THE UNIVERSITY OF DANANG

UNIVERSITY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES STUDIES

DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH FOR SPECIFIC PURPOSES
----

RESEARCH TOPIC:

STRESS IN THE FINAL-YEAR OF ESPD STUDENTS AT

DANANG UNIVERSITY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGE STUDIES

SUPERVISOR: MR. NGUYEN VAN TUYEN

GROUP : TM23

1. TRẦN THỊ YẾN NHI 17CNATM04

2. HÀ THỊ THANH LAM 17CNATM04

3. PHẠM THỊ HỒNG NGUYỆT 17CNATM04

4. NGUYỄN THỊ MỸ HẠNH 17CNATM04

5. TRƯƠNG LÝ HOÀI THU 17CNATM04

6. NGUYỄN THỊ HỒNG NHUNG 17CNATM04

Da Nang, 2018
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1. INTRODUCTION
1.1. The problem statement

Stress is a popular problem in society, not only in teenager and adults but also in
kids. Stress affects everyone differently in a different way. Nowadays, students,
especially students at the university are learning and working under high pressure.
If the freshmen have many difficulties in living far from their houses, being
surprised at many new things at school such as new method of learning or
examining, the final-year students will face to some bigger problems which is
more important : difficulty of exams, money’s worries, place to internship, job in
the future or maybe the unemployment after graduating.

Humans experience stress or perceive things as threatening when they do not

believe that their resources for coping with obstacles (stimuli, people, situations,
etc.) are enough for what the circumstances demand. When people think the
demands being placed on them exceed their ability to cope, they then perceive
stress. Of course, stress causes a lot of dangerous diseases such as a headache, the
Alzheimer or even depression which leads to death.

In order to more understand about this problem, we- researchers, believe that it is
really necessary to do research based on this phenomenon with the assumption of
stress that the final-year students at Da Nang University of Foreign Language
often face. In addition, this research will be carried out with questionnaire
technique. So, we choose this topic with the title of “Stress in the final-year
students at Da Nang University of Foreign Language Studies” with the expectation
that we could recognize the issue about the difficulties of their study, their daily
life. After that, we could come up with the best solution for students to balance
time on working and studying effectively. We hope that all students will have a
correct look and avoid some difficulties in their future.
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1.2. A rationale for the research

Although we are not the final-year students, we still feel these problems gradually.
Freshmen also face some small difficulties in our life but in the final year, there
are many things they have to do. We sympathize and maybe understand their
issues. This research is all the problems which the final-year students maybe face.
Our aim is to help all the students own their life right from the time they are
newcomers.

After all, we decided to carry out this research to help everyone with the affection
of the final-year students and we hope that all of us – students at our school can
control our feelings, balance our life and be successful in the future.

1.3. Statement of the scope of the study

The final-year students of ESPD at Da Nang University of Foreign Language

Studies.

1.4. Statement of the research aims & objectives

The research is aimed:

a. To find out some reasons why the final-year students are stress
b. To understand about some signals of stress
c. To figure out the affecting of being stress in the last of university
d. To suggest the solution to reduce the stress in their lives. As a result,
final-year students could have less stress. Then, they could balance
between working and studying.

1.5. Research question

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To achieve the objectives, the following research question was posed and
answered:
a. What is the reason why students in the final-year are often under
pressure?
b. What are the impacts?
c. How to overcome the pressure of the final-year at university?
1.6. Hypothesis

This studying is researched into the effects of the stress of students English for
Specific Purposes Department (ESPD) of Da Nang University of Foreign
Language Studies. We have recognized that there are many reasons lead to stress
as well as the effects of it. There are two fields of the stress: the positive and the
negative but the negative impacts are worth discussing. However, not 100%
students are stress. In addition, the research shows some solutions for the final-
year students to reduce stress.

1.7. Definition of terms

+ Stress : stress is a state of mental strain from working or studying under

high pressure.
+ Final-year students : students who are studying in the fourth-year at
university.
+ Unemployment : is the situation of actively looking for employment but
not being currently employed.

