Khóa luận tốt nghiệp factors affecting student in learning english speaking skill at vietnam national university of agriculture

WHAT PROBLEMS DO NON-MAJOR STUDENTS FACE IN LEARNING ENGLISH SPEAKING SKILLS?. As a researcher, the researcher would like to present the thesis title " A study on the factors affecting s

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF AGRICULTURE

FACULTY OF EDUCATION AND FOREIGN LANGUAGES

BA THESIS

FACTORS AFFECTING STUDENT IN LEARNING ENGLISH SPEAKING SKILL AT VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF AGRICULTURE NHỮNG NHÂN TỐ ẢNH HƯỞNG VIỆC HỌC KỸ NĂNG NÓI CỦA SINH VIÊN HỌC VIỆN NÔNG

NGHIỆP VIỆT NAM

Student : NGUYEN VIET ANH Student code : 621245

Major : ENGLISH Supervisor 1 : DANG XUAN PHI M.A

Supervisor 2 : TRAN THU TRANG

Hanoi – 2021

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF AGRICULTURE

FACULTY OF EDUCATION AND FOREIGN LANGUAGES

BA THESIS

FACTORS AFFECTING STUDENT IN LEARNING ENGLISH SPEAKING SKILL AT VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF AGRICULTURE NHỮNG NHÂN TỐ ẢNH HƯỞNG VIỆC HỌC KỸ NĂNG NÓI CỦA SINH VIÊN HỌC VIỆN NÔNG

NGHIỆP VIỆT NAM

Student : NGUYEN VIET ANH Student code : 621245

Major : ENGLISH Supervisor 1 : DANG XUAN PHI M.A

Supervisor 2 : TRAN THU TRANG

Hanoi – 2021

CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY

I, the undersigned, hereby certify my authority of the study project report entitled “FACTORS AFFECTING STUDENT IN LEARNING ENGLISH SPEAKING SKILL AT VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF AGRICULTURE” submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Bachelor in the 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, 2021

Nguyen Viet Anh

Approved by SUPERVISOR

(Signature and full name)

Date:………

Next, I want to express my gratitude to my two guides, M.A Dang Xuan Phi and Mrs Tran Thu Trang Although they are busy, they are always enthusiastic to help, urging me to timely complete the research, besides giving great suggestions and professional information Moreover, they inspire me so much that I can finish successfully

Finally, I would like to thank the 120 members who enthusiastically participated in this study for helping me have a most objective view of the matter On the other hand, I would like to thank the Center for Foreign Languages and International Education for providing workplace and information

Ha Noi, June 2021

NguyenViet Anh

TABLE OF CONTENTS

CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY i

ACKNOWLEDGMENT ii

TABLE OF CONTENTS iii

ABSTRACT v

LIST OF ABRREVIATION……… ……… vi

LIST OF TABLES vi

LIST OF FIGURES vii

PART 1: INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 RATIONALE OF THE STUDY 1

1.2 AIMS AND OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY 3

1.2.1 Aims of the study 3

1.2.2 Objectives of the study 3

1.3 RESEARCH QUESTIONS 4

1.4 SCOPE OF THE STUDY 4

1.5 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY 4

1.6 DESIGN OF THE STUDY 5

PART 2: DEVELOPMENT 6

CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 6

1.1 REVIEW OF THE PREVIOUS STUDY 6

1.1.1 Aboard 6

1.1.2 Home 7

1.2.2 Review of theoretical preliminaries employable as tools for conducting the thesis 9

1.3 SUMMARY 17

CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY 19

2.1 RESEARCH GOVERNING PRINCIPLES 19

2.1.1 Research questions 19

2.1.2 Research hypothesis 19

2.1.3 Research types: 20

2.1.4 Research approaches: 22

2.1.5 Principles/ criteria for data collection and data analysis 22

2.2 RESEARCH METHODS 22

2.2.1 Major methods 23

2.3 SUMMARY 24

CHAPTER 3: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 26

3.1 RESULT 26

3.1.1 Overview 26

3.1.2 Factors affecting student in learning english speaking skill at vietnam national university of agriculture 26

3.2 SUMMARY 46

PART 3: CONCLUSION 48

1 RECAPITULATION 48

2 CONCLUDING REMARKS ON EACH OF THE THESIS OBJECTIVES 48

2.1 WHAT PROBLEMS DO NON-MAJOR STUDENTS FACE IN LEARNING ENGLISH SPEAKING SKILLS? 48

2.2 WHAT ARE POSSIBLE FACTORS INFLUENCING A STUDENT'S SPEAKING SKILLS ? 48

2.3 WHAT ARE THE EFFECTIVE STRATEGIES THAT STUDENTS CAN USE TO IMPROVE ENGLISH SPEAKING SKILLS? 49

3 LIMITATIONS OF THE CURRENT RESEARCH 50

4 SUGGESTION FOR FURTHER RESEARCH 51

REFERENCES 52

APPENDIX 55

at English The study was carried out at the Center for Foreign Languages , and International Education at VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF AGRICULTURE Participants included 120 students studying at the center This study aims to a) find out the current situation of speaking learning in students; b) find out the main factors that influence them c) give out some suggestions for students to improve their speaking skills To fulfill those purposes, the questionnaire is used as the primary research instrument to collect data After comparing students who spend different time studying at home, the findings show the two groups of factors affecting students, including the group of factors that can be minimized by study time and the group of factors not minimized by study time The group of factors minimized by learning time has a positive change from students who do not study to those who spend 2 hours learning as: hard to learn Grammar, Lack of confidence, Listening ability The other group that did not show any change included: Difficulty in learning vocabulary and Lack of Environment Additionally, the study also suggested some recommendations From the research, it can be shown that the factors can be completely overcome by a reasonable study time For the factor "Difficulty to learn vocabulary" students need to find a method that suits them best and does not hesitate to expand the environment to find partners to study and progress together

LIST OF ABBREVIATION

B.B.A: Bachelor of Business Administration

EFL: English as a Foreign Language

ESL: English as a Second Language

FFD: Future Funiture Design

HPU: Hai Phong Private University

M.B.A: Master of Business Administration

word stress and sentences 33 Table 3.1.2.4: Result of EFA 35 Table 3.1.2.5: 8b, Being lazy, stress 37 Table 3.1.2.6: 9b, Being not confident to speak with other & 10b, being

hesitant, difficult to express 37 Table 3.2.2.7: 11b, Afraid of making error; 12b, Afraid of speaking is

not accepted by friend, teacher & 13b, Often forget what will say 38 Table 3.1.2.8: Result of EFA 39

Table 3.1.2.9: 14c, Unable or difficult to hear anything from native

speaker & 15c, Can’t translate the word given

correctly 41

Table 3.1.2.10: 16c, Abuse the mother tongue 42

Table 3.1.2.11: 17c, Difficult to find someone to practise and learn together & 18c, Little chance to speak English at class and at home 42

Table 3.1.2.12: Result of EFA 44

Table 3.1.2.13: Learner’s opinion about factor 46

LIST OF FIGURES Figure 2.2.1.1: The process of analyzing the One-way ANOVA test 24

Figure 3.1.2.1: Student’s Characteristic 26

Figure 3.1.2.2: Learner's time for learning English 27

Figure 3.1.2.3: Students' interest in English 28

Figure 3.1.2.4: Student's time to study English at home 29

Figure 3.1.2.5: Learners who have taken the B1 exam and have not yet 30

Figure 3.1.2.6: Learners' assessment of the importance of speaking skills 31

Figure 3.1.2.7: Result of ANOVA test 36

Figure 3.1.2.8: Result of ANOVA test 40

Figure 3.1.2.9: Result of ANOVA test 44

PART 1: INTRODUCTION

1.1 RATIONALE OF THE STUDY

Nowadays, English is considered an international language all over the world "It has become the common language all over the world and used directly

in business, technology, and education throughout many countries." Therefore, English is essential for students in every country These days, Vietnam is integrating with the international labor market when considerably participating

in the ASEAN Economic Community (A.E.C.), and more foreign investors focus on this potential market This issue requires students to have specialized knowledge and be proficient in English, especially English speaking skills, to get more job opportunities Thus, the student should concentrate on their English learning to improve and enhance four of their English skills According to McKong & Kerubo (2017), four essential skills in learning a language are developed in order Firstly, the learners should sharpen their listening skills After that, reading skills are expected to be improved Last but not least, it is writing skills From this point of view, speaking is such an essential skill in learning English

Gilakjani (2012) claims that "it is vital that English speakers, whether native or non-native speakers, can exchange meanings effectively" Therefore, Speaking skills in English are considered essential but the most difficult to master According to Fitriani et al (2015) and Leong et al.(2017), the success of learning a foreign language is accounted for by the level of learners' speaking skills This is concretized by dividing the level into levels by some proficiency tests According to Common European Framework of Reference" for Languages: Learning Teaching and Assessment; English proficiency level of learners are divided into three large levels and six detailed sub-levels, along with the requirements that learners need to reach a certain level

Currently, the graduate level required by each university is stopping at the B1 level with non-major students It is a requirement that is not too high to achieve for students Therein, The speaking test takes 25% of the total score Each candidate will take the same contestant and two examiners, have 10-12 minutes to complete the four required sections of the speaking test, and in the end, their scores will be based on their entire Speaking test, not compare with other candidates However, Achieving a B1 certificate has always been a

"nightmare" for students The Viet Nam University of Agriculture is a typical example of using B1 as an outcome requirement In the training program, English is compulsory for each student The English program is tailored for each discipline, ensuring that students can use English in communication and work and research capability at higher levels after graduation That requirement is not high to achieve, but many students have to worry when the exam comes In particular, the results are often not satisfactory The reason is that students do not have enough motivation and have a problem learning and training this skill

As a researcher, the researcher would like to present the thesis title " A study on the factors affecting students learning English speaking skills at VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF AGRICULTURE." for several reasons

Firstly, Speaking is the most crucial skill in oral communication in real life Listening and Speaking are two significant parts of communication They are closely interdependent If we understand the messages that others convey to

us but cannot communicate, we will not naturally interact with the other person despite understanding important information from them Moreover, when learning a language, Speaking is a practical skill to deliver messages and content directly, increasing interaction and practice, which is an essential component of the whole language learning process Moreover, learning to speak will help learners be more confident in communicating and easier to use English to interact with others, thereby improving their proficiency in each exam As a

result, the researcher would like to do this research to explain and help the student learn the speaking process

Furthermore, Learning and practicing a speaking skill is one of the most challenging processes Learners can master listening, but it is always hard to convey their message to others They are always secretive about ideas or do not have enough words to communicate effectively That causes problems in the conversation, even failure As a consequence, learners get caught up in a loop of growing shyness in communication

The last but not least important reason to choose the title of this thesis is that many students are quite interested in learning speaking skills but are always afraid and discouraged during their studies The main classes do not have many opportunities to learn and communicate, causing boredom On the other hand, practicing speaking skills is difficult and takes much time That is why the researcher wants to identify the factors that affect speaking skills and propose strategies to help students learn speaking skills more excitingly and better

1.2 AIMS AND OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

1.2.1 Aims of the study

The study is carried out to survey the actual situation of learning English speaking skills of 120 non-major students in the Center for Foreign Languages and International Education to determine the factors affecting speaking skills and find out how to learn this skill

1.2.2 Objectives of the study

In the light of that general aim, some specific objectives are drawn up to outline the exact directions of the study as follows:

● To give out the current situation of students learning English at VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF AGRICULTURE

● To analyze the factors affecting student's learning in English speaking skill level B1 at the Vietnam National University of Agriculture

● To suggest some possible strategies to improve and solve the problem of students when learning and practising speaking skills, help the learners adjust their learning process effectively

● What are possible factors influencing a student's speaking skills?

● What are the practical strategies that students can use to improve their English speaking skills?

1.4 SCOPE OF THE STUDY

The study will take place at the Center for Foreign Languages and International Education This English center was established at the Viet Nam National University of Agriculture to train in life sciences, social sciences, management, economics, and international relations, especially English In terms of the research participants, 120 students learning B1 at the Center for Foreign Languages and International Education will participate in this study They are all learning and preparing for the outcome examination and have problems speaking at the B1 level Therefore, within the scope of the study, the study only focuses on the factors affecting students in learning speaking skills at the B1 level and suggests some possible solutions to improve English speaking skills for students

1.5 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

There are microscopic researches on the issues and factors that affect the learning of speaking skills of non-major students at the Viet Nam National University of Agriculture Therefore, this study is expected to find out the

factors that affect English learners' speaking skills After figuring out the main factor causing student's speaking problems, it is also desired to suggest the solutions that learners can implement to improve their speaking skills, and English teachers can base on the study as a document to improve and apply reasonable teaching methods

1.6 DESIGN OF THE STUDY

Apart from the acknowledgement, the abstract, references and appendices, this 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 and the significance of the study

PART 2 - DEVELOPMENT is composed of 3 chapters:

Chapter 1 - LITERATURE REVIEW - provides the theoretical background for the study

Chapter 2 - METHODOLOGY describes the methodology used in the research consisting of the research methods, research setting/ context, data collection, and 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 makes some recommendations to help the students improve their speaking skills

PART 2: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW

1.1 REVIEW OF THE PREVIOUS STUDY

1.1.1 Aboard

Boonkit, K (2010) Enhancing the Development of Speaking Skills for Non-Native Speakers of English Procedia Social and Behavioral Sciences, 2(2010), 1305–1309 Boonkit (2010) carried out a study on the factors increasing learners' speaking skills The results represented that using appropriate speaking skills can be an excellent strategy to decrease speakers' stress The results also revealed that the freedom of topic choice urged the participants to feel comfortable, persuaded to speak English, and increased the speaking confidence among EFL learners However, this study has not found enough factors that can affect students' speaking skills, which will be explored more in this thesis

