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

Nowadays, in integration trend, English has become the most widely usedlanguage in the world of trade and commerce With the development of theinternational relationships, English is playing a more and more important role inevery part of the world As a result, learning and improving English speaking skillsfor international communication has become more and more vital to Vietnamesestudents

In fact, students are taught English in the curriculum from primary school.However, they mainly learn grammar and vocabulary as well as practice readingtexts in books so that they have less chance to practice speaking Because of thelack of thorough training in speaking skills, English speaking is an important course

in English language curriculum at university However, it is very difficult forstudents in this context to enhance their fluency and proficiency in English speakingimmediately This study aims to summarize the difficulties that the first yearstudents at Thuongmai University meet in improving English speaking skills Toachieve the aim of the study, I applied one tool: the questionnaire with 140 students.According to the questionnaire, the following result were reached: The firstyear students in Thuongmai University face both internal and external challengesand some recommendations are given to help students speak English moreeffectively

This Graduation Paper would not have been accomplished without theguidance and help of some people, who in one way or another, contributed andextended their valuable assistance in the preparation and completion of this study Inthe process of completing this graduation paper, I have faced up with many differentproblems However, with the great help and encouragement from teachers, familyand friends; I have overcome these difficulties and completed this graduation papersuccessfully

Firstly, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my supervisor, Ms HaThi Vu Ha, who guided me during the graduation paper Thanks to her carefulsuggestions and comments as well as valuable materials, I can complete this thesis.Through Ms Ha sharing and feedback, I was motivated to overcome all thedifficulties during the process

Secondly, I would like to thank all teachers of English Faculty at ThuongmaiUniversity for their precious and useful lessons which have been then thefoundation of this study In addition, I would like to thank the freshmen atThuongmai University for helping me in survey to find the difficulties in improvingEnglish speaking skill

Thirdly, my sincere thanks are delivered to my parents and friends for theirencouragement and assistance in this time Without their help I could not to havefinished this Graduation Paper

Because of limited time, knowledge and practical experience, this GraduationPaper certainly contains numerous mistake Therefore, I honestly look forward toreceiving comments and suggestions that will make my Graduation Paper be moreperfect

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

1.1 RATIONALE 1

1.2 PREVIOUS STUDIES 2

1.2.1 STUDIES ABROAD 2

1.2.2 STUDIES IN VIETNAM 3

1.3 AIMS OF THE STUDY 3

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 6

2.1.1 DEFINITION OF SPEAKING 6

2.1.2 THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SPEAKING AND OTHER LANGUAGE SKILLS 7

2.1.3 THE IMPORTANCE ROLE OF ENGLISH SPEAKING SKILLS 7

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

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 thanever Accordingly, the need to have a mutual language as a tool for globalcommunication is really important Consequently, most of countries in the worldchoose English as main language tool to communicate and exchange informationacross every industries and sectors, including Vietnam

Vietnam is a developing country that has a socialist – oriented marketeconomy It develops rapidly and always expends with the globalization trend.Therefore, in the labor market, a candidate with a strong qualification and fluentEnglish skills always makes a good impression on the employer Good Englishskills help candidates gain an edge over those with the same expertise Therefore,learning English becomes much more necessary than ever to contribute to renovateand develop the country also to improve the image of the country worldwide

Among the English communication skills, speaking skill is the most importantone when learning English because the ultimate goal when learning any language is

to be able to communicate naturally and fluently with others Therefore, learning toreinforce listening, reading and writing must always accompany English speakingpractice

However, in fact, the students’ English communication skills after graduationare still very poor and do not meet the requirements of employers This situation hasalso been mentioned a lot in the mass media recently In particular, students do notacquire the required language skills even though they have been learning Englishvery early The state of teaching and learning English speaking skill has long beenignored and given little consideration time

Vietnamese students in general, and the first year students at ThuongmaiUniversity in particular still run up against many difficulties in the process ofteaching and learning English, especially speaking English flexibly and smoothly.This study will indicate the barriers, difficulties in improving English speakingskills 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 highquality employee generation and the face of the country Hence, having excellentEnglish speaking skills is an essential qualification in the future life, especially inthe working place Moreover, it is a key point helps them to catch the eyes ofemployers.

1.2 PREVIOUS STUDIES

Improving English speaking skills is often chosen by many researchers in theworld and in Vietnam in particular Before getting up to the investigation of thedifficulties in improving English speaking skills encountered by students atThuongmai 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 ofboth infant and adult learners so as to focus on the real possibilities to develop ahigh level of speaking proficiency Besides, this article showed the role of teacher tostudents’ speaking skills, the English oral communication that need to improved andthe 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 theInternational Journal of English and Education (2016) This study revealed that thestudents of Ajloun National University face many difficulties related to speakingskill, such as confusion and diffidence, lack of vocabulary and pronoucing wordscorrectly Besides, some appropriate solutions were given to help students overcomethe weakness in speaking skill and help teachers build up the teaching techniques inorder to meet the students’ need

The third research that I have examined is “Technology in teaching speaking

skill” by Maryam Bahadorfar and Reza Omidvar (2014) Unlike these above

studies, this paper aimed to discuss some modern technologies available forteachers today to enhance speaking skill of second or foreign language learners such

as Internet, podcasts, video conferencing, videos and speech recognition software

1.2.2 STUDIES IN VIETNAM

To have a thorough gasp and more knowledge of the study I have examined, I

would refer to the research “Using project-based learning to improve English

speaking skills of non – English major students of level” by Bui Thi Ngoc Oanh for

Journal of Science and Technology (2017) This article investigated theeffectiveness of project-based teaching methods to improve the speaking skill forfirst year students at Nha Trang University The research paper also outlined thebenefits and challenges of teaching through projects as well as the solutions toimprove the effectiveness of this teaching method

The study “How to improve students’ English speaking skill?” by Ho Minh

Thu mentioned the reality of teaching and learning English speaking of students atDanang University and then suggested some main techniques which include themethods of strengthening the English teaching methods in order to help studentsenhance their English speaking skill Only in this way, students who are learningEnglish speaking can learn it well so that they can communicate in English fluentlyand improve their English speaking skill

Overall, we can easily find out studies related to improving speaking skill.These studies have mentioned quite clearly and clearly many problems anddifficulties when communicating in English of students in different fields but therehave been no studies on English speaking skill problem in the first year studentswho are the lack of thorough training For this reason, I have decided to carry out aresearch on the shortcomings and difficulties of first year students at ThuongmaiUniversity about speaking skill and propose suitable solutions to improve it

1.3 AIMS OF THE STUDY

The study is done with the following aims:

First and foremost, this study will figure out the difficulties in the process ofimproving English speaking skills of the first year students at ThuongmaiUniversity.

Then, the study would like to suggest some solutions to deal with theseproblems and create the best effect in English learning for first year students atThuongmai University

Finally, this study could be very valuable for first students at ThuongmaiUniversity in particular and students in general to perfect English speaking skills

1.4 RESEARCH SUBJECTS

Based on the rationale and the aims of the problems, the subject of this

research is “Difficulties in improving English speaking skills of the first year students at Thuongmai University” It is obviously that there is one main subject

here: English speaking skill Therefore, there are two small subjects of this study:

 To investigate the difficulties that first year students at ThuongmaiUniversity face in improving English speaking skills

 To suggest some solutions in order to improve English speaking skills ofthe first year students at Thuongmai University

1.5 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

The study mainly aims at pointing out the causes of difficulties in improvingEnglish speaking skills of the first year students at Thuongmai University

Additionally, the researcher also investigates the learning strategies applied bythe first year students in practicing English progress As a result, once having beencompleted, the study is expected to bring considerable benefits to both teachers andstudents

Moreover, the findings and suggestions of this study are believed to enhancethe teaching and learning process of English speaking skills for the first yearstudents at Thuongmai University in particular and students in general The results

of this study may be a valued document for the students themselves and otherpeople who are interested in learning English speaking skills

Furthermore, the findings of this study also provide recommendations forcompleting English speaking skills as well.

Finally, the research findings would raise the teachers’ awareness of thestudents' difficulties, thereby guiding them in reconstructing their program ofteaching to suit their students’ needs From this issues, the efficiency of teachingand learning English speaking skills in Thuongmai University will increase

1.6 SCOPE OF THE STUDY

There are so many different material resources that require a lot of time andefforts to examine myself but my personal experience is limited Therefore, thisstudy can only focus on studying the English speaking skills of students, thendetermine difficulties they encounter in oral communication to propose somesolutions to improve English speaking skills

This study is conducted through questionnaire over the internet with theparticipation of the first year students at Thuongmai University The participants ofthe research are 140 first year students who are studying at Thuongmai University.The questionnaire was distributed to the participants in different faculties to sort outdifferent English speaking problems

I hope that this study is a useful document for the first year students atThuongmai University in particular and all the students in Vietnam in general andhelp them get higher English speaking level

1.7 ORGANIZATION OF THE STUDY

The construction of this study includes four parts as follows:

Chapter 1: The introduction gives the rationale, the aim of study, the researchsubjects, scope of the study, methodology and the structure of study

Chapter 2: The literature review shows the background literature directlyrelevant to the study being discussed

Chapter 3: Research findings include the evaluation and analysis from thesurvey questionnaire

Chapter 4: Recommendations and suggested techniques for improving Englishspeaking skills of the first students at Thuongmai University

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 DEFINITION OF SPEAKING AND THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SPEAKING AND OTHER LANGUAGE SKILLS

2.1.1 DEFINITION OF SPEAKING

Speaking is a common tool to communicate within the community There are

no communities wherever they live that have no language

According to Ladouse (in Nunan, 1991: 23), speaking is known as the activity

to express oneself in the situation, or the activity to report acts, or situation inprecise words or the ability to convey a series of ideas fluently There are nine basicconcepts of speaking as the means of communicating (Logan et al., 1972, p 104 –105) They are:

(1) Speaking and listening are two reciprocal activities

(2) Speaking is an individual process in communicating,

(3) Speaking is a creative expression,

(4) Speaking is behavior,

(5) Speaking is learned behavior,

(6) The wealth of experience influences speaking,

(7) Speaking is a way in smoothing the horizon,

(8) Linguistic ability and the environment are closely combined,

(9) Speaking is personal emission,

Slamet and Saddhono (2012) revealed that speaking is an activity thatcontributes to oral communication such as talks, discussions, interview, etc In thecommunication, people exchange their ideas, express thoughts, feelings, and alsoagree with the establishment or beliefs

There are many different definition of communication that given by manyfamous researchers However, to be easy to understand, it has been mentioned in theschool – based curriculum that the nature of learning to speak is basically using oraldiscourse to express thoughts, feelings, information, experiences of opinions andcomments in interviews, presentations, discussions and speeches

2.1.2 THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SPEAKING AND OTHER LANGUAGE SKILLS

Speaking is the productive skill and it cannot be separated from listening Inthe nature of communication, for example in a conversation, we can find fourcomponents: the speaker, the listener, the message and the feedback Furthermore,speaking materials are often come from listening and reading activities Based onthe above statement, Saddhono and Slamet revealed these following statements’namely:

a Speaking and listening are direct language skills;

b Speaking skill is learned through listening comprehension;

c The enhancement of listening comprehension will improve speaking skills;

d Sound and voice are the important factors in speaking skill and listeningcomprehension;

e Speaking skill is retrieved before the acquisition of reading comprehension;

f Learning reading comprehension in advanced will help speaking skills;

g Speaking skill is acquired before learning speaking skills;

h Speaking tends to be less structured than writing;

i Making notes, charts, etc., can help speaking skills

j Speaking and writing performance are different although they are an equallyproductive skill (Saddhono and Slamet, 2012, p 55)

2.1.3 THE IMPORTANCE ROLE OF ENGLISH SPEAKING SKILLS

Nowadays, English is one of the most important language in the world, it isthe official language of 53 countries and spoken by around 400 million peopleacross the globe For Vietnam, a country is in the process of integrating with theworld, English becomes more and more important, not only for graduates lookingfor work but also for students who are still sitting in their school English is playing

an important role in many sectors including medicine, education, business,technology, banking, computing, tourism etc As a result, English is being taughtand learned in Vietnam as a second language today

Language is a tool for communication Communication takes place, wherethere is speech Without speech we cannot communicate with one another As aresult, the importance of speaking skills is significant for the learners of anylanguage In order to become an excellent communicator, one needs to beproficient in each of the four language skills: listening, speaking, reading andwriting, but only having ability to speak skillfully can bring several advantages tothe speaker Ingram & Sasaki (2003) claimed that mastering English speaking canhelp people be able to communicate with other people from different countries.Therefore, English speaking becomes an important skill that needs to be learned andimproved.

For students, speaking is one of skills which have to be mastered in learningEnglish (Mustafa, 2015) Speaking is also a tool for them to find a good part – timejob to earn extra incomes and help their parents However, they only find manualjobs such as server in restaurants and selling goods in shops The reason is that theyare lack of experience and do not have any foreign language In contrast, if they areconfident in English and good communication skills, they can apply for thenecessary positions such as English teaching assistants, interpreters, freelanceguider or salesman at tourist shops It is not only a wonderful opportunity forstudents to earn money but also let them keep practicing and developing theirEnglish skills

In the workplace, an English – speaking employee can easily gain promotion

in work more than the others because he/she can be able to communicate and learnadvanced techniques effectively through communication with foreigners They areforeign language skills that help him/her ensure a better job opportunity thansomeone who only possesses original technical skills

In short, good speaking skills are not only important for career success, butalso for one’s personal life

2.2 THE CHARACTERISTICS OF THE FIRST YEAR STUDENTS IN THUONGMAI UNIVERSITY

In Vietnam, students start to learn English very early However, most students

do not acquire the necessary language skills, especially speaking skills although

English is considered as the second language after the mother language This is acommon problem of many universities in Vietnam today.

At Thuongmai University, non – English majored students also have problemswith English communication skills They have limited English proficiency in spite

of previous schooling They do not pay attention to learning English until studying

in university (Universities often require that all students must have an Englishcertificate before graduation) They are normally lack of confidence in speaking inpublic, lack of motivation in improving speaking skills and lack of grammar andvocabulary for use Moreover, the freshmen also find it difficult to get used to thenew learning environment and feel shy about communicating with each other Thismakes speaking English more limited For students of the English faculty, becauseEnglish scores are doubled when calculating the entry score, the languageproficiency of English majored students is higher than that of the non – Englishmajored ones However, English speaking skills are still poor, mainly due to lack ofconfidence and shyness when making mistakes

On the other hand, although the first year students in ThuongmaiUniversity are freshmen but they are the elders in the curriculum of learningEnglish There is a fact that younger learners differ from older ones in the way theylearn new languages First, young learners enjoy to study through plays while adultsare comfortable and analytical with abstract learning Second, young learners getbored more easily than older ones and they are also more egocentric However,contrary to the popular belief, young learners may not better than older ones inlanguage learning They can be excellent in imitating the exact pronunciation oftheir teachers, but they are generally less successful in learning abstract concepts asthe older learners According to Lightbown and Spada (2006), older learners are notless effective in language learning as we suppose They may find it difficult toapproximate native speakers’ pronunciation, but they can be better at reaching highlevels of proficiency in foreign language learning As a result, as long as thefreshmen of Thuongmai University make their own opportunities for practice inusing the language inside and outside the classroom, they can completely becomethe successful English speaking learners

2.3 THE FACTORS THAT AFFECT ENGLISH SPEAKING SKILLS

OF FRESHMEN AT THUONGMAI UNIVERSITY IN PARTICULAR AND STUDENTS IN GENERAL

2.3.1 SUBJECT FACTORS

2.3.1.1 LINGUISTIC FACTORS

Learners who have oral proficiency must use appropriate language forms.Some components of linguistic factors include pronunciation, grammar, andvocabulary are very important considered by students for speaking skills They alsohave to focus on the situation of conversation time As support by Harmer (2002),speaking not only need the knowledge to produce the form language but also onwhen, why and what way to result in the words

In a conversation, speakers need to use correct grammar and theirvocabulary also needs to be rich enough to convey thoughts into words Inparticular, speakers have to pronounce accurately for listeners to understand andrespond to Speakers and listeners need to have all of these qualities to fullycomplete the conversation

2.3.1.2 PSYCHOLOGICAL FACTORS

It is clear that psychological factors become important and influential elementswhich bring a great impact on how the students learn English particularly inspeaking area The students with a good cognitive ability still find it difficult tospeak and the main psychological factors as motivation, self – esteem, and anxietyare potential aspects in influencing the students’ oral performance (Aouatef, 2015).Particularly, when the students have to speak in front of the class, there are thefeeling of being afraid in making mistakes, lack of confidence and motivation,shyness, and also anxiety (Juhana, 2012) Moreover, one psychological factor can

be related to others For example, the act of being anxious, shy, and lack ofconfidence can be the result from the feeling of fear of making mistakes, and thelack of self – esteem also can be caused by shyness These psychological factors notonly arise from a student who is presenting his speaking competence in front of the

class, but also from other students who act as audience in an individual’s speakingactivity.

2.3.2 OBJECTIVE FACTORS

2.3.2.1 LEARNNING ENVIRONMENT

The communication environment plays an important role in the practice ofEnglish speaking skills that contributes to the success in improving the quality oftraining Perfecting English skills in which the ultimate goal is to build and develop

a favorable and healthy communication environment for students to learn andenhancing English speaking skills

Howard Gardner, Ph.D has considered in the theory of intelligence: The ideallearning environment is the place where students communicate, interact withfriends, teachers, play, exercise, sing, dance, tell stories, or do it manually Learning

in such environments helps learners remember more than 80% of what they learned

in a year later Because in an English environment, we do not learn passively butactively The pressure in the English listening and speaking environment forces us

to focus on listening comprehension and converting from the source language(Vietnamese) into the target language (English) Developing the communicationenvironment is to increase the favorable factors to help the communication processachieve higher quality and efficiency

2.3.2.2 EDUCATION SYSTEM

The education system cannot be ignored Students learn English at school andthey are affected by the decisions and changes of education system According to astudy of Van Van Hoang (2010), the history of English language teaching inVietnam can be roughly divided into two periods: before 1986 and from 1986 up topresent The reason for this division is that 1986 was the year the VietnameseCommunist Party exercised the open – door policy and thus made the emergence ofEnglish as the number one foreign language in Vietnam He also stated that from

1982 to 2002, English was introduced as an elective subject at lower secondarylevel and a compulsory subject at upper secondary level nationwide After thatperiod, English is a compulsory subject at both lower and upper secondary levels

and an elective subject at primary level In 2018, the Ministry of Education andTraining introduced the new English language general education curriculumframework Accordingly, English is a compulsory subject in the general educationprogram from grades 3 to 12 and the English Immersion Program for grades 1 and 2

is designed to meet the needs to become familiar with English Besides,Universities' English output standards depend on each school's regulations Thesechanges in curriculum will affect students’ perceptions of English learning andteachers' teaching methods in different classes