2. A BRIEF REVIEW OF THE RELEVANT LITERATURE

2.1. Introduction

On the website www.google.com, the keyword “psychology of stress” gives us

400.000.000 results within only 0.50 s. Stress was studied and understood as a
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biological response in the nineteen-thirties, by the Canadian endocrinologist Hans

Selye[1], who defined it as a complex of adaptive reactions of the body to new
limits – that is, it is the response of impotence in the face of a decline of resources
necessary for overcoming a specified demand. Stress appears in our life in general,
especially in student's studying time, from 15 to 25 years old.

Almost final-year students at Da Nang University of Foreign Language Studies

bear stress from many sources such as family, society, school or friends.
According to a research in Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology and
Education[2], we can see that in every 500 final-year students, it has 10.8% of all
feels very stressed, 49.8% of all is under stress, 33.8% feels less stressed and the
left has no stressed expression.

The literature reviewed below will show you how stress is effecting on academic
performance and life of final year students.

2.2. Comments and a statement of unsolved problems

The difficulty with final year in UFLs is trying to organize yourself and keep on
track with everything: struggle with workload, enormous task, final project/
dissertation, fit in a part-time job on evenings and weekends, find the trainee job,
complete the second language degree, and the most important thing is to get your
main language qualification (C1, A2, N2...). The fearful thing here is that outing
landmark at our school is really high, so difficult for a medium student to
graduate.
Dissertation + money worries + potential unemployment graduation + the question
of your family and society: "What is your job after graduating?"+ pressure from
friends who graduated sooner than yourself = FINAL YEAR UNIVERSITY
STRESS.
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For some details, there is 90% of students research NUS[3] reported that final year
exams, as well as the mammoth task of undertaking a dissertation, caused them
more stress than they expected, 75% of students of all reported their future career
prospects after graduation was very stressful because they want to get a job and
avoid joining in the 4.7% of UK population who are unemployed. Moreover, 50%
of students said that having the part-time job alongside their studies added to their
life pressures. Causes as above make final-year students feel that there are too
many things like thousands of tones which is attacking them violently. All make
them can’t manage and cope with reality, it results in many negative implications.

2.3. Theoretical knowledge

2.3.1. The effects of stress

a. On student’s life

In life, stress is unavoidable. Everyone, students included, experience stress at one

moment or another and in a variety of ways. Studies conducted to establish how
stress affects the performance of college students have convincingly shown that,
while low levels of stress can improve concentration for short periods of time, too
much stress affects students negatively.

It affects your ability to concentrate, causes sleep disorders and leads to

depression. The stress of college is a very real and has a negative impact on
students across the country. Read on to find out how stress affects students.

When you expose yourself to stressors (stimuli that incite stress), the result is an
assortment of emotional, physical, cognitive and behavioral reactions that include
the following:
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Muscle tension

Your muscles trigger when stress hormones activate your sympathetic nervous
system. Activated nerves make you either tense up when seating in class, or flex
certain muscles making them ache. The result is a constant disturbance that
reduces your concentration in class.

Hostility

Once your stressors stimulate your instincts, you start misconstruing other stimuli
as possible stressors. You, therefore, become irritable, even with the slightest
provocation, and lash out with frustrations in self-defense. This state makes you
hostile to even your closest friends.

b. On student performance

Physical Symptoms

High levels of stress could lead to physical symptoms that could have a negative
effect on student performance. These signs and symptoms include:

 frequent headaches

 tremors, trembling of lips

 neck and back pains

 nervous habits, e.g., fidgeting

 rapid or mumbled speech

 upset stomach

 elevated blood pressure

 chest pains
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When you experience these symptoms, you might not feel the motivation you once
had to do your best on academic tasks such as preparing for tests or completing
assignments.

Poor Management Skills

Students who are suffering from high levels of stress could become disorganized
and uncertain of their goals and priorities. This could lead to an inability to
effectively budget and manage their time.

Moreover, students who are highly stressed tend to procrastinate and neglect
responsibilities such as completing assignments and meeting deadlines. Of course,
this will affect their study skills and the quality of their work.

Concentration Difficulties

A high level of stress reduces students' ability to concentrate on their studies.

Consequently, it makes it difficult for them to memorize facts for tests.

Even more, poor concentration could limit students' ability to think critically or at
optimal levels when they write their papers or during tests. So poor judgment
could lead to weak responses on exams and on their course work.

55% of students, nationally, claimed their biggest stressor to be academic in

nature.

