Non – academic difficulties in studying encountered by freshmen of school of social sciences and humanities – cantho university

CANTHO UNIVERSITY
SCHOOL OF SOCIAL SCIENCES AND HUMANITIES
DEPARTMENT OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES

B.A. THESIS

Non – Academic Difficulties in Studying Encountered by
Freshmen of School of Social Sciences and Humanities –
Cantho University

Supervisor: Truong Thi Ngoc Diep, M.Ed.

Student: Vo The Hien
Code : 7075957
Class : English Studies 01-C 33

Cantho, May 2011


STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY
I certify that this work has not been submitted in the whole or in part to this
university or to any other educational institutions for marking and assessment
either previously or concurrently. I also certify that I have not received any
outside help and that unless otherwise attributed the material presented is all
my own work.
Võ Thế Hiện
May 2011

i

ABSTRACT
Non – academic factors and their influences on students’ studying have been
researched and reported in literature to benefit students’ studying. This paper
aims to investigate and identify non – academic factors as well as their
influential levels on freshmen’s studying in the School of Social Sciences and
Humanities, Cantho University. The current study is both qualitative and
quantitative, and it employs semi – structured interviews and a 35 – item
questionnaire as two main instruments for data collection. Participants
involved in the current study were 104 freshmen, 4 counselors of Course 36
from 4 different departments, including the Department of Foreign
Languages, Department of History, Geography and Tourism, Department of
Vietnamese Linguistics and Literature, and Department of Information and
Libraries, of the School of Social Sciences and Humanities. The results of the
study indicated that participants faced five groups of non – academic factors:
Individual Psychological Factors, Family – Related Factors, Career Planning
Factors, Lecturer – Related Factors, and Other Factors. Influential levels of
all five groups on freshmen’s studying were also measured. Although the
influential levels were not very strong, the concurrent impact of the five
groups caused many difficulties in freshmen’s studying. Finally, some
valuable suggestions were given by counselors to partly help freshmen soon
overcome the difficulties, and study well.

ii


ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
This study has been completed with the help and support of many people.
Therefore, I am thankful to all of them.

First and foremost, I would like to express my special thanks to my

supervisor, Mrs. Truong Thi Ngoc Diep. She always gave me timely and
valuable suggestion on the topic of the thesis, and supported me during the
time I was conducting the thesis. Mrs. Diep has devoted a lot of her valuable
time and energy to correct my thesis. Without her dedicated support and
patience to me, I would have had difficulties in completing the thesis.
Working with her, I have learnt a lot of valuable knowledge and experiences
in conducting research.

Next, I would like to send my deep gratitude to Mr. Huynh Minh Hien, who
instructed data analysis with Statistic Package for Social Sciences Software to
me, and gave me valuable suggestions on my thesis.

I also would like to express my appreciation to Mr. Thai Cong Dan, and Ms.
Ho Phuong Thuy for their valuable advice in my process of conducting a
research study.

My thanks are to all participants of thesis. Without their assistance, my study
could not have been conducted.

Finally, I own everything to my parents. They have been always with me
whenever I am in trouble.

iii


TABLE OF CONTENTS

STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY ................................................................................. i
ABSTRACT....................................................................................................................... ii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................................ iii

TABLE OF CONTENTS ................................................................................................ iv
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION.................................................................................... 1
1.1 Rationale ............................................................................................................. 1
1.2 Research Objectives and Significance ................................................................ 3
1.3 Thesis Organization ............................................................................................ 4
CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW ....................................................................... 6
2.1 An Overview on Freshmen ................................................................................. 6
2.1.1 The Transition from High School to Higher Education............................... 6
2.1.2 Freshmen Expectations at Colleges ............................................................. 8
2.2 Non – Academic Factors................................................................................... 10
2.2.1 Definition ................................................................................................... 10
2.2.2 Working Definition of Non – Academic Used in the Study...................... 13
2.3 Interrelationship Between Freshmen’s Studying and Non – Academic
Factors..................................................................................................................... 13
2.4 Some Features of Vietnamese Freshmen and Their Difficulties in Studying... 17
2.5 Research
Questions……………………………………………………………21
2.6 Hypotheses........................................................................................................ 21
CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY ......................................................... 22
3.1 Research Design ............................................................................................... 22
3.2 Participants........................................................................................................ 23
3.3 Data Collection Instruments ............................................................................. 23
3.4 Research Procedure........................................................................................... 26
3.5 Research Ethnics............................................................................................... 28
CHAPTER 4: RESULTS AND DISCUSSION ............................................................ 29
4.1 Results............................................................................................................... 29
4.1.1 From the Questionnaire ............................................................................. 29
4.1.2 From the Interview..................................................................................... 30
4.1.2.1 Findings from the Interview with Freshmen......................................... 31
4.1.2.2 Findings from the Interview with Counselors ...................................... 35

4.2 Discussion......................................................................................................... 37
4.2.1 Personal Psychological Factors ................................................................. 37
4.2.1.1 Poor Time Management........................................................................ 37
4.2.1.2 Lack of Self – Study Skill..................................................................... 38
4.2.1.3 Lack of Persistence and Insufficient Effort .......................................... 39
4.2.1.4 Lack of Self – Confidence .................................................................... 40
4.2.1.5 Lack of Academic Competence ............................................................ 41
4.2.1.6 Poor Examinations Techniques
…………………………………….... 42
4.2.2 Family – Related Factor............................................................................. 43
4.2.3 Career Planning Factor .............................................................................. 43
4.2.4 Lecturer – Related Factors ......................................................................... 44
4.2.5 Other Non – Academic Factors ................................................................. 45
4.2.5.1 Too Many Extra Concerns .................................................................... 45
iv


4.2.5.2 Financial Problems ............................................................................... 46
4.2.5.3 Freshmen’s Studying Plan and Online Registration ............................. 47
CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION, IMPLICATIONS, RECOMMENDATIONS,
LIMITATIONS, AND DIRECTIONS FOR FURTHER RESEARCH..................... 49
5.1 Conclusion ........................................................................................................ 49
5.2 Implications ...................................................................................................... 50
5.3
Recommendations…………………………………………………………………...50
5.3 Methodological Limitations.............................................................................. 52
5.4 Recommendations for Further Research........................................................... 52
REFERENCES................................................................................................................ 54
APPENDICES ................................................................................................................. 57
Appendix 1: Questionnaire Item (Fraser & Killen, 2003) ...................................... 57

Appendix 2: Questionnaire (Vietnamese Version) ................................................. 59
Appendix 3: Questionnaire (English Version)........................................................ 61
Appendix 4: Interview Questions for Freshmen..................................................... 63
Appendix 5: Interview Questions for Counselors................................................... 64
Appendix 6: Mean Score for Each Item ................................................................. 65
Appendix 7: Mean Scores for Groups of Non - Academic
Factors……………… 66
Appendix 8: Covering Letter .................................................................................. 68
Appendix 9: Translation of the Covering Letter..................................................... 69

v


Introduction

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

This chapter describes (1) the rationale of the current study, (2) research
objectives and significance, and (3) thesis organization.

1.1 Rationale

Annually, the School of Social Sciences and Humanities – Cantho University
(CTU) welcomes hundreds of freshmen. Beside freshmen coming from cities,
most of them come from rural areas in Mekong Delta provinces. These
freshmen got used to living with their parents and studying environment in
high school, so entering new living and studying environment in Cantho city
confuses them greatly. Many new risen factors appear in their first
independent life, and provoke difficulties, especially in studying. Meanwhile,
the first year at universities is a critically transitional phase, and academic

success in the first year at college plays crucial role in achieving expected
results in the coming academic years (Olani, 2009). Therefore, freshmen will
experience an unsuccessful academic year if they do not find feasible
solutions for their difficulties in studying.

The studying process of most freshmen does not go smoothly due to the
influence of many non – academic factors (Fraser and Killen, 2003). Initially,
freshmen have much concern about many extra new factors in their new living
environment which indirectly make negative impacts on freshmen studying.
Since they are quite new to the circumstances, they are ill – prepared to cope
with rising factors. If their concerns are much on these factors, this fact will
certainly affect freshmen’s psychology, and then their studying is more or less
distracted. Besides, Nguyen (2009) confirmed that the differences between
high school studying environment and higher education one are difficulties in
freshmen’s studying because they find it hard to adapt to the new studying

1


Introduction

environment. In the current socialized direction in education and training area,
higher education institutions, including CTU, have increasingly modified their
training curricula so that their students can equip requisite knowledge for their
future. Therefore, freshmen must be active and flexible in their studying so as
to gain expected academic results in their first year at universities.
Nevertheless, it takes freshmen time to be well - integrated to the new
studying environment. Moreover, difficulties in freshmen’s studying also
derive from freshmen’s lack of essential studying skills such as self – study,
peer study, group study, and so on. Nowadays, student – centered teaching

mode becomes approach and more popular, so students need to familiarize
themselves with these study skills as they enter higher education institutions.
However, high school students’ familiarization to traditional teaching and
learning methods impedes their adaptation to new studying skills. Finally,
freshmen’s studying may be easily distracted by personal psychological
factors, family – related factors, and lecturer – related factors. In fact,
freshmen are responsible for their studying, but their families, institutions and
lecturers also have considerable influence on their studying process. For
example, family crisis, lack of facilities serving students’ studying, lecturers’
apathetic attitudes towards lecturing may provoke certain difficulties in
freshmen’s studying (Fraser et al., 2003).

Many studies on the first year of students have been conducted
worldwide. However, there has been a limit in the number of studies found on
the influence of non – academic factors on freshmen’s studying in Vietnamese
context. (Nguyen, 2009) conducted a study on the difficulties in studying of
freshmen, but the study only limits in the scope of English – majored
freshmen’s studying process in Danang University. In fact, such studies in this
field have not been conducted in CTU yet.

In short, the impact of non – academic factors on freshmen studying in
CTU has raised much interest. From my own experience, I have noticed that

2


Introduction

freshmen of the School of Social Sciences and Humanities, CTU, have been
influenced by many typical non – academic factors. Based on theoretical

background on the impact of non – academic factors worldwide, and the
realistic circumstances in the School of Social Sciences and Humanities –
CTU, the current study is conducted to investigate and identify what non –
academic factors and their influences on freshmen’s studying.

1.2 Research Objectives and Significance
Studying in CTU is a long and challenging process. Beside the decisive roles
of academic factors in students’ academic achievement, non – academic
factors make considerable contribution to students’ success or failure (Fraser
et al., 2003). The current study aims to investigate and identify non –
academic factors causing freshmen difficulties in their studying in the real
context of the School of Social Sciences and Humanities, Cantho University.
Another aim of the current study is to measure the influential levels of the non
– academic factors on freshmen’s studying. The final objective of the study is
to present possible solutions for freshmen’s difficulties in studying caused by
non – academic factors so that freshmen can soon overcome the difficulties,
and study well. The results of the study are significant in terms of helping
freshmen, educators, and teaching staffs to recognize and find out possible
solutions for freshmen’s difficulties in their studying so that freshmen can
quickly reach their full academic potentials for academic years to come.

3


Introduction

1.3 Thesis Organization
The thesis consists of five chapters, including (1) Introduction, (2) Literature
Review, (3) Research Methodology, (4) Results and Discussion, and (5)
Implications, Conclusion, Limitations, and Recommendations.

Chapter One presents the problems related to freshmen’s difficulties in
studying caused by non – academic factors in the context of the School of
Social Sciences and Humanities, Cantho University. The background
information and reasons to conduct the thesis are also mentioned. Then,
research questions, research objectives and significance are introduced.
Organization of the thesis is included in the last part of the chapter.

Chapter Two Literature Review defines the term non – academic factors
used in the thesis. The chapter also mentions an overview on freshmen, the
interrelationship between freshmen’s difficulties in studying and the influence
of non – academic factors which are clarified by citing and analyzing related
theoretical background. The final part of the chapter, some features of
Vietnamese freshmen and their difficulties in real CTU’s context are
introduced.

Chapter Three concentrates on research methodology. It describes the
research designs, participants, and research procedure used in this thesis. A
detailed description about the instruments and data collection is also
presented.

Chapter Four shows the results of the questionnaire analyzed by SPSS,
and the results of the interviews. The chapter also mentions a deep discussion

4


Introduction

about the results in comparison with the results of previous studies in terms of

the original hypotheses.

