Index

Abstract

Building a teaching and learning strategy is an essential task for both lecturers and students. Innovation in methods and forms of teaching and learning, and in conducting examination and evaluation are in the direction of developing and promoting students’ creativity. However, not all lecturers and students deeply understand and effectively use this strategy in their teaching and learning. To develop active and creative teaching and learning strategies, both lecturers and students must develop their own strategies, that is, teachers and learners must understand the nature, objectives, motivation, teaching, and learning methods. This study uses the survey method to describe the correlation between the lecturers and student. Respondents included 1.000 students and 130 lecturers at ten major universities in the Ho Chi Minh City of Vietnam. Data obtained from the interviews and questionnaires was used to analyze the current teaching and learning model in the sampled universities along with the advantages and limitations of this model. Based on these data and analysis, we proposed a new paradigm in developing active teaching and learning strategies for lecturers and students, optimal methods for achieving the expectations from teaching strategies and active learning methods utilized by lecturers and students.

Keywords: Active teaching,Learning,Motivation,Self- learning competency,Creativity,Lecture,Student.

Received:15 May 2020 / Revised: 23 June 2020 / Accepted:27 July 2020/ Published: 10 August 2020

Contribution/ Originality

This study contributes to the development of positive teaching and learning strategies, creating interest, and promoting students' self-study ability. At the same time, it designs the basic contents of the strategy development process of teaching and learning for both lecturers and students.


1. INTRODUCTION

Innovation in methods and forms of teaching and learning, and in conducting examination and evaluation are in the direction of developing and promoting students’ creativity. This has been implemented for many years in universities around Vietnam (Tuyen, 2008; Vy & Tien, 2016). Lecturers get equipped with theory and practice on active teaching methods and techniques as a result of annual training and retraining processes at universities. However, the implementation and application of active teaching methods in practice are not frequent and ineffective (Hai, 2011).
The reasons for innovative teaching and learning activities having not achieved results is attributed to such training programs in present-day universities which are designed in a “spiral” style, having many rounds (i.e. the contents of the chapters, and the subjects are duplicated too much). As a result, each subject has its knowledge content divided into different levels of study which is unreasonable and unnecessary (Vy & Tien, 2016). The presentation of knowledge in textbooks as well as in documents is content-oriented, heavily argumentative, full of reasoning, and interpretation rather than knowledge formation. It is often observed that knowledge taught in the subject matter is divided into sections and subsection to be transmitted in a lecture of 45-50 minutes. This is not a suitable active teaching method. But ironically, such knowledge contents are included in many subjects and taught chapter-wise during various stages at a university (Bernd & Cuong, 2014). There is a norm to “teach the content in the curriculum” or what is written in the document. This refers to mainly “forming and equipping knowledge”, while the curriculum has little practical application of this knowledge in reality (Brayden, 2017).

These activities take place over a long period of time partly due to the passivity and dependency of the lecturer, partly because Vietnam's higher education program does not change in the direction of promoting the capacity of learners. In the teaching process, for good use of active teaching methods, the lecturer must invest both in effort and time (Vy & Tien, 2016), and learn about the subjects to teach (a lecturer can teach the same subjects in more than one discipline and to different age groups), design different teaching methods, explore appropriate teaching methods, lecture design, and technology application into teaching. Therefore (Sinh, 2019) asserts that many lecturers use only their knowledge into lectures, a little of research too through non-positive teaching methods such as presentations, reading-writing, etc. They make less use of active teaching methods which could create excitement, promote creativity and help students explore and discover new things on their own using their creativity.

Because of that, for many years, in Vietnamese universities, innovative teaching and learning methods have been limited only to slogans and public demands, and never became mandatory regulations for lecturers (Hoat & Duc, 2017; Vy & Tien, 2016). Innovative methods are necessary but it should not be left on the discretion of lecturers to maneuver their own innovations.  If it happens that each lecturers has his or her innovate method, it will lead to a situation when “hundreds of flowers bloom”, resulting in inconsistency and lack of synchronization. In such a situation, students will largely depend on their lecturers, not able to make use of their creativity in learning and absorbing lessons. In this way, the acquired knowledge would also not be theirs. Therefore, it is very important that in order to bring innovations in teaching methods, there should be unified and consistent positive teaching and learning strategies.

At the management level, the Vietnamese government has issued regulations suggesting changes in teaching and learning methods. Besides, there are several research studies on innovating teaching and learning methods, especially in higher education (Hoat & Duc, 2017). However, these studies have not given much attention on the role of learners but only focused on innovating teaching methods and the role of lecturers in finding solutions to the issues and challenges. As a result of the dearth of research and awareness of problems faced by learners in these researches on teaching and learning methods innovation, the proposed solutions did not match the requirements of real educational innovation. These studies did not promote positive teaching methods leaving students frustrated and without any environment of excitement and initiative in learning (Hoat & Duc, 2017). However, it is undeniable that the initial results of researchers on innovating teaching and learning methods did create some interest and positivity among learners but it was not sufficient to lead to innovation of teaching and learning methods. Hence, there is a dire necessity for both teachers and learners to bring a fundamental change in awareness and build for themselves a specific innovative teaching and learning strategy.

Based on these findings in previous studies, and having confirmed from the survey results on teaching methods at universities in Ho Chi Minh City, this study felt the practical requirement of formulating active teaching and learning strategies for the Vietnamese higher education, such strategies which create fun and humor, and develop creativity among students.

2. PROBLEM STATEMENT

Active teaching is a learner-centered teaching method (Findikoglu & İlhan, 2016; Naz & Murad, 2019). This teaching method has fundamentally changed modern education (Hoat. & Ha, 1995; Ibijola, 2015; Maman & Falah, 2018). The teacher-centered teaching method has been replaced by this method. Therefore, to achieve the desired results, lecturers and students must identify the purpose of education (Hiệp, 2019; Huang, Chen, & Chou, 2016; O'Connor & O'Hagan, 2015). This study intends to pose many questions in order to determine the current level of teaching and learning strategies in the Vietnamese universities. Some of these questions include:

Currently, a very traditional method is used as method of teaching. In order to solve a problem, the lecturer gives suggestions and discusses with the students key issues related to the problem. In this method, it is the lecturer who takes the initiative of searching, creating, and even thinking on behalf of the learners. In other words, the instructor leads the problem solution tasks and remains active in both teaching and learning. In this method, a lecturer cannot convey all his or her knowledge to the students but only limited one. It is therefore required that lecturers take more suggestive leads and try to stimulate students to explore and discover new knowledge. This kind of teaching requires lecturers to have good skills, expertise, and enthusiasm. They need to operate at full capacity in the teaching process; while learners passionately and eagerly try to explore and discover. In this way, both lecturers and students build their own positive teaching and learning strategies.

The question arises how lecturers and learners can build positive teaching and learning strategies; how difficult it is and whether it is possible. This can be understood by simply answering following questions: For the lecturers: Who are the subject of the teaching?  What do you expect from your students? For the students: What are your learning objectives? What do you need to do to achieve these objectives?  It is assured that while answering these questions, it would be possible to understand how to develop effective teaching and learning strategies and methods in order to achieve goals.

3. RATIONALE AND RESEARCH METHODS

The Rationale of the Study

Excitement plays a significant part in learning with innovative methods. Psychologist Covaliop, in the book Personal Psychology has defined: “Excitement is a peculiar attitude of individuals to certain subjects, due to its meaning in life and its emotional attraction” (Covaliop, 1971). Vietnamese psychologists have considered “excitement” as a form of emotional expression and human awareness needs aiming at a sense of excitement about the purpose of operation, in order to learn more deeply and more fully in order to achieve the objectives in real life. Excitement in its practical application results in positivity which helps in promoting proactive and creative ways of learning in students  (Bernd & Cuong, 2014). Such positivity is also useful in teaching methods as lecturers who have a positive approach succeed in activating learners 'cognitive activities. This means that positivity generated ideas from excitement is more beneficial to learners as compared to lecturers. This positivity helps lecturers to teach in a positive manner and make more effort to use active teaching rather than passive teaching methods, that is teaching should be more learner centered rather than teacher-centered.

The study also wishes to understand how to promote students' positive and proactive creativity in changing their learning styles. The switching over from teacher-centered instruction methods to student-centered teaching is also known as active teaching. In this method, the student is the active subject and it is the teacher who designs, organizes, and guides, and creates a positive interaction between the teacher and the learner. The study also wanted innovations in the teaching and learning methods to bring lecturers and students closer. It is a fact that only when lecturers change their way of teaching, students change their way of learning to suit that teaching method (Vy & Tien, 2016). The way of teaching commands the way of learning, but on the contrary, the learning habit of the student also affects the teaching methods of lecturers. For example, there are cases where students require active teaching methods but lecturers fail to meet their expectations, or there are cases where lecturers are eager to apply active teaching methods but fail to do so because students cannot adapt themselves to new teaching methods, and wish to continue with passive learning.

Therefore, lectures must persistently use active teaching methods to gradually build a proactive learning method which fits all situations and all types of students are able to adapt themselves to. In innovative teaching methods, there must be cooperation between lecturers and students, and rhythmic coordination between teaching with learning activities (Hoat & Duc, 2017). Thus, this study used the term “active teaching and learning” to distinguish it from “passive teaching and learning”.

3.2.Research Methods

3.2.1. Research Design

The research design of the study comprised a study of state documents related to innovative educational methods. It also included a survey questionnaire (conducted directly with students, via social networking Facebook and some university forums). Another method adopted in this study was a practical penetration method or classroom observation. The authors attended a number of lectures and conducted in-depth interviews with lecturers and students. In particular, however, the questionnaire survey method was the main instrument of this study. The questionnaire surveyed two main subjects: students and lecturers. The teachers’ questionnaire mainly focused on the question:  How much do teachers take a positive attitude to innovation, accept them, and improve their skills? The students’ questionnaire focused on the question: How much do students take the attitude to their study?. The survey was conducted from November 2019 to April 2020. The results of the survey helped to understand how dynamic were the teachers’ pedagogical skills and their ability to master innovations in teaching.

The participant teachers and students belonged to state and private universities of Ho Chi Minh City. Due to the limited time, the research focused on a only very few universities, and the selection of respondents was carried out by random sampling.  A total of 1,000 questionnaires were returned from students, and 130 from lecturers. 

3.2.2. Data Collection Methods

Data obtained from surveys was analyzed by SPSS software. To these results were added the results from classroom observation and interviews with lecturers and students. This kind of triangulation helped in making judgments and assessment easier and therefore the reliability of research results was relatively high. Since only a few universities in Ho Chi Minh City were surveyed, it cannot be said that the results provided the portrayal of an optimal teaching and learning strategy. Among the departments and universities surveyed included: Social science and Humanities, University of Transport and Communications in Ho Chi Minh City, University of Natural Resources and Environment, Hanoi University of Home Affairs in Ho Chi Minh City, The People's Police University, Ho Chi Minh City; University of Food Industry; University of Techniques Pedagogical, Ho Chi Minh City; University of Finance and Marketing, Ho Chi Minh City; and University of Technology.

4. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

(a) Lecturers

4.1. Building Teaching Strategies of Lecturers

The teaching methods of lecturers are extremely important (Chau, 2011; Vy & Tien, 2016) since they contribute significantly to equipping students with the knowledge and forming necessary soft skills. However, the form of passive teaching, or teacher centered learning is quite common. The phenomenon of students attentively taking notes of the lecture, in the style of “lecturers read - students note” was very common especially in theoretical subjects.

Based on the questionnaire survey conducted at several universities in Ho Chi Minh City for this study, the following results were found (Figure 1).

Figure-1. Teaching methods in some universities in Ho Chi Minh City.

These results reveal that ‘presentation method’ as a teaching strategy is imperative in Vietnam today (Bernd & Cuong, 2014; Vy & Tien, 2016) especially at the university level. In order to change teaching methods, and building new teaching strategies, it is extremely necessary for lecturers to identify objectives of each lecture from the perspectives of the learner. The problem found was that lecturers in Vietnamese universities cannot equip students with the required knowledge, skills and attitude in order to cultivate “love” for the subject (Bernd & Cuong, 2014).

Figure 2 exhibits the duties of the lecturer in a graphical form. This model is quite pertinent since due to constant technological development and globalization, teachers need to keep pace with the knowledge, skills and attitude according to changes in the world. Teachers should take the responsibility not only for themselves but also for their students as their main task is to prepare students for an independent life. Consequently, teachers are to keep up with all the novelties including innovative methods of teaching and development of new skills (Brayden, 2017). Therefore, identifying specific subject objectives is one of the important factors that help teachers build a positive teaching strategy.

