In the accelerating pace of globalization and internationalization of trade, professionals from a wide range of organizations believed that English as an international language, which is a way of thinking, researching and practicing, was used in almost all areas of life, study, and work. That’s why the study's foremost objectives were to comprehend reading learning strategies used by English-majored students at Thu Dau Mot University. A quantitative method was used to conduct the research with a questionnaire divided into four parts. The subjects of this study are 100 English majors from the Faculty of Foreign Languages at Thu Dau Mot University. According to the results, the majority of students agree with the difficulties faced when learning English reading. Likewise, students also subscribe that they also use some reading learning strategies such as extensive reading strategy, the phonics strategy, the whole language strategy, reading comprehension strategy and vocabulary building strategy. Moreover, some solutions, such as the function of the word in the sentence, the main gist, guessing the unfamiliar word and reading aloud are recommended to them to read more effectively and improve their reading ability. Ultimately, some recommendations are made in the hope of helping both teachers and students. Keywords: challenges, English reading, reading learning strategies, Thu Dau Mot University

This study only deals with the range of functions of speech acts that the English language may serve all with a view to raise teachers’ and students’ awareness of the roles that the communicative intentions, the utterance functions and the interactive context play in the acquisition of language in general and in develoing students’ communicative competence in particular. With the aims beforehand, the study tries to analyse and present speech acts and implications for teaching and learning these aspects effectively. With reference to speech acts and their linguistic functions in the English language, this study can serve as a reference material for those who are interested in carrying out more research in this field.

The study is aimed at examining the impacts of the reading environment on ELF learners’ reading comprehension. To achieve this objective, the study was conducted at Thu Dau Mot University (TDMU) with the participation of 129 English majors and 19 teachers of English, who returned questionnaires and were interviewed on a voluntary basis. The findings show that EFL learners’ reading comprehension is significantly influenced by the reading environment. If they read in the unorganized or uncontrolled environments where the atmosphere is noisy or they find it comfortable, e.g., at home, in bed room, or on public transports, they will have problems about comprehension. Therefore, the role of teachers is to let EFL learners read in the organized or controlled environments. In addition, more quiet reading spaces should be built for EFL learners because they can have high comprehension when reading in such places. Key words: reading comprehension; reading environment.

The patriotic activities of teachers, students, and pupils in the temporarily occupied regions of Long An – Kien Tuong were a particularly important part of the open political struggle on enemy territory during the resistance against the United States. Immediately after the 1954 Geneva Agreement, many schools in Long An – Kien Tuong established revolutionary bases. Some teachers mobilized colleagues, students, and the public to fight against anti-communist activities, forced conscription, and to demand civil rights and democracy. In subsequent years, Long An – Kien Tuong became the site of numerous diverse and creative struggles (rallies, demonstrations, leafleting, journalism, cultural activities...), attracting the participation of many educators and students. Some teachers and students actively participated in armed and covert operations, displaying many heroic acts of combat and sacrifice. Alongside activities in liberated areas, the struggle of teachers and students in the temporarily occupied regions of Long An – Kien Tuong contributed distinctive values, enhancing the illustrious history and tradition of Long An province's education sector today.

This study which entitles “Learners’ Attitudes towards the Project Works in promoting English learner autonomy: a Case Study at Foreign Trade University-Ho Chi Minh Campus” was conducted with the following objectives: (1) to investigate students’ attitudes towards the use of project works to enhance their autonomous learning in an English speaking class; (2) to find out to what extent students believe that using project works can promote their autonomous learning; and (3) to figure out difficulties that learners have during the time they conduct Video making project. The study population was 73 second-year students who took the course English listening and speaking 2. An open-ended questionnaire and semi-structured interview were employed as research instruments for data collection. The result firstly shows that the students have positive attitudes towards the use of project works in English class that may have enhanced their autonomous learning. Then, it reveals students’ preference in having more project works to do in their English classes. Nonetheless, using project works’ evaluation as one of criteria for course assessment is a controversial issue among these students. In addition, students’ interest in utilizing information technology devices is remarked as one of the significant findings in this study. Furthermore, some difficulties when conducting projects are found including time constraints, teamwork conflicts, cultural differences and technology problems. In short, because of students’ positive attitudes toward Video making project in enhancing their autonomous learning, it is suggested that teachers should consider applying the project in their language teaching.

This article presents the results of a study on the current application of Project-based learning (PBL) in the teaching of English productive skills to students at the Foreign Trade University - Ho Chi Minh City Campus and how students can improve them. The research also provides insights into the expectations of students and entrepreneurs on that matter. The research group used the 5-point Likert scale in a questionnaire to collect data from students and interviewed FTU - HCMC’s English teachers and entrepreneurs to give further suggestions. Wilcoxon signed-rank test was used to analyze whether or not there is a significant difference in students’ English productive skills before and after using PBL in English language learning. This study found a significant difference in speaking skills of FTU - HCMC students before and after participating in PBL activities. The students improved their comprehension, range and the ability to deliver their ideas to the target reader for writing skills. However, no difference was found in their content, cohesion, and accuracy. Interviewed teachers and entrepreneurs supported the implementation of PBL in schools. Overall, PBL is encouraged in the settings of higher education institutions.

The present paper was to discuss how the use of the progressive forms with stative verbs has changed in present-day English and discuss what the teachers should do to deal with this issue in English grammar teaching. The discussion of the paper was based on theoretical framework of progressive aspect and stative verbs. Data collected from three corpus-informed grammar textbooks show that there has been being a change in grammatical usage, specifically in the use of the progressive form with stative verbs. In particular, traditional views support the limitation of the use of the progressive form with stative verbs, while present-day English ones prove that many stative verbs can be used in progressive form. Through the discussion, the writer of the present paper finally suggested two pedagogical implications for teaching English progressive aspect.

ABSTRACT With the ever-increasing development of technology, online teaching is more readily accepted as a viable component in teaching and learning, and blended learning, the combining of online and face-to-face learning, is becoming commonplace in many higher education institutions. Definitely, challenges cannot be denied; however, it has been suggested and deployed globally including Vietnam. To some extent, both teachers and students present their positive points of view on this learning approach. However, there are a huge number of students expressing their lack of understanding the blended learning, which negatively affects their attitudes towards deployment of this learning approach as well as particular reference to motivation and interest. This paper is to assess the English majors’ perceptions on blended learning environment at tertiary level, which especially affects their learning the writing skills. Results of the study are absolutely helpful for the author to understand the students’ perceptions of the effects on the blended learning; then, she can give some suggestions to enhance the learning of writing skills in the light of blended learning. Key word: Blended learning, academic writing, perception

This paper analyzes the interpersonal metafunction in text messages of teachers of English at Viet Anh School. The paper uses Systemic Functional Grammar as the theoretical framework which aims to investigate into a language from a qualitative approach. The aim of this paper is to discover how interpersonal metafunction is being served in text messages of teachers of English in terms of mood, speech function, modality and personal pronouns. The analysis indicates that the English teachers often use text messages for providing more information and demanding services by the dominant use of declaratives clauses in their interaction. These English teachers also perform their plans or desires about their future intention through the frequent use of modality such as ‘will’, ‘can’ or ‘could’. Through the analysis of personal pronouns, it can be clear that the English teachers tend to interact with each other by sharing their points of view rather than mentioning about other things or persons. Their social relation is shorten through the popular use of pronouns ‘I’, ‘we’ and ‘you’. Thus, it can be concluded that the social relationship among the English teachers is established and maintained through the use of interpersonal metafunction.

English is one of the keys to successful globalization; therefore, every country develops own English teaching policy. Teaching English in Asia is a very common issue ruled and supported by the government. This article is a contrastive study on different English policies in such Southeast and East Asian countries as China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, South Korea, Taiwan, and Vietnam. The contrastive analysis focused on such aspects as school year of implementing English as required subject, teaching hours of English, teacher’s training, use of local and foreign teachers, teaching methods and materials, funding, etc. The contrastive study among countries mentioned above evaluated the advantages and disadvantages of certain English teaching policies. The positive results of one country can be borrowed and adapted by another country considering its cultural, political, economic or social features. On the other hand, the failures of one country’s English teaching policy can be considered and avoided by another country’s planning on English teaching policy.

An effective teacher plays a crucial role in the process of learning English as a foreign language (EFL) when students’ opportunities to English exposure outside the classroom are limited. The aim of this study was to examine professional characteristics that an effective EFL teacher should have as perceived by Taiwanese university students. A four-section questionnaire was used as a data collection instrument, and the study sample included responses from 68 senior students majoring in EFL. The results show that the three most significant characteristics of an effective teacher of English in the eyes of Taiwanese university students are not related specifically to the teacher’s knowledge of the subject or English proficiency level. Those characteristics can be attributed to any teacher, and they include providing clear grading guidelines, giving clear explanations, and preparing each lesson well. The findings may contribute valid information on college students’ expectations of EFL teachers in the Asian educational context and help make the language learning process more effective.

Industrial Revolution 4.0 has become an indispensable trend in the development process of Vietnam and is increasingly applied in university education. The essence of the Industrial Revolution 4.0 is the application of technology, data science and the use of artificial intelligence for production and human life. In this impact, modern education, especially higher education, is the field most affected. Online teaching, with tools to support the teaching of the digital age, has been changing dramatically in the teaching and learning situation in universities, helping to modernize education and integrate with the world, but there are many issues that teachers and managers must consider to change teaching methods and training strategies, in order to deliver the best results. Starting from the actual situation, we propose specific and comprehensive measures to improve the teaching efficiency of Thu Dau Mot University and, to meet the needs of Vietnamese society and the development of Industrial Revolution 4.0.

This study investigated grammatical difficulties encountered by students of the People’s Police University while learning grammar in ESP courses. The design included questionnaires to teachers and students, and classroom participant observations. The findings indicated that the student respondents only perceived four target features to be difficult to learn. The results also showed that the students’ perceptions of grammatical difficulty were influenced by several factors including the inherent complexity of rules, L1 transfer, students’ differences in language aptitude, students’ infrequency of practice, and teaching methodology. The findings will hopefully be useful for teachers and researchers with an interest in this line of research.