Hufl english majored freshmen’ attitudes towards doing english oral presentations những thái độ của sinh viên năm nhất chuyên ngành tiếng anh đối với việc thuyết trình bằng tiếng anh

This study is an attempt to make an investigation into the students‟ attitudes toward doing presentations in English classes at University of Foreign Languages, Hue University HUFL.. It

HUE UNIVERSITY UNIVERSITY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES

Student’s code : 16F7011029 Supervisor’s name : Pham Hong Anh, Ph.D

Hue, 2020

STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP

I hereby acknowledge that the information reported in this paper is the result

of my own work, except where due reference is made The data and findings are true and with permission from associates

ABSTRACT

Increasing student-talking-time in an English speaking class has been one of the main concerns in modern language teaching methods nowadays In this context, English oral presentation is considered as a satisfactory suggestion to help teachers and students achieve the teaching and learning goals English oral presentation is obviously a stimulus to motivate students, enliven the classroom atmosphere, build

up the student-student rapport, and cognitively help students‟ learning procedure

This study is an attempt to make an investigation into the students‟ attitudes toward doing presentations in English classes at University of Foreign Languages, Hue University (HUFL) It has been constructed to obtain the aims of examining the issues as well as the attitudes of first-year students toward doing English oral presentations Most importantly, the effective ways to improve to do English oral presentation skill, the researcher‟s local context, would be definitely illuminated

The research instruments for collecting the data were questionnaire and interview The questionnaire was given to the students to identify the frequency, the attitudes, the issues which students experienced and ways to improve effectively of doing oral presentations in English classes The interview was focused on the feeling, issues they faced when preparing and doing English oral presentations and some suggestions for teachers to help students improve their English oral presentations skill

The data analysis showed most of student felt anxious or nervous when starting English oral presentations and the difficulties that students experienced during their presentations Moreover, a large amount of expectations for teachers to help improve students‟ presentation skills effectively was shared from students‟ perspectives

Incidentally, the limitations of the study were examined, and a number of potential avenues for future research were suggested

This study investigates English-majored first-year students‟ attitudes towards doing English oral presentations in class at University of Foreign Languages, Hue University During the process of the investigation, I had to face dozens of difficulties as this is the first time I have conducted a complete research paper I would never have been able to finish this study without the guidance of my supervisor, help from teachers and students as the research participants, and support from my family

First and foremost, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my

supervisor, Dr Pham Hong Anh for all her enthusiastic and constant

encouragements from the beginning to the end of the study Her whole-hearted instructions, valuable advices as well as her patience with my mistakes play an important role in the fulfillment of my study

My sincere thankful words would be sent to both teachers and students who have been enthusiastically helping me perform the process of collecting data, which contributed a vital part to my paper

Last but not least, my warmest thanks would go to my family members and friends for their continuing practical support, inestimable assistance and great care for me during the time I do this research, especially in the moments of difficulty

Nguyen Dieu Linh

CONTENTS

STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP i

ABSTRACT ii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT iii

CONTENTS iv

TABLE OF FIGURES vi

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS vii

CHAPTER 1 1

INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 Background to the study 1

1.2 Research aims 2

1.3 Research questions 2

1.4 Research topic 3

1.5 Research scope 3

1.6 Research significance 3

1.7 Organization of the thesis 4

CHAPTER 2 5

LITERATURE REVIEW 5

2.1 Introduction 5

2.2 Oral presentation in EFL classes 5

2.2.1 Definition of oral presentation 5

2.2.2 Importance of oral presentations 5

2.2.3 EFL students‟ attitudes towards doing oral presentation 8

2.3 Issues about EFL student doing oral presentation 10

2.4 Previous studies 12

CHAPTER 3 17

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 17

3.1 Introduction 17

3.2 Research approaches 17

3.3 Research setting 18

3.4 Participants 19

3.5 Data collection instruments 19

3.5.1 Questionnaire 19

3.5.2 Interview 20

3.6 Data analysis 21

CHAPTER 4 22

FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 22

4.1 Introduction 22

4.2 The English-majored first-year students‟ attitudes towards doing of doing English oral presentations 22

4.3 The issues students consider before doing the English oral presentations 26

4.4 The issues students experience when they do English oral presentations 27

4.5 Some effective ways to improve English oral presentation skills at HUFL 30

4.6 Discussion 31

4.7 Summary of the chapter 34

CHAPTER 5 35

CONCLUSION 35

5.1 Introduction 35

5.2 Restatement of the study purposes 35

5.3 Summary of the findings 35

5.4 Implications of the study 36

5.5 Limitations of the study 37

5.6 Recommendations for further research 38

5.7 Conclusion 38

REFERENCES 40

APPENDIX 43

TABLE OF FIGURES

Figure 4.1 The frequency of doing English oral presentations in classes 22

Figure 4.2.The students‟ attitudes toward doing English oral presentations in classes 23

Figure 4.3 The importance of doing English oral presentations in classes 25

Figure 4.4 The activities students spend most of time to prepare 26

Figure 4.5 The students‟ feeling of doing English oral presentations in classes 27

Figure 4.6 The field students can develop by doing English oral presentations 28

Figure 4.7 The main difficulty of students‟ oral presentations in English 29

Figure 4.8 Students‟ opinions on teachers‟ roles in developing oral presentation skill 30

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

COVID-19 : Corona Virus Disease 2019

HUFL : Hue University of Foreign Languages EFL : English as a Foreign Language

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background to the study

Oral presentations are a great way to have students practice all language systems areas (vocabulary, grammar, discourse and phonology) and skills (speaking, reading, writing and listening) They also build confidence, and presenting is a skill that most people will need in the world of work It is commonly found that students who are good presenters are better communicators all round, since they are able to structure and express their ideas clearly (Tom Hayton, 2010).After completing a project, a presentation is a channel for students to share with others what they have learned It is also a chance to challenge and expand on their understanding of the topic by having others ask questions And in the world of work, a confident presenter is able to inform and persuade colleagues effectively

Oral presentations can also form a natural part of task based learning By focusing on a particular language point or skill, the presentation is a very practical way to revise and extend book, pair and group work The audience can also be set a task, for example, a set of questions to answer on the presentation, which is a way

of getting students to listen to each other

Normally the presentation will come towards the end of a lesson or series of lessons that focus on a particular language or skill area It is a type of free practice This is because the students need to feel relatively confident about what they are doing before they stand up and do it in front of other people

Especially, in the role of an English-majored student, the researcher found herself a number of issues existing in doing English oral presentations in the university context Specifically, when she was a first-year student, the issues relate

to her psychological characteristics, which are mainly concerned with shyness and anxiety, which possibly cause the student to be reluctant to speak After 4 years in university, the researcher herself has gradually overcome such psychological issues

and gained more experience in presentations such as psychological management, speaking English fluently, more confident to interact with audience and proficient use of Power point to support her presentation This improvement is resulted from many sources including a significant role of the teacher

Based on the issues and personal experiences above, the researcher decided

to investigate the attitudes towards doing English oral presentations of HUFL English-majored first-year students if they are like her or not

1.2 Research aims

This study is to make an investigation into the attitudes towards doing English oral presentations of first-year students at the University of Foreign Languages, Hue University Specifically, it has been constructed to obtain the aims

of examining the students‟ attitudes toward doing English oral presentations as well

as issues before and while they do English oral presentations at HUFL Most importantly, this study recognizes the current situations as well as propose solutions

to improve English oral presentation skill for English-majored first-year students

1.3 Research questions

The study attempts to answer the following questions:

1 What are HUFL English-majored first-year students’ attitudes towards doing English oral presentations?

2 What issues do first-year students consider before doing the English oral presentations?

3 What issues do first-year students experience when they do English oral presentations?

4 What do first-year students expect their teachers to help them to improve English oral presentation skill?

1.4 Research topic

This study is entitled:

“HUFL ENGLISH-MAJORED FIRST-YEAR STUDENTS’

ATTITUDES TOWARDS DOING ENGLISH ORAL PRESENTATIONS” 1.5 Research scope

This study is focused on first-year students with major of English at Hue University of Foreign Languages Each student has taken at least 2 modules of English oral presentations With these participants, the research hopes that they are eligible for giving reviews and comments about English oral presentations

1.6 Research significance

The researcher made up her mind to apply oral presentations into the teaching and learning process to facilitate and encourage students in the future The success of this research, to some extent, can be beneficial to the following groups of people:

To begin with, this application will obviously bring benefits to students since this skill can encourage them to learn actively and speak effectively Moreover, oral presentations enable the application in any other language skills, which helps students to complete the necessary language competence of any language learners Especially, since oral presentation is one of the important skills that employers require of students after graduating from university so students grasp this request will be easier to find the desired job

To the teachers, this will hopefully place an impact on their awareness of the issues when students doing English oral presentations Further, if possible, it proposes practical suggestions so that they can provide learners with the optimal learning context A more important thing is that teachers can break out of traditional teaching methods, which were usually teacher-centered orientation, since English oral presentations enhances the student-talking-time in speaking classes, an indispensable principle for student-centered teaching methods nowadays

Personally, the researcher herself also has so many benefits thanks to this study as her knowledge and skills in implementing English oral presentations would

be augmented in the future Thanks to the findings of the research, some implications would be revealed in order to maximize the efficiency of this skill

1.7 Organization of the thesis

This thesis comprises five chapters, namely Introduction, Literature Review, Methodology, Findings and Discussion, and Conclusion

Chapter I – Introduction – deals with an overview of the study It states the background, the aims, the research topic and questions, the scope, the significance, and the organization of the research

Chapter II – Literature Review – gives consideration into the concept, the characteristics and the importance of presentation In addition, it goes through foreign language classrooms, which includes the roles of a teacher in presentation activities in an English classroom Then the researcher would go into the cooperative learning, the background of English oral presentations, comprising its definition, components and advantages Next, the concept and the issues of English oral presentations are revealed In the end, some previous studies would be critically discussed to make this study persuasive

Chapter III – Methodology – describes the methods chosen for the study It exposed a detailed description about research approaches, participants, and data collection including instruments of the research and data analysis

Chapter IV – Findings and Discussion – reports the findings from data collection The data are tabulated, analyzed, and then discussed

Chapter V – Conclusion – summarizes the result of the study In addition, this chapter proposes some implications and recommendations for further research

CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Introduction

This chapter presents basis issues of (1) oral presentation in EFL classes, which include definition, importance of oral presentation in language learning and students‟ attitudes toward doing English oral presentations; (2) issues about EFL students doing English oral presentations; (3) some previous studies to draw this study on persuasion

2.2 Oral presentation in EFL classes

2.2.1 Definition of oral presentation

According to Pitman Publishing (1987), an oral presentation is a short talk on

a set topic given to a tutorial or seminar group In an oral presentation one (or more) students give a talk to a tutorial group and present views on a topic based on their readings or research The rest of the group then joins in a discussion of the topic Oral presentations have been shown to be extremely successful with respect to improve learners‟ language skills, and increasing their autonomy For example, Girard, Pinar and Trapp (2011) found that using oral presentations

in their classroom lead to greater class interaction and participation, an increased interest in learning, and noticeable improvements in their students‟ communication and presentation skills King (2002) adds that oral presentations have been shown to help bridge the gap between language study and language use; that presentations require students to use all four language skills in a naturally integrated way; and that presentations have been shown to encourage students to become active and autonomous learners

2.2.2 Importance of oral presentations

For most language learners and teachers the following five major benefits of using oral presentations in the classroom are often recognised:

They are student-centered

 They require the use of all four language skills

 They provide students with realistic language tasks

 They have value outside the language classroom

 They improve students‟ motivation

One of the main benefits of using presentations in the classroom is that oral presentations are student-centered When students are asked to give an oral presentation it is one of the few times in the language classroom that the students themselves have direct control of both the content and the flow of the classroom (Apple & Kikuchi, 2007) This is because the students who are presenting have the ability to choose the topic that they want to talk about, select the language items that they want to use to talk about that topic, and decide how they will explain that topic

to their classmates With little or no intervention from the teacher, a properly scaffold presentation can result in multiple opportunities for students to improve their English in a context in which the students themselves are acting as both teachers and learners

Interactions between the presenters and the audience provide both sets of participants with numerous opportunities to practice their English abilities with other students in an authentic manner Oral presentations also provide students with

a process-driven activity that requires them to use English, not just while they are giving the presentation itself, but also while they are preparing to present One good example of this is group presentations Group presentations require students to work together to plan and prepare for their presentation During group work students can

be encouraged to use English to negotiate meaning with the other members of their group and to work together, in English, to plan how they will present their ideas to the other members of the class This facilitates English use to meet a specific goal,

in an authentic way, and with very little intervention from the teacher

Another benefit of oral presentations is that they require students to use all four language skills; writing, reading, speaking, and listening Most teachers Using Oral Presentations to Improve Students‟ English Language Skills 204 recognize the

spoken component of presenting, as students are required to speak when giving their presentations However, properly structured academic presentations also require students to research and plan out their presentation This requires students to use their language reading and writing skills Students also have the opportunity to practice their writing skills when they are asked to give presentations that include some type of visual component When they are preparing for these presentations students will have to write out the appropriate information on their poster or in their PowerPoint slides Finally, students have the opportunity to practice their listening skills when they act as the audience members for the other groups‟ presentations If these students are given a simple task to do during the presentation, or are expected

to use the knowledge disseminated through the presentation for a specific purpose, this will allow them to use this opportunity to practice their listening skills The communicative nature of presentations also allows audience members to improve their listening skills more than listening to a tape or a lecture would because they are able to confirm their understanding by asking questions and interacting with the presenters

Oral presentations provide realistic language tasks for students to engage in This is important because speaking tasks that have no relation to real-life language use “are poor preparation for autonomy.” (Thornbury, 2005, p 91) Presentations also provide a more authentic way of practicing English than simple speaking drills This is because they require second language students to use their second language

to understand the topics they are presenting on and communicate this understanding

to others This is closer to real language use and gives students an opportunity to develop research and critical thinking skills, as well as linguistic and communicative skills

Presentations have also been shown to improve students‟ abilities in ways that can be beneficial for their future employment (Živković, 2014) This is especially true in the EAP or ESP context, where there is a much higher chance that students will be asked to use English to present in their future jobs (Bruce, 2011) However, even beyond the EAP and ESP context, experience with oral

presentations can be beneficial to students‟ future careers because many potential future employers place a high degree of importance on the communication skills that students learn during a presentation class Nowadays many employees are looking for candidates who have the ability to give formal presentations, and the skills that students learn when they are presenting in English are transferable to their first language (Pittenger, 2004)

The final benefit of using oral presentations in the language classroom is that they can provide students with additional motivation to study English Oral presentations do more than just give students an opportunity to practice language Gavin BROOKS and John WILSON 205 skills; they also give students an opportunity to teach something to their peers If the activity is properly scaffold, students will be able to work independently to produce an effective presentation This can lead to higher levels of motivation for the students involved, as they are able to see the results of their hard work when they are successful in the presentation that they give One of the joys of teaching a presentation class is seeing students gain confidence, self-esteem, and autonomy while they are working independently, or as a small group, to produce and give an effective presentation

2.2.3 EFL students’ attitudes towards doing oral presentation

Gömleksiz‟s (2010) findings in the students„ attitudes evaluation pertaining

to English language learning in terms of several variables, revealed significant differences between the attitudes of students in terms of grade level, department variables The researcher used a survey to analyze the students‟ attitudes towards English language learning Descriptive statistics were used by the researcher to analyze the demographic characteristics of the respondents T-test was used to see the differences between university students‟ attitudes towards learning English in terms of grade level The research was carried out at the analysis of variances of students‟ attitudes pertaining to learning English based on department variables The researcher found that sophomores or second year students‟ attitudes were more positive than first-year students in terms of self-confidence, interest, teacher

subscales and usefulness Second year students‟ tendency towards learning English was much higher than first-year students‟

A recent study about language attitudes of Turkish students towards the English language and its use in Turkish context has been carried out by Karahan (2007) This research examines the relationship between the language use and language attitudes towards the English language in Turkey The method of inquiry used by the researcher, a questionnaire that was conducted to 190 students of a primary school in Adana The findings revealed that students have mildly positive attitudes towards the use of English and the English language in Turkey Concerning the attitudes towards the use of English in Turkey, the Turkish students are aware and conscious of the importance of the level of proficiency of English language helpful to understand cultures of others and they tend to have more accurate and fluent English speaking skills However, they are not very tolerant to people of Turkey speaking English language among themselves Ghazivini and Khajehpure‟s study (2011) identified Iranian students‟ attitudes and motivations concerning learning English language The result of Ghazivini & Khajehpure‟s research showed that students were motivated to learning English language The findings posited also that students are more inclined to bilingualism Generally, students have positive attitudes to learning English language

Yang and Lan (2003) reported that students were relaxed and comfortable with the environments of language and courses offered in educational settings Students, according to the researchers, are conscious of the importance of learning English in the post-1997 era The learners reported that a more flexible and liberal choice of English courses are provided at university supported them to possess the language needed for personal growth and professional career Students perceived the idea of how important it is to have a positive attitude towards the English language Duer and Sayar (2013) identified Turkish students‟ attitudes towards English language in speaking classes The method used in this research was a survey The result of the survey indicates that

the majority of students have positive attitudes about learning English However, sometimes students feel anxious They are comparatively willing and interested to learn more English with having the consciousness of the importance of English language learning In terms of anxiety, when the feelings of in and out of class anxiety levels are measured, it is found that the anxiety level of student increases once they are in class rather than out of it Durer and Sayar (2013) indicated that most of the students realized the significance of English language They were aware that English is needed even after they finish their study

In conclusion, from the above-mentioned issues, it can be seen that most of the first-year students are interested in learning English Especially, they have a sense

of anxiety when doing English oral presentations They are aware of the importance

of doing presentations and recognize anxiety as well as the lack of confidence when doing presentations in class

2.3 Issues about EFL student doing oral presentation

This section will discuss the problems which students face before and during making presentations In the main presentation sessions, the students were properly briefed by the facilitators i.e researchers on the basic principles of oral presentation in English since it was their first experience of this type These principles include proper verbal and non-verbal communication, planning content, using effective delivery techniques, designing powerful visual aids and gaining control of external factors that can impact on the presentation process Applying lecture methods, written guideline and PowerPoint presentation techniques, the freshmen were well-informed earlier to get prepared mentally for excellent class presentation and reduce stress on the right occasion Mock presentation sessions were also conducted in the class for several times; the objective was to prepare the participants for presenting a topic following presentation principles and apply the learnt skills and techniques properly on stage

As one of the convenient steps for preparation, the participants of the current study were given a familiar topic first to speak for a minute in front of the

classmates and teacher They were then briefed on the specific book they are supposed to read and present orally in real presentation session Some of them worked and presented on separate chapters of the text while others presented merely summaries or major characters from the text according to their choices Before the final presentation, they were called on stage to boost up their confidence, esp to speak in English without fear Developing their other skills in presentation like body language was also the part of pre-presentation stage

The main attraction of the entire study is, undoubtedly, the oral presentation session arranged for the first-students in English language class The target students were given options to present their ideas on the assigned topic either naturally i.e presenting a topic in front of the audience as usual or by utilizing technology i.e PowerPoint presentation They were even given choice to work and present their topics as a group The remarkable aspect in this part is that the confident students of the class presented their assigned topic through individual performance During the presentation session, the course instructor graded their performance following the criteria mentioned in the „Class Presentation Assessment Format‟ in the Appendix part

The major objective of the evaluation of performance is to assess the speaking skills of the students and their ability to apply formal presentation techniques within the stipulated time frame in the class environment In fact, the effectiveness of pre-presentation session regarding the presentation strategies was cross checked at this stage Marks were allotted for good starting and icebreaking, clear voice, proper eye contact, maintaining gesture-posture, and most importantly,

„confidence‟ However, in PowerPoint presentation, the students‟ preparation and use of visual aid were also assessed carefully The class instructor tried to observe how the presenters managed their stress and remained spontaneous while presenting their individual parts Sometimes the best presentation in the class was recorded as a guideline and reference for future presenters

2.4 Previous studies

As some ideas mentioned above, it has been acknowledgeable that oral presentation skill face with many obstacles There are a lot of reasons to explain this issue However, the current researcher believes that there are many reasons, which from language, feeling and technology In terms of language, they always bring the feeling of no confidence when producing a sentence in English This is perhaps caused by the lack of vocabulary, the hesitation of pronunciation and the inability to use the exact grammar points Moreover, they are always shy to make mistakes in front of many other peers Everyone seems to be “safe” if they remain silent at their seats from the beginning to the end of a speaking class With regard to technology, some of them are not still managing the devices well, which is known as PowerPoint visual aid

