Difficulties in improving English speaking skills of the first year students at Thuongmai University

Difficulties in improving English speaking skills of the first year students at Thuongmai University Difficulties in improving English speaking skills of the first year students at Thuongmai University Difficulties in improving English speaking skills of the first year students at Thuongmai University Difficulties in improving English speaking skills of the first year students at Thuongmai University Difficulties in improving English speaking skills of the first year students at Thuongmai University Difficulties in improving English speaking skills of the first year students at Thuongmai University Difficulties in improving English speaking skills of the first year students at Thuongmai University Difficulties in improving English speaking skills of the first year students at Thuongmai University Difficulties in improving English speaking skills of the first year students at Thuongmai University Difficulties in improving English speaking skills of the first year students at Thuongmai University Difficulties in improving English speaking skills of the first year students at Thuongmai University Difficulties in improving English speaking skills of the first year students at Thuongmai University Difficulties in improving English speaking skills of the first year students at Thuongmai University Difficulties in improving English speaking skills of the first year students at Thuongmai University

THUONGMAI UNIVERSITY ENGLISH FACULTY GRADUATION PAPER TOPIC: A STUDY ON DIFFICULTIES IN IMPROVING ENGLISH SPEAKING SKILLS OF THE FIRST YEAR STUDENTS AT THUONGMAI UNIVERSITY HANOI - 2021 ABSTRACT Nowadays, in integration trend, English has become the most widely used language in the world of trade and commerce With the development of the international relationships, English is playing a more and more important role in every part of the world As a result, learning and improving English speaking skills for international communication has become more and more vital to Vietnamese students In fact, students are taught English in the curriculum from primary school However, they mainly learn grammar and vocabulary as well as practice reading texts in books so that they have less chance to practice speaking Because of the lack of thorough training in speaking skills, English speaking is an important course in English language curriculum at university However, it is very difficult for students in this context to enhance their fluency and proficiency in English speaking immediately This study aims to summarize the difficulties that the first year students at Thuongmai University meet in improving English speaking skills To achieve the aim of the study, I applied one tool: the questionnaire with 140 students According to the questionnaire, the following result were reached: The first year students in Thuongmai University face both internal and external challenges and some recommendations are given to help students speak English more effectively ACKNOWLEGDEMENTS This Graduation Paper would not have been accomplished without the guidance and help of some people, who in one way or another, contributed and extended their valuable assistance in the preparation and completion of this study In the process of completing this graduation paper, I have faced up with many different problems However, with the great help and encouragement from teachers, family and friends; I have overcome these difficulties and completed this graduation paper successfully Firstly, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my supervisor, Ms Ha Thi Vu Ha, who guided me during the graduation paper Thanks to her careful suggestions and comments as well as valuable materials, I can complete this thesis Through Ms Ha sharing and feedback, I was motivated to overcome all the difficulties during the process Secondly, I would like to thank all teachers of English Faculty at Thuongmai University for their precious and useful lessons which have been then the foundation of this study In addition, I would like to thank the freshmen at Thuongmai University for helping me in survey to find the difficulties in improving English speaking skill Thirdly, my sincere thanks are delivered to my parents and friends for their encouragement and assistance in this time Without their help I could not to have finished this Graduation Paper Because of limited time, knowledge and practical experience, this Graduation Paper certainly contains numerous mistake Therefore, I honestly look forward to receiving comments and suggestions that will make my Graduation Paper be more perfect Ha Noi, 1st April, 2021 Tran Thi Tham TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT i ACKNOWLEGDEMENTS ii TABLE OF CONTENTS .iii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS .vi LIST OF CHARTS AND FIGURES vii CHAPTER 1: OVERVIEW OF THE STUDY 1.1 RATIONALE 1.2 PREVIOUS STUDIES 1.2.1 STUDIES ABROAD 1.2.2 STUDIES IN VIETNAM 1.3 AIMS OF THE STUDY 1.4 RESEARCH SUBJECTS .4 1.5 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY .4 1.6 SCOPE OF THE STUDY .5 1.7 ORGANIZATION OF THE STUDY .5 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW .6 2.1 DEFINITION OF SPEAKING AND THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SPEAKING AND OTHER LANGUAGE SKILLS 2.1.1 DEFINITION OF SPEAKING 2.1.2 THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SPEAKING AND OTHER LANGUAGE SKILLS 2.1.3 THE IMPORTANCE ROLE OF ENGLISH SPEAKING SKILLS 2.2 THE CHARACTERISTICS OF THE FIRST YEAR STUDENTS IN THUONGMAI UNIVERSITY .8 2.3 THE FACTORS THAT AFFECT ENGLISH SPEAKING SKILLS OF FRESHMEN AT THUONGMAI UNIVERSITY IN PARTICULAR AND STUDENTS IN GENERAL 10 2.3.1 SUBJECT FACTORS 10 2.3.2 OBJECTIVE FACTORS 11 2.4 COMMON DIFFICULTIES OF IMPROVING ENGLISH SPEAKING SKILLS OF FRESHMEN AT THUONGMAI UNIVERSITY IN PARTICULAR AND STUDENTS IN GENERAL 12 2.4.1 LINGUISTIC FACTORS 12 2.4.2 PSYCHOLOGICAL FACTORS 14 2.4.3 PHYSICAL SETTINGS 16 2.5 STRATEGIES FOR IMPROVING SPEAKING SKILLS OF FRESHMEN AT THUONGMAI UNIVERSITY IN PARTICULAR AND STUDENTS IN GENERAL 19 2.5.1 IMPROVING SPEAKING SKILL BY ENHANCING LINGUISTIC ACCURACY 19 2.5.2 IMPROVING SPEAKING SKILLS BY USING BODY LANGUAGE .20 2.5.3 IMPROVING SPEAKING SKILLS BY USING EDUCATIONAL/ MEDIA INSTRUMENTS 21 CHAPTER 3: DATA ANALYSIS AND RESEARCH FINDINGS 23 3.1 METHODOLOGY .23 3.1.1 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 23 3.1.2 RESEARCH QUESTION 23 3.1.3 PARTICIPANTS 23 3.1.4 DATA COLLECTION INSTRUMENT 23 3.1.5 DATA COLLECTION PROCEDURES 24 3.2 DATA ANALYSIS 25 3.2.1 GENERAL INFORMATION 25 3.2.2 ENGLISH USAGE AND ENGLISH SPEAKING ABILITY 26 3.2.3 ENGLISH SPEAKING PROBLEMS 30 3.2.4 PROPOSALS FOR SOLVING DIFFICULTIES IN SPEAKING SKILLS 36 3.3 CONCLUSION .41 CHAPTER 4: RECOMMENDATIONS FOR IMPROVING ENGLISH SPEAKING SKILLS 42 4.1 RECOMMENDATIONS FOR STUDENTS .42 4.1.1 SURROUNDING THEMSELVES WITH THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE .42 4.1.2 EXPANDING VOCABULARY 43 4.1.3 PARTICIPATING IN USING ENGLISH ACTIVITIES 43 4.2 RECOMMENDATIONS FOR TEACHERS AND UNIVERSITY 44 4.2.1 RAISING STUDENTS’ AWARENESS OF THE IMPORTANCE OF SPEAKING SKILLS IN LEARNING ENGLISH 44 4.2.2 GIVING MORE GROUP WORK OR PAIR WORK .44 4.2.2 GIVING MORE ADVICES AND INSTRUCTIONS .45 4.2.4 RECOMMENDATIONS FOR UNIVERSITY 45 4.3 CONCLUSION .46 CONCLUSION 47 REFERENCES I APPENDIX V LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS Abbreviations EFL TMU Q&A English meaning English as a foreign language Thuongmai University Question and answer LIST OF CHARTS AND FIGURES Chart 3.1: The faculties of the first year students who did the questionnaires .25 Chart 3.2: The English levels of the first year students at TMU 26 Chart 3.3: Students’ evaluation about the importance of English speaking skills 27 Chart 3.4: The time of learning English speaking students spend each day 28 Chart 3.5: Students’ English speaking ability 29 Chart 3.6: Students’ equivalence about the factors affecting English speaking skills 30 Chart 3.7: Subjective factors affecting English speaking skills .31 Chart 3.8: Objective factors affecting the English speaking skills 32 Chart 3.9: The linguistic difficulties in improving English speaking skills 33 Chart 3.10: The psychological difficulties in improving English speaking skills 34 Chart 3.11: The difficulties of insufficient physical settings in improving English speaking skills .35 Chart 3.12: Strategies to improve English speaking skills .36 Chart 3.13: Enhancing linguistic accuracy strategy .37 Chart 3.14: Using body language strategy .38 Chart 3.15: Using educational/ media instruments strategy 39 Chart 3.16: Using self – upgrading strategy 40 CHAPTER 1: OVERVIEW OF THE STUDY 1.1 RATIONALE In the current context, integration and globalization take place stronger than ever Accordingly, the need to have a mutual language as a tool for global communication is really important Consequently, most of countries in the world choose English as main language tool to communicate and exchange information across every industries and sectors, including Vietnam Vietnam is a developing country that has a socialist – oriented market economy It develops rapidly and always expends with the globalization trend Therefore, in the labor market, a candidate with a strong qualification and fluent English skills always makes a good impression on the employer Good English skills help candidates gain an edge over those with the same expertise Therefore, learning English becomes much more necessary than ever to contribute to renovate and develop the country also to improve the image of the country worldwide Among the English communication skills, speaking skill is the most important one when learning English because the ultimate goal when learning any language is to be able to communicate naturally and fluently with others Therefore, learning to reinforce listening, reading and writing must always accompany English speaking practice However, in fact, the students’ English communication skills after graduation are still very poor and not meet the requirements of employers This situation has also been mentioned a lot in the mass media recently In particular, students not acquire the required language skills even though they have been learning English very early The state of teaching and learning English speaking skill has long been ignored and given little consideration time Vietnamese students in general, and the first year students at Thuongmai University in particular still run up against many difficulties in the process of teaching and learning English, especially speaking English flexibly and smoothly This study will indicate the barriers, difficulties in improving English speaking skills for first year students who are directly learning and using English in a real working environment later Students at Thuongmai University will be the next high quality employee generation and the face of the country Hence, having excellent English speaking skills is an essential qualification in the future life, especially in the working place Moreover, it is a key point helps them to catch the eyes of employers 1.2 PREVIOUS STUDIES Improving English speaking skills is often chosen by many researchers in the world and in Vietnam in particular Before getting up to the investigation of the difficulties in improving English speaking skills encountered by students at Thuongmai university, I will show you some reviews about the studies related to “Difficulties in improving English speaking skills of the first year students at Thuongmai University” 1.2.1 STUDIES ABROAD The thesis with the topic “Improving Speaking Skills” by Betsabé Navarro Romero (2010) should be mentioned the difficulties in developing speaking skills of both infant and adult learners so as to focus on the real possibilities to develop a high level of speaking proficiency Besides, this article showed the role of teacher to students’ speaking skills, the English oral communication that need to improved and the strategies that can be used to overcome the difficulties The second study related to problems in oral communication skill which I refer is that “ Improving English Language Speaking Skills of Ajloun National University Students” by four researchers namely Abdel-Rahman Al- Eiadeh, Dr Mahmoud A Al.Sobh, Dr Samer M Al-Zoubi and Dr Fadi Al-Khasawneh for the International Journal of English and Education (2016) This study revealed that the students of Ajloun National University face many difficulties related to speaking skill, such as confusion and diffidence, lack of vocabulary and pronoucing words correctly Besides, some appropriate solutions were given to help students overcome the weakness in speaking skill and help teachers build up the teaching techniques in order to meet the students’ need CHAPTER 4: RECOMMENDATIONS FOR IMPROVING ENGLISH SPEAKING SKILLS After discovering the reasons leading to the weak English speaking skills of the first year students at TMU, chapter IV will provide some solutions for the students to improve English oral communication skill and some recommendations for teachers and university to promoted the learning spirit of students 4.1 RECOMMENDATIONS FOR STUDENTS In order to enhance English speaking skills of the students, the researcher gives some possible solutions below Hopefully, these suggestions will help students to have a good English communication oral skill 4.1.1 SURROUNDING THEMSELVES WITH THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE Making brain get used to reflecting English communication is the first and the most important step when the students want to learn and speak English fluently First, the learners should make themselves think everything by English When the learners are familiar with thinking by English, moving to the next step is that doing everything in English This will create a habit of being exposed to the English environment Students need to imagine conversation situations and create responses to create a habit of reacting quickly to all situations encountered in reality Nowadays, young people usually use social networks such as Facebook, Instagram, Tumbler, Tweeter to talk and update information about big events in the world and share their feelings The students can take advantages of these apps to learn and improve their English speaking skills Facebook, Tweeter or Tumbler are global social networks that be used by many people from many others countries and they consider English as a general language to communicate Therefore, students can find some new foreign friends to communicate through these apps Observing and retelling in English relevant events of covering life, friends they will write these stories in their own voice and using specific tenses at night or at an appropriate time, practicing multiple times will help learners get the best results in learning English reflexively It is a good opportunity to communicate with native speakers They will help correct mistakes in pronunciation and grammar It will make great progress in a short time and leaners will feel more confident in communication reflex On the other hand, using English to demonstrate daily habits by English will help learners gain confidence when encountering similar situations in English when they are not prepared 4.1.2 EXPANDING VOCABULARY No one can deny the important of vocabulary when students learn any language, especially in English To have a successful conversation, the students need to have a large of suitable vocabulary It is compulsory for the learners to learn vocabulary regularly if they want to get better in English speaking skills The students can put a suitable target to and complete it daily By learning new words every day, the vocabulary of the students is expanded and they will feel more confident when start a conversation and communicate with native speakers more fluently There are many sources that help students learn vocabulary The first method to improve its size is playing word game Online classic games like Wordscape, Word Puzzle and Alphabear can function as a fun way to expand the English vocabulary To be more efficient, they might keep a list of the different words from the game, and then study that list with their friends in class Another way to build a large vocabulary is to learn new words via flashcards In these days, a wide range of smartphone offer flashcards apps both online and offline so they can learn one new word or always go for more English words every single day But the most important thing is that students have to practice using new words in different types of conversations and to hone in the right word for a particular context 4.1.3 PARTICIPATING IN USING ENGLISH ACTIVITIES Taking part in using English activities frequently is an effective way for the students who are looking for a professional environment to communicate and learn experiences from others people These activities not only help students improve pronunciation but also enhance their confidence and calmness when speaking Choosing an appropriate environment is a very useful way to train oral communication Through interacting with students when they are not working and have professional exposure to the ideal learning environment when learning The learners should catch any opportunities for exposure to the English language There are many activities that use English such as conferences, English clubs, part – time jobs that required English or interacting with foreigners at tourist destinations Regularly contacting with English environment will improve using English ability The creation of an environment for learning and communicating in English is being invested to provide English language learners with the most convenient and professional environment to improve English speaking skills 4.2 RECOMMENDATIONS FOR TEACHERS AND UNIVERSITY Teachers and schools play an important role in motivating learning English ability of students There are some below solutions that teachers and schools can refer: 4.2.1 RAISING STUDENTS’ AWARENESS OF THE IMPORTANCE OF SPEAKING SKILLS IN LEARNING ENGLISH Some students not have proper awareness of the importance of improving English speaking skills Giving examples to demonstrate the important of these skills is necessary In addition, teachers should create motivation in English for the students by some activities in class such as giving a topic for the students and discussing together, playing some small games related to English or giving the student chances to get a maximum point through doing exercises and presenting about something Teachers should also use the opportunity to praise learners for getting something right, doing something well, trying hard, and showing a positive attitude towards learning Teachers can timely edit as soon as mistake of grammar, vocabulary or related skills Moreover, they could suggest some useful websites, some tips to improve oral communication skill 4.2.2 GIVING MORE GROUP WORK OR PAIR WORK To improve students’ speaking, they should be given enough opportunities to speak in class and pair work and group work can be used to increase the amount of time that learners get to speak in the target language during lesson In this way, the students will get chance to interact and practice the language with other students Group work can be an effective method to motivate students, encourage active learning, and develop key critical – thinking, communication, and decision – making skills Teachers should give students the freedom to choose a topic area that interests them within the scope of the course or that is the most relevant or meaningful to the team members This decision helps create a sense of ownership and enhances the students’ level of engagement, both of which are crucial for working on large group projects, and especially for those requiring students to carry out the work in phases throughout the term Furthermore, the teachers also need to observe the group work process and assist students in solving unexpected problems 4.2.2 GIVING MORE ADVICES AND INSTRUCTIONS Teachers’ advice is valuable information that helps improve English speaking skills Teachers spend a lot of time providing advice and instruction to students and these thing connects to student goals It lets them know how much progress they’ve made toward their goals and what else they need to to meet them The students should receive and as the teacher’s advice However, during revision, focus on the comments that will make them improve their English ability The teachers’ advice is to help the students, not criticize Their instruction is part of a conversation through which their teacher is trying to support them and their using English ability development Many people, when receiving instruction and advice from their teacher, they just listen as a rules and not pay attention to it Even if they meet the difficulties in communicating, they start to remember about what the advice and instruction they get At that time, teachers’ advice and instruction will help them overcome the difficulties they are facing up with 4.2.4 RECOMMENDATIONS FOR UNIVERSITY In order to help the first year students in particular and all students in general improve their English speaking skills, Thuongmai University should improve the English training program at the school Some ways such as renovating the level of ability of class, upgrading and improving the content of the curricula and extracurricular activities and more attractive is the effective way that TMU can apply to improve the student English ability In addition, creating more professional communication environments for students such as organizing competitions, English clubs with more professional activities is also very important That way can make students be promoted to participate in extracurricular activities and to improve the quality of training for students Hopefully, that recommendation can be useful for TMU to educate the next high quality generation employees for the countries 4.3 CONCLUSION In this chapter, the author has showed some recommendations and solutions for students, teachers and university after discussing and surveying about the difficulties in improving English speaking skills of the first year students at Thuongmai University Because of limitation of time and knowledge, this paper has got some shortcomings The limited knowledge makes the author cannot give the advance Therefore, for further studies, the researcher suggests conducting direct interviews with more students in different background and achievement in order to get more interesting techniques In addition, the author hopes that the further studies can give more new suitable methods for the majority of students' ability CONCLUSION This study aimed at identifying, describing, categorizing the difficulties of improving English speaking skills made by 140 first year students of Thuongmai University and the sources of these difficulties as well as some solutions in order to help them to enhancing English oral communication skill Chapter I includes rationale, aims and significances of the study, previous study, scope of the study, organization of the study in hope that the reader will have an overview on this study Literature review is the chapter II which provides the basic theory and concepts such as definition and overview of English speaking skills, the important roles and common difficulties of English speaking skills It would help the readers to form the framework to keep research in the next chapters Chapter III is to collect and analyze data The writer has analyzed 15 questions of the survey test with the help of 140 first year students at TMU Based on that, the writer has discovered common difficulties which students often face up with and gave some suggestions to improve English oral communication skill which is shown in chapter IV It is so clear that communication is the heart of every organization Everything happen in the workplace results from communication Therefore, having speaking skills are essential if tasks are going to be completed and goals achieved So in this study, the author gives some recommendation to help the learners this Due to limited time and knowledge, mistakes are unavoidable in this study The writer hopes that this paper will be a useful source for students to write successfully REFERENCES Abbas Pourhosein Gilakjani and Narjes Banou Sabouri (2016), “How Can EFL Teachers Help EFL Learners Improve Their English Pronunciation”, Journal of Language Teaching and Research Achmad Tolla, Dahlia Patiung, Anshari Anshari and Abdullah Dolla (2015), “The Study of Learning Speaking Skills Based on Communicative Approach”, Journal of Language Teaching and Research 6(5):1093 Alessia Valfredini (2015), “Studying the process of writing in a foreign language: An overview of the methods”, Journal of Language Teaching and Research, 6(5), 907-913 Ariyanti Ariyanti (2016), “Psychological Factors Affecting EFL Students’ Speaking Performance”, ASIAN TEFL Journal of Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics Betsabé Navarro Romero (2009), “Improving Speaking Skills”, Encuentro, 18, pp 86-90 Chris Frith (2009), Role of facial expressions in social interactions, The Royal Society publishing Eleana Lisseth Gutierrez Rodriguez, Hellen Hayde Zuniga Hernández, Jeyling del Carmen Medina Guerrero (2017), Analysis of the factors that influence the lack of speaking skill in students of tenth grade at Salvador Mendieta Cascante School during the second semester of 2017 Elfrieda H Hiebert and Michael L Kamil (2005), Teaching and Learning Vocabulary: Bringing Research to Practice, Publisher: Routledge Ho Minh Thu, Lam the nao de cai thien ky nang noi tieng Anh cho sinh vien? How to improve students’ English speaking ability? 10 Hoang Van Van (2018), The current situation and issues of the teaching of English in Vietnam 11 Ishrat Aamer Qureshi (2017), The importance of speaking skills for EFL learners, Roll No: AP504192 12 James E Alatis (1990), Georgetown University Round Table on Languages and Linguistics (GURT) 1990: Linguistics, Language Teaching and Language Acquisition: The Interdependence of Theory, Practice and Research, Publisher: Georgetown University Press 13 Judith Holler, Heather Shovelton and Geoffrey Beattie (2009), “Do iconic hand gestures really contribute to the communication of semantic information in a face – to – face context?”, Springer Science + Business Media, LLC 2009 14 Lai-Mei Leong & Seyedeh Masoumeh Ahmadi (2017), An Analysis of Factors Influencing Learners’ English Speaking Skill 15 Maryam Bahadorfar and Reza Omidvar (2014), “Technology in teaching speaking skill”, Acme International Journal of Multidisciplinary Research, Volume – II, Issue – IV, April 2014 16 Ming-yueh Shen and Tzu-yen Chiu (2019), EFL Learners’ English Speaking Difficulties and Strategy Use, Education and Linguistics Research 5(2):88 17 Naima Khan (2015), “The Effect of Stuttering on Speech and Learning process”, International Journal on Studies in English Language and Literature (IJSELL), Volume 3, Issue 4, April 2015, PP 89-103, ISSN 2347-3126 (Print) & ISSN 2347-3134 (Online) 18 Natalia Rahayu (2015), An Analysis of Students’ Problems in Speaking English Daily Language Program at Husnul Khotimah Islamic Boarding School 19 Nguyen Hoang Tuan and Tran Ngoc Mai (2015), “Factors affecting students’ speaking performance at Le Thanh Hien high school”, Asian Journal of Educational Research, Vol 3, No 2, 2015, ISSN 2311-6080 20 Raju Ahmmed (2016), Effectiveness of reading English newspapers for improving vocabulary and reading skills of students of Dhaka University 21 Rohmatillah (2014), A study on students’ difficulties in learning vocabulary 22 Siti Surinah Harahap, Rivi Antoni1 and Ummi Rasyidah (2015), An analysis on students’ speaking skill at second grade SMP Rambah Hilir 23 Suryani Suryani (2015), “Language Development in Study Abroad (SA) Context and Relationship with Input and Interaction in SLA”, Englisia Journal 2(2):95 24 Syed Muhammad Sajjad Kabir (2016), Methods of data collection, Basic Guidelines for Research: An Introductory Approach for All Disciplines, pp.201-275, Publisher: Book Zone Publication 25 Vincent J Carbone, Leigh Obrien, Emily J Sweeney-Kerwin and Kristin Albert (2013), “Teaching eye contact to children with autism: a conceptual analysis and single case study”, Education and Treatment of Children 36(2):139-159 26 WarisaraYangklang (2013), Improving English Stress and Intonation Pronunciation of the First Year Students of Nakhon Ratchasima Rajabhat University through an e-learning 27 Zdena Kráľová and Daniela Sorádová (2015), Teaching Foreign Languages to Learners with Special Educational Needs, A teacher-trainee´s handbook of Constantine the Philosopher University 28 Zhibo Liu (2015), “Factors affecting English listening and speaking abilities of non-English major students: taking engineering students as an example”, World Transactions on Engineering and Technology Education, Vol.13, No.4, 2015 Websites https://www.academia.edu/7014238/Speaking_Skill https://insights.learnlight.com/en/articles/conversation-practice-is-key-to- learning-a-language/ https://www.skybrary.aero/index.php/Communication:_Linguistic_Factors_(OGHF A_BN)#:~:text=4%20Linguistic%20factors&text=These%20elements%20include %20context%20and,English%20jargon%20and%20speech%20intelligibility https://www.varsitytutors.com/blog/7+tips+to+improve+your+grammar+skills 5.https://www.leonardoenglish.com/blog/how-to-improve-your-englishpronunciation https://www.britishcouncil.org/voices-magazine/how-english-learners-canimprove-intonation#:~:text=.,Ways%20to%20improve&text=The%20best%20way %20to%20improve,to%20record%20your%20own%20voice 7.https://www.verywellmind.com/how-do-i-maintain-good-eye-contact3024392 https://learnenglishteens.britishcouncil.org/magazine/entertainment/films- great-way-learn-english 9.https://selceducation.com/australia/blog/6-benefits-of-studying-englishabroad/ 10.https://www.alidallas.edu/how-social-activities-help-improve-your-englishthrough-active-learning/ 11 https://hoatieu.vn/chuong-trinh-giao-duc-pho-thong-mon-tieng-anh-1399 12 https://www.moroccoworldnews.com/2019/05/273302/morocco-studentseducation-languages/ 13 https://www.masterclass.com/articles/how-to-improve-your-vocabulary#7ways-to-improve-your-vocabulary 14.https://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/effective-teachingstrategies/students-riding-coattails-group-work-five-simple-ideas-try/ 15 https://123doc.net/document/78820-how-to-maximize-part-time-studentsinvolvement-in-english-speaking-lessons-at-hai-phong-foreign-languagescentre.htm APPENDIX THE SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRES Please answer the following question by clicking the most suitable answer for these questions I, General information What is your name: ……………………………………………… Class: …………………………………………………………… II, English usage and speaking ability Question 1: What is your English level? (based on a TOEIC scale)  < 300 points  300-550 points  550-750 points  >750 points Question 2: What is your opinion about the importance of English speaking skills?  Very important  Important  Quite important  Not important Question 3: What time you spend in learning English speaking each day?  I not practice at all  Less than 30 minutes  hours  More than hours Question 4: What is your English speaking level?  Very bad  Bad  Average  Good  Very good III, English speaking problems Question 5: In your opinion, what factor is more influential in English speaking skills?  Subjective factors (e.g: linguistics, psychology, attitude)  Objective factors (e.g: learning environment, education system) Question 6: In your opinion, what are the subjective factors effecting student’s speaking skills? (more than answer)  Learning motivation  Learning attitude  Learning methods and strategies  Self-learning ability  Other answers Question 7: In your opinion, what are the objective factors effecting student’s speaking skills? (more than answer)  Geographical factors  Family factors  School factors  Social environment  Teachers  Textbooks  Learning resources  Other answers Question 8: What are linguistic difficulties that you face when speaking English? (more than answers)  Insufficient vocabulary  Insufficient grammar  Inaccurate pronunciation  Insufficient sentences organization  Insufficient listening ability  Insufficient expressions  Other answers Question 9: What are psychological difficulties that you face when speaking English? (more than answers)  Fear of making mistakes  Lack of confidence  Anxiety  Stuttering  Lack of motivation  Other answers Question 10: What are the difficulties of physical settings that you face when speaking English? (more than answer)  Infrequent English conversation  Learning environment with less support  Insufficient practice  Insufficient topical knowledge  Low participation in class  Other answers IV, Proposals for solving difficulties in communication reflex Question 11: What strategies you use to improve English speaking skills? (more than answer)  Enhancing linguistic accuracy  Using body language  Using educational/ media instruments  Self – upgrading  Other answers Question 12: What will you when using enhancing linguistic accuracy strategy? (more than answer)  Improving English grammar  Improving pronunciation  Minding the intonation and stress  Increasing the vocabulary size  Other answers Question 13: What will you when using body language strategy? (more than answer)  Using gesture  Using eye contact  Using facial expressions  Other answers Question 14: What will you when using educational/ media instruments strategy? (more than answer)  Watching films  Reading English newspaper or magazine  Studying aboard as exchange students  Participating English summer camp  Other answers Question 15: What will you when using self – upgrading strategy? (more than answer)  Participating in social activities  Talking to foreigners  Talking to oneself in English  Giving a comment in class  Having a conversation with friends  Volunteering for contests  Other answers THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT ... mainly aims at pointing out the causes of difficulties in improving English speaking skills of the first year students at Thuongmai University Additionally, the researcher also investigates the. .. about the studies related to ? ?Difficulties in improving English speaking skills of the first year students at Thuongmai University? ?? 1.2.1 STUDIES ABROAD The thesis with the topic ? ?Improving Speaking. .. in improving English speaking skills  To suggest some solutions in order to improve English speaking skills of the first year students at Thuongmai University 1.5 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY The