An investigation into difficulties in improving English speaking skills of firstyear students of English Faculty, Thuong Mai University

An investigation into difficulties in improving English speaking skills of firstyear students of English Faculty, Thuong Mai University An investigation into difficulties in improving English speaking skills of firstyear students of English Faculty, Thuong Mai University An investigation into difficulties in improving English speaking skills of firstyear students of English Faculty, Thuong Mai University An investigation into difficulties in improving English speaking skills of firstyear students of English Faculty, Thuong Mai University An investigation into difficulties in improving English speaking skills of firstyear students of English Faculty, Thuong Mai University An investigation into difficulties in improving English speaking skills of firstyear students of English Faculty, Thuong Mai University An investigation into difficulties in improving English speaking skills of firstyear students of English Faculty, Thuong Mai University An investigation into difficulties in improving English speaking skills of firstyear students of English Faculty, Thuong Mai University An investigation into difficulties in improving English speaking skills of firstyear students of English Faculty, Thuong Mai University An investigation into difficulties in improving English speaking skills of firstyear students of English Faculty, Thuong Mai University An investigation into difficulties in improving English speaking skills of firstyear students of English Faculty, Thuong Mai University An investigation into difficulties in improving English speaking skills of firstyear students of English Faculty, Thuong Mai University An investigation into difficulties in improving English speaking skills of firstyear students of English Faculty, Thuong Mai University An investigation into difficulties in improving English speaking skills of firstyear students of English Faculty, Thuong Mai University An investigation into difficulties in improving English speaking skills of firstyear students of English Faculty, Thuong Mai University An investigation into difficulties in improving English speaking skills of firstyear students of English Faculty, Thuong Mai University

THUONGMAI UNIVERSITY ENGLISH DEPARTMENT GRADUATION PAPER A STUDY ON DIFFICULTIES IN LISTENING CONPREHENSION OF ENGLISH STUDENTS AT THUONGMAI UNIVERSITY Supervisor : Pham Thuy Giang M.A Student Class : Nguyen Thu Thảo : K52N2 Student’number : 16D170112 Hanoi, 2020 DECLARATION I, Nguyen Thu Thao, hereby certify that this minor thesis entitled “An investigation into difficulties in improving English speaking skills of first-year students in English Faculty, Thuong Mai University” is the result of my own research in the fulfillment of the requirement for the Graduation paper at English Faculty – Thuongmai University and the substance of this research has not been submitted for a degree to any other university or institution HÀ NỘI - 2015 Signature Nguyen Thu Thao ABSTRACT The ability of communicating through a language separates human beings from all animals It has been long yet fascinating and rewarding journey through time from sounds, grunts, actions, signs, gestures and gesticulations to the world of reading, writing and sophisticated methods of communication Nowadays, communication is the integral part of any individual Speaking skill becomes one of the most necessary skills to communicate and one of the significant language skills to develop in second language learning among every university students They have to use English in the presentations of the class or in group assignments Despite the fact that improving the speaking skills is very important, this problem can be a major challenge for any student who wants to learn a foreign language because no matter how much they know about the English grammar, they can still face many speaking difficulties From mentioned importances, the study has given some useful solutions to improve English communication skills of first-year students of English Faculty, Thuongmai University Due to limited time, awareness and practical experience, the study could not avoid shotcomings and errors Therefore, I look forward to receiving comments and suggestions from my supervisor and friends in order to perfect the study ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS During the process of doing this graduation paper, I have received many enthusiastic assistances, precious ideas and timely encouragements from my teachers, family and friends This graduation paper would not have been accomplished without the guidance and their support, who in one way or another, contributed and extended their valuable assistance in the preparation and completion of this study First of all, I wish to express my deepest gratitude to my supervisor – Mrs Pham Thuy Giang, M.A - a teacher of English Faculty, for her guidance and encouragement during my study Furthermore, I really appreciate all her help and suggestions on various drafts of the study Without her valuable advice and support, this study could not have been completed on schedule I also would like to take this opportunity to show my sincere thanks to all my teachers of English Faculty, Thuongmai University, who have handed me background knowledge to complete this graduation paper Moreover, I am much obliged to 20 students in English Faculty, Thuongmai University for helping me complete this study In addition, I would like to acknowledge my thanks to all the authors of the books, magazines, and other materials listed in the reference part for their ideas Regardless of my hardest attempt, this report certainly contains numerous mistakes due to the limitation of information resources and other documents as well as the inexperience of the writer in this issue All of the feedbacks and recommendations from readers are warmly welcome and will be considered in order to improve the practicality of this graduation paper TABLES OF CONTENTS DECLARATION i ABSTRACT ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS iii TABLES OF CONTENTS iv LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES vii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS viii CHAPTER 1: OVERVIEW OF THE STUDY 1.1 Rationale 1.2 Previous studies .2 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 .4 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW .6 2.1 Overview of speaking skills 2.1.1 Definition of speaking 2.1.2 Definition of speaking skills 2.1.3 The importance of speaking skills 2.2 Difficulties for students in improving speaking skills 11 2.3 Factors effecting the improvement in speaking skills 12 2.3.1 Language knowledge 12 2.3.2 Cultural background 13 2.3.3 The class atmosphere 14 2.3.4.Students’ motivation and emotions 15 2.3.5 Accent 18 CHAPTER : RESEARCH FINDINGS 20 3.1 Data collection instruments 20 3.1.1 The survey questionnaire 20 3.1.2 The interview 20 3.2 Procedure of data collection 21 3.2.1 The survey questionnaire 21 3.2.2 The interview 21 3.3 Data analysis 22 3.3.1 The interview 23 3.3.2 Results from the questionnaire 23 3.3.3 Results from the interview 33 CHAPTER 4: RECOMMENDATIONS AND SUGGESTIONS .40 4.1 Limitations of the study 40 4.2 Recommendations for suggestions 40 4.3 Recommendations for students 41 4.4 Recommendations for teachers 45 4.5 Recommendations for further studies 49 CONCLUSION 50 REFERENCES 51 APPENDICES SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE 53 INTERVIEW QUESTIONS .57 LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES No Tables and figures Pages Table 3.1 Students’ personal information Chart 3.1 Distribution of 20 student participants by the time they 23 22 have been learning English Chart 3.2 Students in English speaking self-studying Chart 3.3 Students’ difficulties in finding appropriate English 24 25 vocabularies Chart 3.4 Students’difficulties in pronouncing the words in English Chart 3.5 Students’ difficulties in grammar when constructing the 26 27 10 sentences Chart 3.6 Students’ feelings when speaking in public Chart 3.7 Students’ difficulties in English speaking lessons Chart 3.8 Students’ methods to improve English speaking skills Chart 3.9 Suggested methods to improve English speaking skills 28 29 30 31 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS Abbreviatio No n EU TV English meaning European Union Television English as a Foreign EFL Language Vietnamese meaning Liên minh châu Âu Vô tuyến, ti vi Tiếng Anh ngôn ngữ thứ hai CHAPTER 1: OVERVIEW OF THE STUDY 1.1 Rationale Nowadays, English has become a truly global language crossing many international boundaries When it comes to English, people immediately think of it as a part of modern world English is not only used by British and American but also becomes a tool helping people around the world communicate with each other English has become an accepted international language since after World War II One of the reasons for this is that the United States has become more powerful in their politics, economy, technology, and culture Additionally, its language, English, has become the language for international communication The main cause of this is globalization In fact, English is the official language of the EU and becomes the third most-spoken native language in the world after Standard Chinese and Spanish with more than 60 countries and territories Many international businesses conduct meetings in English, universities teach courses in English and tourists use English as a common language around the world Knowing how to use another foreign language besides the mother tongue and having the vocabulary and a wide range of skills especially English speaking skills provide more opportunities for application as well as acquiring a good job There has been an increasing demand of international communication, especially in the business communities where the customers’ national languages are extremely diverse In fact, nowadays, English certification is almost required for office work Thus, students need to improve their communication skills in order to fulfill their ambitious goals Along with the demand of global integration, learning foreign languages for international communication has become more and more vital to Vietnamese students Therefore, English speaking skills is an indispensable course in English language curriculum at tertiary level However, speaking skill is not easy for everyone including students Students not only have to learn grammar or lexical system but they have to improve four skills : listening, speaking, reading and writing Among the four skills, improving speaking is admited as the most difficult by most students Many Vietnamese students face the common problem that although they spent six or seven years studying English at school, they cannot pronounce an English sentence correctly, and they are not confident enough to communicate in the language When the writer was a first-year English Faculty student at Thuongmai University, she faced up with many difficulties in improving speaking skills After meeting other English Faculty students at Thuongmai University, she realized that the students also met many difficulties in how to improve the English speaking skills like her before Therefore, the author decided to conduct a research into“An investigation into difficulties in improving English speaking skills of firstyear students of English Faculty, Thuong Mai University” in order to find out the difficulties of speaking that the students normally get, the reasons for these problems as well as propose the possible solutions to overcome these 1.2 Previous studies We all know that the number of English speakers across the globe has reached 1,5 billion Knowing English increases the chances of getting a good job in a multinational company within in home country or for finding work abroad Therefore, there have been lots of international and domestic studies which have been done recently relating to the learning English as follows : o Backlund, (1990) assigned three areas of knowledge that influence oral communication effectiveness: social knowledge, self-knowledge, and content knowledge If any one of these is weak oral communication will be somewhat impaired In this study, the researcher displayed other problems that hinder oral communication are: dominating theconversation, using inappropriate volume and pitch, using excessive small talk ignoring someone and constantly interrupting people o Previous research on speaking skills among university student was reported by Ihmeideh, Ahmad and Dababneh (2010) and Cleland, they found that a positive communication environment has an major impact on improving speaking and thus, having good skills provides many opportunities for students to be better prepared for their future careers after graduated o In the study “Identify Factors That Negatively Influence: Non-English Major Students’ Speaking Skills” by Dao Thi Thanh Hao (2017)gave factors affecting the efficaciousness of learning speaking skills in Vietnamese higher pronunciation is that it not just a question of acquiring knowledge, it is a physical skill that learners need to practise regularly To improve this skill, the students must maintain their reading and pronunciation with the international phonetics, usual practice and right pronunciation at the beginning stage Many English learners think that speaking fluently means they need to speak fast This is wrong Speaking too fast reinforces bad habits and makes the speakers sound nervous and indecisive Speaking slowly will give them time to breathe properly and think about what they want to say next Because it gives them time to think while they are speaking, they will feel more relaxed and be able to concentrate on making their English sound fantastic Moreover, pronunciation problems persist because students are afraid to make mistakes Therefore, they should create more scenarios to practice such as meeting someone for the first time, ordering at a restaurant, asking for directions, then act out the dialogue by themselves In addition, the writer suggested the students visiting famous destinations in the city they are living to meet and communicate with foreigners This is one of the fastest, most cost-saving and effective ways to help the students enhance their speaking ability in particular and their English level in general As analyzed above, the grammar plays the most important role in the English speaking skill of students in Thuongmai University Without some understanding of grammar, students would not be able to anything more than uttering separate items of language for separate functions Another way to provide students with more opportunities for communicative practice is to give them assignments that require using the target grammar point after the class because grammar is very important for clear communication; bad grammar can distort or even change a sentence or its meaning For instance, if students are practicing the present simple for routines, they might practice the grammar point in class and later, for homework, write a short paragraph about their daily routine If students have cell phones or other devices, they can record themselves producing the target language either with another classmate or on their own For example, students might make interview questions based on the target grammar point and interview a partner, or they might write a script using the target language and record themselves acting it 43 out For students with Internet access, there are numerous possibilities for productive communicative practice Therefore, when they are get used to practicing, they will not find many difficulties in writing and speaking English grammatically It is so because they can understand the pattern of sentences, and the phenomenon of the language Speaking is a productive skill which cannot be separated from listening In the context of communication, we can find people who have their own role whether as a speaker and a listener It is a concept of communication that appeared between one person to another to deliver ideas or share some information about anything toward an event Fluency in English often comes first through being a good listener Therefore, developing listening skills helps students to understand others, build vocabulary and learn grammatical constructions Watching news in English can be difficult at first because newsreaders speak very quickly However, if students watch news broadcasts for 10-15 minutes each day, then they will soon improve their vocabulary and listening skills Newsreaders often repeat the same words and phrases, so this helps them remember new vocabulary and understand further stories better Social media also allows them to watch live streams from popular English language news channels Thus, students can use the search option to find UK or US news channels and watch them free at home It is strongly shown, the relationship between listening and speaking Thus, poor listening practice will lead automatically to a poor speaking competence So, students' inability to produce speech is not only due to their lack of motivation and interest, inability to find suitable words and use grammar correctly to combine them but it derives also from their restricted experience in listening to English, as they listen only to their teacher 's model of speaking and which is not in fact the only model they encounter in their real life situation Hence, students should be aware of the importance of listening to native speakers 'model of speech ( intonation, pitch, fall, facial expressions…), those features which must exist for a successful listening, a good spoken production and an acceptable communication 4.4 Recommendations for teachers 44 There are many types of activities that the teacher can implement to promote the speaking skill in the English as a second language The most outstanding types of such speaking activities are discussions, presentations, dialogues, simulations and role plays, conversations, interviews, speaking games and so on  Teachers’ attitudes The students are likely to be more willing than the average to learn as their teachers are well prepared and enthusiastic about the instruction of spoken grammar aspects and other spoken language elements Other teachers and students, in other circumstances, may not show such readiness and willingness Effective teachers are observant, perceptive and sensitive; they notice changes in their students If students are observant, teachers will notice when a student does something well, when they need help and how they relate to others They may also perceive changes in their students, which might reflect changes in their home circumstances or other issues Involving all requires to notice students on a daily basis, paying particular attention to students who may feel marginalised or unable to participate In addition, be an example to students by treating them all well, regardless of ethnic group, religion or gender Treat all students with respect and make it clear through their teaching that teachers value all students equally are highly recommended Talk to them all respectfully, take account of their opinions when appropriate and encourage them to take responsibility for the classroom by taking on tasks that will benefit everyone Because oral communication is an interactive and social process, teachers should consider the judgment of a student as well as the impressions of other members involved in the communication act such as the audience From the author’s point of view, assessment of oral communication should focus on both conversational and formal language functions Authentic assessment of oral proficiency should take into a careful consideration the ability of students to interpret and convey meaning in interactive, authentic settings A deductive approach often fits into a lesson structure known as PPP (Presentation, Practice, Production) The teacher presents the target language and then gives students the opportunity to practise it through very controlled activities The final stage of the lesson gives the students the opportunity to practise the target 45 language in freer activities which bring in other language elements It is also important to note that using the PPP model does not necessarily exclude using a more inductive approach since some form of learner-centred guided discovery could be built into the presentation stage  Creating creative and practical learning environment Teachers should have flexible approaches so that the students could achieve the best results It is easy to recognize that the students are afraid of speaking with native speakers in particular and foreigners in general, and then they lack of confidence, experience To gain much more effectiveness in training and educating students in English speaking, some of the active teaching methods are also suggested such as active lecturing, problem-based, casestudy, experiential learning, think-pair-share Discussions, or debates, are among the most commonly used activities in the oral skill class Typically, students are introduced to a topic through a reading or listening passage or a videotape, and are asked to get into pairs or groups to discuss a related topic in order to come up with a solution or response Grammar is necessary for good communication, but a communicative classroom entails more than that In first and second languages, creative communication means getting their message across with whatever tools they have at their disposal On a given topic, students can produce ideas in a limited time Depending on the context, either individual or group brainstorming is effective and learners generate ideas quickly and freely The good characteristics of brainstorming is that the students are not criticized for their ideas so students will be open to sharing new ideas On the other hand, teachers should think carefully about how to divide the class into groups or how to make up pairs, taking account of the goal to include all and encourage students to value each other In addition, teachers should ensure that all students have the opportunity to learn from each other and build their confidence in what they know Some students will have the confidence to express their ideas and ask questions in a small group, but not in front of the whole class Presentations, also known as prepared talks, speeches or oral reports, are prepared and more writing-like than conversational However, it is more effective if 46 the students speak from notes rather than a script Giving them enough time to prepare their talks helps them benefit more from doing oral presentations The students may also need a chance to rehearse their presentations This could often be done by getting them to present to each other in pairs or small groups first before they make their speech in front of the entire class In addition, the students who are studying English for academic purposes may need preparation in order to give academic presentations or present conference papers Before practising these skills in class, it may help to discuss the formal features of such genres and identify specific language exponents associated with each stage When a student first steps into a room they will make a judgment about the type of class they are going to be taking They will look to see how desks are arranged They will notice what is hanging on the walls and the way in which a teacher sets up their class allows them to communicate with their students nonverbally It can be structure, resources, color All of these can play a role in determining whether the classroom will be conducive for learning Each may not have a large effect individually, however together they can work to strengthen a student’s ability to learn In addition, teachers can post the rules on the wall so that each student knows exactly what is expected of them and the consequences if they choose not follow them They can also keep resources in a single location that is easily accessible to the students They can have specific files where they turn in work or find missing assignments These all will promote organization among students because the students will now have a model after which to structure things in their own lives Also, it will show the students that teachers cares about detail and will most likely catch the student trying to get away with things that are against the rules Another way to modify the seating arrangement is to organize the desks in a circle around the classroom This will work better with smaller class sizes, but can still be used occasionally in others This strategy works well with promoting public speaking and classroom debate It engages students because they all become one member of the same group They are prone to listen more actively and make more eye contact with the person who is speaking It also allows the person speaking to 47 take more ownership of their ideas.In this model teachers have to make sure to create an environment where students feel invited to share their views without fear of judgment In order to this teachers must make sure that the students know the consequences of inappropriate behavior It is also a good teaching point on how to respect people who have different opinions than their own  Activating students’ knowledge All students need to feel safe and welcome at school Teachers are in a position to make their students feel welcome by encouraging mutually respectful and friendly behaviour from everyone Think about how the school and classroom might appear and feel like to different students Think about where they should be asked to sit and make sure that any students with visual or hearing impairments, or physical disabilities, sit where they can access the lesson From the investigation, one of the great causes for the students in speaking comprehension is their lack of vocabulary It is, therefore necessary for teachers to equip students with certain key words needed for listening skills since lack of vocabulary becomes a great obstacle to them in speaking comprehension, which is also realized by Underwood (1989) and Higgin (1995) However, it is better to activate students’ vocabulary by asking them to guess the meaning of words used in the listening context before explaining the meaning to them, since whenever students are able to relate what they have already known to what they are supposed to listen for, they are likely to speak better or more effectively By teaching grammar teachers not only give students the means to express themselves, but they should also fulfil their expectations of what learning a foreign language involves Fortunately, nowadays with the emphasis on a communicative approach and a wealth of stimulating resources, teaching grammar does not necessarily mean endless conjugation of verbs or grammar translation.In addition, making students aware of the need before teaching the solution will get students thinking about the structure they are currently missing in their grammar-minds They will pay more attention when teachers present the information, and they will have an immediate way to apply what they have learned 4.5 Recommendations for further studies 48 Because of time limitation, this study could not cover all of aspects of the study Besides, the study only focuses on difficulties of first year English major students at Thuongmai University in order to help them improve their speaking skills Moreover, for further studies, to get better results, the researcher should invite more participants and use more data collection methods Together with using survey questionnaires and interviews, observation is also necessary to get more persuasive conclusions All in all, although the study can avoid to the limitation, the research has been completed under the guiding of the supervisor and self-effort Any comments and criticism will be highly appreciated for a better further study 49 CONCLUSION With more than 1.8 billion speakers around the world, English is the most popular language in human history As the world becomes more globalized, having English language skills is no longer an option, it is a must for many job opportunities in the future Moreover, speaking is a very essential skill used for communication It involves a variety of different aspects that make it a complex process This study was conducted to find out difficulties in improving English speaking skills faced by first-year majored students at Faculty of English, Thuongmai University and suggest solutions to improvement Two research instruments were employed in the study including survey questionnaire and interview The research findings show that the first year students in English Faculty of Thuongmai University found it difficult in improving English speaking skills These difficulties includes fear of making mistakes, incorrect pronunciation, lack of understanding of grammatical patterns, limit of vocabulary mastery, minimum opportunities, accent Solutions were also proposed to hep students overcome these difficulties such as This study was hoped to be useful in two sides which are theoretical and practical side Throughout this study, the author tried to consult or examine some of the theoretical aspects that concern foreign language speaking skills For theoretical significance, this study is supposed to provide information about the difficulties in improving English speaking skills faced by first year students at English Faculty, Thuongmai University As a productive skill, speaking has many functions The mastery of speaking skills in English is a priority for many second and foreign language learners because speaking is a communicative skill that has to be mastered to build interaction with other people The researcher has a research in students speaking problem, after analyzing the research findings, the researcher was able to conclude of the problem faced in speaking English daily language program are include These are big effects that occurs by students in speaking English 50 REFERENCES Allen, E D and Valette, R (1997) Classroom Techniques: Foreign Language and English as A Second Language Illinois: Waveland Press Ames c (1992) “Classrooms goals structures and student motivation” Bachman, L., F., & Palmer, A., S (1996) Language testing in practice New York: Oxford University Press Bygate, M (1987) Speaking Oxford: Oxford University Press Davies, E and Pearse, E (2002) Success in English Teaching Shanghai: Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press Ehrman (1996a) Motivation and Strategies questionnaire Modern Language Journal Foster, C D (1976) Teaching and Learning in the Elementary School New York: Macmillan Publishing Co Hao,D.T.T (2007) : Identify Factors That Negatively Influence: NonEnglish Major Students’ Speaking Skills ” Higher Education Research Vol 2, No.2, pp 35-43 Hasan, A (2000) Learners’ perceptions of listening comprehension problems Language, Culture and Curriculum, 13, 137-153 10 Howatt, A P R., & Dakin, J (1974) “Language laboratory materials”, in J P B Allen, & S P Corder (Eds.), Edinburgh Course in Applied Linguistics: Techniques in Applied Linguistics London: Oxford University Press 11 Kramsch (1993) Context and Culture in Language teaching ( Oxford Applied Linguistics ) 12 Krashen, S D and Tracy, D T (1983) The Natural Approach Language Acquisition in The Classroom Hayward: Alemany Press 13 Le, T M., (2011) An investigation into factors that hinder the participation of university students in English speaking lessons University of Languages and Inter- national Studies: Vietnam 14 Littlewood, D.A (2008) (Communicative Language Teaching, Psycholinguistics and Language Teaching Methodology) 15 Nunan, D (1999) Second Language Teaching & Learning An International Thompson Publishing Company, Boston, Massachusetts 02116 USA 16 Richards, J C., (2006) Developing classroom speaking activities: From theory to practice Guidelines RELC-Singapore 28(2): 3-9 51 17 Shumin, K (1997) Factors to Consider: Developing Adult EFL Students' Speaking Abilities English Teaching Forum, 35(3), 18 Tuan, N H., & Mai, T N (2015) Factors Affecting Students' Speaking Performance at LE Thanh Hien High School Asian Journal of Educational Research, 3(2), 8-23 WEBSITES http://luanvan.net.vn/default.aspx https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia https://www.ukessays.com/ http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/ https://www.researchgate.net/publication/334283040_THE_IMPORTANC E_OF_SPEAKING_SKILLS_IN_ENGLISH_CLASSROOMS https://publicwords.com/2012/09/18/the-role-of-emotion-in-publicspeaking/ http://www.scholarpedia.org/article/Speech_emotion_analysis http://thesis.univ-biskra.dz/1696/9/Chapter%20III.pdf https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/teaching-speaking-skills-2overcoming-classroom-problems 52 APPENDICES SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE This survey questionnaire is designed for my graduation paper titled: “An investigation into difficulties in improving English speaking skills of firstyear students in English Faculty, Thuongmai University” To complete these questions, please choose the answers by ticking at the items in a checklist or expressing your idea in the blanks Your assistance in responding the following questions will help me a lot for the study Please answers the question sincerely as only this ensures the success of the study The data collected is used in the research paper only, and not for any commercial purposes Thank you for your cooperation! Please answer the question below Part 1: Personal information Full name: Your gender Part 2: Questions Please circle the answers which are suitable for you Question 1: How long have you been learning English? A years B years C More than years Question 2: What your attitude towards English speaking skills? A Not important B Fairly important C Very important Question 3: How would you rate your speaking skills? A Excellent B Good C Normal 53 D Bad E Very bad Question 4: How often you practice speaking English? A Never B Seldom C Sometimes D Often E Always Question 5: How often you have difficulties in finding appropriate English vocabularies? A Never B Seldom C Sometimes D Often E Always Question How often you have difficulties when pronouncing the words in English? A Never B Seldom C Sometimes D Often E Always Question How often you have difficulties in grammar to construct the sentences you want to say? A Never B Seldom C Sometimes D Often E Always Question How you feel when speaking English in public? (You can tick more than one option) 54 A Feel confident B Feel excited and enthusiastic C Feel uninterested in speaking English D Feel fearful of making mistakes E Feel shy when speaking in front of other people F Others: Question What difficulties you have in English speaking lessons? (You can tick more than one option) A English speaking practice time is limited B There are many students in class, which leads to lack of time and chance for all students to speak English C Some of better students dominate speaking English in class D The arrangement of tables and chairs in class prevents students to join interactive activities E Speaking topics are not really various for you to practice F Others: Question 10: Which is the most difficult factor you have to improve when speaking English? A Vocabulary B Grammar C Pronounciation D Accent Question 11: Which methods have you been using to improve your English speaking skills ? (You can tick more than one option) A Take part in a speaking course at an English Center B Watch US-UK presentation program and repeat C Practice by yourself at home D Practice presenting with friends E Chat with foreigners on street F Others Question 12 Are the methods that you have been using effective ? 55 A Yes B No Question 13 What are some suggestions to improve your English speaking skill? (You can tick more than one option) A Add speaking skill to the entrance examination as a typical requirement B Study the specialized knowledge via books C Communicate with the native speakers D Overcome the psychological barrier E Practice speaking English with friends and teachers F Others INTERVIEW QUESTIONS How you evaluate your English speaking proficiency? What are the difficulties that you face up with when studying English speaking skills? In your opinion, what causes lead to those difficulties? 56 What did you to solve these difficulties? How did they work? In your opinion, how can teachers help their students overcome their difficulties? 57 ... that this minor thesis entitled ? ?An investigation into difficulties in improving English speaking skills of first-year students in English Faculty, Thuong Mai University? ?? is the result of my own... the English speaking skills like her before Therefore, the author decided to conduct a research into? ? ?An investigation into difficulties in improving English speaking skills of firstyear students. .. some information of difficulties in improving speaking skills of first year students in Thuongmai University The last section presents factors effecting the improvement of speaking skills which includes