TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC HÀ NỘI

KỶ YẾU: HỘI THẢO KHOA HỌC SINH VIÊN

NĂM HỌC 2022-2023 (LẦN THỨ NHẤT)

KHOA TIẾNG ANH

02/2023
 MỤC LỤC
CÁC YẾU TỐ SIÊU NHIÊN TRONG VĂN HỌC THỜI KỲ VICTORIA ............................ 7
SVTH: Nguyễn Hải Minh 2A-19 GVHD: An Thủy Tiên...............................................................
CHÂN DUNG TẦNG LỚP CHỊU ÁP BỨC TRONG VĂN HỌC ANH THẾ KỶ 20 QUA MỘT
SỐ TÁC PHẨM CỦA GEORGE ORWELL VÀ GEORGE BERNARD SHAW .................. 16
SVTH: Nguyễn Thị Thu Hương, Nguyễn Bạch Yến - Lớp 3A-20 GVHD: Cao Xuân Thục
Anh, TS. ...........................................................................................................................................................
NHẬN THỨC CỦA SINH VIÊN NĂM THỨ HAI KHOA TIẾNG ANH TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC
HÀ NỘI VỀ HIỆU QUẢ CỦA KỸ THUẬT NÓI NHẠI TRONG VIỆC CẢI THIỆN KỸ
NĂNG PHÁT ÂM VÀ NHỮNG KHÓ KHĂN PHỔ BIẾN MÀ SINH VIÊN GẶP PHẢI KHI
THỰC HIỆN PHƯƠNG PHÁP NÀY ..................................................................................... 26
SVTH: Nguyễn Thị Kim Ngân (3A20), Nguyễn Thị Ngọc Mai (7A19). GVHD: Cao Xuân
Thục Anh, T.S. ................................................................................................................................................
SỰ TÁC ĐỘNG CỦA NGÔN NGỮ MẸ ĐẺ TỚI KĨ NĂNG VIẾT TIẾNG ANH HỌC THUẬT
CỦA SINH VIÊN VIỆT NAM ................................................................................................ 41
SVTH: Đỗ Trang Nhật Hà (9A21); Nguyễn Thanh Hằng (9A21); Nguyễn Thị Ngọc Trâm
(9A21); Nguyễn Thu Hồng (9A21) GVHD: Đặng Hoàng Anh Thư........................................................
NGHIÊN CỨU VỀ NHẬN THỨC CỦA SINH VIÊN NĂM 3 CHUYÊN NGÀNH BIÊN -
PHIÊN DỊCH Ở KHOA TIẾNG ANH, TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC HÀ NỘI VỀ ẢNH HƯỞNG CỦA
DỊCH MÁY .............................................................................................................................. 68
SVTH: Dương Thị Quỳnh Trang, Hoàng Châu Anh, Nguyễn Thị Huyền Dịu GVHD: Đặng
Ngân Giang, Ph.D ...........................................................................................................................................
VIỆC LẠM DỤNG TIẾNG ANH TRONG GIAO TIẾP CỦA SINH VIÊN NĂM NHẤT
TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC HÀ NỘI................................................................................................. 83
SVTH: Nguyễn Ngọc Sơn (2A-21), Lương Quang Vũ (2TC-21), Nguyễn Thị Phương Thảo
(2TC-21) GVHD: Đỗ Thị Hồng Phương.....................................................................................................
ẢNH HƯỞNG CỦA VIỆC XEM TED TALK ĐẾN KỸ NĂNG THUYẾT TRÌNH CỦA
SINH VIÊN KHOA ANH TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC HÀ NỘI ..................................................... 91
SVTH: Đinh Thị Lan Anh (3A-21), Lương Nhật Linh (2A-21), Đặng Vũ Hà Ly (2A-21).
GVHD: Thạc sỹ Đỗ Thị Hồng Phương ........................................................................................................
ẢNH HƯỞNG VÀ CÁCH KHẮC PHỤC HỘI CHỨNG SỢ NÓI TRƯỚC ĐÁM ĐÔNG CỦA
SINH VIÊN NĂM THỨ HAI KHOA TIẾNG ANH TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC HÀ NỘI. .......... 103
SVTH: Hà Thị Hường, Nguyễn Minh Quân, Trần Thu Lệ và Đỗ Thu Hằng GVHD: Đỗ Thị
Hồng Phương ..................................................................................................................................................
ẢNH HƯỞNG CỦA PHIM LÊN VIỆC HỌC TIẾNG ANH CỦA SINH VIÊN NĂM 2
TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC HÀ NỘI............................................................................................... 121
SVTG: Trần Thảo Dương (7A-21), Đào Thị Kim Ngân (7A-21), Trịnh Thị Mai Chi (3A-21)
GVHD: Đỗ Thị Thu Trang ............................................................................................................................
KỸ NĂNG THUYẾT TRÌNH ĐỐI VỚI SINH VIÊN NĂM HAI KHOA NGÔN NGỮ ANH
TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC HÀ NỘI............................................................................................... 126
SVTH: Phùng Thị Thùy Trang (5A21), Đỗ Thị Lâm Anh (5A21), Ngô Hồng Ngọc (5A21),
Ngô Thu Hiền (5A21) GVHD: ThS Đỗ Thu Trang....................................................................................
NHẬN THỨC CỦA SINH VIÊN NĂM HAI NGÀNH NGÔN NGỮ ANH TRƯỜNG ĐẠI
HỌC HÀ NỘI VỀ PHƯƠNG PHÁP LẶP LẠI NGẮT QUÃNG TRONG VIỆC HỌC TỪ
VỰNG 132
SVTH: Lê Khánh Hoà; Trần Khánh Ly; Nguyễn Trần Huệ Anh; Ngô Mỹ Hạnh-4A21 GVHD:
Đỗ Thị Thu Trang ...........................................................................................................................................
VỀ SỰ TỒN TẠI CỦA HẠN ĐỊNH NGỮ ........................................................................... 144
SVTH: Phùng Thị Thu Hương - Lớp 3A-19 GVHD: Dương Minh Hoàng, ThS ........................
NHẬN THỨC CỦA SINH VIÊN KHOA TIẾNG ANH, TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC HÀ NỘI VỀ
VẤN ĐỀ GIAN LẬN TRONG HỌC TẬP ............................................................................ 154
SVTH: Phan Lê Cẩm Tú (1A20), Bùi Doãn Hương Giang (2A20) GVHD: ThS. Hoàng Quý
NHỮNG KHÓ KHĂN KHI NGHE HIỂU TIẾNG ANH TRONG QUÁ TRÌNH PHIÊN DỊCH
NỐI TIẾP ANH - VIỆT ......................................................................................................... 166
SVTH: Bùi Thị Thêm (6A19) GVHD: Lê Hà Quyên (ThS) ..........................................................
NGHIÊN CỨU VỀ PHƯƠNG PHÁP DỊCH NHỮNG TỪ KHÔNG TƯƠNG ĐỒNG TRONG
BẢN DỊCH TRUYỆN KIỀU ................................................................................................. 176
SVTH: Ngô Anh Đức, Nguyễn Thị Thu Hà, Trần Thị Thu Hường, Trần Thị Thanh Nga
GVHD: Lê Hà Quyên M.A ...........................................................................................................................
NGHIÊN CỨU VỀ ĐÁNH GIÁ NHU CẦU VÀ ẢNH HƯỞNG CỦA NÓ ĐẾN SỰ THÀNH
CÔNG CỦA THIẾT KẾ KHÓA HỌC TIẾNG ANH........................................................... 192
SVTH: Vũ Thị Thanh Vân 7A19; Hoàng Thị Thu Thảo 6A19 GVHD: Lê Thùy Dương .. 192
BÀI NGHIÊN CỨU VỀ NHỮNG LỢI ÍCH CỦA KỸ THUẬT LỒNG TIẾNG TRONG VIỆC
CẢI THIỆN KĨ NĂNG PHÁT ÂM TIẾNG ANH ................................................................ 198
SVTH: Trần Văn An; Chu Ngọc Ngân Giang; Lê Hoàng Sơn; Phạm Thảo Vy GVHD: Lê Thùy
Dương...............................................................................................................................................................
CÁC CHIẾN LƯỢC DỊCH KHẨU HIỆU QUẢNG CÁO TỪ TIẾNG ANH SANG TIẾNG
VIỆT 209
 SVTH: Hà Bích Ngọc (4A19), Nguyễn Thị Lan Anh (4A19), Hoàng Thị Dương (4A19), Vũ
Thị Thanh Thanh (4A19) GVHD: Nguyễn Linh Chi .......................................................................... 209
ÁP DỤNG CHIẾN LƯỢC ĐỊA PHƯƠNG HÓA TRONG VIỆC DỊCH KHẨU HIỆU
THƯƠNG MẠI TỪ TIẾNG ANH SANG TIẾNG VIỆT CỦA SINH VIÊN KHOA TIẾNG
ANH, ĐỊNH HƯỚNG BIÊN PHIÊN DỊCH, TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC HÀ NỘI ..................... 220
SVTH: Nguyễn Minh Ngọc (4A19), Nguyễn Thị Hồng Hạnh (4A19), Lê Thị Cẩm Vân (4A19),
Lê Thị Huyền Trang (4A19), Nguyễn Lê Hải Hà (4A19) GVHD: Nguyễn Linh Chi............................
BÀI NGHIÊN CỨU NHỮNG THÀNH NGỮ, TỤC NGỮ LIÊN QUAN ĐỒ ĂN TRONG
TIẾNG ANH VÀ TIẾNG VIỆT VÀ BẢN DỊCH TƯƠNG ỨNG ....................................... 234
SVTH: Hoàng Thúy An, Hà Nguyên Phương, Phạm Thùy Linh GVHD: Nguyễn Minh Thu...
BÀI NGHIÊN CỨU VỀ CÁC PHƯƠNG PHÁP ĐƯỢC DỊCH GIẢ SỬ DỤNG TRONG DỊCH
THUẬT VĂN HỌC TỪ TIẾNG ANH SANG TIẾNG VIỆT ............................................... 245
SVTH: Nguyễn Thành Đạt – 9A19, Triệu Văn Quỳnh - 9A19, Ngô Thủy Tiên - 9A19, Nguyễn
Tiến Hoàng Duy - 10A19 GVHD: Nguyễn Minh Thu ..............................................................................
NGHỆ THUẬT CHƠI CHỮ ĐƯỢC DÙNG TRONG MEMES ........................................... 254
SVTH: Trần Ánh Dương (10A20), Phùng Ngân Giang (8A20), Trần Tú Anh (10A20) GVHD:
Nguyễn Phương Anh ......................................................................................................................................
NHỮNG LỢI ÍCH VÀ KHÓ KHĂN TRONG NGHE CHÉP CHÍNH TẢ THEO NHẬN THỨC
CỦA SINH VIÊN NĂM THỨ NHẤT VĂN BẰNG 2 NGÀNH NGÔN NGỮ ANH, KHOA
TIẾNG ANH, TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC HÀ NỘI ...................................................................... 275
SVTH: Nguyễn Thị Thương Thương (4VBA22-1), Trương Hà Linh (4VBA22-1), GVHD:
Nguyễn Quang Hưng......................................................................................................................................
CÁC VẤN ĐỀ TRONG THIẾT KẾ POWERPOINT LÀM CÔNG CỤ HỖ TRỢ TRỰC QUAN
TRONG CÁC BÀI THUYẾT TRÌNH HỌC THUẬT ........................................................... 288
SVTH: Dương Minh Hoạt, Nguyễn Thị Phương Thảo, Lê Thị Thùy Dung, Nguyễn Thị Quỳnh
Trang - 7A21 GVHD: ThS. Nguyễn Thanh Hoa ........................................................................................
NÂNG CAO KHẢ NĂNG NGHE HIỂU QUA VIỆC XEM PHIM TIẾNG ANH ............. 298
SVTH: Nguyễn Phương Hoa, Nguyễn Thanh Kim Huệ, Nguyễn Thanh Lương, Phạm Thị
Huyền GVHD: Phạm Thị Thu Hiền .............................................................................................................
ỨNG DỤNG CỦA PHƯƠNG PHÁP LẶP LẠI CÁCH QUÃNG TRONG GHI NHỚ VÀ HỌC
TỪ VỰNG.............................................................................................................................. 307
SVTH: Phạm Thu Hằng, Mạc Hoàng Oanh, Trần Yến Nhi, Nguyễn Hoàng Anh GVHD: ThS
Phạm Thị Thu Hiền ........................................................................................................................................
CÁC YẾU TỐ ẢNH HƯỞNG ĐẾN VIỆC THIẾU KỸ NĂNG NÓI CỦA SINH VIÊN NĂM
THỨ HAI KHOA TIẾNG ANH, TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC HÀ NỘI ........................................ 314
 SVTH: Lê Thu Hiền (4A21), Lê Thị Hồng Ngọc (4A21), Nguyễn Thu Hiền (6A21), Trương
Nữ Hiền Thục (6A21) GVHD: Ths. Phạm Thu Hằng................................................................................
NGHIÊN CỨU ẢNH HƯỞNG TÍCH CỰC CỦA HOẠT ĐỘNG CHỮA BÀI CHÉO LÊN KĨ
NĂNG VIẾT BÀI LUẬN MANG TÍNH TRANH LUẬN CỦA SINH VIÊN NĂM 2 KHOA
TIẾNG ANH TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC HÀ NỘI ........................................................................ 325
SVTH: Phạm Quỳnh Anh, Dương Quang Đăng, Phạm Thị Thùy Linh & Vũ Thu Phương
GVHD: Đỗ Thị Thu Huyền, Th. S................................................................................................................
ẢNH HƯỞNG CỦA PHƯƠNG PHÁP CHÉP CHÍNH TẢ ĐẾN KỸ NĂNG NGHE CỦA
NGƯỜI HỌC TIẾNG ANH ................................................................................................... 335
SVTH: Lưu Minh Anh (10A21), Bùi Thu Giang (10A21), Đinh Thị Thúy Hải (10A21) GVHD:
Trần Thị Hồng Tới ..........................................................................................................................................
TÁC ĐỘNG CỦA VIỆC SỬ DỤNG QUILLBOT ĐẾN KỸ NĂNG VIẾT CỦA SINH VIÊN
NĂM THỨ HAI - KHOA TIẾNG ANH - TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC HÀ NỘI ........................... 347
SVTH: Lương Thị Thu Thủy, Vi Thị Thùy Trang, Hoàng Hải Yến , Nguyễn Hương Giang
GVHD: Trịnh Thị Lê Dung ...........................................................................................................................
VIỆC SỬ DỤNG PHƯƠNG TIỆN TRỰC QUAN ĐỂ CẢI THIỆN ĐỘNG LỰC CỦA
NHỮNG NGƯỜI HỌC TRẺ TUỔI TRONG VIỆC HỌC TIẾNG ANH ............................ 361
SVTH: Dương Thị Hạnh 2A19, Lê Thanh Huyền 2A19 GVHD: Vũ Thị Phương Thảo............
SỬ DỤNG THẺ GHI NHỚ TRONG VIỆC DẠY TỪ VỰNG CHO TRẺ EM HỌC NGOẠI
NGỮ TIẾNG ANH ................................................................................................................ 370
SVTH: Đinh Thị Hồng Ngọc; Vũ Thu Thủy và Kiều Thị Ngọc Hà GVHD: Ths Vũ Vân Hạnh
...........................................................................................................................................................................
TÁC ĐỘNG CỦA HỖ TRỢ TRỰC QUAN TRONG NÂNG CAO HỌC NGOẠI NGỮ ... 382
SVTH: Nguyễn Thị Ngọc Lan (5A21), Nguyễn Duy Linh (5A21), GVHD: Nguyễn Trà My ..
CẢI THIỆN KỸ NĂNG ĐỌC HIỂU CHO SINH VIÊN ...................................................... 390
SVTH: Nguyễn Thị Minh Phương (10A21) GVHD: Nguyễn Trà My .........................................
NHẬN THỨC CỦA SINH VIÊN NĂM BA VỀ NHỮNG KHÓ KHĂN CỦA VIỆC SỬ DỤNG
THUẬT NGỮ CHUYÊN NGÀNH TRONG BIÊN DỊCH VÀ NHỮNG GIẢI PHÁP KHẮC
PHỤC .................................................................................................................................. 396
SVTH: Trần Thục Hiền (10A20), Sái Thị Thu Mai (10A20), Vũ Thị Giáng Ngọc (4A20), Vũ
Thanh Tâm (13A20), Nguyễn Thị Hải Vân (10A20) GVHD: Đặng Nam Thắng ..................................
 CÁC YẾU TỐ SIÊU NHIÊN
TRONG VĂN HỌC THỜI KỲ VICTORIA
SVTH: Nguyễn Hải Minh 2A-19
GVHD: An Thủy Tiên
Tóm tắt: Việc miêu tả các yếu tố siêu nhiên trong văn học đã phổ biến kể từ thời Beowulf nhưng
không thực sự phát triển mạnh cho đến thời đại Victoria. Dựa trên một số nghiên cứu và đầu sách có
liên quan, bài nghiên cứu này xem xét sự ra đời và trỗi dậy của các yếu tố siêu nhiên, cách chúng được
khắc họa trong các tác phẩm văn học và mục đích sử dụng chúng của các tác giả ở thời đại Victoria, từ
đó cung cấp cái nhìn sâu sắc và có giá trị về vấn đề này. Nhờ sự xuất hiện của các hệ thống tín ngưỡng
mới, thời Victoria đã xem xét lại cách đối phó với tinh thần và vật chất (như một phần của diễn ngôn văn
hóa rộng lớn hơn về tri thức khoa học và xã hội hiện đại). Do đó sự tồn tại của các yếu tố siêu nhiên
trong văn học đa dạng về hình thức và bối cảnh nhưng đều có chung một mục đích sử dụng: chủ đề
trung tâm tạo ra trải nghiệm thần bí cho người đọc thông qua hiệu ứng hồi hộp và huyền bí, cũng như
việc trở thành công cụ để sáng tác gia bình luận về xã hội . Do khuôn khổ của bài nghiên cứu, tác giả
chỉ phân tích một số ngòi viết nổi bật nhất của thời đại này.
Từ khóa: yếu tố siêu nhiên, thời Victoria, văn học

THE SUPERNATURAL ELEMENTS IN VICTORIAN

LITERATURE
Abstract: The portrayal of supernatural elements in literature has been prevalent since the time
of Beowulf but did not thrive until the Victorian era. Based on a number of relevant research and books,
this study aims to examine the birth and rise of supernatural elements, its interpretation and purpose of
usage in Victorian literature, thereby offering valuable insight into the subject matter. Thanks to the
emergence of Victorian new systems of beliefs that renegotiated ways of dealing with the spiritual and
the material (as part of a broader cultural discourse about scientific knowledge and modern society), the
existence of supernatural elements in literature varied in forms and context but saw a similar purpose
of usage: a central theme that creates mystical experience for readers through suspense and
paranormal effect, as well as a social commentary device. Due to the scope of the paper, the author
only examines some of the era’s most renowned literary creators.
Key words: supernatural elements, Victorian, literature

1. INTRODUCTION
In literature, both ancient and contemporary, supernatural aspects are present quite
frequently. Many well-known writers from around the world have included their depictions of
these elements in works from different literary eras, such as Beowulf in Old English literature,
Shakespeare in the Renaissance, and contemporary works today. In addition, the supernatural
played a significant role in Victorian civilization; its terminology and metaphors permeated all

7
fields of art and science as well as Victorians' daily lives (Arias, 2020).
The Victorian era was arguably the golden age and the most creative time for the Gothic
genre, and supernatural aspects is one of the two most prevalent themes of Gothic (Craig, 2012),
hence its presence in literature flourishes throughout this time. Supernatural encounters, which
were frequently accompanied by insanity, left a distinct air of eeriness and morbidity throughout
the entire Victorian literary universe.
2. LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1. Definition of the supernatural
The notion of the supernatural in the 19th century was vigorously debated, including by
theologians (Arias, 2020). The term "supernatural" was therefore ambiguous, but it was
generally accepted that it included both the otherworldly, the odd and the unseen, as well as the
common and the tangible.
According to its etymology, the word "supernatural" denotes something superior to or
above nature (Craig, 2012). In other words, things that don't happen in the real world—like
occurrences, happenings, figures, and atmospheres—can be classified as supernatural. This also
covers paranormal encounters, eerie apparitions, witchcraft, elves, ghosts, spirits, and
unexplained sounds.
The Gothic genre is known for its heavy use of supernatural aspects, yet after 1820, the
Gothic novel ceased to exist as a distinct literary genre. Nevertheless, Gothic book components
may still be found in numerous novels published in the years since. As a result, this essay will
examine supernatural themes throughout Victorian literature rather than only the Gothic
subgenre.
This thesis aims to answer the following question:
1. What contributed to the birth and rise of supernatural elements in Victorian
literature?
2. How were the supernatural elements portrayed in Victorian literature and what are
their effects?
3. What are the purposes of the writers in using supernatural elements as a literary
device?
2.2. Previous studies
Numerous studies have been done to examine how Victorian literature interprets
supernatural themes. The Supernatural - Victorian by Bown, et al. (2004) and Possessed
Victorians: Extra Spheres in Nineteenth-Century Mystical Writings by Willburn (2006) are two
noteworthy works that unquestionably offer the best overviews of the supernatural in Victorian
times. These two studies, however, don't examine any specific novels or literary works; instead,
they concentrate on Victorian literature as a whole. Other theses, such as Supernatural Realism

8
by Smaji (2009) and The Supernatural in the Long Nineteenth Century by Hatter (2015), are
valuable additions to the literature of Victorian times and the supernatural, but they lean more
toward supernatural realism. However, Stephanie F. Craig's Ghosts of the Mind: The
Supernatural and Madness in Victorian Gothic Literature (2012) solely concentrates on Gothic
novels.
With respect to the previous research, this study focuses on examining the use of
supernatural elements specifically as a literary device in Victorian literature as a whole (without
limiting to gothic), through the examination of the most prominent writers of that time.
3. FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION
3.1. The birth and rise of supernatural elements in Victorian literature
The civilization that gave rise to the literary device is the key to understanding how it
evolved. It is crucial to look at the elements that contributed to the emergence and ascent of the
supernatural in Victorian culture given the influence of the paranormal on literature and cultural
discourse.
As a reaction to the "Victorian crisis of faith," the supernatural belief was developed,
along with a larger cultural conversation concerning scientific knowledge and contemporary
society (James, 2017). The emergence of new media, including telegraphy, photography, and
cinema, which were once thought to be occult phenomena, as well as the professionalization of
science, the development of psychology, and the supernatural all continued to be closely linked.
Given its significance in political, cultural, and religious history as well as in the developing
entertainment industry, the supernatural was just as significant as the natural world in Victorian
times. An "essential component of the Victorians' intellectual, spiritual, emotional, and
imaginative worlds, and took its place in the domestic center of their everyday lives," the
supernatural was more than just a scary ghost story to read before bed (James, 2017).
The Spiritualist movement is largely responsible for the rise in interest in the paranormal
throughout the Victorian era. Stephanie Craig claims that academics have generally failed to
explain the abrupt growth in interest in the paranormal during the Victorian era (2012). Perhaps
the intense discussion over whether supernatural experiences are real or made up is what gives
Victorian literature, especially Gothic works from this time period, its own special brand of
dread.
Literature's recurring themes are usually always a direct reflection of the society in which
the author lives. The practice of spiritualism grew as the Victorian era went on, and the
prevalence of paranormal occurrences soon caught the public's interest. As curiosity about the
universe expanded, so did curiosity about the world within, which sparked Victorians' interest
in the human mind and made it a hot topic in social circles (Arias, 2020). The usage of such a
tactic, however, started to acquire favor in Victorian literature as the Gothic genre started to
take shape because Victorian authors did not restrict supernatural phenomena to idle
conversation but instead began to incorporate these themes into their works (Arias, 2020).

9
 It is impossible to disregard the different social variables that influenced the eerie
element's emergence, despite the fact that some people may ascribe the rapid increase in
popularity of supernatural aspects in literature to a change in the interests of writers and artists.
3.2. The portrayal of supernatural elements in Victorian literature and their
effects on the novels
3.2.1. Emily Bronte and Wuthering Heights
The narration has supernatural elements, which gives the book a gothic feel. Although
Wuthering Heights portrays its characters and scenes realistically, a paranormal atmosphere
seems to hang over it.
Through Lockwood's dreams, the supernatural is first mentioned. In the first dream,
Lockwood is in a church listening to a sermon when the situation quickly worsens and the entire
chapel fills with rapping and counter-rapping. In his second dream, Lockwood discovers that a
small, icy-cold hand is holding his, introducing itself as Catherine Linton and pleading, "Let
me in—let me in!" (Brontë, 2014). Lockwood yanks her wrist toward the shattered window.
Heathcliff then stormed in the room, crying hysterically while begging the spirit to come with
him.
Regarding the thematic intent of these dreams, Emily Bronte uses them to get the readers
ready for the book's second half. The tense mood in the church may have anticipated the
inherent themes of retribution and bloodshed that would later appear in Wuthering Heights.
When Heathcliff vanished from the Heights after hearing Catherine speak ill of him to
Nelly, the second occurrence of supernatural aspects in Wuthering Heights was discovered.
Nelly recalls the storm that night “about midnight, while we sat up, the storm came rattling over
the Heights in full fury. There was violent wind, as well as thunder. We thought that it must be
a judgment on us also” (Brontë, 2014). Although rain and wind cannot be claimed as
supernatural, the context and the way that it is used has a supernatural touch.
It has to do with the hurt Heathcliff feels and the anxiety Heathcliff's disappearance has
caused in Cathy's heart. On the other hand, it may also be read as the novelist using strong
symbolism to depict the catastrophe that will befall them later. This is supported by the fact that
Heathcliff causes suffering for practically all of the characters, including the following
generation.
When Heathcliff reveals to Nelly that Sexton had lifted the lid from Cathy's coffin while
he was digging Edgar's tomb and had seen her face, we witness the third significant supernatural
element. He has experienced an odd kind of peace ever since. Cathy was standing by his side,
he could nearly see her. Additionally, there is something supernatural about his telling Nelly
that Cathy's picture is suddenly all around him. He recognizes her in every tree, cloud, and other
item.
When references to the ghosts of Heathcliff and Cathy are made at the conclusion, the
paranormal atmosphere reaches its peak. However, the mentions of Heathcliff and Cathy's

10
ghosts together suggest that they had a successful love affair after their deaths. It implies that
their spirits will always be joined. Second, it might be Emily Bronte's interpretation of
existence, according to which people continue to live in spiritual form even after they pass
away.
3.2.2. Charlotte Bronte and Jane Eyre
Bronte is able to rationally explain the supernatural components, but those reasonable
explanations end up being much more sinister than anything supernatural. At the start and end
of the book, the supernatural components provide an additional layer of uncertainty. These
paranormal ideas connect throughout the book and enhance Charlotte Bronte's narrative.
The novel opens with the introduction of the supernatural component. Waddington asserts
that Bronte carefully employs the paranormal to externalize the inner workings of the Jane Eyre
character (Kibin, 2022). One of the earliest examples of this is when Jane is imprisoned in the
"red room," which was once her uncle's bedroom and the location of his death, and has a
moment of extremely traumatic fear that her uncle's ghost is emerging from the grave. The
following quotation depicts the frenzy that results from this experience: “the strange little figure
there gazing at me, with a white face and arms specking the gloom, and glittering eyes of fear
moving where all else was still, had the effect of a real spirit.” (Brontë, 2014).
The character Bertha’s existence also serves as the supernatural side of the novel, being
depicted as a “mocking demon” - “What creature was it, that, masked in an ordinary woman's
face and shape, uttered the voice, now of a mocking demon, and anon of a carrion-seeking bird
of prey?” (Brontë, 2014).
In order to create drama and tension to Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte incorporates a number
of Gothic fiction motifs. However, because Bront also explores the causes of paranormal
occurrences, the book is more than just a ghost story. For instance, Bertha is the "devil" in
Thornfield whereas Mr. Reed's ghost in the red chamber is a fabrication of Jane's anxious mind.
In Jane Eyre, the supernatural's outcomes are more important than its origins. The supernatural
gives Bront the chance to delve into the minds of her characters, particularly Jane's personal
demons. The novel's most significant supernatural event happens when Jane and Rochester
establish a telepathic link. Jane explicitly states in the book that she did not perceive the link as
supernatural. Instead, she views that second as a surreal spiritual synchronicity. Their telepathy
is included into Brontë’s ideas of love and religion.
3.2.3. Charles Dickens and A Christmas Carol, Great Expectation and Bleak House
Dickens was successful in fusing the paranormal with reality in his morality-driven
novella A Christmas Carol.
He based his suspenseful situations on the paranormal. One horrifying vivid image among
many that the supernatural can provide is revealed in the iconic grisly scene where Marley's
mandible drops. Marley's ghostly appearance is intriguing not only because it intrigues the
human mind, but also because ghosts frequently have fascinating mental images (Kozlowski,

11
n.d.). Scrooge's voyage is possibly invalid because it may be the bizarre byproduct of his own
mind's processes. Dickens took care to avoid directly referencing dyspepsia or other bodily
symptoms. The origin of the ghosts is yet unknown. It is intriguing how the "friendly"
supernatural beings in A Christmas Carol assist Scrooge in having a change of heart,
underscoring once more that it was not the supernatural that inspired Scrooge's redemption but
rather the role and tasks Dickens assigned to them. Scrooge was ultimately humbled by the
pathos of his own actions, not by ghosts (Philips, 2020).
3.2.4. Mary Elizabeth Braddon and Ralph the Bailiff
The protagonist of the narrative, Jenny, is plagued by "hallucinations of the dead" and
unpleasant dreams that "[speak] of her husband's guilt," unaware that she is married to a
murderer who is being blackmailed by his manservant (Brandon, 1879).
She finally overhears a discussion between her husband and his blackmailer, Ralph, as a
result of the hallucinations, which discloses the truth about her husband's history. Jenny realizes
that leaving is her only option to avoid being under Ralph's influence after learning that her
husband's land, which includes her dowry, is being taken over by his menacing manservant.
She ends up being left impoverished after losing the sole "thing she [brought] into her
marriage." (Brandon, 1879).
3.3. The purpose of the writers in using supernatural elements as a literary device
3.3.1. Entertainment
Dickens adds a funny element to what is intended to be a recipe for absolute horror in the
first scene of A Christmas Carol, which introduces readers to Marley's ghost. “Whatever you
are, there's more gravy than grave about you”, he wrote (Dickens, 2016). Similar to how
Dickens tries to divert his readers, the author also used this as an effort to divert himself. These
components temper the ghosts' eerie atmosphere, resulting in a variety of impacts and feelings.
Scrooge praises Marley for being "a good man of business" (Dickens, 2016), but he doesn't
realize that helping people should have been his main concern. For him, the humorous
undertone served as the only consolation for passing.
The ghosts are the epitome of strange shapes and intense thrill (Rutner, 2017). Ebenezer
Scrooge is introduced by Dickens as a caricature with spectral qualities. His thorough depiction
helps readers comprehend the miser in its entirety. The cold inside of him "froze his old features,
nipped his sharp nose, shriveled his cheek, stiffened his walk; turned his eyes red, his thin lips
blue; and spoke out shrewdly in his grating voice." Scrooge was not much affected by the heat
or cold outside. No heat could warm him, and no cold could chill him (Dickens, 2016).
3.3.2. Theme setter
The goal of portraying paranormal happenings is to give the reader the impression that
they could happen to them at any time. The reader is disturbed by the supernatural because it
seems real and is "so close; it pervades," rather than because it is horrifying (Philips, 2020).
Through the representation of supernatural happenings, the line between the supernatural and

12
the otherworldly is blurred, "[rendering] the supernatural greater and nearer," providing a
"materialization of the spiritual" (Philips, 2020).
The Victorian supernatural makes an effort to transform the unreal into the real, much as
the discussions prompted by the rise of Spiritualist beliefs and endeavors. The level of realism
reached by the Victorian aesthetic, rather than the notion of horrifying ghosts or strange sights
and sounds, is what truly terrifies people about the supernatural.
The magical components are also required to understand a culture. The magical aspects
reveal the people's beliefs, superstitions, traditional religion, psychology, etc. In other words, a
culture's distinguishing qualities and unique characteristics might be represented by the
supernatural. The supernaturalism of Wuthering Heights makes sense for the time, she also
employed them for certain purposes that have been analyzed above.
With their fixation with memorials, relics, and mortality in general, the Victorians were
particularly drawn to the mood and themes of supernatural elements.
3.3.3. The exposure of characters
In Wuthering Heights, Lockwood's nightmares predict the outcome of Heathcliff and
Catherine's love story and arouse supernatural ideas in our thoughts. In his story, Mr. Lockwood
makes use of paranormal elements to illustrate the emotional pain that Heathcliff goes through
after losing Catherine. One could understand the significance of the Catherine and Heathcliff
story through these specifics.
These details support Heathcliff's profound, passionate, and real love for Cathy, as shown
when he digs Cathy's coffin and spends the night there. Cathy is Cathy's superior in class,
although Heathcliff and Cathy were profoundly in love. When someone falls in love, they
become psychologically intrigued by their beloved. Heathcliff is always seeing Cathy's visions,
and this is the purest manifestation of his love. This supernatural element serves to highlight
Heathcliff's intense affection for Cathy.
The spooky and mystical elements are prominently featured in Jane Eyre by Charlotte
Bronte. Huge coincidences frequently corroborate the text, indicating that a higher force is at
play in this story. As well as having a place in the narrative, dreams, premonitions, and visions
occasionally appear to direct Jane as she sets out on her quest. From an early age, Jane has been
fascinated by magic and the mysterious, and it is precisely a mysterious event that brings Jane
and her Mr. Rochester back together at the book's conclusion.
3.3.4. Cultural/social commentary
Dickens shows how society was fueled by the underpaid, underprivileged laborers in A
Christmas Carol and how society owed them a fair share of the economic victory. Dickens used
a similarly menacing element of the ghost story to illustrate his argument because he thought
that poverty and ignorance are destructive forces that pose a threat to the future of English
civilization.

13
 Dickens, a realist, used Marley's ghost, the chain he drags, which is "made of cash-boxes,
keys, padlocks, ledgers, deeds, and heavy purses wrought in steel," (Dickens, 2016), as well as
the ghostly packed sky, to create wonderful metaphors about how greed devours the human
soul. These stand as symbols of hell, where the "guilty governments" are punished for their bad
deeds (Dickens, 2016). The sole objective of Marley's ghost is to show that life continues
beyond death and that one's decisions and goals while on earth have an impact on how good or
bad the afterlife will be.
A work that employs superelements to address social issues is Mary Elizabeth Braddon's
novel Ralph the Bailiff, which makes use of the ghost story to comment on women's "helpless"
position in Victorian civilization. Braddon "[directs] her sympathies into the situation of the
woman without any control over her family or marital possessions." (Dickens, 2016).
Jenny's predicament serves as an example of "demonic domestic possession," a literary
device that uses the supernatural to examine the limitations imposed on Victorian women,
particularly those tied to marriage (Kozlowski, n.d.).
Horror typically appears in Victorian literature from two distinct sources: While the
illogical and unexplained apparition of supernatural beings provokes dread, the underlying
social judgment truly causes sadness on a personal level. In literature, the supernatural has been
used to discreetly but forcefully attack civilization.
4. CONCLUSION
Because they are merely “sensations of awe and fear as would be hit upon by a race having
few and simple ideas and limited experience”, the supernatural gives rise to emotions that
humans find difficult to understand (Kozlowski, n.d.). A universe that man either ignores or
understands very little about causes immense worry because the unknown is unpredictable. As
was discussed above, Victorian literature contains supernatural themes in a variety of settings
and genres due to the period's high level of interest in the subject. In novels, supernatural
elements took on a new symbolic role that was used as a sign of a dysfunctional society to
support the author's social criticisms. Due to the scope of this paper, the author only examines
the most exemplary writers in the Victorian era as its representatives. Further research could
look into many different authors during different eras to provide a more comprehensive insight
on the subject matter.

Word count: 3901 (references included)

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 REFERENCES

Arias, R. (2020, July 29). The Supernatural. 10.1093/OBO/9780199799558-0157

Brandon, M. E. (1879). Ralph the Bailiff. Ward, Lock, and Tyler.
Brontë, C. (2014). Jane Eyre. Bloomsbury USA.
Brontë, E. (2014). Wuthering Heights. Bloomsbury USA.
Craig, S. F. (2012, November). Ghosts of the Mind: The Supernatural and Madness in
Victorian Gothic Literature. Honors Theses, 99. https://aquila.usm.edu/honors_theses/99
Dickens, C. (2016). A Christmas Carol. Alma Classics.
James, W., & James, H. (2017, November 7). Supernatural and Madness in Victorian
Gothic Literature. Atmostfear Entertainment. Retrieved December 31, 2022, from
https://www.atmostfear-entertainment.com/literature/books/supernatural-madness-victorian-
gothic-literature/
Kibin. (2022). The Supernatural Elements in Jane Eyre, a Novel by Charlotte Bronte.
Retrieved December 31, 2022, from https://www.kibin.com/essay-examples/the-supernatural-
elements-in-jane-eyre-a-novel-by-charlotte-bronte-Q8KSMWaO
Kozlowski, B. (n.d.). Charles Dickens, the paranormal and ghost stories. Historic UK.
Retrieved December 31, 2022, from https://www.historic-uk.com/CultureUK/A-Dickens-of-
Good-Ghost-Story/
Philips, H. (2020). A Dickensian Supernatural: Spectres, Carols, and Realism – Aleph.
Aleph. Retrieved December 31, 2022, from https://aleph.edinum.org/2635
Rutner, S. (2017). The Gothic Elements and Atmosphere in Charles Dickens' "Great
Expectations": An Analysis. GRIN Verlag. https://www.grin.com/document/308934

15
CHÂN DUNG TẦNG LỚP CHỊU ÁP BỨC TRONG VĂN HỌC ANH
THẾ KỶ 20 QUA MỘT SỐ TÁC PHẨM CỦA GEORGE ORWELL
VÀ GEORGE BERNARD SHAW
SVTH: Nguyễn Thị Thu Hương, Nguyễn Bạch Yến - Lớp 3A-20
GVHD: Cao Xuân Thục Anh, TS.

Tóm tắt: Trong bối cảnh thế kỷ 20 ở nước Anh, sự bất bình đẳng giữa các giai cấp nổi lên rõ rệt.
Những người ở tầng lớp thấp phải trải qua sự bất công đến tột cùng, từ cơ hội việc làm, chất lượng đời
sống cho đến vị thế xã hội. Thấu hiểu và cảm thông với số phận cùng khổ của tầng lớp chịu áp bức thời
kỳ này nhưng không thể tìm ra lối giải thoát cho họ, một số tác giả đã dùng ngòi bút để bày tỏ sự cảm
thông sâu sắc với cuộc sống kham khổ của những người thuộc tầng lớp thấp kém bởi văn học là công
cụ để phản ánh hiện thực xã hội. Bài nghiên cứu này được thực hiện để tìm hiểu về cách các tác giả
xây dựng hình tượng những người cùng khổ trong văn học Anh thế kỷ 20, đặc biệt là trong các tác phẩm
của George Orwell và George Bernard Shaw. Bốn tác phẩm tiêu biểu được phân tích trong bài nghiên
cứu này là: Con đường đến Wigan Pier, Trại súc vật, Nghề của bà Warren và Thất nghiệp.

Từ khoá: Thế kỷ 20, nước Anh, người cùng khổ, George Orwell, George Bernard Shaw, Con
đường đến Wigan Pier, Trại súc vật, Nghề của bà Warren, Thất nghiệp.

THE UNDERPRIVILEGED IN LITERATURE OF BRITAIN IN

THE 20-CENTURY IN THE WORK OF GEORGE ORWELL AND
GEORGE BERNARD SHAW

Abstract: Britain in the 20th century witnessed an existence of inequality among people from
different classes. The people of low-class during the period had to face myriads of problems related to
working and living conditions, opportunities, and social status. This poor situation led to the movement
in English literature, with which the writers expressed their feeling and sympathy with the
underprivileged. Acknowledging and having great concern with the problem, this paper was conducted
to investigate the portrayal of the underprivileged in English literature during the 20th century, particularly
in George Orwell and George Bernard Shaw’s representative works. Specifically, four works analyzed
were: The Road to Wigan Pier, Animal Farm, Mrs. Warren’s profession and Unemployed.

Keywords: the 20th century, Britain, the underprivileged, George Orwell, George Bernard Shaw,
The Road to Wigan Pier, Animal Farm, Mrs. Warren’s profession and Unemployed.

1. INTRODUCTION
1.1. Background and rationale of the study
A society exists along with many classes, from lower class to higher one. Especially in
the past, when the living conditions of people were poor, the difference between each class was

16
extremely clear. To be more specific, in such an insecure period like the 20th century, it cannot
be denied that the underprivileged had to live in a poor condition. Understanding this fact, a
research project is conducted to find out the portrayal of the underprivileged in literature of
Britain in the 20th century.
1.2. Research aim
This study aims to explore how the underprivileged were portrayed in literature of Britain
during the 20th century, specifically in the works of two famous authors: George Orwell and
George Bernard Shaw.
1.3. Scope of the study
This research focuses on the portrayal of the underprivileged in Britain during the 20th
century in George Orwell and George Bernard Shaw’s literature works. To be more specific,
the researchers will analyze four works: The Road to Wigan Pier, Animal Farm, Mrs. Warren’s
profession and Unemployed to see how the authors developed the plots and how the morals,
messages were delivered.
1.4. Research questions
This research paper will address two following questions
(1) How did the historical background of the 20th century affect the portrayal of the
underprivileged in Britain?
(2) How were the underprivileged portrayed in George Orwell’s and George
Bernard Shaw’s works?
2. LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1. Historical background
With the outbreak of World War I and World War II, the 20th century was such an
unstable period in history. These wars had significant impacts on British society. To be more
specific, around one million soldiers, airmen and sailors were killed. Approximately two
million people became disabled and couldn’t find work, leading to the rise of poverty to up to
a quarter of Britain’s population. The pension and work opportunities were limited. Food
shortages brought the lower class to the street to receive food support but they were not enough
for all people.
These two wars were seen to have a great impact on society, especially the people in the
low class and working people. Living under the mentioned condition, they could not bear it and
tried to recriminate. Common people such as peasants and the unemployed organized some
walkouts but unfortunately, they ended in failure. British workers also tried to make the General
Strike. In 1926, they staged a historic walkout representing the dissatisfaction of British workers
due to the low payment and poor working conditions after World War I. Thereafter, in 1972,
after World War II, miners, steelworkers, car workers and longshoremen also organized some

17
walkouts against the low wages.
2.2. The Underprivileged in English literature during the 20th century
This period of time saw a lot of misery and suffering as the underprivileged were treated
like slave and lived in an unequal society. The rate of unemployment was so high (Ian & Newell,
2007) and even if people in the low class did have a job, they worked in sweatshop conditions.
The term sweatshop referred to the condition where the labor worked extremely long hours,
were paid low wages, and under unhealthy or oppressive conditions (Powell, 2008).
Women not having been able to find work leads to their unemployment. Even if they did,
they could not earn enough to support the family as their wages were lower in comparison to
men’s. Women's work during the 20th century was mainly home-based such as finishing
garments and shoes for factories, laundry, etc. They also had unpaid work at home like taking
care of the children, cleaning the house, and cooking, which resulted in the limited time that
they could spend on their job or to find the jobs that can help with earning money. Many of
them even became prostitutes to earn some extra living for them and their children since their
husbands were in the army (Chalton, 1999).
These unfortunate facts lead to the birth of the English literature movement, which is
Realism. As the writers understood the working and living conditions of the underprivileged,
they utilized works of literature to express sympathy with the sufferings. The rise in the number
of literary works about the underprivileged emerged with a variety of genres. Some noticeable
trends at the time are the Progressive realistic trend, the Decadent trend, the Socialist realistic
trend, in which the writer chooses different standpoint to express their idea and sympathy with
the low-class workers and people in a realistic and critical way.
3. FINDINGS & DISCUSSION
3.1. George Orwell
3.1.1. Life and writing style
George Orwell’s real name is Eric Arthur Blair. He was born on 25 June 1903 in Motihari,
Bengal, British India. He described himself as being born into a "lower-upper-middle class"
family. While living in London, he worked as a teacher and bookseller. During the Spanish
Civil War, he became a soldier and was injured, which resulted in his ill health when coming
back to England. The experience of being a journalist and working for the BBC during the
Second World War also assisted him in his future work as a writer. Through his early life
experience, people can clearly see that Orwell had a sense of understanding about the
underprivileged as he lived among them and observed all the sufferings.
Literature is often utilized to reflect the society. Understanding the sufferings of the
underprivileged at that time, George Orwell used his works to bring awareness to social
injustices and to openly oppose totalitarianism. In addition, George Orwell’s style was very
direct and journalistic since he had the experience of being a journalist during the Second War.
He never employed allusions or utilizes extended metaphors. He described settings and

18
characters well, and as being essayist, novelist, and critic, his language was as direct and concise
as possible (Ultius, n.d.).
3.1.2. Notable works
3.1.2.1. Non-fiction books
One of the most outstanding books of Orwell is The Road to Wigan Pier (1937). This
book illustrated the author's sociological investigations on the dismal living conditions among
the working class in Lancashire and Yorkshire in the industrial north of England before World
War II. This book consisted of two main parts. A compelling documentary on the enormous
difficulties faced by those who worked in demanding jobs at the bottom end of the economic
spectrum made up the first half of the book. In the second part, Orwell discussed his passion
for socialism as well as his perception of the public's lack of interest in socialism and frequent
contempt for socialists. The Road to Wigan Pier is an insightful depiction of poor workers who
lived in deprivation due to low income and limited government support. Orwell clarified their
miserable situation by describing their dismal housing and harsh working conditions (Pan,
2021).
To be more explicit, Orwell provided readers with an insight into coal miners and their
tough working conditions. The sobering way in which Orwell described working in a coal mine
gave the impression that the environment was idyllic and serene, however the truth seemed to
be quite the opposite. The work was rough, even associated with evil conditions (Schansberg,
2018). Orwell portrayed the mines as dangerous places to work with a narrow space, unhealthy
atmosphere with the existence of gas and dust. This harsh working condition would destroy the
miners’ bodies. While Orwell can only handle a few hours in the mine and required a week to
recover, the miners were forced to work 12 hours a day in appalling circumstances for minimal
wages. After calculating the miners’ expenses, Orwell drew a conclusion that they were
perpetually underpaid and exploited.
Besides the low payment, terrible living conditions were also a challenge faced by the
miners. They had to live in damp houses, infested with bugs, and in danger of collapse. The
miners and other workers could do nothing but to accept the disgusting beds in the crowded
houses since England was undergoing a general housing shortage. The cruddy houses had a
high rent, forcing some of the workers to share beds with other colleagues to save money. The
filthy house was the representative of many similar homes in working-class communities.
Working-class people also had to spend all their money on unhealthy but tasty food, which was
demonstrated by Orwell as the only pleasure available to those trapped in poverty.
The treatment of the British working class portrayed in The Road to Wigan Pier also
indicated the discrimination between people and people. The blackness of the miners’ skins
was repeatedly mentioned. Orwell concluded that workers did not only have to escape from
imperialism but also from man’s dominion over man. It was also the reason Orwell turned his
mind and sympathy towards the English working class, the symbolic victims of injustice
(Schansberg, 2018).

19
 3.1.2.2. Novels
Besides books, George Orwell was also well-known for novels. One of his most famous
novels is Animal farm (1945), which told the story of a group of farm animals who rebelled
against their human farmer, hoping to win freedom and equality.
The novel depicted a farm called the Manor Farm, owned by Mr. Jones, a drunk, and his
wife. Feeling that the animals were treated unequally, three pigs namely Napoleon, Snowball,
and Squealer called the animals together for a meeting to encourage a rebel against man to gain
equality and self-determination. The animals were taught about “Animalism” - the idea that all
animals are equal. After that, because Jones was never sober, they successfully rebelled,
winning freedom. At first, life on the farm was better than it was under Jones since the animals
worked more efficiently under the operation of the pigs, the most intelligent animals. However,
the pigs gradually started taking more for themselves, pushing the other animals to work harder.
Napoleon fell out with Snowball and brought out the nine dogs to make Snowball run away,
taking the position as the leader of the farm. Napoleon decided to start trading with the humans,
leading to the threat of starvation. The pigs reaped the benefits, began acting like humans, and
formed business relationships with the neighboring farmers. By the end of the story, the animals
of the farm were unable to tell the difference between the humans and the pigs.
The classes of referents can be referred through this novel. The underprivileged and the
people of low-class were portrayed as the animals that were in depth of misery and always
waiting for the command of the higher class. They had to do exactly what the leader told them
to do, and if they disobeyed, they would be punished. Even if they were given a chance to rebel,
they would again fall back to the same situation later (Perdue, 2021). Under the yoke of
Napoleon and the pigs, the freedom, the spirit of the revolution tended to disappear. Animals'
sense of wellbeing had once again been replaced by a terrible life. Animals were made to labor
arduously on governing projects, had limited access to food, and were even put to death if they
disobeyed. The rules read more like a manifesto establishing the superiority of pigs over all
other animals than as a statement of the equality and pleasure of all animals (Nur & Arafah,
2020).
The story demonstrated how authority was transferred to a minority who represented the
upper class while leaving the lower classes in severe poverty, as well as the inequity and
injustice of totalitarian societies. Since the pigs were the leaders of the farm and abused
authority to gain for themselves, they stood for the intellectual class that rose to the upper class
and believed itself to be superior to the other animals. Meanwhile, the other animals represented
the working class, who were illiterate but physically strong. They had faith that the subsequent
authorities would improve and they needed to put in more effort to serve their leaders (Sarah,
2017; Hasan, 2020).
3.2. George Bernard Shaw
3.2.1. Life and writing style

20
 George Bernard Shaw (26 July 1856 – 2 November 1950) was a feminist Irish playwright,
critic, polemicist and political activist who was known simply as Bernard Shaw. Shaw saw
himself as being born into a “lower-middle-class” family in Dublin and due to poverty, he had
suffered continuous misery and frustration. In the 1880s, despite the failure as a novelist, Shaw
found himself and turned to be a socialist, an attractive orator, a polemicist, and a playwright.
He played a significant role in the newly founded Fabian Society (1884), a group of middle-
class socialist that aimed at the reformation of English society. Working and experiencing a
variety of positions, he was given the opportunities to observe and acknowledge the reality that
the underprivileged were facing at the time, which led him to his success in the future as a
literature writer.
Unlike George Orwell who used direct and journalistic writing style to reflect the realities
of life, George Bernard Shaw writings were comedic and clever, in which he carefully sneaked
the messages in a way that was entertaining and enthralling. He always used his work to make
comments on social issues since he was a socialist who took much effort to draw awareness to
important social problems. This purpose of him was served by continuously engaging the
audience in the dialogue and plots. The reality that he illustrated in his works was believed to
have raised the voice for the untouchability and people that are in depth of ignorance,
superstition and inaction.
3.2.2. Works
3.2.2.1. Play
Among famous plays written by Shaw, it is essential to mention Mrs. Warren's profession
(1893). Because of the censoring of plays, even though Mrs. Warren's profession was written
in 1893, it was not performed until 1902. It was censored due to the fact that it represented the
theme of marriage, women’s legal rights and called for the reformation of the society
(Adamowicz-Pośpiech, 2016). The first time it was performed was on the 5th and 6th of
January, 1902, in the theater of the New Lyric Club, London. George Bernard Shaw’s Mrs.
Warren’s Profession not only reflected women’s status in education, marriage and profession
but also considered to cover serious issues of the time namely religious, governmental and
social inequality of the class system.
George Bernard Shaw’s play Mrs. Warren’s Profession began with Vivie Warren, who
had just graduated from Cambridge University. Act I of the play opened with Vivie’s point of
view toward her future career since she wished to live a practical life as a business woman in
the field of law, insurance, and finance. Praed then confessed to having feelings for Vivie even
if he was not sure whether he was her father or not. Frank, a handsome and smart twenty-year-
old man, came and said that Vivie loved him and would marry him. This was rejected by his
father after he knew that he was Mrs. Warren’s old guest and that Frank and Vivie were half-
siblings.
Moving to act Two, Mrs. Warren persuaded Frank to pursue Vivie even though they had
engaged in a flirtation and kissed each other. Vivie and her mother had a discussion about her

21
future career and her father, which then ended with Mrs. Warren’s confession about her
profession as a prostitute. Knowing her mother’s past and how she became a prostitute to earn
a living and Vivie’s tuition fees, Vivie and Mrs. Warren made peace with each other and Vivie
found respect for her mother.
In act Three, Crofts, who proposed to Vivie but was turned down, had revealed the fact
that he and Mrs. Warren ran a brothel together and Vivie was Frank’s half-sibling. Frank’s
attempt to shoot Crofts was stopped by Vivie afterward. Despite knowing that they were half-
siblings, Frank came to flirt with Vivie, which made her disgusted.
Act Four started with Vivie telling Frank that to her, he was nothing more than a brother.
Afterward, Vivie had an argument with her mother as she did not respect her mother’s
profession. Mrs. Warren, who always wanted Vivie to run the business as she did, cursed Vivie
for betraying her and did not fulfill the responsibilities of her daughter and left without
hesitation. With the sight of relief, Vivie came back to her work. The play ended here.
In the play, Shaw did not only put one but two taboo topics on the stage: prostitution and
incest. According to Shaw, it was the most important task that the dramatist revealed the
uncomfortable social issues to the public (Dierkes-Thrun, 2006). Shaw, when refused to have
a license for Mrs. Warren’s profession, once said:
I simply affirm that Mrs. Warren’s Profession is a play for women; that it was written for
women; that is has been performed and produced mainly through the determination of women
[…]; that the enthusiasm of women made its first performance excitingly successful; and that
not one of these women had any inducement to support it except their belief in the timeliness
and the power of the lesson the play teaches. […] (Shaw, 1893)
By saying that, he claimed that it was the society that forced the woman to behave
wrongly but not themselves, and that prostitution was caused. It was the wickedness of the
publican and the social class that consequently led one of the main character, Mrs. Warren, to
make money as a prostitute (Shaw, 1893).
Through Mrs. Warren’s Profession, Shaw suggested that nobody was perfect, and the one
and only way to change the social system and gain equality of gender was to honestly recognize
the impact of each individual, both positive and negative. Acknowledging the way Shaw
portrayed how the poor, the people of middle class and the rich sustained repressive social
norms, the author criticized the immorality of British society, which appeared to be corrupted,
unfair and hypocritical.
3.2.2.2. Poem
UNEMPLOYED.
Unemployed and on the Dole,
Winter time without any coal.
Empty bellies, Wife and Child,

22
 I only hope that Spring is mild.
Searched and searched all over Town,
Tired, Hungry, Must not fall down.
The Family depends on me,
I'm their only hope you see.
So once again with cap in hand,
WORK for me Sir, would be grand.
I'll labour and slave away, All Day,
In fact I'll do anything you say.
Sorry Old Chap, Come back tomorrow,
There is nothing doing much to my sorrow.
So on to the next, to beg and plea,
Sir haven't you got any work for me.
Once again, The reply is the same,
Do the Employers think that I'm having a game.
Do they think that it is one big joke,
To hear grown men use words that choke.
The Rent Man has come yet again to-day,
Sorry mate I just cannot pay.
With the money from the dole,
I went and bought a bag of coal.
A sack of potatoes, stolen from a farm,
To feed my Family, I meant no harm.
In future if I find work,
I'll pay the Farmer, I won't shirk.
But at the moment I would sell my SOUL,
Not to be any longer on the DOLE.
Bernard Shaw.

Written during the 1930s, Unemployed illustrates the difficulties of the unemployed under
the force of poverty and discrimination. As in the situation of the 1930s, life under “the Dole”
was hard for a family to feed themselves, not to mention all other basic needs. According to the
British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), passing the Means Test was required so as to be
qualified for the dole, the summary payment for each family would then be based on this test.
Even if those families had small savings or additional income, their dole would still be reduced.

23
This test was rejected and the officials who enacted it were considered to be insensitive and
cruel. Before, then and after, lives were harder even for families which did pass the test as if
they were so broke that they would have died of hunger, not to mention those who did not.
Getting back to the poem, in the very first sentence, the author drew the situation that the main
character faced in his life. With just two phrases “Unemployed” and “on the Dole”, it was
possible for readers to imagine the atmosphere covering the character: misery and
powerlessness. The winter had come and he could not afford the coal for warming himself and
his family and they were hungry. They wished for the better lives in spring but the man had no
job, and as Shaw wrote, he desired to work, even if he was treated like a slave. His family was
hungry and tired, and he did, too. But he said to himself that he, as the only hope of the family,
“Must not fall down [...] I'm their only hope you see”. He begged, he pleaded, he did everything
that he could as if he looked like cattle in front of others. In fact, he would not care, as long as
he had something to do that can help with earning money for the family. He was in debt and he
could not pay, the Rent Man came every single day and returned with disappointment. The main
character, in this period of time, was seen to become the one that he most hated, the robber.
Shaw described the crime that the unemployed man committed as to sell the “Soul”. If he had
other choices, he would never have done such bad things and he said sorry to all the ones that
he found guilty for, namely the Rent Man and the farmer. He “meant no harm”, Shaw wrote,
he just had no choice but to do that.
In this piece of poem, Shaw mainly used short sentences with fast pace, which expressed
the depression along with the emotion, misery and pain that the man suffered. Alongside 30
sentences, the readers can imagine the whole process of transformation of the man, from the
good guy with depression to misery, then he begged and pleaded, and finally he became a
robber, a bad guy that always desired to have a job in the future to pay back what he owed
others.
4. CONCLUSION
The study illustrated the portrayal of the underprivileged during the 20th century. This
aim was fulfilled by discovering the background history of the period and analyzing some
famous works of two representatives: George Orwell and George Bernard Shaw. To be more
specific, after reviewing the authors’ identity, life career and writing styles, the researchers
chose and analyzed four works: The road to Wigan pier, Animal Farm, Mrs Warren’s
profession and Unemployed. Beside giving knowledge about the setting, theme and overview
of these literature works, the researchers also came up with the impression, feelings and
opinions of these works and their characters. The above four works were chosen since they
reflected the true nature of the times and gave readers the portraits of the underprivileged in
20th century society. Through these works, readers not only understand their miserable lives,
but also sympathize the suffering and injustice they suffered under Britain's rule.

24
 REFERENCES

Adamowicz-Pośpiech, A. (2016). Revisiting G. B. Shaw's "Mrs Warren's Profession" :

differences in cultural reception and translation in England, the United States, and Poland.
UNIVERSITY OF SILESIA IN KATOWICE, 151-172.
Chalton, J. (1999). It Just Went Like Tinder': The Mass Movement and New Unionism
in Britain, 1889 : a Socialist History
Dierkes-Thrun, P. (2006). Incest and the Trafficking of Women in Mrs. Warren's
Profession: "It Runs in the Family". English Literature in Transition, 49(3), 1880-1920.
Hasan, M. (2020). Review of George Orwell's Animal Farm. International Journal of
Educational Theory and Practice (IJETP), 7(13), 55-57.
Ian, G., & Newell, A. (2007). Unemployment. Work and Pay in 20th Century Britain.
https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199212668.003.0011
Nur, N. A., & Arafah, B. (2020). The Reflection Of Classless Society In George Orwell’s
Animal Farm. Jurnal Ilmu Budaya, 8(1), 91-96.
Pan Macmillan (2021, March 4). The Road to Wigan Pier.
https://www.panmacmillan.com/authors/george-orwell/the-road-to-wigan-
pier/9781529032727#:~:text=The%20Road%20to%20Wigan%20Pier%20is%20an%20insigh
tful%20and%20powerful,the%20devastating%20effects%20of%20unemployment.
Perdue, N. (2021, October 20). Animal Farm by George Orwell: Plot Summary &
Synopsis. Study.com. https://study.com/academy/lesson/animal-farm-plot-summary.html
Powell, B. (2008). In Defense of "Sweatshops". Library of Economics and Liberty.
https://www.econlib.org/library/Columns/y2008/Powellsweatshops.html
Sarah, B. (2017, June). Totalitarianism and Corruption in George Orwell’s Animal Farm.
[Master's thesis, University of 8 Mai 1945]. Université 8 mai 1945 - GUELMA.
http://dspace.univ-guelma.dz:8080/xmlui/handle/123456789/2197
Schanberg, D. E. (2018). Coal Miners, Class Differences, and the Unpopularity of Isms.
A Review Essay on George Orwell’s The Road to Wigan Pier. The Independent Review, 23,
131–143. https://www.independent.org/pdf/tir/tir_23_1_11_schansberg.pdf
Shaw, G, B. (1893). Mrs. Warren's Profession.
https://edisciplinas.usp.br/pluginfile.php/4892132/mod_resource/content/1/MRS.%20WARR
ENS%20PROFESSION.pdf
Shaw, G, B. (n.d.). UNEMPLOYED. Poetry by Bernard Shaw.
Ultius (n.d.). George Orwell. https://www.ultius.com/glossary/literature/authors/george-
orwell.html

25
 NHẬN THỨC CỦA SINH VIÊN NĂM THỨ HAI KHOA TIẾNG
ANH TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC HÀ NỘI VỀ HIỆU QUẢ CỦA KỸ
THUẬT NÓI NHẠI TRONG VIỆC CẢI THIỆN KỸ NĂNG PHÁT
ÂM VÀ NHỮNG KHÓ KHĂN PHỔ BIẾN MÀ SINH VIÊN GẶP
PHẢI KHI THỰC HIỆN PHƯƠNG PHÁP NÀY

SVTH: Nguyễn Thị Kim Ngân (3A20), Nguyễn Thị Ngọc Mai (7A19).
GVHD: Cao Xuân Thục Anh, T.S.

Tóm tắt: Kỹ năng nói là chìa khóa để người học ngoại ngữ có thể giao tiếp, trao đổi và tiếp nhận
thông tin một cách nhanh chóng và thuận tiện. Phát âm thường được coi là kỹ năng quan trọng nhất
trong kỹ năng nói của người học ngoại ngữ, do đó họ luôn hướng đến cách nâng cao kỹ năng phát âm.
Phương pháp nói nhại là một phương pháp được nhiều người học ngoại ngữ sử dụng như một cách để
cải thiện kỹ năng phát âm bởi những lợi ích nó đem lại. Nhận thấy sự phổ biến của phương pháp này,
nhóm nghiên cứu của chúng tôi hướng tới xác định nhận thức của sinh viên năm thứ hai khoa Tiếng
Anh trường Đại học Hà Nội về phương pháp nói nhại và những khó khăn của sinh khi sử dụng phương
pháp này trong việc nâng cao kỹ năng phát âm của họ. Để đạt được hai mục tiêu đó, phương pháp
nghiên cứu định lượng đã được sử dụng để thu thập câu trả lời cho 16 câu hỏi của 50 sinh viên năm
thứ hai khoa Tiếng Anh trường Đại học Hà Nội. Kết quả nghiên cứu cho thấy sinh viên năm hai đã có
nhận thức rõ ràng về ảnh hưởng của phương pháp nói nhại đến kỹ năng phát âm, đồng thời chúng tôi
cũng nhận thấy sinh viên gặp khó khăn nhất định khi thực hiện phương pháp nói nhại. Qua nghiên cứu
này, chúng tôi mong muốn nâng cao sự quan tâm của mọi người đối với phương pháp nói nhại trong
việc học tiếng Anh.

Từ khóa: nhận thức, kỹ năng phát âm, phương pháp nói nhại, sinh viên năm hai khoa tiếng Anh
trường Đại học Hà Nội

THE PERCEPTION OF SOPHOMORES AT THE ENGLISH

DEPARTMENT IN HANOI UNIVERSITY ABOUT THE
EFFECTIVENESS OF THE SHADOWING TECHNIQUE ON
STRENGTHENING PRONUNCIATION SKILLS

Abstract: Speaking skills are the key for foreign language learners to communicate, exchange,
and receive information quickly and conveniently. Pronunciation is often regarded as the most important
skill in foreign language learners' speaking abilities. Improving pronunciation skills is always what foreign
language learners aim for. The shadowing technique is a technique used by many foreign language

26
learners as a way to improve pronunciation skills due to the benefits it brings. Having seen the popularity
of the technique, our research group aims at determining the sophomores at the English Department in
Hanoi University’s perception of the shadowing technique and their difficulties in using it to enhance
their pronunciation skill. To achieve the goals, a quantitative research method was used to synthesize
answers to 16 questions from 50 second-year students of the English Department of Hanoi University.
Research results show that the second-year students have a clear awareness of the effect of shadowing
on their pronunciation skills, and we also find that students have certain difficulties when implementing
the shadowing technique. Through this study, we wish to raise people's interest in the shadowing
technique in learning the English language.

Keywords: perception, pronunciation skills, shadowing technique, second year students of

English Department, Hanoi University

1. INTRODUCTION
1.1. Rationale of the study
Pronunciation is one of the most important speaking skills to develop when learning a
language. Having good pronunciation skills brings learners many advantages and opportunities,
namely being more confident, enhancing speaking skills, gaining chances to make friends with
many people, etc. From all the reasons above, practicing pronunciation skill and maintaining
competence are always the aim of active learners.
The shadowing technique has long been used to help learners improve their pronunciation
skills. This technique allows learners to imitate exactly what they hear from native speakers,
fixing their wrong sounds when pronouncing, and gradually enhancing their pronunciation
skills. Despite its benefits, many learners may not be aware of this technique or its advantages;
otherwise, they may struggle with this technique when practicing it. Understanding this issue,
this research is written to examine the perception of learners about the effectiveness of this
technique and their difficulties when practicing it.
1.2. Objectives of the study
This study aims to explore the perception of sophomores at the English Department,
Hanoi University of the effectiveness of the shadowing technique on improving their
pronunciation and the possible difficulties when practicing the shadowing method.
1.3. Scope and significance of the study
It is commonly accepted that students at HANU's English Department typically have a
good English background. However, this does not mean that all of them have skillful
pronunciation skills. As a consequence, this study is conducted to explore the perception of
second-year students majoring in English at Hanoi University about the effectiveness of the
shadowing technique on improving pronunciation skills. At the same time, this study
investigates learners’ difficulties when practicing this technique. We believe that our research

27
will help educators, teachers, and students have a better understanding of the advantages of the
shadowing technique on learners’ pronunciation skills and their difficulties when conducting
the technique, which will contribute to educators’ practical measures to overcome these
difficulties.
1.4. Research questions
- What are the participants’ perception of the benefits of the shadowing technique to
English learners’ pronunciation?
- What difficulties do the participants face when practicing the shadowing technique?
2. LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1. An overview of pronunciation
2.1.1. Definition of pronunciation
Pronunciation, as defined by the Cambridge Dictionary, is the proper articulation of a
word, a letter, or the way in which a language is spoken. According to Collins dictionary,
pronunciation, on the other hand, is the act or method of pronouncing syllables, words, and
phrases with reference to sound creation, stress placement, intonation, etc. While Paulston &
Bruder (1976) defined pronunciation as the creation of a sound system that does not obstruct
communication from either the speakers' or the listeners' perspectives, Cook (1996) defined
pronunciation as the production of English sounds (Gilakjani, 2016). Despite a variety of
assumptions, the pronunciation definition can be stated in a few key components. This is the
act of making sounds of syllables, letters, words, or phrases, including articulation, stress, and
intonation, based on criteria of accuracy.
2.1.2. Importance of pronunciation in speaking English
According to Stevick (1978), the main way people draw other people's attention to their
language use is through pronunciation. Learners may experience communication breakdowns,
nervousness, stereotyping, and prejudice as a result of poor pronunciation (Morley, 1998).
Fraser (2000) made the argument that learners who have bad pronunciation may not be as
successful in their social, academic, and career advancement. Gilakjani (2012) stated that poor
pronunciation may hinder social interactions and diminish a speaker's abilities. At the same
time, he pointed out that poor pronunciation causes significant challenges in learning a language
and good pronunciation promotes learning.
Murcia (1996) supposed that even if English language learners make mistakes in other
areas, learners who pronounce the language well are more likely to be understood than those
whose pronunciation is difficult to understand despite impeccable grammar.
According to Thornbury (2005), pronunciation is the area of information that students
tend to pay the least attention to. Learners should be familiar with the different sounds and their
pronunciations, as well as phonological rules, in order to speak English correctly. Additionally,
students should be aware of tone, intonation, and emphasis. These factors all support students'

28
ability to speak English fluently and effectively.
From all the statements above, it can be concluded that mastering the correct
pronunciation is extremely important since it brings many benefits for English learners.
2.2. An overview of the shadowing technique
2.2.1. Definition of the shadowing technique
According to Lambert (1992), shadowing is characterized as a paced, auditory tracking
activity that requires the instantaneous vocalization of auditorily presented stimuli. Most
essential, without written scripts, learners must simultaneously imitate what they hear. Also,
Lambert stated that shadowing is the practice of verbatim repeating a stimulus discourse.
Tamai (1997) emphasized that shadowing is considered an active, highly cognitive
activity in which students listen to and follow the speech they hear, then vocalize it as clearly
as they can. Tamai has conducted extensive research on the shadowing technique and he
believed that shadowing is a listening activity in which English language learners imitate speech
while paying close attention to facts (Tamai, 2005).
Manseur (2015) defines shadowing as the imitation of a specific input as soon as it is
heard in as short a period of time as possible. Northbrook (2013) expressed from his video about
shadowing as practice for fluency in English. He claimed that while the mouth moves, the ears
are also paying attention, and that shadowing is also an effective approach to helping learners
with their pronunciation, accent, intonation, and rhythm.
Shadowing, according to Hamada (2014), aids non-native listeners in following fast
speech, which is one of their challenges. The tendency of native speakers to speak quickly and
employ linking verbs to connect their sentences makes it challenging for non-native listeners to
understand what they are saying. Quick speeches are utilized by learners to try, follow, and
pursue; this can help them grow accustomed to hearing them.
Recently, Dang (2020) stated in her research that shadowing is a sophisticated learning
approach in which students listen to a text in their target language and then say it aloud
alongside a native speaker.
From all of the mentioned definitions,the shadowing technique can be simply understood
as a technique in which listeners imitate the native speaker's voice they listen to.
2.2.2. Types of the shadowing technique.
In terms of classification, the shadowing techniques were categorized into numerous
types by different ways based on each researcher’s perspective.
According to Nicholson (1990), there are 3 categories of the shadowing technique, which
are phonemic, phrase, and lag shadowing, depending on the duration of the input being received
and reflected. The distinction is based on the amount of words reproduced, which ranges from
separated lexemes to longer phrases to nearly complete sentences. Especially, in lag shadowing,

29
the listeners must continuously sustain five to seven, or even ten words behind the speakers.
Kurata (as cited in Manseur, 2015) proposed 5 types of shadowing which are full
shadowing, delayed shadowing (slash shadowing), phrase shadowing, parallel reading and
speed reading. In terms of full shadowing, the shadowers articulate the same sound almost
simultaneously with the context sounds they hear. In other words, the listeners make full
imitation of the input right after the speech is made. Secondly, when practicing delayed or slash
shadowing, learners perform almost the same as full shadowing but after the record a while
instead of imitating at the same time because the speaker intentionally creates pauses in their
sentences. Therefore, delayed shadowing is considered the most advantageous approach to be
applied in the classroom since it provides students with more time to focus on the meaning. In
terms of phrase shadowing, the performer emulates a part of the input. He/she only needs to
pay attention to the last or focus words and reproduce them as they are uttered. Next, parallel
reading refers to the process of reading aloud with the aid of reading text while listening to the
sounds. Lastly, speed reading requires learners to read as fast as possible based on the given
text. This activity focuses merely on the sound production and the level of understanding is not
prioritized.
Besides, Murphey (2001) depicted another way of classification. According to him, the
shadowing techniques can be divided into three main types: complete shadowing, selective
shadowing, and interactive shadowing. Firstly, complete shadowing refers to the full speech’s
imitation in the audio. In other words, the listeners repeat and imitate all the input uttered by
the speakers word by word. However, when adopting selective shadowing, the shadower does
not have to repeat everything but only certain words or phrases, which means he/she selectively
chooses the input that was heard or that has been emphasized on by the speaker to mimic.
Finally, interactive shadowing requires the performer to not only replicate the utterances but
also insert questions or comments relevant to that topic. In this way, learners engage in the
conversation naturally and indicate their understanding of what they hear.
2.3. The effectiveness of the shadowing techniques on improving pronunciation.
Based on the findings of various studies, it was proven that the shadowing technique
brought immense benefits to students’ English pronunciation. According to Sugiarto,
Prihantoro and Edy (2020), most of the students who were introduced and instructed using the
shadowing technique could raise awareness about the way they speak. As a result, they have
sufficiently accurate English pronunciation ranging from individual sounds, syllables, to word
stress and sentence intonation. Not only were their pronunciation skills significantly enhanced,
but students were also able to adjust the intonation of English words or expressions to convey
different meanings and functions in appropriate contexts. This finding was consistent with that
of Harmon (2014) when pointing out that the shadowing technique helps students become more
aware of their speaking abilities because they replicate not just the sounds but also the speaker's
emphasis, intonation, and pronunciation.
Manseur (2015) stated that students could enhance their oral fluency because when

30
applying this technique, they had chances to be exposed to the authentic audio and hence self-
correct their pronunciation concurrently.
Hamada (2014) conducted research on the effect of the shadowing strategy on English
intonation instruction. He found that the scores students got in pronunciation, fluency, and
intonation after experimenting with shadowing were significantly improved. Furthermore, by
mimicking the sounds from the audio, learners appeared to have better prosody, attain more
concentration, and become used to natural speed as well.
Another conclusion was drawn by Utami & Morganna (2022) to prove the positive
influence of shadowing on learners’ pronunciation skills. They claimed that when applying the
shadowing approach, students make an effort to focus on the input by copying crucial
pronunciation-related cues, which teaches them to imitate the speaker's speed, rhythm, pressure,
intonation patterns, and other characteristics. Besides, students are able to be accustomed to
native speakers’ utterances in the target language, and increase their self-confidence in English
pronunciation. In other words, students appear to speak more fluently when adopting the
shadowing technique to improve their English pronunciation.
3. METHODOLOGY
3.1. Participants
To acquire data for our research paper, we decided to start a questionnaire with 50
sophomores from the English Department, Hanoi University. In general, most of the
respondents have a good English background and most participants reported being well-aware
of the shadowing technique. Some of the respondents knew about the shadowing technique
from teachers in speaking classes, others knew about this technique before via social media or
other English learning platforms.
3.2. Procedures
The data collection procedure is planned to occur in 5 days with a quantitative approach.
After finding out key issues relating to the objectives of the research, a survey including 16
statements in the form of rating scale is designed on Google Form. Then, the link to the Google
Form is administered to the targeted group of students by being posted directly on the official
page of the English Department, Hanoi university and sent via Facebook messages. When
enough responses are gathered, the researchers will move on to the data analysis process. This
process consists of three phases, namely data preparation, data compression, and data
interpretation. Then, the most outstanding data is presented based on graphs, tables and text
explanation so that they are organized logically and understandable for readers. Ultimately, a
comparison with related studies will be made in an attempt to figure out whether the perceptions
of participants are consistent with former findings about how effective the shadowing technique
is in enhancing students’ pronunciation skill.
3.3. Data collection instruments
To gather the data on students' perceptions relating to the shadowing technique, we chose

31
to carry out our survey on Internet-based platforms, namely Google Form and Facebook. We
decided to adopt these instruments as our main tools because they are economical, accessible
to the respondents, and optimal regarding the amount of time needed to collect and analyze the
data. In terms of our survey, a set of questionnaires is designed in the form of statements
including a five-rating scale ranging from 1 “strongly disagree” to 5 “strongly agree”. Our
questionnaire is divided into two sections corresponding to our two objectives. The first part,
which consists of 8 questions, investigates participants’ opinions about how effective the
shadowing technique is in enhancing different aspects of their pronunciation skills such as word
stress, intonation, sentence rhythm, etc. The second part, also including 8 questions, deals with
the hindrances that might emerge when practicing this technique.
4. Findings and discussion
Table 1: Perceptions of the shadowing technique's effectiveness in improving
pronunciation skills

No. Items SD D N A SA
(%) (%) (%) (%) (%)

1 My use of word stress gets improved after 6 4 12 62 16

practicing the shadowing technique

2 My use of sentence stress gets improved after 2 6 20 56 16

practicing the shadowing technique

3 My intonation gets improved after practicing 6 4 20 54 16

shadowing method

4 My sentence rhythm gets improved after 6 4 24 56 10

practicing shadowing method

5 I can get familiar with different English 0 16 24 56 6

accents

6 I can imitate correctly different English 0 30 20 48 2

accents

7 I can follow the speakers' speech rate. 2 10 28 60 0

32
 8 I can easily remember the expressions that the 2 14 28 52 4
speaker uses

Table 1: The effectiveness when practicing the shadowing technique

NB: SD = strongly disagree, D = disagree, N = neutral, A = agree, SA = strongly
agree.

Table 1 represents 50 participants' perceptions of how effective the shadowing technique

is at improving their pronunciation skills, which were generalized into 8 statements. Those
statements are created based on different elements of pronunciation, namely stress, rhythm, and
intonation.
As can be seen from the table, the responses varied from strongly disagree to strongly
agree. In general, the majority of surveyees - nearly or more than a half - agreed that practicing
the shadowing techniques brought improvement in pronunciation skills. Meanwhile, the
number of respondents with “disagree” and “strongly disagree” options made up an
insignificant proportion, with less than one third of the total participants. It is also clear that
around 25% of surveyed students showed a neutral attitude, which meant they were uncertain
about whether they benefited from the shadowing technique or not.
Among the benefits suggested in the table, “My use of word stress gets improved after
practicing the shadowing technique” and “I can follow the speakers' speech rate” received the
highest amount of agreement, with 62% and 60%, respectively. Besides, what students strongly
agreed on the most was the shadowing technique’s benefit in enhancing stress (word stress and
sentence stress) and intonation, at 16% equally. Therefore, stress, intonation, and speech rate
were perceived by students as three aspects with the most obvious improvement after applying
shadowing. This is fairly consistent with the results in Chung’s study (2010). He found that the
number of students who perceived shadowing as effective for English speaking, especially
stress and intonation, accounted for the highest percentage.
Besides, the percentage of people agreeing that practicing the shadowing technique was
beneficial for bettering sentence stress, sentence rhyme and for becoming familiar with different
English accents was the second highest, at 56% equally. However, there remained a small
proportion of respondents who opposed the positive effects of shadowing in terms of stress,
rhythm, and accent familiarity, at 6%, 4%, and 16%, respectively.
While most of the shadowing technique’s effects on pronunciation skills were obtained
by more than 50% of the advocates, only a modest percentage of respondents (48%) agreed and
2% strongly agreed that they could correctly imitate different English accents. Although none
of the respondents strongly disagreed with impact, 30% of the participants expressed their
disagreement with this opinion, which was 10% higher than the neutral answers. This finding
coincidentally corresponded with what was investigated by Barkov (2022). His research aimed

33
at discovering whether shadowing resulted in the improvement of the Mexican learners’
pronunciation, and found a remarkable progress rhythm, sentence (utterance) stress, and
intonation in the majority of participants. Their speech sounded far more natural and native-
like after they applied the shadowing technique. However, the improvement in terms of accent
was less prominent due to maturational constraints.
To sum up, although the majority of the respondents found the shadowing technique
useful and advantageous, the percentage of surveyees who thought that shadowing did not work
on some of their pronunciation skills remained fairly significant. Hence, it was concluded that
the shadowing technique’s possible effectiveness on various aspects of pronunciation has not
been fully realized by sophomores at the English Department, Hanoi university yet.
Table 2. The difficulties when practicing the shadowing technique

No. Items SD D N A SA
(%) (%) (%) (%) (%)

1 I am frustrated easily when I cannot catch up with 2 10 32 50 6

the speed

2 I am hindered by the interference of my mother 0 18 34 44 4

tongue

3 I am confused between different accents 4 12 34 44 6

4 I cannot find suitable and reliable sources 2 28 40 28 2

5 I feel mentally tired when practicing the 8 22 40 24 6

shadowing technique.

6 I feel physically tired when practicing the 8 20 38 28 6

shadowing technique.

7 I easily get distracted when practicing the 10 28 26 30 6

shadowing technique.

8 I always lack time to practice the shadowing 8 18 28 40 6

technique.

Table 2: The difficulties when practicing the shadowing technique

34
 NB: SD = strongly disagree, D = disagree, N = neutral, A = agree, SA = strongly
agree.

Table 2 depicts the participants’ responses to the obstacles when applying the shadowing
technique to learning at Hanoi University. Eight suggested answers were presented to them to
determine whether they had troubles that were similar to our predictions. The participants were
asked to rate the level of difficulty when practicing the shadowing technique on a scale of
strongly disagree, disagree, neutral, agree, and strongly agree.
Overall, most of the respondents had agreeing or neutral responses to the suggested
difficulties. At the same time, the proportion of strongly disagree and strongly agree responses
recorded accounted for a small number. 25 respondents agreed that they got frustrated easily
when they could not keep up with the speed, which accounted for 50% of the respondents.
However, the neutral answer was quite high (32%), which reflected the hesitancy of the
respondents. 3 of 50 respondents strongly agreed with the statement, compared to 5 who
disagreed and 1 who strongly disagreed.
The percentages of agreeing and neutral answers that were hindered by the interference
of their mother tongue and confusion between different accents were similar, at 44% and 34%,
respectively. Nevertheless, while none of the respondents strongly disagreed with difficulties
related to mother-tongue, 4% of them reported having trouble with different accents. In
addition, while 4% of respondents strongly agreed that they had mother-tongue interference,
18% of them disagreed. This number was slightly different from the difficulty in confusing
between different accents, when 12% of the respondents disagreed and half strongly agreed.
40% of the respondents had neutral responses, saying they could not find suitable and
reliable sources of materials. Specifically, 28% of the respondents agreed that they could not
find suitable and reliable sources, and 2% of them strongly agreed with this, which was similar
to the percentages of disagreement and strong disagreement, respectively.
40% of respondents said they did not feel mentally tired when practicing the shadowing
technique.While 8% of them strongly disagreed and 22% disagreed, 6% of the respondents
strongly agreed and 24% of them agreed. Regarding being physically tired when practicing the
shadowing technique, the neutral responses were the highest of the five answers (38%), while
the strongly agree and agree answers were 6% and 28%, respectively. One in every five
respondents disagreed with this difficulty, with five strongly disagreeing.
When being asked whether one easily got distracted when practicing the shadowing
technique, 36% of the respondents had agreeing responses, with 30% agreeing and 6% strongly
agreeing, which was 10% higher than the neutral answers. The proportion of disagreeing
responses was 28%, which was 18% higher than the proportion of strongly disagreeing
responses.
The number of respondents who strongly disagreed that they always lack time to practice
the shadowing techniques was 8%, which was 10% lower than the number of respondents who

35
agreed. 28% of respondents gave a neutral response, while the remaining 46% agreed (30%) or
strongly agreed (6%).
To sum up, frustration when being unable to catch up with the speed, interference of
mother tongue, and confusing accents are 3 significant respondents’ troubles. That does not
mean that respondents did not encounter any other difficulties, as the percentage of neutral
answers was remarkable as well, and there were no phenomenal differences between agree and
disagree answers. We came to the conclusion that all the respondents had at least one of the
problems we initially proposed.
5. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Overall, this study has made clear how sophomores at Hanoi University’ English
Department perceived the shadowing technique’s benefits for their pronunciation and the
underlying difficulties they encountered when applying it. On the one hand, we came to the
conclusion that learners were aware of and expressed positive attitudes toward the importance
of this technique. Imitating authentic recorded materials provides learners with numerous
opportunities to improve and acquire correct word pronunciation. Among various
pronunciation’s elements, it was also found that as perceived by the students, stress, intonation,
and sentence rhyme were the aspects that became better most apparently. On the other hand,
several possible challenges for English learners have been identified in this study. All the
participants admitted that they faced at least one distracting factor when practicing speaking via
shadowing. Those hindrances emerged due to native speakers’ fast speaking speed, interference
of mother tongue, unfamiliar accents, and other reasons.
Regarding the limitations of this study, we are aware that the restricted number of
samples, which includes only 50 participants, is unable to generate any critical information in
terms of age, background, and proficiency level. Therefore, in order to deeply ascertain the
learners’ perceptions of the shadowing’s impacts on pronunciation, we suggest further research
on this issue incorporating larger samples be implemented. Moreover, how language students
discern the effectiveness of this technique on other speaking skills’ aspects in general is worth
investigating.
REFERENCES

Barkov, M. The use of shadowing to teach English pronunciation in an online learning

environment.
Cambridge University Press. (n.d.). Upcycling. In Cambridge English Dictionary.
Retrieved on December 05, 2022 from
https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/pronunciation
Chung, D. U. (2010). The Effect of Shadowing on English Listening and Speaking
Abilities of Korean Middle School Students. English Teaching, 65(3).
https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/21df/c8b710695bd31c3346b6eb086b6e2e5830ab.pdf

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 Đặng, T. T. (2020). Improve speaking skill of first-year English majors at Haiphong
Management and Technology University by shadowing method (Doctoral dissertation, Đại học
Dân lập Hải Phòng). https://lib.hpu.edu.vn/bitstream/handle/123456789/33754/Dang-Thi-
Tuyen-NA1902N.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y
Fraser, H. (2000). Coordinating improvements in pronunciation teaching for adult
learners of English as a second language. Canberra DETYA. University of New England.
Gilakjani, A. (2012). A study of factors affecting EFL learners’ English pronunciation
learning and the strategies for instruction. International Journal of Humanities and Social
Science, 2 (3), 119-128.
Gilakjani, P. (2016). English Pronunciation Instruction: A Literature Review.
International Journal of Research in English education. https://ijreeonline.com/article-1-21-
en.pdf
Goodwin, J. M. (2001). Teaching Pronunciation.In M. Celce-Murcia (Ed.), “Teaching
English as a second or foreign language (3rd ed., pp. 117- 137)”. Boston, MA: Heinle and
Heinle.
Hamada, Y. (2014). The effectiveness of pre-and post-shadowing in improving listening
comprehension skills. The Language Teacher, 38(1), 3-10.
Harmon, D. (2014). Teaching Fluency and Rhythm to Learners Using Reading Aloud and
Shadowing. Tokyo, Japan: Temple University.
Harper, C. (2019). Pronunciation. In Collins English dictionary. Retrieved on December
05, 2022 from
https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/pronunciation#:~:text=pronunciation%2
0in%20American%20English,
Juneri, R., Hidayah, J., & Gusmuliana, P. (2018). The effect of speech shadowing
technique on students’ speaking ability (an experimental research at the second semester student
of smkn 6 rl 2017/2018) (Doctoral dissertation, IAIN CURUP). http://e-
theses.iaincurup.ac.id/id/eprint/150
Lambert, S. (1992). “Shadowing. Meta: Journal Des Traducteurs/Meta: Translators'
Journal”. 37(2), 263-273.
Manseur , R. (2015). Exploring the Role of Shadowing in the Development of EFL
Learners’ Speaking Skill: A Case Study of Third Year Students of English at Mohamed Kheider
University of Biskra. http://archives.univ-
biskra.dz/bitstream/123456789/6023/1/manseur%20raouia.pdf
Morley, J. (1998). Trippingly on the tongue: putting serious speech/pronunciation
instruction back in the TESOL equation.
Murphey, T. (2001). Exploring conversational shadowing. Language teaching research,

37
5(2), 128-155.
Nicholson, N. (1990). Strategy, innovation and performance. Journal of Management
Studies,27(5), 511–534.
Northbrook, J. How to Improve your English Speaking and Fluency: Shadowing.
https://doingenglish.com/blog/how-to-improve-your-english-speaking-and-fluency-
shadowing/
Paulston, C. B., & Bruder, M. N. (1976). Teaching English as a Second Language.
Techniques and Procedures. Cambridge: Winthrop Publishers, Inc.
Stevick, E. W. (1978). Toward a practical philosophy of pronunciation: Another view
TESOL Quarterly, 12, 2, 145-150
Sugiarto, R., Prihantoro, P., & Edy, S. (2020). The impact of shadowing technique on
tertiary students’ English pronunciation. Linguists: Journal Of Linguistics and Language
Teaching, 6(1), 114-
125.https://ejournal.iainbengkulu.ac.id/index.php/linguists/article/viewFile/3298/2546
Tamai, K. (1997). Shadowing no koka to chokai process niokeru ichizuke. [The
effectiveness of shadowing and listening process]. Current English Studies, 36, 105-116.
Thornbury, S. (2005). How to teach speaking. Longman.
Utami, H. S., & Morganna, R. (2022). Improving Students’ English Pronunciation
Competence by Using Shadowing Technique. ENGLISH FRANCA: Academic Journal of
English Language and Education, 6(1), 127-150.

38
 APPENDIX
Perceptions of the shadowing technique's effectiveness in improving pronunciation
skills:

Strongly Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly

disagree agree

1. My use of word stress gets

improved after practicing the
shadowing technique

2. My use of sentence stress gets

improved after practicing the
shadowing technique

3. My intonation gets improved

after practicing shadowing
method

4. My sentence rhythm gets

improved after practicing
shadowing method

5. I can get familiar with different

English accents

6. I can imitate correctly different

English accents

7. I can follow the speakers'

speech rate.

8. I can easily remember the

expressions that the speaker uses

39
 The difficulties when practicing the shadowing technique:

Strongly Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly

disagree agree

1. I am frustrated easily when I

cannot catch up with the speed

2. I am hindered by the
interference of my mother tongue

3. I am confused between
different accents

4. I cannot find suitable and

reliable sources

5. I feel mentally tired when

practicing the shadowing
technique.

6. I feel physically tired when

practicing the shadowing
technique.

7. I easily get distracted when

practicing the shadowing
technique.

8. I always lack time to practice

the shadowing technique.

40
 SỰ TÁC ĐỘNG CỦA NGÔN NGỮ MẸ ĐẺ TỚI KĨ NĂNG VIẾT
TIẾNG ANH HỌC THUẬT CỦA SINH VIÊN VIỆT NAM
SVTH: Đỗ Trang Nhật Hà (9A21); Nguyễn Thanh Hằng (9A21); Nguyễn Thị Ngọc Trâm
(9A21); Nguyễn Thu Hồng (9A21)
GVHD: Đặng Hoàng Anh Thư

Tóm tắt: Tiếng Anh đang trở thành ngôn ngữ chung cho toàn thế giới, tuy nhiên việc học các kỹ
năng Tiếng Anh, đặc biệt là viết học thuật, không phải là điều dễ dàng. Khả năng viết học thuật của
những người học ngoại ngữ Tiếng Anh có thể bị ảnh hưởng bởi nhiều yếu tố, trong đó có sự ảnh hưởng
của tiếng mẹ đẻ, hay còn gọi là sự ảnh hưởng của ngôn ngữ thứ nhất. Nghiên cứu này cung cấp một
cách tổng quan về sự ảnh hưởng của ngôn ngữ mẹ đẻ, việc viết và một số bài nghiên cứu tiêu biểu
trong và ngoài nước, cũng như nêu ra phương pháp và kết quả nghiên cứu. Dựa vào những kết quả đó,
một số gợi ý được đưa ra để giảm sự tác động của ngôn ngữ mẹ đẻ và tăng khả năng viết.

Từ khóa: ngôn ngữ mẹ đẻ, sự tác động của ngôn ngữ mẹ đẻ, kĩ năng viết học thuật, sự ảnh
hưởng

THE INFLUENCE OF MOTHER TONGUE ON SECOND

LANGUAGE WRITING PROFIVIENCY OF VIETNAMESE EFL
STUDENTS

(A corpus-based study among Hanoi University’s

Sophomores Majoring in English Studies)
Abstract: English has become a lingua franca almost all over the world; however, the acquisition
of English skills, especially academic writing, is not straightforward. The formal writing performance of
English as a foreign language learners (EFL learners) can be affected by various factors, including their
mother tongue’s linguistic interference, which is also known as L1 influence. This research is conducted
to discover to what extent the writing of Hanoi University’s English-majored students is influenced by
their first language, which is Vietnamese. This study gives an overview of L1 interference, writing, and
some notable international and domestic studies, as well as points out methodology and results. Based
on these findings, suggestions will be given to limit L1 interference and enhance writing competency.

Keywords: mother tongue, L1 interference, academic writing, influence

41
 1. INTRODUCTION
1.1. Rationale
Listening, speaking, reading, and writing are skills that learners must approach and
develop when learning a foreign language. According to Fromkin & Rodman (1998), learning
a second language (L2) coupled with mastering one's mother tongue (L1) is unavoidable as the
world becomes a smaller, more connected "global village", and everyone, except a select few,
almost all learners encounter some levels of difficulty while learning a second language. In
addition, students view writing as a big challenge in their study of English. Despite learning
English for many years, students in Vietnam in general, and at Hanoi (Hanoi) University, in
particular, continue to struggle with the language, especially when it comes to making errors in
all parts of writing. Nguyen (2020) stated that one of the most obvious causes is grammatical
mistakes made by Vietnamese learners of English who use it as a second language (L2) while
studying and learners are also known to be influenced by their mother tongue. Therefore, the
mother tongue is one reason affecting the writing learning of foreign language students.
Aims and significance of the study
When students learn to write in English, making mistakes in grammar, spelling, and word
choice, etc. is inevitable, and first-year and second-year students of Hanoi University are no
exception. The main purpose of the study is to find and analyze errors in some aspects of writing
and show that the influence of the mother tongue is also one of the causes of those errors.
1.2. Research questions
- Does mother tongue influence L2 academic writing?
- Which linguistic aspects of the writing done by Hanoi University's English-majored
sophomores are influenced by their first language?
2. LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1. Terminology
2.1.1. L1/mother tongue
“First language” (L1) is a common term in the field of linguistics that has been defined
by a significant number of previous researchers. It is the language that a child begins to adopt
in his or her infantile childhood, specifically before turning three (Ali & Elham, 2015; Sinha et
al., 2009).
2.1.2. L2
Apart from the mother tongue, “second language” (L2) or target language is simply
perceived as any other language learned by a person whether it is the second, third, fourth, or
fifth (Gass & Selinker, 2008).
2.1.3. L1 Influence

42
 2.1.3.1. Definition
L1 influence (also known as L1 interference or language transfer) refers to a linguistic
interference in which EFL learners tend to apply linguistic patterns of their mother language to
the target language (Lao (2017); Gvarishvili, (2013); Rana, (2016)). Hao & Chi (2013) stated
that this phenomenon can occur either on purpose or accidentally.
2.1.3.2. Classification
The results of L1 influence on learning a second language are normally divided into two
main types: positive and negative transfer (Saville-Troike, (2006); Sabah, (2015), p. 271).
Positive transfer indicates a process of applying knowledge of L1 that facilitates L2 learning
due to their commonalities; whereas negative transfer is produced mostly on account of
differences between L1 and L2, which impedes the acquisition of L2 (Rana, (2016); Ali &
Elham, 2015)). While negative transfer poses challenges to EFL learners, it can be utilized as a
tool to examine thoroughly the influence of L1 on L2 learning (Odlin, 1989).
2.1.4. Writing skills
Writing is an arduous process that comprises various components, namely “drafting ideas,
content, vocabulary, organization, mechanics, cohesion, revising and editing”.
(Gonca, (2016), as cited in (Singh & Maniam, 2020)). Additionally, Fazel & Ahmadi,
(2011) pointed out that writing also serves to form and enhance our ideas, not just commit
thoughts to paper.
2.1.5. Error Analysis (EA)
2.1.5.1. Definition
Error analysis, according to Gass & Selinker (2008), is “a procedure for analyzing second
language data that begins with the errors learners make and then attempts to explain them.”
A similar definition is given by Rana (2016), saying that the objective of “Error Analysis”
is to pinpoint the reasons behind ESL learners’ errors.
2.1.5.2. Mistakes and errors
In conducting the EA, the distinction between mistakes and errors should be pointed out.
This has been stressed by Ellis, 1997 (as cited in Al-Saggaf, M. A. et al., 2022), explaining that
while errors are indicators of learners’ knowledge gap, mistakes are merely learners’ occasional
shortcomings in performance owing to their inability to apply what they have learned in a given
situation.
2.1.5.3. Interlingual and intralingual errors
With regard to the causes of errors, errors can be categorized into interlingual and
intralingual errors. According to Gass & Selinker (2008), those are the two main types of errors
in a framework for error analysis.

43
 Interlingual errors
Selinker (2008) defined interlingual errors as errors caused by the native language.
Similar definitions are given out by Richards (1971:205) (as cited in Phuket & Othman, 2015)
and Chelli (2014). Whereas, Corder (1981) “explained that errors occurred owing to the
interference of the learners’ habits that negatively affected their acquisition of the L2 patterns
and rules” (as cited in Nguyen, 20201, p.25).
Intralingual errors
Intralingual errors, in contrast, are not caused by the native language (Gass & Selinker,
2008; Phuket & Othman, 2015). As a matter of fact, they are ascribed to ineffective learning of
L2 when learners apply L2 rules incorrectly or have an inadequate understanding of L2 rules
(Richards, 1971 as cited in Phuket & Othman (2015); Kaweera, 2013).
2.2. L1 Interference
2.2.1. Linguistic aspects of L2 affected by L1 Influence
L1 Influence is believed to exert its effects on many linguistic aspects of L2. According
to Touchie (1986, as cited in Muhammad, H.M. et al, n.d), phonological, morphological,
lexical, and syntactic components of L2 are affected by L1 Influence, while Lao (2017) stated
that L1 interference can be categorized into four levels: phonology, morphology, syntax, and
semantics.
2.2.1.1. Influence on grammar/syntax
L1 syntactic interference concerns one of the most severe and frequent grammatical
errors, regarding verb tense, sentence structure, coordination, relative clause, singular/plural
form, verb omission, subject omission, S-V agreement, and fragment.
2.2.1.2. Influence on lexis
L1 lexical influence is indicated via errors with regard to the use of vocabulary to convey
messages. Those errors can be found in all nine parts of speech (noun, verb, adjective, adverb,
article, pronoun, preposition, interjection, and conjunction) and presented in the form of word
choice, word form, collocation, and literal translation.
2.2.1.3. Influence on mechanics
When performing in English, students commonly make errors in the field of mechanics.
Mechanics influence appears in misspelling and punctuation.
2.2.2. Previous research on L1 Influence
2.2.2.1. International research

1
Nguyen, M.N. (2020). “An Analysis of Grammatical Errors by Vietnamese Learners of English”,
International Journal of Advanced Research in Education and Society. e-ISSN: 2682-8138 | Vol. 2, No. 2, 23-34,
2020

44
 There has been a vast array of research conducted on the topic of L1 Interference, with a
large portion coming from Arab, East Asia, and Southeast Asia.
Bennui (2008) investigated the interference of L1 in the writing of 28 Thai EFL students,
who were third-year English-minor students of Thaksin University. He analyzed and discussed
the writing of those students on the words, sentences, and discourse levels using four
approaches: contrastive analysis, error analysis, interlanguage analysis, and contrastive
rhetoric. Lexical, syntactic, and discourse influences are discussed. At the lexical level,
common errors made by the participants are found to be literal translation from Thai to English
words and the use of Thai words in written English.
Pongpairoj (2002) investigated word use and syntactic and morphological errors in
sentences written by 100 Thai university undergraduates who were learning English as a second
language. Its objectives are to examine the data mistakes, offer statistics showing the frequency
of errors, and draw conclusions on the causes of these errors. The findings show that contrastive
analysis may be used to solve syntactic, morphological, and word use issues.
In terms of Arabic-speaking learners of English, Sabah (2015) collected previous
research to clarify distinctions between Arabic and English that led to their mistakes in the
target language through James’ Taxonomy of Error Analysis. The researcher concluded four
main categories of errors: grammatical and syntactical errors, lexical errors, substance errors,
and morphological errors. A huge number of examples were given in each part to emphasize
the interference of the first language. Arabic EFL learners tend to have many difficulties with
adjectives and adverbs of English at the lexical level. As a result, such errors as “The
temperature rose a sharp rise” or “He drove with so fast speed” occurred.
The detrimental effects of Arabic language interference on learning English were also
examined by Sulaiman & Sadia (2017) in their research. It goes through how to categorize the
English mistakes made by Arabic-speaking people. It seeks to identify the distinctions between
Arabic and English and how these distinctions lead Arab students to make errors at various
language levels. There was a list of the errors made when forming the tenses, relative clauses,
adverbs, adjectives, nouns, and articles.
2.2.2.2. Domestic research
The errors that students make when performing in English have been the subject of
several study publications in Vietnam. Errors can be found in the written English of not only
nonmajors but also English-majored students. A notable example of L1 influence research on
Vietnamese nonmajors is the study of Nguyen (2020)2 investigating grammatical errors of
English learners at Tra Vinh University. The errors students make when performing in English
are diverse. There are four types of errors he mentioned and studied: inflectional morphosyntax,
article, word order, and copula. The results of that research showed that almost 100% of

2
Nguyen, M.N. (2020). “An Analysis of Grammatical Errors by Vietnamese Learners of English”,
International Journal of Advanced Research in Education and Society. e-ISSN: 2682-8138 | Vol. 2, No. 2, 23-34,
2020

45
university students made mistakes in tense and aspect, subject-verb agreement, article (a, an,
the), noun modifier, and adverb. However, a similar study investigating first-year English-
majored students at Can Tho University conducted by Thai (2017) did not give out the same
result. The study delved into common mistakes in their paragraph writing, discovering that
those types of errors mentioned in Nguyen’s study only constitute 11.56% of the errors in total;
whereas word formation and word choice mistakes are made with a higher percentage than
other types of errors, with 23.99% and 21.31% respectively.
Although there are scores of research about errors made by Vietnamese EFL students,
only a small amount of research about the L1 influence on L2 proficiency or interlingual errors
is conducted. Pham (2016) and Vu (2017) carried out research to find out the negative transfer
in university students. Errors in lexis, semantics, and discourse with specific numbers and
percentages are pointed out. While in the study of Pham (2016), errors in word choice and word
order make up a large proportion, prepositions and articles are two aspects most students find
difficulties in. Besides Pham (2016) and Vu (2017), Nguyen (2020)3 also did a study on
interlingual errors committed by Vietnamese learners. Unlike others, Nguyen (2020) divided
errors into four categories (inflectional morphosyntax, article, word order, and copula). The
frequency of errors in tense and aspect, subject-verb agreement, article, adjective, and adverb
in the writing was fairly high with almost 100% of the targeted students committing the errors
mentioned above.
2.3. Conclusion
While plenty of research on Vietnamese EFL learners’ common linguistic errors has been
conducted (Nguyen M.N., 20204; Dao V.D., 2018; Nguyen T.H., 2005; Pham T.K.C., 2019;
Thai C.D., 2017; etc.), there is a limited amount of research investigating L1 influence on
Vietnamese EFL learners, especially Vietnamese English-majored students (Nguyen, M.N.,
20205; Pham, C.N., 2016; Vu, D., 2017). In the midst of the conducted research about L1
interference on the English performance of Vietnamese EFL learners, Pham (2016)’s research
did not make a clear difference between mistakes and errors.
In this study, we will investigate the influence of mother tongue on second language
writing proficiency of Hanoi University’s Vietnamese sophomores majoring in English. While
rhetoric is not mentioned, syntax, lexis, and mechanics are all covered. Moreover, this research
put the whole focus on negative influence, not the positive one.

3
Nguyen, M.N. (2020). “Interlingual Errors in Vietnamese English - A case study on Tra Vinh University
Students”. International Journal of English Language and Linguistics Research. Vol.8, No 4, pp. 45-58, September
2020
4
Nguyen, M.N. (2020). “An Analysis of Grammatical Errors by Vietnamese Learners of English”,
International Journal of Advanced Research in Education and Society. e-ISSN: 2682-8138 | Vol. 2, No. 2, 23-34,
2020
5
Nguyen, M.N. (2020). “Interlingual Errors in Vietnamese English - A case study on Tra Vinh University
Students”. International Journal of English Language and Linguistics Research. Vol.8, No 4, pp. 45-58, September
2020

46
 3. MATERIAL AND METHODS
3.1. Overview
The task of collecting data was divided into two main phases. The first phase of the
questionnaire was distributed through an online form in seven days, from the 13th of December
2022 to the 20th of December 2022. The second phase, data collection, and data analysis, began
on the 14th of December 2022.
Two main instruments used in this study are the personal questionnaire and samples of
the 35 students' essay writing. The questionnaire was carried out using a 5-point Likert scale
and some open-ended questions, and the participants’ essay samples were based on corpus-
based research.
3.1.1. Writing Assignment
The samples of the students’ essay writing were the main source of data used for the
analysis of L1 interference. Students did an assignment in class without Internet access and
under time constraints. These essays must have the length of 250-320 words. The 35 students
had to choose one of the following topics:
Benefits of traditional learning and remote learning.
Your favorite types of music.
What are the similarities and differences between e-books and paper textbooks?
What are the students’ spending habits?
3.1.2. Questionnaire
Some questions about the problems related to writing were designed to find the
participants’ attitudes towards writing, their habits and difficulty in writing skills. The pilot
phase took place in two days, 5th and 6th December 2022, to further develop this research
instrument through responses and feedback from participants. This pilot study was conducted
on 10 English-majored sophomores at Hanoi University. From the results of responses and
participants’ feedback, some changes were made. The second question in the basic information
was confusing to participants so we changed the answers to be easily understood. Moreover,
the question “You are confident with your collocation now” was omitted because there was
already a better question which was “You are confident in your ability to use collocation
effectively”.
3.2. Data collection
3.2.1. Objectives
This questionnaire intends to seek further insights about their language background,
habits in studying and using English, and difficulties they deal with when writing in English.
Moreover, the researchers also analyzed the writing corpus of English majors in order to

47
find out the errors that students made when writing in order to better understand those errors.
3.2.2. Participants
This research concentrates on sophomores in the English Department at Hanoi University.
These students have been studying at Hanoi University for about two years and are now
engaged in writing academic English essays. As a result, their responses are accurate and
dependable. We collected 63 responses in our online survey and examined the writing
assignments of 35 participants.
3.2.3. Framework
This research study was based on a framework produced by Hussain R.A.M (2019),
including four main categories: grammatical, lexical, semantic, and mechanics with certain
types of errors. However, our group has modified this framework in some ways to fully
optimize our research. Specifically, we added errors in the use of word choice and collocation
to the lexical category, and also indicated coordination errors in the grammar category.
4. FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION
4.1. Analysis of writing samples

Category Type Number Percentage Rank

Verb tense 2 6% 13

Singular/ plural 25 71% 1

Word order 1 3% 14

Subject/ verb omission 7 20% 7

Subject/ verb agreement 16 46% 4

Relative clause 1 3% 14

Sentence structure 7 20% 7

Grammatical Coordination 4 11% 9

Preposition 19 54% 2

Word form 17 48% 3

Articles 15 42% 5

Word choice 15 42% 5

Lexical
Collocation 4 11% 9

Mechanical Punctuation 4 11% 9

48
 Capitalization 4 11% 9

*Interference in the usage of grammar.

As can be seen in the charts, 71% of students committed errors in singular/plural forms
of words. To illustrate, participant 2 wrote that “In terms of benefits, both of those have some
disparity.” while the correct form is “In terms of benefits, both of those have some disparities”.
Participant 28 wrote that “For instance, many people over worship their idol…. ” instead of
“For instance, many people over worship their idols….” Singular-plural-form- related errors
make up the largest part- 51% of the total errors made by students.
Moreover, 46% of participants made errors in subject-verb agreement. For example,
participant 5 wrote that “That, firstly, help them remember each other's faces, give opportunities
to make friends and broaden their social networks.” whereas it must be “That, firstly, helps
them remember each other's faces, gives opportunities to make friends and broadens their social
networks.” Participant 28 wrote that “Practically, music contribute a pivotal motivation and
entertainment…” while the correct form is “Practically, music contributes a pivotal motivation
and entertainment…”
Sentence structure errors take place in 20% of students. For instance, subject 20 wrote
that “Remote learning in other words: online learning is the way of learning that people just
have to stay at home [...]” whereas it can be corrected as “Remote learning, in other words, is
the way of learning that people just have to stay at home [...]” or “In other words, online
learning is the way of learning that people just have to stay at home [...]”. Student 5 wrote that
“Moreover, direct study stimulates children’s brain… as well as help teacher can evaluate
students’ understanding… “ instead of writing the correct form “Moreover, direct study
stimulates children’s brain… as well as helps teachers evaluate students’ understanding…”
20% of students committed errors in subject-verb omission errors. For example,
participant 1 wrote that “In addition, two methods also very necessary for students…” instead
of “In addition, two methods are also very necessary for students…”. Similarly, student 7 wrote
that “People into many kinds of music…” while the correct form is “People are into” many
kinds of music…”
These statistics about L1 interference in grammar are in line with the studies of Nguyen
(2020) and Somchai & Siriluc (2013). In Somchai & Siriluc‘s research, the three types of
grammatical errors mentioned above were the most frequent ones. Similarly, subject-verb
agreement error was frequently committed by students in the study of Nguyen (2020).
*Interference in the usage of lexis
Prepositional errors occurred the most frequently, specifically 54% of students related as
can be seen clearly from the chart above. The collected data has shown errors in the use of
prepositions accounted for addition and substitution. In terms of addition, for example,
participant 20 wrote that “we will discuss about benefits of…”, but the preposition “about” does

49
not go with “discuss” in English. In the patterns of substitution, participant 1 wrote “In terms
of remote learning, students can study in the Internet” when it was supposed to be corrected as
“on the Internet”.
On the other hand, word form errors are the second most common with roughly 48% of
participants committing them. In English, there are eight types of words: noun, pronoun, verb,
adjective, adverb, preposition, conjunction, and interjection. The word form error can be seen
clearly from the sentence of participant 11, “the provide of the big volume of knowledge and
information”. The writer of this sentence uses the verb “provide” while the correct form here
should be the noun form “provision”. Take another example from participant 13, the writer
wrote “It seems quite tired and inconvenient…” instead of writing the correct adjective “tiring”,
a better selection of words.
Errors in articles are another aspect of English that participants tend to commit, with about
42%. Participant 15 wrote that “when being in < > academic area”, but the article “an” should
be added before “academic” in this sentence. The errors in the use of articles accounted for not
only omission but also addition, like the case of participant 18, “traditional learning and distant
learning play such a crucial role”, while it should be corrected as “traditional learning and
distant learning play such crucial roles”.
Regarding word choice errors, approximately 42% of participants are related to.
Particularly, tons of sentences in their writings containing inaccurate vocabulary go in the
opposite direction with the right form. For instance, participant 21 wrote “how learners absorb
their knowledge is a distinction”, while in English “knowledge” only goes with certain verbs
such as “accumulate”, “acquire”, and “gain”. The following sentence of participant 28 is
another sample of using a wrong word choice, “We will go over and define two favorite types
of music: domestic and abroad music”, while “abroad” should be substituted with “foreign” to
parallel with “domestic” in this case.
In examining the writings of our chosen participants, lexis was found to be a linguistic
level that presented the most frequent errors compared to grammar and mechanics. Likewise,
Thai, C.D (2017) and partners carried out a study on common mistakes in paragraph writing
made by English-majored freshmen at Can Tho University, Vietnam, and discovered that the
participants struggled with the lexical category the most, but specifically word form and word
choice errors.
*Interference in usage of mechanics
Without making many grammatical and lexical errors, students also make some
mechanical errors in their writing. As can be seen in the charts, 11% of students committed
errors in punctuation and capitalization. In terms of punctuation errors, participant 34 wrote
that: “ Unless they are given for free, as a birthday gift for example, most of the time…” instead
of writing in the correct form is: “ as a birthday gift, for example, most of the time…”. For
example of capitalization errors, participant 12 wrote: "some k-pop songs are too noisy" when
it was supposed to be corrected as “K-pop songs”.

50
 The research of Hussain R.A.M (2019) is in line with these statistics on L1 interference
in mechanics. Hussain R.A.M (2019) has pointed out that the highest writing errors the Arab
undergraduate students who specialized in English committed in his research belong to the
mechanical category with the rate of punctuation errors being 12,2% and capitalization errors
being 10,5%.
4.2. Analysis of the online survey
Each researcher has his or her very own way to have a closer look at the whole picture of
L1 Influence. For Bhela (1999), the researcher requested 4 participants, who are non-native
English speakers, to write a story individually in English, then write it again in their native
language in order that he can seek L1 patterns in the students’ English writing more easily. For
Wang and Wen (2002), they asked 16 Chinese EFL learners to “write” out loud narration and
argumentation tasks to find out how they use their first language to aid their L2 performance.
As for this research, an online survey was conducted in cooperation with corpus-based
research to seek further insights into their language background, habits in studying and using
English, and difficulties they encounter when writing in English. The collected survey data was
thoroughly analyzed in the hope that a link might be found between the collected survey data
and the result of the corpus-based research. As far as we know, we are the only research group
to combine corpus-based research into L1 influence with an online survey to find links between
them.
The corpus-based research shows that 68% (24 out of 35 participants) committed more
than 5 errors in their writing, and 40% committed more than 10 errors. At the same time, the
result of our survey shows that:
● Only 14.3% have a habit of writing in English (e.g. writing journals, blogs, social media
posts, essays in class, etc.)
● Only 38% have a habit of reading printed/media publications written in English (eg.
books, newspapers, magazines, etc.)
● Only 33.3% enjoy English writing
In addition, 90.5% state that they feel anxious about their writing.
In our observation, the low proportion of English Studies students having good habits of
reading and writing may be one of the underlying reasons behind the 68% of students
committing more than 5 errors in their writing. There has been some investigation into the link
between L2 reading and L2 writing, for example, according to Hsu (2004), William Grabe and
Robert Kaplan (1996) stated that L2 reading assists L2 writing. However, no other investigation
has been found to detect the link between L2 reading and the L1 influence found in L2 writing.
Interestingly, there are some contradictions between how Hanoi University’s students
view themselves and what is revealed about them in our corpus-based research. However, in
the case of collocation, it is not clear whether the participants wrongly evaluated their capacity

51
or because of their lack of confidence, they would use fewer collocations and be more aware
when using them, leading to a strikingly low proportion of errors in collocation.

Criteria Corpus-based research Survey

Collocation 91% (31 out of 35 students) do Only 12% are confident in their
not have collocation errors use of collocations.

Grammar 92% have at least 1 grammatical Up to 44% are confident in

error. their grammar

Besides the above-mentioned contradictions, we found one notable equivalence in the

aspect of word choice, which ranks fourth in the number of students committing the errors that
our corpus-based research revealed.

Criteria Corpus-based research Survey

Word choice 43% have word choice errors. 56% find it hard to find the
right word to express their ideas
under time constraints

In conclusion, the result of the online survey has indicated that:

Firstly, the low proportion of English Studies students having good habits of reading and
writing may be one of the underlying reasons behind the 68% of students committing more
than 5 errors in their writing.
Secondly, in the grammatical aspect, many participants might falsely evaluate their
grammatical capacity.
Thirdly, word choice is one considerable difficulty that many participants often face,
which is pointed out clearly in both the online survey and the corpus-based research.
5. CONCLUSION, LIMITATIONS, AND RECOMMENDATIONS
5.1. Summary
This study looks into the impact of L1 interference on the writing proficiency of Hanoi
University’s sophomores majoring in English. Through the research, it is found that the writing
of 35 participants in our corpus-based research is influenced by their mother tongue, particularly
at the level of grammar, lexis, and mechanics.

52
 5.2. Limitations
Although great efforts have been put into the research, shortcomings are inevitable.
Firstly, our research does not cover some linguistic aspects that might also be affected by the
mother tongue, such as the rhetoric aspect. Secondly, while having pointed out the significance
of sorting out mistakes and errors in the literature review, we did not manage to do so in our
data analysis process due to time constraints. Last but not least, the number of participants of
our corpus-based research may not be large enough to be representative of Hanoi University’s
English Department.
5.3. Recommendations
For the reasons mentioned, it is recommended that the following research investigate a
wider group of English learners. However, students and teachers at the Hanoi University
English Department might consider the research's findings valuable. The data collected
suggested that English learners, particularly those engaged in the writing learning process,
should be aware of the errors they make in their written assignments and understand how some
of their errors may be indicators of the L1 influence. Additionally, this research may be used as
a reliable reference source of information by sophomores in the English Department and
students in the English Department to become more confident when writing.

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 APPENDIX 1: Survey Questions

I. BASIC INFORMATION

1. What is your gender? Option 1. Male

Option 2. Female
Option 3. Prefer not to say

2. What year are you in? Option 1. Year 1

Option 2. Year 2
Option 3. Year 3
Option 4. Year 4

3. Are you a student of English Department Option 1. Yes

Option 2. No

4. What is your first language? Option 1. Vietnamese

Option 2. Other: …

5. When did you start to learn English? (short answer)

II. INVESTIGATION INTO LANGUAGE BACKGROUND

1. Overall insights
Q1. Have you ever taken an English writing class before entering university?
Option 1: Yes…………………………Option 2: No………………………….
Q2. Have you ever heard about L1 interference or the influence that our mother tongue
has on our English writing?
Option 1: Yes…………………………Option 2: No………………………….
2. Attitude towards writing
Q3. Do you enjoy English writing?
Option 1: Yes…………………………Option 2: No………………………….
Q4. Do you feel anxious about your writing?
Option 1: Yes…………………………Option 2: No………………………….
III. INVESTIGATION INTO HABITS IN STUDYING AND USING ENGLISH
1. Habits in studying English
Q5. You often practice writing at home.
Option 1: Strongly disagree………. Option 2: Disagree……….Option 3: Neutral…….….
Option 4: Agree…….…….…………...Option 5: Strongly agree…….…….
Q6. You frequently review writing samples to learn varieties of writing styles.

56
 Option 1: Strongly disagree………. Option 2: Disagree……….Option 3: Neutral…….….
Option 4: Agree…….…….…………...Option 5: Strongly agree…….…….
Q7. You have the habit of studying collocations in writing to make your writing more
academic
Option 1: Strongly disagree………. Option 2: Disagree……….Option 3: Neutral…….….
Option 4: Agree…….…….…………...Option 5: Strongly agree…….…….
Q8. You often apply collocations in writing.
Option 1: Strongly disagree………. Option 2: Disagree……….Option 3: Neutral…….….
Option 4: Agree…….…….…………...Option 5: Strongly agree…….…….
Q9. You often look up collocations when doing writing assignments
Option 1: Strongly disagree………. Option 2: Disagree……….Option 3: Neutral…….….
Option 4: Agree…….…….…………...Option 5: Strongly agree…….…….
Q10. You are good at using collocations in writing.
Option 1: Strongly disagree………. Option 2: Disagree……….Option 3: Neutral…….….
Option 4: Agree…….…….…………...Option 5: Strongly agree…….…….
Q11. You are confident with your grammar now.
Option 1: Strongly disagree………. Option 2: Disagree……….Option 3: Neutral…….….
Option 4: Agree…….…….…………...Option 5: Strongly agree…….…….
Q12. You often study and revise grammar
Option 1: Strongly disagree………. Option 2: Disagree……….Option 3: Neutral…….….
Option 4: Agree…….…….…………...Option 5: Strongly agree…….…….
Q13. You are confident with your vocabulary now.
Option 1: Strongly disagree………. Option 2: Disagree……….Option 3: Neutral…….….
Option 4: Agree…….…….…………...Option 5: Strongly agree…….…….
Q14. You often learn advanced words to widen your academic vocabulary.
Option 1: Strongly disagree………. Option 2: Disagree……….Option 3: Neutral…….….
Option 4: Agree…….…….…………...Option 5: Strongly agree…….…….
Q15. You often notice the punctuation and spelling when writing.
Option 1: Strongly disagree………. Option 2: Disagree……….Option 3: Neutral…….….
Option 4: Agree…….…….…………...Option 5: Strongly agree…….…….

2. Habits in using English

Q16. You have a habit of writing in English (e.g. writing journals, blogs, social media
posts, essays in class, etc.)

57
 Option 1: Never……………. Option 2: Rarely…………….Option 3: Sometimes…….…….
Option 4: Often…….…….……Option 5: Always…….………
Q17. You are confident in your ability to use collocation effectively.
Option 1: Strongly disagree………. Option 2: Disagree……….Option 3: Neutral…….….
Option 4: Agree…….…….…………...Option 5: Strongly agree…….…….
Q18. You can manage to use collocation in a suitable context.
Option 1: Strongly disagree………. Option 2: Disagree……….Option 3: Neutral…….….
Option 4: Agree…….…….…………...Option 5: Strongly agree…….…….
Q19. You have a tendency to use informal words when writing in English.
Option 1: Strongly disagree………. Option 2: Disagree……….Option 3: Neutral…….….
Option 4: Agree…….…….…………...Option 5: Strongly agree…….…….
Q20. You usually apply scores of new words you have learned in your English writing
essays.
Option 1: Strongly disagree………. Option 2: Disagree……….Option 3: Neutral…….….
Option 4: Agree…….…….…………...Option 5: Strongly agree…….…….
Q21. You apply a variety of complex structures and sentences in writing.
Option 1: Strongly disagree………. Option 2: Disagree……….Option 3: Neutral…….….
Option 4: Agree…….…….…………...Option 5: Strongly agree…….…….
Q22. You have a habit of reading printed/media publications written in English (eg.
books, newspapers, magazines, etc.)
Option 1: Strongly disagree………. Option 2: Disagree……….Option 3: Neutral…….….
Option 4: Agree…….…….…………...Option 5: Strongly agree…….…….
Q23. You have a habit of reading social media content (Facebook, Youtube comments,
Instagram, Quora, Reddit, etc.) in English.
Option 1: Strongly disagree………. Option 2: Disagree……….Option 3: Neutral…….….
Option 4: Agree…….…….…………...Option 5: Strongly agree…….…….
Q24. Regardless of the above-mentioned habits, do you have any other habits in using
English?
(Open-ended question)

IV. INVESTIGATION INTO DIFFICULTIES WHEN WRITING

Q25. You have difficulties using collocation in your writing.
Option 1: Never……………. Option 2: Rarely…………….Option 3: Sometimes…….…….
Option 4: Often…….…….……Option 5: Always…….………

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 Q26. Name some of your difficulties in using collocation in your writing:
(Open-ended question)
Q27. You find it hard to find the right word to express your ideas under time constraints.
Option 1: Never……………. Option 2: Rarely…………….Option 3: Sometimes…….…….
Option 4: Often…….…….……Option 5: Always…….………
Q28. You have difficulties recalling advanced words to use in your writing.
Option 1: Never……………. Option 2: Rarely…………….Option 3: Sometimes…….…….
Option 4: Often…….…….……Option 5: Always…….………
Q29. You use the wrong punctuation.
Option 1: Never……………. Option 2: Rarely…………….Option 3: Sometimes…….…….
Option 4: Often…….…….……Option 5: Always…….………
Q30. You use the wrong spelling.
Option 1: Never……………. Option 2: Rarely…………….Option 3: Sometimes…….…….
Option 4: Often…….…….……Option 5: Always…….………

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 APPENDIX 2: Writing Assignments
The writing samples with four different topics are attached below to represent our data
collection in this research study. This aims to show the credibility of the research, and in case
all the samples are in need, they will be fully provided.

60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
 NGHIÊN CỨU VỀ NHẬN THỨC CỦA SINH VIÊN NĂM 3
CHUYÊN NGÀNH BIÊN - PHIÊN DỊCH Ở KHOA TIẾNG ANH,
TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC HÀ NỘI VỀ ẢNH HƯỞNG CỦA DỊCH MÁY
SVTH: Dương Thị Quỳnh Trang, Hoàng Châu Anh, Nguyễn Thị Huyền Dịu
GVHD: Đặng Ngân Giang, Ph.D

Tóm tắt: Trong bối cảnh khoa học công nghệ phát triển vượt bậc, dịch máy đang dần trở thành
công cụ hỗ trợ được đông đảo sinh viên sử dụng trong quá trình dịch thuật. Bài nghiên cứu này được
thực hiện nhằm tìm hiểu nhận thức của sinh viên năm ba chuyên ngành Biên - Phiên dịch tại , Khoa
Tiếng Anh, Trường Đại học Hà Nội về tác động của dịch máy đến các khía cạnh biên dịch như độ chính
xác của bản dịch, hiệu suất dịch và cơ hội nghề nghiệp. Thông qua 129 phản hồi bảng 22 câu hỏi sử
dụng Google Form, kết quả thu được cho thấy hầu hết sinh viên có nhận thức khá tích cực về các ảnh
hưởng của công cụ này. Hy vọng bài nghiên cứu này sẽ trở thành một nguồn tài liệu để định hướng
cách sử dụng, phương pháp giảng dạy và việc mở rộng nghiên cứu về dịch máy trong tương lai.

Từ khóa: nhận thức, dịch máy, biên dịch, sinh viên ngôn ngữ Anh, sinh viên năm 3.

AN INVESTIGATION ON THE PERCEPTION OF THIRD-YEAR

STUDENTS MAJORING IN TRANSLATION AND
INTERPRETING AT THE ENGLISH DEPARTMENT, HANOI
UNIVERSITY ABOUT THE INFLUENCES OF MACHINE
TRANSLATION (MT)

Abstract: In the context of rapid development of science and technology, Machine Translation
(MT) is progressively becoming an assistance tool utilized by the majority of students in the translation
process. Therefore, the research aims to investigate the perception of juniors majoring in Translation
and Interpreting at the English Department, Hanoi University about the impacts of Machine Translation
on translation such as productivity, accuracy, and job opportunities. The statistics of 129 responses to
a 22-item Google Form questionnaire indicate that most students view this tool as relatively beneficial.
It is expected that the research would serve as a helpful resource for translation learners’ usage,
instructors’ teaching approaches, as well as further research on this tool.

Key words: perception, Machine Translation (MT), translation, English-majored students, junior.

1. INTRODUCTION
1.1. Background of research
Language translation is no longer regarded as a great challenge in the 20th century, thanks

68
to the invention of computer systems which ushered in an era of the Internet and new media
technological expansion (Akbari, 2014). The emergence of Machine Translation (MT) is a
milestone in the translation industry, as it represents the use of computers to ameliorate practical
needs such as working as an alternative to dictionaries and modeling more complex foreign
language use (Ryu et al., 2022). Nevertheless, whether to employ MT has been a controversial
topic among foreign language educators since it offers both advantages and disadvantages. For
students, especially those majoring in Translation and Interpreting, the ability to perceive and
evaluate MT may contribute to their self-orientation in both studying and working.
1.2. Rationale
MT is becoming increasingly popular among university students majoring in Translation
and Interpreting due to its significant features. Many studies confirm the advantages as well as
the limitations of machine translation (Niño, 2009; Akbari, 2014; Macken et al., 2020;
Mohamad et al., 2020; Stasimioti, 2022). Students’ perceptions of MT are crucial factors in
student behavior, which can reflect how, why and what students learn (Sujarwo, 2020). Several
studies attempt to evaluate students' perceptions of machine translation (Jolley & Maimone,
2015; Ryu et.al, 2022). However, the number of studies on this issue remains limited in the
Vietnamese context, particularly at Hanoi University - one of the leading universities in
Translation and Interpreting training. Therefore, this article is carried out to fill the research gap
by investigating the overall perception of EFL students majoring in Translation and Interpreting
about the impacts of MT on translation issues such as accuracy, productivity, and job
opportunities.
1.3. Scope of the study
The current research is restricted to third-year students whose major is Translation and
Interpreting at the English Department, Hanoi University. Furthermore, the study involves an
analysis of students’ outlook on the influences of MT, which means the actual impacts of MT
will not be measured.
1.4. Significance of the study
This research aims to analyze EFL students’ perceptions of MT, especially students who
are juniors in Translation and Interpreting majors. Furthermore, their perceptions on how MT
affects their work, studies, and job opportunities will be presented in both positive and negative
sides. Some suggestions for students may be given to help them use MT as effectively as
possible. Also, instructors can use this research as a reference resource to have better insights
into students' viewpoints of translation tools for future practice.
1.5. Research questions
This research paper aims to answer two main questions:
Question 1: How frequently do third-year students majoring in Translation and
Interpreting at the English Department, Hanoi University use machine translation tools?

69
 Question 2: In what way do these students perceive the benefits and shortcomings of
Machine Translations?
2. LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1. Overview of MT
MT is an automated process of translating written or spoken materials from one natural
language to another using computer software and tools. There are three forms of MT: rule-
based machine translation (RBMT), statistical machine translation (SMT), and neural machine
translation (NMT). The introduction of NMT and the release of Google's NMT technology in
2016 significantly increased translation quality. Since then, the number of translation tools that
are integrated with NMT has risen dramatically (Deng & Yu, 2022).
2.2. Influences of MT
2.2.1. Accuracy
When evaluating the grammatical accuracy of MT, previous studies point out some errors
in distinguishing exact pronoun corresponding, word order, voice (Akbari, 2014), spelling,
punctuation, and formatting (Borodina et al., 2021). In terms of text length, Akbari (2014)
indicates that MT cannot translate specialized words, idioms, slang, expressions, and sentences
in an exact manner due to their different meanings and expressions. Moreover, Zakir and
Nagoor (2017) also find some errors in MT output in words and phrases conveying hidden
messages. In terms of context, research by Niño (2009), Akbari (2014), and Borodina et al.
(2021) shows that MT cannot recognize context, metaphors, and cultural-specific in the source
text.
However, Niño (2009) also appreciates the accuracy of MT with lexical translation,
repetitive and simply structured texts. Lee (2020) implies that MT significantly improves the
quality of the final drafts. Borodina et al. (2021) show that the rate of making errors among
students without using Google Translation is 2.7 times higher than among students using this
tool.
2.2.2. Productivity
Some researchers have attempted to examine the productivity of MT. Stasimioti (2022)
shows that MT can reduce or eliminate manual steps in the translation process such as file
conversions, word counting, and quality checks. Furthermore, Macken et al. (2020), through
quantifying the Effect of Machine Translation in a High-Quality Human Translation Production
Process, indicates that MT speeds up translators' work by an average of 51% and 66%.
Nevertheless, in some cases, the average processing speed for the MT is lower than for the no-
MT. The factors influencing the speed of the translation process when using MT are the time
needed for post-editing (Macken et al, 2020), and the typing time (Munkoda et al., 2021).
However, when comparing the productivity of post-editing MT with human translation,
Munkoda et al. (2021) argue that post-editing compared to human translation of journalistic
text from English into the inflectional Slovak language is more effective.

70
 2.2.3. Job opportunities
Quach (2021) argues that MT can give birth to machine translation post-editing (MTPE).
MTPE refers to the process of creating the first draft of a translation using machine translation
software, which is then revised by a human post-editor. MT can not satisfy the requirements of
translation when it comes to the request for understanding cultural nuances. Therefore, it is
required to involve translators in this procedure. Consequently, post-editing machine translation
jobs have become more and more popular based on this phenomenon.
Along with offering new chances, MT is viewed as a “double edge sword” (Pastor, 2021).
To be more precise, Pastor shows that numerous students projected that in the future, translators
will serve as reviewers rather than actual translators since the advancement of MT will usher in
a new function known as the post-editor profile. However, despite its rapid development,
machine translation is not expected to be able to replace human translators due to the high
demand for translation in creative fields such as literary or advertising translation.
2.3. Perception of learners
Ryu et al. (2022) indicates the perception of students about the Guided Use of Machine
Translation (GUMT) and their perceptions of GUMT’s impact on their foreign language. These
authors find some shortcomings related to semantic, syntactic, and pragmatic output that
students face when using some tools such as Google Translate, Naver Papago, and Google
Image to support their writing.
On the other hand, Jolley and Maimone (2015) conduct a survey-based study to analyze
the perception of learners and instructors about the effectiveness of Free Online Machine
Translation (FOMT). The results verify that most people tested highly evaluate the help of
FOMT in terms of vocabulary or terminology, grammar structures, and in terms of translation
unit length as well. Students also feel satisfied with the accuracy of FOMT output and the
ethicality of the appropriateness of using FOMT tools. However, these results belong to a group
of students who had almost no training in using these tools but just used them frequently. Based
on this truth, Jolley and Maimone (2015) suggest that instructors help students to understand
how different kinds of FOMTs are meant to be used and give them a guideline about ineffective
and effective applications.
2.4. Research gap
A review of existing literature indicates that most researchers tend to mainly concentrate
on analyzing one aspect of MT such as accuracy, productivity, or job opportunities. Moreover,
they have yet to touch upon students majoring in Translation and Interpreting, particularly their
perceptions. Therefore, this research is conducted to void the research gap and to gather
specialized knowledge about the influences of MT from the perspectives of these major students
who are more familiar with the features of MT than non-specific students.
3. METHODOLOGY
3.1. Research approach

71
 The study’s foundation is built on quantitative approaches. According to Bryman (2012),
the quantitative research method can be regarded as a research strategy emphasizing the
qualification of collection and analysis of data. Furthermore, this method attempts to find the
answers to the questions like how much, how many, and to what extent (Rasinger, 2013). Online
surveys based on quantitative methods are considered a cost-effective and simple way for
researchers to quickly synthesize and analyze data (Pecáková, 2016).
3.2. Participants
The participants in this research are 129 students randomly volunteering. They are juniors
majoring in Translation and Interpreting at the English Department, Hanoi University. Their
English skills should range between B2 and C1. Furthermore, they are conversant with MT,
which can assist the research in gaining important professional insight into these techniques.
3.3. Research instrument
This study makes use of a Google Form questionnaire consisting of three parts. The first
sector includes three questions to elicit students’ demographic information. The second part
includes three questions with two sub-questions adapted from Jolley and Maimone (2015),
investigating students’ frequency of MT use. The last sector includes three questions and 11
sub-questions adapted from Niño (2009), Akbari (2014), Jolley and Maimone (2015), Zakir and
Nagoor (2017), and Borodina et al. (2021), clarifying how students perceive the MT’s
influences on translation in terms of accuracy, productivity and job opportunity. Most questions
employ the five-point Likert scale to relevantly and conveniently collect data regarding
participants’ perceptions. In the last sub-questions in part three, participants are required to
offer their answers in the form of short answers.
3.4. Data collection and analysis
First and foremost, the official survey on the ground of the related features is created in a
Google Form link and distributed to the third-year Translation and Interpreting English majors
through Facebook. The survey is conducted in one week and reminders for them to fill in were
sent twice. After receiving the responses, the data is automatically collected by Google Forms
and all figures are compiled and presented in the form of pie charts and bar charts for further
descriptive analysis. Finally, the researchers analyze the data collected in detail in the
subsequent sections.
4. FINDING AND DISCUSSION
4.1. Students’ frequency of MT use
4.1.1. Student’s familiarity with Machine Translation (MT)

72
 Figure 1. Students’ familiarity with Machine Translation (MT)
The accompanying bar chart manifests the options of 129 participants to see whether they
are familiar with MT or not. Accordingly, most students are pretty well-acquainted with Google
Translate (99.2%) and Microsoft Translator (33.3%), respectively. Besides, other sorts of MT
that are familiar to students are Amazon Translate, Papago, Bing Translate, and TFlat. These
results are in line with those generated by research by Ryu et al. (2022) which found the
majority of participants were familiar with Google Translation and Papago. Furthermore, Ryu
et al. (2022) state that due to their ease of use and convenience, these tools are the most
commonly utilized among translation platforms.
4.1.2. Students’ frequency of using MT
Table 1.
Frequency of using MT in terms of translating various types of genre and text

Never Rarely Sometimes Often Always

Types of genre
(%) (%) (%) (%) (%)

Advertising 31 32.6 22.5 11.6 2.3

Informative 7 4.7 26.4 55 7

Literary 13.2 21.7 21.7 34.9 8.5

By and large, students frequently use MT when it comes to translating Informative texts
with 55%. Using MT to translate Literature text is also common to students, with over 34% of
participants supposing they are often supported by MT tools while reading literary works. On
the other hand, most students rarely or never use MT in terms of translating Advertisement text,
with the proportion (32.6%).
Table 2.

73
 Frequency of using MT in terms of segment length

Never Rarely Sometimes Often Always

Segment length
(%) (%) (%) (%) (%)

Words 5.4 13.2 27.9 45.0 8.5

Phrases 3.9 14.0 28.7 45.0 8.5

Idioms, proverbs or
20.9 25.6 31.0 17.1 13.2
slang

Clauses 1.6 14.7 41.1 37.2 5.4

Sentences 0.8 10.1 35.7 43.4 10.1

Paragraphs 4.7 14.7 26.4 46.5 7.8

Entire text 14.7 14.0 27.1 34.9 9.3

Table 2 illustrates the percentage of students’ regularity of using MT based on the length
of texts. It can be seen from the table that nearly half of the participants (45%) often use MT to
translate words and phrases. This figure corresponds to the findings of Ryu et al. (2022) when
they point out that MT was mostly used as a dictionary for looking up unknown words. The
proportion of using MT to translate paragraphs (46.5%) is slightly greater in comparison with
words and phrases. On the contrary, Jolley and Maimone (2015) find different results as most
participants reported that they more frequently use MT to translate individual words and phrases
than paragraph length or longer segments. When it comes to translating idioms, proverbs, or
slang, one-fifth of correspondents (20.9%) never use MT. Additionally, nearly 15% of students
never or rarely use MT to solve the entire text, and the amount of MT to translate the text is
less than half. These figures confirm the findings of the survey conducted by Ata and Debreli
(2021) on the student’s frequency of MT by segment length.
4.2. Students’ perceptions of MT’s influences
4.2.1. Students’ perceptions of MT’s accuracy
4.2.1.1. Students’ overall evaluation of MT’s accuracy

74
 Figure 2. Students’ overall evaluation of MT’s accuracy

Responding to the question on how they evaluate the overall MT’s accuracy, the majority
of third-year students (93.7 %) answered that MT can produce acceptable (63.6 %) or good
(29.5 %) translations. The minority, which only represents less than 10%, rate it as poor or very
poor. These figures correspond to what was stated in the research of Jolley and Maimone (2015)
about the perception of learners about Free Online Machine Translation.
4.2.1.2. MT’s accuracy by genre/text
Table 3.
Student’s evaluation of MT’s accuracy by genre/text

Type of Very poor Poor Fair Good Excellent

Genre (%) (%) (%) (%) (%)

Advertising 5.4 24 45 24 1.6

Informative 3.1 4.7 39.5 48 4.7

Literary 10 37.2 41 9.4 2.4

In terms of genre, the majority of respondents believed that MT can somehow be effective
(39.5%) or effective (48%) when translating informative text. This can be the reason more than
half of them often use MT for informative texts (Table 1). The percentages reflecting the same
level of confidence were significantly lower for advertising texts, especially literary texts. MT
is widely used by students when translating literary texts; nonetheless, roughly half of them
(41%) evaluate its accuracy as adequate, and more than a third (37.2 %) rated it as poor. It
seems reasonable when advertising is the text genre in which students employ MT the least
(Figure 2) because they consider MT's accuracy in this genre to be relatively low (45%
acceptable and 24% terrible), as indicated in Table 1. Overall, participants perceive the accuracy
of MT in terms of genres as mostly acceptable, in which its accuracy for literary genres is rated

75
as the least reliable. This result is likewise reached in the survey by Jolley and Maimone (2015).
4.2.1.3. MT’s accuracy by segment length
Table 4.
Student’s evaluation of MT’s accuracy by segment length

Segment Very poor Poor Fair Good Excellent

length (%) (%) (%) (%) (%)

Words 2.3 4.7 34.9 50.4 7.7

Phrases 0 9.3 48 38.8 3.9

Idioms,
proverbs or 17.9 36.4 34.9 10 0.8
slangs

Clauses 0.8 7.8 59.6 31 0.8

Sentences 1.6 4.7 50.4 41.9 1.6

Paragraphs 1.6 16.3 53.5 27.9 0.8

Entire text 3.8 22.5 50.4 22.5 0.8

Table 4 shows student’s evaluation of MT’s accuracy in translating different segment

lengths. Most participants, accounting for 50.4 % and 48%, indicate that MT can be used to
effectively or somehow effectively render words and phrases, respectively. This evaluation is
not surprising given that a substantial number of them routinely utilize MT when translating
individual words or phrases (Table 2). The data obtained, however, indicates that students rate
the accuracy of MT higher than that demonstrated in the study of Zakir and Nagoor (2017).
Zakir and Nagoor (2017) argue that single words and phrases have multiple meanings or hidden
meanings that MT cannot distinguish.
The replies for the longer text including clauses, sentences, paragraphs, and entire text
are quite similar to words and phrases. On the other hand, the vast majority of responses
(54.3%) deem MT inefficient or very inefficient in expressing idioms, proverbs, or slang. That
is the reason why the frequency of using MT for this type of text is lower than others. Akbari
(2014) also proves MT's poor translation competence in idioms, proverbs, and slang, owing to
the fact that MT frequently applies one-to-one correspondence, yet idiom meanings are not
deducible from those of individual words.
4.2.1.4. MT’s accuracy by grammar

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 Table 5.
Student’s evaluation of MT’s accuracy by grammar

Very poor Poor Fair Good Excellent

Grammar
(%) (%) (%) (%) (%)

Verb tenses 0.8 6.2 50.4 41 1.6

Passive
0.8 24 46.5 26.4 2.3
voice

Pronoun 1.6 19.4 50.4 25.5 3.1

Word order 1.6 11.6 54.2 31 1.6

Generally, most replies on MT's grammatical accuracy as acceptable or effective, with

around half of participants at all grammatical characteristics. However, Akbari (2014) argues
that MT cannot distinguish the exact pronoun and word order corresponding to each language.
The findings by Afshin and Alaeddini (2016) showed that Google Translate is not able to
translate verb tenses from English to Persian and the translated passages are not acceptable.
Also, most of the grammatical errors occur in the MT’s output of aspects, passives, and
compounds, respectively. The non-correlation between MT’s accuracy acquired from students'
perceptions and other studies can be attributed to students' relatively limited translation
experience and translation capacity. Jolley and Maimone (2015) also report similar findings
when comparing students' and lecturers' perceptions of MT’s correctness.
4.2.1.5. MT’s accuracy by context appropriateness
Table 6.
Student’s evaluation of MT’s accuracy by context appropriateness

Context Very poor Poor Fair Good Excellent

appropriateness (%) (%) (%) (%) (%)

Culture-specific 13.1 34.9 45 7 0

Emotions 14 34.9 45 4.5 1.6

Students participating in the survey evaluate the MT’s accuracy by context

appropriateness as fairly low, with nearly half (45%) rating it as fair and more than a third
(34.9%) rating it as unacceptable. Niño (2009) confirms that MT is unable to provide cultural
equivalents in the target language because cultural references involve human knowledge.
Moreover, it is also shown that MT is incapable of determining and evaluating stylistic factors

77
especially kinds of emotions in different situations (Akbari, 2014).
4.2.2. Productivity

Figure 3. Students’ satisfaction with the influence of MT on their translation speed

The pie chart illustrates the students’ satisfaction when using MT to speed up their
translation process. It is clear that more than half of students (51.2%) are unsure whether MT
can actually assist them to improve their translation pace. Students who are satisfied with the
usefulness of MT account for 38% of the total, surpassing the 7% of students who are
dissatisfied with MT. On the other hand, the maximum scales of satisfaction and dissatisfaction
take up a relatively small proportion of the total.

Figure 4. Students’ reasons for satisfaction

The participants provide a variety of reasons for their satisfaction, in which approximately
78% believe that post-editing is required after utilizing MT. They must go through some aspects

78
of grammar and context that MT cannot handle, such as wrong loan words, unsuitable culture-
specific, and idioms. On the other hand, some students claim that despite post-editing
requirements, they are still satisfied because MT helps them save time and complete work faster
than self-translation. Other reasons for these students’ dissatisfaction with MT include typing
time (23%), bad Internet connection (20.2%), and distraction factors (17.8%). Statistics reveal
that students majoring in Translation and Interpreting do not appreciate the effectiveness of
employing MT to improve their translation output, which is demonstrated by the fact that causes
for their dissatisfaction overwhelm the reasons for their satisfaction. These aforementioned
responses share the same reasons about students’ evaluation of MT’s influence on translation
speed with previous studies which belong to Macken et al. (2020) and Munkova et.al (2021)
such as typing time, post-editing, and bad Internet connection.
4.2.3. Job opportunities
When being asked whether MT positively impacts translation jobs, more than half of
respondents (52.7%) believe that the development of MT can bring new chances and actively
assist translators. Nevertheless, in the matter of the negative impacts of MT, the responses are
controversial. To be more specific, 24% agree that MT exerts negative influences on the
profession, meanwhile, 28.7% of students share a different opinion.
Table 7.
Students’ perception of MT's effect on job opportunities

MT Effect on Job Strongly Disagree Undecided Agree Strongly

disagree agree
opportunities (%) (%) (%)
(%) (%)
MT creates new career
opportunities - a post-editing 9.3 12.4 20.2 51.9 6.2
machine translation job
MT cannot satisfy customers’ 0.8 11.6 12.4 62.8 12.4
high demands
MT provides faster and less
expensive translation than 7.0 26.4 27.9 35.7 3.1
translators

MT causes the value of the

translation profession to be 7.0 31.8 21.7 31.0 8.5
underestimated

MT leads to lower income 4.7 31.0 29.5 28.7 6.2

The table summarizes the explanations for the students' judgment on the impact of MT
on the translation profession. A majority of students (51.9%) agree that MT can potentially
create more job opportunities, leading to the development of so-called machine translation post-
editing (MTPE). This perception is similar to the previous research conducted by Quach (2012)

79
as the researcher argued MT can bring about new career chances, typically MTPE jobs.
On the other hand, the assertion that MT delivers faster and less costly translation than
translators sparks debate among students. While about one-third of them (35.7%) believe that
adopting MT may speed up the translation process and save money on translation services,
others (27.9%) disagree. To demonstrate their point, opponents of this statement believe that
creating an AI is costly and necessitates highly qualified workers with a solid understanding of
IT specialized knowledge. In truth, only large corporations and those with advanced
technologies have been able to create a translation tool comparable to a translator. When it
comes to the statement supposing MT can underestimate the value of the translation profession
and lead to lower income of translators, the tendency is slightly inclined to disagreement, with
31.8% and 31%, respectively. Actually, the participants (62.8%) argue that MT is just a machine
and cannot compete with translators in terms of professions requiring high-quality translation,
which was consistent with Pastor’s (2021) survey on students’ attitudes towards MT.
5. CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
This study proclaims that most respondents utilize MT on a regular basis to tackle
translation-related issues such as text, segment length, grammar, and context. Besides, the
students’ perception of MT’s reliability seems to hold a relationship to their frequency of using
these tools. The majority of accuracy figures represent the same outcomes as previous reports
despite significant variances. Through data analysis, MT appears to be seen as a legitimate and
effective instrument due to its acceptable accuracy and productivity. Furthermore, the
aforementioned findings give evidence that MT’s positive impacts outnumber the negative ones
based on mixed students’ attitudes toward MT’s output and its effects on job opportunities even
though there are existing disputes.
There are several limitations in this research due to the restriction of responses. In reality,
our study limits the scale to two languages, English and Vietnamese, and solely examines a
limited sample of university students. This means that the impacts of MT on other language
pairings as well as perceptions of its influences in other groups can show the distinguishment.
Therefore, the result withdrawn from the finding may be not appropriate in all cases.
This research can be employed as a reference for students for further practice using MT
to support the process of translation. Moreover, teachers and course designers can explore the
ways of introducing MT tools that are pertinent to teaching content aiming to guide students
effectively to integrate MT into foreign language education. Future research could be based on
the findings of this research to undertake similar studies in other universities in Vietnam on a
larger scale.

80
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Translation in a High-Quality Human Translation Production Process. Feature Paper in
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Mohamad, D.A.M., & Tengku, S.T.M. (2020). Advantages and Disadvantages of Using
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 VIỆC LẠM DỤNG TIẾNG ANH TRONG GIAO TIẾP
CỦA SINH VIÊN NĂM NHẤT TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC HÀ NỘI
SVTH: Nguyễn Ngọc Sơn (2A-21), Lương Quang Vũ (2TC-21), Nguyễn Thị Phương Thảo (2TC-21)
GVHD: Đỗ Thị Hồng Phương
Tóm tắt: Trong những năm gần đây, do quá trình toàn cầu hoá và hội nhập quốc tế, sự giao lưu
và tiếp biến văn hoá diễn ra một cách hết sức mạnh mẽ, đặc biệt là tiếng Anh. Ở Việt Nam, tiếng Anh
là một trong những ngôn ngữ được sử dụng rộng rãi và phổ biến nhất. Người Việt, đặc biệt là các sinh
viên, họ đã trải qua một quá trình tiếp cận và sử dụng ngôn ngữ này khá lâu dài, thú vị và hiệu quả. Do
đó, một số người đã dần trở nên lạm dụng thứ ngôn ngữ này trong giao tiếp và làm mất đi sự trong sáng
của Tiếng Việt. Bài nghiên cứu này nhằm chỉ ra thực trạng và một số giải pháp cho việc lạm dụng tiếng
anh trong giao tiếp của sinh viên năm nhất trường Đại học Hà Nội.
Từ khóa: lạm dụng, giao tiếp, sinh viên năm nhất

THE ABUSE OF CONSUMING ENGLISH IN COMMUNICATION

BY THE HANOI UNIVERSITY FRESHMEN

Abstract:

Thanks to globalization and international integration, in recent years, cultural interactions and
acculturation have been more robust than ever, particularly in English. English is one of the most
illustrious foreign languages to be vastly used in Vietnam. The Vietnamese, especially students, have
gone through a long, effective, and mesmerizing process of absorbing and employing this language. As
a result, some people are increasingly abusing the language in communication and losing the clarity of
Vietnamese. This research aims to show the reality and some solutions to the abuse of consuming
English in communication by Hanoi university freshmen.

Keywords: abuse, communication, freshman

1. INTRODUCTION
1.1. Rationale
The modernization and integration era has commenced in Vietnam. The ability to
communicate in English is essential and indispensable for integration and development. Daniel
(2018) concluded that communicating in English is, now, necessary for a country to participate
in the global economy. It also helps people access opportunities for education, employment,
and social mobility (Daniel, 2018). However, due to the widespread usage of English,
Vietnamese communication has developed a practice of over-inserting English, losing the
natural beauty and purity of the Vietnamese language. Tung (2021) found that with regards to
English words not having Vietnamese equivalents, people tend to adopt completely those
lexical items rather than translating, transliterating or converting them into Sino-Vietnamese as
before, and this practice is on the way to be the norm as the society is getting more familiar
with foreign polyphony words. Authors sharing this attitude with Mr. Lam are Trung (2021) in

83
“Interlacing foreign languages when communicating, the risk of fading and losing Vietnamese
identity?” and Tran (2021) in “English appears everywhere”.
However, all innovative articles are on the causes of excessive English insertion,
therefore, this paper aims to explore more deeply and multifaceted about this situation.
1.2. Research question
This study is conducted to seek answer for the following research questions:
1. Why does English tend to be used more frequently in communication?
2. What advantages does inserting English provide?
3. What are the drawbacks of using English too frequently?
2. METHOD
The data used in this research was accumulated from a survey performed by Hanoi
University’s students. To commence with, six multiple-choice questions were specifically
included in a questionnaire that was particularly constructed for our four research questions. In
the next step, 100 freshmen chosen haphazardly, and each of them was asked seven questions
in turn in the survey. Therefore, the research considered the obtained data to have fairly high
fidelity. Based on that, we can give more apparent results. Furthermore, the research conducted
many in-depth surveys with our participants to clarify and confirm ambiguous results.
3. RESULT
This section summarizes the findings of a study done among Hanoi University freshmen
to investigate the present reality of utilizing English in daily communication.
3.1. The circumstances of using English of freshmen

Chart 1. The situations Hanoi university freshmen use English

84
 As can be seen from figure 1, studying is the most popular reason to use English for
students at 66,7% The second major reason is doing work that requires English, which is cited
by 58.7% of students, followed by communication with friends or teachers at 33.3%. Using
English for all situations is less common at 24%.
3.2. The benefits of inserting English in communication that freshmen perceive

Chart 2. The purposes for inserting English words of Hanoi university

freshmen

As regards students’ reasons for inserting some English words while speaking
Vietnamese, the greatest proportion is replacing words that are not available in Vietnamese
making up 57.3%. The second major reason is a 44% reduction in negative implications. The
statistics for boosting emotions, due to the feature of the work requiring you to use and improve
your English level are moderately lower, 37.3%, 33.3%, and 30.7%, respectively. Meanwhile,
figures for other reasons are significantly lower.
3.3. Recognizing the disadvantages of inserting English in communication

Chart 3. The percentage of freshmen at Hanoi University think

they are abusing English in communication

85
 Looking at the data, the greatest proportion of students (56%) believe that they sometimes
abuse the usage of English. It is followed by more than one-third of students that suppose they
never abused English. Regarding students who many times abuse English in their speech, they
only account for 12% of students.
4. DISCUSSION OF FINDINGS
4.1. The circumstances of using English of freshmen
According to study findings, 66.7% of Hanoi University's freshmen use English as a
language of instruction. The reason is that they attend Hanoi University, which boasts 6 centers
for training and international cooperation, 11 foreign language majors, 9 majors other than
languages that are entirely taught in foreign languages, and 11 foreign language majors. Hanoi
University prides itself on being the top educational institution in the nation for training,
research, and majoring in foreign languages (Hanoi University, 2020). All of the textbooks that
are given to incoming students are written in English. They will, thus, be mandatory to take in
and share what they acquire in English classes. However, it is apparent that only over half of
the incoming students utilize the language since, aside from the English department, or ESPD
(English for Specific Department), the other freshmen interviewed came from diverse
backgrounds, and different languages, including Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Spanish,
Portuguese, French, etc. Freshmen in these language departments will learn in the appropriate
language for their major, not in English.
Working, which accounts for 58.7% of new students' time in English usage, is another
prevalent activity. Most first-year students opt to work as English tutors, liaison officers, tour
guides, and other positions that demand the language. These are flexible jobs, with no time
pressure, no degree required, and only English proficiency necessitated, so new students can
easily apply for jobs while studying. They work both to boost their language abilities, get
professional experience, and supplement their income (Stevie, 2022).
In addition, a sizable portion of the freshmen speaks English with their professors and
peers. Practice with a conversation partner is one of the 10 strategies listed by the Indeed
Editorial Team to improve English. Practice your verbal communication skills with native
English speakers or highly competent individuals, if at all feasible. People may always look for
online conversation companions or visit language exchange websites if no one is available in
their live network. People can absorb to recognize the words you utter incorrectly and expand
their vocabulary by practicing with a partner like this. Additionally, doing so can support people
to become more proficient writers (Indeed Editorial Team, 2022). Hanoi University freshmen
believe that speaking English regularly with professors or friends will assist them to develop a
natural response while speaking the language. Regular English usage also aids in their
vocabulary growth. Frequently used English terms won't be soon forgotten, and pupils may
converse and convey ideas rapidly using their English.
4.2. The benefits of inserting English in communication that freshmen perceive

86
 Freshmen at Hanoi University gain a lot from using English in conversation. The survey's
findings show that 57.3% of Hanoi University students frequently use English in their
communication as they believe there are various terms in English that Vietnamese cannot fully
replace, or a language that is challenging to translate into. Examples of certain sorts of unusual
names include pizza, the piano, the guitar, etc. Another option is to utilize one of the many
lovely English terms that cannot be translated into Vietnamese, such as anhedonia (the state of
no longer experiencing delight in formerly pleasurable activities. This word is derived from the
Greek, and alludes to feelings of indifference to things that used to bring them joy and pleasure
such as music, sports, shopping, or even sex). Forelsket (just the feeling of being in love; they
fall in love without knowing anything), Amfisbitophobia (obsessive fear of having to argue),
Sapiosexual (only one who is attracted to and attracted to the intelligence of others), and Pura
Vida (the catchphrase of the Costa Ricans) are just a few of the terms used to describe people
who are in love (Danh, 2022).
Additionally, a lot of English terms aid in lowering offensive meanings when talking.
Since language is the body of thinking, each ethnic group's thinking traits may be seen in its
linguistic traits. Vietnamese vocabulary has a highly distinctive origin due to the more emotive
nature of Vietnamese thought, but it also has a very wide vocabulary of words that describe
attitudes and emotions. English, in comparison, has a generic character that is abstract, succinct,
and has numerous levels of meaning. As a result, using English when talking, especially when
disputing, softens the tone of the exchange (Tung, 2021). When they are disputing with their
peers, many students prefer to speak in English because they find that when they do so, the
emotionality of their words and the issue at hand are lessened. be less serious, stay away from
fights, and keep your emotions positive.
Besides, the English insertion aids in conveying feelings that are difficult to put into
words. Few individuals are aware of a contradiction in modern Vietnamese families' routine
behavior: the challenges of expressing sincere love (Dinh, 2021). It is an undeniable reality that
people frequently do not have to stop to consider or pause before expressing praise or intended
praise to those who are not close to them but to close family members. Always feel nervous,
reluctant, or even mute among family members like your father, mother, brother, and sister,
especially when it comes to your spouse and wife. Many individuals believe that the reason is
that they desire to express their sentiments through their acts rather than their words, they are
worried about getting hurt if their feelings are not returned, or they are reluctant to use corny
language. Since English is worldwide and has various meanings (as indicated above), many
individuals pick it to communicate their sentiments in order to feel less timid when saying
things like, "I love you" and "I want to be yours" (used when expressing feelings for lovers,
family members, or friends, teachers). Additionally, a lot of you converse in English to support
your career and raise your English proficiency (the reason stated above). In particular, a small
number of students (9.3%) use English to show off their foreign language proficiency.
4.3. Recognizing the disadvantages of inserting English in communication

87
 The majority of students who responded to the poll claimed to have used English more or
less The majority of students who responded to the poll claimed to have used English more or
less abusively when communicating. The students also mentioned words and phrases that they
frequently use in place of Vietnamese, such as hi, hello, goodbye, ok; or "order" and "best
seller" when ordering food at restaurants, "book" when making hotel or flight reservations while
traveling, "ship" and "shipper" when it comes to delivery, and words like "camera," "laptop,"
and "video" etc. Additionally, the word "thank you" is employed, and became practically
everyone's slogan over time. The "code-switching" phenomenon is what is meant by this. After
the talk is over, "Speakers may not be aware that they have switched languages or may not be
able to identify the language code they are using for a given topic" (Ronald, 2013). Additionally,
when "linguistic deficit" makes it impossible to explain a certain thought, people often
substitute another term from the second language. International students, persons learning a
foreign language, or those who have spent a lot of time living abroad frequently find themselves
in this scenario (Hue and Phuong, 2021). The learner's brain will have numerous conflicting
systems when learning a new language, according to Monika Schmid, a linguist from the
University of Essex (UK). The difference between the monolingual and bilingual brain is that
you need to "install" more control modules while learning a second language to enable
switching between the two. The other person typically understands the other language you are
speaking, which is where the hybrid comes from (Monika).
More than 30% of students claimed not to have ever misused the English language when
communicating. To preserve the integrity of the Vietnamese language, they speak it as much as
they can. They find it annoying when talking in Vietnamese and are cut off by those in another
language. However, they made it clear that they only use English in communication when there
is no Vietnamese equivalent or when the terminology is technical. Keeping transnational nouns
authentic is a means to respect that language specifically and the countries that use that language
generally, according to journalist Do Minh Dao, who shares this opinion (Do, 2008). Students
from fields like finance and banking, accounting, marketing, information technology, etc. are
among many who support this position. This is demonstrated by the fact that even Americans
pronounce nouns in Italian and French with the same accent. If so, how do the British and
Americans transliterate the Vietnamese word "Ao Dai" or do they keep it in its original form?
The term "bread," and "pho," has also been included in the Oxford dictionary with their original
spelling and transliteration, rather than substituting an English word. Or from "Banh Chung"
which many people interpret as Chung cake, however, cake refers to a sort of cake with cream.
As a result, maintaining the technical phrases in English and evading transcoding is a respectful
approach to using the word and honoring its history. Not abuse is the goal; it is respect for the
preservation of cultural uniqueness.
5. RECOMMENDATION
English learners should first be apprehensive of the drawbacks of overusing English in
communication. Currently, the blending of other languages into Vietnamese frequently goes
beyond the bounds of necessity and reason. Simple English terms that are entirely paired with

88
comparable Vietnamese words are often used in daily conversation and on social media.
Talking to Vietnamese people while purposefully "inserting" a foreign language into your
phrases reveals your lack of proficiency in your home tongue and, more importantly, your lack
of pride in your country. Furthermore, designedly slipping a foreign lingo into bone's rulings
when speaking to Vietnamese people, regardless of the aim, has also displayed a lack of respect
for the language of the country.
To preserve the integrity of the Vietnamese language, everyone should intentionally
minimalize this misuse (Trung, 2021). Additionally, using English when conversing with others
sometimes comes out as disrespectful. Interjections should only be used while conversing for
fun, informally entertaining, or when something has to be stressed, but they must be used in the
right context, just like slang and internet lingo (Tung, 2021). English should not be used as a
gauge of one's consciousness, knowledge, level, or degree of growth, but merely as a tool for
communication, integration, and development. According to Ms. Nguyen Hoang Thao, a
lecturer at Hanoi University and an expert in both English and Japanese, you had better work
to strengthen your mother tongue as you learn more. Love for one's own language and writing
is the foundation of patriotism (Nguyen, 2021). In order to prevent developing the habit of using
an English term frequently, people ought to also actively translate any English words that
Vietnamese do not have. The audiences and circumstances of people's communications are
other crucial factors. English should only be used in communication for appropriate topics and
situations where the recipient can comprehend the message. Then, individuals will be able to
communicate effectively.
6. CONCLUSION
This research paper tackles three main inquiries, which are profoundly about the reality
of students' English abuse in communication, the reasons why the English abuse has been
formed, and attitudes towards it.
Notwithstanding the fact that English language, now, is beneficial and well-known in
Vietnam, this misuse should be intentionally minimized to preserve the integrity of the
Vietnamese language.

REFERENCES

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267472.htm?fbclid=IwAR2wxLQ9sw0ndJntiLG2PuFtu2GfBobeP6Reg5YjM9jGFmSt8ZgkF
fDBxdo

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 ẢNH HƯỞNG CỦA VIỆC XEM TED TALK
ĐẾN KỸ NĂNG THUYẾT TRÌNH
CỦA SINH VIÊN KHOA ANH TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC HÀ NỘI
SVTH: Đinh Thị Lan Anh (3A-21), Lương Nhật Linh (2A-21), Đặng Vũ Hà Ly (2A-21).
GVHD: Thạc sỹ Đỗ Thị Hồng Phương

Tóm tắt: Kỹ năng thuyết trình thực sự đóng vai trò quan trọng trong việc truyền tải thông điệp,
định hướng quan điểm và hơn hết là để đạt được hiệu quả giao tiếp tối ưu nhất. Ứng dụng của kỹ năng
thuyết trình không chỉ giới hạn ở một phạm vi nhất định mà còn mở rộng tới những lĩnh vực khác của
cuộc sống. Bởi vậy, trau dồi khả năng trình bày ngay từ khi học tập ở trường là điều thiết yếu đối với
sinh viên nói chung và sinh viên ngành ngôn ngữ Anh nói riêng. Để thực sự thành thạo, ngoài phương
pháp của giảng viên thì các nguồn tài liệu như TED Talk chính là nguồn tham khảo chất lượng, dễ tiếp
cận, hữu ích nhất. Trên cơ sở đó, đề tài này tập trung nghiên cứu ảnh hưởng của việc xem TED Talk
đến kỹ năng thuyết trình mà đối tượng là sinh viên khoa tiếng Anh Trường đại học Hà Nội. Từ việc phân
tích dữ liệu được thu thập thông qua khảo sát, nghiên cứu làm rõ những khó khăn khi thuyết trình của
sinh viên cũng như đánh giá tác động của TED Talk lên kỹ năng này, đồng thời đề xuất một số phương
pháp áp dụng TED Talk một cách phù hợp để khắc phục hạn chế đó.

Từ khóa: Kỹ năng, thuyết trình, TED Talk, ảnh hưởng, xem

THE INFLUENCES OF WATCHING TED TALK VIDEOS ON

PRESENTATION SKILLS OF HANU STUDENTS MAJORING IN
ENGLISH DEPARTMENT

Abstract: Presentation skills, transparently, perform a pivotal role in delivering messages,

orientating outlooks, especially, in attaining the most highly effective communication goals. The
implementation of public speaking skills is not solely limited to a specific domain but is comprehensively
applied in several spheres of life. Hence, cultivating presentation abilities since schooling is significant
for students, particularly, students specializing in the English language. To be completely competent,
TED Talk, besides lecturers’ methods, is one of the most appreciated, accessible, and useful materials.
In terms of such remarkable bases, this study aims to investigate the influences of watching TED Talk
videos on presentation skills of which research objectives are Ha Noi university students majoring in the
English department. By analyzing assembled data from conducting a survey, the research clarifies the
difficulties of the student when presenting as well as evaluates the impacts of TED Talk videos on these
skills, and also proposes some solutions to eliminate those obstacles through watching TED Talk videos.

Keywords: Skills, presentation, TED Talk, influences, watching

1. INTRODUCTION

91
 This section offers some glimpses of the dissertation. It is divided into four parts namely:
Background of the study, rationale, and the significance of the study. Ultimately, the research
questions are highlighted.
1.1. Background of the study
The advent of the internet, in recent decades, has considerably dominated humans’ lives.
Indeed, it has become an indispensable part attached to the daily life of mankind that displays
multifunction in various fields including English language education. Besides providing ample
mediums for researching information expeditiously, the internet also is a huge resource for
storing data such as audio tools, and videos related to academic training. The availability of
these materials supports both teachers and students to access, absorb and enrich the educational
quality.
TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) Talk is both a website and a downloadable
application that releases English videos and podcasts with subtitles. Its contents are delivered
and inspired by expert speakers from several nations in the world in the form of public speaking.
These materials, thus, can facilitate the presentation skills of students. Furthermore, it can also
assist teachers in oral lectures in attractive and authentic ways. Overall, TED Talk offers not
only methods to obtain well-performed speeches but also understandable oral communication
and techniques. 'Observing presentations of great speakers can help students understand the
embodiment of essential theoretical constructs of public speaking as well as to feel the impacts
of a successful speech' (Lee & Liang, 2012, p. 673).
1.2. Rationale
Mastering presentation skills has numerous merits for English foreign language learners.
The endeavors to gain proficiency of students, nonetheless, are virtually hindered by difficulties
that lead to the fear of learning the public speaking skills of the learners. In addition, these
problems partially originate from the lack of English practices in many high schools, because
the grammatical and theoretical knowledge are likely to outweigh other English elements,
especially speaking and presentation abilities. Thus, when having exposure to academic English
which requires advanced skills such as presentation, students majoring in the English language
department of HaNoi University in particular get confused and stressed. Meanwhile, the
popularity of TED Talk videos is a useful resource in terms of oral communication but is not a
widespread implementation in teaching and learning presentation materials. After examining
these difficulties as well as evaluating the potential values that TED Talk creates such as body
language, impact techniques, experiences, and knowledge, we make a decision to opt for this
subject to give a comprehensive insight into the demerits of the students when presenting,
inspect the effects of TED Talk on public speaking skills, and recommend strategies for
applying the media reasonably.
1.3. The significance of the study
The significance of presentation skills for English language learners in specific is

92
undeniable, meanwhile, the capacity of TED Talk can utterly function as an educational tool
and material.
This research work aims to analyze the influences of watching TED Talk videos on the
presentation skills of HaNoi university students professing in the English Department. The
activity of study, hence, is valuable for applying TED Talk videos in enhancing the quality of
public speaking in sound ways.
We believe that the research has greatly essential benefits for English language students,
especially HaNoi university students majoring in English Department. Thanks to the study, the
learners can determine the pros and cons of their situations in learning presentation skills as
well as identify their current abilities. Additionally, they also recommended suitable solutions
regarding the effectiveness of TED Talks. This research, moreover, is also useful for the
teachers to understand the drawbacks of their students and modify the teaching methods of
presentation successfully.
Overall, this research has significant work, since TED Talk is seemingly popular,
reputable, and commonly shared but its application is not highly remarkable because of the
“domino effect”. Indeed, a number of under-advanced students tend to watch TED Talk videos
without selection, meanwhile, the knowledge and techniques provided by TED Talk are at a
great level. That leads to overwhelmed, anxious, and confusing situations for the students. If
they are not guided to reasonable methods, the learners will tend to be in the middle of nowhere.
Therefore, the result of the research has practical value for the learners’ amelioration of
presentation abilities. The methodology offers scientific information in terms of public
speaking skills for the teachers and students of the English department at Ha Noi. University.
1.4. Research questions
This study includes two main research questions:
1) What are the difficulties in learning presentation skills that Ha Noi University
students majoring in the English Department tackle?
2) What are the impacts of TED Talk videos on presentation skills?
3) What strategies can be potential regarding the effect of watching TED Talk
videos?
2. LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1. Presentation skills
2.1.1. Definition of presentation skills
According to Swathi (2015), the term “presentation” is understood as a “practice of
showing and explaining the content of a topic to the audience and learners”. Presentation skills,
as a result, can be defined as a collection of abilities people need to “deliver effective and
engaging presentations to various audiences” (UBC Wiki, 2021).

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 2.1.2. Difficulties in presentation skills
Dolan (2017) reported that presentation skills are essential in practically every facet of
academic and corporate life. Effectively learning and applying these skills enable students to
convey material professionally. However, learners faced a variety of difficulties in improving
these skills. According to King (2002), speech anxiety is one of the major problems that lead
to learners’ oral presentation failures. The anxiety comes from factors influencing presentation
skills such as bad preparation, low-self confidence, low English-speaking ability, low tech, poor
body language, etc. They never feel confident enough to speak in front of a crowd. Another
serious barrier that inhibits presenters from honing their presentation skills is communication
apprehension such as shyness and quietness. High communication apprehensive students are
often unwilling to communicate (McCroskey, 1982). Because of this, students are also lacking
in energy and enthusiasm. It is apparent that these feelings will have negative effects on their
presentation skills.
2.2. TED-Talk videos.
2.2.1. Definition of TED - Talk videos.
TED (which stands for Technology, Entertainment, and Design) is a non-profit
organization dedicated to the dissemination of ideas usually as brief, influential discussions
and it does not exceed eighteen minutes (“TED's Organization”, 2020, para.1). According
to Broadaway (2012), TED talks are a series of presentations in which speakers express their
viewpoints on a variety of topics including technology, medical research, and culture. These
speeches, which are funded by members and advertising, are freely accessible to everyone on
the TED website and TED YouTube channel.
2.2.2. Effectiveness of watching TED Talk videos
2.2.2.1. Enrich vocabulary
Vocabulary is an indispensable element in presentation skills. If the learner uses the
appropriate and well-chosen vocabulary, his/her presentation skills will be more interesting and
proficient. TED Talk is a reliable source for gaining vocabulary knowledge in different aspects.
Therefore, students can accumulate new words from influential videos conducted by experts on
several domains such as science, psychology, history, culture, politics, economy, art…etc.
Along with proficient academic words, speakers also use expressive language, such as idioms,
to get their point across. A striking feature of TED Talk involves students acquiring new
vocabulary words via “learning words in context”, not just words in isolation because the
speaking gives the background and context, not just words. Students not only learn the meaning
of the new words but also how to use them effectively. For instance, speakers use emphatic
language to make their points stronger. (An example of emphatic language is saying “massive”
instead of “very big”.)
2.2.2.2. Improve speaking skills
Most TED Talk speakers have impeccable pronunciation with excellent voice projection

94
and intonation. As a result, by watching TED Talks, students can practice speaking English
better and avoid pronunciation mistakes. Moreover, as mentioned by Vasilevich. V (2016),
TED Talks are frequently delivered by non-native speakers which is beneficial for ESL students
as it entails various accents and pronunciation — something ESL students can frequently come
across in real-life situations.
2.2.2.3. Enhance Body Language Skills
Body language is a critical component of public speaking performance. For Thomas
(2021, p. 3), good presentation skills aren’t just about using clever words and speaking
clearly— body language is equally as important. It changes the way people respond to us, as
well as how they interpret our messages. Therefore, watching TED talks videos can show to
learners the importance and the power of body language to the performers. TED talks are public
speaking performances; through them, students can learn how to present good posture, hand
gestures, and make eye contact as well as how to start, develop and end a presentation and how
to move from something to another. TED Talks consist of so-called emotional connection,
which involves creating an intimate relationship with the viewer with comedy, suspense, and
personal stories. By watching TED Talk videos presented by assertive and influential speakers,
students will learn how to present without any anxiety, increase their self-confidence and
develop their linguistics and paralinguistics competence in a motivating way.
2.2.3. Difficulties in Watching TED Talk videos
According to students with average English comprehension, some TED Talk videos can
be difficult to absorb with sophisticated topics, which are harder to process than others. They
consist of mostly academic-oriented words and sometimes native idioms or slang words. With
students whose listening skills are not good, it can be confusing when the speakers speak too
fast. This leads to a lack of information and motivation while watching. Students may feel
overwhelmed and pressured from watching some videos whose contents they barely
understand. Some TED Talk videos can be time-consuming, from about fifteen to eighteen
minutes. Therefore, some students report that they do not have enough time to watch their
favorite topic-related videos.
2.2.4. Suggested strategies.
2.2.4.1. Choose suitable videos
Students can search for their favorite videos on Youtube with a variety of topics that seem
interesting and exciting to learn. Based on each student's schedule, they can select videos with
brief or average lengths.
2.2.4.2. Watch videos more than once.
After selecting a suitable video, watch it more than once. In the words of Dodds. E (2022),
the first time students watch a TED video, watch it for their enjoyment and practice note-taking
by writing down the main ideas. The second time they watch it, they focus on the details and
write down useful and unique phrases and expressions. Active learners know to write down

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new words that they hear. New vocabulary does not always mean new words. If the speaker is
talking too quickly then you can slow it down. Pause the video and change the speed by clicking
on the “more options” button in the control bar at the bottom of the video.
2.2.4.3. Practice reading TED transcripts:
According to Putri (2022), students can read the transcripts and spoken words of any TED
talk. This will help them improve their pronunciation and make it easier for them to understand
what is being said. It is advisable to read the transcript aloud with the speaker to practice
pronunciation and vocal skills. Students can hear which words the speaker emphasizes and
repeats. Moreover, they can interpret the speech in their way.
3. METHODOLOGY
3.1. Participants
âThe targeted research subjects are students majoring in the English Department at Ha
Noi University from first year to final year. After carrying out an online survey, 50 responses
were automatically collected and processed by Google Forms.
3.2. Procedures
The research instrument in this study is a questionnaire asking about Hanu students’
perceptions of how watching Ted Talks affects presentation skills. The questionnaire that was
used is mainly based on the questionnaire of G. V. A Nugraheni (2017) and Helal (2020). The
survey was designed by researchers with Google Forms and consists of two main sections. The
first part includes questions about the background of the participants, the background of their
English presentation, and the difficulties they encounter during the presentation. The second
part used the Likert scale to investigate the students’ attitudes toward the benefits of developing
presentation skills through TED Talk videos
4. FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS

Chart 1. ED Students' experience when giving a presentation.

Nearly half of the students (42%) stated that most of the presentations they had done are
generally normal. This is followed by a group of students claiming that they had had good
experiences with their presentation performances (28%). With a slightly smaller percentage,
26% of the surveyed students replied that they had terrible experiences when giving a

96
presentation. Notably, some polled students replied that they had gone through an extremely
good experience with presentation performances, which made up 2%. On the contrary, the
remainder, who accounted for 2% of all respondents, had had extremely terrible experiences.

Chart 2. ED Students' difficulties when giving a presentation.

According to the data, the majority of respondents have difficulties remembering what to
say during their speech, which accounts for 70%. It is worth noting that the rate of Hanu students
who lack confidence was 64%, followed by their inability to use body language properly (44%).
The remainder, who did not know how to use technology during the presentation, made up 16%
of Hanu respondents.

Chart 3. The frequency of watching TED-Talk videos among ED students at Hanoi

University

Regarding the watching frequency, Chart 3 has shown that 28 out of 50 respondents
(56%) indicated that they sometimes watch TED-Talk videos, followed by nearly a fourth of
participants who claimed to watch often. Besides, the rate of students who referred themselves
to usual watchers was 14%, approximately twice as much as 6% in the “rarely” option. Notably,
none of the students admitted that they always watch TED Talks. After all, most English major
students sometimes pay attention to TED-Talk videos.

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 No
Strongly Strongly
Disagree Neutral Agree
Criteria disagree agree
(%) (%) (%)
(%) (%)

I feel motivated when I watch

1 0 8 30 46 16
TED Talk videos

I can improve my body language

2 2 10 40 46 2
skills

I can improve my confidence and

3 2 12 42 40 4
overcome anxiety.

I can enhance my pronunciation

4 0 6 18 52 24
skills.

I can learn new vocabulary and

5 0 4 14 58 24
expressions.

I can learn new ideas and

6 techniques for delivering a 0 12 28 44 16
speech.

I can learn how to present a well-

7 2 14 36 32 16
organized, dynamic speech.

I can learn more from excellent

8 0 4 32 44 20
TED-TALK speakers.

Table 1. The influences of watching TED Talk videos on the presentation skills of ED
students at Hanoi University

Table 1 illustrates the influence of TED Talks on ED students’ presentation skills.

According to the table, the majority of participants (46%) agreed that watching TED Talk
videos inspires and motivates them. Through these videos, students also enhance their non-
verbal language (body language). Apparently, 42% of students remaining neutral feel TED
videos improve their confidence and reduce their anxiety during presentations. Over half of
respondents (52%) agreed that watching TED videos can improve their ability to pronounce
words correctly. The percentage of the students agreeing that their source of new vocabulary

98
and expressions were enriched by watching Ted Talk videos accounts for 58%. Regarding the
acquisition of well-organized presentation and dynamic speech, the proportion of neutral was
higher compared to others (36%), meanwhile, the rates of agreements were 32%. In general,
notwithstanding differences in subjective and objective opinions, the number of participants
agreeing that they can learn more from excellent Ted Talk speakers significantly dominated
over other outlooks (44%). The data for the influences of watching Ted Talk videos on their
presentation skills proved a considerable attachment of English learners to the significance of
watching Ted Talk videos with a major number of recorded responses being agreement.
5. CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTIONS
5.1. Conclusion
To restate, this study has investigated the influences of watching Ted Talk videos on the
presentation skills of Hanu students majoring in the English department. The aforesaid findings
and figures transparently indicated the difficulties of the students in mastering presentation
skills in terms of confidence, memory, body language as well as technology. Those statistics,
furthermore, demonstrated the positive opinions of English major learners on the effectiveness
of Ted Talk videos for their public speaking ability. Watching Ted Talk videos, specifical, has
been confirmed by the students as a potential application to enhance and enrich several factors
of presentation skills including vocabulary, pronunciation, impact techniques, etc.
5.2. Suggestions
As for proposals, the necessity of conducting a further study on a larger scale is
undeniable for teachers as well as students to obtain a thorough perception of the demerits of
students when acquiring public speaking abilities and the merits of Ted Talk videos for
eliminating these obstacles. Besides, presentation lectures should be authentically equipped
with Ted Talk videos as teaching methods and materials. Likewise, lecturers should gain insight
into the problems of the students in the process of mastering presentation skills and modify the
ways of teaching reasonably. In addition, the students should not only opt selectively for the
Ted Talk videos which are corresponding to their current levels but also combine the materials
from Ted Talk videos with the instruction of teachers. Overall, the utilization of Ted Talk videos
in academic domains is not highly widespread, nevertheless, the positive effects of the source
on the students’ enhancement of presentation skills are expected to be potential and effective
applications for presentation teaching and learning.

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 APPENDIX

Dear respondents,
We are second-year students in the English Department, Hanoi University. We are
currently conducting research on " The Influence of Watching TED - Talk videos on
Presentation Skills of Students Majoring in the English Department at Hanoi University", and
we would like to receive your responses.

We pledge that all data collected from this survey is for research purposes only and all
personal information will be kept strictly confidential.

Hope you can take a moment to help us. Thank you very much and have a great day!

I. ED students' presentation skills

1. Which year are you currently in?
Year 2019
Year 2020
Year 2021
Year 2022

2. What are your difficulties in performing presentation skills?

Extremely terrible
Terrible
Normal
Good
Extremely good

3. What are your difficulties in performing presentation skills?

Lack of confidence
Sometimes forget what to say
Unable to use body language properly
Don't know how to use technology in presentation

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 II. ED students' perception of how watching TED Talk videos affects their
presentation skills.

1. How often do you watch TED - Talk videos?

Always
Usually
Often
Sometimes
Rarely

2. How do TED - Talk videos influence your presentation skills?

Scoring Procedure:
1- Strongly Disagree 2- Disagree 3- Neutral 4- Agree 5-Strongly Agree

No Statements D SD N A SA

1 I feel motivated when I watch TED - Talk videos

2 I can improve my body language skills

3 I can improve my confidence and overcome anxiety.

4 I can enhance my pronunciation skills.

5 I can learn new vocabulary and expressions.

6 I can learn new ideas and techniques of delivering a

speech.

7 I can learn how to present a well - organized, dynamic

speech.

8 I can learn more from excellent TED - TALK

speakers.

101
 REFERENCES

Chaouki, A., & Assassi, T. (n.d.). People's Democratic Republic Of Algeria Ministry Of
Higher Education And Scientific Research Mohamed Kheider University -Biskra Faculty Of
Letters And Foreign Languages Department Of Foreign Languages Section Of English.
Retrieved November 27, 2022, from http://archives.univ-
biskra.dz/bitstream/123456789/18418/1/Dou_Razane%20_meral.pdf
Dodds, E. (2022, January 25). The Best Activities To Improve Your English With TED
Talks. Www.leonardoenglish.com. https://www.leonardoenglish.com/blog/the-best-activities-
to-improve-your-english-with-ted-talks
Dolan, R. (2017). Effective presentation skills. FEMS Microbiology Letters, 364(24).
https://doi.org/10.1093/femsle/fnx235
King, J. (2002, March). King - Preparing EFL Learners for Oral Presentations I-TESL-
J. Iteslj.org. http://iteslj.org/Lessons/King-PublicSpeaking.html
McCroskey, J. C. (1982). Oral Communication Apprehension: A Reconceptualization.
Annals of the International Communication Association, 6(1), 136–170.
https://doi.org/10.1080/23808985.1982.11678497
Nguyen, T. P. N. (2018). Factors Affecting Oral Presentations of the Second-Year
English Majors at Hanoi University of Industry. International Journal of Advanced Research
in Education & Technology (IJARET), 5(3), 39-44.
Presentation Skills - UBC Wiki. (2021, November 25). UBC Wiki.
https://wiki.ubc.ca/Presentation_Skills
Putri, D. Z., Martina, F., & Afriani, Z. L. (2022, September 12). THE INFLUENCE OF
USING TED TALKS VIDEOS WITH SUBTITLE ON STUDENTS’ SPEAKING SKILLS
(Experimental Research at Students Association ESCO UIN Fatmawati Sukarno in Academic
Year 2022/2023). Repository.iainbengkulu.ac.id. http://repository.iainbengkulu.ac.id/10070/
Ruchma, S., & Lestary. (2022). Students’ Perception On The Use Of TED Talks In Public
Speaking Class.
https://repository.uinjkt.ac.id/dspace/bitstream/123456789/64525/1/11180140000002_RUCH
MA%20SARITA%20LESTARY.pdf
Swathi, T.V.S.S. (2015). The Importance of Effective Presentation for Organization
Success. The IUP Journal of Soft Skills, IX(2), 7-21.

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 ẢNH HƯỞNG VÀ CÁCH KHẮC PHỤC HỘI CHỨNG SỢ NÓI
TRƯỚC ĐÁM ĐÔNG CỦA SINH VIÊN NĂM THỨ HAI KHOA
TIẾNG ANH TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC HÀ NỘI.
SVTH: Hà Thị Hường, Nguyễn Minh Quân, Trần Thu Lệ và Đỗ Thu Hằng
GVHD: Đỗ Thị Hồng Phương

Tóm tắt: Đối với người học và tiếp cận tiếng Anh, nói là một kỹ năng rất quan trọng. Dựa theo
chương trình đào tạo của trường Đại học Hà Nội đối với sinh viên ngành ngôn ngữ Anh, sinh viên năm
hai được yêu cầu phải thành thạo việc thuyết trình trước đám đông. Tuy nhiên, một số bạn gặp khó
khăn trong kỹ năng nói và không thể đạt kết quả cao. Bài nghiên cứu dưới đây nhằm tìm ra những ảnh
hưởng của nỗi sợ nói trước đám đông đối với sinh viên năm hai ngành ngôn ngữ Anh tại trường Đại học
Hà Nội. Thông qua việc khảo sát và nghiên cứu, đề xuất một số giải pháp giải quyết những trở ngại do
nỗi sợ nói trước đám đông gây ra.

Từ khóa: kỹ năng nói, nỗi sợ nói trước đám đông, ảnh hưởng, giải pháp

THE EFFECTS AND SOLUTIONS OF GLOSSOPHOBIA ON

SPEAKING SKILL OF SECOND-YEAR STUDENTS IN THE
ENGLISH DEPARTMENT AT HANOI UNIVERSITY

Abstract: Speaking is a crucial ability for anyone learning and approaching English. Second-year
English Department students at Hanoi University are supposed to be skilled in public speaking,
according to the university's training curriculum. However, some of them struggle with their speaking
abilities and are unable to attain good scores. The purpose of this research was to discover the impact
of public speaking anxiety (Glossophobia) on second-year English Department students at Hanoi
University. Propose some strategies to overcome challenges created by public speaking anxiety through
survey and study.

Key words: speaking, public speaking anxiety (Glossophobia), impact, strategies

1. INTRODUCTION
1.1. Rationale and significance
In the research of Hadjer (2022), 64.4% of participants choose speaking skill as the skill
they need to master the most. Actually, speaking is regarded as one of the hardest skills for
learners to develop. In addition to the primary components of pronunciation, intonation,
vocabulary, grammar, and so on, learners must have confidence, reflexes, and so on to perform
well in this skill. In reality, one of the most significant barriers to attaining fluency and mastery
in speaking abilities is glossophobia (fear of public speaking). Unfortunately, glossophobia is
an increasing concern among people, especially students when a surging tendency of students

103
has fear of speaking in front of the whole class. This is a difficult issue that all students must
confront and overcome if they want to grasp the English language in general, and speaking
abilities in particular. Although several studies have been conducted on this topic and methods
to overcome it, its state and effects are ongoing and tend to worsen. As a result, more research
on this topic should be required and implemented.
The study provides readers with a basic understanding of glossophobia as well as its
symptoms. In addition, by exploring and analyzing the situations as well as the effects, readers
have a chance to acknowledge the seriousness of glossophobia on speaking skills of university
students. From there, provide the way to minimize the effects and prevent it so that students
will have the chance to improve themselves, towards a successful lesson in speaking class and
on a daily basis. Furthermore, in addition to students, language teachers and higher education
institutions may use this research to understand more about their students and enhance their
teaching methods in order to assist students in overcoming their anxiety. This study's findings
can also be used as extra material for future similar discussions in other academic areas.
1.2. Scope
This study focuses on second-year students in English Department at Hanoi University
who are majoring in presentation skills in Speaking lessons.
1.3. Research hypothesis
The fear of public speaking affects learning at school in terms of interaction in class,
asking questions, speaking anxiety, all of which are important parts of enhancing learning and
having a great performance at university.
It is not simple to overcome a phobia of public speaking. We need to take it step by step
in order to progress day by day. Preparation and practice are considered as two important factors
to help students improve this situation.
1.4. Research question:
The study will answer these questions:
What are the possible effects of glossophobia among sophomores in English Department?
What can English Department’s sophomores do to overcome the glossophobia and speak
more confidently and effectively?
2. LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1. Speaking skill
2.1.1. Definition
While Quianthy (1990) defines speaking as the process of transferring thoughts and
information verbally in a range of contexts, Harmer (2007) states speaking is the capacity to
communicate fluently and implies not just knowledge of language features but also the ability
to process information and language "on the spot". According to Nunan (in Kayi, 2006),

104
speaking is the use of words swiftly, confidently, and with minimal unnecessary pauses. This
is known as fluency. Without a doubt, speaking ability is an essential component of
communication. It plays a crucial part in learning a language because in reality, being able to
communicate is the fundamental goal of learning a language (Lindo, Sahetapy, & Maru, 2018)
2.1.2. Importance
Language is a communication instrument. In order to convey our opinions and learn about
others' ideas, we communicate with one another. Where speech is present, communication
occurs. We are unable to communicate with one another without speech. Thus, speaking
abilities are crucial for language learners of any kind. Within the boundaries of our community,
language usage is a common activity. We use language in many different contexts. It is expected
that people speak clearly and effectively at their places of employment in order to foster good
interpersonal relations. Any discrepancy in communication leads to malfunction and issues.
The ability of Speaking offers the speaker a number of clear benefits. These benefits can be
gained to the speaker as a result of their ability to articulate their ideas, beliefs, and emotions
through the use of words that make sense. Robert Frost once said: "‘I am a writer of books in
retrospect, I talk in order to understand, I teach in order to learn." Speaking to others helps us
gain a better knowledge of ourselves. Without a doubt, clear thought may be seen in the clarity
of speech. An engaging speaker can capture the audience's interest and keep it throughout his
discourse. Speaking abilities are crucial for work success, but they are not just relevant to one's
goals in terms of a career. Speaking abilities might benefit one's personal life as well.
2.1.3. The factors influencing speaking skill
Learners’ speaking abilities are different from each other because many factors influence
their speaking skills. The factors include:
2.1.3.1. Pronunciation
Pronunciation is the elementary factor and the first step to practicing becoming a good
English speaker. Pronunciation is divided into sub skills, such as word and sentence stress,
intonation, and rhythm,... Speakers usually practice their pronunciation by listening to US-UK
music or watching films to imitate how someone with good pronunciation speaks.
2.1.3.2. Vocabulary
Of course, vocabulary is an indispensable factor that helps a person improve
communication. The wider vocabulary speakers have, the stronger their speaking skill is. When
knowing more interesting words, the parlance will be more professional.
2.1.3.3. Fluency
Fluency is an element of expression about how confident and natural when people speak
English. Therefore, this is a target that almost individuals want to achieve. Speaking fluently is
the capability of talking without hesitations and being creative and imaginative in language use.
2.1.3.4. Grammar

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 Grammar is used to improve and develop both speaking and writing skills. To have a
good conversation, using the right grammar is necessary and essential. The speaking skill will
be better if there are fewer mistakes. However, being a good speaker does not mean they use
perfect grammar.
2.1.3.5. Complexity
Complexity is a high level of speaking skill. Complexity requires to use of varied and
sophisticated structures and vocabulary in speaking. Speakers need to study carefully grammar
and vocabulary which is rarely used, and expert almost structures.
2.2. Glossophobia
2.2.1. Phobia
2.2.1.1. Definition of phobia
Phobias are a special kind of fear. The term ‘phobia’ derives from the Greek word phobos
meaning flight, panic-fear, terror, and from the deity of the same name who could provoke fear
and panic in one’s enemies.
A phobia can thus be defined as a special form of fear which “ 1. is out of proportion to
demands of the situation, 2. cannot be explained or reasoned away, 3. is beyond voluntary
control, and 4. leads to avoidance of the feared situation.” (Isaac M. Marks, 1969)
2.2.1.2. Types of phobia
According to new research, there are three main types of phobias: specific phobia, social
phobia and agoraphobia. (American Psychiatric Association, 2022, sec.2)
2.2.1.2.1. Specific phobia
Individuals suffering from specific phobias are afraid, apprehensive, or avoidant of
specific objects or situations.
The majority of specific phobias fall into one of four broad categories:
Fear of the natural environment (Astraphobia: fear of thunder and lightning;
Hydrophobia: Fear of water; Anthrophobia: Fear of flowers)
Fears associated with animals (Arachnophobia: Fear of spiders; Cynophobia: Fear of
dogs; Entomophobia: Fear of insects)
Fear associated with medical treatments or issues (Hemophobia: Fear of blood;
Trypanophobia: Fear of injections; Dentophobia: Fear of dentists)
Fears associated with specific situations (Aerophobia: Fear of flying; Climacophobia:
Fear of climbing; Decidophobia: Fear of making decisions)
Individuals with many specific phobias are not uncommon. There is a fact that around
75% of people with specific phobia are afraid of more than one situation or object.

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 2.2.1.2.2. Social phobia
In social anxiety disorder (social phobia), the individual is afraid or nervous about or
avoids social contacts and circumstances because they are concerned that others will judge them
harshly and with excessive scrutiny.
Some common examples of social phobia include: Anthropophobia: Fear of people or
society; Glossophobia: Fear of speaking in public; Atychiphobia: Fear of failure; Obesophobia:
fear of gaining weight; ...
2.2.1.2.3. Agoraphobia
Individuals with agoraphobia have the fear of being in a place or situation from which
escape may be difficult or embarrassing.
Individuals suffering from agoraphobia are terrified of “using public transportation; being
in open spaces; being in enclosed places; standing in line or being in a crowd; or being outside
of the home alone in other situations.”
2.2.1.3. Definition of glossophobia
Glosso- is a word-forming element, originating from Greek, meaning “tongue”; -phobia
means fear or dread.
Glossophobia is known as “speech anxiety”, refers to a great fear of speaking in front of
a group of people.
Moreover, Glossophobia, as Zheng (2008) defined, it is a distinct complex that includes
self-perceptions, belief and behavior which are related to using a language for interactions
beyond the classroom.
2.2.1.4. Causes of glossophobia
The cause of glossophobia can be cited from both biological, psychological and
environmental factors.
2.2.1.4.1. Genetic inheritance
Scrutinizing the field of biology, glossophobia can partly be related to genetics since they
can hold the key role in controlling how the brain adjusting its feelings (Pratt, 2022). According
to hopkinsallchildrebs.org, genetic features inherited from parents and other relatives can
impact how the brain perceives and regulates anxiety, shyness, nervousness, and stress
reactions. Some people are born with shyness, and they are constantly nervous and sensitive to
new situations, often living in isolation from society. These are the people who are prone to
developing social phobia, particularly glossophobia.
The majority of respondents (53%) identified natural shyness as the fundamental reason
of their fear of public speaking (Danshieh, 2021).
2.2.1.4.2. Fear of failure

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 Furthermore, fear of failure also can lead to glossophobia. This fear can originate from
several sources. Firstly, previous unpleasant experiences involving a public speaking event,
such as being mocked, embarrassed, laughed or rejected when making a speech, or receiving
severe criticism from school instructors, may lead to the development of glossophobia. In
addition, lack of preparation and knowledge about public speaking, about topic in the speech,
may be a cause that leads to the fear of public speaking.
2.2.1.4.3. Misperceptions
According to Carol Dweck (2006), a psychologist at Stanford University, people think
about intelligence or ability in two ways: fixed mindset and growth mindset. In a growth
mindset, people believe that intelligence and abilities may be improved and developed through
effort and persistence. In contrast, in a fixed mindset, people assume that their intelligence is
fixed and unchanging, that their talents are carved in stone and predestined at birth, and that if
they are not excellent at something, they will never be good at it.
In fact, many people have the false perception that intellect and skill are “fixed”. Some
students apply belief to foreign language subjects, having thoughts like “I think I am not smart
enough to learn English and I am utterly incapable of mastering it.” Unfortunately, the same
incorrect beliefs are extended to public speaking, and individuals assume that because public
speaking is difficult, they are not "natural" at it and were born with no ability. As a result, they
abandon their efforts to improve and avoid it at all costs.
2.2.1.4.4. Other causes
Furthermore, the reason of public speaking anxiety originates from environmental factors
such as the size of the audience, fear of the venue/ place, the time of the performance.
2.2.1.5. Symptoms of glossophobia
As the definition suggests, the symptoms of Glossophobia only occurs when people,
particularly students, make their attempt to talk in front of others. This issue usually tend to
vastly range within changes psychological, which can be categorized in two types: internal
changes and external changes.
2.2.1.5.1. Internal changes
The term “internal” can be defined as things, or processes belonging to the inside aspect
of particular biological creatures or mechanical products. The changes happening inside the
body of speakers while experiencing glossophobia cannot be seen by naked eye. The most
noticeable one is irregular heartbeat, which has been found in Tse’s research ( 2012). This can
also be seen as palpitation, which was found in a research of Horwitz et al.( 1986). Heartbeat is
a crucial part in delivering oxygen and other nutrients to other organs, including the brain.
Mixed-up heartbeat, in the case of glossophobia suffers, is caused by the stress of the moment
when they have to speak with too much attention surrounding them particular a pounding heart
can result in raised blood pressure. Blood pressure is considered as the force moving the blood
through the circulatory system (MacGill, 2022). In other words, human’s heart creates blood

108
pressure. Based on the situation, the blood pressure can alternate the body positively or
negatively and a kind of social anxiety like glossophobia can only be seen in the adverse
perspective of this problem. Invisible they are, they set the foundation for the advent of the
following symptoms.
2.2.1.5.2. External changes
The symptoms of glossophobia not only appear in the body but also they are revealed
through a number of human gestures and small indicators on their face. In fact, these changes
are greatly impacted by symptoms inside human’s body. Evidently, their facial expression
cannot be natural but rather a forced one and even flushing (Tse, 2012). If scrutinized, other
details can be realized, one of them is voice challenges such as trembling (Horwitz et al., 1986)
and shuttering (Apps, 2012) when talking to a group of people. Even perspiring, Horwitz et al.
(1986) mentioned in the can happen with their face. Besides, as well as that their hand starts
shaking constantly makes the outcome of the talk gloomy like having a nightmare while being
awake. The symptoms are truly serious, which can lead to a series of adverse impacts. This
issue spares no one and students are those suffering the most when they have to take courage
in to speak in such a competitive environment like school.
3. Methodology of study
3.1. Participants
The subjects of this research were 116 participants of sophomores at Ha Noi University
majoring in English with 12 of them are male and the others are female. All of the participants’
identities are kept confidential since the topic of this research is sensitive for all students not
just ED’s second-year students.
3.2. Materials
This research utilized an online-form function from Google to make a questionnaire. The
questionnaire contains three main parts:general situation, effects and solutions. The second part
has 3 parts regarding the effect of glossophobia on mental as well as physical health and
academic performance. The third part is about solutions to the problem.
3.3. Description
The questionnaire has a number of questions in three parts. These questions help give
answers to the two main issues: what are glossophobia effects? and what are the solutions to it?
The survey was primarily done by sending students a link of the survey leading to a
Google form. After handing out the survey to all the students of 4 English-practicing-skill
classes, there were about 116 responses with no problems in the process. The data collected
will be analyzed into relevant graphs and charts to realize the seriousness of the problem among
sophomores and their insight about solutions that they find the most viable.
4. FINDINGS

109
 4.1. General situation of sophomore in English Department with public
speaking skill

Pie chart 1. The experience of students when speaking in front of the crowd.

The pie chart illustrates students' experiences when they speak in front of the crowd. The
overwhelming majority, 77,6% feel quite nervous but they still can control. Students feel
extremely terrible, accounting for 14,7%, approximately double the percentage of students who
feel comfortable (7,8%).

Chart 1. The symptoms of students while speaking in front of the crowd.

According to the first chart, the proportion of uncontrollable voice, shuttering (54,3%)
and the percentage of quick and strong heartbeat (55,2%) is approximate. Furthermore, 61 out
of 116 participants, (52,6%) students feel difficult to think of what to say, 56 out of 116
participants, (48,3%) feel shy while speaking in front of the crowd. The symptom is hands and
legs shaking also accounted for 34,5%. The other symptoms such as perspiration (14
participants) and emptiness feeling (14 participants) are similar with completely normal feeling
(13 participants). Besides, a very small number, (0,9%) of students have spine-chilling feeling
in random intervals like symptoms such as cannot stand still, stressed mind and unmove.

110
 Pie chart 2: The number of audiences can make students feel those symptoms.

Overall, a significant number of students (43,1%) will have symptoms when speaking in
front of more than 30 people. Furthermore, 44 out of 116 participants, almost third (37,9%)
choose “from 10 to 30 people”. This means about four-fifths (81%) of students won’t be
comfortable when speaking in front of more than 10 people. A minority (13,8%) choose from
5 to 9 people. The proportion of under 5 people is only 5,2%.
In summary, students still have difficulty speaking in public, but the condition is not too
severe and they can still control. Few students feel normal or comfortable, but not many
students feel terrible. They need to know more about their situation and have the suitable
solutions to improve their speaking skill.
4.2. Effects of glossophobia
4.2.1. The effects of glossophobia on mental health
Mental health Strongly Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly
disagree (%) (%) (%) agree
(%) (%)
I’m under a lot of 4.31 12.93 42.24 31.90 8.62
stress.
I feel depressed. 10.34 18.97 46.55 19.83 4.31
I’m embarrassed with 11.21 24.14 40.52 22.41 1.72
my friends.
I’m afraid and obsessed 6.90 20.69 37.93 27.59 6.90
when speaking classes
are coming.

111
 I exclude myself from 13.79 35.34 33.62 13.79 3.45
everyone.
I do not think I can be 20.69 46.55 18.97 11.21 2.59
able to improve it.

Horwitz et al. (1986) mentioned that language learning constitutes anxiety. Speaking is
undoubtedly a part of the process of learning. Evidently, students have perceived the effects on
mental health of glossophobia However, they somehow managed to cope with it. Glossophobia
is inherently a kind of speaking anxiety. Duong et al. (2021) already mentioned pressure in their
research with more than 40% of respondents feeling pressured and depressed. However, the
respondents after survey have a neutral thought of these effects with 42.24% and 46.55%
choosing “neutral”. Though 37.93% of respondents recognized obsession with speaking classes
as a problem but still stayed neutral, more than one fifth of the respondents admitted feeling
afraid and obsessed with speaking classes. Surprisingly, most of them do not have adverse ideas
about being unable to improve their situation (46.55% disagreed), which was opposite to the
number of responders admitting the pessimistic thoughts regarding their speaking weaknesses
(45.3%) from the research of Duong et al. (2021). Patterson (2022) claimed in his article that
social isolation and pessimism are two of the effects rendering the most burden on student’s
mind. Surprisingly, these two effects did not influence much on student’s mind since the figures
of responders choosing “agree” in the last two statements could not exceed 14%.
4.2.2. The effects of glossophobia on physical health
Physical health Strongly Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly
disagree (%) (%) (%) agree
(%) (%)
I usually have headache 17.24 37.07 33.62 10.34 1.72
and feel dizzy.
I faint when having a 25.86 34.48 28.45 9.48 1.72
public speaking.
I have sleep disturbance 17.24 34.48 30.17 16.38 1.72
because of bad experiences
I went through.
My blood pressure rises up 12.07 31.03 35.34 20.69 0.86
considerably.

112
 My body gets exhausted 10.34 29.31 33.62 18.10 8.62
after each time talking to a
lot of people.

Besides mental impacts, physical effects were also mentioned in this survey. The table
shows that even though most of them feel the existence of these effects but a number of students
did not encounter some of the effects. In terms of evident effects such as headache, feeling
vertiginous and even faint, over one third of the respondents chose “disagree” in the survey.
Student’s sleep, though had the same percentage of opposing to the statement (34.48%), another
one third of total respondents somehow perceived this effect but only had general opinion about
this problem. Much as irregular heartbeat was found the research done by Tse (2012) as well
as its relationship of it with blood pressure being added in the literature review, students merely
admitting effects such as high exhaustion and high blood pressure still happens in the last two
statements with approximately 33 to over 35 % of the responses being “neutral”. This has
proved that students had a moderate understanding about this problem; however, they may not
face these effects or they did not really experience the profound impacts of glossophobia.
4.2.3. The effects of glossophobia on academic performance
Academic performance Strongly Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly
disagree (%) (%) (%) agree
(%) (%)
It affects the way I pronounce 6.03 10.34 30.17 48.28 5.17
each word

I can not control my intonation 5.17 17.24 34.48 37.93 5.17

It affects my abilities of 4.31 11.21 28.45 47.41 8.62
question brainstorming
It affects my gesture and the 3.45 14.66 25.86 52.59 3.45
way I perform my speech
I feel I won’t be able to give 4.31 25.86 38.79 27.59 3.45
the speech or perform well in
the presentation
I cannot get good scores in 4.31 20.69 49.14 24.14 1.72
speaking-skill-demanding
subject

113
 I miss my chance to show 5.17 15.52 31.90 39.66 7.76
people my capabilities
I lose my motivation to learn 7.76 27.59 38.79 19.83 6.03
my subjects
I want to drop out school 42.24 25.86 20.69 6.03 5.17

The table above presents the data on the effects of glossophobia on academic performance
of second year students in English Department at Hanoi University.
In general, glossophobia has a significant influence on academic performance in the
Speaking skill lesson.
Nearly half (48.28%) of respondents admitted that fear of public speaking affects the way
they pronounce each word. Furthermore, 37.93% of participants claim that they cannot control
intonation when performing a presentation because of fear. Zhang & Yin (2009) stated that
proper pronunciation and intonation have a direct impact on English communication ability.
Similarly, the results showed that glossophobia had an effect that prevented those two factors
from being expressed well.
Furthermore, 52.59% and 47.41% report that glossophobia impairs "their gesture and the
way they conduct the speech" and "the abilities of question brainstorming" respectively. As a
result, 27.59% of participants believe they will be unable to give the speech or perform well in
the presentation while 38.79% of participants choose neutral. That leads to 25.86% (both agree
and strongly agree) of respondents admitting that they cannot get good scores in this subject.
Compared with the study done by Hadjer (2022), 69% of participants believe that glossophobia
affects their academic achievements, whereas 31% believe that it has no impact.
All of the above leads to 19.83% and 6.03% respectively losing the motivation to learn
this subject and wanting to drop out of school.
4.3. Solutions to overcome glossophobia
4.3.1. Solutions before having a speech
Before having a speech Strongly Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly
disagree (%) (%) (%) agree
(%) (%)
I practice to have the best 4.31 4.31 12.07 50.00 29.31
pronunciation prior to each
presentation

114
 I spend time brushing up my 1.72 6.90 15.52 51.72 24.14
vocabulary and background
knowledge
I practice in front of the mirror to 3.45 10.34 25.86 43.10 17.24
bear with myself first
I spend time rehearsing with my 3.45 3.45 17.24 52.59 23.28
teammates
I am willing to receive advise 1.72 5.17 13.79 43.97 35.34
from friends and teachers
I attempt to remember every 9.48 15.52 37.07 25.86 12.07
single word of the script I
prepared
I organize the main points and try 2.59 6.90 15.52 52.59 22.41
to put them into practice
I take a deep breath 1.72 2.59 23.28 47.41 25.00
I drink water 3.45 6.90 25.00 46.55 18.10

This table suggests some solutions to do before having a presentation to minimize the
effects of glossophobia.
First, 79.31% of respondents (50.0% agree and 29.31% strongly agree) support the
statement "I practice to have the best pronunciation prior to each presentation".
Furthermore, 75.86% agree that “Spending time brushing up vocabulary and background
knowledge” is an effective way we should do to prepare for each presentation. By doing so, the
speakers can have more confidence in their knowledge and vocabulary to deal with situations
such as forgetting the script or when the audience has a question for the speaker on the issue
the speaker is discussing.
Furthermore, rehearsing is also an equally effective measure. 60.34% and 75.87% of
participants, respectively, agree that “practice in front of the mirror to bear with myself first”
and “spend time rehearsing with my teammates” are effective methods for overcoming their
concerns and public speaking anxiety. Similarly, rehearsal "is essential to giving an effective
presentation", according to UNSW Current Students. It is critical to practice not only delivering
the speech but also employing visual aids.
In addition, advice from friends and teachers is also very useful to students as 79.31% of
participants said that they are willing to receive advice from friends and teachers. These are real
and worthy words of advice from which each pupil can learn where they are weak and need to
improve.

115
 Surprisingly, “attempt to remember every single word of the script prepared” is not
necessarily a useful measure as only 37.93% of participants agree with this statement.
Compared to the solutions offered, this is the solution that has the most objections when 25%
(both disagree and strongly disagree). Instead “organize the main points and try to put them
into practice” is said to be a far more effective option when 75% of participants agree with this
statement.
In addition, “take a deep breath” and “drink water” with 72.41% and 64.65% respectively
of participants “agree and strongly agree” are also simple but important techniques that we
should do right before giving a speech.
4.3.2. Solutions during the speech

During the speech Strongly Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly

disagree (%) (%) (%) agree
(%) (%)

I focus on specific individuals, 6.90 31.03 29.31 29.31 3.45

not the whole classroom

I pretend that no one is around. 9.48 33.62 27.59 27.59 1.72

I try to control and maintain 5.17 7.76 18.97 63.79 4.31

constant breath.

I push my pressure on something 9.48 23.28 34.48 31.03 1.72

I hold such as a mouse or a pen.

I say some opening sentences to 5.17 20.69 27.59 38.79 7.76

calm down such as “Hi…; My
name…; How are you today…”

When I forget the content, I try to 6.03 8.62 19.83 49.14 16.38
look for things that could help me
remember it such as slides or note
paper.

The table data demonstrates promising outcomes in terms of student involvement. The
majority of students (31.03%) do not believe that focusing on each person rather than the entire
class is a viable option. Meanwhile, 29.31% of those polled agreed with such a strategy.

116
Furthermore, 34 out of 116 respondents (29.31%) were still unclear. Our findings indicate that
this strategy can be used to an appropriate individual, which may or may not be suitable for
specific pupils.
Furthermore, the majority of respondents (33.62%) disagreed that pretending there was
no one around throughout the lecture was an effective strategy. According to the survey
findings, this is not a viable option.
The number of students who agreed (74 students) with the statement that trying to manage
and keep consistent respiration is a suitable way to reduce the fear of public speaking grew
dramatically when compared to earlier statements. Opponents account for a modest proportion
of all responses.
There was no noticeable effect on pupils who could manage their anxiety while applying
push pressure to something like a mouse or a pen. The most common response we received
from sophomores (34.48%) was neutrality.
To calm down, say something like "Hi...; My name...; How are you today..." With 38.79%
of participants agreeing, is an effective way to lessen nervousness when speaking. despite the
fact that there were some unfavorable (20.69%) and unsure opinions (27.59). We believe that
if the presenter is stressed and apprehensive, this strategy might help them progressively relax.
49.14% of participants stated that after forgetting material, they try to retrieve it by
looking at slides or note paper. Opponents account for a modest proportion of all responses.
According to statistics, we believe that speakers should try to control and maintain
constant breath, say some opening sentence to calm down such as "Hi...; My name...; How are
you today...", and look for things that could help remember it such as slide or note paper when
forgetting content are all positive ways to help English speakers control their fear of public
speaking
4.3.3. Solutions after the speech

After the speech Strongly Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly

disagree (%) (%) (%) Agree (%)
(%)

I try to relax. 3.45 6.03 10.34 58.62 21.55

I give myself a new reward or 3.45 10.34 16.38 55.17 14.66

encouragement.

I go to the psychologist to 21.55 46.55 22.41 6.90 2.59

improve the problem if I still
suffer from anxiety.

117
 I take an extra course about 6.03 34.48 35.34 22.41 1.72
public speaking skills.

Overall, with 58.62% agreeing and 21.55% strongly agreeing, attempting to rest after the
speech is a beneficial technique for students' morale to help them relax and decompress after
pressure.
The significant majority of students (55.17%) agreed that they should offer themselves a
fresh incentive or encouragement. Furthermore, there are certain reservations and doubts, but
only a few.
54 out of 116 respondents agreed with going to the psychologist to improve the problem
if still suffer from anxiety (46.55%). However, 22.41% of individuals were unsure and 21.55%
were indifferent. We feel that if the speaker is experiencing severe psychological problems,
let’s seek professional help from a psychologist.
Surprisingly, 35.34% were neutral and 34.48% disagreed with taking an extra course on
public speaking skills. Since then, we have discovered that this is a notion that isn't relevant to
students who aren't financially self-sufficient.
5. Conclusion
To conclude, through a survey with the participation of 116 people who are second-year
students of English Department at Hanoi University, we have seen the general situation of
students towards “public speaking” and “glossophobia - fear of public speaking”. Along with
that are the effects of the fear of public speaking on both the mental health, physical health, and
academic achievements of the speakers. From there we see the importance of the problem.
Then, we suggested some solutions (before, during, and after giving a presentation) to help
students overcome their apprehension.
Because of time limitations and a lack of experience in this field, the effects and solutions
of glossophobia presented in the research paper may be insufficient, but our team believes that
they are the most common influences and also the most useful solutions when they are voted
and endorsed by the students themselves - the survey participants.
Especially, in the solution section, rehearsal is regarded as one of the most beneficial,
vital, and indispensable procedures prior to any presentation. However, not everyone
recognizes how to rehearse properly and effectively. As a result, our team believes that further
research is needed to discover more appropriate and effective rehearsing methods, which can
considerably enhance the presentation performance as well as assist students to overcome their
fear of speaking in front of others.

118
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 ẢNH HƯỞNG CỦA PHIM LÊN VIỆC HỌC TIẾNG ANH
CỦA SINH VIÊN NĂM 2 TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC HÀ NỘI.
SVTG: Trần Thảo Dương (7A-21), Đào Thị Kim Ngân (7A-21), Trịnh Thị Mai Chi (3A-21)
GVHD: Đỗ Thị Thu Trang

Tóm tắt: Ngày nay, học sinh có thể truy cập vào các loại tài nguyên học tập khác nhau như
Youtube, từ điển, báo và blog để có một vốn tiếng Anh tốt. Xem phim từ lâu đã được coi là một trong
những cách học tiếng Anh hiệu quả nhất vì những lý do sau. Thứ nhất, xem phim US-UK trong thời gian
dài có thể tăng vốn từ vựng tiếng Anh. Thứ hai, nó có thể phát triển kỹ năng Nghe và Nói. Cuối cùng,
nó cho phép người học phản ứng nhanh bằng tiếng Anh trong các tương tác xã hội thông thường.
Nghiên cứu này sẽ cung cấp thông tin chi tiết về việc xem phim ảnh hưởng như thế nào đến quá trình
tiếp thu tiếng Anh của các semaphores tại trường đại học Hà Nội.

Từ khóa: phim, ảnh hưởng, kỹ năng.

THE EFFECTS OF FILMS ON ENGLISH LEARNING AMONGST

SOPHOMORES AT HANOI UNIVERSITY
Abstract:These days, students can get access to different kinds of learning resources such as
Youtube, dictionaries, newspapers, and blogs to have a good head of English. Watching films has long
been considered one of the most effective ways to learn English because of the following reasons. First,
watching US-UK films for a long period of time can boost English vocabulary. Second, it can develop
Listening and Speaking skills. Lastly, it enables learners to quickly react in English in normal social
interactions. This research is going to give an informative insight into how film watching affects the
English acquisition process amongst semaphores at Hanoi university.

Keywords: films, affects, skills

1. INTRODUCTION
In the field of education, technology provides a number of advantages for both teaching
and learning. Due to access to the most recent technologies, today’s students are luckier than
their predecessors. One of the approaches to accessing technology for learning is to watch
movies. Young people today, especially students, have extensive access to films and TV shows
through both traditional media like television and the cinema as well as a wide selection of
streaming services, including Netflix and HBO. Learning English includes four skills (listening,
writing, reading, and speaking) and we have to master four skills to be able to adapt to the
English environment in the future.
2. ENGLISH LEARNING
2.1. Definition of English learning and films:

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 According to Cambridge, English learning means “the process of getting an
understanding of English by studying it or by experience”. English skills which comprise four
skills, specifically Reading, Writing, Listening, and Speaking skills, are the skills that all
learners need to master.
Oxford learner’s dictionaries define films as “ a series of moving pictures recorded with
a sound that tells a story, watched at a cinema or on a television or other device. There are
various types of films such as action movies, narrative films or fictional films, comedy movies,
romantic movies, etc.
2.2. The circumstances of English learning
a) English speaking skills
Learners, especially non-native speakers in VietNam, do not expose themselves too much
to the English immersive environment. They do not have so many chances to communicate
with native speakers and usually can not react quickly when being asked or communicating in
English. Overall, they do not have good reflexes in English Speaking skills, have an invisible
fear of speaking wrongly, and are usually hesitant before uttering a word.
b) English listening skills
When listening to the dialogue of the films, not every learner can hear clearly or word by
word, which means that they are being confused with fast-pronounced words, words with
linking sounds, or liaison. Moreover, to understand what actors say, they need to have enough
vocabulary, or else they would not understand anything from the script. Therefore, it is not just
about English listening skills, but also other English capacities involved.
c) English vocabulary
Learners usually do not have enough vocabulary when it comes to understanding what
actors are saying. Then, they feel the plot of the film is boring, and unattractive, without
realizing the problem is not about the film, but indeed lies in them. Learners need to be
explained that they need to be equipped with enough vocabulary to be able to grasp the
profundity of the film, and so they should not feel disappointed anytime they can not find any
thrills in that film. In addition, vocabulary from unfamiliar topics can make it hard for viewers
to understand the plot of the film, and it is even harder for English learners.
d) English cultural awareness
To begin with, learners, especially beginners, who have not ever exposed themselves to
English-speaking culture; therefore, it can be hard for them to grasp certain contexts of the film.
Some English slang or idioms uttered by the actors or getting in the way of dialogue can make
it difficult for the learners to totally understand the plot of the film. Moreover, without a deep
understanding of the culture itself, learners can not find any interest in watching English films.
They would find it not worth watching this kind of film, and can no longer watch it by
themselves.

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 e) Motivation for English learning
Many learners nowadays can not concentrate on learning English for a long period of
time. They explain that it is because of the difficulty in memorizing all the grammatical
structures of English sentences along with English vocabulary. Hence, they lose interest in
learning English in the process of acquiring it. This leads to discontinuity and instability in
learning this language which causes problems for the English learner such as: being unable to
memorize English words, phrases, idioms, etc.
2.3. The benefits of films on English learning:
a) English speaking skills:
By watching English films every day, or constantly for a certain amount of time, English
films or movies would greatly improve English speaking skills, by changing the way people
pronounce each word. For example, Vietnamese people often mistake pronouncing the word
“ball” in English as /bo/ instead of correctly pronouncing it as /bɑːl/. An explanation for this
mispronunciation is that in the Vietnamese Phonetic Alphabet, the table does not have the sound
/ɑː/ instead it only has the sound /o/ so Vietnamese people usually mispronounce the word
“ball”. However, by constantly exposing themselves to the way native speakers pronounce each
word, they would pronounce each word more accurately and precisely.
b) English Listening skills:
To be able to understand what the actors and actresses of the film say, learners need to be
able to flexibly recognize the pronunciation of each word; if they pronounce that word wrongly
in the first place, they will not be able to hear it. Then after that, they would lose their control
over the content of that dialogue which leads to the misunderstanding of the plot of the film.
After all, learners would lose their motivation, and can not keep on watching films which makes
their English learning process end disruptively and regrettably. To listen to English well, one
needs to clarify the pronunciation of each word in each dialogue, as in English, it has liaison or
linking sounds (linking between words) which makes it harder for non-native listeners to get
used to this kind of pronunciation.
c) Vocabulary:
When it comes to vocabulary acquisition, learning vocabulary through film-watching is
one of the most effective strategies. By learning in this way, learners can find their own
motivation and pace to absorb English vocabulary. Obviously, learning in this way is no rush,
but in a more natural way. They do not have to cram tons of English words in their heads the
way they do before any English testing exams. Learners would have more eager anytime they
face new English words, they would quit their habit of ignoring new vocabulary, and not getting
scared of them. Not only that, but they also put what they have learned into practice without
force, but willingly. That is what all learners deserve to receive during the process of English
acquisition.
d) English cultural awareness:

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 To watch English films is to get to understand more about the cultuEnglish-
speakingeaking countries such as England, America, Canada, Australia, New Zealand,
Barbados, etc. Learners would get to know more about the and food, cultural scenes of those
countries, and understand the people of those countries more which makes it easier for English
learners to understand the thoughts and cultural beliefs of those indigenous people.
e) Student motivation
Motivation is the word derived from the word “motivate” which means the needs, desires,
wants, and of humans. It is an indispensable process that helps people to take action to
accomplish their goals. According to Akbulut (2007), written that “combining text with visuals
is more effective in facilitating vocabulary learning than providing only definitions of words”.
Watching movies will reduce boredom, arouse curiosity and increase students' excitement,
motivating students to read subtitles to learn English.
f) Reading skills:
Reading skill is one of the very important skills of English language students in 4 years
of university, especially 2nd-year students of Hanoi University. Reading skill is one of the
important skills that must be improved to pass the Hanu test and IELTS. According to Carrell
(1989), for many students, reading is one of the most important of the four language learning
skills and is considered an essential element in the learning process forever. Today's students
not only need to acquire knowledge and theories from reading materials in English but also
have to read many books or magazines in English to absorb new knowledge and information.
Improving English reading will be essential for students to develop other language skills as
well, such as acquiring the necessary professional knowledge. While attending the university,
students have to face many problems with their reading skills such as a lack of vocabulary,
weak reading comprehension skills, and bad grammar. A research paper did 4 years ago on
Slovakian students, research studies the impact of watching English subtitles on students'
reading comprehension skills. Most of them were at an approximately similar English
proficiency level – the CEFR (Common European Framework of Reference for Languages)
level B2+ according to the university criteria. The study was divided into 3 groups of subjects:
Students who watch authentic English videos with English subtitles - English subtitle Group
(ESG), Students who watch authentic English videos with Slovak subtitles - Slovak subtitle
group (SSG), Students who watch authentic English videos with no subtitles - no subtitle group
(NSG). Research shows that the group watching English subtitles (ESG) had the highest scores
in reading skills. Watching movies is considered an effective tool to solve problems that arise
for 2nd-year students in reading skills. In order to enhance English reading comprehension in
college education, Pyeon (2002) underlined the value of using visual media. For his class, he
adopted Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet literary work as a textbook, and the group that watched
films as a supplement to the text during classes had a three to four times greater improvement
in both learning motivation and accomplishment than the group that did not. Additionally, he
contends that movie watching was done in conjunction with the study of English literary works,

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which is a challenging subject to approach. This, he claims, made the lesson more engaging and
sparked an interest in using English in discussion in real-world situations.
3. CONCLUSION
To sum up, the research paper outlines the circumstances of learners acquiring English
nowadays as well as some of the beneficial effects of watching English movies on second-year
students. It clearly analyzes the aspects that watching English movies can bring, especially the
skills, motivation as well as awareness, and understanding of British culture that second-year
students need when studying at the university.
REFERENCES

Carrell, P.L. (1989). Metacognitive awareness and second language reading. Modern
Language Journal, 73, 120-133.
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/324603333_The_Effects_of_Watching_Authentic_
English_Videos_with_and_without_Subtitles_on_Listening_and_Reading_Skills_of_EFL_Le
arners
Pyun, Moo-Tae, “How to improve reading comprehension skills of university or college
freshmen,” STEM Journal, Vol.3, No.1, pp. 95-112. 2002.
https://koreascience.kr/article/JAKO201734963726692.page

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 KỸ NĂNG THUYẾT TRÌNH ĐỐI VỚI SINH VIÊN NĂM HAI
KHOA NGÔN NGỮ ANH TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC HÀ NỘI
SVTH: Phùng Thị Thùy Trang (5A21), Đỗ Thị Lâm Anh (5A21),
Ngô Hồng Ngọc (5A21), Ngô Thu Hiền (5A21)
GVHD: ThS Đỗ Thu Trang

Tóm tắt: Kỹ năng thuyết trình là một trong những kỹ năng không thể thiếu đối với mỗi sinh viên
nhằm phục vụ cho quá trình học tập cũng như là nghề nghiệp sau này. Đối với sinh viên khoa Ngôn
ngữ Anh trường Đại học Hà Nội, kỹ năng thuyết trình đã được đưa vào giảng dạy một cách cẩn thận và
chi tiết ngay từ năm hai để hỗ trợ cho định hướng công việc sau này của sinh viên. Bài nghiên cứu này
nhằm mục tiêu cung cấp cho người học ở cấp bậc Đại học cái nhìn toàn diện và bao quát nhất về thực
trạng của việc tích lũy kỹ năng thuyết trình hiện nay cũng như chỉ ra chiến lược nhằm nâng cao kỹ năng
này. Nhờ đó, họ sẽ có được cái nhìn sâu sắc hơn về tầm quan trọng của kỹ năng thuyết trình, tìm ra
cho mình phương pháp học đúng đắn để thành thạo kỹ năng này ngay từ bậc Đại học.

Từ khóa: kỹ năng thuyết trình, sinh viên khoa Ngôn ngữ Anh, sự giao tiếp

PRESENTATION SKILLS FOR 2ND YEAR HANU STUDENTS

MAJORING IN ENGLISH

Abstract: Presentation skills are one of the most indispensable skills for each student to serve
the learning progress as well as the future career. For students of Hanoi University’s English
Department, presentation skills have been taught carefully and in detail from the second year to support
students’ future career orientation. This research aims to provide university students with the most
comprehensive view of the current reality of the accumulation of presentation skills and point out some
strategies to improve, as well. As a result, they will gain a deeper insight into the importance of
presentation skills and determine the relevant learning method to master these skills from university.

Keywords: presentation skills, students in English Department, communication

1. INTRODUCTION
Good presentation skills possibly assist students in having enormous value in their lives,
particularly in achieving success in job interviews and academic work (Emden & Becker,
2004). Together with the development of technological devices, difficulties in making
presentations decline considerably. In fact, the main issues of presentation skills not only fall
on using laptops or computers, but they also depend on human performance, for instance, body
language or voice. This study will reveal the overview of reality by using the presentation skills
of university students majoring in English. Moreover, letting students realize the benefits of
having presentation skills and giving them strategies to overcome difficulties in making
presentations are also framed and deeply discussed.

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 2. LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1. Definition of Presentation.
2.1.1. Definition of Oral Communication
Oral communication, considered as communication through the mouth by Kumar (2021),
is used to express ideas and convey information via face-to-face or virtual conversation.
Speeches, presentations, and discussions are typical forms of oral communication. Generally,
oral communication is suggested to build rapport and trust when in-person communication is
required, including meetings, lectures, conferences, interviews, et cetera. Some ways to
enhance oral communication skills are also mentioned by Kumar (2021): clear pronunciation,
brevity, precision, conviction, logical sequence, appropriate word choice, using natural voice,
communicating with the right person, not getting guided by assumptions, looking for the
feedback, and allowing them to ask questions.
2.1.2. Definition of Presentations
According to Rosenzweig (2021), presentation is a communication device that relays a
topic to an audience in the form of a slide show, a demonstration, a lecture, or a speech where
words and pictures facilitated by presenters intend to complement each other. Presentation is
considered content creation (Rosenzweig, 2021), which means almost things can become an
attractive piece of content as long as creativity is used to convert it and the story that brings it
to life. Presenters basically use a PowerPoint presentation to communicate information or media
through a series of slides (Donohoe, 2020), which makes their presentation more powerful and
effective.
2.2. Benefits of presentation skills
Presentation abilities are crucial in everyday life, especially for English sophomores.
They can improve their public speaking confidence and achieve greater communication in a
wide range of professions thanks to this expertise. Additionally, regardless of the subjects
students are studying, this is incredibly beneficial for them to develop leadership abilities and
even professional growth at every stage of their lives.
2.2.1. Gain self-confidence in public speaking
People’s confidence might increase dramatically when they speak in public (Dom
Barnard, 2017). It is empowering to get over their anxieties and concerns about public speaking.
Additionally, engaging with audiences can serve as a powerful reminder that students have
insightful perspectives to offer the world. As individuals progress from speaking to small
groups of people to large audiences, their confidence will increase. This will help students in
ordinary situations, such as meetings and dates, as well as on stage. Public speaking boosts
confidence, according to a North Carolina Cooperative Extension study of participants in a
public speaking program between the ages of 9 and 18. The study discovered that
accomplishing a goal was crucial when it came to

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 2.2.2. Learn to communicate better in various fields
Students can accomplish much more with presentation skills than just oral
communication in the classroom (Dom Barnard, 2017). With their training in communication
skills, they will develop into effective presenters overall, structuring and presenting ideas
coherently. Student success in job interviews, making new friends, selling a product, and
closing deals all depend on their ability to present well. Additionally, they will make better use
of eye contact, hand gestures, and body language. This keeps the attention of the students. They
will also excel in their abilities to organize and create materials that will persuade their audience
to agree with what college students have to say.
2.2.3. Build leadership skills
Presentation skills may lead and direct student teams and motivate teammates to put their
best effort forward. Additionally, they will find themselves speaking for others as well as
themselves once they can talk clearly and effectively (Christa Sterling, 2017). They are
speaking in a way that will alter people's opinions about something by getting up and making a
compelling speech. Students will develop one of the key facets of leadership if they can acquire
the ability to convince others and change hearts and minds. The likelihood is that students will
be able to perform the task in a more individualized situation if they can perform it in front of
a large group of individuals. Leaders require the capacity to drive change, so they must have
the essential public speaking skills.
2.2.4. Career advancement
Effective public speaking abilities can promote career progression since they demonstrate
traits that recruiters highly value, such as creativity, critical thinking abilities, leadership, poise,
and professionalism (Dom Barnard, 2017). It's beneficial to speak at gatherings and conferences
to establish credibility. The event should be well-known so that students can add their speaking
accomplishments to their resumes. Additionally, public speaking might make people stand out
at work. They will learn how to present themselves professionally, speak up in meetings, and
promote their ideas. Speaking abilities can also make candidates stand out in job interviews.
After giving a few speeches, people will remember them and start to see them as an authority
in their field.
3. DISCUSSION
3.1. The reality of using presentation skills (Ngoc, 2014)
3.1.1. Eye contact
Keeping eye contact with the audience in a durable presentation is essential to attract them
and gain their interest. Also, passion for presentation is partly expressed through eye contact.
However, in the question “When delivering your presentations at school, how often do you
make direct eye contact with the audience?” (Appendix 1b, q. 6a, p.III) just received 52.94%
chose Sometimes, and up to 24.71% chose Never. 56.64% (Figure 4, p.22) of students mostly
look at screens or notes while presenting.

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 3.1.2. Smiling
Another powerful weapon for good presentations is smiles. When smiling, anxiety can
immediately be decreased, and the distance between the presenter and the audience is blown
away, too. Smiling during a presentation is even harder than keeping eye contact because it
needs moving gestures on the face. Therefore, it is understandable that the question “How often
do you smile during your presentations?” (Appendix 1b, q.9a, p.IV) merely has 32.94% for.
Sometimes, 28.24% for Rarely, and 25.28% opted for Never (Figure 8, p.25). Notably,
numerous students (42.35%) (Table 2, p.26) smile at the beginning or the end of presentations.
3.1.3. Postures
Postures directly affect breath which is responsible for both the mental and physical health
of a presenter. Obviously, postures play important roles in their performance. Unsurprisingly,
31.77% of students assumed that they stand in a familiar posture - half-side one when
presenting, and approximately with this number, 29.41% of students chose standing upright
with a straight back (Table 3, p.28). Also, it is explained that the first ranked position is standing
half-side because students want to look at slides on the screen or the teacher’s reaction. Besides,
they use their hands to create various postures like pointing slides, holding scripted notes, and
putting them in their pockets. However, respectively 42.35% and 35.47% of students use their
hands for crossing/ folding behind their back or down in front, and holding scripted notes (Table
4, p.29).
→ Overview: Students almost acknowledge the necessity of presentation skills; however,
they still lack them. In fact, they still do not know how to apply the theories to real presentations.
Therefore, while presenting, they miss interacting with the audience like eye contact or smiling.
Also, students usually worry about unworthy things like crowds, or conveyance to the audience.
Hence, they are not confident in their performance, which leads to stiff and odd postures.
3.2. Suggestions
3.2.1. Teachers’ strategies
Teachers play an essential role in imparting knowledge and orienting students in different
skills, especially presentation skills. Some effective strategies should be taken by teachers to
motivate students’ presentation skills.
Firstly, a teacher should set priority on recognizing the influence of classroom
communication on students’ communication behavior (Brenda & Lou, 2007). Teachers are
viewed as role models who teach students presentation skills through their performances during
this lecture. When teachers notice that students’ presentations are well-organized, they should
add this good point to their daily lectures.
Secondly, the teachers must provide students with clear expectations about what should
be in a presentation (Brenda & Lou, 2007). Teachers should make sure that students need to be
given a clear explanation of the target of the presentation (informative, persuasive), the time
allowed (5 minutes for each student), the kind of visual aids, and supporting evidence (statistics,

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examples) required. Moreover, teachers should encourage students to use various voices, body
language (hand gestures, eye contact), and some essential techniques.
Thirdly, teachers can get presentations videotaped. Video technology is viewed as an
effective means of reflection and practice, which stimulates the teaching methods of university
teachers (Gou, 2013). Teachers videotape at least one of their performances that can be shown
in classes as a typical example for students’ presentation assignments.
Finally, professors should show the relationship between class presentations and actual
work-life circumstances (Brenda & Lou, 2007). When students perceive classroom
presentations as giving presentations to a business, they will put all their efforts into making an
appropriate presentation. Therefore, they can specify who their audiences are, so they find out
some relevant information and techniques.
3.2.2. Students’ strategies
Presentation skills are essential for students to meets their needs both for their learning
and their future job. Students, themselves, have some strategies to stimulate their presentation
skills.
Practicing using a mirror (Jaya, 2022) is one of the most popular strategies for students
to improve their presentation skills. While practicing their presentation regularly, using a mirror
to see their body language helps students have more control over how to present and make
changes. As a result, they can find out some ways to improve their presentation.
In addition, students can use video recordings to evaluate their previous performance.
Recording a video is a way to reflect students’ progress, they can know exactly about their
weakness and what they should do to improve their next presentation (Guo, 2009). Video
recordings reflect not only the way students present but also teachers’ assessments. Students
can watch this video again and observe teachers’ reactions to enhance their presentations.
Last but not least, students use more visuals and less text (Jaya, 2022) to improve their
skills in presentation. Audiences like to see more visual presentations so use as little text as
possible. The text information should be conveyed orally. Use slides, statistics, dates, and
graphs which are easy to understand and require less text information. Short videos are another
way to attract audiences’ attention and pass the right message.
4. CONCLUSION
In summary, this study has examined the benefits of presentation skills on English
sophomore students at Hanoi University. The aforementioned findings illustrate the reality of
using presentation skills during their learning process. Furthermore, this study indicates several
suggestions that benefit both learners and lecturers on their path to English accomplishment.

REFERENCES

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 Emden, J.V & Becker L. (2004). Presentation Skills for Students
http://www.sauleh.ir/co98/static_files/materials/Books/18Presentation_Skills.pdf
Kumar, Y. (2021, October 18). Oral Communication: Definitions, Importance,
Methods, Advantages and Disadvantages from https://getuplearn.com/blog/oral-
communication/
Rosenzweig, G. (February 11,2021). What Is a Presentation?
Ngoc, N. T. B. (2014). An investigation into the use of body language cues in
presentations by English-majored freshmen at Vietnam University of Commerce (VUC)
https://repository.vnu.edu.vn/flowpaper/simple_document.php?subfolder=10/78/66/&doc=10
7866732714638964046667082740845682488&bitsid=df3aa68f-3d22-4c63-8d66-
537505241337&uid
Brenda, H. S. & Lou, T. (2007). Strategies to improve students’ presentation skills
https://www.westga.edu/~bquest/2007/presentation7.pdf
Guo, R. X. (2009). Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Literacy in
Teacher Education: A Case Study of the University of British Columbia. Köln, Germany: Lap
Lambert Academic Publishing AG & Co. KG
https://open.library.ubc.ca/soa/cIRcle/collections/ubctheses/831/items/1.0055188
Gou, R. X. (2013). The Use of Video Recordings as an Effective Tool to Improve
Presentation Skills https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/60540586.pdf
Jaya, R. (June 21, 2022). How Can Students Improve Their Presentation Skills? Tips on
How to Improve Presentation Skills - GIIS Dubai (globalindianschool.org)
Dom Barnard (August 18, 2017). What are the Benefits of Public Speaking? from
https://virtualspeech.com/blog/what-are-the-benefits-of-public-
speaking?fbclid=IwAR3FOzd0Jy6Atq3nL0EkAz5Tk1hK42b_OwpSRle3jhv2uwNnYKyikM
G6sWU
Christa Sterling (April 26, 2017). 7 Professional Benefits of Strong Presentation Skills
from https://ce.ccsu.edu/7-professional-benefits-of-strong-presentation-skills/

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 NHẬN THỨC CỦA SINH VIÊN NĂM HAI NGÀNH NGÔN NGỮ
ANH TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC HÀ NỘI VỀ PHƯƠNG PHÁP LẶP LẠI
NGẮT QUÃNG TRONG VIỆC HỌC TỪ VỰNG
SVTH: Lê Khánh Hoà; Trần Khánh Ly; Nguyễn Trần Huệ Anh; Ngô Mỹ Hạnh-4A21
GVHD: Đỗ Thị Thu Trang

Tóm tắt: Khái niệm Học tập cách quãng dựa trên việc con người không có khả năng lưu giữ mọi
thông tin và được thiết kế để giảm bớt sự lãng quên. Học từ vựng luôn là một thách thức đối với cả
người mới bắt đầu và sinh viên có kinh nghiệm. Nhận thức được ý nghĩa của việc học từ vựng trong
việc góp phần nâng cao năng lực ngôn ngữ. Nghiên cứu nhằm mục đích khám phá những tiềm năng
mà phương pháp lặp lại cách quãng mang lại cho sinh viên năm thứ hai trường Đại học Hà Nội. Dựa
trên các đánh giá nổi bật trong nghiên cứu này, tính thực tế của việc lặp lại khoảng cách đã được chứng
minh là giúp tăng cường khả năng duy trì trí nhớ. Điều này có thể đóng góp vào thành tích tích cực và
nó có thể giúp tối đa hóa thành tích ngôn ngữ của học sinh, đặc biệt đối với những người đang làm việc
trong Khoa Ngôn ngữ. Có tiềm năng to lớn để cải thiện kết quả giáo dục thông qua thực hành lặp lại
cách quãng, vì đây là một phương pháp hiệu quả và tiết kiệm chi phí để cải thiện hiệu quả và hiệu suất
học tập.

Từ khoá: lặp lại ngắt quãng, ghi nhớ, từ vựng, hiệu quả.

THE PERCEPTIONS OF SOPHOMORES IN THE ENGLISH

DEPARTMENT, HANOI UNIVERSITY ABOUT THE SPACED
REPETITION IN LEARNING VOCABULARY

Abstract: The concept of Spaced Learning is based on people's incapacity to retain information
and is designed to reduce forgetting. Vocabulary learning is always a challenge for both beginners and
experienced students. Recognizing the significance of vocab learning in contributing to the
enhancement of linguistic competence. The study aims to investigate the potential that spaced repetition
method brings to sophomores at Hanoi University. Based on the reviews highlighted in this research,
the practicality of spaced repetition has proven to enhance memory retention. This can contribute to
positive performance and it can help maximize students' language performance, particularly for those
who are engaged in the Languages Department. There is tremendous potential for improving
educational outcomes through spaced repetition practice, as it is an effective and cost-effective method
to improve learning effectiveness and efficiency.

Key words: spaced repetition, memory retention, vocabulary, effectiveness.

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 1. LITERATURE REVIEW
1.1. Definition of spaced repetition (Background)
In 1932, the principle of the Spaced repetition method (interrupted learning method,
interrupted learning method) was first presented. Later, this strategy was used in the treatment
of Alzheimer's disease in humans, as well as in psychological studies. Spaced repetition is a
memory method that entails reviewing and recalling information at ideal spacing periods until
the knowledge has been learned effectively. This strategy tends to boost students' memory by
retaining the information fresh in their mind and forcing them to use active recall. Spaced
repetition can be applied to any form of education from grade school math problems all the way
up to graduate computer algorithms.
When compared to other study strategies such as rote learning and cramming before tests,
spaced repetition is particularly effective at boosting long-term memory recall (repetition
without spacing). It also raises the likelihood of an individual obtaining knowledge that is
transferable to different situations and minimizes the overall amount of time spent on study
sessions. The strategy is simple in theory, but it might be difficult to put into practice because
most individuals are impatient when learning something new or unfamiliar. There is a learning
curve to spaced repetition, like with any study skill, but it is one that can be conquered. It takes
discipline and intentionality to do so, but those who succeed can gain enormous benefits.
1.2. The effectiveness of the spaced repetition
Spaced repetition is a memory technique in which they can review material at a specific
interval after first learning it and then later recall that information without having to study it
again. As a result of constant acquisition of knowledge, they are able to gain the ability to store
data over the long term. The ability to recall previous experiences or information is just as
important as learning new things. Memory is like a filing cabinet with thousands of files labeled
"important" and "not-so-important." Important memories stay intact, while unimportant ones
get lost over time if they aren’t recalled frequently enough. In spaced repetition, people can use
the same information over and over again without having to memorize it. The idea behind this
method is that if learners are able to review information at varying intervals, individuals will be
more likely to retain it because the brain will have time to process and learn the information at
each interval. If the learners only review the information once, their brain has no way of
processing it and therefore cannot remember it. However, with spaced repetition, when the
individuals come back to review previously reviewed material, their mind processes and
remembers what they have already learned so that they can recall and retain the information in
the long term.
By using the spaced repetition strategy, learners can get rid of cramming by dividing the
huge tasks into smaller bits of work. This technique involves spacing out the learning in
intervals so that the learners are not cramming information into their brain quickly but rather
absorbing it at a more natural pace, which allows for better retention of information. The ability
to remember information is affected by the amount of time that has passed since the information

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was learned and experienced with that material subsequently, or its rehearsal. As a result, people
increase their chances of remembering new facts and concepts by using this method rather than
just cramming for exams. According to the research work of a group of students at Hanoi
University in 2021–2022, compared to common studying methods such as learning by heart or
cramming before examinations, the spaced repetition method is more effective. This method
can apply to learning not only new words but also facts or massive ranges of numbers (Toppino
& Gerbier, 2014).
In this method, the learners can establish a connection between new information and
previously acquired relevant knowledge, making it simpler to recall the information.
Memorization is the process of remembering information through association with something
else (Dewey). By connecting new information to previously stored relevant knowledge, the
learner may be able to recall that information more easily because they are familiar with it. It is
important for learners to create links between new information and previously stored relevant
knowledge so that they transfer information from short-term memory into long-term memory.
The more meaningful the link, the more likely one will remember the new material (Kolb,
2011). This strategy works effectively with factual or structured content because it assists the
student in organizing and storing new knowledge in a way that is understandable to them.
1.3. Adaptations of the spaced repetition method
The first thing people will need is a way to track their progress by designing a study plan.
A study plan is simply a list of things that the learners will do over time in order to be able to
learn effectively. Making a study plan ensures that all of the information covered in class is
stored somewhere easily accessible in a human's mind so that it is not forgotten when exam
time comes. It is a decisive step toward achieving the goal because it will form the basis for the
study strategy. Spaced repetition is a framework that aims to improve the retention of
knowledge by first removing the need for people’s brains to continually process new
information. The intervals between repetitions are optional and might differ from person to
person. The first cycle can be divided into smaller intervals so that leaners have time to review
and reinforce what they have learned before moving on to the next interval. Then the learners
can create another cycle of learning by starting with new information or reviewing previous
knowledge before moving on to the next interval. A much better way to choose spacing intervals
is by doubling the spacing after each period. For example, people may begin with Repetition 1
(Day 1), Repetition 2 (Day 4), and double in Repetition 3 (Day 8), then continue to double in
Repetition 4 (Day 16),... The intervals depend on many factors; therefore, learners should
design a plan based on many factors, such as memory retention abilities, attention span, and
motivation level.
Reviewing and studying the study guides is the second step in spaced repetition. When
studying the subject for the first time, people should determine whether it is the main points
that they may need to pay attention to or the details that people may need to read more about in
any additional resources recommended by their instructor. If people are new to this field of

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study, then concentrating on the main points and understanding those will lead to a better grasp
of the topic. In contrast, if the learners are more experienced in their field of study, then paying
attention to details will provide a deeper knowledge base for their future exam preparation
endeavors. The ultimate goal of studying the study guides at this stage is to become familiar
with all of the content in the guide by doing questions and carefully reading through it. People
will have answered most of the questions before; therefore, this step should be about
understanding concepts rather than memorizing facts.
After building the memories, the individuals need to recall them at the first spacing
interval. Reviewing is a crucial part of studying since it helps them remember information.
Before proceeding to the next section, ensure that the subject people are studying is thoroughly
understood. To effectively review, people need to know what information they have already
retained so that they can apply it in new ways or provide new insights into what was previously
known. Information that is retained for long periods tends to be encoded in long-term memory.
As a result, reviewing can help people store information more effectively. It also makes it easier
for their brain to recall the information later during spaced retrieval practice. When going
through the chapters a second time, people should focus on any areas that haven't been covered
previously. While concentrating on new aspects, humans link them with the previous
knowledge to strengthen the pre-existing memories they obtained in step two.
After completing the initial repetition, people just need to repeat the learning process by
recalling the same material at ideal intervals. The brain has a limited capacity to store
information, therefore, it is crucial to ensure the information is stored in a way that is easy to
retrieve later. In this stage, their brain might overload if the intervals are not spaced out, so the
individuals should ensure that the timetable when going through each cycle of spaced repetition
is suitable for their brain to remember previous knowledge. This method requires a lot of time
and effort; therefore, people should stick to the schedule and trust the process.
2. METHODOLOGY
2.1. Instrument
This research paper used a survey to collect and analyze data.
2.2. Subject
The data was collected from second-year students in the English Department within
Hanoi university.
2.3. Objective
Figures in the survey will be analyzed in terms of various aspects in order to reveal the
current state of the effectiveness and opinion of spaced repetition among second-year students
from the English Department at Hanoi University. Moreover, there will be several useful
applications to which most English department sophomores are indifferent.
2.4. Research Procedure

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 In the beginning, a questionnaire consisting of 11 Likert scales, and multiple-choice
questions was designed with respect to our 2 research questions. In the next step, 100
sophomores within the English Department were randomly selected after the survey was
officially carried out. That data was used for further analysis.
3. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION OF FINDINGS
3.1. The current state of spaced repetition among Hanu sophomores
3.1.1. Respondents’ recognition and intention to apply the Spaced repetition
method in learning vocabulary.

Figure 1: Respondents’ recognition and intention to apply the Spaced

repetition method in learning vocabulary.

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 Figure 1 consists of three pie charts, both of which represent the respondents’ recognition
and intention to apply the spaced repetition method in learning vocabulary. The first chart
illustrates the recognition of respondents about the spaced repetition. The glance at the diagram
indicates that the number of people who know about the spaced repetition method outweighs
students who do not. 38 out of 42 students from the data hear about this method at least once,
mostly from social media (Figure 2). Meanwhile, the rest have no idea about the spaced
repetition. In the third pie chart designed for those unfamiliar with spaced repetition, after
getting basic information about this method (definition and how it works), 42.9% definitely
want to apply it in learning new words, 50% will consider it, and only 7.1% will not use it in
the future.

Figure 2: Respondents’ information resources

Demonstrated in the second pie is the proportion in percentage terms of actually applying
the spaced repetition in learning vocabulary. It shows that among 90.5% who know about the
method, only 73.8% of vocabulary learners actually use it in their studying process. That might
be explained by several barriers which students have to face when using the spaced repetition
method. Generally speaking, there is a wide range of factors that affect the process of applying
the spaced repetition method. Not surprisingly, impatience makes up the largest proportion with
25 out of 42 survey participants. Spaced repetition is brutally effective but it requires discipline.
Especially during the first repetitions, it’s crucial not to skip any. If learners forget to revise
early, it’s highly likely they’ll just forget that information which means cramming again. That’s
not effective at all because students lose the time they’ve already invested. It is suggested that
if learners feel like being lazy on their revision days, decide for themselves whether they’d
rather do those 10 minutes of work today or cram hard later. Next, convenience takes the second
position. That often happens to learners using traditional equipment like flashcards since they
occupy quite a large space as well as take pretty much time to prepare the notes. In addition, it
is understandable that high cost accounts for 19.4% of obstacles. Users can just freely use some
functions of these mobile applications. If they want to use these apps with premium functions,
a certain amount of money needs to be invested. To illustrate, Memrise - one of the most popular
apps for learning vocabulary cost $89.99, equal to more than 2 million VND per year, which is
quite expensive for most students in Vietnam. Finally, 2.8% of students applying the spaced
repetition find it inefficient. Although this method is proven to be effective in learning
vocabulary, it cannot suit all learners.

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 Figure 3: Barriers while using the spaced repetition

Figure 4: Effective time interval

According to Figure 4, overall, there are two major time intervals that are highly
appreciated by sophomores in the English Department. First of all, 62.2% of participants find
the 1-3-6-14 the most effective time interval for learning vocabulary. That means learners recall
the vocabulary in 1 day, then 3 days, 6 days, and 14 days respectively after the initial lesson.
Meanwhile, 29.7% say it is beneficial to follow the algorithm suggested by Supermemo - a
mobile application assisting in learning vocabulary. Its repetitions are Day 1 → Day 7 → Day
16 → Day 35.
However, it is hard to make completely specific recommendations that will work for
everyone. Learners should give importance to knowing whether these gaps are approximate.
Still, these numbers are close, and students can take them into account when they are creating
their own study schedules.
To illustrate, in 2008 psychology researchers at the University of California examined a
large cohort of 1,354 subjects who they tasked with recalling 32 brand new words using
different spaced repetition schedules. Their research of 26 spaced study schedules conclude that
no absolute study interval exists but rather how long the subject wishes to retain the information
for dictates the first study gap. From their research, they found that the optimal first study gap
declines as a % of the time to test. For instance, if the test is in a week the gap should be 20-
40% e.g. 1-2 days, if the test is in 6 months it should be 10-20% so 3-5 weeks.

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 Table 1: Suitable first study gap for each exam time

Figure 5: Frequency of using the spaced repetition method

Demonstrated in Figure 5 is the frequency of using the spaced repetition method in

learning vocabulary. In the first place, roughly one-third of year-two undergraduates apply the
method twice a week (30.6%). The number of students using spaced repetition every day and
once a week is relatively close (19.4% and 16.7 % respectively). Surprisingly, 25% of survey
participants use the technique less than once a week, which can have a negative impact on the
effectiveness during the vocabulary learning process.
3.2. Opinion of Hanu sophomores about spaced repetition

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 Figure 6: The effectiveness levels of spaced repetition

Figure 6 demonstrates the descriptive statistics on the student’s self-evaluation of their

spaced repetition method effectiveness. On the whole, learners suppose that spaced repetition
works effectively on both traditional (notebook, flashcards) and contemporary (applications)
tools. Taking a closer look at the first two column charts, it is visible that the majority of learners
find it efficient while using conventional ways by reviewing the notes or flashcards. Moreover,
almost no students strongly disagree about the effectiveness of traditional techniques. On the
other hand, 18 out of 36 respondents prefer mobile applications to traditional tools; while 11
students are unsure about the usefulness of modern ones. Regarding the level of involvement,
more than 50% of participants feel more concentrated when using the spaced repetition method.
It is not a surprising result, Hermann Ebbinghaus said “With frequent repetition, the capacity
of consciousness may be increased.” Learners are not trying to cram all the knowledge into
their brain at once, they split their time to review new words in each session. Thanks to the less
time it takes, the level of concentration is increased.
3.3. Techniques to employ the spaced repetition method in learning vocabulary.
According to the research “An investigation into utilizing spaced repetition to enhance
long-term vocabulary retention for year-one and year-two undergraduates at Hanoi University”
of Hanoi University in 2020 - 2021 academic year, it mentioned using Flashcards as a common
means of operating the Spaced Repetition, our collected data in the 2021-2022 academic year
shows a more specific figure about the previous statement. Figure 7 manifests that 29.7%
students opted for flashcards and notes to make the spaced repetition work well. Moreover, the
number of the individuals, who are concerned about applications for that method, also accounts
for up to 27%. In this research, new knowledge about apps serving for spaced repetition will be
introduced.

Figure 7: The way students choose to operate the spaced repetition method

Figure 7 illustrates that 27% of students prefer apps to traditional notes and flashcards to
make the techniques work. In 2020 - 2021 academic year, research “An investigation into

140
utilizing spaced repetition to enhance long-term vocabulary retention for year-one and year-two
undergraduates at Hanoi University” of Hanoi University only provides two kinds of
applications including Anki and Duolingo. Anki is open-source software created by Damien
Elmes in 2006 to help students study more efficiently and retain more information. Duolingo is
a free online language learning program that has attracted a large number of language learners
from all over the world since its start in 2012. Two of various apps recently can be no longer
suitable in any cases. Therefore, we suggested and collected data from other platforms with a
view to broadening the opportunity of students to get access to each suitable and effective
application. Besides Anki and Duolingo, Notion, Brainscape, Supermemo, Quizlet, Memrise
are excellent choices. According to figure 8, the popularity of Notion, Brainscape, Supermemo,
Quizlet, Memrise is 32.4%, 14.7%,11.8%, 64.7% and 20.6% respectively.

Quizlet is dominant among these apps with up to 64.7% .Quizlet is a web tool and a
mobile app that enhances students’ education by using online word cards and game-based
quizzes. The users can feel free to design their own study sets. Furthermore, quizlet is
convenient in converting the user's design into different studying forms such as games and
quizzes, so that users can study the same information in a variety of forms. (Quizlet, 2022)
Quizlet is getting more and more popular among students thanks to many helpful functions.
Notion is another application our research suggested. Data in figure 8 showed that 32.4%
of the sophomores chose Notion to maintain the spaced repetition techniques. Notion is a
collaboration platform with modified Markdown support that integrates kanban boards, tasks,
wikis and databases. It is an all-in-one workspace for note taking, knowledge and data
management, and project and task management. (Wikipedia, 2022).
Brainscape is known as an advanced form of Anki which is welcome in education in
almost all grades. However, in our survey, Braincape only gets 14.7% of the users. The data is
going down by approximately 11% compared to the previous version.

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 Figure 8: Apps for learning vocabulary

Looking for suitable apps for making the spaced repetition effective is a part of gaining
success in retaining new words in the long term. We focus on the spaced repetition techniques
because this method actually brings about benefits for the learners such as raising the level of
involvement and saving time. Figure 9 illustrated the perception of the participants about the
advantages of the spaced repetition in learning vocabulary. Most of the objects feel neutral
about two mentioned benefits, however, many people are in favor of the effectiveness of the
techniques. This also shows positive points for the future of the spaced repetition techniques
which have covered potential.

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 REFERENCES
1. Ebbinghaus, H. (2022, September 23). Spaced repetition: A guide to the technique - e-
student. E. Retrieved December 31, 2022, from https://e-student.org/spaced-repetition/
T;, E. J. R. S. M. (n.d.). [spaced-retrieval in patients with alzheimer's disease. Critical Review
and clinical applications]. Psychologie & neuropsychiatrie du vieillissement. Retrieved
December 31, 2022, from https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20031509/
2.Noor, N. M., Yunus, K., Yusoff, A. M. H., Nasir, N. A. M., & Yaacob, N. H. (n.d.). Spaced
learning: A review on the use of spaced learning in language teaching and learning.
Journal of Language and Linguistic Studies. Retrieved December 31, 2022, from
https://www.jlls.org/index.php/jlls/article/view/2935
3.Introduction to Quizlet. DU EdTech Knowledge Base. (2022, June 9). Retrieved December
31, 2022, from https://otl.du.edu/knowledgebase/introduction-to-quizlet/
Wikimedia Foundation. (2022, December 23). Notion (productivity software). Wikipedia.
Retrieved December 31, 2022, from
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Notion_(productivity_software)
4.Erkes, J., Raffard, S., & Meulemans, T. (2009). [Spaced-retrieval in patients with Alzheimer's
disease. Critical review and clinical applications]. Psychologie & neuropsychiatrie du
vieillissement, 7 4, 275-86 .
5.Noor, N. M., Yunus, K., Yusoff, A. M. H., Nasir, N. A. M., & Yaacob, N. H. (2021). Spaced
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Journal of Language and Linguistic Studies, 17(2), 1023-1031.

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 VỀ SỰ TỒN TẠI CỦA HẠN ĐỊNH NGỮ
SVTH: Phùng Thị Thu Hương - Lớp 3A-19
GVHD: Dương Minh Hoàng, ThS

Tóm tắt: Giả thuyết Hạn định ngữ Steven Paul Abney đề xuất năm 1987 là một trong những giả
thuyết về cấu trúc cú pháp tiêu biểu của trường phái ngữ pháp tạo sinh (generative grammar). Theo đó,
những tổ hợp từ gồm một từ hạn định (determiner) và một tổ danh từ (nominal), vốn được coi là một
danh ngữ (noun phrase) theo phân tích truyền thống, thực ra là một hạn định ngữ (determiner phrase)
với hạn định từ làm trung tâm (head). Trong bài viết này, chúng tôi tập trung làm rõ một số luận điểm
ủng hộ và phản đối giả thuyết này.

Từ khóa: hạn định ngữ, danh ngữ, ngữ pháp tạo sinh

ON THE EXISTENCE OF THE DETERMINER PHRASE

Abstract: The Determiner Phrase Hypothesis (DP Hypothesis), which was proposed in 1987 by
Steven Paul Abney, is one of the hypotheses about typical syntactic structures in generative grammar.
According to this hypothesis, the cluster containing a determiner and a nominal is identified as a
determiner phrase headed by the determiner, rather than a noun phrase as in traditional analysis. In this
paper, we would like to focus on analyzing some prominent arguments for and against this hypothesis.

Keywords: determiner phrase, noun phrase, generative grammar

1. INTRODUCTION
1.1. Constituency
As stated by Carnie (2012, pp. 72-73), syntax is the study of sentence structure. That is,
a sentence has its underlying syntactic structure but not just a linear string of words, and thus
the words in a sentence are not simply put in an order, but they tend to group into units. Look
at the example below:
a. The cowboy left his hat here.
Intuitively, some words seem to be tied to one another. For instance, the determiner the
appears to be tied more to the noun cowboy, or the possessive his is more closely related to the
noun hat than other words. Such combinations are believed to make up units that function
together called constituents, which can be further combined with one or more other constituents
to form larger constituents or a complete sentence. A constituent is often recognized as a phrase,
which can be a noun phrase (NP), verb phrase (VP), adjective phrase (AP), prepositional phrase
(PP), adverb phrase (AdvP), etc. Each phrase/constituent is supposed to have a head, which is
the obligatory part carrying its core meaning. For instance, kick the ball is a VP headed by the
verb (V) kick; in the sky is a PP headed by the preposition (P) in; long is a phrase itself (which

144
is AP) and also the head; etc.
In the traditional grammar or other grammar schools except for generative grammar,
nominal expressions such as the teacher’s question, the effective solution, etc. are identified as
NPs headed by nouns. However, after the proposal of the Determiner Phrase Hypothesis (DP
Hypothesis) by Steven P. Abney in 1987, they have been recognized as DPs headed by
determiners. Further details about this will be given in section 1.3.
And because the analyses in this paper will strictly follow the X-bar theory, I would like
to introduce this theory in the section below briefly.
1.2. X-bar theory
First proposed by Noam Chomsky in 1970, the X-bar theory is a specific implementation
of constituency grammar, in which the sentence is analyzed by being divided into constituents,
and each constituent is further analyzed to the smallest elements. With a single uniform
structure called the X-bar schema, the underlying syntactic structure of a phrase is shown
clearly through the three bar-level projections: XP, X’, and X:

Phrase level XP = X’’

Intermediate level X’ = x̄
Word/head level X = X°

Equivalent notations in the X-bar schema (Carnie, 2012)

The X-bar schema consists of:
a. Specifier: an element used to narrow the meaning intended by the head. A specifier is
the sister of X' and daughter of XP;
b. Head: the only obligatory element in the X-bar schema, the core of the phrase that
projects the whole structure;
c. Complement: A syntactic unit required by the head and has a close relationship with the
head. It is the sister of X and daughter of X’;
d. Adjunct: A syntactic unit provides additional, optional information to the head. It is the
sister of X’ and daughter of X’.

(1) The X-bar schema without an adjunct (2) The X-bar schema with an adjunct

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 1.3. NPs and DPs
Following the X-bar theory, if a nominal such as the book is analyzed as an NP, it will be
described in the tree structure as:

(3)

However, there arises a problem with this analysis: in the X-bar theory, specifier (if any,
projects to the XP) and complement are phrasal, not just the heads but the full phrases, whereas
in the cases of a, the, this, that, these, and those, there only exists the determiner, we never see
any other material combined with them to make up phrases; their branches would be always
unary since they never select any complement or adjunct (Edelstein, 2020, p. 189). Hence, it is
fairly suspicious if these determiners are called full phrases. This is one of the reasons why
many people support an alternative hypothesis in which the DP contains the noun, namely the
Determiner Phrase Hypothesis. With this theory, the head of a nominal is not the lexical
category N, but the functional category D. Then the term DP is used to refer to nominal
expressions, and the head D projects the DP and takes the NP as its complement.
(4)

Nevertheless, the DP hypothesis still meets some notable objections. In this paper, I
would like to focus on some prominent arguments for and against it.
2. ARGUMENTS FOR THE DETERMINER PHRASE HYPOTHESIS
2.1. The DP hypothesis is used to analyze the possessive clitic (’s)
One case that the DP hypothesis is able to deal with effectively is analyzing the structure
of the possessive clitic ‘s (the ‘s-genitive). Notice that the clitic ‘s is not a suffix of the head but
a small word cliticizing to the entire subject noun phrase and demonstrating possession (Carnie,
2013, pp. 208-211):
a. [the woman with long hair]’s bag
b. [a friend of Jimmy]’s shoes

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 c. *the woman’s with long hair bag
d. *a friend’s of Jimmy shoes
(the asterisk * shows the incorrect case)
In the constituent containing ‘s-genitive, there is no D allowed to stand after it, which
means that the ‘s and the D cannot co-occur:
a. *the woman with long hair’s the bag
b. *a friend of Jimmy’s the shoes
This gives us strong evidence to believe that they exemplify the same thing, have the
same function and therefore they are in complementary distribution (as in the phonological
domain, [p] and [pʰ] are in complementary distribution because they are different allophones of
a phoneme that never occur in the same context). Hence, the clitic ‘s can be assumed as a D
that occupies the position of the head, and the possessor becomes its specifier. Then we have
the tree diagrams below:
(5) (6)

The DP, as shown in (6), takes the possessor [the woman with long hair] as the specifier
and the clitic ‘s as the head. This strictly follows the structure in (5) and solves two problems
arising from the NP hypothesis. First, the specifier, which is the possessor, is now phrasal,
satisfying the demand of the X-bar theory that specifiers and complements must be phrases.
Second, with the NP hypothesis, the clitic ‘s cannot be analyzed as a D, resulting in the NP
standing before it also cannot be defined as the possessor, because if the D occurs in the
specifier position, there is no space before the specifier to attach the NP [the woman with long
hair] according to the rules of the X-bar theory:
(7)

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 2.2. The DP hypothesis is used to analyze the structure with a pronoun followed
by a noun
According to Santorini and Kroch (2007), determiners are quite similar to verbs in that
they have different levels of transitivity. While verbs are divided into different subcategories
based on the number of arguments (the participant or entity included in the event that the verb
represents) that they require, which are intransitive verbs, transitive verbs, and ditransitive
verbs, determiners also have dissimilar requirements of the existence of the NP behind them.
For example, the articles the and a (an) are compulsorily transitive determiners, while the
demonstratives this, that, these, those are optionally transitive ones.
a. We rent the/a car.
b. *We rent the/a.
c. I receive this/that/these/those gifts.
d. I receive this/that/these/those.
In English, some pronouns such as we, you can function like demonstratives, which gives
us the reason to believe that they are optionally transitive determiners:
a. We
b. You
c. We policemen
d. You comedians
Another argument that also leads to the same conclusion is from the proposal of Postal
in 1966 (as cited in Postal, Reibel and Schane, 1969, p. 12). He calls pronouns “so-called
pronouns” and argues that pronouns are alike determiners, which could be followed by nouns:
a. we men
b. you guys
In cases of reflexives such as herself, there exists the determiner her and the noun self.
This proposal demonstrates that pronouns are a subcategory of determiners.
In addition, there is one more piece of proof indicating that pronouns can be analyzed as
determiners. Abney (1987, p. 281) argues that pronouns function the same as noun phrases
when looking at the way they behave. In other grammar, pronouns are categorized as a subtype
of nouns, that is, they must be able to co-occur with articles and demonstratives like other
nouns. These combinations, however, are impermissible clusters in English:
a. Determiner + noun: a person, these slides
b. Determiner + noun phrase: *the this duck, *that the cup
c. Determiner + pronoun: *a she, *the you

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 From these three arguments, we are able to affirm that pronouns should be analyzed as
determiners. But there is one question left: in the structure containing a pronoun followed by
an N, after arguing that the pronoun is identified as a D, can we still analyze this structure with
the NP hypothesis in which the pronoun is put in the specifier position and the N is the head?
The answer is no. In this case, the head - which is the obligatory element that the phrase is
centered on - must be the pronoun, which behaves like a transitive determiner as mentioned
above, and takes the N as its complement. This leads to the conclusion that the head is the D
(pronoun), but not the N:

(8)

2.3. A bare noun should be analyzed as a DP with a null D constituent

The DP hypothesis also forces the supposition that all nominal expressions are headed
by overt or null (silent) determiners. In cases the determiners are absent, Abney (1987, p. 64)
calls them “phonologically null” functional elements.
Radford (2016, p. 616) argues that proper names, which are bare nouns (nominals
containing no overt determiners) are semantically definite nouns because they refer to definite
individuals. For example:
a. Mike and the chef went on a trip
The name Mike refers to a definite person which is quite similar to the/this/that man.
Therefore, it also should be treated as a DP.
Radford (2016) also adds some arguments to prove this assumption. He first mentions
the ability to coordinate with DPs of bare nouns: assume that only the same-type phrases can
be coordinated, thus Mike and the chef of the example above are in the same category, which is
DP. The only difference between them is that the chef is headed by the D the, and Mike is
headed by the null D. Second, there is evidence indicating that the null D not only marks the
definiteness but also shows the person properties. For instance:
a. We policemen can do it ourselves/*myself/*themselves
b. You comedians can do it yourselves/*himself/*myself
c. Mike can do it himself/*myself/*ourselves
These examples show that the expression we policemen only goes with the first-person
reflexive ourselves, the expression you comedians only goes with the second-person reflexive
yourselves, and the bare noun Mike only goes with the third-person reflexive such as himself.

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This and the idea that we and you in these expressions are determiners (as discussed in section
2.2.) can lead us to the conclusion that we is a first-person determiner, you is a second-person
determiner, and the null D is a third-person determiner. And if such expressions like we
policemen and you comedians are analyzed as in (8), we have reason to believe that the proper
name Mike is also a DP but headed by a null D:
(9)

In general, we can conclude that all pronouns and bare plurals must have a determiner,
which is the silent one.

3. ARGUMENTS AGAINST THE DETERMINER PHRASE HYPOTHESIS

3.1. Selectional asymmetry between complementizer phrase (CP) and DP in
forming determination
One of the motivations for the DP hypothesis is a claimed parallel of nominals and
clauses. Abney (1987, p. 285) argues that because determiners are similar to complementizers
in having the features of functional elements, they must have similar syntactic properties.
However, Bruening (2009) presents evidence showing the selectional asymmetry between CP
and DP in forming determination to prove that the DP hypothesis is unsound.
Firstly, in a clausal expression, the head governs the form of its complement’s head: the C
determines the inflectional element (the head of the inflectional phrase which can be a modal
auxiliary, the infinitive marker to, or the bound morphemes expressing tense such as -ed and -s):
a. He would like for his children to live well.
b. He believes that his children will live well.
c. *He would like for his children will live well.
d. *He believes that his children to live well.
It can be clearly seen from these examples that the C for selects for non-finite clauses
with the infinitive marker to, while the C that only selects for finite clauses. This is consistent
with a feature of the head that it selects certain constituents to combine with.
However, in the nominal domain, the N determines the form of other elements
(Bruening, 2009). Take the cases of count nouns and mass nouns as examples:
a. Many/*much restaurants
b. *Many/much milk
And nouns cannot combine with mismatched functional elements:

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 a. These/*this coats
These lead to the conclusion that in nominals, the functional elements are not the heads
and do not determine the form of the complements like in clauses: the head of the clause is C,
but the head of the nominal is not D. As a result, nominals are not parallel with clauses, which
makes the DP hypothesis a bit unconvincing.
3.2. Idioms
Another opposing argument to the DP hypothesis is presented by Bruening, Dinh and
Kim (2018). They argue that idioms, the expressions whose meaning cannot be deduced from
the conjoined meanings of their components, are very constrained; and that they seem like fixed
expressions whose constituent elements must be closely connected to each other. Therefore,
the two elements X and Y making up an idiom must be in a strict local relationship which is
limited to the sisterhood in the X-bar schema. There is a sequence of local relationships if the
idiom consists of more elements.
Take the verb-object idiom “bite the bullet” (means to accept or confront something
unpleasant or difficult) as an example, we could draw two syntax trees in the NP hypothesis
and the DP hypothesis:

(10) DP Hypothesis (11) NP Hypothesis

As shown in (10), in the DP hypnosis, the V does not in a local relationship with the N,
but with the D: the V is the sister of the DP headed by the D. That is, the must be integral to the
idiom. On the contrary, in the NP hypothesis analysis (11), the V enters directly into a local
relationship with the N: the V is the sister of the NP headed by the N. This means the D is not
the essential element of the idiom but is expected to be an optional modifier, which does not
break the local relationship between V and N. Hence, other elements can be freely inserted in
the position between D and N:
a. Should ODI bite the open access bullet for its journals? (Green, 2013)
This is not to mention the cases where the D can be null or substituted by other
determiners:
a. Pull strings

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 b. Pull the strings
c. Pull some strings
d. Pull a few strings
These could lead to the assumption that D is not necessarily an integral part of an idiom,
and thus the tree structure (10) is wrong.
In addition, Bruening, Dinh and Kim (2018) also find out the dissimilarity between the D
of verb-object idiom and the preposition of verb-prepositional phrase (V-PP) idioms:
a. Throw someone under the bus (means to blame or criticize someone to run away
from responsibility).
In a V-PP idiom, the V enters into the local relationship with the P - the head of the PP.
And unlike the D in the verb-object idioms which can be replaced by other determiners or freely
inserted by other elements, the P in a V-PP idiom is an integral part: if it is replaced with another
P, the idiomatic meaning of the idiom will be lost. That is why the idiom could not be written
as *throw someone above/beside the bus.
To sum up, in verb-object idioms, determiners can be added or replaced in between,
opposing to the feature as shown in (10), which indicates that the D is an integral part of the
idiom. This leads to the conclusion that the functional elements do not head the NPs, which is
not like the way they behave in PPs, and that the DP hypothesis is wrong.
4. CONCLUSION
The DP hypothesis is a controversial theory. Besides the arguments that I have discussed
so far, there are still other opinions for and against it. But I personally believe that we have
enough arguments to counter the opinions against this hypothesis which have been mentioned
above, and to prove that the DP hypothesis is extremely powerful in analyzing nominal
expressions.
First, for the argument that determiners are dominated by nouns when considering the
cases of count nouns and mass nouns, or singular nouns and plural nouns, resulting in the view
that determiners are not heads of nominals, I can say that, this hierarchy must be reversed.
According to the X-bar theory, the head is the element selecting its complement and being able
to determine the complement’s features. As a result, such phrases as many restaurants, much
milk, these coats, etc. have determiners as their heads, which dominate their complements but
not visa versa. Then nominals and clauses are parallel in forming determination, which proves
that the assumption in the DP hypothesis is right.
Second, with the argument that determiners are not integral parts of verb-object idioms
since they can be freely inserted or replaced by other determiners or even null, leading to the
conclusion that determiners are not heads of nominals, we can explain this by the argument in
section 2.3. From the conclusion that all bare nouns should be analyzed as DPs with the null
determiner, I could say that, the nouns in verb-objects idioms are not the exception. In all cases,

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even in which the D can be null or replaced by one another, the determiners always exist, it is
just a matter of whether they are overt or covert.
To sum up, the DP hypothesis is a really powerful and influential theory in analyzing
the structure of nominals. It is not only able to be used for the structure that the NP hypothesis
cannot deal with but also can solve problems raised by the competing hypothesis. Obviously,
in this paper, I do not deny the advantages of the NP hypothesis in some cases, but the DP
hypothesis is the theory that should be used to replace it.

