In teaching and learning a foreign language, especially English, motivation plays an extremely integral part in ensuring success. In this study, the researchers attempt to provide an overview of research on motivation and discover how motivation can assist second or foreign language learning in classrooms of English-majored students in the university setting. This study aims to investigate whether English-majored learners are motivated in learning English or not, focusing on extrinsic motivational factors to identify the factors to develop their motivation and maintain their journey of learning English. A questionnaire is devised and administered to 52 senior English-majored students. The data was then analyzed using the SPSS version 20. The results suggest that learners’ motivation is related to learning facilities and teacher’s personality which can encourage learners to think more positively and thus be more motivated in their language learning process. Along with providing specific recommendations for further research on motivation, the paper concludes by calling on for adopting a range of motivational factors that can promote English as a foreign or second language learning.

In teaching and learning a foreign language, especially English, motivation plays an extremely integral part in ensuring success. In this study, the researchers attempt to provide an overview of research on motivation and discover how motivation can assist second or foreign language learning in classrooms of English-majored students in the university setting. This study aims to investigate whether English-majored learners are motivated in learning English or not, focusing on extrinsic motivational factors to identify the factors to develop their motivation and maintain their journey of learning English. A questionnaire is devised and administered to 52 senior English-majored students. The data was then analyzed using the SPSS version 20. The results suggest that learners’ motivation is related to learning facilities and teacher’s personality which can encourage learners to think more positively and thus be more motivated in their language learning process. Along with providing specific recommendations for further research on motivation, the paper concludes by calling on for adopting a range of motivational factors that can promote English as a foreign or second language learning.

This study investigated a group of medical students’ perspectives on common difficulties in learning specialized vocabulary in English or English for Specific Purposes in their program. The study employed a quantitative method, which used a five-point Likert scale questionnaire to survey 214 medical students at Tra Vinh University. The study results revealed that as the students realized the importance of the specialized course, they had set clear goals for their studies. In particular, specialized vocabulary in English materials is one of the obstacles that students encounter in their learning process. Besides, the participants admitted that they also faced learning problems due to teaching methods. The study also found that they had difficulties in learning specialized vocabulary due to many problems, such as multi-syllabic words which made them difficult to enunciate, write, memorize, identify meanings, abbreviate terms, and associate collocations. Recommendations for related stakeholders such as the Faculty of Specialization and Foreign Languages were included to improve the learning and teaching of specialized vocabulary in English at Tra Vinh University.

This study attempts to investigate how four groups of participants at Tra Vinh University perceive oral fluency. This study is conducted in the hope to obtain more perceptions of oral fluency so future rubrics can be developed based on such perceptions. The study used a set of items stating what oral fluency should be like, which was developed based on the Qualitative aspects of spoken language proposed by the Council of Europe (2019). To test if the items were accepted, the study invited 33 senior English-majored students, 20 English teachers with a BA, 22 English teachers with an MA, and 10 English teachers with a doctorate degree for the study. A five-point Likert scale questionnaire consisting of 18 closed-ended questions and an open-ended question was employed to collect the participants’ perceptions of oral fluency. The results showed that the participants with an MA and the participants with a doctorate degree tend to agree more with the items in the questionnaire while the other groups slightly agreed with most of the items. Furthermore, many of the participants provided the study with their own ideas about oral fluency, which were finally synthesized. Some limitations and recommendations of the study were also included.