Difficulties in English presentation skills of first year English major students at Thuongmai University and some suggested solutions

Difficulties in English presentation skills of first year English major students at Thuongmai University and some suggested solutions Difficulties in English presentation skills of first year English major students at Thuongmai University and some suggested solutions Difficulties in English presentation skills of first year English major students at Thuongmai University and some suggested solutions Difficulties in English presentation skills of first year English major students at Thuongmai University and some suggested solutions Difficulties in English presentation skills of first year English major students at Thuongmai University and some suggested solutions Difficulties in English presentation skills of first year English major students at Thuongmai University and some suggested solutions Difficulties in English presentation skills of first year English major students at Thuongmai University and some suggested solutions Difficulties in English presentation skills of first year English major students at Thuongmai University and some suggested solutions Difficulties in English presentation skills of first year English major students at Thuongmai University and some suggested solutions Difficulties in English presentation skills of first year English major students at Thuongmai University and some suggested solutions Difficulties in English presentation skills of first year English major students at Thuongmai University and some suggested solutions Difficulties in English presentation skills of first year English major students at Thuongmai University and some suggested solutions Difficulties in English presentation skills of first year English major students at Thuongmai University and some suggested solutions Difficulties in English presentation skills of first year English major students at Thuongmai University and some suggested solutions Difficulties in English presentation skills of first year English major students at Thuongmai University and some suggested solutions Difficulties in English presentation skills of first year English major students at Thuongmai University and some suggested solutions Difficulties in English presentation skills of first year English major students at Thuongmai University and some suggested solutions Difficulties in English presentation skills of first year English major students at Thuongmai University and some suggested solutions Difficulties in English presentation skills of first year English major students at Thuongmai University and some suggested solutions Difficulties in English presentation skills of first year English major students at Thuongmai University and some suggested solutions Difficulties in English presentation skills of first year English major students at Thuongmai University and some suggested solutions Difficulties in English presentation skills of first year English major students at Thuongmai University and some suggested solutions

Nowadays, with the development of the world economy, English is not only thelanguage used solely in English speaking countries but also the international languageused throughout the world This language is also currently playing more important role

in this global integration in which most of international business deals using English asthe mean of communication among enterprises or business men Along with thedemand of global integration, learning foreign languages for internationalcommunication has become more and more vital to Vietnamese students

Apart from the importance of English, many Vietnamese learners still face a lot

of difficulties when making presentation in English It is not easy for learners in thiscontext to achieve their fluency and proficiency in English presentation activities Dataused for analysis in this graduation paper were gathered through survey questionnairesand analyzed by both qualitative and quantitative methods 100 first year students ofEnglish Faculty were chosen to be research participants This study was conductedwith the aims of figuring out the difficulties in the English presentation activities andalso proposing some useful solutions to improving effectively presentation skills Inaddition, on the basis of the findings, the researcher hopes that this study would be ameaningful material and offer useful suggestions for further studies

During the process of completing this graduation paper, I have encountered with many problems in English, as well as the way to express my idea However,with the great help, assistance and encouragement from teachers, family and friends; Ihave overcome these difficulties and completed this graduation paper successfully.First of all, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to Mrs Le Thi TuyetNga, M.A who is my supervisor from English Faculty at Thuongmai University whohas not only given me many invaluable suggestions and comments but also provided

me with valuable materials

In addition, I would like to thank all teachers of English Faculty at ThuongmaiUniversity for their precious and useful lessons during my four-year study which havebeen then the foundation of this study Last but not least, my sincere thanks aredelivered to my parents and friends for their encouragement and assistance during thistime

Because of limited time, knowledge and practical experience, the study’s errorsare unavoidable Therefore, I honestly look forward to receiving comments andsuggestions to make it be perfect

Ha Noi, December 4th 2020

Bui Thi Oanh

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ABSTRACT i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii

TABLE OF CONTENTS iii

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS v

LIST OF TABLES AND CHARTS vi

CHAPTER 1: OVERVIEW OF THE STUDY 1

1.1 Rationale 1

1.2 Previous studies 2

1.2.1 Studies abroad 2

1.2.2 Studies in Vietnam 3

1.3 Aims of the study 3

1.4 Research and objective subjects 4

1.5 Scope of the study 4

1.6 Research methodology 4

1.6.1 Data collection instruments 4

1.6.2 Data collection procedures 5

1.7 Organization of the study 5

CHAPTER 2: THE THEORETICAL BASIS 7

2.1 The definition of presentation and presentation skills 7

2.1.1 The definition of presentation 7

2.1.2 The definition of presentation skills 7

2.1.3 Components of English presentation skills 8

2.1.4 The important roles of English presentation skills 8

2.2 The definition of limitation 10

2.3 The definition of limitation in English presentation skills 10

2.3.1 Objective factors 10

2.3.2 Subjective factors 10

CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH FINDINGS 12

3.1 Data Analysis 12

3.1.1 General information 12

3.1.2 English usage and general evaluation 12

3.2.1 Difficulties and solutions to improving English speaking skills 16

3.2.2 Difficulties and solutions to improving English listening skills 22

3.2.3 Difficulties and solutions to improving public presentation skills (Soft-skills) 26

3.2.4 Difficulties and solutions to improving physical settings 29

CHAPTER 4: RECOMMENDATIONS AND SUGGESTIONS 32

4.1 Recommendations for university and teachers 32

4.1.1 Recommendations for the university 32

4.1.2 Recommendations for teachers 32

4.2 Recommendations for students 33

4.3 Limitations of the study and suggestions for further studies 35

CONCLUSION 36 REFERENCES

APPENDIX

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

LIST OF TABLES AND CHARTS

Chart 3.1 Students’ evaluation of English presentation activities 12

Chart 3.2 Students’ time spent on English self-learning each day 13

Chart 3.3 Students’ participation in activities of using English at university 14

Chart 3.4 The general evaluation of difficulties in presentation activities 15

Chart 3.5 Students’ willingness to talk to foreign partners 16

Chart 3.6: Difficulties faced when speaking in English 17

Chart 3.7 Learning methods used to improve English speaking skills 19

Chart 3.8 Listening difficulties encountered 22

Chart 3.9: Learning methods used to improve English listening skills 24

Chart 3.10 Public presentation problems 26

Chart 3.11 Solutions to improving public presentation skills (Soft-Skills) 28

Chart 3.12 Physical setting problems in using English presentation skills 29

Chart 3.13 Conversational group practice method 30

CHAPTER 1: OVERVIEW OF THE STUDY

1.1 Rationale

With the development of the market economy, English nowadays is considered

as an international language which is spoken by millions of people around the world.People use English for working, learning, researching and anything In other words,English is known as one of important tools or links for our lives However, in manycountries which English is not their mother tounge, it is rather difficult to learn Englishand understand this language They must take many times to practice English so thatthey can communicate fluently with foreigners

For Vietnam, we see the importance of learning English also Large internationalcompanies and universities in Vietnam often use English to communicate each other.Learning English becomes much more necessary than ever to catch up with theglobalization trend and to bring the image of the country world-wide As for thosepeople who are working, apart from using the language as a tool for communication,they have desire to use it for their jobs and studies In reality, one of the desires is topresent in English

As a matter of fact, giving an effective presentation requires a mastery of broadrange of skills and techniques You need effective presentation skills to present yourideas, projects, plans, strategies, and products in front of audience, group Presentationskills help you to communicate more and more effectively and professionally withyour audience, boss, team members, students and teachers

In addition, presentation also becomes a teaching and learning methodimplemented in almost universities around the world That implementation makesstudents can develop the skills of exploration, creation, the ability to work in groupand the ability to think critically Most of students impressed by this method, however,they find it difficult to make it fluently To achieve the objectives of the presentation,the presenter is supposed to master techniques of identifying the purpose, topic, theme,organization and so on In addition to that, the usage of intonation, stress, emphasis,articulation, pacing, etc., to get the audience’s attention and concentration isconsidered essential to contribute to his/her success

Vietnamese students in general and first year students of English Faculty atThuongmai University in particular, still meet many difficulties in the process oflearning English, especially when making presentation in English English Facultystudents are the ones who will use English in the real work environment later.However, English at classes is a big difference from English for presentation used inpractice.

The above- mentioned problems is the researcher’s primary concern and also themotivation for doing the thesis Therefore, I chose “Difficulties in English presentationskills of first year English major students at Thuongmai University and somesuggested solutions” for my graduation paper

1.2 Previous studies

The research related to the issue “English presentation skills” has been studied bymany different researchers around the world in general and in Vietnam in particular

1.2.1 Studies abroad

The study “English Presentation Skills of Thai Graduate Students” by

Thitibhada Sukithanaporn, the Language Institute of Thammasat University, Thammasat University, Bangkok, Thailand (2013) show that there are some

statistically significant differences between English presentation skills of the studentswho studied Effective Presentations and those who did not The study also explore theways to improve graduate students’ English presentation skills

The research “Developing Presentation Skills in the English Language Courses for the Engineering Students of the 21 st Century Knowledge Society: A Methodological Approach” by Canata Elisabeta Simona (2015) is the second thesis that I would like to

mention The reasearch shows six prerequisites for English successful presentations:

Planning the aprroach of the topic so that the audience finds it interesting amdchallenging

Planning the number of points to be focused on, the structures ,the ways tofinish the presentation

Planning strategies to arouse the audience’s interest in the topic: rhetoricalquestions, introducing amazing facts, making polite, humorous remarks

Giving explanations in short, clear sentences , speaking slowly, clearly,fluently, convincingly and keeping eye-contact with the audience

Rehearsing the presentation well in advance, relying more on thepresenter’skills than on the Powerpoint support that should display only keywords andnot the whole presentations content to be read

Answering the audience’ questions at the end of the presentation

Another study on English presentation skills was completed by Nguyen Thi

Phuong Huyen(2008): English Presentation Skills of Third-Year Students of English Department at the College of Foreign Languages, Danang University- Statement and Suggestions” This research find out the roles of English presentation skills at Danang

University in general and at English Department at the College of Foreign Languages

in particular This research also pointed out some errors when making EnglishPresentation

Overall, these studies have mentioned quite clearly and cleared many problemsand difficulties when making presentation in English of students in different fields, butthere have been no studies on presentation difficulties of TMU students Therefore, Iconduct research on the difficulties of Thuongmai University first year students inpresentation and propose suitable solutions to improve their English presentation

skills.

1.3 Aims of the study

When choosing and carrying out this study, I expect to clarify main issues:

To identify some difficuties in English presentation skills which first-yearEnglish major students at TMU face

To suggest some possible solutions to these probblems in order to help studentsimprove presentation skills in English.

In order to achieve the aims, this study is seeking answers for the followingquestions:

What are the main difficulties in presentation skills in English of first-yearEnglish major students at TMU?

What are some solutions to improve their presentation skills?

1.4 Research and objective subjects

Research subjects: This study researches difficulties in English presentation

activities faced by first year English major students at Thuongmai Univesity.Therefore, I determined that the research subject of study is the difficulties of first yearEnglish major students when making presentation in English

Objective subjects: first-year English major students at Thuongmai University

1.5 Scope of the study

Within the scope of this study, I only conduct research on difficuties in Englishpresentation skills for first-year students of English faculty at Thuongmai University.Other skills such as listening, speaking, reading and writing are not within the scope ofthe research

Besides, because of the large number of students at TMU as well as the limitation

of time, resources and my knowledge, this study also does not explore the difficulties

in presentation skills of second year, third year or final year student of English Faculty

or non-English major student of Thuongmai University

This study is conducted for 100 first year students of the English Faculty atThuongmai University

1.6 Research methodology

1.6.1 Data collection instruments

This study is carried out in both qualitative and quantiative methods Therefore, Iconduct the research to some following steps:

● Secondary data: (data collected from books, documents and previous studies)Firstly, I search some necessary documents in web sites and library atThuongmai University Besides, I read some previous studies related to presentation

skills In addition, I borrow books from book stores to orient for my study Therefore, Igain the basic knowledge and useful information to complete my research better.

● Primary data: (data collected by the researcher through surveys, interviews orobservations)

Secondly, the study includes survey questionnaires for students who are firstyear students of English Faculty at Thuongmai University The survey investigates 100students at TMU

Survey questionnaire is a method of data collection that has been implementedfor the surveyed students The questionnaires are designed for in the way that theresearcher finds information easily as well as to summarize and analyze the data Thismethod is more convenient, takes less time, is cheaper and easily answered bystudents Survey questionnaire also help find necessary information for research aswell as provide useful solutions

1.6.2 Data collection procedures

The data collection process is designed with 3 main steps (For primary dataonly):

Step 1: Designing the questionnaire

In this step, the researcher begins researching and designing questions forparticipants The questions must be short, concise and easy to understand forparticipants It includes questions related to common mistakes made when makingpresentation , the factors cause them and their solutions to improve After designing,the researcher sends the questionnaire to the supervisor for comments After that, theresearcher drafts a complete questionnaire

Step 2: Delivering questionnaires

Seeking help from friends who are English major students, especially first-yearstudents For the most objective results, the researcher asks them to pay attention andseriously answer the questions in their own views

The questionnaire is conducted through an Internet statistics application system,

or hand-out papers

1.7 Organization of the study

The construction of this study includes four parts as follows:

Chapter 1: Overview of the study

The introduction gives the rationale, the aims of the study, the research andobjective subjects, the scope of the study, methodology and the organization of thestudy

Chapter 2: The theoretical basis

The theoretical basis review shows up the background literature relevant directly

to the study being discussed

Chapter 3: Research results and discussion

Research results and discussion include the results from the study, suggestionsand discussion from the survey questionnaire

Chapter 4: Recommendations and suggestions

The research gives the recommendations and suggested techniques for improvingEnglish Presentation skills of first year English major students at ThuongmaiUniversity

CHAPTER 2: THE THEORETICAL BASIS

2.1 The definition of presentation and presentation skills.

2.1.1 The definition of presentation

According to Wikipedia, a presentation is the process of communicating a topic

to an audience It is typically a demonstration, introduction, lecture, or speech meant toinform, persuade, inspire, motivate, or to build good will or to present a new idea orproduct The term can also be used for a formal or ritualized introduction or offering,

as with the presentation of a debutante Presentations in certain formats are also known

as keynote address

A presentation program is often used to generate the presentation content, some

of which also allow presentations to be developed collaboratively, e.g using theInternet by geographically disparate collaborators Presentation viewers can be used tocombine content from different sources into one presentation Some of the popularpresentation products used across the globe are offered by Apple, Google andMicrosoft

Skillsyouneed.com defines the definition of presentation as a means of

communication that can be adapted to a various speaking situations, such as talking to

a group, addressing a meeting or briefing a team From Skillsyouneed.com we alsoknow that a presentation can also be used as a broad term that encompasses other

“speaking engagements” such as making speech at a wedding, or getting a point across

in a video conference A presentation requires you to get a message across to thelisteners and will often contain a persuasive element It may, for example, be a talkabout the positive work of your organization, what you could offer an employer, orwhy you should receive additional funding for a project

2.1.2 The definition of presentation skills

UBC Wiki gives the definition of presentation skills as the skills you need in

delivering effective and engaging presentations to a variety of audiences These skillscover a variety of areas such as the structure of your presentation, the design of yourslides, the tone of your voice and the body language you convey”

Presentation skills have real purposes: to give information to those who don’tknow about the topic yet (to inform) and to persuade people to use something theyalready know (to persuade) Even when a lesson is focused on developing reading andwriting skills, presentation skills should be integrated into the lesson.

Furthermore, research on second language acquisition suggests that morelearning takes place when students are engaged in relevant tasks within a dynamiclearning environment rather than in traditional teacher-led classes (Moss & Ross-Feldman, 2003)

2.1.3 Components of English presentation skills

Presentation skills are always with the participation of many factors Thesefactors both creating the presentation itself and governing the presentation skills

These factors are:

- Context: it means when we start creating a presentation, we should askourselves some following questions to develop a full understanding of the context ofthe presentation (1) When and where will you deliver your presentation?, (2) Who isyour audience?, what will you present?,…

- Presenter: the role of the presenter is to communicate with the audience andcontrol the presentation

- Audience: the audience listens and receives the presenter’ message

- Message: the message or messages are delivered by the presenter to theaudience As always, the message is delivered not just by the spoken word (verbalcommunication) but can be transformed by body language, gestures, eye-contact

- Method: it means the way the presentation will be delivered

2.1.4 The important roles of English presentation skills

Nowadays, some immigrants, such as parents, elders, or people who work inisolated environments (like housekeepers and babysitters) may feel lonely andexperience depression or have low self-esteem They may begin to feel that they willnever learn English or never feel comfortable Offering well-designed and well-executed presentation skills can help turn the English classroom into an active, safe,and enjoyable place where literacy and beginning level learners can learn what theyneed and want to learn

In addition, as English becomes a global language, learning English has becomemore and more important, not only for graduates looking for a work but also forstudents who are still sitting in their school Studying and practicing to improvepresentation skills become more important in many schools and universities To keep

up with the changing world, students are also encouraged to read more English textsand find opportunities to enhance presentation skills Moreover, teachers encouragetheir students to participate in English presentation skills Direct presentation withnative speakers helps students be more and more energetic, active and socialize withother people who have similar interests As a result, students gain valuable experiencesand learn more useful things during study progress and extracurricular participation atuniversity

In addition to manual work such as waiters or waitresses in restaurants, salesassistants selling goods in shops, if they are confident in English and good presentationskills, they can apply for positions such as English teaching assistants, translators,interpreters, freelance guides, saleman at travel agencies It is not only a wonderfulopportunity for students to earn money but also lets them keep practicing anddeveloping their English skill

An English-speaking employee can get promotion in work because he/she is able

to communicate and learn advanced techniques effectively through presentation withforeigners These language skills can help him/her ensure a better job opportunity thansomeone who only possesses original technical skills Even before becoming anemployee in the workplace, students need to have the ability to communicate well inEnglish to start interviews and the final purpose is getting the high appreciation fromthe employer Therefore, good presentation skills in English will give an advantage injob interviews

In short, companies want people who can basically read, understand and speak inEnglish They can increase their marketability by learning how to converse in Englishfluently If they want to stay ahead in the game, they will need to increase Englishskills In the professional world, this is very important for student to represent incompany meetings, conferences, and interactions with stakeholders A professionallook has to be substantiated with effective English presentation skills

2.2 The definition of limitation

Oxford Learner’s Dictionaries defines limitation is the act or process of limiting

or controlling someone or something In other words, we can understand limitation as

a limit on what someone or something can do or how good they or it can be

According to Cambridge Dictionary, if someone or something has limitations,that person or thing is not as good as he, she, or it could be

2.3 The definition of limitation in English presentation skills

The definition of limitation in English presentation skills is known as thedifficulties presenters encounter when presenting by English to audiences There maycome from objective factors or subjective factors

2.3.1 Objective factors

● Environment

The presentation environment is one of the important factors in the practice ofpresentation skills which contributes to the success in improving the training quality ofEnglish major of universities All of students feel fear when speaking at crowd.Perfecting English skills is the ultimate goal to build and develop a favorable, healthycommunication environment, and create best factors for English students to learnEnglish

According to Gardner (1973) - the author of the theory of intelligence, the ideallearning environment is the place where students communicate, interact with friends,teachers, play, exercise, sing, dance, tell stories, or do it manually Learning in suchenvironments helps learners remember more than 80% of what they learn in a yearlater Because in an English environment, we do not learn passively but actively Thepressure in the English listening and speaking environment forces us to focus onlistening comprehension and converting from the source language (Vietnamese) intothe target language (English) Developing the presentation environment is to increasethe favorable factors to help the presentation process achieve higher quality andefficiency

2.3.2 Subjective factors

From my point of view, some of the following factors may cause commonserious limitation when making a presentation

- Lack of knowledge: Knowledge is the factor affecting directly to the quality ofthe presentation Students need to take time to improve their English related skills such

as listening and speaking which involve in presentation activities Listening andspeaking always go together to create good presentation When learning any language,the ultimate goal is to be able to present naturally and fluently with native people.Therefore, studying in class, returning home to do exercises, trying to learn grammarmust always be accompanied by the process of speaking English Therefore, studentsshould improve both in terms of cultural knowledge and also vocabulary and grammar

to be able to making presentation better

- Not familiarizing yourself with the Venue and Equipment: Imagine that yourpresentation starts in an hour You arrive at the venue and, to your horror, the projectorwon't work with your laptop The slides you spent hours preparing are useless This is

a disaster You can avoid a situation like this by taking time to familiarize yourselfwith the venue and available equipment at least once before your presentation

- Ignoring your audience: Sometimes, the audience feel uncomfortable when thepresenter ignore them when making presentation Therefore, some thoughts passedthrough their head that the presenter don’t respect them

Start your presentation by telling your audience what to expect Let them knowwhat you will cover first, whether and when you'll stop for a break, if you'll be takingquestions during the presentation, and so on

- Avoiding Eye contact: As we know, eye-contact is situation in which twopeople look directly into each other’s eyes Eye contact is considered to be animportant part of effective presentation Lack of eye-contact during a presentation issometimes thought to be an indicator that the presenter is lying This leads to thefailure of the presentation

CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH FINDINGS

3.1 Data Analysis

3.1.1 General information

The survey was conducted with 100 first year students of English Faculty atThuongmai University Students come from many parts of Vietnam, 54% from ruralareas and 46% urban ones Therefore, the time learning English and level of thestudents will vary For students in the city they have a good environment to learnEnglish from kindergarten or primary school They have the opportunity to approach

to the English learning environment from childhood This is very useful for developingEnglish skills Meanwhile, students from rural areas have been exposed to Englishquite late, at the beginning of secondary school

Besides, the conditions of facilities and teacher qualifications are still limited.With most of the students from the countryside, the English learning is mostly self-training at home because there is no condition to learn in English centers or attending

in professional English clubs

3.1.2 English usage and general evaluation

64.00%

25.00%

10.00%

1.00%

Student's evaluation of English presentation activities

Very important Quite improtant Important Not important

Chart 3.1 Students’ evaluation of English presentation activities

Being able to present in English fluently is the significant and ultimate goal whenlearning English Specially, good presentation skills are the best impression in laterworking environment As mentioned in chart 3.1, of 100 students surveyed, 64% of thestudents say that presentation plays a very important role in learning English 25% ofthe students also quite highly appreciate the role of presentation skills when choosing

“quite important” and 10% of the students choose the “important” option This showsthat most students are aware of the importance of improving their English skills Theywill be potential candidate in recruitment in any company who come into the workingenvironment soon

That is the reason why first year students of English Faculty spend much timelearning English as well as improving presentation skills The following chart showsthe amount of time students spend studying English every day

29.00%

59.00%

4.00%

8.00%

Students' time spent on English self learning each day

1 hour 2 hours 3 hours more than 3 hours

Chart 3.2 Students’ time spent on English self-learning each day

As can be seen from chart 3.2, most English Faculty freshman at Thuongmaiuniversity are learning English so hard They spend at least 1 hour each day studyingEnglish A large number of students (59%) spend one to two hours learning English,which means that the use of English at home of the students have not been focused alot Only 8% of the students spend more 3 hours self-studying English

The English Faculty of Thuongmai University trains mainly with specializedeconomics, trade, business and specialized subjects Many lessons are taught entirely

in English Consequently, the amount of time to study English for an English majorshould be greatly increased compared to that of non-professional students There arenot only the common and simple grammar and vocabulary for students to cultivate butalso learn more about economics and commerce, culture by English Therefore, it isnecessary for students that require more time to practice at home because of limitedtime in class

Spending time studying English from 3 hours or more surely helps the skills ofmost students much better than non-major students

However, the data show that although time for students learning English is quite

a lot, most of them study theoretically to complete the exercises in class, learn moregrammars for the important skills of English exam Before, the university also requires

a TOIEC or IELTS certificate for graduating This makes the students neglectpresentation activities

Students have not spent much time participating in activities outside school toimprove soft skills as well as English skills The following table lists the English-speaking activities that students participate in during their study and practice atuniversity

Presentation

Interview English speaking contest

Semniar Other answers

100 75

67 57 22

Chart Title

Chart 3.3 Students’ participation in activities of using English at university

Chart 3.3 illustrates the activities of using English at Thuongmai University suchas: presentations, seminars or English presentation contests, interviews Almost 100%

of the students being asked take part in English presentations in class This activity isconsidered to be quite efficient for students because it is a combination of specializedknowledge along with the ability to connecting knowledge and words to create asuccessful presentation activity

Besides, basic activities such as participation in a seminar, speaking contest andinterview of first-year students at Thuongmai University account for an average of66% The Freshmen have a lot of time so they can take part in some part-time jobsrelated to English to gradually familiarize themselves with the environment as well asusing English knowledge

Overall, there are many forms of practicing presentation activities that studentscan choose to improve their skill In addition, these activities can help students learnmore about specialized knowledge as well as practice other presentation skills

The out-door activities have not been applied much by the students after school

to interact with the specific environment as well as increasing presentation skills andinterest in presenting in English for the students

3.2 The reality of English presentation skills nowadays.

Chart 3.4 The general evaluation of difficulties in presentation activities

According to chart 3.4, there are four major difficulties in presentation activities:listening skill, speaking skill, public presentation skill and physical settings To bemore specific, speaking skill is considered as the most difficult skill in learningEnglish 33% of the asked students remark that speaking is a challenging skill forthem, following is 29% of the students who say that listening is the challenge forpracticing presentation activities They find that listening and understandingaudience’questions and suggestions are really difficult 24% of students feel publicpresentation isn’t really easy when they presenting They don’t know the way to useeye contact, body language All of them afraid the crowd of audience In addition tothat a small number of the students (14%) say physical settings are obstacles inacquiring English

Factors affecting student’s improving presentation in English are categorized intodifferent sources including problems related to speaking skill, listening skill,publicpresentation skill and physical settings The collected data are analyzed in detail

3.2.1 Difficulties and solutions to improving English speaking skills

3.2.1.1 Speaking difficulties

One of the main reasons of this study is to figure out the obstacles that studentsare encountering in speaking English Hence, the first question of this part wasreleased to identify the degree of students’ willingness to talk to their foreign partners

6.70%

6.60%

86.70%

I Always I Often I Sometimes I Never

Chart 3.5 Students’ willingness to talk to foreign partners.

The statistics from chart 3.5 clearly show that a majority of the students (87%)sometimes feel willing to speak to their foreign partners However, only 13% of thestudents in total state that they are always or often willing to communicate withforeigners As a result, this unwilling attitude in terms of communicating with foreignpartners does cause a lot of disadvantages to the effectiveness of study and work Orspeaking in the different way, there are some obstacles preventing them from thewillingness of speaking to foreign partners Students have few opportunities to talk toforeigners, but when they have the opportunity, they are afraid and not ready

It is absolutely essential to ask students about the difficulties as well as thedegree of those difficulties that they have encountered when speaking English Theresults from the questionnaire are shown as follows: