INTRODUCTION
Rationale of the study
Since English was first taught in Vietnam, learners had focused more on studying grammar and translation because they were the best ways to communicate with foreigners and set foot to the English-speaking world However, nowadays, as the society is developing faster, it is required that education should attach special importance to communicative language teaching Therefore, speaking plays an important role in learning English There are many ways for English learners to improve their speaking ability, one of which is oral presentation
Applying oral presentations nowadays in teaching is not uncommon The use of oral presentations in teaching, especially in teaching English, has created a new trend in the field of English language teaching methodology, which has drawn a lot of researchers‟ attention all over the world (Miles, 2003) It is believed that the opportunity to speak in front of the audience is one of the greatest benefits that students are offered when spending time at school (Miles, 2003) Zhu (2005) shared her same opinionabout the need of using presentation in developing student skills
She claimed in her study that oral presentation is a multi-task activity requiring learners to speak and illustrate their speech at the same time It has two clear purposes which are to provide information and/ or to persuade listeners to do a desired task Nowadays, as presentation becomes more popular, it takes an important role in teaching and learning
Numerous studies have examined the factors contributing to the success of oral presentations (Cheung, 2008; Taylor, 2012; Wilson and Brooks, 2014), the general benefits of using presentation in EFL classrooms, and the teachers‟ and students perceptions of the effects of this technique on the development of the language skills and language elements (i.e pronunciation, grammar, and vocabulary) (Nguyen, 2012; Masmaliyev, 2014) However, very few studies have been carried out to measure the difficulties of elementary students when doing oral presentation in a speaking lesson In fact, a thorough search in the literature results in no study carried out to investigate the difficulties of elementary students when doing oral presentation in a speaking lesson in the context of Vietnam This is the first reason why the researcher wanted to do research on this topic
Realizing the effects of using oral presentations in EFL lessons on the students‟ language development, all learners including elementary students in an English center in Hanoi have to do oral presentation as one task in their courses, which showed that the center really emphasizes on the importance of presentation in class In fact, not only elementary students find it difficult to do a presentation, even intermediate learners find it difficult to improve their presentation skill although they have practiced regularly Being a teacher in this center, the researcher considered this a very good chance for her to carry out a study on the difficulties of elementary students when doing oral presentation in a speaking lesson
The above reasons are the main ones for the birth of the study entitled “The difficulties of elementary students when doing oral presentation in a speaking lesson: A case of an English center in Hanoi”, which is hopefully useful for all levels of students in general and elementary students in particularly.
Research aims
This research‟s main aim is to explore the difficulties of elementary students when doing oral presentation in a speaking lesson in an English center in Hanoi
This study also collects students‟ expectation of their teachers to solve the problem.
Research questions
The above overall aim is expected to be fulfilled by addressing the following research questions:
Question 1: What are the difficulties faced by elementary students in doing presentation?
Question 2: What do students expect from their teachers to help them overcome the difficulties?
Scope of the study
The subjects of this study are elementary students in this center All the students have experienced oral presentation in class The study focuses on finding out the difficulties of these students when doing oral presentation in a speaking lesson.
Methods of the study
In this study, the data was collected by multiple methods which are observation, face-to-face questionnaire and interview Questionnaire and interview were used to achieve a reliable and comprehensive picture In addition, observation was used for being objective After analyzing the data, some conclusions were drawn.
Significance of the study
This study mainly focuses on the difficulties of elementary students when doing oral presentation in a speaking lesson Findings of the study are hoped to help students, especially elementary students in this center in developing the oral presentation Firstly, it could be a guide for students, especially elementary students in this center in developing the oral presentation Secondly, the research helps students understand clearly about the difficulties when doing oral presentations
Therefore, it can change students‟ attitude and behaviors toward studying Finally, the study increases students' interest in presentation since they can find suitable ways to overcome these difficulties The study is also hoped to fill the gap in the literature on the level of the difficulties of elementary students when doing oral presentation in a speaking lesson in the context of Vietnam Other researchers who are interested in doing research in the topic can use this study as a reference to carry out their investigation.
Design of the thesis
This study consists of four chapters:
Introduction presents the rationale for conducting the study along with its aims, research questions, significance and design
Chapter 1 - Literature Review conceptualizes the framework of the study including the key concepts such as the definition of oral presentation, its types and significance in EFL classrooms, the definition of difficulty, its classification, students‟ difficulties in presentation, characteristics of young learners and factors hindering young learners‟ from presenting A brief overview of the related studies are also provided
Chapter 2 - Research methodology presents the context, the methodology used in this study including the objects, data collection instruments, data collection procedure and analysis
Chapter 3 – Findings and discussion presents a comprehensive analysis of the data and gives discussion on the findings of this study
Chapter 4 – Conclusion offers the summary of findings, implications, limitations, and recommendations for further study.
DEVELOPMENT
LITERATURE REVIEW
This chapter conceptualizes the framework of the study including the key concepts such as the definition of oral presentation, its types and significance in EFL classrooms, the definition and classification of difficulty, students‟ difficulties in presentation, characteristics of young learners and factors hindering young learners‟ from presenting A brief overview of the related studies are also provided
According to Kaul (2005, p.2), “presentations are ideas, concepts or issues that are talked about or shared with a group of people or an audience” It can be stated that an oral presentation is not limited to those given to a large audience; it can be considered as a means by which people can communicate daily in a workplace, teach in the classroom, give opinions and express oneself in a situation that requires explanation in clear and precise speeches Studying this field, researchers have found that this kind of activity is associated with expressing ideas
Hyland (1991) claimed that the oral presentation is regularly a partly spoken, partly visual form of communication which is intended to inform or convince and occurs in organizational settings Time is typically constrained thus the successful presentation must be carefully arranged The speaker must make certain of her facts and objectives, have a carefully structured outline, support her presentation with visual aids, convey the talk clearly and confidently and afterward handle inquiries from the floor Obviously this is a fairly requesting exercise but it is achievable with a consciousness of oral communication skills and the practical experience of how they might bc connected
Delivering oral presentations in English is not only a straightforward matter of learning language and following guidelines but also a skill requiring complex sociolinguistic and in addition cognitive understandings, particularly for learners of
English as an Additional or Foreign Language (EAL/EFL) (Morita, 2000; Adams,
2004) Melion and Thompson (1980, p.503) stated that if oral presentation is guided and organized, it will give the students a learning experience and teach them an important skill which will be beneficial to ESL/EFL in all their education subject and later in their work According to Chivers and Shoolbred (2007, p.5), “doing presentation is very good learning experience.” In addition, Mandal (2000, p.8) stated, “presentations are speech that is usually given in a business, technical, professional, or scientific environment The audience is likely to be more specialized than those attending a typical speech event.” There are differences between normal speech and oral presentation The latter is a type of speech, but the former is more nature than oral presentation
In general, a presentation is a formal talk to one or more people that
“presents” ideas or information in an obvious and logical way Oral presentation is considered a means to give information, knowledge, and lectures Normally, a presentation consists of four basic elements including the presenter, audience, message and tools (Kaul, 2005)
In this study, the concept of presentation will be narrowed down to a short talk by one person or a group of people introducing and describing a particular subject
Chivers and Shoolbred (2007, p.2) stated that understanding the style of presentation will help you to explore the main goal of giving this presentation
Therefore, according to the aim of the presentation the speakers can decide the type of their presentation Presentations are classified into many categories
According to Whatley (2003), there are five types of presentation as follows:
(1) Informative presentation, (2) Instructional, (3) Arousing presentation, (4) Persuasive presentation and (5) Decision-making presentation
The first type provides information to the listeners For example, with informative presentation, the speaker brings the audience up to date on the events, gives information about the plan, products and procedure, rules and regulations, etc
The next one named Instructional is the one that gives specific direction for the listeners In an instructional presentation, the listeners are about to come away with new knowledge or skills Meanwhile, the purpose of the third type Arousing presentation is that people would raise ideas about a certain issue or topic It arouses the audience‟s emotions and intellect so that they will be receptive to the speaker‟s viewpoint Fourthly, Persuasive presentation focuses on convincing listeners to accept a proposal A convincing persuasive presentation offers a solution to a controversy, dispute or problem Last but not least, the aim of the presenter in a Decision-making presentation is to appeal the audience to take the presenter‟s suggested action In a decision-making presentation, ideas, suggestions, and arguments are presented in a logical and persuasive way in order to make the audience carry out the presenter‟s requests A decision-making presentation is supposed to tell the audience the „what‟ and the „how‟
Basing on the learner proficiency level, purposes, classroom context, there are specific kinds of presentation that should be applied Due to the classroom condition, students‟ proficiency level and the emphasis on oral output, the Informative presentation is considered as the most suitable to be applied in the context of an EFL classroom in particular
Although oral presentation is widely used, few students have fully understanding about its significance
The enormous significance is to enhance students‟ speaking skill In other words, presentation helps student speak fluently in public Discussing this effect, Miles (2010) claimed that the majority of students studying oral presentation wanted to enhance their ability to communicate orally in English and their competence to speak in public Zhu (2005) supposed oral presentation is a good chance for students to discuss a topic thoroughly
However, not only oral presentation enhances students‟ speaking skill, but it also brings student a multi-faceted effect For example, in research of Al-Issa & Al- Qubtan(2010), results shown that oral presentation also helped learners use technology effectively in study Especially, King (2002) mentioned that learners can present their talk in a visual and vivid way by using PowerPoint
Besides, an extremely important advantage is improving students‟ group- work skills (King, 2002, Al-Issa & Al-Qubtan, 2010) When students must work in group to prepare their oral presentation, they have chances to discuss to choose the topic, make the presentation‟s outline and develop their details To achieve good results, they must find a way to understand each other and cooperate to have a deep sympathy and unification in all group works Because group oral presentation includes a lot of group works, it is always useful for students
King (2002) pointed out another precious advantage of oral presentation which is putting the natural setting for developing four language skills in an integrated way In addition, making a presentation outline is an essential step to prepare presentation (Zhu, 2005) Students have to do several readings, synthesize and order the collected information to create an outline Moreover, Al-Issa & Al- Qubtan (2010) suggested that classmates also improve their listening skill through listening to the presenting group
Finally, oral presentation makes students more active (Al-Issa & Al-Qubtan,
2010) Students do not have to learn by heart, instead, they are required to be
“interactive, dynamic, reflective, and independent learning and critical thinking.”
(Al-Issa & Al-Qubtan, 2010) King (2002) also has the same point of view She affirmed in her research paper that oral presentation is “a learner- centered activity”
Maximos (1968) believed that difficulties are those which obstruct students from achieving the right and true answer of the activities He also believed that the difficulty can be estimated through regular mistakes which are repeated by the student at 25% and more Sharing the same opinion with Maximos, Othman (1990) mentioned the difficulties as those which may prevent the student from achieving the right answer, remembering that the normal mistakes at 25% are a marker of error existence
Al Qassim (2000) described learning difficulties as a case which prompts a persistent falling and diminishing in student learning, despite his normal or uncommon mental capacity, and that is not because of visual perception or hearing or physical movement or social conditions
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
This chapter includes the procedures followed throughout the study It clarifies the reason for implementing the study with descriptive approach The participants, instruments, procedure, data collection and data analysis are also presented
The researcher used the descriptive approach of research to carry out the study Brown and Rodgers (2002, p.117) define the descriptive research as "A research that describes group characteristics or behaviours in numerical terms"
They maintain that "the descriptive statistics are those statistics used to analyse descriptive research data, usually in terms of central tendency and dispersion" This helps obtain the difficulties of elementary students when doing oral presentation in a speaking lesson
The study was conducted in an English center in Hanoi This center teaches English for kindergarten, primary, secondary and high school students Each course in this center includes twenty 90-minute lessons Students in each course after twenty 90- minute lessons can understand, remember and apply some vocabulary related to their daily life, such as school, family, animals, sports, food, clothes Besides, they are able to understand, remember and apply some structures fluently Students participate in two lessons per week Both English written and oral skill are taught The speaking practice usually included the items like reading simple passages aloud, answering questions, role playing the story, telling the story and oral presentation In the 11th and 17th lesson of the course, students give one presentation on topics suggested by teachers They can present individually or in groups
Primary student is the largest group in this center which includes 18 classes
English for primary is a six level course series which aims to develop young children‟s four English skills (Starters 1, Starters 2, Movers 1, Movers 2, Flyers 1, Flyers 2) All courses are theme-based with age-appropriate themes and topics that match with child development stages All these classes are using Kid‟s box – Cambridge University Press (3rd edition) as their course book Kid‟s box has 6 levels from Kid‟s box 1 to Kid‟s box 6 Each level has 8 to 12 topics, such as my school, my family, my town, at home, at the farm, our clothes, our hobbies, our holiday… Each topic is divided into 4 or 5 lessons and delivered in 2 or 3 weeks
(two 90-minute lessons per week) Children learn English language and skills for life through participating in a variety of tasks and projects in a positive learning environment From primary level, elementary students start to do oral presentation in speaking lessons as one task in their course Giving presentation helps students improve their English speaking skill; however, they face many difficulties during the activity
In this study, the population is 225 elementary students in the center They are from six to ten years old and have a little experience delivering an oral presentation at school After school, these students take part in English courses in the center The students study English because they want to develop English skills and learn basic knowledge of English They will use English to communicate with their English teachers and their friends at school Besides, English can be a tool which can help them learn other subjects like Maths and Science In the center, they have to do oral presentation in speaking lessons as one task in their course
The researcher selected only ten classes as the sample With 6 levels from Starters 1 to Flyers 2, one or two classes in each level were chosen randomly Each class includes 10 students; thus, the total numbers of the students of the study are
100 students The sample included both male and female students
The instruments the researcher used are observation, questionnaire, and interview The researcher chose to use these instruments because when using them, the researcher was able to get the needed information easily and also answer the questions of the respondents directly
The questionnaire for the study has got two parts While part one is used to collect data for the question “What are the difficulties faced by elementary students in doing presentation?”, part two gives information for the second one “What do students expect from their teachers to help them overcome the difficulties?” Part 1 consists of twenty statements and part 2 includes five statements These items in the questionnaire are referred to the factors afftecting students‟ performance in oral presentation which are listed in chapter 1 and the format of the questionnaire in the research of Ayman Hassan Abu El Enein (2011) However, they are adapted based on the real situation when doing research to suit younger students The questionnaire created by Ayman Hassan Abu El Enein has three main criteria namely “Clarity of speech and voice quality”, “Correctness of language” and
“Interaction with audience” The questionnaire of this study consists four main criteria, which are “Language”, “Content”, “Personal trait” and “External factor”
There are 35 statements in the questionnaire of Ayman Hassan Abu El Enein while the questionnaire of this study only has 20 statements in total
Dishonesty can be an issue of questionaire Respondents may not be 100 percent honest with their answers This can occur for a variety of reasons, including social allure bias and endeavouring to ensure privacy Therefore, before asking the respondents to complete the questionnaire, the researcher guaranteed with the respondents that their privacy is valued and the procedure prevents personal identification In the study context, many students tended to be shy when being asked for opinion However, each student received a questionnaire knowing that they do not need to provide their names, so they found it more comfortable and do the questionnaire much better
Moreover, questionnaire can lack conscientious responses because sometimes answers may be picked before the respondents completely read the questions or the potential answers Also, respondents may ignore some questions, which may influence the validity of data Hence, the researcher tried to make the questionnaire short and the questions uncomplicated to avoid skipping, improve consummation rates and get the most accurate responses
Before it was delivered, the questionnaire was translated into Vietnamese
Choosing questionnaire, the questionnaire could be clarified completely and guarantee that everybody has a similar comprehension Therefore, respondents did not have difficulty understanding the meaning of the questions Besides, the researcher could catch emotional reactions or the feeling of the respondents by observing their facial expression, reactions or body language
The research used a Likert scale, which frequently utilizes a rating scale from
“slightly agree” to “strongly disagree.” This allows for quality and assertion in responses rather than multiple choices When using questionnaire, the researcher was able to collect data from a larger number of people in short time
The observation checklist was created which focuses on the difficulties of students when presenting in class There are three main criteria in the observation checklist, namely “Language”, “Content”, “Personal trait” and “External factor”
FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION
This chapter presents the findings and discussion of the study The collected results from student‟s questionnaire, observation and interview are provided and discussed to answer the research questions in turn
3.1 Data collected from the questionnaire
The data collected from the questionnaire is used to answer two research questions The researcher used sum of responses, means, std deviation, the percentage weight and rank of each item of the questionnaire
3.1.1 Students’ difficulties in doing presentation
Tables 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, 3.4, 3.5 shows the result of the first question: “What are the difficulties faced by elementary students in doing presentation?”
Table 3.1: The sum of responses, means, std deviation and the rank of each item from of the first domain from the questionnaire
No Language Sum Mean Std
You use appropriate transitional words
Your presentations have enough appropriate vocabulary and expressions
Your presentations have enough appropriate structure of sentences
- Item no (2) "You use correct grammar." occupied the first rank with percent weight (67.6%)
- Item no (4) "Your presentations have enough appropriate vocabulary and expressions." occupied the second rank with percent weight (64%)
- Item no (3) "You have correct pronunciation." occupied the third rank with percent weight (61.2%)
- Item no (1) " You use appropriate transitional words.” occupied the fourth rank with percent weight (57.6%)
- Item no (5) "Your presentations have enough appropriate structures of sentences." occupied the last rank with percent weight (56.2%)
Table 3.2: The sum of responses, means, std deviation and the rank of each item from of the second domain from the questionnaire
No Content Sum Mean Std
Your presentations are given in an organized way
You outline the presentation objectives to audience
You stick to the objectives of the speech 212 2.12 1.104 42.4 5 20
Your presentations have a good connection of ideas
You deliver the presentation with clear ideas and examples
As shown in Table 3.2 we can observe the difficulties from the most to the least arranged in order according to the percentage weight and rank:
- Item no (5) "You deliver the presentation with clear ideas and examples." occupied the first rank with percent weight (59.4%)
- Additionally, over 45% of the students were in agreement that deliver their presentations in a disorganized way, do not outline the presentation objectives to audience, and lack a good connection of ideas were their problems when doing oral presentation
- Item no (3) "You stick to the objectives of the speech." occupied the last rank with percent weight (42.4%)
Table 3.3: The sum of responses, means, std deviation and the rank of each item from of the third domain from the questionnaire
No Personal trait Sum Mean Std
You do not fear negative evaluation and comments
4 You keep eye- contact with audience
5 You use body language and gestures
- Item no (2) "You present fluently." occupied the first rank with percent weight (65.8%)
- Additionally, over 60% of the students were in agreement that speaking with lack of confidence, fear negative evaluation and comments and lack using body language and gestures were serious difficulties encountered by them in giving an oral presentation
- Item no (4) "You keep eye-contact with audience." occupied the last rank with the percent weight of (54.8%)
Table 3.4: The sum of responses, means, std deviation and the rank of each item from of the fourth domain from the questionnaire
No External factor Sum Mean Std
You prepare carefully for the presentation
You are familiar with the criteria of effective oral presentation
You have the right to choose the topics
You have motivation towards giving the oral presentation
You are not interrupted by the audience
As shown in Table 3.4 we can observe the difficulties from the most to the least arranged in order according to the percentage weight and rank:
- Item no (4) "You have motivation towards giving the oral presentation." occupied the first rank with percent weight (63%)
- Item no (5) "You are not interrupted by the audience." occupied the second rank with percent weight (60.8%)
- Item no (1) "You prepare carefully for the presentation." occupied the third rank with percent weight (55.6%)
- Item no (2) "You are familiar with the criteria of effective oral presentation.” occupied the fourth rank with percent weight (54.2%)
- Item no (3) "You have the right to choose the topics.” occupied the last rank with percent weight (48%)
Fifth: The whole scope of the questionnaire:
To conclude the results, the sum of responses, means, std deviation and the rank of each field of the questionnaire were used Table 3.5 shows this:
Table 3.5: The sum of responses, means, std deviation and rank of each domain from and all questionnaire
No Field No of items Sum Mean Std
In Table 3.5, the third field "Personal trait" occupied the first rank with percent weight (61.69%), and the first field "Language" occupied the second rank with the percent weight of (61.32%), whereas the fourth field "External factor" occupied the third rank with percent weight (56.32%), and the second field
“Content” occupied the last rank with percent weight (51.24%) That indicates that
"Personal trait" constitutes the most serious difficulty encountered by students in the process of delivering oral presentation due to psychological factors that affect the presenter during the presentation Consequently, the teachers should take into consideration improving students‟ confidence and nonverbal language as far as possible before asking them to prepare their oral presentations
The total score of the difficulties of the questionnaire had a percentage weight of (57.71%) that indicates these difficulties have a serious effect on students‟ achievement when doing oral presentation
The frequencies, the sum of responses, standard deviation, means, the percentage weight and rank of each item of the questionnaire in tables 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, 3.4 show that the most important difficulty was grammar mistakes which occupied the highest rank of difficulty with a percentage weight of (67.6%) Item no (12)
"You present fluently." occupied the second rank with percent weight 65.8(%) The researcher attributes this to the fact that the psychological factors greatly affected the students‟ performance when giving the oral presentations such as anxiety and excessive fear It is also because the students speak English as a foreign language
