EFL STUDENTS’ PERCEPTIONS OF 21ST CENTURY LEARNING SKILLS IN HIGHER EDUCATION

DOI: 10.18173/2354-1075.2021-0237

Tóm tắt

Twenty-first century learning skills (4Cs) are considered as indispensable learning and innovation skills that students should enhance in the classroom as a preparation for their future life in the 21st century. This paper, therefore, aimed to scrutinise the extent to which the 4Cs are important perceived by the third-year English majors at Ho Chi Minh City University of Economics and Finance (UEF). The questionnaire which was employed as the main research instrument to collect the data was administered to the thirdyear English majors (n=204). The data were quantitatively analysed by means of the software SPSS 20.0 (i.e., Mean and Standard deviation). The findings indicated a high rate of agreement on the 4Cs. Statistically, the mean scores of communication, collaboration, critical thinking, and creativity skills were high, which means that they mostly acknowledged the crucial role of these skills in their learning. In particular, they highly valued diversity in communication (e.g., verbal and non-verbal communication in diverse contexts, effective communication in cross-cultural environments), mutual respect and appreciation, a connection between the knowledge gained from the university and real-life experiences, and innovations. The preliminary findings probably not only practically contribute to the 4Cs development in the research context and similar EFL contexts, but they also bring theoretical contributions to the literature about the 4Cs in EFL teaching and learning.