Luận văn a study on the difficulties in learning speaking english of the first year students at the faculty of information technology thai nguyen university

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY - HANOL UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES, DEPARTMENT OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES NGO PHUONG THUY A STUDY ON TII DIFFICULTIES IN LEARNING SPEA

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY - HANOL UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES,

DEPARTMENT OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

NGO PHUONG THUY

A STUDY ON TII DIFFICULTIES IN LEARNING SPEAKING

ENGLISH OF THE FIRST YEAR STUDENTS

AT THE FACULTY OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY,

THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY

{TÌM HIẾU NHỮNG KHÓ KHĂN TRONG VIỆC HOC NOT TIENG ANH CUp

SINH VIEN NAM THU NHAT KHOA CONG NGHE THONG TIN,

ĐẠI HỌC THÁI NGUYEN)

M.A MINOR THESIS

FIELD: ENGLISH FEACHING METHODOLOGY CODE: 6014 10

HA NOT- 2160

NGÔ PHƯƠNG THỦY

A STUDY ON THE DIFFICULTIES IN LEARNING SPEAKING]

ENGLISII OF THE FIRST YEAR STUDENTS

AT THE FACULTY OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY,

THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY

(TÌM IIẺU NHỮNG KHỎ KHĂN TRONG VIỆC HỌC NÓI TIENG AND dua

SINH VIEN NAM THU NEAT KHOA CONG NGHE THONG TIN,

PAT HOC THAI NGUYEN)

‘M.A MINOR TITESIS:

FIELD: ENGLISH TEACHING METHODOLOGY CODE: 60 14 10

SUPERVISOR: PHAM MINH HIEN, M.A

HÀ NƠI - 2010

TABLE OF CONTENTS

PART I: INTRODUCTION

1.1 Rationales of the stufy

1.2 Aims and objectives of the study

1.3 Scope of the study

L.A Mathods of the study

15 Significance of the Sindy

1.6 Structure of the study

1.3.2 Characteristics of spcaking vest

1.3.4 The development Approach of Speaking Skills

1.4 Difficulties in learning to speak Linglish

2.2 The setting of the study

2.3 Subject of the study

2.4 Instruments for collecting data

2.5 Data analysis

2.6 Summary

CHAPTER 3: FINDINGS AND DISC USSIO!

3.1 Introduction

3.2 Data ainalysis oŸ studenfs” resp0iiSE5

3.3 Data analysis of toachers” TeSP0TISE8

3.4 Summaryv _

CHAPTER 4: SUGGI

4.1 Introduction

4,2 Recommendations for the Teaching of Speaking to first year students in FIT

4.2.1 Teaching students strategies to leam to speak English san

42.2 Improving tsachers" bom IecÏuriJues

4.2.3 Developing sncaking rnaierials

4.2.4 Creating speaking environment for students

4.2.5 Reducing the class size

4.2.6 Ranking the students’ ability

2

LIST OF TABLES AND PIE CHARTS

Pie chart 6: Students! perception towards the effect of cultural factor (o learning 10

speak English HHu re HHu re LH HH0 H01 gen re 27 Pie chart 7: Biudents' peroeption towards the effect of grammar knowledge to learning

to speak Bnglish sesesntnee sesesntnee LH HH0 H01 gen re 38 Pie chart 8: Students! perception towards the effect of vocabulary to learning to speak Bnglish 29

Pic chart % Students! perception towards the effect of pronungiation 10 learning to

speak Hnglish HHu re HHu re LH HH0 H01 gen re 29

Pie chart 11: Students’ thought of class size HH n0 0e rre „31 Pie chart 12: Studenls" thought of nnixed ability elass, co 32 Pic chart 13 Teachers! perception of students’ thought over speaking skills 132 Pie chart 14: Teachers! perception of students experience over speaking skills , 33 Pie chart 15: Teacher's perception of students’ actual activities in speaking class 34 Pie chart 16; Teacher's perception of their students’ speaking difficulties wee 35

Communicative language ‘leaching

English Language Teaching Learning English as a Second Language Faculty of Information ‘Technology

Information ‘Technology Second Language

Learning Skills Council

Second Language Acquisition

Ww

PART kL: INTRODUCTION

1.1 Rationales of the study

David Nunan (1995) wrote: “When someone asks, “Do you know another language?” they generally mean “Can you speak the language?”(p.225)” One can not be considered to know a language without speaking it TL can be seen thal speaking is ane of the thos! important skills that Ieamers mmst master during the learning a foreign language process However, speaking, another language is not an easy task for all people ‘To this one, if is easy but to the others it is

resuligd in increasing interaplions ‘between Vie

English-speaking countries, Therefore, the demand of studying foreign languages, especially learning to speak English, has become more and more necessary

sc and forcigners, especially from

Understanding the important role of speaking skill when learning a foreign language, the

Facully of faformation Technology (FIT) - Thai Nguyen University facuses on the touching and learning English in the light of Communicative Teaching Approach FIT pays special attention to develop speaking skill Despite that, the desired effect is not high,

With the hope of helping students to learn to speak English effectively, the difficulties in

learning lo speak English have been chosen as the topic of Ihe ÿ

current difficulties that the first year students in FIT encounter will attribute to the improvement and enhancement of the learning and teaching English speaking quality in the FIT

mil research, Realiving the

of the problems may occur in speaking class, fiom which they can have better and reasonable

solutions to their classes.

