Influences of Students’ Self-Directed Learning on Their Grades in English as a Foreign Language Subject at the University Of Social Science and Humanities Vietnam National University Ho Chi Minh City

Abstract

The research aimed to clarify the role of self-directed learning in the learning process of English learners at the University of Social Science and Humanities Vietnam National University Ho Chi Minh City. There were 539 students participating in this research. Within this research, the self-directed learning scale by Bhrati et al (2020) was administrated and the English grades were evaluated by participants. The results revealed that most of the students were at a good level in learning English according to their self-record. Self-directed learning explained 43.9% of changes in English learning grades, which means the higher students practice self-directed learning in learning English, the more chances their English learning grades could be changed. Especially, planning and deploying learning activities, a factor of self-directed learning, contribute mainly to changes in the English grades of students. As the results, the research suggests that lecturers and school managers should introduce and equip students with good planning and deploying learning activities skills to improve English grades and English learning outcomes in general. Moreover, the study also indicated that family social economic status could be a factor contributing to improving students’ self-directed learning and English learning grades. It could imply that social policymakers could reference for further consideration social impacts resulting in improving community education outcomes.