An investigation on difficulties in speaking english of students in grade 7 at saigon connection english th center

Untitled THU DAU MOT UNIVERSITY FACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES GRADUATE PAPER TITLE AN INVESTIGATION ON DIFFICULTIES IN SPEAKING ENGLISH OF STUDENTS IN GRADE 7 AT SAIGON CONNECTION ENGLISH TH CENTER Stu[.]

THU DAU MOT UNIVERSITY FACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES

Binh Duong, November 2020

THU DAU MOT UNIVERSITY FACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES

GRADUATE PAPER

TITLE:

AN INVESTIGATION ON DIFFICULTIES IN SPEAKING ENGLISH

OF STUDENTS IN GRADE 7 TH AT SAIGON CONNECTION

ENGLISH CENTER

Student name: Nguyen Cao Hong Hanh

Student code: 1722202010074 Class: D17AVGD01

Course: 2017-2021 Major: English for Teaching Lecturer: Ms Nguyen Ngoc Thao, MA

Binh Duong, November 2020

STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP

Student full name: Nguyen Cao Hong Hanh

Student ID: 1722201020074

Title paper: An investigation on difficulties in speaking English of students in

grade 7th at Saigon Connection English Center

I hereby confirm that I am the sole author of the paper presented Where the work of others has been consulted, this is duly acknowledged in the paper’s bibliography I have also not consulted any other unnamed online sources All verbatim or referential use of the sources named in the bibliography has been specifically indicated in the text

Binh Duong, November 2020

NGUYEN CAO HONG HANH

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

To all teachers at the Thu Dau Mot University,

To be able to finish my reports, I am received the enthusiastic support from many people It would be remiss of me to not send my gratitude to those who care, help and guidance me until now

First of all, I would like to thank all of lecturers in Thu Dau Mot University for providing me much knowledge and skills in English area via subjects in the education program Four years is the period of courses which are helpful to apply important experiences to prepare for my life after graduation

Next, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my teacher’s guidance, Ms Nguyen Thanh Thao, who transfers of precious experience, teaches and supports

me a lot during this work

Many people, especially my classmates have made valuable comment suggestions on my paper which gave me an inspiration to improve the quality of the assignment

Again, I sincerely thank everyone who has helped me during this time!

ABSTRACT

In the era of modernization nowadays, the question whether English has become a pivotal part of human, especially on students provoke a controversy Some people hold the view that it is considered as a beneficial approach for students to boost their career prospect English is taught in all universities in Vietnam Speaking plays an important part in language teaching and learning There are many factor influences on speaking skills There are many activities that are being done to help the learning overcome the difficulties but still limited Research to explore the speaking difficulties of 7th graders at SaiGon Connection English Center Furthermore, research aims to uncover the causes of those difficulties The researcher uses exercise methodology to identify and measure 7th graders' speech difficulties at SaiGon Connection English Center Study designer questionnaire for application on sample research Such questions will be suggested to each student to check for speaking difficulties and the staffing of those difficulties The results show that there are a number of reasons why students have difficulty in speaking for reasons such as inhibition, nothing

to say, low or uneven participation, and mother-tongue use Researchers have adopted some of the most important recommendations, which is to establish an appropriate set of supports and encourage students to speak English regularly This report is an attempt to find out the factors for 7th graders difficulty speaking

at SaiGon Connection English Center

1.1 BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY

1.2 PURPOSES OF THE STUDY

1.3 RESEARCH QUESTIONS

1.4 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW

3.4.1 Identification

3.4.2 Classification

3.4.3 Description

3.4.4 Explanation

CHAPTER 4 RESULT AND DISCUSSION

4.1 THE MAIN SPEAKING DIFFICULTIES ENCOUNTERED BY GRADE

7 STUDENTS

4.2.1 Inhibition

4.2.2 Mother tongue use

4.2.3 Language’s difficulties

4.2.4 The knowledge of the topics

4.3 FACTORS THAT CONTRIBUTE TO THE EXISTENCE OF THESE DIFFICULTIES

4.3.1 The limit of time

4.3.2 Teaching strategies

4.3.3 Outdoor activities

4.3.4 Curriculums

CHAPTER 5 CONCLUSION

5.1 SUMMARY OF THE KEY FINDINGS

5.2 LIMITATIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

5.3 CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTIONS

REFERENCES

APPENDIX

LIST OF TABLE

Table 1: The teachers’ opinions about difficulties in teaching speaking

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1: The students’ difficulties in speaking

CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

1.1 BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY

Language plays an important role in human life As the interface's approach, language is meant to be important in presenting opinions to others Everyone can reveal their information and how they feel using language The reality is that humans are inseparable from life, language, and communication Speaking is the best way to communicate

English is a necessary language which is used as an aspect of communication all over the world It appears in business, economy, media, travelling, communicate activities, etc Learning English is the best way to help us in the future That is the reason why we choose and follow learning English English is a compulsory subject learned by students from elementary to university Speaking, listening, reading and writing skills must be learned to get a foreign language

Speaking is one of the most important skills that needs to be developed and improved as an effective means of communication Speaking English allows people to send and receive information to others Speaking English is not easy for students, because in order to speak fluently and understand well, students must learn seriously, they must learn about Vocabulary, Pronunciation, and Grammar and they must have willingness

Obviously, it is necessary to develop communication skills English oral communication skills are part of this skill set, and thus, students should be supported to gain these skills Learners of English at SaiGon Connection English Center often do not have opportunities to speak English outside the classroom, and for many of them, the course book is the only place where they have chance

to learn English Although speaking is considered a main language skill that students should improve, it has been widely noticed that they face many difficulties in speaking English

1.2 PURPOSES OF THE STUDY

The study is aimed to find out the factors which students in grade 7 faced to and thlead to the difficulties in speaking

1.3 RESEARCH QUESTIONS

To achieve the aims mentioned above, the research question designed are:

Research question 1 What are the main speaking difficulties encountered by grade 7 students in SaiGon Connection English Center?

Research question 2 What are the factors that contribute to the existence of these speaking difficulties?

1.5 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

This study aims to find out the factors that difficult for 7th graders to speak English, while also showing the factors contribute to the existence of these difficulties at SaiGon Connection English Center It also aims to find out the main factors that contribute to the existence of these factors The results of this study may assist the curriculum organizers as well as the teachers at the center, understand why students find it difficult when speaking English Therefore, their curriculum need to be changed to improve the students' speaking skills more effectively

The focus of teaching speaking, of course, is to improve the oral production of the students Therefore, language teaching activities in the classroom should aim

at maximizing individual language use (Haozhang, 1997) [10]

In the past, oral communication instruction was neglected because of the misconception that oral communication competence develops naturally over time and that the cognitive skills involved in writing automatically transfer to analogous oral communication skills (Chaney,1998) [6]

2.2 THE IMPORTANCE OF SPEAKING

English speaking skills are very important in communication as well as learning English because the most effective way of communication is through words Students strongly agree that speaking English is an important part of learning English They are aware of the fact that speaking is an essential skill that needs

to be practiced on a regular basis Speaking skills help us to communicate more successfully and confidently They also help others avoid misunderstanding what the other is saying

Efrizal (2012) & Pourhosein Gilakjani (2016) expressed that speaking is of great significance for the people interaction where they speak everywhere and every day[8] Speaking is the way of communicating ideas and messages orally If we

want to encourage students to communicate in English, we should use the language in real communication and ask them to do the same process

The significant of speaking is indicated with the integration of other language skills It supports learners develop their vocabulary and grammar skills and then improve their writing skills Learners can express their feelings and ideas; tell stories; request; talk, discuss and demonstrate the different functions of the language Speaking has importance outside of the classroom Therefore, language speakers have more opportunities to find jobs in different organizations and companies These statements have been supported by Baker and Westrup (2003) who said that learners who speak English very well can have greater chance for better education, finding good jobs, and getting promotion [3]

When learners learn English, speaking is important to support their ability to apply the language Speaking skill is extremely important to human success The importance of speaking skills is observed in human daily activities Talking is an interactive activity and it happens under real-time constraints That is, people can use words and phrases fluently without thinking much Speaking skill enables individuals to produce sentences for the real communication, in other words they actually like to communicate in language to get specific objectives (McDonough

& Shaw, 1993) [14]

2.3 TEACHING OF SPEAKING

The focus of speaking is aimed to improving students' speaking skills Therefore, language teaching activities in the classroom should aim at maximizing individual language use (Haozhang, 1997) [10] In the past, oral communication instruction was neglected because of the misconception that oral communication competence develops naturally over time and that the cognitive skills involved in writing automatically transfer to analogous oral communication skills (Chaney,1998) [6]

Moreover, Ur (1996) considered speaking as the most important skill among four skills (listening, speaking, reading, and writing) because people who know a language are referred to as speakers of that language [17] This indicates that using a language is more important than just knowing about it because there is

no point knowing a lot about language if you can’t use it (Scrivener, 2005.p.146) [16]

2.3 FACTORS THAT CAUSE SPEAKING DIFFICULTIES TO LEARNERS Zhang (2009) said that speaking is the most difficult skill to master for most English learners, and they still do not have the capacity to communicate in English [18] According to Ur (1996), there are many factors that cause difficulty

in speaking: inhibition, lack of knowledge, low or uneven participation and mother-tongue use.[17]

2.3.1 Inhibition

The first problem is inhibition When students try to say things in a foreign language in the classroom they are often inhibited They are worried about making mistakes or simply shy Littlewood (2007) asserts that a foreign language classroom to can create inhibitions and anxiety easily [13]

2.3.2 Lack of knowledge

This problem maybe depends on what the topics that teachers give to students If

it does not suitable to the students, they will unable to do that, then students have

no motive to express themselves Motivation is a key to students’ learning success It is difficult for many students to respond when the teachers ask them

to say something in a foreign language because they might have little ideas about what to say, which vocabulary to use, or how to use the grammar correctly (Baker & Westrup, 2003) [3]

2.3.3 Low or uneven participation

Only one participant can talk at a time because of large classes and the tendency

of some learners to dominate, while others speak very little or not at all

2.3.4 Mother-tongue use

The last problem is mother-tongue use Learners may be affected by different regional languages, leading to the result that difficult to pronounce certain words correctly According to Harmer (1991), there are a number of reasons why learners use their native language in their speaking classes The first reason is that when their learners are asked to talk about a topic they do not have enough knowledge of, they will try to use their language The second reason is that the

use of mother tongue is a natural thing for the learners to do If the teachers do not urge them to speak in English, they will automatically use their first language

to explain something to classmates [11]

In addition, Rababa’ah (2005) indicated that there are many factors that cause difficulties in speaking English among learners Some of these elements are related to the learners teaching strategy, teaching curriculum and the environment Example, many learners lack the vocabulary needed to understand their meaning, and as such, they cannot keep interacting Competency strategy and overall capacity interface possible There is also another working suite that cannot sustain interaction [15]

Teaching strategies also contribute to this problem because they are incomplete and inconsistent emphasis on speaking leads to meager development of this skill Besides, vocabulary is taught separately and the listening material is not used by the majority of teachers because the number of teachers is too large compared to the number of cassettes available Teacher training programs have not been very successful in changing teachers’ methodology (Rababa’ah, 2005).[15]

Littlewood (1981) suggested that some teachers use native language to manage classrooms However, this could be another factor contributing to the problem This is because using native language means sacrificing valuable opportunities to use well-motivated foreign In addition, it tends to devalue a foreign language as

a means of communication Learners view it as being allocated for unnecessary communication areas such as exercises or dialogue practice, while the first language remains the appropriate means of discussing important immediate issues Another major reason for other teachers to use native language is vocabulary and grammar Although their attitudes do not agree with native language, this is not reflected in their practice [12]

CHAPTER 3

METHODOLOGY

This study was designed to address the following 2 main questions:

1 What are the main speaking difficulties encountered by grade 7 students in SaiGon Connection English Center?

2 What are the factors that contribute to the existence of these speaking difficulties?

 Interviews: Asking open-ended questions verbally to respondents

 Focus groups: Discussion among a group of people about a topic to gather opinions that can be used on further research

 Ethnography: Participating in a community or organization for an extended period of time to closely observe culture and behavior

 Literature reviews: Survey of published works by other authors

3.1.2 Quantitative method

Quantitative research is expressed in numbers and graphs It is used to test or confirm theories and assumptions This type of research can be used to establish generalizable facts about a topic Common quantitative methods include experiments, observations recorded as numbers, and surveys with closed-ended questions There are three quantitative data collection methods such as: