How to break the ice in speaking english for the freshment at faculty of english, HOU

students at HOU and suggest some solutions that can help them improve their English speaking skill better and more effectively.. Aims of the study The purpose of this research is to imp

HOW TO BREAK THE ICE IN SPEAKING ENGLISH FOR THE FRESHMEN AT FACULTY OF

ENGLISH, HOU

Supervisor : Pham To Hoa, M.A Student : Nguyen Thi Hang Date of birth : 19/10/1994

Course : 1271A04 (2012-1016)

Ha Noi – 2016

CODE: 28

DECLARATION

TITLE: HOW TO BREAK THE ICE IN SPEAKING ENGLISH FOR

THE FRESHMEN AT FACULTY OF ENGLISH, HOU

(Graduation Paper submitted in Partial Fulfillment of B.A Degree in English)

I certify that no part of the above report has been copied from any other person’s work without acknowledgements and that the report is originally written by me under instruction of my supervisor

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This graduation paper could not have been completed without the timely incentive and whole-hearted support and help of the teachers, friends and relatives Therefore, talking the opportunity, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to them

First and foremost, I would like to express my deep gratitude to my supervisor, Mrs Pham To Hoa, M.A, for her enthusiasm, kindness and precious instructions contributed greatly to completion of the thesis

Special thanks also go to all teachers, who have been teaching for many years at the Faculty of English, Hanoi Open University, always try to impart their knowledge and experience to the students and that cannot be expressed in words

Thirdly, I would like to know sincere thanks to the President of Hanoi Open University as well as the Dean and Leading Board of English Faculty for giving me an opportunity to do the thesis

Finally and most importantly, I would like to express my whole-hearted gratitude to my family and relatives who always encourage, support and take care of me so much during years of studying

