Communication Skills of International Students at Ho Chi Minh

City University of Technology and Education

Lecturer Name: Le Thi Kim Thu

Student Name: Nguyen Huynh Dat
Student ID: 19NT13263
 TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction………………………………………………………………………...
1. Background…………………………………………………………………………………
2. Problems……………………………………………………………………………………
3. Research aims………………………………………………………………………………
4. Research questions………………………………………………………………………….

Literature review…………………………………………………………………...
1. Definition of Communication………………………………………………………………
2. Student communication skills today……………………………………………………….
3. The importance of communication skills for students……………………………………..
3.1 In University……………………………………………………………………………
3.2 At work…………………………………………………………………………………
3.3 In Life………………………………………………………………………………
4. Solutions to develop communication skills for students………………………………
4.1 Confidence………………….…………………………………………………………
4.2 Practice………………………………………………………………………………
4.3 Participation in class discussions……………………………………………………

Methodology……………………………………………………………………
1. Research design………………………………………………………………………..
1.1 Research context…………………………………………………………………..
1.2 Research participants………………………………………………………………
2. Data collection…………………………………………………………………………
2.1 Questionnaire……………………………………………………………………….
2.2 Interview……………………………………………………………………………..
3. Data Analysis…………………………………………………………………………..

Finding and Discussion………………………………………………………….

Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………

Appendices…………………………………………………………………………

Reference…………………………………………………………………………
 Chapter I: Introduction
1. Background
Communication is an important issue not only in study but also at work in
today’s world. Communication is a two-way process for interchanging of
ideas and views. Different modes and mediums are used to convey the
message and develop relationships. The ability to communicate effectively
with friends, teachers at HCMUTE or superiors, colleagues in the future is
essential, whether you work or study in different fields. People in the digital
age must know how to effectively transmit and receive messages directly and
by phone, email, social media.
2. Problems
 Communication is extremely important in life. The society is more and more
civilized and modern codes of conduct, communication styles polite, civilized
more and more attention. Delivery behave in a cultural way is the basis for
image into a good relationship with friends and teachers.
 International students’ ability to communicate is still limited compared to the
general reality. Students have difficulty in exchanging knowledge, teamwork,
and making presentation.
 It will affect a student’s problem of finding a job after graduated.
3. Research aims
To clarify the above problems, this article has two purposes:
 This article is intended to help students be able to present, listen and express
ideas more confidently in the learning process.
 This article is intended for students can perceive and improve their ability to
communicate and persuade others to develop in the future and will create a
high chance of getting a good job.
4. Research questions
There are two questions to clarify the above problems
1. How do communication skills impact students?
2. What strategies can help International students to improve communication
skills at HCMUTE?
 Chapter II: Literature review
1. Definition of Communication
Communication skills is one of the elements of generic skills that are essential
among university students. Through their years in the university, students would
have been exposed to situations, in and outside of the lecture halls, where they
must use their communication skills, for example group assignments and class
presentations. Communication skills were measured via a self-administered
questionnaire and it assessed ten elements in communication skills, including oral,
write and social behavior (Iksan & Zakaria 2012).

Communication skills can be defined as the transmission of a message that

involves the shared understanding between the contexts in which the
communication takes place (Khan 2017).

Communication is a purposeful process of expressing, receiving and

understanding messages containing factual information, feelings, ideas and needs
by two or more individuals through common symbols (Asemanyi 2015).

Communication can be both verbal or non-verbal as seen traditionally. However,

based on a rapidly evolving field, people’s understanding of communication
suggests that it incorporates many different domains. These domains include face-
to-face interactions (e.g. premium located meetings), digital literacy including,
virtual environments for instance, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and ePortfolios,
besides email, texting and social media. The protocols of communicating within
each domain are different with regards to the spelling/grammar conventions,
nomenclature, acceptable norms, intended audience, the texts used for specific
communicative purposes, message length etc. Communication is “the act of
conveying intended meanings from one entity or group to another through the use
of mutually understood signs and semiotic rules”. The channel used for
communication can be auditory, visual, tactile (such as in Braille) or haptic,
kinesics, olfactory, electromagnetic, or biochemical. Because of its extensive use
of abstract language, human communication is unique (Rathee & Rajain 2018).

Communication ability is the ability to communicate, exchange information,

listen, respond, behave, between the speaker and the listener to be able to achieve
certain purposes. Communication skills are the effective application of
communication knowledge and experience, medium and non-verbs to the
different situations of the communication process to be able to achieve
communication goals. Communication skills are not only listening and speaking
but also include many other skills. For example: presentation skills, listening
skills, persuasion skills, question answering skills in communication.
2. Student communication skills today.
In addition to students who are aware of the importance of communication and
always practice, learn, and even participate in training courses outside the school
on communication skills, a large part of students is not paying attention mind to
practice communication skills, have not prepared yourself for daily life and after
leaving the university lecture hall. It is the lack of awareness of the importance of
communication that makes the communication skills of students weak, many
young people do not know how to start a story even the simplest, do not know
how to behave and behave. Show your strengths when standing in front of
employers or write a job application. Since then, you yourself have not been able
to effectively present your ideas, experiences, as well as abilities to others.

