A STUDY ON THE DIFFICULTIES IN PRESENTATION IN SPEAKING 2 LESSONS ENCOUNTERED BY STUDENTS OF K15ENGLISH PEDAGOGY IN FOREIGN LANGUAGES DEPARTMENT AT HUNG VUONG UNIVERSITY AND SOME SUGGESTED SOLUTIONS=Nghiên cứu về những khó khăn khi thuyết trình trong giờ

Nowadays, communication plays an important role in our life. Of course, many people are interested in developing communication skills. In today’s business environment, the competition in the workplace is getting more competitive. It is no longer enough for people to have the necessary capability to do the job, we should also be able to talk well, write well, and present ourselves attractively to our superiors. What better way to let other people know what we’re capable of than by presenting a great idea or a plan during a meeting. However, we need to have necessary presentation skills to succeed in this endeavor. Nobody can deny that English is now an international language, especially in this globalization. Many people around the world know and speak English every day. English is spoken as first language in many countries and used in various aspects of life such as economy, culture, politics, finance, etc. In diplomatic relation among nations in the world, English is a primary language. Therefore, it is easy to understand why most economical, cultural, financial associations have English name; also why all enterprises, companies require their employees’ foreign languages especially English. Hence, teaching and studying English are very necessary. English becomes one of compulsory subjects in almost schools in the world. Among English skills, speaking is not the most important but very important. Skills show the users’ ability in English speaking is the most popular way of communication because we use it every day. How can we communicate effectively in English if we cannot speak well, even we are very good at listening, writing and reading? In speaking skills, making a presentation is considered as the most important one because it points out speaker’s ability and knowledge. English majors, particularly when they use English as a second language to express their ideas.

I am truly grateful to teachers in Foreign Languages Department at HungVuong University as choosing my paper, creating favorable condition for me toaccomplish this thesis

Great acknowledgement is also due to teachers and students in English Pedagogy for their help during my research process especially studentswho enthusiastically gave their time to answer the research questions

K15-I would like to thank my friends, who always provide me with helpfuladvice, ideas, and special encouragement

Last but not least, I would like to thank my parents who always give mespecial advice and encouragement to help me complete this study

Finally, I hope that my research can be shared with all the peoplementioned above I’ll have to thank all of them for the success today

Nowadays, English is considered as international language, which isspoken by millions of people all over the world The needs to use English tocommunicate verbally are essential and increase more and more Presentationskill plays an important role in jobs, activities of public; especially in studying.However, presentation in Speaking 2 Lessons for students in general and forStudents of K15- English Pedagogy in Foreign Languages Department at HungVuong University in particular seems to have some obstacles

This paper studies the real difficulties in presentation in Speaking 2Lessons to find some suitable solutions for Students of K15- English Pedagogy

in Foreign Languages Department at Hung Vuong University It is conductedwith the participation of 17 students at K15-English Pedagogical University,Hung Vuong University All needed data is collected through surveyquestionnaire and class observation It has been revealed that delivery is themost difficult part in presentation in Speaking 2 Lesson for students Especiallydelivering the presentation clearly with good pronunciation was perceived by thelearners the most difficult of all Then some solutions are suggested to enhancepresentation skills in Speaking 2 Lessons for Students of K15- EnglishPedagogy

It is hoped that this study will be useful for teachers and students at HungVuong University in learning and teaching Presentation skill in SpeakingLesson

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

HVU: Hung Vuong University

FLD: Foreign Languages Department

LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES

Table 1: The importance of presentation in learning language and future jobTable 2: The students’ frequency in making an oral presentation in Speaking

LessonTable 3: The students’ difficulties in preparation of presentation

Table 4: The students’ difficulties in organization of presentation

Table 5: The students’ difficulties in delivery of presentation

Figure 1: The students’ assessment of their presentation

Figure 2: The stage of presentation which students find the most difficult in

Speaking 2 Lesson

PART I: INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 Rationale 1

1.2 Aims and questions of the study 2

1.2.1 Aims of the study 2

1.2.2 Questions of the study 3

1.3 Previous studies 3

1.4 Scope of the study 5

1.5 Significance of the study 5

1.6 Outline of the thesis 5

Summary 6

PART II: CONTENT 7

CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 7

1.1 An overview of presentation skills 7

1.1.1 Definition of presentation skill 7

1.1.2 Classification of presentation 8

1.1.2.1 Based on the presentation’s purpose 8

1.1.2.2 Based on the presentation’s manner 9

1.1.3 The importance of presentation skill 10

1.1.4 Format of a presentation 11

1.1.5 Presentation techniques 12

1.1.6 The factors affecting students’ English presentation skill 14

1.1.6.1 Students’ language proficiency 14

1.1.6.2 Students’ personality 15

1.1.6.3 Teacher’s role 15

1.1.6.4 Using visual aids 15

1.2 Speaking skills 16

1.2.1.Definition of speaking skills 16

1.2.2.The importance of speaking skills 17

1.2.3.Stages in teaching speaking skills 18

1.2.3.1 Pre-speaking stage 18

1.2.3.2 While-speaking stage 18

1.2.3.3 Post-speaking stage 18

CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY 20

2.1 Participants of the study 20

2.2 Data collection instruments 21

2.2.1 The questionnaire 21

2.2.2 The classroom observation 23

2.3 Data collection procedure 24

2.4 Data analysis method 25

2.5 Summary 25

3.1 Difficulties in presentation in Speaking 2 Lessons encountered by students of K15-English Pedagogy in FLD at HVU 26

3.1.1 The result of students’ survey 26

3.1.2 The result of observation 38

3.2 Some suggested solutions to improve presentation skill in Speaking 2 Lessons for students of K15-English Pedagogy in FLD at HVU 40

3.2.1 For students 40

3.2.1.1 Setting up good speaking habits 40

3.2.1.2 Learning from their presentations 43

3.2.1 For Teacher(s) 44

3.2.1.1 Improving students’ nonlinguistic skills 44

3.2.2.2 Building up students’ confidence 45

3.3 For the institution 47

PART III: CONCLUSION 49

1 Summary of the findings 49

2 Limitations of the study 50

3 Suggestions for further studies 50

REFFERENCE 51

PART I: INTRODUCTION

1.1 Rationale

Nowadays, communication plays an important role in our life Of course,many people are interested in developing communication skills In today’sbusiness environment, the competition in the workplace is getting morecompetitive It is no longer enough for people to have the necessary capability to

do the job, we should also be able to talk well, write well, and present ourselvesattractively to our superiors What better way to let other people know whatwe’re capable of than by presenting a great idea or a plan during a meeting.However, we need to have necessary presentation skills to succeed in thisendeavor

Nobody can deny that English is now an international language,especially in this globalization Many people around the world know and speakEnglish every day English is spoken as first language in many countries andused in various aspects of life such as economy, culture, politics, finance, etc Indiplomatic relation among nations in the world, English is a primary language.Therefore, it is easy to understand why most economical, cultural, financialassociations have English name; also why all enterprises, companies requiretheir employees’ foreign languages especially English Hence, teaching andstudying English are very necessary English becomes one of compulsorysubjects in almost schools in the world

Among English skills, speaking is not the most important but veryimportant Skills show the users’ ability in English speaking is the most popularway of communication because we use it every day How can we communicateeffectively in English if we cannot speak well, even we are very good atlistening, writing and reading? In speaking skills, making a presentation isconsidered as the most important one because it points out speaker’s ability andknowledge English majors, particularly when they use English as a secondlanguage to express their ideas

As for the intermediate and advanced Vietnamese students of English,spoken English in general and presenting in English in particular is extremelyimportant because they expect to use it frequently for their future work.Unfortunately, for many years, they have been good at recognizing the correctuse of grammar and they can speak English but can hardly present in English.When many make oral presentations, they seem to pay more attention to lexisand grammatical structures than presentation style and presentation skills Thisleads to the fact that not few learners of English after a long time learningEnglish find themselves unable to deliver a presentation successfully

Being a student who has learnt English for more than ten years, I realizethat my friends and I have the same trouble in making oral presentations Manystudents seem to lack the skills and confidence to make effective presentations.They know the topics and the ideas are written down, but their presentations donot go well This time their fellow students appear uninterested Another timethey might lose interest before the speakers have made half of the presentations

or sometimes the speakers seem to be confused and embarrassed with thelisteners’ questions

For such reason, I am aware that giving techniques in making

presentations to students is very necessary I choose the topic “ A study on the difficulties in presentation in speaking 2 lessons encountered by students of K15-English Pedagogy in Foreign Languages Department at Hung Vuong University and some suggested solutions” for my graduation paper.

1.2 Aims and questions of the study

1.2.1 Aims of the study

The study is aimed at finding difficulties when students of K15-EnglishPedagogy in FLD at HVU do presentation in Speaking 2 Lessons Then somesuggested solutions are given to help them overcome those difficulties so as tomake improvement in their learning presentation in general and in Speaking 2Lessons in particular

1.2.2 Questions of the study

In order to uncover the difficulties in presentation in speaking 2 lessonsencountered by students of K15-English Pedagogy in FLD at HVU, it isnecessary to answer the following questions:

- What are the common difficulties in presentation in speaking 2 lessonsfaced by students of K15-English Pedagogy in FLD at HVU?

- What are the suggested solutions to improve their English presentation?

1.3 Previous studies

Up to now, many researchers studied about aspects of presentation both inthe world, in Vietnam and at Hung Vuong University Presentation attractslinguists’ attention because it is very important for study and jobs

Heyden (2001) studied on strategies to improve students’ presentationskills at Murray State University He used observation method to evaluate theeffect of students’ presentation Based on the results, he proposed somestrategies to improve the presentation for students at Murray State University.These strategies were using visual aids and using techniques to attract audience

Muhammad Alam (2014), carried out the research studied improving

students’ speaking skill through content-based For this study, the researcher

researches technique to conduct the research to improve students speakingability through content-based This study explores the extent of improvement inEnglish speaking skills among prospective teachers of one year teachereducation program at three public sectors universities in Pubjab, Pakistan, whereEnglish is medium of instruction, like all other public sector universities inPakistan The sample for this study consisted of 206 prospective teachers (131entry and 75 graduation level) The unequal number of prospective teachers atentry and graduation paper was due to difference in intake The prospectiveteachers were called one by one and were assessed using the Fairfax CountryRating Scale The data were analyzed quantitatively He concluded that nosignificant improvement occurred in the English speaking skills of theprospective teachers during the teacher education program offered indepartments of Education working in the public sector universities The results

of the study confirm these of other studies in Pakistan but contrast to studyconducted in United Arab Emirate It seems that if teacher educator andprospective teachers share the same local language, the improvement of spokensecond language hinders.

Nguyen Phuong Huyen and Tran Quang Hai (2008) studied on currentsituation of English presentation skill of the third year major English studentsand proposed some solutions to deal with current situation In this study, theresearchers pointed out the mistakes of students when presenting such as:mistake relating to organization of the presentation, designing and using visualaids , using body language and proposed some solutions to improve and enhancethe quality of the presentation

Pham Thi Kim Cuc (2012) studied on difficulties when delivering Englishpresentation of K8 major English students, Foreign Language Department, HungVuong University In this study, she used questionnaire and interview toinvestigate the difficulties encountered by the participants The study pointedout students’ difficulties when delivering a presentation: (1) the difficultiesrelate to presentation, (2) voice and language, (3) communication with audience.Besides, the researcher also suggested some solutions in order to enhancestudents’ presentation

In conclusion, many authors have investigated on different aspects ofpresentation However, most of the studies only explore current situations anddifficulties in delivering a presentation without focusing on influential factors.Thus, in this study, the researcher has determined to investigate the difficulties

in presentation at Speaking 2 lessons for students of K15- English Pedagogy inFLD at HVU

1.4 Scope of the study

This study mainly focuses on finding out the difficulties in presentationskills in English in the classroom setting It involves 17 students of K15-EnglishPedagogy in FLD at HVU The findings and suggested solutions most

appropriately applied to the students That is, students will able to find ways toimprove their process of learning presentation skills.

1.5 Significance of the study

This study firstly helps to find out the difficulties in presentation ofSpeaking 2 Lessons for students of K15-English Pedagogy in FLD at HVU, andthen contribute to their successful performance in giving presentation in theirstudy now as well as future job The findings and suggested solutions of thisstudy will help students find ways to improve their process learning oralpresentation skills Specifically, the students will be able to attain better oralpresentation skills and have quite a good preparation for the course of

“Presentation skill” in their next term.

1.6 Outline of the thesis

The study consists of three main parts:

Part I is the introduction including the rationale, aims, research questions,

scopes and significance of the study

Part II is the development, the most important part of my study, divided

into three chapters:

Chapter 1, Literature review, introduces the general theory of

presentation and speaking skills

Chapter 2, Methodology, refers to the participants, data collection

instruments, research methods in order to find out difficulties that students ofK15-English Pedagogy in FLD at HVU cope with

Chapter 3, Finding and suggested solutions, analyzes and discusses the

results achieved from each data collection instrument After that, the answers to

the two research questions are given in turn

Part III is the conclusion of the study

Summary

In conclusion, the introduction part is like a general and first look of my

graduation paper Through this opening, the readers know that my research iswhy I choose this subject, what the paper for and the methods I use to make it

Besides, looking at this part, we can get the design of all the main contents I

present is the paper namely “A study on the difficulties in presentation in

speaking 2 lessons encountered by students of K15-English Pedagogy in Foreign Languages Department at Hung Vuong University and some suggested solutions”

PART II: CONTENT

CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW

In the investigation into ways to develop students’ speaking ability ingeneral and oral presentation skills in particular, it is believed that the studyneeds to present the previous and current literature on oral presentations.Besides, it should show the relation between knowledge and skills and thendefine and explore the nature of speaking, types of classroom speaking Theseissues are the focus of the chapter

1.1 An overview of presentation skills

1.1.1 Definition of presentation skill

Presentation is generally defined in different ways in various dictionaries.According to Wikipedia- The free Encyclopedia, presentation is the process ofshowing and explaining the content of a topic to an audience The samedefinition is also recognized by Oxford Learner Dictionary (1998:1017) -

“Presentation is the act of showing something or of giving something tosomebody”

Ohio Wesleyan University, in their “Guidelines for Oral Presentations”

defines oral presentations as “brief discussions of a focused topic delivered to agroup of listeners in order to impart knowledge or to stimulate discussion Theyare similar to short papers with an introduction, main body and conclusion Theability to give brief presentations is a learned skill and the one that is called onfrequently in the workplace

Gufta (2008) defined an oral presentation as a formal way to convey yourmessage to audience

In the light of this research, a presentation is a means of communicationwhich carries the speaker’s personality and allows immediate interactionbetween all the participants in various speaking situations, such as talking to agroup, addressing a meeting or briefing a team

According to Clank (1996), a good presentation, firstly, has content that is

it contains information that people need But unlike reports, which are read atthe reader’s own pace, presentations must account for how much information the

audience can absorb Secondly, it has structure with a logical beginning, middle,

and end It must be sequenced and paced so that the audience can understand it.While reports have appendices and footnotes to guide the reader, the speakermust be careful not to lose the audience when wandering from the main point of

the presentation Thirdly, a presentation is characterized by packaging: It must

be well-prepared A report can be reread and portions skipped over, but with apresentation, the audience has to depend on the presenter Finally, a good

presentation has human element in it It will be remembered much more than a

good report because it has a person attached to it

Presentation skills can be defined by many authors as a set of abilities thatenable an individual to: interact with the audience; transmit the messages withclarity; engage the audience in the presentation; and interpret and understand themindsets of the listeners These skills refine the way presenter put forward theirmessages and enhance your persuasive powers

The present era places great emphasis on good presentation skills This isbecause they play an important role in convincing the clients and customers.Internally, management with good presentation skills is better able tocommunicate the mission and vision of the organization to the employees

1.1.2 Classification of presentation

Oral presentations are classified based on their purposes and forms ormanners of delivery The following is an overview of several common types ofpresentations and their purposes given by Randall (2001)

1.1.2.1 Based on the presentation’s purpose

Informative presentation: An informative presentation is a presentation on

a realistic factual matter destined to raise the informative and cultural level oflisteners An informative presentation should be based upon a wide range ofadequate and credible sources

Persuasive presentation: A persuasive presentation is a speech aimed atinfluencing values, ideas, beliefs and attitudes of the audience Pragmatically, apersuasive presentation is used to convince people to get a different idea,attitude and belief, react to something, consider doing things they werepreviously unwilling to do.

Entertaining presentation: Entertaining presentation focuses on the overalltheme of the entertainment speechwriting occasion, The presentation is oriented

to entertainment, so that the audience could get relaxed, react to the presentation

in a hearty way and enjoy every minutes of the entertaining speech

Inspirational presentation: Inspirational speech is a speech presented by aprofessional speaker or a renowned authority in front of large homogeneousaudience such as corporate staff, etc in order to encourage them, reveal the truesense of leadership and enrich them with some approval formulae of commercialand professional success

1.1.2.2 Based on the presentation’s manner

Written presentation: Written presentations may include story, manual,report, book, newspaper article, letter, diary (for one person), scroll, booklet,pamphlet ( for small group), questionnaire, survey (for small or large group),advertisement and chart ( for large group)

Oral presentation: Oral presentations may include interview, report,conversation (for one person), discussion group, seminar, debate (for smallgroup), advertisement, lecture, talk show, song, choral speech, lesson (for alarge group)

Visual presentation: Visual presentations, may include project cube, pagesized chart or diagram(for one person), cartoon, photographs, display(for smallgroup), poster, timeline, web page, map, large diagram, puppet show,overheads(for large group)

Multimedia presentation: Multimedia presentation is a combination ofwritten, oral or visual presentations; for example, a computer presentation such

as PowerPoint presentation

1.1.3 The importance of presentation skill

A great number of researchers state reasons why oral presentation skillsshould be developed Emden & Becker (2004:1) hold the idea that “the ability tospeak well enough to interest, influence or persuade other people is a major assetfor whatever they want to do in the future and it may change them in ways thatthey did not expect” That idea is true as oral presentation skills can bring manybenefits for the learners

According to Hill (1997), the very first reason is that oral presentationsoften provide practice in speaking for the presenter and they develop the ability

to speak to audiences While making a presentation may seem to be a morelimited activity than other tasks, such as role play, information-gap activity, itcan in fact involve all the language skills People will need to develop and usethis skill throughout their life; for example, when they attend the job interviews,

or present a paper to a group of colleagues in a meeting

What is more, through the mastery of speech, individuals come to be fullyeffective in organization, in the management and expression of ideas andarguments, especially when they write a report or even write an essay (Powell,2003)