Although students start to learn English very early under the educationalprogram, it is difficult to catch a person who can speaking English fluentlyexcepting some English majored students It is the unreasonable educational system

of Vietnam that indirectly affects students’ ability English as well as Englishspeaking skill Lack of alignment between programs at all levels, lack of flexibility

in teaching and textbook programs have made students’ English speaking very poor.Changing and improving the weaknesses are the essential things that theeducational system of Vietnam needs to do now to help students learn English betterand improving their English speaking skills

2.4 COMMON DIFFICULTIES OF IMPROVING ENGLISH SPEAKING SKILLS OF FRESHMEN AT THUONGMAI UNIVERSITY IN PARTICULAR AND STUDENTS IN GENERAL

2.4.1 LINGUISTIC FACTORS

2.4.1.1 INSUFFICIENT VOCABULARY

Wilkins in Thornbury (2004) stated that without grammar very little can beconveyed, without vocabulary nothing can be conveyed It means that if someonehas good grammar but they do not know many vocabularies, they can’t notcommunicate effectively In addition, it is supported by Ur (1996) that vocabulary isone of important things to be taught in learning foreign language because it will beimpossible to speak up without variety of words

Kinds of difficulties faced by students in vocabulary learning are extremelyvarious How to write and spell pronouncing the words, pronouncing the words and

the different grammatical form of a word known as inflections are mainly causes ofstudents’ difficulties in learning vocabulary In addition, the students find difficult tochoose the appropriate meaning of the words and also still confuse in using theword based on the context The last, they hardly remember and use words orexpression that were idiomatic Due to these reasons, the speaking ability of aperson can be greatly restricted.

2.4.1.2 INSUFFICIENT GRAMMAR

Grammar is a system of rules that governs the order of sentences, phrases, andwords to show some certain meanings Grammar and ability to speak fluently are soclosely related Grammatical competence can help speakers apply and perceive thestructure of English language correctly that leads to their fluency (Latha, 2012)

Learners feel that grammar is really difficult because they do not learnstructures one in a time If learners do not know the rules of grammar, they won’t beable to produce a sentence correctly then communicate using English effectively.The nervous of new grammar, unknown words and the catching message formspeech fails are the barriers for students when communicating Moreover, there are

a lot of grammatical rules in the English language, so it is hard for the students tocorrectly understand and use grammar Having not mastered English grammar willlead to appear the errors such as “they is my friends” when students speak

2.4.1.3 INACCURATE PRONUNCIATION

Thornbury (2005) stated that pronunciation is the lowest level of knowledgethat learners commonly pay attention to The reason for this underestimation is thatstudents tend to think mistakenly that pronunciation is less important compared toother aspects of the English language such as grammar, lexicology and vocabulary

In fact, if a word is pronounced incorrectly, the recipient will inevitablymisunderstand the message

As we know, English is not a phonetic language because pronunciation ofEnglish words is not similar to their spellings Words with similar spellings aresometimes pronounced differently due to their surrounding contexts like tenses andphonemes This can cause a lot of problems for non – native speakers of English

and most freshmen at Thuongmai University also find it difficult to pronounce aword correctly They always get confused in producing the English words

2.4.1.4 INSUFFICIENT SENTENCES ORGANIZATION

The arrangement of words in a speaker's sentences also greatly affectscommunication skills According to most models of sentence production (e.g.,Levelt, 1989), the first stage of this process involves formulating a message, a non –verbal representation of the information that speakers want to express This messagethen undergoes the linguistic encoding: Speakers must choose and retrieve suitablewords to express the individual concepts of the message and must integrate theminto a syntactic structure

Sentence organization is equally critical to the listener's understanding.Listener needs to know the principal parts of a sentence before they can reply tospeaker Suppose that the speaker has a rich vocabulary, correct pronunciation, butthe words in the sentence are not arranged properly, the listener will be doubtfulabout the speaker’s thought

2.4.1.5 INSUFFICIENT LISTENING ABILITY

According to Doff (1998), speaking skills cannot be developed unless wedevelop listening skills Listeners must understand what is being told to them inorder to have a successful conversation Shumin (1997) shared the ideas of Doff(1998) by stating that when one person speaks, the other responds throughparticipation through the listening process In fact, in a conversation, each one playsthe role of both a listener and a speaker Therefore, one certainly cannot respond ifhe/ she cannot understand what is being said It means speaking and listening isclosely related

2.4.2 PSYCHOLOGICAL FACTORS

2.4.2.1 FEAR OF MAKING MISTAKES

One of the main factors of students’ reluctance to speak in English in theclassroom is the fear of mistake With respect to this issue, Aftat (2008) stated thatfear of making mistake is linked to the issue of correction and negative evaluation.Moreover, as argued by Middleton (2009), most EFL students are afraid to try and

to speak in a foreign language they learn In this context, as he added, studentsworry about being foolish in front of the class or being criticized by the teacher Insome other cases, they are also scared of sounding silly and so on As a result,students commonly hesitate to participate in the speaking activity