1.2 Aims and objectives of the study

The study is cartiad out to Bind ont the answers for the (llawing questions

1 “What difficulties do students in FIT meet when they learn to speak English?”

2 “What are possible causes leading to difficutties in learning speaking skills of the first pear students in FIT?”

3 “What are possible solutions to the problems?"

The sturly is aimed fo

- Investigate the current situation of learning and teaching specking in the FIT

- Find oul what difficulties the Grst year sludents in FIT meet when they learn to speak English

- Suggest some realistic and appropriate techniques to help improve the teaching and

learning to speak English in FET

1.3 Scope of the study

In this study, the researcher tends to overview the diflicuities the students in FIT face when learning speaking English and to suggest some possible solutions to the problems in order to help students Icarning spcaking English bcttcr This is also the limitation of the study

1.4 Methods of the study

- Two questionnairss arc designed to find out the difficulties that the first year students

in FIT face (one for teacher and one for students)

- Data collected will be analyzed and presented in the study

- Besides, there will be some interviews and observations carried out in informal situations

1.5 Significance of the Study

The research is the first step of a larger investigation into the difficulties in learning to speak English in a university or in a nation ‘The goal of the research is to conduct a small survey of the difficultics that the first year students in FIT mect when they learn to speak English A questionmaire will be designed based on the three main factors; psychology, linguistics and

socio-cullure Data collected will be analyzed stalistically The result achieved will inlerpret

4

the difficulties thal the students in FIT encounter, and support ñmther and more detailed study

of the phenomena identified here

1.6 Structure of the study

This study inchules five chapters

Chapter L: Introduction

In this chapter, the reasons why the topic was chosen are stated, Besides, the hackeround and seape of the study, the aims, the significances, the method and structure of the stutly arc also mentioned

Chapter 2: Literature review

‘The relevant theories are revised in this chapter as the base for the research carried out

Chapter 3: Development

This chapter will present the development and how the study is carried on

Chapter 4: Findings and Discussions

This chapter present the research result achieved and discussed on the result acquired

Chapter 5: Suggestions and Conclusion

In this chaptcr, the suggestions will be presented basing on the result discussed in the previous chapter ‘The conciusion will show a brief summary of the study and the limitation

PART 2: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 1.1 Introduction

This chapter revised relevant theories and studies that can be the base for the research being carried oul The nature of speaking, the development of speaking 2s well as the main factors thai affect Tearning 10 sponk English of the EST, tearnors will be prosentod

1.2 Communicative Language Teaching (CLT)

1.2.1 Definition of CLT

So far, CLT has been viewed and studied by different authors such as Wilkins (1972), Nunan (1989) Each author has bis own point of view about CLT Llowever, they all considered CLT

as an approach that is more promincnt than those appeared before them like Grammar —

Translation method, Direct method, The Audio-lingual method

CLT can be understood as a set of principles about the goals of Janguage teaching, how learners learn a language, the kinds of classroom achwities that best facilitate learning, and the roles of teachers and learners int the classroom (Richards, 2006)

Numan (1989 p.194) considersd “CLT views language as a system for the expressions of

meaning, Activities involve oral communication, carrying out meaning tasks and using, language, which is meaningful to the learners, Objectives reflect the needs of the leamner including functional skill as well as Linguistic obicelives The lcarucr’s role is as a negolialor and integrator The teacher’s role is as a facilitator of the communication process.”

According to Sandra J, Savignon’s perspective (2000, pp 124 129): “The essence of CLT is the engagement of learners in commumication to allow them to develop their communicative

CLT is associated with a focus on learners” communicative needs, on learner autonomy, and

on negotiation of meaning, It inchules alfention to form as well as to meaning, The principles

of CLT apply also to reading and writing as well as to face-to-face oral communication

1.2.2 Characteristics af CLT

Since its appearance, CLT has improved its prominent power which no approaches appeared before il had With the change fiom the “weak” version to the “strong” version, CLT has changed its ideal method It focuses on the learners, and develops the syllabus based on the learners’ needs It turns ftom “leaming to use Lnglish” to “using Lnglish to leam it” (Llowatt,

1984p 279) CLT has ils own characteristics as follows

As for British and American perspectives, CLT aims to make commnmicalive competence the goal of language teaching and to develop procedures for teaching of the tour language skills that acknowledge and the interdependence language and communication

Larsen- Freeman (cited in Rao (2002, p 87)) considered the central characteristic of CL is that “almost everything that is done is done with communicative intent” Another feature of CLT is that “activities in the Comamnicative Approach are offen carried out by students in sinall groups” (Larsen-Hreeman cited in Rao (2002, p.87)) One more noteworthy attribute of cur its Iearncr-cenlredl smd cxpericns

Rao, (2002, p 88)

cdl Leaching” (Richards and Rodgers eilod in

As for David Nunan (1991 p.279), CLT has five basic characteristics:

(1) An emphasis on learning to communicate through interaction in the target language

(2) The introduction of authentic texts into the learning situation,

(3) The provision of opportunitics for learners to focus, not only on the language but also on

the learning process itself

(4) An enhancement of the learner's own personal experiences as important contributing elements to classroom learning

( An altempl to link classroom language learning with language activation outside the

classroom

Though CLT’s prominent characteristics, lcachers should know how 10 tum fiom the “weak”

version into the “strong” one to make CLT possible The Communicative activities should be

used al (he proper time to arouse learners’ interest

1.3 Nature of speaking and Development of speaking Skills

“an interactive process of constructing meaning that involves producing and meaning and processing information, if is offen spontaneous open-end, and evolving” ‘There have been many different kinds of definitions on speaking: however speaking can be understood as the process of forming utterance which carries a certain meaning to express one’s idea to the others for a certain purpose

‘Truly speaking, speaking is one of the most necessary skills that the foreign language learners have to master Murphy (1991) stated “the ability to speak coherently and intelligently on a focused topic is gencrally recognized as a necessary goal for ESL students” Understanding adequately about speaking and the nature of it, ESL learners will achieve communicative competence more easily

1.3.2 Characteristics of speaking

Many language leamets regard speaking ability as the measure of knowing about a language

‘These learners define fluency as the ability to converse with others, much more than the ability

to read, write, or comprehend oral language They regard speaking as the most important skill they can acquire, and they assess their progress in terms of their accomplishments in spoken communication, On talking about the nature of speaking, David Numan mentioned the communicative compelenec Tn which, he staled to he able to speak another language “one needs to know how to articulate sounds ina comprehensible manner, one needs an adequate ocablary and one needs to have mastery of syntax.” (David Numan, p.226) A few years ago,

competence refers to both knowledge and skill in using this knowledge when interacting in actual communication Knowledge refers here to what one knows (consciously or unconsciously) about the language and about other aspects of communicative language use; skill refers to how well one can perform this knowledge in actual communication.”

Richards, Platt and Weber (1985: 49) also stated

“Communicative competence includes: a) knowledge of grammar and vocabulary of the language; b) knowledge of rules of speaking, ¢) knowing how to usc and respond

to different types of speech acts such as: requests, apologies, thanks, and invitations; d) knowing how to use language appropriately.” (ciled in Numan (1995, p 226))

Obviously, the communicative competence depends on each person To this one it is easy, but

to this one it is difficull Since, il is assigned wilh many factors: psychological, socio-cultural, and linguistic factors

Generally speaking, one of the most typical characteristics of speaking is the communicative competence as mentioned above

David Nunan (1995 p.227) reckoned “Another aspect of speaking that is particularly relevant

for sccond language spoakars conecms whether or nol the sposking is planed ơi spontaneous.” He also stated that “We tend to assume that all conversations are spontaneous, and so they are to a degree Ilowever, we all have routines, set phrases and other expressions thal we usc to assist us when spcaking sponlancously.” Aslo discussing aboul the routines, Bygate M (1987) suggested that conversation can be analyzed in terms of routines, Which are conventional ways of presenting information: Information routines and interactional Toutines

He explained informational routine recumting types of information structures, including stories; descriptions of places and people; presentation of facts, comparisons; instructions Meanwhile,

interactional routines are routines based not so much on information content as on sequences:

of kinds of terms occuring in lypical kinds of interactions These toutines ean be characterized in board terms to include the Kinds of tums typically occuring in given situations, and the arder in which the components are likely to occur (Rygate, 1987 p.24:25) David Nunan then based on the concepts that Bygate mentioned further discussed the routines,

He neither asserted Bygate’s theory nor disclaimed He brought forward his point of view and affirmed “Bygate’s roulines facilitate commumication for first language speakers bacause thoy

make the interactions morc predictable” However, he s

aicd “if tanguage were talally

a

prediclable, then the communication would be unmecessary.” He added “for second language speakers, routines can be crucial in facilitating comprehension” Hence, when teaching and learning to speak the teachers and the learners have to enable themselves to communicate in the challenging situations, the unpredictable situation, which force the learners more actively

to take part in and to comprehend the communication Teachers and learners have to build up themselves the knowledge about grammar, vocabulary, and socio-culture to be confident when speaking, Besides, Ihey should take chances to communicate in class ax well as outside

classroom Though, communication outside classroom is not similar to that inside class

‘Teachers should understand the importance of communicative competence and the differences belwoon the two kinds of situations fo help learners speak Frglish naturally and make their speeches sound “native”

1.3.4 The development Approach of Speaking Skills

According to Byrne (1991 p.22:23) there are three phrases to develop leamers’ oral ability

Phrase 1: The presentation phrase

In this phrase, teachers play the dominant role while learners passively listen and take notes With their English knowledge, teachers scleet materials and presen il in such a way thal learners can absorb knowledge easiest, The oral materials introduced to learners are offen in two forms; dialogue and prose Each form needs a different way to present To present a dialogue, Byrne (1991 p.22), snggested 10 following different steps

1 Fstablish selting by using piclures AL this phrase, English should he uscd as much as possible

2 Draw out leamer’s experience related to situation,

3 Explain some key words

4, Set listening task by asking Key information of the dialogue

5 Ask listeners listen withoul looking at their books,

6 Allow learners to have a look at their books when iecessary

7 Ask learners (o listen and repeal,

8 Ask learners to pick up difficultios and explain difficullios

9 Ask them lo practice

10 Ask them lo drarnative the dialogue

Obviously, the procedure is perfect and logically arranged Llowever, it depends on the Jeamers’ competence Teachers do not necd to follow every step They can leave out some steps to adapt with their lectures and fo make the lectures more flexible and attract the learners Byrne (1991) also pointed out 9 other steps to introduce the prose to the learners,

1 Introduce the topic by asking students to look at the picture or asking them about the related things

2 Introduce the text New words and structures are given

3 Provide relevant practice

4 Set the reading task: Make questions

Ask the learners to read the passage in silence and find the answers

6 Ask learners to read again aloud and ask for the answer,

Explain difficulties they still have

8 Do silent reading again because the learners need to go on with the step 9

9, Get the leamers to talk about what they have leamed based on the previous answers Phrase 2; The practice phrase

Learners are the centre, They are given chances to practice based on the activities that the teachers oreated for them Learners can practice individually, in pairs or in group depending

on the kinds of matsriats being exploited

Phrase 3: Tho production phrase

Learners can practice spsaking frocly They can speak whal they want, for the sake of themselves not for the teachers Working in group can help Ieamers a lot Since, it reduces shyness or anxiety in public speaking Learners feel saf and confident to express their ideas, Byrne (1988) asserted to help leamers to improve their speaking ability ‘These three phrases should be followed orderly However, in real clus iL is not casy to do that because it depends

on many factors: time, learners’ ability, materials used A good teacher should find herself a suitable teaching method with the class

1.4 Difficulties in learning to speak English

According lo Hymes (1974), (Richards & Rogers, 1986; and Hedge, 2000), lo loam to speak # language, one needs to have communicative competence Communicative competence includes linguistics competence, socio-linguistics competence, and discourse competence These factors determine the success of eaming to speak a language These factors are affected

by the subjective factors such as: psychology, linguistics, culture and the objective factors like class size, materials used and learning environment ‘Therefore, they are also the factors that affect learning to spoak English

1.4.1 Psychological factors

English speaking is a complicated psychological process In terms of spoken English teaching, it’s quile essential for teachers and learners lo take some important psychological factors into accounts in order to achieve better results in spcken English teaching, and learning

Obviously, psychological factors play a significant role in language learning Positive emotions can facilitate the language learning process and improve leamers’ language performance, while negative emotions will bring barriers to language learning and reduce learners” learning capacity, There have been many research on the impact of the psychological factors on learning to speak English such as the research of Wa Guang, Liang Hia-xia in their research, they focused on analyzing the psychological barriers in oral nglish teaching ‘They stated four types of difficultics like sclfabascment, pride, fear of difficulty, anxicty, From that, they found out the causes and analyzed deeply those causes The causes that they found ont are dlivided into two kinds subjective and objective, The subjective causes then further divided into three causes: psychological factors, motivation, interest and attitude, lamers’ original ability of listening and speaking Whilst, the objective factors are classified into four types traditional language teaching mode and method, cuvirommenls of language leaching, form and content of language test, and qualifications of language teachers, Also studying about this problem, Xuemei Meng and Qianyn Wang had other ideas, They believed that the psychological barriers include amciety, sel(-esteamn and RTT and risk-taking Therefore, the influences of negative emotional factors include motivation, anxiety, low self-esteem, insecure classroom atmosphere, lack rapport between teachers and students, sto ‘Ihe following are

some of the smmotional faclors im dolails:

Among the factors affecting SILA, motivation is the most important one According to

Johnstone (1999, p 146), it is a drive directed towards a goal Rod Ellis (1994, p 715) considers motivation as “the effort which learners put into learning an L2 as a result of their need or desire to learn it” Lightbrown and Spada (2001, p 33) define motivation in SLA as “a complex phenomenon which can be defined in terms of two factors: lcamers’ communicative needs and their attitudes towards the second language community”, Research has shown that whether second language leaning is successfal or not closely relates Ip the four types af motivation Integrative & instrumental motivation, Intinsic & extrinsic motivation (Lightbrown 4 Spada, 2001)

Gardner and Lambert (1972) considers the integrative motivation is the one trom which learners learn language in order fo take part in the cultuze ofits people Meanwhile, ones with the instrumental motivation learn the language for a career goal or other practical reasons

Paul R Puntzich & Dale H, Schuck (1996) be

engage in an activity for its own sake Meanwhile, extrinsic motivation is motivation to

(hal intiinsic motivation is the motivation lo

engage in an activity because if will tring back something valuable [ror the outside

It is clear that learners with high and favorable motivation for speaking often try to devote themselves into English speaking, They took for the chances to practice speaking English everywhere, In English class, they are active, and cooperate with teachers’ activities positively, Out of class, they lake any opportunity for imitating, practicing and speaking Tinglish They aie of strong volition and will, of clear leaming purpose Thereby, they easily and more proficiently achieve success in spoken English In their tum, the success encourages higher

ond or forsign language (Gardner, 1972) According to Horwirlty cl al (1988), arncdety

is the subjective feeling of tension, apprehension, nervousness, and worry associated with an arousal of the autonomic nervous systems From the former research, Torwitz, (1986) found that “anxiety can affect the communication strategies students employ in language class”, and that “difficulty in speaking in class are probably frequently cited concem of the anxious forcign language studonis sccking help al the LSC.” (p.126) He also atatod that siudcnts seemed to be fairy camforlable responding to a drift or delivering prepared speeches in foreign

13

language class but hey tended to “freeze” in a Tole-play siluation Most of anxions sinderis are affaid of being evaluated negatively and to be less competent than the other students They also are aifaid of making mistakes (Horwitz, 1986) Therefore, anxiety is bad for the improvement of students’ spoken English With the role of the educators, teachers should help students reduce anxiety by paying much attention to teaching attitude and creating a five learning environment without stress, Teachers should use effective language when evaluate sluclents and encourage than to sindy

Self-esteem:

Selesteem refers to the individual's evalmation on himself, and altitude towards his or her ability, value, and achievement (Coopersmith (1967 p 4-5) It is originated ftom individual’s experience and the judge of the outside world, Comparatively speaking, learners with high self-esteem are full of the sense of self-confidence and self-affirmation In Engtish learning, they can evaluate reasonably and objectively their own English level as well as the other learning skills: listening, reading, writing, speaking and translating Self-esteem was associated wilh the Tnglish speaking, and thal learners with high self-esteem could brave more chances to achieve speaking proticiency,

Presumably, they are

or in an unfamiliar situation They may also be more ready to risk making mistakes or projecting a reduced irnage gf them

likely to {eel threatencd when speaking or communicating in English

Lxtroversion:

Trdroversion is a personal characteristic that can be observed through behaviors The ones who are extrovert tend to be out going, sociable and active They like being with people and feeling confident in social programs They are not clumsy when talking with strangers (Yul Iskandar,2000, p 46) On the contrary, ths ones who are introvert seem quiet, clumsy and

passive They arc afraid of mecting people or showing their own ability

In the pedagogical perspectives, when learning English, learners with extroversion may enjoy certain advantages in English speaking Their nature makes them easier to be successful than the ones whe are introvert ‘They are more active, willing to take part in speaking activities and

social interaction In Lurn, the suecess makes therm more confident and more extrovert

Self-concept:

Gouws and Kruger (1994 p91) stated that the self-concept comprises a unique sel of observations, ideas and attitudes which the individual has about himself or herself Bums (1979 p.29) defines self-concept as the sum total of the views that a person has of himself or herself and entails his or her beliefs, evaluations and behavioural tendencies ‘The self-concept

is a porson’s way of percciving himself which may cither be positive or negative

A positive self concept is the base of the establishment of the healthy psychological Whether

or not a stadent learns in the classroom, and whether or not he or she enjoys the school experience, depends on how that student fell about himself or herself (Leonnetti 1980 p.10) A student who fecls good about himself or hersclf usually participates in the classroom aotivilics freely and with enthosiasm, Canfeild and Wells (1994 p.2) stated that an individual’s self: concepl is composed of all belief and altitudes he has about himself Il determines “who you are”, “what you think you are”, “what you do”, and “what you can becom.”

1.4.2 Culiueal factors

According to Trudgill (1983) language usually portrays in meaningful ways the speaker’s imate and inherent tational cullure, The American tinguist Sapir (1921 p 60:90) maintains that language and culture are dual entities: Culture representing what a society thinks and does, while its language expresses and embodies the ideas of that society ‘thus, language and culme may be said to exist in a sytibiatic rolationship: lamgnage serving both as a conveyor

of culture and the capsule containing the mode of intellectualizing,

Cultural characteristics impact foreign Innguage learning From a practical standpoint, language serves as a kind of social action because oral and written communications take place within expceled interpersonal exchanges, and meaning is derived from proviousty accepted social parameters, (Dimitracopoulou,1990) In other words, commonly shared traditions, values systems and cultural beliefs create those traditions and social structures that bring and hold a community together and arc thus inherently cxpressed in their languag>” (Carrasquillo 1994:55),

Thus, it is a given: If one wishes to speak a language well, one nmst appreciate how that language is used in social contexts it is commonly accepted that each language has its own rules of application as to when, how, and to what degree a spcaker may impart a given verbal behavior to one’s conversational partner (Berns,1990), It is often taxang for non-native

speakers lo choose Ihe formns appropriate to certain communicative situations dus to mixed

signals emanating fiom their own cultural nouns

In addition, oral communication involves a very powerful nonverbal communicative system, which may sometimes contradict messages received via listening Due to the lack of familiarity with the nonverbal commuicative systenr of the target language, EFT learners usually do not know how to be alert for and deduce nonverbal cues Thus ignorance of the nonverbal message often Jeads to misunderstanding the content of the message

Grarumalival competence may be visualized as at opening urobrella concept that portrays increasing expertise in prammar (morphology, syntax), vocabulary, and mechanics, With respect to speaking, the term mechanics refers to the basic sounds of letters and syllables, the proper pronunciation of words, meaningful and concise intonation, and stress elements (Scarcella and Oxford, 1992 p.141)

In order to convey a desired meaning, EFL leamers must possess a knowledge of the meanings of words, the for types of sentences, the complete sentence and a firm grasp of syntax; that is, they mnst, fully comprehend how words are scgmented ilo various sounds, and how sentences are stressed orally and in writing in particularly effective ways Thus, a solid underpinning in grammatical competence enables speakers to employ and fully comprehend English language structures both precisely and unhesitatingly whick unfailingly contributes to their Huency in that language

Besides grammatical competence, EFL learners must develop discourse competences which are consistent with communicative relationships, In discourse, whether formal or informal, the tales of cohesion and coherence are applied, which aid in holding the commumication together ina meaningful and structured way In communication, both the message and comprehension ofa language require one's ability to perceive and process sometimes lengthy discourse, and to derive meaning bascd on both what was previously slated and whalever follows

Therefore, tnily effective speakers should allempl to acquire a large repertoire of slruciures and discourse markers to express ideas, show relationships of time, and indicate cause, contuast, and emphasis (Scarcella and Oxford, 1992) With such acquired skills, learners can then more readily manage more complex conversational exchanges

1.4.4 Objective factors

When talking about the factors affecting speaking, beside the subjective thetors, the objective factors are also the factors cause difficulties in learning to speak English

Textbook

Sheldon (1988, p237) considers textbook is “the visible heart of any ELT (inglish Language

‘Teaching) program” In English as a foreign language (EL) context it may even constitute the main and perhaps only source of language input that learners recive and the basis for language practice that occurs both inside and outside the classroom (Richards, 2005)

Researchers have suggested several advantages of using textbooks Kor example, textbooks help to standardize instruction and assessment, ‘That 1s, by giving students in different classes the same textbook, teachers can teach and test them in the same way (Richards, 2003)

‘Textbooks also provide syllabus for a program, thus supporting novice teachers, training them

in methodotogy and saving their ime and effort for more warlhwhile pursuils than material production (Cunningsworth, 1995) What is more, since textbooks are always carefully tested before being brought into the market, students tend to give them more credibility than teacher- goncrated or “inhouse” matcrials Sladents also often expect lo usc a textbook in their tearning program (Sheldon, 1988), Without textbooks, they may think their leaming is not taken seriously; thus, textbooks are psychologically essential for students Finally, textbooks may constitule an effective resource for learning in the classroom and self directed lemming (Cumingsworth, 1995) A leamer without a textbook might be out of focus and teacher- dependent

However, there still remain some limitations about the textbook One of the most prominent limitations is the texlbooks are often implicilly prescriptive and thus might control the methods, processes, and procedures of classroom practice and ‘deskill’ teachers (Allwright 1982), The second problem is that since textbooks are offen written for global markets, they might not suit all classraoms and might roquir adaptation to bslicr weel students’ true necds

(Richards 2005) As a resull, teachers should upgrade and adapl the materials to suit with students levels

Class size:

The debate on elass size has takon for a long lime Thore lave buen many different idoas about that, The old researches claimed that class size has great impact on the student’s achievement Whereas, the new researches show that it has little impact (Sid Gilbert, 2005) ‘There is another idea that: "mosl college professors believe small classes to be superior lo larger ones

in many respects" (McKezachie, 1980), The smaller the class size is the greater number of inleraction studsnis have with their instructors and (heir fellows Obviously, this is very important to English speaking class, If a student has to study in a larpe class, he will lack opportunities in involving and interacting with the others Otherwise, if he studies in a small

class, he will have more chances to practice and interact with the others

Mixed-ability class

Ainslie (1994) defined that mixed-ability classes are the classes where students differ greatly

in ability, rmotivation for leaming English, nec

learning, anxiety, experiences and so on, Tomlinson (1999), Berry & Williams (2002) and

Shank (1995), found oul that every class is multileveled Therefore all teachers have fo face

s, interests, educational background, styles of

with the challenges of mixed-ability classes

Baker (2002) recognized thal in mixcd ability classes, kecping the atlention of all students become really difficult Since, the class is divided into different levels There remain active and nomactive students because of the suitable levels of the lesson with {heir ability Tess (2001) believed that a mixed-ability class can seem uncooperative, the students can get bored easily and this can cause commotion in the classroom

To overcome this difficulty, teachers should create a relaxed and ftee environment to make students of mruttilevel actively take part in leaning activities Otherwise, upgrading and

adapting materials to suit with students’ abilities is necessary

Environments of language teaching and learning

Limguage learning environment is very important to the English learners

ng nan English speaking, environment will improve learners’ English speaking skills, which helps leaners communicate more easily and effectively When learners are constantly hearing and speaking

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English on a daily basis, leamers can dramatically improve how to speak and understand the language However, it is not very easy to have a chance to go abroad to study English in order

to live in an English speaking community, Learners should create the English learning, environment themselves by working in groups, in class or reading or listening to news or the songs written or sang in English As English language tcachers, teachers should upgrade and improve the teaching method to suit with the leamers” levels and the ability

1.5 Summary

This chapter has briefly discussed and revised the relevant theories that are the base of the study There is a short talk about CLY at the beginning ‘The writer wants to revise the concept and the characlzristies of the CLT since CLT tas been the cantor approach in language teaching since the years 1970s After that, speaking and the natwe of speaking are also mentioned ‘The main theory is discussed carefully ‘he factors that hinder the process of learning to speak English arc clarified

CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY

2.1 Introduction

In this chapter, the wriler describes the current situation of learning and teaching to speak English of the first year students in the FIT, Thai Nguyen University as the setting for the study The data gathering method using the questionnaires is also mentioned in terms of the purposes as well as how they were developed and used in the study

2.2 The setting of the study

Faculty of Information Technology (HIT) is a small one belonging to ‘Thai Nguyen University From the nascent days (2001), FIT defined ils purpose thal is training informatics for shudonts living in the Northom provinees Beside the compulsory subjects like mathematics, physics, informatics, programming and so on, FIT pays attention to teaching English ‘Ihe subject can

be considered to be extremely necessary, which can crable students to self-stady in fisture Thanks to the fact that many information technology documents are now written in English Once students master the Lnglish language or at least they can read the documents written in it, they can sasier approach Ihe new technology than the other on

Understanding the importance of English, teachers of English in FIT have tried their best in order to improve and enhance the qnatity of teaching and learning Fnglish However, this is not an easy task The fact is that most af the studcnis in FIT are from mountainous regions They are nol carcfully tanght English in high school or are not taught at all Students are fhmiliar with the old method

“teachers give lectures, students take notes” ‘hey have few chances to practice speaking English When coming to the FIT, they arc tanght to falfill the necd of oral tests, IL is very difficult for them to get acquainted with Further more, the class size is also a big challenge for the teachers Ttis too large There are about 60 or over 70 students ina class Tow can Fnglish

be taught in such a big class? As a result, chances for students to practice English are less and less, ‘The problems are given to the teachers: how to improve the teaching and learning; how to holp students sludy English betlcr In addition, most of the English toachers arc ñzsh from

universily There are 11 tad

others are amateurs, They do administrative work in the FIT, The one who has the most teaching experience is ten years and the others are about three to five years Therefore, it is not

1s of English, Among then, only 7 arc full-time teachers The

avoidable to lack teaching expericnecs Teaching in these large classes with non — cqual level

students is too difficult here are students who have studied English for 7 years, and also

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students wha have only studied English for 3 years, Further more, there remain students who

have not studied English af all in the high school They studied French or Russian instead

Like other universities, English levels at Elementary, Pre-intonmediatc and Intenmediate Each course takes 3 months, Course books are chosen depending on age, levels, and requirements and so om The two books of Inside Oul which have been adapted to suil with the students have been used to teach during the last three years,

2.3 Subject af the study

This study was carried aul with the cooperation of the 10 teachers and 100 first year student who are working and studying in the Faculty of Information Technology (FIT), Thai Newyen University ‘I'he students were of mixed abilities and all of them were willing to participate in

questionmaire responses The teachers were chosen randomly since they were in charge of

teaching speaking skills to the first year students

Among the 700 first year students, 100 of them were chosen ftom different classes Since students were assigned to different classes, investigators decided to choose random sample of classes, Thus, the students in this study could be the representative for the whole group of the first year students in the Faculty of Information Technology These students were between 18 and 20 years old, of whom males are majority and famales are only 1/3 since males preferred

lo spevialiva in Taformnalics than the females They all have sinrilar backgrounds, thai is, thuy all finished high school and pass the entrance examination before entering the FIT Most of them had studied english for at least three years lLowever, their competence of Linglish was very differen!

2.4 Instruments for collecting data

‘Two questionnaires, one designed for stndants and one for teachers, wers designed to colfect data for the investigation The questionnaires were administered to 10 teachers and 100 students The aim of the investigation is to collect information concerning

- The difficulties that the first year students encountered when they Jearn to speak English and ths sourees of their difficulties,

- The teachers’ perception of the first year stndents’ difficulties in learning to speak English and their suggestions to upgrade ancl improve the teaching ad learning to speak English in the FIT

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Before giving the questionnaires lo the leachers and the sludenils, the two questionnai

3 were given to some teachers, who have experiences in the area for judgments and comments The questionnaires then were tested on a sample of 5 teachers and 10 students then the final questionmaires were established ‘The results achieve ftom the questionnaires will be used to reduce the speaking difficultics encountered and thus improve the teaching and Icarning to speak English at the Faculty of Information Technology, ‘Thai Nguyen University

Besides, data could be obtained through the infoxmal interviews with the teachars who are in charge of teaching Enghsh to the first year students and the students who are studying English

in the FIT, Further more, data could also be oblaincd through the class observalion or attendant in class tor further reliability

To make the data collected reliable and accurate, all the questionnaires for students were translated into Vietnamese, and the interviews were carried out in Vietnamese in informal

siluations in the break or in the yard

2.5 Data analysis

Data gutlered from the responses of the Icachors and students in the wo questionnaires were

soited and analyzed statistically to get the answers for the research questions

2.6 Summary

This chapter describes the research method using questionnaires to gain the information about both the teachers and the students to answer the questions raised in the first chapter The findings will be analyzed and presented in the next chapter

CHAPTER 3: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION

3.1 Introduction

Data obtained from questionnaires are analyzed statistically to answer the research questions, for which the prominent findings are presented in accordance with the discussion of the relating fields

3.2 Data analysis of students’ responses

3.2.1 Students perception toward speaking skills

Understanding the students’ points of view towards speaking skills is very important and necessary, especially for the teachers of English If students appreciate the role of speaking skills when leaming English, they will form precise motivations and attitudes These will decide the effectiveness of students in learning to speaking English

Data from the investigation shows that 75% students in FIT believe that speaking skills are very important Only 10% of them think that speaking skills are not important Obviously, most of the first year students in FIT recognize the importance of speaking skills

3.2.2 Students’ competence in speaking skills

It is essential to ask students to judge their own speaking competence when studying about difficulties encountered as learning to speak English The results from the investigation

present the speaking competence of the first year students as follows:

that the majority of first year students in FIT find speaking skill difficult to master Generally

speaking, most of the first year students in FIT are unable to speak English at the beginning level Therefore, it is definitely assumed that they encounter certain difficulties in speaking skill

3.2.3 Students’ English learning interest

Most of the students (95 %) when being asked if they like learning to speak English answered

“Yes” This shows that the first year students are really interested in learning to speak

English This makes them more successful in the future since once they find the learning

interesting they will spend more time studying the subject

3.2.4 Students’ experience in speaking skills

When being asked to judge their experience in speaking skills, none of the first year students think that they have a lot of experience; only 10% of them suppose they have enough

experience for speaking skill Majority, 58% consider they have little speaking experience

meanwhile 32% confess that they do not have any experience at all That means the students’

lack of needed experience skill may also be a great barrier for them to learn to speak

effectively

3.2.5 Students’ use of strategies

Speaking strategy is very important to the learners This will help students more successful in

speaking skill However, the question is that all the first year students in FIT have strategy to

learn to speak English The evidence from the investigation shows that 85% of the students do

not use any strategies to learn to speak Only 15% of them say they use Obviously, the first

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year students in FIT lack sufficient strategies to study This will affect negatively to the effectiveness of learning to speak of the first year students, since they do not know how to study effectively This is also a great difficulty that the teacher should help the students to

1 Actively take part in

‘© Only pay attention to

is amazing that the better the students are at speaking, the more actively they take part in speaking class, Of the 5% of high competence students and 13% of quite high competence students, 75% of them say they actively take part in the speaking activities; 25% say they only take part in the activities they like Of the 29% of average competence students and 53% of low competence students, 35% say they only do what they like and the rest (65%) state that they get bored and do the other things instead Therefore, it can be concluded that insufficient ability to speak English cause the lack of concentration on the part of students

in speaking class This affects the effectiveness of the teaching and learning to speak English Simultaneously, this poses the problem that both the teachers and the students have to identify

to overcome It is proved that not all the speaking activities created in class and the teaching

materials are attractive and suitable with the ability and the desire of the learners Thus,

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teachers of English speaking class should carefully consider the activities and the materials exploited in the speaking classes

3.2.7 Students’ perception towards difficulties in learning to speak English

When being asked to evaluate the difficulties in learning to speak English, most of the first year students (42 %) in FIT assume that the limitation of linguisties knowledge is the main problem that they encounter when learning to speak English 32 % of them consider the lack

of speaking environment leads them to difficulty 23% think they have the psychological problems which make them reluctant to speak Only 3% reckon the difficulties in learning to speak English are because of the cultural factors

Not confident at all

As can be seen fom the pie chart, 53% of the students have the feeling of embarrassment

when speaking English in front of the public 23% of them say they do not believe in

themselves at all Only 3% of them say they are confident Data shows that most of the first

year students in FIT have the psychological problems This psychological barrier really

affects negatively to the process of learning and teaching English, Of the 15 students

interviewed, 12 say they are not confident enough to speak in front of their classmates though they are really like learning to speak The reasons are they are afraid of being laughed or

looking silly or becoming the source of fun of the others This rouses the problem for the

teachers of how to reduce this psychological barrier in order to make students fieer in

speaking class

3.2.9 Students’ perception towards the effect of cultural factors to learning to speak

English

According to Trudgill (1983) language is rather like a mirror that reflects the national culture

of its speakers To speak a language, one must know how the language is used in a social context It is well known that each language has its own rules of usage as to when, how, and to what degree a speaker may impose a given verbal behavior on his/her conversational partner (Berns 1990) It can be said that culture is a necessary factor that learners need to master when learning a foreign language

As presented in the pie chart, majority of the students (68%) assume that the English

communication style greatly affect their ways of speaking 25% confess that the native liked

communication style affects a little Only 7% say they do not know if it is affected or not Three students as being interviewed that if they know how to communicate correctly

according to the native communication style The answers obtained were “No” and they

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