A correlation study between self efficacy belief and oral performance of first year english majors at hoa sen university

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HO CHI MINH CITY UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY --- A CORRELATION STUDY BETWEEN SELF-EFFICACY BELIEF AND ORAL PERFORMANCE OF FIRST-YEAR ENGLISH MAJORS AT

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

HO CHI MINH CITY UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY

-

A CORRELATION STUDY BETWEEN

SELF-EFFICACY BELIEF AND ORAL PERFORMANCE OF FIRST-YEAR ENGLISH

MAJORS AT HOA SEN UNIVERSITY

Submitted to the Faculty of English Language

in partial fullfillment of the Master’s degree in English Language

Course code: 1641900

By

DAM KIM THAN

Supervised by

NGUYEN THI KIEU THU, Ph.D

HO CHI MINH CITY, JUNE 2018

i

CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY

I certify my authorship of the Master’s Thesis submitted today entitled:

A CORRELATION STUDY BETWEEN SELF-EFFICACY BELIEF AND ORAL PERFORMANCE OF FIRST-YEAR ENGLISH MAJORS AT HOA

SEN UNIVERSITY

In terms of the statement of requirements for Theses in Master’s Programs issued

by the Higher Degree Committee of Faculty of English Linguistics, Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology

Ho Chi Minh City, July 2018

DAM KIM THAN

ii

RETENTION AND USE OF THE THESIS

I hereby state that I, DAM KIM THAN, being a candidate for the degree of Master

of Art (English Linguistics), accept the requirements of the University relating to the retention and use of Master’s Theses deposit in the Library

In terms of these conditions, I agree that the original of my Master Thesis deposited in the Library should be accessible for purposes of study and research, in accordance with the normal conditions established by the Librarian for the care, loan and reproduction for theses

Ho Chi Minh City, July 2018

Signature:………

DAM KIM THAN

I would also like to show gratitude to Dr Nguyen Thu Huong, Head of the Department of English-American Language and Culture, for offering me an opportunity to conduct the survey at Hoa Sen University and recommending other teachers to assist me during the survey process

I’d like to acknowledge the assistance of Dr Tran Ngoc Tien and Dr Lu Van Tuan for arranging their busy time to give value comments on my research questionnaire

I am especially grateful to thank Mr Nicolas for all his willing and enthusiasms to help me conduct the survey in his five classes of Listening and speaking 1 in the 17.1A semester

My sincere thanks also go to all the students for their participation in the survey

I very much appreciate to my colleagues for supporting me in my work during my research

To all my friends and family members, I am appreciated for taking care of

me and encouraging me during my research

Finally, to whom I failed to mention, my deepest thanks and gratitude to all

of you

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ABSTRACT

Self-efficacy is known as a person's belief in his or her ability to successfully perform a particular task (Bandura, 1997) It affects feelings and thoughts, tasks choice, goals setting, how to cope with challenges, effort, and persistence (Bandura, 1997) Learners' with high self-efficacy may attain better learning outcomes

In English as a Foreign Language (EFL) context, the relationship between self-efficacy belief and academic performance has been studied widely with various results The study, therefore, aimed to examine the self- efficacy belief of first-year English majors at Hoa Sen University and the relationship between students' belief of their ability in speaking skill and their actual speaking performance

The target students of this study were 116 first-year students at the Department of English-American Language and Culture, Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, Hoa Sen University in the 17.1A semester, the school year 2017- 2018 A survey with the questionnaire was used to gather data on students’ speaking self-efficacy belief while the final speaking test results of the 17.1A semester, the school year 2017- 2018 was applied to measure the students’ oral performance

The findings showed that the speaking self-efficacy beliefs of first-year English majors at Hoa Sen University were at moderate level A positive relationship between students' self-efficacy and their speaking performance was found at a weak level Besides, the results also indicated that there was no difference in gender of the students’ self-efficacy beliefs Then, some recommendations or implications were suggested in other to help students improve their academic performance

Keywords: self-efficacy belief, ability, speaking task, speaking performance, oral performance, gender difference, EFL context

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY i

RETENTION AND USE OF THE THESIS ii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS iii

ABSTRACT iv

TABLE OF CONTENTS v

LIST OF TABLES viii

LIST OF FIGURES ix

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS AND SYMBOLS x

CHAPTER 1 1

INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 Background to the study 1

1.2 Rationale of the study 3

1.3 Objectives of the study 4

1.4 Research question 5

1.5 Scope of the study 5

1.6 Significance of the study 5

1.7 Definitions of the key terms 6

1.8 Organization of the thesis: 7

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 8

2.1 Conceptions of self-efficacy 8

2.1.1 Historical overview of self-efficacy 8

2.1.2 Definitions of self-efficacy 10

2.1.3 Similar constructs 12

2.1.4 Factors that influence Self-efficacy 14

2.1.5 Measuring Self-efficacy in academic settings 16

2.2 Previous studies on self-efficacy 18

2.2.1 Self-efficacy and gender 18

2.2.2 Self-efficacy and learning achievement in EFL context 20

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2.3 Conceptions of speaking 24

2.3.1 Definition of speaking 24

2.3.2 Functions of speaking 25

2.3.3 Factors affect performance in speaking skill of EFL students 26

2.3.4 Communicative competence & performance 27

2.3.5 Assessment of speaking skill 29

2.4 Conceptual framework 30

CHAPTER 3 32

METHODOLOGY 32

3.1 Research Design 32

3.2 Research location 33

3.3 Research Population 33

3.4 Research Instruments 36

3.4.1 Speaking Self-efficacy Questionnaire 36

3.4.2 Reliability and Validity of the Questionnaire 38

3.4.3 Final oral exam score 39

3.5 Data Collection Procedures 41

3.6 Data analysis procedures 42

CHAPTER 4 43

RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS 43

4.1 Introduction 43

4.2 Results 43

4.2.1 Students’ belief of their self-efficacy at speaking skill 43

4.2.2 Students’ actual oral performance 55

4.2.3 Gender differences in the students’ self-efficacy beliefs 57

4.2.4 Relationship between self-efficacy belief and oral performance 58

4.3 Discussion 64

4.3.1 Students’ self-efficacy beliefs in speaking skill 65

4.3.2 Gender difference in students’ self-efficacy beliefs 69

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4.3.3 The relationship between students’ self-efficacy beliefs and their

speaking performance 70

4.4 Summary 73

CHAPTER 5 74

CONCLUSION 74

5.1 Conclusion 74

5.2 Implications 75

5.3 Limitation of the research 77

5.4 Recommendations for further research 77

REFERENCES 79

APPENDICES 91

APPENDIX A: LETTER REQUEST FOR THE SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 91

APPENDIX B: SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE (ENGLISH VERSION) 93

APPENDIX C: SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE (VIETNAMESE VERSION) 95

APPENDIX D: FINAL SPEAKING TEST RESULTS 97

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LIST OF TABLES

Table 3.1 Gender of participants 34

Table 3.2 Level of participants 35

Table 4.1 Students’ General Feelings of the Speaking subject 44

Table 4.2 Students’ beliefs on their choices for handling challenges 45

Table 4.3 Students’ beliefs in their choices for setting goals 46

Table 4.4 Students’ beliefs in their efforts in a speaking task 47

Table 4.5 Students’ beliefs in their persistence in a speaking task 48

Table 4.6 Students’ beliefs in their ability to make presentation 49

Table 4.7 Students’ belief in their ability to ask questions 50

Table 4.8 Students’ belief in their ability to answer questions 51

Table 4.9 Students’ beliefs on their final examination score 52

Table 4.10 Summary of the students’ speaking self-efficacy beliefs 54

Table 4.11 Scores of the final examination 56

Table 4.12 ANOVA analysis for Gender differences in self-efficacy beliefs 57

Table 4.13 Correlations between self-efficacy beliefs and performance of making presentation 58

Table 4.14 Correlations between self-efficacy beliefs and performance of asking questions 59

Table 4.15 Correlations between self-efficacy beliefs and performance of answering to questions 59

Table 4.16 Correlations between self-efficacy beliefs and the final score 60

Table 4.17 Correlations between self-efficacy beliefs and oral performance of the final exam 60

Table 4.18 Consistent correlation between the variables 63

Table 4.19 Inconsistent correlation between the variables 64

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LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 2.1: Bandura’s Social Cognitive Theory (1986) 9

Figure 2.2: Sources of self-efficacy (Bandura, 1999) 16

Figure 2.3: Conceptual framework of the study 31

Figure 3 1 Gender of participants 34

Figure 3 2 Level of participants 35

Figure 4.1 Students’ General Feelings of the Speaking subject 44

Figure 4.2 Students’ beliefs in their choices for handling challenges 45

Figure 4.3 Students’ beliefs in their choices for setting goals 46

Figure 4.4 Students’ beliefs in their efforts in a speaking task 47

Figure 4.5 Students’ beliefs in their persistence in a speaking task 48

Figure 4.6 Students’ belief in their ability to make presentation 49

Figure 4.7 Students’ belief in their ability to ask questions 50

Figure 4.8 Students’ belief in their ability to answer questions 51

Figure 4.9 Students’ beliefs on their final examination score 52

Figure 4.10 Level of the students’ speaking self-efficacy beliefs 55

Figure 4.11 Scores of the final examination 56

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LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS AND SYMBOLS

ESL English as a Second Language

EFL English as a Foreign Language

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background to the study

The phenomenon of early school leaving students recently increases in Vietnam There is a significant number of students in higher education who have dropped out of school or have not graduated on time This is considered to be a great concern of the school administrators and teachers According to the internal report of the English Language Department at Hoa Sen University at a conference

in 2017, the average dropout rate compared to the beginning of the course was 20.8 percent Nearly 3.5 percent of students dropped out after their first year and it tended to increase over the next four years Meanwhile, the average rate of on-time graduation was only at 32.6% The poor academic performance was believed one

of the most important reasons for breaking off their studies early, the report said For first-year students, especially English major students, this issue deserves more attention due to the fact that after high school, students mostly have not achieved the level of English communication and then they are not qualified to use English in the university environment English language education in Vietnam has previously focused on reading, grammar, and vocabulary rather than developed the communication skills Therefore, students' English proficiency does not meet the requirements of communication Despite the government's efforts in implementing the National Foreign Language project in the period of 2008 to 2020 which is about the complete reform of the teaching and learning of foreign languages in every level of education in Vietnam with the purpose up to 2020 most of English learners have the ability to use English language fluently, up to now, this project has not met the initial target Students’ English proficiency is still low and they do not always have positive attitudes in learning (Phan Thi Tuyet Nga, 2015)

At the university level, students are taught more about English speaking and listening skills At Hoa Sen University, the English programs in the first year of

study specifically focus on the training of integrated oral skills in the subjects of Listening and Speaking, Basic Writing, and Reading The purpose is to provide students with comprehensive English language skills before entering academic subjects in the next semesters The Listening and Speaking 1 course is designed to develop students’ listening and speaking skills so that they can communicate in the English language confidently in real life According to the Listening and speaking

1 course outline, a variety of teaching modes are designed to promote the knowledge of declarations and procedures, student participation and collaboration

in a supportive learning environment which aims to provide a variety of input procedures to achieve quality learning goals However, the fact is that some students are still passive, nervous in speaking in front of the class and therefore performing poorly in their examinations Although the entry level of first-year English major students is from the Intermediate level, not all students can use English at the same level, especially for listening and speaking skills which are considered the most difficult skills for most of English learners in Vietnam It is said that EFL learners are mostly passive and less interactive in English-speaking classrooms This is because of their shyness, anxiety, and lack of self-confidence (Hamouda, 2012) This leads to the condition that first-year students who do not have expected academic grades in the first semester are unlikely to continue in the next semester

Studies have shown that students’ learning outcomes are not only dependent on intellectual ability but also on their psychological factors It is said that positive emotions give a positive influence on academic performance (Pekrun, 2002) It can

be explained that positive thinking helps people believe in the good things ahead, thanks to this, they have more motivation to devote their energies to work and will

be successful There is a common phrase that if you think you can, you can It indicates that successful people always have belief in themselves and what they do The more confidence people have in themselves, the greater their chances of success The center of the whole learning process is the learner's belief in his or her

ability to accomplish learning goals (Atsuta, 2003) According to psychologist Albert Bandura (1977), the path to success and the way a person interprets success and failure is greatly influenced by their self-efficacy belief He said that when a person believes in his or her ability, he or she will consider difficult tasks as a challenge rather than a threat to be avoided These people will quickly restore their self-esteem after failure or ineffective work In other words, how a person perceives his or her value in solving a problem will affect his or her actions and results This shows that self-efficacy make an essential contribution to one's success or failure Thanks to this, the school can understand their students in psychological aspects to provide instructional strategies that help to improve students’ learning outcomes, thereby reducing the dropout rate and increasing the on-time graduation rate

1.2 Rationale of the study

Self-efficacy has been studied in complementary in many fields all around the world including philosophy, psychology, health, business administration, and education Studies have proven that people with high self-efficacy are more likely

to make efforts to complete a task, and to persist longer in those efforts, than those with low self-efficacy (Schunk, 2010) Regarding the relationship between self-efficacy and academic performance, some studies have found that there is a positive correlation between these two variables (Pajares, 2007; Rahimi & Abedini, 2009; Ghonsooly & Elahi, 2010; Liu, 2013; Mills, et al, 2007; Martin, 2001; Farjami & Amerian, 2013; Swanson,2012,2014; Honicke & Broadbent, 2016; Shi, Lihong, 2016), while some other studies argue that there is no significant relationship between self-efficacy and language achievement (Erkan and Saban,2011; Tsai, 2013; Anaydubalu, 2010; Ghonsooly and Elahi, 2010; Mills et al., 2006; Cheng, 2001; MacIntyre et al., 1997) In addition, some studies have found the differences in the gender of students’ self-efficacy beliefs (Pajares, 2002; Pajares & Valiante, 2001; Idrus and Rohani, 2008; Khatiba, 2014) which implies gender need to be considered in studying learner’s self-efficacy belief Although

these studies have been conducted widely in ESL setting, very few studies have been conducted in EFL learning of higher education In addition, due to cultural differences, the results of these studies may not reflect the real situations in Vietnam So far, only some studies have examined teachers’ self-efficacy in Vietnamese context, no research has been found on students’ self-efficacy which is believed to help schools and teachers better understand the learning psychology of English learners, then providing appropriate training strategies to increase their learning effectiveness It is, therefore, necessary to adjust the psychology of the learner in which self-efficacy is a definitely important element The researcher expected that the study of self-efficacy belief on the subject of Vietnamese students would be helpful in contributing to the results of research in this field Besides, in the acquisition of a foreign language, speaking is considered a key skill to master and becomes a criterion in judging linguistic performances At the English-American Language and Culture department of Hoa Sen University, speaking is a subject on the curriculum during the first two years which made first-year English majors struggle with their study In addition, since language proficiency of higher education students is one of the important variables related to students’ self –confidence, therefore, there is a need to examine their perceptions

of self-efficacy in terms of personal capabilities to learn a foreign language and their perceived and actual English language proficiency level Hence, the present study aims to fill in the gap of self-efficacy in EFL learning in Vietnamese context

by exploring the self-efficacy beliefs among undergraduate freshmen English majors in relation to their oral performance at Hoa Sen university

1.3 Objectives of the study

The present study aims to examine the self- efficacy belief of first-year English majors at Hoa Sen University and the relationship between students' belief of their ability in speaking skill and their actual speaking performance In addition, the study also explores the difference in gender of the students’ self-efficacy belief Then some recommendations or implications were suggested in other to help

students improve their academic performance, this was believed to help decrease the dropout rate as well as increase the on-time graduation rate at Hoa Sen University

1.4 Research question

Regarding the lack of study on EFL students’ self-efficacy in the Vietnamese context, the present study is interested in knowing the English speaking self-efficacy belief of the first year English majors at Hoa Sen university by the following research questions:

1 What are the beliefs of self-efficacy in speaking skill of the first-year English majors at Hoa Sen university?

2 Do the self-efficacy beliefs of first-year English majors at Hoa Sen university show a difference according to gender?

3 Is there any correlation between the students’ beliefs of their self-efficacy and their actual English oral performance in the context of Hoa Sen university?

1.5 Scope of the study

The study focuses on understanding self-efficacy belief of first-year English majors at the Social Sciences and Humanities Department, Hoa Sen University in the 17.1A semester, the academic year 2017-2018 The study only sought for the students’ level of speaking self-efficacy beliefs, the relationship between the students’ speaking self-efficacy belief and their oral performance which collected from the final exam score of the 17.1A semester, and the difference of self-efficacy beliefs between male and female However, the thesis did not aim at finding students' problems in speaking learning or providing strategies to help students increase their speaking self-efficacy beliefs

1.6 Significance of the study

The results of this study confirm the relationship between learners’ belief in their ability which is self-efficacy belief, and their English performance The

finding would help raise an awareness of how students’ beliefs about self- efficacy contribute to their academic success, which fosters their confidence in English language learning Besides, teachers can determine which beliefs are influencing their students’ motivation in learning English in order to enhance their instructional practices In addition, the finding would provide information to Hoa Sen University to review their methods of training in order to improve students’ academic performance as well as reduce the dropout rate and increase the on-time graduation rate

1.7 Definitions of the key terms

The study uses a number of key terms and concepts which are defined as the followings:

Self-efficacy is defined as a person believes in his or her ability in a specific

task or specific situation (Bandura, 1995)

High self-efficacy is about the confidence of a person in his or her ability to

perform a task (Earley and Lituchy, 1991) People with high self-efficacy tend to target higher goals, put more effort and persistence to achieve the goals they set (Bandura, 2006)

Low self-efficacy is about the feeling unsure of his or her ability to perform a

task (Earley and Lituchy, 1991) These students view difficulty as obstacles rather than challenges and easy to give up (Bandura, 2006)

Speaking self-efficacy belief refers to students personal judgment in their

capacity to perform in speaking skill

Speaking is communication by means of spoken language It concerns the

ability of students to speak proficiently in the English language

Speaking performance or oral performance is the way the speakers convey

their ideas to the audience where their oral performance will show their competence In this study, the oral performance of students is performed in their final speaking exam in form of oral presentation

1.8 Organization of the thesis:

The present thesis is organized in five main chapters:

Chapter 1 is the introduction of the study It states the background information

of the study which including the dropout and not on-time graduation problems at Hoa Sen University, the role of self-efficacy in one's success or failure, and students learning situation This chapter also indicates the rationale, aims, research questions, scope, significance and definitions of the key terms of the study

Chapter 2 displays literature review of the study with regard to the two main

iterms self-efficacy and speaking performance, including an over view of the terms, factors influence them, and the relationship between the two variables Besides, gap for the present study and conceptual framework are also displayed in this

chapter

Chapter 3 presents how the research has been conducted in order to answer

research questions It involves the participants, place and time to conduct the research, the instrument and procedure used for collecting data, and data analysis

procedures

Chapter 4 reports results of the study such as the level of self-efficacy belief

of the students toward their speaking skill, the difference in gender of the students’ self-efficacy belief, the relationship between students’ speaking self-efficacy and students’ speaking performance Then, there comes a discussion on the findings with regard to the previous studies The research questions of the study are answered in details and some recommendations for action are also indicated in this chapter

Chapter 5 shows the summary of the main findings from chaper 4 and gives

some specific implications on the issue It also focus on limitation of the present study as well as provides some recommendation for further research regarding

self-efficacy belief in Vietnames context

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter presents the literature and studies that relate to this study Particularly, it initially touches on an overview of some concepts, factors affecting self-efficacy, the relationship between self-efficacy and academic success It also includes the conceptual framework of the study

2.1 Conceptions of self-efficacy

2.1.1 Historical overview of self-efficacy

The background of this study is mostly based on the Social Cognitive Theory from the famous psychologist Albert Bandura It is considered one of the most important theories that affect human learning and development The history of this theory, as well as the introduction of the term self-efficacy, will be stated in this section

The conceptual origin for the Social Cognitive Theory was explored in 1931 by Holt and Brown which stated that “people learn by imitation” with the name of Social Learning Theory (Holt & Brown, 1931; cited in Bigirimana, 2016) In 1941, Miller and Dollard modified the theory by arguing that if a person has an incentive

to acquire a knowledge of a specific behavior, that behavior will be learned through observation By imitating the actions that they have observed, the individual will continue to reinforce that action if it is rewarded (Miller et al., 1941; cited in Bigirimana, 2016) In other words, a person's behavior will be imitated depending on whether the model has received a positive or negative response Based on Miller and Dollard's views on the theory, Bandura along with his students and colleagues undertook a series of studies, called the Bobo Doll Experiment A series of experiments were made to explore why and when the children exhibited their aggressive behavior (Bandura, 1961, 1963, 1965) As a result of these experiments, Bandura published his first book on how behavior was imitated (Bandura, 1977) Bandura then published his second book in which he extended the original theory and renamed it from Social Learning Theory to Social Cognitive Theory (Bandura, 1986) According to social cognitive theory, the

learning process is the process of acquiring knowledge through the individual's perception of the information (Bandura, 1986) According to Bandura (1989), human activity is the result of interaction between the three elements: individual, environment, and behavior These three factors have a mutually interacting relationship which illustrated as in Diagram 1

Figure 2.1: Bandura’s Social Cognitive Theory (1986)

It is said that none of these factors is stronger or weaker and that all three factors are not always present at one time, but the interaction between these three factors varies depending on each individual, specific behavior, and the specific situation where the behavior is taking place (Phan Thi Tuyet Nga, 2015) According to Bandura (1997), environmental factors (such as teacher feedback), personal factors (such as self-efficacy judgements), and behaviors (such as performance) constantly influence each other

The relationships of these factors can be explained as follows: for instance, students believe that their performance (behavior factor) is poor because their teachers do not have enough teaching knowledge (environment factor), or in other words, the lacking of teaching knowledge of teacher (environment factor) affect students’ poor academic performance (behavior factor) And when academic achievement is poor (behavior factor), students do not feel confident about their learning ability (personal factor), which results in worse learning outcomes or learning performance (behavior factor) (Phan Thi Tuyet Nga, 2015) Thus,

Personal factors

(Self-efficacy judgements)

Behavioral factors (performance) Environmental factors

(Teacher feedback)

Bandura's Social Cognitive Theory provides a holistic view of human activity, whereby individuals are not passively receptive to environmental influences or determined by inheritance, there is a continuous interaction between the three elements of individual, environment, and behavior in the resolution of human actions From the theory, Bandura the first time introduce an important concept, which is the core element of this theory - the individual's perception of self-efficacy According to Bandura (1984), self-efficacy plays an important role in the learning process It can help learners to progress or impede their improvement (Bandura, 1984) According to Woolfolk (1998), self-efficacy can help to explain why despite the same capabilities, some people succeed while others fail

2.1.2 Definitions of self-efficacy

Self-efficacy is defined by Bandura (1986) as "people's judgments of their capabilities to organize and execute courses of action required to attain designated types of performance" (p 391) or by Schunk (1991) as "an individual's judgments

of his or her capabilities to perform given actions" (p 207) Agreeing with Bandura and Schunk, Pintrich (2003b) said that self-efficacy is "students beliefs about their ability to do the task" (p 107) while Artino (2012) argued that self-efficacy refers to an individual believing in his or her capability which does not need to match with his or her real capability in a specific task Although research results showed that most individuals often overestimate their academic ability (Pajares, 1996; Bandura, 1997; cited in Artino, 2012), it was believed that the slightly higher judgment of a person's actual ability could help to grow their effort and persistence in hard times (Bandura, 1986)

Besides, Bandura stated that “self-efficacy involves students’ judgments of their ability to perform a task within a specific domain” (Bandura, 1997) This means a person can not have high confidence in all areas or every situation of life (Bandura, 2006) For example, a learner can have high self-efficacy in speaking skills but low self-efficacy in writing skills Agreed with this view, some researchers also said that self-efficacy depends on specific situations, external

conditions, and social background and environment (Schunk, Pintrich, & Meece, 2008)

Especially, it was said that “self-efficacy beliefs determine how people feel, think, motivate themselves and behave” (Bandura, 1994) This means self-efficacy belief influences the way people feel and think (positively or negatively), how they choose to handle challenges and set goals, the amount of effort and the perseverance for a specific task (Bandura, 2006) The higher self-efficacy of a person, the more confident he or she is about success in a particular task domain People with “high assurance in their capabilities approach difficult tasks as challenges to be mastered rather than as threats to be avoided” (Bandura,1994) In the opposite, “people who doubt their capabilities shy away from difficult tasks which they view as personal threats” (Bandura,1994) Woolfolk (1998, p.393) also agreed that self-efficacy has an important role in determining how much effort to join in a task and how long a person can keep it to complete the task This can be understood that people who believe in their ability to perform a particular task will work harder and persist in achieving the goal while those who do not believe in their abilities argue that hard working would not cause achievement, and they are easy to quit the task

Self-efficacy is normally mentioned in the degree of the learners’ belief which are high self-efficacy and low self-efficacy People with high self-efficacy are likely to work harder whenever facing with challenging tasks and do not quit until the end as they believe that it will succeed, while people with low self-efficacy do not distribute much effort and easily abandon the task as they are not confident to perform it successfully (Bandura, 1997) Regarding this point of view, it was reported that high self-efficacy learners will recognize that they need to work harder when the task is difficult but they will make less effort on the task that is supposed to be easy (Sabmon, 1984)

In addition, the level of self-efficacy belief of people can affect their language achievement in a negative or positive way (Rahimi & Abedini’s, 2009) The

stronger the belief of self-efficacy the greater the persistence and the higher the probability that the task will be succeeded (Bandura, 2006) Johnson (2016) argued that although self-efficacy plays an important role in the learning process and learning outcomes, it is not the only factor affecting one's behavior This implies that a person with high self-efficacy does not mean that they will have good academic results if they do not have sufficient knowledge of the specific task or situation

In summary, Bandura's definition of self-efficacy shows that it is the perception of one's own ability in specific situations or specific tasks Self-efficacy affects feelings and thoughts, tasks choice, goals setting, how to cope with challenges, effort, and persistence Therefore, self-efficacy is important for predicting the level of personal success in performing tasks (Schunk & Parajes, 2005)

2.1.3 Similar constructs

Bandura (1997) has distinguished concepts that can be confused with efficacy such as self-concept, self-confidence, self-esteem, locus of control and outcome expectations

self-Self-esteem is the concept that normally confusing with self-efficacy

According to Bandura (2003), self-efficacy is concerned to individual perceptions

of one's ability in specific tasks or situations, whereas self-esteem often involves

an individual's perception of his or her value in general (Lane & Kyprianou, 2004; cited in Johnson, 2017) Therefore, individuals may claim that they are not capable

of performing tasks in a certain field, but this does not affect the perception of their self-worth in general In addition, self-efficacy influences the goals setting and predicts performance while self-esteem is not predictive of personal goals, performance or results (Mone et al.,1995)

Self-concept refers to the whole attitude, opinion and perception of individuals

about their ability for all aspects of life (Mishra, 2016) or refers to perceptions that

lead a person to build an attitude (good or bad) about himself, which can affect the individual's self-awareness, decision, and life in general (Bandura, 1997; Pietsch, Walker & Chapman, 2003; cited in Johnson, 2017) whereas self-efficacy is the judgment in a particular context of an individual regarding his or her ability to perform a particular task (Bandura, 1997) The common point between these two concepts is that if a person is not able to accurately assess his or her ability, there will be negative consequences and reduced motivation (Bandura, 1997; Gibson,

1996 Sargeant, Mann, Van der Vleuten, & Metsemakers, 2008; cited in Johnson, 2017)

Self-confidence is also different from self-efficacy Self-confidence concerns

to a general sense of strong beliefs in one ability where there is no specific situation or task, while “perceived self-efficacy refers to belief in one's agentive capabilities, that one can produce given levels of attainment” (p 382) (Bandura, 1997) Consequently, self -efficacy evaluation involves both the assertion of a capacity level and belief strength Confidence is considered “a catchword rather than a construct embedded in a theoretical system” (p 382) (Bandura, 1997)

Locus of control involves a general expectation that results are governed by

personal beliefs or by external factors (Rotter, 1966) “This dualistic view of control suggests that an external locus of control promotes self-directed behavior, whereas external locus of control inhibits one’s agentic abilities” (Zimmerman and Cleary, 2006) However, these two concepts have similarities in relation to the agentic approach of individual actions to environmental events (Badura, 1986; 1997)

Outcome expectation is a judgment of the likely consequence such

performances will produce while self-efficacy is a judgment of one’s ability to organize and execute given types of performances (Bandura (1977) Besides, self-efficacy beliefs predict action whereas outcome expectations relate to the usefulness of the action (Bandura, 1997; Henry & Stone, 1995; cited in Johnson, 2017)

2.1.4 Factors that influence Self-efficacy

Whether students have a starting point of self-efficacy beliefs at moderate, high

or low, there are ways to enhance the confidence in their ability to complete tasks

in speaking skills successfully for better academic results According to Bandura (1999), self-efficacy can be improved by four principal factors that influence self-efficacy as mastery experience, vicarious experience, verbal persuasion and psychological arousal

Mastery experience also called performance accomplishments is considered

the most potential for raising self-efficacy beliefs The more successful people have in the past, the more likely they are to enjoy success in the future Successful experiences help to build one’s self-efficacy belief while failure undermines it If only easy successes are experienced, people are likely to expect a quick result and

be frustrated when facing difficulties or failure However, if success is achieved through their effort and persistence, they can quickly recover self-efficacy belief after failure

Vicarious experiences or modeling is considered to be the second-factor

affecting self-efficacy beliefs If self-efficacy, in the master experience, is formed

on the basis of the experience of one's own successes or failures, it is, in vicarious experiences, formed through the individual's perception of success or failure of other people around to create the experience for themselves In particular, seeing someone else who is similar to them succeeds because of persisting in their efforts will help raise the perception of an individual that he or she can achieve such success On the other hand, observing others who have tried so hard but still failing will reduce the perception of the individual's ability to achieve that goal According to Bandura (1995), the degree of resemblance between an individual and the observed person is more convincing than the success and failure of patterns Therefore, if an individual believes that the person they observed has little or no similarity with them, he or she is almost unaffected by the performance of the model

Verbal persuasion or social persuasion refers to the encouragement of those

around them on personal ability will help the individual mobilize more effort and sustain it longer During the operation, the individual will focus on the advantages that are widely recognized, praised Conversely, when they are not encouraged, individuals tend to doubt themselves As a result, they tend to give more attention

to their shortcomings while doing tasks This makes their perceptions of their value degrade and therefore, they are more likely to encounter failure

Physiological arousal relates to physical and emotional states It is said that

positive mood helps to raise awareness of one’s ability, while depressed mood decreases the belief in their own capacity Similarly, a healthy body makes an individual perceive a positive sign of success, whereas, when being stressed or tired, they sense it as a sign of ineffectiveness Besides, Bandura (1999) indicated that with the same physical or emotional state, each individual has different explanations For example, people with high self-efficacy will consider their own stressful emotions as a stimulus to work harder to achieve their goals, in contrast, low self-efficacy people see it as a challenge that may lead to their failures

In summary, self-efficacy can be developed or influenced by the four sources which are mastery experience, vicarious experience, verbal persuasion and psychological arousal These sources of self-efficacy continually and reciprocally interact with each other and thus contribute to the development of students’ beliefs about their capabilities and academic potential, as well as let them understand how well they are learning and performing (Sewell & St George, 2000) According to Schunk (1991), “students derive cues signaling how well they are learning, which they use to assess efficacy for further learning Motivation is enhanced when students perceive they are making progress in learning In turn, as students become more skillful, they maintain a sense of self-efficacy for performing well” (p 209) This means self-efficacy for a specific task can affect and be affected by students' performance on the task Among the four sources, mastery experience is considered the strongest influence on the improvement of self-efficacy belief

which enhances a positive effect on performance (Bandura & Schunk, 1981; Bandura, 1997; Zimmerman, 1998b) Some studies have found it a positive impact

on students’ efficacy belief (Johnson, 2017) However, a study on teachers’ efficacy in Vietnamese context argued that “Social persuasion was the most influential source while Cognitive mastery experiences were an additional source” (Nga Thi Tuyet Phan, 2015) The difference of self-efficacy in culture implied more self-efficacy should be explored in Vietnamese context The influence of the four sources on self-efficacy can be illustrated as in figure 2.2

self-Figure 2.2: Sources of self-efficacy (Bandura, 1999)

2.1.5 Measuring Self-efficacy in academic settings

Most research on Self-efficacy uses the academic self-efficacy scale developed

by Bandura which measuring Self-efficacy for the performance of activities associated with various academic subjects as well as activities associated with general performance at school Several academic self-efficacy scales have been widely used such as General Self-Efficacy Scale (Sherer et al.’s, 1982), Self-efficacy scale (Wood & Locke, 1987), General Perceived Self-Efficacy Scale

Behavior & performance

(Schwarzer and Jerusalem’s, 1995), New General Self-Efficacy Scale (Chen et al.’s, 2001), and Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire MSLQ (Duncan

& McKeachie, 2005)

General Perceived Self-Efficacy Scale by Schwarzer and Jerusalem’s was

originally developed in German and has been translated into 28 different languages, including English (Schwarzer & Jerusalem, 1995) It has also been widely used primarily by researchers outside the United States It measures the beliefs on one’s ability to perform new and difficult tasks in different domains There are 10 items that rated on a 4-point scale with the anchors of not at all true and exactly true An example item is “I can handle whatever comes my way.”

General Self-Efficacy Scale (GSE) by Sherer et al (1982) has been widely used

in clinical, educational, and organizational settings (Chen et al., 2001) These items tap a “general set of expectations that the individual carries into new situations”

17 items of the scale are rated on a 5-point scale with the anchors from agree strongly to disagree strongly (Sherer & Adams, 1983) An example item is “If I can’t do a job the first time, I keep trying until I can.”

New General Self-Efficacy Scale by Chen et al (2001) with eight items rating

on a 5-point scale with the anchors from strongly disagree to strongly agree An example item is “I will be able to achieve most of the goals that I have set for myself.”

Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire (MSLQ) was developed to

measure the types of learning strategies and academic motivation used by college and university students (Duncan & McKeachie, 2005) The psychometric properties of MSLQ, which consists of 6 motivation subscales and 9 learning strategy subscales with 81 items, were examined (e.g., Barker & Olsen, 1995; Pintrich, Smith, Garcia, & McKeachie, 1993; Sachs, Law, Chan, & Rao, 2001) These 15 subscales can be used together or separately One of the subscales is

“Self-Efficacy for Learning and Performance,” which is composed of 8 items These eight items measure student beliefs of how well they can succeed in an

undergraduate course, but cannot measure the specifics of language learning as self-efficacy needs to be tailored to the particular domain of interest (Bandura, 2006) Other subscales of MSLQ are about goal orientation, task value, expectancy, cognitive and metacognitive strategies, and resource management strategies, none

of which was designed for English language learners

The scale that comes closest to meeting the objectives of the current study was the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire by Duncan and McKeachie (2005) as it focuses on measuring Self-Efficacy for Learning and Performance However, the scale can not measure self-efficacy in a specific situation of learning, especially it does not refer to EFL learning Since the present study focused on English speaking domain in particular of undergraduate students in the EFL context, the researcher further made a revised survey questionnaire which adapted from Bandura’s Guide for constructing self-efficacy scale (2006) The Speaking Sel-efficacy Questionnaire of the present study will be clearly described in the next chapter

2.2 Previous studies on self-efficacy

2.2.1 Self-efficacy and gender

Gender is a concept that involves many aspects of human life, such as perception, habits, behavior, society, and culture A number of studies concerning gender have produced effective findings in the past few decades such as learning styles and strategies from the gender perspective (Oxford and Ehrman, 1995), relationship between gender and academic achievement of students (Murphy, 1980), influences of the student’s gender on the patterns of teacher-student classroom interaction (Sunderland, 1998)

Regarding self-efficacy, several studies reported significant differences in the level of self-efficacy between genders Generally, studies noted that males have high self-efficacy beliefs in natural subjects such as math, technology, science, and have low self-efficacy beliefs in social studies such as language and literature In contrast, females show that they have high self-efficacy beliefs with language arts

and have low self-efficacy with science subjects Consequently, in language learning, self-efficacy belief of female is reported higher than that of male (Pajares, 2002; Pajares & Valiante, 2001; Idrus & Rohani, 2008; Khatiba, 2014)

According to Pajares (2002), females reported lower academic science efficacy than males This difference emerges in middle to late primary school (Andre, Whigham, Hendrickson & Chambers, 1999; Pajares, 2002), but there was not found the consensus on the reason why such gender differences (Dalgety & Coll, 2006)

self-Some studies stated that gender differences in self-efficacy disappear when the learners’ previous academic achievement is controlled for (Pajares, 2002) However, Cervone and Palmer (1990) argued that in the absence of previous academic achievement, males still reported a statistically significantly higher self-efficacy than females As experience was gained, this difference decrease but was not eliminated by the end of their study Webb-Williams (2014) with her study on

24 girls and 28 boys aged between 10 and 12 years from two primary school classrooms in England showed that gender differences in self-efficacy were significant with boys holding a lower sense of self-efficacy than girls coupled with lower performance According to the finding, boys’ self-efficacy scores were significantly correlated with the performance but this relationship was lower than that of the girls Regarding four sources of self-efficacy, some researches suggested that such differences exist A study from Zeldin and colleagues on 25 males and females in careers in science, technology, engineering, or mathematics explored some surprising in gender differences (Zeldin et al., 2008; Zeldin & Pajares, 2000) Their finding showed that the most important source of self-efficacy for males was mastery experiences, while vicarious experiences and verbal and social persuasion was considered the most significant sources for females

Differences found between male and female regarding their perceived efficacy suggested that any effort to improve perceived self-efficacy must take

self-gender into consideration This study, therefore, delves into the pivotal role of academic self-efficacy and gender in high-achieving students’ performance in English speaking with a view to making relevant recommendations

2.2.2 Self-efficacy and learning achievement in EFL context

Self-efficacy is known as a person's belief in his or her ability to successfully perform a particular task (Bandura, 1997) Therefore, there have been considerably studies on self-efficacy within the context of education, mostly in motivating learners, self-regulation, and academic achievement (Bandura, 1986; Graham & Weiner, 1996; Zimmermerman, 2000; Linnenbrink & Pintrich, 2002; Mills, 2004; Pintrich & Schunk, 1996; Schunk, 1991; Martin, 2001; Honicke & Broadbent, 2016; Meral, 2012; Tiyuri, 2016 ) It is said that self-efficacy can be recognized as

a considerable predictor of learners’ accomplishment (Multon, Brown, & Lent, 1991; Pajares, 1996, 1997, Schunk & Pajares, 2005) In other words, learners with high self-efficacy may attain better learning outcomes (Shi & Lihong, 2016)

In the context of EFL, the role of self-efficacy in learners' academic achievement has been widely studied through teachers’ efficacy belief, students’ efficacy belief, the relationship between self-efficacy and some factors such as language learning strategies, emotional states, motivation, and language accomplishment A number of studies have been conducted on different aspects of language learning suggest a significant correlation between self-efficacy belief and language performance in EFL context (Pajares, 2007; Rahimi & Abedini, 2009; Ghonsooly & Elahi, 2010; Liu, 2013; Mills, et al, 2007; Martin, 2001; Farjami & Amerian, 2013; Swanson,2012,2014; Honicke & Broadbent, 2016; Shi, Lihong, 2016), while some other studies argue that there is no significant relationship between self-efficacy and language achievement (Erkan and Saban,2011; Tsai, 2013; Anaydubalu, 2010; Ghonsooly and Elahi, 2010; Mills et al., 2006; Cheng, 2001; MacIntyre et al., 1997) Particularly, self-efficacy belief is normally measured in general English or in the specific tasks of language skill such as listening, speaking, reading, and writing

For general English, the results from studies of Ghonsooly, Elahi and Golparvar (2012) showed a strong correlation between self-efficacy and students’ performance in general English In addition, studies have shown that self-efficacy belief plays a significant role in predicting academic accomplishment (Doordinejad

& Afshar, 2014; Hsieh & Schallert, 2008; Rahemi, 2007; Rahimpour & Jahan, 2010; Wigfield, 1994; Zimmerman, Bandura & Martinez-Pon, 1992)

Nariman-For listening performance, Chen (2007) studied the relationship between efficacy beliefs and learners' performance in listening skill Two hundred and seventy-seven students from Taiwanese college were required to fill out the survey forms of English Listening Self-efficacy The results showed that the level of the learner's self-efficacy belief strongly impacted upon their English listening performance Listening self-efficacy belief, therefore, was considered a predictor

of listening performance Rahimi and Abedini's (2009) studied the role of efficacy in relation to listening comprehension which is the students’ listening exam achievement The results suggested that learners’ self-efficacy beliefs are closely related to their listening proficiency This means that students who have high self-efficacy belief in their listening ability perform better in their test results

self-In addition, the results provided an important information, that is depending on the level of self-efficacy beliefs of learners, their learning outcomes are positive or negative Mills et al., (2006), however, found that listening self‐ efficacy and listening proficiency was positively related only to the female participants

For writing performance, Hosseini Fatemi and Vahidnia (2013) conducted research on 93 Iranian EFL learner to assess the relationship between goal-setting, motivation and self-efficacy The participants were requested to take an essay test and answer questionnaires of motivation The result found a close relationship between writing accomplishment of English learners and their self-efficacy beliefs Shah et al (2011) conducted their research by giving 120 Malaysian secondary students writing tests and then scoring to assess their actual writing performance The students were asked to fill in writing self-efficacy questionnaires The result

revealed a moderate level of students’ writing self-efficacy belief Besides, a significant correlation between students’ self-efficacy beliefs and their writing performance was found However, the findings from the study of Erkan and Saban

on EFL students explored a negative correlation between writing apprehension and writing performance, writing apprehension and writing self-efficacy, yet there was

a positive correlation between writing apprehension and writing attitude

Regarding reading performance, some studies (Kargar & Zamanian, 2014; Naseri & Zaferanieh, 2012; Ghonsooly & Elahi, 2011) revealed a significant connection between self-efficacy beliefs and reading performance Mills et al., (2006) also found a positive relationship between students' self‐ efficacy and their reading proficiency in French However, different from studies from the past, Asadi Piran (2014) stated that there was no relationship between self-efficacy and reading performance by the survey on ninety-two EFL learners Other studies also discovered no difference in gender between the two variables (Kargar & Zamanian, 2014; Naseri & Zaferanieh, 2012)

Concerning speaking performance or oral performance, there is a slight number

of studies on speaking self-efficacy Liu (2013) examined the impact of the English Bar on speaking self-efficacy of college students through surveys and interviews The results showed that students who normally speak English at the English Bar have a higher level of self-efficacy than the ones who rarely or never visit the Bar It is believed that while observing other fluent English speakers, students' self-confidence and self-efficacy will increase (Liu, 2013) Sundari (2014) argued that there was no difference between speaking self-efficacy between male and female, and speaking activities were not influenced by the learners’ speaking self-efficacy and gender Asakereh (2015) conducted his study on one hundred Iranian EFL undergraduate students through questionnaires and oral final scores and found that oral self-efficacy beliefs markedly predict students' speaking performance Another research by Leeming (2017) on first-year students with questionnaire and interview displayed that the learners’ self-efficacy raised when

they became used to the class, however, context also influenced the change of their self-efficacy Khoirunniswah (2005a) in his study with 52 students of Muhammadiyah University of Surakarta affirmed a noticeable equivalence between self-efficacy and oral performance Moreover, Anggraini, Setiyadi and Sudirman (2014a) evaluated the relationship between self-efficacy and the engagement of English learners in speaking class which additionally revealed self-efficacy belief as an accomplished element in deciding student’s engagement in class

In Vietnamese EFL context, there are extremely few studies on self-efficacy In the article “Sources of self-efficacy of Vietnamese EFL teachers”, Phan Thi Tuyet Nga (2015) examined Vietnamese EFL teachers' awareness of factors influence self-efficacy The findings confirmed the influence of the four source on teachers’ self-efficacy belief However, different from the previous studies, this study reported that Social persuasion was the most effective source instead of Master experience which considered the additional source in this study In addition, Vietnamese culture and context were found as a remarkable influence factor on teachers’ self-efficacy information processing Nguyen Thanh Nga & Ngo Dung Nga (2017) made an interview with twenty teachers at four English Language Centers in Hanoi who displayed low efficacy due to characteristics of the school and acceptance of teachers on English for specific purposes Ngo Hong (2017) examined the attitudes of 970 Vietnamese EFL learners and investigated further the degree to which these attitudes can be explained by their self-efficacy and autonomy The finding showed nearly fifty-one per cent of the difference in Information Communication Technology (ICT) perspectives could be clarified by self-efficacy and self- directed learning

In summary, most of the previous studies have concluded the importance of self-efficacy in English language learning A number of studies found a significant correlation between self-efficacy and EFL learning achievement, while few studies reported no relationship between the two variables Although there are some

studies of speaking self-efficacy in EFL context, little research has taken the relationship between self-efficacy and speaking performance into consideration, especially in the context of Vietnam Furthermore, among the few studies found on self-efficacy in Vietnamese EFL context, no research has been found on students’ self-efficacy regarding speaking skill Since the study of self-efficacy concept in relation to language achievement is still new and less research has been done (Pajares, 2000), especially in Vietnam, there is a need of more studies to investigate the correlation between self-efficacy and language achievement, particularly oral performance in the Vietnamese context This thesis, therefore, is appropriate and necessary

2.3 Conceptions of speaking

2.3.1 Definition of speaking

Speaking is one of the most important skills that need to be addressed and enhanced as it is an effective means of communication However, this skill is also considered one of the most difficult aspects of language learning Bygates (1991) defined oral competence as the ability to create abstract sentences that adapt to the situation at the time of speaking Others considered oral competence as an ability

to understand the meaning of communication between two or more speakers (O’Maley & Valdez, 1996) or an interactive process in which communication meaning is built upon delivering and receiving of information (Brown & Yule, 1983) Hence, it can be said that oral performance is the way the speakers convey their ideas to the audience where their oral performance will show their competence such as grammar, fluency, accuracy, size, interaction and coherence category automatically

Oral skill is, especially, a mandatory requirement for English majors since the students are required to speak English fluently and accurately In order to speak English language fluently and accurately, students need to be able to know characteristics of speaking performance to develop this skill Fluency is believed one of the main characteristic of the speaker performance since oral skill is

described as the ability to express a sequence of ideas fluently (Lado, 1961) and pausing is one of the factors of fluency (Thornbury, 2005; Foster & Skehan in Nunan, 2004) This means that the speaker needs to speak English in a fast and easy way with as little hesitation as possible so that the listener does not lose their interest in the conversation (Hughes, 2002) Another important aspect is accuracy which is determined as “how well one’s speech is produced in relation to the rule system of the target language” (Ellis & Barkhuizen, 2005) In addition, the learner should pay attention to the grammatical structure, the vocabulary and the pronunciation of the language (Thornbury,2005; Harmer, 2001; Brown, 2001) However, Harmer (2011) argued that in order to succeed in communication, learners must have the knowledge of the target language and the skills to use that language That is, the learner must know how to use the language appropriately in each specific situation and know how to debate or negotiate in the conversation in order to achieve success in communication In addition, Brown (2008) stated that social interaction plays an important role in language learning, that is, how learners speak and what they convey in nonverbal language Nunan (1989) added that the comprehensive combination of phonological features such as stress, rhythm, intonation patterns, and negotiating meaning will help learners succeed in oral communication

Thus, speaking skill provides the speaker the ability to communicate effectively, allow him to convey his message in a thoughtful and convincing manner According to Richards (2008), speaking is normally used by learners to assess their English proficiency Therefore, it can be said that speaking skill plays

a key role in learning a language

2.3.2 Functions of speaking

Basing on the framework for functions of speaking by Brown and Yule’s, Richards (2008) divided speaking into three versions of talks: interaction, transaction, and performance Each of speech activities has different in form and function and requires different teaching approaches

Talk as interaction addresses to “conversation” and targets on speakers and

how they intend to express themselves to each other than on the message Moreover, it does not focus on making oneself understood clearly and accurately Such exchanges may be in form of formal or informal, depending on the circumstances Chatting, small talk, joking, opening and closing conversations are considered the kinds of talk as interaction

Talk as transaction concerns to situations where the focus is on what is said

or done (Richards, 2008) In contrast with Talk as interaction, Talk as transaction focuses on the message, the clear and accurate understood in the exchange It is message-oriented and the topic is clear Class discussion, problem-solving activities, and making a telephone call are considered the kinds of Talk as transaction as they focus on the effective and meaningful transfer of information rather than the participants and the interaction

Talk as performance refers to public talk that transmits information before an

audience, such as classroom presentations, public announcements, and speeches (Richards, 2008) Talk as performance may be “in the form of monologue rather than dialogue, often follows a recognizable format (e.g., a speech of welcome), and

is closer to written language than conversational language Similarly, it is often evaluated according to its effectiveness or impact on the listener, something that is unlikely to happen with talk as interaction or transaction” (Richards, 2008) The performance focuses on both listener or audience and message In addition, form and accuracy are considered important in this kind of talk

2.3.3 Factors affect performance in speaking skill of EFL students

The main goal of all English teaching is to provide learners with the ability to use effectively English in communication (Davies & Pearse, 2000) In fact, after many years of studying English, some of them have achieved good results, some still can not communicate in this language For that reason, factors affecting the learner's English speaking skills have been studied over the years for the purpose

of helping both learners and teachers to aware of it in order to create appropriate

learning and teaching strategies which are to help improve their ability to communicate in English

Gardner and Lambert (1972) suggested that background knowledge affects

learners’ oral achievement Students are often thought to be passive, and less communicate with teachers in the classroom One of the reasons for that is the lack

of background knowledge as they may have little knowledge of the content to say, vocabulary and grammar to use, they then feel anxious, lack of confidence and cannot answer questions from the teacher (Baker & Westrup,2003) Meanwhile, Walberg (1989) stated that there are three groups of factors that influence learners'

oral performance which are teaching factors, learners factors, and environments

factors Some studies later argued that language factors affect speaking skills such

as inadequate and inappropriate vocabulary, timidity (Mueen, 2000, cited in Roud), learning strategies (Plailek, 2015) However, most studies refer to

Al-psychological factors such as lack of confidence, anxiety and depression, fear of making mistakes, feeling shy, and feeling hesitated (Ur, 1996; Mueen, 2000) In

line with this view, Ariyanti (2016) concludes that “psychological factors which hinder the students in performing their speaking are possibly caused by the feeling

of too worried of making mistakes and the lack of self-esteem which are related to shyness and their anxiety level By looking at this phenomenon, it is better for teachers to give their students assistance so that they can perform their English speaking better” Therefore, the present thesis is believed to contribute to the studies on psychological factors that influence students’ oral performance

2.3.4 Communicative competence & performance

Communication skills are defined as an interactive activity to achieve mutual understanding between two or more people (Daley, 1984) This means that communication is a process of exchanging information between the speaker and the listener for a purpose through verbal and non-verbal methods Previous researches have shown that an active communication environment will provide students opportunities to learn how to communicate and help to improve their

communication skill (Cleland, Foster & Moffat, 2005) Universities, therefore, need to provide more activities to develop students' communication skills to meet the challenges of the globalized world It is suggested that students should master communication skills in different cultural contexts in order to succeed in their chosen career (Penbek, Yurdakul, & Cerit, 2009) since a graduate student with good technical knowledge and good communication skills will be more likely to succeed in the future

According to Chomsky (1965), there is a distinction between competence - the monolingual speaker-listener’s knowledge of language, and performance - the actual use of language in real situations The term Communicative competence defined by Canale (1983) as the language understanding system, including grammar rules, vocabulary and all other language components, as well as the combination of the language components It consists of four components: grammatical competence, discourse competence, sociolinguistic competence, and Strategic competence The term Communicative language competences includes three components: linguistic competences which consists of lexical competence, grammatical competence, semantic competence, phonological competence, orthographic competence, and orthopedic competence; sociolinguistic competences which is the knowledge and skills required to deal with social issues related to language use; and pragmatic competences which relates to the understanding of the learner or language user about the principles by which the message is organized and used to perform the usual communication (CEFR, 2001,

P 108)

While William (2011) believed language competence as the capability in performance and comprehension of utterances, Chomsky in Garnham (1986) stated that language performance is the use of language in the real context It can be said that if communicative competence is something hidden inside the human being that we can not directly observe and evaluate, communicative performance is used

to measure communicative competence That is the way a language system is used

in communication, whether through listening, speaking or reading Only through observable performance can we assess the actual capacity of the learner It can be a test or an exam However, observing and evaluating learners' capacity through performance is sometimes inaccurate as it depends on many factors such as attention skills of the learners, techniques that teachers use to observe and evaluate

In other words, a test or final test will not provide enough information to accurately assess the learner's true language ability Therefore, regular assessment

or continuous assessment needs to be used

2.3.5 Assessment of speaking skill

Assessing student learning outcomes is an essential part of the teaching and learning procedure The purpose of the assessment is not only to appraise the learner’s learning outcomes but also respond to their performance in order to help enhance and encourage learning (Nicol & Milligian, 2006) It is said that the types

of criteria we use to assess a speaker’s oral performance during a classroom activity will depend on which kind of talk we are talking about and the kind of classroom activity we are using (Green, Christopher, & Lam (2002) Regarding oral performance, there are many measurements to assess such as fluency, accuracy (Ellis & Barkhuizen, 2005) or “the observation and rating of student behavior and products in contexts where students actually demonstrate proficiency” (Stiggins & Bridgeford, 1985) Many studies have proven that evaluating learning outcomes has a positive effect on learners' progress (Jones & Tanner, Murray, 2006; Nitko & Brookhard, 2007; Stiggins, 2008)

Criteria for evaluation is an important and indispensable element of assessment Understanding the criteria of an oral performance assessment will help students know what teachers expect them to do to improve their English skills The criteria are also useful for teachers to judge fairly and accurately In the present study, the assessment criteria of presentation skill was used by the teacher to evaluate students’ oral performance

The importance of presentation skills in developing the ability to communicate