luận văn ngôn ngữ anh DIFFICULTIES FACED BY LOWER SECONDARY SCHOOL TEACHERS IN TEACHING SPEAKING SKILLS IN BIEN HOA CITY

VIETNAM ACADEMY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES GRADUATE ACADEMY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES Đinh Thị Thùy Trang DIFFICULTIES FACED BY LOWER SECONDARY SCHOOL TEACHERS IN TEACHING SPEAKING SKILLS IN BIEN

VIETNAM ACADEMY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES

GRADUATE ACADEMY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES

Đinh Thị Thùy Trang

DIFFICULTIES FACED BY LOWER SECONDARY SCHOOL TEACHERS

IN TEACHING SPEAKING SKILLS

IN BIEN HOA CITY

MA THESIS IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE

HO CHI MINH CITY, 2020

VIETNAM ACADEMY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES

GRADUATE ACADEMY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES

\

Đinh Thị Thùy Trang

DIFFICULTIES FACED BY LOWER SECONDARY SCHOOL TEACHERS

IN TEACHING SPEAKING SKILLS

IN BIEN HOA CITY

Field: English Language

Code: 8220201

Supervisor: Assoc Prof Dr Phạm Hữu Đức

HO CHI MINH CITY, 2020

DECLARATION BY AUTHOR

I hereby declare that the thesis, entitled “Difficulties faced by the lower secondary school teachers in teaching speaking skills in Bien Hoa city” has been written solely by myself and has not been submitted to this University or any other institutions in application for admission to a degree, diploma or other qualifications

This master thesis has not been published before And if it is eventually proved that I am cheating, I am ready to take responsibility, including the revocation of my academic degree

Author’s signature

Đinh Thị Thùy Trang

Approved by SUPERVISOR

Assoc Prof Dr Phạm Hữu Đức

Date:………

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This thesis could not have been completed without the help, encouragement and support of many people

First and foremost, I would like to express my deep gratitude to Assoc Prof

Dr Phạm Hữu Đức, my supervisor for his helpful comments, remarks and recommendations in completing this master’s thesis

Second, I would like to send my thanks for the useful materials, guidance and enthusiasm for this study to all lectures and staff of the Graduate Academy

of Social Sciences, Vietnam Academy of Social Science, in Ho Chi Minh City

In addition, my sincere gratitude goes to the teachers and students of the Le Quang Dinh Lower Secondary School who have willingly spent their precious time in the interview process

Last but not least, many thanks to my beloved family and friends who are always beside me to support and encourage me to fulfill my study

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page

DECLARATION BY AUTHOR i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii

ABSTRACT vi

LIST OF TABLES vii

LIST OF FIGURES ix

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS xi

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 Rationale 1

1.2 Aims of the Study 2

1.3 Research questions 2

1.4 Scope of the Study 2

1.5 Significance of the study 2

1.6 Research methods 3

1.7 Structure of the study 3

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 4

2.1 The nature of speaking and speaking skills 4

2.1.1Definition of speaking 4

2.1.2The nature of speaking and speaking skills 5

2.2 The role of speaking in language teaching 6

2.3 Teaching and learning speaking skill 7

2.3.1Teaching speaking skill 7

2.3.2Learning speaking skill 8

2.4 Factors affecting learner’s speaking achievement 10

2.4.1Teacher’s factors 10

2.4.2Learner’s factors 12

2.5 Teacher’s difficulties in teaching English speaking skills 14

2.6 Previous study 15

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY 17

3.1 Research questions 17

3.2 Participants 17

3.3 Data collection instrument 17

3.3.1Survey Questionnaires 18

3.3.2Interviews 19

3.4 Data collection procedures 19

3.5 Data analysis 20

3.6 Summary 20

CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS 21

4.1 Data analysis of teachers’ survey questionnaire 21

4.2 Data analysis of students’ survey questionnaire 36

4.3 Data analysis of students and teachers’ survey interview 52

4.3.1Teachers’ interview 53

4.3.2Students’ interview 55

4.4 Discussions 56

4.4.1Difficulties from the students 57

4.4.2Difficulties from the teachers 59

4.4.3Problems from other factors 60

4.5 Summary 62

CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION 63

5.1 Recapitulation 63

5.2 Concluding remarks 64

5.3 Implications 64

5.3.1Implications for students 64

5.3.2Implications for teachers 67

5.4 Limitations of the study 68

5.5 Suggestions for further studies 69

REFERENCES 70 Foreign Authors 70

Vietnamese Authors 72

APPENDIX 1 i

APPENDIX 2 iv

APPENDIX 3 .vii

APPENDIX 4 x

APPENDIX 5 xi

ABSTRACT

English speaking is an important skill and mostly used in daily life to express opinions, explain, and make arguments To get a better result in learning English and get a good job in the future, students have to speak English fluently The aim

of this study was to explore some difficulties faced by students and teachers at

Le Quang Dinh Lower Secondary School in learning and teaching English speaking skills and suggesting solutions to resolve those difficulties The study subjects were 104 students and 18 English teachers Research data were obtained from questionnaires, interviews, by both students and teachers The findings showed that the difficulties faced by students in learning English were low levels

of English proficiency, lack of motivation and problems with the use of mother tongue Teachers' difficulties in teaching English-speaking skills were insufficient communication skills and inadequate methods Furthermore, large and multi-level classes, the current test system and lack of class time were additional difficulties in learning and teaching English speaking skills for students and teachers Some recommendations were made from these findings with the aim of improving Le Quang Dinh Lower Secondary School's teaching and learning of English, especially speaking skills

LIST OF TABLES

Table 4.1 Information about the teachers participated in the survey 21

Table 4.2 Teachers’ year of teaching English 21

Table 4.3 Information about students participating in the survey 36

Table 4.4 Students’ years of learning English 37

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 4.1 Interesting of teachers in teaching speaking skill 22

Figure 4.2 Teacher’s opinions about other skills 22

Figure 4.3 Teacher’s opinion about the importance of English speaking skill 23

Figure 4.4 The current testing system 24

Figure 4.5 Large and multi-level classes 24

Figure 4.6 There are multi-level students in the class 25

Figure 4.7 The contents in textbook are difficult for student’s ability 26

Figure 4.8 My knowledge of speaking topics is restricted 26

Figure 4.9 There is limited time for large knowledge 27

Figure 4.10 Teachers’ teaching method 28

Figure 4.11 I find it difficult to create pleasant and comfortable atmosphere in English speaking lessons 29

Figure 4.12 I apply some techniques in teaching speaking skill (role-play, interview…) 30

Figure 4.13 Teacher’s instruction in speaking class 30

Figure 4.14 After giving speaking topics, I often provide new words and structures relating to the topics 31

Figure 4.15.It is difficult to find suitable activities 32

Figure 4.16 Limited time affects to student’s practice speaking skill 33

Figure 4.17 I rarely give activities involved in each speaking task 33

Figure 4.18 I give feedbacks for only few students because of the limited time 34 Figure 4.19 Students are passive in learning speaking skill 35

Figure 4.20 Lack of teaching and learning facilities 35

Figure 4.21 Students’ opinion about the learning speaking skill 37

Figure 4.22 Speaking skill is the most difficult among the four skills 38

Figure 4.23 Speaking skill is very important 39

Figure 4.24 I learn English speaking skill to communicate with foreigners 40

Figure 4.25 The aim of learning speaking English is to pass examinations 41

Figure 4.26 I am shy and feel nervous when speaking in front of other people because I am afraid of being wrong and lose face 41

Figure 4.27 I have a poor vocabulary to express my ideas 42

Figure 4.28 I am not good at pronunciation, stress and intonation 43

Figure 4.29 I usually use Vietnamese during pair work and group work 44

Figure 4.30 My speaking’s ability is good 45

Figure 4.31 My partners are unwilling to practice speaking English with me 45

Figure 4.32 It is difficult to have chances to practice English with foreigners 46

Figure 4.33 I rarely have chances to practice English outside the class 47

Figure 4.34 Teachers’ instructions are ambiguous 47

Figure 4.35.Teachers often get angry and interrupt to correct when I make mistakes 48

Figure 4.36 Teachers’ knowledge is restricted 49

Figure 4.37 Teachers focus much on grammar 50

Figure 4.38 After giving speaking topics, teachers often ask to discuss the topics immediately 50

Figure 4.39 Some contents in textbook are difficult 51

Figure 4.40 The classroom lacks facilities (micro, projector, videos, Internet…) 52

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

LQDLSS: Le Quang Dinh Lower Secondary School

%: Percentage

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale

Speaking is one of the most difficult skill language learners as well as teachers have to face Speaking is very important in second language learning Therefore, teaching speaking skill for secondary school students also has a great effect on their ability of speaking learning Teaching the speaking skill is the most important aspect of learning English and success is measured based on the ability to perform a conversation in the language Despite its importance, speaking has been overlooked in schools and universities due to different reasons like emphasis on grammar and unfavorable teacher-student proportions

The traditional method of teaching in Vietnam is heavily dependent on books and lectures Teachers as well as students pay much attention to the grammatical items As a result, those students might be structurally competent but communicative incompetent This is the big problem with a lot of Vietnamese schools They do not create enough opportunities to speak in authentic situations When it comes to interviewing with foreigners, speaking skills is the most important This is because from the initial moment that applicants get in touch with interviewers when applying for a new job, those interviewers will scrutinize the way they behave If the applicants can prove their speaking skills, it is likely that they will not only communicate well with other coworkers but also with regular customers, which would allow them to broaden their knowledge and gradually become a well-rounded employee

Finally, this study is to help those teachers who teaching speaking English

in secondary school being more successful in teaching activities

1.2 Aims of the Study

This study aims to: identify difficulties perceived by teachers in teaching speaking skill Suggest solutions perceived by teachers to overcome the difficulties for more successful teaching speaking English skill at secondary schools in Bien Hoa city

1.3 Research questions

1 What difficulties or challenges do the teachers face when teaching speaking skills in classroom?

2 How can teachers and students minimize these difficulties?

1.4 Scope of the Study

The study aims at outlining the difficulties in teaching speaking skill faced

by teachers at secondary school There are various difficulties that teachers met when they taught a foreign language The study sought to find out the most popular difficulties in teaching speaking skill faced by teachers at secondary schools Then, this study also gave out some suggested solutions for common teaching problems for teachers

1.5 Significance of the study

The findings of this study will redound to the benefit of society considering that teaching speaking skill plays an important role in education today The study can help the teacher teach better way of teaching speaking skills The result can

be useful for English teacher in giving addition input of teaching learning

process of speaking as well as gives a broader point of view for teachers in teaching English

1.6 Research methods

To collect data for this study, the questionnaires were distributed to 104 students and 18 teachers The teachers participating in the survey were teaching English to students so that they can understand why students fail to speak fluent English First, the survey questionnaires are carried out to find out the problems being faced by teachers Then the interviews with teachers are conducted to make clear which were ambiguous and vague in the questions

1.7 Structure of the study

The study is organized in five chapters: Introduction, Literature Review, Methodology, Findings & Discussions and Conclusions Chapter 1- Introduction presents the rationale, aims, research questions, scope of the study, significance

of the study and research Chapter 2 – Literature Review reviews the overview of speaking skills; Chapter 3 - Methodology includes the participants, data collection instrument, data collection & data analysis procedure context of the study Chapter 4- Findings & Discussions describes the data of the questionnaires and interviews, then gives some findings through the data analysis; and suggests some solutions perceived by teachers to the current problems Chapter 5 - Conclusion focuses on recommendations for further study

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 The nature of speaking and speaking skills

2.1.1 Definition of speaking

Speaking is a part of daily life that we take it for granted There are many different concepts of speaking through many different liguistics, but most accept the fact that speaking is very important to human communication Speaking a foreign language is a very complex skill, including vocabulary; grammar, pronunciation, and fluency, the ability to structure talk or even non-verbal abilities

To Brown (1994), Burn and Joyce (1997), speaking is an interactive process

of constructing meaning that involves producing, receiving and processing information; Its form and meaning are dependent on the context in which it occurs, including the participants themselves, their collective experience, the physical environment, and the purposes for speaking; It is often spontaneous, open ended and evolving

According to Burn & Joyce, (1997), “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 In the framework of how we learn our first language, language has been divided into different skill areas A child first learns to practice language through the skill of listening Later, a child uses language by speaking combined with listening Then, when school begins, children learn the skills of reading and writing So speaking is usually the second of the four language skills that we learn This

vocalized form of language usually requires at least one listener When two or more people speak or talk to each other, the conversation is called a “dialogue” Speech can flow naturally from one person to another in the form of dialogue It can also be planned and rehearsed, as in the delivery of a speech or presentation

2.1.2 The nature of speaking and speaking skills

There have existed various ways of defining speaking skills in language teaching and learning In fact, language experts have proposed many definitions

of speaking

First, as Nunan (1991,p.39) argues that mastering English requires mastering one's entire productive and receptive skills Speaking skills held an important place in foreign language teaching and learning "Mastering the art of speaking is the single most important factor in learning a second or foreign language and the ability to conduct a conversation in the language is measured in terms of progress."

According to Ur (1981,p.48), “speaking is the productive oral skill It consists of producing systematic verbal utterances to convey meaning.”

Regarding to this mater, Brown (1994) notes that speaking is a building process involving the creation, receipt and processing of information

meaning-In the meantime, as demonstrated by Bygate (1987), it is of great importance to have micro-linguistic skills in order to speak a foreign language, which means learning certain grammar, vocabulary, and rules governing how words are placed together to form sentences However, these motor-perceptive skills, as Bygate calls them, are not sufficient since they produce sentences We

often have to adjust them to the circumstances He then presents the second set

of speaking skills: interaction skills, which involve the use of knowledge and basic motor-perceptive skills to decide what to say and how to say, while maintaining the intended relationship with others

2.2 The role of speaking in language teaching

Language is divided into four macro-skills in terms of language teaching: listening, speaking, reading and writing for the purpose of study and instruction Speaking skills are obvious as it is necessary for human communication (Ur, 1996) and plays the most significant role in foreign language teaching Understading the language means that you can speak the language In addition, it

is the medium for social relations to be developed and preserved as well as for professional advancement

Swain (2005) suggested that in second language acquisition, output could play several important roles The value of learning of the output is recorded to drive the learners with more mental effort to process the language more deeply

He acknowledged that the learner is in control of the output Learners can stretch their inter-language to achieve communicative goals while speaking They need

to create the form and meaning of linguistics and even to discover what they can

or can not do Output may stimulate learners from semantics, open-ended, strategic processing, prevalent to incomprehension, to complete grammatical processing for the production needed "Noticing" is promoted as another role of output Leaner notices "holes" in their linguistic knowledge and works to fill them in various ways, such as turning to the dictionary, asking their peers or teachers, or noticing that they will pay attention to future relevant inputs

Speaking is crucial to human communication Just consider all the conversations in one day and compare how much you do in writing in one day Which more do you do? Most of us speak more than we write in our daily lives, yet many English teachers still spend most of their time reading and writing activities almost lacking the ability to speak and listen This is a good balance,

do you think? If your language course is really aimed at enabling your students

to communicate in English, then speaking skills in the language classroom should be taught and practiced

The ability to speak English is clearly important in international relationships to be able to participate in the broader world of work The ability to speak is assessed by the ability to speak in the language It is really important that language teachers pay close attention to the teaching of speaking skills for the reasons mentioned above

2.3 Teaching and learning speaking skills

2.3.1 Teaching speaking skills

Communicative performance is the goal of teaching language skills Learners should be able to make themselves known in the fullest possible use of their current skills Because of incorrect pronunciation, grammar or vocabulary, they should try to avoid ambiguity in the message and follow the social and cultural rules that apply in each communication situation

Speaking is “the process of building and sharing meaning through the use of verbal and non-verbal symbols, in a variety of contexts” (Chaney, 1998, p 13) Speaking is an integral part of learning and teaching in a second language Given

its significance, language teaching has been undervalued for many years, and English language teachers have tended to teach speaking just as a repetition of exercises or dialog memorization Today's world, however, needs the aim of teaching speaking to develop the communicative skills of students, because only

in this way will students express themselves and learn how to obey the correct social and cultural rules in each communicative situation The teachers help their students to develop this body of knowledge through authentic practice in the communication model of language education, which prepares them for real-life communication situations They help their students develop the ability to produce, using suitable (that is, understandable) pronunciation, grammatically correct, logically related sentences that are relevant to specific contexts

2.3.2 Learning speaking skills

In the classroom, the exposure to the language data helps students to set the value of parameters Krashen claims that the procedure consists mainly of comprehensible L1 feedback in relation to the affective filter They concentrate

on the L1 and positive translation (universal language) and languages’ proximity Learning practice is helpful to beginners or students who cannot use their environment to get a language Students do not need to be compelled to speak; when they are ready, they will volunteer “People learn second language by using that language.” (Horwitz, 2008) Activating mental participation is regarded as one of the most important elements of cognitive theory Practice is a redesign practice – new input that introduces a current structure to a new information transformation Practice is a good time to process and internalize explicit knowledge in a controlled way In communication, theory preparation happens verbally or nonverbally in a real conversation The theory of

acculturation takes practice outside the classroom into account and puts additional emphasis on society

Although students highly appreciate the ability to converse, they find it difficult it dificult to speak because they often feel a lot of anxiety around speaking However, because of the need for English communication today, students’ thinking becomes positive, and hence they actively engage themselves

in speaking tasks They want to improve their speaking skills with clear objectives Since students are eager to learn and love English, they are always wondering everything about English In my point of view, this is the most important aspect of learning The young learners know that a good English-speaking ability will bring them invisible opportunities in their future life

Students who do not like English and consider it as something obligatory, they are still aware of the benefits of learning English If they accept doing homework or just practicing because of their teachers or parents, many of them like to find websites that include interesting and meaningful English-related contents

The most important thing is that students understand when they learn English, particularly required oral skills, and they can learn better when they are not afraid to make mistakes and should be risk-takers to make progress

2.4 Factors affecting learner’s speaking achievement

2.4.1 Teacher’s factors

2.4.1.1 Teachers’ teaching methods

The goal of teaching English at most schools around the world is the ability

of students to use English to communicate through four language skills, i.e listening, speaking, reading and writing Among other skills, mastery of speaking, which is the basic means of human communication and English speaking, has become the most demanding skill This is because most learners often evaluate their language learning success and the effectiveness of their course based on how much they feel they have improved their speaking skills (Richard, 2008) Apart from the importance of speaking skills, learning to speak in a second or foreign language presents a huge challenge Brown (Lazarton in 1994, 2001) mentions a number of characteristics that interact to create the challenge of speaking Language teachers are called upon to develop and apply certain techniques to solve the challenges of teaching speaking in order to meet the aim

of language learning and teaching language skills This means the teacher plays

an important role in determining which technique can best encourage the participation of students in the learning process The teacher-centered model in which the teacher plays the most important role in the class and is the focus of action has been turned into student-centered because it does not provide practical benefits Unlike a teacher-centered, student-centered class, the learning and teaching process is more “student-oriented” The learners are the focus of the process of teaching and learning Students are expected to play the most part in the language teaching and learning process, and the teacher is expected to

provide students with appropriate teaching programs In view of the above, the teacher should consider certain factors related to the student, such as the student's needs, characteristics, motivation, learning strategies, learning style, and so on, in determining certain teaching techniques to be performed in the classroom

2.4.1.2 Teachers – learner interaction

In the classroom, the teacher asks the students questions and, vice-versa, the teacher takes part in the learning activities These forms are termed interaction between teacher and learner In general, such interaction takes place in the class

or individuals between the teacher and the class, or small groups The teacher only sits or stands behind a desk in the traditional classroom and spends a great deal of time giving lectures and instructions whereas the tasks of the students are passively sitting, listening, and taking notes The teacher's central role is to dominate both the speaking time and the process The teacher controls the topic

of the classroom conversation and determines when to start and stop talking in the classroom

2.4.1.3 Teachers’ role in speaking activities

According to Harmer, during various speaking activities, teachers need to play a number of different roles Here are some of the relevant details if we seek

to get students to speak fluently:

Prompter The teachers could do this if students are "lost," cannot think about what they should say and lose the desired fluency in some respects Through presenting discreet ideas, the teachers may assist students

Participants The teacher serves as a partner in debates, role-playing or conversation with the students The teacher should be careful not to take part too much and monitor and draw the full attention of the speaker

Feedback provider The student-speaking feedback from the teacher depends on the tact of the teacher and the feedback applications given in specific situations The feedback could cover both the activity's content and the language used

2.4.2 Learner’s factors

2.4.2.1 Students’ learning style

Student do not speak or say anything One way to tackle this issue is to try and start from the root of the problem If the issue is cultural, that is, in your culture, it is uncommon for students to speak loudly in class, or if students feel very shy about talking to other students, then one way to break this cultural barrier is to build and develop their own culture in the classroom, where loud English speaking is the norm One way to do this is to differentiate your classroom from your school's other classrooms by grouping the classroom desks differently, in classes, or by decorating the walls in English language and posters

of culture From day one, teach your students the language of the classroom and continue to teach it and allow your students to ask questions in English Positive feedback also helps encourage shy students to speak more and relax Another way to motivate students to speak more is to allocate a percentage of their final grade to speaking skills and let students know that they are continuously being assessed throughout the term on their speaking practice in class

2.4.2.2 Students’ motivation

Most students are able to speak a language as knowledge of the language,

so that studying the language is seen as learning to speak the language or, as Nunan (1991) wrote, "the success is measured in terms of the ability to carry out

a conversation in the (target) language.” Therefore, if students do not learn to speak or have no chance to speak in the language classroom, they will soon become de-motivated and lose interest in learning Alternatively, speaking in class can prove a lot more fun, usually motivated learners and make English a fun and exciting place to be when the right activities are taught in the right way Beside that, there is also lack of motivation for some learners to speak English They don't see a strong need to learn English or use it Communicative skill development can only occur if learners have the encouragement and opportunity to express their own personality and respond to the people around them (Littlewood, 1981)

2.4.2.3 Learner – learner interaction

Learner – learner interaction occurs among learners The teacher plays as a monitor in this form of interaction, and the learners are the main participants Learner-learner interaction occurs in groups called learner-learner interactions, in pairs called peer interactions In this type of interaction pair work and group work seem to dominate Many researchers claim that practice is most beneficial when performed in collaboration with small groups or peers rather than with the teacher or in a setting of a whole class Significantly, students almost always initiate their questions during small-group rather than full-class activities According to Harmer (2001), pair work and group work increase the amount of

speaking time available to each student in the classroom These allow students to work and communicate independently without the teacher's required guidance and thus foster the independence of teachers This cooperation enhances the relaxing and friendly environment in the classroom The instructor must therefore often use group work and pairing to optimize every student's chance to speak and to reduce the public success psychological burden

2.5 Teacher’s difficulties in teaching English speaking skills

If the purpose of the English course is to make it possible for students to communicate in English, then speaking skills must be taught and practiced in the language classroom Nonetheless, it is true that the teachers will experience several problems when teaching speaking skills The most common ones can be described as follows: First, one of the main concerns is the size of the class Teaching the target language is a hard job and not successful in a class of 40 or

45 students Teachers are faced with many big-class problems, so teaching and learning skills are unsatisfactory Seocond, the lack of motivation of the students also prevents the success of the classroom speaking activities They have almost

no interest in learning the foreign language They only participate in the communicative activities due to the presence of the teachers, the requirements of the examinations

Third, students find difficulty in finding the correct vocabulary element, which indicates their inadequate repertoire of vocabulary When they are trying

to express their thoughts, they find it difficult to construct sentences While teachers have been teaching grammar rules for a long time, when students try to speak English, they are still unable to form short sentences On the other hand,

students tend to speak their mother tongue when talking about different tasks Due to they do not know how to describe what to say That meant how to discuss their ideas in English, so they moved to mother tongue Finally, students’ participation is very low This is due to the reasons for inhibition mentioned above Their fear of making mistakes in front of their classmates was the reason why they did not speak in the classroom They are afraid of to be laughed at when they have mistakes

2.6 Previous study

Because of the importance of speaking skills in learning a foreign language, particularly English, there are varieties of researchers who do research on difficulties or challenge faced by teachers and students According to Lương Thị Huyền (2014) who conducted an action research study on teaching and learning speaking English at Binh Gia High School-Lang Son, problems and solutions, she revealed that students' difficulties in learning English speaking skill were low level of English proficiency, lack of motivation and using mother tongue problem Beside that, the problems teachers had in teaching English speaking skills were insufficient communicative competence and improper methods

Related to problems and difficulties when teaching and learning speaking skills, Trần Thị Thảo (2012) did research on “Teaching speaking skills for the first-year students at Thai Nguyen College of Economics and Technology: problems and recommendations”, she has identified a variety of reasons, such as students ' level of language proficiency, lack of interesting topics, prior learning experience, distant teachers, and fear of full English instruction, more than two-

thirds of students remain reluctant to respond to the teacher and remain silent until they are singled out to answer questions

In addition, Vũ Thị Thùy (2014) did research on the problems faced by teachers and students at Nhi Chieu Upper Sedcondary school, in Kinh Mon district, Hai Duong Province in teaching and learning English speaking skills and solutions Some common causes of the difficulties have been found by the researcher such as: high demand from the textbook The textbook exercises are sometimes too challenging for students to conduct their speaking practices Another reason is that English is not one of the main subjects that students take

to the university entrance exam, such as math, physics or chemistry, so they do not spend their time practicing English

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY 3.1 Research questions

To expose the students and teachers' challenges in learning and teaching speaking skills at Le Quang Dinh Lower Secondary School (LQDLSS), it is necessary to answer the following questions:

1 What difficulties or challenges do the teachers face when teaching speaking skill in classroom?

2 How can teachers and students minimize these difficulties?

3.2 Participants

The subject of the study was 104 students of grade 6 of LQDLSS and 18 teachers who are currently teaching or have taught speaking at LQDLSS These students were chosen from 5 classes of grade 6 in which 46 of them were female and 58 of them were male All these students were taught by Vietnamese teachers of English 18 teachers who were teaching speaking skills to students at LQDLSS were selected as the participants of the study with the hope to find out difficulties in teaching speaking skill to their students at LQDLSS

3.3 Data collection instrument

The research used various methods of data collection: questionnaire and interview to acquire in-depth, rich data and information to investigate the situation and difficulties that teachers and students faced in teaching and learning speaking skills at LQDLSS Two survey questionnaires were designed to obtain information to meet the study's goals The first questionnaire was given to 18 teachers currently teaching language skills to students at LQDLSS as study

participants hoping to find out the teaching methods and techniques, they often use to teach their students at LQDLSS English speaking skills The second questionnaire was given to 104 students from 5 classes in which 46 were female and 58 were male The researcher provided these students with the questionnaire

to point out the problems facing the LQDLSS learning of English-speaking students

3.3.1 Survey Questionnaires

The questionnaire is one of the techniques used in this research A questionnaire is a research tool consisting of a series of questions and other prompts for the purpose of gathering information from respondents In this study, the reference materials provided the researcher with some very useful information for the design of the survey questionnaire The questionnaire was conducted with a view to obtaining information on the difficulties experienced

by students during their English-speaking lessons in classroom In particular, there are 20 statements to the survey questionnaire for teachers and 20 statements for students which were written in English These were the aims of finding out the difficulties that teachers and students have encountered in teaching and learning to speak and what they have done to overcome these difficulties

The teachers’ survey questionnaire: The teacher survey questionnaire consisted

of 20 statements (see appendix 3) All these statements were focused on the following categories:

● Teachers’ attitude toward teaching and learning speaking skills (Statement 1, 2, 3)

● Teachers’ difficulties in teaching speaking skills to students at LQDLSS (from Statement 4 to Statement 20)

The students’ survey questionnaire: The student survey questionnaire consisted

of 20 statements (see appendix 2) All these statements were focused on the following categories:

● Students’ attitude toward learning speaking skills (Statement 1, 2, 3, 4, 5)

● Students’ difficulties in learning speaking skills (from Statement 6 to Statement 20)

3.3.2 Interviews

The interview was conducted in English with a group of 10 students and 5

teachers The questions in the interviews were essentially based on those in the questionnaire, but were extended to include more open-ended questions in order

to gain a more in-depth understanding of the reasons behind each student's choice It lasted approximately 5 minutes each conversation Then the data were translated to English

3.4 Data collection procedures

In the first phase, 104 students and 18 LQDLSS teachers were given questionnaires The questionnaire was completed at home and their answers returned two days later to give them the time they needed to complete the questionnaire After analysis of the data collected, in the second phase, 5 teachers and 10 students with the most difficulty in teaching and learning English-speaking skills were contacted for semi-structured interviews with the researcher at the locations where they felt at ease and at the time they suggested

The interviews were all tape-recorded to free the respondent to participate in the discussion naturally and allow the information to be explored in depth The researcher modified the questions and procedures as per the responses of the respondents during the interview

3.5 Data analysis

Analysis of data is not just a simple summary of the data and information obtained It is essentially the method by which the researcher interprets the data and information obtained from the questionnaires and interviews of the survey The scheme and the coding table in this research emerged from the analysis of the data, rather than being predetermined and imposed on the data and the information The interview information was transcribed, and key themes were identified with a view to clarifying and complementing the statistical results

3.6 Summary

In summary, the chapter explained the thesis in depth The research problems, participants, data collection tools, data collection processes and the analysis of the data used in this study were discussed in this study In Chapter 4, main findings will be presented and discussed

CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS 4.1 Data analysis of teachers’ survey questionnaire

General information about participants

The information about the teachers participated in the survey was presented

Table 4.1 Information about the teachers participated in the survey

Table 4.1 showed that the number of teachers who took part in this study was 18 Among them, 15 teachers were female, accounted for 83% The rest of

12 teachers (17%) were male

Teachers’ year of teaching English Teachers

Table 4.2 Teachers’ year of teaching English

The survey in Table 4.2 involved 18 English teachers, most of them were young teachers (< 25 year-old) Among them, there were 3 teachers had more 10 years of teaching experience (17%); 7 teachers have worked as an English teacher for 3 to 10 years (39%) and 8 teachers had less than 3-year-experience teaching (44%)

Figure 4.1 Teachers interested in teaching speaking skills

Statement 1 in the questionnaire was designed to evaluate the interest in teaching speaking skills The result of Statement 1 showed in Figure 4.2 presented that nearly 80% of the teachers feel interested in teaching speaking skill The rest number of teachers has not found attraction on this skill Speaking

is an important skill to help learners communicate well However, there were still a few teachers who were not really interested in teaching speaking skill or concern other skills

Figure 4.3 Teacher’s opinions about other skills

As can be seen in Figure 4.4, 16 out of 18 teachers (89%) agreed or strongly agreed with the focus on vocabulary, grammar and reading – writing tests

Neutral 22%

Agree 50%

Strongly agree 28%

Statement 1: I am interested in teaching

speaking skill

Neutral 11%

Agree 50%

Strongly agree 39%

Statement 2: I focus on teaching grammar, vocabulary and reading – writing tests

Grammar and vocabulary are the basic and important factors in learning English However, if academic learning only without practice, students will not be able to communicate fluency Students did not have chances to practice listening, speaking, and discussion Interactive activities in class were not strong enough to bring students advantages such as communication, presentation in English

Figure 4.5 Teacher’s opinion about the importance of English speaking skills

The purpose of the statement 3 in the questionnaire for the teachers was to find out the teacher’s opinion of the importance of English speaking skills In Figure 4.6, 89% teachers thought that speaking skill was very essential Only a small number of teachers found that speaking skill was as important as other skills Today, along with the era of globalization, the use of foreign languages in general and especially in English communication is necessary to meet a requirement in leaning and working Especially when Vietnam is in the process

of developing and integrating with other countries in the world, English is a bridge to help you exchange with foreign co- worker, making friends, exchanging experience and knowledge with other countries

Neutral 11%

Agree 22%

Strongly agree 67%

Statement 3: Teaching speaking skill is very

important

Figure 4.7 The current testing system

The statistic in Figure 4.8 showed that the teaching and assessment speaking skill is not effective The speaking examination format was not totally communication – based Actually, the examinations were still the grammar-based ones 72% of teachers agreed that the lack of speaking tests was one of the causes of difficulties in teaching and learning speaking skills The tests and final exams still focused much on vocabulary, grammar, reading and writing skills In sum, there was almost no test of communication skills, so teachers did not pay attention to and spent enough time for students to practice

Figure 4.9 Large and multi-level classes

Strongly disagree 5% Disagree

6%

Neutral 17%

Agree 50%

Strongly agree 22%

Statement 4: There is no test on speaking

skills

Disagree 5%

Neutral 28%

Agree 56%

Strongly agree 11%

Statement 5: The class size is too large

According to the information obtained from the survey in Figure 4.10 , 67% found it hard to teach speaking because of the large of class size The number of students in each class was up to 45 - 53 students It was difficult for teacher to manage the class and organize classroom activities When teacher designed tasks for pair or group work, there was not enough time to correct all students’ mistakes

Figure 4.11 There are multi-level students in the class

As shown in Figure 4.12, 15 out of the teachers (83%) admitted that there were multi-level students in their classes There were students who fluency in using language, on the contrary, there are also many students who are weak, being unable to make and speak a complete sentence It caused a lot of difficulties for teachers to design lessons as well as practical activities for students

Disagree 6% Neutral

11%

Agree 50%

Strongly agree 33%

Statement 6: There are multi-level students in

the class

Figure 4.13 The contents in textbook are difficult for student’s ability

The compilation of the textbook was researched and written by experts and they designed the content that was appropriate for all students’ level Therefore,

in Figure 4.14, most of the opinions in this statement received neutral feedback from the teachers (67%) The rest of the teachers (11%) did not think that the content of the textbook was difficult for learners, and 22% of teachers found that the content of the textbook was complicated for students

Figure 4.15 My knowledge of speaking topics is restricted

As can be seen in Figure 4.16, 33% of the teachers disagreed or strongly disagreed that their knowledge of speaking topics was restricted, it meant they realized they have enough knowledge for their speaking lessons Nowadays, with

Disagree 11%

Neutral 67%

Agree 17%

Strongly agree 5%

Statement 7: The contents in textbook are difficult for

student’s ability

Strongly disagree 16%

Disagree 17%

Neutral 39%

Agree 17%

Strongly agree 11%

Statement 8: My knowledge of speaking topics is

restricted

the abundant resources from books, Internet… teachers can easily search, and update information related to the speaking topics Since then, it is easy to provide more vocabulary and material for their students

39% teachers gave neutral opinion for this statement Probably because these teachers found that the source of content in the textbook was sufficient for students They only focused on the available content, not paid particular attention

to expand the topics The rest of teachers (28%) agreed or strongly agreed that their knowledge of speaking topics was restricted I found that they were young teachers’ opinions (with under 3-year experience) They did not have much teaching experience or wisdom to be able to guide and provide ideas to students

Figure 4.17 There is limited time for large knowledge

As presented in Figure 4.18, up to 94% teachers agreed or strongly agreed that there was limited time for large knowledge Since speaking is a difficult skill,

to master this skill, students must have not only a lot of vocabulary but also a wide knowledge in many different sections However, there was just 45 minutes per period, so teachers often spent too much time on teaching vocabulary,

Disagree 6%

Agree 83%

Strongly agree 11%

Statement 9: There is limited time for large

knowledge

grammar, reading and writing; there was no spare time to concentrate on practicing communicating in English

Figure 4.19 Teachers’ teaching method

In Figure 4.20, 55% teachers disagreed that their teaching method was passive, not creative and interesting It indicated that they found their teaching method active, productive and increase students’ interest Only 6% teachers admitted that their methods were passive When I checked the result paper of this statement, I saw that the ratios of passive teachers were the old teachers Although they have a lot of teaching experience, they still apply the traditional methods, which are not interesting and ineffective for students To improve this problem, teachers should improve themselves and share experiences with each other

Strongly disagree 11%

Disagree 44%

Neutral 39%

Agree 6%

Statement 10: My teaching method is passive,

not creative and interesting