an investigation into efl learners’ speaking problems and speaking strategies at college of foreign economic relations (cofer) in ho chi minh city

Chapter 6 consists of the conclusions of the study and some recommendations which help teachers solve the problems in teaching English speaking and help learners find the suitable learni

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

HO CHI MINH CITY OPEN UNIVERSITY

-

PHAN THỊ MIÊN THẢO

AN INVESTIGATION INTO EFL LEARNERS’ SPEAKING PROBLEMS AND SPEAKING STRATEGIES AT COLLEGE OF FOREIGN ECONOMIC

RELATIONS (COFER) IN HO CHI MINH CITY

ATHESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE

REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS IN TESOL

Ho Chi Minh City, Year 2018

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

HO CHI MINH CITY OPEN UNIVERSITY

-

PHAN THỊ MIÊN THẢO

AN INVESTIGATION INTO EFL LEARNERS’ SPEAKING PROBLEMS AND SPEAKING STRATEGIES AT COLLEGE OF FOREIGN ECONOMIC

RELATIONS (COFER) IN HO CHI MINH CITY

ATHESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE

REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS IN TESOL

Ho Chi Minh City, Year 2018

STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP

LEARNERS’ SPEAKING PROBLEMS AND SPEAKING STRATEGIES AT COLLEGE OF FOREIGN ECONOMIC RELATIONS (COFER) IN HO CHI MINH CITY” is my own work

Except where reference is made in the text of the thesis, this thesis does not contain material published elsewhere or extracted from a thesis by which I have qualified for

or been awarded another degree or diploma

No other person’s work has been used without due acknowledgment in the main text

of the thesis This thesis has not been submitted for the award of any degree or diploma in any other tertiary institution

Ho Chi Minh City, 2018

PHAN THI MIEN THAO

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to express my sincere appreciation to people who have

constantly supported and helped me to accomplish this thesis

My first debt of gratitude must go to my supervisor, Dr Nguyen Dinh Thu for his whole-hearted instructions, for invaluable experience he has shared with me, his tremendous patience in giving me substantial feedback, and for all stimulating conversations he has made with me at the very early stage of the development of this work

Next, I am thankful for all the participants for their enthusiastic cooperation

in the research

Specially, I would like to extend my heart-felt gratitude to my loving family

My two lovely daughters have been always besides me and given me their

unconditional love which has been my greatest inspiration and driving force during

my work

Briefly, I am grateful to all the people without them my thesis would

certainly not have existed

ABSTRACT

The increasing demand for good communicative skill in a globalized society activates English speaking learning around the world Specific to the Vietnamese context, after many years of being much exposed to English, most of the students still find it difficult to communicate effectively in real-life situations since they have not yet possessed effective learning strategies in their speaking learning and they have

discovering speaking learning strategies employed by the EFL third-year students at College of Foreign Economic Relations (COFER) as well as their certain speaking problems

Theoretically, Oxford’s (1990) and Dörnyei and Scott’s (1995) were used as a basic framework to carry out the study

Methodologically, the study was carried out at the Faculty of Foreign Languages at COFER with the participation of 82 students Mixed-methods design was used for collecting data, involving the two research instruments of the questionnaire and the interview While quantitative data obtained from the questionnaire were analyzed by SPSS 20.0, interview results were thematically analyzed

The findings of the study indicated that an overwhelming majority of the participants frequently encountered with some negative factors and speaking problems in association with linguistic problems, affective problems, or even insufficient time Pertinent to the used speaking learning strategies, the findings implied that a majority

of the EFL third-year students usually utilized both direct and indirect strategies The most frequently used strategies consisted of structuring or planning of ideas and language input, [2] using dictionary for vocabulary learning, [3] compensating for linguistic limitations by code-switching, nonverbal forms, synonyms, [4] paying attention, [5] deeply breathing, and [6] asking for clarification However, activating prior knowledge, self-training language input (e.g listening comprehension,

pronunciation), self-evaluating speaking performance were less frequently used among many students

Based on the research findings, the paper wrapped up with some pedagogical implications for teachers and learners, and a recommendation for further study in the line of research on speaking learning strategies and oral development

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 4

Chapter 1 : INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 Background to the study 1

1.2 Statement of the problem 2

1.3 Objectives of the study 4

1.4 Research questions 4

1.5 Significance of the study 4

1.6 Organization of the thesis chapters 5

Chapter 2 : LITERATURE REVIEW 5

2.1 Speaking skill 6

2.1.1 Definition of speaking skill 6

2.1.2 Importance of Speaking Skill 6

2.1.3 Aspect of speaking skill 7

2.1.3.1 Fluency 7

2.1.3.2 Accuracy 8

2.1.3.3 Appropriacy 8

2.2 Problem and factors affecting speaking performance 9

2.3 Speaking strategies 10

2.3.1 Definition 11

2.3.2 Classifications 12

2.3.3 Conceptual framework 17

2.4 Previous studies 19

2.4.1 Overview of some previous studies 19

2.4.2 Research gaps from the previous studies 23

2.5 Summary 24

Chapter 3 : METHODOLOGY 24

3.1 Research setting 24

3.2 Research design 25

3.3 Overall research approach 26

3.3.1 Research design 26

3.3.2 Research instruments 27

3.3.2.1 Student questionnaire 28

3.4 Analytical framework 31

3.5 Summary 33

Chapter 4 : DATA ANALYSIS 33

4.1 Questionnaire reliability analysis 34

4.2 Thematic analysis 35

4.3 Chapter summary 63

Chapter 5 : DISCUSSION OF FINDINGS 63

5.1 The speaking problems faced the EFL third-year students at COFER 64

5.2 The speaking strategies used by the EFL third-year students at COFER 66

5.3 Chapter summary 72

Chapter 6 : CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS 74

6.1 Summary of key findings 74

6.2 Justification of research methodology 75

6.2.1 Strengths 75

6.2.2 Limitations 75

6.3 Recommendations 76

6.3.1 For students 76

6.3.2 For teachers 77

6.3.3 For further study 77

6.4 Chapter summary 78

REFERENCES 78

APPENDIX A.1 83

APPENDIX A.2 86

APPENDIX B.1 89

APPENDIX B.2 90

APPENDIX C 90

APPENDIX D 91

Chapter 1 : INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background to the study

Life today is extremely different from what it used to be The increasing demand for good communicative skill in a globalized society activates English speaking learning around the world English is spoken all over the world, that is, one can communicate easily with both native speakers of English and non-native ones if she/he is proficient in English By virtue of this, being competent in oral communication is a strong desire of all English learners And speaking is a fundamental skill that learners need to master in order to communicate effectively Phan (2014) shows that English is considered a “passport” to integrate with the world

So, the EFL learners in general and the students at College of Foreign Economic Relations (COFER) in particular are also aware of the importance of English speaking learning According to Brown and Yule (1983), in process of language learning, speaking is highly evaluated to be important, yet the most difficult of the four skills However, many language learners, even after several years of studying English, still find it very difficult to speak effectively Brown (2001) believes that colloquial language, reduced forms, performance variables, redundancy clusters, rate of delivery, stress, rhythm and intonation are among the characteristics of speaking that contribute to the difficulty of this skill Moreover, in order for language learners to manage oral communication, they need to produce connected speech, have interaction ability, speak in different contexts, develop a balance between accuracy and fluency, and talk about unfamiliar issues based on their knowledge (Lindsay & Knight, 2006) Especially, one of possible reasons for speaking incompetency among EFL learners is that students have not yet handled their speaking learning strategies effectively It is also inferred that learners can improve communicative proficiency

by developing an ability to use specific speaking strategies that enable them to compensate for their target language deficiency (e.g Richards & Renandya, 2002; Mahripah, 2014)

Language learning strategies have been the heart of foreign language education, attracting an ample of language theorists in the last few decades The aspects of learning strategies have been extensively concerned to get deep insight More recently, the focus of the research studies has been specified to each language skill, and speaking as an illustration In this domain of speaking skill, many studies have been conducted on the theoretical bases of Oxford’s (1990) Strategy Inventory for Language Learning (SILL) O’Malley and Chamot (1990) assert that speaking strategies benefit language learners “in negotiating meaning where either linguistic structures or sociolinguistic rules are not shared between a second language learner and a speaker of the target language” (p 43) The primary goal for any language learners is that they are able to use the target language for their oral communication, and finally become a competent speaker Accordingly, Hedge (2000) convinces that

a competent speaker is the person who can use speaking strategies effectively to compensate for speaking problems and to maintain his stream of verbal messages Alternatively stating, knowing and utilizing speaking learning strategies is of utmost importance to the students for their oral language development

In brief, speaking strategies are essential because they sufficiently provide foreign language learners with valuable tools to communicate in the target language

in diverse contextual situations and help them to survive from a multiplicity of speaking problems Put it different, speaking learning strategies become vital to develop the students’ language ability in order for them to be more self-sufficient and active their own learning process

1.2 Statement of the problem

In reality, there have been more and more communication courses in Vietnam held to respond to leaners’ need of improving English communicative competence However, many Vietnamese learners have still found it difficult to speak English fluently and accurately After many years of being exposed to English in secondary and high schools, and even at tertiary level (e.g., college), many of them still cannot

perform a simple and short conversation in English due to a multitude of factors Richards (2002) labeled several problems faced by poor learners in their English speaking learning For example, (1) students cannot sustain long conversations or keep the interaction going; (2) students often encounter with communication breakdowns and misunderstandings; (3) students’ lack of vocabulary and language structures negatively impacts their oral production of ideas; (4) and students lack of effective communication strategies Sharing Richards’ ideas (2002), Rababa’h (2005) added one more factor that hinders English speaking ability among EFL learners, that

is, inadequate strategic competence and communication competence In other words, they are deficient in being aware of and applying speaking strategies to facilitate their oral production Specific to the Vietnamese context, Nguyen and Tran (2015) listed some barriers affecting Vietnamese learners’ speaking performance including performance conditions (e.g., time pressure, planning, standard of performance and amount of support), affective factors (e.g., motivation, confidence and anxiety), and listening ability and feedback during speaking activities

In order to reduce speaking problems and enhance oral performance, the students need to manipulate the particular speaking learning strategies and use them appropriately Indeed, it is obvious that learners can improve their speaking ability

by developing learning strategies that help them to be more strategic and flexible in overcoming speaking problems (Nakatani, 2005) In the same line, there is a positive relationship between learning strategies and the students’ proficiency level (Hismanoglu, 2000; Anderson, 2003) The greater variety and number of learning strategies the students employ, the more language proficient they would be In general, Chamot (2004) claims that learning strategies contribute to the considerable improvement on the less successful learners’ speaking performance Given the fact, the researcher is urged to discover the speaking problems faced by the EFL third-year students at COFER and then how they used speaking strategies are explored, aiming

at tackling the recognized speaking problems, and reinforcing the use of the speaking strategies to help EFL learners at COFER improve their speaking performance

1.3 Objectives of the study

In this research, the focus deals with [1] the difficulties in speaking practice that EFL learners at COFER might face, as well as [2] the speaking learning strategies that EFL learners at COFER utilize for learning English speaking Besides, the results

of this research would help raise their awareness of using learning strategies in their oral production in order to survive them from different speaking problems

1.4 Research questions

The objectives were achieved based on finding answers to the two following research questions:

Research question 1: What problems do the EFL students at COFER confront

in their EFL speaking learning?

Research question 2: How do the EFL learners at COFER use speaking

strategies for their speaking learning?

1.5 Significance of the study

The current study investigates the current speaking learning strategies and the difficulties that the EFL learners have met during the process of learning English at COFER The results of this study may help the EFL learners to find some useful speaking learning strategies to improve their speaking ability

The study seeks the significant results for both the teachers and the students at COFER Firstly, through the results of the study, the teachers can understand the difficulties affecting the EFL students’ speaking learning Then, the teachers can broaden their students’ knowledge of learning strategies and train them how to apply appropriate learning strategies to rescue them from the existing speaking problems and reinforce their oral performance Secondly, the findings emerged from the study also support the students to find out the useful learning strategies for their speaking learning, leading to their increased confidence and better learning outcomes Finally, the researcher also expects the learners’ oral communication can be improved in the

classroom as well as in the real life after concentrating the learning strategies in the study

1.6 Organization of the thesis chapters

In this study, there are five chapters listed as follows:

Chapter 1 includes the background to the study, statement of the problem, purpose of the study, research questions, the significance of the study and the organization of the thesis

Chapter 2 reviews the literature as well as theories relevant to the topic of the study This chapter mentions the definitions and the problems of learning speaking skill, and learning strategies and speaking strategies, and some previous studies

Chapter 3 shows the study methodology which describes participants, research setting, methods of data collection and data analysis

Chapter 4 and 5 analyze the collected data and discuss the findings from the data analysis respectively

Chapter 6 consists of the conclusions of the study and some recommendations which help teachers solve the problems in teaching English speaking and help learners find the suitable learning strategies to improve their oral communication during learning speaking skill, followed by limitations and suggestions for further research

Chapter 2 : LITERATURE REVIEW

The aim of this chapter is to present the theoretical fundamentals used to pillar this study The chapter opens with a brief literature review on speaking, its aspects

and problems The speaking learning strategies are then emphasized, consisting of types and classifications Afterwards, some relevant empirical studies which have examined the relationships between use of speaking learning strategies and EFL speaking performance are explored here From what have already been conducted in association with this arena, the last part elucidates some research gaps to situate the current study

2.1 Speaking skill

2.1.1 Definition of speaking skill

Speaking is one of the most basic skills of any language learners In fact, people use this productive skill for their lives and work or study Ur (1996) agreed that speaking is viewed as the most important skill among four language skills

Theorists have defined the term “speaking” in various ways As Spratt, Pulverne and William (2011) describe, “speaking is one of the four language skills: reading, writing, listening and speaking, […] are productive skills” (p 48) It is implied that speaking involves yielding the language in lieu of receiving it solely Similarly, Brown (1994) defines speaking as a complex interactive streamline of making meaning by ways of producing, receiving, and processing information Bygate (1987) defined speaking as the production of auditory signals to give different verbal responses to listeners It is regarded as “combining sounds systematically to form meaningful sentences” (Leong & Ahmadi, 2017, p 35) Besides, speaking is also subject to physical paralinguistic features (Harmer, 2007) In speaking, speakers try out new vocabulary and develop working knowledge of language form and structure; at the same time, facing clues like intonation and gesture also contribute to understanding among communicators (Dawes, 2008) In general, speaking, like any other language skills, is more complicated than it seems at first

2.1.2 Importance of Speaking Skill

In leaning language, it is rather uneasy to make a conclusion on the most important skill among listening, speaking, reading and writing However, speaking is deemed to be the closest to the goal of language teaching; that is, speaking performance Ur (1996) considers that of all the four skills, speaking seems intuitively the most important one because the ability to speak skillfully provides the learners a favorable condition to establish and maintain relationships, to negotiate with others

In specific, Carnegie (1977) assumed that business, social, and personal satisfaction depend heavily on people’s ability to communicate clearly to others about their identity, desire and beliefs Nunan (1991) views good speaking performance is the most important aspect of acquiring a foreign language, which is assessed by the ability to sustain a conversation in the target language In short, speaking plays a crucial part in social life and is a dispensable skill for any language learner

2.1.3 Aspect of speaking skill

In oral learning, Hymes (1972) believed that EFL learners are required to know both the linguistic knowledge (i.e accuracy) and the culturally appropriate ways (i.e appropriacy) to interact with others in diverse situations and which facilitates their smooth oral stream (i.e fluency) In the same vein, Harmer (2001) posits that speaking skill has two different aspects including accuracy and fluency

To develop their communicative competence, speakers should reinforce their grammatical competence, discourse competence, sociolinguistic competence, and strategic competence (Canale & Swain, 1980)

2.1.3.1 Fluency

Fluency is the speakers’ ability to utter in an understandable way so that communication breakdown does not occur (Hughes, 2002) Along with it, Hedge (2000) depicts that fluency is the ability to make a coherent speech by linking the

words and phrases logically, pronouncing the sounds clearly, and utilizing stress and intonation suitably

To ensure fluent oral production, speakers need to enhance their strategic competence, which refers to the ability to know when and how to initiate and maintain the conversation and how to minimize communication breakdowns and comprehension barriers (Richards & Renandya, 2002) It can be implied that speakers must be consciously aware of speaking strategies and apply them effectively

2.1.3.2 Accuracy

Accuracy pertains to the correctness and the fullness of language forms when speaking in association with grammatical structures, vocabulary, and pronunciation (Mazouzi, 2013) That is considered as grammatical competence of an EFL speaker

in their oral production Grammatical competence helps speakers to manipulate and comprehend English language patterns correctly Besides, in order to communicate well, speakers are asked to perceive meaning connections from previous sentences to following sentences, indicating some relationships about time, cause and effects, etc (Richards & Renandya, 2002) Clearly, discourse competence is also of great importance to any speakers when this element facilitates accuracy of what they are uttering

2.2 Problem and factors affecting speaking performance

There are multiple problems which can come across in developing speaking performance among students Nguyen and Tran (2015) posit that learners’ speaking performance are often affected by factors like affective elements, listening ability, and feedback during speaking activities as well as performance conditions First of all, oral productions of EFL learners also can be impacted by their affective states such as motivation, self-confidence, and anxiety (Oxford, 1990) For example, the study of Leong and Ahmadi (2017) proved that learners with a low self-esteem, higher anxiety, and low motivation have serious difficulties in building up speaking ability Secondly, learners are unable to develop their communicative competence until they improve their listening ability Indeed, any communicators have the dual role of listeners and speakers, in which they have to listen what is uttered from others and then reply compatibly Thirdly, speaking performance is also pertinent to the feedback during speaking activities And, the feedback relies on the lesson stages, the task types, and the error types Finally, Nation and Newton (2009) point out some performance conditions can directly influence learners’ speaking performance such

as time pressure, planning, and the amount of support

Additionally, Mahripah (2014) reveals that EFL learners’ speaking skill is influenced by some linguistic components of language including phonology, syntax, and vocabulary Beside linguistic knowledge, topical knowledge makes an ample contribution to learners’ speaking performance (Bachman & Palmer, 1996) By definition, these authors describe topical knowledge as the speakers’ knowledge of related topical information, which enables students to apply language with respect to the world in which they live Thus, it is imperative for speakers to exploit both language and background knowledge when orally producing English utterances Along with this, according to Ur (1996), one of many factors that hamper EFL students’ speaking skill development is their low or uneven participation Alternatively saying, only one participant can talk through a time due to large classes

and the tendency of some learners to be prominent, while others tend to speak little

or not at all

In some cases, speaking ability is also negatively impacted when some learners try to use first language in learning speaking in foreign language because it is very easy for them (Ur, 1996; Nguyen & Tran, 2015) Harmer (1991) specifies some reasons why learners use first language in their speaking classes To begin with, when teachers ask their learners to talk about a topic that they do not have sufficient knowledge, they may try to use their mother tongue Secondly, using first language

is very natural for learners to use Thirdly, learners will automatically use their first language to clarify something to their interlocutors when their partners do not understand

In sum, EFL learners face a plenty of obstacles that negatively impact their speaking performance including some linguistic problems (e.g low listening ability, mispronunciation, lack of grammatical and lexical knowledge, etc.), shortage of topical knowledge, affective hindrances (e.g low motivation, high anxiety, high apprehension, etc.) To cope with these frequently faced speaking problems, EFL learners are required to employ appropriate speaking learning strategies with a view

to becoming a competent speaker in conjunction with accuracy, fluency and appropriacy aspects

2.3 Speaking strategies

Among the four language skills, speaking is believed to be the most important and difficult skill in mastering a foreign language, which encompasses several components such as grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation, ideas, and other paralinguistic elements One of the aspects that are involved in the process of developing speaking skill is the language learning strategies used by the learners themselves In this section, the researcher summarizes some definitions and classifications of language learning strategies in the milieu of developing speaking skill

2.3.1 Definition

Researches on language learning strategies have launched in 1960s O’Malley and Chamot (1990) define that “learning strategies are special thoughts or behaviors that individuals use to help them comprehend, learn, or retain new information” (p 1) It means that language learning strategies are certain activities, behaviors or techniques adopted by students for reinforcing their language skills, recalling and deploying what they have recently learned, mostly in a pre-determined way

In the same vein, Oxford (1990) also points out learning strategies are particular actions done by learners to support their own learning, to generate their learning easier, faster, more fantastic, more strategic, and more efficient By exploiting the appropriate strategies, the process of learning the language improves considerably In other words, appropriate language learning strategies are used by learners to help them grasp new information better and to help them solve language problems Later, Cohen (1998) posits that language learning strategies are “learning processes which are consciously selected by the learners and which may result in actions taken to enhance the learning or use of a second or foreign language, through the storage, retention, recall, and application of information about that language” (p 4)

Specific to the domain of speaking skill learning, speaking strategies help students become more strategic and active in oral productions and rescue them to overcome speaking problems such as linguistic barriers or lack of ideas, etc Speaking strategies are referred to “communicative strategies, communication strategies, conversation skills or oral communication strategies, used by students to solve any communication problem when speaking in English” (López, 2011, p 3) As what Hedge (2000) claims, a competent speaker knows how to make use of speaking strategies, which “come into play when learners are unable to express what they want

to say because they lack the resources to do so successfully” (p 52) These verbal and non-verbal strategies (e.g verbal circumlocution, clarification, non-verbal

gestures, etc.) may be exerted to compensate for a breakdown in communication or for unknown words or topics, and they may also be used to enhance effective communication

2.3.2 Classifications

O’Malley and Chamot (1990) describe that in the language learning process, there are three different types of strategies, that is, (i) metacognitive strategies, (ii) cognitive strategies, and (iii) socio-affective strategies Likewise, White (1993) also classifies learning strategies in such three types In specific, metacognitive strategies involve planning; monitoring and evaluating comprehension, whilst cognitive strategies are used to manipulate information, and socio-affective strategies are related to the ways that learners decide to interact with others

More specifically, Oxford (1990) differentiates language learning strategies into six groups: (i) memory strategies, (ii) cognitive strategies, (iii) compensation strategies, (iv) affective strategies, (v) metacognitive strategies, and (vi) social strategies These six strategy groups are categorized into two major classes, namely

direct strategies and indirect strategies (see Table 2.1) Direct strategies consist of

memory strategies, cognitive strategies and compensation strategies, while indirect strategies comprise metacognitive strategies, affective strategies and social strategies

In brief, Oxford proclaims that these six language learning strategy groups enable the language learners to communicate competently

Table 2.1: Oxford’s Language Learning Strategy Scheme (1990, pp 18-21)

Language Learning

Strategies

Description

Memory strategies “Creating links mentally, applying sounds and images,

reviewing well, and employing action”

Cognitive strategies Practicing, reviewing and sending messages, analyzing

and reasoning, and creating structure for input and output”

Affective strategies “Lowering one’s anxiety, encouraging oneself, and

taking one’s emotional temperature”

Social strategies “Asking questions, cooperating with others and

empathizing with others”

The taxonomy of Dörnyei and Scott (1995) not only refers to strategic behaviors, but also involves the three main categories, namely direct strategies, indirect strategies and interactional strategies This scheme is presented in Table 2.2

Table 2.2: Dörnyei and Scott’ (1995) taxonomy of speaking strategies

Categories Strategic speaking behaviors

Direct strategies Message abandonment; reduction; replacement;

circumlocution; restructuring; code switching; self-repair; self-rephrasing

Indirect strategies Verbal strategy markers, stimulating understanding,

repetition Interactional

strategies

Requesting clarification; requesting repetition; requesting confirmation; Inference; expressing non-understanding, understanding check; own-accuracy check, asking for assistance

As can be seen from Table 2.1 and Table 2.2, Dörnyei and Scott’ (1995) direct strategies refer to the use of an alternative method, which is more manageable and self-contained to convey the intended meaning Oxford’s (1990) subcategory of memory, cognitive and compensation strategies reflects this, which are the members

of the main category of direct strategies What is more, indirect strategies, according

to Dörnyei and Scott (1995), offer support for mutual understanding, such as making use of verbal makers or stimulating understanding to sustain the conversation Similarly, Oxford (1990, p.135) attributed indirect strategies to those that support learning without the direct involvement of the target language Interactional strategies, places its primary emphasis on the cooperative conduction of problem-solving exchanges (e.g providing clarification, requesting confirmation or asking for help) This is also comparable to Oxford’s (1990) definition of social strategies

The present study is based on Oxford’s (1990) framework of language learning strategies and the specific strategic speaking behaviors framed by Dörnyei and Scott (1995) Indeed, Oxford’s classification aimed at overall language learning but this study only focuses on the speaking learning Thus far, Dörnyei and Scott’s (1995) taxonomy which is presumed to be more problem-orientated and process-based with

specific strategic behaviors is also referred Table 2.3 below presents the framework

of speaking strategies used in this study

Table 2.3: The framework of speaking strategies used in this study

Categories Description Strategic speaking strategies

Memory

strategies

Structuring the process of reviewing;

building mental links; retrieving

Putting a new word in a meaningful context for easier memory and use;

Revising previously learned knowledge in English;

Thinking about new words with known words (in sound, meaning and function) before speaking

Imagining situation that speakers want to talk about to help guide them

Cognitive

strategies

Enhancing learning through various ways (practicing,

repeating, translating, deductive reasoning)

Practicing listening and pronunciation through songs and films or formal exercises

Structuring some ideas in mind before speaking

Using the dictionary to prepare some needed vocabulary for communicative activity Compensation

strategies

Overcoming limitations; guessing based on clues

Making prediction by contextual clues and linguistic clues;

Switching to mother tongue;

Using mine and gestures;

Use a synonym;

Metacognitive

strategies

Managing learning

by centering, planning, organizing, evaluating, or

strategies

Reducing anxiety;

making positive statements; viewing risks and mistakes

Taking deep breath or using laughter Encouraging oneself

Exchanging feelings to other speakers Social

strategies

Asking others for help; cooperating with others;

enhancing mutual understanding

Asking someone for mistake correction Asking for clarification

Practicing English with peers or proficient users

Becoming aware of others’ thoughts and feelings

In general, based on the six sub-groups of language learning strategies proposed by Oxford (1990) and specific strategic reading strategies recommended by Dörnyei and Scott’s (1995), it is posited that all these strategies, no matter whether they are direct or indirect, interact with each other It is meant that in speaking learning, students need to use these strategies flexibly and skillfully Each of strategy categories contributes to the quality of speaking performance among EFL learners as follows:

1 Memory strategies imply any set of techniques which are created to facilitate

one’s memorization, enable the transfer of information to long-term memory and recalling it for communication (Bölükbaş, 2013) These strategies can

simply involve the things that we normally do in our daily lives such as making questions by ourselves to remind the important things

2 Cognitive strategies help students to develop the thinking skills that make

them strategic and flexible (Ellis, 1997), which improve speakers’ knowledge and their understanding of linguistic system

3 Compensation strategies enable student speakers to solve difficult situations

that obstruct communication; for example, making logical guesses, overcoming language limitations during producing language and using body language (Bölükbaş, 2013)

4 Metacognitive strategies enable the students to plan, monitor and evaluate

their own learning process (Bölükbaş, 2013) In the same fashion, metacognitive strategies “help learners to regulate their own cognitive abilities and to focus, plan, and evaluate their progress as they move toward communicative competence” (Gani, Fajrina, & Hanifa, 2015, p 21) O’Malley and Chamot (1990) claims that these strategies can be used to plan for learning (e.g for speaking activities in this study), monitoring production and

comprehension and finally evaluation after accomplishing an activity

5 Affective strategies help “develop self-confidence” (Gani, et al., 2015, p 21),

“control their feelings, motivation and attitudes related with learning” (Bölükbaş, 2013, p 57) The latter author exemplifies some examples of affective strategies such as “reducing anxiety, encouraging or rewarding oneself, controlling his/her own emotional changes by listening to himself/herself, keeping a diary of language learning or sharing feelings with

others” (p 57)

6 Social strategies are useful for interaction with others, especially in speaking

skill (Bölükbaş, 2013) These strategies can provide increased interaction and

more empathetic understanding for speakers

2.3.3 Conceptual framework

Synthesizing and analyzing the literature review on the factors impacting on the EFL learners’ speaking performance and the classifications of speaking learning strategies, the researcher composes the conceptual framework, pillaring the content construction of collection data instruments Below is the brief description of the theoretical framework involving the factors affecting speaking performance (Research question 1), and the speaking learning strategy types (Research question 2):

Chart 2.1a: Conceptual Framework of Speaking Problems

Language knowledge (Vocabulary & Grammar)

Background knowledge (Topical knowledge)

Related language skills (Pronunciation & Listening ability)

Others (Practice environment & Learning strategies)

Chart 2.1b: Conceptual Framework of Speaking Learning Strategies

2.4 Previous studies

In order to present an overview of the speaking problems and the effects of exerting learning strategies on developing EFL learners’ speaking performance, six previous relevant studies are summarized with their major elements including objective of study, participants and setting, research design, data collection methods, data analysis, as well as findings Accordingly, a research gap might also be identified, which situates the current study itself

2.4.1 Overview of some previous studies

Lopéz’s (2011) study investigates what speaking strategies most used in speaking of the students from five public Mexican universities, which used a self-

Memory strategies (Structuring, Reviewing, Building mental links)

Cognitive strategies (Practicing, Repeating, Using dictionary)

Compensation strategies (Switching, Predicting, Using mimes, Using

synonym)

Metacognitive strategies (Planning, Paying attention, Self-evaluating)

Affective strategies (Reducing anxiety, Making positive statements)

Social strategies (Asking for clarification, Cooperating)

designed questionnaire with 14 speaking strategies After collecting and analyzing data from the completed questionnaires, the results of his study revealed that three speaking strategies most used by the students in their language learning including one compensation strategy (the use of paraphrasing or a synonym for unknown words) in the direct strategies and two social strategies (asking for repetition and asking for clarification of a message) in the indirect strategies His study also emphasized the importance of strategy training and encouraged teachers to apply and impart speaking strategies in oral communication classes beforehand It is implied that the more strategies students use, the more they success in the learning process of speaking

Hendriani (2013) carried out a study to test the effectiveness of the developed learning strategy model in improving the 184 university students’ speaking skills in Batusangkar The questionnaires, speaking test, interview, and documentary study were the data collection instruments The finding of the study indicated that: (1) the appropriate model of speaking learning strategy can save them from their psychological, social, managerial, and linguistic problems before, while and after EFL oral productions and (2) the developed learning strategy model is considered effective in enhancing the students’ speaking skills Based on the study results, it can

be inferred that to overcome problems in oral production process, EFL speakers need

to favor appropriate speaking learning strategies and use them effectively

To investigate the use of students’ learning strategies in developing their speaking ability, Gani, Fajrina and Hanifa (2015) conducted a study on 16 participants being low and high speaking performance students at a high school in Indonesia The data were collected through 53-item questionnaires and interviews The study results recognized that high performance speaking students had better balance in using all kinds of learning strategies developed by Oxford (1990) for reinforcing their speaking skills The low speaking performance students only focused on two learning strategies: compensation from the direct strategies and social from the indirect strategies On the contrary, the high performance students employed

more learning strategies consciously and appropriately compared to the low

performance students (see some illustrations in Table 2.4)

Table 2.4: The strategies used mostly by low and high speaking performance

students (Gani, Fajrina & Hanifa, 2015)

No HIGH speaking performance

students

Classifications of learning strategies

LOW speaking performance students

Classifications

of learning strategies

1 listening to English songs Cognitive looking up the dictionary Memory

2 watching English movies Cognitive memorizing sentences Memory

3 reading English books/novels Cognitive,

Metacognitive

practicing pronunciation Cognitive

4 reciting song lyrics Metacognitive

5 reviewing lessons Cognitive

6 practicing with friends Social,

Metacognitive

7 using synonyms in English Compensation using native language Compensation

8 repeating words or sentences

with their partners

Compensation

From Table 2.4, the study showed that the high speaking strategies not only knew how to apply effectively the variety of strategies in the different ways but also got more aware and more creative in improving their speaking skill to become more successful in their oral communication Unlike the high speaking performance students, the low speaking performance students used were less effective, less conscious and less appropriate in enhancing their speaking ability because they used less learning strategies It is implied from the research results that students should be

trained to be more aware of their own speaking learning strategies They should utilize suitable language learning strategies more consciously, purposefully, and frequently in their study of speaking skills.

Eskandari, Behjat and Kargar (2015) investigated the use of speaking strategies by 60 Iranian EFL university students, comprising of 35 female and 25 male students An Oxford Proficiency Test was conducted to identify the students’ proficiency level, assigned to the three groups of high, intermediate, and low proficiency levels Then, a 38-item strategy questionnaire was sent to these students The result proved that gender and proficiency level played considerable roles in using metacognitive strategies, with females showing greater favor over this factor than males Besides, high proficient students tended to be more interested than intermediate and low level ones For compensation strategies, gender showed to have

a significant influence on strategic choice, with males having more preference for this strategy group than females For other groups like cognitive and memory, and socio-affective strategies, no statistically significant differences were explored among the variables of the study

In the Vietnamese context, Nguyen and Ho (2013) conducted an investigation

on 100 students (50 males and 50 females) of non-English major being Vietnamese first-year-students at University of National Resources and Environment in Ho Chi Minh City The study focused on the similarities and differences between male and female students in the frequency of strategy use for their EFL learning Oxford’s (1990) SILL version 7.0 was used as the questionnaire in both English and Vietnamese The results showed that the male students used the compensation strategy and the female students used the memory strategy most frequently This proved that both of the male and female students employed direct strategies more than indirect ones Nguyen and Ho (2013) supposed that using of direct strategies request less effort and time than using of indirect ones Besides, the results of the study also pointed to the differences between the male and female students in

applying the learning strategies For example, in the process of the language learning, emotions, motivations and attitudes were also controlled by the females better than the males From the findings in the study, the two researchers recommended that both

of language learning strategy categories (direct and indirect) should be used by EFL learners to succeed more in their learning English speaking

2.4.2 Research gaps from the previous studies

With reference to the area of speaking learning strategies used among ELF learners, the previous studies above were conducted (e.g 2011, 2013, 2015) in foreign countries such as Indonesia, Mexico, the United States of America and even

in Vietnam (e.g Ho Chi Minh University of National Resources and Environment) Nonetheless, there has been no study at COFER so far It is inferred that the use frequency rate of speaking learning strategies also need to be investigated and depicted in different contexts Given these reasons, the current study investigates the reality of the EFL third-year college students’ use of speaking learning strategies by the third-year students at COFER in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam (c.f Research question 1) Pertinent to methodology, most of the previous studies mentioned earlier primarily utilized questionnaires to get answers Thus, the current study uses both quantitative results from questionnaire and qualitative results from semi-structured interview to assure triangulation of data collection methods

In another line, these studies have concentrated mainly on the actual use of speaking learning strategies but failed to label the factors or problems that can hinder the students’ speaking learning and their utilization of speaking learning strategies, excluding Hendriani (2013) Grasping multiple causal factors on college students’ using speaking learning strategies is necessary since it helps the researcher, language teachers to propose solutions to rescue them from those problems Wherein, the present study also tried to seek speaking problems as well as factors impacting the participants’ utilization of speaking learning strategies in the context of COFER (c.f

Research question 2) ‘

2.5 Summary

In sum, this necessarily important chapter has just presented an understanding

of fundamental theories of speaking skill including definitions, importance, aspects, and problem types; at the same time, definitions and classifications of language learning strategies have been also mentioned The next chapter will present the research design, subjects and contexts, methods of data collection and analysis for the current study

Chapter 3 : METHODOLOGY

This chapter describes the research methodology used to achieve the objectives specified in Chapter 1 It consists of details about the research design, the research setting, and the participants, the instruments, the data collection and the analysis Ethical issues are also discussed as an important part of this study

3.1 Research setting

The study was conducted at Faculty of Business English of College of Foreign Economic Relations (COFER) located on 287 Phan Dinh Phung Street, Ward 15, Phu Nhuan District, Ho Chi Minh City COFER is an educational institution training students and providing them with college degrees and vocational certificates, doing research and making scientific and technological experiments in order to meet the requirements of training, production, business and services in commerce and society, contributing to the development of economy, society and education of the country COFER cooperates with local and international academic institutions in training and doing scientific research, organizes scientific workshops and gives consultancy on commercial services to socio-economic organizations Specifically, the students of

Faculty of Business English spend six consecutive academic semesters from the beginning of the course to their graduation

Table 3.1: Details of English Program of Faculty of Business English

In the English program of Faculty of Business English, the EFL learners are obliged to cover all pre-determined specialized courses such as British American Culture, English for Marketing, English for Business Management, English for Hotel and Restaurant Management, English for Finance and Banking, English for Commercial Correspondence, and English for Contract, etc During these courses, the students must practize all four skills in order, namely, listening, speaking, reading and writing As prescribed by the Faculty, two productive skills of speaking and writing are first and foremost concerned Therefore, oral proficiency or speaking performance is of utmost importance to EFL learners at this faculty

3.2 Research design

Participants for this study were recruited by the convenience sampling technique By reason, sampling method was used in this survey because “[the] participants are willing and available to be studied” (Creswell, 2012, p 67) and that members of the target population satisfy “certain practical criteria like easy accessibility, geographical proximity, availability at a given time, or the willingness

to participate” (Etikan, Musa & Alkassim 2016, p 2)

In this study, two classes of TATM19I and TATM19K were recruited through convenience sampling for the following reasons Firstly, regarding easy accessibility, the researcher’s friend is an English teacher of these classes Therefore, she could help the researchers to get permission from the Dean of the Faculty of Foreign Languages to gather data with ease In terms of the willingness and time availability

to participate, the one-week duration of completing copies of questionnaire made participants willing to answer without any time pressure

In details, data were collected from 82 EFL third-year students from the two classes of TATM19I and TATM19K at the Faculty of Business English of COFER Among these 82 EFL college students, there were 31 males, accounting for 37.8%, and 51 females, constituting 62.2% The third-year students were chosen for the study because they were also the last-year students graduating in May of this year After graduation, they begin to find the jobs being suitable to their specialization of Business English They are also required to have good English speaking skill for the interviews as well as in work at an intermediate level So, the researcher conducted the study to explore the speaking learning strategies they usually use

3.3 Overall research approach

3.3.1 Research design

To gather sufficient data for the research questions, the current study utilized mixed-methods design A mixed methods research design is a procedure for assembling, interpreting, and “mixing” both quantitative and qualitative methods in

a single study to understand a research problem (Creswell & Plano Clark, 2011) Creswell (2012) claims “the uses of both quantitative and qualitative methods, in combination, provide a better understanding of the research problems and questions than either method by itself” (p 535) Specific to the current study, the researcher gathered quantitative data emerged from the questionnaire (N=82) and then the interview results (N=5) as qualitative data were used to explain and interpret these quantitative results

3.3.2 Research instruments

In this section, the research collection instruments used in the present study are precisely elucidated, consisting of questionnaires and interviews They were all summoned for their probability to elicit the research questions

Table 3.2: The linkage between research questions and research instruments

RQ-1: What problems do the EFL students at COFER

confront in their EFL speaking learning?

Questionnaire Interview

RQ-2: How do the EFL learners at COFER use speaking

strategies for their speaking learning?

Questionnaire Interview

3.3.2.1 Student questionnaire

Rationale

According to Brown (1997), a questionnaire is defined as an instrument for assembling data, and almost always involves asking a given subject to respond to a set of written items It is, especially the multiple choice questionnaire, recognized with many advantages, in particular it is the most reasonably priced and practical way

to collect quantitative data, helps researchers gather information from a large number

of respondents and allows them to ask as many questions as they need with the objectivity adhering to the questions Additionally, it saves researchers time processing the results and gives them a clearer predictions from respondents’ choice (Dörnyei, 2007)

Description

Concerning the formatting, the questionnaire was designed in a choice format within five options which was adapted for Likert-scale ranging from 1

multiple-to 5; in specific, 1= never, 2= rarely, 3= occasionally, 4= frequently, 5= always As

far as the content was concerned, the questionnaire was designed to address two research aims, namely the problems confronted by the EFL third-year students in their speaking learning (Part I), and the actual utilization of speaking learning strategies

by EFL third-year students at COFER (Part II) Regarding the structure, the questionnaire was divided into the two main sections with the total number of thirty-

one items (see Appendix A.1-2):

 The first section within ten items numbered from 1 to 10 describes some factors and problems impacting on the participants’ speaking learning such as linguistic problems, affective problems, etc

 The second section included twenty-one items numbered from 11 to 31, involving six packs of speaking learning strategies In specific, memory strategies (4 items

numbered 11-14), cognitive strategies (4 items numbered 15-18), compensation strategies (4 items numbered 19-22), metacognitive strategies (3 items numbered 23-25), affective strategies (3 items numbered 26-28), and social strategies (4 items numbered 29-31)

To assure the validity and reliability of the questionnaire, it was composed first in English and then translated into Vietnamese so that the participants’ understanding of the questionnaire was not hampered by their English proficiency In addition, the English version was checked by her thesis supervisor on content validity, and the Vietnamese version was checked by the researcher’ TESOL M.A classmates, for the accuracy of the translated version Lastly, the reliability of the questionnaire was quantitatively calculated by Cronbach’s Alpha This reliability value of the questionnaire is presented in the following chapter

Collection procedure

At first, to guarantee ethical considerations, the researcher sent consent forms

(see Appendix C) to the Dean of the Faculty of Foreign Languages of COFER to ask

for his permission In this consent form, the researcher described the research title, research purposes and research instruments of the study as well as emphasizing confidentiality and willingness to participate in the research After the consent form was returned, it was duplicated into two copies, in which one was sent directly to the dean and the other was kept by the researcher

In process of administrating the questionnaires to the teachers, the researcher contacted with her friend who is in charge of teaching the two classes of TATM19I and TATM19K With hope of receiving this friend’s assistance, the researcher informed her about the researcher’s intended research topic with some general ideas related to it such as research title, research purposes and research instruments and requested her to distribute the questionnaire copies to college students of these two classes Especially, these students were allowed to complete the questionnaires and

returned them after one week After the obtained questionnaire copies had been checked, the researcher found that 82 collected questionnaires were valid since all 31 items were adequately responded and no copies had the same response applied to all

31 given items Therefore, the researcher analyzed data from these 82 accepted questionnaire copies

3.3.2.2 Student interview

Rationale

Interview is the other stage of data collection and is used to clarify and give a credible account of data already yielded by the questionnaire (Mackey & Gass, 2005) The researcher deployed this useful tool so as to grasp a more broaden picture of the students’ EFL speaking learning strategy use and possible challenges faced by them The concurrent employment of the questionnaire and interview permits a degree of triangulation in the study (Richards & Schmidt, 2002)

Description

Of the three types of interview, the semi-structured interview was selected for data collection in this study because it helps the researcher to obtain in-depth information uncovering what was occurring in the real world By nature, the paper writer manipulated the same string of questions but has the flexibility to discover for more answers by supplementing additional questions if necessary (Mackey & Gass, 2005) Regarding the content of interview, the researcher constructed a list of

interview questions or prompts to address to the content of the research questions (see Appendix B.1-2) The first theme mentioned to the EFL third-year students’

difficulties or problems in their learning speaking; followed by the second theme that focused on the EFL third-year students’ use of speaking learning strategies (e.g types, frequencies) And, the last theme was designed to discover the participants’ challenges in their speaking learning and use of speaking learning strategies (e.g

internal factors, external factors) Pertinent to the means of communication, the researcher carried out the five interviewing sessions (n=5) in Vietnamese language

so as to reduce the interviewees’ anxious and uncomfortable feelings to produce information exactly For the manner of interview conducting, one-on-one interviewing was exploited, by which the researcher could ask questions to and record answers from each participant at a time She highly appreciated the advantages of one-on-one interviewing that participants are not hesitant to speak and share ideas at their will Regarding the validation of the semi-structured interview, the researcher’s supervisor checked the content of the interview questions and gave feedback on it All the pre-determined questions of the semi-structured interview were written in English and then translated into Vietnamese so that the language barriers would not affect the results of the interview and this also allowed in-depth information to be obtained After the interview, all the information was transcribed into English

Collection procedure

Coupled with the questionnaire distribution, the researcher carried out one interviewing (n=5) In specific, on the dates of distributing the questionnaire copies, the researcher asked the EFL learners to participate in the interview sessions voluntarily Among these students, there were five volunteers Afterwards, the researcher contacted with these five students separately to decide the place and the time for individual interviews These interview sessions were implemented in a pleasant atmosphere using a string of prepared semi-structured questions and a tape-recorder During the interview, the participants were given a chance to express their thoughts, evaluations, suggestions at their will In addition, the researcher also used

one-on-field-notes to store the necessary information during this process

3.4 Analytical framework

3.4.1 Quantitative analysis of the questionnaire

Having finished the data collection procedure, analysis of these collected data was conducted At first, the SPSS version 20.0 software was manipulated to figure out the questionnaire responses, which yielded the descriptive statistics in the determinants of Mean (M) and Standard Deviation (SD) and Percentage (P) and Frequency (F) Secondly, the quantitative results analyzed from the questionnaires were organized into specific themes including:

 The faced speaking problems

 The used memory strategies (specific types, frequencies);

 The used cognitive strategies (specific types, frequencies);

 The used compensation strategies (specific types, frequencies);

 The used metacognitive strategies (specific types, frequencies);

 The used affective strategies (specific types, frequencies);

 The used social strategies (specific types, frequencies);

 The used overall strategies (direct, indirect);

3.4.2 Qualitative analysis of the semi-structured interview

Together with quantitative analysis from the questionnaires, interviews were also qualitatively analyzed Based on guidelines proposed by Ajiagbe, Sholanke, Isiavwe and Oke (2015), this phase is comprised of many consecutive steps, which is disclosed as following

Foremost, the researcher listened to the tape-recorder and wrote out the interviews into a word file Afterwards, the writer worked carefully to transcribe Vietnamese utterances into English sentences as intelligibly as possible Next, she read the five transcripts between 2 to 3 times to remove irrelevant words or phrases that had no meaning to the study to finalize these transcripts Then, the researcher used manual analysis method suggested by Creswell (2012) instead of computer analysis programs, in which she read the text data and used color coding to mark