A survey of problems in speaking faced by the first year english majors at binh duong teachers training college

LIST OF TABLES Table 1.1 Time allocated to English-related subjects for 1st year study---5 Table 1.2 Detailed content of the speaking course---6 Table 3.1: Summary of the students’ sub

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY – HCM CITY UNIVERSITY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES AND HUMANITIES

A SURVEY OF PROBLEMS IN SPEAKING

FACED BY THE FIRST-YEAR ENGLISH MAJORS

AT BINH DUONG TEACHERS’ TRAINING COLLEGE

A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT

OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF

STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP

I hereby certify that this thesis entitled:

A SURVEY OF PROBLEMS IN SPEAKING FACED BY THE FIRST-YEAR ENGLISH MAJORS AT BINH DUONG

TEACHERS’ TRAINING COLLEGE

is my own work

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

Ho Chi Minh City, May, 2011

Phan Thi Phuoc

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

First of all, I would like to express my deep gratefulness to my thesis supervisor, Ms Nguyen Bich Hanh, MA who willingly gave me valuable evaluations and comments on my project any time I needed it I am thankful for her support in my preparation and completion of this thesis

I would also like to thank the organizers of the Post Graduate Study Program

in TESOL, Dr Tran Thi Mai, Head of the Department of Post Graduate, and Dr Nguyen Thi Kieu Thu, Head of the Department of English Linguistics and Literature of HCMC University of Social Sciences and Humanities

Last, but not least, I wish to give my profound gratitude to my colleagues of the Department of Foreign Languages, Binh Duong Teachers’ Training College where I work and as well as the first-year English majors at the college for their kind help and enthusiastic support that have facilitated me to conduct the survey and complete the thesis

ABSTRACT

The learners of English referred to in this project are defined as the first-year English majors at Binh Duong Teachers’ Training College who have taken up the English language as their major Therefore they are obliged to possess the knowledge of the language such as grammar structures, language functions, vocabulary and pronunciation Besides, they are supposed to develop all their basic skills of English including listening, speaking, reading, writing and translation On developing their speaking skill, the students confront numerous problems that badly affect their abilities of speaking English inside as well as outside class

To identify the students’ reality of practicing their spoken English, a survey was conducted to discover their inhibition in verbal activities in the speaking class

as well in any process of oral interaction with their teachers and their classmates

Secondly, the implications of the findings analyzed in chapter four – Data

Analysis and Findings - prove that most of the students (1) are afraid of the

speaking subject and get very little acquisition in it, (2) are inhibited by several subjective and objective factors in the speaking activities, and (3) find that the speaking tasks and activities and teachers’ teaching techniques are inconsistent, ineffective or unencouraging

Finally, some teaching strategies and activities are suggested to improve the quality of teaching and learning the speaking skill at Binh Duong Teachers’ Training College

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Statement of authorship - i

Acknowledgements - ii

Abstract - iii

Table of contents -iv

List of tables -viii

List of figures -ix

List of abbreviations -x

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION - 1

1.1 Background of the study - 1

1.2 Statement of purpose - 8

1.3 Research questions -8

1.4 Significance of the study -9

1.5 Limitations of the study -10

1.6 Organization of the thesis -10

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW -12

2.1 Concepts and characteristics of the speaking skill -12

2.1.1 Definition of the speaking skill - 12

2.1.2 Importance of the speaking skill - 13

2.1.3 Characteristics of the speaking skill - 15

2.1.4 Communicative competence - 16

2.1.4.1 Grammatical competence -17

2.1.4.2 Sociolinguistic competence -18

2.1.4.3 Discourse competence -18

2.1.4.4 Strategic competence -19

2.2 Factors influencing EFL learners’ speaking - 19

2.2.1 Age - 19

2.2.2 Aural medium -20

2.2.3 Socio-cultural factors -21

2.2.4 Affective factors -22

2.2.4.1 Self-esteem -22

2.2.4.2 Anxiety -22

2.2.4.3 Motivation -24

2.2.4.4 Empathy -24

2.2.4.5 Inhibition -25

2.2.5 Other factors -26

2.2.5.1 Language environment -26

2.2.5.2 School facilities -27

2.2.5.3 Teaching and learning materials -28

2.2.5.4 The roles of teachers and learners -29

2.3 Methods and techniques of teaching EFL speaking skill -31

2.3.1 Methods in teaching the speaking skill -31

2.3.1.1 The Grammar-Translation method -31

2.3.1.2 The Direct method -32

2.3.1.3 The Audio-Lingual method -33

2.3.1.4 The Communicative approach -34

2.3.2 Techniques in teaching the speaking skill -36

2.4 The characteristics of a successful speaking activity -36

2.4.1 Maximum foreign talk -37

2.4.2 Even participation -37

2.4.3 High motivation -37

2.4.4 Right language level -37

2.5 Strategies of teaching and learning the speaking skill -38

2.5.1 Speaking teaching strategies -38

2.5.2 Speaking learning strategies -39

2.6 Previous study -39

2.7 Summary -41

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY -43

3.1 Research design -43

3.2 Characteristics of subjects -43

3.2.1 Students’ profiles -44

3.2.2 Teachers’ profiles -44

3.3 Instruments -45

3.4 Procedures -47

3.5.Summary -48

CHAPTER 4: DATA ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS -49

4.1 Students’ responses to the questionnaire -49

4.2 Teachers’ responses to the questionnaire -65

4.3 Summary -75

CHAPTER 5: RECOMMENDATIONS AND CONCLUSIONS -76

5.1 Recommendations -76

5.1.1 Recommendations to the students -76

5.1.2 Recommendations to the teachers -81

5.2 Conclusions -88

5.3 Summary -89

BIBLIOGRAPHY -90

APPENDICES Appendix 1: Questionnaire for students -97

Appendix 2: Questionnaire for students ( in Vietnamese) -104

Appendix 3: Questionnaire for teachers -111

LIST OF TABLES

Table 1.1 Time allocated to English-related subjects for 1st year study -5

Table 1.2 Detailed content of the speaking course -6

Table 3.1: Summary of the students’ subject characteristics -44

Table 3.2: Summary of the teachers’ subject characteristics -44

Table 4.1 Students’ feeling in the English speaking class -52

Table 4.2 Students’ purposes for learning spoken English -53

Table 4.3 Students’ difficulties in the English speaking -56

Table 4.4 Factors causing students’ difficulties -57

Table 4.5 Students’ opinions about teaching styles and techniques -58

Table 4.6 Students’ opinions about speaking tasks and activities -60

Table 4.7 Students’ strategies in expressing their ideas -62

Table 4.8 Students’ activities in improving their spoken English -63

Table 4.9 Students’ strategies in learning the speaking skill -64

Table 4.10 Teachers’ opinions about factors causing students’ difficulties -69

Table 4.11 Teachers’ answer about students’ strategies on lacking of

vocabulary -71

Table 4.12 Activities helping students improve their speaking skill -72

Table 4.13 Strategies often used in teaching spoken English -74

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 4.1Students’ interest in learning English -49

Figure 4.2 Students’ remark on the English speaking -51 Figure 4.3 Students’ thinking about spoken English -52 Figure 4.4 Students’ opinions about the course-book “New Interchange”- book 1 -54 Figure 4.5 Teachers’ opinions about students’ feeling in the English speaking

classes -66 Figure 4.6 Teachers’ difficulties in teaching the speaking skill at BDTTC -67 Figure 4.7 Teachers’ answers about students’ difficulties in English speaking

class -68 Figure 4.8 Teachers’ opinions about the course-book “New Interchange”- book 1 -70

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

BDTTC: Binh Duong Teachers’ Training College

CA: Communicative Approach

CLT: Communicative Language Teaching

CMC: Computer-Mediated Communication

FL: Foreign Language

EFL: English as a Foreign Language

ESL English as a Second Language

L1: The mother tongue

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

Speaking is one of the most important language skills Learning a language first and foremost is learning to speak it in order to communicate with people who speak the same language In all language curricula, the speaking skill is a crucial component Acquisition of the speaking skill does not happen naturally, however, in our context of teaching and learning because the target language is not spoken outside the classroom Learners often feel that their speaking ability seriously inadequate, that they are somewhat inhibited from using the spoken language The students at BDTTC are no exception They have a lot of difficulties in learning speaking and they are under pressure as they are to become secondary school teachers and speaking the language fluently is one of their goals Consequently, their great concern is to improve their speaking ability

The study was carried out to explore their difficulties, their attitudes as well

as their expectation towards the spoken English The study hoped to identify the causes why most students can not express themselves freely and naturally in English, and then came up with practical recommendations to help develop the students’ speaking skill

This chapter presents the background of the study, statement of the purpose, research questions, significance of the study, limitations of the study and organization of the thesis

1.1 The background of the study

1.1.1 English teaching and learning in Vietnam

In recent decades, there is an increasing tendency to learn foreign languages especially English, in Vietnam English is now considered the most popular language in the world It is a means of communication in important fields of

science, technology, business and diplomacy It is also the means to enhance mutual understanding and cooperation among nations in the fields of culture and politics

As said by Rivers (1969), people have begun to appreciate the value of the knowledge of a language rather than their native language To a lot of people, especially students at universities or adults, foreign languages have a particular position in their jobs

For the above-mentioned reasons, of teaching and learning English has always become a special interest because of its importance in any scopes of our lives Julian Edge (1993: 25) said: “Since British trade, followed by colonial and imperial expansion, English spread around the world Then the military and economic dominance of the United States of America has confirmed English as the international language of present historical period As a consequence, English serves for many times many more people as a barrier between themselves and those some fields of interest, many people in their own countries will not be able to become doctors, for example if they can not learn enough English.”

