1.1.4.1. Pronunciation:
It is said that English is an important part in this modern life. It becomes more and more popular. That is the reason why many people choose English to study as a second language or foreign language. However, English phonetics is not easy to study.
Therefore, the students often get difficulties in pronouncing the words in English
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correctly. It means that they have to practice as much as possible to improve their pronunciation. The statistic about students’ pronunciation is showed in the table below:
Statements Strongly
agree Agree No
idea Disagree Strongly disagree 1. Pronunciation plays an important role in
communication. 41.16% 58.84% 0% 0% 0%
2. The features of pronunciation can cause
confusion. 2.94% 85.3% 11.76% 0% 0%
3. The sounds which are produced peculiarly and the rising and falling of the voice in unexpected places in sentences will change the meaning of sentences.
29.4% 55.9% 11.76% 2.94% 0%
Table 3: The results of statements about students’ pronunciation
Basing on the result of table 3, all of participants thought “pronunciation plays an important role in communication”. One of the causes of these choices lies in the next 2 statements. More than three-fourths of the respondents (85.3% agreed and 2.94%
strongly agreed) reported that the features of pronunciation could cause confusion; the number of people having no comments was 11.76% (4/34). That was the reason why all of them totally agreed with statement 1. Furthermore, they also thought that the pronouncing of the sounds had the effects on their speaking ability. Let’s take a look at the following figure to see the percentage of statements 3.
Figure 6: Participants’ problem in producing sounds 29.40%
55.90% 11.76% 2.94% Strongly agree
Agree No idea Disagree
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Referring to figure 6, 30 students in English class course 7 thought “the meaning of the sentences will be changed if the sounds which are produced peculiarly and the rising and falling of the voice in unexpected place”. This rate of 55.9% choosing agrees performed half of the participants in the total of 34 taking part in the questionnaire.
There were 29.4% of participants who chose “strongly agree”. The figure of students choosing “no idea” was 11.76% and “disagree” was only 2.94%.
1.1.4.2. Vocabulary:
From the finding of table 4, to convey messages or ideas, vocabulary is always required in speaking English. If students have enough vocabulary knowledge in English to use in speaking, their conversation obviously will be effective and more interesting. Therefore, almost participants agreed (44.1%) and strongly agreed (47.08%); and only 8.82% of participants gave no comment when they were asked to give their own opinions about “vocabulary is very important when learning a language.” Moreover, the conversation cannot happen well and the listeners may not understand what the speaker would like to mention. From that, choosing the word carefully is important when people would like to say something in front of the audiences. At this point, 70.6% of students agreed with the statement. 14.7% of students chose both “strongly agree” and “no idea” in statement 5. Additionally, all the students in English 7 class realized the important role of vocabulary. They thought that vocabulary was an instrument to help them convey and perceive message with the remarkable rate of 100% of “agree” and “strongly agree” selection. The table in the next page provides an overview of the participants’ vocabulary knowledge.
Statements Strongly
agree Agree No
idea Disagree Strongly disagree 4. Vocabulary is very important when
learning a language. 47.08% 44.1% 8.82% 0% 0%
31 5. Choosing the words carefully is very important when you would like to say something in front of the audiences.
14.7% 70.6% 14.7% 0% 0%
6. Vocabulary is an instrument to help you
to convey and perceive messages. 17.64% 82.36% 0% 0% 0%
Table 4: Participants’ vocabulary knowledge
1.1.4.3. Grammatical structures:
Grammar plays an important role to people who start to learn a new language, particularly English. It is also set as the key in speaking English. In fact, if students can master English grammar well, it will be easier for them to be able to utter right sentences. However, it may create the obstacles if students lack English grammar knowledge when speaking English. To know about students’ focusing in grammar, the scales of 5-degree was used (see table 5 and figure 7).
Statements Strongly
agree Agree No
idea Disagree Strongly disagree 7. Using right grammatical structures is
important when you want to speak from the simple sentences to the complex ones.
8.82% 61.78% 29.4% 0% 0%
8. Improving grammar helps you know how to use grammar structures exactly in speaking English.
14.7% 67.66% 17.64% 0% 0%
9. With great grammar knowledge, you would avoid using wrong grammatical functions to have appropriate sentences in speaking.
14.7% 61.78% 23.52% 0% 0%
Table 5: Participants’ attitude toward English grammar in speaking English
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Figure 7: Participants’ attitude toward English grammar in speaking English From the statistic in table and figure 6, it shows that many students had a great focus on using right grammatical points in speaking English. In reality, there was more than 60% (statement 7: 61.78%%, statement 8: 67.66%, statement 9: 61.78%) of students who agreed with the 3 previous statements. 8.82% of students strongly agreed in statement 7 and 14.7% agreed for both statement 8 and statement 9. However, some students still gave no comment on these statements (statement 7: 29.4%, statement 8:
17.64%, statement 9: 23.52%).
1.1.4.4. Accent and interpretation:
Accent and interpretation are the parts of pronunciation in speaking English. The students should know which syllable is stressed on a word and which word is stressed on one sentence so that the listeners can follow what they say easily and understandably. That is the reason why students should speak English with accent and interpretation. Here is the table illustrating students’ thinking about accent and interpretation in speaking.
0.00%
10.00%
20.00%
30.00%
40.00%
50.00%
60.00%
70.00%
Statement 7 Statement 8 Statement 9 8.82%
14.70% 14.70%
61.78%
67.66%
61.78%
29.40%
17.64%
23.52%
Series 1 Series 2 Series 3
33 Statements
Strongly
agree Agree No
idea Disagree Strongly disagree 10. Accent and interpretation are the two
important elements in speaking skill. 8.82% 61.78% 29.4% 0% 0%
11. The possessing of both good accent and good interpretation, even the native’s or near-native’s accent, creates the ease in communicating, expressing ideas and meaning.
8.82% 76.48% 14.7% 0% 0%
Table 6: Participants’ thinking about accent and interpretation
When being asked “accent and interpretation are the two important elements in speaking skill”, 61.78% of students confirmed that they agreed. 8.82% of students had the strongly comment with this statement; and 29.4% of students gave no comment. On one hand, accent and interpretation are both important elements in speaking English, so the possessing of both good accent and good interpretation, even the native’s or near-native’s accent, creates the ease in communicating, expressing ideas and meaning.
Indeed, in statement 11, 76.48% of students said that they thought it was very useful when speaking English and 8.82% of students choosing “strongly agree”. The respondents giving no opinions occupied 14.7% of students.
1.1.4.5. Confidence:
Confidence is the factor playing an important role in learning foreign languages; it will help learners improve their language abilities. In specific words, confidence will improve learners’ speaking skill because they need to point out their own thinking to express their ideas. Moreover, they have to make some questions to their teachers, friends and colleagues to develop their ideas. The following table will show the thinking of students about this part.
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Statements Strongly
agree Agree No
idea Disagree Strongly disagree 12. Confidence will influence your
speaking skill because you need to point out your own words to express your ideas.
29.4% 64.72% 5.88% 0% 0%
13. Speaking loudly and fluently when communicating creates the confidence in communication.
23.52% 52.96% 20.58% 2.94% 0%
Table 7: Participants’ feeling about confidence in speaking English
Basing on the table, 64.72% of students agreed with the statement “confidence will influence your speaking skill because you need to point out your own words to express your ideas”; 29.4% of students chose “strongly agree” and only 5.88% of students gave no opinion. Furthermore, the quantity of students who thought “speaking loudly and fluently when communicating creates the confidence in communication” took 76.48%
(52.96% agreed and 23.52% strongly agreed) of students. There were only 2.94% of students giving opposite idea and 20.58% of students giving no comment.
1.1.4.6. Environment:
When learning a new language, practicing environment needs to be greatly focused.
They should find a suitable place to practice what they learnt so that they could know which aspects they were not good. From that, they can avoid making mistakes; even get experience to solve the problems. Let’s take a look at this figure below to see what environment affects students’ concentration in speaking English.
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Figure 8: Participants’ thinking about the effects of environment
Glimpsing the figure, the highest rate was “agree”, equivalent to 18 (52.96%) students.
Next, the numbers of students gave “strongly agree” opinion was 2 students, with the rate of 5.88%. In this statement, nearly 40% of student gave no ideas. It showed they did not have a great focus on the environment in practice speaking English. However, on the remarkable contrast, there were only 2 students who stated that the environment did not influence at all.