The article explores the influence of the mother tongue (Vietnamese) on practicing to develop first-year students’ English writing skills at Thu Dau Mot University. Analytical data was collected from 100 first-year students majoring in English Language at the Faculty of Foreign Languages - Thu Dau Mot University. Research results show that students are still greatly influenced by Vietnamese (first language) in the process of practicing English writing skills. Among the students surveyed, up to 58.4% said they were still influenced by the way of thinking in Vietnamese, and then switched to English to follow the writing style of Vietnamese. … The remaining % said they had practiced writing in English through many writing activities at English centers and had practiced writing through thinking in English. The rest of the article proposes some solutions to help students overcome the above barriers to develop effective writing skills.

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.

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