LAC HONG UNIVERSITY
FACULTY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE
RESEARCH REPORT
Job reality
during internship of lhu english majors
Student: NGUYEN THI VAN ANH
Supervisor: Mr. TRAN VO THANH TUNG (M.A.)
BIEN HOA, DECEMBER 2019
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CONTENT
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ........................................................................................... iii
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ................................................................................ 1
1. Background of the study ..................................................................................... 1
2. Purposes ............................................................................................................... 2
3. Significance of the study ..................................................................................... 2
4. Research question ................................................................................................ 2
CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW .................................................................... 3
1. The importance of English language nowadays .............................................. 3
2. Job opportunities of an English major .............................................................. 4
3. The requirements of recruiters towards employees nowadays ....................... 6
4. Faculty of English Language in Lac Hong University ..................................... 7
5. Internship ............................................................................................................. 8
5.1.
What is internship? ...................................................................................... 8
5.2.
Internship significance ................................................................................. 9
CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY AND PROCEDURE .................. 12
1. Aims and objective ............................................................................................ 12
2. Participant .......................................................................................................... 12
3. Research approach ............................................................................................ 12
3.1.
Instruments for data collection ..................................................................... 12
3.1.1.
Questionnaire to students ....................................................................... 12
3.1.2.
Interview of recruiters ............................................................................ 13
CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION ....................................................... 14
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1. Questionnaire to students ................................................................................. 14
1.1.
Internship status of students ...................................................................... 14
1.2.
Evaluation of students about their internship and the university’s
curriculum ............................................................................................................. 21
2. Interview with recruiters .................................................................................. 26
2.1.
The requirement of recruiters toward employees ................................... 26
2.2.
Most important skills.................................................................................. 27
CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS ............................ 28
1. Main conclusion of this study ........................................................................... 29
2. Limitation ........................................................................................................... 30
3. Recommendations ............................................................................................. 31
3.1.
Recommendation for students ................................................................... 31
3.2.
Recommendation for the university.......................................................... 31
REFERENCES ............................................................................................................ 32
APPENDICES .............................................................................................................. 35
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The completion of this study would not have been possible without the contributions of
the following people whom I would like to acknowledge.
First of all. I would like to express my special thanks to the Board of Director of Lac
Hong University for providing us with such good facilities and enjoyable learning
environment with chances and opportunities from which students can take advantage to
improve knowledge and sharpen skills
My deepest gratitude goes to my instructor, Mr. Tran Vo Thanh Tung for all his guidance,
supports, critical advices as well as his encouragement during the time I did my research,
despite being always busy with his schedule.
Besides, I wish to send my sincere to all teachers at English Department who have taught
me devotedly. Also, I would like to assert my gratefulness to students from 15AV111,
15AV112, and 15AV113 as well as Human resources managers from Sacom
Corporation, Elite Joint Stock Company and Fashion Garmnet Co.ltd for willingly
joining this study and contributing to the success of my research. I value the assistance
they provided with the data collection.
Last but not least, I really appreciate my family and friends supporting, encouraging and
caring about me during the whole time I was carrying out this research.
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CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
1. Background of the study
Nancy O’Neill (2010) wrote that an internship which happens in a short period of time
is an opportunity offered by an employer to usually undergraduates or senior students.
Normally, an internship can last between a month and three months. Coco (2002) stated,
internships with the emphasis firmly on training give students opportunity to gain real-life
experience of the workplace and field they hope to get into, which not only helps interns
gain practical skills and decide if the career they are experiencing is suitable for them, but
also enables them to make contacts with recruiters to get the security for a job and
“climbing the first rung on the career ladder”, said in an internship journal of Wikijob.
According to Mr. Trinh Minh Tan (2015), understanding the great advantages of internship
program, colleges and universities in Vietnam have offered internship programs, which are
carried out at least two months after students are trained and get fully expertise knowledge
as well as already mentally prepared for working in a professional environment. This
internship program is an important factor to not only the university and students but also
to the enterprises.
In 1997, Lac Hong University (LHU) established the Faculty of English Language, and
so far the Department has enrolled totally 19 courses, and 15 courses have done the
internships, gaining practical experience to make significant contribution to the social
economic development of the Southeast region in particular and of the whole country in
general. However, up to now, there has been no research conducted to reflect the internship
situation of students as well as their expectation for the program; therefore, to better
understand the situation, I decide to carry out an investigation into job reality during
internship of English majors in LHU.
