VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES
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ĐOÀN THỊ NGỌC MAI
DEVELOPING AUTONOMY FOR FIRST-YEAR
ENGLISH MAJOR STUDENTS AT A UNIVERSITY IN VINH
THROUGH WRITING PORTFOLIO
(Phát triển tính tự học của sinh viên năm thứ nhất chuyên ngành tiếng anh tại
một trường đại học ở Vinh thông qua hoạt động viết Portfolio)
M.A MINOR THESIS
Field: English Teaching Methodology
Code: 8140231.01
Hanoi - 2019
VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES
---oOo---
ĐOÀN THỊ NGỌC MAI
DEVELOPING AUTONOMY FOR FIRST-YEAR
ENGLISH MAJOR STUDENTS AT A UNIVERSITY IN VINH
THROUGH WRITING PORTFOLIO
(Phát triển tính tự học của sinh viên năm thứ nhất chuyên ngành tiếng anh tại
một trường đại học ở Vinh thông qua hoạt động viết Portfolio)
M.A MINOR THESIS
Field: English Teaching Methodology
Code: 8140231.01
Supervisor: Dr. Nguyen Thi Huong
Hanoi - 2019
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DECLARATION
Title: ―DEVELOPING AUTONOMY FOR FIRST-YEAR ENGLISH MAJOR
STUDENTS AT A UNIVERSITY IN VINH THROUGH WRITING PORTFOLIO‖
I certify that no part of the thesis has been copied or reproduced by me from any other
works without acknowledgement and that the thesis is originally written by me under
strict guidance of my supervisor.
Hanoi, 2019
Student’s signature
Đoàn Thị Ngọc Mai
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
To begin with, I would like to send my profound gratitude to my supervisor, Dr.
Nguyen Thi Huong for her detailed and precise guidance and tremendous support.
Secondly, I would also like to thank my beloved students for their participation
in my action research. Without their enthusiasm, the research could not be completed.
Additionally, I want to send my sincere thanks to the university steering
committee and my colleagues. They are such a great help to me during the process of
research implementation. They not only give me useful advice but also encourage me
to complete the research.
Finally, I must express my very profound gratitude to my husband and my
family for their wholehearted support.
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ABSTRACT
Developing and fostering students’ learning autonomy is placed importance for
college students since learning autonomy not only helps them to be more independent
and effective in their studying but also partly lay some bricks on the path of life-long
learning for students. This research is implemented with the purpose of investigating
the use of portfolio writing to enhance the first-year students’ learning autonomy in
writing in particular and in their studying in general. The research is undertaken as an
action research which employs the qualitative method including surveys, interviews
and teaching journals.
The outcome of the research indicates that most of the students find the use of
portfolio writing useful for their learning autonomy. A majority of them has learnt how
to stick on the requirements of the assignments during their writing and be more
responsible for their study. Furthermore, they have become more critical on the
knowledge and information they encountered and started to understand their strengths
and weaknesses to find out their own suitable learning style. However, they are still
struggling with some essential skills such as time management skills. Therefore, most
of them want a better schedule for the writing course. Even though students favor and
find the use of portfolio writing effective, there is a call for further studies to have a
bigger and more detailed picture of the usefulness of portfolio writing before it is
implemented officially in colleges.
