A survey on english major sophomores’ speaking capacity at tay do university by joining in english groups and clubs

TAY DO UNIVERSITY FACULTY OF LINGUISTICS AND LITERATURE RESEARCH PROPOSAL A SURVEY ON ENGLISH MAJOR SOPHOMORES’ SPEAKING CAPACITY AT TAY DO UNIVERSITY BY JOINING IN ENGLISH GROUPS AND CLUBS Supervisor: Student: DANG THI HANH, MA Name: LE XUAN TRUC Code: 13D220201086 Class: Bachelor of English 8B Can Tho, April 2017 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT This research proposal could hardly finish without enthusiastic help of many people First of all, I wish to express my great gratitude towards my supervisor - Ms Dang Thi Hanh, MA at Tay Do University This proposal could not have been completed without her enthusiastic, thoughtful and informative instruction Actually, she instructed, commented and provided me useful references and materials so that I could complete my research proposal In addition, she spent her valuable time on guiding and encouraging me during the time I was conducting the research Secondly, I want to show my special thanks to lecturers in the Faculty of Linguistic and Literatures of Tay Do University who conveyed knowledge of English to me over the past years Finally, I am sincerely grateful to my family and my friends who encouraged and supported me The completion and success of the proposal would not be achieved without their help i COMMENTS  ii TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENT i COMMENTS ii TABLE OF CONTENTS iii ABSTRACT v CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale 1.2 The significance of study 1.3 The organization of study CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 The definitions of speaking and its importance 2.1.1 The definitions of speaking 2.1.2 The importance of English speaking skill 2.2 The problems of English speaking 2.2.1 Vocabulary 2.2.2 Pronunciation 2.2.3 Grammar structures 2.2.4 Psychology 2.3 English groups and clubs 2.3.1 The definitions of English groups and clubs 2.3.2 The purpose of joining in English groups and clubs 2.3.3 The benefits of joining in English groups and clubs 2.4 Previous studies 10 2.4.1 Mohd Hilmi Hamzah & Lu Yee Ting Fakulti Pendidikan, (Universiti Teknologi Malaysia) 10 2.4.2 Riyanto, Honang Adi 2015 10 CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH AIMS - RESEARCH QUESTIONS HYPHOTHESIS 12 iii 3.1 Research aims 12 3.2 Research questions 12 3.3 Hypothesis 12 CHAPTER 4: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 13 4.1 Design 13 4.2 Participants 13 4.3 Instruments 13 4.4 4.3.1 Questionnaire 13 4.3.2 Observation 14 Procedure 14 CHAPTER 5: EXPECTED OUTCOME 15 REFERENCES 16 APPENDIX: QUESTIONNAIRE FOR STUDENT 18 iv ABSTRACT This survey research presents the process of the study about “A survey on English major sophomores’ speaking capacity at Tay Do University by joining in English groups and clubs” The participants of this research are 52 students of class Bachelor of English 10A, course 2015 - 2019 In study process, questionnaire is used as an instrument to collect the data The results of the research will point out the benefits from joining in English groups and clubs and the sophomores can join in English groups and clubs to improve their speaking v CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION In this chapter, the researcher would like to present the rationale, the significance and the organization of the study 1.1 Rationale Nowadays, English becomes the common language in many different countries around the world English is the passport to success and a deeper understanding of our quickly changing world Therefore, teaching and learning English are very important and necessary because mastering English is the best and the shortest way for us to have a great deal of the opportunities to reach the success of life For students learning English, speaking also has a strong impact on many fields In other words, it plays a crucial role which can determine the success or failure of every life aspect such as communication, negotiation, business, etc But Vietnamese students, especially the English majored sophomores at Tay Do University have a lot of difficulties in practicing English speaking skill There are four main reasons: facing difficulties in vocabulary, pronunciation, grammar and psychology Besides, there is no English speaking environment and the interesting extra- activities prevent them from practicing and improving English Those are the main reasons why they don’t get the effective result in learning English, especially the English speaking skill To solve these difficulties, there are many methods to help students improve their speaking skill Nevertheless, joining in English groups and clubs are suggested as an effective way to improve speaking skill According to Harmer “The students who are exposed repeatedly to language in outside the context of any classroom, will