A study on the difficulties and solutions in learning english skill of the first years students in faculty of information technology at hung yen university of technology and education

Trang 1 HUNG YEN UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY AND EDUCATION FACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES --- GRADUATION PAPER FIELD: ENGLISH LINGUISTICS A STUDY ON THE DIFFICULTIES AND SOLUTIONS TO IMPROVE

HUNG YEN UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY AND EDUCATION

FACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES -

GRADUATION PAPER FIELD: ENGLISH LINGUISTICS

A STUDY ON THE DIFFICULTIES AND SOLUTIONS

TO IMPROVE ENGLISH SPEAKING SKILL FOR THE

FIRST YEAR STUDENTS IN FACULTY OF

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY AT HUNG YEN UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY AND EDUCATION

(NGHIÊN CỨU VỀ KHÓ KHĂN VÀ GIẢI PHÁP ĐỂ CẢI THIỆN KĨ NĂNG NÓI CHO SINH VIÊN KHOA CÔNG NGHỆ THÔNG TIN TẠI TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC SƯ PHẠM

KĨ THUẬT HƯNG YÊN)

Supervisor: Hoang Thi Hoa Student: Le Thi Hang Student’s number: 11317115

Hung Yen – 2021

HUNG YEN UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY AND EDUCATION

FACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES -

GRADUATION PAPER FIELD: ENGLISH LINGUISTICS

A STUDY ON THE DIFFICULTIES AND SOLUTIONS

TO IMPROVE ENGLISH SPEAKING SKILL FOR THE

FIRST YEAR STUDENTS IN FACULTY OF

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY AT HUNG YEN UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY AND EDUCATION

(NGHIÊN CỨU VỀ KHÓ KHĂN VÀ GIẢI PHÁP ĐỂ CẢI THIỆN KĨ NĂNG NÓI CHO SINH VIÊN KHOA CÔNG NGHỆ THÔNG TIN TẠI TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC SƯ PHẠM

KĨ THUẬT HƯNG YÊN)

Student: Le Thi Hang Student’s number: 11317115 Supervisor: Hoang Thi Hoa

Hung Yen – 2021

DECLARATION

I certify that the thesis entitled “A study on the difficulties and solutions in learning English skill of the first years students in Faculty of Information Technology at Hung Yen University of Technology and Education” is the results of my research and substance

of this thesis has not been submitted for a degree to any other university institution

Hung Yen, June 2021

Signature

Le Thi Hang

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

In the process of implementing my graduation paper, I have received lots of encouragement, precious ideas, and experiences from my teachers, family, and friends I would like to thank all my teachers in Hung Yen University of Technology and Education for their useful pieces

of advice

First of all, I would like to express my profound gratitude to my supervisor Ms.Hoang Thi Hoa, who gives me a great deal of supports and guidance Without her help, my paper would have never been completed

Besides, my sincere thanks are also extended to all the teachers in the Foreign Languages Department of Hung Yen University of Technology and Education for their lectures and wholehearted advice to help me complete this study In my study, the ideas of many writers

in the field are inevitably reflected and developed To all the authors of the publications in the list of references, I offer my sincere thanks I also would like to express my special thanks

to the first-year students who helped me with my research

Last but not least, I would like to thank my parents and friends who have encouraged and supported me a lot

ABSTRACT

This research paper mainly discusses the difficulties and solutions to improve English speaking skills for first-year students in Faculty of Information Technology at Hung Yen University of Technology and Education To achieve the aims of the study, I combined both qualitative and quantitative methods to analyze and three instruments are employed to collect the data including two survey questionnaires for students and teachers and 5 interview questions for students

The subjects of the study are 40 the first-year students in Faculty of Information Technology from K18 and 5 teachers of English at Faculty of Foreign Languages, Hung Yen University of Technology and Education The researcher carried our survey questionnaires among 40 first-year students and 5 teachers teaching at Faculty of Foreign Languages, UTEHY to get their opinions Among them, 3 students also invited to answers the interview questions

