A Study on Hanoi University’s Espd Students’ Out-Of-School Activities

HANOI UNIVERSITY

        ENGLISH FOR SPECIFIC PURPOSE DEPARTMENT

A STUDY ON HANOI UNIVERSITY’S ESPD STUDENTS’ OUT-OF-SCHOOL ACTIVITIES

Teacher: Nguyễn Minh Hằng

Students: Phạm Phương Thảo & Nguyễn Thị Thêm

Class: 4K-17

Course: ESP Writing

Date: May 25th, 2018

Abstract

It is apparent that out-of-school activities play an important role in a student’s college life. The majority of them participate in a wide range of activities, including educational as well as recreational pursuits. Despite these activities’ significance, only few studies are dedicated to acquiring more knowledge about undergraduates’ after school activities and their influences on students. Therefore, this research paper is conducted to investigate what are the most common activities that students often take part in after school, how much time do they often allocate for these activities as well as the influences out-of-school pursuits exert on them are also explored. Besides, several techniques to balance between academic studies and extracurricular activities are mentioned for both students and their schools to consult. The study adopts a quantitative methodology using means of primary research (questionnaires). It aims to prove that if students can engage in after school activities and manage their time effectively, they can bring about a number of benefits for students.

Table of Contents

Abstract        2

List of figures1.Introduction        4

1.Introduction        5

List of figures

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1.Introduction

In the modern age,a large number of students often devote their time to taking part in a wide range of after-school activities, in order to fulfill the needs of themselves in terms of both leisure and financial issues .Specifically,freshmen who do not acquire a wealth of experience are unlikely to seek for a part-time job. As a consequence, they usually spend most of their time indulging in playingvideo games, sleeping or other recreational pastimes all day. However, students participating in out-of-school activities often gain valuable skills such as teamwork and leadership by joining clubs, doing community services or working part-time.

Admittedly, numerous articles have approached this issue about what activities students often spend time for after school. As a result, according to the article “Sinh vien dang dot thoi gian vang bac”, written by Hieu Nguyen on Dantri.com, of the 200 respondents surveyed, 29% students in Hanoi National University of Education reported that they spent a lot of time taking part in social and physical activities so as to improve their health as well as develop social skills. Several articles and research also pointed out that engaging in after school activities bring numerous benefits for students. As reported by Gardner et al (2008, as cited in Wilson, 2009), youth growth is positively correlated with supportive association with people and social institutions. Regarding this viewpoint, extracurricular pursuits after classes can facilitate healthy change on account of the assistance and more opportunities given, in comparison with other out-of-school pastimes that are less beneficial for students’ development. In addition, according to Broh (2002, as cited in Seow and Pan, 2014), activities after school time can indirectly exert great impacts on students’ academic performances by aiding them to horn their life skills and personalities, namely strong work ethnic, better self-esteem, resourcefulness as well as creativity, which are closely linked with high academic outcomes.By contrast, Seow and Pan (2014) also revealed that after-school activitity participation can wield negative influences on students as they are likely to dedicate their time and efforts to these activities instead of their academic studies.

Hence, it is essential that a research be conducted to investigate how students devote time to activities out of school in ESP Department of Ha Noi University and how these activities affect students as well. Consequently, that will help them balance their study effectively.

Bearing this in mind, this research paper which is based on data from students of ESPD, will focus on clarifying three main questions. Firstly, what activities do students often take part in out of school? Secondly, how much time do they spend on these pastimes? Last but not least, what influences do these activities have on students in terms of leisure as well as their development.

2.Method

The data used in this report is obtained from a survey carried out within Hanoi University. At the beginning, a questionnaire containing 10 multiple-choice questions was designed in order to answer our three key research questions. In the next step, students of ESPD at Hanoi University were randomly selected, and each of them filled in the questionnaire with their choices. This method of research is more time-effective as the majority of people can be reached easily at the same time, compared to the method of interviewing one by one, which is more time consuming. Moreover, the respondents will not be confident enough to express their thoughts or opinions on the issues. As the result, questionnaires bring about more accurate results.

3.Results

This section outlines the results of the survey carried out to acquire more understanding about ESPD students’ extracurricular activities and the impacts these pursuits exert on students. In order to find out what activities are the most popular among students, a list of several common pastimes was drawn up in the questionnaire. According to figure 1, it is clearly seen that doing part-time jobs is the most prevalent out-of-school activities among ESPD students, with the figure accounting for over a half (56%). Meanwhile, nearly 40% of respondents reported that they often participate in a wide range of clubs after school time. It is followed by playing sports and taking part in volunteer work (30% and 20% respectively). A mere 1% claimed that they take interest in other recreational pastimes, namely joining dance classes or playing board games.

[pic 1]

Figure 1: The percentage of students take part in different activities

With regard to the amount of time students often allocate for these activities, the majority of people said that they usually spend 2 to 3 hours devoting to extracurricular pastimes, with the figure making up 48% of the total. 36% of those surveyed said that they spend less time for out-of-school activities, which is 1 to 2 hours. It appears that the percentage of ESPD students who allocate less than 1 hour participating in after class activities is relatively small, only 8%. The same proportion of students (8%) reported that the amount of time spent for extracurricular pastimes is more than 3 hours