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TAY DO UNIVERSITY FACULTY of LINGUSTICS and LITERATURE DIFFICULTIES IN SPEAKING OF ENGLISH MAJORED SOPHOMORES AT TAY DO UNIVERSITY Supervisor: M.Ed WA THÁI NHƯ PHƯƠNG May 2012 Student’s name: Ngô Thị Nhi Student’s code : 0857010066 Class: English 3C TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Table of contents i List of abbreviations, tables, charts and figures iii Acknowledgements iv Comments v Abstract vi CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale 1.2 Significance of the study 1.3 Structure of the study CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Definion of speaking 2.2 The importance of speaking 2.3 Speaking proficiency and its components 2.4 Previous Classifications of Difficulties in Speaking 2.4.1 Brown’s Classification (1994) 2.4.2 Ur’s Classification (1996) 2.5 Classification of difficulties in English speaking applied in this study 2.5.1 Difficulties from teachers 2.5.1.1 Inappropriate teaching method 2.5.1.2 Teacher’ deficiency in English proficiency 10 2.5.2 Difficulties from students 10 2.5.2.1 Students’ low English proficiency 10 2.5.2.2 Students’ motivation 11 2.5.2.3 Students’ characteristics 11 2.5.2.4 Students’ lack of prior knowledge and social knowledge 11 2.5.2.5 The effect of L1 on L2 12 2.6 Previous studies related to this thesis 12 i CHAPTER THREE: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 14 3.1 Research Aim 14 3.2 Research Question 14 3.3 Hypothesis 14 3.4 Participants 14 3.5 Instruments 15 3.5.1 The questionnaire 15 3.5.2 The interview 16 3.6 Procedure 16 CHAPTER FOUR: RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 18 4.1 Results of the first questionnaire 18 4.2 Results of the second questionnaire 18 4.2.1 General results 18 4.2.2 Analysis and Discussion on the students’ difficulties in speaking 21 4.2.2.1 Analysis on the students’ difficulties in speaking 21 4.2.2.1.1 Students’ low English proficiency 21 4.2.2.1.2 Students’ lack of social knowledge/ prior knowledge 23 4.2.2.1.3 The effect of L1 on L2 25 4.2.2.1.4 Students’ characteristics 27 4.2.2.2 Discussion on the students’ difficulties in speaking 28 CHAPTER FIVE: CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATION 30 5.1 Conclusions 30 5.2 Implications 31 5.2.1 To the teachers 31 5.2.2 To the students 32 5.3 Limitations 32 5.4 Suggestions for further study 33 REFERENCES 34 APPENDICES vii ii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS L1: The first language L2: The second language EFL: English as Foreign Language ESL: English as Second Language LIST OF TABLES Table 4.1: Students’ difficulties in speaking 19 Table 4.2: Students’ low English proficiency 21 Table 4.3: Students’ lack of social knowledge/ prior knowledge 23 Table 4.4: The effect of L1 on L2 25 Table 4.5: Students’ characteristics 27 LIST OF CHARTS Chart 4.1: Students’ difficulties in speaking 20 LIST OF FIGURES Figure 2.1: English proficiency and its components iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS For the completion of this thesis, I have received great assistance and support from a variety of people First and foremost, I would like to heartily express my deepest gratitude and appreciation to my supervisor, Ms Wa Thai Nhu Phuong, who provided me a lot of invaluable guidance, encouragement and everything that I learnt from her throughout my study The study would be hardly finished without her enthusiasm I am also grateful to all my teachers from Faculty of Linguistics and Literature at Tay Do University, who supplied me with the good conditions to conduct this study I also take this opportunity to express my special thanks to all students of two classes of the second-year English major at Tay Do University for their assistance and co-operation in giving me valuable information and ideas Last but not least, I am greatly indebted to my family members, especially my older sister who always encouraged me during the study iv COMMENTS v ASTRACT It is undeniable that speaking skill is very important in learning English It is an important tool to help students to find good jobs in the future, especially if they expect to work for foreign or joint-venture enterprises However, it was not easy for them to master this skill, students actually met a lot of troubles that prevented them from becoming efficient speakers This study is an attempt to investigate the difficulties that inhibit the development of students’ speaking ability The participants of the study were 50 the second-year English majored students at Tay Do university The instruments used in this research were two questionnaires and an interview The result of this study revealed that there were difficulties students faced in speaking All of them came from inner students They were students’ low English proficiency, students’ lack of social knowledge/ prior knowledge, the effect of their first language on the second language, and students’ characteristics Among of these difficulties, the biggest problem that students often met in speaking was students’ low English proficiency vi CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION In this first chapter, I will present the background of the study and the reasons why I choose this research topic This chapter includes three small parts: the rationale, the significance and the structure of the study 1.1 Rationale Nowadays, English is considered an international language that bridges all countries on over the world together In addition, globalization and the rapid expansion of informational technologies are more and more widespread English has become a very important tool for the development of a country Therefore, every country concerns about teaching and learning English, and it has become a compulsory subject in curriculum As we know that education reflects the prosperity of a country It has known that to master English, the learners have to be proficient in four skills: listening, speaking, reading and writing All four skills are important, but speaking skill is given the top priority “Speaking in a second or foreign language has often been viewed as the most demanding of the four skills” (Bailey, K M & Savage, L., 1994: vii) Speaking can help the learners achieve their goal in work as well as in life For example, in a job interview, the employers not simply look at the academic results, but they want to see how the employee’s true proficiency is through their communication skill If their diploma is excellent while their speaking skill is not good, it is hard for them to get a job Since they cannot express themselves in English for others to see This is a big problem for many English learners in general and Tay Do students in particular There are many students who have good knowledge of grammar can read and write English quite well but they cannot speak it fluently and correctly even English majored students It seems that they find it hard to response spontaneously and naturally in daily conversations In other words, those students are structurally competent but communicatively incompetent For all above reasons, I decided to conduct this study on “The difficulties in speaking of English majored sophomores at Tay Do university” with the hope that the recent difficulties in speaking that many Tay Do university students face can be identified Furthermore, some recommendations could be given to help them be able to communicate successfully and effectively in real-life communication 1.2 Significance of the study This study is expected to give small contribution to teaching as well as learning speaking at Tay Do university: Firstly, the information about speaking skill and classifications of difficulties in speaking in this study are believed to be useful for teachers as well as students at Tay Do university Secondly, the findings from this research could help students to find suitable strategies to overcome their difficulties Moreover, these results could help their teacher give activities and techniques suitable to help students improve their speaking skill perfectively Finally, giving some recommendations for teachers and students to help students cope with difficulties in speaking is expected to be beneficial 1.3 Structure of the study This study is divided into five chapters: Chapter one, Introduction, deals with the rationale, the significance and structure of the study Chapter two, Literature review, is intended to give some theoretical background related to speaking skill The classifications of difficulties in speaking and previous studies are also mentioned in this chapter Chapter three, Research methodology, presents the research aim, research question, and hypothesis Participants, instruments and procedure are also described in this section Chapter four, Results and Discussion, focuses on the results and discussions of the study Chapter five, Conclusion and Implication, deals with the conclusion of the study and offers some recommendations for teachers and students to overcome the difficulties students meet in speaking Limitations of the study and suggestions for further study are also conveyed in this chapter was uneasy to change, even they tried to think in English, after a little while they found themselves thinking in Vietnamese (12% for strongly agree and 36% for agree) In addition, before speaking, it also took amount of time for them to translate from Vietnamese into English in their mind (12% for strongly agree and 54% for agree) However, translation between two different languages was not easy, over a half of them (6% for strongly agree and 54% for agree) admitted that the differences between Vietnamese and English caused them difficulties in speaking And surprisingly, in spite of these differences, the statistical results from question revealed that only small number of them (12% for agree) preferred to use their mother tongue in speaking English To clarify this problem, the data from survey were not enough, so it was necessary to exploit the information from the interviews with students of 10 students consistently reported that before speaking they thought Vietnamese first and then they translated it into English According to a student, the reason why was that “thinking in Vietnamese first makes my speech connected and cohesive” (T Dung, 5A) Another student stated that thinking in Vietnamese first is to produce more exact sayings (T Linh, 5A) 26 4.2.2.1.4 Students’ characteristics Students’ characteristics Strongly Agree No agree Disagree Strongly idea disagree I want to talk to others, but I'm too shy to speak think about 10% 46% 16% 20% 8% 2% 36% 16% 38% 8% 10% 56% 16% 16% 2% English I tend to negative evaluations, and I cannot control my anxiety I lack confidence in expressing myself Table 4.5: Students’ characteristics Table 4.5 revealed that over a half of the students were afraid of speaking in class due to their characteristics Specifically, as could be seen from the