Figure-2. The duties of lecturers identified.

The learning objectives of each of these variables: knowledge, skills, and attitudes that learners should achieve after studying a course are categorized as under:

Knowledge

The learners should be able to

Skills

The learning goals of skills domain included:

Attitude

The targeted attitude that learners need to achieve included:

Thus the above analysis shows that teachers are required to formulate their knowledge, skills, and attitudes towards students. They should specify the requirements of each student according to their behavior: determine what needs to be done (what can be done?), specify how it should be done (how to do it?) and indicate the level of achievement (how much is needed?).   The requirement of each student can be evaluated after completing each lesson. The goals should be expressed clearly by behavioral verbs that are observable, quantifiable, and generic words should be avoided and also verbs that are difficult to assess such as grasp, understand etc (Vy & Tien, 2016; Wilbert, 2003). In this way, it will be possible to transform the teaching objectives into learning objectives

4.2. Identifying Specific Teaching Contents

One of the findings of the study relate to the need to identify specific teaching contents during the whole teaching and learning process.  Firstly, the ability of students should be recognized as it is utilized in remembering and identifying the basic knowledge of the subject (e.g. formulas, events, identification signs etc.). To test students’ understanding, lectures can ask students to practice by making requests for students such as: Present your knowledge about the following (ask for a direct answer to a questions) ; Choose the correct answer in the following questions;  Choose true or false; Write a formula / paragraph / phrase: and so on .  Secondly, the ability of students should be understood deeply to assess the problem (Wilbert, 2003). It allows the lecturers to express the ability to recognize at a higher level, such as explaining the meaning, the nature of the problem; explaining the relationship between learned and known issues; formulate how to do it, draw out the next issues, etc. Thirdly, the ability of students to apply learned theories to solve new requirements is expressed: demonstrating the ability to apply the learned knowledge to acquire new knowledge; or use a previously learned method to solve a new problem, or the ability to make their own opinions about those issues.

4.3. Identifying Skills for Students’ Learning

On the basis of determining the level of awareness of students, lectures need to specify the skills that need to be developed for students, expressed in three aspects:  First, thinking skills such  as : analyzing, comparing, generalizing, evaluating, etc; Second, practical skills such as drawing diagrams and applying knowledge learned to acquire new knowledge or apply it to solve life’s problems; Third, Soft skills such as  presentation, communication, teamwork, using technology facilities, etc.  Once these skills are developed, the attitude of learning is gradually formed: students get excited to learn, to explore, etc.

In order for students to be proactive in their learning and motivating learning and to point out the purpose of their learning, lecturers need to guide learning methods and “empower” the evaluation and self-assessment for students (Hai, 2011; Nghia, 2008). In order to accomplish this, lecturers should provide specific guidelines and evaluation criteria for each task, using assessment tools such as rubric, checklist, etc. Students thus can learn the lesson in the most profound way and also learn how to solve practical problems.

The goals of education must not be forgotten in the teaching process. These goals include level of knowledge content affecting ideology and sentiment, forming attitudes and orienting actions for students in current and future lives (Covaliop, 1971). However, lecturers need to avoid expressing goals in formulaic, dogmatic and show objectivity which is only suggestive for each student to decide on the direction of comprehension and formation skills for themselves. Thus, the goal of each lesson is to orient the teaching (the basis of selecting basic knowledge, selecting methods and teaching facilities), as well as provide a basis for evaluating the learning results of a student. The goals should also be clearly defined at different levels, with differentiation towards the majority of students but also the goals for good students and for those who like learning to expand their knowledge must be specified.

4.4. Utilizing Data Collection Instruments

Questionnaires are the most important and effective tools for capturing learners' needs (Hai, 2011; Wilbert, 2003). They are very reliable tools to help lecturers get information about their students (Kolb, 1984; Nghia, 2008) though it is important to choose such questions that would support students’ learning needs (Sinh, 2019). However, there are also other methods to collect information such as interviews with former teachers of students who taught them in previous years, parents of students, classmates, etc. There are methods like viewing transcripts to determine their achievements in previous years, observation of students ‘learning activities’ in and out of the classroom, organizing tests, gathering information from students’ forums, Facebook, etc.