It is clear, from what Julian Edge said that English has become a compulsory component of education in many countries, including Vietnam, it is considered to

be a useful tool to access the world knowledge Though the importance of English has been recognized, how the language has been taught up till now is often questioned by both teachers and methodologists worldwide

In Vietnam, after the renovation in 1986, especially since the United States lifted up its economic embargo against Vietnam, English has become a foreign language of utmost importance for the Vietnamese The need of mastering English has been increased rapidly Broughton (1980: 6) said “A good command of English

in a second language situation is considered as a passport to social and economic advancement”, and this statement is true to the situation in Vietnam

Owing to the “Open-door” policy as well as the “Law on Foreign Investment” of the Vietnamese government, Binh Duong province has been

attracting a lot of foreign investors This new situation has promoted the need for learning English in this province The learners of English have a variety of reasons

or purposes However, they all realize that speaking skill is very important for communication In the international relationship, English speaking ability is very important to be able to participate in the wider world of work The speaking skill is measured in terms of the ability to carry out a conversation in the language This reality makes teachers and parents think that speaking ability should be given first priority in the English curriculum

Based on the reasons above, English language teaching has, in recent years, focused on teaching the English language itself rather than teaching about the language The emphasis is not only on linguistic competence of the language learners but on the development of their communicative ability as well In order to develop the learners’ verbal communicative ability, teachers of English need to create a scenario to teach the target language in a vibrant, active and interesting manner

On improving their speaking skill, the students often cope with some difficulties that most Vietnamese learners of English have to face Many factors can cause the difficulties of the students’ speaking skills namely the students’ interest, their shyness, the materials and the media among others etc As Tony Williams, ILA General Manager, stated that most of Vietnamese learners of English in Vietnam are good at writing but they can not communicate well in English because they lack the English environment (The Youth Newspaper, November 13th, 2009)

Lots of theories of English teaching, especially of teaching spoken English, are studied and lots of training courses and methodology workshops of English teaching have been held As a result of this, the quality of English teaching and learning has been improved but it still leaves a lot to desire

According to Dr Vu Thi Phuong Anh (Vietnam National University-HCM City), the English teaching and learning has been changing a lot from the training,

teaching and learning method, new and modern equipments, materials for reference

… to the renew of testing, evaluating and admitting learners’ level However, the result of using English ability does not meet the needs of society and this is an obstacle for the economic integration of our country (Vietnamese version)

1.1.2 Description of teaching and learning in the Foreign Language Department

With the social and economic development of our country, education at college level is changing to reflect the needs of the learners and hence the society Consequently, foreign language teaching is responding to society’s need to prepare our youth for an unpredictable future in which language skills will be in great demand

Realizing the need to maximize the learners’ foreign language abilities and being aware of the importance of English, BDTTC has had English classes for students to heighten their competence and performance of English to meet the great demand of the national industrialization and modernization

The Foreign Language Department in charge of this duty was founded in

1985 with three sections: Russian, French and English Most of the graduates became teachers in secondary schools of Binh Duong province and a few of them worked in the mass media or foreign companies etc Since 1992, as Russian and French became less popular, only teachers of English have been trained to meet the need of the society in general and the need of Binh Duong province in particular

1.1.2.1 Description of speaking syllabus and teaching materials for the first year English majors at BDTTC

Speaking is the compulsory subject in the school syllabus of the foreign language majors Besides the major subjects, students have to study others such as: psychology, philosophy etc In the first academic year, students take 45 periods of spoken English per semester It means students only have 3 consecutive periods of

2.5 contact hours per week It is not much time for students to learn and practice the speaking skill

Table 1.1 Time allocated to English-related subjects for 1 st year study

to develop the ability to use it in communication By the end of each semester, the students have to take the examinations by presenting a speaking task (topic) and answering the questions relating to the topic

As for materials, the first year students are supposed to study speaking

English with the course book entitled “New Interchange”, book 1 by Jack C Richards The course covers the four skills of listening, speaking, reading and

writing Particular emphasis is placed on listening and speaking The primary goal

of the course is to teach the ability to communicate according to the situation, purpose and roles of participants The student’s book contains 16 units as presented

in the following table:

Table 1.2 Detailed content of the speaking course

1 Please call me Chuck Introducing yourself and your friends

2 How do you spend your

day?

Describing work& school Describing daily schedules

3 How much is it? Talking about prices

4 Do you like Jazz? Talking about likes& dislikes

5 Tell me about your

family

Talking about your family and family members

6 How often do you do

exercise? Asking and describing routines

7 We had a great time! Talking about past events

8 How do you like the

neighborhood? Describing neighborhood

9 What does he look like? Describing people

10 Have you ever ridden a

camel? Describing past experiences

11 It’s a very exciting city! Describing city

12 It’s really works! Talking about health problems: asking

for and giving advice

13 May I take your order

please?

Expressing likes and dislikes about food

14 The biggest and the best! Describing countries

15 I’m going to see a

16 A change for better! Talking about future

To most of the students, speaking is the most interesting subject now They like practicing English because they recognize its benefit for their future

Unfortunately, there are still problems facing them

1.1.2.2 Characteristics of the teaching staff and of the students

a- Characteristics of the teaching staff

Teachers in charge of spoken English of the Foreign Language Department

at BDTTC are Vietnamese teachers who obtained the Bachelor’s or the Master’s Degree in TESOL There are all 13 teachers in the department (9 female teachers and 4 male teachers) whose ages range from 32 to 54 Comparing with teachers of other departments in our college, the teachers are rather young and very eager for

further study: 9 teachers have had MA degrees, other 3 have been doing MA thesis (2 at USSH, 1 at Open University) and only one has a BA degree

In addition, the teachers of Foreign Language Department are full of

enthusiasm for the students and the teaching job Most of them have had at least 8 years of teaching experience They can use computer technology or various teaching equipment to achieve the goals of the course

b- Characteristics of the students

The students, who have not succeeded in the entrance exam to the National

Universities and come to BDTTC for their second choice, have unequal levels because they come from different areas of the town or even from other provinces such as: Binh Phuoc, DakLak, Thai Binh, Tay Ninh, Ninh Thuan…They differ greatly in their English background Students from Thu Dau Mot Town, Lai Thieu Town or An Thanh Town of Binh Duong are likely to have better knowledge of English than the others because they have better conditions to study English This is also a problem for the teachers to think of in their teaching process

This study was designed to investigate the difficulties that the first- year English majors at BDTTC face in speaking English and to suggest some recommendations to the difficulties as well as to provide some techniques and strategies to improve the students’ speaking skill

The research questions are:

1 What are the difficulties as perceived by the first-year English majors at BDTTC when they practice the speaking skill?

2 What strategies are employed by the students to get around their difficulties?

1.4 Significance of the study

Many students equate the ability to speak a language with the knowledge of the language and therefore view learning the language as learning how to speak the language, or as Nunan (1991) states, "Success is measured in terms of the ability to carry out a conversation in the (target) language." Therefore, if students do not learn how to speak or do not get any opportunity to speak in the language classroom they may soon lose interest in learning On the other hand, if the right activities are taught in the right way, speaking in class can be a lot of fun, which increase students’ motivation and therefore, make successful learners

Today, along with the development of the society, the integration of the nations in the world, the need of communication in foreign language, especially in English is more and more essential Learners of English nowadays not only learn the language itself but also the ability to communicate effectively with people of different background and cultures With such importance, newest methods in learning and teaching have been applied, especially in speaking, which is considered the most difficult communicative language skill It is not easy for the students to overcome the difficulties caused by the difference from their backgrounds, their interests, their personalities and so on to be able to communicate

in English Therefore, the study is carried out to survey the difficulties that the first

year students of English major face in speaking with the textbook entitled “New Interchange”, book 1 with the hope that:

(1) The study can contribute to the positive change of teaching and learning approaches so as to enhance the communicative competence in spoken English of the first- year majored English students at BDTTC

(2) With the identification of students’ difficulties in learning spoken English, teachers can understand their students and help them to overcome their difficulties and enable them to develop their speaking skill most effectively

(3) Owing to the application of appropriate approaches to teaching spoken English, teachers can improve the students’ speaking ability in English as much as possible

1.5 Limitations of the study

The study only focuses on difficulties the students cope with and some recommendations in improving the speaking skill of the first–year English majors at BDTTC

1.6 The organization of the thesis

The thesis is structured in five main chapters:

Chapter 1 is the introduction providing the background information of the study which consists of the outline of the English teaching and learning situation in Vietnam, the description of speaking syllabus and teaching material at BDTTC and the characteristics of the teaching staff and of the students in the Foreign Language Department

Chapter 2 presents literature review to the study which consists of the theoretical background of the study from which recommendations for the students’ difficulties can be found and then the related studies

Chapter 3 mentions the methodology employed including research questions, research design, characteristics of subjects, instruments, and procedures of the study

Chapter 4 reports the results of the study and discussions of the findings Chapter 5 presents some recommendations to the improvement of the teaching and learning of spoken English at BDTTC and then some conclusions

CHAPTER 2

LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter consists of an overview of some concepts and characteristics of the

speaking skill, factors influencing EFL learners’ speaking, methods and techniques

of teaching EFL speaking skill as well as strategies of teaching and learning speaking skill Also, included in this section are prior researches on teaching speaking to EFL learners The review establishes a background for further discussions on difficulties facing the first-year English majors and suggestions for improving the students’ speaking skills at BDTTC

2.1 Concepts and characteristics of the speaking skill

2.1.1 Definition of the speaking skill

In Oxford Advanced Dictionary (p.13), the definition of speaking is “to express or communicate opinions, feelings, ideas, etc, by or as talking and it involves the activities in the part of the speaker as psychological, physiological (articulator) and physical (acoustic) stages”

According to Chaney (1998: 13), speaking is “the process of building and sharing meaning through the use of verbal and non-verbal symbols, in a variety of contexts”

While another expert, Theodore Huebner (1960: 5) said “Language is essentially speech, and speech is basically communication by sounds” And according to him, speaking is a skill used by someone in daily life communication whether at school or outside The skill is acquired by much repetition; it primarily a neuromuscular and not an intellectual process It consists of competence in sending and receiving messages

From the above definition, it can be inferred that speaking is expressing ideas, opinions, or feelings to others by using words or sounds of articulation in

order to inform, to persuade, and to entertain that can be learnt by using some teaching – learning methodologies Today’s world requires that the goal of teaching speaking should improve students’ communicative skills, because, only in that way, students can express themselves and learn how to follow the social and cultural rules appropriate in each communicative circumstance

Teaching speaking is to teach English language learners to:

• Produce the English speech sounds and sounds patterns

• Use words and sentence stress, intonation patterns and the rhythm of the second language

• Select appropriate words and sentences according to the proper social setting, audience, situation and subject matter

• Organize their thoughts in a meaningful and logical sequence

• Use language as a means of expressing values and judgments

• Use the language quickly and confidently with few unnatural pauses, which is called fluency (Nunan 2003)

2.1.2 The importance of the speaking skill

Speaking is very important part in studying English People need to speak in order to communicate with each other and make a good communication When some one was born, he learns how to speak, and speaking can make him communicate or contact with other person

When someone learns a second or foreign language, especially English, he/she must master and remember so many things such as meanings of words, rules

of grammar, ways of pronouncing words, etc Besides, learners must, on the perspectives of the communicative approach to teaching and learning English in modern times, preferentially concentrate on training and developing all the four

basic language skills in order of listening, speaking, reading and writing Hence,

they must also practice all the four language skills with great efficiency

A definition given by Ur (1996) in his course-book “A course in language

Teaching”, proves that of all language skills, the act of speaking seems intuitively

the most important and indispensable because people who know a language are

referred to as speakers of that language, as if speaking included all other kinds of

knowing For most learners of English as a second language (ESL) and English as a

foreign language (EFL) as people commonly think studying a second or foreign

language means learning to speak it only And for most language learners, speaking

a second or foreign language appears to be rather difficult or even, for some people,

too difficult in some ways, because it seems to require all kinds of other knowing of

the language

According to Yorkey, speaking skill is like other ones, it must be practiced

continuously The teacher role is becoming important for students later There are

many keys to support speaking skill by listening cassette, watching television,

watching film, practicing with foreigners, practicing with partners

Speaking is not only knowledge but also skill It is a two-way process between

speakers and listeners, and involves the productive skill of speaking and the

receptive skill of understanding Speaking is also known as a complex process So

teachers should help learners improve not only their knowledge but their skills

Byne (1991: 8) shows the following diagram that states how all four skills

are related:

Understanding Speaking Receptive skills

Reading Writing

Productive skills

According to Nunan (1999: 225) speaking is one of the basic language skills When someone asks “Do you know another language?”, they generally mean “Can you speak the language?” Lewis (1999: 156) said, “Speaking helps with your writing, reading and listening It turns out that speaking (of course writing) is important for the whole learning process It helps your fluency and it also helps your accuracy.” In fact, no one can deny the importance of speaking skill in learning a language Speaking means to produce what we have learned and stored in our brains

Ur (1996) states that many learners of a language if not most foreign language learners are primarily interested in learning to speak it; and classroom activities that develop learners’ ability to verbalize their ideas, thoughts, and feelings would therefore seem to be an important component of a language teaching and learning course

Generally, to emphasize language speaking skills’ importance, Davies & Pearse (2000) says that the main goal of English language teaching is to enable learners to use English effectively in real communication

2.1.3 Characteristics of the speaking skill

One may communicate in various ways but one cannot succeed in the communication without the good command of the four basic skills It is the conventional practice to present the four skills in terms of the medium and activity

of the language user As a result, the four skills may fall into two categories: with reference to the medium speaking and listening are said to relate to language expressed through the aural medium; by reference to the activity of language user, speaking and writing are said to be productive skills, whereas listening and reading are said to be receptive skills In a word, speaking is obviously a productive skill involving some kind of production on the part of the language user and is realized through the aural medium

Speaking may be said to be mainly fostered and trained at the stage of the output The classroom activities designed to develop the learners’ ability in the four skills may be divided into two major categories; those that give the students input and those that encourage the students to produce output Considering the overall stages

of language teaching, we may find the stages at which language is somehow being put into the student’s brain If the students only get the language input, however, they may end up with a lot of language items separately stored but with on ability to retrieve those items when they need them It is only when the students are asked to produce and use language that they are forced to select the appropriate language stored in their brains The ability to retrieve this stored language is clearly vital to any language user and can be trained in the output stages at which students are encouraged to speak and write

Here are the summary of the features of speaking:

2.1.4 Communicative competence

Communicative competence is a concept introduced by Dell Hymes and discussed and redefined by many authors According to Hymes (1971: 75), communicative competence is what a person needs to know in order to communicate effectively in culturally significant situations In addition, it was clearly defined by Richards, Platt & Weber (1985: 49) to include knowledge of the grammar and vocabulary of the language; knowledge of rules of speaking (e.g., knowing how to begin and end conversations; knowing what topics can be talked about in different types of speech events, knowing which address forms should be used with different persons one speaks to and in different situations; knowing how

to use and respond to different types of speech acts such as requests, apologies,

thanks, and invitations; and knowing how to use language appropriately

Communicative competence is dependent on the context in which the interaction takes place Communication which is successful with one group in one situation, may not be perceived as competent with a different group in another situation

In order to speak English fluently and appropriately, it is “not adequate that they possess linguistic competence, which consists of knowledge of how to articulate sounds in a comprehensible manner, of adequate vocabulary and syntax;” (Nunan, 1999:226) on the other hand, they need to develop communicative

competence

Likewise, learning to speak a foreign language requires more than knowing its grammatical rules Learners must also acquire the knowledge of how native speakers use the language in the particular contexts To be successful and fluent in speaking skill, Canale and Swain (1980) show the components underlying speaking skills proficiency as follows:

2.1.4.1 Grammatical competence

Grammatical competence is the ability to recognize and produce the distinctive grammatical structures of a language and to use them effectively in communication This competence includes vocabulary, word formation, sentence formation, pronunciation, spelling and linguistic semantics Shumin (1977) states that EFL learners must have the knowledge of words and sentences, so they must understand how words are segmented into different sounds, and how sentences are stressed in a special way Therefore, grammatical competence enables speakers to use and understand language structures accurately and unhesitatingly This can help speakers achieve their fluency in using the language

Grammatical competence as defined by Noam Chomsky (1972) would include

phonological competence

Phonological competence is the ability to recognize and produce the distinctive

meaningful sounds of a language, including:

Sociolinguistic competence is the ability to interpret the social meaning of the

choice of linguistic varieties and to use language with the appropriate social

meaning for the communication situation It is knowing how to use and respond to

appropriately, given the setting, the topic, and the relationships among the people

communicating This competence addresses the extent to which utterances are

produced and understood appropriately in different sociolinguistic contexts

depending on contextual factors such as status of participants, purposes of the

interaction, and norms or conventions of interaction

2.1.4.3 Discourse competence

Learners must develop discourse competence, which is concerned with

inter-essential relationships In communication, both the production and comprehension

of a language require one’s ability to perceive and process stretches of discourse,

and to formulate representation of meaning from referents in both previous sentences and following sentences Therefore, effective speakers should acquire a

large range of structures to express ideas, show relationships of time, and indicate

cause, contrast, and emphasis With these, learners can manage turn-taking in conversation Discourse competence usually asks some questions such as: How are words, phrases or sentences put together to create conversations, speeches, newspaper articles, etc.?

2.1.4.4 Strategic competence

Strategic competence is “the way learners manipulate language in order to meet communicative goals” (Brown, 1994) This competence is knowing how to recognize and to repair communication breakdowns, how to work around gaps in one’ knowledge of the language, and how to learn more about the language and in the context Canale and Swain (cited in Brown, 2000: 247-248) say that strategic competition is concerned in the mastery of verbal and non-verbal communication strategies that may be called into action to compensate for breakdowns in communication due to limiting conditions in actual situations or to insufficient competence in order to enhance communication effectiveness

2.2 Factors influencing EFL learners’ speaking

The factors affecting adult EFL learners’ oral communication and interaction suggested are: (1) age or maturational constraints, (2) aural medium, (3) socio-

cultural factors, and (4) affective factors

Age is, in fact, one of the most common factors determining the success or failure in learning a second language or foreign language Adult learners of language always find it difficult to reach native-like acquisition which children and adolescents can obtain more easily and naturally This very phenomenon in adult EFL learners is called by Kang “fossilization”

To improve listening skill, learners can learn through many good practices: listening to the radio, to tapes, to native English speakers, and even to non-native speakers of English (Mendelsohn & Rubin, 1995) However, listening takes time because of some barriers such as worry, fear, semantics and language differences, and noise (Scarcella & Oxford, 1992) In order to become an effective listener, learners have to learn to manage what is going on in their own minds

In brief, if some one is not good at listening, it is obvious that he/she can not succeed in the development of his/her speaking ability as expected because speaking is closely related to listening, which is the basic mechanism through which the rules of language are internalized

2.2.3 Socio-cultural factors

In addition to aural medium, speaking ability is also influenced by cultural factors They make many language learners have difficulty in using language in real situations In order to speak a language appropriately, Bern (1990) states that one must know how the language is used in a social context Each language has its own usage as to when, how, and to what degree a speaker may impose a given a verbal behavior on his or her conversational partner

social-Besides, oral communication is concerned with a very powerful non verbal communication system, which sometimes contradicts the massages provided through the verbal cues because of a lack of familiarity with non-verbal communication system of the target language As a result, ignorance of non-verbal message often results in misunderstanding Mismatching and misunderstanding in oral communication also occur when the speaker and the hearer do not share social-culture rules of appropriacy, and therefore the speaker may have violated such a rule from the hearer’s point of view due to pragmatic transfer from the first language since the rules applied to a conversation can be somewhat different in various cultures in the world (Celce Murcia and Olshtain: 2000) So, it is necessary for language teachers to provide their learners with sufficient knowledge of the society and culture of the target language in order to help the learners communicate fluently and effectively In other words, shared values and beliefs create the traditions and social structures that bind a community together and are expressed in their language

2.2.4 Affective factors

The last factors that Shumin (1997) considers to affect greatly the quality of adult EFL learners are the “Affective factors” One of the most influences the language learning success or failure is the affective side of the learner (Oxford, 1990: 140)

2.2.4.1 Self-esteem

Self-esteem is one of the primary affective elements (Oxford, 1996) The term ‘self-esteem’ has been used in much the same meaning as ‘self concept’ and has been found to be strongly linked with language anxiety Krashen (1985: 15: cited in Young, 1991: 427) suggests, “The more I think about self-esteem, the more impressed I am about its impact This is what causes anxiety in a lot of people People with low self-esteem worry about what their peers think; they are concerned with pleasing others And that I think has to do a great degree with anxiety” Individuals who have high levels of self-esteem are lees likely to be anxious than are those with low self- esteem (Horwitz et al., 1986: 129)

According to Laine (1987) ‘Self-esteem’, refers to “a person’s evaluative attitudes towards self and indicates the extent to which an individual believes himself to be capable, significant, successful, and worthy”

2.2.4.2 Anxiety

One of the affective factors that closely links with the self-esteem is anxiety Anxiety is one of the fundamental sensations of humans All human beings become little anxious when faced to a perilous situation Second language or foreign language learning is a complex task that is susceptible to human anxiety (Brown, 1994) Anxiety is a feeling of nervousness, apprehension, fear, or worry Some fears and worries are justified, such as worry about a loved one or in anticipation of taking a quiz, test, or other examination Anxiety, as perceived intuitively by many language learners, negatively influences language learning and has been found to be

one of the most highly examined variables in all of psychology and education (Horwitz, 2001: 113)

Sometimes, extreme anxiety occurs when EFL learners become tongue-tied

or lost for words in an unexpected situation, which often leads to discouragement and a general sense of failure However, anxiety can be a positive factor in a certain situation According to Brown (1987), this is the “good” kind of anxiety It is called facilitating anxiety, which can be useful in keeping students alert and on their toes; and the ‘bad’ kind of anxiety is known as debilitating anxiety, which harms the learners’ performance in many ways both indirectly through worry, fear, and self-doubt and directly by reducing participation and creating overt avoidance of using the language

Speaking, either in first (L1) or second/foreign (L2/FL) language in different situations, particularly the situations that demand public speech, tend to be anxiety- provoking However, the anxiety experienced when speaking in a second/foreign language seems to be more debilitating than the anxiety experienced when speaking

in the first language Anxiety while communicating in other than L1goes a step further with the addition of the difficulties associated with learning and speaking a foreign language In a foreign language, a speaker has to look for suitable lexis, has

to construct an appropriate syntactic structure and needs to use a comprehendible accent, plus the demanding tasks of thinking and organizing ideas and expressing them at the same time

Educators and second language acquisition (SLA) researchers can get insight from the analogy of first language anxiety to cope with the second language anxiety “Anxiety is a psychological construct, commonly described by psychologists as a state of apprehension, a vague fear that is only indirectly associated with an object” (Hilgard, Atkinson, & Atkinson, 1971 cited in Scovel, 1991: 18)

Burt and Krashen (1992) and other language researchers point out that speaking usually produces low or high anxiety levels Self-confidence, which is defined as low anxiety level and a tendency to be going out, has a positive on second language acquisition Those who are willing to take risks, not afraid of making mistakes and really try to unfamiliar language situation will certainly get high achievement

According to various theories, motivation may be rooted in a basic need to minimize physical pain and maximize pleasure, or it may include specific needs such as eating and resting, or a desired object, goal, state of being, ideal, or it may

be attributed to less-apparent reasons such as altruism, selfishness, morality, or avoiding mortality

Gardner (1980) proves that motivation has a close relation to success in language learning, and learners who are successful may be highly motivated Motivation is considered to be as a key to learning a second language, and it seems

to be the biggest single factor affecting language learners’ success

Brown (1990: 112) believes that it is easy to figure that success in a task is due to the fact that someone is motivated, and it is also easy to claim that a learner

of a second language will be successful with the proper motivation

Kohn (1990) points out that each person has intrinsic motivation and extrinsic motivation Intrinsic motivation occurs when people are internally

motivated to do something because it either brings them pleasure, they think it is important, or they feel that what they are learning is significant Extrinsic motivation comes into play when a student is compelled to do something or act a certain way because of factors external to him or her Those who have intrinsic motivation can work better than those who have extrinsic motivation The relation

of attitude and motivation depends on each type of motivation Intrinsic motivation presupposes a positive attitude of learners towards language speakers and their culture, but a learner who is extrinsic motivated does not necessarily have a positive attitude towards the target language group Therefore, Ur (1996) states that most of good teachers seem to accept that it is their responsibility to motivate their students and make a great effort on doing so

2.2.4.4 Empathy

Empathy means putting oneself into someone else’s shoes of reaching beyond the self and understanding and feeling what another person understands or feeling Empathy is thought to contribute to the attitudes people have towards a person or a group with a different language and culture from our own, and it may contribute to the degree of success with which a person learns another language With empathy, one does not necessarily give up his own way of feeling or totally agree with the position of the other, he is just able to imagine and share the thoughts

or feelings Empathy is perhaps the most important factor in the harmonious coexistence of individuals in society