3. The importance of communication skills for students.

Being able to communicate effectively is perhaps the most important of all life
skills. It is what enables us to pass information to other people, and to understand
what is said to us.

3.1 In University.
For students, accumulating and practicing communication skills while sitting in
school will open up a brighter future. Good communication helps you confidently
talk and share with others. Communication helps you position your best in the
eyes of others. With communication skills, you can present in front of a floating
crowd, talk quickly, effectively. Good communication helps you to persuade
others better. Moreover, when you graduate, you soon get the job you want and
easily advance. Students need practical and deeper knowledge about the subject
they are learning in school and college. For better learning from teachers, they
need to ask the question and they have to discuss their subjective and objective
doubts. When teachers understand where they are confused about the subject then
they can teach in their style, it will help students get high marks (Sharma 2020).

3.2 At work.
In the current era, the socio-economic development and integration with the
global world, the demand for human resources is also increasing, the competition
is increasingly fierce. In addition to professional knowledge and experience, you
need to have soft skills, including communication skills. Abstract Strong oral
communication skills are consistently rated of high importance for job applicants.
Seventy-five percent of employers want colleges to place more emphasis on
developing written and oral communication skills, particularly at the
undergraduate level (Stephenson & Mayes 2015).

3.3 In the Life.

In life, good communication can help us connect with friends while traveling or
family members to build strong relationships with them, have lots of friends with
 good relationships and be loved by everyone. That can help you not only at work
but also in your future social relationships.

4. Solutions to develop communication skills for students.

Developing your communication skills can benefit all aspects of your life, from
classroom work, from your future professional life, to social encounters.

4.1 Confidence
Want to have good communication skills, students not only have a firm grasp of
knowledge in the field they study but also constantly practice and apply in
practice to better communicate. Students themselves must be aware of the
importance of communication for themselves, study, work and recognize their
own weaknesses to always improve.

4.2 Practice
In daily communication, students themselves must pay attention to practice how
to speak, write single words, use appropriate language, create and nurture
relationships, practice through observation people, draw experiences in the life
process to develop better communication skills.

4.3 Participation in class discussions

Establish the ground rules and norms for class discussion early on. By setting the
standards for class participation as early as possible, your students will be more
likely to understand their role in discussion. Specific elements, such as when a
speaker should raise their hand, and more intangible aspects such as the tone for
the classroom environment you establish, will help your students understand how
communication works within the classroom (Anonymous).
 Chapter III: Methodology
1. Research design
1.1 Research context
The survey was made at HCMUTE and reasons to choose students of the Ho
Chi Minh City University of Technology and Education because they fit the
requirements of this project such as needs for communication skill,
presentation skill and exchange of ideas with friends or lecturers in learning.
If the survey were conducted by these students, the results would be more
accurate and valid.

1.2 Research participants

There were 20 students of the Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology
and Education taking part in answering the questionnaire. All participants
were volunteers when they were asked to answer all parts of the questionnaire
and interview.

2. Data collection
There are two tools:
 Quantitative research:
- The reporter must process based on specific data from student surveys
through statistics.
- To answer questions related to what, how, etc.
- The reporter must use numbers, charts including pie chart, line chart,
bar chart, etc. to represent student survey data.
 Qualitative research:
It helps reporter relatively forecast results after collecting data.

2.1 Questionnaire

Primary data: The reporter presented a survey of six questions to twenty

students of the International Education Exchange Center of the Ho Chi Minh
University of Technology and Education. The content of the questionnaire is
questions related to the topic of “COMMUNICATION SKILLS OF
INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS AT HCMUTE”. Reporters gathered data
after surveying and refining their responses.

Secondary data: During the implementation of the project, some data were
collected by reporters on mainstream websites. Write the author’s name and
the link.
 2.2 Interview
After completing a survey on student attitudes towards communication skills
at HCMUTE, the researcher interviewed twenty students in the E area of
HCMUTE to better understand opinions and issues that students encounter in
terms of communication skills. The student's attitude was very friendly and
cooperative in a positive and enthusiastic manner therefore the research is
very successful.

3. Data Analysis

Over 10 weeks, the class meets once a week for 4 periods of 45 minutes. The
content and schedule below will be during the course if needed.

Classroom coverage Product

Week 1 Topic brainstorming Finalized title/ narrowed

Proposal topic

Proposal
Week 2 Individual coaching: hard/ soft copy
submission of complete
+ Background research proposal

+ Rationale

+ Research questions/

hypothesis

+ Research Proposal
Week 3 Reference Reference page

Literature review

Week 4 Questionnaire/ research Complete questionnaire/

tools collected data
Week 5 Individual coaching Working on research –

Progress report

Week 6 Data analysis and Working on research –

Progress report
 presentation

(oral and written form)

Week 7 Individual coaching Working on research –
Progress report

Week 8, 9 All papers submitted

Presentation
Week 10 Feedback and results

Chapter IV: Finding and Discussion

After doing a survey with a group the Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology
and Education (HCMUTE). I have collected some interesting information from my
questions and it was concluded as follows:

1. Are you….?

Frequency Percentage
Male 12 60%
Female 8 40%
Total 20 100%

What is your gender?

