A survey on difficulties in speaking english of english majored freshmen at tay do university

TAY DO UNIVERSITY FACULTY OF LINGUISTICS AND LITERATURE A SURVEY ON DIFFICULTIES IN SPEAKING ENGLISH OF ENGLISH MAJORED FRESHMEN AT TAY DO UNIVERSITY Supervisor: Phan Thi Minh Uyen, MA Student’s name: Nguyen Thi Thuy Ngan Student’s code: 13D220201029 Class: Bachelor of English 8A April, 2017 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to express my deep gratitude to following people who guided, helped and supported me to finish my research First of all, I am sincerely thankful to Tay Do University, especially Faculty of Linguistic and Literature for giving me an opportunity to conduct this research Secondly, I would like to express my honest gratitude to my supervisor She was always willing to help me correct every mistake in my research, gives me many precious comments and important instructions My research could not be completed successfully without her dedicated assistance Finally, I would like to give my gratefulness to my family and my friend for supporting and encouraging me to finish the study successfully COMMENTS TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS i COMMENTS ii TABLE OF CONTENTS iii ABSTRACT .v CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION 1.1.Rationale 1.2.The organization of the study CHAPTER II: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Definitions of speaking and its importance 2.1.1 Definitions of speaking 2.1.2 The importance of English speaking skill 2.2 Difficulties in English speaking skill 2.2.1 Linguistic Causes 2.2.1.1 Vocabulary 2.2.1.2 Grammar 2.2.1.3 Pronunciation and intonation 2.2.1.4 Listening comprehension 10 2.2.2 Psychological Causes 11 2.2.2.1 Learners’ attitude and motivation 11 2.2.2.2 Learners’ strategies 12 2.2.2.3 Learning environment 13 2.2.2.4 Learners’ background knowledge 14 CHAPTER III: RESEARCH AIM- RESEARCH QUESTION- HYPOTHESIS 15 3.1 Research aims 15 3.2 Research questions 15 3.3 Hypothesis 15 CHAPTER IV: RESEARCH METHODOLODY 16 4.1 Design 16 4.2 Participants 16 4.3 Instruments 16 4.3.1 Questionnaire 16 4.3.2 Students’ interview 17 4.4 Procedure 17 CHAPTER V: EXPECTED OUTCOMES 18 REFERENCES 19 APPENDIX I: QUESTIONNAIRE FOR STUDENTS 22 APPENDIX II: STUDENTS' INTERVIEW 27 ABSTRACT The research proposal “Difficulties in speaking English of English majored freshmen at Tay Do University” was conducted with the purpose of helping English majored freshmen be able to understand and recognize their own problems in speaking The participants of this research are the freshmen from Bachelor of English class at Tay Do University In this research, questionnaire and interview are used as two instruments to collect the data The findings of this research would figure out the difficulties in speaking English of English majored freshmen Through it, the researcher expects that the freshmen can practice regularly to improve their speaking ability in learning English CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale English is considered as the international language because it is popularly used in many fields such as education, technology, business, tourism, etc It is also a means to exchange information and culture in the world Hence, it is really a main factor for people to make a success in the social environment Moreover, English is the most common language used to communicate with others It is a tool to connect English learners with the native speakers easily Certainly, English is one of the vital factors for those who want to get a good job so that they can be successful in the future In learning English, students often concentrate on four basic skills: listening, speaking, reading, and writing Among these skills, speaking is the most demanding skill and it plays a significant role in communication Speaking is also one of the useful skills that should be mastered by students in learning English It is the background for the development of other skills in the learning English process Nunan (2000) said that "speaking skill is the most important aspect of learning a second or foreign language" It can be understood that speaking is a major skill that English learners should regard in learning foreign language If students study well speaking skill, they will become active and confident in communication In fact, students at Tay Do University especially the English majored freshmen usually face many difficulties in speaking English Most of them not have enough vocabulary to express their thoughts or opinions In addition, making mistakes such as grammar, pronunciation and listening comprehension are their common mistakes Moreover, they often feel confused when having conversation with the foreigners because of lacking the confidence in speaking That is the reason why students not have a successful communication with other foreigners As a result, the study "The difficulties in speaking of English majored freshmen at Tay Do University" is conducted to figure out the difficulties facing English majored freshmen when learning speaking skill Since then, the researcher expects the students can realize their difficulties in speaking English and improve their speaking skill effectively 1.2 The organization of the study The research proposal consists of five chapters Chapter 1: Introduction Chapter 2: Literature review Chapter 3: Research aim- Research question- Hypothesis Chapter 4: Research methodology Chapter 5: Expected outcomes CHAPTER II LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Definitions of speaking and its importance 2.1.1 Definitions of speaking Communication is a mandatory activity of human It is a good way to express ideas and emotions in social relationships Actually, speaking is a major element to contribute to a successful communication The term of speaking can be defined by several definitions by some famous researchers Firstly, according to Oxford Dictionary of Current English (2009), speaking is "the action of conveying information or expressing one's thoughts and feelings in spoken language" It means speaking is the ability to express something in a spoken language through opinions, feelings, or ideas with the others In addition, Chaney (1998: 13) considered speaking as "the process of building and sharing meaning through the use of verbal or nonverbal symbol in a variety of contexts" From this definition, speaking is the process of the producing of utterance as well as the using of nonverbal language in a particular context Moreover, "speaking is an interactive process of constructing meaning that involves production and receiving and processing information" (Brown, 1994; Burn & Joyce, 1997) Its form and meaning are dependent on the context in which it occurs such as the participants themselves, their experiences, the purposes for speaking as well as the physical environment Finally, Harmer (2001) added that "speaking happens when two people are engaged in talking to each other and they are sure that they are doing it for good reason" When two people are talking together, they have some communicative purposes in which they want something to happen as a result of what they say and they choose the language they think is appropriate for conversation In short, speaking is an overriding skill is used in the actual communication It is considered a skill to practice and perceive because it helps people to communicate with the others by verbal language in which the information exchange and contents building up in the conversation Generally, there are many different definitions of speaking by different researchers, but most of researchers agree that speaking is a very demanding factor to interact between the speaker and the listener 2.1.2 The importance of English speaking skill There are several skills related to communication but speaking is the most frequently used skill It is a means to connect people in communication There are numerous view points from variety of researchers about the importance of speaking skill Rivers (1981) said that "speaking is used twice as much as reading and writing in our communication" It is a tool to communicate with others, to express ideas, and to know others' ideas as well Speaking is generally thought to be the most required of the four skills For most people, the ability to speak a language is synonymous with knowing that language However, “speaking in a second or foreign language has often been viewed as the most demanding of the four skills” (Bailey and Savage 1994: 7) It requires students know how to use the slang and idioms, stress, rhythm and intonation and the need to interact with at least one other speaker Furthermore, Gass & Varionis, (1994) also pointed out that "speaking can support other language skills and plays a major role in the shaping of the learner's developing language" It may be correct, learning speaking can help the development of writing, development of reading as well as development of listening comprehension Besides, Baker and Westrup (2003, p.05) confirmed that "a student who can speak English well may have greater chance for further education, of finding employment and gaining promotion" The ability to speak skillfully provides the speaker with advantages in their study and profession Employers have always valued the ability to speak well To sum up, speaking is very significant when learning English "Speaking is particularly conducive for learning" (Martin Bygate, 1987) From this definition, speaking skill is indispensable If students try to learn speaking subject hard, they will improve speaking skill as well as other skills effectively That is the reason why students majoring in English have to pay attention to this skill 2.2 Difficulties in English speaking skill In the process of learning language, speaking is not an unchallenging subject Therefore, it causes many obstacles for many freshmen who not spend time studying speaking subject It could be seen as the most principal and strenuous skill Zhang (2009) claimed that "speaking remains the most difficult skill to master for the majority of English learners, and they are still incompetent in communicating orally in English” There are many factors that cause difficulty in speaking such as learners are worried about making mistakes, fearful of criticism, losing face or simply shy Furthermore, English learners have no motivation to express their thoughts or opinions Besides, they have no turn to 10 Learning environment is also a cause impacting to students' English speaking process Most students realized that English is the most popular language and they spent much time to learn it However, nowadays, some people can speak English well but they not use it to communicate Most students said that they were nervous and felt not confident when they talked to others because they had no chances to practice and were not used to English speaking That is the reason why their speaking skill cannot improve in learning English On the other hand, some students often seek foreigners to communicate with them because they want to practice speaking English, but most foreigners not have free time to speak with students Furthermore, in Vietnam, there are not many English clubs and practical activities speak English so that they can join in to practice speak English Therefore, it is very hard for them to find out a good learning environment to improve their English speaking ability 2.2.2.4 Learners' background knowledge Background knowledge also plays an essential part in the learning speaking English process Marzano (2004) defined that "background knowledge as what a person already knows about the content" In addition, Biemans and Simons (1996) confirmed that background knowledge as “all knowledge learners have when entering a learning environment that is potentially relevant for acquiring new knowledge" In fact, background knowledge is an effective component in learning because it helps learners make sense of new ideas and experiences However, many students get difficulties when they try to explain their ideas or message because they lack of knowledge about that topic It is very hard to continue the conversation In learning speaking process, students should have wide knowledge on many fields, topics to apply their knowledge to the speaking English process It supports them express easily their opinions as well as feelings in communication Indeed, when students have enough knowledge about specific topic, they can express their ideas, opinions, thoughts, feelings accurately and 19 fluently In contrast, when students are unclear about their topic, it means they have no background knowledge about what they are speaking; they will be hard to show their ideas or message Therefore, students should have great background knowledge in many topics as well as in many fields to become good speakers in communication CHAPTER III RESEARCH AIM- RESEARCH QUESTION- HYPOTHESIS 3.1 Research aims This research aimed at investigating the difficulties facing English majored freshmen at Tay Do University when learning English speaking subject Besides, the important purpose of this research is to help them to find out the difficulties in English speaking to improve their speaking ability positively 3.2 Research question The research was conducted to deal with the research question: What are difficulties in speaking of English majored freshmen at Tay Do University? How can students overcome these difficulties? 3.3 Hypothesis According to most of English majored freshmen at Tay Do University, speaking is the most difficult skill makes them faced some difficulties in English learning process Through the literature review and the research question, the research will find out difficulties when learning speaking English In addition, 20 the researcher hopes that freshmen will recognize their own problems in the learning process Through their awareness about difficulties, they can have a positive attitude as well as motivation to improve their English speaking proficiency CHAPTER IV RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 4.1 Design The research was carried out to find out the difficulties in speaking English of English majored freshmen at Tay Do University The instruments of this research are questionnaire and interview The data from the participants will be collected through the questionnaire and the interview for students of English This information will be analyzed to get the last result 4.2 Participants The participants of this research were students of English majored freshmen course 11 at Tay Do University They studied in the same class They come from different areas as well as got different English levels All of them speak Vietnamese as their first language and speak English as a second language They will be given questionnaires and interview to get information about difficulties they have faced in speaking skill 4.3 Instruments Questionnaire and interview were the instruments of this