In addition, social factors played an important role in the difficulties in which the presenters encountered difficulties in eye-contact with audience so it is advisable to the teachers to prepare the students psychologically before giving the presentation and build bridges of confidence and friendly relationships between the students themselves and between teachers and their students
This study does not show similar results with those of Chen (2009) Chen‟s study revealed that the students were moderately anxious, suggesting that the anxiety level was not too severe for the students to cope with while student‟s anxiety is a serious problem in this study These difficulties are hesitating while presenting, lack of confidence and fear negative evaluation and comments There are differences between two researches because Chen studied on undergraduates while the subjects of the research are elementary students
The findings of the study are similar with Cheng and Warren (2005) study
In their study, they concentrated on the utilization of an integrated method of feedback Students compose an outline for their presentations first, evaluate each other's work, and afterward make their presentations dependent on the adjustments given by their friends Students do their presentations in-class while the teacher and their classmates evaluate that presentation utilizing rubrics they have had The researchers proposed that if teachers spend time and energy showing how and when to utilize eye contact, how to arrange a presentation, interact with audiences, use body language and control time Hence, the students can give an effective presentation in the target language
Similar findings were also clear in an ethnographic study conducted by Morita (2000) in a Canadian university This study found that oral presentation was difficult for both native and non-native speakers for various reasons In terms of native speakers, they encountered psychological problem This alludes to low confidence as a presenter For non-native speakers, they reported experiencing three kinds of difficulty – linguistic, sociocultural, and psychological The non-native speakers themselves regarded their own English skills as the fundamental source of difficulty The psychological difficulty was their own feeling of inadequacy, and this was related to the linguistic and sociocultural difficulties In this way, it is not astounding that these EFL students find oral activities difficult since they are required to utilize a foreign language to think and communicate It was found that non-native speakers reported experiencing linguistic, sociocultural and psychological difficulties with oral presentations Consequently, it is reasonable to presume that English foreign language speakers who give oral presentations may encounter nervousness that comes from the linguistics, the language and the complex task of communicating
Young (1990) study found similar findings to those of the current study In this study, the researcher demonstrated that teacher's non-threatening error correction approach and friendly personality may have served to decrease the students' nervousness The researcher surveyed students' perspectives towards teacher's characteristics and behaviour that lessen their foreign language classroom anxiety The main three characteristics were good sense of humour, friendliness, and relaxation They might diminish the students‟ anxiety Additionally, the study demonstrated that there were numerous challenges in giving oral presentation
Students should prepare their presentations based on specific criteria
3.1.2 Students’ expectation of their teachers to help them overcome the difficulties
Table 3.6 shows the result of the second question: “What do students expect from their teachers to help them overcome the difficulties?”
Table 3.6: The sum of responses, means, std deviation and rank of each item from of the second part from the questionnaire
No Expectation your teachers Sum Mean Std
Teachers give more interesting and useful topics
Teachers give detailed guide about how to make a good presentation
Teachers give better scores or a reward for the best presentation
Teachers help brainstorming some ideas that can appear in the presentation
Teachers provide some activities to make students able to use language without fear to make mistakes
- Item no (2) "Teachers give detailed guide about how to make a good presentation." occupied the first rank with percent weight (89.6%)
- Item no (1) "Teachers give more interesting and useful topics." and item no (3)
“Teachers give better score or a reward for the best presentation.” occupied the second rank with percent weight (86.2%) language without fear to make mistakes." occupied the third rank with percent weight (86%)
- Item no (4) "Teachers help brainstorming some ideas that can appear in the presentation." occupied the last rank with percent weight (84%)
Figure 3.1: Teachers give more interesting and useful topics
The pie chart illustrates the percentage of students‟ agreements with the expectation that teachers give more interesting and useful topics It is evident that the majority of students (57%) considered giving more interesting and useful topics as an extremely important way to help them overcome their difficulties On the other hand, 26% of students also agreed with the expectation Besides, the percentage of students who did not expect teachers to give more interesting and useful topics was very small (under 15%) Generally, teachers should give more interesting and useful topics
No optionDisagreeStrongly disagree
Figure 3.2: Teachers give detailed guide about how to make a good presentation
CONCLUSION
4.1 A summary of the major findings
The principal goal of this research is to explore the difficulties of elementary students when doing oral presentation in a speaking lesson in an English center in Hanoi Furthermore, this study also aims to show teachers their students‟ expectation to solve the problem The major findings would be recapitulated and subsumed under the two research questions
The findings of this study revealed that there are many difficulties faced by elementary students in doing presentation Among these difficulties, “Language”,
"Personal trait" and “External factor” constitute the most serious difficulties encountering students in the process of delivering an oral presentation In these domains, the most important difficulties can be enumerated that students make grammar mistakes, hesitate while presenting and lack motivation towards giving an oral presentation In terms of grammar, students often make mistakes with how to use plural or singular nouns, and countable or non-countable nouns Also, the variety of aspects in English, such as simple, progressive, perfect, creates many difficulties for students Besides, students often concentrated on the accuracy more than fluency, so they hesitated through the presentation and made grammar mistakes
On the basis of the findings of this study and in the light of the difficulties encountered by students in giving the oral presentation, the students expect some supports from their teachers to overcome these difficulties and to improve the learning process generally in oral proficiency and speaking skill in particular
Giving detailed guide about how to make a good presentation is the most essential way to help students overcome their difficulties when doing presentations Other expectations agreed by the majority of respondents are giving more interesting and useful topics and giving better scores or a reward for the best presentation Giving better scores or a reward is also an effective way to motivate students to give oral presentation Students also want their teachers to provide some activities to make them able to use language without fear to make mistakes Last, teachers should help students brainstorm some ideas that can appear in the presentation The results from interview show that teacher also recommended the same solutions
The result of this study is hopefully planned to be the base for the teachers in this center to specify the criteria of the oral presentation they adopt Therefore, the students can follow them and be evaluated in light of these criteria As a result students may become better presenters and English speakers Moreover, teachers should motivate students to use various free oral activities like role-play, dialogues, simulations and oral presentation to develop their speaking skills Finally, from the findings, it is obvious that the oral presentation, which is commonly applied for advance students in university/college, can definitely be applied for students at lower level such as elementary students In words, the oral presentation should be paid more attention and considered as an effective teaching method, especially in enhancing speaking ability Giving the oral presentation can be considered as a means of oral assessment of the students With appropriate aims and procedures, the oral presentation can be applied and suggested to students in all EFL classes in general in Vietnam
Despite the significant efforts of the researcher during the research procedure and data analysis, the biggest limitation of this study is methodological limitation
First, questionnaire is one of the instruments used to collect data; however, the respondents are young learners Therefore, respondents may not be 100 percent honest with their answers because of several reasons such as social allure bias
Moreover, questionnaire can be lack of conscientious responses because sometimes answers may be picked before complete reading the questions or the potential answer It is of importance to take these mentioned limitations of the study into consideration in further studies
From the results of the research along with the limitations of the study, several issues are worth considering for future research First of all, other researchers can widen the scope of study so that the result will be more reliable and the generalizability of the study would be increased Moreover, future researchers may concentrate on social and psychological factors of the presenters, the roles of body language in the presentation and the oral presentation in school
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This survey questionnaire is designed for the study on “The difficulties of elementary students when doing oral presentation in a speaking lesson: A case of an English center in Hanoi” Your assistance in responding to the following questions is highly appreciated You can be confident that you will not be identified in any discussion of the data
Read the following statements carefully before answering any of them If you face any difficulty, please ask your instructor
Part 1: What are your difficulties in doing presentation?
Strongly Disagree Disagree No opinion Agree Strongly
1 You use appropriate transitional words
Your presentations have enough appropriate vocabulary and expressions
Your presentations have enough appropriate structure of sentences
Your presentations are given in an organized way
You outline the presentation objectives to audience
You stick to the objectives of the speech
Your presentations have a good connection of ideas
You deliver the presentation with clear ideas and examples
You do not fear negative evaluation and comments
14 You keep eye-contact with audience
15 You use body language and gestures
16 You prepare carefully for the presentation
You are familiar with the criteria of effective oral presentation
18 You have the right to choose the topics
You have motivation towards giving the oral presentation
20 You are not interrupted by the audience
Part 2: What do you expect from your teachers to help you overcome the difficulties?
Strongly Agree Agree No opinion Disagree Strongly
Teachers give more interesting and useful topics
Teachers give detailed guide about how to make a good presentation
Teachers give better scores or a reward for the best presentation
Teachers help brainstorming some ideas that can appear in the presentation
Teachers provide some activities to make students able to use language without fear to make mistakes
Thank you for your time and participation!
