Difficulties in speaking of english majored freshmen at tay do university

TAY DO UNIVERSITY FACULTY OF LINGUSTICS AND LITERATURE DIFFICULTIES IN SPEAKING OF ENGLISH-MAJORED FRESHMEN AT TAY DO UNIVERSITY Supervior: Nguyen Hiep Thanh Nga, Ph D Student: Vo Nguyen Phuong Duy Code: 1652220201078 Class: English 11B May, 2020 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT A study could not be finished without the support of many people Therefore, I would like to express my sincere appreciation and gratitude to the following people who guided, helped me to shape every single word in this research Firstly, I am deeply grateful to Tay Do University – An enviroment full of love and devotion from teachers Especially, the teachers from Faculty of Linguistics of Literature for their teaching, bringing me wide knowledge of English over past years and giving me opportunities to conduct this research The lessons that have been taught to me are undoubtedly a priceless gift that I will always carry as an accessory to accompany me for the challenging road ahead Secondly, I sincerely express my deepest gratitude to my supervisor - Mrs Nguyen Hiep Thanh Nga, Ph D at Tay Do University, her support and advide which give me a strong incentive to conduct my research in a well-invested and thorough manner She always encouraged and supported me, this gave me a rich look and know how to improve the errors in my research The affection and respect I have for her will never be enough Thirdly, I am very grateful for the help of 52 students from English 14A class for supporting and providing all relevant information for me to complete my research Moreover, I would like to give special thanks to my family for their love, endless care, help and encouragement throughout my life Finally, my honest thanks to all my friends during the time we were together in the same classroom Tay Do University Their motivation has given me strength to help me in all the trouble during the journey i COMMENTS ii ABSTRACT Speaking skill is a really important and necessary aspect of learning English Most people have the same goal that they can speak and communicate with confidence and fluency When students speak, they build their ideas verbally, expressing their perceptions, emotions and intentions, so that the interlocutor captures the meaning of the speaker's meaning In fact, achieving fluency in speaking is not easy Students have some difficulties when speaking This survey study presents the research process of difficulties in speaking about first-year English major at Tay Do University It was done to find out the difficulties in learning to speak of 52 freshmen from class English 14A (2019 – 2023 ) at Tay Do University The questionnaire is a research tool The study figured out difficulties about speaking such as pronunciation, grammar, vocabulary and psychology iii TABLE OF CONTENT ACKNOWLEDGEMENT i COMMENTS ii ABSTRACT iii TABLE OF CONTENT iv CHAPTER INTRODUCTION CHAPTER II LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 The definition of speaking 2.2 The important of speaking 2.3 Difficults of speaking skill 2.3.1 Difficults in pronunciation 2.3.2 Difficults in vocabulary 2.3.3 Difficults in grammatical 2.3.4 Psychological factors 12 CHAPTER III: REASEARCH AIMS - RESEARCH QUESTION -HYPOTHESIS 14 3.1 Aims of the study 14 3.2 Research questions 14 3.3 Hypothesis 14 CHAPTER IV RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 15 4.1 Design 15 4.2 Participants 15 4.3 Instruments 16 iv 4.4 Questionnaire 16 4.5 Procedure .16 CHAPTER V EXPECTED OUTCOME 17 5.1 Pronunciation 17 5.2 Vocabulary 17 5.3 Grammar .17 5.4 Psychology 18 REFERENCES 19 QUESTIONNAIRE 22 v CHAPTER INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale In the trend of globalization today, the importance of English is undeniable because it is widely used everywhere in the world, it can be seen that besides the native language, most people around the world are choose English as a second language to communicate Meanwhile, according to Bailey, K.M (2005) stated that: “English becomes popular and the one of most important language in the whole aspects of life to understand literature” Therefore, language is not only as a communication tool to deliver of human being, but the language is also one of the most important aspects of human life In the context of Vietnam, the achievement of English language proficiency is increasingly concerned by English graduates because of the indispensable role in the international communication relations arising from the trend Recent global integration This effect brings fluency and proficiency in English speaking skills as a major goal in the English curriculum of most Vietnamese universities However, there are still many challenges for many English university students to fully acquire speaking skills, especially for first-year students in the context of Tay Do University in Vietnam In English, there are four skills that should be mastered, they are: listening, speaking, reading, and writing The most important one of them is speaking Mastering in speaking is the most important aspect of learning English and success is measured in terms of the ability to carry out a conversation in language Goh, C (2007) states of the all four skills: “Speaking is considered to be able to be the most important skill Through speaking, people can express their think and communicate with others” Therefore, learning speaking becomes the greatest interest for foreign language learners Speaking also is one of the most important in our lives, because speaking or oral communication is necessary to use in daily activities And it is generally done in face to face interaction, and communication Through speaking, the people can express their think and communicate with others According to Chaney (1998:13), “speaking is the process of building and sharing meaning through the use of verbal and non verbal symbols in a variety of contexts” From the definitions, it means that speaking should improve communicative skill of students, because only in that way the students can express themselves There are many obstacles and difficulties around conquering a language that is not a native language, and it can be clearly seen that most students have great pronunciation challenges, which affect to express their ideas and express themselves Secondly, vocabulary is really important to be able to easily present thoughtful communication in English Thirdly, it is mostly grammar, so it is important to spend time thinking of sentences and semantics that make them not mind the correct grammar Finally, psychological influences are extremely scary consequences to practice the reflex skills in communication There are many obstacles that affect the practice of English which make the motivation to burn intensely when starting with a significant increase To examine these difficulties, a study "Difficulties in speaking of English majored freshmen at Tay Do University” was conducted to realize the difficulties to speak and help them overcome their problems Moreover, the researcher hopes that after this study, freshmen majoring in English will be able to find a bright spot for themselves and be a motivation to revive their spirits and practice English in the best way 1.2 The significance of the study Every student majoring in the English language has a great dream of being able to improve English best Especially promoting all abilities through speaking skills Speaking itself is one of the keys to bringing the hearts of strangers closer together Each individual who begins this path understands that getting to the destination is an arduous and difficult process It is imperative for everyone to have a big self-discipline and above all a true study plan The common accompaniment on this road has brought us sympathy, only a common mission, to understand the difficult problems in the construction of each brick to realize the true meaning This is the main purpose of this research, it was created to help first-year students majoring in English at Tay Do University will make significant progress in improving their English, by pointing out their mistakes and understanding every detail in depth and openness Hopefully this research can be a small help for students to find the best method for themselves to quickly achieve their dreams 1.3 The organization of the study This study includes five chapters: Chapter I: Introduction This chapter presents the rationale, the significance and the organization of the research proposal Chapter II: Literature Review This chapter is about the definition of the speaking skill and the importance of speaking This section also mentions to the difficulties of speaking Chapter III: Reasearch Aims and the Research Questions This chapter is about the aims of study, the research questions and hypothesis Chapter IV: Research Methodology This chapter consists of design, participants, instruments and procedure for data collection Chapter V: Expected outcomes This part presents the expected outcomes for the research proposal CHAPTER II LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 The definition of speaking There are a lot of definitions for speaking, for example: “speaking is an interactive process of constructing meaning that involves producing and receiving and processing information” (Brown, 1994; Burns & Joyce, 1997) or according to Revell (1979), “speaking is an exchange process between people, of knowledge, of information, of information, of ideas, of options, of feeling, so there must be concept, ideas, in the fellow speakers of what they are going to say” In short, speaking can be understood as an action of making vocal sounds, it is also defined as expressing a person’s though and feelings in spoken language As mentioned by Bachman and Palmer (1990), “one’s speaking competence of a language is expressed by his linguistic competence, knowledge of encountering linguistic communication difficulties, as well as linguistically emotional reactions” From definition above, it can be concluded that speaking is a productive skill, and the ability to express the communcation with others Because the main purpose of speaking is to communicate in order to express thoughts in effective ways 2.2 The important of speaking Humans are programmed to speak before they learn to read and write In any given, human beings spend much more time interacting orally with language rather than using it in its written form Speaking is the most important skill because it is one of the abilities that is needed to perform a conversation English speaking is not an easy task because speakers should know many significant components like pronunciation, grammar, vocabulary, fluency, and comprehension Learners should have enough English speaking ability in order to communicate easily and effectively with other people Rivers (1981): “studied the use of language outside than at the beginning which must happen in English It can be in the beginning or the ending of a question, completely depend on speakers Another difference is order of adjective in sentences In English language, adjectives always stand before nouns However, in Vietnamese language, they stand after nouns Besides, there is not any adjective order rule in Vietnamese Speakers can put different kind adjectives wherever they want, they just have to make sure that those adjectives stand after nouns But in English, adjectives have to be arranged base on adjective order rule Generally, the adjective order in English is: quantity or number, quality or opinion, size, age, shape, color, proper adjective (often nationality, other place of origin, or material) and purpose or qualifier 2.3.4 Psychological factors Motivation Motivation is much needed in doing everything, including in learning something In learning language, a learner needs motivation because it helps him or her in trying and developing his or her understanding of a new language With motivation, a learner wants to succeed So, without it, he or she will certainly fail to make the necessary effort Among the factors affecting, motivation is the most important one Lightbrown and Spada (2001, p 33) define motivation as "a complex phenomenon which can be defined in terms of two factors: learners" communicative needs and their attitudes towards the second language community" It is clear that learners with high and favorable motivation for speaking often try to devote themselves into English speaking They look for the chances to practice speaking English everywhere English class, they are active, and cooperate with teachers" activities positively of class, they take any opportunity for imitating, practicing and speaking English They are of strong volition and will, of clear learning purpose Thereby, they easily and more proficiently achieve success in spoken English In their turn, the success encourages higher motivation 12 Anxiety “Language anxiety is the fear or apprehension occurring when a learner is expected perform in the second or foreign language” (Gardner, 1972).According to Horwirtz et al (1986), anxiety is the subjective feeling of tension, apprehension, nervousness, and worry associated with an arousal of the autonomic nervous systems Anxiety can effect the practice of speaking English and communication strategies Most of anxious students are afraid of being evaluated negatively ald to be less competent than the other students They also are afraid of making mistakes Therefore, anxiety is bad for the improvement of students" spoken English Lack of self-confident Over a quarter of a million people in this world have problems towards their confidence Self-confidence is knowing that we have the capacity to something good and being positive thinking According to Elliot (1998:29), concept of selfconfidence relates to self-assuredness in one’s personal judgement, ability, power, etc, sometimes manifested excessively Good self-condfidence comes from a focus on the self (self-consciousness) Lack of self-confidence can be made-up of several different aspect such as guilty feeling, shy turned inward, unrealistic expectations of perfection, false sense of humility, fear of change or making mistake, depression, etc Depression can actually be a result of a lack of self- confidence Lack of self-confidence may bring the students into a threat of believing that they are not going to be a good English speaker This lack of self-confidence also becomes a great problem which affect students’ speaking performance It is difficult for the students to master English speaking if they are not confident with their own speaking ability 13 CHAPTER III REASEARCH AIMS - RESEARCH QUESTION -HYPOTHESIS 3.1 Aims of the study Learning a new language really has a lot of obstacles, learners often make mistakes in the English speaking process Students must practice as much as possible to identify problems and try their best to fix them.It is easier if students can recognize their problems and mistakes soon because they can have more time to overcome Therefore, the main purpose of this study is to investigate the difficulties in speaking of English majored freshmen at Tay Do University 3.2 Research questions This study is carried out to answer the following research questions: “ What are difficuties in speaking of English majored freshmen at Tay Do University? ” 3.3 Hypothesis English majored students at Tay Do University think that the most difficulties skill is speaking and they have faced some difficulties in English speaking such as: pronunciation, grammar, vocabulary and psychological factors Through the literature review and the research questions, it is hypothesized that the students will improve their speaking skills thanks to finding out the difficulties they have faced 14 CHAPTER IV RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 4.1 Design A research design is a strategy to arrange the setting of the research in order to get the valid data that are suitable to all variable characteristics and the objectives of the research In this research design, the researcher uses descriptive qualitative, this research is designed to obtain information concerning the current status of phenomenon and directed toward determining the nature of situation, as it exists at the time of the research This research “Difficulties in speaking of English majored freshmen at Tay Do University” was effectuated to find out some common mistakes which English majored freshmen at Tay Do University often make in their speaking process It was also designed as a combination of quantitative and qualitative research The research was carried out at Tay Do University with a group of 52 students from English Linguistics 14A class Those students supplied very useful information in the questionnaire 4.2 Participants 52 English majored freshmen from class English 14A at Tay Do University, they are all students who have been in contact with English for a long time with the process of learning English different They started a process of improving their speaking skills through the book Speak Now (Jack C Richards & David Bohlke) The first published on June 28th, 2012 This book contains extremely diverse and intimate topics that will make it easier for students to access the subject Students study this subject for 45 periods and they are taught by a foreign teacher from Australia - Mr Clinton Duane With a friendly and dedicated curriculum in each lesson, students have a process of improving listening comprehension through practicing speaking English more with classmates and teachers with employers 15 4.3 Instruments The instrument used in this study were questionnaires which was taken from Tay Do University freshmen to find out their mistakes in speaking English The questions were delivered to students with clear and careful explanations of the researchers to collect student information 4.4 Questionnaire The questionnaire is an effective and useful research tool, including 10 questions and 17 closed statements for the purpose of collecting information from respondents The questions are written in simple English and carefully translated to make sure that students can understand easily to give the most accurate answers Survey attitude and background information of English speaking students through the first 10 questions The next 17 statements are aimed at getting more specific and clear information through their assessment level The questionnaire was classified into the following groups: Name of Groups Group Student’s background a Questions to 10 Students’ attitude toward English speaking skill b Questions 11 to 13 The difficulties in speaking c Questions 14 to 27 4.5 Procedure The study is accomplished within steps: STEPS ACTIVITIES Step From week - - Choose the research topic - Search for documents to support the study Step From week - - Prepare the outlines of the study - Design the questionnaire - Write literature review - Search for the reference book Step From week 10 - 12 - Check carefully, correct the errors in the research - Complete the research 16 CHAPTER V EXPECTED OUTCOME English Majored Freshmen usually face many difficulties when learning speaking This research aims to find out difficulties in speaking of English Majored Freshmen at Tay Do University 5.1 Pronunciation There are many difficulties in the pronunciation process when speaking of students, the solution to have a strong pronunciation base is really necessary For those who have studied English for many years, the habit of speaking English thoroughly has led to many consequences They feel unconfident and hesitant to express their thoughts, pronunciation is the first step in the process of practicing true English, if they not know how to overcome the factors that affect the way pronunciation like intonation, end sounds and stress are sure to never have a solid foundation of English later This research can help students identify the wrong habits and know how to improve the limitations of each person's training 5.2 Vocabulary Vocabulary is extremely important aspect to form a complete English conversation Many students have many gaps and limitations when speaking English due to a lack of vocabulary They feel uncertain because they not remember the exact words they want to express, the rich meaning of words makes them bewildered when finding a suitable word to speak Through this research, students can find their own mistakes to fix it more effectively 5.3 Grammar The diversity of grammar when speaking makes it difficult for students to access this language and easily make mistakes They misunderstanding tense when they speak while tense is quite important part in grammar Morever, they lack of understanding the structure of the language Besides, they don't know how to use 17 words and put words in the right place These factors are a hindrance to their training This study will help students improve their grammar when speaking 5.4 Psychology Psychology is an important factor that definitely affects the final step in the process of English training of students.In some cases, students lack the motivation, feeling anxiety when speaking in front of lot of people is a factor affecting student in speaking Besides, in case students are not confident enough to express themselves, the process of English training is not really complete Through this research, students can find a number of strategies to help them feel more confident 18 REFERENCES Bailey, K.M (2005) Practical English Language Teaching: Speaking New York: McGraw-Hill Bachman, F and Paslmer A S (1990) Language testing in practise, Oxford: Oxford University Press Brown, H.D (1994) Teaching by principles: an interactive approach to language pedagogy Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall Regents Burns, A., & Joyce, H (1997) Focus on speaking Sydney: National Center for English Language Teaching and Research Chaney, A L., & Burk, T L (1998) Teaching Oral Communication in Grades K-8 Boston: Allyn and Bacon Celce-Murcia, M (2001) Teaching English as a Second or foreign Language 3rd Edition, Heinle & Heinle Publisher, Boston Carrasquillo (March, 1994) Teaching English as a Second Language: A Resource Guide)] David Crystal (1980), A first dictionary of linguistics and phonetics London: Andre Deutsch Elliot (1998) Overcome Your Fear of Speaking Foreign Languages Macquarie University 10 Folse, K (2004) Vocabulary myths Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press 11 Fraser, H (2000) Coordinating improvements in pronunciation teaching for adult learners of English as a second language Canberra 12 Goh, C (2007) Teaching speaking in the language classroom Singapore: SEAMEO Regional Language Centre 19 13 Gardner, R C., & Lambert, W E (1972) Attitudes and Motivation in Second Language Learning Rowley, MA Newbury House 14 Hlinkel, E (2005) Analysis of second language text and what can be learned Irom them In E Hinkel (Ed.), Handbook of research in second language teaching and learning (pp 615-628) New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associate 15 H Douglas Brown (1994) Principles of Language Learning and Teaching, 3rd edition Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall Regents 16 Hymes, D.H (1974) Ways of speaking In R Bauman & J Sherzer (Eds.), Explorations in the ethnography of speaking (pp 433-452) Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 17 Hymes, D (1971) Sociolinguistics and the ethnography of speaking London: Routledge 18 Horwitz et al., (1986) E.K Horwitz, M.B Horwitz, J CopeForeign language classroom anxiety Modern Language Journal 19 Kamil & E.H Hiebert (2005) The teaching and learning of vocabulary, Publishers, London Pages: 273 20 Lightbrown and Spada (2001) First Language Acquisition and Classroom Language Learning Bristol: Multilingual Matters 21 Ngo Nhu Binh (2001) Teaching and Learning Framework (linguistic part) published by the Council of Teachers of Southeast Asian Languages 22 Nation, I S P., & Gu, P Y (2007) Focus on vocabulary Sydney: NCELTR, Macquarie University 23 Patil, Z N (2008) Rethinking the Objectives of Teaching English in Asia Asian EFL Journal, 24 Rivers, Wilga M (1981) Teaching Foreign Language Skills 2nd ed Chicago: University of Chicago Press 25 Revell, J (1979) Teaching Techniques for Communicative English London: MacMillan Publisher LTD 20 26 Richards (2008) Teaching Listening and Speaking From Theory to Practice Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 27 Scarcella, R C., & Oxford, R L (1992) The tapestry of language learning Boston 28 Schmitt, N (1997) Vocabulary Learning Strategies In D N Schmitt, & M McCarthy (Eds.), Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 21 QUESTIONNAIRE My name is Vo Nguyen Phuong Duy and I am currently a senior of English major Firsly, I am very grateful to you for spending your valuable time helping me Now, I am carrying out a research entitled “difficulties in speaking of English majored freshmen at Tay Do University” This is questionnaire used to collect the necessary information from you, thus please take your time to finish there below questions carefully because your answers are important and helpful to my research Once again, thank you so much! Part1: Student’s name: ………………………………… Age: …… Are you: ….? Male Famale How long have you been learning English? …… years What are you best at in English? a Listening b Writing c Reading d Speaking Which aspect of English you find the most difficult? a Listening b Speaking c Reading d Writing How important is speaking skill to personally? a Very important b Moderately important c Not very important d Not important at all 22 How to talk about your speaking skill level? a Exellent b Good c Average d Bad Why you think you need to improve your speaking skill? a Increase global understanding with the common English b Improve the ability to work c Communicate with foreigners better d The key to expand study abroad What are factor influencing your English speaking skill? a Pronunciation b Grammar c Vocabularyd d Psychological What are your pronunciation difficulties in speaking? a Lack of intonation b Do not pay attention to the ending sound c Mispronounce word stress What are your vocabulary difficulties in speaking? a Lack of vocabulary b Seldom memorizing vocabulary c Misusing of vocabulary What are your grammatical difficulties in speaking? a Tense in sentence b Lack of understanding of linguistic c Misordering word 10 What are your psychological difficulties in speaking? a Lack of motivation 23 b Anxiety c Lack of self-confident Part 2: Strongly Statements Disagree Disagree 11 You think that you will use the speaking skill more than the other skills when you graduate 12 Fluent speaking is the key for you to widen your knowledge or to get a good job 13 You really want to improve your speaking skill but you not know where to start 14 Your pronunciation is not good enough for you to feel confident 15 There is no concern about intonation when speaking 16 You not pay attention to the accuracy of the pronunciation between /ed/ and /s/ 24 No Idea Agree Strongly Agree sound and sounds of ed /id/, /t/, /d/ 17 The speak pressure quickly to makes you forget mispronounce English word stress 18 The English vocabulary is too little for you to hesitate to comunicate 19 Sometimes you don’t have a clear sense of the vocabulary you have just thought in your head 20 Words having more than one meaning so you confused how to use appropriate words 21 Grammar is not stable to build sentences when spoken in a coherent manner 22 Sometimes cannot choose you which tense to use 23 You lack the basics 25 of phonetic learning to make sure that words are spoken correctly 24 You usually put words in the wrong place when talking 25 Lack of motivation to speak English when there is a suitable environment to practice 26 Feel anxiety when you start a conversation because you cant keep up with the speed of the speaker 27 Self-confidence is not enough to present thoughts clearly 26