in normal circumstances learn it They this unconsciously - rather than as a form of study” (Jeremy Harmer - How To Teach English 1998) From these reasons above, the researcher decided to carry out a study about “A survey on English major sophomores’ speaking capacity at Tay Do University by joining in English groups and clubs” The research is done to help the English majored sophomores at Tay Do University recognize the benefits of joining in English groups and clubs Hence, the researcher hopes students can improve their English speaking ability better in the near future 1.2 The significance of study This study was expected to help students realize their difficulties in English speaking, particularly the English majored sophomores at Tay Do University In addition, basing on the problems mentioned in this study, some effective methods would be recommended to solve the problems to help students improve their speaking skill better 1.3 The organization of study The research 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 outcome CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW Chapter presents the definitions of speaking, its importance and what problems have faced to learn in speaking skill (vocabulary, pronunciation, grammar and psychology) It also includes the purpose and benefits when joining in English groups and clubs 2.1 The definitions of speaking and its importance 2.1.1 The definitions of speaking There are many definitions of speaking presented by different scholars and the famous researchers or prestigious universities According to Tarigan (1985, p15) “Speaking is a skill conveying words or sounds of articulation to express or to deliver ideas, opinion, and feeling” Speaking is one of the very important language skills to be mastered by the students in order to be a good communicator Speaking is the verbal use of language to communicate with other people People use the term “speaking” in different ways, which can cause much confusion Speaking a foreign language usually seems harder than learning to write and read it The most common problem is that they cannot speak their thinking and idea In fact, it is like a vicious circle: they make mistakes, they become afraid of speaking and thus they never get the practice to be able to correct their mistakes Most of the beginning learners not understand exactly “What is speaking?” They only regard speaking is a simple and easy process that involves the words, the ideas…by speaking out what they think According to the Oxford dictionary of Current English 2009 “Speaking is the action of conveying information or expressing one’s thoughts and feelings in spoken language, and speaking is used to indicate the degree of accuracy intended in a statement or the point of view from which it is made” In the book “Developing speaking skill” of David Scheter, published on 1999, there is a definition that “Speaking is to utter words or articulate sounds, as human beings to express thoughts by words” Meanwhile, in the book Collins Cobuild English for advanced learner (2007) speaking is defined as “The activities of giving speeches and talks, to indicate the opinion you are giving” According to Hornby “Speaking is an ability that is taken for granted, learned as it is through process of socialization through communicating Speaking is making use of language in ordinary voice; uttering words; knowing and being able to use a language; expressing oneself in words; making speech” “Speaking is defined as an interactive process of constructing meaning that involves producing, receiving and processing information Its form and meaning are dependent on the context in which it occurs the participants and the purposes of speaking” (Burns & Joyce, 1997) “Speaking is also understood is the productive skill in the oral mode It, like the oral skills, is more complicated than it seems at first and involves more than just pronouncing words” (In the website Lingua Link Library, 1999) In short, speaking can be the way to carry out feeling through words, even conversations with others It means that human use words and phrases in interactive process of constructing meaning of speaking Nunan (2003:48) defines that “Speaking consists of producing systematic verbal utterances to convey meaning” In spoken language, speaking has to be listened by others It has temporary and immediate reception When they speak to other people, it has special prosody some like stress, rhythm, and intonation It must be there an intermediate feedback for communicating directly By speaking activity, orator or speaker has to pay attention to planning and editing by channel 2.1.2 The importance of English speaking skill Nowadays, English is an international language in the world, so speaking English fluently is the key to communicate with foreign people and that is a big chance for you to get a good job Besides, thanks to the discussion and presentation activities, students have chances to improve their idea-expressing, presentation skill and raise their problem-solving skill when they altogether deal with the dominated situations As a result, students will increase their working skill and become more confident and have better job opportunities in the future 2.4 Previous studies 2.4.1 Mohd Hilmi Hamzah & Lu Yee Ting Fakulti Pendidikan, (Universiti Teknologi Malaysia) Teaching speaking skills through group work activities: a case study in SMK Damai Jaya This study generally attempted to look at some issues of students’ speaking in an ESL classroom Students’ perspectives with regards to their involvement in oral group activities were identified Besides, the potential implications of group work activities on the students’ individual performance in speaking assessment were also determined To achieve these objectives, 33 Form students of SMK Damai Jaya were involved The data were obtained through the analysis of students’ questionnaire, interviews with three language teachers as well as the observations in class during group work activities The findings show students’ positive attitude towards group work activities in class This contributes to a significant increase in students’ participation in their groups The general results obtained also indicate some improvements in students’ speaking when they are assessed individually Hence, group work activities could have significant pedagogical implications and could be a practical technique if they are carefully planned to teach speaking skills among the students 2.4.2 Riyanto, Honang Adi 2015 Improving speaking skill through small group discussion (a classroom action research for the third grade students of Vocational Secondary School Pancasila Salatiga in the academic year 2015/2016) The aims of this research are (1) to describe the procedure of implementation of small group discussion to improve the students’ speaking skill for third grade of 10 Vocational Secondary School Pancasila Salatiga (2) To find out whether there is improvement of students’ speaking skill through small group discussion or not and (3) to find out to what the extent the use of small group discussion improve the students’ speaking skill The research method that is used in this research is classroom action research The subjects of the research were 14 students in third grade at Vocational Secondary School Pancasila Salatiga The researcher uses two cycles; each cycle consists of planning, action, observation and reflection The result of his research shows that there is an improvement of students’ speaking skill using small group discussion technique This indicates that by applying small group discussion technique, the students in speaking skill can be improved 11 CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH AIMS - RESEARCH QUESTIONS HYPHOTHESIS 3.1 Research aims This research is conducted to find out the problems that English majored sophomores at Tay Do University have faced when learning speaking subject The most important purpose of this research is to help them recognize that joining in English groups and clubs are an effective way to improve their speaking ability 3.2 Research questions This research is required to answer the following research questions: What problems have the English majored sophomores at Tay Do University faced in learning speaking? Does joining in English groups and clubs help sophomores at Tay Do University improve their speaking ability? How does joining in English groups and clubs help sophomores at Tay Do University improve their speaking ability? 3.3 Hypothesis According to most of English majored students at Tay Do University, speaking is the most difficult skill Although they have been learning speaking skill in four terms, presentation skill in one term and public speaking in one term, they still have faced with many difficulties in English speaking Through the literature review and research questions, it is hypothesized that the speaking skill of English majored sophomores would be improved and developed thanks to the benefits from joining in English groups and clubs 12 CHAPTER 4: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 4.1 Design The research was conducted to answer the research questions stated in chapter The main key of the research results were based on the instruments The data from the participants will be collected through the questionnaire of class Bachelor of English 10A at Tay Do University Moreover, to make the research more reliable and valuable, students were observed at English club This study was the combination of quantitative research and qualitative research because the instruments were questionnaire and observation 4.2 Participants The participants of this study are students class Bachelor of English 10A at Tay Do University The students come from different areas, both rural and urban They speak Vietnamese as their mother tongue and English is considered as foreign language They have been learning English from to 12 years They will be given questionnaire to get information Besides, they also will be observed in speaking English periods at class and English club 4.3 Instruments Questionnaire is an instrument of this research that is used to get participants’ ideas about problems in speaking and benefit from joining in English groups and clubs By answering the questions on questionnaire, the attitude of students towards English speaking skill can be revealed It also point out the students’ obstacles when learning speaking In addition, the students will be observed in the speaking English periods and English club 4.3.1 Questionnaire The questionnaire includes questions and 33 statements and it is classified into the following groups: 13 Group Summary of the content of question group a 1,2,3,4,5,6,7 Students’ background b 8,9 Students’ attitude toward speaking c From 10 to 21 The problems students have faced in speaking d From 22 to 40 The positive effects of joining in English groups and clubs on speaking skill 4.3.2 Observation The students will be observed in the speaking English periods in class and English clubs 4.4 Procedure Duration (12 weeks) Step From the 1st week to 5th week Activities in study process ‐ Designing the outline of the research ‐ Searching for materials and sources to support the research ‐ Designing and editing the questionnaire Step From the 6th week to 8th week ‐ Delivering the questionnaires to students ‐ Collecting the data from questionnaire ‐ Observing the speaking English periods at class and English club ‐ Analyzing Step the collected data from questionnaires From the 9th week to 12th week ‐ Showing the results from observing at class and English club ‐ Completing the research 14 CHAPTER 5: EXPECTED OUTCOME Doing this study, the researcher hopes that English majored sophomores at Tay Do University can recognize the benefits of joining in English groups and clubs Through join in English groups and clubs, the students can learn new words from the members in English groups or clubs They can enhance grammatical structure such as tenses, sentences, clauses,… when practicing the English speaking regularly They can increase background knowledge, express their ideas, thinking and emotion for their speaking Hopefully, this study will figure out whether English majored sophomores at Tay Do University are fluent in speaking English and the factors affecting their speaking English skill As a result, the researcher is able to find out ways helping students to improve their speaking English skill and apply the skills are learned from joining in English groups and clubs to speaking English is better Besides, the researcher hopes that the teachers will understand thoroughly more about student’s positive attitude toward with joining in English groups and clubs Simultaneously, from this research, the teachers will find the appropriate methods to improve and enhance their student’ speaking English skill Moreover, the researcher hopes that the school facilitate to help the students have more opportunities to develop, learn and enhance their English speaking skills 15 REFERENCES ** Burn, A., & Joyce, H (1997) Focus on speaking Sydney: National Center for English Language Teaching and Research Collins English Dictionary (1819) Retrieved February 15, 2017, from https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/club Cook, V (1996) Second Language Learning and Language Teaching London: Arnold David Scheter (1999) Developing speaking skill Gilakjani, A.P (2012) The significance of pronunciation in English language teaching English Teaching Journal, 5(4), 96-107 Hornby, A (1974) Oxford Advanced Learners’ Dictionary of Current English Oxford: Oxford University Press Jeremy Harmer (1998) How to Teach English John Sinclair (2007) Collins Cobuild English for advanced learner Khamkhien, A (2010) Teaching English Speaking and English Speaking Tests in the Thai Context: A Reflection from Thai Perspective English Language Teaching Journal, 3(1), 184-200 Lingua Link Library (1999) Language learning Retrieved February 7, 2017, from http://www-01.sil.org/lingualinks/LANGUAGELEARNING/OtherResources/Gudln sFrALnggAndCltrLrnngPrgrm/SpeakingSkill.htm 16 Mohd Hilmi Hamzah & Lu Yee Ting Fakulti Pendidikan, (Universiti Teknologi Malaysia) Teaching speaking skills through group work activities: a case study in SMK Damai Jaya Nunan, D (2003) Practical English Language Teaching New York: Mc Graw Hill Oxford dictionary of Current English (2009) Retrieved January 24, 2017, from http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O999-speaking.html Riyanto, Honang Adi (2015) Improving speaking skill through small group discussion (a classroom action research for the third grade students of Vocational Secondary School Pancasila Salatiga in the academic year 2015/2016) Robert Frost Quotes Retrieved February 12, 2017, from http://www.quoteauthors.com/robert-frost-quotes/ Samuels, S (1984) Factors influencing listening: Inside and outside the head 23(3), 183-189 Retrieved February 15, 2017, from EBSCOhost database Tarigan, H G (1985) Berbicara sebagai suatu keterampilan berbahasa Bandung: Angkasa Thornbury, S (2002) How to teach vocabulary Essex: Pearson Education limited Tuoi tre newspaper, (2015) Benefits of joining English speaking club Retrieved February 20, 2017, from http://tuoitre.tchq.edu.vn/benefits-of-joining-cfc-english-speaking-club-33.html Widdowson, H.G (1994) Teaching Language as Communication Oxford: Oxford University Press Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Tagalog grammar Retrieved February 7, 2017, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tagalog_grammar 17 APPENDIX QUESTIONNAIRE FOR STUDENT Dear friends, My name is Le Xuan Truc and I am currently a senior majoring in English I am very grateful to you for spending your precious time helping me This questionnaire is an instrument in my research about “A survey on English major sophomores’ speaking capacity at Tay Do University by joining in English groups and clubs” Please take your time to fulfill these questions carefully because your answers are very important and helpful to my research Once again, thank you very much! Student’s full name: Age: Gender: Male Female Class: Please read the following questions and cicle the appropriate answer for each question Give specific answers if needed How long have you studied English? years Where you come from? a Urban area/ city b Rural area/ countryside Which subject did you learn when you were in high school? a Listening b Speaking c Reading d Writing e Grammar 18 What you think about speaking? a Very important b Important c Normal d Not important e Not important at all How is your speaking skill? a Very good b Good c Normal d Bad e Very bad How many periods a week did you practice speaking to English? period(s) a week Do you have enough time to practice speaking to English? a Yes b No Why? 19 This bellow table is about your difficulties in speaking English Please read the following statements and mark () in suitable column to express your opinion Strongly Statements Agree Agree (1) (2) Speaking skill plays an important role in studying English speaking skill is not easy for you 10 You have many difficulties in finding the English speaking environment 11 You not have enough time to practice speaking in class 12 You have met difficulties in learning vocabulary 13 You forget some word because you not practice it regularly 14 Many students express their because they cannot thinking lack of vocabulary 15 Pronunciation is one of the hardest element Strongly in learning English speaking 20 No idea Disagree (3) (4) disagree (5) 16 You have difficulties with final sound 17 Grammar is also problem when speaking English 18 You always focus on grammatical structure when speaking 19 Self-confidence is one of your obstacle 20 When speaking or presenting in front of people, you are shy and anxious 21 You cannot arrange your ideas to speak out This table is about the positive effects of joining in English groups and clubs on speaking skill 22 The English clubs and conversation groups helps the English majored students improve speaking skill 23 The English clubs and conversation groups provides many opportunities for the English majored students to communicate with other people 21 24 When joining in English groups and clubs, you have many chances to make friends 25 Joining in English groups and clubs gives you many interesting topics and information about the various fields 26 Vocabulary plays an important role in speaking English 27 When you join the English groups and clubs, you will know more 28 Communicating with vocabulary English speaking people, you can apply the words that you have learned 29 When you know many vocabularies, you can express your idea, thinking and emotion 30 You can learn new words from the members in English groups or clubs 22 31 Joining in English groups and clubs are one of the effective ways to improve your pronunciation 32 Practicing English speaking regularly will have positive affect into intonation 33 Joining in English groups and clubs often helps you pronounce the last sound correctly 34 Grammar structure is an important factor affecting speaking skill 35 You can enhance grammatical structure such as tenses, sentences, clauses,… when practicing the English speaking regularly 36 You not need to translate word-by-word from Vietnamese when joining in English groups and clubs 37 Practicing English regularly will help you react quickly when speaking 23 38 Psychology is one of the important factors in speaking skill 39 You can speak fluently when you are confident 40 Confidence is a key to communicate successfully THANKS FOR YOUR HELP! 24