After collecting and analyzing the data, the findings of the study reveal that the first-year students in Faculty of Information Technology at UTEHY have many difficulties in learning speaking skill The major problems include limited English vocabulary, not confident, bad pronunciation of the first-year students in Faculty of Information Technology

Some of the researchers' suggestions for first-year students in Faculty of Information Technology are to practice pronunciation and learn vocabulary so that the vocabulary becomes rich Review grammar and background knowledge to make sure they are not forgotten Some ways to increase your confidence in speaking English are to practice speaking every day with anyone you want and wherever you feel most comfortable Have a learning plan that matches your ability to improve your speaking skills in the best way

LIST OF TABLE CONTENTS

DECLARATION i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii

ABSTRACT iii

LIST OF CHART vi

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS……… vii

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION……… 1

1.1.Rationale of the study……… 1

1.2 Aims of the study 1

1.3 Research questions 2

1.4 The scope of the study 1

1.5 Methods of the study 2

1.6 Design of the study 2

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW……… 4

2.1 Definitions of speaking skill……… 4

2.2 Stages of speaking 5

2.3 The importance of speaking skill 6

2.3.1.Importance of English Language 6

2.3.2.The Importance of Speaking Skill 6

2.4 Criteria of good speaking skill 7

2.5 Speaking problems 7

2.6 Factors affecting speaking skill 9

CHAPTER 3: THE STUDY……… ………… … 12

3.1 The participants……… 12

3.1.1.The teachers……… 12

3.1.2.The students……… 12

3.2 Data collection instrument……… 12

3.2.1.The survey questionnaires 12

3.2.2.The interview 13

3.2.3.Procedures of data collection 13

3.3 Data analysis and discussion……… 14

3.3.1 Data analysis……… 14

3.3.1.1 Teacher's and student's opinions on speaking skill……… …………14

3.3.3.2 The difficulties of speaking skill……….….18

3.3.3.3 Suggestions for improving students' speaking skill……… 22

3.3.2 An analysis of interview questions……….25

3.4 Mains finding and discussion ……… 26

3.4.1 Teacher's and student's opionion about speaking skill………26

3.4.2 Difficulties in learning speaking skill……… … 26

3.4.3 Teacher's and student's suggestions to improve speaking skill……… 26

3.5 Recommendations 26

3.5.1 For students 26

3.5.2 For teachers 27

3.6 Summary……… 28

CHAPTER 4: CONCLUSION 29

4.1 Summary of the study 29

4.2 Limitations of the study 29

4.3 Suggestions for the further study 29 REFERENCES I APPENDIX 1: SURVEY QUESTIONNARES FOR STUDENTS IV APPENDIX 2: INTERVIEW QUESTIONS ( FOR STUDENTS) IX APPENDIXE 3: SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRES FOR TEACHERS X

LIST OF CHART

Chart 3.1 Teachers' and students' opinion on the difficulties of speaking skill 14

Chart 3.2 Teachers' and students' awareness on the importance of speaking skill 15

Figure 3.3 Students' interest in speaking skill 15

Chart 3.4 Teachers' opinion for English speaking ability first-year students in Faculty of Information Technology……… 16

Chart 3.5 The issues affecting on student's speaking ability 16

Chart 3.6 Teachers' and students' opinions on the most important stage is speaking 17

Chart 3.7 Students difficulties in speaking skill 18

Chart 3.8 Teachers’ opinions on students’ difficulties in speaking skill 18

Chart 3.9 Common psychology of students in speaking skill 19

Chart 3.10 Teachers' opinion on common psychology of students in speaking skill 19

Chart 3.11 Other factors affecting students’ speaking skill 20

Chart 3.12 Teachers' opinions on other factors affecting students’ speaking skill 21

