EXPLORATORY STUDY ON STUDENTS’ LEARNING OF TOEFL IBT SPEAKING SKILLS AT EQUEST HANOI CENTER Nghiên cứu thăm dò về việc học viên trung tâm EQuest Hà Nội học luyện thi kỹ năng nói theo bài thi Toefl iBT

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES ***************** VŨ THỊ HOÀI AN EXPLORATORY STUDY ON STUDENTS’ LEA

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

*****************

VŨ THỊ HOÀI

AN EXPLORATORY STUDY ON STUDENTS’ LEARNING OF TOEFL IBT SPEAKING SKILLS AT EQUEST HANOI CENTER

Nghiên cứu thăm dò về việc học viên trung tâm EQuest Hà Nội học

luyện thi kỹ năng Nói theo bài thi TOEFL iBT

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60140111

Hanoi – 2014

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

*****************

VŨ THỊ HOÀI

AN EXPLORATORY STUDY ON STUDENTS’ LEARNING OF TOEFL IBT SPEAKING SKILLS AT EQUEST HANOI CENTER

Nghiên cứu thăm dò về việc học viên trung tâm EQuest Hà Nội học

luyện thi kỹ năng Nói theo bài thi TOEFL iBT

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60140111

Supervisor: Phạm Thị Thanh Thùy, Ph.D

Hanoi – 2014

DECLARATION

I hereby, certify the thesis entitled “An Exploratory Study on Students' Learning of

TOEFL iBT Speaking Skills at EQuest Hanoi Center” is the result of my own

research for the Degree of Master of Arts at University of Languages and International Studies, Vietnam National University, Hanoi The thesis has not been

submitted for any degree at any other universities or institutions I agree that the

origin of my paper deposited in the library can be accessible for the purposes

of study

Hanoi, 2014

Vu Thi Hoai

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I owe a great many thanks to so many people who have supported me all the way throughout my study to this final achievement

Firstly, it is with heartfelt gratitude that I wish to thank Ms Pham Thi Thanh

Thuy, Ph.D for her professional guidance, valuable suggestions and academic

advice, leading me through great hindrances and inspiring me to conduct the study

I am grateful to all the lecturers in the Master course, who supplied me with useful knowledge

I would like to extend my appreciation to my colleagues and students at EQuest Academy for their enthusiasm for responding to my questionnaires and participating in my interviews

Last but not least, words are not enough to express my gratitude to my family Without their help and encouragement, I could not have finished this study

ABSTRACT

This study is an attempt to explore some strategies commonly used by EQuest learners in the TOEFL iBT Speaking test, discover some difficulties they encounter in learning to respond to the test tasks, and suggest some possible solutions In the study, the researcher investigates the opinions of 78 students and seven teachers from EQuest Hanoi center These teachers and students were invited

to partake in survey questionnaires and interviews The results of the study present some strategies that students used to deal with the tasks, their difficulties in learning and some suggestions to improve the situation Based on those findings, the thesis provides some pedagogical implications, which might be of great help for teachers and learners of TOEFL iBT test

LIST OF TABLES

Table 1: Format of TOEFL iBT Speaking Test

Table 2: Students’ strategies used in responding to TOEFL iBT Speaking

Independent Tasks

Table 3: Students’ strategies used in responding to TOEFL iBT Speaking

Integrated Tasks

Table 4: Learners’ difficulties in learning to respond to Independent Tasks from

teachers’ views and learners’ views

Table 5: Learners’ difficulties in learning to respond to Integrated Tasks from

teachers’ views and learners’ views

Table 6: Teachers’ recommendations and students’ expectations for teaching and

learning

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

1 TOEFL iBT: Test of English as a Foreign Language (Internet-Based Test)

2 TOEFL CBT: Test of English as a Foreign Language (Computer-Based Test)

3 ETS: Educational Testing Service

4 L1: First or native language

5 L2: Second language

6 ESL: English as a second language

7 EFL: English as a foreign language

TABLE OF CONTENTS

DECLARATION……… i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS……… ii

ABSTRACT……… iii

LIST OF TABLES……… iv

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS……… v

TABLE OF CONTENTS……… vi

PART A: INTRODUCTION……… 1

1 Rationale……… 1

2 Aims and Research Questions……… 1

3 Significance of the study……… 2

4 Scope of the study……… 2

5 Method of the study……… 2

6 Organization……… 3

PART B: DEVELOPMENT……… 4

Chapter 1: Theoretical background……… 4

1 TOEFL iBT test and Speaking section………

4 1.1 Introduction to the TOEFL iBT test………

4 1.2 Format of TOEFL iBT Speaking Section……… 4

2 Learners’ strategies used when learning and responding to TOEFL iBT Speaking Section………

6 2.1 Definitions of learner strategies……… 6

2.2 Classification of learner test-taking strategies……… 8

3 Difficulties in learning Speaking skills of EFL/ESL learners………… 12

3.1 Difficulties from teachers……… 13

3.2 Difficulties from students……… 14

3.3 Difficulties from objective factors……… 17

Chapter 2: Methodology……… 19

1 Context of the study……… 19

2 Participants……… 19

3 Instruments……… 20

4 Data collection procedures……… 21

Chapter 3: Results and Discussion……… 23

1 Some strategies students often use to respond to TOEFL iBT Speaking questions……… 23

1.1 Students’ strategies used in responding to TOEFL iBT Speaking Independent Tasks………

23 1.2 Students’ strategies used in responding to TOEFL iBT Speaking Integrated Tasks………

25 2 Some difficulties students encounter when learning TOEFL iBT Speaking preparation courses at EQuest………

27 2.1 Students’ difficulties in learning to respond to TOEFL iBT Speaking Independent Tasks………

27 2.2 Students’ difficulties in learning to respond to TOEFL iBT Speaking Integrated Tasks………

30 3 Some suggestions to improve the situation……… 32

3.1 Teachers’ recommendations for teaching and learning……… 33

3.2 Learners’ expectations for teaching focus……… 33

PART C: CONCLUSION……… 35

1 Summary of the findings……… 35

2 Implications of the study……… 36

3 Limitations of the study……… 37

4 Suggestions for further studies………

38 REFERENCES……… 39

APPENDIX 1: Questionnaire for Learners………

I

APPENDIX 2: Questionnaire for Teachers……… V

PART A - INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale

It is widely known that English is playing an important role in opening up new opportunity for people in many developing countries, including Vietnam English is regarded as a passport for those who wish to have good jobs or study abroad As a result, many proficiency tests have been spawned to help English learners measure their competence Among these tests, TOEFL iBT (Test of English

as a Foreign Language, Internet-Based Test) emerges as a reliable one, so TOEFL iBT score, according to Educational Testing Service (ETS), is accepted by over

9000 colleges, universities, and agencies in more than 130 countries all over the world

A considerable amount of money and effort is invested in test preparation by test-takers; nonetheless, the results are not always satisfactory Many candidates report that Speaking skills pose a great challenge to them in this new generation of the TOEFL test as they need to deploy multiple skills ranging from listening, reading, speaking to computer-using As an instructor of TOEFL iBT working at EQuest center for more than three years, I empirically realize that my students experience a number of problems practicing Speaking skills to prepare for the test The problems may be about time limitation, vocabulary and expressions, or even speaking to a microphone Because of this fact, I am concerned with the nature of the problems that my students encounter, and what teachers can do to help them overcome these troubles to better their scores, leading to the implementation of this research

2 Aims and Research Questions

This study is carried out with the aim of gaining an insight into the activity of learning TOEFL iBT Speaking skills of students at EQuest center - my working place - and recommending some suggestions to improve the situation

The study is conducted to answer the following questions:

1 What are some strategies students often use to respond to TOEFL iBT Speaking questions?

2 What are some difficulties students encounter when learning TOEFL iBT Speaking preparation courses at EQuest?

3 What suggestions can be given to improve the situation?

3 Significance of the study

It can be seen that there are quite a number of researches about TOEFL iBT test; however, not many of them are about speaking skills Recognizing this gap, the author of this study endeavors to have a close investigation into students’ problems

in learning speaking skills for the TOEFL iBT test and give a helping hand to remove them It is hoped that this study is advantageous to both students and teachers in conquering the test For students, they may be well aware of the possible challenges and what to prepare to tackle them Regarding teachers, they can predict their students’ troubles and devise effective solutions for themselves to heighten their teaching qualities This research is of certain help as a source of reference to any teachers having the same concern

4 Scope of the study

Because of the framework of a minor thesis, this study focuses on 78 students who were at the level of 65 points (out of 120) of TOEFL iBT and above, preparing for their upcoming exams at EQuest center to explore the problems they had At the same time, seven EQuest teachers were involved in the research

5 Method of the study

To address the presented research questions, a combination of questionnaires and semi-structured interviews were deployed Two sets of survey questionnaires were used to gather data from 78 EQuest students and seven EQuest teachers Participants were asked to choose the answers best reflecting their viewpoints, and expand their answers if they wish to Interviews with 10 students were conducted to

get more in-depth information about the students’ opinions in the questionnaire

6 Organization

The research is composed of three parts: Introduction, Development and Conclusion

Part A: Introduction supplies a brief sketch of the study, including the

rationale, aims and research questions, significance and scope of the study

Part B: Development consists of three chapters

Chapter 1:Theoretical background deals with the theory and previous

research relevant to the study

Chapter 2: Methodology presents the methodology of the study, explaining

the context of the study, instruments and the procedure of data collection

Chapter 3: Results and Discussion states the findings relating to students’

strategies to respond to the test, their difficulties in learning as well as suggests some recommendations to improve the situation

Part C: Conclusion summarizes the main findings of the research, exposes

its limitation and puts forward suggestions for further research

PART B - DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND

1 TOEFL iBT test and Speaking section

1.1 Introduction to the TOEFL iBT test

The Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL), which was established

in 1964, is an international standardized test which “measures how well students use

English, not just their knowledge of the language” (The Official Guide to the TOEFL iBT, Third Edition, p.1) It is created by a nonprofit educational organization called Educational Testing Service (ETS) The TOEFL iBT test, administered via the Internet, replaced the TOEFL computer-based test (TOEFL CBT) It simulates the university classroom and student life communication to let test-takers demonstrate their ability to communicate ideas effectively

The test contains four sections – Reading, Listening, Speaking and Writing – and it takes about four hours to complete the whole test, not to mention the time for checking identification and other procedures There is no requirement for the score

to pass the test, but it varies from institution to institution Each section of the test is scored separately, and then converted to a scaled score of 0-30 The total possible score is 120 The test can be taken as many times as given The records of scores are kept for two years by ETS

1.2 Format of TOEFL iBT Speaking Section

The Speaking sub-test is designed to assess the speaking abilities of the candidates whose native language is not English but want to study in an English-speaking context This section is delivered via computer, and candidates are equipped with headphones and microphones Test-takers have to speak to a microphone and their answers are recorded and saved

In this section, test-takers are asked to speak about a range of topics that

“draw on personal experience, campus-based situations, and academic-type content material” (The Official Guide to the TOEFL iBT, Third Edition, p 165)

Section Number of Questions Timing Score

Speaking

2 Independent Tasks

(preparation: 15 sec / response: 45 sec.)

 1 personal experience

 1 personal choice/ opinion

2 Integrated Tasks: Read-Listen-Speak

(preparation: 30 sec / response: 60 sec.)

 1 campus situation topic

- reading: 75 ~ 100 words (45 sec.)

- conversation: 150 ~ 180 words (60 ~ 80 sec.)

 1 academic course topic

- reading: 75 ~ 100 words (45 sec.)

- lecture: 150 ~ 220 words (60 ~ 90 sec.)

2 Integrated Tasks: Listen – Speak

(preparation: 20 sec / response: 60 sec.)

 1 campus situation topic

- conversation: 180 ~ 220 words (60 ~ 90 sec.)

 1 academic course topic

- lecture: 230 ~ 280 words (90 ~ 120 sec.)

