MOTIVATION AND MATHEMATICS ACHIEVEMENT: A VIETNAMESE CASE STUDY

Motivation is key to engaging students in studying mathematics and in improving their mathematics achievement. Although the related literature has explored the correlation between motivation and mathematics achievement, a research gap remains in terms of the empirical testing of these variables in the context of mathematics education in Vietnam. Thus, the current study aims to fill this gap by empirically testing the correlation between mathematics motivation and mathematics achievement among high school graduate students in Vietnam, using a quantitative approach to test hypotheses. The study adopted the Academic Motivation Toward Mathematics Scale for collecting data from students and received 680 responses. The main study findings are that amotivation negatively correlates with mathematics achievement, whereas introjected regulation, identified regulation and intrinsic motivation positively correlate with mathematics achievement. These findings provide a strong theoretical foundation for improving mathematics achievement by encouraging teachers to improve motivational conditions in mathematics classes in Vietnam

Studying the Current Situation and Establishing a Map of Flash Flood Risk Zoning in Lai Chau Province, Vietnam

Lai Chau is a mountainous province in the North of Vietnam that frequently experiences flash floods. Flash floods in Lai Chau province were formed by the combined effects of many factors such as topographical characteristics, current land use, soil type, vegetation cover combined with river density and rainfall. In this study, the author analyzed the current state of flash floods, assessed the factors that caused flash floods and established a map of flash flood zoning in Lai Chau province. The flash flood risk area map is built on the basis of GIS spatial analysis, combining hierarchical analysis (AHP) and multi-criteria analysis method (MCA). Data collected for the study is mainly from Sentinel 2 images, statistical data and actual investigation. Research results show that the area with high and very high potential for flash floods accounts for 22.03% of the natural area, and the area with medium risk accounts for 44.42%. Areas with low and very low levels account for 33.55% of the area in Lai Chau province of Vietnam

INVESTIGATING THE IMPACT OF PEER FFEDBACK AND TEACHER FEEDBACK USING GOOGLE DOCS ON EFL STUDENTS’ WRITING PERFORMANCE

Online written corrective feedback via Google Docs, in recent years, has been used and brought about positive outcomes in different teaching contexts. In this light, this study was conducted to examine the different effects between teacher feedback using Google Docs and the combined peer feedback and teacher feedback using Google Docs on EFL high school students’ performance in writing paragraphs. The study also attempted to gain insights into students’ attitudes towards the effect of peer feedback and teacher feedback using Google Docs on their paragraph writing. In this study, a mixed research method was employed; both quantitative and qualitative data were collected. Twenty two grade 11 students in a high school in the Mekong Delta of Vietnam were selected as participants. They were assigned to two groups of treatment: the experimental group, receiving both peer feedback and teacher feedback using Google Docs and the control group who only received teacher feedback using Google Docs. Participants completed two writing tasks; each of them included first draft, second draft and final draft. Prior to the study, students from the experimental group received a face-to-face training on giving peer feedback. Data were collected from six drafts of two writing tasks, three drafts for one task, and interviews at the end of the study. Results indicated that participants who received teacher feedback in the control group performed their paragraph writing better than those receiving both peer feedback and teacher feedback using Google Docs in the experimental group after the study. Also, participants in both groups improved their writing performance in their revised drafts. From the interviews, results showed participants’ positive attitudes towards the impact of peer feedback and teacher feedback using Google Docs on their paragraph writing.   Article visualizations

Assessment of impacts of utilization on water resources in the basin of trans-boundary Red river system

The Red river system is the large trans-boundary river system, there has been no united system of hydrology stations as well as integrated plan for the water use and management in the whole basin. The trend of water resources change in the Red river system basin has been assessed on the basic of statistic analyses of data observed during the studies, especially in the time when the exploitation of water resources has been intensified for the multisectoral development. This paper shows some of the results from considerations of the water use in the highlands that is influential in water resources in the Red river system basin and the planned reservoirs which are built in the basin of Red river system. The results include the assessment of the state and trend of water resources in the Red river system basin, the trend of water level lowering in the lowlands and its impacts

HIGH ARSENIC CONCENTRATION IN GROUNDWATER RELATED TO SEDIMENTARY FACIES IN THE MEKONG RIVER DELTA, VIETNAM

Arsenic (As) contamination in groundwater has been recognized in the Mekong River Delta (MRD) since 2001, especially in Dong Thap and An Giang provinces. The investigations were carried out during 2008-2009 and from 2012 to present. The investigations of As distribution in groundwater and sediments were based upon the field, and laboratory analyses using field kit (Hironaka, 1998) and AOAC laboratory - Vietnamese standard 6626-2000 (Vilas). Results show that the As concentrations ranging from 15 to 1,650 µg/l is found in 520 private tubewells at depth between 15 and 90 m, while being rare or very low at depth between 200 and 300 m. High As content is usually found in 15-70m tubewells in which approximately 70 - 80% of tubewells having arsenic levels of 500µg/l are located at some areas in Dong Thap and An Giang provinces in the upper MRD plain. Bore core drilling records show a probable relationship between As concentration in groundwater and sedimentary facies in the MRD. The highest As content is found along the Mekong River valleys in the Late Pleistocene and Holocene aquifers. References Ahmed, K.M., et al., 2004. Arsenic enrichment in groundwater of the alluvial aquifers in Bangladesh: an overview, Applied Geochemistry, 19(2), 181-200. Nguyen. V.L., Ta. T.K.O., Tateishi. M., 2000. Late Holocene depositional environments and coastal evolution of the Mekong River Delta, Southern Vietnam. Journal of Asian Earth Sciences. 18(4), 427-439. Nguyen. V.L., Ta. T.K.O., and Nguyen. V.D., 2006. Some results from study on arsenic contamination in groundwater in the Mekong River Delta and solutions to prevent. VAST Workshop on Science and Technology in relation of practice. Ho Chi Minh City. 6 pp. (in Vietnamese with English abstract). Nguyen, V.L., Ta. T.K.O., and Nguyen. V.D., 2008: Groundwater arsenic contamination in the Mekong River Delta - its effect on environment and public health. Proceedings of Research on Science and Technology, HCMC Institute of Resources Geology, 47-53 (in Vietnamese with English abstract). Nguyen. V.L., Ta. T.K.O. and Nguyen. V.D., 2009: Recent situation of arsenic contamination in groundwater in Dong Thap Province, Mekong River Delta, Southern Vietnam. Technical report. 98 pp (in Vietnamese). Nguyen Van Lap, Ta Thi Kim Oanh, Saito, Y., 2010: Early Holocene initiation of the Mekong River Delta, Vietnam, and the response to Holocene sea-level changes detected from DT1 core analyses. Sedimentary Geology, 230, 146- 155. Polizzotto, M.L., Kocar B.D., Benner, S.G., Sampson, M. and Fendorf, S., 2008: Near-surface wetland sediments as a source of arsenic release to ground water in Asia. Nature  454, 505-508. Ta, T.K.O., Nguyen, V.L., Tateishi, M., Iwao, K., Saito, Y., 2002: Holocene delta evolution and sediment discharge of the Mekong River, southern Vietnam. Quaternary Science Reviews, 21, 1807-1819. Ta. T.K.O., Nguyen. V.L., Tateishi. M., Kobayashi. I., Saito. Y., 2005: Holocene delta evolution and depositional models of the Mekong River Delta, southern Vietnam. In L. Giosan and J.P. Bhattacharya. eds., River Deltas-Concepts, Models and Examples. SEPM special publication. 83. 453-466. Tamura T., Saito Y., Sieng, S., Ben, B., Kong, M., Choup, S., Tsukawaki, S., 2009. Initiation of the Mekong River delta at 8 ka: evidence from the sedimentary succession in the Cambodian lowlands. Quaternary Science Reviews 28, 327-344. Research Group for Applied Geology, 1999: Arsenic contamination of groundwater in Bangladesh, Tech. Rep., 90

Behavioral Improvements and its Molecular Mechanism of Ilex kudingcha C.J. Tseng on Animal Model of Alzheimer’s Disease

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a common chronic neurodegenerative disease with well-defined pathophysiological mechanisms. Ilex kudingcha (IK) C.J. Tseng is commonly known as bitter tea or “Khom” tea in Vietnam. The present study was conducted to investigate the anti-dementia effect of IK using olfactory bulbectomized (OBX) mice. OBX mice were daily treated with IK extract (540 mg/kg) or reference drug, tacrine (2.5 mg/kg) 1 week before and continuously for 3 days after the OBX surgery. The object recognition test, modified Y maze test and fear conditioning test were employed to analyze non-spatial short-term, spatial short-term and long-term memories of the mice respectively. Administration of IK extract and tacrine attenuated these OBX-induced cognitive deficits in mice. The effects of IK and tacrine on spatial short-term memory impairment were reversed by scopolamine, a muscarinic receptor antagonist. The amyloid-beta (Aβ) production in adult transgenic Drosophila brain flies was also investigated by using Western blotting with APP-HA antibody. These results indicated that IK extract improves short-term and long-term memory disturbances in OBX mice and that muscarinic receptor may play a role on these actions. In addition, our result also showed that IK extract reduces the expression of amyloid precursor protein (APP) in brain of AD model using Drosophila melanogaster

An insight into non-English major learners’ task engagement from a sociocultural perspective

Under the lens of a sociocultural view, this qualitative study was conducted with 83 non-English major learners at a university in the Mekong Delta to examine English learners’ task engagement. Twelve of them were further invited to be interviewed. Data were collected from class observations, learning journals, semi-structured interviews and stimulated recall. The study showed that the same task was performed differently by learners, and that the way learners implemented a given task was shaped by the negotiation between their personal and contextual factors because of their sense of agency in the situated sociocultural learning context. The study has acquired an increased insight into learners’ task engagement regarding their agency in the teaching and learning context of Vietnam from a sociocultural view

Using Explicit Instruction of the International Phonetic Alphabet System in English as a Foreign Language Adult Classes

The effects of international phonetic alphabet (IPA) instruction on English as a foreign language (EFL) adult learners’ pronunciation have been well-recognized. However, not many studies on the topic were conducted in the Vietnamese context. Therefore, the current study aims to investigate (1) the impact of IPA learning on Vietnamese EFL adult learners’ pronunciation and (2) adult learners’ perceptions of the effects of learning the IPA system on their pronunciation. The study was designed as an experimental study, following a mixed-methods approach, using the pre-and-post-tests, questionnaires, and interviews to collect quantitative and qualitative data. Thirty-eight adult learners took part in this investigation; they were divided into two groups, nineteen in the control and nineteen in the experimental group. The experimental study lasted ten weeks before the questionnaires and interviews were administered with the participants in the experimental group. The results demonstrated a significant improvement in adult learners’ pronunciation in the experimental group. The participants in the experimental group also highly perceived the positive effects of learning the IPA system on their pronunciation. Pedagogical implications and suggestions were presented at the end of the paper