2.4.2.2 LACK OF CONFIDENCE

It is commonly supposed that students’ lack of confidence usually occurs whenstudents realize that their interlocutors do not understand them or when they do notunderstand other speakers In this case, they tend to keep silent while others dotalking This is due to the fact that the students are lack of confidence tocommunicate In response to this, Tsui cited Nunan (1999) said that learners wholack of confidence about themselves and their English necessarily suffer fromcommunication apprehension

Chen (2010) declared that the main cause of students’ confidence is their lowability in speaking English He added to this statement that many students thinktheir English speaking skill is bad and feel that they cannot speak English well Theother cause of students’ lack of confidence is also related to the lack ofencouragement from the teacher As a result, as Brown (2001) added, students findthe learning of speaking demotivating rather than motivating

2.4.2.3 ANXIETY

Spielberg (1983) defined anxiety as the subjective feeling of tension,apprehension, nervousness, and worry associated with an arousal of the nervoussystem Among other psychological factors, anxiety stands out as one of the maindeterrents for effective language learning

Regarding the causes of anxiety, Horwitz and Cope (1986, in Zhao Na, 2007)based on their research results, stated three main causes of students’ anxiety whichare communication apprehension, test anxiety and fear of negative evaluation Thecommunication apprehension relates to the learners’ ability to communicate in thetarget language Due to the low ability in this aspect, many students feel anxiouswhen speaking The second cause, which is test anxiety, deals with students’ fear of

being tested In addition, fear of being judged by their teachers is also another factoraffecting the anxiety of students.

2.4.2.4 STUTTERING

Stuttering can cause serious psychosocial impact People who stutter oftenhave problem in production of sound or difficulty in moving from one sound toanother or sometimes making a sound after stopping According to Jones MR(1976), stuttering can be defined as the blockages, disco ordination, orfragmentations of the forward flow of speech (fluency)

Stuttering is related to multiple factors and having possibly multiplecauses However, the two main causes of stuttering are genetic predisposition andconfusion when speaking If the speaker is stuttering due to fear, their speakingskills can be completely improved

2.4.2.5 LACK OF MOTIVATION

Nunan (1999) emphasized that motivation is important because it can affectstudents’ reluctance to speak in English In this sense, motivation is a key factor indetermining the preparation of learners to communicate Zua (2008) further addedthat motivation is an inner energy and no matter what kinds of motivation thelearners possess it will enhance their study interest

Without motivation, students will almost fail to make the necessary effort todevelop their speaking skills in the target language In discussion of motivation, anaccepted distinction which is made between external and internal motivations is themotivation that comes from outside and from inside

2.4.3 PHYSICAL SETTINGS

2.4.3.1 INFREQUENT ENGLISH CONVERSATION

Conversation is a key to language development This practice enables learners

to assimilate their acquired knowledge, integrate a variety of cognitive skills at once

to produce oral communication In effect, this is learning by doing According to astudy by Elise W M Hopman and Maryellen C MacDonald of the University ofWisconsin-Madison, speaking skills of the learners who attending on conversations

regularly are better than those who learn via comprehension exercises where there is

no oral practice

In fact, at Thuongmai University in particular and all colleges in general,conversations usually take place very little in the lessons because time is limited.Furthermore, the students tend to not participate in a conversation because theyafraid of their poor speaking skills and being laughed at by others Outside schoolhours, students, including students majoring in English, tend to use their mothertongue for communication instead of using English

2.4.3.2 LEARNING ENVIRONMENT WITH LESS SUPPORT

Most students always expect their teachers to give feedback on theirperformance However, all speaking production should not be handled in the sameway According to Harmer (1991), the decisions that the teachers make about how

to respond to students’ performance will depend on the stages of the lessons, theactivities, the types of mistakes made and the students He also stated that if theteachers correct whenever there is a problem, the conversational flow and thepurpose of the speaking activity will be destroyed If the students are repeatedlycorrected, they may find this demotivating and become scare to attending thesespeaking activities

In classroom, instructors seldom correct their learners’ mistakes positively andgive them more support and persuasion while speaking They firstly criticize theirspeaking skills and do not give solutions to improve each student's difficulties

2.4.3.3 INSUFFICIENT PRACTICE

Speaking practice is very important for learners to improve English speakingskills In response to this, Bulman, Lathlean, & Gobbi (2011) stated that reflection

is a professional motivator to “move on and do better within practice” with the goal

of learning from experiences and self – examination Even just one minute of dailyspeaking practice can build confidence and motivation for learners There are a lot

of opportunities to practice English both inside and outside classroom However,learners often spend a little time to practice English At school, when teacher asksstudents to speak in pairs or groups with others, they tend to be quiet and do not use

this opportunity to speak English Meanwhile, some students think that attending inclass is enough for practicing English speaking and they do not exercise at home

2.4.3.4 INSUFFICIENT TOPICAL KNOWLEDGE

Bachman and Palmer (1996) defined to topical knowledge as the knowledgestructures in long – term memory that is the speakers’ knowledge of related topicalinformation It enables people to apply language with respect to the world.Bachman and Palmer (1996) asserted that topical knowledge has a great influence

on the learners’ speaking performance

Learners often complain that they have nothing to speak and they have nomotivation to express themselves Rivers (1968) declared that the learners have

nothing to express possibly because teachers have chosen a topic which is not suitable for them or a subject which they know very little about Many students

have difficulty responding when the teachers ask them to say something in a foreignlanguage because they might have very little ideas of what to say, which vocabulary

to use, or how to use the grammar correctly (Baker & Westrup,2003)

2.4.3.5 LOW PARTICIPATION IN CLASS

Many students and experts in the field of English language teaching haveemphasized the importance of students’ oral participation in the classroom Petress(2001) argued that low student participation in classrooms is detrimental to theprogress of the students and it impedes the teachers’ ability to successfully measurestudents’ progress

In fact, students often have low participant when they speak In a class with alarge number of students, each student will have very little time for speakingbecause only one student talks at a time and the other students try to listen him/her

In a speaking class, some learners dominate the class while others seldom speak ornever speak Another cause affecting the speaking ability is that when some learnersspeak the same mother-tongue, they tend to use it in the speaking class because it isvery easy for them

For most of the students at TMU, especially the first year students, they are all

in the general situation n is that their communication skills only stop at the basic

level in basic communication situations That makes students trouble in officeenvironment required good communication skill Although English proficiency ofmany students, whether they have reached TOIEC 750 or IELTS 6.5, the firstimpression of the person facing the foreign language ability of the students is stillthrough communication and quick reflexes It shows not only the ability to speakfluently, but also the understanding of the culture and linguistics of students.

2.5 STRATEGIES FOR IMPROVING SPEAKING SKILLS OF FRESHMEN AT THUONGMAI UNIVERSITY IN PARTICULAR AND STUDENTS IN GENERAL

2.5.1 IMPROVING SPEAKING SKILL BY ENHANCING LINGUISTIC ACCURACY

2.5.1.1 IMPROVING ENGLISH GRAMMAR

While classes in English linguistics may not be something learners areinterested in, learners can spend a bit of time learning toward educationaltechnology use Studies by Grant (1998), Nagata (1996), and Collentine (2000)found technology as an effective tool in teaching and learning grammar Felix(2001) also reported that in general, students tend positively to work on the web andfind it useful, with the majority preferring to use the web as a supplement to face –

to – face teaching A quick search on the internet will show a multitude of websitesthat offer English grammar games and exercises If students know that grammar is

an area they struggle with, they should set aside a few minutes each day to completegrammar exercises Even the simple act of taking a few English practice tests of anylevel can help improve their grammar skills

2.5.1.2 IMPROVING PRONUNCIATION

Improving pronunciation should be an important part of the English speakingplan Schaetzel and Georgetown (2009) presented that there are several instructionalstrategies for teaching pronunciation that students can use to meet their personal andprofessional needs For example, teachers can cultivate positive attitudes towardaccuracy, identify specific pronunciation features that present problems for learners,and make learners aware of the preeminent features of language (stress, intonation,

rhythm) For students’ learning methods, Cook (2001) proposed some usefultechniques for learning English pronunciation such as phonetic transcript, imitation,discrimination of sounds, and communication Schmitt (2002) also mentioned someways to learn English pronunciation like elicited mechanical production, and eartraining for sound contrast.

2.5.1.3 MINDING THE INTONATION AND STRESS

Scrivenr (2005) pointed that students needed to learn pronunciation that wouldallow them to be understood in the contexts and stress is very important aspects ofEnglish pronunciation According to Kenworthy (1987) and Field (2005),presentation of pronunciation rules for stress and teaching word stress are someuseful strategies that can improve students’ pronunciation Therefore, students mustaware of the necessary of stress and intonation for improving pronunciation

2.5.1.4 INCREASING THE VOCABULARY SIZE

Experiences with rich oral language are critical for vocabulary growth (Beck

& MeKeown, 1991; Beck, MeKeown & Kucan, 2002; Biemiller, 1999) The key to

a better vocabulary is learning and practicing regularly Students may not be able tolearn a hundred new words a day, but they can learn one or two a day, totalingthousands of new words over the years While repetition is important, it is less clearhow sufficient exposure to specific words should be accomplished For example,spacing of exposure over time is more effective in the learning of content thanfocusing the learning on a single session (Donovan & Radosevich, 1999)

2.5.2 IMPROVING SPEAKING SKILLS BY USING BODY LANGUAGE

2.5.2.1 USING GESTURE

Gestures – hand and arm movements, are an important part of visual picturewhen speaking in public In contrast to other forms of nonverbal communicationthat involve in the exchange of attitudes and emotional states between individuals,iconic gestures are closely linked to the semantic contents of the speech that they gowith in both form and timing According to Kendon and McNeill, speech andgesture together comprise an utterance and both together externalize thought; they

are believed to emerge from the same underlying cognitive representation and to begoverned, at least in part, by some of the same cognitive processes

2.5.2.2 USING EYE CONTACT

Positive eye contact helps speakers build rapport with their audience andkeeps listeners engaged with their presentation Eye contact modifies face – to –face social interactions (Lee, Eskritt, Symons & Muir, 1998; Leekam, Baron Cohen,Perrett, Milders & Brown, 1997) and contributes to communication in socialinteractions (Tigerman & Primavera, 1984) Later, eye contact responses coordinatethe visual attention between an individual and an interest object (Arnold, Semple,Beale & Fletcher Flinn, 2000) and have been found to be an influencing variable inlanguage acquisition (Podrouzek and Furrow, 1988)

2.5.2.3 USING FACIAL EXPRESSION

Among these non – verbal cues, facial expressions play important role insocial interactions (Adolphs 1999) This skill helps speakers use fewer words,express emotions and send a message directly to listeners’ minds and hearts In thecase of speech, reflection creates a close connections of the communicants, in terms

of vocabulary and grammar to facilitate communication

2.5.3 IMPROVING SPEAKING SKILLS BY USING EDUCATIONAL/ MEDIA INSTRUMENTS

2.5.3.1 WATCHING FILMS

According to Sherman (2003), films are a shift from the conventional andprovide students with realistic learning environments A single video can be used asthe foundation for practicing English skills: listening, speaking, vocabulary,pronunciation (Sommer, 2001) By using movies in the English classroom, studentscan enhance their vocabulary awareness and they can even make their pronunciationand intonation better (Curtis, 2007) For many students, film is a useful medium forstudents to listen to authentic spoken communication and be exposed to variousfeatures of spoken communication, such as vocabulary, accent, pronunciation, voicemodulation, speech pace and tone (Sherman, 2003; Webb, 2010)

2.5.3.2 READING ENGLISH NEWSPAPERS OR MAGAZINE

According to Cheyney (1982), newspaper is a textbook that provides date information on local, provincial, national and international issues Readingbuilds vocabulary skills and background knowledge helps students strengthenreading skills and increase the interest in reading (Strommen and Mates, 2004).Mylopoulos (1985) also stated that reading English newspaper gives educationalsupport to language development The newspaper and magazine are valued becausethey provide a source for new reading materials daily Therefore, learners candiscuss the information and news gathered from newspapers with their friends,family, colleagues or classmates This will help expand and improve on theirEnglish conversational skills immeasurably

up-to-2.5.3.3 STUDYING ABROAD AS EXCHANGE STUDENTS

It is often assumed that students who spend time in study abroad programs arethe most likely to pick up the language, become fluent, and achieve the greatestproficiency in their use of the language Caroll (1967) also supported this belief thatstudents who spend time in overseas study situations are more proficient than thosewho do not participate In line with this, some studies revealed that learners in thesecontexts benefit more at an overall improved fluency (Freed, 1995) and greatlyenhanced communication skills (Lafford, 1995) They speak more fluently withfewer pauses and gaps Moreover, a study by Milton and Meara (1995) andDavidson and Ginsberg (1995) also provided some evidences that the study abroadcontext may be an important aspect in the vocabulary acquisition This is partlybecause students attended several programs and skills enhancement during theirstudy

CHAPTER 3: DATA ANALYSIS AND RESEARCH FINDINGS

 Setting up questionnaires for the survey for the students who are freshmen

at TMU The survey investigated 140 students at TMU

After getting results from survey, the researcher will collect and analyze them

by using tables and charts

3.1.2 RESEARCH QUESTION

The purpose of this study is to answer the two question below:

 The first question: What are common difficulties in improving Englishspeaking skills of the first year students at Thuongmai University?

 The second question: How to improve English speaking skills of the firstyear students at Thuongmai University?

3.1.3 PARTICIPANTS

This research is conducted with the participation of 140 first year students atTMU By conducting questionnaires survey via internet, the received data analysiswill be clear and the most truthful result All the participation is random andvoluntary without any constrained

3.1.4 DATA COLLECTION INSTRUMENT

A questionnaire is a research instrument that consists of a series of questionsand other prompts for the purpose of gathering information from respondents.According to Brow (2001), “Questionnaires are any written instruments that presentrespondents with a series of question or statements to which they are to react, either

by writing out their answers or selecting from among existing answers” They can