễn đời sống hiện tại. Bên cạnh đó, kết quả cũng cho thấy hầu hết sinh viên đều có thái
độ tích cực cao đối với việc học tiếng Anh và các yếu tố liên quan đến việc học tiếng Anh như lớp học,
giáo viên, các hoạt động ngoại khóa tiếng Anh khác, cũng như đặc điểm của con người và văn hóa bản
địa. Giáo viên nên nắm bắt thái độ và động cơ học tập của sinh viên để giúp sinh viên thành công hơn
trong việc học ngoại ngữ.
Từ khóa: thái độ; động cơ; động cơ công cụ; động cơ hội nhập; học ngôn ngữ.
USING E-PORTFOLIO TO IMPROVE SPEAKING SKILLS

OF ENGLISH NON-MAJORED STUDENTS
AT SAI GON UNIVERSITY
TRAN THI CUC*
ABSTRACT: E-Portfolios can be useful and effective media for teacher and students to identify
the students’ progress in English speaking skills. Employing E-portfolios can also enable students to
improve their willingness of speaking English and enhance speaking skills. This paper aims at using
E-portfolios to improve speaking skills of English non-majored students at Sai Gon University. The
quasi-experimental research design was conducted in two classes of sixty students as the 30 - student
control group and the 30-student experimental group. All of the participants had not had any previous
exposures to the use of E-portfolios. This study proved the accepted alternative hypothesis on using
E-portfolios to improve English non-majored students’ speaking skills at Saigon University: there
was significant students’ improvement in speaking skills in the experimental group.
KEY WORDS: E-portfolios; self-monitoring; willingness; speaking skills; EFL non-English
majored.
RECEIVED: OCTOBER, 5th, 2021. EDITED: NOVEMBER, 17th, 2021.
1. Introduction
Speaking is considered as the most important and challenging skills by language learners, based
on the linguistic and psychological factors. In terms of productive skills, writing and speaking skills
are regarded to as the ways in which language learners acquire and use their own language through
vocabulary and grammar use in particular contexts of communication (Nunan, 2005). Assessment
techniques of these productive skills, hence, particularly requires different types of assessment. As
traditional assessment in speaking skills, oral tests such as question-answer formats, interviews,
presentations have been applied in many countries in the world and in Vietnam as these forms of
assessment can be indicated to be practical for speaking assessment (Brown, 2004).
- Statement of the Problems: These traditional types of assessment, however, can give little
feedback about their speaking performance to students, from which students cannot properly self-
evaluate, realize whether they have done well or not, and even understand what the differences of
their performance from others’ performance are. Now that students’ fear about making mistakes
when speaking, it can be shown that students can confront with the difficulties in improving their
speaking skills, then can have negative attitudes towards speaking activities (Yastibas and Yastibas,
2015; Pham, 2017). Besides, it is necessary to point out that a few Vietnamese scholars and authors
have carried out the studies on using paper-portfolios (henceforth, portfolio) or e-portfolios as a tool
of investigating English non-majored students’ attitudes in terms of speaking skills. This paper,
hence, investigated the attitudes towards the application of E-portfolio among thirty EFL non-
majored students of English Module III at Sai Gon University in the perspectives of linguistic and
psychological factors, from which speaking skills of the students at the intermediate level in English
non-major classes at Saigon University can be improved through the course.
- Scope of the Study: Linguistic and psychological factors in speaking skills and students’
speaking performance were the main aspects of speaking assessment in this paper. Accordingly, by
using the learning E-portfolios, accompanied with linguistic aspects such as grammar, vocabulary,
and pronunciation, and psychological contributory elements including anxiety and self-confidence of
speaking skills, the principal features of this study are students’ attitudes in English non-majored
intermediate classes at Sai Gon University. This study was conducted in two 30-student classes, who
had confronted with the difficulties in improving speaking skills as the aforementioned reasons.
*
Sai Gon University; Email: ttcuc@sgu.edu.vn
From the different purposes of E-portfolio collections, the linguistic and psychological factors
among the English non-majored students at the intermediate level in this study were measured in
under the criteria of E-portfolio assessment, pre-test and post test. Criteria of E-portfolio assessment
includes five students’ video clips recorded in accordance with the assigned topics during the course,
at least three audio and/ or video clips from the electronic resources, and two self-reviews. These
items are examined in the above-mentioned linguistic and psychological factors. Furthermore, the
results of the test assessment were based on these criteria in order to investigate students’
improvement in speaking skills during the course.
- Objectives & Research Hypothesis: As reviewed from the aforementioned parts of the
application or research of portfolio and e-portfolio, however, a few studies on these advantages of E-
portfolio use have been conducted to investigate students’ improvement in speaking skills. It is also
necessary to point out that a few Vietnamese scholars and authors have carried out the studies on
using E-portfolios as a tool of learning and assessment to improve students’ speaking skills;
especially among non-majored students.
Through the benefits of E-portfolio, in general, this paper aims at improving speaking skills of the
students who were asked to record the topic videos for their e-portfolios. Therefore, the proposed
hypothesis of this research are as follows:
H1: ‘Using E-portfolios will improve speaking skills of the English non-majored student at Saigon
University’.
H0: ‘Using portfolios will not improve speaking skills of the English non-majored student at Sai
Gon University’.
A quasi-experimental research was carried out to answer these hypotheses. Two classes were
randomly assigned as Control and Experimental group who were required to take the same pretest
and post test to get the students’ performance towards the test content. In this research, statistical
values from the pre and post tests of each group are employed to prove that the research hypothesis
H1 is true and vice versa.
2. Benefits of E-portfolios & Research Methodology
2.1. Summary of types of portfolio and e-portfolio
In response to the above-mentioned drawbacks of traditional assessment, through the diversity of
models, portfolio assessment is presented as one of the popular primary alternative methods in
language teaching-learning, and assessment. Portfolios are defined as a student’s purposeful and
targeted collection that demonstrates the student’s efforts, progress and achievement in students’ field
of study (Brown, 2004). As a collection of student’s work on their own purposes, portfolios includes
content selection, criteria on selection, assessment criteria, self-assessment evidence, and feedback
from teacher or classmates (Brown, 2004). Portfolios are considered as an effective and powerful tool
for assessment and language learning due to its authentic, flexible and progressive purposes (Cepik
and Yastibas, 2013).
According to the various purposes of portfolio, shortly, types of portfolio are summarized in the
following table on next page. These types of portfolio can be regarded to as the initially fundamental
frameworks of E-portfolio.
Table 1. Summary of the types of portfolio from other authors’ review
Type of portfolio Items Characteristics
Learning - self-assessment, reports, revised - a well-structured rubric and content of
portfolio; versions of translation drafts, portfolio assessment on students’
Chan (2008) compulsory translations, collection and translation work
analysis of electronic resources,
summary of two public lectures
Working/Process - teachers’ specific instructions, - a learning tool for conscious awareness,
portfolio; Chan’s guidelines, feedback, students’ individual experience and identification of
(2008) translation versions like the original improvement
drafts, revised drafts, self-reviews, the - a well-structured rubric and content of
course learning outcomes, useful portfolio assessment on students’

ancillary collected or developed artifacts translation work
Teaching a coherent set of material representing related to student learning and all activities
portfolio teaching practice enriching student learning
Assessment - tests, drafts (first drafts, revised drafts, - six attributes of a portfolio with the
portfolio; Brown final drafts), artifacts, teachers’ acronym CRADLE standing for Collecting,
(2004) evaluation and feedback, a textbook, Reflecting, Assessing, Documenting,
assignments, self-assessment (checklists) Linking and Evaluating
Showcase/product - best drafts, artifacts, teacher’s - content of portfolio assessment on

portfolio; Chan’s assessment, self-assessment, textbook students’ translation work is the key to
(2008) success and it is necessary to have the
quality of test usefulness for assessment
Accordingly, so effectively and conveniently can E-portfolios develop the benefits of portfolios
and also exploit the beneficial advantages of technology that the combination of the criteria and
diverse formats such as documents, audio files, video clips and/or visuals, and coursework can be
organized chronically on the particular purposes (Barrett, 2011).
In accordance with the definition by Lorenzo and Ittelson (2005), E-portfolios are the digital
collections presented in terms of documents, charts or media documents which are operated on the
electronic devices including CD-ROM, DVD or web-based performance. E-portfolios can be
classified into two broad categories including formal/presentation/showcase E-portfolios and
working/ process e-portfolios (Barrett, 2011). E-portfolios are designed related to the outcome
criteria or specific targets complied with which learners can organize, and collect the course works,
audio/ video clips, and artifacts involved in their studying process. It is the organization and
arrangement of their studying collection that produces the learners’ chronically learning stories
during the course.
Therefore, E-portfolios are implemented to aim at improving the teacher-learner interaction,
learner-learner collaboration, encourage learners to self-regulate, self-assess, self-reflect, and
participate in the course at the beginning and acquire learning autonomy though the learners’ abilities
and ages are different (Hallam and Creagh, 2010; Al-Hidabi et.al., 2019). As a result, with these
mentioned purposes, not only pedagogical methods and recommendations are successful and
effective, but the potential benefits of E-portfolio can be learners’ creativity, and uniqueness. In
addition, E-portfolios can have no time restriction, but create an inspiratory and encouraging
environment from the teacher’s feedback.
2.2. Research methodology
Research, as an exploration in which data is analysed to understand, describe, and interpret an
educational or psychological phenomenon in such contexts, is a three-stage process of proposing
research questions, collecting data, analyzing, and presenting the answers to collect and analyze
information to increase understanding of a topic or issue. Mixed methods research design is the
procedure of mixing both qualitative and quantitative methods in a single study. This process also
consists of collecting, and analyzing data qualitatively and quantitatively.
The combination of both methods in this paper is greatly important as they can utilize the
advantages and overcome the disadvantages of each. Quantitative research is a systematic
investigation based on the data collected and the results of quantitative research in the numerical
form. The Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) is a statistical package for data analysis.
In quantitative research, the researcher typically focuses on the relationship among variables.
Besides, qualitative research as a scientific method collects non-numerical data. It refers to concepts,
characteristics, and descriptions from participants. Based on qualitative research, why and how a
certain phenomenon may occur can be answered. This is the reason why this study employed the
mixed-methods research.
This study was conducted at Sai Gon University to investigate two thirty-student classes of
English Module III at the intermediate English level, in which the researcher was teaching English as
a Foreign Language to non-majors. The number of participants were sixty in two classes, divided into
the 30-student control group and the 30-student experimental group. It was the reason why the
researchers could understand the students. It was convenient for collecting research data that was
generated to ensure the reliability and validity of this study.
These students have accomplished two EFL classes before namely English Module I and English
Module II. All of three English modules use American JetStream books from pre-intermediate level -
including pack A and pack B- to intermediate level as their course books respectively. Therefore,
students’ background in English has been trained and enhanced in theoretical and practical learning
for a couple of years. All the participants were trained how to register and upload the video-recording
assignments and other required works through MOODLE platform. They were also explained the
criteria on speaking assessment in terms of technological competence and three linguistic aspects –
vocabulary, grammar, and pronunciation. As a result, in the research sample, such students as these
are the target population for the present study accompanied by the instructions to collect the e-
portfolio items.
2.3. Brief summary of MOODLE platform benefits in Speaking classes at Sai Gon University
As stated by Costello (2013), despite the disadvantages of no real guarantee on students’ studying
the correct or incorrect information about what students are supposed to study, MOODLE is a user-
friendly open-source management system in which students can access to significant scope for
independence promoting learning, collaboration, interaction and knowledge construction. The posted
and/ or downloadable formats of documents are easy, and flexible accompanied by the simple
creation of backup copies. In addition, communication between teachers and students can be
achieved in real-time even in class or after class. It is easy for both teachers and students to manage
or edit documents on MOODLE. Based on MOODLE, besides storing lecture notes and students’
works, teacher can post study material online, mark students’ assignments quickly, assess the
students’ e-portfolio items, and give the feedbacks while students can promote engagements through
their self-monitoring, uploading assignments or opinions in the forums or other several different
kinds of activities.
Students’ e-portfolio items are submitted and exploited on MOODLE platform, whose system is
managed and supported in the perspectives of technology and officially legal access. As each student
is given an individual MOODLE account in proportional to their own enrolled courses, teacher can
design the particular daily or scheduled activities on the MOODLE course. Teacher and students
could interact and communicate through the tasks or activities designed on a MOODLE course.
These activities can be assignments, instructions, forums, messages, and/ or even uploading lecture
notes, documents whereas students’ activities can be assignment submissions, uploading other
electronic resources, reading and posting messages or raising their ideas in the forums.
Albeit Moodle’s drawbacks, all E-portfolio items, therefore, conducted in English Module III
class for EFL non-majors on the MOODLE course at Sai Gon University of this paper exploited the
MOODLE benefits - free-use, user-friendly interface and numerous access accounts. In addition to
self-reviews, and electronic resources of speaking skills, the speaking e-portfolio of this research was
primarily based on the pretest, the post test and five video clips prepared by students’ recording
themselves in relation to the given topics as their assignments.
3. Research results & discussions
Data collection of this paper was analyzed by employing SPSS version 19.0. In the analysis, the
reliability of the items of E-portfolio evaluation in table 2 among the EFL non-majored students of
English Module III at Sai Gon University was assessed through Cronbach’s Alpha value. The
acceptable value of Cronbach’s Alpha of all items in table 2 was .84, which demonstrated high
consistency of reliability. This value shows that these items were appropriate for the research
objectives.
Table 2. Cronbach’s Alpha indices of the E-portfolio items

Number of
No. Content Α
participants
1 SFRV 30 0.79
2 USERSR 30 0.81
3 VIDEO 30 0.82
4 EPDSGN 30 0.81
Note. SFRV = Self-reviews; USERSR = Usefulness of electronic resources for the purposes of
speaking skills; VIDEO = Video clips as speaking assignments recorded; EPDSGN = E-portfolio
organization/design.
It can be seen in table 2 above, The reliability of the e-portfolio items including self-reviews,
usefulness of electronic resources for the purposes of speaking skills, video clips as speaking
assignments recorded, and design and organization of portfolio was separately presented with the
value of Cronbach’s Alpha regarding the above items were .79, .80, .82, and .81 respectively.
(i)Speaking assessment through E-portfolio
The first research question was answered by analyzing the researchers’ evaluation on student’s
five videos as recording assignments. The criteria of speaking assessment were categorized into three
main aspects including vocabulary, grammar, and pronunciation. As can be seen in table 3, the
maximum grade of students’ five video clips as recording assignments was 30% out of 100% total
final grade. Consequently, the results of descriptive analysis presented that overall mean score of
video clips as recording assignment was 22.61 (SD = 24.5), which contributed to the evidence of the
students’ improvement in speaking skills.
Table 3. Descriptive Statistics of the contents of E-portfolio evaluation
N Minimum Maximum Mean Std. Deviation
SFRV 30 3.00 5.50 4.2750 .80218
USERSR 30 1.65 2.75 2.1833 .81571
VIDEO 30 15.00 27.25 22.6083 24.4921
EPDSGN 30 0.80 1.00 0.8950 .13630
Valid N (listwise) 30
Although nearly 90% participants - 27 students out of 30 students in English Module III class for
EFL non-majors on the MOODLE course - achieved the higher grades on their fourth and fifth
videos, the other 10% participants were unable to make much progress in speaking skills. In terms of
the grading scheme related to the regulations of credit-based training at university, learning
performance was evaluated by instrument of a 10-point scoring scheme and converted into letter-rate
equivalents such as A = 8.5-10; B = 7.0-8.4; C = 5.5-6.9; D = 4.0-5.4; and F = 0-3.9. The following
table showed the differences in the number of students at the particular bands of their five video clips.
Table 4. Comparison on the number of students according to the grading scheme
Grade No. Video 1 No. Video 2 No. Video 3 No. Video 4 No. Video 5
A 0 1 3 5 6
B 3 7 10 16 20
C 16 13 12 7 3
D 10 8 5 2 1
F 1 1 0 0 0
It can be seen in table 4, the number of students whose video clips 5 got grade A and B increased
considerably while the number of video clip 5 with grade C, and D were lower than that those of the
first three videos. Moreover, there were no grade Fs for the last three video clips. These grades
resulted from the students’ improvement in vocabulary, grammar, and pronunciation. Students’
technology competence was also reinforced effectively.
(ii) Students’ improvement in speaking skills through the use of e-portfolios
All sixty participants of two groups were required to take the speaking pretest at the beginning of
the course and the post test in the middle of the course. In terms of administration of two tests, in
charge of the English Module III course, the researcher prepared and assessed the tests administered
by the participants. Participants were required to perform the speaking tests with the specific topic in
three minutes for the pretest in week 1 and five minutes for the post test in week 8. All the speaking
performances of thirty students in experimental group, 100% participants, were recorded.
The two tests were used to evaluate participants’ speaking performance in both groups. The scores
of the tests were analysed by deploying inferential SPSS 19.0 analysis such as pair samples t-test.
The data analysis of experimental group and control group was shown that data of tests was collected
with p values (i.e. significance level = .000, and .001 respectively) of the high significance
coefficient. This illustrated that null hypothesis was rejected. In the other words, alternative
hypothesis was accepted, which expressed that using e-portfolios enabled students to develop their
speaking skills.
In addition, the post test scores of all participants in the experimental group were higher than their
pretest illustrating the students’ improving their speaking ability after they were given the treatment.
Mean value of pair samples t-test between pretest and post test of experimental group was illustrated
in table 5 as below.
Table 5. Paired Samples Statistics of pretest and post test of experimental group
Mean N Std. Deviation Std. Error Mean
Pair 1 PRETEST_POR 5,8200 30 1,00484 ,18670
POSTTEST_POR 7,2532 30 1,08020 ,19754
In table 5, it can be shown in experimental group that mean scores of pretest (M= 5.820,
SD=1.001) was lower than those of post test (M=7.253, SD=1.080). This means that students in
experimental group got higher scores in the post test than in the pretest. However, there was not high
deviation in the scores of each test. These values illustrated that students in experimental group
performed translation capability better in doing the post test after they were treated to use portfolios
since doing the pretest. Again, these significant differences explained that null hypothesis could not
be approved (Creswell, 2003).
Meanwhile, the mean scores of the pretest and post test of control group shown in table 6
illustrated that there was not much students’ progress after the pretest and the post test. Mean scores
of pretest and post test of control group were M=6.250, SD=1.178 and M=5.921, SD=1.497
respectively. This presented that students in control group who were not treated to use e-portfolios
did not make progress in speaking ability.
Table 6. Paired Samples Statistics between experiment group and control group
Mean N Std. Deviation Std. Error Mean
Pair 1 PRETEST_NONP 6,2500 30 1,17743 ,21653
POSTTEST_NONP 5,9207 30 1,49672 ,27184
Pair 2 PRETEST_POR 5,7200 30 1,00564 ,18360
PRETEST_NONP 6,3500 30 1,19373 ,21686
Pair 3 POSTTEST_POR 7,2532 30 1,09421 ,20682
POSTTEST_NONP 5,8207 30 1,48674 ,25124
In table 6, the contrastive analysis between the mean scores of pretest and mean scores of post test
between experimental group and control group explained that students given treatment of using E-
portfolio got their achievements and progress after six weeks.
In terms of the grading scheme related to the regulations of credit-based training at university,
learning performance was evaluated by instrument of a 10-point scoring scheme and converted into
letter-rate equivalents such as A = 8.5-10; B = 7.0-8.4; C = 5.5 -6.9; D = 4.0-5.4; and F = 0-3.9. The
following table showed the differences in the number of students at the particular bands of pretest and
post test of experimental group and control group (as seen in table 7 below).
Table 7. Comparison on the number of students according to the grading scheme
GROUP & TEST EXPRIMENTAL GROUP CONTROL GROUP
0
N of students with scores Pretest Posttest Pretest Posttest
A 0 5 1 3
B 4 13 5 7
C 13 9 11 10
D 12 3 11 8
F 1 0 2 2
In table 7, the number of students who got grade A in experimental group was significantly
increased from no students with grade A up to five students with grade A. The highest change in the
number of grade B of students in experimental group was significant from four students up to thirteen
students. That illustrated that the number of students at grade C and grade D were decreased, but the
students at grade D got highly great improvement from twelve down to only three. On the other hand,
there was almost no change in the number of students at grade C and D in control group was
decreased rather slightly although there was the slight increase in the number of students in the
control group at grade A and B from one to three and from five to seven respectively. To the end of
this comparison, using E-portfolio allowed the teacher to employ the pedagogic methods to enhance
students’ speaking skills.
4. Conclusion
In the literature aspects, E-portfolio can be used as a tool of formative and summative assessment
and from the aforementioned findings the research results could show some following points:
- The treatment given to the participants of experimental group presented significant change in
the results of their post test which illustrated experimental group’s greatly important progress after
getting the given treatments. It is pointed out that the results approved the alternative hypothesis
“Using E-portfolios will improve the speaking skills of English non-majored students at Saigon
University.”.
- By using E-portfolios, English non-majored students at Sai Gon University could manage to plan
their learning goals and strategies in speaking class, find supporting materials, review and achieve
their confidence in speaking performance.
This study could prove the advantages of e-portfolio-based classrooms that E-portfolios can help
students to develop their confidence, and improve speaking ability, and also allow teachers to
evaluate students’ progress in learning.
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EFL Learners’ Autonomy in Learning Oral Skills”. International Journal of Language
and Linguistics. 4(4), pp.268-274.
Sử dụng hồ sơ học tập điện tử (E-portfolio) đề cải thiện

kĩ năng nói của sinh viên không chuyên tiếng Anh tại Trường Đại học Sài Gòn
Tóm tắt: Hồ sơ học tập điện tử (E-portfolios) là phương tiện hữu ích và hiệu quả để giáo viên và
bản thân sinh viên đánh giá sự tiến bộ về kĩ năng nói tiếng Anh của sinh viên. Việc triển khai ứng
dụng E-portfolio cũng có thể giúp sinh viên cải thiện sự sẵn sàng và cải thiện kĩ năng nói tiếng Anh.
Mục đích của bài viết này là, sử dụng E-portfolio để cải thiện kĩ năng nói tiếng Anh của sinh viên
không chuyên tiếng Anh tại Trường Đại học Sài Gòn. Nghiên cứu này ứng dụng phương pháp nghiên
cứu thử nghiệm được thực hiện trong 60 sinh viên thuộc 2 lớp chia thành 2 nhóm nghiên cứu, gồm 1
nhóm có kiểm soát và 1 nhóm thử nghiệm với 30 sinh viên mỗi nhóm. Tất cả các sinh viên đều chưa
trải nghiệm việc sử dụng E-portfolio trước đó. Kết quả nghiên cứu cho thấy giả thuyết đã được chứng
thực chấp thuận đối với việc sử dụng e-portfolios trong việc cải thiện kĩ năng nói tiếng Anh đối với
sinh viên không chuyên ngành tiếng Anh tại Trường Đại học Sài Gòn: có sự cải thiện đáng kể về kĩ
năng nói tiếng Anh của nhóm thử nghiệm.
Từ khóa: hồ sơ học tập điện tử (E-portfolios); kĩ năng tự giám sát; kĩ năng nói tiếng Anh; sinh
viên khối không chuyên tiếng Anh.
LOW-INTERMEDIATE EFL STUDENTS’ PERCEPTIONS

OF THE USE OF VOCABULARY NOTEBOOKS TO
IMPROVE VOCABULARY ACQUISITION
HOANG NGOC TUE* - LE THI HONG NHUNG**
ABSTRACT: Vocabulary notebooks have been regarded as one of the long-standing approaches
to vocabulary learning. This paper attempted to provide an authentic account of Vietnamese EFL
low-intermediate students’ perceptions of the use of vocabulary notebooks to improve their
vocabulary acquisition, using data collected via three different Qualitative research methods
(Participant observation, Students’ journals, and Individual Semi-structured interviews). In this study,
vocabulary notebook practice was designed with four essential elements including guided framework
of vocabulary notebook content, peer-feedback, teacher’s feedback and face-to-face sessions. The
study reveals that by strictly following the guidelines of vocabulary notebook content, students
acquires a more comprehensive understanding of new vocabulary, realizing that identifying meaning
from context was a major challenge during their practice. The other four elements are reported to
provide a tremendous help for students’ vocabulary notebook practice.
KEY WORDS: Vocabulary notebooks; vocabulary learning; vocabulary acquisition; language
learning strategies; English as a foreign language.
RECEIVED: SEPTEMBER, 3rd, 2021. EDITED: NOVEMBER, 15th, 2021.
1. Introduction
In the past two decades, a number of researchers have investigated the use of vocabulary
notebooks in language learning and teaching [Fowle, 2002; McCrostie, 2007; Vela & Rushidi, 2016;
Walters & Bozkurt, 2009]. According to a definition provided by McCrostie [2007], vocabulary
notebook is the written recording of new and useful vocabulary items regarding different aspects of a
word presented in any form of notebook. A further definition is given by Schmitt & Schmitt [1995]
who describes vocabulary notebook as a form of vocabulary learning that supplements other various
forms suggestive of extensive reading or vocabulary exercises. In this paper, the term Vocabulary
notebook will be used in its broadest sense to refer to all kinds of notebook in which new vocabulary
items are recorded.
Awareness of the benefits of vocabulary notebooks is not recent; previous research has indicated
that vocabulary notebook has a beneficial influence on vocabulary acquisition [Fowle, 2002;
McCrostie, 2007; Walters & Bozkurt, 2009]. Hence, in this research, vocabulary notebooks were
introduced to eight randomly selected students as a daily learning practice within a four-week period.
The research took place at one university in Hanoi, focusing on low-intermediate level first year
English-majored students. For more than a decade, these students had been accustomed to English
classes in which grammar was the key. Limited vocabulary knowledge was found to be one of the
causes of students’ struggle to express their thoughts and ideas clearly. The purpose of the research
was to investigate students’ perceptions of vocabulary notebook practice in particular as well as
vocabulary learning practice in general.
2.1. Common problems with vocabulary learning
2.1.1. Decontextualized vocabulary learning
Ge [2015] has examined the influence of the storytelling approach and the rote memorization
approach on Chinese adult e-learners’ vocabulary learning. While the storytelling approach is to use
* Dr; Hanoi University of Industry; Email: hoangngoctue@haui.edu.vn

** Hanoi University of Industry; Email: lethihongnhung@haui.edu.vn
story context as the input of vocabulary learning, the rote memorization method is basically a long
list of vocabulary and their Chinese equivalents. In the study, two post-tests were conducted to
measure the effectiveness of the two different approaches, and a questionnaire survey was also
completed by the experimental group to gather the data of students’ perceptions towards the
storytelling approach. The results of the research indicate that the storytelling method is superior to
the so-called traditional memorization one since the target words, when connected in a story, are
assumed to be more contextual and enjoyable than the discrete ones. In another major study, Pham
[2017] also addresses the problems of L1 translation and rote memorization at a high school in
Vietnam by combining translation and the communicative language teaching (CLT). The researcher
applied a quasi-experimental study, using pre- and post-tests for measurement. It has been
conclusively shown that the vocabulary recognition scores have been increased after the treatment in
both groups, one with the traditional patterns of Grammar-Translation methods (GTM) and the other
with Communication-based translation activities (CTAs). However, only the application of CTAs
helped enhance students’ performance of vocabulary production. A possible explanation for this
result may be the lack of opportunities to practice explicitly presented rules of new vocabulary in
communicative contexts in a traditional class with GTM. The two above-mentioned studies have
drawn two contrasting pictures: contextualized and decontextualized vocabulary learning.
Nevertheless, these data must be interpreted with caution because it may create a negative impression
on so-called decontextualized vocabulary learning. For example, Oanh & Hien [2006] reports that
memorization has been known as a common learning practice among Vietnamese learners, and can
be categorized as good and bad memorization, depending on how students approach it.
2.1.2. Passive learning
Turning now to the experimental evidence on the second related issue of vocabulary production in
speaking, the following two papers investigate how to promote students’ independent learning in
order to enhance their lexical competence. According to Humphreys and Wyatt [2013], lack of
autonomy is a widely-known problem at tertiary level especially in countries with Confucian heritage
cultures, such as Vietnam. The relationship between vocabulary learning and autonomy has been
carefully examined in a research carried out in a secondary school in Thailand. In this research,
Fowle [2002] aims to use vocabulary notebooks to encourage students’ autonomy in vocabulary
learning. Fowle [2002] provided a detailed description of a Thai classroom in which students were
totally teacher-dependent. In a major needs analysis study conducted in China, there is an urgent need
to enhance students’ self-regulatory strategies at tertiary level [Ping, Baranovich, Manuel, & Siraj,
2015]. This is also the image of Vietnamese university students; Humphreys and Wyatt [2013] claim
that Vietnamese students are accustomed to passive learning behaviors throughout their K-12
education. The idea of students’ autonomy can be well-depicted in a research on learning vocabulary
in group work in Vietnam [Le, 2006]. This study has been conducted in a university in Vietnam.
There were two kinds of group settings in the study: the assisted group in which there is a senior
student as a facilitator and the unassisted group in which students collaborate with one another. Le
[2006] found that both groups did learn vocabulary after doing group work and the difference in the
results between the groups was small. This demonstrates the fact that students seem to focus too
much attention and energy onto searching for external help such as teacher or dictionary, forgetting to
make use of themselves as powerful resources.
2.2. Previous research on Vocabulary notebooks & the design of Vocabulary notebooks in this
study
The literature has proved that vocabulary notebooks exert a significant impact on vocabulary
acquisition. There have been several approaches to the implementation of vocabulary notebooks,
which has established a solid foundation for the study.
Firstly, several studies have provided lower intermediate level students with a list of words for
their vocabulary notebook practice [Walters & Bozkurt, 2009; Vela & Rushi, 2016]. McCrostie
[2007] indicated that word selection can be a major obstacle for those who are between low
intermediate and intermediate level since they find any unknown words potentially important.
Therefore, the idea of prescribing what should be recorded in vocabulary notebooks was executed at
the beginning of this study. Particularly, during the first week, the students were given a text in which
target vocabulary items were in bold. A surprising result for the first week was that they still tended
to write down any new words they found in the text. Even for those that were in bold, they still had
problems identifying complete phrases in relation to specific contexts; for example, some of them
recorded the definition of “bubble” instead of “to live in a bubble”. It was then found that giving
students the vocabulary items they should learn would take away their chances to face and
understand their own difficulty. Hence, for the remaining three weeks, students were expected to
learn from their own mistakes; they freely chose words from a given text and received feedback on
word selection from the instructor and their peers on a weekly basis.
Secondly, vocabulary notebook practice in this study was designed to develop both receptive and
productive vocabulary knowledge, whereas most previous studies have focused more on receptive
one [Fowle, 2002; Vela & Rushidi, 2016; Walters & Bozkurt, 2009]. Although most of these studies
devoted class time to working on vocabulary notebooks, their classroom sessions were restricted to
receptive skills [Fowle, 2002; Vela & Rushidi, 2016; Walters & Bozkurt, 2009]. In particular,
Walters & Bozkurt [2009] required students to share notebooks with their classmates and test each
other on their notebook words, which meant that students did not have room for productive use in
this so-called interactive environment. Likewise, despite the fact that Vela & Rushidi [2016] stated
ten minutes of each class time was spent on asking students to apply recorded words in speaking and
writing, it was doubtful whether ten minutes would be sufficient enough even to recall what was
written in their notebooks. Moreover, a large amount of receptive vocabulary knowledge was
required in students’ notebooks such as part of speech, definition, translation, synonyms, antonyms,
derivations, collocations, pronunciation, word families [Fowle, 2002; Vela & Rushidi, 2016; Walters
& Bozkurt, 2009]. The researcher reckoned that all above-mentioned aspects of vocabulary
knowledge might be overloading lower intermediate level students; therefore, in this study,
vocabulary notebooks only included those that were essential to their understanding of receptive
knowledge, including part of speech, transcription, definition, and collocation. Besides, students were
also asked to write down the context where they found words/ phrases, and create their own
examples. Thus, at the self-learning stage with notebooks, students were already required to take
contextual information into account. Furthermore, during weekly two-hour face-to-face sessions,
students were given opportunities to revise vocabulary knowledge through games and also practice
using vocabulary in sentences through pair and group discussions.
Thirdly, this study enabled and encouraged students to interact with their peers and the instructor
from the beginning. This was believed to help the instructor keep track of students’ learning but also
promote learner autonomy. Particularly, similar to the research conducted by Walters & Bozkurt
[2009], the students exchanged notebooks and gave each other feedback before submitting their work
to the teacher. However, instead of collecting students’ notebooks and bringing them home as in
Walters & Bozkurt [2009], in this study, an online study group was created on social media where
students sent photos of their notebooks to their peers and the instructor; therefore, the whole
procedure of giving and receiving feedback in the research did not interrupt students’ self-study with
their notebooks. Another significant difference was that in the study, teacher’s feedback was used to
improve students’ work regarding their understanding of receptive and productive vocabulary
knowledge prior to our face-to-face sessions. By contrast, Walters & Bozkurt [2009] collected
students’ work after physical classes, gave feedback and graded them before moving to the next topic
in the following week. The researcher believed that receiving feedback in advance would make
students consider their notebooks a work in progress and feel ready for classroom practice.
3. Research methods
Qualitative research methods were adopted since the study aimed to record students’ individual
experiences such as their preferences, difficulties or class behaviors. This research was a small-scale
one with eight participants; therefore, it was feasible for the researcher to collect and handle
qualitative information from participants. In particular, three qualitative research methods including
students’ journals, participant observations, and individual semi-structured interviews were used in
the research.
Students’ journals: Students’ journals were believed to help participants become more self-aware
of their own practice, and also allow the researcher to keep track on students’ everyday practice. In
particular, journals have been depicted as a tool for students to self-record their everyday experiences
or activities. Every week, at the end of each face-to-face session, students were asked to write
journals in Vietnamese, using guiding questions. These questions are related to students’ vocabulary
recording procedure, their perceived benefits and challenges, and their reflections on face-to-face
classes as well as teacher’s feedback.
Participant observation: Participant observation was another qualitative research method of the
study with the aim of creating an authentic account of students’ actual class behaviors and responses.
A structured observation form was created in which there was one separate column for prepared
lesson flows and the other one for notes of each individual’s behaviors. Moreover, to avoid
confusion, each student was given a name tag that was attached to their shirts.
Individual semi-structured interviews: Individual semi-structured interviews were of great
importance to the research because these private one-on-one conversations were a great opportunity
for students to open up about their experiences, and for the researcher to pose questions in person.
Each interview lasted around 30 minutes. The interviews were conducted in Vietnamese because it
was likely that students would be more comfortable expressing their ideas in their first language. In
the interviews, to help students with recalling information, descriptive questions came first; reflective
questions came second; and explanatory questions came last. The interviews were held at the end of
the course; thus, in case they found it difficult to recall what was done over the course, the researcher
brought their journals to the interviews for easy reference.
4. Research findings
In this section, the two broad themes emerged from the analysis would be presented: one is
identifying meaning from context - the shared challenge during students’ vocabulary notebook
practice, and the other is students’ positive feedback on teacher’s feedback, peer feedback and face-
to-face sessions - the four elements that were designed to assist students in their vocabulary notebook
practice. The data from students’ journals and participant observations was collected every week, and
that from the individual semi-structured interviews was gathered at the end of the course. Over the
course of four weeks, the thoughts of different individuals (Students’ journals) were related to the
actual recording of their class behaviors (Participant observations), and all that information could
then be extended or verified later in the private one-on-one conversations (Individual semi-structured
interviews).
Theme 1: Identifying meaning from context
Students’ journals
When students were asked about the difficulty, they encountered during their vocabulary
notebook practice, the data from students’ journals suggest that all of them experienced a difficulty in
identifying meaning from context. After the first week of the course, talking about this issue, one
student said that: “I was confused. I didn’t think the context was clear enough to identify the
meaning. It was a real headache for me to find the appropriate meaning.” (Trang). In the second and
the third week of the course, more and more students were open about how difficult it was for them
to understand word meaning in their journals, and more importantly, what they actually did to cope
with that challenge. One student stated that: “I stopped sticking to one dictionary and started looking
up the meaning in many different dictionaries. It was sometimes frustrating.” (Thu). Another student
claimed that: “When I struggled to understand the definition in English-English dictionary, I resorted
to English-Vietnamese dictionary.” (Tram). Surprisingly, there were two students (Trinh & Dao)
coming up with the idea of writing their own explanation. Dao said that:
“I kept reading but I still couldn’t understand. I looked up the word in the dictionary or on the
internet but I still found the definition unclear so I tried explaining words in my own way, and
fortunately, it was correct.” (Dao).
In the last week of the course, most of students’ responses to identifying meaning from context
were more positive. They seemed to be more aware of what they were supposed to do. One student
admitted that:
“Sometimes I think I have too little time to finish my notebook. I am a bit lazy, I guess. I do not
want to look up the meaning in the dictionary, and I’m even more afraid of struggling to figure out
the meaning of a word from context. It takes lots of time. But once I’ve found it, I realize that
identifying meaning from context is easier than I thought.” (Thuy).
Participant observations
The data obtained from participant observations reveals that students found it uneasy to identify
meaning from context. In the second week of the course, there was a game in which students were
asked to write five examples for five target words/ phrases they learnt from the text, and they took
turns reading aloud their examples but replacing the target words/ phrases with a sound. I found that
those who read examples were confused when having to provide more contextual information, and
especially those who needed to answer tended to get around the rule of the game by asking what that
word meant. In the following two weeks, in a so-called Circle game, students were allowed to choose
either explaining word meaning or giving examples without saying the target word/ phrase to
challenge one person in a circle. Interestingly, since they had a choice, very few of them chose to
create examples.
Individual semi-structured interviews
During the interviews, all students pointed out that identifying meaning from context was what
they found most challenging, and surprisingly, five out of eight students also stated they really
enjoyed the process of finding out the meaning. To account for this difficulty, students shared more
about their experiences and feelings. One student stated that:
“What I usually do when I encounter a new word is to find Vietnamese meaning that is
appropriate first, and then I look it up in English-English dictionary. I tend to skip it when I cannot
find an English equivalent.” (Tram).
Several students commented that they struggled to understand different explanations in English-
English dictionary. They thought those explanations confused them because they were quite
comparable. One student demonstrated that:
“When I looked up the meaning of the word “symptom” (as found in “…symptoms of being
obsessed with technology”), I thought the two explanations: one is a change in your body that shows
you are not healthy and a sign that something bad exists were kind of the same especially when I
thought of Vietnamese. I couldn’t tell the difference.” (Tuyet).
The data from the three methods helped illuminate the fact that my students had difficulty
understanding meaning from context during their vocabulary notebook practice. Towards the end of
the course, students appeared to gain more confidence in their own vocabulary learning practice.
They were aware that it was not easy to identify meaning from context, but they started getting into
that process more than before. One possible reason for this is that students were given feedback on
their vocabulary notebook practice every week, including both personal feedback and class feedback.
Another plausible reason is that they were given the opportunity of producing language on a weekly
basis. However, the fact remains that when students were asked to describe the context on the spot
(Creating examples in Circle game), they were still not willing to face the challenge. Further
explanations for this issue are discussed in detail in the following section.
Theme 2: Peer-feedback, teacher’s feedback, and face-to-face sessions
Students’ journals
Students’ responses to peer-feedback, teacher’s feedback, and face-to-face sessions remained
positive over the course of four weeks. After the first week of the course, several students wrote in
their journals that they felt the whole learning process was supportive because they could easily pose
questions to their peers and the teacher on the online study platform of the class. In particular, by
exchanging notebooks with each other, they commented that they could learn a lot from each other.
One student stated that: “I just got to learn how to present word aspects in a more user-friendly way.
That was mind-mapping. I was really impressed with Tram’s notebook design.” (Thu). Moreover, in
terms of teacher’s feedback, several students claimed that what struck them the most was teacher’s
feedback was very detailed and responsive. One student emphasized that: “Teacher’s feedback helps
me boost my confidence in face-to-face sessions because I have been informed of what should be
improved before actual practice.” (Trinh). Last but not least, all of my students reported that they
enjoyed face-to-face sessions in which they could not only revise what they learnt out of vocabulary
notebooks but also challenge themselves more in follow-up discussions at the end of each session.
Tram remarked that:
“Face-to-face sessions have never been a bore to me as I was surprised at new and fun activities
all the time. My favorite one is the one called Photo caption in which we needed to use our
imagination to relate to the photo and put words that we learnt into practice.”.
Surprisingly, some students were even very thoughtful about every single activity they had during
face-to-face sessions, and they did not mind giving their teacher suggestions for improvement. One
student mentioned that: “I like the idea of Photo caption but I guess it would be better if we have
some time to think ahead and share with each other some useful vocabulary.” (Tram).
Participant observations
The observational data poses a question to what was written in students’ journals because it
seemed that not all students were fully engaged in face-to-face sessions during the first half of the
course. In particular, there seemed to be three groups of students in class: one group of students who
were very active and a little more talkative than the others, another group who liked to discuss among
themselves, and the other group who were quiet most of the time. However, during the second half of
the course, those who used to avoid voicing out were the ones who volunteered to raise voice first. In
the third and fourth week of the course, particularly, Thao, who used to be quiet, was patient and
brave enough to express her thoughts and ideas to other classmates regardless of her frequent pauses.
Individual semi-structured interviews
The data from the interviews reinforces students’ journal data relating to their overall positive
thoughts and feelings about peer-feedback, teacher’s feedback and face-to-face sessions. More
importantly, it helps reveal more about students’ early experiences with face-to-face sessions. During
the interviews, students opened up about how they felt when the course started. One of the students
admitted that she was not motivated enough to prepare for her notebook thoroughly at the beginning
(Thao). She emphasized that during our first face-to-face session, she was shocked to see her
classmates being engaged and active. She said she was afraid of being left behind; therefore, she
decided to invest more time and effort into her notebook, which enabled her to participate in face-to-
face sessions later in the course. Another student was also inspired by other members in class, but in
a different way (Tuyet). She stated that she had never been willing to raise voice in class since she
was unconfident about her English, but her classmates were very supportive and they made her feel
encouraged to express herself.
The data obtained from the three methods has established a picture of students’ learning
experiences (including peer-feedback, teacher’s feedback, and face-to-face sessions) that were
designed to assist students’ vocabulary notebook practice. Although there were some students not
fully engaging in the whole learning experiences at first, positive feelings were recorded in all
students’ interview responses. Further explanations for this positivity are discussed in detail in the
following section.
5. Discussion
There were two major issues arising from the implementation of this innovation. Firstly, in this
study, identifying meaning from context was found to be a significant challenge faced by my students
throughout their vocabulary notebook practice. This result may be explained by the fact that
identifying meaning from context used to be a new concept to most of my students before
participating in this course. Thu expressed her surprise in her journal that: “I cannot believe that one
word can mean that many different things!” When students were asked about their vocabulary
learning experiences prior to the course, it was found that several students were habituated to
vocabulary learning without knowing the relation between meaning and context. Trinh told that the
teacher presented new words and carefully explained what they meant; hence, all she did then was to
read them aloud over and over again. Similarly, Trang only noted down new words that were told by
the teacher, and she admitted that she rarely studied vocabulary on her own. Moreover, Thao
acknowledged that she used to be very lazy to read the whole sentence to get the idea of what the
context was, let alone a few sentences. Therefore, when students were put into a position where they
needed to understand new words in the given context by themselves, they were confused about what
they were supposed to do. Another possible explanation was that they were accustomed to using
English-Vietnamese dictionary as the only source of information. More than half of my students
stated that they literally only cared about Vietnamese meaning for new words before joining this
course. Dao, the only person among the participants who had kept a vocabulary notebook before, also
recorded only Vietnamese equivalents in her notebook in the past. It is important to note that there is
a huge difference between English-English and English-Vietnamese dictionary in the way word
meaning is presented; the former focuses on explaining words/ terms theoretically and the latter
shows explicit Vietnamese equivalents. Therefore, to understand English definitions, learners are
supposed to process those abstract pieces of information and may try to relate to what it is in their
first language. Using English-Vietnamese dictionary is considered a shortcut to figuring out the
meaning. I think the fact that my students were sticking to this “shortcut” in their language learning
in the past may make it more difficult for them to fully understand English definitions later. Last but
not least, prior to this course, most of them studied individual words rather than phrases. Trinh said
that she honestly ignored phrases because she thought she knew every single word there, but then she
figured that when those words were put together, it created a new meaning. Some students even had
never heard of collocations or thought groups before; therefore, they were also not sure of how to
look up the meaning of phrases. By looking at words as individual units in lieu of a thought group, it
was likely that students were not able to identify target phrases or understand sentences fully.
Another important finding was that the external assistance consisting of peer-feedback, teacher’s
feedback and face-to-face sessions was of great value to students’ vocabulary notebook practice.
There are three possible reasons why the external assistance was beneficial to my students’
vocabulary notebook practice. First, the external assistance promoted teacher-student interactions;
thus, teacher’s support or guidance was accessible to students on both physical and virtual setting. As
can be found in many students’ journals, they were satisfied with the fact that when they had a
question during their individual practice, they could easily contact the teacher for help. Besides,
many students considered face-to-face sessions helpful as they allowed them to receive teacher’s
feedback in person especially when it came to pronunciation mistakes or expressions. Second,
students were required to be more active in their own learning; in other words, the external assistance
empowered students to take ownership of their learning. Peer-feedback was designed to encourage
students to value themselves as a useful learning resource, and face-to-face sessions focused on the
learning driven by students’ interactions and the role of the teacher was as a facilitator. One of the
students stated in her report that:
“My partner and I were not certain about the meaning of a target word. We thought of different
answers and tried to come up with something in common. Finally, we noted down key points in our
discussion and asked the teacher for help later.” (Thuy).
The idea of independent learning is well-reflected in her note; when students encounter a problem,
they try their best to address it before seeking for help. Throughout this four-week course, in
students’ journals, they actively requested for more interactive activities during face-to-face sessions.
Tram suggested that she would like to experience the activity Circle game in the following sessions
as she enjoyed the interactions between her and other classmates in which they posed a question to
someone else randomly in the circle by throwing a ball at that person. Third, reflecting on some
students’ early experiences with face-to-face sessions, the researcher realized that these interactive
sessions provided a very healthy learning environment in which students joined and influenced one
another. Thao decided to engage more in her own practice because she did not want to be left behind,
or Tuyet stepped out of her comfort zone sine everybody around her was supportive and non-
judgmental, which are typical examples of positive peer pressure. This finding is in agreement with
Vo & Mai Nguyen [2009]’s findings which showed how teachers inspired each other to improve their
teaching thanks to their Critical Friends group - a group in which EFL teachers helped each other
through discussion and peer observation.
In summary, the results of this study were very encouraging. The students were more aware of
their vocabulary learning practice; vocabulary notebook practice was not seen as an individual home
practice, but also was incorporated into other forms of class activities to boost its effectiveness. On
the other hand, the study was limited in some way. The number of participants was small and the
study used a convenience sample. Students who partook in my research were similar in terms of
previous learning experiences and level of English. Therefore, it was difficult for me to have an
understanding of the use of vocabulary notebooks to students of different backgrounds or English
levels.
6. Conclusion
The main goal of this study was to understand Vietnamese EFL low-intermediate students’
perceptions of the use of vocabulary notebooks. One of the two significant findings to emerge from
this study is that identifying meaning from context was a major challenge to the students who were at
lower intermediate level. The second major finding was that the external assistance comprising peer-
feedback, teacher’s feedback and face-to-face sessions was of great importance to students’
vocabulary notebook practice.
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stories: An Experiment with Chinese adult e-Learners”. Journal of Educational
Technology & Society, 18(3), p.254.
3. Humphreys, G., & Wyatt, M. (2013), “Helping Vietnamese university learners to become
more autonomous”. ELT journal, 68(1), pp.52-63.
4. Le, P. H. H. (2006), “Learning vocabulary in group work in Vietnam”. RELC