Chapter Five summarizes the main results of the thesis. It also indicates
some implications for non – academic factors and their influences on
freshmen’s studying which are presented in the results. Limitations of the
study and certain recommendations for further research are finally included.

5


Literature Review

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW
This chapter reviews the previous works implemented on the topic “freshmen,
freshmen’s studying and non – academic factors”. It includes (1) an overview
on freshmen, (2) non-academic factors, (3) the interrelationship between
freshmen’s studying and the non – academic difficulties encountered by
freshmen, (4) some characteristics of Vietnamese freshmen and difficulties
facing them in studying in higher education, (5) research questions, and (6)
hypotheses of the thesis.

2.1 An Overview on Freshmen
In Oxford dictionary, “freshmen” (American English) or “first-year students”
(British English) refers to students in their first year at universities or colleges
working to earn a degree. In the current research, “freshmen” refer to high
school graduates who passed the college entrance examination and been
admitted to study Vietnamese higher education institutions.

2.1.1 The Transition from High School to Higher Education
Students who first enter universities have to concern many things, because the

transition from high school to higher education is almost challenging. That
requires students to initially deal with a variety of problems. Nelson, Kift and
Clarke (2008) stated that this transition played a key role in students’
academic performance. Obviously, whether students gain success or suffer
from failure in their first year depends much on how well they integrate to
universities. The transition requires students to adapt to higher education in
favorable directions so that they can make their first year experience go
smoothly and create a valid background for academic years to come.

From the same point of views , Parker, Summerfeldt, Hogan and Majes
(2003, cited in McPhail, Fisher, McConachie, 2009) commented the
6


Literature Review

complexity of the transition from high school to higher education. According
to them, the transitional phase only includes personal issues: how they
psychologically prepare for the transition, how well they adapt to new
studying environment; and interpersonal issues like the needs to build new
relationship with others, the ways to interact with lecturers... However,
Hurtado, Carter, and Spuler (1996) gave a deeper recognition about the
transition by stating that the transitional phase facing freshmen comprised four
areas: academic, social, personal-emotional, and attachment to the institution.
Although different authors listed different elements in the transitional phase,
they seemed to conclude that the transition from high schools to universities
was a profound and comprehensive change in students’ life. In fact, students
have to adapt to all of new features of new circumstances in universities. The
changes affect students’ academic work, their perceptions and feelings about
their new living conditions as well as social and institutional activities. On the

one hand, the transition is partly determined by personal issues; On the other
hand, their transition is objectively affected by studying environment and
social relationship.

Evans (2000) characterized specific periods of the transitional phase.
According to him, the transition had focused much on individual personal
characteristics in years before mid – seventies. However, due to the influence
of cold war period, in the mid-seventies the transition changed to the tendency
of sociological factors such as the relationship with classmates or neighbors in
their new life, and so on. More recently the transition has shifted to the
institutional contexts and the students’ integration because of the diversity of
students. In other words, students nowadays come from a wide range of
regions and background, so how they adapt to new studying and living
environment plays a prominent role in their transitional phase. The transition
changes by time, and in different periods of time a single factor or a couple of
them may produce certain impact on the transitional process causing its
differences in the transition.

7


Literature Review

In short, the transition from high school to higher education has been
discussed in different contexts, so researchers’ viewpoints on the transition are
different in some ways. However, common characteristics are found,
especially freshmen’s characteristics, studying environment and research
context. Because the above factors have concurrent influence on freshmen’s
transition, they ought to be capable of being well-adapted to this utmost initial
step so that they can gain expected educational management in subsequent

years at university.
2.1.2 Freshmen Expectations at Colleges
According to James (2002), student expectations may be shaped early after the
first few weeks of enrollment on which they think seriously about what they
have commenced. Entering the new studying and living environment for the
first few weeks, freshmen had certain recognition on changes compared to
high schools. More often, they expected many things from higher education
such as lecturers’ attitudes towards students’ studying, freshmen’s plan and
orientation for studying, school and social involvement, and so on, in the
process to adapt to higher education.

