THANG LONG UNIVERSITY
THANG LONG UNIVERSITY wa
ENGLISH DEPARTMENT
GRADUATION THESIS
ENGLISH-MAJOR STUDENTS’ DIFFICULTIES IN IMPROVING SPEAKING SKILLS ON ONLINE
PLATFORMS AT THANG LONG UNIVERSITY IN 2622
Supervisor: Ms Nguyen Phuong Ha, M.A Student’s name: Nguyen Thi Doan
Student’s code: A36003 Major: English language
Trang 2ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I received the enthusiastic help of many people in order to be able to complete my thesis It would be remiss of me not to acknowledge those who have cared for me and guided me to where I am today
First and foremost, I am deeply indebted to the English Language Department at Thang Long University for their care, advice, and for establishing the best circumstances for giving me permission to commence this thesis in the first instance and to do the necessary work
I also would like to express my sincere thanks to Ms Nguyen Phuong Ha, M.A., who has been my thesis instructor for the last time Her advice and ideas mean a lot to me since they help me maintain the proper mindset while doing my thesis obligations
Not only that, I am particularly grateful to the 100 students at Thang Long University who assisted me much in completing the survey so that I could collect data for my research Last but not least, a very special thanks to my family, my parents, my classmates and everyone else who has always supported me I could not have done my work properly without the support, encouragement, and understanding of my family
Once again, my heart-felt thanks to all the people who supported me to finish my
thesis
Trang 3STATEMENT FROM CANDIDATE
I certify that no material from the minor thesis has been submitted for examination in any other courses or accepted for any other degrees or certificates at any university To the best of my knowledge and belief, it contains no previously published content by another
individual, except as referenced in the text The research was originally written by me under
strict guidance from my supervisor
Supervisor’s signature Student’s signature
(signature and full name) (signature and full name)
Trang 4ABSTRACT
The goal of learning any language is to communicate effectively, and communication is impossible if one does not have the opportunity to communicate It is natural that communication is in great demand in our ever-changing world Language is fundamental in communication, and English is without a doubt the most significant and widely used
communication tool on the world
However, in the last two years, the COVID-19 epidemic has raged all over the world, posing a significant barrier to students' English learning, particularly speaking skills This leads to a serious subsequence is that the quality of pupils is low, and learning and teaching encounter several challenges as a result of the fact that speaking ability is a vital tool when studying communication in any other language
Therefore, this study was conducted with the goal of identifying difficulties in increasing speaking skills on an online platform in order to assist English language majors at Thang Long University in enhancing their speaking ability By collecting data and using a questionnaire survey of 100 English language students at Thang Long University, I have come to some main conclusions The most significant are external factors, specifically the COVID-19 pandemic, which is a special reason why their improvement in speaking skills has become less Not only that, almost all students (98.1%) uttered that they agreed with the fact that it was their lack of vocabulary that inhibited their English-speaking ability Moreover, 98% students agreed that they had trouble with grammatical use during online speaking performance Specially, 94.2% of students reported that poor signals or internet connections inhibited their speech delivery process In addition, nearly 96% of students agreed with the pressure of public speaking through a computer screen And these difficulties will be mentioned in more depth in the following sections
Trang 5THANG LONG UNIVERSITY TABLE OF CONTENTS Trang CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 1 1.1 Rationale dsaaasaesS2jSvdo6S2kSdu6)GS335858:02880540G16À80E14865.0/05603/6.a0 1 1.2 Research 0bj€CfÏV€S e-e<e<<seseseeeeeeeterrerrrieerieersrrrersesereee 2 1.3 Research qu€sfÏOIS -<<<<<<<<<eseseseseeeAAeee 000000101000000000000 09 2 1.4 Significanee of the sfudy -. «-«-««-«-«-<«<<-<<+ àVktE6iSGINešGVSSSEAG4/85904000/014400/48 3 1.5 Organization of the s(udy e eeeeeeeseeeeseeeeeeteeretrseseieeieeieieeeseeessee 3
CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW 5
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CHAPTER 3 METHODOLOGY 18
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CHAPTER 4 FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 21
4.1 Students’ background information and their perceptions of English-speaking
Trang 64.2 Difficulties encountered by students in improving English-speaking skills 4.3 Suggestions proposed by students when learning English-speaking skills
Trang 7LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES
Trang Figure 4,1./Students’ current English l6VeL - s.-sossserovessesenensatanasnnennsnntensanacssheasacnsene 21 Figure 4.2 Students” preference for English-speaking learning - 22
Trang 8CHAPTER i INTRODUCTION
This chapter presents an overview of the thesis; namely, the background to the study, aims and research questions of the study, significance of the study, and organization of the study
1.1 Rationale
It is impossible to deny that the English language has become increasingly vital throughout the world English has even become the worldwide language, is widely used in many nations, and is the mother tongue of many people throughout the world In actuality, English is the most commonly spoken language in the world and the native tongue of over 350 million people It is the worldwide language of many areas, including commerce, politics, science, technology, finance, and tourism Consequently, there is a big need for English language learners In Vietnam, like in other nations, there is an increasing demand for people of all ages, male and female, to study English Nowadays, English is becoming increasingly important in Vietnam As a result, it is taught at all educational levels and has become a required topic in the majority of schools Writing, reading, speaking, and listening are the four language abilities that learners must master Speaking is among those abilities that should be cultivated and improved as a way of efficient communication One of the most challenging components of learning a language is speaking Many language learners have difficulty expressing themselves verbally They often have difficulty successfully expressing themselves in a foreign language They stop communicating because they are confronted with psychological difficulties or are unable to find appropriate words and expressions "Getting students to talk is the most important and one of the most difficult tasks that any teacher faces" (Chris Candlin, 1990) Speaking is also very crucial in daily life People talk for a variety of reasons, including conversation, academic goals, and the transmission of important information As for English learning, speaking is of paramount importance since it provides the language output (Rost, 1994) Learning simply cannot improve unless proper output is produced Aside from listening, speaking is an important ability in communication Speaking ability is critical because if you can't talk, others won't comprehend what you're saying, and you won't be able to connect with others This
Trang 9implies that others can only comprehend you if you can speak Therefore, without creating spoken output, no communication can be achieved (Cross, 1998)
However, the globe will have to face the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021—2022,
which has damaged many aspects of society, including the education industry That is
why learning a language is already challenging Online learning has been problematic for students majoring in English at Thang Long University, making it difficult for them to improve their abilities, particularly their speaking skills According to a qualitative
study in the 2021 Shanlax International Journal of Education by Tiimen-Akyildiz on the issue of distance education during the COVID pandemic, it was highlighted that teachers
emphasized reading and listening skills in their lessons rather than writing and speaking Another significant finding of the study is that the participants preferred face-to-face foreign language teaching to remote teaching Nevertheless, they admitted that online
language teaching has several advantages compared to traditional face-to-face education, despite its challenges, such as technical, economic, contextual, and individual
problems As a result, the researcher decided to focus on speaking ability as the research issue in order to discover answers to this problem
1.2 Research objectives
The study's main goal is to discover the challenges that English language major students at Thang Long University have when trying to improve their speaking abilities on an online platform in 2022 First, it provides an overview of the pandemic condition as well as your current level of English proficiency Following that, the thesis swiftly
learns about subjective causes, objective causes, or any other factors impeding the improvement of English language acquisition in general and listening skills in particular
It then attempts to provide some strategies to alleviate challenges and increase the efficacy of speaking skills
1.3 Research questions
The goal of this research is to investigate the difficulties that English-major
students have in enhancing their speaking skills while learning on online platforms
Therefore, it attempts to address the following research questions:
(1) What is the difference between learning online and offline for English-major
Trang 10(2) What are the possible causes of difficulties in improving speaking skills during online learning?
