Difficulties faced by vietnamese learners of english at equest academy hanoi in learning ielts speaking skill

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FALCUTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES PHẠM THÙY DUNG DIFFICULTIES FACED BY VIETNAMESE LEARNERS OF ENGLISH AT EQUEST ACADEMY (HANOI) IN LEARNING IELTS SPEAKING SKILL NHỮNG KHÓ KHĂN NGƯỜI VIỆT HỌC TIẾNG ANH TẠI CÔNG TY CỔ PHẦN HỌC THUẬT EQUEST HÀ NỘI GẶP PHẢI KHI HỌC KỸ NĂNG NÓI CỦA IELTS M A Combined Program Thesis Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60.14.10 HANOI – 2012 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FALCUTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES PHẠM THÙY DUNG DIFFICULTIES FACED BY VIETNAMESE LEARNERS OF ENGLISH AT EQUEST ACADEMY (HANOI) IN LEARNING IELTS SPEAKING SKILL NHỮNG KHÓ KHĂN NGƯỜI VIỆT HỌC TIẾNG ANH TẠI CÔNG TY CỔ PHẦN HỌC THUẬT EQUEST HÀ NỘI GẶP PHẢI KHI HỌC KỸ NĂNG NÓI CỦA IELTS M A Combined Program Thesis Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60.14.10 Supervisor: Dr Tô Thị Thu Hương HANOI - 2012 TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii ABSTRACT iii TABLE OF CONTENTS iv LIST OF SYMBOLS, ABBREVIATIONS AND TABLES vi INTRODUCTION CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 1 The IELTS Test Battery and the Speaking Sub-test Previous studies on the IELTS Speaking Sub-test Factors influencing Speaking Test performance of EFL/ ESL learners 12 CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY 24 Research approach/questions 24 Research Participants 24 2 Data Collection Instruments and Procedure 26 2 Data collection instruments 26 2 Data collection procedure 28 Data Analysis 30 CHAPTER 3: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 33 Types of difficulties that lower and upper-intermediate students encounter in IELTS Speaking preparation courses at Equest 33 iv 1 Difficulties encountered by lower intermediate students (IELTS A students) 33 Difficulties encountered by upper- intermediate students (IELTS B students) 40 The extent to which IELTS A & B students shared similar types of difficulties 43 3 Reasons of Difficulties 46 Solutions by students in class 51 Teacher‟s helps in class 53 Students‟ expectation about themselves and the teacher in classes 54 CHAPTER 4: RECOMMENDATIONS 57 For Equest 57 For teachers of IELTS Speaking class at Equest 59 For students of IELTS Speaking class at Equest 61 CONCLUSION 63 REFERENCES 67 APPENDICES I Appendix - Profiles of research participants I Appendix - Consent on participating in the research III Appendix - Narrative Frame IV Appendix - Guided questions for interviews VI v LIST OF SYMBOLS, ABBREVIATIONS AND TABLES Symbols =: The same : Having difficulties 1: Narrative Frame 2: Interview Abbreviations FL: foreign language SL: second language EFL: English as foreign language ESL: English as second language L1: first language L2: second language Tables Table 1: Format of the IELTS Speaking Sub-test Table 2: Difficulties encountered by lower intermediate students (IELTS A students) in IELTS Speaking preparation classes at EQuest Table 3: Difficulties encountered by upper- intermediate students (IELTS B students) in IELTS Speaking preparation classes at EQuest Table 4: The extent to which IELTS A & B students shared similar types of difficulties Table 5: Reasons of difficulties encountered by lower and upper-intermediate students in IELTS Speaking classes at EQuest Table 6: Solutions by students in class Table 7: Teacher‟s helps in class Table 8: Students‟ expectation about themselves and the teacher in speaking classes vi INTRODUCTION The International English Language Testing Systems (IELTS), since its born in 1989, has been widely accepted in the world as a „must-take-exam‟ for those who want to study or work where English is the primary language of communication As the demand of studying and working in developed countries – those English speaking nations has been continuously increasing as a global trend, it therefore comes as no surprise that a large number of non-native English speakers, among whom students occupy a considerable part, sit for the exam every year The candidates, in fact, invest a lot of time and money for the preparation However, not everyone taking the preparation courses can gain satisfactory proficiency in IELTS due to the obstacles they face in learning for the exam Vietnamese learners are obviously the case The following tables show the extent to which Speaking band score of Vietnamese candidates is lower than the other three skills Listening VNM 5.90 2010 VNM 5.83 2011 VNM 2011 Thailand Taiwan China Korea Reading 6.10 Writing 5.60 Speaking 5.70 OVERALL 5.90 6.04 5.56 5.68 5.84 Listening 5.90 5.90 5.80 5.70 6.10 Reading 6.10 5.90 5.90 5.90 6.10 Writing 5.60 5.30 5.40 5.20 5.30 Speaking 5.70 5.80 5.80 5.30 5.70 OVERALL 5.90 5.80 5.80 5.60 5.90 (http://www.ielts.org/researchers/analysis_of_test_data/test_taker_performance_201 0.aspx) Looking at the statistics above, speaking is probably the area where there has been the least improvement over the year Though speaking band score is not the lowest, it still implies that Vietnamese learners may meet more difficulties in learning IELTS Speaking compared to learning Reading and Listening Comparing results against other countries in the region such as Thailand, China, Taiwan and Korea, it is noticeable that Vietnamese candidates‟ scores in speaking are generally lower than those from Taiwan and Thailand This is to explain that it is of great necessity to find out what difficulties Vietnamese learners face when learning IELTS Speaking skill, which more or less resulted in their unsatisfactory band score Among the four macro language skills of English assessed by IELTS, speaking is without doubt the most problematic to the researcher who has spent four years as an undergraduate learning for IELTS and is currently teaching IELTS at an English center in Hanoi This problem of the reseacher is also shared by the vast majority of her learners It is not uncommon that when asked what the most difficult language skill in IELTS is, almost all of her students claim that it is the speaking skill that causes them the most trouble Furthermore, quite a few students advance in other three skills, but remain „low level‟ in speaking This is, thus, necessary to find out what difficulties faced by learners for the sake of both teachers and students Last but not least, few studies have ever been done in this field and in Vietnam in particular despite the seriousness of the issue This is to argue that the conduct of this research is apparently of certain help In this study, the researcher made attempts to seek answers to the following questions: What types of difficulties (lower and upper intermediate) students encounter in IELTS Speaking preparation courses at EQuest? 2 To what extent these lower and upper-intermediate students share similar types of difficulties? What should be done to help students overcome the difficulties for even better teaching and learning of IELTS Speaking skill at EQuest? This research paper first begins with an introduction to the background, rational, aim, scope as well as the significance of the research It then goes on to review theoretical backgrounds including the brief overview of the IELTS Test Battery and the Speaking Sub-test in particular, previous studies in the field and a number of factors influencing the speaking performance of EFL/ ESL learners Next, the paper presents the findings gathered by means of narrative frame and interviews, together with the discussions made to interpret the findings The research paper concludes by some feasible solutions to the difficulties experienced by research participants, limitations of the study and suggestions for further studies CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW This chapter reviews relevant essential theoretical foundation for the current study The chapter starts with a brief introduction to the IELTS Test Battery and the speaking sub-test in particular in which the format, requirements and marking criteria are made clear, continues with previous papers relevant to the topic of the present research together with comments and opinions made by the researcher on the findings of those studies and ends with factors influencing the learning of speaking skill and speaking performance of EFL/ ESL learners 1 The IELTS Test Battery and the Speaking Sub-test The International English Language Testing System (IELTS) is an international standardised test of English language proficiency “designed to assess the language ability of candidates who need to study or work where English is the language of communication” (IELTS Handbook 2007, p 2) It is jointly managed by University of Cambridge ESOL Examinations, the British Council and IDP Education Pty Ltd, and was established in 1989 There are two versions of the IELTS: the Academic Version and the General Training Version:  The Academic Version is intended for those who want to enroll in universities and other institutions of higher education and for professionals such as medical doctors and nurses who want to study or practice in an English-speaking country  The General Training Version is intended for those planning to undertake non-academic training or to gain work experience, or for immigration purposes IELTS is accepted by most Australian, British, Canadian, Irish, New Zealand and South African academic institutions, over 3,000 academic institutions in the United States, and various professional organizations It is also a requirement for immigration to Australia, New Zealand and Canada This is one of the tests that can be used to satisfy English Language requirements for a long-term visa to the United Kingdom No minimum score is required to pass the test An IELTS result or Test Report Form is issued to all candidates with a score from (no knowledge) to (expert user) and each institution, employer or government agency sets a different threshold Institutions are advised not to consider valid a report older than two years, unless the user proves that he has worked to maintain his level All candidates must complete four Modules - Listening, Reading, Writing and Speaking - to obtain an individual band score for each sub-test and an overall one, the average of the four individual bands, which is shown on the IELTS Test Report Form All candidates take the same Listening and Speaking Modules, while the Reading and Writing Modules differ depending on whether the candidate is taking the Academic or General Training Versions of the Test (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IELTS) The Speaking Sub-test is one of the four skills-focused components which made up the IELTS Test Battery The Speaking Paper consiting of a one-to-one, face-to-face oral interview with a single examiner and candidate between 11 and 14 minutes aims to assess whether candidates can communicate effectively in English especially on programmes in English-speaking universities of “candidates who need to study or work where English is used as the language of communication” (www.ielts.org.handbook.htm) Table 1: Format of the IELTS Speaking Sub-test PART Nature of Interaction Introduction and Interview After introductions and identity check, the examiner asks the candidate questions about familiar topics Long turn The candidate receives a task card with a topic S/He then has minute to prepare and make notes before speaking about the topic for to minutes Discussion The examiner discusses with the candidate more abstract aspects of the topic in part (British Council IELTS Study Guide, p 23) Timing – minutes – minutes – minutes CONCLUSION The research has presented difficulties encountered by lower and upperintermediate students during the IELTS preparation speaking course at EQuest from the data gathered by means of narrative frame and semi-structured interviews Students in two classes both met an enormous number of obstacles regarding Accuracy and Fluency of speaking in classes in which speaking accurately appeared to be more challenging to the participants Such components of Accuracy as ending sounds and word and sentence stress were reported to be knotty problems to students at both levels although those at higher proficiency seemed to manage better It was consistent with previous studies that the interference of Vietnamese (L1) pronunciation features on English (FL/ L2) was evident and an inadequate attention paid to those essential components of pronunciation by both groups of students also worsened the situation Those at upper level were shown to advance their counterparts in almost all aspects of speaking except for the difficulties in linking sounds, using complex sentence structures, having enough vocabulary items especially less common lexis and keeping going and moving on by using communication strategies when speaking The underlying found reasons may not lie in the proficiency they had, but more likely in the awareness and target band score That is to say, that more upper-intermediate students reported the above difficulties does not necessarily mean that they were inferior to their counterpart in pronunciation, vocabulary and grammar knowledge and command, but it was revealed from what they shared in the interviews that they did wish to use more less common words and more complex structures in order to gain higher band in the IELTS speaking test This does show their more awareness and understanding of strategies to achieve what they want, although many of them appeared to fail to make that „dream‟ come true completely It was also uncovered that despite the fact that both students and their teacher made determined attempts for overcoming those difficulties, the situation remained unsolved radically It is therefore vital that there are commitments and cooperation of the institution, teachers and students 63 themselves to help the students overcome difficulties for evenly better teaching and learning of IELTS speaking skill at EQuest Specifically, changes and innovations to the current education system at EQuest should be made to facilitate the teaching and learning of speaking classes Furthermore, it is indispensable that teachers help one another in providing students with sufficient language and ideas input for speaking Last but not least, students must take the initiative to bridge their language knowledge gaps and take more responsibilities for their learning Although the researcher did make great attempts to fulfill this study to her best, limitations are unavoidable due to a number of reasons such as the research context, scale and the researcher‟s knowledge and experience First and foremost, it was the lack of representativeness of participants that may have affected the generalizability of the research Although the researcher endeavored to select two classes in which students show the least variations regarding their background and level of proficiency, they appeared not to be as convergent as she expected As the participants may have failed to represent the whole body of IELTS learners at EQuest, it is implied that the research findings may not be applicable to all cases creating a major limitation of the study A further limitation may lie in the failure to control the variable of teachers in this research, which more or less influenced the findings Due to a subjective factor that the speaking course at lower-intermediate level is typically taught by a non-native teacher while the same at upper level is taught by a native teacher of English at EQuest, the researcher could not change this in order for controlling the variable of teachers who contribute to the students‟ learning either positively or negatively – difficulties However, thanks to this, with teachers of different origins in the research, it was found that non-native teacher seemed unconsciously put her students in difficulties to gain high score in the IELTS Speaking Sub-test due to culture differences discussed in Chapter 64 Furthermore, it is revealed in the findings that Narrative Frame did not appear as successful as expected in collecting data implying that this instrument may be more suitable to informal assessments such as assessing students‟ progress after each lesson by teachers for teaching/learning purposes rather than research as done in the current study Another limitation can be attributed to the limited number of participants Specifically, it would have been of greater help if the study had been conducted on a larger number of participants The number of participants was merely around 20, which appears tiny compared to the number of IELTS students available at the time the study was being carried out Thus, it would be more helpful if all of the IELTS students participated in the study so that the research could give a clearer and more detailed picture of difficulties they face ultimately aiming at offering more comprehensive solutions Also due to the research context of a language center, the researcher failed to achieve as much data as she wished as the students‟ attendance in class was not equally regularly Finally, limitations of the researcher regarding knowledge and experience, who is fairly novice to the profession of doing educational research, may hinder the study‟s success as expected For further research, it is suggested that more research having more samples of participants and data on the same topic is conducted aiming at obtaining a comprehensive picture of difficulties faced by Vietnamese students learning IELTS speaking skill This ultimately helps teachers adjust their teaching methods; students pay more attention to the „vulnerable‟ areas and publishers arrive at helpful learning materials – all targets at offering learners opportunities to achieve their desired band score in the real IELTS speaking test Besides, studies taking one or several areas of difficulties found in the current research into great account are of great help A research on difficulties regarding Fluency, for example, would make more detailed and focused remedies for this language component possible A further suggestion is that how the factor of teachers‟ origin and beliefs in teaching and learning impacts students‟ learning in IELTS Speaking preparation classes might be worth 65 discovering As the very last recommendation, further research if giving teachers a voice and having classes video or audio recorded will figure out students‟ difficulties more wholly 66 REFERENCES Al-ma‟shy, A A (2011) Causes of EFL speaking weakness in Saudi Secondary Schools in Al-Gunfuthah City King Saud University Bachman, L F & Palmer, A S (1996) Language testing in practice: Designing and developing useful language tests Oxford University Press Bakkal , M (2010) The causes of speaking test anxiety experienced by EFL students and the effect of test format on speaking test anxiety Middle East Technical University Barkhuizen, G & Wette, R (2008) Narrative frames for investigating the experiences of language teachers 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(2006) An investigation of the effectiveness and validity of planning time in Part of the IELTS Speaking Test IELTS Research Report, 6, 9-36 Fischler, J (2005) The rap on stress: Teaching stress patterns to English language learners through Rap music Hamline University Fraenkel, J P & Wallen, N E (1996) How to design and evaluate research in education 3rd ed NY: McGrawhill Gallacher, L (2004) http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/articles/english-sentencestress Gilakjani, A P (2011) Why is Pronunciation So Difficult to Learn? 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Profiles of research participants 1 IELTS A (Lower-intermediate) Full Nam e A1 Ag e Gende r 18 Male A2 A3 28 20 Male Male A4 17 Male A5 21 Male A6 17 Male A7 21 Male A8 20 A9 17 School/ Workplac e Nguyễn Bỉnh Khiêm H.S Academy of Finance English IELTS yrs X Lomonoso v H.S Academy of Finance 12 yrs (school s in NĐ city, languag e center, home) 11 yrs (school) yrs (school) Nguyễn Tất Thành H.S Academy of Finance yrs (school, home) 10 yrs (school) Femal e FTU Femal e Lomonoso v H.S 1.5 yrs (APEC & EQuest) 11 yrs (school) I Listenin g 4.0 4.0 months (EQuest ) Readin g Speakin g 3.5 5.0 4.0 3.0 4.0 X 4.0 months (pre-IE, EQuest) X 5.5 4.5 2.5 months (Pre-IE, EQuest) 7.0 months (EQuest ) months (pre-IE, EQuest) Writi ng 4.0 6.0 4.5 4.5 3.5 3.5 5.5 4.5 5.5 4.5 IELTS B (Upper-intermediate) Full Nam e B1 Ag e Gend er School/ Workplace English IELTS Listeni ng Readin g Speaki ng Writi ng 16 Femal e Kim Liên H.S yrs (school) 5.5 4.0 5.0 5.5 B2 22 Male yrs (Langua ge Link) 6.0 6.0 5.5 5.0 B3 24 Femal e Academy of Cryptograp hy Technology Vinacap Company months (pre-IE, EQuest) X B4 17 Femal e Kim Liên H.S 811 yrs (school) B5 16 Femal e Kim Liên H.S B6 22 B7 21 Femal e Male Hanoi Law University PTIT B8 20 Femal e Academy of Finance B9 23 Male Trade Union University 10 yrs (school, BC) 11 yrs (school) 13 yrs (schools) 12 yrs (schools, courses at Languag e Link) 17 yrs (school, Languag e Link) yrs (school: PTIT) II months (Pre-IE, EQuest) months (pre-IE, EQuest) X 5.0 6.5 5.5 4.5 5.0 6.0 5.0 4.0 X 5.5 6.0 5.5 4.5 X 6.0 6.0 5.0 5.0 X 6.0 6.0 5.0 5.0 course 6.0 at Langua ge Link 5.5 5.5 Appendix - Consent on participating in the research I am doing a research on “Difficulties faced by Vietnamese learners of English at EQuest Academy (Hanoi) in learning IELTS Speaking Skill” The aims of the study are to figure out difficulties encountered by you as IELTS learners at EQuest in learning the Speaking skill of the IELTS test and to make suggestions on what can be done to better your Speaking skill for good scores in the test I therefore call for your participation and willing to share your difficulties by writing reflection after each Speaking class using my given frame (aiming to assist your sharing) and by attending an interview after the 6th Speaking lesson If you agree to be my research participants, please fill in the form below Your full name: …………………………………………… Age: …………………… Gender: ……………… School/ Workplace: …………………………………………… Your previous experiences in learning English & IELTS: English: How long? ……………………… Where? (which city, town, school or language center) ……………………… IELTS: How long? ……………………… Where? (which city, town, school or language center) ………………………… Your scores in the placement test for the IELTS course at EQuest: Listening: …………………… Reading: ………………… Speaking: …………………… Writing: ………………… Thank you very much for your participation! III Appendix - Narrative Frame Your name: …………………… Class: …………… Date: ………………… Content of Lesson: ………………………………………………………………… In the speaking lesson today, I had difficulties trying to ………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………… I did not fully know the format and requirements of the Speaking test taught in this lesson To be more specific, I had difficulties understanding ……………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………… The reasons for those difficulties are that I solved the problems by IV Luckily, my teacher helped me to overcome the difficulties by It would have been helpful if I had In my opinion, the teacher should have ……………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………… to help me I find the solutions I and/ or my teacher used of great help to me because little help to me because ……………………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………………… Thank you very much for your participation and cooperation! V Appendix - Guided questions for interviews Did you meet any difficulties in the first IELTS speaking classes? 1a Were there any difficulties regarding Pronunciation, Vocabulary, Grammar & Fluency of speaking? 1b Were you nervous when speaking? Do you think your nervousness caused difficulties to have a good speaking performance? Did those classes offer you clear information about the format, requirements, marking criteria and strategies of the IELTS Speaking Test? What you think the reasons why you met those difficulties? What did you to solve those difficulties in class? In your opinion, what should you have done to overcome the difficulties? Did your teacher help you with those difficulties? Do you find it helpful? What should your teacher have done to help you surmount those difficulties? VI ... students) in IELTS Speaking preparation classes at EQuest Table 3: Difficulties encountered by upper- intermediate students (IELTS B students) in IELTS Speaking preparation classes at EQuest Table... providing non-personal information; comparing; expressing opinions; summarising; explaining; conversation repair; suggesting; contrasting; justifying opinions; narrating and paraphrasing; speculating;... study investigated the difficulties encountered by Vietnamese learners taking IELTS preparation speaking course at EQuest in Hanoi - an Education jointstock company whose job is offering English courses