HANOI NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF EDUCATION

FACULTY OF ENGLISH

END-OF-COURSE ASSIGNMENT

Title of the Project:

The current status of the final-year English language

major students in the preparation for graduation at
Hanoi National University of Education

Instructor: Trần Thiên Tứ

Student: Lê Thị Thu
ID: 695711051
Class: K69E2

Academic Year: 2022– 2023

Tables of content
1
 I. Abstract ……………………………………………………………………….3
II. Introduction …………………………………………………………………..3
III. Background Knowledge………………………………………………………4
1.Some previous research papers ………………………………………………………
4
2. Introduction about English Language……………………………………………….5
3. Introduction about Faculty of English at Hanoi National University of
Education (FOE at HNUE)……………………………………………………………
6
3.1. Faculty of English ………………………………………………………………..6
3.2. Training Program………………………………………………………………...6
3.3. Job opportunities for students after graduation………………………………7
IV. Methodology ………………………………………………………………….8
1. Research questions…………………………………………………………………………8
2. Methods……………………………………………………………………………………..8
3. Participants…………………………………………………………………………………8
4. Limitations………………………………………………………………………………….8
V. Findings and Discussion………………………………………………………9
1. Finding 1: Graduation rate of English language majors from Gen 69, 68 and 67
at the Faculty of English at Hanoi National University of Education (the FOE at
HNUE)……………………………………………………………………………………..9
2. Finding 2: The types of jobs which are chosen most by the English language
majors at the FOE at HNUE……………………………………………………………
10
3. Finding 3: What majors they will decide to study if they have a chance to enroll in
university………………………………………………………………………...12
4. Finding 4: The level of satisfaction with the training program and some suggested
solutions to guarantee the output quality of the students………………………...13
VI. Conclusion …………………………………………………………………...14
Reference ……………………………………………………………………………15

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 I. Abstract
The study aimed at investigating how the English language major seniors (academic
year 2019-2022) prepare for their coming graduation and career paths as well as
evaluating the output quality of these students. The study had applied the quantitative
methods with the data collected from 27 students of Gen 69 and 8 students of Gen 68
and 67, who studied and are studying at Faculty of English (FOE) at Hanoi National
University of Education (HNUE).
There are 3 main results: (1) nearly 15% of the current final year English language
students ensure that they are graduating from university in May 2023 (on time); (2)
the most popularly chosen jobs after graduating English language is related to
teaching; (3) However, if given another opportunities, about 59,3% of the English
language seniors would decide to study other major, not English language. After
reading the research paper, I hope that the facts will remind these final-year students
of their situation and partly contribute to evaluating the output of students and
suggesting some suitable measures to improve the quality of students if they still
pursue this major.
Keywords: Current status, English language major, final year student, K69, K68 and
67, Faculty of English (FOE), Hanoi National University of Education (HNUE),
graduation, job opportunities, output.

II. Introduction
In the process of globalization and international trade integration, English has
increasingly become the most popular means of communication in many different
countries, which means that English is considered as the international language.
Because of the extensive number of advantages such as a variety of jobs, higher paid
jobs, promotion opportunities, English is increasingly learned by many people from a
variety of ages. Therefore, besides the language centers and classes for non-English
major students, there are many colleges and universities training full-time students
majoring in English Language, including Hanoi National University of Education.
This time to carry out this research is also the time when I and my classmates, the
fourth-year English students, are preparing their final internship and graduation exams
on time, in the middle of next year - 2023. However, not all students have fully
understood and prepared well for their upcoming graduation and future career path.
Therefore, the study will raise their awareness of their current status as well as
emergent actions. In addition, I also would like to give an objective view of the
English language course and the quality of the language students, so help the next
generations determine the field of study and future work accurately and suitable for
themselves.