1.4 Significance of the study
In any case, difficulties in learning another language, in particular English as a foreign language, are sometimes predictable and sometimes unpredictable It is,
therefore, essential for teachers and students to have better treatment when facing
difficulties After the research, it is hoped that the results will be useful For learners of English, the result of this study helps to work out the common difficulties faced by English-major students and to provide some solutions to get over these problems and improve their speaking skill, one of the most difficult skills For teachers of English, the findings of this study will give valuable and useful information on problems and proposals to the problems so that they can have eff ective methods of teaching speaking This study is also beneficial to anyone who is interested in speaking
Furthermore, as elaborated above, the subjects of the study are English-major students who would subsequently utilize English as their working language As a result, improved speaking comprehension will not only aid in their language and communication learning but will also prepare them for a better future opportunity 1.5 Organization of the study
This thesis has the following structure:
Chapter 1 introduces the background to the study, aim, significance, scope and organization of the study
Chapter 2 is entitled "Literature Review." It includes two main sections The first section provides theoretical background information about
definition of speaking, the significance of speaking, the concepts of online learning and online platforms, and the difficulties in learning and improving speaking online The next section argued about the review of the previous studies
Chapter 3 discusses the methodology, including research methods, population and sampling, research instruments, data collection procedures, and data analysis methods
Chapter 4 reports the findings and discussions of the study It first provides readers with a report on the data collected from the three tests and questionnaire These data will 3
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Trang 12CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 Review of theoretical background
2.1.1 Definitions of speaking
The concept of speaking has been defined by numerous researchers in the field with distinguishing perspectives It is concluded in a significant number of definitions describing the term, some of which are discussed below
Speaking, particularly in a foreign language, is one of the complicated skills in learning and practicing the language Speaking is also considered the most important skill that people focus on while evaluating someone when he or she knows a language As Ur (1996) indicates, “Of all the four skills listening, speaking, reading and writing, speaking seems intuitively the most important, people who know a language are referred to as “speakers” of that language as if speaking included all other kinds of knowledge, and many if not most foreign language learners are primarily interested in learning to speak.”
According to Donough and Shaw (1993), speaking is a skill that enables people to produce utterances when communicating to achieve a particular end This might entail communicating thoughts, desires, or opinions; settling disputes or addressing issues; or creating or upholding social connections This idea is also supported by Chaney and Busk (1998), who detailed that speaking is “the process of building and sharing meaning
through the use of verbal and non-verbal symbols, in a variety of contexts.”
Fulcher (2003) also stated that speaking is “the verbal use of the language to communicate with others.” In another definition, Torky (2006) pointed out Burns & Joyce’s description of speaking as an interactive process, 1.e., it is the process in which people talk to each other to build a meaning that includes producing, receiving, and processing information Speaking is seen as a means of obtaining knowledge and understanding in this sense
After all discussions above, speaking is defined in different ways according to every scholar and every field of study However, it is also defined simply as the interactive process in which people convey meaning The main goal of speaking is facilitating communication and interaction between people, in addition to implying 5
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hidden intentions On the whole, speaking is an indispensable demand in daily life, and the effort of practicing this skill is necessary for learners who want to become successful speakers
2.1.2 The importance of speaking
The importance of speaking is undeniable In fact, humans are programmed to
speak before they learn to read and write Humans engage with language verbally far
more frequently than they do in writing at any given time
Speaking is the most crucial skill because it is one of the abilities that is necessary
to perform a conversation However, speaking English is not a simple undertaking since
speakers need to be knowledgeable in a variety of important areas, including
pronunciation, grammar, vocabulary, fluency, and understanding Students should have
enough English-speaking ability in order to communicate with other people easily and
effectively Rivers (1981) studied the use of language outside the classroom situation and understood that speaking is used twice as much as reading and writing combined
To support this idea, Brown (1994) states that “/istening and speaking are students’ language tools.”
Furthermore, Richards and Rodgers (2001) also confirm that in the traditional
methods, speaking skills are ignored in the classrooms where the emphasis is on reading and writing skills According to Ur (2000), of all the four language skills called listening, speaking, reading, and writing, speaking is the most important one that is very requisite for effective communication
Essentially, the significance of speaking is indicated with the integration of other language skills Speaking helps students develop their vocabulary and grammar skills and then better their writing skills Students can express their emotions, ideas; tell stories; request; talk, discuss and show their various functions of language Speaking is essential outside of the classroom Thus, language speakers have more opportunities to
find jobs in different organizations and companies The students who speak English very well can have a greater chance of better education, finding good jobs, and getting
promotions
Generally, speaking English is now becoming more and more important in
numerous universities as well as in practical areas Consequently, students should realize
Trang 14the benefits of speaking as soon as possible so that they can get a lot of opportunities to practice and develop their skills
2.1.3 The concepts of online learning and online platforms
The term “online learning” can refer to a variety of subjects depending on the context Learning online may alternatively be referred to as "remote learning," "e- learning," "virtual learning," or "blended learning," among other names (Anderson, 2008; Li, Wang, & Zhou, 2010; Pham & Ho, 2020) There has been a great deal of discussion on what the precise meaning of the phrase “online learning” should be The present meanings that have been produced by the many specialists demonstrate their area of specialty as well as their interest Several of different definitions of online learning that can be found as follows:
Maltz et al (2005) refers ‘online learning’ to the process of utilizing communication and information technology in order to gain access to various learning and teaching materials found on the internet The phrase "online learning" is used in a variety of contexts, including hybrid learning, dispersed learning, and online-distance learning In its most general meaning, the term "online learning" refers to the most inclusive of these approaches This indicates that the term "online learning" may be applied in a variety of contexts, some examples of which include digital learning, online distance learning, and hybrid learning According to the Organization for Economic Co- operation and Development (OECD), “online learning” is "the utilization of information and communication technology as a mechanism to aid learners, digital education, or a mix of both to promote and enhance higher education institutions" (2005) This demonstrates that the implementation of digitalization in educational systems is characterized by the promotion and enhancement of higher education
According to Wentling et al (2000), the phrase "online learning" can also refer to the acquisition and utilization of knowledge that is largely facilitated and conveyed by electronic means This interpretation of the term is included in the definition of online learning Accordingly, e-learning relies on gadgets and phones, but it is feasible that e- learning may proceed to platforms that incorporate a range of technologies, such as wireless and television, as well as technology like cellular phones This suggests that the concept of "online learning" refers to the acquisition and application of knowledge that 7
Trang 15is largely made possible and conveyed via the use of electronic methods of communication In their analysis of the literature on e-learning ideas, Liu and Wang (2009) discovered that the internet is central to the e-learning process, as are global sharing and learning resources, the interchange of information and the flow of knowledge through network courses
Gotschall (2000) asserts the notion of online learning is offered on the basis of
distance learning, meaning that lectures are transmitted to remote places by means of video presentations This demonstrates that the concept of online learning is based on
the concept of distance learning, which is why lectures are typically sent to far-flung locations in the form of video presentations However, Liu and Wang (2009) argue that
the development of communication technologies, most notably the internet, did in fact
change remote learning into e-learning This suggested the development of several communication technologies, most notably the internet The number of students and
teachers who are content with online education and who perceive chances to establish and access other forms of learning is contributing to the continued global development
of this kind of education (White, 2008)
With regard to particular online teaching and learning platforms, institutions typically employ video conferencing and meeting applications like Microsoft Teams, Google Meet, Zoom, Skype, and Adobe Link as their LMS of choice Additionally, they use software for video conferencing As a matter of fact, during the pandemic, it is unavoidable for teachers and students to make use of technology for instructional
objectives (Mailizar, Almanthari, Maulina, & Bruce, 2020) The integration of online learning into language classes prior to COVID- 19 is being done with the intention of
improving the efficiency and fruitfulness of traditional learning It would appear that the
implementation of e-learning can contribute to a reduction in the spread of the COVID- 19 virus The change is being made in order to maintain the consistency of educational opportunities notwithstanding the pandemic (Rasmitadila, et al 2020)
In brief, it can be inferred that it is difficult to establish a common concept for e-
learning However, from the above, the concept of online learning can be condensed as
Trang 162.1.4 Difficulties in learning and improving speaking online
The difficulties in learning English speaking online vary according to different aspects There are a number of factors that facilitate or impede successful spoken communication They can be divided into four types including linguistic factors, psychological factors and external factors Linguistic factors commonly refer to the
elements of English as a language itself, which include vocabulary, grammatical
structures, and pronunciation Psychological factors include students’ inhibition, students’ motivation, and students’ confidence Meanwhile, external factors involve noisy environment, internet connection and technical problems, and limited interaction These are all factors influencing students’ speaking skills during online courses
2.1.4.1 Vocabulary and Pronunciation
Vocabulary, as a fundamental linguistic component, is critical in language learning Renadya (2002) emphasizes the significance of vocabulary in language acquisition, stating that vocabulary plays a crucial role and provides much of the foundation for how effectively learners acquire the four skills Learning vocabulary represents one of the most crucial skills that is necessary for speaking Gough (2007) claims, “Vocabulary is important because it is words which carry the content of what we want to say, the more words you know, the more you will be able to communicate.” Almost all the research shows words that are difficult to pronounce are more difficult to learn For instance, many learners find that words with clusters of consonants such as “health” or “crisps” are problematic Besides, when two words overlap in meaning, students are also likely to confuse them Hedge (2000) argues, “the neglect of vocabulary is also surprising in view of the fact that errors of vocabulary are potentially more misleading than those of grammar.” Without having a sufficient vocabulary, speakers cannot communicate effectively or express their ideas in both oral and written forms Having a limited amount of vocabulary is an obstacle for learners in learning a foreign language In addition, remembering a mass of unfamiliar vocabulary is also confusing to learners It takes a long time of studying and practicing developing their vocabulary knowledge As a result, learners are unable to express their feelings, thoughts, ideas that they want to say clearly and appropriately because of the limitation of their vocabulary
Trang 17Accurate pronunciation matters because for learners, there are several problems that students face in speaking First of all, it is related to students’ habit of using their first language or their mother tongue In fact, there is a big difference between Vietnamese and English, from the system of sounds to the grammatical rules Some students are afraid because their pronunciation is not as good as a native speaker, and they are often timid in certain conversations In pronunciation, they face difficulties in pronouncing some English words and sentences For example, they do not know how to differentiate between the sounds “Bear” and “Beer” words They pronounce both words exactly in the same way Students' mispronouncing is often easy to see when they use homonyms Regarding this issue, Jahan (2011) stated in her article that inappropriate
pronunciation of English will make people misunderstand the speaker easily Hence,
they face plenty of English pronunciation difficulties Gilakjani (2012) emphasized that unintelligible sounds may cause greater problems than speech with lexical or grammatical errors This is because issues related to word stress (which part of a word
are more heavily stressed that is spoken louder and longer), sentence stress (which part of a sentence can be more heavily stressed), sounds in connected speech (how to link
the sounds together in a sentence), and intonation (how speakers’ voice rises and falls at a certain point of the sentence) could weaken the communicative competence of second language speakers which leads to unable to understand for listeners what the speakers wish to express In brief, pronunciation should be viewed as more than the correct production of individual sounds or words It should be viewed as an important
part of speaking skills, which is incorporated into classroom activities 2.1.4.2 Inhibition
Inhibition is a condition in which someone or students lose face, worry about making mistakes, and are afraid of the attention that their attraction (Ur, 1996) This
results in their performance where either they make a lot of mistakes despite having very good knowledge of the area or keeping silent When pupils attempt to practice in the
classroom, this issue arises Many factors prevent them from doing this in a good way Littlewood (1999) asserts, “Jt is too easy for a foreign language classroom to create
inhibition and anxiety.” The fear of making mistakes is one of the reasons why students are not able to communicate with the use of English Students’ fear of making mistakes
increases when they speak to a critical audience In teaching speaking skills, when
Trang 18teachers ask students to express themselves in front of their classmates this leads them to express the stress in speaking and it even stops them from practicing confidently Moreover, foreign language anxiety restrains students' English performance and impacts their body reactions When students undergo foreign language anxiety, some may give up the chance to speak in English, and others may become too embarrassed to express themselves in English Hsu (2009) pointed out that students tend to get inhibited, especially when they are practicing speaking with another person These students have a conflict between trying to overcome their worry to learn well and avoiding embarrassing themselves before others If students cannot balance them, they may give up and become passive learners
2.1.4.3 Motivation and confidence
Speaking is not an easy process, and it requires time and effort It leads us to bring some affective factors to this process, and one of these affective factors is motivation However, as it is obvious, lack of motivation still constitutes a serious problem both for teachers and students in speaking in classrooms Consequently, some students keep silent when they are asked to practice a given topic This is because of the lack of motivation in expressing himself or herself or the chosen topic they have not anything to say about it Rivers (1968) claims, “Zhe teacher may have chosen a topic which uncongenial to him or about which he knows very little and as a result, he has nothing to express, whether in the native language or foreign language.” Learners have not anything to say about a given topic because they have only some ideas or do not
know how to use words or correct the form of sentences Besides, the learners'
motivation is also affected by the incentives of other people For instance, learners with a low level of incentive, who assess their academic potential as low and who have been forced to learn a language by methods they dislike, will probably not attempt to learn Moreover, teachers’ negative attitudes toward students and non-supportive classroom environments damage students’ willingness towards speaking Shortage of positive reinforcements, approval, and appreciation of students by teachers that influence motivation to present negatively In short, their motivation can influence their decision on being involved or not in a certain situation in speaking in class
It is commonly understood that students’ lack of confidence usually occurs when students realize that their conversation partners have not understood them or when they II
Trang 19do not understand other speakers In this situation, the fact they would rather keep silent while others perform speaking indicates that the students lack confidence to speak In response to this, Tsui cited Nunan (1999) said that students who lack confidence in themselves and their English necessarily suffer from communication apprehension He and Chen (2010) stated the main cause of students’ lack of confidence is their low ability in speaking English In this case, as they add, many students think that their English is bad and feel that they cannot speak English well The other cause of students’ lack of confidence also deals with the lack of encouragement from the teacher (Brown, 2001) In this context, many teachers do not think that convincing students that they can speak English is meaningful As a result, as Brown (2001) adds, students find the learning
demotivating rather than motivating This suggests that encouragement becomes a vital
thing to build the students’ confidence This also means that building students’
confidence is a crucial part of a teacher’s focus of attention 2.1.4.4 External factors
Noisy environment
Students’ improvement in speaking skills during online courses can also be
adversely influenced by imposing noise This is an urgent issue impacting both listeners’ perception of interactions with others and their analysis of their own communication
proficiency Communication is hindered when environmental conditions are unfavorable, which affects students’ both speaking ability and listening comprehension
Pham, et al (2021) revealed that noises and sounds generated from students’ houses or
nearby locations mitigate their concentration on learning In addition, an online conversation that takes place in a noisy environment will distract the speakers from their
partners According to Broersma and Scharenborg (2010), noisy conditions affect
learners’ performance differentially for certain English consonants The detrimental impact of noise on speech recognition varies significantly according to the source of
noise, it can be from the environment, machine, vehicle, or other people, etc All of these
different kinds of environmental noise are thought to be among the primary contributors to the challenges that students face while trying to improve their speaking skills through
online education
Trang 20Internet connection and technical problems
Problems associated with technological facilities and internet-connected issues have also been recognized as barriers to the efficient delivery of online speaking lessons Students sometimes find it quite struggling to participate in digital learning because they either do not have access to a consistent internet connection or required technological tools According to the findings of Alhabshneh et al (2020), both students and teachers encounter obstacles such as limited access to online learning devices, poor internet connectivity, and a dearth of technological expertise Similarly, while investigating how the pandemic affected activities related to e-learning and teaching that were carried out with the use of technology equipment, Zaharah, Kirilova, & Windarti (2020) disclosed challenges such as the lack of accessibility to online educational systems, gadgets that can connect to the internet, and subpar internet connections According to Kuama and Intharaksa (2016), for people who have been taking online classes for a significant amount of time, unstable internet connections may be the major cause of frustration for them since they are unable to fully comprehend their learning of the material or follow what the instructors are teaching Even though they were happy with online education due to its flexibility, EFL students experienced some absence of high-tech tools and technological challenges, as pointed out by Altunay (2019) In this respect, since a significant number of students lacked technology skills, as Nugroho (2020) proved, shifting the entirety of the educational process into virtual classrooms is not productive The findings of other research also revealed that students struggled with a variety of technological issues (Talal, 2021) In addition, during COVID-19, it may be more difficult for some students who reside in rural locations to have access to the internet (Ariyanti, 2020)
Limited interaction
E-learning presents a number of challenges, one of the most notable being a loss of direct interaction with teachers, particularly when it comes to online speaking skills (Lestiyanawati & Widyantoro, 2020) That is to say, English learners necessitate two- way communication in both directions, which is not always easy to do As a matter of fact, when practicing speaking skills through various online platforms such as Zoom,
13
Trang 21Microsoft Teams, Google Meet, and other applications of a similar nature, teachers, and
students might have their cameras turned off for personal and social reasons, which results in limited interaction as they cannot see each other face on the screen during the conversation (Al-Jarf, 2021) As a result, students who are continually forced to speak with a computer find it difficult to maintain their motivation to study in such an environment (Toquero, 2020) On the other hand, students may frequently become frustrated since they are unable to communicate with other people, or are unable to discuss or debate a topic with their classmates Students also found it more difficult to
express complicated thoughts using texting or commenting functions; hence, they favored face-to-face exchanges with their lecturers and peers (Williams & Carhill-Poza, 2011) In many cases, a student may find that the online environment, even how
rewarding it may be, has become too constrained for them, and they may want a physical location where they may practice with actual resources
In brief, within the theoretical framework presented, it can be concluded that
students do face certain problems during the speaking process Those problems stem from the following factors, namely linguistic factors (vocabulary, grammatical
structures, and pronunciation), psychological factors (inhibition, motivation, and confidence), and other external factors (noisy environment, internet connection and
technical problems, and limited interaction) Among factors causing speaking difficulties, it is pointed out that linguistic and psychological factors are by far the most challenging issues when students perform English-speaking skills
2.2 Review of the previous studies
Previously, many researchers had some related studies in online English-
speaking problems as well as inhibiting factors that hindered English-majored students in improving their English skills However, the topics are not completely the same and
the participants range from different levels The related studies below may give
supporting shreds of evidence for this research
First, Tran and Dang (2019) investigated inhibiting factors impacting the
achievement of a high level of English-speaking skills by conducting a study titled “Four
aspects of English-speaking difficulties encountered by tertiary English-majored
students” As a result, the purpose of this study is to investigate the four aspects of
Trang 22speaking difficulties, namely the affective, social, instructional, and linguistic difficulties that are experienced by English-majoring students at one university in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam Precisely, the participants in this study are from Vietnam One hundred and fifty students participated in the survey and completed the questionnaires Results indicated that English majors' speaking abilities were frequently hindered by speaking issues Affective difficulties were by far the most challenging for them, whereas instructional difficulties were found to be among the least problematic The obtained data also demonstrated that the duration of time or number of years spent learning English was a factor in determining how well English majors could perform English-speaking skills
The research of Feni (2014) was intended to investigate the students’ difficulties in learning speaking This study used a descriptive qualitative research approach since the author simply described the actual events as they occurred The instruments used were questionnaires and interview papers Moreover, the population in this study was the second-semester students of the English Department at the University of Muhammadiyah Malang consisting of ten classes The total of number population was 252 students The researcher took 25% of 252 students so there were 63 students as the respondents The findings of this study showed that the students faced some difficulties The inability to talk with the appropriate structure or grammar came first Then, they had difficulties in vocabulary Besides, they had difficulties in the students’ habit of using the mother tongue that gave effects to the students’ pronunciation, intonation, and accuracy in learning speaking English
With regard to the online learning, the study conducted by Syafrayani (2021) explores the perceptions of EFL Indonesian college students about the challenges and benefits of studying speaking through an online learning system during the Covid-19 outbreak Forty-five college students were participated in this study and interviewed through a questionnaire in the weeks following the final term examinations for the 2020- 2021 academic year The data was probed by using the grounded theory proposed by Creswell The findings revealed that effectiveness, online benefits, and improvement opportunities were the benefits obtained by students from online learning Meanwhile, distraction and information overload, technology, and internet connectivity as well as limited interaction and inadequate support were hindrances that often hampered the 15
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students Therefore, in order to effectively implement online learning, this academic article also offers guidance on the significance of having enough facilities and the
cooperation of stakeholders, including the government, instructors, students, and parents
With regard to online learning, the research that was carried out by Syafrayani (2021) investigates the perspectives of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) college students in Indonesia regarding the difficulties and advantages of learning speaking
skills through the medium of an online learning system during the Covid-19 pandemic
In the weeks that immediately followed the conclusion of the last term's tests during the academic year 2020-2021, 45 college students took part in the research project and were questioned using a questionnaire Creswell's grounded theory served as a guide for the analysis of the data that was collected According to the findings, the advantages of efficacy, online benefits, and chances for progress were those that were acquired by students from participating in online learning In the meanwhile, the students were frequently handicapped by obstacles such as restricted engagement, poor assistance, limited interaction, distractions and information overload caused by technology and the
internet, and information overload As a consequence of this, this academic paper also offers guidance on the significance of being prepared with sufficient facilities and having the cooperation of stakeholders like the government, instructors, students, and
parents in order to effectively adopt online learning
Likewise, Azriansyah (2022) highlights the challenges that third-semester students in the English Department at UIN STS JAMBI had while attempting to improve their
speaking abilities throughout the course of the Covid-19 conference The purpose of the
research is to determine the challenges that students face when trying to improve their
English-speaking abilities The method of investigation utilized in this study is qualitative descriptive research The data collection consisted of the researcher observing people and conducting interviews The students of UIN STS JAMBI, more
specifically those in their third semester of study in the English department, will serve as the sample of this study The findings of this research indicate that at the English
department of UIN STS JAMBI, the difficulties that students have in learning how to speak Covid-19 are mostly attributable to a lack of vocabulary, pronunciation, and
grammar knowledge According to the findings of the research, students should be
Trang 24responsible for finding their own solutions to difficulties in learning English during the Covid-19 They could try reading English books and articles in order to get over their difficulties with language, practice their pronunciation and speaking abilities at home with a friend or their parents, depending on who they want to work with, and might have to write a lot with grammar rules in order to get over their grammar difficulty
Another study which was domestically carried out by Pham et al (2022) aims to evaluate the difficulties in maintaining focus that EFL students at Van Lang University face while they are enrolled in online classes at the university Quantitative and qualitative research approaches were utilized in the writing of the paper through the use of questionnaire surveys and semi-structured interviews with a total of one hundred students from the Faculty of Foreign Languages at Van Lang University These students were in their second, third, and fourth years of study (VLU) The findings of this study, which are based on the collection of data, have shown that the majority of students studying English as a foreign language were faced with some common distractions such as external noises, unstable internet connections, the harmful effects of too much screen time, and so on Following the inquiry, the findings of this study indicate that lecturers at the Faculty of Foreign Languages of Van Lang University should look for various constructive ways to solve EFL students' issues in order to improve the quality of online courses
In general, of all the works that the researcher has approached above, there has not been a work that completely overlaps with the researcher’s topic regarding the research sample size, subjects, and context The works mentioned mostly place emphasis on the affective factors (i.e., linguistic factors and psychological factors) while neglecting the external factors and vice versa Taken in combination, it can be stated that the researcher's topic is of high research value and peculiarity
17
Trang 25CHAPTER 3 METHODOLOGY
3.1 Research methods
The research employed a quantitative descriptive method as research methodology
Quantitative research is essential for collecting data to explain a particular phenomenon, as
it is argued that particular questions seem immediately to be answered using quantitative
methods (Muijs, 2011) In addition, the fact is that the research was mainly concerned with student perspectives on the research matters, therefore quantitative methodology, which was appropriate for research on participants’ opinions and behaviors, was employed by the researcher On the other hand, data obtained from the quantitative procedure will be statistically easier to analyze compared to the qualitative method since its data are in numerical form or rather percentages The quantitative method also allowed the researchers to take advantage of measuring software or tools such as SPSS or Microsoft Excel to process large amounts of data quickly and accurately, minimizing human errors during the
data processing
3.2 Population and sampling
In keeping with this sense, to fully generalize the being-studied problems of
autonomous learning, first of all, participants in this study were English majors who are doing a bachelor’s degree in the English language at Thang Long University They were chosen as participants in this study for the following reasons First, these students have been exposed to the faculty curriculum for quite a while and are considered quite familiar with online learning Next, regarding the language educational background, the students are quite similar, in that most of them are under a quite identical influence of the English curriculum in high school in the past, thereby not having many chances to practice speaking skills As a result, these students are more likely to encounter many constraints and difficulties in speaking English With the limitations on the implementation time of the study and conditions to meet the students, the study was conducted on 52 students who are K31 & K32 students in the English Department at Thang Long University All of them speak Vietnamese as their mother tongue and use English as a foreign language Regardless
Trang 26of gender and region, the participants were selected randomly and unintentionally without being imposed by anyone to ensure the objectivity of the study Participants would be delivered questionnaires focusing on their difficulties in online English speaking to collect the data for the research All the information and data collected will be kept completely confidential and used only for research purposes
3.3 Research instruments
As the research methodology used in this study was quantitative, the questionnaire would be adjusted to questions with multiple-choice answer options to collect and illustrate using pie charts, bar charts, and tables According to Weinstein & Mayey (1986), the questionnaire is both a widely used and considered a useful instrument for collecting survey information, providing structured, often numerical data, being able to be administered without the presence of the researcher, and often being comparatively straightforward to analyze Using the questionnaire, the researcher could collect large amounts of information from a large number of participants in a short period of time The researchers designed a closed-ended questionnaire (Appendix) occupying a total of nine questions and were divided into three main groups, namely part | and part 2 In part 1, there are 5 questions that investigate the students’ personal background and viewpoints on their current online learning situations Students are required to choose the answer that best suits their opinions The other part with 4 questions (6-8) related to students’ difficulties were designed on the basis of the five-degree scales, including strongly disagree (1), disagree (2), neutral (3), agree (4), and strongly agree (5) In this part, students are required to pick a number next to each statement provided in the answer sheets to indicate their difficulties in learning and improving English via online platforms Meanwhile, the final question which aims to indicate students’ solutions was designed in the form of an open-ended question
3.4 Data collection procedures
The study is expected to endure approximately 2 months from 1/2022 to 2/2022 For the first two weeks, the researcher specifies the research topic, particularly identifying the topic title, keywords, methods, and scope, then creates the research outline and seeks materials to support the research From the third week forward, after grasping the research 19
Trang 27concentration, the researcher will design the questionnaire to collect the data The questionnaire will be designed on Google form and then conveyed to the respondents via various social networking platforms (Facebook and Zalo) Respondents click on the link
and answer all the questions on the form They will be asked to complete a questionnaire consisting of 10 questions that can be filled out in about 10 — 15 minutes The samples would be gathered and shown as charts on Google Forms automatically Each graph
displays the number of people that chose the best answer to each question In total, it takes the researchers approximately four weeks to prepare the questionnaire and collect the relevant information from the target number of survey participants The next four weeks are used for counting, synthesizing, evaluating the data gathered, and later on, drawing findings and discussions from the analysis of data as well as giving conclusions and proposing possible solutions to the problems proposed
3.5 Data analysis methods
All the data obtained via questionnaires are organized and analyzed quantitatively (percentages and numbers) This method of data processing and analysis helps ensure the reliability and accuracy of the research Particularly, the compiled figures and data taken from the questionnaire survey are put in the form of different types of charts and graphs Since the questionnaire is designed on the Google Form platform, the samples would be gathered and illustrated in pie charts automatically It is worth mentioning that the data statistic table is created by MS Excel
Trang 28CHAPTER 4 FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION
The purpose of this chapter is to demonstrate the results of the study on the basis of the data obtained from the questionnaire The findings indicate statistical evidence that reveals challenges encountered by students while performing English speaking skills On top of that, a short discussion will follow to wrap up the section The results were presented by analyzing the data obtained from all participants noted in the previous chapter
4.1 Students’ background information and their perceptions of English- speaking skills online
Within this section, student’s background information and their current speaking online learning situation shall be revealed through data collected from students’ answers to questions | to 5 in the questionnaire (Appendix — Part 1)
1,9% * Al (~IELTS 1.0-2.5 ~ TOEIC 255 ~ TOEFL ITP 347) » A2 (~IELTS 3.0-3.5 ~ TOEIC 400 ~ TOEFL ITP 400) | » BI (~TELTS 4.0-5.0 ~ TOEIC 450 ~TOEFL ITP 450) = B2 (~IELTS 5.5-6.5 ~ TOEIC 600 ~ TOEFL ITP 500) = Cl (~IELTS 7.0-8.0 ~ TOEIC 850 ~ TOEFL ITP 550) = C2 (~IELTS 8.5-9.0 ~ TOEIC 910+ ~TOEFL ITP 600+)
Figure 4.1 Students’ current English level
Looking at Figure 1, it is not challenging to see that the leading column represented 42.3% of participants who had average ability of English-speaking skills, which is equivalent to B1 (~IELTS 4.0-5.0 ~ TOEIC 450 ~ TOEFL ITP 450) The number of
21
Trang 29students at a slightly higher level - B2 (~IELTS 5.5-6.5 ~ TOEIC 600 ~TOEFL ITP 500)
is also quite significant, which makes up about 36.5% Meanwhile, there is only a small percentage of students at the C1 level (~IELTS 7.0-8.0 ~ TOEIC 850 ~ TOEFL ITP 550),
accounting for about 7.7%, which is also equal to the number of students at the A2 level
(~IELTS 3.0-3.5 ~ TOEIC 400 ~ TOEFL ITP 400) It is worth noting that the number of students with a degree above or below the listed range is in the great minority (5.7%) In general, surveyed students (mainly the K32) have average English proficiency, whereupon
average English-speaking skills
1,9%
® Online learning = In-person learning (offline)
» Either of the above Neither of the above
Figure 4.2 Students’ preference for English-speaking learning
When looking at Figure 2, it is evident that the number of students in favor of offline
learning completely greatly prevails over online learning When asked, up to 71.2% of all students indicated that they prefer in-person learning, in which they can interact face-to-
face with both their classmates and their teachers, when it comes to acquiring English-
speaking skills In contrast, only a small part of students, making up about 9.6%, prefer
offline learning to online learning when it comes to improving their speaking abilities The
remaining individuals, which account for around 17%, reported that they did not have a
Trang 30students is fine with any kind of learning, as long as it provides them with effective lessons Only one individual felt he or she was not suitable for any type of learning
1,9%
m Always @Often ®Sometimes # Rarely
Figure 4.3 Frequency of students' online speaking lessons
The frequency of being involved in online courses is undoubtedly closely related to students’ adaptability to learning English speaking online As a matter of fact, those having online classes regularly will be more likely to be more familiar with and gain gradual improvement in performing English-speaking skills online According to Figure 3, the huge majority of the population, which accounted for 46.2% (24/52), expressed that they ‘often’ engaged in online speaking lessons The number of students who shared that they 'sometimes' and ‘always' are exposed to online speaking courses share quite the same proportion, with which each of them accounts for 25% and 26.9%, respectively Finally, the number of students who stated that they rarely get involved in online speaking classes made the least percentage of 1.9% The results obtained seem completely reasonable and predictable since most English majors at Thang Long University have had to attend online courses for a while since the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic
23
Trang 312,0%
@ Very Somewhat @Not much #Notatall
Figure 4.4 Students’ level of familiarity with online speaking courses
Since the students have never been in an online course for such a long period before, the fact that a large number of students showed a pretty low level of familiarity with this new kind of learning is expected The proportion illustrated in the pie chart (Figure 4) above
reveals that many English majors at Thang Long University yet found it quite struggling to
be fully familiar with online speaking lessons Particularly, the majority of participants
(43.1%) opted for the answer “not much” when being asked about their familiarity with
online speaking courses Meanwhile, another considerable number of students (29.4%) expressed that they ‘somewhat’ got familiar with e-learning when it comes to English- speaking skills Other students, accounting for 25.5% of the total responses, said that they
have fully adapted and are used to online learning while the remaining minority, accounting
for 2%, said that until now they are still unable to get accustomed to learning speaking skills
through online platforms The fact that many students could not yet fully adapt to online
speaking also partly justifies why most students prefer to study speaking skills offline rather than online, as illustrated in Figure 2
Trang 32When being questioned about the level of improvement in speaking skills during online classes, the vast majority of participants expressed that they found speaking online lessons less effective than in-person lessons Particularly, the number of students believing that learning speaking skills in face-to-face classrooms.showed more improvement in their speaking skills is the most prevalent, with approximately two-thirds of the participants choosing this option, accounting for nearly 77% Meanwhile, approximately 17% of participants expressed that podcasts their level of improvement in English-speaking skills in online classrooms were the same as in traditional classrooms There is, however; a minor part of students who claimed that being involved in online courses improved their English skills better compared to offline courses, which constitutes the smallest proportion of 5.8% The distribution of options can be attributed to the fact that the majority of students are not yet familiar with this new form of learning and other various limitations and shortages as a
result of online classrooms
4.2 Difficulties encountered by students in improving English-speaking skills online
In this section, different factors causing students’ speaking difficulties which were obtained from the data of questions 6 to 9 (Appendix — Part 2) shall be clarified and illustrated by different tables as follows:
Table 4.1 Students’ difficulties related to mental factors from yourself
Strongly Strongly
Statements Agree | Neutral | Disagree 7
agree disagree
Learn speaking skills online makes you
28.8% 67.3% 3.8% 0% 0%
become less motivated
and more passive
2
Trang 33
Strongly Strongly
Statements Agree | Neutral | Disagree
agree disagree
Sometimes, you fall
mo a_ state of
bewilderment and lose
40.4% 57.7% 1.9% 0% 0%
control because of the lack of instant interaction
You are afraid of making mistakes when
speaking and being 50% 48.1% 1.9% 0% 0%
judged by friends when speaking online
You often feel more anxious and less
36.5% 57.7% 3.8% 0% 0% confident whenever
you have to speak
You have no interest in
learning speaking skills | 44.2% 52% 3.8% 0% 0%
online
Table 4.1 includes five statements that went on to elaborate on students’ problems with regard to mental factors from yourself
To commence with, a huge number of students, corresponding to 96.1% of students showing their (strong) concurrence with the fact that they lack motivation and become more passive learn speaking skills online On the contrary, the residual consisted of only 3.8% of
Trang 34students who were yet unclear about this problem and there was no student expressing their disagreement
The second statement witnessed the same trend in which up to 98.1% of participants agreed with the fact that they sometimes fall into a state of bewilderment and lose control because of the lack of instant interaction The rest includes only 1.9% of students who could not make their decision on this issue
The next statement, on the other hand, manifests that it was student’s lack of confidence somehow hindered their speaking ability despite their quite good command of English That is to say, up to 98.1% of participants shared that they were afraid of making mistakes and being judged when speaking cnline Meanwhile, only 1.9% of the students, which was equivalent to | respondent stating their neutral viewpoint on this statement
The fourth statement illustrates that nearly 94% of participants experienced anxiety whenever they had to perform speaking in front of peers and teachers via online platforms Students having no comments on the issue were significantly fewer with only 3.8% of total votes
Down to the last statement, it was also found that students’ lack of interest in English speaking was also believed to be one of the significant underlying causes leading to their problems while speaking English To be more specific, the number of students expressing their (strong) agreement accounted for up to 96.2% while the remaining students showing neutral viewpoint on the issue were barely 3.8%
In brief, it could be implied that in addition to the listed factors, psychological factors also made a significantly negative impact on the students’ English-speaking ability with an extremely great degree of students’ concurrence being illustrated
Thus, it can be seen that the fear of making mistakes and being judged by friends when speaking online is the biggest barrier that most students majoring in English have to face Normally, if learning to speak offline, students will work in groups, discuss together, and practice speaking with each other to both improve their skills and correct each other's mistakes However, when learning to speak online, students will not dare to speak or speak through the screen for fear of being known and judged by their friends if their speaking 27
Trang 35skills are not good That will cause self-doubt, and gradually the results will go down Not only that, the majority of students also said that they were bewildered by the lack of immediate interaction When learning to speak online, the teacher or partner will not be able to answer you immediately like when learning offline because of other factors such as
a weak network connection, a partner not working seriously Sometimes, you will feel
bewildered because no one responds or listens when you speak And of course, all of the
above will lead to the result that you are less motivated and more passive in speaking; you
are afraid to speak, and you are increasingly bored with learning to speak on an online platform
Table 4.2 Students’ difficulties related to external factors
Statements Strongly
agree Agree Neutral Disagree
Strongly disagree
Noisy — environments prevent you from
concentrating on
speaking lessons
26.9% 69.2% 1.9% 0% 0%
You have trouble listening and delivering
speeches due to poor
internet signals or
connections
40.4% 53.8% 3.8% 0% 0%
You have problems with technical errors on the social platforms used in the learning
process 38.5% 57.7% 3.8% 0% 0%
Trang 36
Statements Strongly
agree Agree Neutral Disagree
Strongly disagree
You find it struggling to adapt to new online teaching methods
38.5% 55.8% 5.7% 0% 0%
Peers do not have a good sense of learning when performing group practices
38.5% 57.7% 3.8% 0% 0%
The online platform limits the improvement of public speaking or presentation skills
38.5% 57.7% 3.8% 0% 0%
The pressure of public speaking is different from speaking through
a computer screen; it's a bit unreal
34.6% 61.5% 3.8% 0% 0%
The teacher's class management on_ the online platform is not good, making me lazy to study (lack of
interactive activities) 34.6% 57.7% 7.7% 0% 0%
Thttvion b H Ththg Long
Trang 37
Strongly Strongly
Statements Agree | Neutral | Disagree
agree disagree
Lack of teacher support | 36.5% 59.6% 1.9% 0% 0%
Table 2 involved nine statements which indicated other challenges related to other
external factors that students might face while making attempt to improve their English
speaking skills via online platforms
To begin with, the first statement, more than half of the respondents admitted that noise background adversely impacted their concentration on online speaking lessons In particular, nearly 96% of the total response was either of strong agreement or agreement Meanwhile, the remaining 1.9% presented their hesitation when it comes to this issue
What is more, with regard to the listening and speaking processes, the next statement revealed that 94.2% of students reported that poor signals or internet connections inhibited their speech delivery process To be more specific, 40.4% of strong agreement and 53.8% of agreement There were only 2 students (3.8%) having no comments on this statement
In the third statement, participants shared that they had technical issues while studying speaking also greatly dominated with 96.2% of both strong agreement and agreement The percentage of the rest was 3.8%, which represents the number of students showing no particular tendency of attitude
The findings of the fourth statement in this table also showed the same trend in which
approval was given by nearly 94.3% of the respondents There was no (strong) disagreement made by any participants in this statement while 5.7% was the number of students showing no clear inclination towards the fact that they find it difficult to adapt to new teaching methods
For the fifth statement, almost all participants, specifically 96.2% gave (strong) agreement toward the fact their peers do not have a good sense of learning when it comes to group work The remaining comprised 3.8% of participants delivered no comments on
this issue
Trang 38In the sixth statement, the great majority of students also shared that online platform
limits the improvement of public speaking or presentation skills with 96.2% of both strong
agreement and agreement The percentage of the remaining participants was 3.8%, which shows the number of students showing no particular tendency
Likewise, the seventh statement saw a huge number of students conceded they were
unfamiliar with the pressure of public speaking through a computer screen In particular, nearly 96% of students agreed with this statement The rest included 3.8% of students
showing no particular idea on the third statement
As regards the two last statements in the table, the number of students showing their
agreement also undoubtedly takes the dominance That is 92.3% of the respondents showed their (strong) concurrence with the eighth statement, while students providing their
‘(strongly) agree’ answer in the last statement were also relatively considerable with 96.1%
Through analyzing the findings in this table, the researcher found that most English
majors at Thang Long university were dealing with a wide range of problems when it comes to learning English speaking skills online These problems not only stem from their lack of
linguistic knowledge and psychological factors but are also linked with other above-listed
external factors
From the data above, it can be seen that the vast majority of students agree that it is most difficult to hear and speak due to poor signal or connection It is a fact that if the connection is broken, the communication between the two parties will not be effective, even
if they misunderstand and do not understand each other's statements Learning to speak
requires direct and immediate interaction, just like normal communication Moreover, the classroom management as well as the online teaching methods of some teachers have not been appreciated Some teachers have not yet adapted to online teaching; another part is that online lectures will be more boring because teachers and students do not have direct contact with each other and the rest are teachers There is no creativity or innovation in the way of teaching In addition, your partner also plays an important role in helping you
improve your speaking skills However, when studying online, there are many students who
are poorly conscious, work alone, do not study, and do not interact, leading to ineffective 31
Trang 39teamwork and affecting other classmates Especially the pressure When learning to speak offline, specifically to give speeches or presentations, the pressure to stand in front of a
crowd is very obvious When we speak, we will have times when we stumble When words
are not fluent or even ideas are stuck, you will stammer when everyone's eyes are on you
When speaking online, many of you will be dishonest by reading an available article instead
of speaking directly, or the pressure of sitting through a screen will be reduced because
there are no eyes to look at the copy Therefore, the learning as well as the improvement of
speaking skills are decreasing and not progressing
4.3 Suggestions proposed by students when learning English-speaking skills online
This part will cover all the coping solutions that can be used to deal with difficulties in speaking English which were made by the students themselves All of these solutions have been surveyed through question 9 in the questionnaire
Table 4.3 Students’ suggested solutions
No Solutions
| Watching and listening to English news, TV shows, and other kinds of English entertainment forms to improve vocabulary, pronunciation, and listening comprehension
2 Applying various methods in grammar learning and practicing speaking
with new structures learned
3 Practicing speaking with native speakers through social media
4 Practicing speaking alone or standing in front of a mirror to enhance self-
confidence and fluency
Trang 40
5 Practicing English with classmates and only using the English language in English online courses
6 Training your brain to think in English and coming up with English words only when speaking English
lý Sketching out action plans to increase motivation in learning to speak,
noting down daily targets
In order to help English-majored students at Thang Long University tackle their current problems as well as to improve their speaking skills, the students have come up with several possible solutions themselves According to results obtained from the questionnaire, it was shared by the students that almost all students thought that grasping opportunities to speak with native speakers is effective in the improvement of English-speaking skills In addition, applying various methods in grammar learning and practising speaking with new structures learned are also believed to be beneficial to students’ speaking performance Furthermore, results revealed that students also suggested a number of other methods such as sketching out action plans in an effort to increase motivation, watching and listening to different English contents on mass media, and training their brains to think in English, practising English with classmates and only using the English language in English, practicing speaking alone or standing in front of a mirror to enhance self-confidence and fluency From what has been illustrated in Table 4 above, it can be observed that it is possible for students to be aware of their own difficulties and capable of opting for appropriate solutions corresponding to each speaking problem
33