A study on difficulties in learning speaking skill faced by non-English major students at Hanoi University of Industry

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST – GRADUATE STUDIES ***************** NGUYỄN THỊ XOAN A STUDY ON DIFFICULTIES IN LEARNING SPEAKING SKILL FACED BY NON-ENGLISH-MAJOR STUDENTS AT HANOI UNIVERSITY OF INDUSTRY Nghiên cứu khó khăn việc học kĩ nói sinh viên không chuyên Tiếng Anh trường Đại học Công Nghiệp Hà Nội M.A MINOR THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 601410 Hanoi – 2012 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST – GRADUATE STUDIES ***************** NGUYỄN THỊ XOAN A STUDY ON DIFFICULTIES IN LEARNING SPEAKING SKILL FACED BY NON-ENGLISH-MAJOR STUDENTS AT HANOI UNIVERSITY OF INDUSTRY Nghiên cứu khó khăn việc học kĩ nói sinh viên khơng chun Tiếng Anh trường Đại học Công Nghiệp Hà Nội M.A MINOR THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 601410 Supervisor: Phạm Lan Anh, M.A Hanoi – 2012 TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii ABSTRACT iii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS iv LIST OF TABLES v TABLE OF CONTENTS vi PART A: INTRODUCTION Rationale Aims of the study Scope of the study Significance of the study Methodology Design of the study PART B: DEVELOPMENT Chapter 1: Literature Review 1.1 Theoretical background of Communicative language teaching (CLT) 1.1.1 Concept of CLT 1.1.2 Characteristics of CLT 1.2 Speaking skill 1.2.1 Concept of speaking 1.2.2 Characteristics of speaking 10 1.3 Teaching Speaking Skills in CLT approach 11 1.3.1 Teaching Speaking Skills in CLT approach 11 1.3.2 The techniques in teaching speaking skills 13 1.4 Difficulties in learning speaking skill 15 1.4.1 Difficulties from teachers 15 1.4.2 Difficulties from students 17 1.4.3 Difficulties from objective factors 20 Chapter 2: The study 22 2.1 The context 22 2.1.1 Description of the English course and its objectives at HaUI 22 2.1.2 Description of the students at HaUI 23 2.1.3 Description of the teachers at HaUI 23 2.2 The study 24 2.2.1 Participants 24 2.2.2 Sampling 25 2.2.3 Research methodology 25 2.2.4 Data collection methods 25 2.2.5 Procedures 25 2.3 Data analysis 27 PART C: 41 CONCLUSION Summary of findings 41 Some suggestions to overcome students’ difficulties 42 2.1 Suggestions for teachers 42 2.2 Suggestions for students 43 Limitations of the study 44 Suggestions for further studies 44 REFERENCE 46 APPENDIX 1: Questionnaire for students (English version) I APPENDIX 2: Questionnaire for students (Vietnamese version) IV APPENDIX 3: Questionnaire for teachers VII APPENDIX 4: Transcription of semi-structured group interview with teachers XI LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS HaUI: Hanoi University of Industry CLT: Communicative Language Teaching L1: First language L2: Second language LIST OF TABLES Table 1: Information about students participating in the survey Table 2: Teachers’ years of teaching English and students’ years of learning English Table 3: Teachers’ and students’ opinion about the importance of English speaking skill Table 4: Teachers’ and students’ opinion about the importance of English speaking skill in comparison with other skills Table 5: Teachers’ and students’ opinions about students’ favor of learning English speaking skill Table 6: Teachers’ and students’ judgment about students’ speaking competence Table 7: Students’ reasons for learning English speaking skill Table 8: Teachers’ belief about CLT Table 9: Students’ common difficulties in learning speaking skill PART A: INTRODUCTION RATIONALE OF THE STUDY Nowadays, in the trend of globalization, English has become an international language and has been widely used in many parts of the world With the development of modern science and technology along with the integration policy, the need of learning English in Vietnam has been increasing day by day With the purpose of finding a good job with high salary or to study abroad, learners of English nowadays not only wish to master the grammar of the language to pass the exam at school but they also wish to develop their communication competence However, they often get into a lot of difficulties on the way mastering it The reasons may be that to speak a foreign language fluently is not easy and it takes a lot of time and effort There are many factors such as: students’ motivation, students’ characteristics, learning materials, teachers’ teaching methods, etc… which affect students’ achievement in learning English speaking skill The topic of difficulties in learning English speaking has also attracted me since I began teaching English at Hanoi University of Industry (HaUI) In the hope of helping students master English well to get a good job after graduation, the Faculty of English at HaUI has applied the communicative language teaching approach in teaching and learning for both English-major and non-English-major students Among four language skills (listening, speaking, reading and writing), speaking is paid special attention However, throughout my teaching for nonEnglish major students at this university, I realize that the speaking lessons are usually not really successful as expected because students have a lot of difficulties in learning this skill Although students can the grammar exercises very well, can master quite many new words and structures, they still cannot apply them in learning speaking skill very well That is one of the reasons why I wish to carry out a research to find out the common difficulties in learning speaking skill and some suggested solutions to the problem There are quite many researches on learning English speaking skill and difficulties in learning this skill; however, there are still few researches about difficulties in learning speaking skill by students at HaUI, especially by non-English major students although it is a quite big university in Vietnam and the number of non-English major students is also quite large Being an English teacher for nonEnglish major students at this university, I would like to carry out a research to find out the common difficulties in learning this skill by those students in order to help them to improve the situation in the next semesters as well as to help me and my colleagues to improve our teaching These above facts have provoked me to conduct a research with the title: “A study on difficulties in learning speaking skill faced by non- English major students at Hanoi University of Industry” AIMS OF THE STUDY The study is carried out to find out non-English major students’ difficulties in learning English speaking skill at Hanoi University of Industry from students and lecturers’ points of views Then, some solutions will be generated from the lecturers at this university to overcome the problems All these above aims can be realized by answering three following research questions: What are the difficulties encountered by non-English major students in learning English speaking skill from lecturers’ opinions? What are the difficulties encountered by non-English major students in learning English speaking skill from students’ opinions? What are suggested as solutions by lecturers for non-English major students to overcome those difficulties? 10 SCOPE OF THE STUDY The study aims at finding out the difficulties in learning speaking skill faced by non-English major students at HaUI There are many types of difficulties that learners can meet when they study a foreign language However, due to the limitation of time and the narrow scale, the study only focuses on the most common difficulties in learning speaking skill faced by non-English major students at Hanoi University of Industry from the perspectives of students and teachers Then, this study will also give out some suggested solutions generated from the teachers in the interview for students to overcome those difficulties and improve their speaking skill SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY In finding out the difficulties of non-English major students in learning speaking English and some suggested solutions, it is hoped that the result of the study will somehow be used as reference to help students to learn speaking skill better in the next semesters In addition, the result of this study is also strongly believed to help me and my colleagues to better our own teaching at HaUI, as well as those who are in charge of teaching English speaking skill to non-English major students at other universities and colleges in Vietnam with the same situation as at HaUI Last but not least, this study is also hoped to contribute to recent knowledge about difficulties in learning speaking skill of non-English major students at HaUI 11 Khó khăn từ phía học sinh a Phong cách học thụ động b Động lực học tập thấp c Sự lo lắng, căng thẳng học nói d Sự thiếu hiểu biết, thiếu ý tưởng e Thiếu từ vựng f Thiếu cấu trúc ngữ pháp g Phát âm, trọng âm ngữ điệu h Bị ảnh hưởng Tiếng Việt Khó khăn từ yếu tố khách quan a Lớp học đông Ý kiến khác (Xin làm rõ) b Trình độ sinh viên lớp khơng đồng c Giáo trình không thú vị Xin chân thành cảm ơn hợp tác bạn! VI Appendix 3: Survey questionnaires for teachers This survey questionnaire is designed for the study on difficulties in learning speaking skill faced by non- English major students at Hanoi University of Industry and it will be used for the purposes of data analysis Your assistance in responding to the following questions is highly appreciated Your confidentiality is assured You will not be identified in any discussion of the data In completing these following questions, please choose the answer by circling the letter next to your choice, ranking items in order or expressing your ideas in the blanks Thank you very much in advance! Part 1: General information Personal information: Sex: male / female Age: How many years have you been teaching English? A Less than years B 3-6 years C more than 6-9 years D More than years Part 2: General opinions of teachers’ about their students’ learning speaking skill How important is English speaking skill to your students? A Very important C Important E Not important at all B Quite important D Not very important In comparison with other skills (listening, reading and writing), speaking is ……… A More important than other skills C Less important than other skills B As important as other skills How much your students like speaking English? VII A Very much C So-so E Not at all B Quite a lot D Not really What you think about your students’ speaking skill? A Very good C Good E Quite bad B Quite good D Bad F Very bad Part 3: Teachers’ belief about CLT Tick into the column which best describes your level of agreement with the following statements about CLT Statement Strongly agree a.Teaching should focus on fluency rather than accuracy b The students should be the centre of knowledge transmission The teacher should be their facilitator c The teacher should strongly encourage the students to learn by themselves through struggling to communicate d The teacher should spend a lot of time on role play/ games/ group and pair work instead of explicit teaching structures e The lesson should focus mainly on speaking skills VIII Agree Neither agree nor disagree Disagree Strongly disagree f The teacher should not correct the students’ mistakes at all unless they cause communication breakdown g The students should be exposed to authentic language and material all the time h Language tasks should be meaningful and purposeful i CLT is an effective approach for your students Part 4: Specific information about students’ difficulties in learning English speaking skill In your experience, what are your students’ difficulties in learning speaking skill (Tick all the items that apply you) Factors causing difficulties in learning speaking English From teachers a Teachers’ teaching method: - Long teachers’ talking time - Inappropriate teachers’ correction - Inappropriate teachers’ role in the class b Teachers’ characteristics: - Teachers’ unfriendliness - Teachers’ inadequate encouragement IX Tick (√) From students Teachers’ unenthusiasm a Students’ learning style (passive, intrinsic) b Students’ low motivation c Students’ anxiety d Students’ lack of background knowledge, ideas e Lack of vocabulary f Lack of grammar structure g Poor pronunciation, stress and intonation h Vietnamese affection Objectiv e factors a Large classes b Multilevel classes c Uninteresting textbooks Others (Please specify) Thank you very much for your cooperation! X Appendix 4: Transcription for the semi-structured group interview with teachers Researcher: Good afternoon, everyone! Thank you very much for coming here today As you know, I am doing my MA minor thesis on finding out difficulties in learning speaking skill faced by non- English major students at Hanoi University of Industry In doing this thesis, I have designed two questionnaires for both students and teachers to find out the most common difficulties that the students may get into on the way mastering speaking skill and now I would like to involve you into this group interview to ask for your suggestions and solutions to the students’ most common difficulties that they face when learning speaking skill This interview will be recorded and transcribed later However, you should feel safe and be aware that the data from the interview will be kept confidential and will be used only for the purpose of this study You will not be recognized in any parts of the data analysis and discussions The results from the questionnaires with students and teachers show that students’ passive learning style, students’ laziness, students’ low motivation and low English level (including inadequate vocabulary, structures, poor pronunciation, stress and intonation), learning in large and multilevel classes are the main factors causing students’ difficulties in learning speaking skill Now, we are going to discuss about the solutions to those above problems Firstly, we will start with the first difficulty Most of the students find it difficult to learn English speaking skill because they have passive learning style As a teacher, what solutions can be applied to help them? Teacher 1: I think that we can help the students to change their learning style by arrange a lot of pair-work and group-work in class as well as at home Most of the students like sharing and expressing themselves in front of their friends, therefore they would try their best to show the best of them We can assign the topic for XI students for them to prepare at home and ask them to present in the next lesson to make them study harder and more actively I have used this technique in not just speaking but in writing skill as well and I find that, it’s really useful and effective From this, students can learn better And it can help them learn other skills and other subjects better, not just English speaking skill Teacher 2: In my opinion, we can choose a topic which is closely related to students’ life for them to discuss and share their ideas They can be interested in the topic and like participating in the classroom activities Teacher 3: I think games can be used to make them more competitive and active in classroom Also we can create suitable situations according to the topic of the lessons for them to have real conversations For example, when I teach about “shopping” topic in Unit 4, in the book “New-headway” pre-intermediate, I asked students to work in pairs to make a short conversation at the clothes shop to buy a T-shirt or anything that they like Besides, I tell them that, at home, they can practice with their partners to make similar conversations at any other kinds of shop that they like, and in the next lesson, I will ask some pairs to act out their conversations in front of the class Students have time to prepare at home, therefore, their conversation is much longer, more fluent, more real and more interesting Teacher 4, 5, 7: Great!!!! Interviewer: You have suggested a very good idea! Thank you very much, teacher 3! And some of you here, you have any suggestions? Teacher 4: I think I will apply to assign speaking topics for students to prepare at home and speak in front of class Usually, I just ask students to speak immediately in front of the class, not for them to prepare at home I think I should change Teacher 1: You should let your students some time to prepare at home, they can perform much better in class Because at home, they can have time to search for the XII information about the topic, they can find and learn the words to express their ideas themselves This makes them more interested in learning because they can discover and find the things they need to learn themselves, they can remember and use English better This is the way for them to develop their activeness in learning Teacher 6: I agree that to change students’ passive learning style into active learning style, we need to organize suitable and interesting activities to attract students into them and to motivate them to learn more and more But, this is not easy It’s hard work, really hard work My students are from the faculties of automobiles and mechanical engineering, so they are not only very passive, but also very lazy They sometimes don’t like playing games, but doing nothing in class They not talk or make trouble, they just don’t want to learn anything and just sit in the class and keep silent, observe everything around them I have had to use quite many techniques to change the situations, and I think that the teachers must also be very strict to keep the students to participate in the lessons Teachers should pay attention to all the class so that no students are excluded in the classroom activities Interviewer: Yes, this is another difficulty That is students’ laziness You have just given a solution to this problem, right ? Teacher Teacher 6: Yeah And I have had some chances to teach students from different faculties, and I recognize that, usually students from mechanical, chemical faculties are lazier than the students from economic faculties Teacher 5: You are right, teacher And it’s harder to motivate students from mechanical faculties Most of them are boys, they not like English and they just learn English to pass the final exam Their motivation for learning English is low, very low Interviewer: I see So, what suggestions you have for students who are lazy and have low motivation in learning English? XIII Teacher 4: I think that we can only little help if the students themselves not change their attitudes toward learning English Teacher 5: I think that the teachers should be strict with the students and assign the homework or the things students need to learn clearly They need to be instructed clearly about what to or they cannot complete what you want them to But, we need to check their homework regularly, we need to give students suitable compliments for the work they have done as well as suitable punishments for those who not complete our requirements Teacher 7: That’s’ right We need to be very strict to them, manage them well in class We also should try our best to create good atmosphere in class We need to be strict, but sometimes we need to be funny to build good relationship with students Good relationship between students and teacher can become a good motivation for students to study harder As far as I know, students will try to learn better if they like their teachers My son is a good example for this At school, he likes his English teacher, therefore, he likes the English lessons, he tries to learn English very hard But, he doesn’t like his Math teacher very much because she is too difficult and strict He doesn’t like the day when he has to learn Math Teacher 2: Teacher has suggested a great idea! That’s a fantastic way! But not all teachers can that although they really want How to make students obey and listen to the teacher, but they can still be very funny and friendly with them at the same time? You are an experienced teacher, can you share some ways with us? Teacher 7: Of course! You should have the suitable voice, facial expression to show your emotion with the things your students have done Well, … you can reward your students if they actively participate in the class activities by giving them good marks or giving them small gifts (you can buy the gifts yourself or you can ask the monitor of your class to buy gifts for them In my class, students coming to class late will be punished by handing in 10,000 dong, and that kind of money XIV will be used to buy gifts for active students in the class ) For example, when your students not finish their homework, you need to be strict with them, punish them in strict ways so that they will not commit the similar mistakes again Teacher 1, 2, 3, 4, 6: (smile) ! Great ideas! Teacher 1: I’ll try your method! I think it will work with my class, too Teacher 6: Me, too And I think that teachers should create the activities for all the students to join in We can modify the activities and make them more active and engaging Students may also have some choices in choosing the things to In this way, students feel free to choose the things they like, which makes them feel actively involved in the lessons For example, students can be free to talk about their last holiday, about the person that they love best, … Teacher 4: We should give students the topics related to their lives To motivate students, we can use English songs or short stories, communicative games and activities Interviewer: Can you tell me some communicative games and activities you often use in your class? Teacher 4: Yes, I often use role-play, group- discussion, problem –solving, guessing game for my students and I find that they work with my students Teacher 7: I like using guessing game and role-play best! They are so much funny and motivating not only for students but also for me! (smile) Interviewer: Wonderful! Now, let’s talk about another problem, which is our students’ low English competence Our students often lack vocabulary and grammar structures to express their ideas in addition to this, their pronunciation is not good, they cannot speak English with the right stress and intonation as expected They are the reasons why they not participate in classroom speaking activities and cannot XV get good results as they are required To solve this problem, what suggestions you suggest for them? Teacher 1: I think that at our students’ level, they are only required to be able to speak about very simple topics related to their lives, therefore, I suggest that students should try to learn vocabulary in topics, and they should learn the vocabulary in phrases, not one by one word Learning vocabulary in this way helps students to have strong vocabulary about the topics they study in class, and they can remember the words better One more thing, students should have a good dictionary to bring with them, so that they can learn and check the words they need any time, and anywhere they go Teacher 3: I totally agree with you, teacher 1! Students should be taught the new vocabulary in chunks, in phrases, not word by word In this way students can learn more words, remember words and their usage better They can also express their ideas more quickly And when we teach them a new structure, if it is possible, we should ask them to make up some sentences with that new structure, and with the words that they have studied, to make them understand and remember the new words and the new structure Teacher 6: And in class, you can create the games for the students to remember new words and new structures It will be much fun and more interesting to students You have many kinds of games for this In addition, you can advise them to listen to music, listen to the news, watch the movies in English, if the movies have English subtitle, it’s the best because they can have fun when they learn! Sometimes, they not need to understand, but just get accustomed to listening to English Teacher 5: Uhm, I share the same ideas with you, teacher Listening to music in English and watching a movie in English are effective ways in learning English In this way, students can guess the meaning of words in context, as well as how to use the words and in what situation XVI Teacher 2: But they will forget the things they learn if they not practice and use them regularly Therefore, I have the suggestion that they should attend one English club to have fun and to have chances to use English This can make them more motivated in learning English Teacher 4, 7: Wow, great! Teacher : I think that’ll help Teacher 7: Students are also advised to make friends with foreigners if possible Foreigners are often very friendly and easy to make friends, students can meet foreigners easily when they go to some place such as Hoan Kiem Lake, Uncle Ho Mausoleum, Vietnam Museum of Ethnology, … Being able to talk with foreigners is a good experience and it can motivate to students to learn English as well And foreigners can help them to correct their pronunciation as well Teacher 3: That’s a good way, but I don’t think that most students can that I suggest that students can learn to master good pronunciation, stress and intonation themselves at home with good listening materials When they learn new words, they should learn the pronunciation, and stress of the words at the same time The intonation can be learned when they listen to the conversation, they can stop the conversation to repeat the sentence to imitate the intonation And they should try to use the sentences with the stress and intonation they learn into their conversation to remember it and to make their language usage more vivid and beautiful Teacher 1, 2, 5: Good idea, guy!!!!!!! Interviewer: Excellent, guys! Have you got any other suggestions? Teacher 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7: No more, maybe no more, now (smile) Interviewer: If you not have any other ideas about this difficulty, now we will discuss the next difficulties about the problems of learning in large and multilevel classes What you think about this problem and what suggestions you have? XVII Teacher 4: At our university, there are quite many students in an English class, usually, there are about 55 students in a class, some other classes are luckier with the number of students of about 35 and less than 40 students However, the number of students is still quite large for an English class I suggest that we should put only 30 to 35 students in a class so that in one lesson, all students can have a chance to speak English in class Teacher 2: We all know that, but it’s quite difficult because we have too many nonEnglish major students, and if we divide them into too many small classes, we will not have enough rooms for them to study and not enough teachers to teach them as well Interviewer: This problem seems to be unavoidable, right? Teacher 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, : Yes Teacher 3, : Hopefully at this time only and in the future, things will change! Interviewer: Yes I hope so, too! To me, managing a big class is not an easy task (smile) So, what about the problem of multilevel class? What are your suggested solutions? Teacher 7: Our faculty has applied the replacement test for new students to put them into the right classes If the students can pass the replacement test, they can skip the first semester and wait for the other class at a higher level to follow Teacher 6: But I think that the replacement test should include speaking part as well because we just forget this important skill in this test In the next coming years, we should have speaking part! Teacher 3: And we need to inform students the purposes of the replacement tests clearly so that they will the tests seriously and get the correct results to be put in the right classes XVIII Teacher : Uhm, yeah And we have done that already Teacher 1: That’s right! And we should pay attention to the quality of the test We should design the test carefully and, with students who are confident that they have mastered English well, we should let them take part in the skipped level exams, if they can pass those tests, they can skip that semester to learn at a higher level Because as I see, excellent students will be dismotivated in learning if they have to study with low level students, and vice versa, low level students will feel embarrassed and unconfident when they have to learn with very good students Teacher 5: I also think that’s a good to have such exams like you have suggested But they should only be applied for English and English only because usually our students are not good at English although they have learnt English at secondary school and at high school The reason for this fact is that most of them took the entrance exam to our university in subjects: math, physics and chemistry, they not pay attention to learning English at high school Therefore, their English level is very low They can have heard about a lot of things related to English : for example : the present simple, present continuous, past simple and so on, but they still cannot apply them into their own speaking, even in completing the grammatical task because they not understand them thoroughly They need to study again to “standardize” their English again And one more thing is that, at our university, they are taught in the communicative way, which may be different from the way they learn at secondary school or at high school where the teacher just teach them the grammar points to pass the exams! Interviewer: Well, I agree with you about this issue! What about you, teacher 2, 3, 4? Do you have any other suggestions? Teacher 3: I share the same ideas with teacher Teacher 4: I agree with teacher We should include the speaking part in the replacement test XIX Teacher 1, 6, 5, 7: Uhm, that’s necessary! Teacher 3: I myself think that low level students can also take some extra classes or try to study harder than other students to keep up with their classmates Teacher 2: Fantastic! But this can only be done if students are really interested in learning English Interviewer: Thank you very much, all of you! We have discussed some solutions for students to overcome the most common difficulties in learning speaking skill I have learnt a lot from you in this discussion Once again, thanks for your cooperation! Goodbye, see you soon! Teacher 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, : Goodbye! See you later! Interviewer: Thank you so much! Goodbye! Hope to see you soon! XX