THE FACTORS AFFECTING EFL COLLEGE STUDENTS’ SPEAKING FLUENCY

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MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING
VINH UNIVERSITY

NGUYEN MINH THIEN

THE FACTORS AFFECTING
EFL COLLEGE STUDENTS’ SPEAKING FLUENCY

Major: Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL)
Code: 60 14 01 1

MASTER’S THESIS IN EDUCATION
SUPERVISOR
A/Prof. Ngo Dinh Phuong

Nghe An, 2017


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STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP
I certify that this thesis, entitled “The factors affecting EFL college students’
speaking fluency”
Except where reference is made in the text of the thesis, this thesis does not
contain material published elsewhere or extracted in whole or in part from a
thesis by which I have qualified for or been awarded another degree or
diploma.
No other person’s work has been used without due acknowledgement in the
main text of the thesis.

Vinh City, August 2017


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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The researcher would like to extend his deepest gratitude and
immeasurable joy to those who guided and supported him during the
accomplishment of this research.
Vinh University for the olden days and for providing programs for the
graduate students; and Long An University of Economics and Industry for the
important endorsement to participate in the program;
Prof. Dinh Xuan Khoa, Vinh University’s President, for his dedicated
leadership in this university;
A/Prof, Dr. Ngo Dinh Phuong, Vinh University’s Vice-President, his
supervisor, for the generosity, great help, advice and motivation to fulfill this
undertaking and guidance from the earliest stage of the conduct of this research;
Dr. Tran Ba Tien, the former Dean of Foreign Language Education for
his valued assistance and unceasing moral support in the completion of this
work and for the additional professional growth and quality education;
The defense panel members for their expertise, patience shared and for
notable suggestions for the improvement of this study;
To his colleagues, friends and relatives for their moral support despite
the pressure of work, more so for their prayers and encouragement;
The researcher’s family, for their full moral and financial support and
everlasting love.
NGUYEN MINH THIEN (TOMMY)

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ABSTRACT
This study was conducted to determine the factors affecting EFL college
students’ speaking fluency of the third year English major students at the Faculty
of Foreign Languages, Dong Nai University of Technology, Vietnam during the
second academic school year 2016 – 2017. Descriptive in nature, five (5)
questions were posited in this study utilizing mean, standard deviation, and
Pearson r with the some findings.
The respondents of the study were forty five third year English major
students from Faculty of Foreign Languages and ten teachers who were teaching
English at in there, Dong Nai University of Technology (DNTU). For teachers,
in the study, 6 or 60% of the teachers are male while 4 or 40% are female. For
the students, the student variables include self-mmotivation, perception of the
English Language, and the English learning environment.
The findings focus on the teacher variables such as motivation, teaching
methods and techniques, use of teaching aids, and the difficulties encountered in
teaching speaking. The student variables include self-motivation, perceptions on
the English language learning and the learning environment, and the speaking
proficiency in terms of prosody, fluency, accuracy, grammatical features, and
pronunciation.


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CONTENTS


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Chapter 1: INTRODUCTION
1.1.

Introduction
At the present, the fluency of speaking a foreign language represents one

of the essential requirements of today´s society. Besides other skills and
knowledge, it is considered as one of the most influencing factors while
applying for a job or sustaining in a particular work position under the condition
of advancing the language level. Based on the work experience, it can be
confirmed that knowing a foreign language is a necessity for everyone in
general, mainly for the students with the main major in English.
These people are required to reach a sufficient level in a foreign language
in order to teach English for their future generations or to find a good for them.
Teaching foreign languages, mainly English, for these teaching purposes is
provided by the Faculty of Foreign Languages of Dong Nai University of
Technology (DNTU) where the researcher has been working as an English
teacher for almost two years. The principal goal is to provide the students with
efficient English lessons as possible because it will be them who will have to
deal with international relationships and take measures for solving various
situations in teaching as well as other fields related to English.
Therefore, many foreign language learners study a foreign language such
as English wishing to become fluent and accurate, including using a range of
sophisticated structures and vocabulary. Yet second language acquisition (SLA)
specialists are still unsure of what makes up the myriad factors that contribute to
second language (L2) fluency. To establish a baseline view of the complex
interactions amongst traits, the researchers (Iwashita, Brown, McNamara, &
O’Hagan, 2008; Adam, 1980) focused on four key traits: prosody, fluency,
accuracy, and grammatical features. However, measures for these four traits vary
from study to study, as do the diverse definitions of traits used by different