Memory Problems

Memory is vital to students' academic success, and forgetfulness is one of the

symptoms of being stressed. It is clear then that this could adversely affect
students' quality of work.

When students are unable to recall necessary details to answer questions, this
could lead to poor exam results and limited participation in class activities.
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Constant Worry

Stress is characterized by persistent daily worry and restlessness. So when students

are constantly worried, this takes the focus off important tasks to be completed at
school.

Because of excessive worry about different problems, students might find it

difficult to fall asleep. Consequently, the work they complete could be mediocre or
they could miss assignment deadlines. They could end up failing courses.

“I WILL BREATHE.
I will think of solutions.
I will not let worry control me.
I will simply breathe and it will be okay because I don't quit”
-Shayne Mc.Lendon-

Self-Defeating Thoughts

Students who are experiencing stress, are likely to be consistently thinking about
the adverse situation that they find themselves in. They could also be constantly be
focused on their failures and weaknesses.

These self-defeating thoughts affect how they feel and how they behave. This
results in lack of confidence in their abilities which hinders them from performing
to their highest potential and succeed in school.

Irritability and Short Temper

One of the symptoms of stress is irritability which could affect students'
relationships with peers, family members, and teachers. Students could find that a
significant amount of the work in some courses take place in groups.
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Students are required to work with other students to achieve the learning
objectives. If they are stressed, they could be short-tempered and irritable, and this
could affect the cohesiveness of the group. The result could be the group’s
inability to effectively achieve its goals.

Social Withdrawal

Students who are highly stressed, tend to isolate themselves from others. In doing
so, they cut themselves off from a valuable support network. Family, peers and
other connections could be helpful links in assisting them in achieving their
personal and educational goals.

In response to stressors, students could get preoccupied and overwhelmed with the
stressful situations giving little attention to relationships. Lack of nurturing
relationships could affect their mental health leading to problems such as reduced
productivity in their school work, in the form of failed projects and poor test
scores.

2.3.2. How stress positively affects students

It’s not all bad. A little stress can actually help students perform a little better. The
key word there is “little.”

When you are stressed out, your body releases chemicals to your brain in an
attempt to help it focuses and pushes adrenaline into the bloodstream so as
heightening your senses. In turn, your heightened senses help you hone in and
focus on the task at hand. Therefore, little stress can be helpful for students, but for
a very short time. But here’s the bad side. Over time, the tension increases,
compelling you to put more effort into successfully relieving causes of stress.
Your brain will fight against itself instead of working on a task.
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Associated Press and MTV conducted research to establish the effects of stress on
the performance of students in college. They surveyed 2,240 students from 40
random colleges. Six in every ten students reported being so stressed that they
couldn’t complete their homework in many instances.

We know that students are stressed, but what’s causing it? Here are some of the
most common causes of stress for students.

 Heavy course loads

 Family turmoil and loss of loved ones
 Romantic relationships
 Pressure to perform well on exams
 Unfamiliar environment
 Living among strangers

2.4. Summary
Therefore, the aim of this research will conduct with the goal to analyze the
correlation of the stress on students at university. Although there are many
research that have been conducted so far, there are no research that conduct at
Da Nang University of Foreign Language Studies, English For Specific
Purposes Department. Some questions that remain unclear whether or not
stress always provides the negative or positive effect to academic achievement
and life.

3. METHOD

3.1. Research design

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We choose the topic of the stress in the final-year students for purpose of
analyzing causes, impact and finding out solutions that help students to deal with
this problem.
This study will answer around three main research questions:
 “What is the reasons why students in final-year are often under pressure?’’
 “ What is the impacts? ”
 “ How to overcome the pressure of the final-year at university ?”

3.2. Research methodology

Here are some methods:

 Refer to previous research, academic writing on the Internet.

 Learn from experiences of people doing this research.
 Do an online survey by using a form including some questions
relating to the research issue to ask final- year students of English
for Specific Purposes Department at Da Nang University of Foreign
Language Studies about some problems they have to face.

3.3. Description of popular and sample

3.3.1. Population

This study examines all of English for Special Purpose Department at Da Nang
University of Foreign Language Studies. We chose them because they are people
who are directly facing difficulties of final- year.

3.3.2. Sample
The present study was conducted by doing an online survey by Google Form. The
seniors of English for Specific Purposes Department at Da Nang University of
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Foreign Language Studies will complete the form by answers some questions
relating to research issue.
3.4. Data collection

Data of this research were collected by many sources and includes:

 Reference information on the Internet
 Previous studies
 Questionnaire
 Interview with students

3.5. Instruments for analysis

To collect data and related information for this research, we need to have a
connected-computer.
Using Google Form to create an online survey with final- year students of English
for Specific Purposes Department at Da Nang University of Foreign Language
Studies have been done to prove the findings of the analysis of the analysis of
important content.
We used statistical tools and data processing software such as Microsoft Excel
2010 to gather data and handle research results.

3.6. Data analysis

After using questionnaire and collecting data on individual’s personal experiences

to collect data for this research, we begin to analyze them. It will include the
following stages:

- Stage 1: Will be exam and analysis of related studies that we found on the
Internet. Looking for the difficulties that seniors have to face, the impact,
then collecting benefit solutions.
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- Stage 2: Will be analyzing the data from the surveys. We gathered

information from students of English for Specific Purposes Department at
Da Nang University of Foreign Language Studies by giving a questionnaire
with 6 questions and giving 2 questions that the participants write their
ideas. From that, we will know clearly the reasons and the real effect of
stress in the final year.
- Stage 3: Will involve checking or logging the data in; checking the data for
accuracy; entering the data into the computer; transforming the data;
developing and documenting a database structure that integrates the various
measures.

3.7. Discussion of reliability and validity

3.7.1. Reliability

In order to ensure the reliability of this study, one of the above-mentioned data is
clearly tested in many ways. The citations are also attached to the author's name,
title and year of publication. The data is also included through accurate and
rigorous software testing. Moreover, the information from the internet is always
processed and checked very strict, data is attributed to the source and the writer to
increase the credibility of the information.

3.7.2. Validity

On the validity of the data collection and analysis, the study examined whether the
samples met the descriptive requirements set forth in the objectives and in the
theoretical context. Therefore, the data and theoretical foundations are reliable.
Related studies and survey techniques have been selected as the main tools for
data collection. In addition, irrelevant and unreliable data is also removed.
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4. LIMITATIONS AND DELIMITATIONS

4.1. Limitations

The study particularly emphasized the impact of stress on the students at the Da
Nang University of Foreign Language. The main content only concentrated on the
final- year students. An overview of the impact of stress on other students have
been presented to show the difference between stress in the other students and the
final- year students. Moreover, the study only was done through some documents
on the Internet, an interview and a questionnaire with students. It needs to be
collecting data from more source such as an interview with companies which
receive the final- year students to practice at or an interview with teachers at the
Da Nang University of Foreign Language.

4.2. Delimitations

Due to the nature of this study and the research methods of data collection,
generalization and recommendations will be limited.
- The recommendations are only beneficial to the final- year students at Da
Nang University of Foreign Language.
- This research did not include students who are given the help from their
family. Therefore, it is unfair to talk about the stress of them.
- This research did not include students who have to intend to give up
studying when they feel very stressful.
- Students who graduated earlier than the exact deadline were not taken into
consideration.

5. TIME LINE

Day Week 1 Week 2

Introduction
 16

Data
collection
methods
Literature
review
Data analysis

Questionnaire

Review the
research
Submission

6. TENTATIVE THESIS CHAPER OUTLINE

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
1. The problem statement
2. A rationale for the research
3. Scope of the study
4. Statement of the research aim & objectives
5. Research questions
6. Hypothesis
7. Definition of terms

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

1. Introduction
 17

2. Comments and a statement of unsolved problems

3. Some theoretical knowledge
4. Summary

CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY

1. Research design
2. Research methodology
3. Description of Population and Sample
4. Data collection
5. Instruments for analysis
6. Data analysis
7. Discussion of reliability and validity

CHAPTER 4: COLLECTING AND DISCUSSION

CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATIONS

7. REFERENCES

1. Dormann,C. & Zapf,D.(2010, December). Social stressors at work, irritation,

and depressive symptoms: accounting for unmeasured third variables in a multi-
wave study. Journal of Occupational Organizational Psychology , 75(1).
2. Miller, R.(2017, March). How to deal with final year University Stress. Retrived
March 21,2018, from database :
http://www.inspiringinterns.com/blog/2017/03/how-to-deal-with-final-year-
university-stress/.

3.Moreira, D.P. & Furegato, A.R.F.(2013, January & February 21). Stress and
depression among students of the last semester in two nursing courses.
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Retrieved March 21,2018 ,from database:

https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/e5aa/1b65f01fe0aa7f66109edd0a9cb7706d
121a.pdf .

4. “ Psychological stress ”( 2011, April). Wikipedia. Retrieved March 17, 2018, re

from database : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychological_stress.
5. Stupart, Y.(2018, February 20). How Stress Affects College Students Academic
Perfomance. Owlcation. Retrieved March 22, 2018, from database:
https://owlcation.com/academia/College-Life-The-Effects-of-Stress-on-
Academic-Performance.
6. “ How Stress Affects Student ( And what to do About it )” (2017, February
7).True Stress Management. Retrieved March 22, 2018, from database:
https://truestressmanagement.com/how-stress-affects-students/ .

8. APPENDICES

1. INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................. 2
1.1. The problem statement .................................................................................................. 2
1.2. A rationale for the research .......................................................................................... 3
1.3. Statement of the scope of the study .............................................................................. 3
1.4. Statement of the research aims & objectives ............................................................... 3
1.5. Research question .......................................................................................................... 3
1.6. Hypothesis....................................................................................................................... 4
1.7. Definition of terms ......................................................................................................... 4

2. A BRIEF REVIEW OF THE RELEVANT LITERATURE ............................................. 4

2.1. Introduction .................................................................................................................... 4
2.2. Comments and a statement of unsolved problems ...................................................... 5
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2.3. Theoretical knowledge…………………………………………………………5

2.3.1. The effects of stress ...................................................................................... 6
2.3.2. How stress positively affects students ....................................................... 10
2.4. Summary....................................................................................................................... 11
3. METHOD............................................................................................................................. 11
3.1. Research design ............................................................................................................ 11
3.2. Research methodology ................................................................................................. 12
3.3. Description of population and sample............................ Error! Bookmark not defined.
3.3. Description of popular and sample............................................................................. 12
3.4. Data collection .............................................................................................................. 13
3.5. Instruments for analysis .............................................................................................. 13
3.6. Data analysis ................................................................................................................. 13
3.7. Discussion of reliability and validity .......................................................................... 14

4. LIMITATIONS AND DELIMITATIONS........................................................................ 15

4.1. Limitations ......................................................................................................................... 15
4.2. Delimitations...................................................................................................................... 15

5. TIME LINE ......................................................................................................................... 15

6. TENTATIVE THESIS CHAPER OUTLINE................................................................... 16

7. REFERENCES .................................................................................................................... 17

8. APPENDICES ..................................................................................................................... 18
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QUESTIONNAIRE ABOUT STRESS OF THE FINAL-YEAR STUDENTS

AT DANANG UNIVERSITY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGE STUDIES

- Your name:......................................................

- Class : .....................................................

1. Which problems do you think the final-year students can face ?

 Money worries
 Future job
 Study pressure
 Graduation
 Hard level of the exam
 Boyfriend/Girlfriend
 Part-time job
 Internship
 Others: ……………………………………

2. Some solution to reduce your stress:

 Go out with friends
 Internet
 Listen to music
 Arrange your timetable, your work
 Eat
 Shopping
 Walking, go jogging
 Others: ……………………………………
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3. What consequences can occur when you are stress?

 Headache or tired
 Lazy
 Stay at home all day
 Do not want to meet anyone
 Do not want to join in any activities with friends
 Have negative thoughts
 Do not want to talk
 Others: ……………………………………

4. How many hours per day do you spend on studying?

 1.5 – 2 hours
 3-4 hours
 5 hours
 > 5 hours
 Others: ……………………………………

5. Are you stressful in your study? If yes, which level?

 Yes
- Very stress……..
- Daily…………...
- Sometimes……..
 No

6. How does stress affect your study and life ?

 Advantage
 Disadvantage
 Both
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7. What do you think about the output standard of our university ?

………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………..

8. If you are a final-year student, what do you want to say to other students in
the first year, second year and the third year? Recommend some advices to
reduce stress and pressure ?
………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………..