Investigation of students’ needs should be carried out before starting a new course. This will not only help to find out the need and interests of students about new topics in the lesson but will also give an opportunity to assess their knowledge related to the lesson content. The lecturers may use the information obtained from these assessments to adjust the lesson and provide necessary instructions for students with special needs ( e.g. good students want to study further; weaker students need special attention), thereby forming learning groups to support each other (Vy & Tien, 2016).

When developing a teaching plan for a subject or a lesson, based on student’s needs, level and interest, the lecturers need to determine the teaching target or the “goal” which they want students to achieve, provided it is in conformance to educational perspectives under UNESCO (Figure 3).

Figure-3. These competencies are formed in the learner.

Source: UNESCO guidelines for the teachers.

The above figure compares the learners’ capacity with the educational perspectives set forth by UNESCO. These act as guidelines for the teachers in a learning scenario.   The teacher should be aware of the individual learner’s capacity to specialize in a subject and therefore accordingly choose the teaching methodology.

(b) Students

4.5. Building Studying Strategies of Students

The purpose of students’ learning can be expressed by many different motives, so students’ learning motivation is also specified in different purposes (Hoat & Duc, 2017). The diversity of learning purposes, as well as the learning motivation of students, is shown in detail in the following (Table 1).

Table-1 . Students’ learning goals.

Numerical order
 Learning purpose of students
Agree
Disagree
Frequency
Ratio (%)
Frequency
Ratio (%)
1
 Because of passion, hobbies
770
77.0%
230
23.0%
2
 Improve the level and understanding
703
70.3%
297
29.7%
3
 Easy to get a job and a high salary
320
32.0%
680
68.0%
4
 Satisfy parents and let not be inferior to friends
123
12.3%
877
87.7%
5
 Society needs human resources trained by the university
446
44.6%
554
55.4%
6
 To communicate better, be more confident in life
29.3
29.3%
707
70.7%

A purpose manifests through behavior (Hoat & Duc, 2017). The results of practical surveys show that students’ choice of majors is governed by many different purposes; including learning to improve their qualifications and broaden the understanding of scientific fields of social life (the motivation to recognize science and strengthen the knowledge of career which we are pursuing) is the most advanced purpose. Next is learning motivation with the aim to communicate better, to be more confident in life, to assert, etc. Meanwhile, career motivation (through the learning purposes to have a stable job, high salary, learning because society is lacking high-quality human resources) is of students’ interest. Only a few students wondered what their learning goals should be. This shows that the majority of students have positive learning motivations shown in their choice of majors. Thus, learning what to do is the issue that students are most interested in Sinh (2019). A very remarkable result from that learning motivation was that 87.7% of the students do not agree that ‘going to school is to please their parents’ and aldo disagreed with ‘being inferior to friends’  etc.

4.6.  Identifying Students’ Attitude  towards Learning

The purpose of learning is expressed through students’ learning attitude (Vy & Tien, 2016). The fact that students equip themselves with a serious and proper learning attitude is a prerequisite for a more favorable knowledge reception. Through the survey of students’ learning attitude, following results were obtained (Table 2):

Table-2 . Study attitude of students.

Numerical order
 Study attitude of students
Frequency
Ratio (%)
1
 Actively, proactively and creatively receive knowledge, overcome all difficulties to study and achieve good results, listen to comments and feedback to lectures
713
71.3%
2
 Depressed when having difficulties in learning, not positive, passive while receiving knowledge
223
22.3%
3
 Other factors
64
6.4%

Student attitudes are influenced by many factors (family, friends, and social relationships). These are important factors affecting learning activities of students. In other words, it does not make much difference whether students take the initiative in building and designing learning methods for themselves or; it much depends on their own learning attitude. Among the learning attitudes investigated by researchers, the positive, proactive and creative attitudes towards the knowledge learnt were most appreciated by students (accounting for more than 71.3% of the total research samples). This is a learning trend that is fitted with the current education sector to help students promote their activeness, initiative, and creativity in the learning process. Contrary to this attitude of learning is a depressed, non-positive, passive attitude in receiving knowledge (accounting for 22.3% of the total sample). This proves that the majority of students are aware of the importance of learning attitudes to their learning outcomes, thereby building their motivation and proper learning attitude.

