A study on difficulties facing 7th graders in speaking lessons at a home based english class

VIET NAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF AGRICULTURE FACULTY OF EDUCATION AND FOREIGN LANGUAGES BA THESIS A STUDY ON DIFFICULTIES FACING 7th GRADERS IN SPEAKING LESSONS AT A HOME-BASED ENGLISH CLASS (NGHIÊN CỨU VỀ NHỮNG KHÓ KHĂN CỦA HỌC SINH LỚP TRONG CÁC GIỜ HỌC NÓI Ở MỘT LỚP HỌC TIẾNG ANH TẠI NHÀ.) Student : VANG THI HUE Student code : 621244 Major : ENGLISH LINGUISTICS Supervisor : NGUYEN THI LAN ANH, M.A HANOI-2021 VIET NAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF AGRICULTURE FACULTY OF EDUCATION AND FOREIGN LANGUAGES BA THESIS A STUDY ON DIFFICULTIES FACING 7TH GRADERS IN SPEAKING LESSONS AT A HOME-BASED ENGLISH CLASS (NGHIÊN CỨU VỀ NHỮNG KHÓ KHĂN CỦA HỌC SINH LỚP TRONG CÁC GIỜ HỌC NÓI Ở MỘT LỚP HỌC TIẾNG ANH TẠI NHÀ.) Student : VANG THI HUE Student code : 621244 Major : ENGLISH LINGUISTICS Supervisor : NGUYEN THI LAN ANH, M.A HANOI-2021 CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY I the undersigned, hereby certify my authority of the study project report entitled “A study on difficulties facing 7th graders in speaking lessons at a home- based English class” submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Bachelor in English Language Except where the reference is indicated, no other person‟s work has been used without due acknowledgement in the text of the thesis Hanoi, 2021 Vang Thi Hue Approved by SUPERVISOR (Signature and full name) Date:…………………… i ACKNOWLEDGMENT During the process of doing this graduation paper, I have received manynecessary assistances, precious ideas and timely encouragements from myteachers, family and friends This paper could not have been completed withoutthe help, encouragement and support from a number of people who all deservemy sincerest gratitude and appreciation First of all, I wish to express my deepest gratitude to my supervisor – Nguyen Thi Lan Anh.M.A , the English teacher at Faculty of Education and Foreign Languages , who has always been willing to give me valuable advices and suggestions in order that I can complete successfully this study Second, I am grateful to all teachers in Department of professional English and Department of general English in Faculty of Education and Foreign Languages at Vietnam National University of Agriculture for allowing me to this graduation thesis I am so thankful to 7th graders at home- based English class of Mrs Hang for their whole – heart participation in the study.I would like to acknowledge my thanks to all the authors of the books,magazines, and the other materials listed in the reference part for their ideas thathave been reflected and developed in the study I am equally indebted to my classmates for their suggestions andencouragements in the process of my study Last but not least, my particular thanks are given to my parents for theirencouragement and support which played an important role in my graduationpaper ii TABLE OF CONTENTS CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY i ACKNOWLEDGMENT ii TABLE OF CONTENTS iii ABSTRACT v LIST OF ABBREVIATION vi LIST OF TABLES AND CHARTS vii PART 1: INTRODUCTION 1 RATIONALE FOR THE STUDY AIMS AND OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY 2.1 Aims 2.2 Objectives RESEARCH QUESTIONS SCOPE OF THE STUDY SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY DESIGN OF THE STUDY PART II: DEVELOPMENT Chapter 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 1.1 REVIEW OF PREVIOUS STUDIES (AT HOME AND ABOARD) 1.1.1 Related research studies at home 1.1.2 Related research studies abroad 1.2 REVIEW OF THEORETICAL BACKGROUND 1.2.1 Definition of English speaking skill 1.2.2 The importance of English speaking skill 1.2.3 General outline of a speaking lesson 10 1.2.4 What a good speaker does 10 1.2.5 Factors affecting students‟ difficulties in speaking English 11 iii 1.3 SUMMARY 15 Chapter 2: METHODOLOGY 16 2.1 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 16 2.2 RESEARCH SETTING/ CONTEXT 16 2.3 DATA COLLECTION 16 2.3.1 Data collecting instruments 16 2.3.2 Data collecting procedures 21 2.4 DATA ANALYSIS 21 2.5 SUMMARY 22 Chapter 3: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS 23 3.1 FINDINGS 23 3.1.1 The survey results from questionnaire 23 3.1.2 Results from the interview 34 3.1.3 Suggestions on improving the students English speaking performance 39 3.2 DISCUSSION 42 3.3 SUMMARY 45 PART III: CONCLUSION 46 RECAPITULATION 46 CONCLUDING REMARKS 46 LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY 46 SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER STUDIES 47 REFERENCES 48 APPENDIXES 51 iv ABSTRACT Speaking skill is one of the most necessary skills to communicate in the real life In learning a foreign language, it is more and more important to learn this skill This study aims at finding out the common difficulties that the 7th grade students face when they learn English speaking skill at a home- based English class and suggest some possible solutions to those difficulties The sample of the study consists of 20 students (13 female students and male students ) To achieve the objectives of the present study, I used questionnaire suvey and interview as data collection instrument The results of the study has revealed two group difficulties: First of all, the difficulty in linguistics problems (pronouncing English words, lack of lexical resources, and confusion of grammar use) Second, the difficulty in non-linguistics problems ( being afraid of speaking, lack of confidence and motivation, lack of fluency in speaking, limit time to practice English speaking at class) Based on this finding, further recommendation and deeper implications are provided v LIST OF ABBREVIATION ESL : English as Second Language i.e : That is EFL : English Foreign Language vi LIST OF TABLES AND CHARTS Table 3.1 Difficulties facing the 7th grader students in learning English speaking from their own perspective 27 Table 3.2 The interview results of students‟ evaluation in English speaking skill 35 Chart 3.1 The students' assessment of learning the speaking skill 23 Chart 3.2 Students‟ attitudes towards the importance of English speaking skill .24 Chart 3.3 The students‟ interesting in English speaking skill 24 Chart 3.4 The frequency of students having problems in learning English speaking skill 25 Chart 3.5 Speaking text type students expect to practice more 26 Chart 3.6 Factors affecting the learning of English speaking skill belong to the group of linguistic problems (pronunciation, lack of vocabulary and grammar) 28 Chart 3.7.Difficulty in lack of confidence and motivation 29 Chart 3.8 Difficulty in being afraid of speaking 29 Chart 3.9 Difficulty in lack of fluency in speaking 30 Chart 3.10 Difficulty in limit time to practice English speaking at class 31 Chart 3.11 The activities students most likely to in speaking class 32 Chart 3.12 What students most often before speaking 33 Chart 3.13 The activities students most often while speaking 34 vii PART 1: INTRODUCTION RATIONALE FOR THE STUDY Speaking English is considered as an important language skill and fundamental to human communication Many people around the world use English to communicate each other Being able to speak English, people can interact with others without obstacles In addition, people speak English to upgrade themselves to survive in the globalization era As a researcher, I would like to present the thesis title “A study on difficulties facing 7th graders in speaking lessons at a home- based English class” for several reasons First of all, Speaking may be an important skill in communication in the real life They are closely interdependent We are able to talk sensibly when we understand what is said to us If we fail to understand spoken language, we may miss important information and respond in a funny way Moreover, in learning a language, speaking is a useful means of providing students with comprehensible input, which is an essential component of the whole language learning process And teaching speaking skill in classroom helps students make transition from classroom English to real-life English more easily and effectively Therefore, I would like to this research to help the students and teachers pay more attention to speaking skill Secondly, Vietnamese student, especially the 7th graders still have a lot of difficulties in learning and practicing English speaking skill They often fall into confusion when speaking English because lack of professional knowledge, confidence, and the good learning method as well That is the main reason they don‟t get the effective result in learning speaking in an English class After I am a coach work at an English class, for nearly month, I realize that the 7th graders at an English class still have many difficulties in their said that they had problems in speaking, so it will be interesting for other researchers to conduct another research involving more respondents because the researcher believes that not only these respondents who have difficulties but also other students may face problems in speaking It is also intriguing for other researchers to probe deeply what makes the students not speak due to “fear” as the cause of difficulty most students felt or faced in speaking There are some phrases that the students stated to describe their fear in speaking such as „being afraid of speaking‟, „being afraid of making errors, and „being afraid of being mocked by friends‟ It needs to be explored furthermore because these deal with non-linguistic problems Other researchers ought to think of the factors that cause the students to be afraid in speaking in order to find the best solutions to cope with the problems (Nunan, D 1991) To sum up, the researcher discovered the many approaches that pupils took to deal with their difficulties in learning to speak Lecturers should offer students with the gestures they will need when they to speak practice, and design speaking courses that are pleasant and comfortable for students so that they are interested in learning to talk.The teachers allocate specific class time to learning vocabulary, grammar, pronunciation.Students should be braver to speak, without feeling afraid of making mistakes, should use every opportunity to practice English in and out of class 3.2 DISCUSSION According to the observations above, 100% of the participants who were questioned during the interview rated instructor instruction as the most beneficial tool for assisting them in effectively participating in speaking classes, indicating that they are willing to practice their English speaking skills As a result, one way to increase students' speech practice is to inspire them and provide them with clear guidance so that they feel more comfortable participating in the classroom practice process 42 On the other hand, other suggestions such as providing students with familiar topics, revision of grammar, vocabulary, and creating more opportunities for them to practice listening skill with more comfortable performance conditions, i.e., creating the language environment with real-life situations and contexts to inspire them to actively to participate in English speaking both in and outside classroom activities It should be inferred that in order to develop students' English speaking skills, they must improve their English knowledge and practice using different methods Once the students‟ knowledge of English is improved and opportunities of practicing are available for them to speak English in class, they can gain confidence and get rid of fear of making errors, enabling them to develop their English speaking skill (Boonkit, K 2010) Pronunciation Pronouncing English terms can be challenging When speaking English, the student must remember not only word pronunciation but also the relationships between words in a sentence The sentence's rhythm and intonation are often difficult to master Maintaining their listening ability is a perfect way to develop their English grammar The longer they listen to English, the closer they can sound like a native speaker Listening to and shadowing audio samples of transcripts or movie speeches is the perfect way to learn English speaking Vocabulary and Grammar Sometimes it is difficult to say what they are thinking because they are missing two or three important vocabulary words Moreover, sometimes the students are afraid of making grammatical mistakes are they are not good at grammar, which prevents them from speaking English fluently The student can improve their ability to remember words by making connections when theylearn a word The students should read more to enrich their vocabulary and learn more about grammatical structures to be more confident to practice speaking English 43 in class If they want to learn to speak English fluently they should practice all the four macro language skills in combination with improving their knowledge of English such as vocabulary and grammar Lack of Confidence and motivation If they feel nervous and are afraid of making mistakes when speaking English, then confidence and motivation are their problem They can increase their confidence and motivation by: Not worrying too much about grammar Native and non-native English speakers still can understand what they mean if they make some minor grammar mistakes Indeed, the grammar of spoken English is often more flexible than written English grammar Also, be positive Celebrate what they know and not be frustrated about what they don‟t know Another good way is to practice speaking English as much as possible in lesspressurized situations For example, talk to them self; talk with their teachers and friends in English class Scots‟ teachers are super friendly If the students make a mistake, the teacher can correct them It is important to practice in morerelaxed situations as much as possible to increase their confidence Then they will be more comfortable speaking English in high-pressure situations Always create motivation of their own and be fully aware of the need of practicing English speaking in class with their classmates to improve their speaking performance Obviously, beside the student‟s linguistic competence, the factors influencing the students‟ English speaking skill are the connection between second language learners‟ anxiety, self-confidence, and speaking performance The results obtained from this survey showed that students‟ anxiety level had a negative relationship to their oral performance The results also revealed that the freedom of topic choice urged the participants to feel comfortable, persuaded to speak English, and increased the speaking confidence and motivation The results demonstrated that learners‟ self-assessment about their speaking skill was 44 negative and they expressed themselves as incapable speakers of English 3.3 SUMMARY In conclusion, Chapter provides readers with an interpretation of the research findings as well as a critical dialogue, all of which were used extensively in the study to understand and analyze the evidence The findings, as seen in the chapter, suggest that the thesis was performed accurately and that the researcher was able to address the research question