Tinto (1975, cited in Braxton, Vesper and Hossler, 1995) showed that
students entered colleges or universities with their expectations to experience
and achieve. However, students became disappointed once their expectations
were not satisfied. This could negatively impact their goal commitment,
academic and social integration. Freshmen’s expectations have certain
influence on facilitating their transitional phase (McPhail et al., 2009). A
finding from a study conducted by McInnis, James and Hartley (2000, cited in
McPhail et al., 2009) showed that students passively expected to have the
right adjustment between the institutional environment and their lives. They
enter the new studying and living environment, but they still maintain their
beliefs that higher education would be much similar to their previous studying

8


Literature Review

and living conditions. However, higher education is far different from high
school in term of the expansion of students and innovation in teaching and

studying (McInnis, James and Hartley, 2000). This results in freshmen’s
confusion about these new features of higher education. Therefore, to avoid
this confusing situation, freshmen needed to be active and flexible enough to
deal with the changes.

James (2002) suggested that freshmen’s expectations linked to
individual roles, responsibilities and commitments. Their expectations are
chiefly individualized because they themselves are responsible for whatever
they do and how they try to meet their commitments. However, Nelson, Kift
and Clarke (2008) considered freshmen diversity as a significant feature of
their expectations. Students coming from a wide range of regions have various
expectations when entering higher education institutions. For example, one
student can expect reasonable tuition in accordance to their financial status
while another may value their study time. In spite of different recognition
about freshmen’s expectations of the mentioned researchers, the combination
of the two features would create deeper understanding about freshmen’s
typical features. Therefore, it is important for educators, researchers, and
freshmen themselves to pay much attention to freshmen’s expectation at
university.

In considering how reality meets freshmen’s expectations, McPhail et al.
(2009) indicated a mismatch between freshmen’s expectations and reality.
McPhail et al. (2009) also found that the conflict came from students’
underestimations about the different studying transformation from high school
to higher education. According to James (2002), there are some reasons of
expectations - reality mismatches; they are (1) freshmen expect too high, (2)
their initial expectations continuously change during the transitional phase, (3)
curricula change to meet consistently changing demands of the society, (4) the
quality of higher education is not similar to freshmen’s expectations.

9


Literature Review

Explicitly, the mismatch derives from both students and universities because
they both are directly involved in students’ studying process.

In summary, what freshmen expect and how well they prepare for the
transition from high school to higher education have certain impact on their
academic performance during their first year at college in particular as well as
the whole time they are in tertiary education in general. These two features do
not solely exist, and they mutually have influence on each other. Therefore,
finding ways to facilitate freshmen transitional phase and limit the
expectations – reality mismatches is requisite, and both institutional education
and freshmen themselves take responsibilities to implement it.

2.2 Non – Academic Factors

2.2.1 Definition
“Non – academic factors” refers to elements not related to, or involved in
academic disciplines ( />
However, the term “non – academic factors” has been understood in
various ways. Robbins, Lauver, Le, Davis, Langley & Carlstrom (2004)
define non - academic factors as individual psychosocial factors and study
skill factors. Both had a positive correspondence with Grade Point Average
(GPA) of freshmen.

“Individual psychological factors” are factors that come from students’
perception and beliefs toward their studying and other campus activities and

in return, these activities impact students’ psychology. These factors consist
of:

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Literature Review

(1) Achievement motivation: Students motivate themselves to achieve success
and consider obstacles as inevitable elements in higher education that they
have to try their best to overcome.
(2) Academic goals: Students persistently pursue academic goals and commit
to acting to gain them due to their high evaluation of higher education quality.
(3) Institutional commitment: Students feel attached to and satisfy with their
institutional choice.
(4) Perceived social support: Students perceive the availability of social
networks, especially college libraries and facilities in supporting their
studying.
(5) Social involvement: Students feel connected to the college environment,
make relationships with peers, and staffs, and are involved in campus
activities.
(6) Academic self – efficacy: Students themselves evaluate their ability and
opportunities to succeed in the new studying environment.
(7) General self – concepts: Students have beliefs and perceptions about
themselves that can affect their actions or responses.
(8) Academic - related skills: They are skills which relate to cognitive,
behavioral, and affective aspects and abilities necessary to successfully
complete tasks, achieve goals, and manage academic demands.
(9) Contextual influences: Students are offered with the favor environment
such as financial support, institutions size, and institutions admission policies.

