Speaker
Description
In the rapidly evolving 21st-century labor market, higher education must equip graduates with adaptable skill sets to ensure professional competitiveness. Recognizing that entrepreneurial competence is not limited to business majors, language pedagogy must evolve to help English language learners develop these essential skills. This study investigates the entrepreneurial competencies of third-year and fourth-year English language students at the University of Danang – University of Foreign Language Studies, utilizing the Comprehensive Entrepreneurship Competence Model (Venesaar et al., 2021). Employing both quantitative and qualitative approaches, the research gathered data through two hundred questionnaires and ten in-depth interviews, supplemented by a content analysis of course learning outcomes across forty subjects. The evaluation covered ten distinct sub-competencies, including metacognition, emotion regulation, problem-solving, creativity, ethical & sustainability thinking, personal initiatives, communication, discovering & exploiting opportunities, understanding the environment and financial literacy. The findings reveal that while students report highly positive self-evaluations regarding cognitive and social competencies, they exhibit a distinct lack of confidence in strategic business competencies. Furthermore, the curriculum analysis demonstrates a heavy pedagogical emphasis on theoretical linguistic entrepreneurship, leaving the practical application of these skills in professional contexts severely underrepresented. Although participants generally expressed satisfaction with the current curriculum, they identified a significant lack of hands-on experience as their primary challenge. They also frequently cited rigid assessment methods and heavy workloads as substantial barriers to their development. Consequently, the study proposes six targeted solutions for curriculum development. These recommendations include integrating project-based language teaching, expanding extracurricular networking workshops, and embedding practical business simulations directly into foundational English courses.
Biography
Nguyen Hoang Nhi is an undergraduate student majoring in English Language Teaching Education at The University of Danang, University of Foreign Language Studies. Her research interests focus on pedagogy development and second language acquisition.
Nguyen Bich Dieu earned her Master’s degree in Applied Linguistics from the University of Queensland, Australia, and received her Ph.D. in TESOL from University of Malaysia Sabah, Malaysia. She is currently Acting Dean of Faculty of Foreign Language Teacher Education at the University of Foreign Language Studies – the University of Danang, Vietnam. Her research interests focus on the integration of ICT and AI in English language teaching and learning, as well as teacher education and professional development.
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