The difficulties in thesis writing faced by Masters in TESOL students in Vietnam

Thi Minh Chau Tran
Phu Xuan University, Vietnam
Bao Trang Thi Nguyen, Pham Thi Hong Nhung, Lien-Huong Vo and Van Huy Nguyen
Hue University of Foreign Languages and International Studies, Vietnam

Our study examined the difficulties Vietnamese Masters (MA) in TESOL (Teaching English to speakers of other languages) students encountered while writing their MA theses. Using a a 5-point Likert scale questionnaire, data were collected from 29 MA TESOL students who had completed their theses at a university in central Vietnam. Fifteen subsequently participated in individual semi-structured interviews. The study found that intense difficulties were voiced around the new genre of writing an MA thesis with its different chapters as subgenres serving different communicative functions. In particular, writing the introduction, the literature review and findings and discussion chapters were the most daunting for the participants. Limited language proficiency was only a surface factor; their top concerns involved how to use appropriate language to express intended meanings, and a lack of awareness about the genre of thesis writing and its communicative functions, alongside plagiarism, critical thinking, and thesis organisation. Cultural influences and a lack of motivation and research experience and perceived self-doubt intensified the perceived difficulties. These findings offer useful implications for key stakeholders in MA TESOL programs in Vietnam and perhaps in similar settings.
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Authors: Thi Minh Chau Tran is a lecturer in the Faculty of Language and Tourism, Phu Xuan University, Hue, Vietnam. Her research interests are digital transformation in higher education and writing assessment. Email: chau.tran@pxu.edu.vn Bao Trang Thi Nguyen (corresponding author) is a lecturer, researcher in TESOL and applied linguistics. She has published in the fields of task-based language teaching and learning, teacher cognition, L2 writing, vocabulary acquisition, language and culture, learner proficiency and second language acquisition in diverse journals including Language Teaching Research, System, TESOL Journal, RELC Journal, Asia Pacific Journal of Education, International Journal of Comparative Education, Language Testing in Asia, Language-Related Research, and Electronic Journal of Foreign Language Teaching. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5285-7255 Email: ntbtrang@hueuni.edu.vn Dr Pham Thi Hong Nhung obtained an MA and a PhD in applied linguistics with the University of Queensland, Australia. She has taught various postgraduate courses for the Faculty of English, University of Foreign Languages and International Studies, Hue University, Vietnam, and published in the field of applied linguistics and language education. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9621-8482 Email: n.pham@hueuni.edu.vn Dr Lien-Huong Vo is senior lecturer at the University of Foreign Languages and International Studies, Hue University, Vietnam. Her main research expertise pertains to theoretical linguistics and translation studies. She is also interested in using linguistic tools to disentangle cultural notions in languages to support language teaching. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7922-7416 Email: vtlhuong@hueuni.edu.vn Dr Van Huy Nguyen is a Lecturer in Applied Linguistics and TESOL at Hue University of Foreign Languages and International Studies. He earned his PhD in language education from The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia. His main research interests are in the area of language planning and policy, with a special focus on language-in-education policy, English as the medium of instruction (EMI), and educational leadership in developing countries. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6826-6188 Email: nguyenvanhuy@hueuni.edu.vn Please cite as: Tran, T. M. C., Nguyen, B. T. T., Nhung, P. T. H., Vo, L.-H. & Nguyen, V. H. (2025). The difficulties in thesis writing faced by Masters in TESOL students in Vietnam. Issues in Educational Research, 35(1), 356-379. http://www.iier.org.au/iier35/tran.pdf