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III. Background of knowledge
1. Some previous research papers.
With the research topic “The current status of English Language students”, I have
seeked for 3 related previous studies in order to come up with my idea and complete
my research. Overall, the topic has a few research papers which can meet my
expectations so I perform my research “The current status of the final-year English
language major students in the preparation for graduation at Hanoi National
University of Education”. My target participants are myself and other final-year
students whose major is English Language at HNUE.
Firstly, the study “Education and jobs: The relatedness of the college major and
work” by John Robst focused on examining the match between the college major and
the occupation. One of the mentioned hypotheses is educational mismatch is more
likely among workers with degree fields that provide general skills and less likely
among graduates of majors providing occupation specific skills. The results also
proved some majors like English or other foreign languages have a higher rate of
being unrelated than others like doctors or teachers. Therefore, I also want to know if
the facts exist in these participants who are the seniors majoring in English Language
at HNUE.
Secondly, the article “The value of the English Major Today” by Jane Beal explored
the value of the undergraduate English major today in terms of the knowledge and
skills it develops, graduate school and employment opportunities it provides, and self-
actualization and social improvement it fosters. The finding showed that besides
becoming teachers, the English major can enter into a diversity of occupation
categories such as professional writing and communication in information technology,
city governance, and finance sectors, librarianship, law, social work, and psychology
as well as business and management. This is an impressive array of professions.
However, the data in these above-mentioned research papers are derived from
universities and colleges in foreign nations, not in Vietnam and in particular not in
HNUE.
Finally, a study by lecturers from Ho Chi Minh City Open University, “Thực trạng
sinh viên tốt nghiệp chính quy ngành ngôn ngữ Anh của một số trường Đại học tại
Thành phố Hồ Chí Minh” described the current status of the graduates (academic
year 2004-2008) from the English faculties of eight universities in HCMC with three
majors: TESOL, Translation and Business English. Although the number of
participants taking part in the survey is significant, it was written in Vietnamese and
was conducted for a long time with the participants studied from 2004-2008.
Therefore, I really want to concentrate on the status of final year English majoring
students of FOE at HNUE at this moment - the time after the Covid -19 pandemic.

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 2. Introduction about English Language
In the era of globalization and international trade integration, being fluent in one or
some foreign languages, especially English, can help you get ahead in your career
more easily. English studies is not a new major but it has never been out of date and
even increasingly popular in all fields of life. There are many schools including
foreign, technology, economic, ect. universities and colleges which train full-time
English major students.
English Studies is an academic discipline that provides learners comprehensive
knowledge and the use of English language. The program not only develops an
understanding of the history, culture and people in English -spoken countries but also
enhances student's essential skills: communication, presentation, analytical thinking
and problem-solvings. Last but not least, students who major in English Language will
have to guarantee four main basic skills: listening, speaking, reading and writing.
Besides focusing on improving 4 mentioned main skills and specializing academic
subjects such as phonology, syntax, and semantics, … there are some different
inclinations to the majors: English pedagogy, Business English or English Translation
- Interpretation in each university.
After receiving good English degrees, the graduates will have a lot of career choices
as well as attractive salaries, ranging from 9 - 15 million VND per month and even up
to 22 million or over. The table below shows a diversity of jobs that a English
language major student can apply for.

1. English teachers teach or manage at primary, high school, colleges and

university, foreign language centers.
2. Translator - translators, interpreters, editors, assistants, or teachers… at
interpreter translation companies, media companies, notary offices,
businesses, or working as freelancers.
3. Business customer relations specialist, human resources specialist,
English communications specialist, sales specialist, assistant, or
secretary… at domestic or international trade companies
or trade groups.
4. International work at embassies, central or local diplomatic missions,
communication foreign representative agencies, government offices, or
non-governmental organizations… .

