A research on difficulties in speaking skills of first year english majored students at thuongmai university and solutions for improvement

THUONGMAI UNIVERSITY ENGLISH FACULTY ---GRADUATION PAPER Topic: A RESEARCH ON DIFFICULTIES IN SPEAKING SKILLS OF FIRST YEAR ENGLISH-MAJORED STUDENTS AT THUONGMAI UNIVERSITY AND SOLUTION

THUONGMAI UNIVERSITY ENGLISH FACULTY

-GRADUATION PAPER

Topic:

A RESEARCH ON DIFFICULTIES IN SPEAKING SKILLS

OF FIRST YEAR ENGLISH-MAJORED STUDENTS AT THUONGMAI UNIVERSITY AND SOLUTIONS FOR

IMPROVEMENT

Supervisor: Pham Thi Xuan Ha (M.A)

Student: Trinh Thi Thuong

Class: K52N3

Student Code: 16D170186

Hanoi, 2019

Language is a tool for communication We communicate with others, to expressour ideas, and to know others’ ideas as well Communication takes place, where there

is speech Without speech we cannot communicate with one another The importance

of speaking skills, hence is enormous for the learners of any language Without speech,

a language is reduced to a mere script The thesis willstudy the subjective andobjective difficulties of the students in learning the listeningskill Then, it would like

to find out the reasons for those problems and the solutions forstudents in learning thelistening skill Therefore, I applied the qualitative and quantitativemethods to do theresearch So the collecting data instruments like questionnaires,interviews were used to

do the study The results of the research will point out thedifficulties that students meetwhen they learn the listening skill More importantly, thestudy helps me find out thecauses of those difficulties so that I can work out the right solutions to the problems.With the hope of improving students’ listening competence

I would first like to thank my advisor Ms Phạm Thị Xuân Hà in Faculty ofEnglish at Thuongmai University The door to her office was always open whenever Iran into a trouble spot or had a question about my research or writing She consistentlyallowed this paper to be my own work but steered me in the right direction whenevershe thought I needed it

I would also like to thank the 60 first-year English- majored who were involved

in the validation survey for this research project Without their passionate participationand input, the validation of survey could not have been successfully conducted

Finally, I must express my very profound gratitude to my parents and to myfriends for providing me with unfailing support and continuous encouragementthroughout my years of study and through the process of researching and writing thisthesis This accomplishment would not have been possible without them Thank you

Author

Trịnh Thị Thương

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ABSTRACT i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii

TABLE OF CONTENTS iii

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS v

LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES vi

CHAPTER 1: OVERVIEW OF THE STUDY 1

1.1 Rationale 1

1.2 Previous studies 2

1.3 Aims of the study 4

1.4 Research Subjects 4

1.5 Scope of the study 4

1.6 Method of study 5

1.6.1 Introduction of the English Faculty of Thuongmai University 5

1.6.2 Participants 5

1.6.1.1 The students 5

1.6.2.2 The textbook 5

1.6.3 Methods of data collection 6

1.6.3.1 Questionnaires 6

1.6 3.2 The interview 6

1.6.4 Method of data analysis 7

1.6.5 Data collection procedure 7

1.6.6 Data annalysis and statistics 7

1.7 Organization of the study 7

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 9

2.1 Overview of speaking 9

2.1.1 Definition of speaking 9

2.1.2 Speaking Aspects 10

2.1.3 Characteristics of speaking skills 10

2.1.4 Importance of speaking skills 11

2.2 Factors Affecting Speaking Skills 13

2.3 Difficulties in learning English speaking skills 15

CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH FINDINGS 18

3.1 Questionnaire findings 18

3.3.1 Students’ real situations of learning English speaking skills 18

3.1.2 Students’ attitudes toward speaking skills 19

3.1.3 Difficulty in learning English speaking skills 22

3.1.4 Activities for improving English speaking skills 25

3.2 Interview findings 27

3.3 Summary 28

CHAPTER 4: RECOMMENDATIONS AND SUGGESTIONS 29

4.1 For English faculty and teachers at Thuongmai University 29

4.2 For first-year English-major students 32

CONCLUSION 35

REFERENCES vii

APPENDIX 1 x

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

EFL English as a Foreign Language

ESL English as a Second Language

IELTS International English Language Testing System

LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURE

Table 3 1: The students’ English learning time 18

YChart 3 1: The students' assessment of learning the speaking skills 19

Chart 3 2: Students’ interest in learning English speaking 20

Chart 3 3: Students attitude toward learning English speaking 21

Chart 3 4: The frequency of students speaking and having problems in learning English speaking skills 22

Chart 3 5: Frequency of difficulties related to linguistic 23

Chart 3 6: Students' psychological speaking problems 24

Chart 3 7: The students' assessment of speaking class format 25

Chart 3 8: Activities for improving English speaking skills 26

CHAPTER 1: OVERVIEW OF THE STUDY 1.1 Rationale

English has become a mandatory language in Vietnam since the opening of itsdoors to the world in 1986 Many English-speaking foreigners from different countriesstarted coming to invest in Vietnam This has motivated Vietnamese people to learnEnglish to facilitate efficient and effective communication among their counterparts.The importance of English was immediately acknowledged by the Vietnamesegovernment and as a result the English language programs were made compulsorybeginning with the secondary schools and subsequently the high schools and finallyuniversity

The teaching of English in secondary and high schools strongly focus mainly ongrammar, sentence structures and vocabulary In such a teaching format,conversational English was not taken into consideration As a result, the teachers teachonly the necessity which is required to pass the examination and is not linked to thelearning needs of individual students This has caused students to become de-motivated because English is just another subject at school, not part of their life Manystudents eventually fail to see the importance and pride in being able to speak Englishfluently When these students attend the university, they have a lot of dificulties inlearning and practising English speaking skill They often fall into confusion whenspeaking English because lack of knowledge, confidence, and good learning method aswell Besides, the learning passive environment with the same and boring lessonswithout the interesting extra-activities prevent them from practising and improvingEnglish

As mentioned by Khamkhien (2011), of all four key language skills, speaking isdeemed to be the most important in learning a second or foreign language According

to Bygate (1897), speaking is typicaly reciprocal: any interlocutors are nomally areable to contribute simultaneously to the discourse, and respond immediately to eachother’s contribution Thus, it can be assumed that speaking skills help the English tocarry out its functions of communication Moreover, it also contributes tostrengthening the listening skills of learners, improving vocabulary and practicingrelated skills Therefore, if Vietnamese students want to be good at English, they have

to practice a lot to improve their speaking skills However, Vietnamese students ingeneral, Thuongmai University in particular, still has many difficulties in the process

of learning English particularly in communicating in English

Consequently, with regard to helping English-majored freshmen learn speaking

skills more effectively, my study “A research on difficulties in speaking skills of

first-year English-majored students at Thuongmai University and solutions for improvement.” is aimed to explore the current situation of teaching and learning

English speaking of English-majored students at Thuongmai university in terms ofdifficulties and possible measures to tackle such challenges

1.2 Previous studies

In this part of the study, some previous studies relating to this study will bereviewed These studies were carried out to identify the factors affecting students’speaking performance and students’ speaking problems

In 2007, Tanveer carried out: “Investigations of the factors that cause languageanxiety for ESL/EFL learners in learning speaking skills and the influence it casts oncommunication in the target language.” The research was conducted in the EFL Unitand Department of Education of the University of Glasgow, United Kingdom Thesubjects were drawn from beginning to advanced levels of learners as well asexperienced ESL/EFL practitioners and teachers Twenty subjects in total from a range

of nationalities participated in the study Its major purpose is to find out what are thefactors or sources that make them feel more stressful while speaking English in somesituations than in others The obtained results indicated that learners’ feeling of stressand anxiety stop their language learning and performance abilities The researcheremphasized that the high anxiety lowers the learners’speaking performance

In Athena’s research about students’ non linguistic problems in learningEnglish speaking that was conducted at Probolinggo and took 23 students of thesecond years as the sample published in 2004, concluded that the students faced someproblems in learning English speaking, and they had tried some effort to overcomethose problems To solve the problem related to the students' low motivation and lowconfidence, the students tried to keep their motivation by keeping themselves active,trying to motivate themselves, and learning speaking more creatively by joiningEnglish courses and English conversation clubs Meanwhile, to solve the problems ofunattractive materials, the students tried to discuss the difficult material to improvetheir understanding Besides, to solve the problem of the ineffective media, thestudents suggested that the media must be familiar, appropriate with the topic, and up

to date The last one, to overcome the method problem, the students suggested theteacher should apply various methods in teaching English speaking The instrumentsused in her study were questionnaire and interview

The study “Speaking problems faced by the English department students ofSyiah Kuala University” of Hendra Heriansyah in 2012 discussed the difficulties andcauses perceived by English Department students of Syiah Kuala University in

learning speaking and the efforts made by them to overcome their difficulties Fromboth observation and interview, this study revealed that all students encounteredvarious difficulties in English speaking ability The prevalent problem faced by thestudents was ‘lack of vocabulary’, while ‘being afraid of making mistakes’ was theprime cause of problem which hindered them to speak The students had striven tocope with their problems in learning speaking, but their attempts had not been yetample and successful

Zhengdong Gan carried out the research “Understanding L2 SpeakingProblems: Implications for ESL Curriculum Development in a Teacher TrainingInstitution in Hong Kong” in 2012 This paper reports the result of a study that aimed

to identify the problems with oral English skills of ESL students at a tertiary teachertraining institution in Hong Kong The study, by way of semi-structured interview,addressed the gap in our understanding of the difficulties ESL students encountered intheir oral English development in the context of a Bachelor of Education (EnglishLanguage) programme.Insufficient opportunities to speak English in lectures andtutorials, lack of a focus on language improvement in the curriculum, and the input-poor environment for spoken communication in English outside class apparentlycontributed to a range of problems that closely related to the sociocultural, institutionaland interpersonal contexts in which individual ESL students found themselves Theresults of the study lead readers to question the effectiveness of the knowledge- andpedagogy-based ESL teacher training curriculum They also point to a need toincorporate a sufficiently intensive language improvement component in the currentteacher preparation program

There are also a lot of studies and researches conducted by Vietnamese studentsand teachers In 2018, Vo Phuong Quyen, Pham Thi My Nga and Ho Thao Nguyen didresearch into “Challenges to speaking skills encountered by English-majored students:

A story of one Vietnamese university in the Mekong Delta” This study is toinvestigate challenges of speaking skills faced by English-majored freshmen in aVietnamese university The data obtained from the questionnaire with 131 students,individual interviews with lecturers, and class observation The findings show thatEnglish freshmen faced both internal and external challenges, especially the latter onesregarding the limitation of English speaking environment and extracurricular activities.Possible measures are proposed to tackle such challenges in helping students speakEnglish more effectively

The research “Factors affecting students’ speaking performance at Le ThanhHien High School” of Nguyen Hoang Tuan and Tran Ngoc Mai was to investigate the

speaking problems of the students at Le Thanh Hien High School and the factorsaffecting their speaking performance The subjects of the study were two hundred andthree grade 11 students and ten teachers of English The research instruments used inthis study were questionnaires and class observation Based on the research findingssome recommendations were made The results of the study indicate that the studentsfaced many problems For example: they spoke very little or not at all; they could notthink of anything to say; they used Vietnamese instead of English when they discuss ingroups or in pairs; they had a habit of translate the information in the textbook intoVietnamese before they speak The results also show that there were many factorsaffecting students speaking performance such as topical knowledge; listening ability;motivation to speak; pressure to perform well.

1.3 Aims of the study

With the hope of improving speaking skills of first-year English-majoredstudents at Thuongmai University, the general objective of the study is to exploring thespeaking difficulties in learning English speaking skill, specifically it aims to:

First and foremost, the study will improve and develope students' skills,techniques and procedures of speaking so as to enrich and assist the students’ ability ofspeaking skills

Secondly, students can adopt suitable speaking skills strategies

Thirdly, this research will help students to learn a wide range of speaking skills,including how to speak accurately and proficiently

Last but not least, it will bring and draw students to a level of practicalproficiency that enable them to be linguistically and analytically equipped to completeextended speaking skills and increasing their confidence in practicing speaking skills

It should be noted that this paper should not be considered exclusive to year English-major students at TMU In fact, the fundamental concepts and results ofthis paper can be applied to most English learners

first-1.4 Research Subjects

In this research, the research subjects are difficulties in speaking English for thefirst-year English-major students at TMU

1.5 Scope of the study

There are many different material resources and researchers that require a lot oftime and effort while my personal experience is limited Morever, to preventmisperception and misunderstanding this study can only focus on difficulties inspeaking skill of first-year English major at TMU

I hope that this study is a good reference material for the English-major as well

as all students who wish to tackle difficulties in speaking English

1.6 Method of study

1.6.1 Introduction of the English Faculty of Thuongmai University

Faculty of English at Thuongmai University, originally Department of ForeignLanguages, was established under Decision No 481/TM-TCHC dated June 28, 2007.Currently, the faculty has 40 experienced teachers of English whose ages range from

29 to 40 All of them graduated from the English Department-The College of ForeignLanguages and International Studies, Vietnam National University 39 of them havegot Master of Linguistics and TESOL Thanks to the great efforts of the officers andlecturers, the Faculty has made some remarkable achievements during itsdevelopment

Thuong Mai University is not the university which focuses on foreign languagestudies Since its establishment, the Faculty has been determined to manage thespecialty of Business English under English major The Faculty has so far trained 6cohorts of Business English with over 1,000 graduates The students’s academicresults at entrance examination are pre-intermediate The levels of English proficiency

of the students of English faculty at Thuong Mai University are generally different.Most of the students come from rural areas with a little chance for speaking English

As a result, when they enter university, it is quite difficult for them to becomeconfident in speaking English as expected

1.6.2 Participants

1.6.1.1 The students

This research was carried out at Thuongmai University with the participation of

60 first-year English-major students in Faculty of English They aged from 18 to 19.They were in K55N and in the first semester of their academic year 2019-2020 atThuongmai University A large number of them have learnt English for 7 years (4years at secondary school and 3 years at high school) However, their Englishbackgrounds were quite similar because most of them come from different rural areas

in the North and under being influence of curriculum of English for high schoolstudents in the past, students did not have many chances to practice English skills.Thus, when entering Thuongmai University, their English levels were limited and theyhave to face up with many difficulties in studying

1.6.2.2 The textbook

English-major student at Thuongmai University will be taught four skills duringfour year study period Speaking syllabus is designed to help student develop English

speaking competence accurately and fluently By the end of the course, students willhave enough ability to communicate effectivly in job-related situations and daily life

as well as build and maintain good relationships with other people

The textbook for first-year students of Faculty of English is Get Ready forIELTS Speaking This is a good book powered by Cobuild There are 12 units with 12interesting topics which will help students improve their English listeningcomprehension

1.6.3 Methods of data collection

Two main instruments used in this study are self-created questionnaire,consisting 11 statements and interviews

1.6 3.2 The interview

An interview was carried out with 3 students in 2 classes of K55 in Faculty ofEnglish at Thuongmai University All of them agree to help the researcher helpfullyand comfortably This aimed to collect students’ ideas about the factors affecting theEnglish listening skill and suggestions to improve them After the interview, based onthe interview results the researcher analyze the data The interview results were

recorded carefully The interview data analysis were presented with the collected datafrom the questionnaire in each part.

1.6.4 Method of data analysis

Information collected from response of first-year English-majored students inthe questionnaire and was analyzed statistically in order to get the answers for theresearch questions

1.6.5 Data collection procedure

In this stage, the data collection in the study is derived from students who areEnglish-majored in the fisrt year at Faculty of English To collect information aboutthe issues of learning English speaking skilla of fisrt year English major students atThuongmai University, first of all, 60 copies of survey questionnaires were handed out

to students In addition, three others tudents were also invited for the interview Whenthe data collection was accomplished, the data analysis was initiated

1.6.6 Data annalysis and statistics

All of the information gathered through questionnaire and interview answerswere organized quantitatively (using percentages and numbers) and qualititively Thedata obtained from the interview were analyzed qualitatively to help the results of thestudy more anh more reliablely and accurately

The data analysis from the questionnaire involve some steps, they are follow: Step 1: Identifying the problems faced by the students in learning speaking Step 2 Finding the way how the students minimize the problems in learningEnglish

Step 3: Analyzing the data after being identified To get the percentage of eachitem questionnaire, the researcher used the formula as stated below:

P = N/ F X 100%

P= the percentage of students problem

F= the number of frequency of the respondents answer

N= the number of respondent

1.7 Organization of the study

A table of contents with pages numbers in which they are presented will helpreaders have a clear overview of the research proposal It also makes readers feel easy

to find the part they need more easily and quickly This study divided into fourchapters which are included as follow:

Chapter 1: Overview of the study offers a glimpse into content of the study Inthis chapter, the reason for choosing this research will be the most important part

Besides, the others are the aim, previous studies, research method and organization ofthe study as well.

Chapter 2: Literature part provides the theoretical background for the research.The purpose of this chapter is to provide foundation of knowledge on topic, gain anunderstanding of the existing research and debates relevant to a particular topic or area

of study, and present that knowledge in the form of a written report

Chapter 3: Research finding plays a key role in this study This chapter refers tothe analysis and the findings obtained from the survey questionnaires and interviewingstudents at Thuongmai University to find out the necessary information and discuss thefindings from the survey

Chapter 4: Recommendations and suggestions

Conclusion will summarize the findings of the research and draw thecontributions of the research as well as address main limitations

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Overview of speaking

2.1.1 Definition of speaking

There are many definitions of speaking according to experts

Speaking is defined as an interactive process of constructing meaning thatinvolves producing, receiving and processing information by Burns & Joyce (1997).Its form and meaning are dependent on the context in which it occurs, the participants,and the purposes of speaking

According to Tarigan (1981), speaking is a form of human behavior that utilizesvery intense physical, psychological, neurological, semantic and linguistic factors.Furthermore, Tarigan (1986) argues that speaking is the ability of a person topronounce articulation sounds or words that aim to express, express and convey thethoughts, ideas, and feelings of the person

While Brown and Yule in Nunan (1989) argue that speech is to use an orallanguage consisting of a short, incomplete or fragmented utterance in the sphere ofpronunciation The pronunciation is closely related to the reciprocal relationship madebetween the speaker and the listener

Djago Tarigan (1995) develops the idea that speaking is a skill to convey themessage through spoken language The link between the message and the spokenlanguage as the medium of delivery is very heavy The message received by the listener isnot in the original form, but in another form that is the sound of a language The listenerthen tries to divert the message in the form of the language into its original form

Bygate (1987) quoted that: "Speaking is the vehicle par excellence of socialsolidarity, of social ranking, of professional advancement and business It is also themedium through which much language is learnt, and which for many is particularlyconductive for learning Perhaps, then, the teaching of speaking merits more thought."

For Brown (2001), he cites that when someone can speak a language it meansthat he can carry on a conversation reasonably competently In addition, he states thatthe benchmark of a successful acquisition of language is almost always thedemonstration of an ability to accomplish pragmatic goals through an interactivediscourse with other language speakers

From some definitions above it can be concluded that speaking skill is alwaysrelated to communication Speaking skill itself can be stated as the skill to use thelanguage accurately to express meanings in order to transfer or to get knowledge andinformation from other people in the whole life situation

2.1.2 Speaking Aspects

A speaker should determine some aspects of speaking when they want to speak.Brown (2001) stated there are four aspects of speaking that the student couldconsider in speaking, they are:

Pronunciation

Pronunciation refers to the problem of sounds that we used to make meaning Itincludes attention to the particular sounds of a language (segments), aspects of speechbeyond the level of the individual sound Such as intonation, phrasing, stress, timing,rhythm (suprasegmental aspects), how the voice is projective (voice quality), and in itsbroadest definition, attention to gesture and expressions that are closely related to theway we speak a language

Grammar

Grammar is one of the important language components in learning a language.Speakers and writers can communicate and convey their messages clearly andmeaningfully because of their ability and understanding of grammar

Fluency

Fluency is the area of language ability which related to the speed and ease withwhich a language learners performers in one of four core language skills of speaking,listening, reading, and writing Although the concept of fluency relates to all fourlanguage skills, it tends to be most closely associated with speaking

Vocabulary

Vocabulary is the knowledge of words and word of meaning However,vocabulary is more complex than this definition suggests First, words come in twoforms: oral and print Oral vocabulary includes those words that we recognize and use

in listening and speaking Print vocabulary includes those words that we recognize anduse in reading and writing Second, word knowledge also comes in two forms,receptive and productive Receptive vocabulary includes words that we recognizewhen we hear or see them Productive vocabulary includes words that we used when

we speak or write Receptive vocabulary is typically larger than productive vocabularyand may include many words to which we assign some meaning, even we don’t knowtheir full definitions and connotations or ever use them ourselves as we speak andwrite The researcher uses the speaking aspect above in assessing students’ perception

in speaking skills

2.1.3 Characteristics of speaking skills

Speaking in a second or foreign language has often been viewed as the mostdemanding of the four skills When attempting to speak, learners must concentrate

their thoughts and encode their ideals in vocabulary and syntactic structures of thetarget language.

According to Kathleen M Bailey and Lance Savage (1994), depending on theformality and importance of the speech situations as well as their own linguisticpropensities, learners may also attend to monitor their output (speaking skills)

These two linguists also add that in conversation and other interactive speechevents, the speakers must attend to the feedback from their interlocutors and observethe rules of discourse used in the target culture Phonological considerations adddifficulties to the task, especially for adult learners, as speakers strive to achieve

“good” pronunciation The speed of such interaction is also an issue because they maynot be adequate time for processing either outgoing speech or incoming messages atthe typical rate of native speaker interaction

Bygate quotes from Levelt (1989, edited in Carter and Nunan, 2001) thatspeech production involves four major processes: conceptualisation, formulation,articulation, and self-monitoring These processes happen very fast and the formerthree are more or less automatic in L1 speakers According to Bygate, speaking skillsare also affected by the context Speaking is reciprocal, people can respond to eachother immediately He also indicated that people can participate in the same oralinteraction except for the varieties of equal speaking rights Moreover, speaking isphysically situated face-to-face interaction and speakers have to decide on theirmessage without taking time to check it over

2.1.4 Importance of speaking skills

Speaking is generally thought to be the most important of the four skills.Indeed, one frustration commonly voiced by learners is that they have spent yearsstudying English, but still they cannot speak it

There are numerous daily life situations where people need speaking, such astalking to someone face to face, communicating through the phone, answeringquestions, asking for directions, in shops, meetings or chatting with their friends, toname a few People spend a great deal of their time interacting with more people and,each of these situations requires a different register according to the formality of themoment

The aims of language teaching courses are commonly defined in relation to thefour language skills: listening, reading, speaking and writing Depending on thelanguage user’s activity, Widdowson (1978) groups them into receptive andproductive ones Reading and listening belong to receptive skills, whereas speakingand writing are classified as productive skills Effective foreign language learning

necessitates assimilation of all the four skills, hence SLA seems to be both quite acomplicated and time-consuming process Speaking and writing are called productiveskills because they involve language production While uttering sounds gives a chance

to communicate orally, writing skills enable people to communicate in a written form.Nevertheless, Penny Ur (1996) in her book titled “A course in language teaching”,indicates of all the four skills (listening, speaking, reading and writing), speakingseems intuitively the most important: people who know a language are referred to as

“speakers” of that language, as if speaking included all other kinds of knowing; andmany if not most foreign languages learners are primarily interested in learning tospeak

Lindsay and Knight (2006) notes that we speak for many reasons: to besociable, because we want something, because we want other people to do something,

to do something for someone else, to respond to someone else, to express our feelings

or opinion about something, to exchange information, to refer to an action or event inthe past, present, or future, the possibility of something happening, and so on

As stated by Ishrat Aamer Qureshi (2017) language is a tool forcommunication We communicate with others, to express our ideas, and to knowothers’ ideas as well Communication takes place, where there is speech Withoutspeech, we cannot communicate with one another The importance of speaking skillshence is enormous for the learners of any language Without speech, a language isreduced to a mere script The use of language is an activity that takes place within theconfines of our community We use language in a variety of situations People at theirworkplaces, i.e researchers working either in a medical laboratory or in a languagelaboratory, are supposed to speak correctly and effectively in order to communicatewell with one another Any gap in commutation results in misunderstandings andproblems

For the smooth running of any system, the speakers of a language need to beespecially and purposefully trained in the skill of speaking

In order to become a well-rounded communicator one needs to be proficient ineach of the four language skills: listening, speaking, reading and writing, but theability to speak skillfully, provides the speaker with several distinct advantages Thecapacity to express one’s thoughts, opinions, and feelings, in the form of words puttogether in a meaningful way, provides the speaker with these advantages The joy ofsharing one’s ideas with others is immense When we speak to others we come to have

a better understanding of ourselves, as Robert Frost once said: ‘‘I am a writer of books

in retrospect, I talk in order to understand, I teach in order to learn.’’ Undoubtedly,clarity in speech reflects clear thinking.

An effective speaker can gain the attention of the audience and hold it until thecompletion of his message Speaking skills are important for career success, butcertainly not limited to one’s professional aspirations Speaking skills can also enhanceone’s personal life

2.2 Factors Affecting Speaking Skills

While speaking reveals the knowledge of language and society that a personpossesses It is affected by a number of factors, which may promote or limit a person’sability to express himself or herself In this study, the affecting factors are listeningability, topical knowledge, use of mother tongue, classroom environment, linguisticfactors, affective factors, and roles of the teacher

 Listening ability

Listening plays an important role in the development of speaking abilities.Actually, speaking is very closely related to listening Doff (1998) says that learnerscannot improve their speaking ability unless they develop their listening skills.Learners should comprehend what is uttered to them in order to have a successfuldialogue Shumin (1997) observed that when students talk, the other students respondthrough attending by means of the listening process That is to say, speakers have toplay the role of both listeners and speakers

 Topical knowledge

Bachman and Palmer (1996) believe that topical knowledge has a great effect

on the speaking performance of the learners The type of topic under discussioninfluences the ease of language use, to a great extent One’s lack of knowledge,interest, and preparation for a certain topic can greatly influence one’s perceivedcompetence Having enough knowledge about a certain topic and being familiar withthe register enhance one’s linguistic self-confidence, while a lack of knowledge about

a topic and its appropriate register result in one’s avoiding communication (MacIntyre,Clément, Dörnyei & Noels 1998)

 Use of mother tongue

When all the learners share the same mother tongue they tend to use it morethan the target language This results in code-switching Inadequate vocabularyrepertoire and weak sentence building skills may be the reasons

 Classroom Environment

Classroom environment plays a significant role in making a student take part inspeaking activities The atmosphere of the class, the size of the class, the arrangement

of seats and many other class-related factors affect the motivation of the students Aconducive and co-operative environment proves to be supportive for learners It hasbeen observed that students are usually happier and more active in a small class.Teachers pay more attention to each pupil and learners get more involved in thespeaking activities On the other hand, mixed ability class is another factor whichhinders the language acquisition process In these classes, the strong and quick learnersare often seen to be dominating the weak learners.

 Linguistic factors

Linguistic factors include several features like pronunciation, grammar, andvocabulary According to (Latha, 2012), grammatical competence can help learnersapply and perceive the structure of the English language correctly that will lead them

to their fluency It has also been observed that learners find it difficult to transfer thecorrect grammar to their speaking (Larsen-Freeman, 2001) Pronunciation also plays

an important role in speaking Mispronouncing a single sound or wrong use of stressesand intonations can cause misunderstandings Exposure to a variety of vocabulary isessential for speaking ESL learners often have to search for an appropriate word thatfits into the context/content As their receptive vocabulary is limited, they can hardlyput the “receptive vocabulary knowledge into productive use” (Nation, 2001)

 Affective factors

The affective factors related to speaking are anxiety, shyness, self-esteem,motivation, fear of making mistakes, lack of interest and many more Anxiety is theaffective factor that "most pervasively obstructs the learning process (Arnold &Brown, 1999) Worrying about being "wrong, stupid, or incomprehensible" (Brown,2001) completely ruins learners' speaking performance Most of ESL learners arenervous in class (Liu, 2006), especially when they are asked to speak in class withoutany readiness “Too much nervousness makes learners tongue-tied or lost for words”(Shumin, 2002) which completely affects their achievement in foreign/secondlanguage classroom (Zhang & Jia, 2006) They are shy of the attention that theirspeech attracts They are also worried about being criticized or losing face in front ofthe rest of the class The result is that they either make a lot of mistakes in spite ofhaving a good knowledge of the topic or they totally keep silent ESL learners should

be motivated to speak bravely in order to improve their speaking competence because

"motivation is probably the most important factor that educators can target in order toimprove learning" (Olson, 1997) and "the expenditure of effort to accomplish results"(DuBrin, 2008) Motivation is one of the factors that influence success or failure inlearning a language, particularly a second language or foreign language (Gardner,

2006) In the same lines, Petty (1998) argued that if students do not want to learn, theirlearning efficiency will be slow such that they may learn virtually nothing Makingmistakes is a natural process of learning a language but it causes potential threat toone’s ego These threats disappoint the learners to talk in English Learners believethat it is not possible to achieve fluency or mastery of the language This lack ofconfidence prevents them from learning the speaking skills Eventually they loseinterest and give up.

 Role of teachers

The vital role the teacher plays in making learners willing or unwilling to speakcannot be ignored If a teacher pays equal attention to all members of the class,encourages everybody to take part in classroom discussions and activities, and givesenough time to students to participate, he or she can considerably enhance thestudents’ willingness to speak The teachers should build an excellent rapport withtheir students It is the duty of the teachers to make the learners aware that makingmistakes is a learning process Teachers should turn their fears into challenges andchallenges into success by introducing many interesting and engaging activities in theclassroom Teaching and learning can be more meaningful if they integrate manyelements in their approaches

2.3 Difficulties in learning English speaking skills

Speaking is one of the most difficult skills language learners have to face Inspite of this, it has traditionally been faced into the background while we, teachers of,have spent all our classroom time trying to teach students how to write, to read, andsometimes even to listen in a L2 because grammar has a long written tradition.(Bueno, Madrid and Mclaren, 2006)

Brown (1994) labels speaking as the most challenging skill for students because of theset of features that characterize oral discourse:

 Contractions, vowel, reductions, and elision;

 The use of slang and idioms:

 Stress, rhythm, and intonation;

 The need to interact with at least one other speaker

The most difficult aspect of spoken English is that it is always accomplished viainteraction with at least one other speaker and this one reason why many of us wereshocked and disappointed when we used our second or foreign language for the firsttime in real interaction: we had not been prepared for spontaneous communication andcould not cope with all of its simultaneous demands

Speaking is an “activity requiring the interaction of many subsystems … allthese factors combine to make speaking a second or foreign language a formidabletask for language learners … yet for many people, speaking is seen as the central skill”(Bailley and Savage, 1994).

In addition, Rababa (2015) pointed out that there are many factors that causedifficulties in speaking English among EFL learners Some of these factors are related

to the learners themselves, the teaching strategies, the curriculum, and theenvironment For example, many learners lack the necessary vocabulary to get theirmeaning across, and consequently, they cannot keep the interaction going Inadequatestrategic competence and communication competence can be another reason for notbeing able to keep the interaction going

Some learners also lack the motivation to speak English They do not see a realneed to learn or speak English Actually “Motivation is a crucial force whichdetermines whether a learner embarks in a task at all, how much energy he devotes to

it, and how long he preserves” The development of communicative skills can onlytake place if learners have the motivation and opportunity to express their own identityand relate with the people around them (Littlewood, 1981)

“Language is best learned when learners’ attention is focused on understanding,saying and doing something with language, and not when their attention is focusedexplicitly on linguistic features” (Kumarvadivelu, 2003)

Littlewood (1981) argued that some teachers use L1 for class management.Nevertheless, this can be another factor that contributes to the problem of speakingdifficulties This is because using L1 means sacrificing valuable opportunities forwell-motivated foreign use In addition, it tends to devalue the foreign language as avehicle for communication Learners see it as allocated to communicativelynonessential such as drills or dialogue practice medium for discussing matters ofimmediate importance Another main reason for other teachers to use L1 is vocabularyand grammar Although their attitudes are of disagreement with L1, this is notreflected in their practice

Dil (2009) has investigated Turkish EFL learners’ communication obstacles inEnglish language classrooms, and it reported that anxiety and unwillingness during theEnglish speaking process are caused by fear of being negatively evaluated whenmaking mistakes, particularly in front of their friends This study also revealed thatstudents who perceive their English as “poor” feel more anxious and are moreunwilling to communicate in English classes than other students perceiving theirEnglish level one as “very good, good, and O.K”

Al Lawati (1995) also investigated the difficulties encountered by Omanistudents in their oral production of English and found out that the linguistic domain(vocabulary), grammar, pronunciation, and discourse)constitutes the most serious area

of difficulty, and this is because, as explained by teachers, the learners have not yetdeveloped an adequate level in the basic abilities of language This is because theythink of curriculum that does not provide enough opportunities for learning andpracticing new and varied vocabulary and does not provide enough variety in tasksdesigned for the speaking skill, especially with a large number of students in a class In

2002, findings in her study where students reported giving special attention to writing,reading, and listening tasks that are similar to exam items, and both teachers andstudents reported that they gave the least attention to speaking tasks in the textbookbecause speaking is completely excluded from exams

Ambu and Saidi (1997) investigated some issues in teaching English speaking

in a foreign language class room and revealed that the huge number of the students inthe classroom, the insufficiency of the English teaching periods, and the syllabus thatdoes not satisfy the learners’ communication needs are the main reasons for learners’speaking difficulties

Al Abri (2008) argued that the lack of oral activities in textbooks is a strongreason for students’ difficulties in speaking, and thus he recommended including someoral activities in the conversational dialogue to enable students to have more fun andenjoy learning to improve their speaking skills