research 21 Questionnaire was used to find out the difficulties of students in learning English speaking subject Interview was tool used for collecting information Thus, questionnaire and interview were helpful instruments to help the researcher to investigate difficulties of freshmen in English speaking 4.3.1 Questionnaire The questionnaire included two parts Part consisted of eight questions which investigated the students' background such as students' years of studying English, their practicing time to speak English, etc In part 2, there were twelve statements in a table Statement 1, 2, and focused on the importance of speaking skill and its difficulties Questions from to showed difficulties in linguistic causes including vocabulary, grammar, pronunciation, listening comprehension The psychological elements affecting students' speaking skill such as learners' attitude and motivation, learners' strategies, learning environment and background knowledge were stated from to 12 4.3.2 Students' interview The paper interview included questions It is to investigate the attitude of student about speaking English In addition, students shared difficulties that they get when learning speaking and the way to overcome their difficulties 4.4 Procedure: Step Activities  Meeting the supervisor and introducing the topic of the research Step to the supervisor  Making the outline of the research The first month 22  Designing the questionnaire and interviews Step  Writing chapter 1, and The second month  Writing chapter and Step  Completing the research The last month CHAPTER V EXPECTED OUTCOMES Speaking plays a principal role in learning a language and communication It is a challenging skill for students to learn English effectively In fact, English majored freshmen at Tay Do University often face difficulties in speaking English The common difficulties in English speaking process are linguistic causes and psychological causes In linguistic causes, students often have difficulties in using suitable words in different contexts and memorizing new vocabulary is not easy for them In addition, students have a lot of mistakes in English grammar such as tenses, singular and plural forms, parts of speech and so on Besides, they also get difficulties about incorrect pronunciation, word stress, intonation, final sounds and so on Moreover, students cannot listen fully the conversation because the speakers speak so fast that the they cannot understand Along with linguistic causes, psychological causes also are points that students need to pay attention in speaking English process If students not have positive attitude and motivation in speaking English, they will feel shy and 23 afraid to speak in crowd Additionally, students cannot choose suitable strategies and good learning environment Thus, it is very hard to improve their speaking skill Many students get difficulties because they lack of background knowledge in the learning language Therefore, they will be hard to show their message and opinions during the conversation In conclusion, the researcher expects that the study will find out the difficulties in speaking English of English majored freshmen at Tay Do University From those obstacles, students can realize their problems in the learning speaking subject Since then, students should practice regularly inside and outside class to improve their speaking skill more effectively REFERENCES BOOK REFERENCES 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 Baker, J & Westrup, H (2003) Essential speaking skills: A handbook for English language teachers London: Continuum International Publishing Bailey, K., & Savage, L (Eds.) (1994) New ways in teaching speaking Alexandria, VA: TESOL Chaney, A.L (1998) Teaching Oral Communication in Grades K-8 Boston: Allyn&Bacon Chastain, K (1988) Developing Second Language Skills: theory and practice (3rd Ed.) New York: Harcourt Brace Javanovich, Inc Chen (1983) Strucutres and functions of English Intonation Shanghai: Shanghai Foreign Language Teaching Press Doff, A (1998) Teach English: A training Course for Teacher Cambridge University Press 24 Gardner, R and Lambert, W (1972) Attitudes and Motivation in Second Language Learning, Rowley, Massachussets: Newbury House Publishers 10 Gass, S M., and Varonis, E M (1994) Input, interaction, and second language production Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 16(3), pp 283-302 11 Gardner, R C (1979) Intensive second language study in a bicultural milieu: An investigation of attitudes, motivation and language proficiency Language Learning, 29, 305-320 12 Harmer, J (2001) The Practice of English Language Teaching 3rded London: Longman 13 Harmer, J (1991) Teaching and Learning Grammar 6thed London: Longman 14 Hornby, A S (1974) Oxford Advanced Learner‟s Dictionary of Current English Oxford: Oxford Dictionary Press 15 Kelly (2000) How to teach pronunciation Essex Longman 16 Longman (2003) Longman dictionary of contemporary English new edition Summer: Della 17 Martin Bygate (1987) Language Teaching: A Scheme for Teacher Education Oxford: Oxford University Press 18 Nadig, A (2013) Listening Comprehension Encyclopedia of Autism Spectrum Disorders, 1743 19 Nunan, D (1991) Language teaching methodology: a text book for teachers.168 20 Rivers, W.M (1981) Teaching foreign language skills 2nd Edition Chicago: University of Chicago Press 21 Rubin, J & Thompson, I (1994) How To be a more successful language learner Boston, MA: Heinle & Heinle Publishers 22 Samuels, S (1984) Factors Influencing Listening: Inside and Outside the Head 23(3), p.183-p.189 23 Stephen, D (2006) The power of strategy instruction Evidence for Education Issue I 25 24 Ur, P (1996) A course in Language Teaching Practice and Theory Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 25 Wilkins, D (1972) Linguistics in language teaching London: Arnold 26 Wilhelm, K.H (1999) Collaborative dos and don'ts TESOL Journal, 8, 14-19 27 Zhang, S (2009) The role of input, interaction, and output in the development of oral fluency English Language Teaching,2(4),91–100 INTERNET REFERENCES Biemans and simons (1996) "The Role of Prior Knowledge in Learning" Retrieved from :https://www.corwin.com/sites/default/files/upm-binaries/25914_081222Campbell-Ch1-excerpt.pdf English grammar - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Retrieved from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_grammar Marzano (2004) "The Role of Prior Knowledge in Learning" Retrieved from: https://www.corwin.com/sites/default/files/upm-binaries/25914-081222-Campb ell-Ch1-excerpt.pdf Oxford Dictionary of Current English (2009) Retrieved from: http://www.encyclopedia.com/humanities/dictionaries-thesauruses-pictures-and -press-releases/speaking 26 APPENDIX I QUESTION FOR STUDENTS Dear friends, My name is Nguyen Thi Thuy Ngan and I am a senior of English I am carrying out a research "A survey on difficulties in speaking English of English majored freshmen at Tay Do University" Your information will be very important and useful to my mini thesis Please take your time to finish these below question carefully Thank you very much for your help! Student's full name: Class: Part 1: Please read the following questions and circle the appropriate answer to your opinion Give the specific answers if needed How long have you studied English? years Do you like speaking English? 27 a Yes b No Which subject did you learn when you were in high school? a Listening b Speaking c Reading d Writing Which skill you like best? a Listening b Speaking c Reading d Writing What you think about English speaking? a Very important b Important c Normal d Not important How is your speaking skill? a Very good 28 b Good c Average d Bad e Very bad How many periods a week did you practice speaking English? period(s) a week How much time a day you spend on practicing speaking? a hour(s) a day b minute(s) a day Part 2: Please read the following statements carefully and put the tick on the number Statements Strongly Agree agree No idea Disagree Strongly disagree Speaking is generally thought to be the most required of the four skills Speaking is a means to connect people in communication In the process of learning language, speaking is not an 29 unchallenging subject If I try to learn speaking subject, I will improve speaking skill as well as other skills effectively I often have difficulties in using suitable words in different contexts I often have a lot of mistakes such as singular and plural forms, errors in tense, parts of speech, the way to arrange parts of speech to make right sentences Pronouncing words incorrectly may cause the others cannot understand what I say, which contributes misunderstanding among people in communication Listening incorrectly will receive wrong information, it can lead to serious 30 misunderstandings with others Lack of motivation and negative attitude in speaking English, I often feel shy and afraid when speaking in crowd 10 If I choose appropriate strategies, I will be more successful in the process of learning English speaking 11 It is very hard for me to find out a good learning environment to improve my English speaking ability 12 I usually get difficulties when I try to explain my ideas or message because I lack of knowledge about that topic The end Thank for your help! 31 APPENDIX II STUDENTS' INTERVIEW Dear friends, My name is Nguyen Thi Thuy Ngan and I am a senior of English I am carrying out a research "A survey on difficulties in speaking English of English majored freshmen at Tay Do University" Your information will be very important and useful to my mini thesis Please take your time to finish these below question carefully Thank you very much for your kind help! Student's full name: Class: Why you choose English as your major? Do you like learning speaking skill? Why/ why not? 32 What difficulties you have faced when learning speaking subject? According to you, what should you to overcome these difficulties? Thanks for your help! 33