ATC Students' perception of using online dictionaries in the context of reading English Academic Materials

STATE BANK OF VIETNAM

BANKING ACADEMY OF VIETNAM

FACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES

------------o0o-----------

GRADUATION THESIS

MAJOR: ENGLISH FOR BANKING AND FINANCE

ATC Students' Perception of Using Online Dictionaries in the

Context of Reading English Academic Materials

STUDENT: PHAM HUE LINH

STUDENT ID: 20A7510110

CLASS: K20ATCB

INSTRUCTOR: Mr. Ngo Tung Anh

HANOI, MAY 20, 2021

Statement of Originality

I, Pham Hue Linh, hereby confirm that the research paper presented below is entirely my

own work, and that I have given due acknowledgement to every research findings by

preceding researchers mentioned in my paper as required by Faculty of Foreign

Languages.

I understand that the paper I submitted may be reproduced and/ or communicated for the

purposes of detecting plagiarism.

Signed

Date: 22nd May, 2021

Page | ii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

To my granny, whose presence, resilience and kindness did not vanish even after her

death. It is indeed cruel for me to learn about how deep I can feel for someone this way,

granny. I’m really glad that you are free now, though I cannot say that I do not envy you.

I’ll carry on somehow, emphasizing on somehow. Speak louder than you, act bolder than

you, but hopefully I’ll treat people as gentle as you. You know, I would never mind

making you birthday treats in the future, but I would love it much more if I could see

you enjoy them.

I knew you loved me. I love you too. Bye-bye, granny. I miss you too much.

I would like to send my sincere gratitude and apologies to Mr. Tùng Anh, my instructor.

I am certain that I made it as one of the most unresponsive, passive thesis writing

students. Thanks for spending your time correcting my mess of a work, sir. I would love

to hear more of your stories when you were studying back then. I’ll bring you my cookies

as token of my appreciation.

My girls, my precious, priceless fireflies. The wings to my boundless sky, the stars to

my endless night. First of all, I need to thank Phưn and Mei. Cliché, I know, but without

their help I wouldn’t have finished my thesis for sure, or even stayed alive this long for

that matter. This cursed year has not been easy on us at all. Let’s just try to stay alive

and then vent out to our hearts’ content later. Suffering in solidarity squad, let’s go. Lil

Beast, Foxy, and Angel, thank you for all the things you did in your own way to make

sure my heart wouldn’t go too cold.

Lots of gratitude to my friends from the Academy, high school’s classmates and friends

I’ve luckily made along the way. I truly appreciate your efforts to cheer me up amidst

my family crisis and help me with my research survey. Hope you guys like cookies and

sweet treats. Will send you customized thank you texts later.

I would like to convey my appreciation and gratitude to our dearest lecturers who I have

had a chance to talk to personally from the Academy as well, Ms. Giang especially. You

Page | iii

have instilled in me inspiration and a sense of direction and dedication, which I dare say

is the most valuable thing you can offer us besides your knowledge and experiences.

Hope you still have more room for my cookies too.

Thank you, grandpa, for the delicious meals. And for granting me some mercy and peace

of mind by letting me distancing myself from your you-know-who. Uncle, I cherish you

and wish you lasting happiness. Babies, Búp, Nghé and Sóc, big sis is really sorry she

could not do more for you in the past. I wish for you to grow up normally, healthily,

happily and never have a taste of what I’ve had.

Grandest thanks to Queen Alex, previous researchers whose hard works I inherited, my

godmother Lana, big sis Diệu Linh with her book recommendation, Chanmina and all

the other sad and mad girl music on my device, Webtoon, and games for helping this girl

out with her thesis or acting as her painkiller.

Finally, words to my greatest, tragically mental, cruelly beautiful, egoistic, resentful,

sorrowful creditor, which, by the way, is my collective self, past to present then future.

I hope you’re happy I finished your darn graduation thesis and achieved your 4 years

long dream. After this I’m doing that dumb thing people call Journey to find oneself. I’m

sick of loathing my own heartbeat. I want this to be the last time I sold myself cheap for

a mirage of an accomplished, worthwhile life. This isn’t living. This is eternal torture in

the guise of “doing my best” at the expense of my own health and wellbeing. Please learn

to love yourself, because love, with all due respect, I would drown myself again rather

than watch you be ruined like this. It probably won’t be easy at all, but so what? Our

happiness, peace of mind, health, and the preservation of our struggles to survive, the

friendships we earned and our love for things in this life deserve another chance. Sorry

for dumping the hardest task on you. But hey, Huệ, you managed to finish college while

having crippling mental conditions. Atta girl. Let’s go for a Master’s degree, bake tons

of cakes and cookies, read more and pursue your dream career later. For now, please

rest. The world can wait. I love you forever, not maybe.

Page | iv

Table of Contents

Statement of Originality .................................................................................................i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT.............................................................................................ii

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ......................................................................................vi

LIST OF CHARTS .......................................................................................................vi

ABSTRACT..................................................................................................................vii

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION.................................................................................1

1.1 Introduction ......................................................................................................1

1.2 Background of the study ..................................................................................1

1.3 Objectives of the study .....................................................................................2

1.4 Significance of the study...................................................................................3

1.5 Scope and limitations of the study .................................................................4

1.5.1 Scope of the study ......................................................................................4

1.5.2 Limitations of the study.............................................................................4

1.6 Definition of terms............................................................................................5

CHAPTER 2: REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE..........................................6

2.1 Literature review ..............................................................................................6

2.2 Theoretical and Conceptual framework ........................................................7

CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY ........................................................9

3.1 Locale of the study............................................................................................9

3.1.1 Banking Academy of Vietnam..................................................................9

3.1.2 Faculty of Foreign Languages ..................................................................9

3.2 Research design...............................................................................................10

3.3 Data gathering procedure..............................................................................10

3.4 Population and Sample description ..............................................................11

3.4.1 Population.................................................................................................11

3.4.2 Sample and the Sampling process ..............................................................11

3.5 Research instrument.......................................................................................12