Finally, based on the conclusions of the report, guidelines for teaching listening have been made 45 PART III: CONCLUSION RECAPITULATION To reach what the author aims at this study; the study is divided into three chapters with their own purpose The first chapter briefly covers the theories related to the study The second chapter presented the research methodology The last chapter helps the author find the answers for three research author‟s findings of the approach to speaking at a home- based English class through the questionnaires and interview This chapter also helps the 7th graders some recommendations and suggestions to improve English speaking skill CONCLUDING REMARKS From the results of surveys and interviews, the researcher found the biggest difficulties in linguistics problems and non-linguistics problem Specifically, "lack of vocabulary", "lack of grammar knowledge", "poor pronunciation", "lack of confidence in speaking" and "fear of getting caught" These are specific difficulties that lead to causes such as "less remembering vocabulary", "worrying about using the right words", not confident when speaking "," unaccustomed to speaking English in class", "afraid of making mistakes when speaking", "not interested in learning grammar" Since then, the researcher has made suggestions for teachers about classroom activities as well as Extra curricular activities to improve English speaking skills of the 7th graders and all English learners in general Research questions and research objectives have been clarified through difficulties, causes and discussions to give specific solutions to improve English speaking skills in this report LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY In the researcher's best efforts to complete the thesis, there are certain inherent shortcomings that cannot be avoided The thesis has some flaws due to time constraints, source limitations, and the researcher's lack of expertise 46 Firstly , the researcher will often mix questionnaires with interviews or evaluation in order to create a more diverse and compelling collection of findings However, owing to a lack of time and certain mishaps when contacting and arranging meetings with the planned class, the survey was conducted in a rushed way, limiting its accuracy Secondly, since the time allotted to complete this research subject is limited, the thesis will be unable to address all facets of the field and will only concentrate on the more popular ones In short, the researcher wishes that prospective research in the same area will take those shortcomings into account in order to be more comprehensive and well-received Any positive reviews and contributions to this report will be gratefully accepted SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER STUDIES It is hoped that more research studies will be conducted to address students' difficulties in studying and performing English speaking For example, since the need for oral communication is growing and the world's communications modes are constantly evolving, an inquiry into factors relating to English learning, especially speaking skills, will be updated in the future Further studies can also be carried out in other class or with other students since the different objects can give different results Moreover, future researchers can consider studying more on effective methods for learning spoken English In particular, technology application is now a prominent trend, which can be put into research 47 REFERENCES Bailey and Savages, (1994), New Ways in Teaching Speaking & (1997), Lewis New Ways in Teaching Adults on Amazon.com Baker, J., & Westrup, H (2003) Essential Speaking Skills: A Handbook for English Language Teachers London: Continuum Bashir, M., Azeem, M., & Dogar, A H (2011) on Amazon.com Bashir, M., Azeem, M., & Dogar, A H (2011) Factor Effecting Students’ English Speaking Skills British Journal of Arts and Social Sciences, Boonkit, K (2010) Enhancing the Development of Speaking Skills for Non-Native Speakers of English Procedia Social and Behavioral Sciences, 2(2010), 1305–1309 on Amazon.com Brown H.D, 1994, Skill and speaking definitions (Skill development) on karlaflores08.blogspot.com/2015/04/skill-and-speaking definition.html Burns & Joyce, 1997, Focus speaking on https://í.municzth/329367/ffm/thesissolcova-textpdf Carter & McCarthy, 1995, The traditional methodology of teaching modern languages through speaking on wwwhummet.unipi.it/slifof2004vol1/pdf/Bocale2.1 Dincer, A., & Yesilyurt, S (2013) English Language Teaching, on http://dx.doi.org/10.5539/elt.v6n7p88 Doff, A (1998) Teach English: A Training Course for Teacher Cambridge University Press 10.GH Nguyen, 2017, Investigating the effect of using Role-play in teaching speaking English for grade 10 students at high school on https://LuanVan.net.vn.com 11.Harmer, J (1991) The Practice of English Language Teaching The 3th Edition Longman: London and New York 12.Hopkins, David 1993 A Teacher’s Guide to Classroom Research 48 Philadelpia: Open University Press on Amazon.com 13.Huong, P.T.H (2012) A study on technique to improve speaking skill for secondary student in Quang Ninh on http://luanvan.net.vn 14.Krashen, S D (1988) Second Language Acquisition and Second Language Learning New York: Prentice-Hall 15.Lilis Suryani, 2015, The effectiveness of role play in teaching speaking on suryani.lies3@gmail.com 16.Latha, B M (2012) Teaching English as a Second Language: Factors Affecting Learning Speaking Skills International Journal of Engineering Research & Technology (IJERT) 17.MP Ta, 2015, A study on extra activities to improve English speaking skill of QTTN class at Haiphong private University on https://LuanVan.net.vn.com 18.Merisuo-Storm, T (2007) Pupil’s Attitudes towards Foreign-Language Learning and the Development of Literacy Skills in Bilingual Education Teaching and Teacher Education, 19.Mustafa Mubarak Pathan (2014) An Overview of Major Difficulties Faced by the Libyan EFL Learners in Speaking Skill on https://www.researchgate.net 20.Nation, I S P., & Newton, J (2009) Teaching ESL/EFL Listening and Speaking ESL & Applied Linguistics Professional Series Routledge Taylor & Francis Group 21 Nunan, D 1991 Language Teaching Methodology A Textbook for Teachers New York: Prentice Hall International, Ltd on Amazon.com 22.Rubin J and Thompson L, 1982, How to be a more successful speaker on https://wwwscirp.orp/ /reference/papersaspx 23.Shumin, K (1997) Factors to Consider: Developing Adult EFL Students' Speaking Abilities English Teaching Forum Retrieved from 49 http://eca.state.gov/forum/vols/vol35/no3/p8.htm 24.Tuan, N H., & Mai, T N (2015) Factors Affecting Students’ Speaking Performance at LE Thanh Hien High School Asian Journal of Educational Research 25.Ur, Penny 1996 A Course in Language Teaching Practice: and Theory Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 26.Van Duzer 1997.Speaking skills and teaching speaking: English education on englishekstensi.blogspot.com/…/speaking-skill-teaching 50 APPENDIXES APPENDIX 1: Survey questionnaire Questionnaire to find the difficulties facing the 7th grade students in learning English speaking and the causes behind those difficulties Please, put a tick for your answer or expressing your idea in the blanks All your personal information as well as your answers will be kept confidential and not be used for the other purposes Thanks for your help! Your gender: Male Female How old are you? ……………………………………………………………… How long have you been learning English? What you think about the importance of English speaking skill? Very important Important Quite important Not important Do you like English speaking lessons at class? I like so much I like Normal I don‟t like 51 In your opinion, English speaking skill is……………………………… Very difficult Difficult Normal Easy How often you have problems in your speaking skill? Always Often Sometimes Rarely What you think of speaking text type you expect to practice more? Speaking learning type Uninteresting Normal Interesting Very interesting Songs Films or stories News and speeches Dialogues: conversations, interviews, etc 52 In your opinion, what are the difficulties facing the 7th grade students in learning English speaking? Strongly The difficulties in…… disagree Disagree Agree Strongly agree 9.1.pronunciation 9.2 lack of vocabulary 9.3.not being good at grammar 9.4 being afraid of speaking 9.5 lack of confidence and motivation 9.6 lack of fluency in speaking 9.8 limit time to practice Engish speaking at class 10 What activity you most likely in speaking class? Work in pair/group Play game Converse with teacher Practice speaking alone 11 What activity you most often before speaking? Prepare what you will say in mind (A) Take note the main ideas relate to the topic (B) Both A & B 53 Do nothing 12 What activity you most often while speaking? Stand still Use body language completely Have moving (arm, head) but rarely Thank you very much for your cooperation! 54 Questionnaire was taken from study of Thanh Tam Nguyen,2019 and adapted suitably Original questionnaire: The difficulties… Strongly disagree Disagree Agree Strongly agree Pronunciation Poor vocabulary Not being good at grammar Being afraid of speaking Lack confidence of and motivation Shyness 55 APPENDIX 2: INTERVIEW QUESTIONS FOR STUDENTS The interview aims to find out the difficulties facing 7th grader students in learning to speak English and the causes of those difficulties Hello, my name is Vang Thi Hue, a fourth-year English-majored student Currently, I am doing BA thesis, so I can ask you for a few minutes to complete my BA thesis I would like to interview 10 students some questions about speaking skills and the difficulties facing 7th grader students in speaking skills All of your information will be kept confidential and not be used for the other purposes Here are the interview questions: (1) What difficulties you have in English speaking skill? (2) What is the causes of difficulties and problems? (3) What efforts have you made to overcome the difficulties and problems you have had? Thank you very much for your precious time with me Wish you all have a good study! 56