researchers. An additional problem is that most investigations have concerned


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the acquisition of English. Because of this, it is not clear to what extent research
findings from English may be applicable to languages which are typologically
distant from English
According to Chaney (1998), English spoken language is the process of
building and sharing meaning through the use of verbal and non-verbal symbols,
in a variety of contexts. Speaking is a crucial part of learning and teaching
language. Despite its importance, for many years, teaching speaking has been
undervalued and English language teachers have continued to teach speaking
just as a repetition of drills or memorization of dialogues. However, today's
world requires that the goal of teaching speaking should be to improve students'
communicative skills so that they can express themselves and learn how to
follow the social and cultural rules appropriate in each communicative
circumstance.
People live in the global world in which English language has rapidly
become an international language. To meet this requirement, English has been
taught almost everywhere in Vietnam, especially in schools, colleges,
universities. Of course, English is a compulsory subject. For Vietnamese
students, learning English is becoming the utmost concern of them. However,
how to speak English well is a problem for many learners of English, especially
for the students of colleges and universities. Despite the fact that most of the
students have been learning English since they were at secondary or high school,
they were deficient in English spoken language fluency.
As an English lecturer of the Faculty of Foreign Languages, Dong Nai
University of Technology, Vietnam, based from observations and teaching
experiences, it has been seen that during the speaking lesson classroom

interaction is restricted. Only some students get involved in the activities
conducted by the teacher while others keep silence or do other things.


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To find the answer to this question it is necessary to investigate what
teacher motivation and students perception in English learning in general and in
speaking in particular. Many teachers and researchers now believe that
motivation is one of the most important factors that determine the rate and
success of L2 attainment. It provides the primary impetus to initiate learning the
L2 and later the driving force to sustain the long and often tedious learning
process. Without sufficient motivation, even individuals with the most
remarkable abilities cannot accomplish long-term goals, and there are no
appropriate curricula and good teaching to ensure student achievement.
1.2.

Rationale of the Study
In Vietnam, according to the plan 2020 of Ministry of Education and

Training about the using English in Vietnam in 2020, all universities and
colleges are forced to set up English as a compulsory subject for all students to
graduate. English abilities of students are evaluated during the academic study.
Especially, all schools focus on listening and speaking. Then, students can use
proficiently English to communicate together after graduation. The requirement
is mandated by the law in the development of the nation’s human resources
through the advancement of knowledge to attain national progress. In realizing
these very important mandates, English becomes the most important subject for
students. However, speaking is difficult to develop among English as a Foreign
Language learners. It takes them lots of time practicing if they want to be skilful

in it. Sometimes the learners understand clearly the information they heard, but
can not react to them, or, make the responses not understandable to the listeners.
This can be explained by the deficiency of speaking skill. What are the reasons
for these problems? It mainly because of some factor regarding to practice since
“Practice makes perfect”
For most people, the ability to speak a foreign language is synonymous
with knowing that language because speech is for them the basic means of


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human communication. English learners no longer expect the traditional
approach of their teachers based on developing mainly the grammatical
competence and using methodology popular in the past. Today, teachers are
expected to provide their students with useful active knowledge of the foreign
language, not just theory about the language. In Vietnam, this problem is even
more serious. Aside from the term of practicing, Vietnamese students always
have to face with many other difficulties in speaking English.
Producing spoken language has often meant a difficulty and an obstacle
for English learners. There might arise a question why. The answer is obvious.
In the natural spoken language students are required to be aware of
characteristics of prosody, fluency, accuracy and grammatical features. All of
these have to be taken into consideration while practising speaking in class.
Without these, our spoken language would sound bookish and unnatural. To
avoid this, it is essential to introduce and practise “real” communication with the
students within the learning process. If it is neglected, it may be a reason why
students are often shocked and disappointed when using a foreign language for
the first time whilst interacting in foreign environment. They have not been
prepared for spontaneous communication and could not cope with all of its
simultaneous demands.

