Common errors in english speaking lessons of english –major freshmen at thuong mai university

THUONGMAI UNIVERSITY ENGLISH FACULTY GRADUATION PAPER Topic: COMMON ERRORS IN ENGLISH SPEAKING LESSONS OF ENGLISH – MAJOR FRESHMEN AT THUONG MAI UNIVERSITY Supervisor: Pham Thi Xuan Ha (M.A) Student: Trinh Thi Thuong Class: K52N3 Student Code: 16D170186 HANOI, 2019 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT First and foremost, I would like to express my deep gratitude to my supervisor, Mrs Nguyen Thi Lan Phuong, for her guidance and encouragement during my study I am very grateful for being accepted as her student This study could be completed on schedule thank to her value advices and support Beside, I would also like to express my sincere thanks to all teachers in English faculty of Thuongmai University, especially Mrs Nguyen Thi Xuan Phuong and Mrs Phan Tu Lan spent their time answering my interview questions to help me in my data collection Additionally, I would like to express my thanks to my friends for their helps and encouragements to help me complete my study Especially, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my family, especially my parents and my brother for their continuous support They are always my motivation that help me overcome all difficulties and challenges in life Student Hao Nguyen Thi Thanh Hao ABSTRACT Nowadays, speaking is one of the most important skills have when students learn English In particular, completing speaking skills will help students have better communication skills as well as give students great advantages in the future Therefore, the research topic: Common errors in English speaking lessons of English –major freshmen at Thuong Mai University are necessary to improve the speaking skills of English students of ThuongMai University This study aims to list the errors that freshmen students often encounter when practicing speaking English Data in the study was collected by 20 freshmen of English department at ThuongMai University Research results show that students often encounter problems with grammar, psychology and learning environment when practicing speaking English In addition, the research also provides techniques, solutions and suggestions for students and teachers, hoping that those solutions will help freshman ThuongMai University TABLE OF CONTENTS HANOI, 2019 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT .i ABSTRACT ii TABLE OF CONTENTS .iii LIST OF DIAGRAM .v LIST OF ABBREVIATION vi CHAPTER 1: OVERVIEW OF THE STUDY 1.1 Rationale 1.2 Previous study 1.3 Aims of the study 1.4 Research subjects 1.5 Scope of the study 1.6 Research methodology 1.7 Organization of the study .8 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW .9 2.1 Definitions of speaking 2.1.1 Purpose of speaking 2.2 Definition of errors .10 2.2.1 Types of speaking errors .10 2.3 Technique 12 CHAPTER 3: DATA ANALYSIS AND RESEARCH FINDINGS 13 3.1 General Introduction of English Department of Thuong Mai University .13 3.2 Settings 13 3.3 Participants 13 3.4 Data collection .14 3.5 Situation of speaking English of students at ThuongMai University .14 3.6 The results of questionnaire and data analysis 15 3.7 Main findings and discussion .25 3.7.1 Difficulties in English speaking of students at ThuongMai University 25 3.7.2 The solutions for the difficulties in speaking English of English –major freshmen at Thuong Mai University 25 CHAPTER 4: RECOMMENDATIONS AND SUGGESTIONS 27 4.1 Recommendations 27 4.1.1 Recommendations for students at ThuongMai University 27 4.1.2 Recommendations for teachers at ThuongMai University 29 4.2 Limitations and suggestions for further researches 30 CONCLUSION 31 LIST OF DIAGRAM Figure 3.1: The amount of time students learnt English 15 Figure 3.2:English practice time of students 16 Figure 3.3: The importance of speaking English skills in ThuongMai University 17 Figure 3.4: The importance factors of speaking English skills 18 Figure 3.5: Common mistakes when speaking English 19 Figure 3.6: Common pronunciation error when speaking English 20 Figure 3.7: Common pronunciation error when speaking English 21 Figure 3.8: Students opinions about speaking exercises 22 Figure 3.9: Students opinions about speaking exercises 23 Figure 3.10: Students’ solutions to improve their English speaking skill 24 LIST OF ABBREVIATION EFL: English as a foreign language DNTU: Dong Nai Technology University FELTE: Faculty of English Language Teacher Education ULIS: University of Language and International Studies VNU: Vietnam National University TMU: Thuongmai University SL: Source language TL: Target language CHAPTER 1: OVERVIEW OF THE STUDY 1.1 Rationale In modern times, English has been playing a huge role in the development of the world English is one of the most widely used languages today Currently, outside the UK, more than 60 countries choose English as the official language, out of about 7.5 billion people worldwide, up to 1.5 billion of the population speak English, more than 400 million people over the world The whole world speaks English as their first language - according to Wikipedia English is now not only a language but also a bridge for community links and social relationships Moreover, in the age of globalism, "we live today, interdependently Between countries creates global language demand and no language qualifies for this well than English (Abousenna, 1995) English is also a key for Vietnamese businesses to cooperate with foreign businesses more easily In fact, English has become an important asset for people who looking for a job in business, industry or technology in Vietnam? Most companies and corporations now require employees to be fluent in English, need professional knowledge and foreign language to work with foreign partners Recognizing the importance of English, Vietnam's education system has turned English into a compulsory subject from the elementary school years and university Students will learn skills (listening - speaking - reading – writing) In particular, speaking is the most important skill and also extremely important when communicating in daily life Linguist Khamkhien said: "Speaking is one of the most important skills when learning a foreign language, including English It is a means for learners to communicate with others, achieve certain goals or express, opinions, intentions, hopes and perspectives In general, students of ThuongMai University in particular still face many difficulties and make many mistakes when learning English, especially speaking skills As a student of English major at ThuongMai University, the writer understands the problems of freshmen students when learning and practicing speaking skills During the learning process, the writer also encountered similar problems, such as: grammatical errors, poor expression, or even afraid to express opinions in English Because of these reasons, the writer decided to research the topic: Common errors in English speaking lessons of English –major freshmen at Thuong Mai University This study will identify errors in the English speaking process, to help students solve problems and improve their English speaking skills As a result, learning will become easier 1.2 Previous study There are many documents that shown the problems of English speaking skills, including both domestic and foreign For foreign documents, one of the most striking and detailed study belongs to Shiamaa Torky (2006): The Effectiveness of a Task- Based Instruction program in Developing the English Language Speaking Skills of Secondary Stage Students This is one of the most scientific and detailed studies This study aims to determine the importance of speaking skills Besides, the research also shows the necessary skills in practicing speaking skills of secondary students Not only that, the research also proposes appropriate strategies to build and design a curriculum suitable for developing speaking skills for students The content of the study is very detailed and scientific The study came up with very specific figures on English speaking status in Egypt, specifically the following: “1- 88% of teachers not have adequate knowledge of the speaking skills necessary for students Most of them focus on grammar, sentence structure and pronunciation neglect and other important secondary skills such as, organizing coherent discourse, conversation management, etc - Students are also not encouraged to plan speeches activities included in the student's course book, teachers intervened more than once to correct grammar and pronunciation errors Similarly, teachers not give students any opportunity to self-assess their speaking performance 3- 78% of these high school teachers expressed a need for better teaching strategies and methods to help increase student and motivation Willingness to actively participate in speaking tasks and thus improve their speaking skills ” Not only that, the study also outlines solutions for students to improve speaking skills from social interaction tasks, such as: Social interactive tasks: These tasks are those involving a relatively detectable degree of role transparency Examples of these tasks are role-play, drama, scenario, and interviews a) Task -based role plays: Role plays fictional to all sorts of tasks where learners imagine themselves in a situation outside; sometimes playing the role of someone other than themselves (Dinapoli, 2000 and Liao, 2001).The most critical element to consider when designing role-play tasks is that they should satisfy communicative tasks criteria especially the focus on a certain outcome to be achieved at the end of the task In other words, role play tasks should include a problem solving element (Willis, 1996) (b) Interview tasks: Interviews can encourage students to share personal information of different kinds This includes: anecdotes (talking about terrible accidents), personal reminiscences (talking about past regrets of doing or not doing something), attitudes, opinions, preferences (talking about favorite places to go) and personal reactions (what makes you annoyed / stressed / happy and so on) (Martin, 1997) Interviews encourage students to use the necessary question-and-answer structures With advanced learners, language functions like asking for confirmation (Did you mean that ? Do you really think that ?) hesitating (well, let me see ), contradicting and interrupting (hold on a minute) can be practiced as well (Dinapoli, 2000) This research has brought a lot of positive results First, research has shown the effectiveness of using direct interaction tasks during speaking practice These interactive tasks can increase students' confidence during practice In addition, the research also points out that instructional strategies for students based on practical tasks will be more effective In addition, the study also provides students with clear instructions before speaking practice, which helps students to be better prepared and improve their speaking skills This is consistent with the results of other studies Question 3: How you think about the importance of speaking English skills? 5.00% 20.00% 75.00 % A Very important B Important C Normal D Not important Figure 3.3: The importance of speaking English skills in ThuongMai University The importance of learning English is clearly shown in the pie chart Most students completely agree that English speaking skills are very important to seventy-five percent of students Especially in a professional learning environment such as the English department, speaking English is indispensable Besides, twenty percent said it was important to speak English and ten percent thought it was normal 17 Question 4: How you evaluate the following factors when speaking English? 18 16 16 14 14 13 12 12 10 6 Important Normal Unimportant 4 Grammar Pronunciation Fluency and coherency Vocabulary Figure 3.4: The importance factors of speaking English skills Through the bar chart, we can see that grammar is the part that students are most weakly evaluated with only responses that grammar is important in speaking skills Meanwhile, pronunciation and vocabulary are most appreciated by students when 14-16 responses, respectively, think that this is an important factor in speaking English Fluency is also highly appreciated by students with 13 responses saying that this factor is very important in speaking English Thus, through the above data, we can see that speaking English has a clear difference compared to writing Speaking English emphasizes fluency and pronunciation rather than being grammatically correct because everyone can make grammar mistakes when speaking English \ 18 Question 5: Which mistakes you often make when speaking English? 25.00% 45.00% 30.00% A Grammatical mistakes B Pronunciation mistakes C Speech errors (Repetition,Correction, Filled pause) Figure 3.5: Common mistakes when speaking English Through the pie chart above we can see that most students make grammatical mistakes when speaking English when up to forty percent of students make mistakes Not only that but pronunciation errors are also a phenomenon that occurs quite often when up to thirty percent of students make this mistake Finally, speech errors when students make mistakes like repetition because there are not many vocabulary to use, or to correct errors in sentences so that the meaning of the sentence is not misunderstood, 19 Question 6: Which pronunciation error you tend to meet when speaking English? 15.00%15.00% 20.00% 15.00% 35.00% A Vowels B Connected speech (Assimilation,elision, linking word) C Ending sound D Word stress E Intonation Figure 3.6: Common pronunciation error when speaking English This pie chart shows common student pronunciation errors With this chart we can see that pronunciation is very difficult for students About thirty-five percent have difficulty using conjunctions to link words, and twenty percent have difficulty distinguishing between spoken accents Besides, students also have problems in vowels or intonation In fact, as can be seen in the analysis, the students have confirmed that speaking English is not an easy task even though many students have over 10 years of learning English The above data is evidence that it is difficult to pronounce when speaking English Question 7: What are grammatical errors you have when speaking English? 20 Sales 20.00% 15.00% 15.00% 50.00% A Agreement mistakes (Subject – verbagreement, noun – pronounsagreement) B Tense mistakes (Present, past,progressive, perfect, future) C Prepositional mistakes D Article mistakes Figure 3.7: Common pronunciation error when speaking English According to this pie chart, there are a number of grammatical errors when speaking English including errors in tense (present, past, progressive, perfect, future), preposition mistakes, etc accounting for fifty percent, fifteen percent of students have other errors like subject, verb or preposition This adversely affects speaking correctly in grammar when speaking English Question 8: What you think about the speaking lesson? 21 30.00% 45.00% 10.00% 15.00% A Difficult B Easy C Boring D Interesting Figure 3.8: Students opinions about speaking exercises Based on the pie chart, we can see that most students find the speaking exercises very interesting, including nearly half of them who are interested in English-speaking lessons with forty-five percent instead of saying that the lesson was very boring, only ten percent In contrast, the students also said that although the speaking lesson was interesting, the difficulty was quite high, with thirty percent of the students saying the speaking lessons were difficult In summary, most students are interested in speaking in class, but the difficulty can be one of the barriers that make students feel uncomfortable when speaking English Question 9: What difficulties you have when speaking English? 22 Sales 15.00% 16.00% 43.00% A Lack of vocabulary B Grammar mistakes C Lack of confident D Pronounced local accent 26.00% Figure 3.9: Students opinions about speaking exercises Through the pie chart, we can see that most students have problems when they lack of vocabulary to communicate and speak English This is the biggest problem students have to solve because it makes up forty-three percent Besides, making grammatical errors is also very concerned when it accounts for twenty-six percent One of the other reasons students not speak English effectively is the lack of confidence in communication, which greatly affects speaking English Finally, the local voice is also a small part when up to fifteen percent of students think that this is also a factor affecting their English speaking process Through the above data, we can see that although students have spent a lot of time getting to know and learn English, the biggest problem is that students still have difficulty in pronouncing Moreover, lack of confidence is also a very important issue that needs to be addressed 23 Question 10: Choose possible solutions to improve English speaking skill A Practice speaking English with native speakers (through Facebook, Skype, etc.) 16.50% 29.13% B Read English written books, watch English spoken movies, TV series, Tv shows, etc 12.62% C Apply speaking skill courses 41.75% D Use technology to communicate in English and correct mistakes (Elsa-speaking app, Grammarly, Cambly, etc.) Figure 3.10: Students’ solutions to improve their English speaking skill The pie chart shows the students' activities to improve their English speaking skills This information has shown us that students often have the habit of watching English movies or reading books and listening to music in English This activity is dominated by up to forty-three percent of students choosing Besides, the majority of students also choose to practice English with native speakers with thirty percent This also shows that students are also trying hard to improve their speaking skills instead of just lecturing in class Finally students take English courses with seventeen percent as well as apply technology to learning English such as using applications to correct grammar mistakes, etc In short, students should use more English materials, for example referencing popular news channels like CNN or BBC Or learn English through popular movies or websites like Netflix or HBO These are activities to improve students' ability to learn English well in addition to the exercises in class 24 3.7 Main findings and discussion In this study, the findings from the survey questionnaire showed that when students speak English, they face a lot of problems By carefully classifying and summarizing, the writer has shown the main findings after analyzing the data from the questionnaire 3.7.1 Difficulties in English speaking of students at ThuongMai University Survey results show that students are having a lot of difficulties speaking English Firstly, most students think that their ability to speak English is influenced by language factors: pronunciation, grammar and vocabulary Pronunciation and vocabulary are the two biggest problems for students Secondly, psychological factors also greatly affect students' ability to speak English This is a factor that includes confidence, attitude, and motivation for learning However, most students think that they feel nervous during speaking, which affects their ability to speak English They often think that they must have confidence to be able to perform well Self-confidence is one of the factors that directly affect students' speaking ability It is also important to give students the motivation to speak English Thirdly, the survey results show that the majority of students are affected by social factors or learning and working environment All students work and study in Vietnam, so students not have many opportunities to practice and communicate English with native speakers In summary, it can be said that students are having three main issues of language, psychology and social factors 3.7.2 The solutions for the difficulties in speaking English of English – major freshmen at Thuong Mai University After thoroughly analyzing the results from the questionnaire, the writer found a number of solutions that students can apply to improve their speaking skills For the students themselves, they also have their own solutions to improve speaking skills such as watching English movies, listening to foreign music or attending English courses or English clubs 25 Moreover, today's modern students with the help of technology can easily communicate with foreigners on social networks as well as use assistive applications to speak English better Some students also read English books to learn vocabulary, which is also a very effective way Besides, for schools and managers, there should be many extracurricular activities for students so that students can solve psychological problems, help students be motivated and improve their English speaking skills 26 CHAPTER 4: RECOMMENDATIONS AND SUGGESTIONS After finding out the difficulties in speaking English students at ThuongMai University, the researcher realized that those difficulties will have much negative effect on the quality of learning English Therefore, the researcher would like to give some recommendations and suggestion which may help freshman students at ThuongMai University improving their English speaking skills 4.1 Recommendations 4.1.1 Recommendations for students at ThuongMai University 4.1.1.1 Linguistic factors: Pronunciation, Vocabulary and Grammar ♦ Practicing pronouncing exactly: Students now learn a lot of new words, but they often don't pronounce these words correctly This is a serious problem because it will lead to misunderstanding of the meaning of the word This is one of the errors that needs immediate correction Today there are many ways to practice speaking English thanks to the rapid development of technology Most current students have smartphones Students can practice speaking by watching videos on Youtube, or downloading reputable applications such as Duolingo or Oxford, etc Students can also use online dictionaries to look up words, without needing have to bring classic dictionaries like they used to It is much easier to look up the Oxford dictionary or specialized dictionary Another suggestion for students is that they can download Vietnamese applications such as the TFlat dictionary, which has both correct pronunciation and correct stress, helping students practice speaking English He is more efficient as well as understanding the structure and meaning of words In addition, students can improve their English pronunciation by listening to music or watching movies in English Students will learn a lot of vocabulary in communication, slang as well as the pronunciation of the country people Especially this is an extremely effective way and it does not make students feel bored ♦Expanding vocabulary: 27 One of the other factors is that students should study and review new words every day Students can learn new words daily to expand their vocabulary They can create a goal and a plan for themselves For example, you can accomplish your goal of 10 new words a day It will be a bit difficult at first, but over time students' vocabulary will become extremely popular Results after half a year or a few months students will immediately see the difference if they practice regularly Students can also read books to expand their vocabulary This is a necessity when learning a foreign language because reading will also cultivate students with many new words necessary for both writing and speaking When reading, students will be able to naturally acquire new words Besides, they will also learn how the authors use words Besides, students should also use English more often because only practice will they be able to improve their speaking skills Even if they are not in an environment with a lot of foreign languages, they need to practice when given the opportunity, for example when they are at school they need to practice as much as possible with friends and teachers The vocabulary is certainly not easy but if the students can practice naturally then their vocabulary will be great ♦ Speaking incorrect grammar: There are many students who think that the knowledge in a textbook is not as important as the outside experience However, this statement is only partially correct As mentioned above, the writer mentioned about the importance of grammar in speaking, which is the foundation of good practice Therefore, students need to have a good foundation before practicing outside Of course, students not need to study difficult grammar, they should focus on the common structures in everyday life, the structures used by many people, which are very important structures in to speak In fact, there are many ways to strengthen the grammar foundation of saying good grammar such as books or websites to learn about this problem 4.1.1.2 Psychological factor Here are some ways students can reduce embarrassment and anxiety when speaking English First students need to be calm, when students worry it is easy to 28 be mispronounced Students should spend time preparing and thinking about the issues they want to share Being prepared will help students not to panic when listeners ask questions about issues again Second, students need to speak more slowly, many students think that speaking faster is better than quick speeches that are easy to stumble and lack confidence Instead, speaking slowly will help students calm down, pronounce more correctly, making them feel more confident 4.1.1.3 Practicing environment The fastest way for students to improve their English speaking skills is to practice regularly Students should practice the habit of thinking in English, should not translate from Vietnamese into English because they will take a lot of time, moreover, in the process of translation, the sentence may be wrongly meaning making the listener difficult understand Students can communicate in English through social networking groups such as Facebook Or you can take English courses, communicate with foreigners on Hanoi Old Quarter or the city center, In addition, students can also practice by watching documentaries in English This is like when students homework, watching movies also helps students be more active in learning They can rewind themselves if they not understand When listening to English, students should not try too hard to understand at first, they need to analyze the context of the speaker, then understand the keywords to infer the meaning of the sentence Or, if possible, try to listen repeatedly to get used to similar situations The result will certainly succeed if students practice daily 4.1.2 Recommendations for teachers at ThuongMai University 4.1.2.1 Creating motivation for students Teachers can enhance students' morale by creating a long-term and detailed plan for language training of students Teachers and schools can collaborate with organizations or organize English contests for students such as the English Olympic Games In addition, the school may have additional bonus policies for students who have good performance, good proficiency and ability to communicate well in English while studying This policy will encourage students to speak English more, thereby improving students' ability to communicate in English 29 4.1.2.2 Creating ideal study environment The learning environment is also one of the very important factors in English speaking practice of students Teachers need to create a friendly, dynamic, open and creative atmosphere for students This will help students have the freedom to speak their minds, to express their feelings to encourage students to speak English more From these things, students will identify their advantages and disadvantages to improve their English speaking ability Teachers can then encourage student morale so they feel more confident and use English more often 4.2 Limitations and suggestions for further researches In most research projects, limitation is an integral part and this study is no exception This study aims to identify difficulties in English speaking for ThuongMai University students Because of time and material limitations, perceptions may not always be accurate Besides, the writer randomly reference 20 students fromEnglish department ofThuongMai University In the process of answering questions, of course, could not be completely accurate Therefore, it is better to use other methods in further studies For example, researchers can use modern technologies such as smartphones, online interviews, etc Moreover, the writer finds himself still limited in practical knowledge when speaking English, so the suggestions in chapter may be subjective and incomplete, leaving the issue controversial The author hopes that later studies will overcome these errors to make the content more interesting 30 CONCLUSION Nowadays, it's undeniable that English has become one of the very important languages in our lives Especially now foreign companies are investing more and more in Vietnam This is one of the skills that employees need to have During the time studying and working at ThuongMai University, the writer realized some difficulties in speaking English of freshman s tudents A survey was conducted with the help of ThuongMai University students Obviously, students still have many problems in speaking English, namely the language, psychological and social factors affecting English speaking process of ThuongMai University students Hopefully the research can contribute to improve students' English speaking proficiency at ThuongMai University Despite the limited knowledge, the writer has completed this study in the hope that students can read, test and improve their English speaking ability Any comments on the perfection of the study are greatly appreciated The author hopes that later research will explore this issue further 31 ... solutions to practice speaking English better 3.5 Situation of speaking English of students at ThuongMai University In general, the opinion of English department students at ThuongMai University is... learning to speak English at the ThuongMai University - Find out the common mistakes in the English speaking process of freshmen at the ThuongMai University - Find out the appropriate skills to learn... great advantages in the future Therefore, the research topic: Common errors in English speaking lessons of English –major freshmen at Thuong Mai University are necessary to improve the speaking