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2. Purposes
Based on the indicators of employment rate, income, promotion, and integration ability,
this study provides the information about the senior students’ status after finishing their
academic learning and provides readers an overview of current career circumstance of
students in their internship.
3. Significance of the study
The study, of which the purpose is to obtain the job status of senior students, is very
important since the information provided by senior students will greatly contribute to the
evaluation of the effectiveness of the university curriculum as well as provide useful
information about future career to English majors. Through that, the University will have
more scientific bases to support students during their internships and adjust the content of
the training program to meet the increasing needs of recruiters and job market.
4. Research question
1. What is the percentage of LHU English majors having an official job during their
internships?
2. Which fields do their jobs belong to?
3. Beside school knowledge, what else do interns need to equip themselves with to
increase their job opportunities?
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CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW
1. The importance of English language nowadays
Shaik Riyaz Ahmad (2016) stated that English is the way to get better education and
employment opportunities. “English language plays a crucial role to weave the world into
a single thread”, she said. English is the second language in almost all countries. Besides
United Kingdom, 60 out of 196 countries see English as their official language, said by
Thanh Binh (2015). He also mentioned that English, which is the official language used in
European Union, the United Nations, the NATO, the European Free Trade Association and
many national organizations and alliance, sis used in global diplomacy. According to
Phung Van Minh (2015), in today globalization, along with the development of technology,
medicine, engineering and Education and etc, English language is now playing the most
important role. Said by Ms. Dinh Thị My Le (2018), English now became indispensable.
Most Internet contents and programs are using English as the main display language. Not
only is English used in science term, but it is also used in all fields. Phung Van Minh (2015)
stated that in a developing country like Vietnam, since most people are aware of the
significance of English language in finding a good job, communicating with the outside
world, or accessing the scientific resources, the language has been taught very early not
only in secondary or high schools but also in universities and colleges which are now
having many subjects taught in English as well as setting the standard of foreign language
output for graduates.
Rajathurai Nishanthi (2018) defined that companies or organizations consider English
an importance factor in recruitment. They will decide whether an employee is hired or not
after checking his or her English ability. International companies expect employees to
fluently communicate in English and usually consider their staff well educated if they are
good English speakers, writers, readers and listeners. English is the dominant business
language and it has become a must for people to speak English if they are to enter the global
workforce. In Airbus, Daimler Fast Retailing, Nokia, Renault, Samsung, SAP, Technicolor,
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and Microsoft in Beijing-global companies, English is their official corporate language.
Said by Ms. Dinh Thị My Le (2018), if a person has strong English communication ability,
he or she can have higher opportunity in getting good job. Many employers today make
English their priority in finding employees. For instance, it is impossible for a graduate
who would like to have the opportunity to work in a hotel or a good resort with high salary
and dynamic and stable working environment when the graduate does not know how to
communicate in English. Although for students, it is challenging to master English, it is
the key to help graduates be more successful in the future, improve themselves and develop
their career.
According to Nguyen Thi Thu Ha (2017), when a person is good at foreign languages,
especially English, it is an advantage and opportunity to work in large enterprises. For
instance, fresh graduates with excellent expertise knowledge but bad English skills can fail
in their job interviews. This is really a regrettable thing, but it can help indicate the
importance of English nowadays. Good English competence is always a remarkable edge
when applying for a job and when working. It can be said that English is an indispensable
ticket for anyone who wishes to assert themselves in the integration period.
2. Job opportunities of an English major
In the journal “English majors, there’s no worry about unemployment” of the Young
newspaper, Tran Huynh (2018), the author quoted the speech of Mr. Tang Huu Tan - head
of the admissions committee of Ton Duc Thang University, about English majors that there
are now many universities offering English language training. In particular, each school
has the strength to train a specialization of this industry including translation, English
teaching and Business English. Regarding the current English language curriculum, most
universities or colleges have the same basic curriculum, but the output orientation of
students in each school may be different. Students studying English language will be
equipped with expertise knowledge like politics, ethic, professional and health qualities
and soft skills such as communicating, presenting, analyzing, solving problems, and
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working in groups, which enable them to work effectively in English-specific professional
fields. With the knowledge provided, new graduates from English major can work as
translators or interpreters in different organizations like diplomatic agencies, media
agencies, publishers, book publishing centers, newspapers, magazines or other economic
social organizations, Moreover, English majors can be media specialists, event organizers,
secretaries, assistants, and etc. in foreign companies. Furthermore, they can work in travel
agencies, hotels and restaurants as tour guides or consultants, in universities, colleges,
vocational schools, high schools, or foreign language centers as teachers of English. Also
mentioned in this article, Dr. Tang Huu Tan said that English major offers the diversity in
job opportunities. There are very few graduates in this major unemployed. However, Dr.
Tan also stated that besides academic knowledge, students need to equip themselves with
soft skills to easily seize the chance in getting attractive jobs after graduation.
In accordance to Economic and Distributional Impacts of Comprehensive and Progressive
Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership: The case of Vietnam written by Maryla
Maliszewska, Zoryana Olekseyuk and Israel OsorioRodarte (2018), Vietnam has signed
the CP-TPP Trans-Pacific Trade Partnership Agreement and the ASEAN Economic
Community, opening up potential employment opportunities for the English Language
industry, with the attractive salary favor for English Language graduates- the average of
600-900 USD / month for fresh graduated students and can be up to 2,000 USD / month
for those who have experienced. Mentioned in journal “Career opportunities from
international languages - English major” of Gia Dinh Univesity (2019), with the advantage
of being allowed to freely work in the economic sector of 10 AEC countries, Vietnamese
workforce with strong English skills will have the opportunity to access over 6,000,000
attractive jobs. English language is always a competitive factor to take advantage at work,
which expand the opportunity to find a job in multinational corporations or can even build
self-own business model. Therefore, the English Language opens up to more freedom to
choose a job without narrowing down opportunities in just Vietnamese companies. Fully
equipped with both expertise knowledge and integration skills, students can quickly
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integrate into an international environment and take on many different positions after
graduating from English major.
3. The requirements of recruiters towards employees nowadays
According to M.S. Vu The Vu and M.S. Tran Thanh Tong (2013), the requirement
for the employees can be classified according to different recruitment positions. For
instance, working in Production - Quality - Purchasing Department, employees are
expected to have organizational, managerial and professional skills. AdministrativePersonnel position need to be good in terms of office computing, communication,
organization, communication, and personnel organization skills. Marketing-BusinessCustomer Care positions are highly expected to have good communication, analysis,
negotiation, relationship building and development skills. Finally, the position of
Accounting and Finance need to meet the requirement of employers in having analysis,
office computing, and specialized computing skills.
Moreover, in accordance to the research result of Finch, D., Nadeau, J. & O’Reilly, N.
(2012), most employers have defined their five requirements when they recruit one
employee. There are soft skills such as communication, listening, teamwork skills, and
professional in work which employers consider as the important factor for working in
professional environment and in selecting suitable employees for their corporation showed
by Lievens and Sackett (2012). In the research about “Employers’ Perception On Soft
Skills Of Graduates: A Study Of Intel Elite Soft Skill Training” of A. Fairuzza Binti Hairi
and partner (2011), they listed five vital soft skills needed in the working place with the
respectively descending importance, including Communication, Teamwork, Decision
Making & Problem Solving, Creative & Critical Thinking and Program & Project
Management skill. There is a finding that a graduate having technical skills but lacking
sufficient relevant soft skills will not be assured of a job; problem solving skill according
to Stiwne, E.E. & Jungert, T. (2010) and Wellman, N. (2010), is necessary in every position
in a company which demand the abilities of decision making, analysis and generalization.
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Besides, according to Reid, J.R. & Anderson, P.R. (2012) opinion, Problem Solving skill
requires the association of abilities in terms of critical thinking, management, adaptability
skills. Thus, Problem Solving skill is one of core criteria in recruiting employee said by
Wellman, N. (2010); experience is the factor that the recruiter need most of graduates.
Normally, employers do not require students to have expertise experience they instead need
experience accumulated from the internship, from part-time jobs said by Hopkins, C.D.,
Raymond, M.A. & Carlson, L. (2011) and Gault, J., Leach, E. & Duey, M. (2010). Some
employers according to their perception are interested in recruiting graduates from certain
reputable universities. The reputation of a university and its relationship in hiring a fresh
graduate is considered in three components: (1) according to Alessandri S., Yang, S. &
Kinsey, D. (2006) and Capobianco (2009), the name of the university in the university's
prestigious ranking; (2) the school's training program; (3) student learning outcomes (such
as the overall grade point average). They will affect the employment opportunities of fresh
graduates. However, Peter Cappelli stated that when recruiting employees who have just
graduated from college or universities, the awareness of universities or knowledge in
school is not the top concern of employers; they, on the contrary, concern more about the
experience of part-time job, internships, even if the candidates have never taken any fulltime job.
4. Faculty of English Language in Lac Hong University
Department of English language formerly known as Department of Foreign language
was established in 1997. The department provides the diploma of full-time, part-time and
associate degree in terms of Business English. English major includes four subject groups
in its curriculum, which are Skills, Literature and Country study, Business English, and
Language Theory group. The Department from the first day of foundation has two main
training program in terms of Business English and English for Education, but since 2002,
the Faculty of English Language has decided to fully concentrate on Business English
training program. At present, the Faculty takes responsibility of:
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✓ Helping student master the communication of foreign language including listening,
speaking, reading and writing
✓ Giving in-depth knowledge in terms of language, history, culture and literature of
native speaker
✓ Providing practical skills of business, commerce, and interpretation – translation
✓ Preparing knowledge and advices for students to get international certification for
instance TOEIC, IELTS, or TOEFL using for postgraduate education or
professional works
The Department usually organized expertise courses with certification in terms of
Business and commercial, Tourism, Interpretation and Translation and English for
education. Besides giving academic knowledge, the Department are in coordination with
enterprises every year to support the internship of students. According to admission board
of Lac Hong University Admission Department, English major graduates are able to take
responsibility to professional work in Foreign affairs, cultural and diplomatic agencies and
organizations; companies, resorts, hotels, restaurants; domestic and foreign companies
operating in the fields of trade and business; companies, organizations operating in the field
of translation; schools, foreign language centers; media specialist, event organizer; tour
guides, consultants at travel companies, travel agencies, hotels and restaurants.
5. Internship
5.1.
What is internship?
The Ohio State University Department of Political Science (2013) defined that
an internship is a work experience offered by an organization for a limited period of time.
In the research of Nancy O’Neill, director of Integrative Programs and the LEAP Campus
Action Network, Association of American Colleges and Universities about Internships as
a High-Impact Practice (2010), she quoted that internship can be understood as gaining
experience, which is a part of undergraduate education. In another point of view, she
defined internship as a supervised discipline which can be described as an intentional
experiential learning strategy focusing on professional development, performance
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assessments, reflection and acknowledgment. Dailey, Stephanie L. (2016) mentioned in
their work "What Happens Before Full-Time Employment? Internships as a Mechanism of
Anticipatory Socialization" that typically, an internship is the exchanging of services for
experience between the intern and the organization. Most people take internship to
determine whether they are still interest in one field if they have real-life experience.
Internships give senior college students the opportunity to participate in a field of their
choice in order to receive knowledge about a particular future career, and prepare them for
full-time work following graduation. In addition, an internship can be used to create a
professional network that can assist with letters of recommendation or lead to future
employment opportunities.
Usually high school students, college and university students, or post graduate adult
can be an intern. These positions are mostly temporary with low paid or even unpaid, stated
by Perlin, Ross (2013) in "Internships": Sociology of Work.
Said by Bowdoin College (2004), internships have a wide variety of industries and
settings which can be paid; unpaid; or partially paid.
Recently, paid internship is growing popularity stated in the work “Internship Expectations:
What an Internship Is and Is Not - Current Students and Alumni - Career Center University of Evansville” (2017) that paid internship which usually occur during the
second or third year of schooling is the way for interns to expand their knowledge both in
academic studies and also at the company. Getting into the internship most students are
expected to bring ideas and knowledge from school into the company.
5.2.
Internship significance
Many researchers have listed specific benefits which students can gain from
participating in internship programs. According to Rutaba Adnan (2016) both interns and
employee now are considering internship programs are indeed the win-win contract which
can bring advantages for both sides. In this competitive market, more than half of employers
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in fact are now finding the best fit for their companies by providing relevant internship
experience. Forbes.com stated that, comparing to employees without internship, those with
relevant experience from internship are better prepared and be able to meet most of
employers’ requirement. Moreover by using empirical research, Fang, Lee, S, Lee, and
Huang (2004) and Gault, Redington, and Schlager (2000) have realized that students
participating in internships receive a greater number of job offer. According to Mary Anne
McNulty, Manager of Staffing and College Relations, Starwood Hotels & Resorts,
internships can allow recruiters to find and build relationships with students when they are
in academic. “This builds a pool of candidates who have work experience with us and who
have forged relationships with our managers”, she said.
