DIFFICULTIES WITH WORD CHOICE IN ACADEMIC WRITING AND SOLUTIONS: A RESEARCH ON ENGLISH-MAJORED STUDENTS AT CAN THO UNIVERSITY, VIETNAM

Abstract

Writing, especially academic writing, is highly valued in foreign language acquisition, particularly for English majors. Nevertheless, using academic terminology might be difficult for students still developing their academic language abilities. The purpose of this research is to understand students' difficulties in selecting appropriate words in academic writing and offer solutions to overcome such difficulties. The participants were 78 English majors (high-quality program, course 45) and three lecturers at the Department of English Language and Culture, School of Foreign Languages, Can Tho University. Questionnaires were used to measure their difficulties in word choice in academic writing and semi-structured interviews were utilized to find solutions. The results show that most participants had a basic knowledge of academic vocabulary, which was demonstrated through their ability to select the appropriate word choice. However, students found it difficult to choose the right words in their academic writing. The reasons are that academic words are not easy to remember and not successfully used in the context of the meaning of the word and do not have an effective method of learning academic vocabulary. Based on the results, several specific approaches have been proposed to help students find the most suitable strategies for learning and using academic vocabulary for their writing.  Article visualizations: