Difficulties facing vnuas first year english majored students in speaking 2 lessons

BA THESIS DIFFICULTIES FACING VNUA'S FIRST-YEAR ENGLISH-MAJORED STUDENTS IN SPEAKING 2 LESSONS NHỮNG KHÓ KHĂN CỦA SINH VIÊN NĂM NHẤT CHUYÊN NGÀNH NGÔN NGỮ ANH TẠI VNUA TRONG CÁC GIỜ HỌ

BA THESIS

DIFFICULTIES FACING VNUA'S FIRST-YEAR ENGLISH-MAJORED STUDENTS IN SPEAKING 2

LESSONS NHỮNG KHÓ KHĂN CỦA SINH VIÊN NĂM NHẤT CHUYÊN NGÀNH NGÔN NGỮ ANH TẠI VNUA

TRONG CÁC GIỜ HỌC NÓI 2

Student : TRINH THI DIU Student code : 621213

Supervisor : NGUYEN THI LAN ANH, M.A

BA THESIS

DIFFICULTIES FACING VNUA'S FIRST-YEAR ENGLISH-MAJORED STUDENTS IN SPEAKING 2

LESSONS NHỮNG KHÓ KHĂN CỦA SINH VIÊN NĂM NHẤT CHUYÊN NGÀNH NGÔN NGỮ ANH TẠI VNUA

TRONG CÁC GIỜ HỌC NÓI 2

Student : TRINH THI DIU Student code : 621213

Supervisor : NGUYEN THI LAN ANH, M.A

CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY

I, the undersigned, hereby certify my authority of the study project report entitled “ Difficulties facing VNUA’s first-year English-majored students in speaking 2 lessons” submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Bachelor in English Language Except where the reference is indicated, no other person’s work has been used without due acknowledgement

in the text of the thesis

Hanoi, July 2021

Trinh Thi Diu

Approved by SUPERVISOR

(Signature and full name)

Date:………

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

In the process of completing this graduation paper, I have received many

necessary assistances, precious ideas and timely encouragements from my teachers, family and friends

I would like to express my sincere thanks to my supervisor Nguyen Thi Lan Anh, M.A for her precious advice, practical suggestions and constant encouragement in the preparation and completion of this graduation paper Without her help this graduation paper would not have possibly been completed

I would also like to express my great gratitude to all the teachers at Vietnam National University of Agriculture for their devoted teaching and for giving me gain valuable knowledge during the four years at this university

I would be also grateful to the teachers and K65 first-year students at the Faculty of Education and Foreign Languages, Department of Professional English was helpful and happy to answer my interview and fill out my questionnaire

Finally, I wish to extend my special thanks to my family and my friends for their assistance and encouragement in the making of this graduation paper Due to the limited scope and time, errors are inevitable in this BA thesis Therefore, I look forward to receiving your comments and suggestions to further improve the graduation paper

Sincerely thanks!

TABLE OF CONTENTS

CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ii

ABSTRACT v

LIST OF ABBREVIATION vi

LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES vii

PART 1: INTRODUCTION 1

1 RATIONALE FOR THE STUDY 1

2 AIMS AND OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY 1

3 RESEARCH QUESTIONS 2

4 SCOPE OF THE STUDY 2

5 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY 3

6 DESIGN OF THE STUDY 3

PART 2: DEVELOPMENT 5

CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 5

1.1 REVIEW OF THE PREVIOUS STUDIES (AT HOME & ABROAD) 5

1.1.1 At home research 5

1.1.2 Abroad research 6

1.2 REVIEW OF THEORETICAL BACKGROUND 7

1.2.1 Definition of English speaking skill 7

1.2.2 The importance of speaking skill 8

1.2.3 Characteristics of speaking skill 11

1.2.4 What a good speaker does 14

1.2.5 Factors affecting speaking skill 15

1.2.6 Conclusion 16

1.3 SUMMARY 17

CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY 18

2.2 RESEARCH SETTING 19

2.3 DATA COLLECTION 20

2.3.1 Data collecting instruments 20

2.3.2 Data collecting procedures 20

2.4 DATA ANALYSIS 21

2.5 SUMMARY 22

CHAPTER 3: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 23

3.1 FINDING & DISCUSSION ON RESULTS FROM QUESTIONNAIRE 23

3.1.1 Finding 23

3.1.2 Discussion 29

3.2 FINDING & DISCUSSION ON RESULTS FROM THE INTERVIEW 31

3.2.1 Finding 31

3.2.2 Discussion 34

3.3 SUGGESTIONS ON IMPROVING THE STUDENTS’ ENGLISH SPEAKING PERFORMANCE 35

3.4 SUMMARY 39

PART 3: CONCLUSION 40

1 RECAPITULATION 40

2 CONCLUDING REMARKS 41

3 LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY 42

4 SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER STUDIES 42

REFERENCES 43

APPENDICES 45

ABSTRACT Speaking skills are often identified as an important, essential skill of the

process of learning a foreign language in general and English in particular It is used largely as the medium of communication in many different fields such as science, technology, aviation, international sport and diplomacy, etc English helps people to communicate with each other although they are from different countries and speak different languages Most language learners find it difficult

to express themselves in spoken language They are generally facing problems using a foreign language to express their thoughts effectively This study aims to find out the difficulties of the first-year English-majored at the Vietnam National University of Agriculture in speaking 2 lessons, then find out the causes and give suggestions to improve the performance of their speaking English

This study will analyze the characteristics of speaking skills; the difficulties facing English learners in Speaking 2 at VNUA, the causes and suggestions on improving English students’ speaking performance An online survey questionnaire was conducted to answer the research question: “What are the difficulties met by the first-year English-majored students when they learn speaking skills at VNUA? “60 students completed the online survey questionnaire Then an interview with 5 students to find out specific difficulties and causes in speaking skills Preliminary results show that the main cause is linguistic and non-verbal problems Based on the research results, the researcher has given some suggestions to faculty and students about classroom activities and extracurricularto develop their English speaking skills The study hopes that these suggestions will help first-year English-majored in particular and English learners in general become aware of the right ways to speak English fluently

LIST OF ABBREVIATION

VNUA: Vietnam National University of Agriculture

TMU: Thuongmai University

EFL: English as a Foreign Language

LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES Table 3.1.1 Difficulties facing the first-year English-majored students in

learning English speaking from their own perspective ( Page 23 )

Table 3.1.2 An assessment of the language difficulties of first-year English-

majored students at VNUA ( Page 24 )

Table 3.1.3 An assessment of the psychological difficulties of first-year

English- majored students at VNUA ( Page 25 )

Table 3.1.4 An assessment of learning methods difficulties of first-year

English- majored students at VNUA ( Page 26 )

Chart 3.1.1 Difficulties facing the first-year English-majored students in

learning English speaking ( Page 28 )

PART 1: INTRODUCTION

1 RATIONALE FOR THE STUDY

Nowadays, speaking is one of the most important skills to be developed and enhanced in daily lives Speaking skill is the ability to express verbally Speaking skill is different from other skills such as Reading, Writing, Listening

in that it is a combination of many factors to make a speech Speaking skill is a special form of human skill; it is not what’s genetic and not congenital It is regarded as one of the most difficult aspects of language learning Most language learners find it difficult to express themselves in spoken language They are generally facing problems using a foreign language to express their thoughts effectively Speaking skill is formed and developed in the process of communication, there are many ways to express the language to be expressed For ordinary people, the speaker uses words to express their ideas and aspirations; for people with language impairments, they will use body language such as limbs, eyes… to express their ideas

After studying at the Faculty of Education and Foreign Languages, Viet Nam National University of Agriculture for nearly four years, I realize that the first-year students of English major still have many difficulties in their speaking skills In the hope of finding out the difficulties of speaking that they normally

get, a study entitled: “ Difficulties facing VNUA’s first-year English-majored

students in speaking 2 lessons” has been conducted because of all the

above-mentioned reasons

2 AIMS AND OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

The study is aimed to survey and research the difficulties faced by year English-majored at VNUA From there, find out the causes and suggestions

first-to help students overcome their English speaking skills Within my reach of understanding, I would only like to go through the Literature Review of

speaking, the common strategies to improve the students’ English speaking skills, then I would like to give the methodology of the study research

The objectives focusing on survey and interview to find out the difficulties that first-year students English-majored face in Speaking 2 (Data processing and analysis) Find out the causes of the difficulties that students are facing Propose suggestions to improve students' difficulties in Speaking 2 lessons

3 RESEARCH QUESTIONS

The basic research questions for the study are:

(1) What are the difficulties facing the first-year English-majored students when they learn speaking skills at VNUA?

(2) What are the causes behind those difficulties?

(3) What are some suggestions to improve their English speaking skill?

4 SCOPE OF THE STUDY

The study is about learning speaking skills for first-year English-majored students at VNUA and focused on 4 classes K65ENGA, K65ENGB, K65ENGC and K65ENGE taught by Ha Thi Lan, M.A Speaking 2 is learned by

"Cambridge English Preliminary" syllabus in two credits for eight weeks of theory and three weeks of practice from 8th March to 16th May 2021 ( from two or three periods a week, fifty minutes each period Specifically, classes K65ENGA, C, E study theory for 8 weeks, 3 periods per week As for the K65ENGB class, there are 6 weeks of theory, 2 lessons per week, 2 periods each lesson All classes have 3 weeks of practice, 5 periods per week)

5 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

In finding out the difficulties of first-year English-majored students in learning speaking English and some suggested solutions, hopefully the research results will be used as a reference to help students learn better speaking skills in the next semesters In addition, the results of this study is very important significance, it not only pinpoints problems students have in speaking English but also indicates the weaknesses students have in the four macro skills of English Therefore, the methods and suggestions of this study can address students' difficulties in order to improve their English speaking skills I also hope that the findings of the research will really be necessary knowledge that helps me to understand more about English to improve my English language skills

6 DESIGN OF THE STUDY

Apart from abstract, references & appendices, the study consists of three main parts:

PART 1 - INTRODUCTION presents the rationale of the study, aims and objectives of the study, research questions, the scope as well as the significance

of the study

PART 2 - DEVELOPMENT is divided into 3 chapters:

Chapter 1 - LITERATURE REVIEW – Review of the previous studies (At home & abroad) & Review of theoretical background for the study including definitions of English Speaking skills, the importance of Speaking skills, characteristics of Speaking skills and what a good speaker does

Chapter 2 – METHODOLOGY describes the methodology used in the research including research methodology, research setting, data collection, data analysis

Chapter 3 - FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS - reports and discusses the findings of the study

PART 3 - CONCLUSION summarizes the main issues that have been addressed

in the study, points out the limitations, draws pedagogical implications concerning the research topic and suggests several solutions

PART 2: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW

1.1 REVIEW OF THE PREVIOUS STUDIES (AT HOME & ABROAD)

1.1.1 At home research

Trinh Thi Tuyet (2019) carried out a study "Difficulties in English Speaking Skill of Thuongmai University 's first-year English-majored and Solutions" would provide background about English and English speaking The paper also indicates some problems and difficulties that English learners have to encounter when speaking English Based on given theories and previously relate studies, the paper conducts a survey and makes a questionnaire to interview first-year English-majored After data collection process, the study analyzes and indicates the importance of English speaking to first-year students Besides, the actual English speaking level of first-year is shown in this paper as well The study shows the frequency of learning English speaking of first-year and the main way that most of freshmen apply when they practice speaking English Afterwards, the study shows the advantages and disadvantages in their leaming ways and finds out some main difficulties and problems they face to Then, to each difficulty and problem, the paper provides some solutions to deal with, solutions for students and for TMU as well The study hopes that these solutions would help first-year students in particular and English learners in general aware

of the suitable ways to master English speaking

A study on techniques to improve speaking skills for secondary students in Quang Ninh by Pham Thi Huyen Huong aims at outlining the definitions of speaking skills and the characteristics of teaching speaking skills, the difficulties teachers cope with when teaching speaking skills Pointing out some techniques which can be used to teach speaking skills for Secondary students in Quang

Ninh Implementing the survey questionnaires to the teachers at Cam Son Secondary school to explore the real situation of teaching English-speaking skills in Secondary students in Quang Ninh Suggesting some effective activities used to teach speaking to secondary students at Secondary school to encourage them to speak

1.1.2 Abroad research

Eissa, Misbah, and Najat (1988) performed a study towards the difficulties

of using English as a means of instruction and communication The results of this study displayed that learners had many difficulties in using English language as a means of instruction A lot of participants stated that their learners have low English proficiency The results also indicated that a lot of learners faced serious difficulties in understanding the lectures’ content without translating or applying first language to deliver the content of the lectures

In Mustafa Mubarak Pathan (2014) research study about " An Overview of Major Difficulties Faced by the Libyan EFL Learners in Speaking Skill", He pointed out several causes of difficulty in practicing speaking skills, such as pronunciation, the use of adjectives, the use of prepositions, the use of idioms, grammatical errors, semantic errors, other problems ( lack of vocabulary, fear/embarrassment while communicating, lack of interest and motivation, lack

of practice, lack of environment for practice, ), influenced by mother tongue

He gave the reasons for the above reasons: "Their failure to recognize this is primarily because of the failure on the part of their teachers to make them understand this fact at the very early stage of their learning And this failure on the part of the teachers is because of the fact that most of the EFL school teachers in Libya are neither trained properly for this reason nor are their skills upgraded."

Ali Dincer and Savas Yesilyurt (2013) carried out a study towards teachers’ beliefs on speaking skills based on motivational orientations The results of their study indicated that the teachers had negative opinions about speaking instruction though they believed that it was of great significance in speaking skills The results also revealed that the teachers felt unskilled in oral communication though they had various motivational orientations towards speaking English The researchers indicated that those learners have different opinions about the significance of speaking skills in English language and this difference is related to the learners’ motivational orientations and their competent/incompetent feelings in speaking skills The results demonstrated that learners’ self-assessment about their speaking skills was negative and they expressed themselves as incapable speakers of English Just some of them expressed that they had a good position in taking part in speaking tasks

1.2 REVIEW OF THEORETICAL BACKGROUND

1.2.1 Definition of English speaking skill

Speaking skills are the ability to express verbally Speaking skills are different from other skills such as reading, writing, listening in that it is a combination of many to make a speech Speaking skills are formed and developed in the process of communication, the learning mastery and implementation of various communication behaviors Speaking skills are considered as the external manifestation of capacity, wisdom (Platonov, 1963 ) Speaking is an act of making vocal sounds We can say that speaking means to converse, or expressing one's thoughts and feelings

in spoken language To speak often implies conveying information Speaking skills are the skills that give us the ability to communicate effectively (Hopkins, David 1993)

Speaking is regarded as very important for language teaching and learning Speaking is a bridge to reach other skills It helps leamers to read better, to listen more effectively and to write more accurately Speaking is surely the most effective means of communication (Ur, 1996)

Mai Thanh Thu (2008) carried out researched on some difficulties which students faced in speaking She also stated that: It is often spontaneous, open ended and evolving However, speech is not always unpredictable Language functions that tent to recur in certain discourse situations (declining and invitation, requesting time off from work) can be identified and charted Speaking requires not only that learners know how to produce specific points of lanzuage, such as grammar, pronunciation, vocabulary ( linguistic competence ), but also that they understand when, why and in what way to produce language Speaking requires that learners not only know how to produce specific points of language such as grammar, pronunciation, or vocabulary (linguistic competence), but also that they understand when, why, and in what ways to produce language (sociolinguistic competence) Finally, speech has its own skills, structures, and conventions different from written language (Burns & Joyce, 1997) A good speaker synthesizes this array of skills and knowledge to succeed in a given speech act

There are a lot of concepts of speaking Each researcher gives his own idea and tries to approve that it is true But all of them agree that speaking is very important skill, and they all try to find out the nature of speaking, speaking act,

in which the speakers, speaking process, and speaking message are emphasized

1.2.2 The importance of speaking skill

Humans are programmed to speak before they learn to read and write In any given, human beings spend much more time interacting orally with language

rather than using it in its written form Speaking is the most important skill because it is one of the abilities that is needed to perform a conversation English speaking is not an easy task because speakers should know many significant components like pronunciation, grammar, vocabulary, fluency, and comprehension Learners should have enough English speaking ability in order

to communicate easily and effectively with other people According to Brown (1994), listening and speaking are learners’ language tools

In the present global world, communication plays a vital role in getting success in all fields Thus, speaking skills are a vitally important method of communication Among the four key language skills, speaking is deemed to be the most important skills for learning a foreign language When one thinks of speaking skills, one tends to think of it as a common skill The ability to stand before others and speak effectively is not an ordinary ability Many people are deathly afraid of public speaking Employers have always valued the ability to speak well Speaking skill always will be, an important skill, and well worth the effort in fully developing

The four language skills of listening, speaking, reading, and writing are all interconnected Proficiency in each skill is necessary to become a well-rounded communicator, but the ability to speak skillfully provides the speaker with several distinct advantages The capacity to put words together in a meaningful way to reflect thoughts, opinions, and feelings provides the speaker with these important advantages:

• Ability to inform, persuade, and direct Business managers, educators, military leaders, lawyers, and politicians, among others, seek to develop their speaking skills to such a level that they are transformed into master communicators Speaking clearly and confidently can gain the attention of an audience, providing the golden opportunity for the speaker to make the message

known Wise is the speaker who gains and then holds the attention of an audience, with well-chosen words in a well-delivered presentation, forming a message that is effective, informative, and understood

• Ability to stand out from the rest When one thinks of speaking skills, one tends to think of it as a common skill Think again The ability to stand before others and speak effectively is not an ordinary ability Many people are deathly afraid of public speaking; others have little ability to form thoughts into sentences and then deliver those words in a believable way The bad news is that

at any given moment the world has precious few with the speaking talents of, say, Winston Churchill or John F Kennedy The good news is that a speaker whose skills are honed and developed with constant application and hard work can stand out

• Ability to benefit derivatively Well-developed verbal skills can increase one’s negotiation skills Self-confidence is improved A growing sense of comfort comes from speaking in front of larger and larger audiences A reputation for excellence in speaking can accrue over time, thereby imparting a certain credibility to the speaker

• Career enhancement Employers have always valued the ability to speak well It is, and always will be, an important skill, and well worth the effort in fully developing

Humans are programmed to speak before they learn to read and write In any given, human beings spend much more time interacting orally with language rather than using it in its written form Speaking is the most important skill because it is one of the abilities that is needed to perform a conversation English speaking is not an easy task because speakers should know many significant components like pronunciation, grammar, vocabulary, fluency, and

comprehension Learners should have enough English speaking ability in order

to communicate easily and effectively with other people

The significance of speaking is indicated with the integration of the other language skills Speaking helps learners develop their vocabulary and grammar skills and then better their writing skill Students can express their emotions, ideas; say stories; request; talk, discuss, and show the various functions of language Speaking is of vital importance outside 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

To sum up, when students learn English, speaking is significant to support their ability to apply the language Speaking skill has been very important to the success of human beings The significance of speaking skill is observed in the daily activities of persons Speaking is an interactive activity and it occurs under the real time constraints That is, persons can use words and phrases fluently without very much conscious thinking 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

1.2.3 Characteristics of speaking skill

According to Mazouzi (2013), learners’ activities should be designed based on an equivalence between fluency and accuracy achievement Both fluency and accuracy are important elements of communicative approach Classroom practice can help learners develop their communicative competence

So they should know how the language system works appropriately

The first characteristic of speaking performance is fluency and it is the main aim of teachers in teaching speaking skill Fluency is the learners’ ability

to speak in understandable way in order not to break down communication because listeners may lose their interest To achieve this goal, the teachers then should train learners to use their personal language freely to express their own ideas and then avoid imitations of a model of some kind Many of foreign language speakers think of fluency as the ability to speak fast, that is why they start speaking rapidly without pauses Thornbury argues that speed is an important factor in fluency and pausing too, because speakers need to take breath Native speakers also need to pause from time to time in order to let the interlocutors catch what they said However, a frequent pausing is an indication that the speaker has problem of speaking In such cases Thornbury suggests what is called “tricks” or production strategies, i.e the ability to fill the pauses The most common pause fillers are "uh” and "um”, vagueness expressions such

as "short of "and "I mean" Another device for filling the pauses is the reputation

of one word when there is a pause It is the ability to answer coherently by connecting the words and phrases, pronouncing the sounds clearly, and using stress and intonation

The second characteristic of speaking performance is accuracy Nowadays most foreign language teachers emphasized the term of accuracy in their teaching because learners seek more to be fluent and they forget about being accurate Without structuring accurate speech, speakers will not be understood and their interlocutors will lose interest if they perform incorrect utterances each time Therefore, paying attention to correctness and completeness of language form is of more importance for oral proficiency Therefore, learners should focus on a number of things in their production of the spoken language, mainly, the grammatical structure , vocabulary and pronunciation

According to Thornbury (2005), learners’ correct use of grammatical structures requires the length and complexity of the utterances and the well-structured clauses To gain accuracy in terms of vocabulary means to select suitable words in the suitable contexts Learners sometimes apply similar words

or expressions in various contexts which do not mean similar things So learners should be able to use words and expressions correctly

• Grammar:

The grammatical accuracy refers to the range and the appropriate use of the learners’ grammatical structure that involves the length and the complexity of the utterances in addition to the ability to use the subordinating clauses The grammar of speech differs of that of writing

• Vocabulary:

Achieving accuracy in terms of vocabulary refers to the appropriate selection of words during speaking Students often find difficulties when they try to express what they want to say, they lack the appropriate vocabulary, and they sometimes use words incorrectly like in the case of synonyms which do not carry the same meaning in all contexts Students then, have to be able to use words and expiration accurately

• Pronunciation:

English language has been long considered by either native speakers or nonnative speakers as a difficult language because of its pronunciation Learners, then who want to develop their speaking skill in English should practice pronunciation overall They should be aware of the different sounds and their features and where they are made in one’s mouth; they have also to be aware of where the words should de stressed, when to use raising intonation and when to use a falling one All these issues give them extra information about

how to speak English effectively and help to achieve the goal of a better understanding of spoken English

Thornbury (2005) declared that pronunciation is the lowest level of knowledge learners typically pay attention to it In order to speak English language accurately, learners should master phonological rules and they should

be aware of the various sounds and their pronunciations Learners should also know the stress, intonation, and pitch All of these elements help learners speak the English language easily and effectively

1.2.4 What a good speaker does

Speakers must be able to anticipate and then produce the expected patterns

of specific discourse situations The learner must also choose the correct vocabulary to describe the item sought, rephrase or emphasize words to clarify the description if the clerk does not understand, and use appropriate facial expressions to indicate satisfaction or dissatisfaction with the service (Burns & Joyce, 1997)

Other skills and knowledge that instruction might address include the following: producing the sounds, stress patterns, rhythmic structures, and intonations of the language; using grammar structures accurately; assessing characteristics of the target audience, selecting vocabulary that is understandable and appropriate for the audience, the topic being discussed, and the setting in which the speech act occurs; applying strategies to enhance comprehensibility, such as emphasizing key words, rephrasing, or checking for listener comprehension; using gestures or body language; and paying attention to the success of the interaction and adjusting components of speech such as vocabulary, rate of speech, and complexity of grammar structures to maximize listener comprehension and involvement (Brown, 1994)

Teachers should monitor learners' speech production to determine what skills and knowledge they already have and what areas need development Bailey and Savages New Ways in Teaching Speaking (1994), offer suggestions for activities that can address different skills

1.2.5 Factors affecting speaking skill

According to Mahripah (2014), EFL learners’ speaking skill is affected by some linguistic components of language like phonology, syntax, vocabulary, and semantics and psychological factors such as motivation and personality Phonology is a difficult aspect of language learning for EFL learners As we know, English is not a phonetic language That is, the pronunciation of English words are not similar to their spellings Words with similar spellings are sometimes pronounced differently because of their surrounding contexts like tenses and phonemes that come after them This can cause a lot of problems for non-native speakers of English and they sometimes get confused in producing the English words

EFL learners should have knowledge of words and sentences They should comprehend how words are divided into different sounds and how sentences are stressed in specific ways Grammatical competence can help speakers apply and perceive the structure of English language correctly which leads to their fluency (Latha, 2012) Native speakers say what they want without having any problems because they are familiar with the language If they have problems in expressing some concepts, they try to use other ways of telling those things They may make certain mistakes syntactically but these mistakes do not change the meaning of the sentences they want to express and this doesn’t create serious problems for the listeners to comprehend them But the mistakes non-native

speakers commit are those that change the meaning of utterances they want to convey and can create some problems for their understanding (Mahripah, 2014) Motivation can influence and be influenced by the components of language learning According to Merisuo-Storm (2007), an integrative and friendly view towards the people whose language is being learned makes sensitize learners to the audio-lingual aspects of language and making them more sensitive to the pronunciation and accent of language If learners have an unfriendly attitude towards the language, they will not have any substantial improvement in acquiring the different features of the language The above sentences support the view that just communicative competence is not sufficient for learners to improve their speaking skills Without positive attitudes towards speaking performance, the aim of speaking will not be obtainable for learners

1.2.6 Conclusion

This paper reviewed the factors that affect students’ English speaking performance The mentioned factors in this study have an important role in developing learners’ speaking skills The factors make learners less self-confident and less comfortable in their speaking classes Based on the review of the literature of the study, teachers should understand their students’ interests and feelings, improve their learners’ self-confidence, and choose the best teaching method to keep their learners’ involved in the speaking activity Teachers should praise their students to speak English They should build a friendly relationship with their students, make them feel very happy in the class and have a feeling of great enthusiasm and eagerness to study English in general and speak English in particular The literature review of this study represented that teachers should give their learners enough time for speaking skill, help

comfortable when speaking, remind their learners not to worry about making mistakes, and give them true instructions and enough guidance Teachers should give their learners more opportunities to speak English by using some speaking tasks that help them to speak and urge them to take part in speaking activities In addition, teachers should know when and how to correct their learners’ mistakes

so that they are not afraid of making mistakes

1.3 SUMMARY

In summary, Chapter 1 has raised the review of the previous studies (at home & abroad), definition, characteristics, the importance of English speaking skill and factors affecting Speaking Skill to find out practical theory for research

CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY

2.1 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

The basic research questions for the study are:

(1) What are the difficulties facing the first-year English-majored students when they learn speaking skills at VNUA?

(2) What are the causes behind those difficulties?

(3) What are some suggestions to improve their English speaking skill?

The study was carried out based on the material collection, survey questionnaires and interviews Comments, remarks, comparisons, suggestions and conclusions are based on factual research, experience and discussion

Firstly, an online survey questionnaire was conducted to ask first-year English-majored at VNUA about the difficulties they are facing in learning to speak English (specifically, are classes K65ENGA, K65ENGB, K65ENGC, K65ENGE ) The questionnaire consists of 8 questions ( adapted from the original survey questionnaire of Nguyen Thi Thanh Tam, 2019 ) the researcher used Google Forms to survey Below are eight questions used in the survey questionnaire, including the following:

1) lack of vocabulary

2) lack of grammar knowledge

3) poor pronunciation

4) not being confident to speak

5) being afraid of making errors

6) being afraid of speaking

7) seldom reading grammar books

8) difficulty expressing words or sentences

Questions 1 to 3 are about language difficulties to answer research

questions (1) What are the difficulties met by the first-year English-majored

students when they learn speaking skills at VNUA? Questions 4 to 6 are about

psychological difficulties to answer research questions (2) What are the causes

behind those difficulties? Questions 7 and 8 are about learning methods

difficulties to answer research questions (3) What are some suggestions to

improve their English speaking skills?

Then an interview was conducted with 5 students who participated in an online survey to find out more about the problem they have, the causes behind the difficulties and the efforts they have made to overcome the difficulties Below are questions that were used for the interview, including the following: 1) What are the difficulties facing the first-year English-majored students when they learn speaking skills at VNUA?

2) What are the causes behind those difficulties?

3) What are some suggestions to improve their English speaking skill?

2.2 RESEARCH SETTING

This study was conducted in Department of Professional English - Faculty

of Education and Foreign Languages at the Vietnam National University of Agriculture The objects of this study are all first-year students studying Speaking 2 The focus of the study was on students in classes K65ENGA, K65ENGB, K65ENGC and K65ENGE with "Cambridge English Preliminary" syllabus, taught by Ha Thi Lan, M.A

The research was conducted during my writing graduation paper period at VNUA This was survey research using a questionnaire to collect data and interview a number of English-majored students