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 3. Introduction about Faculty of English at Hanoi National University of
Education (FOE at HNUE)
3.1. Faculty of English
Established in 1951 as the fourth university in Vietnam (after Indochina Medical
College (1902), with more than 70 years of great achievement in national education
and training, Hanoi National University of Education (HNUE) has been proud of
being an incubator of talents, contributing to the national renewal and development.
In which, the Faculty of Education (FOE) also plays an important role in the school’s
success. Officially set up in 2014, the FOE has been undertaking responsibility for
English training: specialized and non - specialized programs, undergraduate and
graduate training, full - time system, degree 2, in-service, ect. in order to foster
professional and enthusiastic English teachers and Bachelor of English all over the
country.
The faculty as well as a team of professors, doctors, masters and good qualified
lecturers foster and train many generations of students to improve not only their
English proficiency but also the pedagogical competence for English teachers across
the country. Therefore they are always changing new teaching methods suitable and
best suited to the aspirations of learners of all different subjects in all parts of the
country, the current command text is in English. In recent years, there are more and
more youngsters enrolling in these two majors because of its variety of benefits to
develop themselves in the future career.
3.2. Training Program
Currently, the faculty of English at HNUE has two main majors including: the English
Pedagogy and the English Language. The faculty originally focused on training
students who had passion about English teachers at schools, but since the academic
year 2017 - 2018, a new major, English Language has been opened. Regarding the
training program, these two majors have both similarities and differences.
As I mentioned in the above part III.1, similarly, the students majoring in two degrees
are equipped with general subjects; effective methods to improve 4 main English
skills; the intensive knowledge of people, cultures, literature of the English-speaking
countries of the world; soft skills like communication, theoretical, analytical and
problem-solving skills, to perform effective jobs in their professional fields using
English, some subjects such as phonology, syntax, and semantics, ect. However, there
are some different features in the training program of each major. The English
Pedagogy will have subjects related to teaching methods, educational psychology,
pedagogy, with the main goal of serving the teaching work; while the English
language includes subjects relevant to translation, interpretation, presentation, english
in business and office,ect.
The English language major will have a formal study program of 4 years equivalent to
130 credits. Therefore, if the students follow the planed studying program and pass all
exams, the student can graduate from university as soon as the completed theỉ
internship in the first semester of the fourth-years. However, in order to be able to

6
graduate on time, they have to show their English level via the IELTS certificate with
the overall score 7.0 or VSTEP at level C1 (according to Common European
Framework of Reference" for Languages: Learning, Teaching, Assessment) or other
certificate which have score equivalent to C1 level.
3.3. Job opportunities for students after graduation
As I mentioned in part III.2, instead of the list of job opportunities, I am going to
introduce some typical examples of the faculty of English.

Mrs. Tran Thi Bich Hanh Mr. Le Anh Tuyen - Gen Mrs. Vi Thi Bao Thoa -
- Gen 52 - Lecturer at 54 - Reporter of Vietnam Gen 57 - English lecturer
Swinburne Vietnam Television in the United at BTEC FPT
University States. International College

Mrs. Phung Thi Thu Huong - Gen 56 - Mr. Trieu Tuan Anh - Gen 57 - English
Managing director at Translation & lecturer at the Faculty of English at
Interpretation - Sao Khue JSC HNUE

Besides, according to statistics of the last 5 years of the department, the rate of
students having jobs after graduation is 95% and more than 2% create their own jobs.

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IV. Methodology
1. Research questions
The goal of the research paper is to show the current situation of the fourth-year
students majoring in English Language at FOE at HNUE before their coming
graduation. Therefore, the research is going to focus on 3 main questions: What is the
percentage of students who are ready to graduate on time (May, 2023)?; Which jobs
are chosen most by these students?; If they had a chance to choose their major again,
which would they decide to do?. When finding the answers for the questions, I also
analyze the key factors leading to the facts. Of course, the reasons are also provided
by these participants.
2. Methods
This research followed collecting quantitative (online survey) and qualitative data
(direct interview). The questionnaire is designed on the google form, which is a useful
online tool for the participants to answer and for me to collect the data with the most
correct calculation. The list of interview questionnaires consists of open questions,
multiple choice (single response) and multiple choice (multiple responses). It took 2
weeks for me to conduct the survey. The google form questionnaire was posted in the
students’ groups on social media, specifically on messenger for the participant to do.
3. Participants
The participants taking part in the survey were divided into 2 main groups. The first
ones are 27 English language majors from Gen 69 (the academic year 2019 - 2023).
They are students who are final year students and are preparing for their internship as
well as the graduation in May, 2023 if they are qualified to graduate. The second
group are 8 former English language major students from Gen 68 and 67 (the
academic year 2018 - 2022 and 2017 - 2021 respectively). They may still be students
at school or may work. The purpose of choosing these groups is they are new
generations at the English language majors at FOE of HNUE. Moreover, they must
have been affected by the Covid-19 for nearly 3 years. Therefore, these obstacles
partly affected their studying process and plans. The participants from the groups were
not directly chosen by the researcher but answered the survey questions voluntarily by
themselves.
However, I will mainly analyze the data from Gen 69, the data from Gen 68 & 67 will
support the conclusions as the number of participants is small.
4. Limitations
However, there are also some limitations existing in my research paper. Because of
the short time, the small number of participants and some features related to the future
tense, it was quite difficult to produce the most precise results. To limit maximum
mistakes, I am careful with statistics and drawing conclusions.

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V. Findings and Discussions
1. Finding 1: Graduation rate of English language majors from Gen 69, 68 and
67 at the Faculty of English at Hanoi National University of Education (the
FOE at HNUE)
Table 1: The graduation percentage of Table 2: The graduation percentage of
English language majors from Gen 69 English language majors from Gen 68
in 2023 & 67

As the participants are divided into 2 groups, I will analyze each group in turn.
Looking at the pie chart from Gen 69, only 14.8% of all these students are willing to
graduate in May 2023, which means they will graduate on time; while, over 44% of
these Gen 69 students chose May but they are not sure and the proportion of students
who decide to delay their graduation until September 2023 makes up over 40%.
Regarding the chart of Gen 68 & 67, it shows that the percentage of these students
who had graduated on time is 50%, who had graduated but later is 37.5% and who
have not graduated is 12.5%.

The main reasons for on time graduation is they certainly completed all the
requirements from the faculty or will have completed credits and other certificates in
the nearly 4 first months of 2023 in order to graduate from university in May. On the
contrary, these students delay the next graduation periods because they are not able to
ensure if they can manage to complete the credits and required certificates before
May, 2023. In research progress, the students also provide some reasons for the status.
The biggest factor which the students have to delay the plan is lacking the 7.0 IELTS
certificate or C1 VSTEP or other equivalent valued certificate. They may have taken
exams but have not passed or they realized that they need to improve well before
doing exams officially as the cost for taking the IELTS test is up to 5 million VND
without including the cost for studying as well as failing. The amount of money is
quite big for students who are studying at school.

In addition, when being asked “Are you confident in your English skills to graduate
from university?”

Table 3: How the final year English majors feel confident in their English ability.

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 There are 3.8% of the total students
from Gen 69 feeling extremely
confident, 53.8% feeling somewhat
confident and 42.3% feeling quite
confident. The facts can partly prove
the fact that the majority of lacking
certificates is the not high quality of
students. In conclusion, these indicators
about the graduation rates help to
generalize about the learning ability of
students as well as the hash screening
in the training process.

2. Finding 2: The types of jobs which are chosen most by the English language
majors at the FOE at HNUE.

Table 4: The jobs that the English language seniors want do apply for after finishing
the training program at HNUE.

The main second finding will answer the question: “Which jobs are chosen most by
students majoring in English language after leaving university?” The fourth table
shows some types of jobs the K69 students plan to apply for. Because each student
can choose a maximum of 2 options so the total is 54 choices. Looking in the details,
there are 18 votes to become English teachers or lecturers, making up 33.3% of the
total choices. Next, both translation work and officers related to business, assistant,
marketing, law, sales and marketing have the same number of votes, 14.8% for each
section. In addition, there are also 4 votes for manager as well as content studying
progress editors. Three votes for each mentioned job: interpreter, linguist and works
related to newspaper, journalist. Finally, there are other fields of job such as doing
your own business, technology, and tourism. From the mentioned data, it can be seen
that there is a diversity of jobs for English majors. They have more chances to apply

10
for any occupation positions as long as the jobs needed English.

However, the English majors at the Faculty of English at HNUE have a tendency to
become teachers more than others. The findings are also illustrated by current works
of Gen 68 & 67 and internship positions of Gen 69, mainly relating to teaching:
teachers at school, center and online. They tend to become teachers for some main
reasons. Firstly, they study at Hanoi National University of education so the
environment will be inclined to teaching. Secondly, they have experience as tutors or
English teaching assistants at foreign language centers while studying university.
Thirdly, some people think that teaching is not as challenging as other jobs as they
have available trained knowledge to impart onto others while other jobs need more
specific knowledge. Finally, currently, with the high demand of learning English,
becoming an English teacher is considered a safe step which guarantees stable income
and living balance.

The following major of jobs these students desire to apply for after receiving the
diploma is translation and officers. The reasons for why many students chose these
works are: Besides liking learning English, students also have passion for other fields.
Perhaps, they realized that they are not suitable for teaching positions, so they decided
to work in an office. The jobs related to the office are translation documents, customer
service, secretary, … which are used in English to communicate, discuss more in the
office. However, if you apply for these jobs, we need to spend more time getting
acquainted with the features of the job at the beginning of working periods or even if
necessary, we must study the second major or short courses related to other fields in
order to know specific knowledge and skills.

While the final - year students are having internships in the final semester, I also
interview some of them about the difficulties they have to face. There are some
obstacles they have such as: being confused in finding jobs, internship places, the not
high quality, soft skills like time management, lacking knowledge about topics or
fields. Therefore, we can realize partly that the environment at university and the real
world has some differences. The students should prepare well not only in depth
knowledge of English but also skills and abroad knowledge.

3. Finding 3: What majors they will decide to study if they have a chance to

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 enroll in university.
Table 5: The second job choice of the fourth year English students from Gen 69.

Table 6: The second job choice of the fourth year English students from Gen 68 & 67.

The third principle finding is the students’ passion about the English language. I asked
them if they have a chance to decide the major and work, which major they would like
to study at university. About Gen 69, 59,3% of the total decided to try another major
such as business, law, marketing, …. 22.2% decided to continue to learn English
language at FOE at HNUE and 18.5% would change into English pedagogy at HNUE.
Regarding Gen 68 & 67, perhaps they have a certain experience as English teachers so
over 62% of them would still learn the English language and teaching majors.

The reasons for why they prefer to study another degree which is not related to the
English language much is because they thought that they could save time. During the
period of studying their main major they can learn English by themselves or in a
language center. They argued that English is just a tool for people to communicate and
use in their work. They can communicate and understand what others say is good, and
don't need to study the knowledge deeply. English is a broad subject. The English

12
learners can have a diverse knowledge about many fields but their knowledge can be
not as specific as others who study majors like doctors, business, engineer, … .
Similarly, some students choose English Pedagogy because they are passionate about
teaching English, which means that they ensure the job they really want to do in the
future. Or perhaps, when they spend time on teaching, they start to love the job.

4. Finding 4: The level of satisfaction with the training program and some
suggested solutions to guarantee the output quality of the students.
Table 7: The level of Gen 69’s satisfaction with every group of subjects in the training
Bachelor's Degree in English language program.

Subjects related to Satisfaction Quite satisfaction No satisfaction

Teaching methods 4 14 9
Translation 9 19 4
Interpretation 2 18 7
Business English 3 21 3
4 main skills 5 20 2
Culture, people in English 6 20 1
- spoken nations

In table 7, before drawing some conclusions, I need to describe some indicators. The
chart has 3 colors: the red refers to the feeling satisfied, the yellow refers to the
feeling quite satisfied and the blue refers to the feeling not satisfied. Therefore, it can
be seen clearly that more than half of these students, even up to 77% of the total, have
the same feeling - quite satisfied with the subjects. Subjects related to English
teaching methods or pedagogy have the highest number of people expressing not
satisfied, the next is interpretation, but account for the low percentage.

Although these subjects are taught at the faculty, there are still certain limitations, so
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students feel quite satisfied with the program. The knowledge and skills related to the
subject are still not in-depth. The amount of time for the subject is limited, especially
the practice time. Therefore, the students gained general knowledge. However, that
Covid - 19 pandemic occured over the world partly affected the quality of teaching
and studying in general and practicing subjects in particular.

To improve the quality of the students as well as, the participant also voted some
effective solutions such as:
- Specialized subjects need more time to study and practice.
- There are more short-term practice sessions of some specialized subjects, in
addition to the final internship period
- Focus on developing more soft skills for students.
- Specify the major for students, providing more specialized subject credits

VI. Conclusion
By using the common quantitative method, collecting data by the list of questionnaires
posted up the google form, this research paper has shown the current situation of the
final - year English majors at the FOE at HNUE before preparing for graduating from
the university. From the data, I have four noticeable results: (1) about 80% of these
students from Gen 69 do not sure or delay their graduation as they lack C1 level
certifications; (2) among the diversity of job opportunities, English teachers at schools
or center are the jobs that applied for by these students because they have experience
in teaching when they were students; (3) however, over 50% will try other majors or
jobs unrelated to English studies if they have chance to come back the time deciding
to choose major; (4) almost of subject at the faculty of English receive the level quite
satisfaction from the English language students from Gen 69.
Therefore, I hope that we can realize and evaluate the quality of us - the final year
students majoring in English language. We must constantly try our best, the first goal
is to graduate on time, the second is to improve ourselves so that we can meet all our
job requirements. With the degree in English, I believe that the English language can
enter into many fields of life as long as we need to be good at English and other
essential skills.

Reference

14
 - Jane Beal. (2020). The Value of the English Major Today. Retrieved from
December 2, 2022, from the website: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-
0787/9/3/77#:~:text=The%20value%20of%20the%20English%20major%20is
%20clear.,thinking%20critically%2C%20and%20writing%20effectively.

- John Robst. (2006). Education and job match: The relatedness of college
major and work. Retrieved from December 1, 2022, from the website:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0272775706001415

- Kevin Brown. (2009). What can they do with an English major?: Showing
students the breath of the discipline through the introductory course to the
discipline and advertising. Retrieved December 2, 2022, from the website:
https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1097576.pdf

- Le Thi Thanh Thu, Nguyen Thuy Nga & Nguyen Tri Quynh Nga. (2012). Thuc
trang sinh vien tot nghiep he chinh quy, nganh tieng anh cua cac truong dai
hoc tai tpHCM. Retrieved from December 1, 2022, from the website:
https://journalofscience.ou.edu.vn/index.php/soci-vi/article/view/1193

- Other websites:
https://www.hoasen.edu.vn/tuyensinh/en/what-is-english-language-studies-a-review-
from-a-to-z-about-english-language-studies-program/

https://huongnghiep.hocmai.vn/chuyen-nganh/ngon-ngu-anh/dai-hoc-su-pham-ha-noi/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CtMFTB1JOHQ

https://tuyensinh.hnue.edu.vn/nganh-dao-tao/p/cu-nhan-ngon-ngu-anh-171

https://tuyensinh.hnue.edu.vn/khung-chuong-trinh/p/khung-chuong-trinh-dao-tao-
ngon-ngu-anh-k69-347

https://tuyensinh.hnue.edu.vn/chuan-dau-ra/p/chuan-dau-ra-chuong-trinh-dao-tao-
ngon-ngu-anh-299

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