Science & Technology Development Journal - Social Sciences & Humanities

Researching the capacity of Hoi An ancient town in the policy-making for sustainable tourism development

Hieu Minh Vo — 2021-05-10

Tourism carrying capacity is an important factor of sustainable tourism development policy for any destinations. Results from the capacity specifically forecast tourism impact on the destination's natural environment and also forecast the destination's life cycle. The focus of the article is to record the results from calculating the tourism capacity of Hoi An ancient town – a popular destination that has been overloaded recently. Based on Physical Carrying Capacity (PCC) and Effective Real Carrying Capacity (ERCC) and after eliminating the negative impact factor to ensure sustainable development, the maximum number of tourists permitted to visit Hoi An ancient town is 3.53 million per year. However, the number of tourists to Hoi An in 2019 was 5.35 million, surpassing the addressed limit of carrying capacity by 1.52 times. The author suggests a management policy with focus on (1) creating vacation time for the destination; (2) and redistributing key tourist markets for Hoi An ancient town. From the results of these two measures, the author gives some suggestions on management policies to restructure the tourist market in order to reduce the pressure on the carrying capacity of Hoi An ancient town and the heritage route in the Central of Viet Nam according to the goal of sustainable development.

ASEAN’s responsibilities towards regional peace and security under the light of international law

Ngoc Minh Trang Pham — 2021-05-13

After more than 50 years of existence and development, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has established itself as one of the significant players in the international community. This oldest as well as biggest international organization was believed to be the 5th most substantial economy in the world in 2020. Apart from contributing to the economic development of the region, ASEAN has also paid great attention to its political goals, one of which is to maintain and enhance peace, security and stability in the Southeast Asian region. With respect to this function, ASEAN has been excoriated for its ineffective performance and indolent reactions to regional precarious situations such as the Myanmar's Rohingya crisis and the chronic disputes in the East Sea. Hence, most criticisms called for a more compelling and active ASEAN in order to fulfill its role as a guardian of regional peace and security. Simon Chesterman, Dean of the Faculty of Law, National University of Singapore, posed a question: ``does ASEAN exist?'' In order to answer to such a broad question, this paper analyse the legal personality of ASEAN under the light of international law, which confirms the independence of ASEAN from member states as an actor of international system. Next, the paper examine the legal powers of ASEAN used to respond to regional security related issues. Finally, the paper establishes that ASEAN has legal obligation to settle any disputes that affect the peace and security of the region.

From practice to prediction about the trend to develop virtual classroom model on cloud computing

Tran Thi Thuy Trang — 2021-05-28

The model "classroom in the cloud" is implemented with the same functionalities as a traditional classroom so that global learners can experience learning without having to go to school, and can personalize schedule and learning program based on their learning demand and situation. From the perspective of social science , the article structured the method to implement and operate the virtual classroom using cloud computing technology. Besides, the article also surveyed 116 learners' satisfaction after experiencing the actual "classroom in the cloud" through the class of Japanese conversation subjects at the Department of Japanese Studies, University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Vietnam National University Ho Chi Minh City held during the social distancing period (from March 2020 to the end of May 2020) according to the regulation of Vietnam goverment. The research outcomes of virtual class implementation and the results of attitude studies, new learning method acceptance show that 58% of the students felt satisfied after participating in virtual classroom. Based on that experience, the author pointed out five predictions about the trend as well as the impact of distance learning on the learning society in the near future.

Expressions of indirect refusal in Vietnamese (compared with Russian)

Truong Thi Lan Huong — 2021-06-06

In Pragmatics, verbal behavior is a behavior that is most interested by many linguists. One of the behaviors is the act of rejection, the universal behavior of all languages. In intercultural conversations, the act of rejection is a very important behavior. Politeness in communication is a general principle in the social interaction of each culture. It is not easy to be polite when performing the acts of refusing without losing the other person's face. Refusal is a common act in communication, especially in intercultural communication. In the case that the proposed invitations, suggestions or requests, etc. are not suitable to receive, refusal in a proper manner is needed. Moreover, choosing the form of indirect refusal is an effective way of responding. They both express the declination of requests and the face saving for the listener. Based on literary works either published or uploaded onto the internet, this study focuses on formulas expressing indirect refusals in Vietnamese (compared with Russian). Thereby, contributing to the efficiency enhancement of the learning of this speech act used for both Vietnamese learners of the Russian language and Russian-speaking learners of the Vietnamese language.

The actual situation of students’ soft skills at some member universities of Vietnam National University Ho Chi Minh City

Tuan Trong Hoang — 2021-06-09

This study identifies and assesses the actual situation of students' soft skills at some member universities of Vietnam National University Ho Chi Minh City. To gather data, we surveyed 120 students at the University of Science and the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Vietnam National University Ho Chi Minh City. The research results show that (1) Students are interested in practicing soft skills; (2) Students learn soft skills mainly through social networks, core subjects, and a number of extracurricular activities; (3) There is a wide variety of proficiency levels of groups of soft skills (the group with the highest level of proficiency is teamwork skills, and the lowest one is the group of business skills); and (4) The factors which affect students' soft skill training are their attitude, awareness and relationships with friends around. To improve the effectiveness of soft skill training for students, training units should strengthen the integration of soft skill training content in their curricular and extra-curricular training programs. In addition, students constantly improve soft skills through classroom subjects in an active way; join extracurricular activities, clubs, etc. The research results are a channel of reference to help students to improve their soft skills in order to meet learning requirements and find jobs after graduation.

Some proposals of creative measures for the production of original print media content

Thuy Cam Huynh — 2021-05-09

The declining trend in print advertising revenue over the past decade has become more serious since Covid-19 pandemic in 2020. The quick spreading of Corona virus over the world has resulted in further decrease in this area's revenue by 30% to 50%. How can the so-called ``fourth power'' be able to recover after the epidemic crisis? How can press & news media maintain operations and sustainably develop in order to serve the public and the society, especially in the context of rapid explosion of social networks and multi-interaction channels which challenge mainstream journalism? Being faced with this situation, the article proposes a number of creative solutions for the production of innovative media content including surveying, doing research on readers' preferences to identify "golden'' readers segment; filtering and selecting unique, attractive and attention-catching content; taking advantage of "social networks" to deliver rich-information content to reach readers instantly, to choose the right form and the right time to publish information. The author hopes that this article can contribute a small part to press and news media to preserve trust from and connection with readers; thereby, meeting their increasingly diverse needs in the current Industrial Revolution 4.0.

Intertextuality in Emily Dickinson's poetry

Pham Thi Hong-An — 2021-05-12

A text is absolutely not a writer’s genuine creation, but it principly receives the material and is altered from another text. The concept of intertextuality is constructed by Julia Kristeva (1941-), stressing the interconnection between a text and other prior ones. Intertextuality can be in the form of topics, motifs, images, symbols, and so on, constantly employed by the writer either unconsciously, as believed by Freud, or consciously. In so doing, intertextuality, however, does not mean to diminish creativity in writing; on the contrary, it diversifies the process. Emily Dickinson (1830 – 1886), a talented but reclusive American poet, has utilized quite a number of images, symbols, and tales in the Bible, the text of considerable influence in her culture and society, in her poems. Her intertextuality with the Bible sophisticatedly proves her thoughts of the religion and its practice. Her religious experiences, which are interwoven in her poetry, reveal the spirit of liberty and sensitiveness she possesses. Bearing such philosophy in poetry and life, Dickinson can be regarded as a symbol of American soul, with unique and creative individualism. This paper will analyze and clarify the aforementioned proposition, principly using the method of intertextual criticism.

Exotic ceramics in Óc Eo culture through archaeological documents of Go Thap Relic Site (Dong Thap province, Vietnam)

Ha Thi Suong — 2021-05-20

Oc Eo culture is the material civilization of Funan – an ancient state in Southeast Asian history, lasting from the 1st century to the 7th century A.D. and was centered on the lower Mekong Delta. The results of research on currencies, commodities, bronze statues, and seals, etc. of the kingdom such as gold coins in the time of Antonius Pius (138-161) and Marcus Aurelius (161-180) from Roma, bronze mirror dated from the later Han dynasty, bronze Buddha statue from the Northern Wei period, seals influenced by the culture of India, etc. show that Oc Eo is a culture with wide relations and exchanges with East Asia, South Asia to Western Asia and Rome in ancient times. However, there have not been many studies on exotic ceramics. Based on the new findings from the excavations at the Go Thap relic site (in Dong Thap, Vietnam) carried out by the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Vietnam National University Ho Chi Minh City from 2010 to present, and based on the results of comparative research, this article presents some relics including Chinese pottery from the Eastern Han dynasty to the Southern Song dynasty, Indian pottery and pottery influenced by the culture of India found in Go Thap relic site; thereby, contributing to the demonstration that the international exchange development of Phu Nam not only took place in the western region of Hau river having the seaport but also developed in Oc Eo culture inland – the central region of Dong Thap Muoi. Go Thap relic site is an urban area, a cultural religious political economic and foreign trade center which plays an important role in the development of Oc Eo culture – Funan kingdom