Factors causing efl students’ reluctance in learning english speaking skills at minh luong secondary school

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HO CHI MINH CITY UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY DOAN LE GIANG FACTORS CAUSING EFL STUDENTS’ RELUCTANCE IN LEARNING ENGLISH SPEAKING SKILLS AT MINH LUONG...

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

HO CHI MINH CITY UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY

DOAN LE GIANG

FACTORS CAUSING EFL STUDENTS’ RELUCTANCE IN LEARNING ENGLISH SPEAKING SKILLS AT MINH LUONG

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

HO CHI MINH CITY UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY

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FACTORS CAUSING EFL STUDENTS’ RELUCTANCE IN LEARNING ENGLISH SPEAKING SKILLS AT MINH LUONG

SECONDARY SCHOOL

Submitted to the Faculty of English language

in partial fulfillment of the Master’s degree in English Language

Course code: 60220201

By

DOAN LE GIANG

Supervised by

TRAN QUOC THAO, PhD

HO CHI MINH CITY, MAY 2020

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I certify my authorship of the Master’s Thesis submitted entitled:FACTORS

CAUSING EFL STUDENTS’ RELUCTANCE IN LEARNING ENGLISH SPEAKING SKILLS AT MINH LUONG SECONDARY SCHOOL

In terms of the statement of requirements for Theses in Master’s programs issued by the Higher Degree Committee of Faculty of English Language, Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology

Ho Chi Minh City, May 2020

DOAN LE GIANG

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I hereby state that I, DOAN LE GIANG, being a candidate for the degree of Master

of Arts (English Language) 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 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, May 2020

Signature ………

DOAN LE GIANG

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I would first like to express my deepest gratitude to Dr TRAN QUOC THAO, my supervisor, for his patience, guidance, insightful advice, and constant encouragement through the whole research process Without his support and guidance, this thesis would never have been completed

Next, I would like to give my gratefulness to all my lecturers for their teaching during Master of Arts course With valuable experiences, they taught freely and enjoyably I am really thankful for their effort, their useful advice and experience they shared with me It was the best valuable learning experience ever Their teaching performance was reinforced firmly inside me, made a solid foundation for my future career

Further, I would like to express my sincere appreciation to enthusiastic teachers from Minh Luong secondary school who helped me collect the data from the interview

Moreover, my thesis has been done by the contribution of relevant students

So far, I would like to thank all the students in four classes who have answered the questionnaire with useful feedback

My special thanks also go to my parents for care, assistances and motivation for the whole of my life I also would like to explain my thanks to my brothers and sisters for their support and encouragement all the time

At last, my deep thanks go to all my friends during the time I attended HUTECH university

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Many studies have shown that speaking plays an important role in English language learning It was, nonetheless, noticed that EFL students face a lot of challenges when learning speaking skills Therefore, this thesis attempts to explore the factors affecting students’ reluctance in learning the English speaking skills of EFL students at Minh Luong Secondary school The study aimed to (1) find out factors causing students’ reluctance in learning English speaking skills at Minh Luong secondary school and (2) examine differences in the factors causing reluctance of students of grade 8 and grade 9 in learning English speaking skill There were 200 students in grade 8, and 9 (100 students of each grade) and 6 English teachers joining in the study Questionnaires to students and semi-structured interviews to teachers were employed to generate data for the study

The results revealed that Minh Luong students were reluctant in learning the speaking skills since they were strongly affected by psychological factors, linguistic factors, and socio-cultural factors This study also found that there were no differences between students of grade 8 and students of grade 9

Keywords: EFL, factor, speaking skill, reluctance, Minh Luong secondary school

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CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY i

RETENTION AND USE OF THE THESIS ii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS iii