REFERENCES

Abney, S. P. (1987). The English noun phrase in its sentential aspect (Doctoral
dissertation, Massachusetts Institute of Technology).
Bruening, B. (2009). Selectional asymmetries between CP and DP suggest that the DP
hypothesis is wrong. University of Pennsylvania working papers in linguistics, 15(1), 5.
Carnie, A. (2012). Syntax: A generative introduction. John Wiley & Sons.
Edelstein, E. (2020). English Syntax: A minimalist account of structure and variation.
Edinburgh University Press.
Green, D. (2013, August 14). Should ODI bite the open access bullet for its journals?
Response to last week’s rant on the Academic Spring. FP2P.
https://oxfamapps.org/fp2p/should-odi-bite-the-open-access-bullet-for-its-journals-response-
to-last-weeks-academic-spring-rant/
Postal, P., Reibel, D. A., & Schane, S. A. (1969). On so-called pronouns in English.
Readings in English transformational grammar, 12-25.
Radford, A. (2016). Analyzing English sentences (2nd ed.). Cambridge University Press.
Santorini, B., & Kroch, A. (2007). The syntax of natural language: An online
introduction. https://www.ling.upenn.edu/~beatrice/syntax-textbook/

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 NHẬN THỨC CỦA SINH VIÊN KHOA TIẾNG ANH, TRƯỜNG
ĐẠI HỌC HÀ NỘI VỀ VẤN ĐỀ GIAN LẬN TRONG HỌC TẬP
SVTH: Phan Lê Cẩm Tú (1A20), Bùi Doãn Hương Giang (2A20)
GVHD: ThS. Hoàng Quý

Tóm tắt: Gian lận trong học tập đã và đang là vấn đề được quan tâm trong việc dạy, học và kiểm
tra đánh giá. Nhiều nghiên cứu trước đây cho rằng các hành vi thiếu trung thực thực chất đã tồn tại từ
lâu, bởi vậy nên các biểu hiện cụ thể của vấn đề này được tập trung nghiên cứu nhằm giải quyết tình
trạng gian lận trong học tập, nâng cao tính công bằng và đảm bảo được kết quả của học sinh. Tiếp nối
những bài nghiên cứu trước, bài nghiên cứu dưới đây của chúng tôi tập trung vào việc tìm hiểu nhận
thức của sinh viên Khoa tiếng Anh - Trường Đại học Hà Nội về những hành vi gian lận trong quá trình
học tập. Thông qua 55 câu trả lời được thu thập qua bảng hỏi khảo sát, chúng tôi đã có những phân
tích và tổng hợp cụ thể về những hành vi gian lận phổ biến nhất, nguyên do hành vi gian lận, từ đó đề
xuất một số giải pháp có khả năng ngăn chặn hoặc giảm thiểu những hành vi sai trái này trong môi
trường học tập.

Từ khóa: Gian lận trong học tập, nguyên nhân, giải pháp khả thi, Khoa tiếng Anh

A SURVEY STUDY ON THE PERCEPTIONS OF STUDENTS IN

ENGLISH DEPARTMENT AT HANOI UNIVERSITY TOWARDS
ACADEMIC DISHONESTY

Abstract: Academic Dishonesty has always been a matter of concern in the teaching, learning,
and assessment process. Previous studies indicated that dishonest behaviors have existed for a long
time; as a result, specific manifestations have also been focused on research in order to solve this issue,
thus, ensuring and improving the equality in students’ academic results. Following previous studies, our
following research concentrates on further understanding the perception of students in the English
Department - at Hanoi University about dishonest behaviors in the learning process. Through 55
responses collected via a survey questionnaire, we have analyzed and discussed results about the most
common wrongdoings, motives after these behaviors, and the factors that can interrupt this
phenomenon. From that, we suggest some possible methods that can prevent or minimize these
misbehaviors in the learning environment.

Keywords: Academic Dishonesty (AD), motives, possible solutions, English Department

1. INTRODUCTION
1.1. Rationale
Academic dishonesty (AD), or school cheating, has created significant issues for
educators during its lengthy history, leading to numerous research on this educational problem
widely conducted on every continent. In the United States, for instance, research by Galloway

154
(2014) indicated that the majority (93%) of high school students had committed AD at least
once. Also, a study in Australia by Bretag (2019) and one in Taiwan by Lin and Wen (2007)
showed an analogous high cheating rate as that in the United States. Hence, AD is believed to
be a global problem which should be further studied to improve the quality of education.
Particularly, students' perceptions towards AD should be thoroughly examined in order to help
administrators gain insight into how undergraduate students feel about AD, why they do so, and
what consequences they are likely to confront (Hodges, 2017). Moreover, there seems to be a
shift in students’ views towards cheating as studies show that besides those who think cheating
is normal, some admit the wrong doing of the behavior yet keep doing so (Mustapha, et al.,
2017). It can be seen that AD is a pressing issue that every education institution prioritizes
eradicating, and Hanoi University is no exception.
1.2. Objectives
With all the above-mentioned reasons, we conducted the survey research on students at
the English Department (ED), Hanoi University for a deeper investigation of the manifestations,
the motives underpinning these behaviors, and possible solutions to the issue for both students
and administrators.
1.3. Research question
The research aims at answering three following questions:
- What are the AD behaviors that students have ever practiced in their academic years?
- Why do students commit AD?
- What are the possible solutions for AD?
2. LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1. Academic dishonesty in higher education
2.1.1. General perceptions of academic dishonesty
Depending on different researchers' perspectives, there would be various notions related
to AD. However, these definitions were often explained with specific examples or
classifications in order to avoid any confusion. For instance, according to Jones (2011), AD can
be categorized into three types of actions: cheating, fraud, and plagiarism. In line with this,
Loyola Marymount University (2012) believed data falsification, illegal access to computers or
sensitive information, and inappropriate use of online resources as considerable AD behaviors
(as cited in Akakandelwa et al., 2013). In the present study, we adopt the definition from The
University of Sydney (2022, Academic Dishonesty and Plagiarism) which claims that AD is
trying to acquire academic achievements, and “gain unfair academic advantage” via actions
regarded as wrong or misleading, and six kinds of academic dishonesty, involving: “a)
plagiarism, b) recycling or resubmitting work, c) fabricating information, d) collusion or
illegitimate cooperation, e) exam cheating, and f) contract cheating and impersonation.”

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 2.1.2. Academic dishonesty in higher education
AD has so far been said to be detected at all levels of the educational system, especially
becoming a systematic concern in higher education (Wideman, 2008). Dyer et al. (2020)
provided reliable statistics about AD among students in United States colleges: among 484
respondents, 62% of them confirmed that they were involved in cheating at least once. In
another study conducted in Pakistan by Nazir and Aslam (2010), about 60% of 958 students
affirmed that they had committed to practicing AD most of the time, especially the "least
severe" and "low penalty” actions (Nazir & Aslam, 2010, p. 660), such as assisting others
duplicate previous works or consulting available essays without citing references.
In terms of online learning, it was likely easier for AD than for offline classes (King et
al., 2009). The COVID-19 pandemic showed this issue more clearly when it witnessed the
outbreak of distance learning, and people had to move from traditional courses to online ones
(Hasri et al., 2022). Thanks to the technological advancement and the outburst of the Internet,
students are more accessible to online documents than ever, which undoubtedly creates
opportunities for online AD, especially plagiarism. According to a report by Schaffhauser
(2021), after the infection, the plagiarism rate increased from 35% to 45%. The fact shows that
77% of students did not believe in the seriousness of plagiarism (Stevens et al., 2007) or that
copying others' online documents was not an important thing to think about (Batane, 2010).
2.2. Motives behind academic dishonesty at higher education
One of the most striking concerns in AD research refers to the reasons underlying this
behavior. Overall, research on the issue illustrates that students are urged to commit school
cheating by two primary factors namely internal and external motives or the characteristics of
the individual and the influences of the environment (Mustapha et al., 2017). Specifically,
virtually all cheaters engaging in AD admitted that getting a higher grade average (GPA), which
determined their academic performance and future job, was the leading motive (Finn & Frone,
2004, Saana et al., 2016, Mustaph et al., 2017). In line with this, Hodges (2017) indicated that
observing others taking part in AD would arouse students’ desire to cheat because of the
fairness. Having resorted to cheating, students could get positive marks, which were supposed
to be a way to fulfill the family expectations and deserve their investments in the students’
education (Saana et al. 2016). Further, in a study by Finn and Frone (2004), the fear of failure
and alienation from schools also drove students into AD. The researcher explained that students
who either had low self-efficacy and low academic proficiency or felt less connected to school
would be motivated to cheat.
Besides, external motives also push students to do AD actions. Granitz and Loewy (2007)
showed that pressure to meet deadlines and complete assigned tasks can increase the chance of
cheating. Other pressures increasing AD chance could be pressure from high expectations and
peer pressure (Hodges, 2017). Additionally, Hodges (2017) also considered unclear or
insufficient rules, less chance of detection, and lack of respect for teachers to be the reasons for
committing AD. Another external motive for AD in recent years can be the availability of free

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sources of information (both online and offline forms), leading to plagiarism (Saana et al. 2016).
In fact, in some cases, plagiarism is unintentional because of a lack of anti-plagiarism
knowledge (Saana et al. 2016; Adzima, 2020).
2.3. University students’ perspectives on academic dishonesty
Regarding AD, students perceived such behaviors concerning ethnicity and anti-cheating
policies. On the one hand, a number of recent studies showed that students perceived cheating
as an approved and even ethical practice in their studying culture (Brimble & Stevenson-Clarke,
2006; Topîrceanu, 2017). Behaviors such as copying others’ answers in a test or exam were
normal, resulting from cheaters’ assumption of morally acceptable cheating (Balbuena &
Lamela, 2015). Specifically, learning by memorizing information from available sources of
information, and copying the same into the answer sheet during examinations was accepted and
even encouraged (Balbuena & Lamela, 2015; Saana et al., 2016). In the context of online
classes, students reported that anonymity could remove the culpable feelings of cheating since
they would not be recognized by the instructors (Adzima, 2020). Some even ascertained that
cheating was a way to maintain fairness in academic performance on grounds of their peers'
engagement in dishonest behaviors (Engler et al., 2008). Possible explanations given by
Adzima (2020) for this perspective were the deficiency in understanding of or reluctant
abidance to anti-cheating policies and the firm belief in the little-to-no chance of being caught.
On the other hand, others reported the wrongdoing of cheating (Colnerud & Rosander, 2009;
Balbuena & Lamela, 2015). Having acknowledged that cheating was unfair, these students were
more likely to restrain themselves from AD (Colnerud & Rosander, 2009). However, a plethora
of previous studies showed that such students still had cheated during their academic years
(Colnerud & Rosander, 2009; Balbuena & Lamela, 2015).
3. METHODOLOGY
3.1. Participants
Participants of the current study are sophomores, juniors, and seniors in the English
Department of Hanoi University. We decided the sample size of the study as 80 - 90, equivalent
to approximately 30 respondents from three targeted groups. The freshmen were excluded from
the study as they had just joined classes for about 3 months, whereas this research focused on
those who experienced at least one academic year at Hanoi University.
3.2. Instruments
In this research, we employed questionnaires to explore the perspectives of the second-
year, third-year, and final-year ED students on AD during the academic years at Hanoi
University. Certain items were embraced from the studies of Adkins et al. (2005), Brimble &
Stevenson-Clarke (2005), Sajid and Shakeel (2010), and Akakandelwa et al. (2013). The
remaining ones were self-developed based on our experience and observation of AD in higher
education. There are four separate sets of questions investigating the experience, prevalence,
motives, and effective deterrents preventing students from AD. Given questions are a

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combination of adopted questionnaires from former research on the same topic and newly
invented ones. Highly appreciating the ethical values of the current research, we believe that
online questionnaires are more likely to ensure respondent anonymity compared to offline
surveys, or telephone questioning. Providing anonymity is ensured, respondents would then
answer truthfully, which is our expectation when trying to get the most honest and accurate
picture of our investigated subject.
4. FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION
Having purposely distributed the questionnaires to the second-year, third-year, and
fourth-year students, we successfully received 55 answers from the three groups with 27.3%,
43.6%, and 29.1%, respectively. Among 55 respondents, the majority (43 students) admitted
that they have at least once committed AD in higher education, either in online or offline
classes. The results share the similar high rate of college or university students involved in
cheating in some previous studies (Nazir & Aslam, 2010; Dyer et al., 2020); hence it can be
further concluded that AD happens on an international range (Thomas, 2016). In the following
discussions, we will illustrate the results more detailedly and comprehensively in regard to each
research question.
4.1. Reasons for not committing academic dishonesty among no-cheating
students

Figure 1. Reasons for not committing academic dishonesty among no-cheating

students

Figure 1 depicts the reasons why 21.8% of the respondents have never experienced any
cheating behaviors. As can be seen, virtually all of these students (91.7%) are aware of their
academic performance primarily presented by grades, affected by the consequences of cheating;
and 75% have a fear of punishment, namely being caught and even expelled from school. The
“no-cheating” students (Cagala, Glogowsky & Rincke, 2019) are not only influenced by the
abovementioned external factors, a large number of them also bear the internal impacts.
Between 50 to around 58% of the students have high self-esteem and desire to maintain positive
relationships with teachers, family, and friends so they are afraid of being underestimated and

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untrustworthy, leading to their cheating avoidance. In the same vein, Colnerud and Rosander
(2009) concluded that the matter of identity and self-awareness made "no-cheating" students
find AD incompatible with themselves and unnecessary to cheat. Interestingly, only one
respondent saying no to cheating does not care about his/her academic results; and even no one
was always confident with their answers. This implies that the primary motives of school
cheating stem from protecting reputation, belief and academic results.
4.2. Common academic dishonesty manifestations at Hanoi University

Figure 2. Committed academic dishonesty manifestations

The figures in Chart 2 present specific cheating behaviors committed by most respondents
who have cheated. It can be seen that exchanging during a test, copying other homework
answers, and helping others in spite of being forbidden are the most commonly practiced
cheating with 65.1%, 60.5%, and 55.8%, respectively. In the same vein, 46.5% of answers show
that teamwork occurs even though the assigned task requires individual work. Additionally,
some severe plagiarism behaviors, which are copying others’ products without citing the
sources and submitting others’ work, have ever happened at a rather high frequency. It shares
the similar results of a study by Bachore (2016) in which submitting an assignment that was
written by someone else, copying material from a published source without consent and copying
from others in a test are the top three prevalent unethical behaviors. Surprisingly, 18
respondents admitted to bringing and using their cheating materials in the examination. Some
acts are less common like falsifying data (14%), stealing exam materials (7%), and making up
references (30.2%) but have happened and are all considered serious frauds. The figures
indicate that poor instruction of the lecturers or the lax policy and supervision probably bear
responsibility for the studied issue.
4.3. Motives behind academic dishonesty

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 Figure 3. Motives behind academic dishonesty

A great variety of reasons behind AD is clearly demonstrated in Figure 3. The most

reported motive accounting for 79.1% is that extremely tough assignments drive students to
cheat. More interestingly, a rather high percentage of respondents (62.8%) want to help their
friends so they have their works copied by their peers without permission. The ever-cheated
students are also put under the pressure of achieving good grades, of time shortage due to
deadlines, or even pressure from prioritized tasks making other assignments time-consuming.
It is in line with the paper by Akakandelwa (2013) whose findings indicated the most common
reasons for AD are the pressure to meet deadlines, the expectation to become successful, and
overloading assignments. Some reasons stem from low self-awareness and self-esteem,
specifically, 2 out of 43 students think that cheating is not a wrongdoing, 3 believe everyone
can do it, and 5 even blame cheating on their personal crises. Another noteworthy motive is the
deficient understanding of the regulations for cheating, so they think they may not be caught or
have never witnessed the penalties imposed on students who cheat. More seriously, 2 of the
answers were “teacher encouraged it” which is really a big question for future research.
4.4. Possible solutions to academic dishonesty for students and administrators

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 Figure 4. Possible deterrents for academic dishonesty (for students)

The Figure 4 presents a number of feasible interventions and prevention for students to
avoid cheating. Virtually all respondents, ranging from 55.8% to 69.8% approve that
punishments such as poor results and expulsion from school are more likely to hamper AD.
Parallel with these results, Vandehey et al. (2007) concluded these “punitive factors” are the
most common things countering students from cheating. In other words, strict and widespread
school regulations on cheating play an essential role in ensuring the integrity of schools and
students. Article from Meng et al. (2014) elucidated that the better understanding of institutional
rules, the lower the rate of committing AD among students. Besides the university policies,
high self-esteem and self-confidence also contribute to preventing students from cheating as
they want to protect their image, reputation, and important relationships.

Figure 5. Possible solutions for academic dishonesty (for teachers)

Numerous possible deterrents supporting lecturers in solving AD are shown in Figure 5.

According to 29 out of 43 “ever-cheated” students, clear and thorough discussion and
explanation about cheating regulations are the most effective strategies. This reminds us of a
culmination of McCabe et al. (as cited in Arnold et al., 2007), indicating the positive results in
applying an honor code system to decrease AD engagement proportion, especially among
students learning in colleges. To put it another way, direct education and instruction help
students be aware of what acts are considered cheating and what the consequences they may
face before they even intend to commit AD. Specifically, plagiarism guidance, academic
honesty contract, and strict time frame allowed should be given top priority. Further, 32.6% of
the answer assumes that walking the talk and supervising all students are good deterrents in
offline classes. 48.8% believe electronic surveillance for online classes should be introduced..
The solution that is presented to be the least effective is the consideration of friend factors, with
18.6% answers. This is rather contradictory to the reason for cheating to help friends above,
while they think that the friend factor is not really something worth recognizing and solving. It
can be explained that either the respondents actually think this is not an effective measure or by
the lack of specific explanation for "friend factors" of the researchers.

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 5. CONCLUSION
AD in higher education has been a severe problem which undoubtedly affects students’
reputation and schools’ integrity. For that reason, the current research puts AD under an
investigation among higher education students in Hanoi University to further examine popular
cheating manifestations, motives behind such an issue and feasible solutions to AD. Having
received responses from all of the target groups of participants, ranging from second-year to
fourth-year students, it reveals the fact that the majority of the population have at least once
practiced AD with common behaviors including exchanging during a test without permission,
copying others’ works and helping friends. The ever-cheating students committed cheating
mostly due to difficult assigned tasks, friend factors, pressure to get good marks and inexplicit
regulations. Therefore, conveying university rules on AD clearly and thoroughly, raising
students’ awareness of this wrongdoing are considered more effective approaches for cheating
prevention. There is a need for future action research on strategies that are actually applied in
higher education classrooms and test their effectiveness, rather than solely listing a few
solutions. For those who have never experienced AD, the reasons stem from both internal and
external factors, specifically high self-esteem and awareness of possible consequences. It can
be concluded that while some participants perceive the unethical side of AD, there are also
others resorting to it as a way to achieve certain purposes.
6. LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY
The present study retains a few limitations. Firstly, the one and only instrument used is
multiple choice questions which possibly restrain the researchers from further qualitative
analysis of subjective perspectives of participants. Furthermore, due to insufficient time, there
was no pilot test given into practice, and not all respondents could understand clearly the
meaning of the questions; therefore, the feasibility of these questionnaires might not be
precisely evaluated. Thirdly, related to sample size, we aimed at 80 to 90 respondents; however,
the total number of answers as 55 is rather small. As a result, it is impossible to generalize the
desired features or patterns of AD in higher education, particularly in Hanoi University. Finally,
since the scope was a restraint to a faculty instead of the whole university, the results did not
reflect all students' mindsets about AD in Hanoi University in particular, and the national ambit
in general.

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 NHỮNG KHÓ KHĂN KHI NGHE HIỂU TIẾNG ANH TRONG
QUÁ TRÌNH PHIÊN DỊCH NỐI TIẾP ANH - VIỆT
SVTH: Bùi Thị Thêm (6A19)
GVHD: Lê Hà Quyên (ThS)

Tóm tắt: Phiên dịch là một hoạt động yêu cầu những kỹ năng rất chuyên biệt về trí óc, một trong
số đó là kỹ năng nghe hiểu. Ngoài những điểm tương đồng với nghe hiểu trong việc học ngoại ngữ nói
chung, kỹ năng này trong phiên dịch nối tiếp lại có những đặc thù riêng. Trên thực tế, người học nghề
phiên dịch đang gặp phải những trở ngại trong quá trình nghe hiểu và nắm bắt chính xác ý định giao
tiếp cũng như nội dung thông điệp của bài nói. Bài nghiên cứu được thực hiện với mục đích tìm hiểu,
tổng hợp và phân tích những khó khăn mà phiên dịch viên, đặc biệt những người ít kinh nghiệm, thường
gặp phải trong bước tiếp nhận thông tin. Kết quả cho thấy những rào cản đối với người phiên dịch trong
giai đoạn nghe hiểu liên quan đến nhiều yếu tố khách quan và chủ quan. Tôi hi vọng công trình nghiên
cứu sẽ trở thành một tài liệu tham khảo hữu ích đối với những cá nhân quan tâm đến vấn đề này.

Từ khóa: phiên dịch, phiên dịch nối tiếp, nghe hiểu, khó khăn

DIFFICULTIES IN LISTENING COMPREHENSION DURING

ENGLISH TO VIETNAMESE CONSECUTIVE INTERPRETING

Abstract: Interpreting is an activity that requires specialized cognitive skills, one of which is
listening comprehension (LC). In addition to some similarities with LC in general language learning, in
consecutive interpreting, this skill has several specific characteristics. In fact, interpreters are facing
difficulties in listening and grasping the communication purpose as well as the message conveyed. The
study aims to investigate, collect and analyze both objective and subjective obstacles that interpreters,
especially the inexperienced, often encounter during the process. Hopefully, this research will become
a useful reference for those who are interested in this issue.

Key words: Interpreting, consecutive interpreting, listening comprehension, difficulties

1. INTRODUCTION
1.1. Rationale
In today’s globalized world, there is no denial that English has become a universal
language commonly used in different aspects of life, especially in cooperation among countries.
Therefore, in this situation, interpreting plays a critical role in bridging the verbal
communication gap between two parties speaking different languages, which leads to a growing
demand for interpreters with advanced skills. In fact, numerous interpreters, especially
inexperienced ones, when translating from English to other languages, often encounter
challenges in listening, one of the most important steps in consecutive interpreting (Zhi & Zhu,
2018). For those above reasons, I would like to do a research entitled “Challenges in English

166
listening comprehension during English to Vietnamese consecutive interpreting”. Hopefully,
this research will be a useful reference for those who are interested in this issue.
1.2. Aims of the study
This research is conducted with a purpose of investigating and analyzing general
difficulties that interpreters, especially novices, usually experience in LC while interpreting
consecutively from English to Vietnamese; accordingly, they could figure out reasonable
methods to enhance their interpreting competence and improve their potential . Also, the study
attempts to give insight to problems that might be encountered when taking the job for those
who are interested in the issue and want to embark on this industry; therefore, they can gain a
clear picture of this career.
1.3. Research question
To achieve these objectives, the paper delves into the answer to the following question:
- What are the difficulties that interpreters at entry level might encounter in English
listening comprehension during the process of consecutive interpreting?
1.4. Significance of the study
The study will be a useful reference for all people who are interested in interpreting.
English students majoring in interpreting and translation can benefit from this paper and
improve their translation skill. Meanwhile, teachers and instructors have a thorough
understanding regarding barriers in LC of students so that more effective teaching strategies
would be adopted to help their students deal with these challenges when pursuing this course.
This study may also be a practical reference for further discussion by other researchers as there
has been limited studies conducted in the study field.
2. LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1. Introduction of interpreting
2.1.1. Definition
There have been various researchers providing the definitions for interpreting. According
to Bui and Dang (1997), interpretation takes place when information is rendered from a
language into another one by means of communication. From another perspective, Pham (2006)
offers a more straightforward explanation allowing the nonprofessional readers to have a better
understanding about this career. She describes interpreting as a process in which interpreters
listen to a speech and try to comprehend the messages, then verbally translate the ideas on the
basis of their understanding into a different language. In short, interpreting is the oral form of
translating information into other languages.
2.1.2. Interpreting process
As mentioned in Interpretive Theory of Translation introduced by Seleskovitch (1978),
the process of interpreting is divided into three stages. Firstly, in the stage of comprehension,

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interpreters are supposed to quickly grasp and reorganize the messages from chunks of
information. Secondly, the deverbalization stage means sentences are decomposed into
segments to extract the main idea of the source language. The last stage is the reformulation
process which involves re-expressing the whole meaning in the target language.
2.1.3. Modes of interpreting
In his research (2012), Ahrens mentions that there are two main types of interpretation
based on the different characteristics and the time flow of each process. One occurs almost the
same time as the speech is delivered, known as simultaneous interpreting whereas the other is
performed consecutively, starting after a full utterance has been finished. Meanwhile, according
to Erickson (2006), three modes of interpreting currently recognized by professionals are
consecutive interpretation often with taking notes, simultaneous interpretation for conference
settings and sight interpreting involving converting a written text in original language into
spoken version of another language.
In this paper, consecutive interpreting will be focused on as a material. Dam (2010)
explains there are two separate phases involved in this mode. The reception step in which the
interpreters listen to the source speech and analyze it while taking notes as a memory trigger.
The production stage requires the interpreter to produce a target oral translation with the help
of the notes and information acquired into memory.
2.2. LC during consecutive interpreting
2.2.1. Listening Comprehension
The definition of the term “LC” has been explained by various scholars in various
previous studies. According to Sariçoban (1999) LC is the skill of identifying and understanding
what is conveyed through verbal discourse. Another definition of LC is provided by Vandergrift
(1999) who explains that LC refers to a complex cognitive process in which listeners must
concentrate on factors namely sounds, intonation as well as linguistic and contextual elements.
In a more detailed manner, Holden (2004) considers LC an intricate activity that requires
considerable mental effort to ensure understanding. Moreover, the researcher states that
listeners have to experience passive listening and then present orally what they have interpreted.
Based on these aforementioned definitions, it can be concluded that LC is a complex
process in which students need to employ both their language abilities and background
knowledge.
2.2.2. LC for interpreting purpose
In LC for interpreting purposes, source-language information analysis but sound signals
and lexical items is focused (Lingzhu, 2020). Analyzing enables interpreters to better
understand the main idea rather than concentrating too much on single words and phrases. Also,
the stage includes various cognitive processes which it needs a great deal of attention to deal
with.

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 It can be said that there are many differences between LC in interpreting and general LC
in English learning in terms of characteristics, strategies and requirements of each purpose.
Lingzhu (2020) points out that English learners are usually provided with listening materials
having good quality sound and standard pronunciation of speakers; whereas in interpreting
settings, interpreters might experience different uncertainties causing loss of information such
as background noise, unknown speakers’ accents. The researcher also adds that language
learning can be less stressful as it mostly pays attention to several linguistic aspects namely
pronunciation, intonation, vocabulary and expressions. However, Al-Ogaili (2022) emphasizes
the responsibilities and high pressure of interpreters as they have to comprehend the overall
message and speakers’ intention instead of meaning of lexical units used. Additionally, LC has
been traditionally viewed as a passive skill (Cerezo, 2017). Nonetheless, in the case of
interpreting, this process is an active activity as it requires numerous cognitive and
psychological activities (Meskill, 1996). Interpreters must retrieve the information from their
short-term memory by employing several cognitive skills namely note-taking, memorizing,
analyzing and deciphering. Incapability to coordinate and process all these skills will
mistranslate the messages in the re-expressing stage.
3. FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION
There has been a variety of viewpoints on determinants jeopardizing the interpreter's LC.
Lingzhu (2020) groups those elements into two categories which are linguistic barriers and non-
linguistic ones. The author explains that the former are problems related to pronunciation,
vocabulary and sentence structure of the speech; whilst the latter comprises challenges triggered
by working memory, background knowledge, concentration, and environmental noises.
From another perspective, Nguyen (2012) categorizes them into three types. The first
group is associated with the listeners, for example, their listening inability and the limitation of
vocabulary power. The second classification concerns listening materials, specifically,
unfamiliar topics, strange accents, and the confusing structure of the talk. In the group of
physical settings, troubles stem from poor quality equipment and environmental noises.
Based on the information collected from previous studies, difficulties in LC will be
grouped into 2 main categories in this research including external and internal determinants.
The former correspond to the objective hindrances, including human and environment whilst
the latter can be conceptualized as determinants existing within oneself such as psychological
issues, cognitive ability and education background.
3.1. External barriers
3.1.1. Environmental factors: sound equipment, surrounding noises
One of the most frequent difficulties interpreters commonly run into is sound-related
problems which may originate from poor quality equipment or surrounding noises. These
troubles can interrupt them to receive information about the speech, obstructing LC (Pratiwi,
2016). No matter how hard they try to concentrate on the activity, they might get distracted by

169
a complex of noise from the environment (Nguyen, 2012).
3.1.2. Linguistic factors: accent, speed, terminology
First, interpreters, especially novices, do perceive speakers’ accents as one of the regular
and serious problems (Lin et al., 2013). According to a study carried out by the International
Association of Conference Interpreters in 2002, nearly 62% of interpreters participating
recognize “various accents” as a main source of comprehension failure (MackIntosh, 2002).
One reason is that listeners often have a tendency to be familiar with the accents they usually
have exposure to, typically Standard American or Received Pronunciation (Yagang, 1994). In
reality, speakers from different regions throughout the world have their own distinctive mode
of pronunciation of the same language and some of them are considered to be more demanding
than others (Murtiningsih & Ardlillah, 2021). As a result, when they get exposed to other
speakers having unknown accents with heavy and unclear pronunciation, they will find it
challenging to catch the points of the conversation, narrowing down the comprehension
capacity.
Another problematic thing in this stage stems from the speaking pace of interlocutors.
Underwood (1989) comments that the biggest issue with LC is that the listeners cannot control
how rapidly the speakers talk. If the speakers deliver their speech too quickly, it leads to
unclarity of the enunciation which could prevent interpreters from holding the main ideas.
Additionally, not only does fast speed of delivery have an impact on LC but it also damages the
note-taking skill since misunderstanding is responsible for poor quality notes (Arumí Ribas,
2012).
Terminology was found to be another significant issue impeding the interpreting trainees’
LC ability. Tran and Duong (2020) pinpoints that specialized terminology and scientific
vocabulary may slow down the ability to recall the meaning of some words or phrases in the
listening phase. This finding is in the same line with a study of Alhiyari (2013) who explains
that unfamiliarity with technical terms in a specialized field requiring a high level of proficiency
can result in the inability to produce appropriate equivalents without the distortion of original
meaning.
3.1.3. Situational factors: time pressure
As one of the features of interpretation, interpreters have to perform the task within a
limited amount of time (Murtiningsih & Ardlillah, 2021). Meanwhile, the stage of input speech
comprehension coincides with several tasks such as note-processing, information retrieval
which demand plenty of qualities from interpreters (Gumul & Lyda, 2007). Even when they
have a good memory, some still struggle to obtain a great deal of information under time
pressure . Hence, their ability to elaborate their work would be suffered by time constraints
(Nguyen, 2012).
3.2. Internal barriers
3.2.1. Inadequate language proficiency

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 According to the International Association of Conference Interpreters, a high command
of working languages is one of the fundamental requirements for those who want to pursue this
career (Díaz-Galaz, 2014). In the same vein, Gile (2009) notes that a native or near-native
competence of vocabulary level in the first and second languages should be mastered on the
grounds that high density of unknown words would be responsible for comprehension failure.
The shortage of English vocabulary range could consequently prevent listeners from recalling
the meaning of the discourses, leading to comprehension decline in the following part of speech.
One of the reasons for this, which is lack of practice, was explained by Pratiwi (2016). He
clarified that the root of the problems is trainees’ poor listening skills that could affect their
concentration and interpretation quality accordingly.
3.2.2. Nervousness
As mentioned before, interpreting is a stressful task consisting of a series of complicated
cognitive stages, particularly in conference setting (Kurz, 2002). Lack of prior preparation for
the topic can be one of the major causes for anxiety and loss of confidence (Pratiwi, 2016).
Also, students trained to become interpreters have to struggle with nervousness and pressure to
speak and interpret in public (Zhao, 2022). In some cases, novices may be led to panic and stop
handling their job knowing that there are many audience members listening to them.
3.2.3. Background knowledge
In fact, intercultural communication involves a respectful and open-minded exchange
between individuals and organizations from diverse ethnic and cultural backgrounds. Poor
understanding about cultural differences, student interpreters might run into problems of
finding the equivalent words (Rabi, 2014). Additionally, with limited insight into special topics,
they might understand only the surface meaning of the speech instead of comprehending the
overall meaning (Nguyen, 2012). Thus, Vandergrift (2007) emphasizes the importance of
interpreters' prior knowledge about various topics, especially rich understanding about cross-
cultural communication in both working languages. It is essential to strengthen their sensitivity
to general knowledge and cultural differences so that misunderstandings will be effectively
minimized to successfully achieve intercultural communication (Köksal & Yürük, 2020).
3.2.4. Working memory (WM)
Working memory has been indicated to play a significant role in many stages of language
processing, including LC (Caplan & Waters, 2005). It is viewed as a mental model through
which the listeners effortfully incorporate information temporarily obtained from the listening
step (Jiang & Farquharson, 2018). WM also refers to the brain system to consecutively process
temporary discrete information when handling complicated cognitive tasks (Bahraman, 2021).
Entry-level interpreters' failure in organizing and summarizing information causes them to the
situation where they know the majority of the content but they still struggle to understand the
general message and intention of speakers. (Lingzhu, 2020). Specifically, they fail to recognize
main ideas due to too much concentration on every single word but not identifying the content
words.

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 3.2.5. Short-term memory
Short-term memory which relates to the brain's ability to chunk the discourse so that
information can be perceived and moved to long-term memory tends to be constrained in the
second-language comprehension (Cerezo, 2017). Goh (2000) states that students have a
tendency of quickly forgetting what they listen to. Poor short-term memory makes previous
information easily replaced for new one coming. If newly received information fails to be
processed timely, the comprehension stage would be broken down soon (Lingzhu, 2020). This
finding is in line with the explanation of Cerezo (2017) that students majoring in interpreting
not being able to retain long discourse chunks usually gain a blurred picture of the whole
message since it’s more difficult to understand further than the words themselves.
4. LIMITATIONS AND CONCLUSION
The present research is an attempt to examine common obstacles in LC of inexperienced
interpreters when performing consecutive interpreting as well as discover the causes for those
problems. Those difficulties are divided into two main categories which are problems stemming
from the objective hindrances, including human and environment and ones caused by subjective
determinants existing within oneself such as emotions and cognitive abilities. This material is
intended for interpreting students having interest in this field to evaluate their current situation
and adopt effective solutions if needed. Besides, this paper could open several more directions
for further research. Specifically, it may serve as an introduction for studies in the future which
concern challenges interpreters might experience in other processes in consecutive mode such
as note taking, re-expressing and strategies to tackle those problems.
Nevertheless, limitations still exist in the research. Due to the limitation of time,
comprehensive knowledge in this study field and the researcher's lack of experiences, the
information collected may be deficient; hence, mistakes and shortcomings are inevitable. Any
comments and contributions from readers for improvement are highly appreciated.

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 NGHIÊN CỨU VỀ PHƯƠNG PHÁP DỊCH NHỮNG TỪ KHÔNG
TƯƠNG ĐỒNG TRONG BẢN DỊCH TRUYỆN KIỀU
SVTH: Ngô Anh Đức, Nguyễn Thị Thu Hà, Trần Thị Thu Hường, Trần Thị Thanh Nga
GVHD: Lê Hà Quyên M.A

Tóm tắt: Biên dịch là một môn học, một công việc đòi hỏi rất nhiều kỹ năng cũng như như kiến
thức sâu rộng bởi lẽ dịch thuật không đơn thuần chỉ là dịch từ chữ này sang chữa kia, từ câu này sang
câu kia mà nó là cả một quá trình sáng tạo, biến đổi, truyền tải thông điệp từ ngôn ngữ này sang ngôn
ngữ khác, từ nền văn hóa này qua nền văn hóa khác. Truyện Kiều là truyện thơ kinh điển của đại thi
hào Nguyễn Du và tác phẩm này cũng ẩn trong mình những yếu tố văn hóa, những ý nghĩa mang đầy
sắc thái riêng của dân tộc Việt, của những quan niệm xưa cũ khác với thời nay. Vì vậy vẫn còn ẩn chứa
trong truyện Kiều rất nhiều những nét không đồng điệu của câu từ, ý nghĩa thơ ca. Bài nghiên cứu này
được thực hiện nhằm tìm hiểu sâu và phân tích về cách thức dịch cũng như cách dịch giả Huỳnh Sanh
Thông xử lý những điểm bất tương đồng giữa hai ngôn ngữ Việt và Anh trong bản dịch truyện Kiều. Vì
vậy, từ bản phân tích của mình, chúng tôi có thể rút ra được một số giải pháp và cách thức cho việc
dịch những điểm không tương đồng trong Truyện Kiều nói riêng và trong dịch thuật nói chung.

Từ khóa: biên dịch, không tương đồng, truyện Kiều, phương pháp dịch.

A STUDY ON THE TRANSLATIONS OF THE NON-

EQUIVALENCE IN THE TALE OF KIEU TRANSLATIONS

Abstract: Translation is a subject, a job that requires a lot of skills as well as extensive knowledge
because translation is not just translating from this word to that word, from this sentence to that sentence,
it is the whole process of creating,reproducing, and conveying messages from source language target
language, from one culture to another. Tales of Kieu is a classic poem story of great poet Nguyen Du
and this work also has distinct cultural elements and special nuances of the Vietnamese nation and old
conceptions being different from today's . Therefore, there are still numerous non-equivalent features in
the story of Kieu. This study was conducted to deeply understand and analyze the translation methods
as well as the ways that Huynh Sanh Thong handles the non-equivalence between the two languages
Vietnamese and English in the translation of Kieu's story. Therefore, from our analysis, we can draw
some solutions and methods for translating the non-equivalence in Truyen Kieu in particular and in
translation in general.

Keywords: translation, non-equivalence, the tale of Kieu, translation methods.

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 1. INTRODUCTION
The need to enjoy a particular piece of writing cannot be limited. This is because reading
and appreciating specific genres of literature and writing also serves as a way of learning about
and interacting with the derivation of that country. There are also a lot of certain books, short
tales, and poetry written in various languages. Even some novels have been printed and released
in more than hundreds different languages to accommodate readers from all over the world.
Truyen Kieu - The tale of Kieu has been considered as a literary masterpiece in Vietnam.
According to Nhat Chieu (2020), the writer, translator and literary researcher, the world is now
familiar with “The Tale of Kieu” through translated versions in more than 20 languages,
counting over 10 acclaimed translations each in English and French alone, which is a
remarkable number in Vietnam’s literature. With such a large number of translations, there are
certain non-equivalences at the word level and in terms of the cultural context, whether or not
the Target Language (TL) is still brought to the cultural setting of the Source Language (SL) in
the poem. Therefore, this is the reason why our group wants to make a study on the translations
of the non-equivalences of the verses depicting Kieu at the Crystal Tower in The tale of Kieu
translations.
2. LITERARY REVIEW
2.1. Definitions
2.1.1. Definition of translation
It is difficult to translate since one must be proficient in the cultural aspects of the
language. SL and TL are involved in those languages. Based on this perspective, translation is
a crucial subject to study in order to convey the information, meaning, and messages from the
SL to the TL, as well as to serve as a cultural link between two areas. Therefore, it is inevitable
that there would be a cross-cultural transfer during translation.
There are some definitions about translation. First of all, translation, in accordance with
Newmark (1988), is the transfer of a text's meaning into another language in the manner
intended by the author. Since the goal of translation is to establish an environment where the
author of the source language and the reader of the target language can communicate with one
another, qualified translators must have a good understanding of both the source language and
the target language.
In addition, Larson (1984) provides an example of how translation entails examining the
vocabulary, grammar rules, interaction situation, and cultural aspects of Source Language.
Translation also evaluates them to ascertain their meaning, and then recreate the same meaning
and message using the lexicon and grammatical structure that are acceptable in the Target
Language and its cultural context.
Moreover, Bao and Thu (1999) stated that: "Translation is rendering a written text into
another language in the way that the author intended". In order to change languages, translation
must take linguistics and grammatical aspects into consideration.

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 2.1.2. Definition of Non-equivalence.
The process of re-expressing the message and meaning of the source language into the
suitable equivalent of the target language is regarded as translation.
There are issues with translating such materials, and one of them is non-equivalence
translation. There are three types of non-equivalence: idioms, collocations, and non-
equivalence at the word level. The non-equivalence translation at the word level is the major
factor in determining this story's identity.
As Baker (1992) states that: "Non-equivalence at word level means that the target
language has no direct equivalent for a word which occurs in the source text.” Additionally, a
word's meaning and its non-equivalence at the word level are not always related in a one to one
way. In fact, there is no exact correspondence between orthographic terms and components in
translation.
2.1.3. Translation methods
Commenting on the translation methods, Newmark(1988) said that only these two
methods of translation “ fulfill the two main aims” of translation, which are accuracy and
economy. In other research, Bao and Thu( 1997) considered two main translation methods,
which are semantic and communicative translation.
• Semantic translation methods:
In terms of semantic translation, Newmark (1988) considered it takes the “aesthetic
value”- the beauty of SL text. According to Bui Tien Bao and Dang Xuan Thu, semantic
translation is mainly “inferior to its original”. In addition, Bao and Thu (1997) also figured out
the other characteristics of semantic translation such as “wide and universal”, this approach of
translation emphasizes on Source Language. Bao and Thu (1997) have put three translation
methods: Word-for-word translation, Literal translation and Faithful translation to the same
column with semantic translation because they share the same characteristics of being SL
emphasis.
Newmark (1988) demonstrated in his book that Word-for-word translation is the “
interlinear translation” in which “the TL words immediately below the SL words”. Further, it
can be easily understood about the phrase “Word-for-word” in Cambridge Dictionary: “using
exactly the same words”. In the following lines of literal translation, Linda( 2011) in the article:
“Approaches of Translation: Literal Translation & Free Translation” demonstrated that this
method of translation combines the words from one language to another language by “closely
following the appearance of the source language”. Commenting about literal translation,
Newmark(1988) figured the “SL grammatical constructions” are translated to the “nearest TL
equivalents”. The next translation method belonging to the column of semantic translation in
the demonstration of Bao and Thu( 1997) is faithful translation. Bao and Thu( 1997) figured
that this method concentrates on SL emphasis. Le Hung Tien( 2007) demonstrated that the
translation remains relatively intimate with the original in form, the translator attempts to

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reproduce the contextual meaning properly within the constraints and limitations of the
grammatical structure of the translated language. Newmark(1988) commented about this
method that “it transfers cultural words and preserves the degree of grammatical and lexical
abnormality”.
• Communicative translation method
In terms of communicative approach, Newmark (1988) supposed that this orientation in
translation will produce the smoothest and most natural version of translated text. Bao and Thu
(1997) said that the communicative translation makes a superior text than its source one. The
cultural characteristics in the original form can be substituted by the similar one in TL which
becomes more familiar with readers. In other words, “tailor made” orientation for specific kinds
of readers which can turn SL into the figurative and familiar translated text to obtain the original
as much as possible. Communicative translation approaches make an improvement in SL when
the TL is able to avoid ambiguities, prevent repetition and replace cumbersome with a suitable
structure (Newmark, 1988). Based on these features, free translation, idiomatic translation and
adaptation methods belong to this approach.
According to Bao and Thu (1997), free translation known as “intralingual translation”
uses paraphrases that are more comprehensible and significantly longer than the source text.
As a result, the translated material might present different manners from the original texts. It is
thought that non-equivalent colloquialisms in the final version of an idiomatic translation cause
aspects of meaning in SL to be distorted, meanwhile the original text's message will be
preserved (Peter Newmark, 1988). Tuan (2006, p.11 ) recognized that this meaning-based
translation strives to convey accurately the text’s intended meaning with the natural text type
in the receptor language. Adaptation is considered the least obligations in the communicative
approach (Bao and Thu, 1977). The themes, plots and features of the original text will be kept
while the SL culture and text will be substituted with synonyms in TL. Newmark (1988) also
emphasized that except for several parts of literary works, the major practice on them is
translated the SL literally then it is adapted ineffectively in TL.
Newmark (1988) emphasized that in translation theory, communicative and semantic
approaches are separated based on its uniqueness. Nevertheless, both of them can overlap in
practice because there is no text translated in one type of translation technique only.
Particularly, in non-literary texts the latter should be predominated when the expressive aspect
is insignificant. Therefore, translators can flexibly combine two approaches to produce the most
reasonable translated text.
2.1.4. Evaluation of the translation
There have been a plethora of discussions about what dictates a good translation. A good
translation is comparable to a pane of glass, with transparency as a core in the translated text.
In the book Translator’s Invisibility, Venuti (1995) has delivered a somewhat detailed
explanation of what is meant by “transparency”: A translated text, whether prose or poetry,
fiction or nonfiction, is judged acceptable by most publishers, reviewers, and readers when it

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reads fluently when the absence of any linguistic or stylistic peculiarities makes it seem
transparent, giving the appearance that it reflects the foreign writer’s personality or intention or
the essential meaning of the foreign text—the appearance, in other words, that the translation
is not, in fact, a translation, but the “original.”(p. 1) Additionally, Newmark (1988) argues that
to evaluate any piece of translation, one must consider five aspects, namely:
• A brief analysis of the source text regarding its intention and its functional aspects;
• The translator’s interpretation of the source text’s purpose, the translation method, and
the translation’s targeted audience;
• A selective but demonstrative detailed comparison of the translation with the original text;
• An evaluation of the translation, first in the translator’s terms, then in the critic’s terms;
• Where appropriate, an assessment of the likely place of the translation in the target
language culture or discipline
3. FINDINGS

Translated
Original Sentence Analysis
Sentence

In Western culture, there are not concepts

such as "Lầu Ngưng Bích", "khóa xuân" so
the translator chose a literal translation. "Lầu
Ngưng Bích" is just a small dot in the middle
of the barren nature, in the midst of the vast
sky and water. Meanwhile, Crystal Tower is
Trước lầu Ngưng
Locked in her spring also a tall and beautiful independent tower in
1 Bích khóa xuân
at Crystal Tower Bucharest, Romania. And "khóa xuân" means
(1033)
girls who are locked in their youth, living
closed in the family's embrace, along with the
harsh frameworks and rules that society
imposes on women. Through these two
phrases, the translation fully transmitted the
context and the scene at Lau Ngung Bich.

In this verse, "bụi hồng dặm kia" means

Cát vàng cồn nọ The gold of dunes, yellowish-orange dust flying all over the road.
2 bụi hồng dặm kia the ocher dust of The translator used a semantic method in this
(1036) trails situation to describe comprehensively the
isolation and detachment of this context.

Through an adaptation method, the translator

used "now and day by day" to imply that Kim
Tin sương luống now, day by day, he
Trong was still waiting patiently for Kieu's
3 những rày trông longed for news of
news in vain. The readers can picture the
mai chờ (1040) her
image of Kim Trong who has great desire to
grab Kieu's information day by day.

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 The translator applied the literal translation in
this context. "Sân Lai" is a historical reference
that is the yard of Lao Tzu's house (proof of
filial piety) here refers to Kieu's parents' yard.
The translator used the image of "catalpa tree"
(a kind of ornamental plant) placed in ancient
After these months,
Sân Lai cách mấy thatched houses so that the readers of the
4 the yard’s catalpa
nắng mưa (1045) translation can easily relate to the context in
tree
the verse. “Cách mấy nắng mưa” means the
distance in space, both evoking the power of
time on landscapes and people. "After these
months" only renders Kieu's sad years at Lau
Ngung Bich, not fully expressing the meaning
of the original.

This line has a figurative meaning. It means

to make a series of quick delicate movements
Thuyền ai thấp whose boat was that up and down or from side to side. The
5 thoáng cánh buồm with fluttering sails, translator used the word choice "far off" to
xa xa (1048) far off? replace the phrase "xa xa". Through this way,
the meaning of the source text can be
delivered fully.

With the use of the word "adrift" which means

floating, not knowing where to go, the flower
Hoa trôi man mác, where would this is implied to talk about the floating fate of
6 biết là về đâu? flower end, adrift Kieu. The translator employs the semantic
(1050) and lost? method in this situation. This makes readers
more accessible to the meaning of the source
text.

Through semantic translation, "rèm châu"

Dully, she dropped means the curtain made of jade, but when the
Ngậm ngùi rủ bước
7 the curtain, then she translator translates it into the English
rèm châu, (1057)
heard version, it cannot render full meaning with the
word "the curtain".

The translator determined "sắc nước hương

trời" means the beauty appearance of Kieu,
not about the weather. Therefore, he used the
Than ôi! sắc nước Alas! a beauty fit for
8 phrase "a beauty fit for kings and gods" to
hương trời, (1065) kings and gods
apply the meaning in this context. By using
adaptation methods, the readers can imagine
the gloriousness of Kieu.

181
 Bèo bọt is translated literally to mention two
different pitiful things in life, a worthless
plant, a water fern, and a vulnerable item
bubble. The original image metaphor for
Kieu's fate is small, unstable, and
directionless in front of the tide of a harsh life.
Bèo bọt chút thân A water fern, a
9 After fulfilling her duties as a daughter, Kieu
(1097) bubble
sold herself in the brothel to take money to
rescue her father, then her life turns another
page with unpredicted risks ahead. By this
translation method, the translator wanted to
maintain the cultural characteristics and be
close to the source language.

This verse shows Kieu's deep gratitude to So

Khanh, a visitor to this brothel, who brings
her hope to escape from this miserable
situation. The translator used literal
Còn nhiều kết cỏ For you I shall knot
translation knot grass and feth jade rings
10 ngậm vành về sau grass and feth jade
which were extracted from Chinese ancient
(1100) rings
stories that helped ones come back to
appreciate the helpers for having given them
a hand in trouble. Translated texts can
preserve the lexical typical in this verse.

So Khanh, a scoundrel, pretends to be a

scholar referring to 36 stratagems in the
Chinese military to flaunt his false
scholarship in front of Kieu. Translators once
Ba mươi sáu Can any scheme on
more than used the free translation method to
11 chước, chước gì là earth surpass swift
emphasize the supreme tactic on earth, which
hơn? (1110) flight?
is the swift flight in battle or struggles. That is
the reason why the translator omitted a total
of 36 ones as compared with the source
language.

The original text shows the time is moving

from late night. The space is deadly quiet
which scarves into Kieu's soul filled with
anxiety and terror. Two verbs "lậu, tàn" seem
that she was counting every second passing
Đêm thu khắc lậu The autumn night by. In the translated version, the image just
12
canh tàn (1119) was waning. used one verb with the past continuous tense
"was wanting" to illustrate the
emotionlessness of time. Meanwhile, two
verbs in the Vietnamese version become more
obsessive and brutal imbued by Kieu's
feelings.

182
 The sentence shows the distress when Kieu
decided to escape this cathouse with So
Khanh. Because there are no equivalent
Nàng càng thổn Her heart began to reduplicative words in the target language like
13 thức gan vàng thump inside her thổn thức and the figurative image gan vàng,
(1125) breast- the translator tried to describe her emotion
with a terrified heart. The free translation
once more demonstrated the true feeling of
the protagonist, similar to the original text.

So Khanh had vowed to shield Kieu's life until

his last breath, then he broke his promises and
disappeared without any mercy. No sooner
was she caught by the brothel owner than she
could imagine the terrible consequences
O Heaven, wanton ahead. Kieu blamed the Creator or Heaven
Hoá nhi thật có nỡ
14 knave, how could who drove her life to the verge of tragedy. The
lòng (1129)
your heart? translator freely added the phrase "wanton
knave" meaning a merciless man. In this way,
it brings readers to the thought of indirectly
blaming So Khanh's soulless behaviors. In
this way, the translated text is more explicit
than the image written by Nguyen Du.

This sentence demonstrates the severe

physical torture of Kieu after she failed to
swift away. The literal translation method
used to describe the awful pains with "crush
and trample down a rose" in the source
language "hong" symbolizes the youth and
Làm chi giày tía, let you thus crush beauty of Kieu. At that time, she experienced
15 vò hồng lắm nao! and trample down a horrible punishment which destroyed her
(1130) rose? flawless appearance. In the translated text, the
translator converted the exclamatory sentence
in the source language into an interrogative
one, both of which successfully express the
compassion of the author for Kieu's condition.
The original verse could match well with the
translated version.

This line of the poem additionally shows the

author's sympathy for Kieu's fate. "Torn and
shattered" vividly demonstrates the severe
Lòng nào hồng what rose, when torn punishment that threatens Kieu's life. The
16 rụng, thắm rời, and shattered, feels literal translation technique describes the
chẳng đau (1138) no pain? image of a pitiful rose which indirectly
emphasizes the brutal behaviors of Tu Ba on
Kieu. Translated version can convey the
implicit meaning in the source language.

183
 This verse is a rhetorical question about such
agony that an underdog like Kieu had to suffer
from defamation and physical violence. The
Thân lươn bao literal translation method with the symbol "eel
How can an eel mind
17 quản lấm đầu mind muddying its head" maintains the
muddying its head?
(1147) lexical phenomena and minor agricultural
characteristics in the source language. The
translated text could adequately convey the
original message to touch the readers' souls.

In this context, Kieu was being assaulted by

Tu Ba ( the bawd one who keeps a house of
prostitution), therefore, the translator choose
word-for-word translation to translate "vực"
into "carried" and the translator also use the
They carried Kieu explanation for this action, he explained that
Vực nàng vào nghỉ
18 indoors to nurse her "nurse her wounds" for readers to understand
trong nhà (1155)
wounds more though there was no that detail in the
original verse. Although the adaptation was
chosen to be the translation method in this
version, Huynh Sanh Thong still conveyed
the whole meaning, including the original
verse's figurative meaning.

In this context, people can not translate "một

tay '' into "one hand" or use word-for-word
translation to translate because if used that
way, the translator can not clarify the deep
meaning which Nguyen Du wanted to
transmit. Therefore, Huynh Sanh Thong
translated " một tay '' into "his hand" for
readers understand that " một tay" means So
Khanh. Another nonequivalent detail in this
verse is " cành phù dung". In Vietnamese
culture, people usually consider " cành phù
"Một tay chôn biết " His hand has
dung" as the beautiful woman as Phù Dung is
19 mấy cành phù dung plucked and buried
a type of flower which is the Confederate
! (1160) many flowers.
rose. However, in other countries, they do not
consider this type of flower as a beautiful
woman, so the translator uses adaptation
translation to translate " phù dung" into
"flowers" for readers to easily understand. In
the version of translation, the translator could
translate the meaning of the original line into
the nearby image in the target language,
however, the translation is not good enough
for readers to understand the deep meaning of
" phù dung" as in the original language.

184
 In this verse, Nguyen Du used "một cốt một
đồng" because in Vietnamese culture, this
idiom used to describe the people in a team
who are the same gang, the same deceitful
nature, conspiring to do the bad things, the
evil things. When mentioning about "một cốt
một đồng", Vietnamese people may
understand those above meaning, however,
when the translators translated this idiom into
" lạ gì một cốt một for bawd and pimp
English, he could not use word-for-word
20 đồng xưa nay ( connived, as thick as
translation to transmit both literal meaning
1162) thieves
and figurative meaning for readers.
Therefore, Huynh Sanh Thong used
adaptation translation to show that "một cốt
một đồng" means the "bawd and pimp" and
after that he added the equivalent idiom " as
thick as thieves" for readers to understand
thoroughly. In conclusion, the translator had a
flexible translation which could fulfill and
convey the meaning of the original verse.

In the original line, Nguyen Du used

metaphorical measures to show that So Khanh
tempted Kieu. However, people can see in this
detail that translation could not translate
"gió", "mây" into " wind" or "cloud" by word-
for-word translation because the readers will
not understand the figurative meaning here.
Therefore, he choose "tempted" or " let her
astray" to translate " quyến gió rủ mây", in
has claimed I which the transposition technique and
Phao cho quyến
21 tempted her, let her adaptation technique are applied to translate
gió rủ mây (1173)
astray this verse.Additionally, this verse is the words
of So Khanh and his actions reveal the image
of the vile person. Although Nguyen Du didn't
use any word to demonstrate this verse is the
words of So Khanh, the translator still used
"me" in the translation to help readers
understand more. In conclusion, the translator
could convey the whole meaning of this verse
for readers to understand the figurative
meaning of the original one.

185
 Generally, the original line is the lamentation
of Kieu, she was treated by So Khanh,
therefore, this verse is like her rhetorical
question to wonder about her sadness. "
Quyến anh" , "rủ yến" have sino-vietnamese
meaning, so translator could not translate
them word-by-word into Vietnamese. "
Quyến anh, rủ yến" is the idiom means of
treating, seducing and deceiving women. In
Quyến anh, rủ yến, brought this to pass,
Vietnamese, " sự này tại ai?" means the
22 sự này tại ai ? seducing me, poor
lamentation,her self-pity, therefor, the
(1180) girl !
translator used adaptation translation to
translate " sự này tại ai" into " brought this to
pass" and "poor girl" to clarify Nguyen Du's
exclamation with Kieu. Due to the different of
culture between two languages, the translator
had to use the nearby image to translate.
However, the translation is successful in
conveying the meaning and the situation for
readers.

In Vietnamese line, Nguyen Du used the

words " giếng thơi" which means a extremely
deep well. "Giếng thơi" is the local and
ancient Vietnamese word and there is no
perfectly same English word with this one.
Therefore, Huy Sanh Thong used the
equivalence technique of translation to
translate "giếng thơi" into pit. Actually, pit in
English is like a large hole in the ground or a
slightly low area in any surface and pit does
" Đem người đẩy He led me on, then
not completely fulfill the meaning of "Giếng
23 xuống giếng thơi pushed me down the
thơi". However, a pit can meet some features
(1181) pit
such as wide, deep and so on, therefore, the
translator used "pit" to translate " giếng thơi".
Additionally, reading the original verse
people can understand that this line is
reporting Kieu's thoughts which denounced
So Khanh's evil deeds. Therefore, the
translator used "me" in the translation to help
the readers understand the original meaning
although there was no "tôi (me)" in the
original verse.

This line has the figurative meaning that So

"Nói rồi, rồi lại ăn He swore to me, then Khanh swore to Kieu, however, he did not act
24 lời được ngay broke his oath at like his oath. However, if the translator
(1182) once translated "nói" into " speak", readers would
not understand the figurative meaning
thoroughly and the severity in this situation

186
 would not be clarified. Therefore, Huynh
Sanh Thong used adaptation translation to
translate "nói" into "swore" because the deep
meaning in this line is that So Khanh swore
and strongly promised with Kieu about
something and after that he " broke his oath".
In conclusion, this translation is good enough
for readers to understand the deep meaning
and the hidden meaning of the original
version.

In this context, "nghề nghiệp trong nhà"

implies the profession of prostitution which
primary product is female human beings.
There you have it, Therefore, the translator used the adaptation
Đều là nghề nghiệp
25 our house's stock in translation method to clarify the implications
trong nhà (1215)
trade for English readers. Though the meaning of
the implication was transferred, the poetic
sense from the original phrase was left out so
the translation.

Kieu is presented as a beautiful and talented

young girl yet her cruel fate is comparable to
the sea tides in the middle of a storm.
Therefore, through the method of adaptation,
Nước đời lắm nỗi
What ironies the "Nước đời" was interpreted as the tides of life
26 lạ lùng khắt khe
tides of life throw up while still retaining the water image the
(1220)
author intended. This translation was able to
retain and even improve on the poetic use of
the word "Nước" incorporating it with the
intended meaning of the sentence.

In both cultural contexts there exists a concept

of thick-skinned. In Vietnamese concept it's
How fast a face will concerned with facial skin as portrayed by
Khéo là mặt dạn
27 harden, tanned by "mặt dạn mày dây". The translator used the
mày dày (1223)
shame adaptation method to help the readers
understand better using the verbs "harden"
and "tanned".

In this context, the action mentioned here

when the author used "mới rủ trướng đào" is
down came her the act of prostitution. Therefore, the
lầu xanh mới rủ
28 curtains in the house translator help illustrated this meaning by
trướng đào (1227)
of mirth using the adaptation method in "down came
her curtains'' while retaining the poetic side of
translation

187
 The mental image of "bướm lả ong lơi" was
beautifully illustrated by the translator. By
using a mixture of adaptation and literal
translation, the image was presented as bees
Around the rose
Biết bao bướm lả and butterflies swarming a rose. The rose was
29 swarm bees and
ong lơi (1229) added by the translator to help readers get a
butterflies
clear view of the author's intentions. This
translation retained the original poetic image
and improved on that with the image of the
rose familiarized in western culture.

In this sentence, the author wanted the readers

to picture a person used for their beauty and
their body. Through the method of adaptation,
the translator encapsulated this in the image
Over her flesh let
Mặc người mưa Sở of raging and storming over Kieu's flesh. This
30 them all rage and
mây Tần (1239) sentence was translated with transparency as
storm
a focus so it managed to encapsulate the
author's original cryptic message and help
western readers understand the author’s
intentions.

In Vietnam's culture the term "xuân" often

refers to innocent young love. By adapting
những mình nào this into his translation, the translator helped
did herself feel what
31 biết có xuân là gì the readers to better understand the sentence
they would call love
(1240) better. Even with transparency as a core focus,
the translation for this sentence falls short of
the original due to the lack of poetic imagery.

Similar to sentence 1239, the author depicted

Kieu's body being used while she's numb. The
translator adapted this and used the image of
ngẩn-ngơ trăm nỗi, "a hundred cares" for "a single soul" in order
a hundred cares
32 giùi-mài một thân to retain the poetic side of the translation
beset a single soul
(1250) while helping the readers grasp the intentions
of the author. This sentence was beautifully
translated with images befitting the
character’s pains.

In Vietnamese culture, the sentence here

Dặm nghìn nước deep-sunk streams
33
thẳm non xa (1255) and far-flung hills
refers to the world and all its difficulties. A
similar meaning can also be inferred from the
concept of valleys and hills in English culture.
Therefore, through the method of adaptation,
this image was illustrated perfectly for readers
to understand.

188
 In the original sentence, the author wanted to
depict an image of a flower of a different tree
resting upon another tree's branch. This image
hoa kia đã chắp
was not the flower was adapted by the translator with "grafted on
34 cành này cho chưa
grafted on the bough the bough" to help the readers picture this
(1264)
image better. This sentence was translated to
match with the original sentence while still
trying to retain the flowery images.

In Vietnamese mythology, the image of the

moon was related to a hare and the sun had a
crow. By using the literal translation method,
while the moon hare
Lần lần thỏ bạc ác the author presented this image to the readers
35 and sun crow
vàng (1269) to help them understand the culture of
whirled round
Vietnam. Although this sentence lacks the
poetic sense of western culture, it managed to
encapsulate Vietnamese culture perfectly.

In this sentence, "kiếp phong trần"is referring

to the cruel fate of Kieu. Through the method
of adaptation, the translator used the image of
Doomed to a life of "dust and storm" to help the readers
Đà đầy vào kiếp
36 dust and storm, understand the intention of the author. This
phong-trần (1273)
they'll drink sentence was translated with the
incorporation of western concepts of “dust
and storms” to illustrate the entirety of the
accursed.

The author mostly used the literal translation from lines 1033 to 1093. Additionally, the
author also employs other translation techniques, such as the adaption method and semantic
translation, which were used less frequently. In general, those techniques effectively express
the original text's meaning, contents, and implications. In the 1033 verse, for instance, the
author used literal translation for several complex phrases to accurately convey Kieu's setting
and feelings when she was at Lau Ngung Bich. However, there are still circumstances of non-
equivalence translations, such as in verse 1045, which failed to accurately capture the original
text's message because the translation process was unable to capture the emotion and context
of the original language.
From 1097 to 1147 verses, the translator used the free translation method as frequently as
the literal translation one with 6 times in chosen verses. In general, the two tactics are applied
flexibly to solve the non-equivalent words or phrases in the target language. The literally
translated lines tend to dilute the figurative meaning but keep the cultural characteristics that
encourage readers to explore the new culture. Conversely, the free translation technique
transmits the implicit meaning such as the character's feelings despite the loss of lexical
abnormality of the original culture.

189
 From the verses between 1215 to 1273, the translator used mainly the adaptation method
focusing on transparency of the translated texts along with improvements from providing poetic
aspects. These poetic aspects are shown in the translation of 1229, 1239 and 1273 where the
translator encapsulated the original author’s intentions alongside with poetic imagery to
illustrate them. On the other hand, although the translator managed to transfer the original
meaning behind the texts in the sentences of 1240 and 1264, the poetic imagery was left out in
order to retain transparency.
4. CONCLUSION, LIMITATIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
4.1. Conclusion
In conclusion, the research was conducted to figure out an effective method to properly
translate nonequivalences out of the five translation methods mentioned above. Through the
evaluation of Huynh Sanh Thong translation of the Tale of Kieu, adaptation and literal
translations were commonly seen throughout the translations to handle nonequivalences. The
translator focused on transparency of the translated texts so these methods were the most
optimal to provide comprehensible texts for nonequivalences. Additionally, with the adaptation
methods, it’s possible to retain the poetic sense and the author’s intentions for the original
sentence while incorporating the source language culture into the translated texts. On the other
hand, the literal translation of the texts while being transparent could make the translation seem
rough and out of context.
4.2. Limitations and Recommendations
Due to a number of external factors, this study does have some limitations. The primary
research target was the translation of the emotions of the character Kieu at the Crystal Tower
which is from verse 1033 to verse 1274. This scope limited the amount of nonequivalences
researched therefore the study can’t give a conclusive answer on how to effectively handle
nonequivalences. Additionally, the original text was a poem so certain aspects couldn’t be
accounted for when evaluating the translation. Therefore, the scope of future research would
concentrate on other literature categories. Further research is recommended to gather the data
from other translations of other categories and their retrospective evaluation.

REFERENCES

Alexander B.Woodside, Huynh Sanh Thong. The Tale of Kieu: A bilingual edition of
Nguyen Du’s Truyen Kieu, 1033-1274.
https://www.pdfdrive.com/the-tale-of-kieu-a-bilingual-edition-of-nguyen-du-s-truyen-
kieu-e162568596.html
Baker, M. (2011). In other words: A course on translation. London: Routledge.
Bao, B. T., & Thu, D. X. (1997). Interpreting and translation course book. Hanoi
University of Foreign studies, Hanoi.

190
 Linda (2011). Approaches of Translation: Literal Translation & Free Translation.
https://www.ccjk.com/literal-translation-free-translation/
Newmark, P. (1977). Communicative and Semantic Translation. Babel. Revue
Internationale De La Traduction / International Journal of Translation, 23(4), 163–180.
https://doi.org/10.1075/BABEL.23.4.07NEW
Newmark, P. (1988). A textbook of Translation. Shanghai Foreign Language Education
press.
Newmark, P. (2001). Approaches to Translation. Shanghai Foreign language Education
press.
Tuan, N (2006). Translation 1&2. Hue University College of Foreign languages
Department of English.
Tran, V. A. (2018). Strategies for Non-equivalence at Word Level in Literary Translation
– A Case Study. 12th International Conference on Language, Education and Innovation
Proceedings
Venuti, L. (1995). The translator's invisibility, a history of translation. London: Routledge
Xuan Linh. (2020, November). The Tale of Kieu stands the test of time. Fulbright.
https://fulbright.edu.vn/the-tale-of-kieu-stands-the-test-of-time/
Tien, L.H( 2007). Vấn đề phương pháp trong dịch thuật Anh-Việt.
https://saigontiepthi.vn/download-van-de-phuong-phap-trong-dich-thuat-anh-viet-tai-
file-word-pdf-mien-phi/

191
 NGHIÊN CỨU VỀ ĐÁNH GIÁ NHU CẦU
VÀ ẢNH HƯỞNG CỦA NÓ ĐẾN SỰ THÀNH CÔNG
CỦA THIẾT KẾ KHÓA HỌC TIẾNG ANH
SVTH: Vũ Thị Thanh Vân 7A19; Hoàng Thị Thu Thảo 6A19
GVHD: Lê Thùy Dương

Tóm tắt: Đánh giá nhu cầu là bước đầu tiên và không thể thiếu trong khi thiết kế và phát triển
một khóa học. Hiểu được vai trò của đánh giá nhu cầu, nghiên cứu này sẽ đưa ra một cái nhìn rõ ràng
về đánh giá nhu cầu. Nghiên cứu sẽ trình bày định nghĩa của đánh giá nhu cầu, các loại nhu cầu khác
nhau nên được sử dụng để thiết kế một khóa học tiếng Anh với quy trình đánh giá nhu cầu chi tiết. Sau
đó, nghiên cứu sẽ phân tích ảnh hưởng của đánh giá nhu cầu đối với một vài lĩnh vực nổi bật trong xã
hội, qua đó liên hệ đến ảnh hưởng của đánh giá nhu cầu đối với việc thiết kế một khóa học tiếng Anh.
Hi vọng thông qua nghiên cứu này, giáo viên tiếng Anh và các nhà giáo dục nhận thức được tầm quan
trọng và ảnh hưởng của việc đánh giá nhu cầu cũng như xem xét thêm các cách tiếp cận hữu ích hơn để
khám phá nhu cầu tiềm ẩn của người học trong quá trình thiết kế chương trình giảng dạy trong tương lai.

Từ khóa: đánh giá nhu cầu, ảnh hưởng, thiết kế, khóa học tiếng Anh

A STUDY OF NEED ASSESSMENT AND ITS INFLUENCE ON

THE SUCCESS OF DESIGNING AN ENGLISH COURSE
Abstract: Need assessment is the first and integral step while designing and developing a course.
Understanding the role of need assessment, this research will give an obvious view on need
assessment. The study will pay attention to need assessment through its definition, different types of
needs that should be utilized for designing an English course with a detailed process of need
assessment. Afterwards, the influence of need analysis for syllabus design will be taken into
consideration. The findings show the persuasive evidence as a highly affirmation for the significant
impact of need assessment on designing. This study is expected to help English teachers and educators
acknowledge the importance and influence of need assessment as well as further consider more useful
approaches to explore hidden needs of learners in the future curriculum design.

Keywords: need assessment, influence, design, English course

1. INTRODUCTION
Need assessment is basically viewed as the action of identifying and analyzing the needs
of a person or a group of people. This term may be more familiar in the field of business since
it is a crucial step to make marketing strategies and suggest an advertising campaign by
researching target customer needs. However, need assessment not only shows its importance in
the business field, it also makes a great improvement to the education area, especially to the

192
aspect of ESL course design. Need assessment or need analysis is considered the core of any
development of any syllabus, in which the needs for which learners in the learning process are
determined, arranged and prioritized to help learners learn a language more effectively.
According to Nunan (1988), the result of need assessment could guide designers and teachers
to select the appropriate content and appropriate teaching methodology. Nunan also stated the
procedure of need analysis is the door opening to other following steps and one of the primary
determinants of curriculum design success. Lack of need assessment can result in mismatch of
student’s real needs with target goals and designed curriculum. Therefore, it is essential to
examine and identify various needs of English learners in order to be aware of their conditions
like their goals and objections or their current level and its impact on the course.
Need assessment process can provide a deep understanding of the current situation of
learners and then offers an effective plan for improving and developing the current situation. It
can be seen that the need assessment discovers gaps between two main questions of what “is”
and what “need to be”. Even though it has a significant contribution to curriculum design, the
need assessment is still neglected and ignored in the process of designing and teaching English
courses, especially English courses for high school students or English courses for higher
education of science. Considering this situation, this research aims to investigate need
assessment in ESL course design and verify its influence on designing an English course. The
findings of this paper may be beneficial for English teachers and designers to be aware of the
importance of need assessment and conduct it for the future course. From that, it attempts to
make the learning and teaching process more flexible and practical. This study concentrates on
discussing two below questions:
1. What is the need assessment in ESL course design?
2. How does need assessment influence the process of English course design?
2. NEED ASSESSMENT IN COURSE DESIGN
According to Richards (2001: 51), a language expert, need analysis is the process of
gathering information about learners’ needs. Another more specific definition given by Graves
(2000) stated that need assessment is “a systematic and ongoing process” of collecting and
analyzing details about learners' needs and preferences, and then making decisions about how
the course will be designed for satisfying the needs. Dudley-Evans & St John (1998) mentioned
need assessment with various concepts of needs including “demands, motivations, deficiencies,
goals, gains, wishes, concerns, necessities, lacks, wants, requirements, desires, expectations,
constraints, difficulties, preferences, communicative reasons, or communicative situations.” (as
cited in Bocanegra-Valle, 2016). Generally, need assessment refers to three main terms namely
lacks, wants and necessities. In relation to course improvement, Wannapok (2004) identified
need analysis as one of the main and indispensable factors for English specialists, course
designers, material developers in general and English teachers in particular for a long time.
3. TYPES OF NEEDS FOR CURRICULUM DESIGN

193
 When discussing which types of needs that should be collected for curriculum design,
Brown (1995) categorized needs into two types namely language needs and situation needs.
Situational needs assessment means collecting all information about “program’s human
aspects” that can be understood as people themselves such as physical and psychological
conditions along with different social context that can be involved in learning. On the other
hand, language needs focus on the linguistic aspect that learners must achieve after learning.
Needs are also divided into subjective needs and objective needs that are proposed by Brindley
(1984). While objective needs diagnose factual information and conditions about the learners
like personal background, previous experience, current language proficiency, subjective needs
reveal the perceptions of goals, priorities, wants, expectations, preference for learning styles
and strategies. This information can be used to create appropriate, consistent and productive
learning conditions as the most ideal environment for learners. Based on these types of needs,
Grave (2000) suggested an outline of needed information that followed the time of the present
and the future. The present information is about who the learners are, level of language
proficiency, level of intercultural competence, interests, learning preferences and their attitudes.
The future is about goals and expectations, the target contexts learners will use language, types
of communicative skills they need and language modalities they will use.
4. PROCESS OF NEED ASSESSMENT
Some researchers have conducted the study to find out the process of need assessment in
which Grave (2000) has shown a full process of need assessment. His theory of the process is
a cycle of six steps. The step one is deciding what information to gather and why, that was
analyzed in the previous part about types of needs. The step two is selecting and making
decisions which way is the best for gathering by answering three questions of when, how and
from whom. The study of Brown (2001); Richards (2001); Long (2005); Warrington (2005);
Watanabe (2006) & Nation (2010) summarized eight main tools and methods for need
assessment. These are questionnaires or surveys, interviews, examining reading materials,
discussions, dialogue journals in writing forms, presentations, syllabus negotiations and need
analysis meetings for the last method (as cited in Ahmed El-Desouky Ahmed, 2020). After
choosing the suitable method, the need assessment procedure jumps to step three that is
collecting the information and giving the analysis of this information. Based on the collected
information, designers can act for step four and then evaluate the effects of the action for step
five. After that, the procedure turns back to step 1 and starts a new cycle of designing.
5. INFLUENCE OF NEED ASSESSMENT
Based on the definitions of need assessment that have been mentioned in the previous
part, we can realize the significance and its influence of need assessment on multiple areas. One
of the essential areas in our society that can be noticed is community health. According to many
studies, health experts are obligated to make an evaluation of the health requirements of people
by evaluating people at the outset. Through their appraisal, they can explore and understand
people's ways of life, the health issues as well as problems they face, etc. Health experts will

194
create strategies to address issues and satisfy people's needs after learning about their desires
and challenges. As reported by Johns Hopkins All Children's Hospital (n.d.), they have
conducted a need analysis in Pinellas County, Florida to discover the most significant health
issues and health barriers of the local people. The assessment results were particularly useful in
developing an implementation strategy plan to fulfill the health objectives, since they identified
four priority health concerns for children and numerous top health obstacles that must be
addressed.
Besides community health, child care is also a vital field that is concerned by many
national governments. It is necessary for social experts and parents to conduct a need analysis
to identify factors that can affect children’s development because children can only develop
fully when they get adequate care from parents and society. Kim (2012) (as cited in Koundinya,
n.d.) performed a study on the parenting demands of parents with young children in southern
Nevada. Given the importance of children's early years in their development and the limited
resources available, especially for vulnerable families, that needs assessment was carried out to
identify parental educational requirements. The study's findings suggested six priorities for
child learning, parent education, early literacy, self-discipline, good eating habits, and
community resources. Kim’s study is considered to have crucial value in helping social
professionals make plans to address parenting requirements and create the most ideal
environment for children to develop.
In short, need assessment (or need analysis) denotes its obvious significance and great
influence in multiple areas such as community health and child care which have been mentioned
above. Due to its influence, people should consider conducting need analysis to learn more
about the circumstances and discover the most effective remedies.
6. INFLUENCE OF NEED ASSESSMENT ON DESIGNING ENGLISH
COURSES
Need assessment has confirmed its importance in numerous disciplines, including English
course design. Watanabe (2006) underlined the significance of conducting needs analysis in the
design of any EFL course (as cited in Ahmed, 2020). Because instructors may examine and
analyze students' culture, language, experience, attitudes, and knowledge, the need assessment
provides crucial information on students' desires. Teachers can also conduct surveys to get
understandings about students' interested topics, activities, and things that they desire to study.
By analyzing requirements of learners, teachers will design appropriate syllabus/courses for
each group of students as well as determine things learners need to study to obtain the objectives
after the course. The instructors can gather information about students’ actual challenges and
difficulties in order to assist them in improving and resolving those issues.
After conducting a need assessment, teachers have adequate information and data to
create an English syllabus/course for pupils. It is considered to have an effective role in
exploring the gap between what students need to learn and what their instructors expect from
them. As reported by Ahmed (2020), need analysis gives both instructors and learners critical

195
information on what students bring to the course, what has been accomplished, and what is still
needed. As a result, teachers can decide if the current syllabus / course meets the needs of their
pupils. Instructors can also modify and enhance curriculum, resources, skills, and assessment
methods to accommodate students' learning styles. Wang (2014) has done research on EFL
learners’ needs and that study provides a lot of beneficial information for teachers to design
English courses. The results of the study show students’ desire for their goals, the content,
levels, genres, topics of the instructional materials, the activities included in the course, etc. In
brief, we can realize the efficiency of need assessment in developing and adapting an English
course to meet the needs of learners.
7. CONCLUSION
The preceding part provided general information on need assessment (need analysis),
which included the definition, categories of needs for curriculum design, and process of need
assessment. The study also demonstrates the significant impact of completing need assessments
in a variety of fields, particularly in the design of English courses. Based on this research, we
expect that many aspects of need assessment may be examined in depth to assist both instructors
and learners better understand this concept. Conducting need assessments in specific contexts
or with certain groups of students are potentially promising topics for future research.

196
 REFERENCES

Ahmed El-Desouky Ahmed, Y. (2020). A Needs Analysis of English for Specific Purposes
Course of EFL Students of Management Information Systems. ‫ جامعة طنطا‬.‫مجلة کلية التربية‬, 74(5), 40-
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Bocanegra-Valle, Ana. (2016). Needs analysis for curriculum design. In The Routledge
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Brindley, G. (1984). Needs analysis and objective setting in the Adult Migrant Education
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program development. Boston, MA: Heinle & Heinle.
Graves, K. (2000). Designing language courses-A guide for teachers. Cambridge
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Community Health Needs Assessment. (n.d.). Johns Hopkins All Children's Hospital.
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Richards, J. C. (2001). Curriculum development in language teaching. Cambridge:
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Watanabe, Y. (2006). A needs analysis for a Japanese high school EFL general education
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Wannapok, S. (2004). A study of English business and technology students' attitudes
towards the English for Business and Technology Program at the University of Thai Chamber
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Bangkok.
Wang, H. (2014). An Analysis of EFL Learners’ Needs for Student-Centered Translation
Course Design. Study in English Language Teaching.

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 BÀI NGHIÊN CỨU VỀ NHỮNG LỢI ÍCH
CỦA KỸ THUẬT LỒNG TIẾNG TRONG VIỆC CẢI THIỆN
KĨ NĂNG PHÁT ÂM TIẾNG ANH
SVTH: Trần Văn An; Chu Ngọc Ngân Giang; Lê Hoàng Sơn; Phạm Thảo Vy
GVHD: Lê Thùy Dương

Tóm tắt: Phát âm luôn là một khía cạnh rất quan trọng giúp cho người học ngôn ngữ có thể đạt
được hiệu quả trong giao tiếp. Trong tiếng Anh, khi mà các âm tiết bị phát âm sai, người nghe không
thể hiểu được thông điệp và người nói muốn truyền tải, đó là lý do tại sao phát âm là một mảnh ghép
quan trọng của ngôn ngữ và cần được chú trọng hơn trong việc học tập và giảng dạy. Trong bài nghiên
cứu này, một phương pháp được giới thiệu trong việc giảng dạy phát âm, đó chính là lồng tiếng. Từ
những thực trạng hiện nay của người học EFL đối với kỹ năng nói, đặc biệt là kỹ năng phát âm, nghiên
cứu về lồng tiếng và tính hiệu quả mà phương pháp này đem lại đã được nghiên cứu, qua đó nhằm tạo
cảm hứng luyện tập cho người học, tiếp thêm động lực và tự tin hơn khi giao tiếp tiếng Anh. Cuối cùng,
những người viết bài nghiên cứu này đề xuất một số hoạt động có thể áp dụng tại các lớp học hoặc sử
dụng khi luyện tập cá nhân.
Từ khóa: lồng tiếng, phát âm, người học EFL, kỹ năng nói.

A RESEARCH INTO THE BENEFITS OF VOICE-OVER

TECHNIQUE IN IMPROVING ENGLISH PRONUNCIATION
SKILLS

Abstract: Pronunciation is always a key factor in assisting language students to achieve effective
communication. When syllables in English are mispronounced, the listener is unable to grasp the
message that the speaker wants to convey; this is why pronunciation is an essential aspect of the
language that requires attention in learning and teaching. In this research, voice-over is provided as a
way of teaching pronunciation. Voiceover and its usefulness in stimulating practice are explored, based
on the present state of EFL learners' speaking skills, particularly pronunciation skills, and in making
learners more motivated and confident in speaking English. Finally, the authors of this study offer a
number of activities that may be implemented in classrooms or personal practice.

Keywords: voice-over, pronunciation, EFL learners, speaking skill.

1. INTRODUCTION
1.1. Background of the study
English as an international language plays an important role in education in this day and
age (Mahu, 2012, p.374). English allows teachers and students to interact with foreign people
and gain access to a variety of knowledge sources. The primary goal of English learning is to

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enable students to communicate effectively in both written and spoken English. The goal of
English learning is to help students improve their language skills such as listening, speaking,
reading, and writing. Speaking is the most important of the four language skills mentioned
above because an individual who learns a language is referred to as a speaker of that language.
According to Hughes (2003, p. 130 ), there exist five aspects of speaking, they are
pronunciation, grammar, vocabulary, fluency, and comprehension. Good pronunciation is
essential for effective communication because it leads to messages being correctly understood
by the recipients, increases the speakers' confidence in speaking the language, increases their
use of the target language, and ultimately improves their overall language skills. (Prashant,
2018). In order to improve pronunciation skills, EFL learners have a number of methods. One
of the best effective ways is learning pronunciation via video dubbing.
1.2. Aim of the study
The study aims to figure out how to improve speaking pronunciation through voice-over.
First of all, the definition of voice-over is given. In addition, people can gain a deeper
understanding of the benefits of voiceovers. Besides, some suggested doubling activities in
class and for individual practice are also furnished to help students practice pronunciation
effectively.
2. LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1. The current situation of Vietnamese students in terms of pronunciation in
speaking skills
Vietnamese speakers encounter a variety of challenges when trying to learn English
pronunciation. It can be challenging to learn English's complicated vowel system, particularly
the contrast between tense and lax vowels. Additionally, the variations in consonant positions,
consonant clusters, words, and tones present numerous challenges for Vietnamese English
learners. Vietnamese speakers consequently frequently experience pronunciation issues when
speaking English. Proper pronunciation is essential for clear communication because it ensures
that messages are understood by the intended audience, boosts the speakers' confidence when
speaking the target language, increases their use of the language, and ultimately strengthens
their language proficiency (Prashant, 2018).
2.2. Definition
2.2.1. Definition of dubbing and pronunciation
Dubbing: A post-production process used in filmmaking and video production in which
additional or supplementary recordings are "mixed" with original production sound to create
the finished soundtrack.
Pronunciation: The act or result of producing the sounds of speech, including
articulation, stress, and intonation.
2.2.2. Scoring in pronunciation

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 Analytic scoring is one of the scoring tests that can be used to evaluate speaking ability,
according to Hughes (2003, p. 130). Hughes (2003, p. 100) made the case that an analytical
score is a type of scoring that necessitates a separate score for each of a task's various
components. It is longer and requires testers to consider many different factors. The study
focuses on pronunciation. There are sounds, stress, rhythm, and intonations based on previously
measured pronunciation indicators. The scoring rubric concentrated on vowels, diphthongs, and
consonants because of the research's level of subjects.

2.2.3. Teaching speaking using video dubbing

There are numerous media available to teachers today that they can use to teach English.
Javier et al. (2013), as cited in Karimzadeh and Ghahroudi (2017, p. 4), claim that using dubbing
as a teaching tool enhances students' oral skills, translation abilities, and vocabulary
development. There are several ways to use video dubbing as learning media, according to
Burston (2005, p. 81), including:
o Using a muted video clip as the basis for their original script and storyline.
o Ensuring accuracy and providing a clear script that can be used for pronunciation
practice, learners transcribe the dialog.

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 o Synchronizing the script with the video and contextually appropriate in addition to being
grammatically correct.
o Using any video editor or dubbing software to create a muted video.
o Listening to and watching the original video several times in order to assist them in
adjusting the voice and video.
2.3. The effectiveness of the voice-over technique
2.3.1. The influence of the voice-over technique
According to Celce - Marcia and Olshtain (2013), the primary goal of speaking instruction
is to develop a proper level of communicative competence. Dubbing-based strategies (DBS)
can enhance the prosodic features of the language, which improves pronunciation. Javier, Vila,
and Noa Talaván (2013) claim that using dubbing as a teaching tool enhances oral abilities and
involves the following other abilities and activities. Lack of pronunciation abilities limits social
interactions and lowers learners' self-confidence. EFL instructors can assist their students in
acquiring the pronunciation abilities they need for efficient communication
2.3.2. A survey on the effectiveness of the voice-over technique in improving
pronunciation
Subjects include 80 language majors in two courses, 61NNA 1 (control group), and
61NNA 4 (experimental group), all of whom are between the ages of 18 and 19. 40 students
were divided into groups of four to five students each, and each group produced two videos.
While the control group (61NNA1) video recorded the group’s pronunciation with open
subjects like speeches of famous people, associations talks, news, interviews, poetry, songs or
reality shows, etc…, the experimental group (61NNA4) did the dubbing for their two favorite
movie scenes, both of which last for approximately 2 minutes. The students will keep remaking
the videos until they achieve the best products. The lecturer had to choose suitable video
samples to introduce to the experimental group. After that, the groups of students will find
videos that fit their skill level and liking and send those videos to the teacher to get their
approval before over-voicing. The chosen videos should contain suitable language for learners
to fully understand the videos. For video sources, students can get both the videos and the scripts
through Youtube. Afterward, the students practice dubbing the video over and over until they
get it right. Then they play their parts in voicing over the videos with their own manuscript,
editing their own voices in and comparing it to the original videos then took notes for further
improvement. Lastly, the teacher reviewed the groups’ products and gave their takes on the
students’ voice acting.

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 This is a combination of both qualitative and quantitative research methods. In order to
gather the data for the qualitative method, all students from both classes were assigned to take
the online survey on the site “surveymonkey.com”. Furthermore, at the end of the course, all
80 students also had to take a quiz to evaluate their skill level and the effectiveness of the
practice.

According to the grading result of the two classes, the second videos of both groups got
higher scores than the first ones as students were better prepared and had more experience in
making videos. What is more is that the second videos of the 61NNA-4 (experimental group)
also scored higher than those of the 61NNA-1 (control group), which meant the experimental
group’s phonetics are better than that of the control group.

According to the survey, 94% of students from the control groups say that they find
pronunciation learning very important. 45% of students claimed that video recording enhanced
their pronunciation by 50-70% and 25,8% of students found that their pronunciation improved
by 70-80%. On the same note, all the students in the test group agreed that learning
pronunciation was important and 40% of the students reported that their pronunciation was
improved by 50-70% and 28% reported that they did improve their pronunciation from 70% to

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80%. Although the control group had a higher number of students claiming their pronunciation
was improved by 50-70% than the experimental group, the former saw a lower number of
students who claimed to have their pronunciation improved from 70% to 80% than the latter by
2.2%. However, both groups also said that recording freestyle videos or voicing-over helped in
all aspects of phonetics such as word stress, sentence stress, intonation, and word matching.
2.4. The benefits of video dubbing
2.4.1. When using film dubbing techniques, students can speak more confidently
and with more proficiency than when using the hobby video method.
Due to the freedom to select their preferred videos, students can enjoy exciting movie
dubbing while learning phonics 2. Students take notes on their own, read, comprehend, and
prepare dialogue for your videos. They also find video editing software on their own and finish
the dubbing. Additionally, this is a chance for students to learn and practice film dubbing
techniques while working in groups outside of the classroom. However, students have trouble
with character speech speed, uneven casting, and selecting the appropriate dubbing software.
Teachers must set aside time to watch videos, comment on them, and provide examples to help
students advance.
2.4.2. Online English film activities could aid the participants in maintaining and
enhancing their comprehensibility when speaking English.
Improvements could be made to the online English film dubbing activities by picking
videos that are better suited to the language proficiency of the English learners, giving
instructions on supra-segmental English pronunciation features before the dubbing activity, and
providing more customized evaluation and feedback following the dubbing activity. And by
including structured or semi-structured interviews in the research design, it may be possible to
gain a deeper understanding of how participants' English pronunciation is affected by online
English film dubbing activities.
2.4.3. Help learners speak more naturally
Students will speak English more naturally thanks to this movie-dubbing project, which
brings the outside world into the classroom. Students all agreed that the project should be
continued in subsequent classes because it helped them improve their intonation and fluency.
Comparing the project's work to more conventional classroom assignments, students agreed
that it was much more enjoyable. This will give students a fun and memorable learning
experience. Film dubbing would permit students to learn English in a more harmonious and
interesting environment. The students' motivation can then be increased, and their flexibility in
real-world applications can be enhanced. The social culture and way of life of English-speaking
nations are vividly and intuitively embodied in English movies by integrating the script, picture,
and audio. English environments are made vivid by English movies. As a result, teaching and
learning English pronunciation through the dubbing of English-language films is a beneficial
and effective method for teaching pronunciation to students.

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 Following a discussion of the benefits of using video dubbing in ESL pronunciation
classes, we would like to demonstrate a number of specific voice-over practice activities. These
strategic exercises can be applied to English anthropology in the classroom and on an individual
basis.
2.5. Suggested dubbing activities in class and for individual practice
2.5.1. Activities in the classroom context
The first area of study is how to utilize video dubbing techniques in the classroom so as
to practice English pronunciation. In the study named “Using Film-Dubbing to Teaching EFL
Freshmen English Pronunciation in Chinese Universities” by Yun Li (Yun Li, 2016), it has
been described that a strategy to improve English pronunciation for EFL students was using
English dubbing using films in universities. More specifically, Darlenes (1996) cited H. Garrity
(1987) who claimed that since the Lumiere brothers presented the first motion picture in 1896,
the general public has been fascinated by and respectful of cinema. Foreign films have a lot of
potential as language-learning tools, even though that was not the original purpose for which
they were made. According to Darlenes (1996), the use of foreign film videos today has greatly
facilitated teachers' efforts to include language instruction in their curricula. He also noted that
every student had admitted to repeatedly listening to the audio and consulting the dictionary in
order to learn the new vocabulary words. Additionally, it would be beneficial to enhance
listening skills because the method simultaneously ensures the accuracy of pronunciation when
EFL students read the standard pronunciation of the speaker in the dub videos. Videos of
standard pronunciation are typically understood as videos taken from recordings of native
English speakers and English language educational institutions with native teachers and
instructors. The study of Darlenes (Darlenes, 1996) showed that using a multimedia program
rather than just watching a video of the movie itself is a better way to improve language
proficiency.
Moreover, Andraw (1992) makes another claim in his study, as well. According to
Andraw (1992), English movies offer university students a productive learning environment.
Through multimedia devices, students' brains are simultaneously stimulated by images and
sound. They can also detect the distinction between American and British pronunciation. It is
also demonstrated in Zhou study (Zhou, 2009) that speaking and listening are two crucial
methods of language acquisition. Additionally, they are the most effective and natural methods.
Students can learn new words and patterns for commonly used oral English sentences by
repeatedly listening to and speaking from movies. Furthermore, it helps train the sense of
different stresses, rhythms, pitches, pauses, and speeds that carry a lot of information.
In addition to the method of listening repeatedly and looking up the vocabulary that
Andraw suggested, there is an additional suggestion for how to structure English pronunciation
instruction using the dubbing technique in the classroom. Tran Thi Hai Yen stated in her article
(Using Movie Dubbing to Improve Natural English Pronunciation Skills, 2021) that she
described the project's specifications, technological resources, and script. Students would

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practice reading the script both inside and outside of the classroom for the remaining seven
weeks. Depending on the development of each student pair, this procedure may change.
Students would typically start by studying on their own to play the part of their movie character.
After that, the partners had to exercise together. Finally, students turn in their final project in
the eighth week with their voices dubbed for both characters. During those weeks of dubbing,
Yen asserts that two activities are very suitable in the learning process, one is watching dub
videos with scripts, and the other is doing questions and reports.
When it comes to the first activity, Yen (2021) suggested that instructors should let
students hear the original movie excerpt while they read the script before asking them to briefly
discuss important linguistic cues (intonation, vocabulary, etc.). In fact, students must
comprehend the context, the personalities of each character, and the rationales behind why a
character speaks in a particular tone if they are to have a foundation for effective dubbing skills.
Additionally, given that each pair makes different progress, it is beneficial to give students
individualized support. As a result, Yen (2021) suggested some question-and-answer (Q&A)
sessions in one or two weeks. The dubbing project is not actively worked on during these
sessions; rather, each pair reports on its progress and has a chance to ask me questions and
discuss the project. Teachers can assist students in resolving their issues at this time (e.g., a part
with challenging intonation). Furthermore, it makes certain that students don't put off finishing
the assignment until the last minute. Following the teacher's feedback, they can continue
working on the project in the upcoming weeks with greater assurance. The report can be made
as the sample form below:
Report Sample - Using Movie Dubbing to Improve Natural English Pronunciation Skills, 2021

According to Yen (2021), rather than using a single longer scene, teachers could use
several shorter scenes throughout the semester. This method enables students to practice various
scenes with various language scenarios while allowing them to become accustomed to the
revoicing software and the task's requirements. Stronger students might even participate in this
as a class project to work on the script in class and do the dubbing in person.
2.5.2. Suggestions for individual practices:

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 In addition to using video dubbing techniques in classes, every student is expected to have
a practice schedule. Students could practice using several shorter scenes, as mentioned above
in the study by Yen (2021). With this approach, students can practice various language
scenarios and scenes while also getting used to the revoicing software and the task's
requirements. Stronger students might even take part in this as a group project to work on the
script and perform the dubbing together. People who participate in a group practice will be able
to significantly improve their pronunciation, regardless of accent or voice intonation as they
could peer-edit for one another. Before beginning their practice, students who want to work
alone should watch the dubbing video with the script a few times. This practice can be combined
with the “Shadowing” technique (speaking according to the characters in the video but not
speaking out). From there, students can practice correct pronunciation and improve the way
they pause while speaking, just like in the dubbed video. It also gets easier for them to catch
their errors.
2.5.3. Some notions and recommendations to teachers and students when
ultilizing video dubbing technique

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 Finally, although helpful, the traditional approaches to teaching English pronunciation -
word study and phonetic transcription - cannot fully satisfy students' demands for a rapid
improvement in their pronunciation skills. As a result, the use of English film dubbing in this
field to teach English pronunciation demonstrates its special benefits. However, there are a few
things to keep in mind when using the video dubbing method to learn English pronunciation.
To illustrate, it can be difficult to select the right scene for the job. Three factors should be taken
into account by teachers: student proficiency, language emphasis, and movie availability.
First, a three-minute limit must be applied to movie excerpts by teachers. Long excerpts
won't make for a fun experience, only frustration. As was already mentioned, teachers may
prefer to use a few short scenes because they are easier to find and hold students' attention for
a longer period. Additionally, teachers can select scenes with more complex spoken interactions
rather than picking a straightforward conversation from everyday life. Although these scenes
will be more challenging than simple ones, doing so will give students practice using more
intricate emotional intonations. When choosing a scene, teachers should also make sure that the
speaking rate and volume of the characters are similar. This will make comparing and
evaluating the students' performance easier. Last but not least, because there is not enough room
for interaction in scenes with more than three characters, it is not advised to use them.
Besides, the language in the videos must be based on standard English, that is, based on
common accents of English used in the world such as British English or American English.
Since difficult English accents like Scottish English or even Indian English are challenging to
hear, understand, and have little practical use for, students will find it challenging to participate
in dubbing videos using these accents. Additionally, as challenging accents are not typical in
English, selecting videos with these accents will not aid learners in learning the proper English
pronunciation, defeating the purpose of the teaching strategy.
As a final note, teachers should spend time grading the first video and providing feedback
to each student so that they can benefit from the second video. If finding voiceover software is
a challenge, teachers should advise students to use Filmora 9, Camtasia 9, Inshot on mobile
devices, or KineMaster. These software programs are very user-friendly and ideal for use on
mobile devices.
3. CONCLUSION
In conclusion, the research was carried out to provide an overview of voiceovers. As a
result, EFL students can benefit in a number of ways, including improved pronunciation,
fluency, grammar, vocabulary, and comprehension. Besides, the suggested dubbing exercises
for both group and individual practice aim to facilitate pronunciation practice for learners.
Additionally, teachers can help students by offering suggestions for video choices. Due to this
technique's simplicity of use, we anticipate that EFL students will employ it properly.

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 REFERENCES

[1] Jahara, S.F., & Abdelrady, A.H. (2021). Pronunciation Problems Encountered by EFL
Learners: An Empirical Study. Arab World English Journal (AWEJ), 12(4), 194-212. DOI:
10.24093/awej/vol12no4.14.
[2] Karimzadeh, P., & Ghahroudi, M.R. (2017). English Animation Dubbing Based
Techniques and Iranian Intermediate EFL Learners‟ Nativelike Pronunciation Development.
International Journal of English Language Education, 5(2). DOI: 10.5296/ijele.v5i2.11175.
[3] Li, Y. (2016). Using Film-Dubbing to Teaching EFL Freshmen English Pronunciation
in Chinese Universities. (Master’s thesis, University of Wisconsin-Platteville, USA).
[4] Wei, J., Yang, H., & Duan, J. (2022). Investigating the Effects of Online English Film
Dubbing Activities on the Intelligibility and Comprehensibility of Chinese Students’ English
Pronunciation. Theory and Practice in Language Studies, 12(9), 1911-1920. DOI:
10.17507/tpls.1209.25.
[5] Oanh, B.T.N. (2021). Using movie dubbing to teach pronunciation to English-major
students. TNU Journal of Science and Technology, 226(12), 22 - 27. DOI: 10.34238/tnu-
jst.4621.
[6] Yến, T.T.H. (2021). Using Movie Dubbing to Improve Natural English Pronunciation
Skills.
[7] Cardillo, D.S. (1996). Using a Foreign Film to Improve second language proficiency:
Video vs Interactive Multimedia. Journal of Educational Technology Systems, 25(2), 169-177.
DOI: 10.2190/55AE-AGFW-8KQF-6PEH.
[8] Jieping, Z. (2009). English Film Appreciation in teaching college English.
[9] Goodwyn, A. (1992). English Teaching and Media Education.
[10] Garrity, H. (1987). Film in the French classroom.

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 CÁC CHIẾN LƯỢC DỊCH KHẨU HIỆU QUẢNG CÁO
TỪ TIẾNG ANH SANG TIẾNG VIỆT
SVTH: Hà Bích Ngọc (4A19), Nguyễn Thị Lan Anh (4A19), Hoàng Thị Dương (4A19), Vũ
Thị Thanh Thanh (4A19)
GVHD: Nguyễn Linh Chi

Tóm tắt: Biên dịch luôn là một thử thách khó nhằn khi người dịch phải chuyển giao thông tin giữa
hai hoặc nhiều ngôn ngữ trên nhiều lĩnh vực khác nhau. Trong bối cảnh thị trường toàn cầu hoá hiện
nay, việc dịch các khẩu hiệu quảng cáo phù hợp với từng quốc gia, khu vực đóng vai trò rất quan trọng
trong việc quảng bá độ nhận diện của thương hiệu. Vì vậy, nghiên cứu này được thực hiện để phân tích
các chức năng, tính chất của khẩu hiệu quảng cáo, cũng như những khó khăn mà các biên dịch viên
gặp phải khi dịch khẩu hiệu quảng cáo này. Từ đó, nghiên cứu phân tích các bản dịch khẩu hiệu quảng
cáo từ tiếng Anh sang tiếng Việt dựa trên những chiến lược dịch đã tìm được, tìm ra tính hiệu quả và
phổ biến của từng chiến lược. Nghiên cứu góp phần giúp người học dịch có nhiều thông tin và phương
pháp hữu ích hơn để áp dụng cụ thể trong khi dịch khẩu hiệu quảng cáo.

Từ khoá: quảng cáo, khẩu hiệu quảng cáo, dịch khẩu hiệu quảng cáo tiếng Anh, các chiến lược
dịch khẩu hiệu quảng cáo.

STRATEGIES FOR TRANSLATING ADVERTISING SLOGANS

FROM ENGLISH TO VIETNAMESE

Abstract: The translation is always a difficult challenge when translators have to transfer
information between two or more languages in many different fields. In the globalized market, translating
advertising slogans are necessary for each country and region and plays a vital role in promoting the
brand's identity. Therefore, this study is carried out to analyze the functions and properties of advertising
slogans, as well as the difficulties that translators face when translating advertising slogans. From these
points, we research and analyze the translations of advertising slogans from English to Vietnamese
based on the found translation strategies and find out the effectiveness and popularity of each strategy.
This research contributes to helping translators have more helpful information and methods to apply
specifically while translating advertising slogans.

Keywords: advertising, advertising slogan, translation of English advertising slogans, strategies

of translating slogans.

1. INTRODUCTION
1.1. The rationale of the study
Advertising has played an essential role in helping businesses provide potential customers
with information about a particular product or service and eventually persuade them to buy it.
With the development of technology and mass media, companies compete to make their

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products best-seller by creating the most attractive advertising slogans. While the products
travel across international markets and different cultures, translation of advertising slogans is
necessary because they need to be adapted to new cultural settings and fit local needs
(Nemcoková, 2011).
In Vietnam, the need for translating English advertising slogans has been increasing due
to global integration for the last few years. This paper is conducted to help Vietnamese learners
studying translation and Vietnamese companies that want to increase the productivity of selling
foreign products imported from English-speaking countries.
1.2. The scope of the study
The study will have a deeper look at advertising slogans regarding definitions and
functions and investigate difficulties and strategies for translating English slogans into
Vietnamese.
1.3. Research question
What strategies are adopted by Vietnamese translators when translating advertising
slogans from English to Vietnamese?
2. LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1. Definition
2.1.1. Advertising
Advertising has been defined by many researchers recently. According to Cambridge
Dictionary, advertising is pictures, signs, or pieces of film used to make people recognize
certain products or services. In another research, advertising forces people to remember and
repeat a short sentence or a group of catchy words relating to a product (Machynková, 2009).
These definitions indicate that advertising has the ultimate objective of selling products.
(Xuedong, 2014).
2.1.2. Advertising slogan
An advertisement slogan is a short but memorable phrase used to form an image and
identity. The content seems low, but its value is tremendous when creating symbolic images of
products in the consumer's mind. Leech (1972) noted that a slogan is a phrase used by a
company in its commercial or marketing campaigns to promote the brand's identity. The
purpose of the advertisement slogan or tagline is to leave the key brand message in the mind of
the target.
2.2. Functions and Characteristics of advertisement slogan
2.2.1. Functions
Although there are many definitions for “advertising slogans,” they all demonstrate only
one common aim: promoting products to raise the sales index and gain more revenue.
According to Čmejrková (2000), slogans are used to transmit information about the product.

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Therefore, the central purpose is to encourage the target customers of a particular brand to
purchase a product.
2.2.2. Characteristics
2.2.2.1. At the phonological level
Alliteration is frequently employed in advertising slogans to create the fast-paced rhythm
necessary to make the phrase memorable and draw attention. As a result, the audience can recall
them easily. Its language forms' most fundamental characteristics (structural and semantic) are
elevated to a generalized level and presented as a generative model, which is a deliberate and
purposeful literary usage of some of the facts of the language (Miššíková, 2003). The
application of alliteration can be seen in the slogan “Today, Tomorrow, Toyota” of Toyota or
“What men want” of Nivea.
Rhyme is also a common feature in slogans. It can be performed by repeating word
combinations with the same or similar terminal sounds (Miššíková, 2003). Rhyme is essential
in slogans for children’s products since it creates a strong emotional and mnemonic effect. As
a result, children, who get used to rhyme, can easily remember and repeat it, thus influencing
parents to buy the product for them. Bounty's slogan is an example of this feature "The quicker
picker-upper.”
One of the best techniques for bringing in the brand name is to make the slogan with a
pun. An advertisement slogan is better if it represents the brand’s personality. When the brand
name is highlighted, the slogan is thus highly purposed. This particular pun uses polysemy as
its foundation (Goddard, 2002). In the slogan of Stena Sealink, the phrase “cross with us" in
‘‘Prices that will even make our competitors cross with us’’ has two meanings, which are “be
annoyed with us” and “cross the seas in our liners” (Margot et al., 2005).
2.2.2.2. At the lexical level
In advertising, personal pronouns are preferred as it helps to bridge the gap between
brands and consumers (Cook, 2008). The most powerful ones are the pronouns "you" and "we"
because they suggest personal relationships as if brands are directly talking to consumers. They
do not target a particular recipient. However, the recipient still believes the text is specifically
addressed to him, feels taken care and develops trust in the product. The most notable examples
include Samsung's "Do what you cannot," Uber's "Move the way you want," and Ford's
"Everything we do is motivated by you."
In addition, a slogan must be positive, which is why negatives are sparingly used in
advertising slogans. However, when negatives occur, they are usually placed in a prominent
location to emphasize the positive side. As in Mercedes Benz's slogan, "The pursuit for
perfection has no finish line," the word "no" emphasizes that the following perfection’s
adventure will never end, which is forcefully affirmed through the slogan.
Another characteristic of advertising slogans is a neologism, which refers to inventing
new words or phrases. Neologisms in slogans such as blend words, nonce words, or compounds

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in slogans have been generated by imitation or free compounding to grab the recipients‘
attention and raise their interest in the product. For example, Betcha Can‘t Eat Just One is one
of the most well-known slogans referencing Lay‘s potato chips, stating that they are so delicious
you cannot bite just one. "Betcha" here means "I bet you" is a coined word and is purposefully
misspelled to be memorable.
2.2.2.3. At the syntactic level
The ideal sentence structure of advertising slogans must be brief and straight to the point.
According to Leech (1966), effective advertising slogans are short, simple, and well-known.
Likewise, Phan (2011) states that if a slogan is a short word or sentence with a clear structure,
it is easier for customers to remember and identify it from other slogans. Apple's slogan, "Think
different," is a two-word imperative sentence; however, it is remarkable and memorable to
consumers. Its simplicity can allow the recipients to quickly grasp the message contained in
each advertising slogan without context.
2.3. Difficulties in translating advertising slogans
2.3.1. Advertising slogan translation
Advertising slogan translation is the process of translating slogans from one language into
another with the primary goal of assisting the business in popularizing its product among clients
in the target culture. The translations of advertising are expected to display specific language
and stylistic features of their original forms to maintain the desired messages and approach
potential customers in line with the culture and laws of the target market (Cui, 2009). However,
according to Christelle (2012), advertising translation should be viewed as a sort of art by
translators, requiring a high level of precision, good linguistic and stylistic skills, and a keen
understanding of the ideological and cultural aspects of the target countries.
2.3.2. Types of difficulties
2.3.2.1. Ambiguity
Ambiguity is one of the difficulties when translating advertising slogans. The connotative
meanings of words, phrases, syntactic structures and figurative language can contribute to the
ambiguity of slogans. First, ambiguity can be challenging when some slogans have dual
meanings, but only one is preserved when translated into the target language (Nguyen, 2011).
For example, the slogan of Kit Kat Chocolate, “Have a break, have a Kit Kat,” can be
translated as “Nào cũng nghỉ giải lao và ăn Kit Kat nhé.” The term "break" is used in this phrase
to signify the meaning of breaking the chocolate and taking a break from the activity, which is
a form of polysemy. Its different meanings can refer to the words “bẻ gãy” (to make something
broken) and “nghỉ ngơi” (take a nap). However, the dual-meaning word has no equivalent in
Vietnamese. As a result, translators may find it difficult to convey the meaning of the source
text to the target language (Phan, 2020).
Secondly, Nguyen (2011) noted that puns or wordplays could be a case of

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untranslatability. It makes the slogans more interesting and catchy but challenging because it is
closely related to the original version. She took the example of the slogan of NTL Internet
Company, “It's not wwwhat you know about ecommerce, it's wwwho you know” is literally
translated as “Vấn đề không phải bạn biết gì về thương mại điện tử, vấn đề là bạn biết đó là ai.”
The wordplay “www" at the beginning of two clauses refers to the world wide web and can not
be transferred in any way into Vietnamese.
2.3.2.2. Untranslated neologism
Neologism refers to a word, term or expression with a newly created meaning. It is
challenging to translate, and it takes much work to determine its meaning. Changes in speech
parts also generate new grammatical usages and necessitate structural awareness. In addition,
some new creations are not found in the dictionary. Others should only be translated literally
after considering their hidden meanings (Reima, 2010). The slogan, “Aphreaudisiac,” of Perrie
water, is a neologism referring to water in French. It is pronounced similarly as “aphrodisiac”
in English, meaning a food, beverage, or medication that drives a desire for sex. Consequently,
when translated into Vietnamese, all nuances and senses of its meaning are hard to express.
2.3.2.3. Cultural barrier
According to Lavina (2015), advertisements represent a country's cultural ideas, concepts
and beliefs. Therefore, the translator must first understand cultural characteristics before
transferring those to the target text. Given that every culture has its own identity, it is often
challenging. Cultural untranslatability occurs when there are no equivalents in the target culture
for the elements in the source one. These cultural differences between two languages can be
handled by an adaptation or paraphrasing.
For instance, the slogans “Eat me” (Flake Chocolate) and “Firm and moist” (Adolph’s
Meatloaf Mix) use sexual elements, which is popular in Westen culture. These catchphrases
might be effective in English-speaking and sexually open countries. In contrast, they can be
inappropriate in countries that respect history, tradition, and age. If translated, the slogans
"Cứng và ướt" and "Hãy ăn tôi" may conjure up unpleasant associations and perhaps be
offensive as a cultural shock (Nguyen, 2011).
2.3.2.4. Strategies for translating advertising slogans
According to Guidère (2001), there are five steps that make up the translation process for
advertising slogans:
(1) Select the source text for translation (a translation unit formed from a linguistic and
iconic sign).
(2) Focusing on the strategic content of the advertising message when translating the text.
(3) Using back-translation for quality assurance.
(4) Editing the publications ensures that the source content and the translation are
consistent.

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 (5) Evaluating the translated advertisement's impact on uninterested, monolingual
readers.
When considering globetrotting ad slogans, three general tactics can be found:
A slogan in the original language (usually English, French, or German).
A transposition (with or without respect to the target culture)
A brand-new slogan is created in the target language and for the intended demographic.
The studies by Smith (2002), Nguyen (2005), Tran (2008), Pham (2010), Ghobadi and
Rahimian (2015), and others offer some frequently utilized translation techniques for
translating advertising, particularly informative ones. The following are some of them: non-
translation, literal translation (word-for-word translation), equivalence, addition, borrowing,
paraphrase, transposition, and reduction (as cited in Nguyen & Truong, 2018).
Phan (2021) stated a list of strategies for translating advertising slogans based on the
translation strategies of New Mark (1988), including:
● Non-translation: Versions of English slogans are untranslated (Nguyen, 2011).
● Literal translation: The source language grammatical structures are translated to their
closest target language equivalents (New Mark, 1988).
● Translation with addition, omission or explanation:
○ Additional information can be added to the translated version, typically
technical, cultural or linguistic (New Mark, 1988).
○ The word or expression in question can be omitted if the meaning of a specific
item or expression is not significant enough to the development of the text
(New Mark, 1988).
● Adaptation translation: a cultural element that replaces the original text with one
better suited to the target language's culture (Mai, 2021).
● Free translation: a translation that reproduces the general meaning of the original
text (Pei and Gaynor, 1954, as cited in Mai, 2021).

Based on this research, out of 250 advertising slogans translated from English to
Vietnamese, 95 (38.9%) were non-translation, 52 (20.8%) added, omitted, or explained their
translation, 47 (18.8%) used free translation, 30 (12%) used literal translation, and, 26 (10.1%)
utilized adaption translation.
This research will mainly focus on the strategies found by Phan’s study in 2021 and
illustrate the results by analyzing some translations of advertising slogans from English to
Vietnamese in their order of common use.
1. METHODOLOGY

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 The research paper is carried out to investigate strategies for translating English
advertising slogans into Vietnamese. To meet the study's objectives, secondary sources were
drawn to obtain essential data needed in this research. The data were collected from existing
research, journals, reports, articles, and internet information related to the topic. Firstly, the data
about the definitions, functions and characteristics of advertising slogans were mainly collected
from Machynková (2009), Xuedong (2004), Leech (1972), (Miššíková, 2003). After revising
primarily related definitions, we did research to collect and identify difficulties in translating
English advertising slogans from former researchers. To investigate potential strategies, we
primarily based on the translation strategies of Newmark (1988). Each strategy was
theoretically revised and also clarified by cases which are English slogans and their existing
versions in Vietnamese.
2. FINDINGS
2.1. Non-translation
The non-translation strategy is applied when some brand slogans are famous and
standardized. For example, Have a Coke (Coca-Cola), Just do it (Nike), Think different (Apple),
Innovation and you (Philips), Zoom-Zoom (Mazda), Hello Motto (Motorola), and so on.
The motive behind this strategy is that the brand is well-known to all consumers. As a
result, there is no need to translate it into various languages (Komljenović & Ana, 2017). Phan
(2011) adds that the brand must create a consistent global slogan to define its position in the
market. The slogan should remain the same when being integrated into foreign marketplaces
because it has been employed in all product marketing methods for a long time.
Additionally, in terms of lexical and syntactic features, these slogans are created with
simple lexical concepts and structures that most customers can understand.
Finally, preserved slogans can make a cultural impression of their source language and
give customers the feeling that they are using a real product. Thus, the non-translation strategy
is applied to attract customers' attention to the product.
2.2. Literal translation
According to Guidère (2000), the literal translation is applied when translators feel that a
target language advertising slogan is more expressive than the original. Guidère (2000) also
stated that the owners of international companies who prefer faithful translation to translate
original advertising slogans feel that any deviance from the original message of the source
advertising slogan is inappropriate and may ruin the company’s reputation.
For example, the slogan of Heineken beer is word-by-word translated into Vietnamese
because the grammatical constructions and vocabulary in the source language can be converted
to Vietnamese equivalents. The words "only" and "be" can be translated precisely as "chỉ" and
"là" respectively in Vietnamese. Like all men in the world, Vietnamese men love to drink beer.
Significantly, their need to enjoy premium drinks has grown as a result of the increase of
Vietnamese people's living standards. The translated version still affirms the high quality of the

215
product. “Chỉ có thể” remind customers of a special kind of beer, which can do things other
beers cannot. The Heineken slogan makes them want to purchase and enjoy it immediately.
Other examples to illustrate the adequacy of literal translation of English advertising
slogans into Vietnamese can be listed such as Ideas for life (Panasonic) => Những ý tưởng cho
cuộc sống; Delicious and healthful (Pepsi) => Tuyệt hảo và Dinh dưỡng; Always listening,
always understand (Prudential‘s ) => Luôn luôn lắng nghe, luôn luôn thấu hiểu.
2.3. Addition, omission or explanation
In some cases, slogans include rhymes, idioms, puns or proverbs to make them embedded
in the mind of customers. Given such expressions, the original natural effect in the target
language may be lost when using literal translation or non-translation. Hence, to transmit the
meaning of the original advertising slogans while maintaining the rhymes in the target slogan,
translators have to either add or remove some words or clarify ambiguous elements in the
slogan's message (Nguyen, 2011).
The addition strategy is often adopted in the English translation of slogans to increase
accessibility and comprehension (Lei & Han, 2020). Meanwhile, the omission is considered a
simplification strategy that can make the translated version more target-friendly (Komljenović
& Ana, 2017).
For instance, the word "be" is used three times in the slogan of CK Jeans “Be good, be
bad, be yourself.” If the translator uses the word-by-word strategy, the slogan will be “Hãy tốt,
hãy xấu, hãy là chính mình,” which is unnatural and hard to understand.
Therefore, to convey the slogan's meaning, the translator adds the concession clause‘s
subordinator - although/ despite, omits the verb “be” and only keeps the adjectives “good” and
“bad” in the translated version, which makes the slogan shorter and more impressive.
Other examples are For life (Volvo) => Vì cuộc sống của bạn (for your life); What
happens here, stays here (Las Vegas and visitors authority) => Đến đây, ở lại đây (come here,
stay here), Be sociable, have a Pepsi (Pepsi 1958) => Cùng Pepsi thắt chặt tình bạn (Strengthen
the bond with Pepsi), Imagination at Work (General Electric Co.) => Trí tưởng tượng trong
công việc bay cao (Imagination at high flight work).
2.4. Free translation
For free translation, translators may not find the appropriate way to maintain the literal
meaning of the slogan; thus, they just recreate the general meaning of the slogan and make it
more suitable for the targeted market (Pei and Gaynor, 1954, as cited in Mai, 2021)..
The slogan of KFC, “It’s finger lickin’good”- “Vị ngon trên từng ngón tay”, is an
example. KFC is a food brand of fried chicken originating from America. When eating fried
chicken, people often use their hands to enjoy these foods for convenience and better
enjoyment. Therefore, some chicken crumbs stick to their fingers after finishing the meals. The
connotation of the global tagline is that the fried chicken is so tasty that customers can't help

216
licking their fingers to relish the leftovers.
In Vietnamese translation, the word-for-word translation would be “Liếm ngón tay rất
ngon.” This rendition is inappropriate and possibly impolite in Vietnamese culture. The activity
of running your tongue over something's surface to eat, moisten, or clean it is called "licking."
Vietnamese culture forbids talking with food in their mouth, making loud noises while eating,
or licking one's fingers. As a result, Vietnamese translators do not translate the verb "lick"
literally. In the Vietnam market, KFC employs free translation strategies replicating the slogan's
overall meaning. The Vietnamese version, "Vị ngon trên từng ngón tay," effectively maintains
the global theme while adhering to Vietnamese tradition and custom.
Other cases using adaptation strategies can be mentioned as At the heart of the image
(Nikon) => Rung động con tim (Heart‘s beating), Uncage (Tiger beer) => Đánh thức bản lĩnh
(Awake the bravery), Nothing escapes (Konica) => Konica – Giữ lại tất cả (Save everything).
2.5. Adaptation translation
In adaptation translation, translators adapted the slogan following the targeted marker,
making the slogan more approachable for the targeted market of that country (Mai, 2021).
For example, Romano: Define your class - Khẳng định đẳng cấp phái mạnh is translated
based on adaptation translation. In Vietnamese translation, translators have used adaptation
strategies that the meaning of both SL and TL words seems different but still related in some
sense in advertising slogans. No reference to gender was made in the source text, but men - the
targeted customers, who represent the more dominant gender, were mentioned in the target
source. The loyalty factor of the slogan has decreased to some extent. The verb “define” and
the noun “class” do not literally mean “khẳng định” and “phái mạnh.” Thus, if the target text is
rendered back to English, it is difficult to use the exact words for “define” and “class.”
When discussing the translation of commercial slogans, translators posited that the
purpose of translation, culture-bond and classes of the target country decide the translation
method and strategies. This is true that when the translator knows the shampoo “Romano” is
produced for men, he or she automatically decides to put “phái mạnh” in the translated text.
The word “define” literally means “xác định,” but the translation uses “khẳng định” for better
commercial attractiveness. Therefore, the translation version has successfully targeted potential
customers (men) and strengthened the position of Romano as a shampoo brand specialized for
men.
As a result, they are appropriate for all Vietnamese people, who are renowned for their
shared ideals. It also shows that when a corporation can understand the psychology of its clients
in this region in order to build an effective development plan, it is seen as a success.
Some other examples of slogans applied this strategies can be named respectively as
follows: “Life can’t wait” (Sunsilk) => “Tóc đẹp ngay bây giờ. Sống là không chờ đợi”, Stay
fresh (Mentos) => Đột phá ý tưởng, More happy (Pepsi 2007) => Ngất ngây hơn, Pepsi‘s now
(Pepsi 1983) => Khơi nguồn cùng Pepsi (Arouse with Pepsi), The original pure food drink

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(Pepsi 1906) => Nước giải khát tinh khiết từ tự nhiên
3. CONCLUSION
3.1. Summary
Advertisement is playing an increasingly important role in the era of integration. Creating
advertisement slogans is the outer embodiment of the advertisement of a company’s cultural
spirit. Accordingly, advertising slogan translation shows its importance. The study indicated
factors relating to advertising slogans, including definitions, characteristics, and functions.
Afterward, specific difficulties were presented, and possible strategies were proposed.
3.2. Recommendation
For translators and translation learners, it is necessary to consider cultural differences,
markets and consumers when translating advertising slogans. Different strategies can be
combined to keep the original version's spirit and make the slogans suitable for international
consumers.
Although analysis from this study has revealed a significant amount of knowledge
regarding translating English advertising slogans, some areas still require further research.
Research on strategies for translating advertising content should be carried out and developed
in later studies. Further research can build upon the collective foundation that this paper has
been able to collect to expand their studies to further depth.

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 ÁP DỤNG CHIẾN LƯỢC ĐỊA PHƯƠNG HÓA
TRONG VIỆC DỊCH KHẨU HIỆU THƯƠNG MẠI TỪ TIẾNG
ANH SANG TIẾNG VIỆT CỦA SINH VIÊN KHOA TIẾNG ANH,
ĐỊNH HƯỚNG BIÊN PHIÊN DỊCH,
TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC HÀ NỘI
SVTH: Nguyễn Minh Ngọc (4A19), Nguyễn Thị Hồng Hạnh (4A19), Lê Thị Cẩm Vân (4A19),
Lê Thị Huyền Trang (4A19), Nguyễn Lê Hải Hà (4A19)
GVHD: Nguyễn Linh Chi

Tóm tắt: Trong thời đại kinh tế toàn cầu ngày càng phát triển, khẩu hiệu thương mại đã trở thành
phương tiện giao tiếp giữa nhãn hàng và người tiêu dùng. Khẩu hiệu thương mại thường chứa đựng
nhiều yếu tố văn hóa và cảm xúc, do đó việc dịch khẩu hiệu sang một ngôn ngữ khác gặp nhiều thách
thức. Để giải quyết vấn đề này, đã có nhiều nghiên cứu về các chiến lược dịch, trong đó bao gồm chiến
lược Địa phương hóa bản dịch. Tuy nhiên, những bài nghiên cứu này chưa tập trung vào hiệu quả của
chiến lược dịch nói trên. Vì vậy, bài viết này được thực hiện nhằm tìm hiểu những tác động của chiến
lược địa phương hóa lên bản dịch Anh-Việt của các khẩu hiệu thương mại, đồng thời, đưa ra đánh giá
tổng quan về nhận thức và thái độ của sinh viên đối với chiến lược dịch này.

Từ khóa: Chiến lược địa phương hóa, khẩu hiệu thương mại, bản dịch Anh-Việt.

THE USE OF LOCALIZATION IN TRANSLATING ENGLISH

COMMERCIAL SLOGANS INTO VIETNAMESE: A CASE STUDY
OF TRANSLATION AND INTERPRETING - ORIENTED
STUDENTS OF ENGLISH DEPARTMENT AT HANOI
UNIVERSITY

Abstract: As the global economy keeps growing, commercial slogans have become a means of
communication between a brand and their consumers. Commercial slogans often contain different
cultural and emotional aspects which make the translating process very difficult. To solve this problem,
many authors have studied translation strategies, including the Localization strategy. However, these
studies have not focused on the effectiveness of the above-mentioned strategy. Therefore, our paper
will focus on the effect of this strategy on English-Vietnamese translations of commercial slogans, and
provide an overview of students' perceptions, and attitudes towards this translation strategy.

Key words: Localization strategy, commercial slogans, English-Vietnamese translations.

220
 1. INTRODUCTION
1.1. Background
A good translation of a commercial slogan enables communication between one brand
and their foreign customers. In that context, many studies suggested using localization as a
strategy to translate commercial slogans. In his research, Li (2001) mentioned that there was
more and more support for using the localization strategy to translate slogans. In the same way,
Khau and To (2022) agreed that applying this strategy could make slogans sound familiar and
easy to understand. These authors provided detailed analysis of brands’ slogans and the
application of localization; however, mentioned little information about its effectiveness.
Therefore, our study will focus on the effects of implementing localization strategy in order to
fulfill the gap of previous research.
1.2. Rationale
This study not only aims at investigating students’ patterns of adopting localization
strategy into translating English commercial slogans into Vietnamese but also giving an
overview of their attitude towards its effectiveness.
1.3. Scope of the study
Our study concentrates on utilizing the localization strategy to translate English
commercial slogans into Vietnamese. Due to time constraints, there were only 55 translation-
oriented students of the English Department participating in this study.
1.4. Research question
- How do students adopt the localization strategy in translating English commercial
slogans into Vietnamese?
- What are the students’ perspectives on the use of localization strategy when translating
English commercial slogans into Vietnamese?
2. LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1. Commercial slogans
2.1.1. Definition of commercial slogans
There are a variety of definitions of commercial slogans coming from different
researchers. Despite differences in expression, most of them share some similarities. In
particular, the Cambridge dictionary (n.d.) defines a slogan as a brief and catchy phrase that is
used by an institution in order to make it or its product recognizable. Forbes (1987, as cited in
Mathur & Mathur, 1995) believes slogan is a phrase that may be used to bring clear images,
connect the product to abstract things and promote the product beyond its performance.
Xiaosong (2014) states that a slogan is a kind of logo in the verbal form that is located beside
the company’s symbol or brand name. This type of verbal logo is created by advertisers to
underscore the benefit that their products provide to target customers and display the strengths,
potential, and marketing strategies of the enterprise.

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 2.1.2. Features
The primary aims of slogans are to express the motto of the company briefly and depict
benefits that the customers can gain from their products or service. Therefore, they mainly
appear with distinctive features. According to Leech (1966), effective advertising slogans are
recognized for being short, straightforward, and popular (e.g. Apple - Think different, Nike -
Just do it). Foster (2001) believes that slogans are catchy, unique, purposeful, competitive, and
trustworthy. This is supported by Forsyth (2015) who contends that in order to promote the
company’s marketing strategy as well as induce consumers to purchase their products by
jogging their memory, slogans must be made up of short and laconic sentences or known as
‘cracking sentences’ (e.g. Ebay - Buy it. Sell it. Love it).
2.1.3. Common problems when translating slogans/ commercial slogans
Slogans are mainly short and laconic, but translating them poses a lot of challenges for
translators due to great cultural differences. Regarding appeal-focused texts like slogans,
translators’ primary task should be to achieve the equivalent reaction from the public as in the
original version (Reiss, 2000). However, Dan (2015) claims that this is not easy as in slogans,
puns are quite difficult to translate because they are attached to a country’s culture. The failure
in translating puns will make readers lose their interest if the translator depends too much on
the original. Moreover, because of culture-bound elements, equivalence and contextual
consistency are also challenges to translators (Nida & Taber, 1969).
2.2. Translation strategies
According to Dan (2015), when approaching an advertisement to translate a translator
"must inquire about the translation context factors and their influence in the transfer methods
that have to be applied". Adaptation and transcreation are a few of these techniques.
2.2.1. Adaptation
According to Vu (2004), adaptation has the property of using the original's concepts to
build a new text that is spoken in a different language rather than being true to the original. The
adaptation's construction is fully objective in both form and content. Comparative advertising,
for instance, is prohibited in China due to cultural norms, yet they are frequently utilized to
convince buyers to purchase one product over another in America and Croatia. Therefore,
people must bear this in mind when translating slogans into Chinese.
2.2.2. Transcreation
With the development of commerce, translation is insufficient for a worldwide brand,
which requires translators to speak with audiences by their cultural nuances. This dual focus is
referred to as "transcreation" (Pedersen, 2014). For instance, “Move the world with words” is
the slogan of a marketing campaign by Smartling, an American translation agency. The phrase
is more focused on "impacting communities, brands, and cultures" rather than literally
relocating the world to another place.

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 2.2.3. Localization
Localization involves more than just translating, which addresses communication factors
such as cultural references, local idioms, and technical communication like page sizes and text
length (Harris, 2022). For example, Mc Donald has a slogan “I’m lovin’ it”. However, the Greek
language has at least four different ways for how the English word love is used. Therefore,
when translating this slogan into Greek, translators must consider among these 4 expressions
to find the most effective one to approach customers. In this research, we will only focus on
localization strategy in translating slogans.
2.3. Previous studies on localization in translating commercial slogans
The localization strategy is more and more advocated, especially in the context that US
and European brands have mushroomed in Asia, Latin America, and Africa, where cultural
differences are significant (Li, 2001). To illustrate, the wording of the advertisements in China
and other Southeast Asian countries is not aggressive or direct because their cultures are imbued
with courtesy and indirectness (Li, 2001). One classic example is the KFC slogan “It's finger
licking good” which is translated as “Vị ngon trên từng ngón tay” when entering the Vietnamese
market. According to Cambridge Dictionary, the verb “lick” is defined as an act of moving the
tongue over the surface of something. However, in Vietnamese table manners, it is considered
to be impolite. Therefore, by localizing the slogan, the translator indirectly implies that
“although you have eaten the KFC, the flavor is still on your finger" (Nguyen, 2009). This
translated version is able to fulfill the 2 main criteria of the quality assessment mentioned
before. It not only conveys the brand message but also maintains the Vietnamese culture. In
addition, according to the data collected by the Common Sense Advisory, the local language is
valued as more important than price by global consumers (DePalma et al., 2006). For example,
Kitkat’s slogan “Have a break, have a KitKat” is translated into Vietnamese as “Nghỉ xả hơi,
xơi KitKat”. The phrases “nghỉ xả hơi” and “xơi”, which are dialects in the north of Vietnam,
are used to make the translated text sound familiar, and easily attract consumers in the target
market but still ensure that the translation's accuracy is kept (Khau & To, 2022). Spillane (2014)
also stated that localizing slogans properly has a positive impact on global brand reputation,
revenue, and market share worldwide. Ignoring cultural elements when translating the slogan
was the main reason causing Pepsi's loss in the Chinese market before (Mo et al., 2007). At that
time, Pepsi's slogan “Come alive! You're in the Pepsi generation” was translated into Chinese
with a quite different meaning “Pepsi brings your ancestors back from the dead”. This poorly
translated slogan led to not only Pepsi's monetary loss but also its brand reputation loss.
3. METHODOLOGY
3.1. Participants
Translating and interpreting oriented students in English department was the subject of
this research.
3.2. Research materials

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 This research is carried out in the form of online survey on Google form. The
questionnaire was divided into 2 main parts: 1) Students’ use of localization in translating
English commercial slogans, 2)Students’ perspectives on the effectiveness of applying
localization strategy in translating English commercial slogans.
3.3. Research procedure
Before coming up with the final questionaire on Google form, we did lots of research
related to localization strategy and found several most important factors of it. After sorting out
the most notable factors and generalizing them into understandable terms, an official survey
was handed out to students on a Facebook group. The data collected from this survey will be
analyzed in the following parts.
4. FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION
4.1. Students’ adoption of the localization strategy in translating English
commercial slogans into Vietnamese
4.1.1. Students’ awareness of localization strategy in translating commercial
slogans

Pie chart 1: Students’ awareness of localization strategy in translating commercial

slogans

This pie chart indicates how students of translation and interpreting orientation are aware
of localization strategy in translating commercial slogans. It can be clearly seen that the
proportion of participants who have ever used but not been aware of this strategy and those who
have ever heard of but hardly used are quite the same, 36.5% and 34.6% respectively. The figure
for those who have had no perception of localization in translating commercial slogans is half
of that of students with perception but little use. Making up the least in the chart is the
percentage of students who have been fully aware of this strategy and adopted it frequently in
the translation of slogans. All of these show that most of the students have been aware of this
strategy but haven’t adopted it to translate commercial slogans on a regular basis.
4.1.2. The frequency of students’ applying localization strategy into translating

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 commercial slogans

When translating commercial Never Rare Sometimes Frequently Always

slogans, how often do you…?
Consider cultural aspects 0% 3.6% 41.8% 29% 25.6%
Compare and contrast the 1.8% 7.3% 23.6% 40% 27.3%
source language’s culture and
the target language’s culture
Consider responses from target 3.6% 25.5% 38.2% 20% 12.7%
customers
Table 1: The frequency of students’ applying localization strategy into translating
commercial slogans

In order to measure the frequency of students’ use of localization strategy into translating
commercial slogans, we take a look into the frequency of them considering cultural aspects,
comparing and contrasting the two cultures and considering the responses from target
customers.
In terms of cultural aspects, we can see that the majority of the participants (41.8%)
sometimes consider them in the process of translating slogans while they are examined on a
regular basis by 29% of the students. No one surveyed answered that they ignored cultural
differences when translating commercial slogans. The second demonstration of localization is
comparing and contrasting the culture between the source language and the target language.
From the table, it is evident that this comparison of culture is frequently made by 40% of the
participants. The proportion of students doing it as an indispensable part of the translation
process is 27.3%. While cultural aspects have ever been taken into consideration by all
participants, the comparison between two cultures has never been made by one student, which
accounts for 1.8%. Unlike cultural aspects, the reaction from target customers seems to be
underestimated by students as 38.2% of the participants just sometimes notice it. While only
12.7% of the students do it whenever they translate commercial slogans, the figure for those
who are rarely or never aware of it is 25.5 and 3.6 respectively.
4.1.3. Satisfaction level of students with the adoption of localization in translating
commercial slogans.

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 Pie chart 2: Satisfaction level of students with the adoption of localization in translating
commercial slogans.

Based on the experience of adopting localization in translation, students are asked about
their satisfaction level with this strategy. From the chart, we can see that generally, students
agree that localization is an effective method when translating commercial slogans as evidenced
by the fact that 32.1% of students agree about its capability and effectiveness, 16.1% believe
that they need to improve their application and 8.9% are totally in favor of localization’s
adoption into translation. While 41.1% of the surveyed students set a neutral attitude toward the
effectiveness of localization, only a small percentage of them (1.8%) are dissatisfied with it.
4.2. Students’ perspectives on the effectiveness of applying localization strategy
into translating English commercial slogans into Vietnamese
4.2.1. Students’ opinions on the benefits of localizing slogans

What are the advantages of Strongly Partly Neutral Partly Strongly

localization? agree agree disagree disagree

Decrease barriers to enter a 34.5% 29.1% 27.3% 5.5% 3.6%

new market
Improve customer 34.5% 36.4% 25.5% 1.8% 1.8%
experience
Avoid offending potential 27.3% 38.2% 29.1% 3.6% 1.8%
customers
Enhance brand recognition 31% 41.8% 21.8% 3.6% 1.8%
Stimulate business 27.3% 45.4% 27.3%
development

Table 2: Students’ opinions on the benefits of localizing slogans

Table 2 illustrates the variation in respondents’ opinions on some positive impacts of

localizing commercial slogans on their translating process. Overall, most students engaging in
the research showed agreement on all beneficial aspects of localizing slogans.

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 To be more specific, 63.6% of respondents shared the same opinion that localization
reduces obstacles for brands to enter a new market. In contrast, 9.1% of participants failed to
agree with this idea and the rest (27.3%) remained in the Neutral group. On the other hand,
according to the data recorded, 70.9% of students considered localization as an effective method
to improve customer experience, outnumbering the percentage of those having opposite
perspectives (3.6%). The Neutral group towards this idea accounted for approximately 1/4 of
the total respondents. Besides, it can be seen that nearly 2/3 of students (65.5%) believed that
localizing slogans allows translators to avoid offending potential customers in the target market
while only a small percentage of disagreement (5.4%) was reported. The proportion of
indecisive responses towards this statement was 29.1%. This is consistent with the study of Mo
et al. (2007) in which ignoring cultural elements when translating Pepsi's slogan into Chinese
was seen as the primary factor leading to Pepsi’s loss in the Chinese beverage market.
Furthermore, a significant proportion of students (nearly 73%) agreed and strongly agreed that
localization enhanced brand reputation and boosted business development. While 5.4% of
respondents didn’t consider improving brand image as one of the advantages of localizing
slogans, no one denied the positive influence of this translating strategy on business
development. The neutral group of these two categories was 21.8% and 27.3% respectively.
This result is in line with Spillane’s conclusion in 2014 in which he stated that localizing slogans
properly was beneficial to not only global brand recognition but also market share worldwide.
4.2.2. Students’ opinions on the challenges of localizing slogans

What challenges do you face Strongly Partly Neutral Partly Strongly

when adopting this strategy? agree agree disagree disagree

There’s no direct translation for 36.4% 41.8% 10.9% 7.3% 3.6%

the words or phrases used in
slogans since many of them
play on cultural idioms, puns, or
rhymes.
Commercial slogans can clash 21.8% 36.4% 32.7% 5.5% 3.6%
with your cultural norms
Localization can be time- 14.5% 30.9% 36.4% 10.9% 7.3%
consuming
Your translation can affect the 12.7% 38.2% 38.2% 7.3% 3.6%
design or vice versa
You have a poor command of 16.4% 40% 30.9% 9.1% 3.6%
English or Vietnamese

Table 3: Students’ opinions on the challenges of localizing slogans

Table 3 features the participant’s perceptions on the difficulties of the localization method

227
ranging from strongly agree to strongly disagree. In general, a considerable number of the
participants identified these provided challenges as the same as what they have experienced.
It is evident that nearly 80% of respondents found it challenging to seek the equivalence
of some words or phrases used in slogans, especially those with idiomatic and fixed expressions.
Meanwhile, the group that denied this idea was equal to the neutral group (10,9%). It is worth
noting that this result is in line with the study of Dan (2015) in which he stated that translating
culture-bound elements of slogans might be a dilemma due to the absence of a similar
equivalence in the target text. In addition, when asked whether cultural clash was a challenge
to translators, nearly 1/3 of the participant’s answers were not very divisive (32,7%).
Approximately 60% of the respondents agreed with this statement; meanwhile, the opponents
of this idea were much lower (9,1%). Next, 45.5% of the participants were supportive of the
idea that localization is likely to take a lot of time. The proportion of participants opposed to
this statement (18.2%) was half as much as those with unsure responses (36.4%). It is quite
understandable as the research carried out by Dan (2015) also concluded that translators are
required to invest a significant amount of time in dealing with no-equivalent situations. Besides,
over half of the participants confessed that the influence of translation on its design and vice
versa was also a problem. Nearly 40% of responses were not decisive, whereas 10.9% of
participants are opposed to this idea. Lastly, the number of participants who thought that their
lack of proficiency in English or Vietnamese can hinder the localizing slogan process accounted
for 56.4%, followed by the neutral group at 30.9%. By contrast, those having opposite
perspectives were much lower, less than half of the neutral group (12.7%).
5. RECOMMENDATIONS, CONCLUSION AND LIMITATIONS
5.1. Recommendations
Based on the main findings of the research, recommendations are proposed for students
to apply localization strategy to translate English slogans effectively. To begin with, students
should cultivate knowledge about the culture of both source and target languages in order to
know the differences needed to bare in mind when translating. The knowledge can be gained
through academic materials, films, and social media platforms. Moreover, paying attention to
examples provided by dictionaries can help language translators have insight into the context
in which commercial words are applied, minimizing the chances of using inappropriate
equivalents.
6. CONCLUSION AND LIMITATIONS
In conclusion, this research is aim to understand the effects of localization strategy on the
English-Vietnamese translation of commercial slogans, and also to give an overview of
students’ perceptions and attitudes toward this strategy. Although the strategy is not largely
adopted by students, it is thought to be beneficial to their translation process. Applying
localization to translating commercial slogans not only stimulates brand development but also
avoids misunderstandings originating from cultural differences.

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 While there are achievements to be recognized, the research still exists several limitations.
First, the lack of material as well as the researchers’ inexperience hinder the study from further
development. Second, only translating and interpreting-oriented students in English department
are surveyed, therefore, the results are not generally applied to a larger scale. As a result,
although the figures aforementioned are genuine and well-researched, it is inevitable that they
can be subjective and limited. Further research should be carried out to have insight into habits
of using localization for a bigger scope so that far-reaching effects of this strategy will be
evaluated.

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 APPENDIX

Dear Interpreting - oriented students of English department,

We are conducting a research on the topic "The use of localization strategy in translating
English commercial slogans into Vietnamese: a case study of Translation and Interpreting -
oriented students of English department" (tạm dịch: Ứng dụng chiến lược địa phương hóa trong
việc dịch khẩu hiệu thương mại tiếng Anh sang tiếng Việt: sinh viên chuyên ngành Biên phiên
dịch khoa Anh).
We would really appreciate if you could spend a few minutes doing this survey. We
commit ourselves to using your personal information and responses only for this research
purpose.
This survey has 2 main parts with only 5 questions. After completing all of them, you will
receive a small gift that we have prepared. Hope that you will pass the HANU Test with your
desired score!
To put it simply, we first give you the definition of the term "Localization strategy" with
typical examples:
Definition: Localization is a translation strategy that focuses on making text both
linguistically and culturally accurate to whichever region it will be distributed in. (Tạm dịch:
Địa phương hóa là chiến lược dịch đảm bảo văn bản dịch truyền tải đúng cả về mặt ngôn ngữ
lẫn văn hóa tương ứng với khu vực áp dụng văn bản đó )
Examples:
“It's finger licking good” - “Vị ngon trên từng ngón tay”
“Have a break, have a KitKat” - “Nghỉ xả hơi, xơi KitKat”

Part 1: Students’ use of localization in translating English commercial slogans

1. To what extent do you understand localization strategy in translation?

a. Have never heard
b. Have ever heard but hardly used
c. Have ever used but not been aware of
d. Have used frequently

2. When translating commercial slogans, how often do you……?

230
 Please rate your answer on the scale of 1-5, corresponding 1-Always, 2-
Frequently, 3-Sometimes, 4-Rarely, and 5-Never
a. Consider cultural aspects
b. Compare and contrast the source language’s culture and the target language’s
culture
c. Consider responses from the target customers

Part 2: Student’s perspectives on the effectiveness of applying localization strategy

in translating English commercial slogans.
3. Rate your satisfaction level with the adoption of localization in translating
commercial slogans.
a. Unsatisfactory
b. Needs development
c. Neutral
d. Capable and Effective
e. Very Effective
Please rate your answer on the scale of 1-5, corresponding 1-Strongly agree, 2-Part;y
agree, 3-Neutral, 4-Partly disagree, and 5-Strongly disagree

4. What are the advantages of localizing commercial slogans?

a. Decrease barriers to enter a new market
b. Improve customer experience
c. Avoid offending potential customers
d. Enhance brand recognition
e. Stimulate business development
f. Others: …..
5. What challenges do you face when adopting this strategy?
a. There’s no direct translation for the words or phrases used in slogans since many
of them play on cultural idioms, puns, or rhymes.
b. Commercial slogans can clash with your cultural norms
c. Localization can be time-consuming
d. Your translation can affect the design or vice versa
e. You have a poor command of English or Vietnamese
f. Others: …

231
 REFERENCES

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the surface of something: 2. If flames or waves lick something, they. . .. Learn more. Retrieved
September 21, 2022, from https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/lick
Cambridge University Press. (n.d.). Slogan. In Cambridge Dictionary. Retrieved
September 20, 2022, from https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/slogan
Dan, L. (2015). Techniques for the translation of advertising slogans. In Proceedings of
the International Conference Literature, Discourse and Multicultural Dialogue, LDMD (Vol.
15, pp. 13-23)
Dan, L. (2015). Techniques for the Translation of Advertising Slogans. Discourse as a
form of multiculturalism in literature and communication. Arhipelag XII Press.
Dan, L. (2015). Techniques for the translation of advertising slogans. In Proceedings of
the International Conference Literature, Discourse and Multicultural Dialogue, LDMD (Vol.
15, pp. 13-23).
DePalma, D. A., Sargent, B. B., & Beninatto, R. S. (2006). Can’t read, won’t buy: Why
language matters on global websites. Lowell, MA: Common Sense Advisory Inc.
Forsyth, D. R. (2014). How do leaders lead? Through social influence. In Conceptions of
Leadership (pp. 185-200). Palgrave Macmillan, New York.
Foster, T. R. (2001). The art and science of the advertising slogan. ADSlogans Unlimited.
Han, L., Jones, G. J., & Smeaton, A. F. (2021). Translation quality assessment: A brief
survey on manual and automatic methods. arXiv preprint arXiv:2105.03311.
Harris, S. (2022). Translation vs. Localization vs. Transcreation: Is there a Difference?
Argos Multilingual. https://www.argosmultilingual.com/blog/translation-localization-
difference
Khau, K. A., & To, T. N. H. (2022). Investigating translation of English advertising
slogans into Vietnamese. European Journal of Foreign Language Teaching, 6(1).
Leech, G. (1966). A Linguistic Study of Advertising in Great Britain. Longmans.
Li, Z. (2001). Cultural impact on international branding: A case of marketing Finnish
mobile phones in China (No. 13). University of Jyväskylä.
Mathur, L. K., & Mathur, I. (1995). The effect of advertising slogan changes on the
market values of firms. Journal of Advertising Research, 35(1), 59-59.
Mo, J., McNicol, J., & Brouthers, L. E. (2007). WHAT I SINA NAME?
TRANSFERRING BRANDS TO CHINA. Marketing in the 21st Century, 93.
Nguyen, T. H. (2009). An analysis on cultural elements in translation of English slogans

232
into Vietnamese (Doctoral dissertation, Đại học Dân lập Hải Phòng).
Nida, E. A., & Taber, C. R. (1969). The theory and practice of [Biblical] translation.
Brill.
Pedersen, D. (2014). Exploring the concept of transcreation–transcreation as “more than
translation”. Cultus: The Journal of intercultural mediation and communication, 7, 57-71.
Reiss, K., & Rhodes, E. F. (2014). Translation criticism–the potentials and limitations:
Categories and criteria for translation quality assessment. Routledge.
Spillane, J. (2014, September 4). Localizing Slogans: When Language Translation Gets
Tricky. Business 2 Community. Retrieved September 20, 2022, from
https://www.business2community.com/branding/localizing-slogans-language-translation-gets-
tricky-2-0998446
Xiaosong, D. (n.d.). Stylistic Features of the Advertising Slogan. Translation Directory.
Retrieved September 26, 2022, from https://www.translationdirectory.com/article49.htm

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 BÀI NGHIÊN CỨU NHỮNG THÀNH NGỮ, TỤC NGỮ
LIÊN QUAN ĐỒ ĂN TRONG TIẾNG ANH VÀ TIẾNG VIỆT
VÀ BẢN DỊCH TƯƠNG ỨNG
SVTH: Hoàng Thúy An, Hà Nguyên Phương, Phạm Thùy Linh
GVHD: Nguyễn Minh Thu

Tóm tắt: Dịch thuật là một quá trình phức tạp, yêu cầu người dịch không những có năng lực
tiếng giỏi mà con phải trang bị kiến thức văn hóa ở cả hai ngôn ngữ. Những nghiên cứu gần đây đã chỉ
ra rằng người biên dịch gặp nhiều khó khăn trong việc dịch thành ngữ, tục ngữ - những yếu tố liên quan
mật thiết đến văn hoá. Trong khi đó, những thành ngữ, tục ngữ này phản ánh chân thực đời sống con
người, bao gồm thực phẩm. Nghiên cứu nhằm chỉ ra sự khác biệt về văn hóa ẩm thực giữa hai nước,
và ảnh hưởng của các yếu tố văn hóa tới cách sử dụng thành ngữ, tục ngữ trong tiếng Anh và tiếng
Việt. Thêm vào đó, nghiên cứu cung cấp bản dịch tương ứng của các thành ngữ, tục ngữ liên quan tới
đồ ăn trong tiếng Anh và tiếng Việt. Có thể kết luận rằng nền văn minh nông nghiệp, công nghiệp cũng
như các yếu tố về lịch sử, địa lý và lối sống là nguyên nhân chính dẫn đến sự khác biệt trong việc sử
dụng các loại thực phẩm trong thành ngữ, tục ngữ. Thêm vào đó, cả hai ngôn ngữ sử dụng các thành
ngữ, tục ngữ này nhằm đưa ra ẩn ý về sinh kế, cách ứng xử, đời sống tình cảm và các bài học trong
cuộc sống.

Từ khóa: Dịch thuật, văn hóa ẩm thực, thành ngữ, tục ngữ, ẩn ý.

AN ANALYSIS OF ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE FOOD-

RELATED IDIOMS AND PROVERBS AND THEIR
TRANSLATION.

Abstract: Translation is an arduous process requiring both language competency and cultural
knowledge in two different languages. Recent studies have cited the difficulties of translators regarding
translating idioms and proverbs, which have a strong connection to culture. Given that food is a
significant tenet of the culture, idioms and proverbs frequently refer to it. This research aims to
emphasize the variations in food culture and how these cultural aspects influence the expression of
idioms and proverbs in Vietnamese and English. They are also accompanied by their matching
translations. It is concluded that agricultural and industrial civilizations, as well as historical,
geographical, and lifestyle factors, are the primary causes of differences in food culture expressed in
idioms and proverbs. They are also employed to convey metaphorical meanings concerning livelihood,
behaviors, sentimental life, and life lessons.

Keywords: Translation, food culture, idioms, proverbs, metaphorical meaning

234
 1. INTRODUCTION
1.1. Background of the study
In every language, idioms are a fascinating and widespread phenomena. They are
commonly used to communicate thoughts and notions that cannot be encapsulated in a single
word and are common in daily life. Idioms consistently highlight how each country views and
responds to the outside world in a distinctive way. Studying idioms aids learners in becoming
fluent in a language in terms of both lexicology and grammar since they serve as the
quintessence in each linguistic treasure. The finest approach to obtain priceless insights into
various cultures and human psychology is also through studying foreign idioms (Hanh & Long,
2019). Furthermore, Gerhardt (2013) states that speaking and eating are actions that all humans
engage in. Every healthy individual eats and engages in conversation, and every group or
organization does the same. Culture has an impact on both language and food, which may alter
based on factors including gender, age, situational context, and even style of life. When it comes
to eating, there are considerable differences between people based on culture and language.
Syntactic patterns or food preferences are neither innate nor natural. Similar to food, language
connects nature and society. The French gastronome Brillat-Savarin (1825) initially wrote this
now-famous adage in his seminal work, Physiology of Taste: "Tell me what you eat, and I will
tell you what you are."
1.2. Rationale and research questions
1.2.1. Rationale
Translation is a complicated process which requires translators to have not only a good
command of both source language (SL) and target language (TL) but also a thorough
understanding of cultural factors. Nonetheless, each country possesses its own cultural
properties, which probably hinders translators from successfully rendering culture-specific
words or expressions into the target language. Being well-equipped with cultural background
knowledge possibly allows translators to shorten processing time and improve the quality of
their translated version, making it more vivid and expressive.
1.2.2. Significance of the study
This study aims to broaden the cultural backgrounds of translation majors and readers
interested in translation. Furthermore, a contrastive study of metaphorical connotations of
certain food products in both Vietnamese and English will be incorporated after an in-depth
analysis of cultural elements of both Vietnamese and English idioms and proverbs.
1.2.3. Research questions
How cultural differences in food choices are reflected in idioms and proverbs in English
and Vietnamese and their translations?
1.3. Scope of the study
The purpose of the study is to examine and contrast translations of idioms from different

235
cultural perspectives, particularly proverbs and idioms related to food. Additionally, the authors
hope to offer readers a deeper understanding of how eating choices affect the development of
English and Vietnamese idioms and proverbs.
2. LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1. Definition
2.1.1. Translation
Translation is a science and the presumption that it is based on a philosophy of language
that encompasses all types of texts, target audiences, and use situations. Although translating is
not a separate discipline, it frequently involves specialized knowledge and may also call for
aesthetic awareness. Nida (2016) reveals that a particular ability to sense the closest natural
equivalent of a text, whether it be written or spoken, is required of skilled translators. However,
translating is fundamentally a talent that draws heavily on a variety of fields, including
linguistics, cultural anthropology, philology, psychology, and communication theories.
Translation is an activity that all multilingual individuals may partake in without formal study
of technical methods, in contrast to the many disciplines such as physics, chemistry, and
biology. As effective bilinguals, they are quick to recognize the levels of similarity in texts.
According to Newmark (1981), finding the best translation techniques for the broadest variety
of texts or text-categories is the major focus of translation theory. Additionally, it offers a set
of guiding principles, some specific guidelines, and pointers for translating texts, evaluating
translations, and setting the stage for problem-solving. Moreover, Larson (1984:3) unveils that
any theory should take into account the methods used in translation to deal with challenges and
issues in some complex texts. The goal of a translation is to convey the meaning of the source
language into the target language. This is accomplished by using semantic structure to transition
from the first language's form to the second language's form. Since meaning is the variable of
most significance in a translation process, it is the meaning that is being conveyed and must be
maintained constant. The meanings included in the source form are encoded and stored in the
source wordings, and these meanings must be retained and re-expressed in the target form. To
put it another way, just the shape varies. The new target wordings should then be changed to
reflect these meanings and have them encoded and documented.
2.1.2. Idioms & Proverbs
Regarding idioms, Vasiljevic (2005) defines idioms as what include fixed multi-word
phrases whose meanings cannot be inferred from the literal meanings of the words that make
up those phrases. In a broad sense, English idioms have a specific structure and meaning, and
they include established phrases, proverbial sayings, and a variety of slang terms. Idioms in
contemporary English relate to a language's habitual expression, the specific language of a
certain country or nationality, the special dialect of a particular region, culture, or class, and the
linguistic style of notable works (Lyu & Li, 2020). Concerning proverbs, according to (Medier,
1993), they are "a brief, commonly understood statement of the people that combines wisdom,
truth, morals, and traditional ideas in a metaphorical, fixed, and unforgettable form and that is

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handed down from generation to generation”. They highlight the substance of a phenomenon,
code of behavior, counsel or offer direct instructions, prohibitions, and bring out the core of
other phenomena. These expressions are a means of communication and often employed in
context throughout the globe (Ehondor, 2017). Additionally, Syarfuni (2014) defines proverbs
as short sayings that disclose a common truth and represent a community's perspectives of life,
society, and the world. Consequently, they are part of the spiritual riches of the people's culture
and language, as well as their age-old knowledge and talents - a significant aspect of human
linguistic culture.
2.1.3. The relationship between culture and idioms & proverbs
According to Geng (2009), culture is inextricably related to idioms and proverbs as they
are exceptional forms of language holding the ability of exquisitely conveying culture in terms
of any country’s exclusive features including natural environment, social context, economic
activities that are strongly connected with people’s inner mind. The whole meaning of idiomatic
expressions cannot be deduced from the meanings of its separate words. Proverbs, like idioms,
frequently have a specific meaning that is distinct from the meaning of the component words
together, but in a different way than idioms. The precise meaning of an idiom does not always
make sense, and idioms can be difficult to grasp unless individuals have already studied or
heard them. Although the literal meaning of proverbs is obvious, the intended meanings of these
statements are not the same (Britanica, 2022). More importantly, in order to understand the
most culturally valuable aspects of each country, food-related idiomatic phrases are the first
and foremost to investigate. This is because cuisine plays a crucial part in any culture and makes
up the large scale of idioms and proverbs.
2.1.4. Challenges caused by lack of cultural background knowledge in process of
translation
Köksal & Yürük (2020) points out the important role of cultural background knowledge
in the translation process. Particularly, when translators have prior understanding of society,
culture, and experience comprehension, they can successfully translate the lexical meaning of
SL to the TL. This is vital for transferring the representation of a message from a source
language to a target language in high-quality translation that includes connotation, figurative
meanings, and culturally similar terminology. Interpreters clearly serve an important function
as cultural mediators between persons who need to communicate but do not speak the same
language. The function of interpretation as an international communication bridge necessitates
that interpreters not only acquire fine linguistic methods, but also have a deep and generous
understanding of other cultural backgrounds. During intercultural dialogue, the critical
functions of multicultural awareness were constantly kept in mind. As a result, it can be stated
that the interpreter/translator must enhance awareness not only to linguistic differences but also
to cultural differences in order to effectively eliminate misconceptions and accomplish
successful intercultural communication. According to (Hoa & Thao, 2022), the most common
cultural term challenge that students face is translation of idioms and fixed expressions since

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they typically contain words or phrases that are untranslatable or difficult to interpret.
Translation of connotations and classic references was indicated as a challenging sort of cultural
term by 30.3% of participants when translating from Vietnamese to English. Cultural
terminology or phrases in archeology, history, and geology were not popular with them and
were difficult to translate from Vietnamese to English. Because most students have been
acclimated to the social culture of the present, interpreting cultural phrases with connotations
and historic allusions frequently confuses them.
3. METHODOLOGY
The research paperwork was carried out by collecting idioms and proverbs in both
Vietnamese and English language from reliable sources which are Oxford Idioms Dictionary &
Common English - Vietnamese idioms and proverbs (Tục ngữ và thành ngữ Anh Việt thông
dụng). Based on collected data, the writers draw some notable features of differences in food
culture between Vietnamese and English idioms and proverbs and their usages. Finally, a
semantic evaluation of various food-related idioms and their translations is provided.
4. DISCUSSION
4.1. The differences in word-using in diet idioms related with people’s eating
habits in English and Vietnamese:
In addition to providing nutrients for the body, food also reflects the culture of a country.
Food and human existence are inextricably linked because food is necessary for maintaining
human life. Idioms and proverbs, meanwhile, are a highly succinct and vivid speaking style
people have decided to use to express their thoughts, attitudes, and beliefs about many issues
in their lives (Lê, 2010). As a result, based on eating habits, individuals frequently borrow and
convey imagery of food in idioms and proverbs to express their cognition and perception. Each
country also has a distinct culinary culture that reflects its socioeconomic structure and cultural
customs. Because of this, the use of idioms and proverbs relating to food in English and
Vietnamese differs greatly.
4.1.1. The favorite food of British people and the related idioms:
Wheat and dairy products are major staples for the British population. Around 5,000 years
ago, wheat was introduced to the UK, and by the beginning of the 19th century, it had become
the country's most important grain produced for human use. Additionally, the annual
consumption of milk and dairy products by the British is high. “Bread” and “butter” are hence
commonly referenced in English idioms and proverbs to refer to different meanings.
The idioms “Bread and butter" and "Earn one's bread” employ the words “bread” and
“butter” as metaphors to refer to a person's ability to support himself financially or in terms of
a basic human need. The word “bread” is used in the phrase “Take the bread out of someone's
mouth” negatively to suggest depriving someone of a means of subsistence. These two food
images also make reference to human behaviors, such as the saying “Eaten bread is soon
forgotten”, which denotes ingratitude and the quick forgetfulness of what people received; r the

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idiom “Butter would not melt in your mouth” which refers to someone who appears mild-
mannered, innocent, or sincere but is actually cruel, cunning, or insincere. “Know which side
one's bread is buttered on '' refers to a person's loyalty to the person who will most directly
benefit them.
Great Britain is an island country with a large area of oceans around, and the warm
temperature and marine climate make this place good for the growth of temperate vegetables.
Temperate veggies like cucumber, potato, and apple are hence frequently used in English
idioms. “As cool as a cucumber” refers to behavior that is extremely calm under pressure.
Another idiom, “a couch potato” uses the image of a potato to denote someone who is passive
and sluggish, which gives the phrase a negative connotation. The word “apple” is also used in
the expression “an apple polisher” to describe someone who flatters or assists others without
sincerity in an effort to get something or gain favor. The phrase “the apple of one's eye” is also
used to describe someone who is adored by another person.
Great Britain is a highly industrialized nation, thus life moves quickly there. Fast food is
widely consumed in America due to the hectic pace of modern living. Every restaurant serves
hamburgers and hotdogs, and other fast foods like bacon and chips can also be found in idioms.
“Bring home the bacon”, for instance, refers to prosperity or bringing in money to support the
family. When the phrase “the chips are down” is used, it alludes to a situation that is extremely
difficult or risky. The phrase “in the chips” denotes wealth, and the expression “cash in your
chips” describes selling an investment to raise money.
4.1.2. The favorite food of Vietnamese people and the related idioms:
The most significant element of agriculture and the food industry in Vietnam is definitely
rice (Vietnamese Food Culture: The Basics of Food, Eating Behavior, and Culture in
Vietnamese Society, n.d.). Many Vietnamese temples regard rice as a sacred object. The greatest
enduring belief in Vietnam, Mother Goddess Worshipping, is where it is thought to have its
roots. Yes, rice is quite popular here. In ancient Vietnamese, the word “Happiness” was first
written using the images of several rice plants and a square that stood in for a paddy field. Not
only is rice a source of joy, but it also significantly influences Vietnamese language and culture.
As a result, rice is a common ingredient in many primary dishes and snacks in Vietnam,
including Banh Chung (square cake), rice porridge, steaming rice, sticky rice cake, “bún”
“miến” and countless more rice-based foods from every region of the country. Even the popular
Pho that many people have probably heard of is produced from rice. Moreover, Vietnam is an
agricultural nation with a long history of wet rice culture and Vietnamese inhabitants have
strong connection with wet rice cultivation, therefore there are many references to food in the
verses, proverbs, and idioms.
Rice appears in many idioms referring livelihood including “Cơm áo gạo tiền/ Đồng tiền
bát gạo'” which related to the daily expenses. “Cơm chéo áo, gạo chéo khăn” means living in
poverty and saving little by little in daily expenses. “Mạnh vì gạo, bạo vì tiền'” is another
expression to indicate the power of wealth in life. Since rice is always the major dish in

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Vietnamese meals, it signifies Vietnamese life and has an intensive presence in idioms about
livelihood. In addition to this, rice also appears in idioms that describe human behavior, such
as “Đâm bị thóc, chọc bị gạo” describing those constantly seeks to cause conflict among others
and “Ăn cháo đá bát” which berates the ungrateful.
Rice products are frequently used in Vietnamese idioms to symbolize various facets of
human sentiment or behavior. For instance, “bún” in the idiom “Bao nhiêu sợi bún, bấy nhiêu
sợi tình” refers to how much someone loves another person, which is a positive meaning; while
“cơm” and “phở” in “Chán cơm thèm phở” refer to the wife and the affair lover in negative
meaning, describe the situation that a man get bored of his wife and start a secret relationship
with another girl. “Bánh chưng” and “xôi” are also rice products that appears in Vietnamese
idioms “Ăn chực đòi bánh chưng/ Ăn mày đòi xôi gấc” refers to those who are greedy and
always demand excessive things.
Due to the fact that they are popular foods that are near to the lives of Vietnamese people,
tropical fruits and vegetables are frequently utilized as a metaphor in Vietnamese idioms and
proverbs. Vietnamese proverbs and idioms frequently refer to crops like morning glory, “cà
pháo” - eggplant, pickle, sugar cane, and tangerine. This is because Vietnam is located in the
tropical region of Asia, where the climate is favorable for tropical crops and the development
of the agriculture economy. The proverb “Anh đi anh nhớ quê nhà, nhớ canh rau muống nhớ
cà dầm tương'' consists of two image “rau muống” - morning glory and “cà” - eggplant, conveys
the great longing and love of the boy for the girl he loves. In another phrase “Ăn cơm nhà nọ,
kháo cà nhà kia'', “cà” alludes to those who are dishonest and cunning and constantly speak ill
of others in order to benefit themselves. “Ngọt như mía lùi'' uses the sugar cane symbol “mía”
to denote a kind and convincing manner of speech. In “Vỏ quýt dày có móng tay nhọn” the
tangerine-like symbol "quýt" conveys the message that no matter how strong a person is, there
will always be a stronger foe to punish them.
Geographical factors have led to “mắm” (fish sauce and shrimp paste) becoming one of
Vietnam's signature dishes and appearing in numerous idioms and proverbs. Fishing is quite
popular among Vietnamese people, especially those who live close to the coast. Vietnam has a
long coastline of 3260 km that stretches from Mong Cai in the north to Ha Tien in the southwest
(Embassy of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, 2022). As a key source of protein since ancient
times, fish sauce has its roots in Vietnam (Rachel, 2020). The deep ocean was out of reach for
early fishing boats, who couldn't go there to catch bigger fish for more fish meat. Instead, they
primarily stayed at the shoreline and looked for little fish. Later, it was discovered that layering
these little fish in salt-filled barrels might generate a sauce with a higher protein content. In
Vietnamese idioms, “mắm” - fish sauce can be used to characterize someone who acts rudely
or insensitively, as in “Dùi đục chấm mắm cáy” or to offer advice on how to behave in various
situations or how to spend money effectively as in “Liệu cơm gắp mắm”. The phrase “Ăn cơm
mắm, thắm về lâu'' also employs the imagery of fish sauce to emphasize the people's sincerity,
implying loyalty, unity and sharing even in the face of adversity.

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 Vietnamese people have a propensity for eating traditional foods that require a lot of
ingredients and careful preparation. Vietnamese proverbs such as “Rau cải nấu với cá rô/ Gừng
thêm một lát, cho cô giữ chồng”; “Rủ nhau xuống bể mò cua/ Đem về nấu quả mơ chua trên
rừng”; or “Ta về ta lấy cần câu/ Câu con cá bống, nấu canh tập tàng” makes this eating habits
quite evident.
4.2. A contrastive analysis of metaphorical meanings of food items in both
English and Vietnamese related idioms and proverbs and their translation:
Following an in-depth analysis of the appearance of food items in English and Vietnamese
related idioms and proverbs, it is concluded that there are four prominent figurative meanings
that food items of idioms and proverbs share in both languages. Regarding each figurative
meaning, the corresponding translation of each food-related idiom or proverb in the source
language (SL) will be put in parentheses.
Firstly, the majority of food-related English and Vietnamese idioms hold the
metaphorical meanings of livelihood, essential items of a person’s life or poor living conditions.
In English idioms, these connotations are commonly found in the image of “bread”. For
example, “bread” in English idioms refers to the meaning of a person’s livelihood “take the
bread out of someone’s mouth” (đạp đổ chén cơm của người khác) or “earn one’s bread” (đi
kiếm cơm). Additionally, English idioms use the image of bread to indicate necessities of a
person’s life “bread and butter” (cơm áo gạo tiền or miếng cơm manh áo or đồng tiền bát gạo).
Apart from the meanings of livelihood and necessities, this image appearing in English idioms
implies poor living conditions or impoverished people. This can be exemplified by “live on the
breadline” (cơm chéo áo, gạo chéo khăn). When rendering these English idioms into
Vietnamese, it is suggested that translators use the image of “rice” (cơm, gạo). By doing this,
the translated version will preserve the original meaning and avoid misunderstandings or lack
of naturalness caused by cultural differences.
Secondly, there are several food items indicating the metaphorical meaning of human
behaviors or personalities in both English and Vietnamese idioms and proverbs. This can be
exemplified by following English idioms and their equivalents in Vietnamese: “Eaten bread is
soon forgotten” [an ungrateful person] (Ăn cháo đá bát); “A couch potato” [a lazy person or
those having a sedentary lifestyle] (Há miệng chờ sung); “as cool as cucumber” [a person
acting very calmly] (Ngầu như trái bầu); “an apple polisher” [those trying to flatter something
or somebody to get ahead] (Đời dưa nói dưa đỏ/ Đời mít khen mít thơm). Although some food
items that can be found in both languages imply the same meaning of human behaviors, there
are some related idioms or proverbs that translators cannot find the corresponding food items
in the target language (TL). In such cases, it is crucial for translators to paraphrase or find other
idioms and proverbs in TL as long as they convey the same message as those in SL. There are
several idioms to illustrate this point, for example, “Ăn chực đòi bánh chưng/ Ăn mày đòi xôi
gấc” (beggars can’t be choosers or the grass is always greener on the other side); “Đâm bị
thóc chọc bị gạo” [a person who always wants to create discord among others] (a firebrand);

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“Dùi đục chấm mắm cáy” [those who are rude and behave insensitively]; “Butter would not
melt in your mouth” [a hypocritical person] (Giả nhân giả nghĩa).
Finally, there are many English and Vietnamese food-related idioms indicating the
meanings closely associated with sentimental life and meaningful life lessons. Nonetheless, it
is difficult for translators to find food items that appear in both English and Vietnamese related
idioms and proverbs and semantically similar to each other. As a result, when rendering those
idioms and proverbs, there is no need for translators to find food items in TL. Instead, they are
recommended to paraphrase or find other idioms or proverbs in TL conveying the same message
of the original version. Regarding food-related idioms with the meaning of human’s sentimental
life, this can be exemplified by “Chán cơm thèm phở” [an unfaithful person] (a bit on the side
or play away from home); “Anh đi anh nhớ quê nhà/Nhớ canh rau muống nhớ cà dầm tương”
(miss someone to the moon and back); “Ăn cơm mắm, thắm về lâu” (A friend in need is a friend
indeed). In terms of idioms and proverbs implying life lessons, “Hope is the poor man’s bread”,
it is difficult to find a particular food item in Vietnamese idioms or proverbs illustrating the
similar meaning, instead, the suggested translation of this idiom should be “Còn nước còn tát”
or “Không ai giàu ba họ không ai khó ba đời”. This case could be found in following idioms:
“Liệu cơm gắp mắm” (cut your coat that suit your cloth); “Vỏ quýt dày có móng tay nhọn”
(diamond cuts diamonds).
Based on this contrastive analysis, there are two conclusions about the translation of food-
related English and Vietnamese idioms and proverbs that translation-majored students can
benefit from. Firstly, for food-related idioms and proverbs indicating two metaphorical
meanings of livelihood, necessities of a person’s life, and human behaviors, translation-majored
students should find corresponding food items in both two languages. By doing this, their
translated versions are likely to be more vividly expressive and natural. However, for food-
related idioms and proverbs with meanings of sentimental life and life lessons, translation-
majored students should not waste time on finding food items that appear in both languages.
Instead, they had better find other idioms or proverbs with retained original message or
paraphrase them.
5. CONCLUSION
The analysis has given readers insight into how idioms and proverbs are produced in
source language based on food perception, as well as translations from the authors and frequent
phrases in target language. In general, idioms and proverbs with special meanings are mostly
derived from rice, rice products, fish sauce, or other popular meal ingredients for Vietnamese
people; whereas in English culture, bread, along with other types such as butter, apple, and
other types of fruits, have been used in main meals. Cuisine is conveyed through idioms and
proverbs, which is related to the above-mentioned tie between language and culture, particularly
food. The paper is confident in its provision of translation aspects when coming to food idioms
and proverbs. While the group of authors have put their greatest efforts into presenting and
translating those in both source and target language, some of them are not equivalently found.

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It could be blamed on the paucity of knowledge in both cultures, however, an open gate for
further researchers to dig deeper into the field and come up with more idioms and equivalents.

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 BÀI NGHIÊN CỨU VỀ CÁC PHƯƠNG PHÁP ĐƯỢC DỊCH GIẢ
SỬ DỤNG TRONG DỊCH THUẬT VĂN HỌC TỪ TIẾNG ANH
SANG TIẾNG VIỆT
SVTH: Nguyễn Thành Đạt – 9A19, Triệu Văn Quỳnh - 9A19, Ngô Thủy Tiên - 9A19, Nguyễn
Tiến Hoàng Duy - 10A19
GVHD: Nguyễn Minh Thu

Tóm tắt:Nghiên cứu này phân tích các phương pháp dịch giả sử dụng trong dịch thuật văn học
từ tiếng Anh sang tiếng Việt. Trong nghiên cứu này, phương pháp mô tả so sánh được sử dụng, cho
phép những nhà nghiên cứu chúng tôi mô tả những thách thức trong quá trình dịch thuật văn học Anh-
Việt và các phương pháp phù hợp để giải quyết những vấn đề trong việc dịch. Các phát hiện đã làm
sáng tỏ một số hạn chế liên quan đến sự khác biệt về ngôn ngữ và văn hóa giữa ngôn ngữ nguồn và
ngôn ngữ đích. Bên cạnh đó, một số phương pháp được các dịch giả sử dụng cũng được đề xuất.

Từ khóa: dịch thuật, dịch thuật Anh – Việt, dịch thuật văn học, phương pháp dịch

A STUDY ON THE ENGLISH – VIETNAMESE TRANSLATION

PROCEDURES ON LITERARY TRANSLATION

Abstract: The present study aims to analyze English - Vietnamese translation procedures in
literary translation. The major method adopted in the study is comparative descriptive approach, which
enables our group to describe common challenges encountered in the English - Vietnamese literary
translation and the appropriate methods to resolve these issues. The findings unravel several
constraints associated with linguistic and cultural discrepancies between the target language text and
source language text. Several recommendations to overcome the hindrances are also proposed.

Keywords: ,English - Vietnamese translation, literary translation, translation, translation method

1. INTRODUCTION
1.1. Background information
A society exists along with many classes, from lower class to higher one. Especially in
the past, when the living conditions of people were poor, the difference between each class was
extremely clear. To be more specific, in such an insecure period like the 20th century, it cannot
be denied that the underprivileged had to live in a poor condition. Understanding this fact, a
research project is conducted to find out the portrayal of the underprivileged in literature of
Britain in the 20th century.
1.2. Research aim
This study aims to Identify the procedures used in the English - Vietnamese literary
translation.

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 1.3. Research questions
This research paper will address the following questions:
- What procedures are normally used for English – Vietnamese literary translation?
2. LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1. Define problem
Catford (2000) believes that challenges in translation mainly arise from the differences in
language structure and culture. Linguistically, Catford stated that one of the pressing issues of
translation comes from the structural differences between the Source Language (SL) and the
Target Language (TL). It is demonstrated in the variation of words or images in terms of style,
language, vocabulary reservoir and linguistic peculiarities, which translators need to understand
in order to produce an adequate translation of the SL text. Catford also highlights the
interdependent relationship between culture and language which give direction to TL mode of
expression.
Cui (2012) explored the different realms of language from the perspective of traditional,
religious, historical or culture-specific materials. Cui suggested that different nations have
distinct images to symbolize different subjects or items. The study also found that people in
different religions form their own traditions, which may reduce the translatability of a certain
text due to cultural discrepancies or limited information in the SL text. Moreover, the record of
social development tied into particular historical events of a society or community may be lost
in the course of history, resulting in varied fixed expressions and idioms or legends without
equivalents in the TL.
Baker (2018) explores the challenging aspects of literary translation which stems from
alliteration, referred to as the conspicuous repetition of initial consonant sounds of nearby words
in a phrase, often used as a literary device, e.g. “she smiled slowly”. When translating to a TL
with linguistic or structural differences, translators may encounter loss of rhythm. In other
words, translators may have to face the difficult choice between preservation of rhythmic effect
and proper TL translation. Besides, Baker suggests that another challenge may come from
complex structures, which is particularly prevalent in classical texts such as novels or plays.
Translation of clause complexes requires the translator of adept ability as these sentences may
be a direct reflection of the character’s education or preferable style.
2.2. Problems in translating literature
Modern Translation and Play Translation
Since there are generally multiple classic texts, according to Schuesler and Jennifer
(2016), modern translation requires literature review and text modification. This seems to be
particularly amazing in the case of the Bible and Shakespeare, both of which have undergone
considerable literary modifications as an outcome of recent research. Because some readers
prefer the original versions to the modern translations, traditionalists dispute against modern

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language. The practice of translating modern literature into classical languages in order to read
it in depth is also unhelpful.
According to Carlson's theory, there are numerous issues with translating plays, including
the addition of performers, the length of speeches, the literalness of the translation, and the
connection between drama and acting. Successful play translators can thus produce language
that makes it possible for the playwright and the actor to collaborate together.
According to Ji (2011), play translators must also take into account the final performance,
different acting and theatrical traditions, the speech patterns of the characters, current theatrical
discourse, and even the acoustic performance of the auditorium, or if a particular phrase would
have a common impact on the new readership as it did on the original audience. For example,
audiences in Shakespeare's day were more accustomed to actors spending more time on stage
than audiences now. Current translators often simplify the intricate hierarchies of subordinate
clauses that made up the sentence patterns of earlier dramas.
2.3. Present solutions
According to Vinay and Darbelnet (1958/2000), it is frequently possible to close gaps
here between source language and the target language by translating the SL message in
fragments into the TL. The predominance of structural and metalinguistic parallelisms among
languages is the cause of this. Vinay and Darbelnet observed that indeed translators can use a
paralleled category or a paralleled notion to express the meaning of the source text in some
situations where they see a difference in the target language. The authors assert that any of the
following direct translation techniques can be used to achieve this: borrowing, calque, literal
translation, transposition, modulation, equivalence, and adaptation.
Trieu Thu Hang (2022) asserts that due to the differences between Vietnamese and
English, it is particularly challenging for translators to adequately describe the meaning of the
terms. However, equivalence (have further recognized as reformulation; produces a similar
content in the target language via using wholly new stylistic and structural mechanisms) and
transposition (usually includes substituting one word class to another without switching the
message of the text; can be used intra linguistically within a particular language) are the most
commonly used procedures in literature translation (Vinay and Darbelnet).
3. METHODOLOGY
3.1. Selection of samples
The samples used in this study are works written in English, collected from must-read
novels. Those books are famous among Vietnamese readers and have received publications by
publishers such as NXB Văn học and NXB Hội nhà văn.
3.2. Research procedure
The procedure for data collection and analysis demonstrated as below:
Step 1: English texts corresponding to Vietnamese versions searched.

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 Step 2: The samples are categorized and then analyzed on the basis of the procedures
employed.
4. FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION
Referring to Vinay and Darbelnet, we have examined the procedures by comparing
translational texts with English source texts. From there, we will examine their application in
context.
Comparing the Vietnamese and English versions of literary works, namely the translated
versions of “Romeo and Juliet” and “Wuthering Heights”, two common strategies were
discovered. The two procedures, being equivalence and transposition, will be analyzed below
with specific excerpts from two literary works.
4.1. Equivalence
In equivalence, a deep understanding of cultural differences is required before translation
so that the translated texts correspond to the culture, style and grammar of the reader’s. Thus,
while it may never produce 100% accurate translations, the translation would be more
comprehensible.
The tragedy play “Romeo and Juliet” by William Shakespeare is regarded as being very
tough to translate. Its translated version by Dang The Binh, however, proposes excellent
examples of equivalence in translation. For example:

Source Text Translated Text

Sampson Xamxơn

A dog of the house of Montague Cứ thấy một thằng chó nhà Montaghiu là tao ngứa
moves me ngáy chân tay

According to Dr. Van Nhan Luong, using Vietnamese expressions, the source text was
translated. Normally, “A dog” has the equivalent in Vietnamese as “con chó”. However, “thằng
chó” (dog man) better conveys the meaning of “A dog” as it preserves the intention of the
author, which is to denote hate towards the Montague.
Another noticeable equivalence is translating “moves me” into the phrase “ngứa ngáy
chân tay”. Originally, “ngứa ngáy chân tay” literally means an itchy sensation yet in the context
of the play, it is appropriate to harbor the subtle reference of aggression in Vietnamese. As a
result, Vietnamese readers may understand that seeing the Montague makes Sampson’s blood
boil from the chosen TL phrase “ngứa ngáy chân tay”.

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 From the analysis above, it is undeniable that the equivalent Dang The Binh translator
selected has delivered the intention of the original English text and fulfill its communicative
function in Vietnamese.

Source Text Translated Text

rebellious subjects enemies to peace, Quân làm loạn, lũ phá rối trị an kia!

…one more, on pain of death, all men …Một lần nữa, ta truyền tất cả phải lui ngay, kẻ nào
depart trái lệnh sẽ phải tội chết

The pronoun "ta" = I, which is frequently employed in communication between the King
and individuals of high social standing in the old Vietnamese feudalism system, is taken in the
context of the prince's high status and honor in Verona, Italy, in this phrase. The translator uses
the pronoun "Quân" = troop, which is frequently used with a negative connotation, typically
referring to adversaries (for example, "a troop of thieves" equals "quân ăn cướp"), to refer to
the servants of the Montagues and Capulets, further emphasizing the contrast in social rank.

Source Text Translated Text

Juliet Juliet

A dog of the house of Montague Thôi, u ơi, tôi cũng xin u im đi cho.
moves me

As a babysitter and one of the Capulets' employees, the Nurse is identical to the
Vietnamese word for mother, "u," which is frequently used in the country's northern regions.
The viewer assumes that Juliet is telling her mother to stop talking because of the pronoun "u."
However, the translator substitutes the appropriate pronoun in the translation of the line below:

Source Text Translated Text

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 Tybalt TiBân

it fits when such a villain is a guest. bộ mặt ấy thích hợp lắm nếu có thằng khốn ấy là
I'll not endure him khách. Tôi quyết không để cho nó yên

Because Tybalt is Capulet's nephew and must use polite language to speak with him, the
translator's choice of the pronoun "Tôi" as the equivalent of "I" in this situation is irrelevant to
the context because "Tôi" in Vietnamese is used amongst friends or individuals of the same
age. In Vietnamese culture, this kind of speech is blatantly rude. The next line also uses
pronouns I and Thee in an equivalent manner:

Source Text Translated Text

Juliet Juliet

Well do not swear. Although I joy in Nhưng thôi chàng ơi, đừng thề thốt nữa
thee,
.Em cầu cho sự thanh thản êm đềm của lòng em cũng
Come to thy heart as that within my sẽ đến với trái tim chàng
breast

The translator begins by using the pronouns em (which means "I") and chàng (which
means "thee"), which are frequently used in literature or in correspondence between royalty or
other members of a feudalistic society. The language becomes incredibly passionate for Romeo
and Juliet's romance because to this kind of equivalent. However, the translator abruptly
changes sweet, a charming way to refer to a lover, to “Bạn yêu quý”, which translates to "dear
friend," transforming the sweet love into a friendship. In other instances, speakers in the ST
adopt a less courteous attitude due to irrelevance in the selection of similar personal pronouns.

Source Text Translated Text

PARIS PARIT

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 my lord, I would that thursday were Thưa tướng công, tiểu tử chi mong rằng ngày mai đã
tomorrow là thứ năm rồi

Because the translator chose to translate I as “tiểu tử” as opposed to My Lord as “tướng
công”, which refers to the officer in a feudal culture, the comparable pronouns used in this line
are not applicable to the rest of the text. As a noble lord respected by many people in Verona,
including the Capulets, Paris abruptly lowers himself in the dialogue with Capulet, which makes
it unsettling.
4.2. Transposition
Another procedure of literary translation of such high quality is called Transposition -
involving a shift from one grammatical category to another, or a change in the position of
components while still preserving the meaning.
Especially “Wuthering Heights” by Emily Brontë embraces an important influence on
English literature with sincerity and poetic power. In addition, its translated version by Duong
Tuong adopts a Transposition procedure, which makes changes from noun to clause or passive
to active voice to improve the translation fluency in the following examples:
- Passive voice in source language is changed into active voice in target language:

Source text Translated text

1. While enjoying a month of fine weather at Trong khi hưởng một tháng đẹp trời ở
the seacoast, I was thrown into the biển, tôi ngẫu nhiên làm quen với một
company of a most fascinating creature. con người cực kì quyến rũ.

The passive voice serves as the original's primary point of emphasis in this particular
example. However, Duong Tuong modified "I was thrown into" to the active form " Tôi ngẫu
nhiên làm quen” (I randomly got acquainted) when translating into Vietnamese, which
strengthen the concentration on the target audience in the target language.

Source text Translated text

2. I have just returned from a visit to my Tôi vừa đi thăm vị chủ nhà về - người láng
landlord - the solitary neighbor that I giềng duy nhất rồi đây sẽ dây dướng quan hệ
shall be troubled with. với tôi.

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 “ I shall be troubled with”

Source text Translated text

3. Her position before was sheltered Lúc nãy vị trí của nàng khuất khỏi ánh sáng;
from the light; now, I had a distinct bây giờ tôi nhìn rõ toàn thể vóc dáng và vẻ
view of her whole figure and mặt của nàng.
countenance.

While it may be suitable in English to apply passive voice into such circumstances, It is
not likewise in Vietnamese to put passive voice here since
- Compound nouns in source language is translated into clauses in target language:

Source text Translated text

1. I do myself the honor of calling as Tôi cho mình cái vinh hạnh lại thăm ông
soon as possible after my arrival. sớm nhất ngay sau khi tôi tới nơi

The first example shows that, if Duong Tuong purely translates the noun phrase “my
arrival” as “ngay sau sự tới nơi của tôi” the translation will be unnatural in Vietnamese. The
change from noun to clause here is perfectly reasonable.

Source text Translated text

2. I would have made a few comments, Tôi muốn bình luận đôi câu và đề nghị ông
and requested a short history of the chủ cau có cho biết qua lai lịch của nơi này
place from the surly owner …

A few comments” was used as an object in source language, however, for the sake of
translation, it was translated into “bình luận đôi câu”. The original text might be suitable in the
source language but when it is translated into Vietnamese, it gets dull and boring. In this
situation, “a few comments” was originally a noun phrases but it was translated into a verb
phrases which sounds more beautifully and

Source text Translated text

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 3. No wonder the grass grows up Hèn nào mà cỏ mọc đầy giữa những phiến đá
between flags, and cattle are the only lát và chỉ có gia súc làm công việc tỉa xén hàng
hedge-cutter rào ..

The translator changed the noun phrase "the only hedge-cutter" (a gardening tool) into
the clause "chỉ có gia súc làm công việc tỉa xén hàng rào" which makes the translation more
natural and appropriate for Vietnamese reader. The original compound noun “hedge - cutter” is
translated into “does the hedge cutting job” which sounds more suitable translating directly into
vietnamese.
5. CONCLUSION
In conclusion, translating literary works has always perplexed translators. To accurately
interpret a work, the following 7 procedures must be applied: Borrowing, Calque, Literal,
Transposition, Modulation, Equivalence, Adaptation. Each of the procedures provide a suitable
way to translate the text and the translators have to use all of them wisely to make a translation
that can be able to convey the true idea and meaning of the author to the readers.
However, among those procedures, there are two main forms, being transposition and
equivalence. As “Romeo and Juliet” and “Wuthering Heights” shows, both methods aid in
illustrating the message and the emotion of the characters. Though there are some non -
equivalences between the translations, they can be considered acceptable for the sake of
retaining the author’s intentions. Undoubtedly, translation like the above examples requires
extensive revision and editing.
REFERENCES

Schuessler, Jennifer (2016). "Translating Shakespeare? 36 Playwrights Taketh the Big

Risk". The New York Times.
Cui, J. (2012). Untranslatability and the method of compensation. Theory and Practice in
Language Studies, 2(4), 826-830.
Baker, M. (2018). In other words: A coursebook on translation. Routledge.
Carlson, H. G. (1964). Problems in play translation. Educational Theatre Journal, 55-58.
Jiří Levý (2011). The Art of Translation, Philadelphia, John Benjamins Publishing
Company, pp. 129-39.
Vinay, J.-P., & Darbelnet, J. (1958/2000). A Methodology for Translation. [An excerpt
from Comparative Stylistics of French and English: A Methodology for Translation, trans.
and eds. J. C. Sager & M.-J. Hamel, Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 1995.
Trieu Thu Hang (2022). challenges in literary translation: a case in english-vietnamese
translation of“the great gatsby”. vnu journal of foreign studies, vol. 38, no. 3

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 NGHỆ THUẬT CHƠI CHỮ ĐƯỢC DÙNG TRONG MEMES
SVTH: Trần Ánh Dương (10A20), Phùng Ngân Giang (8A20), Trần Tú Anh (10A20)
GVHD: Nguyễn Phương Anh

Tóm tắt: Chơi chữ là một biện pháp tu từ đặc biệt và giữ một vị trí quan trọng trong việc tạo ra
sự hài hước trong văn học Anh. Việc nghiên cứu tính hài hước của lối chơi chữ dựa vào hiện tượng
đồng âm và đa nghĩa của từ đã nhận được sự quan tâm nhất định từ các nhà ngôn ngữ học và sinh
viên nghiên cứu ngôn ngữ trong thời gian gần đây. Hơn nữa, với sự phát triển năng động của Internet
và nhiều nền tảng mạng xã hội, các cách chơi chữ được chia sẻ rộng rãi dưới dạng meme, vốn rất quen
thuộc với thế hệ chúng ta. Các meme trên Internet đóng một vai trò quan trọng trong việc mang lại sự
hài hước, khơi dậy những ý tưởng mới và thúc đẩy một cộng đồng sáng tạo. Mục đích của bài viết này
là để hiểu rõ hơn về các kiểu chơi chữ khác nhau được sử dụng trong các meme trực tuyến và phân
tích sự hài hước của các memes. Chúng tôi tập trung phân tích các meme dưới dạng hình ảnh chứa
văn bản sử dụng biện pháp chơi chữ, bài viết này sẽ trình bày nền tảng lý thuyết đằng sau sự hài hước
trong chơi chữ và meme, sau đó phân tích các kiểu chơi chữ khác nhau trong các meme trên tài khoản
Instagram có tên Punchampion.

Từ khóa: Chơi chữ, Meme, Từ vựng học.

PUNS IN INTERNET MEMES

Abstract: Pun is a distinctive rhetorical device and holds a key position in producing humor in
English literature. The study of the humor of puns generated by exploiting word sense disambiguation
has gained certain concerns from linguists and students studying languages recently. Moreover, with
the dynamic development of the Internet and many social media platforms, puns are shared widely in
the form of memes, which are very familiar with our generation. Internet memes play a huge role in
delivering humor, sparking new ideas, and promoting a creative community. The aim of this paper is to
gain insight into the different types of puns which are used in online memes and elaborate on the humor
effects of each meme. Focused on memes combining images with text, this paper will present the
theoretical background behind the humor of puns and memes and analyze different types of puns in
memes from Instagram account Punchampion.

Keywords: Puns, Internet memes, Lexicology.

1. INTRODUCTION
1.1. Background of the study
Memes are very important in online communities for spreading humor, making ideas
more popular, and uniting people (Simon, 2019). Since the introduction of the Internet and the
growth of social media platforms, it has never been simpler to share humor and memes.
1.2. Rationale

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 The reason for this study is the significance of understanding the application of puns in
online communication, more particularly in internet memes.
1.3. Scope of the study
Among diversified terms in the set of wordplay, puns and Internet memes caught our
attention. A strained relationship between these two notions has been discovered during the
process of researching on the Internet, especially on Instagram. “Pun Champion” is an
outstanding Instagram account which contains a significant number of puns in the form of text
and image. This research paper focuses exclusively on how puns are illustrated in this account’s
memes following recent research of Tanasoi (2021).
1.4. Significance of the study
Puns, a form of wordplay, have existed for a long period in human writing. Therefore,
numerous studies on its classification had been conducted and produced a considerable number
of results. This research-based study aims to provide readers with a comprehensive
understanding of puns’ categories and point out dominant types and commonly used content in
Internet memes, effectively illustrating the humor function of puns. Additionally, this paper’s
findings will be considered a valuable source of references for other researchers involved in a
similar concern.
1.5. Research question
The study aims to answer the following research question: How are puns portrayed in
memes from the Instagram account “Pun Champion”?
2. LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1. Overview of puns
2.1.1. Definition of puns
Pun is a common language phenomenon which is formed by combining certain contexts
with homonyms or polysemous words to evoke humor. Another common definition of pun is
an expression that exploits double-meaning or similar-sounding words (Rajula, 2017). Tanasoi
(2021) claimed that pun is the most common type of wordplay in English humor which plays
on unexpected associations and semantic relationships between words. Kinugawa (2016) also
stated that a pun contains ambiguous words that have more than one meaning occurring
simultaneously. This ambiguity that is closely related to humour challenges the mind to be
concise (Simon, 2019). Other linguistics also defined pun as a kind of code that readers are
invited to decipher (Redfern, 1986). That is to say, pun is a rhetorical device or an ambiguous
phrase that is not easy to comprehend.
2.1.2. Functions of puns
This rhetorical device is proven to have multi-functional effects such as making the
language become briefer or funnier. Gan (2015) elaborated on the function of pun as a device

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to create brevity, humor, satire, and persuasion. To be more specific, he explained that in the
process of decoding the ambiguity of a pun, readers can achieve additional humor effects that
are hidden under ambiguous phrases. Mohamed (2019) also listed five different functions of
pun: linguistic function, poetic function, attention-grabbing function, social function, and
entertainment function, respectively. Among those functions, we viewed the entertainment
function as the most dominant one since people play with words to manipulate them as a source
of humour. Each pun contains phonological ambiguity or describes a specific situation; the
humor effects are generated when the pun is solved unexpectedly by the readers. Because the
most dominant function of puns is to create humor effects, puns are used in many situations
such as advertising, conversation, and riddles.
2.1.3. Classification of puns
Pun existed throughout the history of worldwide literature. Therefore, their classifications
vary considerably and continuously, not to mention that each definition creates a premise for
another classification to be developed.
Delabastita (1996) divided puns based on traditional classification, including the
structural and linguistic structures:
1. Homonymy (words with similar sound and spelling);
2. Homophony (two words with the same pronunciation but different meanings);
3. Homography (words that have the same spelling but possess distinct pronunciations
and meanings);
4. Paronymy (slight differences in spelling and sound).
Bader (2014), as cited in Nila (2018) summarized from different authors and inserted
more types of puns, Compound pun (using two or more puns in the textual part)
1. Recursive pun (the punning part is the second aspect, based on the
comprehension of the first aspect)
2. Visual pun (picture and image play a crucial role in punning function)
Finally, from Tanasoi (2021)’s perspective, puns could be categorized into 6 types:
1. Homophonic aspect;
2. Homographic aspect;
3. Homonymic aspect;
4. Compounded aspect;
5. Recursive aspect;
6. Visual aspect.
This paper attempts to clarify Tanasoi’s (2021) theory as the phonological aspects of puns

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are demonstrated from the linguistic viewpoint in the most straightforward and synthetic way.
a. Homophonic puns
This first type of pun uses word pairs with identical sounds but different meanings, which
are called homophones. As this kind depends solely on pronunciation, it is easier to construct
a pun with it.
b. Homographic puns
Homographic puns contain words identical in spelling but different in sounds and
meanings. Contrary to homophonic puns, homographic puns rely on sight more than hearing.
They often do not make sense when understood outside of the context of the joke.
c. Homonymic puns
Homonymic pun is defined as the exploitation of words that are both homophones and
homographs, which have the same spelling and pronunciation but give birth to a new meaning
depending on certain contexts.
d. Compound puns
A compound pun contains more than one pun in the same statement, each pun within that
statement has a connection to the others. Two phrases that share a word also counted as a
compound pun.
e. Recursive puns
Recursive puns comprise two indispensable elements that make up the full meaning.
Consequently, in this type of pun, the reader’s understanding of the second component would
rely on that of the first. In other words, if one cannot comprehend the link between the two, he
or she will fail to understand the author’s intention.
f. Visual puns
Visual puns are illustrated by pictures, and graphic symbols such as logos, emblems, or
insignia. That is the reason why it is also defined as non-phonetic puns. Those graphic devices
sometimes pun on the collisions or the contraries of two or more objects, these contraries may
carry two or more meanings.
2.2. Overview of Internet memes
2.2.1. Definition of Internet memes
Internet memes are considered a part of the online culture, which are mostly jokes in the
form of image+text or GIF+text combinations or just plain text. Internet memes are favored by
the young generation because of their entertainment purposes and their temptation to invite
Internet users to share and recreate them creatively (Stojchevska & Shalevska, 2018). Davison
(2014) held an agreement with Stojchevska and Shalevska when citing Internet memes as “a
piece of culture, a joke, which gains influence through online transmission.” These two

257
definitions are intersecting points that can be dislisted into three primary characteristics. Firstly,
Internet memes are a way of spreading jokes and they represent some aspects of the youngster’s
culture while using the Internet. Secondly, memes always come in the form of a picture with
text layered over it, memes sometimes appear in the form of a hashtag, animated GIFs, or a
video. However, this paper will only focus on memes as still images with written text on them.
2.2.2. Structure of memes
Internet memes are considered a part of the online culture, which are mostly jokes in the
form of image+text or GIF+text combinations or just plain text. Internet memes are favored by
the young generation because of their entertainment purposes and their temptation to invite
Internet users to share and recreate them creatively (Stojchevska & Shalevska, 2018). Davison
(2014) held an agreement with Stojchevska and Shalevska when citing Internet memes as “a
piece of culture, a joke, which gains influence through online transmission.” These two
definitions are intersecting points that can be dislisted into three primary characteristics. Firstly,
Internet memes are a way of spreading jokes and they represent some aspects of the youngster’s
culture while using the Internet. Secondly, memes always come in the form of a picture with
text layered over it, memes sometimes appear in the form of a hashtag, animated GIFs, or a
video. However, this paper will only focus on memes as still images with written text on them.
2.2.3. Function of Internet memes
The fundamental purpose of a meme is to spread a particular emotional, contextual
message (Reime, 2015). The messages contained in memes are direct, brief, and concise.
Therefore, memes can be used as propaganda tools to easily instill and cement beliefs that
quickly gain popularity among cybernauts (Duong, 2017). Memes also help to build strong
relationships within the online community because they are easily understood by many people
worldwide, regardless of their native language.
Memes not only cross languages; their relatability fosters a sense of belonging among
certain internet users of various ages. Indeed, the act of spreading memes, posting them on
social media, and tagging friends on particular meme pages has improved communication
throughout the world and supported globalization (Duong, 2017).
In the context of education, the use of humorous memes in the classroom appeals to the
youth. Internet memes are a cross between an image and a spoken message. Memes that include
visual representations of dialogue are preferable to pictures when applied in language teaching
(Harshavardhan et al., 2019).
3. METHOD
3.1. Data collections
The research analyzed the application of puns in Internet memes as well as the humor
function of puns in making Internet memes viral. Data were collected from a popular Instagram
account named “Pun Champion”, which uploaded memes in the form of images and videos.
This account posted over one thousand memes with the use of puns and gained approximately

258
21,300 followers, proving public interest in pun memes. After gathering data, we conducted the
process of decoding and sorting, including spotting and excluding sensitive content (containing
sexual practices, sensitive body parts, violence, crime, slangs, and insulting disabled people).
In terms of memes appearing more than once (same visual part, same content), we only
mentioned once. Besides, memes in the form of videos were not discussed in this paper. The
table below shows the total number of memes that will be discussed later.

Types of pun Total number of memes after sorting

1Homophonic pun 5

2Homographic pun 1

3Homonymic pun 5

4Compound pun 5

5Recursive pun 13

6Visual pun 6

Total number of puns discussed in this paper 35

3.2. Data analysis

Following the completion of the study, the collected Internet memes including puns were
categorized into different sections according to the puns classification system of Tanasoi
(2021), and their linguistic features were analyzed detailedly. As a result, this paper will be able
to demonstrate specific socio-linguistic features of memes that make them vastly interesting to
both linguists and sociologists.
During the process of analyzing memes that include puns, we encountered numerous
memes containing more than one type of puns, which makes categorization difficult. However,
we tried to identify the type of puns that was most obviously depicted.
4. THE STUDY/ ANALYSIS
We have collected and classified all memes from the Instagram account Punchampion
into eight different categories: Memes containing Homophonic puns, Memes containing
Homographic puns, Memes containing Homonymic puns, Memes containing Compound puns,
Memes containing Recursive puns, Memes containing no pun and Memes containing sensitive
content.

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 Types of pun Total Sensitive content Total (excluding
sensitive content)

Homophonic
1 pun 154 18 136

Homographic
2 pun 4 2 2

Homonymic
3 pun 201 26 175

Compound
4 pun 43 5 38

Recursive
5 pun 289 47 242

Visual
6 pun 167 16 151

No
7 pun 155

Total number of memes 1015 Total number of memes 746

in Punchampion containing puns in Pun
Champion (excluding
sensitive ones)

However, due to the time limit we only choose to pick some notable and typical examples
that represent adequately each type of puns to analyze.
4.1. Memes containing Homophonic puns

(Pun Champion - 21 Nov 2019)

The homophone “Loki” and “Lowkey” made up the punning part of this meme. Loki is a
character from Marvel, played by Tom Hiddleston, whereas “lowkey” is the state of being low
or moderate.

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 (Pun Champion - 28 Nov 2019)

The punned words are “Flare” and “ Flair”. On the one hand, a person with “a flair for
the dramatic” is a person who has the talents of being an actor. This person can attract great
attention from the audience. On the other hand, a "flare" is an unsteady light or flame.

(Pun Champion - 23 Feb 2020)

This meme relates to the animal topic, containing the homophones “eye” and the letter
“i”. “A pig with three eyes” is interpreted as a pig with three “i”s.

(Pun Champion - 19 Feb 2020)

Another aspect commonly mentioned in the account is science and technology. In this

261
meme, the author uses the homophones “Neil” and “Kneel”. Neil Armstrong was the first
human being to put the first step on the moon, whereas “kneel” creates the phrase “kneel before
me”, which means that someone goes down on one or both one’s knees in front of something
or somebody.

(Pun Champion - 19 Dec 2019)

Christmas or holiday is the topic for this meme. By using exotic names of people, the
author demonstrates the lyrics of the song “Last Christmas” by Wham. The first name has a
similar sound to the phrase “gave you my heart” , the second one is “gave it away” and the final
name is “someone special”
4.2. Memes containing Homographic puns

(Pun Champion - Nov 7 2019)

Converse in this meme has two meanings with different pronunciation. Converse
/ˈkɒnvɜːs/ is a famous brand of shoes. Besides, converse /kənˈvɜːs/ is a verb, meaning to have
a conversation with somebody.
4.3. Memes containing Homonymic puns

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 (Pun Champion - 15 July 2020)

Rubber is a bad conductor of electricity and heat. In this situation, “conductor” means a
substance that allows heat or electricity to go through it. Meanwhile, “conductor” can also mean
a person who directs the performance of an orchestra or choir.

(Pun Champion - 27 March 2020)

“Solution” can be understood in two ways: “a means of solving a problem or dealing with
a difficult situation” or “a liquid mixture in which the minor component (the solute) is uniformly
distributed within the major component (the solvent)”.

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 (Pun Champion - 14 March 2020)

“Groundbreaking” usually means “having new and big changes from the latest version of
its type”. However, in this context, it can be interpreted as “breaking into the ground”.

(Pun Champion - 13 February 2020)

Contacts” means people you know who may be able to help or advise you. “Contacts”
may also refer to contact lens (a small round curved piece of transparent plastic, worn on the
surface of the eye to improve your sight).

(Pun Champion - 8 December 2019)

“Second opinion” refers to a medical procedure that many patients undergo to either
confirm or disprove an initial diagnosis. Here the doctor understands this phrase as “another
opinion”.
4.4. Memes containing Compound puns

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 (Pun Champion - 7 July 2020)

This meme depicts exactly a compound pun which is two phrases that share a word. The
phrase is “pharaohmones”, which is a combination of Pharaoh and Hormones.

(Pun Champion - 6 June 2020)

This meme is a scene captured from the famous Avenger series. The dialogue between
Thor and Hulk puns on the homonymic word “alter” and the homophonic words “genes” and
“jeans”. Alter means to change something or to cause the characteristics of something to
change, but it also means to change the size of clothes so that they fit better.

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 (Pun Champion - 19 Dec 2020)

This meme can produce great humor effect by virtue of punning on two phrases “kiss”
and “missiletoe”. The practice of kissing someone under the mistletoe is well-known among all
people in European countries. However, this meme intentionally mispronounces the word
“mistletoe” as “missiletoe”, combining with the homonymic pun of the verb “kiss” and “KISS”
the rock band, people can imagine humorous scenario of the rock band us under a missile toe.

(Pun Champion - 9 Nov 2020)

This meme exploits the phenomenon of two phrases “chop something up” and “chop
something down”, beside their literal meaning, chop something down is a phrasal verb means
to cut through something to make it fall down, while chop something up means to cut something
into small pieces.

(Pun Champion - 8 Nov 2020)

This meme contains numerous homophonic puns which play with different country
names. We have “Hungary - hungry”, “Czech - check”, “Turkey - turkey”, “China - trying”,

266
“Samoa - some”, “Iran - I ran (run)”, “Russian - rushed”, “Finnish - finish”, “Belize - Believe”.
4.5. Memes containing Recursive puns

(Pun Champion - 29 Oct 2020)

Locksmith is a person who makes and repairs locks, while the phrase locksmith is closely
related to the word “key”. That is the reason why this meme is listed into the “recursive pun”
category. Key worker is an employee in any of a number of professions considered to be
essential to the functioning of society, for example, teachers, police officers, health workers,
etc. If people put the phrase “key worker” out of this context, they cannot understand the
meaning of the phrase “key worker” and cannot comprehend the humor effect of this meme.

(Pun Champion - 28 Oct 2020)

This meme mentions two clauses that are inseparable, the meme creator also puns on the
word deep. The adjective “deep” means having a large distance from the top or surface to the
bottom or having great knowledge or understanding.

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 (Pun Champion - 18 Jul 2020)

This series of memes is typical for the type of meme that contains recursive puns. The
easy-recognizing trait of these puns is that it always contains two phrases, the first one will be
the original phrase, while the second one will use a part of the original phrase and a part that is
newly created. This newly created part usually exploits the antonyms or the homophonic
phenomenon of the original phrase. For example, Spain will be the opposite of Spleasure as the
meme creator keeps the first part of the word “Spain” that is letter “S” and add the antonym of
the word “pain” to form a new word: “Spleasure.” The case is true for other memes in this
series.

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 (Pun Champion - 27 Mar 2020)

A Kleptomaniac is someone with a very strong wish to steal that they cannot control and
they can not resist to take things literally. However, the first part of the statement also mentions
the phrase “explain puns”, which led to another way to understand the phrase “take things
literally” as to understand the real or original meaning of a word or phrase.

(Pun Champion - 21 Mar 2020)

This dialogue exploits the ambiguity of the phrase “stand corrected”. Firstly, that phrase
can be understood as “to stand in a corrected way with no spinal problem”; this is the literal
meaning of the phrase. However, the phrase “stand corrected” also has another meaning, which
is used to admit that something you have said or done was wrong.

.5

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 (Pun Champion - 9 Mar 2020)

This series of memes is interesting for it takes six pictures just to deliver a pun. However,
it is worthy because the readers are really new to this way of introducing a recursive pun. These
memes create a strange context and make readers go through each picture with a lot of questions
to solve the pun; at the end of the joke, they all burst out laughing.
4.6. Memes containing Visual puns

(Pun Champion - 17 June 2020)

The arrow points to the eye of the “bee holder”, which sounds similar to “beholder”. This
meme makes a reference to the proverb “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder”.

(Pun Champion - 2 July 2020)

The symbol π (spelled out as “pi”) is put in between the onion, referring to “opinion”.
This meme makes use of the homographic element.

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 (Pun Champion - 1 March 2020)

Wii (/wiː/), which sounds similar to “we”, is a home video game console developed and
marketed by Nintendo. Will Smith is an American actor and rapper. Dwayne Douglas Johnson,
also known by his ring name The Rock, is an American actor and former professional wrestler.
The last picture contains a hand pointing toward the audience, indicating “you”.
Combining these pictures together, it sounds like “We will, we will, rock you”. This is a
part of the lyrics of "We Will Rock You", a popular stadium anthem at sports events around the
world.

(Pun Champion - 31 January 2020)

Wii (/wiː/), a home video game console, is pronounced in a similar way to the French
word, “oui” (meaning “yes”).

,
(Pun Champion - 6 December 2019)

The meme shows four pictures in a row, respectively illustrating a bee, an ewe (female

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sheep), tea, and a pointer indicating a full fuel tank). Putting four elements together, we have
“bee-ewe-tea-full”, which sounds like “beautiful”.
The number of memes including recursive puns is the most dominant compared to that of
other types of puns. Although there are numerous memes containing homophonic and
homonymic puns, the connection between two clauses of the punchline is strong and obvious.
The first clauses always provide readers with the context and the speaking situation of the pun,
while the second clauses that contain wordplays use homonyms related to the former clause. It
is undeniable that to understand the whole meaning of a sentence, readers have to put it into the
relevant context by reading the whole piece of writing. That is the reason why most of our
collected memes are listed in the category of “Recursive pun”.
In contrast, the number of homographic puns is scarce, only four puns including the one
with sensitive content. We believe the reason is the difficulty in finding a pair of homographs
and a suitable context to create humor effects.
5. CONCLUSION
5.1. Conclusions
In summary, this research has given a detailed insight into a comprehensive classification
of six different kinds of puns with clear theories and vivid examples, together with an analysis
of their usage in Internet memes.
Throughout the process of analysis, the pervasive type of pun is recursive pun, in which
the punning part lies in the second clause of one sentence. The author prefers puns with context
that came along, which indeed created diverse content. Some of them relate to animal, food,
celebrity or science.
5.2. Limitations & Recommendations
Due to the time restriction and the great quantity of memes, the example section of this
research paper only elucidates a small part of how puns are depicted in memes. As memes are
collected from a famous Instagram account, it is inevitable that there are a large number of
memes containing puns which may not have been included and investigated.
As for recommendation, following studies with the same concern should carry out
analysis on diverse platforms and make effort to prove their accuracy. Further improvement
would help students to acquire a deeper understanding of puns and enhance their ability to
create memes and puns.

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 NHỮNG LỢI ÍCH VÀ KHÓ KHĂN TRONG NGHE CHÉP CHÍNH
TẢ THEO NHẬN THỨC CỦA SINH VIÊN NĂM THỨ NHẤT
VĂN BẰNG 2 NGÀNH NGÔN NGỮ ANH, KHOA TIẾNG ANH,
TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC HÀ NỘI
SVTH: Nguyễn Thị Thương Thương (4VBA22-1), Trương Hà Linh (4VBA22-1),
GVHD: Nguyễn Quang Hưng

Tóm tắt: Nghe chép chính tả là một kỹ thuật được sử dụng trong giảng dạy và học tập ngôn ngữ
trong đó người học nhận được một số thông tin đầu vào bằng lời nói, lưu giữ điều này trong ký ức của
họ trong một thời gian ngắn và sau đó viết những gì họ nghe được. Nghiên cứu này xem xét nghe chép
chính tả có hiệu quả trong việc giải quyết những khó khăn chính về nghe của sinh viên năm thứ nhất,
văn bằng 2 ngành ngôn ngữ Anh, khoa tiếng Anh, trường Đại học Hà Nội. Phiếu hỏi nhằm thăm dò
nhận thức của sinh viên về lợi ích của nghe chép chính tả trong việc nghe tiếng Anh và tìm hiểu các
khó khăn khi nghe của sinh viên giúp cho quá trình dạy học phần Thực hành tiếng của giáo viên đạt
hiệu quả, đồng thời nâng cao khả năng nghe của sinh viên và giúp họ hình thành nền tảng ngôn ngữ
vững chắc trước khi họ chuyển sang học phần nghe nâng cao hơn.

Từ khóa: nghe chép chính tả, sinh viên văn bằng 2, nhận thức.

SECOND-DEGREE FIRST-YEAR ENGLISH MAJORS'

PERCEIVED BENEFITS AND DIFFICULTIES IN DICTATION
LEARNING AT THE ENGLISH DEPARTMENT, HANOI
UNIVERSITY

Abstract: Dictation is a technique used in language teaching and learning which learners receive
some verbal input, keep this in their memory for a short time, then write down what they hear. This study
investigates learner’s perceptions of dictation to effectively address the main listening difficulties of first-
year students, second-degree English majors, English Department, Hanoi University. The questionnaire
aims to probe students' awareness about the benefits of dictation in listening to English and find out the
students' listening difficulties to help the teacher's teaching process of Language Practice effectively. It
also enhances students' listening skills and allows them to form a strong language foundation before
they move on to more advanced listening modules.

Keywords: dictation, second-degree students, perception.

1. INTRODUCTION
1.1. Rationale

275
 Dictation has long been interesting and researched by domestic and foreign linguists over
the years. Nation and Newton (2020) define dictation as a strategy/technique where learners
receive voice input, memorize it, and write it down; and dictation is valuable in teaching
techniques, learners not only sit and listen to the material but also focus on the phrases,
sentences, and clauses they hear in short-term memory and over and over again. Agustiani and
Yulia (2020) suggest that dictation is a technique that can make learning situations fun and
interesting. According to Chai (2011), dictation is an activity that helps learners improve
phonological awareness, listening, and writing skills. Furthermore, Jain (2008) states that
dictation is a strategy that helps learners develop the habit of listening, understanding
punctuation and spelling, and understanding words, phrases, sentences, and clauses, allowing
learners to increase their ability to listen to comprehension skills so that learners become
familiar with this language. In Vietnam, the authors Vo (2017), and Nghiem (2016) mentioned
the method of listening to dictation as a helpful tool to help teachers find appropriate resources.
or design their dictation listening exercises to teach listening skills more effectively. At the
same time, helping learners improve and enhance their English listening practice skills.
However, specific research has yet to be conducted on dictation activities of students
studying for a Second Degree at universities. Learners who choose Second-Degree are usually
working people who desire to continue pursuing their passions, accumulate knowledge, and
improve job opportunities and income; training time is shorter than formal diploma training.
This means that learners often have difficulty in practicing skills and methods of learning a new
foreign language, including listening skills such as limited vocabulary, unable to recognize the
sounds of words, and voices, reading by native speakers too fast, unable to catch up, not paying
attention continuously listening to long listening passages.
In summary, studying the difficulty of listening to dictation for students in general and
students studying for a Second Degree at universities is very necessary. The study and
clarification of this issue help teachers to use strategies and techniques of listening and dictation
to teach students to practice listening skills, and at the same time, contribute to helping learners
improve their confidence and develop their future selves.
1.2. Research aims
Research on difficulties in listening and dictation activities of students in the first year,
second degree, majoring in English language, Faculty of English, Hanoi University; thereby
proposing solutions to help teachers use strategies/technologies to teach dictation skills in the
teaching process; while assisting students in improving their listening skills effectively and
achieving their learning goals.
1.3. Research questions
- What are the learner’s perceived benefits of dictation?
- What are the learner’s perceived difficulties in listening to dictation?
2. LITERATURE REVIEW

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 2.1. Definition
2.1.1. Dictation
According to Chai (2011), dictation is an activity that helps students improve their
phonological awareness, listening, and writing skills. Furthermore, Jain (2008, as cited in
Mentari, 2018) stated that dictation is a strategy that can develop students' listening habits and
can also help students understand punctuation and spelling, understand words, phrases,
sentences, and clauses, and enable students to increase their listening skills, to familiarize them
with the language. Richards, Platt, and Weber (Fachrurrarzy, 1989) suggest that dictation is a
technique used in language instruction and language testing, in which a passage is read aloud
to students, with pause where students must try to write down what they hear as accurately as
possible. Spelling as a model for learning English phonetics is also essential for learning
grammar and vocabulary. Furthermore, Taylor (as cited in Fachrurrarzy, 1989) adds that
spelling has several meanings, including a) Dictation is reading a passage aloud. b) Dictation is
dividing a passage into suitable phrases for short-term memory and re-reading the phrase with
a phrase with enough space for the subject to record the previous phrase in writing. c) Dictation
is the option of re-reading phrases as they are written. d) Dictation means re-reading the entire
passage at one time. Dictation is a method used by teachers in teaching listening skills by
creating an exciting atmosphere to make students more interested in following the learning
process (Saragih et al., 2022).
To support this research, the authors agree to understand that Dictation is a technique
used in language teaching and learning in which students receive some verbal input, keep this
in their memory for a short time, and then write down what they hear.
2.1.2. Difficulties
According to the Vietnamese dictionary (2003, p.357), “difficulty” means an obstacle that
takes a lot of effort and is lacking.
English-Vietnamese dictionary (1993, p.335) “difficulty” or “hardship” both refer to
difficulty, hardship, and harshness that requires a lot of effort to overcome.
The research agreed that difficulties hinder the operation process, requiring individuals
to have a lot of effort to overcome to achieve the set goals.
2.2. Benefits of dictation
Research findings show that dictation is very useful for teaching listening to students.
Dictation can improve students' listening skills, enhance students' confidence and motivation,
and help students understand English pronunciation in detail. With the companion of dictation,
students can improve their abilities, especially listening skills. Teachers can effectively teach
listening to students to achieve learning goals using dictation.

277
 According to Patel and Jain (2008), dictation has many advantages. Includes, students
can (1) practice by recreating text what they hear; (2) practice good listening comprehension of
sounds and develop the habit of listening attentively to students; (3) understand the part of each
sentence and each phrase; (4) catch-up writing at the right pace; (5) understand spelling and
punctuation errors; (6) use capital letters in writing practice; (7) forming the habit of listening
and speaking and familiarizing themselves with the sound system of English.

The dictation strategy in teaching listening brings many benefits. The use of dictation in
teaching listening is based on the researchers' discovery and findings (Saragih, 2022), which
are: (1) Spelling can be used to improve students' listening skills: Many experts consider
dictation as a strategy that can improve students' listening skills and influence their success in
learning to listen (Reski & Musfirah, 2019); (2) Listening to dictation is a multi-skill activity:
used to improve students' speaking, reading and writing skills effectively (Andyani, 2012;
Hughes, 2005; Milne, 2014). Therefore, listening to dictation can effectively improve students'
English learning skills; (3) Dictation can improve students' confidence and motivation:
According to Indah (2019) and Yuniarti (2017) state that dictation is a strategy that can boost
morale and student motivation. Listening to dictation is also an exciting strategy in teaching
listening, which can create an enjoyable learning atmosphere; and (4) Listening to dictation
makes students more focused: using spelling in teaching listening can make students highly
focused in the learning process. Students can be more active in teaching-learning activities
(Pilot, 2013).
Dictation is an issue of interest to researchers to assess listening comprehension. Dictation
is proper when flexibly combined with new language learning activities. This is a teaching
technique that is highly effective at all levels of teaching. It ensures students' ability to listen
attentively, trains students to distinguish sounds, allows students to learn how to convert spoken
sounds into written symbols, helps develop an understanding of sounds, and supports students'
self-assessment.
3. METHODOLOGY
3.1. Participants
This study aims to discover students' perceptions about the benefits of dictation and the
main difficulties in listening and transcribing so that there are solutions that can improve the
listening skills of first-year students, Second degree, English language, Hanoi University. The
dataset of 86 records corresponds to 86 students studying Practical Languages 1 and 2 in the
academic year 2022-2023 and provides information on gender, age, and years of English
learning (see Table 1). The questionnaire consists of 24 questions with five options: Strongly
agree, Agree, Neutral, Disagree, and Strongly disagree. This questionnaire is adapted from Li
and Renandya (2012) and Kit (2004). In addition, the obtained data were analyzed through
percentages and mean scores of SPSS software.

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 3.2. Findings and Discussions
The table of processing results shows that the group of students participating in the survey
is aged from 20 to 29 years old at 48.8%, the rate is 38% from 30 to 39 years old, 6% over 40
years old, and under the age of 19 have no cases (see Table 1).
Table 1. Respondents’ characteristics
Characteristics N %
Gender 86 100.0
Male 13 15.1
Female 73 84.9
Age 86 100.0
Under 19 years old 0 0.0
From 20 to 29 years old 42 48.8
From 30 to 39 years old 38 44.2
Over 40 years old 6 7.0

The number of years of English learning of the survey participants in the second-degree
class is mainly from more than 6 years, accounting for 91.9%, and 8.1% of students have studied
English for less than 5 years. This result is also quite reasonable because the second-degree
class is mainly day workers (Table 2).
Table 2. The number of years studying English
Cumulative
Frequency Percent Percentage Percentage
Under 5 years 7 8.1 8.1 8.1
From 6 to 10 years 28 32.6 32.6 40.7
From 11 to 15 years 29 33.7 33.7 74.4
Over 16 years 22 25.6 25.6 100.0
Total 86 100.0 100.0

The processing results were obtained when asking students to learn English, mainly to
communicate with people (36.2%), to get a job (31.9%), and to study for higher education
(26.8%). In addition, some comments were obtained to develop language ability, travel abroad,
or arrange a time for learning English to accompany your children in approaching a second
language (Table 3).
Table 3. The major purpose of learning English

Content Responses

279
 N Percent
To get a job 44 31.9
To communicate with people 50 36.2
To go for further studies 37 26.8
Others 7 5.1

3.2.1. The benefits of learning dictation to students' English skills

Perception of the benefits of using dictation was synthesized from 5 statements with the
reliability value Cronbach's Alpha = 0.877; on the role of using dictation in the process of
students' English listening comprehension skills with the value Cronbach's Alpha = 0.838 (see
Table 4). The results of data collection from the questionnaire the statements show the students'
experiences and attitudes towards students' English listening comprehension through dictation.
a. Students' perception of using dictation in English
The data table results obtained the students' perception of using dictation in learning
English to agree with the statements "1. Does your teacher employ dictation in the classroom
(m=3.87); 2. Your teacher uses dictation as one of the techniques in teaching English (m=4.00);
3. When using dictation in English, the learning atmosphere becomes more fun (m=3.87); 4. I
enjoy learning dictation in my listening lesson (m=3.97) and strongly agree with the statement
“5. I am aware that dictation is important to help me learn listening skills) (m=4.28). This result
shows that teachers use dictation as one of the techniques used in the learning process to
improve student’s English listening comprehension. Sentence 3 Shows that the use of dictation
makes the learning atmosphere more enjoyable when listening to English. It can be seen that
dictation helps students create a comfortable mood in the process of learning to listen to English.
Comments that dictation has helped students form a relaxing mood, so it can be said that
dictation is an effective way to create a pleasant classroom atmosphere, which means that the
teacher has a role in making the lessons. Listening to English is always interesting, not dull
because the teacher is the main controller in the classroom. Sentence 4 Students are interested
when dictation is applied in the process of learning English listening of students. In addition,
the dictation spelling exercises are essential, especially for developing listening skills; dictation
exercise becomes interesting because it has the advantage that students are more active when
studying and can use large groups. In summary, dictation is suitable to apply to students'
listening comprehension.
b. The role of dictation in English listening comprehension skills of second-degree
students
In the table with sentences discussing the part of dictation, the research wants to know if
dictation has a significant role in improving the English listening skills of Second Degree
students. The results of data processing obtained students agree with all statements in order of
average score: “10. Listening using dictation is an excellent medium for supporting speaking

280
and listening” (m=4.16); “11. By discussing with my teacher using dictation in English lessons,
I work on my difficulties listening quickly” (m=4.05); “6. The dictation in English lessons made
it easier for me to listen to English words” (m=4.01); “8. Listening using dictation makes new
words memorable to me” (m=3.94); “9. Listening using dictation helped me learn about the
proper way of using English grammar” (m=3.87); “7. I learned to say correct English words by
listening to texts taught using English dictation techniques (m=3.81)”.
Specifically: Sentence 10 Dictation is a reasonable means of supporting English listening
and speaking skills. To understand the meaning of the English listening content, it is necessary
to practice the exercises by listening to the material guided by the teacher. Thereby helping
students happily spend more time learning English. Sentence 11 The primary purpose of
listening is to grasp and understand the messages and ideas of the material. It is essential that
when teachers guide and students exchange together, they will feel that dictation is necessary
for listening to English. One of the ways to be able to hear well is not to translate while listening
because translating will be distracting; it will be easy to miss while listening. That is, students
feel that dictation helps solve complex listening problems relatively quickly when teachers
apply dictation in the learning process. Sentence 6 Dictation is a popular learning tool, making
it easier for students to absorb English listening lessons. Dictation helps students adapt to the
native accent, and they think learning to listen using dictation makes listening easier. Sentence
8 Most students think they can pronounce English words better after listening to texts using
dictation technique because they can learn words correctly and memorize new words better.
This effective technique is applied and helps students learn to hear easily. Sentence 9 Learning
grammar effectively supports good English listening skills, bringing many benefits to learners.
It helps to quickly establish social interactions, convenient for searching and researching
academic and specialized documents, and expands knowledge. As a result, students' English
proficiency is improved. Sentence 7 Dictation helps distinguish the stress of words in a
sentence, assisting students in knowing English words to read and pronounce correctly.
Listening is a form of receptive language ability that dominates students' learning
activities. Listening is the most commonly performed activity in daily life. Language is one of
the systematic communication tools to express thoughts, feelings, opinions, and views by using
sounds, gestures, and gestures to be understood. To use language correctly and correctly
requires good listening ability and continuous learning. When applying dictation, they feel they
should spend more time practicing listening to English.
Based on the above research results, the research findings are consistent with authors such
as Hughes (1989), and Nation and Newton (2009), who said that practicing dictation helps
students improve and enhance students listening comprehension ability. Students feel happy
and excited when applying in class. Students can solve difficult problems faster when teachers
guide them on how to learn to use dictation while practicing English listening skills.
3.2.2. The difficulties of learning dictation

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 Cahyono and Kusumaningrum (2011) point out that it is a fact that many Second Degree
students have difficulty hearing. This is because they have to deal with difficult input, such as
the speaker's expression, the speaker's volume, the speaker's speed of speech, the speaker's face,
and also the cultural background included in the conversation. Table 5 shows the participants'
opinions on the list of 13 reasons why students have difficulty using dictation from many
different angles. The group of causes of difficulties in using dictation of students has 7 items
with the value Cronbach's Alpha = 0.781; the group of causes of problems in information
processing during student listening with 6 items with the value Cronbach's Alpha = 0.875.

As for the difficulties in accessing dictation documents, students agree with the
statements: “The listening passage is difficult when the sentences are long” (m=3.77), “It's hard
for me to understand the listening passage because I have limited vocabulary” (m=3.67),
“Although I know the words, I'm not able to recognize them in the listening passage” (m=3.52).
As for the statements “The spoken text is difficult to understand when I am not interested
in the topic” (m=3.31), “I'm unable to recognize phonetic variations such as reduced forms,
assimilation, elision, etc.” (m=3.30), “I have difficulty understanding the listening materials
because I am not taught good listening strategies such as predicting” (m=3.22), “Dictation
materials are difficult to understand because the speaker speaks fast” (m=3.15). It shows that
students think that they are at an average level Independence means feeling normal, not having
difficulty, and having difficulty at times in certain situations.
Similarly, students strongly agree with the statements about the difficulties in information
processing during listening to dictation: “I often miss the subsequent information when trying
to understand the previous words in the spoken text” (m=3.56), and “I quickly forget what I
heard” (m=3.52).
The rest of the respondents said that the difficulties encountered were only at a normal
level; that is, they sometimes had trouble pronouncing wrong words, leading to mishearing
words and difficulty in not being able to understand the main idea of the listening passage or
failing to recognize the stress and intonation in the listening passage. They could not group
words into meaningful sentences even after listening because of limited English grammar.
When asked, “Please share more about your difficulties in learning dictation”, the
research received the following comments: lack of time to learn and dictation, difficulty
memorizing all the words in the sentence, the problem with linking sounds, terrible memory,
loss of attention, not enough variety in vocabulary, wrong pronunciation, never practiced
regularly before, the grammar is not good.
4. CONCLUSION
Based on the research, the authors can conclude that dictation is suitable for students to
practice listening skills. Dictation exercises are fundamental, especially for developing learners'

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awareness of pronunciation, and even if organized effectively, learning dictation can be
enjoyable. The research gives some suggestions related to teaching activities, especially
teaching and learning to listen to dictation to be more effective. For teachers, dictation: 1)
Teachers can work with any level of learners, depending on the level of the listening material;
2) Teachers can grade students' listening ability at many levels. 3) Teachers can choose
strategies suitable for achieving learning goals in teaching listening. Therefore, the research
wants teachers to use the dictation listening strategy in teaching listening. This strategy will
help teachers teach listening in an enjoyable and effective learning atmosphere so that students
can improve their listening skills. For second-degree students, dictation can a) helps focus on
both the accuracy of the form as well as the meaning of the text; b) develop all four skills
(listening, speaking, reading, writing) to help increase confidence, motivation to pronounce
correctly and improve listening skills; c) create opportunities for learners to notice features of
pronunciation that they are weak in such as consonant and omission of sounds, misspellings,
no articles, singular and plural of nouns, etc.
Dictation extends traditional language learning. Dictation provides activities suitable for
many different levels; this is also a challenge and an opportunity for learners to confidently
write a good essay for themselves and apply experience in correcting mistakes in learning
English-second language effectively.

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 APPENDIX
Table 4. The benefits of learning dictation to students' English skills
Variable N Min Max Mean

Statistic Std.
Deviation
Students' perception of using dictation in English (Cronbach’s Alpha = 0.877)
1. Does your teacher employ 86 1 5 3.87 1.318
dictation in the classroom?
2. Your teacher uses dictation 86 1 5 4.00 1.293
as one of the techniques in teaching
English.
3. When using dictation in 86 1 5 3.87 1.060
English, the learning atmosphere
becomes more fun.
4. I enjoy learning dictation in 86 1 5 3.97 1.068
my listening lesson.
5. I am aware that dictation is 86 1 5 4.28 0.929
important to help me learn listening
skills
Students' perception of the role of dictation in English listening comprehension skills
(Cronbach’s Alpha = 0.838)
6. The dictation in English 86 1 5 4.01 0.988
lessons made it easier for me to
listen to English words.
7. I learned to say correct 86 1 5 3.81 0.964
English words by listening to texts
taught using English dictation
techniques.
8. Listening using dictation 86 1 5 3.94 0.998
makes new words memorable to me.

285
 9. Listening using dictation 86 1 5 3.87 0.878
helped me learn about the proper
way of using English grammar.
10. Listening using dictation 86 1 5 4.16 0.838
is a great medium for supporting
speaking and listening.
11. By discussing with my 86 1 5 4.05 0.839
teacher using dictation in English
lessons, I work on my difficulties
listening quickly.

Table 5. The difficulties of learning dictation

Variable N Min Max Mean
Statistic Std.
Deviation
Difficulty using dictation documents (Cronbach’s Alpha = 0.781)
Dictation materials are 86 1 5 3.15 .833
difficult to understand because the
speaker speaks fast.
The listening passage is 86 1 5 3.77 1.002
difficult when the sentences are
long.
The spoken text is difficult to 86 1 5 3.31 .858
understand when I am not interested
in the topic.
It’s hard for me to understand 86 1 5 3.67 .789
the listening passage because I have
limited vocabulary.
Although I know the words, 86 1 5 3.52 .715
I’m not able to recognize them in the
listening passage.

286
 I’m unable to recognize 86 1 5 3.30 .855
phonetic variations such as reduced
forms, assimilation, elision, etc.
I have difficulty understanding 86 1 5 3.22 1.100
the listening materials because I am
not taught good listening strategies
such as predicting.
Difficulty processing information during listening to dictation (Cronbach’s Alpha =
0.875)
I quickly forget what I heard. 86 1 5 3.52 .967
I have difficulty grouping the 86 1 5 3.31 .844
words I heard into meaningful units.
I have difficulty understanding 86 1 5 3.28 1.070
the listening materials because I
don’t pronounce English words
correctly.
I often miss the subsequent 86 1 5 3.56 1.036
information when trying to
understand the previous words in the
spoken text.
I feel it is difficult for me to 86 1 5 3.29 .969
figure out the main idea of the
listening passage.
I can’t use rhythmical features 86 1 5 3.17 .785
such as stress, and intonation to
determine word boundaries in the
listening passage.

287
 CÁC VẤN ĐỀ TRONG THIẾT KẾ POWERPOINT
LÀM CÔNG CỤ HỖ TRỢ TRỰC QUAN
TRONG CÁC BÀI THUYẾT TRÌNH HỌC THUẬT
SVTH: Dương Minh Hoạt, Nguyễn Thị Phương Thảo,
Lê Thị Thùy Dung, Nguyễn Thị Quỳnh Trang - 7A21
GVHD: ThS. Nguyễn Thanh Hoa

Tóm tắt: Trong môi trường học thuật, các công cụ hỗ trợ trực quan đã đóng một vai trò quan
trọng trong việc làm nổi bật và làm rõ các khía cạnh thiết yếu của bài thuyết trình. Với tính linh hoạt mà
các phương tiện trực quan mang lại, sinh viên thuyết trình nên tận dụng triệt để các loại phương tiện
trực quan khác nhau, một trong số đó là trang PowerPoint để tối ưu hóa hiệu quả thuyết trình. Tuy
nhiên, có thể nhận thấy rằng người thuyết trình có xu hướng mắc phải một số vấn đề khi thiết kế trang
PowerPoint, do đó làm giảm hiệu quả của bài thuyết trình. Vì vậy, bài viết này nhằm mục đích cung cấp
một cái nhìn toàn diện về các lỗi liên quan đến lựa chọn nội dung, phân đoạn và sắp xếp thông tin, ứng
dụng kiểu chữ, sự hài hòa về màu sắc và tính nhất quán của trang. Bên cạnh đó, các khuyến nghị để
nâng cao hiệu quả của các bài trình chiếu PowerPoint cũng được đưa ra.

Từ khóa: công cụ hỗ trợ trực quan, trang trình bày PowerPoint, vấn đề, sinh viên, môi trường
học thuật

PROBLEMS WITH DESIGNING POWERPOINT SLIDES AS A

VISUAL AID IN ACADEMIC PRESENTATIONS

Abstract: In the academic setting, visual aids have played a crucial role in highlighting and
clarifying essential aspects of the presentation. Given the versatility that visual aids bring, student
presenters should take full advantage of different types of visual aids, one of which is PowerPoint slides,
to optimize presentation efficacy. However, it could be realized that presenters tend to make several
problems while designing PowerPoint slides, reducing the presentation’s effectiveness. Thus, this paper
aims to provide a comprehensive view of the errors related to content selection, information
segmentation and arrangement, typography application, color harmony and slide consistency. Besides,
recommendations to improve the effectiveness of the PowerPoint presentations are also made.

Keywords: visual aids, PowerPoint slide, problem, student, academic setting

1. INTRODUCTION
PowerPoint could be acknowledged as an excellent tool that aids presenters in sharing
knowledge and illustrating information in academic presentations. A PowerPoint presentation
includes many elements, such as plain text, pictures, videos, and animation effects. Thus,
effectively learning how to design PowerPoint slides can be a great contributor to academic
presentation success. However, this task can be arduous for both professional and student
presenters.

288
 As sophomores in the English Department at Hanoi University, we are required to make
several academic presentations on specific topics. It has come to our attention that designing
PowerPoint slides could pose numerous challenges. Thus, our team conducted this research
paper to determine the challenges experienced by second-year English majors at Hanoi
University while designing PowerPoint slides as a visual aid in academic presentations. This
study is anticipated to provide students with a helpful understanding of specific, prevalent
PowerPoint difficulties and some recommendations during the design process. Additionally, it
can serve as a resource for any presenter who wishes to create a powerful presentation so that
the audience can deeply understand what the presenter is saying.
2. LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1. Academic Presentation
It is widespread practice for university students to prepare oral presentations on various
topics to present in class. The term “oral presentation” refers to delivering a speech in front of
people to share work or a concept (Nelson, 2012). Academic presentations typically follow the
same format but can serve different purposes, one of which is simulating an oral examination
in a university setting.
In university classrooms, students must prepare oral presentations on various topics that
create a rewarding and stimulating experience for students to develop their public speaking
skills (King, 2002). Academic presentations can be a helpful tool for students to improve their
ability to speak confidently in front of a crowd while also better understanding the learning
material. In addition, Girad and Trapp (2011) assert that through academic presentation,
students can gain additional knowledge and experience from their research and by observing
and assessing the strengths and weaknesses of other students.
At the English Department, students can learn several presentation skills on two
significant types of presentation: informative and persuasive. To increase the degree of
comprehension among the audience, students may also learn how to alter several aspects when
creating the visual aids and giving the speech more effectively.
Various visual aids can be used in academic presentations, including videos, flipcharts,
PowerPoint slides, models, or blackboards. Utilizing these visual cues could improve the
presentation’s efficacy and maintain the audience’s attention.
2.2. Visual aids
2.2.1. Definition of visual aids
According to John Fiske (1943) in the book “Miscellaneous Publications: Volume 5”
1943, visual aid is defined as anything that uses the human eye to transmit ideas during a spoken
or written presentation for educational purposes. Visual aids are those teaching tools applied in
the classroom to motivate and facilitate learning. Instructional aids include models, charts, film
strips, projectors, radios, television, and maps (Rather, 2004).

289
 Out of the aforementioned learning tools, they make demands on the thinking, hearing,
and senses through sight. Visual aids, according to Kinder, S. James, are any technologies that
can be employed to make the learning process more authentic, accurate, and dynamic. Using
visual aids as a tool is one of the models of assistance for presenters. The use of visual aids can
improve the speakers’ look and presence among the audience. By linking ideas, words, and
concepts with visuals, students can absorb and remember knowledge better, which is another
benefit of using visual aids in the classroom.
Visual aids can help the speaker recall their order and the key ideas that will be discussed
in each part. They can also clarify things to the audience when new concepts or arguments are
introduced. Only if the visual aids are employed in line with the presentation’s point-by-point
organization can these organizational benefits be realized.
2.2.2. Types of visual aids
According to Lin, Chen (2007) and Mayer (2003), visual aids function as advanced
organizers or informational tidbits emphasizing speaking skills, pronunciation, fluency,
vocabulary, and listening abilities.
There are different forms of advanced organizers (also known as ‘visual aids”) available
to everybody, which can be generalized into some types: diagrams, posters, physical objects,
and PowerPoint. Some of the visual aids listed below are elaborated in less depth than others
because of research paper constraints.
2.2.2.1. Diagrams
Diagrams are alluring and usually cause viewers to cringe. One of the most significant
hazards is overstuffing graphs with information, which obscures the essential message, which
should be evident at first sight. Diagrams are crucial because they graphically display
information. The proverb “a picture is worth a thousand words” holds true regarding diagrams.
2.2.2.2. Posters
In the academic world, posters are often utilized, and most conferences have a poster
session on their schedule. Study posters succinctly and attractively explain information or
research to promote it and spark conversation.
A brief textual summary is typically combined with tables, graphs, photographs, and other
presentation types in a poster. When presenting a poster at a conference, the researcher waits
beside the exhibit so attendees can stop by, see the presentation, and talk to the author. Content
and layout creation are the two critical components of poster production.
A brief research presentation is the goal of an academic poster, often made from images
or graphics and just 300 to 800 words of text (libraries, NYU,2022). Also, in this study, the title
must be attention-grabbing and concise, and valuable knowledge should be accessible from
around 10 feet away.
2.2.2.3. Physical objects

290
 Physical things are another visual aid that can help the audience understand the message.
Objects related to anything held up and discussed throughout the speech to capture or keep the
audience’s attention. Like any other visual aid, an object must be easily seen and comprehended
by the audience to be helpful as a presenting aid.
Props can be as straightforward as a chair or as complex as a PowerPoint presentation,
film, food, drink, or trophy. When Jill Bolte Taylor spoke about her severe stroke and the life
lessons she learned from it, she did it by using a human brain (at 2:30-3:45 in the video below).
The gimmick worked because it helped the audience understand the fundamental makeup of
the brain, which was crucial for the remainder of the discussion.
2.2.2.4. Videos
Video may be utilized as a presenting tool to help make a stronger argument. It focuses
on the listeners’ visual and aural senses. Finding audio and video materials pertinent to the
speaker’s presentation is simple because of the abundant internet audio and video resources.
2.2.2.5. PowerPoint
PowerPoint is one of the most popular, easy-to-use technical resources in educational
settings. The PowerPoint presentation program was invented by the Microsoft Office system,
which is often used by businesspeople, teachers, students, and trainers. The Microsoft Office
suite’s PowerPoint program has exceeded all other presenting tools in terms of usage. With its
extensive presentation toolkit, teachers may make presentations that seem professional in EFL
classes (Segundo & Salazar, 2011).
There are many tools available to pick PowerPoint as a presentation tool, especially since
versions 2016 and up have a very extensive sample library and expertise across many industries.
This application’s ability to manage exporting into various files is another prominent part.
These elements affect the frequent usage of PowerPoint files in the topic presentations of
second-year students and are the reason our team continues to investigate this platform.
Moreover, PowerPoint presentations are a new and contentious medium that has sparked
a lot of informal comments but needs more in-depth study or empirical research. The broad
implication of PowerPoint creates a need for further comprehension of this tool to make a
compelling presentation, especially for English major sophomores at Hanoi University, who
must make many presentations on diverse topics as a course requirement.
2.3. PowerPoint’s compositions
In preparing PowerPoint slides, several elements, such as videos, texts, images, graphs,
transitions, etc., combine in specific ways to convey the ideas. Depending on the messages of
the slides, the combination can be varied to create an assortment of approaches to enhance the
audience’s experience and comprehension. There are multiple numbers of compositions
regarding slides, but they can be sorted into three main factors: font and text, animation effects,
video, and images.

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 2.3.1. Font and text
A font is a set of characters, letters, different formatting styles, and punctuation marks to
represent a text format or present a work in different languages. For optimal use, presenters
should use at most three fonts by the maximum and font sizes per slide (De Wet, 2006).
Standard font styles, such as Calibri, Tahoma, Gill Sans and Garamond, Times New Roman
and Constantia, especially Times New Roman are strongly recommended for academic
presentation. Sans-serif typefaces, however, are advised because of their excellent readability
(Jankowski, 2010).
Text is one of the best elements in PowerPoint to persuade the audience. The written
message on slides can influence the audience in ways that may not have been thought of.
However, the text is valid and can also be disadvantageous when there are fewer slides. It is
problematic when too large an amount of text is put into slides, thus making it look like the
whole script to the audience.
2.3.2. Animation Effects
Animation is a visual or sound effect accompanying text or graphics. Parette, Hourcade,
and Blum (2011) express two main functions of animation in instruction: the ability to elicit the
learner’s attention to essential features of the lesson and to prompt the learner as appropriate to
ensure a correct response.
2.3.3. Videos and images
Visuals such as videos and images are essential to the class setting to further stimulate
the students’ performance during lessons.
A short video under ten seconds or a big image is enough to impact learners to visualize
the knowledge efficiently and significantly. Videos provide the audience with evidence of
distinct aspects of the presentation (Richards & Farrell, 2005). Sharing the same view, Jordan
(2012) argues that human attention is limited, and videos could reinforce this.
It is said that “A picture is worth a thousand words”; thus, images can tell a tale as
effectively as a significant amount of detailed text. During a lesson, learners’ participation can
be increased by the dynamism these visuals create, stimulating the energy of classes and the
comprehension of the topic.
3. PROBLEMS AND SUGGESTIONS IN PREPARING POWERPOINT
SLIDES
3.1. Textual information
The content is a core part of every expert PowerPoint presentation. It illustrates to
listeners what to anticipate from the very beginning of the presentation. However, the selective
information process creates difficulties for those with much saying to convey, numerous
presentations where the speaker gives subpar information lack relevancy to the main topic
leading to poorly designed slides containing too much content or slide details. Therefore, this

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could channel the audience towards reading the slides instead of listening to the presenter.
People will not likely pay attention to the presentation when there is too much senseless
information on a slide.
Presenters may consider using a firm approach - keep the slides simple. Just remove all
the extraneous information from the presentation and leave the critical points that the speakers
wish to make. Additionally, presenters may use a structure when building out the content. Each
PowerPoint slide should contain an introduction to the presentation's overall content, and each
should have three to five key points. To avoid making the slides too text-heavy, it is suggested
to follow the 6x6 professional rule that limits using more than six bullet points and six words
per bulleted statement on a single slide (Abusharib et al., 2015).
3.2. Information segmentation and arrangement
During the slide-creation process, students usually wish to put all the presentation content
on PowerPoint and create a poor slide with chaotic positions of elements, causing an
uncomfortable feeling to the audience.
When segmenting and arranging the content, the information can be more evident and
logical about the information presenters want to present, enhancing audiences’ comprehension
of the topic.
To make the most impression while keeping the visual relevant to a particular piece of
information, one must choose the visual to employ—for example, photos, charts, and videos.
Haynes et al. (2015) found that more relevant information in notes promotes better information
retention.
3.3. Typography application
As well as being creative in art or craft, according to Harkins (2010), typography is a
significant part of the presentation. It is vital to how audiences perceive the document and its
information by creating relationships between several data types and organizing and keeping
this information interesting. Either how presenting the type, fonts, colors, and point size can
build or fracture the entire presentation.
Students often make mistakes in choosing the fonts for their PowerPoint slides by picking
random “fancy” fonts that are unrelated to the topic or using too many fonts on the slides. A
poorly chosen typeface can have a detrimental effect on how the audience perceives the
presentation and the presenter themselves (Oppenheimer & Frank, 2008). The choice of font
may appear insignificant, yet it may significantly affect a presentation (Schmaltz & Enström,
2014). Also, wrong text color usage and small font size can also create a bad experience for the
audience being unable to read the content.
Additionally, the left-justified text is much simpler for the eye to follow through lengthy
blocks of text, improving textual clarity. The center-justified text has a place in design but
should only sometimes be used as the default. Students may utilize alignment to their advantage
in a variety of ways.

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 3.4. Color harmony
One of the most fundamental components of a successful design is color. Even in
presentation design, employing the wrong colors will leave the finished result lacking.
Regardless of how appealing the content is or how much effort is put into the slide design, to
accentuate content or to make the slides more visually appealing for viewers, most people who
design PowerPoint slides frequently employ a variety of colors.
Color significantly impacts the creation of effective slides in multimodal PowerPoint
presentations. Several theoretically supported recommendations can improve the quality of the
slides; even though the colors selected for the slides can be presented on the screen during
presentations may seem to be a question of opinion. Daffner (2002) advises utilizing deeper
hues for the background rather than lighter ones. De Wet (2006) suggests employing three to
six colors per screen, emphasizing critical information with vivid hues, and dividing concepts
with color. Pugsley (2010) cautions the presenters not to utilize light colors on white
backgrounds. Students should choose colors according to the color wheel principle, which often
consists of two to six colors used in specific ways (Kimmons & Yamada, 2022).
According to Galer (1976), backgrounds should avoid overly saturated colors because
doing so can strain the eyes. According to Lin (2003) and Shieh & Lin (2000), the most readable
color combination for text is black on a white backdrop. The recommendation to use cool, dark,
low-saturation colors for backdrops that blend into the slides and do not disturb viewers was
made by Faiola & DeBloois (1988). Examples of such colors include olive green, gray, blue,
brown, dark purple, and black. Foreground colors can be hotter, lighter, and more highly
saturated (lemon yellow, pink, orange, red, etc.) that tend to come forward on the screen and
attract the audience’s eye.
3.5. Slide Consistency
Consistency is when visual components work together and enhance one another to
highlight the presentation’s meaning. Colors, shapes, typefaces, and word arrangements must
all be carefully chosen for the presentation to convey a clear statement or feeling. On the other
hand, if the slide’s components are randomly placed, it will create confusion and make it
challenging for the audience to understand the points being presented. Consequently, slide
design should be straightforward and uncomplicated.
Presenters may build presentations that convey more effectively and clearly by keeping
the consistency principle in mind, as opposed to annoying listeners with excessive noise. To
ensure uniformity among slides, it is advised to utilize the Slide Master feature to specify the
text size, font, color, image, backdrop, etc. consistently.
4. CONCLUSION
Overall, this study aims to discover the issues in creating and using PowerPoint slides as
a visual aid in academic presentations in the English Department at Hanoi University,
investigating several significant problems in preparing slides such as Excessive textual data,

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information organization and segmentation, typography use, color cohesion, slide consistency.
The data provided in this study can provide English major sophomores with sufficient
knowledge to enhance their skills in utilizing PowerPoint in academic presentations.
By retaining the presentation’s core components, presenters may make it stand out. A
simple PowerPoint should have three to five primary elements. The rule that allows for the most
lines and words to be displayed on a single slide is known as the 6x6 professional rule. The
charts, images, and videos utilized as examples must be relevant to the argument. In addition,
it is suggested that presenters alter the title’s font and stick to a few chosen fonts throughout
their speech. Expert advice suggests using exotic fonts in moderation. In terms of the color
wheel approach, selecting a color that contrasts with the backdrop and the text is vital to make
the viewer’s vision clearer. Users can utilize the color combinations. Finally, the slide master
aims to establish consistency so that viewers can quickly understand the content. The Slide
Master feature can help universally configure the text size, font, color, image, backdrop, and
other elements for slides to ensure uniformity.
The development of numerous abilities necessary for academic and professional success
may be achieved through presentations. Presenting allows students to learn through teaching,
which is an effective method of retaining information. The platform on which students may
share their knowledge and engage in peer interaction is crucial to consider, given that
presentations play a significant part in giving students excellent learning opportunities. The
option for students to present individually or in groups with their teammates is available. The
additional advantage of presentations is that students may improve their PowerPoint editing
abilities by utilizing the appropriate functions and uploading several materials in different
forms, such as audio, video, and PPT slides, to guarantee that students can still make their
presentations.
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 NÂNG CAO KHẢ NĂNG NGHE HIỂU
QUA VIỆC XEM PHIM TIẾNG ANH
SVTH: Nguyễn Phương Hoa, Nguyễn Thanh Kim Huệ, Nguyễn Thanh Lương, Phạm Thị Huyền
GVHD: Phạm Thị Thu Hiền

Tóm tắt: Nghe được coi là một trong những kỹ năng quan trọng nhất cần phát triển khi học tiếng
Anh. Một số người nói tiếng Anh như ngôn ngữ nước ngoài hoặc ngôn ngữ thứ hai gặp khó khăn đáng
kể trong việc nghe. Phim tiếng Anh là một trong những tài liệu đích thực giúp người học tiếng Anh nâng
cao kỹ năng nghe hiểu. Nghiên cứu này là sự tổng hợp các nguồn đáng tin cậy và các tài liệu nghiên
cứu khác về ảnh hưởng của phim đối với khả năng nghe hiểu.

Từ khóa: nghe hiểu, phim tiếng Anh

IMPROVE LISTENING COMPREHENSION THROUGH

WATCHING ENGLISH MOVIES

Abstract: Listening is considered one of the most important skills to develop when learning the
English language. Some people who speak English as a foreign or second language experience
significant listening difficulties. English movies are one of the authentic materials that help English
learners improve their listening comprehension skills. This research is a compilation of reliable sources
and other research papers on the effects of movies on listening comprehension.

Key words: listening comprehension, English movies

1. INTRODUCTION
English is the most spoken language in the world. For English learners, acquiring English
is an interesting but demanding process that requires a lot of effort and patience. Listening,
speaking, reading, and writing are four essential basic skills that are integrated in the English
teaching-learning process. Listening skill is considered the most crucial part and it plays a
significant role in improving students’ English skill. Thus, second-language educators have
been trying various methods to advance their listening skills, especially the ability of listening
comprehension. According to Winiyakul (2010), most students think that movies are the most
dominant way to improve their English skills, particularly listening skills. However, while some
learners make use of watching English movies as effective learning material, a number of
students do not recognize the importance of movies in their learning English process and ignore
their benefits. Therefore, this research paper was conducted with a view to finding out the major
problems that learners may encounter with English listening comprehension and bringing the
advantages of watching movies to advance this skill.
2. BASIC THEORIES
2.1. Listening comprehension
The term “listening comprehension” has been defined by different researchers. Listening

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comprehension, according to Brown and Yule (1983), means that a person understands what he
or she has heard. Dirven and Oakeshott-Taylor (1984) defined listening comprehension as a
product of teaching methodology, which is matched by terminology such as speech
understanding, spoken language understanding, speech recognition, and speech perception.
Listening comprehension, according to Rost (2002) and Hamouda (2013), is an interactive
process in which listeners participate in constructing meaning. Sound discrimination, previous
knowledge, grammatical structures, stress and intonation, and the other linguistic or non-
linguistic clues help listeners understand oral information. Nadig (2013) defined listening
comprehension as the various processes of understanding and interpreting spoken language.
These include knowing speech sounds, grasping the meaning of individual words, and
comprehending sentence grammar.
2.2. The importance of improving English listening comprehension
Many research on language learning have found that listening comprehension plays a
significant role in the learning process. According to Renukadevi (2014), listening is a vital part
of learning since it is one of the four key skills in language acquisition. He argues that listening
is important because it helps the language learner gain pronunciation, word stress, and the
interpretation of messages delivered can be based only on tone of voice, pitch, and accent; and
this is only possible when we listen.
According to Rost (1994) and Ziane (2011), listening comprehension is critical since it is
a process through which we receive input and without it, learning does not occur. Doff (1995)
and Ziane (2011) stated that listening has a substantial impact on improving speaking skills.
That is, we cannot improve our speaking capacity until we improve our listening skills. If a
learner has good listening skills in English, he will find it very simple to listen to the radio,
study, watch movies, and socialize with foreigners.
According to Hedge (2000), listening plays a crucial part in everyday life, and when
individuals are involved in communication, 9 percent is spent on writing, 16 percent on reading,
30 percent on speaking, and 45 percent on listening, demonstrating the importance of listening
in the communication process. Lundsteen (1979) expressed that listening is the first skill to
appear. He also said that children listen before they speak. According to Hedge (2000), modern
society prefers to shift from printed media to sound and its members. As a result, the importance
of listening cannot be overstated.
2.3. Difficulties of English listening
Acquiring listening comprehension skills is a long-term and demanding process since
learners may encounter numerous difficulties and challenges. According to Yagang (1993),
there are four categories of problems that learners face with English listening comprehension,
which are the recording, the speaker, the listener, and the physical setting.
2.3.1. The recording
In the first place, the listening materials, or the recording, are unfamiliar topics with

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specialized terminology, and they may deal with a myriad of fields in life and society such as
business or political issues, which turn out to be a major hindrance to the students’
comprehension. Besides, in some classes, teachers use some recorded materials that have a low-
quality sound system. Azmi Bingol, Celik, Yidliz, and Tugrul Mart (2014) pointed out that poor
audio sound systems can profoundly impact learners’ ability of comprehension. These materials
used in classes are also designed for teaching and learning process with lower level of
grammatical difficulty and less colloquial English while the real language is full of colloquial
words, expressions, and even slang. Students, as a result, undoubtedly encounter various
challenges when they are exposed themselves to the authentic materials.
2.3.2. The speaker
Equally importantly, in terms of the speaker, Yagang (1993) asserted that “in ordinary
conversation or even in much extempore speech-making or lecturing we actually say a good
deal more than would appear to be necessary in order to convey our message. Redundant
utterances may take the form of repetitions, false starts, re-phrasing, self-corrections,
elaborations, tautologies and apparently meaningless additions such as I mean or you know.”
This causes great difficulties to students in listening comprehension. Additionally, the accent
of the speaker has a significant influence in learners' comprehension of English listening. Goh
(1999) found that 66% of students considered a speaker’s accent one of the most important
factors influencing listeners’ English comprehension. Unfamiliar accents, both native and non-
native, can seriously impair learners’ ability to understand the content of the listening. Fan
(1993) stated that ESL (English as a second language) and EFL (English as a foreign language)
learners are often used to their teacher’s accent as well as British English or American English;
therefore, they encounter critical problems when listening to unfamiliar accents such as Indian,
Turkish, and so on. Consequently, strange accents constantly interrupt the whole process of
listening comprehension.
2.3.3. The listener
When it comes to the listener, the first problem students have is related to vocabulary and
grammar. Learners can become bewildered if they encounter unfamiliar words such as idioms
or slangs, multiple-meaning words, unusual usage of these words, and challenging grammatical
structures. Some students have wrong pronunciation, so that they cannot recognize those sounds
and misinterpret the recordings. According to Hasan (2000), another problem making English
listening comprehension so demanding is the habit of listening word-by-word instead of
predicting the ideas or inferring from the context. They tend to ignore particular cues that help
them to predict the details, including charts, photos, and anything given in the listening.
Moreover, some learners do not acquire such essential skills as taking notes and short-term
memorizing during their learning process. Underwood (1989) found that the most important
problem is that listeners cannot control how quickly speakers talk. Those who lack the abilities
mentioned above have to struggle with long sentences and numbers and then miss the content
ideas. Another noteworthy problem is the cultural differences. Brown (1994) once claimed that

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“A language is a part of a culture and a culture is a part of a language”. In other words, culture
and language are inextricably linked. On the flip side, foreign language students are not
sufficiently familiar with English clichés and collocations to complete the tasks. For that reason,
learners who lack sociocultural, factual, and contextual knowledge of the target language may
have critical problems in their comprehension.
2.3.4. The physical setting
Last but not least, it is indispensable to take the physical factors into account. Noise, not
only on the recording but also from the actual surrounding environment, can distract learners
from hearing and focusing on the content of the listening passages. Problems also come from
the tapes or disks. These materials cannot provide visual aids, body language, and facial
expressions, which make the listening comprehension a challenging task.
2.4. English movies and listening comprehension
2.4.1. The effects of English movies towards listening comprehension
There are numerous factors that contribute to the potential benefits of English films on
learners' listening comprehension. Here are some of the most important considerations:
2.4.1.1. Authentic material
Jordan (1997) defines "original materials" (authentic materials) as materials written for
native speakers rather than for the purpose of teaching a language. The original material is said
to pique the interest of language learners by providing them with access to "the real language
of life" (p. 113). Authentic materials are important because they increase students' motivation
to learn and expose learners to the "real" language, as discussed by Guariento and Morley (2001,
p. 347).
Movies are considered a crucial source of material for language instructors because they
are authentic (Kaiser, 2011). Movies provide language learners with opportunities to hear real
languages spoken in authentic settings. The spoken language of movies frequently includes
various types of speeches, such as those of various educational levels, speeches of children and
non-native speakers, slang and jargon, rural and urban speeches, and a variety of regional
dialects that language learners will encounter in the target language country (Kaiser, 2011).
Movies are inspiring media because they cover a wide range of topics and are presented with
both audio and visual stimuli. The advantages of using them for language learning are their
images and sounds, which help set the scene of events, and their additional information, such
as paralinguistic features, which provide support for listening comprehension (Guichon &
McLornan, 2008; Katchen, 1996a). According to a study conducted by the University of Novi
Sad's Faculty of Technical Sciences, students felt that watching films with English soundtracks
improved their listening ability (97%). They also stated that watching different types of movies
helps them improve their listening skills (97%).
2.4.1.2. Different accents

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 Several major factors that have a significant impact on learners' listening comprehension
include vocabulary knowledge, grammatical competence, motivation, and other learner
competencies. Among these is the speaker's accent, which is frequently mentioned. According
to Van Engen and Peelle (2014), knowing the speaker's accent causes listeners to make little or
no extra effort to understand. Gass and Varonis (1984) identified familiarity with the accent as
a major factor influencing the level of listening comprehension. Furthermore, according to the
findings of a study conducted by Goh (1998), 68% of participants stated that the speaker's
accent strongly influenced their listening comprehension.
People can hear a number of different accents in English-speaking movies. Here are a few
of the reasons why. First, actors come from a variety of English-speaking countries, as well as
countries where English is not their first language. Following that are films produced in various
English-speaking countries (for example, the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia,
and New Zealand). Consider The Lion King (USA), an animated film by Disney and Pixar in
which the majority of the characters speak American English. The final reason that English
movies provide moviegoers with access to a variety of accents is that a film can feature one or
more different accents. Modern Family, an American sitcom series with family themes, is a
good example. Gloria speaks English with a Spanish accent, as do Manny and Cameron.
Because of the variety of accents, learners would undoubtedly benefit greatly from
watching English movies. Listening to movie dialogue is the most effective method of helping
people discover and imitate native speakers' voices because movie dialogue is how native
speakers speak on a frequent basis. Viewers will have the opportunity to become accustomed
to the natural voice, accents in tone, and appropriate intonation. Those who regularly watch
English films will become accustomed to hearing accents that are not British, American, or
Australian (e.g., Indian, Singaporean). Furthermore, the film assists viewers in becoming
accustomed to the speaking speed of native speakers.
2.4.1.3. New words, phrases, and idioms
All films employ everyday language (life language often uses many idioms). It aids in the
addition of numerous new words, sentence patterns, and idioms by the learners. In a study of
students at the University of Novi Sad's Faculty of Technical Sciences, it was discovered that
watching movies to practice listening skills aided students' acquisition of vocabulary, slang,
and idioms (82%), use of words in all contexts (64%), and comprehension of English in daily
life (78%).
2.4.2. Methods to improve English listening through movies
Learning English through movies is a useful method for learners of all levels. Learners
can personalize their viewing methods to achieve the best effect. However, through research
papers of scientists from many parts of the world, five methods have been selected that have
been effectively applied by learners and 0
2.4.2.1. Follow your interests

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 Listening is a difficult skill, so it's important to be self-motivated to learn by choosing
topics that interest you (Brown,2006: 1). Especially with movies with themes that we love,
people will feel happy and energetic. So learning to listen to English by watching movies on
your favorite topic is very effective. Choosing movies on topics you love and want to watch
will increase concentration and absorb knowledge faster. When you are excited about learning,
success will come to you faster, your listening skills will improve significantly. The more
enjoyment you put into watching movies for practice purposes, the more positive effects you
will have in improving your listening skills.
2.4.2.2. Re-watch, listening and shadowing
Below Scots in one of his studies has come up with this method to help us achieve the
best results in the process of combining learning with entertainment. With this method, you will
choose a movie scene you love, and watch it over and over again to capture all the information
in the character's dialogue. When you watch it over and over again, your brain will
automatically remember the details of the movie, and then combine it with the shadowing
method to repeat the character's dialogue with the correct speed and tone of voice most
naturally. This method helps you better familiarize yourself with English phonetics as well as
improve pronunciation in a very effective way.
2.4.2.3. Choose movies of moderate length the level of vocabulary difficulty should
be from easy to difficult
In a research paper on learning English through watching movies, two Chinese
researchers Xianghui Li and Peng Wang have suggested a reasonable and effective method of
film selection. The length or short of the video determines the level of concentration and
knowledge acquisition of learners. For example, with a film that is too long like a documentary
over 60 minutes, too much information can leave the viewer feeling fatigued, depressed, and
uninspired. Besides, the level of information and difficulty of vocabulary should also be
selected following the viewer's level. For learners at the beginner level, it is advisable to choose
animated videos with simple words and accessible intonation to avoid boredom.
2.4.2.4. Watch movies with subtitles first
Based on a study done in Spain in 2016, the effect of watching movies with subtitles is
more effective in improving listening skills than watching movies with native subtitles or no
subtitles at all. The study was done in three groups of moviegoers. The first group watched the
movie with English subtitles, the second group watched the movie with subtitles in their native
language, and the third group watched the movie without subtitles. As a result, the group of
viewers achieved the best performance, group two also had an improvement but was lower than
group one, and group three did not show any improvement. Therefore, we can conclude,
watching movies with English subtitles can help us improve our English listening
comprehension skills very effectively. Listening to movie dialogues combined with reading
subtitles helps you capture all the information as well as effectively overcome pronunciation
errors.

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 2.4.2.5. Use extensive listening
Extensive listening is simply understood as the method of listening to a large amount of
information, often over a long period. This method of listening focuses on listening for
entertainment and to understand the content of the entire listening (Waring - 2010). Indeed,
extensive listening has an important impact on improving our language skills. Repeated
listening to words in y in comprehensible input allows learners to memorize vocabulary more
quickly and improves fluency in language skills （Taguchi et al., 2004）
2.4.3. Websites recommendation
2.4.3.1. Studymovie.vn
Studymovie.vn is a website that always updates the latest movies with bilingual subtitles
to meet everyone's learning and entertainment needs. The videos are guaranteed to be correct
in terms of pronunciation with both native English subtitles and Vietnamese subtitles.
Moreover, the website also divides into 4 levels in all different movie genres so that learners
can choose the movies that are suitable for their level and preferences.
2.4.3.2. English
One of the familiar applications for foreign language learners is 4English. The application
has achieved hundreds of millions of downloads and is rated 4.7 stars on the App Store. True
to the name 4English, the application helps readers improve all four skills Listening, Speaking,
Reading, and Writing. In particular, with Listening, the app always updates not only videos but
also highly applicable talks. In the videos, there are always bilingual subtitles, highlighting
good phrases, and especially you can change the speed to suit your listening level.
2.4.3.3. eJOY learn English with video
True to its name, eJOY focuses on improving learners' listening skills through movies and
short videos. In addition to the available videos, the application also links with other
applications such as Youtube and Netflix. Videos always include subtitles and can change the
speed accordingly. The application also adds games as well as practice exercises after the
listening lessons to ensure that learners can remember the knowledge longer.
3. CONCLUSION
In conclusion, this present study was designed to evaluate the usefulness of watching
English movies in enhancing listening comprehension. Firstly, when it comes to listening
comprehension, learners face both subjective and objective factors such as lack of vocabulary,
wrong pronunciation, cultural differences, accents and so on. Secondly, a variety of factors
contribute to the potential advantages of English films on learners' listening comprehension
including authentic material, different accents, new words, phrases, and idioms. In addition,
this study suggests some effective methods to improve English listening through movies. By
following interest, re-watching, listening and shadowing, choosing suitable movies, watching
movies with subtitles first and using extensive listening, learners can make positive progress in

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the process of enhancing English listening comprehension skills. Finally, some websites and
applications like Studymovie.vn, 4English, eJOY are recommended for learning English
listening skills through movies.

REFERENCES

Azmi, B. M., Celik, B., Yidliz, N., & Tugrul, M. C. (2014). Listening Comprehension
Difficulties Encountered by Students in Second language Learning Class. Journal of
Educational and Instructional Studies in the World, 4(4), 1-6.
https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1101226.pdf
Yagang. F.1993. ―Listening Problems and Solution” on March. 12. 2013 Scribbr.
http://www.ukessays.com/essays/ English-language/rubin-and- Thompson
DIFFICULTIES AND STRATEGIES IN LISTENING COMPREHENSION (TRINH
VINH HIEN 03AV4)
https://lhu.edu.vn/139/662/DIFFICULTIES-AND-STRATEGIES-INLISTENING-
COMPREHENSION-TRINH-VINH-HIEN-03AV4.html
PAPER WRITING LEARNING ENGLISH THROUGH WATCHING MOVIES (November
2020) Shabrina Dewi
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/346469853_PAPER_WRITING_LEARNING
_ENGLISH_THROUGH_WATCHING_MOVIES
A Research on Using English Movies to Improve Chinese College Students' Oral English
Xianghui Li & Peng Wang
http://www.academypublication.com/issues2/tpls/vol05/05/26.pdf
Watching Movies with Subtitles – What Science Says (Linguist Today) Hana Koubova
https://linguisttoday.com/watching-movies-with-subtitles-what-science-say/
How and why to use extensive listening in the classroom - Alex Wright
https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/235276065.pdf
Learners’ Listening Comprehension Difficulties in English Language Learning: A
Literature Review, Abbas Pourhosein Gilakjani & Narjes Banou Sabouri:
https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1101226.pdf
Importance Of Listening Comprehension: https://www.ipl.org/essay/Importance-Of-
Listening-Comprehension-PKWCRG74AJF6
The Significance of Listening Comprehension in English Language Teaching. Abbas
Pourhosein Gilakjani Department of English Language Translation, Islamic Azad University

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Lahijan Branch, Lahijan, Iran Narjes Banou Sabouri Department of Linguistics, Payame Noor
University, Tehran, Iran:
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/306311479_The_Significance_of_Listening_Compr
ehension_in_English_Language_Teaching
(Guichon & McLornan, 2008)The effects of multimodality on L2 learners: Implications
for CALL resource design. Nicolas & Sinead.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0346251X07000930
(Guariento & Morley, 2001) Text and task authenticity in the EFL classroom. William &
John
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/228740371_Text_and_task_authenticity_in_t
he_EFL_classroom
(University of Novi Sad’s Survey, 2015) Advancing Listening Comprehension Through
Movies. Jelisaveta Safranj
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/278795718_Advancing_Listening_Comprehe
nsion_Through_Movies
(Kaiser, 2011) Authentic Modelling Problems in Mathematics Education—Examples and
Experiences. G. Kaiser & B. Schwarz.
[PDF] Authentic Modelling Problems in Mathematics Education—Examples and
Experiences | Semantic Scholar
(Van Engen and Peelle, 2014) Listening effort and accented speech. Kristen J. Van Engen
& Jonathan E. Peelle.
"Listening effort and accented speech" by Kristen J. Van Engen and Jonathan E. Peelle
(wustl.edu)

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 ỨNG DỤNG CỦA PHƯƠNG PHÁP LẶP LẠI CÁCH QUÃNG
TRONG GHI NHỚ VÀ HỌC TỪ VỰNG
SVTH: Phạm Thu Hằng, Mạc Hoàng Oanh, Trần Yến Nhi, Nguyễn Hoàng Anh
GVHD: ThS Phạm Thị Thu Hiền

Tóm tắt: Đối với với bất kỳ người học ngoại ngữ nào, việc ghi nhớ và học từ vựng luôn là một
mối quan tâm lớn. Nhiều phương pháp khác nhau đã được áp dụng để hỗ trợ việc này, trong đó, phương
pháp lặp lại cách quãng đã chứng minh được tính hiệu quả cao và phù hợp với đa dạng người học ngôn
ngữ. Bài nghiên cứu này sẽ đưa đến một cái nhìn tổng quan và chính xác về khái niệm, tác dụng, cách
áp dụng và lợi ích của phương pháp lặp lại cách quãng.

Từ khóa: phương pháp lặp lại cách quãng, học từ vựng, ghi nhớ từ vựng

APPLICATION OF SPACED REPETITION IN MEMORIZING

AND LEARNING VOCABULARY

Abstract: For any language learner, memorizing and learning vocabulary is always a big concern.
There is a wide range of approaches with the aim of supporting children in this, of which spaced
repetition has proven the most effective and suitable for various learners. This study will illustrate an
overview and accuracy of the spaced repetition method through its definition, effect, application, and
benefits.

Keywords: spaced repetition, learning vocabulary, memorizing vocabulary

1. INTRODUCTION
To become a proficient user of a certain language, it is essential for learners to acquire
an extensive coverage of vocabulary. The importance of vocabulary in the language learning
process has long been acknowledged by researchers. Wilkins 1972 stated that “Little can be
conveyed if one does not know grammar, but nothing can be conveyed if one does not know
any vocabulary”. Laufer (1989) estimated that 95% of vocabulary is required to comprehend
written text successfully. Nation (2006) claimed that in order to understand real contexts of
English language, learners need to know around 8000 to 9000 word families. In addition,
Alquatahni (2015) stated that “In order to understand the language, vocabulary is crucial to be
mastered by the learner”. However, memorizing vocabulary has caused enormous difficulties
for learners. In detail, there are thousands of new words that need to be memorized; thus,
creating a memory of words for future usage can be challenging. For this reason, the spaced
repetition method is considered the most plausible solution for learners, which helps them deal
with memorization problems. With this unique method, learners can make the most of their
time as well as maintain an enthusiastic attitude and intensive concentration in their language

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learning process.
2. LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1. Definition
Tabibian B. et al., 2019 stated that “Spaced repetition is a technique for efficient
memorization which uses a repeated review of content following a schedule determined by a
spaced repetition algorithm to improve long-term retention.” It is a method of reviewing
material at systematic intervals.
At the beginning of the learning process, the intervals are spaced closely together (for
example, one hour; four hours; or one day).
As the material is reviewed, the intervals become systematically longer (four days; one
week; two weeks). Additionally, an ideal system of spaced repetition allows learners to review
the material before it is forgotten, helping them to retain it in their long-term memory, which
uses periodic reviews of content to improve long-term retention.
Spaced repetition is in many ways the opposite of "cramming". Rather than learning
information in a short time period, which can lead to quick forgetting, spaced repetition focuses
on the long-term retention of new information. For example, if individuals learned material
from a textbook chapter in the first week of the semester, then they would want to review it on
a regular schedule – perhaps the second, fourth, eighth, and last weeks of the semester in order
to retain the information in their long-term memory.

2.2. How to use it effectively

• Repeatedly encountering material at spaced intervals is more effective than
reviewing the material multiple times in the same study session.

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 • Spaced repetition reduces the forgetting that occurs when the material is not
encountered for a significant time period. Spaced repetition also involves
actively recalling learned material, which supports learning.
• Also, if an item is forgotten, learners are prompted to use a more effective
learning strategy to retain the information for later reviews
• Repeated retrieval with long intervals between each test produced a 200%
improvement in long-term retention relative to repeated retrieval with no
spacing between tests. However, there was no evidence that a particular
comparable spacing schedule (expanding, equal, or contracting) was inherently
superior to another (Karpicke, J. D., & Bauernschmidt, A. (2011).
• Depending on students’ learning habits and interests, there will be different
learning styles. They can refer to learning by writing notebooks, learning
through apps, flashcards, mind maps, and so on. We demonstrate in more detail
how to apply this method by three following ways:
• Write a notebook

First of all, learners can copy the amount of vocabulary learned onto each page. Then,
they can self-study and review the vocabulary of the previous day, and come back to review the
words of 4 days ago, 8 days ago, and also 15 days ago. Learners should pay close attention to
note the forgotten words each time they self-study, these are the words that really need to be
reviewed at the end of the review session.
Thus, everyday learners have to review the amount of vocabulary they have learned for
4 days, or maybe 3. For each new word, it is recommended that they repeat 3-4 times in the
above cycle. At the rate of students learning new words (about 10-20 words per day), learning
1 review 4 only takes them about 15-20 minutes per day. Thus, this method proves to be not
only efficient but also productive.
• Use the app

Currently, there are many apps to learn English by spaced repetition method. We
recommend the following 3 apps: Anki, Wordup, and Mochi. Although the way each
application operates is different, each will have the following general operating models:
• Learners can use existing vocabulary lists, created by other users or
templates available on the system.
• Depending on the application, individuals will be able to set the repeat
cycle, how many times.
• Most turn the review experience into a mini-game so users do not get
bored in the learning process.

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 • The software is generally more convenient than learning on paper,
typically what students do right the first time, the software will prioritize
that word lower than difficult words or words they often mistake mixed.
• Use flashcards (Leitner System)

Developed in the 1970s, the Leitner method or the Leitner system encourages learners to
use small pieces of paper (flashcards) to succinctly record the amount of knowledge to be
learned, increasing the learner's ability to remember.
To apply this method is very simple, learners just need to:
• Prepare electronic or paper flashcards: On one side write concepts, new words,
and knowledge… on the other side write explanations, examples, or answers.
• Prepare 3 to 5 boxes (electronic or paper box) - each box will contain
flashcards learned in the specified time period: 1 day, 3 days, 1 week,...
• Arrange the study time with flashcards into a reasonable timetable.

2.3. Context
The creation of spaced repetition algorithms has a long history, starting with the Leitner
system Heuristic algorithms that schedule reviews just when the learner is about to forget an
item, or when the likelihood of recall, as provided by a memory model of choice, goes below a
threshold, have been proposed in a number of more recent publications. By determining which
item would profit the most from a review given a specific reviewing period, an orthogonal line

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of research has sought to achieve locally optimal scheduling. Additionally, the researchers'
heuristic algorithms that choose the item to review by greedily choosing the one that is most
similar to its maximum learning rate are also included in their research.
2.4. Benefits
Spaced Repetition can be understood simply as a way of time learning, where learners
will repeat what they have read before. This technique helps the brain remember more
information as it keeps the material fresh in the mind and forces the brain to use active recall.
Spaced repetition can be applied to any form of education from grade school to graduate
computer algorithms.
Since Ebbinghaus (1885) conducted the first systematic study of memory and created a
"forgetting curve," learning has been recognized for more than a century for the benefits of
spaced repetition. This illustrates the exponential loss of information from memory when no
attempt is made to revisit it.
Further research into the nature of this spaced practice suggests that recall (testing) is
preferable to rereading even in the absence of marking or feedback (Roediger & Karpicko,
2006a). This is explained by the fact that recall enhances and expands the brain's retrieval
pathways (Rawson et al., 2015).
Using educationally relevant spacing intervals between learning episodes and an
educationally significant retention interval, spacing vocabulary acquisition produces better
performance in EFL students than massed learning (Lotfolahi et al., 2017).
Spaced repetition enhances a variety of learning processes, including memory, problem-
solving, and generalization to new contexts. Spaced repetition, which is practical and
economical and has the potential to greatly improve educational outcomes, can increase
learning's efficacy and efficiency.
Students often 'cram for examinations' since they find it works well for them in high
school and provides quick results. However, long-term memory is far more useful in further
education and for work, thus it's crucial to discover strategies to get pupils interested in and
confident in such an approach.
3. CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
3.1. Conclusions
Spaced repetition has been proven to be an effective method for memorizing and learning
vocabulary. The present study sought to find out the answers to the following matters: the
benefits of spaced repetition in vocabulary memorization and how it can be applied to enhance
students’ vocabulary learning.
3.2. Recommendations for further studies
Further studies can be carried out to examine the effectiveness and applications of specific

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platforms that utilize this method in vocabulary acquisition. For example, a computer-based
flashcard program named Anki has been proven to be helpful for ESL students in learning
academic vocabulary (Uşak University, Uşak, Turkey, 2019). In addition, a smartphone-based
application, Wordup, which combines spaced repetition techniques and learners’ extensive
exposure to authentic materials has been considered to have the ability to create a fascinating
way for them to broaden their vocabulary size (Nushi M., 2021).
Given the benefits that spaced repetition technique offers to learners, it is reasonable to
suggest that it should also be applied inside classrooms and its effectiveness should be closely
investigated. Moreover, further research on how lessons should be structured so that both
teachers and students can take advantage of this method needs to be carried out.

REFERENCES

Laufer, B. (1989) What Percentage of Text-Lexis Is Essential for Comprehension? In:

Lauren, C. and Nordman, M., Eds., Special Language: From Human Thinking to Thinking
Machines, Multilingual Matters, Clevedon, 316-323.
Nation, I. (2006). How large a vocabulary is needed for reading and listening?. Canadian
modern language review, 63(1), 59-82.
Alqahtani, M. (2015). The importance of vocabulary in language learning and how to be
taught. International journal of teaching and education, 3(3), 21-34.
Tabibian, B., Upadhyay, U., De, A., Zarezade, A., Schölkopf, B., & Gomez-Rodriguez,
M. (2019). Enhancing human learning via spaced repetition optimization. Proceedings of the
National Academy of Sciences, 116(10), 3988-3993.
Karpicke, J. D., & Bauernschmidt, A. (2011). Spaced retrieval: absolute spacing enhances
learning regardless of relative spacing. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning,
Memory, and Cognition, 37(5), 1250.
Roediger III, H. L., & Karpicke, J. D. (2006). The power of testing memory: Basic
research and implications for educational practice. Perspectives on psychological science, 1(3),
181-210.
Ebbinghaus, H. (2022) Spaced repetition: A guide to the technique - e-student, E.
Available at: https://e-student.org/spaced-repetition/ (Accessed: December 31, 2022).
Voice, A., & Stirton, A. (2020). Spaced Repetition: Towards More Effective Learning in
STEM. New Directions in the Teaching of Physical Sciences, 15(1), n1.
Lotfolahi, A. R., & Salehi, H. (2017). Spacing effects in vocabulary learning: Young EFL
learners in focus. Cogent Education, 4(1), 1287391.
Nushi , M. (n.d.). WordUp: An app that teaches English words through extensive
exposure to ... Retrieved December 31, 2022, from

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https://www.researchgate.net/publication/357826714_WordUp_An_App_that_Teaches_Engli
sh_Words_through_Extensive_Exposure_to_Authentic_Materials
Altiner, C. (2019). Integrating a Computer-Based Flashcard Program into Academic
Vocabulary Learning. Turkish Online Journal of Educational Technology-TOJET, 18(1), 44-
62.

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 CÁC YẾU TỐ ẢNH HƯỞNG ĐẾN VIỆC THIẾU KỸ NĂNG NÓI
CỦA SINH VIÊN NĂM THỨ HAI KHOA TIẾNG ANH,
TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC HÀ NỘI
SVTH: Lê Thu Hiền (4A21), Lê Thị Hồng Ngọc (4A21),
Nguyễn Thu Hiền (6A21), Trương Nữ Hiền Thục (6A21)
GVHD: Ths. Phạm Thu Hằng

Tóm tắt: Về các kỹ năng tiếng Anh, kỹ năng nói dường như đóng vai trò quan trọng nhất về
phương diện (Ur, 1996). Nhiều người học ngoại ngữ phát hiện ra rằng họ thường vật lộn để diễn đạt
một cách đầy đủ bằng ngoại ngữ. Họ ngừng nói bởi vì họ gặp phải những rào cản về mặt tâm lý hoặc
không đủ khả năng để tìm ra những từ ngữ và cách diễn đạt phù hợp. Vì vậy, bài nghiên cứu này nhằm
mục đích làm cơ sở cho việc cần tập trung vào những yếu tố ảnh hưởng đến kỹ năng nói trong thực
hành của sinh viên năm thứ hai khoa Tiếng Anh tại Trường Đại học Hà Nội. Phần tổng quan này vạch
ra nội dung nghiên cứu liên quan đến thuật ngữ nói, tầm quan trọng của việc nói và các yếu tố ảnh
hưởng đến kỹ năng nói. Để xem xét các nhu cầu nói của người học ngôn ngữ trong bối cảnh dạy và
học tiếng Anh, nghiên cứu có thể sẽ hữu ích cho sinh viên, giáo viên và nhà nghiên cứu.

Từ khóa: kỹ năng nói, tầm quan trọng, sinh viên năm hai, các yếu tố

THE FACTORS THAT INFLUENCE THE LACK OF SPEAKING

SKILL OF SECOND-YEAR STUDENTS’ PRACTICE IN ENGLISH
DEPARTMENT AT HANOI UNIVERSITY

Abstract: Regarding the English language skills, speaking skill seems to be the most vital skill
in terms of engagement or communication in daily life (Ur, 1996). Many language learners discover they
frequently struggle to adequately express themselves in a foreign language. They stop speaking
because they encounter psychological barriers or are unable to find the appropriate words and
expressions. Therefore, this research aims at instituting the need to focus on the factors that influence
the lack of speaking skill of second-year students’ practice in English Department at Hanoi University.
This overview traces out the body of research concerning the term speaking, the significance of
speaking, and the factors influencing speaking skill. In order to take into consideration the speaking
requirements of language learners in the context of English language teaching and learning, this study
can be helpful to students, teachers, and researchers.

Keywords: speaking skill, significance, second-year students, factors

1. INTRODUCTION
It stands to reason that the English learning process of speaking skill is the basis for the

314
acquisition of other language skills. In other words, language learners sometimes rely on oral
proficiency in obtaining their linguistic information. Despite an important skill, speaking has
been neglected in schools and universities due to a variety of reasons, including the over
focusing on grammar or the lecture often designed to be theoretical and solely serving to prepare
students for paper tests. When it comes to speaking, it is not just about the way that individuals
say a word clearly, but it is about their ability to convey the messages to the listeners precisely.
Many learners claim that they have spent years practicing English speaking, but they are still
unable to speak it correctly and understandably (Bueno, Madrid & McLaren, 2006). Thus, to
be expert at speaking, people need a lot of practice. Moreover, we cannot practice if we do not
know where to start. There are many things that a person needs to accumulate before being a
proficient English speaker. In this research, we investigate some factors that have bad impacts
on students’ lack of speaking, consisting of second-year English majors in Ha Noi University.
2. THE RATIONALE OF THE STUDY
To begin with, it is indisputable that English is considered as one of the most widely used
in the majority of countries. English is the third most spoken native language in the world,
behind only Mandarin (Chinese) and Spanish, and is spoken by more people overall than any
other language in the world. Buccini & Moulton (2022) states that many countries speak
English as a primary language (by total population 2021), for example, Canada, Liberia, Ireland
and New Zealand. Particularly, Vietnam is also one of them. Furthermore, speaking English
fluently can help language learners in a number of ways, including increasing job opportunities,
facilitating effective communication and providing access to some of the best education systems
and institutes in the world (King Life, 2022). Therefore, the ability to communicate smoothly
in English is certainly important. As English language students at Hanoi University, one of
Vietnam's oldest colleges for teaching linguists, we see English as a crucial way of obtaining
and developing jobs in the future. However, in our findings, a large majority of students at
Hanoi University are still hesitant and insecure about using and speaking English in public.
Thus, this paper will highlight some factors that negatively affect students’ ability to speak
English.
3. LITERATURE REVIEW
3.1. Definition of Speaking
Speaking (also known as Oral skill) is one of four language skills (writing, reading,
listening and speaking). There are many definitions of the word “speaking” according to
different researchers. According to Chaney (1998), speaking is the process of creating and
sharing meaning by utilizing verbal and non-verbal symbols in a variety of contexts. Speaking
is the capacity to communicate in a variety of contexts and genres while utilizing a variety of
conversational and conversational repair techniques (Harmer, 2007). In line with this, Brown
(2004) states that speaking is a productive skill for communicating ideas that can be directly
and empirically observed.
3.2. The importance of Speaking

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 The ability to speak is the most integral of the four language abilities since it is the
foundation for effective communication. Learners consequently often assess their language
performance and the success of their English course based on how much they believe their
spoken language ability has been improved (Richards, 2008). English speaking is a difficult
undertaking since speakers must be proficient in pronunciation, vocabulary, and grammar. As
a result, learners must be expertized in English speaking in order to converse easily and
successfully.
As a language skill, speaking has occasionally been undervalued or, in some circles, taken
for granted (McDonough & Shaw, 1993). However, the significance of speaking is pointed out
in a incorporation with other language skills. To be more specific, if students perform well in
English speaking, it will be a good chance for them to improve other skills. For example,
speaking helps learners extend their range of vocabulary and develop their grammar and finally
end up with expertising in writing skills.
When students learn English, speaking attaches much importance to improve their ability
to apply language. Since speaking appears in almost daily activities, which means they have to
use it longer than any different skills. As a result, people are capable of using words and phrases
fluently and naturally. In other words, they can make real conversations to achieve their object
target more easily (McDonough & Shaw, 1993).
3.3. Factors that influence the lack of speaking
3.3.1. Anxiety and lack of confidence
Anxiety and lack of confidence, which are internally produced, are important factors
needed to be concerned, because it affects the learning of speaking skill. According to Horwitz
and Cope (1986), “foreign language anxiety” can be identified as a specific form of anxiety
experienced by learners. It is undeniable that speaking performance may be affected by
students’ anxiety level. Tsui cites Nunan (1999) as saying that learners lack confidence in
themselves and their English necessarily suffer from the fear of communication. They can be
very stressful when they have to interact with others. Moreover, speakers also fear that if they
say something incorrect, they will be ridiculed by the audience. The problem of anxiety and
lack of confidence could result in students becoming easily frightened when told to come
forward by the teacher and causing students to just be silent not to dare to produce language.
This aspect is quite concerning for improving student language skills.
3.3.2. Lack of listening skills
From a practical view of language performance, there is a direct connection between
listening and speaking (Brown, 2004). Doff (1998) states that unless learners improve their
listening skill, they cannot develop their speaking skill. In other words, learners should
understand what they are listening to in order to have an effective conversation. This means if
people are not sufficient in listening skills, they may hesitate when it comes to speaking since
they are not fully capable of comprehending the information that the speaker wants to convey.

316
 3.3.3. Lack of motivation
Motivation is a crucial factor to achieve proficiency in a second language (Gardner &
Lambert, 1972). This can be connected to students' lack of motivation towards the English
course. “Motivation can promote learning and learning can produce motivation again” (Hong
& Ganapathy, 2017). Moreover, the definition of motivation “is composed of many different
and overlapping factors such as interest, curiosity or a desire to achieve” (Williams & Burden,
1999). Gardner in Nunan (1999) elaborates the reasons for the students' lack of motivation,
including uninspired teaching, boredom, a lack of perceived relevance of the contents, and
ignorance of the instructional program's objectives. Aftat (2008) emphasizes that to motivate
students to learn well and actively communicate in English, teachers should have passion,
creativity and interest in their pupils. In other words, students’ motivation is really affected by
the teachers’ teaching performance. As a result, it is vital that teachers also show enthusiasm in
their teaching performance.
3.3.4. Ineffective teaching methods
Teaching methods are a key component that has a great influence on students’ attitudes
and motivation (Alrasheedi S., 2020). It engages in the learning processes of each individual.
If it is appealing and student-centered, it is more likely to enhance self-efficacy (Piran, 2014),
and then increase motivation of students. Teachers or instructors should design interesting and
effective lessons and guidelines to boost students’ ability to communicate. This means in class,
if students have more chances to talk and share opinions with their teachers or peers, they will
feel more confident when they have to interact with others, especially in foreign languages.
3.3.5. Family factors
Family is a source of powerful force to children's education, most children receive social
skills, communication, and a code of behavior from parents and other closed bonds. When
parents participate in their children's educational process, the results are typically favorable and
motivating. As a result, parents should assist their kids with their homework because doing so
allows them to provide their support as one of the major factors contributing to their kids'
success in school. These results support the well-known thesis put forth by Slameto (2010) that
in order for students to study effectively, a calm and tranquil home environment should be
created. When students feel comfortable, they can learn effectively as well. Because the
environment has been developed since the beginning of the birth, the family is the learner’s
closet environment in which to receive an education.
3.3.6. Inadequate familiarity with English
Unless people possess adequate knowledge of English, they cannot speak accurately and
be comfortable when talking with others in English. This means, the lack of vocabulary and
incorrect use of grammar may prevent learners from developing their speaking skill (Goh &
Burns, 2012). To do this, they have to learn about the accent and the ways that a native speaker
utters their language. Spending time reading or learning English is not enough. Instead, learners

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can apply English to real-life situations. For instance, students are suggested to use new words,
phrases or sentences while speaking in order to extend the range of vocabulary, improve
phonological knowledge and correct grammatical errors. Thus, they can become more fluently
and familiar with English.
4. METHODOLOGY
Our study relied heavily on questionnaires. Obviously, the ideal tool for collecting data
for our research was a questionnaire. In comparison to other approaches, the questionnaire is
more convenient and less expensive for investigating a big number of people in a short period
of time. Furthermore, we discovered that the questionnaire was quite helpful in gathering varied
perspectives. Our questionnaire was designed for three main parts. The first part was to get
general information related to common challenges. The second part was to identify students’
agreement or disagreement about the thoughts as well as authentic experience during practicing
speaking English.
We delivered questionnaires to 57 students from different classes. All of them are second-
year English majors at Hanoi University. The majority of respondents are female and at the age
of 20 on average.
We started conducting this survey in the third week of December,2022. It took us a few
days to deliver 57 questionnaire sheets to 57 sophomore English students and collect them.
Fortunately, all 57 hand-outs returned were appropriate.
Follow are detailed contents for our study:
4.1. Aim and mission
4.1.1. Aim
Research is conducted to clarify the factors that influence the lack of speaking skill
practice in students majoring in English, then give some strategies to improve the speaking skill
effectively.
4.1.2. Mission
The first is describing the situation of English-speaking students. The second is analyzing
the factors that influence the lack of English-speaking skill practice in students. Then, indicating
the importance of practicing English speaking skills.
4.2. Subject, objective and scope of the research
4.2.1. Subject
The factors that influence the lack of English-speaking skill practice in students
4.2.2. Objective
Hanoi University’s second-year English majors
4.2.3. Scope

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 The study was carried out from 10/2022 to 12/2022 and was conducted at Hanoi
University. Research focuses on describing the factors that influence the lack of speaking skill
among second-year students in English Department.
4.3. Research questions
1. What are some factors affecting the English-speaking skill of students?
2. Why do learners find English-speaking skill so difficult?
5. FINDINGS
5.1. Problems when speaking English
Response Percentage
What problems do you encounter in English speaking?
count (%)
I don’t come up wih any ideas to say 34 48.6
I pause usually while speaking English 30 42.9
I hesitate to speak English because I am not sure whether I
36 51.4
use English appropriately or not
I can’t reply to my partner’s questions because my listening
28 40
skill is not good
I don’t have enough vocabs to express what I want to say 1 1.4
I make grammar mistakes a lot 1 1.4

When students were asked to choose what problems they encountered in English
speaking, the majority of the students (51.4%) agreed that they hesitated to speak English
because they were not sure whether they used English appropriately or not. 48.6% of the
students thought that they did not come up with any ideas to say. 42.9% of the students claimed
that they usually paused while speaking English. 40% of the students said that they could not
reply to their partners’ questions because their listening skills were not good. Only 1.4% of the
students believed that they did not have enough vocab to express what they wanted to say. The
same number of students thought that they made grammar mistakes a lot.
Most of the students admitted that the accurate English use affected their speaking skill.
The next problem was the ability to come up with ideas. Moreover, the students said they did
not speak English consecutively. Finally, the students reported that due to not being good at
listening skill, they could not respond to their speaking partners. It seems that most of these
problems are related to personal drawbacks, so some advice would be given by our group in the
next session.
5.2. The factors that influence the lack of English-speaking skill practice in
students

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No Statement Responses Count Percentages
(students) (%)
1 I feel embarrassed to Strongly disagree 2 2.9
speak English in front of Disagree 6 8.6
other students Neutral 15 21.4
Agree 36 51.4
Strongly Agree 11 15.7
2 I wish I could speak Strongly disagree 1 1.4
English more fluently Disagree 0 0
Neutral 11 15.7
Agree 28 40
Strongly Agree 30 42.9
3 I sometimes cannot Strongly disagree 1 1.4
reply to others because I Disagree 5 7.1
do not understand what Neutral 24 34.3
they are talking about Agree 27 38.6
Strongly Agree 13 18.6
4 I am encouraged by my Strongly disagree 2 2.9
teachers to speak during Disagree 4 5.7
the class Neutral 14 20
Agree 33 47.1
Strongly Agree 17 24.3
5 I do not think that the Strongly disagree 6 8.6
lectures in the school are Disagree 8 11.4
designed to help Neutral 28 40
students improve their Agree 20 28.6
speaking skills Strongly Agree 8 11.4
6 I think teachers should Strongly disagree 1 1.4
promote interactive Disagree 3 4.2
techniques while Neutral 21 30
teaching English Agree 32 45.8
Strongly Agree 13 18.6
7 My parents have been Strongly disagree 2 2.9
highly supportive of my Disagree 8 11.4
English development Neutral 24 34.3
since I was a little child Agree 25 35.7
Strongly Agree 11 15.7
8 I do not feel comfortable Strongly disagree 6 8.6
when practising Disagree 11 15.7
speaking English at Neutral 16 22.8
home Agree 24 34.3
Strongly Agree 13 18.6
9 Because I believe that I Strongly disagree 3 4.3
have poor word choice Disagree 5 7.1
skills, I am unable to Neutral 14 20
converse with others in Agree 36 51.4
English Strongly Agree 12 17.2
10 Strongly disagree 5 7.1

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 I am able to Disagree 11 15.7
communicate my ideas Neutral 11 15.7
in English, but I struggle Agree 32 45.8
to speak naturally Strongly Agree 11 15.7

The information in the table indicates encouraging results in terms of student

participation. The vast majority of respondents (51.4%) thought they felt embarrassed to speak
English in front of other students. Moreover, 11 out of 70 responses (15.7%) strongly agreed
with this point of view. Despite positive reactions, there were still uncertainties (15 responses)
and minor objections (8 responses) when it came to the factor impacting speaking English. The
findings goes in line with a conclusion to the assumption that the majority of them felt anxious
when speaking, afraid of making mistakes, humiliated and terrified when speaking with friends,
worried that their friends would laugh when they did and felt under pressure when speaking.
(Susilawati, 2017)
The replies referring to the consecutiveness when speaking English strongly agreed with
this statement that the students wished they could have spoken English more fluently (30
responses). In addition, 28 out of 70 students (40%) agreed with this opinion. In contrast, only
1 out of 70 responses (1.4%) did not worry about their consecutiveness. Meanwhile, 15.7% of
the students were still unsure about the assumption.
In response to the ability to reply to others when speaking English, 27 students agreed,
with 13 strongly agreeing, that they sometimes could not reply to others because they did not
understand what others were talking about. While 34.3% of the students expressed doubts, only
6 out of 70 students disapproved of the statement.
When it came to being encouraged by the teachers to speak during class, the majority of
the students (47.1%) showed no objection. Furthermore, 24.3% of the polled respondents
strongly supported this opinion. Only 6 out of 70 students opposed the assumption. There were
still 14 students choosing neutral.
In reply to the opinion that lectures in school were not designed to help students improve
their speaking skills, the majority of the students (40%) expressed neutrality. While 28 students
supported this point of view, only 14 were opponents.
Besides designed lectures, interactive techniques while teaching English were thought to
be promoted by teachers. This opinion was advocated by 45.8% together with 18.6% of the
polled students. On the other hand, only 4 out of 70 students had a contrasting opinion. 30% of
the students did not join either side.
Parents’ support since childhood was also a considerable reason contributing to students’
English development, which was assented by 35.7% of the respondents. Moreover, 11 out of
70 (15.7%) students also bolstered this belief. Conversely, 10 out of 70 students supposed that
this element had no impact on speaking English. However, 34.3% of the students had no
comment on this premise.

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 Home is considered an ideal place to practice and also plays an important part in speaking
English. 17 polled students discouraged this statement. In the meantime, 16 out of 70 students
(22.8%) were still confused about the perception. Surprisingly, 24 out of 70 respondents
(34.3%) agreed that they were not comfortable when practising speaking English at home. In
addition, 18.6% of the respondents showed the same answer.
Word choice skills had a huge influence on the ability to make a conversation with others in
English, which was proved by more than half of the respondents (48 out of 70). Only 8 out of 70
students showed disparate opinions. Meanwhile, 20% of the answers did not favour any side.
The contradiction between the ability to communicate ideas in English quickly and
speaking naturally is significant. 45.8% of the respondents agreed that they were able to
communicate ideas in English, but they struggled to speak naturally. Astonishingly, the number
of responses strongly agreeing, disagreeing and neutralizing were the same, which showed that
this contradiction was a baffling problem. The remaining respondents (7.1%) disagreed with
this line of thinking
5.3. Solutions
There are a number of challenges that prevent students’ learning from being effective. It
seems that personal shortcomings are a contributing factor in all of these issues. It is advised
that students have their own working techniques, they should make an effort to enhance their
knowledge by incorporating new techniques into their way of thinking. In addition, the learners
should participate in public speaking events where students can go to interact with others who
share their interests and practice speaking English.
6. Recommendations and Conclusion
6.1. Recommendations
As for recommendations, further study should be conducted on a wider scale for students
to acquire a better understanding and solid statistics on the factors that influence the lack of
speaking skill of second year students' practice in the English Department. Besides, teachers or
instructors should design interesting and effective lessons and guidelines to boost students’
ability to communicate. Exploration for a customized method to improve speaking skill should
be done based on students’ preferences to attain the best mutual results. Overall, despite having
several challenges, the utilization of learning methods to develop students’ English-speaking
skill is still recognized as indispensable and promising for the future evolution of teaching and
learning.
6. CONCLUSION
The study was based on the actual practice sessions of K21 pupils. This investigates the
causes behind as well as the difficulties pupils confront when speaking English with others.
The study may assist students notice how to overcome any issues as well as worry when
practicing English based on all of the facts from the authentic news and trustworthy publications

322
from the survey. As a consequence, we've discovered excellent strategies for assisting all A21
English majors on their own.
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Gardner, R. C., & Lambert, W. E. (1972). Attitude and motivation in second language
learning. Newbury House
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integrative motivation towards English language learning in a Chinese school in Penang: Case
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Richards, J.C. (2008). Teaching Listening and Speaking: From Theory to Practice.
Cambridge University Press
Susilawati, M., Supardi, I. & Arifin, Z. (2017). Students’ speaking problems in English
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 NGHIÊN CỨU ẢNH HƯỞNG TÍCH CỰC
CỦA HOẠT ĐỘNG CHỮA BÀI CHÉO LÊN KĨ NĂNG VIẾT BÀI
LUẬN MANG TÍNH TRANH LUẬN CỦA SINH VIÊN NĂM 2
KHOA TIẾNG ANH TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC HÀ NỘI
SVTH: Phạm Quỳnh Anh, Dương Quang Đăng, Phạm Thị Thùy Linh & Vũ Thu Phương
GVHD: Đỗ Thị Thu Huyền, Th. S

Tóm tắt: Bài viết nghiên cứu tác động của phương pháp chữa bài chéo đối với kỹ năng viết của
sinh viên năm thứ hai chuyên ngành tiếng Anh tại trường Đại học Hà Nội. Chúng tôi thực hiện nghiên
cứu này vì nhận thấy nhiều sinh viên cảm thấy khó khăn trong việc cải thiện kỹ năng. Do đó, chúng tôi
đã thu thập dữ liệu từ các sinh viên năm thứ hai của Khoa tiếng Anh trường Đại học Hà Nội để phục vụ
cho việc phân tích bài nghiên cứu. Kết quả của bài nghiên cứu đã chứng minh phương pháp chữa bài
chéo có thể giúp sinh viên cải thiện khả năng viết bài luận mang tính trang luận của mình ở một số khía
cạnh, chẳng hạn như sửa lỗi ngữ pháp và lựa chọn từ ngữ phù hợp.

Từ khóa: phương pháp chữa bài chéo, tác động, bài viết mang tính tranh luận, sinh viên năm 2

AN INVESTIGATION INTO SOME NOTABLE EFFECTS OF THE

PEER EDITING ACTIVITY ON ARGUMENTATIVE ESSAYS
WRITING SKILLS AMONG SECOND-YEAR STUDENTS AT THE
ENGLISH DEPARTMENT - HANOI UNIVERSITY

Abstract: This article reports the impacts of peer-editing methods on students’ argumentative
essays of English-majored sophomores at Hanoi University. The key rationale of this research is that
many students find it hard to enhance their writing skills. Hence, we collected data from second-year
students of HANU, English Department for our findings and discussions. It proved that thanks to peer-
editing, students could improve their argumentative writings in certain aspects, namely grammar and
word choices.

Keywords: peer-editing; effect; argumentative writing; second-year students

1. INTRODUCTION
Argumentative writing, which is a compulsory subject of English-major sophomores at
Hanoi University, is arguably key to teaching and learning in studying English as a foreign
language. At university level, students’ knowledge and understanding are largely exhibited and
valued through the medium of argumentative writing. It is an aid to critical thinking and
understanding memory, and it is also to train students as future professionals in particular

325
disciplines. However, it seems an uphill task for students to enhance their writing skills as they
lack familiarity with the criteria, as evidenced by the fact that they heavily depend on teachers’
feedback and are not accustomed to reviewing others' essays. As seniors of the English
Department from Hanoi University, we had a chance to apply the peer-review method during
the writing process back then and noticed certain impacts this method exerted on us. Hence, an
investigation into the peer review method on argumentative writing skills to see its effects on
second-year students of the English Department, Hanoi University is conducted. The study will
firstly scrutinize impacts of peer-review method during students’ process of doing
argumentative essays. The research would find an answer to the question “What are the positive
effects of peer review method on argumentative writing skills among second-year students of
Hanoi University, English Department?”.
2. LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1. Definition
2.1.1. Argumentative essay
To commence with, Crowhurst (1988) stated that “No one kind of writing provides more
opportunities for writing about real issues for real audiences than does argument”.
Similarly, Mei (2006) noted that “Argumentative essay is one of the most common forms
of the curriculum genre that undergraduate students write”.
In addition, the most well-known framework for teaching and evaluating argumentative
essays is Toulmin's (1958) model of argument structure, which is built on the "grammar" of
argument. This model included six interconnected parts namely “claim, data, warrant, backup,
rebuttal, and qualifier” respectively.
According to scientific literature, in every argumentative essay, a definite stance must be
provided, followed by arguments and facts to support that position. In line with that,
argumentative essays are supposed to contain counter-arguments and opposing points of view,
which would require the opinions of both the advocates and the opponents to be taken into
consideration and compared (Andrews, 1995; Qin & Karabacak, 2010; Toulmin, 1958; Wood,
2001).
The researchers used the peer-editing approach to help students follow this structure of
argumentative essays because feedback and comments are the key factors for learning to write
(Hyland & Hyland, 2006).
2.1.2. Peer-editing
Peer-editing considered as peer critique, peer assessment, peer feedback, and peer review
according to Karegianes et al (1960) is a common practice applied to enhance the writing skills
of language learners in language classes. Through this practice, students evaluate products or
performances of equal-status others toward better quality writing (Topping et al., 2000). Those
researchers also found that peer editing activities can be applied in a wide range of subjects in

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classes including business, psychology, social sciences, engineering, and composition. When
used in language learning classes, peer editing can develop and improve skills in “critical
reflection, listening to and acting on feedback, and sensitively assessing and providing
feedback” (Liu and Carless, 2006). Students can benefit not only from their peers’ feedback
and comment but also through a meta-process such as justifying and reflecting on what they
have written.
2.2. Positive effects of peer-editing method
2.2.1. Reduction in making spelling and grammar mistakes
Peer editing has been proven to be an effective method in reducing students’ chances of
making spelling and grammatical mistakes. Diab (2010) revealed that rule-based errors among
students’ products decreased significantly more after being edited by their peers than self-
editing. In line with that, Yüce, E., & Aksu Ataç, B. (2019) indicated that students can realize
their own mistakes and fix writing problems in writing classes after peer editing cycles
regarding sentence formation and mistake awareness.
2.2.2. Peer editing enhances student’s learning autonomy and confidence
Topping et al. (2000) suggested that when applying peer-editing activities in EFL classes
may increase students’ motivation and responsibility as well as improve their self-confidence
in giving and accepting critique, in social and interpersonal communication skills. This also can
be seen in the conclusion of Coterall &Cohen (2003), stating that peer feedback practice may
reduce the writer’s apprehension, and develop the student’s learning autonomy. In particular,
students in this research were supposed to be more sensitive to accepting their problems and
mistakes in their writing and more confident in correcting them. A study conducted by Yang,
Badger & Yu (2016, p.179), revealed that peer editing practice “can be associated with a greater
degree of student autonomy” in learning languages. In other words, this practice allows students
to learn how to give critical feedback on their classmate’s products and revise their own writing
from other’s perspectives, hence independent thinking skills enhancement and self-direct
learning development.
2.2.3. Peer editing improves student’s writing coherence and organization
As regards improvements in writing coherence and organization, Yüce, E., & Aksu Ataç,
B. (2019) reached a conclusion that students performed positively better in writing classes after
experiencing peer-editing and revising processes considering idea organization, coherence and
cohesion.
2.2.4. Peer editing has also proven beneficial for student engagement in writing classes
Peer editing has also been proven to do favors for student engagement in writing classes.
Peer editing provides students with chances to have discussions with their peers about effective
revision, critical analysis, and immediate intervention (Lockhart & Ng, 1995; Tsui & Ng, 2000).
Particularly, Lundstrom and Baker (2009) found that both pretest high proficiency writers and
low ones, peer editors themselves in an EFL setting could significantly improve their English

327
writing skills when compared to peers who just revised their essays based on a sample. Peer
editors in this case can also be seen in research results from Md. Deni & Zainai (2011), stated
that peer-editing activities can positively influence student’s perception of peer-editing
activities, and give students opportunities to share, explore, learn from each other’s writing
styles, and identify with their writing from their friend’s opinions, which makes the process of
learning and writing more interesting and challenging. Campbell & Báita (2022) also revealed
that students themselves became more attentive or learned by engaging in the peer-editing
process, which is quite similar to Oshima & Hogue’s conclusion “Peer editing is an interactive
process of reading and commenting on classmate’s writing”.
2.2.5. Peer editing helps students develop self-assessment skills
Ebadi and Rahimi (2017) stated that peer-editing method enables students to improve
their capacity of evaluating and editing their writing critically from the audience’s opinions,
hence independent thinking skills development. In line with that, this method was proved to
help students actively engage in writing classes and their own writing performance via
interactive communication with their peers (Nicol and Macfarlane-Dick, 2006).
3. METHODOLOGY
3.1. Participants
The researchers collected data from a total of 91 sophomore students having completed
the writing courses at Hanoi University, English Department.
3.2. Instrumentation
A survey was conducted online through Google Forms and then delivered to the
participants who were required to give some of the necessary information, including the amount
of time they spent on argumentative essays, the frequency at which they partook in peer-editing,
the mistakes that they can avoid thanks to peer-editing and what they can acquire from this
activity The questions were modified according to previous studies and further accustomed
after the provision of our supervisor’s feedback. The survey was officially conducted from
December 2nd to December 7th and we received 91 valid responses for our findings and
discussions.
4. FINDING AND DISCUSSION
4.1. Students’ effort on practicing argumentative writing

328
 Figure 1: The amount of time students spend on practicing writing argumentative essays per week

The pie chart above presents the amount of time students who took part in the survey
usually spend on practicing writing argumentative essays per week. As argumentative writing
is deemed one of the key modules during their second-year curriculum, it is probably an
unsettling fact that over 80% of the students admitted that they only practice their argumentative
writing skills for less than 5 hours per week on average, which means less than 45 minutes per
day. The proportion of respondents who dedicate 5 to 7 hours and more than 7 hours per week
to argumentative writing practice only make up roughly 13% and 4% respectively. No response
was recorded for “more than 10 hours”, which can be predicted given the aforementioned
numbers.
4.2. Students’ participation in peer-editing activity

Figure 2: Student’s frequency of taking part in peer-editing activity

329
 Figure 3: Student’s evaluation of the importance of peer-editing activity

The two charts above shed light on students’ perspectives toward the importance of peer-
editing practice, as well as the frequency at which they conduct the activity. Generally, most
students acknowledge the importance of peer-editing on their writing skills, as the responses
ranging from “indispensable” to “quite important” account for 80% of the total number of poll-
takers (Figure 3). This appears relevant to the finding about student’s frequency of participating
in peer-editing activities, in which 70% of the respondents claimed to take part in peer-editing
activity on a fairly regular basis, yet one-third of students are still unfamiliar with peer-editing
practice (Figure 2).
However, much as students positively evaluate peer-editing as a crucial activity in
improving their argumentative writing skills, a closer look at Figure 2 reveals that the practice
of peer-editing among survey participants is more likely to be carried out under teachers’
request rather than actively conducted. This is underpinned by the fact that the rate of students
who chose the option that heavily implies peer-editing merely as a classroom activity (55%) is
three times higher than that of students whose peer-editing practices grow beyond class
restriction (14%).

4.3. Mistakes students can avoid by peer-editing

330
 Figure 4: Mistakes students can avoid by peer-editing

The research work of Diab (2010) on the effects of peer-editing on students’

argumentative writing has particularly highlighted the capability of this activity on reducing
students’ mistakes related to spelling and grammar. This closely aligns with the findings of our
survey, as the percentage of respondents who are able to effectively eliminate grammatical
errors in their essays thanks to peer-editing activity ranks the highest (roughly 79%), followed
by that of spelling and word choice mistakes with 71% and 65% of the total respectively.

As far as the problems related to cohesion are concerned, it is notable that the proportion
of students who agreed they can tackle the lack of transitional devices through peer review
accounts for over half of the total respondents (54%), which is twice higher than the figure
related to the issue of overusing these devices (24%). On the whole, the rate of students who
found peer-editing beneficial to deal with the issue of cohesive device overuse is also the lowest
of all the mistakes listed, which either means that peer-editing activity is largely inapplicable
to this type of mistake, or students are less likely to encounter this problem when writing
argumentative essays, or both.
When it comes to idea expression, peer-editing proves to be most effective in addressing
problems regarding students’ unclear positions throughout the essay (43%). Meanwhile, the
rate of students making use of peer-editing activity to deal with the use of informal language is
slightly lower, at about 38% of the students’ responses in total. At the same time, about 32% of
the respondents agreed that they can avoid writing run-on sentences with the help of peer-
editing activity.
4.4. Students’ acquisitions from peer-editing activity

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 Figure 5: Students’ acquirements from peer-editing activity

According to Ebadi and Rahimi (2017), one of the most noticeable strengths of peer-
editing practice is that it greatly facilitates students’ improvement in self-assessment ability.
Similarly, our survey reveals that peer editing helps more than 76% of respondents to
acknowledge common types of mistakes that they are prone to fall into and therefore can
effectively improve their essays by paying more attention to avoid them. However, when it
comes to the assessment of other people, the percentage of students who can acquire this skill
is significantly lower, only at 43%. Meanwhile, the figures for learning new writing styles and
advanced vocabulary from friends’ essays through peer-editing both stand at 70%, coming in
second among students’ responses.
In terms of grammar, although results from Figure 4 show that peer-editing proves most
effective in correcting mistakes related to this aspect, the percentage of survey participants that
claim to be able to enrich their knowledge of advanced grammatical structures by collecting
new ones from others’ essays is 62%, only ranking fourth in total.
In addition, the adoption of new perspectives towards a specific topic is also claimed to
be attained by over 55% of respondents, followed by the development of critical thinking
ability, enhancement of background knowledge, and the ability to develop ideas and write
counterarguments more logically respectively. The lowest figure in the diagram is 37%, which
belongs to the increase in students’ engagement in class as an acquisition resulted from peer-
editing. All in all, it can be inferred from the collected data that students tend to easily attain
technical skills such as grammar, vocabulary, and writing style rather than other practical ones.
5. CONCLUSION
In conclusion, our research was conducted to examine the positive impacts that peer
review exerted on the argumentative writing skills of second-year students from Hanoi
University, English Department. We concluded that those students would gain notable benefits

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to enhance their writing such as checking grammatical mistakes and word choices, among
others. These findings highlight the utility of peer review as a pedagogical tool in the
psychology classroom.

REFERENCES

Andrews, R. (1995). Teaching and learning argument. London, NY: Cassell.

Crowhurst, M. (1988). Research review: Patterns of development in writing
persuasive/argumentative discourse. Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada: University of
British Columbia, Department of Language Education.
Deni, A. R. M., & Zainal, Z. I. (2011). Peer-Editing Practice in the Writing Classroom:
Benefits and Drawbacks. Advances in language and literary studies, 2(1), 92-107.
Diab, N. M. (2010). Effects of peer-versus self-editing on students’ revision of language
errors in revised drafts. System, 38(1), 85-95.
Ebadi, S., & Rahimi, M. (2017). Exploring the impact of online peer-editing using Google
Docs on EFL learners’ academic writing skills: A mixed methods study. Computer Assisted
Language Learning, 30(8), 787-815.
Hyland, K., Hyland, F. (2006). Feedback on second language students’ writing, in
Language Teaching, 39, 2: 83-101.
Karegianes, M. L., Pascarella, E. T., & Pflaum, S. W. (1980). The Effects of Peer Editing
on the Writing Proficiency of Low-Achieving Tenth Grade Students. The Journal of Educational
Research, 73(4), 203- 207.
Liu, N.-F., & Carless, D. (2006). Peer Feedback: The Learning Element of Peer
Assessment. Teaching in Higher Education, 11, 279-290.
Lockhart, C., & Ng, P. (1995). Analyzing talk in ESL peer response groups:Stances,
functions and content. Language Learning, 45, 605-655.
Lundstrom, K., Baker, W. (2009). To give is better than to receive: The benefits of peer
review to the reviewers own writing, in Journal of Second Language Writing, 18, 1: 30-43.
Mei, W. S. (2006). Creating a contrastive rhetorical stance: Investigating the strategy of
problematization in students’ argumentation. RELC Journal,37, 329–353.
doi:10.1177/0033688206071316
Nicol, D., Thomson, A., & Breslin, C. (2014). Rethinking feedback practices in higher
education: a peer review perspective. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 39(1),
102-122.
Oshima, A., Ann, H. (2007). Introduction to Academic Writing (3rd Ed). USA: Pearson
Education, Inc.

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 Qin, J., & Karabacak, E. (2010). The analysis of Toulmin elements in Chinese EFL
university argumentative writing. System, 38(3), 1–13.
Toulmin, S. E. (1958). The uses of argument. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University
Press.
Tsui, A., & Ng, M. (2000). Do secondary L2 writers benefit from peer comments? Journal
of Second Language Writing, 9 (2), 147-170.
Wood, N. V. (2001). Perspectives on argument. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Yang, M., Badger, R., & Yu, Z. (2006). A comparative study of peer and teacher feedback
in a Chinese EFL writing class. Journal of Second Language Writing, 15(3), 179-200.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jslw.2006.09.004.
Yüce, E., & Aksu Ataç, B. (2019). Peer editing as a way of developing ELT students’
writing skills: An action research. Journal of Language and Linguistic Studies, 15(4), 1226-
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 ẢNH HƯỞNG CỦA PHƯƠNG PHÁP CHÉP CHÍNH TẢ
ĐẾN KỸ NĂNG NGHE CỦA NGƯỜI HỌC TIẾNG ANH
SVTH: Lưu Minh Anh (10A21), Bùi Thu Giang (10A21), Đinh Thị Thúy Hải (10A21)
GVHD: Trần Thị Hồng Tới

Tóm tắt: Tiếng Anh được coi là ngôn ngữ toàn cầu và được sử dụng phổ biến nhất. Mỗi kỹ năng
của tiếng Anh sẽ mang đến những khả năng nhất định cho người học, trong đó kỹ năng nghe là một
trong những kỹ năng chuyên dụng nhất. Tuy nhiên, người học thường phải đối mặt với nhiều trở ngại
trong kỹ năng nghe bởi nó đòi hỏi lượng kiến thức đa dạng để có thể hiểu được thông điệp của người
nói. Có rất nhiều phương pháp để cải thiện những khó khăn của kỹ năng nghe và một trong những
phương pháp thông dụng, hiệu quá là phương pháp chép chính tả. Do đó, mục đích của bài nghiên cứu
này (1) chỉ ra những khó khăn người học tiếng Anh thường gặp phải trong kỹ năng nghe, (2) chỉ ra
phương pháp khắc phục khó khăn hiệu quả nhất chính là phương pháp chép chính tả và (3) lợi ích của
nghe chép chính tả trong kỹ năng nghe đến người học Tiếng Anh.

Từ khóa: kỹ năng nghe, nghe chép chính tả, lợi ích của nghe chép chính tả, khó khăn nghe hiểu
tiếng Anh.

THE EFFECTIVENESS OF DICTATION ON THE LISTENING

SKILLS OF EFL LEARNERS

Abstract: English is considered the most international and universal of languages. Each skill in
English brings certain merits to learners and listening is considered one of the most specialized skills.
However, learners often experience a lot of difficulties in listening skills due to the requirement of a huge
amount of knowledge to understand the speaker’s messages. There are myriad methods to deal with
the problems of listening skills, and one of the most remarkable methods is dictation. Hence, this
research aims to (1) illustrate the difficulties of listening skills, (2) demonstrate the dictation method, and
(3) describe the benefits of dictation in the listening skills of EFL learners.

Keywords: listening skills, dictation, benefits of dictation, difficulties of listening comprehension.

1. LITERATURE REVIEW
1.1. Listening Skills
1.1.1. Definition
Most foreign language learners attempt to study English since it serves the goal of
intercultural communication. In the process to master the English language, they are required
to learn the language's four fundamental skills, namely listening, speaking, reading, and writing.
Speaking and writing are considered productive skills, whereas listening and reading are

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receptive skills (Srinivas, 2019). Differing from hearing which is defined as the process,
function, or power of perceiving sound or using the special sense which receives noises and
tones as stimuli (Merriam-Webster), listening, on the other hand, conveys the idea of paying
attention to sound; to thoughtfully attend when hearing something; and to give consideration.
Therefore, listening is apparently an active process that requires listeners to make a conscious
decision while listening to speakers and understand the message of the speakers. Nonetheless,
it is a demanding skill to master. (Rosli, 2018) assesses that the difficulty and complexity of
listening are because of the components that characterize the listeners, the speakers, the content
of the message, and any visual aid accompanying it. According to Emmert (Miller, 2006),
listening is the process of receiving, constructing meaning from, and responding to spoken
and/or non-verbal messages. Hwaider (2017) has the same idea when defining listening as an
activity to understand and interpret the speech of a language. Hamouda (2013) states that
listening is a skill that needs students’ abilities to recognize what they are listening to, including
pronunciation, grammar, vocabulary, and meaning.
Hogan et al (2014) and Hudson and Browder (2014) believe that listening activities
become the foundation for interactive activities to better the language skills of students.
Therefore, listening plays a considerably important role on the path to becoming proficient in
the English language. Celce-Murcia (1991) states “The importance of listening comprehension
in language learning and language teaching has moved from a status of incidental and peripheral
importance to a status of significance and central importance”. Chastain (1998) shows
agreement by asserting that “the ability to comprehend the spoken language plays an essential
role in second-language learning and use”. Moreover, he affirms “it is the skill most needed out
of class by language students attempting to improve their knowledge and use of the second
language”. Ramadhika (2014) and Sadiku (2015) concur with these statements and similarly
put an emphasis on the significance of listening. They announce that it is an activity that people
do much more than other skills. Burns and Siegel (2018) prove this opinion when reporting that
45% of the time adults spend in interactions is listening.
In conclusion, listening is a process of receiving and apprehending spoken messages to
submit a decent and suitable response in return. Therefore, listening is an integrative skill that
necessitates the active participation and attention of the listeners. Furthermore, it shoulders the
accountability of a critical, plus, essential skill that is commonly used.
1.1.2. Process
According to Gerber and Murphy (2021), the process of listening contains five main steps,
namely receiving, interpreting, recalling, evaluating, and responding.
1.1.2.1. Receiving
According to Gerber and Murphy (2021), in the receiving stage, listeners are required to
absorb stimuli through their senses. Visual channels and auditory are the two primary factors
that affect the process of taking in information. Despite not usually being considered a part of
listening, visual cues do influence how people interpret messages. For example, seeing a

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person’s face when hearing their voice encourages people to recognize nonverbal cues such as
facial expressions, thereby, assisting them to attain a better understanding of the conveyed
messages.
Noise is another important factor that affects how people receive messages. Though some
noise is associated with the physical context, such as traffic sounds, interferes primarily with
the physiological features of hearing - (the physical process of obtaining stimuli through
internal and external components of the ears and eyes), some issuing from the individual
circumstances like stress and anger interferes with the cognitive courses of listening (the
cognitive process of tackling the stimuli during the hearing).
1.1.2.2. Interpreting
Interpreting is a stage of listening where the visual and auditory information from the first
stage of receiving are combined. This stage engages cognitive and relational processing as
subjects digest informational, contextual, and relational cues and attempt to link them
meaningfully to preceding experiences. Therefore, messages are understood as their meanings
are attached by people’s connecting information to previous experiences. If the information is
neither important nor a goal, this stage may be rather abbreviated or even disregarded.
1.1.2.3. Recalling
According to Hargie (2011), human memory consists of multiple “storage units”,
including sensory storage, short-term memory, working memory, and long-term memory.
Sensory storage, though very large in terms of capacity, is finite regarding the length of storage.
A tenth of a second is the span that an enormous amount of unsorted visual information could
last in human minds. For the unsorted auditory information, it is up to four seconds.
After being organized and interpreted, stimuli make their way to short-term memory (a
mental storage capability retaining stimuli for twenty seconds to one minute) where they either
expire and are forgotten or are transferred to long-term memory (a mental storage capability
that stimuli in short-term memory can be transferred to).
Working memory is a temporarily accessed memory storage space activated during times
of high cognitive demand and assists humans in temporarily storing information and process as
well as using it coincidentally.
1.1.2.4. Evaluating
As reported by Gerber and Murphy (2021), evaluating means making judgments about
the credibility, completeness, and worth of the subjects. Regarding credibility, listeners try to
determine the degree of correctness and/or trueness of the speakers’ statements. In terms of
completeness, speakers are supposed to “read between the lines” and estimate the messages
concerning their knowledge about the being-discussed topic or situation. The worth of a
message can be evaluated by making a value judgment about the goodness, rightness, and
desirability of the message to the listeners.

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 This stage requires critical thinking skills as listeners possibly focus their evaluative
lenses more on the identity or characteristics of the speakers rather than the content of the
messages that they are conveying. Therefore, developing and improving the skills of thinking
critically help eliminate this negative aspect of evaluating stage and promote the effectiveness
of listening.
1.1.2.5. Responding
Responding - the last stage entails sending verbal (cues such as “uh” or “oh”) and
nonverbal (eye contact, head nods, etc) messages that indicate attentiveness and understanding
or a lack thereof (Gerber and Murphy, 2021). In the listening skills test at school, the student’s
responses can be reflected through what they write on their papers.
1.1.3. The current reality and solutions
1.1.3.1. The difficulties in listening to English
When EFL learners listen to English, there is a wide range of difficulties that they have
to encounter as schools tend to focus on grammar and vocabulary learning, writing skills, and
reading skills.
According to Azmi Bingol et al (2014), the first obstacle to listening skills is related to
the condition of recorded materials since the quality of the sound system possibly impacts the
process of comprehending the speakers of the learners.
The second impediment is regarding cultural differences. Learners are suggested to be
informed of the culture of language as cultural knowledge has a significant effect on the
learners’ understanding. Supposing that the listening task involves completely distinctive and
unique cultural materials, the learners may have critical problems with their comprehension
(Azmi, B, 2014).
Additionally, accent is also considered a problem with EFL learners. Munro and Derwing
(1999) express that a substantial number of accented speech can lead to a remarkable reduction
in comprehension. Goh (1999) shares the same idea when estimating that 66% of learners
mentioned a speaker’s accent as one of the most significant factors that affect their
comprehension.
Unfamiliar vocabulary, likewise, is another listening hindrance. According to Azmi
Bingol et al (2014), when listening to texts containing known words, learners apparently find it
easier to comprehend the situations, and their interest, as well as motivation to attend, are also
aroused, which possibly has a positive impact on the students’ listening skills overall. In
contrast, using listening material that contains lots of complicated and hardly-used words could
puzzle the learners, thereby affecting their listening comprehension.

The last difficulty in listening as stated by Azmi Bingol et al (2014) is in terms of the
length and speed of the materials. They declare that the learning status of students can have an
influential role in the listening process. Therefore, it is certainly challenging for lower-level

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students to listen to a more-than-three-minute tape and finish the listening tasks impeccably.
Moreover, according to Underwood (1989), speed is capable of defying listeners with the
listening passages. If the speakers speak at a too fast pace, students are likely to have serious
problems grasping the ideas. In this circumstance, listeners hardly hold control of the speed of
speakers and this can create critical difficulties with listening comprehension.

In conclusion, a considerable number of shortcomings concerning listening skills have a

negative impact on the process of achieving proficiency in English for EFL learners. Hence,
some feasible solutions must be implemented to ease the situation.
1.1.3.2. Solutions
To deal with these English listening skills-related problems, tons of methods are
suggested in the belief that they benefit EFL learners greatly, for example, listening to English
podcasts, watching English-spoken movies, watching English Youtube channels, using English
learning applications, listening to audiobooks, and so on (Vare, F. J, 2022). These types of
practice help learners acquire the correct pronunciation of common words and widely-used
expressions as well as expand their vocabulary and knowledge in all universal topics and
aspects of life, which perhaps assists the process of English listening comprehension. Hence,
the listening skills of learners make a remarkable improvement. Besides that, one of the
techniques for advancing listening skills recommended in a significant number of books about
teaching EFL generally and teaching listening comprehension particularly is dictation (Celce-
Murcia, 1996; Gil58 G. REZA KIANY and EBRAHIM SHIRAMIRY bert, 1996; Davis, 1995;
Rost, 1991; Ur, 1991; Byrne, 1978; Rivers & Temperley, 1978; Morley, 1977; Paulston, 1976;
Finocchiaro & Bonomo, 1973).
1.2. Dictation
1.2.1. What is dictation?
Sulystianto claimed that: “ Dictation is an “uneconomical” and “imprecise” technique of
language testing” (Sulystianto, 2015). Somaratne (1957) goes even deeper and considers it as
just a spelling test.
“Dictation is a technique used in both language teaching and language testing in which a
passage is read aloud to students and during pauses, students must try to write down what they
hear as accurately as possible” (Richards & Schmidt, 2010, 7). More specifically, the teacher
will play the tape two or three times. The first-time students will only listen and identify the
main ideas and topics of the listening text. On the second listening, students will listen to each
sentence one by one, at the end of each sentence, the tape will be paused to let students record
the entire sentence. The last time will be the listening time for students to check for spelling
mistakes and correct the whole lesson.
Dictation is also not only technical but also an effective method to improve listening skills
and learn in-depth about the elements involved in words such as sounds, letters, and spelling.

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According to Davis and Rinvolucri: “Dictation is to decode the sounds of a language and re-
encode them in the text”. Oller also shares the same idea that dictation activates learners'
abilities and improves learners' synthesis skills. Dictation is an activity that can be used to
improve students' listening skills, not only to understand what they listen to but also to
understand the spelling and punctuation and to understand the meaning of the sentence they
listen to (Mentari, 2018).
From these definitions above, we can conclude that Dictation is the process of
transcribing each sentence in a short audio clip of about 3 to 5 minutes. It also trains students
to distinguish sounds and helps them learn punctuation and develops their ability to understand
sounds. And during the process of listening to dictation, they must pay attention to each word
and must write down the exact words that they heard. The process of dictation will help improve
listening skills and develop other skills such as writing or speaking skills.
1.2.2. Types of dictation
Students are provided with an incomplete graph or other picture for listening dictation.
The missing statements are read out by the teachers, who repeat each sentence twice. The
materials are told normally, and the teacher takes a moment to pause after each statement to
give the class time to consider the meaning and add to the graph.
We can categorize dictation listening into numerous categories depending on the sort of
listening lesson and the number of pupils. Here are the types of dictation based on individual
student work.
According to (Oller, 1971, p. 255), this group covers the following dictation types:
1.2.2.1. Standard dictation
The most popular and widespread method of dictation is likely Standard Dictation.
Writing down spoken material that has been spoken by the teacher or captured on tape is
required of the students. The source material is offered in sequences that are long enough to test
students' short-term memory at a casual conversational pace.
1.2.2.2. Partial dictation
It is also called punched dictation. Students are given either a spoken version of the text
or an unfinished written version of this type, which is closely comparable to standard spelling.
To complete the written version, students must listen to the spoken content. Because it already
contains some information, it is easier to complete.
1.2.2.3. Dictation with competing noise
Because the given material has more noise than the previous two, this type of spelling is
more challenging. Students gain experience using language in less-than-ideal acoustic
environments by engaging in this kind of dictation. For instance, we are attempting to discuss
with someone in their house while the TV and washing machine are creating loud noises that
compete with each other, or we are trying to hear a message over the public address system

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when it is busy.
1.2.2.4. Elicited limitation
In this scenario, students listen to the material but are required to repeat it or otherwise
repeat what was said instead of writing it down.
1.2.3. Benefits of dictation
1.2.3.1. Oppositions of dictation
Dictation is utilized widely as both a testing and teaching device for measuring language
proficiency. However, implementing dictation in language classrooms has encountered
considerable numbers of opposition.
Regarding a testing device, dictation faces many disagreements. Lado (1961), for
instance, believes that dictation brings no value in measuring any aspect of language since
learners are given instructions at all times. Dictation is rejected to be an ‘uneconomical’ and
‘imprecise’ testing equipment by Harris (1969, p.5). Moreover, a test of spelling is defined as
dictation according to Somaratne’s (1957) viewpoint. Besides, dictation is considered a
complicated technique that has little use in real life (Bennett, 1968). Otherwise, Stanfield (1985)
claims that using dictation as a test of fluency in a foreign language is undesirable because of
its close ties with the Grammar Translation Method. Accordingly, the inadequacies of the
psychological and linguistic theories that were utilized as the foundation of language instruction
methods in the 1950s and 1960s may be the underlying cause leading to those disapprovals of
dictation. Language is divided into its constituent elements, with each being taught and assessed
independently. This is based on structural linguistics, which was a prominent field at the time.
In the teaching aspect, additionally, dictation is also believed not to be an effective
scheme in the improvement of learners’ language proficiency; Cartledge (1968), for instance,
is one of those opponents. He asserts that the only benefit of dictation is helping learners
practice oral comprehension. Despite admitting the implementation of dictation in both
teaching and testing methods, Valette (1964) claims the fact that learners excel at dictation,
which does not refer to their proficiency in other language learning aspects. Moreover,
according to Ezenwosu’s research (2011), in his Nigerian context, dictation is not widely used
in teaching English exclusively in secondary school because it is considered to be teacher-
centered and old-fashioned. Furthermore, according to Bachman & Palmer (1981, 1982),
dictation is believed not to be effective for language learners because it just superficially
develops one language component rather than several relative ones. Using dictation, too, is
inconsistent with the theoretical aspects of language proficiency declared by Canale and Swain
(1980) and Canale (1981). Moreover, the requirement of dictation in verbatim recall and
transcribing exactly what is auditorily presented is useless in daily communication.
1.2.3.2. Approvals of dictation

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 Aside from those above-mentioned refutations, there are still many proponents of
dictation, considering it a useful technique in either teaching or testing process.

In terms of the testing aspect, dictation is regarded to be easy to construct, administer,

and score in well-established scoring systems (Irvine, Atati, and Oller, 1974). Oller (1979) also
literally contends dictation that “seems to be the best single measure of the totality of English
language skills being tested” (p.255). Moreover, dictation proponents claim that it is a reliable
indicator of language proficiency due to its tight relation with other integrative language
proficiency exams such as TOEFL, and the like (Oller 1971; Irvine, Atai, 1974, Jafarpur and
Yamini, 1993). Additionally, Oller, too, along with Streiff (1975) claims that dictation triggers
the internalized expectancy grammar of the learners.
Regarding dictation as a teaching device, Sawyer and Silver (1961) believe that dictation
is primarily a learning exercise since it requires some abilities to take part in learning a
language, thereby students have to learn to listen, concentrate, and dictate exactly in their
second language. Valette (1964) also claims that focusing on various language elements during
dictation raises students' awareness of written language. When mentioning this facet, in
addition, Whitaker (1976) says, “... wherever aural comprehension is prized, together with
literacy and ability to read the FL, dictation may be found to be both profitable for teaching,
and valid for testing” (p. 92). Dictation is addressed as a good aid in improving the learner’s
comprehension. Accordingly, its importance is to encourage students’ accuracy in listening,
writing, and reinforcing both structure and vocabulary, which is also concluded by Morris
(1983). Besides, Lambert (1986) claimed that learning a second language is more effective
when input comes from both the sight and the ear rather than just one. Furthermore, the potential
possibility of learning and using a second language in the context of meaningful dialogue was
stated by Jafarpur and Amini (1993). Again David and Rinvolucri (2002) explained that
dictation contains a wealth of new techniques to enhance the conventional language learning
activity. These range from exercises that not only focus on personal attitudes and opinions of
both teachers and students but also pay attention to spelling and punctuation issues. It also
suitably varies in every level and age range. On the same ground, dictation is documented in
gaining successful performance in both lower and higher-order abilities (Oller, 1979, Cohen,
1980). To illustrate, Cai (2013) concludes that comparing partial dictation and gap-filling on
summaries are comparable to test formats thought to measure higher-order abilities. In the same
year 2002, Alkire claimed that the broadcasting of dictation raises either the students' and
teachers’ awareness of some comprehension errors, namely phonological and grammatical,
typically, including the frequent omissions of bound morphemes such as -s, or -ed. In the
notetaking aspect, dictation gives valuable practice in quickly transcribing lectures spoken at
normal speed. Furthermore, it is thought that dictation helps strengthen short-term memory
since students have to remember and retain the whole meaningful phrases or sentences before
writing them down. Montalvana (1990) further gives some supplementary ideas for those pros
that dictation is not only supported as an excellent review exercise but also a motivation for
students whenever they complete well. Dictation, too, promotes unconscious thinking in the

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new language; plus, some research has shown that the practice of writing down what students
hear can encourage the development of literacy. Generally, dictation is a useful technique in
enhancing all language skills integratively, which are grammar, oral communication,
pronunciation, and listening comprehension.
1.2.4. Guidelines for dictation
Apart from any meaningful activities which are taught in a listening class, dictation
should be given a specific place in English teaching methodology. With the aim of making
dictation a worthwhile activity, conducting an effective dictation session within English class
requires the lecturers to establish logical teaching strategies. Materials preparation and the way
in delivering a dictation are the two most fundamental elements contributing to a successful
dictation lesson.
Some suggested preparation steps can be followed easily. First, suitable material should
be dictated, which ideally comes from contemporary sources of clear, and standard English.
They can be flexibly dependent on each teacher to be chosen as the most appropriate dictation
listening text based on their students’ abilities. Apparently, learners’ abilities on different levels
and the intricacy of the dictation text should be on equal ground, which generally supports the
development and fundamental vocabulary and sentence patterns (Alkire, 2002). Second, the
dictation texts, according to Blanche (2004), mostly can be parts of any sources such as books,
newspapers, magazines, plays, poetry, broadcast, speech, or even songs. He explained that the
statements dictated should be suitable for average students’ abilities. Besides, students’ needs
and interests could also be taken into consideration along with the appropriate length of the
texts.
In terms of a dictation procedure, there are specific systems including following steps
based on each different type of dictation. The distinction among those types only took place in
the pre-listening stage, or in other words, in teachers’ instructions to help students adequately
materialize for the dictation. To illustrate, in partial dictation, brainstorming, discussion, and
guessing exercises are implemented. While in standard dictation, Scott Alkire (2002) himself
instructed his pupils to utilize pencils and uniform notebooks with lined paper where
transcriptions would be written down on every line spacing, so the corrections could be marked
between the lines if necessary. Besides, some specialized words, abbreviations, acronyms, etc.
within the dictation, for instance, should be explained before. The teacher, additionally, also
clarified the preferred spelling for any word that is frequently misspelled (e.g. rock and roll/
rock’n’roll).
Despite the differences, some following steps during the dictation lecture, in general, are
conducted systematically. Whether the process is teacher-lead dictation or tape-recorded one,
the students have a total of three times listening. First, the texts are read thoroughly at normal
speed without any pauses, and the students are informed just to listen and not to take down
notes to get the general ideas. The texts then are read aloud once more, this time with pauses
between phrases or natural word groups to allow the students to accurately record what they

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have heard. Finally, the statements are dictated thirdly at normal speed again, thereby the
students can check their work for the last time. After finishing the dictation, depending on each
teacher’s instruction, students can self-correct their transcriptions or have peer corrections.
2. CONCLUSION
To reiterate, listening is a procedure of obtaining and apprehending spoken messages to
submit a decent and suitable response in return. Furthermore, it is also a critical and essential
skill that is commonly used daily. Although there are still an enormous number of shortcomings,
learners can master listening skills as long as they participate actively in the process of listening
as well as apply an appropriate method to assist their learning journey. In addition, dictation is
considered one of the most effective techniques to improve listening skills and also develop
other skills such as writing or speaking skills alike. The study is expected for EFL learners to
have a deeper understanding of the process of dictation and its benefits to listening skills.
However, the limitation of dictation which is the lack of interaction between learners sometimes
can reduce the effectiveness of this method. Therefore, further studies and research should be
conducted to investigate deeper into this topic to give specific and feasible suggestions to EFL
learners.

REFERENCES

A. Hamouda. (2013). [PDF] An Investigation of Listening Comprehension Problems

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 TÁC ĐỘNG CỦA VIỆC SỬ DỤNG QUILLBOT ĐẾN KỸ NĂNG
VIẾT CỦA SINH VIÊN NĂM THỨ HAI - KHOA TIẾNG ANH -
TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC HÀ NỘI
SVTH: Lương Thị Thu Thủy, Vi Thị Thùy Trang, Hoàng Hải Yến , Nguyễn Hương Giang
GVHD: Trịnh Thị Lê Dung

Tóm tắt: Trong thời đại ngày nay, tiếng Anh ngày càng trở nên phổ biến và được coi là một trong
những phương tiện hiệu quả nhất hỗ trợ sự nghiệp của mỗi cá nhân. Với sự phát triển vượt bậc của trí
tuệ nhân tạo, vô số trang web ra đời với mục đích nâng cao kỹ năng tiếng Anh của mọi người. Đối với
kỹ năng Viết, Quillbot là một công cụ trực tuyến mang đến cho người dùng vô số tính năng ưu việt.
Nghiên cứu này thực hiện với mục đích tìm ra những ưu điểm và nhược điểm mà Quillbot mang lại cho
người dùng trong quá trình rèn luyện kỹ năng viết của sinh viên năm thứ hai – Khoa tiếng Anh – Trường
Đại học Hà Nội. Kết quả cho thấy hầu hết các sinh viên tham gia khảo sát đều nhận được những tác
động tích cực khi sử dụng công cụ này. Chính vì vậy, sinh viên năm 2 nên sử dụng Quillbot một cách
hợp lý để cải thiện và nâng cao kỹ năng Viết của mình.

Từ Khóa: Quillbot, ưu điểm, nhược điểm, sinh viên năm hai.

THE IMPACT OF USING QUILLBOT ON THE WRITING SKILL

OF SECOND-YEAR STUDENTS IN THE ENGLISH
DEPARTMENT

Abstract: In this day and age, English is becoming more and more popular and is considered as
one of the most effective means of supporting each individual's career. With the great development of
artificial intelligence, countless websites were born with the aim of improving people's English skills. In
terms of Writing skills, Quillbot is an online tool that offers users a wealth of advanced features. This
study was conducted with the aim of finding the advantages and disadvantages that Quillbot brings to
users in the process of practicing the writing skills of second-year English students of Hanoi University.
The results show that most of the students who participated in the survey received positive effects when
using this tool. Since then, supporting the view that 2nd-year students should use Quillbot in an
appropriate way to improve and enhance their Writing skills.

Keywords: Quillbot, advantages, disadvantages, second-year students.

1. LITERATURE REVIEW
1.1. Definition of Quillbot
Quillbot is a leading paraphrasing tool that uses state-of-the-art AI to help rewrite and
enhance sentences, articles, and paragraphs (Shewale, 2022). It is an affordable application

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available on the market (Class, 2020), which is established in 2017 by Rohit Gupta, Anil Jason,
and David Silin, three computer science students.
1.2. Quilbot and its functions
Quillbot is an online tool that helps writers paraphrase their work, prevent plagiarism,
summarize lengthy phrases, and enhance their language so that it is clearer and more formal.
The benefits of using this tool include time savings when writing, finding the right synonym,
improving meaning and clarity, expanding our vocabulary, integrating it into our workflow,
and receiving the trust of millions of users. QuillBot has the following five tools the
paraphraser, the summarizer, the grammar and plagiarism checkers, and the citation generator.
Each tool has a unique purpose and benefits.
To begin with, the Quillbot paraphraser rephrases our sentences and offers alternatives
for synonyms and rephrasing. The act of paraphrasing involves recreating a passage from a
written work in the voice and fashion of the paraphraser rather than that of the original author
(Soles, 2003). Additionally, it helps pupils organize their thoughts appropriately, rationally, and
according to the rules of grammar so that the meaning of a book or essay is not altered (Fitria,
2021).
Second, you may use the summarizer to condense lengthy articles or other chunks of
information into a shorter paragraph or to identify the key phrases in the text. Rephrasing, also
makes your content shorter. In essence, it helps us cut out unnecessary information from the
message we want to convey. Summarizer concisely condenses needlessly long statements
without altering their meaning.
Thirdly, the Grammar Checker makes sure there are no grammatical mistakes in our
writing. Content, organization, and language accuracy are important aspects of writing
(Hyland,2001). Grammar Checkers highlight any errors made in the grammar of the text, and
provide some fast feedback and suggestions for improving them.
Fourthly, Wilhoit (2003) claims that “paraphrase is not likely to be the same because each
writer chooses what information to include, what language to use, and how to organize their
para, no two are likely to be identical”(p.58). The validity of the manuscript is crucial in the
realm of writing. Whether it is our original work or a piece that was plagiarized, this will have
an impact on an article's originality. This frequently occurs because writing cannot be isolated
from citations from previously published theories, concepts, and/or viewpoints to support the
arguments we make in our writing. The Plagiarism Checker can help identify words that you
share with other writers and , prevent plagiarism mistakes. Additionally, it points users toward
the duplicate article or the link that includes the article.
Finally, Citing sources accurately in writing is crucial since the thesis is a scientific
endeavor. The creation of QuillBot's citation generator is the next step in our effort to make
your research, writing, and editing processes quicker and more effective, offering the proper
citation format and ensuring that quotes made later from literature review sources or other

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sources are accurate and clear. The citation generator now allows us to easily generate in-text
and full citations to further streamline the process. It already helps users to quickly review and
compare potential sources with the summarizer, articulate their ideas and arguments to
perfection with the paraphraser, and edit with the grammar checker with minimal effort. It has
simple choices for exporting to your clipboard or directly to Word, and it can compile and
produce a list of your complete citations in APA, MLA, or Chicago style. Obtain in-text
citations as well, for any citation style you're using.
To sum up, QuillBot is an easy-to-use paraphrasing tool that can be found on the market
that can paraphrase any piece of information using cutting-edge AI. The main objective of the
tool is to rewrite text by changing the sentence structure and adding synonyms while preserving
the sense of the original text. When students lack the appropriate knowledge to effectively
paraphrase English literature in their writing, they might use this technique as a substitute.
1.3. Quilbot uses and its impacts.
Academic writing has a fundamental impact on learners’ progress in a second language
Abdulkareem (2013). Specifically, for second-year students in the English Department of Hanoi
University, mastering academic writing skills is extremely critical because it creates the
foundation for their long-term English-related careers in the near future.
However, academic writing is a difficult ability to master, especially in a second
language. Mohan and Lo (1985) affirmed that, in general, many ESL learners find academic
writing difficult since it involves critical thinking and high-quality writing abilities (Lin &
Morrison, 2021). Therefore, Quillbot was introduced to support learners in paraphrasing,
grammatical checking, summarizing, and even plagiarism detection (Dale, 2020).
With a wide range of functions, Quillbot is widely used by various types of students,
especially those who pursue English-majored education. Evidently, the survey of postgraduate
students' demographics regarding the use of digital writing tools shows an outstanding
proportion of Quillbot users compared to other digital tools such as Grammarly, Mendeley and
Turnitin.
2. AIM OF THE STUDY
This study is implemented with the purpose of investigating sophomores' habits by using
Quillbot to enhance their English writing ability. Furthermore finding the advantages and
disadvantages that Quillbot brings to the users to help them find a proper way to use this tool.
The research is also in the hope that the students of the English Department in particular and
all students of Hanoi University, in general, can find suitable support tools to help them improve
their English writing skills.
3. RESEARCH QUESTIONS
With the aim of study clearly stated, this research is conducted to answer the four
following questions:

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 1. What are the uses of Quillbot?
2. What are some positive impacts of using Quillbot on students’ writing ability?
3. What are some negative impacts of using Quillbot on students’ writing ability?
4. How satisfied are they during the time of using this tool?
4. METHODOLOGY
4.1. Instrument
A questionnaire survey was used to obtain data for this investigation. Using online
surveys as a data collecting instrument, according to L. Minnaar (2013) and J. Heystek (2013),
improves the study's validity, reliability, and quality. These advantages are relevant to the study
of Hanoi University students' habits of using Quillbot to improve their English writing skills.
This research questionnaire has 21 questions, including inquiries on participants' backgrounds,
Quillbot usage habits in learning English, and how this online tool influences their writing skills
improvement. There are four sorts of questions on the questionnaire: multiple choice, rating
scales, Likert scales, and open-ended.
4.2. Participants
The participants of the research are 61 sophomores from the English department at Hanoi
university including 51 girls and 10 boys between the age of 18 and 20 ( because all of them
are second-year students). The Whole participants used Quillbot for more than one year since
they were first-year students in the English department at Hanoi university.
4.3. Research procedure
This study was carried out with a small group of second-year English Department students
– Hanoi university. In addition, more questions and options are added and meticulously
reviewed before being published in a closed Facebook group of Hanoi University students. The
initial target number was 60, however, the total number of answers received was 61 in 5 days,
from the 16th to the 20th of December.
Upon the locking of Google Forms, data began to be processed and analyzed. All 61
participants provided completed and fair responses to these questions. The researchers
summarized the data and compiled it into the Findings over the course of four days.
5. FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS
All survey respondents have an Intermediate to Advanced level of English writing skills.
Specifically, almost half of the students or 28 out of 61 people (45.9%) confirmed that they are
at an intermediate level of writing English (B1). Students who are currently at the upper-
intermediate level (B2) in English writing ability accounted for more than half of the total
number of students, accounting for 50.8% with 31 students. Finally, a small number of
remaining participants reported that they were at an advanced level of writing in English (C1),
these students constituted only a very small number of the total number of students participating

350
in this survey, 3.3% equivalent to 2 out of 61 people.
According to the English writing training program for second-year students in the first
semester of the English Department of Hanoi University, students will learn writing skills at
level (B2) or above the Intermediate level. However, the survey shows that the number of
students reaching the intermediate level (B1) accounts for nearly half of the total at 45.9%,
which shows that the English writing skills of the 2nd year students of the English Department
of Hanoi University are not really well.
5.1. English writing skills areas that students need to improve

Chart 1: Some areas of Writing skills that students think they need to improve more

As can be seen in chart 1, all of the mentioned characteristics assist participants in

selecting some areas in their writing skills that they need more improvement. The most
remarkable characteristic of the graph was that 77% of the participants assume that they need
to enhance their coherence and cohesion when they write in English. Lexical resource ranks in
the top two out of five areas of writing skill that students feel unconfidence in, with the options
from 44 students accounting for 72,1% in total. There 33 out of 61 participants accounted for
more than 54% of students who reported that in their writing, they need to practice their
sentence structure more frequently. Up to now, Gramma is still considered a problem for 27
students (more than 44%), they have some grammar incorrect that need more experience. The
area that most people feel confident about is task response, there just 18% of students ie 27 out
of 61 participants showed that they need more improvement in this area.
5.2. Quillbot's usage habit
Quillbot, with the support of AI, has created an ideal online tool for the user to fix and
boost their text. According to the outcome of this research, Quillbot is often been used by the
participants, there are 39.3% of students reported that sometimes they you Quillbot in their
writing. The number of students who usually use Quillbot when writing makes up 21.3% in
total and there are seven out of 61 individuals use Quillbot whenever they write. Besides that,
there are 27.9% of students indicated that they use Quillbot rarely.

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 Chart 2: Students' habit of usage of Quillbot's functions

Quillbot provides users with multiple functions to enhance their writing products. This
graph shows that the Paraphrase tool ranked first among Quillbot functions used by 42 students
accounting for 68.9%. The Grammar checker tool is in the top two, just less than only one
person, with 41 people using this tool (accounting for 67.2%) this is a function used by students
nearly comparable to the Grammar checker. There are 25 out of 61 participants use the
Plagiarism Checker to support their writing and to make sure that they do not copy the idea
from other authors, this number makes up 41% of the total Quillbot users in this research. The
Summarizer and the Citation Generator are been used less popular than the three tools
mentioned before, there are 12 students using the summary tool to shorten their texts and just
four people use the Generator ie 6,6% out of the total participants.
After asking survey students about Quillbot functions they often use, we came to the
question about Quillbot's most liked feature, and the results are shown in the 3rd chart below:

Chart 3: The function of Quillbot is most liked by participants

From chart 3, it is easy to see that Quillbot's favorite student function is the
Pharaphraseing tool, chosen by 35/61 students, accounting for 57.4% of users. his function is
chosen by many students most probably because of the creative rewriting feature along with

352
many synonym suggestions. This is in response to students' need to enhance their lexical
resources to improve their writing. After Pharaphaser, the grammar checker is also loved by
many students, the number is up to nearly 30% with 18/61 votes. Not only correcting
grammatical errors, cohesion and cohesion of the article are also improved thanks to this
function, thanks to the error correction samples of this tool, but students can also avoid making
similar mistakes in the future writing process. This tool is loved perhaps for its ability to find
and correct several students' grammar mistakes when writing, which 27 students previously
indicated they need to improve in order to boost their confidence in English writing skills. The
remaining 13.2% of votes are divided equally between the two tools, the summary tool, and the
plagiarism checker, with a vote of 4/61 for each tool. The citation tool does not receive votes
from any survey participants, perhaps because this tool is not really popular among these
students.
5.3. The positive impacts of using Quillbot

4.1: Quillbot recommends more

creative ways to write.
4.2: Quillbot allows me to rapidly
summarize content while
maintaining the primary concept.
4.3: Quillbot corrects my grammar
mistakes.
4.4: I can check plagiarism by
Quillbot.

4.5: Quillbot gives me

quick citations with many
style options.
4.6: Quillbot helps me
reduce my fear of writing
skills.
4.7: I spend less time
editing the writing.

Group of charts 4: The positive impacts of using Quillbot

Taking a glance at the graph highlights the fact that almost all the survey participants are
on the side the positive effects that Quillbot brings. On the scale of level of agreement, from
strongly agree to strongly disagree, and of all five, the number of agree votes are highest. The
two most notable figures of agree level were 35 out of 61, which was that Quillbot recommends
more creative ways to write and correct grammar mistakes. Especially, the highest percentage
of strongly agree with level (18,33%) belongs to the grammar checker function of Quillbot.
This data indicated that the majority of writers agreed that this app assisted them in refreshing
their ideas and taking control of their grammar correctness. Following this pattern, 33
respondents agree that plagiarism can be checked by Quillbot. This is in line with the study by

353
John and Woll (2020), who found that grammar-checking tools can be effectively utilized to
help students identify selected grammar errors in their written work. Besides, 31 out of 61
respondents agree that Quillbot allows them to rapidly summarize while maintaining the
primary concept, but the rate of strongly agree is also quite high at 16,67%. This strengthens
the point that summarizing function has a great impact on some groups of sophomore students
at Hanoi University, who pays more attention to Translation and Interpretation major.
Simultaneously, 28 respondents believed that Quillbot gives them quick citations with many
style options.
Writing is one of the English language talents that students must have. Writing also be
considered "challenging" by many individuals. According to the assessment findings, Quilbot
can help students reduce their writing fear, with 30 out of 61 respondents (or 49.1%) and five
respondents (i.e. 8.2%) strongly agreeing, while just seven respondents (i.e. 11.5%) disagree.
In addition, while 46% of study participants think that Quilbot saves them time while editing
their writing, up to 16.4% of respondents entirely concur with the aforementioned statement,
but still nearly 10% disagree.
5.4. The negative impacts of using Quillbot.

5.1: I depend on Quillbot every time I

write.
5.2: Quillbot makes me lazy to
brainstorm because there are
suggestions available.
5.3: There are still many grammatical
errors that Quillbot cannot analyze, so
abuse can affect the user's writing ability.
5.4: Quillbot makes me confused about
my writing level.

5.5: I think my text is well, but it is just

a Quillbot-made product.
5.6: In some cases, Quillbot does not
properly express my ideas when it
paraphrases.
5.7: Quillbot abets plagiarism because I
can use Paraphrasing tools to rewrite
someone else's idea into own.

Group of charts 5: The negative impacts of using Quillbot

Besides the benefits Quilbot offers users, there are also a lot of limitations with quillbot.
Users will rely on Quilbot every time they write, according to 16 out of 61 participants, although
there is also less than 1 participant who disagrees, with 15 out of 61. Because of too much

354
reliance on quilbot and accessible recommendations of quilbot make users lazy when it comes
to coming up with ideas for writing, 20 out of 61 respondents (or 32.8%) agree with the
preceding statement, while 12 respondents (or 19.7%) disagree. Up to 44.3% of participants
agreed that Quillbot misuse might impair a user's ability to write because there are still many
grammatical faults that it cannot detect. This is part of the negative impact that Quillbot has
perspective, while just 9.8% of respondents say they disagree.
As can be seen in the graph, it highlights the fact that almost all survey takers experienced
some negative effects from Quillbot. The highest figure about the thoughts of participants was
that Quillbot makes them confused about their writing level, which was supported by 27
participants. On the other hand, 11 people think that Quillbot does not, and 23 people consider
both opinions. Most participants find it confusing, maybe because the dependence on Quillbot's
functions leads to not knowing what level they are at; it could be higher or lower. Furthermore,
there were 23 readers who agreed, 13 who disagreed, and 25 who were undecided that the
paragraph they wrote for Quillbot was a Quillbot product and not their own. Another noticeable
statistic recorded related to the question is that sometimes Quillbot's paraphrases do not
accurately convey the author's concepts and ideas. There were 34 people who agreed, 22 people
who were neutral, and just 5 people who disagreed. Paying more attention to Quillbot’s negative
effect, 28 students agreed that Quillbot’s paraphrasing seems to encourage plagiarism because
it allows writers to transform someone else's ideas into their own. It is compared to 28 readers
who were neutral and 5 readers who did not recognize it. It can be seen that most readers
advocate for and consider both sides of these negative effects. Nevertheless, none of the
participants completely denied the negative influence these tools had on their learning.
5.5. Quillbot User Satisfaction

Chart 6: Quillbot user satisfaction

This pie chart illustrates the usefulness of Quillbot in the writing practice of second-year
students in the English Department at Hanoi University, ranging from a scale of 1 to 5. 44.3%
of participants rate themselves as being in category 3, which means that sometimes Quillbot is
functional and sometimes it is not. According to 39.3% of respondents, it is useful in rare cases.

355
Numbers 2 and 5 are 8.2% the same. It seems that some students rate them as very helpful or
useless. None of the students give them a rating of 1 (Very useful). The use was dependent on
each student’s thought and prior using experience. This led to the conclusion that the majority
of these students find Quillbot useful in their writing practice in some cases.
6. CONCLUSION
The literature review, findings, and discussions led to the conclusion that Quillbot is a
convenient tool available on the market that uses the most advanced AI to improve user writing.
Analyzing data from 61 students who participated in the survey for 14 questions on the general
effects of using Quillbot, it is clear that Quillbot has a wide range of effects on their writing
abilities, from negative to positive. According to the results of the last question in our online
research, all students are satisfied with this tool, since the majority of students rate Quillbot
highly. Considering the impact that Quillbot has on users, we recommend that second-year
students in Hanoi University's English department utilize Quillbot as a writing assistance tool.

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(TRUTH). Demandsage. Retrieved December 30, 2022, from
https://www.demandsage.com/quillbot-review/.
Wilhoit, S. (2007). A brief guide to writing from readings. Pearson Longman.

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 APPENDIX

1. Please provide your email address for further discussion if necessary.

2. On the scale of 1-4. What level do you estimate your writing skills are curently at?
B1 – Intermediate
B2 - Upper Intermediate
C1 - Advanced
3. In what areas of writing skill do you need more improvement? You can choose
more than one.
Grammar
Task response
Coherence and cohesion
Lexical resource
Sentences structure
This part related to Quillbot – an online tools use AI to support people writing
abilities.
1. How often do you use Quillbot to improve your writing skill?
Rarely Sometimes Usually Always
2. Which Quillbot functions do you usually use? You can choose more than one.
The Paraphraser
The Summarizer
The Grammar Checker
The Plagiarism Checker
The Citation Generetor
3. What Quillbot’s function do you like the most? You can choose only one option.
The Paraphraser
The Summarizer
The Grammar Checker
The Plagiarism Checker
The Citation Generetor

4. What positive effects does Quillbot bring you?

Strongly Disagree Neural Agree Strongly
disagree agree
Quillbot recommends more creative ways
to write

358
Quillbot allows me to rapidly summarize
content while maintaining the primary
concept.
Quillbot corrects my grammar mistakes.
I can check plagiarism by Quillbot
Quillbot gives me quick citations with
many style options.
Quillbot helps me reduce my fear of writing
skills.
I spend less time editing the writing.

5. What negative effects does Quillbot bring you?

Strongly Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly

disagree agree
I
depend on
Quillbot
every time I
write.
Quillbot
makes me
lazy to
brainstorm
because there
are
suggestions
available.
There
are still many
grammatical
errors that
Quillbot can
not analyze,
so abuse can
affect the
users’ writing
ability.

359
 Quillbot
makes me
confused
about my
writing level.
I think
my text is
well, but it is
just Quillbot
product.
In some
case, Quillbot
does not
properly
express my
ideas when it
paraphases.
Quillbot
abets
plagiarism
because I can
use the
Paraphrasing
tool to rewrite
someone
else’s idea
into my own.

6. Rate the usefulness of Quillbot in your writing practice on a scale of 1 to 5.

1 2 3 4 5

360
 VIỆC SỬ DỤNG PHƯƠNG TIỆN TRỰC QUAN ĐỂ CẢI THIỆN
ĐỘNG LỰC CỦA NHỮNG NGƯỜI HỌC TRẺ TUỔI
TRONG VIỆC HỌC TIẾNG ANH
SVTH: Dương Thị Hạnh 2A19, Lê Thanh Huyền 2A19
GVHD: Vũ Thị Phương Thảo

Tóm tắt: Động lực là một yếu tố quan trọng góp phần tạo nên sự thành công trong quá trình dạy
và học tiếng Anh, đặc biệt là đối với những người học trẻ tuổi. Do đó việc tìm ra phương pháp giảng dạy
phù hợp nhằm thúc đẩy động cơ học tập của người học là điều cần thiết. Một số phương pháp giảng
dạy đã được đưa vào ứng dụng, bao gồm việc sử dụng các phương tiện trực quan, được coi là một
trong những cách hiệu quả nhất để cải thiện sự hứng thú trong việc học ngôn ngữ của những người học
trẻ tuổi. Mục đích của bài viết này nhằm nghiên cứu những ảnh hưởng của việc áp dụng các phương
tiện trực quan để thúc đẩy động lực học tiếng Anh của học viên nhỏ tuổi. Kết quả nghiên cứu chỉ ra rằng
các phương tiện trực quan mang lại một số lợi ích đáng kể đặc biệt là có thể tạo động lực cho người
học ngôn ngữ. Những phát hiện của nghiên cứu này được kỳ vọng sẽ giúp người dạy hiểu rõ hơn về
những lợi ích của việc sử dụng công cụ hỗ trợ trực quan trong các lớp học ngôn ngữ cùng tầm quan
trọng của việc sử dụng các phương tiện này để khơi dậy cảm hứng cho những người học tiếng Anh trẻ
tuổi.

Từ khóa: phương tiện trực quan, động lực, người học trẻ tuổi

THE USE OF VISUAL AIDS TO IMPROVE YOUNG LEARNERS’

MOTIVATION IN LEARNING ENGLISH

Abstract: Motivation is an important element that contributes to the success of the English
teaching and learning process, particularly for young learners. As a result, it is esential to find out an
appropriate way in teaching to boost learners’ motivation. Several teaching approaches have been
implemented, including using visual aids, which is considered to be one of the most effective means of
improving young learners' interest to learn a language. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the
effects of applying visual aids to promote young learners' motivation to learn English. The result
indicated that visual aids provide a variety of remarkable benefits to language learners, particularly
create motivation for them. The findings of this paper are expected to help teachers to better
comprehend the benefits of applying visual aids in language classes as well as the importance of using
these materials in inspiring young English learners.

Keywords: visual aids, motivation, young learners

1. INTRODUCTION
English brings many benefits in social communication, leisure and employment so the
number of English learners has increased significantly over time. In the learning process,

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motivation plays an important role in providing passion, enthusiasm, and a sense of pleasure
for young learners (Vero & Puka, 2017). The research made by Long (2015) indicated that one
of the key factors that impact language acquisition is motivation (as cited in Quecan, 2021).
According to Ditual (2012), the importance of attitudes and motivations in the learning process
should be taken into account because they are closely related to success or failure in language
learning.
In the modern era with innovative developments, language teaching and learning have
changed dramatically in terms of methods to make learners more engaged with the learning
process. Especially, in English teaching, teachers are attempting to incorporate new
technological developments into their teaching in order to improve the effectiveness of their
lessons. Instead of teaching and learning traditionally, using visual aids is considered an
essential teaching strategy because students, particularly the young generation, are used to being
familiar with the intuitive interface of multimedia technology and the internet (Montoya &
Jhoan, 2017). With the support of visual aids, the lessons become more interesting, dynamic,
and efficient. Additionally, applying visual aids helps promote young learners’ motivation and
engagement in language learning. This study was conducted with the aim to investigate further
the effectiveness of applying visual aids in language learning and teaching processes to improve
young learners’ motivation.
2. THEORETICAL REVIEW
2.1. Motivation
2.1.1. Definitions
Motivation is learners’ orientation with regard to the goal of something (Crookes &
Schmidt, 1991, as cited in Gilakjani, Lai-Mei & Sabouri, 2012). According to Oxford and
Shearin (1994), motivation is defined as a desire to gain an objective, combined with the energy
to work towards that objective. Motivation, according to the Longman Dictionary of Applied
Linguistics (1985), is the willingness to do something without any forces, in other words,
motivation is the reason for someone to do something (as cited in Ma'rifah, 2017).
2.1.2. Types of motivation
According to Gardner (1985), there are two basic types of motivation: integrative and
instrumental. Integrative motivation is known as language learning for personal development
and cultural enrichment. In contrast, instrumental motivation comes from the need to learn a
language for functional or external reasons such as learning to pass exams or to achieve
financial rewards.
In another paper conducted by Dörnyei in 1998, motivation was categorized into two
types: intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. Intrinsic motivation is the desire to participate in
something because it is pleasurable. Therefore, students who are intrinsically motivated will
learn without the need for external rewards or reinforcement. They are more willing to
participate in activities and try to improve their skills to increase their potential. Besides, they

362
are eager to learn what they feel is worthwhile or relevant to them with their great enthusiasm
to enhance their knowledge (Vero & Puka, 2017). Whereas, extrinsic motivation relates to acts
taken to achieve a specific goal, such as receiving a prize or halting a punishment. Extrinsic
motivation is usually used to keep learners engaged in the course. For example, students attempt
to study to avoid being grounded by their parents.
2.2. Visual aids
2.2.1. Definitions
According to Buxton (n.d), visual aids are something such as a video, model, map, or
slides that help learners to comprehend or remember something. In another research conducted
by Fitri (2020), educational visual aids are described as instruments that can be absorbed by the
eyes and ears with the purpose of assisting the educator in making learners' teaching and
learning processes more effective and efficient. Faizal (2010, as cited in Fitri, 2020)
characterized educational visual aids as audio and visual devices used to make learning more
engaging and to stimulate students' desire to explore a subject. Whereas Wijaya and Rusyan
(1994, as cited in Fitri, 2020) stated that instructional visual aids are educational media that
work as learning stimulants and can promote motivation to learn so that learners do not feel
bored while attaining learning objectives.
2.2.2. Types of visual aids
Nowadays, different technological devices are widely used by language teachers to make
their lessons more intriguing and effective such as PowerPoint slides, videos, pictures,
flashcards, and real objects.
2.2.2.1. PowerPoint slides
One of the most popular aids used nowadays is PowerPoint slides which could make the
lessons more dynamic with attractively visualized presentations. It is proved in the study by
Ozaslan and Maden (2013) that PowerPoint slides make the content more understandable and
appealing that easily draws students’ attention and help them learn better. Corbeil (2007) shared
the same opinion that the brightness and liveliness of PowerPoint slides in describing examples
enable students to understand the lesson better.
2.2.2.2. Videos
With the availability of the internet, teachers can easily download a variety of videos
according to their needs to use for the lectures. The study by Cakir (2006) reported that the use
of videos provides learners with authentic input, and allows students to comprehend concepts,
and have a thorough understanding of the subject matter. Furthermore, learners can focus on
the usage of contextual language in the videos, as well as nonverbal language elements, to gain
a deeper knowledge of the target language. In addition, learners can experience the dynamics
of language through watching videos which may facilitate their listening comprehension
(Secules, Herron, & Tomasello, 1992).

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 2.2.2.3. Pictures
Pictures are considered effective tools to make language classes interesting and
interactive because they help teachers visualize the content for students as well as promote
students to be more attentive and engaged in the tasks. Using pictures to illustrate the topic
helps students easier to get an overview of the lessons as well as understand deeper about the
contexts. Moreover, pictures play an important role in learners’ remembering. As Craig and
Amernic (2006) demonstrated, providing pictures in lessons helps students to understand more
quickly and remember longer than using traditional textbooks.
2.2.2.4. Flashcards
A flashcard is a piece of paper including a word, a sentence, or a simple picture
(Komachali & Khodareza, 2012). Flashcards are great tools for learning the language because
they are fun, colorful, and creative that enables students to easily remember the content.
Consequently, teachers can use flashcards to increase young students’ interest and motivation
to learn vocabulary since it makes the learning process become more joyful. Besides, flashcards
are very helpful to check whether learners remember the content written on them or not.
2.2.2.5. Real objects
Real objects are items that can be touched and felt by the human senses. Real objects
provide learners with practical learning experiences, and facilitate students’ generalizations
especially, with young learners, real objects are more helpful for them to develop their own
abilities and skills (Yalin, 2009). For example, learners in kindergarten can remember the words
easier and faster because they are taught these words with real objects.
3. RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN VISUAL AIDS AND MOTIVATION
Visual aids can be considered as one of the elements that make language lessons become
more engaging and motivating. The results of the work carried out by Rather (2004, as cited in
Ahmed, 2018) reveal that teaching aids are instructional technologies used in the classroom to
facilitate learning and make it easier and more inspiring. The paper made by Brinton (2000, as
cited in Ahmed, 2018) also claimed that the use of teaching aids can improve language teaching
since visual aids assist language teachers in creating a close-to-real atmosphere in classroom
spaces, making learning more relevant and stimulating.
4. CHALLENGES OF DEVELOPING AND USING VISUAL AIDS IN
ENGLISH LANGUAGE CLASS
Using visual aids brings several benefits in promoting young learners’ motivation in
learning English; however, teachers have to face up with some difficulties when wanting to add
more activities to lessons. These challenges could have a detrimental impact on the teaching
and learning process, resulting in unsatisfied educational outcomes. According to Sahin et al.
(2016), using visual aids causes a significant amount of workload and stress for the teachers
because there are few opportunities to hold any additional activity besides the course book in
the syllabus design. The teachers are all restricted by a tight curriculum and a strict schedule,

364
resulting in a serious shortage of time, which is the major problem for them in using visual
materials such as videos.
In another research conducted by Cakir (2006), some educators and teachers may
experience difficulties when developing teaching aids due to a lack of facilities, whereas others
may have problems when presenting visual aids because of technical issues. Furthermore,
selecting suitable materials is quite difficult. Because teachers lack the tools to create their own
visual materials for lessons, they must depend on readily available resources from other sources.
Additionally, the drawbacks of adopting visual aids include the poor sound and image quality
of videos, copies, or other home-produced materials. Another critical concern is that if teachers
are not well-trained in how to use and develop visual aids, they will become useless and tedious
for the learners.
5. BENEFITS OF APPLYING VISUAL AIDS IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE
CLASSES
There have been several studies in the literature reporting the use of visual aids has a
beneficial impact on young language learners. Although selecting and adapting materials can
become a problem for the majority of new language teachers, teaching materials can establish
harmony between the students, the teaching styles, and the materials applied (Ahmed, 2018).
In addition, the author indicated that if learners are acquainted with the visual materials and the
methods, they are predicted to perform well, be confident, and experience low levels of
anxiety.Several scholars demonstrated that visual aids make a big effect on language learners,
especially in improving motivation among them. The results of the paper conducted by
Montoya and Jhoan (2017) revealed that language learners had a positive attitude when visual
aids had been introduced in the classroom.
According to Novawan (2010), the use of effective visual aids in teaching English
provides a variety of benefits. A lesson with visual aids can attract and maintain student interest
and willingness to learn the given materials. Moreover, using pictures, charts, or videos can
help a teacher clarify abstract concepts. As a result, the teacher’s verbal presentation
accompanied by visualization is definitely more effective in helping students comprehend
complicated concepts. Furthermore, Mokarrama (2017) demonstrated that if teachers use
animated movies, images, songs, and videos as input to teach English to young learners then it
would be more effective. As these kinds of things are more realistic and visual so learners can
be able to understand and remember them without difficulty. The research study by Allen et al
(2011) also found that visual aids add interest to a presentation, and create excitement because
visual aids enable students to use more than one sense at the same time.
6. RESULTS OF PREVIOUS STUDIES ABOUT APPLYING VISUAL AIDS
IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE CLASSES
The use of visual aids in language learning and teaching is becoming more and more
popular because it is believed that visual aids are essential materials that help students a lot in
the process of language acquisition. The research carried out by Anglin, Vaez, and Cunningham

365
(2004) showed that visual aids used in education help to raise young learners’ interest, curiosity,
and motivation as well as promote their creativity. Furthermore, the study conducted by
Mathew and Alidmat in 2013 (as cited in Laksmi, Yasa & Mirayani, 2021) discovered the
effectiveness of using audio-visual aids in the classroom in improving students' receptive
abilities. In another word, these tools help students grasp complicated ideas presented in course
texts. As a result, it is proposed that using audio-visuals as a teaching approach stimulates
critical thinking and enhances the learning environment in the classroom.
Visual materials like PowerPoint slides help teachers to organize their lectures in a better
way as well as make the presentation clear and lively by using a variety of graphic images to
illustrate the abstract content (Ozaslan and Maden, 2013). Moreover, young learners tend to
pay more attention to the lectures’ slides because it is well-designed to see and follow. In
addition, Subathra (2012) mentioned that in language classrooms students are highly motivated
and engaged in the lesson when teachers use PowerPoint to present materials.
In addition, Brinton (2001) provides an in-depth analysis of the work about using visual
materials in language classes and showed that they help the lessons become closer, more vivid,
and more practical to the students therefore they tend to be more engaged in the class activities.
Under the observation of Tomalin (1991), young learners are highly motivated when teachers
use video in the classroom because they are encouraged to learn new words and phrases while
learning and obtaining updated input about language. Additionally, watching videos provide
students with the correct pronunciation of the language to confidently communicate in English
with others from all over the world.
Vocabulary is considered an essential part of the language because people need a large
amount of vocabulary to communicate with others. According to Komachali and Khodareza
(2012), visual materials assist students in making sense of the meaning of words, and concepts
when acquiring new vocabulary. It is a helpful way of teaching that teachers show the objects
to the students along with words so that students can understand better about the words and the
objects. Then, young learners can remember them for a long time and recall them easily when
they see the words or objects again. Although reading is a vital language skill, many young
learners are not interested in reading. However, using visual aids in reading can improve
learners' engagement in the reading text (Yunus, Salehi & John, 2013). When the text is
illustrated by visual aids such as photos, films, and projectors, students can better grasp the
text's abstract ideas. Furthermore, visual aids foster relations between readers and reading
materials, which encourage learners to read more.
7. CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION
7.1. Conclusion
In summary, the purpose of this paper is to give further information about visual aids, the
relation between visual aids and motivation, and the effectiveness of applying visual aids to
motivate young learners in English language classrooms. Using visual aids is becoming an
indispensable part that makes the contribution to a successful lesson. Although there are several

366
difficulties and challenges for teachers to develop and apply appropriate visual aids in their
lectures, it can not be denied that using visual aids brings a variety of advantages for young
learners especially enhance their engagement and motivation in language learning.
Additionally, teachers with the support of visual aids deliver their lessons more effectively as
well as create an active and engaging learning environment.
7.2. Recommendation
Based on the above findings, the researchers provide the following recommendations.
First of all, teachers must be aware of the importance of visual as well as verbal tools and
technology, particularly with the younger generation of learners who are accustomed to the
visual interfaces of multimedia and internet technologies. Therefore, it is necessary for teachers
to learn how to apply information technology in educating English. It is well recognized that
the internet and video chatting help young English learners access the culture of English-
speaking nations as well as authentic materials by using a variety of learning websites. Besides
mobile digital equipment such as computers and smartphones, interactive boards are
recommended to be utilized to promote interaction. Second, when constructing and organizing
the lessons, teachers should include instructional materials. Additionally, teachers should create
their own teaching aids in order to facilitate effective language teaching and learning processes.

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Learning: The role of Static and Animated Graphics’, in D.H. Jonassen (ed.) Handbook of
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Buxton, J. (n.d.). Visual aids definition and meaning. Collins Dictionary.
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 SỬ DỤNG THẺ GHI NHỚ TRONG VIỆC DẠY TỪ VỰNG
CHO TRẺ EM HỌC NGOẠI NGỮ TIẾNG ANH
SVTH: Đinh Thị Hồng Ngọc; Vũ Thu Thủy và Kiều Thị Ngọc Hà
GVHD: Ths Vũ Vân Hạnh

Tóm tắt: Với sự phát triển của việc dạy và học ngoại ngữ, có rất nhiều phương pháp dạy học
mang lại hiệu quả thiết thực cho người học và giáo viên. Trong số đó, flashcards đã được sử dụng như
một trong những tài liệu giảng dạy hiệu quả và được áp dụng trong nhiều ngữ cảnh khác nhau. Nghiên
cứu này được thực hiện với mục đích nghiên cứu việc sử dụng flashcards trong việc dạy từ vựng cho
trẻ em học Tiếng Anh như một ngoại ngữ. Bài viết trình bày đầy đủ tầm quan trọng của việc học từ
vựng, những đặc điểm nổi bật của trẻ em, ưu điểm và hạn chế của flashcards cũng như việc áp dụng
flashcards vào ngữ cảnh dạy và học ngoại ngữ ở Việt Nam. Dựa vào cơ sở lý thuyết đó, bài viết đề xuất
một số nguyên tắc và hoạt động mẫu được dùng trong lớp học từ vựng bằng flashcards cho trẻ em.
Những ý nghĩa sư phạm này được hi vọng sẽ mang lại lợi ích cho người học, giáo viên và cả những
người quan tâm đến việc giảng dạy tiếng anh cho trẻ nhỏ.

Từ khóa: flashcards, dạy từ vựng, trẻ em học ngoại ngữ Tiếng Anh.

USING FLASHCARDS IN TEACHING VOCABULARY FOR EFL

YOUNG LEARNERS

Abstract: With the development of foreign language teaching and learning, there are many
teaching methods that bring practical effects to learners and teachers. Flashcards are one of the useful
instructional tools among them and are utilized in a variety of settings. The purpose of this study was to
examine the effectiveness of using flashcards to teach vocabulary to young learners of English as a
foreign language. The research presents the importance of learning vocabulary as well as the distinctive
characteristics of children, the benefits and limitations of flashcards, and how to use them in the context
of Vietnamese teaching and learning. Based on that theoretical foundation, the study suggests some
guidelines and samples of activities to be used in using flashcards to teach vocabulary for young
learners. These pedagogical meanings are expected to benefit both learners and teachers as well as
those interested in teaching English to young children.

Keywords: flashcards, teaching vocabulary, EFL young learners.

1. INTRODUCTION
There is no denying that effective teaching strategies are essential to the educational
process. Young learners should be taught using age-appropriate strategies that reflect their
individual distinctive characteristics. Based on significant study results, flashcards have
subsequently been developed and used in numerous educational contexts, revealing a variety
of benefits on the teaching of EFL young learners. As a teaching method that accelerates
learning and engages young children, flashcards are highly regarded. Flashcards, particularly

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when used to teach vocabulary, help young students remember, accumulate, and retrieve words
for a long-term memory while also piquing their interest in the subject and encouraging
participation in class activities. Flashcards could also encourage young learners to improve their
imagination compared to traditional methods. However, there is limited research about its use
in Vietnamese contexts.
Therefore, the goal of this study is to investigate how flashcards are used to teach
vocabulary to young Vietnamese learners. Many English majors at Hanoi University also work
as tutors, part-time teaching assistants, or adhere to the pedagogical orientation. This also
inspires us to carry out research on the application of flashcards to look at its use in different
educational environments. This study is expected to have a significant impact on individuals
who are interested in the practice of teaching English to young learners in particular and to EFL
students in general.
2. LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1. Importance of learning vocabulary
Vocabulary definitions can take a variety of forms. First, vocabulary can be defined as
acquired words through listening to others' talk and expressive words when speaking, which
together make up efficient communication (Neuman & Dwyer, 2009). Second, vocabulary is
defined by Ur (1998) as words in a language that are made up of single words and phrases that
have a particular meaning. Third, according to Burns (1972) as cited in Alqahtani (2015),
vocabulary is the total number of words used by a certain group, class, or work. To conclude,
vocabulary is the collection of words required to convey and express the speaker's ideas.
According to Richards (1976), vocabulary learning involves four following aspects. The
first is to get a thorough understanding of the likelihood of encountering that word in spoken or
written language, the restrictions placed on its usage due to differences in function and
circumstance, and the syntactic behavior related to the word. Second, learning vocabulary also
necessitates understanding a word's underlying form and its possible derivations. Thirdly,
learning words requires knowing the network of relationships it has with other words in the
language. Additionally, learning a new term entails understanding its semantic significance as
well as its variety of associated meanings. Sharing the same notion, Nation (1990) defines
learning vocabulary as knowing a word's spelling, pronunciation, collocations (other words it
appears with), and appropriateness.
As a result, vocabulary knowledge is often seen as a crucial tool for foreign language
learners because limited vocabulary in the target language makes effective communication
more difficult. According to Nation (2001), knowledge of vocabulary facilitates the use of
language, and inversely, the use of language results in an increase in lexical knowledge.
Furthermore, for EFL learners, mastering vocabulary words is crucial for all aspects of language
proficiency (Nation, 2011). Building up one's vocabulary is a great way to advance one's
reading, writing, speaking, and listening abilities. Wilkins (1972) emphasized that having the
ability to construct grammatical sentences is not particularly useful if one does not have the

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vocabulary needed to effectively communicate their ideas. Although information may still be
conveyed without grammar (albeit to a lesser extent), nothing can be expressed without
vocabulary. Additionally, Rivers and Nunan (1991) asserted that effective second language use
requires a sufficient vocabulary. Because without a wide vocabulary, students won't be able to
comprehend what is being said or communicate their ideas well.
In order to comprehend and create texts and speech that are more and more complex,
children in particular require a strong vocabulary that is constantly expanding via language
experience. They also need to engage in spoken language for a range of objectives.
Additionally, emphasizing vocabulary can help students gain knowledge and proficiency in a
variety of language-related areas. This includes assistance with fluency, understanding, and
decoding (phonetic and phonetic awareness).
2.2. Memory Strategies
Memory strategies are any of a wide range of methods intended to aid in memory (Nair,
2022). There are many techniques that students can learn, both internal and external. External
memory strategies are daily objects that we use to remind ourselves to perform tasks. These
could be colorful pictures, word cards, drawing, or even showing things in classes or sticking
photos on the board. Internal memory techniques help us train our brains to retain knowledge
that has already been learned. These techniques can aid in the storage and retrieval of
knowledge from long-term memory.
Memory techniques are great psychological tools and one of the most successful methods
for acquiring language. They include things like acronyms, key words, images, and other things
for retrieving and remembering the new knowledge. They support the learner in making
connections between the new and the second language (L2) item. Memory techniques have
been demonstrated to improve remembering by associating new information with familiar
words and images (Levin, 1983).
Flashcards are actually a kind of visual memory in which previously experienced visual
sensations and perceptions are stored and retrieved when the stimuli that initially evoked them
are no longer available (Plessis, 2022). Students must be able to conjure up a clear mental
picture in their minds, such as a word or a picture, and be able to recall or imagine it on their
own after the stimulus has been withdrawn. Therefore, they are useful for learning new
vocabulary words and permanently retaining them (Oxford, 1990).
2.3. Characteristics of young learners
According to McKay (2009), children in elementary school are called young learners.
Meanwhile, young learners, according to Ellis (2014), are those who are under the age of 13.
Additionally, kids in preschool and primary school are included in this target subject (Richards
& Schmidt, 2013). In general, in terms of physiological age, children between the ages of five
and twelve are considered young learners.
According to Harmer (2001), there are some characteristics of young learners as follows.

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First, young learners respond better to language when it is presented in a tangible (visual) way
rather than using abstract concepts. Second, they are often smart and energetic, curious and
inquisitive, imaginative and creative. They are also active and like to explore things around
them. In addition, they need individual attention and approval from the teacher. Besides, they
enjoy talking about themselves and do well when their personal experiences are the focus of
the lesson. Finally, they also have a short attention span; unless the activities are extremely
engaging, they can easily become bored and lose interest within ten minutes or so.
The aforementioned traits of young learners lead to the conclusion that young learners'
comprehension is influenced by both what they see and hear as well as explanations. If children
are taken care of and educated through enjoyable activities or taking part in classroom activities,
they will be excited about learning.
As vocabulary's significance is becoming more and more apparent, it is encouraged to
find an efficient and suitable learning approach for students of different ages to broaden
knowledge. In particular, to promote the quality of vocabulary learning and match the typical
visual learning characteristics of children, memory strategies and specifically flashcards are
appropriate and highly appreciated.
2.4. Effectiveness of using Flashcards in teaching
2.4.1. Background of flashcard
2.4.1.1. Definition of flashcards
According to Haycraft (1978), flashcards are cards that include text and/or pictures drawn
on them or printed on them. They have a new term in the target language on one side and its
meaning in the learner's native language on the other. They are roughly the size of a business
card, and the words on each card ought to be sufficiently large and legible from a distance.
Cross (1991) described flashcards as the most popular visual tool in language instruction
because the pictures on them are not only realistic but also show the fun element in the
classroom. The effectiveness of flashcards can be increased if the text and images are colorful
because younger students show an interest in objects with appealing forms and colors.
Therefore, the use of visual aids such as flashcards is highly recommended in the vocabulary
teaching process.
2.4.1.2. Types of flashcards
Haycraft (1978) states two categories of flashcards which are picture and word (sentence)
flashcards. Picture flashcards are helpful for teaching, practicing, and reviewing vocabulary or
serving as a reminder for other tasks. They are also useful for identifying active verbs. These
picture cards can be drawings or clippings from magazines, or they can be photos in different
sizes suitable for class work and individual or group work. With the use of picture flashcards,
a youngster may be encouraged to speak the word and recognise images with certain beginning
sounds. Additionally, they stimulate a youngster to talk about what is depicted in the image.
Flashcards featuring pre-printed words (sentence) are known as word (sentence)

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flashcards (sentence cards often show frequently used sentences). This kind of card often has
two sides: the front lists the item or sentence and its pronunciation; the reverse provides a brief
description or an example of its uses. There are multiple ways that teachers can utilize these
cards. For example, students can be asked to match words with definitions or pictures from
other cards by using word (sentence) cards.
As technology advances, flashcards also change their shape and platform from traditional
paper to electronic or online versions. Learners just need a smart device with an Internet
connection to access applications or websites that have available flashcards available for foreign
language learning.
2.4.1.3. Advantages of using flashcards in teaching vocabulary for younger learners
Using flashcards in teaching vocabulary can bring a lot of benefits. First of all, according
to Zhu et al. (2012) flashcards can stimulate visual memory. It means that the students will
retain what they see when studying this way. Flashcards make it simpler for teachers to deliver
little chunks of knowledge in a memorable and engaging way because children' attention spans
are notoriously short. Through this technique, flashcards can transform learning into a fun and
enjoyable activity. When learning a foreign language, flashcards can be used to match up a
familiar term with its translation in the other language. More specifically, when pupils are
shown both the words and the pictures, their brains create associations that enable them to
recognize the object when they see it again. This is due to the fact that the brain assimilates
visual information more quickly (Senzaki, 2017).
Secondly, flashcards are lightweight and portable. They are not as heavy as textbooks,
and children may carry them comfortably. They will prefer bringing these portable study tools
over notebooks or books. This makes learning vocabulary easier than ever. Children can carry
flashcards and learn anywhere at any time: on the bus, at the park, at lunchtime, or break time,
etc.
Furthermore, flashcards help to speed up the learning process (Singh, 2022). Because
flashcards are frequently fascinating to children, educators and parents can use them to keep
students interested during learning and activity times. When students struggle to keep up with
the breadth of the curriculum, they may lose motivation. As a result, flashcards can assist in
breaking down the curriculum into smaller chunks that are easier to retain and prevent students
from becoming demotivated.
According to Lewis (2010), flashcards are one of the most economical teaching methods.
They are simple enough to make at home. They could quickly create their own flashcards with
just some paper, some scissors, and the materials they'd need to decorate them. Teachers or
parents can collaborate with the children to create them and ensure that they are done correctly.
As a result, children can inculcate the value of structure and discipline at a young age.
Moreover, flashcards also give parents the opportunity to participate in their children's
educational process. Flashcards allow parents to test their children's knowledge even if they do
not grasp every subject at every level because they only need to flip the card over to confirm

374
the correct response. In addition to being a useful tool for evaluating student understanding, it
also enables parents to spend quality time with their kids while guiding them through academic
exercises.
Besides, flashcards are an effective way of exciting and promoting students (Rahmasari,
2016) while they are learning new topics, and they make the process of acquiring new terms
simpler and quicker for children. These images on flashcards can serve as effective stimulation
by eliciting crucial reactions through the use of appropriate structures. Furthermore, flashcards
can be used based on the lesson’s theme. For example animals, fruits, vehicles, occupation,
body parts, etc. Thus, teaching English by using flashcards can help teachers explain the
material more clearly and easily. Since they are so effective, the flashcard approach has spread
throughout schools both nationally and globally. Fadilah carried out research about increasing
students’ vocabulary through flashcards in 2013. The study aims to determine whether or not
vocabulary instruction with flashcards may improve students' knowledge of concrete nouns.
The findings indicated that utilizing flashcards to teach vocabulary could improve fourth-
graders at SDN 1 JatiMulyo Lampung Selatan's command of concrete nouns.
Besides, Komachali & Khodareza (2012) conducted another study to investigate the
effect of using flashcards on Iranian Pre-University students' vocabulary knowledge. The
study's goal is to determine how employing vocabulary flashcards affects the vocabulary
knowledge of Iranian pre-university students. The results showed that using vocabulary flash
cards to teach children vocabulary resulted in a better level of vocabulary improvement.
Moreover, the study about the impact of using flashcards on promoting university
students’ knowledge of vocabulary” (Sakhouri & Mehrgan, 2012) investigated whether or not
using flash cards helps children learn vocabulary. After examining the students’ performance
in both the experimental and control groups, the researchers discovered that there was no
discernible difference between the experimental and control groups on the post-test.
Although some scholars have questioned its effectiveness in helping students memorize
vocabulary words, it has been discovered in several studies that children who use vocabulary
flash cards, for both words and phrases, have much greater levels of understanding and
comprehension with new words. This demonstrates the efficacy of the concept of vocabulary
training using these tools for young learners who are incorporating new terms into their
vocabulary and communication. Flashcards have been shown to be a successful tool for
teaching kids new words and information in a more general educational context (Nation, 2011)
2.4.1.4. Challenges of using flashcards in teaching vocabulary for younger learners
There are some disadvantages of using flashcards in the teaching and learning process as
follows. Firstly, the possibility exists that the learning context will get lost (El-Nekhely et al.,
2019). According to several experts, using flashcards may not be the most effective method for
thorough learning. Children who are taught using information-filled flashcards are likely to
struggle to apply what they have learned in practical settings. They either don’t understand the
idea or haven’t assimilated the word. Flashcards are not very useful when instructing kids on

375
how to comprehend the physical and representative comprehension.
Flashcards might overburden the brain (Singh, 2022). Some flashcards are visual, while
others utilize keywords to guide students through learning. However, when a kid receives an
excessive amount of information, they fight for synaptic connections within the brain, which
causes neurological crowding. According to research “A clinical test for visual crowding” by
Pelli (2016), learning does not always occur the way parents or teachers might have anticipated
when a child is bombarded with information, particularly photos, all at once. Similar
information overload in the brain can cause it to go blank, making learning a more laborious
process.
According to Singh (2022), small and indistinct flashcards may arouse the possibility of
pupils misinterpreting the pictures. Therefore, in order to fulfill the purpose of utilizing
flashcards to teach children, teachers and parents must ensure that what they are teaching is
precise and unambiguous. If not, the pupil would hardly learn and instead would become
confused as the unclear information on the flashcard fought for dominance in their brains with
the previously taught concept.
Flashcards may be age-restricted. There is no doubt that flashcards may be an effective
teaching tool for young children in preschool and kindergarten. However, flashcards may not
be as effective for middle school or high school students. It would undoubtedly be impossible
to teach complicated scientific topics using flashcards. Flashcards can thus be used to teach a
younger learner quickly, while older students in high school or college can only use them in a
limited way.
However, the teacher needs to prepare more in order to teach the vocabulary using
flashcards. Because the flashcards used must be clear and large enough to be seen by all of the
pupils in class. The images on flashcards are colorful to catch pupils' attention. As a result, if
the teacher merely provides a print of the image, the students will rapidly become bored
(Rahmasari, 2016). Aside from that, the teacher must be careful when choosing the image for
the flashcards.
2.4.2. Using flashcards in teaching vocabulary for Vietnamese young learners
2.4.2.1. Teaching vocabulary in Vietnam
In Vietnam, the common process to teach vocabulary for young children, especially in
EFL classrooms is that the teacher plays the center-role, watering the knowledge for students.
Teachers write on the blackboard a list of new words, instructing the pronunciation of those
words, providing students with the Vietnamese translation of those words, and then asking the
students to imitate and repeat the words after the teacher several times. According to Vu and
Peters (2021), this procedure just focuses on the single words, which are often chosen whether
by intuition or based on curriculum in the textbooks and reference books. Then, in the next part
of the lesson, the focus moves to language skills, such as reading, grammar or sometimes
speaking activities. In the following class, students will be called on to check their

376
memorization and write down the new vocabulary introduced in the previous lesson. However,
Nunan (2011) stated that young language learners’ writing, reading and thinking skills are
technically slow and just can develop at elementary level.
As cited in Diep (2020), more than 70% of young language learners in Vietnam share
the same curriculum of MOET which is not include flashcards and if teachers want to teach
vocabulary for students by using flashcards, they need to take pictures from the textbook, and
making flashcards by their own. Furthermore, when using flashcards, the size of the room needs
to be specialized to do activities.
It was concluded that the contribution of flashcards in teaching vocabulary to students
led to an increase in vocabulary at a higher level. Besides increasing student vocabulary,
flashcards can also be used to improve foreign language understanding. However, in Vietnam,
flashcards are mainly used in English centers, private schools and in home teaching by parents,
as the time limitation in class time, class size and school curriculum.
2.4.2.2. Using flashcards in Vietnam
According to Van (2020), English in Vietnam after 1986 plays the most significant role
in all kinds of languages taught in Vietnam. Van (2020) built a new curriculum for teaching
English for primary students in Vietnam and also instruction for teachers. One key new feature
in this curriculum is that it consists of flashcards for teachers based on the course book and
reference book. It is said that flashcards interest students’ learning process, especially
enhancing the thinking through pictures ability and active intelligence. Flashcards have a
positive impact in all periods of the learning process, both inside and outside class. Furthermore,
Van (2020) also stated that flashcards can be applied in many classroom activities, such as
spelling, pairing, memory flash, finding cards, matching words, guessing words.
Therefore, flashcards need to be applied in classroom activities for young children as
this age requires activities and images to link the target language and the first language. Van
(2020) concluded that the new curriculum focuses on communication and interaction skills.
2.5. Applications
According to Nation (2013), there are two distinguished activities to take advantage of
flashcards, which are retrieving forms and retrieving meanings of target vocabulary. When
using retrieving forms, the students first view the backside of the cards, including the translation
in Vietnamese and then acquire the English form by seeing the front side represents the English
form. Meanwhile, the retrieving meanings flashcards require learners to view the front side first
to remember the English form and then seeing the backside to know the Vietnamese meaning.
Nation (2013) also stated that if learners can perform these two individual methodologies, they
will be able to know whether they remember either the form or meaning of the word when
flipping the flashcards.
Quizlet can be considered as an example of using flashcards to learn language due to its
providing users with a number of activities, which are called modes including Flashcards,

377
Learn, Write, Spell and Test.
● Flashcards: a set of cards are shown with form and meaning on either side. Each card
can be flipped by clicking or tapping on it until the learners are sure that they can
remember the word and move on to the next one.

● Learn: the students are expected to answer some multiple choice questions. Based on
the results, the users will know which words they have already mastered, and which
ones still need more practice.

● Write: the students are asked to write the word based on the definition or English
translation provided.

● Spell: the students listen to the pronunciation of a word and type what they hear.

● Test: based on the chosen set of flashcards, Quizlet will generate tests of different
formats including writing the target words, matching, multiple choice and true/false
questions.

According to Budden (2017), there are four main activities that can apply flashcards in
classroom context, including memory, drilling, identification, and TPR activities. In memory
activities, teachers can place flashcards on the floor, give students one minute all the words,
and ask them to write down as many words as possible in two minutes. In drilling activities,
teachers can stick flashcards on the board, let the students read all the words, gradually remove
the cards on the board and depending on the age of students, teachers can choose to move the
flashcards back to the right place. If students can remember the cards correctly, it shows that
imagines have an impact on remembering words of learners. In identification activities, teachers
can use a card to cover flashcards, gradually show the target flashcard, and give students hints
until they can guess the given word. Finally, in TPR activities, flashcards can be stuck on the
wall, telling the students to chase the certain words by giving commands or using “Simon says”.
These steps below are an example of using flashcards in a primary school in Thanh Hoa
Province.
Step 1: Sit comfortably in front of students

Step 2: Arrange the flashcards in the order teacher would like to present students

Step 3: Starting with the first flashcard, hold it up so students can see it clearly.
Keep the back of the flashcard toward the teacher so the learners cannot see it.

Step 4: Show the front side of the flashcards to students that consist of pictures. Say in
English and tell the students to repeat several times to ensure that they could pronounce
correctly.

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 Step 5: Show one by one flashcards and ask them questions. If students could
answer correctly, place the correctly answered flashcards in a pile on the left.

Step 6: If students give an incorrect answer or no response, tell them the right one,
and place these flashcards in a pile on the right side.

Step 7: After the teacher finished showing students all of the flashcards, he or she
continued the flashcards teaching session by using the stack of incorrect answer cards.

Step 8: Once students have acquired the full set of flashcards, practice them
frequently to make sure students remember them. The process of using flashcards is
easy to apply, so it can be also practiced at home to improve young language learners'
vocabulary.

3. CONCLUSION
According to the above studies, flashcards are examined as an appropriate strategy
should be applied in teaching and learning vocabulary for young EFL learners. We hope that
this paper can help more educators know the benefits of using flashcards in classroom activities,
the procedure of using flashcards and schools can create environments for teachers and students
to apply flashcards. Furthermore, we desire that more parents can also see the potential benefits
of flashcards in teaching vocabulary for their young children.

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 TÁC ĐỘNG CỦA HỖ TRỢ TRỰC QUAN
TRONG NÂNG CAO HỌC NGOẠI NGỮ
SVTH: Nguyễn Thị Ngọc Lan (5A21), Nguyễn Duy Linh (5A21)
GVHD: Nguyễn Trà My

Tóm tắt: Nghiên cứu này nhằm mục đích điều tra nhận thức của giáo viên về việc sử dụng các
phương tiện trực quan (ví dụ: video hoạt hình, tranh ảnh, phim và máy chiếu) như một công cụ tạo động
lực nhằm nâng cao hứng thú học ngôn ngữ của học sinh. Khía cạnh này rất quan trọng vì ngôn ngữ
giúp tạo ra sự sáng tạo và động lực học ngôn ngữ của học sinh. Học sinh có thể có ưu điểm hoặc có
nhược điểm khi sử dụng phương pháp học tập, do đó, nghiên cứu là cách để giảm thiểu, thậm chí khắc
phục nhược điểm. Nói tóm lại, việc sử dụng các phương tiện trực quan để cải thiện khả năng học ngôn
ngữ của học sinh là rất hiệu quả.

Từ khóa: Đồ dùng trực quan, động lực, ngôn ngữ

IMPACT OF VISUAL AIDS IN ENHANCING LANGUAGE

LEARNING

Abstract: This study aims to investigate the teachers’ perceptions of the use of visual aids (e.g.,
animation videos, pictures, films, and projectors) as a motivational tool in enhancing students’ interest
in learning languages. This aspect is vital as language helps to generate students’ creativity and
motivation to learn languages. Students may either gain advantages or encounter disadvantages when
utilizing the learning method, therefore, research is the way to mitigate or even overcome the
disadvantages. In short, the application of visual aids is effective to be used to improve the student’s
ability in learning languages.

Keywords: Visual aids, motivation, languages

1. INTRODUCTION
In learning languages, the use of visual aids ( like videos, pictures, films, and projectors
) is a crucial tool for enhancing students’ interest in reading literary texts. Visual aids are
important because they create a visual and interactive experience for the students. Students who
are more active in class are more inclined to retain the information being presented. Students
will benefit from visual aids when learning. It incorporates audio, video, and dynamic
capabilities to attract pupils and improve the quality of education. If teaching tools are
integrated into the curriculum, students usually are becoming more involved in their studies. .
Computers, maps, and other practical tools are some of the most successful teaching resources
because they require student interaction. Teachers and students can now work together in a

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variety of ways thanks to information and communication technologies. Students frequently
struggle in the classroom to read and comprehend the given languages. Thus, it is necessary to
incorporate the use of visual aids in language instruction in order to motivate pupils to read
texts.
2. VISUAL AIDS
2.1. Definitions of visual aids
Visual aids are tools, things, or images that help a learner understand the lesson by
illustrating a concept. Visual materials include images, posters, graphics, films, charts,
flashcards, and other visible items (Asokhia, 2009). Visual aids are frequently utilized in
persuasive and informational speeches to aid listeners in understanding the subject matter.
2.2. Overview of visual aids
Whether an observer or learner displays new behavior responses that, without model
reflection, on the learning potential was greater even though there is more motivation and
encouragement to the learner, teaching with visual aids or observational learning via model
takes place. Conversely, the model might provide the opportunity for learners to absorb new
concepts or objects quickly and effectively by supplying them with information. Here, the
model is something visual that can facilitate and directly support students' learning. When
attention is paid during observational learning, it indicates that the lesson was understood in a
meaningful way. Because they are certain and have learned something with greater accuracy
and interest, students feel quite self-assured. Additionally, a model's feature or color can draw
attention since a learner will pay more attention in these circumstances if the model's shape,
size, type, color, or voice is unfamiliar. They will try to identify it, understand its purpose, and
immediately place it in their minds. When we preserve or maintain something in our minds and
have it in our possession to recall, it is feasible to retrieve it. Retention is also the production of
observation or observation that has a direct impact on retention (Schunk, 2012). Knowing the
theoretical assumptions regarding the nature of human learning is crucial; this entails
understanding how learners learn quickly as well as the developments that prompted the
creation of such systems (Wood, 2011). Other visual aids exist, such as integrated learning
systems, which is the name of a comprehensive computer-based teaching method that is
employed in school districts across the United States of America. Through various visual
channels, humans are able to practice writing messages and image information. Each method
has a finite capacity for information processing. When it comes to active processing, humans
can reorganize or reconstruct related information, organize it into stable mental modules, and
either make the newly learnt information meaningful or make changes to the information that
already exists. These processes will also react to and transmit new information to long-term
memory.
2.3. Importance of Visual Aids
Problems in classrooms are caused by both students and teachers. The educator is the

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source of these issues: (1) The instructor assigns homework based on the book. (2) Teachers
employ conventional techniques, such as having students read passages from textbooks or
student workbooks and act out exercises in front of the class. These issues stem not just from
the student side but also from the teaching side: (1) Passive participants in the teaching and
learning process in the classroom. (2) When the instructor teaches the content, the pupils chatter
and make noise. (3) Due to their lack of understanding, students find it difficult to comprehend
the teacher's explanation. (4) students do not have the motivation to learn about English,
especially in speaking, they think that speaking is difficult to practice and they are not confident
enough to speak. The researcher used audio-visual tools to address the aforementioned issue
and help students' speaking abilities. Because using audiovisuals may make learning engaging
and students feel engaged in communicating and expressing their thoughts about what they see
and hear, audiovisual aids are a viable medium that can be used to tackle current challenges
(Madhuri, 2013). The use of audio-visual resources to stimulate and facilitate language learning
is well established (akir, 2006). In other words, if used appropriately and at the appropriate
times, the usage of audio-visuals can help students learn a language. The level and quality of
one's language abilities also rise as a result of multimedia since it includes tools that appeal to
the human senses, such as visual and auditory tools utilized in foreign language instruction that
enhance the amount of emotional inputs. The output, which includes crucial language learning
tools like speaking and writing abilities, improves in both quality and quantity. According to
this perspective, auditory tools like video and graphics are crucial resources for students while
they work on their language abilities.
It is well known that various teaching tools, such as audio, visual, and audio-visual aids,
printed materials, etc., are utilized to make teaching and learning activities goal-oriented. Our
focus in this case is primarily on visual aids. Anything that can be seen with our eyes is a visual
aid, in the broadest sense. Visual aids are just items that students have brought into the
classroom to view. A list of visual aids includes the entire classroom as well as illustrations,
demonstrations, photos, slides, graphs, charts, display materials, realia, penmen images,
periodicals, cut-outs, models, and puppets. Language learners can benefit from visual aids.
Visual aids are supposed to help make the given circumstance more engaging. Without writing
a single word or speaking a single word, one visual aid can convey a thousand meanings.
Hearing is less effective than seeing. It is believed that at least 83% of lessons may be
comprehended through visual means. A Chinese adage states that visual aids are important
because "if I hear, I forget, if I do, I know, if I see, I remember." Anything that may be seen
while the language is being spoken may be a visual aid, according to Byrne (1980, p. 195).
Similar to this, he distinguishes between visual aids for "talking about" and "talking with.". The
same is true for visual aids, which can include teachers, pupils, blackboards, books, classrooms,
etc. According to Wright (1996, p.108), "it is very difficult for the teacher to create a situation
in which the students desire to say something without visual elements." He means that using
visual aids in the classroom facilitates learning and helps the teacher establish a productive
learning environment. 19 El-Araby (1974, p. 127) defines visual aids as anything that is brought

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into the classroom, whether it be animate or inanimate. This includes the teacher, students, boys,
girls, pets, plants, clothes, furniture, materials, and objects. It also includes anything that is
observed to be done, such as crying, laughing, working, acting, or misbehaving. When we
employ visual aids, they ought to be pertinent to our lesson plans. Teachers must choose visual
aids based on the subject matter, the student’s grade level, their age, their needs, and their
interests. They should also be appropriate for the learner's physical and mental state. For
instance, early stages benefit more from simple and monochromatic images, whereas
intermediate and later stages can benefit from sophisticated maps and composite images. Some
terms' definitions can only be taught with visual aids, not by definition alone. Different kinds
of visual assistance exist. The image is our main concern among them. Following is a discussion
of pictures and their functions in language.
2.4. Using Visual Aids in Improving Languages Skill
2.4.1. The use of visual aids in teaching languages
Students' reading skills can be improved and encouraged by using visual aids (such as
charts, maps, PowerPoint presentations, photos, posters, graphics, movies, and flashcards). It
was discovered that using movies to teach literary theory and cultural concepts in the texts helps
pupils visualize them properly. According to Cunning (2001), who examined the benefits of
using videos in language instruction, the stimuli provided by the movies give students the
chance to develop a background schema for the subject. Additionally, watching movies gives
students a better understanding of the stress and rhythm of the target language. In his research,
Corbeil (2007) discovered that pupils enjoy PowerPoint's brightness, liveliness, clarity, and
interactivity. The visuals and examples, aids understanding for the students. (p. 645) According
to Coppen (1969: 88), images are a component of visual aids. The goal of an image is to give
the learner a stimulus that will cause them to react in a certain way. The action depicted in the
image is represented, thus the action itself cannot be questioned in order to learn the right words
to express it. The students are exposed to many visual aids, such as maps for providing
directions and drawings for explaining objects or people (Freeman, 2000, p. 121). According
to a pertinent study by Ozaslan & Maden (2013), children acquire content more effectively
when it is presented visually. Teachers also thought that PowerPoint made the material more
enticing, which quickly attracted students' attention. (p.42) 10 Teachers are fundamentally
concerned with motivation (Linnenbrink and Pintrich, 2003). Although there are no simple
answers to the motivational conundrum that teachers face in the classroom, there are a number
of tactics that can be used (Linnenbrink and Pintrich). The general definition of motivation is
an internal state that triggers conduct ("Motivation," 2009). Humans are motivated to do things.
The motivation of interest. Motivation makes you want to do a task. Teachers are constantly
trying to figure out what inspires their students. The secret to academic achievement and
encouraging lifelong learning is motivation (Sanacore, 2008). The unwillingness to learn must
be transformed into a desire to learn. Every classroom has students that are resistant to learning.
People who are reluctant learners frequently put off responsibilities and don't finish their
assignments. Reluctant students are satisfied to muddle through. One characteristic shared by

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reluctant learners is their self-perception, or self-efficacy (Sanacore, 2008). Their motivation to
perform will be poor if their sense of self-efficacy is low. Students’ self-esteem and self-
efficacy are lowered when they are frequently chastised with critical remarks. The assignments
that teachers set for their students have an impact on their unwillingness to learn. If a task is too
simple or challenging, unwilling students won't be inspired to do it.
2.4.2. Visual Materials-Tools to Learn Vocabulary
Things that are visually appealing improve learning, according to Harmer (2001). They
are therefore employed by teachers to improve student learning. According to English teachers,
teaching new words through visual materials like photos, actual objects, etc. makes learning
more pleasurable and remembered. Students might be inspired by visual features to learn more
effectively. To promote student participation and interest in the classroom, language teachers
employ a variety of visual aids. Teachers might benefit from using a variety of visual resources,
too (Horn, 1998). Visual aids can offer practical and appropriate solutions to the issues faced
by language teachers. When teachers combine visual and verbal aids, students learn more
effectively (Mayer & Sims, 1994). As a result, pupils learn more since they are more focused
when using visual aspects. Pictures, realia, and flashcards are examples of visual learning tools
that are useful in enhancing information and the learning process. Additionally, Armstrong
(2000) argued that learning and memorization of vocabulary words through the use of visual
resources is more beneficial than learning words solely through text and without giving them
any thought. Wileman (1993) asserts that we can perceive and comprehend all information by
using visual components like pictures. The use of visual aids in the classroom, such as
photographs or actual items, is beneficial and effective since it enhances students' learning.
Therefore, it is preferable for teachers to teach vocabulary graphically, and pupils also need to
acquire it. The notion that using visual aids can encourage students to study more effectively is
a good one. Wright (1976, p. 14) further clarifies 17 Visual aids are "used to motivate the
student to speak, to provide the student with information to use in speech, including objects,
actions, and events; to provide the student with non-verbal cues for manipulation work; and to
provide non-verbal prompts to dialogue reproduction or to dialogue invention." By offering
teachers more time for essential lessons like drills, exercises, instructions, and explanations,
which require their personal influence, visual aids help teachers. So, in order to increase our
vocabulary knowledge and prevent us from being cut off from the world of scientific and
technical knowledge that may be acquired by utilizing English as a means of communication in
everyday settings, visual resources play a significant role. In this regard, Wright and Haleem
(1991) write: "One of the most essential parts of language education is the role of Visual
material: The importance of employing visual media to make Teaching more effective,
communicative, and engaging is well-known." However, many teachers—even seasoned
educators—don't fully utilize the power of visual resources. Additionally, picking the right
technique and goal for language education might be difficult. The use of real objects, pictures,
and mime for appropriate vocabulary is a very effective method as it is direct and interesting,
and it makes an impression on the 18 class, according to Singh (2005), who also argues that

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"often teachers know the value of certain visual aids, but they fail to utilize them to the fullest
because they do not take time to plan their use" (p.177). Students respond quickly to visuals in
a classroom, which is the foundational element of all meaningful language learning in general
and vocabulary learning in particular. Visual materials stimulate presentation and accelerate
learning and group activities. Events, concepts, and processes become more meaningful to the
students.
Learning vocabulary is a crucial component of learning a language. One needs to be
familiar with the vocabulary of the target language in order to converse with others in that
language. As a result, vocabulary instruction is crucial while teaching a language. To make the
words easier for the students to remember and utilize in their conversation, vocabulary should,
nevertheless, be taught in specific settings. Visual aids can be useful tools for vocabulary
instruction. To ensure that the kids fully get the objects and their meanings, it is usually good
to demonstrate the objects while speaking to them. It makes it easier for children to remember
the words. If students just hear a new word's definition verbally, it may not stick in their minds
for very long. The terminology is more effective, though, if there are images included.
Additionally, using visual aids enables students to emphasize what is being taught and
conveyed. The learners' capacity for comprehension is multiplied by clear visual assistance.
According to Allen, Kate & Marquez (2011), “Visual aids impact and add interest to a
presentation. They can create excitement. Visual aids enable students to use more than one
sense at the same time. One picture can elicit unlimited words” (p.5).
2.4.3. Contribution to enhancing language skills
Charts, graphs, and pictures help visual learners learn by providing visual cues. Audio is
used by auditory learners to learn. Those that learn physically do so by doing. According to
CelciaMurcia (2001), learning styles are the common methods that students employ when
learning a new language or any other language, such as global or analytic, auditory or visual.
Visual elements are well known to be very helpful in stimulating and enhancing the learning of
a foreign language. Visual learners learn better through images and think in pictures. They rely
on nonverbal clues from the instructor or facilitator, such as body language, to aid with
comprehension. Visual learners occasionally choose to sit in the front of the room. Additionally,
they make detailed notes on the information being delivered (Abbas, 2012). According to Jamal
(2016), visual learning also aids in the development of visual thinking, a type of learning that
allows students to retain material better by connecting ideas, words, and concepts to pictures.
According to research, the majority of students in a typical classroom must see material in order
to learn it. The creation of graphic organizers, diagramming, mind mapping, outlining, and other
techniques are some popular visual learning techniques. Students get an understanding of how
concepts are related and how material may be collected and structured in this fashion (Abbas,
2012). According to numerous studies, the brain processes 75% of all information in visual
formats. Furthermore, students' brains better map visual information (Williams, 2009).
According to numerous studies, kids retain information better when it is spoken and physically
portrayed. Williams (2009) asserts that language learners can benefit from a variety of visual

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presentational formats and media. That is to say, provided that they are used appropriately and
at the appropriate times, all visual materials can benefit language development. According to
Dunn and Dunn (1978), educators should make adjustments to their classrooms that will be
advantageous to all learning styles. Redesigning the room, creating small-group techniques, and
creating Contract Activity Packages are a few of these modifications. Finding dividers that can
be utilized to creatively arrange the classroom, clearing the floor space, and incorporating
student input and ideas into the design are all steps in the redesign process. The "circle of
knowledge," in which students gather in a circle and discuss a topic together, is one of the more
popular small-group strategies, along with others like team learning and brainstorming. This
study sought to determine whether the use of visual teaching tools improves student
participation in class and whether it helps students improve their language proficiency in
speaking and reading. The results of this study would also provide a deeper understanding of
how to handle issues that students may have while posing or responding to questions. In
addition to motivating and enhancing learning, it will assist in clarifying challenging ideas.
3. CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTIONS
3.1. Conclusion
The use of visual aids helps motivate students to learn English and keep their interest,
especially when speaking, which can help pupils gain confidence. Because audiovisual provides
students with explicit examples of the real setting in life, they can better comprehend the content
being presented. Students can only decode meaning from videos.
3.2. Suggestions
For students, the process of language teaching and learning can be successful if each
participant contributes positively. Students must therefore actively engage in class activities in
order to learn a language. Before creating speaking material, teachers must take the
requirements and interests of their pupils into account. Both educational methods and language
proficiency are crucial. This is a tedious educational process. The use of audio-visual aids in
the learning process because they make it easier and more engaging for teachers to provide
content.

REFERENCES
Araby, E. L. (1974). Audio-visual aids for teaching English and introduction to materials
and methods. London: Longman.
Allen, K, & Marquez, A. (2011). Teaching vocabulary with visual aids. Journal of Kao
Ying Industrial & Commercial Vocational High School, 1(9), 1-5.
Cakir, D. I. (2006). The use of video as an audio-visual material in foreign language
teaching classrooms. The Turkish Online Journal of Educational Technology, 5(4), 67-72.
Retrieved from http://www.tojet.net/articles/v5i4/549.pdf

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 Celce-Marcia, M. (2001). Teaching English as a second or foreign language, (3rd ed.).
Dewey Publishing Services: NY.
Çakir, D. I. The use of video as an audio-visual material in foreign language teaching
classrooms. The Turkish Online Journal of Educational Technology, 5(4), 67-72. Retrieved
from http:// www.tojet.net/articles/v5i4/549.pdf, 2018.
Dunn, R., & Dunn, K. (1978). Teaching Students through their Individual Learning
Styles. A Practical Approach. Prentice Hall, Reston, VA., ISBN: 10: 0879098082, 336.
Harmer, J. (2001).The practice of English language teaching (3rd ed.). London:
Longman.
Horn, R. (1998).Visual language: global communication for the 21st century. Bainbridge
Island, WA: Macro VU Press.
Mayer, R. & Sims, V. (1994). For whom is a picture worth a thousand words? Extensions
of a dual-coding theory of multimedia learning. Journal of Educational Technology, 86, 389-
401.
Madhuri, J. N. Use of Audio Visual Aids in Teaching and Speaking. Research Journal of
English Language and Literature (RJELAL). Retrieved on December 20th, 2013, 2018.
Wileman, R. E. (1993). Visual communicating. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Educational
Technology.
Wright, A. (1976). Visual materials for the language teacher. London: Longman.
Wright, A. & Haleem, S.(1991). Visuals for the language classroom. London: Longman
Group UK
Williams, R, (2009). Visual Learning Theory. http:
//www.aweoregon.org/research_theory.html.
Singh, R. (2005). Teaching methods in schools: global education series: 2. New Delhi:
Commonwealth Publishers.

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 CẢI THIỆN KỸ NĂNG ĐỌC HIỂU CHO SINH VIÊN
SVTH: Nguyễn Thị Minh Phương (10A21)
GVHD: Nguyễn Trà My

Tóm tắt: Đọc hiểu là một trong những kỹ năng quan trọng ở đại học. Có khả năng ứng biến với
nhiều thể loại viết và chủ đề khi còn là sinh viên là điều quan trọng cho sự thành công toàn diện. Bài
viết này sẽ hướng dẫn một vài trong số những chiến thuật để cải thiện kỹ năng đọc.

Từ khóa: Chiến lược đọc hiểu

Improving Reading Comprehension Skill for College

Students

Abstract: One of the most important skills in college is reading comprehension. As a student,
being able to improvise different writing styles and topics is critical to overall success. This study will
provide some of the most effective strategies for improving reading comprehension.

Keywords: Reading Comprehension Strategies

1. INTRODUCTION
Reading comprehension is the ability to adapt to and understand written text. Every
college class you take on your way to earning your degree will require a significant amount of
challenging reading. It is a good idea to become acquainted with reading comprehension
strategies, new reading strategies, and reading comprehension practices in order to successfully
tackle your college reading load.
2. STRATEGIES
There are several strategies you can employ in college to improve your reading
comprehension. These include specific reading practices as well as preparing for reading and
ensuring you retain the information. Whatever your individual struggle, knowing that you can
improve by finding the right approach, which is usually a combination of strategies and skills,
is reassuring.
2.1. Find the Right Environment
Consider the following factors when selecting a reading location:
- Distractions: In addition to avoiding congested and noisy areas, distractions include your
own personal habits. It is best to turn off your phone and avoid responding to social media posts
or instant messages during your reading time.
- Lighting: Will there be enough light where you want to read? Locate yourself near a
window for natural light, or sit in a corner with good lighting.

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 - Comfort: Whether you're reading in a cafe, the library, or your own bedroom, make sure
you have a good desk and a comfortable chair.
2.2. Skimming the texts
Before delving into a text's content, skimming it will help you get a sense of its
organization and let you know what to expect from it. Due to your prior knowledge and the fact
that you are essentially filling out an outline you created while previewing, paying attention to
these elements in the beginning helps focus your close reading later. By becoming more familiar
with the text and spending less time looking up information, you'll probably also end up saving
time and effort over time.
2.3. Keep a pen with you when reading
Take Benjamin Franklin at his word when he advised against reading a book without a
pen in your hand. If you come across any unfamiliar terms or keywords while reading, mark
them with a pen, pencil, or marker. Mark any words you don't understand so you can look them
up later. By doing this, you'll improve your vocabulary in addition to understanding the key
ideas in the reading material. Additionally, you ought to pay attention and underline summary
phrases like "therefore," "in summary," "thus," "given these facts," etc. When it comes to
highlighting sections of the text that summarize the author's main points based on the arguments
they presented in the preceding paragraphs, paragraphs or sentences that use these words can
be your cues.
2.4. Divide text into sections to read
Some authors divide the text into distinct sections or sub-sections. Your reading will be
more focused if you use these headings as aid. Consider doing this work yourself if a text lacks
them. When you scan the text, look for logical transitions or breaks, then independently create
each section as if you were creating an outline. After that, focus on each section separately.
Reading is more manageable and digestible when it is divided into sections.
2.5. Highlight significant points
When you highlight something, it is easier to find the key points later on when you go
back to the material to review. Finding the most crucial information is the key. Over-
highlighting makes nothing stand out. Consider highlighting important terms, information, or
definitions and selecting one or two key sentences for each paragraph. By underlining key
concepts, words, and phrases, you can work more efficiently.
2.6. Take notes of the text
Not only does taking notes as you read increase comprehension and retention, but it also
provides you with a useful study guide for tests and other assignments. Make sure to write down
any important definitions or terms, as well as any questions you have about what you read. If
you come across a word that you're not entirely sure what it means, look it up and note the
definition. This increases your vocabulary and helps you comprehend what you read.

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 Here are some tips for taking notes:
- Adopt a unique style: Try mind maps, outlines, bullet points, or any other method that
works for you.
- Make subtitles into inquiries: You can find the answers by turning the section headers
into questions.
- Summarize as you read: After reading a paragraph, create a sentence that encapsulates
its main ideas. The author's argument is it supported? Is an alternative viewpoint presented?
2.7. Take breaks
It can be very difficult to stay focused even when you are in an environment free of
distractions, especially if you are reading a lengthy and complex reading assignment. Take a
break when you notice your focus straying and give yourself some time to bring it back. The
Pomodoro technique is one study method that makes use of these regular, brief breaks. It breaks
up lengthy study sessions into 25-minute study sessions. As a result, time is no longer an illusive
idea but rather a tangible one where you must focus for brief periods of time. Instead of
becoming overwhelmed by the size of your assignment or project, this enables you to be
intensely focused on what you are doing for that session. You will be better prepared to deal
with abstract in research, which is a requirement of academic life.
2.8. Leverage Visuals
Take notes whenever you come across a graph, diagram, picture, or other visual in your
reading. Read the caption if there is one as you look at and absorb the image. Visuals are
intentionally inserted by authors and book publishers because they help you better understand
a subject. They do more than just decorate the page and add variety. Don't skim over the visuals;
pay attention to them.
2.9. Read important sections out loud
Try reading important passages from the text aloud if you want to make sure you
remember them. One investigation looked at how reading aloud affected memory. Results for
both young learners and adults demonstrated that reading aloud rather than silently helps people
remember words. Students in Australia who read aloud retained 87% of the words they had
read, compared to 70% for those who read silently, when they were 10 years old.
2.10. Reread Confusing Sections
Especially confusing material requires extra time and effort to fully understand, which
may mean multiple readings. As you read, keep track of the sections that don’t make sense
initially and flag them for follow-up. Returning to these difficult portions later by rereading
them, looking up confusing words, and maybe even reading the sections out loud to help you
take your time with them. Rereading confusing sections until you better grasp them will help
expand your understanding and deepen your reading comprehension.

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 2.11. Review, Summarize and Discuss
Take a break after reading the text thoroughly before going over your highlights and
notes. To promote deeper comprehension and long-lasting retention, summarize major points
and paraphrase important insights as you go over the material. Talking about the material and
your notes can be beneficial. Study groups are especially beneficial for putting what you learn
from reading into concrete form.
2.12. Practice
Your reading comprehension skills deepen and improve as you read more, especially
when you tackle difficult texts. Improve your capacity for information retention by reading
widely and frequently to hone your comprehension skills. By engaging in deep reading before
you enroll in college, you'll be better prepared to succeed both academically and professionally
after graduation.
2.13. Ask for Help
Academic success-focused student centers are present in the majority of colleges and
universities. Use these resources to help you with your reading comprehension. The main
student services hub at schools typically has information on these centers, and some even offer
online resources in addition to on-campus assistance. Consult a doctor if you believe that a
condition like ADHD or a learning disability is keeping you from improving your reading
comprehension. Take a look at these resource manuals for students with learning disabilities or
ADHD.
2.14. Specific Techniques and Skills
By adopting more specific reading comprehension techniques and skills rather than the
more all-encompassing strategies mentioned above, you can increase your competency even
further. Your reading ability can be greatly improved by learning the best methods for
summarizing and paraphrasing as well as developing skills like textual annotation and speed
reading. The following is a discussion of some of the more well-liked and successful techniques
for improving particular reading comprehension methods and abilities.
- SQ4R Textbook Reading Method
SQ4R, which was initially created by educational psychologists in the 1940s, is still a
well-liked and successful reading comprehension technique. The word "survey" is an acronym
for the steps that make up the process: read, reflect, recite, survey, and review. You start by
quickly but thoroughly scanning the text, noting each important question as you go. Then you
read the text attentively, pausing occasionally to think about what you've read. Finally, to ensure
long-term retention, you should repeat important passages as soon as you finish reading them.
- Annotating Text :
Textual annotation, also referred to as marginalia, is the practice of adding notes or
comments to readings that draw attention to significant terms, arguments, and other elements.

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According to studies, actively making notes as you read a text improves recall and broadens
comprehension. Use one of the many tools available to annotate electronic files and digital
content, or manually annotate a text using pen and paper.
- Speed Reading:
If you need to read through a lot of content quickly, speed reading is a great strategy
because it makes the process of comprehension faster and more effective. Effective speed
reading emphasizes productivity and puts you in a good position to make the most of your
reading time without compromising comprehension or information retention. Reading longer
passages of text rather than concentrating on individual words, scanning and previewing texts
in advance, and using a finger to quickly guide your eyes across the page are all common
techniques.
- Summary & Paraphrasing Strategies
Summarizing and paraphrasing texts aids in comprehension and improves your ability to
remember key details. You can ignore details when you summarize in order to concentrate on
the most crucial ideas and facts. Similar principles apply when paraphrasing, but you translate
the text using your own words. These tried-and-true techniques take more time than speed
reading, but they help you develop your note-taking skills while improving information
retention.
- Rewordify for Text Simplification
Rewordify is an effective and user-friendly tool that aids in understanding complex or
foreign-language sentences. Simply type or paste a sentence or passage into the textbox to get
immediate understanding-enhancing insight. It is especially helpful for non-native English
speakers who want to increase their vocabulary, learn synonyms, and improve their fluency.
This free platform adds new features frequently.
3. CONCLUSION
By incorporating these strategies into your reading, you can become a more effective
reader. You will not only save time but also increase your ability to understand dense, college-
level reading materials. It will prepare you to deal with the intricacies of research, from
methodology in research to polishing your output.
REFERENCES
Huggins, B (2022), The College Student’s Guide to Better Reading Comprehension. Retrieved
from: https://www.edumed.org/resources/college-reading-comprehension/
Purdue University Global (2020), 10 Strategies to Improve Your Reading Comprehension for
College. Retrieved from: https://www.purdueglobal.edu/blog/general-
education/improve-reading-comprehension-college/

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Bouchrika, I (2022), 10 Ways to Improve Your Reading Skills for College. Retrieved from:
https://research.com/education/improve-your-reading-skills-for-college
Ross, L (2021), Improving Reading Comprehension Skills For Students. Retrieved from:
https://testprepinsight.com/resources/improving-reading-comprehension-skills-
students/

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NHẬN THỨC CỦA SINH VIÊN NĂM BA VỀ NHỮNG KHÓ KHĂN
CỦA VIỆC SỬ DỤNG THUẬT NGỮ CHUYÊN NGÀNH
TRONG BIÊN DỊCH VÀ NHỮNG GIẢI PHÁP KHẮC PHỤC
SVTH: Trần Thục Hiền (10A20), Sái Thị Thu Mai (10A20), Vũ Thị Giáng Ngọc (4A20), Vũ
Thanh Tâm (13A20), Nguyễn Thị Hải Vân (10A20)
GVHD: Đặng Nam Thắng

Tóm tắt: Bài nghiên cứu này được thực hiện nhằm chỉ ra nhận thức của học sinh năm ba khoa
Ngôn ngữ Anh, trường Đại học Hà Nội về những thách thức trong việc dịch các thuật ngữ chuyên ngành
và các giải pháp khắc phục tương ứng. Nhóm nghiên cứu đã áp dụng phương pháp nghiên cứu định
lượng và thiết kế bảng khảo sát để thu thập dữ liệu từ 36 sinh viên năm ba thuộc khoa Ngôn ngữ Anh.
Kết quả phân tích cho thấy các sinh viên năm ba khoa Ngôn ngữ Anh tự nhận thức được cả khó khăn
và giải pháp khi dịch từ ngữ chuyên ngành. Qua đó, chúng tôi hy vọng nghiên cứu này sẽ giúp sinh viên
năm ba khoa Ngôn ngữ Anh nâng cao nhận thức về tầm quan trọng của thuật ngữ chuyên ngành trong
biên dịch, đồng thời nâng cao động lực cũng như các kỹ năng để có thể xử lý khó khăn khi dịch thuật
ngữ chuyên ngành.

Từ khóa: sinh viên năm ba khoa Ngôn ngữ Anh, dịch thuật ngữ chuyên ngành, khó khăn, giải pháp

PERCEPTION OF THIRD YEAR STUDENTS IN ENGLISH

DEPARTMENT ABOUT THE CHALLENGES WHEN
TRANSLATING TERMINOLOGY AND THE CORRESPONDING
SOLUTIONS.

Abstract: This article is aimed to show the perception of juniors in the English Department (ED)
of Hanoi University about some main problems related to terminology in translation and corresponding
solutions. The researchers used the quantitative method and designed a questionnaire to collect data
from 36 third year ED students. The findings show that third year students of the ED have had their own
point of view about both problems and solutions in terminological translation. Through this study, we
hope to encourage the awareness of students in the ED about the importance of terminology in
translation and strengthen their motivation and skills to tackle the problems arising in translating
terminology.

Keywords: English-majored third year students, translating terminology, challenges,

corresponding solutions.

1. INTRODUCTION
1.1. Rationale
It is certain that the majority of EFL students will struggle with translation studies. The

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translated terms are not accompanied by any definitions or assumptions in particular. The
translators are also obligated to work on projects that range in difficulty from simple written
materials like articles in specialized professional journals, business contracts, and legal
documents to more challenging items like birth certificates and driver’s licenses. Since it
investigates translation as both an interlingual transfer and as intercultural discourse, translation
studies is a branch of research that works with the theory, description, and applications of
translation, as made evident by Amber (2018). Amber provided a case study to illustrate the
value of translation and how crucial it is for the dissemination of ideas. For sensitive and
efficient cross-cultural communication, it is necessary. The maintenance of societal harmony
and peace depends so much on translation. This study found that third-year students learn more
about and select the optimal major path by tackling terminology translation problems. As a
result, the aim of this study is to ascertain how Hanoi University third-year English Department
students view particular difficulties.
1.2. Research questions
•What are the challenges in translating terminology among third-year students in the
English Department?
• What is the perception of third-year students about the solutions to problems in
translation terminology?
2. LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1. Translation and its process
The term “translation” can be defined as the act of rendering a written text into another
language which reflects the intention of the author in the original text (Newmark, 1988). In
accordance with Newmark (1988), Bui (1997) stated that translation is reworking the meaning
of a text into a different language in the way that preserves what the author intended the text.
To conclude, it is widely agreed that translation involves
According to Bui (1997), when it comes to the process of translation, there are two main
sections that are worth the attention, including the approaches to the texts and the unit of
translation.
There are two main approaches that are adopted by translators. The first method of
approach is that translators choose to translate sentence by sentence as they read the text and
edit the work after finishing the translation. Meanwhile, the other approach is that translators
read through the whole document several times to get the main ideas of the author before
starting to translate the text.
The unit of translation can vary based on what one is translating at once. The unit could
range from words or phrases to sentences, depending on the approaches the translators choose
to adopt.
2.2. Definitions of terminology

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 According to Oxford University Press (n.d.), “terminology ” refers to “the set of technical
words or expressions used in a particular subject”. As mentioned in Cíbiková and
Chromčíková’s (2022) study, terminology is a collection of specialized terms in specific fields
or subjects, compiled by specialists, linguistics, terminologists and translators. Likewise, Cao
(2007: 53) in a study focusing on the translation of terminology in legal documents agreed that
terminology is seen as a part of technical language which bears the most visible linguistic features
of any specialized fields such as legal profession (as cited in Prieto Ramos & Cerutti, 2021).
2.3. The importance of terminology in translation:
Terminology is a fragment of translation, which gives the resources for translators to
render the core values (original or closest meaning) of the concepts in a specialized field.
Terminology is not merely encapsulated in linguistics and intertwined with lexicology, and
encompasses a wide scope of fields and professions via the use of distinct terms. As Usmonov
and Usmonova (2020) suggested in their research on the significance of terminology for the
studies of specialized language, the terminology is either undoubtedly a linguistic practice or is
deemed to be regarded as a branch of socio-cognitive science.
Adopting terminology is not a course of action but a duty for a qualified translator. The
reason is that translation, the language-related profession, already incorporates the conveyance
of all insight across all fields and disciplines. In addition to frequently and widely repeated daily
items, there are unusual phenomena, technologies, procedures, and formulae drawn from
sources that only specialists fully comprehend. This has resulted in a wide spectrum of special
terms, which makes identifying and imparting knowledge about those features more
straightforward and concise.
A frequently inquired question is why it is not feasible to substitute specialist terminology
with words that have a purer and less scholastic connotation that a sizeable proportion of the
public recognizes. Modifying and replacing specialist terminology with standard words may
appear to be an efficient and effortless task, but oversimplifying such specific terms is hard to
accept when the formality aspect is considered. In the study of the importance of terminology
for translation studies (2015), Raluca mentioned the EU Resolution C 411, which demands
product documentation to be translated into the language of the market selling it. Words must
be converted as precisely as possible while adhering to all legal laws and conventions pertaining
to original language documents. As is evident in this case, substituting specialist phrases with
ordinary ones might result in significant changes in meaning, deficit of originality, and even
illegal circumstances. Most formal documents containing particular terminology allow for
minimal or no distortion.
Addressing terminology is a mission assigned to a competent translator. Advanced
terminology serves as the key to unlock in-depth information understanding. Terminology is
also a strategy for bringing novel, scholarly issues to the public's attention through frequent
appearances in research, scientific journals, and publicly accessible papers.
2.4. Challenges in terminology translation

398
 It is undeniable that terminology and translation has always been in a close relationship.
Terminology can help translators gain their awareness of many concepts that allow them to
identify terms and deal with equivalent rendering. However, owing to its features to be unique
and specialized, translators often struggle to cope with terminology in specific fields. It is a big
challenge for all translators. In practice, when venturing into this field, a translator must carry
out terminography searches or create terminological neologisms (Célestin, Godbout & Vachon-
L'Heureux 1984, Cabré 1992, Temmerman 2000).
According to Cabré (1999:216 - 217), the main terminological challenges are closely
related to how translators understand the term. Terminology has a respective meaning in
particular fields and context, therefore, it is difficult to specify the meaning of terminology or
confirm its specialized nature. Translators may sometimes feel confused about the conditions
in which they are used in texts and what the hidden message is to find a denominative
alternative. It is challenging and considered one of the most essential parts of translation of
terminology, because the accuracy of translators’ understanding of the context can determine
the quality of ultimate work.
Indicating the term and understanding it may seem simple and easy if considering the
appearance of the internet and dictionaries, but in fact, it can sometimes be difficult. In the study
of Theories of terminology: Their description, prescription and explanation (2003), Cabré
emphasized that terminological units have to be studied in the framework of specialized
communication characterized by some external conditions such as sender, recipient,
information treatments, conceptual structure, specific and contextualized treatment of the topic
and the function of this communication. Therefore, translators have to understand how words
acquire specialized meaning in context.
Terminological translation is concerned with understanding both the meaning and the
context of the terminology. Besides those two problems, Matamala (2009c) showed a list of
problems including finding an equivalent, dealing with possible variation, choosing the
appropriate terminology, overcoming the lack of a reasonable denomination, dealing with
confusion and deciding the most adequate equivalent. According to Matamala (2010),
sometimes, translators are not able to find an equivalent in the terminological sources and suffer
from a lack of time to undertake research or consult specialists. Another side of the problem is
denominative variation. In Frexia’s words (2006: 56), denominative variation can be defined as
the phenomenon in which one and the same concept has different denominations. In addition
to a formal variation such as variation between a term and a definition, translators have to deal
with variation among different denominations, namely lexicalized forms with a minimum
stability and consensus among the users of units in a specialized domain. The translators are
forced to make a decision, as to which one is the most suitable term. However, the translator
must not forget that they play a crucial role in implementing official results, so accepting or
rejecting any terms is a process with linguistic consequences, which means it can affect the
meaning of the whole text.
2.5. Solutions for challenges in terminology translation

399
 During the process of translation, translators may face many challenges, especially
terminology. As each sector has its own technical terms, translators are required to have a great
knowledge of terminology of each field. However, remembering and knowing every technical
term is nearly impossible. As a result, translators sometimes struggle with unfamiliar
terminology. This problem requires specific transfer strategies in order to be solved.
To find a suitable translation of terminology, according to the research of Hariyanto
(2019) there are many solutions to these problem including:
• Researching a bilingual document on the same subject
• Discussing the issue with seniors or coworkers
• Using an online glossary
• Using an online bilingual dictionary
• Using an online monolingual dictionary
• Searching for the equivalent on the internet
The first and most convenient method is to look up the dictionary. However, depending
on the complexity of the term and the purpose of the user, translators should choose a suitable
dictionary. When the translators simply want to understand the meaning of a term in his native
language, a bilingual dictionary is a good option. On the other hand, if the translators want to
know the translation of that term in target language and to find an expression that is familiar to
the native speaker, monolingual is a must. But with more complicated situations, when the
translator cannot find an equivalent in the dictionary, he can consider other options such as:
studying a document on the same subject, discussing with other people or using/ making a
glossary. Terminology choices might differ from department to department. This is quite likely
the most perplexing task of all. Internal papers, for example, may need to be translated using
language unique to each department, even if the core concept is the same. There may even be
situations when the text must be translated using different terminology for various divisions
within the same department.In this case, the best solution is to create separate translation
memories for each division and apply the appropriate terminology for each team. If the
terminology for each division is short, translators may simply construct division-specific
glossaries. Or, translators can read other documents that are in the same topic to find out the
best translation. This method may take some time but it is recommended because some
terminology cannot be found in the dictionary or on the internet as an independent and single-
meaning term, reading related documents will help translators to understand the meaning in
every specific context and apply it appropriately.
3. METHODOLOGY
3.1. Participants
Students involved in this survey were 36 third-year students whose major is translation
and interpreting methodology and they are EFL learners learning English as a second language.
3.2. Instrument

400
 Since a questionnaire can collect a lot of data at once, it was decided that this was the best
approach. As a consequence, this research created a Google Form, posted it to the HANU
students’ online classrooms, and asked our staff to fill it up. The questionnaire was divided into
three main components. All respondents were questioned about their challenges with
terminology translation in the first phase, which went from question 1 through question 6. After
finishing the terminology translation, all of the participants were questioned about their self-
evaluation in the third phase, and they were required to select one of many common general
attitudes and explain their decision. The option to discuss solutions to terminology translation
issues was provided in the second section, which addressed question 7 through question 11.
3.3. Procedure
Firstly, there are 13 questionnaires delivered as a pilot survey to 36 third-year students
who are studying at the English Department in Hanoi University with the help of social
networks. After receiving answers, all the data were collected and counted manually to analyze.
The most approved would be the keys to the research questions.
Next, the data collection was analyzed in the procedure. Respondents would put a tick to
let us know about the questions of whether they did make a list or not and their judgment in
terms of terminology translation’s challenges and solutions. Then, based on what they ticked,
the researchers employed the quantitative method to analyze the data to find out the results and
the efficiencies in students’ translation and interpreting terms.
4. FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION
4.1. General perception of 3rd year ED students majoring in Translation about
terminology in translation
4.1.1. Level of difficulty on terminology translation

Figure 1: Data on the complexity of terminology on a scale from 1 to 10.

The first set of data represents a preliminary assessment of survey participants' ability in
terminology translation. This question is addressed to emphasize that terminology translation

401
is not simple and clear and involves several issues and obstacles of its own. There are ten tiers
offered (on a scale from 1 to 10), resulting in ten alternatives for replies. Up to 11.1% of survey
respondents preferred the option for the highest number. This reveals that some individuals
perceive terminology translation as somewhat unfeasible without sufficient expertise and that
it is problematic because in some cases, a proper solution for the terminology cannot be
established. When evaluating the complexity of translating terminology, a large percentage of
those polled picked the 8-point scale, accounting for 36.1% of all ratings. Furthermore, 9 is the
result that ranks second in terms of the complexity of translating terminology (30.6%). Figures
equal to or less than 7 accounts for only a minor portion, contributing less than 8.5%. Based on
the surveyors' rankings, it is evident that terminology translation remains a tough challenge for
students of Hanoi University's English department in particular, as well as professionals in the
translation sector in general.
4.1.2. Perceived contextual relevance of terminology translation in terms of
meaning

Figure 2: The contextual relevance of terminology translation in terms of meaning.

The second pie chart summarizes data on the respondents' perceptions and abilities in
adapting terminology to the context of the text. The respondents were given three alternatives
from which to select. When asked if the terminology's meaning in the texts was suitable, 52.8%
of all those surveyed said yes. It is critical to translate accurately while working with this
material. It is undoubtedly difficult to render a terminology translation that has the correct
meaning for the context of the text. More than half of those polled are confident in their abilities
to produce contextual translations of terminology. However, the number of persons on the
neutral side accounted for 38.9% of the total. These individuals are attempting to enhance the
translation but are having trouble tackling the terminology. As a result, they remain objective
when expressing their view on the semantic accuracy of the terminology translation that they
provide. When questioned about the meaning of terminology in a specific context, only 8.3%

402
of poll respondents replied no. Although it is a tiny percentage, it illustrates the potential of
mistranslating terminology when translators do not thoroughly analyze the context in which the
term is used. This pie chart shows that the capacity to effectively translate terminology in
specific settings is not absolute and is merely at a 50:50 rate. It thus underlines the importance
of translation terminology and the significance of putting considerable effort into translating
terminology to provide the finest translation.
4.1.3. Frequency of making mistakes in terminology translation

Figure 3: The frequency of making mistakes in terminology translation.

When questioned about mistakes or indecision when delivering terminology translation,

a total of six choices were offered, with frequency ranging from always to never. Two
categories including “seldom” or “never” record no answer from respondents, implying that
almost all translators would make mistakes when attempting to translate terminology at least
once. Most surveyors grade “usually” for making errors and being hesitant to translate
terminology at 38.9%. The "often" group comes in second with 30.6% of total survey responses.
The chart's top two results indicate that terminology translation mistakes and uncertainty are
still quite common and frequent. Furthermore, these data imply terminology translation
problems, which contribute to mistakes in providing the proper translation for terminology.
27.8% of surveyed people responded “sometimes”, reflecting that these persons have a basic
understanding of the terminology but are not immune to making mistakes in translation
terminology. Furthermore, 2.8% of those polled believe that encountering mistakes when
translating terminology “always” happens to them. This figure of 2.8% demonstrates that
translating terminology is challenging and time-consuming, resulting in a tiny proportion of
individuals still making several errors. The findings of this question show that experiencing
problems when conducting terminology translations is a regular occurrence. It highlights the
significance of working on terminology translation in the most effective and relevant way
possible to provide the clearest expression to the target language reader.
4.1.4. Challenging academic fields in terminology translation

403
 When it comes to fields that translators have to cope with, there are hundreds of them.
However, in the scale of Hanoi University, students majoring in translation and interpretation
are introduced to typical fields including: health, economic, politics, science, and laws. Each
field has its own complexity and terminology so in the graph below, we have shown students’
perception of difficulty while translating these fields.

Figure 4: Academic challenges in terminology translation

As shown in graph, the difficulties that students face in each field are spread quite evenly.
To be specific, the economic and political fields are at the forefront of the chart with 22,2%
because students find these two fields are most difficult to translate terminology. Laws ranks
the second place with 19,4% and the two final fields are science and health with 16,7%. The
data do not differ too much, which shows that each field causes certain difficulties for students.
4.2. Problems with terminology translation of 3rd year ED students majoring
in Translation
4.2.1. Problems with terminology translation in terms of translation process

Strongly Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly

disagree agree

It is hard to identify the terminology 0 4 13 18 1

(0%) (11.1%) (36.1%) (50%) (2.8%)

It is hard to find the right equivalents 1 1 9 17 9

for the terms due to a variety of (2.8%) (2.8%) (25%) (44.4%) (25%)
fields, especially when there is
absence or failure to find

404
 It is difficult to understand the 0 0 12 20 4
terminological terms both in the SL (0%) (0%) (33.3%) (55.6%) (11.1%)
(source language) and the TL (target
language)

It is challenging to recall the 0 0 6 20 10

terminological terms immediately to (0%) (0%) (16.6%) (55.6%) (27.8%)
apply them in translation
Figure 5: The most difficult problems of translating terminologies

During the process of translation, translators may encounter a variety of problems caused
by terminologies. Like the result from the study of Cabré (1999:216 - 217), there are four main
problems related to finding and understanding the terms. The table above illustrates ED juniors’
perceptions of some of the most common and difficult problems arising when they come across
terminologies. It allows comparison so that we can see what is the most challenging issue when
it comes to terminology in translation. As for the first problem, identifying the terms, half of
the students in the survey (18 out of 36) agree that it is hard to specify terminology in the
document, while only 11,1% are confused about this issue and 4 people disagree with
it.Additionally, due to the significant characteristics in specific fields, there are some terms that
do not have a replacement in target language. In terms of this issue, a large number of students
agree (17 out of 36) and strongly agree (9 out of 36) with that, while there are only 2 juniors
who disagree and strongly disagree. The next problem, understanding the term in both SL and
TL, is approved by all participants. The majority agree that this is a challenging task when it
comes to terminology, with 20 out of 36 which accounts for 55,6% of the number of
participants. Moreover, 11,1% utterly agree with that notion. Nevertheless, there are still 12
students in the survey feeling uncertain about this problem.Another problem that receives no
disagreement is recalling the terminological terms as soon as they see them and need to use
them in translation. In this case, the number of students approving of the notion is still the same
as the previous one, at 55,6%. However, there are only 6 students who feel unsure and nearly a
third strongly agree that they found it hard to immediately recall the term as soon as they see it.
4.3. Solutions to problems with terminology translation of 3rd year ED students
majoring in Translation

405
 Figure 6: Solutions in terminology translation of ED juniors.

It is noticeable that on facing difficulties in translating terminology, the majority of the

participants, which made up 83.3% (30 individuals), responded that they have tried to take
measures with a view to enhance the quality of their translation for terminology. On the
contrary, there were 4 and 2 respondents who remained uncertain about their intention to work
towards an improvement and did not adopt any tactics at all, respectively. All in all, it can be
inferred from the data that the studied participants are highly aware of the urge to take action
so as to get better at translating terminology.
4.3.1. Solutions to problems with acquisition of terminology in translation

Strongly Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly

disagree agree

Consulting with teachers, seniors or 0 2 11 13 10

experts (0%) (5.5%) (30,5%) (36,1%) (27,9%)

Search the equivalents in 0 1 5 12 18

terminological databases, (0%) (2,7%) (13,9%) (33.4%) (50%)
specialized sites on the Internet and
dictionaries

Figure 7: Solutions to problems with the acquisition of terminology in translation

From the survey, it is obvious that the table demonstrates the two solutions to the
problems with acquisition of terminology in translation. As for the “consulting with teachers,
seniors or experts’” term, the form was received strongly with the number of students showing
the percentage at 36.1% as well as 13 respondents and even 27.9% of them strongly agreed with

406
the consultant with their teachers, seniors or experts. In contrast, there is 30.5% of total
participants being confused. Moreover, only 5.5% of ED juniors disagree with consulting with
teachers, seniors or experts. The second solution, finding the equivalents in terminological
databases, specialized sites on the Internet and dictionaries, surprisingly showed that 50% ED
juniors approved that they look out strange terminologies on the Internet or dictionaries. It still
has only 2.7% attending to find out their strange terminology without the help of the Internet
and dictionaries.
4.3.2. Solutions to problems with memorizing terminology in translation

Strongly Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly

disagree agree

Learning all the terminological 0 4 14 14 4

terms by heart. (0%) (11.1%) (38.9%) (38.9%) (11.1%)

Applying some memorization 0 0 5 23 8

strategies, for example: Spaced (0%) (0%) (13.9%) (63.9%) (22.2%)
Repetition, Active Recall, etc.
Figure 8: Solutions to problems with memorizing terminology in translation.

The table illustrates the perception of ED juniors on ways to overcome challenges in

memorizing the translation of terminology. As for the learn-by-heart strategy, the number of
students showing their uncertainty and agreement was equal to each other, with both standing
at 14 (38.9%) out of 36. On the contrary, a more distinguished bias was shown to other
memorization tactics such as Spaced Repetition and Active Recall, with which 63.9% of the
respondents expressed their agreement. In summary, on being offered two approaches for better
retrieving process for terminology in translation, which includes applying the traditional
method to learn by heart and adopting advantage strategies for memory improvement, the
students are more likely to show a preference to the methods with specific learning stages and
tactics, namely Spaced Repetition and Active Recall
4.4. Perception of 3rd year ED students majoring in Translation about the
quality of their terminology translation
4.4.1. Self-reflection on the quality of terminology translation
Upon being asked about the level of satisfaction for terminology translation, most of the
students stayed neutral with the figure standing at 58.3% (21 participants). There were far more
responses showing their dissatisfaction (either being unsatisfied or very unsatisfied) towards
their translated terminology than those expressing their satisfaction, which are 11 in total and
4, consecutively. To conclude, though the respondents were familiar with some certain tactics
to confront problems related to terminology translation, they have not been able to apply the
methods effectively.
4.4.2. Perception about reasons for the possible dissatisfaction

407
 Strongly Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly
disagree agree

From a subjective view of the 0 1 9 24 2

translators, there still exists a lack of (0%) (2.8%) (25.0%) (66.7%) (5.5%)
certainty whether it is right or not.

The equivalent of terminological 0 1 17 14 4

phrases in the target are not highly (0%) (2.8%) (47.2%) (38.9%) (11.1%)
evaluated by teachers.
Figure 9: Perception of 3rd year ED student majoring in Translation about
reasons for the dissatisfaction towards translated terminology.

On the one hand, from a subjective point of view, more than half of the students (66.7%)
agreed that they referred their disappointment to their translation as the state of being uncertain
towards their products. Besides, there were fewer respondents (38.9%) who showed their
approval for the idea that they were unsatisfied with their translation because of poor evaluation
from teachers. In contrast, more students, who made up 47.2% remained neutral towards this
reasoning. Thus, the studied participants tend to explain their lack of satisfaction in their
translation of terminology based on their limited ability, rather than external discouragement
such as teachers’ comments.
5. CONCLUSION & RECOMMENDATIONS
5.1. Conclusion
In summary, after conducting research and analyzing data, we came to four conclusions.
Firstly, a majority of the interviewed ED juniors at Hanu English Department find that
translating terminology is quite difficult. Secondly, they also perceive the reasons for its
difficulties (including finding, usage, and memorization). Moreover, despite the fact that most
of the interviewees have difficulties in controlling their translation studies (especially
terminological rendering), they have perception towards the solutions to overcome their
troubles. However, in general, the level of satisfaction among the translating methodology of
the EFL’s learners still has limitations.
5.2. Recommendations
Due to the small scale of the research which only consisted of 36 participants and the
lack of experience of the researchers, mistakes and limitations are inevitable. Nevertheless, the
collected data might be useful in investigating HANU English Department juniors’ studies. To
find out the best solutions in terms of terminology translation, it is strongly recommended that
more research in this field be conducted. Furthermore, if there is any research on the topic, they
should concentrate on how the EFL learners practice their translation studies and their effective
solutions in memorizing terminologies.

408
 REFERENCES

Bui, T. B., Tran, T. L., Nguyen, M. H., Hoang, V. H., Nguyen, V. T., Dang, X. T. &
Pham, N. T. (Ed.) (1997). Interpreting and translation coursebook. Ha Noi: Education
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 APPENDIX
QUESTIONNAIRES
Dear respondents, we are a group of 5 students from the English Department at Hanoi
University. This survey is conducted as a part of our survey about the third-year students’
perception about the challenges in terminology translating and the responding solutions.
Please spend a few minutes answering the following questions. All your answers will be used
to serve the survey and will be kept confidential. Thank you for your kind cooperation!

I. Problems when translating terminology

1. Please rate the level of difficulty on terminology translation on a scale of 1 to 10.
2. When using terminology in translation, do you think that its meaning is suitable for the context
of translation speech?
• Yes
• No
3. Have you ever made mistakes in translating or have you ever been in a dilemma while rendering
a translation for terminologies before?
• Always
• Usually
• Often
• Sometimes
• Seldom
• Never
4. What kinds of difficulties do you have when remembering terminologies?
• It is strange and difficult to pronounce, which is for better
memorization
• It is quite difficult to remember
• It has various meanings in different contexts
• It is rarely used in reality
5. In which specific types of fields do you come across difficulties?
• Health
• Economic
• Politics
• Science
• Finance
• Laws
• (others)
6. Which kinds of problems below do you think are the most difficult to translate terminologies?
(SA -> DA)
• It is hard to identify the terminology
• It is difficult to understand the terminological terms both in the
source language and the target language
• It is hard to find the right equivalence for the terms due to a
variety of fields, especially when there is absence or failure to
find an adequate equivalent

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 • It is challenging to recall the terminological terms immediately
to apply them in translation
II. Solutions for problems with terminology translation
7. Have you ever made any efforts to improve the quality of your terminology translation?
• Yes
• No
8. How do you deal with the difficulties in understanding the terminological phrases and finding
the right equivalents? (SA-> DA)

Strongly Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly

disagree agree

Consulting with teachers, seniors or

experts.

Searching the equivalent in

technological databases, specialized
sites on the Internet and dictionaries.

9. Do you trust online available translation tools (Google translate, Microsoft Bing translator,
Yandex translate,...) in the accuracy of the translation?
• Yes
• No
10. On translating a new and rare terminology to the vast majority of people, which one of these
solutions do you think is the more practical?
• Suggesting a common equivalence for the terminology.
• Retaining the original meaning of the terminology (even though it is obscure).
11. On having troubles with memorizing the difficult terminology, which solutions do you prefer as a
way to enhance memory span? (SA->DA)

Strongly Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly

disagree agree

Learning all the terminological terms

by heart.

Applying some memorization

strategies, for example, Spaced
Repetition, Active Recall, etc.

III. Self-assessment after doing the terminology translation

12. How do you feel about your terminology translation?
• Very satisfied
• Satisfied

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 • Neutral
• Unsatisfied
• Very unsatisfied
13. If you are not satisfied with your terminology translation, what are the reasons? (SA -> DA)

Strongly Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly

disagree agree

From a subjective view of the

translators, there still exists a lack of
certainty whether it is right or not

The equivalent of terminological

phrases in the target are not highly
evaluated by teachers.

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