Journal, 37(1), pp.105-121.
5. McCrostie, J. (2007), “Examining learner vocabulary notebooks”. ELT journal, 61(3),
pp.246-255.
6. McDonough, J., & McDonough, S. (1997), “Principles and problems: what makes good
research?”, Research methods for English language teachers, St. Martin’s Press, New
York, pp.57-73.
7. Oanh, D. T. H., & Hien, N. T. (2006), “Memorization and EFL Students' Strategies at
University Level in Vietnam”. TESL-EJ,10(2), n2.
8. Pham, N. T. L. (2017), “Effects of CCommuniation-Based Translation Activities on EFL
High School Students’ Vocabulary Achievement”. International Journal, 5(2), pp.26-39.
9. Ping, A. M., Baranovich, D. L., Manueli, M. K., & Siraj, S. (2015), Promoting self-
regulation in vocabulary learning among Chinese EFL learners: A needs analysis. The
Asia-Pacific Education Researcher, 24(1), pp.137-146.
10. Schmitt, N., & Schmitt, D. (1995), “Vocabulary notebooks: Theoretical underpinnings
and practical ssuggestion”. ELT journal, 49(2), pp.133-143.
11. Vela, V., & Rushidi, J. (2016), The effect of keeping vocabulary notebooks on vocabulary
acquisition and learner autonomy. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 232, pp.201-
208.
12. Vo, L. T., & Mai Nguyen, H. T. (2009), “Critical friends group for EFL teacher
professional development”. ELT journal, 64(2), pp.205-213.
13. Walters, J., & Bozkurt, N. (2009), The effect of keeping vocabulary notebooks on
vocabulary acquisition. Language Teaching Research, 13(4), pp.403-423.
Quan điểm của người học tiếng Anh trình độ tiền trung cấp
về việc sử dụng sổ tay từ vựng trong việc cải thiện vốn từ vựng
Tóm tắt: Sổ tay từ vựng được xem là một trong những cách tiếp cận lâu đời đối với việc học từ
vựng. Nghiên cứu này tập trung vào việc đưa ra những quan điểm của người học Việt Nam ở trình độ
tiếng Anh tiền trung cấp về việc sử dụng sổ tay từ vựng trong việc cải thiện vốn từ vựng của họ. Dữ
liệu được thu thập thông qua ba công cụ nghiên cứu định tính bao gồm Quan sát tham gia (Participant
Observation), Nhật kí của người học (Students’ journals), và Phỏng vấn cá nhân bán cấu trúc
(Individual Semi-structured interviews). Trong nghiên cứu này, hoạt động sổ tay từ vựng được thiết
kế bao gồm bốn yếu tố chính bao gồm khung hướng dẫn nội dung trong sổ tay từ vựng, phản hồi
chéo, phản hồi của giáo viên và buổi học trực tiếp. Nghiên cứu đã chỉ ra rằng bằng việc ghi chép từ
vựng theo khung hướng dẫn nội dung, người học đã có được hiểu biết toàn diện hơn về việc học từ
vựng; xác định nghĩa của từ dựa vào ngữ cảnh được xem là khó khăn lớn nhất. Bốn yếu tố khác cũng
được ghi nhận là đã hỗ trợ lớn cho người học trong quá trình hoàn thành sổ tay từ vựng.
Từ khóa: Sổ tay từ vựng; việc học từ vựng; đắc thụ từ vựng; chiến lược học ngôn ngữ; tiếng Anh
như một ngoại ngữ.
CHALLENGES OF ONLINE LEARNING FACED

BY FIRST-YEAR LANGUAGE STUDENTS
AT HIGHER EDUCATION DURING COVID-19 PANDEMIC
TRAN KIEU ANH* - NGUYEN THI LOAN**
ABSTRACT: Educational systems worldwide as well as educational systems in Vietnam have
faced many difficulties due to the impact of Coronavirus pandemic. The transition from face-to-face
instruction to online learning setting is the optimum solution to maintain teaching and learning
activities in this situation. Besides the enjoyable experiences, students also face many challenges
when getting used to the new form of learning. This study set out to explore difficulties experienced
by first-year English language students during this period. Quantitative and qualitative data were
collected through the questionnaire. This paper founds how students were encountering
environmental, technical and emotional challenges. As a result, some solutions are provided to
encourage students to deal with these obstacles to study effectively.
KEY WORDS: online learning; Covid-19 pandemic; environmental; technical; emotional;
challenges.
RECEIVED: SEPTEMBER, 3rd, 2021. EDITED: NOVEMBER, 17th, 2021.
1. Introduction
Covid-19 pandemic, which creates tremendous challenges of health for every nation, has seriously
influenced people’s lives. Not only socio-economic performance but also educational systems have
been materially affected. In Vietnam, since the most recent outbreak of COVID-19 in May 2021,
social distancing policy has been issued in many cities in order to prevent the infection of
coronavirus. Universities have been shut down temporarily and there has been an enormous transition
from face-to-face to distance learning. In the context of “stay-at-home” order, virtual education has
been applied as an alternative delivery teaching method. This method makes it possible for learners to
access to materials, to interact with the knowledge, collaborate with the instructor, and other learners;
and to gain support in the learning course, which contributes to knowledge acquisition, construction
of personal meaning and development of learning experience [Ally, p.7]. By contrast, the shift of
teaching delivery mode from classroom teaching to distance teaching creates several obstacles to
students which may impact students’ learning adversely. Therefore, identifying the factors which
may have negative influences on the satisfaction of students become the must for all educational
organizations. Nevertheless, the issue has been paid too little attention. In this research, the
challenges met by first-year students at the higher education during the pandemic will be discussed.
2. The implementation of online learning
In online education, learners are physically distant from the instructors or tutors and a medium is
required to deliver knowledge. The use of forms of technology such as computers and other devices
in learning is its major feature. It was indicated that online classes enabled learners to improve higher
order and critical thinking skills and to acquire knowledge and meaning. Desirable characteristics of
online classes also included cost reduction, the provision of convenient learning, as well as access to
quality education. The benefit of increasing level of attention more on the content of the course was
emphasized since issues such as parking and traffic were eliminated.
* Hanoi University of Industry; Email: anh_tk@haui.edu.vn

** Hanoi University of Industry; Email: loannt3@haui.edu.vn
Whilst many researchers highlighted the benefits of online classes, several shortcomings have also
been reported.
Environmental challenges
One of the most essential factors that must be called into question is the condition of students.
Face-to-face classes provide students with sufficient facilities for learning. When the unplanned
online learning was carried out, students were required to be at their place. Previous research
suggested that home environments were not conducive for students’ learning since students,
especially who lived in crowded high-density locations were not able to concentrate during online
lessons. The conditions were not well prepared; as a result, the learning process would not run well.
The lack of social interaction among distance learners was also flagged as one of the challenges
faced by students. It was suggested that social interaction played a vital role in boosting students’
learning and fulfilment with their courses. When students had a strong and active social life, they
would probably be highly persistent and satisfied with their learning. In contrast, weaker sense of
connectedness may cause lower persistence rates and learner’s satisfaction.
Technical challenges
Technological advances have undoubtedly contributed to the success of distance education. This
can be inferred that the effectiveness of the learning process relies on the application of technology.
When students had low knowledge of computer media, they might find it difficult to study online;
consequently, students and teachers were not able to mutually engage and collaborate effectively
[Bower, 2019].
In addition, Kaisara, G., & Bwalya, K. J. [2021] reported that students’ learning process was
potentially challenged by “high volume of user traffic on e-learning platform or the poor internet
network”. It was noted that student accessibility in poor network coverage areas was limited which
severly impacted their perceptions of online learning and learning outcomes.
Emotional challenges
Students’ enjoyment and satisfaction toward the learning experience impacts their learning
process. When students are at home for months, their emotional state is apparently affected. They
might be worried about their health condition, be distracted by family matters, etc. Findings reported
that there are negative connections between negative emotions and learning outcomes [Heckel &
Ringeisen, 2019].
Another consideration is how to maintain student motivation. Motivation refers to learners’
intrinsic or extrinsic stimulation to learn. It was described as the satisfaction fundamental in the
activity and the intention to reach a target. Students with a lack of motivation overall had lower
success rates than their counterparts. They tended not to have enough time to complete assignments
which results in submiting poor quality work or late assignment. Though both internal and external
motivation are influential, this study will be focused on external factors that are the major
consequences of the change in the learning condition.
The issue of online learning in Vietnam during Covid-19 pandemic has been disccussed in several
studies. Dinh,L.P., & Nguyen,T.T. [2020] investigated students’ satisfaction with their online
learning experience. Though some problems were reported, there was little quantitative analysis of
each factor impacting students’ learning. Students’ obstacles in online education were also examined
in the study of Van, D.T.H., & Thi,H.H.Q. [2021] but the focus was on the student’s barriers to the
possibility of implementing online learning in high schools in the South of Vietnam. Hence, this
study adds to literature by clarifying several challenges that were faced by language students in a
university in Vietnam.
3. Investigating the challenges faced by FFL freshmen
Language classrooms can be defined as sociolinguistic environments and discourse communities
in which interaction is believed to facilitate learners’ language development. Therefore, the transfer
from face-to-face class to online class would probably hinder the performance of language students.
That was the reason for choosing participants including 138 English-majored students.
Students participated in face-to-face learning activities since the beginning of the semester in
March, 2021. Nevertheless, due to the severity of Covid 19 pandemic, online learning became an
alternative for the last two-thirds of the semester. Previously, teachers and students already had
experience of online learning and teaching in a short time, only 2 weeks of revision in the first
semester.
To get fully insight into the challenges faced by students, the study was conducted based on the
investigation in both qualitative and quantitative data. The questionnaire was designed based on the
constructs of Aguilera-Hermida, A. P. [2020]. The questions were divided into 3 categories referring
to environmental, technical and emotional challenges. The levels of online learning challenges are
reflected on the Likert scale of 0 (very small) to 4 (severe) in which large and severe options show
great influence. An open-ended question which aimed at getting students’ explanation on their option
for each question was added. The questionnaires were then distributed to all participants via Google
Forms™ and the data was gathered after one week. 138 out of 138 participants responded to the
close-ended questions while 92 out of those answered open-ended questions. The data were then
grouped and analyzed thoroughly.
3.1. Environmental challenges
Figure 1. Concentration difficulties living at home
Figure 1 as seen above shows the percentage of respondents who claimed to face concentration
difficulties living at home. It is apparent that a significantly great number of students reported
problems in focusing while they were at home (over 70%). Family members and ambient noise
distracted students from their learning. Here are some representative quotes: ‘my house is in a
crowded neighborhood and it keeps noisy all day which sometimes makes me unable to listen to the
teachers’ and ‘sometimes my mom seems to forget the fact that I am having online classes, she keeps
talking to me even when I am wearing the earphones’. In addition, students alluded home to a place
of relaxation so paying full attention to the lessons was difficult. Students stated: "I am more
productive when being in a separate space which is away from home. Home is associated with
winding down so it takes a lot of effort to work well". This finding is in agreement with Aguilera-
Hermida, A. P. [2020]’s study which showed that the most considerable challenge perceived by
online learners was the concentration problems being at home.
Figure 2. Lack of social interaction

It can be seen from the data in Figure 2 that a great number of respondents was greatly affected by
the lack of social interaction (61%). According to the participants, online learning did not maximize
the ability of interaction between teachers and learners and among learners. They agreed that cyber-
interaction via e-learning platforms were not really natural and it could not completely replace the
traditional face-to-face interaction. However, what students claimed to be a big issue was the
interaction they should have had in their social life. "Teachers often organizes interactive activities so
to a certain extent, learners are able to interact with them and with each other. This increases the
level of collaboration and mitigates the lack of socialization." - noted one student. Nevertheless, "we
could not participate in clubs at university or have face-to-face conversations and discussions.
Consequently, we are likely to be less active and less persistent in the process of learning". The result
supports arguments in literature [Van, D.T.H., & Thi, H.H.Q., 2021] which revealed that face-to-face
teaching and learning optimized socialization while such was the weakness of online education.
3.2. Technical challenges
Figure 3. Difficulties with Internet connection
It is noteworthy that the percentage of students facing problems with Internet connection was
remarkably lower than that of those who did not. 19% stated that unstable Internet access hindered
them in learning whereas 62% indicated that they were not affected. Some respondents reported
experiencing slow connection, which prevented their attempts to access the e-learning platform. One
student reported: "Because my siblings had to study online and my parents were working online as
well, during the peak Internet hours, it took several minutes to access the learning platform. When
the weather was terrible and I was not lucky enough, I would miss a part of the lesson". However,
others expressed that they did not have any troubles with the Internet connection. Many expressed:
"It took me a few seconds to log in", "I never had any problems with the Internet access. The system
run smoothly all the time". One possible explanation for this result might be that though the network
coverage is widespread and network carriers ensure to provide high speed Internet access, the number
of people working and learning online has increased abruptly. In addition, a lot of distance workers
and learners using the internet simultaneously may contribute to accessibility challenge. This result
accords with the earlier observations, which showed that Internet access did not significantly
impacted students’ learning experience [Dinh,L.P., & Nguyen,T.T., 2020].
Figure 4. Unfamiliarity with technology
The figure points out that just a small number of students found it unfamiliar or difficult to apply
technology for online learning. Only 11% of the students were impacted by the unfamiliarity with
online learning applications or challenges in the adaptation to the use of those technological tools
while there were no troubles for 79% who mastered the online learning technology. These students
revealed that they learned Computer Literacy and Science subject at high school; thus, they are
already accustomed to the basic steps such as logging into the class, submitting the assignments,
communicating with the teachers and other students or using the applications and websites for online
learning. In addition, in their first semester at university, students had experience of uploading their
homework on an online group, peer-checking online essays and giving feedback on their classmates’
videos. Here are representative quotes: "It took me just a few minutes to be used to the learning
platform," and "I had almost no troubles with technology at all". These opinions seem to be
consistent with the previous research, which stated that if students lacked confidence in the
technology they were using, the result might affect negatively the students’ learning outcomes
[Bower, 2019].
3.3. Emotional challenges
Figure 5. Lack of motivation from teachers and other students
It can be realized from the figure above that more than a half of the students (57%) blamed their
ineffective online learning on the lack of the direct motivation from teachers and other classmates;
meanwhile one-third of the students (28%) confirmed not to be impacted by insufficient motivation
from teachers and other classmates. In response to the open-ended question, a majority of the
students reported that their teachers were always enthusiastic and supportive anytime they ran into
troubles with online learning. Furthermore, "My teacher often organizes exciting activities to raise
our interest in the lessons" was a popular comment from many students. Nevertheless, most students
added that despite of the tremendous support from teachers and classmates for online learning,
several obstacles still remained due to the space constraints which prevented several interactive
learning activities. If they had received direct support from teachers and other students, the learning
result would have been much improved. "I would prefer interacting with my teacher and my
classmates to absorbing the knowledge through the Internet and exercise system". This outcome
supports the conclusion of the prior research which showed that lack of motivation in online learning
might result in overall poor - qualilty work [Albelbisi &Yusop, 2019].
Figure 6. Negative emotions
It is obvious that a minor number of the students had negative emotions which resulted from
environmental and technical problems (12%). Some students found themselves struggling with
unstable internet connection which sometimes consequently disrupted the online learning progress.
Students also worried about their health and their family members’, especially when the Covid-19
pandemic was becoming more complicated and spreading rapidly. In contrast, it was a surprise that
65% of the students announced to have no unwanted feelings caused by e-learning. Some of them
confided that: "I have more positive emotions than negative ones because I am around with my family
members’, I feel more comfortable to study online compared to face-to-face since I do not have to
travel a long distance in uncomfortable weather to get to school", "I am always optimistic because I
am aware that online learning allows me to continue my study", etc. This finding appears to be
compatible with the previous research which indicated that emotions were an integral part of the
learning environment and influenced students’ learning experiences [Cleveland-Innes & Campbell,
2006].
4. Conclusion
The investigation of challenges of remote education encountered by students in the context of
Covid-19 pandemic has shown significant results obtained from the questionnaire. It is concluded
that home is not a proper place for study so students may have negative experience in the process of
online learning. Teachers should be conscious of this factor to deliberately promote them in order for
them not to be radically affected. Further work is also required to alleviate the lack of social
interaction and external motivation as well. Using mall nudges to show encouragement may be a
possible solution. Another measurement to take into account is developing a supportive learning
community. However, establishing and maintaining the performance of this kind of community takes
time and effort. Further studies should be conducted to examine strategies to build and cultivate a
kind of virtual community which encourages interaction and generate motivation for online learners.
In terms of technical aspects, guidelines on the use of virtual learning platforms should be provided
to help students be more knowledgeable of the tools. It is also imperative for teachers to understand
whether a student is facing problems related to internet connection or the use of devices or not.
Teachers’ insight may help reduce negative emotions which are likely to influence leaners’ outcomes
negatively. Likewise, a positive attitude towards the urgent transfer of learning among learners needs
to be developed and maintained. The teacher who plays role as a motivator should explain how
learners’ attitude affects the education experience, academic performance and learning outcomes.
Consequently, students may attempt to consciously promote their attitude towards this method of
learning.
Taken together, these findings suggest the teacher actively stimulate students’ online learning
process. It is recommended that further research regarding the roles of the teacher in online education
would be worthwhile. Moreover, the issue of supportive learning community is an intriguing one
which could be usefully explored in a further study.
REFERENCE
1. Aguilera-Hermida, A. P. (2020), “College students’ use and acceptance of emergency online
learning due to COVID-19”. International Journal of Educational Research Open, 1,
100011.
2. Albelbisi, N., & Yusop, F. (2019), Factors influencing learners’ self –regulated learning
skills in a massive open online course (MOOC) environment. Turkish Online Journal of
Distance Education, 20, pp.1–16. 10.17718/tojde.598191.
3. Ally, M. (2002, August), Designing and managing successful online distance education
courses. Workshop presented at the 2002 World Computer Congress, Montreal, Canada.
4. Bower, M. (2019), Technology‐mediated learning theory. British Journal Education Tech-
nology, 50, 1035–1048. 10.1111/bjet.12771.
5. Cleveland-Innes, M., & Campbell, P. (2006, November), Understanding emotional presence

in an online community of inquiry. Paper presented at the 12th Annual SLOAN-C ALN
Conference, Orlando, Florida.
6. Dinh, L. P., & Nguyen, T. T. (2020), Pandemic, social distancing, and social work
education: Students’ satisfaction with online education in Vietnam. Social Work
Education, 39(8), pp.1074-1083.
7. Heckel, C., & Ringeisen, T. (2019), Pride and anxiety in online learning environments:
8. Achievement emotions as mediators between learners’ characteristics and learning
outcomes. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 35, pp.667–677. 10.1111/jcal.12367.
9. Kaisara, G., & Bwalya, K. J. (2021), Investigating the E-Learning Challenges Faced by
Students during COVID-19 in Namibia. International Journal of Higher Education, 10(1),
pp.308-318.
10. Van, D. T. H., & Thi, H. H. Q. (2021), Student Barriers To Prospects Of Online Learning In
Vietnam In The Context Of Covid-19 Pandemic. Turkish Online Journal of Distance
Education, 22(3), pp.110-123.
Một số thách thức sinh viên chuyên ngành ngôn ngữ năm nhất bậc đại học
đối mặt khi học trực tuyến trong đại dịch covid-19
Tóm tắt: Hệ thống giáo dục trên toàn thế giới cũng như hệ thống giáo dục Việt Nam đã và đang
đối mặt với nhiều khó khăn do ảnh hưởng bởi đại dịch Covid 19. Việc chuyển đổi từ học trực tiếp
sang học trực tuyến trong bối cảnh đại dịch là giải pháp tối ưu để duy trì hoạt động dạy và học. Bên
cạnh những trải nghiệm thú vị, sinh viên cũng đối mặt với nhiều thách thức khi làm quen với hình
thức học mới. Nghiên cứu này được tiến hành với mục đích tìm hiểu những khó khăn mà sinh viên
năm thứ nhất, ngành ngôn ngữ Anh gặp phải trong giai đoạn học trực tuyến. Dữ liệu định lượng và
dữ liệu định tính được thu thập thông qua bảng hỏi. Bài viết nhằm mục đích chỉ ra mức độ ảnh hưởng
của các yếu tố môi trường, kĩ thuật và cảm xúc đối với sinh viên. Từ đó, đề xuất một số giải pháp để
giúp sinh viên học trực tuyến đạt hiệu quả.
Từ khóa: học trực tuyến; đại dịch Covid-19; môi trường; kĩ thuật; cảm xúc; thách thức.
INTERACTIVE ACTIVITIES DEPLOYED BY TEACHERS

