INVESTIGATING EFL TEACHERS’ PERCEPTIONS OF IMPLEMENTING ACTIVE LEARNING TECHNIQUES IN TEACHING SPEAKING

Active learning (AL) is widely implemented in Asia including Vietnam. However, to date, research on this method seems to be scarce, particularly in the context of Vietnam. This study aims to investigate teachers' perceptions of AL and its principles in teaching English speaking. In addition, the study also explores teachers’ attitudes about AL implementation and their concerns about applying this method to their teaching context. Ten teachers of English teaching at a university in the Mekong Delta, South of Vietnam participated in the study. A semi-structured interview activity was employed to collect data. The results showed that the teachers generally had a high level of understanding of AL teaching principles and showed positive attitudes toward the implementation of it. The results also revealed teachers’ concerns about implementing AL. In particular, three problems of large class size, students’ mixed language proficiency and time limitation were addressed. Accordingly, possible suggestions for a better implementation of AL in teaching English speaking in Vietnam and similar contexts elsewhere will be provided.  Article visualizations

Impacts of Payment for Forest Ecosystem Services on Local livelihoods in A Luoi District, Thua Thien Hue Province, Viet Nam

This paper analyses the impacts of the national Payment for Forest Environmental Services (PFES) policy in A Luoi district, Thua Thien Hue province, Viet Nam. There are mixed impacts of PFES in A Luoi district. While some surveyed households have experienced increases in income since PFES, for many other incomes have fallen. Our findings show PFES impacts on local communities and individuals are limited because most forest areas are managed by state agencies, leaving only 17.9% of PFES payments being channeled to these groups, while the rest goes to state government agencies and commune people’s committees. This disparity in PFES payments has further widened the income gap between state agencies and local households.  PFES payments currently contribute little to household incomes, averaging only 2.64% of total earnings. PFES has little impact and additionality in advancing land tenure security and reducing natural forest product exploitation for generating income as impacts are similar to those found in non-PFES villages. PFES poverty reduction impacts vary from village to village, but in general, percentages of poor households receiving PFES payments range from 1% to 59%

VOLATILITY IN THE CRUDE OIL AND NATURAL GAS MARKETS

This dissertation consists of three essays which explore the determinants and properties of actual and implied volatilities in the crude oil and natural gas markets. The first two essays examine the causes and behavior of price volatility in the US crude oil and natural gas markets. I theorize and find that (1) the crude oil and natural gas markets are characterized by volatility persistence, (2) in the crude oil market, a negative shock has more impact on future volatility than an equal positive shock whereas in the natural gas market, predicted volatility increases more following a positive shock than an equal negative shock (3) crude oil volatility is lower at higher prices, (4) there is a day-of-the-week pattern in both markets, (5) OPEC meeting announcements and the Petroleum Status Report releases cause increased volatility in the crude oil market, (6) surprises in the change in natural gas in storage cause increased volatility in the natural gas market, (7) natural gas volatility tends to be higher during and immediately after bid week, (8) there is a month-of-the-year pattern in natural gas volatility, (9) natural gas volatility tends to be higher on winter days when the temperature is lower than normal, and (10) the conditional covariance and correlation between crude oil prices and the value of the dollar vary over time. In these two essays, I develop and employ an improved procedure for testing and quantifying the hypothesized volatility determinants within a GARCH type model.The third essay examines the structure, characteristics, and determinants of implied volatilities (IVs) calculated from crude oil and natural gas options from September 1999 to June 2006. In several ways, the behavior of IVs in these markets is opposite to that observed in most financial options markets. Crude oil and natural gas IVs tend to increase as the options approach expiration. There is a positive "skew" pattern in natural gas IVs and long-term crude oil IVs in which IVs tend to be lowest at low strike prices and increase monotonically with strike prices. There is a time-of-the-year pattern in that natural gas IVs tend to be higher for options expiring in winter and crude oil IVs tend to be lower for options expiring in summer. Oil and gas IVs tend to decrease from Friday close to Monday close. After May 2002, natural gas IVs tend to decrease following the release of the Natural Gas Storage Report. A negative futures return has more impact on crude oil IV than an equal positive return while a positive futures return has more impact on natural gas IV than an equal negative return. IV is a fairly efficient forecast of future volatility in these markets but its forecasting power differs across terms-to-maturity and strike prices

FRESHMAN EFL LEARNERS’ ANXIETY IN SPEAKING CLASSES AND COPING STRATEGIES

This study aims to investigate what speaking anxiety freshman EFL learners encountered in their classes and what strategies they used to reduce their anxiety. A mixed methods approach was employed to collect the data, including a questionnaire following the quantitative method and individual semi-structured interviews following the qualitative method. The participants were 185 freshman EFL learners at several universities in the Mekong Delta. The combination of the Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale developed by Horwitz, Horwitz & Cope (1986) and the theories about three kinds of anxiety proposed by Ellis (1994) was adapted to measure freshman EFL learners’ kinds of speaking anxiety in classes. Additionally, the five categories of coping strategies in Kondo and Ling (2004) were adapted to measure the participants’ coping strategies for reducing their speaking anxiety. The results of the study showed that the participants encountered all three kinds of speaking anxiety including trait anxiety, specific-situation anxiety, and state anxiety in classes. Furthermore, the study also indicated five kinds of strategies utilized by the participants to reduce their anxiety in speaking class namely preparation strategies, relaxation strategies, positive thinking strategies, peer-seeking strategies, and resignation strategies. From the results, it was also indicated that preparation strategies were used more frequently than the other strategies by the participants in speaking classes.  Article visualizations

Internationalization Process of Siemens AG_ The case study of Siemens in Vietnam

Siemens (or Siemens AG) is one of the world largest MNCs with its core business in high technology and its representation in more than 200 countries/regions in all over the global and approximately 85% of its revenue comes from outside Germany (Siemens AG, 2016). Siemens transnational activities started very soon in 1850, only two years after its establishment in 1847, by starting its representative in London. Recently, South East Asia is the region with the highest growth rate and Vietnam which considered as a typical of emerging markets play an important role in this growth. Siemens’s first presence in Vietnam was in 1979 when it installed two steam turbines for a paper company. In 1993, Siemens Vietnam was officially established and since then, the company successfully implemented many key infrastructure projects and has steadily increased its market presence in the country (Siemens Vietnam, 2014). Combining this information background of the company and the major internationalization problems rose above, this dissertation examines two main research questions in order to describe the internationalization process and strategy of Siemens in Vietnam: • Which entry mode was selected when Siemens entering Asian market, especially Vietnam • How they manage and control its operation in Vietnam and fit into its overall corporate strategy

The Visible Light Activity of the TiO2 and TiO2:V4+ Photocatalyst

TiO2 and vanadium‐doped TiO2 nanoparticles were synthesized by using the hydrothermal method. The V doping contents are 0.0; 0.1; 0.3; 0.5; 0.7 and 0.9% molar. The vanadium‐doped TiO2 nanoparticles have identical anatase phase with an average crystal size of 10‐20nm. The oleic acid and ethanol solvents with different molar concentrations can make spherical nanograins, or stick form grains, which influence the photo activity of the materials. The absorption spectra of doped samples exhibited long-tailed absorption in the visible light region above 380nm. The visible light photocatalytic activity was evaluated by the degradation of phenol aqueous solutions; after 360 min. under the visible irradiation, the normalized concentration of phenol decreased to 9%

The economic impact of CPTPP on Vietnam’s fisheries exports to CPTPP region

The study evaluates the overall situation of Vietnam’s fisheries exports and uses the Global Simulation Analysis of Industry-Level Trade Policy model (the GSIM model) to predict the impact of the CPTPP agreement on Vietnam’s fisheries exports to the CPTPP members. It is forecasted that the CPTPP has positive effects on Vietnam’s fisheries exports. One of those is that it is promising for Vietnamese producers/exporters to access Mexico, which is a large market in the southern portion of North America. In addition, Vietnam has the advantage to continue increasing export earnings to the Japanese market after the CPTPP takes effect. By sub-sector, all sub-sectors have a positive impact on consumers/importers as well as producers/exporters. In terms of export value, all sub-sectors have increased export value, especially the Crustaceans, molluscs and other aquatic invertebrates, prepared or preserved (HS1605) export to Japan and the fish fillets and other fish meat (whether or not minced), fresh, chilled or frozen (HS0304) has significant export rise to Mexico. Nevertheless, the reduction of import tax revenues reduces the welfare of the fisheries sector

Solar Home Systems in Ho Chi Minh City: A promising technology whose time has not yet come

This study examines the constraints to the uptake of Solar Home Systems (SHS) in Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC), Vietnam. SHS are photovoltaic systems which generate electricity for residential properties. The limited numbers of SHS installed in HCMC are mostly on‐grid systems with backup batteries to supply electricity during evenings and/or power cuts. Semi‐structured interviews with SHS installers, manufacturers and users, plus government agencies and technical experts identify policy constraints and the cost of systems as major constraints. Cost‐benefit analysis is then used to estimate the payback period for three representative SHS. Raising residential electricity prices and introducing net metering or a feed‐in tariff could dramatically shorten the payback periods for SHS. In the next five years, these and other expected changes to the electricity market will make SHS more finally attractive than at present. SHS also have the potential to generate supplement electricity during peak times, thereby diversifying and greening the energy mix. SHS therefore represent a promising technology for HCMC in the future