2.2.4.5 Inhibition

Inhibition is closely related to self-esteem: the weaker the self-esteem; the stronger the inhibition to protect the weak ego Ehrman (1993) suggests that students with thick, perfectionist boundaries find language learning more difficult than those learners with thin boundaries who favour attitudes of openness and the tolerance of ambiguity As Brown (1994) noted, language learning implies a great deal of self-exposure as it necessarily involves making mistakes It can be argued

that the students arrive at the classroom with the defenses already built and that little can be done to remove them However, classroom experience shows that the teacher 's attitude towards mistakes can reinforce these barriers creating, in the long run, learning blocks, or the self-fulfilling prophecy: “I can't do it I 'm not good at it” In short, this produces in the learner a deep-seated fear of inadequacy and

in natural environment, the language is used for communication, the learner is surrounded by fluent speakers of the target language, the context is the real outside world, open and stimulating and the language used is free and formal In formal classrooms, the language is used to teach and study, only the teacher is fluent, the context is inside the classroom with the four closed walls and the language used is carefully controlled and simplified Likewise, Carroll (cited in Dalay, 1982: 15) states that natural language environment can enhance the development of communication skills in a second or foreign language Schinke Llalo (1990: 216) assumes that educational settings are not likely to provide higher level of L2 proficiency than natural settings On the contrary, if learners are just exposed to a list of words together with a few reading texts in a new language, they may succeed

in the reading skill but not listening and speaking ones

In general, it is concluded that the natural language setting and educational treatment should complement each other, but in fact there are not many opportunities for learners living in non-English speaking countries to improve their English in a natural language environment Therefore, teachers should create a good

language environment by selecting various appropriate and effective teaching methods as well as learning and teaching materials

2.2.5.2 School facilities

According to Bustami Subhan (1990: 18), explained that learning a foreign language involved five factors The first is intelligence It is a gate for knowledge Secondly, motivation plays influential role in encouraging students to learn the language It covers both intrinsic motivation which comes from the students themselves and extrinsic one which comes from outside The third and fourth ones have close relation with each other that are students’ attitudes and strategy of language learning Facilities of language learning, one of extrinsic motivations are the last factor, which is not important less than the others are The teaching- Learning English speaking process could only succeed by having good learning facilities, such as competent teachers, classrooms, language laboratory, computer laboratory, various kinds of English book and teaching use aids, technology media and other facilities In teaching Learning English speaking process, the awakening

of certain response of the students is very important factor, because it given direction to them in learning English speaking

Technology development has extended in the world In English learning, students are not only given the textbooks to learn but can also get some knowledge through some technology media, such as a computer, a projector, a television, a radio, an internet, an email, a map etc Technology-enhanced learning has become the mainstream of educational and training innovation Based on these fundamentals, teacher will be able to develop new and innovative approaches for the next generation of technology-enhanced learning Speaking by using technology media will be easily students to learn Because, media will helps students to speak English well Students will know how to pronounce words, spelling, and know another vocabulary

The advancement of facilities in teaching-learning speaking process is really needed to get good result

2.2.5.3 Teaching and learning materials

Materials play an important role in teaching and learning a language They include textbooks, video and audio tapes, computer software, and visual aids In the case of traditional conceptions, teaching materials tend to be considered as instruments to access the target language They are a means of dealing with grammar, syntax, phonetics and cultural matters among others Apparently, materials not only have the purpose of “presenting” the language in study They are perceived as instrumental objects to inform students and help teachers deal with the curricular aspects

Conceiving teaching materials as means or instruments is an idea supported

by theories related to input According to Krashen (1981) ‘the conditions for language acquisition to occur is that the acquirer understands… input language.”; and materials can make learning more accessible and understandable that language input

For some other authors such as Tomlinson (1998), a teaching material is considered as anything which is used by teachers or learners to facilitate the learning of a language Materials attempt to diminish the level of difficulty when accessing the linguistics aspects of the target language At this point, materials are vital recourses because they stimulate and develop students’ linguistic skills

In other words, materials are meaningful constructions of reality and truth More than teaching instruments, materials are useful because they create certain mental images and representations of everything related to knowledge

Materials are outstanding elements in the construction of students’ motivation They can encourage students, “They meet….the need of exploration, stimulation, knowledge, self-esteem, and autonomy” (Brown, 2000)

Allwright (1990) argues that materials should teach students to learn, that they should be resource books for ideas and activities for instruction/learning, and that they should give teachers rationales for what they do From Allwright's point of view, textbooks are too inflexible to be used directly as instructional material O'Neill (1990), in contrast, argues that materials may be suitable for students' needs, even if they are not designed specifically for them, that textbooks make it possible for students to review and prepare their lessons, the textbooks are efficient in terms

of time and money, and that textbooks can and should allow for adaptation and improvization

In a word, materials influence the content and the procedures of learning The choice of deductive vs inductive learning, the role of memorization, the use of creativity and problem solving, production vs reception, and the order in which materials are presented are all influenced by the materials

2.2.5.4 The roles of teachers and learners

Teachers play a variety of roles in the Communicative Approach The role of the teacher changes depending on the function he performs in different activities It

is very important that teachers are aware if the aim of a speaking activity is fluency

or accuracy, because the role of the teacher is radically different in each activity type

Breen and Candlin (1980: 99) describe teacher roles in the following terms:

“The teacher has two main roles: the first role is to facilitate the tion process between all participants in the classroom, and between these participants and the various activities and texts The second role is to act as an independent participant within the learning-teaching group The latter role is closely related to the objectives of the first role and arises from it These roles imply a set of secondary roles for the teacher; first, as an organizer of resources and as a resource himself, second as a guide within the classroom procedures and activities A third role for the teacher is that of researcher and learner, with much to contribute in