statistical results of question 1, students wanted to talk to others, but they were too shy to speak English (10% for strongly agree and 46% for agree), likewise they lacked confidence in expressing themselves (10% for strongly agree and 56% for agree) Moreover, a small amount of the students were often unwilling to speak English because they tended to think about negative evaluations and they could not control their anxiety (2% for strongly agree and 36% for agree) In consistent with the survey findings, students’ characteristics were also considered as a factor that hindered the students from talking to others in English class of 10 students honestly admitted that they lacked confidence in speaking English “I am not very confident in speaking English, due to lack of vocabulary, when expressing my ideas, I am afraid of making mistakes of grammar and 27 pronunciation” (T Dung, 5A) Another student added: “I am shy, so my speaking ability is worse than others” (L Xiểm, 5A) 4.2.2.2 Discussion on the students’ difficulties in speaking It could be easily realized through the results of the two questionnaires and interview that there were over a half of students facing four difficulties including: students’ low English proficiency, students’ lack of social knowledge / prior knowledge, the effect of L1 on L2, and students’ characteristics However, the difference among their percentages was not significant First, the students’ low English proficiency was one of the major factors that prevented them from using English for communication Although, most of the students at Tay Do university have learnt English for some years at the secondary school, their pronunciation, especially their knowledge of vocabulary and English structures was still poor The level of English language proficiency was far from expectation Gradually, students had lost their interest in trying to speak English and became discouraged to speak it Second, the learners’ lack of social knowledge/ prior knowledge was a main barrier that impeded their speaking ability Their speaking skill was not focused in the curriculum in secondary school Therefore, their basic skills of speaking were ignored and especially they felt hesitate to be accustomed to speaking in front of others Furthermore, they also had problems in collecting ideas, and this was a result from their lack of social knowledge Third, most of students found that the effect of L1 on L2 impeded their communicative competence As mentioned in the chapter literature review, Vietnamese and English had great differences However, there were many students who had habit of translating from Vietnamese into English before speaking And more seriously, they even preferred to speak Vietnamese in English class All of these reasons unintentionally reduced the students’ speaking ability Moreover, it was hard for them to succeed in conversations, because they lacked sensitivity - one of three criteria for oral competence (Holbrook, 1983) 28 Finally, resulting from the low level of proficiency, they lost confidence to speak in front of others They felt shy and not willing to speak, because they were afraid of being laughed by their peers when they made mistakes It seemed that the more mistakes they made, the more frightened they would be That made them become more passive listeners instead of efficient speakers 29 CHAPTER FIVE CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATION This chapter will deal with the conclusions of the study In addition, I also present some suggestions for English speaking teaching and learning Finally, the limitations of the study and suggestions for further study will be also presented 5.1 Conclusions Based on the analysis and discussions in the previous section, it could be concluded that the difficulties students at Tay Do university encountered were not originated from teachers and objective factors (large-size and multi-level class) but from students Moreover, via two questionnaires, it was easy to realize that majority of students had motivation to speak English In other words, they liked to speak English in class However, they still met difficulties when learning speaking First of all, they themselves had low English proficiency in terms of lack of vocabulary, not good knowledge of grammar and pronunciation which were a barrier preventing them from speaking in class And this was also a biggest problem that Tay Do students faced Second, the difficulty that made students reluctant to speak English in class was their lack of social knowledge/prior knowledge Third, students also found that the effect of L1 on L2 contributed a big portion to the failure of their speaking learning Finally, the students’ characteristics were also a factor that led them to communication apprehension in two outstanding aspects: their shyness and being afraid of losing face in front of others To sum up as well as to answer the research question, this survey has figured out the crucial findings that the students at Tay Do university were facing difficulties when learning English speaking Therefore, all above findings are the important foundation for the researcher to suggest some recommendations in the next section 30 5.2 Implications Based on the findings from the survey work, the researcher would like to provide some recommendations as follows with the hope that these could help students remove their difficulties and improve their speaking skill 5.2.1 To the teachers In order to overcome the constraints on developing students’ ability, it is the teacher that plays an important role to solve the problems First, teacher’s teaching method should be varied and changed in techniques and activities in order to avoid students’ boredom For example, beside discussions of the topics in the textbook, teacher should create mini games or role plays for students to participate They will feel more relaxed and have more opportunities to practice English when learning speaking in class Second, before beginning a new topic, it is a good idea to teach or review essential vocabulary and structures or the way how to pronounce new words They will not meet difficulties in finding words and structures and be more confident when expressing their ideas Third, to solve the difficulties in finding ideas for topics, the teacher should choose the topics which are more interesting and appropriate to students’ age, level and related to the real life Sometimes, some topics in the textbook are quite difficult for students, so the teacher can adapt these to make them more suitable, interesting, and familiar to the students Furthermore, in some situations, the teacher should let students select the topics themselves, because the more they like it, the more they are interested in discussion Fourth, the teacher should pay attention to quiet, less able students in class Firstly, the teacher helps students overcome the fear for lack of words, structures, making mistakes of pronunciation by showing them that these mistakes are unavoidable and positive in speaking Thanks to them, students can recognize their weak points to overcome Secondly, the teacher should give compliments and 31 encouragements instead of criticism for students, especially for shy and timid students Finally, the teacher should help students form the habit of using English whenever and wherever and reduce the use of Vietnamese as much as possible In discussions, the teacher should walk around the class and give help when necessary 5.2.2 To the students To help students not only overcome the difficulties but also become efficient English speakers, they are also suggested to: More actively participate in activities given by teachers It is only the learners themselves who create opportunities to improve their ability Because of constraints on time and class size, their teacher cannot manage all students in class Gradually, they become passive learners, even their teacher cannot help them develop as other people Try to speak in class although your voice is not good enough Your teacher will correct your mistakes and surely your voice will get better than before if you are brave to speak in front of others with confidence Listen to the tape or teachers to correct your pronunciation which help you more confident to speak Read more books or news to enhance new vocabualry as well as social knowledge Exchange ideas and learn experiences from better learners Practice English as much as possible, especially with foreigners Nuttall (1996:168) asserts “the best way to improve your knowledge of a foreign language is to go and live among its speakers” This helps the learners not only be fluent in speaking but also enrich their vocabulary, structures, slang words as well as understand their ways of life and cultures 32 5.3 Limitations Nothing is perfect, and this study is also of no exception Although this study was carefully designed and based on reliable data, like other studies, there were some following limitations: First, not all the students at Tay Do university were involved in the survey questionnaires and interviews To some extent, the results might not be generalized for all students Moreover, the researcher did not design the questionnaire and interview for teachers in order to make the obtained results more reliable and valid Second, due to the time constrain and limited knowledge of the writer, this study might not really show all the difficulties students were facing in speaking Finally, only some recommendations have been proposed to deal with these difficulties 5.4 Suggestions for further study Although this study has some limitations, the researcher hopes that it will be a foundation for further study And to get more generalized, the survey of the further study should conduct with a large sample population In addition, this study only focus on difficulties in speaking, other skills were not mentioned Therefore, the researcher hope that the further studies will concern about difficulties in other skills such as: listening, reading and writing in order to help students master English perfectively More importantly, many suggested solutions will be pointed out to help students overcome their difficulties 33 PREFERENCES Bailey, K M and Savage, L (1994), New Way in Teaching Speaking USA Brown, H.D (1994), Teaching by Principles: An Interactive Approach to Language Pedagogy New Jersey: Prentice Hall Regents Burns, A., & Joyce, H (1997), Focus on Speaking Sydney: NCELTR Bygate, M (1987), Speaking Oxford: Oxford University Press Byrne, D (1991), Teaching Oral Language Learning, Long Man Dwyer, E., & Heller-Murphy, A (1996), Japanese Learners in Speaking Classes Edinburgh Working Papers in Applied Linguistics, 7, 46-45 Holbrook, H T (1983), ERIC/RCS Report: Oral Language: A Neglected Language Art? Language Arts, 60(2), 255-58 [EJ 276 124] Kayih, H (2006), Teaching Speaking: Activities to Promote Speaking in a Second Language The Internet TESL Journal, Vol.XII, No 11, November University of Nevada (Nevada, USA) Liu, M (2005), Reticence in Oral Language Classrooms: A Case Study in China TESL Reporter 38, 1, pp 1-16 Mackey, W.F (1965), Language Teaching Analysis Long Man Mead, N A - Rubin, D L (1985), Assessing Listening and Speaking Skills ERIC Digest ERIC Clearinghouse on Reading and Communication Skills Urbana IL Nunan, D (1991), Language Teaching Methodology, UK: Prentice- Hall International Nunan, D (1999), Second Language Teaching and Learning Heinl and Heiln Publisher Nuttall, C (1996), Teaching Reading Skills in a Foreign Language Macmillan Pattison, P (1992), Developing Communication Skills C.U.p Shumin, K (2002), Factors to Consider Developing Adult EFL Students' Speaking Abilities: J.C Richards, & W A Renandya (Eds.), Methodology in Language Teaching (pp 204-211) Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 34 Shu-Min-Hsieh (2006), Problems in Preparing for the English Impromptu Speech Contest Yuanpei Institute of Science and Technology, Taiwan, 37, 216-235 Retrieved on April, 2nd, 2012, from http:// RELC Sagepub.com Tsui, A (1996), Reticence and Anxiety in Second Language Learning In Bailey, K.M & Nunan, D (eds.): Voices from the Language Classroom Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Tsui, A B M (1995), Introducing Classroom Interaction England: Penguin English Ur, P (1996), A Course in Language Teaching- Practice and Theory Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Wilkins, D A (1979), The Communicative Approach to Language Teaching Oxford: Oxford University Press 35 APPENDIX QUESTIONNAIRE Your name: Class: _ What are some difficulties that you often encounter when speaking English in class? (You can tick more than one answer that is suitable with you) Your teacher’s teaching method is not appropriate Your teacher’s English proficiency is not good Your speaking skill was not focused in high school or before entering university You lack background or lack cultural and social knowledge Your English proficiency (grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation,) is low You don’t have motivation to learn English Your characteristics (shyness, timidity …) affect speaking skill in class Before speaking, you often translate from Vietnamese into English in your mind Your class has many students and multilevel THANKS FOR YOUR HELP! vii APPENDIX QUESTIONNAIRE My name is Ngo Thi Nhi, English majored student of faculty of Linguistics and Literature, 3rd course, Tay Do university To finish this course, I have to carry out a thesis according to school’s regulation In this thesis, I survey about difficulties in speaking of English majored sophomores To have significance results from this current study, your information is extremely important and therefore I would like you to fulfill this questionnaire objectively and precisely Personal information: Full name: Class: Gender: Year of birth: How long have you studied English? …… years Please tick on the most suitable answer with you from to Statement Strongly agree (5) Agree Disagree (4) No idea (3) 5 5 5 (2) Strongly disagree (1) I can express my ideas easily in English but not grammatically I tend to think about negative evaluations, and I cannot control my anxiety I don't speak English in class because I can't speak English fluently The differences between Vietnamese and English cause me difficulty in speaking I not have enough social knowledge to share my ideas in some discussions It's hard for other people to understand me due to my poor pronunciation When I speak, I often translate from Vietnamese into English in my mind viii I like speaking, but I cannot speak much because I have just a few ideas My English knowledge is not very good That is why I not speak much in class 10 I like speaking English But I sometimes cannot find words and structures to express my ideas 11 I want to talk to others, but I'm too shy to speak English 5 5 5 5 12 I lack confidence in expressing myself 13 I always think in my own mother tongue language before speaking 14 In speaking class, I often have nothing to say because my classmates have already said all of my ideas 15 Even when I try to think in English, after a little while I find myself thinking in Vietnamese 16 In speaking English, I occasionally prefer to use my mother tongue Thanks for your help! ix APPENDIX INTERVIEW Bạn có nghĩ khả tiếng Anh bạn ( vd khả phát âm, từ vựng, ngữ pháp) ảnh hưởng khả nói bạn? Bạn vui lịng giải thích rõ câu trả lời đưa ví dụ Bạn có gặp khó khăn việc tìm ý để nói khơng? Tại bạn có khó khăn vậy? Bạn thường làm để có ý để nói? Trước nói tiếng Anh, bạn thường hay nghĩ đến tiếng Việt hay tiếng Anh? Tính cách bạn (vd Nhút nhát, tự tin) có ảnh hưởng đến kĩ nói bạn khơng? ảnh hưởng nào? Bạn vui lịng nói rõ ý kiến bạn đưa ví dụ x APPENDIX INTERVIEW(ENGLISH VERSION) Do you think your English proficiency (e.g knowledge of grammar, pronunciation, and vocabulary) could affect your speaking ability? Please explain your answer clearly and give examples Have you ever had difficulties in collecting ideas for speaking? Why you have such difficulties? What you often to get ideas for speaking? What language you think of before speaking English– English or Vietnamese? Does your Vietnamese mother tongue affect your English speaking skill? If yes, in what way? Does your personality (e.g shyness, confidence) affect your speaking skill? In what way? Please specify your ideas and give examples xi