A study on improving english speaking skill for first year students in english faculty at thuong mai university

ABSTRACT Spoken language production is often considered one of the most difficult aspects of language learning (Brown & Yule, 1983) In reality, many language learners find it difficult to express themselves in spoken language in the target language Each student has their own problems The purpose of this study was to investigate the speaking problems of the first-year English-major students at English faculty of Thuong Mai University and the recommendations on improving English speaking skill The subjects of the study were two hundred students and two English teachers The research instruments used in this study were questionnaires and interview Based on the research findings some recommendations were made The study was expected to help students improve their performance in speaking classes 11 1 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First and foremost, I would like to send my deepest gratitude to Mrs Luong Thi Minh Phuong, the supervisor of this graduation paper Her detailed comments and useful advices helped me to shape my ideas and to finish the graduation paper as expected She also created favorable condition and provided many materials as well as encouragements for me to fulfill this study Therefore, it is an undeniable fact that this study would not have been finished without her invaluable support Secondly, I would like to express my particular appreciation to all the lecturers of the English Faculty whose lectures have enriched my English knowledge during the past years Student Nguyen Phuong Anh 12 2 TABLE OF CONTENTS 13 3 LIST OF TABLES, DIAGRAMS AND FIGURES No Name Content Page Table Students difficulties while speaking English 23 Table Students’ opinions on TMU English courses 25 Chart Students’ opinion on learning English speaking 21 Chart Students’ frequency in practicing English speaking 22 Chart Students self-assessing their speaking skill 22 Chart Students’ ability to keep up with English classe;s of students 23 Chart Methods and techniques students have used to promote speaking skill 24 14 4 LIST OF ABREVIATIONS No 15 Words Abreviation Thuong Mai University Hai Phong University English faculty Effortless Commerce Speaking TMU HPU EF ECS 5 CHAPTER 1: OVERVIEW OF THE STUDY 1.1 Rationale of the study In Vietnam, the education system is still leaning towards to theoretics more than practice Students from public primary schools to high schools are spending more time reading how to make things instead of actually putting it into action In other words, a large number of students not get to apply what they have learned into real life For example in chemistry classes, students usually can only watch their teachers doing some simple experiments due to the shortage of equipment This will led to the lack of practical knowledge and eventually limit students’ abilities Among the subjects that require a lot of practicing, there is English For years English has been considered one of the most used languages in the world and has become a common tool to communicate between countries Realizing the importance of English, Vietnam has been strongly investing in English teaching in the education system but according to a recent research, 80% of Vietnamese students spend 7-10 years studying English and only 20% of which can speak English fluently This fact showed that the system should be focusing more on English speaking skill in order to develop all skills equally As a senior student in English faculty at Thuong Mai University who also had been a freshman, the researcher has noticed that most first-year students have hard time catching up with English courses due to their poor performance, especially in speaking skill Poor performance happens due to the change of teaching methods, learning environment, etc, which leads to failing courses or dropping scores In high school, English classes mainly focus on grammar and vocabulary while in college, speaking skill has a more important role Students have to use English to communicate while in English classes, to make speech and presentations using English, something they are not familiarized within lower education These changes have made first-year students struggle to cope with and usually took them months or even years to figure out techniques to improve their speaking skill After ackowledging the problem, in this study, the researcher will explore the factors which affect English speaking skill and the actual situation of the teaching and learning condition at TMU as well as give some recommendations on improving speaking skill effectively The study is carried out in order to help improving English speaking skill for first-year English majored students The official title of the study is: “A study on improving English speaking skill for first-year students in English faculty at Thuong Mai University” Through this study, the researcher hopes it can provide the information of ways to overcome the weaknesses while speaking English and furthermore to help students become fluent English speakers 1.2 Aims of the study The first objective of this study is to identify the obstacles that students usually face while speaking English The second objective is to suggest realistic and effective ways to improve English speaking skill for first-year English-major students based on the obstacles The study focuses on resolving these two main questions: - What are the difficulties that first-year English-major students face while - speaking English? What are the effective ways to help improve English speaking skill for first-year English-major students? 1.3 Scope of the study The study focuses on first-year English-major students at TMU in the last half of the 2017-2018 second semester due to the limitation of time and is conducted on 200 students in one month time This study also emphasizes on the speaking skill of these students Base on that, the recommended techniques and methods on improving English speaking skill are specifically created for English-major students in general and first-year English-major students in particular 1.4 Research subject At English faculty, the students come from provinces across the country with different backgrounds Despite the differences, their English level is quite comparable However, after observing, the researcher discovers that a specific amount of students have problems with their speaking skill, especially first-year students of EF The change of teaching methods and way of studying in college confuses them They admitted that English speaking is not their strength and most of them did not spend much time improving the skill while in secondary school and high school as a result of speaking was not important in the learning process Still, they understand the importance of English speaking skill and are looking for a resolution for this problem 1.5 Previous studies Up to this point, there has been a significant of studies on improving English oral communication skill While some of them suggested different techniques, methods and activities on English teaching or English learning, the others point out elements which affect speaking ability Prieto (2007) performed a study about the cooperative learning tasks The findings of her study showed that one way to improve speaking skill is to interact with others, learn from others, and the choice of the topics based on the learners’ interests in order to encourage them In other words, the study emphasizes on promoting the learning method for English learners, practicing English with partners in particular There was no given information on suggestions on English teaching Le Thi Thu Hang (2010) carried out a study on improving speaking skill for 7th grade students for which mainly focuses on the importance of teaching methods and how the methods will help young students with their speaking skill as well as suggestions on several techniques for implication in classes The main participants of this study are the 7th grade students, in other words, they are young teenagers so the methods suggested are related to fun activities and games in order to make English classes more interesting for these students Nevertheless, this study alone does not provide any studying methods for the students but only give recommendations for the teachers Bozorgian (2012) investigated the relationship between listening skill and the other language skills The results revealed that there is a close relation between listening comprehension and language proficiency That is, the higher the listening skill, the better the speaking skill The author also stated in the study that to enhance verbal communication skill, learners should be enhancing their listening skill as well Despite this statement, the author did not mention any approach to improve listening skill In another study, Phung Thi Son (2013) examined the factors which have negative impact on HPU first-year English-major students’ speaking skill and moreover, give recommendations on the teaching techniques The researcher shows that a majority of first-year students at HPU have poor English speaking skill and suggests helpful techniques with the hope to solve the problem However, the study stops at suggestions for teachers and a few simple methods for the students In conclusion, all the studies mentioned above are related to speaking skill, the importance of speaking skill as well as ways to improve this significant skill but none of which seems to have enough options for English learners, especially students With the attempt to help students improve their English speaking skill, this study is carried out to provide suggestions which are believed to be most suitable for them 1.6 Methodology The main method uses to conduct this study is qualitative method A survey questionnaires and an interview is also carried out to collect data in order to understand first-year English-major students attitudes towards learning English speaking and discover the difficulties while speaking English to find out most suitable methods and techniques to improve their speaking skill 1.6.1 Data collection First data collection method is the survey questionnaires For this survey, a total of 200 first-year English-major students in random classes of TMU are selected to answer questions for this study to collect data Due to the limitation of time, the researcher only focuses on the last half of the 2017-2018 second semester As having studied the English 1, these students have experienced the teaching methods as well as how the course is organized The main objective of this survey to explore the cause of first-year English majored students difficulties with speaking skill by analyzing students’ attitudes towards English and how they spend time to practice speaking as well as main obstacles while communicating using English The second data collection method uses is interview Two English teachers are interviewed with two questions on their