In “Internships in undergraduate finance programs: Financial Practice and
Education” of Maskooki, K., Rama, D. V., & Raghunandan, K. (1998), the authors gave
their point of view about significance of internship that an intern can put knowledge in
classroom into practice, form good working habit, and get higher chances of finding
employment. Additionally, Coco (2000) also showed five benefits of internship, which are
helping interns relate classroom concepts to practical applications, improve expertise
knowledge of businesses, identify interests and career ambitions, get familiar with
workplace environment, and get better in professional environment faster. Cook, Parker
and Pettijohn (2004) mentioned in their journal that students taking internship can enhance
their interpersonal skills, relate knowledge gained from the classroom to the workplace,
become more mature, achieve their career goals, and be confident in obtaining a job upon
graduation.
Mr. Trinh Minh Tan (2015) stated that not only do students get benefits from
internship program, universities and enterprises are also take significant advantage from
this. Through the mentoring for interns, agencies and businesses can identify the
weaknesses of the training program in colleges and universities, and the practical
requirements that students have not met to make comments and suggestions to the school.
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On that basis, universities can adjust their training programs to improve the output quality.
With the cooperation between universities and the enterprises, it is easier and more
effective to monitor the employment situation of students after graduation and evaluate the
quality of training. Moreover, he also showed that in the long term, internship has a positive
impact on the workforce for the industry. In agencies and enterprises point of view,
recruiting interns is a part of improving the quality in training the workforce in their fields.
According to Technology department of Maritime College (2016), internship is a recruiting
way which helps businesses have opportunities to hire suitable employees that do not need
too much time to retraining. This helps businesses "hunt" excellent employees right from
the beginning without much cost.
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CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY AND
PROCEDURE
1. Aims and objective
In order to understand clearly about the status of English major senior students in Lac
Hong University after they finish their academic and have the overview in job reality
during their current internship and what they think about the internship, this research was
conducted in July 2019. It is hope that evidence gained from participant in this research
may in many ways be beneficial for the University in supporting senior students during the
internship as well as improving the training program to meet the needs of job market.
2. Participant
This research was done with three classes, namely class 15AV111, 15AV112 and
15AV113 with 22, 30 and 20 students respectively with male and female students with the
age ranging from 22 to 24 and with recruiters from Sacom Corporation, Fashion Garment
Co.ltd, and Elite Joint stock company.
3. Research approach
Quantitative approach was exploited in this research to have the most persuasive and
reliable data. The data was collected through two main types of means. The first one is a
questionnaire to English majors in Lac Hong University course fifteen. The second one is
the interviews of recruiters in some corporations.
3.1.
Instruments for data collection
3.1.1. Questionnaire to students
The questions were designed as a main tool to gather data and information about
internship status of students. There are a total 13 English questions in the questionnaire
including 8 multiple choices and 5 open ended questions. By answering this questionnaire,
information about job reality during internship of student course 15 will be collected.
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3.1.2. Interview of recruiters
In addition, interviews of employers at Sacom Corporation, Fashion Garment Co.ltd,
and Elite Joint stock company were also set up with the hope of exploring what the
requirement of recruiters toward fresh graduates as well as finding out that whether English
majors at Lac Hong University have meet their requirement or not.
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CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION
1. Questionnaire to students
1.1.
Internship status of students
Question 1: “What is your company’s address?”
WORKING PLACES
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
58%
20%
10%
18%
18%
6%
0%
Dong Nai
Binh Duong
Ho Chi Minh City
Others
Working places
Figure 1: Working places of interns
Most of the participants stay in Dong Nai province to take their internship,
accounting for 58% of students. Same number of interns decided to work in Binh Duong
Province and Ho Chi Minh City while only 6% come back to their hometown or go to small
town to get jobs. Overall, choosing to work in city is the general trend of students not only
since there are many industrial zones around these cities providing variety of jobs for fresh
graduates but also students can have more opportunities to gain knowledge after graduation
training courses.
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Question 2: “What form of business is the company where you do take
internship?”
2%
5%
Private enterprise
State-owned enterprise
Family business
93%
Figure 2: the form of students’ internship companies
It can be definitely seen from the figure 2, all of the examined senior students (100%)
are employed with 92% of participants now taking internship for private enterprise due to
the development of private sector in Vietnam throughout the last three years. In contrast,
the number of participants working for state-owned enterprise is only take about 2% and
there are 5% of participants decided to take internship for their own family’s companies to
gain experience before working for other corporations.
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Question 3: “Which field does your company operate in?”
Fields
44%
Services
Production
56%
Fields
Education
21%
Textile
32%
Construction material supplier
Tourism
Transportation
17%
Food processing
Real Estate
6%
Others
6%
6%
7%
5%
Figure 3, 4: Fields of companies
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