APPENDIX 2 Khảo sát học sinh
Bảng câu hỏi khảo sát này được thiết kế cho nghiên cứu về “Những khó khăn của học sinh tiểu học khi làm bài thuyết trình trong giờ học nói: Một nghiên cứu tại một trung tâm tiếng Anh ở Hà Nội” Sự hỗ trợ của con trong việc trả lời các câu hỏi sau đây rất được cảm kích Con có thể tự tin rằng bạn sẽ không bị nhận ra trong bất kỳ thảo luận nào về dữ liệu
Xin hãy đọc kĩ các vấn đề sau trước khi trả lời bất kỳ câu hỏi nào Nếu con gặp bất kỳ khó khăn nào, xin vui lòng hỏi người hướng dẫn của con
Phần 1: Những khó khăn của con khi làm bài thuyết trình là gì ?
STT Khó khăn Rất không đồng ý
1 Con sử dụng từ nối thích hợp
2 Con sử dụng đúng ngữ pháp
Bài thuyết trình của con sử dụng từ và diễn đạt thích hợp
Bài thuyết trình của con sử dụng cấu trúc câu phù hợp
6 Bài thuyết trình của con có trình tự
Con nêu mục đích của bài thuyết trình cho người nghe
8 Con bám vào mục đích của bài nói
9 Bài thuyết trình của con có sự kết nối giữa các ý
10 Con diễn đạt các ý và ví dụ rõ ràng Đặc điểm tính cách
11 Con thuyết trình tự tin
12 Con thuyết trình trôi chảy
Con không sợ bị đánh giá và nhận xét tiêu cực
14 Con tương tác bằng mắt với người nghe
15 Con sử dụng ngôn ngữ cơ thể
16 Con chuẩn bị bài thuyết trình cẩn thận
Con biết rõ tiêu chí của bài thuyết trình hiệu quả
18 Con được chọn chủ đề thuyết trình
19 Con có động lực thuyết trình
20 Con không bị gián đoạn bởi người nghe
Phần 2: Con mong muốn điều gì từ giáo viên của bạn để giúp bạn vượt qua những khó khăn trên?
STT Sự mong muôn từ giáo viên của con
Giáo viên đưa ra nhiều chủ đề thú vị hơn
2 Giáo viên hướng dẫn chi tiết cách làm bài thuyết trình tốt
Giáo viên cho điểm cao hoặc phần thưởng cho bài thuyết trình tốt nhất
Giáo viên giúp liệt kê các ý cho bài thuyết trình
Giáo viên đưa ra các hoạt động để học sinh có thể sử dụng ngôn ngữ mà không sợ mắc lỗi
Cảm ơn con đã dành thời gian để tham gia khảo sát!
No Difficulties Appeared Disappeared Notes
Speakers do not use appropriate transitional words
Presentations lack appropriate vocabulary and expressions
Presentations lack appropriate structure of sentences
6 Presentations are given in a disorganized way
Speakers do not outline the presentation objectives to audience
8 Speakers do not stick to the objectives of the speech
9 Presentations lack a good connection of ideas
Speakers deliver the presentation with unclear ideas and examples
11 Speakers speak with lack of confidence
13 Speakers do not keep eye- contact with audience
14 Speakers lack using body language and gestures
15 Speakers are interrupted by audience
1 What are the most common and serious difficulties in terms of language faced by your elementary students in doing presentation? Can you give examples?
2 What are the most common and serious difficulties in terms of content faced by your elementary students in doing presentation? Can you give examples?
3 What are the most common and serious difficulties in terms of personal trait faced by your elementary students in doing presentation? Can you give examples?
4 What are the most common and serious difficulties in terms of external factor faced by your elementary students in doing presentation? Can you give examples?
5 Among four groups of difficulties above, what is the most popular and serious group? Why
6 What do your students expect from you to help them overcome their difficulties in doing presentation?
7 How can teachers do to help our students overcome their difficulties in doing presentation?
APPENDIX 5 The transcription of the interview
1 What are the most popular and serious difficulties in terms of language faced by your elementary students in doing presentation? Can you give examples?
- Teacher 1: Young learners often find it difficult to express their ideas because they do not have enough vocabulary
- Teacher 2: The language is difficult for them to comprehend the concepts and express their emotions, thoughts and ideas They have a habit of translating words by words when they do presentation
