An investigation into difficulties in practising english speaking skill by tourism second year students at faculty of hospitality and tourism hue university

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING UNIVERSITY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES, HUE UNIVERSITY HUYNH THE NHAN AN INVESTIGATION INTO DIFFICULTIES IN PRACTISING ENGLISH SPEAKING SKILL BY TOURISM SECOND-YEAR STUDENTS AT FACULTY OF HOSPITALITY AND TOURISM, HUE UNIVERSITY MA THESIS IN THEORY AND METHODOLOGY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts, Hue University of Foreign Languages HUE, 2019 MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING UNIVERSITY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES, HUE UNIVERSITY HUYNH THE NHAN AN INVESTIGATION INTO DIFFICULTIES IN PRACTISING ENGLISH SPEAKING SKILL BY TOURISM SECOND-YEAR STUDENTS AT FACULTY OF HOSPITALITY AND TOURISM, HUE UNIVERSITY MA THESIS IN THEORY AND METHODOLOGY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING CODE: 8140111 SUPERVISOR: Assoc Prof., PhD TRAN VAN PHUOC HUE, 2019 i BỘ GIÁO DỤC VÀ ĐÀO TẠO ĐẠI HỌC HUẾ TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC NGOẠI NGỮ - HUỲNH THẾ NHÂN ĐIỀU TRA VỀ NHỮNG KHÓ KHĂN TRONG VIỆC LUYỆN TẬP KỸ NĂNG NÓI TIẾNG ANH CỦA SINH VIÊN KHOA DU LỊCH, ĐẠI HỌC HUẾ LUẬN VĂN THẠC SĨ LÝ LUẬN VÀ PHƯƠNG PHÁP DẠY HỌC BỘ MÔN TIẾNG ANH MÃ SỐ: 8140111 NGƯỜI HƯỚNG DẪN KHOA HỌC: PHÓ GIÁO SƯ, TIẾN SĨ TRẦN VĂN PHƯỚC HUẾ, 2019 ii STATEMENT OF ORIGINAL AUTHORSHIP The work contained in this thesis has not previously been submitted for a degree or diploma in any university I certify that, to the best of my knowledge and belief, my thesis contains no material previously published or written by another person except where due reference is made in the thesis itself Signed: ………… Date: …… / …… / ……… iii ABSTRACT This current study aims to investigate difficulties in practising English Speaking Skill by tourism second-year students at Faculty of Hospitality and Tourism, Hue University To carry out this research, both qualitative and quantitative approaches were used in this study which included the questionnaires for students and interviews for teachers to collect and analyse data The findings showed that students had good perceptions on practising English Speaking Skill However, they encountered many difficulties in practising English Speaking Skill Finally, this study aims at suggesting some solutions for students and teachers that may help students to practise English Speaking Skill effectively Keywords: Practising English Speaking Skill, Difficulties, Solutions iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Firstly, I am grateful to my supervisor, who gave me valuable guidances and supported me a lot to my whole research study throughout the process of course He encouraged and helped me to overcome difficulties and develop this research study Secondly, I would like to extend my thanks to University of Foreign Languages, Hue University for giving me opportunities to finish this research study Thanks also go to the judgements committee for agreeing to take part in examining this dissertation Lastly, I am also cordially thanking to teachers and students at Faculty of Hospitality and Tourism, Hue University helped me try the best to conduct the project They gave me exact data and information and also had suggestions for making my project well Finally, I would like to thank my friends who always helped, encouraged, and motivated me to continue this research v TABLES OF CONTENTS Page STATEMENT OF ORIGINAL AUTHORSHIP vii ABSTRACT iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS v CHAPTER INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale 1.2 Research Aims 1.3 Research Questions 1.4 Scope of Research 1.5 Significance of Research 1.6 Structure of Research CHAPTER LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Theoretical background 2.1.1 Definitions of tourism 2.1.2 English for Tourism 2.1.3 Speaking Skill in English for Tourism 2.1.4 Roles of practice in English Speaking Skill 2.1.5 Difficulties in practising English Speaking Skill 2.2 Previous studies 10 2.3 Summary 12 CHAPTER 13 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 13 3.1 Research design 13 3.2 Data collection methods 14 3.2.1 Research participants 14 3.2.2 Instruments 14 3.2.2.1 Questionnaires 15 3.2.2.2 Interviews 15 3.2.2.3 Data collection procedure 15 3.3 Data analysis method 16 3.4 Summary 16 CHAPTER 17 FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 17 4.1 Students' questionnaire………… ………………………………………17 vi 4.1.1 Students’ and teachers’ perceptions on practising English Speaking Skill 17 4.1.2 Students’ difficulties in terms of some aspects (time allocation, practice organization, materials, knowledge and skills, feelings) in practising English Speaking Skill 23 4.1.3 Solutions in practising English Speaking Skill 31 4.2 Teachers' interview………………………………… ………………… 33 4.3 Summary 37 CHAPTER 38 CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS 38 5.1 Summary of the Findings 38 5.1.1 Teachers’ and Students’ perceptions on practising English Speaking Skill 38 5.1.2 Students’ difficulties in terms of some aspects (time allocation, practice organization, materials, knowledge and skills, feelings) in practising English Speaking Skill 39 5.1.3 Solutions in English Speaking Skill practice 39 5.2 Implications 40 5.2.1 Implications for students 41 5.2.2 Implications for teachers 43 5.3 Limitations and further research 43 5.3.1 Limitation 43 5.3.2 Further Research 43 REFERENCES 44 APPENDICES 48 vii LIST OF TABLES Table Definition of practice in a foreign language 17 Table The necessity of English Speaking Skill 18 Table The necessity of practising Tourism English Speaking Skill 18 Table Type(s) of English that students need to practice English Speaking Skill 19 Table The knowledge that student need for practising English Speaking Skill 19 Table The skills that students should combine with when practising English Speaking Skill 20 Table The material(s) that students need to use when practising English Speaking Skill 20 Table Partners that students should practise English Speaking Skill with 21 Table The places that the students should practise English Speaking Skill 22 Table 10 English Speaking Skill practice compares with learning theory in class 22 Table 11 The difficulties were appeared from time allocation in practising English Speaking Skill in class 23 Table 12 The difficulties that students encountered in the stages allocation for practising English Speaking Skill 23 Table 13 The difficulties in terms of places were found in practising English Speaking Skill 24 Table 14 The difficulties in terms of partners were raised in practising English Speaking Skill 25 Table 15 The difficulties in terms of materials were found in practising English Speaking Skill 25 Table 16 The topic(s) that the students found difficult to use in English Speaking Skill Practice 26 Table 17 The types of English that students find difficult in practising English Speaking Skill 26 Table 18 The linguistic tourism and related knowledge limited students’ English Speaking Skill Practice 27 Table 19 The sub-skills of Speaking obstacled students during English Speaking Skill Practice? 27 Table 20 The difficulties in terms of feelings that students encountered during their English Speaking Skill Practice 28 Table 21 The difficulties in temrs of feelings that students encountered after their English Speaking Skill Practice 29 viii Table 22 The knowledge that students felt the most after English Speaking Skill practice 30 Table 23 The general problems that students found out in their English Speaking Skill Practice 31 Table 24 The solutions that the Faculty and teachers should have to improve English Speaking Skill practice for students 32 Table 25 What students need to to improve knowledge for English Speaking Skill practice 32 Table 26 What students need to for English Speaking Skill practice 33 Table 27 According to teacchers, is Speaking Skill important for students? 33 Table 28 According to teachers, is practising Tourism English speaking Skill necessary for students? 34 Table 29 According to teachers, which knowledge the students need for practising English Speaking Skill? 34 Table 30 According to teachers, which material(s) should the students need to use when practising English Speaking Skill? 35 Table 31 According to teachers, how did students feel during their English Speaking Skill practice? 35 Table 32 According to teachers, what should the Faculty and teachers to improve English Speaking Skill for students……………………………… 36 ix English Speaking Skill, attention should be paid to select English Speaking materials Materials should be selected carefully and suitable for students’ interest and levels References would be valuable sources for students when they practise English Speaking Skill outside the class Teachers can provide more practice activities so that students can have more chances to practise at home what they learned Besides, more extra exercises should be assigned for students after each English Speaking lesson 5.3 Limitations and further research 5.3.1 Limitations First of all, there were only 30 students and teachers as the participants for the research study It will be better if those numbers can be broaden Secondly, the study only used two instruments – questionnaire for students and interviews for teachers as data collection methodologies Thirdly, this study was conducted in only Faculty of Hospitality and Tourism, Hue University while there are many universities in Thua Thien Hue province and different other universities throughout Vietnam 5.3.2 Further research This study was carried out in only Faculty of Hospitality and Tourism, Hue University while there are other universities in Thua Thien Hue as well as throughout Vietnam Therefore, it was suggested that a study to investigate students’ difficulties in practising English Speaking Skill should be conducted in different universities in Vietnam The further research might also find out and analyze the solutions for tourism students more clearly to help them to overcome their difficulties in practising English Speaking Skill and suggest more effective English Speaking Skills teaching methods for English teachers 43 REFERENCES Al-khatib, M A (2005) English in the Workplace: An Analysis of the Communication Needs of Tourism and Banking Personnel 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- Just repeat what you learned in class - Repeat what you learned in class and have more creations - Use language you learned to practise skills - Use skills you learned to be able to use language outside the class - Other ideas Item Is English Speaking Skill necessary? - very necessary - necessary - less necessary - not necessary - no idea Item Is practising Tourism English Speaking Skill necessary? - very necessary - necessary - less necessary - no ideas Item In which type(s) of English you need to practise English Speaking Skill? - General English - Tourism English - Both General English and Tourism English - No idea 48 Item Which knowledge you need for practising English Speaking Skill? - Pronunciation - Grammar structure - General English Vocabulary - Tourism English Vocabulary - Other ideas Item According to you, which skill(s) should you combine with when practising English Speaking Skill? - Only Speaking Skill - Combining with Listening Skill - Combining with Reading Skill - Combining with Writing Skill - Combining with Listening, Reading and Writing Skills Item According to you, which material(s) should you need to use when practising English Speaking Skill? - Textbooks - Textbooks and supplementary materials - Only supplementary materials - Textbooks and technology equipment Item Who should you practise English Speaking Skill with? - Just alone - With classmates - With teachers - With foreigners - With classmates, teachers and foreigners Item Where should you practise Speaking Skill? - In class - In small groups in class - Outside the class - Inside and outside the class Item 10 How is English Speaking Skill practice compared with learning theory in class? - 100% - Over 50% - Over 30% - Over 10% 49 B Students’ difficulties in terms of some aspects (time allocation, practice organization, materials, knowledge and skills, feelings) in practising English Speaking Skill Item 11 Which difficulites were appeared from time allocation in practising English Speaking Skill in your class? >1 lesson