ABSTRACT iv

TABLE OF CONTENTS v

LIST OF TABLES ix

LIST OF FIGURES xi

LIST OF ABREVIATIONS xii

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 Background to the study 1

1.2 Statement of the problem 2

1.3 Aims and objectives of the study 3

1.4 Research questions 3

1.5 Scope of the study 4

1.6 Significance of the study 4

1.7 Definition of the key terms 5

1.8 Organization of the thesis 6

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 8

2.1 Introduction 8

2.2 The English speaking skill of EFL students 8

2.3 Characteristics of speaking skill 9

2.4 The relationship between speaking skill and others skills In English language learning 11

2.5 EFL students’ reluctance in learning English speaking skill 12

2.6 Factors that cause EFL students’ reluctance in learning English speaking skills 13

2.6.1 Linguistic factors 13

2.6.1.1 Grammar 13

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2.6.1.3 Vocabulary 15

2.6.2 Socio-cultural factors 15

2.6.2.1 Teachers’ domination 16

2.6.2.2 Classroom atmosphere 16

2.6.2.3 Cultural background 17

2.6.3 Psychological Factors 18

2.6.3.1 Anxiety 18

2.6.3.2 Shyness 19

2.6.3.3 Fear of making mistakes 20

2.6.3.4 Motivation 21

2.8 Previous studies 22

2.9 Conceptual Framework 26

2.10 Summary 28

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY 29

3.1 Introduction 29

3.2 Research design 29

3.3 Research site 30

3.4 Sample and sampling procedures 31

3.5 Research instruments 33

3.5.1 The questionnaire 33

3.5.2 The interview to teachers 35

3.6 Data collection procedures 36

3.7 Data analysis procedures 37

3.8 Reliability and validity 38

3.8.1 Reliability 38

3.8.2 Validity 39

3.9 Ethical issues 40

3.10 Summary 41

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4.1 Introduction 42

4.2 Results 42

4.2.1 Factors causing students’ reuluctance in learning English speaking skills 42

4.2.2 There groups of factors causing students’ reuluctance in learning English speaking skils 43

4.2.2.1 Linguistic factors 43

4.2.2.2 Social Cultural factors 47

4.2.2.3 Psychological factors 50

4.2.3 Differences in factors causing EFL studentss’reluctance in learning English speaking skills 54

4.2.3.1 Differences in linguistic factors causing EFL studentss’reluctance in learning English speaking skills 55

4.2.3.2 Differences in psychological factors causing EFL studentss’reluctance in learning English speaking skills 56

4.3 Discussion 57

4.3.1 Factors causing EFL studentss’reluctance in learning English speaking skills 57

4.3.2 Differences between eighth and ninth graders in term of factors causing students’ reluctance in learning English speaking skills 62

4.4 Summary 64

CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION 66

5.1 Introduction 66

5.2 Summary of the main findings of thesis 66

5.3 Pedagogical implications 67

5.3.1 Implications for English language teachers 67

5.3.2 Implications for English language learners 68

5.3.3 Implications for school administrators 69

5.4 Limitations of the study 69

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REFERENCES 71 APPENDICES 81 APPENDIX A1

QUESTIONNAIRE FOR STUDENTS (English Version) 81 APPENDIX A2:

QUESTIONNAIRE FOR STUDENTS (Vietnamese Version) 86 APPENDIX B1:

INTERVIEW QUESTIONS FOR TEACHERS (English Version) 91 APPENDIX B2:

INTERVIEW QUESTIONS FOR TEACHERS (Vietnamese Version) 92

English speaking skill 39 Table 4.1: Factors causing students’ reluctance in learning

English speaking skills 43 Table 4.2: Grammar factor causing students’ reluctance in learning English

speaking skills 44 Table 4.3: Pronunciation factor causing students’ reluctance in learning English

speaking skills 45 Table 4.4: Vocabulary factor causing students’ reluctance in learning English

speaking skill 46 Table 4.5: Teachers’ domination factor causing students’ reluctance in learning

English speaking skills 47 Table 4.6: Classroom atmosphere factor causing students’ reluctance in learning

English speaking skills 48 Table 4.7: Cultural background factor causing students’ reluctance in learning

English speaking skills 49 Table 4.8: Anxiety and Shyness factor causing students’ reluctance in learning

English speaking skills 51 Table 4.9: Fear of making mistake factor causing students’ reluctance in learning

English speaking skills 52 Table 4.10: Motivation factor causing students’ reluctance in learning English

speaking skills 53

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causing ELF student reluctance in learning English speaking skills 54 Table 4.12: Differences between eighth and ninth graders in terms of linguistic factors causing ELF student reluctance in learning English speaking skills 55 Table 4.13: Differences between eighth and ninth graders in terms of psychology factors causing ELF student reluctance in learning English speaking skill 56

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LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 2.1: Factors causing EFL students' reluctance

in learning English speaking skills 27

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LIST OF ABREVIATIONS

EFL: English as a foreign language

SPSS: Statistical Package for Social Sciences

L1: mother tougue/ native language/ first language

L2: The second language

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CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background to the study

English is widely acknowledged as an international language with more native speakers than native speakers of English (Galloway & Rose, 2015) Moreover, speaking is an important skill for language production because in verbal communication, we cannot communicate with each other without understanding them Speaking skill is used to interact in both real life and social networks and to create contracts in a variety of business majors According to Ur (1996), when people know a language, they are referred to as a speaker of that language However, speaking is often considered one of the most difficult skills of language learning (Brown & Yule, 1983) Many problems occur in teaching and learning process According to Mofarreh (2005), the aim of teaching speaking is to improve the students' ability to communicate This is necessary for the students to be able to express themselves, to communicate to English speakers, and to improve their understanding and respecting the culture of other nations Further, Dosari (1992) has stated that EFL is taught to enable the communication of the students with other English speakers and to offer them a communicating tool By the time they are

non-at secondary schools, students have many problems with regard to learning English

in general, and in speaking English in particular The biggest problem is students’ lack of interaction Students tend to keep silent when they are asked to answer the questions and share their ideas in class Besides, they do not speak English accurately and fluently

In recent years, Vietnam’s education has promoted the quality of teaching and, learning English at all levels to meet learners’ demand English teachers have been trying to catch up with the world frameworks of English language so that they can find out the most effective and suitable English teaching method In secondary school, students have to learn English as a compulsory subject Every week,

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students have 3 English periods at school Nevertheless, EFL students’ oral performance is limited Many students are reluctant to communicate with their peers

in the target language because of traditional speaking instructions (Do Ngoc Nhi &

Nguyen Buu Huan, 2017)

Dealing with the explanation above, the researcher finds several problems that are similar with the problems encountered by the students of Minh Luong secondary school which cause students’ reluctance in learning English speaking skill in EFL class Therefore, the study titled Factors causing EFL students’ reluctance in learning English speaking skills at Minh Luong secondary school is conducted

