An Investigation of the Benefits and Challenges of Graduation Internship Perceived by Students of English Language Studies

Abstract

Graduation internship has been proved to play a vital role in students’ personal and professional development. It can also be considered a preparatory step for students to gain practical knowledge and supervised experience. However, what students encounter and how students value the internship are still debatable. This study explores how students of English Language Studies at Hoa Sen University, Vietnam, perceive the benefits and challenges of their graduation internship through a mixed-method study on 92 undergraduate students via survey questionnaires and in-depth interviews. The study employed descriptive data analysis and multiple regression to analyze quantitative data and grounded theory techniques for qualitative information. The findings show that students value graduation internship as an opportunity to enhance their personal skills and employability. The study also finds out that the difficulties students face when performing given professional tasks are insufficient personal skills and lack of professional knowledge. Additionally, results from multiple regression analysis reveal that understanding job values and confirming career aspirations have a positive correlation with perceived internship necessity while building future career plans and expanding working relationships have negative directions. The research findings can be of value for the higher educational institutions in adjusting or redesigning their programs to meet the demand of the workforce?