Speaking English is difficult for foreign language learners because
effective oral communication requires the ability to use the language
appropriately in social interactions. Generally in Viet Nam, English has been
teaching as a foreign language. Reading and writing are given top priorities in
the General Education Certificate (GEC) exam that is the most important
written exam that evaluates the learners’ competence. Speaking and listening
are completely ignorable in teaching language for other serious reasons such as:
lack of competent teachers, poor teaching material or no need for speaking skill


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in the end – term tests and even in the GED exam. Moreover, teachers often pay
greater attention to lecture approach and forget how students can obtain it.
Therefore, most of students prefer working independently in analyzing,
mastering exercises and taking part in activities. They learn in passive way with
a lot of imitation from given sample. They prefer reading, writing and learning
grammar because teachers focus more on them. Vietnamese students are often
shy and lack confidence when speaking in front of the crowd. They seldom use
foreign language in daily conversations. English words are used as shortened
responses in conversations. Apparently, accuracy and fluency are both missing
in the students’ use of spoken English.
Dong Nai Province where the researcher lives and works is located in the
South of Viet Nam. It is an industrial center of the South of Vietnam.
Therefore, there are a lot of foreign companies investing in the province. Then,
English is more necessary when working in the province. In Dong Nai, there
are five famous universities, about 8 colleges and vocational colleges.
Especially in Dong Nai University of technology, there are total eight faculties
with a certain major. English has been teaching for all students as a compulsory
subject for graduation. In particular, there are about two hundred students who

are learning English as a main major under the curriculum of faculty of foreign
languages. In the sum of these students, there are about forty five English
major students who are studying as third year students. Although the teaching
facilities and method have been upgraded regularly, many students cannot
speak English fluently. As being known, when teaching English in the
university, teachers do not use English frequently and effectively. In class,
students tend to talk in Vietnamese in group work activities. In speaking
activities, students do not have equal opportunities to participate. The more
proficient students have many chances to speak than the less proficient


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students. Students are not given many oral activities in class even in social
activities. They lack speaking and listening environment so they are not
motivated enough to learn speaking. The development of the English spoken
language fluency of students in our university has become a concern of the
researcher after having observed the students’ inability to speak in English
accurately and fluently and after having listened to other English Foreign
Language teachers complaints about their students’ poor English oral
communication skills.
Hence, this study conducts that English spoken language fluency is
related with a vast spectrum of factors, and it is indeed important for teachers
to know of these factors in order to help the learners appreciate the importance
of the language and to achieve global competence.
1.3.

Aims and objectives of the study
Given the background together with its gap as identified and presented

above, the researcher would like to conduct a study on “Factors affecting EFL
College Students’ Speaking Fluency”. The study is to investigate some factors
related to English speaking fluency of students in the university. The researcher
does hope that this study will help the teacher of speaking in some ways to find
appropriate methods to motivate their students.
1.4.

Research questions
To achieve the aim articulated above, this thesis will try to find the

information to answer the following research question:
1. What are students and teachers’ attitudes towards speaking fluency in
teaching and learning speaking skill?
2. Why don’t many students of English major get involved actively in
speaking lesson?


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3. How should English speaking be taught in order to meet the objectives
of teaching English speaking for English major students in Dong Nai
Technology University?
1.5.

Scope and Limitations
The study covered forty five third-year students who are studying English

as their main major in the Faculty of Foreign Languages in Dong Nai University
of Technology, a main university in Dong Nai Province, the South of Vietnam,
for the first semester of school year 2016 - 2017.

1.6.

Design of the study
The thesis is structured as follows:
Chapter 1 problematizes the object of the study. To do this, it deals with

the six parts of introduction, rationale, aims and objectives of the study, research
questions, scope of the study focus and design of the study.
Chapter 2 contains the literature review, with a discussion of
pronunciation, fluency, grammatical features, prosody and accuracy used in this
research. This chapter also reviews some previous research studies on speaking
fluency of the students.
Chapter 3 deals with research design and methodology employed to carry
out the research. It describes four main issues regarding the research site,
participants, data types and methods of data collection, and analytical
framework.
Chapter 4 analyses and discusses the findings grounded in the data
analyzed in the previous chapter.
Chapter 5 will be summarized the main points and contents of the study
based on the results of the study. The implication of the study and the
recommendation for further research will be presented.


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Chapter 2: LITERATURE REVIEW
English fluency is the main goal that each of teachers as to achieve to
develop for their learners. Whereas it is defined to be the ability to speak, read,
listen and or write in English fluently without difficulty. To be considered truly
proficient, one should have advanced abilities in English spoken fluency in

which there are many factors meant to be considered. This chapter presents in
the review of related literature and studies. These are incorporated in order to
discuss sufficient background with regarding to factors affecting spoken
language fluency of students.
In English fluency including of listening, speaking, reading and writing,
speaking seems intuitively the most important. One of the variables in this study
is students’ spoken language fluency. People who know a language are referred
to as 'speakers of that language, as if speaking included all other types of skills,
and many, if not most foreign language learners are primarily interested in
learning to speak (Ur, 2006).
2.1.

Theoretical background of motivation

2.1.1. Definition of motivation
Many researches have been undertaken and there is much in the research
literature regarding the definition of motivation. All the motivation theories in
general want to explain the fundamental question of why humans behave as they
do, and therefore we cannot assume any simple and straightforward answer.


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In recent years, motivation has become a familiar term in second language
learning. Motivation in foreign language learning has been defined in different
ways. According to Dornyei, 1988, motivation refers to the efforts learners make
to learn a foreign language. Motivation is one of the keys that influence the rate
and success of language learning. Motivation in this context can be understood
as one relating to attitude and vice versa with both having an influence on
learning and acquisition. Gardner (1985) as cited in Dornyei, (2001), assumed

that motivation involved desire to learn a language, intensity of effort to achieve
this, and attitudes toward learning the language.
In another word, motivation is described as the impetus to create and
sustain intentions and goal seeking acts (Ames & Ames, 1989). Burden, (1997)
assumed that “from a cognitive perspective, motivation is concerned with such
issues as why people decide to act in certain ways and what factors influence the
choice they make. It also involves decisions as to the amount of effect people are
prepared to expand in attempting to achieve their goals. The role of the teacher
thus becomes one of helping and enabling learners to make suitable decisions”
Dornei (2001) defined motivation as “a general ways of referring to the
antecedents (i.e. the causes and the origins”. He also stated that “motivation
explains why people decide to do something, how hard they are going to pursue
it and how long they are willing to sustain the activities” (2001:7). The author
mentioned two dimensions of human behavior: direction and magnitude
(intensity) which motivation concerns.
From the above, it can be deduced that motivation is a psychological trait
which leads people to achieve a goal. Motivation is what drives you to “behave”
in a certain way or to take a particular action. Simply, it can be understood that
motivation is your “WHY”.


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2.1.2. Motivation in foreign language learning
Brown (1994) stated that L2 learners benefit from positive attitudes and
that negative attitudes may lead to decreased motivation and in all likelihood, to
unsuccessful attainment of fluency due to decreased input and interaction.
Therefore, teachers should be aware that every learner has both positive and
negative attitudes towards English.
According to Gardner and Lambert (1972), motivation to learn a second

language is based on positive attitude towards the second language community
and upon a desire to communicate with valued members of that community and
to become similar to them. This latter desire is integrative motivation, which
constitutes a support for language learning. An instrumental orientation is
associated with a desire to learn L2 for pragmatic gains such as getting a better
job or a higher salary.
Dornyei (2001) believed that the role of orientation is to help arouse
motivation and direct it towards a set of goals with either a strong interpersonal
quality (integrative orientation) or a strong practical quality (instrumental
orientation). Gardner (1985) developed the Attitude/Motivation Test Battery
(AMTB) to measure L2 learners' motivation. The test battery consists of a multicomponent motivation test made up of approximately 120 items concerned with
such variables as attitudes towards French Canadians and learning French,
interest in foreign languages, orientation to learn French, French class anxiety,
parental encouragement, motivation intensity, desire to learn French and a
motivation index.
Park (2002) believes that motivation is shaped as “...sets of belief about
language learning, the target culture, their culture, the teacher, the learning task,
ect.” Holt (2001), referring to Cookes and Schmidt (1991), defines motivation as
“...the learner’s orientation with regard to the goal of learning a second


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language”. Motivation in this context can be understood as one relating to
attitude and vice versa with both having an influence on learning and
acquisition. Gardner (1985) as as cited in Dornyei, (2001), assumed that
motivation involved desire to learn a language, intensity of effort to achieve this,
and attitudes toward learning the language.
According to the framework by Dornyei (1994), motivation consists of 3
main levels which are language level, learner level and learning situation level.

Language level refers to integrative motivational subsystem and instrumental
motivational subsystem.
Learner level depends on need for achievement, self-confidence which is
language use anxiety, perceived L2 competence, casual attributions and selfefficacy. Learning situation level refers to course specific motivational
components, teacher specific motivational components and group specific
motivational components. Most learners have strong self-motivation about how
languages are learnt, how their instruction should be divided. “These beliefs are
usually based on previous learning experiences and the assumption (right or
wrong) that a particular type of instruction is the best way for them to learn,
Lightbrown, (1999:59).
According to the framework by Dornyei (1994), motivation consists of 3
main levels which are language level, learner level and learning situation level.
First of all, language level refers to integrative motivational subsystem and
instrumental motivational subsystem. Besides, learner level depends on need for
achievement, self-confidence which is language use anxiety, perceived L2
competence, casual attributions and self-efficacy. Obviously, learning situation
level refers to course specific motivational components, teacher specific
motivational components and group specific motivational components. Then,
learner's motivation can vary tremendously according to their confidence and


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anxiety they have toward the language they are learning and the environment
they are in. Not only is anxiety related to motivation, but it is also related to
fluency and more so to communication fluency, as suggested by Clement,
Dornyei and Noels (1994).
Aptitude refers to the special ability involved in second language learning
(Douglas et al 1995). The relationship between aptitude and second language
learning success is a very important one and various studies, such as Gardner

(1980) and Skehan (1989) have reported that aptitude is a major factor
determining the level of success of second language learning (Douglous et al
1995). Students can have a “good aptitude for learning”. This can infer various
things, such as the understanding of the function of words in sentences; the
ability to understand and use grammatical rules and the memory of key words,
what they mean and how to use them.
2.2. Theoretical background of the prosody
2.2.1. Definition of the prosody
Many researches have been undertaken and there is much in the research
literature regarding the definition of prosody. All the prosody theories in general
want to explain the fundamental question of why humans behave as they do, and
therefore we cannot assume any simple and straightforward answer.
In linguistics, according to free encyclopedia (2008) prosody (from
Ancient Greek προσῳδία prosōidía, "song sung to music; tone or accent of a
syllable") is concerned with those elements of speech that are not individual
phonetic segments (vowels and consonants) but are properties of syllables and
larger units of speech. These contribute to linguistic functions such as
intonation, tone, stress, and rhythm. Prosody may reflect various features of the
speaker or the utterance: the emotional state of the speaker; the form of the
utterance (statement, question, or command); the presence of irony or sarcasm;


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emphasis, contrast, and focus; or other elements of language that may not be
encoded by grammar or by choice of vocabulary.
2.2.2. Research studies on prosody
a study conducted by Steinhauer (2008) examines effects of short, medium, and
extended second language (L2) experience (3 months, 3 years, and 10 years of
United States residence, respectively) on the production of five supra-segmental

(stress timing, peak alignment, speech rate, pause frequency, and pause duration)
in six English declarative sentences by 30 adult Korean learners of English and
10 adult native English speakers. Acoustic analyses and listener judgments were
used to determine how accurately the supra-segmental were produced and to
what extent they contributed to foreign accent. Results revealed that amount of
experience influenced the production of one supra-segmental (stress timing),
whereas adult learners' age at the time of first extensive exposure to the L2
(indexed as age of arrival in the United States) influenced the production of
others (speech rate, pause frequency, pause duration). Moreover, it was found
that supra-segmental contributed to foreign accent at all levels of experience and
that some supra-segmental (pause duration, speech rate) were more likely to do
so than others (stress timing, peak alignment). Overall, results revealed
similarities between L2 segmental and supra-segmental learning.
Luk (2010) used a time-course analysis to examine the roles of
vocabulary size and executive control in bilinguals’ verbal fluency performance.
Two groups of bilinguals and a group of monolingual adults were tested in
English with verbal fluency subtests from the Delis–Kaplan Executive Function
System. The two bilingual groups were equivalent in their self-rated English
fluency but differed in levels of receptive and expressive vocabulary. We
hypothesized that the difference between the two bilingual groups in vocabulary
and between the monolingual and bilingual groups in executive control would


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lead to differences in performance on the category and letter fluency tests and
dissociate the roles of vocabulary knowledge and executive control in verbal
production. Bilinguals and monolinguals performed equivalently in category
fluency,

but

the

high-vocabulary

bilingual

group

outperformed

both

monolinguals and low-vocabulary bilinguals in letter fluency. An analysis of the
retrieval time-course functions in letter fluency showed dissociable effects of
resources available at the initiation of the trial, considered to reflect vocabulary
size, and ability to monitor and retrieve new items using a novel phonemicbased word searching strategy, considered to reflect executive control. The
difference in slope of the best-fitting curves reflected enhanced executive
control for both bilingual groups compared to monolinguals, whereas the
difference in the starting point of the logarithmic functions reflected higher
levels of vocabulary for high-vocabulary bilinguals and monolinguals compared
to low-vocabulary bilinguals. The results are discussed in terms of the
contributions of linguistic resources and executive control to verbal
performance.
In addition to this, another study conducted by Perani (2003), he assessed
the effects of age of acquisition and language exposure on the cerebral correlates
of lexical retrieval in high-proficient, early-acquisition bilinguals. Functional
MRI was used to study Spanish–Catalan bilinguals who acquired either Spanish
or Catalan as a first language in the first years of life. Subjects were exposed to

the second language at 3 years of age, and have used both languages in daily life
since then. Subjects had a comparable level of fluency in the comprehension of
both languages. Lexical retrieval with the verbal fluency task resulted in the
well-established pattern of left hemispheric activation centered on the inferior
frontal region. The effect of age of acquisition was assessed by dividing the
subjects into two groups, on the basis of the language acquired first (Catalan-


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born or Spanish-born bilinguals). Functional comparisons indicated that less
extensive brain activation was associated with lexical retrieval in the language
acquired earlier in life. The two groups were also different in language
usage/exposure, as assessed with a specific questionnaire; in particular, the
exposure to the second language (Spanish) was less intensive in the case of
Catalans. This was reflected in a significant interaction, indicating a more
extensive activation in Catalans during production in Spanish. Overall, these
results indicate that, during a production task, both age of acquisition and
language exposure affect the pattern of brain activation in bilinguals, even if
both languages are acquired early and with a comparable level of fluency.
2.3. Theoretical background of the pronunciation
2.3.1. Definition of pronunciation
For Ur (2001) and Richard (2002), pronunciation is the sound of the
language. Pronunciation is also defined as ‘a way of speaking a word, especially
a way that is accepted or generally understood’ (American Heritage Dictionary,
3rd, 1992). Pronunciation is one of the most important things that students have
to master in order to communicate appropriately and fluently. It refers to the
production of sounds that we use to make meaning. Pronunciation is also the act
or manner of pronouncing words; utterance of speech, a way of speaking a
word, especially a way that is accepted or generally understood.

The notion of pronunciation has been defined in many different ways by
writers. According to the Oxford Learners Dictionaries, 8th (2008), pronunciation
is the way in which a language or a particular word or sound is pronounced.
Wikipedia stated that pronunciation is “the way a word or a language is spoken,
or the manner in which someone utters a word”.


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2.3.2. Role of pronunciation in communication
Brown and Yule (1983) began their discussion on the nature of spoken
language by distinguishing between spoken and written language. They pointed
out that for most of its history; language teaching has been concerned with the
teaching of written language. This language is characterized by well- formed
sentences which are integrated into highly structured paragraphs. Spoken
language, on the other hand, consists of short, often fragmentary utterances, in a
range of pronunciations. There is often a great deal of repetition and overlap
between one speaker and another, and speakers frequently use non-specific
references. Brown and Yule (1983) also pointed out that the loosely organized
syntax, the use of non-specific words and phrases, and the use of fillers such as
'well' and 'ahuh' make spoken language feel less conceptually dense than other
types of language such as expository prose. They suggested that, in contrast with
the teaching of written language, teachers concerned with teaching the spoken
language must confront the following types of questions: (1) What is the
appropriate form of spoken language to teach? (2) From the point of view of
pronunciation, what is a reasonable model? (3) How important is pronunciation?
(4)it any more important than teaching appropriate handwriting in the foreign
language? (5) If so, why? (6)From the point of view of the structures taught, is it
all right to teach the spoken language as if it were exactly like the written
language, but with a few 'spoken expression' thrown in? (7)Is it appropriate to

teach the same structures to all foreign language students, no matter what their
age is or their intentions in learning the spoken language? (8) Are those
structures which are described in standard grammars, the structures which our
students should be expected to produce when they speak English?
Pennington in 1996 found out that the most important part of learning a
second language rests on pronunciation. Pronunciation is the foundation of


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speaking. According to Yong (2004), English, both written and spoken, has
been accepted as the ascendant means of communication for most of the world
but some misunderstandings have been caused by inappropriate pronunciation.
Learners with intelligible pronunciation in English are more likely to be
understood even if they make errors in other areas. Good pronunciation can
make the communication easier and more relaxed and thus more successful
(Dan, 2006). Almost all learners rate pronunciation as priority (Willing, 1993)
and what will help them most is plenty of authentic conversation practice, an
area in which they need more guidance (Burns & Joyce, 1997).
When we talk to people in the real life, our pronunciation is the first thing they
notice during a conversation. In everyday communication, just a limited
vocabulary is needed, not complicated words. And the fact is that your
pronunciation will be noticed right away only for the first few words.
Pronouncing the words correctly is better than knowing a lot of vocabularies
with unintelligible pronunciation. Unlike the other skills, pronunciation strikes
the listener directly in the face (the ears, to be more precise). According to
Celce-Murcia et al, pronunciation plays a very important role in communicative
competence. Pronunciation is as important as any other aspects of foreign
language learning. Pronunciation is an aspect of verbal communication which
makes the communication more attractive and effective. To have success in

communicating with others, it is recommended that you have good
pronunciation in general and good foreign language pronunciation in particular.
Pronunciation instruction is of great importance for successful oral
communication to take place since it is an important ingredient of the
communicative competence (Hismanoglu, 2006).


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2.3.4. Research studies on pronunciation
One of the most difficult things about learning English is using the correct
English pronunciation. Most people speak the dialect of standard English with
an accent that belongs to the part of the country they come from or live in.
Learners of British English commonly hear RP (Received Pronunciation),
which is an accent often used on the BBC and other news media and in some
course materials for language learners, but it is also common to hear a variety
of regional accents of English from across the world. There are two widely
understood accents of English: General American (GenAm) and Received
Pronunciation (RP), spoken in Britain. If you speak General American or
Received Pronunciation, you will be understood by native and non-native
speakers of English from all parts of the world. These two accents are used on
television, in movies and in English teaching materials.
In an article written by Ong (2012) on “How to Improve Your English
Pronunciation: 8 Tips to Talk like a Native” she mentioned important ways to
speak like a native: (1) Learn to listen; The better you get at hearing words, the
better you will become at pronouncing them.(2) Notice how your mouth and lips
move. When you speak, you move your mouth. How you move your mouth
affects how you pronounce a word. (3) Pay attention to your tongue. To improve
English pronunciation, it’s a good idea to check what the tongue is doing. (4)
Break words down into sounds. Words are made up of syllables, or parts. The

word “syllable,” for example, has three syllables: syl-la-ble. Turning words into
parts can make them easier to pronounce. (5) Add stress to sounds and words.
English is a stressed language. That means some words and sounds are more
important than others. You can hear this when you say a word out loud. For
example, the word “introduce” is pronounced with a stress at the end, so it
sounds like this: “in-tro-DUCE. (6) Use pronunciation podcasts and videos.


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There are some excellent video and audio guides on English pronunciations that
you can use to improve. The English Language Club has videos that show how
to make different sounds in English. Rachel’s English has friendly videos on
how to speak and pronounce American English in everyday conversations. (7)
Record yourself. One way that would like to tell if all your practice working is
to record yourself with a camera. Use a camera and not just a sound recorder
because it’s important to see how you speak, not only hear it. (8) Practice with a
buddy. As always, “Practice makes perfect!” And it’s easier to practice with
a friend. Find someone to practice pronunciation with, either in person or
through online communities like Language Exchange or InterPals. Practicing
with a buddy (friend) will give you a chance to try everything you learned, and
learn new things from each other.
Ngo Hoang Nam (2002) conducted a study to find out why pronunciation is
ignored by students of English in Hanoi University. His major conclusion is they
from very first year of leaning English, students are not taught to pay attention
to pronunciation. They pronounce words without press on the stressed words.
They are not aware of the importance of words stress. Even when looking up a
new word on the dictionary, the only thing they care of is its meaning and its
part of speech. They have no habit of looking at the word stress as if it does not
concern with that word.

In addition, Anderson (2006)investigated the relationship between
experienced SPEAK Test raters' judgments of nonnative pronunciation and
actual deviance in segmental, prosody, and syllable structure. Sixty reading
passage speech samples from SPEAK Test tapes of speakers from 11 language
groups were rated impressionistically on pronunciation and later analyzed for
deviance in segmental, prosody, and syllable structure. The deviance found in
each area of pronunciation was then correlated with the pronunciation ratings


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using Pearson correlations and multiple regressions. An analysis of the 60
speakers showed that whereas deviance in segmental, prosody, and syllable
structure all showed a significant influence on the pronunciation ratings, the
prosodic variable proved to have the strongest effect. When separate analyses
were done on two language subgroups within the sample, prosody was always
found to be significantly related to the global ratings, whereas this was not
always true for the other variables investigated.
2.4. Theoretical background of the fluency
2.4.1. Definition of fluency
Speaking is a creative activity. It is regarded as the measure of a language
perception. Fluency is often defined as the ability to communicate with others,
much more than the ability to read, write or comprehend oral language.
Speaking is sometime regarded as the most important skill which leaners always
try to acquire. Learners often assess their progress in terms of their
accomplishments in spoken communication.
The goal of English teaching spoken fluency is better communication
among learners. Then, they should be able to make themselves understood by
using their current fluency to the fullest. They should try to avoid confusion in
the message due to faulty pronunciation, grammar, prosody, accuracy or fluency.

Besides, psychological barrier is also a big problem. If English learners are fully
aware if these problem, they will easily find out ways to cope with them.
In their introduction to a collection of papers relating to the concept of
fluency, Koponen and Riggenbach (2010) identify four major views of fluency.
The first involves thinking of fluency primarily in terms of "smoothness of
speech" which is dependent upon the "temporal, phonetic, and acoustical
features" of speech. They describe this conception of fluency as being used to
define fluency in the rating guidelines of such oral skills tests as the Speaking