Speaking problems and causal factors perceived by the eleventh graders at tay ninh high school

Eventually, some implications were for students, teachers and further research in developing the teaching and learning quality of English speaking skills at high school context... LIST

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

HO CHI MINH CITY OPEN UNIVERSITY -

SPEAKING PROBLEMS AND CAUSAL FACTORS PERCEIVED BY THE ELEVENTH GRADERS

AT TAY NINH HIGH SCHOOL

A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of

Master of Arts (TESOL)

Submitted by THAN THANH LONG Supervisor: PHAM VU PHI HO, Assoc Prof Dr

Ho Chi Minh City, 2019

TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC MỞ CỘNG HÒA XÃ HỘI CHỦ NGHĨA VIỆT NAM THÀNH PHỐ HỒ CHÍ MINH Độc lập – Tự do – Hạnh phúc

KHOA ĐÀO TẠO SAU ĐẠI HỌC

GIẤY XÁC NHẬN

Tôi tên là: Thân Thành Long

Ngày sinh: 07-01-1991 Nơi sinh: Tây Ninh

Chuyên ngành: LL & PPGD Tiếng Anh Mã học viên: 1581401110020

Tôi đồng ý cung cấp toàn văn thông tin luận án/ luận văn tốt nghiệp hợp lệ về bản quyền cho Thư viện trường đại học Mở Thành phố Hồ Chí Minh Thư viện trường đại học Mở Thành phố Hồ Chí Minh sẽ kết nối toàn văn thông tin luận án/ luận văn tốt nghiệp vào hệ thống thông tin khoa học của Sở Khoa học và Công nghệ Thành phố Hồ Chí Minh

(Ghi rõ họ và tên)

………

ceNG Hda xA Hgr cn(r rucsia vrET NAM

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.f runN cHO pI{Ep BAo vE t,uAN vAN THAC si

Gi6ng vi6n hudng d6n: l'GS 'tS PHAM VU pHl HO

Hsc vi0n thrrc hiOn: fffAN THANII LONG L,6p: MTESOL015A

Ngdy sinh: 07101/1991 Ncri sinh: T6y Ninh

TOn t10 tdi:

SPEAKING PIIOBLEMS AND CAUSAI, F-ACTORS I'TTRCEIVED BY THE ELEVBNTH

GRADERS AT TAY NINI{ HIGH SCHOOL

Y ti6n cria gi6o viOn hu6ng d6n vd viQc cho ph6p hoc vi6n THAN THANH LONG

clugc b6o vQ lupn v[n trudc HQi d6ng:

Thdnh pnA ni Chi Minh, ngdy'lQthdng 03 ndm 2019

STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP

I certify that this thesis entitled “Speaking Problems and Causal Factors Perceived by

the Eleventh Graders at Tay Ninh High School” is my own work

Except where reference is made in the text of the thesis, this thesis contain material published elsewhere or extracted in whole or in part from a thesis by which I have qualified for or been awarded another degree or diploma

No other person’s work has been used without due acknowledgement in the main text of the thesis

This thesis has not been submitted for the award of any degree or diploma in any other tertiary institution

RETENTION AND USE OF THE THESIS

I hereby state that I, THAN THANH LONG, being a candidate for the degree of Master

of Arts (TESOL), accept the requirements of the University relating to the retention and use of Master’s Theses deposited in the Library

In terms of these conditions, I agree that the original of my Master’s Thesis deposited in the Library should be accessible for the purposes of study and research, in accordance with the normal conditions established by the Librarian for the care, loan, and reproduction for theses

Ho Chi Minh City, 2019

THAN THANH LONG

to describe the extent of my gratitude

I would like to express my particular gratitude to my beloved husband and children for their unconditional love, understanding, encouragement, financial and spiritual support over time and distance

I owe a great debt of gratitude to the eleventh-grade students at Tay Ninh High School who contributed data to this thesis

ABSTRACT

The teaching and learning of vocabulary at the high school context has recently received much attention to by teachers and learners Nevertheless, many high school students still

encounter with some troubles in their speaking performance Purposely, this study was

carried out to scrutinize the eleventh-grade students’ self-perceptions of their speaking problems and potential causal factors

Conceptually, to achieve the purpose above, the study reviewed relevant literature,

including speaking problem types, causal factor sources, previous studies and research gaps, which formulated basic foundations for this study

Methodologically, the study was conducted at Tay Ninh high school with the

participation of 280 eleventh-grade students Mixed-methods research was employed in this study, i.e., both quantitative and qualitative data were collected from questionnaires and semi-structured interviews As for data analysis, descriptive statistics (e.g., mean, standard deviation, and frequencies/percentages) and inferential statistics (e.g Pearson coefficients, Beta values) were used to analyze quantitative data, whereas qualitative data were analyzed through content analysis

The findings of the study revealed that a greater part of the eleventh graders at Tay Ninh

high school frequently experienced these problems, violating speaking qualities of accuracy, fluency and appropriateness; alongside, many students also encountered with some typical problems such as inhibition, nothing to say, low participation, and mother-tongue use These speaking problems derived from two main causal factor domains, including internal and external factors

Eventually, some implications were for students, teachers and further research in

developing the teaching and learning quality of English speaking skills at high school context

2.2.2.4 Mother Tongue Use 13

3.2.2.1 Demographic Information of Piloted Participants 32

3.2.2.2 Demographic Information of Main Participants 33

3.4.1.1 Rationale for the Questionnaire 38

3.4.1.2 Description of the Questionnaire 38

3.4.2.1 Rationale for the Semi-structured Interview 40

3.4.2.2 Description of the Semi-structured Interview 40

3.7.2 Qualitative Analysis for the Semi-Structured Interview 48

CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSIONS, LIMITATIONS AND IMPLICATIONS 102

APPENDIX C: CONSENT FORM FOR THE LEADER OF THE ENGLISH

DEVISION (VIETNAMESE VERSION)

127

LIST OF TABLES

Page

Table 3.1: Description of the Speaking Section in English 11 31

Table 3.2: The Relationship between Research Questions and Research Instruments 37

Table 3.6: Overall Evaluation of the Piloted Questionnaire 43

Table 3.7: The Sequence of Questionnaire Distribution and Collection 44

Table 4.1: Linguistic Problems Faced by the Eleventh-Grade Students 53

Table 4.2: Causal Factors on Linguistic Problems as Perceived by the Eleventh-Grade

Students

58

Table 4.2b: Summary Results of Regression Analysis (Accuracy Problems) 61

Table 4.2d: Summary Results of Regression Analysis (Fluency Problems) 65

Table 4.2e: Correlation Coefficients (Appropriateness Problems) 66

Table 4.2f: Summary Results of Regression Analysis (Appropriateness Problems) 67

Table 4.3a: The Interview Results of Accuracy Problems (Grammar) 68

Table 4.3b: The Interview Results of Accuracy Problems (Vocabulary) 69

Table 4.3c: The Interview Results of Accuracy Problems (Pronunciation) 70

Table 4.3e: The Interview Results of Appropriateness Problems 72

Table 4.4: Non-Linguistic Problems Faced by the Eleventh-Grade Students 77

Table 4.5: Causal Factors on Non-Linguistic Problems as Perceived by the

Eleventh-Grade Students

80

Table 4.5b: Summary Results of Regression Analysis (Inhibition Problems) 84

Table 4.5c: Correlation Coefficients (Nothing to Say Problems) 86

Table 4.5d: Summary Results of Regression Analysis (Nothing to Say Problems) 86

Table 4.5e: Correlation Coefficients (Nothing to Say Problems) 87

Table 4.5f: Summary Results of Regression Analysis (Nothing to Say Problems) 87

Table 4.5g: Correlation Coefficients (Low Participation Problems) 90

Table 4.5h: Summary Results of Regression Analysis (Low Participation Problems) 90

Table 4.5i: Correlation Coefficients (Use of Mother Tongue Problems) 92

Table 4.5j: Summary Results of Regression Analysis (Use of Mother Tongue Problems) 92

Table 4.6b: The Interview Results of Nothing to Say Problem 94

Table 4.6c: The Interview Results of Low Participation Problem 95

Table 4.6d: The Interview Results of Use of Mother Tongue Problem 96

LIST OF FIGURES, CHARTS

Page

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale to the Study

The prominent aim of English language pedagogy these days is to facilitate language learners to communicate in English effectively and confidently (Davies & Pearse, 2000) The common question that arises from anybody who wants to know one’s ability in foreign language is whether he/she can speak English or not (Heriansyah, 2012) In line with this, Nunan (1991) states that for most people, mastering speaking skill is the single most important aspect of learning a second or foreign language, and the ability to make a conversation in English is deemed to be successful

In principle, speaking is an interactive process of constructing meaning that involves producing and receiving and processing information (Brown, 1994) through using verbal and non-verbal symbols in different contexts (Nunan, 1995) More broadly, speaking is a kind of bridge for learners between classroom and the world outside (Hadfield, 1999) It is vehicle for development of social solidarity, of social ranking, of professional advancement and business To elaborate, the ability to speak effectively supports how far our interaction going and how well relationship can be achieved (Efrizal, 2012) Thus, in language education, speaking skill is an important part of curriculum (Luoma, 2004) Hence, building up communicative competence is the basic purpose of language teaching and learning In general, speaking is of great significance in our life because without speaking we cannot know what the other talk and speaking also

is the way that we use to interaction with the other people (Nunan, 1995) Nevertheless,

as a matter of fact, most of the language learners frequently confront several speaking problems which devalue their speaking performance By the same token, there exist several causal factors from different angles entailing the students’ speaking problems Thus, an investigation of speaking problems and causal factors is of great significance, which contributes to the amelioration of language teaching and learning

1.2 Problem Statement

In reality, it seems that language learners are not able to communicate effectively even though they have spent so many years studying English language Zhang (2009) argues that speaking remains the most difficult skill to master for the majority of English learners, and they are still incompetent in communicating orally in English Indeed, English speaking is not an easy task because speakers should capture many significant elements of speaking performance like pronunciation, grammar, vocabulary, fluency, appropriacy, and other affective variables In the same vein, learning to speak a foreign language requires more than knowing its grammatical and semantic rules (Heriansyah, 2012)

Furthermore, numerous researchers have studied speaking problems faced by language learners in their oral productions According to Leong and Ahmadi (2017), the difficulties faced by the students in speaking can be divided in terms of accuracy and fluency As per Bhattacharya (2017), accuracy-related problems may be mispronouncing

a single sound or wrong use of stresses and intonations, lack of receptive vocabulary for productive use in speaking activities, or inaccurate use of grammar points in speech Consequently, these problems can lead to misunderstanding among interlocutors (Larsen-Freeman, 2001) Learners should notice the accuracy of grammatical structures, vocabulary, and pronunciation when making English utterances (Mazouzi, 2013) Regarding fluency-related problems, Iswara (2012) describes that when the learners speak to the others, they try to make the hearers understand about what they want to say For being that case, they usually hesitate and fragmentary unduly while speaking Besides, speaking problems are also pertinent to affective (i.e psychological) states For example, students are fear of making mistakes, shy and anxious while speaking Besides, lack of motivation and confidence are indicators of psychological problems Generally speaking, these psychological problems may bring negative effect towards student’s speaking performance (Leong & Ahmadi, 2017)

If teachers want to help learners overcome their speaking problems, they should identify some causal factors that influence their students’ speaking performance Actually, many language learners still cannot perform a simple and short conversation in English accurately, fluently and confidently due to a set of complicated factors Ur (1996) eludes four factors that make speaking difficult for second or foreign language students

To the first problem, the learners tended to keep reticent and keep silent during speaking activities, they were fearful of making mistakes which they thought that they would be laughed by their classmates To the second problem, the learners often were stuck to express something because they lacked topical knowledge and had no motivation as well

To the third problem, the learners showed their tendency of low participation in speaking activities To the fourth problem, the learners were favored of using their mother tongue during speaking tasks

In Vietnam, Nguyen and Tran (2015) list some reasons affecting Vietnamese learners’ speaking performance like performance conditions, psychological conditions, listening ability and feedback during speaking activities Most recently, Dao (2017) figure out factors affecting the speaking performance of students at one university of Vietnam First, teachers let students use much Vietnamese to express the ideas Second, students lack motivation and are shy and afraid of making mistakes and speaking in public Third, the curriculum and textbooks do not contain sufficient amount of exercise for speaking skills Fourth, students are not given enough time for speaking practice Fifth, the environment in speaking class is not really exciting and motivating To sum up, there exist two main domains of causal factors that exert influence on Vietnamese students’ nurturing their speaking performance, that is, internal factors (e.g language competence, psychology) and external factors (e.g curriculum, materials, learning environment)

Like any other high schools in Vietnam, English is one of the compulsory subjects taught at Tay Ninh high school Most of the students have learnt it since they were in grade six Although the students learn all four skills of the target language (i.e., listening, speaking, reading and writing), the two former skills are exclusive in any tests and exams Most tests are designed to check the students’ grammatical and lexical knowledge, reading comprehension ability As a result, the students can master some grammatical and lexical input but they find it challenging to communicate in English even at sentential level However, there are possibly a lot of other speaking problems and difficulties beyond that Based on the private talk with one English teacher at Tay Ninh high school, almost all the students speak English with a lot of grammatical errors; besides, they lack vocabulary needed for the speaking activities On the whole, their speaking performance is low fluent and confident At the same time, there exist a variety

of factors which negatively impact their speaking performance and catalyze these speaking problems This teacher of the preliminary interview also revealed that the students’ speaking problems could derive from the students, the schooling environment

1.4 Research Questions

In order to achieve the aforementioned objectives, the following research

questions were formulated:

RQ.1: What are speaking linguistic problems encountered by the eleventh-grade

students at Tay Ninh High School? What are causal factors?

RQ.2: What are speaking non-linguistic problems encountered by the

eleventh-grade students at Tay Ninh High School? What are causal factors?

1.5 Significance of the Study

The current study investigates the speaking problems that the eleventh graders at Tay Ninh High School have faced during the process of learning English speaking lessons The study seeks the significant results for both the teachers and the students at Tay Ninh High School Through the results of the study, both the teachers and students can understand the speaking problems affecting these students’ English speaking performance such as linguistic problems and psychological hindrances Besides, the sought causal factors in terms of teacher roles, teaching ways, materials, classroom environment as well as students themselves are salient indicators helping teachers, students and institutes find out feasible solutions As a result, the students’ speaking performance can be improved as much as possible

1.6 Structure of the Study

The current thesis is comprised of five chapters as follows:

The current chapter, Introduction, presents the rationale to the study, the problem statement, the research aims, research questions and significance of the study

In Chapter 2, the theoretical background to this research is provided by reviewing the areas of interest to the study A brief review of speaking skill with regard to its definition and components is first presented Following this, areas related to the types of

speaking problems as well as factors leading to low speaking performance are substantially reviewed The final section of this chapter contains a summary of the main previous studies on the speaking problems and causal factors, which situates the study itself

Chapter 3 undertakes its function of clarifying the research methodology to attain the objectives formulated in Chapter 1 This chapter depicts the research setting, the participants, the instruments, the data collection and the analysis Methodological issues are also discussed as an inevitable constituent of this chapter

Chapter 4 is assigned to present the results of the questionnaire and the structured interview in a comprehensive way In specific, the results are emerged from the analysis and interpretation of the data of these research instruments

semi-Chapter 5 with its name is to discuss the key results gathered from the previous chapter according to the two research questions The discussion is linked to the existing literature reviewed in Chapter 2

Finally, Chapter 6 is constructed to summarize key findings of the research and evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of the methodology Based on these actions, this chapter continues with some recommendations for this study and further study in the realm of speaking teaching and learning

CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter presents the literature relevant to the current study First of all, background of speaking skill is clarified in terms of definition of speaking skill, types and aspects of speaking performance, and components of communicative competence Following that, speaking problems are categorized and elucidated apropos of linguistic and non-linguistic domains Next, factors contributing to these speaking problems are fully provided, i.e internal and external factors Later on, some previous studies in this field are also summarized, which helps the researcher identify the research gaps Finally, this chapter provides the conceptual framework pillaring the researcher in designing data collection instruments and in addressing the research questions

2.1 Background of Speaking Skill

2.1.1 Definition of Speaking Skill

Each expert has yielded different ways of defining speaking skill from another Thornbury (2005) defines that speaking is an activity in real life that is carried out by speaker to express his/ her ideas to interact with interlocutors To be more specific, according to Nunan (1991), speaking refers to the ability to express a sequence of ideas

or to produce utterances fluently Emphasizing the function of speaking skill, it is about making people understand speaker’s feeling and ideas by speaking out the language (Cameron, 2001) Commonly, Kayi (2006) attributes speaking to the process of erecting and dispensing meaning through the manipulation of verbal and non-verbal modes in a multitude of contexts

In summary, speaking is an activity in which the speaker produces utterances (Nunan, 1991) through the use of verbal and non-verbal forms (Kayi, 2006) to express ideas in order to exchange information, so the other interlocutor understands what the speaker wants to convey (Cameron, 2001; Thornbury, 2005)

2.1.2 Types of Classroom Speaking Performance

In English classroom, students are expected to perform their English speaking activities and tasks These are the kinds of oral production that students are expected to carry out in the classroom proposed by Brown (2000) as follows:

The first type is Imitative: Learners practice an intonation focus or try to vocalize

a certain vowel sound It is carried out not for the purpose of meaningful interaction, but for focusing on some particular element of language form;

The second type is Intensive: This type includes any speaking performance that is

designed to practice some phonological or grammatical aspect of language;

The third type is Responsive: This type refers to short replies to teacher- or

student-initiated questions or comments;

The fourth type is Transactional: This is carried out for the purpose of conveying

or exchanging specific information in dialogues;

The fifth type is Extensive: Students at intermediate to advanced levels are called

on to give extended monologues in the form of oral reports or perhaps short speeches 2.1.3 Components of Communicative Competence

Communicative competence constitutes a key part of language education It goes far beyond the linguistic competences and involves utilizing the language as an instrument to gain a communicative goal through verbal processing Communicative competence was defined by Hymes (1972) that it refers to the level of language learning enabling language users to convey their ideas to other interlocutors and to understand

others’ messages embedded within specific contexts It also connotes that the language learners’ ability to apply what is learnt in the classroom to the outside world In other words, it is competence of language use appropriate to the other participants of the communicative interaction and appropriate to the given social context and situation (Kurcz, 2004). Later on, Canale and Swain (1980) supplement that communicative competence is “the relationship and interaction between grammatical competence, and sociolinguistic competence, or knowledge of rules of language use” (p 6) In specific, Canale and Swain’s (1980) model consists of three domains such as grammatical competence, sociolinguistic competence, and strategic competence

The first domain is grammatical competence: It implies to accurate knowledge of

sentence formation and vocabulary This competence acts to promote accuracy and fluency in second language production (Gao, 2001);

The second domain is sociolinguistic competence: It connotes the language user’s

ability to produce and understand language in different social contexts;

The third domain is strategic competence: It refers to a speaker’s ability to adapt

their use of verbal and nonverbal language to compensate for communication breakdowns caused by the speaker’s lack of proper grammar use and social behavioral and communication norms (Vu, 2017)

To sum up, communicating effectively in a language requires the speakers’ good understanding of linguistic, sociolinguistic and strategic aspects of the target language This understanding will enable them to use the correct language in the appropriate context for the target purpose and then they can be referred to as communicatively competent

2.2 Speaking Problems

In academics, some experts in language teaching and learning itemize a multitude

of various problems that students usually encounter in speaking English Sadtono (1997) systematically divides these problems into two groups of linguistic and non-linguistic problems

2.2.1 Linguistic Problems

The linguistic problems include difficulties faced by EFL learners in learning a language related to the aspects of language accuracy such as grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation In other words, there are some linguistics problems that affect someone in speaking, such as weak grammar knowledge, lack of vocabulary and incorrect pronunciation (Richards, 2008) In addition, Hymes (1972) believes that EFL learners are required to know the socio-culturally appropriate ways (i.e appropriateness) to interact with others in diverse situations and which facilitates their smooth oral stream (i.e fluency) In reality, the EFL learners often confront with such these linguistic problems which are clarified as follows:

2.2.1.1 Accuracy

Accuracy pertains to the correctness of language forms when speaking such as correct grammatical structures, vocabulary, and pronunciation (Mazouzi, 2013) In other words, accuracy refers to the degree of which the learners’ oral production is grammatically acceptable, with clear pronunciation and appropriate choice of vocabulary (Nunan, 1995) In specific,

Grammar problems: According to Richard’s study (1990), EFL learners’ speaking

performance is often hindered by six error groups, including errors in the production of

verb groups (i.e errors in producing the correct and complete form of verb in pattern), errors in the distribution of verb groups (i.e errors in applying the correct pattern

according to an appropriate context), miscellaneous errors (i.e errors in conjunction

with translation, wrong order and choice of English words in term of the meaning of sentence in context), errors in the use of preposition, and errors in the use of articles It is

believed that communication in speaking runs smoothly if its grammar can be understood Therefore, speakers must be aware of the grammar that they use in speaking (Harmer, 1991)

Vocabulary problems: Exposure to a variety of vocabulary is essential for

speaking performance As their receptive vocabulary is limited, they can hardly put the receptive vocabulary knowledge into productive use (Nation, 2001) In addition, Doris and Jessica (2007) also state that students are clearly aware of what they are going to say

in the source language, but when they have to switch the language itself into the target language, they often get confuse to combine and use the proper vocabulary needed Concerning this lack of vocabulary and this deficiency of word combination, as felt by the respondents, the suggestions proposed by Brown (2001) can be considered, namely the teachers allocate specific class time to vocabulary learning, help students to learn vocabulary in context, play down the role of bilingual dictionary, encourage developing strategies for determining the meaning of words, and engage in “unplanned activities.”

Pronunciation problems: Hinkel (2005) proposes that in order to speak English

understandably, language learners need to master the individual characteristic of the sound of a new language According to Burns (2003), it is more important that the English speakers can achieve intelligibility (the speakers produce accurate sound patterns), comprehensibility (the listeners are able to understand the meaning of what is said), and interpretability (i.e the listeners are able to understand the purpose of what is said) Mispronouncing a single sound or wrong use of stresses and intonations can cause misunderstandings (Larsen-Freeman, 2001).

2.2.1.2 Fluency

Fluency is the learners’ ability to speak in understandable way in order not to break down communication (Hughes, 2002) Fluency is the degree of which the learner can speak at an acceptable speed with few hesitations (Nunan, 2015) Signs of fluency include a reasonably fast speed of speaking and only a small number of pauses and “ums”

or “ers” These signs indicate that the speaker does not have to spend a lot of time searching for the language items needed to express the message (Brown, 1994).Thornbury (2005) states that people can be said as fluent speakers if they meet the following features such as long but not frequent pauses, and pauses occurring at meaningful transition points In brief, it is ability to use the language spontaneously and confidently and without undue pauses and hesitation

2.1.2.3 Appropriateness

Aside from speaking accurately and fluently, speakers should speak English appropriately According to Harmer (2001), the term of appropriateness is related to some variables such as setting, participant roles, themes and purposes According to Kayi (2006), speaking performance requires selecting appropriate words and sentences according to the proper social setting, audience, situation, and subject matter However, when speaking, learners often ignore variables of socio-cultural setting, participant roles and purposes It requires the speakers to focus on contextual situations when making oral production

2.2.2 Non-linguistic Problems

There are some non-linguistic problems hinder students to develop speaking performance in the classroom These are inhibition, nothing to say, low participation, and mother-tongue use (Ur, 1996; Nguyen & Tran, 2015)

2.2.2.1 Inhibition

Ur (2000) states “learners are often inhibited about trying to say things in a foreign language in the classroom Worried about making mistakes, fearful of critics or loosing face, or simply shy of the attention that they speech attract” (p 111) To elaborate, Latha (2012) reports that inhibition is the most common problem faced by students in learning foreign language, in which the learners tend to stop saying something and keep silent for

a long time This non-linguistic problem is caused by their fear of making mistake in speaking the language, and low self-confidence or high anxiety

2.2.2.2 Nothing to Say

Besides, most of learners cannot think of anything to say and they do not have any motivation to express something (Ur, 1996) In fact, Rivers (1968) explains that their teachers often select a topic that is inappropriate for them or they do not have sufficient knowledge on it Baker and Westrup (2003) also approve that because they have little opinions about what to say, and they do not want to say by themselves, they do not have something to say

2.2.2.3 Low Participation

In a big-sized class, each one will have only very little time to talk This problem

is compounded by the tendency of some learners to dominate, while others speak very little or not at all This tendency is caused by the students’ shortage of self-confidence (i.e internal factor) and the lack of learning environment for practice (i.e external

factor) These factors are discussed in the following section

2.2.2.4 Mother Tongue Use

The last non-linguistic problem related to the speaking ability is that some learners tend to use mother-tongue which makes it easy for them to express something (Nguyen & Tran, 2015) The use of mother-tongue in speaking classes can derive from different reasons First, when teachers ask their learners to talk about a topic that they do not have

enough knowledge, they will try to use their language (Harmer, 1991) In addition,

“inadequate vocabulary repertoire and weak sentence building skills may be the reasons”

2.3.1.1 Students’ Language Input

Literally, lexical size and grammatical knowledge as well as pronunciation rules essentially influence learners’ speaking performance However, the students’ immature language knowledge of vocabulary, grammar and pronunciation during oral production is critically judged as their speaking problems One of salient factors leading to this dilemma derives from the students’ insufficient investment or preparation for their language input applying to their spoken output Apart from completing formal linguistic controlled-practice exercises of vocabulary and grammar, the students are required to spend their spare time self-training their pronunciation through some extensive activities such as listening to English music, watching television programs, or listening to the radio news, or listening to English conversations (Heriansyah, 2012) As a result, the students’ pronunciation should be improved and their communicative competence can outperform (Heriansyah, 2012) Additionally, severe lack of vocabulary and grammatical items for doing speaking activities can be minimized in case the students engage into reading activities both inside and outside class Actually, reading can be associated with rate of vocabulary growth; in other words, much learning of new words occurs through exposure

to written texts (Nagy, Herman, & Anderson, 1985) Word learning through reading will affect vocabulary as measured on both oral and written tasks because words learned through reading text will be at least partially available to the individual for both written

and oral language use (Nelson, Michal & Perfetti, 2005) In sum, in order to speak English well, the students have to invest their time and efforts to widen their knowledge

of vocabulary, grammar and pronunciation Consequently, linguistic problems regarding these language aspects while speaking can be effectively reduced

2.3.1.2 Students’ Topical Knowledge

Topical knowledge is the speakers’ knowledge of relevant topical information (Bachman & Palmer, 1996), which has a great impact on the learners’ speaking performance One’s lack of knowledge, interest, and preparation for a certain topic can be seen as one main factor greatly impacting one’s communicative competence Indeed, having sufficient knowledge about a certain topic enhances one’s linguistic self-confidence, while lack of knowledge about a topic engenders one’s circumventing communication (MacIntyre, Clément, Dörnyei & Noels 1998) As discussed above, the dearth of necessary topical knowledge can result in the students’ inhibition and low fluency level

2.3.1.3 Students’ Psychological States

Psychology is the science or the study of the thought processes and behavior of humans and other animals in their interaction with the environment In reality, unhealthy psychological factors often cause the students’ speaking problems These negative psychological indications include fear of mistakes, shyness, anxiety, self-confidence, and lack of motivation are on course to bring negative effect towards student’s speaking

performance

Fear of Mistakes: It is posited that this negative feeling becomes one of the main

factors of students’ resistance to communicate in English in the speaking classroom Aftat (2008) adds that this fear is linked to the issue of correction and negative evaluation

by the teacher and being laughed by classmates So, these students tend to avoid participating in speaking activity Therefore, the teachers should remind their students that making mistakes is not a wrong or bad thing as they can learn from their mistakes

(Juhana, 2012) In speaking activities, the focus should be balanced between expressing ideas fluently and producing forms correctly The teachers should provide the students with the expressions that are needed for speaking (such as conversation gambits and ideas) before the students do speaking practice, and create speaking classes that are enjoyable and comfortable for students so that they are interested in learning speaking

(Heriansyah, 2012)

Shyness: Shyness is an emotional thing that many students suffer from when they

are required to make speech in English class, threating their speaking performance (Baldwin, 2011), Therefore, a comfortable class atmosphere can reduce shyness of the students while speaking (Pesce, 2011) By doing this way, students are hoped to feel fine

of making mistakes in their learning.

Anxiety: Anxiety is a feeling of tension and nervousness with the situation of

learning a foreign language (Horwitz, 2001), making the students uncomfortable when they making speech These learners may also be worried about making mistakes, being laughed in front of the class This can make many students be tongue-tied or lost for words in an unexpected situation leading to discouragement and a general sense of failure

in the learners (Leong & Ahmadi, 2017) This negative affective state results in their performance where they either make a lot of mistakes in spite of having a very good knowledge in the area or totally keeping silent In sum, the teachers should create a comfortable learning atmosphere encouraging the students to participate in their learning

activity actively

Lack of Confidence: Lack of confidence usually occurs when students realize that

their conversation partners have not understood them or when they do not understand other speaker In this situation, they would rather keep silent while others do talking showing that the students are lack of confidence to communicate Nunan (1999) opines that students who have low confidence about themselves will suffer from communication

apprehension By the explanation above, the teachers should more give attention in

building students’ confidence when they are speaking

Dearth of Motivation: Motivation becomes the driving force for learners to be

persistent in tedious learning process (Dörnyei, 2001) Thus, the students should have the motivation so that their speaking performance will be successful Accordingly, the teachers should create communicative and fun activities as well as select appropriate

topics in teaching so that the students are motivated to speak English (Heriansyah, 2012)

2.3.2 External Factors

2.3.2.1 Performance Conditions

According to Nation and Newton (2009), students perform a speaking task under a variety of conditions, and they believe that performance conditions can affect speaking performance They suggest four types of performance conditions include time pressure, planning, the standard of performance, and the amount of support (Nation & Newton, 2009)

Time pressure: If the students are given a plenty of time to perform a speaking

task, they can access both explicit and implicit grammatical knowledge (Nguyen & Tran, 2005) As a result, the quality of their spoken output is increased (Nation & Newton, 2009)

Planning: Nation and Newton (2009) define planning as the preparation for a task

before it is performed Typically, it involves “having time to think about a given topic, having time to prepare what to say, and taking brief notes about what to say” (p 34) Planning can make the speaking tasks easily performed

The standard of performance: The pressure to perform well is increased on

learners if they have to perform in front of the class, and if they are aware that the performance is going to be judged

The amount of support: Nation and Newton (2009) say that “supported and guided

tasks allow learners to operate under the most favorable conditions for production” (p 34) The features of such tasks are the presence of patient, understanding and supportive listeners

2.3.2.2 Curriculum

Another external hindering factor to speaking skills of EFL learners is the content

of teaching syllabus and English teaching curriculum (Vo, Pham & Nguyen, 2018) Curriculum plays an important factor affecting students’ speaking ability A curriculum involves a statement of objectives, content, method, and assessment, time amount (Su, 2012) For example, if students are given much more time amount on speaking lessons or frequently take oral tests, they can develop their better speaking performance Talley and Hui-ling (2014) observe that curriculum for teaching speaking skill should endeavor to expose learners to authentic, practical settings for speaking English and encourage active learner involvement in the lesson Furthermore, Al-Abri (2008) considers this concern with regard to lack of speaking activities in the content of teaching curriculum as another challenging factor for learners’ speaking performance This researcher then proposes possible supplementary activities for English speaking skills enhancement such as songs, poems, short stories, or conversation talks instead of focusing much on textbook activities Kabir (2014) suggests that extra-curriculum activities can help EFL learners

improve their speaking abilities

2.3.2.3 Materials

Materials play a fundamental role in the speaking classroom since they are the means used by the teacher to facilitate learning that occurs both inside and outside the classroom According to Hart (2003), English language learners need to be exposed to the learning materials involving the same language by which native speakers typically use and communicate in a natural way Besides, according to Richards and Rodger (2001), the integrated components of language materials comprise the aspects of three language

models such as structural, functional and interactional use of language Based on structural view, language is equated with its linguistic forms With functional view, language learning is a tool that is used to accomplish things or for certain purposes, while under interactional view, language is a means through which exchanges, performances, and human relationships are created and maintained In short, materials used in speaking classrooms need to focus on three components of speaking skills, including accuracy,

fluency, and appropriateness

2.3.2.4 Classroom Environment

In addition to the aforementioned external challenges, the limitation of English

learning environment also contributes to EFL learners’ speaking performance (Vo et al.,

2018) The atmosphere of the class, the size of the class, the arrangement of seats and many other class-related factors affect the speaking performance of the students (Bhattacharya, 2017) A conducive and co-operative environment proves to be supportive for learners It has been observed that students are usually happier and more active in a small class Kabir (2014) further indicates large classes as an inhibiting factor for EFL learners’ speaking performance in relation to EFL learners who have limited time to show their speaking ability Teachers pay more attention to each pupil and learners get more involved in the speaking activities

2.3.2.5 Teaching Methods

Teacher quality regarding teaching methods and styles is an important factor affecting student performance (Snehi, 2011) Teaching methods work effective if they suit learners’ needs and contribute to students’ academic achievement Teaching methods can best be defined as the types of principles and ways used for instruction Teaching methods can be classified into three ways (Pojaa, 2017) like

Teacher-centered method: Under this method, students simply obtain information

from the teacher without building their engagement level with the subject being taught The approach is least practical, more theoretical and memorizing As a result, both

interest and understanding of students may get lost Some activities of this type include direct instruction (e.g., teacher explains or demonstrates), drill and practice

Learner-centered method: The teaching method is regarded more effective since it

does not centralize the flow of knowledge from the lecturer to the student The approach also motivates goal-orientated behavior among students; hence the method is very effective in improving student achievement Some activities of this type include discovery learning (e.g., use students’ personal experiences as the foundation for building concepts), inquiry (e.g., allow students to generate the questions that they will then investigate and answer)

2.3.2.6 Teacher Roles

The vital role the teacher plays an important role in stimulating and encouraging the students to develop their positive feeling and high speaking performance If a teacher pays equal attention to all members of the class, and encourages everybody to take part in classroom discussions and activities, he or she can considerably enhance the students’ willingness to speak The teachers should build an excellent rapport with their students It

is the duty of the teachers to make the learners aware that making mistakes is a learning process Teachers should turn their fears into challenges and challenges into success by introducing many interesting and engaging activities in the classroom (Bhattacharya,

2017)

2.4 Previous Studies

It is clear that an investigation of speaking problems and causal factors is of paramount importance to fortify the teaching and learning quality of English speaking skills This arena has been actually received a lot of concern from different authors and different contexts Therefore, in this part of the study, some previous studies relating to the current theme will be reviewed

To improve the teaching and learning quality of speaking skills, an investigation

of the detrimental problems and difficulties faced by the students is of great significance Thus, Heriansyah (2012) discovered the difficulties and causes perceived by English Department students of Syiah Kuala University in their learning speaking The subjects

of this study were all the third semester students at the English Department who got the lowest passing grades in speaking class (N=10) The data collection instrumented consisted of interview and observation The findings revealed there were two kinds of problems faced by the students in their speaking, namely, linguistic problems and non-linguistic problems Their linguistic problems involved having a lack of vocabulary, being confused how to use appropriate words, being poor in pronunciation, and having difficulty expressing words or sentences The most prevalent cause for these linguistic problems was that the students seldom prepared and practiced language items needed for speaking activities Heriansyah proposed that for increasing vocabulary, the students should consult the dictionary if they find difficult, watching TV, listening to the radio or music, reading extensively every day; and for increasing grammar knowledge, the students should read grammar books Meanwhile, the non-linguistic problems were Indonesian used by other students, not being used to talking in class The main cause of this problem type was the students’ being afraid of making errors Heriansyah suggested that the teachers should create enjoyable and comfortable speaking classes for students to

be interested in learning speaking

In a similar vein, with the purpose of helping language learners develop their oral production, Hosni (2014) carried out a case study to investigate the main speaking problems encountered by the fifth-grade students and the factors that contributed to the existence of these speaking problems The sample of this study consisted of four teachers and three classes from one primary school in Oman Three instruments were used in the present study including lesson observations, interviews, and curriculum analysis First, class observations were conducted and field notes were taken in order to find more about the speaking problems encountered by the fifth-grade students in their actual classroom

situation Second, four semi-structured interviews were conducted on three teachers and one fifth-grade student to clarify the factors causing speaking problems to students when trying to speak in English Third, curriculum analysis of the fifth-grade basic education textbooks was done to find out the relationship between curriculum-driven factors and the sought speaking problems This study revealed that the main speaking difficulties

encountered by the fifth-grade students are linguistic difficulties (lack of the necessary

vocabulary items and grammar structures), mother tongue use (lack of sentence formation skills resulting in using L1), and inhibition (fear of making mistakes) Besides,

five main factors contributed to the existence of these speaking difficulties such as teachers’ perception of teaching speaking, teaching strategies, curriculum, extracurricular activities, and assessment regulations More saliently, in order for the curriculum to provide students with frequent opportunities of speaking, communicative tasks should be included Those tasks should focus on getting students to convey the meaning rather than the form

Alongside seeking the language learners’ speaking problems, it was extremely necessary to explore the potential causal factors for these problems Based on this investigation, the stakeholders can search for feasible ways to help the students circumvent them Bhattacharya’s (2017) study aimed to investigate the speaking problems of a cross-section of Communicative English-major students, and the underlying factors contributing to the existence of these difficulties The participants of this study were 70 undergraduate students, 18 to 23 years old, pursuing Communicative English (Major) in Kolkata, capital of the state of West Bengal, India Quantitative data were collected through a questionnaire The findings of this study showed that weak vocabulary, poor pronunciation, low listening ability, lack of topical knowledge, and being inhibited in attempts to speak were students’ current speaking problems The causal factors for these speaking problems were identified as the students’ anxiety and fear of making mistakes, lack of practice environment, and teachers’ in-class roles Besides, there was no speaking component in the school curriculum that could have given the

students some training in speaking in English Especially, the students hoped that their anxiety could be reduced, their motivation could be enhanced, and they had much more communicative practice environment

Having the same objectives as Bhattacharya (2017), Yaseen (2018) examined factors engendering the tenth-grade students’ speaking problems in Jordanian Private Schools In this mixed-methods research study, the researcher recruited the participation

of 150 students from two private schools, and 12 English teachers Based on the results of questionnaire and semi-structured interview, the students confronted with many speaking difficulties, such as anxiety, lack of motivation, lack of encouragement, and the use of Arabic in class The results also revealed that some teachers might not have a sufficient time for the speaking tasks, lack the strategies and techniques to manage a speaking lesson In addition, lack of technological teaching aids and an inconvenient size of members in class also contributed to the students’ speaking problems

Inner psychological conditions are believed to impact the language learners’ speaking proficiency negatively Therefore, the study of Juhana (2012) aimed to find out psychological factors that hindered the students from speaking and the causes of the factors as well as the possible solutions to overcome the factors The participants consisted of 62 second grade students at a senior high school in South Tangerang, Banten province of Indonesia The data were obtained through classroom observations, questionnaires and interviews The interviews addressed to 12 students by reference of their English teachers namely 4 students of high achievers, 4 students of medium achievers, and 4 students of low achievers In terms of findings, the study revealed that psychological factors such as fear of making mistake, shyness, anxiety, lack of confidence and lack of motivation hindered the high school students from speaking in English class

In Vietnam, Vu (2013) examined three factors of students, teachers and syllabus impacting teaching and learning speaking problems at Hung Vuong High School, Binh

Phuoc Province The sample of this survey was comprised of 10 English teachers and 206 grade-ten students The instruments to collect data involved teacher and student questionnaires, and classroom observation For the student-related factors, the findings disclosed that the students were not good at pronunciation, vocabulary and lacked grammar points as well as their topical knowledge was not sufficient Therefore, they tend to use Vietnamese very often Besides, the students were not confident, shy and even demotivated to learning English speaking skills For the teacher-related factors, the teachers often interrupted to correct their errors during speaking, which made their students remain reticent Especially, the teachers did not use school facilities such as projectors and overhead for teaching speaking For the syllabus-related factors, with the prescribed 45-minute curriculum, the teachers had to take over different duties such as checking previous lessons, teaching new vocabulary and structures, letting the students doing accuracy-based controlled tasks, the students did not have opportunities to do communicative speaking activities

Nguyen and Tran (2015) investigated the speaking problems of the students at Le Thanh Hien High School and the factors affecting their speaking performance This study recruited 203 eleventh-grade students and 10 English teachers Based on the results of the questionnaires and class observation, the students reported spoke very little or nothing in speaking class since they lacked needed vocabulary and structures, they often used Vietnamese to translate information in the textbook before doing the speaking tasks, and they were fearful of criticism or losing face These problems were affected by thestudents’ low motivation, low listening ability and unaccepted topical knowledge, low confidence, and limited time for preparation

Vo, Pham and Nguyen (2018) carried out their study to investigate problems of speaking skills faced by English-majored freshmen in Can Tho University (Vietnam) The data obtained from the questionnaire with 131 EFL first-year students, individual interviews with three lecturers, and class observation Based on the study findings, the university students faced some internal problems including lack of vocabulary to express

ideas, limitation of speaking strategies, and excessive amount of shyness and anxiety when speaking English For external problems, the study revealed that teaching methods which were not appropriate for all students in speaking classes, the curriculum of English language program inhibited the students in terms of the insufficient time allocation, and the students regularly used Vietnamese in the speaking class The study recommended that the university and the school administrators should reconsider the improvement of curriculum and syllabus regarding teaching textbook to provide students with frequent opportunities of speaking Also, EFL first-year students need to practice vocabulary and grammar for in-class English tasks and to join English speaking clubs after class

2.5 Research Gaps

In essence, most of the studies in the reviewed literature signified that most of EFL learners always encountered different speaking problems and accompanied causal factors during their speaking learning These research results have strongly supported the vitality of identifying the current speaking problems and impacting factors which hinder the students’ speaking performance This identification can become an advantageous way

of improving the speaking teaching and learning quality Nevertheless, the kernel of literature typifying the related works has disclosed some insufficiencies

Recently, the previous studies above have been successively enacted (e.g 2012,

2013, 2014, 2015, 2017 and 2018) These previous studies regarding the field of speaking problems and causal factors have been extensively carried outside the Vietnamese context such as in Indonesia (e.g Heriansyah, 2012; Juhana, 2012), in Oman (e.g Hosni, 2014), in India (e.g Bhattacharya, 2017), and in Jordan (e.g Yaseen, 2018) In addition, this realm has been also taken place inside the Vietnamese context such as at Hung Vuong High School (e.g Vu, 2013), at Le Thanh Hien High School (e.g Nguyen & Tran, 2015), and at Can Tho University (e.g Vo, Pham & Nguyen, 2018) However, there has been no study at Tay Ninh High School so far On purpose of improving the teaching and learning quality of English speaking skills at this site, the study was made

Regarding research methodology, a mixed-methods design was the most commonly used (e.g Juhana, 2012; Vu, 2013; Nguyen & Tran, 2015; Yaseen, 2018; Vo, Pham & Nguyen, 2018) and others were conducted with either pure qualitative research (e.g Heriansyah, 2012; Hosni, 2014) or pure quantitative research (e.g Bhattacharya, 2017) It seems that a mixed-methods design was the notorious choice to address the research problems Therefore, the present study was conducted with a mixed-methods research approach by gathering both quantitative and qualitative data through a set of data collection instruments, such as questionnaires and interview

In terms of speaking problems, Heriansyah (2012) focused on two kinds of problems faced by the students in their speaking, i.e linguistic problems and non-linguistic problems This author systematically classified speaking problems in such two distinct ways Hence, the researcher will follow this categorization to fully address the existing speaking problems among the eleven-grade students at Tay Ninh High School

(c.f Research Question 1) For linguistic problems, all the previous studies were

engrossed in three accuracy-based aspects of speaking performance, such as vocabulary, grammar and pronunciation However, it seems to be insufficient since speaking performance also includes fluency and appropriateness Thus, linguistic problems involved in this study will be accuracy, fluency and appropriateness For non-linguistic problems, Nguyen and Tran (2015) and Bhattacharya (2017) employed Ur’s (1996) such four typical problems consisting of inhibition, nothing to say, low participation, and mother tongue use These non-linguistic problems will be exploited in the present study

In regard with causal factors, the previous studies also presented a number of impacting factors In this study, the researcher will categorize causal factors into two

groups of internal factors and external factors (c.f Research Question 2) For internal

factors, language preparation (e.g Heriansyah, 2012), topical knowledge (e.g Vu, 2013; Nguyen & Tran, 2015; Bhattacharya, 2017), and psychology (e.g Heriansyah, 2012; Juhana, 2012; Bhattacharya, 2017; Yaseen, 2018) are the most commonly inner obstacles impeding students’ speaking performance Especially, the researcher was on the side of