perspective of TMU English teaching system and their ideas on how to develop students’ English speaking ability through their teaching methods 1.6.2 Data analysis After having been collected through the data collection process, the gathered information is put into investigation and analysis Data analysis would be carried out following the data collection procedure 1.7 Structure of the study The study consists of main chapters and the conclusion - Chapter is the Overview of the study In this very first part, the researcher will explain the reason of choosing this topic as well as the aims of the study, scope, the research subject, summary of the previous studies, the methodology and the - structure of the study Chapter 2: Literature review aims to answer questions related to definition and the importance of speaking skill as well as speaking skill teaching and learning - methods Chapter 3: Research findings resolves the first research question by analyzing the - data collected from the survey questionnaires and interview Chapter 4: Recommendations and suggestions resolves the second research questions by recommends adequate methods and techniques on improving students’ - speaking skill and teachers’ teaching methods The Conclusion which summarizes all the presented information as well as the limitations of the study and suggestions for further studies CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 10 - (Question 2, Appendixes ) Chart Students’ frequency in practicing English speaking The frequency of practicing English speaking shows that a large number of students did not spend much time promoting the speaking skill Only 40% of the survey‘s participants practice English everyday while 60% of which practice it every week or seldom it As mentioned above, these students know the importance of English in general and the importance of speaking skill in particular, but the fact showed that they are not investing their time for practicing due to multiple reasons such as lack of motivation, lack of personal time, etc - (Question 3, Appendixes) Chart Students self-assessing their speaking skill Within chart 3, the numbers showed that only 5.6% students claimed to have excellent speaking skill, 22.2% said they have good speaking skill, 61.1% have average skill and 11.1% admitted to have poor English speaking skill - (Question 4, Appendixes) Chart Students’ ability to keep up with English classes Answering the question “Do you find it hard to keep up with English classes?”, the chart revealed 87% of the participants admitted having trouble with English courses and only 13% were confident to say they not have any problem or hard time catching up with the course - (Question 5, Appendixes) Grammar and vocabulary mistakes Not confident with English accent Not confident to communicate Unable to hear 27 Always Often Sometimes Never 21% 32,5% 39% 7,5% 19,5% 3% 71,5% 6% 26% 20% 45,5% 8,5% 7% 19,5% 58,5% 15% to respond Cannot organize 8,5% 39,5% 30% ideas to speak Table 1.Students difficulties while speaking English 22% In table 1, the researcher lists out some typical difficulties students often face while speaking English In generally, they tend to make grammar and vocabulary mistakes, have problems with confidence, accent, listening comprehension and organization of ideas The result showed that being not confident with English accent is the most common obstacle with a total of 94% of students had had this trouble The second is grammar and vocabulary mistakes with only 7.5% of participants believed they never make these mistakes while the rest admitted they had The third difficulty is the confidence to communicate with 91,5% students sometimes, often or always feel not comfortable speaking English with others The fourth and fifth are difficulties with listening skill and ideas with 85% and 78% - (Question 6, Appendixes) Chart Methods and techniques students have used to promote speaking skill Through the bar chart, we can tell a majority of participants study English speaking at home with more than 72% The second most used method is study at school with almost 30% of students Taking courses at English centers is the third used method, takes up to approximately 28% while other methods and techniques is only 7.5% The self-learning method is the cheapest, easiest and quite productive By self-learning and take up courses at English center, student can take the initiative on improving speaking skill - (Question 7, Appendixes) Teaching methods Teaching staffs Textbooks Facilities 28 Excellent Good Average Below average 9.5% 21% 42.5% 27% 6.5% 39.5% 48% 6% 5% 24% 53.5% 3.5% 18% 45.5% Table Students’ opinions on TMU English courses 17.5% 33% With question 7, the students were asked to share their thoughts on the current teaching condition at EF Through the data collected, almost half of the participants considered the general teaching condition was average which included teaching methods, teaching staff, textbooks and facilities With the teaching staff, 6.5% of students chose excellent, 39.5% shared the same answer was good while nearly 1/2 chose average and the last 6% chose below average For the facilities, only 3.5% of participants believed they were excellent, 18% thought the facilities were good, 1/3 of them chose below average and the rest chose average 3.1.2 Difficulties while speaking English 200 responses of the survey questionnaires were received from 200 first-year students of EF After analyzing the information gathered from the survey, the researcher recognizes some major difficulties of students when speaking English and the cause behind this There are main difficulties that the students often struggle with In which, accent is the most common obstacle A majority of students admitted having trouble with their English accent that made them feel not confident while communicating using English Grammar and vocabulary is the second common difficulty The third, fourth and fifth are confidence, organization of ideas and listening comprehension As the data collected from the first question, a majority of students consider English speaking skill is very important They have a significant understanding of the role of English speaking skill in modern society However, in question 2, when being asked about the English practicing frequency, surprisingly, 60% of students shared they not practice English regularly, 27% of which admitted they rarely spend time for speaking skill while only 40% of them practice it everyday From the data collected from question 3, 72.5% of the students shared that their speaking ability is average or below average The number is quite disappointing despite the fact that they are all students from English faculty Although these students recognize the significance of English speaking skill, they not spend much time to develop the skill themselves This can happen for 29 some main reasons: lack of motivation, spending time to study other subjects or doing part-time jobs, applying wrong methods of studying Through question 6, it can be seen that self-learning, English centre and practicing with partners are the most used method for improving speaking skill However, the time spent for practicing was not enough or they were practicing in the wrong way which made the process inefficient In addition, the teaching condition at EF of TMU is not too ideal to the students As recorded, the teaching methods and the facilities were thought by more than half of the participants to be at average and below average quality 3.2 The interview Two teachers form English faculty were invited to answer the following interview questions: What advices would you give first-year English majored students on how to improve English speaking skill effectively? How would you improve your teaching approach to encourage students to study English speaking? For the first question “ What advices would you give first-year English majored students on how to improve English speaking skill effectively?”, both of the teachers agreed that practicing is the most effective way to enhance the verbal communication skill Practice makes perfect, the students need to spend a significant time a day to rehearse English speaking The students have to truly understand the importance of speaking skill and try to find out most suitable learning methods for themselves since not every method is usable for all students Besides from self-practicing, first-year students should also pay attention while in English classes in order to make sure they are not missing any important information For the second interview question “How would you improve your teaching approach to encourage students to study English speaking?”, the teachers have distinct ideas on this subject The first teaching shared that she would consider adding extra activities for speaking while in class, letting students make more conversations with each other using English and give some speaking related 30 homework Meanwhile, the second teacher decided to include more game related activities to draw attention from first-year students and make the learning process less stressful 31 CHAPTER 4: RECOMMENDATIONS AND SUGGESTIONS Chapter focuses on the recommendations for students to improve their English speaking ability as well as suggest some methods and activities for teachers to make English classes more interesting and efficient 4.1 Recommendations for students 4.1.1 Practical practicing a Practice partner(s) Find yourself a partner to practice English with This partner should share the same level as you or at higher level for the sake of helping each other to progress You can have one or many partners The more partners you have, the more you will learn from them At first, start with short conversations with simple topics and then steadily raise the level Train yourself to think English way, try to think before speaking to reduce grammar and vocabulary mistakes but not afraid of making mistake, learn from it instead The best practice partners are English native speakers and other foreigners If you not know anyone, spend time to walk around the streets and try to make conversations with foreigner tourists You might find it uncomfortable or not being confident at first, but once you get used to it, your speaking skill will be definitely be enhanced Furthermore, while speaking to native speakers, you have the opportunity to understand their way of communicating, how they stress on words or how they tell stories, etc On the other hand, practice speaking with non-native speakers, you can improve your listening skill and understand many kinds of English accent considering not all English speakers are native speakers b Practice making speech and presentation Apart from grammar and vocabulary, you will also have to pay attention to the fluency, expressions and intonation when speaking English Making speech and giving presentation is a crucial skill you will need in college or not in college so practice making speech and presentation at your free time can prepare