Shadowing technique in improving speaking skills voices from english – majored senior students at banking academy of vietnam

BANKING ACADEMY FACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES - - GRADUATION THESIS SHADOWING TECHNIQUE IN IMPROVING SPEAKING SKILLS: VOICES FROM ENGLISH –MAJORED SENIOR STUDENTS AT BANKING ACADEMY OF VIETNAM Student : Le Thi Thu Hoai Class : K20ATCA Academic course : 2017 - 2021 Student ID : 20A7510069 Advisor : Dr Trinh Ngoc Anh Hanoi, May 2021 Tai ngay!!! Ban co the xoa dong chu nay!!! 17014128966471000000 Graduation Thesis Banking Academy DECLARATION I hereby claim my ownership of this graduation thesis entitled “Shadowing Technique in Improving Speaking Skills: Voices from English – Majored Senior Students at Banking Academy of Vietnam” This is my own research project under the supervision of Dr Trinh Ngoc Anh of the Faculty of Foreign Language at Banking Academy of Vietnam The work inherits a number of related research results that have been published The data and documents in the thesis are truthful, objective, and original All the sources and data I consulted are properly listed in the references The contents and findings of this study have never been used in any previous studies Hanoi, 5th May 2021 Signature Hoai Le Thi Thu Hoai Student: Le Thi Thu Hoai i Class: K20ATCA Graduation Thesis Banking Academy ACKNOWLEGEMENT I would like to express my deepest appreciation to all people who give me enthusiastic and sincere assistance, support, and advice during the conduction of my thesis First and foremost, I would like to express my sincere thanks to the teachers of the Foreign Language Department - Banking Academy for taking care of me, wholeheartedly teaching me during my time studying at the school and giving me the honor to conduct graduation thesis, contribute to the thesis library of the university Secondly, I would like to express my deepest appreciation to my supervisor, Dr Trinh Ngoc Anh, for her guidance, suggestions, advice, correction, and patience during the writing of this research Thirdly, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to the lecturers of the faculty, Ms Can Thuy Lien, Ms Pham Ngoc Anh, and Ms Nguyen Thi Minh Que who have always provided me with useful documents, information and guidance so that my work could be completed Fourthly, many special thanks go to all the senior students from the Faculty of Foreign Language, especially those took part in my online survey which has greatly devoted to the success of my research paper Last but not least, I am heartfeltly grateful to my dear family and friends for always being with me, supporting and helping me, encouraging me to persevere in completing this thesis Student: Le Thi Thu Hoai ii Class: K20ATCA Graduation Thesis Banking Academy ABSTRACT In the prominence of English proficiency requirement in the current labor market, English is becoming more and more urgent and important for undergraduates especially senior university students than ever In pursuit of foreign language mastery, an effective learning method is of utmost importance, and shadowing is a worldwide proven method to improve listening and speaking skills for EFL learners This research is aiming at exploring common difficulties in English communication encountered by senior English-majored students at Banking Academy of Vietnam Besides, students’ perspectives towards the difficulties in implementing the shadowing technique in speaking skills improvement and its effectiveness have been discussed as well To collect primary data, the research utilizes the online questionnaire with the participation of 90 senior English majors In addition, in gathering process of secondary data, I have put great effort to collect and analyze a number of previous research papers to give readers a deeper insight into shadowing technique (e.g Arthurson, 2019; Manseur, 2015; Hamada, 2015, 2016, 2017; Omar and Umehara, 2010; Tamai, 1997; etc) From the findings, several common problems in speaking English faced by senior English majors are related to the dearth of vocabulary, poor pronunciation and grammar, lack of fluency and confidence, deficient listening comprehension, and so on Besides, the results also discover some challenges in practicing shadowing such as speaker’s speech rate, voice accent, mispronunciation and intonation, lack of vocabulary and lack of concentration, etc Despite those difficulties, most of the participants have positive attitudes toward the effectiveness of shadowing in improving speaking skills in many aspects of pronunciation, vocabulary, stress and intonation, fluency, grammar, comprehension, speech rate, and confidence Keywords: speaking skills, shadowing, shadowing technique, speaking problems Student: Le Thi Thu Hoai iii Class: K20ATCA Graduation Thesis Banking Academy Table of Contents DECLARATION i ACKNOWLEGEMENT ii ABSTRACT iii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS vii LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES viii CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background of the study 1.2 Research aim and research questions .3 1.3 Significance of the study 1.4 Scope and limitation of the study .4 1.5 Research Structure CHAPTER II - REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE 2.1 Speaking skills 2.1.1 Concepts of speaking 2.1.2 Components of speaking 2.1.3 Common problems with speaking activities .8 2.2 Shadowing technique 2.2.1 Concepts of shadowing 2.2.2 Types of shadowing 11 2.2.3 The importance of shadowing technique in improving speaking skill 12 2.2.4 Steps to practice shadowing technique 15 2.3 Review of related studies 17 2.3.1 Raouia Manseur, 2015, Exploring the role of shadowing in the development of EFL learners’ speaking skill .17 2.3.2 Angel M Dávila & Erika V Espinoza J., 2018, Using the shadowing technique to improve Ecuadorian English learners’ speaking inteligibility 18 2.3.4 Omar and Umehara, 2010, Using a shadowing technique to improve English pronunciation deficient adult Japanese learners: An action research on Expatriate Japanese adult learners 19 Student: Le Thi Thu Hoai iv Class: K20ATCA Graduation Thesis Banking Academy 2.3.5 Dervon Arthurson, 2019, Shadowing: A technique for language learning and a tool for critical reflection 19 2.3.6 Hamzar, 2014, The implementation of shadowing technique to improve students’ speaking performance 20 2.3.7 Salim, Terasne, & Narasima, 2020, Enhancing the students’ pronunciation using shadowing technique at high school students 21 2.4 Shadowing in an EFL context .22 2.5 Shadowing in the context of Vietnam 22 2.6 Theoretical framework 24 CHAPTER III: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 24 3.1 Research locale .26 3.2 Research design 26 3.3 Participants 26 Figure 3.2: Research respondents 27 3.4 Research instrument 28 3.5 Data gathering procedure 29 3.6 Data analysis 30 CHAPTER IV - FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 31 4.1 The reality of learning English speaking skills by the senior English majors of BAV 31 4.1.1 Students’ self-assessment of their speaking skills 32 4.1.2 Students’ common difficulties in English communication 33 4.1.3 Students’ approaches to the shadowing technique 35 4.2 Students’ perspectives towards the effectiveness of the Shadowing technique .39 4.2.1 Students’ frequency of practicing the shadowing method .39 4.2.2 Students’ evaluation the effectiveness of shadowing technique in their speaking skills improvement 40 4.2.3 Students’ viewpoints on the importance of the shadowing technique in their speaking skills enhancement 43 Student: Le Thi Thu Hoai v Class: K20ATCA Graduation Thesis Banking Academy 4.2.4 Students’ attitude towards methods of practice the shadowing technique 44 4.3 Students’ difficulties in deploying the shadowing technique 46 4.3.1 The level of difficulty of factors hindering the shadowing practice 46 4.3.2 The frequency of students coping with the shadowing problems 48 4.3.4 Students’ level of satisfaction with the application of shadowing technique at BAV 50 4.3.5 Students’ decision making on further shadowing practice 52 CHAPTER V - CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION 54 5.1 Summary of findings 54 5.2 Limitations 54 5.3 Recommendation and Implication 55 5.3.1 For English-majored students 55 5.3.2 For teachers of Faculty of Foreign Language 56 5.3.3 For further studies `57 REFERENCES 58 APPENDICES 63 Student: Le Thi Thu Hoai vi Class: K20ATCA Graduation Thesis Banking Academy LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS EFL: English as a Foreign Language FFL: Faculty of Foreign Languages BAV: Banking Academy of Vietnam Student: Le Thi Thu Hoai vii Class: K20ATCA Graduation Thesis Banking Academy LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES LIST OF TABLES Table 1: Murphey's types of shadowing (2001) (cited in Manseur, 2015) 11 Table 2: Karuta' types of shadowing (2007) (cited in Manseur, 2015) 11 Table 3: Kadota and Tamai's types of shadowing (2005) (cited in Manseur, 2015, p.27) 12 Table 4: Students' evaluation the effectiveness of shadowing in their speaking skills improvement 40 Table 5: Students' attitude towards methods of practice the shadowing technique 45 Table 6: The level of difficulty of factors hindering the shadowing practice 46 Table 7: The frequency of students coping with the shadowing problems 48 Table 8: Students' level of satisfaction with the application of shadowing technique at BAV .50 LIST OF FIGURES Figure 4.1: Students' self-assessment their speaking skills 32 Figure 4.2: Students' common difficulties in English communication 33 Figure 4.3: Students' approach to the shadowing technique at class 35 Figure 4.4: Students' approach to the shadowing technique at home 36 Figure 4.5: Students' favorable methods of learning speaking 37 Figure 4.6: Students' reasons for not using the shadowing technique 38 Figure 4.7: Students' level of frequency practicing the shadowing technique 39 Figure 4.8: Students' viewpoints on the importance of shadowing technique in their speaking skills improvement 43 Figure 4.9: Students' readiness to maintain shadowing practice 52 Figure 4.10: Students' readiness to start to shadowing practice .53 Student: Le Thi Thu Hoai viii Class: K20ATCA Graduation Thesis Banking Academy CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION This chapter firstly addresses the background of the study to explain why the study was conducted Secondly, the aims of the study are stated, following the significance of the study is described to possible stakeholders The scope and limitation of the research are mentioned in the next part Finally, the research structure and definition of terms are provided respectively to help readers get a better and clearer look at the study 1.1 Background of the study In the era of global integration, English is used as an international language, thereby more and more people are taking into consideration and investing in boosting their English skills It is undeniable that English is of great importance in all aspects of life, from daily communication to career opportunities, from personal development to national prosperity In the current labor market context, English is considered an outstanding advantage that is highly appreciated by employers In fact, most companies and businesses require candidates to obtain English proficiency in which communication skill is of utmost importance apart from listening, reading, writing skills because “good communication is the key to success” (Oliver Wendell Holmes) Therefore, learning English communication is extremely urgent and important for all subjects, especially students, to have the necessary background before entering the current competitive labor market However, “speaking is one of the most difficult skills to be mastered for most EFL learners” (Manseur, 2015, p.2) Vietnamese students often encounter many difficulties when learning speaking such as problems of pronunciation, intonation, fluency, accuracy, listening comprehension Therefore, it is necessary to have a suitable and effective learning approach to help learners achieve English proficiency There are many methods of learning to speak English like a monologue, shadowing, storytelling, roleplay, book reading, etc Of all these approaches, shadowing has emerged as the most effective and highly appreciated method which has been experimented and demonstrated in many famous studies (i.e Tamai, 1997; Student: Le Thi Thu Hoai Class: K20ATCA