20

Table 1: Format of TOEFL iBT Speaking Test

(Source: How to Master Skills for the TOEFL iBT Speaking – Advanced, p.6) For the first two questions, Independent Speaking Tasks, the answers should

be given based on candidates’ personal ideas, opinions, and experiences In Question 1, candidates are asked about a person, place, object or event that is familiar to them In the second Independent Speaking task, candidates are presented with two possible actions, situations or options They are asked to state their more

As the other four questions require test-takers to integrate different skills, they are called Integrated Tasks For Question 3, they have to read a short passage

appearing on the screen about a topic of campus-related interest like university policies, rules or procedures, university plans The readings are shown in various forms such as a bulletin, a letter, or an article The reading is about 75-100 words long They then will listen to two people discussing that topic and expressing an opinion about the topic related to the reading The question will be about what they have read and heard Question 4 requires candidates to read a short academic reading passage and listen to a professor giving a brief lecture on the subject presented in the reading The topics may vary from different fields, including life science, social science, physical science and the humanities Questions 5 and 6 are not accompanied by reading passages For Question 5, a short conversation about campus-related situation will be played Its topics may be about any everyday situation arising in the college or university In this listening, two people discuss a problem and suggest two possible solutions The problem directly concerns one or both of them After listening, test-takers need to briefly describe the situation in the listening and give their own opinion about solutions to the problem The last question, Question 6, is based on academic content A short lecture focusing on a single topic is presented by a professor The lectures might be about a process, method, theory or idea of any type Normally, the lecture is started with a definition

of a concept, or highlight of an issue, and then goes on with discussing some important aspects related to it Test-takers are supposed to summarize the information they heard from the listening

2 Learners’ strategies used when learning and responding to TOEFL iBT Speaking Section

2.1 Definitions of learner strategies

There has existed considerable debate over the definition of learner strategies and different terminologies have been coined within the field of second-language acquisition (SLA) (Cohen, 1998; Ellis, 1994) According to Abhakorn (2008), learner strategies are “conscious actions in learning and using a second or a foreign language” - one of the variable factors that have profound effects on how individual

learners approach language learning and how successful they are From the point of view of McDonough (1999), the term “learner strategies” is related to “learning a second language, for using the language, for communicating in the language and for compensating for lack of knowledge or break down of communication, for exercise

of language in macro-skill areas such as reading, writing, speaking, and listening, and for coping with difficult elements of language instruction such as classroom presentation and instruction, and taking tests” A widely accepted definition of learning strategy was made by Oxford (1990): learning strategies are “specific actions taken by the learner to make learning easier, faster, more enjoyable, more self-directed, and more transferable to new situations”

Brown (2000) figured out the differences between language learning strategies and communication strategies The former is associated with “input processing, storage and retrieval” while the latter is related to “output – how we productively express meaning and how we deliver messages to others” The use of communication strategies by speakers to deal with communication breakdowns is referred to as strategic competence (Canale & Swain, 1980)

In language testing research, the main focus is on the test-taking strategies used by learners to perform the tasks and handle communication needs in the test-taking time, rather than the strategies deployed when students are learning to communicate O’Malley & Chamot (1990), Oxford (1990) and Phakiti (2003) saw test-taking strategy as “the conscious, goal-oriented thoughts and behaviors test-takers use to regulate cognitive processes, with the goal of improving their language use or test performance” Having a similar viewpoint, Swain, Huang, Barkaoui, Brooks, & Lapkin (2009) defined strategies as “the deliberate thoughts and behaviors used to manage or carry out cognitive processes with the goal of successful test performance” and “strategy use is closely linked to cognitive processes”

2.2 Classification of learner test-taking strategies

Gagne, Yekovich, & Yekovich (1993) noted that during tests or in language use situations, strategy use is pertaining to “the ongoing working memory in association with the short-term memory regarding the language to retrieve necessary declarative (knowing what), procedural (knowing how) and conditional (knowing when) knowledge in the long-term memory to solve task difficulty.” Cohen (2002) viewed that language test-taking strategies consist of both language use strategies and test-wiseness strategies

 Test-wiseness strategies

Test-wiseness strategies depend on the respondents’ knowledge of how to take the tests They allow test-takers to utilize the features and formats of tests and/or test-taking situation to gain better scores Benson (1988) and Rogers and Bateson (1991) supposed that test-wiseness strategies are “a cognitive ability or a set of test-taking strategies a test taker can use to improve a test score no matter what the content area of a test.”

A number of taxonomies for test-wiseness strategies have been devised so far Nitko (2001) categorized test-wiseness strategies into three groups: (1) Time-using strategies (starting to work as fast as possible with reasonable assurance of accuracy); (2) Error-avoidance strategies (determining the nature of the task and the intended basis of response and paying careful attention to directions); (3) Guessing strategies (always making guesses if only right answers are counted) Sarnacki (1979) devised a taxonomy of five categories: (1) Test-using strategies (working as fast as possible with reasonable assurance of accuracy); (2) Error-avoidance strategies (paying serious attention to directions); (3) Guessing strategies (keeping guessing if there is no penalty for incorrect answers); (4) Deductive reasoning strategies (utilizing relevant content information in other test items and options); (5) Intent consideration and cue-using strategies (using any idiosyncrasies of the test to distinguish correct answer from other incorrect choices) Watter & Siebert (1990) and Wenden (1991) classified test-wiseness strategies into three major categories:

(1) Strategies used before answering the test (starting with easy questions, outlining, budgeting time, and identifying key words in the questions…); (2) Strategies used during answering the test (revising each question after answering, immediately writing what comes to mind, answering all the questions even ones do not know…); (3) Strategies used after answering the test (revising both content and language, avoiding last minute change…)

 Language use strategies

Language use strategies are used to help produce response to language testing tasks They refer to actions that individuals consciously take to enhance the use of second/ foreign language in order to accomplish language tasks Language use strategies have been classified in various ways They may be grouped based on question-type, language skills, or task type

According to Cohen (2002), there are four types of language use strategies, including retrieval strategies (to recall language material from storage), rehearsal strategies (to rehearse target language structures), cover strategies (to create the impression that test-takers can have control over the material when they cannot), and communication strategies (to convey a meaningful and informative message to listener or reader)

Based on the concept of “strategic competence”, which means “a set of metacognitive components, or strategies, which can be thought of as higher order executive processes”, Bachman and Palmer (1996) suggested another conceptualization and taxonomy for language test-taking strategies constituting three groups

(1) Goal setting (deciding what going to be done)

(2) Assessment (taking stock of what is needed, assessing how well one has done) (3) Planning (deciding how to use what one has)

There are contrasting viewpoints on the model proposed by Bachman and Palmer In the point of view of Alderson & Banerjee (2002), it is a “significant advance” in language testing because it is “an interactional model of language test

performance that includes two major components: language ability and test method” However, there are some disagreements from other researchers Chalhoub-Deville (2001) considered it a theoretical model lacking congruence between theoretical models and operational assessment frameworks McNamara (1996) suggested that the Bachman model does not take the social dimension of language proficiency into consideration

Oxford’s (1990) taxonomy of language learning strategies has been used as a frame of reference by many researchers According to this classification, there are four groups of strategies: cognitive, metacognitive, affective and social Cognitive strategies are “test-takers’ ongoing mental activities to use their language and world knowledge to solve the test tasks.” Metacognitive strategies are deliberate mental processes to direct and control the cognitive strategy processing of test-takers to have a successful test performance Affective strategies are related to the learner’s emotional requirements and social strategies are pertaining to interaction with the target language

Swain et al (2009) synthesized a list of strategies drawn from both language acquisition and language testing fields as follows

second-A List of Strategic Behaviors

This is a compilation of L2 use, learning, test-taking, and communication strategies found in the literature

Communication Strategies: Involving conscious plans for solving a linguistic

problem in order to reach a communicative goal

Reduction Strategies:

Topic avoidance: Avoiding topic areas that pose linguistic difficulties Message abandonment: Leaving a message unfinished because of

linguistic difficulties

Semantic reduction: Changing a message (e.g., reducing the scope of

message) rather than abandoning the message

Achievement Strategies:

Guessing using linguistic or other clues Approximation: Use of such strategies as lexical substitution, over-

generalization, and exemplification

Paraphrase: Use of circumlocution, synonym, word coinage, and

morphological creativity

Interlingual strategies: Use of such strategies asborrowing and

“foreignizing” literal translation

Stalling/slowing/time-gaining strategies: Use of verbal fillers or

formulaic expressions

Restructuring: Reconstruction of the sentence to deal with linguistic

limitations

Cognitive Strategies: Involving manipulating the target language for understanding

and producing language

Selecting (attending)

Comprehending

Clarifying or verifying Translating

Inferencing Analyzing contrastively Analyzing inductively Reasoning deductively

Storing or memory

Repeating Associating Linking with prior knowledge Summarizing

Using imagery Using mechanical means to store information

Retrieval or using

Recombining Applying rules Transferring Translating Practicing naturalistically Using outside resources Rehearsing

Metacognitive Strategies: Involving a conscious examination of the learning/test

taking process in order to organize, plan, and evaluate efficient ways of learning/test taking

(Source: The Speaking section of the TOEFL iBT (SSTiBT): Test-Takers’ Reported

Stratgic Behaviors (Swain,M., Huang,L., Barkaoui,K., Brooks,L., & Lapkin,S

(2009))

3 Difficulties in learning Speaking skills of EFL/ESL learners

Speaking skills, to many students, are a considerable challenge because

“some language learners may be good at learning other skills but when it comes to learning to speak another language, they claim to have a “mental block” against it (Steinberg and Horwitz, 1986) Difficulties in learning speaking skills may be

rooted from teachers, students as well as other objective factors affecting the teaching and learning process (Larsen, 1986)

3.1 Difficulties from teachers

Teachers’ inappropriate teaching practices are likely to result in some troubles for their students There are two most common problems from teachers, namely improper teacher talking time and ineffective correction techniques

3.1.1 Improper teacher talking time

Nunan (1991) claimed that “In terms of acquisition, teacher talk is important because it is probably the major source of comprehensible target language input the learner is likely to receive.” However, a number of studies have suggested the negative effects of teachers talking for an excessive amount of time Allwright (1982: 10) commented that teachers who “work” too much in the classroom were not teaching effectively A good language teacher is able to “get students to do more work” in the classroom Ross (1992: 192-93 cited in Nunan, 1999: 209) stated that constant teacher talk during the lesson did not help to improve students listening comprehension and communication skills significantly Chaudron (1988), Zhao (1998), Cook (2000) proved that teachers tend to make up over 70% of the total talk

in the classroom As a result, students have very limited time to practice their speaking skills to develop their proficiency

3.1.2 Ineffective correction techniques

Brown (2002: 205) supposed that students’ errors are vital evidence to show how they acquire the language through certain strategies and procedures As teachers are supposed to be highly proficient, one of their main duties is to provide correction for their students However, how correction should be expressed remains

a debatable topic Some students are more in favor of nice, tactful correction whereas others prefer frank and assertive way Whatever techniques the teachers use, they need to pay particular attention to the face-threatening nature of corrective feedback since some shy students might feel embarrassed to be corrected publicly (Ellis, Loewen & Erlam, 2006)

3.2 Difficulties from students

A number of factors might cause students difficulties in learning, namely fear

of public failure, fear of making mistakes, lack of confidence, low English proficiency, inability to keep up with native speakers, incompetence in the rules and norms of English conversation, disorientation, etc (Dwyer and Murphy, 1996) This claim is supported by many other scholars: Jones (1999), Cortazzi & Jin (1996); Jackson (1999, 2001); Li (1998); Zou (2004)

Tsui (1996) listed some factors causing learners’ difficulties in learning speaking in class: “students’ fear of making mistakes and losing face in front of their peers, students’ low opinion of their own proficiency level, teachers’ intolerance of silence, uneven participation and incomprehensive input.”

Burns and Joyce (1997) suggested that cultural, linguistic, and affective factors are three main reasons for students’ difficulties in learning a foreign language

3.2.1 Cultural factors

Cultural factors are related to students’ prior learning experiences and the expectations that are formed on their basis According to Sapir (1992), if a learner expects to speak a language well, he must appreciate the way it is used in social contexts Each language has its own rules of applications as to when, how and to what degree a speaker may impart a given verbal behavior to one’s conversational partner Therefore, it is challenging for non-native speakers to choose the appropriate forms for different communicative situations (Berns, 1990) The cultural differences between that of learners and the target language seem to be an important anxiety-producing factor Tanveer (2007) claimed that the more students are uncertain or unfamiliar with the target language culture, the more it is likely to

be anxiety-provoking Ellis (1994) observed that learners having positive attitudes towards their own ethnic identity and towards the target culture were likely to develop a strong motivation and high level of second language proficiency besides maintaining their own mother tongue

3.2.2 Linguistic factors

Besides the fears regarding making mistakes and getting negative feedback from teachers or peers in the formal setting of a language classroom, a common difficulty encountered by students is related to linguistic issue Scarcella and Oxford (1992) classified the linguistic factor into three areas, including grammar (morphology, syntax), vocabulary and mechanics, which means the basic sounds of letters, syllables, pronunication, intonation and stress in speaking

One of the most important aspects pertaining to linguisitic difficulties should

be grammar Tanveer (2007: 49) listed several major problems related to this such

as tenses, word classes, prepositions, articles, and modal verbs For example, this researcher described an example of his student’s problem with the adjectives, verbs and adverbs or nouns that are not from the same root, like confidence, confident, confidently, etc He concluded that “the learners face difficulties with the word endings or suffixes that are not the part of their L1 (first or native language) system.” Steinberg and Horwitz (1986) commented that “such difficulties can lead

to the impression that anxious students are not capable communicator in the second language as they impede learners’ fluency in conveying the spoken messages.” Previous research consistently showed that difficulties of remembering and retrieving vocabulary items are considerable to a number of learners Participants in

a research conducted by Tanveer (2007) shared that “I don’t have exact words to express my ideas”, or “sometimes I am conscious I am not using the right word”, or

“I always feel nervous speaking English because I do not have enough vocabulary.” McCarthy (1990) contended that no matter how well students learn grammar, no matter how successfully the sounds of L2 are mastered, without words to express a wide range of meanings, communication in an L2 just cannot happen in any meaningful way

Nair, Krishnasamy, & de Mello (2006: 27) noted that “Despite having a good grasp of vocabulary and the grammatical rules of the English language, speakers would be unintelligible if they have poor pronunciation.” Ha (2006), in her study on

common pronunciation troubles of Vietnamese learners of English, idenfied a range

of pronunciation mistakes made by the participants caused by the difference between the sound system of the mother tongue and the target language She emphasized that “…we do not have the same sound in our language, especially when this sound occurs at the final position of a word…” (p.8) Tanveer (2007) also proved that EFL/ESL learners find difficulty particularly when pronouncing those sounds that they have never produced or even heard in their own language Another acute pronunciation-related problem is stress, including both word stress and sentence stress “Many ESL students who have attained advanced English proficiency levels are still having difficulty in communicating, due to low intelligibility Word and sentence stress are components that contribute greatly to intelligibility.” (Fischler, 2005: 1) The former is the prominence given to a certain syllable in word, while the latter is that allocated to certain words within a sentence

to convey emphasis by the speaker Sabater (1991: 146) pointed out that between stress at word and sentence level, the latter is much likely to have more impact on the intelligibility of speech Besides, linking sound, which refers to “the way the last sound of one word is joined to the first sound of the next word to produce connected speech” (Gilakjani, 2012: 121), is also problematic to ESL students This feature of English pronunciation would present difficulties for ESL/EFL learners if their mother tongue does not have the same rules of linking sounds

knowledge about the goals of the instructional program, and lack of appropriate feedback (Nunan, 1999)

According to Scovel (1991: 18), anxiety is a psychological construct, commonly described by psychologists as a state of apprehension, a vague fear that

is only indirectly associated with an object.” Horwitz and Young (1991) pointed out that in the perception of many language learners, anxiety negatively affects language learning, and it is one of the most highly examined variables in all of psychology and education Zhang (2006) listed out six reasons for the occurrence of language anxiety: low proficiency of English, students’ fear of mistakes and derision, large class size, unwilling to take risks, low tolerance of ambiguity, and competitiveness

3.3 Difficulties from objective factors

Ur (1993) commented that teachers of large classes encounter a lot of difficulties in maintaining disciplines, choosing materials and activating their students Dalle and Thrush (2003) added that “large classes challenge even well-trained and experienced teachers.” In large classes, students’ learning styles, preferences and levels of English proficiency are varied Consequently, teachers cannot pay equal attention to all students as well as organize suitable activities (Le, 2002) According to Locastro (2001), “with a group of more than 15, it is difficult

to give all the learners chances to practice the target language.”

Mathews (2006) recognized that multilevel classes pose particular problems for teachers in organizing the activities in speaking classes With a wide range of needs of students, it is very difficult for teachers to satisfy all and take care of every student carefully Hess (2001) also agreed that a multilevel class can be uncooperative and the students tend to get bored easily in the classroom It might also lead to inferiority complex among students at lower level

Social environment for L2 acquisition also exerts some impacts on students’ progress In Vietnam, the target language is not used as L1 in the community, providing L2 learners very limited and sometimes faulty input Krashen (1985: 46)

realized that for those learners, “the only input is teachers’ or classmates’ talk – both do not speak L2 well” In such environment, learners are exposed to the language only in their classroom, where they spend limited time in contact with the language This restricted exposure to the target language, coupled with the lack of opportunites to practice speaking appear as a considerable hindrance to students

CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY

1 Context of the study

The study was conducted at EQuest – an English center with twelve years of experience in providing educational service After taking placement tests, those who want to study at EQuest are arranged in suitable classes with 7 – 12 learners with the same level of proficiency Among different courses at EQuest, TOEFL iBT courses mainly attract high school or university students who wish to study abroad Each TOEFL iBT course lasts for about three months with three two-hour lessons per week Speaking lessons are arranged alternately with other three skills There are eight speaking lessons in one course In-house studying materials are compiled

by EQuest instructors and edited regularly for quality improvement During the course, students are required to take progress tests to check their skill improvement The primary goal of TOEFL iBT courses is to help learners gain high scores in their actual test Also, they help students familiarize with American oriented learning styles in universities and sharpen their English skills in an academic context

2 Participants

The subjects of this research came from two groups (See appendix 5)

Group one: Seventy-eight students from different TOEFL A classes at EQuest

These students gained at least 65 points out of 120 in the placement test; therefore, they were at intermediate or upper-intermediate level Their targets in the actual test ranged from 80 to over 100 to apply for scholarships funded by American colleges and universities At the time responding to the questionnaire, all students had learnt about six questions in the TOEFL iBT Speaking test already; some of them had just finished the course

There were 42 male students and 36 female ones participating in the survey

A large number of the subjects (41%, n = 32) were university students, aged from

19 to 22 They came from university in Hanoi; most of them had one or two years to prepare for the desirable TOEFL iBT score to apply for graduate scholarships

They, together with high school students (31%, n=24), made up the majority of the participants of the research A minority of the population were working people (older than 22 years old) who also yearned for graduate scholarships

Experience in learning English was unequal among students A third of the respondents (n=26) had had 4-7 years of learning English, whereas only 18% of them (n=14) had learnt English for 8-10 years English was familiar to over one-fourth of the population (n=22) for more than 10 years Only 21% of the students (n=16) had just exposed to English for 1-3 years

Group two: Seven instructors of TOEFL iBT Speaking at EQuest

The number of female teachers is much greater than the male’s one (6-1) Moreover, the teachers are fairly young; most of them are at the age of 22-30, and only one teacher is older than that In spite of their young age, most teachers have had 4-6 years of teaching experience This length of time is quite enough for teachers to gain essential experiences in teaching the subject

necessary Students were recommended to use either English or Vietnamese to respond

Instrument two: A survey questionnaire completed by seven teachers

There are three segments in the questionnaire The first part was developed

to acquire some general information about the teachers Questions in part two ask teachers to choose the difficulties which they think that their students are likely to encounter when learning to prepare for the TOEFL iBT Speaking test The last section seeks for the recommendations for teaching and learning

Instrument three: Semi-structured interviews for students

Ten one-on-one interviews were carried out with TOEFL students chosen at random after the survey questionnaire They were conducted in Vietnamese in the form of informal conversations The interviews were based on a list of six questions and some other non-structured questions On average, each interview lasted for about 15 minutes

4 Data collection procedures

The data collection procedures of the research contain four main phases

Phase 1

Initially, the questionnaire for students and teachers were carefully prepared one month before being distributed to the respondents Then, the questionnaires were piloted with several voluntary respondents A complete final version was made thanks to the great help of the supervisor

Phase 2

The questionnaire was delivered to 100 students by two ways The researchers asked for students’ permission and their teachers to get in the class and handed them the questionnaires, explaining the purpose of the survey and clarifying any questions related to it Also, the surveys were sent online in the form of GoogleDocs document to students’ emails They were asked to respond to the questionnaire either in English or Vietnamese and expand their answers in provided space if needed After one month, there were 78 students responding to the survey