THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN LEARNING STRATEGY USE IN ENGLISH AND MOTIVATION OF STUDENTS AT A COLLEAGUE IN CAN THO CITY, VIETNAM

Among the many factors that increase students’ achievement in the mastery of foreign languages, including English, are motivation and use of language learning strategies. Previous studies by a range of researchers have identified these two elements as the most important in obtaining success in language learning. This study carried out on 152 university students, roughly equal in gender, studying at a university in Can Tho, Vietnam, sought to discover the relationships between these two factors within the Vietnamese language learning context. In particular, the study sought to 1) discover which of two types of motivation, intrinsic and extrinsic, is most prevalent among the students studied; 2) their use of language learning strategies; 3) reveals the relationship between students' motivation and use of language learning strategies; and 4) describe the differences in their use of language learning strategies based on whether their motivation was high, medium or low. Research instruments included Schmidt et al.'s Questionnaire on Motivation in Learning English, and Oxford's Strategy Inventory for Language Learning (both modified for the Vietnamese language learning context and translated into Vietnamese), plus an interview with 18 of the students to gain greater insight into the answers they gave on the questionnaires. Results were obtained using standard deviations and t-tests. They showed that Vietnamese university students are mainly extrinsically motivated; that all strategies were used at least at a medium level, amidst other fluctuations; and that those metacognitive strategies are most prevalent among medium and high motivated students but affective strategies are most common among low motivation students. Recommendations flowing from these results are that teachers should prioritize the formal teaching of learning strategies and should attempt to increase intrinsic motivation by putting greater emphasis on making language learning fun and relevant to the students' interests and passions. Article visualizations

SOME COMMON DIFFICULTIES IN LISTENING OF ENGLISH MAJORED FRESHMEN AT TAY DO UNIVERSITY, VIETNAM

The aim of the research “Some common difficulties in listening of English majored freshmen at Tay Do University" is to figure out some major factors causing difficulties for students in listening to English. The research is carried out within 12 weeks. Participants of this study are 100 English majored freshmen course 13, chosen randomly (including students in class 13A, 13B, and 13C) at Tay Do University. During the research time, participants are given questionnaires and paper interviews to show their ideas. The questionnaire and paper interview are two main instruments of this study, which are used to gather information about students' problems facing in listening. As a result, the research through the expected outcome will show some difficulties in listening of English majored freshmen at Tay Do University that related to linguistics like vocabulary, grammar, pronunciation, accents and intonation, and background knowledge and unfamiliar topics, psychological obstacle, and the length and speed rate of speech. Article visualizations

THE READING CULTURE OF ENGLISH MAJORED STUDENTS AT TAY DO UNIVERSITY, VIETNAM

In the 21st century, the development of many modern entertainment facilities makes people rarely focus on reading books. So, the reading culture gradually fell into oblivion. In reality, when teachers ask students about their reading habit, students often say “we seldom read books”, they mostly read books because of teacher requests or school assignments. Therefore, the research “The reading culture of English majored students at Tay Do University” was conducted with the purpose of helping English linguistic students to acknowledge the importance of reading books. Thanks to this, they can find their own situations and spend more time reading books. The participants of this study were 100 English majored students of four classes including English Linguistic 10B, 11A, 12C and 13A at Tay Do University that were chosen randomly. The instrument used in this thesis was the questionnaire. The data from questionnaires were statistically analyzed by SPSS English version 20.0 package. Based on research results, the researcher found out some common students’ thoughts on reading culture as well as solutions to develop their reading culture in the future.  Article visualizations

EFL TEACHERS' PERCEPTIONS AND REPORTED TECHNIQUES IN TEACHING LISTENING INFERENCING SKILLS

This research aims were to examine teachers’ perceptions of listening inferencing skills (LIS) and their significance for listening comprehension. In addition, the pedagogical techniques that teachers report to have employed in teaching LIS were also investigated. In order to achieve these goals, a questionnaire consisting of 48 five-point Likert scale items and one open-ended question was utilized as the research instrument. Seventy-two EFL teachers working at different universities, colleges and private language centres in a province in the Mekong Delta, Vietnam gave their responses to the questionnaires. The results revealed that a significant number of teachers appeared to hold a limited understanding of what LIS actually refer to. However, when they were introduced to what LIS involve, they noticeably reached the agreement that these skills are beneficial for listening comprehension in particular and language learning in general. Besides, a large number of the participants also reported that they applied LIS in their own English language learning and teaching. In terms of pedagogical techniques used to teach LIS, the teachers mainly concentrated on pre-listening tactics with the hope of equipping their students well for the listening process regarding linguistic and background knowledge while techniques for the while-, post- and extension stages in listening instruction seemed to be overlooked.  Article visualizations

COMMON CHALLENGES IN VIETNAMESE-ENGLISH TRANSLATION OF ENGLISH-MAJORED JUNIORS AT TAY DO UNIVERSITY, VIETNAM

It is undoubted that translation plays an indispensable role in exchanging information, news, culture, literature and sciences among people globally. In other words, translation facilitates communication and understanding between people who come from various cultures and speak different languages. Owing to the significance of translation, it is employed as a fundamental subject to English majored students. Nevertheless, it is not an easy subject for students to master. Thus, this study aimed at investigating the obstacles that students often encountered when translating texts from Vietnamese to English. This was a quantitative and qualitative research. The questionnaire and test paper were used as two major instruments to gain the most reliable findings. To achieve the goal, 74 English majored juniors from both English 10A and 10B at Tay Do University were selected as the sample for this research. The results showed that English majored juniors faced many challenges in Vietnamese-English translation, consisting of vocabulary, grammatical structures and cultural aspects. Article visualizations

Molecular identification of Ralstonia pseudosolanacearum causing bacterial wilt in tomatoes from Da Nang by using Colony PCR

Ralstonia solanacearum species complex (RSSC) is the main pathogen causing bacterial wilt disease in tomatoes. This study applied the colony polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technique to rapidly screen and select RSSC strains from isolated bacteria of diseased tomatoes. This method directly used bacterial colonies on the Petri plate as templates to amplify with RSSC’s specific and multiplex primers. The results showed that the Vietnamese isolates were identified as R. pseudosolanacearum, phylotype I. Phylogenetic analysis of the 16S-23S rDNA sequencing also confirmed these results. Therefore, this is the first report to recognize R. pseudosolanacearum phylotype I as the cause of bacterial wilt disease in tomatoes from Danang

Numerical investigation of force transmission in granular media using discrete element method

In this paper, a numerical Discrete Element Method (DEM) model was calibrated to investigate the transmission of force in granular media. To this aim, DEM simulation was performed for reproducing the behavior of a given granular material under uniform compression. The DEM model was validated by comparing the obtained shear stress/normal stress ratio with results published in the available literature. The network of contact forces was then computed, showing the arrangement of the material microstructure under applied loading. The number and distribution of the contacts force were also examined statistically, showing that the macroscopic behavior of the granular medium highly depended on the force chain network. The DEM model could be useful in exploring the mechanical response of granular materials under different loadings and boundary conditions