IN EFL TERTIARY READING COMPREHENSION
CLASSES: TEACHER’S BELIEFS AND PRACTICE
NGUYEN THI LE HANG*
ABSTRACT: Teachers’ beliefs have been thought to have a great influence on their practices in
actual language classroom. Due to the great influence, teachers’ beliefs and practices in teaching
reading have attracted the researchers’ attention worldwide. This case study examined the teachers’
beliefs and practices in applying interactive activities in teaching reading viewed from a sociocultural
perspective. To achieve the stated purposes, four EFL teachers at a local university in the central
Vietnam were interviewed and observed in their classrooms. The collected data were analyzed using
qualitative comparative method with two main instruments, i.e. in-depth interview and classroom
observation with audio recordings. The findings of the study showed that what the teachers believed
mostly matched with what they practiced in the actual classroom. However, there were still some
deviances that appeared in the classroom. It can be concluded that the teachers’ practices were not
always consistent with their beliefs. From the research findings, suggestions were offered to both
teachers teaching reading comprehension and the researchers in the field regarding the enhancement
of instructiveness and effectiveness in second language reading.
KEY WORDS: teachers’ beliefs; teachers’ beliefs and practice; interactive activities; reading
comprehension; classroom interaction; sociocultural theory.
RECEIVED: NOVEMBER, 4th, 2021. EDITED: NOVEMBER, 17th, 2021.
1. Introduction
Along with the rapid changes of our society towards globalization and integration, English
language teaching has become a more important but challenging job. Due to its demand, a lot of
efforts have been made by not only the researchers, the educators but also the teachers with the aim
of finding out the best ways and initiatives to foster English as a foreign language (EFL) teaching and
learning. In such teaching context, teachers’ belief and practice of any field relating to education in
general and English language in particular is always an issue attracting a number of researchers’
concerns. Since classroom interactions play important roles in foreign language teaching and
learning, investigating interactive activities deployed by the teachers in language class in general and
in English class in particular may shed more light on how teachers and learners interact with each
other, and what benefit can be brought from applying interactional patterns in the teaching and
learning process. Together with studying the teachers’ beliefs of interactive activities, understanding
what the teachers do in reality to design and deploy interactive activities in English reading class, and
identifying influential factors to affect the teacher’s application of interactive activities in tertiary
reading class are also of worthiness to be investigated.
Although the issue of interactive activities in reading classes has been a matter of concern by
different researchers worldwide (Safriyani, 2017; Monarisa & Suwarno, 2016; Yusuf, 2015; Zhao &
Zhu, 2012), it is relatively new in the context of Viet Nam. As far as my understanding, hardly any
studies relating to the field of interactive activities employed by EFL teachers in reading classes,
especially the teachers’ beliefs and practice of interactive activities in EFL tertiary reading
comprehension classes in the teaching context of Vietnam from sociocultural viewpoint have been
carried out. This leads to a real demand for a scientific study of this matter conducted in the
Vietnamese setting, the result of which is expected to provide a thorough understanding about what
English teachers think about interactive activities in reading class. This article reports a study carried
out at a local university in central Vietnam to investigate whether the EFL teachers’ beliefs of
interactive activities in teaching reading comprehension to EFL students match or mismatch with
* University of Foreign Languages, Hue University; Email: hangnle.dhqb@gmail.com

their actual practice. More specifically, the study aims at exploring EFL teachers’ belief and practice
with a focus on the following areas:
1/What are EFL teachers’ beliefs of using interactive activities in tertiary reading classes?
2/What is their actual practice of using interactive activities in tertiary reading classes?
2.1. Teacher’s belief
Teacher belief plays a significant role in both teacher professional development and teaching
practice. It is an unobservable cognitive dimension of teaching including what the teachers know,
believe, and think (Borg, 2003). Vygotsky (1978) emphasized a social aspect to teacher beliefs by
including the interconnected inferences in how a person constructs themselves in relation to the
world. From his own belief constructed, a person will decide his actions. In this context, belief means
a conception, world view, and mental model that shape learning and teaching practices (Emest, 1989;
Nazari, 2014).
Although teacher’s beliefs are considered the decisive factor to shape the way for teacher’s actual
practice, some research evidence revealed that teachers’ beliefs and practices do not always integrate
or match with one another in teaching reading (Barrot, 2015; Nazari, 2014). They confessed that
teachers’ theoretically based beliefs are not related to their practices in teaching reading. There is
inconsistency between the teachers’ beliefs and their classroom practices due to a complex
interaction. In other words, teachers apply practical knowledge which is obtained from the actual
experience, not theoretical knowledge which is based on theory and principles of teaching reading
comprehension when they teach reading in the classroom (Barrot, 2015). It is an existing gap
between the teaching principles in reading comprehension and teaching beliefs of EFL teachers; and
this gap becomes more complex when teachers apply their beliefs in EFL reading class.
2.2. Vygotsky’s theory of social interaction
The sociocultural theory (SCT) of social interaction initiated by Vygotsky and his colleagues, was
chosen as the main theoretical framework for this study. One of the most outstanding features of SCT
is considering learning as social in nature where meaning is derived through language use. SCT
emphasizes the importance of social factors in language learning environment. This theory puts social
factors first by claiming that without social interaction with other more knowledgeable peers,
cognitive development will not occur (Dehqan & Ghafar, 2013). That is to say, in classroom setting,
the relationship between the teacher and student can be established through social interaction. The
state of “being social” in class is normally manifested through engaging both the teacher and the
students in different activities. This type of classroom environment, as identified by Bawa, & Zubairu
(2015), stimulates learning which leads to more participation, creating more satisfaction for both of
them. Effective learning occurs only when both instructors and students interact actively with each
other in the learning activities.
Sociocultural approach is considered to be ideal in language class since it enhances the
effectiveness of classroom language teaching and learning and creates more learning opportunities
through the interactive activities initiated by the teacher. For the sake of encouraging the learners’
participation and collaboration in the class, interactive activities seem to be the most appropriate. In
the scope of this study, I adapted Yusuf’s (2015) definition of interactive activities that they are the
activities used to foster different levels of students’ participation and various forms of activities
ranging from low to high levels of reading comprehension in order to engage students actively into
the lessons rather than passively absorb it. More specifically, with interactive activities deployed, the
teacher can engage the students into a given text and the context in which the students decodes
information to understand the meaning of the printed text.
2.3. Sociocultural Perspective in Reading Comprehension
While socio-cognitive perspective views learning is individually acquired, sociocultural theory of
learning tries to put more focus on the social factors in the process of learning. Thus, learning is not
an individualistic process and it needs to be learned in a social context with the help of some peers or
expert teachers (Lantolf & Thorne, 2006; Yang & Wilson, 2006; Zuengler & Miller, 2006). In other
words, according to sociocultural viewpoint, without social interaction with other more
knowledgeable peers, cognitive development will not occur. In addition, mediation and scaffolding
are prerequisite for cognitive development to take place (Aljaafreh & Lantolf, 1994; Lantolf &
Thorne, 2006).
In the teaching of reading, Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory is of relevance to the necessity of
reading comprehension. It aims to foster students to improve their strategic reading skills and help
them take on more responsibility of their reading activities (Duffy, 1991; Vygotsky, 1978). The
theoretical framework of sociocultural reading comprehension is based on the sociocultural theory
which emphasizes on the crucial role of social interaction in cognitive development of reading
comprehension. This perspective views that reading is interactive and both cognitive and social
aspects influence readers’ understanding on text to construct meaning (Snow, 2002; Vygotsky, 1978).
This social occurrence is peer-mediated instructions and can be fostered when teaching is focused on
the learner’s zone of proximal development (ZPD) which refers to the area between the level at
which the students is currently achieving and the level at which the student can achieve if there is
assistance (scaffolding) from a more knowledgeable person or a more sophisticated classmate. From
the viewpoint of sociocultural theory of learning, reading is a social skill which requires an active
participation and interaction of the learners involved in it (Lantolf, 2006; Remi & Lawrence, 2012).
In this regard, this study is an attempt to show the effectiveness of using sociocultural teaching
techniques (interactive activities in this context) on EFL students’ reading comprehension.
2.4. Interactive activities - An Interactional tool in EFL reading class
In EFL reading class, the term “interactive” seems to attract attention of the researchers
worldwide since they have tried to search for an active and interpretive approach to reading which
used to be thought as a receptive subject (Goodman, 1998). From the interactional angle, reading is a
process in which a reader with a purpose in mind interacts with the text through a certain activity,
extracting meanings for the purpose of comprehension. Smith (2012) agrees that reading is an
interactive process because readers constantly form hypotheses, test predictions, and use their
knowledge to construct meaning. This idea is supported by Hughes (2016) saying that reading is an
interactive, problem solving process of making meaning from texts. Reading is, therefore, viewed as
an interactive process between a reader and a text and the purposes for reading in which learners are
involved in processing, constructing texts, and elaborating its meaning to enhance comprehension.
According to Safriyani (2017), teaching reading is a more complex task since the process of
reading can be done internally and individually. Seeing the quiet seems to be the indicators of
learning taking place, which means that the reading classes are often individually assigned (Safriyani,
2017). Cognitive perspective views reading as an individual activity, and what happens in reading
activities can take place inside the reader. In contrast, sociocultural perspective views that although
this is an individual task, it does not mean it exclude interaction with others. This viewpoint regards
reading as interactive both internally and externally. While internal factor emphasizes the students’
language competence and their internal reading ability, the external factor directs its focus on the
teachers’ interference and performance to the students’ reading ability, such as teaching methods,
teaching materials, the content of reading lessons, and the potential application of the learned
knowledge in daily life. These two factors of interaction can foster or hinder learners’ reading
comprehension performance (Taladngoen, Palawatwichai, Estaban, & Phuphawan, 2020).
It cannot be denied that in the current trend of language teaching and learning in general and in
teaching reading in particular, interactive activities in classroom settings seems to be preferable
because it suits the needs of the students with different levels, from the beginner to the advanced.
Besides, although it is not as perfected as expected, it is applicable in explaining, instructing or
fostering EFL students to read the texts with the most excitement and effectiveness. The interactive
activities is, therefore, is worth being applied in reading classes (Safriyani, 2017). As identified by
Nunan (1991) and Walsh (2013), classroom interaction is of great importance since it helps the
teacher allow his/ her learners to interact and express their ideas as well as guide them to become
more reciprocal. Furthermore, it is considered to be essential for the teachers to manage their class
and the activities they set for their students in the lessons. For the sake of creating an interactive
reading class, classroom is seen as a social environment where interactional patterns can take place,
and each type of classroom interaction presents different opportunities for interaction according to
the participants’ abilities to interact and negotiate meaning (Van Lier, 2014). Classroom interaction is
of great importance to change the role of the teachers and the learners in language classes in general
and in reading comprehension class in particular. Without classroom interaction the effectiveness of
the teaching-learning process cannot be fully obtained. Since interaction plays an important role in
foreign language learning, the teacher not only focuses on the acquisition of the linguistics skill and
accuracy but the interactional process as well. Therefore, in order to create an interactional reading
classroom, teacher talk as a type of interactive activities is seen as the most appropriate way to
engage the students into the lesson and encourage an active and creative style to their learning.
3. Research methodology
This research used a descriptive qualitative case study approach to investigate teachers’ belief of
designing and deploying interactive activities to facilitate EFL students’ involvement in their reading
comprehension activities. More specifically, this qualitative research helped clarify the teachers’
beliefs in terms of teacher’s awareness, their roles, the benefits and the difficulties in employing
interactive activities in the local contexts.
The Research Context
The study was conducted at a local university in Vietnam where the EFL teachers took over their
teaching duties for English-majored students, and reading is one of the compulsory subjects to be
taught. The students’ background knowledge of the English language is not good enough even
though English is one of their core subjects at high school. It is understandable because most of them
come from rural areas where socio-economic development is still at low level, and their focus on
English language is not sufficient enough.
Participants
Purposive sampling was considered as the most suitable sampling procedure in this descriptive
study. It means that the sample was chosen by the researchers with some criteria which serve the
aims of the study (Haryanto, E. et al, 2016). In this study, four teachers from the Faculty of Foreign
Languages of a local university in central Viet Nam were invited to join as participants. They are all
female, with their ages ranging from 33 to 47 and with their instructional experience varying from 10
- 20 years. Specifically, 3 out of these 4 teacher participants have 10 - 12 years of teaching
experience while the other, senior EFL teacher, has approximately 20 years of teaching English for
EFL students. In this research, names of the participants are anonymous in order to keep the
participants confidential and make them feel comfortable as the participants.
Table 1. Information of the teacher participants
Cases Age Gender Qualification Teaching Subjects in charge
experience
T1 33 F Master in TESOL 10 years Reading comprehension, Writing,
ESP
T2 35 F Master in TESOL 11 years Reading comprehension, Writing,
ESP
T3 36 F Master in TESOL 13 years Reading Comprehension, Writing,
British Culture
T4 47 F Doctor in 20 years Reading Comprehension, Writing,
Linguistics English for tourism, Linguistics
Instruments
This research was employed as a qualitative case study exploring primarily upon the teacher talk
as interactive activities deployed in the teaching of EFL reading comprehension to enhance EFL
students’ reading ability. Classroom observation and in-depth interview were the main instruments
used to collect data for the present case study. Firstly, classroom observation is considered as the
most appropriate instrument to help the researcher investigate the actual event by probing particular
subject in real situation (Yang.et al. 2018). Accordingly, each of the classroom observation was done
in 50 minute per period, and 5 periods were observed. In addition, audio recording technique was
also used to assist the researcher in keeping the flow of classroom activities fully, systematically and
objectively. Second, in-depth interviews with four teacher participants was used to collect
information about teachers’ beliefs of interactive activities in teaching EFL tertiary reading classes.
“The in-depth interview, as its name suggests, is conducted to explore issues, personal biographies,
and what is meaningful to, or valued by, participants, how they feel about particular issues, their
attitudes, opinions and emotions. They tend to be semi-structured, to enable the course of the
participants’ responses to dictate the direction of the interview, though the researcher also has an
interview schedule to keep an interview on track, and may operate probes to inquire further into
issues”. (Cohen, Manion, & Morrison 2011, p.439).
The questions designed for the interview were identified on the basis of what the teachers as
participants believed about the application of interactive activities in a reading comprehension class.
All the questions were divided and categorized into four sub-themes which aim to answer all the sub-
questions. Wilkinson and Birmingham (2003) state that interview is used as a way to obtain detailed
information of a subject or topic, which focus more on the participant's thoughts, feelings,
experiences, knowledge, skills, ideas and preferences. Therefore, in this study, the data from the in-
depth interview was utilized to gain an in-depth understanding of the teachers’ beliefs about the
importance, the benefit, the difficulties and their roles when employing interactive activities in their
reading comprehension classes. The data were then analyzed qualitatively through interactive
models from Miles, Hubberman, & Saldana (2014) with three main steps, i.e. (1) data condensation,
(2) data display, and (3) drawing and verifying conclusion.
4. Results
The general findings focused on the teachers’ beliefs of interactive activities as reading strategies
which are most frequently used in their reading comprehension classes. The main focus was on the
teachers’ awareness of interactive activities in reading comprehension classes, the teachers’ roles
when interactive activities are facilitated, the benefits of interactive activities, and the difficulties
commonly encountered by the teachers when designing and deploying interactive activities. In
addition, the teachers’ practice in actual reading classes with interactive activities were also
mentioned. After that, the issue of matching or mismatching between the teachers’ beliefs and their
actual practice were also identified.
4.1. Teachers’ belief of interactive activities in EFL tertiary reading comprehension
The four EFL teacher participants were interviewed based on the interview guide. The teachers’
responses were audio-recorded and extracted into the result using content analysis. The results of the
interview were summarized and presented in Table 2.
Table 2. Teachers’ belief of interactive activities (IAs) in teaching reading comprehension (RC)
No Items: Teachers’ beliefs of the importance of IAs in teaching RC
The fact is that, in the case of the reading comprehension classroom, teachers’ sharing
T1 the information or ideas, eliciting the questions, and providing clear and appropriate
feedback to the students is of great importance since it has a positive effect on how well
students can develop their achievement. In contrast, the teacher’s poor transferring the
messages, asking the questions, and giving comment will impact passively on the
students’ learning development.
I think in reading comprehension class, the interaction should be frequently taken place.
1 T2 The interactional patterns take place not only among learners, learner and teacher,
teacher and learner but teacher and all learners (or a group of learners) as well. Teacher
and students need to cooperate and interact in order to help the students deal with the
comprehending tasks as effectively as possible.
T3 Interactive activities are of great importance in reading classes. By asking the students
to engage in in reading activities, we can raise the interest in reading among them, made
them more engaged in the reading lessons, from which enhances their reading skill.
T4 In my opinion, teachers should think of as much interactive activities to engage their
students into every stage of a reading comprehension lesson as possible. The types of
interaction can be varied, but they should serve the purpose of activating the students’
involvement into the reading text.
Items: Teachers’ beliefs of the benefits of IAs in teaching RC
2 T1 My interaction with students via interactive activities makes the reading class become
more active
T2 With interactive activities, the students are motivated to share their opinions, and they
are more confident and positive in the learning process
T3 Interactive activities makes the teacher-students interaction more promoted, and the
students have more positive attitudes toward learning
T4 Through learning activities, my students have a lot of chances to interact with me as
well as their friends
Items: Teachers’ beliefs of their roles in teaching RC with IAs
3 T1 Controller,Promoter
T2 Organizer, promoter, corrector
T3 Helper,Facilitator,Corrector
T4 Supporter,Promoter,Controller,assessor
Items: Teachers’ beliefs of the difficulties they may encounter in designing IAs for their
RC class
T1 Since reading comprehension tasks can be done individually with high effectiveness, it
4 takes us a lot of time to prepare for communicative tasks so that our students can
interact with us or other students.
T2 Our students’ most common problem is their background knowledge of English as well
as their proficiency of the English language, especially the unknown vocabularies,
which may make them get stuck when dealing with the reading text. Once they get stuck
in understanding the intended meaning of the reading text, they do not feel interested in
interactive activities initiated.”
T3 Sometimes I do not have enough time for the interactive or cooperative tasks, since the
time spent on individual reading occupies nearly or even more than half of the total
hours assigned for reading classes.
T4 Students’ background knowledge is considered as our mostly-confronted problem when
setting up activities for them to practice. Some are proficient, but some others are not.
Those whohave good background knowledge of language, they participate in the
activities eagerly and positively, in contrast, those with poor language competence often
keep silent or show their passiveness when joining the activities we design
At first all of the teacher participants seemed not to be familiar with the term ‘sociocultural
perspective” and the core terms presented in the sociocultural perspective in reading comprehension.
“Actually I do not know about the sociocultural theory. When I read the interview guide, I was
somewhat confused about mediated learning, scaffolding, or ZPD. After reading it over and over, I
relate the terms to my experience in teaching reading and finally I can guess what the core term is”.
(T1 said). However, after discussing with the researcher as the interviewer, they were very clear
about the terms and participated in the interview enthusiastically. The findings could be presented as
follows.
Firstly, regarding teacher’s beliefs of the importance of interactive activities in reading
comprehension classes, all participants agreed that when teaching English skills in general and
reading comprehension in particular, they were always aware of the interactive activities employed.
T1’s response showed that although teaching reading comprehension skill is somewhat different from
other skills such as speaking, writing or listening in the way that reading classes are often quieter than
the others, teachers’ design and deployment of interactive activities are of great importance. In order
to boost the students’ active participation, different types of interaction were deployed. For example,
the teacher interacted with the whole class, the teacher interacted with a group of students, a pair or
an individual student, students interacted with each other: in groups, in pairs, as individuals or as a
class and students worked with materials or aids and attempt the task once again individually, in
groups and so on.
When asked about the frequency interactive activities should be used in reading class, all four
interviewees agreed that in order to encourage the students to work interactionally and actively,
interactive activities should be frequently used, because according to them, interaction, with
communication as the focus, is the central goal of foreign language teaching and learning in either
oral or written form. Interactive activities, undoubtedly, makes the reading class more student-
centered. Through such activities, classroom interaction is facilitated, and communication derived
from interaction will be fostered. All participants agreed that interactive activities play an important
role in English as a foreign language class in general and in reading class in particular. They also
preferred using interactive activities to elicit the tasks followed by the reading passage rather than
require students to read and solve the tasks individually.
In addition, interactive activities also help tighten the relationship between the teacher and the
students, student(s) and student(s), which helps them not to be shy and unconfident when sharing
their ideas which their teachers and classmates, group-mates or their peers. This result finding seems
to be in line with Alhaisoni (2017, p.31) saying that reading is an interactive process, and the
activities set by the teachers makes this process more balanced, which leads to a more effective
interaction in reading comprehension classes. It also matches with Hall & Verplaetse (2000) claim
that “It is in their interactions with each other that teachers and students work together to create the
intellectual and practical activities that shape both the form and the content of the target language as
well as the processes and outcomes of individual development” and Mayer’s (2003) idea that
“interaction is beneficial to language development.
Secondly, the findings revealed that all four teachers showed their approval of the benefits that
interactive activities bring to both teacher and students in reading class. They all have positive beliefs
of the benefits that interactive activities bring to reading comprehension, which are proven by the
participants’ answer. In addition, all of teachers agreed that interactive activities motivate students to
participate in the lesson, help consolidate the relationship between teacher and students, and help
students improve their reading competence. These findings clarify the teachers’ positive awareness of
the advantages of interactive activities in English language teaching and learning in general and in
reading comprehension in particular. As a basic skill of the English language, reading is a
complicated skill that demands considerable effort and practice to develop. For the sake of unlocking
the unknown or what needs to be discovered in the reading passage, it is a complex cognitive activity
that is indispensable for the process of acquiring a language. It is undeniable that reading
comprehension can be well-achieved with individual efforts, but it will surely be more effective if the
reading comprehension process is implemented with interactive activities. As indicated by Millrood,
R. (2001), interaction is facilitated by the teacher and students through particular activities that
promote students to use the target language in communication. Therefore, it is important that
interactive teaching and learning environment should be created for not only speaking and listening
skills but also reading and writing ones in order to help the students be more engaged in interactive
opportunities in accordance with their language competence development.
Thirdly, regarding the role of the teacher in reading comprehension class with interactive
activities, the findings showed that the role of the teacher in reading comprehension classes with
interactive activities were varied. The findings revealed that the participants strongly believe that a
teacher has a great impact on and important role in helping students foster their reading
comprehension skills. A wide variety of activities designed and employed before, during, and after
reading are crucially necessary to activate the students’ involvements and collaboration. Thomas-
LawesBourne, Crossfiled & Peterkin (2019) regarded the teacher as one of the greatest factors in the
teaching of reading. According to them, the teacher’s motivation makes the greatest difference in
students’ achievement. The critical factor is the ability of the teacher to diagnose students’ needs,
plan suitable activities, select proper materials, monitor progress and perform the many necessary
teaching tasks skillfully while at the same time motivating students to learn and giving them the right
amount and kind of personal support (p.279). The interview result with four participants revealed that
the teacher is an important factor in the learning process and can impact positively or negatively on
the learners. Teachers, therefore, should be well trained, should maintain good student/teacher
relationship, and should achieve proper balance in developing skills and abilities in the reading
course. The interviewees also emphasized that it is the teacher who is responsible for managing the
reading class in such a way that the needs of students are satisfied. They shared the same idea that the
teacher’s expertise does not only allow for planning a set of activities for the students, for adjusting
activities to suit student’s progress. In the role of a corrector and assessor, all four participants agreed
that all of the activities should be well-designed at a manageable and challenging enough so that the
teacher can assess their students’ reading achievement.
Fourthly, all four teachers acknowledged existing difficulties they may face in the classroom.
Such difficulties faced by the teachers in designing and deploying interactive activities for their
reading comprehension classes were not hesitantly shared. Therefore, when asked about possible
difficulties they may encounter in designing and deploying interactive activities, the participants
focused their responses on such problems as time limitation, students’ language competence and
students’ motivation.
Time limitation is one of the common difficulties that the teachers often encounter in deploying
IAs for their students in reading classes. Most of them revealed that the time devoted for such IAs is
insufficient. The lack of time is seen as an external factor that the teachers cannot avoid. They
explained that since the reading texts are rather long with a number of unknown words, it takes their
students longer time to read and find out the correct answers to the assigned tasks, which makes it
difficult for them to arrange enough time for collaborative or interactive activities.
Another difficulty is the students’ background knowledge and proficiency of the English
language. As responded by the teacher participants, students’ competence of English appears to be
the most influential factor regarding the teachers’ challenges when designing interactive activities for
their students to participate in. Apparently, students’ different levels of proficiency also make it
difficult for the teacher to design the suitable activities for all of the students in reading class. The
main aim of designing interactive activities is to engage the students’ active participation into the
tasks for the sake of helping them understand the intended meaning that the reading texts. However,
the imbalance level of the students’ language competence leads to the fact that when assigned the
students into pairs or groups to discuss a question, some students do not show their eagerness or
enthusiasm participating in the discussion. In addition, the data from the interview revealed that some
EFL students seem not to understand accurately the meaning of the unknown words and their
knowledge of the English language was not substantial enough to understand the whole content of the
reading texts. Besides, students’ low motivation including students’ lack of confidence and
enthusiasm, their nervousness when interacting with teacher or friends, and their lack of language use
skills also affects the teachers’ design of interactive activities in their reading classes.
4.2. Teachers’ practices in teaching reading with interactive activities
Classroom observation of four teacher participants was done to make sure whether they really
practiced as what they their believed in teaching reading comprehension with interactive activities.
The results of the classroom observation were summarized in Table 3.
Table 3. Teachers’ practice of interactive activities (IAs) in teaching reading comprehension (RC)
No Items: The importance of IAs in teaching RC
T1 Stating the importance of IAs to teach reading to students in actual classroom practice.
1 T3 Stating the importance of IAs to teach reading to students in actual classroom practice.
Items: The necessity of IAs in teaching RC
2 T1 Stating the purpose of applying IAs in teaching reading + Asking students to work in
pairs/ groups.
T2 Stating the purpose of applying IAs in teaching reading + Asking students to work in
pairs/ groups.
T3 Stating the purpose of applying IAs in teaching reading + Asking students to work
individually.
T4 Stating the purpose of applying IAs in teaching reading + Guiding students steps by step
in RC class.
Items: The Teachers’ roles in teaching RC with IAs
3 T1 Controller Facilitator Assessor
T2 Organizer Promoter Assessor
T3 Organizer Supporter Corrector
T4 Helper Instructor Controller
Items: Difficulties teachers may encounter in designing IAs for their RC class
4 T1 Lack of time Student’s distraction Noises Student’ lack of confidence
T2 Time consuming Student’s distraction Noises
T3 Students’ low motivation Students’ unbalanced background knowledge
T4 Time consuming Students’ lack of background knowledge Students’ low
motivation.
Table 3 shows the summary of the teachers’ practice in their actual reading comprehension class.
It can be seen from this Table that most of what the teachers believed was expressed in their real
practice. However, there was some things mismatched.
Firstly, all of the teacher participants proved that they believed interactive activities was of great
importance in teaching reading comprehension for the students. At the beginning of the lesson, they
stated it to the students in order to let them know what they should do to get the best result with the
subject. Basing on this belief, most of the teacher participants tried to apply interactive activities to
foster classroom interaction in their reading lessons despite the nature of reading as individually
oriented.
Secondly, the four teacher participants proved that orally they stated the necessity of teaching
reading as what they believed. It could be seen that they all paid their attention to apply interactive
activities from the beginning of the lesson. However, their ways of interacting was somewhat
different from each other. While T1 and T2 tried to guide their students to work in pair or in groups
to discuss the reading matters or comprehension questions interactively, T3 asked the students to
work individually, and T4 instructed her students step-by-step to understand the text. From this
finding, it can be concluded that the participants’ concept of interaction was not the same. Two of
them tended to focus on teacher-whole class interaction which was more student-centered, and the
teacher controlled and guided the reading processes, the two others tended to be more teacher-
centered, which means the interaction is more teacher-mediated than student-mediated.
Thirdly, the teachers’ practice proved that they played different roles in their teaching process. For
those who preferred collaborative work, they functioned as controller, organizer, facilitator, promoter
and assessor; meanwhile, for those who often asked their students in detail to comprehend the reading
text or asked them to work individually, the teacher’s roles were mainly helper, supporter, controller
and corrector. It can also be seen from the findings that in such EFL reading classes, the tendency is
more socio-culturally-oriented than cognitively-oriented, since the process of comprehending a
reading text is not limited in individual work, instead of this, it is the process of interaction between
the teacher and the students. The teachers tried to engage their students into the activities they
employ so as to make the classroom as interactive as possible. Through the interactive activities
employed, the students feel a socially interactive atmosphere in their learning process, which makes
them more engaged and excited with the reading lessons
Fourthly, all teacher participants shared the difficulties they encountered when they applied
interactive activities for their students to engage in reading comprehension class. They confessed that
the subjective obstacles were students’ poor background knowledge and language competence, the
students’ lack of confidence, students’ low motivation, and time limitation, noise when discussing or
distraction were seen as objective ones.
5. Conclusion and implications
5.1. Conclusion
The findings of the current study brought a deep understanding about the teachers’ beliefs and
their practice of interactive activities in teaching EFL reading skills to the students at tertiary level in
Vietnam. In terms of teachers’ beliefs, relating aspects such as the teachers’ awareness of interactive
activities, their roles, the possible benefits of interactive activities, and the difficulties faced by the
teachers in designing and deploying interactive activities were analyzed. The findings show that all
teachers are highly aware of the significance of interactive activities in reading class since they are
not only helpful to the students but the teachers in charge as well. Reading as a complex process
needs the students’ active engagement at different stages of reading; teachers, therefore, should play a
wide range of roles at the same time such as the organizer, the facilitator, the corrector and the
assessor apart from the controller, which requires them to be very active, experienced and skillful. In
terms of the difficulties that the teacher often meets with in the process of teaching EFL reading skill
with interactive activities, the focuses are on the time spent on designing the activities, the students’
language competence, the students’ lack of confidence and communicative skills, the lack of
instructional materials and the students’ negative attitude toward the learning activities. As for the
teachers’ practice in actual reading comprehension classes, the findings revealed that although the
nature of reading is individually oriented, most of the teacher participants tried to apply interactive
activities to foster classroom interaction in their reading lessons. Their concept of interaction,
however, tend to focus on teacher-whole class interaction in which the teacher controls and guides
the reading processes, rather than student-centered processes, which means the interaction is more
teacher-mediated than student-mediated. It can be seen from the findings that in such EFL reading
classes, the tendency is more socio-culturally-oriented than cognitively - oriented, since the process
of comprehending a reading text is not limited in individual work, instead of this, it is the process of
interaction between the teacher and the students and between students and students. The teachers
tried to engage their students into the activities they employ so as to make the classroom as
interactive as possible. Through the interactive activities employed, the students feel a socially
interactive atmosphere in their learning process, which makes them more engaged and excited with
the reading lessons.
5.2. Implications
From the result findings, some of the possible implications are suggested for the teachers who are
in charge of teaching EFL reading skill as followed:
Firstly, EFL teachers can use the interactive activities frequently in teaching English reading to
enhance the students’ comprehension and improve students’ motivation in learning English reading
comprehension. Teachers are the primary source to boost the students better at their reading ability,
so their advice and encouragement are of great importance in helping the students move a step further
in developing their attitude towards reading. More importantly, teachers should be creative in
designing interactive activities as well as managing and controlling these activities in reading class so
as to avoid as much hindrances as possible and make their reading class more effective and
successful. Furthermore, since interactive activities brings a lot of benefits to both teachers and
students, assistance from the teachers may be given to students together with encouraging and
engaging the students to become active readers.
Secondly, using activities in the classroom takes time, especially when the lessons are not properly
planned. In order to overcome the time insufficiency to deploy the interactive activities in reading
comprehension class, EFL teachers need to allocate the time for each of the activities in a most
appropriate way. In other words, the teacher should consider time as a crucial factor when conducting
an activity in the way that activities should not be too short or too long. Timing is seen as one of the
most noticeable factors influencing the frequency and effectiveness of the interactive activities in
reading comprehension class. Therefore, well-balanced timing at different stages of reading
comprehension classes should be put into the teachers’ concern. .
Thirdly, teachers should be encouraged to carry out attractive and demanding activities in the most
balanced way so that students can find what suits his/her level and what he or she finds challenging.
Because of the effectiveness of interactive activities in reading comprehension classroom, the results
of this study support the application of this teaching method.
Fourthly, as for the students’ language competency, the findings showed that the low - level
language capacity leads students to the difficulties when dealing with the text. Therefore, providing
enough background knowledge for the students to read the text, participate in all activities and
understand the intended meaning of the reading text seems to be indispensable strategy that EFL
teacher should pay attention to when creating interactive activities to engage their students and
handle the problems the students may encounter in reading comprehension. Besides the activities
designed for the students to engage should be in accordance with their language level. The more
clearly the students can understand the reading text, the more enthusiastic they become when taking
part in interactive activities in their reading comprehension classes.
Lastly, due to the limitations of time and scope, this study only directed its main focus on
teachers’ belief and practices of applying interactive activities in teaching EFL reading
comprehension from sociocultural viewpoint. It should be extended with similar research adapting
other frameworks so as to get a deeper insight into this interesting topic.
REFERENCES
1. Bawa, N., & Zubairu, S. (2015), "Constructivism and Classroom Interaction". International
Journal of Modern Social Sciences, 4(2), pp.71-81.
2. Cohen, L., Manion, L., & Morrison, K. (2011), Research Methods in Education, 2nd edition.
Roulledge, ISBN 97&-0-41-558336-7.
3. Dehqan, M., & Ghafar Samar, R. (2013), "Sociocultural Theory and Reading
Comprehension: The scaffolding of readers in an EFL context". International Journal, 2(3),
pp.67-80.
4. Hall, J. K. & Verplaetse L. S (2000). Second and Foreign Language Learning Through
Classroom Interaction. Mahwah, N.J.: Lawrence Erlbaum.
5. Haryanto, E., Mukminin, A., Habibi, A., Sulistiyo, U., & Peni, M. S. (2016, November),
English Reading Comprehension Strategies Employed by The Students of First-Year English
Education Program. In Ninth International Conference on Applied Linguistics (CONAPLIN
9). Atlantis Press.
6. Miles, M. B., Huberman, A. M., & Saldana, J. (2014), Qualitative Data Analysis: A Methods
Sourcebook. Sage, ISBN 1452257876.
7. Monarisa, A., & Suwarno, B. (2016), "Teaching Reading Comprehension Through The
Interactive Technique". JOALL (Journal of Applied Linguistics & Literature), 1(1), pp.29-37.
8. Nunan, D. (1991), Language Teaching Methodology. Prentice Hall International.
9. Safriyani, R. (2017, August), Classroom Interaction in English Reading Class.
In International Conference on English Language Teaching (ICONELT 2017). Atlantis Press.
10. Smith, F. (2012), Understanding Reading: A Psycholinguistic Analysis of Reading and
Learning to Read. Routledge. New York.
11. Snow, C. (2002), Reading for Understanding: Toward an R&D Program in Reading
Comprehension: Rand Corporation.
12. Van Lier, L. (2014), Interaction in the Language Curriculum: Awareness, Autonomy and
Authenticity: Routledge.
13. Vygotsky, L. S. (1978), Mind in Society: The Development of Higher Psychological