Bozorgian, H (2012) The Relationship between Listening and Other Language Skills in the International English Language Testing System Theory and Practice in Language Studies, 2(4), 657-663 Bozorgian (2012) studied the relationship between listening skills and other language skills The results showed that there is a close correspondence between listening comprehension and language proficiency That is, the higher the listening score, the better the speaking score Lukitasari (2003) carried out a study on learners' strategies in overcoming their speaking problems The results obtained from this study show that learners face many speaking difficulties such as inhibition, nothing to say, low participation, and mother tongue use in their speaking classes The other result of this study proves that learners did not improve their speaking skills because they had not learned three elements of speaking: vocabulary, grammar, and pronunciation

Tanveer, M (2007) Investigation of the Factors That Cause Language Anxiety for ESL/EFL Learners in Learning Speaking Skills and the Influence It Casts on Communication in the Target Language Dissertation, University of Glasgow Tanveer (2007) examined the factors that caused anxiety for learners

in learning speaking proficiency and the impact of this negative mentality on target language communication The achieved results designated that learners' stress and fear stop their language learning and performance abilities The researcher emphasized that high anxiety lowers the learners' speaking performance This thesis will learn more about influencing factors stemming from learners' psychology

Urrutia León, W., & Vega Cely, E (2010) Encouraging Teenagers to Improve Speaking Skills through Games in a Colombian Public School, PROFILE, 12(1), 11-31 Bogotá, Colombia Urrutia and Vega (2010) demonstrated that learners' oral performance was influenced by their lack of vocabulary, diffidence, and fear of being despised However, it was also indicated that learners' cooperation, self-confidence, vocabulary knowledge, and the class environment supported them to improve their speaking skills Prieto (2007) performed a study about cooperative learning tasks The findings of her study showed that one way to enhance speaking skills is to interact with others, learn from others, and choose the topics based on the learners' interests to promote them

1.1.2 Home

Diep, D.L.T.N (2017) Measurement of factors affecting English speaking skills of students at the foreign languages department of Van Lang

University This research indicates three elements important to the image of the

student's speaking skills in FFD of Van Lang University The study is conducted

in the scope of FFD only, so it is necessary for further research university-wide

Huyen, H.L.T (2019) Factor affecting speaking skill of first-year English major at H.P.U This research found out the factor affecting the speaking skills

of the significant student at H.P.U It covers lack of Environment, limitation of the word, not being confident, and tend to use the mother tongue more This study However, this study has yet to find the maximum of internal factors such

as vocabulary and grammar On the other hand, the number of participants is only 40 people; this is not enough to be evaluated objectively and comprehensively, so some factors have not been found

Van, V.P.T (2015) Factors affecting students' interest in learning speaking skills at finance and accounting department Hoa Binh university According to the findings, some factors affect students' interest in speaking activities, such as students, teachers, and classroom size Especially, the student's factors lie in their shyness, nervousness, fear of making mistakes, lack

of motivation, being deficient in pronunciation, stress and intonation, grammar structures and vocabulary

Yen, Y.L.H (2019) A study on factors affecting English speaking skills

of the 10th-grade ethnic minority students at Van Hoa 1 high school This research pointed out in detail the factors affecting the speaking skills of students

in Van Hoa 1 high school Participants included 51 students in grade 10 and 6 English teachers currently studying and working at the school The study found out the factors consist of the internal factors and the external factors, but the scope of study aims to ethnic minority students studying at high school so that the level of learning speaking skills is just basic English

1.2 REVIEW OF THEORETICAL BACKGROUND

1.2.1 Statement of theoretical framework chosen

During the learning English process, if learners want to be good at reading

or writing, they need abundant and reliable resources, patience, diligence, and hard work However, listening and speaking skills are not able to be maximized

through books and documents alone Pronunciation, word use, listening, and speaking reflexes are difficult to improve by mere means Therefore, in learning and practicing, problems cannot be avoided, but some factors affect learning this skill In this part, through reference sources, the researcher would like to give theoretical contents including: " Definition of speaking, The importance of speaking skill, Characteristic of speaking, Some problem about speaking and factors affecting speaking skill”

1.2.2 Review of theoretical preliminaries employable as tools for conducting the thesis

1.2.2.1 Definition of speaking

Speaking has always been considered an essential and fascinating skill

As a result, many researchers have studied and defined concepts about this skill

According to Richard ( 2008; 19), in speaking, we tend to be getting something done, exploring ideas, working out some aspects of the world, or simply being together Students can easily communicate and explore their ideas while also giving students access to up-to-date areas of information, including science, technology, medicine, etc., if they pay more attention to practicing mastering speaking

Speaking is an interactive process of constructing meaning that involves

producing and receiving and processing information (Brown, 1994; Burns &

Joyce,1997)

According to (Cameron 2001: 40; Brown, 2004: 140), Speaking is a productive skill in speech organs to express meaning directly and empirically observed To make more it specific, a member of EnglishCLUB.com defines speaking: " Speaking is the delivery of language through the mouth Speech is the production of sound by the involvement of many parts of the body including the lungs, vocal tract, vocal cords, vocal cords, teeth and lips Bygate (1987) defined speaking as producing auditory signals to produce different verbal

responses in listeners It is regarded as combining sounds systematically to form

meaningful sentences

Tarigan (1990:3-4) defines that Speaking as a language skill that is developed in child-life, which is produced by listening skill, and at that period, speaking skill is learned Unlike listening skills formed from birth, speaking skills are initiated when communicating with other people, particularly our parents When we hear words from parents, new speaking skills arise when we interact with parents with meaningless words or sentences

Based on the competence-based curriculum, Speaking is one of the four essential competencies that the students should gain It has a vital role in communication Speaking can be found in the spoken cycle, especially in the Joint Construction of Text stage (Department Pendidikan Nasional, 2004) In carrying out speaking, students face some difficulties, one of them is about language itself Most students have difficulties speaking even though they have many vocabularies and have written them well The problems are afraid for students to make mistakes

Ladouse (1991) defines that Speaking is described as the activity as the capacity to express oneself in a situation or report acts or situations in precise words or the capability to converse or express a sequence of ideas fluently According to Chaney (1998), Speaking is making and sharing meaning by using verbal and non-verbal symbols in different contexts

From the explanation above, the researcher concludes that Speaking is the process of applying thoughts and natural parts of the body to interact with what has just been heard with meaningful messages It is used to transfer and express the ideas and thoughts of the speakers to the listeners Speaking and listening cannot be separated but connected intimately to each other

1.2.2.2 The importance of speaking

Speaking skill is the most important skill to acquire foreign or second language learning Among the four critical language skills, Speaking is deemed

to be the most essential skill in learning a foreign or second language Brown and Yuke (1983) stated, "Speaking is the skill that the students will judge most

● Ability to stand out from the rest: Many people are deathly afraid to speak publicly; others have the little facility to form thoughts into sentences and then believably deliver those words Hence, being able to speak fluently and convey information well is considered a non-trivial ability Practicing constantly

to speaking fluent, flexible, and extremely easy to persuade and stand out from others

● Ability to benefit derivatively: Well-developed verbal skills can improve confidence to master negotiations Good communication increases transmission rates and increases credibility, thereby enhancing reputation

● Career enhancement: Employers have always valued the competence to speak well It is, and always will be, an essential skill and well worth the effort

in fully developing

● Personal satisfaction: Through an effectively well-delivered speech, the speaker's anxiety is replaced by the excitement of overcoming the barrier and getting high appreciation from others

To summarize, The role of mastering speaking skills is obvious When practiced to proficiency, speaking skills will upgrade themselves and create many favorable opportunities, easily convey information to others As a result, the importance of speaking will form an excellent motivation for learners, helping them focus on learning and practice to achieve optimal results

1.2.2.3 Characteristic of speaking

According to Mazouzi (2013, as cited in Leong et al., 2017), speaking activities should be organized to balance fluency and accuracy accomplishment This is because both fluency and accuracy play crucial roles in the achievement

of oral performance To master speaking skills, people always try to speak fluently, accurately Therefore, it becomes the primary goal of learners when they study English and all languages in general

According to British Council Indonesia Foundation, fluency is the flow and efficiency with which speakers express their ideas, mainly when speaking

A few grammar mistakes may appear here and there in the explanation, but they should be delivered in a way that is easy to understand and shows how comfortable they are with the language

Besides, accuracy, on the other hand, demonstrates their capacity to use the necessary vocabulary, grammar and punctuation correctly This skill is vital for written assignments at university, such as essays and lab reports It is also an absolute necessity in the workplace, where an email or report that is riddled with grammar or punctuation mistakes may be viewed as unprofessional

Additionally, According to Thornbury (2005), the correct use of grammatical structures of learners requires the length and complexity of well-structured statements and propositions Moreover, to achieve proficiency in

speaking skills, we need to understand how to use alternative words clearly; many synonyms can replace a familiar word in each situation to help achieve professionalism in speaking Besides, distinguishing word types of a word to avoid misuse or use the alternative grammar structures can help a lot for learners

in diversifying words and mastering how to use them in appropriate circumstances

Thornbury (2005) states that pronunciation is the lowest level of knowledge learners often pay attention to Many confusing tones make it challenging to hear and understand Therefore, learners need to master the rules

of pronunciation, different readings, and stress, intonation, or pitch When mastering these things will make learners achieve learning English most effectively

When it comes to language learning, it often talks to the speakers of that language (Ur, 1996) Therefore, the learners should pay more attention to achieve speaking skills To progress in speaking, learners need to pay much attention to each sentence's accuracy and fluency That will help learners be proactive in conveying information accurately and help learners to be excellent English speakers

1.2.2.4 Some problems with speaking

When they speak another language like English rather than the mother tongue, it is a challenge for the learners because speaking English well requires them to master the grammatical structures and English in different communicative situations (Fitriani et al., 2015) Therefore, to be proficient in speaking English, learners need to use them for their purposes, communicating correctly to the listener and appropriately in context However, in the process of learning or practising a speaking skill, that challenges the learner a lot As a consequence, that process has many problems Heriansyah (2012) points out that there were twelve kinds of difficulties that the students have come across

when learning to speak English, and they were divided into two main kinds of problems, they are linguistic problems and non-linguistic problems The linguistic problems are "lack of vocabulary, lack of grammar knowledge, and poor pronunciation" On the other hand, the non-linguistic problems are much more; they are "not being brave to speak, not being confident to speak, being afraid of speaking, being afraid of making errors, being afraid of being mocked

by friends, being nervous about speaking, not used to talking in class, difficult to express words or sentences, and confused how to use appropriate words" To summarize, the linguistic problem included the problem of languages itself, such

as vocabulary, grammar, pronunciation, and speakers' emotional states

1.2.2.5 factor affecting speaking skill

From the above problems and through the researched information, several factors have studied as follows:

1.2.2.5a Linguistic factors

Bhattacharya (2017), Hosni (2014), and Fitriani et al (2015) hold the exact definition of what linguistic factors are The researchers state that some factors that inhibit speaking skills include lack of vocabulary, not good at grammar, and poor pronunciation

● Vocabulary is defined as "the knowledge of meanings of words" (Fitriani et al.,2015) When speakers do not have enough vocabulary, it is hard

to express their thoughts in spoken language and combine words into sentences Besides, the lack of language will cause the speaker to use a word with that meaning in many sentence positions without finding an alternative word That problem is tedious for the listener So, Lack of vocabulary is one of the most critical factors that prevent learners

● Grammar: According to Richard Nordquist(2020), grammar is a set of rules and examples dealing with the syntax and word structures (morphology) of

a language Proficiency in grammar helps learners easily organize sentences and

communicate fluently and effectively Unfortunately, learners often have difficulty finding a suitable grammatical structure for their speech, which causes them to pause a lot and spend a lot of time thinking and selecting

● Pronunciation: Pronunciation is defined as how people pronounce the sounds and their intonation when speaking "Mispronouncing a single sound or wrong use of stresses and intonations can cause misunderstandings'' (Bhattacharya, 2017)

or opinions not accepted by friends" It is possible to show the most apparent non-linguistic factors as follows

• Anxiety: Anxiety is an emotional state of being stressed or depressed about something In the process of learning speaking skills, students are always worried about what they say or convey They are afraid of making errors As a consequence, many students are so nervous that they just stand still when their teacher asks

• Lack of confidence: It is commonly understood that students' lack of confidence usually occurs when students realize that their conversation partners have not understood them or when they do not understand another speaker Tsui cited Nunan (1999) says that students who lack confidence in themselves and their English necessarily suffer from communication apprehension It is easy to

recognize that unconfident students always respond with small and timid tones

In many cases, they remain silent until the teacher suggests or dismisses them They have ideas, but they are afraid to speak They always think that someone else will answer them better

• Lack of motivation: Zua (2008) states that motivation is inner energy She says that no matter what kind of motivation the learners possess, it will enhance their study interest Many students are reluctant to learn English because they consider it a requirement to pass the subject Besides, some students find learning English, especially speaking skills, is challenging to master Therefore they give up easily Learning and practice takes a lot of perseverance, seriousness and takes a significant amount of time, so that students not being interested in this compulsory subject significantly affect students' speaking skills

1.2.2.5c Mother tongue

The mother tongue is the local language that the learners share Therefore, learners tend to use their native language to communicate ideas or stories to each other even though they are in English This is part of the cause of the lack of vocabulary, making learners confused when switching to conveying that information in English In addition, too much abuse of their mother tongue in learning English makes it difficult for them to improve their speaking skills

1.2.2.5d Listening ability

Listening and speaking abilities are closely connected From the work of Bhattacharya (2017), it can be concluded that the higher the score the students get In listening tasks, the better their speaking skills are Listeners need to understand what other speakers want to convey the idea they and the other party want to talk about That is to say, to be a good speaker, they have to be a good listener as well

1.2.2.5e Environment

Environmental factors become one of the most important factors that contribute significantly to the effectiveness of English learners An environment with most of the communication in English will be a very Creating Environment where the density of the target language will be very beneficial because learners will have to practice often and thereby increase their level This has been applied

in classrooms when teachers must communicate in English to create an ideal environment for practice However, due to the limited length of the classes, the period in which the ideal Environment exists is not enough to stimulate students

to practice and use English regularly Even with large classes, students do not have the opportunity to apply English to communication sentences or answers in class That leads to creating a smaller environment It is person-to-person communication Instead of looking for an English-only class, learners can get a group of friends to practice speaking English That small Environment, if used regularly, will appear to have advantages over speaking in class because the frequency of communication sentences is higher, requiring the speaker to use English to communicate constantly However, the reality is that most learners who do not have enough knowledge often feel annoyed when they have to think

of a communication sentence that they can speak fluently in their mother tongue Therefore, they still often use their mother tongue to communicate more because

of familiarity The above two environments are typical of objective environmental factors, and if used correctly, they will significantly affect students' speaking learning

1.3 SUMMARY

Through the proposed theories, the researcher can conclude that Speaking

is the process of applying thoughts and natural parts of the body to interact with what has just been heard with meaningful messages The role of mastering

speaking skills is prominent Proficiency in Speaking skills will upgrade themselves and create many favorable opportunities, easily convey information

to others As a result, the importance of fluently speaking will form a great motivation for learners, helping them focus on learning and practice to achieve optimal results The characteristic of speaking shows that both fluency and accuracy play crucial roles in the achievement of oral performance, so learners should pay attention to improvement

In terms of learning speaking skills, they encounter two problem groups: linguistic problems and non-linguistic problems According to the difficulty above, There are two kinds of factors that affect the learners in learning speaking: the linguistic factors consist of grammar, vocabulary, and pronunciation, and non-linguistic factors which include: Anxiety, lack of confidence, and lack of motivation Furthermore, some factors like: " the use of mother tongue, listenability and environment" also affect the learners speaking skills By recension of related research, the researcher gets plenty of speaking problems and common factors that affect students' speaking skills that would be useful for the current study on the selected participants

CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY

2.1 RESEARCH GOVERNING PRINCIPLES

2.1.1 Research questions

Every year, many students have difficulty in English tests when they have

to use a language they are not fluent in, which causes some challenges This study was carried out to seek the problems encountered by students taking B1 exam preparation courses to graduate at the Center for Foreign Languages and International Education First, the researcher wishes to find out some difficulties such as lack of vocabulary, poor grammar, poor pronunciation or lack of confidence, lack of motivation, the mother tongue influence Then, the researcher can understand the current situation, give specific factors, and finally suggest some methods to help students improve their skills

Research questions:

1 What problems do non-major students face in learning English speaking skills?

2 What are possible factors influencing a student's speaking skills?

3 What are the practical strategies that students can use to improve their English speaking skills?

2.1.2 Research hypothesis

Level B1 in English is an intermediate skill level of the Common European Framework for Reference When this level is reached, learners can use the English language to communicate with native speakers in life, read textbooks - magazines with straightforward content, or take notes in a journal or meeting Currently, B1 is implemented by universities (including VietNam National University of Agriculture) with criteria for admission to graduate students (Masters) at Universities with undergraduate or postgraduate training functions University In order to achieve speaking skills at the B1 level, learners

not only memorize but also have to improvise and master grammar and pronunciation Therefore, the time for studying and reviewing from A2 to B1 is

a long process It is hypothesized that depending on the daily study time of students devoted to this skill, problems and difficulties will be visible and present to students who do not spend too much time From there, learning more

or less will become a "catalyst" to find out the factors affecting students' speaking learning

2.1.3 Research types:

Quantitative method: There are many quantitative research approaches,

but a questionnaire is one of the most valuable research tools that involve asking the respondents questions, mainly in a written way The primary purpose of the questionnaire is to gather the information from the respondents to answer the research questions (Wikipedia, 2018) The questionnaire was chosen first to collect data in this study because it is believed to be one of the most influential research instruments According to Cohen et al (2007), the questionnaire is a time-saving research tool for the researcher since it can reach many participants

at the same time without the researcher's presence In this case, The questionnaire will be referenced from the original questionnaire of Mrs.Yen published at 2019 to create several new questions developed from the questions

of the previous questionnaire to study more accurately and objectively Each question is written in both English and Vietnamese to ensure that the student is fully understood Besides, the questions were divided into groups based on the factors that researchers mentioned above

Questionnaire

The questionnaire divide into three main parts

Part 1: general information:

This section will ask for information about learners 'English learning, their interest in this subject, and other metrics such as scores in the previous

level and students' comments About the importance of this subject and in particular speaking Since then, given the current general state of students when studying and reviewing speaking skills

Part 2: Student’s speaking problem

This section provided the student's opinions about the current problem they often encountered The problems were divided into three main parts:

• Linguistic problems: The problem related to languages such as pronunciation, vocabulary, and grammar

• Non- Linguistic problems: the problem aims to the difficulty of the student state consisting of being anxious, not confident, afraid of making errors, etc

• Other problems: the problem related to the objectives factors included the Environment, etc

Part 2 helped the researcher to find out the answer for the research question 1: “What problems do non-major students face in learning English speaking skills?”

Part 3: Factors affecting student in learning B1 speaking skill

The third part of the questionnaire aimed to explore the factors that affect the students' speaking skills From the literature review above and the current problems, the factors were listed Besides, students can write at the other factors part if they faced the factors that have not appeared at the table This section helped the researcher to compare with the problems above and find out the answer for the central question in the thesis: "What are possible factors influencing a student's speaking skills ?"

2.1.4 research approaches:

inductive & deductive combined: The results of the survey will be

analyzed and comments on Finally, the researcher aggregates the appropriate inference results to arrive at the final result

2.1.5 Principles/ criteria for data collection and data analysis

The data collected is quantitative data that is digitized for analysis The data source was collected from 120 random students studying at the Center for Foreign Languages and International Education The answers were filled in by 100% of the students on the questionnaire, so the reliability is very high The received data will be processed through S.P.S.S software for selection and detection Reasons for using the chosen data analysis techniques are because the use of a questionnaire can survey a large number of people from which to give similar and different opinions, increasing the diversity of answers Besides, the analysis by S.P.S.S software will make it easier and more convenient to represent and analyze factors

The analysis of the data is divided into four stages:

Stage 1: establishes an initial questionnaire

Stage 2: Survey randomly 10 participants to collect data from which editing and finalizing

Stage 3: Survey 120 students who are studying at the Center and collect the data Due to the impact of COVID-19 pandemic, The researcher send the completed questionnaire as a private message to each person in random 120 participants Stage 4: Analyze the received data and discuss them in the form of tables, figures for better exemplification

2.2 RESEARCH METHODS

Major Tool: S.P.S.S Software( Statistical Package for the Social Sciences)

S.P.S.S is statistical software commonly used for sociological and econometric investigations S.P.S.S has a user-friendly interface that is easy to

use because it uses mainly mouse clicks based on tools, but very few commands are used After fulfilling the data, the researcher uses this software to descriptive statistics, test the scale's reliability by using Cronbach Alpha, exploratory factor analysis (EFA.), create a representative variable and test the difference between categorical variables by analysis of variance (ANOVA)

±0.5 is satisfactory

• One-way ANOVA test: This is the main method in analyzing and evaluating information This tool is used to compare the average value of

a particular research criterion between 2 or more subjects The process of giving conclusions is shown in the chart below:

Figure 2.2.1.1: The process of analyzing the One-way ANOVA test (https://www.phamlocblog.com/2016/03/phan-tich-anova-trong-spss.html)

In the case of Sig Levene = 0.05, the researcher will continue the same

research process as Sig Levene < 0.05

2.3 SUMMARY

This study was designed to answer three main issues: the reality of students learning speaking skills at the B1 level, the factors affecting the learning of speaking skills, thereby suggesting some solutions It is hypothesized that the student's learning time devoted to this skill will affect the frequency of difficulties encountered by students, thereby influencing factors The study participants included 120 random students studying for the B1 exam

at the Center for Foreign Languages and International Education The researcher uses quantitative methods, specifically using a questionnaire to survey a large area and using inductive & deductive combined methods to conclude The

primary research method uses a questionnaire; after collecting data, the software Statistical Package for the Social Sciences will be used for descriptive statistics, reliability testing, exploratory factor analysis, and variable generation Represent and test the difference between categorical variables by analysis of variance

CHAPTER 3: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION

● What problems do non-major students face in learning English speaking skills?

● What are possible factors influencing a student's speaking skills?

3.1.2 Factors affecting student in learning english speaking skill at vietnam national university of agriculture

3.1.2.1 General Information

The purpose of general information is to provide detailed information from the participants of this questionnaire, giving us information about the subjects to be studied

a) Student’s characteristic

Figure 3.1.2.1: Student’s Characteristic

From the pie chart, it can be seen that there is no notable difference in the gender of the survey participants when the number of male participants in the survey is 61 people (accounting for 50.83%) while the number of female participants in the survey is 59 people (accounting for 49.17%) Each gender will have a different approach, so this approximately equal number will prevent the questionnaire from being too gender-biased since the solution will benefit both sides

b) Learner’s time for learning English

Figure 3.1.2.2: Learner's time for learning English

This chart reveals that most of the participants have a long time to learn English in the range of 10-15 years Besides, 28 members have studied for about 5-9 years This proves that they have had access to this subject since they were

at lower levels such as elementary or middle school, and it seems they have spent much time practising this subject Primarily, four members have studied for more than 15 years Therefore, it points out that they approach this subject from a young age and perhaps English with them will be extremely good