Analyzing English Writing Habits for Academic Achievement Among Vietnamese University Students

Abstract:  For both educational and professional objectives, university students in Vietnam are being urged more and more to write in English. This study explored how postgraduate students perceive and approach writing tasks related to their university assignments. The study utilized a framework based on the BAWE Corpus, which is also referred to as British Academic Written English, focusing on academic genres, the study explores how students with less educational experience often encounter rigid and standardized writing practices. It was expected that students majoring in English and those enrolled in institutions where English is the main language of instruction are likely to experience a broader range of writing styles. On the other hand, postgraduate students from all fields had to write in English in some genres, especially reports on scientific research. The amount of work necessary, the degree of success obtained, and the students’ assessed readiness for the kind of writing that was expected of them all influenced how they felt about their projects. Students used think-aloud procedures and self-reports to identify the main writing difficulties. A lot of students said they felt unprepared to handle the required genres, emphasising the necessity for critical thinking abilities and challenges with academic language. The results indicate that a pedagogical strategy centred on genre awareness at the late undergraduate or early postgraduate stage would be beneficial for postgraduate students who did not major in English, particularly those in science-related subjects.