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TABLE OF CONTENTS Contents Page number 1 Introduction 3 1 1 Rationale 3 1 2 Aim and objectives 3 1 3 Scope of the study 4 1 4 Research questions 4 1 5 Structure of the study 4 2 Literature Review 4 2.
1 TABLE OF CONTENTS Contents Introduction 1.1 Rationale 1.2 Aim and objectives 1.3 Scope of the study 1.4 Research questions 1.5 Structure of the study Literature Review 2.1 Review of previous studies 2.2 Review of theoretical background/framework Proposed Research Methodology 3.1 Research type 3.2 Population and sample 3.3 Research methods Proposed Chapter Outline References Page number 3 4 4 6 7 Appendices (optional) Research schedule Introduction Rationale English communication plays an important role in our daily life Speaking is an essential tool to communicate with foreigners because English is 1.1 the most widely spoken language in the world In this era of globalization, there have been dramatic changes taking place around the world English communication is one of the skills that high school students must master, especially in developed urban areas As English is widely spoken around the world, learners need to acquire communication skills to achieve success in their respective fields For students, especially high school students in urban areas in Vietnam They are required to use and communicate in English on campus, in class, during school hours, with all textbooks in English, full English lectures in class, and all assignments in English, it is important for them to be able to communicate well in English But of course, with students from different backgrounds, their communication skills are also very diverse Therefore, it is important to point out the factors that affect the English communication skills of high school students in developed regions in Vietnam Nowadays, students can improve their English speaking ability by cultivating from subjective and objective factors Knowing how to communicate in English will open doors and change your life The only way to communicate is to speak After acquiring a new language, you will gain more confidence by replicating it with others in speaking activities By practicing speaking English in a relaxing environment, students don't worry if they say it wrong as it is an important part of the learning process My analysis of the text revealed themes and subtopics affects the English communication process of high school students in urban areas of Vietnam Aim and objectives Research aim 1.2 The study shows the factors affecting communication skills in English, in order to improve English communication skills of the high school students in Vietnam’s urban areas Research objectives The research objectives of the study are: - To assess whether what difficulties high school students in Vietnam's urban areas in the process of communicating in English -To identify the causes of difficulties of the students at a high school in Vietnam’s urban areas when learning English communication skills -To identify the factors that influence English communication skills of the students at a high school in Vietnam’s urban areas -To propose some recommendations and outline some solutions to improve English communication skills of the students at a high school in Vietnam’s urban areas to overcome difficulties when learning English communication skills Scope of the study The study aims to provide the current situation of using English to communicate among high school students in urban areas of Vietnam In addition, the study has pointed out the factors affecting the English communication skills of high school students in urban Vietnam The article also points out the difficulties, the causes of the difficulties and some recommendations to solve the above situation This essay may be used in training institutions or for other similar research purposes 1.4 Research questions -Do the students at a high school in Vietnam’s urban areas have difficulties in learning English communication skills? 1.3 -What are the causes of difficulties of the students at a high school in Vietnam’s urban areas when learning English communication skills? -What are the factors that influence English communication skills of the students at a high school in Vietnam’s urban areas? -What are some recommendations and some possible ways to improve English communication skills of the students at a high school in Vietnam’s urban areas? Structure of the study The study is divided into chapters: Chapter 1: Introduction 1.5 Chapter 2: Literature review Chapter 3: Proposed Research Methodology Chapter 4: Findings and discussion Chapter 5: Conclusion Literature review 2.1 Review of previous studies Certainly, English language has gained much attention in language-ineducation policies in Asian countries It is a compulsory subject in high school curriculum in some countries in Asian, including Vietnam English language have started to provide access to English language as a foreign language in the national education program in Vietnam However, at the high school level, arising from such implementation were issues associated with foreign language policies for high school education which have been identified in many research studies (Cindy, Naomi & Moon, 2015; Coco et al., 2017; Li, 2018; Chan, 2018) Some of these issues were also reflected in education more generally Currently, in Vietnam, about 55/63 provinces are implementing high school English programs (Nguyen Hoang, 2016); the rest is teaching ethnic minority languages Most provinces have enough resources (teachers, facilities, parents' needs and children's preferences, etc.) to incorporate English into their curricula However, the reality is significantly different The implementation of English education is not as effective as expected although expectations are very high among stakeholders Based on an investigation of the English teaching situation at the upper secondary level, Min suggests that 'conditions are not yet suitable to allow a successful expansion of teaching at the primary level' (Min, 2015: 25) She adds that 'there is no clear perception of the goals, means and outcomes of teaching English to upper secondary students' (Min, 2015: 30) In addition, teachers are not fully trained to teach upper secondary English and not have a good level of English (vocabulary, academic vocabulary, specialization) Existing textbooks and materials are not completely suitable for urban high school students to develop their language communication skills '(Min, 2015: 30) for high school students With those missing conditions, the effectiveness of English education for high school students hardly meets its purpose Professional teachers are one of the most important factors in ensuring the effective implementation of communicative English education at the upper secondary level as they can greatly contribute in motivating students to learn English Besides, it is not easy to teach students effectively, because foreign language are less required at the upper secondary level than at all educational levels because students still have important university exams Besides other factors depend more on spoken language (Miranda, 2014) Some researchers agree that teachers should have a high level of language proficiency and be truly professional in comparison to their broad knowledge of vocabulary (Miranda, 2014; Lima, 2000; Slattery & Willis, 2001) and understanding good on methods of teaching communicative English to high school students (Lima, 2000) While advocates of English language teaching and foreign language studies praise the growing interest in English language programs, many fear that these efforts are unnecessary The biggest concern is the quality and quantity of professional teachers, who can meet the conditions to teach high school students who can communicate after years of studying at a high schools in Vietnam’ urban areas to practice perform these efforts 2.2 Review of theoretical background Communication is a skill that involves a systematic and continuous process of speaking-listening-understanding and feedback Most people are born with the ability to talk, but each must learn to speak well and communicate effectively Speaking, listening and understanding verbal and nonverbal cues are skills by observing others and modeling our behavior based on what we see and perceive We are also taught some face-to-face communication skills through education (Shakira, 2016) In Vietnam, there are now official English textbooks published by the Ministry of Education and Training for each school year Most of the content of academic books is unclear, unattractive, lacks pronunciation exercises, focus on grammar and vocabulary Consistent themes in vocabulary and grammar throughout the three books The cassette attached to the book is not renewed, the quality is not good (Nguyen Hoang, 2016: 38) For English communication, different schools use different materials to teach and learn communicative English These studies are supported by research on high school IELTS in Vietnam conducted by Moon for the British Council in September 2018 which shows that textbooks not match students' needs for English language skills Their focus (grammar, not communication), input type activities, make students learn passively, unable to communicate in English Despite these limitations, these books are still widely used because of their release by the Vietnamese Ministry of Education and Training (Moon, 2018) In my opinion, those comments are absolutely correct and I support them Although the policy of teaching communicative foreign languages in high schools in Vietnam has been widely accepted and supported, more urgent actions are needed to improve the current situation We don't just need to focus on reading, writing or grammar and vocabulary skills, but listening, speaking and communication skills are most important We desperately need good teachers not only in urban areas We need to encourage and support high school students in English communication skills, especially urban high school students, where they are developed and qualified to use communicative English Thus, I this research Proposed Research Methodology 3.1 Research type To achieve the aims of the study with high reliability the study employed two data collection instruments These were survey questionnaires and personal observations Survey questionnaire was the major data collection instrument employed in this thesis In addition to conducting survey questionnaires, personal observations played a crucial role in terms of supplement data for the analysis The personal observations were employed with the aim to collect adequate data for analysis 3.2 Population and sample Due to the thesis conducted to find out the factors affecting the ability to communicate in English of high school students in urban areas of Vietnam At the time of the survey, the number of participants in English communication was 10 schools, each school randomly selected 50 males and 50 females currently living and working in urban areas in Vietnam, between the ages of 16 and 18 at the time of the survey Their family background and ability to learn English are very different Their nationality is Vietnamese and they all study English according to the framework program issued by the Ministry of Education and Training; in other words, English is their second so that the results of the survey questionnaire can be reliable 3.3 Research methods One thousand survey questionnaires were distributed and all returned survey questionnaires were subsequently analyzed All participants were asked to provide their name, nationality, age, occupation, gender, and other factors necessary to find out the factors affecting their ability to communicate in English In order for the data to be reliable, before submitting the survey questionnaire, the participants were initially asked to grant permission to participate in the survey Questionnaires written in English and Vietnamese are equally valid The questionnaire consists of two parts The first section focuses on personal information about the participants such as nationality, age, gender, education and occupation The second part of the questionnaire provides scenarios that require participants' responses The situations in question are designed to reflect real life situations The choices of inviting forms in the equal power settings where the speaker and the hearer are in equal power and they can be unfamiliar with each other English participants prefer the forms of Yes/No questions, whereas most Vietnamese ones make invitations in the forms of imperatives and declaratives Proposed chapter outline Chapter 1: Introduction 1.1 Rationale 1.2 Aim and objectives of the study 1.3 Scope of the study 1.4 Research questions 1.5 Methods of the study 1.6 Structure of the study Chapter 2: Literature review 2.1 Review of previous studies 2.2 Review of theoretical background/frameworks Chapter 3: Methodology 2.3 Research type 2.4 Population and sample 2.5 Research methods Chapter 4: Findings and discussion 4.1 Results/Findings 4.1.1 Language barriers (vocabulary, pronunciation, grammar, and fluency) 4.1.2 Psychological factors (anxiety, attitude and lack of motivation) 4.1.3 The learning environment (lecturers, peers and speaking module topics) 4.1.4 language practice (self-practice, language practice with tutors and peers, practice language with media and technology, and maintaining positive motivation) 4.2 Discussion 4.2.1 Main cause (what is the most important factor) 4.2.2 Others cause Chapter 5: Conclusion The focus of this study was to identify the factors affecting the English communication ability of students at high schools in urban Vietnam Literature review of the thesis based on the theoretical basis of students' English speech behavior, ability to use English language, theory of difficulties and influencing factors in the communication process in English through previous studies Data for analysis were provided by two groups of participants: 10 high schools in urban areas of Vietnam, in which each school surveyed 50 male students and 50 female students The study uses two data collection tools: survey questionnaires and personal observations, the main survey questionnaire The methods of data analysis in this study are statistics, comparison and contrast After the results are presented, discussion and statistics of the collected questionnaires will be carried out Finally the conclusion References Cindy, Naomi & Moon (2015) English in high education in Vietnam: Policies, outcomes and stakeholders' lived experiences Current Issues in Language Planning, 11(2), 150-162 doi: 10.1080/14664208.2011.584371 Li & Chan, (2018) Success or failure of primary second/foreign language programmer in Asia: What the data tell us? Current Issues in Language Planning, 12(2), 309-323 doi: 10.1080/14664208.2011.609715 Cameron, L (2003) Challenges for ELT from the expansion in teaching children ELT Journal 57 (2), 105-112 Miranda (2014) Teaching English in the High School Classroom- Thailand: Longman Nguyen Hoang (2016) Foreign language education in primary schools in the People's Republic of China Current Issues in Language Planning, 8(2), 148-160 doi: 10.2167/cilp113.0 Min (2015) Investigating the teaching of English at High Level in Vietnam: A summary report Paper presented at the Teaching English Language at High Level Conference, Hanoi, Vietnam Lima (2000) High English language education policy in Viet Nam: Insights from implementation Current Issues in Language Planning, 12(2), 225-249 doi: 10.1080/14664208.2011.597048 Shakira, (2016) Importance of English communication skills International Journal of Applied Research (3), 478 480, 2016 Slattery, M and Willis, J (2001) English for Primary Teachers Oxford: Oxford University Press 10 Moon, (2018) The situation of high school IELTS in Vietnam Paper presented at the Teaching English Language at High School Level Conference, Hanoi, Vietnam Appendices Research Schedule Research phase Objectives Deadline Background research and literature review ● Meet with supervisor for initial discussion ● Conduct a more extensive review of relevant literature ● Refine the research questions ● Develop a theoretical framework 30th November, 2021 Research planning ● 15th December, 2021 design Design questionnaires ● Identify online and offline channels for recruiting participants ● Finalize sampling methods and data analysis methods ● Recruit participants and send out questionnaires ● Conduct semi-structured interviews with selected participants ● Transcribe and code interviews and clean survey data 25th December, 2021 ● Statistically analyze survey data ● Conduct thematic analysis of interview transcripts ● Draft the results and discussion chapters 31th December, 2021 Writing ● Complete a full thesis draft ● Meet with supervisor to discuss feedback and revisions 1st January, 2022 Revision ● 30 April, 2022 Data collection and preparation Data analysis Redraft based on feedback Get supervisor approval for final ● draft ● ● Proofread Print, bind and submit Approved by SUPERVISOR (Signature and full name) Date: …………………… 10 ... study 1.4 Research questions 1.5 Structure of the study Literature Review 2.1 Review of previous studies 2.2 Review of theoretical background/framework Proposed Research Methodology 3.1 Research. .. they are developed and qualified to use communicative English Thus, I this research Proposed Research Methodology 3.1 Research type To achieve the aims of the study with high reliability the study... Language at High School Level Conference, Hanoi, Vietnam Appendices Research Schedule Research phase Objectives Deadline Background research and literature review ● Meet with supervisor for initial