Oral presentations skill allows students to engage in speaking activities Furthermore, students can transmit their peer students to understand the material and get more different ideas from their own Since the students have to be actively involved in the teaching and learning process, oral presentation is expected to improve students‟ classroom participation and speaking ability

Realizing this issue, many researchers thus have recently conducted a lot of studies to emphasize the facilitating role of oral presentation in language classes

There are many authors all over the world supporting the advantages of oral presentation It has been discussed from a comparative study based on Japanese and Bangladeshi English language practices in the classroom The interesting fact is that there are lots of similarities regarding practices of English in these two countries just like their flags As stated by Brooks & Wilson (2014), very few university students in Japan get the scope to apply spoken English in the classroom before entering university, and even less have the ample scope to talk about academic topics in English (Apple, 2011) Ultimately inexperience in practicing spoken English affects the performance in oral presentations in formal occasion which is also true for Bangladeshi students Similarly, before pursuing higher education,

most of the Japanese and Bangladeshi students hardly get favorable atmosphere to speak in English in front of their peers, especially for the purpose of oral presentation Moreover, for most Japanese and Bangladeshi students at higher studies, the lack of familiarity with oral presentations and its techniques make them feel shy and embarrassed when they are asked to say something in English facing their peers

One of the advantages of practicing oral presentations in the classroom is that the learners can learn to use their language to communicate with others in a natural way If this type of activity is properly designed and executed, participating

in an oral presentation can really be an enjoyable learning experience for the presenter–learners for it allows them to interact with others using only their language In fact, formal presentations in English require the students to use only English to communicate an idea to the audience This type of communication is also one of the major objectives of communicative language teaching Apart from this, oral presentations, especially group presentations create opportunities for the students to engage in a cooperative task that requires them to use English to explain their ideas and to negotiate meaning while they are planning and practicing their presentations

However, it is a matter of regret that oral presentations are often not incorporated in all language courses As stated by Brooks & Wilson (2014), sometimes it is found as one-time summative assessment at the end of the course with very little class time spent on getting the students ready to present The result

of this is that students are not well-prepared to present any topic and often do not find the presentations to be a positive learning experience All the facts stated here are mostly applicable for both Japanese and Bangladeshi contexts

Another aspect of oral presentation is that it is possible to attain professional development by virtue of good presentation practices Employers expect graduates

to possess excellent communication skills, especially in speaking and writing As a result, the skills the students develop in class presentation at tertiary level become

an important asset in future for utilizing positive learning experiences (Alshare &

Hindi, 2004) Usually, the employers seek excellent verbal and non-verbal communication skills in the potential candidates when they apply for jobs after graduation from any discipline For presentation, acquiring communication competence is important and we know that language is such a human capacity which helps us acquire and use the complex systems of communication So, to study language and use it in different circumstances effectively, oral presentation proves to be useful as because it covers the gap between language study and language use requiring the students to use all four language skills In this regard, students‟ engagement in learning language skills is very much important Unless the students assimilate their skills with real life situation, the consequence of learning language skills will go in vein It is seen that oral presentations could possibly provide realistic language tasks for students to engage in Otherwise speaking tasks without relation to real-life language use “are poor preparation for autonomy”(Thornbury, 2005)

King (2002) adds that oral presentations generally help to bridge the gap between language study and language use Good presentation requires learners to apply all four language skills in a naturally integrated way; it also encourages the learners to be an active and autonomous learners Another advantage of practicing oral presentations in the class is that it provides a student more authentic way of practicing English than simple speaking drills The students get the scope to use their language to understand the topics they are presenting on and communicate this understanding to others In fact, this is closer to real language use and gives learners

a chance to develop research and critical thinking skills, as well as linguistic and communicative skills

Although English is taught as a compulsory subject from primary to tertiary education in Bangladesh, most of the students are not exposed to the privileges for speaking English properly The factors that affect learners‟ oral communication here are mainly shyness, pronunciation difficulty, inappropriate uses of vocabulary and grammar (Khan, H.R., 2007) Moreover, EFL teachers in Bangladesh face big challenges in improving learners‟ communicative competency for various reasons

Concentration on merely exam-based preparation up to higher secondary education disregarding essential communication skills is one of the major obstacles for Bangladeshi EFL learners (Munira, 2017) Thus it can be asserted that the study of oral proficiency in English is a neglected area in Bangladesh Khan (2007) has opined that although English texts utilized from primary to higher secondary education cover all areas of language skills in English, the facilitators seem too unwilling to engage students in oral communication for the lack of technical and other resources and supports

As a result, entering into university education, the students find themselves

at stake when they need to implicate their communication skills for lack of practice Besides this grim truth, these non-native speakers of English are scared of making mistakes while speaking in English This ultimately affects their oral presentation facing the audience for they hesitate to speak in English fluently Robby (2010) addressing a foreign English speaker stated that some people avoid communication

in the most crucial and serious situations only to avoid embarrassment and humiliation In fear of making mistakes if someone stops speaking and practicing enough, it cannot, as a matter of fact, help improving speaking English skills! (englishharmony.com, 2010)

Prof Md Fazlur Rahman (2014) expressed his concern that the teachers‟ roles in teaching communicative English The study set a framework of the teachers help presenters to overcome the challenges mentioned in this paper It is expected that the strategies mentioned in the next parts of this paper will be effective for

„better oral presentation in English‟ in the classes and formal occasions It can be useful for those who have the aspiration to impress their audience not only by their language skills but also by applying essential techniques for smart presentation It is noteworthy that formal presentation is related to both good language skills and essential non-verbal communication techniques since the audience actually likes to enjoy the entire session visually and listening to the speakers

From the above discussed research, it is obvious that oral presentation is widely applied to all language skills However, this technique is particularly useful for language speaking classes as students would be more dynamic and proactive, which motivates the current researcher as an English language teacher in the future

to conduct this research With the advantages of English oral presentation, it is highly recommended to be employed in language classroom

In my study, in the context of university, through the above studies I found

it necessary to learn issues students face before and during the presentation From there, we can give suggestions that teachers can help students improve their presentation skills

CHAPTER 3 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 3.1 Introduction

This chapter aims at describing in detail how the research is conducted It is divided into three main sessions, which are research approaches, research setting, participants, and data collection including instruments of the research and data analysis

classes at HUFL

In terms of qualitative research, Gay and Airasian (2000) defined it as the collection of extensive data which was used in a naturalistic setting in order to gain the subjective opinions Denzin and Lincoln (2005) also noted that qualitative research was not based on a single methodology and did not belong to a single

discipline It “draws on philosophical ideas in phenomenology, symbolic interactionism, hermeneutics and other traditions to support the attention on

“quality” rather than “quantity””, (Brewer, 2003, p.239) In general, qualitative studies are concerned with process, context, interpretation, meaning or understanding through inductive reasoning In this research, the researcher used a list of 4 questions to interview students in order to explore the frequency of doing English oral presentations in their classes; the attitudes towards and their issues when doing oral presentations; some assumed effective ways for teachers to help students improve the presentation skill

It can be acknowledgeable that each of the above approaches has its own advantages and disadvantages From the view of quantitative research, it does not always shed light on the full complication of human perceptions Moreover, it can reveal what or to what extent, but cannot always explore why or how (Lancaster, 2016) On the other hand, in qualitative research, unreliability is common because different results may appear with different subjective ideas from people to people Besides, it is not always generalizable due to small sample sizes (Kaya, 2013) Judging from the above points of view, the researcher comes to a decision to combine both of the methods to make this study as clear as possible

All in all, combining of both approaches to collect data techniques for this study was likely to offer a multi-dimensional perspective towards the study It is strongly convinced that this triangulation can be a valuable means to get the most precise and pertinent information for the study (Burn, 1990)

3.3 Research setting

The study was conducted at the Department of English, Hue University of Foreign Languages In here, English-majored first-year students conducted oral presentations in English in class, most of which were Speaking 1 This is one of the practical subjects and average hours per week 2 periods, applied to the students are

at English level B1 Students do their English oral presentations according to the Northstar textbook and the teacher's assignment of topics All classrooms are