Factor affecting English speaking performance of thirdyear students in English faculty at Thuongmai university

Factor affecting English speaking performance of thirdyear students in English faculty at Thuongmai university Factor affecting English speaking performance of thirdyear students in English faculty at Thuongmai university Factor affecting English speaking performance of thirdyear students in English faculty at Thuongmai university Factor affecting English speaking performance of thirdyear students in English faculty at Thuongmai university Factor affecting English speaking performance of thirdyear students in English faculty at Thuongmai university Factor affecting English speaking performance of thirdyear students in English faculty at Thuongmai university Factor affecting English speaking performance of thirdyear students in English faculty at Thuongmai university Factor affecting English speaking performance of thirdyear students in English faculty at Thuongmai university Factor affecting English speaking performance of thirdyear students in English faculty at Thuongmai university Factor affecting English speaking performance of thirdyear students in English faculty at Thuongmai university Factor affecting English speaking performance of thirdyear students in English faculty at Thuongmai university Factor affecting English speaking performance of thirdyear students in English faculty at Thuongmai university Factor affecting English speaking performance of thirdyear students in English faculty at Thuongmai university

ABSTRACT In the modern society,English is an international language which is widely used in many countries in the world Because of this considerable using demand, it is strongly necessary for people, who are non-English native speakers to improve their English ability by themselves While listening, reading, and writing skills seem to be easier for self- enhancement, leaners often encounter many difficulties in developing their speaking ability which they not have chances to practice and speak in the day-to-day communication Be aware of the importance and difficulties of improving this language of English learners in general as well as students in English faculty at Thuongmai university in particular, the researcher conducts an investigation of “Factor affecting English speaking performance of third-year students in English faculty at Thuongmai university” The purposes of the study are to identify obstacles confronted by the third-year students when they speak English, and then suggest effective solutions for improvement After collecting data by quantitative and qualitative methods, the researcher employs SPSS to analyze the accumulated data and displays the results in descriptive graphs The results reveal that affective factors influencing on students’ performance in the speaking skill are divided into groups The first one is psychological aspects, which consist of anxiety, shyness, lack of confidence, and lack of motivation, and the second one is linguistic aspects, which consist of lack of vocabulary needed to talk, poor in grammar, poor in pronunciation At the end of the study, some solutions are suggested to help the third-year students to improve their speaking performance effectively 1 1 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS In the process of completing this research paper, I have received a great deal of help, guidance and encouragement from many teachers, friends and family I want to dedicate this section of the paper to express my gratitude for the people who helped and supported me throughout my time completing this thesis I would like to give my sincere thanks to my supervisor and a lecturer of English Faculty, Ms Nguyen Thi Phuong Ly for her advices and guidance on the draft of this thesis Without her assistance, I cannot overcome huge obstacles to finish this study I am very grateful for the opportunity and knowledge to conduct this research given to me by teachers and students of Thuongmai University’s English Faculty Lastly, I must thank my family and friends for being by my side to support me in these stressful times During the time of doing graduation paper, I was startled at first because my knowledge was still limited Therefore, to avoid the shortcomings, I would like to receive more comments from the teachers Thank you sincerely! Hanoi, 16th April 2021 Nguyen Hong Ngoc 2 2 TABLE OF CONTENT 3 3 LIST OF TABLES AND CHARTS 4 4 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS EFL: English as Foreign Language CLT: Communitive Language Teaching 5 5 CHAPTER 1: OVERVIEW OF THE STUDY 1.1 Rationale of the study Nowadays, English has become an international language, widely used in many countries all over the world It can exist wherever people travel through – on the airports and train stations, on the road signs and advertisements, in hotels and restaurant menus, and even in the small shops The globalization of the English language initially started at the end of the 19th century with the invention of the telegraph, which is the first device that connected the world Then, the language has been associated with world powers when Britain and America colonized many countries and imposed their language on the colonized population for the past two centuries After World War II, the industrial revolution and economic advancement have greatly contributed to the spread of the language With the increasing popularity of using, master in English is an indispensable condition in the career of students – potential employees in the future Among main language skills:listening, speaking, writing, and reading, speaking is commonly accepted as the most difficult one to improve This is because when people learn a foreign language, they often expect to be able to speak it fluently and use it orally for different purposes In spite of its high importance in interaction, It is an undervalued language skill and simply perceived as rehearsing vocabularies and sentences in an accurate order In fact, the speaking skill is much more than uttering words and putting vocabularies into a sequential order; it necessitates mastering the grammar of the target language, paralinguistic elements of the speaking skill, such as stress, intonation, non-linguistic elements of communication (e.g., gestures and body language), discourse, and sociolinguistic competence (Shumin, 2002) Most of the foreign language learners are primarily interested in speaking and wish to improve their speaking skill more than other skills (Ur, 1996); given that, success at English language learning is often associated with proficiency in the speaking skill, while mastery in speaking is often synonymous with knowing that language (Folse, 2006; Richards, 2008) 6 6 When the writer was a third-year English majored student at Thuongmai university (2017-2021 curriculum), she encountered numerous difficulties in improving her speaking skill Although most of third-year English majored students expected to perfect their speaking performance at least at a high intermediate level after experiencing nearly three-year study, they still were not confident about their speaking ability in both academic and daily conversations Therefore, the author decided to conduct a research into “Factor affecting English speaking performance of third-year students in English faculty at Thuongmai university” in order to find out difficulties these students often face with, and then introduces possible solutions to overcome it 1.2 Previous studies Some experiments on the factors that affect speaking ability are discussed in this section Park and Lee (2005) looked at the relationship between fear, selfconfidence, and speech ability in second language learners This study enlisted the aid of 132 Korean students The findings of this study indicated that students' anxiety levels were negatively linked to their oral results Boonkit (2010) investigated the influences that contribute to the growth of learners' speaking abilities The findings found that using effective speaking ability exercises can be a successful approach for minimizing speakers' anxiety The findings also showed that the participants' independence of topic selection encouraged them to feel at ease, persuaded them to speak English, and improved their speaking confidence among EFL students Based on motivational orientations, Ali Dincer and Savas Yesilyurt (2013) conducted a report on teachers' assumptions about speaking abilities The findings of their research revealed that teachers had pessimistic attitudes about speaking teaching, despite the fact that they felt it was critical to speaking ability The findings also showed that, despite possessing different motivational orientations toward speaking English, the teachers felt unskilled in oral communication According to the researchers, learners have differing perspectives on the importance of speaking ability in the English language, and this disparity is linked to the learners' motivational orientations and feelings of competence in speaking The 7 7 findings showed that learners' self-perceptions of their speaking abilities were poor, and they identified themselves as incompetent English speakers Just a couple of them claimed that they were in a strong place to engage in speaking activities Tanveer (2007) investigated the causes that induce anxiety in learners learning to communicate and how anxiety affects target language communication The findings revealed that learners' feelings of tension and distress stifle their ability to understand and perform in a foreign language The researcher emphasized that the high anxiety lowers the learners’ speaking performance Eissa, Misbah, and Najat (1988) conducted research on the problems of using English as a teaching and communication tool The findings of this study revealed that learners had a lot of difficulty using English as a medium of instruction Many participants claimed that their students have a limited command of the English language The findings have revealed that many learners had significant difficulty interpreting the content of the lectures without reading or using L1 to deliver the content of the lectures Learners' oral success was affected by their lack of vocabulary, diffidence, and fear of being hated, according to Urrutia and Vega (2010) Cooperation, selfconfidence, vocabulary awareness, and the classroom atmosphere were also listed as factors that enabled students to develop their speaking skills Prieto (2007) conducted research on cooperative learning activities The results of her research revealed that interacting with others, learning from others, and selecting subjects based on the learners' preferences will both help to develop speaking skills Bozorgian (2012) looked into the connection between listening ability and other language abilities According to the findings, there is a clear association between listening comprehension and language proficiency To put it another way, the higher the listening score, the higher the speech score Lukitasari (2003) investigated learners' methods for addressing their speech difficulties The findings of this study indicate that learners face a number of speech problems in their speaking classes, including inhibition, having little to say, poor attendance, and using their mother tongue The study's other conclusion is that learners did not 8 8 develop their speech abilities because they did not learn the three components of speaking: vocabulary, grammar, and pronunciation 1.3 Aims of