Difficulties encountered by the final year students of english faculty at thuongmai university in terms of verbal communication with foreigners on their course of internship at companies an

THUONGMAI UNIVERSITY ENGLISH DEPARTMENT GRADUATION PAPER DIFFICULTIES IN TRANSLATING SOCIAL ENGLISH ARTICLES INTO VIETNAMESE FACED BY THE THIRD-YEAR ENGLISH MAJOR STUDENTS AT THUONGMAI UNIVERSITY AND SOME SUGGESTED SOLUTIONS Hanoi, 2020 HÀ NỘI - 2015 ABSTRACT Along with the demand of global integration, learning foreign languages for international communication has become more and more vital to Vietnamese students Communication skills are essential for a student’s academic success and future career prospects In today’s challenging environment, students must not only possess academic expertise, but also the requisite skills to enhance their learning and employability prospects in the future However, it is not easy for English learners in this context to achieve their fluency and proficiency in English verbal communication skill due to certain internal and external factors Therefore, this study is to investigate difficulties encountered by final-year students of English falcuty at Thuongmai University in terms of verbal communication with foreigners during their course of internship at companies The data obtained from the questionnaire with 50 final-year students of English Faculty at Thuongmai University The findings show that English Faculty’s final-year student faced both psychological and linguistics difficulties Suggested solutions are proposed to tackle such difficulties in helping students improve their English verbal communication skill ACKNOWLEDGEMENT During the process of doing this graduation paper, I have received a lot of necessary help as well assistance, guidance, precious ideas and encouragement from my teacher, my family and friends This paper could not have completed without the great help from them First and foremost, I would like to show my special thanks to my supervisor, Mrs Phan Tu Lan, whose considerable encouragement and valuable guidance kept me confident to accomplish successfully this study Without her, this research would not have been completed Also, I would like to show my sincere thanks to all my teachers at English Faculty, Thuongmai University who have given me knowledge, useful lessons, wholehearted advice during four years studying here I’m grateful to the final-year students of English Faculty at Thuongmai University for their enthusiastic participation Their sharing has become the main sources of data in my research Last but not least, I am deeply grateful to my family, my friends who always stand by and support and become a great motivation to help me overcome difficulties in the process of doing this research Because of the limited time, knowledge and practical experiences, there will have some shortcomings and mistakes in this study Therefore, I sincerely hope to receive your comments and suggestions for the perfect of my own graduation paper Hanoi, 2020 Student Le Thi Anh ABSTRACT ABSTRACT i ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ii ABSTRACT iii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS vii LIST OF CHARTS AND TABLES viii CHAPTER 1: OVERVIEW OF THE STUDY 1.1 Rationale 1.2 Previous studies 1.2.1 In the world: 1.2.2 In Vietnam: 1.3 The aims of the study .4 1.4 Research subject 1.5 Significance of the study 1.6 Scope of the study 1.7 Research methodology .6 1.8 Organization of the study CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Overview of communication 2.1.1 Definition of communication 2.1.2 Communication process 2.1.3 Importance of communication in business .10 2.1.4 Types of communication 12 2.2 Verbal communication 13 2.2.1 Definition of verbal communication .13 2.2.2 Importance of verbal communication in business 14 2.2.3 Basic skills of verbal communication .14 2.3 Difficulties in verbal communication with foreigners during the internship of Engish Faculty’s final-year students .16 2.3.1 Factors that cause difficulties 16 2.3.2 Difficulties in verbal communication with foreigners 17 CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY AND RESEARCH FINDINGS .22 3.1 Methodology 22 3.1.1 Context of the study 22 3.1.3 Data collection methods 23 3.1.4 Method of data analysis 24 3.2 Findings and discussion of the findings 24 3.2.1 Questionnaire results 24 3.2.2 Discussion of the findings .38 CHAPTER 4: RECOMMENDATIONS AND SUGGESTIONS 40 4.1 Summary of the study .40 4.2 Suggestions to improve student’s English verbal communication skill 40 4.2.1 Suggestions for the students 40 4.2.2 Suggestions for Thuongmai University 45 4.3 Limitations of the study 46 4.4 Suggestions for further studies 46 CONCLUSION 47 REFERENCES 48 APPENDIX – SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRES 50 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS No Abbreviation Meaning TMU Thuongmai University EFL English as a foreign language ESL English as a second language LIST OF CHARTS AND TABLES No Charts and tables Chart Chart Chart Chart Chart Chart Chart Chart 10 11 12 13 14 Chart Chart 10 Chart 11 Chart 12 Table Table Name Communication process The frequency of English verbal communication English verbal communication competence The important of English verbal communication at companies The frequency of English verbal communication on the internship course Skills that cause difficulty most Confidence level in English verbal communication with foreigners Anxiety level in English verbal communication with foreigners Difficulty in listening comprehension Difficulty in vocabulary Difficulty in grammar Difficulty in pronunciation The cause of difficulties Suggestions of the students CHAPTER 1: OVERVIEW OF THE STUDY 1.1 Rationale In the trend of globalization today, the importance of English cannot be denied and ignored because it is widely used everywhere in the world English is considered the most commonly used language on the planet when nearly 60 countries use English as the main language, besides their mother tongue and nearly 100 countries use English as the second language Therefore, English plays an essential role in the current era of globalization In the era of market economy, Vietnamese enterprises have also kept up with this trend and strengthened economic exchanges with other countries, cooperating with foreign companies to implement business strategies and export - import goods With such a vibrant integration situation, English is an essential part in business When Vietnam has joined the World Trade Organization (WTO), the business of goods exchange is not only encapsulated within the country but also cooperates with many different countries in the world Currently, in parallel with domestic enterprises, Vietnam also has the presence of international companies, which are followed by leaders, key pillars of foreigners Therefore, without English, especially English communication, we will face many difficulties in such a highly professional environment Employers always require candidates to know English communication, fluent English, even master all skills (listening - speaking - reading - writing) to meet the needs of communication and working with foreign clients or partners In particular, the English communication with foreign partners or customers is a key factor affecting the business of the enterprises Therefore, employees are often required to have good communication skills, especially verbal English communication Final-year students of Thuongmai University in general and the English Faculty in particular will have to undergo a 4-week internship at companies Normally, English students have to use English during the internship to work or communicate with foreigners However, not all students have good English speaking skills or all their performances are good This can affect their internships and even the business results of the companies In my reasearch, I will investigate the difficulties that English-majored final-year students usually encounter when verbally communicating with foreigners during their internship and suggest some solutions to this problem Therefore, I would like to conduct the study entitled “Difficulties encountered by the final-year students of English Faculty at Thuongmai University in terms of verbal communication with foreigners on their course of internship at companies and some suggested solutions” I hope this study will help them find out their verbal communication difficulties and provide them some solutions to improve this skill 1.2 Previous studies A number of empirical studies have examined the same research concern related to difficulties encountered by university English-majored students while participating in oral classroom activities There are some researches that I have found to support my graduation paper: 1.2.1 In the world: A paper by Zhengdong Gan in 2012 reports the result of a study that aimed to identify the problems with oral English skills of ESL (English as a second language) students at a tertiary teacher training institution in Hong Kong The study, by way of semi-structured interview, addresses the gap in our understanding of the difficulties ESL students encountered in their oral English development in the context of a Bachelor of Education (English Language) program Insufficient opportunities to speak English in lectures and tutorials, lack of a focus on language improvement in the curriculum, and the input-poor environment for spoken communication in English outside class apparently contributed to a range of problems that closely related to the sociocultural, institutional and interpersonal contexts in which individual ESL students found themselves The results of the study lead us to question the effectiveness of the knowledge- and pedagogy-based ESL teacher training curriculum They also point to a need to incorporate a sufficiently intensive language improvement component in the current teacher preparation program A study named “Speaking Problems Faced by the English Department Students of Syial Kuala University” in 2012 by Hendra Heriansyah, this paper discusses the difficulties and causes perceived by English Department students of Syiah Kuala University in learning speaking and the efforts made by them to overcome their difficulties From both observation and interview, this study reveals that all students encountered various difficulties in English speaking ability The prevalent problem faced by the students was “lack of vocabulary”, while “being afraid of making mistakes” was the prime cause of problem which hindered them to speak The students had striven to cope with their problems in learning speaking, but their attempts had not been yet ample and successful Another study related to difficulties for students’ speaking skills was “A study on student’s English speaking problems in speaking performance” by Dea Aries Fitriani, Rahayu Apriliaswati and Wardah at English Education Study Program, Language and Arts Education Department, Teacher Training and Education Faculty of Tanjungpura University, Pontianak This research focuses on student’s English speaking problems and the aim of this research is to find out the most dominant problem in speaking performance faced by the third semester students of English Education Study Program of FKIP Tanjungpura University Pontianak in their speaking performance The research method used in this research is the descriptive method The writer uses questionnaire and video recording as the tools of data collection From the questionnaire findings, psychological problem is the most dominant problem faced by the third semester students of English Education Study Program of FKIP Tanjungpura University Pontianak with mean percentage 20.70%; lack of self-confidence 20.11% and anxiety 21.27% It is followed by linguistic problems with mean percentage 19.53%; grammar 22.16%, vocabulary 20.19%, and pronunciation 16.25% In conclusion, psychological problem is the most dominant problem faced by the third semester students of English Education Study Program of FKIP Tanjungpura University Pontianak 1.2.2 In Vietnam: A study named “Challenges to speaking skills encountered by English-majored students: A story of one Vietnamese university in the Mekong Delta” by three students 40 CHAPTER 4: RECOMMENDATIONS AND SUGGESTIONS 4.1 Summary of the study As stated earlier, this graduation paper is an attempt to present the difficulties encountered by the final-year students of English Faculty at Thuongmai University in terms of verbal communication on their course of internship at companies In addition, the study aims at investigating some factors that cause these difficulties in order to find out some solutions to help them overcome this problem and improve their verbal communication skill To reach the aims of the researcher, the study was divided into four chapters The first chapter has briefly described the general theories of the research Chapter two in this study concentrates on reviewing literature directly relevant to the researched topic It is the theoretical background about concepts of communication in general and verbal communication in particular The third chapter describes the research methodology used for this study Then, the research results archieved from survey questionnaires and discussion of the findings will be presented This chapter also helped the researcher find out the answers for three questions as mentioned previously in chapter one Chapter four is some appropriate suggestions to improve English verbal communication for the final-year students of English Faculty at TMU in particular and all of the students in general 4.2 Suggestions to improve student’s English verbal communication skill 4.2.1 Suggestions for the students 4.2.1.1 Build a strong foundation To become fluent in English verbal communication with foreigners, students must first equip themselves with a solid English foundation The English foundation covers aspects of linguistics such as vocabulary, grammar and pronunciation Therefore, students should take the following measures: a Expand the vocabulary Gleaning new words day in, day out is an extremely effective way to widen the vocabulary Commit to a suitable target: it can be three daily words or it can be ten daily words Even if students only have time to learn one new word per day, it is still 41 worth trying By learning one word every day, after one year they will have learned 365 new English words Some good resources for words are the news, songs and TV shows, depending on daily habits If you love listening to music, pay attention to the lyrics and take note of the words you not know Songs often contain a lot of useful vocabulary, phrases and expressions, therefore, they are great for learning English It is important that students learn words in phrases This will help them learn new words effectively and memorize longer For example, refering to beverages as a glass of wine, a pint of beer, a cup of tea, a pot of coffee, etc It is better to learn those phrases than merely wine, beer, tea and so on Students can also benefit from learning words that are related The moon has four phases during a lunar month: crescent, gibbon, waxing and waning It is more efficient to learn all four words at the same time b Master the grammar Once students have the necessary vocabulary, they must know the rules of expression and arrangement of words into complete sentences, which means they must master the grammar structures Pay attention to how other speakers talk is one of the effective ways to master the grammar Students should listen to how other people, especially native speakers, construct sentences, where they place words in sentences, how they say common phrases, and the vocabulary they use English has many rules and exceptions, so students should not be afraid to ask questions if they have any c Improve the pronunciation Students might know a lot of words, master the grammar structures but if they fail to say them correctly, they will not be understood That seems like a waste of the time spent on remembering words One way to improve the pronunciation is to keep practicing listening The more students listen to English, the more their pronunciation will naturally get closer and closer to native pronunciation When using online dictionaries such as Macmillan and Merriam-Webster, students had better make use of the little speaker symbol to check the pronunciation of any word that they are not sure about There are 42 English pronunciation tutorials on YouTube or podcasts like English Pronunciation Pod or American English Pronunciation to teach many aspects of American English pronunciation d Learn the natural flow of English Being able to say individual words correctly is great, but the secret of speaking fluently lies in the flow of sentences Whenever reading a piece of poetry, listening to a melodic song or watching a hilarious sitcom, students should pay attention to the following:  Linking Notice how native speakers link words together: joining two sounds, making a sound to disappear or changing a sound for a better flow For example: Right away = Righ - taway A matter of opinion = A matte - rof opinion How are you doing today = Howyadoin - du - day  Contractions Contractions are shortened forms of two words For example: you are = you’re he + will = he’ll they + have = they’ve + not = don’t  Stress There are stressed syllables in a word and stressed words in a sentence  Rhythm The rhythm is the overall result of stress, contractions and linking It is the ups and downs, the musical feature of English 4.2.1.2 Improve the listening skill Listening is the foundation for speaking When speaking in English, students might be so focused on what they are saying and whether it’s correct or not, that they forget to listen to what others are saying To have an effective conversation, students must understand what the interlocutor is saying Here are some suggestions for students to develop their effective listening skill 43 a Watch movies, TV shows, news without subtitles We live in such a digital age; even if students think they don’t have native speakers at their disposal, they actually Movies, news, TV shows are grear sources to start with And the best part is that these people generally speak clearly and have pretty generic accents Watching movies and English TV shows is one of the effective ways to get used to listening to native speakers Watching without subtitles trains student to listen attentively and keep up with the conversation A real conversation moves quickly and demands an instant response Training themselves to listen to English without subtitle support is excellent preparation for following real-life exchanges with native speakers b Listen and re-listen at different speeds Native speakers speak so quickly and fluently that learners often don’t have the time to mentally break down the sounds, words, and meaning of what they’re hearing and even if they manage it, the native speaker is usually on a whole other topic by then To be able to listen to native speakers at normal speed, students can’t just dive in head first and listen at full speed right away Because of this, students will likely need to listen at slower, more comprehensible speeds first, before they can gradually ramp things up to native speed There are a couple of ways to this:  When speaking to one or more native speakers, students can just politely ask them to slow down when they speak, or repeat certain details slowly  When listening to a recording, students can play it back at a variety of speeds, including 0.25x speed and 0.5x speed The availability of playback options depends on which media player you are using, but free resources like YouTube, Audacity, and VLC media player all allow these kinds of speed adjustments Of these options, the second is usually most convenient for learning Simply take any audio file, and adjust the playback speed until students can understand what is being said Students should listen to it a few times at the slower speed, and then bump the speed up step by step until they reach native speed again c Focus on the big picture, not small details 44 Of all the major skills of language, listening skills require the most focus This is because if we don’t focus on what we’re listening to, we may miss the core “message” that is being communicated Because of all of this, it is paramount that student focus on “the big picture” when listening, and that student avoid getting distracted by small details In the English language, we put stress on different syllables and raise our voices at specific places in our sentences Focus on stressed key words to understand the most important information in a conversation Let go of trying to understand every single word, because it’s more important to keep up with the conversation and comprehend the main idea Once students can step back and make general understanding their goal, they’ll be able to fill in the details and solve any doubts later by asking questions 4.2.1.3 Improve the speaking skill The most important skill of verbal communication is speaking skill Practice makes perfect, so speak English in plenty Some people think that they not have the opportunity to practice speaking because they not live in the US or another English-speaking country They might also be discouraged because English is not used at their workplace, or they not know any native speakers There is some validity in those excuses, but students must not let them hinder their learning Thanks to the growth of globalization and technology, students have more chances than ever to practice speaking English Below are some ideas a Find an English-speaking conversation partner First of all, it’s important to find native speakers to practice with Students who are living around many English speakers may be able to find informal opportunities to chat with neighbors and local business people Joining a club or a volunteer organization can be a great way to get to know people informally In such a digital world, connecting with people on the other side of the world is not too difficult If students can’t find native speakers to have face-to-face conversations, they can get acquainted and chat with foreigners online via tools like Skype or Google Hangouts b Read aloud Reading out loud is a great way to practice speaking when there are no conversation partners available Reading aloud gives students a chance to focus on 45 pronunciation and pacing without worrying about coming up with words Students have to make sure to practice with material that they can understand There are numerous videos online have transcripts Many TED talks, for example, include wordfor word transcripts of the talk By reading aloud from a transcript, students can check your pronunciation by listening to how the speaker says something c Stand in front of a mirror and speak to yourself Student should take a few minutes out of their day to stand in front of the mirror and speak whenever they can Choose a topic, set a timer for two or three minutes and just talk Talk for the full two or three minutes Don’t stop! If students get stuck on a word that they don’t know, they had better try expressing their idea in a different way Students can always look up how to say that word after the two to three minutes end This will definitely help them find out what kinds of words or sentences they have trouble with Practicing alone is also a low-pressure way to practice, since no one will hear the mistakes d Build the self-confidence The anxiety and lack of confidence makes students nervous when meeting and talking to foreigners To overcome this problem, students have to practice speaking English as much as possible even when there is no need for it yet Be in top speaking form by daily practice Speak in front of a mirror, or with trusted friends and family Turn the free time into talking time It’s extremely important to practice in low-pressure situations as much as possible to build the confidence so that students will be comfortable speaking English in a more “high-pressure” situation 4.2.2 Suggestions for Thuongmai University 4.2.2.1 Create opportunities for students to study with foreign lecturers Studying with foreign lecturers is an essential element for students to become familiar with communicating with foreigners Foreign lecturers not only teach major knowledge but also help students improve their verbal communication skills 46 4.2.2.2 Organize English contests and activities When the university organizes English contests and activities, students can take part in and have the opportunity to meet, interact and talk to each other in English Thereby, their knowledge and English skills are also improved 4.3 Limitations of the study No research paper is perfect; each will have its limitation and certain accuracy This research, however, is subjected to several limitations First of all, due to the limited time, the research only focused on the final year English – majored students at TMU and all the information gathered was based on the survey questionnaire and other related documents In addtion, the number of participants is quite limited Only 50 final-year students of English Faculty at Thuongmai University were selected by the researcher with her own criteria Therefore, the results obtained may not be generalized to the whole people who have taken the TOEIC test In brief, this study only reflects a small part of the topic It may be true with K52 students of English Faculty but wrong with others Therefore, there are certain shortcomings for further discussion All comments and contributions are welcomed to make this research more reliable and helpful for other students 4.4 Suggestions for further studies As the scope and duration of research are limited, the topic is not yet able to fully exploit all aspects of the problem So, here are some research proposals for future topics to dig deeper into this issue and the reader will have more insight into verbal communication skill in English In the future, some topics which are able to enrich the subject such as: difficulties in writing business correspondence, techniques for effective communication, etc Besides, new research methodology such as interviews, observations, etc should be added to make the study more persuasive 47 CONCLUSION The current study with English-majored final-year students of Thuongmai University shows that the difficulties for these students’ English verbal communication with foreigners arise from both internal factors which are related to students themselves and external factors regarding teaching curriculum and syllabus, influence of using Vietnamese, and accent, speaking speed of the interlocutors are proposed as follows An online survey was made and with the help of 50 senior English-majored students, the researcher pointed out the typical difficulties and analyzed them to find the best solutions However, due to time limit as well as scope of the research, the researcher has not been able to analyze thoroughly the limitations of the proposed solutions In the first two chapters, the researcher stated the subject and explained the reason to conduct the research The researcher also demonstrated related knowledge on communication in general and verbal communication in particular In the last two chapters of the paper, the researcher pointed out the difficulties encountered by the final-year students of English Faculty at Thuongmai University, explained the causes of those difficulties and provided appropriate solutions to help students visualize the problem clearly Shortcomings and mistakes were unavoidable so the researcher wishes to receive positive comments and contributing ideas from others Hope that this graduation paper will be useful for the final-year students of English Faculty at Thuongmai University as well as other English learners 48 REFERENCES Azmi, B M., Celik, B., Yidliz, N., & Tugrul, M C (2014) Listening Comprehension Difficulties Encountered by Students in Second Language Learning Class Journal of Educational and Instructional Studies in the World, 4(4), 1-6 Celce-murcia 2001 Teaching English as a Second or Foreign Language United State of America: Heinle & Heinle Hamouda, A (2013) An Investigation of Listening Comprehension Problems Encountered by Saudi Students in the EL Listening Classroom International Journal of Academic Research in Progressive Education and Development, 2(2), 11315 Hinkel, Eli 2005 Handbook of Research in Secong Language Teaching and Learning London: Seattle University Ikeno and Henson (2010) Listening skill Khan 2005 Language in India Available at: www.languageinindia.com Nunan, David 1991 Research Methods in Language Learning Cambridge: Cambridge Pourhosein, G A., & Ahmadi, S M (2011) The Effect of Text Familiarity on Iranian EFL Learners’ Listening Comprehension Journal of Language Teaching and Research, 2(4), 783-789 Steinberg, S (2007) An Introduction to Communication Studies Juta and Company Ltd 10 Xinghua 2007 Psychological Problems of Middle-School Students in English Learning Available at: http://joyward.blog.163.com/blog/static/34949425200761264614847/ 11 Oxford Dictionary of Current English (2009) Oxford: Oxford University Press 12 Rabab’ah, G., 2005 Communication problems facing Arab learners of English Journal of Language and Learning 3(1): 180-197 13 https://www.skillsyouneed.com/ 14 https://www.oed.com/ 15 https://businessjargons.com/ 49 16 https://www.thebalancecareers.com/ 17 http://www.economicsdiscussion.net/management 18 http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/radio/studyguides/ 19 https://www.academia.edu 20 https://www.researchgate.net/publication/324195076_SPEAKING_PROBLE MS_FACED_BY_THE_ENGLISH_DEPARTMENT_STUDENTS_OF_SYIAH_KU ALA_UNIVERSITY 21 https://www.academia.edu/13673799/English_speaking_difficulty_1_Listeni ng 22 https://www.asian-efl-journal.com/September_2006_EBook_editions.pdf 23 https://www.researchgate.net/publication/227516826_Improving_Speaking_ Skills_Through_Instruction_in_Oral_Classroom_Participation 50 APPENDIX – SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRES This survey aims to find out difficulties encountered by the final-year students of English Faculty at Thuongmai University in terms of verbal communication with foreigners on their course of internship at companies I would really appreciate if you could take some time to fill out this questionnaire Your name: Class: Question 1: How often you verbally communicate with foreigners?  Frequently  Sometimes  Seldom  Never Question 2: How would you rate your English verbal communication ability?  Very good  Good  Fairly good  Not good Question 3: How is English verbal communication’s role at your companies?  Very important  Important  Not important Question 4: During your course of internship, how often you use English verbal communication with foreigners?  Frequently  Sometimes  Seldom  Never Question 5: When communicating with foreigners during your internship course, which skills you encounter difficulties most?  Speaking 51  Listening  Both Speaking and Listening Question 6: Do you feel confident when verbally communicate with foreigners at workplace?  Very confident  Confident  Not really  Not at all Question 7: Do you feel anxious when verbally communicate with foreigners at workplace?  Very anxious  Anxious  Not really  Not at all Question 8: How often you have difficulties in listening compehension when verbally communicate with foreigners at workplace?  Usually  Sometimes  Seldom  Never Question 9: How often you have difficulties in vocabulary when verbally communicate with foreigners at workplace?  Usually  Sometimes  Seldom  Never Question 10: How often you have difficulties in grammar when verbally communicate with foreigners at workplace?  Usually  Sometimes 52  Seldom  Never Question 11: How often you have difficulties in pronunciation when verbally communicate with foreigners at workplace?  Usually  Sometimes  Seldom  Never Question 12: What is the cause of your difficulties? (You can choose more than one answer)  I am influenced by the mother tongue in word uses, pronunciation,  I not have the necessary vocabulary  I not master the English grammar structures  My English pronunciation is not good (stress, ending sounds, )  There are no foreign teachers or foreign students in my classes, so I lack practical verbal communication practice  There are psychological issues of worry, apprehension, fear of making mistakes when talking to foreigners  I am not familiar with the professional working environment  Word uses, intonation and accent of the interlocutors Question 13: What suggestions you have to improve your ability to verbally communicate with foreigners? (You can choose more than one answer)  Improve the linguistics ability (vocabulary, grammar, pronunciation)  Get to know and talk to native speakers through social networks  Practice listening to English through movies, TV shows without subtitles  Practice speaking English with friends or stand in front of a mirror and talking to yourself  Learn phrases, sentences that native speakers use  Gradually minimize the habit of using Vietnamese when converting your thoughts from Vietnamese to English  Participate in English clubs and activities 53 54 ... difficulties encountered by the final-year students of English Faculty at Thuongmai University in terms of verbal communication on their course of internship at companies In addition, the study aims at investigating... Difficulties encountered by the final-year students of English Faculty at TMU in terms of verbal communication with foreigners on their course of internship at companies in the current study include difficulties. .. their course of internship at companies The data obtained from the questionnaire with 50 final-year students of English Faculty at Thuongmai University The findings show that English Faculty? ??s final-year