Hanoi, April, 2016

Nguyen Thi Hang

TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

PART A: INTRODUCTION 1

1 Rationale 1

2 Aims of the study 2

3 Scope of the study 2

4 Research questions 2

5 Methods of the study 2

6 Design of the study 3

PART B: THE DEVELOPMENT 4

CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 4

1.1 Definition of communication 4

1.1.1 Functions 6

1.1.2 Characteristics 6

1.2 Definition of speaking skills 8

1.3 The importance of speaking skills 10

1.3.1 Speaking is in daily communicative functions 10

1.3.2 Speaking is in integrating skills 11

1.4 Summary 13

CHAPTER 2: THE STUDY 14

2.1 Methodology 14

2.1.1 Survey questionnaire 14

2.1.1.1 Aims of the survey 14

2.1.1.2 Method of the survey 14

2.1.2 Objects of the survey 15

2.1.3 Data collection 15

2.2 Data collection and analysis 16

2.2.1 Students’ interest in speaking English 16

2.2.2 Students’ attitude towards speaking skills 16

2.2.3 Students’ English self-study skills 18

2.2.4 Students’ difficulties in speaking English 20

2.2.5 Summary 22

2.3 Findings 22

2.3.1 Lack of confidence 22

2.3.2 Poor vocabulary 23

2.3.3 Having negative attitudes towards English speaking 24

2.3.4 Lack of practicing 24

2.3.5 The mispronunciation and misunderstanding in using grammar 24

2.3.6 Difficulties in getting the people’s attention 26

2.3.7 The lack of background knowledge and culture 27

2.3.8 Fear of making mistakes 28

2.3.9 Others 28

2.3.9.1 Memory loss while speaking English 28

2.3.9.2 Fear of people’s laugh 28

2.3.9.3 Unfamiliar partner 28

2.3.9.4 The lack of motivation and flexibility in speaking English 28

2.4 Summary 29

CHAPTER 3: SOME POSSIBLE RECOMMENDATION TO OVERCOME DRAWBACKS 30

3.1 Improve English speaking skills 30

3.1.1 Stress 30

3.1.2 Intonation 31

3.1.3 Individual sounds 32

3.2 Enrich vocabulary 32

3.3 Grammar practice 34

3.4 Enrich knowledge 34

3.5 Build self-confidence 36

3.5.1 Overcome fear of making mistakes 36

3.5.2 Make the conversation with others and native speakers 37

3.5.3 Watch the English videos, films, ect. 38

3.6 Join activities outside class 39

3.6.1 Taking part in English clubs or communicative groups regularly 39

3.6.2 Participate in some English competition 39

3.7 Improve English self-study skills 40

3.8 Pair work and group work 41

3.9 Others 42

3.9.1 Good personal appearance 42

3.9.2 Reading and listening regular 42

3.9.3 Prepare the topic carefully 42

3.9.4 Learn deeply 43

3.9.5 Playing games 43

3.9.6 Telling stories 44

3.9.7 Making eyed-contact 44

3.10 Summary 44

PART C: CONCLUSION 45

REFERENCES 46

APPENDIX 1: SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE 48

APPENDIX 2: SOME USEFUL WEBSITES 51

PART A: INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale

In today’s global world, no one can deny and ignore the importance of English It is the massive means of communication and the most common language spoken internationally With the help of advanced technology, English has been playing a major role in many sectors including medicine, engineering, education and so on It is the official language of 54 different countries and is spoken by over a billion and a half of people worldwide, while another 1,000,000,000 still learning English Speaking English properly opens up many opportunities

In fact, speaking English can help learners enhance interaction in the target language for communicating with people around the world Besides, English will help people push their career forward such as gaining technical knowledge learning computer, science, ect Moreover, when people know English, they can learn and enhance their knowledge about culture and society of nations in the world by reading the printed English materials Simply English lets them feel various cultures and customs in the world easily Also, they can watch films, read famous books or listen music, ect Therefore, it is highly essential to know that English plays a vital role in our life, and English is the best way to help us get a better life in the future There are four basic skills in English: speaking, listening, writing, and reading Among those skills, speaking is used as the major means of communication It seems to be the easiest and quickest However, to improve their speaking skill, students have to face a lot of difficulties The topic of this study resulted from a fact that the freshmen in Faculty of English, HOU often gets troubles in speaking English Therefore, the writer decide to write about the topic to point out some difficulties in speaking of

students at HOU and suggest some solutions that can help them improve their English speaking skill better and more effectively

2 Aims of the study

The purpose of this research is to improve the speaking skill for the freshmen at HOU The study is to attempt to:

- Give basic knowledge about speaking skill

- Rise and point out some difficulties of students in learning speaking skill

- Provide some solutions to help students improve their English speaking skills

3 Scope of the study

This study concentrates on speaking skills, factors that affect speaking skill such as some common errors, some difficulties of student when speaking English at HOU Then, the writer makes some suggestions to improve English speaking skill The data will be collected and analyzed from the result of the research

4 Research questions

Some research questions as follow:

What are the difficulties of students in speaking skills?

What are the possible ways to improve English speaking skills for the freshmen at HOU?

5 Methods of the study

- Survey questionnaire

+ Object: the freshmen in English Faculty, HOU

+ Questionnaire: data collection and analysis

- Observation

6 Design of the study

The graduation paper is divided into three parts and three chapters

• Part A: Introduction

This part includes rationale, aims, scope, research questions, methods and design of the study

• Part B: Development

This part contains three main parts:

Chapter 1: Literature Review

Chapter 2: The study

Chapter 3: Some possible recommendations to overcome drawbacks

• Part C: Conclusion and recommendation

PART B: THE DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW

The word “communication” may be understood in many ways depending on different goals So the definition of communication ranges widely There are some point of view “communication” is defined as a process by which information is exchanged between individuals through a common system os symbols, signs, or behavior

According to Nancy Ellen, “communication” is transfer of information from one person to another, whether or not it elicits confidence but the information transferred must be understandable to the receiver”

Another dictionary- Oxford dictionary, declares that communication is giving or exchanging information, signals, messages by talk or gestures or writing Yet another definition says that communication is social intercourse Communication is all this and much more Communication is giving, receiving, or exchanging ideas, information, signals or messages through appreciate media, enabling individuals groups to persuade, to seek information or to express emotion

Communication is the articulation of sending a message, whether it is verbal

or nonverbal, so long as to produce understanding

Communication is the process by which any message is given or received through talking, writing, or making gesture There are auditory means, such

as speaking, signing, and sometimes tone of voice, and nonverbal, physical means such as body language, sign language, paralanguage, touch, eye touch

or the use of writing

This broad definition includes body language, skills of speaking and writing There are some definition of communication in the table below:

1

“Communication is the process by which we understand others and

in turn endeavor to be understood by them It is dynamic, constantly changing and shifting in response to the total situation.” Martin Andersen, “What is communication?” Journal of Communication 9:5, 1959

2

“Communication is the verbal interchange of thought or idea” John B.Hoben, “English Communication at Colgate Re-Examined” Journal of Communication 4: 76-86, p77

3

“Communication” is the process of conducting the attention of another person for the purpose of replicating memories.” F.A Cartier and F.A Harwood “On definition of communication.” Journal of Communication 3: 71-75, 1953, p.73

4

“Communication” is the process that links discontinuous parts of the living world to one another.” Jurgen Ruesch “Technology and Social Communication.” In Communication Theory and Research (Edited by Lee Thayer) Springfield, III “Charles C Thomas, 1957

5

“Communication” is the mechanism by which power is exerted.” S Schacter “Deviation, Rejection, and Communication.” In Journal

of Communication 6: 147-53 1956, p.148

1.1.1 Functions

Communication serves four vital functions in society

- Information function: the basic requirement of adapting and adjusting

oneself to the environment is information There must be some information about what is going on in the environment which concerns the people The receiving or giving of information underlines all communication functions, either directly or indirectly

- Commanding or Instructive function: those who are hierarchically

superior in the family, society, or organization, often initiate communication either for the purpose of informing their subordinates

or for the purpose of telling them, what to do, how to do when to do, etc The command and instructive functions of communication are more observable in formal organizations than in informal organizations

- Influent or persuasive function: The sole purpose of communication

is to influence people Persuasive function of communication i.e to induce people is extremely important for extension in changing their behavior in desirable direction

- Integrative function: A major function of communication is

integration or of continuously offsetting any disintegration at the interpersonal or at the organizational level This helps in maintaining individual, societal or organizational stability and identity

1.1.2 Characteristics

Characteristics of communication are given below:

- Two or more persons: The first important characteristic of

communication is the appearances of two persons because no single individual can make an exchange of ideas with himself The second

person who plays the listener, is necessary to receive one’s idea Therefore, there must be at least two persons to make communication: the sender and the receiver

- Exchange of Ideas: Communication cannot be thought of in the

absence of exchange of ideas In order to complete the process of communication, there must be an exchange of ideas, orders, feelings, etc among two or more than two persons

- Mutual Understanding: Mutual understanding means the receiver

should receive the information in the same spirit with which it is being given In the process of communication, it is more important to understand the information rather than carry it out

- Direct and Indirect Communication: It is not necessary in

communication that the receiver and the giver of information should

be face-to-face with each other Communication can be both direct and indirect Direct communication means face-to-face conservation, while indirect communication is via other means of communication

- Continuous Process: Communication is an endless process, as is the

case with business where the manager keep assigning work to his subordinates, trying to know the progress of the work and giving the directions,

- Use of words as well as Symbols: there are many means of

communication such as the written, the oral and the symbolic one The examples of symbolic communication are the ringing of bell for closing a school or a college, saying something by the movement of the neck, showing anger or disapproval through eyes, giving some decision by the raising of a finger in cricket, etc…

1.2 Definition of speaking skills

Speaking is the delivery of language through the mouth To speak, we create sounds using many parts of our body, including the lungs, vocal tract, vocal chords, tongue, teeth and lips Speaking in a second language involves the developments of a particular type of communication skill Most of the non-English major student do not understand exactly “what speaking is? ” They only regard speaking as a simple, easy process by speaking out words, ideas

Speaking is an interactive process of constructing meaning that involved producing and receiving and processing information Its form and meaning are dependent on the context in which occurs, including the participants themselves, their collective experience, the physical environment and proposes for speaking- Brown(1994); Burn and Joyce(1997)

Speaking is considered as a skill because it needs to be learned, practiced, and developed There are some definition help us understand more about this According to Harmer (1996, p14), speaking is a form of communication, it is so important that what you say is conveyed in the most effective way How you say something can be as important as what you say in getting your meaning across

According to Cheung (1994) “Speaking skill is the ability to use oral language appropriately and effectively in learning activities within the classroom and in social interactions within the school.”

Speaking is an activity, which is done by a person to communicate with others in order to express ideas, as well as options to achieve a particular goal (Philip M Brudden 1995, p85)

In addition, there are two simple definitions is given in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) The first is that “speaking is the utterance

of intelligible speech” The other shows that “speaking is delivering an address to public audience.”

Chaney (1998, p13) indicates that speaking is the process of building and sharing meaning using verbal and non-verbal symbols, in a variety of context

The definition of speaking is much diversified In Cambridge dictionary, speaking is defined quieted simply “to say words, to use voice, to have a conservation with someone” According Nunan (1985), speaking skill is

“the process of building and sharing meaning through the use of verbal and non-verbal symbols, in a variety of contexts”

In another study, Wright (1997) pointed out in his research that speaking skill is “used by someone in daily life communication whether at school outside, acquired by much repetition, primarily a neuromuscular and not intellectual process.” Moreover, he said that speaking skill consists of competence in sending and receiving message

In general, Speaking is a form of communication that human beings try to express feelings and ideas through oral production of language It forms and meanings are dependent on the context in which it occurs, including the participants themselves, their collective experience, the physical environment and the purpose for speaking

In conclusion, the definition of speaking skills are innumerous because of the complexity of this process Speaking is a productive skill and the main purpose of this process is to transfer information and communicative or to express the speaker’s opinions and thoughts It helps learners express their ideas clearly and smoothly Good speaking skill plays an important role to help learners make a successful conservation Therefore, learners should make all their efforts to be effective speakers by becoming involved and active in speaking

1.3 The importance of speaking skills

Speaking not only directly helps us to communicate, but also supports other three language skill: listening, reading and writing because it is used

in coordination with them

Speaking skill is built up on the grammar, vocabulary, structures and so

on These factors provide learners a steady basic to develop speaking skill Namely, when speaking you are able to reinforce grammar, remember new words and apply the structures have learnt into real situation

As we know, speaking make it possible for people to communicative Without speaking, human beings cannot communicate perfectly Therefore, it plays a great roles in communicating

By practicing speaking skill, learners can improve other skills Speaking skill helps the learners consolidate grammar, widen vocabulary and absorb words, structures easier and more naturally Hence, the learners can make their reading and writing skills better At the same time, listening also can

be improved significantly because pronouncing words well helps learners

to catch words, structures better when listening

For most people, the ability to speak a language is synonymous within knowing that language since speech is the most basic means of human

communication Nevertheless, “speaking in a second or foreign language

and Savage, 1994)

Besides, speaking is seen a center skills as well According to Teaching

during the same period that Direct Method first became popular in Europe: the International Phonetic Association was established by scholar

such as Henrry Sweet, Wilhem victor, and Paul Passy These phonetic made some of the first truly scientific contributions to language teaching when they advocate principles in which the first principle is “the spoken form of a language is primary and should be taught first.”

In addition to this, the main purpose of learning a language is using that language to communicate When considering why communication is important, the bottom line is: if you are good communicator, you will have better chances of success You are able to persuade people, influence others, negotiate effectively and provide valuable feedback You can inspire, motivate and encourage your staff and employees You can convey your ideas better to your boss, you can make interesting conservation and network easier and you can speak to groups of people with self-confidence and credibility The better your communication skills, the greater success you can achieve The importance of communication skills cannot be understated

Communication is truly achieved when the sender and the receiver share

an understanding of the communication message Many times, this is said easier than done

Communication has two parts The first is the communicator and how effectively she can convey her message to the listener The second is how well the listener of the communication receives the message There should

be little or no misunderstanding, misinterpretation or confusion If there is, the communication is not successful

1.3.2 Speaking is in integrating skills

In learning English, speaking and other skills are inseparable and tightly interconnected together to create successful communication When

speaking regularly, speaker can consolidate his grammar, remember words and structures more clearly, or enlarge his vocabulary by brainstorming to get ideas or noting the words he does not know, and then look up in a dictionary

To make the importance of speaking skill clearer, we should consider it in connection with other skills An important thing is that learners need to know how to pronounce correctly Apart from that, if they do not focus on practicing or training their pronunciation competence from the beginning, their ways of pronouncing will become a trail and no sooner it is easy to form habits It leads to the consequences of misunderstandings when having conservations with native English speakers or practicing speaking with their partners No one can achieve success in short time

Unlike the productive skills like reading and writing, speaking is a receptive skill In the learning of speaking, one can enrich his vocabulary and improve the fluency as well as accuracy in spelling, intonation for speaking When reading aloud, the response to English words and the skill

of guessing new words are better Then students can apply new words in their speaking

Similarity, when listening, we hear sounds, pay attention to them, remember them, and finally imitate them It is the same case in linguistics

In fact, we cannot speak well if we cannot listen well and vice versa, we cannot hear clearly if others pronounce badly Thus, speaking and listening must be practiced together in some ways, may be by repeating what you have just listened or try to express the main ideas of the recording in your own words and thinking The more students widen their vocabulary, the more their speaking is enhanced Therefore, speaking skill helps student to consolidate grammar and improve vocabulary and pronunciation as well

1.4 Summary

In this chapter, a brief overview of the previous materials about speaking was presented that include the definition of communication, functions and characteristics, the definition of speaking and the importance of speaking

in society This information in this chapter serves a purpose of helping students to understand more about speaking skill and from that, they will understand the strategies of how to improve speaking skill during the learning process, which is shown in the next chapter

CHAPTER 2: THE STUDY

In this chapter, the survey questionnaire is designed to present statistics by the first year students of faculty of English at Hanoi Open University Besides, the writer analyzes the data collected, and then comes up with certain findings on the shyness and confidence factors affecting the students in the speaking process Moreover, the classroom observation provides evidence to point out the obstacles that students always have After that, some suggestions to minimize the difficulties and improve their speaking skill are pointed out as well

2.1 Methodology

2.1.1 Survey questionnaire

2.1.1.1 Aims of the survey

The survey does not only help students and the writer of English have a deep sight into speaking skill but also find out the difficulties that make them shy Due to the framework of a thesis, to map out the obstacles given by students at all the educational levels is impossible Therefore, this thesis only focus on the difficulties in speaking skill that the freshmen

of faculty of English at Hanoi Open University often have

2.1.1.2 Method of the survey

There are many ways to conduct this study and get information but in this thesis, the writer chooses survey questionnaire and class observation These method will find the main factors which affect the study of English especially speaking skill of freshmen in university

The survey questionnaire is designed for the first year students in faculty

of English at Hanoi Open University and pay attention to the obstacles they often meet when speaking English and how to get them away

In addition, class observation helps to collect information To carry out this method, the writer asked for permission of lectures in Hanoi Open University to attend English speaking lesson of class K22A1 in four weeks

2.1.2 Objects of the survey

The number of students participating in the survey questionnaire is the freshmen English major, so they have a lot of chances to speak English in many subjects such as speaking lessons, presentation, listening, and so on Most of the students have been studying English for ten years Some are really good at speaking but others are not,

2.1.3 Data collection

This survey is carried out with the help of freshmen of faculty of English

at Hanoi Open University- K22 The writer chooses K22A1-A2, of which includes 100 students

The questionnaire consists of 10 questions for the freshmen at Hanoi Open University These survey questionnaires are designed to make out the attitude of students towards English speaking skills and get more information about the situation and problems of freshmen to help them develop English skills in the process of language learning

Students were asked to circle the most suitable answers in accordance with their opinion The questionnaire concentrates on finding:

• Students’ interest in speaking English

• Students’ attitude towards speaking skills

• Students’ difficulties in speaking English

• Students’ English self-study skills

2.2 Data collection and analysis

2.2.1 Students’ interest in speaking English

Table 1

Do you like speaking English? Answer

The table above illustrates the difference among students’ interest in speaking English A large of number of freshmen think that speaking English is very interesting (59 %) with the highest percentage The latter figure accounts for 30% percent in the number of learners who are pretty interested in this skill Only a few of the students are slightly interested in this skill (8%) and just few (4%) of them admit that they do not like speaking English at all

2.2.2 Students’ attitude towards speaking skills

Table 2

Do you think English speaking skills are important to you? Answer

When being asked about the importance of English speaking skill, 67% of the students believe that speaking skill is essential to them; 22% of them say that it rather important while the figure considering it little important

is very small, which only takes 11%, and none of the students denies the salient role of English speaking skill The reason for these positives attitude towards English speaking skill derives from their understanding that their country is on the way of the integration so that they need to use English to communicate both in the students’ future English is an international language which is used all over the world and applied in every field of life Therefore, the more they study English, the more opportunities they handles for future

Table 3:

Are you confident to speak English in class? Answer

The third table shows that a majority of students feel not enough confident

to speak English in class (a little bit important: 48%; not important at all 28%) just a small number of students reply that they feel pretty confident speaking English in class (16%) and only (8%) of them reply that they are very confident

This matter probably occurs due to lacking skills in the process of learning and the traditional way of teaching and learning which mainly applies teacher-centered methods As the result, students become passive and embarrassed and unable to develop reaction to communicate in English class Many of them are afraid that if they make a mistake, other will laugh at them, so they try to avoid speaking English in front of others More to discuss, the large class size makes students feel nervous

and anxious when they speak to the whole class In general, they still have many difficulties speaking the language confidently and fluently

2.2.3 Students’ English self-study skills

Table 4

How long do you practice speaking English each day? Answer

It can be realized from this data that a majority of learners do not focus on practicing English They are quite lazy and lack of motivation to be more passionate about this skill

The table 5 illustrates that there are a great numbers of students who never join in any English clubs with 2% and the percentage for students rarely attend this study method accounts for quite big part (11%) as well It is uninteresting to see that very few students sometimes take part in this effectively activity (31%) and even just only (56%) is often

One obvious reason is that the environment surrounding does not create chances for freshmen to interact with foreigners Besides, they often feel shy to start a conservation naturally and bad at remaining this dialogue till the end with foreigners

The table indicates the kind of materials that students use to practice English speaking skill It can be seen from the table that a great number of students tend to use online materials to serve for their English speaking study (47%) 33% of students are keen on watching English programs or listening records on radio and just 20% of them choose to learn this skill through printed materials Furthermore, a majority of the responses shows more than one option, which means students also combine several kinds

of materials at once to support their self-directed learning process The reason for this situation is students nowadays desire to keep up with the rapid pace of high technology information Interestingly, t is very easy and takes a little time to suft the internet to look for useful information and interact with others all over the world

2.2.4 Students’ difficulties in speaking English

matter to the students there are 16% of them confess that they have troubles finding the way to express their thoughts and convey their ideas into words accurately and vividly Apart from that, there are several students struggling with more than one factor

Table 10

Which difficulties do you have to face when self-studying

English speaking skills (more than one answer is acceptable)? Answer

Lack of interaction (with teachers, native speakers ) 30% Lack of self-study materials(books, newspapers, magazines,,) 5%

The table 10 present the difficulties the freshmen have to face The percentage of the respondents claim their interaction deficiencies in learning to speak the language is surprisingly high, which is up to 305 while only 5% of them assert that hardly can they find self-learning materials to enrich their English speaking proficiency Furthermore, a noticeable number of the students avow that they are in need of support and guidance to find appropriate strategies to self-study speaking English effectively (17%) They affirm that collecting self-study materials is quite easy for them but making the best of these materials is not a simple process and they need a lot of guidance from teachers, friends and family Besides, they are also afraid of making mistakes Because they are shy and unconfident about their ability and speaking skill It accounts for 21% Another difficulty for students is lack of motivation (19%) What is more, some of them hold inappropriate attitudes towards English speaking skill because they do not tend to study abroad or to major in English (8%) During the process, some students have to overcome many difficulties at the same time

2.2.5 Summary

In summary, it is obvious that the freshmen at Hanoi Open University have to overcome a lot of obstacles in their way of practicing English speaking skills Appropriate support and guidance at the right time would ensure their success in mastering English speaking skill

2.3 Findings

2.3.1 Lack of confidence

In general, students feel nervous when they speak English Many students confess that they struggle to speak in English, even though they have been studying the language for a long time They still find it hard to speak