Investigating some factors affecting english speaking skill of k9 english students foreign language department hung vuong university and suggesting some solutions

-& - NGUYEN THI DUNG K6 ENGLISH CLASS SUMMARY OF GRADUATION PAPER INVESTIGATING SOME FACTORS AFFECTING ENGLISH SPEAKING SKILL OF K9 ENGLISH STUDENTS – FOREIGN LANGUAGE DEPARTMENT – HUNG VUONG UNIVERSITY AND SUGGESTING SOME SOLUTIONS Field: Linguistics Code: Mentor: Nguyen Thi Thu Hang, MA_Foreign Language Department –Hung Vuong University Phu Tho, May 2012 This research has been developing for almost seven months with the responsibility of researcher and great help from other people First of all, I wish to express my deep gratefulness to my supervisor, Mrs Nguy , MA_Foreign Language Department –Hung Vuong University She is the person who has been my trusted guide through the completion of the thesis My acknowledgement is also sent to Dean and Leading Board of English faculty, who gave me opportunities to study and my graduation paper My deepest gratitude also goes to all the lectures of English faculty at Hùng Vư ng University for their enthusiastic teaching during my four_ year study They gave me not only knowledge but also the precious experience in life Great acknowledgement is made to all authors of the books listed in the biography, whose ideas have inspired and stimulated my thinking and my writing of this paper Many thanks are also sent to my dear friends who have shared with me a lot during my studies and my research work as well Last but not least, the whole- hearted thanks to my parents, siblings, especially my beloved who have loved, cared and stood by my side through any joyful and depressing moments in my life Phu Tho, May, 2012 ABSTRACT For some recent years, English plays an important role in Viet nam, therefore, it had been taught in schools as a compulsory subject Firstly, the theoretical background of speaking skill in English learning Then the survey questionnaire is delivered the students to find out the current situation of learning and teaching as well as some factors affecting on English speaking skill of the first year English students Besides, other method employed includes classroom observations From the collected findings, some suggested solutions have been recommended with aiming at improving students’ speaking skill At the end of this study, those activities have applied with the hope to help k9 English students to learn speaking skill effectively CKNOWLEDGEMENT ABSTRACT A INRODUCTION I Background for the study…………………………………… II Research purpose…………………………………………… III Hypothesis…………………………………………………………… IV Research procedure………………………………………………… V Scope of the study…………………………………………………… VI The significance of the research…………………………………… VII Organization of the study…………………………………………… B THE STUDY………………………………………………………… 6 iterature eview……………………………………… 1.1 Speaking skills in English learning………………………………… 1.1.1 An overview of speaking skills…………………………………… 1.1.2 The importance of speaking skills in English learning…………… 1.1.3 Principles for teaching speaking………………………………… 1.2 Factors affecting learning English speaking skills ………………… 11 1.2.1 Listening comprehension………………………………………… 1.2.2 Grammatical accuracy…………………………………………… 1.2.3 Pronunciation……………………………………………………… 1.2.4 Vocabulary………………………………………………………… 11 11 12 13 1.2.5 Appropriateness of answers……………………………………… 14 1.2.6 Organization of ideas……………………………………………… 14 1.2.7 Fluency…………………………………………………………… 15 1.2.8 Enthusiasm and Self-confidence………………………………… 16 1.2.9 Length of answers………………………………………………… 17 1.3 Strategies to speak English well…………………………………… 17 1.4 Useful activities in learning English speaking………………………  ✁✂✄☎✆✝ ✞✞ 21 …………………………………………… 26 ………………………………………………… 26 ………………………………………… 27 …………………………………………… 27 ……………………………… 27 …………………………… 28 …………………………………………… ………………………… …………………………… 28 28 29 ……………………… 29 ………………………………… 29 ……………………………… 30 ……………………………………………………………… 34 37 …………………………………… 3.1 Discussion…………………………………………………………… 37 3.2 Picture Describing………………………………………………… 38 3.3 Role-play…………………………………………………………… 39 40 ………………………………………… Procedure…………………………………………………………… 40 CHAPTER V: Results and Discussion………………………………… 45 5.1 Results……………………………………………………………… 45 5.1.1 45 ……………………………………………… 5.1.2 …………………………………… 46 …………………………………………… 48 5.2 Discussion…………………………………………………………… 49 51 I Implications…………………………………………………………… 51 II Limitations of the study……………………………………………… 52 III Suggestions for further studies……………………………………… 53 References Appendixes Hung Vuong University - Foreign Language Department ✟✠✡☛ ☞✌ ✍✎☛✡✏ I Background for the study All developing nations are aware of the fact that learning a foreign language is very important in order to adopt the latest scientific and technological innovations in the world Undoubtedly, English has become a world language rather than the language of only the English speaking countries such as the UK and the US because the number of the people who use English as a means of communication exceeds much more than the number of the people who speak it as their mother tongue Hence, English is used as a common foreign language to contact the people in other countries, and thousands of people belonging to various professional groups are going abroad (either with the support of some institutions or not) English has become one of the most important languages in the world It has trickled even into lesser known countries as something that is needed to communicate with others English is used in politics, business dealings, and everyday life Many people are finding it hard to get by without knowing English The global language of English is found in popular music, television programs and even on the internet As a whole, there are more websites made in English than anywhere Realizing the importance of English, many people have taken it on as a second language Being able to speak English accurately and fluently is a big desire for anyone studying English and this seems to be the most challenging task for EFL learners This task can be fulfilled if students live up to some basic requirements and one of them is the English speaking skill and good English speaking skill is considered as the key to successful communication Speaking is a crucial part of second language learning and teaching Despite its importance, for many years, teaching speaking has been undervalued and English language teachers have continued to teach speaking just as a Nguyen Thi Dung – K6 English Graduation Paper Hung Vuong University - Foreign Language Department repetition of drills or memorization of dialogues However, today's world requires that the goal of teaching speaking should improve students' communicative skills, because, only in that way, students can express themselves and learn how to follow the social and cultural rules appropriately in each communicative circumstance There is a fact that k9 English students, they are the first year students so their ability to speak English is not very good The reasons mentioned above have inspired the author of this paper to conduct the study entitled “Investigating some factors affecting speaking skill of K9 English students of the Foreign Language Department – Hung Vuong University and suggesting some solutions” And hopefully, this study will contribute to the goal of enhancing students’ performances in learning foreign languages in general and English in particular II Research purpose The study aims at the following goals: Researching on the theoretical background of the issues of English speaking skill Investigating some factors affecting English speaking skill of K9 English students at the Foreign Language Department – Hung Vuong University Suggesting some solutions to improve students’ English speaking skill Conducting experiment to test the effectiveness of the suggested solutions III Hypothesis By investigating some factors affecting English speaking skill of K9 English students at the Foreign Language Department – Hung Vuong University and suggesting some solutions to improve students’ English speaking Nguyen Thi Dung – K6 English Graduation Paper Hung Vuong University - Foreign Language Department skill, the students’ performances of speaking will be better, more interesting and their English competence in general will be improved IV Research procedure The study based on some theoretical background on aspects involving speaking skill By theoretical method the researcher reviewed in the literature review section to get the basis for the research Classroom observation and questionnaires were administered to get the information about situation of learning English speaking at the university Then the results collected were analyzed to identify some factors and some feasible solutions will be provided In order to test the effectiveness of suggested solutions, the researcher carried out an experiment After the experiment, there were results to help the researcher make further comments on the procedure V Scope of the study The study focused on investigating some factors affecting English speaking skill made by the first year English students at the Foreign Language Department – Hung Vuong University, working out the causes for these factors and proposing some solutions to solve the problem VI The significance of the research This research is carried out with the hope that it can help find out factors affecting English speaking skill made by the first year English students at Foreign Language Department – Hung Vuong University This study is also beneficial to students themselves because once they have realized their own factors, they can avoid confusing when communicating Besides, this research also lays the foundation for further studies on this topic VII Organization of the study The study consists of three main parts: Nguyen Thi Dung – K6 English Graduation Paper Hung Vuong University - Foreign Language Department The table shows that there were 14 students (49%) raised their hand in class they volunteered going to the board and presented their ideas comfortably while only 9/28 (32%) students in control group raised their hand in class the others of this group only speak when being called by teacher It proved that after experiment students were more confidence in delivering their presentation 5.1.3 Results from recording After weeks of experiment, the researcher gave topic to the whole class to check students’ pronunciation and vocabulary The researcher divided the students in to groups of in which students in experimental group work together and those of control group work to each other The researcher left a recording device to each table of group to collect the data of discussion After collecting and analyzing, the researcher collected the following data: No Factor Pronunciation Vocabulary The percentage of students are affected The experimental The control group group 7/28 (25%) 11/28 (40%) 16/28 (58%) 20/28 (71%) Table 5: The result of pronunciation and vocabulary between the experimental group and control group It can be seen from the table that the number of students in experimental group mispronounced only 7(25%) while that of the control group mispronounced is 11/28 (40%) The researcher also collected the result of using vocabulary when discussing Word choices in experimental group were diversity and flexibility 20/28 (58%), they used abundant vocabulary while students in Nguyen Thi Dung – K6 English 50 Graduation Paper Hung Vuong University - Foreign Language Department control group were very confused in using vocabulary 20/28 (71%) and not express their ideas clearly 5.2 Discussion It is the fact that, teaching speaking skill in class will improve students’ speaking competence So, they feel confident to communicate with others After conducting experiment at k9 English class, there has been a considerable decrease in the number of first year English students at Foreign Language Department- Hung Vuong University are affected by those factors in speaking English after taking part in those activities Basing on the results collected above, the researcher found that practice those activities frequently very important and helpful to students If students have much more chance to practice both in class and outside the class and learn from native speakers they will improve their speaking English From experimentation, the researcher shows that the activities motivated students a lot notably, help students improve their speaking skill remarkably Besides, the improvement of students increase remarkably after aplying suggested solutions Having much more chance to practice, students will improve their speaking skill rapidly Teachers always play important roles to students in their learning process The achieved results completed the researcher’s work at Hung Vuong University, and indicated that there are many ways to improve speaking skill for students By experiment at k9 English class, the researcher could see afew effectiveness of those activities, however, researcher has not gave change topics and activities to experiment The author also could not cover the participants of members in process if discussing and presenting So teacher should design more interesting topics and activities to students at the same time control the students stricly to get the best results Nguyen Thi Dung – K6 English 51 Graduation Paper Hung Vuong University - Foreign Language Department Teaching speaking is a very important part of second language learning The ability to communicate in a second language clearly and efficiently contributes to the success of the learner in school and success later in every phase of life Therefore, it is essential that language teachers pay great attention to teaching speaking Rather than leading students to pure memorization, providing a rich environment where meaningful communication takes place is desired With this aim, various speaking activities such as those listed above can contribute a great deal to students in developing basic interactive skills necessary for life These activities make students more active in the learning process and at the same time make their learning more meaningful and fun for them (McDonough, J and C Shaw 2003) Nguyen Thi Dung – K6 English 52 Graduation Paper Hung Vuong University - Foreign Language Department Two previous parts including introduction, content have introduced all the concepts and viewpoints around this topic as well as thoroughly demonstrated the implementation and the results of this research Finally, this concluding part will summarize and evaluate the outcomes of the whole paper by summing up the findings, and implication and limitations of the research It also gives some suggestions for further study as well The researcher has found out the current situation of teaching and learning English at k9 English students – Foreign Language Department –Hung Vuong University.and identify factors affecting English speaking skill From this situation, the researcher has suggested some solutions and conducted an experiment After conducting experiment the researcher have proved the effectiveness of those activities and the improvement of students in learning this skill I Implications On the whole, this research was carried out among the first year English students in Foreign Language Department – Hung Vuong University to find out some factors affecting English speaking skill of the first year English students as well as some suggested solutions for their factors Through exhaustive analysis and discussion of data collected from questionnaires, the significant finding concerning this research was revealed the research issues During the work at Hung Vuong University, the researcher simply explained that she discovered, examined thoughtfully some suggested solutions and to well-planed experimentation Teaching speaking is a very important part of second language learning The ability to communicate in a second language clearly and efficiently contributes to the success of the learner in school and success later in every phase of life Therefore, it is essential that language teachers pay great attention Nguyen Thi Dung – K6 English 53 Graduation Paper Hung Vuong University - Foreign Language Department to teaching speaking Rather than leading students to pure memorization, providing a rich environment where meaningful communication takes place is desired Here are some suggestions for English language teachers while teaching speaking skill Provide maximum opportunity to students to speak the target language by providing a rich environment that contains collaborative work, authentic materials and tasks, and shared knowledge Try to involve each student in every speaking activity; for this aim, practice different ways of student participation Reduce teacher speaking time in class while increasing student speaking time Step back and observe students Indicate positive signs when commenting on a student's response Ask eliciting questions such as "What you mean? How did you reach that conclusion?" in order to prompt students to speak more Provide written feedback like "Your presentation was really great It was a good job I really appreciated your efforts in preparing the materials and efficient use of your voice…" Do not correct students' pronunciation mistakes very often while they are speaking Correction should not distract student from his or her speech Involve speaking activities not only in class but also out of class; contact parents and other people who can help Circulate around classroom to ensure that students are on the right track and see whether they need your help while they work in groups or pairs Provide the vocabulary beforehand that students need in speaking activities Diagnose problems faced by students who have difficulty in expressing themselves in the target language and provide more opportunities to practice the spoken language Nguyen Thi Dung – K6 English 54 Graduation Paper Hung Vuong University - Foreign Language Department Learning a foreign language is not complicated Thus, the students should have enthusiasm towards it taking part in activities frequently, and actively In the class, students should be confident when speaking and paying attention on lessons and others presentation Outside the class, they should spend more time to practice topics by themselves or their friends and native speakers to promote vocabulary and pronunciation This will immediately correct errors so that students can improve their speaking easily Besides, to prommote their knowledge students should share ideas and exchange information to each other, find information on internet or othermedia If you are not motivated to learn English you will become frustrated and give up So you should set yourself achievable goals You know how much time you can dedicate to learning English, but a short time each day will produce better, longer-term results than a full day on the weekend and then nothing for two weeks Moreover, the teacher should spend more time for students to practice speaking in class and activities outside the class That is an important way of improving students’ speaking skill and attracting their attention Students usually feel interested in participating outside class activities with the considerable improvement., II Limitations of the study In spite of the researcher’ considerable efforts, certain limitations are unavoidable due to the time constraints and some other factors: Firstly, the number of students directly gets involved in this research is still limited As a result, the result of this study is not as high as the researcher’s expectation Secondly, due to limited time, experiment were only conducted in the class over three weeks Thus, although the researcher has tried her best to reduce Nguyen Thi Dung – K6 English 55 Graduation Paper Hung Vuong University - Foreign Language Department biases by selecting participants, the observational results may reflect part of the actual situation of these factors Thirdly, in process of taking turns, leaders of each group might reported unaccurately so the results of this study are not as author’s expectation Moreover, due to scope of the study, the researcher was only mentioned some factors and some suggested solutions The researcher hopes that other researcher will take this limitation to continue conduct other studies Despite these shortcomings, with serious work, justified data collection and analysis as well as thorough selection of participants and methodology, the researcher can ensure that the validity and reliability of the results are still well retained However, it is suggested that other researchers should take these limitations into their consideration before carrying out further studies III Suggestions for further studies Since affected factors are inevitable part in the learning process of second language learners of all ages, it offers other researchers large room to conduct further studies relating to this research topic Firstly, those who concerned about this topic can choose other participants for their studies For example, they can carry out researches made by tenth form students, or eleventh form students, etc who have not been exposed much too speaking skills Some may even conduct similar researches with the fourth students and then compare with the results from this research to see whether students’ advance have been improved much after nearly four years of training in the university or not Another alternative is to expand the scope of this study by investigating some factors of a larger group of people like Foreign Language Department By expanding and varying sampling participants, these researches can have better results Nguyen Thi Dung – K6 English 56 Graduation Paper Hung Vuong University - Foreign Language Department Besides, other researchers can also investigate as much factors as possible of a larger group of people The results from these researches will be very useful because the students and the teachers will have chance to have deeper and more thorough examination into a certain type of factors affecting English speaking skill Finally, because the writers of this study mainly focuses on some factors affecting English speaking skill of major English students Therefore, other researchers can shift this topic to other areas such as: English for banking and finance students To sum up, there are many alternatives for other researchers to further studies relating to this topic Nguyen Thi Dung – K6 English 57 Graduation Paper Baruah, T.C (1991) The English Teacher's Handbook Delhi: Sterling Publishing House Brown, G and G Yule (1983) Teaching the Spoken Language Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Brown H D (1994) Teaching by principle NT: Prentice Hall Rengenda Burns & Joyce (1997) Focus on speaking Sedney: National for English language teaching and reference Bygate (2000) Approaches to spoken language Vol.IV Celce-Murcia M (2001) Teaching English as a Second or Foreign Language (3rd ed) USA: Heinle&Heinle Chaney, A.L., and T.L Burk (1998) Teaching Oral Communication in Grades K-8 Boston: Allyn&Bacon Flohr and Paesler (2006), speaking skills in learning English, Jill had Fill Harmer, J (1984) The Practice of English Language Teaching London: Longman Hypel, S & Richard,G (1983) Teaching spoken language Cambridge: Camdridge University press Jack C Richards, et al (1992) Dictionary of Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics Malaysia: Longman Johnson & Morror (1982) Communication games London: Macmillan Publisher Ltd Kenworthy (1987) Overcome difficulties in learning English Houghton Mifflin Company McDonough, J and C Shaw (2003) Materials and Methods in ELT: a teacher’s guide Malden, MA; Oxford: Blackwell Lawtiew, (2002) Teaching Spoken language ELT teacher of British Council Nunan, D., et al (2003) Practical English Language Teaching NY:McGraw-Hill Staab, C (1992) Oral language for today's classroom Markham, ON: Pippin Publishing Wallace (1989), Class observation in teaching foregn language Newbury House http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/activities/speaking-activities APPENDIX1: STUDENTS’ SURVEY QUESTIONAIRE (Circle the best choice to answer the questions or to complete the sentences) Do you like learning speaking skill? A Very much B Much C Not much D Not at all How often you speak English? A Never B Sometimes C Often D Always What you think about English speaking skill? A Easy B Difficult C Rather difficult D Very difficult How often you practice English-speaking skill at home? A Never B Sometimes C Often D Always How often you take part in speaking activity during class? A Never B Sometimes C Often D Always If you not usually take part in speaking activity during the lesson, it is because A You are not interested in the lesson B You are afraid of speaking in front of other people C You are not willing to speak or to share your idea D Others……………………………………………… When learning English speaking, you find it difficult because…… A You not have much information B You are not good at grammar C You not have enough vocabulary to express your idea D You usually cause misunderstanding due to mispronunciation E Others………………………………………………………………… When you have difficulties in learning English speaking skill, you will? A Ignore it B Ask teachers for help C Practice with your partner D Practice yourself How you practice English speaking skill? A Practice alone B Practice in pairs C Practice with group 10 How you evaluate your English speaking skill? A Bad B Not bad C Rather good D Good Topic 1: Student’s life In this topic, the researcher gave students following questions: - Your own views about students’ life - Advantages and disadvantages of student’s life - Say your student’s life - Memories in students’ life Topic 2: Movies - Kinds of movies: cartoon, horror film, love film - The film you like best - How often you watch film - Role of film in our life II Picture for describing Picture1: : Picture2: ... skill Investigating some factors affecting English speaking skill of K9 English students at the Foreign Language Department – Hung Vuong University Suggesting some solutions to improve students? ?? English. .. Foreign Language Department – Hung Vuong University and suggesting some solutions to improve students? ?? English speaking Nguyen Thi Dung – K6 English Graduation Paper Hung Vuong University - Foreign. .. Scope of the study The study focused on investigating some factors affecting English speaking skill made by the first year English students at the Foreign Language Department – Hung Vuong University,