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HUE UNIVERSITY

HUE UNIVERSITY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES

DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH

RESEARCH PROPOSAL

Topic: The difficulties that students face when learning FL for B1 at

HUE university

Researchers: Trần Thị Thanh Hiền 19F7511147

Lê Thị Lài 19F7511209

Nguyễn Thị Ái Na 19F7511307

Subject : Research Method – group 2

Course instructor : Phan Quỳnh Như

Hue , 6 / 2020

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 Stable of contents 1

TITLE PAGE 1

TABLE OF CONTENTS 3

INTRODUCTION 5

Background 5

Purpose of the study 6

The importance of this study 6

Research scope
6
LITERATURE REVIEW
6

Definition of “foreign language” and “B1” 7-8

The importance of having a B1 degree at the present and in the future 8

The difficulties that students face when learning foreign language for B1 9

Some tips overcome those difficulties 10

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RESEARCH METHOD

1
Research approach
1
Participants 12

Data collection tools 13

Questionnaire 13

Interview 13

Data collection procedure 13

Data analysis
14
EXPECTED FINDINGS AND IMPLICATIONS
15

The importance of a B1 degree for students now and in the future

Common difficulties that students often face when learning foreign languages for B1

Possible conclusion and implications 15

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REFERENCES
16-17

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 CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION

1. Background:

After a period of de-addiction, students' learning process at the university. We

see students have a wide range of courses and requirements for this learning
process. We often see students lament the difficult learning process. We decided
to dive in to find out what it was, some students told us it was a foreign
language for a B1 degree. and we are also one of those students when we had to
re-study many times to prepare for the B1 exam in Chinese, foreign and foreign
languages, which is considered the most "evil" subject for students. like us ,
when we have been stuck many times besides .we always wonder why students
are upset about it and the difficulties that students are facing we spent many
days reviewing documents related to this issue, there are many related articles
but most of those documents are very old. It is no longer suitable for the
changes of the world, and the explosion of information technology. There are
several articles that offer strategies “All language learners, needless to say, use
language learning strategies in the learning process Since the factors like age,
gender, personality, motivation, self-concept, life-experience, learning style,
excitement, anxiety, etc. affect the way in which language learners learn the
target language, it is not reasonable to support the idea that all language learners
use the same good language learning strategies or should be trained in using and
developing the same strategies to become successful learners” (Shahila Zafar
and K. Meenakshi). “I wanted to find concrete research on the difficulties that
learning disabled and at-risk students face in learning a foreign language, as
well as effective teaching strategies to help students conquer these
challenges.”( ” San Rafael, CA May 2008 ) That article authored The study has
presented a series of difficulties and challenges for students with disabilities and
foreign language learners.” Another study “Foreign Language Learning
Difficulties in Italian Children: Are They Associated With Other Learning
Difficulties (M Ferrari), P Palladino -, 2007 )” also pointed out the difficulties in
learning foreign languages. After many times of studying the documents, we
realized that there is not a single article that specifically addresses the
difficulties encountered when Hue students have been and are facing when
learning foreign languages for the B1 degree. The previous articles were only
based on personal experience and implementation in a certain country, which is
general without specificity here, so we decided to conduct research to. The

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purpose is to show the most serious difficulties that students face when learning
a foreign language.

2. Purpose of the study:

Our research paper aims to find out and provide more information about the
difficulties that Hue students are facing when learning foreign languages for B1
level and useful tips for their studies. students. This study was conducted to
answer the following questions:

1. What are the difficulties that students face when learning foreign languages?

2. What are the benefits of having a B1 degree?

3. The importance of this study:

This study will investigate the difficulties faced by students studying at Hue
University. Unlike previous research articles, we focus on specifically and
thoroughly exploiting difficulties when learning foreign languages for B1
degree, thereby providing more information for Hue university students as well
as students. for teachers in the university to know more but useful information
from which students can make adjustments or steps forward for themselves. and
teachers also have appropriate teaching methods. and more efficient.

4. Research scope:

This study will be carried out in universities in Hue, students who are studying a
new foreign language for a b1 degree. Through specific student approaches.
Although it is not possible for all Hue university students to participate, we will
try and hope this research will have some success. Find out the real difficulties
for Hue university students, about learning a new foreign language for B1
degree during training.

CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter reviews the difficulties that university students face when
learning foreign languages ( English, Chinese, Japanese or Korean, ....) for B1 .
It begins with presenting the definition of “ foreign language” and “B1” , the
importance of having a B1 degree at the present and in the future . And then, the

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difficulties that students often encounter when studying B1- just a few common
difficulties. And finally, give tips and solutions to overcome those difficulties.

2.1. Definition of “foreign language” and “B1”

2.1.1. Definition of “ foreign language “

The definition of a foreign language is very diverse. For example, according

to Oxford dictionary ,it defines that: “ foreign language used attributively to
designate especially films produced in a foreign language. It appeared early 20th
century; earliest use found in The
School Review” . Foreign languages are very familiar to us and we can simply
understand that a foreign language is a language not commonly spoken in the
country of the speaker. However, there must be a defined distinction between
foreign language and second language. It is also a language not spoken in the
native country of the person referred to. For example, a German speaker living
in the Philippines can say that Filipino is a foreign language to them, or a
Japanese speaker living in China can say that Chinese is a foreign language to
them. These two characterisations do not exhaust the possible definitions,
however, and the label is occasionally applied in ways that are variously
misleading or factually inaccurate.

We can see that, nowadays, some children learn more than one language from
birth or from a very young age then they are bilingual or multilingual. These
children can be said to have two, three or more mother tongues: neither
language is foreign to that child, even if one language is a foreign language for
the vast majority of people in the child's birth country. For example, a child
learning English from his English father and Irish at school in Ireland can speak
both English and Irish, but neither is a foreign language to them. This is
common in countries such as India, South Africa, or Canada due to these
countries having multiple official languages.

2.1.2. Definition of B1

Level B1 degree is the third level of foreign language . Level B1

corresponds to independent language speakers, i.e. those who have the
necessary fluency to communicate without effort with native speakers. It is
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important to note that the Common European Framework of Reference for
Languages (CEFRL) is a system for defining and explaining different levels of
oral and written expression and comprehension for languages such as Brother. It
consists of 6 reference levels: three blocks (A or basic user, B or independent
user and C or proficient user), which are divided into two levels again, 1 and 2 .
And one thing is for sure, B1 is a mandatory condition for every student when
considering graduation
.

2.2. The importance of having a B1 degree at the present and in the future :

As mentioned above, B1 is a mandatory condition for every student when

considering graduation. and think, it is easy to find a suitable job for you in the
future if you have a B1 degree in foreign language. The popular B1 degree now
is English, but Chinese, French, Japanese, or Korean are also very good . So
why is it easy for students with a B1 degree to get a job after graduation? The
fact that, people at English level B1or another foreign languages can understand
the main points of standard input clearly on familiar problems commonly
encountered in work, school, leisure, ... situations that may arise while traveling.
You can simply understand that, when you travel or work somewhere in the
world, with a foreign language level b1 , you can communicate basicly and
understand a little of what other people want to transmiss. Furthermore, they
can produce simply connected text on topics of personal interest or familiarity.
And finally, they can describe experiences and events, dreams, hopes and
ambitions and give reasons and brief explanations for opinions and plans. This
is mean that when you go to an interview at a certain company, they can ask
simple questions in English or Chinese, ... maybe about your dreams or your
hobbies, .. With the knowledge learned in university, with level b1, you can
understand and answer it easily. So we can see that , B1 degree is so necessary
and important for ourself at present and in the future.

2.3. The difficulties that students face when learning foreign language for
B1

A foreign language is a language not commonly spoken in the country of the

speaker. As a student, a B1 degree in a foreign language is a necessary and
important condition for you to be considered for graduation. It means that, in
addition to the specialized subjects you study at your university, you need to
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choose a foreign language with a B1 level to learn. And of course, that's not
really easy. For example, if your chosen foreign language is English, it's really
popular. The fact is that, before going to university, maybe we have learned 7-
10 years of English. Maybe in high school you learned it quite well, but when
you go to college, many majors make you forget it and you find it difficult to
relearn it. Or when you choose a foreign language that is Chinese or Korean,
Japanese, etc., it can even be twice as difficult because you have not studied or
exposed much. So what are some common difficulties that university students
face when they learn foreign language for B1 ? . Is it really that difficult, or do
we not have enough experience in converting between different languages? Are
we not focused enough?

Firstly is learning from begining ( Chinese, Japanese or Korean...) .Some of us

find it difficult to start learning a new language. Almost every language learning
journey begins with the alphabet, which can be daunting for some.That is the
first obstacle. When you pass it, there will be another, such as greetings and
daily phrases. If your native language is very different from the one you started
learning, this is another hurdle to overcome.

Secondly is hesitation in speaking. Talking to locals leads us to another

difficulty that we find in learning a foreign language. Many learners hesitate to
talk to people, especially native speakers so that they don't end up feeling
ashamed if they make any mistakes. Native speakers are always happy when
someone is trying to learn their language, so they will be proud of you when
you practice your skills with them, and even if you make mistakes. They will
not laugh or criticize you, but the opposite. They can help you by correcting
your errors and by explaining to you their language.

Poor vocabulary is the most common difficulty with university students.

Speaking with native speakers leads us to another difficulty in learning a foreign
language, which is poor vocabulary. So many new words and phrases can be
hard to memorize, let alone, to use while speaking.

Another difficulties that students face is problems with grammar. Grammar is

not crucial in learning a foreign language, but it doesn't mean that it is not
important. During the learning process, it is useful to have one or more grammar
books. If you don't understand some grammar rules, feel free to ask for help as
many times as you understand it completely. The grammar of every language
certainly has its challenging parts, so if you don't understand it right from the
start, it's not the end of the world. Just be patient and practice a lot.

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And finally is thinking in another language. A lot of people think in their mother
tongue when they start learning a new language. They tend to translate words in
their head right away, which, of course, takes time. However, by doing this,
they get more and more confused. Every language speaks for itself, no matter
how similar you think your mother tongue is with the language you're learning.
You try not to translate directly.

And maybe you believe it or not, attitude is also one of the main obstacles in
learning a foreign language is your attitude. If you believe that the language is
hard and that, even if you work very hard, you might not succeed, then your
brain will not try enough. Think positive, have a positive attitude.

2.4. Some tips overcome those difficulties

In the past, oral instruction was neglected because of the misconception that
word of mouth

communication abilities that develop naturally over time and cognitive skills
associated with writing

automatically switch to similar oral communication skills (Chaney, 1998).

However, Ur (1996) considered

Speaking is the most important of the four skills (listening, speaking, reading
and writing) because everyone Speaks Problems and Difficulties Encounters
English Learners At Al Quds Open ..

People who know a language are considered speakers of that language. This
shows that using one language more important than just knowing it because
knowing a lot about the language won't help if you can't use it (Scrivener, 2005,
p.146). Surely the first thing you should do is continue to persevere and study
hard and first of all, we will achieve the goal of getting a b1 foreign language to
graduate . While studying, if you do not understand or have difficulty in some
part, boldly ask your friend or directly ask the teacher, the internet is also a good
choice. It is important that you stay focused at this point and don't get
discouraged. It's hard, but remember that this is another life challenge that you
will overcome and that will ultimately make you a better person. Think of the
day you will be successful and start talking to the locals by simple sentences.
We recommend you to speak more to native speakers because this way, you will
practice your vocabulary, use some words and phrases more often, learn
synonyms. We also recommend reading newspapers, blogs, watching movies
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and TV shows, listening to the radio in a foreign language you are learning .
Think in the language you are learning, no matter how many words or phrases
you know. Thinking in the target language is essential. Don't think of
comebacks in your native tongue only to translate into a foreign language. It
will not be beneficial for you.

In conclusion, try your best, work hard to overcome difficulties to achieve

success.

CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHOD

This chapter presents the research method. The participants, the data
collection procedure and the data analysis procedure are accurately described.

3.1. Research approach

This study will apply an experimental method, which is carried out by the
process of combining and analyzing qualitative data.

Qualitative research has a long history in sociology and has been used
within it for as long as the field has existed.

While quantitative research is useful for identifying relationships between

variables, like, for example, the connection between poverty and racial hate, it is
qualitative research that can illuminate why this connection exists by going
directly to the people themselves. Specifically in this study, the quantitative
method clarifies the relationship between the difficulties and advantages of
learning B1, the qualitative can elucidate the existence of this relationship by
directly understanding, analyzing analysis and inference.

Qualitative researchers investigate meanings, interpretations, symbols, and the

processes and relations of social life. its focus is people's experiences ( after
facing foreign language difficulties for B1).

3.2. Participants

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About more than 50 students are studying at Hue university and studying
foreign languages for B1. They participate on a voluntary basis, without
coercion. Each of them will talk about the difficulties they face when learning
foreign languages for B1. They can use both English and Vietnamese to answer.

More than fifty students from public universities will participate. These
students will have different majors and at the time the scientific research is
done, these students will take the B1 course. Participants will be invited to
provide information about their difficulties by answering questions in the
questionnaire.

3.3. Data collection tools

The questionnaire, and interviews will be utilized in this study with a view to
gathering qualitative data to gain findings of the study object. Data collected
from the combination of these two tools will supply novel and valid findings
compared to those of previous studies.

3.3.1. Questionnaire

The participants in the questionnaire included both male and female,

students from Hue universities and studying a new foreign language for a B1
degree, the language people are studying can be English, Korean, Japanese,
Chinese,... The questionnaire is easy to construct, extremely versatile and
uniquely capable of gathering a large amount of information quickly (Dörnyei,
2007)

Because of the outstanding advantages from data collection and analysis,

the questionnaire will be applied to collect data from more than 50 students
taking part in study B1 about the use of interpreting the difficulties they have to
face in essays. The questionnaire is quite easy to build, flexible, and unique so it
will save our survey and data analysis time. The questionnaire is presented in
English and Vietnamese to ensure that the participants can easily answer, the
questionnaire will have three main parts with reasonable length. The first part
explores participants' information ( male or female, student year, majors ,...) ,
the second part is used to explore the difficulties students face during their
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studies (kind of foreign language for B1 that you are studying and your current
level ; some yes/ no questions about grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation,...and
give some other difficulties you have in addition to the above difficulties) and
the third part explores ways to overcome them . It may take up to four to five
minutes for each student to complete this questionnaire.

3.3.2. Interviews

In addition to the questionnaire method, interview is also commonly used to

collect data for research because it allows participants to answer questions in
both verbally and nonverbally. Interviews can be defined as a qualitative
research technique which involves
“conducting intensive individual interviews with a small number of respondents
to explore their perspectives on a particular idea, program or situation”. We can
see that, interviews are justifiable and reliable. It offers researchers the ability to
analyze the collected data without filtering out the unnecessary information. In
addition, due to its face-to-face feature, interviews can keep the participants
focus on the questions and eventually improve the effectiveness of their
responses. There are three different formats of interviews: structured, semi-
structured and unstructured. And in this study, we use semi-structured
interviews which contains the components of both, structured and unstructured
interviews, allow participants to express their own opinions while still providing
them with a clear set of instructions. It is expected that if a participant mentions
something intriguing, the researchers can ask for more questions to expand the
interview. Interviews were conducted by five to seven random students who
studying B1 foreign languages at universities in Hue. Typically, an interview
lasts about 2-4 minutes. Important and valuable information is recorded and
noted during each interview. Interviews follow pre-defined core questions and
can be tailored to each participant's responses. The interviewees were numbered
one through five or seven without specifying their information for
confidentiality reasons.

3.4. Data collection procedure

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First, the researchers will ask the students' permission to conduct interviews
with prepared questions or backup questions for face-to-face interviews. The
questions are asked mainly about the common difficulties that students face
when learning foreign languages for B1 .

Then, the interviewer kept observational and methodological notes in order to

properly conduct the interview and gather as much information and data as were
available, including nuance, mood, and perceivable emotions of the interviewee.
As well, the interviewer kept theoretical notes and analytical memos in order to
derive and capture meaning from the interview. After listening to the recorded
interview a number of times in order to immerse himself in the words and
thoughts of the interviewee, the interviewer conducted a follow-up interview in
order to clarify, check for validity, or further draw out the interviewee’s insights
, opinions, and experiences.

After that, semi-structured interviews on this topic will be carried out with four
lecturers who have taught English Writing skills for English-majored students.

3.5. Data analysis

The process of data analysis will be divided into two periods. In the first period,
after having collected data from students by questionnaires through interviews.
In the second period, when all qualitative and quantitative data from each tool
are gathered, they will be officially analyzed.

Analyze the data obtained from the given questionnaire by calculating the
students' responses in each item of the questionnaire. Each item must be
carefully arranged and flexible with what is needed to be found to achieve the
research objective.

Data collected directly from the questionnaire will be converted into a

document to ensure completeness of the information. From the data from the
questionnaire, they will be classified to find the answers to the research
questions.

In conclusion, this chapter presented the research method approach used in the
research paper.

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Then introduce the subjects participating in the study. Additionally

the collection tools, including student questionnaires and interviews, are clearly
and objectively described. The process of data collection and data analysis is
also clearly planned.

Therefore, this study was established with the aim of collecting data to find the
answer to the research question.

EXPECTED FINDINGS AND IMPLICATIONS

1. The importance of a B1 degree for students now and in the future

In this study, before finding out the difficulties that students often face when
studying B1, the study points out the importance of a B1 degree to students. It is
not only a condition for each graduate, but also helps them easily find a job after
graduation. So that, despite facing difficulties in the learning process, students
do not give up.

2. Common difficulties that students often face when learning foreign

languages for B1

Through the process of data collection and analysis, the students' possible
difficulties in interpretation will be clarified. Students may face many
difficulties. It can be about vocabulary (vocabulary is too much and difficult,
can't learn in time), grammar (many grammatical structures are confusing and
difficult to understand), pronunciation (there are many words with the same
pronunciation but The meaning is different, or the pronunciation of the natives
is difficult to hear), ... or even the learner's own attitude (confident or
selfdeprecating...). All are authentically collected and analyzed through
questionnaires and interviews from the participants, and their information is
completely confidential.

3. Possible conclusion and implications

After analyzing the data, based on the importance and difficulties faced by
students, the research paper also offers solutions to overcome those difficulties,
helping learners to overcome them somewhat.

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