English-Majored Students’ Perceptions of Problem-Solving Skills in Working Contexts

Abstract

"Problem-solving skills have become an essential component of employability in 21stcentury higher education, particularly for English-majored students whose future professions demand adaptability, decision-making, and independent judgment. Despite their importance, limited research in Vietnam has examined how English-majored students perceive their confidence in problem solving or what factors contribute to the development of these skills during university. This study investigates (1) the extent to which students feel confident across the five stages of the IDEAL problem-solving model—Identify, Define, Explore, Act, and Look Back—and (2) the academic and non-academic factors that help their Problem – solving skills development throughout their four-year program. A mixed-methods design was employed, integrating quantitative data from a 16-item Likert-scale questionnaire administered to 65 students and qualitative data from three openended questions. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze students’ confidence levels at each IDEAL stage, while thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2006) was applied to the qualitative responses. Overall, the study highlights that problem-solving skills are cultivated through both structured coursework and real-world experiences. Quantitative findings indicate that students demonstrate high confidence in identifying problems and reflecting on outcomes, while comparatively lower confidence is observed in generating multiple solutions, particularly at the Explore stage of the IDEAL model."