the study The study's main goal is to discover the subjective and objective difficulties that third-year English majors face while learning English speaking skills The research also aims to identify the causes of the issues and then propose strategies for both teachers and students in the teaching and learning of this ability The thesis' primary audience is Thuongmai University's third-year English students; however, anyone interested in developing their speaking skills will find it useful The thesis aims to: - Identify obstacles confronted by third- year students in developing their speaking - skill Scrutinize strategies third – year students in developing speaking skills Suggest solutions for making it easier to acquire English speaking skills 1.4 Research subject For English majored students, it is really important and necessary to master four English skills such as reading skill, writing skill, listening skill and speaking skill Because these four skills are equally vital to their studies and each skill is a very attractive subject for the researcher to look into In fact, English majored students at English Faculty – Thuongmai University are not really good at speaking skill Therefore, the researcher decided to study deeper about speaking skill of thirdyear English majored students with a hope to have an insight into their difficulties and then propose some solutions to improve their speaking skills 1.5 Scope of the study The aim of the research is to look into the speaking abilities of third-year students at Thuongmai University's Faculty of English Due to time constraints and a lack of reference sources, this research was unable to discuss the entire problem of speaking capacity It only looked at the most popular problems students have while learning the ability In addition, the research was unable to include all of Thuongmai University's students, so only third-year English majors are eligible to participate 9 9 1.6 Research methodology The research used both quantitative and qualitative data collection approaches to achieve the above goals A questionnaire and a semi-structured interview were used by the researcher However, both methods are carried out online using a Google form that students are sent a connection to complete The questionnaire was the first instrument used in this analysis The questionnaire was distributed through social media platforms such as Google form, with a focus on third-year majored students, and was used to gather information about the difficulty’s students faced while learning English speaking skills at Thuongmai University This instrument is used because the data would be relatively simple and straightforward to interpret Furthermore, students would find it easier and more relaxed to complete than to speak in interviews Furthermore, since the survey is conducted face-to-face and the students have enough time to consider and react, questionnaires would assist the researchers in gathering feedback rapidly and precisely The second data collection method used in this study was fact-to-face interviews with interviewees The aim of the interview was to reorganize the information obtained through the questionnaire; to obtain data on how the difficulties identified through the questionnaire impacted the students' learning of the speaking skill; to obtain information on the reasons for the learners' difficulties; and to determine whether there were any other speaking difficulties that affected the students Furthermore, by allowing students to report in their own words, the writer can gain some insight into their understanding of and attitude toward some of these issues The opinions of the students can be particularly useful in getting a deeper understanding of their comprehension difficulties To obtain the analytical data, the researcher interviewed ten third-year English majors at Thuongmai University 10 10 10 10 “What we need to is exploring the vocabularies.” (Student 8) Increasing vocabularies on their own through the use of a dictionary Some of the students acknowledged that their small vocabularies were the reason they couldn't speak fluently The students assumed that by widening their vocabularies, they would be able to communicate their thoughts more effectively Since each word has its own meaning, this demonstrates one of the values of vocabulary The speaker's ability to bring their thoughts into words demonstrates the importance of vocabulary in speaking ability A lack of vocabulary causes the speaker to be restrictive in his or her speech, which is an impediment to good communication 35 35 35 35 CHAPTER 4: RECOMMENDATIONS AND SUGESSTIONS The chapter will include a review of the key conclusions, limitations of the report, and recommendations for students, teachers, and continued studies 4.1 Summary of the study To achieve all of the above goals, the research was divided into four chapters, each with its own purpose The first chapter provides a concise overview of the study's hypotheses The second chapter provides an overview of the situation of third-year English major students at Thuongmai University who are learning English speaking skills The third chapter presents the study process and the author's observations from the questionnaire and interview This chapter further assists the author in locating the answers to the main study questions posed in Chapter The final chapter contains several recommendations and advice to help students develop their English-speaking skills 4.2 Limitations of the research While the study has some strengths, such as collection techniques, interviews and questionnaire questionnaires for students, limited time, a lack of information, an online survey, the researcher's skill, and other unforeseen factors, it is clear that the study has some weaknesses First, the survey was completed online As a result, the researcher was unable to use other approaches, such as classroom observation, to improve the reliability of the findings Since the processing time for face-to-face interviews is minimal, the researcher may only interview a limited number of students Second, the researcher mainly focuses on third-year English majors, who account for a limited percentage of students in the Faculty of English, so the study's findings cannot be generalized Furthermore, the writer was unable to cover all aspects of the problems Third, the methods proposed in this analysis are drawn from a variety of accurate but selective sources Despite the limitations listed, I hope that this exploratory research can lead to a better situation for students and teachers of English-speaking skills at Thuongmai University 36 36 36 36 4.3 Recommended suggestions According to the findings of a previous survey, English speaking is one of the most challenging skills for students as foreign language learners, even though they are enrolled in the English Faculty About the fact that students faced a variety of difficulties when learning this skill, they must learn diligently in order to become better English speakers The researcher would recommend some useful ways for students to improve their speaking skills 4.3.1 For students The first way to improve speaking skill is that students should find an Englishspeaking conversation partners When learning speaking skills, it is more successful if students can find native speakers to practice with Students who are living around many English speakers may be able to find informal opportunities to chat with neighbors and local business people Joining a club or a volunteer organization can be a great way to get to know people informally Another alternative is to enroll in online classes that include English-related courses such as IELTS preparation courses If that is not an option, students may consider hiring a private tutor Many students find and meet with tutors online using resources like Skype or Google Hangouts The second way is that students should make sure to listen as well as speak When practicing English-speaking skill, it is better if students can balance their listening and speaking ability Students can find some websites for practicing listening, divided into levels, such as ello.org, and spotlightenglish.com The third way is to record students’ speaking practice Recording is a great way to get the maximum benefit when speaking English When students listen again, they can evaluate their own pronunciation and notice areas where they need to improve They can also review the content of the conversation, take notes on new vocabulary or misunderstandings, and prepare questions for the next meeting Another way to improve their English-speaking skills is to immerse themselves in English as much as possible Watch movies or TV in English, with subtitles if students need them, and watch the same programs over and over Most people find that they understand more each time Besides, Listening also helps 37 37 37 37 students become familiar with the rhythms and intonations of English Once the sounds are familiar, try imitating them The fifth way is to listen to music in English and sing along Music is one of the best tools for learning intonation pronunciation Listening to and singing songs might also help students remember vocabulary and phrases (if the song is easy to understand), and it will help them learn to pronounce English rhythm in a more natural way By unconsciously imitating the singer, students will learn to pronounce phrases the way native speakers One good song for ESL or EFL students is “Tom’s Diner” by Suzanne Vega because it uses simple language to describe everyday scenes and actions Movies are a much better choice for learning English Students will learn vocabulary, idioms, slang, pronunciation, and listening by watching movies Reading out loud is a great way to practice speaking when there are no conversation partners available Reading aloud gives students a chance to focus on pronunciation and pacing without worrying about coming up with words Make sure to practice with material that they can understand Some students find videos online that have transcripts Many TED talks, for example, include word-for word transcripts of the talk By reading aloud from a transcript, students can check their pronunciation by listening to how the speaker says something 4.3.2 For teachers Through public performance, students' speech abilities should be encouraged and praised by teachers This can be accomplished in a variety of ways to increase students' enthusiasm and knowledge of their audience and mission Among these methods are • • • Encouraging certain students to repeat the task in front of the rest of the class Asking students to record the task production and outcomes Comparing students' success to that of native language speakers and addressing points of strength and weakness Students should take on more responsibility in their acquisition of speech skills and becoming the focus of the learning process As a result, they should be given opportunities to assess their own oral results In this way, they will become more self-sufficient and active in the process of learning to communicate This 38 38 38 38 necessitates a shift in the teacher's position from that of an authority figure to that of a facilitator, dialogue organizer, helper, and language advisor Teachers should have supportive feedback during the challenge period, not only to help students recognize their shortcomings in speaking and opportunities to overcome them, but also to encourage their achievements and, as a result, improve