yourself for future possibility The best way to practice is with a mirror so you can see how to improve your expressions, body language as well as adjust your speaking tone and 32 speed By doing this, not only your English oral communication skill is being promoted but also your confidence will be boosted Preparation makes you more confident while making public speech or giving presentation Look up for famous presenters to see how they obtain to deliver their messages and find out what you can learn from them While speaking, try to speak aloud, practice in front of your friends or family members and ask for advice c English club Join an English club, it can be TMU’s English club, the ECS or you can start your own club instead The objective of this action is to find people who share the same passion for learning English and want to develop English skills especially speaking skill and wish to help each other By joining an English club, students can surround themselves with positive energy from other English speakers You can share your ideas, knowledge, techniques help developing English skills and learn from others as well As mentioned above, the more English partners you have, the more and faster you will grow If you cannot find a suitable club, try starting your own English club Spend time at least once a week to gather and practice English Try to organize fun English related activities also to make everyone feel more delight while learning English Here are some suggested activities for English club: 4.1.2 Develop the vocabulary There are many ways to develop your vocabulary, but these are some that might be more suitable for students: - Set a clear target for yourself for how many new words you should learn in one day or one week Remember to practice using these words, understand what are their meanings or any special features you of them that you should know Start with 5-10 words everyday and raise the bar when you can handle more words a day You can remember the words by practice writing them or make sentences consists these new words - While having an English conversation, try to note down new words that you can hear, ask the speaker for the words meaning to be clarified and understand what the speaker is trying to say Moreover, you should try to use as many words as you 33 can during conversation, not repeat one word too many times, try using synonyms or another way to refer the word - Besides from learning new words you also need to practice with old words in order to not forgetting them A known word can become brand new if you not use it for significant time - Read as many English books and magazine as you can Books contain unlimited vocabulary Create reading habit for yourself English magazines and newspaper are also highly recommended You can easily find these magazines and newspaper on the market or save your money by reading news on the internet instead There are many online English websites that provide news such as BBCnews.com or Vietnamnews.vn, etc 4.1.3 Improve listening skill Listening comprehension has an impact on speaking skill, if you cannot hear what the speaker is saying, you will not be able to respond it and leads to failure in communicating The fact has shown that people with low listening skill cannot have good speaking skill In order to become a good English speaker, listening skill needs to be improved First year students can improve the listening ability by listening to English music or by watching movies and videos 4.2 Recommendations for teachers In order to increase the English speaking practicing for first-year students, the teachers can consider adding more activities related to speaking while teaching Teachers could organize or encourage students to make conversations with each other using English, give some extra exercises on making speech and presentations for individuals Games can also be added to improve the speaking ability of students Teaching could prepare some games to make the studying more interesting Encourage students to speaking English everyday, inspire them to practice speaking at least or hours a day Try to be enthusiastic and be the inspiration they want to look up to The teaching staff should also update new efficient teaching methods to help students develop better in the learning process and give the support that they think the students need 34 Another recommendation for teachers is make the best use of the facilities The teaching staff could try to demonstrate new lessons through computer slideshows, with diverse approaches such as with short videos and clips, music, etc When dealing with English speaking mistakes from the students, the teachers should point out those mistakes and reassure that it is normal to make mistakes so the students can learn from it 35 CONCLUSION Summary of the study In general, this graduation paper has been carried out with the aim to investigate the current English teaching and learning situation in English faculty at TMU Therefore, it is necessary to point out suitable and various techniques to help first-year English majored students improve their English speaking skill The study is divided into main chapters Chapter is the is the overview which presents the rationale of the study, the aims, scope, research subjects, previous studies, methodology and the structure In Chapter 2, some related background knowledge is presented such as: The definition of speaking, the significance of English speaking skill, teaching English speaker and learning English speaking With the purpose of research the opinion the students on the reality of teaching and learning English, especially teaching English speaking, the survey which was carried out with the hope to find out suitable and effective techniques to improving English speaking vocabulary in each English lesson has been clearly introduced in Chapter In Chapter 4, some suggested techniques to improve speaking skill and teaching English speaking were demonstrated With the wish to contribute some interesting and effective techniques to learn and teach English speaking for first-year students at EF in TMU, I have completed this research paper in order to bring pleasant lessons which attract the involvements of students However, due to the limitation of time and knowledge, mistakes and shortcomings are unavoidable Any further comments and contributions for perfection of this paper are gratefully appreciated Limitations and suggestions further studies It is acknowledged that there are some limitations of the study as follows: First, the research’s findings and recommendations are only appropriate in TMU, EF’s context It could be unreasonable and untrue for any other documents, students or settings 36 Secondly, the recommendations and suggestions stated are only suitable with the training’s objectives in this current period In the future, if training’s objectives change, these recommendations and suggestions may not be suitable Based on the research’s findings, a supplementary material to cover the gap of the current material should be thought of, designed and experimented to teach to address the requirements of both course’s objectives and students’ needs 37 REFERENCE Abd El Fattah Torky, S (2006) The Effectiveness of a Task- Based Instruction Program in Developing the English Language Speaking Skills of Secondary Stage Students Ph.D Dissertation.Curricula and Methods of Teaching Department, Women’s College, Ain Shams University Baker, J., &Westrup, H (2003) Essential Speaking Skills: A Handbook for English Language Teachers London: Continuum Brown, H D (1994) Teaching by Principles-An Interactive Approach to Language Pedagogy.Prentice Hall Regents Bueno, A., Madrid, D., & McLaren, N (2006) TEFL in Secondary Education Granada: 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10 February 2015 21 Trachsel, M &Severino C (2004).The Challenges of Integrating and Balancing Speaking and Writing in First-Year Rhetoric Classes.http://www.mhhe.com/socscience/english/tc/trachselANDseverino/trachsel ANDsever ino_module.html, accessed on 15th February, 2004 22 Ur, P (1996) A Course in Language Teaching.Practice and Theory Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 23 Ur, P (2000) A Course in Language Teaching: Practice and Theory Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 24 Ayers, W (1995) To become a teacher: Making a difference in children’s lives New York: Teachers College Press 39 APPENDIXES A study on improving English speaking skill for first-year students in english faculty at Thuong Mai University SURVEY QUESTION FOR 1ST YEAR ENGLISH MAJORED STUDENTS This survey questionnaire is designed for the research of discovering the difficulties of first-year students from English faculty as well as suggestions for improving English speaking skill Your assistance in completing the survey is highly appreciated and the data collected is used in the research paper only Name:……………………………………………… Class:……………………………………………… Part 1: Put tick(s)(√) to choose the suitable answer(s) for the following questions: What is your opinion on the importance of English speaking skill? □ Very important □ Fairly important □ A little important □ Not important How often you practice speaking English? □ Everyday week □ Every □Seldom □ Never How would you rate your speaking skill? □ Excellent □ Good □ Average □ Poor Do you find it hard to keep up with English classes? □ Yes, I always □ Yes, I sometimes □ Not really □ No, I not Part 2: What methods and techniques have you used to improve your speaking skill? □ Self-learning □ English center learning □ School learning with partner □ Other methods (Please specify): ……………………………… 40 □ Practice What difficulties you have to deal with while speaking English? (1 Always; 2.Often; 3.Sometimes; Never) 4 Grammar and vocabulary mistakes Not confident with English accent Not confident to communicate Unable to understand to respond Cannot organize ideas to speak Others (Please specify): ……………………………… What is your opinion on TMU English courses? (1 Excellent; Good; Average; 4.Below average) Teaching methods Teaching staffs Textbooks Facilities Others (Please specify): ……………………………… QUESTIONS FOR THE INTERVIEW (FOR TEACHERS ONLY) What advices would you give first-year English majored students on how to improve English speaking skill effectively? How would you improve your teaching approach to encourage students to study English speaking? 41 ... A study on improving English speaking skill for first- year students in English faculty at Thuong Mai University Through this study, the researcher hopes it can provide the information of ways... learning process 2.1 Definition of speaking and speaking skill Over the years, there are a lot of definitions of speaking As someone have said speaking is an act of making vocal sounds based on. .. which can occur in isolation and have meaning, or a sound or combination of sounds forming a unit of the grammar or vocabulary of a language, and so act as a part of vocabulary’ in a language Therefore,