Problems third year english majored student encounter when studying public speaking subject at thu dau mot university and suggestions for improving public speaking skills

^THỦDẢUMỘTTHU DAU MOT UNIVERSITY GRADUATATE PAPER TILTLE: PROBLEMS THIRD-YEAR ENGLISH-MAJORED STUDENTS ENCOUNTER WHEN STUDYING PUBLIC SPEAKING SUBJECT AT THU DAU MOT UNIVERSITY AND SUGGE

THU DAU MOT UNIVERSITY FACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES

^THỦDẢUMỘTTHU DAU MOT UNIVERSITY

GRADUATATE PAPER

TILTLE: PROBLEMS THIRD-YEAR ENGLISH-MAJORED STUDENTS ENCOUNTER WHEN STUDYING PUBLIC SPEAKING SUBJECT AT THU DAU MOT UNIVERSITY AND SUGGESTIONS FOR IMPROVING PUBLIC

SPEAKING SKILLS

: NGUYEN DUC ANH : 1722202010006

: D17AVGD01 : 2017-2021 : ENGLISH LANGUAGE : Ph.D TRAN NGOC MAI

Binh Duong, December 2020

2009

THU DAU MOT UNIVERSITY FACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES

GRADUATATE PAPER

TILTLE: PROBLEMS THIRD-YEAR ENGLISH-MAJORED STUDENTS ENCOUNTER WHEN STUDYING PUBLIC SPEAKING SUBJECT AT THU DAU MOT UNIVERSITY AND SUGGESTIONS FOR IMPROVING PUBLIC

SPEAKING SKILLS

: NGUYEN DUC ANH : 1722202010006

: D17AVGD01 : 2017-2021 : ENGLISH LANGUAGE : Ph.D TRAN NGOC MAI

Binh Duong, December 2020

Student full

Student ID: 1722202010006

Title of paper: Problems third-year English-majored students

encounter when studying public speaking subject atThu Dau Mot University and suggestions for improvingpublic speaking skills

I hereby confirm that I am the sole author of the paper presented Where

I refer to someone else's work I have made it clear and appropriate inthe bibliography of the article I also have not consulted any unnamedonline sources The text has explicitly indicated some verbatim orreferential use of the sources referred to in the bibliography

Binh Duong, December 15th

Signature

Nguyen Duc Anh

To teachers of the Faculty of Foreign Language at TDM University

Firstly, I would like to express thanks to the Thu Dau Mot University andthe Faculty of foreign languages for creating favorable conditions for me tofinish the graduate paper During the research period, I received plenty ofenthusiastic help and support that guided and encouraged me to overcome alldifficulties and finish this hard but meaningful time

Secondly, sincerely thank Ph.D Tran Ngoc Mai, my supervisor, gave meuseful guidance and advice to finish my research paper successfully Thanks tothe people who always create conditions for us to have the best and mosteffective learning environment to help me with my future

In short, I really thank all people helping me to finish this internshipreport

ABSTRACT

Speaking is a complicated skill because it needs many elements to besimultaneously used at a time In learning speaking English, especially inpublic speaking, students should have speaking ability to speak well becausepublic speaking emphasizes the ability to speak and the ability to communicateideas Therefore, in Thu Dau Mot University, this skill has been applied fortraining the students The purpose of this study is to know the problems thestudents face in public speaking and know what the solutions to the problemthey face in public speaking are This study's research design is descriptiveresearch to obtain information about this study's problems and methods Datawere collected through an online survey The English department students inThu Dau Mot University are the population of this study There were 62participants take part in the survey This study aimed at the third-year English-majored students, specifically those studying the fifth semester at thisuniversity The online survey conducted in this study showed that the students'public speaking problems were limited to selecting topics, anxiety, accuracy,clarity, no idea, and the methods relate to the information source and debatingskill Most importantly, this research paper helps me summarize the difficultiesfaced by 3rd-year students in the public speaking subject and so that I can findthe right solution to help them overcome the challenges of this skills

TABLE OF CONTENT

TITLE PAGE i

STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP ii

ACKNOWLEDGE iii

ABSTRACT iv

TABLE OF CONTENT v

LIST OF FIGURES

vii Chapter 1: INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 Background to study 1

1.2 Scope 2

1.3 Objectives of the study 2

1.4 Research questions 3

1.5 Significance of the study 3

1.6 Thesis outline 3

Chapter 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 5

2.1 Definition of public speaking skills 5

2.2 Problems that learners face with public speaking skills 6

2.2.1 Psychology 7

2.2.2 Topical knowledge 7

2.2.3 Listening skills 7

2.2.4 Learning environment 7

2.2.5 Performance condition 8

2.3 Reason for student's difficulties in speaking skills 8

2.3.1 Lack of good language learning environment 9

2.3.2 Fear of making mistakes 9

2.3.3 Lack of motivation 9

2.3.4 Lack of confidence 9

2.3.5 Shyness

10 Chapter 3: METHODOLY

11 3.1 Research methods

11 3.2 Participants

11

3.3 Instrument

11 3.4 Procedure for data collection

12 3.5 Data analysis 12

Chapter 4: RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 13

4.1 Difficulties students encounter in public speaking skills 13

4.2 Reasons for these difficulties in public speaking skills 17

Chapter 5: CONCLUSION 19

5.1 Summary of main findings 19

5.2 Limitations and recommendations 19

5.2.1 Limitations 19

5.2.2 Recommendations 20

5.3 Implications 20

5.4 Conclusion and suggestions 20

5.4.1 Conclusion 20

5.4.2 Suggestions 21

5.4.2.1 For students 21

5.4.2.2 For lecturers 21

REFERENCES viii

APPENDIX xi

LIST OF FIGURES 4.1 Difficulties student encounter in public speaking skills

Figure 1 Students' English speaking frequency

Figure 2 The factor affect in public speaking

Figure 3 Information sources applied in students' speech

Figure 4 Difficulties often encounter when speaking English in public

4.2 Reason for these difficulties in public speaking skills

Figure 5 The percentage of students encounter difficulties in public speaking

Figure 6 Reason why student encounter difficulties in public speaking

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background to study

English has become a crucial part of most of the Vietnamese students.Many students nowadays spend their time from kindergarten, primary school,secondary school, high school to college studying English The diversity andhybridization of the English language now require learners to acquire astandard "international" variety that is intelligible (i.e., broadly recognizable orcomprehensible outside the local culture), while at the same time "local" interms of identity (Crystal, 2001) The English major is one of the most populardepartments for high school post-graduate students in Vietnam It is a fact thatthe older they grow, the harder the lessons require so that the basic skills suchas: listening, speaking, reading, writing has been upgraded, specialized bysome universities in Vietnam in order to help students familiarize themselveswith higher requirements in the future jobs One of them is public speakingskills Public speaking is not easy It is a skill that needs to be learned andpracticed regularly

Public speaking is a special form of communication to conveyinformation, share experiences, call out actions, influence listeners' emotions,and then have the direction of action According to Anwar (2010), publicspeaking can speak in front of an audience to speak in a planned manner toconvince, inform, or entertain the audience A study by Weber (2013) statedthat public speaking is the biggest fear of people, and death is second Raja(2013) said that about 75% of those surveyed admit that they have this fear.Husnawati (2017) conducted research investigating the challenging factor thataffects students' English speaking performance and the problems encountered

by students in speaking

As speaking is essentially a communicative act, studying the nature of L2oral communication is crucial in understanding the causes of the problemsmentioned above Communication in a target language is a highly complex,demanding and multi-faceted skill that involves different competencies andmechanisms (Kormos, 2006; Levelt, Roelofs, & Meyer, 2000) It is also a skillthat cannot be transferred automatically from the speaker's first language intotheir second (Thornbury, 2007) He also said that everyone needs to equippublic speaking skills to catch employers' eye with employers' rapiddevelopment and strict requirements Moreover, when mastering this skill, itwill have much confidence when communicating with many different

audiences, flexibly handling arising out of the script, having personal brandingskills, and influencing the community, develop leadership skills Moreover,when mastering this skill, it will have much confidence when communicatingwith many different audiences, flexibly handling arising out of the script,having personal branding skills, and influencing the community, developleadership skills Moreover, speaking is an activity generally performed inrealtime but learned in the classroom where there are insufficient opportunitiesfor practicing the command of English skills for real-world communication(Karnnawakul, 2004; Kimsuvan, 2004).

In reality, there are many kinds of jobs needing public speaking skills andpeople who do the job have to utilize this skill, turn it into a tool for earningtheir lives These are politicians, motivational speakers, professors, and anormal employee who sometimes needs to contribute his idea in a meeting.Public speaking is considered to be an important role for students to enhancetheir careers in general Those who equip themselves with effective speakingskills can handle their interpersonal communication problems magnificentlyduring their working life That's the reason for Thu Dau Mot University todecide this subject is a must-learned for English department students.Obviously, majors, including translation and interpretation, business English

or English education, all require performing a speech in front of audiences.Many and juniors of the English department assumed that they had difficulties

in passing the subject

1.2 Scope

This paper's emphasis is to focus on the problems in public speakingsubject of third-year English-majored students in TDMU and provide them thesolution The research topic was conducted for about three months, fromOctober 10 to December 9, 2020 Because of the limited time, this study doesnot cover the problems of public speaking It only focuses on investigating allproblems that students face and solutions to help students majoring in English

at Thu Dau Mot University complete subjects that require public speaking

1.3 Objectives of the study

This study focuses on two main issues Firstly, it finds out thefundamental mistakes that 3rd-year students often make in subjects that needpublic speaking Secondly, it points out the reasons to help students overcometheir fear of public speaking and improve their self-confidence Lastly, this

study will help readers who will soon graduate prepare themselves and providethe information they lack to perform better after they graduated.

1.4 Research questions

This study is done according to the following questions:

1 What are the problems that TDMU students usually encounter during thetime learning public speaking?

2 The reasons why do third-year students at TDMU have difficulty inpublic speaking?

1.5 Significance of the study

This report is done to reveal the solution for developing public speakingskills of 3rd-year students in Thu Dau Mot University It provides samplediscussion on how to deal with difficulties in studying the subject with publicspeaking skills

Benefiting the study are the various sectors as follows:

For students to find out why they are having trouble speaking in public.Based on these reasons, find the appropriate solutions that give them theconfidence to speak in public Besides, I also wish that this study can touch theteacher to understand the problems that student lack, thereby giving outsuitable lesson plans so that students can change their perceptions and personalviews so that the subjects that need public speaking skills can complete easily

1.6 Thesis outline

This study is divided into six chapters that follow a certain order:

Chapter 1 (Introduction) introduces the background to the study It providesthe scope and objectives of the study Research questions and the significance

of the study will be shown It presents the thesis outline

Chapter 2 (Literature review) defines public speaking skills, above all theproblems that 3rd-year students majoring in language encounter when meetingsubjects that require public speaking skills and the reasons for those problems.Chapter 3 (Methodology) introduces the research methods, participants andinstrument It also shows the procedure for data collection as well as dataanalysis methods

Chapter 4 (Results and Discussion) results from questions in thequestionnaire, focusing on analyzing data collected from reality through

specific figures, charts, and discusses this topic's research purpose.

Chapter 5 (Conclusion) summarizes the main findings, presents the researchlimitations, recommends further study, describes the study's implications, andgives some suggestions for students and teachers

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter provides definitions of speaking skills from many previouslystudied authors It covers common problems in speaking and the reasons forthose problems

2.1 Definition of public speaking skills

When a person making a speech among audiences, he has to talk about aspecific topic Ganguly (2018) stated the following:

Public speaking (sometimes termed oratory or oration) is the process oract of performing a presentation (a speech) focused around an individualdirectly speaking to a live audience in a structured, deliberate manner toinform, influence, or entertain them Public speaking is commonly understood

as the formal, face-to-face talking of a single person to a group of listeners It

is closely allied to "presenting", although the latter is more often associatedwith commercial activity The art of speech's goal can be from conveyinginformation to exhorting the public to take action or simply telling a story Atalented ore not only provides information to listeners but can also change theiremotions In speaking English in public, students always encounter difficultiesrelated to the fear of public speaking, low self-esteem

Public speaking is considered one of the four well-researched contextsthat contribute to overall communication apprehension—the others includedyads, meetings, and groups (Richmond & McCroskey, 1998) According toVerderber, Sellnow & Verderber (2011), public speaking is just a protractedofficial presentation of a speaker in front of an audience and is only a form ofcommunication Therefore, to be an effective communicator in work andlearning environments, learners need to learn how to be an effective publicspeaker Associates (1973) about human fears said that public speaking has amuch higher position than altitude, insects, financial problems as well asillness or death According to a survey by Chapman University in the US, up to25.3% of Americans are afraid of speaking in public

Besides, the public speaking skill is also a means to attract the attention

of the crowd from which we can express our personal views on a certain aspect

of life Leaders like Martin Luther King and Winston Churchill are examples

of speakers who know how to use rhetoric to influence society Some speechesare viral and well researched many years after they are published

Public speaking and rhetoric are ranked the most important skills anindividual can possess Most successful speakers have a natural talent forpracticing this skill effectively to help them influence the audience in terms ofthe intent they are aiming for Language and rhetoric are two important factors

in rhetoric Knowledge and a thorough understanding of the method and setcommunication goals can help speakers successfully convey their message.Public speaking skill is defined differently by many authors, but publicspeaking is to persuade the audience most of the time

2.2 Problems that learners face with public speaking skills

After learning and referencing many research papers of previousresearchers, many reasons affect students' ability to speak publicly Thosebarriers can come from internal factors as well as external factors

Zhang (2009) argued that speaking public remains the most difficult skill

to master for most English learners, and they are still incompetent incommunicating orally in English According to Ur (1996), many factors causedifficulty in speaking, and they follow Inhibition, nothing to say, low oruneven participation, mother-tongue use

Besides, Rababa'h (2005) pointed out that many factors cause difficulties

in speaking English among EFL learners Some of these factors are related tothe learners themselves, such as psychology, the teaching strategies, thecurriculum, and the environment For example, many learners lack thenecessary vocabulary to get their meaning across, and consequently, theycannot keep the interaction going Inadequate strategic competence andcommunication competence can be another reason for not being able to keepthe interaction going

Learners complain that they cannot memorize anything to say and do nothave any motivation to state themselves Rivers (1968) supported this,considers that learners often have nothing to say perhaps since their teachershad chosen a topic that is not suitable for them or have enough data about it.Besides, Baker & Westrup (2003) also backed the above idea and stated that it

is complicated for learners to answer when their teachers request them to saysomething in a foreign language because they have little opinions about what

to say, which vocabulary to put in, or the way to use grammar correctly

2.2.1 Psychology

Internal factors refer to factors that come from the learner self It'sincluding physiological aspects and learners' language competence (ability).Schwartz & Thornbury (2005) argue that psychological factors such as anxiety

or shyness, lack of confidence, lack of motivation, and fear of mistakescommonly hinder students from speaking Furthermore, Brown (2012) claimedthat no successful cognitive or affective activity could be carried out withoutsome degree of self-stem, self-confidence, knowledge of yourself, and belief inyour own capabilities for that activity Liu (2007) explained that some studentsare reluctant to speak due to anxiety This is also mentioned in Pull CB (2012)that public speaking anxiety symptoms are the same as those that occur forsocial anxiety disorder, but they only happen in the context of speaking inpublic

2.2.2 Topical knowledge

Topical knowledge is defined as knowledge structures in long-termmemory (Bachman & Palmer, 1996) Knowledge about the given topic helpsspeakers feel much more confident before speaking in public Lack ofvocabulary to talk about a subject in English causes them to become lazygradually This will decrease their ability to speak in public Bachman &Palmer (1996) stated that certain test tasks might be easier for those whopossess the relevant topical knowledge and more difficult for those who donot

2.2.4 Learning environment

In their research, Minghe & Yuan (2013) stated that another eternal factoraffecting students speaking English in public is the lack of a good languagelearning environment English is a language used in communications, so agood language environment can effectively promote learning But for most

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mostly, students communicate in their everyday life in their native languageand too lazy to practice their English outside the class or teaching-learningprocess.

2.2.5 Performance condition

According to Moulida (1997), students perform a speaking task undervarious conditions, and they believe that performance conditions can affectspeaking performance They suggest four types of performance conditionsinclude time pressure, planning, the standard of performance and the amount

of support

Besides, Dr Ahmed Maher Mahmoud Al Nakhalah (2016) exploring thespeaking difficulties encountered by English language students at Al QudsOpen University The participants of the study are English students who studythe English Language at Al Quds Open University in the Branch of Gaza forthe academic year 2014/2015 The researcher discharged and analyzed theinterview by using the program The researcher used the percentages in thestudy after the results showed and indicated some difficulties in the speaking

of the students, such as fear of mistakes, shyness, anxiety and lack ofconfidence

2.3 Reason for student's difficulties in speaking skills

Besides these difficulties, there are always reasons attached afterward thatthe reasons for having difficulty in major require speaking public skills havealso been explored and discovered by researchers

This may be caused by low English proficiency, lack of practice,competition and task difficulty The awareness of performing badly in Englishalso will lead to the loss of self-esteem among the students Besides, speakingwas frequently described as an anxiety-provoking activity

Minghe & Yuan (2013) pointed out why students encounter in publicspeaking skills such as lack of learning environment; Fear of making mistakes,shyness,

These reasons are also mentioned a lot in other research papers as argued

by many theorists, fear of mistake becomes one of the main factors of students'reluctance to speak in English in the classroom (Nunan, 1999)

2.3.1 Lack of good language learning environment

In their research, Minghe & Yuan (2013) stated that another eternal factor

affecting students speaking English in public is the lack of a good languagelearning environment English is a language used in communications, so agood language environment can effectively promote learning But for mostVietnamese students, English is a foreign language they learn at school, andmostly, students communicate in their everyday life in their native languageand too lazy to practice their English outside the class or teaching and learningprocess.

2.3.2 Fear of making mistakes

A study conducted by Sato in Minghe & Yuan (2013) finds that Englishstudents are not highly competent in speaking because of their fear of makingmistakes The same finding is also shared by another research conducted byBallard in Yan (2007), who finds that students fail to join in the Englishdiscussion because of their vocabulary problems and fear of making mistakesresulting in their inability to speak English well In addition, she says thatstudents find speaking English a stressful activity, especially if they have toperform something using English We can see that psychological problem is ahuge barrier affecting most people's ability to speak in public

2.3.3 Lack of motivation

Motivation is key to students' learning success Songsiri (2007) Everysuccess comes at a cost with practice So motivation is a necessary condition todevelop public speaking skills

Gardner in Nunan (1999) elaborates the causes of the students' lack ofmotivation e.g., uninspired teaching, boredom, lack of perceived relevance ofmaterials and lack of knowledge about the instructional program's goals

2.3.4 Lack of confidence

Confidence is an essential element of success Confidence plays animportant role in public speaking skills This problem occurred with severalfactors One of them is the student inability to maintain their emotions It cancause shyness when speaking Many people are afraid of public speakingbecause they are afraid of being judged by others, afraid of being ashamed,afraid of being criticized or rejected Causes of these fears can come fromunpleasant experiences in the past, such as having been scolded or humiliatedfor an imperfect presentation in front of the class or being forced to give apresentation Something in front of a crowd without much time to prepare andthen suffer unexpected results