Factors influencing the english speaking skills of english majored freshmen at bac lieu university

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HO CHI MINH CITY UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY - SAM NGOC KHA TU FACTORS INFLUENCING THE ENGLISH SPEAKING SKILLS OF ENGLISH-MAJORED FRESHMEN AT BAC LIEU UNIVERSITY Major: English Language Course code: 1741900084 i HO CHI MINH CITY, September 2020 MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HO CHI MINH CITY UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY - FACTORS INFLUENCING THE ENGLISH SPEAKING SKILLS OF ENGLISH-MAJORED FRESHMEN AT BAC LIEU UNIVERSITY Submitted to the Faculty of English Language in partial fulfillment of the Master’s degree in English Language Course code: 1741900084 By SAM NGOC KHA TU Supervised by Dr LE VAN TUYEN HO CHI MINHii CITY, September 2020 The thesis entitled: FACTORS INFLUENCING THE ENGLISH SPEAKING SKILLS OF ENGLISH-MAJORED FRESHMEN AT BAC LIEU UNIVERSITY was successfully defended and approved on ……… at Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology (HUTECH) Academic supervisor: ………………………………………………… Examination Committee 1.……………………………………………………………Chair 2…………………………………………….…………….Reader1 3………………………………………………………… Reader 4………………………………………………………… Member 5……………………………………………………… Secretary Member On behalf of the Examination Committee Chair i HCMC UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY POSTGRADUATE INSTITUTE HCMC, September 30th, 2020 MASTER’S THESIS REPORT Student name: SAM NGOC KHA TU Date of birth: 04/05/1991 Major: English Language I- II- Sex: Female Place of birth: Bac Lieu Student code: 1741900084 Thesis title: FACTORS INFLUENCING THE ENGLISH SPEAKING SKILLS OF ENGLISH-MAJORED FRESHMEN AT BAC LIEU UNIVERSITY Objectives and contents: This study aims at investigating factors that may affect the speaking skills of the English-majored freshmen at BLU More specifically, the objective of the study is to discover what factors that positively or negatively affect the English-majored freshmen’s English speaking skills IIIIVV- Starting date: (as stated in the Decision issued by the University) Completing date: September 30th, 2020 Academic supervisor: Dr LE VAN TUYEN ACADEMIC SUPERVISOR (full name, signature) FACULTY DEAN (full name, signature) i CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY I certify my authorship of the Master’s Thesis submitted today entitled: FACTORS INFLUENCING THE ENGLISH SPEAKING SKILLS OF ENGLISHMAJORED FRESHMEN AT BAC LIEU UNIVERSITY In terms of the statement of requirements for Thesis in Master’s programs issued by the Higher Degree Committee of Faculty of English Language, Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology Ho Chi Minh, September 2020 ii RETENTION AND USE OF THE THESIS I hereby state that I, SAM NGOC KHA TU, being a candidate for the degree of Master of Arts in English Language accept the requirements of the University relating to the retention and use of Master’ Theses deposited in the Library In terms of these conditions, I agree that the original of my Master’s Thesis deposited in the Library should be accessible for purposes of study and research, in accordance with the normal conditions established by the Librarian for the care, loan, and reproduction for theses Ho Chi Minh, September 2020 Signature…………………………… SAM NGOC KHA TU iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS All those who positively supported and contributed to the success of my study, receive my gratitude Firstly, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my thesis supervisor, Dr Le Van Tuyen for his continuous encouragement, informative feedback and enthusiastic guidance during the entire period of study He has been a wonderful supervisor and I feel grateful for his supports His expertise and recommendations were a great source of inspiration Secondly, I express my gratitude to all lecturers and staff of the Institute for Postgraduate and the Department of English Language in HUTECH for their valuable lessons and great help in my thesis preparation Finally, I would like to thank some of the enthusiastic teachers from Foreign Language Division and English-majored freshmen from Education Faculty at Bac Lieu University who helped me to provide and collect valuable data for the questionnaire and interview My work could not be done without the participation of teachers and students at the university Also, my special thanks the management board of Education Faculty for willingly allowing me to conduct this study iv ABSTRACT It has become one of the crucial issues for Vietnamese university students to learn English for international communication in the global integration due to vocational purpose after graduating However, for English majored students, who are required to master English skills, especially speaking communication encounter challenges inhibiting their speaking fluency and proficiency This study, therefore, aimed to investigate factors influencing English speaking skills for English-majored freshmen at Bac Lieu University (BLU) 60 English-majored freshmen and English teachers who were teaching speaking lessons for these EFL students from Foreign Language Division at BLU were participants in the current study The questionnaire and semi-structured interviews were adopted to obtain both quantitative and qualitative data For analyzing the data collected, descriptive statistics and content analysis were employed The findings of the study indicated that Englishmajored freshmen coped with negative factors related to students, learning environment and teachers, especially anxiety, teaching methods and the limitation of English speaking environment were highlighted in each factor Finally, the findings of the study are expected to be beneficial for both English teachers and students at BLU, highlight the difficulties in teaching and learning speaking English and possible strategies to overcome obstacles as well as achieve a better performance for EFL students Key words: factors, English speaking skills, perspectives, possible strategies v TABLE OF CONTENTS Master’s thesis report i Certificate of originality ii Retention and use of the thesis iii Acknowledgements iv Abstract v Table of contents vi List of tables viii List of figures ix List of abbreviations x CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background to the study 1.2 Problem statement 1.3 Aims and objectives of the study 1.4 Research questions 1.5 Scope of the study 1.6 Significance of the study 1.7 Definition of key terms 1.8 Organization of the thesis CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Introduction 2.2 Speaking skills 2.2.1 Definition of speaking 2.2.2 Characteristics of speaking skills 2.2.3 The importance of speaking in L2 acquisition 11 2.3 Teaching and learning English speaking skills 12 2.3.1 Teaching English speaking skills 12 2.3.2 Learning English speaking skills 14 2.4 Factors influencing speaking skills 17 2.4.1 Student-related factors 17 2.4.2 Learning environment-related factors 23 2.4.3 Teacher-related factors 25 2.5 Ways of reducing negative factors affecting students’ speaking skills 27 2.6 Previous studies 31 2.7 Conceptual framework 34 CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY 36 vi 3.1 Research design 36 3.2 Research site 36 3.3 Sample and sampling procedures 37 3.4 Research instruments 39 3.4.1 Questionnaire 39 3.4.2 Interview 40 3.5 Data collection procedures 41 3.6 Data analysis procedures 42 3.7 Reliability and Validity 43 CHAPTER 4: RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS 45 4.1 Introduction 45 4.2 Results of the study 45 4.2.1 Factors influencing speaking skills 45 4.2.1.1 Student-related factors 46 4.2.1.2 Environment-related factors 49 4.2.1.3 Teacher-related factors 52 4.2.2 Possible strategies used to reduce negative effects from teachers’ and students’ perspectives 56 4.2.2.1 Data from the students’ questionnaires 57 4.2.2.2 Data from the teachers’ questionnaires 60 CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION 63 5.1 Introduction 63 5.2 Summary of the results 63 5.3 Implications and Recommendations 64 5.4 Limitations of the study 65 5.5 Recommendation for further research 65 LIST OF REFERENCES 67 APPENDICES 78 APPENDIX 1: TEACHER QUESTIONNAIRE 78 APPENDIX 2: STUDENT QUESTIONNAIRE 80 APPENDIX 3: TEACHER INTERVIEW 84 APPENDIX 4: STUDENT INTERVIEW 85 APPENDIX 5: TEACHER INTERVIEW 86 APPENDIX 6: STUDENT INTERVIEW 89 APPENDIX 7: PLAGIARISM CHECKING REPORT 92 vii APPENDICES APPENDIX 1: TEACHER QUESTIONNAIRE Dear teachers, This questionnaire is designed for the investigation of “Factors Influencing the English Speaking Skills of English-majored freshmen at Bac Lieu University” Your responses are used for research only They will be kept confidential Could you please TICK (✓) in the box YES or NO? Thank you for your cooperation Part 1: Personal information Gender:  Male Age:  25-30 Years of teaching English  Female  31-35  36-over  1-3  4-7  8-over Part 2: What strategies below should students employ to reduce negative factors affecting their English speaking skills? Please tick YES / NO In-class strategies Yes attend speaking class regularly participate in role play activities actively discuss in pairs or in groups make presentations make interviews in English listen to an audio as a model for speaking practice Play English speaking games with classmates communicate with the teacher and classmates in English Out-of-class strategies speak English to native speakers 78 No 10 prepare topics for presentations or discussion before class 11 participate in extra curriculum activities such as English speaking club, English speaking contest, or field trips 12 making daily speaking drills at home 13 listen to English music, news or daily conversation 14 watch English TV programs 79 APPENDIX 2: STUDENT QUESTIONNAIRE Dear students, This questionnaire is designed for the investigation of “Factors Influencing the English Speaking Skills of English-majored Freshmen at Bac Lieu University” Your responses are used for research only They will be kept confidential Part 1: Personal information Gender:  Male Age:  Female  18-20 Years of learning English  21-23  24-over  1-3  4-7  8-over Part 2: Please tick (✓) the appropriate response using the scale as follow: (1) = Strongly Agree No (2) = Disagree (3) = Agree Questionnaire Items Student-related factors I feel anxious while speaking English in front of class I feel pressured coping with teachers and classmates I feel confident while speaking English in class I am worried to express ideas in English in speaking lessons I am afraid of making mistakes when speaking English I am scared of being criticized by the teacher and classmates while speaking English I not have enough grammar knowledge which leads to lack of accuracy in my speaking I not have enough vocabulary to speak 80 (4) = Strong Agree (1) (2) (3) (4) English fluently I feel afraid of making misunderstanding because of my bad pronunciation 10 My knowledge about the topics for speaking is not good enough 11 I find it difficult to prepare for speaking performance in advance 12 I only use Vietnamese to express my ideas during the speaking lesson 13 I enjoy working in pairs or groups discussing activities in English Speaking class 14 I practice English speaking skill in English speaking club inside the university 15 My listening skill is not good enough for understanding the speaker Environment-related factors 16 There are a lot of students in the speaking class 17 Teaching curriculum limits students’ English speaking practice 18 The textbook does not contain enough speaking activities for students to practice inside and outside class 19 The teaching syllabus does not focus on communicative achievement 20 There are not good enough facilities for students to learn listening and speaking skill 21 The time allotment for speaking lessons is 81 appropriate for class discussion 22 There is no speaking environment for students to practice English outside class 23 Students have no chance to speak English with native speakers Teacher-related factors 24 Teachers only speak English in class 25 Teachers only use Vietnamese in speaking class 26 Teachers not encourage students to speak English in class 27 Teachers ask students to make presentations in English 28 Teachers encourage students to get involved in speaking activities 29 Teachers not allow students to use Vietnamese in speaking class 30 Teachers give students enough time to prepare for their speaking 31 Teachers provide enough vocabulary for the topic 32 Teachers present debatable topics to encourage discussions 33 Teachers spend most of the time presenting and asking students questions instead of creating a real communication 34 Teachers observe the whole class during the speaking activities 82 35 Teachers put less emphasis on speaking skills in comparison to other skills 36 Teachers focus too much on textbook without providing useful phrases or expressions in daily communication 37 Teachers correct students immediately whenever they make a mistake 38 Teachers give feedback after they finish their speaking Part 3: What strategies below should TEACHERS employ to reduce negative factors affecting their students’ English speaking skills? Please tick YES / NO Strategies Yes organize pair work and group work regularly only use English to create an English speaking environment in class encourage students to participate in speaking activities use interactive techniques provide a speech model for students teach students how to express appropriate speech acts (greeting, complaint, refuse invitations, offers, asking for clarification, etc.) explicit correction, giving feedback present appropriate topics to motivate students’ speaking create practical contexts as in real life 10 choose updated teaching and learning materials 11 give bonus marks to boost students’ speaking participation 12 teach students oral communication strategies in English 83 No APPENDIX 3: TEACHER INTERVIEW Date: ……………………… Location: ……………………… Time to start: ……………… Time to finish: ………………… Instruction: The interview is an attempt to collect information about the teaching and learning process of the productive skills and to identify the problems encountered by English-majored freshmen at BLU Please kindly answer these following questions How long have you been teaching English at BLU? What you think about the students’ attitudes towards the English speaking lessons? What are the current situations of your students’ learning English speaking skills? What are the factors that may negatively affect their learning speaking skills? the students themselves, the textbook, facilities…….? How should the students improve their learning English speaking skill? What should they do? in class and outside class? 84 APPENDIX 4: STUDENT INTERVIEW Date: ……………………… Location: ……………………… Time to start: ……………… Time to finish: ………………… Instruction: Thank you for your attendance in this interview that is expected to last between fifteen and twenty minutes The interview is an attempt to collect information about the teaching and learning process of the productive skills and to identify the problems encountered by English-majored freshmen at BLU Please kindly answer these following questions Your responses are used for research only They will be kept confidential Questions How long have you been learning English? How often you attend the English speaking class? What difficulties you face when speaking English? What factors cause you difficulties in speaking English? What does the teacher usually for you in a speaking lesson? What activities you think teachers should create after school to enhance your speaking skills? What should the teacher to improve your English speaking skill? 85 APPENDIX 5: TEACHER INTERVIEW EXCERPT OF THE TEACHERS INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT T1: Teacher 1, T2: Teacher 2, T3: Teacher 3, T4: Teacher Questions How long have you been teaching English at BLU? What you think about the students’ attitudes towards the English speaking lessons? What are the current situations of your students’ learning English speaking lessons? What are the factors that may negatively affect their learning speaking skills? Responses T1: I have been teaching at BLU for years T2: I have taught in this school for years T3: I have been teaching here for 10 years T4: For 10 years T1: My students are very passive in speaking class They always keep quiet when I ask them a question T2: They are afraid of speaking, maybe they are nervous to express a sentence in English T3: They are not good at speaking English because they are not confident Moreover, they are shy present in front of class to speak English T4: They are not interested in speaking activities T1: They don’t have enough vocabulary to express a full sentence Also, the poor grammar preventing them from speaking fluently Moreover, they mispronounce a lot of words One of the problem of my student is speaking Vietnamese during discussion And when I ask them to present in class, they keep quiet T2: They have no interaction with teachers and classmates at all In addition, they don’t have any presentation skills, so they often feel difficulty in making presentation in English Besides, they don’t pay attention to the lessons, don’t brainstorm the ideas and express nothing T3: My students have a bad pronunciation, so they don’t want to speak English in class Also, they don’t understand the instruction in English and don’t want to join speaking activities T4: They are bad at grammar and pronunciation They tend to speak Vietnamese all the time and don’t interact with teachers T1: The students don’t practice speaking regularly, so they are afraid of speaking They feel shy and nervous to speak English Moreover, they always use mother tongue in speaking class Besides, they don’t have speaking environment outside class Most importantly, there are a lot of students in class It’s really hard for teachers to interact and ask students to speak individually There is no lab available to support English class T2: Students are anxious to speak English; they usually speak Vietnamese Next, uninteresting topics from textbooks prevent 86 How should the students improve their learning English speaking skill? What should they do? In class and outside class? students from speaking Because students have no ideas to share Then, unsuitable teaching methods make students bored Finally, there are no foreign teachers to help students experience a practical speaking T3: Students are passive and lazy to join speaking activities They use too much Vietnamese in class Besides, they don’t have enough vocabulary to express a sentence in English Then, they don’t have enough passion in learning English, so they don’t discuss seriously Students don’t join English speaking club and practice speaking regularly T4: Students speak Vietnamese in class because they have poor vocabulary, grammar and pronunciation as well They have no interaction with teachers or classmates Moreover, students don’t have speaking environment inside and outside class and a chance to learn with foreign teachers T1: -join pair work/ group work seriously - be confident to share ideas in front of class - interact with teachers and classmates - make presentation carefully - attend lessons regularly + join English speaking club + group work with classmates + listen to English audios to improve listening + attend online courses to improve grammar, pronunciation T2: - discuss in pairs / group - confident to speak - cooperate with teachers and classmates - listen to teachers’ instruction carefully + join English speaking club + study in group + self-study at home T3: - confident to speak - prepare presentation carefully - pay more attention to lessons - enjoy speaking activities such as pair work, group work, role play, etc + take part in English speaking club + practice listening at home by listening to music, conversation + enjoy English videos online + talk with native speakers T4: - confident to speak English in front of class - active and interact with teachers and classmates 87 - discuss in pairs/ groups enthusiastically - listen to the audios carefully + join English speaking club + prepare topic speaking carefully + update more knowledge + improve listening and speaking at home + talk with native speakers 88 APPENDIX 6: STUDENT INTERVIEW EXCERPT OF THE STUDENTS INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT Questions How long have you been learning English? How often you attend the English speaking class? What difficulties you face when speaking English? Responses S1: years (since grade 6) S2: 10 years (since grade 3) S3: 10 years S4: years S5: years S6: years S7: years S8: 10 years S9: 10 years S10: years S1: Regularly S2: Always S3: Not usually S4: Always S5: Regularly S6: Usually S7: Regularly S8: Not often S9: Always S10: Often S1: express ideas in English because don’t have enough vocabulary, lack confidence and poor pronunciation S2: can’t speak English fluently; grammar is not good; stressful to speak English, afraid of speaking in front of class S3: bad pronunciation, don’t have any ideas to speak, be pressured when speak English S4: not confident to speak, have no knowledge about the topics, shy to speak English, don’t have enough vocabulary S5: nervous to speak English and communicate with teachers and classmates, poor grammar S6: poor grammar, nervous to speak S7: not confident, don’t have enough vocabulary; don’t have a chance interact with teacher S8: can’t express in English fluently, didn’t get used to speaking performance in high school S9: fear of grammatical mistakes and lack of confidence; don’t have enough vocabulary, low listening skills S10: nervous to speak English in front of class; can’t express a full sentence 89 What factors cause you difficulties in speaking English? What does the teacher usually for you in a speaking lesson? What activities you think teachers should create after school to enhance your speaking skills? S1: Shyness, no enthusiasm in speaking activities, no native speakers S2: don’t practice regularly, passive, not confident, poor listening skills, cooperation with teachers and classmates S3: silent, no motivation to speak, no interest with the topic, boring learning environment, S4: difficult topics; no real topics in the textbooks; strict teachers S5: immediate teachers’ feedback prevents students’ speaking fluency and creates pressure S6: often use Vietnamese to present, little interaction with students S7: don’t have speaking environment outside class; vocabulary; grammar; pronunciation S8: don’t have a chance to study with foreign teachers; speaking time practice; uninteresting topics from textbooks S9: low wifi connection to visit online lectures; no interaction and cooperation with partners; usually discuss in Vietnamese S10: have no presentation skills; don’t have speaking environment outside class S1: give students topics to discuss in group and present S2: present topics, work in pair / group, give feedback, the tasks in textbooks S3: divide class in groups, discuss topics and present, but not all groups have a chance to present S4: present, ask and answer questions, give topics for discussion S5: give instruction, present a topic, ask students to the task in textbooks S6: give topics, ask students to present, correct mistakes S7: ask questions, give topic for discussion, give feedback S8: present topics in textbooks, give instruction, discuss topics S9: give topics for presentation and discussion, give feedback S10: teach in textbooks, give instructions, give vocabulary, give topics and ask students to present S1: create English speaking environment (English speaking contest, speaking club) S2: give more extra tasks such as interview, role play, record the conversation S3: hold a real speaking situation after class, a field trip, hold English speaking club very often S4: create some chat groups where students discuss in English only; more practical tasks apart from textbooks S5: hold English speaking club regularly; force students to 90 What should the teacher to improve your English speaking skills? extra speaking tasks to get bonus marks S6: create a group chat in English, organize English speaking club S7: create face-to-face meetings with small groups of students, give some extra tasks to at home S8: give students presentation topics to prepare at home, create speaking environment outside class S9: ask students to work in group, role play and record, and submit the products; hold English speaking club S10: assign students in a group with random students and some speaking tasks S1: create a speaking environment in class; only speak English in class; give debatable topics S2: don’t need to follow the textbooks; give speaking model, create more speaking activities S3: only speak English in class, give clear instruction, some expresses and vocabulary for given topics, S4: use English in class, give suitable punishment for students who speak English in class S5: give a model speech, give familiar topics; S6: create English active games in class S7: give more speaking activities and encourage students to speak English in class S8: use English only, give vocabulary and useful expressions S9: give suitable topics; teach students presentation skills S10: teach students how to brainstorm ideas, give familiar topics as in real life, create comfortable speaking environment 91 APPENDIX 7: PLAGIARISM CHECKING REPORT Viper Plagiarism Report Thesis.docx scanned Sep 30, 2020 92