However, there are also students who do not have a positive learning attitude and are not familiar with the method of studying at the university or pursue their goals, nor have the right motivation for learning. In such a situation, the School, Faculties, and Departments as well as lectures should make appropriate and timely impact in order to help students build a positive learning attitude. Research results (Figure 4) show that most students have questions and concerns about their learning. As many as 57.7% of the students were asked and answered about what they often think about when they go to a university.

Figure-4. The level of students’ interest in learning purposes.

These results revealed that students were interested in learning and really were aware of the importance of studying. “Learning to do what” is probably the question that motivated students during the process of exploring and acquiring knowledge, giving students the motivation to overcome the difficulties and challenges of learning, and cultivating their dreams and ambitions when deciding to enroll in a school or a field of interest. Being aware of the importance of learning and identifying clear learning goals also helped students’ learning process (Vy & Tien, 2016).

The results also revealed that about 11.0% of all research samples had the answer “rarely or even never think of”  to define the purpose of learning. This is a modest number in the research sample, but it also indicates that there are still students who go to school but do not know what reason they study for (Sinh, 2019; Tuyen, 2008). This also corresponds to the fact that many students are forced to leave school or not to graduate for many different reasons, which is mainly due to the unidentified purpose of studying. These students often drop out of school, or are forced to drop out of school or rather go to school to resist, etc.

However, there are also a few students who are aware about the powerful impact of learning on their life and career, so they must practice necessary skills. It is so because these students realized their sense of responsibility towards learning. Hence, the school, particularly the lecturers should discuss their real life problems, thereby grasping their needs and aspirations and provide them the most appropriate and practical educational measures.  The students themselves need to be properly aware of the importance of learning for themselves so that they can build learning motivation and appropriate learning purposes as well as be aware and responsible in the process of learning at a university (Sinh, 2019; Vy & Tien, 2016). Students need to be aware that learning not only benefits them but also brings great benefits to their families, village, homeland and the country. If the students themselves do not make an effort and remain passive in learning, they are not able to help their family, school, and society. Therefore, passion for learning with motivation, positive learning attitude, proper learning methods will help students reduce the time to receive knowledge and will master the vast treasure of knowledge of mankind.

The students also need to be aware that in order to be successful in life and career, they should have enough professional skills (career skills) and soft skills (Tuyen, 2008). If they possess professional soft skills, they will make a great contribution to their own success and the unit where they work. The constant changes in life, as well as the demands of businesses, require students to combine their acquired knowledge and skills with a lot of flexibility and adaptability while changing jobs, environments and different circumstances (Sinh, 2019). These insights and skills are essential for students to be equipped while still in school and after graduation.  Additionally, during the learning process, students need to pay attention to self-study methods (Vy & Tien, 2016).

Under the guidance of lectures, students should actively seek for themselves a suitable learning method, maximizing their own thinking ability and at the same time self-evoking the excitement, passion for learning. Through such active learning methods, students will learn personal skills, communication, behavioral skills, problem-solving, bonding and a close-knit environment between theory and practice. This is a method to help students learn knowledge and learn soft skills too. However, this method requires lecturers to create a learning environment, to stimulate students to explore and improve the initiative in the learning process. This means that lecturers should encourage them to explore, discover and apply reality.

4.7. Helping Students’ Determine Purpose of Learning

In order to determine the right purpose of learning, students should avoid such psychological issues that negatively affect their legitimate learning motivation. The following activities are recommended:

Firstly, students should actively participate in scientific research or similar educational measures. Students are the ones themselves who can make a powerful impact on their learning outcomes. Students should feel their sense and responsibility towards learning. To achieve this, the University, in particular the Faculties should provide students opportunities to conduct research and exploration. In this way, students will be able to grasp the real purpose of studying practical educational measures.

Secondly, students should actively participate in team and group activities. They could be members of clubs established by students under the guidance of Youth Union and the Students Union of school (Hoat & Duc, 2017). The study recommends that students must be aware of the benefits of participating in clubs and students’ groups (Sinh, 2019). They must actively participate in regular activities as this helps in developing self-discipline and necessary skills such as communication skills, presentation skills, teamwork skills, time management skills, skills to identify problems, etc. The students participating in activities in clubs also get an opportunity to exchange and learn good things, the right things, and learn to avoid other social evils, including material temptations.  This also develops a spirit of solidarity and support for teammates, and a sense of responsibility. It dismisses the unnecessary “I”, the ego that helps them how to restrict their personal opinions and feelings,. They learn to avoid conflicts and if they occur, they resolve with consensus. The learning motivation survey of first-year students showed that most students do not actively participate in club activities partly because they are not aware of the importance of these activities, and partly because these clubs are not practical as they do not meet their needs and aspirations. Moreover, these clubs also lack instructors’ guidance and orientation.

Thirdly, students need to diversify learning tasks (Vy & Tien, 2016). The same goal or content needs to design different learning activities that are suitable for different learning styles, abilities, and interests. These tasks could be selected based on the necessary conditions and requirements. If a task is selected, students will be more interested and can be rather forced to do that task which will help lecturers to get familiarized with each student’s strengths and weaknesses (Chau, 2011). These tasks should not be confined to regular learning activities such as answering questions, reading books, observing, taking notes, making learning cards, etc. The lecturers should set other learning tasks or activities that take students to higher level goals such as: learning to manipulate, analyze, synthesize, (Nghia, 2008).

5. LIMITATIONS OF RESEARCH

The researcher faced several limitations during the course of this study, including shortcomings and inadequacies, a few of which can be mentioned.  First, the sample size was very limited and only a few universities in Ho Chi Minh City could be surveyed. Second, this research has dealt with heterogeneous courses belonging to different disciplines and was not confined to a specific classification. The findings of this research therefore may not be generalized as teaching and learning strategies for all disciplines. Third, the number of lecturers surveyed was also too small in size and they did not represent all teaching disciplines. Fourth, the time was too short to establish a wide coverage of prior research done in Vietnam and globally so there may be certain overlaps in the content. Last, but not the least, due to its limited format and availability of time, a content analysis of the data could not be accomplished. Therefore, it is not possible to understand how lecturers planned their lectures to meet the practical requirements of future employers in industry and  how students should be taught in order to come up to industry expectations. All these shortcomings could be a matter of concern in future research studies. One of the current issues in training activities at universities is the link between universities and employers (Minh & Toan, 2020). This field of study can also considered for future research to help learners develop immediate practical and industry relevant knowledge while still studying at the university, thereby creating interest in learning, researching, and exploring creativity in students.

Despite these shortcomings, results of this study have familiarized lecturers and students with the real purpose of teaching, learning, and conducting research, building effective teaching and learning strategies, and promoting activeness and interest in learning among students.  This study has also succeeded in finding ways how to develop interest in learners, create excitement in teachers and students, and develop regular study habits of lifelong learning.

6. CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS

This study had set out with two basic purposes: first, for lecturers which required lecturers to build an effective teaching strategy, attract learners, encourage them to actively participate in activities inside and outside the classroom, conduct research in their free time, and like; secondly, for students which required them to listen to the lecturers’ instructions and build their own specific learning plans, be self-disciplined and develop a positive learning attitude. The study concludes that creating excitement among students for teaching and learning in the university environment is extremely necessary in order to improve lesson efficiency. In order to create excitement and learning to be effective, lecturers must also understand its importance and apply its measures smoothly in their teaching. The lecturers ought to avoid procrastination or “leaving a work unfinished”, nor should use pedantic wisdom to show off their knowledge to the students as it does not bring any excitement in students.

To sum, up, in order to build an effective teaching and learning strategy, the lecturers should show enthusiasm, and spend a lot of time and effort to improve professional qualifications and to innovate their teaching methods. At the same time, students should also be aware of the importance of studying and training in the university environment. When both lecturers and students are truly enthusiastic about teaching and learning, the university too has a high responsibility to contribute towards social progress. Enthusiastic teachers and students can forge their ways and find a way to overcome obstacles.

Funding: This research is funded by Tra Vinh University and University of Transport and Communications (UTC) under the project code T2020-PHII-007.

Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Acknowledgement: Both authors contributed equally to the conception and design of the study.

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