1. Full name:  Nguyen Thi Bich Thuy                                                                     

2. Sex: Female

3. Date of birth: 15/10/1970                                                                

4. Place of birth: Hanoi

5. Admission Decision number:  1697/QĐ-ĐHNN, Dated: 08/11/2013  

6. Changes in academic process: Decision number 2095/QĐ-ĐHNN, Dated: 22/11/2016  

7. Official thesis title: English Reading Strategy Use by University Students in Vietnam

8. Major: English Language Teaching Methodology        

9. Code: 9140231.01

10. Supervisors:

1. Dr. Hoang Thi Xuan Hoa

2. Assoc. Prof. Dr. Lam Quang Dong

11. Summary of the new findings of the dissertation:

a. Theoretically, the dissertation has reviewed the most well-known and updated theoretical issues and studies related to the field of reading and reading strategies. It has also contributed to the existing literature reliable information about reading strategy use by university students in Vietnam.

b. Methodologically, the study has provided the most appropriate instruments to carry out a research on reading strategy use.

c. Practically, the study has made an attempt to provide a comprehensive picture of the use of reading strategies by university students in Vietnam.

- The participants use reading strategies at moderate level of frequency when they read general English texts. The most frequently used strategy category was Cognitive, followed by Affective, then Socio-cultural Interactive, and Metastrategies were used the least frequently. The individual strategy which was used the most by the participants was Activating Knowledge, and Planning strategy received the lowest frequency level.

- ESL students overwhelmed EFL students in the use of reading strategies both in the types of strategies and the frequency level, except for Affective category.

- Three factors found related closely to the participants’ reading strategy use were their academic majors, levels of English learning/English reading enjoyment, levels of self-rated English/ English reading proficiency.

+ Students majoring in Finance-Banking and Accounting used all types of strategies more frequently than those majoring in Medicine.

+ Students who showed the enjoyment used strategies more frequently than those who did not enjoy or did not mind English learning and reading in English.

+ The highest frequencies in the use of each strategy category were in the group of good self-rated students, and the students of poor group reported the lowest frequencies.

Though there were not significant statistical differences in the use of strategies by the participants concerning three other factors (gender, English learning time, self-perception of being a proficient English reader), some notable findings in the students’ use of strategies while reading were also revealed.

12. Practical applicability, if any:

a. For Educational Administrators

Explicit instruction of strategy use should be incorporated into the English curriculum for university students.

b. For Teachers of English

Teachers should have a clear understanding of the use of each strategy so that they could not only provide students basic knowledge of various reading strategies but also teach students how to use them effectively.

It is necessary for teachers to take a survey to get information about students’ strategy use and their demographic data before conducting strategy instruction.

c. For Students

It is essential for students to identify their awareness of reading strategies and use them frequently. Students also need to motivate themselves so that they can become self-strategic regulating readers to achieve high English reading achievement.

d. For English Textbook Writers

It is very important for textbook writers to design English texts which require and allow readers to practice applying as many suitable effective strategies as possible to get better reading performance.

13. Further research directions, if any:

More research should be carried out in the context of Vietnam to focus on students’ strategy use in other English language skills namely listening, speaking, writing, and learning vocabulary and grammar as well.

Future studies on the effectiveness of reading strategy constructions might be a good suggestion.

More qualitative investigations on students’ reading strategy use should be conducted.

14. Dissertation-related publications:

Thuy, N.T.B. (2015). Cognitive Strategy Use by University Non-English Majored Students in Reading Comprehension. International Journal of Technical and Application (e-ISSN: 2320-8163), Special Issue 15 (Jan-Feb), 16-22.

Thuy, N.T.B. (2016). Những yếu tố tác động đến việc lựa chọn chiến lược đọc hiểu tiếng Anh của sinh viên.  Kỷ yếu Hội thảo khoa học quốc gia 2016- Nghiên cứu và giảng dạy ngoại ngữ, ngôn ngữ và quốc tế học tại Việt Nam. VNU Publishing House, 327-335.

Thuy, N.T.B. (2016). A Modified Survey of Reading Strategies (SORS)- a Good Instrument to Assess Students’ Reading Strategy Use. VNU Journal of Science- Foreign Studies, 32 (4), 52-63.

Thuy, N.T.B. (2018). Việc sử dụng chiến lược đọc theo mô hình S2R trong đọc hiểu văn bản tiếng Anh thông dụng của sinh viên Việt Nam. Kỷ yếu Hội thảo khoa học quốc gia 2018- Nghiên cứu và giảng dạy ngoại ngữ, ngôn ngữ và quốc tế học tại Việt Nam. VNU Publishing House, 601-612.

Thuy, N.T.B. (2018). Reading Strategies use by Vietnamese EFL and ESL University Students. VNU Journal of Foreign Studies, 34 (2), 111-124.