REALITY AND PROPOSING SOLUTIONS FOR THE INTEGRATION OF SOFT SKILLS INTO TEACHING SPECIALIZED KNOWLEDGE AT TRA VINH UNIVERSITY

Improving the quality of active learning for students is an issue of concern at Tra Vinh University. In addition to transfering disciplinary knowledge, lecturers also pay attention to teaching personal and professional skills as well as attitudes. Since 2013 students have participated in a soft skills course which is required prior to graduation. Besides, lecturers are also trained and encouraged to integrate soft skills in professional teaching. This paper presents results from teaching observations and surveys with lecturers and students to evaluatethe success of integrating soft skills at Tra Vinh University. The results show that both lecturers and students realize the importance of soft skills in teaching specialized knowledge because they give many benefits to  learners. However, they also identify a number of problems that need to be solved to improve soft skills intergration at Tra Vinh University. The paper, therefore, propses several potential solutions to improving the quality of soft skills integration in teaching specialized knowledge.