A study on factors causing the lack of the grade tenth students’ self confidence in speaking classes at dao duy tu high school

Trang 1 FACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES LUU THI HA A STUDY ON FACTORS CAUSING THE LACK OF THE GRADE TENTH STUDENTS’ SELF - CONFIDENCE IN SPEAKING CLASSES AT DAO DUY TU HIGH SCHOOL Submitted

FACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES

LUU THI HA

A STUDY ON FACTORS CAUSING THE LACK OF THE GRADE TENTH STUDENTS’ SELF - CONFIDENCE IN SPEAKING CLASSES AT DAO DUY TU HIGH SCHOOL

Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of

Bachelor of Arts in English Language Teacher Education

Thanh Hoa, 2023

FACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES

LUU THI HA

A STUDY ON FACTORS CAUSING THE LACK OF THE GRADE TENTH STUDENTS’ SELF - CONFIDENCE IN SPEAKING CLASSES AT DAO DUY TU HIGH SCHOOL

SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULLFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS

OF THE DEGREE OF BACHELOR OF ARTS IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE

DECLARATION

I sincerely affirm that the minor thesis “A study on factors causing the grade tenth students’ lack of self-confidence at Dao Duy Tu High School” is the result of my own work and effort to meet the requirements for graduation thesis at Faculty of Foreign Languages, Hong Duc University

Thanh Hoa, May 2, 2023

Luu Thi Ha

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

First of all, from the bottom of my heart, I desire to express my deepest gratitude to my supervisor, M.A Trinh Thi Hang for her valuable advice, generous assistance and enthusiastic support in completion of this study

My sincere thanks also go to teachers at Dao Duy Tu High School for their useful opinions, which have greatly contributed to my work

I would also like to express my thanks to the grade tenth students at Dao Duy Tu High School who have actively participated in this study

I am also in debt of my gratitude to my lecturers and my friends for their constructive comments and enthusiastic supports

Last but not least, I wish to convey my appreciation to my family members due to their whole-hearted encouragement and support

ABSTRACT

The research has been conducted to find out the current state of students’ self-confidence in speaking classes, factors causing the students’ lack of self-confidence in speaking lessons, and suggest strategies to improve the learners’ level of self-confidence in oral sessions

The study was carried out to students at tenth grade at Dao Duy Tu High School In this study, classroom observation, interview and questionnaire were used for collecting the data

From the analysis of the data, it revealed the factors that lead to students’ low self-confidence It is expected that contributions from the study can be beneficial to the teaching and learning process of English-speaking skills to grade tenth students in general and grade tenth students at Dao Duy

Tu High School in particular

TABLE OF CONTENTS

DECLARATION i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii

ABSTRACT iii

TABLE OF CONTENTS iv

LIST OF TABLES vi

LIST OF DIAGRAMS vii

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS vii

PART I: INTRODUCTION 1

1 Rationale 1

2 Aims of the study 2

3 Objectives of the study 2

4 Research questions 2

5 Scope of the study 3

6 Methods of the study 3

7 The significance of the study 4

8 Design of the study 4

PART II DEVELOPMENT 5

CHAPTER 1 LITERATURE REVIEW 5

1.1 Theoretical background of speaking skills 5

1.1.1 Definition of speaking skills 5

1.1.2 The importance of speaking skills 6

1.1.3 Components of speaking 6

1.1.4 Classroom speaking activities 8

1.2 Self-confidence 11

1.2.1 Definition of self-confidence 11

1.2.2 The importance of self-confidence in language learning 12

1.2.3 The influence of self-confidence on learners in speaking lessons 13

1.2.4 Lack of self- confidence 14

1.2.5 The characteristics of students with low and high self-confidence 14

1.2.6 Factors causing the lack of self-confidence 16

1.3 Strategies to improve the students’ lack of self-confidence 18

CHAPTER II METHODOLOGY AND PROCEDURE 21

2.1 The setting of the study 21

2.1.1 An overview of research place 21

2.1.2 English teaching and learning situation at Dao Duy tu High School 22

2.1.3 The subjects of the study 22

2.2 Methods of the study 23

2.2.1 Data collection instruments 23

2.2.2 Data collection procedures 23

2.2.3 Methods of data analysis 24

CHAPTER III FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 25

3.1 Findings 25

3.1.1 Observation 25

3.1.2 Teachers’ interview 29

3.1.3 Students’ questionnaires 34

3.2 Discussion 43

3.2.1 Current state of students’ self-confidence in speaking lessons 43

3.2.2 Factors negatively affecting students’ self-confidence in speaking classes 44

3.2.3 Suggested strategies to develop students’ self-confidence in oral sessions 46

PART III CONCLUSION 57

1.1 Summary of the main ideas 57

1.1.1 Conclusion of the main ideas 57

1.1.2 Summary of the findings 58

1.2 Limitations of the study 59

BIBLIOGRAPHY 60 APPENDICES I APPENDIX 1 I APPENDIX 2 IV

LIST OF TABLES

Table 3.1: Checklist of classroom observation 25

Table 3.2 Pupils’ view about factors causing lack of self-confidence in speaking classes 34

Table 3.3 Students’ view about how their teachers give feedbacks about their speaking performance 35