their enthusiasm and interest in speaking 4.4 Recommendations for further studies Due to limitations, this report was unable to address all aspects of the study Furthermore, the thesis only focuses on the challenges of third-year English majors at Thuongmai University in order to assist them in improving their speaking skills Furthermore, in order to achieve better outcomes in future experiments, the researcher should invite more participants and enhance the data collection process In addition to sample questionnaires and interviews, observation is needed to draw more convincing conclusions Overall, despite the study's limitations, the thesis was conducted with the supervision's guidance and self-effort Any comments or criticism would be greatly valued in order to improve future research CONCLUSION 39 39 39 39 The value of English in modern society cannot be overlooked Students who are fluent in English have a greater chance of achievement than others who are not fluent in English As a result, students nowadays place a high value on studying a foreign language Most learners, however, find it challenging to master English, and speaking skills are regarded as the most difficult to learn The learners' most common speaking difficulties are as follows: they spend very little time self-studying, their grammar and vocabulary are poor, and the learners' inappropriate tactics can be a hindrance to their speaking abilities The issues are often caused by the speech materials and ineffective practice techniques To develop their speech skills, students should change their speaking strategies and habits, as well as broaden their knowledge of pronunciation, vocabulary, grammar, and so on Above all, they should devote more time to regular speech practice Furthermore, teachers should pay more attention to their students and identify their students' challenges in order to assist their students in overcoming these difficulties and improving their speaking skills The author hopes that her minor study will help improve the level of learning and teaching English speaking skills at Thuongmai University 40 40 40 40 REFERENCES Ahmed, S (2015), “Attitudes towards English language learning 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Part 1: Students’ English background information speaking skill Question 1: How long have you learnt English? A Less than years B From years to years C Over years Question 2: Why you choose to learn English? A B C D To find good jobs To work in international companies To broaden knowledge Other reasons Question 3: Can you evaluate your English-speaking skill? A B C D E Proficient Good Normal Bad Very Bad Question 4: How often you speak English? A Everyday B Sometimes C Rarely 46 D Never Question 5: How you feel when you speak English? A B C D Confident Normal Worry Afraid Question 6: what you in your English-speaking classes? A B C D I actively participate in all speaking activities I sometimes participate in speaking activities I rarely participate in speaking activities and use mother-tongue with friends I keep silence and say nothing Part 2: Factors affecting English-speaking performance Barriers in developing Speaking Skill Which barriers below often encounter when you improve your Englishspeaking skill? (you can choose more than one) 50 A suitable environment and partners to practice English speaking Lack of motivation to improve speaking skill Feel anxious and lack of confidence when speaking English Lack of phonetic knowledge when speaking English Ineffective teaching method of lecturers Others……………………………………………………………………………… Factors affecting English Speaking Performance 47 Which problems below you often meet when you speak English in class? (you can choose more than one) I feel nervous about public speaking in the classroom I feel shy when I speak English in class I not feel confident when I speak English with my friends I am not interested in speaking English with friends and teachers in class I always make English grammar mistakes when I speak English My English pronunciation is not good enough to make listeners understand Others…………………………………………………………………… Solutions to improve English-speaking skill Which methods below you often apply to improve your speaking skill? (you can choose more than one) Watching English videos and listening podcasts to improve English-speaking ability Writing new vocabulary in notebooks and learning by hard Actively communicating with classmates and teachers by English Attending English courses to enhance English ability Applying Shadowing to improve English-speaking ability Reading phonetic books to enhance my pronunciation Practicing speaking English many times at home before performing at class Doing grammar exercises to consolidate grammatical knowledge Others…………………………………………………………………………… (Shadowing is an advanced learning technique where you listen to a text in your target language, and then speak it aloud at the same time as the native speaker.) Thank you for your cooperation! APPENDIX INTERVIEW QUESTIONS What are difficulties you often encounter when you speak English? What methods you apply to enhance your English-speaking skill? 48 49 ... students found that the instructor's English- speaking method was ineffective  Factors affecting English Speaking Performance 29 29 29 29 Factors affecting English Speaking Performance Percentage... to students speaking English In line with this, Baldwin and Caroline (2011) explained that the feeling of obsessive fear or detestation that students experience when speaking in public or in. .. conversations Therefore, the author decided to conduct a research into ? ?Factor affecting English speaking performance of third-year students in English faculty at Thuongmai university? ?? in order