Problems in learning english speaking skill a study of english majored sophomores at tay do university

FACULTY of LINGUISTICS and LITERATURE RESEARCH PROPOSAL ON PROBLEMS IN LEARNING ENGLISH SPEAKING SKILL: A STUDY OF ENGLISH MAJORED SOPHOMORES AT TAY DO UNIVERSITY Supervisor: Wa Thai Nhu Phuong, MA Student’s name: Tran Thuy Duong Student’s code: 13D220201050 Class: English 8B March, 2017 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT This research proposal could hardly finish without enthusiastic help of many people First of all, I would like to express my surpassing gratefulness to Ms Wa Thai Nhu Phuong, my supervisor, for this valuable advice, continual support, suggestion, and patience during my study This study would not be completed without her useful comments and advice during the source collection and furthermore her helpful assistance during the data collection throughout the study and unfailing encouragement throughout the study Secondly, my special thanks to the Faculty of linguistics and literature of Tay Do University for thier teaching hand helping me widen knowledge of English over the past four years In addition, I would like to thank the English majored sophomores for their participation information and result from the questionnaires Finally, I want to give my deep gratefulness to all my dear friends and my family for supporting me throughout the years of studying COMMENTS TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT CHAPTER INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale 1.2 The organization of study CHAPTER LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 The definitions of speaking 2.2 The importance of speaking 10 2.3 Factors affecting speaking skill 11 2.3.1 Vocabulary 11 2.3.2 Grammar stucture 12 2.3.3 Background knowledge 12 2.3.4 Pronunciation and intonation 12 2.3.5 Psychological obstacles 13 2.3.4 Previous studies 14 CHAPTER RESEARCH AIM – RESEARCH QUESTION – HYPOTHESIS 16 3.1 Research aim: 16 3.3 Hypothesis: 16 CHAPTER RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 17 4.1 Design 17 4.2 Participants 17 4.3 Instrument 17 4.4 Procedure 18 CHAPTER EXPECTED OUTCOME 20 5.1 Vocabulary 20 5.2 Grammar structure 20 5.3 Pronunciation and intonation 21 5.4 Background knowledge 21 5.5 Psychological obstacles 21 REFERENCES 23 ABSTRACT Speaking is fundamental to human communication In addition, speaking is an important subject which partly contributes to the success of learning English English language learners still face many problems in speaking This survey research aims to find out Problems in learning English speaking skill: A study of English majored sophomores at Tay Do University The participants of this research are 40 sophomores from Bachelor of English class at Tay Do University In study process, questionnaire is used as an instrument to collect the data The study is expected to point out the students’ problems in speaking which are vocabulary, pronunciation and intonation, grammar, background knowledge and psychological obstacles CHAPTER INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale English is the most widely spoken language in the world and it stands out as the most popular and influential on the earth It is being spoken almost all over world and has gained a prominent place in the minds and hearts of people Globally English has become a vehicle for communicating scientific and technological information English language today is a powerful unifying factor in our national and international life It is through English that we are connected with information technology and electronic time and space The fact about English Language is that it has become one of the major languages of the world, English has the widest span among all the wellknown languages of the world It is helpful to be adept at spoken English when the people at a meeting or conference don’t have a common language When learning English, students often focus on four basic skills: speaking, listening, reading and writing Among these skills, speaking is an important skill which needs to be developed Speaking is the most important skill to acquire while learning a language In the case of second language, it has to be learnt with more conscious effort As Rumi stated that “ speak a new language so that the world will be a new world” Speaking is so important that it could be the deciding factor in many things such as your career development, your business growth and even in the relationships you have with your friends and family However, in my observation, English majored sophomores at Tay Do University still face many problems in learning speaking skill Firstly, lack of vocabulary is a big problem for them They not have enough vocabulary to express their thoughts or opinions Secondly, the mistakes about grammatical structures are a reason affecting the students when speaking with people speaking English Thirdly, pronunciation and intonation is a common mistake made by many students studying English as a second language In addition Besides, background knowledge is an essential component in communicating because it helps students make sense of new ideas and experiences Finally, psychological obstacles cause many problems for students in communication Recognizing these problems, I decide to conduct this research to find out problems in learning speaking skill of sophomores majoring in English at Tay Do University 1.2 The organization of the proposal The proposal consists of five chapters Chapter1: Introduction Chapter 2: Literature review Chapter 3: Research aim – Research question – Hypothesis Chapter 4: Research methodology Chapter 5: Expected outcome CHAPTER LITERATURE REVIEW This chapter presents the definitions of speaking skill, its importance and the factors affecting the process of learning speaking subject The elements affecting learning speaking skill are vocabulary, grammar, background knowledge, pronunciation and intonation, psychological obstacles 2.1 The definitions of speaking Language is a means of exchanging information, thinking and culture from one generation to another as well as from one nation to another In a present modern world, English has become the most important foreign language in the world In English language, speaking skill is one of the important skill If you cannot speak fluently, you cannot express your thinking for people who you want to talk There some definitions of speaking stated by some lingustics Speaking is defined as a way to verbally communicate for mostly interpersonal and somewhat transactional purposes (Nunan, 1999, p 228) We can say that speaking means to convey or express one's thoughts and feelings in spoken language In addition, “speaking is an interactive process of constructing meaning that involves producing and receiving and processing information” (Brown, 1994; Burns & Joyce, 1997) Actually, speaking is a productive skill which involves using speech to express meanings to other people In other words, speaking is not easy because it requires we must be good in vocabulary, grammar stucture, background knowledge, pronunciation and intonation Moreover, speaking is the key to communication, it is the skill that give us the ability to communicate effectively and allow the speaker convey the message in a passionate, thoughtful “Speaking is the process of building and sharing meaning through the use of verbal and non-verbal symbols, in a variety of contexts" (Chaney, 1998, p 13) Speaking is the act of generating words that can be understood by listeners Another definition “speaking as a language skill which is developed in childhood preceded with listening skill” (Tarigan (1990:3-4) It means that speaking is the basic skill in learning language English language is regarded as the most spoken language around the globe, and many people learn this language in order to have better career, job security or communicate more effectively with more people In sum up, speaking is an ability to convey one’s message or information, verbally, in a proper and suitable manner, ability to express oneself clearly in front of others, to express one’s ideas, feelings, and thoughts and to give one’s opinion in different matters 2.2 The importance of speaking In today’s global world, the importance of English can’t be denied and ignored since English is the most common language spoken everywhere With the help of developing technology, English has been playing a major role in many sectors including medicine, engineering, and education We can talk with foreigners all over the world by video call, it a good chance for us to improve speaking skill and this is a useful way to connect people in our society Thus, it is necessary to have a good speaking skill because of its imoportant functions Speaking helps people create understanding, express oneself to others, help a person grow socially in his personal and professional life and avoid conflicts Nowadays, speaking is playing a important role with students It helps them communicate with people in person at their job and in their normal life After graduated, students need it for their business or profession Someone who does not speak English fluently might miss great opportunities to get a good job or get promotion Students have to equip a good background English when they study in university because it will help you communicate and exchange knowledge and experience to business with partner from other countries in the future better Nunan (1991) wrote “success is measured in terms of the ability to carry out a conversation in the language” Therefore, if students 10 CHAPTER RESEARCH AIM – RESEARCH QUESTION – HYPOTHESIS 3.1 Research aim: The study is conducted to find out problems of English majored sophomores at Tay Do University when learning speaking subject Thanks to the findings of this research, the researcher hopes students recognize their problems in speaking 3.2 Research question: This research is required to answer the question: What are common problems in speaking process of English majored sophomores at Tay Do University? 3.3 Hypothesis: According to most of English majored students at Tay Do University, speaking is the most difficult skill This research is hypothesized that English majored could face some problems in learning speaking skill The researcher also hypothesizes that those problems could be lack of vocabulary, poor grammatical, background knowledge, pronunciation and intonation, psychological obstacles 16 CHAPTER RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 4.1 Research Design This research is conducted to find out the problems that sophomores have faced in learning speaking subject The reliability and validity of the research results are based on the questionnaire To achieve the above purposes, the key of the research is participants They are 40 English majored sophomores who will be delivered questionnaire so that the information about their problems in studying English speaking subject could be collected 4.2 Participants The participants of this study are 40 sophomores from English majored classes, course X at Tay Do University They are males and 35 females They speak Vietnamese as their mother tongue and English is considered as their foreign language The main listening and speaking material they are learning is Interaction 2, silver edition The participants will be given questionnaires in order to get information about problems they have faced in learning speaking subject 4.3 Instrument Questionnaire is used to collect data about problems in learning speaking skill of sophomores majoring in English at Tay Do University The students share their opinions which are essential in the research process Thus, questionnaire is used as the instruments in this research The questionnaire consists of two parts Part one is designed to elicit information about the student’s background and student’s attitude toward speaking Part two consists of 20 statements about students’ problems 17 Part consists of sentences about student’s background and student’s attitude toward speaking Group Summary of the content of question group Student’s background a 1, 2, Student’s attitude toward speaking b 4, Part consists of 20 statements about students’ problems Group Summary of the content of question group a 1, 4, 9, 14 The problems in vocabulary b 2, 6, 8, 12 The problems in grammar c 3, 7, 10, 19 The problems in background knowledge d 5, 13, 15, 18 The problems in pronunciation and intonnation e 11, 16, 17, 20 The problems in psychological obstacles The participants will tick their choice on a five degree scale including strongly agree, agree, no idea, disagree and strongly disagree 4.4 Procedure This research was done within 12 weeks and the process was divided into steps in the following table: 18 Duration (12 weeks) Step 1:from the 1st week to 2nd week Activities in study process - Designing the framework of the research - Designing questionnaire - Looking for references Step : from the 3rd week to 7th - Getting the teacher’s guidance week - Editing chapter 1, 2, the questionnaires - Writing chapter - Writing chapter 4,5 and getting the teacher’s Step 3: from the 8th week to 12th week guidance - Editing chapter 3, 4, and temporary completion of the main content in the research - The teacher checks the research and proposes some advices - Editing the whole research - Completing the paper 19 CHAPTER EXPECTED OUTCOME Speaking plays an important role in learning a language Students majoring in English usually face many problems when learning it This research is conducted to find out the problems that English majored sophomores at Tay Do University have faced when learning speaking subject It is expected that the results of this study could bring benefits to the students in term of improving their speaking skill Specifically, they can identify their problems in speaking including vocabulary, grammar, background knowledge, pronunciation and intonation, psychological obstacles 5.1 Vocabulary Vocabulary could may be the first problem While speaking whenever students get short of appropriate words, supposed to be used in relation with particular context, they start feeling hesitation or start repeating words and lines which they had uttered before They cannot express themselves well or adequately because they lack adequate and appropriate vocabulary Therefore, students should learn words a day and using them or developing your own list of words to learn, this is a great method to learn new words The researcher expects students could use the vocabulary sutable with context 5.2 Grammar structure Student is most of the time affected by grammar If they don’t have proper knowledge of grammar rules and their automatic application in verbal speech, they won’t be able to speak fluently English Grammar is complex, making it difficult to remember and use logically Grammar is extremely difficult, incorrect use of grammar can confuse the person they are speaking to and even change the meaning of what they are communicating Through this study, students should learn the different tenses and learn by heart a simple example sentence using each tense.In addition, students should 20 online exercises and keep a note of how you did and go back in a few weeks or months to see how students have improved 5.3 Pronunciation and intonation Students are facing issue of pronunciation With regard to incorrect pronunciation, students felt that this kind of obstacle made them afraid to speak and found it difficult to pronounce English words Knowing how to pronounce words in English can be very difficult as it isn't always obvious Furthermore, depending on the first language of the English student, it can be difficult to pronounce certain words properly Intonation spoken by students with different accents makes the foreigner feel strange, confuse, discouraged and bored Students realize that they have problems that they pronounce the words not exactlly There are some excellent video and audio guides on youtube about English pronunciations that students should watch to improve pronunciation 5.4 Background knowledge Students also have no background knowledge about what they are speaking They not know how to express what they want to say because they lack information about the new topics Besides, they can misunderstand or have gaps in understanding the content of conversation, which makes everybody bored because of not having enough background knowledge 5.5 Psychological obstacles Another factor that makes students to hesitate to speak in English is that they are shy and nervous They feel fearful to speak English in front of other people because they lack confidence about their own competence in English They only feel shy if it happens that they make mistakes while presenting something in front of the class Second, as far as lack of confidence was concerned while speaking English, for the students, it happens to them to feel insecure to speak English when they have to talk to someone who’s 21 English speaking which is a fact that makes students feel hesitated about what to say is correct or wrong After this research, students could recognize they lack of confident when they are speaking, so they should join some English clup to practice speaking and improve self confident 22 REFERENCES Brown, D (1994) Principles of language learning and teaching Englewood Cliff: Prentice Hall Regent Burns, A., & Joyce, H (1997) Focus on speaking Sydney: National Center for English Language Teaching and Research Cambridge University Press Munro, M and Derwing, T (1999) Foreign accent, comprehensibility, and intelligibility in the speech of second language learners language learning, 49(1),285310 Chaney, A.L., and T.L Burk (1998) Teaching oral communication in grades K-8 Boston: Allyn&Bacon Dörnyei, Z (2001) Motivational strategies in the language classroom Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Erlenawati, S (2005), Language difficulties of international students in Australia: The effects of prior learning experience, International Education Journal, 6(5), 567-580 Retrieved from: http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ855010.pdf Hafsa, R and Aban, P M (2016), Problems in learning English speaking skill: A study of higher secondary students in Srinagar, India International Journal of Interdisciplinary and Multidisciplinary Studies (IJIMS), 3(2),59-69 Retrieved from: http://www.ijims.com/uploads/c06bf137f4c9f110af399.pdf Jim-Rohn quotes Retrieved March 5, 2013 from http://www.quotationcollection.com/author/Jim-Rohn/quotes Krashen, S (2002) Second language acquisition and second language learning University of Southern California New York: Prentice Hall Nguyen, Tien Dung (2015) Some common pronunciation problems facing vietnam learners of english Online thesis Retrieved from: http://bvu.edu.vn/web/ffl/cong-trinhbai-bao-khoa-hoc/-/asset_publisher/KIhbjhbiPqXD/content/some-commonpronunciation-problems-facing-vietnam-learners-of-english-ths-nguyen-tien-dung- 23 Nunan, D C 1989 Designing tasks for the communicative classroom Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Nunan D (1991) Language teaching methodology UK: Prentice Hall International (Chapter two & three) Rababah, G (2003) Communication problems facing Arab learners of English: A personal perspective TEFL Web Journal, (2) Retrieved from: http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED473079.pdf Schmitt, N (2000) Vocabulary in language teaching Cambridge: Cambridge University Press SITTIPONG, P (2008) The survey of English communication problems of admissions office at Rangsit university, retrieved from: http://www.rsu.ac.th/libarts/new/english/asp_work1/isa/sittipong.pdf Ulfayusica (2014) Problem faced by Thai student in speaking English, retrieved from: https://www.academia.edu/9423968/PROBLEM_FACED_BY_THAI_STUDENT_IN _SPEAKING_ENGLISH Youssouf, H (2016) Psychological factor affecting English speaking performance for the English learners in Indonesia Universal Journal of Educational Research, 4(7),1501-1505 Retrieved from: http://www.hrpub.org/download/20160630/UJER119505210.pdf Zhengdong, G (2012) Understanding L2 speaking problems: Implications for ESL curriculum development in a teacher training institution in Hong Kong, Australian Journal of Teacher Education, 37(1) Retrieved from: http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ954859.pdf 24 APPENDIX QUESTIONNAIRE FOR STUDENTS Dear friends, My name is Tran Thuy Duong and I am currently a senior majoring in English I am very grateful to you for spending your valuable time helping me Now I am carrying out a research entitled “ Problems in learning English speaking skill: A study of English majored sophomores at Tay Do University ” This is the questionnaire used to collect the necessary information from you, so please take your time to finish these below questions carefully because your answers are very important and helpful to my research Once again, thank you so much! Part Student’s full name: Age Gender: Male Female Class: Please read the following question and circle the appropriate answer for each question Give specific answers if needed 1/ How long you studied English? ……… years 2/ Which subject you like best? a Listening b Speaking c Reading d Writing e Others: ………………………… 25 3/ Which subject did you learn when you were in high school? a Listening b Speaking c Reading d Writing 4/ What you think about speaking subject ? a Very important b Important c Normal d Not important e Not important at all 5/ How much time you spend practicing listening a day? ……… Part This below table is about your difficulties communicating English Please read the following statements and mark (x) in suitable column to express your opinion Strongly Statements Agree No ideas Disagree agree Strongly Disagree (1) (2) Vocabulary causes you difficultty in speaking 26 (3) (4) (5) Grammatical errors cause your problems in speaking Background knowledge has a negative effect on your speaking ability You have a lot of vocabulary but they not know how to use them in suitable situation Your poor pronunciation make other people not understand you You often make grammar mistakes in speaking When you face unfamiliar topics, you are confused to show your thoughts because of lacking necessary information 8.You have troubles with grammar when you speak You are missing some important vocabulary words and it becomes difficult to say what you are thinking 27 10 You often meet difficulties to express your ideas, feelings, emotions due to your poor background knowledge 11 You afraid to make embarrassing mistakes and take risks 12 You not know to build sentence structure as you speaking 13 You often face many difficulties in speaking because your pronunciation is not good 14 You not have enough vocabulary to express your ideas, thoughts and emotions 15 You not know how to pronounce the words exactly when you speak 16 You are confused when speaking English with other people 28 17 You are not confident in speaking English 18 Poor intonation causes you troubles in speaking 19 You not know how to express what you want to say because you lack information about the new topics 20 You feel hesitating to express their thoughts, feeling, emotion in speaking THANKS FOR YOUR HELP! 29 30