The reality of english oral conmunication of four year students in faculty of english at thuongmai university and suggested solutions

THUONG MAI UNIVERSITY ENGLISH DEPARTMENT - - GRADUATION PAPER Topic: The reality of English oral conmunication of four-year students in Faculty of English at Thuongmai University and suggested solutions Supervisor: MA Nguyen Thi Thanh Ha Student name: Trinh Phuong Thuy Class: K54N7 Student code: 18D170338 HANOI, 2022 ABSTRACT Globalization and the deep integration process have promoted English to an important mean of communication among countries all over the world However, when it comes to English, people in non-speaking countries usually find oral communication skills quite challenging to be master at The present study was presented with a view to finding out the reality of English oral communication skills of fourth-year students in the Faculty of English in at Thuongmai University This study also suggested useful solutions to help students conquer this language and be more confident in English oral communication The study was done in quantitative quantitative method The main method was the quantitative method – a questionnaire which was sent to 100 seniors studying in the Faculty of English at Thuongmai University Analyzing data from questionnaire, the study unveiled that the English oral communication skill of final-year students in the Faculty of English at Thuongmai University remains limited due to lacking confidence, motivation or proper practice methods Based on the findings of the study, solutions to deal with problems and improve English oral communication effectively were given to help students i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS During the process of doing this study, I have received a multitude of support and encouragement from my teachers and my friends I can not successfully complete the research without their help First and foremost, I would like to send my sincere thanks to my supervisor – Ms Nguyen Thi Thanh Ha who always enthusiastically assist, guide and give good advice and opinion for me to complete the research Besides, I want to express my gratitude to Thuongmai University’s teachers, especially teachers of English faculty Thanks to them have I equipped myself with useful knowledge and precious lessons in this field of study In addition, I also would like to thank students of the English Faculty at Thuongmai University for their enthusiastic cooperation and support during the time I collected data and information for my research Last but not least, I express my very great appreciation to my parents, my friends for their support and encouragement during the process of doing this study ii TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii TABLE OF CONTENTS iii LIST OF FIGURES v CHAPTER 1: OVERVIEW OF THE STUDY 1.1 Rationale 1.2 Previous studies 1.3 Aims of the study 1.4 Research subjects and objects 1.5 Scope of the study 1.6 Research methodology 1.7 Organization of the study CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Definitions 2.2 The process of oral communication 2.3 Factors affecting oral communication 2.4 The principles of oral communication 15 2.5 The importance of oral communication 16 CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH FINDINGS 17 3.1 Participants and Samples 18 3.2 Research methodology 18 3.3 Research Instruments 18 3.4 Data collection 19 3.5 Data analysis 19 iii 3.6 Research results 20 CHAPTER 4: RECOMMENDATIONS AND SUGGESTIONS 40 4.1 Summary of the findings 40 4.2 Recommendations 41 4.3 Limitations of the study 44 4.4 Suggestions for further study 44 CONCLUSION 46 REFERENCES 47 APPENDIX 49 iv LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1: The process of oral communication Figure 2: The importance of oral communication (Gilakjani and Ahmadi, 2011) Figure 3: Gender of participants Figure 4: Years of learning English Figure 5: Students' English oral communication level Figure 6: The difficulty level of English oral communication Figure 7: Students' feelings towards English oral communication Figure 8: Time spent practicing English oral communication of students Figure 9: Learning methods that students use to practice English oral communication Figure 10: Student’s habits when orally communicating in English Figure 11: Students’ agreement exent on Listening Comprehension Figure 12: Students’ agreement exent on Grammar Figure 13: Students’ agreement exent on Vocabulary Figure 14: Students’ agreement exent on Pronunciation Figure 15: Students’ agreement exent on Oral fluency Figure 16: Students’ agreement exent on Interaction Figure 17: Difficulties that students encounter Figure 18: Reasons causing difficulties in orally communicating in English Figure 19: Solutions that students suggest to to improve English oral communication v CHAPTER 1: OVERVIEW OF THE STUDY 1.1 Rationale Communicating effectively is the main goal in learning English as a Second language Given the global context, English has been widely and deeply accepted as the main mean of communication among countries around the world Moreover, Vietnam is expanding its relationship in terms of diplomacy, commerce, export and import fields, etc with the increasing number of nations all over the world As a result, the great importance of foreign affairs must be recognized and prioritized