1.2 Statement of the problem

Speaking is considered one of the most difficult tasks with many challenges for students to learn how to speak English There is no doubt that the students must overcome barriers if they want to master the English speaking skill According to Haris (1974), speaking abilities are included five basic characteristics such as: vocabulary, pronunciation, grammar, fluency, comprehension According to Harmer (2001), students are often reluctant in learning speaking skill because they are shy and predisposed to expressing themselves in front of other people, especially when they are being asked to give personal information or opinions Many students have low English proficiency negative attitudes such as feeling fear of speaking in class

or choosing to be silent when they face to English activities in class Admittedly, speaking is a complex skill that requires a certain level of language knowledge, vocabulary, and grammarwhich is the first cause of preventing EFL students from learning English speaking in class The second cause is students’ negative attitudes towards speaking Students are often afraid of making mistakes, and they lack the ability in speaking Besides, in class, students learn vocabulary by focusing on the Vietnamese meaning but they often have no more opportunities in practicing speaking The finaly, because students live in the small town where English is not used popularlythey are lack of conditions to practice English outside the class EFL students’ reluctance in learning English speaking skills appeared at Minh Luong

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secondary school Due to Minh Luong student’s low level of English proficiency, teachers’ objectives focus more on helping their students improve basic grammar structures to prepare for compulsory test Therefore, Minh Luong students can do grammar exercises very well and master many new words and structures, but they cannot apply them to English speaking skill Besides, there are no speaking tests in final examination; thus, Minh Luong students lack interest in practicing their speaking skill Although English teachers at Minh Luong secondary school try to apply various methods, they encounter a lot of obstacles in developing students’ oral ability In addition, most Minh Luong students find it difficult to speak English accurately and fluently because of the culture barrier between their mother tongue and L2 language Moreover, Minh Luong students often fall into confusion when speaking English because they are lack of English knowledge, confidence, and the good learning method as well as the learning passive environment with the same and boring lessons without the interesting activities which prevent them from practicing and improving English speaking skill In order to help students improve their speaking skill, it is necessary for teachers to know the causes of the problems This is the reason why this study was decided to be conducted

1.3 Aims and Objectives of the Study

This study was conducted with the aims of investigating EFL students’ reluctance in learning English speaking skills at the context of Minh Luong secondary school The followings were the specific objectives of the research:

 To find out factors causing students’ reluctance in learning English speaking skills at Minh Luong secondary school

 To examine differences in the factors causing reluctance of students of grade

8 and grade 9 in learning English speaking skill

1.4 Research questions

In order to achieve the aforementioned objectives, the following research questions must be addressed:

1.5 Scope of the study

The study was conducted at Minh Luong secondary school In English class at Minh Luong secondary school, students focus mainly on grammar, reading and, vocabulary Besides, there were no speaking tests in the final examinations; thus, students lacked interest in practicing their speaking skills Besides, student faced some issue as the effects of the teachers in teaching English speaking skills (the lack

of method in teaching speaking), students’ negative attitudes towards speaking, and the lack of English environment to practice However, this study only focuses on factors that cause students’ reluctance to learn English Moreover, this study examined whether there are any differences in factors causing reluctance in learning English speaking skills of grade 8 and grade 9 or not To achieve the aims

of the research, the questionnaire has been used as the main method to collect data from students and the data from interviews were used to verify Regarding the participants, there are 200 students in grade 8, and 9 (100 students of each grade) and six English teachers joined in the study

1.6 Significance of the study

Theoretically, many researchers (e.g., Nunan 1989; Harmer 2007) have agreed that speaking is the most challing skill for EFL students Therefore, the findings of the research provide crucial information to English teachers, learners and administrators Firstly, this study provides the understanding of factors causing the reluctance of students in learning speaking This is meaningful for teachers, administrators because it aims to provide a pedagogical approach to teach speaking skills for EFL students It also sheds light on the importance of student’s needs

in speaking skills at Minh Luong secondary school helps both teachers and students

in many ways Secondly, students can know factors affecting them to learn the speaking skill so that they can find out solutions to overcome and feel more confident and comfortable to learn the speaking skill Furthermore, students can increase their learning attitude of the English language Thirdly, based on the results of the study, teachers can help learners overcome the barriers of speaking and can develop strategies for maximizing EFL students’ competence in the speaking class Finally, the researcher hoped that this study is useful for the consideration of the administrators to create better English speaking environment

1.7 Definitions of the Terms

For the purpose of this study, many terms were defined to provide a specific perspective on the issues discussed

EFL students refers to those who are learning English while living in a community

where English is not spoken as the first language

English environment refers to a good environment in which students can use

English inside and outside of their classrooms

Secondary school students refer to those who are aged from 11 to 15 attending

from grade six to grade nine

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those who are learning from primary schools and lead into vocational and tertiary education Attendance is compulsory in most countries for

Students’ negative attitudes refers to a student’s disposition, or student’s feeling

which is not constructive, cooperative, or optimistic

Students’ reluctance refers to the phenomenon that the students keep silent and do

not take part actively in class

1.8 Organization of the thesis

The overall structure of the study takes the form of five chapters

Chapter 1 provided the introduction, which includes the background of the study, the problem statement, the aims and objectives of the study, the research questions, the significance of the study, definitions of key terms, and the organization of the study

Chapter 2 was the literature review of this study which presented the definition of the English speaking skill of EFL students and characteristics of English speaking skill of EFL students In this chapter, the relationship between speaking skill and others skills were also reviewed Then, the extent of students’ reluctance in learning English speaking skills was also described Besides, EFL students’ reluctance in learning English speaking skills and factors causing EFL students’ reluctance in learning English speaking skills were presented Finally, this chapter ends with previous studies

Chapter 3 described the research design, the research site, sample and sampling procedures, research instruments, data collection procedures, data analysis procedures, validity and reliability, and ethical issues

Chapter 4 , namely Results and Discussion, presents the findings of the study

in comparison with the information in the Literature Review The similarities and differences between what have been found in the research and those in the previous studies are analyzed to obtain deep insights into the issues Chapter 5 drew the

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summary of the main findings of this study Pedagogical implications for teachers, administrators, and students in the context of Minh Luong secondary school were emphasized The limitations of the study, and some recommendations for further research concerning this field were showed

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CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Introduction

An overview of the literature is given in this chapter In particular, the English speaking skill of EFL students, its characteristics, the relationship between speaking skill and others skills are reviewed The extent of students’ reluctance in learning the English speaking skill is discussed Students’ reluctance in learning English speaking skills and the factors influencing students to learn English speaking are indicated The previous studies on the factors affecting EFL students and the conceptual framework are presented

2.2 The English speaking skill of EFL students

The notion of speaking skill has been defined by many researchers According to Nunan (2003), speaking is the productive skill and it conveys the meaning through producing systematic and verbal utterances It means that speaking is how to make meaningful sounds to communicate one another In this line, Lindsay and Knight (2006) have asserted that speaking has a complex process that comprises of constructing a message and using the correct pronunciation, stress and intonation Speaking also covers the interaction with other people The form and meaning are dependent on the context in which the interaction occurs, including the participants, their collective experiences and the purpose for speaking However, understanding the utterance is difficult if the speakers and listeners are not similar to the situation

In the other hand, Richards (2008) indicates that many students who learn English

as a second language or foreign language have a priority when they master the speaking skill Indeed, speaking skill is important for EFL students

Speaking is one of the productive skills of studying the language, and learners find

it reluctant to get started with the speaking process It is a crucial way to improve people’s communicative competence when learners learn the language As mentioned by Bachman and Palmer (1990), speaking competence of EFL is

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expressed by linguistics competence, knowledge of encountering linguistic communication difficulties, as well as linguistically emotional reactions Sharing the same concern, Nunan (1999) also emphasizes that learners’ speaking competence is the ability to have adequate vocabulary and syntax mastery Because

of this complicated skill, learners are required to make a huge effort to be able to produce the speaking with good quality Mak (2011) shows that speaking is the process of constructing meaning that includes producing, receiving and processing information Orwig (1999) identifies that there are three kinds of speaking situations:

a Interactive speaking situations includes face-to-face conversations and telephone calls and due to these situations, we have a chance to ask for clarification, repetition, or slower speech from the partner

b Some speaking situations are partially interactive For instance, when speakers give a speech to a live audience, it is to say that in this convention, the audience does not interrupt the speech However, the speaker can see the audience and guess from the expressions on their faces and body language whether audiences are being understood or not

c Some others few speaking situations may be non-interactive, such as when recording a communication for a radio broadcast

2.3 Characteristics of speaking skill

The competence of English speaking skill has a variety of characteristics Canale and Swain (1980) have stated that there are three parts of competence That is grammatical, sociolinguistic and strategic Thornbury (2005) has added that speaking skill requires learners to have not only the knowledge of linguistics but also the one of sociolinguistics He has also said that spoken language has its own conventions and grammar which are different from the written language The form and meaning of speaking are based on the context, the role of the speaker and the speaking aim (Luona, 2004) He has also added that speaking is considered as in terms of fluency, complexity, accuracy According to Harmer (2001), accuracy

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includes the correction in using vocabulary, grammar and pronunciation While fluency and complexity mainly focus on learners’ effective communication, accuracy may prevent them from speaking well in a wide range of learning contexts where the target language is used (Do Ngoc Nhi & Nguyen Huu Huan, 2017) As for language speaking competence, the core of speaking skill, the knowledge of the language and the communication strategies are highly addressed (Goh, 2017; Goh

& Burns, 2012) Regarding the core of the speaking skills, according to Riggenbach (1998), pronunciation, lexicon, grammar, accuracy and fluency are responsible for the principle components of speaking Pronunciation, vocabulary and grammar contributing are emphasized to appropriate language use Luoma (2004) has asserted that pronunciation is the most important sub-skill of speaking and he also added that the term pronunciation is considered as the sound of speech which can refer to many characteristics of the speech stream including individual sounds, pitch, volume, speed, pausing, stress and intonation Besides, the aspect of communicative strategies also indicated It focuses on providing learners the chance

to produce language and interact with other peers Additionally, accuracy and fluency are involved in the interaction of the language use and the conversation generation Richards (2006) has defined that accuracy is the creation of correct examples of the language use In the same vein, accuracy deals with the correct use

of the grammatical structures in the oral production without mistakes which can hamper understanding Richards (2006) has mentioned that fluency is the natural language use that allows a speaker to apprehend a conversation from breaking down even if he/she does not own the communicative competence Harmer (2001, p 269) has indicated that ―fluency requires not only a knowledge of language features but also the ability to process information and language on the spot‖ Luoma (2004) has defined that knowing a foreign language mainly depends on the capacity of speaking, this competence is considered as the essence of enabling to use that language In this sense, speaking skill meditates one’s degree of knowledge in a

is taught through deliberate effort whereas spoken language is required without specific formal instruction In terms of the complexity of the language, it is often thought that speaking is simpler than writing However, speaking is not less complex than writing Haliday (1985) has showed that written language is complex

of the level of clauses, while the complex of spoken language is in the way clauses are linked together He has also suggested that speaking form in sense is more basic than writing form In the same line, Brown and Yule (1983) have commented that the sort of differences between speaking and writing skill is that the density of packing information

Speaking skill and reading skill are two different skills since speaking is a productive; however, reading is a receptive skill, but they are in fact interrelated systems Speaking also has some relations with reading in term of developing each other According to Lynch (1996), some aspects of speaking increase to help developing in reading, and as persons who improve reading skills; they further improve their development of the speaking skill It means that reading supports

In brief, speaking is one of the most complex skills to master from its nature to its native Due to the relationship with the other skills, especially with the listening skill, speaking skill cannot be taught alone

2.5 EFL students’ reluctance in learning English speaking skill

In the EFL classroom, the teachers support students to develop their speaking skills

by activities and the students are hoped to be active However, many EFL students are reluctant to speak English Reluctance is generally viewed as an abstract concept and is defined by many researchers Jenkins (2007) has explained that the reluctance

is reticent on speaking up According to Harmer (2001), students are often reluctant

to speak because they are shy and predisposed to express themselves in front of other people, especially when they are being asked to give personal information or opinions The theory explains that reluctance is reserved to speak up Therefore, the students are silent and not active in learning English, especially in speaking activities Neke (2003) has showed that low English proficiency, personality, and cultural beliefs made students reluctant in learning the English speaking skill Reluctance in learning English speaking is considered as the main EFL students’ obstacle to develop their oral proficiency when it is compared to other skill (Jenkin, 2007).Teachers have to face difficulties in designing speaking activities among

2.6.1 Linguistic factors

Linguistic competence is considered as the important factor affecting speaking skills because of the combination of many language aspects According to Celce-Mucia and Olshtain (2000), linguistic factors include several features of the language system like pronunciation, grammar and vocabulary

2.6.1.1 Grammar

Grammar provides students with the structures that they need in order to organize and put their messages and ideas across In fact, grammar competence has also been observed that learners find it difficult to transfer the correct grammar to their speaking (Larsen-Freeman, 2001) Learning the foreign language becomes difficult since the target language has a grammatical system which is different from the first language However, learners often apply their first language structures for the structures of the foreign language In line with this, Nunan (2003) has mentioned that learners’ first language would interfere in grammatical systems of the foreign languages Because of the different grammar between the mother tongue and the foreign language, students face this as an obstacle in their learning English speaking skills Grammar has the extent role in determining whether English learners can have a good control on spoken English or nọt Thornburry (1999) has stated that grammar is the fundamental speech machine generator in language With good grammar competence, learners will be certain of how to speak and what to speak in various conversations Furthermore, De Jong et al (2008) have stated that good

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grammar ability can help learners have higher articulation and better fluency It means that there is a correlation between students’ English grammar competence and their speaking fluency Shumin(1977) has asserted that ELF learners must know how words are segmented into different sounds, and how sentences are stressed in special situations Therefore, grammatical competence can help learners correctly use the structures of the English language that will improve their fluency (Latha, 2012)

2.6.1.2 Pronunciation

Pronunciation also plays an important role in speaking To get the correct pronunciation, it requires students to take a tough exertion and have to practice regularly According to Gilakjani and Ahmadi (2011), pronunciation is considered

as the sub-skill of speaking For instance, when we want to alter the way a student pronounces words, we have to change their mind about the component sounds of those terms Besides, mispronouncing a single sound or wrongly using of stresses and intonations can lead to misunderstanding According to Suwartono (2006), pronunciation is an essential part in a language In other words, it is a very significant part for the nature of the spoken language Pronunciation is the most important and difficult problem that EFL speakers have to face when studying English This indicates that paying attention to this linguistic aspect is also important because students’ low ability in pronunciation can also become an obstacle for the students to speak (Varasarin, 2007)

In EFL class, most students hardly have self-confidence to speak because they do not know how to pronounce a certain word well They are also frightened of being

an object of their peers’ evaluation These conditions are obstacles for preventing students form learning English speaking skills in class (Gilbert, 2009: 3) Another thing that causes difficulties in learning correct English pronunciation is the difference of sounds This argument has been supported by Gilakjani and Ahmadi (2011) who have claimed that learners seem to have trouble in pronouncing a particular sound It is easy to demonstrate that learners commonly pronounce a

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perfectly acceptable sound in other contexts They have also added that there are some factors challenging learners in English pronunciation such as accent, stress, intonation, age, personality and mother tongue influence All these show that allowing students to practice pronouncing words more in class is also worth considering

2.6.1.3 Vocabulary

Vocabulary plays an important role in not only speaking skill but also others skills Besides, grammar competence is an imperative part of learning the foreign language (Schmitt & Carter, 2000) Nguyen Thi Thanh Huyen and Khuat Thi Thu Nga (2003) have indicated that in order to communicate well in a foreign language like English, students should acquire an adequate number of words and should know how to use them accurately Cook (2013) has added that real communication is the result of suitable and adequate vocabulary learning Although most EFL students can learn and can understand vocabulary items in dialogues and reading passages where the new words appear in the context and in the combination with other words, they tend to forget newly learned words after a short period of time Perhaps this is because of the lack of the opportunity to use these words in their conversation Bogaards and Laufer (2004) have claimed that a wider range of lexicon is essential to engage in the spoken discourse They also argued that what size of vocabulary is vital to reach viable levels of coverage in each of the contextual type The students can speak English in any situations when they have enough size of lexicon

In addition, because their receptive vocabulary is limited, learners can hardly put the vocabulary knowledge into productive use (Nation, 2001)

2.6.2 Socio-cultural factors

According to Burn and Joyce (1997), the Socio-cultural factors are the expectation that is created by learner’s prior learning experiences as teacher’s domination In addition, Ellis (1994) has maintained that socio-cultural factors such as cultural

& Westrup, 2003)

2.6.2.2 Classroom atmosphere

Atmosphere is the major influence of what happens in English speaking class According to Brown (2001), embracing the atmosphere helps to reduce stress, anxiety and, to encourage students to speak The proper atmosphere is created by teachers and student so that students can be motivated to learn in relaxed and positive ways The classroom should be an environment where students do not fear

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of making communication mistake It should be the place where students feel supported from their teachers Similarly, they will be willing to speak the English language Tsui (1996) has showed that students should be allowed to have a discussion with their peers before speaking to the whole class so that students could

be encouraged to speak up

Wu, Tennyson, and Hsia (2010) have argued that classroom environment is considered as the physical and social aspects of a classroom which are produced and facilitated by the instructor Many factors relating to the classroom environment have the impact on students’ learning regarding behavior and performance As stated by Bergil (2016) that the fact students are unsuccessful in improving speaking skills is a direct consequence of the teacher’s competence and material implemented in class Therefore, language teachers are responsible for selecting appropriate materials for their speaking classes, especially in classes in countries where only the native language is spoken With the hope to encourage learners to interact within the classroom, teachers should apply various activities through group work Yurt and Aktas (2016) have demonstrated that peer tutoring in English speaking classes impacts on students speaking efficacy positively Additionally, learners also become highly satisfied Furthermore, Espinel and Canaría (2010) have discovered that when learners are engaged in cooperative learning, they are affected by one another and this develops speaking social interactions

2.6.2.3 Cultural background

Harmer (1991) has claimed that students who learn English as a second language and have the same mother tongue tend to use their native language to speak even in their English classrooms because it seems easier to express what they really want to communicate, especially when they are required to discuss unfamiliar speaking topics He has also suggested some reasons why students use mother tongue in class Firstly, when the students are required to have a discussion about a topic that they are insufferable, if they want to discuss anything about the topic, they will use

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their own language Another reason is that the use of the mother tongue is considered as a natural language to speak In addition, learners also prefer using the first language to explain something to another if there is no encouragement from the teachers Finally, if teachers frequently teach by students’ language in L2 class, the students will feel comfortable to use Besides, students who live in the place where English is not popular don’t always hear people around them speaking proper English As a result, learners find it more difficult to learn English According to Baker and Westrup (2003, p.12), learning barriers can occur if students unknowingly transfer the cultural rules from their mother tongue to a foreign language Krashen (1985) has stated that when learners receive the only input from the teachers or classmates who are unable to speak L2 well, in these circumstances, learners are exposed to the language only in the classroom Learners do not have the chance to spend much time in contact with the language covering a smaller discourse type The communicative abilities of L2 learners are not fully developed since they are badly affected by the limited exposure to the target language and lack

of opportunities to practice speaking This also results in students’ embarrassment

or stress when they are required to speak both in and out of the class Therefore, the lack of understanding of the target culture is the reason for students to choose the inappropriate form of speaking

2.6.3 Psychological factors

The psychological state of FL learners may create problems in their speech productions Brown (2001) has noticed that some of psychological factors such as anxiety, shyness and, fear of making mistakes are considered as the main causes of students’ reluctance in learning speaking skills In addition, Juhana (2012) has added that motivation also exists when students have to speak in front of the class

2.6.3.1 Anxiety

Anxiety is considered as a serious problem that affects EFL learners on learning the English language Nacente (2001) has mentioned that among other factors, anxiety

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stands on as the blocking factor which has the impact on students’ learning speaking Paying attention to the anxiety of learning speaking skills should also be considerable Nascente (2001) has defined that anxiety is a feeling of nervousness and worry which is related to the situation of learning a foreign language In this line, Brown (2007) has added that anxiety is a negative psychological state that is associated with the feeling of nerve, worry and tension in EFL learning situations Therefore, anxiety is negatively related to EFL students’ speaking skills Bailey (1991) has stated that the students who are more anxious cannot do well at speaking skills Skehan (1989) has commented that anxiety is the result of the low performance It was connected to lower achievement of speaking skills in low-ability students, and especially average ability students Arnold and Brown (1999) have indicated that anxiety has negative effects when it appears in the classroom and anxiety is also considered as a vicious circle occurring continuously between learners’ negative feelings and undesirable performance Further, Gregersen (2005) has added that anxious learners often face difficulties in responding effectively to their partners Seligson (1997) has argued that frequently inviting speaking contributions from students and encouraging them to speak without worrying too much about L2 so that they can break into L1 If students were silent in class and never allowed to talk, they certainly would not speak a foreign language together Consequently, teachers should try to decrease students’ anxiety in order to enhance students’ spoken language

2.6.3.2 Shyness

Another cause of EFL students’ reluctance to speak English in class is students’ shyness According to Juhana (2012), shyness is an emotional thing that many students suffer from at some time when they are required to speak in English class Saurik (2011) has identified that most of English students feel shy when they speak the language because they think they will make mistakes when they talk Baldwin (2011) has explained that the feeling of shyness makes students’ mind blank or that they are easy to forget what to say This indicates that shyness could be one of the

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problems that prevent students from learning activities in the English speaking class According to Pilkonis (1977), "shyness is a tendency to avoid social interactions and to fail participating appropriately in social situations" (p.596) In the same vein, Zimbardo (1982) has defined that ―shyness is considered as a heightened state of individuation which is characterized by excessive egocentric pre-occupation and over concerned with social evaluation, with the result that shy person inhibits, withdraws, avoids and escapes" (pp.467-468) Henderson (1992) has claimed that chronic shyness is a fear of negative judgment that is the evidence

to hinder learners’ participation in desired activities Additionally, it also importantly intervenes with the pursuit of personal or professional goals Cheekand Melchior (1990) have stated that shyness is the common language term and it is often used to label the feeling of anxiety and fearfulness in social situations This is the tremendously ordinary experience

2.6.3.3 Fear of making mistakes

Fear of mistakes is one of the main causes of EFL students’ reluctance to speak English in class (Nunan, 1999; Robby, 2010) In the findings of Taiqin (1995) about non- language factors, ninety-five percent of students faced difficulties in speaking because they were afraid of making errors in class, they had no ideas to say Students are afraid of looking foolish in front of other people (Kurtus, 2001) In addition, He and Chen (2010) have explained that students usually feel afraid of making mistakes in speaking and they are worried about being laughed and receiving negative evaluations of people in class In this line, Seligson (1997) has also affirmed that the awful embarrassment that many students suffered as the sensitive of teenagers when they talked to the teacher, or answered a question in front of class, while they laughed at their mistakes There was nothing more demotivating than a bad experience like that

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2.6.3.4 Motivation

It is obvious that students who do not have the motivation to speak will lack of insufficient interest in speaking class Motivation is the emotion or desire that moves one to a particular action (Brown, 1980)

According to Ellis (1985), motivation is considered as the internal needs or interests that govern and influence a person’s performance in doing something Similarly, Hammer (2007) has emphasized that motivation seems to be some kinds of

―internal drive‖ He has added that this kind encourages someone to inspect something which they wish to achieve It’s known to all students who are more likely to succeed in language learning have attentions and arouse their interests to learn when they have proper motivation Motivation is categorized into two sorts including intrinsic and extrinsic motivation Mahadi (2012) has mentioned that intrinsic motivation is a kind of motivation which leads to an activity because of itself Vice versa, extrinsic motivation is a type of motivation which is to do a work

or an activity as the mean or the way to obtain a target This is to say that the intrinsic motivation is the way speakers apply their English because they are the English language learners Besides, the extrinsic motivation is when students are motivated to learn or practice their English language learning since they would like

to have the ability to speak and master their target language fluently Genuinely, there is the existence of the significant correlation between learners’ motivation to study and their attainment in English oral performance Kolodziej (2010) has stated that the achievement of the motivation is a constant drive to develop learners’ level

of performance and to achieve the success in contention The need for attainment is the consequence of emotional conflict between the hope to reach the success and the aspiration to refrain from the failure Nunan (1999) has stressed that motivation is important to consider It can affect students’ reluctance to speak English Moreover,

it is significant that learners’ motivation in learning the language involves in

―communicative needs‖ Little (1995) has stated that ―communicative needs‖ was

2.7 Previous studies

A number of empirical studies have examined the same research relating to the EFL student’s reluctance to learn English speaking skills For example, in his study, Dil (2009) explored Turkish EFL learners’ communication obstacles in English language classrooms and found that during the English speaking process, two of the biggest obstacles for EFL learners are anxiety and unwillingness These factors are caused by the fear of being negatively evaluated when making mistakes This study also showed that students with poor perception in learning English feel more anxious and more unwilling to communicate in English classes than the other students with their good English level

Al-jamal (2014) investigated the difficulties that may be encountered at six Jordanian public universities To achieve the goal of the study, the researchers used semi-structured interviews to interview 64 students out of 566 students who did a survey questionnaire The study revealed that most students had challenges with the limitation of the oral skill, lack of speaking time, and crowded classes

Gebre-eyesus (2014) conducted the research about discovering the causes of students’ reluctance in English speaking classroom This research aimed at exploring the reasons of the students’ reluctance to speak English in EFL classroom

of Gode secondary and Preparatory school in Somali regional state, Gode town The researcher used three data gathering instruments: questionnaire, semi-structured interview and classroom observation Seventy Preparatory (Grade 11) students answered a 20-item question regarding factors that cause reluctance in English

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speaking classroom In addition, to investigate other possibilities affecting students’ reluctance in English speaking, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 5 EFL teachers The data which were gathered through these tools were then analyzed

by using mixed approach data analysis method The findings of the study showed that a considerable number of students were reluctant to respond to the teachers The silent is remained in English speaking class because of many causes of psychological factors like the fear of stage, shyness, lack of confidence, and fear of making mistakes In addition, psychological factors also related to classroom procedure such as nervousness, anxiety, fear of comments, and stern, fear of peers, seating arrangements, language difficulties, performing real life situations in class

or socio-cultural factors

Similarly, above studies have the same purpose that was to explore the causes influencing EFL students in learning English speaking skills However, the authors did not conduct the study to investigate the factors coming from students and indicate solutions for students to overcome the reluctances in speaking In addition, they did not point out strategies for teachers so that they can help students improve their abilities of speaking skills

First of all, Shen and Chiu (2015) conducted the study about EFL Learners’ English Speaking Difficulties and Strategy Use To address the research questions of the study, the researcher conducted a five-level Likert-scale questionnaire of 148 EFL sophomore and junior English majors in Taiwan The analysis of the results helped the researcher discover some English speaking difficulties The findings of the study revealed that the primary reason for English speaking difficulties was psychological problems which include nervousness, fear of making mistakes, and lack of confidence The study also found that linguistic problems such as insufficient vocabulary, environmental problems such as lack of learning context for English conversation were the causes that lead to some English speaking difficulties for students Furthermore, the study gave some kinds of speaking strategies which were used by the successful learners These strategies included linguistic accuracy

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(practicing the pitch, pronunciation, and intonation), the chances to practice speaking English (joining English social activities, or participating in English speech contests), and the use of the body language (e.g facial expressions, eye contacts, and gestures)

In another study, Nugroho (2017) undertook the research to investigate the factors affecting the students’ reluctance to speak English in classroom interaction and to find the dominant factor affecting students’ reluctance to speak English in classroom interaction To achieve the goal of the study, the researcher used the close-ended questionnaire with the sample of 203 students who were divided into 5 classes and the interviews for 5 groups The study found that there were three groups of factors causing reluctance in speaking English in the classroom interaction Firstly, psychological factors which had some categories such as lack of motivation, shyness, anxiety, and fear of mistake Secondly, some categories of linguistic factors including lack of lexicon, lack of grammatical pattern knowledge, and incorrect pronunciation Finally, some categories of socio-cultural factors

consisting of attitudes toward lecturers and the classroom condition

In Vietnamese contexts, some studies were conducted by Vietnamese teachers These studies referred to Vietnamese students’ problems of spoken English In order to identify the students’ problems in learning English speaking skills, the research ―Identification of problems and solutions associated with teaching spoken English to first-year students of major at the College of Social Sciences and Humanities of HCMC‖ was conducted by Nguyen Thi Ngoc Thuy (2000) to state the students’ and teachers’ profiles, teaching and learning experience In addition, some difficulties in learning English speaking skills and the suggestions associated with teaching spoken English were indicated The research done by Nguyen Van Hung (2005),‖ Problems of Binh Duong provincial senior cadres in learning spoken English‖ has an overview of spoken English for Binh Duong provincial senior cadres In the research, the students’ psychological inhibition in English speaking class as well as the teachers’ techniques, the students’ lack of self-study at home

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and their genuine needs for developing English speaking skill were discovered Besides, the researcher indicated some teaching techniques and strategies so that students can overcome their difficulties in learning English speaking task Ngo Phuong Thuy (2011) also studied on the difficulties in learning speaking English in the context of Thai Nguyen University where students faced difficulties in English speaking skills The researcher used three methods: questionnaires through teachers and students, interview and class observation The study emphasized the three prominent aspects that should be considered such as: psychology, linguistics, and social-culture The findings of the study indicated that the way to overcome the difficulties in learning and teaching speaking English is an understanding between students and teachers Vo Phuong Quyen (2018) undertook the research about challenges to speaking skills encountered by English-majored students: A story of Vietnam University in the Mekong delta The aims of the study were to discover the difficulties of English majored freshmen at Can Tho University encounter when they learn English speaking skill and find out feasible solutions to such difficulties This study employed a questionnaire to 131 students and interviews to 3 lecturers and class observation understand how the difficulties influenced learners’ speaking apprehension The results of the study showed that English Freshmen face two issues: internal and external challenges, specially, the later ones concerning the limitation of speaking environment and activities Possible measures were proposed

to tackle such difficulties in aiding students speak English effectively Generally, a lot of studies about the factors causing students’ reluctance in learning English speaking skills were conducted by different researchers For instance, Dil (2009) investigated the research about EFL learners’ communication obstacles The studies that were about difficulties and suggestions involving in EFL students’ speaking skills were conducted by Nguyen Thi Ngoc Thuy (2000); Nguyen Van Hung (2005);Ngo Phuong Thuy (2011); ; Jamal (2014); Dil (2009), Gebre-eyesus (2014), and Nugroho (2017) undertook the research about discovering the causes of students’ reluctance in English speaking classroom In other words, there are

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numerous studies addressing the problems relating to learners’ competence in their speaking performance but there has been no study undertaken to find out the issues which limit the EFL students’ speaking competence in the context of the Vietnamese secondary school Hence, in this study, the researcher would like to discover factors that hinder behind learners’ problems in learning English speaking skills in class at Minh Luong secondary school and to examine differences in factors causing students’ reluctance of grade 8 and grade 9, in term of learning English speaking skills

2.8 Conceptual framework

Based on the literature review, there are a lot of factors which were considered to cause EFL students’ reluctance in learning English speaking skills According to Burns and Joyce (1997), linguistic factors, socio-cultural factors and psychological factors are the main factors that cause EFL students’ reluctance in learning English speaking skills In line with this issue, Almad et al (2013); Littlewood( 2007); Mukminin et al (2015) argued that socio-cultural factors such as the teachers' domination, classroom atmosphere and cultural background were the common factors that prevent students from learning English speaking skills Besides, psychological factors like anxiety, shyness, the fear of mistakes, motivation were indicated by Brown (2001); Juhana (2012) According to Celce-mucia and Olshtain (2000), linguistic factors include several features of the language system like pronunciation, grammar and vocabulary

Given the discussion in the above about factors causing EFL students’ reluctance in learning English speaking skills, a conceptual framework of the current study is constructed The conceptual framework is illustrated in Figure 2.1 (Factors causing EFL students’ reluctance in learning English speaking skills) below: