The effectiveness of a thesis writing seminar for graduate students at Ho Chi Minh City Open University

The purpose of this essay was to investigate whether the seminar was necessary and effective in terms of helping graduate students in TESOL program at Ho Chi Minh City Open University (HCMC OU) conduct their thesis. Fifty-six questionnaire papers were collected out of 100 deliveries. Descriptive statistics of SPSS vs. 19 was employed to analyze the data. In terms of qualitative data, some suggestions from the students at the last part of the questionnaire were analyzed. The study revealed that the seminar was found to be essential and have great effects on graduate students at HCMC OU. In addition, the students requested to hold seminars for them not only during the coursework periods but also during the time they were conducting their thesis

Instructional model in teaching translation and interpretation: a case study

Recently the teaching activities that correspond to the material used in the translation and interpretation classes at Ho Chi Minh City Open University (HCMC OU) haven’t satisfied the students’ needs and interests due to monotonous activities. The Faculty of Foreign Languages of HCMC OU is seeking for an innovation. The study aims to investigate if the new model applied to training students of this subject is effective. The design of this study is based on the existing problems to seek for an innovative method rather than dealing with theoretical issues in this field. 125 undergrad students who registered for the 50-hour-course of translation and interpretation at HCMC OU participated in the study. The training models were classroom activities, dubbing voice in Video clips, and final project of translation. The study provides innovative activities that the instructor/researcher applied for the translation and interpretation classroom and measures the effectiveness of the training models. The study sets guidelines for the instructors at HCMC OU to use extra activities to help students improve their skills in translation and interpretation classes

Common errors in writing journals of the English major students at Ho Chi Minh City Open University

Students’ writing problems are always a primary concern of instructors in writing classrooms, and to know the common errors which frequently occur on students’ writing papers is usually what the writing instructors have conducted in the classrooms. However, no research study has been conducted at the Faculty of Foreign languages at HCMC Open University to investigate into this aspect. The purpose of the current study is to investigate the common written errors on students’ writing journals and to see whether the extensive writing helps enhance students’ writing fluency. 115 first year English-major students participated in this study. They composed five writing journals every week during the course of 15 weeks. Each student composed 62 writing journals in total. The study found that four most common errors frequently occur in students’ writing journals are relating to tenses, collocations, spellings, and verb forms. Also, the current study confirms that the extensive writing practices effect the students’ writing fluency in terms of length of writing. The results of the study help the writing instructors at the local setting with the facts of their students’ writing problems in order to improve the writing practices in the writing classrooms. Particularly, the finding of this study confirms the effects of extensive writing so that the instructors and students could take this issue into their practices beyond the classrooms

The impacts of task-based speaking activities on English-majored freshmen’s oral performance at Ba Ria-Vung Tau Teacher Training College

This action research was carried out with the aims to investigate (1) the factors causing difficulty for the English-majored freshmen’s oral performance at BR-VT Teacher Training College; (2) the impacts of the TBSA on the students’ oral performance; and (3) the students’ attitudes towards the TBSA. The research was carried out in 15 weeks over 23 students. The data collection instruments were pre-questionnaire, post-questionnaire, pre-test, post-test and observation note. The results of the prequestionnaire showed that there were two factors that affected the students’ oral communication. (1) They did not have chances for practicing speaking; and (2) they were not confident of oral communication as they were not equipped with enough vocabulary and speaking patterns. The results of the oral tests and post-questionnaire revealed that the students’ oral performance in the post-test was higher than the one in the pre-test (fair scores compared with average ones). The students got the improvement in oral performance because (1) they spoke more fluently as they felt confident and had chances of practicing speaking with partners. (2) They took part in the conversations positively since they identified the topic discussion as well as they were equipped with the vocabulary and speaking patterns. The students also admitted that they liked the TBSA and wanted to use them frequently in learning speaking as (1) the TBSA were a good method for learning speaking; (2) they felt comfortable and confident in communication when practicing the TBSA; and (3) they achieved progress in learning speaking. Based on the findings, a conclusion was stated that the TBSA could be used to develop the learners’ oral performance

High school teachers’ pedagogical beliefs in English as a foreign language writing instruction

Writing in a foreign language is deemed to be the most difficult language skill to learners, especially at high school level. Consequently, its teaching has become a challenging task for high school teachers in the Vietnamese context. Teacher beliefs related literature indicates that what teachers do in the classroom is directly governed by what they think and believe. Thereby, the current study adopted features of a survey research design to examine the English as a Foreign Language (EFL) high school teachers’ beliefs about writing and its teaching. A sample of seventy six EFL teachers from the eight selected high schools situated in Ho Chi Minh City was recruited for the current survey. The beliefs of EFL writing instruction of these teachers were elicited through two instruments of eighteen–item questionnaires and semi–structured interviews. Then the questionnaires were quantitatively analyzed and the interviews were qualitatively analyzed. Results of the study showed that most of the participants held different orientations about writing skill, teacher roles and its teaching. The study was closed by a brief conclusion of key findings

Evaluation of the course-book “Steps to conduct your research” designed and employed at the faculty of foreign languages of Ho Chi Minh City Open University

Course-book plays a very important role in many language training classrooms, especially at Faculty of Foreign Languages at HCMC Open University. However, few studies have been conducted to investigate whether the current course-books, either imported or local materials, have had suitability for the students’ needs and interests. This study was an attempt to evaluate the course-book “Steps to conduct your research” written by Pham Vu Phi Ho who was also the lecturer training the students in the course “Research Methodology” in the Academic year of 2011 – 2012 at HCMC Open University. The course-book was designed based on the Cognitive learning theory, Social-cultural learning theory, and the Project-based approach. Data collection was from unstructured interviews and questionnaire based on 10 criteria of SLA principles at the end of the course to evaluate the course-book. The study shed lights over the researchers to modify and improve the quality of the course-book to meet the students’ needs and interests for the training

The employment of self-regulated strategies in writing process by English-major freshmen at Ho Chi Minh City Open University

The current study aims to investigate the employment of self-regulated strategies (SRS) and the gender differences in using SRS in learners’ writing processes. Zimmerman’s model of selfregulated learning and thirty SRS are used. This is the survey study and its research instruments are the questionnaire and the interview. The participants of the study are ninety-three first-year students who major in English language of Faculty of Foreign Languages at HCMC Open University. This study finds that learners used twenty-seven SRS in their writing processes including fifteen sub-strategies of self-efficacy strategies and twelve other SRS such as organizing and transforming strategies, goal setting and planning strategies, seeking information strategies, environmental structuring strategies, time management strategies, imagery strategies, self-instruction strategies, self-consequence strategies, keeping records and monitoring strategies, seeking for social assistance strategies from friends, seeking for social assistance strategies from teachers, and self-evaluation strategies. Also, the study finds the gender differences in using five SRS including self-efficacy strategy to write the introduction paragraph, organizing and transforming strategies, seeking information strategies, self-efficacy strategy to refocus on writing when the distractions are occurred, and keeping record and monitoring strategies for note taking

Clinically and microbiologically derived azithromycin susceptibility breakpoints for Salmonella enterica serovars Typhi and Paratyphi A.

Azithromycin is an effective treatment for uncomplicated infections with Salmonella enterica serovar Typhi and serovar Paratyphi A (enteric fever), but there are no clinically validated MIC and disk zone size interpretative guidelines. We studied individual patient data from three randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of antimicrobial treatment in enteric fever in Vietnam, with azithromycin used in one treatment arm, to determine the relationship between azithromycin treatment response and the azithromycin MIC of the infecting isolate. We additionally compared the azithromycin MIC and the disk susceptibility zone sizes of 1,640 S. Typhi and S. Paratyphi A clinical isolates collected from seven Asian countries. In the RCTs, 214 patients who were treated with azithromycin at a dose of 10 to 20 mg/ml for 5 to 7 days were analyzed. Treatment was successful in 195 of 214 (91%) patients, with no significant difference in response (cure rate, fever clearance time) with MICs ranging from 4 to 16 μg/ml. The proportion of Asian enteric fever isolates with an MIC of ≤ 16 μg/ml was 1,452/1,460 (99.5%; 95% confidence interval [CI], 98.9 to 99.7) for S. Typhi and 207/240 (86.3%; 95% CI, 81.2 to 90.3) (P 16 μg/ml and to determine MIC and disk breakpoints for S. Paratyphi A

Prospects for Food Fermentation in South-East Asia, Topics From the Tropical Fermentation and Biotechnology Network at the End of the AsiFood Erasmus+Project

Fermentation has been used for centuries to produce food in South-East Asia and some foods of this region are famous in the whole world. However, in the twenty first century, issues like food safety and quality must be addressed in a world changing from local business to globalization. In Western countries, the answer to these questions has been made through hygienisation, generalization of the use of starters, specialization of agriculture and use of long-distance transportation. This may have resulted in a loss in the taste and typicity of the products, in an extensive use of antibiotics and other chemicals and eventually, in a loss in the confidence of consumers to the products. The challenges awaiting fermentation in South-East Asia are thus to improve safety and quality in a sustainable system producing tasty and typical fermented products and valorising by-products. At the end of the “AsiFood Erasmus+ project” (www.asifood.org), the goal of this paper is to present and discuss these challenges as addressed by the Tropical Fermentation Network, a group of researchers from universities, research centers and companies in Asia and Europe. This paper presents current actions and prospects on hygienic, environmental, sensorial and nutritional qualities of traditional fermented food including screening of functional bacteria and starters, food safety strategies, research for new antimicrobial compounds, development of more sustainable fermentations and valorisation of by-products. A specificity of this network is also the multidisciplinary approach dealing with microbiology, food, chemical, sensorial, and genetic analyses, biotechnology, food supply chain, consumers and ethnology