A study on the reality of learning english speaking skill of the first year english majored students at thuong mai university and solutions

THUONGMAI UNIVERSITY ENGLISH FACULTY ------GRADUATION PAPER A STUDY ON THE REALITY OF ENGLISH SPEAKING SKILL OF THE FIRST-YEAR ENGLISH MAJORED STUDENTS AT THUONGMAI UNIVERSITY AND

THUONGMAI UNIVERSITY ENGLISH FACULTY

- -GRADUATION PAPER

A STUDY ON THE REALITY OF ENGLISH SPEAKING SKILL OF THE FIRST-YEAR ENGLISH MAJORED STUDENTS AT THUONGMAI

UNIVERSITY AND SOLUTIONS

Supervisor :Hoang Thi Thuy, M.A

Student’s number : 15D170080

Hanoi - 2019

Hanoi - 2018

The study is aimed at finding out the reality of learning English speaking skill ofthe first-year English majored students at ThuongMai University and giving someeffective solutions to deal with this reality For the objectives, 50 first-year Englishmajored students were invited to participate in this study They were asked to do asurvey questionnaire and personal interview question which help to identify the reality

of learning English speaking skill The results of the study revealed that students faced

up with some problems when learning English speaking skill such as:mispronunciation, limited listening skill, limited amount of vocabulary, the habit oftranslating from Vietnamese into English as well as lack of background knowledgeand confidence when speaking English In addition, some suggestions were proposed

to help students solve these problems and enhance their English speaking skill

THUONGMAI UNIVERSITY ENGLISH FACULTY

- -GRADUATION PAPER

A STUDY ON THE REALITY OF ENGLISH SPEAKING SKILL OF THE FIRST-YEAR ENGLISH MAJORED STUDENTS AT THUONGMAI

UNIVERSITY AND SOLUTIONS

Supervisor :Hoang Thi Thuy, M.A

First and foremost, I would like to express my sincerely thanks to my supervisor,

Ms Hoang Thi Thuy, for her great help, guidance, tireless support and encouragementduring my study Furthermore, I would highly appreciate all her helps and instructions

on various drafts of the study Without her enthusiastic help and support, I couldn’t beable to complete this study on schedule

I would also like to express my appreciation to all teachers at Faculty of English

at Thuong Mai University, those who helped me so much in my data collection Mysincerely thanks also go to 50 first-year English majored students of the EnglishFaculty who actively participate in the survey questionnaire and interviews

Additionally, I would like to show my deepest thanks to my dear friends for theirgreat help and encouragement through my hard times carrying out the thesis

Especially, I am indebted to my loving parents for their continuousencouragement and support during my study Thanks to their devotion, I haveovercome the difficult times and completed this paper

Ha Noi, 19th APR 2019

HaDanh Thi Ha

TABLE OF CONTENT

ABSTRACT i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii

TABLE OF CONTENT iii

LIST OF TABLES AND CHARTS v

CHAPTER 1: OVERVIEW OF THE STUDY 1

1.1 Rationale 1

1.2 Previous studies 2

1.3 Aims of the study 3

1.4 Scope of the study 3

1.5 Research methodology 4

1.6 Organization of the study 7

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 8

2.1 Definitions of speaking skill 8

2.1.1 The concepts of skill 8

2.1.2 The definition of speaking skill 8

2.2 Types of speaking 10

2.3 Speaking process 11

2.4 Purposes of speaking 12

2.5 The importance of speaking skill 14

2.6 Problems in speaking English 15

2.6.1 Outer impacts 15

2.6.2 Nothing to say 16

2.6.3 Low in participant 16

2.6.4 Mother-tongue use 16

2.7 Factors influencing student’s English speaking skill 17

2.7.1 Lack of motivation 17

2.7.2 Listening comprehension 18

2.7.3 Vocabulary 19

2.7.4 Grammar 19

2.7.5 Pronunciation 20

2.8 Strategies in speaking English effectively 21

2.8.1 Learning English strategies 21

2.8.2 Strategies to improve English speaking skill 22

CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH FINDINGS 24

3.1 Data analysis 24

3.1.1 Results from the questionnaire 24

3.1.2 Results from personal interview 32

3.2 Some discussion on the reality of learning English speaking skill of the first-year English majored students 33

CHAPTER 4: RECOMMENDATIONS AND SUGGESTIONS 35

4.1 Recommendations and suggestions to improve English speaking skill for the first-year English majored students at TMU 35

4.1.1 Practicing listening skill 35

4.1.2 Improving vocabulary 35

4.1.3 Practicing speaking English with foreigners and friends 36

4.2 Recommendations and suggestions for teachers to help students improve their English speaking skill 36

4.2.1 Understanding students’ feeling 36

4.2.2 Finding the effective teaching methods 36

4.2.3 Setting an English speaking environment 37

4.3 Recommendations and suggestions for Thuong Mai University to help students improve their English speaking skill 37

4.3.1 Directing the Faculty of English to employ foreign native teachers 37

4.3.2 Using high-tech equipments in the classroom 37

4.3.3 Holding more English speaking contest and language seminars 37

4.4 Some suggestions for further studies 38

4.4.1 Limitations of the study 38

4.4.2 Some suggestions for further studies 38

CONCLUSION 39 REFERENCES

APPENDIX

LIST OF TABLES AND CHARTS

1 Chart 1.1: Distribution of the student participants 5

2 Chart 3.1: Students’ purposes to learn English speaking skill 27

3 Chart 3.2: Students’ participation in speaking class 29

4 Chart 3.3: Students’ difficulties and problems faced in speaking

6 Table 3.1: Students’ English learning background 24

7 Table 3.2: Students’ attitudes towards leaning English speaking skill 25

8 Table 3.3: Students’ evaluation their level of speaking English 26

9 Table 3.4: Students’ frequency in practicing English speaking skill 28

10 Table 3.5: Students’ feeling in speaking English 28

CHAPTER 1: OVERVIEW OF THE STUDY 1.1 Rationale

In recent times, it is undeniable that language is a pivotal part of our society’scultural richness in particular and of the world in general In order to keep ourselveskeep up with the global standard in today’s world which is called internationalcommunity, we need to have knowledge and understanding of English as aninternational language English language is the dominant business language, and it hasbecome almost the necessity for people to speak English It is the key to unlock thedoor which helps us to explore new world, new culture and broaden the mind about thebig world

Speaking is one of the basic language skills that need to be proficient by Englishforeigner learners due to its significance and its use for communication It is veryimportant to be able to speak English because it is the most commonly acceptedlanguage in the global world so that it will be very beneficial for those whocomprehend it not only to improve their background knowledge but also to help themget a good job By speaking English fluently, they will not find difficult tocommunicate and interact with people around the world when they travel

Moreover, nowadays, Vietnam becomes one of the members of the World TradeOrganization, it is crucial for Vietnamese students of English to have good Englishspeaking skill in order to adapt to the increasing demand of integration into the worldeconomy and exchange culture with other countries As a result, learning Englishspeaking skill is a great advantage for Vietnamese students However, it is not easy forstudent to fluent because of some influences on the different cultures, mother tongue

or their own limited language ability, and so on…

In the context of Thuong Mai University, learning English speaking is one of thecompulsory subjects at Faculty of English However, most of students do not havegood marks in this course In addition, from the observations during English speakingcourse, the researcher found out that the student faced with many problems anddifficulties in learning English speaking skill To improve teaching and learningEnglish speaking skill for the first-year English majored students at Faculty of English,

Thuong Mai University, it is vital to find out the reality of learning English speakingskill as well as the solutions to deal with this problem.

For those reasons, “A study on the reality of learning English speaking skill of the first-year English majored students at Thuong Mai University and solutions”

was conducted to identify the reality of learning English speaking skill and proposesolutions to help them improve their English speaking skill

to express the student feeling and demand

Secondly, an action research project on the understanding and actions taken toimprove speaking skill through game in a public school called “Federico GarciaLorca” in Columbia accomplished by Urrutia & Vega (2006) The participants in thisstudy were twenty girls and twenty boys from 14 to 18 years old The data collectioninstruments were used in this study are questionnaires, teacher’s journals and videorecordings The results of the study revealed that majority of students considered thatspeaking English is the most complicated skill to work out; the researcher noticed thatstudents sometimes spoke English but the majority of them did not speak Englishduring the English class

In addition, other study on how to improve English speaking skill through activities for the first-year English non-major students in Hai Phong Private Universityconducted by Nguyen Thi Dieu Huyen(2008) The study identified the reality ofteaching and learning English at Hai Phong Private University, covered thebackground knowledge of speaking The research also proposed some appropriatemethods for teaching speaking lesson which draw student’s attention into the lesson.Besides, Hamzad & Ting (2009) conducted a qualitative and action researchstudy on success of using group work in teaching speaking in English classroom in aschool called “SMK Damai Jaya” in Malaysia The sample of the study was 33students and 3 English teachers Questionnaires, observations and interviews wereused as data collection instruments The researchers carried out a series ofquestionnaires in Malay language which helped students provide their opinions aboutthe group work activities to improve speech skills and their consciousness ofparticipation in those activities The results of the study expressed enthusiasm in groupwork activities and proficiency in spoken language.

extra-To sum up, obviously these studies have been researched on different criteria of

the language learning However, this research study will look into the reality of learning English speaking skill of the first-year English majored students at Thuongmai University and solutions

1.3 Aims of the study

The primary aim of this research is to find out the reality of learning Englishspeaking skill of the first-year English majored students at Thuong Mai University.The study also aims to find out problems students faced when speaking English andthen some solutions will be suggested to help students overcome the problems andimprove their English speaking skill

The targeted subjects of this study are mainly students; however, all people whoare interested in learning English speaking skill can consider it as a useful referencefor enhancing their English speaking skill as well

1.4 Scope of the study

When the first-year students in Faculty of English, Thuong Mai University(2018-2022 curriculum) start to their semester, English speaking course is the

compulsory subject for them This paper focuses on researching and analyzing thereality of learning English speaking skill by using the data collected from giving thefirst-year students in Faculty of English, TMU make a questionnaire and personalinterview as well as making some suggestions to help students improve their Englishspeaking skill The results of the study are limited to the students participate in thisstudy But it can be a source for anyone who excited and want to practice and enhancespeaking English.

1.5 Research methodology

1.5.1 Research design

It took about 2 months to carry out this study Firstly, the researcher chose thetopic, collected the related previous studies and information through the internet,reference books and other sources which is useful and support for the researcherduring the research After that, the questionnaire and personal interview related to thethesis were designed and taken by 50 first-year English majored students at TMU.Finally, the study was fulfilled to find out the reality of learning English speaking skill

by the first–year students at Faculty of English, the problems and some solutions weregiven as well

1.5.2 Research questions

In order to identify the reality of learning English speaking skill of the first-yearEnglish majored students at Faculty of English, Thuong Mai University, this studyconcentrate on answering the following question:

1 What is the importance of the English speaking skill?

2 What strategies can be helpful for students to speak English well?

3 What is the reality of the first-year English majored student’s English speaking skill?

4 How can students improve their English speaking skill?

1.5.3 Participations of the study

There were 50 randomly first-year students in Faculty of English selected to takepart in the study They all were learning English speaking skill Among them, therewere 10 males and 40 females The information of the students who participate in thisstudy was shown in the chart 1.1 below

Chart 1.1 Distribution of the student participant

1.5.4 Methods of the study

A variety of methods were considered and selected to fulfill this research as thefollowing:

- Reference materials including reference books, reference previous studieswere carefully chosen, researched and analyzed

- A survey questionnaire and personal question interview was conducted bythe first-year students at Faculty of English to collect information for this thesis

1.5.5 Instruments

The researcher was about to collect data on the reality of learning Englishspeaking skill of the first-year students at Faculty of English (Thuong Mai University)through the questionnaire and personal interviews with the expect to guarantee thereliability of this study

1.5.5.1 The survey questionnaire

The survey questionnaire was contributed to 50 first-year English majoredstudents at Thuong Mai University The questionnaire in this study can help to find outthe necessary data and information for this research

In this study, the survey questionnaire was included 11 questions are closed,multiple choices and open-ended questions with the following purposes:

Investigating and getting information about the student’s difficulties andproblems in learning English speaking skill

Knowing the student’s frequency in using English to speak and their level

Know the ways students used to improve their English speaking skill

1.5.5.2 Personal interview

The interview was conducted with a group of students who were chosen from theparticipants The questions in the interview were open-ended questions to get andgather information about the student’s opinions on improving their English speakingskill as well as some difficulties students faced when learning English speaking skill ofthe first-year students at Faculty of English (TMU) In addition, a personal interviewprovided an opportunity for the researcher and participants to share their own ideasabout learning English speaking skill

1.5.6 Data collection procedures

There are several methods of data collection In this research, there werespecifically two steps used to collect data in this study The first step was collectingdata from the survey questionnaire And the second ones was collecting data from thepersonal interview

1.5.6.1 Procedures for conducting the questionnaire.

The questionnaire was designed on Google form and sent the link for theparticipants to fill out its At the same time, lots of copies of the questionnaire wereprinted and delivered to participants When the survey questionnaire was completed,the researcher gathered and analyzed them

1.5.6.2 Procedures for conducting the personal interview.

The interviews were conducted randomly with some students The researcherwill ask the interviewees and take note the primary information which are necessaryfor the study

1.5.7 Data analysis procedures

The researcher collected data from two different sources and analyzed it in twomain parts as follows:

1) The student’s perception on the importance of learning English speaking skill2) Solutions to improve student’s English speaking skill of the first-yearEnglish majored students at TMU

The data through survey questionnaire will be presented and analyzed in theforms of charts While, the other one from opened-ended questionnaires and personalinterviews were presented by quoting relevant responses Finally, the data wereanalyzed both descriptively and interpretively.

1.6 Organization of the study

This research was organized into four main chapter:

Chapter 1: Overview of the study: this chapter provides a general overview of

the study It includes the rationale, aims of the study and some previous studies related

to the current research Later, there are research questions, scope of the study andresearch methodology And the last is organization of the study

Chapter 2: Literature review, this part lays the foundation for the research This

chapter reviews the terms and concepts related to speaking skill, the importance ofspeaking skill, problems in learning English speaking as well as some factors influencingstudent’s speaking skill And the last is some strategies to improve English speaking skill

Chapter 3: Research findings, it presents the results of the study, discussion of

the results and summary of major findings

Chapter 4: Recommendations and suggestions, in this chapter, some

recommendations are suggested to help students improve their English speaking skillalong with some recommendations for further study

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter will review some theories related to the subject matter of this study.The literature review is organized in four part It firstly introduces concepts of skilland speaking, types of speaking, the speaking process as well as the purpose ofspeaking It also reviews the importance of speaking skill and presents some problemsstudent faced when learning English speaking skill Then, some related factorsinfluencing student’s English speaking will be addressed.

2.1 Definitions of speaking skill

2.1.1 The concepts of skill

There are many definitions of skill as well as speaking As business dictionary,

“skill” is an ability and capacity acquired through deliberate, systematic, and sustainedeffort to smoothly and adaptively carrying out complex activities or job functionsinvolving ideas (cognitive skills), things (technical skills), and/or people (interpersonalskills), also see competence In Collins dictionary, if skill is countable noun, it isconsidered as a type of work or activity which requires special training andknowledge In contrast, if it is uncountable noun, skill is the knowledge and ability thatenables you to do something well Skill is developed though practice, through acombination of sensory input and output

Skill is usually understood as an ability to do something well, either manually,mentally, or both In contrast to terms that denote only potential for acquiring some

abilities (such as natural ability, talent, aptitude, or capacity), the term skill usually

means actual competence that has been acquired by training, schooling, or practice.The concept used in several disciplines (most importantly economics, sociology,psychology, education, and ergonomics), has many meanings, and is applied for

different purposes and in a variety of contexts The term skill is mainly used to refer to

(1) a level of individual performance, in the sense of accuracy and speed in performingparticularly tasks, or (2) qualities required for successful performance in particularjobs and tasks

2.1.2 The definition of speaking skill

There is a variety of definitions of speaking as noted, speaking is defined as thedelivery of language through the mouth To speak, we create sounds using many parts

of our body, including the lungs, vocal tracts, vocal cords, tongue, teeth and lips

According to Widdowson (1994), speaking is considered the most importantactive skill for a foreign language learning Rodriques (2000:32) stated that speaking isthe producing utterances for communicating messages It starts from infancy to bedeveloped during childhood to maturity (Levelt,1989: 2) whereas Abdel Salam (2002)showed that speaking identified as a collection of micro-skills which include syntax,grammar, morphology, pragmatics or social language, semantics and phonology.According to Burns & Joyce (1997), speaking is defined as an interactive process

of constructing meaning that involves producing, receiving and processinginformation Its form and meaning depend on the context in which it occurs, theparticipants and the purposes of speaking Therefore, speaking skill isn't onlyproducing the utterances, but it is the complete process of constructing meanings, 38producing utterances and receiving and processing information (Brown, 1994) withconfidence (Bygate,1987)

Speaking is of great importance in second language learning Because itsimportance, speaking has been overlooked in schools and universities because ofdifferent reasons like emphasis on grammar and unfavorable teacher-studentproportions Speaking has been absent from testing because of the problem inassessing it objectively and the time it takes to carry out speaking tests (Clifford,1987) Speaking is a skill which is worth of attention in both first and secondlanguage Learning the speaking skill is the most important aspect of learning a second

or foreign language and success is measured basing on the ability to perform aconversation in the language (Nunan, 1995)

In Webster New World Dictionary, speaking is to say words orally, tocommunicate as by talking, to make a request, and to make a speech (Nunan, 1995).According to Chaney (1998), speaking is the process of making and sharing meaning

by using verbal and non-verbal symbols in different contexts Bygate (1987) definedspeaking as the production of auditory signals to produce different verbal responses inlisteners It is regarded as combining sounds systematically to form meaningfulsentences Eckard and Kearny (1981), Florez (1999), Howarth (2001), and Abd ElFattah Torky (2006) defined speaking as a two–way process including a truecommunication of opinions, information, or emotions This top-down view regards the

spoken texts as the collaboration between two or more persons in the shared time andthe shared context.

Speaking is one of the four language skills (reading, writing, listening andspeaking) It is the means through which learners can communicate with others toachieve certain goals or to express their opinions, intentions, hopes and viewpoints Inaddition, people who know a language are referred to as ‘speakers’ of that language.Furthermore, in almost any setting, speaking is the most frequently used languageskill As Rivers (1981) argues, speaking is used twice as much as reading and writing

in our communication It has been classified to monologue and dialogue The formerfocuses on giving an interrupted oral presentation and the latter on interacting withother speakers (Nunan,1989: 27) Speaking can also serve one of two main functions:transactional (transfer of information) and interactional (maintenance of socialrelationships) (Brown and Yule, 1983: 3)

2.2 Types of speaking

Speaking is the productive skill in the oral mode It, like the other skill, is morecomplicated than it seems at first and involves more than just pronouncing words.There are three kinds of speaking situations in which we find ourselves:

 Interactive

Interactive speaking includes face-to-face conversations and telephone calls, inwhich we alternatively listening and speaking, and in which we have a chance to askfor clarification, repetition, or slower speech from our conversation partner

 Partially interactive

Some speaking situations are partially interactive, for example giving a speech to

a live audience where the convention is that the audience does not interrupt the speech.The speaker nevertheless can see the audience and judge from the expression on theirfaces and body languages whether or not he or she is being understood

problems to arise Konar (2011:161) identified activities involving in the speakingprocess as follows:

- The sender tried to convey an idea by encoding it into a message

- The message travels through a channel from the sender to receiver

- The receiver decodes the message

- The receivers prove the feedback

- The process gives the frame of reference of the sender and the receiver

- The process provides the context of the receiver

Some experts pointed out four different stages of speaking as follows:

- Ideation: it is the stage of forming the idea or selecting the messages which can

be either logical or emotional Such classification of messages constitutes later “what”

to communicate (Rizvi, 2005: 5)

- Encoding: this is the stage by which the sender converts the idea into a messageusing the verbal and non-verbal means of communication (Konar, 2011: 161) in theshape of spoken words, gestures, symbols, signs or body movements (Shafaei, 2011: 510)

by choosing the appropriate channel of communication (Guffey & Loewy, 2010: 15).Many filters are used when sending and receiving the message; the socio-economic-cultural background for the communicators, their opinions, beliefs, and feelings (Konar,2011: 161) During this stage, communication also involves the proper timing, place andmanner of sending and receiving (DuBoff & Krages, 2005: 10)

- Decoding: it involves the translation or conversion of the received stimulus intothoughts so that one can understand the message (Talloo, 2008: 154)

- Response: it involves the action or reaction which shows that the receiver hasunderstood the message (Leonard, 2012: 85) It also helps the sender to know that themessage was successfully transmitted in what is called feedback

2.4 Purposes of speaking

It was argued that the purpose of speaking can be either transactional orinteractional Apparently, there are some differences among the spoken languages used

in both transactional and interactional discourse

In transactional discourse, language is used primarily for communicatinginformation Language supporting this purpose is 'message' oriented rather than'listener' oriented (Nunan, 1989: 27) Clearly, in this type of interaction, accurate andcoherent communication of the message is important Examples of language beingused primarily for a transactional purpose are: news broadcasts, descriptions,narrations and instructions (Richards, 1990: 54- 55)

On the other hand, some conversations are interactional with the purpose ofestablishing or maintaining a relationship It plays an importantly social role in oilingthe wheels of social intercourse (Yule, 1989: 169) Greetings, small talks, andcompliments are considered as examples of interactional Apparently, the languageused in the interactional mode is listener oriented Speakers' talk in this type tends to

be limited to quite short turns (Dornyei & Thurrell, 1994: 43 and Richards, 1990: 55)

54-Analyzing speaking purposes more precisely, Kingen (2000: 218) combines boththe transactional and interpersonal purposes of speaking into an extensive list oftwelve categories as follows:

- Personal - expressing personal feelings, opinions, beliefs and ideas

- Descriptive- describing someone or something, real or imagined

- Narrative- creating and telling stories or chronologically sequenced events

- Instructive- giving instructions or providing directions designed to produce anoutcome

- Questioning- asking questions to obtain information

- Comparative- comparing two or more objects, people, ideas, or opinions tomake judgments about them

- Imaginative- expressing mental images of people, places, events, and objects

- Predictive- predicting possible future events

- Interpretative- exploring meanings, creating hypothetical deductions, andconsidering inferences

- Persuasive- changing others’ opinion, attitudes, or points of view, orinfluencing the behavior of others in some way.

- Explanatory- explaining, clarifying, and supporting ideas and opinions

- Informative-sharing information with others

Aristotle talked about three speech purposes: deliberative (political speech),forensic (courtroom speech), and epideictic (speech of praise or blame) Cicero alsotalked about three purposes: judicial (courtroom speech), deliberative (politicalspeech), and demonstrative (ceremonial speech—similar to Aristotle’s epideictic) St.Augustine of Hippo also wrote about three specific speech purposes: to teach (providepeople with information), to delight (entertain people or show people false ideas), and

to sway (persuade people to a religious ideology) All these systems of identifyingpublic speeches have been attempts at helping people determine the general purpose oftheir speech A general purpose refers to the broad goal in creating and delivering aspeech

These typologies or classification systems of public speeches serve todemonstrate that general speech purposes have remained pretty consistent throughoutthe history of public speaking Modern public speaking scholars typically use aclassification system of three general purposes: to inform, to persuade, and to entertain

To inform

The first general purpose that some people have for giving speeches is to inform.Simply, this is about helping audience members acquire information that they do notalready possess Audience can then use this information to understand something (e.g.,speech on a new technology, speech on a new virus) or to perform a new task orimprove their skills (e.g., how to swing a golf club, how to assemble a layer cake) Themost important characteristic of informative topics is that the goal is to gainknowledge Notice that the goal is not to encourage people to use that knowledge inany specific way

To persuade

The second general purpose people can have for speaking is to persuade That isthe ability to attempt to get listeners to embrace a point of view or to adopt a behaviorthat they would not have done otherwise A persuasive speech can be distinguished

from an informative speech by the fact that it includes a call for action for the audience

to make some change in their behavior or thinking

To entertain

Entertaining speeches are very common in everyday life The fundamental goal

of an entertaining speech is audience enjoyment, which can come in a variety of forms.Entertaining speeches can be funny or serious Entertaining speeches are not designed

to give an audience a deep understanding of life but instead to function as a way todivert an audience from their day-to-day lives for a short period of time This is not tosay that an entertaining speech cannot have real content that is highly informative orpersuasive, but its goal is primary about the entertaining aspects of the speech and notfocused on the informative or persuasive quality of the speech

2.5 The importance of speaking skill

Speakers can't produce effective and appropriate outcomes until they have beenexposed to some specific linguistic competences such as grammar, pronunciation andvocabulary, as well as the sociolinguistic competence such as register of theexpressions and the contextualizing of the language Teachers were used to focusing

on teaching grammar and vocabulary in isolation which made it difficult if notimpossible for teachers and assessors to evaluate language use ability (Mckay, 2006:48)

Speaking has a meaning when it enables children and young people to exploretheir own selves and clarify their identity They can manage to understand and respecttheir own selves (Ranson, 2000) When speaking happens, learners express theirviews, feel confident to speak up when issues of high interest occur They also develop

a range of skills, strategies and behaviours which assist them to manage thechallenging situations Fielding and Ruddock (2002) explained that speakingopportunities facilitate a stronger sense of membership, respect and self-worth,learning management, agency and personalizing learning

Celce-Murcia's (2001) stated that authenticity is very important when studentsought to speak The topics should be of great interests to the learners with the focus onmeanings, values, collaboration, social development and provision of a rich context

Speaking is the communication tool to transform ideas (Conrad & Dunek, 2012:74), express feelings (Bar-On, 2004: 246), explain about discoveries, research resultsand discussions and responding to others

Mastering speaking skills makes the speaker a well-rounded communicator who

is a proficient in the four language skills Such skillfulness provides the speaker withseveral distinct advantages which let them enjoy sharing ideas with others andmanaging to understand and respect their own selves (Ranson, 2000) Masteringspeaking skills helps the speaker to gain attention from the audience and hold it till thecompletion of his/her message

Speaking skills are important to achieve the career success Speaking enhancesone's personal life by creating opportunities for travel, promotion, scholarships, or toattend conferences, international meetings, represent organizations in internationalevents

Speaking is a cross-cultural communication system whose function is to regulateconsensus with respect to the recognition of cross-cultural identities and thecoordination of a nation's political, economic, and social functions with other nations(Cushman & Cahn, 1985: 13)

Efrizal (2012) Pourhosein Gilakjani (2016) expressed that speaking is of greatsignificance for the people to interact Speaking is the way of communicating ideasand messages orally If we want to encourage students to communicate in English, weshould use the language in real communication and ask them to do the same process

2.6 Problems in speaking English

English is becoming increasingly popular and it is taught as a compulsory subjectfrom grade one to university All universities are supposed to use English as their mainworking language

There are some problems for speaking skill that teacher can come across inhelping students to speak in the classroom

2.6.1 Outer impacts

Unlike reading, writing or listening activities, speaking requires some degree ofreal-time exposure to an audience Leaners are often inhibited about trying to saysomething in foreign language in the classroom Some outer impacts students facedwhen speaking English such as worried about making mistake and fear of criticism,

fear of being laughed by their friend as they have no idea about pronunciation andgrammar that they use Littlewood (2007) expressed that a language classroom canalso create inhibitions and apprehension for the students.

2.6.2 Nothing to say

The second problem is that leaners complain they can not remember anythingwhen speaking and they do not have any motivation to express themselves This issupported by Rivers (1968) who thinks that learners often have nothing to sayprobably because their teachers had selected a topic that is not appropriate for them orthey do have enough information about it Baker and Westrup (2003) also supports theabove idea and stated that it is very difficult for learners to answer when their teachersask them to tell things in a foreign language because they have little opinions aboutwhat to say, which vocabulary to apply, or how to use grammar accurately

For Ur (1996), he expressed that students always have nothing to say aboutparticular topic in daily life In fact, they maybe bored or feel that the topic does notinvolve anything they know Moreover, students often lack confidence in their ability

to speak and feel they can not speak anything or show their own ideas

2.6.3 Low in participant

Other problem in speaking is that the participant is very low In a class with anumber of students, each student will have a little time to talk because just one studenttalk at a time and the other students try to hear him or her In the class, there will besome students with a proficiency in speaking English that makes it harder for otherstudents to show themselves Outstanding students often interrupt or attract theirteacher’s attention tend to create an environment where more shy students are happy tosit back and say nothing in the class instead of joining speak English with otherstudents in the class

2.6.4 Mother-tongue use

The last problem related to the speaking ability is that when some learners havethe same mother-tongue, they try to use it in the speaking class because it is very easyfor them (Tuan & Mai, 2015) It is easier to for the student to use their mother-tongue

in their class because it looks naturally Therefore, most of the students are notdisciplined in using the target language in the learning process According to Harmer

(1991), there are some reasons why learners use mother-tongue in their speakingclasses The first reason is that when teachers ask their learners to talk about a topicthat they do not have enough knowledge, they will try to use their language Thesecond reason is that the application of mother-tongue is very natural for learners touse If teachers do not urge their learners to speak in English, they will automaticallyuse their first language to explain something to their classmates.

As for this problem faced by learners, psychological, social and linguisticobstacles can be scrutinized According to Scarcella & Oxford (1994: 165) and Florez(1998), these are as follows:

The conflict between fluency and accuracy: though a student may gainconfidence in using the new language by being let uncorrected, his language willcontinue to be incorrect

Lack of confidence: some students feel unconfident in their presentation orwhen they must speak English in public

Pronunciation: the most prominent problems are: phonetic confusion,interference from the written form, interference from the mother language and failure

to use the weak forms Thus, in the light of the previous constraints speaking is alwaysscarified

2.7 Factors influencing student’s English speaking skill.

2.7.1 Lack of motivation

Yufrizal (2008: 111) states that the factors which influence the second languagelearning are motivation and attitudes, anxiety, age difference, personality factors,cognitive factors, and other factors Motivation can push someone to complete acourse of work Motivation is also a passion to do something Therefore, motivationplays a very important role in language learning

Motivation can influence and be influenced by the components of languagelearning According to Merisuo-Storm (2007), an integrative and friendly viewtowards the people whose language is being learned makes sensitize learners to theaudio-lingual aspects of language and making them more sensitive to pronunciationand accent of language If learners have an unfriendly attitude towards the language,they will not have any substantial improvement in acquiring the different features of

language Without positive attitudes towards the speaking performance, the aim ofspeaking will not be obtainable for learners.

Motivation is a process It is a tool that helps us gain our goals Firstly, we feelexcited and set up goals to achieve its Then, we try to maintain our excited and make

an effort to fulfill those purposes This process is very useful in learning language.Slavin (1997,345) describes this process in the general sense: “….motivation is whathelps you go, determines where you are trying to go”

Lack of motivation is a real problem for both teachers and students in languageclasses Timmins (1999) suggests some reasons for lack of motivation in students byusing psychology in the classroom Therefore, it is crucial for teacher to put emotionalfactors into account When students have low self-esteem and self-esteem, highanxiety and inhibitions, their motivation is destroyed Lack of consolidation, studentapproval, and appreciation of teacher affect negative learning motivation

Dörnyei (1998) further argues the importance of motivation by stating thatmotivation provides learners the primary stimuli for initiating second languagelearning, and later motivation becomes the driving force for learners to be persistent intedious learning process, so that they may be able to complete long-term goals if there

is sufficient motivation Therefore, motivation is one of the determining factors indeveloping a second language learning In particular, motivation seems to be veryimportant in the development of speaking skill One who has strong motivation mighttake a part in speaking It can be inferred that one might speak well in English thanks

to motivation which pushes to speak So, motivation has a main role for knowingsomeone’s ability to speak For example, one who has strong speaking motivation willpractice and train himself to speak fluently and accurately in order to be better speaker

On the contrary, one who has low motivation in speaking will rarely practice and trainhimself to speak fluently and accurately So, low motivation might influence hisspeaking ability stay the same or even get worse