Table 3.4 Students’ view about speaking activities that the teacher often use in oral lessons 40

Table 3.5 Students’ view about activities should be frequently used to enhance their self-confidence 41

Table 3.6 Teacher’s guidelines of self-directed dialogue technique 48

Table 3.7 Teacher’s guidelines of Discussion technique 51

Table 3.8 Teacher’s guidelines of role-play technique 53

Table 3.9 Teacher’s guidelines of Debate technique 55

LIST OF DIAGRAMS

Chart 3.1 The frequency of students involvement in speaking classes 34 Chart 3.2 Students’ reaction when they cannot think of English words 36 Chart 3.3 Students’ opinions about poor grammar can have a negative impact

on self-confidence 36 Chart 3.4 Students’ opinion about good pronunciation can have a positive effect on self-confidence 37 Chart 3.5 Students’ view about fear of making mistake can result in the lack

of self-confidence 37 Chart 3.6 Students’ view about whether shyness can lead to low self-confidence in oral lessons or not 38 Chart 3.7 Students’ opinion about whether motivation has a positive impact

on self-confidence or not 38 Chart 3.8 Students’ feeling when there is little listeners’ support while they are speaking 39 Chart 3.9 Students’ reaction when teachers give negative and disruptive feedbacks about their speaking performance 40 Chart 3.10 Students’ view about group activity which can improve their self-confidence 42

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

M.A: Master of Arts

EFL: English as a Foreign Language

Etc: Etcetera

PART I: INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale

English is one dominant language that is learned by millions of people all over the world When learning English, students have to master four main skills: listening, speaking, reading and writing One of the four skills, speaking, is considered to be one of the most fundamental language skills According to Chastain (2005), speaking “as one important element in developing each language skill and conveying culture knowledge”

However, speaking is the skill that makes a lot of students feel worried and frustrated Many learners share that they have spent so many years studying English language but cannot speak it appropriately and understandably It has become common that not all students who learn English are able to speak fluently and confidently For this reason, many researchers have conducted studies investigating into contributing factors for this problem Various studies have shown that some factors which include lack of vocabulary, incorrect pronunciation, lack of interest, lack of motivation, etc have a great impact on low students’ proficiency in verbal communication However, to master this productive skill, learners also need

to trust their abilities, which helps them master the language more easily In other words, if learners do not have self-confidence, they may not express their ideas freely and comfortably in spoken language

“Self-confidence” is the term that has been used by many experts to describe people who have belief in their capacities Having self-confidence can leas us to achievements as self-confidence is the key to be successful in English speaking skills (Hasan et al., 2020) Moreover, EFL students who believe in their abilities are able to overcome their fears and negative thoughts

to speak English fluently Therefore, it can be said that self-confidence plays a vital role in learning a language in general and speak a language fluently in particular

In my experience, when I was practicing teaching at Dao Duy Tu High School, I had many students who were still lacking of self-confidence in speaking English in front of the class, and from my friends’ experience, they discovered the same problem as mine While some students said that they stop talking because they face psychological obstacles, others claimed that they cannot find the suitable words and expressions and then being embarrassed

For the above reasons, I decided to choose the thesis “A study on factors causing the grade tenth students’ lack of self-confidence at Dao Duy

Tu High School” This research is conducted to find out the current state of learners’ self-confidence in oral sessions, factors that cause students' low self-confidence, and suggest strategies to develop students’ self-confidence in speaking lessons

2 Aims of the study

The study aims to figure out what factors might cause the lack of self- confidence in speaking classes of the tenth grade students, and suggests strategies to help enhance pupils’ self-confidence

3 Objectives of the study

The objectives of the study are as following:

(1) To discover the current state of learner’s self-confidence in speaking lessons

(2) To investigate factors leading to low self-confidence in speaking lessons

(3) To suggest strategies to improve pupils’ self-confidence in oral sessions

(2) What factors lead to students’ low self–confidence in speaking

lessons ?

(3) What strategies should be exploited to improve students’

self-confidence in speaking classes ?

5 Scope of the study

We focus on factors that cause the lack of self–confidence of grade 10

students’ in speaking classes at Dao Duy Tu high school

6 Methods of the study

In this study, there were only qualitative methods The data were collected from classroom observation, a questionnaire and an interview

(1) Classroom observation is used to examine the current state of learners’ self-confidence in speaking lessons It is a helpful tool to discover the contexts and can provide more information which can be missing in other instruments Since Bell (2005:184) argued that classroom observation can reveal traits of individuals or groups, thus, it is appropriate to find out some symptoms of students with low self-confidence

(2) A questionnaire for 100 grade tenth students to identify the current state of students’ confidence in speaking English, explore factors causing the lack of self-confidence in speaking lessons and figure out strategies to improve students’ self- confidence Questionnaires are designed as a mean to make the researcher’s evaluation more objective

(3) An interview in which questions are asked to obtain information This is an efficient way to discover people's views, meanings, and definitions

of real situations The interview was designed to asks teachers to also discover the current state of students’ self-confidence in oral classes, to find out factors that lead to students' low - confidence in speaking as well as strategies to improve the situation of students’ low self-confidence in speaking lessons Interviews are the most important tool in qualitative method

7 The significance of the study

This study can present new knowledge about some typical signs of students who are low self-confidence in speaking lessons, factors that result in students' low self-confidence in speaking classes, helping them to be aware of the factors influencing their self-confidence when speaking Therefore, pupils can prepare themselves to speak confidently The research also suggests some strategies for teachers to enhance students’ self-confidence in speaking lessons

In summary, the research is expected to better both the teaching and learning speaking skills of grade tenth students in general, the teaching and learning speaking skills at Dao Duy Tu High School in particular

8 Design of the study

The study includes three main parts respectively: the introduction,

content of the study and the conclusion

Part I The introduction provides the basis information such as rationale, aims

of the study, scope of the study, research questions, methods of the study, and design of the study

Part II The content of the study consists of 4 chapters:

Chapter 1: Literature review

Chapter 2: Research methodology

Chapter 3: Findings and discussion

Part III The conclusion is a summary of the study, future directions for future research and limitations of the study

PART II DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1 LITERATURE REVIEW 1.1 Theoretical background of speaking skills

1.1.1 Definition of speaking skills

Speaking is a significant skill that every language learners desire

to master It is believed to be a key area of the development in a native language and in a foreign language as well, hence, there has been variety of definitions of speaking skill

According to Hornby (1995, p.20), speaking is say something about something, to mention something, to have a conversation with someone, or express oneself in a specific language

Thornbury (2005, p.121) states that speaking is an activity carried out by a speaker to exchange his or her thoughts to interact with listeners,

a collaboration between two or more people in a particular time and context to express information, or emotions

Simbolon (2014: 227) also points out that speaking is a productive skill of a language The author explains that speaking is generally described

as an activity to convey ideas, thoughts, feelings, emotions of the speaker to others so that the message can be understood by others

The most efficient way to communicate is through speech (Paranduk et al, 2021) Therefore, speaking skill is an essential method of communication Clear and confident speaking can attract the attention of listeners, providing opportunity for the speaker to get the message across

From the definitions above, we can conclude that speaking is one

of four skills of a foreign language to express the speakers’ opinions, ideas, thoughts, feelings, etc to other people and plays a vital role in communication Without speaking skills, language learners cannot express what they want to express and it makes them find difficult to communicate with others So, as a

language learner, students have to master this oral skill in order to be able to communicate well with other people

1.1.2 The importance of speaking skills

It is no exaggeration to say that without speech, language is like a movie without characters Language is used in a variety of situations, for instance, we speak our language to communicate with colleagues, to talk with customers, to convey our messages, etc Or researchers working in a laboratory or teachers demonstrating lessons to students, are supposed to speak correctly and effectively in order to communicate well with one another since any gap in communication can lead to misunderstandings and problems The importance of speaking skills, thus, is enormous for any language learners as Putri, (2008) holds the view that speaking is important as it conveys information and maintain social relationships

Moreover, it can be thought that speaking skills offer language numerous benefits With the help of speaking skills, they can develop good relations with other people, they can get job opportunities and many other things thanks to speaking skills Moreover, through interaction, they understand other people clearly The person with good speaking skills can have ability to attract the attention of other people, engage others in his or her conversation and also ensures lucrative careers

In short, people use language to express thoughts, ideas, etc with other people In addition to that, we need to speak efficiently to decrease the occurrence of misunderstandings and a good language speaker can benefit from many things such as leaving a good impression on somebody or having more opportunities in life

1.1.3 Components of speaking

Students have to know the important components of the speaking skill

in order to be good speakers of the language Generally, there are four components of the speaking skill According to Syakur (1987:5) “speaking is

a complex skill because at least it is concerned with components of grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation, and fluency

1.1.3.1 Vocabulary

Vocabulary is one of the language components in speaking English According to Rivers 1983 (in Nunan, 1991: 117) vocabulary is vital for successful language use due to the fact that without extensive vocabulary, we will be unable to convey our ideas to the partners This means, vocabulary is the words used by the individuals in order to exchange thoughts with each other For English learners, without having a sufficient vocabulary, they cannot communicate efficiently or express their ideas in both oral and written forms Therefore, vocabulary is a great of importance in speaking, and in order to master a language, students are required to have a wide range of vocabulary so as to listen, speak, read and write the language well

1.1.3.2 Pronunciation

Pronunciation is the production of sounds for communication, divided into three categories: sounds, stress, and intonation Pronunciation is substantially important element in mastering the language and speaking it since a student who mispronounces a word can cause a misunderstanding and

in some cases, may offend other people Pronunciation has traditionally been taught with a goal of “speaking like a native speaker” but this is not practical

In fact, users of the language must know how to pronounce English words and practice to do so well for others to understand However, pronunciation is the aspect of knowledge learners typically do not pay attention to it (Thornbury, 2005) In order to speak English language accurately, learners should master phonological rules and they should be aware of the various sounds, the stress, intonation, and pitch All of these elements help learners speak the English language more easily and efficiently

1.1.3.3 Grammar

Grammar is the set of rules that show how words are grouped, arranged, or changed to convey particular meanings (Swan 2005) Someone who understands grammar will be able to organize words in sentences, use the right tenses and structures, which can get messages across As a result, grammar is also vital in speaking as if we do not know the appropriate grammar in sentence, the listener will be unsure about what we said In a nutshell, having good knowledge of grammar assists learners obtain proficiency in a language, both in speaking and writing performance

1.1.3.4 Fluency

A fluent speaker means he or she can use the language smoothly and confidently, with few pauses, and hesitation, etc (Nunan, 2003:55) It refers to how well people communicate in natural manner and speaker needs to know when she/he need to pause or stop his/her speaking in an appropriate place Furthermore, it can be said that fluent speaking is when the speaker does not produce word by word at a time, therefore, in order to be a fluent speaker, he

or she must be able to produce word in groups of words that form a meaningful clauses

1.1.4 Classroom speaking activities

Classroom speaking activities play an indispensable role in language teaching and learning as they help learners practice the real language use and also enhance their confidence In reality, there are a wide range of speaking activities that teachers can implement in the class to help students practice the target language

a) Information- gap

There are many information gap activities, however, the most popular one is “Describe and Draw” According to (Harmer, 1998, p.88), “Describe and Draw” activity is an ideal techniques in speaking classes since it can highly motivate students and can be made use of for the purpose of

communication In this activity, one student holds a picture but he or she must not show it to his or her partner Thus, the one having the picture will give descriptions so as to his or her partner ask questions and draw the picture

b) Story Telling

In this activity, students will tell stories in the target language The teacher will inspire students to retell stories they have read in books, in newspapers, in their daily lives or in the internet Of course, the best stories are encouraged to recall are about themselves, their families, or their friends

c) Favorite Object

It can be done in groups or in pairs In this activity, students are asked

to speak about their favorite items Each student is asked to describe the characteristics of their favorite things and other students try to guess what the favorite thing is

d) Meeting and Greeting

This activity is usually taught to beginning language learners Students act in a formal meeting in which they meet and present themselves to a group

of people, making an attempt to use meeting and greeting expressions

e) Describing things or person

Students are expected to provide detailed descriptions of something or someone to other students They can speak in front of the class or in groups It

is similar to describing favorite objects, however, other students do not have

to guess what the object is Teachers can give pupils items or people, and students are asked to identify the certain items or people

f) Discussion

Thoronbury (2005, p.102) views discussion as a significantly beneficial activity of speaking This is an activity that involves conversations between members in the class The students are divided into various groups then the instructor assigns a subject for each group to plan Time is set for pupils to discuss the given subjects Finally, a student from each group will present the

results of the discussion, the instructor will give some feedbacks on the students' speaking performance

g) Debate

This classroom speaking activity can be used for advanced language learners, such as high school students or university students Some students are divided into groups then they are given a subject and time to prepare After that, two groups have a debate in front of the class at a set time Finally, the teacher will decide the winner and give feedbacks

h) Describing pictures

Teachers give a picture to different groups of students and ask students

to describe It may be a single picture or even a strip one, in case the students can tell a story using the strip picture Then, they have a certain number of minutes to talk as many things as possible about the picture

i) Picture differences

Before using this type of activity, the instructors must find the pictures which must be almost identical Students are asked to work in pairs or in groups to do this activity Each member of the groups will identify the differences between the given pictures and then go to the board to talk about characteristics or differences of them

to practice the target language, allows them to express comfortably, creatively and confidently

l) Solving a problem

The students are required to give many questions and answer each other This activity is beneficial since it helps the students freely practice and express their ideas in spoken language, they also can comfortably share their outlooks and practice critical thinking skill The teacher, in this case, acts as a bridge to assist the learners to solve their problems

n) Acting from a script

Harmer (2001, p.271) claims that acting from a script is a classroom speaking activity in which students come out to the front of the class to perform the scenes based on the dialogue in textbooks, or in an written materials The teacher directs students and the students perform the dialogue

1.2 Self-confidence

1.2.1 Definition of self-confidence

Confidence means to trust or believe in something as Brown (2001) argues that “self-confidence is a persons’ belief in his or her ability to accomplish the task” That is to say, if students believe in their abilities then they can accomplish the learning task easily and effectively

Whereas, Lauster (2002) states confidence is a positive attitude of an individual which allow him to develop positive evaluation with himself and the environment or situations he cope with

Confidence also refers to self-esteem or self-image, Santrock (2011) Another definition proposed by Grubber (2010) who defines self-confidence as an attitude that people hold about themselves and this allows them to move forward and obtain their goals This means that self-confidence

is the people’s belief in their capacities to succeed in a certain task especially when they feel that they are capable of realizing that task, they will perform well in order to get success

It is also defined by Murray (2006: Cited in Tridinanti,G , 2018;37) as

“self-confidence is a firm belief If a person is convinced of something, he/she

is not worried about the outcome; he/she simply takes it for granted that it will

go well” In other words, it is the person’s belief in his or her capacities to do and accomplish their dreams by taking risks and performing well without fears and also without worrying about the outcomes

In summary, self-confidence is the belief in one’s own capacities and abilities to perform well and achieve his or her goals, which means someone has a positive attitude about his skills and abilities It is true that if someone who has a high level of self-confidence, he or she can set goals, stick to them and may get success easily than those who have lower self-confidence

1.2.2 The importance of self-confidence

Self-confidence is a great of importance in almost every aspect of life People who believe in themselves are likely to cope with challenges better and get success more easily in comparison with who do not As Azmandian (2010) stated, “self-confidence is a major first stop along the path of successful life” (p.80), which can be understood that self-confidence is a secret of a successful life

Brown (2000:90) holds the view that self-confidence is “one of the most influential variables which affect learning”, which means self-confidence has a huge effect on students’ learning process as well as their academic achievements To cite an example, compared to a learner who often doubt on his abilities, a student who always trusts his capacities is able to master the language faster This is why self-confidence is considered to be a key factor in learning a foreign language Brown (2007) also suggests self-confidence is one of twelve principles of language learning, language

learners’ belief to be successful can be a determined factor in their academic achievements In addition, he also shared his view that the heart of all teaching-learning process is the students’ belief in their competency to complete the tasks If they firstly believe that they can be able to complete the tasks, the self-confidence will appear to motivate them Thus, Brown (2001) called it by “I can do it!” principle, which is one of the significant keys to get success in language learning

In learning speaking a second language, self-confidence is a dominant factor in the process of learning “Confidence is an essential aspect of any good presentation It provides impetus to speakers to communicate his or her ideas effectively”, (Kakepoto, 2012) In other words, confidence is a componentt that can help students to convey their ideas efficiently, thus, EFL learners need to be aware of the importance of self-confidence in order to learn the second language and speak it better Self-confidence also considerably contributes to the students’ willingness to communicate in a second language as the willingness can also lead to the success in language learning

1.2.3 The influence of self-confidence on learners in speaking lessons

According to Preston (2001:7), “confidence is crucial to a happy and fulfilling life It influences your success at work, your family life, relationship, leisure activities It affects your performance in everything you do” In other words, confidence has a great influence in everything in life that individuals do With regards to learning process, EFL learners often have difficulty in speaking a foreign language, and this is due to the lack of self-confidence Self-confidence is a psychological factor that has either positive

or negative impact on students’ academic achievements, especially on speaking sessions On the one hand, if a learner believe in his/her abilities, this will has a positive influence on their speaking performance For instance, students with a high level of self-confidence often take risks during oral session, speak without hesitations and simultaneously interact with teachers

and ask about unclear things On the other hand, students who are lack of confidence, tend to be silent most of the time and when they speak, they feel shy Moreover, it is believed that self-confidence has a correlation with students’ language anxiety, which means the low level of students’ self-confidence will create language anxiety, which is the feeling of fear associated with language using

self-1.2.4 Lack of self- confidence

It can be said that, to be like a local speaker in a second language, self- belief is one of the significant key that unlocks a few verbal obstacles and contributes to pupils’ willingness to talk in a foreign language However, not all of people in the world seem to be confident about their abilities, this may derive from different experiences, such as growing up in an unsupportive and toxic environment, being separated from family, being judged too many times, etc If people have a low level of self-confidence, they may tend to feel doubtful of their capacities, which can adversely affect their relationships, work, studies, etc In terms of learning a second language, low self-confidence can be psychological obstacles that make learners find it difficult

to speak the language and even in mother tongue Nevertheless, when learning English, high school students commonly deal with many problems such as poor grammar, wrong pronunciation, complicated vocabulary and others, thus, students often experience uncomfortable feelings and make errors, which prevent them from believing in their ability to perform well

1.2.5 The characteristics of students with low and high self-confidence

a The characteristics of students with high self-confidence

In a book, “Building Self-Confidence with Encouraging Words”, Wright (2009, p.24) described some characteristics of students with high self-confidence:

First and foremost, they are ambitious, which means they have strong aspiration to be successful and obtain their enormous goals

In addition, they often set goals and plans for themselves and try to accomplish and reach the best results

Next, they have positive attitudes about their capacities, the future, and will not give up, and they imagine what they can achieve in the future

Moreover, they show their confidence through their speeches, and actions because they are high self-confident

Furthermore, high self-confident people tend to build a healthy rapport with others instead of keeping toxic ones

Lastly, they are attractive and this helps leave a good impression on others as they can spread their confidence in a way that attracts good people

to them

b The characteristics of students with low self-confidence

Also, Wright (2009, p.26) listed some characteristics of students with low self-confidence, some of which are:

Firstly, they scare of changes That is to say, they are anxious and worried for what will happen if they change

Secondly, in contrast to high self-confidence, they have negative attitudes towards their abilities, be pessimistic, and tend to “see the glass as half empty” In other words, they always have belief that bad things will happen

Next, they tend to be passive rather than proactive, either set goals or take actions For them, everything is difficult, they can not reach it, so they do not try to become successful

Moreover, they want to satisfy others rather than take care themselves, they like to make others happy and pleased more than to try discovering their potentials and break through

Finally, they are insecure about themselves, always feel anxious when encountering troubles, see themselves as victims, easily give up when they cope with problems

Indeed, students who have high self-confidence are more achievable than others with low self-confidence It is the responsibility of the teacher to help students who are low self-confidence to overcome their problems in order to help them to become successful language learners

1.2.6 Factors affecting the lack of self-confidence

1.2.6.1 Lack of language knowledge

Language barriers such as limited vocabulary, lack of grammar knowledge and poor pronunciation are the primary factors leading to the low self-confidence of learners in oral classes According to Heriansyah’s research (2012), students’ lack of language competency caused them to speak English

b Lack of grammar knowledge

Grammar is another aspect of a language that plays a vital role in producing a spoken sentence, participation in class, as well as the self-confidence in learners’ speaking performance In other words, if learners are equipped with good basic language of grammar, they are likely to get interested in speaking tasks and confidently speaking

c Poor pronunciation

Poor pronunciation can decrease students’ self- confidence It is believed that if students’ pronunciation is improved obviously, the students’ self-confidence to produce oral sentences can be developed Doff (1998) said that pronunciation is able to make people as an educated or uneducated person, which means that mispronunciation can cause a negative self-image

of a speaker and it also has an effect on students’ performance, as they are afraid of a making an error

1.2.6.2 Psychological factors

a Shyness

Students who are shy tend to avoid crowded place, in this particular case, they do not want to participate in speaking activities Instead, they often keep silent and give brief responses when being asked by instructors In spite

of having good speaking abilities, they may have difficulty in conveying their ideas, and some can even struggle with standing on the stage to give a presentation Therefore, it can be said that shyness acts as a psychological barrier in language learning process in general and becoming a fluent oral communicator in particular Some research demonstrate that shyness is one of crucial factors associated with low self-confidence For instance, a research conducted by Thiziri (2019): shyness is the main important cause behind students’ lack of self-confidence

b Fear or making mistakes

Thiziri (2019) also pointed out that fear of making errors is associated with low self-confidence in speaking skills Mistakes are beneficial signs of learners’ weaknesses, they helps us realize our flaws when learning a second language, but many language learners still overestimate the seriousness of mistakes In order to speak fluently and accurately, learners have to speak out and practice many times, however, when pupils have fear of making errors, it can make them lose belief in their capacities Therefore, fear of making mistakes can be another psychological that hinder learners from having a high level of self-confidence as well as achieving good speaking ability

c Lack of motivation

Motivation is regarded as crucial element in the process of learning as Dornyei (2011) claimed that “motivation is one of the key issues in language learning” This can be understood that motivation is the power that can stimulate people to be consistent with their goals so as to achieve something

Motivation also has a strong relationship with self-confidence On the one hand, highly- motivated learners are associated with a high level of self-confidence as Burton and Plattes (2006) argued that “if you can increase your motivation, you automatically increase your self-confidence.” On the other hand, if you are not motivated, you tend to be passive and less self-confident

1.2.6.3 Feedbacks from teachers

Feedback is another factor that makes a student actively participate in speaking activities in class All students expect their instructors to give them necessary feedbacks on their speaking performance Moreover, the way a teacher give comments for their students is also important too An immediate feedback after students have just made errors should be avoided in every situations even though the feedbacks are positive, instead, teachers should find a proper way to make learners not shy and confused about their speaking problems in front of many people According to Harmer (1991), the flow of speaking performance and objectives of speaking tasks can be negatively affected if teachers directly correct their learners’ mistakes Thus, he suggested that teachers should always correct their students’ mistakes positively and give them more support and motivation while practicing speaking the target language in class

1.3 Strategy to improve the students’ lack of self-confidence

Developing self-confidence is a great of importance in academic success Different researchers have different views about the way to build up self-confidence

Harmer (2001) shares some steps to increase students’ confidence done

by teachers:

Frist, teachers should create a safe, healthy and friendly learning environment This is because it can help reduce students’ feeling of stress, confusion of fear of making mistakes Teachers can remind their pupils that mistakes are necessary tools for learning, so all efforts are precious, all mistakes are welcomed and acceptable

Secondly, teachers should facilitate all pupils to have equal participation to help students feel less shy by giving students more chances to practice the target language

Thirdly, instructors can motivate students by giving marks and gifts

Giving them small prizes after they accomplish their speaking performance acts as a stimulating effect, which help them proud of their ability

In addition to that, teachers should form weak learners work with better learners to achieve Cooperative learning In other words, teachers can assign low achievers work with high achievers, passive learners with active students, etc to make pupils help each other in learning process In this case, they have fix mistakes of the others, provide their partners with language knowledge in order to complete the task If this is implemented, they can have a high level

of self-confidence as they have prepared carefully to start performing

Moreover, teachers should give feedbacks in an appropriate way A positive and immediate comments after pupils have already finish their speaking performance is encouraged to build up the level of students’ self-confidence

Furthermore, teachers can equip learners with general background knowledge about the topic before letting them work in groups By implementing this, students can become more confident as they are provided with sufficient knowledge

According to Raffini (1996:181), there are several ways for teachers to build up students’ self-confidence:

a Set aims, goals for all students and assist them to obtain

b Always explain the purposes, the rules of assignments of learning tasks

c Learn some special characteristics of each learner and help them overcome their weaknesses

d Accept language learners even though they make serious mistakes

e Helps pupils to learn to accept their mistakes

f Value students’ contribution and efforts

g Give them positive feedbacks

h Create a psychologically healthy environment in which pupils are encouraged to share their opinions and take risks

CHAPTER II METHODOLOGY AND PROCEDURE

2.1 The setting of the study

2.1.1 An overview of research place

The study was conducted at grade tenth students, Dao Duy Tu High School The school is situated in Thanh Hoa city, was established in 1931 The history names of the school were varied many times such as: Collège Dao Duy Tu, Lam Sơn High School, etc (with 62 classes including specialized classes In 1992, specialized classes were separated from the school and the current name is Dao Duy Tu High School

In recent years, the school have actively participated in movements that Ministry of Education and Training organizes, namely: “Build a friendly learning environment and active students”, “Each teacher is a bright model of morals, learning, creativity”, “Frequently renovate teaching methods”, etc The school not only focus on teaching-learning process, but also pay attention

to extraocular activities in order to help develop essential skills comprehensively for the pupils

There were more than ten thousands of students who have graduated from the school, of which more than thousands of students graduated from university and became leaders of many sectors Moreover, up to now, the number of students has increased in both quantity and quality In particular, the percentage of students with good academic achievements per year is 70-80%., and the graduation rate has always reached over 99%, and been in the top high schools with high graduation rate in Thanh Hoa province Many students have also participated in various competitions, gained high achievements and brought honors to the school

In learning, pupils are taught all subjects followed the regulation of Ministry of Education and Training such as Maths, Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Physical, etc and English is one of primary subjects to students

2.1.2 English teaching and learning situation at Dao Du tu High School

English is a compulsory subject at Dao Duy Tu High School, as it is at other schools in the country The English textbooks for all pupils at grade tenth is “Global success 10” There are nearly forty weeks of a school year, ten units of the textbook are divided into many 45-minutes periods, and students have three English classes per week “Global success” consists of ten

units Each unit has many parts, namely: Getting started, Language, Reading,

Speaking, Listening, Writing, CLIL and Looking back& Project Among them, the purpose of Getting started part is help learners get accustomed to a new topic, whereas, Looking back& Project session aims to help students review what they have learnt in previous sessions and develop creativity, and the rest parts help develop language abilities for the students According to the English teachers at Dao Duy Tu High School, the school year 2022-2023h

is the first year that students approach to this book, so emerging issues in inevitable

2.1.3 The subjects of the study

The subjects in my study are 100 grade tenth pupils of class 10C8, 10C9 and 10C10 and three teachers who are English teachers of the three classes in Division of Foreign Languages at Dao Duy Tu High School

a The students

The study includes 100 tenth grade students, in which 68 males and 42 females They live in different place in Thanh Hoa city All of them have learnt English for many years However, there are differences in the level of language proficiency and enthusiasm in leaning English process among the students Some of students who are good at English tend to be more enthusiastic than those learning at non-gifted classes

b The teachers

There are four teachers in Division of Foreign Languages, all of them are females They have at least ten years of teaching experience, three of them

obtained a Bachelor degree from Viet Nam National university, and the rest teacher was pursuing a Master’s degree These teachers have had opportunities to teach grade 10 pupils so they understand characteristics of the current state of students’ self-confidence

2.2 Methods of the study

2.2.1 Data collection instruments

First and foremost, observation is the technique that the researcher used

to collect information The observation was implemented in three classes during the teaching-learning process

The researcher also uses interviews to collect the data Interview is the method that can gain an in-depth knowledge about a problem

Lastly, survey questionnaires are popular means of gathering data for research To begin with, they require little time and money Secondly, they make it easier to collect information a large scale in a short amount of time Finally, respondents are not required to write their names on questionnaires, this allows them to express their ideas comfortably and honestly and creating the most objective results

2.2.2 Data collection procedures

First, the observation sheet was used to guide the researcher in observing the classes during the twenty-eighth week of the second semester of the school year 2022-2023 It was used to get the information about the teaching and learning process Then the researcher conducted the observation

to collect information

Meanwhile, the researcher conducted interview for the teachers Before interviewing, the research gave explanation about the purpose of the interview After finishing the interview to collect the data, the researcher transcript the data

At the same time, the questionnaire was delivered and collected from students at Dao Duy Tu high school Figures from the questionnaire were collected and presented for study after one week

2.2.3 Methods of data analysis

Students’ activities were observed during the English speaking classes The data were collected by observing the teaching and learning process and then wrote in the form of field notes

The obtained data from the questionnaire and interview were evaluated

at the same time during the data analysis step The data of the questionnaire was used a statistical method and expressed as a percentage There would be pie charts and tables to illustrate the answer by percentage Whereas, the data collected from the interview was recorded and transcript

CHAPTER III FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 3.1 Findings

3.1.1 Observation

The teaching-learning process of three English speaking classes was observed while the actions were implemented The checklist is presented in the form of table to find out the current state of students’ self-confidence in speaking lessons

Table 3.1: Checklist of classroom observation

lessons



2 Teachers speak English during he lessons



3 Teachers use different activities and techniques in speaking classes



4, Teachers correct students after they have already performed



5 Teachers integrate individual work, pair work



and group work

Students’

interaction

1 Students are passive learners



2 Students participate actively

in speaking activities



3 Students keep silent even they have ability to speak



4 Students feel shy

during performance



5 Students speak confidently



6 Students speak with hesitation and filler (uh, ah, etc)



7 Students feel satisfied when teachers give comments



8 Students feel upset when teachers give comments



The observation has shown that all the teachers used English during the teaching process, and only a teacher explained the lessons by the two languages The two teachers mostly used Discussion, Presentation techniques while the other teacher used Presentation, Discussion and Debate techniques

in teaching process The atmosphere of the two classes were not interesting enough while the rest class was a little bit noisy Most of pupils were not interested in speaking classes as well as the English teaching- learning process Some students did other things which were not related to the lessons, some others looked outside the class, some pupils felt sleepy The teacher asked students to raise hands to share ideas but most of the time, many students were passive, they waited for the teachers and did whatever the teachers told them to do There were only a few students raising hands, but the rest of the students, only when the teachers called, they just had a chance

to speak English Some students did not raise hands even though they have ability to speak

Teachers asked their students to work in pairs, in groups but the majority of pupils were not engaged in discussing with their partners Instead, they only spoke when teachers went around the class and came closer to their positions

When students were about to called by the teachers after preparation, some students looked nervous because they had not finished the task yet They did not look at the teacher’s eyes but they copied answers on their notebooks, or looked at the textbooks, which means they were trying to ignore

the teachers in order not to get the attention They started to feel nervous when the teachers asked them to present in front of the class Or when students were suddenly called by the teachers, they did not have time to prepare, so they became shy and anxious

During the observation session, the researcher also observed how students performed in speaking classes When students are told to speak English in front of the class, there were some students who were able to speak fluently These students had vocabulary to convey their ideas, pronunciation was good, they spoke without hesitations but sometimes made mistakes in grammar However, they still continued their oral performance and spoke confidently Some others spoke too small and the voice almost could not be heard The teacher asked them to speak up then the voice became louder There were a few students who were speaking well and confidently, then when they looked around, they gradually lower their voice At that time, the audience was looking down rather than paying attention to the speakers There were few pupils who asked teachers for help if they were getting stuck with vocabulary, which were good However, some students were performing but then suddenly pausing and getting confused, but the teachers realized and told them the English words that they have not known And, there were two students who could not even produce any English sounds Many others spoke with fillers (uhm, ah, etc), which showed that they were not confident

The researcher has also seen that students are proud of themselves and had smile on their faces when teachers gave them positive feedbacks But when some student mispronounced a word, the teacher asked that student to repeat the words a few times, which made them get confused

From the results of the observation, the researcher carried out interviews and questionnaires to find out factors leading to the lack of students’ self-confidence

3.1.2 Teachers’ interview

The researcher has designed some questions in order to know the background information of the students’ English speaking learning in the classroom, to discover the level of students’ self-confidence in speaking classes, and some factors contributing to the lack of self-confidence of pupils

in oral lessons as well as to figure out some strategies to improve this problem The result of the interview is described as below:

3.1.2.1 Current state of students’ self-confidence in speaking lessons

When being asked about the opinions about self- confidence, all teachers agree that self-confidence plays an important role in learning a second language in general and in learning speaking English in particular The

teacher teaching class 10C8 shared: “Self-confidence is the belief of our

ability to do something, so it is significant in every aspects of our lives When

it comes to learning speaking skill, if we are high self-confident, we are able

to talk comfortably, do not afraid of making mistakes, therefore, we can improve this skill day by day”; while the teacher teaching class 10C9 said:

“Self-confidence is a great of importance in learning to speak English,

because when students are self-confident, they are willing to practice speaking even when they have some speaking problems in that language Thus, when pupils do not hesitate to practice speaking, they would develop this productive sill” The other teacher: “Self-confidence is very important not only in daily life but also in learning a second language”

The next question aims to know whether pupils are active in speaking lessons or not One of three teachers said that her students’ proactiveness is at the level of medium, some pupils excitedly contribute to the lessons, while others just do it when being called However, the other teachers complain about the situation of speaking classes The teacher of class 10C8 shared that

“Most of students do not involve proactively in class, they only speak English

just because I told them to do to finish the task”, while the teacher teaching at

class 10C10 said “ Some students seem to ignore their task and would do

irrelevant things like preparing lessons for Math subjects, do exercises of other subjects and I have to stop for a while to make them pay attention to my lessons, only a small number of students focus one hundred percent in each lesson and engage actively in all tasks”

All teachers hold the view that the majority of their students do not often raise hands in their lessons Some students raise hands when they only know exactly answers, some rarely raise hands even they know answers, others students never raise hands except from when the teachers call them to give their answers, otherwise, they would stay silent all the time Because, students do not raise hands to share their ideas, so the atmosphere of the class

is not noisy enough

When the researcher asked the teachers about their students’ level of self-confidence in speaking classes, two teachers thought that the level of pupils’ self-confidence is on average, while the rest teacher shared that her

pupils’ self-confidence is low The teacher of class 10C8 said that “The level

of self-confidence may be at medium level, I see that nearly a half of students speak English confidently, they speak without hesitation, partly because those students do not have many problems in speaking, I mean, their English knowledge is quite good, and the rest of students need to be more confident in their competency to be willing to speak English without scaring of making mistakes” The teacher of class 10C9 shared that the level of their students’

self- confidence is at moderate “Based on my knowledge and my observation,

students are not confident when speaking English In my opinion, the level of their self-confidence in English speaking lessons is not high, they need to realize this problem and gradually fix it to learn this skill better”

Nevertheless, the other stated “Honestly speaking, the level of self-confidence

of my students is not high enough, they seem to be shy when speak in front of class and speak because of the teacher’s request”