Processes. M. Cole, V. John-Steiner, S. Scribner, & E. Souberman (Eds.). Cambridge, MA:
Harvard University Press.
14. Walsh, S. (2013), Classroom Discourse and Teacher Development: Edinburgh: Edinburgh
University Press.
15. Yusuf, H. O. (2015), “Interactive Activities and Its Impact on Students’ Performance in
Reading Comprehension in Senior Secondary Schools in Kaduna, Nigeria”. Procedia-Social
and Behavioral Sciences, 174, pp.523-528.
16. Zhao, X., & Zhu, L. (2012), “Schema Theory and College English Reading
Teaching”. English Language Teaching, 5(11), pp.111-117.
Vận dụng hoạt động tương tác trong giảng dạy kĩ năng đọc hiểu ở bậc đại học:
niềm tin và thực tiễn
Tóm tắt: Niềm tin của giảng viên được cho là có ảnh hưởng lớn đến việc triển khai hoạt động
giảng dạy trong lớp học ngoại ngữ trên thực tế. Do sự ảnh hưởng này, niềm tin và thực tế giảng dạy
của giảng viên trong việc dạy đọc hiểu đã thu hút sự chú ý của các nhà nghiên cứu trên toàn thế giới.
Nghiên cứu này xem xét tính tương quan giữa niềm tin và thực tiễn của giảng viên trong việc áp dụng
các hoạt động tương tác trong dạy đọc được nhìn từ góc độ thuyết văn hóa xã hội. Bốn giảng viên
dạy ngoại ngữ (tiếng Anh) tại một trường đại học địa phương ở miền Trung Việt Nam đã được
phỏng vấn sâu và được dự giờ lớp học của họ. Dữ liệu thu thập được phân tích bằng phương pháp so
sánh định tính với hai công cụ chính, phỏng vấn sâu và dự giờ kèm ghi âm. Kết quả của nghiên cứu
cho thấy những gì giảng viên tin tưởng hầu hết phù hợp với những gì họ áp dụng trên lớp. Tuy nhiên,
vẫn có một số sai lệch xuất hiện trong lớp học. Có thể kết luận rằng, cách làm của các giảng viên
không phải lúc nào cũng phù hợp với niềm tin của họ. Từ kết quả nghiên cứu, tác giả bài viết đã đề
xuất một số khuyến nghị đối với cả giảng viên dạy đọc hiểu và các nhà nghiên cứu trong lĩnh vực này
nhằm cải thiện khả năng dạy đọc hiểu tiếng Anh của giảng viên và tăng tính hiệu quả trong quá trình
đọc hiểu tiếng Anh của sinh viên.
Từ khóa: niềm tin của giảng viên; thực tế giảng dạy của giảng viên; hoạt động tương tác; đọc
hiểu; tương tác trong lớp học; thuyết Văn hóa-xã hội.
LANGUAGE LEARNING STRATEGIES

FOR EFL LEARNERS
HUYNH THI LONG HA* - NGUYEN THI TU OANH**
ABSTRACT: Language learning strategy is considered a crucial variable of individual differences
in second language acquisition. Therefore, since the 1970s, there has been significant attention from
researchers. This article aims to review studies concerning language learning strategy, mainly
focusing on definition, classification in general, classification in four language skills (reading,
listening, speaking, writing) in particular, and test-taking strategies. It is possible to say that research
on this issue is comparatively comprehensive with wide coverage and great achievements.
Subsequently, some pedagogical implications in terms of language learning and test-taking strategy
are suggested.
KEY WORDS: language learning strategies; test-taking strategies; EFL learners.
RECEIVED: JUNE 23rd, 2021. EDITED: NOVEMBER, 17th, 2021.
1. Introduction
Over five decades ago, the field of second language instruction theoretically shifted from
examining teaching methods to scrutinizing learning processes, resulting in an increasing number of
studies about the process of student learning. Due to this transitional phase, strategies served as a
critical contributor in the learning process to accomplish learning objectives. According to Anderson
(2005), former studies examined the fundamental strategies good language learners employ to solve
language learning tasks. Subsequently, five primary areas have engaged in the accomplishment of
language learning strategy studies: the concept of language learning strategies, the discrepancy
between language use and language learning strategies, the correlation between strategy use and
language proficiency, the possibility of transferring strategies from first language to second language
, and explicit instruction of language learning strategy (Anderson, 2005). Currently, several studies in
the field of second language strategy have been carried out emphasizing the utilization of specific
strategies in four skills: listening, speaking, reading, and writing (Anderson, 2005) since language
learning strategies are indispensable instruments, which facilitates students to handle demanding and
monotonous language tasks (O'Malley & Chamot, 1990; Oxford, 1990). This article presents some
primary notions concerning language learning strategies and discusses some main components of
language learning strategies.
2. Key definition
The concept of strategy is interpreted differently by various researchers. Oxford (1990) defined
strategy as "specific actions taken by learners to make learning easier, faster, more enjoyable, more
self-directed, more effective, and more transferrable to new situations" (p.8). Oxford (1990)
associates strategies with a variety of alternative terms used in the educational field more broadly,
including "learning skills, learning-to-learn skills, thinking skills, and problem-solving skills" (p.2).
Notwithstanding two-decade authority on learner strategies, Macaro (2001) argued that there
seems to lack complete consensus about how strategies are comprehended due to their sophisticated
overlapping aspects with other related concepts interchangeably used in various occasions. Macaro
(2001) determined these overlapping terms comprising "language skills, language processes,
mechanisms to compensate for lack of language, action plans" (p.18).
* University Foreign Languages, Hue University; Email: htlongha@hueuni.edu.vn

** University Foreign Languages, Hue University; Email: nttoanh@hueuni.edu.vn
Accordingly, as defined by Wenden and Rubin (1987), language learning strategies are associated
with the procedure, steps, plans employed by learners to advance the process of gathering, storage,
retrieval, and implementation of knowledge. Cohen (2011) shared a similar view with Wenden and
Rubin (1987); however, he highlighted the conscious aspects by regarding language learning
strategies as "thoughts and actions, consciously chosen and operationalized by language learners, to
assist them in carrying out a multiplicity of tasks from the very onset of learning to the most
advanced levels of target-language performance" (p.7).
In language testing, the employment of language strategy needs to be taken into account; in other
words, test-taking strategies play a crucial part in language assessment. Test-taking strategies are the
test-taking procedures that respondents have chosen and are aware of to some extent (Cohen, 1998).
Cohen (2011) expanded on this concept by defining the conscious process by which test takers
manage language issues and item response requirements while completing test-taking tasks.
3. Key components of language learning strategies
3.1. Language learning strategies
Within the current literature, the taxonomies of language learning strategies can be varied
concerning language test type, skill, or task. Two prominent clarification of strategies comprises
Cohen's (1998) taxonomy and Bachman and Palmer's (1996) taxonomy. Language learning strategies
refer to both conscious and semi-conscious thoughts and behaviors employed by learners with
identified purposes to enhance target language comprehension (Cohen, 1998). Additionally, language
learning strategies serve three principal objectives: first, determining necessary language materials;
second, continually connecting with the language materials; third, attaching the language material to
memory. In other words, language learning strategies are associated with identifying, grouping, and
retaining/ storing linguistic materials.
Another approach to clarify learning strategies takes metacognitive components into account
proposed by Bachman and Palmer (1996). Strategies, in this case, can be used interchangeably with
the term strategic competence, which is regarded as "higher-order executive processes that provide a
cognitive management function in language use, as well as in other cognitive activities" (p.70).
Accordingly, Bachman and Palmer (1996) elaborate on the possibility of using language derives from
the inclusiveness of learners' topical knowledge, emotional schema, and the areas of knowledge as
language users generate and decode discourse following proper ways. Of language testing, three
primary areas of metacognitive strategy helping lay the foundation for designing and advancing the
interactive test task: goal-setting, assessment, and planning (Bachman & Palmer, 1996).
3.2. Reading strategies
The instruction and use of reading strategies have become common practice in English classrooms
nowadays. It is reported that when readers encounter comprehension problems, they use strategies to
overcome their difficulties. Using reading strategies appropriately may be of great help to non-native
readers because it can serve as an effective way of overcoming language deficiency and obtaining
better reading achievement on language proficiency tests (Shang, 2011).
Reading strategies have been classified into different categories based on various models of
reading over the past few decades, among which there are many similarities between the identified
strategies. The classifications provided by the Oxford (1990) and O’Malley and Chamot (1990) have
been widely used by many researchers and scholars. In O’Malley and Chamot's classification,
reading strategies are divided into three categories, namely cognitive strategies, metacognitive
strategies, and social/affective strategies. Cognitive strategies are those that operate directly on
incoming information, manipulating it in ways that enhance learning (O’Malley & Chamot, 1990),
such as summarizing and repeating information (rereading). Metacognitive strategies focus on the
learner’s interaction with the text and include monitoring and evaluating, which would most
commonly refer to the reader’s comprehension of the text (O’Malley & Chamot, 1990).
Social/affective strategies relate to interactions with others in relation to the learning task (discussing
a text with teacher/other students) or reflecting upon one’s mental state in order to “assure oneself
that a learning activity will be successful or to reduce anxiety” (O’Malley & Chamot, 1990, p.46).
Shang (2011), following the learning strategy taxonomy proposed by Oxford (1990), categorizes
learning strategies differently from O’Malley and Chamot (1990), although there are many
similarities in the definitions of the strategies themselves. In this categorization, social/affective
strategies are split into two separate categories, implying different motivations and processes for
each. Memory strategies and compensatory strategies are also added to the list. According to Oxford
(1990, p.38-39), memory strategies refer to strategies that assist the learner in making associations in
order to store information over a more extended period mentally. Examples of strategies in this
category would include semantic mapping and grouping items together. Compensation strategies help
the learner bridge knowledge gaps such as lack of vocabulary or inadequate understanding of
grammars (Oxford, 1990). In this categorization, Shang (2011) also includes test-taking reading
strategies, which aligns with Oxford’s (1990) suggestions.
Global, general, or top-down strategies are “those having to do with background knowledge, text
gist, and textual organization” (Carrell, 1989, p.126). They include anticipating text content,
recognizing text structure, integrating information, questioning information, distinguishing main
ideas, interpreting the text, using general knowledge and associations to background, monitoring
comprehension, focusing on textual meaning as a whole, and reacting to the text. Top-down
strategies apply schematic knowledge and focus on the broad context of the text, its text structure and
discourse organization, its general meaning, its purpose, and its central topic. In other words, readers
must have background knowledge and language competence and understand cues in print that can
activate the content schemata when using general/ global/top-down strategies. On the other hand,
local or bottom-up strategies are “those having to do with sound-letter, word meaning, sentence
syntax, and text details” (Carrell, 1989, p.126) and consist of paraphrasing and rereading, questioning
the meaning of a word, and solving a vocabulary problem. These strategies use systemic knowledge
and local text context to aid comprehension.
Mokhtari and Reichard (2002) proposed three broad categories, which refer to generalized
reading strategies aiming at setting the stage for the reading act (e.g., setting a purpose for reading,
previewing text content, predicting what the text is about), problem-solving strategies, and support
reading strategies are also introduced. Problem-solving strategies can be defined as localized, focused
problem-solving, or repair strategies used when problems occur in understanding textual information
(e.g., checking one’s understanding upon encountering conflicting information, rereading for better
understanding). Reading slowly and carefully, trying to get back on track when concentration is lost,
and paying closer attention when the text becomes difficult are included in this category. Support
reading strategies involve using the support mechanisms or tools to sustain responsiveness to reading
(e.g., use of reference materials like dictionaries and other support systems).
Another category of reading strategies can be interactive strategies, which assume that translating
print to meaning involves using both print and prior knowledge. Budiharso (2014) describes these
strategies as the process of reading initiated by decoding letters and words and formulating
hypotheses about meaning. Readers using interactive strategies often start by decoding the visual
information found in the text. Then they use this to activate the higher level of schemata which
enables them to form predictions about the text understanding. At the final stage, the new information
found in the text is applied to confirm these predictions.
3.3. Listening strategies

There have been different taxonomies for listening comprehension strategies provided by many
researchers. However, O’Malley and Chamot’s (1990) taxonomy is one of the widely used
classifications. They classify learning strategies into three main categories: metacognitive strategies,
cognitive strategies, and social/affective strategies. Language learners use these strategies to reach a
common goal and ask questions for clarification and self-talk to redirect thoughts (O’Malley &
Chamot, 1990). Oxford (1990), on the other hand, divided these strategies into direct (cognitive,
memory, and compensation) and indirect (strategies which do not affect the language tasks directly,
including metacognitive, affective, and social) strategies (Oxford, 1990) and this model forms a
theoretical framework that contains an inventory of six groups of learning strategies. These strategies
apply to listening skills, including: memory, cognitive, compensation, metacognitive, affective, and
social strategies.
- Memory strategies: Learners link mental messages and use sounds and images. Linking mental
messages enables learners to group streams of speech together and to set new words into a
context. Using sounds and images of a conversation includes activities such as using keywords,
which is the process of listening to sentences to understand the overall conversation.
- Cognitive strategies: Cognitive strategies are mental activities related to brain processing and to
thinking about language. Second language learners infer from context, summarize, and translate
incoming acoustic messages. Non-native English learners apply cognitive strategies where the
learners repeatedly infer the meaning from the context, translate their first words into a second
language, and summarize what they hear in academic settings.
- Compensation strategies: Learners guess unfamiliar words or concepts by using contextual cues.
- Metacognitive strategies: Metacognitive strategies are a lot more complex, with learners thinking
about their understanding of the language. Learners have developed more schema, because they
build on more insights in the listening process and are able to question themselves. They involve
themselves in the process of connecting new information to known material, creating practice
chances, and of self-evaluation. Second language learners focus on their learning processes,
arranging and planning their learning activities, and then evaluating their learning progress.
- Affective strategies: Second language listeners self-regulate, practice deep breathing to feel
relaxed while listening, and encourage themselves when they make progress. After class, they
may regularly watch English media programs to help their listening skills or write in a learning
diary to keep track of their learning process. After a good listening performance, they may reward
themselves.
- Social strategies: Social strategies are all variants of three basic techniques including asking
questions, cooperating and empathizing with others.
These six strategies can be divided into two categories. The former three can be termed direct
strategies, and the latter three refer to indirect strategies.
4. Speaking strategies
In the area of speaking skills, some studies use theories of learning strategies as their theoretical
bases. Nakatani (2006) groups speaking strategies into seven different types, which are described as
follows:
- Fluency-oriented strategy: This strategy is seen when students pay attention to aspects like
rhythm, intonation, pronunciation, and speech clarity to improve listeners’ attention.
- Negotiation for meaning while speaking: This strategy is related to the speaker’s attempts to
negotiate with the listener. To keep and maintain their interaction and avoid breakdowns while
communicating, they both modified the message by giving examples and repeating the speech to
figure out what they wanted to say.
- Accuracy-oriented strategy: It is associated with the desire to speak English with some accuracy.
Learners pay attention to the form of their speech and look for grammatical accuracy; therefore, they
correct what they are saying by noticing their own mistakes.
- Message reduction and alteration strategy: It is closely connected with the reduction and
simplification of the message by using similar expressions to avoid breakdowns.
- Non-verbal strategy while speaking: This strategy is directly linked to the use of body language.
Learners use eye contact, gestures, and facial expressions to achieve communication.
- Message abandonment strategy: It is associated with the abandonment of the message in ESL
communication. Learners tend to give up their endeavor to communicate when they face difficulties
carrying out their message.
- Attempt to think in English strategy: This strategy is helpful for learners who think in the second
language during their speech. Learners tend to think in English and avoid thinking in their native
language.
3.4. Writing strategies
Writing involves activating a complex set of resources, including content knowledge, linguistic
knowledge (vocabulary, grammar, and text structure), and strategic understanding (provision of
relevant information). Students who are aware of their own learning process and what makes it
effective learn more (O'Malley & Chamot, 1990; Oxford, 1990).
One's writing achievement most probably will be affected by an effective writing process. Abdul
(2011) proposed a classification of writing strategies used for both non-native speakers and native
speakers of English. The questionnaire in this study stressed the idea of recursion in writing and
divided the writing process into three main components: reviewing, translating ideas into text, and
planning, as shown in Table 1.
Table 1. Writing Strategy Classification
Writing strategies Sub-strategies Assumption
Organization strategies Structure, guidance for readers
Before writing Thinking, generating, analyzing ideas in

Content strategies
L1/L2
Feedback strategies Sentences, wording, voice
Thinking, generating, mastering ideas in
Content strategies
L1/L2
Language strategies Sentences, wording, voice
When writing Organization strategies Structure, guidance for readers
Feedback strategies Questioning, getting support from others

Spelling, grammar, citations, typing,
Mechanics strategies
handwriting
Thinking, generating, mastering ideas in
After writing Content strategies
L1/L2
Spelling, grammar, citations, typing,

Mechanics strategies
handwriting
Language strategies Sentences, wording, voice
Feedback strategies Questioning, getting support from others
Organization strategies Structure, guidance for readers
3.5. Test-taking strategies

Two fundamental components need to be considered within the concept of test-taking strategies:
consciousness and goal orientation. Oxford (1990) argues that current practices of strategies indicate
strategies as conscious actions. Instinctual drives during the implementing-strategy process, as in
other skills or behaviors, result in being unthinking and uncritical (Oxford, 1990). Cohen (2006)
shares a similar view on continuing controversy towards consciousness, an integral factor in
determining test-taking strategies. More precisely, Cohen (2006) acknowledges the primary cause of
disagreement originating from "to how conscious of and attentive to their language behaviors learners
need to be in order for those behaviors to considered strategies" (p.93).
Oxford (1990) coins the term "problem orientation" as a prominent characteristic of language
strategies associated with goal orientation. Strategies are viewed as tools to serve some functions:
problem-solving, task accomplishment, objective fulfillment, and goal attainment. Likewise, Cohen
(2006) emphasizes that two different perspectives are introduced with their own distinctions related
to goal orientation. The first tendency highlights the demand for strategies to be "specific, small, and
part of a combination of strategies related to a task" (p.93). The other supports the view that strategies
need to be broader, flexible, and widespread.
4. Conclusions
In conclusion, all EFL learners use language learning strategies in their learning process, which
are proved to have significant correlation with language proficiency. Good language learners
commonly vary their use of learning strategies depending on their learning purposes. Therefore,
identifying and mastering language learning strategies as well as specific skills strategies will
significantly contribute to the learning process. EFL learners who are equipped with knowledge about
learning strategies and test-taking strategies will perform better in their language tests and language
use. In other words, language learners who undergo explicit strategy training and experimenting with
different strategies can lead to more effective learning (O’Malley & Chamot, 1990). English teachers
should embed different language learning strategies in their teaching and instruction to help learners
become more strategic. Moreover, teachers should also pay attention to the instruction of test-taking
strategies so that learners can perform well in their tests. Obviously, when language learning
strategies are taught to students, either explicitly or implicitly, perhaps students would be more aware
of how to tackle any language task or language related situation for that matter, without the presence
of any language teachers. This will definitely promote life-long learning among EFL learners.
REFERENCES
1. Abdul-Rahman. (2011), An investigation into the English academic writing strategies
employed by students of HE in the NE of England with particular reference to their
nationalities and gender. Doctoral thesis, University of Sunderland.
2. Anderson, N. J. (2005), L2 learning strategies. In E. Hinkel. (Ed.), Handbook of research
in second language teaching and learning. Mahwah: NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
3. Bachman, F., & Palmer, S. (1996), Language Testing in Practice. Oxford, England:
Oxford University Press.
4. Budiharso, T. (2014), Reading strategies in EFL classroom: A theoretical review.
Cendekia, 8(2), pp.189-204.
5. Carrell, P. L. (1989), Metacognitive awareness and second language reading. Modern
Language Journal, 73(2), pp.120-133.
6. Cohen, A. D. (1998), Strategies in learning and using a second language. London:
Longman.
7. Cohen, A. D. (2006), The coming of age of research on test-taking strategies. Language
Assessment Quarterly, 3(4), 307–331. doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/15434300701333129.
8. Cohen, A. D. (2011), Strategies in learning and using a second language (1st ed.). New
York: Pearson Education.
9. Macaro, E. (2001), Strategies for language learning and for language use: Revising the
theoretical framework. The Modern Language Journal, 90(3), page.320–337.
doi:https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-4781.2006.00425.x
10. Mokhtari, K., & Reichard, C. A. (2002), Assessing students’ metacognitive awareness of
reading strategies. Journal of educational psychology, 94(2), pp.249-259.
11. Nakatani, Y. (2006), Developing an oral communication strategy inventory. The Modern
Language Journal, 90(2), pp.151-168.
12. O’Malley, J. M., & Chamot, A. U. (1990U, Learning strategies in second language
acquisition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
13. Oxford, R. L. (1990), Language learning strategies: What every teacher should know (1st
ed.). Boston: Heinle & Heinle.
14. Shang, H.-F. (2011), Exploring the relationship between EFL proficiency level and
reading strategy use. International Journal of Humanities and Social Science, 1(3), pp.18-
27.
15. Wenden, A., & Rubin, J. (1987), Learner strategies in language learning. New Jersey:
Prentice Hall.
Chiến lược học ngôn ngữ cho người học tiếng Anh như một ngoại ngữ
Tóm tắt: Chiến lược học ngôn ngữ đóng vai trò quan trọng đối với việc thể hiện sự khác biệt của
mỗi cá nhân trong quá trình tiếp thu ngôn ngữ thứ hai. Do đó, kể từ những năm 70, chủ đề này đã
nhận được nhiều sự quan tâm của các nhà nghiên cứu. Bài báo này xem xét các nghiên cứu liên quan
đến chiến lược học ngôn ngữ trên các phương diện: định nghĩa, phân loại các chiến lược học ngôn
ngữ nói chung, phân loại các chiến lược học ngôn ngữ ở bốn kĩ năng riêng biệt (đọc, nghe, nói, viết)
và các chiến lược làm bài kiểm tra. Nhìn chung, những nghiên cứu về lĩnh vực này là khá toàn diện
với phạm vi nghiên cứu rộng và các kết quả quan trọng có ý nghĩa thực tiễn. Sau đó, bài báo đề xuất
một số ý nghĩa sư phạm liên quan đến các chiến lược học ngôn ngữ.
Từ khóa: chiến lược học ngôn ngữ; các chiến lược làm bài kiểm tra; người học tiếng Anh như
một ngoại ngữ.
LANGUAGE AND CULTURAL
(RE)NAMING STREETS IN THE PREFECTURE

OF SAIGON FROM 1955 TO 1975
PHUNG THI THANH LAM * - PHAM THI THUONG THUONG**
ABSTRACT: Place names, particularly, street names, is an issue attracting scholars from various
academic fields, such as geography, linguistics, and history. Through place names, natural
characteristics and the process of settlement of people of areas can be revealed. The naming street is a
pattern that is embedded in the process of building an urban area. Naming the roads, primarily, is an
act having a purpose that helps people make sure where they will go. Then, political authorities
recognize that naming street is a useful 'vehicles of commemoration' by this 'street names and the
version of history they introduce into the public sphere belong to the semiotic makeup of local and
national identity and to the structures of power and authority' (Azaryahu, 2009).
Based on archival documents, we conduct this research to explore the motivations of renaming
streets in the Prefecture of Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City today) during 1955-1975. The results show that
the act of (re)naming streets after political shifts applied in this city was used as a useful tool by
political authorities to express the attitudes of governments about not only (re)naming street issues
but also political ideologies.
KEY WORDS: renaming streets; place names; political; prefecture of Saigon; 1955-1919.
RECEIVED: JULY, 20th, 2021. EDITED: NOVEMBER, 17th, 2021.
1. Introduction
Place names and street names are an issue that has attracted scholars from various disciplines,
such as geography, linguistics, and history. Naming streets is a pattern that is embedded in the
process of building urban areas. This act of naming, primarily, has a purpose that helps people
conceive the place where they will go to. Then, political authorities recognize that naming streets is
useful "vehicles of commemoration" because "street names […] introduce [commemoration] into the
public sphere belong to the semiotic makeup of local and national identity and to the structures of
power and authority" (Azaryahu, 2009). Moreover, names, especially street names, contain
important roles that can "turn the landscape into a world structured by the legitimating myths and
symbols of the regimes, projecting a particular view of the past and present onto the landscape" (Gill,
2005).
In recent research, researchers point out that street names and naming streets often are embedded
in the context of urbanization and in the time of political shifts. In the former contexts, street names
are embedded in expanding cities, in trading activities, and in commodities. As Duncan Light and
Craig Young (Light & Young, 2015) mentioned in their research on the economic dimension of
urban place names, "Before the nineteenth century, […] many urban streets in countries such as the
UK bore generic names related to their principal economic and commercial activities (for example,
Bread Street)". All over the world, this principle of naming streets often embeds in an earlier process
of urbanization when people gathered in areas to exchange commodities. Hence, the roads that came
across these trading areas often bore names after commodities and handicrafts. The Old Quarter of
Hanoi City is a typical illustration of this kind of street naming.
In the context of political shifts, renaming a name is erasing symbols belonging to the previous
regime and applying new symbols that belong to the reigned regime. Azaryahu (Azaryahu, 2011) has
argued that "the (re)writing of the toponymic landscapes demonstrates the connections between
cultural and political processes. In particular, it shows how power relations shape commemorative
priorities and produce certain geographies of public memories". Similarly, Alderman (Alderman,
2014) has mentioned that the process of applying new names, in other words, is a process of
* Dr; VNU-Institute of Vietnamese Studies and Development Sciences, VNU;

Email: phungthanhlam@gmail.com
** Institute of Vietnamese Studies and Development Sciences, VNU;
Email: thuongthuongpham@gmail.com
commemoration that is considering a process having a dual mechanism comprising the process of
forgetting and the process of remembering.
In the ex-Soviet Union, (re)naming streets after a political shift is a very common activity. Gill
(2005) mentioned, the new authority will create a "new regime's symbolic culture" and a center "of
the creation of a new symbolic culture is the renaming of street and place names…". Similarly, Maoz
Azaryahu has argued that "The renaming of streets is a conventional manifestation of a stage of
liminal transition in political history when the need of the new regime for legitimacy and self-
presentation is especially high. […] Through renamings, the new regime proclaims the beginning of a
new era while demonstrating both its resoluteness and its self-confidence" (Azaryahu, 1996:318).
Renaming streets, irregularly, does not only happen in the political shifts contexts but also in
societies where the conflicts of racist exist. Alderman Derek (Alderman, 1996) argues that the act of
(re)naming streets after Martin Luther King "presents efforts by African American to construct a new
geography of public memory and history" in where many landscapes have been reserved "for
remembering (and memorializing) primarily white-controlled and dominated conception of the
past"2.
In Asia, street names and naming streets have been explored from nationalism perspectives in ex-
colonial countries such as Singapore and Vietnam. According to Yeoh (Yeoh, 1992), there were two
contrary ways of naming streets in colonial Singapore between municipal and Asian communities.
Yeoh mentioned that the contrary came from "etymological content and phonetics" and the
differences showed "the different ways of signifying the landscape". Concretely, "Whereas Chinese
names tended to match the use of streets to which they were attached, municipal street names attained
a level of signification that conveyed meaning over and above the immediate material functions of
the streets themselves". In the political shifted context in Vietnam during 1945-1954, the purposes of
the act of renaming streets after Vietnamese elites and valuable traditions were considered as the
mirror "for people look at the mirror of ancestors, at previous events to be exciting, be encouraged, to
fight and to be sacrificed to not ashamed being people in freedom and independent country"3 (Đinh
Gia Thuyết, 1951:IV).
In this paper, we will focus on the (re)naming streets in the Prefecture of Saigon during 1955-
1975 when the political chaos happened in the city. To conduct this research, we investigated
archival documents in the Centre of National Archives No.2 in July 2017 and in January 2018. We
researched documents involving the process of (re)naming streets in the Prefecture of Saigon that
launched by the Republic of Vietnam.We also investigated publications and documents from
international digital libraries, for instance, the Gallica Library (https://gallica.bnf.fr). The street
names are divided into some categories, such as descriptive names, transferred names, names that
glorified historical elites, and so on. Based on analysed results, we expect to find out the answers for
two following research questions: a) What is the common reaction of political powers with
(re)naming streets when political shifts happen? b) How street names can be a useful tool to express
the political ideologies on the city-text?
2. Ho Chi Minh City: from Gia Định kinh to a megalopolis of Vietnam
Gia Định ( 嘉定 ) was a term meaning a complete quietness [sự yên tĩnh hoàn toàn]
(Indochinoises, 2017:13). This term used to refer to the area of the whole south of Vietnam in the
past (Trịnh Hoài Đức, 1999:10). Under King Gia Long’s reign, the area of Gia Định included five
trấn4: trấn Phiên An, trấn Biên Hòa, trấn Định Tường, trấn Vĩnh Long, trấn Hà Tiên. Under king Gia
Long’s recommendation in 1789, V. Ollivier built a citadel, then, this area bore the name Gia Định
2
Alderman, Derek H (1996), p.52
3
We translated from original Vietnamese document as below: "… cho quốc dân soi gương người trước, ngắm
việc ngày xưa, mà phấn khởi, mà khích ngang, mà tranh đấu, hi sinh cho khỏi thẹn là dân một nước tự do, độc
lập." (p.IV)
4
A Vietnamese administrative unit in the past that can be considered as equal as a town.
thành [Gia Định citadel]. After the rebels of Lê Văn Khôi from 1833-1835, the citadel was destroyed
by orders of King Ming Mạng. A new citadel that was smaller than the destroyed one was built in
1836 (Vương Hồng Sển, 2013:67), but it was destroyed by the French invaders in 1859.
In the past, Gia Định was an area where ‘dân thưa đất rộng, dân làm ăn không hết’ [people
scattered on the large land/area, people could not able explore this land] (Vương Hồng Sển, 2013:15).
According to records of Francis Garnier5, from 1680-1778, the Chinese people used sailboats to
transfer commodities, silk, and fruits from China to Gia Định and vice versa. Some maps created by
the French municipality show that before 1861, the citadel still existed in the area of Saigon today
and Cho Lon was named Bazar Chinois. The Arroyo Chinois and a road linked two towns. Houses
and constructions had not been built on the distance of two towns at that time6.
After coming to power, the French colonial government promulgated a decree about Ville de
Saigon on 15 June 1865. According to this decree, the acreage of Ville de Saigon was as large as the
acreage of Cho Lon that was not larger two kilometers square (Trần Hữu Quang, 2016:16-17). In this
period, the road from Cho Lon to Saigon was ‘through an immense jungle forest of Areca catechu,
coconuts, bananas, bamboos, and bushes of trees’7.
In the early French colonial period, the colonial government established two cities including Ville
de Saigon and Ville de Cho Lon. In 1931, these two cities were merged, namely Region de Saigon-
Cho Lon. Under the Republic of Viet Nam, Saigon was the capital city of the South of Vietnam from
1955 to 1975 and the Republic of Vietnam (RVN) named this region the Prefecture of Saigon [Đô
thành Sài Gòn] by the Decree on October 22, 1956.
Today, Ho Chi Minh City has nineteen inner-districts and five suburban districts and has the
highest density of population in Vietnam.
3. Renaming streets under the First Republic of Vietnam (Đệ nhất Cộng hoà) during 1955-
1963
In the early French colonialism, twenty-six streets were built by the French government in Saigon
during 1859-1865 (Baudrit, 1943:135). Initially, numbers used to name these streets, then, numbered
streets were renamed after historical figures and transferred place names (Jean, 19278, Phùng Thị
Thanh Lâm & Phạm Thị Thương Thương, upcoming). Similarly, in Chợ Lớn, there were
approximately thirty-one street names were changed from number to historical figures and place
names (Nguyễn Đình Đầu, 2007:130-32). Until 1942, the recorded number of streets in Saigon-Cho
Lon was approximately 337 units. Among these, there were 179 streets in Saigon (Baudrit, 1943) and
158 streets in Cho Lon (Service Géographique de l’Indochine, 1942).
The ideologies of colonialism and domination of the French invaders displayed strongly through
the system of street names in Saigon. Naming streets after historical people was the majority
proportion of street names in Saigon under French colonialism. People who were honored were
governors, officials, and people who contributed to the victories of France in the oriented conquest
(Admiral Courbet, Admiral Dupré, Admiral Page, Captain Arfeuille, Lieutenant Ayot, etc.). Also, the
French municipality used many transferred names for commemorating places where the French army
achieved in the first world war (1914-1918). The book of Baudrit (Baudrit, 1943) shows that there
were twenty vivacious place names were honored in Saigon, for instance, Alsace Lorraine, Argonne,
Arras, Chemins des Dames, Dixmune, Esparges, Louvain, Nancy, Reims, Verdun, Somme, and so on
Under French colonialism, very few Vietnamese people were honorees in Saigon. In the list of
street names provided by ASPAR (ASPAR, 1934), there were only five Vietnamese people
5
Quoted by Vương Hồng Sển, 2013:39-50.
6
See Plan de la Ville de Saigon. Source: http://belleindochine.free.fr/images/Plan/TDMCarteSaigon1860.jpg
7
We translated from original Vietnamese language as below: " … đi xuyên qua một khu rừng mênh mông các
cây cau, dừa, chuối, tre, và các bãi cây rậm rạp." (Trần Hữu Quang, 2016:17).
8
In a decree promulgated in February 1st, 1865 (Quoted by Trần Hữu Quang, 2016:25-26).
commemorated in Saigon until 1933-1934 including Đỗ Hữu Vị (a pilot serving in French aviation),
Huỳnh Quang Tiền, Nguyễn Tấn Nghiêm, Trương Minh Ký, and Lê Văn Duyệt, in contrast, more
Vietnamese were honored in Cho Lon. In the map of Cho Lon in 1942, there were nine Vietnamese
people honored, such as Lý Thành Nguyên, king Gia Long, Hui Bon Hoa, Petrus Ký, Nguyễn Tri
Phương, etc.
After coming to the power, on March 22, 1955, the Chief of Prefecture of Saigon-Cho Lon
proclaimed the decree involved renaming streets in the Prefecture of Saigon-Cho Lon9. According to
this decree, one hundred and seventeen streets were renamed. In 1958, the Ministry of Publics and
Traffics [Bộ Công chánh và Giao thông] announced a list of new street names that replaced old street
names applied by the French municipality in Saigon and Cho Lon10. This document listed three
hundred and forty-three streets were renamed. The lists of renamed streets in 1958 show that the First
Republic of Vietnam (RVN) applied four main categories to renaming streets in Saigon and Cho Lon
that were historical figures, geographical features, transferred names that include from local villages
names as well as from place names, and descriptive ideologies.
Like the naming streets applied by the French government, a group of historical figures takes the
biggest proportion in the categories of street names applied by the First RVN (272 per 343 totally).
The following groups were a group of transferred names from villages and a group of transferred
names from place names (53 in total). The group of geographical names takes the third position with
ten units while the group of ideologies and movements names are the lowest groups (four units
respectively). Through the new system of street names, the First RVN expected to perform the
ideology of nationalism, ideology of remaining traditional values, concretely, honoring
Confucianism, and raising new symbols of a new future for the country.
Naming streets after historical figures and ideologies
After coming to power, President Ngo Dinh Diem and his bureau raised a slogan in most of the
governed documents that focused on developing a freedom and democratic nation. To introduce this
ideology to people, renaming streets in Saigon and Cho Lon became the prior act that the new bureau
executed immediately. Firstly, the First RVN erased the majority of street names applied by the
French government including some Vietnamese honorees who collaborated with the French
government in the colonial time, such as, a pilot of the French aviation Đỗ Hữu Vị. However, some
village and place names had remained. Contrasting with the process of erasing, the First RVN
executed new street names that can support the ideologies of nationalism. In Saigon, 156 people were
honored while 116 people were honored in Cho Lon. These people included national heroes who
were considered as leaders of national defended wars (Lý Thường Kiệt, Trần Hưng Đạo, Lê Lợi,
Quang Trung, and so on), national cultural figures (Lê Quý Đôn, Bà Huyện Thanh Quan, Nguyễn
Đình Chiểu, Hồ Xuân Hương, etc), members of protest the French colonial movements (Phan Bội
Châu, Phan Chu Trinh, Huỳnh Thúc Kháng), four Chinese philosophers (Khổng Tử, Trang Tử, Mạnh
Tử, and Lão Tử), and international outstanding scholars (Jean Jacques Rousseau and Dr. Yersin).
Also, the First RVN used renaming streets as a tool to popularize people who represented the new
emerging government (Trịnh Minh Thế, Tạ Thu Thâu, Thái Lập Thành).
Additionally, some streets were named after ideologies, for instance, Tự Do (Freedom), Công Lý
(Justice), Thống Nhất (Unity), and a park’s name Dân Ước (People’s Wish), were applied like a
useful method that support performing of political ideologies on the Saigon and Cho Lon urban.
9
Southern Vietnamese Gazette [Công văn tập san Nam Việt] (1955), Nghị định số 93-KT, ngày 22 tháng Ba
năm 1955 sửa đổi tên đường trong đô thành Sài Gòn – Chợ Lớn [Decree No.93-KT, 22th March 1955, on
renaming streets in the Prefecture Saigon-Cho Lon], pp. 334-335. Centre of National Archives No.2. Code:
J.596.
10
Centre of National Archives No.2. Bảng đối chiếu tên đường mới với tên đường cũ [A list of comparison
between new street names and old street names]. Code: PTTg/4147.
These street and park names displayed two political targets of the new regime that were establishing a
free and united country for people who can believe in the justice law.
However, the list of renamed streets shows some inconsistencies between Ngo Dinh Diem’s
proclamations that were announced in many official meetings and political symbols that his bureau
performed in the space of Saigon-Cho Lon. According to Diem’s proclamations, the new regime
must focus on the struggle against three main enemies of the new regime including Colonialism,
Feudalism, and Communism.
‘Unless she renounces all her national characteristics, Vietnam must deal with all these problems
at the same time. Taken together, the struggle on all fronts comprises our total Revolution, i.e.
struggle against Colonialism, Feudalism, and Communism. Above all, we must fight these enemies
within ourselves’(Phủ Tổng thống, 1960:7).
To realize the ideology of protest monarchy and feudalism, President Ngo Dinh Diem organized a
referendum on 23th October 1955. Before the referendum day, the Minister of Ministry of Domestic
Affairs (Bộ trưởng Bộ Nội vụ) mentioned on the role of King Bao Dai, the Head of Nation (Quốc
trưởng) by the following words, such as, ‘although [the nation] had the Head of Nation but lacking
official titular’ [Tuy có Quốc trưởng nhưng danh nghĩa thiếu tính cách chính đáng] (Phủ Tổng thống,
1956:14). Also, the president mentioned that ‘people will have full right of decision whether stop or
not, from the justice perspective, the Head of Nation position of a man who was required dismissals
by people’11.
While the President Ngo Dinh Diem’s speeches oriented to protest feudalism and monarchy,
especially, to formerly Emperor Bảo Đại, surprisingly, his bureau honored eight kings of the Nguyễn
Dynasty including Gia Long, Đồng Khánh, Minh Mạng, Tự Đức, Duy Tân, Thành Thái, Hàm Nghi,
and Khải Định. Moreover, his bureau honored three lords who were the ancestors of the Nguyễn
Dynasty (Nguyễn Kim, Hiền Vương, Nguyễn Hoàng) and two princes of Nguyễn’s kings (Tuy Lý
Vương Miên Trinh, Tùng Thiện Vương Miên Thẩm). While kings Duy Tân, Thành Thái, and Hàm
Nghi were considered as patriotic kings who defended French colonialism, king Đồng Khánh,
particularly, King Khải Định were considered as puppet kings. A surprising thing should be
considered that while the First RVN eliminated most of the street names applied by the French
government, this bureau kept honoring King Khải Định who was honored by the French government
to commemorate his contribution to the process of colonialism in Indochina. Although the First RVN
proclaimed the elimination of feudalism, this regime commemorated some Chinese Confucians who
were Khổng Tử (孔夫子), Mạnh Tử (孟子), Trang Tử (莊子), Lão Tử (老子) in Cho Lon where was
a so-called as a Chinatown in ancient Saigon-Cho Lon.
In our opinion, there is a hypothesis that can explain the Diem’s inconsistencies above. Before
becoming president of the First RNV, Ngo Dinh Diem was a feudal mandarin, and his family was a
feudal bourgeois. This personal tradition could impact his inconsistencies of political attitudes. He
overthrew feudal king Bảo Đại, who used to be his lord, albeit condemning this act in traditional
Vietnamese history. Therefore, commemorating other kings of the Nguyen Dynasty and Chinese
Confucians could reduce the protestation from people.
Naming streets after transferred names
The First RVN applied fifty-three transferred street names. Among them, there are ten names
transferred from the North of Vietnam (Chương Dương, Đống Đa, Bạch Đằng, Vạn Kiếp, Bùi Chu,
Phát Diệm, Vân Đồn, Ba Đình, Bãi Sậy, Hàm Tử), four transferred names from southern provinces
(Hậu Giang, Tháp Mười, Cần Giuộc, Gò Công), one name was transferred from the name of the
11
We translated from original Vietnamese documents as below: [Đồng bào sẽ toàn quyền định đoạt có nên
chấm dứt hay không, trên phương diện pháp lý, chức vụ Quốc trưởng của một người mà đồng bào đã đòi phế
truất] (Phủ Tổng thống, 1956:15).
Cross Organization (Hồng Thập Tự), three names were transferred from movements and nation's
labels (Nghĩa Thục, Âu Lạc, Hồng Bàng), one name was transferred from Laos (Vạn Tượng), and the
remainder was transferred from names of villages surrounded Saigon and Cho Lon (Vĩnh Nam, Vĩnh
Viễn, Phú Giáo, Phú Định, Phú Hữu, Vĩnh Hưng, Chánh Hưng, and so on).
In the conflicted context when the country was separated at the seventeenth parallel after the
Geneva Agreement, the First RVN focused on raising the symbol of the unity of nation. The
President Bureau mentioned ‘the national government often showed clearly the determination of
process of protection and unity of country’12. Among some ten names transferred from the North of
Vietnam, there are five names referred to places where Vietnamese forces of the Trần Dynasty fought
and glorified with the Chinese invaders in the past (Chương Dương, Bạch Đằng, Vạn Kiếp, Vân Đồn,
Hàm Tử), one name referred to a great victory of national hero Quang Trung Nguyễn Huệ in the
battle with the invader’s forces of the Qing Dynasty (Đống Đa), two names referred to places where
happened the battles between Vietnamese revolutionists of the Cần Vương Revolution and French
forces during the last half of the 19th century (Ba Đình and Bãi Sậy). The two rest names (Bùi Chu
and Phát Diệm) honored two Catholic parishes in the North of Vietnam.
It is seen that commemorating victorious place names can be considered having two purposes:
raising the pride of national people about the glorified past of the nation and asserting the unity of the
nation. In other words, this is the way the First RVN asserted the purpose of establishing a
nationalism government.
4. Renaming streets under the Second Republic of Vietnam (Đệ Nhị Cộng hoà) from 1967 to
1975
After the army coup on the 1st, November 1963, the First of RVN was overthrown, President Ngo
Dinh Diem and his brother Ngo Dinh Nhu were assassinated, and the Second RVN was formed. The
chaotic politics happened in the prefecture of Saigon-Cho Lon from 1963 to 1975.
Having power, the Diem's government had erased totally street names applied by the French
government as well as christened new street names after Vietnamese historical figures and traditional
culture. However, the Second RVN did not erase street names applied by the First RVN. Instead, the
Second RVN asserted Việt Cộng forces [Vietnamese Communists] were the most important enemy
of the newly emerged regime. The new bureau promulgated an official document guiding (re)naming
streets both in the Prefecture of Saigon and in other provinces13 in which determined people who
could be honored as below.
Trong cuộc chiến tranh chống Cộng, rất nhiều chiến sĩ In the struggles against Communists, many
trong đó có các cấp lãnh đạo hành chánh địa phương soldiers including local administrative leaders
(tỉnh trưởng, phó tỉnh trưởng, quận trưởng, v.v) đã anh (chiefs of provinces, vice-chiefs of provinces,
dũng hy sinh vì tổ quốc. chiefs of districts, etc) sacrificed for the
country.
Là những người đang hưởng thụ sự hi sinh cao cả đó, Being benefited from those sacrifices, we need
chúng ta cần phải có một cử chỉ biết ơn đối với người to have an act of honoring the dead people to
quá cố để an ủi gia đình họ. comfort their families.
So, I require a list formed by you that makes a
Vậy tôi yêu cầu quý vị lập danh sách các vị lãnh đạo list of administrative leaders, of militias who
hành chánh, quân sự và những nghĩa quân đã anh sacrificed for the country and naming streets in
dũng đền nợ nước và cho đặt tên đường phố tại các towns, districts after their names to honor their
tỉnh lỵ, quận lỵ để tưởng thưởng công ơn của họ về
contribution spiritually.
phương diện tinh thần.
12
Phủ Tổng thống (1956:11). We translate from Vietnamese original document as below: "Chính phủ Quốc gia
đã bao lần tỏ rõ sự cương quyết trong công cuộc bảo vệ thống nhất đất nước…" .
13
Ministry of Domestic Affairs, 1965. Document of naming streets in provinces and towns (Đặt tên đường phố
tại các tỉnh lỵ, quận lỵ), Centre of National Archives No.2, Code: PTTg/10531. We translated from the original
Vietnamese language into English.
In the margin of this archival document, a municipal member mentioned that idea ‘sáng kiến hay’
[a bright and good idea]. This document led to the renaming of some streets in the prefecture of
Saigon and other provinces. In 1973, the municipal committee proposed that some of the street names
could be changed. Following this document, Tháp Mười street should be renamed Head of Nation
Phan Khắc Sửu Street, Clay Stronghold Street (đường Đồn Đất) should be renamed after Doctor Lê
Minh Trí Street, Justice Street (đường Công Lý) should be renamed after Marshal Lê Văn Tỵ Street,
Pasteur Street should be renamed after General Đỗ Cao Trí, Lục Tỉnh Street (Six Provinces Street)
should be renamed after Lieutenant-General Nguyễn Viết Thanh. After two months of discussion, the
Ministry of Domestic Affairs [Bộ Nội vụ] accepted renaming streets Tháp Mười, Đồn Đất, Lục Tỉnh
because these names were place names that ‘nothing is special’ [không có gì đặc biệt]. However, in
the map of the Prefecture of Saigon in 1973, these new names had not been displayed14.
The Ministry of Domestic Affairs considered the act of renaming streets Pasteur and Công Lý.
Because Dr. Pasteur had French nationality, the renaming street can make "cảm nghĩ không thuận
lợi" [inconvenient thinking], due to the relationship was re-connected between French and Vietnam.
Justice Street (Đường Công Lý) was not renamed because the street name embedded in the Court
located on this street, so the renaming street can make losing meaning of the street15.
In 1972, twenty-eight numbered street names were applied to new names after people in the
Prefecture of Saigon16. Surprisingly, none of the army people who displayed the attitude against
Communists were honored. In contrast, honorees were politicians (formerly the President Trần Trọng
Kim), kings and princes of the Nguyễn Dynasty (king Thiệu Trị, prince Cảnh), members of legend
and medieval dynasties (Âu Cơ, the last king of the Lý Dynasty Lý Chiêu Hoàng), scholars and
writers (Hồ Biểu Chánh, Nguyễn Tường Tam, Phạm Quỳnh, Khái Hưng, Nguyễn Văn Vĩnh, etc).
Among renamed streets applied by the Second RVN, slight nationalism showed through naming
streets after the Islands of Trường Sa (Spratly Islands) and Hoàng Sa (Paracel Islands) and after
foreign people. In the discussion of the municipal committee on the 18th, January 1974, officials
agreed bearing a new name Boulevard Hoàng Sa for formerly Boulevard governor Phương [Nguyễn
Tri Phương] and Road Trường Sa for formerly Road Thuận Kiều. However, this nationalism idea was
vetoed by municipal members in a meeting on the 28th, February 1974. Considered sensitive place
names, Paracel Islands and the Spratly Islands have not been appropriated for street names17.
5. Conclusion
This study has focused on exploring hidden political motivations behind the act of (re)naming
streets in the Prefecture of Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City today) conducted by political regimes from
1955 to 1975. The research results show that street names and naming streets have been used as a
powerful tool that can support the newly emerged government to display political ideologies in urban
spaces.
The First RVN erased all names that the French colonial government applied to streets and
proposed new names that could express the new symbols of the regime. In the political conflict
context, erasing previous street names and bearing new names were considered a tool to display the
14
Bản đồ Đô thành Sài Gòn và vùng phụ cận [Map of the Prefecture of Saigon and its environments]. Link:
https://ongvove.files.wordpress.com/2009/11/ban_do_saigon_truoc_75.jpg.
15
The Republic of Vietnam, the Bureau of President, 1973. Document of naming streets in the Prefecture (Đặt
tên đường trong Đô thành), Centre of National Archives No.2, Code: PTTg/31291.
16
The Prefecture of Saigon, Department of Planning, 1972. Decree of naming streets in the Prefecture (Nghị
định về việc đặt tên đường trong Đô thành), No.31/KH, 10 January 1972, Centre of National Archives No.2,
Code: PTTg/9591.
17
Prefecture of Saigon, Department of Planning, 1974. Document of renaming streets and public place (Thỉnh
thị về việc đổi tên đường và công trường), No.111/KH, 28 February 1974, Centre of National Archives No.2,
Code: PTTg/31291.
political ideologies of the First RVN. Like the French government, (re)naming streets after historical
people was the biggest proportion that the First RVN applied to the Prefecture of Saigon. Similar to
Trần Trọng Kim’s Cabinet, the First RVN expected to draw a picture of the independent and united
nation in the city-text by (re)naming streets after national heroes and cultural figures as well as
applying transferred names from glorified places of nation.
However, the Second RVN had not erased street names applied by the First RVN completely.
Some of the names that represented opposite ideologies had changed while names displaying
traditional values had remained.
Disclaimer
This research focuses on street names and place names only. Anything related to politics is
beyond the scope of discussion.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
Acknowledgment
We would like to thank the POSCO TJ Park Foundation for the financial support of this research.
REFERENCES
English
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2. Alderman, D. H. (2014), Naming streets, doing justice? Politics of remembering,
forgetting, and finding surrogates for African American slave heritage. Geographical
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Naming. In Acme: An international E-Journal for Critical Geographies 2011 (pp.28-33).
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8. Gill, G. (2005), Changing Symbols: The Renovation of Moscow Place Names. The
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9. Jean, B. (1927), Documents pour servir à l’histoire de Saigon, 1859 à 1865. Albert
Portail.
10. Light, D., & Young, C. (2015), Toponymy as Commodity: Exploring the Economic
Dimensions of Urban Place Names. International Journal of Urban and Regional
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11. Service Géographique de l’Indochine. (1942), Plan de Cho Lon [Map].
https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b53189369q/f1.item.r=Ville%20de%20Cholon.zoom
12. Yeoh, B. S. A. (1992), Street Names in Colonial Singapore. Geographical Review, 82(3),
313–322. https://doi.org/10.2307/215354.
Vietnamese
13. Đinh Gia Thuyết (1951), Tiểu sử các tên phố Hà Nội [Story of Hanoi’ street names]. Hội
Ái hữu Văn đoàn.
14. Indochinoises, S. des É. (2017), Địa lí học: Tự nhiên, Kinh tế & Lịch sử Nam Kỳ; Chuyên
khảo về tỉnh Gia Định [Géographie Physique, Économique, et Historique de la
Cochinchine, Monograph en Gia Định Province]. Nxb Trẻ.
15. Nguyễn Đình Đầu (2007), Địa lí Gia Định - Sài Gòn - Thành phố Hồ Chí Minh. Nxb
Tổng hợp thành phố Hồ Chí Minh.
16. Phủ Tổng thống (1956), Con đường chính nghĩa: Độc lập, Dân chủ; Hiệu triệu, diễn văn
và tuyên cáo của Tổng thống Ngô Đình Diệm https://tusachtiengviet.com/a564/con-
duong-chinh-nghia-doc-lap-dan-chu.
17. Phủ Tổng thống (1960), Hiệu triệu của Tổng thống nhân ngày song thất 1960 (Message
of the President of the Republic on the occasion of the double seventh, July 7, 1960).
https://tusachtiengviet.com/a562/trieu-hieu-cua-t-t-ngo-dinh-diem.
18. Phùng Thị Thanh Lâm, & Phạm Thị Thương Thương (upcoming), "Tên phố ở đô thị Sài
Gòn thời kỳ Pháp thuộc" (Qua tài liệu Guide Historique des rues de Saigon của André
Baudrit). Journal of Lexicography and Encyclopedia.
19. Trần Hữu Quang (2016), Hạ tầng đô thị Sài Gòn buổi đầu. Nxb Tổng hợp thành phố Hồ
Chí Minh.
20. Trịnh Hoài Đức (1999), Gia Định thành thông chí (Bản dịch của Viện Sử học). Nxb Giáo
dục.
21. Vương Hồng Sển (2013), Sài Gòn năm xưa. Nxb Tổng hợp thành phố Hồ Chí Minh.
Đặt, đổi tên phố ở đô thành Sài Gòn từ 1955 đến 1975
Tóm tắt: Địa danh nói chung và tên phố nói riêng là một chủ đề hấp dẫn các học giả từ nhiều lĩnh
vực khác nhau như địa lí học, ngôn ngữ học và lịch sử. Thông qua địa danh, người ta có thể tìm hiểu
các đặc điểm tự nhiên của vùng đất hay quá trình tụ cư của con người. Đặt tên đường phố là một địa
hạt nghiên cứu gắn với quá trình xây dựng và phát triển của đô thị, ban đầu, là một hành động nhằm
giúp con người định hướng được nơi họ cần đến. Sau đó, các thể chế chính trị nhận ra rằng đặt tên
phố là một "công cụ hữu hiệu của sự tôn vinh", bằng việc này "các tên phố và phiên bản lịch sử mà
chúng giới thiệu với không gian công cộng thuộc về những dấu hiệu đại diện cho bản sắc địa phương
và quốc gia và thuộc về cơ cấu của quyền lực và nhà cầm quyền" (Azaryahu, 2009).
Từ các nguồn tài liệu lưu trữ, nghiên cứu của chúng tôi sẽ phân tích động cơ ẩn đằng sau việc đặt
tên phố ở Đô thành Sài Gòn trong giai đoạn 1955-1975. Kết quả nghiên cứu cho thấy hành động đổi
tên phố sau những biến động về chính trị được các thể chế chính trị sử dụng như một công cụ thể
hiện thái độ của nhà cầm quyền không chỉ với những vấn đề liên quan đến tên phố mà còn là công cụ
thể hiện các thái độ chính trị của họ.
Từ khoá: đặt, đổi tên phố; địa danh; chính trị; Đô thành Sài Gòn; 1955-1975.
LANGUAGES OF ETHNIC MINORITIES IN VIET NAM
COMPILATION OF ENCYCLOPEDIC WORKS

REGARDING TRADITIONAL CULTURE OF THE LỰ
ETHNIC GROUP: POSSIBILITY AND REALITY
NGUYEN THU QUYNH* - LO THI HIEN**
ABSTRACT: As one of the ethnic minority groups with a small population in Vietnam, the Lự
ethnic group is currently under the pressure of the threat of language and cultural extinction. The
content of the article mentions the possibility and reality of compiling an encyclopedic works on the
traditional culture of the Lự ethnic group with the desire to contribute to protecting and preserving
the traditional cultural values of the Lự ethnic group, and at the same time, introduce and promote the
culture of this nation to the other ethnic groups in the great family of Vietnamese ethnic groups.
KEY WORDS: Lự ethnic group; traditional culture; encyclopedic works; encyclopedic dictionary;
encyclopedia, compilation.
1. Introduction
In recent years, the compilation and publication of encyclopedic works on traditional culture have
been increasingly highlighted in Vietnam. This fact comes from the need to learn and broaden
knowledge of ethnic groups in the process of cultural exchange and acculturation and in the context
of increasingly strong globalization.
Based on the theory and reality of traditional culture of the Lự ethnic group - one of the ethnic
minorities, this article shows the possibility and reality of the proposal on the compilation of
encyclopedia about traditional culture of the Lự ethnic group in Vietnam.
The data of the article are directly collected in the community of Lự people. The Lự collaborators
include: Old woman Tao Thị Chen, born in 1923 and Mrs. Tao Thị Ón, born in 1967; residing in
Đông Pao 1 village, Bản Hon commune, Tam Đường district, Lai Châu Province. Especially, the
article is based on the knowledge of the author (Lò Thị Hiên) - a Lự person, who was born and grown
up in Đông Pao 1 village, Bản Hon commune, Tam Đường district, Lai Châu Province.
2. Content
2.1. A situation of compilation and research of encyclopedic work on traditional culture of
ethnic groups in Vietnam
Some encyclopedic works on traditional culture of ethnic groups in Vietnam and traditional
culture of ethnic minorities can be referred such as: Dictionary of traditional culture of Tay ethnic
group (1996), Dictionary of Vietnamese traditional culture (2002), Vietnamese Dictionary: culture,
beliefs, customs (2005), Dictionary of language, culture and tourism of Ancient City - Hue (2005),
Dictionary of Vietnamese traditional culture and customs (2013), Dictionary of traditional cultures
of Thai ethnic groups (2016), Encyclopedia of traditional crafts in Vietnam (2020), etc. The works
show that researchers have paid much attention to the rich cultural picture of Vietnam in general and
Vietnam's ethnic minorities in particular. However, there have been few specialized works on
traditional culture and there has no work on the culture of ethnic minorities with a very small
population - an ethnic group at high risk of cultural degradation.
Some studies on traditional cultural encyclopedias are Entries in the Vietnamese Cultural
Encyclopedia (Ta Van Thong, 2010); Structure of an encyclopedia on traditional culture of
Vietnamese ethnic groups (Nong Thi Hong Nhung, 2014), Encyclopedia of traditional culture of
* Dr; Thai Nguyen University of Education; Email: quynhn@tnue.edu.vn

** Thai Nguyen University of Education; Email: lothihiendhsp@gmail.com
ethnic minorities in Vietnam (Ta Van Thong, 2019), etc. Such as, it can be seen that there have been
studies on compilation of encyclopedic works on traditional culture despite a low quantity.
The compilation of encyclopedic works on traditional culture of the Lự ethnic group will
contribute to a relatively comprehensive perspective of cultural heritage of the Lự ethnic group,
thereby, helping to preserve, search and honor the unique values of the traditional culture of the Lự
ethnic group in particular and traditional culture of the ethnic minorities with very small population
in Vietnam in general.
2.2. Theoretical background
2.2.1. Traditional culture
a/ Culture: an organic system of material and spiritual values created and accumulated by people
through practical activities, in the interaction between people and the natural and social environment;
b/ Traditional: antient, inherent and passed from the past.
As such, it can be understood that traditional culture is cultural values (including material culture
and spiritual culture) inherent in the past, created by humans and passed on from generation to
generation.
2.2.2. Encyclopedic work
Nguyen Kim Than combined the encyclopaedic dictionary and encyclopedia into encyclopedic
works. According to his opinion, encyclopedia is a work to systematize all knowledge for educating
readers [Nguyen Kim Than, 2003, p.648], while encyclopaedic dictionary provides brief information
to answer questions that are usually not very complicated, arising in daily life or in relation to
scientific concepts, techniques or other practical knowledge. This is the main type of book for people
to look up [Nguyen Kim Than, 2003, p.649].
Nguyen Van Loi [Nguyen Van Loi, 2013] said that the similarity between encyclopedic dictionary
and encyclopedia is the factual nature of the information given in the entries. The difference between
these two types of works is reflected in the following aspects: direction of concentration, amount of
information and sequencing. In the direction of focus, the encyclopaedic dictionary defines concepts,
events, phenomena, characters, etc; the encyclopedia provides comprehensive knowledge of
concepts, events, phenomena and characters. According to the amount of information, encyclopedic
dictionary restricts the description, explanation and analysis of history, basic knowledge, concepts
and related fields; encyclopedia describes, explains, analyzes about such aspects in a relatively
sufficient way.
In this article, the encyclopedic dictionary and encyclopedia are called encyclopedic works.
2.2.3. Encyclopedic works on traditional culture
An encyclopedic work on traditional culture is a type of research work that mentions about the
traditional culture, knowledge of cultural values (material culture and spiritual culture) passed down
from generation to generation of one or more ethnic communities.
The encyclopedic work on traditional culture of the Lự ethnic group mentioned in this article is
compiled to search and learn the knowledge about cultural values passed down from generation to
generation of the Lự community in Vietnam.
2.2.4. Macro and micro structures of encyclopedic works
The macro structure is a system of headings, i.e. a list of items, selected according to the purposes,
requirements and nature of the encyclopedic work and arranged in a certain order to form a close
structure. This is the overall structure with vertical relationships from the beginning to the end of the
work. Making a heading is an important step in compilation of macro structure of an encyclopedic
work. The headings are not discrete units but a structured and hierarchical system.
Like the macro structure, the micro structure of an encyclopedic work depends on the type, size,
purpose, requirements and object of the work. In micro structure, the heading can be a word or
phrase, placed at the beginning of the entry and arranged alphabetically. The most important part,
which is the core of the micro structure, is the hermeneutics of the item. Defining the micro structure
is exactly defining the information to be included in the index.
2.3. An introduction on the Lự ethnic group and its traditional culture
With a population of 6,757 people [Source: General Statistics Office of Vietnam, 2019], the Lự
ethnic group is one of ethnic minorities with very small population in Vietnam today. Official name:
Lự. In addition to this name, the Lự people are called by other ethnic groups as: Lặc or Lắc (meaning
that: “far”), Nhuồn (Duôn), Tháy U, Tháy Sín, Tháy Hung, Tháy Poọng, etc. The Lự people in
Vietnam originated from Yunnan, China and mainly reside in Sìn Hồ, Phong Thổ and Tam Đường
districts of Lai Châu province.
Lự is an ethnic language of Lự ethnic group, belonging to the Tai Ka - Dai language family, the
Tay-Thai branch, the Southwest Tay Thai group. Vietnam's languages that are very close to Lự
language include: Tày, Thái, Nùng, Lào, etc. The Lự ethnic group has an ancient writing system, in
the form of Sanskrit Some people in Bản Hon commune, Tam Đường district, Lai Châu province still
keep pieces of cloth with the names and ages of their ancestors written in the Lự language.
The Lự ethnic group has a rich material and spiritual cultural life. They know how to cultivate wet
rice very early; therefore, their material life is relatively stable. The cultural and spiritual life of the
Lự ethnic group is also very diverse, with its own cultural features maintained and imbued with
national identity. The Lự people have a tradition to live in stilt houses. Building houses reflects many
customs and beliefs of the community such as choosing the time of year to build a house, duration
and knowledge in exploiting materials, choosing the house direction, choosing the date and time to
build a house, etc. The main food of the Lự people is rice, maize and other crops. Traditional customs
and food of the Lự people still maintain the basic features in family and community life. Costume is
also one of the special cultural features of the Lự people. Most of the Lự women are proficient in
weaving and creating patterns on indigo-dyed fabrics. The most unique and typical festival is the
Căm Lung festival (also known as the Căm Mường festival). Because of its religious significance,
this festival is performed in a very solemn and respectful way.
2.4. A proposal of an encyclopedic work on traditional culture of the Lự ethnic group
2.4.1. An overview
2.4.1.1. Proposal bases
An encyclopedic work on traditional culture of the Lự ethnic group is proposed to be compiled
according to the following bases:
(a). Survey on the structure of published encyclopedic works on traditional culture [Huu Ngoc,
1995; Hoang Quyet - Trieu An - Hoang Duc Toan, 1996; Nguyen Thi Viet Thanh - Vuong Toan,
2016; Nguyen Nhu Y - Chu Hy, 2011].
(b). A current popular scientific classification of traditional culture. This is a basis to give an
overview of the encyclopedic knowledge belonging to the traditional culture knowledge.
(c). An analysis and synthesis of published document sources (articles in books, newspapers,
magazines, archives, radio and television, research works, thesis, dissertation, etc) related to
traditional culture of ethnic minorities in general and the Lự ethnic group in particular.
(d). Actual data collected through field trips in the locality.
2.4.1.2. Principles and rules of compilation
Principles of compilation: An encyclopedic work is a reference book. In the compilation of an
encyclopedic work on traditional culture of the Lự ethnic group, it is important to comply with the
following principles: comprehensiveness, systematicity, objectivity, accuracy, updateness and
popularity. In addition, it is necessary to base on scientific classification of elements in culture,

attaching great importance to the systematic viewpoint in building the macro and micro structures of
the work. The traditional culture of the Lự ethnic group is recognized in an objective and scientific
way in line with the laws of movement and development of things and phenomena; the historical -
social situation of the Lự ethnic community. The knowledge about traditional culture of the Lự ethnic
group is presented and described as real life. Such knowledge is also selected in a standard, unique,
attractive and popular way.
Rules of compilation:
- Dictation: For convenient search of the majority of readers, the work will use Vietnamese
alphabets to record Lự language according to the rules of Vietnamese dictatios. For special sounds
and rhymes of the Lự language that are not in Vietnamese language, special conventions shall be
used.
- An heading unit include words and meanings
- The heading units are arranged in alphabetical order of Vietnamese. The item units are written in
italics, capital letters, bold font, font size of 14. The contents of the item are written in lowercase,
italics, font size of 12.
2.4.1.3. General structure
(1) Introduction: General introduction about the Lự ethnic group, traditional culture of the Lự
ethnic group; principles and rules of compilation; spelling rules and abbreviations; how to look up,
etc.
(2) Main part: items (arranged alphabetically or arranged through the combination of knowledge
topics and alphabetical order).
(3) Index part (also known as “indexing” or “index”).
(4) The appendix: some illustrations of traditional culture, customs and practices of the Lự ethnic
group
2.4.2. Structure of the work
2.4.2.1. Macrostructure
The main items in the encyclopedic work on traditional culture of the Lự ethnic group can be
mentioned as follows:
(1). Item of material culture
a. Cultural, architectural, historical, archaeological and scenic relics
huổi (ravine), thẳm (cave), thẳm A Làng (A Lang cave), thẳm ì kiê (bat cave), thớn (forest), thớn
luông (old forest), ừ pha (rocky mountain), etc.
b. Costumes
cuống (necklace), khạt hô (head rag), lài (pattern), pọc hu (ear-ring), sai hàng (belt), sở (shirt), sở
cùn trai (men’s shirt), sở mi dình (women’s shirt), ven (bracelet), xỉn (dress), xỉn cọ (white patterned
skirt), xỉn làn (skirt without white patterns), etc.
c. Production tools, production methods
ban (harrow), bẳng nằm (water tube), he (casting-net), ít (cotton seed separator), kí (loom), nà
(ricefield), nà chiêm (fifth-month ricefield), nằm ta (water area), thay (plow), mó (grinder), khoọc
khoài (buffalo-shed), khoọc mu (piggery), làu cáy (henhouse), etc.
d. Traditional belongings
mon hô (pillow), phà la (backpack), phả cảng (blind), phả húm (blanket), phả sứa (buffer), thung
(bag), bép khảu (sticky rice container), côi (clothes box), khộc (mortari), khộc lướng (water mill),
khộc tăm khảu (rice mortar), khiếng (dish rack), khưng (rice sieve), tau phày (fire), tắng (chair), tắng
cá (bench), tắng khọp (wooden chair), tắng vai (cane chair), etc.
e. Means of transport
hừa: boat; khoài: buffalo; mà: horse, etc.
g. Homes
chàn (outdoor floor), choóc hườn (crest), hườn hảng (stilt house), khá (smoking-shelf), khòm
(veranda), khua (bridge), khửn lay (staircase), suôn (garden), ti nòn (bedroom), thiêng (shed), etc.
h. Cuisines
bay mằn khổ (fried cassava leaves), cày tàu (seaweed), cày mốc (roasted moss), cáy pỉng (broiled
chicken), dớ giảng (smoked meat), dớ pỉng (roasted meat), kha pết, kha cáy (poultry thigh), khảu
(rice/ cooked rice), khảu an (cooked rice/ ordinary rice), khảu bái ngà (sesame sticky rice), khảu ép
(rice pie), khảu khổ (fried rice), khảu khộp (ice crispies), khảu lam (bamboo-tube rice), khảu lăm
khảu leng (five-color sticky rice), khảu máy (new rice), khảu nô (rice/ sticky rice), khảu tủm (sticky
square cake), khảu tủm lem (croissant), khảu trưn (fried cake), khè hoi (snail soup), khè pi (banana
flower soup), khè pu (crab soup), khè sủm (sour soup), lảu (wine), lảu da (medicinal wine), lảu khảu
(rice wine), lảu khảu luông (bourbon), nằm mí (sauce), ngọc thố (bean sprout), nó (bamboo shoots),
nó khum (bitter bamboo shoots), nó nằm ún (warm-water bamboo shoots), nó sủm (sour bamboo
shoots), ọ (rice gruel), ọ dớ cáy (chicken and rice gruel), ọ dớ sả (minced meat porridge), pa giảng
(fried fish), pa pỉng (grilled fish), phắc (vegetable), phắc cút (coriander), thồ ố (brewed/fermented
soybeans), ừ khơ boong (pickled egg-fruit), etc.
(2). Item of intangible culture
a. Festivals, traditional games
kin chiêng (new year festival), kin khảu máy (new rice festival), lỉn mày toóc thú (playing bamboo
jacks), lỉn ư kháng (spinning, tickling), lỉn ừ còn (con bal throwing), tó cáy (cock-fighting) tò khoài
(buffalo fight), tọt ư tạ (shuttle cock), chặc chược (tug of war), thơng thơng (pillar hug game), cút cút
păng (game of passing among people standing in a circle), pu níp (crab nipping game), etc.
b. Handicrafts
chắc toóc (rend laths), pắn phải (spinning), púc phải tắm húk (growing cotton and weaving
fabric), liềng mòn (raising silkworms), san (plaiting), san hinh (kntting the fishing racket), san
muông (knitting fish baskets), san soòng (knitting papoose), tắm húk (weaving fabrics), etc.
c. Literature and folk art
cằm tài (quiz), cằm ư cón (fairy tale), cúng (drum), khắp (sing), khắp báo sao (sing love duets),
khắp mờ nà, mờ hay (sing when working in the rice-field), khắp mời lảu (sing to invite wine), páu pí
(whistle), xè (dance), pí (flute), tói cúng (beat the drum), ứ lục (lull a child to sleep), etc.
d. Customs, habits, beliefs
ải luông (eldest brother), au chi (dye teeth black), au phi khửn hườn (festival to bring ghosts to the
house), buông luô (stack of firewood), căm (abstain from something), căm đơn (confinement), cằm
kin hử me căm đơn (food for the women who have given births), căm lung (forest offerings), cằm
tham (greetings), cọ cu (friends), ha mừ li (choose a good day), ha ti phăng (choose land for grave),
hoóng (corner of worship, space of worship), hoòng khoon (soul calling ceremony), kin chiêng (new
year festival), kin khảu/kin lảu (a death anniversary), kin khảu hườn máy (new house anniversary),
kin loong/kin lảu (attend wedding), khảu lảu kin loong (wedding feast), khảu lèng ngài (daily meals),
khoon (soul), khoon phi (ghost), lẳm (ancestral altar), liềng phi (death anniversary), liềng phi pú lẳm
(worship the ancestors), lục khơi (son-in-law), lục liềng (adopted child), lục pày (daughter-in-law),
lục luông (the eldest child), mặt khoon (tie the wrist thread), mặt khoon (tie soul), ngửa tin cáy
(custom of divination by chicken feet), ngược (serpent like monster), pắt i bỉ (catch dragonfly), pi
khơi (brother-in-law), pi noòng (neighbor), phi (ghost), phi hườn (house ghost), po mo (priestess),
pùn lươn (one-month old celebration), soi sở (divination by clothes), ta leo (“dấu” leave), tẳng hườn
(build a house), tham mề (ask for a girl’s hand), tham/mặt khoon (attend a betrothal ceremony), xạ
cảu lăm hô (custom of washing hair), xú khoon khoài (buffalo worshiping ceremony), xú khoon phi
(funeral), xum phày (make a fire), xúng khơi (leading the son-in-law), xúng pày (escort the bride to
the bridegroom's house), xu mà (pray), etc.
e. Administrative organizations
bản (hamlet, village), bản Phiêng Mòn (Phiêng Mòn hamlet), bản Pa Pe (Pa Pe hamlet), bản Ti
Sàng (Ti Sàng hamlet), bản Mỏ (Mỏ hamlet), bản Máy (Máy hamlet), bản Lung Pao (Lung Pao
hamlet), bản Đông Pao (Đông Pao hamlet), bản Thẳm (Thẳm hamlet), bản Sàng Khoài (Sàng Khoài
hamlet), bản Nà Khum (Nà Khum hamlet), bản Hon (Hon hamlet), etc.
g. Languages
cằm Lừ (Lự language), tô san Lừ (Lự writing), etc.
(3). Item of typical works in the community's traditional literature
Phi cóng quáy (phi cóng quáy story), Ngù đươm (Ngù đươm story), Bun Păn (Bun Păn story), Y
Tuộc Y Tạc (Y Tuộc Y Tạc story), Po Ừ Dàn (Po Ừ Dàn story), Chiết pi noọng (Chiết pi noọng
story), Ải khí chàng (Ải khí chàng story), Phi ngược (Phi ngược story), Y hiệu mọp nạ (Y hiệu mọp
nạ story), etc.
2.4.2.2. Microstructure
(1) Items of material culture
a. Cultural, architectural, historical, archaeological and scenic relics: Heading - translated into
Vietnamese, overall explanation; Nature, time, place of occurrence; Characteristics of
cultural/architectural/historical/archaeological /scenic relics; Influences on community culture.
b. Costumes: Heading- translated into Vietnamese, overall explanation; Nature, time, place of
occurrence; Origin, characteristics, how to make costumes/how to make accessories; Influences on
community culture.
c. Production tools, production methods: Heading- translated into Vietnamese, overall
explanation; Nature, time, place of occurrence; Origins, characteristics, manufacturing methods, how
to use production tools; operation of production mode; Influences on community culture.
d. Traditional belongings: Heading- translated into Vietnamese, overall explanation; Nature, time,
place of occurrence; Origins, characteristics, manufacturing methods, how to use belongings;
Influences on community culture.
e. Means of transport: Heading- translated into Vietnamese, overall explanation; Nature, time,
place of occurrence; Origins, characteristics, manufacturing methods, how to use means of transport;
g. Houses: Heading - translated into Vietnamese, overall explanation; Nature, time, place of
occurrence; Origin, characteristics, materials, construction methods, related beliefs and customs ;
h. Cuisine: Heading- translated into Vietnamese, overall explanation; Nature, time, place of
occurrence; Origin, characteristics, materials, processing methods, related beliefs and customs ;
(2). Items of non-material culture
a. Festivals, traditional games: Heading - translated into Vietnamese, overall explanation; Nature,
time, place of occurrence; Origins, characteristics, people or community organizations, participants,
related beliefs and customs; Influences on community culture.
b. Handicraft: Heading - translated into Vietnamese, overall explanation; Nature, time, place of
occurrence; Origin, characteristics, makers, products; Influences on community culture.
c. Literature and art: Heading- translated into Vietnamese, overall explanation; Nature, time, place
of occurrence, composition; Individual or community creating literature and art works; Form, content
summary, type of work; Influences on community culture.
d. Customs, habits, beliefs: Heading - translated into Vietnamese, overall explanation; Nature,
time, place of occurrence, composition; Individual or community participating in or following
customs, habits, beliefs; Origins, characteristics, customs, practices and beliefs; Influences on
community culture.
e. Language: Heading - translated into Vietnamese, overall explanation; Language names,
variations of names; Belonging to a linguistic family, branch, branch, group, etc; Origin relationship;
Basic features of language structure; Writing; Situation of language use in the community.
Heading sample:
CĂM LUNG (CĂM MƯỜNG) - Forest worshiping ceremony (prohibiting people from coming
to hamlet) - A ceremony to express thanksgiving to the forest and pray for timely rains and favorable
weather of the Lự people, held in the forest on the 3rd and 6th day of the third lunar month every year.
The ceremony is held for three days, in which the ceremony organization lasts one day, including
very strict taboo laws.
On the first day of worship, only men are allowed to participate. The villagers selected five the
elderly people, reputable shamans to worship the forest gods by rice divination (kiếp khảu).
Sacrificial offerings include a black pig, six chickens and white wine. Households contribute money
to buy pigs and chickens and wine is brought by them. When slaughtering pigs and chickens, a small
amount of blood will be kept to apply to the lattice screen, which is placed at the beginning of the
village and on the porch of the households, to announce that the village is banned to travel. People
outside the village will not be allowed to enter the village, otherwise, they will be punished.
Both raw and cooked food is offered in the ceremony. When cooking, do not use pepper because it
will lose the sacredness. When the offerings are finished, the participants eat and drink in the forest.
Each person usually carries a pack of sticky rice, a small bowl, a pair of chopsticks, a spoon, a cup
and wine, sometimes carries a large bowl to contain food. After eating and drinking, the remaining
meat is equally divided among households.
After the worshiping ceremony, the remaining two days are called the festival and everyone shall
participate. They wear the most beautiful costumes, participate in games such as tug of war (chặc
chược), shuttle cock (tọt ư tạ), con ball throwing (lỉn ừ còn), etc. During the three days of the festival,
the people do not work and they only spend time joining this ceremony.
The forest worshiping ceremony has the meaning of religion, solemnity and respect. Through the
ceremony, the Lự people want to pray for favorable weather, good crops, full of rice, peaceful
village, and prosperous life.
4. Conclusion
In order to compile an encyclopedic work of traditional Lự ethnic culture, it is necessary to
visualize the structure, determine the principles and rules of compilation. According to the available
references, the macro structure includes 214 items belonging to subcategories: Cultural,
architectural, historical, archaeological and scenic relics; Skin; Production tools, production
methods; Traditional belongings; Means of transport; House; Cuisine; Festivals, traditional games;
Handicraft; Literature and folk art; Customs, practices and beliefs; Administrative organization;
Language. The microstructure is also visualized into the orientation to develop the database for the
compilation.
The Lự people are an ethnic group with rich material, spiritual and cultural life. The basic research
contents of compiling the encyclopedic works on traditional culture of the Lự ethnic group express
the ability and feasibility in compiling this scientific work. Compiling an encyclopedic work on the
traditional culture of the Lự ethnic group can be considered as an example of important solutions for
preserving the culture of ethnic minorities in Vietnam at risk of degradation.
REFERENCES
1. Vu Ngoc Khanh (2005), Từ điển Việt Nam: văn hóa, tín ngưỡng, phong tục (Vietnamese
dictionary: culture, beliefs, customs), Culture and Information Publishing House, Hanoi.
2. Nguyen Van Loi (2013), “Từ điển học và Bách khoa thư học (phạm vi, đối tượng và quan
hệ)” (Dictionary and Encyclopedia (scope, objects and relations)), Journal of Dictionaries &
Encyclopedias, Vol. 3 (23).
3. Huu Ngoc (Editor) (1995), Từ điển văn hóa cổ truyền Việt Nam (Dictionary of Vietnamese
traditional culture), World Publishing House, Hanoi.
4. Hoang Quyet - Trieu An - Hoang Duc Toan (1996), Từ điển văn hóa cổ truyền dân tộc Tày
(Dictionary of traditional culture of the Tay ethnic group), Ethnic Culture Publishing House,
Hanoi.
5. Nguyen Kim Than (2003), Nguyễn Kim Thản - Tuyển tập (Nguyen Kim Than - Anthology),
Social Sciences Publishing House, Hanoi.
6. Nguyen Thi Viet Thanh, Vuong Toan (co-editor) (2016), Từ điển văn hóa truyền thống các
dân tộc Thái Tày Nùng (Dictionary of traditional culture of Thai-Tay-Nung ethnic groups),
VNU Publishing House, Hanoi.
7. Ta Van Thong (2010), Mục từ trong bách khoa thư văn hóa Việt Nam (Entries in
encyclopedia of Vietnamese Culture), Journal of Dictionary and Encyclopedia, Vol. 3.
8. Ta Van Thong (editor) (2020), Dang Hoang Hai, Le Thi Nhu Nguyet, Ta Quang Tung, Từ
điển bách khoa nghề thủ công truyền thống ở Việt Nam (Encyclopedia of Vietnam's
traditional handicrafts), Thai Nguyen University Publishing House
9. Nguyen Nhu Y, Chu Huy (2011), Từ điển văn hóa, phong tục cổ truyền Việt Nam (Dictionary
of Vietnamese culture and traditional customs), Education Publishing House, Hanoi.
Biên soạn công trình bách khoa

về văn hóa cổ truyền dân tộc Lự: khả năng và hiện thực
Tóm tắt: Là một trong số những dân tộc thiểu số rất ít người ở Việt Nam, dân tộc Lự hiện đang
phải chịu sức ép của nguy cơ mai một về ngôn ngữ và văn hóa. Nội dung bài viết đề cập tới khả năng
và hiện thực của việc biên soạn công trình bách khoa về văn hóa cổ truyền dân tộc Lự với mong
muốn góp phần gìn giữ và bảo tồn những giá trị văn hóa truyền thống của dân tộc Lự, đồng thời giới
thiệu và quảng bá văn hóa của dân tộc này với các dân tộc anh em trong đại gia đình các dân tộc Việt
Nam.
Từ khóa: dân tộc Lự; văn hóa cổ truyền; công trình bách khoa; từ điển bách khoa; bách khoa thư;
biên soạn.

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4 NGÔN NGỮ & ĐỜI SỐNG Số 11b(319)-2021

LINGUISTICS AND VIETNAMMESE LINGUISTICS

(i) What are the major characteristic features of conversational implicature?

(ii) Conventional implicature

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AWARENESS OF THE WORLD THROUGH THE ANIMAL

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3. Data Source and Research Methodology

language and culture of each nation.

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SPEECH CHARACTERISTICS IN COMMUNICATION

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T01 2 38 37 71 148 2 81 119 188 390

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Phương tiện liên kết hồi chỉ zéro

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* Associate Professor, Dr.; Thăng Long University; Email: hhoang161@gmail.com

3. Educational Testing Service. (2003), TOEIC From A t Z, p. Princeton, NJ: Educational

FOREIGN LANGUAGES AND VIETNAMESE

STUDENT PERCEPTIONS OF LEARNER AUTONOMY:

* Da Lat University; Email: vundt@dlu.edu.vn

1. What are DLU English juniors’ perceptions of learner autonomy?

4.2. General description of DLU English juniors’ self-study methods

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FOREIGN LANGUAGES AND VIETNAMESE

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course learning outcomes, useful portfolio assessment on students’

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* Dr; Hanoi University of Industry; Email: hoangngoctue@haui.edu.vn

4. Le, P. H. H. (2006), “Learning vocabulary in group work in Vietnam”. RELC

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Figure 1. Concentration difficulties living at home

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Figure 3. Difficulties with Internet connection

Figure 4. Unfamiliarity with technology

Figure 5. Lack of motivation from teachers and other students