English major students difficulties in improving speaking skills on online platforms at thang long university in 2022

Therefore, this study was conducted with the goal of identifying difficulties in increasing speaking skills on an online platform in order to assist English language majors at Thang Long

Supervisor: Ms Nguyen Phuong Ha, M.A

Student’s name: Nguyen Thi Doan Student’s code: A36003

Major: English language

Hanoi, February 2023

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I received the enthusiastic help of many people in order to be able to complete my thesis It would be remiss of me not to acknowledge those who have cared for me and guided me to where I am today

First and foremost, I am deeply indebted to the English Language Department at Thang Long University for their care, advice, and for establishing the best circumstances for giving me permission to commence this thesis in the first instance and to do the necessary work

I also would like to express my sincere thanks to Ms Nguyen Phuong Ha, M.A., who has been my thesis instructor for the last time Her advice and ideas mean a lot to me since they help me maintain the proper mindset while doing my thesis obligations

Not only that, I am particularly grateful to the 100 students at Thang Long University who assisted me much in completing the survey so that I could collect data for my research Last but not least, a very special thanks to my family, my parents, my classmates and everyone else who has always supported me I could not have done my work properly without the support, encouragement, and understanding of my family

Once again, my heart-felt thanks to all the people who supported me to finish my

thesis

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STATEMENT FROM CANDIDATE

I certify that no material from the minor thesis has been submitted for examination in any other courses or accepted for any other degrees or certificates at any university To the best of my knowledge and belief, it contains no previously published content by another

individual, except as referenced in the text The research was originally written by me under

strict guidance from my supervisor

(signature and full name) (signature and full name)

ABSTRACT The goal of learning any language is to communicate effectively, and communication

is impossible if one does not have the opportunity to communicate It is natural that communication is in great demand in our ever-changing world Language is fundamental

in communication, and English is without a doubt the most significant and widely used

communication tool on the world

However, in the last two years, the COVID-19 epidemic has raged all over the world, posing a significant barrier to students' English learning, particularly speaking skills This leads to a serious subsequence is that the quality of pupils is low, and learning and teaching encounter several challenges as a result of the fact that speaking ability is a vital tool when studying communication in any other language

Therefore, this study was conducted with the goal of identifying difficulties in increasing speaking skills on an online platform in order to assist English language majors

at Thang Long University in enhancing their speaking ability By collecting data and using

a questionnaire survey of 100 English language students at Thang Long University, I have come to some main conclusions The most significant are external factors, specifically the COVID-19 pandemic, which is a special reason why their improvement in speaking skills has become less Not only that, almost all students (98.1%) uttered that they agreed with the fact that it was their lack of vocabulary that inhibited their English-speaking ability Moreover, 98% students agreed that they had trouble with grammatical use during online speaking performance Specially, 94.2% of students reported that poor signals or internet connections inhibited their speech delivery process In addition, nearly 96% of students agreed with the pressure of public speaking through a computer screen And these difficulties will be mentioned in more depth in the following sections

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CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW 5

2.1 Review of theoretical Dackgroun .«-s««<<<<<s<<sssessseeeseeeeeeeseesesseeeseeesee 5 2.1.1 Definitions oƒ spedking -. -es+enenerrrtrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrre 3 2.1.2 The importance 0ƒ SD€AĂÌHg - sec ececethtthettttrtrrrtrtterrrrrrrtrrrrrrrrre 6

2.1.3 The concepts oƒ online learning and online pÌa{ÍOFS -: : : - 7

2.1.4 Difficulties in learning and improving speaking oHÏine . - 9 2.2 Review of the previ0us S(UdÏ@S -. «<«es<esseeesseseeeeeesseessssesieeseeeseesesssee 14

CHAPTER 3 METHODOLOGY 18

3.1 Research methods S(sÄ24E43ã0 4800.6068/9700809094660asussosani0490199:0) 18

3.2 Population and sampling se = XiyERtuiitLGE00334091/G8910G30 18 3.3 Research ins(ruIme€IÉS -<« <<s «s5 << 95% 1 9995958899069948868408689406800080408800094 19 3.4 Data collection pr0C€dUrF€S . «-«<<«<<<<s<++ssesessSeSseeeeeeeeeeeeeseeeeee 19 3.5 Data analysis meth0dS -.«<«e<<ceeeseesesetetssseseseeseseerireiriessesessee 20

CHAPTER 4 FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 21

4.1 Students’ background information and their perceptions of English-speaking

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4.2 Difficulties encountered by students in improving English-speaking skills 4.3 Suggestions proposed by students when learning English-speaking skills

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REFERENCES sscsssscsssscssssvessoansseuaseressersesssesconsnenssoessevesssversesncesnsscerssvessesesassooseveesevesseeseses 35 APPENDIX scsssnsrsscassnvasasesarsevcexesxesverrcecerssenensvcsscustverssssesvenevsvsesssoscersseusseaveiecvereusenssseseseves 40

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LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES

Trang Figure 4,1./Students’ current English l6VeL - s.-sossserovessesenensatanasnnennsnntensanacssheasacnsene 21 Figure 4.2 Students” preference for English-speaking learning - 22

Figure 4.3 Frequeney of students' online speaking ÏeSSOns « «<< <+<s<s2 23 Eigure 4.4 Students? level of familiarity with online speaking courses 24 Table 4.1 Students° difficulties related to mental factors from yourself 25 Table 4.2 Students? difficulties related to External faCfOTS . - -«<-«©+s+++++s++s2 28 Table-4.3 Students’ suggested solutions weiscscoccscsssceasscasassassrcpsaresivssvsccsvessusncsensssssassvssesvases 32

CHAPTER i INTRODUCTION

This chapter presents an overview of the thesis; namely, the background to the study, aims and research questions of the study, significance of the study, and organization of the study

to talk is the most important and one of the most difficult tasks that any teacher faces" (Chris Candlin, 1990) Speaking is also very crucial in daily life People talk for a variety

of reasons, including conversation, academic goals, and the transmission of important information As for English learning, speaking is of paramount importance since it provides the language output (Rost, 1994) Learning simply cannot improve unless proper output is produced Aside from listening, speaking is an important ability in communication Speaking ability is critical because if you can't talk, others won't comprehend what you're saying, and you won't be able to connect with others This

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implies that others can only comprehend you if you can speak Therefore, without creating spoken output, no communication can be achieved (Cross, 1998)

However, the globe will have to face the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021—2022,

which has damaged many aspects of society, including the education industry That is

why learning a language is already challenging Online learning has been problematic for students majoring in English at Thang Long University, making it difficult for them

to improve their abilities, particularly their speaking skills According to a qualitative

study in the 2021 Shanlax International Journal of Education by Tiimen-Akyildiz on the issue of distance education during the COVID pandemic, it was highlighted that teachers

emphasized reading and listening skills in their lessons rather than writing and speaking Another significant finding of the study is that the participants preferred face-to-face foreign language teaching to remote teaching Nevertheless, they admitted that online

language teaching has several advantages compared to traditional face-to-face education, despite its challenges, such as technical, economic, contextual, and individual

problems As a result, the researcher decided to focus on speaking ability as the research issue in order to discover answers to this problem

1.2 Research objectives

The study's main goal is to discover the challenges that English language major students at Thang Long University have when trying to improve their speaking abilities

on an online platform in 2022 First, it provides an overview of the pandemic condition

as well as your current level of English proficiency Following that, the thesis swiftly

learns about subjective causes, objective causes, or any other factors impeding the improvement of English language acquisition in general and listening skills in particular

It then attempts to provide some strategies to alleviate challenges and increase the efficacy of speaking skills

1.3 Research questions

The goal of this research is to investigate the difficulties that English-major

students have in enhancing their speaking skills while learning on online platforms

Therefore, it attempts to address the following research questions:

(1) What is the difference between learning online and offline for English-major

students at Thang Long University in terms of improving speaking skills?

(2) What are the possible causes of difficulties in improving speaking skills during online learning?

1.4 Significance of the study

In any case, difficulties in learning another language, in particular English as a foreign language, are sometimes predictable and sometimes unpredictable It is,

therefore, essential for teachers and students to have better treatment when facing

difficulties After the research, it is hoped that the results will be useful For learners of English, the result of this study helps to work out the common difficulties faced by English-major students and to provide some solutions to get over these problems and improve their speaking skill, one of the most difficult skills For teachers of English, the findings of this study will give valuable and useful information on problems and proposals to the problems so that they can have eff ective methods of teaching speaking This study is also beneficial to anyone who is interested in speaking

Furthermore, as elaborated above, the subjects of the study are English-major students who would subsequently utilize English as their working language As a result, improved speaking comprehension will not only aid in their language and communication learning but will also prepare them for a better future opportunity 1.5 Organization of the study

This thesis has the following structure:

Chapter 1 introduces the background to the study, aim, significance, scope and organization of the study

Chapter 2 is entitled "Literature Review." It includes two main sections The first section provides theoretical background information about

definition of speaking, the significance of speaking, the concepts of online learning and online platforms, and the difficulties in learning and improving speaking online The next section argued about the review of the previous studies

Chapter 3 discusses the methodology, including research methods, population and sampling, research instruments, data collection procedures, and data analysis methods Chapter 4 reports the findings and discussions of the study It first provides readers with a report on the data collected from the three tests and questionnaire These data will

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then be analyzed and discussed together with the daily reconstruction notes Major findings will come at the end of this chapter.

CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Review of theoretical background

2.1.1 Definitions of speaking

The concept of speaking has been defined by numerous researchers in the field with distinguishing perspectives It is concluded in a significant number of definitions describing the term, some of which are discussed below

Speaking, particularly in a foreign language, is one of the complicated skills in learning and practicing the language Speaking is also considered the most important skill that people focus on while evaluating someone when he or she knows a language

As Ur (1996) indicates, “Of all the four skills listening, speaking, reading and writing, speaking seems intuitively the most important, people who know a language are referred

to as “speakers” of that language as if speaking included all other kinds of knowledge, and many if not most foreign language learners are primarily interested in learning to speak.”

According to Donough and Shaw (1993), speaking is a skill that enables people to produce utterances when communicating to achieve a particular end This might entail communicating thoughts, desires, or opinions; settling disputes or addressing issues; or creating or upholding social connections This idea is also supported by Chaney and Busk (1998), who detailed that speaking is “the process of building and sharing meaning

through the use of verbal and non-verbal symbols, in a variety of contexts.”

Fulcher (2003) also stated that speaking is “the verbal use of the language to communicate with others.” In another definition, Torky (2006) pointed out Burns & Joyce’s description of speaking as an interactive process, 1.e., it is the process in which people talk to each other to build a meaning that includes producing, receiving, and processing information Speaking is seen as a means of obtaining knowledge and understanding in this sense

After all discussions above, speaking is defined in different ways according to every scholar and every field of study However, it is also defined simply as the interactive process in which people convey meaning The main goal of speaking is facilitating communication and interaction between people, in addition to implying

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hidden intentions On the whole, speaking is an indispensable demand in daily life, and the effort of practicing this skill is necessary for learners who want to become successful speakers

2.1.2 The importance of speaking

The importance of speaking is undeniable In fact, humans are programmed to

speak before they learn to read and write Humans engage with language verbally far

more frequently than they do in writing at any given time

Speaking is the most crucial skill because it is one of the abilities that is necessary

to perform a conversation However, speaking English is not a simple undertaking since

speakers need to be knowledgeable in a variety of important areas, including

pronunciation, grammar, vocabulary, fluency, and understanding Students should have

enough English-speaking ability in order to communicate with other people easily and

effectively Rivers (1981) studied the use of language outside the classroom situation and understood that speaking is used twice as much as reading and writing combined

To support this idea, Brown (1994) states that “/istening and speaking are students’ language tools.”

Furthermore, Richards and Rodgers (2001) also confirm that in the traditional

methods, speaking skills are ignored in the classrooms where the emphasis is on reading and writing skills According to Ur (2000), of all the four language skills called listening, speaking, reading, and writing, speaking is the most important one that is very requisite for effective communication

Essentially, the significance of speaking is indicated with the integration of other language skills Speaking helps students develop their vocabulary and grammar skills and then better their writing skills Students can express their emotions, ideas; tell stories; request; talk, discuss and show their various functions of language Speaking is essential outside of the classroom Thus, language speakers have more opportunities to

find jobs in different organizations and companies The students who speak English very well can have a greater chance of better education, finding good jobs, and getting

promotions

Generally, speaking English is now becoming more and more important in

numerous universities as well as in practical areas Consequently, students should realize

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the benefits of speaking as soon as possible so that they can get a lot of opportunities to practice and develop their skills

2.1.3 The concepts of online learning and online platforms

The term “online learning” can refer to a variety of subjects depending on the context Learning online may alternatively be referred to as "remote learning," "e- learning," "virtual learning," or "blended learning," among other names (Anderson, 2008; Li, Wang, & Zhou, 2010; Pham & Ho, 2020) There has been a great deal of discussion on what the precise meaning of the phrase “online learning” should be The present meanings that have been produced by the many specialists demonstrate their area of specialty as well as their interest Several of different definitions of online learning that can be found as follows:

Maltz et al (2005) refers ‘online learning’ to the process of utilizing communication and information technology in order to gain access to various learning and teaching materials found on the internet The phrase "online learning" is used in a variety of contexts, including hybrid learning, dispersed learning, and online-distance learning In its most general meaning, the term "online learning" refers to the most inclusive of these approaches This indicates that the term "online learning" may be applied in a variety of contexts, some examples of which include digital learning, online distance learning, and hybrid learning According to the Organization for Economic Co- operation and Development (OECD), “online learning” is "the utilization of information and communication technology as a mechanism to aid learners, digital education, or a mix of both to promote and enhance higher education institutions" (2005) This demonstrates that the implementation of digitalization in educational systems is characterized by the promotion and enhancement of higher education

According to Wentling et al (2000), the phrase "online learning" can also refer to the acquisition and utilization of knowledge that is largely facilitated and conveyed by electronic means This interpretation of the term is included in the definition of online learning Accordingly, e-learning relies on gadgets and phones, but it is feasible that e- learning may proceed to platforms that incorporate a range of technologies, such as wireless and television, as well as technology like cellular phones This suggests that the concept of "online learning" refers to the acquisition and application of knowledge that

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is largely made possible and conveyed via the use of electronic methods of communication In their analysis of the literature on e-learning ideas, Liu and Wang (2009) discovered that the internet is central to the e-learning process, as are global sharing and learning resources, the interchange of information and the flow of knowledge through network courses

Gotschall (2000) asserts the notion of online learning is offered on the basis of

distance learning, meaning that lectures are transmitted to remote places by means of video presentations This demonstrates that the concept of online learning is based on

the concept of distance learning, which is why lectures are typically sent to far-flung locations in the form of video presentations However, Liu and Wang (2009) argue that

the development of communication technologies, most notably the internet, did in fact

change remote learning into e-learning This suggested the development of several communication technologies, most notably the internet The number of students and

teachers who are content with online education and who perceive chances to establish and access other forms of learning is contributing to the continued global development

of this kind of education (White, 2008)

With regard to particular online teaching and learning platforms, institutions typically employ video conferencing and meeting applications like Microsoft Teams, Google Meet, Zoom, Skype, and Adobe Link as their LMS of choice Additionally, they use software for video conferencing As a matter of fact, during the pandemic, it is unavoidable for teachers and students to make use of technology for instructional

objectives (Mailizar, Almanthari, Maulina, & Bruce, 2020) The integration of online learning into language classes prior to COVID- 19 is being done with the intention of

improving the efficiency and fruitfulness of traditional learning It would appear that the

implementation of e-learning can contribute to a reduction in the spread of the COVID-

19 virus The change is being made in order to maintain the consistency of educational opportunities notwithstanding the pandemic (Rasmitadila, et al 2020)

In brief, it can be inferred that it is difficult to establish a common concept for e-

learning However, from the above, the concept of online learning can be condensed as

distance-assisted learning through electronic devices requires an Internet connection.

2.1.4 Difficulties in learning and improving speaking online

The difficulties in learning English speaking online vary according to different aspects There are a number of factors that facilitate or impede successful spoken communication They can be divided into four types including linguistic factors, psychological factors and external factors Linguistic factors commonly refer to the

elements of English as a language itself, which include vocabulary, grammatical

structures, and pronunciation Psychological factors include students’ inhibition, students’ motivation, and students’ confidence Meanwhile, external factors involve noisy environment, internet connection and technical problems, and limited interaction These are all factors influencing students’ speaking skills during online courses

2.1.4.1 Vocabulary and Pronunciation

Vocabulary, as a fundamental linguistic component, is critical in language learning Renadya (2002) emphasizes the significance of vocabulary in language acquisition, stating that vocabulary plays a crucial role and provides much of the foundation for how effectively learners acquire the four skills Learning vocabulary represents one of the most crucial skills that is necessary for speaking Gough (2007) claims, “Vocabulary is important because it is words which carry the content of what

we want to say, the more words you know, the more you will be able to communicate.” Almost all the research shows words that are difficult to pronounce are more difficult to learn For instance, many learners find that words with clusters of consonants such as

“health” or “crisps” are problematic Besides, when two words overlap in meaning, students are also likely to confuse them Hedge (2000) argues, “the neglect of vocabulary is also surprising in view of the fact that errors of vocabulary are potentially more misleading than those of grammar.” Without having a sufficient vocabulary, speakers cannot communicate effectively or express their ideas in both oral and written forms Having a limited amount of vocabulary is an obstacle for learners in learning a foreign language In addition, remembering a mass of unfamiliar vocabulary is also confusing to learners It takes a long time of studying and practicing developing their vocabulary knowledge As a result, learners are unable to express their feelings, thoughts, ideas that they want to say clearly and appropriately because of the limitation

of their vocabulary

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Accurate pronunciation matters because for learners, there are several problems that students face in speaking First of all, it is related to students’ habit of using their first language or their mother tongue In fact, there is a big difference between Vietnamese and English, from the system of sounds to the grammatical rules Some students are afraid because their pronunciation is not as good as a native speaker, and they are often timid in certain conversations In pronunciation, they face difficulties in pronouncing some English words and sentences For example, they do not know how to differentiate between the sounds “Bear” and “Beer” words They pronounce both words exactly in the same way Students' mispronouncing is often easy to see when they use homonyms Regarding this issue, Jahan (2011) stated in her article that inappropriate

pronunciation of English will make people misunderstand the speaker easily Hence,

they face plenty of English pronunciation difficulties Gilakjani (2012) emphasized that unintelligible sounds may cause greater problems than speech with lexical or grammatical errors This is because issues related to word stress (which part of a word

are more heavily stressed that is spoken louder and longer), sentence stress (which part

of a sentence can be more heavily stressed), sounds in connected speech (how to link

the sounds together in a sentence), and intonation (how speakers’ voice rises and falls

at a certain point of the sentence) could weaken the communicative competence of second language speakers which leads to unable to understand for listeners what the speakers wish to express In brief, pronunciation should be viewed as more than the correct production of individual sounds or words It should be viewed as an important

part of speaking skills, which is incorporated into classroom activities

teachers ask students to express themselves in front of their classmates this leads them

to express the stress in speaking and it even stops them from practicing confidently Moreover, foreign language anxiety restrains students' English performance and impacts their body reactions When students undergo foreign language anxiety, some may give

up the chance to speak in English, and others may become too embarrassed to express themselves in English Hsu (2009) pointed out that students tend to get inhibited, especially when they are practicing speaking with another person These students have

a conflict between trying to overcome their worry to learn well and avoiding embarrassing themselves before others If students cannot balance them, they may give

up and become passive learners

2.1.4.3 Motivation and confidence

Speaking is not an easy process, and it requires time and effort It leads us to bring some affective factors to this process, and one of these affective factors is motivation However, as it is obvious, lack of motivation still constitutes a serious problem both for teachers and students in speaking in classrooms Consequently, some students keep silent when they are asked to practice a given topic This is because of the lack of motivation in expressing himself or herself or the chosen topic they have not anything to say about it Rivers (1968) claims, “Zhe teacher may have chosen a topic which uncongenial to him or about which he knows very little and as a result, he has nothing to express, whether in the native language or foreign language.” Learners have not anything to say about a given topic because they have only some ideas or do not

know how to use words or correct the form of sentences Besides, the learners'

motivation is also affected by the incentives of other people For instance, learners with

a low level of incentive, who assess their academic potential as low and who have been forced to learn a language by methods they dislike, will probably not attempt to learn Moreover, teachers’ negative attitudes toward students and non-supportive classroom environments damage students’ willingness towards speaking Shortage of positive reinforcements, approval, and appreciation of students by teachers that influence motivation to present negatively In short, their motivation can influence their decision

on being involved or not in a certain situation in speaking in class

It is commonly understood that students’ lack of confidence usually occurs when students realize that their conversation partners have not understood them or when they

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do not understand other speakers In this situation, the fact they would rather keep silent while others perform speaking indicates that the students lack confidence to speak In response to this, Tsui cited Nunan (1999) said that students who lack confidence in themselves and their English necessarily suffer from communication apprehension He and Chen (2010) stated the main cause of students’ lack of confidence is their low ability

in speaking English In this case, as they add, many students think that their English is bad and feel that they cannot speak English well The other cause of students’ lack of confidence also deals with the lack of encouragement from the teacher (Brown, 2001)

In this context, many teachers do not think that convincing students that they can speak English is meaningful As a result, as Brown (2001) adds, students find the learning

demotivating rather than motivating This suggests that encouragement becomes a vital

thing to build the students’ confidence This also means that building students’

confidence is a crucial part of a teacher’s focus of attention

2.1.4.4 External factors

Noisy environment

Students’ improvement in speaking skills during online courses can also be

adversely influenced by imposing noise This is an urgent issue impacting both listeners’ perception of interactions with others and their analysis of their own communication

proficiency Communication is hindered when environmental conditions are unfavorable, which affects students’ both speaking ability and listening comprehension

Pham, et al (2021) revealed that noises and sounds generated from students’ houses or

nearby locations mitigate their concentration on learning In addition, an online conversation that takes place in a noisy environment will distract the speakers from their

partners According to Broersma and Scharenborg (2010), noisy conditions affect

learners’ performance differentially for certain English consonants The detrimental impact of noise on speech recognition varies significantly according to the source of

noise, it can be from the environment, machine, vehicle, or other people, etc All of these

different kinds of environmental noise are thought to be among the primary contributors

to the challenges that students face while trying to improve their speaking skills through

online education

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Internet connection and technical problems

Problems associated with technological facilities and internet-connected issues have also been recognized as barriers to the efficient delivery of online speaking lessons Students sometimes find it quite struggling to participate in digital learning because they either do not have access to a consistent internet connection or required technological tools According to the findings of Alhabshneh et al (2020), both students and teachers encounter obstacles such as limited access to online learning devices, poor internet connectivity, and a dearth of technological expertise Similarly, while investigating how the pandemic affected activities related to e-learning and teaching that were carried out with the use of technology equipment, Zaharah, Kirilova, & Windarti (2020) disclosed challenges such as the lack of accessibility to online educational systems, gadgets that can connect to the internet, and subpar internet connections According to Kuama and Intharaksa (2016), for people who have been taking online classes for a significant amount of time, unstable internet connections may be the major cause of frustration for them since they are unable to fully comprehend their learning of the material or follow what the instructors are teaching Even though they were happy with online education due to its flexibility, EFL students experienced some absence of high-tech tools and technological challenges, as pointed out by Altunay (2019) In this respect, since a significant number of students lacked technology skills, as Nugroho (2020) proved, shifting the entirety of the educational process into virtual classrooms is not productive The findings of other research also revealed that students struggled with a variety of technological issues (Talal, 2021) In addition, during COVID-19, it may be more difficult for some students who reside in rural locations to have access to the internet (Ariyanti, 2020)

Limited interaction

E-learning presents a number of challenges, one of the most notable being a loss

of direct interaction with teachers, particularly when it comes to online speaking skills (Lestiyanawati & Widyantoro, 2020) That is to say, English learners necessitate two- way communication in both directions, which is not always easy to do As a matter of fact, when practicing speaking skills through various online platforms such as Zoom,

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Microsoft Teams, Google Meet, and other applications of a similar nature, teachers, and

students might have their cameras turned off for personal and social reasons, which results in limited interaction as they cannot see each other face on the screen during the conversation (Al-Jarf, 2021) As a result, students who are continually forced to speak with a computer find it difficult to maintain their motivation to study in such an environment (Toquero, 2020) On the other hand, students may frequently become frustrated since they are unable to communicate with other people, or are unable to discuss or debate a topic with their classmates Students also found it more difficult to

express complicated thoughts using texting or commenting functions; hence, they favored face-to-face exchanges with their lecturers and peers (Williams & Carhill-Poza, 2011) In many cases, a student may find that the online environment, even how

rewarding it may be, has become too constrained for them, and they may want a physical location where they may practice with actual resources

In brief, within the theoretical framework presented, it can be concluded that

students do face certain problems during the speaking process Those problems stem from the following factors, namely linguistic factors (vocabulary, grammatical

structures, and pronunciation), psychological factors (inhibition, motivation, and confidence), and other external factors (noisy environment, internet connection and

technical problems, and limited interaction) Among factors causing speaking difficulties, it is pointed out that linguistic and psychological factors are by far the most challenging issues when students perform English-speaking skills

2.2 Review of the previous studies

Previously, many researchers had some related studies in online English-

speaking problems as well as inhibiting factors that hindered English-majored students

in improving their English skills However, the topics are not completely the same and

the participants range from different levels The related studies below may give

supporting shreds of evidence for this research

First, Tran and Dang (2019) investigated inhibiting factors impacting the

achievement of a high level of English-speaking skills by conducting a study titled “Four

aspects of English-speaking difficulties encountered by tertiary English-majored

students” As a result, the purpose of this study is to investigate the four aspects of

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speaking difficulties, namely the affective, social, instructional, and linguistic difficulties that are experienced by English-majoring students at one university in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam Precisely, the participants in this study are from Vietnam One hundred and fifty students participated in the survey and completed the questionnaires Results indicated that English majors' speaking abilities were frequently hindered by speaking issues Affective difficulties were by far the most challenging for them, whereas instructional difficulties were found to be among the least problematic The obtained data also demonstrated that the duration of time or number of years spent learning English was a factor in determining how well English majors could perform English-speaking skills

The research of Feni (2014) was intended to investigate the students’ difficulties

in learning speaking This study used a descriptive qualitative research approach since the author simply described the actual events as they occurred The instruments used were questionnaires and interview papers Moreover, the population in this study was the second-semester students of the English Department at the University of Muhammadiyah Malang consisting of ten classes The total of number population was

252 students The researcher took 25% of 252 students so there were 63 students as the respondents The findings of this study showed that the students faced some difficulties The inability to talk with the appropriate structure or grammar came first Then, they had difficulties in vocabulary Besides, they had difficulties in the students’ habit of using the mother tongue that gave effects to the students’ pronunciation, intonation, and accuracy in learning speaking English

With regard to the online learning, the study conducted by Syafrayani (2021) explores the perceptions of EFL Indonesian college students about the challenges and benefits of studying speaking through an online learning system during the Covid-19 outbreak Forty-five college students were participated in this study and interviewed through a questionnaire in the weeks following the final term examinations for the 2020-

2021 academic year The data was probed by using the grounded theory proposed by Creswell The findings revealed that effectiveness, online benefits, and improvement opportunities were the benefits obtained by students from online learning Meanwhile, distraction and information overload, technology, and internet connectivity as well as limited interaction and inadequate support were hindrances that often hampered the

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skills through the medium of an online learning system during the Covid-19 pandemic

In the weeks that immediately followed the conclusion of the last term's tests during the academic year 2020-2021, 45 college students took part in the research project and were questioned using a questionnaire Creswell's grounded theory served as a guide for the analysis of the data that was collected According to the findings, the advantages of efficacy, online benefits, and chances for progress were those that were acquired by students from participating in online learning In the meanwhile, the students were frequently handicapped by obstacles such as restricted engagement, poor assistance, limited interaction, distractions and information overload caused by technology and the

internet, and information overload As a consequence of this, this academic paper also offers guidance on the significance of being prepared with sufficient facilities and having the cooperation of stakeholders like the government, instructors, students, and

parents in order to effectively adopt online learning

Likewise, Azriansyah (2022) highlights the challenges that third-semester students

in the English Department at UIN STS JAMBI had while attempting to improve their

speaking abilities throughout the course of the Covid-19 conference The purpose of the

research is to determine the challenges that students face when trying to improve their

English-speaking abilities The method of investigation utilized in this study is qualitative descriptive research The data collection consisted of the researcher observing people and conducting interviews The students of UIN STS JAMBI, more

specifically those in their third semester of study in the English department, will serve

as the sample of this study The findings of this research indicate that at the English

department of UIN STS JAMBI, the difficulties that students have in learning how to speak Covid-19 are mostly attributable to a lack of vocabulary, pronunciation, and

grammar knowledge According to the findings of the research, students should be

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responsible for finding their own solutions to difficulties in learning English during the Covid-19 They could try reading English books and articles in order to get over their difficulties with language, practice their pronunciation and speaking abilities at home with a friend or their parents, depending on who they want to work with, and might have

to write a lot with grammar rules in order to get over their grammar difficulty

Another study which was domestically carried out by Pham et al (2022) aims to evaluate the difficulties in maintaining focus that EFL students at Van Lang University face while they are enrolled in online classes at the university Quantitative and qualitative research approaches were utilized in the writing of the paper through the use

of questionnaire surveys and semi-structured interviews with a total of one hundred students from the Faculty of Foreign Languages at Van Lang University These students were in their second, third, and fourth years of study (VLU) The findings of this study, which are based on the collection of data, have shown that the majority of students studying English as a foreign language were faced with some common distractions such

as external noises, unstable internet connections, the harmful effects of too much screen time, and so on Following the inquiry, the findings of this study indicate that lecturers

at the Faculty of Foreign Languages of Van Lang University should look for various constructive ways to solve EFL students' issues in order to improve the quality of online courses

In general, of all the works that the researcher has approached above, there has not been a work that completely overlaps with the researcher’s topic regarding the research sample size, subjects, and context The works mentioned mostly place emphasis on the affective factors (i.e., linguistic factors and psychological factors) while neglecting the external factors and vice versa Taken in combination, it can be stated that the researcher's topic is of high research value and peculiarity

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Thttvion b H Ththg Long

CHAPTER 3 METHODOLOGY

3.1 Research methods

The research employed a quantitative descriptive method as research methodology

Quantitative research is essential for collecting data to explain a particular phenomenon, as

it is argued that particular questions seem immediately to be answered using quantitative

methods (Muijs, 2011) In addition, the fact is that the research was mainly concerned with student perspectives on the research matters, therefore quantitative methodology, which was appropriate for research on participants’ opinions and behaviors, was employed by the researcher On the other hand, data obtained from the quantitative procedure will be statistically easier to analyze compared to the qualitative method since its data are in numerical form or rather percentages The quantitative method also allowed the researchers

to take advantage of measuring software or tools such as SPSS or Microsoft Excel to process large amounts of data quickly and accurately, minimizing human errors during the

data processing

3.2 Population and sampling

In keeping with this sense, to fully generalize the being-studied problems of

autonomous learning, first of all, participants in this study were English majors who are doing a bachelor’s degree in the English language at Thang Long University They were chosen as participants in this study for the following reasons First, these students have been exposed to the faculty curriculum for quite a while and are considered quite familiar with online learning Next, regarding the language educational background, the students are quite similar, in that most of them are under a quite identical influence of the English curriculum in high school in the past, thereby not having many chances to practice speaking skills As a result, these students are more likely to encounter many constraints and difficulties in speaking English With the limitations on the implementation time of the study and conditions to meet the students, the study was conducted on 52 students who are K31 & K32 students in the English Department at Thang Long University All of them speak Vietnamese as their mother tongue and use English as a foreign language Regardless

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