The first eight personal psychological factors in the above list had
certain impact on students’ academic performance. Particularly, the finding of
the survey by Robbins et al. (2004) showed that self – efficacy, achievement
motivations, academic goals, social involvement and academic – related skills
negatively influenced students’ academic performance while external factor contextual influences - had little influence on their GPA. Proper and positive
beliefs and perceptions of freshmen towards the factors helped them study
well and vice versa.

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Literature Review

In The Role of Non - academic Factors in College Readiness and
Success published in Australian Capital Territory (ACT), success in higher
education of their freshmen depends much on how well they perform
academically. However, non – academic factors still make great influence on
academic performance though they cannot replace the roles of academic
factors. The article mainly emphasizes the key role of academic factors in
contributing to students’ academic achievement. However, educators and
students need to pay special attention to the influence of non – academic
factors because non – academic factors support students’ success in higher
education.

In this article, much emphasis is on the significance about the roles of
academic and non – academic factors in contributing success at higher
education. It is difficult for students to succeed if they just boost either
academic factors or non – academic ones because academic factors such as
tests scores or grade point average… are decisive factors in students’

academic performance. Good academic achievement requires students to
combine the two influential factors efficiently. Non – academic factors are
divided into three groups:

(1) Individual psychological factors such as motivation (e.g., academic self –
discipline, commitment to school) and self – regulation (e.g., emotional
control, academic self – confidence).
(2) Family factors, such as attitudes towards education, students’ involvement
in school activities, and geographic stability.
(3) Career planning such as students’ plan for their studying and future jobs.

However, individual psychological factors were classified more detailed
by Robbins et al. (2004) in their meta – analysis study, and the influences of
these factors on freshmen’s studying process were emphasized because

12


Literature Review

Robbins and his colleagues aimed to investigate how perception and
psychology affect students’ studying. Meanwhile, in ACT’s study both
internal and external factors interfere freshmen’s academic work.

To sum up, non – academic factors are both internal and external.
Therefore, it is essential for students and educators to highly evaluate the
significance of non – academic factors so that freshmen make full use of the
factors to study well. Besides, educators should give timely support to
students to help them reach success in higher education.

2.2.2 Working Definition of Non – Academic Used in the Study
In this thesis, non – academic factors are used as the combination of
individual psychological, family, career planning and lecturer - related factors,
and other factors. This notion is appropriate because the participants in this
study are freshmen of the School of Social Sciences and Humanities. Coming
from a wide range of Mekong Delta provinces, CTU freshmen are different
from others in terms of psychological life, family financial status, and career
orientations, and so on.

2.3 Interrelationship Between Freshmen’s Studying and Non – Academic
Factors
Jawitz (1995:103, cited in Fraser and Killen, 2003) indicated that freshmen’s
success, especially at the first year at colleges could be predicted by the results
of the entrance examination. This idea is relevant to the unchanged training
programs in South Africa. There is very small difference between high school
curricula and higher education ones. Therefore, students who are good enough
to pass the entrance college examination can also academically perform well
in their first year at colleges.

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Literature Review

However, Killen (1994, cited in Fraser et al., 2003) emphasized that both
high school GPA or special entrance examination to universities and risen
factors of post – enrollment were strong predictors of students’ success. From
the same point of view, Fraser and Killen (2003) stated that the determinant
factors in freshmen’s academic success were not thoroughly dependent on the
entry standards. Yet non – academic factors needed to be seriously

considered. In this way, Fraser et al. (2003) also pointed out that non –
academic factors could create certain difficulties and consequently diminish
freshmen’s chances of successful academic performance. Non – academic
factors could either facilitate or hinder freshmen’s studying process depending
on their perceptions and attitudes towards studying and levels of involvement
in campus activities. For instance, a student may consider regular class
attendance prominent for him to obtain useful knowledge; hence he/she is
present in almost every class hour. However, if this student underestimates the
significance of class participation, he/she neglects class attendance. Then this
student will possibly have difficulties in studying, even failure, because
studying in higher education requires students to participate in class hours to
obtain lecturers’ instruction so that they can solve problems, do tests and
acquire new studying methods.

According to Schmelzer, Schmelzer, Figler and Brozo (1987, cited in
Fraser et al., 2003), non – academic variables such as lack of study, poor time
management, lack of efforts in studying, and inadequate goal setting are
considered as difficulties leading to failure of students. Differently, Fraser et
al. (2003) used a 55 statement questionnaire related to non – academic
elements causing difficulties in freshmen’s studying (see Appendix 1). The
clearest difference between the two studies is that the first study attributes
students’ failures to personal factors, while in the second one, the reasons for
students’ failures in higher education are due to personal, family, schools and
lecturers factors. Obviously, the findings of Schmelzer and his colleagues did
not give sufficient factors contributing to freshmen’s difficulties in studying.

14


Literature Review

Therefore, the findings of Fraser et al. (2003) provided a deeper understanding
about non – academic factors that impede students’ studying. The findings of
the survey focused much on how “locus of control”, “lecture attendance”,
“examinations preparation”, and “self – motivation” make impact on students’
academic performance, including freshmen’s. These focuses are discussed in
detail in the next parts.

According to Fraser et al. (2003), “locus of control” consists of external
non - academic factors such as too many demands on students’ time, lecturers
with unrealistically high expectations, lecturers’ boring presentation, unclear
assessment criteria, lecturers’ poor language abilities and heavy workload. All
of these are far from their own control. Besides, in terms of locus of control,
internal causes such as lack of motivation, lack of effort, low academic ability
are also non – academic difficulties to students. Since external factors are out
of students’ control, they attribute their failure in studying to these factors.
Meanwhile students consider their academic success as their own efforts. This
view point shows that students still somewhat maintain their self – esteem.
Since they do not admit their shortcomings in studying, their studying quality
is limited.

Lecture attendance is also considered one of the significant factors
contributing freshmen’s success or failure. Schmelzer et al. (1987) indicated
that irregular class attendance could cause negative effects in studying
because students would have difficulties in mastering lessons. There are many
reasons related to students’ absenteeism. A research study conducted by
Fleming in 1992 in Lincoln University indicated some reasons why students
did not attend class regularly: (1) competing assessment pressures, (2) poor
lecturing , (3) timing of the lecture and (4) poor quality of the lecture content.
Besides, Hunter and Tetly (1999) found additional reasons for students’ non –

attendance such as having other ways to get materials, illness, transport/
parking problems, and family problems. Students underestimate the

15


Literature Review

significance of class attendance because they think that they can master
lessons in other ways. According to Fraser et al. (2003) irregular attendance
in lectures/ tutorials is one of the most common factors leading students
failure in higher education. Freshmen’s high awareness of the drawbacks of
non - attendance is owing to their previous studying experience and family’s
support that they should fully participate in lectures. Besides, students who
usually attend to lectures gain a better background of learning materials than
those who are usually absent.

Preparing for examinations plays a prominent role in students’ success
or failures. Findings from survey by Fraser et al. (2003) showed that
“inadequate or poor examination preparation” was the most influential factor
(ranked the first) contributing to freshmen’s failure while poor examination
techniques were ranked the fifth. Therefore, examination techniques are
secondary factors while examination preparation is a decisive one to
determine their examinations results. Obviously, the process that freshmen
formulate plans to do tests or examinations is the key in determining whether
or not their examinations are good. Being well – prepared for examinations in
higher education requires students to do many things, but in high school
learners only study what teachers have taught in class to do examinations
well. Due to the different ways and requirements in preparing examinations,
freshmen often encounter difficulties in their studying.

Fraser et al. (2003) also found self – motivation an internal strength
forcing freshmen’s studying. Therefore, freshmen will encounter difficulties
in their studying if they lack self – motivation. Entwistle and Percy (1973,
cited in Entwistle, Thompson, and Wilson, 1974) claimed that academic
failures in higher education was due to students’ lack of motive power in their
studying. For instance, one student will try his/ her best to study a course that
he/ she is really interested in. Otherwise, he/ she will not study with high
effort and pleasure. Peter (1958, cited in Entwistle et al., 1974) classified

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motivation into two main groups: “extrinsic” and “intrinsic” motivation. He
defined “extrinsic motivation” as the interest caused by external elements to
learning situation while “intrinsic” “the task itself”. Entwistle et al. (1974)
considered high motivation to be closely related to academic success.

The above view points refer how important self – motivation in
studying process is. Lack of motivation is a problem that freshmen have to
find suitable ways to solve in order that they can perform their academic work
better.

In conclusion, non – academic factors are closely associated with
freshmen’s studying. As mentioned above, non – academic factors consist of
both internal and external factors that directly affect freshmen’s studying. To
some personal factors, freshmen should perceive them in appropriate ways to
make them useful studying tools, so freshmen’s positive attitudes and

perception toward studying are very significant. It is also essential for
freshmen to find ways to cope with external non – academic factors.

2.4 Some Features of Vietnamese Freshmen and Their Difficulties in
Studying
In Vietnam, there have been few studies found on freshmen’s difficulties in
studying. Vietnamese freshmen in general and freshmen in CTU in particular
have experienced many changes when transferring from high school to higher
education. In fact, the changes create certain difficulties in students’ studying
(Nguyen, 2009). More insights into freshmen’s studying are vital in aiding
freshmen to recognize the influential factors in their studying in order that
they can overcome these difficulties and gain good academic achievement, in
particular in their first year in higher education. Annually, Vietnamese

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Literature Review

colleges and universities welcome a great number of freshmen whose studying
plays a prominent role as a background for subsequent academic years.

According to the survey conducted by Nguyen (2009), freshmen’s
difficulties in studying come from non – academic factors such as new
teaching methods, lack of interaction with lecturers in class hours, lack of
group study skills, poor presentation preparation and insufficient resources for
references. In particular, 79% of participants had troubles in adapting to new
teaching methods because they have been used to traditional methods in
which teachers lecture and students write the lessons down and learn them by
heart. However, in higher education, students are required to be active in

studying while lecturers play a role as facilitators of the studying process. Due
to this difference, freshmen are less involved in interacting with lecturers, so
to some extent, it is hard for freshmen to master lessons. In the study of
Nguyen (2009), although freshmen emphasized the significance of group
work and presentation preparation in studying (91% and 73% respectively),
they could not manage these two factors well. It takes students time to adapt
to these new skills. Many students thought that study in group meant studying
with as many students as possible, but actually the ways to organize the group,
divide specific tasks among group members or exchange ideas together were
more important than the numbers of group members. Obviously, at the
beginning of the studying process in higher education, freshmen did not
acquire initial necessary skills and subsequently found their studying difficult.

Besides, in her article, Nguyen (2009a) emphasized the importance of
self - motivation in studying. This idea is similar to the finding of Fraser et al.
(2003). Self – motivation is the most influential factor in students’ studying.
Freshmen are sometimes satisfactory with their studying as members of a
college or university. Therefore, in some cases, they do not have much
motivation to gain good results in higher education. Moreover, poor time
management results in difficulties in freshmen’s studying (Nguyen, 2009b).

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Literature Review

Since universities or colleges in Vietnam are usually located in cities, students
from rural areas come to cities to continue their studying. Entering new life
and studying environment, students do not know how to arrange their time
efficiently. Nguyen (2009c) also addressed freshmen’s difficulty in

developing interpersonal relationship, and the sense of belonging to the
institution.

Additionally, Nguyen (2009d) showed other difficulties that affected
freshmen’s studying; the difficulties focused on differences between studying
experience between high school and higher education: (1) lack of lecturers’
supervision, (2) big classes leading to insufficient personal concerns, (3)
taking – note skills due to disappearance of traditional teaching methods
(students only write down what teachers lecture), (4) limitation of class hours
for more homework, (5) heavy studying workload. Because of big class size
and time limitation, a lecturer cannot pay attention to all students. Therefore,
it is hard for learners to gasp all of information conveyed by lecturers. From
psychological aspects, students may feel frustrated, and they claim that
lecturers do not pay interest in them, so students may not really be enthusiastic
to study. Note taking skill, group study skill and preparation for examination
are demanding. Once traditional teaching methods are applied in higher
education in limitation, students must be good at taking necessary notes in
class to get knowledge and be well – prepared for tests or examinations.
Students do not have to spend much time on class, but on self - study and
searching for more related materials to enrich their knowledge. Therefore,
many freshmen find that the studying workload is heavier than that in high
school.

Besides, boring teaching methods and lecturers’ attitudes towards
teaching also cause difficulties in freshmen studying. In the interview with
Giaoduc/TNO, Dr. Tran Hanh- the rector of Hong Bang University revealed
that the increase in number of students whose academic performance was not

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