how peer pressure impacts on speaking academic performance among freshmen in the english department at ha noi university

Trang 1 ENGLISH DEPARTMENT INTRODUCTION TO RESEARCHASSIGNMENTTOPIC: How peer pressure impacts on speaking academicperformance among freshmen in the English Department at Ha NoiUniversity

ENGLISH DEPARTMENT

INTRODUCTION TO RESEARCH

ASSIGNMENT TOPIC: How peer pressure impacts on speaking academic

performance among freshmen in the English Department at Ha Noi

University ?

Supervisor: Hoang Quy M.A

Students:

1 Dương Thị Lệ - Student’s ID: 2007010140

2 Chu Thị Linh - Student’s ID: 1807030055

3 Trịnh Thị Thúy - Student’s ID: 2007010297

Hà Nội, 2022

STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY

This is to certify that to the best of our knowledge, the content of this paper is our own work This paper has not been submitted for any degree or other purposes We certify that the intellectual content of this paper is the product of our own work and that all the assistance received in preparing this paper and sources have been acknowledged

Date: _/10/2022

Group leader’s name: _

Leader’s signature:

I Introduction

1 Rationale of the research

Peer pressure has a significant impact on adolescents' social, emotional, and academic development Lavy and Schlosser (2007) argued that “for many students, friendships are critical interpersonal vehicles that move them towards psychological growth and maturity, allowing social compassion which influences the development of self-evaluation” Therefore, understanding the possibilities and difficulties of peer pressure is essential for the effectiveness of educational processes and in order to improve students’ academic performance, especially in learning the speaking process English is undoubtedly recognized as the most important language to learn for the increasingly mobile international community, and English has become the official language of the business and scientific world (Schütz, 2005) As English serves the purpose of international communication, most of the foreign language learners try to learn it and they have to acquire all the four basic skills of the language, including listening, speaking, reading, and writing in the process Among the four essential language abilities, speaking is regarded as the most crucial aspect of daily communication Speaking activities are an impossible component to separate from daily life activities that cannot be underestimated (Clampitt, 2016; Coombs, 2014) It

is undeniable that communication has many advantages for people, including the ability to receive information, express their thoughts and feelings, and develop bonds with others around them Although freshmen with English majors are proficient in grammar, they have experienced some difficulties when speaking Especially, first-year students, who had graduated from high school and were admitted into a college

or a university in the first year, have difficulties when they acclimate to the new setting with new acquaintances and a new educational curriculum Therefore, the ability to resist peer pressure is one of their most common issues Particularly, the degree of academic achievement of teenagers is somewhat influenced by the assistance they receive from their parents, teachers, and even their classmates (Chen, 2008) Peer pressure frequently appears to have different effects on students’ academic achievement in the classroom Peer pressure is said to affect people in both positive and negative ways, as well as without having any noticeable effects on them, because

it is a constant learning process (Gulati, 2017) Eventually, this study aimed to investigate the impacts of peer pressure on freshmen’s academic performance in the

English Department at Ha Noi University

2 Aims of the research

This research is implemented as a useful and credible way to investigate how peer pressure affects students' acquisition of speaking abilities among English major students in the English Department at Ha Noi University The purpose of this inquiry

is to demonstrate the reality of peer pressure among students majoring in English, as well as the effects it has on them, and the workable remedies they have used to combat this issue Moreover, this study intends to determine the relationship between peer pressure and academic performance in the learning speaking process Therefore, we

decided to carry out primary research as a reliable tool to answer the question “How peer pressure impacts on speaking academic performance among freshmen in the English Department at Ha Noi University ?” Additionally, it can be put to use as a

resource by English as a foreign language (EFL) teachers and students, they can gain a better understanding of the hardships that their pupils have faced and develop quick-response solutions to address these issues

II Literature review

1 Speaking skill

According to Ur (1996), speaking is one of the most significant skills in the language learning process because people who want to master that language are referred to as speakers of it Eckard & Kearny (1981), and Florez (1999) stated that speaking is a process that requires interaction between those participating in it to express their ideas, knowledge, and emotions In another way, Chaney (1998) considered speaking as the process of creating and sharing meaning via the use of both verbal and non-verbal symbols in various contexts

2 Peer pressure and its impacts

Many scholars have defined this term Peer pressure can be understood as the influence of a peer group or an individual on one person to alter their beliefs, worth, credence, or behaviors to conform to the expectations of that group (Baruah & Boruah, 2016)

According to Dishion, McCord, & Poulin, 1999, much research focused on the negative impacts of peer pressure Korir (2014) stated that peer groups can give a negative impact to students related to peer pressure because it is a crucial component

of an individual’s development process Furthermore, studies show that peer pressure

among students can boost their anxiety, particularly when it comes to their education (Kadir, Atmowasdoyo & Salija, 2018)

However, peer pressure is not always bad; in fact, it can have a significant positive impact on how people behave According to Olalekan, 2016, students that have the necessary peer support tend to excel and exceed their capability, focus more

on their studies, and do well in academic tasks in schools Esen & Gundogdu (2010) also stated that students can decrease the effects of stressful situations by receiving social support from their peers in a group Similarly, Sotinis, Mirco & Michael (2013) also shared the same idea by indicating that students can ask for assistance from their friends instead of working alone, which can act as motivation What is more, peer pressure is important in the social context which plays a significant role in society and determines academic performance (Chen, 2008) Peers are considered one of the most crucial components for young people’s identity development, capability to experiment with others, as well as the development of their cognitive skills, affective, and their behaviors (Wentzel, 2005)

III THE METHODOLOGY

1 Participants

This research is conducted with about 150 first-year students in the English Department These students have been enrolled at Hanoi University for about three months and currently, they may have difficulties in speaking skills Therefore, their responses can be trustworthy and empirical Every participant studies in different classes, comes from a variety of regions, both cities, and countryside, and has a diverse English background All students are volunteers and have no pressure when participating in this research Furthermore, the number of 150 students is enough to represent the freshmen in the English Department at Hanoi University

2 Materials

Invitations to participate in the research with the questionnaire survey will be emailed online to freshmen English majors studying at Hanoi University With the aim

of exploring their views on peer pressure problems, Participants will be made aware that their data will be kept private and that they can leave the study at any time without providing a reason

This study has a mix-method approach (qualitative and quantitative) that uses questionnaires and interviews For the questionnaire, a list of questions (closed questions) is used in order to facilitate the data collection The list of questions contains the following dimensions of participants’ backgrounds and the opinion about peer pressure on academic performance in learning speaking English skills Moreover,

in the interview part, online interviews will be conducted with the first-year English majors, who are affected by peer pressure in the process of learning English, especially

in terms of scores After the questionnaire, there will be a question answer sheet so that participants can express themselves besides the given content It can propound their experiences about the change and the impacts on academic performance including positive and negative sides

3 Procedure:

This fieldwork consists of attending the first-year students of the English Department at Ha Noi University First, the process will be implemented for the participants to answer some questions about their backgrounds and to obtain basic information about their English fluency In the second phase, an interview will be carried out to collect the individual's perspectives about the impacts of peer pressure

on them in academic performance in the learning speaking process Regarding the analysis, all the data collected in the research will be used to investigate the question:

“How peer pressure impacts on speaking academic performance among freshmen in

the English Department at Ha Noi University ?”

A matrix is created in Google Forms to collect the data online The participants can click on the link and answer the questions easily Moreover, Google Forms is used

to propose the number of choices of individuals in each question

For the interview, a list of questions is created online to collect the personal information for an unbiased viewoft the peer pressure and its influence on freshmen

on academic performance in speaking skills Moreover, the participants can give their experiences in dealing with peer pressure in the interview phase

a Phase 1: Questionnaire:

- Giving participants online questionnaires (closed questions) through a link to identify their perspectives about the peer group and their problems with peer pressure

on academic performance in learning speaking skills and their attitudes towards these

- Through questionnaires, collecting information about the effects of peer pressure both negative and positive sides on academic performance in learning speaking skills

- Classifying the collected data through online questionnaires, and proposing the statistics about the choice of the participants

- Finally, regarding the statistics, having initial evaluations and orienting for the questions in the second phase (interview)

b Phase 2: Interview:

- Through questions that are carried out in online interviews through the question answer sheet, participants can propound their perspectives about peer pressure, the effects of peer pressure on themselves and their experiences when they deal with pressure from their peers

- Analyzing the data collected in order to investigate the influences and the solutions for negative and positive sides of freshman’ peer pressure in academic achievement when learning speaking skills

- Organizing and classifying collected information

c Phase 3: Data collection and analysis

- Synthesis and classify the data information through questionnaires and interviews phases

- Analyzing the collected data to sum up the impacts of peer pressure on academic performance of speaking among freshmen and the solutions that freshmen used to deal with this problem

- Determining the relationship between peer pressure and academic performance

of freshmen in learning speaking English in the English Department at Ha Noi University

- Data collection instruments: questionnaires and interviews

4 Data collection instruments:

The study utilizes a mixed-methods approach consisting of both qualitative methods (interviews) and quantitative methods (questionnaires) to obtain the data The first-year students are asked to give their opinion on how peer pressure affects their academic performance in speaking English skills

- A description of the questionnaire phase:

After careful consideration, we decided to use a questionnaire technique with closed questions as our study instrument for the following reasons: Online survey is the most practical method for this research to collect data because we can reach a great number of students through the Internet Simply by sending participants a link, we could gather their opinions without geographical limitations According to McLeod,

2018, this technique is helpful when it is challenging to conduct interviews with a large number of people With the aim of making a delicate research, a questionnaire is

a suitable way for the anonymous respondents to freely express their true feelings Additionally, we respect students' willingness to participate, and a questionnaire can

be very beneficial to us by letting participants decide when and where they finish our survey or stop What is more, thanks to technology, all of the answers are obtained automatically, which increases the data accuracy by lowering the possibility of human error (Cleave, 2021)

Open questions are profound as our instrument to collect the data The questionnaire is distributed in the first phase of the project to see if those first-year students are concerned about peer pressure on academic performance All the questions are displayed in the Google Form, in the form of Yes-No questions If the students choose Yes, they can move onto the next questions For the next statement questions, the answer is presented as a four-point scale so that students can exactly get

a deep insight into their speaking academic performance, including beginner, low-intermediate, intermediate and advanced such as I feel more confident to speak in English like the foreigners In terms of multiple choice questions and statements, questions are presented and students need to choose at least one of them, for example,

“How do you feel when you are surrounded by numerous “nerds” in the English speaking class?”; “When do you feel stressed the most during your university’s life?” (i.e after 1 month of being accepted into the university, after the first lesson at the university, etc), etc All the responses will be recorded as crucial information for further analysis

- A description of the interview phase:

Interviews are carried out among the English Department freshman so that they can freely express their own opinion about the impact of peer pressure on English Speaking performance There are at least three questions mainly focused on the other impacts of peer pressure, how it affects them during their academic performance at the

university, and their recommendations for overcoming this issue.

5 Data analysis

The purpose of this chapter is to convey the findings, analysis, discussion, and interpretation of data that was gathered wherein the objective is to know the relationship between students, peer pressure, and their academic performance in school

Table 1: Importance of peer group in the learning process.

1 Your friends and you do school activities together

2 Your class activities are carried out in pairs/groups

3 Your friends inspire you to work hard in your studies

4 Your friends' assistance in group discussion assisted to

improve your grades

5 You are usually asked to practice speaking in

pairs/groups in the form of conversation, discussion, or debate, in

speaking classes

6 Your midterm Speaking tests, final speaking tests are

conducted in pairs/groups (conversation, discussion, debate, )

7 You believe that group work plays a significant role in

your academic performance in general and in Speaking in particular

Table 1 aims to study if group work has a considerable influence on students’ academic performance in general and in Speaking skills in particular The received answers then will be interpreted into percentages to see the role of group work in the students’ study and if many students consider peer groups an important part in their academic achievement If yes, it will be reasonable to continue our next table question, which is about the impacts (both positive and negative) from their friends (or peer pressure) on students’ academic performance

Table 2: The impacts of peer pressure on freshman:

Indicators Yes No

1 Peer pressure is your drive to keep going forward

2 Peer pressure encourages you to learn more speaking tips

from your friends

3 You believe that it is necessary to work together in a

pair/group when developing English speaking skills

4 It makes you take actions to improve speaking skills such

as pronunciation, presentation skill, …

5 You lose confidence in yourself when learning speaking

English

6 You feel inferior to your friends

7 You are obsessed when speaking classes are coming

8 You feel stressed and lack motivation due to your weak

speaking skills

The question table 2 shows that the peer pressure has effects on 150 first-year students in their English speaking learning process on both sides (negative side and positive side) The information is collected and analyzed through Google Forms and it can reach the number of participants who chose each indicator Therefore, the statistics will demonstrate whether peer pressure has a positive or negative impact on freshmen, and which impact causes the most or the least influence

on English-majored freshmen

Table 3: The solutions

1 Spend more time and effort practicing speaking skills

2 Think that each person has distinct background knowledge

and varied objectives, then concentrate on your own targets