40%

60%

Male Female

For this question, we can see that nearly 60% of girls are more interested in the
group project than boys who account for only 40%.

2. What is your major?

Frequency Percentage
 1. Logistics 7 35%
2. Electrical 6 30%
Engineering
3. International 3 15%
Hospitality
Management
4. IT 4 20%
Total 20 100%

Major
Column1 Column2 Column3 Column4
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%

The number of students studying Logistics accounts for the highest rate of
approximately 35%, Electrical Engineering 30%, International Hospitality
Management and IT have lower rates 15% and 20%, respectively.

3. How you often communicate for exchange ideas with friends or teachers in
class?

Frequency Percentage
Always 3 15%
Often 5 25%
Sometimes 9 45%
Seldom 2 10%
Never 1 5%
Total 20 100%
 Exchange ideas
Never
Always
Sledom 5% 15%
10%

Often
25%

Sometimes
45%

Always Often Sometimes Sledom Never

The number of students who often exchange ideas with teachers accounts for the
highest proportion around 45% and never interchanging about 5%.

4. Are you confident in your communication skills in University?

Frequency Percentage
Extremely Confident 1 5%
Very Confident 3 15%
Confident 6 30%
Less Confident 10 50%
Total 20 100%
 Less confident

Confident

Very confident

Extremely confident

0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40% 45% 50%

Series 4 Series 3 Series 2 Series 1

The bar chart shows that the number of students who feel less confident about
communication skills accounts for the highest proportion about 50%. And they
need to improve communication skills to develop in the future.

5. In your opinion, how important communication skills among students are for
learning?

Frequency Percentage
Extremely Important 3 15%
Very Important 11 55%
Important 5 25%
Unimportant 1 5%
Total 20 100%
 60%

50%

40%

30% Series
4
Series
20% 3
Series
10% 2
Series
0% 1
Extremely Impor- Very Important Important Unimportant
tant

Series 1 Series 2 Series 3 Series 4

In this survey, the students all felt that communication skill is very important
accounts for the highest proportion about 55% because it is essential in learning.

6. Why is communication skill important in education?

Frequency Percentage
Learn more learn 8 40%
teachers
Friendly to other people 2 10%
Career develop 6 30%
Enhancement in 4 20%
teamwork
Total 20 100%
 Enhancement in
teamwork 
Learn more
from Teachers

Career develop

Friendly to other people

Learn more from teachers at 40%, Career develop at 30%

Friendly to other people and Enhancement in teamwork at 20% and 10%
respectively.
Students believe that it is important in education because communication skills it
will affect their university studies such as giving presentations, exchanging ideas
with teachers, etc.

Interview

1. How do communication skills affect your studying?

If the communication skills are not good, it will affect the exchange of lessons
with teacher and the lesson may not be understood.
we will not be confident, afraid to communicate with friends when working in
groups or making presentations.

2. How can you improve your communication skills?

Must confident, practise speaking and maintain relationship.

Participate in activities at university or clubs such as English clubs, entertainment
clubs, etc.
 Conclusion

In short, communication skills play an important role in learning as well as in life.

Communication skills are indispensable for each person in the 21st century. The
society is developing more and more, the requirements are raised, the competition is
more and more fierce. In addition to professional knowledge and experience, you
need to have soft skills, including communication skills. It affects both learning in the
classroom and other aspects of life. Today, when studying in college, almost all
subjects need good communication skills such as giving presentations, persuading
others, exchanging ideas, etc. Communication skills are a bridge to help us connect,
get closer, understand each other and get along better. In college, if you have good
communication skills, all relationships with friends and teachers will become closer
and create conditions for sharing creative ideas and solving problems.

Besides, to have good communication skills, we need to have strategies to improve it

more effectively, we must practice speaking and maintaining relationships. Enhance
group study, discussion to stimulate the ability to express, persuade, present, etc.
Participate in union activities, clubs, extracurricular activities to become more active
and contact more. Constantly improve and strive to perfect yourself. Read a lot of
books on communication skills to gain more knowledge.
Appendices

Questionnare

1. Are you….?
A. Male
B. Female
2. What is your major?
A. Logistics
B. Electrical Engineering
C. International Hospitality Management
D. Information Technology
3. How you often communicate for exchange ideas with friends or teachers in class?
A. Always
B. Often
C. Sometimes
D. Seldom
E. Never
4. Are you confident in your communication skills in University?
A. Extremely confident
B. Very confident
C. Confident
D. Less confident
5. In your opinion, how important communication skills among students are for
learning?
A. Extremely Important.
B. Very Important
C. Important
D. Unimportant
6. Why is communication skill important in education?

Interview

3. How do communication skills affect your studying?

4. How can you improve your communication skills?

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