Finally, when people can speak clearly, concisely, and convincingly, theywill gain enormous confidence, “will result in an even better presentation nexttime” and “the new found confidence may effect other areas of your work”(Emden & Becker, 2004:2) People are more ready to ask questions, respond to achallenge and organize themselves and their work effectively

For all reasons, giving oral presentations is one of the necessary skills thatstudents have to acquire in learning a foreign language In the context of HungVuong University, it seem to be the most important skill to students as it helps

the students improve their own academic performance, communicate, exchangeinformation with their peers and thereby develop personal confidence.

so it is important to stimulate their interest in this stage

The body is the central part of the presentation in which the presentergives key points and uses the supporting ideas for these points (e.g.I’ll bedeveloping three main points; Firstly, I’ll give you… Secondly,….Lastly,….;

My presentation will be in two parts In the first part I’ll….And then I’ll) Theaim of this part is to inform, persuade or entertain the audience

To let the audience know that the talk is about to end, the presenter shoulduse signal phrases such as “in conclusion”, “to summarize”, “in closing” Itincludes such information as stating the main points again, evaluating theimportance of the information, and formulating some conclusions orrecommendations The conclusion reinforces and summarizes the informationpresented in the body Therefore, a clear summary of the purpose and mainpoints will help the audience get the big picture and increase their understandingabout the topic

In short, an oral presentation has three main parts The introduction setsthe scene and engages the audience to the topic by relating the topic to theirinterests In the body, by explaining, supporting, and defending the theme in theintroduction All main points must be covered The conclusion is a briefoverview of the presentation The presenter may also conclude by inviting theaudience to join some activities, challenging them, or asking for theircooperation or support

1.1.5 Presentation techniques

The ability to communicate well is an important skill for any students atuniversity In addition, possessing excellent communication skills is highlyappreciated in the workplace A persuasive presentation not only requiresthorough preparation of content, but also good style According to NguyenNguyet Minh(2004), the following 10 tips are very useful to help having a goodpresentation

a) Preparing

There is no easy way out Giving excellent presentation is all about thepresentation that goes into it, and this theme applies to every single aspect youinclude in your presentation

b) Thinking audience

When you are preparing your presentation, there one thing you shouldalways keep in the back of your mind: the audience Who are they? And Whoare you? It is essential to know your audience will be: are they your classmates,professors, professionals, etc

Use signposts to indicate what you are presenting and where you aregoing Examples of signposts are: “Next, I will discuss…” , “ Now I’d like tomove on to…”, “ And finally… ” or “ To conclude…” Signposts are also greattools so keep your audience awake, focused and engaged

d) Using the visual aids

Your presentation will become livelier if you are use visuals such as:PowerPoint, graph, table, chart, etc Because using visual aid helps get attention

of you audience, illustrate points which are hard to visualize, reinforce yourmain ideas and also motivate the audiences (Nguyen Nguyet Minh, 2004)

e) Organizing your presentation

Most presentations will have an introduction, a body, and a conclusion.You introduce yourself in the introduction, your topic and what you will coverduring your presentation Remember, this part can be as short as 30 seconds.The body will include key points, new knowledge, trends in your data, orprogress to date Remember the signposts Highlight the implications of yourdiscussion or possible applications of your findings in your conclusion andfinish with your take-home messages

f) Finding your voice

Although there are general rules and structures, it is important to find yourown voice Know your strengths and weaknesses For most of us, giving apresentation is a learning progress and definitely not something we do on adaily, weekly and even monthly basis Therefore, stay in your comfort zone togive you confidence but push the boundaries; explore new techniques, trysomething different, use a different PowerPoint template, try using cue cardsrather than reading from a paper, watch what others do and learn from them

g) Speaking not reading

When giving a presentation, from a communication perspective, speaking

is always better than reading Always address the audience, even when reading.Make sure you take your eyes off the paper and look at the audience Highlightparts in the text that you wish to stress, e.g: key words, signposts, words thatevoke, etc

h) Making eye contact

If you don’t make contact with the people you’re talking to you end uplooking like you’re talking to yourself, just like the guy you avoid sitting next to

on public transport

i) Using non-verbal communication

Using body language will help you attract more audience Thus, whengiving a presentation you should move your hands The hands also seem to getthe way when we are giving presentations.

k) Practicing

In order to become a good presenter, you have to practice Let’s recordyour presentation using the record tool available in PowerPoint Practicedelivering you presentation to an audience If you do not have an audience,practice in front of a mirror

1.1.6 The factors affecting students’ English presentation skill

1.1.6.1 Students’ language proficiency

Language proficiency plays an important role in determining apartwhether the presentation is successful or not Thus, if the presenter speaksfluently, uses correct grammar and selects the worth words the presentation will

be very successful

Browse (1995) considered that proficiency is measured in term ofreceptive an expressive language skills, syntax, vocabulary, semantics, and otherareas that demonstrate language abilities

Communicative second language instruction at every level focuses on thedevelopment of the language proficiency in four distinct skills: written language,reading proficiency, listening comprehension, and oral languageproduction( National Standards in Foreign Language Education Project, 1999).The first, three skills are routinely evaluated within the classroom as well asthrough formal assessments, whereas the challenge to assess spoken languageability has resulted in more frequent formative assessments in the classroom, butfewer formal assessments Foreign language proficiency required in globalsociety can be defined as capability of smooth communication with people ofdifferent countries and cultures using foreign languages as a tool

1.1.6.2 Students’ personality

The most important person in successful learning is students The mainfactors that enable students to be successful in learning are intellectual capacity

and personality Alley (2001) pointed out personality includes the studentsdefines several factor that help students to become a good language students,including building up confidence, managing anxiety, keeping eyes contact,using flexible body languages.

1.1.6.3 Teacher’s role

Teachers have played various roles in a speaking class These includemanaging classroom, organizing classroom activities, assessing students’performance, giving support, participating on the classroom activities, providingneeded linguistic resources, providing tutorials, and observing the students(Hammer, 1991)

1.1.6.4 Using visual aids

One of the differences between speaking and presentation is focused onusing visual aids Laskowski (2001) pointed out that visual aids are like aessential tool to help overcome barriers to communication Using visual aids canmake a presentation is more interesting and effective When an audience canboth hear and see what you are saying, they are more likely to retain theinformation Visual aids not only focus on attention, but they also reinforce yourwords In an oral presentation the speaker faces on numerous people with theireyes on him or her Hence, he/she has no time to look through the notes Visualaids are a great assistance to the speaker as well as to the audience These serve

to allow the speaker to remember all the important points and stay on the track.Moreover, people retain visual part of the information from graphs and tables farbetter than listening to someone explain the results, conclusions, etc The vialaids must be appropriate

1.2 Speaking skills

1.2.1.Definition of speaking skills

There is a common knowledge that speaking is the most effective andeasiest means of communication to help people understand each other Differentdefinitions of the speaking are as following:

According to Nunan (1999), speaking is an interactive process ofconstructing meaning that involves product, receiving and processinginformation It forms and meaning are dependent on the context in which occurs,including the participants themselves , their collective experiences, physicalenvironment and the purpose for speaking However, speech is not alwaysunpredictable Speaking requires the learners not only know how to producespecific points of language such as grammar, pronunciation or vocabulary

“linguistic competence” but also understand when and in what ways to producelanguage “sociolinguistic competence”

Brown and Yule (1983) have a different access to speaking skill bydiscussing the nature of speaking in spoken language and written language.They told that written language is characterized by well-formed sentences,which are intergraded into highly structured Spoken language, on the otherhand, is composed of short, often fragmentary utterances, in a range ofpronunciation They also put emphasis on the transactional and interactionalfunction of spoken language, which is the most important function In the otherwords, the primary purpose of speech is the transfers of the information and themaintenance of social relationship

Based on Byrne (1976) speaking is two-ways process between speakerand listener, involving the productive skill of speaking and receptive skill ofunderstanding Both listener and speaker have position function to perform: Thespeaker plays the role of encoding the message to be conveyed in appropriation.Lawtie (1999) believes that speaking as development of the relationship betweenspeaker and listener In addition, speaking determining which logical linguistic,psychological a physical rules should be applied in a given communicatesituation It means that the main objective of speaking for the communication Inorder to express effectively, the speaker should know exactly what he/she wants

to speak and communicate, he/she has to be evaluate the effects of his/hercommunication to his/her listener, he/she understand any principle that base onhis speaking either in general or in individual

1.2.2.The importance of speaking skills

Byrne (1976) said that among four language skills, speaking skill is one ofthe most important and essential skill that must be practiced to communicate.Those people who are good at speaking master not only grammar,pronunciation, intonation, vocabulary but also the social contexts in whichlanguage is used In other words, speaking, in real sense, includes bothproducing language and applying it in different circumstances in life In short, inmethodological sense, speaking skills are closely related to all other languageskills Nowadays, English is the international language, so ability of usingEnglish is very necessary Admittedly, speaking is the fastest way to exchangeinformation, therefore, more and more people are trying to learning Englishskills on the purpose of communicating in the modern world This tendency putsspeaking in the highest position among all four language skills

In biological sense, speaking is the first ability that one person possesses.This also helps us be sure that producing an utterance is easier than giving acomposition What is the more, when we speaking, we not only producelanguage items but also express our attitude by using body language such asfacial expression, gesture…and by the rhythm of the utterances These extrafactor contribute must be to the success of an international talk That is thetypical force of speaking that is not other skill has It is this characteristic thatmakes speaking to be appreciated higher and higher

1.2.3.Stages in teaching speaking skills

According to Brown (2009), a perfect speaking Lesson has to follow threefollowing stages:

1.2.3.1 Pre-speaking stage

Pre-speaking begins before students actually speak Pre-speakingactivities involve thought, reflection then provide opportunities for students toplan and organize for speaking

Pre-speaking has some purposes such as choosing speaking topic, determiningpurpose, audience and format

1.2.3.2 While-speaking stage

While-speaking stage engages students in interaction with peers and otheraudiences Students who have been provided with supportive, environments andopportunities to prepare for their informal and formal speaking experiences aremore likely to raise the confidence to “go public” with their ideas andinformation

Some purposes for while-speaking are to express personal feelings, ideas orviewpoints; to tell a story; to entertain or amuse; to describe; to inform orexplain; to require or question; to classify thinking; to explore and experimentwith a variety of ideas and to converse and discuss

1.2.3.3 Post-speaking stage

Post-speaking is a time for reflection and setting goals Followingspeaking experiences, both formal and informal, it is important to have studentsreflect upon their performance Their reflection should include the teacher, whocan help them set personal goals for improving their speaking skill abilities

CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY

To address two questions and achieve the aims of the study the researchconducted the study among teacher and 17 students of K15-English Pedagogy inForeign Language Department at Hung Vuong University Detail of the subjectthe study the data collection instruments the procedures and the study isdescribed in this chapter

2.1 Participants of the study

The study was conducted with a total of 17 participants of K15- Englishpedagogy, FLD, HVU The class includes 13 girls and 4 boys at the age of 19-21years old They come from many different regions in Phu Tho province andsome come from mountainous northern areas This reflects the diversity in theirexperience and educational background These students have been learningEnglish for at least seven years in secondary and high school In high school, thestudents mainly focus on grammar, vocabulary without much attention tolistening and speaking skills Thus, it can be said that the using of English incommunication is still limited

Up to the time the study was conducted, these students just finished onesemester and they were learning the second one In the first semester, they learntlistening, speaking, writing and reading skill According to the generalevaluation, the result about students’ language skills is not very optimistic

The learners had been studying one semester at HVU Their averagemarks in speaking in the first semester varied from 5 to 9, but just central onbetween marks 6 and 7 Three students (17.6%) had marks 5 Five of them(29.4%) had got mark 6, and five students (29.4%) got mark 7 Meanwhile, threestudents (17,6%) got mark 8 And only one student (6%) had mark 9 In spite oftheir low English proficiency, they showed enthusiasm in speaking, especiallypresenting in English

In terms of language proficiency in the first year, they are supposed to be

at intermediate level These students had studied English for at least three years

at high schools, where vocabulary and grammatical structures were the mainfocus They used Vietnamese, their mother tongue, to communicate in everydayconversations Rarely did they have the chance to use English as a means ofcommunication, let alone making oral presentations in English

All these facts explicitly indicate the necessity of greater attention topresenting in English, which is a very important skill for our students Givingthem the chance to get familiar with effective presentation skills will be a usefuland valuable part in the process of teaching and learning

2.2 Data collection instruments

as beliefs, attitudes, motivation, and preferences, and enable a teacher to collect

a large amount of information relatively quickly….” Another advantage ofsurvey questionnaires is that the data collection is relatively easy to collectbecause all participants answered the same questions More importantly,questions give an opportunity to express their opinions and feelings withoutfearing either to be embarrassed or to speak their mind Because theconfidentiality was ensured by not mentioning students’ and teacher’s name,they were free to give impartial answers This was very important since itsupplied some exact and valuable for this study The last reason for this choice

is that it was not quite expensive The collector only wasted little money on thepreparation Such a situation helped me a lot to solve the problems of finance Inconclusion, the author chose to use survey questionnaires because it is easy to

do, they did not cost much money, time, and effort, considerable data andvarious ideas could be collected rather quickly

The questionnaire of this study is an adaptation of a variety of sourcesdrawn from literature on the field of problems of presentation (Chandrasegaran,1981; Bock, 2000).

The questionnaire is written in English However, the students are advised

to use either Vietnamese or English to give their answers to the open-endedquestions With the mixture of closed and opened questions, the questionnairewas organized as follows:

Part one is about the students’ demographic information which includedthe students’ age, gender, place of domicile, the number of years they had beenlearning English and their average speaking marks in the first semester

Part two is designed to elicit the students’ evaluations of the importance

of oral presentation skills in their future work and their evaluations of theirpresentation skills It comprises four questions, both of them were closed

Part three focuses on the students’ difficulties when giving presentations(in four aspects: preparation, organization, delivery, evaluation), the causes oftheir difficulties and their suggested solutions

The author is aware that the survey questionnaire could not cover thespecific problems that the students might encounter in different universityperiods, different courses, etc Also, within the scope of the study, thequestionnaire is not address the question whether students from other institutionswould share the same mandate Thus, the result is believed to be tentative andsuggestive In addition, as the questionnaire is designed for students only, theevaluations of the students’ performance might be limited and incomplete.Further research in which questionnaire is designed to investigate both theteachers’ and students’ problems in learning and teaching oral presentationsseem to be of great usefulness

2.2.2 The classroom observation

Using questionnaire is not reliable enough to collect data about the realsituation and difficulties in presentation in Speaking 2 Lessons, it is not possibleenough for the researcher to deliver survey questionnaire, or carry about

interviews for teachers and students In fact, there are some activities in teachingand learning procedures which cannot be reflected in questionnaire andinterview As the result, observation is necessary to fulfill this study.

Richards (1992:255) pointed out observational methods as procedures andtechniques that are based on systematic observations of events and often used inthe studying language use and classroom events According to Wallace (1989:62) observation is aimed neither at assessment not general findings, butexploring through observation aspects of what goes on in our classroom for thebenefit of the teachers’ own development

Another important reason is that this method plays an important role insupporting two methods used, which are survey questionnaire It helps to makethe collection data more clarified and effective

Such the above benefits urge the researcher to have some classroomobservations with the aim of finding out what activities take place in classes,especially in speaking activities

The author of the study chose K15-English Pedagogy in FLD at HVU toobserve The researcher watched and followed all the procedures and activitiesthe teacher and students were performing in the real classroom settings, whichenabled the teacher to elicit reliable data In other words, it is a means to checkthe reliability of the data collected from the other source- the questionnaire

The observation is designed in English The observation sheet has twomain parts Part one is general information about date, teacher’s name, classsize, level of students and name of lesson Part two is about the contents that theresearcher will observe activities in class based on the contents of the surveyquestionnaire to check the reliability

2.3 Data collection procedure

To complete the study, the researcher carried out the following steps:Firstly, the researcher reviewed the theoretical background related to thetopic, namely overview of presentation skill, speaking skill and difficulties inpresentation in Speaking Lessons

Secondly, the researcher focused on investigating the reality of howstudents made presentation in speaking 2 Lessons by using questionnaires and

observation The survey questionnaire was given for students two weeks beforethe course ended, and the students completed the information in the surveyquestionnaire in thirty minutes The observation was carried out 5 times at 5different units of Speaking 2 Lesson The first observation was in the secondweek after the course began The next times were during the course and the lastone was just two weeks before the course ended After each lesson, teacher gaveassignment for students in group of three or four to prepare for presentation.From that, the researcher found out some difficulties in presentation in speaking

2 Lessons encountered by the students of K15-English Pedagogy in FLD atHVU

Thirdly, the survey questionnaire was given to students two weeks beforethe course ended, and the students completed the information in the surveyquestionnaire in thirty minutes The answers of the participants in thequestionnaires were converted into numbers and calculated These coded datawere then illustrated in charts and graphs, which demonstrated the level ofdifficulty in presentation in speaking 2 Lessons Meanwhile, the researcher’sobservation notes were analyzed to discover the most noticeable problems Theproblems that could not be ruled out from the questionnaire and could not befound from the researcher’s notes were presented in text form

Finally, the ideas were synthesized to find out the difficulties andsuggested some solutions to the students of K15- English Pedagogy In general,the data gathered from the students were to help to answer the two researchquestions

2.4 Data analysis method

In this research paper, the data collected from questionnaires were mainlyanalyzed quantitatively Qualitative method was also applied through theanalysis of the data collected from the classroom observation to give an in fulldescription of the issue

The data collection from the questionnaire for students was analyzedquantitatively through tables and charts according to statistical frequency and

percentage The additional ideas specified in the questionnaires were basicallyused for qualitative analysis In addition, the data of the classroom observationswas contributed to the qualitative analysis They were carefully considered andanalyzed in order to provide more valid information the students’ ideas,opinions, reasons, and father explanations for their learning In other word, bothquantitative and qualitative method was applied to the analysis of the data tomake the result of the study more precise, objective and reliable.

After having been collected and categorized for the purpose of theresearch, the data was analyzed by employing the methods of quantitative andqualitative In addition, frequencies were also measured, calculated andassessed From the data analysis, all the comments and evaluations were given.Thus, this process was carried through inductive methods

2.5 Summary

In summary, this chapter has justified the methodology applied in thispaper by elaborating on the groups of participants involved in the process ofdata collection, namely students, mentor, teachers Next, the data collectionmethod was also justified and described in details Such justifications of themethodology would help to make way for the analysis of the collected data inthe next chapter