Challenges faced by high school students in practicing English speaking skills = Khó khăn trong việc rèn luyện kỹ năng nói tiếng Anh đối với học sinh THPT
INTRODUCTION
Background of the study
To study English effectively, learners need to master four language skills: listening, speaking, reading and writing Among them, listening and speaking seem to be more difficult to English learners from both linguistic and psychological perspectives Moreover, speaking seems to be the most important skills as people who know a language are usually referred to as speakers of that language (Ur, 2000) The major goal of all English language teaching should be to give learners the ability to use English effectively, accurately in communication (Davies & Pearse, 1998) However, not all language learners after many years studying English can communicate fluently and accurately because they lack necessary knowledge
Consequently, some teachers tend to focus more on reading and writing skills instead of listening and speaking skills According to Alam & Uddin
(2013), teachers usually employ their traditional teaching methods which emphasizes on reading and writing while the productive skill of speaking is treated as trivial In addition, Hodson (2006, as cited in Alam & Bashiuddin,
2013) claimed that the explicit teaching of speaking and listening has been neglected As a result, students spend long hours learning grammar and vocabulary yet insufficient time for listening and speaking.
Statement of research problems and questions
In high school, students are not really good at speaking English They can pass the regular exams but they find it difficult to use English to communicate To help the students improve their speaking skills, it is necessary to find ways to help them overcome their problems Moreover, the teachers need to know the factors that affect their students’ speaking performance so that they can deal with these factors to help the students improve their speaking
2 performances However, until now, there is no research conducted at high school about these areas
As a result, the research named “Challenges faced by high school students in practicing English speaking skills” is conducted with a view to illustrating and analyzing deeply about this term, which may be beneficial to the next generations and teachers as well
In this study, the following question will be answered:
What are the English speaking challenges faced by the grade 10 students at a high school in Hanoi (School A)? (catergorized into personal, social, instructional and linguistic aspects)
Scope of the study
The research solely focuses on the challenges in learning English speaking skills encountered by the students in a high school in Hanoi These challenges belong to 4 aspects namely personal, social, instructional and linguistic difficulties The research was conducted based on the viewpoints of grade 10 students who have experienced several challenges when practicing speaking English Therefore, the figures and results would show significant reliability.
Significance of the study
Through the study, the research includes a list of latest findings to the limit literature review about high school students’ tackling English speaking skills Also, it went deeply to demonstrate which specific factors lead to the difficulties of students and the reason why students find them challenging From that, students of the EFL-speaking course could identify the problems and possibly solve them individually
What’s more, the study performs as a notice for high school ELT teachers to comprehend the current state so that they could make necessary
3 adaptation to reduce the struggle for their students during the process of English-speaking practice
Last but not least, the research is beneficial to all the high school students especially who may participate in conducting the study They would all be aware of the matter, how it is challenging for both teachers and students in teaching and learning speaking skills at school So, with the provided feasible solutions, they could apply to experience the effectiveness of them and lessen the struggles.
Thesis organization
There are five chapters in this research:
CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION includes the background of the study, statement of problem, scope of study and the significance of this work
CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW displays the theory of speaking skill as well as the difficulties when dealing with it The findings about challenges faced by high school students when learning speaking skills would be demonstrated as well, so as to create a base for further research and discussion
CHAPTER 3 METHODOLOGY focuses on the research methodology, which involves the setting and participants of the study, data collection instruments, procedures of data collection and data analysis
CHAPTER 4 FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS provides the results collected from researching sources, the discussion around the findings and states the answers for the research questions
CHAPTER 5 CONCLUSION summarizes the findings of the research, states the limitations of the study and offers suggestions for further study
LITERATURE REVIEW
The nature of speaking
Speaking is a skill which is used by someone to communicate in daily life, whether at school or outside the school Speaking is an activity involving
2 or more people in which the participants are both the listeners and the speakers having to act what they listen and make their contribution at high speed (Brown (2004, p.140) Speaking is a skill and such as needs to be developed and practiced independently of the grammar curriculum (Thornburry, 2005, p.4)
Speaking is a productive skill, because the people produce language by speaking Speaking is one of an observable skill in language skills (Nunan,
1999) Then Brown (2004, p.140) states that “Speaking skill can be directly and empirically observed Those observations are invariably colored by the accuracy and effectiveness of a test-taker’s listening skill, which necessarily compromises the reliability and validity of an oral production tests”
Speaking defines as reciprocal and physically situated face-to-face interaction (Al Hosni, 2014) Reciprocal means that speakers can give simultaneous contribution to the discourse and respond to each contribution as soon as possible Whereas, physically situated face-to-face interaction means that speakers can see each other thus they can understand some physical context and physical signal to show their attention to the interaction and their intention for responding the utterances Furthermore, speaking also defines as physically
5 situated face-to face interaction which means that both of speaker and interlocutor can see each other They can use physical context and physical signal for indicating their attention or intention to the interaction and for making some contribution or for responding the topic being discussed
On the other hand, Berns (1999) sees that speaking is not an oral form of written language because it requires learners’ ability to use its sub skills to form a complete competency of spoken language With this argumentation can be concluded that speaking differs from oral form of written language because to achieve speaking competency learners are not only required to be able to speak but they also need to be able to master speaking sub-skill such as pronunciation, stress, intonation, turn-taking ability, and so on When the speakers involve in speaking activity, speaking sub-skills will give some important contributions for maintaining or managing speakers’ relation with the other speakers in speaking activity This relation is useful for delivering their message clearly and for communicating successfully
Speaking is active uses of language that makes on learners of language in term of sharing meaning (Shumin, 1997) In other words, speaking is the active use of language to express meanings so that other people can make sense of them The label productive uses of language can be applied to speaking receptively To construct understanding in a foreign language, learners will use their existing language resources, built up from previous experience of language use To speak in the foreign language in order to share understandings with other people requires attention to precise details of the language A speaker needs to find the most appropriate words and a correct grammar to convey meaning accurately and precisely and needs to organize the discourse so that the listener will understand Speaking activities, because they are so demanding, require careful and plentiful support of various types, not just support for understanding, but also support for production
The mastery of speaking skill in English is a priority for many second language or foreign language learners (Park & Lee, 2005) Learners often measure their success in learning foreign language through how much they feel their speaking skill has improved Therefore, the teachers try to get the best method, approach or technique that is good to improve the students' speaking skill since there are varieties of methods, approaches, and techniques appear from direct approaches where the teacher focuses on specific features of oral interaction to indirect approaches where the teacher focuses in creating a condition for oral interaction which is appropriate for students
On the whole, despite looking at different constructs of speaking in their definitions, most scholars share the same idea that speaking is productive skills which involve not only the oral performance of linguistic competence, but some other knowledge The combination of linguistic competence and this knowledge is essential for more successful communication.
The importance of speaking skills
Speaking is considered one of the most important skills in both first and second language which is active, productive and requires more attention because speaking shows people’s thinking and personalities (Nunan, 1991) Richards and Renandya (2002) also state that developing proficiency in speaking is the key purpose of a large number of language learners thanks to the various useful functions of speaking like describing things, complaining about people’s behavior, making polite requests, etc
As a fundamental aspect of communication, it is crucial for learners to possess speaking skills Upon speaking, students are able to express themselves, to exchange information and to learn appropriate patterns of communication for different social and cultural contexts However, it is necessary for foreign language learners to be guided by teachers in acquiring speaking skills since with the educator’s help, they are able to use the language
7 properly While teaching speaking, teachers might help students not only to create utterances to exchange information in the target language properly, but also explain sociocultural and pragmatic features related to the context, which is, undoubtedly, necessary for students to be able to speak the language on a higher level This makes speaking, as well as teaching speaking, highly important Moreover, Fauziati (2010) indicate that the aim of learning speaking is to communicate effectively in different situations Likewise, speaking is considered the basic skill in learning a language because it is developed from childhood together with listening skill (Tarigan, 1990, as cited in Riyaz and Mullick, 2016) Therefore, it is essential for learners to master the speaking skill to acquire a language
However, increasing speaking proficiency demands learners’ efforts and time to practice In fact, learners’ speaking can be significantly enhanced providing that they have more opportunities to expose to the target language as well as the cultures of the target language speakers (Riyaz and Mullick, 2016)
Nawshin (2009) claims that the learning process is more meaningful if learners can use accurately what they know about the language to show their thoughts or emotions in communicative interaction Therefore, serious attention should be paid to teaching speaking skills so as to help students overcome fear, frustration and to obtain confidence, and ultimately help them communicate effectively as naturally as possible Realizing the importance of teaching speaking skills, the teachers have to find out what exactly is necessary for students to acquire in order to be successful communicators
In short, acquiring speaking skills is of great significance to any language learners in maintaining communication and performing other social purposes
As one of the most difficult skills, it is crucial for speaking skills to be given considerate attention in foreign language training
Students’ problems in English speaking practice
Speaking is a productive skill in oral mode Tanveer (2007) mentions that it is like the other skills, which is more complicated than it seems at first and involves more than just pronouncing words As the most important aspect of language skills in terms of communication, speaking is precisely often the one that students cannot gain enough competence during the English classroom Many researchers have addressed different aspects of English speaking difficulties that the EFL students face in English speaking practice They can be personal, social, instructional, and linguistic problems arranged successively
This domain explains the reliability of the students’ perspective of taking a speaking class According to Juhana’s findings (2012) of the psychological domain, students feel anxiety when they try to speak in the English language was that most important problem with the highest average followed by the items of lack of motivation, feeling confused, lack of interesting, and feeling shy when using English language speaking In line with Haidara's study that mentioned most of those English learners always complain about problems such as: being anxious, being nervous, being worried about making mistakes, feeling shy, and feeling frustrated while performing in English speaking From here, students’ challenges from the psychological factor in this study would include some intrinsic of the student psychologically and their perspectives towards the challenges in the English speaking course
It is associated with unlike kinds of nervousness such as anxiety of looking ludicrous, the anxiety of the anticipation coming from an auditor’s empty look viewing that they are unsuccessful to converse (Beebe, 1983) Shumin (1997) deduces that speaking a foreign language in a community, exceptionally in the presence of natural speakers, is often anxiety-provoking
Intense anxiety sometimes arises when students become tongue-tied for words in an unanticipated state which frequently leads to disappointment and an overall intelligence failure She also adds that students are afraid of the fact that other people would like to know how expert they are when they speak English They are very careful about not making mistakes in what they say, for making mistakes would be a community presentation of unawareness, which would make them “lose face” in some cultures Obviously, the compassion of ESL/EFL learners to making errors, or anxiety of ‘face losing” has meant their incapability to speak English well Finally, ESL/EFL learners have no reasons to direct themselves because they lack the enthusiasm to speak English They have no idea about the message they want to convey when speaking English Furthermore, students’ enthusiasm is impacted by both inside and outside issues Interior enthusiasm is students’ self-motivation whereas exterior motivation comes from other parties excluding self-regulation strategies
Speaking is a means of communication in which there are two ways the relationship between speakers and listeners, which has certain purposes either in social life interaction or pedagogy of the classroom interaction stated Murcia in her book of “Teaching English as a Second or Foreign Language” (1991) According to the previous study done by Bashir, Azeem & Dogar (2011), the items of the social domain found that lack of English language conversation at home has the highest average and then followed by criticism for them who speaks the English language from surrounding people were the most which caused problems for speaking skill in the social domain Banu (2017) mentioned that social contexts take a role to sustain a conversation in a regional dialect with childhood friends and family members Moreover, Tsui’s (1996) study of “Reticence and anxiety in second language learning” found that the greatest difficulty that learners encounter in attempts to speak is not the
10 multiplicity of sounds, words, phrases, and discourse forms that characterize any language, but rather the interactive nature of most communication Based on the previous studies reviewed, students’ challenges in speaking in the social domain include the interactions outside of study hours and develop their speaking skills more optimally
Ethnic physical characteristics of a language also involve second or foreign language learning, especially English Carrasquillo (1994, p 55) states that
“shared values and beliefs create the traditions and social structures that bind a community together and are expressed in their language” Therefore, to speak a language, one must know how the language is used in a community setting
It is well known that each language has its own guidelines of control as to when and how Berns (1990) ascertains that a speaker may execute a given oral way with his or her exchange collaborator Because of the inspiration of their own national averages, it is hard for nonnative speakers to select the forms suitable to certain conditions
Reluctance to speak can also be derived from expectations about the roles that teachers and students should play during classroom instruction Tsui
(1996) realizes that Asian students may be nervous not to show verbal success in front of their peers, expected to a scheduled feature of diffidence In Asian cultures, teachers and students play very stringent roles that are seldom infringed Scollon and Scollon (1990) state that the norms of classroom contribution require students to receive an appreciation of what is taught and keep silent even when explicitly asked to speak by the teacher The non-Western classrooms are described by the teacher assuming an oration style of teaching and the student listening and taking notes in quietness Few class discussions are conducted, and learners are not supposed to interpose the teacher to ask a question because that is regarded as offensive
According to Ghaleb’s (2005) study, that the teacher uses his native language during his speech with students was the most effective problem in English language speaking skills In line with Gan’s findings in 2012 that indicates some factors that affect students’ speaking skills such as, using mother tongue in class, students fear to speak the English Language in public, instructors do not use strategies that develop speaking as role-play and debates
It shows that teachers need to regulate the use of their language when speaking in academic speaking classes to set an example for students in learning to speak English Bashir (2011) finds that more than half of the teachers use English as a medium of instruction Moreover, Izadi (2015) mentions that the teachers should use English and also encourage students to communicate in English, however, when they feel that L1 use for a specific purpose could be beneficial, they should situationally use L1 or allow their students to use L1, especially when a learner with low proficiency of English gets stuck, feels anxiety and as a result is unable to express anything It represented the challenges involved in speaking academically for the instructor domain Based on the previous studies reviewed, students’ challenges in speaking under instructor domain in this present research study include teacher’s use of L1 and reinforce the students when they speak in English
In teaching speaking to ESL/EFL learners, it is necessary for the instructor and learners to interrelate with each other to portion knowledge and to sequence practicing speaking as one of the original skills to develop proficiency in collaborating with English Nawshin (2009) state a number of reasons about teachers’ instructional methods that can lead to English speaking difficulties, for example, teacher’s speaking time, use of the mother tongue in the classroom and teachers’ low command in speaking English
EFL learners frequently have difficulties in language development because of the gaps in their language collection One of the most problems that learners face is associated to their linguistic knowledge which refers to their incongruous association and structural acquaintance They lack grammatical knowledge because they do not have enough basic English consciousness or they have not learned about it
Pertaining to the linguistic problems, Al-Roud's study found the learners' lack of vocabulary and also the weakness in English language grammar was the core problems in English language speaking Learning speaking skills is affected by linguistic skills, so the lack of vocabulary that the students possess and the weakness of mastering language grammar cause a defect in learning speaking skills The reason for that is the teachers of English Language teach vocabulary in isolation, not in situations Khan and Khan (2016) state that teachers consider what student needs, from a language-based focus on accuracy to message-based focus on interaction, meaning, and fluency to encourage the use of authentic language in meaningful contexts Moreover, Baker and Westrup (2013) mention that the expertise of the linguistic aspects and the academic speaking practices necessary for the trained lecturers It can be employed to create integrative language and content instruction courses that focus on specific discourses to bring about an optimum exposure of the academic speaking experience for the students Based on the previous study reviewed, the linguistic domain is a part of students’ Academic Speaking challenges include some linguistics aspects such as grammar and the application of language in the academic context
To sum up, acquiring a skill is never easy as many difficulties and obstacles keep blocking the development of the skills and make it harder for the students to grasp Speaking problems are faced by students all over the
Previous study
A number of empirical studies have examined the same research concerns related to difficulties encountered by university EFL students while participating in oral classroom activities For example, Gan’s (2012) study explored obstacles to speaking skills confronted by English-majored students in Hong Kong University and found that the students in this context significantly encountered several problems leading to their limitation of fluent speaking performance such as lacking vocabulary, focus much on grammar tructures, having limited in-class speaking opportunities, and out-of-class English speaking environment The study then pointed to a need to incorporate sufficiently intensive language improvement components in the current program
Park and Lee (2005) examined the relationships between second language learners’ anxiety, self-confidence and speaking performance The participants of their study were one hundred and thirty-two Korean college students who enrolled the English conversation classes The results of their study indicated that learners’ anxiety level was negatively related to their oral performance Hamouda (2013) investigated the factors that cause language anxiety for twenty language learners in learning speaking skills and the influence of anxiety on communication in the target language and his result is similar to what Park and Lee (2005) figure out The findings suggested that students’ feeling of stress, anxiety or nervousness may impede their language
14 learning and performance abilities He cites that “the higher the anxiety, the lower the performance”
Riyaz and Mullick (2016) conducted a study on “Problems in learning English speaking skill: A study of higher secondary students in Srinagar, India” The study focused on the difficulties encountered by learners at higher secondary level The sample consisted of 160 respondents taken from various higher institutes of Srinagar city The results showed that learners’ overall performance in speaking skills was very low They didn’t have much exposure to English language use inside and outside the classroom Also, students’ lack of vocabulary, poor grammar and pronunciation and teachers’ domination in the class hindered their progress in speaking
In the context of Vietnam, English is used as an official language and as a medium of instruction for various -level education in both public and private schools and universities in Vietnam Though English is taught as a compulsory subject from the primary level of education, the students have yet to reach the speaking fluency level inside and outside their classroom Le Thi Mai (2019) also examined the same research concern in the context of Ba Ria - Vung Tau University where students faced challenges in English speaking skills The findings emphasized the challenges with regard to (1) learners’ issues such as learning styles, worries and language proficiency; (2) lecturers’ issues, namely teaching methodology; and (3) teaching facilities
In Nguyen Hoang Tuan & Tran Ngoc Mai’s research on “Factors affecting students’ speaking performance at Le Thanh Hien high school”
(2015), they aimed at exploring the speaking problems of the students at Le Thanh Hien high school and the factors affecting their speaking performance The participants included two hundred and three grade 11 students and ten teachers of English The results from the questionnaires and classroom observation indicated that students faced various problems such as speaking
English very little or not at all, not being able to think of anything to say, using Vietnamese instead of English when discussing in groups or in pairs, having low participation, being fearful of criticism or losing face, having a habit of translating the information in the textbooks into Vietnamese before speaking and looking at their textbooks when speaking From the findings above, the authors proposed some possible solutions to both teachers and students to improve teaching and learning speaking skills Additionally, Nguyen and Tran’s (2015) study was slightly different from previous studies with respect to high school students’ English speaking barriers, the findings similarly analysed challenges stemmed from learners’ weaknesses in speaking English and proposed the necessity of teachers’ ready supports by diversifying their teaching activities
Another study from Vo Phuong Quyen and her partners (2018) investigated challenges of speaking skills faced by English-majored freshmen in a Vietnamese university The data obtained from the questionnaire with 131 students, individual interviews with lecturers, and class observation The findings show that English fresh-men faced both internal and external challenges, especially the latter ones regarding the limitation of English speaking environment and extracurricular activities Possible measures are proposed to tackle such challenges in helping students speak English more effectively
To sum up, all the previous studies above present linguistic and non- linguistic difficulties learners encountered when learning speaking skills the majority of the students faced non-linguistic problems such as lack of confidence, hesitation, and anxiety while speaking along with social problems such as the culture of class, fear of criticism, and fear of committing mistakes Linguistic problems such as lack of appropriate vocabularies, problems in initiating the speech, creating linkage among the sentences, mother tongue
16 interference, and pronunciation of the words inhibited the students of English from speaking fluently
Chapter 2 has set out some concepts related to speaking skills, the importance of teaching English speaking skills, as well as presents the common challenges for English speaking proficiency The chapter has also introduced several international and national studies on the difficulties in performing English speaking skills of EFL students In the next chapter, Chapter 3, more details on research methodogy on investigating the English speaking challenges faced by the grade 10 students of a high school in Hanoi will be discussed
METHODOLOGY
Research design
A research approach is a way of planning and conducting research In this study, the researcher takes a mixed approach of qualitative and quantitative ones This type of this research is descriptive research According to Arikunto
(2016, p 234) “the descriptive research is the research means to collect information about the status and indication that exists, in which that indication base on what it is, when the research was conducted because generally the descriptive research is not to test the hypothesis” Descriptive research was selected by the researcher because it deals with the phenomenon of the speaking difficulties in a real-life situation that happened to the students while they are speaking English The results of this research were described descriptively The data of the research were taken by using questionnaire and semi-structured interview.
Research methods
The study aims to find out the English speaking skill challenges faced by the grade 10 students at a high school in Hanoi The researcher used a quantitative and qualitative methods to collect the data because of the accessibility to meet them regularly and cover the overall target participants who were designed in the study This research has used a questionnaire and semi-structured interviews that provide some statements and questions to find out a detailed understanding of the English speaking challenges in several domains This study was done by taking into account a variety of factors that might affect the participants such as personal factor, social factor, instructional
18 factor, and linguistic factor The result of this study is to overcome the challenges in the English speaking practice for the high school level.
Research context
This research was conducted in a high school in Hanoi with English as a foreign language (hereafter, School A) English speaking is one of the four language skills offered in the compulsory subject of English language which provides language skills and linguistic knowledge in speaking in various academic contexts Through learning English, the students are expected to be able to participate in discussions, interviews, consult the teachers, and prepare and deliver presentations in English The English subject scheduled once a week with 4 effective 45-minute periods of the learning process in class The assignments and projects will be done in pairs, in groups, and individually, with feedback from their peers and the lecturer During the English lessons, the students learn aspects of English through speaking in forms of language used in presentation skills, discussions, interviews At the end of each semester, these students are expected to obtain several speaking competencies of A2 level according to CEFR (Common European Framework of Reference for Languages) adopted by the Council of Europe
As for speaking skills materials, the grade 10 students use the course book “Tieng Anh 10 Global Success” and an accompanied workbook which are compiled by Vietnam Education Publishing House according to “General education programme: English curriculum” The book consists of 10 units, covering familiar topics and stories in daily lives and culture such as Family, life, Humans and the environment; Gender equality; Vietnam and international organizations; New ways to learn Four separated language skills are integrated in each unit together with enhancement of vocabulary and grammatical structures
Research participants
The participants of the study are the grade 10 students of a high school in Hanoi There were ten grade 10 classes in that high School In order to get data for the study, one hundred students, both male and female, from 10 classes of grade ten were randomly chosen to participate in the research The data was collected in the second semester of 2022-2023 academic year In the English speaking classes, the students are taught speaking skills not only in fluency, pronunciation, vocabulary, and grammar, but also in interactional skills Those
100 students were chosen as the participants as the consideration that they have taken some English speaking classes for one semester in their high-school life
By doing so, the researcher could easily get the reliable data because the participants had experienced to join the class of English
Participation in the research was voluntary and anonymous, which meant that participation or non-participation would not affect the student’s grade in the class Pseudonyms were used to ensure the confidentiality of all participants Therefore, they were expected to be able to articulate their opinions honestly and objectively regarding the challenges that they faced and share their experiences related to the research question.
Data collection instruments
With the aim of achieving multidimensional data, the study used both qualitative and quantitative methods through the employment of two research instruments, namely questionnaire, and interview
This mixed-method study used both qualitative and quantitative data collection tools The study used a survey questionnaire with the five-point Likert scale to collect the quantitative data The self-reported data about the speaking problem was the primary tool to measure and analyze the phenomena The qualitative data was collected through semi-structured interviews In both
20 cases, the English speaking problems of the students were identified and measured by themselves
A simply-worded English questionnaire was administered to the participants The questionnaire was chosen for this study based on its quantifiability, affordability, and ease of completion (Brown, 2001) Moreover, questionnaires ensure anonymity, leading to more honest responses and increased trustworthiness (Connaway and Powell, 2010) The questionnaire allowed for gathering a substantial amount of data efficiently, addressing the challenges of students in learning English speaking skills (Yu, 2009)
With 28 questions, the questionnaire was designed to gather information about the perception of the participants towards the provided items about English speaking challenges These items in the questionnaire were collected after the observing of the researcher in her teaching process Also it was adapted from the teacher’s and student’s questionnaire of Mr Nguyen Hoang Tuan and Ms Tran Ngoc Mai in their survey about similar topic The questionnaire covered 4 domains of challenges that are personal, social, instructional, and linguistic ones Specifically, the questionnaire consists of two parts as follows:
- Part 1 (3 questions): General details on the students’ English learning
- Part 2 (25 questions): Students’ perception of challenges in English speaking practice All the items of the Part 2 are rated on a five-point Likert- scale for agreement from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree) (see Appendix 1)
Interviewing, Dửrnyei (2007) argues, is a naturally and socially acceptable way of collecting data as it can be used in various situations covering
21 a variety of topics Also, in comparison with questionnaires, he claimed that interviews are more powerful in eliciting narrative data that allows researchers to investigate people’s views in greater depth Therefore, together with questionnaires, the researcher used semi-structured interview to investigate deeply into how the students consider those domains/ factors as the obstacles in their English speaking practice The interview was chosen as one of the data collection tool for this study because as Cohen et al (2011) claims interview is useful when there is a hot topic related to the real-life context and the standardized interview would help the researcher ask deeper into the participants related to the research topic Also, the interview allows participants to describe in detail what exactly the challenges are along with the reasons, explanations and even examples
In this study, the interviews were carried out with six students who got both good and bad speaking results in order to increase the reliability of the findings With this semi-structured interview, the researcher chose stratified sampling divided into 2 main groups: 3 students with bad speaking performances (S1, S2, S3) and 3 students with good speaking results (S4, S5, S6) The researcher designed four questions to ask the participants about their speaking problems The questions allow the interviewees to express their thoughts, feelings or perception freely After building questions for the interviews, the researcher negotiated in advance with the participants about the time and location which they found most convenient to take part in In order to achieve more insightful data, the interviews with six students were conducted by the researcher in Vietnamese.
Data collection procedures
There would be two main phases in the procedure of collecting data:
Phase 1: This duration is used for designing questionnaires and interview schedules for participants Some versions or drafts would be prepared before
22 the final version was public and distributed The questionnaire was designed in English, based on theoretical background and focuses solely on the research question so that the reliability can be ensured
Phase 2: When the official questionnaire was distributed to 100 students of grade 10 classes, the researcher would send the interview invitation to the six selected participants who would represent to give more specific answers to the prepared questions
The procedure for data collection was that the researcher asked the School for consent to take questionnaire and interview data from the grade 10 students Then, the participants were informed about the aim of the research, explained how to fill the questionnaire, and also offer free time to ask questions if they did not understand After that, the interviews were administered The data collection took place by the end of the second semester of the school year 2022-2023.
Data analysis procedures
To come up with the factors of the students’ challenges in English speaking skills, two main data instruments including questionnaires and interviews were employed
According to Dửrnyei (2007), not many problems in analysing figures or data remain due to the fact that computers could assist people with calculation mathematically In this study, the collected data and figures would be calculated into numerical form using SPSS The amounts of each item in the questionnaire were utilized to analyze the research data As the types of descriptive statistics is central tendency, the outcome data were presented in table and chart so that the findings and discussion would definitely be clear and reliable, which helped the researcher to see results that show the challenges the students face in English speaking practice The questionnaire results were presented and discussed based on the four-domain categorization (personal,
23 instructor, social, and linguistic) Therefore, the data was divided into several points to identify the challenges faced by students in English speaking performance
The interviews were employed to analyze the results from the questionnaires in more depth By employing the interview method, researchers can identify the underlying reasons behind the respondent’s answers The researcher applied thematic analysis with tha data collected from interview The first step in analyzing the interview data is reducing the data It means the researcher identified the data which was acquired from transcript of interview The second step, the researcher selected and chosen the needed data based on the focus of the research, here about the difficulties in speaking English faced by the grade 10 students at a high school in Hanoi In the final step, the researchers summarized the data Data processing was continued until the end of the study In details, with the transcript of interview, after choosing the needed data, it was coded and divided into 4 main groups (personal, instructor, social, and linguistic) like the questionnaire By this way, the collected data from both questionnaire and interview were nearly consistent and easily analyzed
This chapter represents an overview of the research setting, participants as well as justifies the research methodology The research setting and participants section describes the location and population used for the research The data collection instruments section details the types of instruments, their reliability and validity, and their administration A combination of questionnaire and interviews was used to collect the qualitative and quantitative data The data were then analyzed quantitatively and qualitatively to seek answers to the research question In the following chapter, findings and discussion of the data analysis will be presented
FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION
Students’ participation in English speaking practice
The first section of the questionnaire intended to collect the data on the students’ English language class and their English speaking competence Generally, responses were positive with 68% of the participating students recounting the English class as fun, interesting, relaxed, and for some, it was a good learning experience One group of students (25%) pointed out that speaking was their favorite session of the class while listening was the most difficult (69%) A large number of students (75%) confessed they did not feel confident with their language skills, particularly speaking skill even though they loved communicating in English
Figure 4.1 Frequency of English speaking participation
Students were questioned about the frequency of their verbal participation in class and the result was illustrated in Figure 1 above Only 10 of the 100 students said that they spoke most of the time These students gave
25 various reasons for their speaking involvement such as: excitement, supporting learning progression, showing off skills, broadening experience, and a sense of achievement One group (30 students) took very low frequency, saying that they only spoke when the teacher or seatmate asked them to do Seven students confessed that they did not make any oral participation at all during the whole lesson because they were self-conscious, embarrassed or afraid to fail in front of their peers They also mentioned inadequacy of skills or lack of self-efficacy Three students blamed their reticence on fewer speaking chances due to the increased number of other tasks and instruction going on in class.
Challenges faced by the students in English speaking practice
The researcher asked what problems the students face while speaking in English both in the questionnaire and interview Various kinds of problems were found faced by the students which were given and the most striking problems majority of the students faced were: feel nervous, lack of vocabulary, the inability of using grammatical patterns, mispronunciation of words, fear of making mistakes, overuse of mother tongue, and lack of confidence Their responses (both interview and questionnaire) were categorized into four subcategories: personal, social, instructional, and linguistic problems Each category is analyzed separately as follows
One significant challenge with the students’ speaking English is a matter of personal or psychological problems such as lack of confidence and anxiety of losing face A large number of the research participants (60%) more specifically stated that they lacked confidence in presenting themselves and maintaining communication for a certain amount of time About 48% of the participants stated that they did not want to sound foolish or unintelligent in the presence of their peers Therefore, they tended not to say anything when they were not sure whether their answers were correct, or if their ideas differed from
26 those of others In line with this, a dominant theme from the interview statistics was the range to which students worried about the dilemma of having to speak English publicly in front of their peers as they said “I am concerned about what friends around me think of me If I failed to give correct answers, um everybody knows the answer, then they would think I am stupid” (S3) or “My mind goes blank when I start speaking in front of my classmates and teacher in the classroom” (S6) The results of the personal challenges from research questionnaire are presented in the form of Figure 2
Figure 4.2 Research results for personal challenges
According to the items of the personal challenges in Figure 2, there were
53 of 100 participants who felt unconfident to speak in English Chowdhury and Shaila (2011) state that speaking is a productive skill in oral mode which means that speaking is one of the output tools when someone does an action in order to communicate with others In addition, Hadijah (2014) mentions that English speaking is a language skill that is highly affected by human psychology or personal characteristics It was similar to the finding of this present study that the lack of confidence in speaking English as the most prominent The students tended to avoid making errors in their speaking by choosing to talk less and be an observer In fact, confidence affects the
Shyness Confusion Lack of motivation
27 convenience in communicating Lack of confidence may make the students feel insecure while speaking as well as interrupt the learning process because mistakes are also part of learning These students feel nervous if they make a mistake while communicating with people Therefore, lack of confidence poses the challenge faced by the grade 10 students of School A in their English speaking practice
Another challenge faced by the students is motivation It is important to make students passionate when they find the trouble in practicing speaking skill Although several students interested in English and then tended to avoid speaking because they were afraid of making mistakes They said “we are afraid of making mistakes when speaking, when our lecturer asked us to participate in speaking activities, we just kept silence” (S4) and “we are afraid if our friends laugh at us when we speak English” It was relief that the speaking skill attracted the respondents to learn English It could be interpreted that students’ psychology needs to be concerned by built appropriate motivation and followed by own desire to learn and improve English speaking skills continuously It was similar to Kabir's (2014) study mentioned that the psychological aspect in English classrooms needs to be considered because it will impact students’ affective perceptions, teachers are not only demanded to enrich in their pedagogical competence but further, they have to develop psychological awareness Therefore, English speaking practices with someone that we felt comfortable to talk to also can increase self-confidence and be a better learner in speaking skills In short, motivation is a challenge for these students
The research result of the study for the grade 10 students at School A shows that 85 students lacked daily English conversation, 67 students feel lack of opportunities in meeting the native speakers of English; and the lack of local
28 society associations in developing English language speaking skills was voted by 41 students The results of the social domain research questionnaire are presented in the form of Figure 3 below
Figure 4.3 Research results for social challenges
For the social challenges, Figure 3 presented that the students' challenges in speaking academically have two highest factors which are 85 votes out of
100 from the participants for the lack of daily English interaction and 67 votes for rare contacts with native speakers Those were the social factors such as limitations in English conversations in their neighborhood or family and opportunities meeting native speakers of English in their daily life
It is supported by Chowdhury and Shaila’s study (2011) mentioned that conversation is the kind of speech that happens informally, symmetrically, and for the purposes of establishing and maintaining social ties, follow rules of etiquette because the conversation is social interactions It means that speaking skill is the ability naturally done by someone to communicate which is very close to daily activity Three of the interviewees said they rarely practiced with native speakers (S3, S4, S6) This case may not be neglected because we cannot deny if native speakers can be one of media to speak English better However, the result of this current study shows there was the fact that there is no specific purpose for the surrounding community to use English in their daily lives, which causes the students to lack supervision in terms of their speaking because
Lack of daily English interaction
Without contacts with native speakers
Lack of English-learning community
Lots of English-error criticism
29 the environment does not provide the demands of practicing their English speaking skills
The students’ responses in the questionnaire and interview mainly focused on the lack of environment in the class and out of the class One of the students expressed, “Not many friends are interested in speaking in English in the class, even I requested them to form English speaking club of our class but nobody became ready for that” (S1) There is nobody who encourages them to speak in English neither the teacher nor friends become ready to practice in English If the students do not get a chance to practice any language either in the classroom or out of the classroom then it becomes very difficult to learn a language From their responses, we can say that environment is another important factor for creating speaking difficulties
Moreover, the results found that criticism for them who speaks English from their surroundings got the lowest votes (30 out of 100) It means that the students’ English speaking environment is supportive enough The students could speak English freely without any hesitation of getting negative responses from others during English speaking performance Menggo (2019) argued that learners unaware of the importance of talk for learning may think of talk as just usual chat – and learning falls away as they slip into a social talk Nonetheless, the students must pay attention to the teacher's feedback that enhances their English in an academic way and develops it for a better future This is very good for developing their English skills, typically speaking skills
The data from questionnaire shows that most students disagreed with the difficulties caused by their lecturers’ teaching methods In particular, the same percentage of respondents highly disagreed with their lecturers who did not create interesting speaking activities and correct mistakes of speaking (67%) Additionally, the results indicated that the participants denied challenging
30 factors caused by their lecturers’ speaking activities with few responses (around 14%) Although the number of the participants responding to challenging issues related to lecturers’ mother tongue or teaching grammar and vocabulary is fewer than to other issues, their unsure answers account for higher percentages (between 32% and 40%)
Table 4.1 Research results for instructional challenges
No Challenges faced by the students in English speaking practice
14 The teacher’ speech is inappropriate for our
15 The teacher does not tolerate the students’ speaking mistakes
16 The teacher does not reinforce the students when they speak in English
The teacher uses Vietnamese (L1) to communicate with students in the learning process
18 The teacher does not vary his/her methods of teaching English speaking skills
As indicated in Table 4.1, several students felt the teachers’ speech is inappropriate to their level, sometimes too fast; 17 students believed that their teachers did not tolerate their speaking errors and 37 students thought their teachers did not reinforce them to speak English during the lessons; 25 students chosen that the teacher did not vary their teaching methods to deliver the speaking skills
According to the charts of Instructor Domain in Figure 2, it showed that the students’ challenges in speaking academically were faced his/her teacher’s sometimes used their native language (L1) to communicate with the students in the learning process In the instructor's domain classification, Harmer (2007)
Discussion
This research discovered some challenges that were classified into 4 main groups of personal, social, instructional, and linguistic challenges Several
34 conclusions and recommendations can be described regarding the research findings on the grade 10 students’ English speaking challenges
First, the grade 10 students at School A were affected by personal challenges when speaking English It may be agreed that personal affective traits such as anxiety, low self-confidence and mistake phobia are humane natural traits, and they are intrinsic personal traits This finding is partly similar to that of many scholars which considers affective difficulties as factors often hindering students from speaking English (Al-Roud, 2016; Hadijah, 2014; Tsui, 1996) In line with this, Riyaz and Mullick (2016) also confirmed that the students often faced speaking difficulties such as being afraid of making mistakes, fear of public speaking, and shyness of speaking Meanwhile, instructional difficulties such as teachers’ L1/mother tongue overuse, harsh error correction, low command of English speaking skills and low encouragement have posed the serious challenges for the students during English speaking practice Furthermore, social and linguistic difficulties affected students’ speaking skills moderately Regarding social difficulties, English-majored students often lacked opportunities to practice speaking English outside the classroom, but they sometimes had difficulty in cooperating with their class in speaking class This is understandable because English is used as a foreign language in Vietnam, so there are few opportunities for the students to practice speaking English outside the classroom and the personal traits as discussed above entail their cooperation with others in speaking class With respect to linguistic difficulties, this type of difficulty is obviously bearable as English-majored students can cope with such difficulties One reason is that many English-majored students seem to possess at least an average level of English proficiency, so they do not suffer many difficulties in terms of linguistic difficulties This finding is contrary to Atas’ (2014) discovery that students often encountered English speaking difficulties due to lack of vocabulary limited grammar
In short, the common challenges faced by these research students include hesitation to speak to avoid making the verbal mistakes, teacher’s L1 hinderance on the students’ learning process in English speaking skills, lack of support to the practice in English speaking skills both at home and the native speaker of English in the social environment Language-related problems such as lack of vocabulary, weak knowledge of grammatical structures, and mispronunciation also effected the students to take part in the English conversation appropriated The study also explored the students’ lack of practice and the absence of the scope of a friendly environment to practice speaking could demotivate the students to speak in English However, the results highlight several factors, namely students’ lack of vocabulary and English speaking strategies, limited number of native teachers, limited English speaking environment as the most inhibiting factors for students’ speaking skills
In Chapter 4, the researcher showed the study’s findings to answer the research question proposed in the introduction From the research results, it can be concluded that the majority of the students face personal problems such as lack of confidence, hesitation, and anxiety while speaking Along with that, social problems such as fear of criticism, and fear of committing mistakes also play a vital role in speaking difficulties Instruction, namely teaching methods, ways of giving feedback…, is another important domain for creating speaking difficulties, Linguistic problems such as lack of appropriate vocabularies, problems in initiating the speech, mother tongue interference, and pronunciation of the words inhibited adult students from speaking fluently
CONCLUSION
Recapitulation
Speaking is taken as the toughest skill to get mastery by the students of EFL contest, so is the case of high school students in Vietnam This study aims to find out the obstacles faced by the grade 10 students at a high school in Hanoi It hopes to help the students overcome the challenges faced in their English speaking sections The research classified the challenges into four main groups: personal, social, instructional, and linguistic
Grade 10 students at School A face several personal challenges when speaking English, such as anxiety, low self-confidence, and fear of making mistakes These affective traits are intrinsic and common among learners Instructional difficulties include teachers' overuse of their native language, harsh error correction, and insufficient encouragement, all of which significantly hinder students' speaking practice Socially, students often lack opportunities to practice speaking English outside the classroom and sometimes struggle to cooperate in speaking activities This is expected given that English is a foreign language in Vietnam, limiting practice opportunities Linguistically, students' challenges are more manageable, as many possess at least an average level of English proficiency This contrasts with Atas’ (2014) finding that students often struggle with vocabulary and grammar Overall, personal, instructional, social, and linguistic challenges collectively impact the students' ability to speak English effectively
In conclusion, common challenges faced by these students include hesitation to speak due to fear of mistakes, teachers' use of their native language, and lack of practice support at home and with native speakers Language issues such as limited vocabulary, weak grammar knowledge, and mispronunciation also hinder their participation in English conversations The lack of practice opportunities and a supportive environment demotivates
37 students Key inhibiting factors are limited vocabulary and speaking strategies, few native teachers, and an insufficient English-speaking environment
To eliminate these difficulties, the study suggests creating a favorable English-speaking environment in the classroom, modifying existing English courses, and changing teaching pedagogy.
Limitations of the study
Although the research was carried out successfully, limitations are still inevitable throughout the process
Firstly, the study was carried out on a small sample of 100 students and in a limited range of grades – only grade 10, which might have affected its generability Furthermore, due to the time-constraint, the researcher could not interview all the participants to produce more reliable and multi-dimensional data
Secondly, the data collection instruments were mostly self-developed by the researcher and were not scientifically checked; therefore, the study instrument’s validity was not much guaranteed Besides, the questionnaire’s data reliability was uncertain because of the sincerity of the students’ responses when completing the questionnaire
Finally, there was an absence of some current information about teaching and learning speaking skills as well as several recent studies in the literature review due to the lack of reliable resources.
Pedagogical implications
The secondary school students’ English-speaking challenges can be addressed on many factors, namely personal, social, instructional, and linguistic factors Based on the results of the study, the researcher would like to give several implications in teaching and learning English speaking skills at high school level
From the above results and discussion, it can be said that speaking is regarded as one of the most important skills in the English language, so that students need to be exposed to plenty of opportunities to practice English in the classroom and out of the classroom Also, the students need to master the use of vocabulary and grammar knowledge and do more practice in pronunciation so that they can express their ideas appropriately The students should be confident with themselves, especially when speaking English Only when students feel confident to communicate in the classroom, did they willingly take part in the activities and tasks tailored for them
Instructional methods have a great effect on students’ speaking performance in the class so teachers should encourage students to ask questions, organize them to collaborate to get answers, and always be ready to support to them, which is beneficial for nurturing student’ interaction abilities The teachers should be given appropriate training as how to select, adapt and organize speaking activities for students that call for active participation Besides, teacher should be guided on how to integrate activities cross the curriculum and co-curricular activities that calls for greater opportunities to speak and interact with peers and teachers The exposure to speak the language could motivate students to speak in the language outside the classroom confidently As students gain some triumphs in the language, their confidence will increase and so will their amount of oral participation Therefore, teachers should stir up learners’ interests and create as many chances as possible for students to produce the target language by implementing various activities for classroom interaction Students should be often provided with motivation and inspiration to linguistically present themselves in front of class Furthermore, teacher should refrain from using the mother tongue as medium of interaction in the class The school can organize inter class debate, role-play and public speaking competitions with attractive rewards to attract students to participate
By adopting various effective teaching methods, teachers can stimulate students to get involved in English speaking activities enthusiastically
The harmonious and comfortable learning environment is a fundamental requirement of the classroom interaction, which is an important role in attaining effective teaching To create a non-pressing and relaxed classroom atmosphere for effective English speaking practice, teachers need to give students more time and freedom for their oral participation The roles of the teacher move from the dominator and controller, into the organizer, instructor, facilitator, helper and evaluator who create a supporting English speaking environment for students to be engaged in In such a harmonious classroom, the students should feel less nervous and anxious about participating in English speaking practice Only by promoting teacher-student empathy and peer empathy, can students’ contribution to English interactions be enhanced.
Suggestions for further research
In the light of success and limitations identified in this study, a number of suggestions have been made as follows
Firstly, similar research on the challenges in English speaking practice needs to be continuously carried out in more classes of different levels with bigger sizes at School A Besides, the samples of further research should also be extended to the teachers in order that the English speaking challenges will be more empirically generalized
Secondly, the challenges from male and female students should be taken into separate considerations in further studies since gender consciousness can be seen as a contributing factor to effective communication skills
Thirdly, there should be studies to investigate possible teaching English speaking strategies for high school students to improve confidence and active in communication
Last but not least, follow-up research should be undertaken to propose appropriate models to enhance students’ speaking performance such as a model of English community, a model of extra-curriculum English use activities, comprising English speaking clubs, field trips to English speaking countries, and English speaking contests
Al Hosni, S (2014) Speaking difficulties encountered by young EFL learners
International Journal on Studies in English Language and Literature (IJSELL), 2(6), pp.22-30
Al-Roud, A A (2016) Problems of English speaking skill that university students encounter from their perspectives Journal of Education, Society and Behavioural Science, 5, pp.1-9
Alam, Q., & Bashiruddin, A (2013) Improving English oral communication skills of Pakistani public school’s students International journal of English language teaching, 1(2), pp.17-36
Arikunto, S (2016) Research Management (Manajemen Penelitian) Jakarta:
Baker, J., & Westrup, H., (2003) Essential speaking skills: A handbook for
English language teachers London: Continuum
Banu, R (2017) Difficulties faced by college student in speaking English - a sociological reflection International Journal of Trend in Research and
Bashir, M., Azeem, M., & Dogar, A H (2011) Factor effecting students’
English speaking skills British Journal Of Arts And Social Sciences,
Beebe, L M (1983) Risk-taking and the language learner In H W Seliger &
M H Long (Eds.), Classroom oriented research in second language acquisition Rowley, MA: Newbury House Publisher
Berns, M (1990) Contexts of competence: Social and cultural considerations in communicative language teaching New York, NY: Plenum Press
Brown, H D (2004) Principles of language learning and teaching Upper
Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall
Carrasquillo, A L (1994) Teaching English as a second language: A resource guide New York, NY: Garland publishing Inc
Celce-Murcia K (1991) Teaching English as a foreign language America:
Chowdhury, N., & Shaila, S M (2011) Teaching speaking in large classes:
Crossing the barriers Stamford Journal of English, 6, pp.72-89
Cohen, L., Manion, L., & Morrison, K (2011) Research methods in education
Davies, P., & Pearse, E (2000) Success in English Teaching Oxford: Oxford
Dửrnyei, Z (2007) Research methods in applied linguistics, Oxford: Oxford
Fauziati, E (2010) Teaching English as a foreign language (TEFL) https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203432860-79
Juhana, H (2012) Psychological factors that hinder students from speaking in
English class (A case study in a senior high school in South Tangerang, Banten, Indonesia) Journal of Education and Practice, 3(12), pp.100-110
Gan, Z., (2012) Understanding L2 speaking problems: Implications for ESL curriculum development in teacher training institution in Hong Kong
Australian Journal of Teacher Education 37(1), pp 43-59
Ghaleb,R (2005) Communication problems facing Arab learners Grazer linguist studies in Germany ERIC Number: ED473079
Hadijah, S (2014) Investigating the problems of English speaking of the students of Islamic Boarding School Program at STAIN Samarinda DinamikaIlmu, 14(2), pp.240-247
Hamouda, A (2013) An exploration of causes of Saudi students’ reluctance to participate in the English language classroom International Journal of
Harmer, J (2007) The practice of English language teaching England:
Izadi, M., 2015 Understanding teachers’ and learners’ perceptions of English speaking difficulties: An investigation of gender effect Modern Research Studies: An International Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences 2(2), pp.227-247
Kabir, U S., (2014) Challenges of speaking in Bangladeshi classrooms
Unpublished Master of Arts in TESOL
Khan, T J., & Khan, N (2016) Obstacles in learning English as a second language among intermediate students of Districts Mianwali and Bhakkar, Pakistan Open Journal of Social Sciences, 4, pp.154-162
Le Thi Mai (2019) An investigation into factors that hinder the participation of university students in English speaking lessons, Journal of Humanities and Social Science, 24(4), pp 84-94
Nawshin, F (2009) Problems in teaching speaking in traditional ESL classroom (Bachelor’s thesis, BRAC University, Bangladesh) Retrieved
October 24, 2016, from http://dspace.bracu.ac.bd/xmlui/handle/10361/137
Nguyen Hoang Tuan and Tran Ngoc Mai (2015) Factors of teaching students’ speaking difficulties at Le Then Hien high school Asian Journal of
Nunan, D (1991) Language Teaching Method A Textbook for Teachers
Nunan, D (1999) Second Language Teaching & Learning Boston: Heinle &
Park, H., & Lee, A.R (2005) L2 learners’ anxiety, self-confidence and oral performance Proceedings of the 10th Conference of Pan-Pacific Association of Applied Linguistics (pp 107-208) Edinburgh University
Richards, J C (2009) Teaching listening and speaking: from theory to practice Singapore: SEAMEO Regional Language Centre
Richards, J C., & Renandya, W A (Eds.) (2002) Methodology in language teaching Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
Riyaz, H & Mullick, A P (2016) Problems in learning English speaking skill:
A study of higher secondary students in Srinagar, India International Journal of Interdisciplinary and Multidisciplinary Studies (IJIMS), 3(2),
Shumin, K (1997) Factors to consider: Developing adult EFL learners’ speaking abilities Teaching Forum, 35(3), 8-10
Tanveer, M (2007) Investigation of the factors that cause language anxiety for ESL/EFL learners in learning speaking skills and the influence it casts on communication in the target language Dissertation, University of Glasgow
Thornbury, S 2005 How to teach speaking Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Tsui, A B M (1996) Reticence and anxiety in second language learning In
K M Bailey & D Nunan (Eds.), Voices from the language classroom
(pp 145-167) Cambridge, UK: University Press
Ur, P (2000) A course in language teaching: Practice and Theory Cambridge:
Vo Phuong Quyen, Pham Thi My Nga and Ho Thao Nguyen (2018)
Challenges to speaking skills encountered by English-majored students:
A story of one Vietnamese university in the Mekong Delta Can Tho University Journal of Science, 54 (5), pp 38-44
Yu, C H (2009) Book Review: Designing and conducting mixed methods research Organizational Research Methods, 12(4), pp.801-804
QUESTIONNAIRE
My name is Nhu Thu Sang I am collecting data for my research about
“Challenges faced by high school students in practicing English speaking skills” The following questionnaire is designed to investigate your perception of difficulties that you often encounter in speaking Your assistance in completing all the following questions is highly appreciated
Part 1 General details on the students’ English learning
1 What do you think about your English classes? You can tick more than one options
2 Which of the four language skills do you think is the most difficult?
3 How often do you participate in speaking activities during English classes?
Part 2 Challenges faced by the students in English speaking practice
Please take the time to read the questions and tick “√” to the number that best reflects the extent to which you agree with each of the items
(1: Strongly disagree; 2: Disagree; 3: Not sure; 4: Agree; 5: Strongly agree)
No Challenges faced by the students in English speaking practice
1 I am not interested in speaking English
2 I feel shy when I speak in English
3 I feel confused when I speak in the English language
4 I am not motivated in participating in English speaking activities
5 I feel anxious when I try to express myself in
6 I am not confident enough to express myself in
7 I often hesitate to speak in English because I am afraid of making mistakes
8 I have a tendency to speak Vietnamese during
9 I do not have English conversations at home
10 I do not have chances to communicate with
11 There are hardly any English-speaking clubs for the students in the neighborhood
12 I receive criticism whenever I make mistakes with my English speaking
13 People, including my classmates, do not want to communicate in English
14 The teacher’ speech is inappropriate for our
No Challenges faced by the students in English speaking practice
15 The teacher does not tolerate the students’ speaking mistakes
16 The teacher does not reinforce the students when they speak in English
The teacher uses Vietnamese (L1) to communicate with students in the learning process
18 The teacher does not vary his/her methods of teaching English speaking skills
19 I do not have enough English vocabulary to express myself
20 I feel weak in constructing sentences in English
22 I find it difficult to comprehend the accent of the
23 I am not good at English grammar
24 I do not understand the English expressions
25 I have no ideas of what to say
SEMI-STRUCTURED INTERVIEW
1 How much do you like speaking skills?
2 Have you ever had difficulties in learning speaking skills?
3 If yes, what are the most problematic issues when it comes to learning speaking skills?
4 What suggestions would you make to improve your English speaking skills?
1 Em thích học tốt kĩ năng nói tiếng Anh không?
2 Em có hay gặp phải những khó khăn khi học kỹ năng này không?
3 Nếu có, đó là những vấn đề nào?
4 Theo em, chúng ta cần làm gì để có thể nói tiếng Anh tốt hơn?
S3: “I am concerned about what friends around me think of me If I failed to give correct answers, um everybody knows the answer, then they would think I am stupid” → Anxiety and shyness
S6: “My mind goes blank when I start speaking in front of my classmates and teacher in the classroom” → Confusion
S4: “we are afraid of making mistakes when speaking, when our lecturer asked us to participate in speaking activities, we just kept silence” → Lack of confidence
“we are afraid if our friends laugh at us when we speak English” → Shyness
S1: “Not many friends are interested in speaking in English in the class, even I requested them to form English speaking club of our class but nobody became ready for that” → Lack of English- learning community
S3: “I don’t have chance to speak English with native speaker” → Without contacts with native speakers
S4: “Our school has only few native English teachers, so I can’t talk a lot with them due to lack of opportunity” → Without contacts with native speakers
S6: “I wish I could practice speak English with native speaker more” →
Without contacts with native speakers