Difficulties faced by first year english majors at thuongmai university in learning speaking skills and some suggested solutions

I declare that the graduation paper entitled “Difficulties faced by first-yearEnglish majors at Thuongmai University in learning speaking skills and somesuggested solutions” is the resul

I declare that the graduation paper entitled “Difficulties faced by first-yearEnglish majors at Thuongmai University in learning speaking skills and somesuggested solutions” is the result of my own work and that it has not been submitted

to any other university or institution wholly or partially

Hanoi, April 22 th 2018

Student

Le Thi Oanh

Speaking skill is one of the most important skills when learning English.Based on the information from the teacher as well as from the reality, the studentsstill face many difficulties in speaking English, even though they study in Englishmajor In relation to that reason, the researcher conducted a study about

“Difficulties faced by first-year English majors at Thuongmai University in learningspeaking skills and some suggested solutions.” This study aims to point outdifficulties of the first-year English majors at Thuongmai University in learningspeaking skills and propose some solutions to improve their speaking skill

The study was carried out in first-year classes of English Department atThuongmai University The researcher took 50 first year students as the subject ofthe research To collect the data, the researcher used questionnaire and observation

as instrument to find the data about the students’ difficulty while speaking Englishand also the students’ solution to overcome these difficulties

After doing questionnaire and observation, the result of the research showedthat the students had many difficulties while speaking English such as lack ofconfidence, idea, vocabulary; mispronunciation; nothing to say; using Vietnamese;using incorrect grammar Moreover, that result also proposed some solutions such

as ways to study vocabulary, pronunciation effectively; ways to build theconfidence and ways to practice English

First of all, I am deeply grateful to my supervisor M.A Tran Thi Bich Lan forher great support in assisting me to accomplish this study She always guides mewith valuable suggestions, helpful comments and guidance during myimplementation of this study.Without her support, the study would have never beencompleted

I also would like to express my sincere thanks to all the lecturers of EnglishDepartment at Thuongmai University for their useful lectures and valuable advicesthat helped me very much to finish my thesis

I also want to thank the cooperation of first-year students of EnglishDepartment at Thuongmai University who have helped me to collect data for thestudy

Last but not least, I would especially thank my family; my close friends whogave me a big encouragement to fulfill my study

Hanoi, April 22 th 2018

Student

Le Thi Oanh

TABLE OF CONTENTS

DECLARATION i

ABSTRACT ii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS iii

TABLE OF CONTENTS iv

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS vi

LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES vii

CHAPTER 1: OVERVIEW OF THE STUDY 1

1.1 Rationale 1

1.2 Previous studies 2

1.2.1 Lejla Basic (2011): “Speaking anxiety: An obstacle to second language learning” 2

1.2.2 Lukitasari (2008): “Students’ strategies in overcoming speaking problems in speaking class.” 3

1.3 Aims of the study 3

1.4 Research subjects 3

1.5 Scope of the study 3

1.6 Research methodology 4

1.6.1 Questions of the study 4

1.6.2 Instrumentation 4

1.7 Organization of the study 5

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 7

2.1 Definition of speaking? 7

2.1.1 What is speaking? 7

2.1.2 The purpose of speaking 8

2.1.3 Aspects of speaking 9

2.1.4 The importance of speaking 10

2.2 Oral Language Learning 12

2.3 Difficulties faced by speaking English learners 12

2.3.1 Linguistic difficulties 13

2.3.2 Mother tongue use 13

2.3.3 Nothing to say 13

2.3.4 Inhibition 13

2.4 What a good English speaker should do? 14

CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH FINDINGS 16

3.1 Data analysis 16

3.1.1 Data analysis from the survey questionnaire 16

3.1.2 Observation results 26

CHAPTER 4: RECOMMENDATIONS AND SUGGESTIONS 27

4.1 Suggestions for learning vocabulary 27

4.1.1 Learning new words everyday 27

4.1.2 Ways to learn new words 27

4.2 Suggestions for learning pronunciation 28

4.2.1. Learning from native speakers 28

4.2.2 Listening to yourself 29

4.2.3 Speaking slowly 29

4.2.4 Doing more than just reading and listening 29

4.2.5 Paying attention to intonation and stress 29

4.3 Suggestions for building the confidence 30

4.3.1 Stopping worrying too much about grammar 30

4.3.2 Keeping showing up 30

4.3.3 Mastering fluency 30

4.3.4 Mimicking English TV News presenters 31

4.3.5 Speaking with both small and large groups of people 31

4.4 Frequently practicing your English 31

4.4.1 Participating in public speaking events 32

4.4.2 Going to language cafes 32

4.4.3 Taking part in English speaking clubs 32

CONCLUSION 33 REFERENCES

APPENDIX

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

Numbe

r

LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES

Chart 1: Student’s experience 16

Chart 2: Time of learning English 17

Chart 3: Students’ attitudes towards the importance of speaking skill 18

Chart 4: Students’ attitudes towards speaking skills in their job 18

Chart 5: Students’ attitudes towards speaking English 19

Chart 6: Students evaluation on their speaking skill 20

Chart 7: Students’ feeling when speaking English 21

Chart 8: Students’ attitudes when feeling nervous, afraid or unconfident 22

Chart 9: Difficulties that students encounter while speaking English 23

Chart 10: Students’ action(s) when they faced with difficulties while speaking English 24

Chart 11: Students’ opinion on speaking skill solutions 25

CHAPTER 1: OVERVIEW OF THE STUDY 1.1 Rationale

Nowadays, English plays an integral part in the society It is a key factor thathelps us succeed It is not only the language used in English speaking countries such

as England, US, Canada,…but also in over the world The statistics reveal that morethan a quarter of the world’s population speaks English that means that about 1.6billion people understand and relate with the help of the language of Shakespeare.Not to mention that most of the films are in English, the largest film industry,Hollywood, is produced in English Although the English language doesn’t have thelargest number of native speakers in the world, it has the widest reach of anylanguage spoken today People speak English to have more job opportunities.Businesses need employees who can communicate fluently with English-speakingpartners and clients In addition, entrepreneurs can access a far wider range ofcustomers online by using English Knowing English makes it easy to travel

because English is spoken as a first or second language in so many differentcountries, we are always easy to find English speakers as well as printedinformation in English, especially at hotels and in areas frequented by tourists.For these reasons, speaking is an important skill for everyone who learnsEnglish because we cannot communicate with each other without understandingwhat they are saying In Vietnam, learners have a long time to learn English Wehave learned English from 6 years old to the time we reach the end of high school,which means we have spent 7-10 years learning English However, most of uscannot communicate with foreigners This is also the common situation of the first-year students of the English Department at Thuongmai University Although theentry mark is very high; however, the speaking English skills of each student is notgood So, why don’t they speak English well? What are the difficulties?

In order to answer this question, I want to propose the research topic:

“Difficulties faced by the first-year English majors at Thuongmai University inlearning speaking skills and some suggested solutions.”

1.2 Previous studies

In the past, there were many scholars who studied the difficulties faced bylearners when speaking foreign languages They gave a lot of arguments andevidences for this topic In my study, I would like to introduce the study of LejlaBasic and Lukitasari

1.2.1 Lejla Basic (2011): “Speaking anxiety: An obstacle to second language learning”

Lejla Basic studied the anxiety faced by learners when speaking In his study,

he said that the reason which causes fear of speaking is anxiety

“Speaking anxiety has to do with fear, which in most cases has developedfrom bad prior experiences It is frequently suggested that children who have notbeen encouraged to speak from an early stage also create a weaker communicativebehavior pattern Becoming silent at an early stage also contributes to limitedopportunities to practice oral skills Parents’ behavior and views on outspokennesshave therefore a great impact on children’s speaking development When childrenthat are not used to speaking out are confronted with schools’ challengingrequirements in oral proficiency, their inhibition often results in silence andwithdrawnness.”

According to his study, “speaking-anxious people are self-conscious andafraid of making fools of them, being laughed at or bullied” and “speaking anxiety

is often triggered by other people that the speaking anxious person does not feelcomfortable with.”

Lejla Basic’s study showed that students who have speech anxiety are oftenvery calm and passive and can therefore also receive less attention from teachers

He pointed out a study that was made with Japanese foreign students at a graduateschool in America This study showed that many of the Japanese foreign studentswere anxious when speaking English with native speakers “The fear of speakingEnglish made many of them remain silent and they avoided speaking English even

if the primary reason of coming to the U.S was to acquire English as a secondlanguage Out of the 32 participants in the study, 24 confirmed that they were

reason for this was that they worried about being misunderstood and got stressedabout making mistakes.”

Lejla Basic’s study stressed on the anxiety of learners when speaking andanxiety is the reason why they cannot have a good speaking skill Fear of exposureand not feeling confident have a direct connection with fear of speaking

1.2.2 Lukitasari (2008): “Students’ strategies in overcoming speaking problems in speaking class.”

In Lukitasari’s study, she focused on the students’ strategies in overcomingspeaking problems in speaking class The scope of her study was the first semesterstudents of Muhammadiyah University of Malang in Indonesia

The results of her study suggest that in speaking class, the students faced somespeaking problems including inhibition, lack of ideas, fear of speaking, low oruneven participation and mother tongue use The findings of the study showed thatthe students’ speaking skill was not good because they did not master the threeelements of speaking namely vocabulary, grammar and pronunciation

1.3 Aims of the study

My study is aimed at:

- Identifying the difficulties facing the first-year English majors atThuongmai University in learning speaking skills

- Finding out the reasons for these difficulties

- Proposing some solutions to improve the speaking skill of first yearstudents of the English Department at Thuongmai University

1.4 Research subjects

My study focuses on the difficulties when speaking English of first yearstudents of the English Department at Thuongmai University

1.5 Scope of the study

Because of time limitation, the study only concentrates on some commondifficulties while learning speaking skill of first-year students of the EnglishDepartment at Thuongmai University From these difficulties, the researcher findsout the reasons and proposes some suggestions to improve the speaking skill

1.6 Research methodology

In order to make the study easy and clear to understand, the researcher choosesthe qualitative research method in combination with the quantitative method Itmeans that on one hand I deeply analyze the study topic and on the other hand Iimplement the research to collect the data in reality

- Quantitative research method: The study is implemented usingquestionnaires The collected data are processed and encoded using softwaresupport, which are later summarized and analyzed

- Qualitative research method: This method is used to analyze and evaluate thecharacteristics of the speaking skill when expressing ideas and exchanginginformation in spoken language It is based on the theory of speaking skill

1.6.1 Questions of the study

The study focuses on the difficulties when speaking English facing the year students of the English Department at Thuongmai University Through thisstudy the researcher wants to find out the answers for three questions:

first What is the reality of learning speaking of first year students of the EnglishDepartment at Thuongmai University?

- What are the difficulties they are facing when speaking English?

- How to improve their speaking skill?

The questionnaires are designed with two parts:

Part I: Demographic data

This part including general information of the participants The respondentsare required to answer questions such as gender, age

Part II: Speaking skill and difficulties faced by first-year English majors atThuongmai University in learning speaking skills

The students answer questions about their speaking skill and the commondifficulties they have made while speaking English From the above problems andmistakes, those questions related to causes of oral communication problems areasked in this part

1.6.2.2 Class observation

The researcher uses class observation to see how the students perform theirspeaking skill and what difficulties the students really encounter in speakinglessons The researcher randomly chooses two classes to observe Everythingobserved, heard, and experienced during each class are recorded carefully in thefollowing table:

1.7 Organization of the study

The study consists of four main chapters:

CHAPTER 1: OVERVIEW OF THE STUDY

This chapter shows the rationale, the previous studies, the aims of the study,the research subject, scope of the study and research methodology

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter aims to clarify the theory of speaking skill and its features

CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH FINDINGS

This chapter focuses on analyzing collected data from the surveyquestionnaires and observation at Thuongmai University

CHAPTER 4: RECOMMENDATIONS AND SUGGESTIONS

This chapter points out some suggested solutions to improve speaking skill offirst year students of English Department at Thuongmai University

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

In this chapter, the researcher provides a review of related literature, includingthe definition of speaking, speaking skill; the importance, purpose and aspects ofspeaking The researcher also points out some difficulties faced by first-yearstudents while speaking English Details of these contents are presented in thesections that follow:

2.1 Definition of speaking?

2.1.1 What is speaking?

There are many definitions of speaking According to Brown (1994), Burn andJoyce (1997): “Speaking is an interactive process of constructing meaning that

involves producing and receiving and processing information.”  Its form and

meaning are dependent on the context in which it occurs, including the participantsthemselves, their collective experiences, the physical environment, and the purposesfor speaking It is often spontaneous, open-ended, and evolving However, speech isnot always unpredictable Language functions (or patterns) that tend to recur incertain discourse situations (e.g., declining an invitation or requesting time off fromwork), can be identified and charted (Burns &Joyce, 1997) For example, when asalesperson asks "May I help you?" the expected discourse sequence includes astatement of need, response to the need, offer of appreciation, acknowledgement ofthe appreciation, and a leave-taking exchange Speaking requires that learners notonly know how to produce specific points of language such as grammar,

pronunciation, or vocabulary (linguistic competence), but also that they understand when, why, and in what ways to produce language (sociolinguistic competence).

Finally, speech has its own skills, structures, and conventions different from writtenlanguage (Burns & Joyce, 1997; Carter & McCarthy, 1995; Cohen, 1996) A goodspeaker synthesizes this array of skills and knowledge to succeed in a given speechact According to Chaney, (1988:13) speaking is “the process of building andsharing meaning through the use of verbal and non-verbal symbols, in a variety ofcontexts.” In a related study, Bygate (1987) has a detailed definition which statesthat “speaking is the skill by which learners are most frequently judged and throughwhich they make and lose friends It is the vehicle par excellence of social

solidarity, social ranking, of professional advancement and of business It is also themedium through which much language is learnt” Eckard & Kearny (1981), Florez(1999) and Howarth (2001) define speaking as a two–way process involving a truecommunication of ideas, information or feelings This top-down view considers thespoken texts the product of cooperation between two or more interactants in sharedtime, and a shared physical context.

2.1.2 The purpose of speaking

It was argued that the purpose of speaking can be either transactional orinteractional Apparently, there are some differences between the spoken languageused in both transactional and interactional discourse In transactional discourse,language is used primarily for communicating information Language serving thispurpose is 'message' oriented rather than 'listener' oriented (Nunan, 1989: 27).Clearly, in this type of interaction, accurate and coherent communication of themessage is important, as well as confirmation that the message has been understood.Examples of language being used primarily for a transactional purpose are: newsbroadcasts, descriptions, narrations and instructions (Richards, 1990: 54- 55).Speaking turns serving this purpose tend to be long and involve some priororganization of content and use of linguistic devices to signal either the organization

or type of information that will be given (Basturkmen, 2002: 26) On the other hand,some conversations are interactional with the purpose of establishing or maintaining

a relationship This latter kind is sometimes called the interpersonal use oflanguage Examples of interactional uses of language are greetings, small talks, andcompliments Apparently, the language used in the interactional mode is listeneroriented Speakers' talk in this type tends to be limited to quite short turns(Dornyei&Thurrell, 1994: 43 and Richards, 1990: 54-55) However, in spite of thedistinctions between the two types, in most circumstances, interactional language iscombined with transactional language This helps to ease the transactional tasks to

be done by keeping good social relations with others In other words, we can saythat speakers do one thing by doing another (Brazil, 1995: 29) So, both purposescan be viewed as two dimensions of spoken interaction Analyzing speaking

purposes more precisely, Kingen (2000: 218) combines both the transactional andinterpersonal purposes of speaking into an extensive list of twelve categories below:

1 Personal: expressing personal feelings, opinions, beliefs and ideas

2 Descriptive: describing someone or something, real or imagined

3 Narrative: creating and telling stories or chronologically sequenced events

4 Instructive: giving instructions or providing directions designed to produce

an outcome

5 Questioning: asking questions to obtain information

6 Comparative: comparing two or more objects, people, ideas, or opinions tomake judgments about them

7 Imaginative: expressing mental images of people, places, events, andobjects

8 Predictive: predicting possible future events

9 Interpretative: exploring meanings, creating hypothetical deductions, andconsidering inferences

10 Persuasive: changing others’ opinions, attitudes, or points of view, orinfluencing the behavior of others in some way

11 Explanatory: explaining, clarifying, and supporting ideas and opinions

12 Informative: sharing information with others

2.1.3 Aspects of speaking

Eventually, aspects of the speaking skill need to be closely scrutinized and putinto consideration These aspects pose some challenges and identify someguidelines for understanding this skill and hence design instructional activities toprepare learners to communicate effectively in real life situations

2.1.3.1 Speaking is face to face

Most conversations take place face to face which allows speakers to getimmediate feedback, i.e “Do listeners understand? Are they in agreement? Do theysympathize (Cornbleet&Carter, 2001: 16) Thus, communication through speakinghas many assets, such as facial expressions, gestures and even body movements.Speaking also occurs, most of the time, in situations where participants or

interlocutors are present Such factors facilitate communication (El Fayoumy, 1997:

10, Widdowson, 1998 & Burns, 1998)

2.1.3.2 Speaking is interactive

Whether we are speaking face-to –face or over the telephone, to one person or

a small group, the wheels of conversation usually turn smoothly, with participantsoffering contributions at appropriate moments, with no undue gaps or everyonetalking over each other (Bygate, 1998: 30 and Cornbleet& Carter, 2001: 27) Turntaking, a main feature in interaction, is an unconscious part of normal conversation.Turn takings are handled and signaled differently across different cultures, thuscausing possible communication difficulties in conversation between people ofdifferent cultures and languages (Mc Donough& Mackey, 2000: 84)

2.1.3.3 Speaking happens in real time

During conversations, responses are unplanned and spontaneous and thespeakers think on their feet, producing language which reflects this (Foster et al.,2000: 368) These time constraints affect the speaker's ability to plan, to organizethe message, and to control the language being used Speakers often start to saysomething and change their mind midway; which is termed a false start Thespeaker's sentences also cannot be as long or as complex as in writing Similarly,speakers occasionally forget things they intended to say; or they may even forgetwhat they have already said, and so they repeat themselves (Miller, 2001: 27) Thisimplies that the production of speech in real time imposes pressures, but also allowsfreedoms in terms of compensating for these difficulties The use of formulaicexpressions, hesitation devices, rephrasing and repetition can help speakers becomemore fluent and cope with real time demands (Bygate, 1987: 21; Foster et al., 2000and Hughes, 2002: 76) Actually, exposing students to these spoken discoursefeatures facilitates their oral production and helps them compensate for theproblems they encounter It also helps them sound normal in their use of the foreignlanguage

2.1.4 The importance of speaking

The four language skills of listening, speaking, reading, and writing are all

communicator, but speaking is generally thought to be the most important of thefour skills The capacity to put words together in a meaningful way to reflectthoughts, opinions, and feelings provides the speaker with these importantadvantages:

• Ability to inform, persuade and direct:

Business managers, educators, military leaders, lawyers, and politicians,among others, seek to develop their speaking skills to such a level that they aretransformed into master communicators Speaking clearly and confidently can gainthe attention of an audience, providing the golden opportunity for the speaker tomake the message known Wise speaker is the speaker who gains and then holds theattention of an audience, with well-chosen words in a well-delivered presentation,forming a message that is effective, informative, and understood

• Ability to stand out from the rest:

When one thinks of speaking skills, one tends to think of it as a common skill.Think again The ability to stand before others and speak effectively is not anordinary ability Many people are deathly afraid of public speaking; others havelittle ability to form thoughts into sentences and then deliver those words in abelievable way The bad news is that at any given moment the world has preciousfew with the speaking talents of, say, Winston Churchill or John F Kennedy Thegood news is that a speaker whose skills are honed and developed with constantapplication and hard work can stand out

• Ability to benefit derivatively:

Well-developed verbal skills can increase one’s negotiation skills confidence is improved A growing sense of comfort comes from speaking in front

Self-of larger and larger audiences A reputation for excellence in speaking can accrueover time, thereby imparting a certain credibility to the speaker

• Career enhancement:

Employers have always valued the ability to speak well It is, and always will

be, an important skill, and well worth the effort in fully developing

Speaking skills are important for career success, but certainly not limited toone’s professional aspirations Speaking skills can enhance one’s personal life,thereby bringing about the well-rounded growth we should all seek.

2.2 Oral Language Learning

For language learning to take place, there are four conditions that should exist,and they are the exposure, opportunities to use the language, motivation, andinstruction Learners need chances to say what they think or feel and to experiment

in a supportive atmosphere using language they have heard or seen without feelingthreatened‖ (Willis,1996, p.7) A fact that is highlighted by second languageresearch is that progress does not occur when people make a conscious effort tolearn Progress occurs as a result of spontaneous, subconscious mechanisms, whichare activated when learners are involved in communication with the secondlanguage The subconscious element demands a new range of activities, wherelearners are focused not on the language itself but on the communication ofmeaning (Littlewood, 1984) Harmer (1982) also argued that in a communicativetask, the students’ attention should be focused on the content of what they aresaying, rather than the form They should use a wide variety of language According

to Ellis (2003), this can be done by involving learners in performing two types ofcommunicative tasks: focused communicative tasks and unfocused communicativetasks Both of these tasks seek to engage learners in using language pragmaticallyrather than displaying language They seek to develop language proficiency throughcommunication Through communication learners can integrate separate structuresinto a creative system for expressing meaning (Littlewood, 1984, p.91)

2.3 Difficulties faced by speaking English learners

According to Hymes (1974), (Richarts & Rogers, 1986; and Hedge, 2000), tolearn to speak a language, one needs to have communicative competence.Communicative competence includes linguistics competence, socio-linguisticscompetence and discourse competence The factors determine the success oflearning to speak a language This also is the factor that affects to speaking skill oflearner There are some common difficulties that learner often facing such us:

2.3.1 Linguistic difficulties

Most of student struggle to find the appropriate vocabulary item when trying

to speak in English, which reflects their insufficient vocabulary repertoire Whenspeaking, they spend a lot of time to find a suitable word in mother language andthen translate it into target language In order to convey a desired meaning, learnersshould possess a knowledge of the meanings of words, the four types of sentences,the complete sentence and a firm grasp of syntax; that is, they must fullycomprehend how words are segmented into various sounds and how sentences arestressed orally and in writing in particularly effective ways

2.3.2 Mother tongue use

It is easier for the student to use their mother tongue in their class because itlooks naturally Therefore, most of the students are not disciplined in using thetarget language in the learning process

2.3.3 Nothing to say

Many learners complain that they cannot think of anything to say, they have

no motive to express themselves beyond the guilty feeling that they should bespeaking When speaking English, they often lack of idea and that is the reasoncauses the fear of speaking

2.3.4 Inhibition

Unlike reading, writing or listening skills, speaking requires some degree ofreal-time exposure to an audience Learners are often inhibited about trying to saything in foreign language in the classroom, they worried about mistakes, fearful ofcriticism or simply shy of the attention that their speech attract Those could blockthe process of students’ ability in oral communication

In addition, Rababa’h (2005) pointed out that there are many factors that causedifficulties in speaking English among EFL learners Some of these factors arerelated to the learners themselves, the teaching strategies, the curriculum, and theenvironment Some learners also lack the motivation to speak English They do notsee a real need to learn or speak English Actually, motivation is the crucial forcewhich determines whether a learner embarks in a task at all, how much energy hedevotes to it, and how long he preservers (Littlewood, 1984, p.53) The

development of communicative skills can only take place if learners have themotivation and opportunity to express their own identity and relate with the peoplearound them (Littlewood, 1981) Teaching strategies also contribute to this problem

as they are inadequate and they do not put emphasis on speaking, which results in ameagre development of this skill Besides, vocabulary items are taught in isolation,and listening materials are not used by the majority of schoolteachers because of thelarge number of teachers compared with the number of cassettes available Teacher-training programs were found to be not very successful in changing the teachers’methodology (Rababa’ah,2005)

2.4 What a good English speaker should do?

A speaker's skills and speech habits have an impact on the success of anyexchange (Van Duzer, 1997) Speakers must be able to anticipate and then producethe expected patterns of specific discourse situations They must also managediscrete elements such as turn-taking, rephrasing, providing feedback, orredirecting (Burns & Joyce, 1997) For example, a learner involved in the exchangewith the salesperson described previously must know the usual pattern that such aninteraction follows and access that knowledge as the exchange progresses Thelearner must also choose the correct vocabulary to describe the item sought,rephrase or emphasize words to clarify the description if the clerk does notunderstand, and use appropriate facial expressions to indicate satisfaction ordissatisfaction with the service Other skills and knowledge that instruction mightaddress include the following: producing the sounds, stress patterns, rhythmicstructures, and intonations of the language; using grammar structures accurately;assessing characteristics of the target audience, including shared knowledge orshared points of reference, status and power relations of participants, interest levels,

or differences in perspectives; selecting vocabulary that is understandable andappropriate for the audience, the topic being discussed, and the setting in which thespeech act occurs; applying strategies to enhance comprehensibility, such asemphasizing key words, rephrasing, or checking for listener comprehension; usinggestures or body language; and paying attention to the success of the interaction and

of grammar structures to maximize listener comprehension and involvement(Brown, 1994).

Teachers should monitor learners' speech production to determine what skillsand knowledge they already have and what areas need development Bailey and

SavageÕs New Ways in Teaching Speaking (1994), and LewisÕs New Ways in Teaching Adults (1997) offer suggestions for activities that can address different

skills

CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH FINDINGS 3.1 Data analysis

This chapter focuses on analyzing collected data from the surveyquestionnaires and observation at Thuongmai University

3.1.1 Data analysis from the survey questionnaire

The questionnaires were designed in English for 50 first-year students ofEnglish Department at Thuongmai University It was supported by M.A Tran ThiBich Lan Her comments made the questionnaires more valid Then thequestionnaire was revised From March 1, 2018 to March 3, 2018, thequestionnaires were delivered to 50 first-year students of English Department atThuongmai University The researcher explained clearly the purposes ofadministering the questionnaire which were to find the students’ speaking problems,the factors affecting their performance and to find ways to improve the students’speaking skills Then the researcher instructed the students to complete it beforethey answered the questionnaire to avoid any misunderstandings Then, completedquestionnaires were collected

3.1.1.1 Student’s learning English experience