The two above reasons prove that it is vital to learn English if Vietnam wants to take part in the global environment However, being good at English does not only mean being good at textbook-related knowledge or grammar knowledge but it requires us to be proficient in both written and oral communication In which, it is believed that oral communication plays a significant role in transmitting messages effectively Vietnam’s students in common and English Faculty’s students at Thuongmai University in particular are burdening the mission of bring Vietnam to the world In reality, the fourth-year students in the Faculty of English at Thuongmai University meet the same difficulties as although they can basically orally communicate in English but they still lack confidence and fluency There are a multitude of reasons causing those difficulties A lot of students frankly shared that seldom they spend their daily time practicing oral communication Not only they lack practice environment but they also not have the proper methods in learning English oral communication skills Besides, some of them have not recognized the importance of using English as a second language Another reason might come from the traditional and passive teaching and learning methods Due to all reasons above, the writer decided to conduct a study on “The reality of English oral conmunication of four-year students in Faculty of English at Thuongmai University and suggested solutions” 1.2 Previous studies 1.2.1 The overview of domestic research In Vietnam, the studies related to English are not new There are a multitude of study conducted across the country One of them was “A case study on English communication skills of the last year students at Thai Nguyen University: Current situation and solutions” of Vu Kieu Hanh (2002) This study focused on exploring the current situation of English communication skills of the last year students at Thai Nguyen University, thereby suggesting recommendations to improve English speaking skills for these students The study conducted on 350 final-year students who were randomly selected by using the convenience sampling method The study found that there are three factors affecting the English communication skills of Thai Nguyen University’s students which are study motivation, study attitude and study strategies Moreover, the findings show that the students are facing a fact that most graduate students have limited communication skills in English Besides, the study gave suggestions for each stakeholder who are the university, teachers and students Another research is “English communication skill of students at People’s Police Academy in context of integration” of Le Huong Hoa (2018) This study used questionnaire to collect data from 45 students in People’s Police Academy This research pays attention on find out the reality of English communication of students at People’s Police Academy The study reveals that although students gain a certain level, they still have some limitations in communicating in English due to a lack of confidence or proper learning methods They also suggest some solutions such as improving the students’ awareness of the importance of English communication skill in such context, conducting some extracurricular classes for students or having more creative teaching methods In general, the above research concentrated on a certain scope such as students at one university while there is no study on the students at Thuongmai University especially who are seniors studying in English major Moreover, the difficulties encountered by a certain group is totally different while English-majored students at Thuongmai University focus on business-related knowledge Besides, those researches focused on English communication in general As a consequence, this study hopes to clearly find out the real situation of English oral communication skills of the seniors in the English Faculty at Thuongmai University 1.2.2 The overview of global research There are also a great number of studies related to English communication on a global scale One of them is “Oral Communication Problems Encountering English major Students: Perspectives of Learners and Teachers in Palestinian University Context” of Abu Alyan (2013) This study used qualitative method to explore such potential problems from learners and teachers’ perspectives Analyzing data from participants’ interviews, the study unveiled that students’ incorrect pronunciation, limited vocabulary, lack of exposure to the target language Moreover, the students were unable to organize their ideas and meaning in a coherent way Then, the study gave some pedagogical implications which are using state-of-the-art teaching techniques and strategies to stress the need to encourage and empower learners to participate in class discussion and interactions Moreover, Listening and speaking classes can employ authentic materials that mimic real-life-situations and engage students in different tasks Learners can be guided to use some applications on Ipad or Iphone to access many interesting TV channels and radio situations in English, by the end of the class they can present their “e-portfolios” in front of the class Furthermore, to maximize practice, all teachers are invited to integrate oral communication activities such as arguments, discussions, debates” in all courses and to make these activities as an essential part of courses assessment Another study is “Oral English Communication Difficulties and Coping Strategies of Diploma of Hotel Management Students at UiTM” of Norafini Zulkurnain (2015) The research examines the types of oral communication difficulties faced by Diploma level ESL learners and the types of communication strategies used by students to cope with Oral Communication activities With the research objectives, a questionnaire known as Oral Communication Strategies Inventory was distributed to 100 Diploma of Hotel Managment students in Penang, Following that, 16 students from the total population were interviewed and they also took part in a journal writting activity to explain the difficulties occured due to learners’ lack of English language knowledge The results revealed that difficulties occurred due to learners’ lack of English language knowledge It was also found that learners are keen to get involved in English oral communication activities and most of them negotiate meaning with the interlocutors to understand and intended messages The implications of this study suggest that teachers should be more creative in constructing interactive learning experiences for their students and teach coping strategies as part of students’ repertories of oral communication skills In conclusion, those studies pay more attention to finding out the difficulties faced by students when they take part in English oral communication classes However, in this study, the writer want to see the real situations of English oral communication of the seniors in the Faculty of English at Thuongmai University 1.3 Aims of the study The main purpose of the study is to find out the reality of using English oral communication skills of the final-year students in the English Faculty at Thuongmai University Besides the study also suggest some solutions help students find interest in learning English and improve their English oral communication skill 1.4 Research subjects and objects The study was conducted on 100 students studying at Thuongmai University in total They are the seniors in the Faculty of English Because they have almost had years-learning experience in English major, so most of them have a quite good command of English written communication including two main skills: reading and writing From that, the writer hope to reveal the general view on other subjects who are students in other colleges and universities The research objects are the reality and solutions in oral communication in the English of the fourth-year students in Faculty of English at Thuongmai University 1.5 Scope of the study In general, English basically includes two ways of communication which are oral and written communication Oral communication combines listening and CHAPTER 4: RECOMMENDATIONS AND SUGGESTIONS 4.1 Summary of the findings With the aim of deeply and widely understanding the reality of English oral communication of seniors in Faculty of English at Thuongmai University to find out the solutions, the author organizes the study into chapters in total in which the first chapter pays on showing the rationale, the aim of the studies and the overview of other findings and studies as well meanwhile, the next chapter illustrates all the background theories related to the study The third chapter is the main one where the data are analysed to find out the truth and the reality of English oral communication and then the author gives solutions to help students improve these skills while chapter focuses on a summary of the whole study and give some pedagogical implications In conclusion, based on the above theories and the analysis results, the study acknowledges that although the English of seniors in Faculty of English at Thuongmai University reach to a certain level because most of them have been studying English for more than 10 years, they still meet some obstacles when practicing English oral communication due to following reasons:  Lack of listening comprehension skill Listening comprehension is the key of effective English oral communication While the results show that most of them are quite confident in their English-related knowledge such as pronunciation, grammar, vocabulary as they have been learning English for a long time and have been trained in English faculty for almost years, some students still find it hard in listening comprehensively and catch up exactly what the native speakers are saying during the process of communication So that is the reason why they miss or misunderstand the message and can not interact and reflect immediately and accurately which strongly affects the English conversation  Lack of English oral fluency Besides listening comprehension, English oral fluency is also a big part of effective conversation While students’ reading skill is quite good but the study finds that it is quite hard to speak English fluently and intonationally because this skill requires learners to practice frequently If not, the learners might find it unfamiliar to 40 speak out English words In that case, it is also hard to pronounce English words correctly let alone remain fluent and intonation  Lack of confidence Due to the lack of listening comprehension and English oral fluency, students are getting more anxious when orally communicating in English which reduces their confidence People usually lose their confidence when doing something what they are not good at In that case, students tend to be afraid of making mistakes and being judged by other people who communicate better than them or by native speakers while confidence is always the key of making impressions on other people, the more confident you are, the more difficult situations you can handle  Lack of practicing time The results show that hardly students spend their time practicing oral English Most of them express that they not have the proper environment to practice as they are living in the non-English speaking country and hardly they have time to find native speakers to communicate while other apps on Mobile phones such as Cambly allow them to communicate with native speakers are so expensive that they can not afford With the limited time of using English, it is obvious that when learners are in a real situation, they find it difficult in handling it  Lack of proper learning methods Last but not least, the suitable methods for each learner are extremely important, the wrong methods might reduce the desire of learning English of learners Students tend to force themselves to learn and practice English according to methods which are considered to be useful but they not consider if that is suitable for them or not However, whatever the learning methods are, students need to have the right schedule practice regularly 4.2 Recommendations Based on the findings in this study, a number of implications for improving the English oral communication of the seniors in Faculty of English at Thuongmai University can be drawn 41 4.2.1 Recommendations for teachers The teachers play a core role in encouraging and putting learners at ease in improving students’ confidence and reducing anxiety when communicating in English Teachers can use state-of-the-art teaching methods which are far different from traditional ones to encourage learners to participate in class discussions and interactions such as collaborative learning that uses a small group of students or pairs in classroom activities Collaborative learning can be role-play conversations, presentations, drama and acting which allow students to express their ideas and improve their English skills Moreover, during the process of teaching, teachers can use their interesting English learning stories to inspire students to learn more All students are usually curious about teachers’ stories, they want to know more about the process of learning English of teachers, whether they have any memorable situations related to English or even teachers’ abroad learning journey Teachers can also encourage students to participate in extracurricular activities such as games, competitions or clubs activities These activities not only allow students to have a chance to put theory into practice but also bestow students with new relationships in which they can learn from seniors or other experienced students Besides, it is really great if Faculty of English can open more English communication classes with native speakers Students really enjoy the moment of English communication class with native speakers despite the fact that students still are shy and unconfident 4.2.2 Recommendations for students Despite all the efforts and amazing teaching methods of teachers, hardly can students improve their English oral communication skills if they themselves not want to develop and learn Students need to be aware of the importance of participating in English classes with English teachers They need to treasure the efforts and knowledge that the teacher is delivering because these lessons are extremely valuable and have 42 accumulated for a long time that students might not learn from anywhere else However, students usually make light of lessons delivered in the class and not fully take part in collaborative activities in English classes which reduces their English oral communication skills They usually this when they are asked to by teachers Besides, after participating in English classes at school, students need to spend their own time on practicing in English However, students usually not know where to commence, so first of all, they need to write a clear learning schedule and determine the purpose of learning English such as whether they learn for fun, for future jobs or for their families Once they get the clear goals and learning schedule, they need to maintain and it frequently as there goes a saying “Practice makes perfect” There is no shortcut to gain success but practicing Students can use some solutions such as shadowing which means they turn on their favourite English podcasts or videos and mimic what is said with the right intonation and speed To be more specific, the study wants to show a detailed way to practice “Shadowing”:  Step 1: Content selection The learners can choose a video on Youtube or other platforms The video should be about minutes which is not too long or too short for the learners to practice Moreover, the learners should choose their favourite topics which evoke their interest to learn and practice more  Step 2: Listening After choosing a video, the learners should listen to the whole video at least one time to be familiar with the speed and the intonation of the speakers There is no need to understand totally what is said but if the learners not comprehend anything, it is better to choose another simpler video  Step 3: Shadowing Then, the learners try to repeat what is said by the speakers in the video and notice that it is better not to stop the video but try to catch up with the speaker’s intonation and speed The learners also can record their voices to find out their strengths and weaknesses to improve their English oral communication 43 Furthermore, they can talk by themselves which is more prevalent recently which means they can talk to themselves on whatever topics they want even from simple sentences in daily conversation Learning from apps on Mobile phones is also a great way to try especially some apps allow learners to communicate directly with native speakers Besides, Role-play is also a great learning method that classes already have By practicing by role-playing with teachers or friends, the learners can practice their reflection and interaction which is totally different from practicing alone Then, the learners need to make use of the time studying on the class to practice and improve their English oral skills Last but not least, students need to actively participate in extracurriculums suggested by teachers such as games, competitions, clubs which are extremely useful playgrounds for students to develop themselves and open their relationships 4.3 Limitations of the study Although the study found out the real situation of English oral communication of seniors in Faculty of English at Thuongmai University and suggested some solutions, there are still some shortcomings in the study Due to the limited time and scope, the study was just conducted on the seniors of English faculty at Thuongmai University Therefore, the study can not cover and give the exact results on a larger scale Moreover, the study just used one main research method which is quantitative method, other methods such as observation or interview which can give more detailed results can not be conducted Besides, the study just paid attention to a part of English communication which is oral communication while English written communication is also worth researching However, despite the above limitations, the study hopes to give useful results and contribute useful solutions to help students improve their English oral communication 4.4 Suggestions for further study 44 Based on the limitations of the study, the further study wants to extend the subjective of research which is not only for seniors in English faculty but also for other students at Thuongmai University Not only that, the study also hopes to conduct on other aspects of English communication such as the English written communication All of the studies are conducted with the same purpose of improving English skills of students 45 CONCLUSION In conclusion, it is obvious that English has been deeply integrated in our life due to the development and globalozation of the world Then, it is extremely necessary to improve English for students who burden the mission of bring Vietnam to the world which requires the awareness of school, the determine of teachers and students The study has been conducted with the aim of finding out the real situation of English oral communication of the final-year students in Facutly of English at Thuongmai University Based on the findings, some useful suggestions were also given to help students to improve their English oral communication which are using “Shadowing” methods or “Talking by themselves” and using some learning apps such as “Cambly, Elsa speak, etc” In the recent world of information, there is nothing we can’t find to improve our English skill as long as the learners have clear goals and determine 46 REFERENCES Le Huong Hoa (2018), Kỹ giao tiếp tiếng anh sinh viên Trường đại học Cảnh sát Nhân dân thời kỳ hội nhập, Truong dai hoc Canh sat Nhan dan Truong Tran Minh Nhat (2018), “Thực trạng kỹ nói tiếng Anh đề xuất số hoạt động tự rèn luyện nói tiếng Anh ngồi lớp học cho sinh viên trường đại học Công nghiệp Thành phố Hồ Chí Minh”, Tap chi Giao duc (No.435), page 54-59 Dr Nguyen Hoang Tien (2018), Current state of Using English by University Students in Social Communication Huyen Minh Bui (2016), Exploring English oral communication Strategies used by Vietnamese students in Transnational Education Advanced Programs in Vietnam Vu Kieu Hanh (2020), “A case study on English communication skills of the last year students at Thai Nguyen Unviversity: Current situations and solutions”, TNU Journal of Sicence and Technology (No.225), page 181-186 Abedrabu Abu Alyan (2013), Oral Communication problems encoutering English Major Students: Perspectives of Learners and Teachers in Palestinian University Context Dr Areena Ali (2018), Understanding the Complex Process of Oral Communication, International Journal of Language and Literature (Vol 6, No.1), page 123-128 Jose David Herazo Rivera, Using a genre-based approach to promote oral communication in the Colombian English classroom Norafini Zulkurnain, “Oral English communication Difficulties and Coping Strategies of Diploma of Hotel Management Students”, The Southeast Asian Journal of English Language Studies, (Vol 20), page 93-112 10 Muhammad Mukhtar Aliyu, Developing Oral communication Skills through Collaborative Learning, Implications for Nigerian teachers 47 11 Muhamad Arif Soomro (2019), “An investing of Anxiety Factors during English presentation Skills os Enginerring Undergraduated in Pakistan, International Journal of English Linguistics (Vol 9, No.3) 12 Quibi Alam (2013), “Improving English oral communication skills of Pakistani publis school’s students”, International Journal of English language teaching (Vol1, No.2), page 17-36 13 Seyedeh Masomueh Ahmadi (2016), The importance of Listening Comprehension on Language learning” 14 Surapa Somsai (2011), Strategies for Coping with Face-to-Face Oral communication Problems Employed by Thai University Students Majoring in English, GEMA online Journal of Language Studies (Vol 11), page 15 Willow F PangKet (2019), “Oral English Proficiency: Factors Affecting the Leaners’s Development”, International Journal of Science and Management Studies (Vol 2) 48 APPENDIX QUESTIONNAIRNE: The questionnaire was designed on the topic: The reality of English oral communication of the final-year students in Faculty of English at Thuongmai University Question 1: Your gender: A Male B Female Question 2: How long have you been learning English? A 1-3 years B 4-6 years C 7-9 years D More than 10 years Question 3: Personally judge your English oral communication level (on a scale of 10) Question 4: In your opinion, English oral communication is: A Extremely hard B Hard C Normal D Easy E Extremely easy Question 5: How you feel when you orally communicate in English? A Extremely shy B Shy C Normal D Confident E Extremely confident Question 6: How many hours you spend on practicing English oral communication? A Less than 30 minutes 49 B 30-1 hour C hour – hours D More than hours E Do not practice Question 7: What methods you usually use to practice English oral communication? (You can choose more than answer) A Shadowing B Role-playingF with friends, teachers C Talking by yourself D Using English learning apps such as Cambly, Duelingo, Elsa Speak,etc E Communicating with native speakers F Taking part in English classes Question 8: When orally communicating, you usually: (You can choose more than answer) A Writing down what you tend to say B Translating your mother-tougue into English in your head before saying C Translating English into your mother-tougue in your head after receiving messages D Arranging sentences in your head before saying E Having quick and direct reflection F Communicating naturally as native speakers G Others: Question -16: What extent you agree on the following factors affecting English oral communication? Factors Sub-factors Extent of agreement Strongly Dissa- Neut- Agr- Strong disagree gree ral ee -ly Agree 50 Differentiating all sounds, intonation patterns between mother-tounge and English Listenning Understanding the comprehension whole messages uttered by a speaker Holding messages in memory until it can be processed Using right tenses Using right parts of speech (verbs, Grammar nouns, adverbs,preposition s,etc) Using right sentence structures Vocabulary Lacking of vocabularies Temporarily forgetting words Terminology 51 Pronunciation Intonnation Stress of word Stress of sentence Linking sounds Oral fluency Remaining a certain speed without too much pauses Remaining correctness in term of topic of the conversation Remaining correctness in term of grammar, pronunciation, vocabulary Flexibly communicating in any topics without undue hesitation Interaction Showing attention to the conservation 52 Having a quick reflection after receiving messages Giving appropriate feedback (not offtopic or too wordy) to the partner Having ability to stimulate the conversation Question 15: What difficulties you encounter? (You can choose more than answer) A Can not express the ideas B Can not catch the speaker's messages C Spending too much time thinking and arranging sentences in English D Do not have quick reflection E Do not encounter any difficulties F Others: Question 16: In your opinion, what are the reasons causing those difficulties in English oral communication? (You can choose more than answer) A Lacking English generap knowledge in terms of pronunciation, vocabulary, grammar B Lacking confidence C Do not spend much time on practicing D Lacking clear goal E Lacking proper learning methods F Lacking awareness of the importance of English 53 G Being afraid of making mistakes H Lacking practicing environment I Others: Question 17: What solutions you suggest to improve English oral communication? (You can choose more than answer) A Accumulating English general knowledge in terms of pronunciation, vocab, grammar B Spending more time on practing C Planning a detail learning schedule D Using proper learning methods E Taking part in English class F Using English apps such as Cambly, Duolingo,etc G Others: 54 ... English oral communication of the seniors in the Faculty of English at Thuongmai University 1.3 Aims of the study The main purpose of the study is to find out the reality of using English oral communication... communication in the English of the fourth -year students in Faculty of English at Thuongmai University 1.5 Scope of the study In general, English basically includes two ways of communication which... communication skills of the final -year students in the English Faculty at Thuongmai University Besides the study also suggest some solutions help students find interest in learning English and improve