Difficulties encountered by the final year students of english faculty at thuongmai university in terms of verbal communication with foreigners on their course of internship at companies an

Therefore, this study is to investigatedifficulties encountered by final-year students of English falcuty at ThuongmaiUniversity in terms of verbal communication with foreigners during t

THUONGMAI UNIVERSITY ENGLISH DEPARTMENT

-GRADUATION PAPER DIFFICULTIES IN TRANSLATING SOCIAL ENGLISH ARTICLES INTO VIETNAMESE FACED BY THE THIRD-YEAR ENGLISH MAJOR STUDENTS AT THUONGMAI UNIVERSITY AND SOME

SUGGESTED SOLUTIONS

Hanoi, 2020

HÀ NỘI - 2015

Along with the demand of global integration, learning foreign languages forinternational communication has become more and more vital to Vietnamese students.Communication skills are essential for a student’s academic success and future careerprospects In today’s challenging environment, students must not only possessacademic expertise, but also the requisite skills to enhance their learning andemployability prospects in the future However, it is not easy for English learners inthis context to achieve their fluency and proficiency in English verbal communicationskill due to certain internal and external factors Therefore, this study is to investigatedifficulties encountered by final-year students of English falcuty at ThuongmaiUniversity in terms of verbal communication with foreigners during their course ofinternship at companies The data obtained from the questionnaire with 50 final-yearstudents of English Faculty at Thuongmai University The findings show that EnglishFaculty’s final-year student faced both psychological and linguistics difficulties.Suggested solutions are proposed to tackle such difficulties in helping studentsimprove their English verbal communication skill

Also, I would like to show my sincere thanks to all my teachers at EnglishFaculty, Thuongmai University who have given me knowledge, useful lessons, whole-hearted advice during four years studying here.

I’m grateful to the final-year students of English Faculty at ThuongmaiUniversity for their enthusiastic participation Their sharing has become the mainsources of data in my research

Last but not least, I am deeply grateful to my family, my friends who alwaysstand by and support and become a great motivation to help me overcome difficulties

in the process of doing this research

Because of the limited time, knowledge and practical experiences, there will havesome shortcomings and mistakes in this study Therefore, I sincerely hope to receiveyour comments and suggestions for the perfect of my own graduation paper

Hanoi, 2020Student

Le Thi Anh

ABSTRACT i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ii

ABSTRACT iii

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS vii

LIST OF CHARTS AND TABLES viii

CHAPTER 1: OVERVIEW OF THE STUDY 1

1.1 Rationale 1

1.2 Previous studies 2

1.2.1 In the world: 2

1.2.2 In Vietnam: 3

1.3 The aims of the study 4

1.4 Research subject 5

1.5 Significance of the study 5

1.6 Scope of the study 5

1.7 Research methodology 6

1.8 Organization of the study 6

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 7

2.1 Overview of communication 7

2.1.1 Definition of communication 7

2.1.2 Communication process 8

2.1.3 Importance of communication in business 10

2.1.4 Types of communication 12

2.2 Verbal communication 13

2.2.1 Definition of verbal communication 13

2.2.2 Importance of verbal communication in business 14

2.2.3 Basic skills of verbal communication 14

2.3 Difficulties in verbal communication with foreigners during the internship of Engish Faculty’s final-year students 16

2.3.1 Factors that cause difficulties 16

2.3.2 Difficulties in verbal communication with foreigners 17

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY AND RESEARCH FINDINGS 22

3.1 Methodology 22

3.1.1 Context of the study 22

3.1.3 Data collection methods 23

3.1.4 Method of data analysis 24

3.2 Findings and discussion of the findings 24

3.2.1 Questionnaire results 24

3.2.2 Discussion of the findings 38

CHAPTER 4: RECOMMENDATIONS AND SUGGESTIONS 40

4.1 Summary of the study 40

4.2 Suggestions to improve student’s English verbal communication skill 40

4.2.1 Suggestions for the students 40

4.2.2 Suggestions for Thuongmai University 45

4.3 Limitations of the study 46

4.4 Suggestions for further studies 46

CONCLUSION 47

REFERENCES 48

APPENDIX – SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRES 50

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

LIST OF CHARTS AND TABLES

No Charts and tables Name

2 Chart 2 The frequency of English verbal communication

3 Chart 3 English verbal communication competence

4 Chart 4 The important of English verbal communication at

companies

5 Chart 5 The frequency of English verbal communication on

the internship course

6 Chart 6 Skills that cause difficulty most

7 Chart 7 Confidence level in English verbal communication

with foreigners

8 Chart 8 Anxiety level in English verbal communication with

foreigners

9 Chart 9 Difficulty in listening comprehension

10 Chart 10 Difficulty in vocabulary

12 Chart 12 Difficulty in pronunciation

13 Table 1 The cause of difficulties

14 Table 2 Suggestions of the students

CHAPTER 1: OVERVIEW OF THE STUDY

1.1 Rationale

In the trend of globalization today, the importance of English cannot be deniedand ignored because it is widely used everywhere in the world English is consideredthe most commonly used language on the planet when nearly 60 countries use English

as the main language, besides their mother tongue and nearly 100 countries useEnglish as the second language Therefore, English plays an essential role in thecurrent era of globalization

In the era of market economy, Vietnamese enterprises have also kept up with thistrend and strengthened economic exchanges with other countries, cooperating withforeign companies to implement business strategies and export - import goods Withsuch a vibrant integration situation, English is an essential part in business

When Vietnam has joined the World Trade Organization (WTO), the business ofgoods exchange is not only encapsulated within the country but also cooperates withmany different countries in the world Currently, in parallel with domestic enterprises,Vietnam also has the presence of international companies, which are followed byleaders, key pillars of foreigners Therefore, without English, especially Englishcommunication, we will face many difficulties in such a highly professionalenvironment

Employers always require candidates to know English communication, fluentEnglish, even master all 4 skills (listening - speaking - reading - writing) to meet theneeds of communication and working with foreign clients or partners In particular, theEnglish communication with foreign partners or customers is a key factor affecting thebusiness of the enterprises Therefore, employees are often required to have goodcommunication skills, especially verbal English communication

Final-year students of Thuongmai University in general and the English Faculty

in particular will have to undergo a 4-week internship at companies Normally, Englishstudents have to use English during the internship to work or communicate withforeigners However, not all students have good English speaking skills or all their

performances are good This can affect their internships and even the business results

of the companies

In my reasearch, I will investigate the difficulties that English-majored final-yearstudents usually encounter when verbally communicating with foreigners during theirinternship and suggest some solutions to this problem Therefore, I would like to

conduct the study entitled “Difficulties encountered by the final-year students of English Faculty at Thuongmai University in terms of verbal communication with foreigners on their course of internship at companies and some suggested solutions” I hope this study will help them find out their verbal communication

difficulties and provide them some solutions to improve this skill

1.2 Previous studies

A number of empirical studies have examined the same research concern related

to difficulties encountered by university English-majored students while participating

in oral classroom activities There are some researches that I have found to support mygraduation paper:

1.2.1 In the world:

A paper by Zhengdong Gan in 2012 reports the result of a study that aimed toidentify the problems with oral English skills of ESL (English as a second language)students at a tertiary teacher training institution in Hong Kong The study, by way ofsemi-structured interview, addresses the gap in our understanding of the difficultiesESL students encountered in their oral English development in the context of aBachelor of Education (English Language) program Insufficient opportunities tospeak English in lectures and tutorials, lack of a focus on language improvement in thecurriculum, and the input-poor environment for spoken communication in Englishoutside class apparently contributed to a range of problems that closely related to thesociocultural, institutional and interpersonal contexts in which individual ESL studentsfound themselves The results of the study lead us to question the effectiveness of theknowledge- and pedagogy-based ESL teacher training curriculum They also point to aneed to incorporate a sufficiently intensive language improvement component in thecurrent teacher preparation program

A study named “Speaking Problems Faced by the English Department Students

of Syial Kuala University” in 2012 by Hendra Heriansyah, this paper discusses thedifficulties and causes perceived by English Department students of Syiah KualaUniversity in learning speaking and the efforts made by them to overcome theirdifficulties From both observation and interview, this study reveals that all studentsencountered various difficulties in English speaking ability The prevalent problemfaced by the students was “lack of vocabulary”, while “being afraid of makingmistakes” was the prime cause of problem which hindered them to speak Thestudents had striven to cope with their problems in learning speaking, but theirattempts had not been yet ample and successful

Another study related to difficulties for students’ speaking skills was “A study onstudent’s English speaking problems in speaking performance” by Dea Aries Fitriani,Rahayu Apriliaswati and Wardah at English Education Study Program, Language andArts Education Department, Teacher Training and Education Faculty of TanjungpuraUniversity, Pontianak This research focuses on student’s English speaking problemsand the aim of this research is to find out the most dominant problem in speakingperformance faced by the third semester students of English Education Study Program

of FKIP Tanjungpura University Pontianak in their speaking performance Theresearch method used in this research is the descriptive method The writer usesquestionnaire and video recording as the tools of data collection From thequestionnaire findings, psychological problem is the most dominant problem faced bythe third semester students of English Education Study Program of FKIP TanjungpuraUniversity Pontianak with mean percentage 20.70%; lack of self-confidence 20.11%and anxiety 21.27% It is followed by linguistic problems with mean percentage19.53%; grammar 22.16%, vocabulary 20.19%, and pronunciation 16.25% Inconclusion, psychological problem is the most dominant problem faced by the thirdsemester students of English Education Study Program of FKIP TanjungpuraUniversity Pontianak

1.2.2 In Vietnam:

A study named “Challenges to speaking skills encountered by English-majoredstudents: A story of one Vietnamese university in the Mekong Delta” by three students

of Can Tho University Journal of Science investigated challenges of speaking skillsfaced by English-majored freshmen in a Vietnamese university The data obtainedfrom the questionnaire with 131 students, individual interviews with lecturers, andclass observation The findings show that English freshmen faced both internal andexternal challenges, especially the latter ones regarding the limitation of Englishspeaking environment and extracurricular activities.

Another study was conducted by a Vietnamese student, which is “Englishcommunication skills of students with foreigners - propose solutions to join non-governmental organizations” This paper aims to understand the current status ofstudents' ability to communicate with foreigners in the research subjects, therebyproposing solutions to improve that skill More specifically, we focus on theeffectiveness of participating in non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in the hopethat this will be a new solution to help students not only improve their Englishcommunication skills but also Improve confidence when working in an internationalenvironment

There are some previous studies on speaking or communication skill ofuniversity students All these studies show that different aspects of the problem givethe reader a more multidimensional view and to recognize the importance ofimproving verbal communication skill Hope that my research will contribute a littlebit to anyone having difficulties in speaking to foreigners and be able to help them tounderstand more specifically about it

1.3 The aims of the study

The study is carried out to find out the answers for the following questions:

a “What difficulties do final-year students of English Faculty at Thuongmai University encounter in terms of verbal communication with foreigners during their course of internship at companies?”

b “What are possible causes leading to these difficulties?”

c “What are possible solutions to this problem?”

The study is aimed to:

- Cover background knowledge of verbal communication

- Find out the difficulties that final-year students of English Faculty atThuongmai University encounter in terms of verbal communication with foreignersduring their course of internship at companies.

- Suggest some realistic and appropriate solutions to help them improveEnglish verbal communication skill

It should be noted that this paper shouldn’t be considered exclusive to final-yearstudents of English Faculty, Thuongmai University In fact, the fundamental conceptsand result of this paper can be applied to most English learners

1.5 Significance of the study

The purposes of the study are to find out the difficulties and then propose somesolutions to improve English verbal communication skills Therefore, as a result, thisresearch is expected to bring significant benefits and become a useful resource for bothstudents and teachers

Firstly, for students, through this research, they can identify their weaknesses andthen find out appropriate solutions for improvement

Secondly, when this research has been completed, its findings and suggestionswill become an effective tool to help the further and deeper investigations

1.6 Scope of the study

The study mainly focuses on overviewing the difficulties that the final-yearstudents of English Faculty at Thuongmai University encounter in terms of verbalcommunication with foreigners during their course of internship at companies andsuggesting some appropriate solutions to the problem in order to help them improvetheir English verbal communication skill The result of this paper was based on thesurvey questionnaire given to English-majored final-year students

- After consulting relevant references, I design my online questionnaire andsend it to 50 final-year students of English Faculty at Thuongmai University tocomplete.

- Lastly, after participants completed the survey questionnaire, the results werecollected and analyzed by using tables and charts

1.8 Organization of the study

This study includes the following parts:

- Chapter 1: Overview of the study

In this chapter, the reasons why the topic was chosen are stated Besides,previous studies, aims of the study, research subjects, significance of the study, scope

of the study, research methodology and organization of the study are also mentioned

- Chapter 2: Literature review

The relevant theoretical backgrounds are revised in this chapter as the base forthe research being carried out It focuses on the concepts of communication in generaland verbal communication in particular

- Chapter 3: Methodology and research findings

The content starts with the type of research methodology used for this study Itdescribes the development and how the study is carried on Then, the research resultarchieved and discussion of the findings will be presented

- Chapter 4: Suggested solutions

In this chapter, the suggested solutions will be presented basing on the resultdiscussed in the previous chapter This chapter will show a brief summary of the study,discuss the limitations of the study and make some suggestions for further researches

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

Fred G Meyer defines “communication” is the intercourse by words, letters ormessages

We can now proceed to define communication from what we have seen above

To define means to give the precise and exact meaning of a word The exact meaning

of the word communicate is “to share” or “to participate” The dictionaries say thatcommunication is the transmission of a message or information by speaking orwriting Another dictionary declares that communication is giving or exchanginginformation, signals, messages by talk or gestures or writing Yet another definitionsays that communication is social intercourse Communication is all this and muchmore A good definition should not only give the precise meaning but also throw light

on the scope of the word/expression

Communication is giving, receiving or exchanging ideas, information, signals ormessages through appropriate media, enabling individuals or groups to persuade, toseek information, to give information or to express emotions

This broad definition includes body-language, skills of speaking and writing Itoutlines the objectives of communication It emphasizes listening as an importantaspect of communication

According to Oxford English Dictionary, “communication” is the imparting orexchanging of information by speaking, writing, or using some other medium; thesuccessful conveying or sharing of ideas and feelings

As this definition makes clear, communication is more than simply thetransmission of information The term requires an element of success in transmitting orimparting a message, whether information, ideas, or emotions.

A communication therefore has three parts: the sender, the message, and therecipient

The sender ‘encodes’ the message, usually in a mixture of words and non-verbalcommunication It is transmitted in some way (for example, in speech or writing), andthe recipient ‘decodes’ it

Of course, there may be more than one recipient, and the complexity ofcommunication means that each one may receive a slightly different message Twopeople may read very different things into the choice of words and/or body language

It is also possible that neither of them will have quite the same understanding as thesender

In face-to-face communication, the roles of the sender and recipient are notdistinct The two roles will pass back and forwards between two people talking Bothparties communicate with each other, even if in very subtle ways such as through eye-contact (or lack of) and general body language In written communication, however,the sender and recipient are more distinct

2.1.2 Communication process

The communication is a dynamic process that begins with the conceptualizing ofideas by the sender who then transmits the message through a channel to the receiver,who in turn gives the feedback in the form of some message or signal within the giventime frame Thus, there are Seven major elements of communication process:

Chart 1 Communication process Sender: The sender or the communicator is the person who initiates the

conversation and has conceptualized the idea that he intends to convey it to others

Encoding: The sender begins with the encoding process wherein he uses certain

words or non-verbal methods such as symbols, signs, body gestures, etc to translatethe information into a message The sender’s knowledge, skills, perception,background, competencies, etc has a great impact on the success of the message

Message: Once the encoding is finished, the sender gets the message that he

intends to convey The message can be written, oral, symbolic or non-verbal such asbody gestures, silence, sighs, sounds, etc or any other signal that triggers the response

of a receiver

Communication Channel: The Sender chooses the medium through which he

wants to convey his message to the recipient It must be selected carefully in order tomake the message effective and correctly interpreted by the recipient The choice ofmedium depends on the interpersonal relationships between the sender and thereceiver and also on the urgency of the message being sent Oral, virtual, written,sound, gesture, etc are some of the commonly used communication mediums

Receiver: The receiver is the person for whom the message is intended or

targeted He tries to comprehend it in the best possible manner such that thecommunication objective is attained The degree to which the receiver decodes themessage depends on his knowledge of the subject matter, experience, trust andrelationship with the sender

Decoding: Here, the receiver interprets the sender’s message and tries to

understand it in the best possible manner An effective communication occurs only ifthe receiver understands the message in exactly the same way as it was intended by thesender

Feedback: The Feedback is the final step of the process that ensures the receiver

has received the message and interpreted it correctly as it was intended by the sender

It increases the effectiveness of the communication as it permits the sender to knowthe efficacy of his message The response of the receiver can be verbal or non-verbal

The Noise shows the barriers in communications There are chances when the

message sent by the sender is not received by the recipient

2.1.3 Importance of communication in business

The implementation of policies and programmes of management is possible onlythrough effective communication

We can understand the importance of communication from the following:

2.1.3.1 An aid to managerial performance:

A manager can take appropriate decisions with the help of communication Theproblems may be solved without much difficulty by the manager The manager can getthings done by sub-ordinates through communication He can impart the objectives oforganization to the subordinates through communication

Thus, communication acts as a tool of management

2.1.3.2 Achieving co-ordination:

A large-scale business organization employs a large number of workers They areworking on the basis of division of work and specialization There is a need for co-ordination among such workers to attain organization goals The coordination isobtained through communication

According to Mary Curling Nilen, “Good communications are essential to ordination They are necessary upward, downward and sideways, through all the levels

co-of authority and advice for the transmission, interpretation and adoption co-of policies, forthe sharing of knowledge and information and for the subtler needs of good moraleand mutual understanding”

2.1.3.3 Helps in smooth working:

Communication helps the workers to know the real situation prevailing in anorganization Subsequently, workers perform their duties without any delay, whichleads to the smooth functioning of an organization According to G R Terry,

“communication serves as the lubricant fostering for the smooth operations of themanagement”

2.1.3.4 Increase managerial efficiency:

Out of the total time available to the manager, the manager nearly spends 80% ofhis time in transmitting the information to others regarding the business targets, rules,programmes, policies, etc Communication helps the manager discharge his dutiessystematically and facilitates him to increase his efficiency

2.1.3.5 Helps in decision-making:

Good communication system provides all the necessary information, whichenables the manager to take quality decisions in the proper time Again, thesedecisions are communicated to those who are in need of them According to ChesterBarnard, “the first executive function is to develop and maintain a system ofcommunication”

2.1.3.6 Maintaining industrial peace:

The main reason for industrial unrest is lack of communication or impropercommunication This creates a strained relationship between the management and theworkers Communication helps both management and workers to understand eachother and facilitates industrial peace

2.1.3.7 Aid to leadership:

Management uses the communication as transmitter to forward its ideas, feelings,suggestions and decisions to the employees In the same way, the employees expresstheir responses, attitudes and problems through communication to the management.Under this two-way communication, the management can assume itself as a leader ofits employees

2.1.3.8 Aid to job satisfaction:

If the employees know what would be done and for what purpose, they canperform in a better way and efficiently Employees know the expectations of themanagement If their performance is not up to the standard, they can improve it.Employees may wish to know how their performance is correlated with theachievement of objectives These are possible through effective communication Ifeffective communication exists, employees can get job satisfaction

2.1.3.9 Saving of time:

Effective communication results in the saving of time A manager cancommunicate easily to all his subordinates by sitting in his room There is no need forthe manager to meet all the sub-ordinates personally

In turn, the manager can get all the information from his sub-ordinates Thisresults in the savings of time and effort for both of them

2.1.3.10 Aid to public relation:

The term public includes customers, potential customers, shareholders, members

of the public, state government, central government and the like The management cancreate good image among the public through effective communication In this way, themanagement can maintain better public relations

Spoken or verbal communication, which includes face-to-face, telephone, radio

or television and other media

Non-verbal communication, covering body language, gestures, how we dress or

act, where we stand, and even our scent There are many subtle ways that wecommunicate (perhaps even unintentionally) with others For example, the tone ofvoice can give clues to mood or emotional state, whilst hand signals or gestures canadd to a spoken message

Written communication: which includes letters, e-mails, social media, books,

magazines, the Internet and other media Until recent times, a relatively small number

of writers and publishers were very powerful when it came to communicating thewritten word Today, we can all write and publish our ideas online, which has led to anexplosion of information and communication possibilities

Visualizations: graphs and charts, maps, logos and other visualizations can all

communicate messages

2.2 Verbal communication

2.2.1 Definition of verbal communication

It is communication through the use of verbalized sounds and spoken words Itincludes the use of the sounds, words, sentences, contexts and speech Words helpcommunicators express their likes, dislike, and more complex emotional experiencesHumans communicate verbally in face-to-face conversations Meetings,interviews, conferences, speeches and phone calls are other forms of verbalcommunication We constantly participate oral communication in our daily-lifesituations by either speaking or listening to people The process will be a success if thespeaker can choose the best words that convey the meanings he intended to say andmeets the hearer’s interpretations

The effectiveness of the verbal communication depends on the tone of thespeaker, clarity of speech, volume, speed, body language and the quality of words used

in the conversation In the case of the verbal communication, the feedback isimmediate since there are a simultaneous transmission and receipt of the message bythe sender and receiver respectively

The sender must keep his speech tone high and clearly audible to all and mustdesign the subject matter keeping the target audience in mind The sender shouldalways cross check with the receiver to ensure that the message is understood inabsolutely the same way as it was intended Such communication is more prone toerrors as sometimes the words are not sufficient to express the feelings and emotions

of a person

The success of the verbal communication depends not only on the speakingability of an individual but also on the listening skills How effectively an individuallistens to the subject matter decides the effectiveness of the communication Theverbal communication is applicable in both the formal and informal kind of situations

2.2.2 Importance of verbal communication in business

In the field of business and especially in the world of corporate adopting andapplying the trait and quality of having a clear and transparent way of verbalcommunication holds a lot of importance and significance Excellent verbalcommunication is a key to maintaining successful business relationships Effectivecommunication causes productivity to increase, errors to decrease and operations torun smoother

 The way employees communicate with each other portrays an organization’simage and this image could be the first impression or the last

 Good verbal communication skills of the employees of an organization fosterexcellent business relationships with other organizations, customers, suppliers, etc

 Good verbal communication at the workplace is critical to the companieswith a workforce from a diverse background It helps reduce the barriers producedbecause of cultural and language differences Many multinational companies arrangetraining to inculcate effective communication skills in their employees which provevery beneficial in the long run

 Effective verbal communication between employer and employee alsoincreases job satisfaction level

 Employees feel secure when they are communicated effectively Receivingthe right and updated information from their superiors boost their confidence andproductivity

 Excellent verbal communication skills increase the ability of the individuals

to share ideas, thoughts and concerns with each other

2.2.3 Basic skills of verbal communication

2.2.3.1 Speaking

As one of the two main skills of verbal communication, speaking skill plays amore important role Speaking is defined as an interactive process of constructingmeaning that

involves producing, receiving and processing information Its form and meaningare

dependent on the context in which it occurs, the participants, and the purposes ofspeaking (Burns & Joyce, 1997)

Good communication requires effective speaking Speaking effectively is defined

as speaking in such a way that the message is clearly heard and, if possible, actedupon There are two main elements to speaking effectively: what to say, and how tosay it

What to say means the choice of words It is worth considering the choice ofwords carefully Speaker will probably need to use different words in differentsituations, even when discussing the same subject For example, words used whensaying to a close colleague will be very different from those used in a formalpresentation or interview

Similarly, the way to speak will also vary in different situations However, thereare also likely to be some common factors: for example, whether the speaker naturallytalk quietly or loudly, and how to use body language

2.2.3.2 Listening

According to Oxford Living Dictionaries, to listen is to give attention to sound oraction When listening, one is hearing what others are saying, and trying to understandwhat it means

Listening is key to all effective communication Without the ability to listeneffectively, messages are easily misunderstood As a result, communication breaksdown and the sender of the message can easily become frustrated or irritated

An effective conversation requires active listening Active listening involveslistening with all senses As well as giving full attention to the speaker, it is importantthat the “active listener” is also “seen” to be listening - otherwise the speaker mayconclude that what they are talking about is uninteresting to the listener.

In work, good listening skills can lead to better customer satisfaction, greaterproductivity with fewer mistakes, and increased sharing of information that in turn canlead to more creative and innovative work

2.3 Difficulties in verbal communication with foreigners during the internship of Engish Faculty’s final-year students

2.3.1 Factors that cause difficulties

Difficulties encountered by the final-year students of English Faculty at TMU interms of verbal communication with foreigners on their course of internship atcompanies in the current study include difficulties related to internal factors andexternal factors

2.3.1.1 Internal factors

a Linguistics problems

According to Doris and Jessica (2007) language problems actually serve as one

of the important reasons behind poor academic performance These problems maybecome the obstacles for the students to enhance and improve their verbalcommunication ability The reasons why the students are having difficulties in theirverbal communication with foreigners are they are poor in grammar, vocabulary,pronunciation and influenced by the mother tongue Those problems are related tolinguistics problems

b Psychological problems

Other problems that may become a barrier for the students to become a goodEnglish communicator is the psychological problems Xinghua (2007) states thatpsychological problems are those problems which often interfere emotional andphysical health, relationships, work productivity, or life adjustment such as nervous,lack of self confidence and afraid to communicate These problems may affectstudents’ performance in their oral communication ability

2.3.1.2 External factors

a Teaching curriculum and syllabus

A number of teaching curriculum and syllabus issues have directly affectedstudents' ability to verbally communicate in English Specifically, the lack of separatemodules on listening and speaking skills, the lack of extra-curricular activities inEnglish and especially the lack of foreign lecturers

b The influence of using Vietnamese

Many students are influenced by Vietnamese in how to use grammaticalstructures, how to combine words to form complete sentences They combined thewords or sentences unsuitably, they spoke anything what they thought without rules.Another aspect that can be affected by the mother tongue is pronunciation.Because Vietnamese does not have the ending sounds, stress and linking sounds, thespeakers may forget these elements when speaking in English

c Accent, speaking speed of the interlocutors

According to Goh (1999), 66% of learners mentioned a speaker’s accent as one

of the most signification factors that affect listener comprehension Ikeno and Henson(2010) find that unfamiliar accent will decrease the accuracy of the words Non-nativeEnglish speakers from different regions have the different accents, students will havedifficulty in listening comprehension because they are not familiar with these accents.The average speaking rate for non-native speakers is slower than the speakingrate for native speakers Therefore, for a learner who English is a second language,they are accustomed to the slow speaking speed, when meeting native speakers whospeak quickly, it will be difficult for them to catch words and understand the meaning

of the sentence the speakers say

d Working environment

Factors related to the working environment affect students’ ability tocommunicate in English is that companies do not take measures to encourage dailycommunication in English between employees

2.3.2 Difficulties in verbal communication with foreigners

2.3.2.1 Linguistics difficulties

Linguistics is a scientific study of language such as the study of languagestructure (grammar), words, and phonology According to Spolsky & Hult (2008),

generally linguistics comprises the detailed of vocabulary, grammar, andpronunciation Linguistics difficulties are those difficulties which make students’verbal communication ability become poor There are some linguistics difficulties thataffect someone in verbal communication Those problems are:

The problems of vocabularies occur when someone is lack of vocabulary needed

to talk and does not know how combine the vocabularies into a good sentence Khan(2005) states that the numbers of students who learn English as a foreign languagehave difficulties to use word and expression to communicate In addition, Doris andJessica (2007) also state that in the real communication, nobody paid much attention tothe correct grammar expression, but emphasized the content and how to reply.Students are clearly known what they are going to say in the source language, butwhen they have to switch the language itself into the target language such as English,they often get confuse to combine and use the proper vocabularies needed

b Poor in grammar

Grammar is a study in which sentences are structured and formatted, so that itmay be considered a bit boring to study correct grammar since it really is worth thetime and effort If learners do not know the rules of grammar, they will never be able

to communicate using English effectively According to Celce-murcia (2001) grammarbecome difficult because learners do not learn structures one in a time Even thelearners appear to have mastered a particular structure; it is not uncommon to find

backsliding occurring with the introduction of new form to the learners’ interlanguage.For example, the learner who has mastered the third singular person marker on thepresent tense verb is likely to over-generalize the rule and apply it to newly emergingmodal verb, thus producing errors such as “she cans speak English” These errors mayappear when the students speak since they have not mastered the English grammar.

c Poor in pronunciation

English has become a language which connects people all over the world Thesecond or foreign language learners are also demanded to speak English naturally likenative speaker According to Hinkel (2005), a second language learner needs to masterthe individual characteristic of the sound of a new language Furthermore, it will begood for the students to be able to speak naturally like the native speaker itself.According to Burns (2003), it is more important that the English speakers can achieve:

- Intelligibility (the speaker produces sound patterns that are recognizable asEnglish)

- Comprehensibility (the listener is able to understand the meaning of what issaid)

- Interpretability (the listener is able to understand the purpose of what is said)For example, the speaker might say “It’s hot today” as “Is ho day” This isunlikely to be intelligible because of inaccurate sounds, stress, and patterns As aresult, the listener would not find the speaker comprehensible, because the meaning isnot available Clear pronunciation is essential in verbal communication The variousfeatures that make up the production of sounds in English are:

- Suprasegmental features: linking, intonation, and word stress

- Segmental features: phonemes, consonant and vowel sounds

Pronunciation is as important as any other aspects of foreign language learninglike syntax or vocabulary Correct pronunciation is very necessary to develop verbalcommunication skill Pronunciation also has close connections to the other fields such

as listening and even grammar Once a person can pronounce correctly the endings ofthe words, for example, he can, at the same time give grammatical information

d Poor in listening comprehension

Steinberg (2007) and Azmi Bingol, Celik, Yidliz, and Tugrul Mart (2014)defined listening comprehension as one’s ability to recognize another through sense,aural organs and allocate a meaning to the message to understand it According toRichards, John Platt, and Heidi Platt (2000) and Pourhosein Gilakjani and SeyedehMasoumeh Ahmadi (2011), listening comprehension is the process of understandingspeech and it concentrates on role of linguistic units such as phonemes, words, andgrammatical structures and the role of listener’s anticipations, the situation andcontext, previous knowledge, and the subject.

According to Hamouda (2013), EFL learners have crucial problems in listeningcomprehension because universities pay attention to grammar, reading, andvocabulary Listening and speaking skills are not significant parts of many books andteachers do not consider these skills in their classes Listening comprehension plays ansignificant role in verbal communication To have an effective conversation, thecommunicator must understand correctly and fully what the interlocutor is sayingbefore he/she can respond Poor listening comprehension ability can be caused bymany factors such as unfamiliar vocabulary and structures, accents, length and speed

of listening, cultural differences, etc

2.3.2.2 Psychological problems

Psychology is the science or the study of the thought processes and behavior ofhumans and other animals in their interaction with the environment Psychologicalproblems are those problems, which often interfere the emotional or physical health.These psychological problems may bring negative effect towards student’s verbalcommunication ability

a Lack of self-confidence

Over a quarter of a million people in this world have problems towards theirconfidence Self-confidence is knowing that we have the capacity to something goodand being positive thinking According to Elliot (1998), concept of self-confidencerelates to self-assuredness in one’s personal judgement, ability, power, etc., sometimesmanifested excessively Good self-confidence comes from a focus on the self (self-consciousness) Lack of self-confidence can be made-up of several different aspectssuch as guilty feeling, shy turned inward, unrealistic expectations of perfection, false

sense of humility, fear of change or making mistake, depression, etc Depression canactually be a result of a lack of self-confidence.

Here are some of the characteristics of lack self-confidence:

- A major confidence crisis

- A lack of faith in themselves to take on new challenges

- Difficulty of being assertive

- Fear of confrontation

- An extremely low opinion on themselves

- Difficulty in one area such as speaking in social group

- Social phobia

It is commonly understood that students’ lack of confidence usually occurs whenstudents realize that their conversation partners have not understood them or whenthey do not understand other speakers In this situation, they would rather keep silentwhile others do talking showing that the students are lack of confidence tocommunicate In response to this, Tsui cited Nunan (1999) says that student who lack

of confidence about themselves and their English necessarily suffer fromcommunication apprehension

Lack of self-confidence may bring the students into a threat of believing that theyare not going to be a good English verbal communicator This lack of self-confidencealso becomes a great problem which affect students’ speaking performance It isdifficult for the students to master English verbal communication if they are notconfident with their own speaking ability

b Anxiety

Generally, anxiety refers to a transitory emotional state or conditioncharacterized by feeling of tension and apprehension and heightened autonomicnervous system activity (Spielberger, 1972), a state that can have negative and positiveeffects, and which motivates and facilities as well as disrupting cognitive action such

as learning

The students’ low ability to talk to foreigners, in many cases, causes anxiousfeeling among many students In this case, the students may end up with nothing to saytowards their interlocutors They may confront certain feelings such as nervous,

anxious, worry, shy, feeling afraid or fear of something worse happen whether they aretrying to talk better Students themselves have to realize their own psychologicalproblems and they also have to deal with their own anxiety states So the students canverbally communicate in English better in the future.

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY AND RESEARCH FINDINGS

3.1 Methodology

3.1.1 Context of the study

English has fast become the most widely used language in the world of trade andcommerce over the past decade or two In today’s business oriented world, English iswidely used as the major medium of communication for both small business concernsand large corporate entities alike In almost all of the developing nations all over theworld, English is the preferred language in the business community as many businesspartners nowadays do not speak the same native language

As a result, having an excellent knowledge of English for business has becomevital for success in any employee’s career Though English language proficiency is notthe only criterion for career development, its importance in the corporate world iswidely recognized Due to the globalized market, employees need to have day-to-daybusiness dealings and communication with executives, partners or clients fromdifferent parts of the world Therefore, English is the common language used toconnect them together Proper English does not mean only the ability to makegrammatically correct sentences but also the other related skills for effectivecommunication like presentation skills, convincing and negotiation skills andinterpersonal skills using English

For final year students of universities in general and the English Faculty at TMU

in particular, the internship process is an important step for them to become familiarwith the environment, working style and professional expertise in the companies sothat they will not be surprised after graduation For English-major interns, verbalcommunication with foreigners during the internship is inevitable This requires notonly professional knowledge, cultural understanding but also good communicationskills Therefore, it causes many difficulties for final-year students when conductingtheir internship courses at companies

3.1.2 Participants