Chart 3.13 Aspects of the teacher affect students speaking skill 21

Chart 3.14 Teachers' opinions on aspects of the teacher affect students speaking skill 22

Chart 3.15 Necessary techniques to improve speaking skill 22

Chart 3.16 Teachers' opinions on necessary techniques to improve speaking skill………23

Chart 3.17 Activities students often do to improve speaking skill 23

Chart 3.18 Speaking activities applied by teachers 24

Chart 3.19 Solutions to improve the general psychology of students when learning speaking skill ……… 24

Chart 3.20 Teachers' opinion on solutions to improve the general psychology of students when learning speaking skill 25

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

UTEHY: Hung Yen University of Technology and Education FFL: Faculty of Foreign Languages

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale of the study

In the trend of globalization today, the importance of English cannot be denied and ignored because it is widely used everywhere in the world English is considered as the key

to innovation, development and global integration

In recent years, Vietnam has developed rapidly in many fields, such as political, economic, culture, education This required labor quality to increase To get a good job, students are not only good at their specialty but also proficient in using English

In fact, teaching and learning English has been paid much attention to, which is shown in studying and teaching methods In English, there are 4 skills: speaking, listening, reading, writing In those skills, speaking skill is one of the most difficult ones and a big challenge for Vietnam students who still are weak in English proficiency

Vietnamese students in general, the first-year students in Faculty of Information Technology

at Hung Yen University of Technology and Education in particular, still having many difficulties in learning English, especially speaking skills when communicating in English because students lack knowledge background and language knowledge, etc It is difficult for students to complete speaking tasks in the right time As a result, all students participate in speaking tasks inactively and they are unwilling to speak out in front of the class It is found that speaking skill lessons so boring thus I thought that action research in the classroom should be carried out to solve the above problems and additionally to enable students to master speaking proficiency in the near future, try to improve this skill in learning and teaching

Therefore, with the hope to find out the issues in learning speaking skill as well as the appropriate methods, techniques to improve it, a study entitled: “A study on difficulties and solutions in learning English speaking skill of the first year students in Faculty of Information Technology at Hung Yen University of Technology and Education” is conducted because of all above-mentioned reasons

1.2 Aims of the study

The main aims of this study are to

 To investigate teacher’s and student’s opinions of learning English speaking skill of the first year students in Faculty of Information Technology at UTEHY

 To find out the difficulties in learning English speaking skill of the first year students

in Faculty of Information Technology at UTEHY

 To suggest some solutions to improve English speaking skill for the first year students in Faculty of Information Technology at UTEHY

1.4 The scope of the study

This study is about learning English speaking skill of the first year students in Faculty of Information Technology at UTEHY Due to time and knowledge constraints and a lack of references, this study cannot cover the whole range of speaking skill It only focuses on the freshman's academic situation to find out the difficulties and solutions to solve the problems that first year students often face when learning speaking skill

1.5 Methods of the study

To collect the data for researching, the author used both qualitative and quantitative methods including questionnaires for students, teachers, and interview questions for students All the questions designed base on the main aims of the study After getting the results, the researcher will use the tables and the charts for presenting the collected data, and the interview which were recorded carefully

1.6 Design of the study

The study includes four main chapters, organize as follows

Chapter 1: Introduction

- Gives information about the topic of this paper, background to the study, reasons for

choosing topic, the aims of the study, the scope of the study, methods of the study and an outline of the thesis in this paper

Chapter 2: Literature review

- Discusses the relevant theories related to speaking, difficulties and effective techniques

Chapter 3: The study

- Consist of three parts below

+ Methodology and data

- Mentions to the methods of the study, the participants of the study, data collection

instruments and procedures of data collection

+ Data analysis, main findings and discussions

– Analyses the data collected in order to find out the fact teaching and learning English

speaking skill of the first year students in Faculty of Information Technology at UTEHY

+ Recommendation for improving speaking skill

- Gives some suggestion techniques to help students improve the speaking skill

Chapter 4: Conclusion

Provides some effective techniques to improve English speaking skill for the first year students in Faculty of Information Technology at UTEHY Some brief information about the limitations of the study and suggestions for further studies will be also added here

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Definitions of speaking skill

In Webster New World Dictionary, speaking is to utter words orally, talk; to communicate

as by talking; to make a request; to make a speech Skill is the ability to do something well

Speaking is a skill which deserves attention every bit as much as literary skill, in both first and second languages To most people, mastering the speaking skill is the single most important aspect of learning a second or foreign language, and success is measured in terms

of the ability to carry out a conversation in the language

Speaking is so much a part of daily life that people take it for granted The average person produces tens of thousands of words a day, although some peoples, like auctioneers or politicians-may, produce even more than that So natural and integral is speaking that people forget how they once struggled to achieve this ability- until, that is, they have to learn how

to do it all over again in a foreign language

Speaking in a second or foreign language has often been viewed as the most demanding of the four skills When attempting to speak, learners must muster their thoughts and encode those ideas in the vocabulary and syntactic structures of the target language Depending on the formality and importance of the speech situation (and their own personal linguistic propensities), the learners may also attempt to monitor their output In conversations and other interactive speech events, the speakers must attend to the feedback from their interlocutors and observe the rules of discourse used in the target culture

Phonological considerations add to the difficulty of the task, especially for adult learners, as speakers strive to achieve “good” pronunciation The speed of such interaction is also an issue because there may not be adequate time for processing either outgoing speech or incoming messages at the typical rate of native- speaker interaction All of these factors combine to make speaking in a second or foreign language a formidable task for language learners Yet for many people, speaking is seen as the central skill The desire to communicate with others, often face to face and in real-time, drives people to attempt to speak fluently and correctly

There is a dynamic tension caused by the competing needs for fluency and accuracy during natural speech

People can define speaking as a way to carry out our feeling through words, conversations with others Speaking also used to communicate as by talking, to make a request, to make a speech It means that they always use it in their life, because without speaking they will be dumb and never know everybody’s means

2.2 Stages of speaking

There are many stages in speaking process of a lot of researchers but in my opinion as the

fourth-years students in Faculty of Information Technology, I agree with Sara Jane Seril

(2014) about three main stages of speaking

Speaking is one strand of literacy The speaking process is complex and multi-dimensional

It is complex interaction between the topic, the speaker and the purposes for speaking, which are shaped by the speaker’s knowledge about speaking and listening language and the speaker

1.Pre-speaking: Planning and Organizing

Just as pre-writing precedes drafting, pre- speaking begins before students speak

Students' experiences, observations, and interactions inside and outside of the classroom have an impact on what they say and how they say it Pre-speaking activities involve thought and reflection and provide opportunities for students to plan and organize for speaking

2 Speaking: Going Public

Speaking actively engages students in interactions with peers and other audiences Students who have been provided with supportive, collaborative environments and opportunities to prepare for their informal and formal speaking experiences are more likely to have the confidence needed to & quot; go public & quot; with their ideas and information To communicate and interact with others, students need to engage in a variety of formal and informal speaking situations, depending upon their purpose for speaking

3 Post-speaking: A Time for Reflection and Setting Goals

Following speaking experiences, both formal and informal, it is important to have students reflect upon their performance Their reflection, whether it is oral or written, should include the teacher, who can help them set personal goals for improving their speaking abilities This type of reflective assessment and goal setting encourages critical thought

2.3 The importance of speaking skill

2.3.1 Importance of English Language

The English language has become an international language Among nations, it serves as a lingua franca It is spoken, learned, and understood even in those countries where it is not a native language English is playing a major role in many sectors including medicine, engineering, education, advanced studies, business, technology, banking, computing, tourism, etc All our software development today, the communication facilities available to

us through the internet, our access to a variety of websites, are all being carried out in English

Most of the research works are conducted and compiled in English Anything was written and recorded in this language is read and listened to, in wider circles As a result, English is being taught and learned around the world as a second language today

2.3.2 The Importance of Speaking Skill

Language is a tool for communication We communicate with others, to express our ideas, and to know others’ ideas as well Communication takes place, where there is speech Without speech, we cannot communicate with one another The importance of 3/10 speaking skills, hence is enormous for the learners of any language Without speech, a language is reduced to a mere script The use of language is an activity that takes place within the confines of our community We use language in a variety of situations People at their workplaces, i.e researchers working either in a medical laboratory or in a language laboratory, are supposed to speak correctly and effectively in order to communicate well with one another Any gap in commutation results in misunderstandings and problems For the smooth running of any system, the speakers of a language need to be especially and purposefully trained in the skill of speaking

In order to become a well-rounded communicator one needs to be proficient in each of the four language skills viz., listening, speaking, reading, and writing, but the ability to speak skillfully, provides the speaker with several distinct advantages The capacity to express one’s thoughts, opinions, and feelings, in the form of words put together in a meaningful way, provides the speaker with these advantages The joy of sharing one’s ideas with others

is immense When we speak to others we come to have a better understanding of our own selves, as Robert Frost once said:

‘‘I am a writer of books in retrospect, I talk in order to understand, I teach in order to learn.’’ Undoubtedly, the clarity in speech reflects clear thinking

An effective speaker can gain the attention of the audience and hold it till the completion of his message Speaking skill are important for career success, but certainly not limited to one’s professional aspirations Speaking skill can also enhance one’s personal life

2.4 Criteria of good speaking skill

Speaking is not simply expressing something orally However, the students need to acquire some speaking aspects to have good speaking skills As proposed by Brown (2001: 168), those aspects are pronunciation, fluency, vocabulary, and accuracy

1 Pronunciation

Based on Longman Dictionary (2000: 429) pronunciation is the way a certain sound or sounds are produced It covers the way for speakers to produce clear language when they speak To make a successful communication happens, the speakers need to be able to deliver

a clear message for listeners In speaking, teaching pronunciation including stress, rhythm, and intonation is very important

2 Fluency

As proposed by Harris and Hodges (1995: 14) fluency is an ability to speak quickly and automatically It means that fluent speakers should be able to speak quickly and automatically

There are some problems for speaking skill that teachers can come across in helping students

to speak in the classroom

These are inhibition, lack of topical knowledge, low participation, and mother-tongue use (Tuan & Mai, 2015) Inhibition is the first problem that students encounter in class When they want to say something in the classroom they are sometimes inhibited They are worried about making mistakes and fearful of criticism They are ashamed of the other students’ attention towards themselves Littlewood (2007) expressed that a language classroom can also create inhibitions and apprehension for the students

The second problem is that learners complain that they cannot remember anything to say and they do not have any motivation to express themselves This is supported by Rivers (1968) who thinks that learners often have nothing to say probably because their teachers had selected a topic that is not appropriate for them or they do have enough information about it Baker and Westrup (2003) also supports the above idea and stated that it is very difficult for learners to answer when their teachers ask them to tell things in a foreign language because they have little opinions about what to say, which vocabulary to apply, or how to use grammar accurately

The third problem in the speaking class is that the participation is very low In a class with a large number of students, each student will have very little time for talking because just one student talks at a time and the other students try to hear him/her In the speaking class, some learners dominate the whole class while others talk very little or never speak

The last problem related to the speaking ability is that when some learners share the same mother-tongue, they try to use it in the speaking class because it is very easy for them (Tuan

& Mai, 2015) According to Harmer (1991), there are some reasons why learners use mother-tongue in their speaking classes The first reason is that when teachers ask their learners to talk about a topic that they do not have enough knowledge, they will try to use their language The second reason is that the application of mother-tongue is very natural for learners to use If teachers do not urge their learners to talk in English, learners will automatically use their first language to explain something to their classmates

The final reason refers to the fact that if teachers regularly use their learners’ mother language, their learners will feel comfortable to do so in their speaking class Hyland (1997) investigated learners from eight disciplines at five Hong Kong institutions The findings of his research indicated that proficiency in English was a significant factor in the academic

success of an English environment The finding also showed that the learners’ language difficulties were related to the productive skills of writing and speaking Evans and Green (2007) examined the language difficulties experienced by the students at a Hong Kong university The results of this study represented that the students’ difficulties centered on the academic speaking such as grammar, fluency, and pronunciation and the academic writing like style, grammar, and cohesion

2.6 Factors affecting speaking skill

If teachers want to help learners overcome their difficulties in learning speaking skill, they should identify some factors that influence their speaking performance Learners’ speaking performance are influenced by factors like performance conditions, affective factors, listening skill, and feedback during speaking tasks (Tuan & Mai, 2015)

The first factor is pertinent to performance conditions Learners carry out a speaking activity under different conditions Performance conditions impact speaking performance and these conditions involve time pressure, planning, the quality of performance, and the amount of support (Nation & Newton, 2009)

The second factor is related to affective ones Oxford (1990) said that one of the important factors in learning a language is the affective side of students According to Krashen (1982),

a lot of affective variables have been connected to second language acquisition and motivation, self-confidence, and anxiety were the three main types that have been investigated by many researchers

Listening ability is the third factor Doff (1998) says that learners cannot improve their speaking ability unless they develop listening ability Learners should comprehend what is uttered to them in order to have a successful dialogue Shumin (1997) represented that when students talk, the other students answer through the listening process Speakers have the role

of both listeners and speakers It can be concluded that students are not able to reply if they cannot comprehend what is told That is to say, speaking is very closely related to listening Topical knowledge is the fourth factor Bachman and Palmer (1996) defined it as the knowledge structures in long term memory That is, topical knowledge is the speakers’ knowledge of related topical information It enables students to apply language with respect

to the world in which they live Bachman and Palmer (1996) assert that topical knowledge has a great impact on the learners’ speaking performance

The sixth factor is related to the feedback during speaking activities A lot of learners expect their teachers to give them the necessary feedback on their speaking performance According

to Harmer (1991), the decisions that instructors adopt towards their learners’ performance depend on the stages of the lesson, the tasks, and the kinds of mistakes they make Harmer (1991) also continued that if instructors directly correct their students’ problems, the flow of the dialogue and the aim of the speaking task will be spoiled Baker and Westrup (2003) supported the above statement and said that if learners are always corrected, they will be demotivated and afraid of talking It has been suggested that instructors should always correct their learners’ mistakes positively and give them more support and persuasion while speaking

According to Mahripah (2014), EFL learners’ speaking skill is affected by some linguistic components of language like phonology, syntax, vocabulary, and semantics and psychological factors such as motivation and personality Phonology is a difficult aspect of language learning for EFL learners As we know, English is not a phonetic language That

is, pronunciation of English words are not similar to their spellings Words with similar spellings are sometimes pronounced differently because of their surrounding contexts like tenses and phonemes that come after them This can cause a lot of problems for non-native speakers of English and they sometimes get confused in producing the English words EFL learners should have the knowledge of words and sentences They should comprehend how words are divided into different sounds and how sentences are stressed in specific ways Grammatical competence can help speakers apply and perceive the structure of English language correctly that leads to their fluency (Latha, 2012) Native speakers say what they want without having any problems because they are familiar with the language If they have problems in expressing some concepts, they try to use other ways of telling those things They may make certain mistakes syntactically but these mistakes do not change the meaning

of the sentences they want to express and this doesn’t create serious problems for the listeners to comprehend them But the mistakes non-native speakers commit are those that change the meaning of utterances they want to convey and can create some problems for their understanding (Mahripah, 2014)

Motivation can influence and be influenced by the components of language learning According to Merisuo-Storm (2007), an integrative and friendly view towards the people whose language is being learned makes sensitize learners to the audio-lingual aspects of language and making them more sensitive to pronunciation and accent of language If learners have an unfriendly attitude towards the language, they will not have any substantial

improvement in acquiring the different features of language The above sentences support the view that just communicative competence is not sufficient for learners to improve their speaking skill Without positive attitudes towards the speaking performance, the aim of speaking will not be obtainable for learners

The fear of speaking English is pertinent to some personality constructs like anxiety, inhibition, and risk taking Speaking a language sometimes results in anxiety Sometimes, extreme anxiety may lead to despondence and a sense of failure in learners (Bashir, Azeem,

& Dogar 2011) According to Woodrow (2006), anxiety has a negative effect on the oral performance of English speakers Adults are very careful to making errors in whatever they tell In their opinion, errors show a kind of unawareness which can hinder them to speak English in front of other people Speaking anxiety may originate from a classroom condition with the different abilities of language learners Learners are divided into two groups: strong and weak ones The strong learners often dominate the slow and weak ones The weak learners do not usually want to talk in front of the strong ones which leads to their silence during the whole class activity

Inhibition is a feeling of worry that stops people from telling or performing what they want (Cambridge A L Dictionary, 2008) All human beings make a series of defenses to protect the ego Due to the fact that committing mistakes is a natural process of learning a language,

it certainly causes potential threats to one’s ego

These threats disappoint the learners to talk English and prefer to be silent rather than being criticized in front of a large number of people (Brown, 2000) Risk- taking is pertinent to inhibition and self-respect EFL learners who have a low self- respect tend to stop taking a risk of committing mistakes in their speaking tasks which resulting in the inhibition to the betterment of their speaking skill (Mahripah,2014)

CHAPTER 3: THE STUDY

This chapter, the researcher will give the full analysis of data collected through the survey questionnaires for teachers and students, interview students on the factors affecting English speaking skill of the first year students in the Faculty of Information Technology at Hung Yen University of Technology and Education It shows an attempt to answer the research questions posed at the beginning of the study

3.1 The participants

3.1.1 The teachers

The Faculty of Foreign languages consists of 29 teachers including 2 Chinese teachers Their ages are from 26 to 47 Major of them graduated from the faculty of foreign languages of Hanoi National University or Hanoi University The questionnaire was administered to 5 English teachers who have average 4-7 years ‘experienced with English They are all professionally experienced with English foreign language

3.1.2 The students

The research was undertaken with the participation of 40 first year students in Faculty

of Information Technology Their ages are from 19 to 20 The subjects of the study were first year students in Faculty of Information Technology when they were in the first semester

of their academic year 2020-2021 at UTEHY A large number of them have learnt English for 7 years (4 years at secondary school and 3 years at high school) However, their English backgrounds are quite similar because most of them come from different rural areas in the North and under being influence of curriculum of English for high school students in the past, students did not have many chances to practice English skills Thus, when entering UTEHY, their English levels were limited and they have to face up with many difficulties

in studying

3.2 Data collection instrument

3.2.1 The survey questionnaire

- Reason for choosing survey questionnaires

The survey questionnaires are mainly to collect information from the subjects of this study Moreover, it is easy and simple to summarize and report collected data while the researcher does not spend much time on it

- Description of survey questionnaires

There are two different questionnaires designed to survey the subjects of this study One questionnaire is for students and the other is for teachers

a Survey questionnaires for students

Questionnaires for students were delivered to 40 students of K18 at UTEHY, campus 2 to work out some issues of the research:

Part I: (including 5 questions) is the student’s general information

Part II: (including 5 questions) consists of the students’ opinions on learning speaking skill Part III: (including 4 questions) the difficulties of the students when learning speaking skill Part IV: (including 4 questions) suggestions to improve speaking skill

b Survey questionnaires for teachers:

Part I: (including 3 questions) is the teacher’s general information

Part II: (including 5 questions) consists of a teacher’s opinion on learning the speaking skill

The data collection supplies the information about the situation of teaching and learning speaking of English major students at this university:

+ The difficulties in learning speaking

+ The techniques they often use in learning speaking skills

+Their wishes for teachers in speaking class

+The recommendation techniques from students

After the interview, the research based on the interview results to analyze the data The interview data analysis will be presented with the collected data from the questionnaire in each part

3.2.3 Procedures of data collection

To collect information about the issues of learning speaking skill of the first year students in Faculty of Information Technology at UTEHY, first of all, survey questionnaires were sent

to the first year students in Faculty of Information Technology Besides, 5 English teachers were asked to complete 5 survey questionnaires, which are designed for teachers only In addition, 3 other students were invited for an interview

When the data collection was accomplished, the data analysis was initiated The results of the survey questionnaires revealed student’s and teacher’s opinions on student’s difficulties and techniques they used in speaking

3.3 Data analysis and discussion

3.3.1 Data analysis

3.3.1.1 Teacher’s and student’s opinions on speaking skill

- Question 1: What do you think of English speaking skill?

Chart 3.1 Teachers' and students' opinion on the difficulties of speaking skill

Chart 3.1 shows teachers’ and students’ opinions on the difficulty of speaking skill for the first year students in Faculty of Information Technology Statistics collected from Chart 3.1 show that most students (50%) believed that speaking skill was difficult, besides only 22.5%

of the students think that the speaking skill was normal, and 27.5% of them said that it was very difficult

Most of the teachers agree that speaking skill was difficult for the students, make up 80% total opinion of teachers, only 20% of them said that it was normal No teachers said that speaking skill is very difficult And no teachers or students chose that speaking skill was easy or very easy at all

In conclusion, based on chart 3.1, most teachers and students have the same point about the difficulty of speaking English skill Speaking skill is difficult for the students

- Question 2: What do you think of the importance of learning speaking English?

Teachers Students

Chart 3.2 Teachers' and students' awareness on the importance of speaking skill

In chart 3.2, it is clear that most of the teachers (80%) and students (55%) agree that speaking

is very important for the students 20% teachers and 25% of students thought that speaking skill is important But 20% of students believed that speaking skill is normal Moreover, all the teachers and students disagree that speaking skill is not important for them

In short, based on chart 3.2, most of the teachers and first year students in Faculty of Information at UTEHY believed that speaking skill are very important in studying as well

as in our life

- Question 3: Do you like speaking skill? (for students)

Figure 3.3 Students' interest in speaking skill

Figure 3.3 shows the interest of English first year students in Faculty of Information for the English speaking skill of UTEHY In general, students prefer learning speaking skill Students like speaking skill are the most interesting of all, because they account for the largest proportion of the pie chart, at 50% The first-year students very like and quite like speaking skill English, which make up 25% and 20% of the interest respectively The least

in this survey is not like speaking skills English This accounts for only 5% of the total

students' first-year students at UTEHY Based on the collected data from figure 3.3, most of the students in Faculty at UTEHY like learning speaking skill

- Question 3 What do you think about the English speaking ability of the first year

students at Faculty of Information Technology in English? (for teachers)

Chart 3.4 Teachers' opinion for English speaking ability first-year students at Faculty

of Information Technology

Chart indicates that most teachers (60%) state that speaking ability of first year students normal, and (40%) of them thought that speaking ability first year students still not very good Besides, no one said that speaking ability first year students is very good, good or very bad for their students

In summary, chart 3.4 shows most of the teachers at FFL consider that speaking ability first year students at Faculty of Information Technology is normal

- Question 4: Which of the following issues affect your speaking ability?

The English speaking enviroment

All of the above factors